HOBBS IV The Undiscovered Threat

by Peter Gao

Captain Adam and his crew must rescue Admiral Hawthorne from the clutches of Keyser Soze. However, stranger things are afoot elsewhere in the Alpha Quadrant...

HOBBS IV – The Undiscovered Threat

Captain Adam has been having a pretty good time on Risa, taking in the scenery and the daily walks in the rain forest, beach, and/or mountain pass, as they are all within 5 miles of each other. But, at nights, one can usually find him sitting in front of a make shift desk he made out of bark, poring over make shift paper. He would spend hours upon hours writing, drawing, and generally planning. To many of his neighbors, this is very odd behavior considering that paper no longer exist in the majority of the Alpha and Beta Quadrants. Adam, however, still uses them from time to time; he likes the antique-ness of it, as he would put it. He's also from the late 23rd century, when the "banishment" of paper only happened a few decades ago in his perspective. He's been doing this ever since his arrival on Risa more than a month ago. Starfleet has decided that he needed some time off after the "time-travel" incident, as they call it, not realizing how much that offends Adam considering he lost one of his most cherished companions in that "incident"

It was on this particular night exactly one and a half months after arriving at paradise, and after planning for about two hours, he stopped and yawned. He looked at his drawings and his plans, and realized that most, if not all of them, were futile. Why am I doing this? He asked himself. The answer quickly came to his mind – to find a way to find and get the Admiral back, what else? You stupid head!

"Heh" he chuckled to himself at the use of "stupid head." It was a word he learned from Ann, who, even though does not use it frequently, or even at all, did teach it to Adam just to see his reaction to it. He looked about his messy, primitive desk and decided that tonight wasn't for planning and scheming, and that he needed a rest.

He stood up and slowly slouched over to his primitive bed, and was just about to lie down for a good 8-hour nap when the screen above his primitive table beeped. The screen was the standard Starfleet interface, which looked dreadfully out of place in this primitive room. He got up and slouched over to the screen, and tapped on one of the flashing LCARS.

"Adam here" he drawled.

A squared-jawed man showed up on screen. "We have a message for you captain."

"From who?"

'Well, according to the sender, it appears to be "Your mates"'

"Is it long? I'm thinking of going to bed"

"They say it's urgent."

"Oh fine then, send it over." He said in annoyance.

The screen flickered for a moment and the smiling face of PG appeared on it.

"Hey Adam" it said. "Kaitz has decided that you need some cheering up, even though I don't really think you do considering you're on Risa while we have to bloody work!"

"Just say the damn line!" came a voice from outside of the screen area.

"Alright alright." Relented PG. "That's Kaitz by the way." He said as he pointed to his left, apparently into thin air. "Anyway, she said you needed cheering up, so I got together…"

"We!"

"Yes, we got together our senior crew to send you this transmission, to cheer you up."

Adam paused the video, he knew it was going to be a long one, and he didn't have the time or energy to see it, even though he very much wanted to.

He hadn't seen his crew since they got back to Earth after coming back to this timeline. He didn't say a word when he got back, even though he won several poker games on the way. He was depressed, as Ann would say. He didn't want to talk to anyone, so he hopped onto the nearest transport vessel and headed off to Risa. He didn't even bother to tell Starfleet about this until he was a week into his shore leave. Good thing that Starfleet agreed with him that he needed a time off, or he would've faced a court martial.

His head was buzzing with anticipation to see his old crew again as he lay there on his primitive bed, before drifting off to sleep.

"Hey Adam, I've been taking time off and going to some medical seminars, it may sound dull, but I think it's interesting." Said Anna's face on the monitor.

It wasn't easy getting through his senior staff's well wishes and congratulations-on-being-promoted-s, but he pulled it off. In truth, his crew might be professionals, but they are not the most interesting people in the Quadrant.

Well, except NAH, who was attacked by his Tribble commandoes seconds into his part of the transmission.

PG's face now returned to the screen, approximately 20 minutes since the last time it happened when he described his fantasy battle-royal to Adam's frowning face.

"Last and definitely not least, I got a letter here from Ann."

Adam sat up straight; he was wondering what had happened to her since he contacted Starfleet Academy about her.

"Ok, here goes" Said PG as he coughed in a mock-professional manner. ' "I've been doing really well here at Starfleet Academy. You know Adam, I had doubts, but I think they're unfounded now that I'm actually here. Anyway, I'm taking some courses on piloting and command, as well as history (which I'm getting top marks for obvious reasons). The professors are amazed at what I know, especially about Admiral Janeway, who visited our classroom 5 days ago (I think I fainted). But, it's going to be awhile before I'm back on a starship again, history might be easy, but not Temporal Mechanics, which I'm also taking. Oh well, I guess I'll get through it, it's not like it's impossible to learn right? So, have a good time on Risa, and hopefully you can feel better by the time you get home. Your friend, Ann Hawthorne.' Very nice, if I may say so myself." Says PG as he finished the letter.

Adam sat there with a smile on his face.

"Well, that's that, I hope you had a good time over there at Risa Adam. This is the senior crew of the Vanguard-A, signing off" And the screen turned blank.

Adam got up and looked out of the window, on the left hand side were the mountain passes that he scaled 3 days ago, and on his right was the beach which he run around on 2 days ago. He sighed heavily and stared back at the blank screen.

"Alright" he announced to the empty room. "Time to go home!"

2564 22nd avenue was the new home of Nikolai Boltini. He's been living there for a little under 3 weeks now, after the trial at Starfleet Headquarters.

He went into that courtroom knowing one fact – that he's going to be convicted and sent to a Starfleet prison to live out the rest of his genetically engineered life, just like Kick, who he hadn't heard about for a while now. He didn't know what had happened to her exactly, but he guessed it was probably the same thing. This was probably the reason why he never once looked at the judge, or took his eyes off of the floor for that matter. Still, he had a hope in him that he at least made peace with some of his enemies, namely the senior crew of the Starship Vanguard, even though he lost almost all of his poker games on the way back to Earth.

The trial went on much longer than he thought, about 5 weeks longer in fact. He thought he would be convicted right away, seeing that the judge would probably want to avoid the Keyser trial which…well, it's still not finished. What most surprised him was how the crew of the Vanguard stood up for him, how they argued in front of the judge about how he had changed, how it was all a mistake. They didn't even care when the judge decided that they were being disruptive and threw NAH into jail for the day.

But at the end, he was discharged, on the order that he would report his location every 24 hours to Starfleet Command. In this case, he has never failed, even though his location has always been pretty much the same, that of 2564 22nd avenue.

He did just that on this night, before he brushed his teeth, washed his face and looked at himself in the mirror, and wondered at the job Kith and Anna did on his once battle-scarred visage.

He walked serenely to his bed, while humming something to himself. He pulled back the covers and slid into bed, all the time thinking about freedom from his enemies, from Keyser, from himself…

He was no longer in bed, in fact, he was on a ship, a large ship, a familiar ship. He saw that he was in a large chair, with an evil smile on his own face. He was seeing this from another person's eyes, and he can see how he used to be, an evil, disgusting dictator, a dictator over frightened subjects who would probably give their own limbs to be away from him…

He woke up with a start; there were noises, very confusing noises, and footsteps, footsteps in his house. He quickly rubbed his eyes and reached over to the Starfleet communications device, which he uses to report his locations, and activated it.

"Boltini to Starfleet" he said quietly. "Boltini to Starfleet"

The comm. channel was silent.

"Boltini to Starfleet!" he said less quietly. He listened for the noises, and they were getting louder.

"Starfleet, if you can hear me, I would love a beam out right about now, there are intruders in my house, please!"

There was still no response. At that moment, the door burst open. Standing there, framed in the doorway stood a man; he was wearing armor that Boltini found to be strangely familiar. Perhaps my dream is coming true, he thought.

After a few moments, the man spoke, "It's good to see you sir."

"What?"

"However, it is my orders to kill you, I am sorry."

He reached for his phaser.

"Wait!" Cried Boltini. It is at this moment that Starfleet decided to follow his orders as he disappeared in a shower of blue light.

Even though Adam's seen the Earth many times in his life, he still gets chills down his spine every time he lays his eyes on the blue marble, and this time was no different.

The day before Adam had hurriedly packed his bags and jumped aboard the nearest civilian transport bound for Earth, and here he was, exhausted, but still amazed. In fact, he can just make out the tiny dot that is the Vanguard, hanging there in orbit being refitted after its ordeal in an alternative timeline in the 21st century.

The civilian transport took the scenic route around the moon before heading towards San Francisco. Adam watched as the atmosphere swept up and welcomed him back to Earth, and it took no time for him to see the cityscape of The Bay City.

The transport touched down directly in front of Starfleet Headquarters, amidst a small crowd of people who looked very familiar to Adam as he stepped out of the ship. It took him less than a second for him to recognize his senior crew.

"Hey Adam! Over here!" Cried NAH with a five o'clock shadow very visible on his smiling face.

Adam did as he was told and marched towards the small congregation, who all greeted him heartily by shaking his hand, hugging him, and the occasional smack on the back.

"Hey guys…it's good to be back." Adam said through misty eyes.

"You look great sir!" Kaitz said.

"Stop trying to kiss up!" PG said testily. "But yeah, you do look great!"

"Thanks you guys." He turned to the three engineers. "How's the ship?"

"Fine" Said Jim

"Great" Said Vanessa

"Couldn't be better." Said BASICman.

"There's something wrong with it, isn't there?"

"How d'you guess?"

Adam laughed. "So what's wrong with it then?"

"Nothing to worry about, just have to patch up some stuff." Replied Jim.

"Yeah, it's just taking slightly longer than we hoped, nothing to worry about." Vanessa said.

Soon, everyone has said their hearty welcomes and brought Adam to a nice little restaurant (with it not being very small any more with the senior crew there) off the Starfleet grounds.

With a mouth full of steak, Adam said, "Where's EWDEE?"

"She's at Starfleet Headquarters." Said Anna

"It's not a medical seminar is it?"

"Now what does that suppose to mean?"

"She's there to see Boltini." Mcmac said bluntly.

"Boltini eh?" Adam said, slightly shaken.

"Is there something wrong Adam?"

"No no, everything's fine…"

"Eat, come on!" Pleaded EWDEE to a disturbed Boltini.

Boltini's been there, at the sickbay at Starfleet Headquarters, for the past 13 hours, not even trying to sleep or eat. It's not that he's afraid; it's just that he's deep in thought, over what the armored man had said, or how he was dressed for that matter.

The image and voice swam through his head, but also did another thing. That dream, he thought, it seemed so real…

"Are you gonna eat a bit!" Said a frustrated EWDEE. "Because it's already lunch time and you still haven't had breakfast yet!

"Just a minute, alright?"

EWDEE sighed and sat down beside Boltini. She has not asked him what happened, since it seemed like a pretty disturbing experience, but she can't help it anymore.

"What happened?"

"There was an intruder in my house…"

"It's more than that, isn't it?" EWDEE said, and quickly followed it up with "I know you", and thus answering Boltini's question.

"It was more than just that…"

"Want to talk about it?"

"…No"

Well, I tried, thought EWDEE. She glanced at the bowl of food that sat beside her, and picked it up.

"Are you gonna eat or what?"

With full stomachs, Adam and his senior crew climbed onboard the USS Nile, a regular runabout that was going to be "employed" on the Vanguard. Up they went, through the clouds and into space.

"I don't think I should've eaten that much…" mcmac said as he attempted to hold his lunch in.

Ice then promptly made a maneuver that almost cost them the carpet, and headed straight for the Vanguard. The Vanguard, a magnificent modified Intrepid Class ship, sat there motionless in the emptiness of space. All attention within the runabout (save mcmac, who was still attempting to hold it in) was on the Vanguard. They flew past the ship a few times, at the end of which mcmac was practically begging for Ice to stop and "just land the damn thing!" while forgetting about the transporters completely.

The runabout swept through the spacious shuttlebay and landed softly, to the relief of mcmac, who promptly ran out of the runabout straight to sickbay.

"You think he'll trust the trainees that's working there right now?" Said Anna with a mischievous smile.

"Let's hope so, I don't want the ship to be too dirty." Said Adam.

The senior crew bound for the bridge, with Anna and the engineers getting off of the ride at their appointed work stations. With anticipation Adam watched as the turbolift door open revealing the bridge. It has been cleaned up a bit, and there were several new chairs.

The staff pretty much ran to their stations, they knew that it was gonna take a little more time before the ship can get out of space dock, but they didn't care, all they cared about is that they are once again on the Vanguard.

"I got to go." Said EWDEE irritably after the 14th failed try of getting Boltini to eat.

"Wait a minute."

"What?"

Boltini hesitated for a moment. "Where are you going?"

"The Vanguard, Adam should be back by now."

"Can you take me with you?"

EWDEE hesitated for a moment. "I guess so."

"Thanks, I don't want to be left alone right just now."

"Well, that's alright, come on, let's go."

"Thanks Kith..."

In the dark void of space, there was a small ship flying through it. The ship was remarkable in all its meaning, the cloak alone is amazing. However, what's inside is also interesting, considering that it contained one of the most wanted criminals in the quadrant, a decorated Admiral, as well as their offspring.

Jason Hawthorne has sat behind a force field for a very long time now, indeed, all he could really do was look at the man who had ruined his life, which, curiously enough, sat right beside the person who has once saved it.

As time passed however, he found that it was getting rather difficult to "hate" Keyser, there was something in that man that changed over night, ever since he was beamed aboard the Triton City mere seconds after the ship he was on crossed the threshold into this timeline.

It was strange to say the least; in fact, the all-menacing Keyser said something akin to "sorry" when he first got beamed aboard.

It was all very confusing for Jason, who, nonetheless, still stared at him.

"I know you're staring at me son."

