A/N: Special thanks goes to RedArrow and Angw for doing an awesome job with getting this work together. Their help is indispensable.
Present Day
Sean watched the jury come back into the room. A single juror passed a datapad to Admiral Henry Wolf. The African American Admiral did not shift his glare from Sean even as he took the datapad from the juror. The Jury then proceeded to the back of the room and left. The only sound in the courtroom was the hissing of the doors opening and closing.
"The defendant will rise." Admiral Wolf stated, finally breaking his stare and looking down at his data pad. The Admiral had a military trimmed hair cut and bearing. His imposing height kept Sean on edge, especially in the defendant pit.
The courtroom had three distinct sections, a raised stage in which the judge and the jury were placed, a pit where the defendant and his representative were supposed to sit, and another pit where the prosecution sat. It was a closed courtroom, leaving no place for spectators. Two armed guards stood at the door.
Sean rose to his feet, formerly known as Captain Sean Cunningham, now he was little more than Sean. "With respect sir..."
"The defendant will also remain silent." Admiral Wolf reiterated a note of anger in his voice, his expression otherwise unchanged. "You have been tried and found guilty in the destruction of the USS Pandora."
"Sir, the evidence against me and my crew is entirely false. We had nothing to do with the destruction of the Pandora!" Sean tried to explain. He felt small, despite his six foot stature.
The Admiral met Sean's eyes, silencing his attempts to explain. The dark black eyes reminded Sean of the event horizon of a black hole. "As of this moment, you and your senior staff are sentenced to a life term in the Federation Penal Colony on Bellaria. Your crew will be put in detention until it is decided how to deal with them. This sentence is merciful; do not try to debate it Mr. Cunningham." The Admiral motioned to the security guards in the back of the room. "Take him to his officers; he can inform them of how his actions have destroyed their careers too."
Sean briefly considered fighting the security guards off, but quickly realized it wouldn't do any good. His record had been soiled and no one would believe him after this, no matter what had really happened...
2 Days Prior
"Captain on the Bridge." Commander Klena announced as Sean entered, standing as she did. She kept her long brown hair restrained in a bun on the back of her head. Her clear blue eyes hid emotions, yet he could always tell when she was feeling them.
Sean waved the formalities imposed by his first officer off. She was a great first officer, efficient and diplomatic, but being a Vulcan also made it difficult to be informal with her. "You know better Commander." Sean said, sitting down in his chair. "What do we have?"
"It's a temporal energy signature." Lieutenant Kate Filander stated, meeting Sean's green eyes with her own deep brown eyes. "I've informed the Pandora." She paused, looking down at her readings, her long blond hair moving slightly as she did, even tied back in a pony tail. "It's in the nearby system, survey number 2105."
"Do we have an open comm line with the Pandora?" Sean glanced back over at Kate.
"Yes sir, I'll patch you through."
Less than a second later the view screen's image of space was replaced by an image of Captain Felicity Barnum, the commander of the Pandora. Captain Barnum was an imposing figure. Her face showed deep creases, signs of age: ten years of it. Her brown hair was tied back neatly out of the way. "Captain, what's your take on this temporal energy signature?"
"Hard to say Captain." Sean replied. "Though I think we need a closer look regardless."
"Agreed." Felicity mumbled.
"You take point; the Norway class has better scanners than the Guenidier. We'll bring up the rear." Sean was well aware of the differences between the two ships. The Guenidier was a Sabre class vessel and was significantly smaller than the Norway class Pandora. Its size prohibited a large sensor package.
"Sounds like a plan Captain." Felicity looked to her side for a second before looking back at him. "Keep an open comm line."
"Will do Captain." Sean replied. "Erica, bring us alongside the Pandora after we come out of warp." He said to Lieutenant Erica Dulmane, the ship's helmsman.
"Aye sir." Erica replied. Erica kept her black hair trimmed neatly at shoulder length. It remained loose, just within the regulations. She was small, barely five feet tall.
"The Pandora is going to warp." Lieutenant Commander Nathanial Stark said from tactical. Nathan was a big guy, athletically built. He stood six foot four, with a clean military hair cut that kept his brown hair short and out of the way.
"Moving to match course and speed." Erica mumbled. The Guenidier jumped to warp with a brief lurch that Sean could just barely feel in his gut.
The jump ended as quickly as it began, only a few seconds later. This time, the blank view of the stars was replaced by the imposing view of a gas giant and its myriad of moons. Sean didn't know the system, but if it had only been assigned a survey number, then it was probably without any value. No M class planets or natural resources.
"Bring us to the right and slightly behind the Pandora." Sean said, looking forward. "Kate, any change in the sensor readings?"
"Not yet." Kate replied, again checking her readings. "But we're definitely closer, the readings are more concise, but I still can't pinpoint their position or point of origin."
"Captain Barnum, any luck?" Sean asked over the open comm line.
"My ops officer thinks he may have something." Felicity replied. "It looks like it's emanating from the third moon of this gas giant. We're sending you our sensor readings."
"I have them." Kate said, displaying the readings on the view screen. "According to these readings, it should be coming from the dark side of that moon."
"How do you want to handle this Captain?" Sean asked, sitting back in his chair.
