. Zak rolled his eyes, "Nausicaans and Gorn, two of the most aggressive species out here. So, why are you calling us?"
. "Well," the Commander answered, "We don't have many ships ... hell, any ships, like yours, sir, and ...."
. Zak interrupted him, "What about the Klingons? They're right next door!"
. "Well, see," the Commander said, "there's the problem. The Klingons think it isn't their problem and won't help the Gorn."
. Zak rolled his eyes again. "Klingons and Gorn never have gotten along, huh? So, you want us to go and retrieve this ambassador, then?"
. "Well, you'd need to find him first, sir," the Commander said. "That's sort of why I figured you could handle it. That's kind of what you guys do, right, find stuff?"
. Zak groaned. "We're not exactly up for a mission right now, Commander."
. "Commodore," the Commander urged, "the Gorn Ambassador was intended to work out some kind of compromise in the Klingon High Council. He's kind of important, and ... well, you're all we've got handy right now. Can you pull it off?"
. Zak groaned yet again. "We'll see what we can pull together. We're not at 100%, but ... we'll do what we can. Penumbra out."
. Zak switched the commlink to call Patterson, "Colonel, we have a mission, sort of. What's the status down there at Sickbay?"
. Patterson answered, "It's that damn Ivorez. There's some sort of fungus that got inside Khal'Gon's wounds ... and I think it just did something to Shadow, too. Standby."
. Zak grumbled, "Can't catch a break. Ship's a shambles, damn alien ivy infecting my crew, and now Klingon's refusing to aid their neighbor and the local commander wants us to fix their problem."