Episode 1: By Rite of Conquest, Part II

Teaser

"We've got three Valdore-class warbirds closing along with two D'deridex class," Commander Adam Tryke said, wiping away sweat and grim from his face, "And they are hailing us."

"At least we got communications back," Commander Nathan Trust muttered out along with a sigh, "Onscreen."

The bridge was in shambles from the pounding that had lasted surprising less than half an hour. Chairs were torn out of place, where consoles should have been there was now jagged openings that sparked and jagged pieces of plastic and glass sprawled over the decks. Bodies of crew laid in various states of burnt and tears. The Admiral was dead along with the Senior Science Officer and the Captain was out cold from a concussion. Everyone else was wounded too badly to assist and so only Trust and Tryke stood to face the onslaught.

"This is Admiral Donatra of the Romulan Star Empire," a woman said, appearing on-screen.

"This is Commander Nathan Trust of the Federation starship Invincible," he replied, although he didn't feel invincible at the moment, "Have you come to finish the job? Or better yet, have you come to surrender?"

He heard Tryke suppress a laugh behind him and Donatra raised an eyebrow.

"I was actually here to ask if you were in need of assistance," she replied.

Trust frowned in suspicion. "Why are you offering to aid us?" he said, "Our two factions are at war."

"The governments are," she corrected, "There are some like myself who feel no hate towards the Federation. Would you like our assistance? Or I am sure I could just leave."

Trust looked at the viewscreen, not sure if this was real. Hadn't they just been battered to pieces of a Romulan fleet? But...they were in no position to turn down anything.

"Alright," he said guardedly, "Come onboard and we'll discuss how you can help us."

"Right Commander," she nodded, "Donatra out."

"I think we just caught ourselves a break," Tryke muttered when the screen turned off.

"Breaks only happen when you apply them to stop a ship," Trust muttered, "Get damage control teams moving, Adam. Let's go see if the Romulan is all she claims to be."

Act 1

"As you can see," Commander Trust said, leading the way through the corridor, "Your people gave us quiet a beating. If you do beam over repair crews, you will help remove the virus that one of your agents placed in our computer system."

"Depends on how advanced the computer virus is," Donatra replied, pushing aside some dead wires that hung down, "Could take a couple hours or even a day to track it down and erase it."

"Just work as fast as you can," he replied, "Oh, and they will also work on repairing our warp core and engines. They are needed."

"Okay," she nodded, "I think that can be arraigned."

"I'll also need you to beam over some medical personal," he said, glancing to see her reaction.

"Of course," she said, "How many people are we talking about we'll be treating?"

"Nurse Beltroona?" he tapped his commbadge, "How many people do we have in need of medical treatment?"

"We've got at least seventy wounded and more coming in," the Orion female doctor spoke into the comlink, "There's only the three of us including the Medical Hologram."

"I'll send a dozen healers over to assist you," Donotra said.

"You catch that?" he asked into the commbadge.

"That'll be a big help."

"Now," Donatra said, "What are you doing in the Neutral Zone?"

"I'm on a classified mission that can't fail," he said simply, stepping over to one of the few working turbolifts.

"Come now, Commander," Donatra snorted, stepping inside, "Your ship is no condition to take on anything at the moment. I'd say it's already failed."

"Let me be the judge of that," he said, the lift doors closing.

Soon they exited onto the bridge, Captain Stubbs being lowered onto his chair by Commander Tryke and Spock who were on the bridge.

"Shalom, Donatra," Spock bowed his head, "It's been a long time."

"Yes," she nodded with a small smile, "Too long."

Captain Stubbs looked back and blinked at them. "Why is there a Romulan on my ship?" he asked.

"Admiral Donatra," Trust said, "Meet Captain Stubbs, commander of this vessel."

"Captain."

"Admiral. Forgive me if I don't stand," Stubbs said, rubbing his head, a trickle of blood coming from a head wound.

"So you know this woman, Ambassador Spock?" Trust asked.

