The Colorado Encounter
~*~ Chapter 1 ~*~
Title Unknown
It was quiet! That was of course a bit of an understatement since sound don't travel in the vacuum of space but aboard the U.S.S. Colorado the only sounds were coming from those crewmembers going about their duties. But other then that there was nothing really to do. The Coloradowas instructed to patrol the Swagger Cluster which layed deep within the Sierra Sector. It had been quiet for the last part of the decade until a recent merchant ship had picked up a Starfleet escape pod.
The passenger inside was not being very cooperative that was until Starfleet had arrived. Upon the arrival of the Enterprise-E the unknown passenger seemed to be very terrified of its captain, as if he had seen a ghost. Nobody knew where the man, or even the escape pod for that matter, had come from so the report from Starfleet Intelligance said, however only a select few in Starfleet had their suspicions. So therefore the Colorado had been dispatched to get some answers.
Commander Burnham glanced up from reading a status report and looked at the starfield, "ETA until we reach the Swagger Cluster, Lieutenant Commander Madred?"
The helmsman looked down at her readings seemingly glad, and perhaps thankful, to finally have something to do. "Two hours at present speed."
"Very well." Burnham replied getting out of the command chair. "Seems like since we received this mission there really hasn't been anything real exciting happening."
"What did you expect? A fight around every corner?" asked Hazzard.
Burnham smiled and looked at the counselor. "That's not exactly what I had meant. I just didn't expect us to have been dealt with such a boring mission."
"We are explorers after all, aren't we?"
"Yes, of course!"
Hazzard raised an eyebrow at the first officer, "Then we're exploring. Maybe there's something about these 'boring' assignments, as you call it, that we keep attracting. You never know. Something, or anything, could happen."
That did of course cause Burnham to laugh. "Yeah? Just like the Romulan pirate encounter I read about?"
Hazzard had to suppress a laugh. She remembered the incident quite well. A month out of spacedock they had received a distress call from what appeared to be a civilian vessel on the outskirts of the Sandhurst Nebula. By the time they had arrived it appeared to be a trap set up by a group of Romulan pirates that Commander Riggenbach had nicknamed the 'BlackEagles'. During a brief fire fight the 'BlackEagles' had transported some critical technology off the Colorado that had crippled their systems. After they had limped back to spacedock and spent a week and a half there for repairs they had caught up with the pirates and arrested them for their crimes. The arrest apparently didn't sit well with the Romulan Senate who chose that particular incident to start a full fledged war. Unlike the last war with the Dominion, this one was on the verge of peace talks.
The turbolift doors parted, interrupting the counselor's train of thought. Burnham turned in his seat to see the captain walk off and onto the bridge. He stopped and checked a crewman's station then looked around. Once satisfied he nodded at his first officer and counselor before heading into his ready room without a word. Lately the captain has been acting a bit weird ever since they received the order to the Swagger Cluster.
Burnham was now as confused as ever. "What do you suppose that was all about?"
Hazzard shook her head, also confused. "I don't know. But I'm sure whatever is troubling the captain, he will discuss it with us when he feels the need, or ready to."
Tyler Burnham looked back at the counselor. "You've known him the longest. You think he'll let the rest of us know what's really going on?"
Hazzard looked at the closed ready room doors and didn't reply. She hoped so but there had been times that she had to guess on his thinking. Burnham returned to his seat. Glancing over at the counselor he could clearly see that she was in deep thought so had decided to change the subject.
"Would you care to join me after shift ends for a drink?"
"No, sorry! Not tonight. I've got some appointments I need to keep." Hazzard answered. "Maybe if my schedule clears up a bit tomorrow then I'd be delighted.
Burnham nodded and glanced down at the arm of the chair after hearing several soft beeps that indicated that a message was coming through. "Go ahead!"
"Could you come in here please, Commander!"
Burnham looked over at the counselor, whom already had an eyebrow raised. "Would you like me as well, captain?"
A short pause before a reply, "Not now counselor. Just Burnham for now."
"Aye, captain!" they answered in unison
Captain Downward looked at the image of the emerald green banner that Starfleet had sent them. The officer that was found in the escape pod was human, but the insignia on the banner was of the Romulan Empire Alliance. The other insignia looked a lot like the Gorn Empire, but he wasn't sure. There was nobody in Starfleet who had seen a banner such as this except for a handful of officers. But of course Admiral Kindle and a few other hot-heads back at Starfleet Intelligance believe it to be a new threat by a Romulan-Gorn treaty.
