Danny Amor's Online Library/Danny Amor's Online Library - Volume 1.iso/html/startrek/old-incomplete/stormbird.p1

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From: [e-mail] (Sonja N Muzyczka)
Newsgroups: alt.startrek.creative
Subject: "Stormbird" --- A Klingon Tale
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Date: 7 Jan 94 00:43:59 GMT
Sender: [e-mail]
Organization: University of Pittsburgh
Lines: 287


                "Stormbird"
               by Kevin A. Geiselman
                    Summer 1993

Part One: Capture

    Preliminary Intelligence Report, First Draft
        On Imperial Date 1348.067, the _IKV_Dark_Justice_, enroute to
    Defense Complex 29, encountered a vessel using old, though still valid,
    identification codes.  Scanners showed the vessel to be a Romulan
    _Stormbird_.  Upon challenge, the _Stormbird_ attempted escape, was
    overtaken and engaged.  Boarding parties quickly dispatched, disabled
    the vessel's self-destruct sequence.  Prisoners have been taken.
    Initial electronic surveillance suggests that no distress call was
    made.  Intelligence inspection is pending.

    Lieutenant Kordite stands from his duty station, a cell of a
compartment packed full with communication interception, computer and
intelligence panels.  He collects his tricorder and other equipment, choosing
a hold-out disrupter rather than the larger duty weapon.  The boarding crews
should be finishing up soon, mopping up remaining resistance, collecting
prisoners and securing the vessel.  There shouldn't be any combat, but for a
shipboard intelligence officer there is no greater opportunity than the
inspection of a captured enemy vessel.  Glory takes many forms.
    Kordite exits his 'closet' and finds Lieutenant Kehlt lightly marching
down the corridor, wielding her sharp smile like a dagger.  Kehlt, the ship's
chief interrogator, is obviously on her way to begin processing the Romulan
prisoners.  Kordite smiles at her joy.
    She walks straight up to him and grabs the front of his uniform in her
fists, saying, "Dozens of Romulan prisoners, Kordite, and they're all_mine_!"
    "All_ours_, Lieutenant," Kordite replies, still smiling but disengaging
her hands.  "We can't begin the serious interrogation until after I've
completed my inspection of the Stormbird."
    Kehlt pouts.  "You just like to watch me work.  Hurry back, then.  I am
like a child with new toys to play with."
    "What is the saying?" Kordite asks.  "If you play with something long
enough you will surely break it."
    Kehlt looks thoughtful for a moment, then, tilting her head replies,
"No, not really."
    Kordite laughs out loud, bids Kehlt success and then proceeds down the
corridor towards the transporter room.
    He arrives just as the captain's voice announces that inspection crews
are to report to the transporter room.  Without pause, Kordite steps onto the
platform and orders the transporteer to deliver him to the Stormbird's
bridge.
    "The captain can claim the victory," Kordite thinks as the Dark Justice
dissolves from view, "but, for now, the _Stormbird_ is mine."

Part Two: Inspection

    Kordite materializes on the shattered Romulan bridge.  The only light
is from emergency panels, main power was lost when boarding parties
jettisoned the engine core to prevent self-destruction.  More important to
Kordite is that, in spite of the damage done during boarding, most panels are
intact.
    As Kordite's eyes quickly adjust to the dim lighting the progression of
the battle becomes evident.  Boarding parties beamed to a compartment below
the bridge.  An explosive charge blew a hole up through the floor.  The
marines followed on immediately and disruptered the bridge crew not already
killed by the boarding charge.
    A Klingon marine stands in a shadowed corner, guarding the bridge with
a disrupter in one hand and a thermal grenade in the other.  Kordite doesn't
question the weapon pointed at him when he materializes; it's the marine's
duty.
    "You have made quite a mess here, sergeant," Kordite says.
    "Thank you, sir," the Marine replies, accepting the compliment and
pointing his weapon elsewhere.
    Kordite shoves a Romulan body off a control panel and begins working.
The central computer core is shut down and volatile.  A task for a team of
technicians at a defense complex.  Kordite's portable computer has its own
power supply and code breaking programs for accessing sub-processors
throughout the ship.  Generally, these distributed systems contain non-
classified information about daily routines but oftentimes this information
is more valuable than the restricted data locked deep within the core.
    Kordite browses personnel files, sensor, communication and transporter
logs, cargo manifests, a myriad of information bits.  The details are locked
in the shut down core, but the trails left behind lead Kordite to the cargo
hold.
    Once there, Kordite retrieves an electronic notebook from a dead
Romulan.  It takes a few moments to locate the specific items, contained in a
stasis pallet, that were brought aboard while the Stormbird was within the
Empire's borders.
    Another few minutes and a lock decryption device opens the crate.
Kordite looks inside.
    Within is a humanoid female.  She has armor plates, wires, tubes and
circuits integrated into her.  She is injured but apparently reparable.  Even
though she is contained within a stasis field, Kordite is disturbed because
he knows what she is:
    Borg.