Spock nodded. "You can trust her if that is what you mean," he said, "In fact, you still owe me a few favors."

Donatra rolled her eyes. "I haven't forgotten."

"What's our status?" Stubbs asked, leaning back in the chair, wincing as he did so.

"Warp core is damaged," Tryke reported, "Engines were damaged. We still have weapons."

"Casualties?"

"Seventy plus wounded," Tryke went through the list, "Thirteen are confirmed dead. Seventy have also been captured."

"Have Merlek coordinate with Sam on getting the ship repaired," Stubbs grunted.

"He's dead," Trust said.

"Did we lose any of the rest of the Senior staff?" Stubbs sighed.

"Doctor King was among those taken," Adam said, and Trust saw him curl his hand into a fist.

"You have command, Number One," Stubbs said, "I feel like..."

Stubbs passed out in the chair, his head rolling to the side. Trust looked around at those gathered and knew the mission was in jeopardy.

"You want the truth?" he asked, turning to Donatra, "We have been assigned by the Admiralty to take out a secret project your government is working on. Codename: Starkiller. It's imperative we get Mr. Spock here to Romulus and snatch the weapon and destroy it, using the same technology that created the black hole off the port bow."

"I was wondering how that happened," she rubbed her chin, "I will take Mr. Spock to the site they are building the weapon. I was actually recently relieved of my duties of protecting the Homeworld, and I've never been a Sela supporter."

"You will take Commander Tryke with you," Trust said, "Ambassador Spock might trust you. But I don't."

"Fair enough," she shrugged, "Come now gentlemen. We must be off."

Act 2

"Surrender Nero. You are surrounded by the Royal Guard. Do you think your ship, a modified mining vessel could ever match twenty of the Empire's finest?"

Stulon sat on the bridge, waiting for the man to respond. But no. Nero was the sort who loved dramatics. And this silence probably filled him with a sense of grandiose. But, he had better things to do.

"Caesar's Might and Wolf Fang," he ordered, "I want you to attack him. Disable his ship. We need the device intact. Execute attack pattern Cloak and Dagger."

Two Valore warbirds swooped forward, executing a complex manuver in which the two ships would speed forward, then one would slow. Then the other would slow and it would pick up speed. And then visa-versa, confusing the enemy to the point that when the warbirds struck out, they'd be firing at the wrong warbird, the back one being the one that would target the ship.

The Narada fired a salvo and Stulon watched with growing shock as a few shots destroyed the two fine warbirds. What had just happened? The floating debris from two of his ships was anything but right.

"Temptest Queen and Zeldoran are to cover the Zembek and the Honsolo in attack pattern Vega Minority," he shouted, and watched as they swooped out to attack.

"Imperator," the communications officer called out, "We are being hailed."

"Good," Stulon smiled, leaning back into his seat, "He realizes this is not his fight. Onscreen."

He started when Sela appeared on screen. "Explain to me why I have a battle taking place near my sun?" she demanded.

"We are exiting the Neutral Zone now," the helm officer reported, trying not to show his contempt for the human and Vulcan onboard the ship. "We will reach the Romulus system in two hours."

"Very good," Donatra nodded, sitting in her chair, "You two are welcome to explore the ship. Just don't touch anything and don't go into any restricted areas. As your charming Commander Trust pointed out, we are still at war. Heck, if we fail, I'll be executed for helping you two out."

"I don't think you'll find that to be the case," Spock replied, placing the tips of his fingers together.

"Better not," she said, then turning away said, "I'll alert you when we've arrived."

The two Federation men glanced at each other, than turning headed off the bridge. They proceeded to follow the corridor in a mishap direction, turning at random intervals. There was no hiding the distaste the crew felt towards them.

"I was wondering," Tryke wondered aloud, "Is she the same one that helped out then Captain Picard against Shinzon?"

"The same," Spock nodded.

"She seems to have a fetish for helping out the Federation," Tryke remarked.

