Those two spheres were built AFTER the attack on Iconia in the prime universe, If Leeta went back and killed the Iconians before they were built, I doubt they were built in the MU.
Without the Iconians, I doubt the Solanae would have built them. They would of had no reason to ... for all we know Leeta wiped them out too.
Even if they do, you've just shot yourself in the foot. Then blew it off with a shotgun. Terra is within that 20,000 LY gap. You just committed treason against the Terran Empire not to mention forcing everyone in the AQ to develop a new means of propulsion.
The Jenolan Sphere was destroyed and that's in the Delta Quadrant, a good 70,000 plus light years from the Empire. Valdez's orders were to destroy the Jenolan sphere to deny it to the enemies of the empire. The empire has control of the Solonae sphere. Sito's sectors are not safe from Valdez, he can now deploy his teams anywhere in the empire.
For all we know, the Solonae disappeared and they could still be around. Who knew Sito's data and a captured computer core were the keys to the network. Sito might have an ally right where she least expects it, Prime Trianna wants to bring Mirror Valdez down over him causing the extinction of the mirror Klingons and blockading Betazed.
How mad would Sito be if she found out Valdez had gained control of the gate network?
Post edited by theraven2378 on
"The meaning of victory is not to merely defeat your enemy but to destroy him, to completely eradicate him from living memory, to leave no remnant of his endeavours, to crush utterly his achievement and remove from all record his every trace of existence. From that defeat no enemy can ever recover. That is the meaning of victory."
-Lord Commander Solar Macharius
Those two spheres were built AFTER the attack on Iconia in the prime universe, If Leeta went back and killed the Iconians before they were built, I doubt they were built in the MU.
Without the Iconians, I doubt the Solanae would have built them. They would of had no reason to ... for all we know Leeta wiped them out too.
Even if they do, you've just shot yourself in the foot. Then blew it off with a shotgun. Terra is within that 20,000 LY gap. You just committed treason against the Terran Empire not to mention forcing everyone in the AQ to develop a new means of propulsion.
The Jenolan Sphere was destroyed and that's in the Delta Quadrant, a good 70,000 plus light years from the Empire. Valdez's orders were to destroy the Jenolan sphere to deny it to the enemies of the empire. The empire has control of the Solonae sphere. Sito's sectors are not safe from Valdez, he can now deploy his teams anywhere in the empire.
For we know, the Solonae disappeared and they could still be around. Who knew Sito's data and a captured computer core were the keys to the network.
Not me, your Betazed stunt forced them away before they could do anything of significance at Iconia.
It's in the DQ in the prime universe. (I think both of them are) uhhh the Solanae Sphere the broken one flooded with radiation ... you blew up the good one!
To be fair there was an Alien armada there and the Solonae sphere can be repaired. I've edited my last post with something for you to think on.
"The meaning of victory is not to merely defeat your enemy but to destroy him, to completely eradicate him from living memory, to leave no remnant of his endeavours, to crush utterly his achievement and remove from all record his every trace of existence. From that defeat no enemy can ever recover. That is the meaning of victory."
-Lord Commander Solar Macharius
How mad would Sito be if she found out Valdez had gained control of the gate network?
Valdez would trump Leeta as a threat.
Worse case scenario ... jump over to the primary universe and wait for it to explode in Valdez's face.
Valdez and Sito have the same goal, take down Leeta. If Sito avoids the Beta Quadrant and Sol, Valdez won't move into Sito's sectors. If the Betazed gate had gone wrong and caused a super eruption, Valdez would have sent a evacuation and relief force to aid Betazed. He would also call an end to his personal cold war with Sito and advised her to send aid as well.
What's better, Valdez having control of the network or Leeta?
Valdez just wants a stable empire and to prepare for any future conflict, Sito has her own agenda which Valdez finds suspicious and borderline treason. His mission was to map and take control of the gates for the benefit and safety of the empire, his motives are to protect the empire and he does not pursue his own agenda.
If Prime Trianna was at Sito's next meeting with Prime Heath, Sito would have to trust her as she can help. Mirror Valdez killed her friends and comrades she worked with in the early days of B'Vat's rebellion and nearly caused a famine on Mirror Betazed. She may hate the Regent but the people of Betazed were still her species partially.
"The meaning of victory is not to merely defeat your enemy but to destroy him, to completely eradicate him from living memory, to leave no remnant of his endeavours, to crush utterly his achievement and remove from all record his every trace of existence. From that defeat no enemy can ever recover. That is the meaning of victory."
-Lord Commander Solar Macharius
This is a reset so no chase for the gates and blockade of Betazed Terra (MU)
"She just threatened me" said Marie keeping her cool, "Wait until your sister finds out" replied Valdez and he beamed to the Agincourt with Trianna and Marie. "Set course for Betazed" ordered Valdez and the Agincourt went to transwarp. When they arrived at Betazed they were met by Papela and Jodi. Both twins just glared at Jodi with the look they wanted to hurt her. "Keep your cools young ladies" ordered Valdez. "You threatened me" said Marie playing the recording of the threat.
"I was trying to frighten you, you little brat" replied Jodi. "At least I know who my father is, you mongrel" answered Marie back. "Did you call me a mongrel?, that's rich coming from a crippled orphan" Jodi bit back with. "Be thankful I'm not fully mobile, threaten me again and I will make your life hell" replied Marie. Both Papela and Valdez now had enough and took action. Papela just tapped her head and Jodi went "OW!!", at the same time Valdez grabbed Marie's ear and twisted, it was followed by an "OW!!" from Marie.
Kestrella and Trianna were both sat down listening to the back and forth between Jodi and Marie. "If I knew this was going to happen, I'd have brought beer and popcorn" joked Trianna laughing. "Not funny Trianna, this bickering is childish" replied Kestrella. "You need to find a sense of humor" answered Trianna. "Lets just be the bigger sibling in all this and keep calm" replied Kestrella.
"BOTH OF YOU, CUT THE BS!!" yelled Valdez and Papela was in agreement. Valdez shouting at both Marie and Jodi caught their attention. "This is nowhere near over freak" said Marie and Jodi bit back with "at least I've always had my mother." "What ever dog!!!" added Marie. Valdez and Papela seeing that this bickering was getting too much just pulled out their phaser pistols and calmly set them to stun. "RIGHT, BOTH OF YOU, CALM DOWN AND STOP THIS PETTY BICKERING BEFORE WE STUN BOTH OF YOU AND YOU CAN BOTH COOL OFF IN HOLDING CELLS!!" yelled Valdez.
It fell on deaf ears and the bickering continued, both Valdez and Papela calmly fired their pistols and both Jodi and Marie were hauled off to the holding cells to cool down. "The joys of being a parent" said Valdez and Papela agreed. "Inquisitor, would you be able to assist Sito in combating Leeta?" asked Papela and Valdez answered "I want to take down Leeta as much as Sito, I'll assist her as much as I can." "Sito will appreciate the help" replied Papela.
"Speaking of Sito, is that posting to the Enterprise still open to Trianna? I need Marie to work with me" said Valdez and Papela replied "I'll ask Sito. You will get your answer soon." "Thank you your grace" answered Valdez. "I heard about Garok, that man was responsible for the deaths of millions of Betazoids. Thank you for delivering justice for my people" said Papela. "He killed my parents and 20 million of my people too, I made sure everyone in the empire knew that there is some justice in the universe" replied Valdez
"Indeed, you've put your past behind you" said Papela. "I won't ask how you got that information on my past" replied Valdez and Papela just calmly answered "nothing gets past me." "I'd like a face to face meeting with Sito, it's time to work out an arrangement that keeps us both happy" requested Valdez and Papela made the call.
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"The meaning of victory is not to merely defeat your enemy but to destroy him, to completely eradicate him from living memory, to leave no remnant of his endeavours, to crush utterly his achievement and remove from all record his every trace of existence. From that defeat no enemy can ever recover. That is the meaning of victory."
-Lord Commander Solar Macharius
Inquisitor Valdez now got to the second reason he came to Betazed. "I understand you've had a few security issues" he said to Papela. "If you are referring to the escape of your counterpart and Trianna's counterpart, those were unexpected circumstances" answered Papela. "I'll have my people have a detailed look at your security, where there are weaknesses my people can advise what needs improving. I may answer to a different boss but the good of the empire must always come first" replied Valdez.
"Agreed, your people can have access and work with my people" answered Papela. "I suggest you keep Jodi in line, one day she'll threaten the wrong person and that's enough to have her killed. She's lucky she's dealing with me" replied Valdez. "Have both Marie and Jodi calmed down yet?" asked Papela. "I'm going to find out" replied Valdez and both Papela and Valdez went to the holding cells.
At the holding cells Marie and Jodi had come to and the bickering started all over again. "Your fault we are in these cells" said Jodi to Marie. "We would not be here if you did not threaten me dog" replied Marie, Jodi bit back with "poor little Marie, lost without your telepathic abilities." "woof woof mongrel" replied Marie. "Where's your original parents?" Jodi bit back. "No wonder your father left, he did not want to be associated with a head case of a daughter" answered Marie, "says the cripple with messed up sister" bit back Jodi.
"At least I'm not related to a psycho" replied Marie. "Don't call my sister a psycho" answered Jodi back. "How about next time I empty your latinum account" bit back Marie. "You wouldn't even dare do it" answered Jodi, "once I get out of here, I'll empty your entire account" bit back Marie. "Marie Valdez, you will do no such thing. If you pull a stunt like that, I will freeze your bank account young lady" said Valdez. "Jodi Iodokar, you will calm down or be in that cell for longer, Marie same goes for you" said Papela.
"You two are behaving like children, if you both insist on this childish bickering you will both be treated like children, Marie you should know better" added Valdez. "Jodi, you are restricted to the palace until you can act like an adult" said Papela, "Marie, when we get back to Terra, your mother will be having a long chat with you. Consider yourself grounded and confined to quarters when we get back to the ship" added Valdez.
"It's best we keep them separated at all times" replied Papela. "Agreed, last thing we need is either one getting violent with each other" answered Valdez. "You deal with Marie, I'll deal with Jodi" replied Papela. "Trianna, a word please" said Valdez over his combadge. Trianna walked in and Valdez told her "You did not help with that joke." "It was funny..." said Trianna as Papela cut her off. "Young lady, make any more inappropriate jokes and I will put you in a cell so you can think about controlling that mouth of yours" said Papela sternly to Trianna. "Dad, please...." replied Trianna before Valdez cut her off, "Two weeks probation, best behavior or I restrict your privileges" answered Valdez.
"Yes dad" replied Trianna back. "Your mother will be having words with you as well, I've already told her of both you and Marie's behavior" said Valdez. "We're going to have to face the music" said Trianna and Marie added "Mom's scary."
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"The meaning of victory is not to merely defeat your enemy but to destroy him, to completely eradicate him from living memory, to leave no remnant of his endeavours, to crush utterly his achievement and remove from all record his every trace of existence. From that defeat no enemy can ever recover. That is the meaning of victory."
-Lord Commander Solar Macharius
Both Valdez and Papela had decided to leave Jodi and Marie in the cells for longer, the bickering still continued and the language was not very lady like. "When I get out of here I'm going to ruin that face of yours" said Jodi, Marie bit back with "not before I make sure you cannot walk again." "What's happening" asked Naynta and Trianna answered "since they cannot actually inflict physical violence on each other, it's more vocal exchanges."
"Jodi threatened Marie and they've been at it all day and it's getting childish" said Kestrella. "I wonder what your husband sees in a half breed PetaQ like you" said Marie to Jodi and Jodi really lost it. "I'm not the one who has to see a psychiatrist" bit back Jodi. "Bring it targ!!!" replied Marie. "Do you need a leg up?" bit back Jodi. "Just wait until I cave your face in" replied Marie. "What are you going to do, hobble at me?" responded Jodi. "Would be a shame if you met my walking stick face first" bit back Marie.
"I'll get popcorn" said Trianna, "I'll get the beer, this is entertaining" replied Naynta. "Not helping you two" responded Kestrella, Trianna and Naynta just told Kestrella "lighten up." "Why do I have to deal with these problems everyday?" sighed Kestrella. Meanwhile the insults between Jodi and Marie continued, "what's that ugly thing in the room, oh wait it's you Jodi" said Marie. "That's rich, a Jackal Mastiff is far better looking than you" bit back Jodi. Trianna and Naynta were in stitches with laughter at the back and forth between Jodi and Marie.
"At least I'm not a spoiled crippled brat" said Jodi and Marie replied "is mommy's girl getting mad?" "You Warrigul" bit back Jodi and Marie responded with "a Warrigul is better looking than you." "If I have my way, you won't have a leg to stand on" bit back Jodi. Marie responded with "bark away dog." Kestrella by this point calmly muted both cells to save her sanity and she left the cell block followed by Trianna and Jodi.
In the Regent's office Valdez and Papela were talking business, "what arrangement do you have in mind with Sito?" asked Papela. Valdez punched up a star chart of the empire and answered "I defend and hold Sol as well as the Beta Quadrant sectors east of Betazed Sector. The Romulan Aristocracy have also promised to send forces to help defend the empire's Beta Quadrant sectors. Officially I'm neutral politically but if Sito asks for official assistance, I'll divert some resources to her. Anything else goes beyond neutrality."
"One more thing, you were too brutal on the Klingons" said Papela and Valdez answered "they would have been a problem again in the future, eliminating them now saves the empire a potential future problem." "It's a mistake" replied Papela to which Valdez answered "the difference between us is you are a politician and I'm a soldier, our views may conflict but we need to work as allies for the good of the empire." "Sito tries to do both" responded Papela, Valdez answered "if Sito insists on doing her own thing, she has to be more discreet about it. She's treading that fine line as it is." "I'll tell Sito that, thank you for your honesty Inquisitor" replied Papela, "I'll leave a few of my teams here on Betazed to assist your people, best I can do to avoid crossing that fine line" answered Valdez.
