Zhau's First Impressions

Posted on Wed Oct 21st, 2026 @ 10:55am by Captain Rovak & Doctor Hlogun Sutulhar FRS, ScD, QSsD, FZMI & SubLieutenant Attania Viren & Navigator Korusca
Edited on on Wed Oct 21st, 2026 @ 10:59am

3,103 words; about a 16 minute read

Mission: Histories
Location: Starbase 51 - Gamma Quadrant
Timeline: 2395 (After 'Herding Cats')

Rovak returned from the head to the command chair, where a puzzled looking Ensign Gengall was waiting.

“Commander, I seek your attention.” Gengall requested.

“I am listening.” Rovak told him.

“A ship has just passed through the astral portal.”

“Wormhole is the preferred nomenclature in Starfleet, Ensign.”

“I understand sir. That expression means something very different in my culture.”

“Very well, do as you are comfortable with so long as none are confused. What manner of ship is it?”

“Saber-class, sir. USS Oathkeeper. A gallant vessel of war.”

“Who cleared their entry?”

“None I can discover, sir. The crew of our inferior sister station insist that no permissions were requested.”

“Open a channel.” Rovak instructed, taking his seat, and looking to the main viewscreen.

“USS Oathkeeper this is Commander Rovak of Starbase 50. You have not received clearance to enter the Gamma Quadrant.” Rovak announced in as commanding a voice as he could muster.

The screen flickered, and an Andorian in a green collar appeared. His collar told all that he was a Colonel in the Starfleet Marine Corps. His hair was buzzed short and his face did not seem like the kind that moved often. Rovak imagined he would have known the man was a marine, even without the uniform.

“This is Colonel Zhau of the 17th Mechanized infantry. We have a shipment of crew for the station.” The marine spoke, his face giant on the viewscreen. He was too close to the viewer.

“Colonel you did not have the necessary clearances to cross into Gamma Quadrant. This represents a violation of our treaty with the Dominion and is-“ Rovak began, but was cut off by the Colonel.

“Treaties are your responsibility Lieutenant Commander, not mine. Besides, the Saber class doesn’t explicitly qualify as a capital ship. I suggest you read up on your technical manuals if you’re going to be correcting people.” Zhau sneered through the viewer.

“Your flagrant disregard of our agreement with the Dominion aside, you have violated all the basic protocols of embarking and inter-quadrant travel procedure.” Rovak chided.

“If I’m short on the handshakes and waves goodbye it’s because time is a factor. I have three of your department heads waiting to beam aboard. But we can head back to the Alpha Quadrant and wait until DS9 get their thumbs out of their asses.”

“I had no more department heads scheduled to arrive today.” Rovak felt a tinge of surprise.

“No. You didn’t. I found them.”

“Under whose instruction?”

“Colonel Zhau!” Captain Velt’s roar came from the back of the CIC. He could get quite loud when he wanted to.

“Suthrik you old dog, thank the goddess you made it. How’s the Alpha Quadrant?”

“Just the way you left her, sir. I got you a couple of those staff you asked for, and I’m heading back now to get a few more. Your XO was just about to give me a caning for not stopping in at DS9.”

Velt laughed, putting an arm around Rovak’s shoulder as he reached the command chair. “Don’t worry about him, Colonel. You know Vulcans.”

Rovak found that remark insulting.

“I do. Where do you want the crew?

“Send them straight here if you could. I can’t stay long, just wanted to see you before you went back. How’s your wife?”

“Cold, and on Andoria. Just the way we both like it.”

Velt laughed again, heartily. “Good man. I’ll see more of you when you return.”

“I look forward to it, Captain.” Zhau’s face disappeared from the screen. Rovak couldn’t help but be struck by the smugness of the marine. Also, the Captain’s reception to him.

“I was not aware we were receiving additional department heads today, sir.” Rovak said.

“No, I had Zhau see what he could dig up. I thought he’d come up as empty as you, to be honest.”

“Wherever Colonel Zhau found these additional crew, they were not in the pool of available candidates available to me.”

“You sound annoyed, Rovak. We’ve got more crew, what’s the problem?”

“I do not experience annoyance, sir. But I do not understand why you would give duties also assigned to me to a Marine in the Alpha Quadrant.”