"Stop calling me that!"

"But that's what you are, my son."

This conversation took place at least half-a-dozen times a day, and it was pretty much the same every time, and every time Jason takes Keyser's rebuttal with a grain of salt. His son? Preposterous!

"Where…where are we going?" Said Admiral Hawthorne sleepily.

"We're going, my love" Keyser said. "To Moon base Fluffy Bunny."

Keyser has answer this question many times along this trip, and he always answer it in that fashion, with patience, and a little regret mixed in.

While in the 21st century, Keyser was able to "control" AdmH in a way that he himself thought to be impossible, and that it was no doubt the work of…it's not important right now, he thought as he reminisced. In truth, he pretty much regretted every moment since then, seeing the Admiral sleepily droop her head and sighing, knowing that he must "fix" her. He didn't know how exactly, but he thought that the answer must lie in where he was technically born – Moon base Fluffy Bunny.

Vanessa, Jim, and BASICman had promised Adam that the ship would be ready to go in under 10 hours.

9 and half hours later, they were not finished, not by a long shot. Oh sure the weapons and shields are working, but that doesn't mean the replicator can make good coffee without first, somehow, spitting out about 2 dozen ice cubes.

Adam got hit with the entire arsenal of ice cubes when he tried to get his coffee, so he's not exactly happy right now, as he sat in the new Captain's chair.

"Sir…" said mcmac quietly behind him.

"What?" Adam said, rather harsher than he would've wanted.

"I'm detecting a distortion in subspace; it looks like a ship coming out of warp."

"Where?"

"Approximately 30000 kilometers from the moon sir."

"Can we hail them?"

"I'll try." Said TC.

There was silence.

"The ship, sir" mcmac said, "is decloaking!"

Out of the darkness of the void of space, emerged a monster – a massive vessel, with arsenals upon arsenals of weapons on every inch of hull. No windows could be seen, the entire vessel glowed darkness. Random spears of hull stuck out every which way, and on it was fitted more weapons. The thing was as inhuman as you can get. It had its sights on one thing – the moon.

"Holy crap." PG said as he gazed at the monster.

"It's arming its weapons!" mcmac said.

Adam threw caution to the wind. "Mr. Ice, take us out of spacedock." He turned around. "PG, get the weapons online."

"Aye aye"

The Vanguard flew out of spacedock, miraculously not hitting anything on its way out. It made a sharp turn and headed for the behemoth.

"Let me guess, we're the only ship in the area." Adam said as he watched the image of the thing – as you cannot call it a ship in this case – grow larger by the second.

"Not quite" replied mcmac. "I'm reading 17 Starfleet vessels on their way."

They didn't have time to stop the first barrage, but they did have the chance to see it. The massive vessel opened fire at the moon, as if it was going to blow it out of the sky, which looked to be a distinct possibility for the first couple of moments. The surface of the moon was carved up as if it was really made of cheese; bits of rock and man-made debris flew out of it and into space.

"Time to intercept Mr. Ice!"

"12 seconds"

"Phaser and Transphasic torpedoes ready PG?"

"They sure are, and itching to be used sir."

"That's more like it!"

"We're within firing range."

"Fire!"

The Vanguard let loose its arsenal of Transphasic torpedoes and phasers, all of them hit the massive leviathans.

"Minor damage only!" PG announced, incredulously.

"How the hell!" Adam said in irritation.

"Sir!" Ice said, starring transfixed at the screen. "They've…stopped firing."

Adam turned quickly around and starred at the screen. He was right; the "ship" wasn't doing anything.

"Oh no…" mcmac said. "Sir, I think we have a big problem."

"What is it now!"

"That, that thing has exposed the Trilithium deposit that Starfleet put there after Boltini's attack 2 months ago, under the moon's surface!"

Adam didn't spare a moment. "Quick, block their transporter signal!"

"I'm on it." Mcmac said.

But it was too late; the whole supply of Trilithium, enough to destroy whole clusters worth of suns, dematerialized in a flash of a second.

"Damn it!" Mcmac shouted.

"It's going into warp."

"Mr. Ice!"

"There's no point sir, they're cloaking!"

The monster ship disappeared as it streaked away at high warp.

"Adam…" EWDEE's voice came through the comm. system.

"EWDEE? What's the problem?

"It's Boltini, you better come down here."

Boltini lay spread-eagled on the sickbay floor, bleeding from the head. The wound was most likely caused when he banged his head on the wall for the 32nd time to get rid of the continuing voice that was going through his head.

It was extremely quick, one moment he was eating lunch while sitting on one of the sickbay biobeds, looking at the commotion of the trainees, and then he was drowned in voices that he wished he would never, ever hear again.

It was definitely his own, but different, it was the voice he had when he still had that chip in his brain, still filled with hatred for all things Federation. He couldn't get rid of it, the pain, though not physical, was still too much. He didn't know what happened next exactly, just that he tried all he can to find a way to get rid of the voices, and the images of a large, majestic bridge, filled with scared looking, young people, and in the middle of the room sat himself, barking orders.

He eventually resorted to trying to crack his skull open, which, at least, made him unconscious.

Adam almost ran to sickbay, as he didn't have much time. He knew it had to be Boltini, or else Keyser, who was in command of that beast, and if something had happened to their Boltini, he was sure going to find out about it.

He came close to smashing open the sickbay door when he ran in. "What's happened?"

And he saw it, Anna and EWDEE standing over a battered and bruised Boltini with worried looks on their face.

"What's happened?" He repeated.

"There's something wrong with him." Said EWDEE. "He just started banging his head against the wall."

They all turned around as Boltini groaned, the voices, the images, are now gone. Adam ran to him in wide strides, grabbed him by the shoulder and stared square into his eyes.

"What's happened?" he repeated for the third time.

"It's me Adam," He said breathlessly. "I mean…it was me, he was on that ship."

"What are you saying?"

"I mean, it was another Boltini, another clone, I'm sure of it."

"How did you know this?"

"I saw him! He was on the bridge of the Incendiary…"

"The what?"

"The Incendiary, it's, it's, well…." Boltini held his forehead in his hands.

"That's alright." Adam said with a sigh. "You should rest a little bit…"

"Ok…"

Adam turned around to go, there was one thing he had to do, and that is to tell Starfleet that their largest storage of Trilithium is in the hands of who could possibly be the most dangerous person in the Quadrant. And then he thought of something.

"Wait…how would Boltini see what he said he saw?"

"Presumably." Said Anna, after sedating Boltini, "the chip that was in his head must have left a mark."

"The chip…" said Adam with a glaze of his face.

"The chip we removed from Boltini…remember?"

"Oh right…wait!" Adam said suddenly, wiping the glaze off instantly. "If, through his chip, our Boltini was able to see this new Boltini, can we use the chip to track him?"

EWDEE and Anna looked at each other. "Maybe."

"Get on it."

"Alright sir, but I'm not promising you anything."

The Triton City swept through the atmosphere of Tialas IV, the home of Moon Base Fluffy Bunny. The world on which this facility was stationed was actually not as desolate as one may think, in fact, the continent on which the station was built contained a vast rainforest that span from coast to coast. From the outside, the base merely looked like a large factory, complete with docking ports and smoke stack. Inside however, it was another story completely. And it is this inside that Keyser, AdmH and a reluctant Jason now walked through.

AdmH has been silent for a couple of hours now, as if she knows that her life as a puppet was about to end. Beside her walked Keyser, who was in turn tethered to Jason, who didn't like that very much.

Keyser swung his wrist-flashlight from side to side, trying to look for something. Once he lighted his own gigantic portrait hanging on the wall, the exact one which EWDEE and Mordon saw only a couple of months earlier. He looked at it in cold hatred, which, as Jason saw, was very unusual.

They kept at it for a very long time, until finally Keyser ended up in front of a dead end.

"Nice going." Sneered Jason.

"You would think so, wouldn't you?" Said Keyser, and with that he placed his right palm against the wall. Jason heard it, AdmH heard it, and Keyser definitely heard it, to his delight.

"It still works, good."

As he lifted his palm off of the wall, it started to move. It cracked down the middle of itself and opened up to reveal a dark chamber, which then promptly lit up. It was gigantic; there were dozens of stasis chambers on the right and left hand wall, leaving a relatively large clearing, filled with beds, stoves, and even a kitchen sink in the middle. And into this clearing marched AdmH and Keyser with Jason strongly tethered.

"What do you think of my secret chamber son?" Keyser said with what he perceived to be kindness.

"Stop calling me that."

They walked in silence to the center of the clearing while the door behind them closed shut. Keyser let AdmH sit on an old couch near the exact center of the clearing, while cutting the tether between him and Jason, who promptly took off running.

"There's no point son!" Keyser shouted after him. "You'll just gonna get very tired."

"I don't care!" Shouted Jason in equal ferocity. "And stop calling me that!"

He had reached where the door once was, except that now it was just a plain wall. He tried to make it move by placing his palm on it, but it was no use. Behind him marched Keyser.

"Look, Jason, only I can let us out of here, and as of now, we're sealed in until further notice."

"But…why!"

"It's for your own good." Keyser said calmly. "Now, come on, go get your mother some coffee while I look for a way to return her to normal."

"Mother?"

"Alright, Admiral Hawthorne." Keyser said. "Now come on!"

Jason had no choice but to comply, he ran the entire length of the walkway to the center of the clearing and sat down beside Admiral Hawthorne, forgetting about the coffee completely. Meanwhile, Keyser wandered along the rows of stasis chambers on the side of the clearing, checking each one and muttering to himself.

This continued for at least an hour, eventually, Keyser reached the very edge of the chamber, where he finally found what he was looking for. He came running back to the clearing and grabbed AdmH by the arm.

"What are you doing!" Cried Jason in surprise.

"Fixing her." Keyser said bluntly. "Now help me with her."

Jason, who still cared about AdmH very much, stood up and put her arm around his neck, and helped Keyser to the back of the chamber, where one stasis chamber stood opened.

"You're not gonna put her in there!"

"I have to!"

"I won't let you!"

"You can't stop me Jason, it needs to be done!" Cried Keyser in frustration.

"Do you know what you're doing!"

"I know enough! And I know you have no idea what's happening!"

With one move Keyser shoved AdmH into the chamber. She whimpered in pain, but didn't resist. Keyser looked at her with remorse and closed the chamber. Jason, who was knocked to the ground by that "move" stood up and grabbed Keyser around the shoulder to stop him from doing whatever he was about to do.

"Stop that…hey, stop! Let go!" Keyser yelled.

"You let her out!"

"Jason!"

Keyser grabbed Jason's arms, which are wrapping themselves around his neck, and flung him to the ground, where he lay, whimpering.

"Sorry about that son, but I'll get your mom back to normal in no time."

Jason was too angry and injured to respond with anything coherent.

Keyser looked at the keypad that was on the side of the stasis chamber, and pushed some buttons. In an instant the transparent glass of the stasis chamber lid was no longer transparent as it suddenly became milky white.

"Please work…" Said Keyser.

The atmosphere on the bridge of the Vanguard-A is very tense, since only moments earlier Anna had told Adam that she, along with Kaitz and EWDEE have found a traceable signal imbedded in the chip. Now it was up to mcmac to see if he could find the ship.

Adam sat in his captain's chair, waiting, waiting for any sign of the Incendiary. Time seems to stand still, punctured only by NAH's snores.

"Sir."

"You've found it?"

"I had to stretch the sensors pretty far, but I got it sir, it seems to be heading for the Tialas system."

"Mr. Ice, set a course for the Tialas system, maximum warp!"

"Yes sir!"

EWDEE had given Boltini a scan of the Incendiary, and it looked exactly as he remembered.

This was still when he had the chip in his head, or at least one of his past clones. He remembered how Keyser tends to think too small, and that one day, he would rise up against him and take over. He searched around the quadrant for another ship that could rival that of the Terminator, and eventually found the derelict in the badlands, and he called it the Incendiary, which reminded him of fire, which then reminded him of ovens, which then reminded him of pies, and pies are oh-so good.

He had hid it in a nebula where it can't be stolen, which he made sure by arming the vessel with as many weapons as possible, and all of them online so that it fires at anything that moves and come close to it.

It looks like this new Boltini knows of it as well, and has taken it, Boltini thought as he took a sip of soup.

He was all better by now, and was rather enjoying this bowl of soup in the messhull. However, he was still sitting alone. Some things will never change, he thought to himself.

"Hey Nick." Said EWDEE sitting opposite him. "I got good news, we found the Incendiary…and it's heading for Moon Base Fluffy Bunny!"

Boltini looked up from his soup, "Fluffy Bunny? I wonder why he would do that…"

"I think it's obvious, I mean, if it wasn't destroyed by Starfleet, there would be a whole lot of useful technology in that place, I should know, I've been there."

"Hmm…" Said Boltini as he took a sip of his soup.

EWDEE stared at him with interest. "How's the soup?"

"Good."

"That's good."

"I think I understand."

This rather caught EWDEE by surprise. "Understand what?"

"Why there were armored men in my house last night."

"You do?"

"Yep" said Boltini as he pushed the empty bowl away from him. "If I were him, and in part I am, I would get rid of the old clone, if it exists."

"So you're saying Boltini, the new clone, is trying to kill you?"

"That's what the armored man said, he wore my type of armor anyway."

"I wonder why he's stopped…"

"Who said he's stopped?" Said Boltini with interest. "Maybe he's just busy, with the Trilithium and everything."

"Have you told Adam about what you know about the Incendiary?"

"I will now." He said, getting up. "But first…I think I'll have some more soup."

