Which Is Worse

Posted on Tue Jul 22nd, 2025 @ 11:14am by Captain Michael Murphy & Lieutenant Commander Steve Ryan & Lieutenant Kestra Ral

1,855 words; about a 9 minute read

Mission: Maintaining the Status Quo
Location: En route to Janus VI

The Montana is on the way back from the distress call, which ultimately had only two survivors.

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ON:

Captain Murphy was headed to Sickbay. Head Nurse Boudreaux had requested him. She hadn’t sounded happy. He had already asked his XO to meet him there.

As Steve turned the corner almost at sickbay, met with the Captain.

"Synchronized huh?" He tried to smile even if being summoned up in sickbay isn't all fun.

"All the great Captains and XOs are," Murphy smiled back.

"After you" he said, as he let the door slid open and waited for Murphy to enter the medical area before following him right after.

Head Nurse Boudreaux met them near the entrance, putting her hands on her hips. Between that and the glare she was giving Steve and Murphy, it was pretty clear that she was upset. "Captain, Commander, let me state for the record and in your presence that I am denying Mr. Fudd any further medical care and I would like him out of my Sickbay."

Behind her, Harry could be seen going through various drawers and examining the equipment he was finding. He looked around briefly, and slid something he had found into one of his many pockets.

Murphy had been about to correct her that the Chief Medical Officer, or in the case of the Montana the Acting Chief Medical Officer, would be the one to claim ownership of Sickbay and deny patients care, but he could tell that she was standing on business and quibbling over that would be unpleasant for the Captain.

"Geneviève," Murphy used her first name hoping it would help calm her, "I know he's a bit much. Can we help with him?"

"Head Nurse Boudreaux, if you please," she replied, seeming more annoyed now. "He won't even sit still and allow himself to be scanned. And I don't have time to hear any more of his stories."

The XO peeked behind Genevieve’s back to see the mess Mr. Fudd was creating. He rolled his eyes in desperation and flipped open his communicator.

“Ryan to Security”
“Lieutenant Smith here, sir”
“Mr Smith, send a security detachment in sickbay, we have a guest that needs to be taken care of…”

Just shy of a couple of minutes a security detachment of two officers showed up and immediately understood the situation without even the need for Michael or Steve to explain it. They scrambled behind the head nurse and positioned themselves shoulder to shoulder close to the civilian, making him suddenly stop whichever mess he was creating.

“Mr Fudd” the XO interrupted “What are you exactly doing?” he asked, hands clasped behind his back.

"Commander!" he said, grinning. "To what do I owe the pleasure? I was simply conducting a quality control inventory in order to repay you for your assistance."

"We have ...procedures...for that" Steve replied.
"Please, have a seat and start telling me why you departed before we gave you clearance" he questioned him.

For the first time since they had met him, Harry frowned as he sat down. It quickly vanished and was replaced by a forced smile. "There must be some misunderstanding. I thought you left my ship because we had the clearance to leave."

Steve grinned "I clearly told you not to, just to avoid your...misunderstandings..." He gathered a PaDD from an officer and recalled some information from it.

"You know, we got a list of what was present in the engines of the Athena and that could bring you on detention for some time"

Harrah's smile faded again. "I'm certain I have no idea what you're talking about. Perhaps my engineers could have explained it, had they not tragically perished. I'm not very good with technical things, you know."

The smile on Ryan didn't fade.
"No worries there will be plenty of time to explain or find an explanation of some sort. Also, my Ops officer noticed some anomalies in the Athena's registry and possibly in your ID as well. No need to ask engineering for some explanation for your identity, don't you think?"

He snapped his fingers to the security detail, who then snapped to attention and shouldered Fudd.

"Until we deliver you to Starfleet these two will be your bodyguards and since we have no room in this tiny vessel, I am sorry but you will be assigned a brig"

“Commander, you can’t…I mean…” Fudd sputtered. “Captain, you can’t let him do this!” At that, Fudd was already out of sight, on his way to the brig.

“Good work, Steve,” Murphy said. “Let’s get to the Bridge, we should be almost back to Janus VI.”

With a smile the XO nodded and trailer the captain to the bridge.

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[Montana Bridge]

As they arrived to the Bridge, they heard “Entering Janus system. Klingon vessel detected in orbit at Janus VI.”

“Go to yellow alert,” Murphy replied. The yellow lighting came on, and the alarm that went with it began sounding. “Is it the same ship? Is it Krenn?”

“Aye, Captain,” came the answer.

Commander Ryan frowned at the presence of the Klingons.
"Do we hail them?" He asked.

“I suppose,” Murphy answered. “Although I’m not sure how much more talking they’ll be willing to do.”

The COO tapped a few commands on the console and the comm link was easily established when the face of the Klingons captain showed up on the view screen.