"Let's approach from opposite sides of the moon." Felicity replied. "That way if it is an alien ship of some sort we've got a better chance of spotting them."
"Agreed." Sean turned to Erica. "Bring us around the moon, one half impulse."
The Guenidier slowly moved around the moon, quickly becoming shrouded in darkness. Sean hated the dark sides of planetoids. On the dark side, just about anything could hide and be invisible. A cloaking device wasn't required.
"Sir, I recommend raising shields." Nathan said.
"There is little need for them." Klena said, looking over to Nathan. "We are not in a hostile situation."
"Klena..." Sean said, motioning for her to drop it. "Nathan, why?"
"Nothing concrete sir, I just have a bad feeling about it." Nathan replied, looking slightly unnerved.
"Good enough for me." Sean said. "Go to yellow alert and raise our shields."
The lighting on the bridge dimmed. It was a result of the increased power flow to the shield emitters. Sean looked to his side at Kate. "Anything now?"
"This is weird." Kate whispered, she stood up and pointed to the real time display. "See this distortion here; this is where my sensors are telling me the temporal signature is coming from. But there is nothing there." She returned to her seat. "Not even any subatomic particles!" She threw her hands up in the air.
"Captain?" Sean asked through the comm line.
"We heard. We're getting good sensor readings on that distortion now. It definitely has a cloaking field." Felicity said.
"But what's under it?" Nathan asked, voicing the question everyone was thinking about.
A readout from the Pandora replaced the view of space before them. It showed an object with a round space station like ring surrounding a rounded interior spherical object. "We've managed to show a shape of the object from our sensor readings based on where there is an absence of anything." Felicity said slowly. "The database is not recognizing the configuration."
"What about the temporal signature?" Sean idly tapped his fingers on the armrest of his chair.
"I think the cloaking field is masking a lot of it." Felicity replied. "My ops officer estimates that it's large enough to have a full sized temporal rift underneath the field."
"That doesn't explain the cloaking device though." Sean said, standing up and thinking for a second. "Remember a report about the theoretical Starfleet Temporal Station?"
"No, what was it supposed to be?"
"Starfleet wanted an edge in larger battles. So the Starfleet Corp of Engineers wanted to make a station that was capable of taking an entire enemy attack fleet and moving them out of our space time for a brief period. Meanwhile, our ships could fire with impunity."
"Wouldn't weapons fire also be useless?" Felicity said skeptically, "and what about our own ships, wouldn't they be caught in it?"
"The report mentioned something about temporal shields, but I'm not entirely clear on it."
"You think that's what we're looking at?" Felicity asked.
"It's possible."
"If it's Starfleet then why weren't we informed?" Felicity looked skeptical on the view screen.
"Captain..." Kate said. "I'm detecting a surge in Neutrino emission directly above us."
"Source?" Sean asked.
"Ship decloaking directly above us, Defiant class." Nathan reported.
"Hail them."
"No response." Kate replied, a note of panic in her voice.
"They're powering weapons." Nathan reported his voice calm.
"Red alert, evasive maneuvers." Sean ordered. The alarms began to wail and the Bridge lighting dimmed appropriately. All within normal red alert parameters.
"They're firing on the Pandora!" Nathan yelled.
A burst of phaser fire and several quantum torpedoes slammed into the Pandora, ripping one of its warp nacelles off and blasting a hole in its triangular saucer section.
"I've had enough, return fire!"
"The Pandora has lost its shields, weapons, and engines." Kate stated.
"Firing phasers." Nathan said. The Guenidier's phaser banks fired rapidly at the Defiant as the Guenidier raced away. Each shot struck shields. "Minor damage to their shields."
"Captain, we've suffered heavy casualties!" Felicity said through the comm line, her voice ragged. Explosions could be heard in the background. "Primary systems are down. I'm transmitting to you everything we have. Get it back to Starfleet, do you hear me?"
"They're firing again." Nathan said quickly. The Defiant fired again. The Pandora split down the middle of its hull, breaking into two distinct pieces, spilling crewman into space. Secondary explosions ripped through each half, breaking the other warp nacelle off. The ship slowly disintegrated. "They are turning to engage us." The Defiant yawed so that it faced the Guenidier.
"Options people?" Sean yelled, as the first shots impacted the Guenidier's shields, causing the entire ship to shake. Sparks flew from a couple of conduits in the ceiling. Quantum torpedoes narrowly shot past the small ship.
"There are three unexploded deuterium canisters in the Pandora's wreckage, if we fire on them with our photon torpedoes, we could temporarily blind them." Kate suggested. "And bury our friends…"
Sean took a moment. "We don't have a choice, do it!" He knew it would obliterate what little was left of the Pandora. "Erica, prepare to go to maximum warp as soon as they explode."
The Guenidier turned around sharply; three photon torpedoes launched from its forward launchers and ignited the deuterium. The deuterium exploded seconds later, spilling a white cloud of superheated metal in all directions.
"Sensors are blind!" Kate shouted as the ship shook.
"Go to warp!" Sean yelled as the impact of the superheated metal sent tremors through the entire ship.
The Guenidier arched away from the moon and raced to warp.