Part Three: Assessment

    "You want to _what_!?" Captain Kerge's voice rises above the
disbelieving voices of his senior officers.
    "Activating and interrogating the Borg will provide invaluable
intelligence," Kordite defends.  "An opportunity such as this cannot be cast
aside."
    Kul'ro, Chief of Security, yells, "This is madness!  A single Borg
vessel destroyed 39 Federation starships in pitched battle over a matter of
hours!  You can't tell me. . . "
    Kordite interrupts, "I will tell you that beyond the recordings from
several Klingon vessels also destroyed at Wolf 359, the Empire has received
little or no useful intelligence on the Borg.  Our Federation 'allies' have
all such information highly classified and are reluctant to share.  The
Empire knows practically nothing."
    "What little we do know," Kordite continues, "is that the Borg are a
collective intelligence connected by sub-space link.  Isolate a single Borg
from the collective and it is no more dangerous than any other prisoner."
    Kul'ro stands and roars across the table, "This Borg is a threat to
ship's security and should remain in stasis until off loaded at a defense
complex at the earliest opportunity!  I will not allow it to be activated!"
    Kordite remains seated, his voice only slightly louder than his normal
volume, "We have captured a sentient engaged in surreptitious reconnaissance
within the Empire's borders and, as such, interrogation of said sentient
falls well within my authority."
    He pulls an electronic notepad from his tunic and slides it across the
conference table towards the captain.  "The Borg's sub-space transmitter has
already been removed and an explosive device mounted in its place.  If, for
any reason, the captain decides the Borg has become a threat, these codes
will set off the charge, destroying the Borg."  Kordite turns again to
Kul'ro.  "Does that satisfy your security concerns?"
    Other officers voice protests, with Kul'ro the most vocal, but Kerge
dismisses them to speak with Kordite privately.  "You assure me there is no
risk."
    "By my honor, captain," Kordite replies.  "Without the link the Borg
cannot track this individual nor can the individual contact them.  You may
change the codes.  Give them to Kul'ro if you wish but a single Borg is no
warrior and no threat."
    Kerge looks long and hard at the electronic notebook before announcing
his decision.  "The prisoner is your responsibility.  Activate and
interrogate it but if it gets out of control I'll kill it. . . and you also."
    Kordite leaves the conference room to join Kehlt preparing for the
interrogation.

    Kehlt is intent on a monitor taking notes when Kordite enters the small
office and deposits a small device on her desk.
    "What's this?" she asks.
    "Yours, "When will we
begin the interrogation?"
    "I've already started.  I had the Borg activated just after you left
for the briefing.  Since then, except for sitting up and the occasional
turning of the head, she's been stationary."
    "Just couldn't wait, could you?" Kordite laughs, pulling up a chair.
"Tell me of your plans."
    "This Borg is separated from the collective, alone for the first time
in its existence.  Having her alone in the cell heightens that isolation.
When the time is right, we will go in there and become her new 'family.'
From there the interrogation will proceed with reward and punishment,
inclusion and isolation."
    "Your voice carries the passion of an artist," Kordite notes.  "When do
we go in?"
    Over the monitors, the Borg, stationary for so long, suddenly stands.
    "Now," Kehlt says, smiling.

Part Four: Interrogation

    When Kordite and Kehlt enter the cell, the Borg assesses them
unemotionally.  "Biological sentients.  You will be assimilated."
    "We will die before assimilation," Kehlt announces.
    The Borg responds, "Resistance is futile."
    "Futile or not, we will resist because we are Klingons," Kehlt states
proudly.  "You, however are isolated and without an identity."
    "We are Borg.  Identity is irrelevant."
    "But isolation is very relevant.  Your links have been severed.  It's
not temporary interference, it's permanent.  You are no longer part of the
collective.  You are no longer Borg."
    Kehlt has turned the Borg's attentions from the objectives of the
collective to her own situation.  Without the collective to provide direction
she is lost and confused, searching for the subspace link that provided her
identity.  Kordite watches her carefully, waiting for the signs of defeat.
    The Borg says, "We are. . . " then pauses.
    Kordite smiles and Kehlt moves forward like a friendly predator to fill
the Borg's isolation with a new presence.
    "You are not Borg.  You are an individual."  Kehlt quietly imitates the
Borg's monotone, "Augmented biological sentient.  Individuality can be
frightening and lonely.  We can help you. . . I can help you."
    Kehlt is now standing behind the Borg and, with hands on her shoulders,
directs her to sit on the chair.  "But we need to know some things first.  If
you do not help us you will continue your isolation.  You will tell us all we
wish to know and only then will you be. . . included."
    The Borg turns her head slightly, as if looking for her thoughts.  She
begins to speak, "We. . . " but Kehlt interrupts with a caress along the
exposed skin of the Borg's jawline.
    "Resistance is futile," she says huskily, "you _will_ be assimilated."

