Post 511: Upon the Housetops Part One

Stardate:71021.1630
Title: Upon the Housetops, Part One
Author: =/\=Zanh Liis
Scene: Alchemy/Independence
Time: Now
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"For there is nothing covered, that shall not be revealed; neither hid, that shall not be known. Therefore whatsoever ye have spoken in darkness shall be heard in the light; and that which ye have spoken in the ear in closets shall be proclaimed upon the housetops." Luke 12:2-3, KJV
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Aboard the USS Alchemy, things were getting very uncomfortable. Lair Kellyn had been ignoring the hails for at least two minutes, and the people calling were getting sick of waiting.

"Should I open the channel, Sir?" Xhian asked again, hoping this time she would say yes just so the beeping noise signaling the hail would stop. It was beginning to get to him.

"I suppose," she replied, still frantically running from panel to panel, "That I can't put it off any longer. Go ahead."

[This is the Yensuli. You are trespassing on our moon. Identify yourself and your vessel.]

"This is Lt. Commander Lair Kellyn, chief engineer of the USS Alchemy. We did not intentionally trespass on your planet, we crashed here by accident and I apologize. In fact I am doing all I can to get us out of your way. If you'll just let me continue my work,"

[We will board your ship and you will submit to questioning.]

"We are an auxiliary vessel of the USS Independence, which by now should be in orbit of your fourth planet," Lair argued. "Contact Captain Zanh and inform her that we are stranded here and she will answer all your questions, and we will get off of your moon," she stressed the last word, "as soon as we possibly can, I promise."

The channel closed, and Kellyn bit her lip. "That didn't go well. They have no intention of letting us leave."

"Sir," Xhian's sensor readings changed right before his eyes, "They're powering up their weapons."

"Open that channel back up!" Lair barked, "Yensuli military vehicle, this is Alchemy. Do not fire upon us, I repeat, do not fire. If you fire upon this vessel Starfleet will consider it an act of war."

[You have violated Yensuli law by landing on our moon, that also is an act of war.] Came the reply, [Your vessel will be confiscated.]

"Over my dead body." Kellyn concluded, and she motioned for Xhian to cut off the call once more. "That's it," she clenched her fists. "We know what we have to do. Computer, initiate self-destruct sequence, authorization Lair Gamma pi thirty-two beta."

>State time parameters.>

"Self destruct in one hundred and twenty seconds. No audio countdown.." Lair replied sadly. She nodded to Xhian, "Up to you, X. You want to stay here with me, or would you rather take your chances on the surface? I'll beam you out."

"There is only one choice," Xhian replied simply, and loyally to his supervising officer. "I will not leave you here to die alone, Sir."

------=/\= On board the Independence.=/\=---------

After working on the sensor settings for quite awhile, Dr. Corbinsky was finally seeing results.

"I think I've got it," He explained, "I'm just adjusting the field harmonics of the ship's shields and rerouting every spare watt of power that I can to the main deflector to increase power." he paused, and looked up at Zanh over his shoulder.

"Adding that to the work that Dengar and Samson have done with simplifying our model," he was mumbling now, checking his final changes before proceeding. "We might be able to get somewhere. It would help, Captain, if I could reroute the back-up power systems to this effort as well. May I have your permission?"

Zanh was reluctant to give Corbinsky that much control over the ship directly without someone mediating, but she knew that likely he already knew how to reroute the power anyway without her blessing, bypassing the security protocols entirely. Therefore, asking for control outright was a show of good faith on his part.

She tapped her security access code into his panel. "Go." she admonished him, and he set to work once more.

Suddenly, the data on their screens changed entirely and he pointed to a particular location. "Would you be at all interested, Captain," he smiled, completely pleased with himself, "to know the location of the field generator for the false projection?"

"Corbinsky," she replied, "I think I love you." Zanh turned to N'Dura, who was standing at the tactical station. "Lock a photon torpedo on that thing, and as soon as you're ready,"

"Captain," N'Dura cautioned, "Firing on the planet would be considered an act of war."

"If it turns out that the Alchemy is down there, and the Yensuli knew about it and didn't tell us, then they are getting what they deserve. If it turns out that Alchemy isn't there, then my career is pretty much over with either way. This wasn't their technology to begin with, am I right, Doctor Corbinsky?"

"That's right." Xander affirmed.

"Then the Yensuli get what they get." Zanh turned, to watch the show on the main view screen as she clenched her fists and gave the final order.

"N'Dura,"

"Captain?"

"Fire."

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=/\= Zanh Liis
Acting CO
USS Independence NCC-90791