The Dreadnought

Goznak Star Destroyer continued...

The admiral shook his head silently. "Let us pray to our Maker that today will not be the first time." The officer shrugged his shoulders and wit a dismissive gesture excused himself, leaving Burns to his own thoughts. Admiral Burns pulled a cigarette from his picket and lit it where he stood. Very thoughtfully, burns slowly inhaled and exhaled, his rhythmic breathing slowly taking away his stress. Burns needed time t think. Burns spun on his heels and followed the long stretched tunnels to get back to the main deck. The Goznak ship was very large with a crew of about 1500. The Admiral approached the deck doors where he paused. Did he really want to do this? Was he, the head of Starfleet command, ready to take on the challenge? The Admiral inhaled sharply and entered the doors leading to the deck. the deck of the Goznak was expansive. Burns couldn't ever remember being on a Class5 Type A Star destroyer before. The Admiral looked around at all the flashing screens, buttons and LED lights. He loved Star Destroyers. He'd always dreamed of being the captain of one. The Admiral's daydreaming was cut short when the pilot yelled, "Admiral on deck!" The Admiral nodded his head in appreciation. He enjoyed the respect. Burns turned to Captain Sho'aht. "Captain, assemble together your 1st officers, communicators and scientists. We need to have a little meeting." Captain Sho'aht acknowledged, "Right away sir." Burns turned to the pilot, who resembled a human, but wasn't. burns stated, "What planet do you come from and where does your loyalty lie?" The pilot stood up, his muscles rippling as he stood. He was tall, probably 6'8 and muscular. Burns realized this guy had more muscle than anybody he knew. The pilot spoke, his deep voice rumbling, "My name is Gorlan. I come from the planet Sathe. I am a part of the Dahklan species." Burns began choking on his cigarette. "You are from where?" Gorlan recomfirmed Burns' fear, "I am a Dahklan from the planet Sathe." Burns couldn't believe his ears. One of the best pilots in Star Fleet command was a Dahklan? Shit. Burns spoke, 'Then we'll need you in the meeting as well, Gorlan." Gorlan shifted his position, "And when is this meeting, sir?" Burns turned around as he spoke, his voice directed towards Gorlan, "Right now, in my office."

