Disclaimer: (Same as in Episode I)
Disclaimer #2: (Ditto)-- I now hand the baton over to dawn_love, hers will be the next "authentic" stories of this series... good luck, and may the... never mind, wrong series :-)
Disclaimer #3: I noticed when I published my first story that it did not do the divisions between the separate parts of the chapter. No doubt this made the first story somewhat difficult to follow. In this one, I will put a double line in between the parts to make following the changes in perspective easier. Sorry for any inconvenience.
Dedication: To all of the fanfiction authors who are going to help me continue this series. Thank you for your help and support of this project. I have every confidence you'll make out of it more than I ever could have alone.
Star Trek
Horizons of the Federation
The battle to save the Federation begins as the Alpha Quadrant is threatened by a malicious alien species intent on genetic perfection and total conquest. The saga continues with Episode II...
Episode II:
"Running The Gauntlet"
The capital world of the Mortrem Imperium hung like a fingernail-white jewel in space. As pristine and genetically advanced as everything else in Mortrem society, the species had re-made their world to suit their needs, and everything about the planet-- down to the last traces of minerals beneath the soil-- was there at Mortrem behest. From here was the Imperium commanded and governed, from here were judgements passed and laws made, futures assured and lives ruined.
On this planet dwelt the Emperor.
Overmind Bmi, of the Nesxrixt Brood, approached the planet slowly, cautiously, as vessels were expected to. He had received word from his cousin, Rel, off exploring a potential new holding for the Mortrem. The light was green, his cousin had said, the Brood could begin moving its holdings into that galaxy in preparation for conquest. Only one thing remained to do before their family fleet could depart for that galaxy and begin its conquest: the Emperor had to be appraised.
Under the law of their semi-feudal Empire, the Broods were like mini-kingdoms, each taking whatever land it could, and often fighting with other Broods over land. The Emperor, the law dictated, could have no land specifically his own-- with the exception of the capital world-- but was to have complete access to the worlds, ships, forces, and resources of every Brood. In this way, he controlled no territory, yet it was, in a sense, all his. Thus, Broods could have no secret holdings, and, to that end, the Emperor had to be appraised of the potential conquests of each Brood before it began to take them. Those who resisted his dictates would face the wrath of his Mortrem Shock Troops.
Bmi did not like having to beam down, in person, to meet with the Emperor. To do so left himself, and his ship, vulnerable, for without the controlling central brain, the ship, in essence, ceased to function. Though his ship was in orbit over the Imperial planet, there were no guarantees that other Broods might not launch rash attacks with the intent of humiliating him and Brood Nesxrixt-- particularly Brood Volar, their fiercest enemies. Nevertheless, custom and social dictate demanded it, and so beam down he did.
He arrived in the Emperor's chambers, an extremely lavish throne room with the finest in Mortrem tapestry. The Emperor himself floated in his circular case, and, as always, Bmi was impressed by the being's spectacular size and awesome mental power. There was a sense about the great brain that pervaded every corner of the room. Bmi felt slightly off-center, just being in the same room with him.
I am told your family has a new conquest, the Emperor said to him.
Yes, my Lord, Bmi responded, over the telepathic waves by which Mortrem communicated, having long since shed corporeal bodies in favor of the mind. In a galaxy its current inhabitants call 'The Milky Way'. You have been supplied the coordinates.
I have. Can you take it?
Without problem. Brood Nesxrixt shall win a triumph for the Imperium, and your Lordship's holdings shall be increased greatly! Bmi responded, letting every ounce of enthusiasm and courage he felt leak over the neural waves.
Then go. May you return strong.
Overmind Bmi almost smiled. It had begun.
--
The first to fall was a world called Aquarius IV, where the Federation had established a colony after the war. Overmind Rel had learned about it from probing the mind of Adlia Morens, one of the two captives he'd picked up on Galatech IV, who was currently running The Maze. It was a single colony, population approximately five-hundred, relatively weak in defense. What was more, Aquarius IV was rich in a metal that, while not as strong as the brollomite ore they used to construct ships in the Mortrem's home galaxy, would make decent ships when the time came that the Mortrem could establish shipyards and begin to be able to operate from within this galaxy, without as much need of outside support. Therefore he would seed the planet, send down some forces to establish a base there. Once the other ships from Brood Nesxrixt arrived, he could station an Overmind here to oversee it all.
He ordered every Captured on his ship to beam their soldier-body down to the surface and begin the attack, having the Spawning Pools begin to create new soldiers the moment the old were beamed down. He knew, expected, even wanted for there to be some Mortrem "deaths" during this assault, and, if the Spawning Pools created more new bodies than there was a need for, some would simply sit idle and unused for a while.
The battle went quickly, and Overmind Rel gained many new hostages to run The Maze and potentially become Captured. As expected, the Federation energy weapons-- phasers, he now knew them to be called-- proved little threat to the boren that laced the Mortrem drones's armor. In the end, there were three Mortrem "deaths", and the bodies, of course, were quickly replacable.
