Disclaimer: None of us own Star Trek. None of us own Star Trek Online, though we all have Accounts there, and Takeshi Yamato and Ron the True Fan have Lifetime Subscriptions. We only own our OCs and OC-Specific Plotlines. Anything else you may recognize is the property of its respective owner.

Chapter 2: The Windstorm

2409 AD – Kyoto, Japan

"Captain's Log - Stardate 86026.7: We've returned to Earth Spacedock, and the Ptolemaeus is getting her refit back up to modern starfleet standards as any repairs needed on the Yorktown are performed as well. In the meantime, I'm heading down to earth with Captain Pinkerton so that he can reunite with an… old friend."

Earth had been through a lot in the past century. Layton's uprising, the Battle of Sector 001, the Breen attack. But the capital of the Federation had recovered as Ron had noticed from the cockpit of the Type-6 shuttle that was currently flying over his hometown. "I see that Kyoto's done well over the years." Ron said. "Anyone know if Itsukushima Shrine is still holding those plays?"

"They do," Jaden said as the shuttle approached the landing area. "My family goes there every once in a while, though with the family pretty much being all over the place dealing with Klingons, Dominion, Romulans… we haven't been able to go much more."

"Well, once the Klingons know I'm back, the status quo from my era'll come back with a vengeance," Ron said.

"You seem sure of that."

"For 22 years, I was the main reason no one tried to invade," Ron said. "They saw the Exeter or Ptolemaeus, they either stood their ground and died, or ran screaming. More often than not, it was the latter." The shuttle came down near the Takeo family compound, and Ron cricked his neck. "So, how's Ishmael?"

"He's been doing good… for a man well over a hundred years old," Jaden said. "After you vanished, he got his own command of a few starships… this is actually his second retirement actually - he came out of retirement in 2380 to deal with that… Vulcan Whore you keep mentioning - and made sure while doing it, he was commanding the Exeter."

"Wait, Exeter?" Ron asked, and Jaden chuckled a bit.

"Ambassador-class, NCC-26531," he said. "He said he wanted to 'cram the name Exeter down that bitch's throat so deep she can't even try to beg for mercy'."

"Well, at least I got retroactive revenge." The elder captain stood up, smoothing out his red jacket. "At least my timing's not going to be as bad as it is with Shirou." Jaden did not want to know.

"Anyways, he's in here," Jaden said, as they arrived at a room of the compound. "I'm not sure if Starfleet has informed him about… well, you being here yet, though."

"Surprise." Ron knocked on the door.

"I'm coming, I'm coming, keep your pants on!" An elderly voice responded, before the door opened, and once the man within saw Ron and adopted the most surprised look on his face that would ever come to pass, Ron smirked. "Surprise, motherfucker!"

The old man's mouth was agape, as he looked at the man before him. "N-no… y-you… can't…" he muttered, taking a step back in shock. "R-Ron? Is… is that you?"

"No, I'm the Spanish inquisition. Of course it's me!" Ron said, with a short roll of his eyes. "Alright, something only we would know… My last orders to you when we were on the Exeter at Lantaru were, 'Get the fuck to the shuttlebay, or by God-'"

"'The Klingons will wonder how they can hear screaming in the vacuum'," Ishmael muttered, his eyes widening further before he smirked. "Goddamnit, it really is you!" He grabbed Ron on the shoulder, chuckling. "Fuck, it's good to see you! Where the hell have you been? You haven't aged a damn day!"

"That's what happens when you get stuck in the time dilation field of a black hole," Ron said. "You don't age as fast as you want to. In fact, you don't DO anything. I was frozen for over a century. Kinda surprised you didn't go on the warpath to recover my ass."

Ishmael sighed as he lead them inside, as he took a seat. "I would've, Ron… goddamnit I would've…" he said. "But fucking you know who stopped me at every turn. And with you gone, someone had to keep the Klingons and Romulans in line - and that someone became me and Shirou." Ishmael let out a deep sigh. "Goddamnit… you were always there… if we'd just taken a damn science vessel and just looked we would've found ya… and Riza… damnit… "

"Remind me to introduce Sanjuichi to a couple of tanks of warp plasma coolant," Ron said, as Jaden's commbadge beeped.

"Earth Spacedock to captain Takeo."

Jaden hit his badge, giving Ron and Ishmael some time alone to chat. "Takeo here, what is it?" He asked.

"Could you please return to ESD? Admiral Quinn wants to speak with you."

Jaden glanced back at the pair. "Gramps, I gotta head back to ESD," he said. "I'll be back later."

"Don't take too long, Jaden," Ishmael said. "I want to know how your training flight went."

"It ended with him taking command of a Connie, and me getting promoted to Captain in a week - that's how it ended."

ESD

Jorel Quinn was speechless. "20 simulations. Zero losses." They had put the sealed intel on Ron and the specs for the Ptolemaeus into a simulation that was, for lack of a better term, David against Goliath: Wolf 359. When HE was added, the cube took damage faster than the one at Typhon, and was even destroyed while the rest of the fleet had suffered NO LOSSES.

"Admiral, Captain Takeo is here, as you requested."

"Send him in."

The Door slid open as Jaden walked inside the Admiral's office, saluting. "Admiral sir, you wanted to see me?" He asked.

"Captain, I wanted you to know that I put every sealed bit of tactical information we have on Captain Pinkerton through a computer simulation. I put him through Wolf 359."

Jaden winced. Wolf 329 resulted in the deaths of 11000 Starfleet personnel and 39 ships wrecked. "He not only turned the tide, he destroyed the cube," the Admiral said. "While we took no losses."

"Wait… no losses?!" Jaden asked with wide eyes. "But… but that damn cube destroyed thirty nine ships! And with Picard assimilated, the Borg knew what our technology and tactics then were like!"

"I know. But Pinkerton does not think like a normal Starfleet officer," the admiral said. "His file was redacted from Starfleet Academy records for one reason: he beat the Kobayashi Maru."

"So did Kirk!"

"Kirk cheated; Pinkerton didn't. They put him through that exercise five times; they locked him in the brig after the first time until they got the picture: he was just that good at commanding a ship in battle. The sixth time, they had to add 60 D6 cruisers just to make him fail and he STILL destroyed most of them before he threw in the towel!"

"Jezzus…" Jaden muttered. "Fuck, we've seen what he could do in a Connie against a modern Klingon Dreadnought, imagine what he could do with the refit Ptolemaeus? Or an Odyssey?"

"I don't want to think about it. Speaking of which, the heads of Tactical and Intelligence want him acclimated to the 25th Century."

"I thought they hate each other."

"I know. That in and of itself shows that they want him in fighting shape," the Admiral said. "To that degree, we've assigned you to a task force including the Raging Tempest, the Yorktown and the Ptolemaeus. Captain Miller will be joining you in a few days as soon as she gets here from K7."

"Understood sir," Jaden said, nodding. "I'll be sure to let the Captain know. Is there anything else I should know?"

"That we're having negotiations with the Klingons in the Regulus system," the Admiral said. "Starfleet Command will be sending your task force, for… obvious reasons."

"You do realize the moment Ron steps foot there, every last Klingon ship is going to be gunning for him, right?" Jaden asked.

"We're hoping enough of the Klingons who faced him remember how often he's whooped their asses survived and are there to make sure they DON'T start something," the Admiral said. "They might be warriors who see honor more often than they see reason, but they aren't stupid. Otherwise they wouldn't be a spacefaring species."

"Let's hope so," Jaden said with a sigh. "I'll be sure to let Ron know, we'll be over at the Regulus System when the negotiations begin."

"Then you're dismissed, Captain. In the meantime, I'm going to run him through Operation Return and the Second Battle of Chin'toka." Jaden did not want to know what the outcomes of those would be. He knew what they would be in general - Ron winning - but not how BADLY the enemy would suffer.

USS Raging Tempest

Takeshi was sitting in his office on his ship, going over what information he could dig up on Pinkerton. He had his grandfather's stories, true, but he felt he needed a broader picture. He'd run into a bit of a dead end with the official records - classified and blacked out so badly that all you had was his name and date of birth - so Takeshi had had to call in a few favors with Tieria Erde, an Information Broker he'd dealt with in the past.

The information was still spotty, but the classified intel painted him as death incarnate: he took command of the Exeter - Deliverance-Class refit into a Constitution, NCC-1672 - and basically fucked up the Klingons in the Cathra system after its' recovery. His helmsman, Riza, was a Romulan-made, genderbent clone of himself that had basically defected to Starfleet (he didn't have all the records on THAT encounter) his Chief Engineer just popped out of nowhere in 2283, and he took command of the Ptolemaeus in 87, two years after the destruction of the Exeter. HOW the Exeter was destroyed was still something he didn't know: Erde wasn't THAT connected.

'Still, despite all the stuff I still don't know, it's no surprise they call him a Fleet Killer,' Takeshi thought. 'Wonder what they'll do now that he's back…'

"Sir, message from Admiral Quinn," Rina reported from the Bridge. "We're being reassigned."

"Oh?"

"They're forming a new task force, under Captain Pinkerton. We're part of it, as well as the Yorktown."

It made sense to Takeshi: they were taking advantage of the man's experience: Ron had commanded ships for almost three decades, while he and Jaden were still rather wet behind the ears. And, of course, it would be one hell of a morale boost to have the second power trio of the 23rd Century reunited, even if only one of them was from that century.

"Understood," Takeshi said as he got up from his desk. "Any word as to our first assignment?"

"We're to head to Regulus as soon as the Ptolemaeus is ready."

"The peace negotiations," Takeshi realized. "Isn't the Kirk in that general area?"

"Yes, sir."

"They're really stacking the deck," Takeshi said as he remembered reading who the Kirk's Security Officer was. "Both the Windstorm and the Kuvah'Magh - this'll be interesting."

USS Ptolemaeus

"WHY did you bring him on board, sir?" One of the security officers asked, as Ron walked with Ishmael through the ship, heading towards the Turbolift.

"Ishmael Takeo was my XO for 22 years: he deserved to take a tour of her." Ron said.

"He's seen dozens of Excelsior-Class starships!"

"And none of them are the Ptolemaeus," Ishmael said, with a roll of his eyes as he followed Ron, managing to keep up with his pace despite using a cane, stepping inside the turbolift. "I'm guessing he was new around here?"

"I lost 400 people last month to the Klingons and the Romulans." Ron said, "They decided to say 'fuck it, we hate him more than we hate you' and tried to blow up the ship."

"They never seem to learn, do they?" Ishmael asked with a smirk, causing Ron too chuckle. "No, they don't." He said, before the lift stopped as they arrived at the bridge.

"Sir, we got a message… from…" Corspa began to say, before the bridge crew all saw who was with him. "I-Ishmael? Is that you?"

Ishmael chuckled a bit as he walked onto the bridge. "Yup… good to see the gang's all here, and in one piece," he said, glancing at Sonja with a small smirk. "So how you liking 25th century tech, Sonja?"