Admiral Hawthorne opened her eyes after what seemed to her like a sleep that won't end. What she saw both surprised and confused her. She was looking at a bright light source of some kind, directly ahead. She had no idea what's going on, and she's pretty sure she's not supposed to be here. But what's more, the lingering memory of what happened started to drift back into her head, the killings, the isolation, Keyser…

At that moment the bright light in front of her started to narrow, and then she realized that it was a door and that it's opening. She rubbed her eyes and saw Keyser standing there, smiling.

Before he can say anything however, Admiral Hawthorne lunged at him and punched him in the face, causing him to crash into the stasis chamber behind him and breaking the glass lid. She then reached down and picked up and phaser rifle that was on Keyser's waist and pointed at his disoriented face.

The moment Keyser was able to regain his own sense of reality; he was starring down the barrow of a gun.

"Where the hell am I, and what the hell have you done to my ship?" AdmH said in a calm rage.

"Ok, alright." Said Keyser, instinctively raising his hands to his side. "Nothing to worry about Admiral."

"Answer my question!"

"Ok," said Keyser bluntly. "You're in Moon Base Fluffy Bunny and your ship is probably undergoing repairs right now."

AdmH wasn't expecting that. She paused a moment to think it over. "How did we get here?"

"On GK's ship, your memory should be returning now…"

"Yes…the Triton City…"

"Yeah."

"Listen Admiral, I need to tell you something, something very important."

She didn't pay attention to this. "Keyser Soze, you are here arrested on the grounds of violating interstellar law." And with that she pulled the trigger and stunned Keyser.

"Admiral…" said a voice behind AdmH.

"Jason!" She said and turned to hug him.

"Are you alright Admiral?"

"I'm fine Jason, a little disoriented, but I'm fine."

"Good."

"Alright." Said AdmH as he lifted Keyser's foot and dragged him along the ground. "Let's get out of here."

"We can't Admiral, only Keyser can do that."

"Oh? What does he do?"

"He places his palm on the wall and it opens."

"Well, we got his palm right here." She said pointing at the unconscious Keyser. "I don't think there will be much of a problem."

Together, AdmH, Jason and an unconscious Keyser made there way across the field of stasis chambers and into the clearing, and eventually to the wall where the door once was. AdmH picked up Keyser's lifeless palm and placed it against the wall.

"Like this?" She asked Jason.

"I think so."

They waited, but nothing happened, as both Jason and AdmH expected.

"Ok then, where do we go from here?" Said Jason.

"I think," AdmH said, "We should wait until he wakes and then see what happens." She sighed. "Maybe I shouldn't have shot him…"

"Alright, I've gathered you all here to discuss strategies." Said Adam to the senior staff plus Boltini. "I've contacted Starfleet and they're sending about 20 ships to the Tialas system, however, we'll be there first, so we'll have to defend ourselves for awhile. Starfleet still want us to get the Trilithium back, but I'm afraid our cargo hold is just not big enough for that."

"We'll get as much as we can" Said Nibbles.

"That maybe true…but if we can't get the Trilithium, we may as well destroy it instead." He looked about him. "In my opinion, it's safer to just do that, get rid of it. But that's not the point here. We have 3 hours to come up with a plan before we engage the Incendiary." He paused and glanced at Boltini for a split second. "And I think we may have the edge that we need. Boltini?"

"Yes." Said Boltini nervously. "I've, uh, told Adam what I know about the Incendiary, since I found it, yeah." He paused for a second. "There are weak points on the vessel, but you have to get rid of the shields first."

"I think we can handle that." PG said. "The problem before was that we fired randomly. If we targeted a single point repeatedly, it might puncture the shields."

"Well, if you do that, aim for the base of the spires, or spikes."

"How come?" Asked NAH.

"They do not belong to the ship, I, or at least, one of my, uh, predecessors attached them onto the vessel, so the joints should be slightly weaker than the rest of the hull."

"So we should target the joints," said Adam, finishing Boltini's sentence. "Got it PG?"

"Got it." PG was silent for a moment, but it was evident that he was going to continue speaking. "I got an idea, if we blow that spike off of the ship, can't we do anything with it?"

"A projectile?" Suggested Vanessa.

"Precisely."

"That's a good idea, it'll definitely save us some firepower." Said Adam, "NAH, we'll need the tractor beam."

"I got it covered, don't worry about it." Said NAH with a proud smile on his face.

"Alright then" Said Adam, standing up. "If everything's settled, then this is going to be the series of events." Adam started to point to certain members of the staff. "PG, the moment we're in weapons range I want you to fire as many torpedoes and as much phasers as you can on the base of one of the spires."

"No problem."

"Once we get that thing off of the ship, NAH here will tractor it."

"Got it covered."

"That spire is going to be pretty massive, Ice, can you handle it?"

"Is that a joke? Of course."

"And I think we should prepare the cargo bay for the Trilithium, just in case." Said Kaitz.

"I can do that." Said NAH.

"Ok, rehearse this series of events, maybe in the holodeck. You got 3 hours, dismissed." He sat down and looked over some data. "EWDEE, Boltini, can you stay for a moment."

Boltini looked at EWDEE uneasily, but relented. "What's going on?"

Adam looked up at them seriously. "Do you know why he's going to the Tialas system?"

A sigh of relief came to Boltini; he thought it would be something much more challenging. "He's going to Moon Base Fluffy Bunny."

"Oh," said Adam in mild surprise. "Well, that makes a lot of sense, what with all the technology that he can acquire."

"Indeed."

"Well, I suggest you get going then, remember, 3 hours."

Admiral Hawthorne and Jason waited for Keyser to wake up as they placed his lifeless form on the couch in the middle of the clearing. They waited for a rather long time since AdmH shot him at a fairly close distance. During this time AdmH was able to get a cup of coffee that she thought tasted too much like blood wine.

Eventually however, Keyser started to stir. He opened his eyes and again stared down the barrel of a gun, which now officially belonged to AdmH.

"Get us out of here." Said AdmH menacingly.

"Not before you hear what I have to say."

AdmH looked at Keyser with uncertainty. "Why the hell should I do that?"

"It's incredibly important Admiral," He said. "And it concerns Jason."

AdmH was disturbed by this last phrase, and she didn't know what to think. What do I loose by listening to him? She thought, but then the memory of what happened last time she listened to him came flooding into her mind.

"Make it quick."

"It'll be a lot quicker if you didn't have a gun pointing at my face."

AdmH sighed and sat down opposite him on a chair that she got earlier, with the gun still pointed at him. "Make it quick."

"Alright." Keyser said with a pained expression on his face. "I always wanted to tell you all of this, when I can, of course. I really tried, hoping that you'll understand, but I've always been afraid that I might spook you too much."

"Hurry up, would you?"

"Fine." He said. "Jason, have you noticed how I've changed lately? Since I, uh, abducted you from the Vanguard?"

Jason was barely looking at him, let alone listening to him. Keyser had to repeat the question twice before he decided to respond. "Yeah, I noticed it a little, you're more…subdued."

"That makes sense." He said calmly. "You're not going to believe this, both of you, but there is another person out there, someone else more…influential than both me and Boltini."

"I don't understand." Said AdmH.

"Ok, what would you say if I told you that there was another person who has the ability, through technology, to control others, and uses them to commit crimes?"

"I'd say you should check into a mental hospital."

"Just as I thought." Said Keyser with a sigh. "Well, as I said, you might not believe this, but it's true."

"You're telling me that you're being controlled by another person?"

"Most of the time."

"So not now then?"

"Not that I'm aware of."

Admiral stared at him for a moment. "Continue."

"Ok, his name is Garibaldi, he's, as far as I know, the latest in a very long line of master criminals."

"And he's controlling you?"

"For the past few decades yes."

"That's stupid." Said Jason. "You don't honestly believe this do you Admiral?"

"We shall see." She said blankly. "Keep going Keyser."

"I think it all started after Jason was born." He said, smiling at him, who promptly looked away. "Well, I've forgotten some of it, but I remember getting the chip inserted into my head."

"Like Boltini."

"Yes." He said, relieved that AdmH is getting interested in his story. "Afterwards, he's been controlling me, and later Boltini, through these chips, I think he uses his own brain function for that, because I remember seeing him wearing strange devices on his head."

He paused for a second and drank AdmH's coffee.

"Good blood wine." He said. "Anyway, lately, he's been loosing control over me and Boltini, for instance, when I was in jail, I had whole months when he would just let me be myself." He looked at AdmH seriously, which in turn made her slightly uncomfortable. "It was freedom Ann, and it was wonderful."

"It was then that I begin to think about what I was going through." He continued. "Especially when he revisited my mind after a new Boltini clone was made."

AdmH looked up in interest. "You mean…"

"When I talked to EWDEE about it, yes." He said. "See, I have a theory, I think Garibaldi is dying, he's getting old anyway, I mean, he's been controlling me even before I was thrown forward in time."

"How do you know he's actually dying?"

"Well, first of all, I felt it in my head, and that he made me talk to EWDEE about getting Boltini."

"That was him talking?"

"Yes." He paused to gather his thoughts. "Later, when I thought about it, I came up with a theory. Perhaps his aging has caused him to loose some concentration, and that he wanted to stop the automatic cloning of another Boltini to control, and that was why this new clone was defective, because even though Garibaldi's attempt to stop the cloning process failed, it still damaged the clone a bit."

"And, I think the reason why he wanted EWDEE to know was that he knew she would tell you, and you, in turn, will get rid of Boltini for him and get rid of the strain on his mind."

"Why can't he just let Boltini be himself? Why did he have to control him?" Asked AdmH with interest.

"Because this new clone still had some memory of Garibaldi, and if he let loose his control over him, he would tell Starfleet about him."

"Alright then, what about when Boltini was in Section 31?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, why put Boltini in Section 31 and had him suffer?"

"I don't think the suffering part was intended, but at the end, it did make him more…resolute." Keyser said bitterly. "But technically, there have always been an operative of Garibaldi's in Section 31, to make sure they don't track him down."

"What about when we were in Section 31? Was that you or him?"

"Just me that time."

"Now that's interesting…" said AdmH, now totally immersed in the story. "Ok then, why does he relinquish control over you now?"

"Because I believe there is another Boltini clone out there, brand new."

"And how do you know that?"

"I can feel another presence in my head. It doesn't matter if the chip is not currently being used by Garibaldi to control people, we'll always have some kind of link to those who have the chip, or had the chip, imbedded in their head."

"That's strange." Said AdmH. "Why would there be another clone?"

"Well, didn't you have the chip from the old Boltini removed?"

"Yes."

"Once it's removed or deactivated, another clone is activated right away, and I can bet that Garibaldi didn't have the strength to stop it this time."

"You would think he would realize that one of the chips was going off…"

"Yes, but he didn't expect that to happen so soon, I bet he had no time to prepare himself. He had to hack into those systems, anyway." He said as he pointed to the stasis chambers.

There was a deafening silence that followed this conversation, as both Keyser and AdmH think about what they've just said and heard. Jason, on the other hand, was totally indifferent to this whole thing; he thought it was rather preposterous.

"And then," said Keyser, suddenly breaking the silence. "Came the time when he controlled me again, when we were in the 21st century."

"When you started controlling me?" AdmH asked.

"I think so, I think his motivation was to try to control that galaxy, if he can."

"I think I can remember something about that."

"But then, when we failed and he made me escape on the Triton City, and I think, I think that's where Jason comes in."

Jason looked around at his name being mentioned. "What?"

"You're in danger." Keyser said.

"Oh, that again, whatever." Said Jason, and quickly turned away.

"Well…" Keyser said disappointedly. "Anyway, he must have made me kidnap Jason for a reason, and I think I know why."

"You do?"

"Yes. I've mentioned that he is probably dying, so I think he might try to find an heir."

"An heir?" Said AdmH in surprise.

"Yeah, as I said, he's just the latest in a whole line of these criminal masterminds, and every time one of them is near death, they would pick someone who they think is smart and tough enough to, you know, fill the job."

"And he chose Jason?"

"Exactly, I mean, he's seen through my eyes and know how efficient he is. Besides the fact that he's my son-"

"Stop saying that!"

"-He's done great things on every away mission that I used to sent him on when we were still serving together."

"Serving together my ass!" Jason suddenly found that he was standing and towering over the sitting Keyser. "You treated me like crap! And made me watch my, my slavemates die!"

"That wasn't me!"

"Yes it was! It was you, it was you who almost killed me one time when I let that torpedo hit the ship, it was you who killed my best friend on that ship, it was you who-"

"Jason please!" AdmH said. "Keep going Keyser."

Jason shot her a bitter look and sat down watching the walls of the chamber.

"Well, I think Garibaldi's chosen Jason as the heir, and that's why I kidnapped him, and that's the reason why we're not leaving this place because this is the safest place in the quadrant, especially with all the security features."

Admiral Hawthorne thought about this for a few minutes. If she somehow forced Keyser to open the door, and he's telling the truth, Jason will be gone. On the other hand, if he were lying…would he actually open the door for us? He has to want it to happen too…

"Why did you bring me along?" AdmH asked.

"I'm not sure, at least I'm not sure why Garibaldi wanted me to bring you along."

"What does that mean?"

"It means…I don't know, maybe, maybe I just want you around." Keyser said sheepishly.

AdmH looked at him, and for one short moment saw in Keyser the young man who had seemed so wonderful to her.

"Two more questions Keyser."

"Sure."

"Why wasn't this base destroyed along with all the others by Starfleet?"

"Probably because this base is the most secret and important of my bases, only my followers know where it is, and they will never surrender the coordinates to anyone."

"EWDEE found it."

"Well," he chuckled, "I didn't expect you to capture my ship."

"Alright, one last question."

"Shoot"

"When we were on the Terminator, when we talked about Jason…was that you, or Garibaldi?"

"That," he said, grinning, "was pure me."

The time has come, 3 hours has passed, and the Vanguard-A is within range of the Incendiary. The crew didn't really care that the Incendiary has probably detected them by now, only that they had a plan, and they wish to carry it out.

