Blood On Deck 10 (Part 1 of 2) [18+]

Posted on Thu May 23rd, 2024 @ 11:32pm by Commander (la') Tormek & Captain Kagami Izumi & Lieutenant (Sogh) Vok'Ka & Lieutenant JG Ki'ana & Lieutenant Alexis de Silva & Tadao Yoshikawa

2,848 words; about a 14 minute read

Mission: Blockade
Location: Starbase Frontier - Main Galleria, Deck 10
Timeline: MD 02, 1034 hrs

[ON]

An audible gasp could be heard as the Assistant Manager of Final Frontiers Bar & Grill stumbled onto the premises, bleeding profusely from a deep gash that ran from his forehead down to his left nostril, just barely missing his left eye; his clothes were torn, his breathing ragged, and if no one here knew any better, then it might have looked as if he'd stumbled straight off the set of a horror movie.

"Jesus Christ!" Tadao gasped as he moved to assist his stricken colleague. "What the hell happened?!"

"My God, I... I think he killed him!" the Assistant Manager gasped, clearly in a daze from whatever had just transpired.

"Wait, back up- who was killed?" Tadao asked with growing concern.

"There was a... a fight going on just around the corner," the Assistant Manager explained as he was helped into a seat. "Some guys were harassing a Klingon for... I honestly don't remember what the hell it was even over, but I tried breaking it up, and then the Klingon, he... he pulled out a Bat'Leth, a-and..."

"Shit..." Tadao muttered, realizing the severity of the situation they now found themselves in.

He stood up and shifted his attention over to his concerned employees, who had begun to gather around the Assistant Manager as they nervously awaited orders on what to do next.

While his better judgement was telling Tadao that it would be in his best interests to stay put and wait for help to arrive, this matter had become strictly personal; one of his employees had been attacked, and he felt he had an obligation to do something about it.

"I'm going to go get help," he ordered firmly. "I want you guys to raise the security force fields, and do not let them down for anyone unless they're from Medical; do I make myself clear?"

The staff members looked at one another awkwardly, but one-by-one, they slowly gave their silent nods of approval.

"I promise I won't be long," Tadao assured them as he ducked out into the Galleria. "Stay safe..."

~~

Alexis de Silva rounded one of the many frameworks that formed the corridors of Starbase Frontier, thinking about the problem at hand. She was supposed to meet that chatty JG from Botany at 2000 hours, which was in 15 minutes. However, she was also supposed to meet the cute new Ensign from Operations at 2030 hours. She wasn’t sure how she’d done that, but…there it was. She was committed to two dates on the same evening, and she didn’t really want to tell either of her companions to reschedule.

Before she could settle on a compromise, the deck was suddenly rushing up to meet her. She landed hard on her left side, knocking the wind out of her. She instantly sat up. She took several deep breaths to regain her wind, and then she began rubbing her elbow. But that left her rubbing hand sticky and wet. She was momentarily confused; she held her rubbing hand in front of her face and saw that it was coated in what looked like blood. Her confusion deepened. I didn’t hit the deck that hard, she thought. Movement in front of her caught her attention, and she took in the carnage before her.

Tables and chairs were overturned and, in some cases, smashed. She spotted several bodies lying limp on the ground, one of them with its appendages hanging at odd angles. She looked down at the deck and realized that she had stepped into and slipped because of a pool of blood that belonged to a nearby body. In the midst of the devastation, a group of Klingons were approaching the area.

Instinct kicked in, and Alexis began crab-crawling backward, away from the scene in front of her. Her feet, still coated in blood, slipped against the deck, causing her to fall back onto her backside. Alexis tried the crab crawl again, finally gaining traction and propelling herself away from the remnants of the cafe in front of her. She needed to alert someone in charge. I’m not equipped to deal with this kind of thing, she told herself.

It wasn't long before a small cadre of Klingon warriors rounded the corner of a nearby bulkhead then sprinted toward the source of the altercation. Where one warrior had been forced to defend himself against Starfleet baktag, so too were all of his kind obligated, for Humans and their 'Federation allies' were a deceitful and arrogant amalgamation capable of the most egregious acts performed under political disguise.

Martek, a seasoned and robust Klingon warrior who led the pack, slowed to a shuffle as he approached the scene. His right hand rested on his holstered d'k tahg as he prepared for battle with any recalcitrant forces he would soon encounter.

The Galleria was practically a battlefield by the time Martek and his cadre arrived on the scene; debris lay strewn everywhere, mingled with the blood of the dead and the wounded; civilians from both sides were throwing themselves with one another with just about anything they could wield as a weapon, be it lunch trays, sporting equipment, clothing racks, Bat'Leths, switchblades, and even their bare fists. Merchants and innocents civilians who suddenly found themselves in the crossfire huddled behind kiosks, planters, and whatever else they could find that gave them just the slightest bit of shelter from the violence that they suddenly found themselves in the midst of.