“Colonel Zhau will be commanding the 17th from Starbase 50. Did I not tell you that?” Velt looked as though he believed he did.

“Not to my recollection, sir.” Rovak felt like glaring at the captain. He resisted the urge.

“Well, it’ll all be under control soon, don’t you worry. Must be off, I’ve left Gul Viraal with my wife for nearly twenty minutes now.” The Captain had begun to leave as he spoke, and left without another word.

Rovak watched him go with consternation. As if to compound his concerns, three officers beamed in only a few feet from him. A Vulcan in a pilots uniform, a human in a turban and a Tellarite he had met before appeared in front of him. A moment later, the Cardassian he knew as Brade Ilanka joined them. He let out a sigh, and stood to greet them.

---

SS Réalta - Deep Space - Gamma Quadrant
Later that day

"Of course by that time, most of the deck had filled with water. It was pouring in, through the walls, though the ceiling. Somehow it was actually more unnerving that we were in orbit of Nepenthe at the time. Of course this was before we even knew that the AI was responsible." Hlogun continued, realizing that he was bordering on a ramble.

"Water is an inconvenience in large volumes, yes?" Korusca asked, leaning forward, quite fascinated by the tale so far.

"When you're in a roomful of it, yeah. Very inconvenient." Hlogun explained. He didn't mind explaining the details to Korusca, there was nothing truly annoying about him, just an insatiable curiosity, and a lot of gaps to fill.

"So anyway, we -" Hlogun was thrown forward, as was the entire craft.

Luka slammed into the back of the rather comfortable chair he had been sitting in, grateful he hadn't been standing.

They were about ten minutes out of the wormhole, still ten minutes away from Starbase 51 at impulse speed. The ship rocked forward, then stopped dead. The lights remained on, but the ship would not move.

"Everybody alright?" Hlogun asked, standing up. He had a cut on his hands from where the bottle he was holding smashed, and he seemed to have landed on his face when thrown forward. His nose was bleeding.

Korusca was sitting upright on the sofa still, his contact suit having locked up at the sudden impact.

The doctor nodded, cluelessly surprised expression on his features. "... I believe so."

"We're caught in a tractor beam." Attania announced from the front of the Réalta's bridge, in lieu of a description of her condition.

"Friendly?" Hlogun asked, with something resembling panic creeping into his features. He remained stoic, in spite of it.

"No idea. They're hailing us." Attania said as best she could with the readings available to her.

"Put them through." Hlogun instructed. A large, blue face, sitting too close to the viewer appeared. He was a Starfleet Marine, aboard a Starfleet vessel. It looked like a Saber-class bridge.

"This is Colonel Suthrik Zhau of Starbase 51. Cut your engines or you will be fired upon." The Marine threatened without a trace of humor.

"Whoah, whoah whoah, there buddy. I'm a Federation citizen. You fire on me and you and the rest of your flatfoot marines'll be stamping license plates in New Zealand before day's end." Hlogun said, somewhat bolstered by the fact that it was Starfleet on the other end. He knew how to argue with Starfleet.

"Cut your engines." Zhau repeated.

Hlogun gestured to Attania to do it.

"Identify yourself." Zhau commanded.

"I'm Doctor Hlogun Sutulhar of the Sutulhar Foundation. This is my pilot, Attania, and Lieutenants Korusca and Mahone. We're giving them a lift to your illustrious station. Where I assume it's not standard procedure to fire on unarmed civilian ships." Hlogun responded.

"You will all be beamed aboard for blood scans." Zhau instructed.

"I shouldn't have to tell an Andorian this, but chill, Colonel. Open a channel to Starbase 51. Rovak is expecting us." Hlogun said, in as conciliatory a tone as he was capable of.

"We will contact Starbase 51 once we've confirmed you are who you say you are." Zhau told him.

"I am Doctor Hlogun Sutulhar of the United Federation of Planets and we will not be taken from my ship against our will. Raise shields." He instructed Attania, who did as she was told with all the necessary speed.

"Lower your shields or we will lower them for you. You will not receive another warning."