The door chimes sounded and without looking up from the screen gave the
command, "Enter!"
The doors parted and his first officer walked into the quiet room. Since taking command of the Colorado, nearly a year ago, Burnham was his third first officer. Downward glanced at the young woman in front of him and silently asked for this to be his last. Since Commander Burnham's arrival they had become good friends. They seemed to know what the other was thinking and also seemed to have the best relationship between captain and first officer since Picard and Riker, whom Downward had the privilege to have served with.
"You asked to see me, captain?"
"Indeed I did, Tyler." Downward began. "Please have a seat."
Once Burnham sat Downward turned the monitor so she could see the screen. "We have a problem that has confused Starfleet. This was found wrapped around the officer that was found in the Colbers Sector, about seven light years away from our current destination."
"How could an escape pod and anybody inside it get that far without food and water and absolutely no propulsion left?"
"We don't know. But the hot-heads think another war might be brewing between the Romulans and Gorn..."
"...and we may be caught in the middle of it!" finished Burnham.
"Sadly it would appear that way." Downward spoke then looked at the screen. "But not the Romulan's and Gorn we know."
"Sir?"
Downward just shook his head then tapped a button and the image enlarged. At a closer inspection of the banner Burnham was able to detect burn marks on it. Upon pointing this out her captain nodded.
"That's what Starfleet found. All scans had indicated it came from a Bajoran hand held phaser."
Tapping a button the image changed to show the escape pod. The pod had scorch marks on it as well but that's not was caused Burnham to take a deep breath. It was the Starfleet insignia and a ship's registry number: I.S.S. Colorado, NX-1876-A
"I remember reading about the original Enterprise's report on the transporter accident that sent Kirk and his away team to a parallel universe. Is there any indication from the scorch marks?" asked Burnham after regaining her composer.
"That's the odd part." Downward began. "Standard Federation fire. Possibly from an raised elevation."
"Who would purposely fire on their own escape pod?"
When the captain didn't answer he thought it was best to readdress the question. "So have our orders changed any?"
Downward shooked his head and answered. "Just to find out who they are and where exactly they came from. I have a suspicion - "
Before Downward could finish the room shooked violently throwing the two officers across the room. All lights and computer consoles blinked out as did the red alert klaxons. Upon hitting the deck both Downward and Burnham found themselves unconscious.
Commodore Downward sneered as their weapon was successful. Those in the Empire thought he was completely out of his mind to pull off an impossible action; stealing a starship and neutralizing it. But upon going to the Gorn homeworld and stealing a weapon needed to perform such an act he had ordered the transport of the Titan, the Emperor's personal flagship, neutralized it. Emperor Riker did not take kindly to what happened to his ship. Actually the Emperor took it as a sign of an assassination attempt and tried to fight back. The neutralization not only disabled everything aboard the Titan but left it vulnerable which was what Commodore Downward had in mind by ordering full fire on the defensless ship. It didn't take long for the Titan's destruction and a self-proclaimed Emperor Downward to rise to the thrown!
"How soon until they are all unconscious?" sneered Andromeda.
"Shouldn't be long now, lassie!" spoke the Scottish engineer.
Downward's plan seemed to be working. By ordering the Coloradoto launch one of their escape pods it simply ejected small isolinar transport devices that could clearly and easily transport an entire starship without their computer alerting them of it happening.
The commodore got up from the command chair and walked closer to the screen as he watched as the mirror version of themselves rotated from the hit they just received. They were clearly dead in space. Downward raised a hand to the eye patch he wore over his left eye. Eighteen years of waiting and planning for this moment was finally coming to an end.
"Prepare the transfer!" snarled Downward. "As soon as the transfer is complete Mister Poole prepare the ship as discussed."
The senior staff, the ones that could be trusted, was fully aware of what was to come. But unfortunately a young and naive Bajoran, whom also was an aide to the late emperor, apparently did not. "But what of the rest of the fleet? They have a right to know."
There was an erie silence. Everybody knew not to question the commodore's actions so it was a bit of a shock when a Bajoran opened their mouth. Downward turned and glanced at the imbecilic. It didn't take him more than two long strides to reach her, withdrawn his blade and placed it at the neck of the imbecilic, causing her neck to bleed just slightly.
"Do they now?"
The aide didn't even raise a hand to wipe the blood that was running down from her split lip. "I have a right to report this to the Emperor's aides."