"Uh… it's a lot better than ours back in the 2290s," Sonja said, "Going to have to proof it against some of the shit we usually run into. I could use some help in engineering: they're putting in a new warp core."

"Sonja, I invited him up for a tour, not to-" Ron began, but Ishmael raised his hand.

"It's fine," he said. "Won't able to do much, but I'll help. What's the core?"

"Hell of a lot more powerful than the last one: uses some kind of fancy chronoton-infused casing to create a state of flux," Sonja said, "Prevents warp core breaches from… well, doing their thing."

"Just tell me where ya need me," Ishmael said, nodding. "May be old, but I sure as hell ain't senile."

Sonja looked at Ishmael for a moment before she chuckled a bit. "It's good to have you back, Ish." She said.

"Same," Ishmael said, before he diverted his attention towards a certain helmsman, who had also diverted her attention to him. "Riza…"

"Commander," Riza said, with slightly narrowed eyes. "Or should that be captain, now?"

"Riza-" Ish began to say, but Riza looked at her brother. "Sir, I would like permission to go over to ESD. We need to upgrade our shuttlecraft as well as acquire replacements."

Ron blinked. "That's the quartermaster's job-" Riza's glare shut his brother up. "Ok, permission granted." Riza left the bridge.

"She still hasn't forgiven you for taking command of the Alliance," Ron said with a sigh. "Even though I'm the one who pushed you."

Ishmael let out a tired sigh. "I didn't want to leave the Ptolemaeus… I didn't want to leave any of you…" he said. "You convinced me it was for the best, but… it never felt right, not without you, the others, or her… and when ya'll vanished, it just made that guilt feel worse… wishing I had just said no and stayed with you all…" Ishmael shook his head. "Great, now I'm really starting to sound old…"

"If you didn't go, you'd've been trapped like the rest of us," Ron said. "Hell, I'm wishing I didn't go to that system at all. But we can't change history."

"You know better than that." Ishmael retorted with a knowing smirk.

"Not without making things worse, you ass," Sonja said with a chuckle. "I'll walk you down to Engineering. I owe you that much, at least."

"Lead the way, Sonja." Ishmael said, as Sonja and he left for the Turbolift to head for engineering.

"Corpsa, you were saying?" Ron asked.

"We uh, recieved a message from Admiral Quinn," the Andorian said. "He wants us, the Yorktown, Raging Tempest, and another ship to head to Regulus for the negotiations with the Klingons."

"Oh, lovely," Ron muttered. "I'm going to check what kind of torpedoes we have: the photons are great and all, but when you have to remove the safety interlocks to get them to 200 isotons, it's a pain in the ass."

"So, they didn't put in the upgrades I made back in the 80s," Sonja muttered, as she and Ishmael headed towards engineering.

"Huh?"

"The structural upgrades to the Connie!" Sonja shouted. "You know, the ones that would make a single ship last 70 years without a major rebuild?"

"Ah yeah, those," Ishmael said, recalling how Sonja had once told him about a massive upgrade to the Constitution-class line. "From what I recall, after you vanished they didn't have any of your plans for the upgrades on hand, so the resources that would have gone to them were used for newer starships like the Constellation-class, Excelsior-classes, and such. I tried to find the files myself, but… it was like they just vanished off the face of Starfleet records." He then smirked a bit. "Hopefully now, both with you and Scotty around the Connie can be reborn again."

"Wait, Scotty?" Sonja asked, blinking in surprise. "Scotty's still alive?!"

"Yeah, USS Enterprise-D found him - he had put himself in a sort of Transporter stasis after his ship crashed back in 2294 - and stayed there for 74 years before the Big E found him in 2369. Last I heard, he's still working with Starfleet Corps of Engineers. He managed to solve how to conduct transwarp beaming."

"Goddamn, he got lucky, like us," Sonja said. "If you could call getting trapped with those assholes from Lantaru in a black hole for 11 decades lucky."

"Those guys, we know now," Ishmael said with a sigh. "They're called Borg."

"I do not want to know how. But I kinda need to," Sonja said. "How?"

"Starfleet first encountered the Borg when some omnipotent being called Q sent the Enterprise-D to J-25 - 7,000 lightyears from Federation space - to meet a Borg Cube there." Ishmael said with a growl. "I've fought Borg plenty of times after you and Ron went missing… when you fight them, don't hold back. One Cube managed to destroy nearly 40 Starships at Wolf 359 after assimilating the captain of the Enterprise-D. I don't need to tell you how much shit we'd be in if it were Ron that got assimilated."

"We would be doomed, that's what," Sonja said, shaking her head. "Wish they got us out of there for that shitstorm: so many lives…"

"We got better at kicking their asses," Ishmael said. "Blew up a cube before it got to Earth, then Voyager - you're going to hear that a LOT - crippled their transwarp network and practically killed the Collective."

"Whoever Voyager's captain is, he's got balls of steel for pulling a Ron out of his ass," Sonja said, as Ishmael chuckled.

"She, actually," Ishmael said. "Captain Kathryn Janeway - well, Admiral Janeway now. Believe me, I think Ron'll like working with her if we do…" however, he then frowned. "But now with the Borg back in full swing… they've had to have replenished most of their former strength now… that's not going to make things easy on any of us."

"If not more. Here's hoping we find a way to strike back at them in wherever they come from."

"The Delta Quadrant."

"Yeah, there."

Both entered a turbolift, which took them down to main engineering. "Report, kiddies!" Sonja shouted. Most of the engineering staff were wearing the old beige and red cadet/NCO uniforms, and Ishmael shook his head. The Exeter/Ptolemaeus crew rivaled Scotty's staff on the Enterprise once.

"Well, we installed the new core, but we're having problems with the EPS conduits," One of the engineers said, "We could really use your help, ma'am. And yours… sir?"

"You got it." Ishmael said, cracking his knuckles. "Sonja, just tell me where ya need me."

"I'll rework the EPS conduits, get them to interface with this monster," Sonja said. "Once that's done, set the reaction to one-to-one, and we'll make sure this thing can't blow up in our faces. Fancy chronoton casing or not, I will never trust a warp core I don't know. And I DON'T know this core."

"Got it," Ishmael said, moving to one of the consols. "Ready when you are."

Sonja pulled out a laser torch, then walked toward one of the conduits before beginning her job. "Uh, sir?" one of the ensigns asked. "Commander Henderson doesn't get her hands dirty that much when we're around: says she has to make sure we don't blow up the ship because we have no clue what we're doing."

"Even though we do," Another one said.

"So, why does she trust you?" he asked. "Who are you?"

Ishmael chuckled a bit. "'Cause we've known each other for a long time," he said. "I've saved her ass about as many times as she's saved mine back in the day - plus I'm the only one who's ever proved her wrong 'bout something… just do me a favor and don't ask her about any incidents involving the Exeter's tractor beam and natural satellites."

"Got it ready!" Sonja shouted as she hopped off the portside conduit, then made a quick inspection of the starboard. "You brats need to be whipped. You did the job without telling me."

"Uh-"

"Relax. For once, you didn't fuck it up. Fire it up!"

"Setting reactor to one-to-one," Ishmael said, as he typed in the commands. "Here we go!"

The matter/antimatter reaction began, and almost immediately, something went wrong. "Ma'am, picking up chronoton particles building up in the reaction chamber!" One of the engineers shouted.

"Fucking SCE!" Sonja shouted. "They NEVER test this shit on the ground! Eject the core!"

"I can't; the bolts aren't firing!"

"Alright, GTFO: EVERYONE OUT OF HERE!"

"Goddamnit," Ishmael growled as he started moving as fast as he could. "Shouldn't have quit my workout-" However as he was saying this, a bolt of energy discharged from the reactor, and hit Ishmael square in the back, sending him flying to the other end of engineering.

"ISHMAEL! Get that thing shut the fuck down or ejected!"

"Yes, ma'am!"

She ran towards him, then noticed his body was arcing, as if electrified. "Not this shit again; I thought we were done with it back in 88!" She pulled out her communicator. "Henderson to Earth Spacedock: medical emergency! Two to beam directly to medical facility!"

"Locking on. Stand by." Both disappeared in columns of light.

"How is he?" Ron asked, as he followed Sonja towards ESD's sickbay.

"Stable," Sonja said with a sigh. "Thankfully, they had something for what happened."

"How?"

"Voyager, that's how."

Ron shook his head as he entered ESD's main sickbay with Commander Burgess. "I'm going to hear that a lot," he muttered.

"Well, according to the reports, he had the kidneys of a 12 year old boy and the liver of a 90 year old man," Sonja said. "Right now… well, he asked that that be a surprise."

Ron blinked, before he looked at the Cot where Ishmael was sitting up from… and his eyes widened, as Ishmael was no longer the man pushing well in his hundreds… but now he looked much closer to his mid-twenties, looking just the same as Ron remembered before he left for his command of the Alliance.

"Suprised? So am I," Ishmael said, as he gave himself a look at a mirror.

"How the fuck-"

"Same thing that happened to you back in 88, only we couldn't exactly use the main deflector to fix this with a chronoton pulse," Ishmael said. "Thankfully, Voyager ran into something like this in the Delta Quadrant, and… well. I'm fucking young again."

"May the Klingons weep in fear," Ron said, as he began smirking a bit. "I assume you'll get posted back on a ship. We need good captains out there, making those fucks piss off."

"If I'm going on any ship, it's gonna be yours, Ron," Ishmael said. "I got command of the Alliance, and the next thing I know Ptolemaeus goes MIA. I'm not leaving you guys this time - and don't you even try to convince me otherwise."

Ron was about to respond, before the medical bays opened as Jaden and Riza came inside. "Ron, what happened to Ish-" Riza began to say, before her eyes fell on Ish and proceeded to widen. "W-wha… Ish?" She asked, stunned.

"Yeah…" Ishmael said with a light chuckle, "Blame that new reactor for… well this. "

"The fuck?!" Jaden muttered. "How in the-"

"This happened before, only to me," Ron said. "It's why I look like I'm twenty, not 49. We get the shit the Enterprise doesn't. So, new assignment?"

"Uhh, yeah… we're to head for the negotiations in a few hours," Jaden said. "I, uhh… hope you're ready."

"We are." Ishmael said, before he stood up. "I'll be joining the Ptolemaeus's crew for this one… time to come out of retirement." He glanced at Riza. "And I ain't leaving this time."

"Sonja?" Ron asked.

"Yeah?"

"Make sure that thing doesn't pull that AGAIN," he said. "As soon as that's done, we're leaving."

"We're still going to need the new torpedoes." Sonja said.

"Ishmael, consider yourself reinstated and demoted to Commander: that's your job," Ron said. "Sonja, warp core, shields, phasers: get them to modern and safe spec."

"You got it sir," Sonja said, as Ish nodded as well.

"Getting on that now," he said, smirking. "Just like old times."

"So, where's the E-C?" Ron asked.

"E-C?" Jaden asked in return.