"Spineless Turtlehead!"

"Bottom-feeding petaQ!"

"You caused this!"

Martek approached one of the Federation civilians insulting one of his people then quickly grabbed him by his collar with both hands. The large muscles in his forearms, biceps and chest flexed while he elevated the 200lb man from the ground in a standing position, then he brought the crown of his forehead's cranial rides swiftly down into the Human's nose, shattering the fragile humanoid's facial bones with a spray of blood before forcefully tossing him several meters in the air until he collided with a nearby bulkhead then collapsed and lay limp.

"MURDERER!"

No sooner had the man's body hit the floor than the mobs descended, wielding every loose object that was within immediate reach; one even managed to wrestle a Bat'Leth off of one of Martek's men, which he then used to slice open the hapless warrior's throat before he too was quickly cut down.

"FILTHY, COLD-BLOODED KILLERS, THE LOT OF YOU!" One of the belligerents could be heard shouting. "WE WOULDN'T BE IN THIS MESS IF IT WEREN'T FOR YOU!

The Klingon officer Martek witnessed the brutal execution of one of his fellow warriors amidst the shouting and accusations from the Humans, whose words rang hollow. His blood boiled at such defiance while intrinsically seeking the need for vengeance. Adrenaline coursed through his veins and he pulled his d'k tahg free from its holster, its small and pointed crossguard clicking open. He targeted the nearest Human closest to one of his own people then charged. His tall 6'5" frame and 250lb mass barrelled over those women and men in his way until he converged upon his fellow warrior's killer. Time slowed as he reached out and grabbed the man's head by the back of his hair, pulled it backward, then slit his exposed throat. Thick crimson liquid sprayed across the deck while the Human's eyes widened in his final moments, then he released the dying body and attacked a new Human attempting to grab the fallen bat'leth - a weapon not meant for him. Martek growled with rage then slammed his elbow into the other man's sternum which knocked him backward. He clasped both of his hands together then raised them high before bringing them down into the combatant's head with a thunderous blow. The frail Human's legs gave out and he collapsed to his knees just before Martek once again backhanded his jaw with his combined fists and put him to sleep for good.

"For our honor! Martek cried out to his fellow warriors who were now engaging in brutal hand-to-hand combat alongside him.

Ki'ana had, until then, been hoping for a quiet night spent with her 'date' - like, one evening spent together chatting over dinner, with zero interruptions. Just the two of them. Besides, Alexis was cute and she absolutely would not have minded taking their relationship further if she ever was of the mind.

What she had not expected was to hear shouting and the sounds of violence echoing down the hall on the way to the lounge, and to see the crowd running against her to the turbolift. That could've only meant one thing: something had gone very, very wrong indeed, and Alexis had probably gotten swept up in it. Ki'ana quickened her pace to the lounge, only to find her date on the floor and the rest of the room in total pandemonium - and even that was putting it lightly. Against her better instincts Ki'ana grabbed her date by the shoulders and dragged her out to the hallway. "Not quite the date night either of us envisioned, obviously." She said to her with mild amusement. Ki'ana waited no more - she slapped her commbadge and called for security. If Alexis was ill-equipped to handle the brawl going on inside, she wasn't much better. Ki'ana had never considered herself a fighter.

From across the promenade's battlefield, Martek's eyes finally zeroed in on his enemy. At last...a Starfleet officer who would be held accountable for the deaths of his people and judged on the barges of Gre'thor. He methodically walked at a swift pace with long strides amidst the chaos of personal combat while approaching the alien and the woman she was attempting to save.

"STARFLEET!" bellowed Martek, his robust long and dark brown hair already stained with Human blood. He approached the tall alien woman then stopped short several meters from her. The bat'leth from one of his fallen warriors which he held in his right hand was tossed in front of the Kelpien, then he pulled his own ceremonial bat'leth from his back. He twirled it in his grip then shifted it from hand to hand before bearing down on the tall science officer.

"Fight me, or die as a coward..." hissed Martek.

"My friend here is injured. Have you no honor?" Ki'ana hissed back at him. Her ganglia were definitely splayed and squirming, but she held fast. "Is that not what Klingons are about? What honor is there in attacking someone who's only trying to help someone else? If this is what you call honor, then you don't deserve to call yourself a Klingon. Go pick a fight with someone your own size. Come on, he's not worth our time." She murmured to her date as she continued dragging her to the door.

He spit on the floor with contempt at the alien's words. Of course there could be no honor without mutual combat. He growled angrily, for the Starfleet officer was attempting to exploit that weakness for personal gain - the coward's call to battle. Yet Martek would have none of it.