Downward reached for his dagger and raised it so the aide could see and feel the cold steel of the blade. "I don't care if you were the aide to Emperor Riker. I have total command of this fleet. I am now Emperor! I will do as I see fit!"
"Transfer ready to commence, Heir Emperor!" snarled Poole from behind.
Downward turned quickly, which startled the engineer, and struck the would-be assassin hard on the head. Poole feel to the deck with the Cardassian type weapon skidding to Andromeda's feet. "If it weren't for the fact that I need you right now I'd send you sorry Scottish ass to the agonizer booth."
Poole looked up with evil intentions. He gave a quick peak at the Bajoran while rubbing his jaw and moved off. The commodore wasn't blind though, he did indeed catch the quick glance his engineer gave the imbecilic. Clearly there was a plot to kill him so now he had to be even more careful around certain people. Glancing back at the screen Downward could see that the other ship's emergency systems must've kicked in. The mirror version of themselves had to have been unconscious by now.
"All hands execute order Mega996." ordered the Emperor.
Order Mega996 was the imperial order of abandon ship and to disable all systems so no enemy trooper could get aboard and salvage anything ital to the empire. But Mega996 had a different meaning this time. It was to keep most of the systems operational while disabling others. Therefore when the mirror crew awake all they had to do is repair the systems that show disabled. Downward didn't want his counterpart dead. At least not yet.
"Shall we alert the fleet?"
Downward glanced over at Andromeda, "No!"
As the woman in the commodore's life she returned her lover's evil grin. The crew of the I.S.S. Colorado quickly got together and started performing their duties and prepare the ship for transfer.
Captain Downward awoke with a groan after feeling a cold metal of a hypospray pressed up against his neck. Dr. Wright sat there inspecting her best friend and commanding officer while Dr. Talas was checking on Commander Burnham.
"Are you okay, Ray?"
Sitting up and putting a hand to his forehead he tried to shake off the after effects of whatever just happened. "Yes, thank you Doctor."
A quick glance at Burnham showed that he was okay as well. Wright helped Downward off the carpeted floor and watched as the captain nearly hit his head on a piece of ceiling that hadn't broken off completely. Downward walked out onto the bridge and into the middle of chaos. The main viewscreen wall non-fuctional, computer consoles were blown and debris scattered all over the bridge. But the site that seemed to break his heart was the command chair. There wasn't one.
"Where's my chair?"
Lieutenant Commander West raised his head out from under a console, "A new one is under construction, sir. The old one was blown apart."
Downward looked over at Tuvok who was working with a repair crew, "Report!"
"We were hit by some sort of energy blast that is unfamiliar to us. All bridge systems are inoperative but before we lost sensors and visual we were able to detect a ship. One minute it wasn't there, the next it was." reported the Vulcan.
"Bridge to engineering."
"Barclay here, captain."
"Mister Barclay where is Captain Walker?"
"He hasn't regained conscious yet, sir. Was about to report for medical."
Downward turned and looked at Dr. Wright. With a understanding of what was
being silently ordered she nodded and headed toward the turbolift. "Medical is on their way. I hope you can give us an explanation up here, Commander."
"As much as I'd love to say that we do captain, I'm sorry to say we don't." Barclay reported. "We're still trying to figure out who or what had hit us. Sensors, shields and ship-to-ship communications as well as turbolifts are all offline. But we do know that whatever it was it was directed at our main computer core."
Downward glanced over to see a crewmember open up a floor panel, which
residents right behind the captain's chair, and watched as crewmembers began entering it to get supplies for cleanup, not to mention the ship's doctor's.
"What about propulsion?"
"Warp drive is offline. Working on it as fast as we can, sir. Impulse power is down to ¼ and that's barely holding. Right now we're
basically dead in the water." Barclay answered.
"And what about a visual or weapons? I would like to be able to defend ourselves if needed."
"Can't do much about visual captain. Weapons are inoperative. We would like to get propulsion back online before we get weapons."
Downward let out a sigh that he clearly tried to hide. "I'd like to have weapons, Commander. We don't know where we are I'd hate to be a sitting duck. Well more than we already are now. Do what you can, bridge out!"
Captain Downward moved closer and stared at the non-functional viewscreen. After a few minutes to ponder what to do an idea came to him.
"Mister Barclay, this ship was designed with an emergency bridge. Deck Seven, Section A1. Now its not very big so don't take a big crew. Just one big enough where you can reroute the viewscreen's phase coupler. It should do the trick."
