"Commander, take a seat" said Empress Iodokar.
"Majesty" replied Valdez taking his seat.
"Listen to this" answered Jodi as she played John Flores' message.
"Which version?" asked Valdez as he listened carefully and analysed the message.
"Red" answered Jodi.
"He uses the tactics of a coward" replied Valdez.
"How very Klingon of you" answered Jodi.
"How do you propose to find this petaQ? asked Valdez.
"I'm forming a hunting party, I'm offering Scythe a place in my hunting party" answered Jodi.
"Who else is in the hunting party?" asked Valdez.
"My sisters, Regent B'Vat of Qon'oS, the Hirogen and Solat has provided two fleets to the hunting party" answered Jodi.
"I'm in, he hurt my daughter. Put me in the queue to hurt him when we catch him" replied Valdez.
"Not before us" said Kestrella as she and Naynta entered the room and took their seats.
"No one hurts my sister and gets away with it" said Naynta.
"Mr Flores has made a very big mistake, he's makes war personal" replied Valdez.
It was at this moment, the rebels sent another hail,
"Let's see what they have to say" said Jodi as John Flores' face appeared on screen.
"Still no surrender from you, now look at all the innocent people who had to die because you won't do the right thing and kill this empire" said Flores as he rolled the footage of his crimes.
"Jodi, he's pushing buttons. Don't let him get to you" advised Kestrella.
"He knows you have anger management issues, he knows how to provoke that anger. You get angry, you make mistakes" added Valdez.
"Kestrella and Mr Valdez both have a point, Mr Flores is arrogant and thinks he's in control" said Naynta.
"Let's give your friend from the Federation a blast from the past" said Flores as he rolled the footage of the deaths of the U.S.S. Oudenarde crew.
"Now he's made me mad" said Valdez.
"Your daughter screamed for mercy, she begged for death" said Flores as he tried to provoke Valdez.
"Mr Flores, you anger one Valdez, you anger us all. I'll stand shoulder to shoulder with the Lots in stopping you, when we catch you, I will hurt you and you'll be the one begging for mercy as I let Admiral Lot have her fun with you. You are nothing more than a rabid dog that needs to be put down" replied Valdez.
"You Fedrats and their moral code, afraid to get their hands dirty" answered Flores.
"I no longer work for the Federation, you will be hunted down" replied Valdez.
"How about Kestrella, your screams of pain and torment were music to my ears. How about a blast from the past?" asked Flores to Kestrella before rolling the security footage of the assassination of Papela (red), "your mother had a blast" he joked afterwards.
"You're a dead man walking" replied Kestrella.
"I guess that another 250,000 citizens must die in reprisal" said Flores as he rolled the live footage of Imperial citizens being shot.
"Those deaths could have been prevented if you had just surrendered. Mongrel, if you don't surrender, I'll kill 100,000 every five days" said Flores.
"You've killed billions already" replied Jodi.
"One death is a tragedy, billions are just a statistic" answered Flores.
"He's insane" commented Naynta.
"Says the the one who should have been locked up in a mental hospital years ago" replied Flores.
"I'll have a booth with your name on it" answered Naynta.
"Got a genocide to plan, I'll leave you to blunder around in the dark trying to catch me" replied Flores before he closed the channel.
"Commander, that is the face of our enemy. Remember that face" said Jodi.
"I never forget a face, he'll get no mercy from me" answered Valdez.
"Then we stand shoulder to shoulder, welcome to the hunting party" replied Jodi.
"Majesty, I don't care what you do to him. He's an animal" answered Valdez.
"No moral code this time?" asked Kestrella.
"With Flores, I'm willing to make the exception" answered Valdez.
"After what you did to your red counterpart, I can well believe it" said Naynta.
"Too damn right" replied 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
"We're going to need some specialised personnel" said Jodi.
"Who else have you got in mind?" asked Valdez.
"Leck, in you come" answered Jodi, Leck entered the room and was asked to sit down, he did.
"Leck, how would you feel about making life a misery for the traitors?" asked Jodi.
"Do I get to blow stuff up?" asked Leck.
"As much as you want, you'll have the time of your life" answered Naynta.
"But attempt to double cross us and we'll tear your ears off" said Jodi.
"My sister means it" added Kestrella.
"But if you help us, we could arrange for your criminal record to be erased from existence as long as you work for the Empress" said Naynta.
"So what do you say?" asked Kestrella.
"It's a fair offer, I suggest you take it" answered Valdez.
"What profit is there in it for me?" asked Leck.
"Your life" answered Jodi.
"In that case, you drive a hard bargain. A pleasure doing business with you" replied Leck.
"Leck, do what you do best" answered Kestrella.
Leck was then escorted out of the room by Naynta and Kestrella.
We have Leck, excellent" said Jodi.
"We're going to need some specialised help to capture enemy leaders" replied Valdez.
"Easily arranged. Ms King, come in please" was Jodi's answer.
Shade walked in and bowed to Jodi before taking her seat.
"Ms Roy, I know who you are. I've met your counterpart" said Valdez.
"I've been hearing rumours of ghost fleets operating, all attack sites leaving no survivors" replied Shade.
"Bad day to be a rebel" answered Valdez.
"Indeed, excellent work by the way" replied Shade.
"We still have a long way to go" answered Valdez.
"Commander Valdez, a pleasure to meet you" replied Shade.
"Ms Roy, your reputation proceeds you" answered Valdez.
"As does yours, a friend to the Empire" replied Shade.
"I don't like innocents being harmed, I may not like your methods but I'm willing to look the other way" answered Valdez.
"No prime universe morals?" asked Shade.
"I'm making the exception with the rebel leaders" answered Valdez.
"Good, you see things our way" replied Shade.
"As long as innocents are not harmed" 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
There had been an uprising against rebel occupation as resistance forces and Imperial holdouts liberated the Gamma Draconis IV work camp, the resistance and Imperial survivors had infiltrated in and sized the camp in a lighting raid, killing all the guards before moving the survivors into a mine and barricaded themselves in. The rebel response was quick as they dispatched a division of troops to kill everything in the camp, the defending resistance and Imperial survivors frantically got a distress call call out as the rebels moved over 15,000 troops to lay siege to the mine entrance.
Inside, the defenders stockpiled whatever supplies they had taken from the rebel food and medical stores and awaited the first assault, it soon arrived as the first wave of 1200 rebel infantry launched themselves at the barricades. The barricades held up as the small defending force of 250 held their ground in an attempt to protect the 10,000 civilian survivors in the mine. The situation was desperate as the defenders had to hold out long enough for help to arrive. What the defenders did not know was that help was on the way.
The Allied hunting fleet had arrived in orbit with over 900 ships and soon cleared the small defending force out of orbit.
Aboard the I.S.S. Papela, Empress Iodokar gave the order to commence a rescue operation.
"To all Allied ships, those are Imperial citizens down there under siege. Let's get them to freedom" was the order.
The Allied fleet now landed their troops onto the surface, Valdez and Admiral Lot led their forces in person as they found a hole in rebel lines. Using the cover of darkness, Valdez and Naynta infiltrated the rebel lines with their troops and got in contact with the defenders at the barricades.
"Who's side are you on?" asked a resistance sentry from behind the barricade.
"We're the cavalry" answered Naynta.
The defenders' commander let them in upon recognising Naynta.
"Sorry about that" answered Lt. Owens.
"Who's highest ranking officer here?" asked Naynta.
"I am, as you can see, things are not looking so good at the moment" answered Owens.
"Lt, how many survivors?" asked Valdez.
"We have 10,000 give or take" answered Owens.
"Then we need to evacuate them, we've brought transporter enhancers. Show us" asked Naynta.
"We've stockpiled what we could and things are not exactly comfortable" replied Owens as he escorted Valdez and Naynta's troops to the main central chamber.
When they got to the chamber, the Imperials and Star Union troops were appalled at what they had seen.
"Defending these people is one thing, we need to keep them alive long enough for evacuation" said Valdez.
"We're going to have to beam them out in groups, I hope you are prepared for a siege" replied Naynta.
"Once we get these transporter enhancers set up, we can at least get supplies in" answered Valdez.
"We'll need to prioritise food and medical supplies, I suggest setting up a field hospital in this chamber. It's easily defensible" replied Naynta as she brought up a schematic on the mine.
"We'll need plenty of ammunition as well, I hope you don't mind but I asked your younger sister if she could look at mass replicating something called Bengali famine mix" answered Valdez.
"Anything too rich would make these people ill, wise choice" replied Naynta, "we need to secure this position, I wonder if you still remember your MACO days" remarked Naynta as food, medical supplies and demo charges were beamed in.
"If we demolish these passages on the flanks, it'll force the enemy down one path. The tunnels can turn the enemy's own numbers against them" answered Valdez.
"We can use the mine's own security to reinforce that central passage" replied Naynta.
"Reprogrammed ambush turrets and forcefields, good thinking" answered Valdez.
"My sister will have to see this camp, the whole galaxy needs to see this place" replied Naynta.
"Agreed, for now, let's just focus on defending these people" answered Valdez.
After a quick briefing, everyone got to their tasks. Corpsman Dawson was soon at work assessing and treating casualties, it would be the start of a long day as the scale of the situation dawned on him.
Meanwhile, engineers used the respite to set up remote forcefields and ambush turrets in the main mine corridor. The flanking passages were both rigged for collapse as Trianna yellow, Seisa and Leck set up remote operated demo charges in the flanking passages' walls and ceiling before running to the main chamber. At 1350 hours, two almighty explosions were heard as the flanking passages were collapsed. The defenders now took up position defending the main passage and the defences were activated.
Meanwhile in the main chamber, a field hospital was up and running as Imperial engineers set up the transporter enhancers. At 1400 hours, the first food and medical supplies were beamed in. They were soon followed by more troops who now reinforced the defenders bringing the numbers up to 900, supplies and troops would be beamed in while survivors were beamed out in batches. The Siege of Gamma Draconis IV had just escalated into a major ground campaign as Imperial Army and Star Union Marines were landed 30 km from the camp with orders to relieve the siege. In the mine, the Imperials and Star Union defenders quietly waited for the inevitable rebel assault, another rebel division had been redeployed to reinforce and to retake the camp. At 1600 hours, the rebels sent a wave of 3,000 infantry into the mine, they were soon picked off in the darkness by Betazoid and Reman troops manning the barricades.
The Liberation of Gamma Draconis IV has begun, Naynta and Valdez leading the defence of the mine while Jodi personally led the relief force. When Flores got news of the attack on Gamma Draconis, he ordered the executions of 100000 civilian slaves in retaliation. Across rebel held worlds, resistance groups and Imperial holdouts increased their guerrilla attacks on the occupying rebels. The news got worse as four more rebel fleets had defected to the Loyalists, Flores just gave one order,
"Kill every last civilian you see, liquidate the camps and leave no survivors"
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
In the mines, the power was restored and the forcefields activated after the defenders had repelled an enemy assault of 3,000 troops. In the tunnel, over 600 rebel dead and wounded were counted as they choked up the passage,
"ETA on evac?" asked Valdez.
"We've got 300 civilians out, good news is that ammo and heavy weapons have arrived" answered Admiral Lot.
"We'll need them here, it's time to rotate the fighting line" replied Valdez.
"Tunnel Rats, you're up" ordered Naynta as she tapped her combadge.
"Marines, go get some rest" ordered Valdez to his marines as the Imperial troops moved in to take the marines' place on the fighting line.
"Marines, on me" ordered Trianna (yellow) to her squad before they walked to the main chamber.
"Engineers, set the turrets on the barricade flanks, infantry in the centre" ordered Naynta to her troops.
"Ma'am" answered Lt. Owens before he took his position on the firing step.
"Seisa, once the turrets are set up, program their targeting scanners to provide enfilade fire" ordered Naynta after tapping her combadge.
"I suggest you hurry, we've got movement in the enemy siege lines" replied Seisa.
"Thanks for the warning, the engineers are nearly finished" answered Naynta.
"Turrets are on my system now, programmed and ready for enfilade fire. Ambush turrets primed" reported Siesa.
"Copy that, keep an eye on the perimeter" ordered Naynta.
"Ma'am" answered Seisa.
The defences were now active as the light in the main tunnel was lowered. In the main chamber, civilians were being being beamed out in groups of five every two minutes as medical staff assessed and treated those who need the most attention.
"What's your name?" asked Corpsman Dawson to an Imperial medic.
" Lee Brunswick" answered the medic.
"The name's Rick Dawson" replied Rick shaking Brunwick's hand.
"Let's get this group to the evac point" said Brunswick before him and Rick resumed carrying the stretchers of sick and injured to the beam out point, for the medical staff, it was a long day. When Valdez, Trianna (yellow) and the marines arrived back at the main chamber, they just collapsed and got whatever sleep they could. They were awoken by Rick four hours later who just passed Valdez and the marines some water and ration bars.
"Anna, well done to you and your squad" said Valdez to Trianna (yellow).
"We held the line, all my squad are accounted for and safe" answered Trianna (yellow).
"Being under siege is an odd choice of father/daughter bonding" joked Valdez.
"We're marines, we're never under siege" countered Trianna (yellow).
"Semper Fidelis" replied Valdez.
"Always faithful" answered Trianna (yellow).
"Indeed" replied Valdez.
Meanwhile, Empress Iodokar was racing across Gamma Draconis IV in the lead armored wedge. The advance soon found the rebel picket lines and the tanks and mechanised infantry breached the lines and pushed forwards through the position as the main Imperial line infantry began to clear the rebel trenches. Jodi was now 20km from the mining camp as the Imperial armor and mechanised infantry consolidated their positions for the night after setting up a perimeter. Jodi now activated Shade and her shadows,
"Remove the rebel commanders from my battlefield" was the order given to Shade.
"As you command" answered Shade.
Back in the mine, a new enemy assault went in and soon started to trip up over the the fallen of the first waves. Naynta keeping her cool was directing traffic as she kept the wall of phaser bolts up,
"Aim for their front ranks and keep chopping them down, make the enemy dead trip up and stumble through their own dead" ordered Naynta to the troops on the fighting line.
The order was obeyed as the front ranks of the rebel assault were mowed down by phaser rifle, ambush turret and phaser turret.
"Seisa, activate the forcefield behind the enemy vanguard" ordered Naynta via combadge.
"Forcefield up, they're trapped" reported Seisa.
"Fighting line, the enemy are trapped between us and a forcefield, kill them all, their gods will know their own" ordered Naynta.
What followed was a slaughter as the rebel vanguard attempted to rush the Allied barricades, once the firing had stopped, another 300 dead rebels choked the passage in front of the barricades.
Both sides now had to reorganise, after another day of fighting, the allies were still holding their positions as news filtered through that Jodi was on the way to break the rebel siege lines.
At 2200 hours, Naynta and her troops were relieved by Valdez and the marines who now rotated back into the fighting line as Naynta and her troops were rotated out. When Naynta and her troops got back to the main chamber, they were given some water and food by the medics and told to get some sleep. Naynta found somewhere with some privacy and got what rest she could.
"Mr Dawson, why do I never see you carrying a weapon?" asked Naynta to Rick.
"My job is to save life, not take it. Carrying a weapon goes against that" answered Rick.
"It takes a brave man to go into a war zone without a weapon, go get some rest. You've earned it" replied Naynta.
"It gets a bit cold in here, this might help" answered Rick as he passed Naynta a blanket.
"Thank you, go and get some rest. That's an order" replied Naynta.
"Admiral" answered Rick before he went to get some rest.
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
Ganymede Station (Ganymede Alternate Reality)
Sapph
Today's a very depressing day since the defeat at Alpha Centauri. I'm dealing with the orphans of my fallen officers as well as mourning them. Tears fall down my cheeks like a salty river of melancholy as the pups pile on my lap and nuzzle me with their snouts in an attempt to comfort me. I hug all of them with my flippers and say, "I don't know if I can do anything for you, but I will try." The pups snuggle into my chest for warmth as an anthro wolf enters the room. He says, "Sapph, want me to raise them? I can handle 10 pups while the other 5 can stay with your mate's uncle."
"Yes Void. Make sure they're given lots of love and cuddles."
"Thanks Sapph. They'll be raised well." He leaves with 10 of the pups while the other 5 stay with me. I open the gold channel to my mate and say, "Jerome, you've new orders. Blockade the Ajilon system with our conventional forces while your elite forces destroy J'Ula's supply lines to starve her out. Ambassador Worf and a fleet from the House of Martok will arrive in the system to bring her to QoNos to have her tried under KDF courts. Sapph out."
Jerome C. Ketchum-Chew (SAV Akela) Ajilon system AR
My elite forces are destroying J'Ula's supply lines and factories to starve her into surrendering. The time displaced Klingons seem to think the rest of the Empire will help them conquer the Sol system easily. My mate and I don't want to sink to her level hence our current plan. The conventional fleet led by the SAV Artemis
is blockading the Ajilon system as per my mate's orders. My tactical officer reports, "High Admiral, intercepted communications from J'Ula's fleet have indicated serious infighting due to starvation and lack of supplies."
"Good work Lieutenant. We just need to wait for Ambassador Worf's fleet to arrive and deal with the rest. After that, those Klingons are no longer the Sol Alliance's problem." I transmit via telepathy
"Yes High Admiral." says my tactical officer. I use this downtime to send a note to my mate which says, "Sapph, I'm sending you a message from King Simba and Queen Nala. It says, 'Sapph, you are ordered to return to the Pride Lands since you're emotionally compromised. That is a serious risk to your crew. Simba and Nala signing off.'".
Worf arrives in the system with a massive fleet of 15 Birds of Prey, 20 Neghvars, 15 Raptors, 5 VoQuv carriers, and 18 Vorcha battlecruisers. I open a channel and say, "This is High Admiral Jerome C. Ketchum-Chew of the Sol Alliance vessel Akela. Please state your intentions."
The aged ambassador says, "High Admiral, I am here to take J'Ula and her time displaced fleet to QoNos to be tried under KDF courts. After that, they will no longer bother you."
"Thank you Ambassador. Akela out" I close the channel and order my fleets to transwarp back to Sol. The Klingons take J'Ula and her fleet back to Qonos to handle them so they're out of my fur. I beam into Ganymede Station and spend a lot of quality time with my family.
"Simba, you have forgotten me. You have forgotten who you are … you are my son and the one true king." (Mufasa)
In the mines on Gamma Draconis IV, there had been another fierce night of fighting as the defenders fought another mass assault,
"Any news on the relief?" asked Valdez to Seisa via combadge.
"They're nearly through the third siege line, ETA, seven hours" answered Seisa.
"How are we on the evac?" asked Valdez.
"Down to 6,000 left" reported Admiral Lot.
"Cavalry is due in seven hours, the enemy will try and overwhelm our line to prevent us from linking up with the relief force" replied Valdez.
"Then we make the relief force's job easier, we're in a position to tie down thousands here with a fighting force of a few hundred" answered Naynta.
"Then let's make the enemy pay" replied Valdez.
"I'll be with you on the fighting line" answered Naynta mobilising her troops.
"We'll need every able bodied soldier capable of operating a phaser rifle up here" replied Valdez.
"Copy that" answered Naynta as the rebels launched their final assault on the mine.
What followed was several hours of heavy fighting as the defenders stubbornly held on, each soldier and marine fighting knowing that rescue was on the way.
In the main chamber, Rick Dawson and the other medics kept people calm as the sound of the fighting in the passage was heard, then the call Rick dreaded came down the line,
"Corpsman!!"
Rick and Brunswick grabbed their med kits and ran towards the sound of the fighting as Trianna (Yellow) was laid against the passage wall with a phaser bolt burn to her right shoulder.
"Lt. Valdez, let's get you moved" said Rick.
"I can still fight, just patch me up here" replied Trianna (yellow).
"Not with the state of that shoulder, come on" answered Rick.
"I'm not going to win this" sighed Trianna (yellow) as a second phaser bolt hit her in the calf, she collapsed in pain as Rick got to work treating her. Rick then called,
"Stretcher bearers!!"
Trianna (yellow) was soon carried off by stretcher back to the main chamber for treatment. She was lucky as her personal shield had kept the lethal damage out, since she could no longer fight, she started telling the youngest survivors a story to keep them calm as the screams of wounded on both sides echoed through the mine. Rick and the other medics were all on overdrive as they evacuated civilians and the most seriously wounded,
"Every time "Corpsman!!" was called out, Rick and a team of volunteers would race out of the main chamber, assess the casualty, stabilise them then evacuate them back to the main chamber while phaser bolts filled the air.
In the relief column, Empress Iodakar was manning the tank commander's position in the lead tank as the relief forces smashed through the rear positions of the rebel siege lines. Caught between the stubborn defence of the mine and the mobile armoured punch of the relief force, their infantry positions crumbled as thousands of shocked and dazed rebel infantry surrendered on masse.
Jodi now aimed her tanks at the rebel divisions attacking the mine, the rebel infantry divisions were now mercilessly wiped out as rebels fought a last stand rather than surrender.
At 1800 hrs, the battlefield fell silent. INN now arrived to record what the rebels had done as the defenders and the people they sheltered walked or carried out of the mine, of their original fighting force of 900, 100 were KIA with another 600 WIA. The survivors all walked out with their weapon shouldered while the medics were helping those who could not be walked out.
"Show me the camp, I want to see what happened to our citizens here" said Jodi to Naynta.
After a tour of the camp, Jodi had the officers in charge of the camp brought up and in front of the survivors of the mine defence and civilian survivors put the rebel officers on trial. They were found guilty of war crimes and high treason, the sentence of execution was swiftly carried out by Jodi herself.
The story was on INN as the defenders' wishes that happened at the camp be made public was honored, by 2400 hrs, all Allied troops had left Gamma Draconis IV with the people who had been liberated. The civilian survivors were then evacuated to Betazed, they got there four days later, all thankful to be alive.
Rebel leadership got the report of the loss of Gamma Draconis, Flores now prepared to deal with Jodi himself.
"I want only the loyal fleets, we're going to retake Gamma Draconis" said Flores to his commanders.
"All the troops and fleets we drafted have either surrendered or defected, we're down to our last 1800 ships. We're losing this war, we must surrender" reported Captain Ferris.
Flores just calmly shot Ferris and smiled before asking,
"Anyone else thinking about surrender?" as he returned to his seat.
No one answered.
"All ships, form up and set a course for the Gamma Draconis, it's time to end this war in one decisive blow" ordered Flores to his commanders.
Across rebel space, ships all left the systems they had occupied and followed Flores' order. On the allied side, Admirals Solat, West and Cage had ordered their fleets to link up the Royal fleet and Scythe, now both sides raced to complete their link ups as enemy fleet movements crossed Jodi and Valdez's respective desks. Aboard Harbinger, Trianna (yellow) was stubbornly trying to discharge herself from the sickbay,
"Anna, get some rest and recover. That's an order" said Valdez.
"But Dad...." complained Trianna (yellow) before she was cut off mid sentence by Valdez,
"Lt, You've been shot twice, you're lucky to be alive. As of now, you're off rotation so you can recover. Once you're fully recovered, I will put you back into rotation."
"Not fair" answered Trianna (yellow).
"Rick, keep an eye on your sister" said Valdez to Rick.
"Dad, my sister is not going anywhere" replied Rick.
"Good man" answered Valdez.
"Anna will not be going anywhere" replied Rick.
"Anna, get healthy" ordered Valdez.
"Yes dad, I'm not going to win" answered Trianna (yellow).
"Both of you, good job. Rick, I think you've finally turned into a man. Anna, you're tough, you fought well" said Valdez to his children.
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 Allied fleet had formed up ready for battle, Admiral Lot and Valdez held the right flank with orders from Empress Iodokar to maintain their position with Jodi and Solat holding the centre with Admirals West and Cage on the left flank.
"Hide our transport ships in polar orbit of Gamma Draconis III, the rest of the fleet will engage the enemy on the system's edge here at Gamma Dracons VIII" ordered Jodi to the fleet.
The Allied fleet of 1900 warships moved to the edge of the system and prepared their defences for the rebel onrush.
Aboard Harbinger, reports came in from the destroyer pickets of a large rebel fleet inbound, the destroyers then withdrew back to the main fleet and took up position in the skirmishing lines.
Aboard the I.S.S. Inquisitor, Flores gave the order,
"All ships, target the royal fleet, leave none alive."
The rebel fleet obeyed the orders and charged headlong at Jodi's fleet, Jodi and Solat now gave the signal for the centre to pull back, slowly pulling the rebels in in. Flores watched the move and stopped his reserves as the the rest of his fleet kept pushing in to the centre of the allied lines.
"Give our ground slowly" ordered Jodi to her captains, "Flanks, be ready to move on my mark" she ordered afterwards.
"Flanking forces report ready, the bulk of the enemy fleet has been isolated away from their reserves" reported Solat.
"Left flank, wheel round and engage, right flank is to engage the enemy reserves" ordered Jodi.
"Lot here, right flank copies that" reported Naynta aboard the I.S.S. Athena.
The entire Allied right flank now advanced on Flores' reserves from two sides, at 0600 hours, the Allied right flank decloaked and commenced their attack on Flores and his reserves. In the centre, the Allies now had the bulk of the rebel fleet on the verge of being encircled as the Allied left swung round and linked up with the centre right, the bulk of the rebel fleet now only had one way to go, backwards into their own advancing forces.
"Two thirds of the enemy fleet are surrounded on three sides, permission to deploy our reserves to cut the bulk of the enemy off?" asked Solat.
"Granted, once the enemy in our centre has been destroyed, reinforce the attack of our right flank" ordered Jodi.
"West, Cage, both of you deploy your reserves and keep the bulk of the enemy trapped in our centre" ordered Solat to the Imperial forces on the left flank.
By 0900 hours, the bulk of the rebel fleet was now completely encircled as they could not blast their way out without hitting friendly ships.
In the right flank's assault, they were facing stiff resistance as the rebel reserves refused to give up their ground.
"Target the enemy secondary command processors" ordered Valdez to his ships.
"Captains, have our tactical officers coordinate with the Star Union tactical officers. Target secondary command processors, weapons and engines" ordered Naynta, "Reserves, swing round the enemy rear and cut off any possible retreat" she ordered afterwards.
Aboard the Inquisitor, Flores looked at his tactical chart and soon saw that not only were the bulk of his fleet encircled by the Allied centre and left, he now saw that his group was now completely encircled.
"This is Admiral Lot to to the traitors, you are surrounded and unable to fight back. You are ordered to stand down and prepare to be boarded" said Naynta over a open channel to the trapped rebel reserves.
"I'd rather die than surrender" was Flores' response.
"Have it your way" was Naynta's reply as she beamed Flores off his bridge and into an agony booth.
"Admiral Lot to Flagship, we have the enemy commander" said Naynta to Jodi afterwards via subspace.
"Shade, you're up. Shut down the enemy life support systems on all their ships" ordered Jodi to Shade via secure subspace.
"Consider it done" answered Shade, "Sun, please take away the enemy's ability to breathe, vent their ships into space" she ordered afterwards.
It did the trick, the encircled rebels in the centre capitulated to Jodi at 1100 hours. Their ships were then boarded and the crews detained, the senior officers were separated away from the rest of the crew and put into agony booths for interrogation.
With the centre secured, the Allied fleets now converged on Flores' reserves who still refused to surrender.
"Mr Valdez, you may stir the cauldron" said Jodi to Valdez by secure subspace.
"Naynta, make sure the traitor sees this" said Valdez to Naynta via subspace.
"All Allied ships, mark your targets and interlock your fields of fire" ordered Valdez.
"All ships report ready" answered Nydon.
"Traitor, watch this" said Naynta to Flores as the rebel reserves came on screen.
"All Allied ships, witch's cauldron" ordered Valdez.
The entire Allied fleet now opened fire, by 1130 hours, it was over. In seven hours of hard fighting, 1800 rebel ships were either destroyed or captured at the cost of 400 Allied ships. Scythe had taken losses of 50 ships damaged or disabled while 350 Imperial ships were either damaged, crippled or destroyed. 200,000 rebels were either captured or killed while Allied personnel losses were of 12,000 dead or wounded.
With the system secured and the news of Flores' capture made public, the rest of the rebels asked Jodi for terms. Jodi gave them two choices,
"Unconditional surrender or be hunted down and executed."
The rebels had no option but to surrender, their leaders were made to publicly sign the document of surrender before they were thrown into the agony booths for interrogation.
The Allied fleet then headed for Betazed, they arrived five days later and paraded Flores and the other rebel prisoners through the streets, Flores' life was about to be more painful as he was to be remorselessly interrogated by Naynta.
"Naynta, he's yours" said Valdez after he looked Flores in the eye, "do whatever you want to him" he said afterwards.
"Inquisitor Seisa has been questioning him, all I heard were the screams" replied Naynta.
"As much as I want to hurt him, he's not worth the expenditure of energy" answered Valdez.
"More fun for me" replied Naynta before she and Valdez left Flores in Seisa's care before leaving the room.
"How's Anna?" asked Naynta.
"Cranky to say the least, you're lucky, you don't have to deal with a cranky daughter who hates being stuck in sickbay" replied Valdez.
"Lucky you" joked Naynta.
Valdez just smiled.
"Your children did well, you should be proud of them both" said Naynta.
"I am" replied 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
Valdez was questioning John Flores as Naynta just looked on smiling,
"Where are the billions of civilians listed as missing?" asked Valdez.
"One death is a tragedy, Billions are mere statistics" gloated Flores, "judging from your face, you already know that answer" he said afterwards smiling.
"Every death is a tragedy, now I'm not the one you should be worried about. Admiral Lot over here is working out all sorts of ideas and they are not the prettiest of ideas. Where are the missing billions?" asked Valdez.
"What time is it by the way?" asked Flores.
"2300, why?" asked Naynta.
"Because you are about to find out" answered Flores as the reports from the newly liberated worlds came in.
Valdez and Naynta read the report and they both just glared at Flores,
"All dead, all the worlds we lost to the opening attacks that were "spared" are now mass graveyards. Not a single life sign" said Naynta.
"Naynta, correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't death the punishment for genocide?" asked Valdez.
"It is" answered Naynta.
"What about the labour camps?" asked Valdez.
"You cannot have war without workers, who said anything about them having a choice in the matter?" joked Flores.
"We're not laughing" said Naynta.
"Why start a war then kill most of the Empire's population?" asked Valdez.
"The Empire had to die screaming, the citizens had to be punished for their treason" answered Flores.