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"The meaning of victory is not to merely defeat your enemy but to destroy him, to completely eradicate him from living memory, to leave no remnant of his endeavours, to crush utterly his achievement and remove from all record his every trace of existence. From that defeat no enemy can ever recover. That is the meaning of victory."
-Lord Commander Solar Macharius
If I ever do anymore on the Mirror Universe. Would you prefer they be individual episodes with different plots or 5 parts with a long term objective (I.E. MW1 - Get back to the MU, MW2 - ??? ,MW3 - Return of the Terran Empire.)
Tough one, episodic with different plots might work.
Terra (MU)
The Agincourt had arrived after Valdez's business trip to Betazed. "How have things been while I was away?" asked Valdez to Solat, "quiet so far, I've instructed our listening posts to report any chroniton readings straight to me" answered Solat. "You have a theory?" asked Valdez and Solat answered "our enemies may be using time travel against us in combination with those drones."
"Makes sense, best way to fight someone is to know how they will react before they do it. I'll update the emperor, Solat I need you to run my day to day military operations" replied Valdez. "Mrs Valdez asked me to update her when you got back" said Solat. "Thanks Solat, Marie and Trianna are both due a word from Teanna. Their behavior has been causing problems, one more thing, could you arrange a meeting between me and Sito?" replied Valdez. "Where at?" asked Solat. "Jupiter Station, one aide each" replied Valdez.
When Teanna met up with Valdez and the twins, she glared at the twins and the twins thought "moms mad" and Teanna said to them "yes I am, come with me. We're going to have a little talk, Nathan, can I borrow your ready room?" "Of course, I had to stun Marie because of her and Jodi's bickering. The Regent stunned Jodi as well for good measure" answered Valdez.
Teanna dragged the twins into Valdez's ready room and read them the riot act. "If you two embarrass us like that again, you two will be taught the error of your ways. Trianna Marie Valdez, your father's decision on restriction of privileges stands. Marie Valdez, I'm confining you to your room for the next three months when you are off duty and none of you dare complain to your father, he'll tell you the same. Take the punishment young ladies and do not behave like that again" Teanna told the twins.
"Jodi threatened me" said Marie but Teanna had none of it and told Marie "so you reacted, how many times have I told you to watch that temper of yours?" "Too many" answered Marie and Teanna replied "you should know better." Teanna now turned her attention to Trianna, "you did not help matters, Miss Kestrella Lot told me everything. Next time you decide to run your mouth, you are confined to your room when off duty for two weeks. Do I make myself clear?" asked Teanna and both twins chorused "crystal."
Teanna and the twins left the ready room and the twins apologized to Valdez. "Apology accepted, don't do that again. Marie, any more incidents between you and Jodi and your account is frozen for a week" he said to the twins. "They finally did it, they made you lose your temper" said Teanna. "To the point I stunned Marie and had her hauled off to a holding cell" replied Valdez. "Girls, go to your rooms and have a long hard think about your actions" ordered Teanna and the twins complied. "I have no idea what punishment the Regent has planned for Jodi, in fact I don't want to know" said Valdez. "Nathan, you will join me in a meditation session, it's to regain that emotional balance. It's not a request either, it's an order" said Teanna and Valdez replied "yes ma'am." Teanna thought "sarcasm" and smiled at Valdez's joke.
Post edited by theraven2378 on
"The meaning of victory is not to merely defeat your enemy but to destroy him, to completely eradicate him from living memory, to leave no remnant of his endeavours, to crush utterly his achievement and remove from all record his every trace of existence. From that defeat no enemy can ever recover. That is the meaning of victory."
-Lord Commander Solar Macharius
Inquisitor Valdez was studying his intel reports from Marie when he herd a chime on his door. "Who is it?" he asked over the intercom and Trianna answered "a crewman Jun from the I.S.S. Corbulo needs to speak to you." "Come in" ordered Valdez and the crewman was escorted in by the twins. Jun saluted and Valdez got straight to business, "crewman, you have made a serious accusation about your captain and his first officer. You know you are putting yourself at risk by coming to me behind your captain's back."
"I am but someone has to" replied Jun and Valdez asked "what warranted you to bring this accusation to me?" "Captain Darlan and Commander Brock maintain a rule of terror to cover their illegal activities, anyone who questions that disappears and the whole crew is on the verge of mutiny" explained Jun. "What kind of illegal activities?" asked Marie and Valdez assured Jun that he was safe to talk to Marie. "I did some digging into our cargo inventory, there were things that should not be on a military vessel in the Corbulo's cargo bay. They've been running illegal smuggling operations in things like explosives and selling them to the highest bidder covertly.
This got Marie's attention. "Doing a check on Darlan now, not the first time he's been accused of smuggling. Crewman, all information you give is to be treated confidentially" said Marie and Trianna added "the crewman is being honest." "Crewman if you had been lying, the Lt over there would have shot you" said Valdez and Jun answered "I know." "This is interesting, just been looking through Darlan's financial records, we have enough to investigate him" said Marie. Valdez then went over to the Corbulo along with a security team and the twins.
"What is the meaning of this?" demanded Darlan and Valdez promptly replied "Captain Darlan and Commander Brock, you are both under arrest on suspicion of corruption and illegal smuggling. You will both be held until our investigation is over, anything you do say will be used in a military court against you." Darlan and Brock were removed from the ship and sent to the holding cells on Terra as Marie got to work. Trianna started talking to the crew to get answers, the crew loyal and complicit to Darlan were moved off the ship first before Trianna started her interviews.
Marie's investigation of Darlan's records uncovered a hidden set of files, cargo manifests and other illegal financial records. She got what she needed and that combined with Trianna's interviews was enough for Valdez. Valdez and the Twins then beamed to Terra and Valdez passed judgement. Darlan and Brock were hauled before a military court and found guilty, the Corbulo crew who had knowingly aided them were also hauled before the court. The court found all defendants guilty and they passed judgement.
Darlan and Brock were to be publicly hung and the crew who had aided them were sentenced to life at Tantalus Penal Colony. Sentence was carried out with immediate effect and Valdez made sure it was broadcast all over the empire and the people were told why. The message was "corruption will not go unpunished." The Emperor had watched the proceeding and said to Shade "give the good Inquisitor more farther reaching powers, some of the Imperial Senate may need investigating." "Yes Excellency, I'll give the Inquisitor the authorization to investigate the senate. We've got the right man here at Terra for the job" replied Shade.
Post edited by theraven2378 on
"The meaning of victory is not to merely defeat your enemy but to destroy him, to completely eradicate him from living memory, to leave no remnant of his endeavours, to crush utterly his achievement and remove from all record his every trace of existence. From that defeat no enemy can ever recover. That is the meaning of victory."
-Lord Commander Solar Macharius
The twins' punishment was up and it was business as usual. Marie was painstakingly checking every Imperial senator's records for an irregularity and Trianna was practicing with a sniper rifle. "Impressive, 20 shots fired at 900m and 20 head shots" said Valdez. "You taught me how to shoot with basic kinetic rifles on Trillius Prime. I've been practicing ever since on them" said Trianna. Valdez smiled and asked "if I called a body part, could you hit it at 900m?" "Challenge accepted" replied Trianna.
"Left arm on the elbow" called Valdez and Trianna put a hole in the left arm of the dummy in the place Valdez asked. "Head, right between the eyes" asked Valdez and Trianna put a bullet where Valdez pointed out. "Ok, lets up the challenge, moving targets at varying ranges. One shot one kill on all of them in the head" asked Valdez. "Yes dad" replied Trianna and she did exactly what Valdez asked of her. "Excellent work, I actually recorded those scores; 100% accuracy, well done" said Valdez afterwards and Trianna smiled.
"Keep practicing Dead shot" Valdez said afterwards. "Dad, did you just give me a call sign?" asked Trianna and Valdez laughed and answered "it's a complement, skill like that will not go unnoticed around here." "It comes naturally to me, I like to hunt my prey from distance" replied Trianna. "I know, I saw you take down a Trillian Wolf at 600m, one hell of a shot" answered Valdez. "Now to harness that skill in ground engagements" replied Trianna. "We'll see" answered Valdez back. He then went to check on Marie's progress.
"Dad, take a look at this one" said Marie and Valdez looked at the file. "Senator Bocharin, he's the Imperial treasurer" said Valdez and Marie pointed a flaw in his financial records and ideology. "We had some trouble from him before, he believes the empire should be a constitutional monarchy by approval of the people. Financially he's sound" said Marie. "So we have a morally corrupt individual at the heart of our government. What else can you tell me?" asked Valdez and Marie passed him the second PADD. "Some of his past affiliations may be of interest. They're all pro- democracy" said Valdez and Marie replied "it's enough for us to investigate. Shall I put our operatives on standby?" Valdez approved the order and deployed the operatives to start arresting Bocharin's past associates and bring them in for questioning.
"Find out how many groups there is, we need 24 hour surveillance on them all. Betazoid operatives are to disguise themselves as Terrans to blend in and monitor the population for any pro-democracy meetings. Any treasonous meeting will then be raided by our security troops and everyone present arrested" ordered Valdez. "Yes Dad, do we arrest Bocharin now?" asked Marie and Valdez answered "not yet, I want him under constant surveillance for now. If he does anything suspicious tell your operatives to move in for the arrest." "Orders already sent" replied Marie.
Post edited by theraven2378 on
"The meaning of victory is not to merely defeat your enemy but to destroy him, to completely eradicate him from living memory, to leave no remnant of his endeavours, to crush utterly his achievement and remove from all record his every trace of existence. From that defeat no enemy can ever recover. That is the meaning of victory."
-Lord Commander Solar Macharius
The investigation into Bocharin was now under way, Inquisitor Valdez's operatives were in force blending into the Terran population. So far they had caught whole pro-democracy groups in the act and the holding cells here filling up with more being built. Trianna had been watching Bocharin's movements like an unseen hawk, she reported his position and activity back to Marie who then watched his movements by satellite.
The Senator had no idea he was being watched as he entered a warehouse building in the old San Francisco docks. Valdez was in position with a team to move in and strike, Trianna put herself somewhere up high as Marie cut off communications from the building. "He's got two bodyguards, 100m to your left" reported Trianna and Valdez replied "copy that Dead Shot, you have permission to take the guard on the left, we'll take the guard on the right." Trianna downed the guard on the left as Dreisse down the guard on the right. Valdez then led the arrest teams and caught the Senator about to give a speech. "Senator William Bocharin, you are under arrest on suspicion of being morally corrupt" said Valdez as his teams rounded everyone up in the building.
For the next fortnight, the interrogation teams questioned everyone and Marie built up a picture of how far this went. "You have enough to convict?" asked Valdez. "Let's see what the senator has to say" replied Marie and Valdez personally questioned Bocharin, his past was spread out in front of him and Valdez got to work. "You were once a patriot, what changed?" asked Valdez to Bocharin. "I am but one man cannot have ultimate power" answered Bocharin, Valdez replied "that type of talk is treason, you would rather we become like the Federation if you had your way." "Empires change, you think you are free but you are not" answered Bocharin.
"A heretic may see the truth and seek redemption. He may be forgiven his past and be absolved in death. A Traitor can never be forgiven. A Traitor can never find peace in this world or the next. There is nothing as wretched or as hated in all the world as a Traitor. Senator, you are on a very slippery slope" replied Valdez. "I am no traitor" answered Bocharin. "Traitors bring down Empires, need I mention the cautionary tale of Spock? How he got corrupted by the other Kirk and led the empire to collapse?" replied Valdez.
That shut Bocharin up. Valdez decided to make an example of him, "Senator William Bocharin, you are sentenced to execution by firing squad to be carried out publicly" he said to Bocharin and the senator was taken to the Imperial palace grounds where Trianna was waiting. In front of the cameras of Imperial Propaganda, Trianna carried out the sentence. The headline was "Corruption in any form will be purged." The rest of the conspirators were hung publicly over the next three weeks, at least Valdez could be happy. "We make a good team" he said to the twins and the twins replied "agreed" in chorus. "Hell of a result" said Shade as she walked in. "Trianna, you can trust her so keep sidearm holstered" said Valdez and Trianna complied.
"Inquisitor, well done" said Shade to Trianna. "Meet my my daughter Trianna, call sign Dead Shot" said Valdez to Shade. "Dead Shot indeed, I've read your marksmanship scores" said Shade, "ma'am, dad taught me to shoot on vintage rifles, I'm not parting with my rifle. I was brought up to be honest" replied Trianna. "And polite too, pleased to meet you Miss Valdez. Identical twins by any chance?" asked Shade and both twins replied "yep" in chorus. "This my team, Marie deals with the information side of things and Trianna goes over watch tracking the target and relaying it back to me. I co-ordinate the operations" said Valdez.
"Impressive team, certain members of the senate are beginning to sweat now. Your war on corruption has not gone unnoticed, it'll send a very clear message" replied Shade.
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"The meaning of victory is not to merely defeat your enemy but to destroy him, to completely eradicate him from living memory, to leave no remnant of his endeavours, to crush utterly his achievement and remove from all record his every trace of existence. From that defeat no enemy can ever recover. That is the meaning of victory."
-Lord Commander Solar Macharius
The Terran force entered the second sphere to sheer blackness, as though the void had swallowed all the light in existence.
A mental strength wormed its way into the minds of every imperial on the task force.
"Defilers, your lives are forfeit!"
The numbers of the defending fleet didn't even open fire, before the enemy could even process what was happening all but one of the Terran ships were crushed like tin cans.
Within the Palatial spire Emperor Vengerak Zepoli, observed the massive tactical hologram. "Bring me the commanders of the last vessel and kill the rest."