"Aye! I know exactly what your getting at, Captain. We'll get on it immediately!" the excited engineer replied.
"Thought you said there was a ship?" asked Burnham.
"There was." came the answer.
"How long were we out for?" Downward asked.
"Three hours." Fitzgerald answered.
Downward looked at the status board and could verify the time with his own eyes. Apparently it didn't take Barclay and his team very long when the main viewscreen startled to crackle, static and then finally clear up reveleaing an empty star field.
"Good work, Mister Barclay!"
As soon as the words were out of Downward's mouth a starship decloaked itself directly in front of them. If shields were working Downward would've ordered them raised.
"Shield's sir?" asked Witel, more out of instinct.
"Are they operative?"
"Negative, sir"
"Then it would be pointless wouldn't it Commander?"
"Yes, sir!"
The other ship inched closer but didn't appear to be a threat. It appeared to be another Federation starship but to his knowledge the only starship in the fleet he knew that had a cloaking device was the Defiant and the ship in front of them was not the Defiant.
"If you can, tactical analyst, Mister Witel." ordered the captain.
There was a short pause, which caused Downward to turn and look at his tactical officer. "We have partial scans, captain. Scans indicate it is a Federation starship, Walker class."
Burnham and Downward quickly looked at each other. The Walker Class Starship has been out of service for nearly 150 years. Burnham, already having a bad feeling about their entire situation looked over at tacical. "Registry?"
"I.S.S. Executor, NX-101112."
Burnham shared the same look with Downward. The captain turned back to the screen. "Are you sure your reading that correctly, Commander?"
Witel looked down at his monitor in front of him. "Affirmative, Captain."
Downward turned and looked back at the ship on the screen. It was time to tell his crew the reality of their situation. "Then everyone, that's not a Federation starship. It's an Imperial Warship!"
Captain Wesley Crusher looked at the flagship on the viewscreen. It had been three long hours since Commodore Downward instructed the fleet to remain hidden inside the nebula and cloaked. The order confused a lot of the commanding officers but did as instructed. But now his patience were beginning to run thin. Engineer Poole and Aide Laren should have reported Downward's assassination by now. Which disappointed Crusher. He'd been looking forward to the Commodore's death ever since the destruction of the Titan, Emperor Riker and his mother.
Crusher glared at his tactical officer, a lowly Andorian who was just purchased by Crusher from a slave trader. "Hail them!"
The young Andorian did as ordered, there was only one problem. "There is no reply, sir."
"You imbecile! Can't you do anything right?" barked Morgana.
Morgana moved over to the tactical station and shoved the young alien out of the way and checked the readings herself. Upon seeing that the information was indeed accurate she looked up at her captain. "It is confirmed."
Crusher got out of the command chair. Since his assassination of Picard he felt at ease with being in the center seat. "Prepare the ship for battle!"
The crew quickly did as ordered. They knew it was suicidal to attack the flagship. But Crusher didn't care. He'd gladly sacrifice himself to kill one of the biggest threats to the empire.
"Decloke the ship and move us into position. I want Commodore Downward's head served to me on a silver platter!" Crusher spit. "The murder of my parents will get what's coming to him!"
Burnham and the bridge crew looked at their captain with stunned silence. How did he know about their situation? Granted even the captain had his secrets but one of them was about to come out into the open.
"Sir?"
Downward looked at his operations officer. "Yes, Mister West?"
Lieutenant Commander Thomas West had been with his captain since the
Olympus so he knew when to keep his mouth shut and when to open it. This was one of the rare times to ask the question that was on his, and probably everybody else's minds. "Pardon me for asking Captain, but how is it you possibly know this?"
The captain looked around at the faces staring back at him. He knew he had to give an answer but he also would have rather tell the senior staff, but since one of them is still unresponsive then he'd have to tell those who are staring at him now.
"What I'm about to tell you is highly classified. Only myself, Captain Picard and a few select at Starfleet Intelligance are aware of this. What you hear will not be repeated, is this clear?" when get got a choir of 'yes, sir's' he proceeded to let everyone know what they were in for
"Twenty-three years ago when I was a Lieutenant aboard the Enterprise-D we were sucked into this alternate reality. At first we weren't sure where we were. Commander H'wii knew somehow that the universe was 'wrong' as he put it but we didn't know until we picked up our counterpart on long range sensors.
