Disclaimer: None of us own Star Trek, although Takeshi has a Lifetime Subscription to Star Trek Online, and Ron has an account on the game, as well. None of us own any franchises that are borrowed from for this story. We only own our OCs, and some of the particular plot points used in the story.
Chapter 4: The Windstorm Rises
USS Ptolemaeus - with Ron and Jaden
Alcyon System
Jaden poked his head out of another corner, his rifle raised as he looked for more Borg. "Clear," he said, using hand gestures signalling the rest of the team - plus Ron and Riza, to head forward down the corridors of the Ptolemaeus. "I don't like this…" he muttered. "We haven't seen many Borg in a while… "
"Likely trying to regroup after the ass kicking we gave them back on Deck 11," Ron said. "It's not as though - WHAT IN THE HOLIEST OF HOLY FUCKS?!"
The corridor had been changed from clean, pristine and very Starfleet-looking to almost like something out of that 20th Century movie, Aliens. "What the FUCK did these assholes do to my ship?!"
Jaden could sympathize. If this happened to the Yorktown, he would be plenty angry, too. "It looks like they've already taken over this deck," Jaden said. "The Borg don't just assimilate people, they do the same for ships as well. Most of their fleet are their own ships like Borg Spheres and Cubes, however a good chunk of their forces are assimilated starships from across the galaxy. Starfleet, Klingon, Romulan, you name it. And this is how they assimilate them - make them look more like Borg vessels. But the real question is: where is everyone?"
Riza didn't seem too pleased with what the Borg did, either, but was taking it better than Ron was. "Standard procedure on the Ptolemaeus when the ship's been partly taken over is to evac to the saucer section," she said. "That way we can kill the invaders in the engineering hull by frying them to death."
Jaden glanced at him in surprise. Though he was shocked that he would do that, it did make sense if one wanted to remove a ship from boarders. "It makes sense," he admitted. "However you do realize how painful a neuroleptic shock is to its victims?"
Ron's expression didn't change, but it seemed he'd heard that a thousand times. "Considering I've been on the other end of one, very," he admitted. "Besides, it's more incentive to never board my ship: if you do, you die. Painfully."
Jaden considered that for a moment, before he nodded at how that made rather sound sense. Would you want to board a ship where there was a chance you could very painfully die via a neuroleptic shock attack?
The Ptolemaeus shook, but Ron simply sighed in annoyance. "Fucking knew the Klingons would try and kill me." He said.
"Didn't I say that when we disabled main power, oniisama?" Riza asked, and Ron sighed again. "Yes, imoto, you did, and I already knew that it was coming," he said, as the ship shook again, and he looked upwards. "Doesn't mean it's any less annoying."
Jaden glanced between the two brother and sister. He had noticed before that - despite Riza claiming to be his sister, she didn't look very much like Ron. "So…" he said, as both brother and sister looked at him. "Are you two REALLY brother and sister, or cousins, or-"
"I'm his clone," Riza said, as all but Ron looked at her as though she grew a second head.
"Wait, what?" Alina asked in surprise, as Riza nodded.
"It's true. The Romulans cloned me in '79. Riza's the clone," Ron said, as said clone didn't look proud of that. "They created her to kill me, but as you can probably guess, she failed." His expression changed to that of fond remembrance. "That way she flew that Dhelan-Class warbird was beautiful, but her tactics were subpar at best. I destroyed the Warbird, but she managed to beam on board."
Riza smiled when he got to that point. "I was kind of overjoyed," she said. "For all my life, I was the only human I knew of, but the second I transported onto the Exeter's bridge, I was surrounded by them."
Jaden was suddenly weary, wondering if the woman would attack them if given the chance. However Ron saw this as he shook his head. "Relax, kid," he said. "She broke down a minute or so after seeing that she wasn't alone in the universe. The doc ran a DNA test on her and that's when we discovered that she was my clone." He patted her on the head. "Since I didn't have a younger sibling, I adopted her as my little sister. Fitting, no?"
The lighting on the walls lit up all the way, indicating main power, including weapons and propulsion, had been restored. "Oh, shit.
USS Raging Tempest (BGM: Hellsing Ultimate OST - Letzte Bataillon)
"We have a problem, sir," Kim reported. "The Ptolemaeus' weapons and engines are back up, but it looks like the Borg are still in control. Not to mention, given the subspace signal I detected a few minutes ago, I think they might have updated to modern spec."
Takeshi groaned. "That's just great," Takeshi remarked, even as the Ptolemaeus' weapons opened up, shredding the Ih'Ka. "Not only are we going to be fighting Borg, but we still have those unknown attackers to deal with." He then paused. "Though we could get them to fight each other…"
"Sir?"
"Rina, contact the other ships." Takeshi said, "I want everyone to be ready to fire one shot at the Ptolemaeus, get the Borg's attention, then fly straight through the enemy fleet as quickly as we can."