Within the hour the Molindrans had though tally interrogated the captives and began to study the archaic technology they employed. Similar to the dreadnought they'd captured last year... The ISS Hydra.
"The interlopers minds are extremely primate my lord, we have full control of their mental facilities. At this point we have them telling us anything we wish to know and they believe it is of their own will."
"What have we learned?"
Zepoli, lifted the captain of the ISS Victory out of the window suspending him thousands of meters above any handhold. "I thank you for your co-operation... I only wish you could answer why it was 21 years ago a telepathic scream from my people went throughout the galaxy.... That your empire caused. This will be painless, whether its a heart attack or the two hour drop."
The Terrified man faded from view his horrified cry of terror slowly fading.
"We must ensure they believe their mission was successful. Use their codes to transmit the message, then have the Hirogen launch a Omega torpedo at one of the boarder Benthan systems... They've been trouble lately, and the explosion should fool anyone in the alpha quadrant."
Lord General Loolipo bowed. "It will be done my lord."
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Why do I still play and put money into STO?
The Foundry, and my love of Star Trek
Acting Admiral Solat got the report from the scouts and logically analysed them. "After they went dark" she noted and she pulled her forces away from the unidentified gate assuming a trap by the enemy. "Mr Westin, upload the Marie special" ordered Solat and Westin uploaded the virus to the Jouret gate. The gate shut down and faded back to subspace, Solat reported back to Terra "unknown space gate shut down, recommend a base be set up here to guard the system."
"You made the right call, bring the fleet to Terra and report to me" said Valdez over the channel. 48 hours later, Solat was back and she reported the system's location. Marie made sure the system was put on the classified list immediately, Valdez then sprung a surprise on Solat when he removed his full admiral chevrons and pinned them on Solat. "Admiral Solat, I would like you to inherit the fleet. Logically I cannot do both my Inquisitor duties and run military operations at the time. The fleet is yours old friend" said Valdez. "Nathan, a very logical course of action. The fleet is here anytime you need it my friend" replied Solat.
"Since I'll need a ship for my duties, I'm knocking myself down to Captain and assuming command of the I.S.S. Corbulo" said Valdez and Solat replied "Hestia class, logical choice." "That's why I picked her and I need a hand picked crew" answered Valdez. "Helping that crew regain their honor?" asked Solat and Valdez replied "fresh leadership is required, that crew deserve a captain who looks out for them." "It's logical, any decision on first officer?" asked Solat. "Marie, you are computer warfare officer, Trianna, I'm putting you on tactical. Since putting family up for promotion will cause friction, who's most senior officer since the purge?" replied Valdez.
"Lt Cmdr Chall. She's Andorian" answered Solat. "Make her a full commander, I'm making that my last order as an admiral" replied Valdez. Solat had Chall brought to the Agincourt to be promoted and Chall was introduced to her new captain. "Miss Chall, as a sign of internal unity, I'm making you my first officer. The job is yours, it's up to you to accept" said Valdez to Chall, Chall accepted the job and saluted her new captain. "Sir, thank you for removing Darlan and Brock. In fact the whole crew will be behind you, you've got their respect" said Chall shaking Captain Valdez's hand. "Cmdr, notify the crew I'm taking command of the Corbulo and renaming her to remove the stain of corruption" ordered Valdez and Chall replied "yes captain" smiling. "Captain, out of interest, what name do you have in mind?" she asked afterwards.
"I.S.S. Axios, this crew is getting a fresh start" answered Valdez. "It's perfect, what does it mean?" replied Chall. "Worthy of", "deserving of", "suitable" answered Valdez. "Worthy of redemption" added Chall and Valdez smiled and replied "I agree Cmdr, this crew is getting a chance to put things right. Cmdr, you are dismissed." Chall saluted Valdez and left giving a polite nod to him.
"The meaning of victory is not to merely defeat your enemy but to destroy him, to completely eradicate him from living memory, to leave no remnant of his endeavours, to crush utterly his achievement and remove from all record his every trace of existence. From that defeat no enemy can ever recover. That is the meaning of victory."
-Lord Commander Solar Macharius
"You are foolish to even suggest this after your actions at Procyon V, Romulan. Your interference accelerated the formation of the Galactic Union from the Federation's interaction with your universe! You offer us nothing!"
"I offer you everything you wanted Sphere-Builder.... Join us in this and you will have your retribution against the Terrans, and their galaxy. One which has the same laws of physics as the one you've been so desperate to conquer."
"You would use us to vanquish your enemies, I have no guarantee you will not betray us as Leata did. What is it you would want in exchange for such a gift?"
"That you leave the Federation and Galactic Union alone- forever... As you can see this plan would also allow my people to save a significant number of my people, and cultural artifacts.... We both want to survive, both of our species are victims of temporal warfare... The Tutarians chose the path of vengeance, against an alliance who had no intention of harming them.... the Romulan Union was intentionally destroyed the Terran Empire- or Trivimuraltive."
Veel'Riz paused looking the Builder in the eyes. "I am offering you the chance to end this meaningless conflict and strike at your true enemy... A chance to rebuild, a chance to survive... But this war between us, must end."
'.......... You may count upon our support for now. We will begin a slow temporal inversion in 2411, by the time you are ready to strike the Terrans will have assumed that the phenomenon is harmless."
Why do I still play and put money into STO?
The Foundry, and my love of Star Trek
That's a good idea, we've seen the spheres in the Kelvin Timeline and the Prime Timeline ... I wonder how/if/when we'll see the Spheres in the Mirror Universe ... I don't imagine they'll be in the MU long before the Terrans explode them but still it could be a cool plot.
Inquisitor Valdez called "Mr Jun, activate the cloak and take us in." "Yes Captain" replied Jun and the Axios entered the system stealthily. "Readings are temporal in nature" reported Marie and Valdez ordered Jun to take the ship in closer to the 5th planet in the system. The Axios got to within visual range of the planet but the planet was not there.
"Everyone below first officer apart from Lt Valdez clear the bridge. The bridge crew cleared the bridge and Chall asked "mission security?" Valdez answered "it is, this system will play a big role to the future of the Terran Empire." "These temporal reading are inverse by nature" reported Marie. "What do you mean by inverse?" asked Valdez and Marie answered "the timeline is subtly being manipulated." "Any suspects?" asked Valdez and Marie answered "only one I can think of is the Tuterians." "The Sphere Builders, they are masters of temporal manipulation, we need to get this data back to Terra for analysis" replied Valdez. The bridge crew were recalled and the Axios set course for Terra.
At Terra, Trianna asked for a private talk. "Dad, there's something I must do personally. I may not be in contact for a while, I'll contact you but please do not contact me" said Trianna. "You have your reasons" replied Valdez and Trianna nodded. "I need to find myself and it's something I must do alone" said Trianna, Valdez knew it was important to Trianna and advised her "you are old enough to make up your own mind what you want to do in life, I cannot stop you but remember find strength knowing your family care about you." "What I'm going to do I cannot discuss with anyone including family, dad you understand more than most" said Trianna.
"Last family dinner tonight, might be the last time we're together as a family for a while" said Valdez and Trianna agreed and replied "Marie won't understand but you and mom will. Make sure my sister is safe dad." "I'll keep an eye on Marie, she's working with me full time from now on" said Valdez and Trianna smiled. At the family dinner, Trianna said her goodbyes and told Marie "be strong for both of us." "Will do" replied Marie as Valdez and Teanna helped Trianna pack what she needed. Trianna then hugged her sister, mother and father and left for the transporter room, Valdez sent her off personally. "See you when I see you next" he said to Trianna and Trianna replied "dad, go get the empire's enemies." "Yes ma'am" responded Valdez. After Trianna beamed down to the Imperial Palace, Valdez in a bittersweet moment thought "I'll miss you kiddo, take care of yourself."
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"The meaning of victory is not to merely defeat your enemy but to destroy him, to completely eradicate him from living memory, to leave no remnant of his endeavours, to crush utterly his achievement and remove from all record his every trace of existence. From that defeat no enemy can ever recover. That is the meaning of victory."
-Lord Commander Solar Macharius
Captain/Inquisitor Valdez was in astrometrics looking over Marie's data. "The inverse waves are noticeable to those who know what to look for. "They're minor but deliberate" reported Marie. "It could explain planets duplicating and duplicated ships appearing" replied Valdez. "Exactly, I've been using the Towton's database to cross reference events like this" answered Marie, "good thing you downloaded it before you ditched the Towton, it could give us answers" replied Valdez.
"Any other system known for temporal wave other than Procyon?" asked Valdez and Marie updated the star map, "the system itself is a temporal anomaly and an epicentre for these inverse waves" answered Marie. There was a chime on the door and Valdez ordered "enter." It was Cmdr Chall, she saluted Valdez and Valdez asked her "please don't salute me, I don't do formality." "Noted Captain" replied Chall. Chall then looked at the star map and asked "how recent are these inverse waves?" "Very, they've started appearing over the last month" answered Marie.
"Chall, meet my daughter Marie. She's the computer warfare officer and resident temporal expert" said Valdez. "Lt Valdez, I have a daughter around your age. Captain, my daughter finishes the academy next week. I'm asking could you get her assigned to the Axios?" replied Chall. "Any reason why?" asked Valdez and Chall answered "she needs stability, I'm going through a rough divorce at the moment and I want my daughter with me." "Cmdr, try and not let your family issues get in the way of your job. That said I'll put the call through myself but your daughter must live by my rules, understood?" replied Valdez. "Yes Captain, Vell'mas has scored top grades on tactical at the academy. You need a tactical officer" responded Chall.
"Cmdr, I'm firm with this crew but I'm also fair. Tell the crew if they need to speak to me about any problems, they know where my door is" said Valdez and Chall smiled. "I'll tell the crew that Marie is off limits and if anyone hurts her or tries to bully her, they'll have me to deal with" Chall said afterwards. "Cmdr, are you putting me under your protection?" asked Marie and Chall answered "I am, you are an asset to this ship. Captain, Doctor Valdez has requested that you check in for a medical today as well."
Cmdr Chall left after giving a polite nod to Valdez. "I'm missing Trianna, it's too quiet" said Valdez to Marie. "Dad, you worry too much, Trianna's a tough young lady" replied Marie. "It still weighs heavily on my mind, you and Trianna are my baby girls and nothing will change that" answered Valdez. "Mom has her own logic in this, she keeps busy to keep her mind off it. She misses Trianna but she won't show it" replied Marie. "Your mother is tough like that, she's always been stoic about these things" answered Valdez. "I miss her but I won't hinder her either, she's my sister at end of the day and nothing will change that" replied Marie. "Well Marie, you have your mother's brutal honesty and it's a good thing" answered Valdez.
Post edited by theraven2378 on
"The meaning of victory is not to merely defeat your enemy but to destroy him, to completely eradicate him from living memory, to leave no remnant of his endeavours, to crush utterly his achievement and remove from all record his every trace of existence. From that defeat no enemy can ever recover. That is the meaning of victory."
-Lord Commander Solar Macharius
Heath stepped onto the treadmill in her room. She started her morning run and began talking.
"Computer begin record.
Captain's personal log;
By the Prophets I swear, if Starfleet knew how many times their files had been accessed by the Empire they'd fire the head of security for gross incompetence. Not my problem now... Although part of feels like I should warn the other Heath about it... But like I said, not my problem. But it did give me the info I needed.
More on that later.
First, the admiral's pet project, one of many I'm sure, is up and working. It's producing so much data she's going to need a team dedicated to sorting through it. Have to find her some people that she'll trust to work on it. Trust, it's a hard thing to come by over here. Maybe that's why a ship that crews over 2500 was only half full. Not complaining, it made things so much easier to when bringing everyone else over. Thay, you [REDACTED].
Prophets above Layress, you can't say things like that!
Now, where was I?
My own projects are almost done. Well is one is done and I wish it wasn't.
*sigh* They don't think about the consequences of time travel like we were taught to. Their temporal shields protect them from the bad effects. Unfortunately, time doesn't like to be manipulated and has its own way of fighting back.
The aforementioned data that we acquired shows that everytime I went back to the other universe it caused mini temporal anomalies. It didn't like two of us in the timeline at the same time. The more I go back the more and bigger the anomalies will become. It just proves that we can never go back. This is our home now. I have to be careful from now on. Temporal Affairs might try to grab me and reintegrate me with her.
If I tell Thay she'll never let me go back there again, but shouldn't keep secrets plus there are times when I'll have to. The subtleties of negotiating sometimes elude her and require someone who knows how they think.
Lastly, have to compose letter to Valdez girls. Inform them of disappointment in their actions. Offer to serve onboard recinded until maturity is displayed consistently. Have to emphasize difference between discipline and maturity.
*sigh* So much wasted potential in those two. Oh well maybe now they'll learn."
Personal note, do something very nice for Keyha, the ships tailor. New undergarments very comfortable and minimizes bouncing when running, although I'd swear they've gotten bigger. Just might be my imagination. Going to spank someone for this. I just might [REDACTED]. Wow, where is my head? Can't say things like that in logs.
End log before I say anything else."
She turned off the treadmill and hit the shower.
----Several hours later----
"Captain's personal log supplemental. Not to be archived on the main computer.
It's done.
We finished the reconstruction and it's fully functional.
And now we're not going to turn it on. The last thing we want is to announce to anyone that can monitor their Network that someone has rebuilt a gate on Iconia. It would be an invitation for attack, but we have it in case we need it.
At the Admirals insistence four tri-cobalt bombs have placed in the chamber, with a very unique trigger. Anyone from this universe that enters here will set them off. All outside connections have been severed, the only way to access this is to do it physically. And if whoever tries it isn't one of the former Lobos, boom.