Captain Picard, Commander LaForge and Commander Troi all beamed aboard as well as myself and things weren't the same. There we found counterparts of ourselves but more meaner. My counterpart was more ruthless then the others. He attempted to assassinate the Captain on several occasions, which is a normal thing for people in this reality. Raise in ranks by assassination."
The crew watched him carefully as he explained to them what or where they were. Captain Downward looked back at the screen and watched at the Executor of the Imperial Fleet inched closer. The Executor and the Colorado were clearly not the same ship but they did have the same firepower, or at least that he knew of.
"Barclay now would be a good time to let me know shields are functioning!"
"Only 20%, Captain," Barclay replied. "Weapons are another matter since I've never seen this technology before."
"Do your best!" Downward ordered. "Mister Witel, shields up."
"Aye, captain."
"Now we can see what this counterpart version of our ship is capable of doing."
Witel looked up from his console, "But sir, there is no indication that this ship is our counterparts ship."
"No?"
"None that I'm able to tell of, sir!"
Downward turned away from the screen and looked at his tactical officer, "Commander we have weapons that engineering has never seen before, that clearly is the Imperial Executor out there so we have to assume for the moment that we are aboard our counterparts Colorado and not ours."
"If that's true, sir, then where is ours?" Burnham asked.
"That we'll have to figure out." Downward answered. "If we live long enough"
"Sir?"
Downward waved it off and then looked back at the screen. Somewhere out there his counterpart wanted revenge on him. If it weren't for Captain Downward the wrong Captain Picard would have been assassinated several times. A young Lieutenant Downward defended his captain with honor and stabbed a dagger into his counterpart's left eye as they made their escape. The incident shooked him inside but he knew he had a job to do protecting his captain and it paid off in the long run.
The Negh'Var flew through space and on a vengeance. The fallen Terran Empire was trying to rebuild itself by taking out one of the highest members of the Klingon High Command. High Chancellor K'mpec was assassinated and his soldiers had captured a Slave Vulcan with the emblem of the Terran Empire burned into their arm. It was now Regent Worf's job, as Regent of the Alliance Territories, to track down where the assassination originated from and silence them and make sure the Terran Empire was never reborn.
It had been years since his failed assassination attempt of Picard and it had been longer to regain his honor back. But it was Duras, whom he had grown up with and considered a brother, who had appeared in front of K'mpec and asked that the High Command look beyond that failure and give Worf that other chance. The High Command was impressed with Worf's assassination of Romulan Senator Tamalak that they made him Regent of the Alliance Territories, where he's been for the last five years.
Worf looked at the screen and began to mumble under his breath. He knew they were still a long way to go from reaching Terek Nor and he was getting rather impatient.
"Koloth get on engineering and get them to give me more speed!" ordered Worf.
First Officer Koloth nodded and left the bridge in a hurry. He had seen Worf's anger up close and was terrified of it. Worf's happiness of crushing the Terran's plans of reforming would soon be fulfilled but his vengeance would not.
Doctor Wright arrived in engineering and made her way over to the unconscious form of Chief Engineer Travis Walker. She didn't know the engineer real well only that he was the best in the fleet, probably more so over Commander LaForge who was still serving aboard the Enterprise-E.
Wright had friends at Starfleet Medical, including Doctor Crusher, who all explained to her what its like out in the field. At the time she wasn't ready for it but now she wouldn't want to be anywhere else other than out in the field. She loved to perform her medical duties while exploring new worlds. With the Andorian doctor, Talas, aboard she thought that her duties would be light but instead they've gotten along quite well and she actually enjoyed Talas's company.
Wright began to scan the engineer and realized that there was something terribly wrong. Looking up she found Assistant engineer Reginald Barclay.
"Reginald will you please come here?"
Lieutenant Commander Reginald Barclay moved over to the doctor to where the unconscious form of Captain Walker layed. He had decided not to move the engineer too much until medical had arrived due to the fact that it could have been something serious. Instead Barclay got to starting repairs. Now for the first time Barclay looked down at Walker and something didn't look right.
"Mister Barclay are you running any holographic programs?" asked Wright.
"N-not that I'm aware of." Barclay stumbled over the words.
"Computer, where is Captain Walker?" ordered Wright.
"Captain Walker is not aboard at this time!" came a shaky voice.
Everybody looked up when a young ensign came over from a console and looked down at the engineer. The looks on his face seemed familiar yet different at the same time.
"This wasn't planned." the ensign said out of fear.
Wright looked up at the ensign, "What wasn't planned?"