"Status?" Sean asked, finally releasing his grip from the armrests on his chair.
"No sign of pursuit." Nathan stated.
"Minor damage, mainly to the sensor grid." Klena said. "No casualties."
"Did we get the data from the Pandora?"
"Yes sir." Kate said.
"Then let's make sure their sacrifice wasn't in vain." Sean turned to face the forward view screen. And find out what happened.
1 Day 14 Hours Prior
"We're dropping out of warp." Erica announced, just as the subtle lurch passed through the ship.
Sean finally allowed himself to relax. "Good, set a course for…"
Nathan interrupted him. "The USS Yellowstone is moving to intercept us." He shook his head as he looked at the sensor readings. "They've got their shields up and their weapons powered!" His voice trailed off.
Sean blinked twice, trying to understand what was going on. He knew that an Ambassador class vessel greatly outclassed his ship. "Shields up. Hail them."
"Channel open." Kate replied.
The image on the screen was replaced with a view of the Yellowstone's Bridge, specifically on Captain Nellis. "This is Captain Arim Nellis of the USS Yellowstone. Captain Cunningham, you are ordered to lower your shields and surrender, or we will be forced to fire on you." Captain Nellis' said each word deliberately, carefully.
"Captain Nellis, we were attacked by an unknown Defiant class vessel in system 2105 while investigating a..." The ship shuddered as a torpedo impacted the shields. "Cease your attack at once; we've got sensor data..." There was another impact.
"Captain Cunningham, I am under direct orders to either arrest you, or destroy your ship for the destruction of the USS Pandora. Now surrender now and we'll take this before the Federation Judicial committee; I am not a man to be trifled with nor am I a judge. If you do not surrender immediately I will be forced to destroy you."
"Alright, alright!" Sean replied quickly, swearing under his breath. "We surrender. Stand down to condition green."
"Good. I'm sending over security teams, if they encounter any resistance, they are ordered to shoot on sight. Phasers are set to kill."
"Understood."
"Yellowstone, out." The image vanished from the view screen.
Sean slammed his fists against his armrests. "Put me on ship-wide audio." He forced himself to relax and stop gritting his teeth. "This is the Captain; we are about to be boarded by Starfleet security teams. Whatever happens, don't resist. You have my word I'll find out the meaning of this."
The first of the Starfleet security officers beamed in on either side of the bridge, their weapons already aiming at everyone. Sean swore again. What had they done to deserve such treatment?
"EVERYONE IN THE MIDDLE OF THE ROOM! MOVE IT!" One of the officer's shouted, motioning for Erica to move. They crossed the room; one of the officers roughly shoved Erica towards the center of the room as she stood up.
They did exactly as they were told. Seconds later Sean felt his wrists be roughly bound by a pair of cuffs. The rest of his bridge crew followed. No one bothered to read them their rights.
Present Day
It hadn't been a trial, Sean recalled. It had been an inquisition. He'd been the only officer of the Guenidier present; the rest of his senior staff remained locked in the brig at Starfleet Command. He hadn't had a representative, or even a chance to speak. They'd laid out the evidence and sent the jury in for a debate.
Less than a minute later, the jury had returned and pronounced him guilty in the light of overwhelming evidence. More like false evidence. Included in the evidence was the ship's video log. It showed the Guenidier firing on the Pandora. Records on the ship showed that they had fired five torpedoes; he knew they'd only fired three.
And above all, he'd been working with Captain Barnum for almost a month now. Why would he have chosen to attack and kill her and her entire crew like that? The jury seemed oblivious to the obvious question, so Sean stopped trying to ask it. All he knew was that someone was manipulating everyone.
He reached the brig just ahead of his escort. His senior staff remained locked in the main cell. The guards deactivated the cell forcefield, and then shoved him inside. The field was reactivated only a second later.
"That couldn't have been a good trial." Mark said. Former Lieutenant Commander Mark Turner, and the Guenidier's Chief Engineer, Mark was Sean's most trusted friend. They'd been in the same class at the academy and had spent plenty of time working together, even before being stationed on the Guenidier. Mark was only slightly shorter than Sean, with longer hair and brown instead of green eyes.
"It wasn't a trial." Sean replied, sitting down on the bench in the back of the cell. "They basically told me what our punishment is for our supposed actions. I didn't even have anyone to represent me, or a chance to speak."
"And what, will be our sentence?" Klena asked, from her meditative position in the corner of the cell. She emphasized the word sentence. Sean met her eyes for a moment, and could tell she was feeling betrayed.
"We're sentenced to life imprisonment in the Federation Penal Colony on Bellaria."
"As in all of us?" Kate asked slowly.
"The crewmen will be held in detention until Starfleet decides what to do with them, but the senior staff will be moved to Bellaria. That's us." Sean tried to hide the defeat in his voice.
"Then it is a fate we must accept, at least for now." Klena stated, coming to her feet. "However, our fate is not entirely sealed yet." Sean could see a glimmer of hope hidden just beyond Klena's calm exterior. He wished he shared it.
"She's right." Nathan said. "I'm not about ready to just lie down and die."
"Are we agreed?" Sean said quietly. He knew they were being listened to.
