Emperor Romanov deployed his forces with Trasimene II behind him to protect his rear areas, this deployment had not gone unnoticed as the enemy deployment became obvious to the Alliance fleet who were waiting and watching outside the system, "putting his back to the planet to avoid attacks from the rear, that's bait" said Admiral Dawson looking at the enemy deployment aboard the I.S.S. Tikal. "He has two other fleets here and here, their orders are to attack our flanks as we are pinned against their central battle formations. Our code interceptors have broken the enemy codes" replied Naynta. "It's a gamble on his part, succeed and we are trapped, if it fails then he is trapped, let's turn a trap into a trap of our own" answered Admiral Dawson. "Let him spring his trap and once he's fully committed, we bring our forces in all weapons blazing from above and below as we snap the jaws shut" suggested Naynta. "Once we gain space supremacy, we can land the ground forces to clear the planet's surface. Our fighters and bombers will be providing air support to cover the ground troops" replied Admiral Dawson. "We have been ordered to halt the advance outside the sensor range of the system, extra reinforcement" answered Naynta. "More time for our enemy to strengthen his trap" replied Admiral Dawson. "Good, more enemy for us to kill" answered Naynta.
The conversation was interrupted by the arrival of the Royal fleet leading three more imperial fleets from the Yellow empire, Alliance commanders and their first officers were summoned to the flagship for Heath's war council. The commanders bowed in respect then took their seats at the table. Admiral Dawson and Admiral Lot presented their turning a trap into their trap plan to Heath and the war council for the upcoming battle.
"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's a good plan, but I dislike the sacrifice of troops to lul them into complacency," the Empress said looking at the plan. "War does require sacrifice," Naynta said. "I am aware of that. But you can mitigate how much." "You have a suggestion?" Admiral Dawson asked. "Just a thought. What would happen if instead of going straight towards them, we turned and attacked one of their 'trap' fleets instead?" Dawson arched an eyebrow in surprise. "Ma'am?" "How are they likely to respond?" "The other trap fleet would most likely move to support them...we could close our trap on them." "Leaving their main fleet isolated," Naynta said smiling. "We'll take this under advisement," Dawson said.
"We'll redeploy for an assault on the enemy left here outside the system, keep the main fleet isolated and wipe out their flanking support. Once both their flank support fleets are destroyed, we trap the the rest and exterminate their fleet" said Naynta with a reworked strategy. "Defeat in detail, once space supremacy is achieved, we land the ground troops" replied Admiral Dawson. "Regent, how quickly can your ground forces be landed?" asked Heath. "Four drops, I'll be needing landing grounds that I can defend with space to fully deploy the firing lines and artillery. I intend to draw the enemy into battle and crush them" answered Petrofski, "Captain Valdez, can you find me a secure landing zone and battlefield?" asked Petrofski to Isabella (yellow). "Requirements?" asked Captain Valdez. "A long valley with mountains to one flank and a river on the other, if there are bridges, we destroy the ones closest to our lines and leave the furthest one intact to draw the enemy in" answered Petrofski.
"What's the battle plan?" asked Heath. "Use the sound of drums to lure the enemy into our firing lines but give our ground slowly, once the feigned retreat reaches a certain point, we catch the enemy in a hail of fire and destruction. The enemy will funnel more troops into the attack in order to break our lines, at that moment, drums will be heard from their left flank, they will have to redeploy a bulk of their forces to face a threat that does not even exist. At that moment, mobile forces will cross the river and attack into the enemy flanks and pin then against our center. We will leave open one escape route to encourage them to flee, once they start to run for their lives, we pursue and kill them while they run. Ma'am, a running enemy is far easier to kill than a fighting enemy, if we completely surround them, our losses will be much higher but killing them as they run away lessens our losses considerably" answered Petrofski.
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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
Romanov reveled in the recent victories, ignoring obvious historical events of late. Thankfully his ships still used the same Operting systems as any other ships in Empire, and therefor were easily infiltrated once the assassins had located the correct fleet. Now fully armored Shade lead an infiltration team on to the ship, sulking slowly through its bowls into the beating heart where the target likely resided.
The few engineers who had bared their way had been silent dispatched, now with power cut throughout the ship and secondary backups disabled. Now the Shadows sped their advance, entering the chamber opening a shaft in the wall into a lavish dinning room.
Shade gestured to the other operatives to take out the guards standing at the room, with their gear they could of course easily see each other and as one positioned themselves as Emma took up position behind Romanov, drawing two newly constructed blade hilts, which soundlessly activated, into a magnetized blade of super compressed metal a mere 3 molecules thick. Reaching around and piercing the neck of the would be emporer she severed the head as the guards were eliminated as they moved to intercept her.
Taking the head as ordered the assassins returned to their ship and quickly fled the area. "Inform the Empress e have her prize."
Why do I still play and put money into STO?
The Foundry, and my love of Star Trek
Admiral Lot and Admiral Dawson readied their forces for battle, they had picked the most isolated traitor fleet and kept a small decoy force of holoships in place to keep the largest traitor fleet in place. The main Alliance assault would hit the enemy on the left as the other Alliance forces took up their ambush positions, Battle Fleet Omega moved forward as Admiral Dawson hailed the enemy giving them a ultimatum to surrender or be crushed like a bug. This got the enemy angry and their fleet on their left moved to engage Omega. Battle Fleet Omega opened the space part of the battle with wolf pack attacks on the enemy frigate squadrons on the edge of the enemy fleet. The traitors sent the message that their prey had arrived, "right on cue" commented Admiral Lot via secure subspace to Admiral Dawson. "Traitor reinforcements will be here in 20 minutes, ready the trap" replied Admiral Dawson. "In position ready, pull the enemy towards you" answered Naynta. "Copy that, as soon as both enemy fleets engage us, spring your attack" replied Admiral Dawson.
For 20 minutes, Battle Fleet Omega kept their distance picking off isolated groups of ships before they commenced their main advance to lure the traitors in, soon the second trap fleet had arrived and went straight into the attack hitting Omega's flanks and front. "Now" ordered Admiral Dawson before Admiral Lot's forces swept up and down from above and below snapping the jaws shut around the two trap fleets. "Show no mercy, I want to see floating debris" ordered Admiral Lot. "Voth and Dominion forces, time to bring in the big guns" ordered Admiral Dawson. It was now the rest of the Alliance fleet jumped in and opened up on the traitors with every weapon available. The traitors were overrun and wiped out in less than an hour, over 300 ships were destroyed compared to 50 Alliance vessels destroyed outright and 50 more disabled though the crews had been recovered before their ships lost core containment. This first round showed that the traitors were no push overs as the Alliance turned their attention to the enemy main fleet. The traitors defending Trasimene II charged the Alliance fleet but it was to no avail as the Alliance reduced the leaderless fleet to debris.
With the orbital space secured, the ground forces were landed as the fleet proved bombardment support to eliminate enemy airfields, supply depots and anti air positions, Alliance fighters now went after enemy supply routes, command and control centers and communication hubs as the Alliance landing ships followed the I.S.S. Tikal to their landing zones. True to form, as soon as the landing craft hit the ground, Petrofski was the first out and leading the troops to their defensive positions. The I.S.S. Tikal now returned to orbit to act as a command and control center, the rest of the landing craft from the fleet made it to the landing zones. Petrofski now started to deploy his troops at the end of a long and narrow valley, covering his left flank was a steep rock face was was soon occupied by Imperial sharpshooters and a speaker, on his right flank was a fast flowing river with rapids protecting the Alliance right covered by a large island in the middle of the rapids, this was occupied by Imperial artillery and Romulan troops. In the center, the Imperial line infantry held the center of the line with the Jem'Hadar and Klingons on the left and the Cadians covering the right of the Infantry line and speakers dug into the ground.
Petrofski had abandoned the feigned retreat plan and settled for a defensive battle as the Imperial fighters bombed and strafed three out of the four bridges, the fourth bridge was left intact. For four days there was nothing so defenses were dug and the reinforced, on the fifth day, the enemy was spotted by aerial patrol and all Alliance ground troops stood to and ready to fight. Petrofski watched the enemy movements as "Captain" Heath Layress landed with a small "captain's" guard. "The Empress has taken interest in this battle, I am here to oversee the battle and make a full report" said "Captain" Heath to Petrofski. "In a matter of hours, this will become a battlefield, I may not be able to guarantee your safety" replied Petrofski, "you also stick out like a sore thumb dressed like that" he said afterwards pointing out the captain's uniform, "Ladies, get the captain measured up for a battle dress uniform" he ordered to the field support staff. Heath left to get changed, when she returned, she was in Imperial Army Battle dress uniform and military boots. "This is not exactly my look" said Heath to Petrofski. "It's meant to be functional, not fashion" replied Petrofski as he was overseeing the artillery firing preparations. When the enemy arrived, they were exhausted after their route march and just set up camp at the other side of the valley on their side of the river, days of aerial attack had destroyed their artillery pieces and their supply lines were constantly being shot up and bombed night and day. Both sides now stared each other down across the valley as dusk became darkness, at 0430, the enemy advance across the bridge had begun and by 0730 all their troops were across and ready to advance on the Alliance lines.
"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
Trasimene II A coded message was sent from the Enteri'Is. "Petrofski, please provide coordinates for secure beam in location. I need the lie about my treachery undone by the highest authourity, the skirmish at a moon recently was meant to act as a side plan if the original plan backfired.... I'll have my crew planet side after that's done."
Why do I still play and put money into STO?
The Foundry, and my love of Star Trek
"Coordinates sent, I have a representative of the Empress with me" was the reply back, it was followed by "welcome back, good hunting?" from Petrofski as the sound of 100,000 enemy troops formed up on the Alliance side of the river. "Perfect, even the weather is on our side" he noted as the mist began to thin out, "center, drums" he ordered afterwards. The sound of drums now played across the battlefield as it echoed through the mist. The traitors sent their first wave of troops who charged up the valley yelling "Maim, kill, burn." "Artillery, nock your weapons" ordered Petrofski as he was showing Heath his fire control plans, the loaders loaded in the photon shells, "draw weapons" ordered Petrofski as the artillery set their fire coordinates. Petrofski and Heath now watched the enemy advance on their scanners before Petrofski gave the order "all artillery, loose!!!" and the artillery opened up a creeping barrage up the valley.
The first wave of the enemy advance were slowed down but they still advanced through the artillery barrages. Across the front line, Alliance officers walked up and own the lines behind their units ordering "Fire by rank" as the firing lines loosed volley after volley into the traitors. The first wave was beaten back before they reached the Alliance line as the groans of traitor wounded were heard, any who tried to retreat back to their lines were shot before they could crawl back by snipers. The survivors of the first wave had lost a full 80% of their 10,000 strong attack with whole regiments being totally erased from the face of the Trasimene II. Alliance losses were light with only several hundred wounded but stable, "here they come!!!" called out one soldiers as the traitors send a second wave of 15,000 troops to break the Alliance line with the same predictable result of being decimated by artillery and hit by the volleys of the infantry lines shooting in from the front and the flanks. The Cadian units distinguished themselves as they delivered precise volley after precise volley into the traitors. Petrofski at this point was on the front line encouraging the troops to keep fighting as Heath looked on from a command trench watching the Alliance ground forces coordinate their artillery and firing lines to flawless perfection.
Day one of the ground battle was over when the traitors withdrew to recover and lick their wounds, they had taken over 13,000 dead, with another 8,000 wounded in the space of one day, the rest were demoralized by the carnage caused by the Alliance combined arms doctrine in the battle. The Alliance had also taken losses of 15 dead and 500 wounded out of their force of 12,000 troops. "This is a butcher's yard" commented Heath seeing the carnage caused by Petrofski's artillery and small arms lines. "It'll be worse tomorrow, trust me" answered Petrofski. "Losses on our side?" asked Heath. Petrofski gave Heath the report of losses to both sides, "all this in one day" said Heath as the shock of the carnage finally kicked in. "You fleet personnel have it easy, us soldiers, we stand fighting and die fighting if we must so the innocent citizens can live but one more day" replied Petrofski, "get something to eat, not seen you eat a thing all day" he said afterwards to Heath. "I think I just lost my appetite" replied Heath. "I insist, I keep an eye on my lads the same way. I should not need to make it an order Captain" answered Petrofski.
"Sir, all KIA and wounded accounted for and evacuated" reported Medic Dawson in his report. "Good job today, keep it up Mr Dawson" replied Petrofski. "Sir" answered Medic Dawson. "And Mr Dawson, you eaten yet?" asked Petrofski. "Not yet sir" answered Medic Dawson. "Get some food down you and get some rest, you'll be having another busy day tomorrow" ordered Petrofski. "Sir" answered Medic Dawson. "Good lad" replied Petrofski as he began his rounds checking up on the troops, Heath joined him as he passed her a ration pack. "It's quite bland, you'd think army cooks would well, do better" said Heath as she got some food down her. "It's food, it's meant to keep you alive" replied Petrofski as he got some food down him. "I can see why you are loved by the troops, you lead by example and put their own well being before your own" said Heath. "If my wife heard that I put myself in mortal danger leading the troops, I would not hear the end of it for weeks, especially now" replied Petrofski. "Why?" asked Heath. "Baby daughter and a nine year old daughter" answered Petrofski, "Katerina Petrofski was born two weeks ago" he said afterwards as he showed Heath a picture of his baby girl. "Adorable, congratulations" replied Heath. "I had no idea Terran women were terrifying in labor, much scarier than a battlefield" joked Petrofski.
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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
As the sun rose on the second day of the ground battle, the Allied troops took up their firing positions and answered roll calls from their officers. Day one had been a precursor as 25,000 traitors prepared to cross the bridge, ahead of them, they sent a messenger to the Allied lines, "the Pah Wraith respects your strength, you all serve a false empress who only wishes to turn the Empire into the weak Federation. Throw down your arms and surrender your souls to the Pah Wraith, we'll make your deaths quick" said the traitor messenger. "Troops, what do we think on this?" asked Petrofski to the troops, it was followed by 12,000 troops yelling "no surrender!!!" followed by a soldier shooting the traitor dead on the spot. "I guess that answers that" joked Petrofski to a sea of cheers from the troops. In the traitor camp, General Flaminius called his commanders weak fools for noT overrunning a force that they vastly outnumbered and ordered the attack in. Back in the Allied defensive line, lookouts reported a massive column of enemy troops advancing.
"Infantry, focus your fire on the head of the column. Artillery, fire into the front and flanks of the column. Let's rain some death down on these animals" ordered Petrofski as he coordinated the artillery and infantry, "Captain, here's our positions and here is the enemy, I need you to coordinate fleet support and call in airstrikes on the rear of the column, keep pushing them into the kill zone" he ordered afterwards. "Sir" answered Heath and she got to work calling in airstrikes on the traitors. The traitors pushed on but were stopped dead by a combination of infantry, artillery and air power as fire tore into the column from all sides. "Keep it up" ordered Petrofski as Allied troops kept a constant wall of fire going down the valley. What few enemy troops who made it to the Allied lines were soon mowed down as the column was wiped off the face of the planet with a few survivors trying to rout, they did not get far before they were shot down by Allied fighters. Flaminius now sent a fourth wave of troops at the Allies but they met the same fate as the rest, they were wiped out by artillery and infantry as Allied fighter strafed and bombed them remorselessly. With traitor losses now becoming critical, Flaminius threw the rest of his troops across the bridge and watched as they began their advance up the valley. Once the rear of the assault column was over the bridge, Petrofski signaled Shade and her teams to remove the enemy enemy commander and bring his head back to allied lines.
Petrofski now judged it the right time to deploy his mobile reserves straight into the battle as drums sounded from the Allied left, the traitors confused at where the noise was coming from turned part of their forces around to face their right. This was what Petrofski was waiting for as the enemy column weakened as from the air, Allied bombers beamed mobile bridges over the river as the tanks formed up to cross from the Allied right. "Now, but remember, leave one escape route open I want them running for their lives" ordered Petrofski. With the enemy now trying to redeploy under fire to face two fronts, the Imperial tanks crossed the river and opened up a hail of fire on the confused traitors. The traitors soon broke and ran to avoid being trapped but their escape route was soon under constant air attack as they were pursued for four days and wiped out to a man. Trasimene II had been secured but at the cost of 2,000 wounded and 200 KIA on the Allied side. Traitor losses were 98,000 KIA with 2,000 attempting to surrender. The traitor survivors were shot on the spot since the Allies were not accepting surrenders with both Flaminius' and Romanov's heads mounted on pike suck into the ground.
Heath smiled at the total defeat inflicted on the traitors by the Allies and soon INN was on the now quiet battlefield reporting the victory. By week's end, all of the Trasimene system was in Allied hands. "Never corner bears" joked Petrofki. "Never corner a pack of wolves" countered Heath smiling. "They can lash out and kill you" answered Petrofski smiling. "The Empress will be very proud of her loyal troops, they showed absolute calm and coolness under pressure and refused to give an inch" said Heath. "It's called iron discipline and tough training, of all the volunteers that apply for army service, only 40% pass training. The training these troops get has a 60% fail rate, those who failed to make the grade are rotated back to the start of course to try again. I don't expect to try their best, I expect them to do their best" replied Petrofski. "And you only get the best and toughest, very efficient" answered Heath. "I won't be dropping the standards" replied Petrofski. "Our Cadian allies fought with distinction, I hear they lost their homeworld" said Heath. "They're fighting to avenge it, I would recommend they be offered a new homeworld and a place in the Empire, a people who are raised from birth to be soldiers, it helps us and them. I'll introduce you to their people's leader" replied Petrofski before they went to see the Cadian troops. "Regent, your troops performed well" said Castellan Andraxos. "Captain Heath, meet Lady Castellan Anastasia Andraxos, leader of the Cadain people" said Petrofski to Heath introducing her to Andraxos.
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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
Life signs had been detected by an Imperial patrol near a cave entrance, when Imperial troops went to investigate, they were fired at but no one was hurt. The patrol called it in and Petrofski and Heath led a patrol into the cave, a beam of plasma hit the wall next to them but no one was hit, "Imperial military, this to the holdouts in the cave, lay down your weapons and let us in" asked Petrofski. "Not after what happened to our people" answered a voice from the cave. "We're not those people, we've liberated this world" replied Heath. "We don't believe you" answered the voice. "They're scared" said Naynta. "Innocent people, let's tread carefully here" suggested Petrofski. "Agreed" answered Heath before Petrofski called up a squad of Remans to take point. "We're sending some people, they're not the same species that nearly wiped out your tribe. We need to trust each other so if you lower your weapons, we'll lower ours. Do we have an agreement?" asked Petrofski. "Come in with your weapons lowered" answered the voice.
The patrol went into the cave and as per the agreement, both sides lowered their weapons. "Thank the gods, the liberators are here" said a Terran female to the people hiding in the cave. The patrol were treated like saviors who soon got to work checking everyone in the cave. "We were dragged here against our will by those monsters, when we were told to exterminate these people with us, we protected them instead" said the Terran female pointing to the Terran children and Xenos civilians they had hidden. "Naynta, is she telling the truth?" asked Heath. "She is, no deception" answered Naynta. "Where are those monsters?" asked the Terran female. "Dead, most are just smears on the battlefield" answered Petrofski. "We saw the way it was going so we hid this planet's surviving population to avoid a genocide, we'll show you which caves" replied the Terran female. "Can we trust you?" asked Heath. "You've got a Betazoid with you, if I was going to lure you into a trap, she would know. I assure you that it is not a trap" answered the Terran female. "Show us" asked Heath. "Come on, gather everyone up" answered the Terran female.