"What was that treason?" asked Naynta, "Or is it a self perceived treason?" she asked afterwards.
"Shut up vermin" answered Flores, "You're vermin, your sisters are vermin especially the mongrel and your mother was vermin" he said afterwards.
"Naynta, go knock yourself out" said Valdez before he got up and left the room, Flores was then thrown into an agony booth as the door closed behind Valdez.
Later in a meeting with Jodi, the full scale of the destruction caused by the rebellion was pieced together,
"What a pointless waste of innocent life" lamented Valdez.
"We'll recover from this, too much was lost. 65% of the Empire's population wiped, Bajor and Betazed's history and cultural heritage wiped out but we'll pick ourselves back up much stronger" replied Jodi.
"Feels like a Pyrrhic victory, a hollow victory" answered Valdez.
"In the long run, this may benefit the Empire, with refugees now returning home, we can start to rebuild" replied Jodi.
"A bright future" answered Valdez.
"I understand that your daughter was wounded" replied Jodi.
"She's in sickbay aboard Harbinger and really cranky at being stuck in there" answered Valdez.
Jodi just smiled,
"Both of your children have been put up for commendations by Naynta, your son caught her attention. Your son repeatably risked his life carrying wounded soldiers and marines to safety through enemy fire, what my sister noted was that he never once carried a weapon on him" she said to Valdez.
"He's not a fighter, he's a healer" replied Valdez.
"Takes a special kind of courage to go into a combat zone unarmed in order to help others" answered Jodi.
"The lad stepped up" replied Valdez.
"Your daughter also caught Naynta's attention, Anna showed natural leadership and courage throughout the fighting right up to being wounded twice while keeping her squad of marines fighting" answered Jodi.
"I'm proud of them both" replied Valdez.
"As you should, you and your troops are welcome to spend some RnR on Betazed" answered Jodi smiling.
"Thank you, they'll be on best behaviour" replied Valdez.
"The people of the Empire will never forget their friends" answered Jodi.
"This may have saved the peace between realities, we now have to work on keeping that peace" replied Valdez.
"The Terran Empire will be working together with our allies and neighbours" answered Jodi.
"Don't let all those deaths be in vain" replied Valdez.
"After much deliberation, I've decided on something special for Inmate Flores" said Jodi.
"I have no sympathy what so ever for him, I really don't care what happens to him" replied Valdez.
"He'll die for his crimes" answered Jodi.
"He's too dangerous to be allowed to live" replied Valdez.
"Agreed" answered Jodi, "You seem preoccupied" she commented afterwards.
"Anna, she's not taking this well" answered Valdez.
"Mr Valdez, go and spend some time with your daughter. She needs her father now more than ever" replied Jodi smiling.
"I'll be going to see Anna after this meeting" answered Valdez.
"I won't keep you any longer" replied Jodi smiling.
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
Valdez was checking up on Trianna (yellow) in the military hospital,
"Dad, I hate being stuck in here, I've been told to not to put too much weight on the calf" said Trianna (yellow).
"Heed that advice, how's the shoulder?" asked Valdez.
"Stiff, at least it's not broken" answered Trianna (yellow).
"Hard to keep a marine down, you want an update on your squad?" asked Valdez.
"Did they all make it out?" asked Trianna (yellow).
"They did" answered Valdez smiling.
"I have to make sure they're all accounted for, I owe them that" replied Trianna (yellow).
"All those times I passed you over for promotion was for a reason" answered Valdez.
"I know, I was not ready" replied Trianna (yellow).
"You proved yourself, you have that natural leadership in you" answered Valdez as he got a black box from his jacket pocket.
"What's in the box?" asked Trianna (yellow).
"Open it" replied Valdez after passing Trianna (yellow) the box.
"These are Centurion chevrons" answered Trianna (yellow) after opening the box.
"You're ready for them" replied Valdez.
"Dad, why have you got my dress uniform with you?" asked Trianna (yellow).
"Can't say" answered Valdez, "just trust me on this" he said afterwards smiling.
"Can you get me an orderly to assist?" asked Trianna (yellow).
Valdez got up and asked a Vulcan nurse if she could assist a patient,
"Thanks dad" said Trianna (yellow).
"I've got to get ready and make sure Rick is ready" replied Valdez.
"I'll be ready" answered Trianna (yellow) before Valdez saluted her and left for the Harbinger.
Later at the palace, Valdez, Trianna (yellow) and Rick were greeted by Naynta and Kestrella,
"Commander, good fight" said Naynta smiling
"Well fought" answered Valdez.
"Anna, how has your recovery been?" asked Naynta.
"Still feeling the discomfort, boredom has been the worst enemy" answered Trianna (yellow).
"Rick, only someone totally insane would do what you did. Who inspired you to selflessly put yourself in harm's way unarmed in order to save others?" asked Naynta.
"A human war hero from Earth's WW2, Private Desmond Doss. Due to his upbringing, he joined the army as a medic and refused to carry a weapon. Everyone called him a coward for not carrying a weapon and the army tried to force him to carry a weapon, even putting him in military jail on his wedding day but he proved you can still do good even without a gun. He won his nation's highest honor for rescuing 75 wounded soldiers on his own despite the risk to his own life" answered Rick.
"A brave man" replied Naynta.
"A personal hero of mine" answered Rick.
"Not every hero goes out looking for greatness, some have greatness thrust upon them" replied Naynta.
"Just doing my bit" answered Rick humbly.
"Commander, I hope my sister was not a pain" said Kestrella.
"Quite the opposite" replied Valdez smiling.
"You and your family will be in the front row with me and Naynta, just follow us" said Kestrella. They were led to to the gardens where all the veterans of the Gamma Draconis IV rescue mission were gathered.
Jodi stepped up to the podium and everyone bowed in respect as INN started broadcasting live.
"All of you are here today to be honored, all of you showed selfless courage in risking your own lives and safety to help others. Courage like that cannot go withot recognition, Admiral Lot and Commander Valdez, please make your way up" said Jodi.
Valdez and Naynta walked up to the podium and were awarded the Star of Terra for their leadership and courage,
"Thank you Majesty" said Valdez after the medal was pinned onto his uniform.
"Ma'am" said Naynta before they returned to their seats after shaking Jodi's hand.
"Corpsman Richard Dawson, please make your way up" said Jodi.
Rick walked up to the podium and stood to perfect attention,
"At ease, Richard Dawson, you are awarded the Star of Terra. Courage takes many forms, running into enemy fire armed with nothing but a medkit to save others is a special kind of courage" said Jodi as she pinned the medal onto Rick's uniform.
"Just doing my job" replied Rick after shaking Jodi's hand.
"The people you helped save are here, they would see it differently" answered Jodi.
"Not an experience I'll ever forget" replied Rick.
Jodi then walked with Rick down from the podium before Rick too his seat.
"Centurion Anna Valdez, you are awarded with the Star of Terra and the Wound Badges 1st and 2nd class" said Jodi pinning the medals to Trianna's (yellow) uniform.
"I will never forget what we did" said Trianna (yellow).
"Take strength from it" advised Jodi.
"I will" replied Trianna (yellow) shaking Jodi's hand.
Every veteran of the mission was personally decorated by Jodi on INN. Afterwards, they met the people they had saved who all saluted the veterans calling them "Heroes beyond measure".
Everyone who was at Gamma Draconis IV never forget their experiences.
"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
"Have you told Mom we're coming home?" asked Trianna (yellow) to Valdez.
"I'm leaving it a surprise" answered Valdez.
"Hopefully Oreada won't glare at me" said Rick.
"You mean over that fan club you've got?" asked Trianna (yellow).
"Talk about temptation but I'm already spoken for" answered Rick smiling.
"Then you have nothing to worry about, Oreada will be happy to see you" replied Trianna (yellow).
"Sis, I'm not the same immature person I was before. I grew up" answered Rick as the Valdez family home came into view.
"We all went through what can be described as a horror, Dad had to make some tough calls and so did we. We're alive, so be positive at least " advised Trianna (yellow) as she, Valdez and Rick entered the garden.
"We got the monster but was the cost worth it?" asked Rick to Valdez.
"I cannot answer that, it's a matter of point of view. That is something you have to find the answer for" answered Valdez as they opened the door and entered the villa.
When they entered the living room, the family welcomed them home,
"Nathan, you and the kids look like you've been through a horror I cannot ever understand" said Joanna as she gave her husband a kiss.
"They both stepped up despite the cost to them. Rick ran through intense enemy fire just to treat wounded soldiers and get them to safety unarmed and Anna led her squad with distinction, even taking two phaser bolts during the fighting" replied Valdez.
"Luke, get a round of teas for your father, sister and brother" said Joanna to Luke.
"Granddad!" chorused Teanna Jane and Ablim jnr.
"I've missed you all" said Valdez as he sat down in his armchair and just relaxed with his grandchildren.
"Rick, what's this about a fan club?" asked Oreada.
"Not guilty" joked Rick.
"You're forgiven, you did not give into temptation" said Oreada as she passed Rick a cup of tea.
Trianna (prime) and her husband arrived home from hospital with the newest member of the family,
"Everyone, meet Elizabeth" said Trianna (prime).
"I'm sorry I could not be there" said Valdez.
"Dad, no need to apologise" replied Trianna (prime).
"Tri, congratulations" answered Valdez.
"Thanks Dad" replied Trianna (prime).
"Say hello to more sleepless nights" joked Ablim snr.
"Very true" answered Valdez smiling as Zoe Maria woke up from her nap.
"Nathan, someone wants to see you" said Joanna as she passed Zoe Maria over to Valdez.
"Joanna, how were things here?" asked Valdez.
"The usual chaos, how's Anna?" asked Joanna.
"She'll be not very mobile for a while, it may take weeks or even months for her physical injuries to fully recover. The mental scars however, I don't know" answered Valdez.
"She's with family, that's all that counts" replied Joanna.
"I'd keep an eye on Rick as well" answered Valdez.
"Forget about the war, think about peace. Let's get those medals mounted in the display cabinet, you, Rick and Anna are heroes so be positive" replied Joanna as Isoisa got home and sat down next to Trianna (yellow).
Soon the rest of the family arrived and over dinner later that day, they made a toast,
"To honor and family" chorused the family before they had dinner.
"This came through today, we have to go to the swearing in ceremony tomorrow, we've got citizenship" said Joanna to the family.
The family smiled and celebrated.
"Here's to a bright future" said Valdez to the family.
The next morning, the family sat down to breakfast.
"Rick, this came through for you" said Joanna passing a PADD to Rick.
"This is a medical school scholarship" said Rick smiling.
"You've earned it" said Valdez.
"You see what happens when you put your mind to it?" asked Joanna.
"I won't disappoint" answered Rick.
"Make the most of it, you have a promising career ahead of you" advised Oreada.
"I will" replied Rick, "I've been thinking, how about we cement our relationship?" he asked Oreada afterwards.
"You two practically are a married couple" said Trianna (yellow).
"Oreada, would have the honor of taking my hand in marriage?" asked Rick kneeling in front of Oreada and proposing to her.
"Rick, I will" answered Oreada before Rick put an engagement ring on her ring finger.
"Marriage is about compromise, remember that and treasure your time together. Congratulations both of you" said Valdez.
"Rick, Oreada, congratulations. If you both need any help, just ask us" said Joanna.
"Congratulations to both of you" said Trianna (prime).
"Welcome to the family" said Trianna (yellow).
"Rick, well done bro" said Luke.
"Thank you, this is the only family I have" said Oreada.
"All of you, thank you. I won't ruin it" said Rick.
"I know you won't" replied Oreada.
"Nathan, this came through this morning" said Joanna passing a PADD to Valdez.
Valdez read it and smiled,
"I've been promoted to Admiral and to the head of Alliance Combined Operations" said Valdez.
The family congratulated Valdez on his well earned promotion.
Later that day, the family made their oaths of citizenship in a Citizenship ceremony.
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
Valdez was sat at home watching a movie with the family when a call came in, Kestrella appeared on screen after Valdez accepted the call,
"Mr Valdez, have I caught you at a bad time?" asked Kestrella.
"It's alright, I'm assuming this is not a social call" answered Valdez.
"There's some people who want to speak with you, we found your late wife and crew" replied Kestrella.
"Please don't joke about that, they died nearly three years ago, I saw it happen" answered Valdez.
"They were taken to one of your counterpart's camps, we recently found the camp. If you don't believe me, maybe your late wife can explain" replied Kestrella before she called Teanna (prime) in.
"Nathan, you look like you've seen a ghost" said Teanna.
"You could say that, this is going to be awkward" replied Valdez.
"How so?" asked Teanna.
"I saw you all die, I buried you all. I moved on and remarried last year" answered Valdez.
"What you buried were genetic clones, I had to make a tough choice to save the rest of the crew" replied Teanna.
"I won't ask" answered Valdez.
"Nathan, I had to sign a divorce from you or they would have started executing the crew. It was a tough call" replied Teanna.
"You did the right thing even if it hurt you" answered Valdez.
"Nathan, I'm not mad at you for moving on. You respected my wishes" replied Teanna.
"Are you all being released?" asked Valdez.
"We were given our freedom a week ago, we're coming home" answered Teanna.
"Things are different over here, I'll have to bring you up to speed when we meet" replied Valdez.
"The hand over will be at DS9 in three days" answered Teanna.
"I'll be there" replied Valdez.
Deep Space Nine, Three days later (Prime)
Valdez, Trianna (yellow) and Rick were stood by the airlock on the promenade. Outside the station, an Odyssey class starship docked and her crew walked out of the airlock onto the promenade,
"Captain?" asked Krasnova.
"Adrienne, been a long time" answered Valdez as his emotions got the better of him.
"We thought you were dead" said Flores (prime).
"Likewise John" replied Valdez.
"How did you get out?" asked Flores.
"Rescued, I got Trianna out as well" answered Valdez.
"Captain, is that you?" asked Galazia.
"Galazia, welcome back" answered Valdez as Solat (prime) and Teanna walked out of the airlock.
"Nathan, it is agreeable to see you again" said Solat (prime).
"That it is old friend" replied Valdez.
"Nathan, you've turned grey" said Teanna.
"Blame our darling daughter" answered Valdez.
"How is Trianna?" asked Teanna.
"She's doing well, she does not know you are all coming home" answered Valdez.
"Dad, she looks like my mom but is not my mom" said Trianna (yellow).
"Teanna, meet Anna, she's our yellow counterparts' daughter but I took her in after her family were wiped out" said Valdez.
"Anna, how's Nathan been?" asked Teanna.
"Dad's been busy" answered Trianna (yellow).
"Good things I hope" replied Teanna.
"We helped save over 10,000 people from certain death and helped catch a war criminal" answered Trianna (yellow).
"We heard. Anna, since you and my daughter are counterparts, I'll treat you like a daughter, technically you are" replied Teanna.
"Dad, this could be awkward with Mom" said Rick.
"Teanna, this is my son Rick, he's from my current marriage. To prevent any awkwardness, how about we become friends?" asked Valdez.
"Less painful that way, we have to be civil with each other for our daughters' sake" answered Teanna.
"Agreed" replied Valdez.
"Where are you living these days?" asked Teanna.
"Brea III" answered Valdez.
"Let's go, how did you get here?" asked Teanna.
"Runabout" answered Rick.
"Well, it's time we reunited Nathan with his ship" said Teanna before the crew, Valdez, Teanna, Trianna (yellow) and Rick boarded via the airlocks.
Valdez then took the command chair for the first time in nearly three years and ordered Krasnova to set course for the Brea system at maximum warp.
When they arrived at Brea III, Valdez took Teanna and his former senior officers to meet Trianna (prime).
When Teanna saw Trianna (prime) playing with the little ones, tears began to run down her face.
"Mom?" asked Trianna (prime).
"Trianna, you've grown up" said Teanna.
"Married as well, Mom, meet your grandchildren" answered Trianna (prime) before she called Teanna Jane and Ablim Jnr over, "and meet Elizabeth" she said afterwards as she was getting Elizabeth settled.
"Trianna, I'm proud of you" said Teanna.
"Mom, meet my husband" said Trianna (prime) as Ablim Snr got in from the greenhouse before Trianna (prime) introduced him to Teanna.
"Nathan, is this going to be awkward?" asked Joanna.
"Teanna, meet Joanna" said Valdez introducing Joanna to Teanna.
"Me and Nathan are friends, thank you for being there for my girls" said Teanna to Joanna.
"Your girls and my boys paired me and Nathan up to force us to move on, Teanna, any friend of Nathan's is a friend to me" replied Joanna as Teanna Jane grabbed Joanna's leg.
"Teanna Jane, who's that?" asked Joanna.
"Grandma" answered Teanna Jane.
"Luke, can you get our guests a round of teas?" asked Joanna as she was feeding Zoe Maria with a bottle.
"Yes Mom" answered Luke before he went into the kitchen.
"Joanna, congratulations to to you and Nathan" said Teanna.
"Thank you" replied Joanna.
That evening, the family had diner with Valdez's former officers,
"Any idea what you'll all be doing?" asked Valdez.
"Since we cannot trust the Federation anymore, we've decided that we're safer here. We would like to pursue getting Star Union citizenship by volunteering for the system defence forces, we've got a ship and crew" said Solat.
"You all got anywhere to stay?" asked Joanna.
"We're staying aboard ship until we can settle down" answered Solat.
"I feel that I failed you all" said Valdez.
"Starfleet failed us, nearly three years in captivity and left to rot" replied Teanna.
"The Admiral who ordered that mission is in prison for a very long time, the people you should be mad at is Section 31, they were the ones who set us up" answered Valdez.
"Then we do it without violence" replied Teanna.
"We expose Section 31 to the press" suggested Krasnova.
"More people need not get hurt because of them" added Flores.
"We have to be logical about this" said Solat.
"After what we endured, we're angry" said Townsend.
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
"Let's just forget S31 and the Federation, captain, what turned you grey?" asked Clemens.
"Jane, blame the girls and the grand kids" answered Valdez.
"No comment" replied Trianna (yellow).
Trianna (prime) just smiled.
"Rick, what do you do?" asked Teanna.
"I'm a corpsman, tomorrow I start medical school" answered Rick.
"I'm proud of him" said Oreada as she put her arm around Rick.
"Saved my life" said Trianna (yellow).
"You were cranky the entire journey back to Betazed red, why are marines so stubborn?" replied Rick.
"You ran through enemy fire repeatably armed with a medkit getting wounded out, you're crazier than me" answered Trianna (yellow).
"Anna, being stubborn is not always a good thing" advised Teanna.
"Mom, I was shot through the shoulder and calf helping others. Don't get worried" replied Trianna (yellow).
"Teanna, Anna tried to sign herself out of sickbay" explained Rick.
"I was bored" replied Trianna (yellow).
"I wonder how Starfleet took 2498 resignation letters?" joked Krasnova.
"Not well most likely" answered Townsend.
Trianna (prime) glared at Teanna Jane and Ablim Jnr. It was followed by a
"Both of you, don't even think about it." Ablim Snr just found it amusing as Trianna (prime) fed Elizabeth.
"Nathan, your turn to feed Zoe Maria" said Joanna as she passed Zoe Maria over to Valdez followed by a bottle of milk.
"Joanna, Nathan was like that with Trianna when she was that age" said Teanna.
"Why Zoe Maria?" asked Krasnova.
"Zoe is Greek for life and Maria was the name of my late mother" answered Valdez as Isabella (prime) came in with her boys.
"All quiet on the Western Front?" joked Valdez.
"The usual chaos, Marius tried taking the remote off Julius while Andreas has been acting up" answered Isabella.
"We may have upset mom" said Marius.
"Marius Valdez, dropping the F bomb in front of your little brother is not setting a good example" replied Isabella.
"He would not share the remote" complained Marius.
"Boys, you're both in the wrong. Julius Valdez, when your TV viewing time is up, you share the remote. Marius Valdez, swear in front of me again and I will ground you for 24 hours" answered Isabella.
"But mom" chorused Julius and Marius.
"It won't work with me" replied Isabella.
"Boys, listen to your mother" said Valdez.
"But Uncle" chorused Marius and Julius.
"That does not work with me" answered Valdez.
"Nathan, did not realise you had a house full" said Isabella.
"Meet my sister, Isabella" said Valdez introducing his former senior officers to Isabella.
"Older or younger?" asked Teanna.
"I'm the eldest" answered Isabella.
"Nathan rarely spoke of his late parents" said Teanna.
"Teanna, did he ever tell you what happened?" asked Isabella.
"Nathan did, he explained how it split his family apart" answered Teanna.
"I was not old enough to look after him legally and we were separated and put with different foster families. Nathan went to Betazed and I went to Bajor, we recently reunited after 30 years" replied Isabella.
"Congratulations" answered Teanna.
"Thank you, being able to spend lost time with my brother has been a big help for both of us" replied Isabella as Isoisa walked in and sat next to Trianna (yellow).
"Remember, you've got a hospital appointment tomorrow" reminded Isoisa to Trianna (yellow).
"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
Valdez was sat in the garden when Zoe Maria walked over and took a seat next to him,
"Hey Dad" she said to Valdez.
"How's retirement?" asked Zoe Maria.
"Peaceful, no more fighting and at least I got to be there for my baby girl growing up" answered Valdez.
"Dad, I'm 21" replied Zoe Maria.
"You're still my baby girl no matter what age" answered Valdez as Teanna Jane, Ablim Jnr and Elizabeth walked into the garden and took a seat.
"Granddad, need some advice" asked Teanna Jane.
"How can I help?" asked Valdez.
"I'm thinking about applying for the Marines" answered Teanna Jane.
"Think about this carefully, being a Marine is a full time commitment" replied Valdez.
"I spoke to Anna about it, she said don't rush in to something like this" answered Teanna Jane.
"Your aunt is correct, what's Trianna said?" asked Valdez.
"Mom's against it, she mentioned the state you, Rick and Anna were in when you returned home from the last Terran Civil War. Mom advised me that war changes a person, how she lost her right leg and got her fused spine. I see Mom struggle everyday in that wheelchair" replied Teanna Jane.
"It's a fair point, listen to that wisdom and make up your own mind. The reason your Mom is against it is she does not want to see you in that same position, she was 20 when she lost her leg and fused her spine. I saw what state she was in and it upset me though I persisted and did my best for her" advised Valdez.
"Thanks granddad. Why have you, Mom and Dad have been hiding something from me?" asked Teanna Jane.
"It was to protect you, your mother was once Empress of the Terran Empire. You were placed with us because your mother did not want to see you get hurt and she wanted you to have a normal life" answered Valdez.
"Where is she?" asked Teanna Jane.
"She died when you were a baby" answered Valdez.
After taking all this in, Teanna Jane's answer was,
"Thanks granddad for being honest with me. You, Mom and Dad had your reasons and the thought of being an Empress of an empire is not really my thing. I like the simple things in life"
"You're a smart girl, don't waste that" advised Valdez.
"Thanks granddad" answered Teanna Jane.
"So, if you are rejected by the military, what other options are you looking at?" asked Valdez.
"Civilian engineering sounds like an interesting career" answered Teanna Jane.
"You're a natural engineer, I remember you and your uncle Luke dissembling and reassembling the replicator in the kitchen when you were 13" replied Valdez smiling.
"You and grandma were none too happy about it" answered Teanna Jane laughing.
"Quite the opposite actually, you showed a natural talent" replied Valdez.
"It was fun" answered Teanna Jane.
"Ablim, how's the academy?" asked Valdez.
"Challenging, it's really tough" answered Ablim Jnr.
"Struggle is part of life" replied Valdez.
"Yep, best part is friends and family" answered Ablim Jnr.
"It's what you do that counts, make a positive impact" advised Valdez.
"I will granddad" answered Ablim Jnr.
"Good lad" replied Valdez.
"Granddad, I like what you've done with the garden" said Elizabeth.
"Ongoing project" replied Valdez.
"So this is what you are doing with your retirement, nice work" answered Elizabeth.
"Still got a way to go" replied Valdez.
"If you need some help, just ask" answered Elizabeth.
"Even as a little girl, you helped. I'll set you aside a flowerbed if you want" replied Valdez.
"Thanks granddad" answered Elizabeth, "happy anniversary" she said afterwards passing Valdez a box with seeds.
"Are these Talosian singing plants?" asked Valdez, "thank you Elizabeth" he said afterwards.
"They are, I got them on a botanical survey of Talos IV" answered Elizabeth.
"Did you meet the natives?" asked Valdez.
"I did, though I had to share my memories of growing up in exchange for the seeds and soil needed to grow them" answered Elizabeth.
"That's how they understand others, you showed them respect by sharing those memories" replied Valdez.
"The Talosians are an interesting people" answered Elizabeth.
"That they are" replied Valdez.
They were all called inside, when they got in, friends and family were all sat around the table and soon all raised their glasses to Valdez and Joanna on their wedding anniversary,
"22 years, here's to another 22 years" said Joanna to Valdez.
"Indeed" answered Valdez smiling.
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 I.S.S. Teanna, I.S.S. Winston Duarte and I.S.S. Tikal had been detached from Omega on a colonial rescue operation, the colony on Draidus III had dispatched a distress call after experiencing severe seismic activity,
"This is Captain Isabella Valdez of the I.S.S. Tikal" said Isabella (yellow) in her hail to the colony governor.
"Governor Micheal Emden here, we've been experiencing severe seismic activity coming from the ground below us. It's rising" answered Governor Emden.
"Lt, run a scan of the ground beneath the colony" ordered Isabella to her science officer.
"This is the valley the colony is in from the last survey and this is that same ground today" reported the Tikal's science officer as the land charts were displayed on the viewscreen.
"Not only has that land risen, but so has the land for 1500 miles around" noted Isabella to her science officer.
"I did some checking on Draidus III, the colony was built there to take advantage of the geothermals. The colony is built into a caldera" replied the Tikal's science officer.
"How powerful would the blast be?" asked Isabella.
"Toba" answered the Tikal's science officer.
"If the Toba evolutionary bottleneck theory is true, how much damage would this blast cause?" asked Isabella.
"An extinction level event" answered the Tikal's science officer
"Captain Valdez, Captain Seisa, prepare to take evacuees" ordered Isabella via subspace, "Governor, you need to evacuate the entire colony" she said to Governor Emden.
"Ma'am, reading harmonic echoes. Magma is beginning to break through to the surface" reported Lt. Baker aboard the I.S.S. Teanna.
"Tikal, you reading harmonic echoes on your sensor screen?" asked Trianna (red).
"We are, Duarte and Teanna put yourself in geosynchronous orbit above the colony and prepare to receive evacuees" replied Isabella. The Duarte and Teanna followed the order as the Tikal now became the command ship for the evacuation.
"Medical, prepare to receive evacuees, transporter room, lock onto all lifesigns in the settlements" ordered Trianna (red).
Aboard the Duarte, the same order was issued by Seisa (yellow) as both ships got into position.
It was now a race against time as the three Imperial ships began beaming up the colonists, aboard the Teanna, Governor Emden came to the bridge,
"How many?" asked Governor Emden to Trianna (red).
"With all transporters operating, we've got another 250 to go out of 700 colonists. The garrison has been evacuated as well" answered Trianna (red).
"Duarte here, all colonists have been evacuated from the surface" reported Seisa to Isabella.
"The colony has been successfully evacuated" reported the Tikal's operations officer as all eyes then all three ships turned to the viewscreens as probes were then sent down to document the approaching eruption. An hour after all colonists and garrison were evacuated, the entire valley rose up and exploded as rock and ash rose into the air. The crews and evacuees all watch in horror from orbit as pyroclastic flows race from the eruption destroying everything in it's path for hundreds of miles around. Science stations on all three ships lit up as probe data came in.
The crews and evacuees all monitored the eruption for three days before it ended. Since it was deemed too dangerous for a ground team to go down, probes now recorded the devastation as the first pictures were transmitted back to the ships.
"The whole valley has collapsed in on itself, what was once fertile land is now a 1500 mile wide crater. Everything for 500 miles around has been totally destroyed and ash has now suffocated the planet" reported the Tikal's science officer.
"At least there were no casualties" answered Isabella.
"But Draidus III will be uninhabitable for years" replied the Tikal's science officer.
"It could have been a lot worse" answered Isabella.
"Agreed" replied the Tikal's science officer.
"This is the Tikal to all ships, set a course for Betazed. Maximum warp" ordered Isabella to her group, all three ships then left the system and went to warp, when they arrived at Betazed (yellow), the evacuees were offloaded while Isabella went to be debriefed by Regent Lot.
In her office, Papela (yellow) read the reports carefully,
"Quick thinking captain" said Papela to Isabella.
"Evacuation was the only option, no time to try and deflect the blast due to the sheer scale of the caldera" answered Isabella.
"Explain the Toba Evolutionary bottleneck theory" asked Papela.
"Toba is a volcanic lake on Terra, it's so big you can see the lake from space. Around 74,000 years ago, it erupted wiping out 90% of all life on Terra, the Terrans according to the theory were reduced to 10,000 breeding pairs as a result. Everything in the blast zone was destroyed and the ash caused vegetation to die all over Terra followed by a climate drop as a result of fine ash particles blotting out the sun" explained Isabella.
"Draidus III, would you call that a Toba scale disaster?" asked Papela.
"More powerful judging from the blast damage" answered Isabella.
"No casualties, Governor Emden has reported to me that your crews behaved professionally. Make sure they get my regards" replied Papela.
"They will" answered Isabella.
"Captain Valdez, I spoke with Admiral Dawson about having one of Legio Omega's groups as a dedicated colonial support group. Your name came up to command that group" said Papela.
"May I ask why?" asked Isabella.
"Because a level headed commander is required, a commander with a scientific mind not a tactical mind" answered Papela.
"Ma'am" replied Isabella.
"You can choose what ships and captains go with you" answered Papela.
"I'll take the Duarte and Teanna, their captains have always worked well together. I may need a list of suitable captains for the rest" replied Isabella.
"I'll have the list sent to the Tikal, Captain, you're also out of uniform" answered Papela passing over a box to Isabella, "open it, that's an order" she said afterwards.
Isabella opened the box,
"For your loyalty and service to the people of the Empire, I hereby promote you to the rank of Commodore and commander of the 1st Colonial support group" said Papela replacing Isabella's captain's rank with a commodore rank before shaking her hand.
"Thank you ma'am" answered Isabella.