Mark nodded slowly, crossing his arms over his chest. Kate fidgeted for a bit, and then nodded. Erica smiled and nodded. Nathan nodded taking a deep breath as he did. Sean could tell Klena agreed simply by the way she raised an eyebrow.
"Okay, options people." Sean said, making sure everyone kept there voice down. The humming of the power conduits all around them would mask quiet voices.
"We should make our move once they move us to a starship for transport." Nathan said quickly.
"Agreed." Sean replied. "If and when we do get an opportunity to escape, we'll have to rush the guards. Nathan, Klena, Mark, and I will go after the guards. Kate, Erica, make sure you get their phasers as quickly as possible."
"From there, we should head for the shuttle bays, possibly the armory as we go." Nathan added.
Sean nodded. "If it's on the way, definitely. We can't take a whole starship, not one with a crew anyway. But we can get a ship that's without crew." Sean thought for a minute. "I think I know of a ship we could get, but it would mean going all the way back to Starfleet Command."
Sean looked down at the floor. "Look, I can't ask you to do this."
"We're doing it anyway." Erica said with a shrug.
"Everyone against the rear wall with your hands on the wall and visible." A gruff voice commanded from behind. Sean heard the forcefield deactivate, then felt the transporter beam them up. The next thing he knew, they were in another brig. He heard the forcefield behind them activate.
"Alright, you can turn around now." He heard another voice say, this one sounded familiar.
Sean turned around and shook his head as he instantly recognized the lone security officer at the control console. "Jason?" Sean asked, remembering Jason Striker as a 2nd year cadet in a class Sean had been teaching while waiting for an assignment at Starfleet Academy. Jason was tall, blond, and imposing unless you knew him. Sean knew him.
"Do I know you?" The crewman asked.
"Do you remember a Lieutenant Commander Sean Cunningham?"
"My small group tactics teacher, why..." Jason's voice trailed off. "Sir, what are you doing being transported to a Penal Colony?"
"Somebody accused us of the destruction of the USS Pandora, even though it was destroyed by another starship, a Defiant class. We barely escaped alive." Sean paused. "Then when we got back to Starfleet Command, they'd already set out to arrest us. They gave us a summary trial and a quick verdict by the jury. We got life in prison."
"Why would Starfleet do that?" Jason walked around the console and up to the forcefield. "It's not ethical." He shook his head. "It's not democratic!"
"Believe me; the same thing is going through my mind right now. But we don't have the time to debate it, we need to escape." He lowered his voice. "Are you going to help us?"
Jason looked away. "Do you know what you're asking me to do?"
"I do Jason." Sean met his gaze, green eyes to blue. "I'm asking you to stand up for what's right. If we're to have any chance; we're going to need all the help we can get."
Jason smiled. "And I'm going to trust my small group tactics teacher for lessons on how to do the right thing... alright, I'm in." He walked back to the console, deactivating the forcefield. "We're never going to succeed if we try to take the ship."
"How far to the shuttle bays and do we come across an armory on the way?" Nathan asked, coming straight to the point.
"There's an armory on the way, I have access to it. Let's take jefferies tube..."
The ship shook violently, nearly knocking everyone to the floor. Sean grabbed onto the console in front of him. "What's going on?"
"We are the Borg." The ominous voice of the Borg collective echoed in the brig through the ship's comm system. "You will be assimilated. We will add your biological and technological distinctiveness to our own. Resistance is futile."
"There's your answer." Jason replied. "I feel bad abandoning my post, but I doubt we're gonna need a brig supervisor in the immediate future."
"Can you get us to the armory still?"
Jason glanced at the console, calling up the data on the armory status. "It looks like security has taken some of the weapons, but for now there's still plenty in there. This attack will most likely help us, as nobody will be paying attention to us running down the halls."
The ship shook again. "Let's go." Sean said. "I have no desire to be assimilated."
Jason led the way, ducking out in the corridors as power conduits blew out around them. "The armory is two decks down, the shuttle bay three." He used a hatch to get into the jefferies tube system. From there he crawled through the tube to a junction and climbed down two decks.
The armory was just outside in the corridor. Jason entered his access code into the armory door's control panel. It slid aside to reveal a small room lined with phaser rifles. Jason handed them out, then passed out hand phasers.
"Set for stun." He said. "I don't want to kill anyone unless I have to."
Sean nodded, setting his phaser rifle to stun. "Any quicker way to the Shuttle bays?"
Another console exploded, causing the corridor to explode in fire, but it also opened a hole in the floor. The ship's fire suppression system immediately stopped the fire. Jason pointed to the hole and shouted. "The Borg just made one." He jumped down, and then led them to the end of the hall.
"The shuttle bay is just beyond this door, but it's jammed." Jason said. "I'll try to manually open it."
"Jason don't!" Sean yelled, grabbing Jason's arm. "The door is steaming, my guess is your fire suppression system is down in there and this whole ship is coming apart." He released Jason. "Is there another way in?"
"Yeah. This way." Jason led them down a side passage and into the shuttle bay control room. "This should let us open the doors from here anyway." Jason accessed the shuttle bay door controls and began slowly opened the massive doors.