True to her word, her information checked out as Terran women and children were found protecting the native peoples hidden in the caves. After they were evacuated, the Terran women were questioned and they fully cooperated as the Children and Xenos were treated by medical personnel at the Allied base camp, "this complicates matters" commented Petrofski afterwards. "Victims of circumstance?" asked Heath. "I'm leaning that way" answered Petrofski. "They're innocent, their thoughts make that very clear" added Naynta. "They could be of use to us, we have to use the carrot approach here, the stick is not the best way to go about it" pointed out Petrofski.
"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
A normie goes "Oh, what's this?"
An otaku goes "UwU, what's this?"
A furry goes "OwO, what's this?"
A werewolf goes "Awoo, what's this?"
"It's nothing personal, I just don't feel like I've gotten to know a person until I've sniffed their crotch." "We said 'no' to Mr. Curiosity. We're not home. Curiosity is not welcome, it is not to be invited in. Curiosity...is bad. It gets you in trouble, it gets you killed, and more importantly...it makes you poor!"
Passion and Serenity are one.
I gain power by understanding both.
In the chaos of their battle, I bring order.
I am a shadow, darkness born from light.
The Force is united within me.
Signal received, was just in the middle of putting holes in the sides of ships with 20th century warships. Naval duels between battleships are just epic (world of warships)
"The meaning of victory is not to merely defeat your enemy but to destroy him, to completely eradicate him from living memory, to leave no remnant of his endeavours, to crush utterly his achievement and remove from all record his every trace of existence. From that defeat no enemy can ever recover. That is the meaning of victory."
-Lord Commander Solar Macharius
"This leaves us with a problem" commented Naynta. "Officially, there are no survivors" said Heath. "So what do we do with these Terrans?" asked Petrofski. "Exile?" asked Naynta. "Somewhere in the Delta Quadrant, I hear there are new colonies being set up" answered Petrofski. All then turned their attention to the captured Terrans, Heath calmly looked each Terran in the eye and told them "It's only because of you act of compassion that you're all alive. Remember that. And tell no one where you are from. As far anyone knows there were no survivors among the traitors of your world, and it will remain that way. I am sparing you for the sake of your children. No one is born knowing how to hate. Make sure they never learn how." The Terrans said nothing before Petrofski told them "One word of this and it won't be pleasant for you, we don't ever want to see your faces anywhere in the Alpha and Beta Quadrants again. You will live out your days on a remote colony of our choosing."
"Regent, sedate the little ones so they don't hear this" suggested Heath. The suggestion was carried out and then the adults were agonized until they passed out, all the Terran survivors were then loaded onto a ship on route to the Delta Quadrant. "It's time to leave this god forsaken rock, everyone board the landing craft" ordered Petrofski. Once all troops had been accounted for, Heath boarded the landing craft before Petrofski true to form was the last to board. The native Xenos cheered the Alliance troops off before they got back to rebuilding their lives. When the troops arrived back on the Alliance ships, the fleet set off for their next target, the strategically important system of Prandium. Aboard the Los Lobos, Heath called Petrofski in after she had got changed, "Good job down there, your report is most thorough" said Heath. "Ma'am, that captain you sent down logged everything in great detail. I did have to draft her though" replied Petrofski. "Next time, give me warning when you are going to draft me. Your troops fought with distinction down there, I'm resting you and your troops for now so you can all rest and recover" answered Heath. "Ma'am, I don't follow" replied Petrofski. "I was down there during the battle, that captain I sent was me and I saw what I needed to see" answered Heath smiling. "We were just doing our jobs" replied Petrofski. "I know, I'll talk to the troops and send them my regards myself" answered Heath. "They may be a bit rowdy, I'm warning you in advance" replied Petrofski. "You and your lads have earned my respect, seeing them in action was an interesting experience" answered Heath. "Thanks for putting up with being ordered around, without those airstrikes, we would not be having this conversation" replied Petrofski.
Unknown location, beyond the galaxy edge (MU red)
"Trasimene system lost, Romanov is dead" reported a traitor officer. "Expected, he let himself fall into a simple trap. Him and his troops were expendable anyway" answered a Terran male. "600 ships lost and 100,000 ground troops lost, the Imperials and their Alliance are not taking prisoners" reported the officer. "Good, no loose ends" answered the Terran male. "Alliance forces are advancing on the Prandium system" reported the officer. "As predicted, watch their course and expect trouble from above and below" replied the Terran male. "Sir" answered the officer before he left. The Terran male then tapped a communication terminal and activated his allies on Betazed (red), "I want Kestrella Lot brought to me alive and unharmed, I don't care how many of you die in the process but get me the target" were the orders. The Terran male then sent a secured message to his people on Bajor (red) to destroy the Imperial hospital working on the cure for the plague, orders were "I want that cure and all data concerning it destroyed, kill everything in that building." Cells were also activated all over the Empire as attacks on Imperial bases and civilian targets commenced killing hundreds. On Bajor, Doctor Wren and her team found themselves along with a company of Imperial troops under siege from insurgents. They held out for two days before the siege was broken and the insurgents forced to run to the hills under pressure from loyal Imperial forces.
On Betazed (red), the traitors watched Kestrella's movement for several days as they planned their move. What they had in mind was to overwhelm their target with numbers. The attack was sprung with traitors opening fire on Kestrella to keep her pinned down while the rest moved into a better firing position, Kestrella killed the decoys as predicted but was shot in the back by a phaser set to heavy stun. "We have the package, extracting now" reported the traitor commander before they beamed Kestrella into a holding cell aboard their ship. The ship then left orbit and made for the galactic edge at slipstream, they eventually arrived at their base beyond the galactic barrier and put Kestrella into a very secure cell with a camera mounted looking in. Aboard the Los Lobos, a call came in from Jodi (red), "Kestrella is missing, she failed to arrive home last night" said Jodi to Heath via secure subspace. At the traitor base, Kestrella was woken up by a bright light and told "you cannot escape, if you attempt to escape, this happens" as an agony field was activated, "I bet you are wondering why you can't hear my thoughts, I'll answer that, I suppressed your abilities with this wonderful drug. "Enjoy your stay" said a Terran male. Soon another prisoner was brought in and thrown into a cell, it was Trianna (red) who said to the Terran male, "I'll kill you, father." "I'd love to see you try, you betrayed me" answered the Terran male who soon revealed his identity, it was Valdez (red). Back on Brea III (prime), Valdez (prime) got the news and after asking Trianna (prime) to babysit her nephew, got his fleet ready and recalled Trianna (yellow) and Orderly Dawson (prime) to duty. Isoisa (red) also went with them. The Romulan Star Union then contacted Heath and told her of the abduction of a civilian by operatives from the Red reality, Valdez (prime) was going to war and he would not stop until he got his daughter back.
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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
Unknown Location beyond the Galactic edge (MU red)
"Tell me how to get past the security for your sister" demanded Valdez (red) to Kestrella. "No" answered Kestrella, with that response, Valdez (red) turned the agony field on in Trianna's (red) cell. "Give me the answer" demanded Valdez (red). "No" replied Kestrella. "You will tell me in time, you are not getting out of here alive" answered Valdez (red). "You won't" replied Kestrella. "Trianna, you will help me break Alliance codes" said Valdez (red) to Trianna (red). "When hell freezes over" remarked Trianna (red), with that Valdez (red) turned the agony field on in Kestrella's cell. "You're proving nothing, you'll die here" said Trianna (red). "It's time to make a call" replied Valdez (red). "She won't give in" said Trianna (red). "We'll see" replied Valdez (red) as he put a call through via subspace.
"Heath Layress, the Federation w**** of Bajor herself. You're sitting on my throne" said Valdez (red) to Heath via subspace. "What do you want? I suspect you are behind the recent spate of violence against non-Terrans and your own people" replied Heath. "Abdicate or someone close to you has a very bad day, I also have another hostage" answered Valdez (red). "They better be alive and unharmed" replied Heath. Valdez (red) then walked away from the camera revealed both Trianna (red) and Kestrella in agony fields in their cells, "Fatal error" said Heath. "Try it, you don't know where I am and you cannot trace my signal so don;t bother. Give me what I want or those fields get stronger" replied Valdez (red), "I don't know how long Betazoids can withstand it for" he said afterwards before closing the channel. Aboard the Los Lobos, Heath showed her commanders the face of the enemy. "We need to find them and get a rescue mission planned and ready to move" advised Petrofski. "I'm not leaving my sister with him, I'm coming along with you" said Naynta. "As am I" added Jodi (red). "Count me and my crew in" said Captain Isabella Valdez (yellow).
Imperial border Badlands (MU red)
Battle Group Scythe were escorted in and then escorted to the front line, "Dad, we'll get her back" said Trianna (yellow). "If the people who abducted Red try and stop us, we're not taking prisoners" replied Valdez (prime). "We may need a few for questioning" suggested Nydon. "He does raise a good point, means more intel for us" said Trianna (yellow). "We'll be sharing intel with the empress, we're only here by her graces so remember that" replied Valdez (prime). "Best behavior, copy that" answered Trianna (yellow). "I'll be needing someone to come with me when I meet the empress, Anna, you're with me" replied Valdez (prime). "Yes dad" answered Trianna (yellow). When Battle Group Scythe and it's escorts linked up with the Royal Fleet, Valdez ordered Scythe to join the advanced cloaked as he and Trianna (boarded a shuttle and left the Harbinger. The shuttle then cloaked as it took off and set a course for the Los Lobos, it was met by Heath, Naynta and Imperial security when it landed. "We need to talk" said Heath to Valdez (prime). "My daughter is missing" said Valdez (prime). "Kestrella Lot was abducted from Betazed three days ago, your daughter is being held alongside her" replied Heath. "Any idea who's holding them?" asked Valdez (prime). "You, more accurately your red counterpart" answered Heath. "I thought he was erased" replied Valdez (prime). "We found some records, the one that was erased was a clone" answered Heath. "Then we have a serious problem" replied Valdez (prime).
Unknown Location, beyond galactic edge (MU red)
"What are you doing?" asked Kestrella to Trianna (red). "Looking for a way of getting out of this cell, we need to get a message out telling the Empire where we are" answered Trianna (red) as she studied the cell in close detail. "No point, even if we get out of these cells, we're trapped anyway" replied Kestrella. "Don't give up, there is always a way out. It's a case of just finding it" answered Trianna (red). "Easy in theory" replied Kestrella. "We need to stay strong, no matter how much it may cost us. My father will try and break us but we must not give up" answered Trianna (red). "We need to stay alive" replied Kestrella. "Agreed and we need to get out of these cells" answered Trianna (red). "Not with that camera watching us" replied Kestrella. "Then we act intelligently, focus on staying alive and unbroken" answered Trianna (red). "Feign cooperation, that should give you access to a control room" suggested Kestrella. "I can then send a covert SOS via Imperial communication beacons covertly" replied Trianna (red).
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 room's sole occupant lay sprawled on the floor, the eyes were open looking unfocused at the ceiling. An observer might have thought them dead except for the rhythmic moving of their chest breathing.
The same thought repeated through their mind.
You'll be safer over there, they thought mockingly. Nothing will happen to you there. Three months I've been here and yet again another war has broken out. This place is just packed with xenophobic genocidal madmen. How have they not wiped themselves out by now? We really don't have to worry about them invading, given a few years they'll have blown themselves back to a pre-warp culture...
The door chime rang interrupting their thoughts.
Oh let's see what new fresh hell this holds.
"Enter."
They heard the door open and close. Footsteps came close and a person came into sight looking down at them with a puzzled look on their face.
"Are you alright?"
"I'm fine Vaylin. I'm stuck in another universe, wars constantly erupting around me, and I can't leave this room because no one is supposed to know I'm here. What could possibly be wrong?"
"You obviously have better things to do, I can come back."
"I will strangle you with my braid if you try to leave."
"That would be amusing to see you try. Never the less, I have some information for you that you might find interesting. "
"*Sigh* What do you have?"
"We have picked up a refugee who claims to be from your universe."
"Really?"
"She's right outside. Shall I bring her in?"
"Yes."
The door opened and the person came in. The first lady rolled over on to stomach.
"Paris?"
"Yes Empress?" She said timidly.
"Empress?"
"You do look like her."
She stood up.
"Paris, don't let all this fool you. It's me."
Paris' face lit up. Tears started running down her face.
"Rear Admiral?"
"Come here my psychotic little Trill."
Paris ran over to her and threw her arms around her.
"Where have you been?"
"I was kidnapped and tortured," she said quietly.
"By them?" She said looking angrily at Vaylin.
"No, not them. They're actually the ones who rescued me. But tell me what happened to you, the ship? I tried finding you but they said the Los Lobos didn't exist anymore."
Paris looked up at her.
"After you disappeared, we were called to report back to shipyard. When we got there, we were told that we we're being reassigned. They didn't give a reason, and when tried to find why we were all arrested. In the confusion, several of us decided to hide and sneak away. Tru and T'pranng distracted them so I could get away. I don't know what happened to them. I heard a rumor that you had been seen over here. It's taken me so long to find you..."
Heath stroked the back of her head as she broke down.
"It's okay," she looked up. "Thank you Vaylin."
She smiled.
"I'm happy to help. I do have some more news. Apparently our forces have captured Franklin Drake."
"What? How?"
"It seems that he was betrayed by his current underlings and left behind here."
"That doesn't make sense. How does someone like that get outsmarted by someone stupid to attack a vastly superior power?"
"Arrogance, perhaps? He was 'questioned' all the information he provided checked out. As did the bioscans we did of him. I have a copy of them here if you'd like?"
"Yes please."
She took the offed PADD. Paris let go of her and looked through it with her.
"It does look like it's correct..."
"No, there's something wrong," Paris said.
They both looked at her.
"His quantum signature. It's off."
"How can you tell?" Vaylin asked.
"For obvious reasons, I've spent a lot of time studying them to tell the difference between us and you. I know our signature and his is different from ours."
"You mean he's not from the prime universe?"
"Oh he is, but not our version of it."
There was silence for a minute, before Heath went over to the table and picked one of the many PADDS there and brought it to her.
"Here, compare these."
"They match."
"Who's readings were those?" Vaylin asked.
"The Empress and the rest of her crew. He's from their timeline."
"Why? And why is he here?"
"Either they want you to think that you've got him so you'll stop looking... Or he wanted to get caught..."
"Vaylin to security. Erect a level ten containment field around the detention block. Nothing in or out until I get there."
She looked at them.
"I could use your help. You've been studying him and his organization since you came on board. That makes you the expert on him and what he may be up to."
"I could use the diversion. How about you Paris?"
"Like I'm letting you out of my sight again? Oh..."
"What?"
"I love your braid. Can I play with it later?"
He sat in his cell. Bruised, battered the marks of his "questioning" still fresh on his skin.
Yet, he was smiling.
It was the smile of someone confident in their own success.
"Hello..."
He turned towards the voice.
The women in Starfleet uniforms looked at him from across the room.
"Hello ladies. What can I do for you?"
"What did they do to you?" Asked the blonde.
"Nothing I wasn't expecting. Actually once I gave them the information they wanted they lost interest in me. I think I'm rather insulted. But you two, you disappeared months ago."
"We've been held here," answered the brunette.
"You were supposed to be holding the First lady as a hostage."
"It's the other way around. She's kept us prisoner."
"She said it's to keep people from knowing she's actually here," the blonde finished.
"You shouldn't you told him that," the brunette hissed. "You saw what she did to those other two."
"What other two?"
They were silent.
"You wouldn't happen to mean the two identical females that had the misfortune to get caught after they were less than kind to the first lady and her copy."
"She screamed for days," the blonde said shuddering. "The reason she stopped was because they took them out."
"When did that happen?"
"After about a week," the brunette answered. "We didn't ask. We were just thankful for the silence."
"Well, I must say that you two look very well for prisoners. Clean, well fed, no signs of abuse..."
"Like you, we told her what she wanted to know," the blonde admitted.
"Did you?"
"You didn't hear that screaming," the brunette countered. "Or how cold she was when she did that to her. There was no doubt she would done the same thing to us."
"Besides..."
"Besides?"
"When we were told to take her, no one mentioned that she had been tortured. I mean roughing her up was one thing... but we're Starfleet. We don't torture people."
"I'm afraid that they do."
They all turned at the new voice.
Heath, Paris and Vaylin had entered the room and stood off to the side of both cells.
"You'll find that there is very little that they won't do if they think you're a threat to them," Heath continued.
"Not to us," he corrected. "To the Federation. And I must admit you had me fooled First Lady. We were convinced that you were in the custody of these two be held somewhere."
"Nice to know that you aren't perfect."
"True. We thought Ford was being agreeable because we had you. He's just been playing us. But this is an added bonus."
"What do you mean?"
"You are a threat to the fabric of reality, but we needed you alive to control Ford. So I came over here and let myself get captured to get within range so I could kill the other you."
Vaylin's eyes narrowed.
"With her dead, it would end the temporal threat along with throwing the Empire into chaos. No one else believes enough in her reforms to carry on with them. Their alliance would fall apart and they would cease to be a threat."
"You think so little of us?" Vaylin asked.
"Even her own wife hasn't fully embraced her ideals. At the slightest threat she invaded the Federation. This time it'll be all out war and we'll final have a reason to deal with you once and for all."
"Nice speech," said Vaylin as she tapped on the controls of his cell.
"What are doing?" Heath asked.
"Since we know his plan, we don't need to keep him as he is a active threat to the Empress. I'm venting the air out of his cell, he can die in the vacuum."
"Why is he still smiling?" Paris asked.
"Because I know something you don't," he said over the hiss of the air being pumped out.
His skin began turning dark.
Vaylin again typed quickly erecting another containment field around the cell.
"Oh that won't do you any good."
His skin began flaking away turning into a cloud around him.
Paris took a tricoder and scanned him.
"Oh God. Nanites! He's made of nanites!"
"How? We scanned him!"
"A little bit of Borg tech combined with cloaking technology hidden inside my bones," the now distorted voice answered. The now empty uniform dissolved away leaving a vaguely humanoid shaped cloud standing there.
"That's better. Now for the sake of the Federation, everything on this ship is going to die. Unfortunately, that includes you two ladies as well."
"Why us?"
"We didn't do anything!"
"You did cooperate with them and I can't have you telling anyone about this."
The cloud launched itself at the containment field. It sparked constantly.
"It's adapting to the field!" Paris yelled. "It'll break out soon!"
"Evacuate the block!" Vaylin ordered heading for the door. "Seal the entire area."
"Wait! You can't leave us!"
"Please!"
Heath hesitated, then ran over to their cell. She turned off the field.
"Go! Run!"
They ran across the room as the field collapsed. Tendrils of the cloud whipped towards them. They dove through the door as the next field came up.
"Rotate the shield frequency randomly," Paris ordered. "It'll slow him down."
"But not stop him," Vaylin said. "Divert as much power as possible to the emitters. We need time to figure it out how to kill that."
She looked at Heath.
"That was dangerous and stupid."
"Starfleet doesn't leave anyone behind."
"Before do something like that again, look how close you came to not making it," Vaylin said pointing at the end of her braid.
Heath looked down. The band that held the end of her braid together was missing. Looking back into the room she saw the broken band on the floor. The nanites swarmed over it devouring it.
Security teams were stationed at the entrance to the room. Several heavy weapons had been set up aimed at the door. They were ready to fire on anything that tried to come out of that room. The deck had been cleared as a precaution and Further down the hall, Heath held up the end of her braid as Paris ran her tricoder over it.
"No sign of those nanites," she reported. "You got very lucky that your band broke when it touched it."