Rel allowed a transmission to be sent from the planet, telling the Federation of its distress. Meanwhile, he once again probed the minds of Adlia Morens and Kargh, the Klingon-- who were, in fact, still on this vessel, though they could not know it-- to determine a suitable next target.
Now the Federation would know something was amiss, which meant that next time they would face fiercer opposition. Exactly as Overmind Rel wanted it.
Chapter 2
"I've got word from Starfleet Command," Lieutenant Ridell told Captain Riccen. "Aquarius IV fell. They're almost sure it was the same species we faced-- probably the same ship."
"One ship took out a colony?" Riccen asked, incredulous.
"It's not that big a surprise," Commander Traxor put in. "Aquarius IV was a recently established colony. Only five hundred members. Defenses were extremely minimal."
Riccen nodded. "Did the Aquarians track them coming in?"
Ridell shook his head. "No, sir. They apparently used the same portal they used to come in over Galatech IV."
"If these things go anywhere from anywhere at that speed without leaving any kind of signature or trail, then all the conventional rules of warfare get tossed out the window. Why worry about the vulnerability of your supply lines when there's no way the enemy can attack you en route?" Riccen asked, posing the question to himself more than anyone else. Around his bridge, there was grim agreement.
They had stayed here, five light-years distant from where they had last engaged this new unknown species, for a standard day. All that time, they had been watching the ship, trying to cook up a plan to rescue Kargh and Morens. They had a vague idea, but it required having some idea of where the ship was going to be in the immediate future, and whether or not it was going to be there long enough for them to reach it.
Six hours ago, the ship had disappeared from their scopes. Complete conquest of even so small a colony would take a few hours. Therefore their method of travel was extremely rapid, perhaps near-instantaneous. They could count on nothing anymore.
--
Lieutenant Commander Adlia Morens dodged the red beams of light, and they burned a sizzling hole in the wall behind her-- solid wall, without an apparent door, which made her wonder how she'd gotten here. Transported, probably.
Head and upper body still bobbed from the dodge, she raised the weapon she'd just picked up off the ground and fired a shot, simultaneously trying to peer into the creature's thoughts. Her mouth opened in shock at what she found-- a blank space. It seemed to have no thoughts. Beyond it, though, distantly, as though through a layer of sleep, she could hear the thoughts of the Motrem Overmind and Captured. They were thinking of conquest, of a ship-- the Olympus--, of planets.
She felt a gentle probe on her mind, then, knew that the Overmind must have pulled some information from it, though what that information might be, she could not guess. She reasoned that either the ship or base she had been on was still near to wherever she was now, or that the telepathic range of these Mortrem was incredibly long. Either way, it meant trouble for her. Sprinting down the corridor, she chose to turn left.
There was another corridor, and two more of the red-eyed black-skinned creatures standing guard toward its end, just beyond a door in its right side. They let loose the beams from their eyes immediately, and she turned back around the corner. They flashed past. She thrust her hands back around popped off a shot, once again trying to read their minds. It wasn't that she hit a wall. Rather, she hit blank air. Nothingness. It was as if these things didn't exist. A world, however, did enter her mind through the dream-fuzz. Arjilon.
It must be their target.
A sense of urgency filled her, she knew she had to get out of here and warn the Federation before the world fell. She had no doubt that these Mortrem could take Arjilon, and neither did she doubt that there would be dire consequences for the Federation if that happened.
She played a game of peek-a-boo with the demonic creatures, popping around to fire, then ducking back before they could zap her with their red eye-beams. Finally, both went down. She sprinted down the corridor and through the door.
As the door hissed open, she saw, just beyond it, another of the red-eyed humanoids, this one with its back to her. The moment it heard the door hiss, it began to turn around very swiftly. Realizing that her window of opportunity was closing, she raised her gun and screamed at it. "Freeze! You make one move or even start to shoot your-- whatever it is that comes out of your eyes-- at me, and you will be dead!"
--
Captain Riccen found Lieutenant Stin Toleron in Engineering, giving orders and making suggestions to several of his underlings. A Tellarite, Toleron was generally considered a brilliant engineer, an expert quantum physicist and warp mechanic. By humans in Starfleet he was often called the Stephen Hawking of his day-- born paralyzed in the legs, he had been unable to participate in athletic activities even after his receipt of mechanical replacements, and so had devoted all of his time to thinking and mathematics.. He was generally called a genius, and, quite unlike Stephen Hawking, it was said that with that genius, in Toleron's case, came arrogance.
Riccen sighed, supposing he would discover the veracity of both claims today.
"Mr. Toleron," he called out to his Chief Engineer. The Tellarite immediately turned from the junior to whom he was giving orders upon hearing the brisk call of his name. He smiled upon seeing his Captain-- not the normal response of an officer on a ship to the appearance of the ship's commander, even if that officer was among the senior staff.
"Captain!" he called back, in a slightly grating porcine voice. "A pleasure. What can I do for you?"