Down in sickbay, Boltini is getting ready to be "put under" as he put it, to make sure he doesn't see what the other Boltini sees, and don't go berserk again. He would hope that he wouldn't see the images again, ever, as EWDEE gently pushed the hypospray into his neck.

"Sweet dreams Nick…" She said.

"They're dropping out of warp," Said mcmac, "and heading towards Tialas IV"

"Moon Base Fluffy Bunny" said PG.

Adam turned to him and gave a small nod. "Drop us out of warp Mr. Ice."

"Aye sir."

"Let's see this system."

The star field in front of them suddenly transformed into that of a turquoise planet with a normal, yellow star in the background. It was just another star system, no different than all the others. One would never know that a very important station was hidden in it.

"They're entering orbit around Tialas IV." Said mcmac. "And, sir, they're dropping their shields!"

"Why?"

"They're probably trying to beam some technology up…" Said Kaitz.

"Can we beam up the Trilithium?"

"No, their cargo hold is heavily shielded."

Adam sighed with disappointment, but quickly hid it. "Well then, we must destroy it. This is your chance PG!" He said with a fresh start. "Fire!"

"Aye aye!"

"We got a problem Keyser!" Said AdmH as she pounded away at a control panel, which Keyser activated only moments earlier.

They had been sitting quietly only a few moments earlier, resting, drinking coffee mixed with bloodwine, or being generally angry with Keyser. And then the sirens Keyser installed started flashing and bleeping. Keyser knew exactly what's going on, that someone, most likely the other Boltini, had come to collect them, come to collect Jason, come to collect his son.

In an instant, Keyser had leapt off of the couch and ran to a square patch of linoleum on the floor of the clearing and stepped on it. With it activating the control center of the entire facility.

At the end, he was right, it was Boltini, and he was coming to get Jason. They had raised the shields and activated the transport inhibitors just in time. But now the Incendiary is piercing through those security protocols, and another problem is about to rear its head.

"Keyser?" Said AdmH again. Keyser is just standing there, starring blankly into space. "That ship is piercing our shields!" Said AdmH as she grabbed Keyser.

Suddenly, Keyser's eyes flashed with alertness, he grabbed AdmH by the neck and raised her off of the ground.

"Well well, ad-mee-ral, looks like I got you all to myself…" Keyser said in a voice that AdmH knew just too well.

Out of nowhere, a foot came up and made a sickening sound as it made contact with the back of Keyser's head. It was Jason.

"Admiral!" Said Jason and crouched down to help AdmH. "Are you alright?"

AdmH was quite surprised by this, as they had made Jason stay in a single-person force field. He had protested, said that Keyser is controlling AdmH, and that he was the only one that sees through him. But AdmH had said that it was for his own good, and of course, he did not agree.

"Jason!" Said AdmH in alarm. "What are you doing out here?"

"That force field failed," Said Jason and paused for a moment. "Woah, try saying that 10 times faster."

"Get into one of those stasis pods!" AdmH said as she looked around for any other way to protect Jason and started to push him towards the pods.

"Admiral!" Jason said in protest.

"No time! I have to get the shields back to full power!"

The Vanguard swept majestically through space and blasted the Incendiary with dozens upon dozens of Transphasic torpedoes. This time, it made its mark. The bridge crew saw as the bright pinpricks of light made their rather slow journey to the Incendiary, watched as the pinpricks of light smashed into the hull of the gigantic, menacing vessel, watched as the small bits of hull were blown clear of it, and finally watched as the 7 torpedoes that PG fired specifically at the largest spear made their plunge into the metal joints and cleanly blowing the spike off of its base.

"Yes!" Said Adam and PG in unison.

"Good work PG! NAH! Your turn!"

"Aye aye!"

The Vanguard continued its voyage towards the behemoth, while all the time firing random torpedoes and phasers at it. Then a blue light came out of the aft end of the ship, and picked up the large spear.

Inside the ship, everyone was falling over as the massive inertia of the debris pulled the Vanguard along.

"Ice!"

"I got it sir! No worries!"

The Vanguard swept and swayed across the top of the Incendiary, which, surprisingly, did not fire a single shot at the small fly-like disturbance, which now rounded its bow and pointed itself at the massive vessel now facing it.

"All power to engines Ice, let's launch this thing." Adam said in confusion and triumph. "Get ready to release it NAH!"

"You got it!"

The Vanguard moved forward ever so slowly and made its trump-card journey towards the bow of the Incendiary.

"Wait…" Said Adam as he starred, wide-eyed, at the enlarging Incendiary. "Wait…"

NAH's fingers rested lightly on the button that would launch the spire.

"NOW!"

The blue shower of light suddenly vanished and the spike took on a life of its own as it flew towards the Incendiary. It was at this time that the massive giant seems to wake up as it fired its cannons at the incoming projectile as well as the Vanguard, which now rounded the stern of the monster. But the damage was done.

The spike drove itself into the bow of the Incendiary. Inside the ship, people were hurled along corridors and into walls, which were then disintegrated by the incoming fireball.

From the outside, this looked like fireworks, as mcmac promptly pointed out.

"Good work everyone!" Said Adam, now turning away from the screen. However, the look on PG's face told him that that was not a good idea. As he turned back and stared at the screen, only one image came to his mind. The monster is waking.

Jason had no choice but to relent and settle himself in a stasis pod, but just then, he felt the familiar and yet unfamiliar feeling of a transporter beam pour over him.

Before turning away and running back to the workstation, AdmH saw the eerie glow of the Incendiary's transporters through the transparent door of the stasis pod as it finally penetrated the security of Moon Base Fluffy Bunny. AdmH now stared blankly at the empty pod, unable to comprehend the fact that Jason has been taken from her and there is virtually no way to get him back. Just at that moment, a heavy hand landed on her shoulder.

"Keyser!" AdmH said turning around. She quickly reached for her phaser, and pointed it at Keyser's face. Keyser, on the other hand, did not object, but rather talked calmly, but still with restraint.

"That wasn't me Admiral, I promise."

AdmH's mind raced back to the moment when Keyser grabbed her by the throat, and remembered the signs. She remembered how Keyser acted very strangely before turning back to his old self, and understood.

"Jason's gone."

"I saw that." Said Keyser with relief. "Come on, we have to get out of here, we might actually intercept him if we do it now!"

"Evasive Maneuvers!" Shouted Adam into the gathering smoke. Not long after he lost his footing and fell to the ground. He can feel the ship shaking, its bulkheads breaking apart.

They had thought that they had beaten the Incendiary, but this was not so. They've only damaged it, and the damage wasn't as much as they had hoped. It now came head on, Adam and the others can only watch through the dust as the massive vessel came in on a collision course.

"Ice!"

"Got it!"

The Vanguard veered off just in time to avoid a head on collision, even though they weren't really in danger of it in the first place. The ventral cannons of the Incendiary blasted away at the Vanguard as it dodged beneath the beast. The bridge shook violently again, while sparks and bulkheads rained down on the crew.

"The nacelles been hit, we've lost warp engines!" Ice announced to the ashen-faced crew.

"Shields are down!"

"Hull Integrity at 47!"

Adam did nothing except stare at the view screen, even though a section of ceiling was blocking it. He saw what mcmac soon announced.

"Sir, the Incendiary, she's stopped firing."

"Yes, I see that."

"What's going on?" NAH asked as he coughed and tried to brush the smoke away from his mouth.

"They've powered down their weapons, all of their energy seems to be concentrated in the front section."

"Could it be a repair mechanism?"

"Can't be," said PG. "I'm not detecting any repairs going on."

The forward hull of the Incendiary, along with the many spires, was not part of the original design of the battleship. It is through the starboard side of this front section now that a massive spike sat, forever locked to the ship. The port side, however, was not very damaged, and it is here, that a small hatched opened, and a white light poured out.

"Is there anything we can do?" Asked an exasperated Adam.

"Get the ship moving first and I'll tell you." Said Ice.

"Sir," said mcmac. "Remember that concentration of energy in the forward sections?"

"Yeah."

"I think I know what's causing it…"

Adam's face was blank for a moment, in which he again turned to the view screen and stared at the Incendiary, now a massive black shape blocking their view of the Tialas Star. The star, thought Adam, the ship is pointed straight at the star…

His head snapped back to mcmac with alarming speed, even more alarming than the face, which now he wore. Mcmac took one look at it and knew that he had understood.

"The Trilithium!" They said in unison.

"Ice! Engines?"

"Not working."

Adam grabbed his hair in frustration and stared around at the bridge. He was going to say something, but was interrupted by PG.

"They're firing!"

Out of the open hatch at the front of the Incendiary came a white point of light that made for the star. From the outside it merely looked like a torpedo, but within it is the power that could destroy a whole star. The whole bridge crew, and anyone else who can see, stared as the pinprick of light streaked towards the sun. There was nothing they could do, their weapons were down, and they doubt it if they could get an accurate hit anyway.

Keyser and AdmH ran through the dark corridors of Moon Base Fluffy Bunny. They had gotten lost twice already, as they weren't really caring about which way they go, as long as they get out of there. As she ran, AdmH felt a pain in her wrist, and soon realized that it was because Keyser, who ran faster, was holding on to it. She didn't know how to feel about that, only that it hurt a small bit. Keyser, on the other hand, was only paying attention to which way to turn, left, right, another right, straight…

At long last they saw the massive doors that led into the facility. Without thinking, AdmH grabbed her Phaser Rifle, set it to the highest possible level, and blasted at the door. At this, two foreign thoughts appeared in Keyser's head: the old AdmH would never do that, and how brittle that door was.

They ran out of the ruined door and made for the Triton City which now sat comfortably on a pad about 50 meters from them.

And then they saw it, the entire sky lit up and both Keyser and AdmH were both blinded for a moment, and for the first time in a few minutes, they stopped. This sudden change to Tialas IV's sky has finally detoured them from their goal.

"What the hell was that!" Asked Keyser as he rubbed his eyes. He looked at AdmH, who now stared into the sky. It was now that he suddenly realized that the sky was dark, almost as dark as at night. He followed her gaze and looked up. What he saw sent chills down his spine:

The sun is now a purple blob; hanging in a dark-blue-purple sky, there was a white halo surrounding it, which grew larger and larger with each moment.

"Oh no…" Keyser whispered. He suddenly realized that they were just standing there. He grabbed AdmH's arm and pulled her along to the Triton City, all this time with her starring up at the dead star.

"Keyser, that looks like…"

"…The star being hit by a Trilithium bomb? You bet."

Something snapped back in AdmH head and she, too, start running for the Triton City.

"Come on!" She said to a trailing Keyser. "We don't have much time!"

A complete silence settled on the bridge of the Vanguard as the senior crew watched the Incendiary sweep past them and quickly jumping to warp. At this time however, the Incendiary no longer posed any threat to them, as they were all starring intently at the darkened and halo-surrounded star.

"4 minutes." Said mcmac.

For some reason, there wasn't much fear in any of the bridge crew. Ice had a slight smile on his face since, to him, he was seeing something that only a handful of people ever saw. NAH had opened a screen to his room, and he was talking to his Tribble commandoes at the moment. PG has sat down on his stool, which he swore to himself that he would never sit on. Mcmac also sat on his stool, with one eye looking at the countdown. And Adam, he just sat down on the Captain's chair, looking relaxed.

"It was fun serving with all of you." He said.

"Same here sir" Said Ice

"You got that right" Said Kaitz.

"TC, open a channel to the rest of the ship."

"Channel opened."

"This is Captain Adam," he said. "As some, or most of you may know, a shockwave is approaching us and there is no way we can get out of here. It is very likely that we will be killed. There are currently 4 shuttles and 1 runabout in the shuttlebay, and they are all warp-capable. If you want to use them for escape, you are welcomed to it. No one will hold it against you. That is all." He looked at TC who promptly cut the transmission off.

"You know," said PG with a smirk on his face, "that probably just persuaded anyone who wanted to get off of this ship to remain."

"Out of guilt…" said Kaitz. "That was pretty mean Adam." She said with a slight frown.

"That wasn't my intent, I promise." He said with a mischievous sneer over his face.

"3 minutes."

"Stop that, will you?" Said TC in frustration.

"Only doing my job."

"Guys guys," said Adam. "Come on, we're all about to die, might as well enjoy it. Computer," he added. "Play a little music for us."

"Please be more specific." It announced.

"Oh…maybe a little Klingon opera?" Adam said as he looked around, at the disproval and shaking heads of his crew. "Ok, Earth opera then, uh…"

"I know," said PG. 'I heard this ancient Earth song over the weekend a few days ago, it's called "Time of Your Life" by a music group called "Green Day."'

"Searching…" Said the Computer. "File found, playing."

"Not bad…" Said NAH as he comforted one of his commandoes.

"Fits the situation." Said Kaitz.

"Sir…" said mcmac.

"You don't like the song?"

"No it's just…I'm detecting 2 ships."

Adam's expression suddenly turned from relaxed to alert. "Elaborate."

"1 is coming from outside of this system, alien, one occupant. And the other sir, it's coming from Tialas IV, 2 occupants, and sir…"

"Yes?"

"It's the Triton City."

The Triton City swept through the atmosphere of Tialas IV, cruising above the speed that it was suppose to obey. Clouds ever obscured their view, but it was no surprise when Admiral Hawthorne and Keyser laid their eyes on a damaged Vanguard.

"I knew that wasn't a sensor ghost!" Said the Admiral.

"Where's Boltini's ship!" Keyser said as he slammed his fist on the panels in front of him.

"Careful!" AdmH said. "Anyway, the shockwave is going to hit them, and us, in about 2 minutes, what the hell are they still doing here!"

"It looks like their warp engine's damaged."