"Thank the Prophets for cheap hair bands," Heath sighed.
"Still," Vaylin said taking out her dagger. "Just to make sure we should cut off the bottom foot of it of your braid and vaporize it."
"The hell you will!" Heath clutched it to her chest.
"Safety first."
"If she was contaminated, they would have shown up by now," Paris offered.
Vaylin looked at them then put the knife away.
"At the first sign of contamination, off it comes." She turned towards the guards. "What's it doing now?"
"It's spreading over everything in there," they reported. "The floor, panels, walls. It's covering everything."
Vaylin shook her head.
"Not covering, eating."
"Ma'am?"
"It's eating everything in there and then replicating more of themselves. If it gets out it'll eat the whole ship."
"In the time it took to get everything set up here it's volume has increased by a factor of ten," Paris reported. "Nanites assimilate at an exponential rate."
"So if it gets out, how long do we have?" Heath asked.
"It'll eat the ship in thirty minutes."
"So how do we kill it?" Asked Vaylin.
"His mind is still controlling them. If we could disrupt that..."
Vaylin's comm badge chirped.
"Vaylin here."
"In the interest of full disclosure," the familiar but distorted voice spoke. "I can leave anytime I want, I'm just not ready yet. Oh and first lady, that hair band of yours was an interesting appetizer. I look forward to the full entrée."
Vaylin cut the link.
"That wasn't creepy at all," Heath said.
"It did give us an insight into his thinking," Vaylin said.
"How so?"
"He wants to destroy the ship, but he wants you gone more," Paris finished. "Can we use that against him."
"Use her as bait to lure him into a trap?"
"Like onto a shuttle, then shoot it in to a star?"
"But how do we get her off the shuttle?"
"Do we need to?"
"You do know I'm right here?" Heath interrupted.
"Shh... Bait shouldn't talk.."
"Listen you..."
Heath's response was lost as the cloud renewed it assault on the shield.
"He's trying to match the shield frequency," Paris said looking at her tricoder. "It won't last long."
"Vaylin to bridge. Prepare to erect a level ten field around this section of the deck. Scramble it's frequency at random."
"We can't keep giving up area to it," Paris cautioned. "The bigger it gets the stronger it gets."
"That's only if we can't kill it," she Drew her phaser. "How long until it gets through?"
"About twenty seconds."
"Everyone, weapons ready, wide beam. On my mark fire."
The shield on the door flared then vanished.
"Fire!"
A torrent of weapon fire struck the cloud. Scores of nanites flared up and burned away...then they stopped glowing and burning.
"What happened?"
"Borg technology," Heath said. "They adapted to it!"
"Fall back! Fall back!"
The order came too late as the cloud launched forward swarming over the first line of guards.
"Raise shield!"
The air flashed as the wall came up. Behind it figures writhe on the floor as they were eaten away before them.
"Hmm... interesting... Holographic troops" The voice said. "Not to be cliche, but they do taste like chicken."
"You sick TRIBBLE..."
"Now, now. That's no way for the president's wife to talk. Think of the children."
"Why you..."
"Look out!"
Along the walls behind the shield black lines crept forward. On the floor a few made their way under the wall.
"Everyone out. Seal the deck." Vaylin ordered.
The cloud watched them run for the lifts.
"Take your time," it called. "I'm not going anywhere."
The lift opened on the bridge where the anxious crew poured out.
"How did he get around the shield?" Vaylin demanded.
"When he charged forward, he must have sent those tendrils into the wall and floor," Paris explained. "He must have gotten into the EPS conduits."
"He can get anywhere on the ship. Paris, Scan for him."
"Yes ma'am," came from the science station.
Paris looked over and saw herself sitting there.
"Oh there are two of me."
"Four actually," Vaylin corrected.
"Four?"
"We'll talk about it later. Where is he?"
Paris frowned at the reading.
"That's odd. He hasn't moved. He's still on the same deck."
"Why?" Heath asked. "He can go anywhere."
"This doesn't make sense," Vaylin said thinking. "He has the advantage. Why doesn't he use it?"
As if on cue, her badge chirped.
She looked down at it as they all gathered around. She touched it.
"Vaylin here."
"It seems that we have a problem," said the voice.
"And what's that?"
"As I said, I came here to kill the Empress. But it turns out that she's not on board. And with me here, it's very unlikely that she'll come back on board. So my entire mission is a bust."
"My heart bleeds for you."
"So I'm going to leave."
"You think you can do all this and just leave?"
"Let's be honest. There isn't anything that you can do to stop me. But there is one thing that I want before I leave."
"And what's that?"
"I want the first lady."
They all looked at her.
"Why?"
"Because she's half of the temporal bomb. With her gone that threat is neutralized."
"Be serious. If she dies here, her husband will come charging over here."
"True. But not if she gives herself up willingly."
"What?"
"Sacrificing herself to save others would be a great Noble deed that he might not want revenge for, but with the right prodding he would."
"And why would I sacrifice myself?" Heath asked.
"Because there are 2200 people on board. And I can destroy this ship before you could get any significant amount of them off. Are you willing to sacrifice their lives just to save yours?"
There was silence.
"I'll expect you down here in the next five minutes. After that I start wandering around the ship. This time, it won't be holograms that I eat."
"You can't go!"
"I have to Paris."
"I only just found you!"
"I can't let him kill everyone else just to get to me."
"But I..."
"As much as I appreciate your willingness to die to save my crew," Vaylin started. "Perhaps we can come up with a plan for killing it instead."
"I'm very open to suggestions," Heath agreed.
"Maybe blow it out into space. Increase the air pressure on the deck then blow a hole in the hull and vent them outside."
"It might not get all of them," Paris said. "The one's in the floor and walls would still be there. What if we sent a feedback pulse through the EPS conduits?"
"They would explode and incinerate almost everything on the deck," Vaylin said frowning. "That's a lot of damage."
"As opposed to it eating the entire ship?"
"True... But it still may not kill them all."
"What if we did both?"
They all looked at Heath.
"Vent them then burn the rest?"
"That could work," Paris thought.
"But how do you one, stop them from falling back on to the ship? And two, get them to stand still long enough for us to do this?"
"You could use a shuttle," the blonde former prisoner said quietly.
"What?"
"When you vent them, collect them in a shuttle then destroy it. Like send it in to the nearest star."
"I do like that idea," Vaylin said nodding. "We'll use a runabout and use it's tractor beam to pull them in. But again how do we get them to not suspect anything?"
"By giving him what he wants, me."
"He'll kill you!" Paris protested.
"Then you better be faster than he is."
"How are you not going to get sucked out when we blow the hull?"
Heath thought for a second.
"Do you have a magnetic clamp nearby?"
"I can get one," Vaylin said. "But at the pressure that we need to use to make sure it gets blown out, you won't be able to hold on to it."
"I have an idea, it's just going to hurt a lot. But it's better than the alternative."
"Alright then. We just need a pilot willing to risk their life for this crazy plan."
"I'll do it."
They looked at the blonde again.
"I'll fly it."
"Why?" Her companion asked.
"Because we're Starfleet. And... I owe you. You saved us from that thing down there. You wouldn't be here, hell we wouldn't be here if we hadn't..."
"What's your name?"
"Lt. Cassandra Palmer. She's Lt. Raven Patel."
"Well Lt. It's your time to be a hero. Let's get moving. We only have a minute or so left."
The cloud of tiny machines that had been a person hovered in the air.
This form does have its drawbacks, it thought. No real physical contact with other beings. No longer really being human...
Although, it's not without it's advantages. The seeing in multiple directions meant no one could ever sneak up on him although it did take a little getting used to. Another minor one was the absolute sense of time, which told him that time was up.
I really thought she'd be here. Oh well I guess I have to...
The lift door opened.
His target was on her knees in the there kneeling on the floor.
"You're late."
"I spent the last five minutes trying to figure out how to kill you."
"No doubt. Any success?"
Her eyes narrowed.
" If I had, I wouldn't be here."
"Perhaps. Why are you on your knees?"
"Like I said, I spent all that time and I didn't have time to pray. Before you decide to do this, may I have a few seconds to do so?"
"I don't see why not."
"Thank you."
"I'm not the monster you think me."
"Have you looked in the mirror?"
"You are wasting time."
"Do you promise to leave these people alone?"
"I have you. I have no reason to harm them."
"Alright."
She folded her hands together and bowed her head.
"That's the signal. Do it."
" Despite what I must do, I feel no ill will towards you."
The kneeling figure didn't speak. It brought it's arm up.
"I'll try to make this as painless as possible."
Heath felt her ears pop from the change in pressure.
Her only thought was, this is going to suck.
Behind him the far bulkhead disappeared.
"What?"
The floating mass was pulled violently back away from her by the out gassing.
Why? It thought. She'll be killed as well.
Indeed, she was also yanked off her knees by the out rushing air, but she came to a sudden stop in the lift doorway with a scream if pain.
In the chaos it saw the magnetic clamp on the floor that she had been sitting on top of. And around that clamp she had tied her braid to anchor her in place. She now wrapped her hands around it and pulled herself back in to the lift.
"This won't save you. Now I have a reason to kill them all."
Heath wasn't listening as she braced one foot on the lift wall and hit the emergency button with the heel of her shoe.
It was aware of multiple things. Being blown out into space, the emergency blast doors closing around the lift, and the sudden sparking then ignition all around it.
I underestimated them, it thought. I won't make that mistake again. I...
It found itself inside another smaller ship. It heard voices shouting:
"Let's go."
"Not yet."
"We have to go!"
"Almost..."
"Hurry!"
"Now!"
It saw the two from the detention block at the controls.
"I really should have gotten rid of you two first."
"Too bad freakshow."
The ship began to move as they were beamed away.
It moved towards the controls but was stopped by another field.
These shields are getting tiresome... what? The ship lurched as it went to warp. What are...
His unvoiced question was answered as the systems star grew rapidly.
Well played, it thought. But I'll be bac...
The runabout hit the star and exploded.
On the bridge the two from the runabout reappeared.
"Well done," Vaylin congratulated. "Mind you if you had try to fly away, we would have shot you down."
"I figured that," Cassandra answered. She turned to her friend. "Why did you come with me?"
"Where you go I go," Raven replied. "*Sigh* Why do I have to love such an idealistic idiot?"
"Good taste."
Vaylin turned her back on the two as door to the lift opened. The blast doors inside were scorched and still warm to the touch. She walked over and entered the unlock code. There was a thud from inside as they opened.
She looked down at Heath laying on the floor.
"Are you alright?"
"The doors closed on my skirt. I've been hanging there."
"Burned off the back of it as well."
Heath's legs were now visible from the thigh down in the back.
"Oh damnit. I really liked this dress."
She sat up as Paris came in and hugged her
" Ow... Careful, my head's sore."
Vaylin knelt down next to her.
"I appreciate that you were willing to sacrifice your self to save everyone. You have my thanks and respect."
She offered her hand.
Heath took it and shook her hand.
"Thank you. How are you going to explain the damage?"
"I'll let you do that. It was your idea."
"Thanks. Paris, can you get this clamp off so I can get up."
"Yes ma'am."
"They tied it on there so it would hold you in place and wouldn't come off," Vaylin said pulling out her dagger again. "It'll be easier if I just sliced it off."
"THE HELL YOU WILL!" Paris yelled surprising them both. She released the clamp from the floor and picked it up.
"This saved her life. No one is touching it. I'll unravel it."
The two looked at her nervously.
"Okay then," Vaylin said slowly. "So what about those two? We don't have a detention block anymore."
"Hey you two," Heath addressed them. "Do I have to worry about you two trying to attack me or anyone else?"
They shook their heads.
"No ma'am," they chorused.
"Then your coming with me. Maybe new eyes along with Paris's info will help give us a new insight into things."
"Pity you couldn't have saved some of that thing and questioned it," Vaylin said sheathing her dagger. "It could have been useful."
"That was a warning of far they were willing to go," Heath shuddered. "Let it stay dead."
Above the surface of the star, a lone nanites drifted down. The only one that had manage to adapt to the conditions near the star, it touched the surface then sank below it.
"I think therefore I am. I am therefore I hate...Layress ...You...will...be... like...us..."
"I see you've decided to cooperate, you will give me access to all Imperial systems and their ship prefix codes" said Valdez (red) as Trianna (red) was put into a chair, "watch her like a hawk" her ordered to the guards afterwards before he left the control room to go and interrogate Kestrella. Kestrella just told Valdez (red) "My sisters are coming for you, you have no idea who you've angered." "Let them come, all three of you will be joining your mother" replied Valdez (red). "You're a dead man walking, just wait until my sisters get hold of you" answered Kestrella. "We'll see" replied Valdez (red) as he activated the agony field and left the room. In the control room, Trianna (red) managed to get a signal out without being detected before she was returned to her cell.
I.S.S. Los Lobos
Valdez (prime) took a seat at the table along with the other commanders, "Mr Valdez's daughter is one of the prisoners, we may not like what we hear" said Heath, "Mr Valdez, with full clarity please" she asked afterwards. "
"My counterpart wanted those two specifically, they are only alive because they are useful to him. My daughter, he'll try and coerce into helping him by making Ms Lot suffer and Ms Lot, she knows how to get close to you Regent Iodokar and that's useful information to him. He'll make my daughter suffer to get that information, the Klingons call it choosing your pain and eventually one of them will break. It's meant to stop prisoners getting ideas and working together, however, once they have outlived their usefulness then they are as good as dead. From his disregard for life, it means no loose ends. I've taken a hostage in the past out of anger and it's something I'm not proud of, my counterpart, it's a means to an end, we only have a small window of time to find and get them out and it has to be discreet. If my counterpart suspects a rescue, he'll use them as bait to lure us into a trap or failing that, he'll kill them because then they are considered loose ends" explained Valdez (prime).
"They're people not loose ends" said Jodi. "That's how my counterpart thinks, Mrs Iodokar. He does not value life" answered Valdez (prime). A call came through during the meeting of a weak cyber-attack, embedded in the signal was an SOS and series of numbers. "Red, you clever girl" commented Valdez (prime), "they're still alive" he said afterwards. "I want those numbers examining" ordered Heath. When the results came in, they were a set of coordinates gathered by a worm program. "We know where to look" commented Heath. "It's a start, they need to stay alive now so rescue can get to them" replied Valdez (prime). "Rescue will get to them, I want volunteers only for this" answered Heath. All raised their hand, "It's time to get our people back" said Heath.
"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.S.S. Los Lobos
Emma brought the rest of her selected Shadows to the Empress, with thee loss of any moment the empire was a risk- slightly less importantly one of the rare people she allowed to be a kink in her armor was at risk. If Valdez managed to get onto the Shadow networks which he of course knew abut having been emporer, he could cripple the Empires ability of communicate and defend itself.
"Excelency, the team you requested- my best assassins for your approaval of the infiltration team- to provide us and our allies an entry point."
"Will you be able to get inside? He'll know your coming for him, and prepare accordingly."
"I'm counting on it your majesty. Every base has a back door, we'll get in or die trying."
Why do I still play and put money into STO?
The Foundry, and my love of Star Trek
"The prisoners are being held at a former Section 31 installation, it will be well hidden and very difficult to reach" said Captain Heath. "Then we go the road the enemy least expects, between us and the target, there is a region of space that is difficult to traverse. We're going to have to traverse the Hades Expanse to reach our target undetected" suggested Captain Isabella (Valdez (yellow). "What kind of hazards are there?" asked Valdez (prime). "Stellar debris nebulae, nebulae that can interfere with sensors and that's just to name a couple" answered Isabella. "This will be a two pilot job, one to get the ship through and the other to make course adjustments. Both pilots need to be on the same page" replied Isoisa (red). "Get it wrong and we all die, get it right and we get through alive" said Aunlel. "We've got our pilot team, can you two get us through?" asked Heath. "We can" chorused Isoisa and Aunlel. "How do we get the rest of the fleet to the objective?" asked Valdez (prime). "The Voth have agreed to carry the fleet to the objective, the fleets will engage the enemy in orbit to cover our rescue teams" answered Heath.
After the meeting, Heath caught up with Valdez (prime) and said "thank you for proving to me that there's still enough starfleet in me that I can still be appalled by things. No to using prisoners as meat shields, you do that and he wins." "They don't play by the rules, my apologies but it's been a rough few days. The kids tell me not to worry so much, easier said than done. How's Naynta and Jodi?" asked Valdez. "Angry, though they are in control" answered Heath. "Understandable" replied Valdez (prime). "Ma'am" said Trianna (yellow) as she passed Heath a PADD over. "Any luck getting into the traitor computer network?" asked Heath. "From intercepted Traitor communications, they have a hidden main base. Other than that, not much" answered Trianna (yellow). "Excellent work" replied Heath. "I'll keep looking" answered Trianna (yellow), "Dad, you're worrying again" she said to Valdez (prime) afterwards. "Dad, we're under orders to keep an eye on you" said Medic Dawson (prime). "Who from?" asked Valdez (prime). "Mom" chorused Trianna (yellow) and Medic Dawson (prime). "Go spend time with your family, your children have a point" said Heath to Valdez (prime).
Unknown location, beyond galactic edge
"We've just lost Prandium, 400 ships lost and our ground forces wiped out from orbit" reported Valdez's (red) strategic officer. "Pull all forces back here, put as much resistance between the Alliance and us" ordered Valdez (red). "What about the Hades Expanse?" asked the officer. "Nothing can get through it, every ship that's tried has been lost in the attempt. Pull everything back here" ordered Valdez (red). In the cells, Trianna (red) was still visually scanning for any weak points in the cell just before the agony fields came on. Red Valdez had decided to take out his temper on his prisoners as he put the agony field up to full and then left the room, an hour later, the agony field was turned off with Red Valdez telling them "Don't think about escape, when your Alliance gets here, they will die in the fire of battle while you watch your last hopes burn before you two die." "You have lost it, when the Alliance gets here, you're a dead man" answered Kestrella just before the agony field was activated in the next cell. "Tick tock, tick tock. Time is running out for you" added Trianna (red) before the agony field was activated in the other cell. "You're nothing more than a coward" said Kestrella as the agony field was activated in the other cell. "A bully" added Trianna (red) as the field was activated in the other cell. "No food for either of you for the next two days" said Valdez (red) before he left.
"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 (prime) was sparring with Heath in the cargo bay, "my counterpart will use every dirty trick in the book so be prepared for that" said Valdez (prime) to Heath as he picked up a wooden pole, "prepare to defend yourself" he said afterwards as he swung a strike at Heath. Heath blocked the attack with one of her daggers and made a strike at Valdez's (prime) chest, Valdez (prime) countered the strike using the length of the pole to counter block the other dagger. "It was great at piercing weak points in Cardassian body armor and it's very concealable" said Heath. "Karambit, nice and quick too, I once witnessed the Sumatrans practice with them on a rare weekend off from MACO boot camp. Not a match for a longsword though" replied Valdez (prime), "on a longsword, the blade is not the only weapon, the whole thing is. It can be used to block, push and knock back an opponent" he said afterwards as he used the pole to push back Heath and get a strike move which was counter blocked. "Versatile" commented Heath as she parried the pole away and made a strike. Valdez (prime) countered with a disarming move and used the pole to trip Heath. "At this point, my counterpart ends you with a pommel to the side of the head" said Valdez (prime) as he helped Heath up. "Don't let him catch me off guard" answered Heath. "He'll play mind games, he'll goad you into anger, how's the twins?" asked Valdez (prime).