"Especially humans who are always in need of help," Spock agreed.

Tryke didn't know how to take that, so they continued their walk in more or less silence.

Trust stepped into sickbay, the groans of the wounded assailing his ears. Everywhere he looked, there was barely room to maneuver between the masses of injured men and women. In a few cases, some of the crew were not injured but crying over dead comrades or lovers.

He made his way to Nurse Beltroona and was assailed as well by the natural pheromones that always leaked from her. He'd met her on only one prior occasion, but it had been enough for him to avoid her at all possible. She was...intoxicating to say the least.

"How goes the battle, Nurse?" he called out, making sure to step over the broken leg of a Bolian crewmember.

"I dearly hope there isn't a battle," she said, sweat streaking down her green face as she hurridely moved from patient to patient.

Trust frowned. "It was a joke," he said slowly.

"I'm sorry," she wiped her face, the motion making him woozy from excitement that arose because of seeing her do that, "I'm in no joking mood at the moment."

"Understood," he said, reaching out and patting her shoulder. It made him shudder in delight and turning he strode out, hoping to escape the pheromones and natural feelings he had.

Act 3

Non-essential personnel were still restricted to quarters, making the task of fixing up the Invincible on one hand easier and the other hand harder. Easier because those who did know how to work with the tools could work unhindered, but harder because roughly three hundred crew-members that could have been helping weren't.

But, as Trust stepped up to Mollen, who was helping work on the warp core, he realized that without the help of thirty Romulan engineers that had beamed over, they never would get done in a timely fashion.

"How much longer until we can leave?" he asked.

"According to Lt. Taxer," Mollen said, his hands disappeared as they worked some chips, "We should have impulse in three hours. But, unless we can get that virus out, it's going to be a lot longer."

"And how goes the virus hunt?" Trust inquired.

"I have Ensign Bagle working along with the Romulans on that," he said, "And I don't know what's going to go first, the virus or Bagle's patience."

"As long as he does his job," the Commander commented with a smirk, "If we don't get up and running soon, we're not going to be able to get back the Federation space."

"Could always get towed by the Romulans," Mollen suggested with a smile, although he didn't seem in a jovial mood. In fact, he seemed quiet preoccupied.

"You okay?" Trust asked, kneeling close by him and lowering his voice.

"Sure..." Sam said, looking at him, "Why would I not be?"

"You seem..." Trust struggled for the right word, "A little on edge. Preoccupied. Almost jumpy."

"With you breathing down my neck how can't I be?" Sam muttered, turning away.

Trust scowled. "What was that, Commander?" he asked.

"Nothing sir," Sam said, reaching for a hypospanner, "As you said. Just a little on edge."

"Just get us running," Trust patted his shoulder, "And I'll tend to the rest."

"D-n you, Romulan!" Ensign Bagel snapped, the Romulans taking a long time, "Can't you just find it?"

The closest one turned to him and replied in a matter of fact, "Oh, I'm sure I can just dive right into it and find it and destroy it. But oops," she said, smashing a chip and the lights flickering, "I just damaged your ship."

Bagel shoved her hard into the wall and the other Romulan kicked backwards, connecting with his chest and making him fall. Starfleet and Romulan engineers rushed to the area to participate in the fight. Bagel was up and he was about to charge her when a body blocked him and grabbed him and her by the collar of their uniforms.

"Get back to work!" Sam snapped, stepping into the midst and grabbing, "Or else I will throw you both in the brig."

He pressed the bell and the door opened. Jamie looked up at him, concern in her eyes. And he was come to bear bad news.

"What's going on?" she asked, "I've tried to contact James all day. But he isn't responding. Why isn't he responding? Is he alright?"

Mollen looked away, sorrow in his face. "He's dead," he said.

Jamie's eyes opened wide and she stumbled back and fell onto the chair. "How...how...how?" she stammered.

"The warp core when it exploded," he said, "He was trying to carry out another wounded crewmember. I couldn't keep open the door otherwise the whole department would have been blown away. Believe me, I held it open for as long as possible. But...I had no choice."