"You are a Starfleet officer and I challenge you here and now!" he declared for everyone in the vicinity to hear. "Leave your companion behind. This battle is between you and I...because you are responsible for your people's actions and the deaths of my own!" Martek began to maneuver around the tall Kelpien to discern her defensive posture and identify the best opening to strike then decapitate her.

This Klingon was trying to get under her skin - so hard, in fact, that Ki'ana almost found it laughable. Maybe he and his comrades had gone stir crazy wanting things to happen their way and somehow incited some of her colleagues to do the same, which explained the mix of uniforms littering the floor, but Ki'ana was determined not to give him what he wanted. She was only fun to pick a fight with so long as she kept responding to him, that much she did know. Hence she soldiered on, ignoring the much larger man advancing on her and Alexis.

A detached part of Alexis’s intellect told her she was going into shock. Her Starfleet training told her this, and she noted it, but she felt powerless to stop it.

She was aware of Ki’ana and that the Kelpian was helping her, but Alexis could do little more than tremble.

And then she noticed the lumbering Klingon warrior stalking their way.

Every instinct in Alexis’s body screamed for them to leave, to run and hide from this destructive force, but her body wouldn’t comply.

The Klingon challenged Ki’ana, and Ki’ana rebuffed the warrior; Alexis stood numbly, looking at the blood on her hands.

The Klingon bellowed again, causing Alexis to jump despite Ki’ana’s reassuring grip. Alexis felt tears roll down her cheeks and knew this was her end. She pulled closer to Ki’ana, burying her head in Ki’ana’s chest, closed her eyes, and waited for the blow to land.

"THAT'S ENOUGH!"

Before Martek could bring his blade down, the light fixture above them exploded in a shower of sparks. All heads in the galleria turned to see Tadao, a Klingon Disruptor hoisted above his head. Directly behind him was a small team of Starfleet Security Officers, Of whom had been alerted to the commotion and were dispatched in an effort to try and restore law and order.

"We need to stop this!" Tadao began, lowering the disruptor. "We have nothing to gain from blaming and killing each other!"

"He's absolutely right!" Kagami's voice shouted over the chaos. It had taken some time, but the upper level of the Galleria was now lined with security officer's dressed in yellow, each of them were armed with phaser rifles. Alongside them were Klingons with the emblem of Security on their uniforms as well, they had their disruptors and Bat'leths ready too.

"Stand down! All of you!" Kagami ordered as she set her phaser rifle on heavy stun.

A disdainful and guttural growl emanated from Martek's throat as he slowly lowered his weapon then raised his head to the upper level of the promenade - directly into the blue eyes of the youthful-appearing station's commander. "It is not your place to adjudicate! Unless...you wish to volunteer yourself in place of your officer...?" His head glanced back to the tall and cowardly Kelipen and the woman she was protecting, then back to the starbase's commanding officer. "I challenge you, Kag'mI!"

"What exactly are you trying to achieve? I am ordering you to stand down and back off!" Kagami told him a strictness in her voice. She pointed the rifle at him and lined it up perfectly with the Klingons chest.

"One of your people attacked and killed one of our warriors!" he forcefully declared, speaking the truth regarding the order of events. "My team and I responded and were met with...incessant Humans full of contempt for us. They challenged us! And so we battled, and they fell in glorious combat. But now, one of your officers cowers like a blind targ pup in a tribble field. You tell us to stand down down?!" Martek curtly shook his head, his strong hair barely bobbing across the tops of his shoulders. "No! One warrior has already been killed by your hand. Now I will exact that price from you. It is the only way. The Klingon way. If you value our 'partnership', then meet me here and now, and honor my challenge!"

"Look around you!" Kagami replied back quickly. "You call THIS honourable?!" she questioned him as she lowered her rifle. "Slaughtering unarmed people? Going around and challenging defenceless officer? Officers who are meant to be your comrades and crewmates!" Kagami told him scolding him like a child.

She let out a long sigh of exasperation. "We will look into what happened here, but there is no need for more violence for more blood to be spilled!" Kagami told him. "You're breaking the rules, you know DAMN RIGHT that killing and challenged are NOT allowed on the Galleria! So I'm telling you once more, as your Captain. Stand down, or I will MAKE YOU stand down!"

To Be Continued...

[OFF]

--

Captain Kagami Izumi
Commanding Officer

Commander Tormek
Executive Officer

Lieutenant JG Ki'ana
Chief Science Officer

Lieutenant Alexis de Silva
Engineering Officer
[PNPC Vok'Ka]

Martek
Klingon Warrior
[NPC Tormek]

Tadao Yoshikawa
Manager - Final Frontiers Bar & Grill
[PNPC Nishikino]

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