"Good work Jason." Sean said as the doors opened, revealing a vast expanse of space. "Let's go before Nellis decides to put his rear shields towards the Sphere."
Jason pointed to the two shuttles. "There's enough room for four of us in each, but I'm no pilot."
"I am." Erica said. "I've got one."
"I'll take the other." Sean stated. "Klena, Nathan, go with Erica, everyone else with me. Stick together and let's just get out of this alive."
Sean climbed into the shuttle. It was a standard Type 9 shuttlecraft, sleek sloped back cockpit view port and swept back warp nacelles. It was a performance shuttle. "Strap in." He said, climbing into the pilot's seat and initializing the shuttle's computer core and warp engines.
Jason sat down next to Sean. "Shuttle 1 to Shuttle 2, are you ready?"
"Just give me a moment to get the engines online." Erica replied, pausing briefly. "Okay, we're good. Where to once we're clear?"
"Set course for the outermost edge of the Sol system, near the dark side of Pluto, we'll reunite there and figure out what to do." Sean transferred power to the shields from the weapons. He didn't plan on firing a shot.
"You strapped in back there?" Sean asked, glancing back at Mark and Kate.
"Ready as we're going to be." Kate replied, her knuckles white with her grip on the support bar.
Sean looked at Jason. "Are the shields still up?"
"Yeah." Jason replied. "We're not going to be able to get through."
Mark climbed forward, leaning on the back of Jason's chair. "There's an area of the shields right between the two warp nacelles." He accessed a top down view of the Yellowstone from the shuttles sensors. "The weak point is right there. It's been used by the Maquis a couple of times."
"Why is that a weak point?" Jason asked, looking at Mark with confusion.
"The warp field destabilizes the shields ever so slightly right there. It's a small spot most ships can't hit it with weapons fire, but a small shuttle can slide right through and get in and out of the shields of a starship."
"You sure about this?" Sean asked.
"It's either that or wait till the Borg start beaming in." Mark shrugged and walked back to the bench in the back of the shuttle.
"Good point."Sean powered up the engines and launched into space. Immediately the shuttles sensors came alive with reports of the battle. The Yellowstone was winning but barely, having sustained major damage to most of its critical components. "Erica, follow my course exactly."
Sean carefully maneuvered the shuttle so that it pushed through the point in the shields. There was a slight tremor from the shuttles mass physically displacing the energy of the shield. In less than a second it passed.
He set the course for Pluto's dark side and engaged the wrap drive. The shuttle's maximum warp gave it thirty minutes back to the Sol system. Sean could wait that long.
He glanced back behind him; Mark had leaned back and closed his eyes. Kate looked apprehensive, he couldn't blame her. They'd just left a Federation ship alone to face a Borg Sphere. They'd broken a lot of rules they'd sworn to uphold. He knew they didn't have regrets, but getting used to a new set of rules was difficult on anybody.
He thought back to the battle where the Pandora had been destroyed, was there anything he could've done differently. He could've fired on the unknown Defiant sooner, but Starfleet protocols were clear on that. One did not fire unless circumstances warranted it.
The lack of response to his hails didn't count as provocation enough to warrant shooting. The Defiant firing on the Pandora did. So he'd opened fire, even though he'd known that the firepower of a Sabre class vessel was nowhere near the firepower on a Defiant.
The Sabre was a light warship, enough to stop the occasional pirate, but it was not meant to fight alone. It was meant to fight in fleets, hence why they had been paired with the Pandora. Not that it mattered anymore; he didn't have the Guenidier, and even if they did steal something; he wanted something capable of holding its own.
He had not told his crew about the ship he planned on liberating from Starfleet Command. The USS Foxhound NCC-89045 was an Intrepid class vessel, recently constructed and state of the art, even for its design. A crew had not been assigned to it yet; they wouldn't have to worry about taking control of the ship. That was a fight he knew they wouldn't win, not even with the Guenidier's crew on hand.
The console beeped in front of him and ship dropped out of warp. He smiled; time seemed to fly when you had something to think about. He looked down at the sensor readings and spotted the second shuttle, right behind them.
"Okay, we're here at Pluto. Where to from here?" Erica asked over the comm line.
Sean scanned close to Earth for signs of what they could use to get to Starfleet Command. "Looks like the Enterprise just came out of warp and they're headed for Starfleet Command. It's possible we could sneak in by staying close to its warp nacelles. The residual warp trail would cover our approach."
"If we disable all non-essential systems it is doubtful that the Enterprise will be able to detect us." Klena added.
"She's right." Mark said, standing up and leaning on the back of Sean's chair. "Most Starfleet vessels start powering down as they approach Starfleet Command, their sensors will not be actively scanning. That and the warp trail will keep us perfectly camouflaged."
"Did you get that?" Sean asked Erica, looking over at their shuttle by habit.
"Yeah, we got it. Klena's powering down the non-essentials now." Erica replied, "We'll follow right behind you once you're ready."
"Alright Mark... course suggestions?" He glanced back at the engineer.