"Just go," she said barely loud enough for him to hear.

"What?" Mollen asked, his eyes full of concern.

"Just go!" she snapped, "I need to be alone for a little while."

Sam nodded and striding to the door. As he entered the range of the motion scanner, he stopped and turned around. He looked at her, shock still too hard for her to yet cry.

"I wish things had gone differently," he admitted, the first truth he had spoken since he stepped into the quarters, "He loved you. His last thoughts were of you. He was a good man, and I wish he hadn't died. But I can't undo them."

"I know," she whispered almost too softly for him to hear, but he caught it.

And with that, he walked out and the door closed behind him.

Seven of his ships were destroyed and Imperator Stulon was getting very angry. Why could Nero just die? Was this device worth the loss of life? Sela had been so unhappy about the capturing of the device, she was on her way personally to see it returned. If she got here before he had gotten it back, he could kiss his career goodbye.

"All ships!" he ordered, "We are all going in. I want a diamond formation, one ship in front, another ship in back, and four ships in a line in the middle. I will take the rear, to make sure we all get there. Now move!"

The ships lurched forward and swept towards the attack. They weren't going to let the scum get away this time. The piecemeal attacks hadn't worked, and this full-out assault was their last hope. Sweeping at full impulse, he watched as the first warbird was destroyed before it entered weapons range. The middle line got just shortly ahead of where the first ship had gone done, when the two middle warbirds erupted in fiery glory.

"Sweep around either flank and hit them from the sides!" he ordered, "I'm going straight up the middle."

The two warbirds splinted off and making wide turns headed for the middle. The Narada fired heavy salvos at both warbirds, and while they were able to deflect most of the missiles, the right one's bridge was destroyed and the remaining rest of the ship slammed into the side of the Narada, massive explosions ripping through the side. The other warbird's middle exploded, one of its wings hitting and deflecting of the Narada.

"We've got them!" Stulon shouted, slamming his fists on his armrests.

"They are turning their aft to us and heading towards the sun," the weapons officer reported, "They are retreating sir."

"No you fools!" Stulon shouted, "He's going to deploy the weapon! Stop him! Fire everything we have!"

"But sir, at this range we'll do minimal damage," the weapons officer replied.

"We have to or we're all dead!" he barked.

"If I may remind the Imperator," the Commander of the ship dared speak, "We wanted to take the weapon intact. Aren't you overreacting a little?"

Stulon pulled out his disruptor and blasted away the Commander and he fell dead. "I'd rather have to answer hard questions then be dead!" he snapped, "Destroy the Narada!"

The Horkomo sped as fast as it could, firing as fast as they could. Small pinpricks of light showed where they struck, but the damage was negligible at this distance.

Act 4

"Alright," Spock said, standing up from the torpedo, the Romulans watching him curiously, "I don't know if we'll be able to take the weapon intact. So, this is the back up. If we need to, we'll fire this torpedo and we will be able to knock out the Starkiller."

"Excuse me," the Romulan munitions officer asked, "How often have you done such...well, surgeries to torpedoes?"

"Twice," Spock nodded, "Once during the Khitomer Accords and the other earlier today to swallow a good portion of the Romulan fleet."

"Sorry, I asked," the officer muttered and the rest of the crew chuckled.

"Spock and Commander Tryke to the Bridge."

"As the humans would say," Spock said, with a dip of the head, "It's been a slice. Love to stay but gotta go."

Tryke followed Spock as he left the torpedo bay. He looked at Spock and found his an odd Vulcan. Especially his odd behavior. He was perhaps the most famous of Vulcans, second only to Serak. And yet...

"You seem quiet taken by humans," he pointed out.

"Humans are an irrational and illogical race," Spock shook his head and let out an exasperated sigh, "They barely made it to the stars before they started to pick fight. Annoying and self-righteous. But, my best friends have all been humans. Most Vulcans considered me outcast for being half-human. I am not your typical Vulcan."