AdmH's face expression changed in a matter of nanoseconds. "They battled Boltini's ship."

"Is there anything we can do?"

"Engage the tractor beam on my mark, I got an idea." Said the Admiral as she quickly got up and worked her way to the aft of the vessel.

"Where are you going?"

"I'm going to enhance the warp engines!"

"You'd better not be doing what I think you're doing!"

"Too bad! Just follow my orders!"

"Both ships are heading for our location." Declared mcmac.

"Hail them." Said Adam.

"No response sir." Said TC

"1 minute till contact with shockwave."

"Hail them again!"

"Still no response."

"They're positioning themselves above and below us sir, I, I think they're going to tow us!"

"What!"

"They're activating their Tractor Beams."

The whole ship shook as the two small vessels tethered themselves to the relatively huge ship. The shaking continued for longer than expected.

"What's going on now?" Said Adam as he hangs on to the Captain's chair.

"They're extending their warp bubbles over the Vanguard, I think they're going to jump to warp!"

"Full power to inertial dampers, all hands brace yourselves!"

The bridge crew watched as the shockwave struck Tialas IV. Later on, many would recall this sight as mesmerizing, how the atmosphere, especially the clouds were swept away from the shockwave, how red and orange cracks broke over the planet's surface, how, for a split moment, the shockwave seem to be stopped by a simple, small planet, and how it simply got disintegrated moments later.

The crew did not see anymore as their ship, along with the 2 small vessels accelerated into subspace.

The shaking continued as the Vanguard cruised through subspace while depending on 2 vessels that would comfortably fit inside it several times. At last, the shaking stopped as the Vanguard reentered normal space, and the straining on the small crafts' engines stopped.

"The alien vessel is hailing us."

"On screen."

"Hey!" Said GeorgeKirk's smiling face. "Looks like whomever Keyser gave my ship to is the helpful kind!"

The moment the Vanguard returned to dock 2 months ago, GK made a point to find his ship, the Triton City, and get it back, even if it kills him. He was able to persuade Balok to do him a favor by taking him to the nearest star ship dump to get a new vessel, the fact that the owner of the dump almost opened fire on the Fesarius out of fear as it approached the dump site told GK that he might not have an easy time getting a "new" ship.

In the end, he was able to get a small, yet fast alien craft from the dump after giving the owner several crates full of Tranya. He cruised around in that "dinghy", as he called it, for weeks, trying to find any signal of his beloved Triton City. Then, about a day ago, he found it.

The curious thing about the Triton City is that it's tailored to fit GK's needs. For example, every time it enters a planet's atmosphere, it does an internal scan. If it finds that GK is there, it remains silent. However, if GK is not there, it sends out a signal that only GK can receive. And he did, a few hours ago.

He was sleeping at that time, in the bedroom, which is also the cockpit, kitchen, living room, and family room. He woke up with a start, grabbed the secret transmitter on his waist, stared at it for a moment, then immediately ran across the living room and input the coordinates into the command consol. He knew what it meant, of course, and he also knew that he would be facing the Keyser.

He had loaded the craft with as many weapons as he could find, phasers, pistols, disruptors, etc. He prepared himself for a fight. What he didn't prepare for, of course, was what actually happened.

And now he finds himself standing in his home once again, he cannot wipe the smile off of his face. He looked about him; saw the shiny LCARS, the corner where all of his trash went, the bed where he slept in for…for as long as he could remember.

"It's good to be home…" he said, and collapsed onto his bunk.

"I'm really dreading this." Said Adam as he marched down towards the brig.

"It shouldn't be too bad," said PG. "They're behind the force field."

"You'll be surprised at how intimidating she could be, even in a force field."

PG looked at Adam with concern. "Are you alright?"

"We'll see."

It was a surprise when the Triton City lowered its shields after rescuing the Vanguard, nobody knew what was coming up, not even GK, and he lived on the ship. Nonetheless, Adam had ordered the duo to be beamed off of the ship and into the brig under armored guards.

The brig door opened and Adam glanced at AdmH and Keyser, sitting there in the brig, agitation filling both their faces. It has been 2 months since Adam had seen her, and surprisingly, he did not miss her.

"Adam!" AdmH said, a smile wavering on her face. "We need your help."

"They've kidnapped Jason." Said Keyser, looking slightly surprised and not at Adam. "Are you going to help us?"

This was not what Adam had expected. "What?"

"Listen Adam, Boltini's kidnapped Jason, and he's taking him…" she paused and looked back at Keyser. "Where is he taking him anyway?"

Keyser's eyes widened in alarm, "I…I don't know…"

"Alright!" Shouted Adam. "First, you tell me what has happened in the last 2 months."

"Adam!" Said AdmH with irritation. "There's no time for that! We have to chase down Boltini's ship!"

"We got no warp engines." Said PG. "And it's good to see you Admiral."

The fact that they were stuck here hit AdmH like a bag of coffee beans. "How long until repairs are ready?"

"Uh…" PG wavered. "Vanessa said it's going to be around 7 hours."

"Dammit!" Shouted Keyser. "Well, no point anyway, we have no clue where they're going!"

"We can always follow their trajectory." Said AdmH.

"But it's cloaked!"

"Not anymore." Said PG excitedly. "We destroyed the cloaking device when we drove a stake in it."

"We did?" Said Adam, breaking away from a trance.

"Oh, did I forget to tell you?"

"Gentlemen!" Said AdmH. "We're going nowhere!" She looked back at Keyser. "You don't know where Garibaldi is?"

"Who?" Said PG.

"It's a long story PG." Said AdmH, "and it's good to see you again." She added.

"No idea." Said Keyser, still thinking.

Instinctly she looked at Adam, who is trying to digest what he just heard.

"Adam?" AdmH said, more calmly this time. "Are you…alright?"

"What happened Admiral?"

"What?"

"2 months ago, what happened?"

"Uh…I don't remember…" She lied.

"You killed dozens of your own crew" Adam said menacingly. "And…I want to know why."

"You do, do ya?" Said Keyser. "It's Garibaldi's fault, it's all his fault."

"Who's Garibaldi?" Asked Adam.

"He's an evil, evil man Adam." Said Keyser as he put his face in his hands. "And he has destroyed more lives than you can possibly imagine."

Adam looked at him in silent rage.

"And Jason's next…" Keyser said sighing. He never thought he would arrive at such a situation, his son gone, and he did not know where he was. He would've cried, but he thought it unwise here. Then he saw something in his head, something orange, distorted, something about…clouds.

"Wait a minute…" He said and looked up. "I…think I know where Boltini's taking him."

AdmH quickly went and sat beside him. "Where is he?"

"Do you remember, when we were in the 21st century…"

"How can we forget?" Said Adam.

"…And the Briar Patch exploded into existence?"

"What about it?" Asked AdmH.

"It…it unburied one of my memories, I could feel it…"

"You think that's where he is?"

"I think, I mean…Garibaldi's a pretty secret person, he…could've wiped the memory off of his…minions, so that they don't know where to find him." He said and rubbed his forehead. "But those colors, those clouds, they reminded me of it."

"So it's in the Briar Patch?"

"Probably."

"That's good enough for now." She turned to Adam. "When Vanessa's done with the repairs, we need to go to the Briar Patch."

Adam stared back at her silently. For the first time in her life, AdmH felt threatened, personally.

"Adam?"

"I'll think about it…"

She couldn't take it anymore. "Adam!" She yelled through the force field. "What the hell is wrong with you! Jason's in danger!"

"What the hell's wrong with me!" Adam turned around in rage. "This, coming from a bloody murderer!" And he stormed out of the brig.

"Well…" said PG. "It was…nice seeing you again Admiral."

He turned to go, but AdmH couldn't let that happen. "PG."

"Yes?"

"What's happened?"

"I'm not a psychologist Admiral, you better talk to him when you have the chance."

AdmH stared as the door of the brig closed with a thudding sound, which, surprisingly, seems to touch her, somehow.

"Sit down." Said Keyser. "Get some rest."

"How can you be so calm?"

"I've lived in the shadow of Garibaldi, there's not much time to be calm…"

This is the first time that a transporter hurts thought Jason as he slowly opened his eyes. He couldn't see clearly, but he tried to make out some details: he was in a rusted room, or that the paint was just orange, there was a baseball hanging from the ceiling for some reason, there were constant footsteps very close to him, and there's a distinct pain in the pit of his stomach. He raised his hand and put it on his abdomen, and vomited over the side of whatever it was he was lying on.

He coughed and hacked and cried for breath, he rubbed his eyes again and again to try to see clearly, and eventually he did. He was in a cell, and the footsteps were most likely coming from a guard outside. He felt better, and rubbed his stomach a bit, which seem to further ease the pain. He tapped on the cell wall, and found it to be metal, and not just rusted metal either. It didn't take him too long to realize that he was surrounded on all sides by walls, there was no force field, not even simple metal bars. It was a purely metal box.

He became alert as he heard more footsteps, and a voice, which seemed all too familiar to him.

"When will the cloak be online?" The voice said.

"It's irreparable my lord." Another, more feeble voice said. This was followed by a painful scream and silence.

Jason knew exactly what it meant, and he also knew what the approaching footsteps meant. He expected a wall to open up, somehow, but instead, the wall he was leaning on suddenly burned into his back like a Klingon pain stick. He quickly jumped aside and saw that the wall had become a red force field. Then he looked up and saw him.

Draped in a red and black cloak, wearing Klingon boots with one hand ending in a hook, the familiar eye patch on his face, a vicious grin crossing it, it was all way too familiar for Jason. He stared at one of the 2 faces that had haunted his dreams for his entire life. He stared at Boltini.

"Oops, looks like you stepped in your own vomit." He said happily. "Didn't like the Transporter I see, nobody does, I guess the Kraal Transporters are not made for our physiology."

"What do you want?" Said Jason.

"I don't want you at all, it is my master who needs you."

"Keyser?"

Boltini laughed, he laughed loud enough that the whole ship could've heard it. "Keyser! That old fool! No, I'm taking you to Garibaldi."

"You mean it's all true!" Said Jason without thinking.

"Ah, Keyser must've told you when you were camping on that planet! Yes, it's…mostly true, depending on what he told you of course."

Jason looked at him in hatred, "let me go."

Boltini laughed again, and again, and again Jason hated him more and more with each passing second, just like the old days. 'You really didn't think that would work would you? "Let me go!" How pathetic!'

"Why are you here?"

"Oh, just getting a good look at a new prisoner, I don't get many of them you know, since that's not really my, how do you say, mission these days." He paused and rubbed his chin in thought. "Although, if I really wanted to, I get them, there's plenty of people on this crew to become prisoners."

He leaned towards Jason to see if he's amused by this pronouncement, all he got back was a disgusted look. "Most of them go mad after a while, so I give them mercy."

"You let them out?" Said Jason; even though he thought he knew the answer.

"No, I kill them." He said, proving Jason right. "In fact, the last prisoner, uh, Jirec, he was called, I think, is right above you."

Jason looked up and came face to face with the baseball, only it definitely wasn't a baseball. It was a skull. It was a tortured skull, there were holes right below the eyeholes and part of the chin was chipped away.

"Some of the girls thought he looked rather handsome, bad bone structure, me thinks."

"What the hell's wrong with you?" Said Jason, trying to swallow his anger.

"Wrong? Nothing's wrong. And I think that's enough for now, I'll leave you alone." And he walked out of the brig, lightly humming something to himself.

Seeing AdmH for the first time in 2 months really unhinged Adam a bit. He expected himself to hate her, what with her murdering the crew and all. But a small part of him, which has been growing ever since he laid his eyes on her down in the brig, told him that it was not right, and that he should forgive her. He muttered to himself, tried to debate it, and no matter how he tries he cannot get rid of that small part.

It was agony; he did not know what to do. AdmH had seemed so normal, so like what she was, that of a strong, brave leader, not the crazy drug-eyed monster he had seen through the force field 2 months ago with Keyser, silently mocking him…

"Engineering to Adam."

"Huh?"

"This is engineering, Adam, are you there?"

"Yeah, I'm here."

"What's going on up there?" Said BASICman's voice. "Is there a space-borne virus that's screwing with our minds or something?"

"Alright alright, I'm just thinking alright?" Said Adam frustratingly. "Now what's going on?"

"Engines' fixed."

"Good work, Adam out"

He got up and went for the door, that little distraction did not do what he hoped it would do, that of making him think about something else. No, no, he's still thinking about her, and it's probably not going to stop soon…

He walked onto the bridge. "Ice," he said, "how long is it gonna take to get us to the Briar Patch?"

"At maximum warp, about 17 hours."

"Damn…"

"What's going on?"

"Just thinking about something…"

"We're being hailed." Said TC. "It's GK"

"On screen."

"Hey!" Said a smiling GK. "I gotta go."

"Why so soon?"

"Well, I gotta do something about that other ship of mine, you know, the alien ship?"

"Yeah."

"Well, I'll see you around."

Adam smiled back. "Thanks for saving our lives GK."

"Wouldn't be the first time." And with that the screen turned back to the starry space.

"Sir." Said TC. "I'm getting more hails."

"From who?"

"I'm not sure, our long-range sensors are still down…but it has a Starfleet signature."

"On screen."

"Captain Adam," Said Captain Norton of the McKenzie, "The fleet has arrived, what are your orders?"

Adam looked around himself; being suddenly in charge of a whole fleet was a shocking idea.

"Set a course for the Briar Patch." He said, both to Norton and to Ice. "Maximum warp!"

For the last 20 hours Jason has been starring, unblinkingly, at the skull hanging from the ceiling of the metal box he called a cell. From it he guessed the poor slave's life, or at least, he thought he guessed. In fact, he even made up a story surrounding the skull, or rather its owner, on how he was first captured and how it became Boltini's slave.