Mark reached over and brought up the sensor display. "Perform an in-system warp to Mars and use its gravity to sling shot you towards the Enterprise." Mark entered a series of commands, drawing a line on the display for them to follow. "Shut down the warp engines when we get here." He pointed to just before they reached Mars. "From there, follow in the ship's wake until we're inside Starfleet Command."
Sean looked over at Jason. "Let Mark sit there."
Jason nodded and yielded the seat to Mark. "I'm sending the flight plans to Erica." Mark said.
"Good, tell me when you're ready." Sean entered the course plans into the computer. A simulation confirmed the flight plan.
Mark looked out the forward view port as the lights in the cockpit dimmed. "I've powered down everything we don't need. Go."
"Erica, link your navigation system with ours." Sean said reaching up to activate the warp engines with the controls above him.
"You're in control Captain." Erica replied.
"Here we go." Sean mumbled, activating the computer control guidance.
There was a brief lurch as the ship accelerated to warp one. Sean watched the distance to Mars shrink rapidly. He took a deep breath, and looked to Mark. Mark deactivated the warp engines as they approached Mars. At the last minute, Sean activated the impulse engines and swung around Mars at high speed.
He focused the passive scanners towards the Enterprise. It was rapidly growing in the forward view port. The shuttle slowed as it approached the Enterprise, losing some of its momentum to the gravitational pull of Mars. The rest was being taken away by the impulse engines.
Sean finally arrested all of the forward momentum as the Enterprise dwarfed the shuttles. He quickly corrected their course and came up behind the Enterprise's right warp nacelle. He glanced at the sensor readings, half expecting the Enterprise to raise shields and fire. There was no chance of surviving that.
"Waiting is the hardest part." He said quietly.
"You're telling me." Kate replied from the back. "At least you've got the controls."
Sean smiled. "Just hang on, we're almost there."
"Into the belly of the beast." Mark shrugged. "But they don't expect us in their belly."
"Any signs of detection Mark?" Sean carefully adjusted their course as the Enterprise lined up with the docking bay.
"None so far. The Enterprise's warp trail is keeping us hidden. It should stay present long enough for us to get under the sensors of Starfleet Command."
Sean watched as the docking bay doors opened wide, making room for the massive Sovereign class warship. The Enterprise flew right through them, with the two shuttles passing unnoticed amidst the huge ship.
Sean forced himself to breath as the Enterprise finally docked. He also spotted the Foxhound in the bay, several starships down. He pointed to it. "That's the ship I'm after, it supposedly doesn't have a crew assigned to it, and they just finished work on it, making it an ideal ship for our purposes. At least that's what it was a week ago; I need to update that information."
"We can't move here in spacedock." Mark said. "But we should be able to beam over to the Enterprise." He glanced down at the console. "Give me a second to access their cargo transporters; we can beam in there without being detected."
"What about the shuttles?" Jason asked, coming to his feet.
"We leave them here." Mark replied. "They'll stay undetected until someone physically bumps into them. Hopefully long enough for us to escape." He grinned. "Okay, I'm into their systems. I've got a lock on all of us, including everyone in Erica's shuttle."
Sean activated the comm unit. "Erica, stand by for transport, grab anything you don't want to leave behind."
"Just give us a second." She replied. There was a brief pause. "Okay, we're ready."
Sean grabbed his phaser rifle from the floor. "Do it." He said with a nod to Mark.
Mark hit a sequence of buttons, then grabbed his rifle. A second later the transporter enveloped them.
Sean's next thought came as they entered the Enterprise's cargo bay. The crates were orderly stacked as one would expect on a Federation starship, but the size of the bay drew a smile on his face. The cargo bay on the Guenidier had been affectionately known as a hold, because the ceiling height was barely enough for someone to kneel in.
"Can you get access to Starfleet Command's computers from here?" Sean asked, looking to Mark.
"Some of them." Mark accessed the console in front of the transporter. After a brief pause he looked up. "The Foxhound is still unmanned. Construction crews have finished all their work on it though."
"The Foxhound?" Nathan asked.
"The ship we're stealing." Kate replied with a smirk. "I've always wanted to say that."
"Should we not rescue the crew of our ship here in detention?" Klena said a note of caution in her voice.
Sean suddenly realized he hadn't thought of his crew. The people who he'd commanded. "Mark, where's the detention block where they're being held."
Mark worked for a second at the console. "You're going to love this." He looked up and smiled. "The detention block is right next to the Foxhound's main docking hatch. We should be able to break them out and get them all aboard before Starfleet has a chance to respond."
"Any information on the guards?"
"Not from here."
Sean glanced around the bay. "We're gonna need the main transporters of this ship to beam over to the Foxhound. Which deck are they on?"
"Just two above where we are now." Mark said. "But there's a jefferies tube over..." Mark looked up and point to the corner of the cargo bay, "...there. It'll bring us out right beside the transporter room."
"Lead the way." Sean said.
Mark took point, opening the access hatch and climbing skillfully into the tube, years of engineering experience helping. The jefferies tubes on the Enterprise were only slightly larger than the ones on the Yellowstone. He crawled along the tube until they reached the ladder and took it up two decks.
There was a door leading to the corridor. Mark tried to access the door control. "No luck." He said. "Give me a second to switch it over to manual."
"Nathan, give me a hand." Sean said as the door opened slightly.