What more concerns me is when we accessed the network map and I pointed out where the Andromeda sphere should be, the admiral told me not to bother. There was nothing living there. Did Leeta somehow go to Andromeda and wipe them out there as well? Or did she get them before they had a chance to go there? More information only creates more questions.
Trianna was in her quarters working on a new gun drone, "Hmm, I need this to be stealthy. Maybe a micro cloaking device" thought Trianna as Shade entered the room. Shade just quietly observed Trianna's little project as she began mounting gun barrels onto the drone. "What are you working on Initiate?" asked Shade and Trianna lifted her welding visor and saluted her superior and answered with "a stealth gun drone, 5.7mm case less rounds fed by micro replicator. The barrels have been designed with a integrated suppressor and flash eliminator. I'm just installing the micro cloaking device and power cell as well."
Shade looked at the schematics Trianna was working off and noted the micro cloaking device Trianna had built with only bits she had to hand. "Is it operational?" asked Shade has Trianna finished her drone. "Testing her now, you may want to stand back" answered Trianna and she tapped the wrist mounted remote on her left arm. The drone took off as Trianna adjusted the controls, "Now to test the gun rotation" said Trianna and she tapped the remote and both barrels on ventral and dorsal sides of the drone rotated. Trianna now piloted the drone by remote and around the room and activated the cloak.
"Impressive, how easy is that to build in more numbers?" asked Shade and Trianna answered "I've already built ten of them, they can take different weapon load outs and three of them are stealth recon armed with scanners, sensors and holo-camera." "You field tested them yet?" asked Shade and Trianna answered "I'll be field testing them all, this one is my baby" as she decloaked the drone and landed it. "Is intelligence a Valdez family trait?" asked Shade and Trianna smiled and answered "it is. Dad is the tactics man, Marie is the computer genius and me, I'm a tech girl. Mom is family doctor."
Shade smiled and replied "Your family is an effective team." Trianna answered "way we were brought up, team work was always encouraged." "Initiate, your family have been good to the empire. "What's your father's view on politics?" asked Shade and Trianna answered "dad does not like politics, he's neutral and loyal to the empire as a whole. As far as dad is concerned, he swore an oath to fight all enemies of the empire foreign and domestic. He does not break his word." That was enough for Shade who replied "your father is a good man, that's why you are an assassin initiate. Normally they are Terran only but if you succeed, you could be the first Betazoid Imperial assassin in the empire."
"Half Betazoid and half Terran" answered Trianna. Shade smiled and replied "you can easily pass yourself off as Terran and with telepathic abilities, a good combination." "My telepathy is for stalking my prey, they won't know I'm watching them. That's when the rifle over there comes into play. I never miss" answered Trianna. "Then you disappear like a ghost like you were not there" replied Shade. "Ghost, it does sound better than Dead Shot" answered Trianna smiling. "Ghost it is then" replied Shade.
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"The meaning of victory is not to merely defeat your enemy but to destroy him, to completely eradicate him from living memory, to leave no remnant of his endeavours, to crush utterly his achievement and remove from all record his every trace of existence. From that defeat no enemy can ever recover. That is the meaning of victory."
-Lord Commander Solar Macharius
Shade left the room clasped her gloved hands behind her back and walked down the hall way with a smirk.
She stopped, turned and raised an eyebrow at the empty space to her right. "Well?"
"You were right cousin I agree she's got far to much potential to use in the initiation ceremony when we replenish the ranks, in a year or two. I'll find another alien to kill." The ships tactical officer turned off his stealth generator.
"Just make sure it's believable." Shade hissed at the man.
He gulped.
Why do I still play and put money into STO?
The Foundry, and my love of Star Trek
In the mess, Trianna was working out gunnery trajectories when she was interrupted by a Terran initiate. "If it isn't the new girl" he sneered hoping elicit a response. Trianna just ignored the insults and carried on with her sums, "new girl, you not paying attention?" asked the Terran initiate and still Trianna ignored him. The Initiate then walked around her and tried to put a dagger in her back.
Trianna calmly dodged the attack and punched the would be assassin square in the face before locking in a sleeper hold. Trianna did not let go until the initiate stopped breathing. "Guess he failed" said Trianna afterwards, little did she know Shade had seen the whole fight. "She has potential" thought Shade smirking. Later in Trianna's quarters, Shade paid a visit to see Trianna cleaning her rifle and fitting a micro replicator into custom built magazines. "Good kill" said Shade, Trianna saluted her superior and answered "he pulled a dagger on me, I merely took him down permanently" calmly.
"No mercy shown either. It's something I expect from my initiates" answered Shade. "Dad taught me never start a fight but if pushed to fight, finish it swiftly" replied Trianna. "Impressive sleeper hold and why a preference for kinetics?" asked Shade. "Less things to go wrong, modern weapons can be made inoperative by dampening fields. A primitive kinetic weapon is more efficient in all conditions and can defeat every known personal shield. Personal shields are designed with particle weapons in mind" answered Trianna.
"So you decided a low tech solution was the best approach?" asked Shade. "If it's not broken, no need to fix it" answered Trianna. "I just saw you put that rifle back together while we were talking" replied Shade, Trianna smiled and replied "simplicity in it's finest." "What's the range on that?" asked Shade. "I've sighted it for 600m, 600 is optimum" answered Trianna. "Quite a distance" replied Shade. "That wolf skin on the wall notice the hole in the head?" asked Trianna and Shade spotted the hole. "Hit that at 600m and it was fast moving" pointed out Trianna.
"Impressive, I'll leave you to your kit maintenance" replied Shade and she left the room.
I.S.S. Axios
Inquisitor Valdez and Marie Valdez were reading the latest reports from Procyon. "It's 4 am, don't you two ever sleep?" asked Teanna as she refilled their coffees. "Mom won't back down" said Marie to Valdez, he answered "after we've finished this research." Teanna changed tactics as Marie finished saving the new data. Teanna calmly turned the terminal off and whispered something in Valdez's ear.
"I'm off to bed, try not to freak me out too much" said Marie and she went into her room. At family breakfast next morning Valdez and Marie were reading the reports over breakfast. "You two are so alike" said Teanna which was followed by a "mom's good" by Marie and an "indeed" from Valdez. "Marie, a letter for you and your sister" said Teanna.
Marie opened the letter, it was from Captain Heath. "Keep me at least a sector block away from Jodi, she cost me and Trianna the Enterprise posting" said Marie. "You did threaten to cave her face in" replied Valdez. "Your father has a point" added Teanna. "Dad, you actually shot me. Thanks for the head ache, my head felt like someone landed a shuttle on it " replied Marie. "Heavy stun, works every time in non lethally diffusing a situation" answered Valdez.
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"The meaning of victory is not to merely defeat your enemy but to destroy him, to completely eradicate him from living memory, to leave no remnant of his endeavours, to crush utterly his achievement and remove from all record his every trace of existence. From that defeat no enemy can ever recover. That is the meaning of victory."
-Lord Commander Solar Macharius
Shade had found a jungle moon to test her initiates. "Some of you will not be coming back, understand this" said Shade to the Initiates. All Initiates knew what that meant and they chorused "yes sir!" On the Moon, Trianna set her drones off moved deeper into the jungle to find an ideal firing position as the other initiates prepared their equipment.
"Let's see what the Betazoid can do" said Shade's tactical officer as they watched covertly. "She's in hunting mode" answered Shade smirking. Trianna had not forgotten the faces of her rivals and she stalked them always keeping track of her targets with her stealth drones as she got her rifle ready. The first to fall was a Trill Initiate which Trianna took down quietly at 550m from a concealed position. Her gun drones dispatched another three Initiates as Trianna changed position.
"She's good, four covert kills in space of two minutes" noted Shade's tactical officer and Shade smirked. Meanwhile Trianna has already put two more bullets into two more of her competition as she covertly moved around the jungle unseen and unheard. "Another sniper, this should be interesting" thought Trianna as a phaser bolt hit 100m away, Trianna responded in kind and put a bullet through the sniper's skull at 650m before disappearing stealthily.
"Six kills and four of them beyond 500m" noted Shade smirking, her tactical officer noted Trianna's score and he calmly said "Ghost has potential." Later in her quarters, Trianna was cleaning her rifle and drones having got changed back into shipboard uniform. "Ghost indeed" said Shade as she checked up on Trianna. Trianna smiled and replied "they never knew what hit them, that poor excuse of a sniper missed, I did not." "I noticed, one shot and one kill for each round fired. Very impressive but don't get over confident" answered Shade.
"I'm not, I take a leaf out of dad's book. Always study your opponent before moving in for the kill" replied Trianna calmly. "The Art of War" noted Shade looking at the book on Trianna's desk. "That was a gift from dad" said Trianna and Shade noted that down. "Exitus Acta Probat" said Trianna as she just carried on cleaning her kit. "What does that mean?" asked Shade and Trianna answered "The outcome justifies the deed." Shade let off a smirk and replied "very wise."
"What can you tell me about Captain Heath Layress?" asked Shade and Trianna answered "former Federation captain who defected to the empire with some members of her crew. She's a bit soft in dad's view and she only answers to Fleet Admiral Sito." "If this Captain Heath became a threat to the empire, would you take the shot?" asked Shade to which Trianna answered "If the empire required Heath Layress or any of her people to die, I'd take the shot personally." That was enough for Shade and she replied "carry on initiate" and left the room.
Post edited by theraven2378 on
"The meaning of victory is not to merely defeat your enemy but to destroy him, to completely eradicate him from living memory, to leave no remnant of his endeavours, to crush utterly his achievement and remove from all record his every trace of existence. From that defeat no enemy can ever recover. That is the meaning of victory."
-Lord Commander Solar Macharius
Veel'Riz activated his Subspace communications console.
"Helllo Admiral, it's been quite a while."
"I don't believe we've met, and its Councilor now. Are you having a problem with your visual messages?"
"Only until I know if this channel is secure... Do you remember what happened at the Argolis cluster in 2390?"
"That's classified."
"I was there Nathan, and I owe you again for getting my people out of hostile territory after my unintended decloaking in 2410."
There was a pause.
"Channel secured," Valdez said in bewilderment. "How did you survive that?!"
"I didn't, and don't have time to explain the details. As you can see old friend, some people forced our scientists to transfer my mind into a younger version of myself." Veel'Riz smiled and joked, "when did your hair start changing grey?"
"Watch it."
"This is my farewell... Do you remember when I said I hated time travel? I feel like a puppet, and the Galactic Union is the puppeteer. Doesn't look like I'll ever be able to get to see that place on Earth I've wanted to- What was the name? Hhmm it translates to 'Thundering Water Falls'."
"Niagra falls I think it's ancient Iroqoiunan.... Wait the Star Union has as many regulations as Starfleet when it comes to temporal matters! What did they offer you to rope you into this?"
Veel'Riz looked down, "What they knew I wouldn't be able to refuse... The chance to see my sons face again.... When your counterpart killed him -not that I knew that at the time- I destroyed every image of him I had.... I'd failed him, I failed my wife, I failed as a father...." He shook his head. "As I understand it what I'm about to do is keeping more Imperials from interferaing at Procyon V. There is no other option."
"Good luck, then."
"Good-bye old friend, as my Vulcan cousins would say: Peace and long life." The screen went blank.
Fiara AOW numbers
1
1
1
1
2
14
3
0
22
16
13
11
3
Why do I still play and put money into STO?
The Foundry, and my love of Star Trek
"This is Captain Trianna Marie Valdez of the U.S.S. Iconia, permission to dock?" said the captain of the Iconia. "You know we were sent on this for one reason only?" said Cmdr Karok smiling. Trianna smiled and answered "looks like dad has to deal with his grandchildren for a little bit longer." "Still honorable" replied Karok in his usual Klingon tone. "Funny" answered Trianna smirking a bit.
"This is Vanguard ops, you are clear to dock" answered the hail. "Helm, bring us into the Federation dock, one quarter impulse" ordered Trianna and Ensign Savvok brought the Iconia into dock. "Captain Valdez, it is agreeable to see you again" said Chevalier T'Nae. "Been 18 years" answered Trianna as she shook T'Nae's hand. "How's your father?" asked T'Nae and Trianna answered "he's fine, dad's on grandfather duties until I get back to Earth."
"He's a good man, there's someone who wishes to speak to you" replied T'Nae. "Karok, supervise the transfer of the omega stabilization modules, I've got something to attend to" ordered Trianna and Karok got to work. Trianna meanwhile went with T'Nae. "You remember Soreth?" asked T'Nae and Trianna answered "never met her personally but my dad speaks highly of her." T'Nae brought Trianna to Soreth's office. "Captain, pleased to meet you" said Soreth as she greeted Trianna.
"How is your father?" asked Soreth and Trianna answered "He's fine, I've left him on grandfather duty." Soreth smiled and replied "you mean you drafted him." "In a way yes, he's not alone though. I drafted my husband Ablim to help dad with the little monsters" answered Trianna smiling. "I understand, you've been on patrol on the Terran border" said Soreth getting to business. "Ships keep disappearing, we've been tracking the attacks. Same MO as 2411, merchant shipping and lone alliance ships" answered Trianna.
"We got a lead on who's planning these operations" replied Soreth as she handed the PADD to Trianna. "Captain Marie Valdez, it fits her MO. Remotely disable your victims before you kill them" answered Trianna looking very concerned. "Why the concern?" asked Soreth and Trianna answered "because where there is Marie, her sister Trianna is nearby. Trianna assassinated the Federation president 10 years ago." "Then vanished like a ghost" replied Soreth.
"She's dangerous" added Trianna. "Take this to your father, he'll know what to do with it" said Soreth handing over the PADD. "He'll get it" replied Trianna and she left the office.