"Enterprise Captain," Ron said. "You know, NCC-1701-whatever suffix it has now?"

"Uhhh, there is no Enterprise… yet at least," Jaden said. "The Enterprise-E was destroyed last year, and the Enterprise-F hasn't been commissioned yet."

"That is NOT good," Ron muttered. "Whenever there hasn't been an Enterprise, shit hits the fan almost immediately."

"The Cetean probe?"

"Fuck yes. I was at Starfleet Academy when that fucking thing showed up. I am NOT having a repeat of that." Ron looked to Jaden. "I'll see you when I get back to the Ptolemaeus, Captain."

"Got it, sir," Jaden said, before he saluted and made his way to the transporter room.

USS Liberator

The sleek vessel, the Avenger-class USS Liberator emerged from warp, coming into view of the planet below. Or at least as close as they could get. The Liberator was perhaps the most unlikely vessel to join what was considered the worst task force any enemy would encounter, but considering the captain's reputation, it made perfect sense, especially with the fact that her fighting style put her at the top of the most "unlikely captains" list. Her random, out-of-control fighting style was not the best, but when confronted with unknown enemies, it always seemed to put them on edge and make them wary of Starfleet's ships.

The ship was slightly modded to account for her fighting methods, with slightly longer nacelles to account for speed and the shields were stronger for added defense. A major asset that threw most others for a loop was the fact that the Liberator was equipped with a cloaking device, something that aided her more than once. Also, the ship didn't carry shuttles. That was one thing that often made people wonder just who was in command of the vessel. The last modification was not really a modification at all… at least on the outside.

It was a modification done on the inside.

Within the hold were four weapons. And each one was equipped to a small platform with miniature wings and engines for flight. Each one was also equipped with a crude, rudimentary version of the cloaking device used by the Liberator, albeit not as effective, but it got the job done. Each drone consisted of a weapon from an alien race the Liberator had fought over the years, but one looked as if it had been partially assimilated by the Borg before it had been severed from the Collective. And each drone was controlled from four hastily assembled consoles on the bridge.

This was the secret weapon of the Liberator.

Captain Jessica Miller's brown eye softened a bit at the sight of her home world. She ran a hand through her short, messy brown hair and adjusted the headband she wore to keep her bangs out of her face. Her right eye was covered by an eye patch, with a scar barely visible above and below it. Unlike most other captains, she had taken to wearing a dark red trench coat that had the Starfleet emblem on the left side, right above her commbadge. And, as a result of several encounters with the Borg, her ship had within it a full stash of old 20th and 21st century projectile weapons: guns. Each crew member was also ordered to carry one gun as well as their phaser, but some crew even took to carrying bladed weapons; one man carried a farming sickle from his old home.

"Captain, we're approaching Space Dock," one of the bridge crew said.

She turned to look at him and nodded. "Right. Thanks." She walked over to not the command seat, but the helm and took the controls of the Liberator. She also had a habit of flying her own vessel, a trait that had saved it more than once.

At that point, the comm beeped and she looked back at Beth Rommel who was manning the comm station. The black haired woman looked up. "We're getting a transmission from Starfleet Command. Says it's urgent," she said.

"Patch it through," Jessica ordered.

Beth nodded and typed in the command.

Admiral Quinn appeared on the screen. "Captain Miller. I presume you aren't going to go running off AGAIN?" That WAS a frequent issue with her.

"No, sir," she said. "I just got back a few minutes ago. And I got a message saying that I'm supposed to meet up with…" She checked the orders on her PADD, which was lying on the console beside her. "A Jaden Takeo, Takeshi Yamato, and… Ronald Pinkerton!?" Her eyes went wide at that last name.

"Yes, he's alive. He's currently retrofitting the Ptolemaeus with more modern spec equipment, as he will be taking general command."

"Sir, Starfleet regulation 191 states that in a tactical situation, the ship with tactical superiority would lead a task force led by more than one captain. An Avenger is more powerful than any Excelsior," Jessica remarked as she narrowed her eye.

"Captain, it wouldn't matter if he were commanding a shuttlecraft: he would STILL kick your ass. He's in command."

Jessica pursed her lips as she pondered this. She knew of his rep from having heard a bit about him. But it wasn't much, and yet, she didn't doubt his skill. She looked up. "All right. So, when do I meet up with them? And what's the mission?"

"You're going to the Regulus system to make sure the negotiations go smoothly. Captain Pinkerton's presence will make things either easier or harder. It depends on the Klingons."

Jessica nodded. "Right. When do I meet up with the new task force?" she asked.

"Now: all of the ships are here. You're just waiting on him."

She nodded. "Right. Thanks, sir. Miller out."

USS Yorktown - Bridge

"So, what do we know about this Captain Miller?" Jaden asked, as he sat on the bridge of the Yorktown.

"A capable captain, with a few issues with authority," T'Vrell said, looking through the report. "She's no diplomat. And while she's very good at taking on starships, she isn't Captain Pinkerton: she's not a fleet killer."

"There's only one Ronald Pinkerton as my Grandpa says," Jaden said. "Let's hope she doesn't pull a Leroy Jenkins on us or something."

"Message from the Ptolemaeus: she's leaving port. At - he's insane; at full impulse!" The space doors opened, and the Ptolemaeus barely cleared them, showing of her helmsman's skills. "Ptolemaeus to all ships: enter formation and set course for the Regulus system, maximum warp."

"Captain, you do realize there are regulations that specifically say to not use impulse until you are OUTSIDE Spacedock?!" Elisa shouted.

"Meh. Riza can fly this thing out of tighter spaces than this at WARP speed. She's done it. I even have the logs to prove it. So, shall we?"

"Let's," Takeshi replied, as the Raging Tempest formed up alongside the Ptolemaeus.

The Liberator sped up alongside them next, throwing them for a loop. The Avenger-class still bore the marks of battle, but for the most part was in good shape.

"All ships in formation, Captain."

"Then…" Jaden smirked as he pointed forward. "Engage."

With that last command, the Liberator, Ptolemaeus, Raging Tempest, and Yorktown all entered Warp speed, vanishing away from earth towards their destination.

Regulus system

The moment the fleet arrived, they knew something was wrong. The Kirk was nowhere to be seen, and there were Orion ships all over the place, including a trio of Slavemaster-Class battleships.

"Called it," Ron said.

"What?"

"The Klingons are pulling the peace is bullshit card," Ron said with a sigh. "Or at least one of them is. Fucking Khitomer conspiracy."

"Well, best to let them know who they're up against now than later," Jaden said. "Would you like to do the introductions Ron?"

"With pleasure." Ron said, as Ishmael activated the Comm. "Orion vessels, this is Captain Ronald Pinkerton of the Federation starship Ptolemaeus. Explain your reasons for being here."

"You are not the one the Klingons are so scared of. The man's dead, and you'll join him in his grave!"

Ron sighed. "They never learn," he said. "Riza, Attack Pattern Pinkerton Lambda, Corpsa, photon torpedoes, dispersal pattern Zeta."

"Oh this is gonna be good," Ishmael said, grinning, as Riza did her thing. "Recording… now."

As the Ptolemaeus half-pipe/zig-zagged, the launchers fired out torpedo after torpedo, each impacting the Orion ships. "What the hell?! Why can't we hit him?!"

"HAHA! It IS the Windstorm!" A Klingon bird of prey decloaked, firing on an Orion Corsair cruiser. "Ka'pla, Windstorm! I am General Kaas of the Klingon Defense force! 'Ambassador' B'vat is responsible for this dishonorable incident: I only wished to meet with the Kuvah'magh and speak with your ambassadors. Allow me to assist."

"You just don't want me to blow your ass to Klingon hell."

"Hey, they ain't shooting at us - it's a plus either way," Jaden said. "Let's take care of these guys - Elisa, you know what to do!"

"Hey what about me!?" a female voice barked over the comm. "Leave some of these guys for me and my crew, too!"

"He who dares. Attack Pattern Pinkerton Zeta, dispersal pattern Delta!" The Ptolemaeus began its' assault, combined with the aggressive Avenger-Class ship, the small but deadly Sao Paulo, and the classic Constitution, the Orions decided that they weren't being paid enough for this. They ran. Screaming. Like little girls.

"Well… that was anti-climatic," Jaden muttered. "I was hoping for a bit more of a fight, but I won't complain."

"Damn right on that one…" the female voice from before muttered.

"This is something I actually aim for: them running away."

"Boss, transmission from the ground from a Lieutenant Miral Paris."

Ron shrugged. "Patch 'er through."

A moment later, a woman's voice was heard. "This is Lieutenant Paris: please respond!"

"What's the situation?" the first female voice, no doubt belonging to Captain Miller, asked.

"Orion ground forces, as well as Klingon attack teams, beamed down here and are setting up explosives. Security teams are responding, but there are a LOT of Orion mercs down here!"

"Not a problem. We specialize in merc removal. Sonja, Riza, transporter room 1. Time to clean house."

"Linda, get team one to the Transporter Room," Takeshi could be heard ordering. "Much as I'd like to head down there and introduce them to my sword, I'm needed up here in case more ships show up!"

"I'll head down myself," Jaden said. "Elisa, you've got command while I'm gone. Tell Alpha team to meet me in transporter room 1."

"I'm going, too!" Jessica remarked. "The rest of my crew can handle the ship well enough."

"Bring as many as you like: I LOVE a party." Ron looked at Riza and Sonja before they left the bridge in Ishmael's more than capable hands.

USS Yorktown - transporter room

"You know the drill, everyone," Jaden said, as he and T'Vrell entered the Transporter room where a team of Starfleet Officers decked in a type of body armor awaited them. "Standard tactics, keep your personal shields up, your eyes down range, fingers on your triggers, and we all come home in one piece."

"Sir, yes sir!" The Officers shouted as they moved onto the transporter pad.

"Let's do this," Jaden said, as he walked up to join them. "Energize."

THey were surrounded by light before they disappeared from the transporter room, then reappeared on the surface in front of a Klingon wearing a starfleet uniform. The lesser ridges identified her as a Klingon/human hybrid, and at the moment, there was only one of those in Starfleet: Miral Paris. "Captain, it's good to see a friendly face."

"Captain Jaden Takeo, USS Yorktown - glad we can help." Jaden said nodding. "If you have any wounded, we can beam them up to our ship now to be treated. We need to speak with whoever is in command down here."

"That… would probably be me," Miral said. "Most of the security personnel are NCOs."

Jaden nodded "Alright then, once Ron and the others beam down here, we can discuss a battle plan," He said.

The next group to join them was Jessica and her away team. The four materialized down on the planet's surface a few moments after Jaden had finished his sentence.

The first man with her was a big guy at six foot five and had short, yet shaggy brown hair that covered one of his eyes partially and he carried with him what looked to be a Remington shotgun, a bag draped over his shoulder, no doubt storage for extra ammo. He had ice blue eyes, and he looked to be very fit. His red uniform was strained against his body as a result.