For the first time the young ensign saw the doctor and had an immediate look of fear on his face. Apparently he was afraid of the doctor and nobody knew it, or understood why. Wright wasn't on the bridge when the captain made his announcement to the bridge crew so she was unaware of their situation. Yet there was a familiar look on Barclay's face that he knew what exactly was going on.
"D-D-Doctor?!"
"Yes, ensign?"
Suddenly the ensign pulled out a phaser, and before anybody could move, turned it on himself. The ensign screamed in pain as he vanished in a bright clear light. Barclay got up and turned off the holographic Walker and watched as it vanished.
"Engineering to bridge."
"Go ahead, Doctor."
"The reason for Mister Walker not waking was the fact that he was a holographic program that nobody down here was running. What, by chance, is going on?"
"Will explain soon. Senior staff meeting in the hour." ordered the captain.
"Sir," Barclay spoke. "Since I'm acting chief engineer does that include me?"
"Yes, Mister Barclay it does."
"Very good, sir!"
Captain Downward looked at the Imperial Warship, Executor coming closer. Despite shields having been raised he was certain that they were 20% functional. Suddenly a thought accord to him.
"Mister Witel, how are long range sensors coming along?"
Witel looked down at his console then turned and looked at a console behind him. "We have short range sensors only, Captain. We also have very minimal phaser power. Quantum torpedo's and standard torpedoes remain offline."
"Try and see what you can do to boost the sensors if possible, Vince. I want you to scan and look for a planet in a Rumanian Sector. It'll be the sixth planet in the sector and also the only inhabitable planet."
Witel nodded and proceeded to start scanning for the sector as ordered. A few minutes later his console chirped, "Incoming transmission from the Executor, Captain!"
Burnham moved next to Downward "On screen."
The viewscreen crackeled for a minute then changed to show a familiar site. Downward recognized the officer from both this own time frame and their own. Captain Wesley Crusher moved closer to the screen.
"Wesley?" asked a puzzled Downward.
"Commodore!" Crusher sneared back at him.
Downward looked at Burnham then looked back, "Actually its Captain, Captain."
Crusher sneared back at Downward trying to determine weather or not to believe his superior officer. Looking over at his first officer Crusher determined that what he was hearing was a cold faced lie. "Liar! Now I'm under orders from the Emperor himself to take you into custody."
Downward glanced over at Burnham. "What's the charge, Captain?"
"Conspiring with the rebels." Crusher answered glaring over at Tuvok.
Both Burnham and Downward glanced behind them to Security Chief Tuvok. Apparently Vulcan's were part of the resistance in this galaxy. Downward turned and glared back at the other captain. "Mister Tuvok is a member of my crew. You may not realize this but we are not from this universe. We are from an alternate reality."
Crusher laughed. "You think I'm a fool?"
"Well the thought had accord to me!"
Crusher sneared back at his superior officers comment. He maybe under orders from the Emperor himself but part of himself did truly believe what the other man was talking about.
"I'll give you five minutes to surrender yourself or you'll be fired upon!" Crusher demanded.
"You dare fire on a Commodore of the Empire?" barked Downward, surprising his own crew as much as himself.
Crusher threw his head back and laughed. "You are not Commodore Downward. You are an imposter!"
The screen changed back to the starfield. Downward looked back at his crew. They were quickly getting back to work to get most of their systems working in time. If the Executor fired on them with shields only at 20% amd very minimal weapons, they wouldn't last very long in a fire fight.
"Sir? What are you going to do?" Burnham asked.
Glancing at his first officer the choice was simple. "Do what I have to do to get my ship and crew back home!"
Regent Worf looked upon the two Terran Battleships staring face-to-face upon each other. Since he wasn't sure which one was responsible for the rise of the Terran Empire it was only best to take out both ships. Worf's crew worked hard, either to restore their own honor or they were afraid of what Worf would do to them if they failed. The Negh'Var sat under cloak and eyed their prey. Two ships at the price of one and the destruction of both would bring great honor to their houses and restore order to the Alliances.
"Identify the ships!"
Koloth was the first to answer. "The ship on the left is the Executor and the one on the left is the Colorado. They both appear - "
"Executor?" Worf's anger was beginning to rise. "If you are lying to me I swear I will cut out your tongue and feed it to my Torg!"
Koloth clearly terrified of Worf cleared his throat and choose his words carefully. "My Regent, I swear on the blood of Kahless I am not lying."
