Phaser Fire

Posted on Wed Jan 14th, 2026 @ 10:25pm by Lieutenant Kestra Ral & Lieutenant Dezkar Veen

2,004 words; about a 10 minute read

Mission: Children of the Stars
Location: Phaser Range
Timeline: current

Dez walked through the doors at the Phaser Range, setting his standard-issue hand phaser on the counter. The officer behind the desk turned it over, checking the ID tag and safety settings before logging it into the console. His eyes scanned Dez for a brief moment as if analyzing him before sliding the weapon back.

“Lane A-22 is open, Lieutenant. No Security drills scheduled until 1400 hours. You’re clear,” said the officer.

Dez nodded, retrieving his weapon. As he walked down the corridor, the phaser fire lit up the various range laneways. Most of them appeared to be occupied by off-duty security personnel honing their skills. At least, he assumed as much. Though periodic re-certifying was standard procedure, he knew for a fact that non-tactical related positions weren’t required to maintain regular range time. He liked to keep up on his skills, though. Not just for practical reasons, but he found it somewhat relaxing. It kept his mind sharp, which was a requirement for an Engineer. He could only study so many technical manuals before he had to get out and do something active.

Reaching his designated lane, he logged into the terminal, setting his hand phaser on the prep bench next to the lane control. Tapping the console, it spat back its typical tones as he prepared the targeting sequence for his round. Retrieving his weapon, movement in the lane next to him caught his eye. He acknowledged the officer in the next lane over with a nod.

“Morning,” he said casually.

Kestra nodded back “Good morning.” She gave him a smile before turning back to the target.

She had spent most of yesterday looking for those ugly alien creatures that had gotten loose from the science lab. She still wasn’t sure how they had gotten on the ship in the first place. It had been her hope by coming here, she could clear her head and come up with a better plan.

Just hunting them down with her cat wasn’t enough. Savage, her Bengal cat was little wild and temperamental but he had managed to kill one of the creatures in the Jefferies tubes. Kestra took aim and fired at the dots that appeared as targets. There was a small series of beeps before her scores came back.

She had managed to hit most of them. At least this wasn’t a test she thought as she bit her lip. It would have been her first D. Kestra rolled her eyes. She would do a lot better if the darn targets didn’t move!.

Dez watched his neighbor out of his periphery, hearing the chime from his own targets as they began to move and whir. He let them modulate for a moment, eyeing them with scrutiny. Their pace quickened until, with a fluid movement, he drew his phaser from its holster and sent several well-timed blasts downrange. The targets ceased to move, spitting his results back.

Walking to the side console, Dez tapped the interface. “Hmm. Not bad,” he said under his breath. “Could be better.” He looked up at the woman in the range next to him again, noting the color of her shoulder strap. “Sciences?” he said. It was a question.

Kestra nodded with a smile “Was it my score that gave me away?” then she dark eyes glanced at her shoulder “Or the strap? I would guess my score. But you did have a 50/50 chance of getting it right by the color “ She laughed lightly joking at how bad she was at hitting the targets. Since he was clearly one of the new officers she introduced herself.

“Kestra Ral chief of the Science department.” She had learned not to hold her hand out to greet a humans. Most humans seem to fear touching Betazoids.

“I have been trying to learn this” she waved a hand to the targets. “For the away missions. It would have been handy a few times.” Kestra cocked her head to the side, letting her eyes wander over him. “Operations, so you could be engineering, R&D, or security?”

Dez laughed lightly. “Not your score,” he replied. “Just an…observation. I ain’t one to pick fun. Mostly.” He engaged the safety lock on his phaser and stuffed it back into his drop-leg holster. Not standard issue, but he had his preferences. “Engineering,” Dez responded. “Dez Veen, Chief Engineering Officer. Dez is fine, though. Pretty new here, I guess. Apparently still meetin’ fellow Department Heads—if this chance meeting is any indication.”

Dez crossed his arms, looking at his own score. “I know the standards are pretty loose for folks like you and me, but I like to stay sharp. Been in a fair number of scrapes myself, so this is a skill I see value in. Good for the mind anyway.”

Kestra nodded, “I spent most of my career on different star bases. So no real need for weapons training. It was always work, reports, gym and taking care of the arboretum and hydroponics. But every so often an odd creature would be dropped off.” She snapped her fingers, “Speaking of odd creatures. We found one in the lab. Some how it got out and it reproduced. They aren’t showing up on standard scans. I did notice while I was trying to catch one in the Jefferies tube they have been nibbling on the ship.”

Dez stopped. His eyes rested on the woman across the laneway. “Wait. Creatures nibblin’ on the ship? You’re kiddin’ me, right?” he said. A sigh escaped. Just when he thought things seemed to be going well—better than he’d expected, actually. Creatures. Perfect. He observed the Science Officer, trying to see if she was attempting to be funny, or if this was something he actually had to look forward to. Something told him that it wasn’t a failed attempt at a joke.