It couldn't be that different from how I became a slave, he thought, training mission, raid, and that's it – very simple business. From here he thought about his own history, and how it pains him so. He now knew that what Keyser told him was probably true, but that doesn't mean that all of it is true…or maybe it is.

Jason smacked himself on the head, trying to force this thought out of it, the Keyser is not, he thought, NOT my father, it's just ludicrous! But then…he did treat me…better in the last couple of days, and most of his story is right…

He got up and kicked at one of the walls, he didn't know if it was the holographic wall, or whatever it was, he just kicked it, and kicked it, hoping that the pain will make him think about something else. He kept kicking until he felt a sharp pain in his foot, and realized that he just kicked a force field…and that Boltini was again standing mere feet away, grinning.

"Well, looks like it's goodbye…"

"What the hell does that mean?"

"You'll see…"

Within seconds, the familiar pain of the Kraal Transporter swept through Jason, and he was beamed away.

The moment he regained consciousness, Jason realized 2 things. First, his stomach wasn't as queasy as it was when he first went through that thing, and second, whatever it is that is shining on his eyelids is extremely bright. He carefully opened his eyes and only saw bright white light. He closed them again as tight as he could, but now all he can see is the color of his own blood as the light filtered through it.

And once again, he heard footsteps, only one this time. A door opening, and more footsteps quickly followed this. Jason thought he knew who was coming closer to him. And although he did not really know the man, or indeed even believed in him, he shivered.

"Hello," the man said. "I am Garibaldi."

His voice was slippery as if none of the words that came out of his mouth had to go through anything, as if they smoothly came out of his vocal cords without even touching the tissue surrounding it. This voice also made Jason shiver.

"Here," he said. "Let me turn this light down a bit."

Even though Jason appreciated this, he still hated the man for the fact that he existed. He did not know how this came to pass, but he knew that he would like nothing better than to just jump up and disembowel him.

"Do you know why you are here?" Garibaldi said calmly.

"…No"

"You're lying." Garibaldi said again in that calm manner. "Keyser must've told you about me, what did he tell you?"

"That you're an evil person."

"Ah," said Garibaldi as he turned his back to Jason. "Yes, he really never liked me." He turned back to Jason. "Perhaps you want to hear the story."

"I don't want to hear anymore stories."

"Well, there's nothing else for you to do at the moment, and when I'm bored, I tell stories."

"Whom to?"

"Oh, no one in particular, but there's plenty of people connected to me to hear it." He turned against Jason again to fiddle around with some equipment. "Besides, it's better if you hear it before the procedure."

Jason lightly raised his head to look at the equipment that Garibaldi was preparing, but could not see them. He remained silent.

"I guess," Garibaldi begun, "it all started about 400 years ago. There was a man, his name was Trilanis, and he was a brilliant, brilliant man, isolated on this planet." He turned and glanced at Jason, then quickly went back to his tools. "Brilliant, but also very controversial. The governments haunted him all the time, trying to arrest him, because he was doing unethical experiments, bollocks if you ask me." He turned again to Jason, and again turned right back. "It was about 380 years ago that he invented a device. You see, this planet had been near the edge of the Briar Patch, using this device; he was able to expand it to include this planet, this hid it for quite sometime."

Jason couldn't help but listen to this, it might be the last thing I remember as a free man, he thought.

"Of course, this wasn't exactly secure, since ships can always come in close accidentally. And then I came along, and was able to develop a cloaking device. It hides the entire planet Jason."

Jason felt disgusted by Garibaldi's use of his name; it made his left eyelid twitch.

"I remember the day I activated the cloak, because that was the day I heard about Keyser." He turned to Jason, "oh yes, your father was a gifted man."

A thought went through Jason's mind very quickly, that he was not offended by hearing, again, that Keyser was his father. He knew, down in his heart, and in his mind, he is starting to believe Keyser, and there's nothing he can do about it.

"Curian, he was my Section 31 agent at the time, told me about him, how he was one of the best agents that Section 31 ever had, together with his girl friend, Ann Hawthorne, they were an unstoppable team, apparently."

"Admiral?" Jason blurted out.

"Oh yes, she's an admiral now…yes, that reminds me why I did not chose her to be my protégé, yes, she was too…loyal, to Starfleet. No, Keyser was much better, more of a rebel, but at the same time strong, smart, and experienced. He was the perfect protégé."

"But it was not time yet, I thought to myself, no. Curian had told me that Hawthorne had gotten pregnant, and I did not want to take Keyser away when he has a child due, that's the least I can do."

"That doesn't sound like you."

"Of course not, I was surprised by it also. Eventually though, after Hawthorne had you, I was able to have Curian capture Keyser, and bring him to me. After that, of course, they paired AdmH with Boltini, and you know what happened there, don't you? I lost him for a while there, while he was being tortured by them Romulans."

He picked up a small device and turned towards Jason. "But back to Keyser…with this," he said, picking up the device and showing it to Jason. "I was able to mold him into the perfect agent for me."

Jason stared at the chip, it was virtually identical to the one Boltini had, and no doubt virtually identical to the one that is currently lodged in Keyser's mind.

"Oh yes," he said. "A very ingenious invention. And now it's your turn. I had a lot of trouble getting you you know, I had to relinquish my control over Boltini for a moment over at the Tialas system and inhabit Keyser instead, just to make sure I get you. That was a tense moment…that Vanguard ship did quite some damage while we just stood there and did nothing." He paused a moment. "Was that a good story?" Garibaldi said, smiling.

Jason turned away from him and stared at the wall.

"Don't want to talk eh?" Garibaldi said, picking up a hypospray. "Then let us begin."

Captain's Log, Stardate 58063.1: We are currently heading for the Briar Patch. I've come to learn many things from Keyser, one of which is that he is no longer "evil" as he says, I'm not exactly sure of that, of course, but he does seem…changed. The captains of the other ships have questioned me on why I've decided to go to the Briar Patch, and whether trusting Keyser is a wise thing to do. I've wondered about that myself, but I don't think I have any choice at the moment. I've also asked Anna and EWDEE to continue their research on Boltini's chip, to see if we can use it to our advantage…again.

Boltini's room on the Vanguard is just like that of anyone else's, plain, gray, and in this case with a bat'leth on the wall. For the past 30 minutes Boltini has been starring at it. To him, it was a connection to the past, the past he wanted to forget, and yet, he didn't want to get rid of it. He got up and touched it, felt its sharpness and coldness and recoiled.

"I need to throw that away…" he said as he took off his clothes and jumped into bed.

He yawned and closed his eyes, and saw various shapes floating around the darkness between his pupil and his eyelid. They were quite pretty, from what he can see. There were white spots here and there, some wisps of some sort…

He was looking at a view screen, filled with orange and red clouds, he reached out in front of him and felt the hand rests, they felt extremely real…there was resistance now, his other arm is grabbing the one that reached out, it's trying to control it…

A familiar voice filtered through Boltini's mind, it sounded distressed, apprehensive.

"Who are you?"

"What?"

"Who are you!"

"This is…no one."

"Liar!"

"This is your conscience speaking…"

"Sure it is…I recognize that voice…Boltini! Looks like my guards failed at assassinating you! Good thing he's dead already, or I would kill him right now!"

Boltini tried to move his arm again, to see if the other Boltini does the same thing, he felt resistance again, but this time he saw that there was no physical means of that.

"Stop that! Let me go!"

"I can control you…"

"STOP!" The voice of the other Boltini screamed.

"Report!" Said Adam as he strolled into sickbay.

"I think we got something." Anna said, bending over the chip.

"Well, don't keep it to yourself." Said Adam.

"Well," said EWDEE. "We found a frequency imbedded in the chip that had connections with the part of the brain that causes pain."

"So your saying…if we activate the chip at this frequency, it will cause pain?"

"Probably…"

"But," said Anna. "That would mean anyone with the chip imbedded would feel that pain, including…"

"Keyser." Finished Adam. "Damn…"

Adam grimaced for a moment. "Try it for a second or so."

"But what about Keyser?"

Adam was silent for moment. "Activate the chip."

"I SAID STOP IT!" roared the Boltini aboard the Incendiary, apparently to thin air.

The guards around him struggled to contain him but it was no use, with one sway of his arm he stabbed a guard in his face with his hook. He was a lunatic.

"GET OUT! GET OUT GET OUT GET OUT!" He shouted as he thrashed about.

"Sir!" A guard said as he tried to restrain him, to no avail.

Then, suddenly, Boltini stood still; he slowly turned his head towards the door leading off to the rest of the Incendiary. He started to walk, all the time screaming "GET OUT!". His walking was stilted, unstable, as if his legs were made of papier-mâché. He then quieted himself and, with no reason, looked up, and started screaming in pain as he grabbed his head.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

Boltini was physically knocked back from the pain he experienced on the other end. He lay there on the bed, panting as he attempted to digest what he just went through – he made contact with the other Boltini, he was able to control him…and what was that pain? Did he cause it?

He looked at the door in his room, and made for it.

AdmH pressed herself against the wall of the brig as Keyser screamed and thrashed about. She had tried to restrain him, but it was no use. And then it stopped; just as sudden as it was when it started, when they were talking about Jason.

"What the hell was that!" Said Keyser as he put his hand on his forehead, almost instinctively.

"I don't know…"

At that moment, Adam walked in. "Has anything happened?"

"Yes!" Said Keyser, now with his hand in his hair. "I just felt like my head exploded" he paused and starred at Adam. "And it looks like you got something to do with it!"

Keyser stood up and stared down at Adam, who did not show any sign of being intimidated.

"Alright, I got something to do with it." He said. "The doctors have found a frequency in Boltini's chip that sends pain to those with the chip imbedded in their minds."

Keyser's anger seems to vanish in an instant. "Oh, right…"

"What does that mean?"

"It means, I remember where I felt that from, Garibaldi's done that to me before, it's only used for extreme cases."

"Extreme cases of what?"

"Disobedience."

Keyser slowly sat down as Adam starred at him. For a split second he felt pity for Keyser.

"Would Garibaldi feel this?"

"I think so, that's why it wasn't used a lot, I don't think he can block this connection, he made it too powerful of a signal."

"Then we can use it against him, to incapacitate him."

Keyser looked up at him. "Did you know that it damages the brain?"

"You'll be in sickbay, the doctors can treat you on the spot if it gets too serious."

AdmH sat there and listened. She did not offer her opinion, as Adam did not give her a chance.

Jason did not know what caused him to wake up, perhaps it was the sedative wearing off, or the screaming that went on in the background, or perhaps it was his head that felt like it was going to explode.

He tried to lift his head, but he could not. He was strapped in. In the distance he heard the quick breathing of Garibaldi.

"They've discovered it…" he said as he got up.

He walked over to Jason, and starred into his eyes. Jason could see beads of sweat on his face.

"You felt it?" Garibaldi said.

Jason remained silent.

"I'll take that as a yes."

He walked towards the back wall, which Jason could not see, but guessed that it was probably full of instruments.

"Damn…" Garibaldi said as he tapped some buttons. "For a century I tried to stop it and now I've ran out of time…oh well, no problem, I'll just have to endure it."

Jason really had no idea what he was talking about, and tried to think about it. He didn't have any chance to however, as he was then sedated by Garibaldi.

"What!" Said Adam as he starred incredulously at Boltini.

Boltini had expected sickbay to be empty, what he did not expect was Anna, EWDEE, and Adam bending over his chip.

"I said." Boltini repeated. "I think I can control the other Boltini."

"How do you know that?"

"I was able to move his arm, and make him walk."

"That's incredible." Said Anna in an awed whisper.

"Did he resist?" Adam asked.

"He tried, but I…uh…overrode him."

"How can he do that?" Said Adam as he turned to EWDEE.

"I don't know…it could be that he doesn't have the actual chip to impede him…" She turned to Boltini. "How did you break the connection? Did you just…break it?"

"No, the other Boltini felt some kind of pain, and that broke the connection."

"Did you feel any pain?"

"Not really…"

Adam, EWDEE, and Anna starred at each other.

"What?" Said Boltini.

"We found a way to fight Garibaldi" Adam said.

"There's a special frequency on your chip that causes pain." Said EWDEE.

"And we think it might incapacitate him for a while if we activate it." Said Anna.

Boltini was momentarily struck with the mention of Garibaldi, he had known him, not met him, but known him. His voice was constant on his mind, he felt him even before he was "born" in Moon Base Fluffy Bunny…trying to kill him before he had a chance at life…

"Garibaldi…" he muttered.

"Yes," said Adam. "You know him?"

"Too well…"

"Bridge to Adam." Came PG's voice.

"Adam here."

"We're at the Briar Patch."

"Drop out of warp, full sensor scan, I'll be there in a moment."

"Yes sir."

Adam starred at the doctors and Boltini.

"Hold on tight." He said.

The 21-ship fleet dropped out of warp on the edge of the Briar Patch. Orange, yellow, and red clouds filled each ship's view screens. They would've stopped for a moment to enjoy the view, but this is not the time.

"I'm not getting any ships." Said mcmac.

"No surprise there." Said Kaitz, sighing. "Not many ships' sensors can penetrate the Briar Patch."

"Scan for Trilithium signatures." Ordered Adam.

"Still nothing."

"Damn…"

"Adam…" came a voice from the com. "Anna here."

"Ensign Luga here Sir, from the brig."

"One at a time." Said Adam. "Anna, you first."

"Boltini says that he can detect the Incendiary from here with his mind, I think he can help you find it."

"Great! Bring him up here. Luga, now you."

"Keyser says he can detect the Incendiary from here with his mind."

"Now that's luck!" Said NAH.

"Heh…" chuckled PG.

"Alright!" Adam said in delight. "Bring him up here too!"