The second person, a woman, had blonde, almost platinum hair, and dark green eyes. She stood at a more modest five foot ten and she wore the same uniform as the big man. She carried with her two submachine guns, and around her waist was a set of other clips. She looked back at the last person with them.

The last member of the group, a man, had short messy black hair and brown eyes. He too wore a red uniform, but with a green stripe down one of the arms. He stood at five foot eleven and he was more lean than the first man. He carried with him a pistol, but he had a bunch of clips strapped to his belt.

"Hey. Sorry. Had to get a few things," Jessica said as she pulled her own pistol out of her shoulder holster. "Captain Jessica Miller, and this is my away team." She gestured to the big man. "Tony Larson." The woman with the blonde hair smirked a bit. "Vanessa White." The man with the green stripe checked his pistol. "And Steven Krane."

Linda was the next to beam down, carrying a TR-116B. With her were two Assault Team members, one an Andorian with a Phaser Minigun, the other carried a standard Phaser Rifle, along with an engineer and a medic.

Another group of transporter columns appeared, depositing three people: Ron, Sonja and Riza. "Sonja, Riza, do what you do best. Make the Klingons piss off."

"On it, boss." The engineer walked off, carrying a large… tube.

"What the hell is that thing?"

"Photon mortar. Boom."

"Nice." Jaden said with a small smirk. "Always wanted to use one of those… only seen 'em used in simulations at Starfleet."

"But what about her?" Miral asked, pointing at Riza. "All she has is a phaser pistol. And whatever that thing is on her back."

"That would be a semi-collapsible duranium/tritanium monomolecular scythe." Ron patted the sword on his hip. "My kilij is the same. Just watch my sister dance with that motherfucker."

"Oh," Jaden said as he pulled out the Kilij knife that Ayame had given him. "Now it makes sense why Ayame gave this to me…"

Jessica didn't even bother asking. What she did do instead was she reached up and grabbed her eye patch for a moment before hesitating. "So, what's the plan?" she asked.

"Kill everything," Ron said. "Disable the charges."

"That's… not a very Starfleet thing to say."

"The Klingons don't like the Starfleet way of doing things, and they think we'll corrupt their way of life when we'd leave them alone unless they did something incredibly stupid. So instead of carrying on as usual, show them what happens when you push us too far." All blinked at that. "What? Unlike the rest of you, I studied xenopsychology: I know how the Klingons think."

Jessica pursed her lips, but nodded as she adjusted her coat, checking the clips she carried on the interior. "Then let's get to work," she said.

"Ron's got a point - so let's get started." Jaden said nodding. "Do we know where most of their forces are? Their HQ?"

"They're at the Federation Embassy, and they have most of the people inside as hostages."

"Ok, then, Captain Takeo, you're with me. I'll sneak in through the back while Take over there makes them think we're coming in through the front."

"What makes you think that?"

"Yamatos are NOT subtle. If I took him with me, they'd know we're coming."

"And me? What will I do?" Jessica asked as she finally prepared to remove her eye patch.

"Help the defenders, you overdramatic twit. Now go: we've got work to do."

She felt her left eye twitch, but said nothing as she turned to her team. "C'mon!" she said. They turned and ran after her as she ran off.

Linda looked at Ron. "How did you know I was married to Takeshi?"

"Rin and Shirou were much the same way. Lucky guess."

Linda nodded. "I'll take an overwatch position," she said. "The rest of my team can handle the frontal distraction easily enough."

Jaden looked at Ron. "Lead the way, Captain," he said. "The sooner we get the hostages out of harm's way, the sooner we can just let loose on these guys."

Screaming was heard from close by. "And Riza proves her scariness once more. Follow me."

Linda had set up on a small ridge overlooking the entrance to the embassy. The team medic was looking over any injured from the previous strikes, while the engineer was helping disable any charges they found.

She sighted in on one of the enemy guards and waited for the signal.

"Pinkerton to all teams: Ten-break alpha. Strike, strike, strike. Give them hell." Linda opened fire, putting tritanium slugs into the heads of Klingons stupid enough to keep their shields down and their heads exposed.

At the same time, The two Assault Team members charged, their weapons on full auto and spitting out bolts of energy in cones at the enemy.

"Captain, a frontal assault is only going to get my team killed: status on the indoor objective?"

Screams were heard from inside, followed by several Klingons running OUT of the embassy. "They remember me. and they're still scared of me. That makes your job easier."

"Understood," Linda replied, even as she put another round through the head of one of the Klingon soldiers.

"Don't shoot, Starfleet! We surrender! It is better to live our days in dishonor than die at… their hands!"

"They consider dying at your hands worse than being prisoners?"

"No, they consider dying at Riza and Sonja's hands worse than being dishonored prisoners."

"Raging Tempest to ground teams: a Klingon Negh'var-Class battlecruiser just decloaked. You'd better get back up here."

"This can't be good…" Jaden muttered, tapping his comm badge. "Beam me up - straight to the bridge please."

Jaden vanished for a few moments before he appeared back on the bridge of the Yorktown. "Alright ,what are we dealing with?"

"Single Negh'Var-Class battlecruiser, range 150000 kilometers," Elisa said. "They'll be in weapons range in three minutes. I don't think I need to tell you who their primary target is."

Jaden sighed. "I hope someone picked up that phone, 'cause I fucking called it," he said. "Prep Phasers and Torpedoes, though I'm pretty sure Ron can handle a single Negh'Var."

"We're being hailed by the Klingon warship, IDed as IKS Baj. 'Ambassador' B'vat wants to talk to you." The sarcasm in Elisa's use of 'ambassador' was not hard to miss. Clearly, the jackass wanted to gloat before trying to kill them.

Jaden rolled his eyes. "Patch it through," he said.

The image of the Klingon bridge appeared, with a Klingon man clearly in his latter years sitting in the command chair. "You are Takeo. The Empire will never accept peace with the Federation, and your kuvah'magh is nothing more than a lie! You will be the message sent back to your leaders in blood, along with the pretender Windstorm!"

Jaden was glancing at a PADD before he glanced up at the screen. "Hmm? You say something?" he asked, rather nonchalantly.

B'vat roared before closing the channel and switching targets from the Ptolemaeus to the Yorktown. "You made him angry," Elisa said. "He's increasing speed." The ship rocked from weapons fire hitting the shields. "And he wants to kill us."

"Then clearly we're doing something right," Jaden said. "Return fire, don't hold back on e'm! If Ron can use this bird to take on a Heavy Carrier, we can sure as hell use it to take out a Negh'var!"

On board the Liberator, Jessica's eye narrowed as she frowned. "Now we can do something!" she said. "Something worthwhile!"

She reached for her eye patch and lifted it up, revealing her right eye. Unlike her left eye, which was normal, her right eye was a bright blue in the iris with green circuit lines etched on it and had an orange pupil. Her right eye was cybernetic, a replacement for when she had lost her old eye in a bar fight.

"All hands, prepare for combat! Deploy the drones and engage cloaking! We're going in!" she said.

The team nodded and at once the call went out over the shipwide comm system. Jessica took the seat and grasped the controls of the helm. "Here we go!"

Outside, the ship's shuttle bays opened and the vessel's drones flitted out, cloaking as well as the ship vanished from sight. The Klingons were no doubt caught by surprise as the Yorktown returned fire, and she used that to her advantage. "Wepps, fire off a few PTs and nail that ship's shield!" she ordered.

The man nodded. "On it!" he said. The vessel's photon torpedoes launched from the front tubes, streaking for the Klingon cruiser's side. They exploded against the shielding, making it waver as she grinned. "All right! Let's get this rocking!"

"Attack pattern Pinkerton Delta. Arm photon torpedoes and stand by on-" Lights began flickering before Ron could finish his command. "NOW what?"

"The power network's going to hell in a handbasket: we didn't exactly have enough time to undergo a true refit."

"Oh, that's just fucking-" The Ptolemaeus shook under the weight of the Baj's heavy disruptor cannons impacting the shields.

However, a hail of Phasers then hit the Negh'Var near the rear, as the Yorktown moved in to support the Ptolemaeus. "Hang in there Captain, we'll take the heat off of you while you get your ship squared away!" Jaden said.

"Heads up, people! Photon torps away!" Jessica barked over the comm as two more volleys slammed into the Klingon vessel from seemingly nowhere.

"Eat this!" Takeshi yelled, another barrage of fire slamming into the Negh'Var as the Raging Tempest strafed it.

"Bah! You win this time, Takeo!"

"Hey, B'vat! Remember me? It's your old friend, mister asshole!" Silence followed for a moment before they heard screaming from the Klingon end of the link and the Baj ran off at warp speed.

Jessica blinked as her image came up on the bridge monitor. "Wow… Fastest I ever saw a Klingon vessel flee before."

Ron rolled his eyes. "Helps that I've met B'vat before. Knew I recognized the name: asshole tried to kill me in '70 before the Exe was refit."

"Well it certainly got him to piss off quick," Jaden said. "Well, that's one problem averted… now what?"

"We report to command. And I get a new ship: the Ptolemaeus needs an ACTUAL refit."

Earth Spacedock

"The SCE was rushed when they retrofit your ship, Captain, so I'm sending one of our newer ships for you to take command of until it's complete: the USS Guardian."

On the monitor, Jaden balked. "That chimaera?" he asked. "Why?"

"We recently refit her." The Guardian was the first of her class, and Jaden's use of the term chimaera was ancestral. The ship was a stepping stone from the Ambassador-Class - of which the Enterprise-C was a member of - and the Galaxy-Class. Only five of the ships were actually built, and all of them were in mothballs after the Galaxy was launched. Even the Dominion War didn't have THEM pulled out, so they were desperate.

"Well, it is a step up from the average Excelsior," Jaden said. "Though I personally think something along the lines of a Sovereign-class or one of its variants would be more fitting for Captain Pinkerton. Much more mobile, heavily armed and armored. Though I doubt we have many available for him to command however."

"We don't," the Admiral said. "The Guardian will be en route in an hour, as well as Admiral Lamperouge."

"As in Lelouch Lamperouge, the same guy who thinks Ron is a myth concocted by Starfleet Tactical to make us all feel worse about ourselves?" Jaden asked with a smirk. "Oh, this should be fun."

Jessica's eye narrowed a bit. "Somehow I don't think this is gonna end well…" she muttered.

"The Admiral pushed to take command of the task force." The Admiral said. "I think he wants to prove that Captain Pinkerton is a fraud."

"Well, he's not," Jessica said, looking back with her visible eye. "And we can prove it."

"He's informed me that he intends to test the Captain personally. He may or may not decide to pull rank in order to make you fight him as well." He shuddered at the thought of the Guardian engaging four ships at once to test the ship's capabilities.

"Well, if it happens, we'll be ready," Takeshi informed.

"Give Captain Pinkerton my compliments. Quinn out." He ended the transmission, just as the Guardian and her escort, the Escalvantine, left ESD. "This will not end well."

