Commander Charlie Lyambo didn’t like it one bit.  For a start off he’d been woken early; that was never a good thing to do, not without just cause that is.  Charlie was not a morning person, never had been.  So being contacted by the bridge just after seven in the morning had not put the Captain of the USS Chapel in a good mood.  The reason for being dragged out of bed, at such an early time, for him at least, was a problem with their escort.

The USS Chapel was on a mission to deal with an outbreak of Terellion Fever on Kappa-Terellion IV.  Despite it being were the disease had originated and how it got the name; there had not been a single case of it on the planet for 17 years.  Now there were 78 reported cases, with one fatality.  Normally that wouldn’t be a huge concern; a hospital ship like the Chapel could deal with a small outbreak like this within a week or so.  Preventing the disease from spreading further amongst the population; and creating a much worse situation. 

But with the news that the Marquis or at least a group using the name had made a resurgence along the Cardasssian boarder, which just so happened to be were Kappa-Terellion IV was; situated within the demilitarised zone; had meant he’d requested an escort, just to be on the safe side.  That escort had been pulled away on another emergency.  He couldn’t afford to wait however long it was going to take for the other ship to return; things on that planet could escalate rapidly if he didn’t take quick action.  The USS Chapel was therefore heading in system alone.  

The Bolian currently seated at helm; informed the Commander they’d reach the planet in a little over half an hour.  Lyambo sat back in the captain’s chair still holding the mug of coffee he’d brought with him roughly an hour ago.  There was barely a mouthful left, so he swallowed it and headed over to the replicator at the rear of the bridge.

There had been a number of vessels moving around when they’d arrived; nothing special or out of the ordinary.  They ranged from small transit shuttles, right up to an immense bulk carrier loading at the main space station orbiting the planet.  It had the look and charm of a rusty metal slug; there’d probably been paint on its hull many years ago, but that had all flaked off over the eight decades it had probably been in service.  Now it was just rust and running repairs.  If it survived to reach a hundred it would be a miracle.  But somehow Charlie couldn’t entirely rule that out.

He was just about to pick up his fresh mug of coffee when is attention was brought to two ships on the main viewer. “Sir, vessels changing cause to intercept our current heading.” The Bolian called out.

Lyambo looked over to his Communications Office. “Delany, see if you can raise either of those ships. See what their playing at?”

After trying several times on all available frequencies without response the Commander was starting to feel a little agitated.  The actions of these two ships one a small freighter the other a civilian equivalent to a Runabout, were acting rather suspiciously and given the recent events, he wasn’t going to take any chances.

“Go to red alert.” He shouted.

The lights flashed red and the warning siren blared.  Various crew members around the bridge called out. One informed him the shields were up and the phasers were charging.  Another gave a running update as each section of the ship reported their readiness.  A third informed him that security team had been deployed to key areas of the ship along with damage control parties.

Considering the short amount of time most of this crew had been aboard, Lyambo was pleased with the swiftness in which they’d all reacted.  A minute or so passed as the distance between the vessels reduced. Then is Communications Officer reported an incoming audio transmission. “On speaker.” He requested.

“Oh you do disappoint me.” Came an unknown female voice. “All I want is a few of your medical supplies. I’m sure a hospital ship of your size has plenty to spare?” 

“Who are you?” Demanded Lyambo.

“Ask me no questions and I’ll tell you know lies.” Answered the woman. “Now lower your shields or I will lower them for you.”  As she finished speaking, the smaller of the two craft opened fire across the USS Chapel’s bow. 

“Look lady I don’t know what you’re playing at, but this is a Federation vessel on a mercy mission.” Charlie announced. “So back off and let us do our job.” 

            ********** 

In another part of the ship only a few minutes before the alarm had sounded; the Commanders brother and current Chief Engineer aboard the USS Chapel had just woken up.  He gave a half-hearted stretch as he trying to fathom what had disturbed his slumber.  A second prod in the rib, from the woman he was currently sharing his bed with, was all he needed to remind him of what had gone on the night before.

“The Commander isn’t going to mind what we’ve done is he?” She asked softly. 

“I wouldn’t think so.” Dinari replied. “It’s not like you’re directly under me.”

“It feels like it right now.” She giggled.

Dinari looked at the position they’d both woken up in, and when their eyes met, the pair of them started laughing.  He rolled on to his back to lay parallel with the woman. Not an easy task, due to the width of the bed; it hadn’t really been designed for two people to occupy it at the same time.  The engineers head felt a bit foggy for some reason, but he assumed that was due to that last drink they shared being one too many. 

It was as they lay there that the red alert sounded.  Both sprang up out of the bed grabbing their respective comm-badges; his over on the desk, hers on the floor under her uniform.

“This is Dinari, what’s the situation?” The Chief Engineer listened to the reply before continuing. “Ok you know the drill; I’ll be there in five.” He swiftly gathered his clothes and started putting them on, whilst on the other side of the room the woman he was with had her own conversation.  “Jenas issue all security trained crewmembers with phasers and get them deployed in pairs following pattern 3.  Got that? I’ll be right with you.” 

When she turned Dinari was almost fully dressed. He gave her a quick peck on her ridged nose. “Take care.” 

She smiled back. “I’m a Bajoran, we know how to handle ourselves.  We’ve had practice.”  She started putting on her security uniform.

            ********** 

When Dinari arrived at Main Engineering, the claxons had ceased their wailing and it was just the reds light flashing away.  The scene before him looked a little chaotic; but he was pleased to see it was an organised chaos.  Everyone seemed to know what they were doing. “I could have stayed in bed!” He called out.  There were a couple of light hearted responses from the other engineers.

“I know the feeling.” Came the gruff gravelly voice of his Tellarite assistant Jamda Goref.  Considering how young he was; Jamda already had the speech and attitude of a grumpy old man.  He probably wasn’t a morning person either.  What he was though, was a brilliant engineer.

Lyambo was at the central island working away at the controls, when something flashed up on a monitor.  A voice called out. “Sir, shields just deactivated!” He looked up to see who’d shouted and then back down at the console where he stood. 

“Confirmed.” Goref announced. “Level 1 command override.”

There were currently only three people aboard the USS Chapel capable of entering a command like that.  Two of them where currently on the bridge; his brother and the First Officer.  Dinari was the third.  A sense of movement behind him and the faint noise of a hand held phaser coming up to charge, both told him something was very wrong. 

“Sir, if you’d like to step away from those controls.”