The Constitution III class starship had the lines of the legends of long ago with the shine of the 25th century.  Dread hadn’t been given much time to tour the ship and see the wonders of her design up close.  As they hurtled towards a former colony, she had to smile at the little touches the designers and builders had worked into the ship.  After an extensive search, they’d found the Constitution II Douglas in a mothball yard.  While her Douglas was a new build, there were bones of the golden days of starship design that had made their way onboard.  On various decks were elements that had been framed as a reminder of the crews that had walked the corridors of the Constitution I and II class ships that had bore the Douglas name.  She soon stood outside the doors to main engineering.  This was the place where the designers and builders had leaned heavily into the look and feel of the Constitution II class.  She stepped through the massive doors and felt her heart drift towards her throat.

It was, as much as it could be, a modern adaptation of the original engineering room that had featured in many starships, including the Enterprise.  She marveled at the sleek design, nostalgic colors, and the look of it all.  It felt as if she was stepping back in time to stand with the engineers of old.  Modern displays and consoles had been smoothly installed in the older-looking designs, while the warp core had been reworked to fit as much as possible in the original design.  She had done her reading – some of the equipment was purely decorative, but the two levels and the center warp core were functional.  The intermix chamber was the chief engineer’s office, but it also held much of the original equipment in wall displays.

“Captain Dread, welcome to engineering.” Lieutenant Moore greeted her as she stepped away from a gathered group of officers, “It was an interesting choice…but we’ve all grown to like it in the short time we’ve been aboard.  I was worried it’d be a mess with the two different centuries of differences…but whoever they had in charge of their engineering design and construction must have loved the Constitution class more than their mother.”

Helena was still looking over every inch of the room, impressed with it all, “Well, their mother’s loss is our gain.  She’s a beautiful ship, Chief.”  She handed over a PADD, “Current mission specs.”

Greer read through the details, “She was built to do the job they’re asking for, captain.  I don’t see anything that’ll rattle the cage of the Douglas.” She glanced up, “We’ve dropped out of warp…must mean we’ve arrived.”

Dread moved to speak—she hadn’t expected to arrive at the colony for another hour. A beep on her badge stopped her: “Captain, to the bridge—your attention is needed.”  The yellow alert klaxon rang next, and Helena nodded to the Chief as she left.

“Report.”  She stepped into a chaotic command center as many voices and orders crossed the bridge.  Halsey turned from where he stood in the center of the bridge, and she walked to him, ignoring the noise, “What the hell is going on?”

“Fowler detected a Klingon Bird of Prey in distress.  As we dropped out of warp and hailed them, another Bird of Prey decloaked and charged weapons – targeting the other.  Atega attempted to hail them, but they refused to respond.  The original Bird of Prey hailed, audio only, and said they were a civilian crew who were holding a Starfleet Officer hostage and were in the process of negotiating his sale to the highest bidder.  This second Bird of Prey apparently is from a minor or even dismissed house…and isn’t going to pay anything…and just take them.”  He shook his head, “A third Bird of Prey dropped out of warm thirty seconds ago claiming they’ve paid for the officer and demand he be turned over.  Immediately.”

Dread stared at him, “If this is your version of a practical joke…”

He stared back at her, “Not my style.  You don’t respond well to this kind of joke, anyway.”

Helena wanted to ask him how he knew and what he knew about her, but they had a three-way tie for stupidity in the Klingon Game of What The Hell Was With Today.  Knowing the answer might befuddle her further, she asked, “Do we know who the officer is?”

Halsey pursed his lips, “I never said he was alive.”  He handed over a PADD, “They have the body of Ambrose Harris.  Sort of dead, but not really…alive.”

Dread replied, “The hell you say?  They’re joking.  There’s no way.”  He leaned over and scrolled to the part of the report she now began to read, “His body went missing a week ago from the burial site at Harris Transport.”  She pushed the PADD back into his hands, “OK, I’ll bite. Why do the Klingons have it?”

“Pandora Crawford.”