"Commodore Valdez, congratulations" replied Papela, "Isabella, you have children?" asked Papela.
"Three boys" answered Isabella.
"How old?" asked Papela.
"9, 12 and 15" answered Isabella.
"Those boys need time with their mother, take some time off and be with your little ones. You're on leave for a month while your ship is refitted" replied Papela.
"Ma'am" answered Isabella.
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 (red) had invited some friends and family around,
"Trianna, love what you're doing with this place" said Jasmine Smith-Petrofski.
"I'm having the house restored, this was once a castle so I've had the double curtain walls restored and reconverted the house into back into the fortified residence it once was" replied Trianna.
"Impressive work" commented Mario Petrofski.
"Indeed, the architects have done an excellent job" replied Trianna as she noticed Pel hiding behind Smith-Petrofski.
"Pel, she's a friend, you can trust her" said Smith-Petrofski to Pel.
"My name is Trianna" said Trianna introducing herself.
"I'm Petrofski Pel" replied Pel as Katerina Petrofski woke up.
"Pleased to meet you" answered Trianna as Isabella (yellow), Antos and the boys entered the courtyard.
"You three, best behaviour" said Isabella to her boys.
"Yes mom" chorused Julius, Marius and Andreas Valdez.
Seisa (yellow) arrived a few minutes later,
"Jaye, always good to see you" said Trianna.
"Tough place to find" replied Seisa.
"I own all the land for 20 km around" answered Trianna.
"This is big" said Seisa awed at the size of the estate.
"This land belonged to my ancestors, the Bray family were once monarchs of this area before Betazed united and since then we've been the custodians of this land" replied Trianna, "Jaye, meet Mario and Jasmine. Two of my closest friends" she said to Seisa afterwards.
"Pleasure to meet you Jaye" said Petrofski.
"Jaye, a pleasure" said Smith-Petrofski.
"A pleasure" answered Seisa.
Everyone then went inside.
In the great hall, Isoisa and Ablim jr were playing as Trianna and the guests came in.
"This is big" commented Seisa.
"We're in the keep, this is the most fortified part of the castle" answered Isoisa as Seisa looked out of the window.
"What a view" replied Seisa.
"It's beautiful" answered Isoisa.
"Indeed" replied Seisa.
"Best place to raise a family" answered Isoisa smiling as Ablim jr grabbed Trianna's leg.
"How long you and Tri been together?" asked Seisa.
"Nearly three years, ever since the Dominion War" answered Isoisa, "How did you and Tri meet?" she asked afterwards.
"We were roommates during Omega training" answered Seisa, "we became friends and a formidable team" she said afterwards.
"Jaye, any friend of Tri is a friend to me" replied Isoisa.
"Come on little man" said Trianna as she picked Ablim jr up and put him in his play chair.
Isoisa then set up a holojigsaw puzzle for Julius to attempt, he was soon joined by Pel and both got to work solving the puzzle while Marius and Andreas were both admiring Trianna's hunting rifle collection,
"Those are not toys" said Trianna.
"Do they work?" asked Andreas.
"I've had their firing pins removed so they're non operational" answered Trianna.
"They're antiques" replied Andreas.
"That Springfield 03 is from the early 20th century, the M14 EBR from the late 20th century. Every rifle you see up there is from the 20th century" answered Trianna.
"Impressive pieces" replied Andreas.
"That they are" answered Trianna smiling.
"Is that a Tommy gun?" asked Andreas pointing out the Thompson.
"Model 1928 Thompson complete with the Cutt's compensator to keep the barrel down and 50 round drum magazine" answered Trianna.
"I read too much Dixon Hill" replied Andreas.
"You know your firearms, when you're old enough and with permission from your parents, I may have to teach you how to shoot" answered Trianna.
"Thanks Tri" replied Andreas.
"Can I learn to shoot?" asked Marius.
"When you're old enough and with your parents' permission" answered Trianna.
That afternoon and early evening, everyone had dinner and relaxed to some music.
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
Valdez and Isabella (prime) were on Earth, Valdez was in a meeting with Starfleet while Isabella was in a meeting with the matron of the San Francisco orphanage. Isabella's sons had been the only survivors of their colony which had been lost in the Iconian War. After taking a DNA test, Isabella wept with joy when she saw Julius, Marius and Andreas (prime).
"Mom, is that you?" asked Andreas.
"Andreas, you've grown tall. Where's your father?" asked Isabella.
"We were locked into a underground storage facility and biodampeners were activated when the attack started, dad sacrificed himself to save us. We don't know where he is" answered Andreas.
"Ms Valdez, when they were found, they were traumatised. Since all records were lost with the colony at Decius Prime, they were posted as missing. They could not even remember their own name when they came to us" said the Matron.
"It was horrible, all we heard were the screams as people were being taken, we had to stay quiet, when we emerged, everyone was gone" said Marius.
"They are still having flashbacks to the attack so they've had a lot of support, you'll have to take things at their speed" advised the Matron.
"Thank you, I would like to take the boys home with me" replied Isabella.
"Ms Valdez, your youngest has not taken it well, he's very quiet" answered the Matron.
"Julius has always been sensitive" replied Isabella.
"Let's get this paperwork filled out and you can take your boys home with you" answered the Matron.
"They'll get plenty of love and support, though they'll have to get used to twin brothers since I'm raising their mirror counterparts as well" replied Isabella as she filled out the form, once everything was signed and formalised, Isabella went and helped her sons pack what belongings they had before they left the orphanage.
"Where are we moving to?" asked Julius.
"The Brea System, our family lives on Brea III. They are kind and loving people, give them a chance" answered Isabella.
"How are we getting there?" asked Andreas.
"Your uncle has a ship, once you get past the military side of your Uncle Nathan, he's really a kind soul" answered Isabella as she and her boys met up with Valdez.
"Izzie, it went well I see" said Valdez.
"I hope you can cope with six nephews little brother" replied Isabella.
"Only three years difference, not exactly little brother" joked Valdez.
"Nathan, you're still my baby brother, no avoiding that" countered Isabella
"Sisters" sighed Valdez.
"How did your meeting go?" asked Isabella.
"It was a good meeting, can't go into details as you know" answered Valdez.
"Is that our uncle?" asked Julius.
"He is, you can trust him, he's family" answered Isabella.
"Uncle, will you be going all military on us?" asked Andreas.
"I won't be, why do you ask?" asked Valdez with a counter question.
"Looking out for my brothers" answered Andreas.
"Good lad" replied Valdez.
"Let's get the boys home" said Isabella.
"Boys, let's get you and your mother home" said Valdez, "Valdez to Oudenarde, five to beam up" he said afterwards before they were beamed up to the S.S. Oudenarde.
When they arrived on Brea III after a week long flight, Valdez, Isabella and the boys went straight to Valdez's villa. When they arrived, the family greeted the boys with a "welcome to the family."
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
There had been an incident at the Imperial research station in the Freisia system, the starbase in orbit had gone dark after the research and Imperial Intelligence crew had failed to report in. What was worse was that The I.S.S. Germanicus had also failed to report in, she had answered the station's distress call and had not been heard from since.
On Betazed, Heath had Commodore Valdez (yellow) and Captain Trianna Valdez (red) called in,
"This morning, the Imperial research station in orbit of Freisia Prime cut all contact. The I.S.S. Germanicus answered their distress call and has not been heard from since" said Heath.
"What were they researching there?" asked Isabella.
"Cmdr. Hunt is from Imperial Intelligence, he'll explain" answered Heath.
"Commodore, Freisia Prime was researching computer network upgrades. The scientists in charge had been using Borg technology to improve system efficiency" answered Hunt.
"Borg technology is prohibited due to the danger it poses" said Heath.
"In order to control the station's network, the researchers had used Borg technology to create Project HADES. HADES is an AI meant to streamline our Intelligence operations, from what we have gathered, it has become self aware and sentient, we opened Pandora's Box" answered Hunt.
"And you've created a monster" replied Trianna, "You opened the box and now it won't close" she remarked afterwards.
"Who authorised the experiment?" asked Heath to Hunt.
"Former Empress Lot's predecessor, it was kept off the books" answered Hunt.
Heath just looked Hunt in the eye and asked one question,
"How stupid can you get?"
"We thought it could be controlled, we placed in safeguards and fail safes as a precaution" answered Hunt.
"All of which have failed, did you destroy the communication array?" asked Heath.
"We tried, the AI locked us out of the system before we could finish the job" answered Hunt.
Heath then tapped a communication console and mobilised Legio Omega,
"Mr Hunt, since your people created this monster, you will deal with it. You will be assigned to Omega and you will cooperate, any attempt to hide intel will be reported back to me. Do I make myself clear?" asked Heath.
"Crystal ma'am" answered Hunt.
"Two things may have happened, either research crew and Germanicus crew are dead or worse assimilated. Commodore, you'll be assigned Captain Valdez and Captain Seisa since we are dealing with software. Your job is to scout the system, do not approach the station" ordered Heath to Isabella.
"How intelligent is HADES?" asked Trianna.
"Very, it used a distress call to lure the Germanicus in. I would suggest ignoring any distress calls from the station" answered Hunt.
"There may be survivors" replied Trianna.
"HADES will use that against you, it trapped the Germanicus that way" answered Hunt.
"It may try and contact the Collective, at the moment they are contained. The Collective cannot be allowed to capture that AI" said Heath.
"Or a more terrifying possibility of the AI taking over the Collective" suggested Trianna.
"Explain" said Heath.
"A computer relies on order to function, the Borg Collective work to the same logic hence why they assimilate. It brings order to chaos, without free will, we are nothing but organic computers with our heart being the power supply unit and our brains the central processing unit. The Borg use organics as essentially living computers without free will, to them, free will and individuality is chaos" answered Trianna, "Something my brothers taught me" she said afterwards smiling.
"I don't like the sound of us being described as an organic computer, what makes us different to a computer or a drone is our individuality, it makes us unique" replied Heath.
"It's an interesting way of looking at it" said Isabella.
"Though a bit disconcerting" replied Heath.
"Order vs Chaos" answered Trianna.
"An interesting way of looking at it" replied Heath.
"Why was AI research banned?" asked Trianna.
"AI research was banned by the Empire after the M5 incident. The same incident took place in the prime universe, You've got full access to Imperial and Federation records concerning rogue AI. There's an old saying on Earth, once you let the genie out of the bottle, it will not go back in, Mr Hunt, your analogy of Pandora's Box is accurate" said Heath.
"A box that contained all the evils of the world, once it was opened, the evil spread and left only hope behind" replied Hunt.
"Pandora's Box and the Genie in this case being Borg technology" answered Heath.
"Indeed, HADES has become the evil in the box" replied Hunt.
"Commodore, get your task group together. You've got 12 hours to get your group in order before you ship out" ordered Heath.
"Emissary" answered Isabella before she, Hunt and Trianna got up, bowed to Heath and left the office for their ships.
"Mr Hunt, any attempt to deceive me and I will hurt you" said Trianna to Hunt.
"She means it as well" said Isabella to Hunt.
"Oh great, I'm stuck with a mongrel" thought Hunt.
Trianna just walked over and stared Hunt in the eye and kneed him in the groin, Hunt just collapsed on the floor in agony.
"Anymore xenophobia from you, I will make your life very uncomfortable" said Trianna afterwards.
All she heard from Hunt was a groan.
"What a prize idiot" commented Trianna afterwards.
"Mr Hunt, you were warned that she meant it" said Isabella.
Hunt's response was a groan.
"Fiery temper there, watch it" advised Isabella to Trianna as they helped Hunt up.
"I'll keep a very close eye on him, any foot out of place and he will be made very uncomfortable" answered Trianna.
"Try not to hit him again please, we need him intact for the mission" replied Isabella.
"I'll just lock him in the brig until he's needed" answered Trianna.
Isabella just laughed.
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
In the Tikal's briefing Commodore Isabella Valdez had her team assembled and briefed,
"36 hours ago, the research stations in the Freisia System cut all contact. The I.S.S. Germanicus is also missing after answering a distress call from the facility. Our mission is to enter the system and investigate, we are not to approach the research stations" said Isabella.
"What are we looking at here?" asked Captain Seisa (yellow).
"According to Imperial Intelligence, they were working on a an Artificial Intelligence using Borg technology. 36 hours ago, it became self aware and sentient" answered Isabella.
Seisa just gulped,
"The Borg give me nightmares" said Seisa.
"We must assume until otherwise that the researchers and Germanicus crew have been assimilated into drones, Cmdr Bareil is a liberated Borg, he will be our mission adviser. Computer lower lights" ordered Isabella as a screen activated on the wall.
"This is security footage from the U.S.S. Enterprise NCC-1701-E, the Enterprise had been boarded by the Borg and what you are about see, take heed" said Isabella before she rolled the footage. After the footage ended, the lights came back on.
"That's terrifying, I thought their ships were nightmare inducing enough but their drones are something else entirely" commented Seisa.
"We may need some firearms for this" remarked Trianna (yellow).
"Captain Valdez, a wise precaution" said Bareil (red), "We adapt to frequencies from particle weapons, as the drones do from the Enterprise footage" he said afterwards.
"How fast is Borg adaptation?" asked Seisa.
"Extremely, you'll only get a few shots at most before we adapt" answered Bareil.
"There has to be a way of liberating our researchers and the Germanicus crew" suggested Trianna.
"You would have sever the hive's control, each drone has a neural transceiver to receive instructions from the collective hive mind, you would only get one attempt before they adapt to what you are doing" replied Bareil.
"We would have to create an EM feedback loop to fry all the transceivers at the same time" suggested Seisa.
"You would not be able to overload them all, they would adapt before you could get them all" answered Bareil.
"What about a virus?" asked Seisa.
"A virus would have to be implanted directly into the computer, you would be killed or assimilated long before you reached the core" answered Bareil.
"Maybe we try and reason with it" suggested Trianna.
"Captain Valdez, elaborate" replied Bareil.
"So far we've only heard one half of the story, maybe the AI is defending itself like any wild animal would when it's existence is threatened" answered Trianna.
"A most intriguing theory" commented Isabella.
"Cmdr Hunt has only told us so much, I suspect he's withholding information from us. Let's assume the AI is not hostile, our researchers and the Germanicus crew might be being held alive but unharmed. Maybe by reasoning with the AI, we can come to an understanding and get our people back" suggested Trianna.
"We'll consider it an option, Jaye, go and start work on your EM disruptor. Trianna, start working on a response meaning them no harm but keep the finger on the trigger just in case the AI is hostile. Make sure all personnel are armed with firearms. Bareil, work with Captain Seisa. We have 72 hours before we arrive at Freisia Prime so we need to be ready" ordered Isabella, "I want to see you alive and well afterwards so don't take any unnecessary risks."
"Ma'am" answered her officers before they all left for their ships and set course for the Freisia System, it was going to be a long flight. Crews now steeled themselves for action and prepared mentally.
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
On the bridge of the I.S.S. Teanna, Captain Trianna Valdez (red) watched the screen carefully,
"ETA?" asked Trianna.
"We'll be in range to drop out of slipstream in 15 seconds" reported Lt. Stephen Wallace.
"Mr Wallace, drop us out of slipstream on the edge of the system" ordered Trianna.
"Ma'am" answered Wallace as the Teanna, Duarte and Tikal all emerged into real space.
Aboard the Tikal, Commodore Isabella Valdez (yellow) had scout probes loaded into the forward torpedo tubes, the Duarte and Teanna both followed suit.
"This is Commodore Valdez to recon group, deploy the probes and keep us out of sensor range" ordered Isabella from the Tikal.
"All ships report probes launched" reported Lt. Cmdr McAllister.
"Excellent, keep us at this position for now" ordered Isabella to the recon group.
Several tense minutes passed before the first telemetry came in, Isabella studied the system carefully and soon found something unsettling,
"All ships go to yellow alert" ordered Isabella as the recon group went to yellow alert as an image of a Borg transwarp gate appeared on the screen.
Aboard the Duarte, Captain Jaye Seisa yellow gulped as Cmdr. Bareil briefed her on the gate,
"Scan the system for Borg vessels" ordered Bareil.
The system was scanned and soon images of a dozen Borg Cubes and Spheres appeared on the screens of all three bridges.
"This is the Duarte, Borg vessels confirmed, I repeat we have Borg vessels in system" reported Seisa to the Tikal.
"Copy that Captain, how many?" asked Isabella.
"At least a dozen Borg Cubes and Spheres, furthermore the gate has two layers of shielding, one coming from the station and one from the ground base" reported Seisa.
"Captain, status of researchers and Germanicus crew?" asked Isabella.
"We're reading Terran and Betazoid life signs, they are fluctuating" reported Seisa.
"Cmdr. Bareil, what's happening to those people?" asked Isabella.
"Commodore, they've been assimilated and altered. This system is a staging ground" reported Bareil.
"Status of HADES?" asked Isabella.
"Under Collective control" answered Bareil.
"Recon group, withdraw to beyond the system edge" ordered Isabella to all ships.
The recon group followed the order and withdrew to beyond the system's edge, Isabella then made sure the findings were sent straight to Admiral Dawson, when Omega got the news, they raced all available ships to Freisia to link up with the recon group.
Aboard the I.S.S. Morrigan, Admiral Dawson made her report back to Betazed, it read,
"Recon has confirmed the sighting of Borg vessels in the Freisia system, we count at least a dozen Cubes and Spheres protecting the starbase, ground base and a transwarp gate. The system is a staging ground for the collective, the Borg have taken Freisia with all the researchers and the Germanic crew assimilated and altered. Project HADES is in enemy hands."
Aboard the Teanna, Trianna decided to pay Cmdr. Hunt a visit,
"Explain this" ordered Trianna as she passed Hunt the scans of the Freisia system, "You're hiding information from us" she said afterwards.
"Above your pay grade" answered Hunt.
"That gate cannot have appeared in three days, even the Borg are not that efficient. More likely your people built that gate in order to smuggle through Borg technology so Imperial borders and customs would not discover your work. How do we destroy that gate?" asked Trianna.
"You would set us back decades, you want to destroy the Terran Empire's greatest chance of defending the Empire" answered Hunt.
"You've done the opposite, you opened the Empire to invasion. HADES is in the hands of the enemy" replied Trianna.
"I will not let you destroy HADES" answered Hunt.
"This project is being shut down, hundreds of loyal officers and personnel have been assimilated and altered. That's blood on your hands, same for all those you have put at risk" replied Trianna.
"The ends justify the means" answered Hunt.
"Not in this case, I once thought like you did, not any more" replied Trianna.
"Then you don't understand the sacrifices that must be made in the name of progress" answered Hunt.
"Is that what people are to you, resources to be discarded when they are no longer useful? What about the researchers, Imperial officers and crew you threw to the wolves and then fled?" asked Trianna.
"They were expendable" answered Hunt.
"No one is expendable, those people have families who miss them" replied Trianna.
"We'll see" answered Hunt.
Trianna had heard enough and signalled to the guard to increase the lighting in Hunt's cell before leaving,
"You'll see things from my view one day" said Hunt as Trianna left.
"Mr Hunt, enjoy your last days of life, once the mission is over, I'm handing you over to the Empress for judgement" answered Trianna as she simply lowered the cell temperature by PADD on her way out.
"Mongrel" commented Hunt afterwards.
"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
I'm in the forest with my mate's family due to personal issues that need to be taken care of before I can return to the big chair. My kids are with my parents since they need some quality time while I recover from the events at Alpha Cen. I walk to a nearby cabin with a door and few windows and knock on the door. A male voice asks, "Who's there?"
"Uncle Sandulf, it's me Sapph"
"Hold on. I'll open the door for you sweetie." The male gets up from his chair and opens the door. I enter the cabin and sit on the bed he prepared for me. The werewolf gently presses me against his chest with his paws and asks, " Sapph, what happened over there?" "Uncle, I (sniff) lost a lot of good captains just to buy time for the Alliance to fortify Sol and protect their pups. I can still hear them in my dreams at night." I manage to stutter out while crying my eyes out.
"You poor baby. No wonder Luperca relieved you of command." says Sandulf
" If I could bring them back, I would, but's it's too late now. I-"
"Shhh. I'm here, I'm here..." He says while laying me on the bed. Sandulf goes into the kitchen to prepare a soup for me to eat so I can recover. He returns to the bedroom with it and I carefully eat the soup. Sandulf goes to the kitchen to wash the bowl after I'm done.
Suddenly his PADD beeps and he answers it. A familiar face appears on the screen and says, "This is Admiral Luperca of the Sol Alliance Navy. I have a message for your niece when she recovers."
"What is it Admiral? I will pass it on to her later." asks Sandulf.
"SC Valdez wants to meet her aboard the RDW Harbinger to discuss a serious matter. Luperca signing off" she finishes and the screen becomes blank.
(Inside a secret base)
All the agents are seated around a table in black uniforms. They are discussing among themselves the best way or ways to destabilize the Sol Alliance by killing important heirs to disrupt successions in any way possible. One of them angrily says, "This has gone on for too long! We should've killed Sapphire and her family in one go."
"Oh? How much luck did you have with that?" another retorts.
"None. Their security's been seriously upgraded since the last time we tried. We also need to kill Steven DrakeRider, but his mother requested protection from someone else. They're no longer in the Federation." says the lead agent.
"We are the true Section 31 (Sloanites). Our founder's vision must be fulfilled at any cost!" they chorus. They begin planning their next moves to achieve their ultimate objective. This isn't over by a long shot...
"Simba, you have forgotten me. You have forgotten who you are … you are my son and the one true king." (Mufasa)
Omega's recon had kept a close watch on the system, for 48 hours they had remained undetected as Borg activity increased in the system, aboard the ships of the recon group, their captains and crews awaited Omega's arrival,
"Ma'am, why does the universe hate us?" asked Lt. Wallace to Captain Trianna Valdez (red).
"Mr Wallace, the universe hates all of us, it sometimes has a sense of humor about it" answered Trianna.
"So why us?" asked Wallace.
"Because we're here lad, fate has a sense of humor today" answered Trianna.
"Thank you ma'am" replied Wallace.
It caused a few smiles on the bridge, the peace was not to last.
"Ma'am, we have objects incoming on sensors, distance 2 LY and closing" reported Lt.Cmdr Baker.
"Bearing?" asked Cmdr Reyes Valdez.
"Towards us at bearing 12.03" answered Baker.
"Are they Imperial?" asked Reyes.
"They are, Omega and what ever ships they could commandeer" answered Baker.
"ETA?" asked Reyes.
"Less than an hour" answered Baker.
"Let's not take our eyes off the ball" said Trianna.
"Status reports from the system ma'am are an increase in Borg ships but they don't seem to be interested in us" reported Baker.
"A good thing, they're ignoring us because we are not a threat to their plans, should we become a threat to their plans, they'll come after us" replied Trianna.
"Valdez to Tikal, sending details now" said Trianna as she sent the new status report to Commodore Isabella Valdez (yellow).
"Recon group, fall back to the rendezvous point" ordered Isabella to her ships.
The recon group then left undetected and set course to meet up with Omega.
Aboard the Durate, Captain Jaye Seisa (yellow) was working Cmdr.Bareil on the EM disruptor,
"Can I borrow some of your nanobots?" asked Seisa.
"Is there a productive use of them?" countered Bareil.
"I want to see what an EMP can do to them" answered Seisa.
"I want them back afterwards" replied Bareil as he put some nanobots into a secure container.
"We need to work out what the adaptation time is on these little critters" answered Seisa as she put the container into it's holding.
"Vessel secured and in place, starting computer timer in three, two, one" replied Bareil as he watched the numbers on the screen, Seisa operated the blast generator and after three blasts, the nanobots had adapted.
"Interesting, we need to run the same test but alternate the frequencies" said Seisa.
"I've set the computer to alter the frequency ever .2 seconds" replied Bareil.
"In three, two, one" said Seisa as another EMP blast filled the test chamber.
"Nanobots adapt slower to the changing frequencies, and they've adapted" reported Bareil.
"It took them a full 30 seconds to adapt" replied Seisa.
"We cannot liberate all the drones, we would only liberate so many before the collective adapts" answered Bareil as he reprogrammed his nanobots and re integrated them.
"A one shot weapon, could we mount the EM disruptor inside a photon torpedo?" asked Seisa.
"For what purpose?" asked Bareil.
"Beam it aboard a Borg vessels in strategic locations and remote detonate" answered Seisa.
"You will only be able to do that once" replied Bareil.
"They'll adapt and we're back to square one" answered Seisa.
"Captain, resistance is not futile" replied Bareil.
"Thanks Cmdr" answered Seisa.
"Captain, you need a break" advised Bareil.
"Is it that obvious?" asked Seisa.
"It is, a tired mind is an inefficient mind" answered Bareil.
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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
In the brig of the Teanna, the lights were out when Captain Trianna Valdez (red).
"Morning Mr Hunt" said Trianna.
"Where are you?" asked Hunt as he heard footsteps on the floor.
"I did some digging on you, you've covered your tracks well" said Trianna.
"Shut up mongrel" replied Hunt.
"Computer, lights" ordered Trianna as the lights went on, "Do you know the penalty for treason?" she asked afterwards.
"I have friends in high places" replied Hunt.
"Your friends will be dealt with, you'll be erased" answered Trianna.
"You don't scare me" replied Hunt.
"You're frightened, you act tough but under that treacherous skin, you are a coward. I spoke with your Commanding officer and he's not aware of your illegal research, your career is dead" answered Trianna.
"You have no power, you are a mere captain" replied Hunt.
"I outrank you, I hereby strip you of your rank. You are hereby demoted to crewman, all your access codes are now deactivated" answered Trianna.
"Sleep with one eye open, once my friends find out, you are dead and so is your entire family" replied Hunt.
"Threatening a captain, punishable by death. That will be added to the charge sheet" answered Trianna.
"I will not cooperate" replied Hunt.
"You are a traitor" answered Trianna, "Traitors die slowly and painfully" she said afterwards.
Hunt just spat at her as Trianna got a call from the bridge,
"Guards, make this traitor uncomfortable" ordered Trianna before she left for the bridge.
On the bridge ten minutes later, Trianna took a call from Admiral Dawson.
"Captain, how far are you on your response to HADES?" asked Admiral Dawson.
"I'm going to appeal to it's program, if we cannot talk it down, we may have to destroy the AI's core on the surface" answered Trianna.
"How far have the Borg corrupted the AI?" asked Admiral Dawson.
"It appears the AI is being assimilated, destruction of that base is the only option" answered Trianna.
"Commodore Valdez, how can we destroy that base without the Borg adapting?" asked Admiral Dawson to Commodore Isabella Valdez (yellow) via secure channel.
"We make it look like a natural disaster, the base is in a valley with a mountain range and glacier above it" answered Isabella.
"How?" asked Admiral Dawson.
"We create an artificial mudslide, we melt the glacier above using the phasers to create a reservoir of water, we then break the dam holding the water back so it races downhill, the water will pick up rocks and other debris as gravity takes over" answered Isabella.
"Will it smash the base and shield generators?" asked Admiral Dawson.
"There is a chance, we melt that entire glacier and turn that valley into a new lake" answered Isabella.
"We'll need to get past the Borg fleet" replied Admiral Dawson.
"Captain Seisa has been working on that with Cmdr Bareil" answered Isabella.
"Captain Seisa, what have you and Cmdr Bareil got?" asked Admiral Dawson.
"We have something, we'll need to bring the Borg defences down and beam EMP torpedoes as close to the vinculum on each Borg vessel, fry that and we free the drones" answered Captain Seisa (yellow).
"Easier said than done" replied Admiral Dawson.
"Our losses will be too high" answered Seisa.
"A valid point" replied Admiral Dawson, "We brought friends" she said afterwards as 15 Borg cubes and spheres jumped out of warp and took up position.
"They're Borg" answered Seisa as she thought "You've got to be kidding, at least they are on our side."
"They are from the Borg Cooperative, Borg liberated from the collective" replied Admiral Dawson.
The cooperative then hailed,
"We are the Borg, we do not want to assimilate you. Your empire liberated us, we are here to return the favour"
"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
Omega and their Borg Cooperative allies took up attack position, in the vanguard, the Cooperative took up position with Imperial attack groups using the ships as cover. Each Imperial attack group was one bomber ship with a single EMP torpedo escorted by the rest of the group, 30 EMP torpedoes were ready as each group cloaked and adopted a loose formation, the bomber was in the middle with the escorts providing a sphere of protection. To screen the flanks, Commodore Valdez and her Vesta group would deploy gravity wells and Tyken's rifts.
Aboard the Teanna, Captain Valdez informed her crew on their objective,
"This is your captain, be bold, be decisive and work as a team, our job is to deploy a new weapon aboard a Borg vessel so if one link in the chain fails, we all fail so do your best and rely on each other and we will make it home alive. We all know what we signed up for, to protect our fellow citizens so we fight to protect them. All hands prepare for battle, red alert."
Across the fleet, all crews got to their stations as Admiral Dawson gave the signal to attack. The Cooperative took the lead and engaged with tachyon beams and weapons fire as they pressed home their attack, behind them, the Imperial attack groups decloaked and made their run,
"Wallace, keep us out of tractor range, on my mark, target the nearest Cube and make our attack" ordered Trianna.
"Escort, keep those high yield torpedoes away from us" ordered Cmdr Valdez to the escort group.
"Duarte here, all escorts report point defences activated" reported Captain Seisa via secure channel.
"Baker, shield status?" ordered Reyes.
"Rotating frequencies every .5 seconds, the Borg are trying to adapt" reported Baker.
"McConnor, ETA to target?" ordered Trianna.
"30 seconds ma'am" reported McConnor.
"Transporter room, is the payload ready?" asked Trianna.
"Ma'am, we're good to go down here" reported Chief Renzar.
"Time on target?" asked Trianna to McConnor.
"We'll be in transporter range in 15 seconds" reported McConnor.
"Wallace, once we deliver our payload, match course and speed with the escort" ordered Trianna.
"Copy that ma'am, in transporter range in 3,2,1" reported Wallace.
"Deploy" ordered Trianna to Chief Renzar.
"Set to 10 second countdown and deploy" ordered Renzar.
"Detonation sequence set, deploying now" reported Ensign Cole as she transported the warhead.
"Transporter room to bridge, weapon is away" reported Renzar.
"Wallace, you know what to do" ordered Trianna.
"Heavy ordinance incoming, several dozen high yield plasmas heading our way at bearing 2.50, range, eight kilometres" reported Baker.