Post edited by theraven2378 on
"The meaning of victory is not to merely defeat your enemy but to destroy him, to completely eradicate him from living memory, to leave no remnant of his endeavours, to crush utterly his achievement and remove from all record his every trace of existence. From that defeat no enemy can ever recover. That is the meaning of victory."
-Lord Commander Solar Macharius
Trianna was sat in the mess hall working out a mathematics equation while scanning the other initiates covertly at the same time. She was interrupted by a white spotted Trill initiate and both glared at each other before the Trill initiate tried to provoke Trianna into attacking her. "You are becoming a threat to me" said the Trill initiate to Trianna. Trianna calmly picked up her PADD and thought "I'll let her make the first move."
The Trill unholstered her pistol but Trianna was faster and shot the Trill in the thigh before putting her into a choke hold and snapping her neck quickly. "Another one bites the dust" thought Trianna afterwards and decided to go to the privacy of her quarters/workshop. "At this rate we may be running out of initiates, that's the eighth initiate she's killed" said Shade's tactical officer watching through the monitor. "She's separating the wheat from the chaff, they were dull blades" replied Shade smirking.
"Indeed, her use of deception is excellent" answered Shade's tactical officer. "They underestimate her, they don't know she's really part Betazoid. The only people who know her true heritage on this ship are us two" replied Shade smirking. "Then she must become the ghost, unseen and unheard" answered Shade's tactical officer. "Agreed, she's been cold and calm with every kill she's made. No mercy shown at the same time" noted Shade to her tactical officer.
In her quarters, Trianna noted privately "we moving" to herself as she looked out of the window into space. She then got to work on a perfect personal cloak. Shade let herself in as Trianna was testing her cloak out. "Ghost?" asked Shade seeing the room was empty, Trianna decloaked in front of her and smiled having reholstered her pistol. Trianna saluted Shade and answered "sorry ma'am, was testing a personal cloak."
"Eight kills, all delivered with no emotion and no mercy. Ghost, not bad" said Shade smirking. "My rivals underestimate me" replied Trianna as she deactivated her ocular lenses and revealed her Betazoid eyes. "All warfare is based on deception" answered Shade calmly. "The chaff found that out the hard way" replied Trianna calmly. "I read your record, prone to violence and you enjoyed it" answered Shade. "I no longer want to be an angry violent thug, I had to find myself and I have. Every kill has purpose and to be an efficient killer I must always be in control of my emotions" replied Trianna calmly.
"Have a look at this individual" asked Shade passing over a PADD. "Who is he?" replied Trianna looking at the picture. "His name is Crell Moset, during the Alliance occupation of Betazed he carried out experiments on harnessing Betazoid telepathy. All his test subjects died agonizing deaths at his hands" answered Shade. "You want him dead?" asked Trianna and Shade just smirked and answered "we'll be working with the inquisition on this, intelligence found his hiding place on Chin'Toka II." "Moset will not escape my cross hairs" replied Trianna smiling.
"I've asked your father and Marie for help on this. We're on our way to meet them now, I'll need you with me when I pick the Inquisitor and Marie up. How long have you not seen your family for?" asked Shade and Trianna answered "nearly four months, when I left dad understood the need for secrecy perfectly as did Marie." "I know, your family can be trusted" replied Shade, "We'll be meeting the Axios in 15 minutes so follow me to my ready room, your father and sister will be surprised to see you" finished Shade and both Trianna and Shade left the room as Trianna reactivated her ocular lenses.
Post edited by theraven2378 on
"The meaning of victory is not to merely defeat your enemy but to destroy him, to completely eradicate him from living memory, to leave no remnant of his endeavours, to crush utterly his achievement and remove from all record his every trace of existence. From that defeat no enemy can ever recover. That is the meaning of victory."
-Lord Commander Solar Macharius
Comments
The Jenolan Sphere was destroyed and that's in the Delta Quadrant, a good 70,000 plus light years from the Empire. Valdez's orders were to destroy the Jenolan sphere to deny it to the enemies of the empire. The empire has control of the Solonae sphere. Sito's sectors are not safe from Valdez, he can now deploy his teams anywhere in the empire.
For all we know, the Solonae disappeared and they could still be around. Who knew Sito's data and a captured computer core were the keys to the network. Sito might have an ally right where she least expects it, Prime Trianna wants to bring Mirror Valdez down over him causing the extinction of the mirror Klingons and blockading Betazed.
How mad would Sito be if she found out Valdez had gained control of the gate network?
-Lord Commander Solar Macharius
Not me, your Betazed stunt forced them away before they could do anything of significance at Iconia.
It's in the DQ in the prime universe. (I think both of them are) uhhh the Solanae Sphere the broken one flooded with radiation ... you blew up the good one!
-Lord Commander Solar Macharius
Valdez would trump Leeta as a threat.
Worse case scenario ... jump over to the primary universe and wait for it to explode in Valdez's face.
Valdez and Sito have the same goal, take down Leeta. If Sito avoids the Beta Quadrant and Sol, Valdez won't move into Sito's sectors. If the Betazed gate had gone wrong and caused a super eruption, Valdez would have sent a evacuation and relief force to aid Betazed. He would also call an end to his personal cold war with Sito and advised her to send aid as well.
What's better, Valdez having control of the network or Leeta?
Valdez just wants a stable empire and to prepare for any future conflict, Sito has her own agenda which Valdez finds suspicious and borderline treason. His mission was to map and take control of the gates for the benefit and safety of the empire, his motives are to protect the empire and he does not pursue his own agenda.
If Prime Trianna was at Sito's next meeting with Prime Heath, Sito would have to trust her as she can help. Mirror Valdez killed her friends and comrades she worked with in the early days of B'Vat's rebellion and nearly caused a famine on Mirror Betazed. She may hate the Regent but the people of Betazed were still her species partially.
-Lord Commander Solar Macharius
Back to Jodi and Marie verbally attacking one another.
Terra (MU)
"She just threatened me" said Marie keeping her cool, "Wait until your sister finds out" replied Valdez and he beamed to the Agincourt with Trianna and Marie. "Set course for Betazed" ordered Valdez and the Agincourt went to transwarp. When they arrived at Betazed they were met by Papela and Jodi. Both twins just glared at Jodi with the look they wanted to hurt her. "Keep your cools young ladies" ordered Valdez. "You threatened me" said Marie playing the recording of the threat.
"I was trying to frighten you, you little brat" replied Jodi. "At least I know who my father is, you mongrel" answered Marie back. "Did you call me a mongrel?, that's rich coming from a crippled orphan" Jodi bit back with. "Be thankful I'm not fully mobile, threaten me again and I will make your life hell" replied Marie. Both Papela and Valdez now had enough and took action. Papela just tapped her head and Jodi went "OW!!", at the same time Valdez grabbed Marie's ear and twisted, it was followed by an "OW!!" from Marie.
Kestrella and Trianna were both sat down listening to the back and forth between Jodi and Marie. "If I knew this was going to happen, I'd have brought beer and popcorn" joked Trianna laughing. "Not funny Trianna, this bickering is childish" replied Kestrella. "You need to find a sense of humor" answered Trianna. "Lets just be the bigger sibling in all this and keep calm" replied Kestrella.
"BOTH OF YOU, CUT THE BS!!" yelled Valdez and Papela was in agreement. Valdez shouting at both Marie and Jodi caught their attention. "This is nowhere near over freak" said Marie and Jodi bit back with "at least I've always had my mother." "What ever dog!!!" added Marie. Valdez and Papela seeing that this bickering was getting too much just pulled out their phaser pistols and calmly set them to stun. "RIGHT, BOTH OF YOU, CALM DOWN AND STOP THIS PETTY BICKERING BEFORE WE STUN BOTH OF YOU AND YOU CAN BOTH COOL OFF IN HOLDING CELLS!!" yelled Valdez.
It fell on deaf ears and the bickering continued, both Valdez and Papela calmly fired their pistols and both Jodi and Marie were hauled off to the holding cells to cool down. "The joys of being a parent" said Valdez and Papela agreed. "Inquisitor, would you be able to assist Sito in combating Leeta?" asked Papela and Valdez answered "I want to take down Leeta as much as Sito, I'll assist her as much as I can." "Sito will appreciate the help" replied Papela.
"Speaking of Sito, is that posting to the Enterprise still open to Trianna? I need Marie to work with me" said Valdez and Papela replied "I'll ask Sito. You will get your answer soon." "Thank you your grace" answered Valdez. "I heard about Garok, that man was responsible for the deaths of millions of Betazoids. Thank you for delivering justice for my people" said Papela. "He killed my parents and 20 million of my people too, I made sure everyone in the empire knew that there is some justice in the universe" replied Valdez
"Indeed, you've put your past behind you" said Papela. "I won't ask how you got that information on my past" replied Valdez and Papela just calmly answered "nothing gets past me." "I'd like a face to face meeting with Sito, it's time to work out an arrangement that keeps us both happy" requested Valdez and Papela made the call.
-Lord Commander Solar Macharius
Inquisitor Valdez now got to the second reason he came to Betazed. "I understand you've had a few security issues" he said to Papela. "If you are referring to the escape of your counterpart and Trianna's counterpart, those were unexpected circumstances" answered Papela. "I'll have my people have a detailed look at your security, where there are weaknesses my people can advise what needs improving. I may answer to a different boss but the good of the empire must always come first" replied Valdez.
"Agreed, your people can have access and work with my people" answered Papela. "I suggest you keep Jodi in line, one day she'll threaten the wrong person and that's enough to have her killed. She's lucky she's dealing with me" replied Valdez. "Have both Marie and Jodi calmed down yet?" asked Papela. "I'm going to find out" replied Valdez and both Papela and Valdez went to the holding cells.
At the holding cells Marie and Jodi had come to and the bickering started all over again. "Your fault we are in these cells" said Jodi to Marie. "We would not be here if you did not threaten me dog" replied Marie, Jodi bit back with "poor little Marie, lost without your telepathic abilities." "woof woof mongrel" replied Marie. "Where's your original parents?" Jodi bit back. "No wonder your father left, he did not want to be associated with a head case of a daughter" answered Marie, "says the cripple with messed up sister" bit back Jodi.
"At least I'm not related to a psycho" replied Marie. "Don't call my sister a psycho" answered Jodi back. "How about next time I empty your latinum account" bit back Marie. "You wouldn't even dare do it" answered Jodi, "once I get out of here, I'll empty your entire account" bit back Marie. "Marie Valdez, you will do no such thing. If you pull a stunt like that, I will freeze your bank account young lady" said Valdez. "Jodi Iodokar, you will calm down or be in that cell for longer, Marie same goes for you" said Papela.
"You two are behaving like children, if you both insist on this childish bickering you will both be treated like children, Marie you should know better" added Valdez. "Jodi, you are restricted to the palace until you can act like an adult" said Papela, "Marie, when we get back to Terra, your mother will be having a long chat with you. Consider yourself grounded and confined to quarters when we get back to the ship" added Valdez.
"It's best we keep them separated at all times" replied Papela. "Agreed, last thing we need is either one getting violent with each other" answered Valdez. "You deal with Marie, I'll deal with Jodi" replied Papela. "Trianna, a word please" said Valdez over his combadge. Trianna walked in and Valdez told her "You did not help with that joke." "It was funny..." said Trianna as Papela cut her off. "Young lady, make any more inappropriate jokes and I will put you in a cell so you can think about controlling that mouth of yours" said Papela sternly to Trianna. "Dad, please...." replied Trianna before Valdez cut her off, "Two weeks probation, best behavior or I restrict your privileges" answered Valdez.
"Yes dad" replied Trianna back. "Your mother will be having words with you as well, I've already told her of both you and Marie's behavior" said Valdez. "We're going to have to face the music" said Trianna and Marie added "Mom's scary."
-Lord Commander Solar Macharius
Both Valdez and Papela had decided to leave Jodi and Marie in the cells for longer, the bickering still continued and the language was not very lady like. "When I get out of here I'm going to ruin that face of yours" said Jodi, Marie bit back with "not before I make sure you cannot walk again." "What's happening" asked Naynta and Trianna answered "since they cannot actually inflict physical violence on each other, it's more vocal exchanges."
"Jodi threatened Marie and they've been at it all day and it's getting childish" said Kestrella. "I wonder what your husband sees in a half breed PetaQ like you" said Marie to Jodi and Jodi really lost it. "I'm not the one who has to see a psychiatrist" bit back Jodi. "Bring it targ!!!" replied Marie. "Do you need a leg up?" bit back Jodi. "Just wait until I cave your face in" replied Marie. "What are you going to do, hobble at me?" responded Jodi. "Would be a shame if you met my walking stick face first" bit back Marie.
"I'll get popcorn" said Trianna, "I'll get the beer, this is entertaining" replied Naynta. "Not helping you two" responded Kestrella, Trianna and Naynta just told Kestrella "lighten up." "Why do I have to deal with these problems everyday?" sighed Kestrella. Meanwhile the insults between Jodi and Marie continued, "what's that ugly thing in the room, oh wait it's you Jodi" said Marie. "That's rich, a Jackal Mastiff is far better looking than you" bit back Jodi. Trianna and Naynta were in stitches with laughter at the back and forth between Jodi and Marie.
"At least I'm not a spoiled crippled brat" said Jodi and Marie replied "is mommy's girl getting mad?" "You Warrigul" bit back Jodi and Marie responded with "a Warrigul is better looking than you." "If I have my way, you won't have a leg to stand on" bit back Jodi. Marie responded with "bark away dog." Kestrella by this point calmly muted both cells to save her sanity and she left the cell block followed by Trianna and Jodi.
In the Regent's office Valdez and Papela were talking business, "what arrangement do you have in mind with Sito?" asked Papela. Valdez punched up a star chart of the empire and answered "I defend and hold Sol as well as the Beta Quadrant sectors east of Betazed Sector. The Romulan Aristocracy have also promised to send forces to help defend the empire's Beta Quadrant sectors. Officially I'm neutral politically but if Sito asks for official assistance, I'll divert some resources to her. Anything else goes beyond neutrality."