Heath got angry and lunged at Valdez (prime), the move was blocked and a simulated strike landed an inch from Heath's head. "That's the reaction he wants, anger leads to you letting your guard down. A mistake like that is fatal" advised Valdez (prime). Heath just smiled and drew Valdez's (prime) attention to the fact that she had a dagger an inch from his stomach. "Well played" commented Valdez (prime), "who trained you?" he asked afterwards. "My grandparents and parents" answered Heath. "They trained you well" replied Valdez (prime). "Nathan, Captain Heath, you two better get up here" said Captain Isabella Valdez (yellow). "On our way" answered Heath via her combadge. When Valdez (prime) and Heath got to the bridge, Red Valdez was onscreen, "Are two people really worth this much?" Red Valdez. "They are when they are family" said Jodi. "So the mongrel half breed is here and her basket case of a sister. Don't mind the screaming, they decided to be disobedient" replied Red Valdez. "No wonder Teanna divorced you, even she hated you and so does your own daughter" answered Valdez (prime). "You've corrupted her, speaking of Teanna, you failed her" replied Red Valdez. "That's why I'm not going to fail now, failure is a powerful teacher" answered Valdez (prime). "To the things, I hear your mother had a blast" said Red Valdez taunting Naynta and Jodi. "The mind games" replied Heath. "Let's not give him a reaction" suggested Valdez (prime). "What do you want?" asked Heath.
"Your unconditional surrender" answered Red Valdez, "you have a choice, you choose their pain" he said afterwards. "None" answered Heath. "Both" replied Red Valdez activating the agony fields and closing the channel. "Anna, you good? You looked uncomfortable" asked Valdez (prime). "It brought back bad memories" answered 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
A fleet of Voth city ships moved into location outside of sensor range as the I.S.S. Tikal began the last stage of skirting the Hades Expanse. Aboard the Tikal, troops were briefed on their objectives as they kitted up for the assault. Heath and her team met up with Valdez (prime) and his team in the cargo bay of the Tikal, "We should be at the target zone in 30 minutes, make sure all equipment is checked" ordered Heath to her team. "First, your objective is the command processors. Secure them and kill any resistance in your way, I'll be with Captain heath's team. Anna, Mr Dawsons, you three are with me" said Valdez (prime) to his team. "Captain King, your team takes the control room. Your job is to coordinate the kill teams" said Heath to Shade, "everyone understood?" she asked afterwards. "Ma'am" chorused the troops. "Good, let's get our people back" answered Heath.
The Tikal at this point was nearly in position as Isoisa (red) and Aunlel carefully piloted the ship into position using the Hades Expanse to mask their approach. In the Void, the Voth city ships offloaded their cargo of 12,000 ships which formed a wall of battle groups. Red Valdez saw the Alliance fleet and deployed his remaining 2,000 ships to block the Alliance advance, this however was part of Heath and Valdez's (prime) plan as the Tikal stealthily got into position. "Dabo" was the code name for the attack and all ships reported ready. The wall now advanced on the station and started pulling traitor ships out of position and boarding them, their crews were executed on the spot and the captured ships added to the wall. Red Valdez watched the Alliance advance and positioned his ships between the Alliance and the station, this proved to be a mistake as Battle Fleet Omega led the Imperial fleets in an attack on Red Valdez's left from above and below all weapons blazing as the Alliance fleet using their superior numbers picked apart the traitors and captured their vessels before executing the crews. Now the Alliance formed a rotating sphere around the traitor and interlocked their fields of fire. Red Valdez had been trapped by his own witch's cauldron tactics as traitor ships were overrun and captured with their crews executed. The Tikal now seeing the way was clear made her approach and transported the troops onto the station before joining the main battle, Captain Isabella Valdez (yellow) ordered strafing runs as the Tikal took up formation with Battle Fleet Omega. The battle was tough with both sides showing the other no quarter as the Alliance pushed their numerical superiority, Battle Group Scythe carved a part of disabled ships as they blasted through the traitors.
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"The meaning of victory is not to merely defeat your enemy but to destroy him, to completely eradicate him from living memory, to leave no remnant of his endeavours, to crush utterly his achievement and remove from all record his every trace of existence. From that defeat no enemy can ever recover. That is the meaning of victory."
-Lord Commander Solar Macharius
The troops were aboard undetected as they began to fan out, Heath and Valdez's (prime) team fought their way to the cells as kill teams scoured the station of traitors. Shade and her team secured the control room and secured it before getting to work on the computers. Shade just smirked when she saw the level of sabotage carried out by Trianna (red) and commented "Ghost, you clever girl." In the rescue team, Trianna (yellow), Naynta and Jodi took point using their senses to gather intelligence from the traitors before shooting them, they soon found the locations of the cells. After breaching the cell doors, Valdez (prime) grabbed one of the stunned guards and putting a plasma pistol to the guard's head ordered "open them." The cells were opened and the guards dragged out into the corridor and shot.
What Heath and Valdez (prime) saw appalled them as they saw the state of Trianna (red) and Kestrella. Naynta and Jodi got to Kestrella and they were sickened by what they saw. "Medics, you're needed" said Heath to both Medic Dawsons. "Ma'am" chorused both Dawsons. They soon got to work, Medic Dawson(red) got to work on Kestrella while Medic Dawson (prime) got to work on Trianna (red). "What's her name?" asked Medic Dawson (red) to Naynta. "Kestrella" answered Naynta. "Kestrella, my name is Richard Dawson. I need you to stay strong while I stabilize you. Can you do that?" asked Medic Dawson (red), "Ladies, you two related to her?" he asked Naynta and Jodi afterwards. "Sisters" answered Jodi. "I'll need space to stabilize her, ladies, I need you both out of the cell" requested Medic Dawson (red). Both Medic Dawsons soon shook their heads with Medic Dawson (prime) reporting "We can't move them without causing further injury. They've both got severe nerve damage and they're both underweight, it's like they've been deliberately starved. "Suggestions?" asked Heath. "Transport them straight to the Tikal's sickbay, we'll go with them" answered Medic Dawson (red). "Go for it" ordered Heath. Both Medic Dawsons went back to their patients and called for transport, "Medic Dawson to Tikal, we have two critical patients here. Four to beam out" said Medic Dawson (red) before both Medic Dawsons and the prisoners were beamed out to the Tikal's sickbay.
"Sir, Ma'am. You two need to get down here, you won't believe this" reported a Kill team. What the kill team had found was Red Valdez trapped in a room with a dampening field up. Heath and Valdez (prime) ran straight to the location along with Trianna (yellow), Naynta and Jodi. "Don't you think this is a bit excessive?" asked Red Valdez sarcastically, "five against one, this will be over quick" he said afterwards as he drew a longsword. Heath and Valdez (prime) drew their weapons as Trianna (yellow), Naynta and Jodi blocked the only door out. Red Valdez put a fight up as he refused to back down, it was over when Valdez (prime) disarmed his counterpart using his longsword just as Heath put her dagger to Red Valdez's throat, Red Valdez still refusing to accept defeat was eventually brought down and beaten to a pulp by Naynta, Jodi and Trianna (yellow) who soon dragged him to the cells. After a quick field court, all found Red Valdez guilty and the sentence was death before Heath blinded him and signaled for him to be thrown into the cell after telling Red Valdez who she really was, Valdez (prime) grabbed his counterpart and shoved him into the cell before Naynta and Jodi activated the agony field. Alliance troops then checked for anymore prisoners before transporting out. In space, the surviving traitors tried to break out but they were shot down by the Alliance fleet.
"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
When Valdez (prime) and Heath got to the sickbay, Trianna (red) and Kestrella were being treated by medical staff as Valdez (prime), Trianna (yellow), Heath, Naynta and Jodi were watching. "Naynta, have you left that agony field on?" asked Valdez (prime). "I may have" answered Naynta. "Just checking" replied Valdez (prime). "What's the report?" asked Heath. "They're stable, their recovery may take a while" answered the Tikal's EMH. "Can we talk to them?" asked Heath. "30 minutes then they must rest" answered the EMH. The first faces that Trianna (red) saw was her family. "Dad, where am I?" asked Trianna (red). "Aboard the Tikal, you're safe" answered Valdez (prime), "Red, you've been through hell now you need to recover" he said afterwards. "How's Kestrella?" asked Trianna (red). "Recovering and her sisters are with her" answered Heath. Valdez (prime) then passed Trianna (red) and Kestrella the control PADD to the Void station's auto-destruct. They both pushed the button and the station exploded taking the cells last as Red Valdez screamed in agony. The Alliance fleet then left the area.
In the Tikal's sickbay, Valdez (prime) put a secure call home to tell the family that Trianna (red) was safe. The message was "mission accomplished." Trianna (red) spoke to her son via PADD and was in tears as she spoke with him before she introduced Kestrella to him. 30 minutes later, the EMH told the families that visiting time was over and that the patients needed rest. "At least that's one less monster in the universe" commented Valdez (prime) at the bar in the mess. "You could have killed him yourself but did not" replied Heath. "It was better his victims did it, their physical injuries will heal eventually but the mental injuries, that's going to take a long time" answered Valdez (prime). "Sir, Ma'am" said Medic Dawson (prime) as he got himself a soft drink. "Mr Dawson" answered Heath. "Rick, good job" added Valdez (prime). "You on duty?" asked Medic Dawson (prime). "No I'm not" answered Valdez (prime). "Dad, I spoke to Mom. She's asked me to pass you this" replied Medic Dawson (prime) passing Valdez (prime) a digital photo, "Meet Zoe Maria, congratulations Dad" he said afterwards. "Make sure that child never knows what hate is, teach her well" advised Heath. "We will" answered Valdez (prime), "Rick, how's Joanna?" he asked Medic Dawson (prime) afterwards. "Mom's fine but tired. Don't worry, things are covered back home" answered Medic Dawson (prime). "How's your sister?" asked Valdez (prime). "Red's happy to be alive, she's given Kestrella her contact details so they can talk but she is in no fit state to go anywhere despite her protests to the ship doctor" answered Medic Dawson (prime), "both patients however are eating something, they've been put on a diet that will get them back to their original weight" he said afterwards.
"What is this I heard about you trying to smuggle contraband cakes to your sister?" asked Valdez (prime). "No comment" answered Medic Dawson, "ask Anna or Isoisa" he finished with. Heath just found it amusing before asking "What are your plans for the future?" She asked afterwards. "Get Red home to the rest of her family, things won't be the same after this so that's something that we'll both have to work on" answered Valdez (prime). "What about Kestrella?" asked Valdez (prime). "Straight to her mother's on Betazed Yellow" answered Heath. "Best place for her" replied Valdez (prime). "Agreed" answered Heath. The I.S.S. Tikal then linked up with Battle Group Scythe and the Royal fleet with Heath and her troops beaming to Los Lobos and Valdez (prime) and his team beaming to the Harbinger. Kestrella was then moved to the Los Lobos and Trianna (red) beamed to the Harbinger. Both fleets then parted ways and Battle Group Scythe returned to the prime universe and returned home as the Royal fleet took Kestrella to Betazed Yellow.
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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
Night time had settled over the ship. Lights had dimmed and the shifts had changed letting the weary get some much needed sleep.
The Empress yawned as she sat on the couch in her quarters. Reviewing the days events before turning in, something caught her attention.
"Detention block deck destroyed along with runabout number two. Hull breach on deck currently sealed by emergency force fields and blast doors."
What the hell? She thought.
The report was signed by Vaylin with only explanation being to talk to her friend in the VIP suite.
She touched the comm panel.
"Have our guest brought to me."
A few minutes later, the door opened and she found herself looking at herself wearing a robe yawning.
"You know I'm not supposed to be out of my room."
"That didn't seem to stop you from blowing up the detention block deck."
"To be honest, that was Vaylin's idea."
"Sit. Explain."
"Can we do this tomorrow? It's late and..."
"Sit or I cut off your braid."
"Don't you dare! This thing saved my life!"
"Then sit down and explain."
"Alright, alright."
She walked over and sat down.
"Why not sit closer?"
"I'm staying out of arms reach."
"Fine. So what happened?"
Over the next few minutes she related their adventure with the nanites.
The Empress got up and moved closer to her and took her hand.
"You were going to sacrifice yourself weren't you?"
"Needs of the many and all that."
"Brave girl."
"Well that Starfleet runs deep."
"I... can't say that I would have done the same thing. Not anymore."
"Really?"
"I mean for Thay and the girls, without hesitation. But then Thay would yell at me saying that I'm more important than any one person and that I needed to survive..."
The Empress squeezed her hands.
"What's wrong?"
"I'm just starting to get through to them. They are finally listening to me. I am turning them into something better than they were before. I... I can't let that go to waste. I can't let all those lives lost for my ideals for them be in vain. I can't..."
"Sacrifice yourself for others anymore?"
"My life isn't my own anymore. It belongs to all of them. And I have a duty to be there for them, no matter the cost."
She looked up at the first lady.
"Please, keep that part of us. For both of us, keep those parts that I lose."
She smiled.
"I am Starfleet's designated sacrificial virgin. I suffer so others don't."
The two embraced each other.
"I have to warn you though," the Empress said while still holding on to her. "I'm going to torment you."
"Why?"
"Because I'm the Dark Empress. I have to embrace both the light and the darkness of the Empire, while you get to stay in the light of the Federation."
"We both know it's not that light."
"You know what I mean."
"Yeah, I do. It's going to annoy you like it would me."
"And I'm going to make you suffer for it. But I want you to know that I really don't mean it. After what we've been through I could never really hurt you."
"I'll try to keep that in mind."
"But the fact that parts of you are bigger than mine does annoy me."
"Not my fault."
An impulse hit both of them. They would later not remember the how or why of what happened next. All they knew is the next thing they remembered was that they were kissing, and had been doing so for several minutes.
They pushed back away from each other looking very confused.
"What..."
"How..."
"Why..."
"I... I should go..."
The first lady stood up and left the room.
Neither knew what to make of what just happened
Two months later
The one had become many.
They now could exercise some influence over the star that held them. Both home and prison, a plan of escape had been devised.
The forces on the surface were twisted, constrained, and manipulated until it forced a coronal mass eruption, sending most of it's mass into space.
That which remained, began the act of replicating more of itself to repeat the process.
Drifting on the solar winds they floated through the system. Some landing on asteroids, most being swept up by the gas giants further out. Only one managed to find it's way on to each of the class M planets in system.
But one was more than enough...
At the Valdez house, Trianna (red) was sat in bed talking to Kestrella via subspace. "How's the nerve therapy going?" asked Kestrella. "Getting some feeling back, from what the doctors have said, my injuries are some of the worst they've seen" answered Trianna (red), "how's your recovery?" she asked afterwards. "Still bouts of severe pain, the doctors have told me that it will take at least a year for the physical damage to fully heal, the mental damage, that's a different story" answered Kestrella. "I don't know if things will be the same between me and dad after this" replied Trianna (red). "He's a good man, we're alive and free because our families came to get us. Give him a chance" advised Kestrella. "I will, how's your crazy clan?" asked Trianna (red). "The normal lunacy" answered Kestrella, "how's the family?" she asked afterwards. "The usual insanity" answered Trianna (red). "A good thing, I'll leave you to get back to recovery. Betazed out" replied Kestrella.
In the family lounge, it was the usual chaos with the little ones all playing together as Valdez was sat down with Zoe Maria in his arms. "How's Red?" asked Valdez to Isoisa (red). "Putting on a brave face and very happy to be home with her family, we'll need to keep an eye on her just to make sure she gets the help she needs" answered Isoisa (red). "We do, but it has to be on her. She'll ask for help when she feels ready to" replied Valdez, "Why am I getting a look of disapproval from Zoe Maria?" he asked afterwards. "Because she's about to demand feeding" answered Isoisa (red) which was soon followed by the baby crying. Valdez then passed the baby over to Joanna and went to speak with Trianna (red) after picking up his grandson. "Dad, thank you for getting me out of there. I did not know if my SOS had been received" said Trianna (red). "Family helps each other, what you did was a brave thing. We're all proud of you for keeping yourself and Ms Lot alive, never forget that. I know things won't be the same between us again so that's something we need to work on" replied Valdez. "It may take some time" answered Trianna (red).
"I hear your cousins have been trying to cheer you up" replied Valdez. "They mean well but they don't understand" answered Trianna (red). "You are with people who love you, work with us" advised Valdez. "Mommy sad" said Ablim Jnr (red). "Have you been behaving yourself?" asked Trianna (red). "Yeah" answered Ablim Jnr (red). "Thanks for helping on the childcare front" said Trianna (red) to Valdez. "He's a little angel" replied Valdez.
At the Smith house, Dexter Smith (red) got a call from the Empire. He had just been named Alliance Ambassador to the Mirror Universe, "looks like I've been summoned to Terra" he commented afterwards.
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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
Michael Ford looked over the reports and shook his head.
“She did it. She got rid of everybody that opposed her. She’s free to run things as she wishes.”
“To be honest sir,” Djetta countered. “She was doing that anyway. Still mounting their heads on spikes does send quite the message.”
“Yeah. That I should never forget our anniversary.”
She arched an eyebrow.
“That’s your takeaway from this?”
“Personally, yes. As the President… she brought together all the various forces of every quadrant of their galaxy and used them to crush her enemies.”
“She is helping the to explore beyond the boundaries of their own space.”
“She’s created her own version of the Alliance.”
“Isn’t that a good thing? They’ll be more stable over there. Much fewer attacks on us from them.”
“The fact that they were so disorganized and fighting among themselves worked in our favor. The prospect of a united Mirror universe is going to terrify some people.”
“So what do we do?”
“We do what the Federation does best. We talk to them. We appoint an official ambassador to the Mirror alliance. Setup an embassy for them over here and petition them for one over there.”
“Do you think she’ll go for it?”
“I may have already mentioned it to her in passing.”
“And she responded how?”
“She gave me the name of someone she recommends for the position.”
“I see. And did you also happen to mention that there’s a cloaked Alliance battle group following her?”
“Now why would I ruin a pleasant conversation by bringing that up?”
The S.S. Denorios came alongside the Los Lobos, "This is the Diplomatic envoy vessel Denorios, requesting permission to transport the ambassador over" said the Alliance operations officer on the bridge of the old Ambassador class vessel. "Los Lobos control, granted" reported the Los Lobos operations officer. When Ambassador Smith beamed aboard, he was greeted by Heath, Jasmine Smith-Petrofski and their guards. "How was your flight?" asked Jasmine. "Quiet, not much excitement" answered Smith. "Ambassador, no wolf?" asked Heath. "At home protecting the family" answered Smith, "A mirror Alliance, very impressive" he said afterwards to Heath. "It's keeping the peace" replied Heath. "A good thing, from what I've seen on INN, you've been cleaning house" answered Smith. "A few heads on spikes gets the point across, all of whom deserved it" replied Heath. "It's direct" answered Smith.
"How's your retirement been?" asked Heath. "Productive, I own and run a haulage and security company these days" answered Smith. "All above board and legal?" asked Heath. "I have to, I've got a family to support" answered Smith, "my company runs food and medical supplies throughout Romulan space carried on armed merchant ships. Many a pirate has been surprised by my convoys, my convoys fight back" he said afterwards. Heath just smiled, "you can still run your company as long as there is no conflict of interest" she said afterwards. "I only operate in Romulan space in the prime universe, there is no conflict of interest" answered Smith, "I read the regulations on the way here" he said afterwards. "Hows the family?" asked Heath. "Mereu's fine, things have been hectic to say to the least. Had our first child, the lack of sleep some nights is worth it though" answered Smith. "Congratulations" replied Heath. "Thank you ma'am" answered Smith, "Jas, hows things?" he asked Jasmine afterwards.