The lack of formality at once intrigued and disturbed Riccen. Am I hearing the beginnings of that arrogance, or is Toleron merely a very jovial man?
"I need a very special shuttlecraft prepared, and I'm told you're the man for the job."
"Well, of course I am!" came the grating reply. "What do you need, sir?"
"Two things, actually: I need a sensor screen in place that inhibits detection by any known sensor grid or scan. I also need it to generate a false life sign."
"Well, that's no problem at all!" Toleron replied. "When do you need it? I can have it done within the hour."
Riccen smiled lightly, laid a hand on the man's shoulder. "I'm afraid it's slightly more complicated even than that. You see, I want the screen to make detection of the shuttlecraft difficult-- but not impossible."
"That's a rather strange directive, if you'll pardon my saying so."
Rather than pointing out the near-insubordination of that comment, Riccen simply replied "Not if you want the shuttlecraft detected."
"But why--"
"Just obey, Lieutenant. You'll find out later."
Toleron's face looked as if he wanted to question this, then though the better of it. "Yes, sir."
Riccen's commbadge beeped. He touched it, said, "Go ahead."
"It's Lieutenant Ridell, sir. We just got word from the fleet. Arjilon is under attack!"
As Riccen ran for the turbolift to take him to the bridge, he took a Parthian shot at his insubordinate officer. "Remember to have it done within the hour!"
Let's hope he's got the genius to back up his mouth.
Chapter 3
They dropped out of warp at Arjilon, a half-dozen ships strong, plus three Klingon Birds of Prey under the command of General Mak'kor, one of the heads of the Klingon Defense Force since General Martokk's ascension to Chancellor.
At the bridge of the U.S.S. Sovereign, Admiral Colt Urmand issued orders. "Lock weapons systems on orbiting ship, prepare to fire. Lieutenant Nach, confirm the readiness of the Klingon task force."
"General Mak'kor confirms ready, sir," Nach replied.
"Put the enemy vessel onscreen," Urmand commanded, and onscreen it came. It was a strange vessel, a bumpy not-quite-ovoid of shining silver metal laced with ovoid green creatures that were apparently alive, and with strips of biological material on the side Urmand could see and probably on the other as well. Closer they came, and closer still, and yet the enemy did not fire, made no moves of any sort.
"Mr. Nach, are you sure that's the hostile?"
"It matches the description in the distress call and the one sent to us by the Olympus, sir."
He thought a moment. "Are there troops on the ground?"
"Sensors detect life-signs of only known species... and only just above the requisite number for the colony. If there are troops down there, our sensors can't detect them."
"Confirm the distress call," Urmand ordered.
"It's confirmed, sir," Nach replied. "Colonials report under attack."
Urmand sighed. "Send a hail to that ship, maybe we can reason with them."
It was sent. A moment's wait, and then, "No response, sir."
The viewscreen showed what was happening just as Nach reported it. The strip of organic material on the side began to squirm, and shift, and shape itself into something. A moment later, a lumpy biological missile came shooting at them-- only to bounce right off the deflector shields.
"Well," Urmand said to the Sovereign's crew. "They may be able to terrorize the people on the ground, but it seems they can't match us in space! Red Alert! All hands to battlestations! All Federation and Klingon vessels, fire at will!"
The blaze of red light that shot across the viewscreens then was truly impressive. Streak after crimson streak arrowed toward the lumpy ship-- and was stopped just short of hitting it.
"How much damage to their shields, Lieutenant?"
Nach did the scans, and beeping noises emitted from his console. "Can't tell. As far as we can detect, that ship doesn't have shields, sir!"
The squirming began again. "Sir, they're launching another missile! This one has some kind of energy field around it!"
"Shields to maximum! Let's not take any chances here, people. Tell the Klingons to prepare another salvo. This time, set phasers to maximum power and let's use torpedoes, too!"
But before that salvo could be launched, the missile reached the Sovereign's shields-- and went through them as though they weren't there.
"Power to weapons down twenty-five percent!" Nach reported. "We have a hull breach on deck one, and life support's down ten percent! The ship is turning to face us!"
"Launch the salvo! Full spread! Phasers and torpedoes!"
The salvo was launched. The torpedoes impacted against the vessel's hull, creating momentary brilliant flares that were quickly extinguished by the vacuum of space. The phaser shots, however, were again blocked impossibly by shields that seemed not to exist.
Lump after lump was formed from the organic material on the sides of the alien vessel, and missile after missile launched from it. With systematic precision, the vessel targeted each ship in the small fleet and hit it, dead on. One of the Klingon ships was obliterated when the missile struck its bridge. The rest sustained heavy damage.
"All Federation ships: Concentrate on shooting those missiles out of the sky as they're launched!" commanded Urmand, thinking quickly. "We'll let the Klingons press the attack while we cover their flank!"
It looked as if this battle may not be so easily won after all.