"One more thing, you were too brutal on the Klingons" said Papela and Valdez answered "they would have been a problem again in the future, eliminating them now saves the empire a potential future problem." "It's a mistake" replied Papela to which Valdez answered "the difference between us is you are a politician and I'm a soldier, our views may conflict but we need to work as allies for the good of the empire." "Sito tries to do both" responded Papela, Valdez answered "if Sito insists on doing her own thing, she has to be more discreet about it. She's treading that fine line as it is." "I'll tell Sito that, thank you for your honesty Inquisitor" replied Papela, "I'll leave a few of my teams here on Betazed to assist your people, best I can do to avoid crossing that fine line" answered Valdez.
-Lord Commander Solar Macharius
Terra (MU)
The Agincourt had arrived after Valdez's business trip to Betazed. "How have things been while I was away?" asked Valdez to Solat, "quiet so far, I've instructed our listening posts to report any chroniton readings straight to me" answered Solat. "You have a theory?" asked Valdez and Solat answered "our enemies may be using time travel against us in combination with those drones."
"Makes sense, best way to fight someone is to know how they will react before they do it. I'll update the emperor, Solat I need you to run my day to day military operations" replied Valdez. "Mrs Valdez asked me to update her when you got back" said Solat. "Thanks Solat, Marie and Trianna are both due a word from Teanna. Their behavior has been causing problems, one more thing, could you arrange a meeting between me and Sito?" replied Valdez. "Where at?" asked Solat. "Jupiter Station, one aide each" replied Valdez.
When Teanna met up with Valdez and the twins, she glared at the twins and the twins thought "moms mad" and Teanna said to them "yes I am, come with me. We're going to have a little talk, Nathan, can I borrow your ready room?" "Of course, I had to stun Marie because of her and Jodi's bickering. The Regent stunned Jodi as well for good measure" answered Valdez.
Teanna dragged the twins into Valdez's ready room and read them the riot act. "If you two embarrass us like that again, you two will be taught the error of your ways. Trianna Marie Valdez, your father's decision on restriction of privileges stands. Marie Valdez, I'm confining you to your room for the next three months when you are off duty and none of you dare complain to your father, he'll tell you the same. Take the punishment young ladies and do not behave like that again" Teanna told the twins.
"Jodi threatened me" said Marie but Teanna had none of it and told Marie "so you reacted, how many times have I told you to watch that temper of yours?" "Too many" answered Marie and Teanna replied "you should know better." Teanna now turned her attention to Trianna, "you did not help matters, Miss Kestrella Lot told me everything. Next time you decide to run your mouth, you are confined to your room when off duty for two weeks. Do I make myself clear?" asked Teanna and both twins chorused "crystal."
Teanna and the twins left the ready room and the twins apologized to Valdez. "Apology accepted, don't do that again. Marie, any more incidents between you and Jodi and your account is frozen for a week" he said to the twins. "They finally did it, they made you lose your temper" said Teanna. "To the point I stunned Marie and had her hauled off to a holding cell" replied Valdez. "Girls, go to your rooms and have a long hard think about your actions" ordered Teanna and the twins complied. "I have no idea what punishment the Regent has planned for Jodi, in fact I don't want to know" said Valdez. "Nathan, you will join me in a meditation session, it's to regain that emotional balance. It's not a request either, it's an order" said Teanna and Valdez replied "yes ma'am." Teanna thought "sarcasm" and smiled at Valdez's joke.
-Lord Commander Solar Macharius
Inquisitor Valdez was studying his intel reports from Marie when he herd a chime on his door. "Who is it?" he asked over the intercom and Trianna answered "a crewman Jun from the I.S.S. Corbulo needs to speak to you." "Come in" ordered Valdez and the crewman was escorted in by the twins. Jun saluted and Valdez got straight to business, "crewman, you have made a serious accusation about your captain and his first officer. You know you are putting yourself at risk by coming to me behind your captain's back."
"I am but someone has to" replied Jun and Valdez asked "what warranted you to bring this accusation to me?" "Captain Darlan and Commander Brock maintain a rule of terror to cover their illegal activities, anyone who questions that disappears and the whole crew is on the verge of mutiny" explained Jun. "What kind of illegal activities?" asked Marie and Valdez assured Jun that he was safe to talk to Marie. "I did some digging into our cargo inventory, there were things that should not be on a military vessel in the Corbulo's cargo bay. They've been running illegal smuggling operations in things like explosives and selling them to the highest bidder covertly.
This got Marie's attention. "Doing a check on Darlan now, not the first time he's been accused of smuggling. Crewman, all information you give is to be treated confidentially" said Marie and Trianna added "the crewman is being honest." "Crewman if you had been lying, the Lt over there would have shot you" said Valdez and Jun answered "I know." "This is interesting, just been looking through Darlan's financial records, we have enough to investigate him" said Marie. Valdez then went over to the Corbulo along with a security team and the twins.
"What is the meaning of this?" demanded Darlan and Valdez promptly replied "Captain Darlan and Commander Brock, you are both under arrest on suspicion of corruption and illegal smuggling. You will both be held until our investigation is over, anything you do say will be used in a military court against you." Darlan and Brock were removed from the ship and sent to the holding cells on Terra as Marie got to work. Trianna started talking to the crew to get answers, the crew loyal and complicit to Darlan were moved off the ship first before Trianna started her interviews.
Marie's investigation of Darlan's records uncovered a hidden set of files, cargo manifests and other illegal financial records. She got what she needed and that combined with Trianna's interviews was enough for Valdez. Valdez and the Twins then beamed to Terra and Valdez passed judgement. Darlan and Brock were hauled before a military court and found guilty, the Corbulo crew who had knowingly aided them were also hauled before the court. The court found all defendants guilty and they passed judgement.
Darlan and Brock were to be publicly hung and the crew who had aided them were sentenced to life at Tantalus Penal Colony. Sentence was carried out with immediate effect and Valdez made sure it was broadcast all over the empire and the people were told why. The message was "corruption will not go unpunished." The Emperor had watched the proceeding and said to Shade "give the good Inquisitor more farther reaching powers, some of the Imperial Senate may need investigating." "Yes Excellency, I'll give the Inquisitor the authorization to investigate the senate. We've got the right man here at Terra for the job" replied Shade.
-Lord Commander Solar Macharius
The twins' punishment was up and it was business as usual. Marie was painstakingly checking every Imperial senator's records for an irregularity and Trianna was practicing with a sniper rifle. "Impressive, 20 shots fired at 900m and 20 head shots" said Valdez. "You taught me how to shoot with basic kinetic rifles on Trillius Prime. I've been practicing ever since on them" said Trianna. Valdez smiled and asked "if I called a body part, could you hit it at 900m?" "Challenge accepted" replied Trianna.
"Left arm on the elbow" called Valdez and Trianna put a hole in the left arm of the dummy in the place Valdez asked. "Head, right between the eyes" asked Valdez and Trianna put a bullet where Valdez pointed out. "Ok, lets up the challenge, moving targets at varying ranges. One shot one kill on all of them in the head" asked Valdez. "Yes dad" replied Trianna and she did exactly what Valdez asked of her. "Excellent work, I actually recorded those scores; 100% accuracy, well done" said Valdez afterwards and Trianna smiled.
"Keep practicing Dead shot" Valdez said afterwards. "Dad, did you just give me a call sign?" asked Trianna and Valdez laughed and answered "it's a complement, skill like that will not go unnoticed around here." "It comes naturally to me, I like to hunt my prey from distance" replied Trianna. "I know, I saw you take down a Trillian Wolf at 600m, one hell of a shot" answered Valdez. "Now to harness that skill in ground engagements" replied Trianna. "We'll see" answered Valdez back. He then went to check on Marie's progress.
"Dad, take a look at this one" said Marie and Valdez looked at the file. "Senator Bocharin, he's the Imperial treasurer" said Valdez and Marie pointed a flaw in his financial records and ideology. "We had some trouble from him before, he believes the empire should be a constitutional monarchy by approval of the people. Financially he's sound" said Marie. "So we have a morally corrupt individual at the heart of our government. What else can you tell me?" asked Valdez and Marie passed him the second PADD. "Some of his past affiliations may be of interest. They're all pro- democracy" said Valdez and Marie replied "it's enough for us to investigate. Shall I put our operatives on standby?" Valdez approved the order and deployed the operatives to start arresting Bocharin's past associates and bring them in for questioning.
"Find out how many groups there is, we need 24 hour surveillance on them all. Betazoid operatives are to disguise themselves as Terrans to blend in and monitor the population for any pro-democracy meetings. Any treasonous meeting will then be raided by our security troops and everyone present arrested" ordered Valdez. "Yes Dad, do we arrest Bocharin now?" asked Marie and Valdez answered "not yet, I want him under constant surveillance for now. If he does anything suspicious tell your operatives to move in for the arrest." "Orders already sent" replied Marie.
-Lord Commander Solar Macharius
The investigation into Bocharin was now under way, Inquisitor Valdez's operatives were in force blending into the Terran population. So far they had caught whole pro-democracy groups in the act and the holding cells here filling up with more being built. Trianna had been watching Bocharin's movements like an unseen hawk, she reported his position and activity back to Marie who then watched his movements by satellite.
The Senator had no idea he was being watched as he entered a warehouse building in the old San Francisco docks. Valdez was in position with a team to move in and strike, Trianna put herself somewhere up high as Marie cut off communications from the building. "He's got two bodyguards, 100m to your left" reported Trianna and Valdez replied "copy that Dead Shot, you have permission to take the guard on the left, we'll take the guard on the right." Trianna downed the guard on the left as Dreisse down the guard on the right. Valdez then led the arrest teams and caught the Senator about to give a speech. "Senator William Bocharin, you are under arrest on suspicion of being morally corrupt" said Valdez as his teams rounded everyone up in the building.
For the next fortnight, the interrogation teams questioned everyone and Marie built up a picture of how far this went. "You have enough to convict?" asked Valdez. "Let's see what the senator has to say" replied Marie and Valdez personally questioned Bocharin, his past was spread out in front of him and Valdez got to work. "You were once a patriot, what changed?" asked Valdez to Bocharin. "I am but one man cannot have ultimate power" answered Bocharin, Valdez replied "that type of talk is treason, you would rather we become like the Federation if you had your way." "Empires change, you think you are free but you are not" answered Bocharin.
"A heretic may see the truth and seek redemption. He may be forgiven his past and be absolved in death. A Traitor can never be forgiven. A Traitor can never find peace in this world or the next. There is nothing as wretched or as hated in all the world as a Traitor. Senator, you are on a very slippery slope" replied Valdez. "I am no traitor" answered Bocharin. "Traitors bring down Empires, need I mention the cautionary tale of Spock? How he got corrupted by the other Kirk and led the empire to collapse?" replied Valdez.
That shut Bocharin up. Valdez decided to make an example of him, "Senator William Bocharin, you are sentenced to execution by firing squad to be carried out publicly" he said to Bocharin and the senator was taken to the Imperial palace grounds where Trianna was waiting. In front of the cameras of Imperial Propaganda, Trianna carried out the sentence. The headline was "Corruption in any form will be purged." The rest of the conspirators were hung publicly over the next three weeks, at least Valdez could be happy. "We make a good team" he said to the twins and the twins replied "agreed" in chorus. "Hell of a result" said Shade as she walked in. "Trianna, you can trust her so keep sidearm holstered" said Valdez and Trianna complied.
"Inquisitor, well done" said Shade to Trianna. "Meet my my daughter Trianna, call sign Dead Shot" said Valdez to Shade. "Dead Shot indeed, I've read your marksmanship scores" said Shade, "ma'am, dad taught me to shoot on vintage rifles, I'm not parting with my rifle. I was brought up to be honest" replied Trianna. "And polite too, pleased to meet you Miss Valdez. Identical twins by any chance?" asked Shade and both twins replied "yep" in chorus. "This my team, Marie deals with the information side of things and Trianna goes over watch tracking the target and relaying it back to me. I co-ordinate the operations" said Valdez.
"Impressive team, certain members of the senate are beginning to sweat now. Your war on corruption has not gone unnoticed, it'll send a very clear message" replied Shade.
-Lord Commander Solar Macharius
Molindran Dyson Sphere (mirror universe)
The Terran force entered the second sphere to sheer blackness, as though the void had swallowed all the light in existence.
A mental strength wormed its way into the minds of every imperial on the task force.
"Defilers, your lives are forfeit!"
The numbers of the defending fleet didn't even open fire, before the enemy could even process what was happening all but one of the Terran ships were crushed like tin cans.
Within the Palatial spire Emperor Vengerak Zepoli, observed the massive tactical hologram. "Bring me the commanders of the last vessel and kill the rest."
Within the hour the Molindrans had though tally interrogated the captives and began to study the archaic technology they employed. Similar to the dreadnought they'd captured last year... The ISS Hydra.
"The interlopers minds are extremely primate my lord, we have full control of their mental facilities. At this point we have them telling us anything we wish to know and they believe it is of their own will."
"What have we learned?"
The Terrified man faded from view his horrified cry of terror slowly fading.
"We must ensure they believe their mission was successful. Use their codes to transmit the message, then have the Hirogen launch a Omega torpedo at one of the boarder Benthan systems... They've been trouble lately, and the explosion should fool anyone in the alpha quadrant."
Lord General Loolipo bowed. "It will be done my lord."