"A little crazy, you try raising two girls and governing a planet" answered Jasmine, "You've got two nieces so be a good example" she said afterwards. "I will" replied Smith. Heath just found it amusing before all three and their guard beamed down to Terra. "Mario, how things?" asked Smith to Petrofski. "Hectic" answered Petrofski holding Katerina, "Dexter, meet your niece, Katerina" he said afterwards as Katerina woke up. "Congratulations, both of you" replied Smith. "Ambassador, congratulations" answered Petrofski. "I got drafted" replied Smith. "Mama, Papa, what's an ambassador?" asked Pel. "Someone who preserves the peace, they use words not weapons" answered Petrofski. "It's a way governments can deal with any issues without the need for violence" said Smith. "Pel, your uncle has just landed" said Jasmine to Pel. "Jas, it's alright" said Smith to Jasmine.
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
Emperor Romanov deployed his forces with Trasimene II behind him to protect his rear areas, this deployment had not gone unnoticed as the enemy deployment became obvious to the Alliance fleet who were waiting and watching outside the system, "putting his back to the planet to avoid attacks from the rear, that's bait" said Admiral Dawson looking at the enemy deployment aboard the I.S.S. Tikal. "He has two other fleets here and here, their orders are to attack our flanks as we are pinned against their central battle formations. Our code interceptors have broken the enemy codes" replied Naynta. "It's a gamble on his part, succeed and we are trapped, if it fails then he is trapped, let's turn a trap into a trap of our own" answered Admiral Dawson. "Let him spring his trap and once he's fully committed, we bring our forces in all weapons blazing from above and below as we snap the jaws shut" suggested Naynta. "Once we gain space supremacy, we can land the ground forces to clear the planet's surface. Our fighters and bombers will be providing air support to cover the ground troops" replied Admiral Dawson. "We have been ordered to halt the advance outside the sensor range of the system, extra reinforcement" answered Naynta. "More time for our enemy to strengthen his trap" replied Admiral Dawson. "Good, more enemy for us to kill" answered Naynta.
The conversation was interrupted by the arrival of the Royal fleet leading three more imperial fleets from the Yellow empire, Alliance commanders and their first officers were summoned to the flagship for Heath's war council. The commanders bowed in respect then took their seats at the table. Admiral Dawson and Admiral Lot presented their turning a trap into their trap plan to Heath and the war council for the upcoming battle.
-Lord Commander Solar Macharius
"War does require sacrifice," Naynta said.
"I am aware of that. But you can mitigate how much."
"You have a suggestion?" Admiral Dawson asked.
"Just a thought. What would happen if instead of going straight towards them, we turned and attacked one of their 'trap' fleets instead?"
Dawson arched an eyebrow in surprise.
"Ma'am?"
"How are they likely to respond?"
"The other trap fleet would most likely move to support them...we could close our trap on them."
"Leaving their main fleet isolated," Naynta said smiling.
"We'll take this under advisement," Dawson said.
"What's the battle plan?" asked Heath. "Use the sound of drums to lure the enemy into our firing lines but give our ground slowly, once the feigned retreat reaches a certain point, we catch the enemy in a hail of fire and destruction. The enemy will funnel more troops into the attack in order to break our lines, at that moment, drums will be heard from their left flank, they will have to redeploy a bulk of their forces to face a threat that does not even exist. At that moment, mobile forces will cross the river and attack into the enemy flanks and pin then against our center. We will leave open one escape route to encourage them to flee, once they start to run for their lives, we pursue and kill them while they run. Ma'am, a running enemy is far easier to kill than a fighting enemy, if we completely surround them, our losses will be much higher but killing them as they run away lessens our losses considerably" answered Petrofski.
-Lord Commander Solar Macharius
The few engineers who had bared their way had been silent dispatched, now with power cut throughout the ship and secondary backups disabled. Now the Shadows sped their advance, entering the chamber opening a shaft in the wall into a lavish dinning room.
Shade gestured to the other operatives to take out the guards standing at the room, with their gear they could of course easily see each other and as one positioned themselves as Emma took up position behind Romanov, drawing two newly constructed blade hilts, which soundlessly activated, into a magnetized blade of super compressed metal a mere 3 molecules thick. Reaching around and piercing the neck of the would be emporer she severed the head as the guards were eliminated as they moved to intercept her.
Taking the head as ordered the assassins returned to their ship and quickly fled the area.
"Inform the Empress e have her prize."
The Foundry, and my love of Star Trek
Admiral Lot and Admiral Dawson readied their forces for battle, they had picked the most isolated traitor fleet and kept a small decoy force of holoships in place to keep the largest traitor fleet in place. The main Alliance assault would hit the enemy on the left as the other Alliance forces took up their ambush positions, Battle Fleet Omega moved forward as Admiral Dawson hailed the enemy giving them a ultimatum to surrender or be crushed like a bug. This got the enemy angry and their fleet on their left moved to engage Omega. Battle Fleet Omega opened the space part of the battle with wolf pack attacks on the enemy frigate squadrons on the edge of the enemy fleet. The traitors sent the message that their prey had arrived, "right on cue" commented Admiral Lot via secure subspace to Admiral Dawson. "Traitor reinforcements will be here in 20 minutes, ready the trap" replied Admiral Dawson. "In position ready, pull the enemy towards you" answered Naynta. "Copy that, as soon as both enemy fleets engage us, spring your attack" replied Admiral Dawson.
For 20 minutes, Battle Fleet Omega kept their distance picking off isolated groups of ships before they commenced their main advance to lure the traitors in, soon the second trap fleet had arrived and went straight into the attack hitting Omega's flanks and front. "Now" ordered Admiral Dawson before Admiral Lot's forces swept up and down from above and below snapping the jaws shut around the two trap fleets. "Show no mercy, I want to see floating debris" ordered Admiral Lot. "Voth and Dominion forces, time to bring in the big guns" ordered Admiral Dawson. It was now the rest of the Alliance fleet jumped in and opened up on the traitors with every weapon available. The traitors were overrun and wiped out in less than an hour, over 300 ships were destroyed compared to 50 Alliance vessels destroyed outright and 50 more disabled though the crews had been recovered before their ships lost core containment. This first round showed that the traitors were no push overs as the Alliance turned their attention to the enemy main fleet. The traitors defending Trasimene II charged the Alliance fleet but it was to no avail as the Alliance reduced the leaderless fleet to debris.
With the orbital space secured, the ground forces were landed as the fleet proved bombardment support to eliminate enemy airfields, supply depots and anti air positions, Alliance fighters now went after enemy supply routes, command and control centers and communication hubs as the Alliance landing ships followed the I.S.S. Tikal to their landing zones. True to form, as soon as the landing craft hit the ground, Petrofski was the first out and leading the troops to their defensive positions. The I.S.S. Tikal now returned to orbit to act as a command and control center, the rest of the landing craft from the fleet made it to the landing zones. Petrofski now started to deploy his troops at the end of a long and narrow valley, covering his left flank was a steep rock face was was soon occupied by Imperial sharpshooters and a speaker, on his right flank was a fast flowing river with rapids protecting the Alliance right covered by a large island in the middle of the rapids, this was occupied by Imperial artillery and Romulan troops. In the center, the Imperial line infantry held the center of the line with the Jem'Hadar and Klingons on the left and the Cadians covering the right of the Infantry line and speakers dug into the ground.
Petrofski had abandoned the feigned retreat plan and settled for a defensive battle as the Imperial fighters bombed and strafed three out of the four bridges, the fourth bridge was left intact. For four days there was nothing so defenses were dug and the reinforced, on the fifth day, the enemy was spotted by aerial patrol and all Alliance ground troops stood to and ready to fight. Petrofski watched the enemy movements as "Captain" Heath Layress landed with a small "captain's" guard. "The Empress has taken interest in this battle, I am here to oversee the battle and make a full report" said "Captain" Heath to Petrofski. "In a matter of hours, this will become a battlefield, I may not be able to guarantee your safety" replied Petrofski, "you also stick out like a sore thumb dressed like that" he said afterwards pointing out the captain's uniform, "Ladies, get the captain measured up for a battle dress uniform" he ordered to the field support staff. Heath left to get changed, when she returned, she was in Imperial Army Battle dress uniform and military boots. "This is not exactly my look" said Heath to Petrofski. "It's meant to be functional, not fashion" replied Petrofski as he was overseeing the artillery firing preparations. When the enemy arrived, they were exhausted after their route march and just set up camp at the other side of the valley on their side of the river, days of aerial attack had destroyed their artillery pieces and their supply lines were constantly being shot up and bombed night and day. Both sides now stared each other down across the valley as dusk became darkness, at 0430, the enemy advance across the bridge had begun and by 0730 all their troops were across and ready to advance on the Alliance lines.
-Lord Commander Solar Macharius
A coded message was sent from the Enteri'Is.
"Petrofski, please provide coordinates for secure beam in location. I need the lie about my treachery undone by the highest authourity, the skirmish at a moon recently was meant to act as a side plan if the original plan backfired.... I'll have my crew planet side after that's done."
The Foundry, and my love of Star Trek
"Coordinates sent, I have a representative of the Empress with me" was the reply back, it was followed by "welcome back, good hunting?" from Petrofski as the sound of 100,000 enemy troops formed up on the Alliance side of the river. "Perfect, even the weather is on our side" he noted as the mist began to thin out, "center, drums" he ordered afterwards. The sound of drums now played across the battlefield as it echoed through the mist. The traitors sent their first wave of troops who charged up the valley yelling "Maim, kill, burn." "Artillery, nock your weapons" ordered Petrofski as he was showing Heath his fire control plans, the loaders loaded in the photon shells, "draw weapons" ordered Petrofski as the artillery set their fire coordinates. Petrofski and Heath now watched the enemy advance on their scanners before Petrofski gave the order "all artillery, loose!!!" and the artillery opened up a creeping barrage up the valley.
The first wave of the enemy advance were slowed down but they still advanced through the artillery barrages. Across the front line, Alliance officers walked up and own the lines behind their units ordering "Fire by rank" as the firing lines loosed volley after volley into the traitors. The first wave was beaten back before they reached the Alliance line as the groans of traitor wounded were heard, any who tried to retreat back to their lines were shot before they could crawl back by snipers. The survivors of the first wave had lost a full 80% of their 10,000 strong attack with whole regiments being totally erased from the face of the Trasimene II. Alliance losses were light with only several hundred wounded but stable, "here they come!!!" called out one soldiers as the traitors send a second wave of 15,000 troops to break the Alliance line with the same predictable result of being decimated by artillery and hit by the volleys of the infantry lines shooting in from the front and the flanks. The Cadian units distinguished themselves as they delivered precise volley after precise volley into the traitors. Petrofski at this point was on the front line encouraging the troops to keep fighting as Heath looked on from a command trench watching the Alliance ground forces coordinate their artillery and firing lines to flawless perfection.
Day one of the ground battle was over when the traitors withdrew to recover and lick their wounds, they had taken over 13,000 dead, with another 8,000 wounded in the space of one day, the rest were demoralized by the carnage caused by the Alliance combined arms doctrine in the battle. The Alliance had also taken losses of 15 dead and 500 wounded out of their force of 12,000 troops. "This is a butcher's yard" commented Heath seeing the carnage caused by Petrofski's artillery and small arms lines. "It'll be worse tomorrow, trust me" answered Petrofski. "Losses on our side?" asked Heath. Petrofski gave Heath the report of losses to both sides, "all this in one day" said Heath as the shock of the carnage finally kicked in. "You fleet personnel have it easy, us soldiers, we stand fighting and die fighting if we must so the innocent citizens can live but one more day" replied Petrofski, "get something to eat, not seen you eat a thing all day" he said afterwards to Heath. "I think I just lost my appetite" replied Heath. "I insist, I keep an eye on my lads the same way. I should not need to make it an order Captain" answered Petrofski.
"Sir, all KIA and wounded accounted for and evacuated" reported Medic Dawson in his report. "Good job today, keep it up Mr Dawson" replied Petrofski. "Sir" answered Medic Dawson. "And Mr Dawson, you eaten yet?" asked Petrofski. "Not yet sir" answered Medic Dawson. "Get some food down you and get some rest, you'll be having another busy day tomorrow" ordered Petrofski. "Sir" answered Medic Dawson. "Good lad" replied Petrofski as he began his rounds checking up on the troops, Heath joined him as he passed her a ration pack. "It's quite bland, you'd think army cooks would well, do better" said Heath as she got some food down her. "It's food, it's meant to keep you alive" replied Petrofski as he got some food down him. "I can see why you are loved by the troops, you lead by example and put their own well being before your own" said Heath. "If my wife heard that I put myself in mortal danger leading the troops, I would not hear the end of it for weeks, especially now" replied Petrofski. "Why?" asked Heath. "Baby daughter and a nine year old daughter" answered Petrofski, "Katerina Petrofski was born two weeks ago" he said afterwards as he showed Heath a picture of his baby girl. "Adorable, congratulations" replied Heath. "I had no idea Terran women were terrifying in labor, much scarier than a battlefield" joked Petrofski.
-Lord Commander Solar Macharius
As the sun rose on the second day of the ground battle, the Allied troops took up their firing positions and answered roll calls from their officers. Day one had been a precursor as 25,000 traitors prepared to cross the bridge, ahead of them, they sent a messenger to the Allied lines, "the Pah Wraith respects your strength, you all serve a false empress who only wishes to turn the Empire into the weak Federation. Throw down your arms and surrender your souls to the Pah Wraith, we'll make your deaths quick" said the traitor messenger. "Troops, what do we think on this?" asked Petrofski to the troops, it was followed by 12,000 troops yelling "no surrender!!!" followed by a soldier shooting the traitor dead on the spot. "I guess that answers that" joked Petrofski to a sea of cheers from the troops. In the traitor camp, General Flaminius called his commanders weak fools for noT overrunning a force that they vastly outnumbered and ordered the attack in. Back in the Allied defensive line, lookouts reported a massive column of enemy troops advancing.
"Infantry, focus your fire on the head of the column. Artillery, fire into the front and flanks of the column. Let's rain some death down on these animals" ordered Petrofski as he coordinated the artillery and infantry, "Captain, here's our positions and here is the enemy, I need you to coordinate fleet support and call in airstrikes on the rear of the column, keep pushing them into the kill zone" he ordered afterwards. "Sir" answered Heath and she got to work calling in airstrikes on the traitors. The traitors pushed on but were stopped dead by a combination of infantry, artillery and air power as fire tore into the column from all sides. "Keep it up" ordered Petrofski as Allied troops kept a constant wall of fire going down the valley. What few enemy troops who made it to the Allied lines were soon mowed down as the column was wiped off the face of the planet with a few survivors trying to rout, they did not get far before they were shot down by Allied fighters. Flaminius now sent a fourth wave of troops at the Allies but they met the same fate as the rest, they were wiped out by artillery and infantry as Allied fighter strafed and bombed them remorselessly. With traitor losses now becoming critical, Flaminius threw the rest of his troops across the bridge and watched as they began their advance up the valley. Once the rear of the assault column was over the bridge, Petrofski signaled Shade and her teams to remove the enemy enemy commander and bring his head back to allied lines.
Petrofski now judged it the right time to deploy his mobile reserves straight into the battle as drums sounded from the Allied left, the traitors confused at where the noise was coming from turned part of their forces around to face their right. This was what Petrofski was waiting for as the enemy column weakened as from the air, Allied bombers beamed mobile bridges over the river as the tanks formed up to cross from the Allied right. "Now, but remember, leave one escape route open I want them running for their lives" ordered Petrofski. With the enemy now trying to redeploy under fire to face two fronts, the Imperial tanks crossed the river and opened up a hail of fire on the confused traitors. The traitors soon broke and ran to avoid being trapped but their escape route was soon under constant air attack as they were pursued for four days and wiped out to a man. Trasimene II had been secured but at the cost of 2,000 wounded and 200 KIA on the Allied side. Traitor losses were 98,000 KIA with 2,000 attempting to surrender. The traitor survivors were shot on the spot since the Allies were not accepting surrenders with both Flaminius' and Romanov's heads mounted on pike suck into the ground.
Heath smiled at the total defeat inflicted on the traitors by the Allies and soon INN was on the now quiet battlefield reporting the victory. By week's end, all of the Trasimene system was in Allied hands. "Never corner bears" joked Petrofki. "Never corner a pack of wolves" countered Heath smiling. "They can lash out and kill you" answered Petrofski smiling. "The Empress will be very proud of her loyal troops, they showed absolute calm and coolness under pressure and refused to give an inch" said Heath. "It's called iron discipline and tough training, of all the volunteers that apply for army service, only 40% pass training. The training these troops get has a 60% fail rate, those who failed to make the grade are rotated back to the start of course to try again. I don't expect to try their best, I expect them to do their best" replied Petrofski. "And you only get the best and toughest, very efficient" answered Heath. "I won't be dropping the standards" replied Petrofski. "Our Cadian allies fought with distinction, I hear they lost their homeworld" said Heath. "They're fighting to avenge it, I would recommend they be offered a new homeworld and a place in the Empire, a people who are raised from birth to be soldiers, it helps us and them. I'll introduce you to their people's leader" replied Petrofski before they went to see the Cadian troops. "Regent, your troops performed well" said Castellan Andraxos. "Captain Heath, meet Lady Castellan Anastasia Andraxos, leader of the Cadain people" said Petrofski to Heath introducing her to Andraxos.
-Lord Commander Solar Macharius
Life signs had been detected by an Imperial patrol near a cave entrance, when Imperial troops went to investigate, they were fired at but no one was hurt. The patrol called it in and Petrofski and Heath led a patrol into the cave, a beam of plasma hit the wall next to them but no one was hit, "Imperial military, this to the holdouts in the cave, lay down your weapons and let us in" asked Petrofski. "Not after what happened to our people" answered a voice from the cave. "We're not those people, we've liberated this world" replied Heath. "We don't believe you" answered the voice. "They're scared" said Naynta. "Innocent people, let's tread carefully here" suggested Petrofski. "Agreed" answered Heath before Petrofski called up a squad of Remans to take point. "We're sending some people, they're not the same species that nearly wiped out your tribe. We need to trust each other so if you lower your weapons, we'll lower ours. Do we have an agreement?" asked Petrofski. "Come in with your weapons lowered" answered the voice.
The patrol went into the cave and as per the agreement, both sides lowered their weapons. "Thank the gods, the liberators are here" said a Terran female to the people hiding in the cave. The patrol were treated like saviors who soon got to work checking everyone in the cave. "We were dragged here against our will by those monsters, when we were told to exterminate these people with us, we protected them instead" said the Terran female pointing to the Terran children and Xenos civilians they had hidden. "Naynta, is she telling the truth?" asked Heath. "She is, no deception" answered Naynta. "Where are those monsters?" asked the Terran female. "Dead, most are just smears on the battlefield" answered Petrofski. "We saw the way it was going so we hid this planet's surviving population to avoid a genocide, we'll show you which caves" replied the Terran female. "Can we trust you?" asked Heath. "You've got a Betazoid with you, if I was going to lure you into a trap, she would know. I assure you that it is not a trap" answered the Terran female. "Show us" asked Heath. "Come on, gather everyone up" answered the Terran female.
True to her word, her information checked out as Terran women and children were found protecting the native peoples hidden in the caves. After they were evacuated, the Terran women were questioned and they fully cooperated as the Children and Xenos were treated by medical personnel at the Allied base camp, "this complicates matters" commented Petrofski afterwards. "Victims of circumstance?" asked Heath. "I'm leaning that way" answered Petrofski. "They're innocent, their thoughts make that very clear" added Naynta. "They could be of use to us, we have to use the carrot approach here, the stick is not the best way to go about it" pointed out Petrofski.