USS Escalvantine

The bridge of the Armitage-Class Heavy Escort Carrier Escalvantine was different from most ships of its kind. The Bridge Module was mostly like that of the Galaxy-Class, specifically the Bridge Module made famous by the Enterprise-D, but the rear bank of consoles had been removed, and the bridge itself expanded backwards from that point to include a Tactical System Display, which could display anything from monitor images to a map of the area around the ship. And while the ship's nominal captain, Jeremiah Gottwald, still sat in the captain's chair in its typical location, this rear chamber was where the ship's true commander spent most of his time, even more than in the traditional ready room or conference lounge.

Said commander, Rear Admiral Lelouch Lamperouge, was there right now, having a discussion with his Security Chief/Wing Commander/Lover and the AI unit he had installed in his ship after finding it in an ancient facility.

"So, our opponents are an Excelsior-Class supposedly commanded by Starfleet's boogeyman, a Sao Paulo commanded by the Adrenaline Junkie pilot, an Avenger commanded by one of our true Maverick captains, and a Constitution commanded by a brat fresh out of the Academy," the black-haired, violet-eyed Rear Admiral in an all-black version of the Odyssey Uniform remarked. "CC, your analysis?"

"I've accessed what little we have on Captain Pinkerton using your clearance, Lelouch," the ancient AI, whose shorthand name stood for 'Circumstance Calculator', replied. "Starfleet Tactical seems to believe that Pinkerton can do what they claim he can do."

"Taking down an entire fleet of Klingon warships in an outdated Constitution? Beating the test that took a man cheating to beat? Even I can't do that."

"Agreed," replied the other person at the table, a red-haired woman in a bright-red flight suit. "I just can't believe he's as much of a Fleet Killer as everyone makes him out to be."

"Meaning either the records are false and the result of overhyping, or someone decided to classify most of his record," Lelouch mused.

"The records seem to point to the latter," CC informed. "83% of his service record is classified, and the rest requires Level-9 clearance just to view."

Lelouch pondered that for a moment. "It seems we'll get a chance to see his skills firsthand, eh, Kallen?" he said.

"He won't stand a chance in hell against our fighter squadrons. I doubt he's very good at anti-fighter tactics. And if he's from the 23rd century, he's a century behind the times. His ass is ours."

"We'll see," Lelouch said. "Not to mention I'm interested to see how his tactics fare against mine."

USS Yorktown

"On top of the world… on top of it all… trying to be invincible…" Jaden muttered to himself as he had a pair of earphones on, listening to a song on his PADD, trying to kill time until they got their next assignment.

"I didn't think PADD's could be MP3 players…" T'Vrell muttered.

"Jaden specially modified his," Elisa said. "He made it to pretty much act like one of those old 21st century iPads Apple made."

While that was interesting, they had other problems. If the Klingons snuck a large Orion force into Federation space, they could easily get another one to Regulus, and without their chief killer, they were still in danger. "Transwarp conduit detected: two Federation starships. One of them is the Escalvantine." T'Vrell said.

"Yo Jaden, we've got company." Elisa said, tapping Jaden's shoulder.

"Hm? Ah, they're here!" Jaden said as he pulled out his earphones. "'bout time. Time for the show!"

"We're being hailed by Admiral Lamperouge," T'Vrell said.

Jaden smirked a bit. "Patch it through," he said.

"Escalvantine to Yorktown, Raging Tempest, Ptolemaeus, and Liberator," came Lelouch's voice as his image appeared on the viewscreen. "I see you are all in good condition."

"This is Captain Pinkerton on the Ptolemaeus. I heard you have a new ship for me while the Ptolemaeus is being refit."

"That I do, 'Captain'. I look forward to seeing if you live up to the hype Starfleet Command gives you. If not… well, then I'll know you're just a fake."

"…your ass. Mine. I don't take kindly to being mocked by a fucking CHILD."

"…" Jessica's image frowned, but she knew better than to mouth off against the Admiral. She wasn't that stupid, but even so, she still felt a bit of fury, having seen Ron in action. She knew how good he was.

"Get ready to eat those words, Admiral Lamperouge," Jaden said grinning.

"It's unfortunate, Captain, that you won't be helping him. He's a fleet killer, isn't he? Let him prove it. First I'll test him myself. Then… all of you will test him."

"What?!"

"I'm pulling rank, Captain. You're going to help me."

Jessica's eyes narrowed. "Dammit…" she muttered.

"Hoo boy…" Takeshi muttered. "Better tell Mogire to prep for casualties - even in wargame scenarios, from what I can tell Ron has a bit of a problem with holding back."

USS Guardian

The Ptolemaeus' crew had beamed over only a few minutes before, and Ron was already plotting Lelouch's doom. "The Akira and her ilk are light carriers, aren't they? Make sure that he can't use them, Corpsa."

"Aye, sir."

"Riza, make this ship dance."

The younger Pinkerton took the helm and reconfigured it to 23rd century standards. "They won't know what hit them."

"Ish, Sonja? Do what you do best."

USS Liberator

Jessica gritted her teeth as she looked over the consoles, her eyes hard. "Why he decided to do this, I have no idea, but we sure as hell can't get out of it…" Tony grumbled from his own station.

"Gee, ya think?" Jessica remarked. "He pulled rank on us. And if there's one thing we're gonna do, it's do what we do best ourselves!"

"And that's saying something. But you gotta remember, Ron's better at this than we are," Vanessa remarked. "He's a fleet killer!"

"I know. But we're gonna do what we can, and if he does prove the admiral wrong, then thank God for that! I don't want to damage this ship, so we'll have to do what we can to avoid damage… if at all," Jessica said as she finally sat back in the helm's chair and gripped the controls stick and throttle. "So, let's get ready. Something tells me we're gonna need to give this all we got."

USS Raging Tempest

"We are going to die. We've seen what he can do. He is going to destroy us."

"I agree he's likely not going to let up," Takeshi informed, even as he typed commands into the helm console. "But we're not going to die here. Even if we lose, I'm not going to make it easy for him." He turned to his chief engineer. "Matt, I'm going to need everything you can get out of weapons, shields, and especially engines… and see if you can fine-tune our Cloaking Device a bit."

"I'll do what I can," Matt replied.

"Kim, keep your eyes peeled. I need to know the situation on the battlefield as best I can at any given moment."

"On it," Kim informed.

"Kev, you know the drill - all firing patterns on standby and ready to go whenever I order them."

"Sure thing, Boss," Kevin said nonchalantly.

"OK…" Takeshi finished, grasping his manual steering column and manual impulse throttle, even as Brok'tan hit the button to activate all Bridge safety harnesses. "Let's give it our best shot."

USS Yorktown

"Once the Mock battle begins, activate mock self destruct."

"Wait, what?!" Elisa asked. "You don't want to fight Ron?"

"Do you?" Jaden asked. "I'd rather just sit back and watch Lelouch humiliate himself - I don't like Admirals who pull rank just to get their shit done…" However he then blinked before he smirked. "Actually, cancel that thought… I got a better idea… and it should piss him off even more."

USS Guardian

"So, our primary target is the carrier," Ron said. "Brush the others aside and make Lamperouge realize that we are NOT to be fucked with. All hands, battlestations!" The bridge darkened as red trailing lights activated, indicating that they were at alert status red. "Target the Liberator, attack pattern Pinkerton Upsilon."

"You REALLY want her out of the way." The 60-year old starship fired her updated impulse engines, beginning a corkscrew that changed from clockwise to counterclockwise at random intervals, throwing off their aim.

But the Liberator's captain had a few tricks of her own. At once the ship snapped to the right, engines glowing at full impulse, her full speed coming into play. The battlecruiser banked around and a few photon torps leapt from their tubes, flying right for the Guardian-class prototype. The ship then fired phasers, detonating the torps and vanishing into cloaking under the cover of the explosion.

"Idiot. Phasers, full burst." The phaser arrays began firing, impacting the Liberator's hull under cloak, allowing Ron to target the Avenger with a full spread of photon torpedoes, all set to their - simulated - maximum yield of 30 isotons. The battlecruiser would not survive the impacts, as the ship had no shields. The torpedoes impacted, and the computer labeled the Liberator as 'destroyed'.

A loud burst of swearing came over the comm from the ship. No doubt from one of the crew (Tony, for it had been his idea to try that trick), for the captain herself, although she was pissed, knew to keep her cool when around the Admiral. But a smirk crossed her face. "He's in for it…" she muttered.

"Target the Raging Tempest, attack pattern Pinkerton Delta-Four." That AP was designed for taking out BoPs: it would work perfectly against the escort.

Takeshi wasn't going down that easily though, ducking and weaving around the Guardian's shots as he charged straight towards it, cannons spitting fire onto the larger ship's shields. One torpedo looked like it was going to hit - before a small turret installed on the top of the escort opened fire, destroying the torpedo. Takeshi then decided to try that trick he'd been practicing, as he fired off another burst of cannon and torpedo fire, before angling the ship slightly - and went to Warp for the briefest of split seconds, coming out practically on top of the Guardian, blasting it with more Phaser Cannon fire as he blitzed past.

"Shields at 67%. Minor thermal damage to the hull."

"He wants to play this game with me? Fine. Riza, attack pattern Pinkerton Sigma." The Guardian banked 80 degrees, then fired her phasers, which the Tempest avoided, not knowing they were being shepherded. Photon torpedoes left the aft tube, then were shot by a phaser beam each, sending out a photonic shockwave each, making the ship too difficult to fly.

Takeshi barely managed to keep the ship level during the shockwaves, but that was all Ron had needed to use precision phaser strikes to disable the shield generator and engines. While not 'destroyed', the Raging Tempest was out of the fight.

"Well, that was a bit anticlimactic," Kim remarked. "At least we got one solid hit with that technique you used."

Takeshi grinned. Even if they'd lost, he'd still managed to perfect his personal variant of the legendary Picard Maneuver. And that was good enough for him. 'Good luck, Ron…' he thought.

All this left was the Escalvantine and Yorktown, as the latter of which has moved beside the carrier. The Yorktown opened fire… but not at the Guardian as Training Phasers impacted against the shields of the Escalvantine.

"What the - what are you doing?!" Lelouch shouted, followed by Jaden's laughter.

"Consider this a defection, Admiral!" Jaden said. "I'd Rather fight with Ron than against him!"

"Back off, Jaden." Ron said with an amused smirk. "I'll take him. Riza, pattern Pinkerton Omicron."

"He's launching fighters: two squadrons."

"I'll let you take care of them, sir." Jaden said with a chuckle, "They're screwed either way."

USS Escalvantine

Lelouch was pulling the hair out of his head. He was getting his ass kicked by one man! ONE MAN! He had disabled the Raging Tempest, taken out the Liberator, and the Yorktown wasn't bothering to engage!

"Launch B-Group and N-Group," he ordered, doing his best to at least keep an exterior calm. "We'll come around behind them while they hold their attention, then conduct a pincer assault, with Q-1, R-Group, and P-Group assisting us."

