1: Brewing troubles on Mobius

Stardate 8475.1: The Enterprise and Ra-Cailum have destroyed the Lancer-IV-Class starship USS Mikoyan, with all hands, including the colony directors, lost. They did not leave us with any choice, however, due to the use of transporter inhibiters. Now, Mr. Spock, Dr. McCoy, Mr. Scott and I are beaming down to the surface to speak with King Samuel Acorn, ruler of the majority of the planet.

"I hate using these things."

"Bones-"

"I know that Dark Legion ship would pick us off in a shuttle, Jim, but I don't like using these things."

"Transporter psychosis, (1) Bones?"

"Partly." Scotty smirked.

"Hasn't been a case in years, Doctor. Not on an Enterprise, at least.(2)"

McCoy nodded, but he got in the last word.

"It's still likely."

"Energize."

The four were beamed down near the gothic-style castle that was King Acorn's home. In fact, the king was waiting for them.

"You must be Captain Kirk. I am King Samuel Acorn."

Kirk shook the Mobian's hand.

"I heard about your battle with the directors through the Echidna Imperium's (3) ambassador. You were sent to arrest them and try to keep the peace. Respectable, and that means you only want peace for us all."

"Your highness, they broke one of our highest laws."

Samuel nodded.

"Ah, yes, the almighty Prime Directive. Otherwise known as General Order Zero One after the Enterprise encountered a race on Talos IV, and the revising of Starfleet's regulations afterward." (4)

Kirk was confused as to why he knew that.

"I managed to find a copy of your laws and their history. 'Non-interference in a society's development and of neighboring powers'. The price for disobeying that is usually court marshal, and being forced to leave Starfleet, if I'm right."

Kirk nodded.

"We've had to break that rule a few times in order to fix a few screw ups, Your Highness."

"I know. You've broken it on at least 5 different occasions, but your reasons were well intent, like when the Klingons supplied firearms to a people on planet Neural. You supplied similar weapons to the hill people to even it out." (AN: A Private Little War from Star Trek: TOS)

"I wasn't happy about that."

"I doubt you were. But this is worse then the Klingons, Captain. They abducted 50 people for experimentation!"

"Another one of the highest laws broken."

"But they were working on that ship you destroyed, the Mikoyan, was it?"

"Stolen on Stardate 8324.9, and sold to the colonists."

"All of them were on that ship, thankfully. My people thank you."

"I didn't destroy the Mikoyan."

"Yes, this Commodore Pinkerton. I was told he was a ruthless warrior."

"Not far from the truth: he's the best tactical mind the Federation's ever produced, putting the Zakdorns (5) to shame a number of times."

Acorn chucked as they walked into the castle.

"Over 900 ships destroyed by the man?"

Spock nodded.

"983. 984, if we count the Mikoyan. But he has also lost more ships then any captain in the fleet: 3 of them."

"Two of them were the same class as your ship, the Enterprise?"

"The first two were Constitution-Class, like the Enterprise, lost within 8 years of each other. The last one was an Excelsior-Class."

"All with the same name, correct?"

"Aye, USS Ra-Cailum. His family has great influence within the Federation, and he didn't even ask them for the ships. Hell, he was always surprised Starfleet gave him a new one within a year of losin' the last. His new Ra-Cailum's a test ship."

"A prototype for the prototype, correct, Mister?"

Scotty smiled.

"Captain Montgomery Scott, Chief Engineer of the Starship Enterprise."

"And proud to be, if I'm right, Mr. Scott."

"Aye. The Ra-Cailum is an Ambassador Prototype, built to test if the new class can survive the 24th Century. She's passed every combat situation the Commodore's put her through, and she's tangled with the Klingons and Romulans a few times."

"With a number of losses for the two?"

Scotty chuckled.

"No casualties, and little damage to her hull. She's a damn fine ship, and I'm not surprised to see if a new Enterprise turns out to be an Ambassador." (6)

"Nor will I, Mr. Scott. But I know you have pressing business, and I'm asking too many questions!"

"Yes. We're bringing a Federation ambassador to Mobius to draw up a treaty to make sure Mobius stays peaceful."