The Foundry, and my love of Star Trek
Acting Admiral Solat got the report from the scouts and logically analysed them. "After they went dark" she noted and she pulled her forces away from the unidentified gate assuming a trap by the enemy. "Mr Westin, upload the Marie special" ordered Solat and Westin uploaded the virus to the Jouret gate. The gate shut down and faded back to subspace, Solat reported back to Terra "unknown space gate shut down, recommend a base be set up here to guard the system."
"You made the right call, bring the fleet to Terra and report to me" said Valdez over the channel. 48 hours later, Solat was back and she reported the system's location. Marie made sure the system was put on the classified list immediately, Valdez then sprung a surprise on Solat when he removed his full admiral chevrons and pinned them on Solat. "Admiral Solat, I would like you to inherit the fleet. Logically I cannot do both my Inquisitor duties and run military operations at the time. The fleet is yours old friend" said Valdez. "Nathan, a very logical course of action. The fleet is here anytime you need it my friend" replied Solat.
"Since I'll need a ship for my duties, I'm knocking myself down to Captain and assuming command of the I.S.S. Corbulo" said Valdez and Solat replied "Hestia class, logical choice." "That's why I picked her and I need a hand picked crew" answered Valdez. "Helping that crew regain their honor?" asked Solat and Valdez replied "fresh leadership is required, that crew deserve a captain who looks out for them." "It's logical, any decision on first officer?" asked Solat. "Marie, you are computer warfare officer, Trianna, I'm putting you on tactical. Since putting family up for promotion will cause friction, who's most senior officer since the purge?" replied Valdez.
"Lt Cmdr Chall. She's Andorian" answered Solat. "Make her a full commander, I'm making that my last order as an admiral" replied Valdez. Solat had Chall brought to the Agincourt to be promoted and Chall was introduced to her new captain. "Miss Chall, as a sign of internal unity, I'm making you my first officer. The job is yours, it's up to you to accept" said Valdez to Chall, Chall accepted the job and saluted her new captain. "Sir, thank you for removing Darlan and Brock. In fact the whole crew will be behind you, you've got their respect" said Chall shaking Captain Valdez's hand. "Cmdr, notify the crew I'm taking command of the Corbulo and renaming her to remove the stain of corruption" ordered Valdez and Chall replied "yes captain" smiling. "Captain, out of interest, what name do you have in mind?" she asked afterwards.
"I.S.S. Axios, this crew is getting a fresh start" answered Valdez. "It's perfect, what does it mean?" replied Chall. "Worthy of", "deserving of", "suitable" answered Valdez. "Worthy of redemption" added Chall and Valdez smiled and replied "I agree Cmdr, this crew is getting a chance to put things right. Cmdr, you are dismissed." Chall saluted Valdez and left giving a polite nod to him.
-Lord Commander Solar Macharius
Stardate: Unknown
"You are foolish to even suggest this after your actions at Procyon V, Romulan. Your interference accelerated the formation of the Galactic Union from the Federation's interaction with your universe! You offer us nothing!"
"I offer you everything you wanted Sphere-Builder.... Join us in this and you will have your retribution against the Terrans, and their galaxy. One which has the same laws of physics as the one you've been so desperate to conquer."
"You would use us to vanquish your enemies, I have no guarantee you will not betray us as Leata did. What is it you would want in exchange for such a gift?"
"That you leave the Federation and Galactic Union alone- forever... As you can see this plan would also allow my people to save a significant number of my people, and cultural artifacts.... We both want to survive, both of our species are victims of temporal warfare... The Tutarians chose the path of vengeance, against an alliance who had no intention of harming them.... the Romulan Union was intentionally destroyed the Terran Empire- or Trivimuraltive."
Veel'Riz paused looking the Builder in the eyes. "I am offering you the chance to end this meaningless conflict and strike at your true enemy... A chance to rebuild, a chance to survive... But this war between us, must end."
'.......... You may count upon our support for now. We will begin a slow temporal inversion in 2411, by the time you are ready to strike the Terrans will have assumed that the phenomenon is harmless."
The Foundry, and my love of Star Trek
That's a good idea, we've seen the spheres in the Kelvin Timeline and the Prime Timeline ... I wonder how/if/when we'll see the Spheres in the Mirror Universe ... I don't imagine they'll be in the MU long before the Terrans explode them but still it could be a cool plot.
Inquisitor Valdez called "Mr Jun, activate the cloak and take us in." "Yes Captain" replied Jun and the Axios entered the system stealthily. "Readings are temporal in nature" reported Marie and Valdez ordered Jun to take the ship in closer to the 5th planet in the system. The Axios got to within visual range of the planet but the planet was not there.
"Everyone below first officer apart from Lt Valdez clear the bridge. The bridge crew cleared the bridge and Chall asked "mission security?" Valdez answered "it is, this system will play a big role to the future of the Terran Empire." "These temporal reading are inverse by nature" reported Marie. "What do you mean by inverse?" asked Valdez and Marie answered "the timeline is subtly being manipulated." "Any suspects?" asked Valdez and Marie answered "only one I can think of is the Tuterians." "The Sphere Builders, they are masters of temporal manipulation, we need to get this data back to Terra for analysis" replied Valdez. The bridge crew were recalled and the Axios set course for Terra.
At Terra, Trianna asked for a private talk. "Dad, there's something I must do personally. I may not be in contact for a while, I'll contact you but please do not contact me" said Trianna. "You have your reasons" replied Valdez and Trianna nodded. "I need to find myself and it's something I must do alone" said Trianna, Valdez knew it was important to Trianna and advised her "you are old enough to make up your own mind what you want to do in life, I cannot stop you but remember find strength knowing your family care about you." "What I'm going to do I cannot discuss with anyone including family, dad you understand more than most" said Trianna.
"Last family dinner tonight, might be the last time we're together as a family for a while" said Valdez and Trianna agreed and replied "Marie won't understand but you and mom will. Make sure my sister is safe dad." "I'll keep an eye on Marie, she's working with me full time from now on" said Valdez and Trianna smiled. At the family dinner, Trianna said her goodbyes and told Marie "be strong for both of us." "Will do" replied Marie as Valdez and Teanna helped Trianna pack what she needed. Trianna then hugged her sister, mother and father and left for the transporter room, Valdez sent her off personally. "See you when I see you next" he said to Trianna and Trianna replied "dad, go get the empire's enemies." "Yes ma'am" responded Valdez. After Trianna beamed down to the Imperial Palace, Valdez in a bittersweet moment thought "I'll miss you kiddo, take care of yourself."
-Lord Commander Solar Macharius
Captain/Inquisitor Valdez was in astrometrics looking over Marie's data. "The inverse waves are noticeable to those who know what to look for. "They're minor but deliberate" reported Marie. "It could explain planets duplicating and duplicated ships appearing" replied Valdez. "Exactly, I've been using the Towton's database to cross reference events like this" answered Marie, "good thing you downloaded it before you ditched the Towton, it could give us answers" replied Valdez.
"Any other system known for temporal wave other than Procyon?" asked Valdez and Marie updated the star map, "the system itself is a temporal anomaly and an epicentre for these inverse waves" answered Marie. There was a chime on the door and Valdez ordered "enter." It was Cmdr Chall, she saluted Valdez and Valdez asked her "please don't salute me, I don't do formality." "Noted Captain" replied Chall. Chall then looked at the star map and asked "how recent are these inverse waves?" "Very, they've started appearing over the last month" answered Marie.
"Chall, meet my daughter Marie. She's the computer warfare officer and resident temporal expert" said Valdez. "Lt Valdez, I have a daughter around your age. Captain, my daughter finishes the academy next week. I'm asking could you get her assigned to the Axios?" replied Chall. "Any reason why?" asked Valdez and Chall answered "she needs stability, I'm going through a rough divorce at the moment and I want my daughter with me." "Cmdr, try and not let your family issues get in the way of your job. That said I'll put the call through myself but your daughter must live by my rules, understood?" replied Valdez. "Yes Captain, Vell'mas has scored top grades on tactical at the academy. You need a tactical officer" responded Chall.
"Cmdr, I'm firm with this crew but I'm also fair. Tell the crew if they need to speak to me about any problems, they know where my door is" said Valdez and Chall smiled. "I'll tell the crew that Marie is off limits and if anyone hurts her or tries to bully her, they'll have me to deal with" Chall said afterwards. "Cmdr, are you putting me under your protection?" asked Marie and Chall answered "I am, you are an asset to this ship. Captain, Doctor Valdez has requested that you check in for a medical today as well."
Cmdr Chall left after giving a polite nod to Valdez. "I'm missing Trianna, it's too quiet" said Valdez to Marie. "Dad, you worry too much, Trianna's a tough young lady" replied Marie. "It still weighs heavily on my mind, you and Trianna are my baby girls and nothing will change that" answered Valdez. "Mom has her own logic in this, she keeps busy to keep her mind off it. She misses Trianna but she won't show it" replied Marie. "Your mother is tough like that, she's always been stoic about these things" answered Valdez. "I miss her but I won't hinder her either, she's my sister at end of the day and nothing will change that" replied Marie. "Well Marie, you have your mother's brutal honesty and it's a good thing" answered Valdez.
-Lord Commander Solar Macharius
"Computer begin record.
Captain's personal log;
By the Prophets I swear, if Starfleet knew how many times their files had been accessed by the Empire they'd fire the head of security for gross incompetence. Not my problem now... Although part of feels like I should warn the other Heath about it... But like I said, not my problem. But it did give me the info I needed.
More on that later.
First, the admiral's pet project, one of many I'm sure, is up and working. It's producing so much data she's going to need a team dedicated to sorting through it. Have to find her some people that she'll trust to work on it. Trust, it's a hard thing to come by over here. Maybe that's why a ship that crews over 2500 was only half full. Not complaining, it made things so much easier to when bringing everyone else over. Thay, you [REDACTED].
Prophets above Layress, you can't say things like that!
Now, where was I?
My own projects are almost done. Well is one is done and I wish it wasn't.
*sigh* They don't think about the consequences of time travel like we were taught to. Their temporal shields protect them from the bad effects. Unfortunately, time doesn't like to be manipulated and has its own way of fighting back.
The aforementioned data that we acquired shows that everytime I went back to the other universe it caused mini temporal anomalies. It didn't like two of us in the timeline at the same time. The more I go back the more and bigger the anomalies will become. It just proves that we can never go back. This is our home now. I have to be careful from now on. Temporal Affairs might try to grab me and reintegrate me with her.
If I tell Thay she'll never let me go back there again, but shouldn't keep secrets plus there are times when I'll have to. The subtleties of negotiating sometimes elude her and require someone who knows how they think.
Lastly, have to compose letter to Valdez girls. Inform them of disappointment in their actions. Offer to serve onboard recinded until maturity is displayed consistently. Have to emphasize difference between discipline and maturity.
*sigh* So much wasted potential in those two. Oh well maybe now they'll learn."
Personal note, do something very nice for Keyha, the ships tailor. New undergarments very comfortable and minimizes bouncing when running, although I'd swear they've gotten bigger. Just might be my imagination. Going to spank someone for this. I just might [REDACTED]. Wow, where is my head? Can't say things like that in logs.
End log before I say anything else."
She turned off the treadmill and hit the shower.
----Several hours later----
"Captain's personal log supplemental. Not to be archived on the main computer.
It's done.
We finished the reconstruction and it's fully functional.
And now we're not going to turn it on. The last thing we want is to announce to anyone that can monitor their Network that someone has rebuilt a gate on Iconia. It would be an invitation for attack, but we have it in case we need it.
At the Admirals insistence four tri-cobalt bombs have placed in the chamber, with a very unique trigger. Anyone from this universe that enters here will set them off. All outside connections have been severed, the only way to access this is to do it physically. And if whoever tries it isn't one of the former Lobos, boom.
What more concerns me is when we accessed the network map and I pointed out where the Andromeda sphere should be, the admiral told me not to bother. There was nothing living there. Did Leeta somehow go to Andromeda and wipe them out there as well? Or did she get them before they had a chance to go there? More information only creates more questions.
End log."
Trianna was in her quarters working on a new gun drone, "Hmm, I need this to be stealthy. Maybe a micro cloaking device" thought Trianna as Shade entered the room. Shade just quietly observed Trianna's little project as she began mounting gun barrels onto the drone. "What are you working on Initiate?" asked Shade and Trianna lifted her welding visor and saluted her superior and answered with "a stealth gun drone, 5.7mm case less rounds fed by micro replicator. The barrels have been designed with a integrated suppressor and flash eliminator. I'm just installing the micro cloaking device and power cell as well."
Shade looked at the schematics Trianna was working off and noted the micro cloaking device Trianna had built with only bits she had to hand. "Is it operational?" asked Shade has Trianna finished her drone. "Testing her now, you may want to stand back" answered Trianna and she tapped the wrist mounted remote on her left arm. The drone took off as Trianna adjusted the controls, "Now to test the gun rotation" said Trianna and she tapped the remote and both barrels on ventral and dorsal sides of the drone rotated. Trianna now piloted the drone by remote and around the room and activated the cloak.
"Impressive, how easy is that to build in more numbers?" asked Shade and Trianna answered "I've already built ten of them, they can take different weapon load outs and three of them are stealth recon armed with scanners, sensors and holo-camera." "You field tested them yet?" asked Shade and Trianna answered "I'll be field testing them all, this one is my baby" as she decloaked the drone and landed it. "Is intelligence a Valdez family trait?" asked Shade and Trianna smiled and answered "it is. Dad is the tactics man, Marie is the computer genius and me, I'm a tech girl. Mom is family doctor."
Shade smiled and replied "Your family is an effective team." Trianna answered "way we were brought up, team work was always encouraged." "Initiate, your family have been good to the empire. "What's your father's view on politics?" asked Shade and Trianna answered "dad does not like politics, he's neutral and loyal to the empire as a whole. As far as dad is concerned, he swore an oath to fight all enemies of the empire foreign and domestic. He does not break his word." That was enough for Shade who replied "your father is a good man, that's why you are an assassin initiate. Normally they are Terran only but if you succeed, you could be the first Betazoid Imperial assassin in the empire."