The Peregrines launched, but didn't get closer than 15000 kilometers as the Guardian fired off a volley of photon torpedoes, five of them heading for gaps in the formation. Lelouch realized too late what he was doing. "BREAK OFF!" Five phaser beams hit the photons, causing photonic shockwaves that knocked the fighters into one another, even actually destroying a number in the process.

"Sorry, brat. I know how to kill fighters with a capital ship."

Lelouch did his best not to growl. Calm, he needed to at least appear calm even if he really wasn't… "Initiate plan B-7," he ordered. The Escalvantine fired a volley of quantum torpedoes, before using its phasers to detonate them a short distance away from the ship, blocking Ron from any view of the ship. A few seconds passed, before the ship emerged from the explosion cloud, opening fire with its phasers and more quantum torpedoes.

As the Guardian began returning fire, it suddenly found itself coming under fire as another squadron of Peregrines, which had launched under cover of the explosions and masked their energy signatures to avoid detection, attacked from behind, concentrating their fire on the ship's Warp Nacelles.

Unfortunately, masking their signature only worked on automatic targeting systems, not manual. The ship shuddered from a well-aimed phaser beam hitting them in the ass. And moments later, the power failed. "What the hell?!"

"He's using his main deflector to generate a resonance pulse! Damn it, he knows our ships better than we do: he's knocked out main power!"

As the Escalvantine was quickly disabled, Lelouch was inwardly seething. On the one hand, he now indeed had proof that Ron's skills were genuine. However, the fact that he'd been beaten so soundly definitely got on his nerves.

"Oh, kiddies…" Ron's tone took a turn for the creepy. "Bye." A number of torpedoes slammed into the ship, and the battle was over. They were beaten by the fleet killer. "Well, Take and you were the hardest assholes I've had the misfortune of fighting. Then again, I wouldn't've had this issue with the Ptolemaeus."

"I see," Lelouch said. "Well, your skills are definitely as advertised, Captain. Perhaps sometime we might be able to play a game of chess?"

The ship shook from another torpedo, this time a REAL one, hitting them. "I'll take that as a no."

"If you bothered asking for my personnel file, you'd know that I don't play board games." Ron said. "Now, are you going to stop being an idiot or not?"

Lelouch sighed. "Alright, Alright," he said. "You really are the Windstorm that everyone keeps talking about… I still have doubts, but I guess I'll be seeing you in actual combat soon enough."

"I'll take a few days of getting used to this bucket before unleashing hell. Ptolemaeus Actual out." The link cut out.

"I think you made him angry," CC informed.

"Likely," Lelouch replied. "Well, hopefully we'll be able to work together with him when we get our next orders."

Later - USS Yorktown

Captain's Quarters

"I'll never understand how we're in the 25th century… and yet people still play Minecraft," Jaden muttered as he sat at a computer as he played the old 21st century game which had somehow managed to stand the test of time all the way to the 25th century. "Still fun - GAH CREEPER! FUCK YOU!"

However, he heard a beep at his door, signalling someone was at the door. He paused the game. "Come," he said, and a few moments later the door opened as T'Vrell walked inside. "Oh, hey T'Vrell! What are you-?" However, he noticed that her face was increasingly red, and her eyes looked a bit glazed over. "T'Vrell?" he asked, standing up. "You… alright?"

"I… Uhh…" T'Vrell muttered, scratching the back of her head for a moment before she took a deep breath. "Oh, fuck it." She then approached Jaden, and planted her lips right on his, greatly surprising Jaden for a good few moments. Though after a few moments of letting the contact process through his brain, Jaden began to return the kiss. They remained like this for a good few minutes before they broke apart for air.

"Okay… not complaining, but… what was that about?" Jaden asked, blushing a bit, as was T'Vrell.

"It… it's a Vulcan thing…" she said. "I… I'm going through w-what we call Pon Farr… n-not many outside the v-vulcan community know of it… e-every seven years V-vulcans must… m-mate, or else… we go a bit… c-crazy…"

"Oh," Jaden said, before once again the meaning processed through his mind as his eyes widened. "OH! Uhhh… o-okay, Uhhh…"

"This… this is my first Pon Farr… to be honest…" T'Vrell said with a large blush. "I… I was hoping I'd still have some time, but… I don't… but if… if I'm gonna do this… I… I want to do it with… with someone I trust and… and l-love…"

"Abuh?" Jaden asked, as T'Vrell smiled a bit.

"I… I love you, Jaden," she said. "You… have always helped me out in the Academy, and… I… I can't think of anyone else who I'd trust more than you with this…I… understand though if-" She was cut off however as Jaden then kissed her, mildly surprising her, before she quickly began returning the kiss.

"I understand… T'Vrell," Jaden said, once they separated. "And… I love you too… I've had a crush on you for… for a while, but…" He chuckled a bit sheepishly. "You know I was never good with… stuff like this…"

"True," T'vrell said, before she shivered a bit. "J-Jaden… we… we need to do this… n-now! I can't…"

Jaden nodded. "Alright… computer: lock the door, please. And activate the sound suppression field," he said, as the door locked, and a sound suppression field surrounded the quarters to avoid anyone else from… listening in. "Now… let's do it."

USS Guardian

"It's going to take me a few days to get used to this bucket of bolts," Riza said. "It turns like a pig."

Ron shook his head. The Guardian had twice the mass of the Ptolemaeus, and the LCARS setup was different than his sister was used to, making it a LOT harder to pilot. It was like a Camel pilot going into an F-4 Phantom II, or an Su-33 Flanker-D. "Do what you can." He said, "Ask Ishmael for help if you have to." Riza shook her head all too quickly, which her brother noticed. Riza was still attracted to Ish, although she felt betrayed for him leaving.

"I can handle it," she said defiantly.

"It will go faster if you get his help," he said. "Consider that an order."

Riza groaned for a minute before she sighed. "Yes sir…" she muttered.

Ron shook his head before Corpsa walked over to his chair. "Are you sure that's a good idea?"

"They need to make up eventually."

The Andorian was forced to agree before handing him a PADD. "This came in during the wargame. It's our next mission assignment."

"Oh, lovely."

Riza found Ishmael in main engineering, helping Sonja with the more complex (and EXTREMELY annoying) areas of the maintenance on the Guardian-Class. "Commander!" Ishmael's head popped up from Sonja's new booth. "I need your help on the bridge: the helm's being a pain in the ass."

"Uhh, sure hang on." Ishmael said, as he finished up what he was doing. "Alright, finished here Sonja! You good without me now?"

"I'll be fine: deal with your girlfriend."

"She's-" Sonja's glare cut off Ish's objection. "Alright." Ishmael left the booth, side-stepping the MSD 'pool table' to join Riza. "Let's take a walk. My brother wants us to get along again, so I don't have a choice but to talk to you." She was still pissed.

"Riza…" Ishmael said with a sigh. "I know you hate me for taking command of the Alliance… hell, I hate myself for it after what happened to the Ptolemaeus… Ron convinced me it was for the best."

"The BEST?!" Riza shouted out, surprising Ishmael. "You said, and I quote, 'I will never leave this crew!' But you DID! And three weeks later, so did Shirou! I have to worry about my brother making ME leave for my own good! I NEED to stay here, with them!" Ishmael could forget that Riza wasn't born and raised like a normal human: she was a clone of Ron created by the Romulans to kill him. And she was… needy as a result of that.

"Riza, I-" Ish began to say, but she wasn't finished yet.

"I still have nightmares from when I use to be with the Romulans!" Riza cried out, a few tears welling up in her eyes. "When Nii-san got abducted by Tal Shiar they got WORSE! I-I can't lose Nii-san, you or the others again! I can't-" She was cut off however when Ishmael suddenly brought Riza into a tight embrace, freezing her for a moment, before she eased into the embrace.

"Hey, hey, hey…" Ish said softly. "I know… I know I messed up… big time," he said. "I broke my promise, Riza… but I am telling you this right now." He looked at Riza right in the eye. "I swear to you right now… I will never leave this crew again. I don't care what the Admirals, the President, or even your brother says… I am staying here, with you, Ron, Sonja, Corpsa and the others. I don't care if I stay a Commander for the rest of my life, I'm staying here."

Riza simply started crying, nuzzling into Ishmael's neck and holding him tighter then he was her. "Don't go," she whispered. "Don't go."

A bosun's whistle was heard over the internal comm. "Ladies and gentlemen, this is your asshole captain speaking," Ron said. "Command has deemed it fit to send us on our next assignment before we're ready! So, update your wills and prepare for pain!"

Riza snorted, the sound being highly muffled by Ishmael's neck. "He always had a way with words," she said, causing Ishmael to chuckle a bit.

"That he does." He said, "Well, best we don't keep him waiting, right?"

She sniffed and wiped her nose before they headed for a turbolift.

"During the wargame, Command sent over a data packet with information on a weapons lab run by Ambassador Asshole." Ron said. "The intel comes from an informant in the Orion Syndicate, and the location of the lab is in a place called the Briar Patch." Ron looked at the monitor attached to his chair. "Anything you can tell me about it?"

"The area contains high levels of metaphasic radiation, which can promote cellular regeneration - when the Enterprise-E visited the area, everyone was in peak health afterwards, and their chief engineer - who had been blind since birth, and seeing via optical implants - actually had his eyes affected by the radiation to where he could see without the implants. Of course, it's also a massive nebula, with pockets of Metreon Gas all over the place."

Ron winced, knowing the effect that the metron gas would have if it were detonated. "We're going to need to get in and out quickly. Sonja knows how to make your engines proofed against the gas, so I'll send her over to do the job."

"And how do you-"

"If I tell you, you have two choices. Captain Miller, are you listening in?"

"…How'd you know?" she asked over the comm. "And yeah, I am."

'The IQ of a goldfish if she didn't notice the link notifications.' Ron thought before he spoke. "I want you on patrol duty in the Patch: destroy any and all turrets in the area."

A smirk crossed her face. "Got a few tricks up my sleeve. Those turrets will be gone in no time!" The comm went dead and the Liberator slipped away, vanishing under cloak.

"That woman is an IDIOT."

"Her file states her capabilities, which is good enough for me, Admiral," Ron said. "Besides, I'm in command of this task force, not you. I want Jaden on the away team with me when we board the base, he'll take whoever he needs."

"Also, something else to consider," Takeshi informed. "Remember when I said the Enterprise-E had been in the area before? Well, its executive officer, William Riker, actually used the Metreon Gas in the Patch offensively against two ships that were attacking it. If we stay clear of any pockets, but lure enemy ships to them then detonate the gas with our phasers…"

"Leave the aggro to me," Ron said. "The Klingons know I'm back now." Getting into the cloud of death would be easy. Getting out without getting killed by the Klingons? That would be more difficult. "Now… will someone tell me where Jaden is now?"