-Lord Commander Solar Macharius
#LegalizeAwoo
A normie goes "Oh, what's this?"
An otaku goes "UwU, what's this?"
A furry goes "OwO, what's this?"
A werewolf goes "Awoo, what's this?"
"It's nothing personal, I just don't feel like I've gotten to know a person until I've sniffed their crotch."
"We said 'no' to Mr. Curiosity. We're not home. Curiosity is not welcome, it is not to be invited in. Curiosity...is bad. It gets you in trouble, it gets you killed, and more importantly...it makes you poor!"
-Lord Commander Solar Macharius
The Foundry, and my love of Star Trek
"This leaves us with a problem" commented Naynta. "Officially, there are no survivors" said Heath. "So what do we do with these Terrans?" asked Petrofski. "Exile?" asked Naynta. "Somewhere in the Delta Quadrant, I hear there are new colonies being set up" answered Petrofski. All then turned their attention to the captured Terrans, Heath calmly looked each Terran in the eye and told them "It's only because of you act of compassion that you're all alive. Remember that. And tell no one where you are from. As far anyone knows there were no survivors among the traitors of your world, and it will remain that way. I am sparing you for the sake of your children. No one is born knowing how to hate. Make sure they never learn how." The Terrans said nothing before Petrofski told them "One word of this and it won't be pleasant for you, we don't ever want to see your faces anywhere in the Alpha and Beta Quadrants again. You will live out your days on a remote colony of our choosing."
"Regent, sedate the little ones so they don't hear this" suggested Heath. The suggestion was carried out and then the adults were agonized until they passed out, all the Terran survivors were then loaded onto a ship on route to the Delta Quadrant. "It's time to leave this god forsaken rock, everyone board the landing craft" ordered Petrofski. Once all troops had been accounted for, Heath boarded the landing craft before Petrofski true to form was the last to board. The native Xenos cheered the Alliance troops off before they got back to rebuilding their lives. When the troops arrived back on the Alliance ships, the fleet set off for their next target, the strategically important system of Prandium. Aboard the Los Lobos, Heath called Petrofski in after she had got changed, "Good job down there, your report is most thorough" said Heath. "Ma'am, that captain you sent down logged everything in great detail. I did have to draft her though" replied Petrofski. "Next time, give me warning when you are going to draft me. Your troops fought with distinction down there, I'm resting you and your troops for now so you can all rest and recover" answered Heath. "Ma'am, I don't follow" replied Petrofski. "I was down there during the battle, that captain I sent was me and I saw what I needed to see" answered Heath smiling. "We were just doing our jobs" replied Petrofski. "I know, I'll talk to the troops and send them my regards myself" answered Heath. "They may be a bit rowdy, I'm warning you in advance" replied Petrofski. "You and your lads have earned my respect, seeing them in action was an interesting experience" answered Heath. "Thanks for putting up with being ordered around, without those airstrikes, we would not be having this conversation" replied Petrofski.
Unknown location, beyond the galaxy edge (MU red)
"Trasimene system lost, Romanov is dead" reported a traitor officer. "Expected, he let himself fall into a simple trap. Him and his troops were expendable anyway" answered a Terran male. "600 ships lost and 100,000 ground troops lost, the Imperials and their Alliance are not taking prisoners" reported the officer. "Good, no loose ends" answered the Terran male. "Alliance forces are advancing on the Prandium system" reported the officer. "As predicted, watch their course and expect trouble from above and below" replied the Terran male. "Sir" answered the officer before he left. The Terran male then tapped a communication terminal and activated his allies on Betazed (red), "I want Kestrella Lot brought to me alive and unharmed, I don't care how many of you die in the process but get me the target" were the orders. The Terran male then sent a secured message to his people on Bajor (red) to destroy the Imperial hospital working on the cure for the plague, orders were "I want that cure and all data concerning it destroyed, kill everything in that building." Cells were also activated all over the Empire as attacks on Imperial bases and civilian targets commenced killing hundreds. On Bajor, Doctor Wren and her team found themselves along with a company of Imperial troops under siege from insurgents. They held out for two days before the siege was broken and the insurgents forced to run to the hills under pressure from loyal Imperial forces.
On Betazed (red), the traitors watched Kestrella's movement for several days as they planned their move. What they had in mind was to overwhelm their target with numbers. The attack was sprung with traitors opening fire on Kestrella to keep her pinned down while the rest moved into a better firing position, Kestrella killed the decoys as predicted but was shot in the back by a phaser set to heavy stun. "We have the package, extracting now" reported the traitor commander before they beamed Kestrella into a holding cell aboard their ship. The ship then left orbit and made for the galactic edge at slipstream, they eventually arrived at their base beyond the galactic barrier and put Kestrella into a very secure cell with a camera mounted looking in. Aboard the Los Lobos, a call came in from Jodi (red), "Kestrella is missing, she failed to arrive home last night" said Jodi to Heath via secure subspace. At the traitor base, Kestrella was woken up by a bright light and told "you cannot escape, if you attempt to escape, this happens" as an agony field was activated, "I bet you are wondering why you can't hear my thoughts, I'll answer that, I suppressed your abilities with this wonderful drug. "Enjoy your stay" said a Terran male. Soon another prisoner was brought in and thrown into a cell, it was Trianna (red) who said to the Terran male, "I'll kill you, father." "I'd love to see you try, you betrayed me" answered the Terran male who soon revealed his identity, it was Valdez (red). Back on Brea III (prime), Valdez (prime) got the news and after asking Trianna (prime) to babysit her nephew, got his fleet ready and recalled Trianna (yellow) and Orderly Dawson (prime) to duty. Isoisa (red) also went with them. The Romulan Star Union then contacted Heath and told her of the abduction of a civilian by operatives from the Red reality, Valdez (prime) was going to war and he would not stop until he got his daughter back.
-Lord Commander Solar Macharius
"Tell me how to get past the security for your sister" demanded Valdez (red) to Kestrella. "No" answered Kestrella, with that response, Valdez (red) turned the agony field on in Trianna's (red) cell. "Give me the answer" demanded Valdez (red). "No" replied Kestrella. "You will tell me in time, you are not getting out of here alive" answered Valdez (red). "You won't" replied Kestrella. "Trianna, you will help me break Alliance codes" said Valdez (red) to Trianna (red). "When hell freezes over" remarked Trianna (red), with that Valdez (red) turned the agony field on in Kestrella's cell. "You're proving nothing, you'll die here" said Trianna (red). "It's time to make a call" replied Valdez (red). "She won't give in" said Trianna (red). "We'll see" replied Valdez (red) as he put a call through via subspace.
"Heath Layress, the Federation w**** of Bajor herself. You're sitting on my throne" said Valdez (red) to Heath via subspace. "What do you want? I suspect you are behind the recent spate of violence against non-Terrans and your own people" replied Heath. "Abdicate or someone close to you has a very bad day, I also have another hostage" answered Valdez (red). "They better be alive and unharmed" replied Heath. Valdez (red) then walked away from the camera revealed both Trianna (red) and Kestrella in agony fields in their cells, "Fatal error" said Heath. "Try it, you don't know where I am and you cannot trace my signal so don;t bother. Give me what I want or those fields get stronger" replied Valdez (red), "I don't know how long Betazoids can withstand it for" he said afterwards before closing the channel. Aboard the Los Lobos, Heath showed her commanders the face of the enemy. "We need to find them and get a rescue mission planned and ready to move" advised Petrofski. "I'm not leaving my sister with him, I'm coming along with you" said Naynta. "As am I" added Jodi (red). "Count me and my crew in" said Captain Isabella Valdez (yellow).
Imperial border Badlands (MU red)
Battle Group Scythe were escorted in and then escorted to the front line, "Dad, we'll get her back" said Trianna (yellow). "If the people who abducted Red try and stop us, we're not taking prisoners" replied Valdez (prime). "We may need a few for questioning" suggested Nydon. "He does raise a good point, means more intel for us" said Trianna (yellow). "We'll be sharing intel with the empress, we're only here by her graces so remember that" replied Valdez (prime). "Best behavior, copy that" answered Trianna (yellow). "I'll be needing someone to come with me when I meet the empress, Anna, you're with me" replied Valdez (prime). "Yes dad" answered Trianna (yellow). When Battle Group Scythe and it's escorts linked up with the Royal Fleet, Valdez ordered Scythe to join the advanced cloaked as he and Trianna (boarded a shuttle and left the Harbinger. The shuttle then cloaked as it took off and set a course for the Los Lobos, it was met by Heath, Naynta and Imperial security when it landed. "We need to talk" said Heath to Valdez (prime). "My daughter is missing" said Valdez (prime). "Kestrella Lot was abducted from Betazed three days ago, your daughter is being held alongside her" replied Heath. "Any idea who's holding them?" asked Valdez (prime). "You, more accurately your red counterpart" answered Heath. "I thought he was erased" replied Valdez (prime). "We found some records, the one that was erased was a clone" answered Heath. "Then we have a serious problem" replied Valdez (prime).
Unknown Location, beyond galactic edge (MU red)
"What are you doing?" asked Kestrella to Trianna (red). "Looking for a way of getting out of this cell, we need to get a message out telling the Empire where we are" answered Trianna (red) as she studied the cell in close detail. "No point, even if we get out of these cells, we're trapped anyway" replied Kestrella. "Don't give up, there is always a way out. It's a case of just finding it" answered Trianna (red). "Easy in theory" replied Kestrella. "We need to stay strong, no matter how much it may cost us. My father will try and break us but we must not give up" answered Trianna (red). "We need to stay alive" replied Kestrella. "Agreed and we need to get out of these cells" answered Trianna (red). "Not with that camera watching us" replied Kestrella. "Then we act intelligently, focus on staying alive and unbroken" answered Trianna (red). "Feign cooperation, that should give you access to a control room" suggested Kestrella. "I can then send a covert SOS via Imperial communication beacons covertly" replied Trianna (red).
-Lord Commander Solar Macharius
The room's sole occupant lay sprawled on the floor, the eyes were open looking unfocused at the ceiling. An observer might have thought them dead except for the rhythmic moving of their chest breathing.
The same thought repeated through their mind.
You'll be safer over there, they thought mockingly. Nothing will happen to you there. Three months I've been here and yet again another war has broken out. This place is just packed with xenophobic genocidal madmen. How have they not wiped themselves out by now? We really don't have to worry about them invading, given a few years they'll have blown themselves back to a pre-warp culture...
The door chime rang interrupting their thoughts.
Oh let's see what new fresh hell this holds.
"Enter."
They heard the door open and close. Footsteps came close and a person came into sight looking down at them with a puzzled look on their face.
"Are you alright?"
"I'm fine Vaylin. I'm stuck in another universe, wars constantly erupting around me, and I can't leave this room because no one is supposed to know I'm here. What could possibly be wrong?"
"You obviously have better things to do, I can come back."
"I will strangle you with my braid if you try to leave."
"That would be amusing to see you try. Never the less, I have some information for you that you might find interesting. "
"*Sigh* What do you have?"
"We have picked up a refugee who claims to be from your universe."
"Really?"
"She's right outside. Shall I bring her in?"
"Yes."
The door opened and the person came in. The first lady rolled over on to stomach.
"Paris?"
"Yes Empress?" She said timidly.
"Empress?"
"You do look like her."
She stood up.
"Paris, don't let all this fool you. It's me."
Paris' face lit up. Tears started running down her face.
"Rear Admiral?"
"Come here my psychotic little Trill."
Paris ran over to her and threw her arms around her.
"Where have you been?"
"I was kidnapped and tortured," she said quietly.
"By them?" She said looking angrily at Vaylin.
"No, not them. They're actually the ones who rescued me. But tell me what happened to you, the ship? I tried finding you but they said the Los Lobos didn't exist anymore."
Paris looked up at her.
"After you disappeared, we were called to report back to shipyard. When we got there, we were told that we we're being reassigned. They didn't give a reason, and when tried to find why we were all arrested. In the confusion, several of us decided to hide and sneak away. Tru and T'pranng distracted them so I could get away. I don't know what happened to them. I heard a rumor that you had been seen over here. It's taken me so long to find you..."
Heath stroked the back of her head as she broke down.
"It's okay," she looked up. "Thank you Vaylin."
She smiled.
"I'm happy to help. I do have some more news. Apparently our forces have captured Franklin Drake."
"What? How?"
"It seems that he was betrayed by his current underlings and left behind here."
"That doesn't make sense. How does someone like that get outsmarted by someone stupid to attack a vastly superior power?"
"Arrogance, perhaps? He was 'questioned' all the information he provided checked out. As did the bioscans we did of him. I have a copy of them here if you'd like?"
"Yes please."
She took the offed PADD. Paris let go of her and looked through it with her.
"It does look like it's correct..."
"No, there's something wrong," Paris said.
They both looked at her.
"His quantum signature. It's off."
"How can you tell?" Vaylin asked.
"For obvious reasons, I've spent a lot of time studying them to tell the difference between us and you. I know our signature and his is different from ours."
"You mean he's not from the prime universe?"
"Oh he is, but not our version of it."
There was silence for a minute, before Heath went over to the table and picked one of the many PADDS there and brought it to her.
"Here, compare these."
"They match."
"Who's readings were those?" Vaylin asked.
"The Empress and the rest of her crew. He's from their timeline."
"Why? And why is he here?"
"Either they want you to think that you've got him so you'll stop looking... Or he wanted to get caught..."
"Vaylin to security. Erect a level ten containment field around the detention block. Nothing in or out until I get there."
She looked at them.
"I could use your help. You've been studying him and his organization since you came on board. That makes you the expert on him and what he may be up to."
"I could use the diversion. How about you Paris?"
"Like I'm letting you out of my sight again? Oh..."
"What?"
"I love your braid. Can I play with it later?"
He sat in his cell. Bruised, battered the marks of his "questioning" still fresh on his skin.
Yet, he was smiling.
It was the smile of someone confident in their own success.
"Hello..."
He turned towards the voice.
The women in Starfleet uniforms looked at him from across the room.
"Hello ladies. What can I do for you?"
"What did they do to you?" Asked the blonde.
"Nothing I wasn't expecting. Actually once I gave them the information they wanted they lost interest in me. I think I'm rather insulted. But you two, you disappeared months ago."
"We've been held here," answered the brunette.
"You were supposed to be holding the First lady as a hostage."
"It's the other way around. She's kept us prisoner."
"She said it's to keep people from knowing she's actually here," the blonde finished.
"You shouldn't you told him that," the brunette hissed. "You saw what she did to those other two."
"What other two?"
They were silent.
"You wouldn't happen to mean the two identical females that had the misfortune to get caught after they were less than kind to the first lady and her copy."
"She screamed for days," the blonde said shuddering. "The reason she stopped was because they took them out."
"When did that happen?"
"After about a week," the brunette answered. "We didn't ask. We were just thankful for the silence."
"Well, I must say that you two look very well for prisoners. Clean, well fed, no signs of abuse..."
"Like you, we told her what she wanted to know," the blonde admitted.
"Did you?"
"You didn't hear that screaming," the brunette countered. "Or how cold she was when she did that to her. There was no doubt she would done the same thing to us."
"Besides..."
"Besides?"
"When we were told to take her, no one mentioned that she had been tortured. I mean roughing her up was one thing... but we're Starfleet. We don't torture people."
"I'm afraid that they do."
They all turned at the new voice.
Heath, Paris and Vaylin had entered the room and stood off to the side of both cells.
"You'll find that there is very little that they won't do if they think you're a threat to them," Heath continued.
"Not to us," he corrected. "To the Federation. And I must admit you had me fooled First Lady. We were convinced that you were in the custody of these two be held somewhere."
"Nice to know that you aren't perfect."
"True. We thought Ford was being agreeable because we had you. He's just been playing us. But this is an added bonus."
"What do you mean?"
"You are a threat to the fabric of reality, but we needed you alive to control Ford. So I came over here and let myself get captured to get within range so I could kill the other you."
Vaylin's eyes narrowed.
"With her dead, it would end the temporal threat along with throwing the Empire into chaos. No one else believes enough in her reforms to carry on with them. Their alliance would fall apart and they would cease to be a threat."
"You think so little of us?" Vaylin asked.
"Even her own wife hasn't fully embraced her ideals. At the slightest threat she invaded the Federation. This time it'll be all out war and we'll final have a reason to deal with you once and for all."
"Nice speech," said Vaylin as she tapped on the controls of his cell.
"What are doing?" Heath asked.
"Since we know his plan, we don't need to keep him as he is a active threat to the Empress. I'm venting the air out of his cell, he can die in the vacuum."
"Why is he still smiling?" Paris asked.
"Because I know something you don't," he said over the hiss of the air being pumped out.
His skin began turning dark.
Vaylin again typed quickly erecting another containment field around the cell.
"Oh that won't do you any good."
His skin began flaking away turning into a cloud around him.
Paris took a tricoder and scanned him.
"Oh God. Nanites! He's made of nanites!"
"How? We scanned him!"
"A little bit of Borg tech combined with cloaking technology hidden inside my bones," the now distorted voice answered. The now empty uniform dissolved away leaving a vaguely humanoid shaped cloud standing there.
"That's better. Now for the sake of the Federation, everything on this ship is going to die. Unfortunately, that includes you two ladies as well."
"Why us?"
"We didn't do anything!"
"You did cooperate with them and I can't have you telling anyone about this."
The cloud launched itself at the containment field. It sparked constantly.
"It's adapting to the field!" Paris yelled. "It'll break out soon!"
"Evacuate the block!" Vaylin ordered heading for the door. "Seal the entire area."
"Wait! You can't leave us!"
"Please!"
Heath hesitated, then ran over to their cell. She turned off the field.
"Go! Run!"
They ran across the room as the field collapsed. Tendrils of the cloud whipped towards them. They dove through the door as the next field came up.
"Rotate the shield frequency randomly," Paris ordered. "It'll slow him down."
"But not stop him," Vaylin said. "Divert as much power as possible to the emitters. We need time to figure it out how to kill that."
She looked at Heath.
"That was dangerous and stupid."
"Starfleet doesn't leave anyone behind."
"Before do something like that again, look how close you came to not making it," Vaylin said pointing at the end of her braid.
Heath looked down. The band that held the end of her braid together was missing. Looking back into the room she saw the broken band on the floor. The nanites swarmed over it devouring it.
Security teams were stationed at the entrance to the room. Several heavy weapons had been set up aimed at the door. They were ready to fire on anything that tried to come out of that room. The deck had been cleared as a precaution and Further down the hall, Heath held up the end of her braid as Paris ran her tricoder over it.
"No sign of those nanites," she reported. "You got very lucky that your band broke when it touched it."
"Thank the Prophets for cheap hair bands," Heath sighed.
"Still," Vaylin said taking out her dagger. "Just to make sure we should cut off the bottom foot of it of your braid and vaporize it."
"The hell you will!" Heath clutched it to her chest.
"Safety first."
"If she was contaminated, they would have shown up by now," Paris offered.
Vaylin looked at them then put the knife away.
"At the first sign of contamination, off it comes." She turned towards the guards. "What's it doing now?"
"It's spreading over everything in there," they reported. "The floor, panels, walls. It's covering everything."
Vaylin shook her head.
"Not covering, eating."
"Ma'am?"
"It's eating everything in there and then replicating more of themselves. If it gets out it'll eat the whole ship."
"In the time it took to get everything set up here it's volume has increased by a factor of ten," Paris reported. "Nanites assimilate at an exponential rate."