--
Overmind Rel was quite pleased. Wanting to draw opposition forces to this planet, he had sent in only small attacking parties with orders to fight to wound and harass, not to obliterate. He knew that many of the soldier-bodies he sent would "die"-- but of course to a Mortrem this was no concern at all.
He had then let the ships have the first blow, wanting to test their power-- and the mechanically powered boren that lined the hull of his ship had proven more than up to the task of repelling the Federation energy weapons. Only once he knew this did he begin his attack in earnest, and it seemed to be working.
The solid projectile weapons, these were the only flaw. They could damage his ship, and would be able to damage the other ships of Brood Nesxrixt when they arrived in this galaxy. But this was not a major concern. His people would figure out some way, either biological or technological-- or, like the wonderful boren, a combination of the two-- to defeat the weapons, and, in the meantime, the brollomite ore from which his people built their ships was strong enough to withstand a significant number of hits from the weapons.
Rel smiled inwardly. Soon, within hours, his people would pour into this galaxy, the six other vessels his Brood owned warping through space to give Brood Nesxrixt-- and the whole of the Mortrem Imperium-- one more piece of conquered territory they could boast about.
Overmind Rel pressed his attack.
Chapter 4
The being raised its hands in surrender, and Adlia Morens breathed a sigh of relief. So these beings, whatever they were, could be reasoned with, even if they could not be read. "What are you?" she asked, her tone commanding and exhausted all at once.
No answer.
"Do you understand me?"
The thing opened its mouth, a small sound came out. It was almost as if it was trying to grunt, then closed its mouth again. Morens optimistically took this as a 'yes'. "All right, then," she said, pointing her weapon ever more firmly at the thing, "You're going to get me out of here." It lowered its head, and she screamed at it. "Do you understand me? You're my captive! You're getting me out of here! Lead the way!"
Seeming resigned, it turned and started to walk. She walked after it, suddenly glad that she was no longer in her environment suit, which would have hampered her movements. The alien led her down several corridors, some of which contained those of its own people. So shocked were they at seeing one of their own led through the complex by an alien at gunpoint that she was able to pick them off with ease. Finally, they came to a hexagonal room. There were six doors, one in each wall. They got to the middle of the room, and then the creature stopped.
"All right," she prodded it, waving the gun at its back, though she knew the creature could not see the motion, "Which way?"
The point turned out to be moot, for, through each of the six doors-- including the one she'd come through, as she found out when she looked over her shoulder-- came one of the red-eyed, black-skinned creatures. They didn't have weapons, but she knew they didn't need them. She was trapped. And it was now she who was the captive.
--
The battle continued to go poorly for the Federation/Klingon fleet. The Federation ships had assumed stationary positions and were devoting their weapons to targeting and obliterating the biological missiles as they shot from the alien ship. The missiles, however, seemed intelligent enough to not only follow evasive ships, but to dodge counterfire, as well. Another Klingon ship had been destroyed, and several of the missiles had struck the Federation vessels, as well.
General Mak'kor, however, was not a stupid man. Realizing that shields were apparently useless against this foe, he had ordered them drained of all energy except that absolutely necessary to keep his men from being beamed off his ship, and the energy that had been used to power them re-routed to weapons. They had then tried again with the phasers, and it met with the same effect. Whatever these creatures were, they seemed able to block energy of any strength.
Now Mak'kor's vessel, the only one of the Klingon ships still fight-worthy, was in distress. Weapons power was at twenty-five percent, life support was failing, warp power was totally gone, and, according to the Sovereign's sensors, they had hull breaches on at least five decks. Mak'kor, however, was a fighter-- just as Martokk before him had been.
He took his vessel on a course that led it away from the alien vessel, then sent a transmission to the Federation. "This is Mak'kor. Keep those missiles off me for a few seconds, heh? I'm gonna try something!"
The Sovereign and the rest of the fleet complied, shooting down the missiles as they flew at Mak'kor's ship. The bird of prey then angled back in-- and fired a string of torpedoes at the ship. There were a series of small explosions. Urmand stood there, staring at the scene, wondering what had been gained by this. He continued to wonder until Mak'kor's ship fired its phasers at the alien ship, striking the center of the area against which the missiles had just impacted-- and the phasers seemed to go through. Lieutenant Nach confirmed this.
"Mak'kor, you old devil!" Urmand cried enthusiastically. "What did you do?"
"I hit some of the green things that lace their ship! It seemed they were generating the shield!" came the throaty Klingon reply.
Urmand wasted no time. "All Federation ships, move in and fire phasers on that spot, full power! Take eighty percent power from the shields and re-direct to the phasers! Let's hit it with everything we've got!"
At that moment, however, Mak'kor's ship took a crippling blow.
"Urmand to Mak'kor! Are you all right?"
"I've lost all weapons power! Impulse power is down fifty percent! We have plasma coolant leaks on every deck!"
"Stand by, we'll transport you off!" Urmand told him.
"Sir!" Nach reported. "There's a ship coming in! It's... the Olympus!"