Sean and Nathan each pulled on a side of the door, slowly pulling the door open to reveal the empty corridors of the Enterprise. Once a starship entered Spacedock its crew generally left ship fairly quickly. Only a handful on engineers would still be on the ship.
Klena stepped through the door first, holding her phaser rifle at a ready position. "It's clear." She said, after looking both ways.
Mark led them down the hall to the transporter room at a jog. The door opened automatically as they neared it. No one was inside.
Sean motioned for everyone to get on the transporter pads. "Mark, can you get the transporter working?"
Mark held up a hand, already at the controls. "Just a second."
Sean waited, feeling the seconds pass by at a snail's pace while waiting for Mark to activate the transporter. Every minute they spent on the Enterprise increased their chances of being detected, especially when the ship was supposed to be deserted.
Mark smiled. "Got it!" He ran to the transporter pad, standing next to Sean. "I also set it to erase the transporter logs as soon as it's completed."
Sean turned to watch in horror as the doors opened. A single crewman walked in. "What are you doing here?" He asked.
"Just leaving crewman." Sean said as calmly as he could, hoping the crewman wouldn't look too closely at their weapons.
"Intruder alert!" The crewman yelled, just as the transporter activated and they disappeared.
XXX
The Foxhound was powered down, that much was evident as soon as they beamed in. Sean knew they were on a time table now. The crewman on the Enterprise had surely alerted all of Starfleet Command. "Mark, Jason, go to Engineering and get the power online. Klena, Erica, Kate, get to the Bridge and get us ready for launch, see if you can get those space doors open. Nathan, you and I have to free the crew. Got it? Alright, move."
Sean didn't waste time, he ran down the corridor, stopping only briefly to check their position and where they needed to go to get to the docking arm. He triple checked his phaser rifle's stun setting before opening the docking hatch.
The docking arm was empty, but the inner bulkhead was sealed. "Nate, get the door."
Nathan activated the door mechanism with a touch to the door controls. It opened to reveal an open corridor, and the door to the detention area.
Sean had to smile again. "Mark wasn't kidding." The detention area literally was directly across from the docking hatch.
The detention area opened automatically. There were five security guards in the lobby area. Sean didn't even wait for them to say something. He opened fire, Nathan followed his lead. In seconds all the guards were unconscious.
He accessed the computer system listing the detainees. The only ones here were his crew. With the alarms already going off and Starfleet security on their way, he toggled the biological hazard alarm. This automatically released the cell locks and gave them access to the cell blocks, in addition to setting off every alarm in Starfleet Command.
"Nathan, get everyone on the east one. I've got the west wing." Sean stepped into the west detention block. "Crew, this is your Captain. We need to get out of here now. I've got a starship waiting. Somebody framed us, but we're not going to spend the rest of our lives in a Penal Colony, let's go!"
His crew had learned to trust him; he hoped that trust was not misplaced. They all filed out of the cells and came running to the airlock to the Foxhound. Sean stepped into the hall and took up a cover position against the Foxhound's airlock. Starfleet security would be coming. "Everyone on board!" He yelled, just as the first Starfleet security personnel arrived.
He opened fire, laying down a wall of suppressive fire that kept the security officers from getting around the corner. Nathan was covering the other entrance. The crew was thankfully running through as quickly as possible. Since there were only forty of them, it wouldn't take long.
Sean turned his attention back to Nathan as the last crewman passed through. "Nate, fall back!"
Nathan dropped back, firing as he did to keep the security officers off him. Sean was last. Just before he got through the docking bay door a large volley of phaser fire nearly took his head off. He fell backwards. Nate pulled him into the ship. The door closed and locked behind them.
Nathan accessed the wall mounted comm panel. "Klena, get us out of here."
Sean heard the docking ring break free, and then he felt the ship started moving. "Come on!" He called to Nate as he headed for the turbolift.
He exited the turbolift on the Bridge. "What's the status on the doors?" He asked.
"Still closed sir." Kate replied. "I'm trying, but Starfleet Command is at red alert status. The doors are locked down."
Sean took his seat. "Nathan, torpedoes?"
"Not ready yet, but the shields are up."
"Options people?"
"I need time!" Kate said, frantically working at her station.
"Starfleet is hailing us." Klena said.
"This could work to our advantage." Sean said. "Open a channel."
He stood up just as the image on the view screen changed to a view of Admiral Kelsey Brandon's head. She was the commander of Starfleet Command Spacedock. "I'd recommend that you power down immediately. You're committing a capitol offense by stealing that starship Mr. Cunningham."
"I'm doing what's necessary Admiral." Sean replied.
"You were found guilty in a court of Federation law, you were tried by a jury of your peers, and your fate has been decided."
"I won't accept the verdict from a mock trial Admiral. Reexamine who you work for, then we'll talk again." He glanced back at Kate, who shook her head frantically. She still needed time.
"Destroying a Federation starship and killing its entire crew is hardly necessary Mr. Cunningham. Now, power down your ship and you will not be harmed."
Sean looked back again at Kate, who promptly cut the transmission with Starfleet Command. "The doors are opening!"
"Great work Kate!" Sean sat back in his seat.