"I think he's still in his quarters," Elisa said. "I've tried to raise him, but no luck. The sound suppressors of his room are on, as well. Doesn't make sense really… unless he's playing one of his 21st century era games."

Ron said nothing about the games: he still had a copy of the (in)famous Tetris made back in 1986. Then he facepalmed. "Lieutenant, how old is Miss T'vrell?" he asked.

Elisa blinked. "Uh, I think she turned 21 not too long ago," she said. "Why?"

Both of his hands met his face before he began swearing in Andorian, Vulcan and, of all things, Gorn. "Pon Farr."

"Pon what?"

"Vulcan mating cycle: happens every seven years on the dot once they reach sexual maturity." Ron said. "Usually around when they hit 21…"

Elisa let that process for a moment, before she blushed a bit. "Oh… OH!" she said. "You… you think she's… and they…"

"She likes him and they're having sex right now?" Ron asked. "Yes. I was a psychology student at the academy: I knew and saw all the signs when we met. Get us to the Patch. Flores, you're in command until they're done." Ron did not do blunt easily, but he didn't have a choice.

"Lucky bastard…" Ron could hear someone in the background of the Yorktown's bridge crew mutter, resulting in Elisa glaring somewhere behind her. "Shutting up, ma'am."

"Anyways, understood sir," Elisa said, nodding. "We'll be ready to head out momentarily!"

The turbolift doors opened, and out came Riza and Ishmael. The red eyes his sister had were a good sign, at least combined with her relaxed posture. "We're going into a metreon gas-filled nebula," Ron told them. "The rest of the force will go ahead of us while you get a hold of the stick, Riza. I want those golden hands at their best."

"I thought we didn't have to deal with that shit after 89." Riza muttered.

"We do now," Ron said. "Take us out."

Later - USS Yorktown

Captain's Quarters

Jaden groaned a bit, as he finally began to groggily wake up. 'Geez… why does it feel like I ran a marathon…' he thought to himself, as his head rubbed against something, followed by a soft feminine moan.

This caused Jaden to freeze for a moment, before he glanced up a bit, and he saw T'Vrell lying next to him - fully nude as, was he - who was still fast asleep, slightly snoring as her arms were still wrapped around him. The memories from last night quickly returned, causing Jaden to blush once more.

'Ho-ly shit, that really happened…' he thought. 'Just… jeez…'

T'Vrell finally yawned a bit, before her eyes began to flutter open. She glanced at her surroundings for a moment, before her eyes met Jaden's. After a few moments of silence however, they proceeded to widen, as her blush rivaled Jaden's own. "Oh… wow…" she muttered, "That… really… wasn't a dream…"

"Y-yeah…" Jaden muttered. "That, uhh… Pon Farr thing…" He gulped a bit. "T'Vrell, I… I'm not sure if that Pon Farr thing was affecting your mental state, and what you said-"

"No, Jaden," T'Vrell said, shaking her head as she smiled. "I meant every word I said… I love you, Jaden Takeo… I love you more than anything else… the Pon Farr just helped me… come on out and say it." She blushed a bit more. "You're not the only one who's unsure about… things like these."

Jaden chuckled a bit. "Well, glad I ain't the only one," he said, before he kissed T'Vrell again. "I love you too, T'Vrell… more than anything else… I hope we can spend the rest of our lives together…" he then smirked a bit. "And I look forward for your next Pon Farr considering how… kinky you were." That last comment brought yet another bright blush across the Vulcan's cheeks.

The door to 'their' quarters opened. "Jaden, you weren't answering your - FUCK!"

The voice of their task force's commander got them to cover themselves up. "HOW THE HELL DID YOU GET HERE?!" Jaden shouted.

"I beamed over when you weren't answering!" Ron shouted back, covering his eyes. "Goddamn it, this ALWAYS happens!"

"FUCKING KNOCK NEXT TIME! JESUS!" Jaden shouted back. "THE DOOR WAS LOCKED FOR A REASON!"

"The door WASN'T!"

"WHAT?!"

"It wasn't locked!" Ron cupped his chin. "That always happens to me, no matter WHAT ship I'm on." (In an undisclosed location, a man wearing a leather uniform was laughing at his handiwork) He shook his head. "Just get dressed! We'll be at the Briar Patch in a few hours."

"Right! Just GET OUT!" Jaden shouted, as Ron sighed as he left, the door closing behind him. "God-fucking-damnit… "

"Well… we'd best get ready," T'Vrell said with a sigh as she got up. "Let's hope no one asks any questions…"

"Same here," Jaden said, nodding, as he picked out his uniform.

Later - USS Yorktown bridge

The expanse of gas before them was unnerving, and the metreon gas pockets were going to make going much more dangerous. "Sensors are still going a little crazy, but I'm detecting a large mass just inside the cloud, as well as a number of tritanium signatures," T'Vrell said from her science station.

"Is it safe for us to head inside?" Jaden asked.

"Safe enough, but I'm detecting no less then three large tritanium signatures: size estimates are approximately the same as Vo'quv-Class dreadnought carriers."

"The Guardian will handle the dreadnoughts. I need to test this thing against those oversized shitboxes, anyways."

Jaden nodded. "Alright then, ahead full impulse," he ordered, as the Yorktown steadily headed forward into the cloud.

Their first contact with the enemy came in the form of the Connie's classic enemy: the K'tinga-Class battlecruiser. It was the standard type, with the classic bulb-type command module rather than the stretched version. "And we come full circle." Ron said. "Seriously, Starfleet Connies have been running into K'tingas for years."

"Try to hail them, maybe we can go through this without starting a fire fight." Jaden said.

"Channel open."

"This is Captain-"

The Yorktown shook from a torpedo impacting the forward shields as Elisa facepalmed. "Goddamn blood knights! Elisa, please. Kill him."

"Firing!" Elisa said as the Yorktown fired its phasers at the enemy K'tinga, impacting against its shields, and proceeding to impact against the hull of the enemy ship, resulting in a sizable explosion from the Battlecruiser.

"Ok, metreon gas is NOT something I want to-" The Constitution flipped over from the gas explosion, and Elisa was NOT happy. "I. Hate. this. NEBULA!"

"It could be worse!"

"HOW?!"

"Subspace tears that we can't seal?" Another K'tinga-Class battlecruiser approached, only to get several phaser beams from the Guardian, which downed the shields for the Yorktown to torpedo it to death.

"Scratch two." Jaden said. "They just don't know when to quit, do they… do we have an ID on the third signature?"

Sparks flew from the walls as they were hit by the most powerful KDF warship yet: the Vo'quv. "That's the IKS T'yark. If I remember correctly, that's the current flagship for the KDF 9th Fleet. What the hell is that thing doing here?!" A chime was heard before they heard a voice over the comm.

"This is General D'lak of the IKS T'yark. Surrender, and your deaths will be honorable. Resist, and you will fall."

"Interesting proposal." A beam of energy hit the Vo'quv's starboard shields before the Guardian moved in to support the Yorktown. "Here's my counteroffer!"

"Shoot that mother fucker down!" Jaden shouted, as the Yorktown opened up on the T'yark alongside the Guardian, maneuvering to avoid being torn to pieces by the dreadnought.

The T'yark tried to focus on the Guardian, KNOWING the Windstorm was on board, failing to remember they had five enemy targets: the Yorktown, the Raging Tempest, the Ecalvantine and the ship they failed to notice, which took advantage of the dreadnought's shields weakening.

Under the cover of the attack, the cloaked Liberator crept up, having dispatched the turrets. And thanks to being under cloak, they were unable to really be detected. That was the perfect chance she had to strike. Within moments of coming into torpedo range, the Liberator spat out four quantum torps, the warheads slamming into the dreadnought's shields before decloaking and bugging out into warp a moment after the explosion. While not a very smart move, it did distract the T'yark into hunting the battlecruiser down, giving the others time to attack as well.

The killing blow was landed by the Yorktown, which dumped a full volley of photon torpedoes into the dreadnought's engine block, causing a chain reaction that resulted in the warp core going critical, causing a massive fireball of death. "HOLY FUCK!"

"Pinkerton to all ships: the way is clear. Move in to the base. Raging Tempest, Liberator, Escalvantine, provide cover. Jaden, get your ass to the transporter room."

"Heading there now." Jaden said standing up "T'Vrell with me, Elisa, you're in command till I get back."

"Aye, sir. We'll hold down the fort."

Klingon research post

Two bekks entered a storage room, not expecting to run into a team of 8 Starfleet officers, four of them armed with 23rd Century assault phaser pistols, which shot through their chests and sent them to the deck, leaving small holes in their chests. "Uh… our phasers don't do that." Jaden said, glancing at his phaser.

"These things are a fuckton more powerful then your new type-2s." Ron said. "We didn't have Type-3s back in the 80s and 90s."

"Huh… okay then." Jaden said, "So where should we begin?"

Sonja pulled out a newer Mk XIXA tricorder. "Sensor scans indicate that the base is mostly linear: only one way to go," she said. I'm seeing a lot of Klingons, though."

Ron looked at Riza. "Imoto?"

"Onii-sama?"

The elder captain smirked before saying something in Romulan, again surprising the newer officers before Riza left the store room.

"What did you just say?"

"Roughly? 'Kill them all'." Male and female screams were heard from down the hallway.

"Remind me to never get on her bad side…" T'Vrell muttered, as Jaden nodded.

A Klingon ran into the room, covered in lavender blood. "The Windstorm?! Call off your attack dog-" A curved blade exited his chest before he was dragged back out, screaming.

"I think giving her that scythe was a bit of a mistake."

"Wait, that's a SCYTHE?"

"Yeah. Birthday gift." The elder captain left the storeroom, holstering his phaser.

Jaden and T'Vrell walked past Riza, with the Vulcan looking at the Scythe nodding in approval. "Nice," she said. "Where do I get one?"

"My brother made it for me." Riza said. "Making a monomolecular blade is a difficult process. Making one that fits into a pouch? Harder."

"Awesome…" T'Vrell muttered.

"T'Vrell, come on, we've got a job to do," Jaden said. "It's awesome I know, but we've got other things to deal with."

Another explosion was heard down the hall, followed by the sounds of actual gunfire. "FEAR MY GUN, FUCKERS!"

Riza put the staff weapon over her shoulder before going on ahead. "My brother's love of those older 21st century guns is going to be the end of someone." Riza said with a sigh, before Another explosion was heard. "He likes that grenade launcher."

"Hey, they work so why argue with it?" Jaden asked with a smirk. "I'd rather trust an AK-47 over a lot of modern day stuff any day, really."

"Will you get in here?! There's an asshole in here that needs to get his ass kicked!"

"Coming!" Riza ran off, followed by the others.

When they entered the next large chamber, they found a number of scientists cowering in corners, away from where Ron and a Klingon swordsmaster were trading blows using their respective weapons before Riza hacked the Klink's head off. "Thank you."

"Well, that takes care of that," Jaden said, before he approached one of the scientists. "Alright, now which one of you are willing to tell me just what he hell the Klingons are doing here?"