--
Adlia's former captive turned with blinding speed and slapped her across the face with its hand, using its other hand to take her energy weapon, which it flung behind it. She went down to her knees, putting a hand to her cheek, which came away bloody. This was it, she knew. Within moments all seven of them would shoot that red laser-light from their eyes, and then...
There was a noise, then, a distant one. A flash of red light streaked towards her from the side-- and the creature in front of her went down. There was another noise, and out of the corner of her eye she saw the creature at her left drop. The others, angered and curious by the sudden and mysterious loss of two of their comrades, abandoned her entirely as a target and began pouring toward the door from which the left one had come. The moment each of them stepped into the doorway, however, they were, in their turn, shot down.
Adlia Morens, like the creatures that had just been killed, was at a total loss to explain this. She walked toward the door, stepped into the doorway, bracing to be shot herself... and saw at its end a figure. A figure with dark brown skin, long, curly black hair, ridges on its forehead, and wearing a Starfleet uniform, minus the commbadge.
Kargh!
"It appears," he called to her from down the hall, "That I was right about the Federation's newfound militarism after all."
"How did you do that? Hit the one in front of me, from that distance, with that other one between you and it, obstructing your view?" she asked, breathlessly.
"Klingons are excellent marksmen," he responded simply.
She ran down the hallway to him. Now they would get out of this, she knew. She just wished she knew how.
Chapter 5
"This is Captain Riccen to all ships!" Riccen announced as the Olympus soared into the fray. "Do not fire! I repeat: do not fire!" Having said this, he turned to Lieutenant Ridell. "Is the special shuttlecraft ready?"
"It is, sir."
"Launch it," Riccen ordered. "Guide it by remote."
The shuttlecraft launched, appeared moments later on the Olympus's viewscreen. "Guide it through our fleet," Riccen ordered. "Make it move discreetly toward the alien ship."
He turned then to face Ridell. "Can you detect Commander Morens or Lieutenant Kargh onboard the ship?"
"No, I get lifesigns for neither of them."
"What about their commbadges?"
Riddell tapped keys. "Yes, those I can find!"
"Send transporter room one their coordinates," Riccen ordered.
Ridell accomplished this expertly, having it wind its way on a twisting path toward the Mortrem ship. Eventually, once it got close enough, the Mortrem detected it, sent one of their specialized missiles its way...
"It's hit!" Ridell called to his captain. "Shields at half power, weapons down twenty-five percent, life support to ninety percent!"
Another missile.
"Shields gone, weapons gone, warp power down twenty percent!"
"The shields are all we need. Transporter room, at my signal, beam Commander Traxor over to the coordinates I gave you."
"They're beaming the life-form on the shuttlecraft over!" Ridell called.
"Now, transporter room one!" Riccen cried, his mind and voice filled with the urgency of the moment. This had to come off perfectly, or it would all be useless.
"I'm detecting a subtle shift in the ship's internal energy field... it's shifting back... it's back to normal parameters," Ridell reported.
"Transporter room one: is Commander Traxor aboard the alien ship?" Riccen asked.
"He is, sir," came the response.
"Good. And you have transporter lock on him?"
"Yes, sir."
"Excellent. Well done, Lieutenant." Riccen told him, thinking: Now, let's see if we can get some real answers.
--
Commander Thomas Traxor was almost giddy with excitement as he materialized aboard the alien ship, despite the strange alien turmoil that suddenly gnawed at the back of his mind. At last, he would have a chance to prove himself, to distinguish himself for himself, and not stand in someone else's shadow, as he had done all his life...
Captain Riccen's plan had been brilliant, of course. Realizing that the internal energy field was meant to screen transports onto the ship, he had sent out a shuttlecraft containing a single human life-sign-- but which was, in fact, empty. He reasoned that the aliens, if they were true to the pattern they seemed to follow-- capture before kill-- would try to disable the shuttle and bring its occupant aboard, which meant they would either drop the internal shield for a moment or adjust it to allow in a human. And, indeed, one human would beam on. Just not the one they expected, and not where they expected him to be.
Instead, he materialized in front of a row of beings. They were standing up, their arms and legs locked in braces, and strange devices seemed to be attached to the backs of their heads. Their eyes were closed, and they seemed in a dream-like state. He looked behind him, saw another row similarly positioned, and another beyond that, and another beyond that. When he turned his head back around, he noticed several more rows beyond the one he was looking at. All of this, however, was wiped from his attention by what stood directly in front of him.
The unconscious form of Lieutenant Commander Adlia Morens, dressed in Starfleet uniform but minus the environment suit, face seeming undamaged, phaser still, amazingly, clipped at her side. And beside it, the similarly unconscious form of Lieutenant Kargh, in like condition. "I don't know what you're doing," he whispered to them, though he knew they couldn't hear, "but it's time you stopped doing it."
Here, however, he hit a blank. He couldn't risk forcibly disconnecting them from whatever it was they were plugged into, for he didn't know what effect that would have on them. The safest course, he decided, was to simply disconnect their arms and legs and beam them, unconscious, back to the Olympus.