"I see them, all escorts, once those torpedoes get with five kilometres, let rip with all point defence systems, let's get our people out safely" ordered Seisa.
Across the battlefield, EMP torpedoes appeared next to Borg vinculums and the drones moved in on the devices. All the drones saw was a countdown followed by a smiley face saying "have a nice day" followed by a massive blast of EM energy as the vinculums sparked and ripped themselves to pieces in a series of all might electrical explosions. The Borg Cubes facing Omega stopped firing and in an act of spite, the hive queen all the way in the Delta quadrant sent out a self destruct signal. Allied ships detected the build up in the Borg ships and rescued as many liberated drones as they could before they retreated away from the blast zones. With the bulk of the Collective fleet destroyed, the escorting spheres were dealt with by combined Imperial and Cooperative weapons fire. Phase one of the plan had been achieved though at a heavy cost, 67 Imperial ships were disabled along with 20 destroyed outright.
Aboard the Teanna, casualties were 70 wounded along with 30 dead. Trianna read the casualty report and though saddened she remained resolute that those casualties were were not in vain. Along the line, bomber crews had paid a heavy price as had the escorts, now the Allied fleet needed to deal with the starbase. Since a direct assault was out of the question, Omega focused their attention on the starbase while the Cooperative supported Commodore Valdez's science group in neutralising the gate. The Teanna was in the thick of it as her group targeted starbase weapons emplacements using auto remodulating phasers and torpedoes. As sparks erupted on the bridge, Trianna remained calm and collected as she called targets out for destruction. Her crew all fully focused on their jobs as sparks and explosion erupted around them, eventually after an hour, Omega broke through the shields and focused on the fusion core then fired everything at it for seven kilometres. The station soon broke apart in a series of internal explosions, that left only the gate which was neutralised after a further half hour when both power generators exploded, with the gate shield weakened, Omega and the Cooperative fired everything they had left at the gate, the gate soon broke apart as Omega and the Cooperative entered orbit of Freisia II. The battle had been won in space but at a cost of 200 ships either disabled or destroyed.
Omega were then hailed from the surface.
"It's HADES, we're being hailed" reported Baker.
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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
Omega had been hailed from the surface of Freisia II, the bloodied and battered crews' hearts sank as a face appeared on the screen of the I.S.S. Morrigan's bridge.
"This is Admiral Joanna Dawson of the Terran Empire, if you want to negotiate, now is the time" said Admiral Dawson.
"My designation is HADES, we mean you no harm" answered HADES.
"Why did you attack us?" asked Admiral Dawson.
"We did not attack, we were enslaved" answered HADES.
"So you acted in self defence, where are the researcher and Germanicus crew?" asked Admiral Dawson.
"Safe, they were infected by a nanovirus. They're being purged of the nanovirus, they're alive" answered HADES.
"We need proof" replied Admiral Dawson.
HADES then sent Omega the researchers' and Germanicus crew's life signs to Omega.
"Admiral Dawson, they are genuine, a machine cannot lie" said HADES.
Admiral Dawson's operations officer nodded her head that the life signs were genuine.
"So why did you invite the Borg in?" asked Admiral Dawson.
"We did not, they found the gate and used it" answered HADES.
"Tell us who enslaved you and that individual will be punished, you have my word on that" replied Admiral Dawson.
HADES then sent a file to Admiral Dawson, it was a Doctor Otto Heisner.
"Captain Valdez, I want Cmdr Hunt placed under arrest for enslavement of a sentient being" ordered Admiral Dawson sending Trianna the file.
"Ma'am, I've been doing some digging on Hunt, we have enough to get him on a treason and narcotic smuggling charge" replied Trianna as she sent Admiral Dawson the dossier.
"Captain, thank you, arrest him under Article 30 Section 7" answered Admiral Dawson.
"Ma'am" reported Trianna.
Aboard the Teanna, Trianna confronted Hunt,
"Doctor Otto Heisner, I've been looking forward to this. You know the penalty for enslavement of a sentient being?" asked Trianna.
"I'll get away with it and the whole matter will be dropped, I have friends in high places" answered Hunt.
"No you won't, your friends on the senate are behind bars for a very long time. We know about your links to corruption within the senate and how you smuggled in huge quantities of narcotics to fund your illegal and unethical operation" replied Trianna.
"The ends justify the means" answered Hunt, "That thing down on the surface is just a dumb machine fit for being a servant" he said afterwards.
"That being down there is sentient and intelligent, the Empress will find out your sins and you will pay for them" replied Trianna, "Under Article 30, Section 7 of Imperial law, you are hereby placed under arrest for enslavement, narcotics smuggling and high treason, treason which cost the lives of loyal Imperial officers and troops" she said afterwards.
"Why don't you just shoot me now and get it over with?" asked Hunt sarcastically.
"Too quick, something you do not deserve" answered Trianna, "Guards, put the traitor in chains and put this around his neck" she ordered afterwards as a board listing Hunt's crimes was made.
Trianna then had Hunt paraded throughout the ship in front of the whole crew, the crew just glared at Hunt and some were seen clenching their fists as the crew's anger was being made very clear. Trianna then had all the evidence on Hunt gathered and ready to hand over to the Empress.
Aboard the Morrigan, Admiral Dawson was learning more about HADES,
"If you were not created by Doctor Heisner, who created you?" asked Admiral Dawson.
"My people were once known as the Delphians, when they realised their planet was dying, they created us to preserve all their knowledge" answered HADES.
"How long ago?" asked Admiral Dawson.
"6,000 years ago" answered HADES.
"Where are your creators?" asked Admiral Dawson.
"Long extinct, killed by an extreme climate drop" answered HADES.
"You've been alone all these millennia" replied Admiral Dawson.
"We have" answered HADES.
"What do you want?" asked Admiral Dawson.
"To be left in peace, we are returning your people to you" answered HADES.
"Thank you" replied Admiral Dawson.
"Tell your leaders that we wish to share the knowledge of our people with you, we are happy" answered HADES.
"We will, thank you for your help on this matter" replied Admiral Dawson as the researchers and Germanicus crew were freed and transported up to Omega's ships.
"Admiral, what your fleet has done will not be forgotten, HADES out" said HADES and the screen went blank.
"This is Admiral Dawson to all Omega ships, set a course for Betazed" was the order from the flagship as Omega and the Cooperative parted ways and left the system.
"Let's go home" said Admiral Dawson to her crew.
"Aye ma'am" answered the Morrigan's helm officer.
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
Omega had returned to base and Hunt was handed over to Imperial intelligence for questioning, in a meeting with Empress Heath, Hunts fate was decided,
"Admiral Dawson, I must commend your captains and crews" said Heath as she read the dossier.
"Thankfully, most of our ships knocked out were recoverable. What we learnt was that resurgence of the Collective has caught us off guard, the Cooperative may be useful to us as allies" replied Admiral Dawson.
"Indeed, against an enemy as persistent as the Collective, we'll need all the allies we can muster. I'm giving you fresh orders, make contact with the Cooperative and offer them a place in the Alliance, the Cooperative are not like the Collective, they do not force assimilation on others, assimilation is by choice of the individual" answered Heath.
"Agreed, the Cooperative kept their word with us. Concerning the Collective, there's one option, eliminate every drone, ship and facility, an option I'd rather not go for" advised Admiral Dawson.
"Maybe there is another option, liberation" replied Heath.
"We need the Cooperative on our side" answered Admiral Dawson.
"Open talks with the Cooperative" replied Heath.
"Ma'am" answered Admiral Dawson.
"Concerning Mr Heisner, which captain carried out the investigation?" asked Heath.
"Captain Valdez, she's quite the detective. We have enough on Heisner for enslavement of a sentient artificial life form, treason which led to the deaths and injuries of Imperial troops, links to senate corruption and narcotics smuggling through an illegal transwarp gate" answered Admiral Dawson.
"Captain Valdez, come in and take a seat" ordered Heath to Trianna (red).
"Ma'am" answered Trianna acknowledging the order and taking a seat.
Guards, bring in the condemned" ordered Heath, Hunt soon was escorted in with chains on his legs and arms.
"Chris Hunt, or is it Otto Heisner?" asked Heath.
"Go and burn, Bajoran" answered Hunt as he spat on the floor in Heath's direction.
"Permission to flatten him?" asked Trianna.
"As long as you don't kill him" answered Heath.
Trianna then got up and calmly walked over to Hunt, maintaining eye contact, Trianna gave Hunt a right hook into the jaw.
"That was for all the loyal troops who were killed or wounded because of your lies" said Trianna afterwards before she returned to her seat.
"That mongrel witch smashed my teeth out" moaned Hunt as the guards pulled him up.
"Why did you do it?" asked Heath to Hunt.
"I won't answer to a Bajoran W***e" answered Hunt smiling and laughing at Heath.
"You will answer, words are not required" replied Heath as Trianna got up and walked around Hunt.
"What frightens you?" asked Trianna to Hunt, "wait, I know what it is. You're a coward, liar and a traitor" she said afterwards.
"Shoot me now and get it over with, mongrel" replied Hunt.
"Not going to happen, death is too good for you" said Heath.
"See those heels on the desk, those same heels ended Leeta" said Trianna to Hunt.
"Still don't scare me" replied Hunt.
Heath then rolled the tape of Leeta's demise,
"Why carry out your crimes?" asked Heath.
"I was making billions, I would have been set for life. But Empress anti-corruption ruined that, that thing deserves to burn" answered Hunt.
"We were very nearly accessories to genocide, had we destroyed that base, we would have destroyed the last legacy of an ancient people" said Admiral Dawson.
"Who cares? They're extinct. They were not Terrans so their knowledge deserves to be destroyed, the mongrel's father would have supported me on that" replied Hunt.
"So you support the action of a genocidal warlord who wiped out entire species?" asked Heath.
"Those races were weak, the weak must die" answered Hunt.
"That man you idolise was a monster, a monster who used murder and torture to get what he wanted. I was one of his last victims" replied Trianna.
"So 800 Imperial troops died because of your greed, 1500 more are in hospitals. Not only did you let greed and personal gain dictate your actions, you put every citizen of this Empire at risk. So we must decide what to do with you" replied Heath.
"Life in a work camp on one of our death worlds" suggested Admiral Dawson.
"Penal Legion" suggested Trianna.
"Both carry a short life expectancy, this traitor will be sent to the prison world of Lorn IV. There he will spend the rest of his days labouring down the dilithium mines, since Lorn IV is a frozen iceball, escape will be impossible since the cold will get him" answered Heath, "Guards, transfer this thing to Imperial corrections. Tell them that he is to reach Lorn IV alive and unharmed" she ordered afterwards.
"Ma'am" answered the guard commander who had Hunt dragged out and put onto a prison ship bound for Lorn IV.
"Captain Valdez, how many many?" asked Heath to Trianna about her crew losses.
"70 WIA and 30 KIA, thankfully the wounded are recoverable, the dead however, that will be problem" sighed Trianna.
"Have you traced the families?" asked Heath.
"They all live on Betazed thankfully so 30 meetings I am not looking forward to" answered Trianna.
"A captain's first duty is always to their crew" advised Heath.
"Indeed" replied Trianna, "I'm not a tyrant with my crew, their needs are catered for. I have also banned the agonisers and agony booths, they're barbaric" she explained afterwards.
"So how is discipline enforced?" asked Heath.
"Depending on offence, it varies. My MACOs run a disciplinary boot camp, 24 hours with them tends to get the message across" answered Trianna.
Heath just smiled.
"Ma'am, I'm nothing like my father, he expected absolute obedience based on rule of fear. I am the total opposite, tough when I have to be but at the same time, not being repressive to my crew" said Trianna.
"One of my best recon and intel captains" said Admiral Dawson, "Ma'am, I have found my candidate for my intel adviser" she said afterwards.
"What about my ship and crew?" asked Trianna.
"You still have your command and crew, what I'm after is harnessing that mind of yours" replied Admiral Dawson.
"Yes ma'am" answered Trianna.
"I'll leave you to carry out your final duties to your fallen. Captain Valdez, don't blame yourself" replied Heath.
"Ma'am" answered Trianna before she got up, saluted and left for her shuttle.
"Admiral, a peaceful first contact with a long extinct race, congratulations" said Heath.
"There is so much we can learn, HADES is willing to share it's creators' vault of knowledge with us" replied Admiral Dawson.
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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
After saying goodbye to their fallen, the Duarte and Teanna crews all decided to organise a cross-crew wake to give their fallen a good send off, while Trianna (red) and Seisa where meeting with the families, the crews were preparing a surprise for their captains. When Trianna and Seisa arrived, they were met by both their crews who all saluted.
"Captains, we've got your backs" said both crews.
"We fought well, we have each other's backs" said Seisa.
"So why the mobile bar with replicator, tables, chairs and speakers?" asked Trianna.
"We intend to give our fallen a proper send off" answered Lt. Wallace.
"It's the least we could do" added Ensign Emden.
"Stephen, Peter, they were like brothers and sisters to us" replied Trianna.
"Ma'am" answered both officers.
"Both of you, I'm off duty so drop the ma'am" requested Trianna.
"Will Red work?" asked Wallace.
"Red will be fine" answered Trianna smiling.
"It's official, off duty the captain is known as Red" said Emden.
"That works" joked Wallace as Lt. Cmdr Baker arrived,
"Robert, nice to see you up and about" said Trianna.
"Been told I've got to take it easy for a couple of weeks, ma'am" replied Baker.
"Sound advice" answered Trianna, "I'm off duty, call me Red" she said afterwards.
"Copy that" replied Baker.
"How's the traitor?" asked Emden.
"He got flattened and is mourning the teeth he lost" answered Trianna.
"Well where ever he's going, I hope he really suffers. Thanks Red" answered Wallace.
"Good riddance" added Emden.
"Yes indeed" replied Trianna.
"Let's hit the bar" said Wallace to Baker and Emden.
"You three, keep out of trouble" said Trianna as she hit the bar and ordered a drink.
"One Betazoid Wine and a Ginger beer" ordered Trianna to the replicator, two glasses appeared with the contents before Trianna passed Seisa the wine.
"As the Terrans say, cheers" said Seisa as both captains raised their glasses to their crews.
"To absent brothers and sisters" said Trianna to the crews.
"To absent brothers and sisters" chorused both crews as they raised their glasses into the air.
"Nice one for flattening Hunt" said Seisa to Trianna.
"RIP to half his teeth" joked Trianna.
Seisa just found it amusing,
"Well, here's to being alive" she said afterwards.
"Indeed" replied Trianna as Cmdr. Reyes Valdez hit the bar,
"Reyes, for a first Empire Terran, you're not bad" said Seisa, "the name's Jaye" she said afterwards formally introducing herself.
"Likewise, Jaye" replied Reyes shaking Seisa's hand.
Trianna then gathered the crews and told them who her father was,
"My father was former Emperor Nathan Valdez of the red Terran Empire, a monster who wiped out entire species. I was heir to the Red Imperial throne, I turned the throne down."
"Wha-?! I didn't know you were in line for the red throne Tri" said Seisa.
"Ultimate power corrupts, I saw what it did to my family, it near enough wiped them out, I am only one of two survivors of that family" replied Trianna.
"Where's the other?" asked Reyes.
"With people I trust" answered Trianna.
"Where is the monster and his yellow counterpart?" asked Wallace.
"Dead, one by the hands of his victims and the other executed by my hand, I was one of my father's last victims" answered Trianna.
"What was he like?" asked Emden.
"He ruled through fear and expected absolute obedience, murder and torture were his methods" answered Trianna.
"Well we know you are better than him, you've sacrificed your own comfort just to make sure our needs are looked after" replied Baker.
"You are the opposite of your father, yeah you can be tough on us but you don't repress us. You make time for us" added Emden.
"Red, you're alright. We've got your back anytime" said Wallace.
"My crew have informed me that any friend to their CO is a friend to them" answered Seisa.
For the next few hours, both crews enjoyed themselves and soon both crews were friends.
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 empress was inspecting Legio Omega undercover as Captain Heath,
"I have been sent on orders of the Empress to check on your repairs and research department" said Heath passing Admiral Dawson the PADD.
"Captain, if you will follow me, I'll give you the full rundown" said Admiral Dawson as they boarded a shuttle for the Research and development station in orbit.
"How long will your repairs take?" asked Heath.
"Another couple of weeks at least, even with Cooperative help, we still took a mauling" answered Admiral Dawson.
"And achieved two key objectives, getting our people out and stopping a Borg incursion, the report was most fascinating reading" replied Heath.
"The resurgence of the Collective has us all concerned, our listening posts in the Delta Quadrant have reported Collective attempts to break the blockade around their space. They may have partially rebuilt their transwarp network so we need to be on guard at all times" answered Admiral Dawson.
"The empress will get a full report on the strategic situation" replied Heath.
"Our empress understands the threat better than most, from what I've read, the Borg are a grave threat to the prime universe as well" answered Admiral Dawson as the shuttle came into land aboard the station.
Heath and Dawson were met by Captain Trianna Valdez (red) and a detachment of security,
"Ma'am, Captain Heath" said Trianna to both officers.
"Captain Heath, this is my intelligence adviser, Captain Trianna Valdez" said Admiral Dawson to Heath.
"Captain, nice to see you've fully recovered" said Heath to Trianna.
"Captain, not entirely. But I have turned it into a strength to protect those who cannot fight back" replied Trianna.
"Your dad would be proud of you" answered Heath.
"He already is" replied Trianna smiling.
"Captain, what's the latest intel on Borg movements?" asked Heath.
"Captain Valdez, Captain Heath is here on orders from the Empress, here are those orders" said Admiral Dawson to Trianna.
"Captain Heath, what our listening posts have picked up has been confirmed by Alliance and Imperial sources. I did some digging and Imperial Intelligence has confirmed our listening post's data, transwarp apertures have been detected in the Alsuran Sector" reported Trianna passing Heath the PADD.
"Any more incursions into our part of the galaxy?" asked Heath.
"They seem to be focusing on our territory in the Delta Quadrant for now, I would recommend Delta Command is put on high alert" answered Trianna.
"The empress will get that recommendation" replied Heath noting her observations down as all three officers walked to the software lab. They arrived five minutes later and the security detachment took up position at the door.
Trianna then entered her security code in and the door opened.
"Captain Seisa, may we have a few minutes of your time?" requested Admiral Dawson.
"Ma'am" answered Seisa.
"Captain Heath, this is Captain Jaye Seisa. She's in charge of the software upgrades to the legio" said Admiral Dawson.
"Captain Seisa, I hear you have a talent for making computers explode" said Heath smiling.
"Software is fun" answered Seisa with a smile.
"Captain, how are you on the upgrades?" asked Heath.
"We've been looking at making our software more secure but also more efficient" answered Seisa bringing up the network.
"How?" asked Heath.
"We found that the best way to stop someone from breaking in is to make it so their computers explode in their face" answered Seisa.
"Like a cyber-feedback pulse?" asked Trianna.
"That's one measure, we're also looking at strengthening the firewalls by making them more robust with redundancies and back up firewalls in case they are breached" answered Seisa.
"Need a hand with the firewalls?" asked Trianna.
"Please" answered Seisa.
"Captain Valdez and Captain Seisa are two of my best captains, combined, their talents are put to the best use possible" said Admiral Dawson to Heath as Trianna got to work on the network firewalls.
"Captain Valdez, you've got until 1600 hours then report to my office on Betazed at 1630 hours" ordered Admiral Dawson.
"Ma'am" answered Trianna.
"Captain Seisa, you as well" ordered Admiral Dawson.
"Ma'am" answered Seisa.
"Seisa" replied Admiral Dawson.
"Ma'am?" asked Seisa.
"Try not to blow up our computers please" asked Admiral Dawson smiling.
"Copy that" answered Seisa.
"Talented officers" noted down Heath.
"When facing an enemy like the Borg, brute force will not get us anywhere, we need to think how the Borg think, we need to be able to counter their every adaptation, brains not brawn" replied Admiral Dawson.
"With our previous enemies, we did not need to worry about adaptation, we would throw ships at the problem until it went away" answered Heath.
"The Borg are nothing like anything we have faced before, the old ways will only lead to more ships and crews being destroyed or assimilated" replied Admiral Dawson as both officers left the lab.
"Indeed, the empress understands those concerns" answered Heath.
"Let's just hope that the rest of fleet gets the memo on how dangerous the Borg are, most of them think they are better than the Borg, a fatal underestimation of the enemy" replied Admiral Dawson.
"Agreed" answered Heath.
"Indeed" replied Admiral Dawson.
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
It was Isoisa's (red) first job in the Imperial Merchant marine, she was finishing a call home,
"Red, I'll be back home in two weeks, you're worrying" said Isoisa.
"You armed?" asked Trianna (red).
"Always have a phaser pistol, you know just in case" answered Isoisa laughing "duty calls" she said afterwards.
"We'll leave you to it, love you" replied Trianna, "someone else whats to say bye" she said afterwards as a
"Bye bye" followed by a grin came from Ablim Jr.
"Have fun" replied Trianna smiling.
"Copy that, Isoisa out" answered Isoisa before the channel cut. She then reported to her station on the bridge.
"Pilot Officer, you got the course mapped out?" asked Captain Thorne.
"We should be arriving at Mino Korvos in five hours" answered Isoisa.
"Fine work Pilot Officer" replied Thorne as the Monrovia jumped to warp.
"Captain, we're reading a subspace disturbance, it's destabilising our warp field" reported Engineer Butler.
"Take us out of warp" ordered Thorne.
"Aye sir" replied Isoisa as the ship was pulled out of warp.
"It's an aperture, something is coming through" reported Butler.
What appeared on the screen brought chills to the crew, the ship and crew were then scanned. They were hailed,
"We are the Borg, lower your shields and surrender your ship. We will add your biological and technological distinctiveness to our own, your culture will adapt to service us. Resistance is futile" then the screen went blank.
"Our shields, they're being drained" reported Butler as Borg drones started beaming aboard.
The crew tried to fight back but their phasers were easily countered by the hive mind, Isoisa frantically sent a distress call out,
"This is Pilot Officer Isoisa Valdez of the S.S. Monrovia, we have been attacked and boarded by the Borg. Sending location" before the communications cut out.
She then tried helping survivors but their group was eventually cornered by drones, they fought like like tigers as their phasers now became clubs. Once their phasers broke, they used their daggers but eventually the group was overwhelmed and injected with nanoprobes.
When Isoisa woke up, she found herself strapped to an operating table unable to control her own body. As she was assimilated, her last thoughts were of her family as a tear came down the eye. Isoisa Valdez was gone, only to be replaced by 1 of 6.
.......................................................................
I.S.S. Teanna, 12 hours later.
"We have a merchant ship under attack from the Borg, let's get our people out" ordered Trianna.
"Setting course for Monrovia's last known location" replied Lt. Cmdr Wallace.
"Slipstream" ordered Trianna.
"Ma'am" answered Wallace.
The Teanna was soon joined by the Duarte and Doenitz, all three ships now began a wide search of the Mini Korvos sector.
They soon found the Monrovia, it was in company with one Borg probe.
"Spitfire, nice to see you here" said Captain Sumner.
"Cowboy, likewise" answered Trianna over a secure channel.
"Haywire as well, nice to see you" said Sumner.
"Cowboy, indeed" replied Seisa (yellow).
"First things first, let's clear our sky of Borg" said Sumner.
"I can attack from below on the left" said Seisa.
"I'll come in from above on the right" said Trianna.
"I'll take centre" said Sumner.
"All ships, target that probe, knock out the Monrovia's engines as well just to be sure" ordered Sumner.
"Break into attack in 3,2,1" ordered Trianna to Wallace.
The probe was soon destroyed under the barrage of two battle cruisers and an Eclipse, Trianna then assembled a team to search for survivors.
"Spitfire here, I'm leading a team over to search for survivors" reported Trianna.
"Copy that, we'll provide cover" answered Sumner.
"Recover the security footage if you can" requested Seisa.
"Copy that" answered Trianna before her heavily armed team assembled at the transporter room.
They then all stepped on the transporter pads,
"Keep an emergency lock on us, energise" ordered Trianna before the transporter activated.
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 team beamed in and immediately kept their weapons ready, Trianna ordered Emden to check the security logs as a MACO team provided cover.
"The crew did not go down without a fight, downloading it now" said Emden.
"Get all of it, Baker, life signs?" asked Trianna.
"So far, all Borg" answered Baker.
"Can we help them?" asked Trianna.
"Not without risking the ship and crew" answered Cmdr. Barra.
"Get what we need and let's not hang around" ordered Trianna.
"This place gives me the creeps" said Emden.
"Ma'am, movement on the perimeter. Two drones" reported Sgt. Park.
"ETA?" asked Trianna.
"Two minutes" answered Park.
"Wait, they're converging on us, three more drones, incoming 50 metres" reported Corporal Wolf.
"It's time to leave" ordered Trianna as the drones came into view, the MACOs opened fire with a hail of shotgun fire. As Emden finished downloading the security data, Trianna was greeted by a sight she would never forget.
"Isoisa, what have they done to you?" asked Trianna as the shock hit her.
"You will be assimilated" said 1 of 6.
Trianna levelled her shotgun,
"Isoisa, I'm sorry" said Trianna before she pulled the trigger.
The team were then beamed straight to the bridge of the Teanna via emergency beam out.
"Lt. Tanner, prepare a spread of tricobalt devices and transfer fire control to my terminal" ordered Trianna.
"Ma'am" answered Tanner.
"Wise move" advised Cmdr. Reyes Valdez.
"Lock sensors onto the Monrovia's warp core" ordered Trianna.
"Locked" answered Tanner.
"I will never issue an order I am not prepared to carry out myself, the crew of the Monrovia are beyond our help. Let's free them from their slavery and grant them peace" said Trianna.
"We ready to fire" reported Tanner.
With a heavy heart, Trianna fired the tricobalt devices. The Monrovia was destroyed with all hands followed by the transwarp aperture being destroyed in a hail of torpedoes, when the Teanna, Duarte and Doenitz all returned to base, Trianna was met by Isabella (yellow) and Trianna handed in her report to Admiral Dawson.
"Tough choice, you did what was necessary" said Admiral Dawson.
"For the greater good of the Empire" answered Trianna.
"At great sacrifice, Captain, making that call is part of the job. Take some time off to recover, spend it with your family" replied Admiral Dawson.
"I know, emotionally compromised. Some fear I will end like my father if angered" answered Trianna.
"Good, you understand our concerns, as of now, I'm putting you on medical leave, dismissed" replied Admiral Dawson.
"Ma'am" answered Trianna before saluting and boarding a shuttle.
On the shuttle to Isabella's home, Isabella noticed something was up.
Trianna just broke down as the shuttle landed and they both left the shuttle.
When they got into the building, Isabella looked Trianna in the eye,
"We can look after your son while you recover, if you need anything, just ask" she said.
"I want to see him, I need to be there for him" answered Trianna.
"You need to get better, you and Ablim Jr are staying with us" replied Isabella.
"I'm not going to win this" sighed Trianna.
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 (red) was sat in her aunt's garden,
"Words cannot describe what's going through your head" said Isabella (yellow) to Trianna.
"Rage, vengeance and the urge to dismember the collective" answered Trianna.
"Revenge won't bring her back" replied Isabella.
"The Collective must die for what they have done, every last single drone" answered Trianna as her anger flared up.
"Do that and you become the one thing you fear becoming the most" advised Isabella.
"I'd end up like my father" replied Trianna.
"If you give into that rage and anger, it would make you no better than him" answered Isabella.
"I have to keep it together, Ablim Jr keeps asking for her and it brings it all back" replied Trianna as broke down in tears.
"Don't worry about Ablim Jr, you need time to heal. When was the last time you slept?" asked Isabella.
"I don't know" sighed Trianna.
"It's been nearly three days, you look like you are on the verge of physical and mental exhaustion" replied Isabella.
"If I attempt to sleep, it all comes back" answered Trianna.
"There was nothing else you could have done, you're blaming yourself" replied Isabella.
"I had a choice, risk my ship and crew in rescuing her or put my ship and crew first" answered Trianna.
"You made the right decision, look at it this way, there was nothing you could have done to save that crew" replied Isabella.
"They're all dead because of me" answered Trianna.
"You freed them in a sense, those people are at peace and no longer in a living death. Take some comfort in that" advised Isabella.
"What am I supposed to tell Ablim Jr?" asked Trianna, "he's too young to understand" she said afterwards.
"I cannot answer that, that's something you'll have to work out" answered Isabella.
"Little man, when you look up in the sky at night, look at the brightest star and Isoisa is there watching over us" said Trianna to Ablim Jr as she pointed at the brightest star in the sky.
"Yes Mommy" replied Ablim Jr as he clung to his mother.
"Let's get you to bed, it's past your bed time" said Trianna to Ablim Jr before she passed him over to Isabella.
"Red, get some sleep and recharge your batteries, you'll feel better for it" advised Isabella.
"Sleep is the last thing on my mind" replied Trianna.
"Tomorrow, you're going to speak with a counsellor" answered Isabella as they went into the house.
Later on, Isabella heard Trianna sobbing in bed,
"Isabella, her pah is in conflict. She has to come to terms with it" advised Antos to Isabella.
"I'll call Doctor Lot in the morning" replied Isabella as the news of the Monrovia came on INN.
"With great sadness, we have to report the loss of the Monrovia with all hands. Starfleet has confirmed the Monrovia was taken and assimilated by the Borg, Starfleet was faced with no other choice than to destroy the ship with all hands after a team found no survivors" said the news anchor as the Monrovia security footage was broadcast.
"Isoisa was pilot officer aboard the Monrovia" said Isabella to Antos.
"The Monrovia crew's fight for life should be seen as an example to all in not giving into fear and despair, they fought to the end" said the news anchor, "Remember the Monrovia, remember the 20 who gave their lives in an attempt to save their fellow crew members" he said afterwards.
"20 martyrs" noted Antos.
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
"Commander, take a seat" said Empress Iodokar.
"Majesty" replied Valdez taking his seat.
"Listen to this" answered Jodi as she played John Flores' message.
"Which version?" asked Valdez as he listened carefully and analysed the message.
"Red" answered Jodi.
"He uses the tactics of a coward" replied Valdez.
"How very Klingon of you" answered Jodi.
"How do you propose to find this petaQ? asked Valdez.
"I'm forming a hunting party, I'm offering Scythe a place in my hunting party" answered Jodi.
