Startrek: Keash and Derf

Chapter 6

Chapter 6: The situation.

First an ambush and attempted raid by pirates, then the trap set by Starfleet on the colony and then the Nova class star ship which fired on us to prevent us from leaving." he said as if sounding off a bullit point list of facts. Glancing over to Derf as if inviting him to disagree Keash went on, no longer so much telling Derf anything as thinking out loud to make sure he was considering all the variables.

"You said the cargo consisted of weapon's parts. What part of what weapons?" Keash asked Derf with a frown. Derf looked apologetic at the human as he replied "I have no idea. I never said anything about the cargo's content. It was the Starfleet officer who spoke about weapon parts" Keash nodded as he remembered. "Whatever they are, they must be worth a fortune for the pirates to spent so much effort on an attempt to hijack it.

And for Starfleet to risk letting it get to its delivery point before seizing it or for Starfleet to assign a Nova class star ship for the operation these parts must either be dangerous on a large scale or so classified you'd have to blind all who behold you with the brass on your chest and shoulder." Keash concluded and than jerked his head towards the back of the ship. "I think its important we find out what we've gotten ourselves stuck with as soon as we can." he said and lead Derf out of the bridge, and down into the cargo area of the Breda.

"HOLY SHIT!" exclaimed Keash as the outer shipping container's front panel fell away and revealed what was inside. The shipping container held another, slightly smaller but infinitely more sophisticated, containment shield and cryostasis field generating and computer controlled lock box marked with what looked to be Romulan markings that, though Keash didn't know any Romulan, warned of danger inside and cautioned against tampering with.

The markings were placed on all sides except for the side which held the computers controls and display. The display showed what seemed to be sensor readouts which were accompanied by Romulan script similar to the markings.

Kicking himself for not doing so routinely with everything that was brought on-board the Breda Keash quickly grabbed a tricorder and scanned the container for dangerous radiation or anything else that might be harmful, especially for kids. The tricorder beeped reassuringly moments later, indicating nothing dangerous could be detected coming from the container or the rest of the stacked unopened boxes.

Relieved at that small favor at least Keash set the tricorder to scan and translate the markings on the container's side and to scan the control mechanism for clues as to its purpose and operation. When the display showed its results Keash's knees almost gave out and a nauseous feeling overwhelmed him. Just before Derf's move to support him was no longer premature Keash grabbed hold of and held onto a bulkhead steadying himself enough to take a few deep breaths and pull himself together.

Derf's frightened and puzzled expression prompted him to hand over the tricorders and point at one word on its screen. Derf gasped as he realized what the kind of weapons technology their cargo were parts for:

Thaleron Weapons.

It wasn't more than an hour later when the two finished opening and checking each container that had come with the shipment meant for Derf and had closed everything back up and safely. At least as safe as one could become with Thaleron involved.

After Keash had activated the ship's automated containment, quarantine and security protocols in order to keep the cargo from being touched, moved, scanned or otherwise interacted with without Keash's knowing about it the two men returned to the front of the ship, settling down in the seats on the bridge.