Disclaimer: I do not own Star Trek, or anything that is in this story.
Vulcan's Might
Chapter I
Sparks flew from a nearby computer console. An alarm starts sounding, filling the small area with an earsplitting sound. The vessel shook violently from weapon's fire.
"Report." The vessel's commander requested in a calm monotone.
"Our deflector shields are gone. We've suffered hull damage. Life support is off line, sensors are off line, primary power is off line, warp engines are off line, impulse engines have been significantly damaged. The Communications Grid is offline and our weapons are gone." Replied a crewman who was sitting at the helm station.
"WARNING. WARNING. INTRUDER ALERT. INTRUDER ALERT. WARNING. WARNING…" The automated computer voice said.
The door to the vessel's bridge slid open silently, and the intruder stepped into the command center. The vessel's commander stood, and pushed back the hood of his robes. He looked at the intruder with a detached calmness.
"Vulcan." The intruder sneered. "What are you doing here?"
"You're too late, little one. You will not succeed in-" The Vulcan was quieted by the sound of a hand disruptor's hum. The commander fell to the floor, a pool of green blood forming around his lifeless body.
"He is right. You cannot win th-" The crewman too was silenced by the disrupter fire.
The vessel, the VSA Ment'ality, was left floating in space, a damaged, lifeless hulk. Over the next month, no one was informed it was missing. The Vulcan Science Academy never realized it had been taken in the first place; it was thought that the Ment'ality was still in the shipyards where decommissioned vessels are put.
Needless to say, it was an unpleasant surprise when the Ment'ality was discovered by a Federation patrol. It was taken to the nearest star system, and a message was sent to Starfleet Command. After a brief investigation, and the subsequent discovery of two dead Vulcans, the U.S.S. Madrid was sent to join in the investigation.
"Estimated time to arrival?" Caption Shrall asked, his blue antennas flexing in curiosity.
"We'll be arriving in the Celadon system in twenty three minutes." The operations office, Lieutenant Sheeler, reported. There was a quiet beep, and Sheeler looked down. "Captain, we're being hailed; priority two."
"Thank you. I'll take it in my ready room." Shrall stood and walked off the bridge. Once in his ready room, he took his place at the table, and activated a tabletop view screen. The transmission was routed to the screen; the picture of Vice-Admiral Serena Radance appeared.
"What can I do for you today, admiral?" Shrall asked.
"When you reach the Celadon System, you are to rendezvous with the Starship Frost. Captain Cullen will be taking over the operation."
"Admiral, I assure you that I am more than able to handle an assignment like this. There's no reason to assign another officer." Shrall's anger was evident, his antennas twisting in fury.
"I'm afraid there is. The situation of the Ment'ality is classified, which is why you haven't been fully apprised of what's going on. Caption Cullen will fill you in when you reach the Celadon System." Then, in a softer tone, Vice-Admiral Radance added "This has nothing to do with you; Caption Cullen simply has more experience then you. Don't take this personally."
"Yes, admiral." Shrall said. The transmission went dark.
The U.S.S. Madrid, under the command of Captain Shrall, dropped to sub-light speed as it entered the Celadon System. The Celadon System was a binary star system, with seven planetoids and three planets, none of which were habitable. Starbase Seventy-three-beta was also in the Celadon System; this was the current destination of the Madrid.
There currently were five ships already in the system: The Galaxy-class starship, the Frost, under the command of Caption Cullen, the Ment'ality, which had no living crew, the Nebula-class starships, the Roman and the Acropolis, under the commands of Captains Kory Grey and Walter Frost. The last vessel was a newly commissioned Sovereign-class starship, dubbed the Queen Elisabeth, commanded by the brilliant Serenity Worship.
"Hail the Frost." Caption Shrall orders as he walked onto the bridge, taking his seat.
The operation's officer complied, and after a few seconds, the view screen shifted to show the view of the Frost's bridge. Sitting in the command chair was Francis Cullen; his uniform fit him snugly, and his yellow hair fell to his shoulders.
