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A New Alliance	By : Kehlan Category: M through R > Predator Views: 2899 -:- Recommendations : 1 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own the Predator movie series, nor do I own Star Trek, nor any of the characters from either of them. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
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A few minutes after sixteen hundred hours had passed Khetara glanced at the time display on the console built into the arm of her command chair. It was not like Kehlan to be late for a meeting as important as this one. Doubtless Endeavour’s captain had simply been held up with some last minute problem, but even so, she should be here by now. It would have been courteous, Khetara thought in annoyance, for Kehlan to have let her superior know if there was a delay. Restlessly, she got up, pacing up and down the bridge as she waited. She glanced at the time again. 16:10… Her patience snapped and almost throwing herself down into her command chair, she opened a channel to the transporter room. “Where is captain Kehlan?”

Ch’Tang’s transporter operator, a seasoned veteran named Kradok, checked his console. “I do not know, General,” he reported. “She appears to be delayed. We are still waiting for the transport signal from Endeavour.”

Khetara let out an annoyed growl. “She is late. I was expecting her arrival ten minutes ago.”

Kradok started to speak but was interrupted by the inter-ship comm system crackling into life. “Ch’Tang, please acknowledge transport receipt.” The voice was that of Endeavour’s transporter operator, a young woman with a light accent that was not that of Earth.

Kradok frowned, “One moment General.” He turned his attention to the comm unit. “Unable to comply, Endeavour. The Fleet Captain has not yet beamed across.”

There was a momentary silence at the other end. “The signal was energised ten point two minutes ago. Are you saying…?” The voice trailed off into nothingness, overwhelmed by the implications.

Uncomfortably aware of the seriousness of the situation, and conscious of the open channel to his commanding officer, Kradok was already double checking the transporter log. As he’d expected, there was nothing. He’d performed the usual transporter checks himself at the beginning of his shift, had checked the calibrations. All had been as it should be. Since then, he had not left his post and could personally confirm that in the last few hours no-one had beamed on or off the ship, or even attempted to do so. “I’m saying, Endeavour,” he growled, “that since your message fifteen minutes ago, that the Fleet Captain was preparing to transport across, we have received no further communication or transport signal from you.”

A hastily muffled imprecation came from Endeavour’s transporter operator, in a Federation dialect that Kradok did not recognise. Undoubtedly though, it matched his own thoughts. Somewhere, somehow, they had managed to lose Endeavour’s captain in transport!

Taking a deep breath, Kradok turned his attention back to his superior. “General Khetara, I regret to report that Fleet Captain Kehlan appears to be missing.”

Listening to the conversation via comm. link, Khetara had already come to that conclusion. Swearing, she headed for the turbolift. Turning back momentarily she addressed her first officer, “Kreltek, the bridge is yours. Inform me immediately of any further communications from the Yautja”

“Yes General!” Her executive officer saluted smartly. Not that Khetara noticed. She was already in the turbolift and on her way down to the transporter room. Her mind was racing as she waited for the lift to reach its destination. How in the name of Kahless, she asked herself, had they managed to lose the Fleet Captain? All sorts of possibilities went through her mind. A transporter malfunction? Operator error? Sabotage? She bared her teeth in disgust at that but dismissed it almost immediately. Neither her crew nor the crew of the Endeavour would turn traitor. She would consider that possibility only when every other option had exhausted itself.

Never patient at the best of times, Khetara was about to order the turbolift computer to increase speed when the lift came to a smooth halt and the doors slid open, disgorging her into the corridor just outside the transporter room. Swiftly entering the room, she found the chief engineer already there, conferring urgently with the duty transport operator.

Khetara approached them. "WHERE is Captain Kehlan?"

The chief engineer, a Terran woman named Jordan, who had originally come aboard as part of an officer exchange programme and ended up staying, looked up from the padd she was studying. "General, she is not on the Endeavour, or the Ch’Tang. We’ve been going through the logs Endeavour sent over. Their transporter signature clearly indicates she was sent here... except she never arrived."

Khetara listened carefully as her officers continued their explanation and then made up her mind "I am going over to the Endeavour. Jordan, you’ll come with me, I will require your assistance."