The problem with that plan was two-fold. If he went back with them, that would ruin the other part of his mission here: to explore and learn about this vessel and the aliens that populated it. He doubted the aliens would be fooled again by such a trick, which meant this could be the Federation's only chance to get an agent aboard one. He could not send them back alone, either, however, for that would mean making contact with the ship, which would clue the aliens in to where he was and blow his cover. Not to mention the fact that he wasn't entirely sure that the energy field didn't screen transports off the ship, as well.
Which left only one option: somehow, he would have to find a way to shut down the whole thing. Preferably without the aliens realizing he was doing it.
--
They came to the door, approached it cautiously and with incredulity. Unlike most of the doors Kargh and Morens had encountered since their reunion, it was not rectangular, but rather, shaped like a skull.
"How do these beings know enough about us to put a human skull there to scare us?" Kargh asked, anger showing in his voice.
"They took it from our minds," Morens answered grimly. Kargh looked over at her wonderingly, but made no further inquiries. "So," she continued, "Shall we go through?"
"We seem to have little choice," Kargh answered.
They stepped through cautiously, entered a long, low hallway. At its sides were two weapons that looked to be significantly more powerful than the ones they carried and three power packs for each weapon. At the end of the hall, they heard noises that sounded like a combination between a growl and shriek and a constant, heavy thudding.
"They wouldn't give us weapons unless they intended us to fight back," Kargh reasoned, reaching the same conclusion Commander Morens had earlier. "This is a test!"
Morens nodded. They stepped out of the hall and into the large room-- and they realized that those larger weapons might not do them any good. Before them stood a ten foot tall monstrosity, hair covering a menacing face shaped like some sort of cattle. Its arms and chest seemed carved from muscle, and both arms ended in long, menacing machine guns. It spotted them at once, its glowing white eyes fixed on their comparatively small forms. It raised its hands-- and out of the guns spat energy projectiles.
Kargh and Morens dived to opposite sides and rolled. The room was shaped like a circle, and at its periphery were pillars. They ran behind the pillars, dodging the oncoming bursts of energy that continued to spit from the thing's hands as it spread its arms wide, tracking them. Lieutenant Morens stopped, pressed her back against one of the pillars, and jammed one of the cartridges into her new energy weapon.
Turning, she fired the weapon at the monstrosity, ducked back around to avoid return fire, then poked her head around again to assess the damage her shot had done. Smoke wafted from the thing's chest where her blast had hit, and there was a circular burn mark. The thing emitted a brief howl of pian, but seemed not to be significantly hurt. After a few moments, it proved this by marching on, right towards her.
Kargh took to the game, squeezing off a shot that hit the creature in the arm. Another brief howl of pain, but, again, no significant damage. This time, however, the creature seemed confused. It turned its head left, then right, then left again.
It doesn't know which one of us to come after, Adlia realized. This is our chance.
Kargh seemed to catch on to this, too, and fired off three shots in quick succession, taking advantage of its confusion. Adlia squeezed off four, then ducked back behind her hiding place.
The creature, now in a mad fury, began firing off shots rapidly, spraying their immediate vicinity with fire. When the fire seemed to have moved to the side of her pillar to which she wasn't planning to run, she took off. The creature, unfortunately, apparently decided to rotate its arms ever more rapidly in the anger, and they came back to her more quickly than she'd expected. A blinding flash of pain in her lower leg, just above the ankle, told her she'd been hit. She went down, her weapon clattering to the ground, just barely managing to keep the side of her head from hitting the ground. A grunt of pain told her Kargh had been similarly hit.
The creature, however, turned itself in her direction. It took three stomping steps toward her, pointed its arm at her sprawled form. She tried to get up, but the leg flared with pain and she stumbled back down to the ground. Hissing a quiet Betazoid curse, she looked up at the creature, face in desperation and mind racing for any solution, any trick she might use to dodge the lethal blast she knew was coming. She could think of no way.
The creature gave a grunt, and fired. What happened next was curious. Adlia Morens saw the shot in mid-air, was sure it had not yet hit her, and felt no pain-- aside from the throbbing and flaring of her leg-- and yet, all of the sudden, she was overtaken by blackness.
--
Commander Traxor had found it. At the back of the room, behind all the rows of suspended beings, was a conduit that seemed to be the nexus of the units on the backs of the captives's heads. Lights on it seemed to blink in time with lights on the backs of the neck attachments. Realizing this might have ill effects for the captives but knowing it to be his best chance, he pulled out his phaser and fired a shot into the console.
The effect was immediate. Within the restraints that held them, the captives began to stir. The lights on their neck attachments blinked their last and winked out. Voices began to be raised in confusion, anger, fear. Some pulled on their arms, were able to pull them free of the restraints, then able to step out of them entirely. Whatever it was that held them there must have died with the console. Commander Traxor rushed back to Lieutenant Commander Morens and Lieutenant Kargh.
"Sir!" Adlia Morens cried joyfully, pulling her arms free and stepping out of the restraints.