"Lower this, you blue bastard." Hlogun stuck his middle finger up at Zhau, and started towards the back of the room. "Keep him busy, Mahone. I've gotta go do something." He pressed an indentation on one of the panels, which made it recede. Hlogun ducked beneath it, and stood up. Only his legs below his waist were visible, but he was still there. He was in the walls, and by the sounds of things he was fiddling with something.

"Lieutenant," Zhau said to Mahone, "Instruct them to lower their shields."

"I can... give it a shot, but I don't think he's going to say yes after saying no so much." Luka glanced between Zhau and Hlogun, frowning at the both of them. Neither seemed the type to back down, and if they did, the doctor would have felt more optimistic about this. As it stood, he felt like he was about to get shot out of the sky, or court martialed because he was sitting on the ship of someone who had flagrantly disregarded what seemed like a Federation command. But he wasn't so sure this was a Federation command. As far as he knew, procedure didn't dictate that the in order to get themselves on the station, they had to go through a grumpy, Andorian Marine who looked like he needed a nap.

Half-heartedly, Luka called back toward Hlogun. "He looks really angry."

"Of course he's angry, he's a marine." Hlogun responded, knowing it wasn't a particularly useful thing to say. But he needed his technical skills more than he needed his wits at the moment.

"I am ordering you to lower the shields, Lieutenant. Use force if necessary." The Marine commanded, growing further more agitated.

Luka frowned at the pair of them, though his expression was directed more at Colonel Zhau. He may not have been well-versed in authority between Marines and Starfleet Officers, but the doctor wasn't about to butt in and order people around on a civilian vessel because a pushy, green-shirted authoritarian said so. "I can't do that, Colonel. I don't mean to disobey your order, but I'm not... equipped to use force."

Helplessly, Luka turned toward Korusca, before a thought occurred to him, and he zeroed in a much more determined look at the Marine once more. He projected his voice just loud enough for both parties to hear, in the hopes that there would be some compromise on both ends. "Colonel, I believe you'll find that Mr. Sutulhar is telling the truth, at least on the grounds that I am who he says I am and he is who he says he is. You should have access to personnel files on who's supposed to be coming aboard, at least in the way of blood types and basic body scans. I can't vouch for Mr. Sutulhar's willingness, but you should be able to scan for a human biosign that matches my signature, yes?"

"Scanners have proven ineffective in the past in the case of changeling infiltration. I believe that may be the Colonel's concern." Korusca said calmly, still seated, fascinated but unbothered by the events and their escalation.

"Lieutenant Korusca, I am ordering you to lower the vessel's shields if Lieutenant Mahone is unwilling. Note that I will be referring both of you for court martial if this order is not obeyed." Zhau growled.

"I will not, sir." Korusca responded, as casually as though he was declining an extra serve of a meal.

Colonel Zhau looked as though a blood vessel might explode. The hailing frequency closed, then, and the viewscreen returned to the view of the Oathkeeper, the Saber-class vessel that threatened them.

"Mahone, what's their registry number?" Hlogun called out from his crawlspace in the wall. He would have asked Attania, but with the limited time available he expected he'd have to explain what the NCC prefix code registry was and why he needed it. She was frustrating like that, even in an emergency.

"Uh..." Luka squinted first at Zhau before looking out the nearest window. If he was of a more sound mind, he would have asked why that was necessary. "N...CC-... 61992?"

"They're powering weapons!" Attania announced.

"Not today they're not." Hlogun drawled, slamming the interface he'd been interfering with back into it's housing, once he'd entered the Oathkeeper's registry code. There was a horrible sound from the top of the craft, a sort of high pitched whir that lasted only a moment. On the viewscreen, a wave of barely visible energy cascaded towards the Oathkeeper, dissipating soon after it passed. It seemed to buffet the vessel, whose lights and engines died. There was a slight tremor on the ship as the tractor beam disengaged.

"Tractor beam released." Attania followed up.

"I should certainly hope so. That little maneuver just cost me the dorsal array. Get us to the station." Hlogun ordered, emerging from the rear of the room. "Good hustle, tin man. Keep it stoic." Hlogun commended Korusca, patting his hand on the Lieutenant's shoulder, which he realised left a bloodied hand print. Hlogun pulled his hand back and hoped nobody else noticed. "You too, kid. Most of the medical officers I know would've pissed their pants before saying no to somebody like him."