Worf looked at the Executor. It was the one ship that eluded him the most. It was, or still is, Picard's ship. "Stand bye on the cloak. Weapons at the ready!"
Crusher's patience were starting to run thin. Five minutes have come and gone and the other other captain was giving him the run around. Crusher didn't buy it. Looking over the information that had been provided to him was giving himself something to do. He clearly wanted to strike but part of him was starting to believe what he was being told. Commodore Downward's actions weren't sitting well with the Imperial Senate and the assignment to have Commodore Downward's head delivered on a silver platter was issued.
Everybody within the Terran Empire wanted the reward for the assassination of Emperor Riker. Quickly the word reached the Alliance Territories and the pirates that lived on those planets. So it was only a matter of who was going to get to Downward first. Luckily for him, he was already her and had not just two scores to settle but three.
Just as he was thinking of what was going to happen next the entire deck of the bridge raised and fell. "REPORT!"
"Klingon battlecruiser decloaked. They've targeted our engines so we can't escape."
"Well don't just sit there! Return fire!"
The Executor did return fire. But their targeting systems were still locked onto the Colorado so when they fired they missed the Klingons all together and fired a direct shot to the Colorado herself.
The Colorado shooked violently they were all barely alive. The shields buckeled even more and they were on the verge of collapsing. "Mister Barclay I need weapons."
"Give me five more minutes, Captain!"
"We don't have five minutes, Mister!"
Fitzgerald looked up from his console and addressed his captain. "Sir, we have ½ impulse power."
Watching as the Executor kept getting hammered on by the Klingons he knew that the Executor's shields weren't going to hold out much longer. Nearly forgetting his chair was gone he stood behind his helmsman and gave the order. "Put us between the Executor and the Klingon's."
"Sir?"
"You heard me Commander!"
Burnham moved forward and nudged Downward gently. Getting the hint they both moved out of ear shot. "Ray, are you certain you want to do this? We have partial shields at the best. No weapons. Plus the Executor just fired on us!"
"Also this is something my counterpart wouldn't do! Is that correct, Tyler?"
"It is!"
"Well that last part did occur to me yes. But I think if we help out Captain Crusher he might realize that we're not who he thought we were and offer some assistance.."
"True but he also might think that we saved him from the Klingon's so we can kill him ourselves. We're basically putting ourselves in a no win situation."
"I agree, Tyler. But you know I just can't sit here and let good, or evil, people die for that matter."
Burnham nodded and they both moved back over and watched as they got closer to the Executor blocking the Klingon's shots. The Colorado started rocking harder as it was taking the blunt of the fire.
"Shields failing. 10%"
Another blast and it threw the captain off his feet. Luckily he had a grip of a chair to prevent him from falling to the deck completely.
"We're in position."
"Hold position as long as you possibly can!" ordered Burnham helping his captain.
"Aye!"
Crusher was astonished by what just occurred. The Colorado just put themselves in between themselves and the Klingon's. The Executor's crew also was speechless. They all knew without shields they Colorado wasn't going to be able to handle the onslaught of the Klingon's much longer.
Crusher turned and looked at his tactical officer. "What's their shield status?"
"Failing at 5%."
"Weapons?"
"Phasers at 5% power. No torpedoes. Another hit and their dead in the water!"
Crusher looked at his first officer and she nodded. Morgana was thinking the same thing. Captain Downward was speaking the truth. They weren't from this universe and it proved it by the fact they were giving themselves up.
Morgana was the first to speak between the two of them. "Engage pattern Morgana Delta Vega! Fire on the Klingon's even if you have to target them manually!"
"Aye, Mistress!"
The Executor slowly swung around and began to fire on the Klingon's. Suddenly it wasn't just one ship firing on the Klingon's, but two. The Colorado's minimal weapons finally came alive and between both ships the Klingon's weren't going to be able to handle the new onslaught for long. However the damage to the Colorado came a little too late for some.
Regent Worf knew they were in trouble. But he also hated giving the order to retreat. Retreating was for the weak. He wasn't weak. He crew? Maybe! But not himself.
"Shields collapsing, my Regent!"
Worf growled at the report. He wanted to keep fighting despite his crew. But he also knew it was be pointless to be destroyed. "Very well. We'll fall back but I want you to target the Colorado. Target their bridge!Fire!"