“Oh I wish.” Kestra nodded “they are ugly too. It was kinda odd. I was getting these headaches and kept checking my medical scans then I looked into what should have been an empty animal enclosure. At first it looked like the little blue fluffy creature I brought on the ship with me. Only Lieutenant Wallace Wilson my assistant said it was the ugliest thing he had ever seen. So after some confusion I was able to see it the way I guess all humans can. It must mess with my Betazoid senses. I can’t pick it up telepathically. The staff was running test on it when the captain called a meeting. Then during the meeting it got away. “ She gave a shrug “I reported it and I have been hunting for it. It’s 9 inches long 5 inches tall and has teeth. The sightings have been in a few places on the ship so we are guessing 12 total. Since we have no idea what they are I am worried they might be like Tribbles. From the planet Iota Geminorum IV.” She wasn’t sure if he had heard of them.

“Oh, geeze,” Dez said, rolling his eyes. “Those little furry goblins? Hopefully they ain’t that pervasive.”

He let the moment hang. Extermination wasn’t exactly his specialty. But if these things were going to lay waste to the systems aboard, the issue would eventually boil down to him and his teams. Dez looked down-range at the unused targets as he mulled over the implications of this information.

“So, what kinds of things are they messin’ with?” Dez asked. “Not that I want to be getting’ involved in things that don’t relate to me, but this could be a headache for me if those varmints don’t get taken care of.”

Kestra eyes lite up with some mischief. She could tell he wanted no part of this. “oh nothing much just little nibbles here and there. I don’t think……” the lights flickered in the room. Then went out as emergency lighting came on. “Well, perhaps they found something they really liked.”

Dez looked around, the dim glow of the emergency lighting illuminating the range. The consoles were without power, so it indicated a main power glitch.

"Well, how about that," Dez said. "Either these critters heard you, or that is the most ironic thing I ever did see." He made his way to the back wall, tapping the control on the wall. It spit back a brittle tone, refusing to comply with his input. "Hmm. Sub-systems are feedin' power, but the interface isn't responding. Could be a glitch in the distribution matrix but also could be a physical obstruction. Like your little friends and their snacking habits."

Kestra raised an eyebrow and held up her hands. “They're not my friends. But, if it’s blocking the system with one of their bodies, then maybe it’s dead and we can study it? If we can get a lock on them, maybe we could.” She looked around the room, no one was close to over hear her. “beam them any place other than the ship.” At this point, outer space would be fine. Those things were really scary looking and so far, no one had gotten bit, but who knew what it could do.

Dez looked at her with suspicion. She seemed all too excited to get her hands on these things. His lips curled into a sideways smile. "You really want these things, huh?" he said jovially. He looked away as he considered the implications of what she'd told him. There were enough things to worry about on a ship like the Montana without pests capable of evading detection making things more difficult. "Used to be that the best thing to find little critters like this was another animal. Probably not the best tactic here though, I suppose."

Kestra chuckled “ I tried the use another animal. My cat loved the hunt but I couldn’t keep up with him in the Jefferies tubes. He did get one of them but at the rate they are reproducing that’s not going to cut it. “ she gave a little shrug “ It’s not so much getting my hands on them” she stopped and thought about it. Ok maybe the mystery definitely had her attention “ well I have a degree in Anthropology, Zoology, Biology, microbiology and exobiology. So yes I am interested.” She gave him smile. “What I want to know more is how it got on the ship in the first place and how it got out of the specimen container. That has me little worried because once you put a creature in they aren’t supposed to hop out when ever they feel like it. “

"Well, that'd be beyond me," said Dez. "Still, the hunt sounds a bit...intriguing. If I can help, I'll do it. Especially if it'll keep those guys from jamming up my engines. Don't wanna be fishing their carcasses out of any conduits or nothin'."

Kestra wrinkled her nose at the idea of those animals getting fried and messing up the ships systems.

She nodded her head. “Yeah, I probably should have gotten some help with them earlier. I thought I could calibrate the tricorder to get their biological readings and trap them. But I am way over my head on this. Perhaps we could set sounds emitters.” She gave a little shrug. “We find the right one and we might be able to keep them out of important areas of the ship. Maybe we could herd them into an area and beam them off the ship.” She gave him a smile.


"I'll get back into the Jefferies tubes while you handle the power problem." She waved her hand at the emergency lights.

With that she walked off and handed in her phaser. The deck officer smiled "scores are better than last time."

Kestra laughed and nodded before she made her way back to the science lab


Off
Lt. Dezkar Veen
Chief Engineering Officer
USS Montana

&

Kestra Ral
chief science officer
USS Montana

 

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