10 minutes later Keyser and Boltini were standing on the bridge and starring at each other. There was a tense moment as the bridge crew starred on at former enemies, and before then, colleagues.

"Hello Boltini."

"Hey Keyser."

"Well…" Adam said nervously. "Shall we get moving then? Mcmac, stand aside."

Mcmac did as he was told and watched as Keyser and Boltini walked into his working area. The map of the Briar Patch was in front of them.

"Let's see here…" Boltini said and put this hand on the map.

Keyser did the same and both started waving their hands randomly over the 2D map. Adam looked at EWDEE, who had brought Boltini up to the bridge, and gave her a worried look.

"I think that's it…" Keyser said.

"I agree." Said Boltini, looking back up at Adam.

"Alright, send the coordinates to Ice." Said Adam.

"I got it." Ice replied.

"Set a course, best speed."

"Aye aye."

The Vanguard started moving into the clouds. The crew watched as the noxious gas fell around their ship like nothing. Some, like PG, were even hypnotized by it.

"Boltini." Adam said.

"Huh?"

"You can control the other Boltini, are you still sure of that?"

"Pretty sure."

"Ok." Said Adam, and walked over to him. "I need you to get down to sickbay, and do what you did to control him before."

"What do I do once I got control of him?"

"What else? Destroy his ship!"

"It's not gonna be easy."

"I never said it would be." Adam put on his more serious face. "To tell you the truth, I don't think even this fleet can handle the Incendiary…you picked a good ship."

"Heh, thanks."

"So we need you, Boltini, to help us on the inside. We won't be able to do anything outside I think."

Boltini looked hesitant. "Fine."

"Alright." Adam said. "Get down there then, and good luck."

"What about me?" Keyser asked.

"Take him back to the brig."

A flustered looking Keyser stepped into the Turbolift and disappeared behind the doors.

"How long until we reach the coordinates?"

As if to answer the question, the clouds in front of the fleet opened up, revealing a huge cavity within the supposed supernova remnant. More orange, yellow and red clouds surrounded it, but there doesn't seem to be any logical reason as to why it was there. And in the middle of it, the crew saw it – a small black dot – the Incendiary.

"All hands!" Adam said. "Red alert! Battle stations!"

"Aye aye"

"PG, coordinate your attacks with the other tactical officers. Fire at will."

"Yes sir!"

The fleet converged on the Incendiary, and for a second time the ship seem to not respond. It just remained there, unmoving. Then it started to turn, and in turning brought up its cannons. They blazed about, striking several ships at once.

The bridge of the Vanguard shook and swayed, and Adam held on, once again, for dear life.

"The Hartford's been hit! They've lost a nacelle!"

"Shields down to 90!"

"Full torpedo spread!"

Pinpricks of light streaked out of several ships' torpedo bays and headed for the Incendiary. The crews saw them detonate on the shield amidst the smoke and ruin of their bridge.

"Minor damages!"

"Bah!" Yelled NAH. "They're useless!"

"This should help you relax somewhat." Said Anna as she pushed a hypospray into Boltini's neck.

She starred around the already battered Sickbay as another barrage of phaser fire hit the ship.

Boltini felt drowsy almost at once, and can only feel EWDEE as she picked up his hand and put it into hers. He began to drift off, and once again he saw it – the orange and red clouds, only this time it was full of gray blobs and yellow strings of light. And once again a voice came into his head.

"You again!"

"Yep."

"Why won't you leave me alone!"

"What's the point? You got Garibaldi with you all the time anyway!"

EWDEE and Anna watched as Boltini twisted his face in concentration. EWDEE's face gradually became more and more worried.

"Do you want a sedative too?" Said Anna with a wry smile.

"No no…"

Boltini tried to move his arm, but they were getting very heavy, the resistance is too much. He kept trying, and trying, and trying. He could feel sweat on his face, but he didn't know whether it was his or the other Boltini's. Probably both, he thought.

"What the hell are you doing!" The other Boltini shouted.

"Just trying…" he breathed. "To save the day!"

On the Incendiary, things were going horribly wrong.

"Sir!" The guards yelled as Boltini sprang from his throne, pushed the Ops slaves from their seats, and sat there himself.

"STOP! IT!" He yelled.

He recognized what the other Boltini is trying to do, and he must stop it.

"Sir…you're…you're gonna set off the auto destruct sequence!"

"SHUT UP!" He yelled, and raised his arms. He had no choice; he brought them down hard and fast. They smashed through the panel and the circuitry, the panel material cut into his wrists and hand. For a moment he thought he had won, but this wasn't the case.

He got up very abruptly, almost knocking into a slave. He started walking towards the Turbolift, all the time trying to get rid of the other Boltini by punching himself in the head.

"GET! OUT!"

"Shields down to 47!" PG yelled through the smoke

"Keep firing! Target the damaged areas!" Adam said, now lying on the floor and attempting to get up.

"Sir, the Diego's gone!"

"That's 4 ships captain!"

"I don't need a tally!"

The ship was hit again; sparks flew out of Ice's console, hitting him squarely in the face.

"Ice!"

"I'm OK! Don't worry about it!" He said as he tried to spit out the blood now covering the left side of his face.

"Adam to sickbay!"

"What!"

"What's going on down there!"

"We got casualties coming in!"

"I mean Boltini!"

"I have no idea!"

Down in sickbay, EWDEE and Anna are struggling to keep the casualties from increasing while trying to help Boltini at the same time. It was extremely difficult.

All of the commotion is filling up in Boltini's mind, and it's beyond the limit of which he can take. He struggled on, looking through the other Boltini's mind. He can see the Turbolift's doors opening, the red, rusted corridors of the Incendiary, he can see the fear in the slaves' eyes as he tried to get to his destination.

"Just a few…more meters!" He yelled to the noise-filled sickbay.

"ENSIGN! STOP ME!" Boltini cried to a scared ensign.

"Sir?"

"Grab onto me!"

The ensign did as he was told. He tried to hang onto Boltini but couldn't and was thrown clear across the corridor.

"DAMN IT!"

Boltini struggled through the corridors, shouting at every slave he can find, but none of them can stop him. He even tried to bash his head in on a piece of the wall, but he could not, the other Boltini is holding him back.

He staggered through the door to engineering, and grabbed the nearest slave by the throat.

"Please…" the slave gagged. "Have…mercy…my lord…"

"AHHHH!" Boltini shouted, and tightened his grip. "HELP! ME!"

He watched as he continued to tighten his grip, he did not know who is doing it, but it was he who saw the blood welling up in the young slave's face, with his tongue sticking out, gasping for breath. He raised his arm with the hook on it and punched it into the slave's waist, again and again, finally knocking the slave's gun loose and onto the ground.

"S..sir…" the slave gasped. "P..ple..plea…"

Boltini felt the slave relax. He saw the mouth become slack, the eyes rolling backwards into the sockets. He threw the dead body against the wall, bent down slowly and picked up the gun.

Boltini didn't know what he was doing, but he did know that he just killed a man. He watched as his counter part choked that young slave. He did not know why he did it, or the other him did it, only that, whatever happened, it has released part of his anger, his frustration, his pain as he tried to control his counter part.

"Ah…" EWDEE whimpered. Boltini has been holding on to her hand for a few minutes now, and it's starting to hurt.

Anna tried to release Boltini's hand, but it was no use, any minute now, something is going to pop, and that something is Boltini. She can see the beads of sweat on his forehead; see the pressure on his corneas as she scanned him as he closed his eyes tighter and tighter. It's as if every muscle in Boltini's body was tensing up to the limit.

"Shields are down!" PG shouted through the growing mist that's filling the bridge.

"They're targeting our power grid!"

"Evasive maneuvers!"

The ship shook as more barrages hit the hull.

"Hull breach on deck 4!"

"Seal it!"

"They've taken out the Madison sir!"

"That's 11 ships!"

"Stop that!"

"Almost there…" Boltini muttered quietly.

"GET. OUT."

"NO!"

Boltini now stood in front of the warp core on the Incendiary, and slowly raised the gun he got from the slave, which he just murdered in cold blood. He pointed it at the core, his head now sweating bullets and pounding as if it's going to explode.

"Press the button…"

"NO!"

"Press it!"

"NOOOOO!"

"PRESS! IT!"

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

"Hull breach on deck 7!"

"Seal it off!"

"Sir, I'm detecting a large power surge in the Incendiary."

"On screen."

The bridge was so filled with smoke now that Adam can barely see where he was going, but he did see what he hoped to see all along. For a moment, all weapons stopped on the Incendiary, then, as if time decided to jump ahead, the view screen was filled with a bright white light. The Incendiary split apart into a million pieces and each piece was then blown to bits, taking the Trilithium with it.

The Vanguard and the remaining 6 ships took the brunt of the shockwave, the crewmembers lost their footing and tumbled onto the floor, but those who knew what had happened couldn't be happier.

"Yes!" screamed PG into the foggy room.

Boltini relaxed every muscle in his body and fell back onto the biobed. He had let go of EWDEE's hand, but she did not let go of his. She put her free hand on his face and wiped the sweat off of it.

Anna quickly ran to Boltini's other side and scanned him. From EWDEE's perspective, Boltini seemed dead, and this sent an unbelievable chill down her spine.

"Minor damages to his brain tissue, nothing I can't fix, or we can't fix, depending on whether your hand is broken."

"I'll…I'll be fine" said EWDEE as she starred mournfully at the body of Boltini.

Unlike the other ships, the bridge crew of the Vanguard was not celebrating, there's still something they needed to do.

"Full sensor scans, if Boltini's here, Garibaldi must be here also." Adam said.

"Agreed." Said mcmac and proceeded to tap away at his console.

"Luga to bridge."

"This is the bridge." Adam said.

"Sir, AdmH and Keyser are gone."

"What!"

"They've been beamed away…"

The chamber echoed with the sound of transporter beams as AdmH and Keyser made their entrance known in the presence of Garibaldi. AdmH looked around her, it was a very large chamber, one wall was lined with antiquated technology, and the one opposite had massive pictures, or paintings, of men, who were all depicted as being powerful and arrogant. Underneath each painting were inscriptions. AdmH read them, they were actually very interesting, filled with names of machines that she guessed were invented by these men. However, her attention was quickly focused on something else. She looked down and she saw, surrounding her, a circle of light on the ground. She edged towards it, and instantly came in contact with a forcefield. She sighed, knowing that was coming. She stood back up and looked around and saw a panicking Keyser.

"Hey," she said.

"Huh? What?" Said Keyser, agitated.

"You know this place?"

"Yes, this is Garibaldi's lair." Keyser said, making AdmH's guess right.

AdmH saw how Keyser is very fidgety, and understood that this must be very overwhelming for him. She turned around in the small forcefield cell to look at the room better.

"Keyser, look!"

Keyser snapped out of it and saw a young man lying on a metal bed behind him.

"Jason!" Keyser said, and anger flared up within him. "What the hell has he done?" He said as he pounded on the forcefield surrounding him, without feeling the pain.

"I've done what I had to do." Came a calm voice from behind Keyser.

He turned around, and came face to face with the man who had been in his mind for half of his life. Hate rose in him and within a blink of an eye he was pounding and pounding on the forcefield, practically screaming at Garibaldi.

"Please Keyser…calm down."

"WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO JASON!"

"Not much, please."

He walked towards a panel on the wall full of equipment, at all times being starred at by Keyser. He tapped a few buttons, and after a few clicking noises, a cartridge slid out. He took it and walked over to AdmH.

"Ann Hawthorne, I've heard a lot about you." He said, again very calm.

AdmH remained silent.

"You know, Keyser liked you a lot, I remember hearing from Curian how you were hell of a team, heh…" He said as he reached down and clicked a few switches on a panel attached to his belt. Almost instantly a small hole, just big enough to fit the cartridge, opened up in AdmH's forcefield.

"DON'T TAKE IT!" Screamed Keyser.

Garibaldi looked worryingly at Keyser, and then dropped the cartridge through the hole onto the floor.

"There is very important information in that cartridge." He said. "It contains all the information I have on the Kraal."

"Who are they?" Said AdmH in monotone.

"They are a very dangerous species."

AdmH starred at him with quizzical eyes. Instead of elaborating however, Garibaldi turned to Keyser.

"Keyser, you realize that I've been leaving you alone for the last couple of months?"

"I thought that you might've been dying." Said Keyser, with a wishful tone in his voice.

"Not quite, I've been focusing my time on scanning the area, for the Kraal vessels."

"What's so bloody important about the Kraal?"

"Well, the Kraal are from a dwarf galaxy close to the Milky Way, and I've found that they've been sending ships here." He moved in on AdmH. "They're planning an invasion."

AdmH didn't know how to respond to this.

"In any case, when I release you, and I will, eventually, you'll need to give that cartridge to Starfleet, it's worth looking at, I'm sure."

Keyser shook his head. "Tell us, old man, why are we here!"

"The part of the reason has been revealed, in that cartridge." He paused and walked towards Jason. "The other part is for the parents to see the child succeed."

"What the hell does that mean!"

"I'm going to activate the chip in Jason's mind…"

Keyser stood there, silent for a split second after this blunt announcement. He knew what he was facing, he was behind a forcefield, and there was Garibaldi, the only man that he would like to kill, even without the chip in his head being activated, is standing beside his son, trying to make him just like himself…

"Why are you doing this?" He said, calmly.

"What?" Asked Garibaldi, stuck in his tracks.

"I remember, when I was younger, I've asked you that question, and you've never answered it."

"I have, you just don't remember."

"You're lying." Said Keyser, now with a hungry look on his face. "Why are you doing this?"

"Still got nothing." Said mcmac. "Sir, I've scanned this area 5 times already…"

"We're not gonna give up! There must be another way!"

"Sir!" Said Ice as he starred at the screen with his mouth open.