"I didn't do it." Kate replied.
Sean glanced back at her. It wasn't worth looking into right now, and then turned to Erica. "Get us out of here, full impulse."
"Yes sir." The Foxhound accelerated into space.
Sean activated the comm unit on his console. "Mark, tell me we've got warp drive?"
"We've got it; the whole engineering team is down here with me. We can only give you warp seven though."
"It's enough. Erica, set a course out of Federation space, warp 7!"
Erica toggled the warp drive, and the Foxhound launched into warp.
"Anyone following us?" Sean asked, looking back at Kate.
"We've got the USS Darwin, Norway class right behind us. They are three hundred thousand kilometers behind us and closing!"
"Erica, drop us out of warp near the asteroid belt. Nathan, please tell me you've got torpedoes now."
"I have them." Nathan replied. "Torpedo teams have loaded the forward torpedo launchers with standard photon torpedoes."
"Here's what's going to happen: Erica, as soon as we drop out of warp you bring us into the asteroid field, Nathan, you will fire two torpedoes into medium sized asteroids, creating a blinding cover of shrapnel. At the same time, our phasers will incinerate another couple of asteroids. When the asteroid dust is between us and the Darwin, we'll enter warp. Is everyone clear?"
Sean saw nothing but nods. His crew knew what to do. "Let's do it."
The Foxhound dropped out of warp on the edge of the asteroid field. Immediately, two torpedoes shot from its forwards launchers, turning two large asteroids instantly into asteroid dust. Phaser shots broke smaller asteroids into dust. The shields rapidly became opaque with asteroid impacts, but within seconds the blinding cover of shrapnel was between the Foxhound and the Darwin.
"Go to warp, now!" Sean ordered.
"Warp speed." Erica announced, as the ship lurched from the sudden acceleration.
"Any sign they followed us out of that mess?" Sean asked, standing back up.
"None." Nathan replied. "We're clear."
"We made it!" Erica shouted from the helm.
For now. Sean thought to himself. For now.
XXX
Sean looked out the windows in the Mess Hall. The sun rose lazily above the horizon before them. They were on a planet 30 light years from the nearest Starbase. The planet had a naturally ionic atmosphere. Even though it was an M class planet its atmosphere provided a near perfect shielding from electronic scanners commonly used on starships. A thick foliage canopy also kept the ship covered.
He had a moral booster to accomplish before he could ask the crew to go further. He turned to face his crew standing the mess hall. They hadn't all been in the same room since the launch of the Guenidier almost two months ago. It felt like ages.
"I know a lot of you have left behind everything you knew when you came with me." He smiled. "But we've also come together as a family. We don't have half of the crew necessary to man this ship, but we'll make do. We always have."
He paused, stepping closer to Kate. She sat in a chair near one of the tables. "To commemorate the fact that this ship is our home, I'd like to present a new name plate for the Bridge." Kate handed the plate to him with a smile. "Every one of our names is on this plaque. We're the crew of the Guenidier."
He motioned to the outside of the ship. "It may say Foxhound out there, a situation I wish to rectify shortly, but it's the Guenidier in here." He looked at each and every face in the room. "Our goal in this is to find out who destroyed the Pandora. We know it wasn't us, but Starfleet believes it is. We're going to have to fight them. We're also going to have to find out who's behind this."
He paused again. "We'll need allies, friends, and above all a place to call home. I'm sure we can find it, together." He placed a hand out. "We'll see the dawn yet. Now let's inscribe our name onto this ship."
XXX
Sean looked at the newly inscribed name plate on the Guenidier's hull. A warm breeze lazily drifted by. He glanced back at the rising sun in the distance. The blue light highlighted the gray hull plating on the Guenidier.
"Captain, if I may?" Klena asked, moving to stand next to him.
"Sure Klena, what's on your mind?" He replied, facing her.
She turned to look at the sun. "We are not a Starfleet vessel."
Sean noticed that for once her hair was not tied back in a compact bun. He shook it off, trying to ignore it. "Not anymore."
"We cannot pretend to be who we are not." She said slowly.
"What do you mean?" He asked, smiling at how she was avoiding talking about what was on her mind; it was not something Klena did very often. He could easily attribute it to her very young age by Vulcan standards.
"We continue to wear Starfleet uniforms; we continue to uphold traditional Starfleet regulations. We need to distance ourselves from them."
"You are suggesting a uniform change?"
"It is a start."
"And you want to wear your hair down?"
Klena raised an eyebrow. "It is far more comfortable this way."
"Okay." Sean shrugged. "I'd prefer to not distance ourselves too much from Starfleet, but enough."
"The crew should be involved."
"Agreed. I could make it a design challenge. I know there are several very artistic crewmen who could make new uniforms."
"And we have a replicator capable of producing them."
"Yep. How do you feel about what I said at the ceremony?" Sean sat down on the hull.
"The crew needs a goal." Klena sat down next to him.
"Not what I asked."
"A Vulcan works best when given a direction." She said, she looked down at the hull. "Do you truly think it is possible to find out who destroyed the Pandora?"
"Anything is possible Klena." Sean said, looking out to the sun. "Anything is possible."