The explosion behind Downward and threw him forward. Once he was able to sit up he saw behind that the MSD board that had sat behind his chair was blown. Pieces of debris was all over the place and most had fallen into the jefferies tube. The turbolift doors had been blown out so the entire back wall was now gone. He could clearly see into the conference lounge that sat behind the MSD board. In fact the entire rear end and ceiling of the bridge were gone. They would have all been dead if it weren't for the emergency force-fields.
"Shield status?" ordered Burnham moving over to tactical.
"Shields are gone." Witel answered. "Emergency force-fields seem to be holding, for now. I don't know what type of weapon that was but we are extremely lucky to be alive. That last shot had targeted our bridge."
Pulling himself to his feet Downward looked at tatical. "We're barely alive, Commander. I think when the Klingon's fired the Executor might have also fired upon them knocking off their targeting system just by an inch."
"Then we have Captain Crusher to thank!"
Looking back at the screen to see the Klingon's jump to warp, the battle temporarily over. "It appears that way yes!"
On screen Executor sat stationary but didn't seem too much of a threat. To them they hope that the Colorado was dead in the water anyways they weren't worthy of their attention. Downward turned and looked back where the observation lounge had once been. Every now and then the force-fields would flicker. Hopefully they can get more power to them before they were all sucked out into space.
"Now lets see how badly we're damaged."
Crusher looked on screen. He had just received their damage report. They were fine and would be okay until help arrives. But what he seemed a bit concerned about was the I.S.S. Colorado. Their ship! But not their crew. The Colorado had sacrificed themselves to protect an enemy and the cost was a huge hole where the bridge once was. Just before the attack Crusher and Morgana were ready to kill them just to get Downward in custody.
Morgana moved closer to Crusher. "We need to contact the fleet! We got the Commodore right where we want him."
"You imbecile," Crusher backhanded his first officer and pulled out his dagger pointing towards the other ship. "Their commanding officer is not Commodore Downward. Our Commodore would have allowed the Klingon's to finish us off."
Morgana whipped the blood dripping from the cut on her lip. "My sincere apology."
Crusher offered a hand to help his first officer and wife up. "Your right though. We need to contact the fleet. But I suggest we inform them that the Commodore has been assassinated."
"A lie?"
Crusher looked back at Morgana. "For now. Our two crews need to work together and track down our flag officer."
Morgana moved to the helm. She looked the helmsman in the eye and silently shooked her head. This wasn't the time to strike and they both knew it. "Bring us closer to the Colorado."
"Aye mistress!"
Crusher sat in the command chair and watched the reaction of his first officer and helmsman. He knew for a while that they were plotting to assassinate him but he wasn't going to let them get their chance. Tapping a few buttons on his arm rest he sent a private to his personal guard. A minute later the turbolift doors parted and on walked two heavily armed guards.
"What is the meaning of this?" barked Morgana.
The guards ignored the first officer and stood by the turbolift doors and kept an eye on things. Morgana looked back at Crusher then the guards. "You don't trust me?"
"I never have, Morgana!" Crusher sneered. "You and Mister Ortega can have your relationship. You mean nothing to me! This crew is loyal to me. I've put up with Picard for way too long I'm not going to deal with you."
With the unspoken order the two guards grabbed Morgana and Ortega and took them below. Crusher knew where they were taking them, after all it was his orders to take them to the agonizer booths. Speaking of which he began to wonder if Captain Downward was familiar with the agonizer booths. There might be people in those booths that Commodore Downward forgot about.
"Tactical, open a hailing frequency to the Colorado!"
"Aye, sir!"
"Computer, activate emergency medical holographic doctor!"
In front of Commander Burnham a holographic doctor simmered into view. The EMH Mark I was the exact same doctor that Voyager had used while they were in the Delta Quadrant. But with Voyager's disappearance it was clear the Mark I was obsolete that they moved on and Doctor Zimmerman created the others and finally Starfleet stuck with the Mark II. Starfleet hadn't been completely satisfied with the Mark's II or III so it wasn't a surprise when the Mark IV appeared before them.
"Please state the nature of the medical emergency?"
Burnham pointed to the wounded crew. "We have wounded."
"Where are the ship's doctors?" the EMH asked.
Again Burnham pointed. "Among the injured."
The EMH nodded "Ahhhh! Okay. What may I ask has transpired so that the ship's two chief medical officer's have been injured so severely?"
"We'll let you know! You'll have more injured coming in."
"Of course!"
"Burnham to engineering!"
"On my way, sir!"
Burnham left sickbay and walked through the damaged corridor. Repairs had been underway for the last hour.
Written by Ray Downward 37 of 37