Murphy stood calmly in front of his chair. “Krenn.”

The Klingon smiled, “You remembered.”

“I did,” Murphy said. “I did you that courtesy, now I’d like you to do me a courtesy and leave here.”

“I don’t think so,” Krenn replied. Murphy didn’t like how calm Krenn was being. It was as if he had the upper hand. But he was the one trespassing and stealing.

As the two captains were speaking, a beep notified the XO of an incoming transmission.

Muting the Klingons out, Steve reported "captain, transmission incoming from Starfleet Command.”

“It must be a response about the next batch of colonists,” Murphy said. “Let the Klingons know we’ll call them right back.”

As soon as Ryan notified the Klingons vessel of the hiccup, promptly answered by a snort and a growl, he popped the Starfleet Command through.

As soon as the communication link with Klingons dropped, the one with started command started. On the view screen, the figure of a human Admiral popped up.

"USS Montana, this is Rear Admiral Joseph Clark. I hope this message finds you well. Starfleet thanks you for your efforts involving Janus VI. A new agreement has been reached between the United Federation of Planets and the Klingon Empire, and it includes the Klingons annexing the Janus star system. Your new orders are to leave the system as soon as possible. Coordinates of the next section of space you are expected to explore are attached to this message. We here at Starfleet Headquarters are proud of you. Keep up the good work. Admiral Clark out."

The screen changed to the insignia of the United Federation of Planets.

Murphy was silent. He hadn't seen this coming.

The XO's expression was all but expressionless. His jaw almost dropped in disbelief.

"I ... " He shook his head "Sir, the Klingons are hailing us again"

He frowned ...definitely not wanting to see the grin of that Klingon captain on the view screen.

Murphy took a deep breath and let it out. Time to put his diplomatic hat on, figuratively. "On screen."

Krenn's face filled the viewscreen. He was wearing a frown. "I don't like to be kept waiting, Starfleet."

"Captain Krenn," Murphy said, smiling as well as he could muster. "My apologies for giving you and your crew a hard time. I understand we are now trespassing in your space. We will remedy that now. I hope our future encounters can be under better circumstances."

Krenn's grin was back. "I'm sure it will be, Captain. Goodbye."

The viewscreen changed back to show the bird of prey.

Murphy sighed. He figured he did well, or Krenn wouldn't have responded so well. Or maybe Krenn was too happy with the results of their standoff to care what words Murphy had chosen.

"Helm, set a course out of the system, in the direction of the new coordinates Starfleet sent." Murphy said. He looked to his XO. "When was the last time you heard of the Federation willingly conceding territory during peacetime?"

"Not recently" Steve replied "some sort of negotiation might have happened and ...here we are" he looked puzzled and worried at the same time.

"There may be something bigger going on" he concluded.

"Giving them a mine that needs new equipment, new staff, and a negotiation with the Horta to sort of make up for their loss of Praxis?" Murphy suggested.

Steve shrugged, could be a possibility
“What worries me is the way Klingon negotiate” he breathed out “I am pretty sure the Horta will become slaves”

"Let's hope the diplomats know what they're doing," Murphy said. His XO was right, they were leaving the Horta at the mercy of the Klingons. Maybe the Horta could choose to go deeper and avoid the Klingons

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[Meanwhile, in the USS Montana Science laboratory]

Kestra frowned as she looked around. Everything seemed normal. She had gone over all the equipment inventory, all the consoles, supplies and plants. Yet… it didn’t feel normal. She had gotten up early to avoid most of the people in her department. She passed the specimen containers and frown.



“Ensign, how long has this been here?” Kestra asked as she studied the creature. Her eyes darted to Harry. He was still in his container and yet…



“Oh, I am not sure, Chief. I don’t handle the Animals. My department is hydroponics. But it was here before Janus VI.” The young Ensign told her Before turning back to her work.

LT. Wallace Wilson watched her, leaning a hip on the desk. His arms folded across his chest. He was relaxed, yet Kestra picked up on his curiosity. “You know, if you told us what you’re looking for, we would help?”

She gave him a smile. She would have loved to, but she was under orders to keep her cards close to her own chest, so to speak. She gave him a slight redirection. “Do you remember when this creature was assigned here? And who has been feeding it? "

He walked closer, frowning. “No.” pulling out a PADD, he tapped a few times, but nothing showed up in the system.

Kestra nodded slowly. Interesting and she also couldn’t sense it. Pulling out her, tricorder she scanned it. Nothing and yet there it was grooming its gray fur. Why did it look like Harry her blue fuzzy critter.


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OFF:

Captain Michael Murphy
Commanding Officer

Lieutenant Commander Steve Ryan
Executive Officer

Lieutenant Kestra Ral
Chief Science Officer

 

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