Chapter One
The star ship Enterprise was scheduled to return to Earth for decommission in six weeks. It had been in space for ten years now, had seen a war with the Xindi and survived many a refit. Commodore Jonathan Archer had volunteered for one last mission before his ship was put out to pasture and he was promoted to Admiral. He had put the promotion off for the last three years not ready to give up space exploration just yet, but since Enterprise had seen her last days, he thought now was the time. He would not be Captain of Enterprise II, yet he couldn't help but wonder who would.
Commander Malcolm Reed had been the First Officer of Enterprise for the last five years. He had been promoted after Commander T'Pol resigned her position and returned to Vulcan. She had been a broken woman when she left, having lost her bonded soul mate, the love of her life.
Commander Charles "Trip" Tucker III, had died saving his Captain's life in 2156. There had been a funeral aboard the ship with Trip's family in attendance, then a missile tube with his body in it was taken light years away from earth and shot out into deep space as per his last will and testament. And that had been that.
Jonathan Archer, Trip's friend of thirteen years had taken his death very hard. But he had found the will to go on, to move forward. Malcolm, who was also very close to Trip Tucker, had had a tougher time moving on. He grieved very hard for the loss of his friend, the closest friendship he had ever had. But in time, he had come to terms with his friend's death.
Doctor Phlox, Ensigns Hoshi Sato and Travis Mayweather had also been deeply affected by the Commander's death. They knew the ship would never be the same without Trip, but they knew he wouldn't want them grieving for him forever, so they had found a way to move forward as well. Mayweather was now a Lt. Commander and Hoshi was a Lieutenant. She was scheduled to get married after their return to Earth.
Commander T'Pol however, had been completely devastated by Trip's death. They had been through so much together. They had shared a close friendship, been in an intimate relationship, lost a grown son and an infant daughter together, but had found a way to sustain their relationship. They had a psychic bond that was so deep that they could speak mind to mind, hear one another's thoughts, and feel one another's pain. When Trip died, their bond was violently and abruptly severed and T'Pol had almost died as well. She survived however, but was badly damaged and unable to continue serving on Enterprise. She returned to Vulcan and sometime later began to declare that Trip was not dead. It was concluded that she had gone insane and was unfit for any serious employment. She never remarried and she had not moved on.
Last Mission. May 2161.
Enterprise had bent sent to locate and rescue several Starfleet officers stranded on a deep space outpost near the gamma quadrant. Upon doing so they had encountered an ionic storm system that had thrown them off course. Unfortunately, when they had finally stopped spinning it was thousands of light years away and near a nebula. Commodore Archer was concerned that if they slid into it, they may not ever get out. They had taken every precaution they could, but found themselves right where they had not wanted to be, inside the nebula.
"Damage report," Commodore Archer called out.
"I'm sorry sir," Hoshi replied, "but all systems are fluctuating. It may take a few minutes Sir."
"Damn it!" Archer said. After he had spent a few minutes pacing back and forwards across the bridge, Jon looked warily at Hoshi, then at Malcolm. They could see other ships that had been caught in the nebula as well, floating lifelessly.
"Are we going to be able to get out of here Travis?"
"Sir, we've lost warp. All we have is very low impulse at the moment. And, with all these ships…"
"Evasive maneuvers?" Archer interrupted.
"At low impulse sir, it's gonna be next to impossible, but I'll do my best," Travis replied.
"I know you will," Archer replied. "Malcolm, anything yet?"
"Coming in from all over the ship Sir," Malcolm answered. "Thirty four injuries, six fatalities."
"What about structural damage, get engineering…" Suddenly everything went dark again.
"Assemble a team Malcolm," Jon said. "Have them lend Phlox a hand getting everyone to sick bay. We may have to set up a makeshift unit to get everybody treated."
"Aye Sir," Malcolm answered and got up from his console.
"But first, stop by engineering and tell Hess to get up here, I need a report fast, we've got to find a way to get out of here."
"I'm on it Sir," Reed replied and left the bridge.