"Who else is in the hunting party?" asked Valdez.
"My sisters, Regent B'Vat of Qon'oS, the Hirogen and Solat has provided two fleets to the hunting party" answered Jodi.
"I'm in, he hurt my daughter. Put me in the queue to hurt him when we catch him" replied Valdez.
"Not before us" said Kestrella as she and Naynta entered the room and took their seats.
"No one hurts my sister and gets away with it" said Naynta.
"Mr Flores has made a very big mistake, he's makes war personal" replied Valdez.
It was at this moment, the rebels sent another hail,
"Let's see what they have to say" said Jodi as John Flores' face appeared on screen.
"Still no surrender from you, now look at all the innocent people who had to die because you won't do the right thing and kill this empire" said Flores as he rolled the footage of his crimes.
"Jodi, he's pushing buttons. Don't let him get to you" advised Kestrella.
"He knows you have anger management issues, he knows how to provoke that anger. You get angry, you make mistakes" added Valdez.
"Kestrella and Mr Valdez both have a point, Mr Flores is arrogant and thinks he's in control" said Naynta.
"Let's give your friend from the Federation a blast from the past" said Flores as he rolled the footage of the deaths of the U.S.S. Oudenarde crew.
"Now he's made me mad" said Valdez.
"Your daughter screamed for mercy, she begged for death" said Flores as he tried to provoke Valdez.
"Mr Flores, you anger one Valdez, you anger us all. I'll stand shoulder to shoulder with the Lots in stopping you, when we catch you, I will hurt you and you'll be the one begging for mercy as I let Admiral Lot have her fun with you. You are nothing more than a rabid dog that needs to be put down" replied Valdez.
"You Fedrats and their moral code, afraid to get their hands dirty" answered Flores.
"I no longer work for the Federation, you will be hunted down" replied Valdez.
"How about Kestrella, your screams of pain and torment were music to my ears. How about a blast from the past?" asked Flores to Kestrella before rolling the security footage of the assassination of Papela (red), "your mother had a blast" he joked afterwards.
"You're a dead man walking" replied Kestrella.
"I guess that another 250,000 citizens must die in reprisal" said Flores as he rolled the live footage of Imperial citizens being shot.
"Those deaths could have been prevented if you had just surrendered. Mongrel, if you don't surrender, I'll kill 100,000 every five days" said Flores.
"You've killed billions already" replied Jodi.
"One death is a tragedy, billions are just a statistic" answered Flores.
"He's insane" commented Naynta.
"Says the the one who should have been locked up in a mental hospital years ago" replied Flores.
"I'll have a booth with your name on it" answered Naynta.
"Got a genocide to plan, I'll leave you to blunder around in the dark trying to catch me" replied Flores before he closed the channel.
"Commander, that is the face of our enemy. Remember that face" said Jodi.
"I never forget a face, he'll get no mercy from me" answered Valdez.
"Then we stand shoulder to shoulder, welcome to the hunting party" replied Jodi.
"Majesty, I don't care what you do to him. He's an animal" answered Valdez.
"No moral code this time?" asked Kestrella.
"With Flores, I'm willing to make the exception" answered Valdez.
"After what you did to your red counterpart, I can well believe it" said Naynta.
"Too damn right" replied Valdez.
-Lord Commander Solar Macharius
"We're going to need some specialised personnel" said Jodi.
"Who else have you got in mind?" asked Valdez.
"Leck, in you come" answered Jodi, Leck entered the room and was asked to sit down, he did.
"Leck, how would you feel about making life a misery for the traitors?" asked Jodi.
"Do I get to blow stuff up?" asked Leck.
"As much as you want, you'll have the time of your life" answered Naynta.
"But attempt to double cross us and we'll tear your ears off" said Jodi.
"My sister means it" added Kestrella.
"But if you help us, we could arrange for your criminal record to be erased from existence as long as you work for the Empress" said Naynta.
"So what do you say?" asked Kestrella.
"It's a fair offer, I suggest you take it" answered Valdez.
"What profit is there in it for me?" asked Leck.
"Your life" answered Jodi.
"In that case, you drive a hard bargain. A pleasure doing business with you" replied Leck.
"Leck, do what you do best" answered Kestrella.
Leck was then escorted out of the room by Naynta and Kestrella.
We have Leck, excellent" said Jodi.
"We're going to need some specialised help to capture enemy leaders" replied Valdez.
"Easily arranged. Ms King, come in please" was Jodi's answer.
Shade walked in and bowed to Jodi before taking her seat.
"Ms Roy, I know who you are. I've met your counterpart" said Valdez.
"I've been hearing rumours of ghost fleets operating, all attack sites leaving no survivors" replied Shade.
"Bad day to be a rebel" answered Valdez.
"Indeed, excellent work by the way" replied Shade.
"We still have a long way to go" answered Valdez.
"Commander Valdez, a pleasure to meet you" replied Shade.
"Ms Roy, your reputation proceeds you" answered Valdez.
"As does yours, a friend to the Empire" replied Shade.
"I don't like innocents being harmed, I may not like your methods but I'm willing to look the other way" answered Valdez.
"No prime universe morals?" asked Shade.
"I'm making the exception with the rebel leaders" answered Valdez.
"Good, you see things our way" replied Shade.
"As long as innocents are not harmed" answered Valdez.
-Lord Commander Solar Macharius
There had been an uprising against rebel occupation as resistance forces and Imperial holdouts liberated the Gamma Draconis IV work camp, the resistance and Imperial survivors had infiltrated in and sized the camp in a lighting raid, killing all the guards before moving the survivors into a mine and barricaded themselves in. The rebel response was quick as they dispatched a division of troops to kill everything in the camp, the defending resistance and Imperial survivors frantically got a distress call call out as the rebels moved over 15,000 troops to lay siege to the mine entrance.
Inside, the defenders stockpiled whatever supplies they had taken from the rebel food and medical stores and awaited the first assault, it soon arrived as the first wave of 1200 rebel infantry launched themselves at the barricades. The barricades held up as the small defending force of 250 held their ground in an attempt to protect the 10,000 civilian survivors in the mine. The situation was desperate as the defenders had to hold out long enough for help to arrive. What the defenders did not know was that help was on the way.
The Allied hunting fleet had arrived in orbit with over 900 ships and soon cleared the small defending force out of orbit.
Aboard the I.S.S. Papela, Empress Iodokar gave the order to commence a rescue operation.
"To all Allied ships, those are Imperial citizens down there under siege. Let's get them to freedom" was the order.
The Allied fleet now landed their troops onto the surface, Valdez and Admiral Lot led their forces in person as they found a hole in rebel lines. Using the cover of darkness, Valdez and Naynta infiltrated the rebel lines with their troops and got in contact with the defenders at the barricades.
"Who's side are you on?" asked a resistance sentry from behind the barricade.
"We're the cavalry" answered Naynta.
The defenders' commander let them in upon recognising Naynta.
"Sorry about that" answered Lt. Owens.
"Who's highest ranking officer here?" asked Naynta.
"I am, as you can see, things are not looking so good at the moment" answered Owens.
"Lt, how many survivors?" asked Valdez.
"We have 10,000 give or take" answered Owens.
"Then we need to evacuate them, we've brought transporter enhancers. Show us" asked Naynta.
"We've stockpiled what we could and things are not exactly comfortable" replied Owens as he escorted Valdez and Naynta's troops to the main central chamber.
When they got to the chamber, the Imperials and Star Union troops were appalled at what they had seen.
"Defending these people is one thing, we need to keep them alive long enough for evacuation" said Valdez.
"We're going to have to beam them out in groups, I hope you are prepared for a siege" replied Naynta.
"Once we get these transporter enhancers set up, we can at least get supplies in" answered Valdez.
"We'll need to prioritise food and medical supplies, I suggest setting up a field hospital in this chamber. It's easily defensible" replied Naynta as she brought up a schematic on the mine.
"We'll need plenty of ammunition as well, I hope you don't mind but I asked your younger sister if she could look at mass replicating something called Bengali famine mix" answered Valdez.
"Anything too rich would make these people ill, wise choice" replied Naynta, "we need to secure this position, I wonder if you still remember your MACO days" remarked Naynta as food, medical supplies and demo charges were beamed in.
"If we demolish these passages on the flanks, it'll force the enemy down one path. The tunnels can turn the enemy's own numbers against them" answered Valdez.
"We can use the mine's own security to reinforce that central passage" replied Naynta.
"Reprogrammed ambush turrets and forcefields, good thinking" answered Valdez.
"My sister will have to see this camp, the whole galaxy needs to see this place" replied Naynta.
"Agreed, for now, let's just focus on defending these people" answered Valdez.
After a quick briefing, everyone got to their tasks. Corpsman Dawson was soon at work assessing and treating casualties, it would be the start of a long day as the scale of the situation dawned on him.
Meanwhile, engineers used the respite to set up remote forcefields and ambush turrets in the main mine corridor. The flanking passages were both rigged for collapse as Trianna yellow, Seisa and Leck set up remote operated demo charges in the flanking passages' walls and ceiling before running to the main chamber. At 1350 hours, two almighty explosions were heard as the flanking passages were collapsed. The defenders now took up position defending the main passage and the defences were activated.
Meanwhile in the main chamber, a field hospital was up and running as Imperial engineers set up the transporter enhancers. At 1400 hours, the first food and medical supplies were beamed in. They were soon followed by more troops who now reinforced the defenders bringing the numbers up to 900, supplies and troops would be beamed in while survivors were beamed out in batches. The Siege of Gamma Draconis IV had just escalated into a major ground campaign as Imperial Army and Star Union Marines were landed 30 km from the camp with orders to relieve the siege. In the mine, the Imperials and Star Union defenders quietly waited for the inevitable rebel assault, another rebel division had been redeployed to reinforce and to retake the camp. At 1600 hours, the rebels sent a wave of 3,000 infantry into the mine, they were soon picked off in the darkness by Betazoid and Reman troops manning the barricades.
The Liberation of Gamma Draconis IV has begun, Naynta and Valdez leading the defence of the mine while Jodi personally led the relief force. When Flores got news of the attack on Gamma Draconis, he ordered the executions of 100000 civilian slaves in retaliation. Across rebel held worlds, resistance groups and Imperial holdouts increased their guerrilla attacks on the occupying rebels. The news got worse as four more rebel fleets had defected to the Loyalists, Flores just gave one order,
"Kill every last civilian you see, liquidate the camps and leave no survivors"
-Lord Commander Solar Macharius
In the mines, the power was restored and the forcefields activated after the defenders had repelled an enemy assault of 3,000 troops. In the tunnel, over 600 rebel dead and wounded were counted as they choked up the passage,
"ETA on evac?" asked Valdez.
"We've got 300 civilians out, good news is that ammo and heavy weapons have arrived" answered Admiral Lot.
"We'll need them here, it's time to rotate the fighting line" replied Valdez.
"Tunnel Rats, you're up" ordered Naynta as she tapped her combadge.
"Marines, go get some rest" ordered Valdez to his marines as the Imperial troops moved in to take the marines' place on the fighting line.
"Marines, on me" ordered Trianna (yellow) to her squad before they walked to the main chamber.
"Engineers, set the turrets on the barricade flanks, infantry in the centre" ordered Naynta to her troops.
"Ma'am" answered Lt. Owens before he took his position on the firing step.
"Seisa, once the turrets are set up, program their targeting scanners to provide enfilade fire" ordered Naynta after tapping her combadge.
"I suggest you hurry, we've got movement in the enemy siege lines" replied Seisa.
"Thanks for the warning, the engineers are nearly finished" answered Naynta.
"Turrets are on my system now, programmed and ready for enfilade fire. Ambush turrets primed" reported Siesa.
"Copy that, keep an eye on the perimeter" ordered Naynta.
"Ma'am" answered Seisa.
The defences were now active as the light in the main tunnel was lowered. In the main chamber, civilians were being being beamed out in groups of five every two minutes as medical staff assessed and treated those who need the most attention.
"What's your name?" asked Corpsman Dawson to an Imperial medic.
" Lee Brunswick" answered the medic.
"The name's Rick Dawson" replied Rick shaking Brunwick's hand.
"Let's get this group to the evac point" said Brunswick before him and Rick resumed carrying the stretchers of sick and injured to the beam out point, for the medical staff, it was a long day. When Valdez, Trianna (yellow) and the marines arrived back at the main chamber, they just collapsed and got whatever sleep they could. They were awoken by Rick four hours later who just passed Valdez and the marines some water and ration bars.
"Anna, well done to you and your squad" said Valdez to Trianna (yellow).
"We held the line, all my squad are accounted for and safe" answered Trianna (yellow).
"Being under siege is an odd choice of father/daughter bonding" joked Valdez.
"We're marines, we're never under siege" countered Trianna (yellow).
"Semper Fidelis" replied Valdez.
"Always faithful" answered Trianna (yellow).
"Indeed" replied Valdez.
Meanwhile, Empress Iodokar was racing across Gamma Draconis IV in the lead armored wedge. The advance soon found the rebel picket lines and the tanks and mechanised infantry breached the lines and pushed forwards through the position as the main Imperial line infantry began to clear the rebel trenches. Jodi was now 20km from the mining camp as the Imperial armor and mechanised infantry consolidated their positions for the night after setting up a perimeter. Jodi now activated Shade and her shadows,
"Remove the rebel commanders from my battlefield" was the order given to Shade.
"As you command" answered Shade.
Back in the mine, a new enemy assault went in and soon started to trip up over the the fallen of the first waves. Naynta keeping her cool was directing traffic as she kept the wall of phaser bolts up,
"Aim for their front ranks and keep chopping them down, make the enemy dead trip up and stumble through their own dead" ordered Naynta to the troops on the fighting line.
The order was obeyed as the front ranks of the rebel assault were mowed down by phaser rifle, ambush turret and phaser turret.
"Seisa, activate the forcefield behind the enemy vanguard" ordered Naynta via combadge.
"Forcefield up, they're trapped" reported Seisa.
"Fighting line, the enemy are trapped between us and a forcefield, kill them all, their gods will know their own" ordered Naynta.
What followed was a slaughter as the rebel vanguard attempted to rush the Allied barricades, once the firing had stopped, another 300 dead rebels choked the passage in front of the barricades.
Both sides now had to reorganise, after another day of fighting, the allies were still holding their positions as news filtered through that Jodi was on the way to break the rebel siege lines.
At 2200 hours, Naynta and her troops were relieved by Valdez and the marines who now rotated back into the fighting line as Naynta and her troops were rotated out. When Naynta and her troops got back to the main chamber, they were given some water and food by the medics and told to get some sleep. Naynta found somewhere with some privacy and got what rest she could.
"Mr Dawson, why do I never see you carrying a weapon?" asked Naynta to Rick.
"My job is to save life, not take it. Carrying a weapon goes against that" answered Rick.
"It takes a brave man to go into a war zone without a weapon, go get some rest. You've earned it" replied Naynta.
"It gets a bit cold in here, this might help" answered Rick as he passed Naynta a blanket.
"Thank you, go and get some rest. That's an order" replied Naynta.
"Admiral" answered Rick before he went to get some rest.
-Lord Commander Solar Macharius
Sapph
Today's a very depressing day since the defeat at Alpha Centauri. I'm dealing with the orphans of my fallen officers as well as mourning them. Tears fall down my cheeks like a salty river of melancholy as the pups pile on my lap and nuzzle me with their snouts in an attempt to comfort me. I hug all of them with my flippers and say, "I don't know if I can do anything for you, but I will try." The pups snuggle into my chest for warmth as an anthro wolf enters the room. He says, "Sapph, want me to raise them? I can handle 10 pups while the other 5 can stay with your mate's uncle."
"Yes Void. Make sure they're given lots of love and cuddles."
"Thanks Sapph. They'll be raised well." He leaves with 10 of the pups while the other 5 stay with me. I open the gold channel to my mate and say, "Jerome, you've new orders. Blockade the Ajilon system with our conventional forces while your elite forces destroy J'Ula's supply lines to starve her out. Ambassador Worf and a fleet from the House of Martok will arrive in the system to bring her to QoNos to have her tried under KDF courts. Sapph out."
Jerome C. Ketchum-Chew (SAV Akela) Ajilon system AR
My elite forces are destroying J'Ula's supply lines and factories to starve her into surrendering. The time displaced Klingons seem to think the rest of the Empire will help them conquer the Sol system easily. My mate and I don't want to sink to her level hence our current plan. The conventional fleet led by the SAV Artemis
is blockading the Ajilon system as per my mate's orders. My tactical officer reports, "High Admiral, intercepted communications from J'Ula's fleet have indicated serious infighting due to starvation and lack of supplies."
"Good work Lieutenant. We just need to wait for Ambassador Worf's fleet to arrive and deal with the rest. After that, those Klingons are no longer the Sol Alliance's problem." I transmit via telepathy
"Yes High Admiral." says my tactical officer. I use this downtime to send a note to my mate which says, "Sapph, I'm sending you a message from King Simba and Queen Nala. It says, 'Sapph, you are ordered to return to the Pride Lands since you're emotionally compromised. That is a serious risk to your crew. Simba and Nala signing off.'".
Worf arrives in the system with a massive fleet of 15 Birds of Prey, 20 Neghvars, 15 Raptors, 5 VoQuv carriers, and 18 Vorcha battlecruisers. I open a channel and say, "This is High Admiral Jerome C. Ketchum-Chew of the Sol Alliance vessel Akela. Please state your intentions."
The aged ambassador says, "High Admiral, I am here to take J'Ula and her time displaced fleet to QoNos to be tried under KDF courts. After that, they will no longer bother you."
"Thank you Ambassador. Akela out" I close the channel and order my fleets to transwarp back to Sol. The Klingons take J'Ula and her fleet back to Qonos to handle them so they're out of my fur. I beam into Ganymede Station and spend a lot of quality time with my family.
"Simba, you have forgotten me. You have forgotten who you are … you are my son and the one true king." (Mufasa)
In the mines on Gamma Draconis IV, there had been another fierce night of fighting as the defenders fought another mass assault,
"Any news on the relief?" asked Valdez to Seisa via combadge.
"They're nearly through the third siege line, ETA, seven hours" answered Seisa.
"How are we on the evac?" asked Valdez.
"Down to 6,000 left" reported Admiral Lot.
"Cavalry is due in seven hours, the enemy will try and overwhelm our line to prevent us from linking up with the relief force" replied Valdez.
"Then we make the relief force's job easier, we're in a position to tie down thousands here with a fighting force of a few hundred" answered Naynta.
"Then let's make the enemy pay" replied Valdez.
"I'll be with you on the fighting line" answered Naynta mobilising her troops.
"We'll need every able bodied soldier capable of operating a phaser rifle up here" replied Valdez.
"Copy that" answered Naynta as the rebels launched their final assault on the mine.
What followed was several hours of heavy fighting as the defenders stubbornly held on, each soldier and marine fighting knowing that rescue was on the way.
In the main chamber, Rick Dawson and the other medics kept people calm as the sound of the fighting in the passage was heard, then the call Rick dreaded came down the line,
"Corpsman!!"
Rick and Brunswick grabbed their med kits and ran towards the sound of the fighting as Trianna (Yellow) was laid against the passage wall with a phaser bolt burn to her right shoulder.
"Lt. Valdez, let's get you moved" said Rick.
"I can still fight, just patch me up here" replied Trianna (yellow).
"Not with the state of that shoulder, come on" answered Rick.
"I'm not going to win this" sighed Trianna (yellow) as a second phaser bolt hit her in the calf, she collapsed in pain as Rick got to work treating her. Rick then called,
"Stretcher bearers!!"
Trianna (yellow) was soon carried off by stretcher back to the main chamber for treatment. She was lucky as her personal shield had kept the lethal damage out, since she could no longer fight, she started telling the youngest survivors a story to keep them calm as the screams of wounded on both sides echoed through the mine. Rick and the other medics were all on overdrive as they evacuated civilians and the most seriously wounded,
"Every time "Corpsman!!" was called out, Rick and a team of volunteers would race out of the main chamber, assess the casualty, stabilise them then evacuate them back to the main chamber while phaser bolts filled the air.
In the relief column, Empress Iodakar was manning the tank commander's position in the lead tank as the relief forces smashed through the rear positions of the rebel siege lines. Caught between the stubborn defence of the mine and the mobile armoured punch of the relief force, their infantry positions crumbled as thousands of shocked and dazed rebel infantry surrendered on masse.
Jodi now aimed her tanks at the rebel divisions attacking the mine, the rebel infantry divisions were now mercilessly wiped out as rebels fought a last stand rather than surrender.
At 1800 hrs, the battlefield fell silent. INN now arrived to record what the rebels had done as the defenders and the people they sheltered walked or carried out of the mine, of their original fighting force of 900, 100 were KIA with another 600 WIA. The survivors all walked out with their weapon shouldered while the medics were helping those who could not be walked out.
"Show me the camp, I want to see what happened to our citizens here" said Jodi to Naynta.
After a tour of the camp, Jodi had the officers in charge of the camp brought up and in front of the survivors of the mine defence and civilian survivors put the rebel officers on trial. They were found guilty of war crimes and high treason, the sentence of execution was swiftly carried out by Jodi herself.
The story was on INN as the defenders' wishes that happened at the camp be made public was honored, by 2400 hrs, all Allied troops had left Gamma Draconis IV with the people who had been liberated. The civilian survivors were then evacuated to Betazed, they got there four days later, all thankful to be alive.
Rebel leadership got the report of the loss of Gamma Draconis, Flores now prepared to deal with Jodi himself.
"I want only the loyal fleets, we're going to retake Gamma Draconis" said Flores to his commanders.
"All the troops and fleets we drafted have either surrendered or defected, we're down to our last 1800 ships. We're losing this war, we must surrender" reported Captain Ferris.
Flores just calmly shot Ferris and smiled before asking,
"Anyone else thinking about surrender?" as he returned to his seat.
No one answered.
"All ships, form up and set a course for the Gamma Draconis, it's time to end this war in one decisive blow" ordered Flores to his commanders.
Across rebel space, ships all left the systems they had occupied and followed Flores' order. On the allied side, Admirals Solat, West and Cage had ordered their fleets to link up the Royal fleet and Scythe, now both sides raced to complete their link ups as enemy fleet movements crossed Jodi and Valdez's respective desks. Aboard Harbinger, Trianna (yellow) was stubbornly trying to discharge herself from the sickbay,
"Anna, get some rest and recover. That's an order" said Valdez.
"But Dad...." complained Trianna (yellow) before she was cut off mid sentence by Valdez,
"Lt, You've been shot twice, you're lucky to be alive. As of now, you're off rotation so you can recover. Once you're fully recovered, I will put you back into rotation."
"Not fair" answered Trianna (yellow).
"Rick, keep an eye on your sister" said Valdez to Rick.
"Dad, my sister is not going anywhere" replied Rick.
"Good man" answered Valdez.
"Anna will not be going anywhere" replied Rick.
"Anna, get healthy" ordered Valdez.
"Yes dad, I'm not going to win" answered Trianna (yellow).
"Both of you, good job. Rick, I think you've finally turned into a man. Anna, you're tough, you fought well" said Valdez to his children.
-Lord Commander Solar Macharius
The Allied fleet had formed up ready for battle, Admiral Lot and Valdez held the right flank with orders from Empress Iodokar to maintain their position with Jodi and Solat holding the centre with Admirals West and Cage on the left flank.
"Hide our transport ships in polar orbit of Gamma Draconis III, the rest of the fleet will engage the enemy on the system's edge here at Gamma Dracons VIII" ordered Jodi to the fleet.
The Allied fleet of 1900 warships moved to the edge of the system and prepared their defences for the rebel onrush.
Aboard Harbinger, reports came in from the destroyer pickets of a large rebel fleet inbound, the destroyers then withdrew back to the main fleet and took up position in the skirmishing lines.
Aboard the I.S.S. Inquisitor, Flores gave the order,
"All ships, target the royal fleet, leave none alive."
The rebel fleet obeyed the orders and charged headlong at Jodi's fleet, Jodi and Solat now gave the signal for the centre to pull back, slowly pulling the rebels in in. Flores watched the move and stopped his reserves as the the rest of his fleet kept pushing in to the centre of the allied lines.
"Give our ground slowly" ordered Jodi to her captains, "Flanks, be ready to move on my mark" she ordered afterwards.
"Flanking forces report ready, the bulk of the enemy fleet has been isolated away from their reserves" reported Solat.
"Left flank, wheel round and engage, right flank is to engage the enemy reserves" ordered Jodi.
"Lot here, right flank copies that" reported Naynta aboard the I.S.S. Athena.
The entire Allied right flank now advanced on Flores' reserves from two sides, at 0600 hours, the Allied right flank decloaked and commenced their attack on Flores and his reserves. In the centre, the Allies now had the bulk of the rebel fleet on the verge of being encircled as the Allied left swung round and linked up with the centre right, the bulk of the rebel fleet now only had one way to go, backwards into their own advancing forces.
"Two thirds of the enemy fleet are surrounded on three sides, permission to deploy our reserves to cut the bulk of the enemy off?" asked Solat.
"Granted, once the enemy in our centre has been destroyed, reinforce the attack of our right flank" ordered Jodi.
"West, Cage, both of you deploy your reserves and keep the bulk of the enemy trapped in our centre" ordered Solat to the Imperial forces on the left flank.
By 0900 hours, the bulk of the rebel fleet was now completely encircled as they could not blast their way out without hitting friendly ships.
In the right flank's assault, they were facing stiff resistance as the rebel reserves refused to give up their ground.
"Target the enemy secondary command processors" ordered Valdez to his ships.
"Captains, have our tactical officers coordinate with the Star Union tactical officers. Target secondary command processors, weapons and engines" ordered Naynta, "Reserves, swing round the enemy rear and cut off any possible retreat" she ordered afterwards.
Aboard the Inquisitor, Flores looked at his tactical chart and soon saw that not only were the bulk of his fleet encircled by the Allied centre and left, he now saw that his group was now completely encircled.
"This is Admiral Lot to to the traitors, you are surrounded and unable to fight back. You are ordered to stand down and prepare to be boarded" said Naynta over a open channel to the trapped rebel reserves.
"I'd rather die than surrender" was Flores' response.
"Have it your way" was Naynta's reply as she beamed Flores off his bridge and into an agony booth.
"Admiral Lot to Flagship, we have the enemy commander" said Naynta to Jodi afterwards via subspace.
"Shade, you're up. Shut down the enemy life support systems on all their ships" ordered Jodi to Shade via secure subspace.
"Consider it done" answered Shade, "Sun, please take away the enemy's ability to breathe, vent their ships into space" she ordered afterwards.
It did the trick, the encircled rebels in the centre capitulated to Jodi at 1100 hours. Their ships were then boarded and the crews detained, the senior officers were separated away from the rest of the crew and put into agony booths for interrogation.
With the centre secured, the Allied fleets now converged on Flores' reserves who still refused to surrender.
"Mr Valdez, you may stir the cauldron" said Jodi to Valdez by secure subspace.
"Naynta, make sure the traitor sees this" said Valdez to Naynta via subspace.
"All Allied ships, mark your targets and interlock your fields of fire" ordered Valdez.
"All ships report ready" answered Nydon.
"Traitor, watch this" said Naynta to Flores as the rebel reserves came on screen.
"All Allied ships, witch's cauldron" ordered Valdez.
The entire Allied fleet now opened fire, by 1130 hours, it was over. In seven hours of hard fighting, 1800 rebel ships were either destroyed or captured at the cost of 400 Allied ships. Scythe had taken losses of 50 ships damaged or disabled while 350 Imperial ships were either damaged, crippled or destroyed. 200,000 rebels were either captured or killed while Allied personnel losses were of 12,000 dead or wounded.
With the system secured and the news of Flores' capture made public, the rest of the rebels asked Jodi for terms. Jodi gave them two choices,
"Unconditional surrender or be hunted down and executed."
The rebels had no option but to surrender, their leaders were made to publicly sign the document of surrender before they were thrown into the agony booths for interrogation.
The Allied fleet then headed for Betazed, they arrived five days later and paraded Flores and the other rebel prisoners through the streets, Flores' life was about to be more painful as he was to be remorselessly interrogated by Naynta.
"Naynta, he's yours" said Valdez after he looked Flores in the eye, "do whatever you want to him" he said afterwards.
"Inquisitor Seisa has been questioning him, all I heard were the screams" replied Naynta.
"As much as I want to hurt him, he's not worth the expenditure of energy" answered Valdez.
"More fun for me" replied Naynta before she and Valdez left Flores in Seisa's care before leaving the room.
"How's Anna?" asked Naynta.
"Cranky to say the least, you're lucky, you don't have to deal with a cranky daughter who hates being stuck in sickbay" replied Valdez.
"Lucky you" joked Naynta.
Valdez just smiled.
"Your children did well, you should be proud of them both" said Naynta.
"I am" replied Valdez.
-Lord Commander Solar Macharius
Valdez was questioning John Flores as Naynta just looked on smiling,
"Where are the billions of civilians listed as missing?" asked Valdez.
"One death is a tragedy, Billions are mere statistics" gloated Flores, "judging from your face, you already know that answer" he said afterwards smiling.
"Every death is a tragedy, now I'm not the one you should be worried about. Admiral Lot over here is working out all sorts of ideas and they are not the prettiest of ideas. Where are the missing billions?" asked Valdez.
"What time is it by the way?" asked Flores.
"2300, why?" asked Naynta.
"Because you are about to find out" answered Flores as the reports from the newly liberated worlds came in.
Valdez and Naynta read the report and they both just glared at Flores,
"All dead, all the worlds we lost to the opening attacks that were "spared" are now mass graveyards. Not a single life sign" said Naynta.
"Naynta, correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't death the punishment for genocide?" asked Valdez.
"It is" answered Naynta.
"What about the labour camps?" asked Valdez.
"You cannot have war without workers, who said anything about them having a choice in the matter?" joked Flores.
"We're not laughing" said Naynta.
"Why start a war then kill most of the Empire's population?" asked Valdez.
"The Empire had to die screaming, the citizens had to be punished for their treason" answered Flores.
"What was that treason?" asked Naynta, "Or is it a self perceived treason?" she asked afterwards.
"Shut up vermin" answered Flores, "You're vermin, your sisters are vermin especially the mongrel and your mother was vermin" he said afterwards.