"Half Betazoid and half Terran" answered Trianna. Shade smiled and replied "you can easily pass yourself off as Terran and with telepathic abilities, a good combination." "My telepathy is for stalking my prey, they won't know I'm watching them. That's when the rifle over there comes into play. I never miss" answered Trianna. "Then you disappear like a ghost like you were not there" replied Shade. "Ghost, it does sound better than Dead Shot" answered Trianna smiling. "Ghost it is then" replied Shade.
-Lord Commander Solar Macharius
She stopped, turned and raised an eyebrow at the empty space to her right. "Well?"
"You were right cousin I agree she's got far to much potential to use in the initiation ceremony when we replenish the ranks, in a year or two. I'll find another alien to kill." The ships tactical officer turned off his stealth generator.
"Just make sure it's believable." Shade hissed at the man.
He gulped.
The Foundry, and my love of Star Trek
In the mess, Trianna was working out gunnery trajectories when she was interrupted by a Terran initiate. "If it isn't the new girl" he sneered hoping elicit a response. Trianna just ignored the insults and carried on with her sums, "new girl, you not paying attention?" asked the Terran initiate and still Trianna ignored him. The Initiate then walked around her and tried to put a dagger in her back.
Trianna calmly dodged the attack and punched the would be assassin square in the face before locking in a sleeper hold. Trianna did not let go until the initiate stopped breathing. "Guess he failed" said Trianna afterwards, little did she know Shade had seen the whole fight. "She has potential" thought Shade smirking. Later in Trianna's quarters, Shade paid a visit to see Trianna cleaning her rifle and fitting a micro replicator into custom built magazines. "Good kill" said Shade, Trianna saluted her superior and answered "he pulled a dagger on me, I merely took him down permanently" calmly.
"No mercy shown either. It's something I expect from my initiates" answered Shade. "Dad taught me never start a fight but if pushed to fight, finish it swiftly" replied Trianna. "Impressive sleeper hold and why a preference for kinetics?" asked Shade. "Less things to go wrong, modern weapons can be made inoperative by dampening fields. A primitive kinetic weapon is more efficient in all conditions and can defeat every known personal shield. Personal shields are designed with particle weapons in mind" answered Trianna.
"So you decided a low tech solution was the best approach?" asked Shade. "If it's not broken, no need to fix it" answered Trianna. "I just saw you put that rifle back together while we were talking" replied Shade, Trianna smiled and replied "simplicity in it's finest." "What's the range on that?" asked Shade. "I've sighted it for 600m, 600 is optimum" answered Trianna. "Quite a distance" replied Shade. "That wolf skin on the wall notice the hole in the head?" asked Trianna and Shade spotted the hole. "Hit that at 600m and it was fast moving" pointed out Trianna.
"Impressive, I'll leave you to your kit maintenance" replied Shade and she left the room.
I.S.S. Axios
Inquisitor Valdez and Marie Valdez were reading the latest reports from Procyon. "It's 4 am, don't you two ever sleep?" asked Teanna as she refilled their coffees. "Mom won't back down" said Marie to Valdez, he answered "after we've finished this research." Teanna changed tactics as Marie finished saving the new data. Teanna calmly turned the terminal off and whispered something in Valdez's ear.
"I'm off to bed, try not to freak me out too much" said Marie and she went into her room. At family breakfast next morning Valdez and Marie were reading the reports over breakfast. "You two are so alike" said Teanna which was followed by a "mom's good" by Marie and an "indeed" from Valdez. "Marie, a letter for you and your sister" said Teanna.
Marie opened the letter, it was from Captain Heath. "Keep me at least a sector block away from Jodi, she cost me and Trianna the Enterprise posting" said Marie. "You did threaten to cave her face in" replied Valdez. "Your father has a point" added Teanna. "Dad, you actually shot me. Thanks for the head ache, my head felt like someone landed a shuttle on it " replied Marie. "Heavy stun, works every time in non lethally diffusing a situation" answered Valdez.
-Lord Commander Solar Macharius
Shade had found a jungle moon to test her initiates. "Some of you will not be coming back, understand this" said Shade to the Initiates. All Initiates knew what that meant and they chorused "yes sir!" On the Moon, Trianna set her drones off moved deeper into the jungle to find an ideal firing position as the other initiates prepared their equipment.
"Let's see what the Betazoid can do" said Shade's tactical officer as they watched covertly. "She's in hunting mode" answered Shade smirking. Trianna had not forgotten the faces of her rivals and she stalked them always keeping track of her targets with her stealth drones as she got her rifle ready. The first to fall was a Trill Initiate which Trianna took down quietly at 550m from a concealed position. Her gun drones dispatched another three Initiates as Trianna changed position.
"She's good, four covert kills in space of two minutes" noted Shade's tactical officer and Shade smirked. Meanwhile Trianna has already put two more bullets into two more of her competition as she covertly moved around the jungle unseen and unheard. "Another sniper, this should be interesting" thought Trianna as a phaser bolt hit 100m away, Trianna responded in kind and put a bullet through the sniper's skull at 650m before disappearing stealthily.
"Six kills and four of them beyond 500m" noted Shade smirking, her tactical officer noted Trianna's score and he calmly said "Ghost has potential." Later in her quarters, Trianna was cleaning her rifle and drones having got changed back into shipboard uniform. "Ghost indeed" said Shade as she checked up on Trianna. Trianna smiled and replied "they never knew what hit them, that poor excuse of a sniper missed, I did not." "I noticed, one shot and one kill for each round fired. Very impressive but don't get over confident" answered Shade.
"I'm not, I take a leaf out of dad's book. Always study your opponent before moving in for the kill" replied Trianna calmly. "The Art of War" noted Shade looking at the book on Trianna's desk. "That was a gift from dad" said Trianna and Shade noted that down. "Exitus Acta Probat" said Trianna as she just carried on cleaning her kit. "What does that mean?" asked Shade and Trianna answered "The outcome justifies the deed." Shade let off a smirk and replied "very wise."
"What can you tell me about Captain Heath Layress?" asked Shade and Trianna answered "former Federation captain who defected to the empire with some members of her crew. She's a bit soft in dad's view and she only answers to Fleet Admiral Sito." "If this Captain Heath became a threat to the empire, would you take the shot?" asked Shade to which Trianna answered "If the empire required Heath Layress or any of her people to die, I'd take the shot personally." That was enough for Shade and she replied "carry on initiate" and left the room.
-Lord Commander Solar Macharius
Sol System, Earth (Prime Universe)
Veel'Riz activated his Subspace communications console.
"Helllo Admiral, it's been quite a while."
"I don't believe we've met, and its Councilor now. Are you having a problem with your visual messages?"
"Only until I know if this channel is secure... Do you remember what happened at the Argolis cluster in 2390?"
"That's classified."
"I was there Nathan, and I owe you again for getting my people out of hostile territory after my unintended decloaking in 2410."
There was a pause.
"Channel secured," Valdez said in bewilderment. "How did you survive that?!"
"I didn't, and don't have time to explain the details. As you can see old friend, some people forced our scientists to transfer my mind into a younger version of myself." Veel'Riz smiled and joked, "when did your hair start changing grey?"
"Watch it."
"This is my farewell... Do you remember when I said I hated time travel? I feel like a puppet, and the Galactic Union is the puppeteer. Doesn't look like I'll ever be able to get to see that place on Earth I've wanted to- What was the name? Hhmm it translates to 'Thundering Water Falls'."
"Niagra falls I think it's ancient Iroqoiunan.... Wait the Star Union has as many regulations as Starfleet when it comes to temporal matters! What did they offer you to rope you into this?"
Veel'Riz looked down, "What they knew I wouldn't be able to refuse... The chance to see my sons face again.... When your counterpart killed him -not that I knew that at the time- I destroyed every image of him I had.... I'd failed him, I failed my wife, I failed as a father...." He shook his head. "As I understand it what I'm about to do is keeping more Imperials from interferaing at Procyon V. There is no other option."
"Good luck, then."
"Good-bye old friend, as my Vulcan cousins would say: Peace and long life." The screen went blank.
Fiara AOW numbers
1
1
1
1
2
14
3
0
22
16
13
11
3
The Foundry, and my love of Star Trek
"This is Captain Trianna Marie Valdez of the U.S.S. Iconia, permission to dock?" said the captain of the Iconia. "You know we were sent on this for one reason only?" said Cmdr Karok smiling. Trianna smiled and answered "looks like dad has to deal with his grandchildren for a little bit longer." "Still honorable" replied Karok in his usual Klingon tone. "Funny" answered Trianna smirking a bit.
"This is Vanguard ops, you are clear to dock" answered the hail. "Helm, bring us into the Federation dock, one quarter impulse" ordered Trianna and Ensign Savvok brought the Iconia into dock. "Captain Valdez, it is agreeable to see you again" said Chevalier T'Nae. "Been 18 years" answered Trianna as she shook T'Nae's hand. "How's your father?" asked T'Nae and Trianna answered "he's fine, dad's on grandfather duties until I get back to Earth."
"He's a good man, there's someone who wishes to speak to you" replied T'Nae. "Karok, supervise the transfer of the omega stabilization modules, I've got something to attend to" ordered Trianna and Karok got to work. Trianna meanwhile went with T'Nae. "You remember Soreth?" asked T'Nae and Trianna answered "never met her personally but my dad speaks highly of her." T'Nae brought Trianna to Soreth's office. "Captain, pleased to meet you" said Soreth as she greeted Trianna.
"How is your father?" asked Soreth and Trianna answered "He's fine, I've left him on grandfather duty." Soreth smiled and replied "you mean you drafted him." "In a way yes, he's not alone though. I drafted my husband Ablim to help dad with the little monsters" answered Trianna smiling. "I understand, you've been on patrol on the Terran border" said Soreth getting to business. "Ships keep disappearing, we've been tracking the attacks. Same MO as 2411, merchant shipping and lone alliance ships" answered Trianna.
"We got a lead on who's planning these operations" replied Soreth as she handed the PADD to Trianna. "Captain Marie Valdez, it fits her MO. Remotely disable your victims before you kill them" answered Trianna looking very concerned. "Why the concern?" asked Soreth and Trianna answered "because where there is Marie, her sister Trianna is nearby. Trianna assassinated the Federation president 10 years ago." "Then vanished like a ghost" replied Soreth.
"She's dangerous" added Trianna. "Take this to your father, he'll know what to do with it" said Soreth handing over the PADD. "He'll get it" replied Trianna and she left the office.
-Lord Commander Solar Macharius
Trianna was sat in the mess hall working out a mathematics equation while scanning the other initiates covertly at the same time. She was interrupted by a white spotted Trill initiate and both glared at each other before the Trill initiate tried to provoke Trianna into attacking her. "You are becoming a threat to me" said the Trill initiate to Trianna. Trianna calmly picked up her PADD and thought "I'll let her make the first move."
The Trill unholstered her pistol but Trianna was faster and shot the Trill in the thigh before putting her into a choke hold and snapping her neck quickly. "Another one bites the dust" thought Trianna afterwards and decided to go to the privacy of her quarters/workshop. "At this rate we may be running out of initiates, that's the eighth initiate she's killed" said Shade's tactical officer watching through the monitor. "She's separating the wheat from the chaff, they were dull blades" replied Shade smirking.
"Indeed, her use of deception is excellent" answered Shade's tactical officer. "They underestimate her, they don't know she's really part Betazoid. The only people who know her true heritage on this ship are us two" replied Shade smirking. "Then she must become the ghost, unseen and unheard" answered Shade's tactical officer. "Agreed, she's been cold and calm with every kill she's made. No mercy shown at the same time" noted Shade to her tactical officer.
In her quarters, Trianna noted privately "we moving" to herself as she looked out of the window into space. She then got to work on a perfect personal cloak. Shade let herself in as Trianna was testing her cloak out. "Ghost?" asked Shade seeing the room was empty, Trianna decloaked in front of her and smiled having reholstered her pistol. Trianna saluted Shade and answered "sorry ma'am, was testing a personal cloak."
"Eight kills, all delivered with no emotion and no mercy. Ghost, not bad" said Shade smirking. "My rivals underestimate me" replied Trianna as she deactivated her ocular lenses and revealed her Betazoid eyes. "All warfare is based on deception" answered Shade calmly. "The chaff found that out the hard way" replied Trianna calmly. "I read your record, prone to violence and you enjoyed it" answered Shade. "I no longer want to be an angry violent thug, I had to find myself and I have. Every kill has purpose and to be an efficient killer I must always be in control of my emotions" replied Trianna calmly.
"Have a look at this individual" asked Shade passing over a PADD. "Who is he?" replied Trianna looking at the picture. "His name is Crell Moset, during the Alliance occupation of Betazed he carried out experiments on harnessing Betazoid telepathy. All his test subjects died agonizing deaths at his hands" answered Shade. "You want him dead?" asked Trianna and Shade just smirked and answered "we'll be working with the inquisition on this, intelligence found his hiding place on Chin'Toka II." "Moset will not escape my cross hairs" replied Trianna smiling.
"I've asked your father and Marie for help on this. We're on our way to meet them now, I'll need you with me when I pick the Inquisitor and Marie up. How long have you not seen your family for?" asked Shade and Trianna answered "nearly four months, when I left dad understood the need for secrecy perfectly as did Marie." "I know, your family can be trusted" replied Shade, "We'll be meeting the Axios in 15 minutes so follow me to my ready room, your father and sister will be surprised to see you" finished Shade and both Trianna and Shade left the room as Trianna reactivated her ocular lenses.
-Lord Commander Solar Macharius