Acorn looked at Kirk.

"Then go to Angel Island. The Echidna Imperium is generally peaceful, and I would like them to be a signatory to this treaty. Invite them to your ship."

"I was planning on it, Your Highness. Thank you."

Angel Island, Mobius

After taking one of the colony's Type-1 (7) shuttlecraft-over McCoy's objections of "The last time you flew a shuttle, we lost it to an evil energy being!" to both Spock and Kirk (8)-to the location of Angel Island, they discovered it to be floating in midair!

"Fascinating. It is akin to the cloud city of Stratos." (9)

"But they aren't using antigrav generators. They say that something called the Master Emerald keeps the Island aloft, Mr. Spock. It's a wee bit dodgy, if you ask me."

The shuttle landed at a spaceport, (they were spacefaring…to a point) but soon had dozens of Echidnas with pikes being shoved in their faces until one said something: "Kirk!"

That word made them stand down.

"It seems we're famous."

"An understatement, Captain."

A crimson red Echidna walked toward them.

"We know all about you, the Enterprise, and even most of the Federation. Forgive me; where are my manners? I am Korok, Matere of the Echidna Imperium. Now, I wonder, why you didn't transport down from the Enterprise or use one of your shuttles?"

"Qumare."

"Ah, the Dark Legion. A royal pain in the ass for us all. We heard of your battle with the Mikoyan, Captain, and we salute you. We could not defeat their vessel nor the Dark Legion, with their more advanced starships from the Klingons."

"We didn't destroy the Mikoyan, Matere. We were sent to arrest the colony directors, but…"

Korok laughed as they walked into the Mayan-style city.

"The motto of the Ra-Cailum: 'Shit happens and it always gets out of hand'! We know you had a hand in her destruction, Captain. But is the Ra-Cailum in orbit?"

"The newest Ra-Cailum."

"I hope she stays until you have to leave. The Dark Legion is getting bolder, and that is a bad sign."

"Why?"

"Only when they get a new ship do they get bold. And according to our intelligence reports, it's a Klingon D-7 battleship."

"The Commodore will be happy. He's tired of dealing with K'vorts, B'rels (10) and K'T'nga-Class starships. A blast from the past is sure to make him happy."

"Really? He's like the legend we've heard from the Klingons!"

Hidden space station, ID: Space Colony ARK

"Recovery of the Mikoyan's going to be a royal bitch until the Ra-Cailum leaves."

"And the Enterprise?"

"The Enterprise is a Constitution-Class starship, and even the Refits are closely related to the Lancer-IV, so jamming their sensors while making it look like natural subspace interference is simple. The Ra-Cailum, on the other hand, is jammer-proof! It's an Ambassador-Class, with new sensors, weapons and shields! I don't know how to jam their sensors!"

"Ambassador Prototype. The Ambassador's registry is supposed to be NCC-10521." "Who cares?"

William sighed.

"As long as we have the Mikoyan before the end of the year, it doesn't matter. Make sure that Project SHADOW is ready for Phase One by 2295."

"The Ultimate Lifeform…what a pain in the ass!"

The Commodore had an open secret that was not liked by many, but they didn't have a choice but to accept it.

He was kidnapped by the Romulans in 2266, and genetically screwed with.

One of those 'screwings with' was a dependency on the illegal-in-the-United Federation of Planets drink, Romulan Ale.

But after his kidneys shut down in 2267, due to not drinking the stuff for over a year, Starfleet Command and the Federation Council decided to say 'fuck it' and gave him permission to have the stuff.

After all, if he could kill 50 Romulan ships with one Constitution-Class starship, he was an extremely valuable asset.

At the moment, he had a bottle (half-empty) in his hand.

"I swear, the guys at Logistics are watering my ale down."

"Could be worse."

"My heart's already going screwy. I'm talking to those assholes when we get back." "Being a Commodore has pull."

"So does being dependant on this stuff not being watered down!"

The Commodore sighed, and so did his Chief Engineer, and one of only fifty survivors of the original Ra-Cailum NCC-1702 (11) to survive her loss at the hands of the Romulans in 2275.