"They… They wanted us to make new weapons for them!" One of the scientists shouted. "Torpedoes that can destroy small planets and can punch through solid neutronium-"

"That's impossible." Ron said. "Neutronium is the densest substance we know of."

"We kept telling them that!" The scientist shouted. "We can't make weapons that can be fired from a torpedo tube with THAT kind of yield!"

That made one thing clear: the base needed to be blown the hell up. "Pinkerton to Guardian: I want you to beam in a few torpedoes." Ron said. "I'm going to make this base die in a fire."

"Takeo to Yorktown, prepare to beam back a few scientists directly to the brig," Jaden said. "Once we get them checked out, we'll figure out what to do with them afterwards."

The two scientists disappeared in showers of light, before five photon torpedoes appeared in the center of the room. "Five?"

"1000 isotons of pure explosive force will turn this place into little more than a cloud of vapor. I'd know: I've done it." Ron opened one of the casings. "Jaden, I could use your help in removing the safeties."

"Got it." Jaden said, moving next to Ron to help him out. "Now… was it red, red, green, or red, green, red?"

"No, it's red, yellow, green, yellow, but remember to put the second yellow back in, or else we detonate the torpedo prematurely."

"Aren't we TRYING to blow up the torpedo?"

"Not without killing us in the process."

"Point. Red, yellow, green, yellow, second yellow back in." Jaden said. "Done."

"And repeat the process-" a disruptor bolt narrowly missed Ron's left ear. "While under fire!" Ron handed a bulky rifle to his sister, who pulled out the magazine and put in another one before opening fire at the Klingons coming in from the other entrance.

"These guys just don't know when to quit…" Jaden muttered. "Cover me while I take care of the rest of these!"

Riza unloaded another grenade into the doorway, taking out a number of warriors before racking the pump and firing another 30mm grenade into the hall. "Nice gun, commander. I don't think I've seen one like that in the historical record."

"That's because it wasn't a real weapon." Ron said. "It was based off an old science fiction weapon from a film made in the 1980s!"

"Ah! I knew I remembered it from somewhere!" Jaden said as he moved onto the third Torpedo. "That's the M41A Pulse Rifle from Aliens, right? Fucking A!"

"I've got a few of them in 10mm explosive tipped! Want one?"

"Fuck YES I want one!" Jaden shouted with a grin.

"Good: I'll send a few over once we're - HELLO." Ron said, as he was glancing over the many consoles in the room. "Vat is das?" Ron looked at a console, then frowned. "Assholes have a base in the Donia system. That's deep in Federation space! That's it! People die!"

"How could they have pulled that off?" Jaden asked, as he finished with the fourth torpedo, and moved on to the last one. "You'd think we'd noticed a Klingon base so deep in our territory."

"We're leaving as soon as that torpedo is set to blow," Ron pulled out a new model tricorder, then pressed a torpedoes began beeping and their innards began flashing. "Time to leave. Back to the ships!"

"Yorktown, Beam us back, NOW!" Jaden ordered on his Comm.

The away teams disappeared in showers of light, shortly followed by what few surviving Klingons on the station attempting to disarm the torpedoes. Their efforts would be in vain.

USS Yorktown

Elisa was not having a good day. B'vat's personal ship, the Baj, had arrived with a number of Somraw and Vor'cha-Class ships, and the sheer numbers were keeping them from doing anything to stop the few ships transporting what little they got out of the station.

"Report." Jaden said as he and T'Vrell walked back onto the bridge.

"B'vat just showed up. The rest of the fleet is engaging, but he brought a LOT of ships." The acting comm officer activated the the ship-to-ship communications array, putting B'vat, who was hailing them, through.

"You fell into my trap like a Tarkelian sheep, Takeo! I LET Marta leak the information on this outpost to Starfleet Intelligence! Even the Windstorm can't help you now!"

"We'll see about that," Jaden said, before he made a cutting motion, severing the link. "Potter, find his ship - time we took a plan out of Ron's playbook. You think you could do what Riza pulled off? Attack Pattern Pinkerton Lambda?"

"I can sure as hell try," Potter said, nodding.

"Prepare to fire phasers at his ship!" Jaden said. "Standby to vent warp plasma and arm the aft torpedo launcher! Wait for my word before we pull this off! Potter!"

"Yes sir!" Potter said, as the Yorktown shot forward in a half-loop, performing the same technique Riza and Ron pulled off a few weeks ago at the borderland, using half-pipe zig-zags throwing off the Baj's aim before they looped over the dorsal section. "Phasers!" Jaden shouted, as the Yorktown fired a volley of Phasers into the Baj, "Warp Plasma, now!" The Yorktown then flew forward, leaving behind a trail of warp plasma while doing so.

"Let's hope this works… Fire aft torpedoes six kilometers from the carrier, then fire phasers at the plasma and the torpedo! Now!" The Yorktown's aft Torpedo launcher fired a single torpedo back towards the carrier, before the phasers hit the torpedo, resulting in an explosion nudging it into the plasma. The Yorktown then fired its phasers into the Plasma shortly after, igniting it and resulting in a spectacular explosion which burned through the hull of the carrier.

"HAH! It worked!" Jaden shouted. "Finish her off! Take out her shields and blow her engines off!"

Before they could fire, however, the Yorktown was hit with a very powerful torpedo from a Ning'tao BoP, knocking it off course, allowing the Negh'var-Class battlecruiser to escape. "Damn it, what the hell HIT US!"

"I don't know! It had the yield of 130 isotons!"

"GODDAMNIT! We managed to pull that off almost perfectly!" Jaden shouted, before tapping his comm. "Zarva, how bad's the damage?"

"It knocked out our weapons arrays, and there's a bit of damage to the neck section, but we're in good shape."

"At least we're in no danger of losing the ship," Jaden said with a sigh. "What about the rest of the enemy fleet?" Five explosions on the screen gave him his answer.

"I think Ron's mopping 'em up," Elisa said, nodding.

"We really need to learn a few more thing from them…" Jaden muttered, nodding.

"Sir, we should get out of the Patch and contact Starfleet Command," Elisa said. "The Guardian's already on the way out, taking out whatever enemy ship it comes across."

Jaden sighed, but nodded. "Alright, Anne? Take us out of here," he said, as the Yorktown followed the rest of the fleet out of the Patch.

Meanwhile… in a dimensional pocket.

Lieutenant Commander Joseph Cobb, Tactical Officer, and De-Facto Captain of the Federation Starfleet Ambassador-class Block 2 Heavy Cruiser USS Independence, was not having a fun four months. Why you may ask?

Well, considering an certain omnipotent being and the most BIGGEST pest of Starfleet, just HAD to pick HIS ship to play around with. By fun, meaning trapping the entire ship in a dimensional pocket, and enduring the pranks, if you can call them that, perpetrated by Q.

The madness his crew had endured was enough to drive most of them close to insanity, and it drove his captain and first officer to suicide. They were close to the breaking point. "Oh, Cobby! Where are you?~"

The poor Starfleet officer facepalmed in frustration. "Oh shit, not again," he said, as the said being appeared in a flash of light. "What the hell do you want now, Q?" he growled out.

"Oh, you know. I think I've had enough fun with you and you and your crew. I hope you enjoyed your stay!"

"I will fucking KILL you, Q!" Joseph barked out, while Q just smirked.

"You know you can't kill a godlike being, Cobby boy."

"Doesn't mean I won't find a way," he said. "You caused me and my crew a whole lot of grief."

Q gave Joseph a childish pout. "Killjoy…" he said. "Oh before I leave, I should warn you, that even though it has been only four months, but in actuality, you have been gone far longer than that."

Joseph immediately felt a feeling of dread at that. "What the hell do you mean by that?"

"The year for those Gregorian morons is 2409. Bye!" Q snapped his fingers, blinding the crew while Joseph screamed in rage. When the light disappeared, they realized that they were in the Beta Quadrant: near the nebula called the Briar Patch.

"I'm gonna get that asshole…" he swore, before turning to the new XO, an Andorian female. "Try to get in contact with any Starfleet ships in the vicinity. If what Q said said is true, then we've been gone for TWENTY years,"

The Andorian nodded and went to the comm station in order to relay the order.

"This is the Federation starship USS Independence to any vessel in range. Please respond." Before she could repeat, a great deal of yelling was heard over the comm.

"-Damn it, Corpsa, don't close that channel! Independance, this is Captain Pinkerton of the USS Guardian. Where the hell were YOU?"

The Andorian only gave a tired sigh. "That's… a long story,"

"We're coming to you. At least you weren't stuck in the event horizon of a black hole for over a century."

A few minutes Before

The Yorktown, and the task force were just about to leave the Nebula, when a bright flash of light got their attention.

"What the shit!?" shouted Elisa. "What was that?"

"No idea…" Jaden said. "Is it the Klingons?"

Before T'Vrell could answer that, her console began to beep. "Sir, we're picking up a transmission - in the open."

"…is the Federation starshi… pendence ….in range. Please respond."

"Can you pull up the file on any ship with that name?" Jaden asked.

"I've got one that fits the name." Elisa said. "USS Independence, Ambassador-Class, NCC-47659. Went missing twenty years during a routine patrol of the Beta Quadrant, just close with the border of the Delta Quadrant."

Jaden blinked at that. "Twenty years ago?" he said.

"Just before the destruction of Romulus. The Guardian's hailing the Independance. Patching her through."

-Damn it, Corpsa, don't close that channel! Independence, this is Captain Pinkerton of the USS Guardian. Where the hell were YOU?"

"That's… a long story,"

"We're coming to you." Ron said. "At least you weren't stuck in the event horizon of a black hole for over a century."

"Wait, what?"

"It's a long story. Stay put."

"Uh, right. Independence, over and out,"

Then Ron's image appeared on the viewscreen.

"I assume you heard that?" he asked, and Jaden nodded.

"I heard it too," Jessica piped up as she appeared on the monitor.

"So did I," Takeshi informed, appearing as well. "Something really weird's going on, here."

"Agreed. Take, Jaden, you're with me: we'll beam over to the Independance and get some answers. Ptolemaeus Actual out." The line cut out. "He keeps using Ptolemaeus." Jaden said. "I think he hates the Guardian."

"Hey, what'll I do?" Jessica asked, looking insulted. "Keep watch or something?"

"Just keep heading back to ESD with the others," Jaden said as he stood up. "Me, Takeshi and Ron can handle this just fine. Elisa you have the bridge - T'Vrell, with me."

117Jorn: Geez, 16,670 words for this chap… this is actually split off from a 26,000-word chapter we had made.

Takeshi Yamato: As we've said a couple of times already, when we write, we write.

Ron the True Fan: That's MY line, Take.

Patriot-112: And we're not gonna stop. Even though I'm not a hardcore ST fan.

117Jorn: Either way, expect another chapter VERY soon after this. Like… in just a few minutes. So until next time…

Everyone: Ja Ne!