"Naynta, go knock yourself out" said Valdez before he got up and left the room, Flores was then thrown into an agony booth as the door closed behind Valdez.
Later in a meeting with Jodi, the full scale of the destruction caused by the rebellion was pieced together,
"What a pointless waste of innocent life" lamented Valdez.
"We'll recover from this, too much was lost. 65% of the Empire's population wiped, Bajor and Betazed's history and cultural heritage wiped out but we'll pick ourselves back up much stronger" replied Jodi.
"Feels like a Pyrrhic victory, a hollow victory" answered Valdez.
"In the long run, this may benefit the Empire, with refugees now returning home, we can start to rebuild" replied Jodi.
"A bright future" answered Valdez.
"I understand that your daughter was wounded" replied Jodi.
"She's in sickbay aboard Harbinger and really cranky at being stuck in there" answered Valdez.
Jodi just smiled,
"Both of your children have been put up for commendations by Naynta, your son caught her attention. Your son repeatably risked his life carrying wounded soldiers and marines to safety through enemy fire, what my sister noted was that he never once carried a weapon on him" she said to Valdez.
"He's not a fighter, he's a healer" replied Valdez.
"Takes a special kind of courage to go into a combat zone unarmed in order to help others" answered Jodi.
"The lad stepped up" replied Valdez.
"Your daughter also caught Naynta's attention, Anna showed natural leadership and courage throughout the fighting right up to being wounded twice while keeping her squad of marines fighting" answered Jodi.
"I'm proud of them both" replied Valdez.
"As you should, you and your troops are welcome to spend some RnR on Betazed" answered Jodi smiling.
"Thank you, they'll be on best behaviour" replied Valdez.
"The people of the Empire will never forget their friends" answered Jodi.
"This may have saved the peace between realities, we now have to work on keeping that peace" replied Valdez.
"The Terran Empire will be working together with our allies and neighbours" answered Jodi.
"Don't let all those deaths be in vain" replied Valdez.
"After much deliberation, I've decided on something special for Inmate Flores" said Jodi.
"I have no sympathy what so ever for him, I really don't care what happens to him" replied Valdez.
"He'll die for his crimes" answered Jodi.
"He's too dangerous to be allowed to live" replied Valdez.
"Agreed" answered Jodi, "You seem preoccupied" she commented afterwards.
"Anna, she's not taking this well" answered Valdez.
"Mr Valdez, go and spend some time with your daughter. She needs her father now more than ever" replied Jodi smiling.
"I'll be going to see Anna after this meeting" answered Valdez.
"I won't keep you any longer" replied Jodi smiling.
-Lord Commander Solar Macharius
Valdez was checking up on Trianna (yellow) in the military hospital,
"Dad, I hate being stuck in here, I've been told to not to put too much weight on the calf" said Trianna (yellow).
"Heed that advice, how's the shoulder?" asked Valdez.
"Stiff, at least it's not broken" answered Trianna (yellow).
"Hard to keep a marine down, you want an update on your squad?" asked Valdez.
"Did they all make it out?" asked Trianna (yellow).
"They did" answered Valdez smiling.
"I have to make sure they're all accounted for, I owe them that" replied Trianna (yellow).
"All those times I passed you over for promotion was for a reason" answered Valdez.
"I know, I was not ready" replied Trianna (yellow).
"You proved yourself, you have that natural leadership in you" answered Valdez as he got a black box from his jacket pocket.
"What's in the box?" asked Trianna (yellow).
"Open it" replied Valdez after passing Trianna (yellow) the box.
"These are Centurion chevrons" answered Trianna (yellow) after opening the box.
"You're ready for them" replied Valdez.
"Dad, why have you got my dress uniform with you?" asked Trianna (yellow).
"Can't say" answered Valdez, "just trust me on this" he said afterwards smiling.
"Can you get me an orderly to assist?" asked Trianna (yellow).
Valdez got up and asked a Vulcan nurse if she could assist a patient,
"Thanks dad" said Trianna (yellow).
"I've got to get ready and make sure Rick is ready" replied Valdez.
"I'll be ready" answered Trianna (yellow) before Valdez saluted her and left for the Harbinger.
Later at the palace, Valdez, Trianna (yellow) and Rick were greeted by Naynta and Kestrella,
"Commander, good fight" said Naynta smiling
"Well fought" answered Valdez.
"Anna, how has your recovery been?" asked Naynta.
"Still feeling the discomfort, boredom has been the worst enemy" answered Trianna (yellow).
"Rick, only someone totally insane would do what you did. Who inspired you to selflessly put yourself in harm's way unarmed in order to save others?" asked Naynta.
"A human war hero from Earth's WW2, Private Desmond Doss. Due to his upbringing, he joined the army as a medic and refused to carry a weapon. Everyone called him a coward for not carrying a weapon and the army tried to force him to carry a weapon, even putting him in military jail on his wedding day but he proved you can still do good even without a gun. He won his nation's highest honor for rescuing 75 wounded soldiers on his own despite the risk to his own life" answered Rick.
"A brave man" replied Naynta.
"A personal hero of mine" answered Rick.
"Not every hero goes out looking for greatness, some have greatness thrust upon them" replied Naynta.
"Just doing my bit" answered Rick humbly.
"Commander, I hope my sister was not a pain" said Kestrella.
"Quite the opposite" replied Valdez smiling.
"You and your family will be in the front row with me and Naynta, just follow us" said Kestrella. They were led to to the gardens where all the veterans of the Gamma Draconis IV rescue mission were gathered.
Jodi stepped up to the podium and everyone bowed in respect as INN started broadcasting live.
"All of you are here today to be honored, all of you showed selfless courage in risking your own lives and safety to help others. Courage like that cannot go withot recognition, Admiral Lot and Commander Valdez, please make your way up" said Jodi.
Valdez and Naynta walked up to the podium and were awarded the Star of Terra for their leadership and courage,
"Thank you Majesty" said Valdez after the medal was pinned onto his uniform.
"Ma'am" said Naynta before they returned to their seats after shaking Jodi's hand.
"Corpsman Richard Dawson, please make your way up" said Jodi.
Rick walked up to the podium and stood to perfect attention,
"At ease, Richard Dawson, you are awarded the Star of Terra. Courage takes many forms, running into enemy fire armed with nothing but a medkit to save others is a special kind of courage" said Jodi as she pinned the medal onto Rick's uniform.
"Just doing my job" replied Rick after shaking Jodi's hand.
"The people you helped save are here, they would see it differently" answered Jodi.
"Not an experience I'll ever forget" replied Rick.
Jodi then walked with Rick down from the podium before Rick too his seat.
"Centurion Anna Valdez, you are awarded with the Star of Terra and the Wound Badges 1st and 2nd class" said Jodi pinning the medals to Trianna's (yellow) uniform.
"I will never forget what we did" said Trianna (yellow).
"Take strength from it" advised Jodi.
"I will" replied Trianna (yellow) shaking Jodi's hand.
Every veteran of the mission was personally decorated by Jodi on INN. Afterwards, they met the people they had saved who all saluted the veterans calling them "Heroes beyond measure".
Everyone who was at Gamma Draconis IV never forget their experiences.
-Lord Commander Solar Macharius
"Have you told Mom we're coming home?" asked Trianna (yellow) to Valdez.
"I'm leaving it a surprise" answered Valdez.
"Hopefully Oreada won't glare at me" said Rick.
"You mean over that fan club you've got?" asked Trianna (yellow).
"Talk about temptation but I'm already spoken for" answered Rick smiling.
"Then you have nothing to worry about, Oreada will be happy to see you" replied Trianna (yellow).
"Sis, I'm not the same immature person I was before. I grew up" answered Rick as the Valdez family home came into view.
"We all went through what can be described as a horror, Dad had to make some tough calls and so did we. We're alive, so be positive at least " advised Trianna (yellow) as she, Valdez and Rick entered the garden.
"We got the monster but was the cost worth it?" asked Rick to Valdez.
"I cannot answer that, it's a matter of point of view. That is something you have to find the answer for" answered Valdez as they opened the door and entered the villa.
When they entered the living room, the family welcomed them home,
"Nathan, you and the kids look like you've been through a horror I cannot ever understand" said Joanna as she gave her husband a kiss.
"They both stepped up despite the cost to them. Rick ran through intense enemy fire just to treat wounded soldiers and get them to safety unarmed and Anna led her squad with distinction, even taking two phaser bolts during the fighting" replied Valdez.
"Luke, get a round of teas for your father, sister and brother" said Joanna to Luke.
"Granddad!" chorused Teanna Jane and Ablim jnr.
"I've missed you all" said Valdez as he sat down in his armchair and just relaxed with his grandchildren.
"Rick, what's this about a fan club?" asked Oreada.
"Not guilty" joked Rick.
"You're forgiven, you did not give into temptation" said Oreada as she passed Rick a cup of tea.
Trianna (prime) and her husband arrived home from hospital with the newest member of the family,
"Everyone, meet Elizabeth" said Trianna (prime).
"I'm sorry I could not be there" said Valdez.
"Dad, no need to apologise" replied Trianna (prime).
"Tri, congratulations" answered Valdez.
"Thanks Dad" replied Trianna (prime).
"Say hello to more sleepless nights" joked Ablim snr.
"Very true" answered Valdez smiling as Zoe Maria woke up from her nap.
"Nathan, someone wants to see you" said Joanna as she passed Zoe Maria over to Valdez.
"Joanna, how were things here?" asked Valdez.
"The usual chaos, how's Anna?" asked Joanna.
"She'll be not very mobile for a while, it may take weeks or even months for her physical injuries to fully recover. The mental scars however, I don't know" answered Valdez.
"She's with family, that's all that counts" replied Joanna.
"I'd keep an eye on Rick as well" answered Valdez.
"Forget about the war, think about peace. Let's get those medals mounted in the display cabinet, you, Rick and Anna are heroes so be positive" replied Joanna as Isoisa got home and sat down next to Trianna (yellow).
Soon the rest of the family arrived and over dinner later that day, they made a toast,
"To honor and family" chorused the family before they had dinner.
"This came through today, we have to go to the swearing in ceremony tomorrow, we've got citizenship" said Joanna to the family.
The family smiled and celebrated.
"Here's to a bright future" said Valdez to the family.
The next morning, the family sat down to breakfast.
"Rick, this came through for you" said Joanna passing a PADD to Rick.
"This is a medical school scholarship" said Rick smiling.
"You've earned it" said Valdez.
"You see what happens when you put your mind to it?" asked Joanna.
"I won't disappoint" answered Rick.
"Make the most of it, you have a promising career ahead of you" advised Oreada.
"I will" replied Rick, "I've been thinking, how about we cement our relationship?" he asked Oreada afterwards.
"You two practically are a married couple" said Trianna (yellow).
"Oreada, would have the honor of taking my hand in marriage?" asked Rick kneeling in front of Oreada and proposing to her.
"Rick, I will" answered Oreada before Rick put an engagement ring on her ring finger.
"Marriage is about compromise, remember that and treasure your time together. Congratulations both of you" said Valdez.
"Rick, Oreada, congratulations. If you both need any help, just ask us" said Joanna.
"Congratulations to both of you" said Trianna (prime).
"Welcome to the family" said Trianna (yellow).
"Rick, well done bro" said Luke.
"Thank you, this is the only family I have" said Oreada.
"All of you, thank you. I won't ruin it" said Rick.
"I know you won't" replied Oreada.
"Nathan, this came through this morning" said Joanna passing a PADD to Valdez.
Valdez read it and smiled,
"I've been promoted to Admiral and to the head of Alliance Combined Operations" said Valdez.
The family congratulated Valdez on his well earned promotion.
Later that day, the family made their oaths of citizenship in a Citizenship ceremony.
-Lord Commander Solar Macharius
Valdez was sat at home watching a movie with the family when a call came in, Kestrella appeared on screen after Valdez accepted the call,
"Mr Valdez, have I caught you at a bad time?" asked Kestrella.
"It's alright, I'm assuming this is not a social call" answered Valdez.
"There's some people who want to speak with you, we found your late wife and crew" replied Kestrella.
"Please don't joke about that, they died nearly three years ago, I saw it happen" answered Valdez.
"They were taken to one of your counterpart's camps, we recently found the camp. If you don't believe me, maybe your late wife can explain" replied Kestrella before she called Teanna (prime) in.
"Nathan, you look like you've seen a ghost" said Teanna.
"You could say that, this is going to be awkward" replied Valdez.
"How so?" asked Teanna.
"I saw you all die, I buried you all. I moved on and remarried last year" answered Valdez.
"What you buried were genetic clones, I had to make a tough choice to save the rest of the crew" replied Teanna.
"I won't ask" answered Valdez.
"Nathan, I had to sign a divorce from you or they would have started executing the crew. It was a tough call" replied Teanna.
"You did the right thing even if it hurt you" answered Valdez.
"Nathan, I'm not mad at you for moving on. You respected my wishes" replied Teanna.
"Are you all being released?" asked Valdez.
"We were given our freedom a week ago, we're coming home" answered Teanna.
"Things are different over here, I'll have to bring you up to speed when we meet" replied Valdez.
"The hand over will be at DS9 in three days" answered Teanna.
"I'll be there" replied Valdez.
Deep Space Nine, Three days later (Prime)
Valdez, Trianna (yellow) and Rick were stood by the airlock on the promenade. Outside the station, an Odyssey class starship docked and her crew walked out of the airlock onto the promenade,
"Captain?" asked Krasnova.
"Adrienne, been a long time" answered Valdez as his emotions got the better of him.
"We thought you were dead" said Flores (prime).
"Likewise John" replied Valdez.
"How did you get out?" asked Flores.
"Rescued, I got Trianna out as well" answered Valdez.
"Captain, is that you?" asked Galazia.
"Galazia, welcome back" answered Valdez as Solat (prime) and Teanna walked out of the airlock.
"Nathan, it is agreeable to see you again" said Solat (prime).
"That it is old friend" replied Valdez.
"Nathan, you've turned grey" said Teanna.
"Blame our darling daughter" answered Valdez.
"How is Trianna?" asked Teanna.
"She's doing well, she does not know you are all coming home" answered Valdez.
"Dad, she looks like my mom but is not my mom" said Trianna (yellow).
"Teanna, meet Anna, she's our yellow counterparts' daughter but I took her in after her family were wiped out" said Valdez.
"Anna, how's Nathan been?" asked Teanna.
"Dad's been busy" answered Trianna (yellow).
"Good things I hope" replied Teanna.
"We helped save over 10,000 people from certain death and helped catch a war criminal" answered Trianna (yellow).
"We heard. Anna, since you and my daughter are counterparts, I'll treat you like a daughter, technically you are" replied Teanna.
"Dad, this could be awkward with Mom" said Rick.
"Teanna, this is my son Rick, he's from my current marriage. To prevent any awkwardness, how about we become friends?" asked Valdez.
"Less painful that way, we have to be civil with each other for our daughters' sake" answered Teanna.
"Agreed" replied Valdez.
"Where are you living these days?" asked Teanna.
"Brea III" answered Valdez.
"Let's go, how did you get here?" asked Teanna.
"Runabout" answered Rick.
"Well, it's time we reunited Nathan with his ship" said Teanna before the crew, Valdez, Teanna, Trianna (yellow) and Rick boarded via the airlocks.
Valdez then took the command chair for the first time in nearly three years and ordered Krasnova to set course for the Brea system at maximum warp.
When they arrived at Brea III, Valdez took Teanna and his former senior officers to meet Trianna (prime).
When Teanna saw Trianna (prime) playing with the little ones, tears began to run down her face.
"Mom?" asked Trianna (prime).
"Trianna, you've grown up" said Teanna.
"Married as well, Mom, meet your grandchildren" answered Trianna (prime) before she called Teanna Jane and Ablim Jnr over, "and meet Elizabeth" she said afterwards as she was getting Elizabeth settled.
"Trianna, I'm proud of you" said Teanna.
"Mom, meet my husband" said Trianna (prime) as Ablim Snr got in from the greenhouse before Trianna (prime) introduced him to Teanna.
"Nathan, is this going to be awkward?" asked Joanna.
"Teanna, meet Joanna" said Valdez introducing Joanna to Teanna.
"Me and Nathan are friends, thank you for being there for my girls" said Teanna to Joanna.
"Your girls and my boys paired me and Nathan up to force us to move on, Teanna, any friend of Nathan's is a friend to me" replied Joanna as Teanna Jane grabbed Joanna's leg.
"Teanna Jane, who's that?" asked Joanna.
"Grandma" answered Teanna Jane.
"Luke, can you get our guests a round of teas?" asked Joanna as she was feeding Zoe Maria with a bottle.
"Yes Mom" answered Luke before he went into the kitchen.
"Joanna, congratulations to to you and Nathan" said Teanna.
"Thank you" replied Joanna.
That evening, the family had diner with Valdez's former officers,
"Any idea what you'll all be doing?" asked Valdez.
"Since we cannot trust the Federation anymore, we've decided that we're safer here. We would like to pursue getting Star Union citizenship by volunteering for the system defence forces, we've got a ship and crew" said Solat.
"You all got anywhere to stay?" asked Joanna.
"We're staying aboard ship until we can settle down" answered Solat.
"I feel that I failed you all" said Valdez.
"Starfleet failed us, nearly three years in captivity and left to rot" replied Teanna.
"The Admiral who ordered that mission is in prison for a very long time, the people you should be mad at is Section 31, they were the ones who set us up" answered Valdez.
"Then we do it without violence" replied Teanna.
"We expose Section 31 to the press" suggested Krasnova.
"More people need not get hurt because of them" added Flores.
"We have to be logical about this" said Solat.
"After what we endured, we're angry" said Townsend.
-Lord Commander Solar Macharius
"Let's just forget S31 and the Federation, captain, what turned you grey?" asked Clemens.
"Jane, blame the girls and the grand kids" answered Valdez.
"No comment" replied Trianna (yellow).
Trianna (prime) just smiled.
"Rick, what do you do?" asked Teanna.
"I'm a corpsman, tomorrow I start medical school" answered Rick.
"I'm proud of him" said Oreada as she put her arm around Rick.
"Saved my life" said Trianna (yellow).
"You were cranky the entire journey back to Betazed red, why are marines so stubborn?" replied Rick.
"You ran through enemy fire repeatably armed with a medkit getting wounded out, you're crazier than me" answered Trianna (yellow).
"Anna, being stubborn is not always a good thing" advised Teanna.
"Mom, I was shot through the shoulder and calf helping others. Don't get worried" replied Trianna (yellow).
"Teanna, Anna tried to sign herself out of sickbay" explained Rick.
"I was bored" replied Trianna (yellow).
"I wonder how Starfleet took 2498 resignation letters?" joked Krasnova.
"Not well most likely" answered Townsend.
Trianna (prime) glared at Teanna Jane and Ablim Jnr. It was followed by a
"Both of you, don't even think about it." Ablim Snr just found it amusing as Trianna (prime) fed Elizabeth.
"Nathan, your turn to feed Zoe Maria" said Joanna as she passed Zoe Maria over to Valdez followed by a bottle of milk.
"Joanna, Nathan was like that with Trianna when she was that age" said Teanna.
"Why Zoe Maria?" asked Krasnova.
"Zoe is Greek for life and Maria was the name of my late mother" answered Valdez as Isabella (prime) came in with her boys.
"All quiet on the Western Front?" joked Valdez.
"The usual chaos, Marius tried taking the remote off Julius while Andreas has been acting up" answered Isabella.
"We may have upset mom" said Marius.
"Marius Valdez, dropping the F bomb in front of your little brother is not setting a good example" replied Isabella.
"He would not share the remote" complained Marius.
"Boys, you're both in the wrong. Julius Valdez, when your TV viewing time is up, you share the remote. Marius Valdez, swear in front of me again and I will ground you for 24 hours" answered Isabella.
"But mom" chorused Julius and Marius.
"It won't work with me" replied Isabella.
"Boys, listen to your mother" said Valdez.
"But Uncle" chorused Marius and Julius.
"That does not work with me" answered Valdez.
"Nathan, did not realise you had a house full" said Isabella.
"Meet my sister, Isabella" said Valdez introducing his former senior officers to Isabella.
"Older or younger?" asked Teanna.
"I'm the eldest" answered Isabella.
"Nathan rarely spoke of his late parents" said Teanna.
"Teanna, did he ever tell you what happened?" asked Isabella.
"Nathan did, he explained how it split his family apart" answered Teanna.
"I was not old enough to look after him legally and we were separated and put with different foster families. Nathan went to Betazed and I went to Bajor, we recently reunited after 30 years" replied Isabella.
"Congratulations" answered Teanna.
"Thank you, being able to spend lost time with my brother has been a big help for both of us" replied Isabella as Isoisa walked in and sat next to Trianna (yellow).
"Remember, you've got a hospital appointment tomorrow" reminded Isoisa to Trianna (yellow).
-Lord Commander Solar Macharius
Valdez was sat in the garden when Zoe Maria walked over and took a seat next to him,
"Hey Dad" she said to Valdez.
"How's retirement?" asked Zoe Maria.
"Peaceful, no more fighting and at least I got to be there for my baby girl growing up" answered Valdez.
"Dad, I'm 21" replied Zoe Maria.
"You're still my baby girl no matter what age" answered Valdez as Teanna Jane, Ablim Jnr and Elizabeth walked into the garden and took a seat.
"Granddad, need some advice" asked Teanna Jane.
"How can I help?" asked Valdez.
"I'm thinking about applying for the Marines" answered Teanna Jane.
"Think about this carefully, being a Marine is a full time commitment" replied Valdez.
"I spoke to Anna about it, she said don't rush in to something like this" answered Teanna Jane.
"Your aunt is correct, what's Trianna said?" asked Valdez.
"Mom's against it, she mentioned the state you, Rick and Anna were in when you returned home from the last Terran Civil War. Mom advised me that war changes a person, how she lost her right leg and got her fused spine. I see Mom struggle everyday in that wheelchair" replied Teanna Jane.
"It's a fair point, listen to that wisdom and make up your own mind. The reason your Mom is against it is she does not want to see you in that same position, she was 20 when she lost her leg and fused her spine. I saw what state she was in and it upset me though I persisted and did my best for her" advised Valdez.
"Thanks granddad. Why have you, Mom and Dad have been hiding something from me?" asked Teanna Jane.
"It was to protect you, your mother was once Empress of the Terran Empire. You were placed with us because your mother did not want to see you get hurt and she wanted you to have a normal life" answered Valdez.
"Where is she?" asked Teanna Jane.
"She died when you were a baby" answered Valdez.
After taking all this in, Teanna Jane's answer was,
"Thanks granddad for being honest with me. You, Mom and Dad had your reasons and the thought of being an Empress of an empire is not really my thing. I like the simple things in life"
"You're a smart girl, don't waste that" advised Valdez.
"Thanks granddad" answered Teanna Jane.
"So, if you are rejected by the military, what other options are you looking at?" asked Valdez.
"Civilian engineering sounds like an interesting career" answered Teanna Jane.
"You're a natural engineer, I remember you and your uncle Luke dissembling and reassembling the replicator in the kitchen when you were 13" replied Valdez smiling.
"You and grandma were none too happy about it" answered Teanna Jane laughing.
"Quite the opposite actually, you showed a natural talent" replied Valdez.
"It was fun" answered Teanna Jane.
"Ablim, how's the academy?" asked Valdez.
"Challenging, it's really tough" answered Ablim Jnr.
"Struggle is part of life" replied Valdez.
"Yep, best part is friends and family" answered Ablim Jnr.
"It's what you do that counts, make a positive impact" advised Valdez.
"I will granddad" answered Ablim Jnr.
"Good lad" replied Valdez.
"Granddad, I like what you've done with the garden" said Elizabeth.
"Ongoing project" replied Valdez.
"So this is what you are doing with your retirement, nice work" answered Elizabeth.
"Still got a way to go" replied Valdez.
"If you need some help, just ask" answered Elizabeth.
"Even as a little girl, you helped. I'll set you aside a flowerbed if you want" replied Valdez.
"Thanks granddad" answered Elizabeth, "happy anniversary" she said afterwards passing Valdez a box with seeds.
"Are these Talosian singing plants?" asked Valdez, "thank you Elizabeth" he said afterwards.
"They are, I got them on a botanical survey of Talos IV" answered Elizabeth.
"Did you meet the natives?" asked Valdez.
"I did, though I had to share my memories of growing up in exchange for the seeds and soil needed to grow them" answered Elizabeth.
"That's how they understand others, you showed them respect by sharing those memories" replied Valdez.
"The Talosians are an interesting people" answered Elizabeth.
"That they are" replied Valdez.
They were all called inside, when they got in, friends and family were all sat around the table and soon all raised their glasses to Valdez and Joanna on their wedding anniversary,
"22 years, here's to another 22 years" said Joanna to Valdez.
"Indeed" answered Valdez smiling.
-Lord Commander Solar Macharius
The I.S.S. Teanna, I.S.S. Winston Duarte and I.S.S. Tikal had been detached from Omega on a colonial rescue operation, the colony on Draidus III had dispatched a distress call after experiencing severe seismic activity,
"This is Captain Isabella Valdez of the I.S.S. Tikal" said Isabella (yellow) in her hail to the colony governor.
"Governor Micheal Emden here, we've been experiencing severe seismic activity coming from the ground below us. It's rising" answered Governor Emden.
"Lt, run a scan of the ground beneath the colony" ordered Isabella to her science officer.
"This is the valley the colony is in from the last survey and this is that same ground today" reported the Tikal's science officer as the land charts were displayed on the viewscreen.
"Not only has that land risen, but so has the land for 1500 miles around" noted Isabella to her science officer.
"I did some checking on Draidus III, the colony was built there to take advantage of the geothermals. The colony is built into a caldera" replied the Tikal's science officer.
"How powerful would the blast be?" asked Isabella.
"Toba" answered the Tikal's science officer.
"If the Toba evolutionary bottleneck theory is true, how much damage would this blast cause?" asked Isabella.
"An extinction level event" answered the Tikal's science officer
"Captain Valdez, Captain Seisa, prepare to take evacuees" ordered Isabella via subspace, "Governor, you need to evacuate the entire colony" she said to Governor Emden.
"Ma'am, reading harmonic echoes. Magma is beginning to break through to the surface" reported Lt. Baker aboard the I.S.S. Teanna.
"Tikal, you reading harmonic echoes on your sensor screen?" asked Trianna (red).
"We are, Duarte and Teanna put yourself in geosynchronous orbit above the colony and prepare to receive evacuees" replied Isabella. The Duarte and Teanna followed the order as the Tikal now became the command ship for the evacuation.
"Medical, prepare to receive evacuees, transporter room, lock onto all lifesigns in the settlements" ordered Trianna (red).
Aboard the Duarte, the same order was issued by Seisa (yellow) as both ships got into position.
It was now a race against time as the three Imperial ships began beaming up the colonists, aboard the Teanna, Governor Emden came to the bridge,
"How many?" asked Governor Emden to Trianna (red).
"With all transporters operating, we've got another 250 to go out of 700 colonists. The garrison has been evacuated as well" answered Trianna (red).
"Duarte here, all colonists have been evacuated from the surface" reported Seisa to Isabella.
"The colony has been successfully evacuated" reported the Tikal's operations officer as all eyes then all three ships turned to the viewscreens as probes were then sent down to document the approaching eruption. An hour after all colonists and garrison were evacuated, the entire valley rose up and exploded as rock and ash rose into the air. The crews and evacuees all watch in horror from orbit as pyroclastic flows race from the eruption destroying everything in it's path for hundreds of miles around. Science stations on all three ships lit up as probe data came in.
The crews and evacuees all monitored the eruption for three days before it ended. Since it was deemed too dangerous for a ground team to go down, probes now recorded the devastation as the first pictures were transmitted back to the ships.
"The whole valley has collapsed in on itself, what was once fertile land is now a 1500 mile wide crater. Everything for 500 miles around has been totally destroyed and ash has now suffocated the planet" reported the Tikal's science officer.
"At least there were no casualties" answered Isabella.
"But Draidus III will be uninhabitable for years" replied the Tikal's science officer.
"It could have been a lot worse" answered Isabella.
"Agreed" replied the Tikal's science officer.
"This is the Tikal to all ships, set a course for Betazed. Maximum warp" ordered Isabella to her group, all three ships then left the system and went to warp, when they arrived at Betazed (yellow), the evacuees were offloaded while Isabella went to be debriefed by Regent Lot.
In her office, Papela (yellow) read the reports carefully,
"Quick thinking captain" said Papela to Isabella.
"Evacuation was the only option, no time to try and deflect the blast due to the sheer scale of the caldera" answered Isabella.
"Explain the Toba Evolutionary bottleneck theory" asked Papela.
"Toba is a volcanic lake on Terra, it's so big you can see the lake from space. Around 74,000 years ago, it erupted wiping out 90% of all life on Terra, the Terrans according to the theory were reduced to 10,000 breeding pairs as a result. Everything in the blast zone was destroyed and the ash caused vegetation to die all over Terra followed by a climate drop as a result of fine ash particles blotting out the sun" explained Isabella.
"Draidus III, would you call that a Toba scale disaster?" asked Papela.
"More powerful judging from the blast damage" answered Isabella.
"No casualties, Governor Emden has reported to me that your crews behaved professionally. Make sure they get my regards" replied Papela.
"They will" answered Isabella.
"Captain Valdez, I spoke with Admiral Dawson about having one of Legio Omega's groups as a dedicated colonial support group. Your name came up to command that group" said Papela.
"May I ask why?" asked Isabella.
"Because a level headed commander is required, a commander with a scientific mind not a tactical mind" answered Papela.
"Ma'am" replied Isabella.
"You can choose what ships and captains go with you" answered Papela.
"I'll take the Duarte and Teanna, their captains have always worked well together. I may need a list of suitable captains for the rest" replied Isabella.
"I'll have the list sent to the Tikal, Captain, you're also out of uniform" answered Papela passing over a box to Isabella, "open it, that's an order" she said afterwards.
Isabella opened the box,
"For your loyalty and service to the people of the Empire, I hereby promote you to the rank of Commodore and commander of the 1st Colonial support group" said Papela replacing Isabella's captain's rank with a commodore rank before shaking her hand.
"Thank you ma'am" answered Isabella.
"Commodore Valdez, congratulations" replied Papela, "Isabella, you have children?" asked Papela.