Several hours later upon conferring with Hess and his bridge officers, Archer had given an order to try a radical procedure with the ship. Upon getting some of the ship's power back on line, they had transferred everything to the engines. They jumped to warp immediately and tried to propel themselves out on the other side of the nebula. It had worked. However at warp seven, they had been unable to prevent entering a vortex that they didn't even know was there until the last minute. There was no way they could have avoided entering it.
As soon as they had entered the vortex, a ship had opened fire upon them. They had no idea where they were nor who was shooting at them, and they were completely helpless.
"Malcolm, tell me we got something," Jon spat.
"I wish I could Commodore," Malcolm replied. "But we've lost warp and we have limited weapons, that nebula really caused us a lot of damage." The ship shook again and everyone went flying.
"Hoshi! Try hailing them," Jon said picking himself up off the floor.
"I've been trying for the last few minutes Sir, nothing!"
"Malcolm!" Jon called out. The ship was taking a beating and fires were erupting everywhere. "Tell me it's not going to end like this!"
"We could fire upon them Sir, but I doubt it would do any good."
Jon closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "Charge weapons Commander," he said finally, "might as well go down with a fight."
"Aye Sir," Malcolm said. "It's been a pleasure serving with you." Jon nodded back to Malcolm.
"It's been a pleasure serving with you," Hoshi said, her voice shaky and tears formulating in her eyes. Again Jon nodded.
"It's been a pleasure…" Travis started, then abruptly stopped. "Commodore!" he shouted. "They've latched onto us with a tractor beam!
"You've got to be kidding me," Jon said.
"We're also being boarded Sir!" Malcolm called out. "Cargo bay two."
"Get a team of MACOs down there," Jon said "Let's greet our guest with the same welcome they just gave us. We may have just gotten our second chance. Let's make it count."
Later.
Commodore Archer and Commander Reed watched as they along with six MACOs were surrounded by the aliens that had boarded their ship. They faced off in launch bay two, phase pistols drawn. The aliens were bigger than the humans not so much in stature, but by sheer body mass, perhaps weighing as much as 300 pounds each, and they looked like they had a silver hue about them. They also had large ears and big eyes.
Jon knew they were in trouble and he saw no way out. He thought to try and reason with the aliens, but they didn't look very reasonable.
"I am Commodore Jonathan Archer of the Star ship Enterprise," Jon began. "I don't know who you are or what you want, but…"
"Silence!" one of the aliens said in a slithery sounding voice. "Surrender this vessel or we'll tear through it, taking what we want and slaughtering everything that moves!"
"I will not surrender," Jon spat back. "We'll die defending this ship!"
"Then die you shall!" the alien shouted. "In the name of Lord Simeon!"
"Commodore," Malcom Reed said, "you should leave now Sir. Let us handle this."
"No way Malcolm," Jon replied.
"Sir, if this goes badly, and it probably will, you need to survive. You need to try and escape."
"I'm not going anywhere Malcolm!"
"Are we gonna fight or do you plan to talk us to death?" the lead alien snarled. With that Malcolm fired his phase pistol as the others ran for cover. Two MACOs were hit and went down immediately. Suddenly, several more aliens emerged from the shuttle pod.
"Commodore, we're out numbered!" Malcolm shouted. "I really think you should get out of here. I will cover you."
"No Malcolm," Jon said as he fired his pistol and ducked back down behind several metal crates.
They watched as another MACO went down and within minutes three of the invaders were looking down on them with weapons. Jon and Malcolm slowly surrendered their weapons as they were snatched up from the floor. The other three MACOs were immediately shot right in front of them. A couple of the aliens began beating the two officers.
"Enough!" their leader finally said. The aliens grabbed Jon and Malcolm from the floor and stood them before their leader. He looked them over. "As I said, we're taking this ship, for the one true ruler of this realm, Lord Simeon." Then suddenly, there were flashing lights all around and the ten or so aliens were surrounded by more humanoid aliens, except these were dressed in dark blue tactical gear, complete with head and facial masks such that only a sliver revealed their various colored eyes.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you!" one of the new aliens shouted.