She survived again when the Ra-Cailum NCC-1989 was lost when Kang, Kor and Koloth (and 70 other Klingon ships) attacked and destroyed her.

The Klingons had their asses kicked, of course, (if 69.95 losses against one-ONE-Constitution could be called an ass kicking) but the ship was still lost.

Then the Klingons and the Romulans teamed up to destroy the USS Ra-Cailum NCC-2009, and kill her crew, with 209 ships.

The word 'slaughterfest' could not describe what happened: of 209 ships, only 3 survived, and they had to be scrapped afterward.

But the Ra-Cailum was destroyed, with few losses to her crew.

After over 7000 more ships (12) (mostly Constitutions, Mirandas and Centaurs(13)) were built, rather hastily, in order to make sure that didn't happen again, the Ambassador Prototype USS Ra-Cailum NCC-10071 was built. (AN: Hence the registry)

The tactical console beeped.

"Commodore, I'm detecting a large number of ships heading toward us, mostly Klingon in design."

The Commodore snapped his fingers, and the ship went into Yellow Alert.

They'd perfected a system on the number of snaps needed for the alert status: if at normal, one for yellow, two for red.

If at yellow, one for red, two for normal status.

If at red…you get the point.

"How many?"

The Commodore was actually bored.

He was used to modern Klingon and Romulan ships trying to kill him.

The Dark Legion had 22nd Century ships.

"22 D-3s, 16 D-5 heavy cruisers, 12 B'rel-Class birds of prey and…oh, shit."

"What?"

"One D-7 battlecruiser!"

He snapped his fingers again, and the Ra-Cailum went to Red Alert.

"Where's the Tripoli?"

"78 light-seconds away. I've already informed her that she's to go to Red Alert."

"Target the Birds of Prey. Aim to kill."

"Aye, sir!"

The Ra-Cailum fired her phasers at two of the Birds of Prey, as they all knew that the fleet belonged to the Dark Legion.

Unlike the normal Echidna ships, which the Dark Legion were used to fighting, the Enterprise-A and Ra-Cailum were the most advanced starships in the Federation Starfleet, the Ra-Cailum being the prototype for a new class of starship and the Enterprise-A was always being tinkered with by Scotty, making her deadlier then the USS Excelsior NX/NCC-2000 or the Ra-Cailum NCC-2009.

The Constitution-Class flagship of the Fleet cored a D-5 with ease with her forward phaser banks, then fired a torpedo at another.

The flagship, the Holy Emerald, was a D-3 BoP, and it tried a strafing run on the Ra-Cailum.

Big mistake.

Even with her upgrades, the 149-year old BoP didn't stand a chance against the Ra-Cailum.

She was ripped in two by one phaser blast.

Qumare beamed to the D-7 before it was destroyed, but it looked like a repeat of the Ra-Cailum NCC-1989's last battle, but against inferior ships and with more equal numbers. (If 3-on-51 is equal, technology advantage or not)

The Enterprise-A cored another D-5, then moved onto one of the B'rels.

Unlike the K'Vort commanded by Klaa that attacked them 5 years before, (14) this was an older BoP, and undergunned and undershielded compared to the Constitution-Class starship.

A single phaser burst cored it with one shot.

ONE.

This was little more then target practice.

The Ra-Cailum targeted the D-7, and punched through her shields with a volley of Type-XV photons.

"Kill that fucking D-7."

Constitution Refit-Class USS Enterprise NCC-1701-A

Kirk smiled. "Uhura, hail Qumare."

"Aye, sir." Qumare appeared on screen, scared shitless.

'Bully on the block.' (15)

"This is Enterprise Commander. I am willing to discuss terms of your surrender."

"Fine! FINE! I surrender, damn it! Just get Pinkerton off my ass!"

"Already done, cockbite."

The D-7 shook from another torpedo volley, intended to scare the piss out of Qumare rather then destroy the battlecruiser itself.

"AH!"

Three days later

The remaining (read decimated) Dark Legion fleet under Qumare was escorted to a Demilitarized Zone near Federation territory by the one ship that did most of the decimating: the USS Ra-Cailum NCC-10017.