She hit her com badge. “Have my shuttle readied. The transporters are to remain offline until further notice."

Still giving orders, she left the transporter room and hurried towards the landing bay, moving at a fast pace that was almost, but not quite, a run. Efficient as always, her pilot and her security chief were waiting for her and settling herself in the co-pilot’s seat, she gave the order to take off. It was a very short journey from Ch’Tang to Endeavour and as the great shuttle doors slid open, allowing the tiny shuttle to slip out into the vast blackness of space, the Nebula class starship was clearly visible half a qellcam off Ch’Tang’s port side. The Predator ship was out there somewhere as well, Khetara knew, although it remained cloaked, undetectable to their ship’s sensors. Even so, as she looked out the shuttlecraft window, Khetara fancied she could see a faint spatial distortion, a slight shimmer of stars that did not look quite right. She was not however, given to flights of fancy, and shaking her head, she dismissed the thought as irrelevant. Half a qellcam was a very short distance and the shuttle was already pulling into Endeavour’s main shuttle bay.

The moment the General’s feet touched the floor of the shuttle bay, the shrill pipe of a ship welcoming a flag officer aboard sounded and in no mood for the unnecessary fripperies the Federation were so fond of, she held up a hand to silence it.

“You know why I am here,” she told the waiting officers. “Your captain has gone missing in transport. I intend to get to the bottom of this and have brought my own engineer and security chief to assist with the investigation. You may rest assured, we WILL find Captain Kehlan.” Her tone made it very clear that any other outcome was unacceptable.

Waiting in the transporter room, the duty officer was in a state of near panic. A new graduate, she had considered herself incredibly lucky to get a starship assignment as her first posting – and not just any starship, but the flagship of the Rapid Response Fleet. Her friends had been envious of her. It was a prestigious position and there had been a lot of competition for it. Reality of course, had not lived up to the hype. Transporter duty was easy, routine, boring even. You turned up for your shift, you did the calibration checks and if someone wanted to transport, you entered the coordinates, pressed a few buttons and they were on their way. Simple, really! What you WEREN’T supposed to do was lose your captain in transit! More than once, she had wished for a little excitement, something out of the ordinary to spice things up a little. Well, she’d got what she’d wished for and she didn’t like it at all.

The young Bajoran bit her lip nervously as the Klingon General stalked into the transporter room, followed by Endeavour’s chief engineer, a big, intimidating Klingon named Qeytok and a slender, dark haired Terran woman that she did not recognise, but who she guessed from the insignia, must be Ch’Tang’s chief engineer.

Khetara studied the young woman standing in front of her, noting her youth and obvious nervousness. “What is your name, Ensign?”

The ensign came to attention. “Chalan Bennya, sir.”

Khetara bit back an annoyed growl. One thing she had in common with the missing captain was a dislike of being called ‘Sir’. The alternative ‘ma’am’ was in her book, just as bad, if not worse. She much preferred to be addressed by her rank. “Well, Ensign Benn…” She stopped, belatedly remembering that Bajorans put their family name first and given name second. “Ensign Chalan,” she corrected herself, “Tell me what happened.”

Realising that she had managed to annoy the Klingon General and not sure why, the young Bajoran swallowed uncomfortably and looked down at her feet before replying. “General, I…” She seemed to find her courage then, looking up resolutely and meeting Khetara’s gaze. “Fleet Captain Kehlan came in and asked to be beamed to Ch’Tang. I checked the calibration, entered the coordinates Ch’Tang sent me and then energised the beam.” Her voice trembled a little as she continued, “Everything was normal. The captain dematerialised and I waited for Ch’Tang to acknowledge. When they didn’t, I sent a query and… and… they said she never got there.”

Khetara nodded thoughtfully. The ensign’s account matched that of her own transporter operator. Thinking for a moment, she gestured to the two senior engineers. “If the computer records show that everything is normal, they are either falsified or in error. Kehlan is not here, nor is she on board my ship. I want answers! Tear the system apart if you have to. Do whatever it takes to find out what happened. In the meantime, until she is found, there will be no unauthorised traffic into the transporter rooms or other vital areas of either Endeavour, or Ch’Tang.”
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A New Alliance