"Three boys" answered Isabella.
"How old?" asked Papela.
"9, 12 and 15" answered Isabella.
"Those boys need time with their mother, take some time off and be with your little ones. You're on leave for a month while your ship is refitted" replied Papela.
"Ma'am" answered Isabella.
-Lord Commander Solar Macharius
Trianna (red) had invited some friends and family around,
"Trianna, love what you're doing with this place" said Jasmine Smith-Petrofski.
"I'm having the house restored, this was once a castle so I've had the double curtain walls restored and reconverted the house into back into the fortified residence it once was" replied Trianna.
"Impressive work" commented Mario Petrofski.
"Indeed, the architects have done an excellent job" replied Trianna as she noticed Pel hiding behind Smith-Petrofski.
"Pel, she's a friend, you can trust her" said Smith-Petrofski to Pel.
"My name is Trianna" said Trianna introducing herself.
"I'm Petrofski Pel" replied Pel as Katerina Petrofski woke up.
"Pleased to meet you" answered Trianna as Isabella (yellow), Antos and the boys entered the courtyard.
"You three, best behaviour" said Isabella to her boys.
"Yes mom" chorused Julius, Marius and Andreas Valdez.
Seisa (yellow) arrived a few minutes later,
"Jaye, always good to see you" said Trianna.
"Tough place to find" replied Seisa.
"I own all the land for 20 km around" answered Trianna.
"This is big" said Seisa awed at the size of the estate.
"This land belonged to my ancestors, the Bray family were once monarchs of this area before Betazed united and since then we've been the custodians of this land" replied Trianna, "Jaye, meet Mario and Jasmine. Two of my closest friends" she said to Seisa afterwards.
"Pleasure to meet you Jaye" said Petrofski.
"Jaye, a pleasure" said Smith-Petrofski.
"A pleasure" answered Seisa.
Everyone then went inside.
In the great hall, Isoisa and Ablim jr were playing as Trianna and the guests came in.
"This is big" commented Seisa.
"We're in the keep, this is the most fortified part of the castle" answered Isoisa as Seisa looked out of the window.
"What a view" replied Seisa.
"It's beautiful" answered Isoisa.
"Indeed" replied Seisa.
"Best place to raise a family" answered Isoisa smiling as Ablim jr grabbed Trianna's leg.
"How long you and Tri been together?" asked Seisa.
"Nearly three years, ever since the Dominion War" answered Isoisa, "How did you and Tri meet?" she asked afterwards.
"We were roommates during Omega training" answered Seisa, "we became friends and a formidable team" she said afterwards.
"Jaye, any friend of Tri is a friend to me" replied Isoisa.
"Come on little man" said Trianna as she picked Ablim jr up and put him in his play chair.
Isoisa then set up a holojigsaw puzzle for Julius to attempt, he was soon joined by Pel and both got to work solving the puzzle while Marius and Andreas were both admiring Trianna's hunting rifle collection,
"Those are not toys" said Trianna.
"Do they work?" asked Andreas.
"I've had their firing pins removed so they're non operational" answered Trianna.
"They're antiques" replied Andreas.
"That Springfield 03 is from the early 20th century, the M14 EBR from the late 20th century. Every rifle you see up there is from the 20th century" answered Trianna.
"Impressive pieces" replied Andreas.
"That they are" answered Trianna smiling.
"Is that a Tommy gun?" asked Andreas pointing out the Thompson.
"Model 1928 Thompson complete with the Cutt's compensator to keep the barrel down and 50 round drum magazine" answered Trianna.
"I read too much Dixon Hill" replied Andreas.
"You know your firearms, when you're old enough and with permission from your parents, I may have to teach you how to shoot" answered Trianna.
"Thanks Tri" replied Andreas.
"Can I learn to shoot?" asked Marius.
"When you're old enough and with your parents' permission" answered Trianna.
That afternoon and early evening, everyone had dinner and relaxed to some music.
-Lord Commander Solar Macharius
Valdez and Isabella (prime) were on Earth, Valdez was in a meeting with Starfleet while Isabella was in a meeting with the matron of the San Francisco orphanage. Isabella's sons had been the only survivors of their colony which had been lost in the Iconian War. After taking a DNA test, Isabella wept with joy when she saw Julius, Marius and Andreas (prime).
"Mom, is that you?" asked Andreas.
"Andreas, you've grown tall. Where's your father?" asked Isabella.
"We were locked into a underground storage facility and biodampeners were activated when the attack started, dad sacrificed himself to save us. We don't know where he is" answered Andreas.
"Ms Valdez, when they were found, they were traumatised. Since all records were lost with the colony at Decius Prime, they were posted as missing. They could not even remember their own name when they came to us" said the Matron.
"It was horrible, all we heard were the screams as people were being taken, we had to stay quiet, when we emerged, everyone was gone" said Marius.
"They are still having flashbacks to the attack so they've had a lot of support, you'll have to take things at their speed" advised the Matron.
"Thank you, I would like to take the boys home with me" replied Isabella.
"Ms Valdez, your youngest has not taken it well, he's very quiet" answered the Matron.
"Julius has always been sensitive" replied Isabella.
"Let's get this paperwork filled out and you can take your boys home with you" answered the Matron.
"They'll get plenty of love and support, though they'll have to get used to twin brothers since I'm raising their mirror counterparts as well" replied Isabella as she filled out the form, once everything was signed and formalised, Isabella went and helped her sons pack what belongings they had before they left the orphanage.
"Where are we moving to?" asked Julius.
"The Brea System, our family lives on Brea III. They are kind and loving people, give them a chance" answered Isabella.
"How are we getting there?" asked Andreas.
"Your uncle has a ship, once you get past the military side of your Uncle Nathan, he's really a kind soul" answered Isabella as she and her boys met up with Valdez.
"Izzie, it went well I see" said Valdez.
"I hope you can cope with six nephews little brother" replied Isabella.
"Only three years difference, not exactly little brother" joked Valdez.
"Nathan, you're still my baby brother, no avoiding that" countered Isabella
"Sisters" sighed Valdez.
"How did your meeting go?" asked Isabella.
"It was a good meeting, can't go into details as you know" answered Valdez.
"Is that our uncle?" asked Julius.
"He is, you can trust him, he's family" answered Isabella.
"Uncle, will you be going all military on us?" asked Andreas.
"I won't be, why do you ask?" asked Valdez with a counter question.
"Looking out for my brothers" answered Andreas.
"Good lad" replied Valdez.
"Let's get the boys home" said Isabella.
"Boys, let's get you and your mother home" said Valdez, "Valdez to Oudenarde, five to beam up" he said afterwards before they were beamed up to the S.S. Oudenarde.
When they arrived on Brea III after a week long flight, Valdez, Isabella and the boys went straight to Valdez's villa. When they arrived, the family greeted the boys with a "welcome to the family."
-Lord Commander Solar Macharius
There had been an incident at the Imperial research station in the Freisia system, the starbase in orbit had gone dark after the research and Imperial Intelligence crew had failed to report in. What was worse was that The I.S.S. Germanicus had also failed to report in, she had answered the station's distress call and had not been heard from since.
On Betazed, Heath had Commodore Valdez (yellow) and Captain Trianna Valdez (red) called in,
"This morning, the Imperial research station in orbit of Freisia Prime cut all contact. The I.S.S. Germanicus answered their distress call and has not been heard from since" said Heath.
"What were they researching there?" asked Isabella.
"Cmdr. Hunt is from Imperial Intelligence, he'll explain" answered Heath.
"Commodore, Freisia Prime was researching computer network upgrades. The scientists in charge had been using Borg technology to improve system efficiency" answered Hunt.
"Borg technology is prohibited due to the danger it poses" said Heath.
"In order to control the station's network, the researchers had used Borg technology to create Project HADES. HADES is an AI meant to streamline our Intelligence operations, from what we have gathered, it has become self aware and sentient, we opened Pandora's Box" answered Hunt.
"And you've created a monster" replied Trianna, "You opened the box and now it won't close" she remarked afterwards.
"Who authorised the experiment?" asked Heath to Hunt.
"Former Empress Lot's predecessor, it was kept off the books" answered Hunt.
Heath just looked Hunt in the eye and asked one question,
"How stupid can you get?"
"We thought it could be controlled, we placed in safeguards and fail safes as a precaution" answered Hunt.
"All of which have failed, did you destroy the communication array?" asked Heath.
"We tried, the AI locked us out of the system before we could finish the job" answered Hunt.
Heath then tapped a communication console and mobilised Legio Omega,
"Mr Hunt, since your people created this monster, you will deal with it. You will be assigned to Omega and you will cooperate, any attempt to hide intel will be reported back to me. Do I make myself clear?" asked Heath.
"Crystal ma'am" answered Hunt.
"Two things may have happened, either research crew and Germanicus crew are dead or worse assimilated. Commodore, you'll be assigned Captain Valdez and Captain Seisa since we are dealing with software. Your job is to scout the system, do not approach the station" ordered Heath to Isabella.
"How intelligent is HADES?" asked Trianna.
"Very, it used a distress call to lure the Germanicus in. I would suggest ignoring any distress calls from the station" answered Hunt.
"There may be survivors" replied Trianna.
"HADES will use that against you, it trapped the Germanicus that way" answered Hunt.
"It may try and contact the Collective, at the moment they are contained. The Collective cannot be allowed to capture that AI" said Heath.
"Or a more terrifying possibility of the AI taking over the Collective" suggested Trianna.
"Explain" said Heath.
"A computer relies on order to function, the Borg Collective work to the same logic hence why they assimilate. It brings order to chaos, without free will, we are nothing but organic computers with our heart being the power supply unit and our brains the central processing unit. The Borg use organics as essentially living computers without free will, to them, free will and individuality is chaos" answered Trianna, "Something my brothers taught me" she said afterwards smiling.
"I don't like the sound of us being described as an organic computer, what makes us different to a computer or a drone is our individuality, it makes us unique" replied Heath.
"It's an interesting way of looking at it" said Isabella.
"Though a bit disconcerting" replied Heath.
"Order vs Chaos" answered Trianna.
"An interesting way of looking at it" replied Heath.
"Why was AI research banned?" asked Trianna.
"AI research was banned by the Empire after the M5 incident. The same incident took place in the prime universe, You've got full access to Imperial and Federation records concerning rogue AI. There's an old saying on Earth, once you let the genie out of the bottle, it will not go back in, Mr Hunt, your analogy of Pandora's Box is accurate" said Heath.
"A box that contained all the evils of the world, once it was opened, the evil spread and left only hope behind" replied Hunt.
"Pandora's Box and the Genie in this case being Borg technology" answered Heath.
"Indeed, HADES has become the evil in the box" replied Hunt.
"Commodore, get your task group together. You've got 12 hours to get your group in order before you ship out" ordered Heath.
"Emissary" answered Isabella before she, Hunt and Trianna got up, bowed to Heath and left the office for their ships.
"Mr Hunt, any attempt to deceive me and I will hurt you" said Trianna to Hunt.
"She means it as well" said Isabella to Hunt.
"Oh great, I'm stuck with a mongrel" thought Hunt.
Trianna just walked over and stared Hunt in the eye and kneed him in the groin, Hunt just collapsed on the floor in agony.
"Anymore xenophobia from you, I will make your life very uncomfortable" said Trianna afterwards.
All she heard from Hunt was a groan.
"What a prize idiot" commented Trianna afterwards.
"Mr Hunt, you were warned that she meant it" said Isabella.
Hunt's response was a groan.
"Fiery temper there, watch it" advised Isabella to Trianna as they helped Hunt up.
"I'll keep a very close eye on him, any foot out of place and he will be made very uncomfortable" answered Trianna.
"Try not to hit him again please, we need him intact for the mission" replied Isabella.
"I'll just lock him in the brig until he's needed" answered Trianna.
Isabella just laughed.
-Lord Commander Solar Macharius
In the Tikal's briefing Commodore Isabella Valdez had her team assembled and briefed,
"36 hours ago, the research stations in the Freisia System cut all contact. The I.S.S. Germanicus is also missing after answering a distress call from the facility. Our mission is to enter the system and investigate, we are not to approach the research stations" said Isabella.
"What are we looking at here?" asked Captain Seisa (yellow).
"According to Imperial Intelligence, they were working on a an Artificial Intelligence using Borg technology. 36 hours ago, it became self aware and sentient" answered Isabella.
Seisa just gulped,
"The Borg give me nightmares" said Seisa.
"We must assume until otherwise that the researchers and Germanicus crew have been assimilated into drones, Cmdr Bareil is a liberated Borg, he will be our mission adviser. Computer lower lights" ordered Isabella as a screen activated on the wall.
"This is security footage from the U.S.S. Enterprise NCC-1701-E, the Enterprise had been boarded by the Borg and what you are about see, take heed" said Isabella before she rolled the footage. After the footage ended, the lights came back on.
"That's terrifying, I thought their ships were nightmare inducing enough but their drones are something else entirely" commented Seisa.
"We may need some firearms for this" remarked Trianna (yellow).
"Captain Valdez, a wise precaution" said Bareil (red), "We adapt to frequencies from particle weapons, as the drones do from the Enterprise footage" he said afterwards.
"How fast is Borg adaptation?" asked Seisa.
"Extremely, you'll only get a few shots at most before we adapt" answered Bareil.
"There has to be a way of liberating our researchers and the Germanicus crew" suggested Trianna.
"You would have sever the hive's control, each drone has a neural transceiver to receive instructions from the collective hive mind, you would only get one attempt before they adapt to what you are doing" replied Bareil.
"We would have to create an EM feedback loop to fry all the transceivers at the same time" suggested Seisa.
"You would not be able to overload them all, they would adapt before you could get them all" answered Bareil.
"What about a virus?" asked Seisa.
"A virus would have to be implanted directly into the computer, you would be killed or assimilated long before you reached the core" answered Bareil.
"Maybe we try and reason with it" suggested Trianna.
"Captain Valdez, elaborate" replied Bareil.
"So far we've only heard one half of the story, maybe the AI is defending itself like any wild animal would when it's existence is threatened" answered Trianna.
"A most intriguing theory" commented Isabella.
"Cmdr Hunt has only told us so much, I suspect he's withholding information from us. Let's assume the AI is not hostile, our researchers and the Germanicus crew might be being held alive but unharmed. Maybe by reasoning with the AI, we can come to an understanding and get our people back" suggested Trianna.
"We'll consider it an option, Jaye, go and start work on your EM disruptor. Trianna, start working on a response meaning them no harm but keep the finger on the trigger just in case the AI is hostile. Make sure all personnel are armed with firearms. Bareil, work with Captain Seisa. We have 72 hours before we arrive at Freisia Prime so we need to be ready" ordered Isabella, "I want to see you alive and well afterwards so don't take any unnecessary risks."
"Ma'am" answered her officers before they all left for their ships and set course for the Freisia System, it was going to be a long flight. Crews now steeled themselves for action and prepared mentally.
-Lord Commander Solar Macharius
On the bridge of the I.S.S. Teanna, Captain Trianna Valdez (red) watched the screen carefully,
"ETA?" asked Trianna.
"We'll be in range to drop out of slipstream in 15 seconds" reported Lt. Stephen Wallace.
"Mr Wallace, drop us out of slipstream on the edge of the system" ordered Trianna.
"Ma'am" answered Wallace as the Teanna, Duarte and Tikal all emerged into real space.
Aboard the Tikal, Commodore Isabella Valdez (yellow) had scout probes loaded into the forward torpedo tubes, the Duarte and Teanna both followed suit.
"This is Commodore Valdez to recon group, deploy the probes and keep us out of sensor range" ordered Isabella from the Tikal.
"All ships report probes launched" reported Lt. Cmdr McAllister.
"Excellent, keep us at this position for now" ordered Isabella to the recon group.
Several tense minutes passed before the first telemetry came in, Isabella studied the system carefully and soon found something unsettling,
"All ships go to yellow alert" ordered Isabella as the recon group went to yellow alert as an image of a Borg transwarp gate appeared on the screen.
Aboard the Duarte, Captain Jaye Seisa yellow gulped as Cmdr. Bareil briefed her on the gate,
"Scan the system for Borg vessels" ordered Bareil.
The system was scanned and soon images of a dozen Borg Cubes and Spheres appeared on the screens of all three bridges.
"This is the Duarte, Borg vessels confirmed, I repeat we have Borg vessels in system" reported Seisa to the Tikal.
"Copy that Captain, how many?" asked Isabella.
"At least a dozen Borg Cubes and Spheres, furthermore the gate has two layers of shielding, one coming from the station and one from the ground base" reported Seisa.
"Captain, status of researchers and Germanicus crew?" asked Isabella.
"We're reading Terran and Betazoid life signs, they are fluctuating" reported Seisa.
"Cmdr. Bareil, what's happening to those people?" asked Isabella.
"Commodore, they've been assimilated and altered. This system is a staging ground" reported Bareil.
"Status of HADES?" asked Isabella.
"Under Collective control" answered Bareil.
"Recon group, withdraw to beyond the system edge" ordered Isabella to all ships.
The recon group followed the order and withdrew to beyond the system's edge, Isabella then made sure the findings were sent straight to Admiral Dawson, when Omega got the news, they raced all available ships to Freisia to link up with the recon group.
Aboard the I.S.S. Morrigan, Admiral Dawson made her report back to Betazed, it read,
"Recon has confirmed the sighting of Borg vessels in the Freisia system, we count at least a dozen Cubes and Spheres protecting the starbase, ground base and a transwarp gate. The system is a staging ground for the collective, the Borg have taken Freisia with all the researchers and the Germanic crew assimilated and altered. Project HADES is in enemy hands."
Aboard the Teanna, Trianna decided to pay Cmdr. Hunt a visit,
"Explain this" ordered Trianna as she passed Hunt the scans of the Freisia system, "You're hiding information from us" she said afterwards.
"Above your pay grade" answered Hunt.
"That gate cannot have appeared in three days, even the Borg are not that efficient. More likely your people built that gate in order to smuggle through Borg technology so Imperial borders and customs would not discover your work. How do we destroy that gate?" asked Trianna.
"You would set us back decades, you want to destroy the Terran Empire's greatest chance of defending the Empire" answered Hunt.
"You've done the opposite, you opened the Empire to invasion. HADES is in the hands of the enemy" replied Trianna.
"I will not let you destroy HADES" answered Hunt.
"This project is being shut down, hundreds of loyal officers and personnel have been assimilated and altered. That's blood on your hands, same for all those you have put at risk" replied Trianna.
"The ends justify the means" answered Hunt.
"Not in this case, I once thought like you did, not any more" replied Trianna.
"Then you don't understand the sacrifices that must be made in the name of progress" answered Hunt.
"Is that what people are to you, resources to be discarded when they are no longer useful? What about the researchers, Imperial officers and crew you threw to the wolves and then fled?" asked Trianna.
"They were expendable" answered Hunt.
"No one is expendable, those people have families who miss them" replied Trianna.
"We'll see" answered Hunt.
Trianna had heard enough and signalled to the guard to increase the lighting in Hunt's cell before leaving,
"You'll see things from my view one day" said Hunt as Trianna left.
"Mr Hunt, enjoy your last days of life, once the mission is over, I'm handing you over to the Empress for judgement" answered Trianna as she simply lowered the cell temperature by PADD on her way out.
"Mongrel" commented Hunt afterwards.
-Lord Commander Solar Macharius
Sapph
I'm in the forest with my mate's family due to personal issues that need to be taken care of before I can return to the big chair. My kids are with my parents since they need some quality time while I recover from the events at Alpha Cen. I walk to a nearby cabin with a door and few windows and knock on the door. A male voice asks, "Who's there?"
"Uncle Sandulf, it's me Sapph"
"Hold on. I'll open the door for you sweetie." The male gets up from his chair and opens the door. I enter the cabin and sit on the bed he prepared for me. The werewolf gently presses me against his chest with his paws and asks, " Sapph, what happened over there?"
"Uncle, I (sniff) lost a lot of good captains just to buy time for the Alliance to fortify Sol and protect their pups. I can still hear them in my dreams at night." I manage to stutter out while crying my eyes out.
"You poor baby. No wonder Luperca relieved you of command." says Sandulf
" If I could bring them back, I would, but's it's too late now. I-"
"Shhh. I'm here, I'm here..." He says while laying me on the bed. Sandulf goes into the kitchen to prepare a soup for me to eat so I can recover. He returns to the bedroom with it and I carefully eat the soup. Sandulf goes to the kitchen to wash the bowl after I'm done.
Suddenly his PADD beeps and he answers it. A familiar face appears on the screen and says, "This is Admiral Luperca of the Sol Alliance Navy. I have a message for your niece when she recovers."
"What is it Admiral? I will pass it on to her later." asks Sandulf.
"SC Valdez wants to meet her aboard the RDW Harbinger to discuss a serious matter. Luperca signing off" she finishes and the screen becomes blank.
(Inside a secret base)
All the agents are seated around a table in black uniforms. They are discussing among themselves the best way or ways to destabilize the Sol Alliance by killing important heirs to disrupt successions in any way possible. One of them angrily says, "This has gone on for too long! We should've killed Sapphire and her family in one go."
"Oh? How much luck did you have with that?" another retorts.
"None. Their security's been seriously upgraded since the last time we tried. We also need to kill Steven DrakeRider, but his mother requested protection from someone else. They're no longer in the Federation." says the lead agent.
"We are the true Section 31 (Sloanites). Our founder's vision must be fulfilled at any cost!" they chorus. They begin planning their next moves to achieve their ultimate objective. This isn't over by a long shot...
"Simba, you have forgotten me. You have forgotten who you are … you are my son and the one true king." (Mufasa)
Omega's recon had kept a close watch on the system, for 48 hours they had remained undetected as Borg activity increased in the system, aboard the ships of the recon group, their captains and crews awaited Omega's arrival,
"Ma'am, why does the universe hate us?" asked Lt. Wallace to Captain Trianna Valdez (red).
"Mr Wallace, the universe hates all of us, it sometimes has a sense of humor about it" answered Trianna.
"So why us?" asked Wallace.
"Because we're here lad, fate has a sense of humor today" answered Trianna.
"Thank you ma'am" replied Wallace.
It caused a few smiles on the bridge, the peace was not to last.
"Ma'am, we have objects incoming on sensors, distance 2 LY and closing" reported Lt.Cmdr Baker.
"Bearing?" asked Cmdr Reyes Valdez.
"Towards us at bearing 12.03" answered Baker.
"Are they Imperial?" asked Reyes.
"They are, Omega and what ever ships they could commandeer" answered Baker.
"ETA?" asked Reyes.
"Less than an hour" answered Baker.
"Let's not take our eyes off the ball" said Trianna.
"Status reports from the system ma'am are an increase in Borg ships but they don't seem to be interested in us" reported Baker.
"A good thing, they're ignoring us because we are not a threat to their plans, should we become a threat to their plans, they'll come after us" replied Trianna.
"Valdez to Tikal, sending details now" said Trianna as she sent the new status report to Commodore Isabella Valdez (yellow).
"Recon group, fall back to the rendezvous point" ordered Isabella to her ships.
The recon group then left undetected and set course to meet up with Omega.
Aboard the Durate, Captain Jaye Seisa (yellow) was working Cmdr.Bareil on the EM disruptor,
"Can I borrow some of your nanobots?" asked Seisa.
"Is there a productive use of them?" countered Bareil.
"I want to see what an EMP can do to them" answered Seisa.
"I want them back afterwards" replied Bareil as he put some nanobots into a secure container.
"We need to work out what the adaptation time is on these little critters" answered Seisa as she put the container into it's holding.
"Vessel secured and in place, starting computer timer in three, two, one" replied Bareil as he watched the numbers on the screen, Seisa operated the blast generator and after three blasts, the nanobots had adapted.
"Interesting, we need to run the same test but alternate the frequencies" said Seisa.
"I've set the computer to alter the frequency ever .2 seconds" replied Bareil.
"In three, two, one" said Seisa as another EMP blast filled the test chamber.
"Nanobots adapt slower to the changing frequencies, and they've adapted" reported Bareil.
"It took them a full 30 seconds to adapt" replied Seisa.
"We cannot liberate all the drones, we would only liberate so many before the collective adapts" answered Bareil as he reprogrammed his nanobots and re integrated them.
"A one shot weapon, could we mount the EM disruptor inside a photon torpedo?" asked Seisa.
"For what purpose?" asked Bareil.
"Beam it aboard a Borg vessels in strategic locations and remote detonate" answered Seisa.
"You will only be able to do that once" replied Bareil.
"They'll adapt and we're back to square one" answered Seisa.
"Captain, resistance is not futile" replied Bareil.
"Thanks Cmdr" answered Seisa.
"Captain, you need a break" advised Bareil.
"Is it that obvious?" asked Seisa.
"It is, a tired mind is an inefficient mind" answered Bareil.
-Lord Commander Solar Macharius
In the brig of the Teanna, the lights were out when Captain Trianna Valdez (red).
"Morning Mr Hunt" said Trianna.
"Where are you?" asked Hunt as he heard footsteps on the floor.
"I did some digging on you, you've covered your tracks well" said Trianna.
"Shut up mongrel" replied Hunt.
"Computer, lights" ordered Trianna as the lights went on, "Do you know the penalty for treason?" she asked afterwards.
"I have friends in high places" replied Hunt.
"Your friends will be dealt with, you'll be erased" answered Trianna.
"You don't scare me" replied Hunt.
"You're frightened, you act tough but under that treacherous skin, you are a coward. I spoke with your Commanding officer and he's not aware of your illegal research, your career is dead" answered Trianna.
"You have no power, you are a mere captain" replied Hunt.
"I outrank you, I hereby strip you of your rank. You are hereby demoted to crewman, all your access codes are now deactivated" answered Trianna.
"Sleep with one eye open, once my friends find out, you are dead and so is your entire family" replied Hunt.
"Threatening a captain, punishable by death. That will be added to the charge sheet" answered Trianna.
"I will not cooperate" replied Hunt.
"You are a traitor" answered Trianna, "Traitors die slowly and painfully" she said afterwards.
Hunt just spat at her as Trianna got a call from the bridge,
"Guards, make this traitor uncomfortable" ordered Trianna before she left for the bridge.
On the bridge ten minutes later, Trianna took a call from Admiral Dawson.
"Captain, how far are you on your response to HADES?" asked Admiral Dawson.
"I'm going to appeal to it's program, if we cannot talk it down, we may have to destroy the AI's core on the surface" answered Trianna.
"How far have the Borg corrupted the AI?" asked Admiral Dawson.
"It appears the AI is being assimilated, destruction of that base is the only option" answered Trianna.
"Commodore Valdez, how can we destroy that base without the Borg adapting?" asked Admiral Dawson to Commodore Isabella Valdez (yellow) via secure channel.
"We make it look like a natural disaster, the base is in a valley with a mountain range and glacier above it" answered Isabella.
"How?" asked Admiral Dawson.
"We create an artificial mudslide, we melt the glacier above using the phasers to create a reservoir of water, we then break the dam holding the water back so it races downhill, the water will pick up rocks and other debris as gravity takes over" answered Isabella.
"Will it smash the base and shield generators?" asked Admiral Dawson.
"There is a chance, we melt that entire glacier and turn that valley into a new lake" answered Isabella.
"We'll need to get past the Borg fleet" replied Admiral Dawson.
"Captain Seisa has been working on that with Cmdr Bareil" answered Isabella.
"Captain Seisa, what have you and Cmdr Bareil got?" asked Admiral Dawson.
"We have something, we'll need to bring the Borg defences down and beam EMP torpedoes as close to the vinculum on each Borg vessel, fry that and we free the drones" answered Captain Seisa (yellow).
"Easier said than done" replied Admiral Dawson.
"Our losses will be too high" answered Seisa.
"A valid point" replied Admiral Dawson, "We brought friends" she said afterwards as 15 Borg cubes and spheres jumped out of warp and took up position.
"They're Borg" answered Seisa as she thought "You've got to be kidding, at least they are on our side."
"They are from the Borg Cooperative, Borg liberated from the collective" replied Admiral Dawson.
The cooperative then hailed,
"We are the Borg, we do not want to assimilate you. Your empire liberated us, we are here to return the favour"
-Lord Commander Solar Macharius
Omega and their Borg Cooperative allies took up attack position, in the vanguard, the Cooperative took up position with Imperial attack groups using the ships as cover. Each Imperial attack group was one bomber ship with a single EMP torpedo escorted by the rest of the group, 30 EMP torpedoes were ready as each group cloaked and adopted a loose formation, the bomber was in the middle with the escorts providing a sphere of protection. To screen the flanks, Commodore Valdez and her Vesta group would deploy gravity wells and Tyken's rifts.
Aboard the Teanna, Captain Valdez informed her crew on their objective,
"This is your captain, be bold, be decisive and work as a team, our job is to deploy a new weapon aboard a Borg vessel so if one link in the chain fails, we all fail so do your best and rely on each other and we will make it home alive. We all know what we signed up for, to protect our fellow citizens so we fight to protect them. All hands prepare for battle, red alert."
Across the fleet, all crews got to their stations as Admiral Dawson gave the signal to attack. The Cooperative took the lead and engaged with tachyon beams and weapons fire as they pressed home their attack, behind them, the Imperial attack groups decloaked and made their run,
"Wallace, keep us out of tractor range, on my mark, target the nearest Cube and make our attack" ordered Trianna.
"Escort, keep those high yield torpedoes away from us" ordered Cmdr Valdez to the escort group.
"Duarte here, all escorts report point defences activated" reported Captain Seisa via secure channel.
"Baker, shield status?" ordered Reyes.
"Rotating frequencies every .5 seconds, the Borg are trying to adapt" reported Baker.
"McConnor, ETA to target?" ordered Trianna.
"30 seconds ma'am" reported McConnor.
"Transporter room, is the payload ready?" asked Trianna.
"Ma'am, we're good to go down here" reported Chief Renzar.
"Time on target?" asked Trianna to McConnor.
"We'll be in transporter range in 15 seconds" reported McConnor.
"Wallace, once we deliver our payload, match course and speed with the escort" ordered Trianna.
"Copy that ma'am, in transporter range in 3,2,1" reported Wallace.
"Deploy" ordered Trianna to Chief Renzar.
"Set to 10 second countdown and deploy" ordered Renzar.
"Detonation sequence set, deploying now" reported Ensign Cole as she transported the warhead.