"Thank... you?" Luka gave Hlogun a quizzical look, eyes catching on the flash of red on Korusca's containment suit. "... Mr. Sutulhar, are you alright?"

"Hmm?" He said, feigning ignorance, before realizing it probably couldn't be maintained. "No, mate, no. Just a fleshwound. He moved to an auspicious panel next to the main bar, it's precious contents locked behind transparent forcefields that made it look as though the vast and frankly, dangerous collection of liquor was floating. He bumped it with his elbow, and when it opened, he held his hand under a nozzle spraying dark green, spicy smelling liquid. He tried not to wince, in vain. He removed his hand from the first aid panel and it sealed itself silently, with only a characteristic hiss as the panel finally snapped into it's housing. The blobs of green liquid that remained on his hand dribbled across the surface of his skin to the cuts, where they sank and began to scab.

"I know it's not Starfleet Medical approved, but this blacksand algae'll be what they're stocking your medbays with in ten years time. I guaran-damn-tee it. He held his hand up to the doctor, it had already formed a fuzzy dark green crust. "Just so you don't get all hippocratic. Fine, see?"

"... I find myself in awe of your advancements yet again." First, it was sheer existence of a ship like the Réalta, and now this super-algae, which had bandage-like properties, and seemed to do the job faster than a dermal regenerator. "I may have questions about this when we've straightened everything out, if you don't mind."

"Sure. Swing by the offices later. We're on Upper Alpha, I think." Hlogun explained, moving to the front of the vessel, to lean on the back of Attania's seat with his elbow.

Starbase 51 grew larger before them as they journeyed towards it at full impulse. "Starbase 51, this is SS Réalta. Are we clear to proceed for docking?" Attania asked, obviously jumpy at the idea of yet more Starfleet officers.

"But of course!" Said the grandiose voice of Ensign Gengall. "All the greetings of the Gamma Quadrant to you, small science vessel. You are expected." The channel closed.

"We got the schematics on file, Tan?" Hlogun asked his employee.

"Um.. somewhere, yes." She responded, sorting through the database for the file as the ship's autopilot systems brought it in to dock.

"Good. Beam us to the XO's office. We should have a couple of minutes to explain before the blue man in green shows up. Assuming he hasn't had a conniption." Hlogun said.

"Energising." Attania said.

With a swirl of blue energy, Hlogun, Luka and Korusca disappeared and reappeared in the First Officer's office on Starbase 51.

Rovak looked up from his work, to the three men standing there. "Lieutenant Mahone. I see you have found Lieutenant Korusca. And Mister Sutulhar. I am Commander Rovak." He stood up from his seat and moved around the desk.

"That's Doctor Sutulhar, thank you very much." The Elasian-Irishman interrupted.

Luka seemed absolutely relieved the moment he appeared in the office, smile returning and bright disposition renewed. "Hello Commander. It's been quite a journey-"

"Commander, Colonel Zhau wishes to speak with you. His fury seems to know no bounds." The voice of Ensign Gengall interrupted once more.

Rovak narrowed his eyes at Hlogun. "What did you do?"

"He did start it. These two will back me up on that. Threatened to fire on us if we didn't beam aboard for blood screenings. So I somewhat disabled the Oathkeeper. Nothing too severe, just a reboot so we could slink away. If anything I showed saintlike restraint." Hlogun explained, appearing to feel no guilt whatsoever about having disabled a Starfleet vessel, however temporarily.

"Is this true?" Rovak asked Mahone and Korusca.

Luka's smile turned sheepish. "..... Ah... yessir."

"I see. Then I will deal with this. I am sorry we do not have more time for introductions, but I will ask you both to please tend to your duty stations. The internal navigation database is still experiencing issues, but other staff should be able to guide you to where you need to be. Thank you for being here." Rovak said with a nod.

Korusca made no gesture, and turned for the door.

Luka looked from the Vulcan to the now retreating Medusan, and back to Rovak, before letting out a "Yessir," and shuffling off into the abyss of his new assignment. Hopefully it wouldn't take him that long to get to the Medbay...

 

RSS Feed