"Hello, Shrall. It's nice to finally meet you. Please, have the Madrid take up position near the Roman, then transport to the Frost."
"Helm, plot an intercept course for the Roman. Put us parallel her. Lieutenant Sheeler, you have the Con."
Captain Shrall stood and moved to the bridge's turbolift. He stepped into the lift, and declared his destination. The turbolift took him to the correct deck, and its doors opened; the caption stepped out, and walked the few steps to the transporter room.
"Caption Shrall to the bridge. Are we in transporter range of the Frost?"
"Aye, caption. You can transport at any time." A voice said over the intercom.
Caption Shrall stepped onto the transporter pad, and nodded to the operator to initiate the transport. There was a brief humming sound, and the world faded into a haze of blue, only to reappear moments later. Captain Shrall stepped off the Frost's transporter pad, nodding to the transporter chief.
"Welcome aboard, Captain." A voice called out from the room's door. Shrall turned, and saw Captain Cullen.
"Permission to come aboard."
"Granted. Now, if you'll follow me; we're having the meeting in conference room four." Captain Cullen said, turning and heading out. Shrall followed him closely.
"How long have you been in Starfleet?" Cullen asked.
"Seven years. I served in the Andorian Guard for eighteen years before that."
"Why'd you decide to leave the Guard?" Cullen asked as they entered a turbolift. "Deck six"
"The Andorian armada has only thirty ships; none of them are as advanced as a Starfleet vessel. So, I chose to participate in Starfleet's exchange program. I decided to stay."
The two captains stepped out of the turbolift, and headed down the corridor of deck six. Captain Cullen stopped outside the conference room's doors; they slid open, and he motioned for Captain Shrall to enter in front of him. Inside the room, already waiting, were Captains Grey, Frost, and Worship.
"Please, take a seat." Cullen politely said to the Andorian.
Shrall nodded, and slid into a seat next to Captain Serenity Worship. Serenity was a young woman, her mother half Human and half Vulcan, her father Romulan. Her hair was long, deep red, her eyes a hollow gray. Serenity, while her ears were pointed, had her hair covering them. She gave Shrall a warm smile as he sat down.
"Well, it looks like everyone is here." Cullen said.
"What about Admiral Radance?" Captain Gray asked.
"She will be joining us in six hours, with a fleet of eleven additional ships, including the Enterprise."
"Why is Admiral Radance leading a fleet?" Shrall asked, his antenna flexing in confusion.
"That's part of the reason we're holding this briefing. As you all know, four days ago the patrol ship King Halo found a severely damaged ship. Upon investigation, two dead Vulcans were found on the bridge. Subsequent examination also revealed…another body, hidden away in the cargo hold."
"What's your point?" Captain Walter Frost.
"The body was of a Klingon, and was being held in a status field. Computer records show that the body was on bored several weeks before the attack."
"What were the Vulcans doing with a Klingon body?" Serenity asked, arching an eyebrow.
"We don't know. The Vulcan Science Academy clams ignorance. But that's not the troubling part."
"Then what is?" Shrall asked.
"The Klingon was a clone. Or, more accurately, another clone."
"What do you mean, "Another clone"? There's only one Klingon clone that's ever been…" Serenity's eyes widened as she realized what had happened. "It was Kahless, wasn't it?"
"Yes, it was another clone of the Klingon Emperor." Cullen confirmed. "It's believed that the Vulcans who stole the Ment'ality were planning to replace Kahless with this other clone."
"What actions are going to be taken?" Captain Gray asked.
"We don't know. You see, inside of the duplicate Kahless clone, nanites were found in his bloodstream."
"The Vulcans were planning on using them to keep control over the clone in some way?" Shrall asked, not quite following what was being said.