Part Five: Assimilation

    Intelligence Report, Event Synopses
        On Imperial Date 1348.043, a Romulan _Stormbird_ encountered a
    Borg scout craft in the Contuernius system within Romulan space.  The
    cloaked _Stormbird_ pursued the Borg scout, loosing contact when the
    scout utilized a transwarp subspace conduit.  Without communicating its
    intentions to Romulan Command, the _Stormbird_ followed the Borg craft
    through the conduit by means of a tachyon activation pulse.  The Borg
    craft had exited the conduit in the Klingon Rektar system and
    immediately collided with an asteroid.  The _Stormbird_ emerged soon
    after, having had its cloaking device and shields overloaded by the
    passage through the conduit.  The Stormbird salvaged what it could of
    the Borg craft, destroyed the rest and, unable to return through the
    conduit, attempted to bluff its way across the border.  The _Stormbird_
    and all its contents were captured on Imperial Date 1348.067

    Captain Kerge sets down the electronic notepad copy of Kordite's
report.  "So," he addresses the intelligence officer.  "This is everything,
then?"
    "No, sir," Kordite responds, standing before his captain's desk at a
casual attention.  "It is my opinion, and that of Chief Interrogator Kehlt,
that significant information is still contained within the Borg memory
subsystems, locked behind collective protocols.  To access that information
requires that the Borg be included in a collective.  Our collective.  If that
surrogate link can be established and reinforced, those locks should
eventually fall."
    After Kerge calmed down, he actually found himself considering his
intelligence officer's suggestion that the Borg be made part of the _Dark_
Justice's_ crew.

    Kordite enters Kehlt's quarters to find the lieutenant studying
documents on the sleeping platform while the Borg sits stationary at the
desk, a thin cable running from the side of her head into the desktop
terminal.
    "So, Kordite," Kehlt says.  "Did the captain accept another of your mad
schemes?"
    Kordite replies, "The Borg will be listed on the cargo manifest as
'spoils of war.'  She is essentially part of the ship's stores."
    "Then you should look at this," Kehlt says, handing him a printout as
he sits on the other side of the platform.
    "Is this what I think it is?" he asks after studying the document.
    "Yes," Kehlt explains.  "The Borg, by linking into the ships computer,
should be able to re-calibrate shield frequencies after each impact, reducing
the effectiveness of the next attack by a little more that the energy the
shields lost from the attack."
    "That's impressive.  It could give an assault ship like the _Justice_
the combat fortitude of a destroyer or light cruiser.  I would not have
expected the Borg to bring such honor to our vessel so quickly."
    With this, the Borg turns her head.  She disconnects her computer link
and stands, walking towards the two Klingons.
    The mechanical stiffness in her step is greatly reduced and she moves
with the more fluid motions of a young predator, hinting of future lethal
grace.
    Kehlt notices Kordite's admiring gaze and comments, "Amazing what a
little posture discipline can do, isn't it?"
    Kordite agrees.
    "What is honor?" the Borg asks Kordite.
    He looks at Kehlt in surprise, wondering what else the young officer
has been teaching.  He turns back to the Borg.  "Honor embodies the rules we
apply to ourselves to define who we are as individuals.  Honor focuses our
behavior towards an ideal.  Without honor, we are little more than puppets of
fate."
    The Borg considers this information, stationary and expressionless.
"Honor is relevant," is the conclusion.  "You are individuals.  You have
individual designations. . . "
    "Names," Kehlt corrects.
    "You have names," the Borg continues unfazed.  "I am an individual now.
I do not have a name."
    Kordite says, "There is a tradition in the Klingon navy for a newly
commissioned officer to change his name to represent his new life in service
to the Empire."
    "Tradition. . . this is honor that perpetuates?" the Borg postulates.
    "Correct.  Tradition is the vehicle by which the basics of honor are
learned."
    "Then I must choose a name."  The Borg stands imobile, consumed in
thought.  Kordite wonders how a Borg might determine a name for itself.  Can
such a creature discover its soul and be reborn, and if so, what name could
be the symbol of that rebirth?
    The Borg, after silent minutes, turns her head towards the waiting
Klingons and announces, "I have a name.  My name is Stormbird."


-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Kevin Geiselman labors as a knight errant in Pittsburgh, in his spare time
driving a delivery van for nominal payment.  His alter-ego, Lt.J.G. Kordite
tai-Tasighor, serves the Klingon Assault Group as Intelligence Officer aboard
the T-12 Assault Ship _IKV_Dark_Justice_.

Kelly Muzyczka writes and works in Pittsburgh, though she dreams of warmer
climes.  Her alter-ego, Kehlt, is Kordite's line-cousin, "Though she is like
a sister to me," he says, with a smile.

Together, they are line Master and Mistress of House Tasighor.  Their motto:
choSuvchugh DaghurneH'oy'lIj <Struggling only makes it hurt more>.
Applications for admission should be directed to:
Kevin Geiselman, 301 Overdale Rd. Pittsburgh, PA. 15221
or through Internet: [e-mail]