The Enterprise hosted the talks that resulted in the Treaty of Mobius, barring the colonists from using starships in military operations: only defense and research.

The new directors already knew that, and took one of the few ships they could use: two Federation-Class dreadnoughts, non-refit. (16)

It also stated that the colonists were to try and fix some of the damage caused by their predecessors, and to keep the Dark Legion out of the Mobius Sector.

But, less then a day after most of the Dark Legion fleet was escorted to their new colony, a shitload of Klingon ships, manned by both Klingons and Dark Legion personnel, attacked the Ra-Cailum.

The screaming from the Klingon ships usually meant that the Ra-Cailum was winning, but not this time.

The Ra-Cailum wasn't transmitting anything.

At all. So, as the closest ship, the Enterprise-A went straight to the battle site. When they got there, they found the usual signs of Ra-Cailum-ish combat: shitload of destroyed Klingon ships and no sign of the Ra-Cailum herself.

Well, except for her black box.

"What the hell?"

"This is usually what happens when the Ra-Cailum engages a large force of ships: they all get destroyed and the Ra-Cailum is either destroyed or crippled beyond repair."

Spock scanned the area for any signs of wreckage.

"Anything, Spock?"

"Only small numbers of hull plates, and the black box. No bodies, torpedo casings. Not even warp plasma."

"It's like that place on Earth: the Bermuda Triangle. Ships go in…"

Chekov waved his hands.

"Nothing comes out."

Spock and Kirk had to agree.

"While Mr. Chekov's analogy is exaggerated, it does describe what happened to the Ra-Cailum and several of the Klingon ships."

Kirk summed it up.

"The Bermuda Sector."

Uhura and Scotty shared a laugh at that.

"Beam the black box on board, Spock. Let's see what's on it."

"Aye, Captain."

On the screen

The Ra-Cailum was killing Klingon after Klingon, but she was being overwhelmed like a bear being attacked by wolves.

But the words in most languages that described a mass amount of death couldn't be put to this as it was so much worse.

A D-7 was cored, followed by a B'rel, two D-3s, a D-5 and a K'Vort.

By ONE beam.

In a straight line.

It was pathetic, if you think about it.

Then the image cut out with a volley of torpedoes hitting the Ra-Cailum's engineering hull, where the black box was.

Looking at the screen was the Captain of the USS Enterprise NCC-1701-D, Jean-Luc Picard.

The year was 2366, and the new(ish) Galaxy-Class starship was on her way to Mobius after Starbase 906 picked up a signal from said planet.

He tapped his combadge.

"Senior staff to the conference room."

He stood up and left his ready room, headed for the conference room.

(Looks at ship graveyard caused by the Ra-Cailum) THAT had to hurt.

A disease had causes neurological damage. Created by first generation transporters.

(2) Transporter psychosis has never happened on a starship Enterprise in any series.

(3) The united government of the Echidnas on Angel Island.

(4) The Cage, and why, in my eyes, the no-fly, no-com rule is Order 7.

(5) Seen in TNG: Peek Performance and Unification, known as the best strategists in the galaxy. I doubt that.

(6) Yesterday's Enterprise, anyone?

(7) The Star Trek V shuttle.

(8) They lost one on Sha Ka Ree in the movie above.

(9) The Cloud Minders, from TOS.

(10) Klingon Birds of Prey: the small ones are B'rels, the larger ones are K'Vorts.

(11) The original Ra-Cailum is the closest sister ship to the Enterprise other then the Constitution herself. The registry wasn't used, so why the hell not.

(12) A major gap of ship registries between the Excelsior and the Ambassador forced this issue. They use replicators to make the raw materials. Power issues? Use solar power. Get anything close enough to the star and you shield it using the excess energy, you have damn near infinite power and resources.

(13) What the Miranda is to the Constitution, the Centaur is to the Excelsior.

(14) The K'Vort can swing its wings down, and the B'rel can swing them up. The Star Trek FX guys are just fucking lazy.

(15) Reference to Star Trek Phase II's (the fan made) Enemy: Starfleet.

(16) The three nacelle version of the Constitution-Class, as seen in the Star Trek Technical Manual and Star Trek Legacy.