Adam turned around and did the same. He saw as parts of space was being ripped apart, then sealing itself back up again. He then realized, as he looked more closely, that debris from the late Incendiary was hitting some kind of solid surface and was shattering it.

"What the hell…?"

"I'm reading a neutron burst every time that happens…" Said mcmac.

"Neutron bursts are associated with cloaking devices." Said Kaitz.

"But that's massive!" Exclaimed Adam. "I mean, it looks like a wall…"

"A whole planet." Said PG. "That must be it."

"You're saying they cloaked a whole planet?"

"The overall distribution of neutron bursts does conform to a spherical surface." Said mcmac.

Adam kept looking at the screen. "And if Boltini was here, Garibaldi must be here as well."

Adam took his eyes from the screen and nearly sprinted for the Turbolift.

"Ah…sir?"

"PG, you're in command, I'll be in sickbay."

"Why…" Garibaldi muttered to himself. "Why…well, I guess I can tell you that…"

"Just spill it old man!" Cried Keyser.

"Why? I do this because it's my duty to do it." He paused and glanced around. He rested his eyes on the massive paintings opposite the machinery. "These men, they were brilliant, and I'm just lucky enough to be their successor."

"That's it?" Said Keyser. "Is that why you spent more than three-quarters of your life on this planet!"

"What are you saying?"

"I'm saying, there's no point in any of this." Keyser said and put his hands in his hair in frustration. "Why don't you just go out and explore space or something!"

"It's my duty…"

"Screw your duty!" Yelled Keyser. "That…that Trilanis person is just some mad scientist!"

"You won't speak that way about him!" Yelled Garibaldi. "I've spent more than a century here and-."

"-and you wasted all that time!" Screamed Keyser. "You've wasted your life! And now you're going to waste my son's life as well!"

"I did NOT waste my life!"

"Yes you did! You were stuck here like a prisoner, just because of some inane duty!"

"IT'S NOT INANE!" Screamed Garibaldi, as he ran up to Keyser. "You have no idea how wonderful it is to live beneath such heroes! You spent all that time gallivanting around the galaxy, you have no idea what it's like!"

"I don't want to know what it's bloody like!" Cried Keyser in frustration. "Don't you see! You've wasted your life here! You can still get away, you still have time!"

Garibaldi wavered on the spot. "What would be the point! Starfleet is just going to get me!"

Keyser starred back, apparently at a loss for words. He had been so against Garibaldi that he had totally forgotten that he was a criminal, after all.

"Now," said Garibaldi. "If you don't mind, I'll need to finish what I've started with Jason here, and hopefully I can enjoy what's left of my life after that."

"Get away from him!" Shouted AdmH.

"Please Admiral, I thought you would be happy to see your son succeed."

"I don't call that succeeding."

"Well, that's just too bad then!"

Sickbay was full of patients by the time Adam came along. He dodged doctors and nurses, and finally reached Anna.

"Anna," said Adam, out of breath.

"Can it wait?" Said Anna. "I'm very busy here."

"Get out the chip, we're going to use it."

"What! Now?"

"Yes, I think Garibaldi's got AdmH and Keyser."

Anna hesitated slightly. "Fine." She said and quickly went and returned with the chip. "I just hope you know what you're doing."

AdmH and Keyser starred on helplessly as Garibaldi snatched up instrument after instrument to activate the chip in Jason's brain. They can hear the shrill sounds of the equipment, and even the slight laughter of Garibaldi.

Keyser stood there with his fists and teeth clenched starring at Garibaldi with a mix of hate and disbelief.

"Done." Said Garibaldi.

At that moment, a sharp pain shot through the spins of all but AdmH, she covered her ears as the others screamed in pain, even the unconscious Jason. The pain on their faces disturbed AdmH, it invoked memories, dreadful memories, all those faces, when she shot them…the confusion…the screams…

A banging sound filtered through AdmH's fingers and she turned to Keyser: he was kicking at the circle of light surrounding him. At all times he was screaming, hands covering his head, not caring that his elbows were hitting the force fields repeatedly. He kept kicking and kicking, and within moments, the ground broke, the light flared out, and the force field collapsed.

Keyser then staggered towards AdmH and started to do the same thing to her force field. Almost with instinct she did the same thing, still stunned at what's happening with the others. She heard the ground shatter, she saw the force field spatter and go out.

"AdmH to Vanguard!" She said, tapping her combadge.

There was silence. AdmH starred around her, and she knew what she must do. She ran up to the machineries on the wall, and began tapping buttons randomly. She started to panic.

"Yes!"

She took a look at the schematic of the facility now showing up on the small, primitive screen, and ran out of the room. She ran through dark corridors, which are very reminiscent to that of Moon Base Fluffy Bunny. She turned a corner, then another, then another.

She arrived at a door at the end of the hallway and kicked it open. She was delighted to see it: a massive, primitive machine, with scrap metal lying across the floor. She picked up a steel bar and pounded and pounded on the machine. She can hear the machine struggling under the pressure she is now putting on it. The ground started to shake, but she kept banging.

Then she heard it – as if air was being let out of a large balloon. In a flash of a second, a panel only inches to her right burst open, hitting her in the thigh, and in turn it and her were thrown across the room.

She can feel her heading hurting, but she no longer had the strength to see if there was any blood. She saw the cloaking machine shut down, and the lights emitting from it fading. With her last ounce of strength, she reached up to her chest, and tapped her combadge.

"PG," said mcmac. "I'm getting a signal from the surface. Audio only."

"On speakers."

"…En…energize…"

"The cloak is going down!" Said Ice.

PG watched as a gray wall of stone suddenly hid the Briar Patch in front of him. In the upper right corner there was the edge of what seemed like a massive crater. He had no time for this.

"PG to Transporter room, lock on to all bio signs and beam them aboard!"

"Yes sir!" Replied Nibbles.

"Weapons, target the facility."

"Weapons locked."

"Fire!"

The bridge crew saw the torpedoes sailing away from them towards the gray wall. For a moment there was nothing. PG shielded his eyes just in time, as a bright flash came across the screen. The last of Garibaldi's legacy is finally gone.

Anna quickly shut off the chip as 4 people were beamed into her already crowded workspace.

"Medical emergency!" She yelled and ran to Keyser.

Adam, on the other hand, ran to AdmH. That little part of him that told him to not hate this woman who was now lying in front of him has grown exponentially in the past little while, and he was disturbed to see her in such conditions. He barely noticed the ensign that was scanning her.

"Concussions." The ensign said, and started to move away, only to be stopped by Adam.

"What are you doing?" Said Adam in disbelief.

"This is triage captain, her injuries are not that serious-."

"-It's serious enough!" Adam starred at the ensign for a moment, and then let him go. "Sorry."

The ensign quickly disappeared in the crowd, leaving Adam to look after AdmH.

"Mmmm…" She stirred.

"Admiral? Can you hear me?"

"A…Adam?"

"Yes, Admiral, how are you feeling?"

"Pretty lousy…" She paused, and tried to look more directly at Adam. "I thought you hated me…"

Adam bit his lip. "I…"

"Don't worry Adam, I understand…" She tried to breath deeper but it hurts, and at the same time it hurts Adam to see that. "You don't know how many times that has went through my mind…the screams Adam, the yells, the disbelief on their faces…it's only normal that you feel the same way…"

"No! I…I don't hate you!"

"Are you sure?"

Adam hesitated for a moment. Did he? She killed so many of her crew, yet he cannot feel the hate that has been stored in him in the past 2 months. All he felt now was the shame of what he's done.

"I'm…I'm so sorry Admiral!"

"It's…it's alright."

"No it's not! I…I don't know what happened, it's as if I felt it was my duty to hate you…"

AdmH was momentarily struck by the word "duty", but quickly recovered. "It's natural…"

Adam cannot explain it, he's felt so many things, said so many words to himself to justify everything, he cannot tell her everything right now, it would be too much, for both her and him.

"I'm sorry Admiral…"

"It's quite alright…"

Medical Officer's Log, supplemental: I'm happy to say that AdmH, Boltini, and Jason will make full recoveries. As for Keyser, EWDEE and I were able to remove the chip from his mind, he will survive, but he'll need a few months' rest, at least. On the other hand, Garibaldi's not doing as well…

"How long has he been in this coma?" Asked Adam.

"A few hours now." Anna said as she handed Adam a PADD. "As you can see, the chip has been in his brain for far too long, he'll die instantly if we remove it."

"What's your point?" Said Boltini.

Anna and Adam ignored him. "But with the chip," Anna continued. "He'll remain in that coma."

"That won't be good for the trial…"

"Trial?"

"Yes, the Admiral, Keyser and Garibaldi are having a trial when we get home."

Anna looked over at Garibaldi; a concerned look crossed her face. "Well, I guess those engineers are just going to have to work their way around it."

"What about Keyser?"

"Oh, Jason's volunteered to help him, he can walk a little bit after all."

"Jason's helping?" Asked Adam in surprise.

"Oh yes, he's had quite a change of heart after his ordeal, I wouldn't blame him."

Adam nodded absent-mindedly. "I'll be on the bridge."

"And I have a house call to make." Said Anna.

"Who?" Asked EWDEE.

"Ensign Palling, I think he's developed a case of Hypochondria."

EWDEE looked at her in pity. "Good luck."

"I'll need it."

"So," EWDEE said, turning to Boltini once Anna left. "Looks like you redeemed yourself."

"What?"

"I remember, 2 months ago, NAH told me that you said you wanted to make it up to everyone, that you would redeem yourself."

"Did I say that?"

"Oh yes…unless NAH was just playing a joke on me."

"Hmm…"

"What's wrong?"

"What?"

"You seem depressed."

"I'm not depressed…" Boltini said. "Just thinking…"

"Ok…"

They both sat there for a few minutes, neither one of them talking with the other. EWDEE was slightly curious as to what Boltini was thinking about, but decided against asking him. She was just trying to guess, in her head, what he could be thinking when Garibaldi knocked her out of her daydream.

"He's in shock!" Said EWDEE as she got up to help the convulsing Garibaldi, but something was holding her back.

"No." Said Boltini.

"Nick!" EWDEE yelled. "I've got to help him!"

"No! He doesn't need help!"

"Yes he does! If I don't help him-."

"-He'll die? Fine!"

A continuous, high frequency sound was now heard near Garibaldi's bed. EWDEE slowly turned her head to him and felt Boltini's grip relax. She made her way slowly towards him.

"He's dead…" She whispered. She looked over to Boltini, who now had a gaunt look on his face. She didn't quite recognize him.

Two beds away laid Keyser, who wore a slight smile on his face.

"Energize." Said Adam. "And Good Luck."

AdmH and Keyser, supported by Jason, beamed into the spacious waiting room just outside the courtroom. The Vanguard along with her small fleet had arrived at Earth merely 2 hours ago, yet here they are, ready for their fate to be pronounced on them.

Slowly, they made their way to the door of the courtroom. It wasn't easy for Keyser, who still hasn't really gained the use of his legs yet. Jason, who helped him, whispered encouragements into his ear for comfort. AdmH looked at them both and smiled, believing that this could be the best family reunion that they could hope for.

The dark oak doors to the courtroom opened and they made their way through it. The chamber was massive; the walls were gray with stands on both sides. AdmH saw her senior crew sitting in the front row, NAH even waved at her. She also saw Admiral Janeway, who smiled at her with her trademark, crooked smile.

"We have reviewed your testimony." The judge said. "And the court is ready to pronounce judgment."

The senior crew looked at AdmH worryingly.

"Keyser, we have seen that you were controlled by Garibaldi, we have also examined the chip that was in your brain. This court finds you…not guilty."

An eruption of angry calls came from the stands, and as Keyser is able to understand many alien languages, he was hurt. Jason even tried to say something to the heckling crowd, especially seeing that Keyser cannot defend himself and is obviously in a disadvantage here, but he caught AdmH's eye.

"However," the judge continued. "We cannot deny that you committed those crimes, and as with your colleague, Boltini, you will need to inform us of your location every 24 hours. And do not lie, as we WILL find out." He said, and pounded the gavel.

"Admiral Hawthorne, we have also seen that you were controlled by Garibaldi, albeit indirectly. However, because of that, and the fact that you did kill some of your crew…"

AdmH was nervous, and she can feel the tension in the air. However, she has long ago decided that she was going to face the music head on.

"…You are here demoted to Captain."

A mix of boos and cheers erupted from the crowd. CaptH caught the senior crew's eyes, and smiled with relief.

"Order! Order!" The judge said. "As of now, you are still assigned to the Vanguard, I'm sure you and Captain Adam can work out who will be in command." He banged his gavel again. "If there is no more business, court adjourned."

A rush of people came out of the stands. CaptH shook hands with Admiral Janeway, and headed off with her senior crew, along with Jason and Keyser, who were laughing.

"Oh, Captain Hawthorne, may I talk to you for a moment?" Said the judge.

"Yes sir." She turned to the others. "I'll see you guys on the ship."

She turned and walked quickly to the other end of the chamber. "What's the problem?"

"We've reviewed the cartridge that Garibaldi gave you."

"Yes sir?"

"We know about the Kraal." He said, after a slight pause.

"What do you mean?"

"The things Garibaldi told you, it's all true."

"You mean…the invasion?"

"Yes, we have reasons to believe that the Kraal is indeed trying to invade Federation space, and we think their base is in the Briar Patch."

"What are our orders?"

"After the Vanguard is repaired, she will be in patrol around the Briar Patch for an indefinite period of time, if nothing unsuspected happens."

"Yes sir."

The judge bent down and put his hands on CaptH's shoulder. "Listen captain," he said, with a much more personal, more fearful tone. "The Kraal is a very dangerous species," he paused. "War is coming, and I don't think we can stop it."

To be continued...

Author
PG15