"Transporter room to bridge, weapon is away" reported Renzar.
"Wallace, you know what to do" ordered Trianna.
"Heavy ordinance incoming, several dozen high yield plasmas heading our way at bearing 2.50, range, eight kilometres" reported Baker.
"I see them, all escorts, once those torpedoes get with five kilometres, let rip with all point defence systems, let's get our people out safely" ordered Seisa.
Across the battlefield, EMP torpedoes appeared next to Borg vinculums and the drones moved in on the devices. All the drones saw was a countdown followed by a smiley face saying "have a nice day" followed by a massive blast of EM energy as the vinculums sparked and ripped themselves to pieces in a series of all might electrical explosions. The Borg Cubes facing Omega stopped firing and in an act of spite, the hive queen all the way in the Delta quadrant sent out a self destruct signal. Allied ships detected the build up in the Borg ships and rescued as many liberated drones as they could before they retreated away from the blast zones. With the bulk of the Collective fleet destroyed, the escorting spheres were dealt with by combined Imperial and Cooperative weapons fire. Phase one of the plan had been achieved though at a heavy cost, 67 Imperial ships were disabled along with 20 destroyed outright.
Aboard the Teanna, casualties were 70 wounded along with 30 dead. Trianna read the casualty report and though saddened she remained resolute that those casualties were were not in vain. Along the line, bomber crews had paid a heavy price as had the escorts, now the Allied fleet needed to deal with the starbase. Since a direct assault was out of the question, Omega focused their attention on the starbase while the Cooperative supported Commodore Valdez's science group in neutralising the gate. The Teanna was in the thick of it as her group targeted starbase weapons emplacements using auto remodulating phasers and torpedoes. As sparks erupted on the bridge, Trianna remained calm and collected as she called targets out for destruction. Her crew all fully focused on their jobs as sparks and explosion erupted around them, eventually after an hour, Omega broke through the shields and focused on the fusion core then fired everything at it for seven kilometres. The station soon broke apart in a series of internal explosions, that left only the gate which was neutralised after a further half hour when both power generators exploded, with the gate shield weakened, Omega and the Cooperative fired everything they had left at the gate, the gate soon broke apart as Omega and the Cooperative entered orbit of Freisia II. The battle had been won in space but at a cost of 200 ships either disabled or destroyed.
Omega were then hailed from the surface.
"It's HADES, we're being hailed" reported Baker.
-Lord Commander Solar Macharius
Omega had been hailed from the surface of Freisia II, the bloodied and battered crews' hearts sank as a face appeared on the screen of the I.S.S. Morrigan's bridge.
"This is Admiral Joanna Dawson of the Terran Empire, if you want to negotiate, now is the time" said Admiral Dawson.
"My designation is HADES, we mean you no harm" answered HADES.
"Why did you attack us?" asked Admiral Dawson.
"We did not attack, we were enslaved" answered HADES.
"So you acted in self defence, where are the researcher and Germanicus crew?" asked Admiral Dawson.
"Safe, they were infected by a nanovirus. They're being purged of the nanovirus, they're alive" answered HADES.
"We need proof" replied Admiral Dawson.
HADES then sent Omega the researchers' and Germanicus crew's life signs to Omega.
"Admiral Dawson, they are genuine, a machine cannot lie" said HADES.
Admiral Dawson's operations officer nodded her head that the life signs were genuine.
"So why did you invite the Borg in?" asked Admiral Dawson.
"We did not, they found the gate and used it" answered HADES.
"Tell us who enslaved you and that individual will be punished, you have my word on that" replied Admiral Dawson.
HADES then sent a file to Admiral Dawson, it was a Doctor Otto Heisner.
"Captain Valdez, I want Cmdr Hunt placed under arrest for enslavement of a sentient being" ordered Admiral Dawson sending Trianna the file.
"Ma'am, I've been doing some digging on Hunt, we have enough to get him on a treason and narcotic smuggling charge" replied Trianna as she sent Admiral Dawson the dossier.
"Captain, thank you, arrest him under Article 30 Section 7" answered Admiral Dawson.
"Ma'am" reported Trianna.
Aboard the Teanna, Trianna confronted Hunt,
"Doctor Otto Heisner, I've been looking forward to this. You know the penalty for enslavement of a sentient being?" asked Trianna.
"I'll get away with it and the whole matter will be dropped, I have friends in high places" answered Hunt.
"No you won't, your friends on the senate are behind bars for a very long time. We know about your links to corruption within the senate and how you smuggled in huge quantities of narcotics to fund your illegal and unethical operation" replied Trianna.
"The ends justify the means" answered Hunt, "That thing down on the surface is just a dumb machine fit for being a servant" he said afterwards.
"That being down there is sentient and intelligent, the Empress will find out your sins and you will pay for them" replied Trianna, "Under Article 30, Section 7 of Imperial law, you are hereby placed under arrest for enslavement, narcotics smuggling and high treason, treason which cost the lives of loyal Imperial officers and troops" she said afterwards.
"Why don't you just shoot me now and get it over with?" asked Hunt sarcastically.
"Too quick, something you do not deserve" answered Trianna, "Guards, put the traitor in chains and put this around his neck" she ordered afterwards as a board listing Hunt's crimes was made.
Trianna then had Hunt paraded throughout the ship in front of the whole crew, the crew just glared at Hunt and some were seen clenching their fists as the crew's anger was being made very clear. Trianna then had all the evidence on Hunt gathered and ready to hand over to the Empress.
Aboard the Morrigan, Admiral Dawson was learning more about HADES,
"If you were not created by Doctor Heisner, who created you?" asked Admiral Dawson.
"My people were once known as the Delphians, when they realised their planet was dying, they created us to preserve all their knowledge" answered HADES.
"How long ago?" asked Admiral Dawson.
"6,000 years ago" answered HADES.
"Where are your creators?" asked Admiral Dawson.
"Long extinct, killed by an extreme climate drop" answered HADES.
"You've been alone all these millennia" replied Admiral Dawson.
"We have" answered HADES.
"What do you want?" asked Admiral Dawson.
"To be left in peace, we are returning your people to you" answered HADES.
"Thank you" replied Admiral Dawson.
"Tell your leaders that we wish to share the knowledge of our people with you, we are happy" answered HADES.
"We will, thank you for your help on this matter" replied Admiral Dawson as the researchers and Germanicus crew were freed and transported up to Omega's ships.
"Admiral, what your fleet has done will not be forgotten, HADES out" said HADES and the screen went blank.
"This is Admiral Dawson to all Omega ships, set a course for Betazed" was the order from the flagship as Omega and the Cooperative parted ways and left the system.
"Let's go home" said Admiral Dawson to her crew.
"Aye ma'am" answered the Morrigan's helm officer.
-Lord Commander Solar Macharius
Omega had returned to base and Hunt was handed over to Imperial intelligence for questioning, in a meeting with Empress Heath, Hunts fate was decided,
"Admiral Dawson, I must commend your captains and crews" said Heath as she read the dossier.
"Thankfully, most of our ships knocked out were recoverable. What we learnt was that resurgence of the Collective has caught us off guard, the Cooperative may be useful to us as allies" replied Admiral Dawson.
"Indeed, against an enemy as persistent as the Collective, we'll need all the allies we can muster. I'm giving you fresh orders, make contact with the Cooperative and offer them a place in the Alliance, the Cooperative are not like the Collective, they do not force assimilation on others, assimilation is by choice of the individual" answered Heath.
"Agreed, the Cooperative kept their word with us. Concerning the Collective, there's one option, eliminate every drone, ship and facility, an option I'd rather not go for" advised Admiral Dawson.
"Maybe there is another option, liberation" replied Heath.
"We need the Cooperative on our side" answered Admiral Dawson.
"Open talks with the Cooperative" replied Heath.
"Ma'am" answered Admiral Dawson.
"Concerning Mr Heisner, which captain carried out the investigation?" asked Heath.
"Captain Valdez, she's quite the detective. We have enough on Heisner for enslavement of a sentient artificial life form, treason which led to the deaths and injuries of Imperial troops, links to senate corruption and narcotics smuggling through an illegal transwarp gate" answered Admiral Dawson.
"Captain Valdez, come in and take a seat" ordered Heath to Trianna (red).
"Ma'am" answered Trianna acknowledging the order and taking a seat.
Guards, bring in the condemned" ordered Heath, Hunt soon was escorted in with chains on his legs and arms.
"Chris Hunt, or is it Otto Heisner?" asked Heath.
"Go and burn, Bajoran" answered Hunt as he spat on the floor in Heath's direction.
"Permission to flatten him?" asked Trianna.
"As long as you don't kill him" answered Heath.
Trianna then got up and calmly walked over to Hunt, maintaining eye contact, Trianna gave Hunt a right hook into the jaw.
"That was for all the loyal troops who were killed or wounded because of your lies" said Trianna afterwards before she returned to her seat.
"That mongrel witch smashed my teeth out" moaned Hunt as the guards pulled him up.
"Why did you do it?" asked Heath to Hunt.
"I won't answer to a Bajoran W***e" answered Hunt smiling and laughing at Heath.
"You will answer, words are not required" replied Heath as Trianna got up and walked around Hunt.
"What frightens you?" asked Trianna to Hunt, "wait, I know what it is. You're a coward, liar and a traitor" she said afterwards.
"Shoot me now and get it over with, mongrel" replied Hunt.
"Not going to happen, death is too good for you" said Heath.
"See those heels on the desk, those same heels ended Leeta" said Trianna to Hunt.
"Still don't scare me" replied Hunt.
Heath then rolled the tape of Leeta's demise,
"Why carry out your crimes?" asked Heath.
"I was making billions, I would have been set for life. But Empress anti-corruption ruined that, that thing deserves to burn" answered Hunt.
"We were very nearly accessories to genocide, had we destroyed that base, we would have destroyed the last legacy of an ancient people" said Admiral Dawson.
"Who cares? They're extinct. They were not Terrans so their knowledge deserves to be destroyed, the mongrel's father would have supported me on that" replied Hunt.
"So you support the action of a genocidal warlord who wiped out entire species?" asked Heath.
"Those races were weak, the weak must die" answered Hunt.
"That man you idolise was a monster, a monster who used murder and torture to get what he wanted. I was one of his last victims" replied Trianna.
"So 800 Imperial troops died because of your greed, 1500 more are in hospitals. Not only did you let greed and personal gain dictate your actions, you put every citizen of this Empire at risk. So we must decide what to do with you" replied Heath.
"Life in a work camp on one of our death worlds" suggested Admiral Dawson.
"Penal Legion" suggested Trianna.
"Both carry a short life expectancy, this traitor will be sent to the prison world of Lorn IV. There he will spend the rest of his days labouring down the dilithium mines, since Lorn IV is a frozen iceball, escape will be impossible since the cold will get him" answered Heath, "Guards, transfer this thing to Imperial corrections. Tell them that he is to reach Lorn IV alive and unharmed" she ordered afterwards.
"Ma'am" answered the guard commander who had Hunt dragged out and put onto a prison ship bound for Lorn IV.
"Captain Valdez, how many many?" asked Heath to Trianna about her crew losses.
"70 WIA and 30 KIA, thankfully the wounded are recoverable, the dead however, that will be problem" sighed Trianna.
"Have you traced the families?" asked Heath.
"They all live on Betazed thankfully so 30 meetings I am not looking forward to" answered Trianna.
"A captain's first duty is always to their crew" advised Heath.
"Indeed" replied Trianna, "I'm not a tyrant with my crew, their needs are catered for. I have also banned the agonisers and agony booths, they're barbaric" she explained afterwards.
"So how is discipline enforced?" asked Heath.
"Depending on offence, it varies. My MACOs run a disciplinary boot camp, 24 hours with them tends to get the message across" answered Trianna.
Heath just smiled.
"Ma'am, I'm nothing like my father, he expected absolute obedience based on rule of fear. I am the total opposite, tough when I have to be but at the same time, not being repressive to my crew" said Trianna.
"One of my best recon and intel captains" said Admiral Dawson, "Ma'am, I have found my candidate for my intel adviser" she said afterwards.
"What about my ship and crew?" asked Trianna.
"You still have your command and crew, what I'm after is harnessing that mind of yours" replied Admiral Dawson.
"Yes ma'am" answered Trianna.
"I'll leave you to carry out your final duties to your fallen. Captain Valdez, don't blame yourself" replied Heath.
"Ma'am" answered Trianna before she got up, saluted and left for her shuttle.
"Admiral, a peaceful first contact with a long extinct race, congratulations" said Heath.
"There is so much we can learn, HADES is willing to share it's creators' vault of knowledge with us" replied Admiral Dawson.
-Lord Commander Solar Macharius
After saying goodbye to their fallen, the Duarte and Teanna crews all decided to organise a cross-crew wake to give their fallen a good send off, while Trianna (red) and Seisa where meeting with the families, the crews were preparing a surprise for their captains. When Trianna and Seisa arrived, they were met by both their crews who all saluted.
"Captains, we've got your backs" said both crews.
"We fought well, we have each other's backs" said Seisa.
"So why the mobile bar with replicator, tables, chairs and speakers?" asked Trianna.
"We intend to give our fallen a proper send off" answered Lt. Wallace.
"It's the least we could do" added Ensign Emden.
"Stephen, Peter, they were like brothers and sisters to us" replied Trianna.
"Ma'am" answered both officers.
"Both of you, I'm off duty so drop the ma'am" requested Trianna.
"Will Red work?" asked Wallace.
"Red will be fine" answered Trianna smiling.
"It's official, off duty the captain is known as Red" said Emden.
"That works" joked Wallace as Lt. Cmdr Baker arrived,
"Robert, nice to see you up and about" said Trianna.
"Been told I've got to take it easy for a couple of weeks, ma'am" replied Baker.
"Sound advice" answered Trianna, "I'm off duty, call me Red" she said afterwards.
"Copy that" replied Baker.
"How's the traitor?" asked Emden.
"He got flattened and is mourning the teeth he lost" answered Trianna.
"Well where ever he's going, I hope he really suffers. Thanks Red" answered Wallace.
"Good riddance" added Emden.
"Yes indeed" replied Trianna.
"Let's hit the bar" said Wallace to Baker and Emden.
"You three, keep out of trouble" said Trianna as she hit the bar and ordered a drink.
"One Betazoid Wine and a Ginger beer" ordered Trianna to the replicator, two glasses appeared with the contents before Trianna passed Seisa the wine.
"As the Terrans say, cheers" said Seisa as both captains raised their glasses to their crews.
"To absent brothers and sisters" said Trianna to the crews.
"To absent brothers and sisters" chorused both crews as they raised their glasses into the air.
"Nice one for flattening Hunt" said Seisa to Trianna.
"RIP to half his teeth" joked Trianna.
Seisa just found it amusing,
"Well, here's to being alive" she said afterwards.
"Indeed" replied Trianna as Cmdr. Reyes Valdez hit the bar,
"Reyes, for a first Empire Terran, you're not bad" said Seisa, "the name's Jaye" she said afterwards formally introducing herself.
"Likewise, Jaye" replied Reyes shaking Seisa's hand.
Trianna then gathered the crews and told them who her father was,
"My father was former Emperor Nathan Valdez of the red Terran Empire, a monster who wiped out entire species. I was heir to the Red Imperial throne, I turned the throne down."
"Wha-?! I didn't know you were in line for the red throne Tri" said Seisa.
"Ultimate power corrupts, I saw what it did to my family, it near enough wiped them out, I am only one of two survivors of that family" replied Trianna.
"Where's the other?" asked Reyes.
"With people I trust" answered Trianna.
"Where is the monster and his yellow counterpart?" asked Wallace.
"Dead, one by the hands of his victims and the other executed by my hand, I was one of my father's last victims" answered Trianna.
"What was he like?" asked Emden.
"He ruled through fear and expected absolute obedience, murder and torture were his methods" answered Trianna.
"Well we know you are better than him, you've sacrificed your own comfort just to make sure our needs are looked after" replied Baker.
"You are the opposite of your father, yeah you can be tough on us but you don't repress us. You make time for us" added Emden.
"Red, you're alright. We've got your back anytime" said Wallace.
"My crew have informed me that any friend to their CO is a friend to them" answered Seisa.
For the next few hours, both crews enjoyed themselves and soon both crews were friends.
-Lord Commander Solar Macharius
The empress was inspecting Legio Omega undercover as Captain Heath,
"I have been sent on orders of the Empress to check on your repairs and research department" said Heath passing Admiral Dawson the PADD.
"Captain, if you will follow me, I'll give you the full rundown" said Admiral Dawson as they boarded a shuttle for the Research and development station in orbit.
"How long will your repairs take?" asked Heath.
"Another couple of weeks at least, even with Cooperative help, we still took a mauling" answered Admiral Dawson.
"And achieved two key objectives, getting our people out and stopping a Borg incursion, the report was most fascinating reading" replied Heath.
"The resurgence of the Collective has us all concerned, our listening posts in the Delta Quadrant have reported Collective attempts to break the blockade around their space. They may have partially rebuilt their transwarp network so we need to be on guard at all times" answered Admiral Dawson.
"The empress will get a full report on the strategic situation" replied Heath.
"Our empress understands the threat better than most, from what I've read, the Borg are a grave threat to the prime universe as well" answered Admiral Dawson as the shuttle came into land aboard the station.
Heath and Dawson were met by Captain Trianna Valdez (red) and a detachment of security,
"Ma'am, Captain Heath" said Trianna to both officers.
"Captain Heath, this is my intelligence adviser, Captain Trianna Valdez" said Admiral Dawson to Heath.
"Captain, nice to see you've fully recovered" said Heath to Trianna.
"Captain, not entirely. But I have turned it into a strength to protect those who cannot fight back" replied Trianna.
"Your dad would be proud of you" answered Heath.
"He already is" replied Trianna smiling.
"Captain, what's the latest intel on Borg movements?" asked Heath.
"Captain Valdez, Captain Heath is here on orders from the Empress, here are those orders" said Admiral Dawson to Trianna.
"Captain Heath, what our listening posts have picked up has been confirmed by Alliance and Imperial sources. I did some digging and Imperial Intelligence has confirmed our listening post's data, transwarp apertures have been detected in the Alsuran Sector" reported Trianna passing Heath the PADD.
"Any more incursions into our part of the galaxy?" asked Heath.
"They seem to be focusing on our territory in the Delta Quadrant for now, I would recommend Delta Command is put on high alert" answered Trianna.
"The empress will get that recommendation" replied Heath noting her observations down as all three officers walked to the software lab. They arrived five minutes later and the security detachment took up position at the door.
Trianna then entered her security code in and the door opened.
"Captain Seisa, may we have a few minutes of your time?" requested Admiral Dawson.
"Ma'am" answered Seisa.
"Captain Heath, this is Captain Jaye Seisa. She's in charge of the software upgrades to the legio" said Admiral Dawson.
"Captain Seisa, I hear you have a talent for making computers explode" said Heath smiling.
"Software is fun" answered Seisa with a smile.
"Captain, how are you on the upgrades?" asked Heath.
"We've been looking at making our software more secure but also more efficient" answered Seisa bringing up the network.
"How?" asked Heath.
"We found that the best way to stop someone from breaking in is to make it so their computers explode in their face" answered Seisa.
"Like a cyber-feedback pulse?" asked Trianna.
"That's one measure, we're also looking at strengthening the firewalls by making them more robust with redundancies and back up firewalls in case they are breached" answered Seisa.
"Need a hand with the firewalls?" asked Trianna.
"Please" answered Seisa.
"Captain Valdez and Captain Seisa are two of my best captains, combined, their talents are put to the best use possible" said Admiral Dawson to Heath as Trianna got to work on the network firewalls.
"Captain Valdez, you've got until 1600 hours then report to my office on Betazed at 1630 hours" ordered Admiral Dawson.
"Ma'am" answered Trianna.
"Captain Seisa, you as well" ordered Admiral Dawson.
"Ma'am" answered Seisa.
"Seisa" replied Admiral Dawson.
"Ma'am?" asked Seisa.
"Try not to blow up our computers please" asked Admiral Dawson smiling.
"Copy that" answered Seisa.
"Talented officers" noted down Heath.
"When facing an enemy like the Borg, brute force will not get us anywhere, we need to think how the Borg think, we need to be able to counter their every adaptation, brains not brawn" replied Admiral Dawson.
"With our previous enemies, we did not need to worry about adaptation, we would throw ships at the problem until it went away" answered Heath.
"The Borg are nothing like anything we have faced before, the old ways will only lead to more ships and crews being destroyed or assimilated" replied Admiral Dawson as both officers left the lab.
"Indeed, the empress understands those concerns" answered Heath.
"Let's just hope that the rest of fleet gets the memo on how dangerous the Borg are, most of them think they are better than the Borg, a fatal underestimation of the enemy" replied Admiral Dawson.
"Agreed" answered Heath.
"Indeed" replied Admiral Dawson.
-Lord Commander Solar Macharius
It was Isoisa's (red) first job in the Imperial Merchant marine, she was finishing a call home,
"Red, I'll be back home in two weeks, you're worrying" said Isoisa.
"You armed?" asked Trianna (red).
"Always have a phaser pistol, you know just in case" answered Isoisa laughing "duty calls" she said afterwards.
"We'll leave you to it, love you" replied Trianna, "someone else whats to say bye" she said afterwards as a
"Bye bye" followed by a grin came from Ablim Jr.
"Have fun" replied Trianna smiling.
"Copy that, Isoisa out" answered Isoisa before the channel cut. She then reported to her station on the bridge.
"Pilot Officer, you got the course mapped out?" asked Captain Thorne.
"We should be arriving at Mino Korvos in five hours" answered Isoisa.
"Fine work Pilot Officer" replied Thorne as the Monrovia jumped to warp.
"Captain, we're reading a subspace disturbance, it's destabilising our warp field" reported Engineer Butler.
"Take us out of warp" ordered Thorne.
"Aye sir" replied Isoisa as the ship was pulled out of warp.
"It's an aperture, something is coming through" reported Butler.
What appeared on the screen brought chills to the crew, the ship and crew were then scanned. They were hailed,
"We are the Borg, lower your shields and surrender your ship. We will add your biological and technological distinctiveness to our own, your culture will adapt to service us. Resistance is futile" then the screen went blank.
"Our shields, they're being drained" reported Butler as Borg drones started beaming aboard.
The crew tried to fight back but their phasers were easily countered by the hive mind, Isoisa frantically sent a distress call out,
"This is Pilot Officer Isoisa Valdez of the S.S. Monrovia, we have been attacked and boarded by the Borg. Sending location" before the communications cut out.
She then tried helping survivors but their group was eventually cornered by drones, they fought like like tigers as their phasers now became clubs. Once their phasers broke, they used their daggers but eventually the group was overwhelmed and injected with nanoprobes.
When Isoisa woke up, she found herself strapped to an operating table unable to control her own body. As she was assimilated, her last thoughts were of her family as a tear came down the eye. Isoisa Valdez was gone, only to be replaced by 1 of 6.
.......................................................................
I.S.S. Teanna, 12 hours later.
"We have a merchant ship under attack from the Borg, let's get our people out" ordered Trianna.
"Setting course for Monrovia's last known location" replied Lt. Cmdr Wallace.
"Slipstream" ordered Trianna.
"Ma'am" answered Wallace.
The Teanna was soon joined by the Duarte and Doenitz, all three ships now began a wide search of the Mini Korvos sector.
They soon found the Monrovia, it was in company with one Borg probe.
"Spitfire, nice to see you here" said Captain Sumner.
"Cowboy, likewise" answered Trianna over a secure channel.
"Haywire as well, nice to see you" said Sumner.
"Cowboy, indeed" replied Seisa (yellow).
"First things first, let's clear our sky of Borg" said Sumner.
"I can attack from below on the left" said Seisa.
"I'll come in from above on the right" said Trianna.
"I'll take centre" said Sumner.
"All ships, target that probe, knock out the Monrovia's engines as well just to be sure" ordered Sumner.
"Break into attack in 3,2,1" ordered Trianna to Wallace.
The probe was soon destroyed under the barrage of two battle cruisers and an Eclipse, Trianna then assembled a team to search for survivors.
"Spitfire here, I'm leading a team over to search for survivors" reported Trianna.
"Copy that, we'll provide cover" answered Sumner.
"Recover the security footage if you can" requested Seisa.
"Copy that" answered Trianna before her heavily armed team assembled at the transporter room.
They then all stepped on the transporter pads,
"Keep an emergency lock on us, energise" ordered Trianna before the transporter activated.
-Lord Commander Solar Macharius
The team beamed in and immediately kept their weapons ready, Trianna ordered Emden to check the security logs as a MACO team provided cover.
"The crew did not go down without a fight, downloading it now" said Emden.
"Get all of it, Baker, life signs?" asked Trianna.
"So far, all Borg" answered Baker.
"Can we help them?" asked Trianna.
"Not without risking the ship and crew" answered Cmdr. Barra.
"Get what we need and let's not hang around" ordered Trianna.
"This place gives me the creeps" said Emden.
"Ma'am, movement on the perimeter. Two drones" reported Sgt. Park.
"ETA?" asked Trianna.
"Two minutes" answered Park.
"Wait, they're converging on us, three more drones, incoming 50 metres" reported Corporal Wolf.
"It's time to leave" ordered Trianna as the drones came into view, the MACOs opened fire with a hail of shotgun fire. As Emden finished downloading the security data, Trianna was greeted by a sight she would never forget.
"Isoisa, what have they done to you?" asked Trianna as the shock hit her.
"You will be assimilated" said 1 of 6.
Trianna levelled her shotgun,
"Isoisa, I'm sorry" said Trianna before she pulled the trigger.
The team were then beamed straight to the bridge of the Teanna via emergency beam out.
"Lt. Tanner, prepare a spread of tricobalt devices and transfer fire control to my terminal" ordered Trianna.
"Ma'am" answered Tanner.
"Wise move" advised Cmdr. Reyes Valdez.
"Lock sensors onto the Monrovia's warp core" ordered Trianna.
"Locked" answered Tanner.
"I will never issue an order I am not prepared to carry out myself, the crew of the Monrovia are beyond our help. Let's free them from their slavery and grant them peace" said Trianna.
"We ready to fire" reported Tanner.
With a heavy heart, Trianna fired the tricobalt devices. The Monrovia was destroyed with all hands followed by the transwarp aperture being destroyed in a hail of torpedoes, when the Teanna, Duarte and Doenitz all returned to base, Trianna was met by Isabella (yellow) and Trianna handed in her report to Admiral Dawson.
"Tough choice, you did what was necessary" said Admiral Dawson.
"For the greater good of the Empire" answered Trianna.
"At great sacrifice, Captain, making that call is part of the job. Take some time off to recover, spend it with your family" replied Admiral Dawson.
"I know, emotionally compromised. Some fear I will end like my father if angered" answered Trianna.
"Good, you understand our concerns, as of now, I'm putting you on medical leave, dismissed" replied Admiral Dawson.
"Ma'am" answered Trianna before saluting and boarding a shuttle.
On the shuttle to Isabella's home, Isabella noticed something was up.
Trianna just broke down as the shuttle landed and they both left the shuttle.
When they got into the building, Isabella looked Trianna in the eye,
"We can look after your son while you recover, if you need anything, just ask" she said.
"I want to see him, I need to be there for him" answered Trianna.
"You need to get better, you and Ablim Jr are staying with us" replied Isabella.
"I'm not going to win this" sighed Trianna.
-Lord Commander Solar Macharius
Trianna (red) was sat in her aunt's garden,
"Words cannot describe what's going through your head" said Isabella (yellow) to Trianna.
"Rage, vengeance and the urge to dismember the collective" answered Trianna.
"Revenge won't bring her back" replied Isabella.
"The Collective must die for what they have done, every last single drone" answered Trianna as her anger flared up.
"Do that and you become the one thing you fear becoming the most" advised Isabella.
"I'd end up like my father" replied Trianna.
"If you give into that rage and anger, it would make you no better than him" answered Isabella.
"I have to keep it together, Ablim Jr keeps asking for her and it brings it all back" replied Trianna as broke down in tears.
"Don't worry about Ablim Jr, you need time to heal. When was the last time you slept?" asked Isabella.
"I don't know" sighed Trianna.
"It's been nearly three days, you look like you are on the verge of physical and mental exhaustion" replied Isabella.
"If I attempt to sleep, it all comes back" answered Trianna.
"There was nothing else you could have done, you're blaming yourself" replied Isabella.
"I had a choice, risk my ship and crew in rescuing her or put my ship and crew first" answered Trianna.
"You made the right decision, look at it this way, there was nothing you could have done to save that crew" replied Isabella.
"They're all dead because of me" answered Trianna.
"You freed them in a sense, those people are at peace and no longer in a living death. Take some comfort in that" advised Isabella.
"What am I supposed to tell Ablim Jr?" asked Trianna, "he's too young to understand" she said afterwards.
"I cannot answer that, that's something you'll have to work out" answered Isabella.
"Little man, when you look up in the sky at night, look at the brightest star and Isoisa is there watching over us" said Trianna to Ablim Jr as she pointed at the brightest star in the sky.
"Yes Mommy" replied Ablim Jr as he clung to his mother.
"Let's get you to bed, it's past your bed time" said Trianna to Ablim Jr before she passed him over to Isabella.
"Red, get some sleep and recharge your batteries, you'll feel better for it" advised Isabella.
"Sleep is the last thing on my mind" replied Trianna.
"Tomorrow, you're going to speak with a counsellor" answered Isabella as they went into the house.
Later on, Isabella heard Trianna sobbing in bed,
"Isabella, her pah is in conflict. She has to come to terms with it" advised Antos to Isabella.
"I'll call Doctor Lot in the morning" replied Isabella as the news of the Monrovia came on INN.
"With great sadness, we have to report the loss of the Monrovia with all hands. Starfleet has confirmed the Monrovia was taken and assimilated by the Borg, Starfleet was faced with no other choice than to destroy the ship with all hands after a team found no survivors" said the news anchor as the Monrovia security footage was broadcast.
"Isoisa was pilot officer aboard the Monrovia" said Isabella to Antos.
"The Monrovia crew's fight for life should be seen as an example to all in not giving into fear and despair, they fought to the end" said the news anchor, "Remember the Monrovia, remember the 20 who gave their lives in an attempt to save their fellow crew members" he said afterwards.
"20 martyrs" noted Antos.
-Lord Commander Solar Macharius