"Collourian!" the lead silver looking alien replied. "We have no quarrel with you today!" An alien walked right up to him, prominent purple eyes staring him down.
"Visseral," he sneered. "You were told never to return to Kingdom space, yet here you are!"
"This is neutral territory," the alien snarled back. "You know this!"
"All I know is that you are a dishonorable, lying, thieving, murderer of innocent travelers!" Jon and Malcolm traded glances.
"Look!" Jon started. "I don't know who either of you are, and I don't care, but this is my ship…"
"Silence!" a hooded alien with piercing green eyes said, stepping into Jon's space and holding a phase gun to his nose.
"Renald!" a voice shouted as another alien in navy blue combat and head gear moved from the back to front and center. The other hooded aliens all bowed slightly as he moved passed them. He looked at the silver aliens, then at Jon and Malcolm but did not address them. "Stand down," he ordered and the green eyed alien lowered the phase pistol. Jon let out a deep breath as he did so.
"T-triad?!" the lead silver alien said with a slight tremble. "W-what are you doing here?!"
"The question Visseral, is what are you doing here?" Triad countered. "Thought I told you if I ever saw you again that I would kill you!" With that Visseral dropped to the ground in front of Triad.
"Have mercy Master Triad," he begged. "We will leave this space forever if you will allow it, and this time we will be certain to never return, for any reason."
"No!" Triad replied. "You have once again violated Collourian space, plundered and killed, and attempted to take this ship for your own pleasures; rape their women, kill the men for sport, or perhaps sell the entire crew into slavery, no? You know how I hate killers, rapist and slavers!"
"Master Triad, I assure you…"
"Shut the hell up!" Triad shouted. "Now stand up dog!" Visseral slowly got to his feet. "You know the law. Judgment must be just! Punishment must fit the crime! And execution must be swift!"
"You are no better than me Triad!" Visseral shouted. "Yet you have appointed yourself judge, jury and executioner!"
"And I find you guilty!" Triad shouted back, "of violating Collourian space for a third time, for attacking and slaughtering innocent travelers without provocation, for attempting to capture and enslave this vessel right under my nose!" Triad's anger and authority was untenable. Not only did the silver aliens take a few steps backwards when he spoke, but so did his own men.
"Visseral, you have been warned. I let you go on two previous occasions. Yet here you are again. That means you have no respect for kingdom law. You have no honor or moral code… and no fear…of me! For that you must die!"
"Captain Triad, Lord Triad… I beg of thee…" But Triad had already drawn a weapon that at first looked like a 12 inch rod, but in seconds a vicious looking blade shot out from it.
"For the kingdom!" he shouted, and with that Visseral's head rolled onto the floor as his body dropped just after it, along with the smell of burning flesh. Then one of the silver aliens grabbed the weapon of one of the hooded aliens. He shouted something and plunged the dangerous looking sword like apparatus into the chest of the hooded alien standing just behind him.
For several moments the aliens engaged in a vicious battle right in front of Jon and Malcolm who had taken cover once again. They watched as the hooded aliens cut the silver aliens down, literally. They kept a close eye on the one called Triad. He seemed to be the deadliest one of them all. They watched as he slaughtered two aliens at once by thrusting his sword into two of them standing back to back. They saw him slice another in half at the waist, then another straight down the middle.
When the blood bath was over, several of the aliens began to remove their headgear. They had various colored hair and matching eye color, some black, some purple, green, yellow and red. Their skin was golden tanned and they had facial markings on their cheeks or freckles that matched their hair and eye color. These markings actually cascaded down the sides of their whole bodies and covered their hands. Only Triad kept his face garment intact. The other aliens bowed to him as he walked over to Jon and Malcolm. He looked down at them with piercing blue eyes through the sliver in his facial covering.
"Bring 'em," he said then walked away.
"Til kingdom comes!" all of the colorful aliens shouted as Captain Triad and two others at his side vanished in a haze of light.