"What happened?" Lieutenant Kargh grunted.
"They had you in some kind of stasis, "Traxor told them. "I've freed you. Let's go."
"Where?" Kargh asked. "And where are we?"
"You're on a ship belonging to-- whoever these aliens are. And we're going back to the Olympus-- if we can."
"They're called the Mortrem," Adlia filled him in, for that was one of the things she'd learned during her overwhelming mental interrogation by Overmind Rel. "And you won't be able to get out of here unless we beam out now, immediately."
"Why not?" Traxor asked.
"They'll have a dozen soldiers on you in seconds. Commander, these soldiers don't die when their bodies do, they're controlled remotely by brains housed in a central chamber of this ship. If a body is killed, a new one is simply made."
Traxor opened his mouth in awe, said nothing, closed his mouth.
"And there's more-- they have some kind of creatures... the Overmind called them "boren"... on their armor that repel phasers. We won't be able to hit them, not in places that will be very damaging, at any rate."
But Traxor had another question. "Overmind?"
"The central brain-- it controls the ship. I'll explain their social hierarchy to you and the Captain once we're back on the Olympus-- if we make it. Where is the Olympus?"
"Outside, with a fleet of Federation ships. Arjilon is under attack."
Adlia Morens's face paled. "Then it's begun," she breathed.
"Well, if they know we're here anyway, this can't hurt now," Traxor said, and impulsively brought his hand to his commbadge. "Away team to Olympus: prepare for--" he looked around at the room full of captives. They would all want out of here too. "Multiple beam-out. I repeat, prepare for multiple beam-out."
The reply was filled with static, but it was definitely the transporter chief saying "Yes, sir."
--
Overmind Rel was no longer pleased. A few moments ago, he had lost them. He had lost the minds. The Betazoid woman-- Morens-- she was gone, he no longer had his inside source of information on the Federation and its worlds and species. The Klingon, Kargh, was gone as well. They all were. The Maze seemed to have shut down-- on his ship, at any rate.
What was more, the agents he had sent to take custody of the human he'd beamed off the shuttlecraft had reported that no human had materialized-- nothing at all had, in fact. When he'd sent a small team over to the shuttlecraft, they'd reported that no one was there, either. This perplexed Overmind Rel, and he could think of only one explanation-- the life-form he'd detected aboard the shuttlecraft was false. Either a genetic creation that had served its purpose and disintegrated, or a technological trick of the sensors. From what he'd learned of the Federation from the minds of Morens and Kargh, he suspected the latter.
Yet the biomechanical energy field within his ship had reported admitting one human. Thus, there was only one conclusion Rel could draw: one of the ships, probably the one Rel had encountered earlier, above the world they called "Galatech IV", which had re-appeared moments ago and launched the shuttlecraft, had used the false life sign to get him to open the shields, then beamed a human aboard. That human had disconnected the captives from The Maze, and was, in all likelihood, still on the ship, since no attempted beam-outs had been reported to him yet.
Then there was the matter of his destroyed boren. They couldn't counter matter projectiles, and Overmind Rel doubted that they could be modified to. If the Federation had targeting systems precise enough to hit them and destroy them, that meant that this battle might be more difficult than Overmind Rel had expected.
Rage exploded from inside his brain-case, a rippling wave that almost shook the ship. He did three things, then. The first was that he ordered all Captured under his command to send their drone bodies converging on the holding room, to retrieve the captives (and their rescuer) and, if possible, re-insert them into The Maze. He then sent a signal to Brood Nesxrixt's ships in the Mortrem's home galaxy, telling them to come now, whether defense preparations on Nesxrixt worlds and final battle checks among their fleet were complete or not. The third was that he launched an all out attack on the fleet that had come to oppose him. They had stopped firing, and Overmind Rel guessed that while they had agents aboard his ship, there would be no further counterfire.
Overmind Rel let vindictive energy surge through him. When his fellows got there, he would have a victory to present to them.
Chapter 6
It was chaos aboard the Sovereign. Admiral Urmand, continuing to heed Captain Riccen's request not to fire, was reduced to dodging the mad barrage of missiles that came flying from the enemy ships. They had so far managed to escape unscathed, but two of the ships in his fleet had not been so lucky, and had been destroyed.
Then their ship took a hit. Urmand was thrown to the floor, got up quickly, shouted "Damage report!"
"Impulse engines at half power! Hull breaches on decks twenty-four, twenty-five, and twenty-six!"
"Captain Riccen, how long until you've got your men off that ship?"
"Our transporter chief's trying, but the energy field they've put around their ship makes it difficult!"
Just then, another ship went down. "Urmand to Riccen," Urmand called, his face a mask of desperation. "We have no choice: we have to move in and fire on that thing!"
"Wait a minute! I've got it!" came the transporter chief. "That field that screens transports has an arrythmic energy frequency! If we have all our remaining ships direct a concentrated magneton pulse at the same point on the ship, it should create a lapse in the shield for long enough for me to get our people out!"