"So if it gets out, how long do we have?" Heath asked.
"It'll eat the ship in thirty minutes."
"So how do we kill it?" Asked Vaylin.
"His mind is still controlling them. If we could disrupt that..."
Vaylin's comm badge chirped.
"Vaylin here."
"In the interest of full disclosure," the familiar but distorted voice spoke. "I can leave anytime I want, I'm just not ready yet. Oh and first lady, that hair band of yours was an interesting appetizer. I look forward to the full entrée."
Vaylin cut the link.
"That wasn't creepy at all," Heath said.
"It did give us an insight into his thinking," Vaylin said.
"How so?"
"He wants to destroy the ship, but he wants you gone more," Paris finished. "Can we use that against him."
"Use her as bait to lure him into a trap?"
"Like onto a shuttle, then shoot it in to a star?"
"But how do we get her off the shuttle?"
"Do we need to?"
"You do know I'm right here?" Heath interrupted.
"Shh... Bait shouldn't talk.."
"Listen you..."
Heath's response was lost as the cloud renewed it assault on the shield.
"He's trying to match the shield frequency," Paris said looking at her tricoder. "It won't last long."
"Vaylin to bridge. Prepare to erect a level ten field around this section of the deck. Scramble it's frequency at random."
"We can't keep giving up area to it," Paris cautioned. "The bigger it gets the stronger it gets."
"That's only if we can't kill it," she Drew her phaser. "How long until it gets through?"
"About twenty seconds."
"Everyone, weapons ready, wide beam. On my mark fire."
The shield on the door flared then vanished.
"Fire!"
A torrent of weapon fire struck the cloud. Scores of nanites flared up and burned away...then they stopped glowing and burning.
"What happened?"
"Borg technology," Heath said. "They adapted to it!"
"Fall back! Fall back!"
The order came too late as the cloud launched forward swarming over the first line of guards.
"Raise shield!"
The air flashed as the wall came up. Behind it figures writhe on the floor as they were eaten away before them.
"Hmm... interesting... Holographic troops" The voice said. "Not to be cliche, but they do taste like chicken."
"You sick TRIBBLE..."
"Now, now. That's no way for the president's wife to talk. Think of the children."
"Why you..."
"Look out!"
Along the walls behind the shield black lines crept forward. On the floor a few made their way under the wall.
"Everyone out. Seal the deck." Vaylin ordered.
The cloud watched them run for the lifts.
"Take your time," it called. "I'm not going anywhere."
The lift opened on the bridge where the anxious crew poured out.
"How did he get around the shield?" Vaylin demanded.
"When he charged forward, he must have sent those tendrils into the wall and floor," Paris explained. "He must have gotten into the EPS conduits."
"He can get anywhere on the ship. Paris, Scan for him."
"Yes ma'am," came from the science station.
Paris looked over and saw herself sitting there.
"Oh there are two of me."
"Four actually," Vaylin corrected.
"Four?"
"We'll talk about it later. Where is he?"
Paris frowned at the reading.
"That's odd. He hasn't moved. He's still on the same deck."
"Why?" Heath asked. "He can go anywhere."
"This doesn't make sense," Vaylin said thinking. "He has the advantage. Why doesn't he use it?"
As if on cue, her badge chirped.
She looked down at it as they all gathered around. She touched it.
"Vaylin here."
"It seems that we have a problem," said the voice.
"And what's that?"
"As I said, I came here to kill the Empress. But it turns out that she's not on board. And with me here, it's very unlikely that she'll come back on board. So my entire mission is a bust."
"My heart bleeds for you."
"So I'm going to leave."
"You think you can do all this and just leave?"
"Let's be honest. There isn't anything that you can do to stop me. But there is one thing that I want before I leave."
"And what's that?"
"I want the first lady."
They all looked at her.
"Why?"
"Because she's half of the temporal bomb. With her gone that threat is neutralized."
"Be serious. If she dies here, her husband will come charging over here."
"True. But not if she gives herself up willingly."
"What?"
"Sacrificing herself to save others would be a great Noble deed that he might not want revenge for, but with the right prodding he would."
"And why would I sacrifice myself?" Heath asked.
"Because there are 2200 people on board. And I can destroy this ship before you could get any significant amount of them off. Are you willing to sacrifice their lives just to save yours?"
There was silence.
"I'll expect you down here in the next five minutes. After that I start wandering around the ship. This time, it won't be holograms that I eat."
"You can't go!"
"I have to Paris."
"I only just found you!"
"I can't let him kill everyone else just to get to me."
"But I..."
"As much as I appreciate your willingness to die to save my crew," Vaylin started. "Perhaps we can come up with a plan for killing it instead."
"I'm very open to suggestions," Heath agreed.
"Maybe blow it out into space. Increase the air pressure on the deck then blow a hole in the hull and vent them outside."
"It might not get all of them," Paris said. "The one's in the floor and walls would still be there. What if we sent a feedback pulse through the EPS conduits?"
"They would explode and incinerate almost everything on the deck," Vaylin said frowning. "That's a lot of damage."
"As opposed to it eating the entire ship?"
"True... But it still may not kill them all."
"What if we did both?"
They all looked at Heath.
"Vent them then burn the rest?"
"That could work," Paris thought.
"But how do you one, stop them from falling back on to the ship? And two, get them to stand still long enough for us to do this?"
"You could use a shuttle," the blonde former prisoner said quietly.
"What?"
"When you vent them, collect them in a shuttle then destroy it. Like send it in to the nearest star."
"I do like that idea," Vaylin said nodding. "We'll use a runabout and use it's tractor beam to pull them in. But again how do we get them to not suspect anything?"
"By giving him what he wants, me."
"He'll kill you!" Paris protested.
"Then you better be faster than he is."
"How are you not going to get sucked out when we blow the hull?"
Heath thought for a second.
"Do you have a magnetic clamp nearby?"
"I can get one," Vaylin said. "But at the pressure that we need to use to make sure it gets blown out, you won't be able to hold on to it."
"I have an idea, it's just going to hurt a lot. But it's better than the alternative."
"Alright then. We just need a pilot willing to risk their life for this crazy plan."
"I'll do it."
They looked at the blonde again.
"I'll fly it."
"Why?" Her companion asked.
"Because we're Starfleet. And... I owe you. You saved us from that thing down there. You wouldn't be here, hell we wouldn't be here if we hadn't..."
"What's your name?"
"Lt. Cassandra Palmer. She's Lt. Raven Patel."
"Well Lt. It's your time to be a hero. Let's get moving. We only have a minute or so left."
The cloud of tiny machines that had been a person hovered in the air.
This form does have its drawbacks, it thought. No real physical contact with other beings. No longer really being human...
Although, it's not without it's advantages. The seeing in multiple directions meant no one could ever sneak up on him although it did take a little getting used to. Another minor one was the absolute sense of time, which told him that time was up.
I really thought she'd be here. Oh well I guess I have to...
The lift door opened.
His target was on her knees in the there kneeling on the floor.
"You're late."
"I spent the last five minutes trying to figure out how to kill you."
"No doubt. Any success?"
Her eyes narrowed.
" If I had, I wouldn't be here."
"Perhaps. Why are you on your knees?"
"Like I said, I spent all that time and I didn't have time to pray. Before you decide to do this, may I have a few seconds to do so?"
"I don't see why not."
"Thank you."
"I'm not the monster you think me."
"Have you looked in the mirror?"
"You are wasting time."
"Do you promise to leave these people alone?"
"I have you. I have no reason to harm them."
"Alright."
She folded her hands together and bowed her head.
"That's the signal. Do it."
" Despite what I must do, I feel no ill will towards you."
The kneeling figure didn't speak. It brought it's arm up.
"I'll try to make this as painless as possible."
Heath felt her ears pop from the change in pressure.
Her only thought was, this is going to suck.
Behind him the far bulkhead disappeared.
"What?"
The floating mass was pulled violently back away from her by the out gassing.
Why? It thought. She'll be killed as well.
Indeed, she was also yanked off her knees by the out rushing air, but she came to a sudden stop in the lift doorway with a scream if pain.
In the chaos it saw the magnetic clamp on the floor that she had been sitting on top of. And around that clamp she had tied her braid to anchor her in place. She now wrapped her hands around it and pulled herself back in to the lift.
"This won't save you. Now I have a reason to kill them all."
Heath wasn't listening as she braced one foot on the lift wall and hit the emergency button with the heel of her shoe.
It was aware of multiple things. Being blown out into space, the emergency blast doors closing around the lift, and the sudden sparking then ignition all around it.
I underestimated them, it thought. I won't make that mistake again. I...
It found itself inside another smaller ship. It heard voices shouting:
"Let's go."
"Not yet."
"We have to go!"
"Almost..."
"Hurry!"
"Now!"
It saw the two from the detention block at the controls.
"I really should have gotten rid of you two first."
"Too bad freakshow."
The ship began to move as they were beamed away.
It moved towards the controls but was stopped by another field.
These shields are getting tiresome... what? The ship lurched as it went to warp. What are...
His unvoiced question was answered as the systems star grew rapidly.
Well played, it thought. But I'll be bac...
The runabout hit the star and exploded.
On the bridge the two from the runabout reappeared.
"Well done," Vaylin congratulated. "Mind you if you had try to fly away, we would have shot you down."
"I figured that," Cassandra answered. She turned to her friend. "Why did you come with me?"
"Where you go I go," Raven replied. "*Sigh* Why do I have to love such an idealistic idiot?"
"Good taste."
Vaylin turned her back on the two as door to the lift opened. The blast doors inside were scorched and still warm to the touch. She walked over and entered the unlock code. There was a thud from inside as they opened.
She looked down at Heath laying on the floor.
"Are you alright?"
"The doors closed on my skirt. I've been hanging there."
"Burned off the back of it as well."
Heath's legs were now visible from the thigh down in the back.
"Oh damnit. I really liked this dress."
She sat up as Paris came in and hugged her
" Ow... Careful, my head's sore."
Vaylin knelt down next to her.
"I appreciate that you were willing to sacrifice your self to save everyone. You have my thanks and respect."
She offered her hand.
Heath took it and shook her hand.
"Thank you. How are you going to explain the damage?"
"I'll let you do that. It was your idea."
"Thanks. Paris, can you get this clamp off so I can get up."
"Yes ma'am."
"They tied it on there so it would hold you in place and wouldn't come off," Vaylin said pulling out her dagger again. "It'll be easier if I just sliced it off."
"THE HELL YOU WILL!" Paris yelled surprising them both. She released the clamp from the floor and picked it up.
"This saved her life. No one is touching it. I'll unravel it."
The two looked at her nervously.
"Okay then," Vaylin said slowly. "So what about those two? We don't have a detention block anymore."
"Hey you two," Heath addressed them. "Do I have to worry about you two trying to attack me or anyone else?"
They shook their heads.
"No ma'am," they chorused.
"Then your coming with me. Maybe new eyes along with Paris's info will help give us a new insight into things."
"Pity you couldn't have saved some of that thing and questioned it," Vaylin said sheathing her dagger. "It could have been useful."
"That was a warning of far they were willing to go," Heath shuddered. "Let it stay dead."
Above the surface of the star, a lone nanites drifted down. The only one that had manage to adapt to the conditions near the star, it touched the surface then sank below it.
"I think therefore I am. I am therefore I hate...Layress ...You...will...be... like...us..."
"I see you've decided to cooperate, you will give me access to all Imperial systems and their ship prefix codes" said Valdez (red) as Trianna (red) was put into a chair, "watch her like a hawk" her ordered to the guards afterwards before he left the control room to go and interrogate Kestrella. Kestrella just told Valdez (red) "My sisters are coming for you, you have no idea who you've angered." "Let them come, all three of you will be joining your mother" replied Valdez (red). "You're a dead man walking, just wait until my sisters get hold of you" answered Kestrella. "We'll see" replied Valdez (red) as he activated the agony field and left the room. In the control room, Trianna (red) managed to get a signal out without being detected before she was returned to her cell.
I.S.S. Los Lobos
Valdez (prime) took a seat at the table along with the other commanders, "Mr Valdez's daughter is one of the prisoners, we may not like what we hear" said Heath, "Mr Valdez, with full clarity please" she asked afterwards. "
"My counterpart wanted those two specifically, they are only alive because they are useful to him. My daughter, he'll try and coerce into helping him by making Ms Lot suffer and Ms Lot, she knows how to get close to you Regent Iodokar and that's useful information to him. He'll make my daughter suffer to get that information, the Klingons call it choosing your pain and eventually one of them will break. It's meant to stop prisoners getting ideas and working together, however, once they have outlived their usefulness then they are as good as dead. From his disregard for life, it means no loose ends. I've taken a hostage in the past out of anger and it's something I'm not proud of, my counterpart, it's a means to an end, we only have a small window of time to find and get them out and it has to be discreet. If my counterpart suspects a rescue, he'll use them as bait to lure us into a trap or failing that, he'll kill them because then they are considered loose ends" explained Valdez (prime).
"They're people not loose ends" said Jodi. "That's how my counterpart thinks, Mrs Iodokar. He does not value life" answered Valdez (prime). A call came through during the meeting of a weak cyber-attack, embedded in the signal was an SOS and series of numbers. "Red, you clever girl" commented Valdez (prime), "they're still alive" he said afterwards. "I want those numbers examining" ordered Heath. When the results came in, they were a set of coordinates gathered by a worm program. "We know where to look" commented Heath. "It's a start, they need to stay alive now so rescue can get to them" replied Valdez (prime). "Rescue will get to them, I want volunteers only for this" answered Heath. All raised their hand, "It's time to get our people back" said Heath.
-Lord Commander Solar Macharius
Emma brought the rest of her selected Shadows to the Empress, with thee loss of any moment the empire was a risk- slightly less importantly one of the rare people she allowed to be a kink in her armor was at risk. If Valdez managed to get onto the Shadow networks which he of course knew abut having been emporer, he could cripple the Empires ability of communicate and defend itself.
"Excelency, the team you requested- my best assassins for your approaval of the infiltration team- to provide us and our allies an entry point."
"Will you be able to get inside? He'll know your coming for him, and prepare accordingly."
"I'm counting on it your majesty. Every base has a back door, we'll get in or die trying."
The Foundry, and my love of Star Trek
"The prisoners are being held at a former Section 31 installation, it will be well hidden and very difficult to reach" said Captain Heath. "Then we go the road the enemy least expects, between us and the target, there is a region of space that is difficult to traverse. We're going to have to traverse the Hades Expanse to reach our target undetected" suggested Captain Isabella (Valdez (yellow). "What kind of hazards are there?" asked Valdez (prime). "Stellar debris nebulae, nebulae that can interfere with sensors and that's just to name a couple" answered Isabella. "This will be a two pilot job, one to get the ship through and the other to make course adjustments. Both pilots need to be on the same page" replied Isoisa (red). "Get it wrong and we all die, get it right and we get through alive" said Aunlel. "We've got our pilot team, can you two get us through?" asked Heath. "We can" chorused Isoisa and Aunlel. "How do we get the rest of the fleet to the objective?" asked Valdez (prime). "The Voth have agreed to carry the fleet to the objective, the fleets will engage the enemy in orbit to cover our rescue teams" answered Heath.
After the meeting, Heath caught up with Valdez (prime) and said "thank you for proving to me that there's still enough starfleet in me that I can still be appalled by things. No to using prisoners as meat shields, you do that and he wins." "They don't play by the rules, my apologies but it's been a rough few days. The kids tell me not to worry so much, easier said than done. How's Naynta and Jodi?" asked Valdez. "Angry, though they are in control" answered Heath. "Understandable" replied Valdez (prime). "Ma'am" said Trianna (yellow) as she passed Heath a PADD over. "Any luck getting into the traitor computer network?" asked Heath. "From intercepted Traitor communications, they have a hidden main base. Other than that, not much" answered Trianna (yellow). "Excellent work" replied Heath. "I'll keep looking" answered Trianna (yellow), "Dad, you're worrying again" she said to Valdez (prime) afterwards. "Dad, we're under orders to keep an eye on you" said Medic Dawson (prime). "Who from?" asked Valdez (prime). "Mom" chorused Trianna (yellow) and Medic Dawson (prime). "Go spend time with your family, your children have a point" said Heath to Valdez (prime).
Unknown location, beyond galactic edge
"We've just lost Prandium, 400 ships lost and our ground forces wiped out from orbit" reported Valdez's (red) strategic officer. "Pull all forces back here, put as much resistance between the Alliance and us" ordered Valdez (red). "What about the Hades Expanse?" asked the officer. "Nothing can get through it, every ship that's tried has been lost in the attempt. Pull everything back here" ordered Valdez (red). In the cells, Trianna (red) was still visually scanning for any weak points in the cell just before the agony fields came on. Red Valdez had decided to take out his temper on his prisoners as he put the agony field up to full and then left the room, an hour later, the agony field was turned off with Red Valdez telling them "Don't think about escape, when your Alliance gets here, they will die in the fire of battle while you watch your last hopes burn before you two die." "You have lost it, when the Alliance gets here, you're a dead man" answered Kestrella just before the agony field was activated in the next cell. "Tick tock, tick tock. Time is running out for you" added Trianna (red) before the agony field was activated in the other cell. "You're nothing more than a coward" said Kestrella as the agony field was activated in the other cell. "A bully" added Trianna (red) as the field was activated in the other cell. "No food for either of you for the next two days" said Valdez (red) before he left.
-Lord Commander Solar Macharius
Valdez (prime) was sparring with Heath in the cargo bay, "my counterpart will use every dirty trick in the book so be prepared for that" said Valdez (prime) to Heath as he picked up a wooden pole, "prepare to defend yourself" he said afterwards as he swung a strike at Heath. Heath blocked the attack with one of her daggers and made a strike at Valdez's (prime) chest, Valdez (prime) countered the strike using the length of the pole to counter block the other dagger. "It was great at piercing weak points in Cardassian body armor and it's very concealable" said Heath. "Karambit, nice and quick too, I once witnessed the Sumatrans practice with them on a rare weekend off from MACO boot camp. Not a match for a longsword though" replied Valdez (prime), "on a longsword, the blade is not the only weapon, the whole thing is. It can be used to block, push and knock back an opponent" he said afterwards as he used the pole to push back Heath and get a strike move which was counter blocked. "Versatile" commented Heath as she parried the pole away and made a strike. Valdez (prime) countered with a disarming move and used the pole to trip Heath. "At this point, my counterpart ends you with a pommel to the side of the head" said Valdez (prime) as he helped Heath up. "Don't let him catch me off guard" answered Heath. "He'll play mind games, he'll goad you into anger, how's the twins?" asked Valdez (prime).
Heath got angry and lunged at Valdez (prime), the move was blocked and a simulated strike landed an inch from Heath's head. "That's the reaction he wants, anger leads to you letting your guard down. A mistake like that is fatal" advised Valdez (prime). Heath just smiled and drew Valdez's (prime) attention to the fact that she had a dagger an inch from his stomach. "Well played" commented Valdez (prime), "who trained you?" he asked afterwards. "My grandparents and parents" answered Heath. "They trained you well" replied Valdez (prime). "Nathan, Captain Heath, you two better get up here" said Captain Isabella Valdez (yellow). "On our way" answered Heath via her combadge. When Valdez (prime) and Heath got to the bridge, Red Valdez was onscreen, "Are two people really worth this much?" Red Valdez. "They are when they are family" said Jodi. "So the mongrel half breed is here and her basket case of a sister. Don't mind the screaming, they decided to be disobedient" replied Red Valdez. "No wonder Teanna divorced you, even she hated you and so does your own daughter" answered Valdez (prime). "You've corrupted her, speaking of Teanna, you failed her" replied Red Valdez. "That's why I'm not going to fail now, failure is a powerful teacher" answered Valdez (prime). "To the things, I hear your mother had a blast" said Red Valdez taunting Naynta and Jodi. "The mind games" replied Heath. "Let's not give him a reaction" suggested Valdez (prime). "What do you want?" asked Heath.