"You have done well for yourself however," Tryke remarked, "That's got to count for something."

"Sometimes," Spock said, and they entered the bridge.

"We are coming out of Warp speed in a few seconds," Donatra reported, "I assume you'll want to be present on the bridge to look upon our fair system."

"I've been here before," Spock reminded her, "It'll be the same as it's always been."

"Dropping out of hyperspace now," Helm reported and they dropped into the Romulan star system.

Seven planets were in the Romulan star system. Rubicon, Remes, Romulus, Tiberius, Tiber, Attica and Gaul. None of these planet had less than a million living people on them. Even on Rubicon there was a million, three hundred thousand that lived on the dark side of the planet, the light side being too close to the sun for survival purposes. Roughly seventy-seven million lived within the seven planets.

Most didn't care for the war. They were just business people, making an honest living. They were family men and mothers, or lovers. Some were even entering the Temples of Matrimony to be joined by the Romulan Gods approval for wedlock. But, at roughly 1700 Romulus Standard Time, that all changed. The sky suddenly went dark, as if clouds had passed over the sun. And then, the sky brightened as if they were under the glow of high intensity lights. And within seconds, Rubicon exploded.

"Warp 9!" Stulon shouted, "Now!"

His ship barely escaped, but even as they jumped into warp speed their warp bubble collapsed, and only by the fact that they had been in a warp bubble did they manage to escape, because it collapsed on the back half of the wave.

Sela saw the supernova, and it was hard to tell who held more wroth. The dying star or the Empress herself. She had more time to escape, a mere thirty seconds, but it was enough for her to give the order.

"Warp 9," she said, her demeanor a coldness that made all shrivel.

"Where?" helm asked and she screamed, "Anywhere!"

They also escaped just in time to avoid being blasted apart by the shockwave.

"My -" Tryke's jaw slackened. He who had seen planets assimilated. He who had done terrible deeds. Even he was stunned by the sheer destruction and power that was destroying one by one the planets of the Romulus system.

"No!" Donatra shouted as Romulus was blown away, taking twenty-one million lives with it, "No! No!"

"We need to fire the torpedo," Spock said, standing beside her.

But she was so stunned that two more planets were swept away. She was too stunned. Everyone was paralyzed in horror at the genocide being played out before them.

"We need to fire the torpedo!" Spock shouted, hoping someone would move.

But the weapons officer was slack. Tryke rushed forward and threw him aside as the surface of the sixth planet began to crisscross in red hot lines. He still had the schematics for Romulan warbirds in his mind from one of the many Romulans he had personally assimilated and pressed the button to launch the torpedo.

With a flash the torpedo hurled out, racing to met the shockwave before it reached Gaul. It met it just seconds from Gaul and exploded, sucking the supernova in as the blackhole grew larger and larger. But, even in this the supernova lashed out with vengeance. A flame of it just briefly touched the atmosphere and instantly the world was set aflame, the whole world lighting up like a burning eye in space. Within a minute, the entire world was a burned out shell.

"Were there any survivors?" Donatra asked slowly, and the science officer began making scans.

"One ship," he reported, "Near where Rubicon is...was located."

"One ship?" she asked, her eyes blinking in disbelief, "Out of seventy-seven million, only one ship survives? What type of ship is it?"

"Military," he reported slowly, his voice deadpan, "It's ID names it, the Horkomo. The Imperator is alive, or so we can hope."

"Hope?" Tryke asked, "Your too optimistic. Your home system just died. And you think that maybe a couple hundred is a success?"

"Let's go to him," Donatra said, her eyes unblinking, "And maybe be able to work out this madness."

Act 5

"Good Heavens," Admiral Janeway said, although she didn't seem to be too stunned by the news, "This will cause the Romulans to turn on themselves. Well, Captain, we've caught a lucky break."

"It only cost over seventy million lives," Stubbs said, his head still hurting despite being healed, "Not to mention the lives of many members of my crew."