Burns' mind was aflame with nervousness and confusion. Gorlan was Dahklan? The Dahklan were the race threatening to destroy the entire Federation of Planets. Burns couldn't let that happen. But then, as he thought, the idea occurred to him: Gorlan would be nuking his own people. How would Gorlan react to that? Would he do that? The thoughts truned over in Burn's mind. What if Gorlan was a spy infiltrating UFP? Was that how the Dahklan knew how to stop the UFP starships? Burns didn't know, but he wanted to find out once and for all. Burns briskly walked to his office where everyone waited except Gorlan. Gorlan entered the office seconds later and Burns slammed the door after him. Burns turned towards the officers who whispered excitedly to one another. Burns slammed his fists down on the glass table in frustration. A spider web of cracks webbed their way across the surface of the table. Immediately the room went quiet. Burns, realizing his mistake, rubbed his sore fists. Then he spoke, "Who the hell are these people and how the hell do we blow them out of the damn sky?" the officers looked at each other and shrugged. Burns' snarled, "Are you telling me that not one of you know a damn thing about the Dahklan?" The officers once again looked at each other exasperated, wishing that someone would speak up to ease the captain's troubled mind. A voice, near the back of the room spoke up, "Actually sir, that's not entirely true." Burns peered towards the back of the room to see who had spoken. The speaker stood up from his chair. He was a slender man, about 30 years old, and very intelligent-looking. He wore the green and red uniform signifying that his man was a high ranking scientist. The scientist spoke up again, "Sir, my name is Grey Barshant and I have been studying alien races like the Dahklan for over 37 years." Burns smiled wickedly. "Oh good, then Mr. Barshant...please tell us about the Dahklan." Grey stood up a little taller as he gathered the courage to speak. "Sir, the Dahklan are a very unknown species. Not many people know of them. Many scientists have studied the Dahklan race, but most of the scientists have had inconclusive results. The Dahklna are a very odd species of aliens who live on the planet Sathe, far beyond the reaches of Star Fleet research, deep into Neutral territory." Burns rolled his eyes in annoyance, "Is anybody going to tell me something I don't know about the Dahklan?" There was lots of unaudible murmurings amongst the scientists and the officers. After that there was a silent lull except for a scrawny officer kicked back in his chair. Burns turned to face the officer, "What were you saying, officer?" the officer's head immediately snapped to attention. "Who, me sir?" Burns retorted back, "Yes you, officer. "What were you saying?" The officer slunk even more into his chair, his head bowed, as he realized the severity of the consequences for talking back to a high-ranked official. Nevertheless, the officer spoke up: "I was only suggesting that the most experienced of us all should speak. Don't you think that Gorlan, who is actually a part of the Dahklan species should educate us on this issue?" All the heads of the people in the meeting turned spontaneously to where Gorlan sat. Burns sighed and flicked his cigarette into a nearby cigdepot. The cigdepot made a whirring noise as the cigarette was squished and extinguished in the process. Burns' attention too focused on Gorlan who sat on the opposite side of the now cracked oval glass table. Gorlan quickly leapt to his feet, keeping his balance despite the forward momentum of the accelerating ship. A rumbling voice emanated from deep within his chest: "I would gladly disclose secret information about my race, on one condition." Burns spoke slowly and coldly, dread filling his heart, "And what condition might that be Gorlan?" Gorlan replied without hesitation, "As long as you give me your word that you will not destroy that Dahklan Dreadnought." Immediately, officers and scientist stood up in protest. "This is outrageous!" "How do you expect us to possibly..." Burns shouted over the din, "SHUT UP! ATTENTION, PLEASE!" Immediately the room went silent as officers settled back down into their seats. Burns made eye contact with Gorlan, who still stood at attention. "Gorlan, is this Dreadnought ship full of your friends? Is that why require this of me?" Gorlan looked away. "No sir. My family is on that ship. I cannot be the means of their death." Burns sat down in his chair for the first time during that meeting, dumbfounded. In the proceeding 10 minutes, there was a dreadful silence that filled the room as Burns thought of his answer. Finally Burns spoke up, "Fine, deal. As long as that Dreadnought doesn't fire upon another one of my ships and if you will come with us, your wish will be granted." Gorlan looked up with relief, "Thank you sir..." Burns stopped Gorlan mid-sentence, "Please save the pleasantries for some time after an alien species isn't threatening to annihilate the entire UFP." Despite the cold feeling of dread in the room, Gorlan chuckled. "Yes sir, absolutely." Burns continued, "Okay, please tell us your irigins and why your family wants to destroy UFP." Gorlan spoke, "Yes sir. I'll begin at the beginning." He paused before continuing, "The Dahklan are a very different species than normal alien races, as you might have guessed. The Dahklan began when we were created through a scientific experiment led by the man you know as James T. Kirk. The first Dahklan, Dock, was created by Bones himself. Dock was injected with a serum which heightened his senses: his brain, his body, his emotional state, and most of all his intellect. Kirk wanted Dock to resemble Spock because he missed his old friend. Kirk was so happy with Dock, his genetic creation, that he decided to make a whole crew of Dahklan. Unfortunately, Kirk created Flacco. Flacco decided to make himself a ruler over the Dahklan experiments. Without Kirk knowing. Kirk was happy with his creations, the Dahklan. We were made to be physically strong and mentally aware of everything. Our brains were made to compute 254 times faster than Spock's. We, Dahklan pretty much know everything told to us. Our brains are literally storage space. That's why Flaacco wanted to understand why he was perfect. He couldn't understand what perfect was, because it wasn't a logical thought. Kirk explained to Flacco that he was more superior than anybody he'd ever seen. That's when Flacco begin getting ideas. He logically thought that if he was superior, he didn't need to follow orders; he would be the one to give them. So one day, he gathered up my family and attacked Kirk and Bones. Kirk and Bones barely escaped with their lives. Kirk was frightened what Flacco would do, so he captured all of my family, stuck them in an escape pod and banished us to the planet Sathe. Flacco immediately began preparing for war against Kirk. Some years later, the Dahklan were smart enough to reproduce. That was about the time that I was born on Sathe. I grew up on absolutely nothing. Sathe is a desolate planet with very little resources. Flacco knew he needed some way to get off the planet before they ran out of resources. I hated Flacco. He never understood. Kirk had never done anything wrong to him. So, I was banished from the planet Sathe, never to return. I was thrown into space, to float away until I died. Fortunately, I was thrown into Klingon territory. I was picked up by a Klingon Trade ship which almost got shot down in sector 5. I expected the UFP to freak and they did. I was bought, like a slave, by Captain Sho'aht from the Klingons and I have been serving as an officer on the Goznak ever since. As for the Dreadnought, I believe that would be Flacco's means of transportation. He wants revenge on James T. Kirk." Burns leaned back in his chair, Gorlan's story sinking in. then he spoke, "And how is that supposed to explain our ships losing power when coming near the Dreadnought." Gorlan replied, "Easy sir. You see, the Dahklan understand the laws of physics and we are able to physically control some elements with our mind, ISO is...." Gorlan replied in a steady one, "Every ship in the United Federation of Planets runs on a fuel called ISO fuel. But the Dahklan can control the molecules of ISO to slow down, basically freeing the fuel in place. Like this." Gorlan closed his eyes and immediately red emergency lights flashed and alarms blared. The ship rocked as the engines belched out and died. Gorlan opened his eyes and as if on cue, the engines roared back to life. The ship began accelerating again as before. Burns snarled, "Don't do that ever again, without my consent." Gorlan smiled. Burns retorted, "So how do we get past this ISO fuel crap?" Gorlan spoke up, "I suggest you use an alternative fuel, sir. Like gasoline. Gasoline is old enough that the Dahklan cannot control it." Burns looked confused. "Gasoline? But gasoline hasn't been used in ages." Gorlan remarked, "yes sir, although I do believe there is a single ship under UFP command that uses gasoline rather than ISO fuel." Burns looked up, excitement in his eyes. "And what ship would that be Gorlan?" Gorlan cleared his throat and then spoke, "That would be the U.S.S. Enterprise sir."