"Your unconditional surrender" answered Red Valdez, "you have a choice, you choose their pain" he said afterwards. "None" answered Heath. "Both" replied Red Valdez activating the agony fields and closing the channel. "Anna, you good? You looked uncomfortable" asked Valdez (prime). "It brought back bad memories" answered Trianna (yellow).
-Lord Commander Solar Macharius
A fleet of Voth city ships moved into location outside of sensor range as the I.S.S. Tikal began the last stage of skirting the Hades Expanse. Aboard the Tikal, troops were briefed on their objectives as they kitted up for the assault. Heath and her team met up with Valdez (prime) and his team in the cargo bay of the Tikal, "We should be at the target zone in 30 minutes, make sure all equipment is checked" ordered Heath to her team. "First, your objective is the command processors. Secure them and kill any resistance in your way, I'll be with Captain heath's team. Anna, Mr Dawsons, you three are with me" said Valdez (prime) to his team. "Captain King, your team takes the control room. Your job is to coordinate the kill teams" said Heath to Shade, "everyone understood?" she asked afterwards. "Ma'am" chorused the troops. "Good, let's get our people back" answered Heath.
The Tikal at this point was nearly in position as Isoisa (red) and Aunlel carefully piloted the ship into position using the Hades Expanse to mask their approach. In the Void, the Voth city ships offloaded their cargo of 12,000 ships which formed a wall of battle groups. Red Valdez saw the Alliance fleet and deployed his remaining 2,000 ships to block the Alliance advance, this however was part of Heath and Valdez's (prime) plan as the Tikal stealthily got into position. "Dabo" was the code name for the attack and all ships reported ready. The wall now advanced on the station and started pulling traitor ships out of position and boarding them, their crews were executed on the spot and the captured ships added to the wall. Red Valdez watched the Alliance advance and positioned his ships between the Alliance and the station, this proved to be a mistake as Battle Fleet Omega led the Imperial fleets in an attack on Red Valdez's left from above and below all weapons blazing as the Alliance fleet using their superior numbers picked apart the traitors and captured their vessels before executing the crews. Now the Alliance formed a rotating sphere around the traitor and interlocked their fields of fire. Red Valdez had been trapped by his own witch's cauldron tactics as traitor ships were overrun and captured with their crews executed. The Tikal now seeing the way was clear made her approach and transported the troops onto the station before joining the main battle, Captain Isabella Valdez (yellow) ordered strafing runs as the Tikal took up formation with Battle Fleet Omega. The battle was tough with both sides showing the other no quarter as the Alliance pushed their numerical superiority, Battle Group Scythe carved a part of disabled ships as they blasted through the traitors.
-Lord Commander Solar Macharius
The troops were aboard undetected as they began to fan out, Heath and Valdez's (prime) team fought their way to the cells as kill teams scoured the station of traitors. Shade and her team secured the control room and secured it before getting to work on the computers. Shade just smirked when she saw the level of sabotage carried out by Trianna (red) and commented "Ghost, you clever girl." In the rescue team, Trianna (yellow), Naynta and Jodi took point using their senses to gather intelligence from the traitors before shooting them, they soon found the locations of the cells. After breaching the cell doors, Valdez (prime) grabbed one of the stunned guards and putting a plasma pistol to the guard's head ordered "open them." The cells were opened and the guards dragged out into the corridor and shot.
What Heath and Valdez (prime) saw appalled them as they saw the state of Trianna (red) and Kestrella. Naynta and Jodi got to Kestrella and they were sickened by what they saw. "Medics, you're needed" said Heath to both Medic Dawsons. "Ma'am" chorused both Dawsons. They soon got to work, Medic Dawson(red) got to work on Kestrella while Medic Dawson (prime) got to work on Trianna (red). "What's her name?" asked Medic Dawson (red) to Naynta. "Kestrella" answered Naynta. "Kestrella, my name is Richard Dawson. I need you to stay strong while I stabilize you. Can you do that?" asked Medic Dawson (red), "Ladies, you two related to her?" he asked Naynta and Jodi afterwards. "Sisters" answered Jodi. "I'll need space to stabilize her, ladies, I need you both out of the cell" requested Medic Dawson (red). Both Medic Dawsons soon shook their heads with Medic Dawson (prime) reporting "We can't move them without causing further injury. They've both got severe nerve damage and they're both underweight, it's like they've been deliberately starved. "Suggestions?" asked Heath. "Transport them straight to the Tikal's sickbay, we'll go with them" answered Medic Dawson (red). "Go for it" ordered Heath. Both Medic Dawsons went back to their patients and called for transport, "Medic Dawson to Tikal, we have two critical patients here. Four to beam out" said Medic Dawson (red) before both Medic Dawsons and the prisoners were beamed out to the Tikal's sickbay.
"Sir, Ma'am. You two need to get down here, you won't believe this" reported a Kill team. What the kill team had found was Red Valdez trapped in a room with a dampening field up. Heath and Valdez (prime) ran straight to the location along with Trianna (yellow), Naynta and Jodi. "Don't you think this is a bit excessive?" asked Red Valdez sarcastically, "five against one, this will be over quick" he said afterwards as he drew a longsword. Heath and Valdez (prime) drew their weapons as Trianna (yellow), Naynta and Jodi blocked the only door out. Red Valdez put a fight up as he refused to back down, it was over when Valdez (prime) disarmed his counterpart using his longsword just as Heath put her dagger to Red Valdez's throat, Red Valdez still refusing to accept defeat was eventually brought down and beaten to a pulp by Naynta, Jodi and Trianna (yellow) who soon dragged him to the cells. After a quick field court, all found Red Valdez guilty and the sentence was death before Heath blinded him and signaled for him to be thrown into the cell after telling Red Valdez who she really was, Valdez (prime) grabbed his counterpart and shoved him into the cell before Naynta and Jodi activated the agony field. Alliance troops then checked for anymore prisoners before transporting out. In space, the surviving traitors tried to break out but they were shot down by the Alliance fleet.
-Lord Commander Solar Macharius
When Valdez (prime) and Heath got to the sickbay, Trianna (red) and Kestrella were being treated by medical staff as Valdez (prime), Trianna (yellow), Heath, Naynta and Jodi were watching. "Naynta, have you left that agony field on?" asked Valdez (prime). "I may have" answered Naynta. "Just checking" replied Valdez (prime). "What's the report?" asked Heath. "They're stable, their recovery may take a while" answered the Tikal's EMH. "Can we talk to them?" asked Heath. "30 minutes then they must rest" answered the EMH. The first faces that Trianna (red) saw was her family. "Dad, where am I?" asked Trianna (red). "Aboard the Tikal, you're safe" answered Valdez (prime), "Red, you've been through hell now you need to recover" he said afterwards. "How's Kestrella?" asked Trianna (red). "Recovering and her sisters are with her" answered Heath. Valdez (prime) then passed Trianna (red) and Kestrella the control PADD to the Void station's auto-destruct. They both pushed the button and the station exploded taking the cells last as Red Valdez screamed in agony. The Alliance fleet then left the area.
In the Tikal's sickbay, Valdez (prime) put a secure call home to tell the family that Trianna (red) was safe. The message was "mission accomplished." Trianna (red) spoke to her son via PADD and was in tears as she spoke with him before she introduced Kestrella to him. 30 minutes later, the EMH told the families that visiting time was over and that the patients needed rest. "At least that's one less monster in the universe" commented Valdez (prime) at the bar in the mess. "You could have killed him yourself but did not" replied Heath. "It was better his victims did it, their physical injuries will heal eventually but the mental injuries, that's going to take a long time" answered Valdez (prime). "Sir, Ma'am" said Medic Dawson (prime) as he got himself a soft drink. "Mr Dawson" answered Heath. "Rick, good job" added Valdez (prime). "You on duty?" asked Medic Dawson (prime). "No I'm not" answered Valdez (prime). "Dad, I spoke to Mom. She's asked me to pass you this" replied Medic Dawson (prime) passing Valdez (prime) a digital photo, "Meet Zoe Maria, congratulations Dad" he said afterwards. "Make sure that child never knows what hate is, teach her well" advised Heath. "We will" answered Valdez (prime), "Rick, how's Joanna?" he asked Medic Dawson (prime) afterwards. "Mom's fine but tired. Don't worry, things are covered back home" answered Medic Dawson (prime). "How's your sister?" asked Valdez (prime). "Red's happy to be alive, she's given Kestrella her contact details so they can talk but she is in no fit state to go anywhere despite her protests to the ship doctor" answered Medic Dawson (prime), "both patients however are eating something, they've been put on a diet that will get them back to their original weight" he said afterwards.
"What is this I heard about you trying to smuggle contraband cakes to your sister?" asked Valdez (prime). "No comment" answered Medic Dawson, "ask Anna or Isoisa" he finished with. Heath just found it amusing before asking "What are your plans for the future?" She asked afterwards. "Get Red home to the rest of her family, things won't be the same after this so that's something that we'll both have to work on" answered Valdez (prime). "What about Kestrella?" asked Valdez (prime). "Straight to her mother's on Betazed Yellow" answered Heath. "Best place for her" replied Valdez (prime). "Agreed" answered Heath. The I.S.S. Tikal then linked up with Battle Group Scythe and the Royal fleet with Heath and her troops beaming to Los Lobos and Valdez (prime) and his team beaming to the Harbinger. Kestrella was then moved to the Los Lobos and Trianna (red) beamed to the Harbinger. Both fleets then parted ways and Battle Group Scythe returned to the prime universe and returned home as the Royal fleet took Kestrella to Betazed Yellow.
-Lord Commander Solar Macharius
In transit
Night time had settled over the ship. Lights had dimmed and the shifts had changed letting the weary get some much needed sleep.
The Empress yawned as she sat on the couch in her quarters. Reviewing the days events before turning in, something caught her attention.
"Detention block deck destroyed along with runabout number two. Hull breach on deck currently sealed by emergency force fields and blast doors."
What the hell? She thought.
The report was signed by Vaylin with only explanation being to talk to her friend in the VIP suite.
She touched the comm panel.
"Have our guest brought to me."
A few minutes later, the door opened and she found herself looking at herself wearing a robe yawning.
"You know I'm not supposed to be out of my room."
"That didn't seem to stop you from blowing up the detention block deck."
"To be honest, that was Vaylin's idea."
"Sit. Explain."
"Can we do this tomorrow? It's late and..."
"Sit or I cut off your braid."
"Don't you dare! This thing saved my life!"
"Then sit down and explain."
"Alright, alright."
She walked over and sat down.
"Why not sit closer?"
"I'm staying out of arms reach."
"Fine. So what happened?"
Over the next few minutes she related their adventure with the nanites.
The Empress got up and moved closer to her and took her hand.
"You were going to sacrifice yourself weren't you?"
"Needs of the many and all that."
"Brave girl."
"Well that Starfleet runs deep."
"I... can't say that I would have done the same thing. Not anymore."
"Really?"
"I mean for Thay and the girls, without hesitation. But then Thay would yell at me saying that I'm more important than any one person and that I needed to survive..."
The Empress squeezed her hands.
"What's wrong?"
"I'm just starting to get through to them. They are finally listening to me. I am turning them into something better than they were before. I... I can't let that go to waste. I can't let all those lives lost for my ideals for them be in vain. I can't..."
"Sacrifice yourself for others anymore?"
"My life isn't my own anymore. It belongs to all of them. And I have a duty to be there for them, no matter the cost."
She looked up at the first lady.
"Please, keep that part of us. For both of us, keep those parts that I lose."
She smiled.
"I am Starfleet's designated sacrificial virgin. I suffer so others don't."
The two embraced each other.
"I have to warn you though," the Empress said while still holding on to her. "I'm going to torment you."
"Why?"
"Because I'm the Dark Empress. I have to embrace both the light and the darkness of the Empire, while you get to stay in the light of the Federation."
"We both know it's not that light."
"You know what I mean."
"Yeah, I do. It's going to annoy you like it would me."
"And I'm going to make you suffer for it. But I want you to know that I really don't mean it. After what we've been through I could never really hurt you."
"I'll try to keep that in mind."
"But the fact that parts of you are bigger than mine does annoy me."
"Not my fault."
An impulse hit both of them. They would later not remember the how or why of what happened next. All they knew is the next thing they remembered was that they were kissing, and had been doing so for several minutes.
They pushed back away from each other looking very confused.
"What..."
"How..."
"Why..."
"I... I should go..."
The first lady stood up and left the room.
Neither knew what to make of what just happened
Two months later
The one had become many.
They now could exercise some influence over the star that held them. Both home and prison, a plan of escape had been devised.
The forces on the surface were twisted, constrained, and manipulated until it forced a coronal mass eruption, sending most of it's mass into space.
That which remained, began the act of replicating more of itself to repeat the process.
Drifting on the solar winds they floated through the system. Some landing on asteroids, most being swept up by the gas giants further out. Only one managed to find it's way on to each of the class M planets in system.
But one was more than enough...
At the Valdez house, Trianna (red) was sat in bed talking to Kestrella via subspace. "How's the nerve therapy going?" asked Kestrella. "Getting some feeling back, from what the doctors have said, my injuries are some of the worst they've seen" answered Trianna (red), "how's your recovery?" she asked afterwards. "Still bouts of severe pain, the doctors have told me that it will take at least a year for the physical damage to fully heal, the mental damage, that's a different story" answered Kestrella. "I don't know if things will be the same between me and dad after this" replied Trianna (red). "He's a good man, we're alive and free because our families came to get us. Give him a chance" advised Kestrella. "I will, how's your crazy clan?" asked Trianna (red). "The normal lunacy" answered Kestrella, "how's the family?" she asked afterwards. "The usual insanity" answered Trianna (red). "A good thing, I'll leave you to get back to recovery. Betazed out" replied Kestrella.
In the family lounge, it was the usual chaos with the little ones all playing together as Valdez was sat down with Zoe Maria in his arms. "How's Red?" asked Valdez to Isoisa (red). "Putting on a brave face and very happy to be home with her family, we'll need to keep an eye on her just to make sure she gets the help she needs" answered Isoisa (red). "We do, but it has to be on her. She'll ask for help when she feels ready to" replied Valdez, "Why am I getting a look of disapproval from Zoe Maria?" he asked afterwards. "Because she's about to demand feeding" answered Isoisa (red) which was soon followed by the baby crying. Valdez then passed the baby over to Joanna and went to speak with Trianna (red) after picking up his grandson. "Dad, thank you for getting me out of there. I did not know if my SOS had been received" said Trianna (red). "Family helps each other, what you did was a brave thing. We're all proud of you for keeping yourself and Ms Lot alive, never forget that. I know things won't be the same between us again so that's something we need to work on" replied Valdez. "It may take some time" answered Trianna (red).
"I hear your cousins have been trying to cheer you up" replied Valdez. "They mean well but they don't understand" answered Trianna (red). "You are with people who love you, work with us" advised Valdez. "Mommy sad" said Ablim Jnr (red). "Have you been behaving yourself?" asked Trianna (red). "Yeah" answered Ablim Jnr (red). "Thanks for helping on the childcare front" said Trianna (red) to Valdez. "He's a little angel" replied Valdez.
At the Smith house, Dexter Smith (red) got a call from the Empire. He had just been named Alliance Ambassador to the Mirror Universe, "looks like I've been summoned to Terra" he commented afterwards.
-Lord Commander Solar Macharius
USS Constellation
Michael Ford looked over the reports and shook his head.
“She did it. She got rid of everybody that opposed her. She’s free to run things as she wishes.”
“To be honest sir,” Djetta countered. “She was doing that anyway. Still mounting their heads on spikes does send quite the message.”
“Yeah. That I should never forget our anniversary.”
She arched an eyebrow.
“That’s your takeaway from this?”
“Personally, yes. As the President… she brought together all the various forces of every quadrant of their galaxy and used them to crush her enemies.”
“She is helping the to explore beyond the boundaries of their own space.”
“She’s created her own version of the Alliance.”
“Isn’t that a good thing? They’ll be more stable over there. Much fewer attacks on us from them.”
“The fact that they were so disorganized and fighting among themselves worked in our favor. The prospect of a united Mirror universe is going to terrify some people.”
“So what do we do?”
“We do what the Federation does best. We talk to them. We appoint an official ambassador to the Mirror alliance. Setup an embassy for them over here and petition them for one over there.”
“Do you think she’ll go for it?”
“I may have already mentioned it to her in passing.”
“And she responded how?”
“She gave me the name of someone she recommends for the position.”
“I see. And did you also happen to mention that there’s a cloaked Alliance battle group following her?”
“Now why would I ruin a pleasant conversation by bringing that up?”
The S.S. Denorios came alongside the Los Lobos, "This is the Diplomatic envoy vessel Denorios, requesting permission to transport the ambassador over" said the Alliance operations officer on the bridge of the old Ambassador class vessel. "Los Lobos control, granted" reported the Los Lobos operations officer. When Ambassador Smith beamed aboard, he was greeted by Heath, Jasmine Smith-Petrofski and their guards. "How was your flight?" asked Jasmine. "Quiet, not much excitement" answered Smith. "Ambassador, no wolf?" asked Heath. "At home protecting the family" answered Smith, "A mirror Alliance, very impressive" he said afterwards to Heath. "It's keeping the peace" replied Heath. "A good thing, from what I've seen on INN, you've been cleaning house" answered Smith. "A few heads on spikes gets the point across, all of whom deserved it" replied Heath. "It's direct" answered Smith.
"How's your retirement been?" asked Heath. "Productive, I own and run a haulage and security company these days" answered Smith. "All above board and legal?" asked Heath. "I have to, I've got a family to support" answered Smith, "my company runs food and medical supplies throughout Romulan space carried on armed merchant ships. Many a pirate has been surprised by my convoys, my convoys fight back" he said afterwards. Heath just smiled, "you can still run your company as long as there is no conflict of interest" she said afterwards. "I only operate in Romulan space in the prime universe, there is no conflict of interest" answered Smith, "I read the regulations on the way here" he said afterwards. "Hows the family?" asked Heath. "Mereu's fine, things have been hectic to say to the least. Had our first child, the lack of sleep some nights is worth it though" answered Smith. "Congratulations" replied Heath. "Thank you ma'am" answered Smith, "Jas, hows things?" he asked Jasmine afterwards.
"A little crazy, you try raising two girls and governing a planet" answered Jasmine, "You've got two nieces so be a good example" she said afterwards. "I will" replied Smith. Heath just found it amusing before all three and their guard beamed down to Terra. "Mario, how things?" asked Smith to Petrofski. "Hectic" answered Petrofski holding Katerina, "Dexter, meet your niece, Katerina" he said afterwards as Katerina woke up. "Congratulations, both of you" replied Smith. "Ambassador, congratulations" answered Petrofski. "I got drafted" replied Smith. "Mama, Papa, what's an ambassador?" asked Pel. "Someone who preserves the peace, they use words not weapons" answered Petrofski. "It's a way governments can deal with any issues without the need for violence" said Smith. "Pel, your uncle has just landed" said Jasmine to Pel. "Jas, it's alright" said Smith to Jasmine.
-Lord Commander Solar Macharius