"Do it!" Urmand called.
They did.
"I've got it! A whole bunch of people just beamed back, including Commander Traxor, Lieutenant Commander Morens, and Lieutenant Kargh. My sesnors show more Federation and Klingon life-signs. Trying to lock on-- damn! They've got their shields back up!"
"Do another pulse!" Urmand ordered, but was stopped by what Captain Riccen.
"We're detecting multiple spacial anomalies opening directly behind us! I make the count-- six! They're almost identical to the one this ship emerged from when we first encountered it!"
"Six more ships?" Urmand asked. "By the Rings of Betazed! What now, Riccen?"
"Only one way. Have every ship in the fleet turn about and direct a volley of torpedoes at each of the anomalies!"
"Destroy the anomalies?" Urmand asked.
"If those ships get through, life is going to get very difficult for everyone!" Riccen promised, and, seeing what he had of these aliens, Urmand believed him.
"Do it!" he ordered.
The Mortrem ship already in their galaxy, apparently realizing their intent, began firing off missiles even more madly. Another ship was soon destroyed-- but not before it got a volley of missiles off at one of the opening anomalies.
As the missiles began to strike, it was clear that this technique would work-- they began to implode, taking the ships traveling through them-- currently visible as only distant gleaming spots-- with them.
"Good work, everyone!" Urmand called to his remaining ships. "Now we have just the one ship to worry about!"
--
Overmind Rel saw the destruction of his fellows, knew the hopelessness of his cause. Left with no other choice, once they discovered that Rel had adapted his energy field so that a magneton pulse would not work again, the Federation ship would surely fire, and, now that several of the boren had been taken out, his ship could easily be destroyed. Brollomite ore was very powerful, but too many hits to the same place and, like anything else, it could be crushed, blasted into small pieces, which would leave a gaping hole open to the interior of his ship.
What's more, he was now his Brood's last combat vessel. Assembling new ones would take time. It was vital to the security of his Brood that he retreat and replace the dead boren. He also had to remain alive-- and in this galaxy, if possible-- so that Brood Nesxrixt could keep its foothold here. Brood Volar could not be allowed to destroy their noble line, nor to take what should rightfully be theirs.
And so Overmind Rel did retreat, even as the wormholes that contained his Brood's proud combat fleet were being destroyed, left the scene before the Federation defenders could turn their angry attention on him.
But it was not a loss, he knew. He still had many Federation and Klingon captives aboard his vessel, which the enemy had been unable to retrieve before he had raised his shields again. Aquarius IV now belonged to his Brood, and was rapidly being turned into a proper Brood Home and production plant for ships, soldier-bodies, and boren for their war machine. Brood Nesxrixt had many allies in their home galaxy, he could summon them to assist in the fight. And soon, he knew, his Brood would have a combat-ready fleet once again, and perhaps it would this time contain many more than six ships, and they could enter this galaxy at a point where there were no Federation ships waiting to destroy them as they came through the floodgates. What was more, he knew that his Spawning Pools could produce drone-bodies that mimicked the appearances of the Klingons and several of the species in the Federation. He could infiltrate them, learn more about them without having to risk his ship, without having to truly risk anything at all, since drone-bodies were infinitely replaceable and expendable. It was not over.
There would be another day. And next time, it would be his people who would bask in victory.
--
Captain's Log, Starship Olympus
We have recovered Commander Morens and Lieutenant Kargh, and they have begun to tell us the stories of the alien species we faced-- the Mortrem--, and of the quasi-reality in which they were held. Both Morens and Kargh insist that what they went through there was some sort of test, and Morens speculates that its purpose was to determine their worthiness to be turned into Captured minds, the minds that control the drone soldiers the Mortrem use as shock troops. Their accounts fill me with deep concern, and the Olympus is bound for Earth, to discuss strategy with Starfleet Command.
Earth Station McKinley has given our ship a docking for repairs, but I fear the emotional and psychological wounds left by this encounter will take much longer to heal, and fear also for the even greater wounds that are sure to be inflicted on our next encounter with these Mortrem.
Captain Riccen visited Adlia Morens at her bedside in sickbay. "Doctor Corgon tells me you'll be fit to return to active duty tomorrow. Apparently, your actual wounds are very minor, and the only real injuries are psychological. You also don't seem to have any viruses or infestations that she can detect."
"They'll come again, you know," she told him, her voice quiet with somberness and tragedy. "I felt it. They won't stop here."
Riccen nodded, unsure of what to say. Slowly, he turned and started to leave, stopped when he felt her grab his hand. He turned back around, said quietly, "Was there something else, Commander?"
"I've felt in your mind that you have some sort of problem with the Klingons, sir, but-- he saved my life. Give him another chance."
Riccen did not have to ask who she was talking about. Without giving any response, he turned and left. Once outside the medical bay, he sighed and leaned against the wall, hoping the range of her telepathy was short enough that she could not read his thoughts here. Riccen sighed again. He supposed he would have some thinking to do.