"A small price to pay for victory," Janeway pointed out, "They were willing to kill millions themselves. I don't mean to sound callous, but, the Romulans have been asking for this. They've gotten what they deserve. Nothing more or less."

Stubbs could not figure out Janeway's attitude. All she could think of was black and white. It seemed she had no concept of morality. Or, what she did know was a precursory glance without taking a look at an inner definition.

"Congratulations on a job well done," she said, "I'll expect you will be returning to port for repairs."

"We'll need them," he admitted, "And new senior staff."

"I think something can be arraigned," she said, "Janeway out."

Stubbs leaned back, grateful that at least his chair and computer weren't broken. Too much else had.

"We are gathered here today to remember our fallen that have died in battle," Stubbs said, standing over the torpedo coffins of twenty men and women, "Their sacrifice was not in vain. It was not in vain, because the device that would have killed billions is no longer here. They sacrificed themselves for the most basic truth of the Federation. All beings are created equal. And at this time, we commend their souls to Almighty God and commend their bodies, to the depths of space."

One by on the torpedo tubes were laid on the torpedo ramp and launched. And he named them, each and every one of them as they launched.

"Crewman Taylor Wanket, of Texas."

"Crewman Lizzay Crinket, of Lunar Colony."

"Crewmen Benjamin Denatra, of Risa."

"Crewmen Samuel David, of Colorado."

"Crewman Bilgo, of Tellar Prime."

"Crewman Zandera, of Andoria."

"Crewman Beavis Butthead, of Mexico."

"Crewman Justin Beiber, of California."

"Crewman Derrible, of Organia."

"Ensign Patrick Seward, of England."

"Ensign Parish Milks, of Epsilon 3."

"Ensign Bar Globes, of Bajor."

"Ensign Orok, of Orion Minor."

"Ensign Sabrine Tran, of Trill."

"Ensign Tra Gildor, of Bajor."

"Lt. Markus Keffer, of Betazed."

"Lt. Turvo, of Vulcan."

"Transporter Chief James Gardner, of Ireland."

"Chief Science Officer, Lt. Commander Merlek, of Vulcan."

"Admiral Kyle Harmon, of Idaho."

"I thought the Doc said you weren't supposed to be up and about," Tryke said, moving up to Jonathon, who stood leaning against the back wall.

"So many dead," he shook his head, not sure if sadness or weariness was making him ashen faced, "I had to be here. Why did we shoot Admiral Harmon out into space? He could have been sent back. Or any of them."

"Admiral Harmon always said, 'If I die in space, I want to make sure people have to notice I'm there by going around me'," Tryke chuckled, "As for Merlek, which I'm supposing you were asking about him, he didn't ever want to go home. He left Vulcan to escape, and wanted to be buried among the stars."

"Seems a shame," Lendon said, "But at least Ashley made it out fine. So that's something. The only good thing."

"Yeah," Adam sighed, "She did."

Lendon at once felt embarrassed at the unintended slight on his part. "I'm sorry sir. I didn't mean..."

"Don't sweat it," Tryke counseled, "You have your girl, that's the only thing that truly matters. Passion comes so rarely. Touch it when you can, and hold onto it."

Trust sat in his quarters, filling out his official report. He'd done his best. He knew he had. But...there was so much that he couldn't put into words. The one thing he didn't know how to describe was what happened on the transport tube after he had been left alone.

His mind flashed back: A Romulan was squirming, the phaser rifle jammed inside him. And he wouldn't stop moving. So, Nathan bent down, and grabbing the neck of the Romulan proceeded to strangle him. But, when the Romulan had died, he had still squeezed, until the bones had broken, and then had proceeded in an uncharacteristic fashion, and breaking every bone he could find. Lifting up arm, snapping a bone. One by one he had broken them. Leg bones, arm bones, shoulder blades.

And the real problem was, he had no idea why he had done this. And even worse than that...he had enjoyed it.