Before Captain Cullen could say anything, the red alert alarm sounded throughout the ship. All five captains stood simultaneously; at the same moment, the inner-ship comsystem crackled to life.
"Captain Cullen, a vessel has just dropped out of warp. It's attacking the Acropolis. Please report to the bridge."
"Serenity to the Queen Elisabeth. One to beam back." Serenity Worship faded away in the blue haze of the transporter.
Shrall and Captain Gray also attempted to transport back to their ships, but by the time they gave their orders, the Frost already had raised her shields. Captain Cullen had ran out of the conference room, presumably heading to the bridge. The three remaining captains quickly followed, taking turbolift to the bridge.
On the bridge of the Frost orders were being yelled, reports were being shouted, and chaos was becoming apparent. The ship started shuddering, and the aft science station exploded into a flash of sparks. When Captain Cullen stepped into this mess, he couldn't believe his eyes.
"Shields down to eleven percent. Hull breaches on decks two through eight. Dorsal phasers are offline." The tactical officer said.
"The Acropolis has been severely damaged. They're withdrawing from the fight." The communications officer yelled.
On the viewscreen was an image of an unidentified ship, which was firing a form of beam weaponry. Unlike phasers, this weapon didn't connect with a ship's shields then wink out of existence. It was a solid beam of white energy, pounding continuously into the Frost's shields, like a chisel.
"The Queen Elisabeth has opened fire. She's only using phasers." The operations officer announced.
"Hail the Queen Elisabeth." Captain Cullen shouted, as the Frost continued to shudder under the strain of enemy fire.
"Channel open. They're all ears, captain."
"Captain Serenity, please increase your offensive output!" Cullen shouted over the comsystem.
"Can't do. There was a power surge in our phaser array. We can't get them to operate over seventy percent."
The Frost's viewscreen showed the Queen Elisabeth firing phasers, the yellow bursts of light like needles. The unidentified ship didn't seem to be taking much damage. Suddenly, it stopped firing of the Frost and Roman and concentrated its attacks of the Queen Elisabeth.
"Shrall to the Madrid. You're clear to open fire. Use phasers and photon torpedoes. Do everything you can to disable that ship."
The Madrid was an Excelsior-class starship, one of the last to have been commissioned. It moved on an attack vector, and launched several globs of energy from her forward torpedo tube. The photon torpedoes impacted at the same moment the Madrid started firing phasers.
"Sir," The Frost's tactical officer called out, getting Captain Cullen's attention. "The enemy vessel is altering its heading; it's accelerating to attack speed."
The unknown ship fired its unusual beam weapon, which struck the Madrid. The Madrid's shields flashed to life, absorbing the continuous assault, until they were overwhelmed. The beam, having penetrated the Madrid's shields, hit the starship's port warp nacelle.
Space was lit with igniting plasma, as a nacelle was ripped from the Madrid's engineering hull. The Madrid was sent into a spin, presumably due to loss of helm control. Explosions covered the outer hull of the ship, and parts of its saucer section erupted in flames, including the area that contained the bridge.
"Sensors are detecting an overload in the Madrid's warpcore. Estimate a breach in less than ten seconds."
"Captain Cullen! If the Madrid blows, the shockwave will dest-" Whatever was doing to be said was cutoff as a massive shockwave collided with the Frost.
"We've lost main power. Sensors are offline."
Captain Shrall sank down to the floor, breathing heavily. His ship had been destroyed, and there was nothing he could do about it. Worst yet, he was trapped on a ship that was, for all intents and purposes, dead in the water. All Shrall could think, the only thing that passed through his head, was a single thought.
"Why?" Shrall murmured, as the Galaxy-class starship, the Frost, exploded around him.
A/n: I hope that you like this chapter. It was hard for me to write, but I like the way it turned out. There were 2057 words in this chapter. If anyone has any ideas, suggestions, comments, or criticism, let me know. Please review, or send me a privet message, telling me your thoughts.
Good morning and good night.
-Tyler Willis