"That's insanity!" Rina shouted, "What if the Ptolemaeus uses that auto-assimilator beam again on another ship?!"
"It is a risk we must take." All looked at Brok'tan, who had just spoken. "I have faith in Captain Pinkerton's abilities as a warrior. He WILL retake his ship." That was all they needed to hear. If a Klingon said you'd win, victory was as good as yours.
The first ship to fire on the Ptolemaeus was the Raging Tempest, which then ran like hell toward the enemy fleet, followed by the Liberator and the Vesalius, which ran like there was no tomorrow. The Yorktown followed suit, but took a hit from the Borg-enhanced phasers before running. The last ship to fire at the Ptolemaeus was the Qulagh, which quickly ran off toward the enemy fleet. "Sir, we're receiving a hail from the Ptolemaeus." Takeshi had a feeling he knew what was coming, but maybe he was wrong. "Open a channel."
Rina did so, but they weren't greeted with one voice. They were greeted with many. "We are the Borg. Lower your shields and surrender your ships. We will add your biological and technological distinctiveness to our own. Your culture will adapt to service us. Resistance is futile."
The channel snapped shut as the Ptolemaeus charged forward, targeting the enemy fleet as well as the Federation/merc forces. Before the Raging Tempest entered the main force, however, she fired a number of quantum torpedoes into the now-abandoned ship that had its' crew transported to the Ptolemaeus. They couldn't let the Borg get their hands on it. The enemy fleet then identified the Ptolemaeus as a bigger threat than the rest, as its' weapons were punching through their shields with no trouble.
"Takeshi, I don't believe that these people have encountered the Borg before!" Rina said.
"I think she's right!" Kevin said. "They're not even trying to remodulate their shields or weapons to counter the Ptolemaeus!" Two dreadnoughts died as the Ptolemaeus' upgraded phasers hacked the ships in half, followed by several torpedoes being fired from the ship's two forward engineering section launchers. These weren't, however, photon torpedoes, but gravimetric torpedoes, which literally CRUSHED a ship under its' own weight if it wasn't protected by its' shields. Several smaller ships were destroyed by the torpedoes, and the Excelsior-Class ship turned on the dreadnoughts once more.
"Well, it's working," Rina said, "but it's working TOO well." The Borg-controlled ship was slaughtering them, due to their seeming lack of knowledge of the Borg and what they did.
"To hell with this!" Takeshi shouted. "Target the Ptolemaeus and remodulate shields and all weapons!" The Sao Paulo-Class escort turned on the Excelsior-Class cruiser in a seeming repeat of what happened near Earth with the Lakota and the original Defiant in 2372. The difference? They had help. The enemy ships continued to pound the Ptolemaeus, but the 23rd Century starship continued to destroy them one by one.
A smaller ship (roughly akin to an escort) attempted to ram the Ptolemaeus, as raw kinetic energy would punch through the shields. The Borgified cruiser locked a tractor beam onto the ship, then the Ptolemaeus hacked the escort to pieces. Takeshi knew that scene all too well from the history books, but the Excelsior-Class USS Melbourne and the cube under Locutus' direction were replaced with the escort and the Excelsior-Class Ptolemaeus.
USS Ptolemaeus - Deck 14, near second level of Main Engineering
"This is VERY fucked up," Ron muttered, as the assault team had managed to avoid the Borg (they didn't exactly care at that moment in time) all the way to Main engineering, but the simple fact that the corridors looked like the assimilated ones on the Enterprise-E back in 2373 was VERY unnerving to the 25th Century Starfleet officers.
Wanting to keep his mind off of what the Borg did to his ship, he turned to Jaden. "So, kid, care to explain to me what happened with this Picard guy?" he asked.
"Captain Jean-Luc Picard," Jaden said. "He was the captain of the U.S.S. Enterprise-D. But after the incident with Soran and the destruction of the Enterprise-D, he was placed in command of the Enterprise-E, Sovereign-class, damn good ship. Anyways, back in 2373, the Borg tried to make a push towards Earth with a Borg Cube - pretty much destroyed a good number of Federation Starships. But Captain Picard arrived with the Enterprise, and reorganized the fleet and destroyed the Borg Cube… but it wasn't over yet."
"A Borg Sphere escaped from the Cube, and traveled back in time," Jaden continued. "Picard reported that Earth suddenly looked like an utterly assimilated mess, the entire human population transformed into those things. So, Picard followed the Borg into the past, to find out what they did to cause this."
"What was the event they changed?" Riza asked.
"First Contact," Jaden said, causing both Ron and Riza to look at him in surprise. "The Borg tried to destroy the Phoenix and kill Zefram Cochrane, before he could achieve Warp, or make contact with the Vulcans. And then invade earth, and use their superior technology to assimilate the earth. Picard and his crew went back and destroyed the Sphere, but they had already damaged the launch site of the Phoenix, so the Enterprise sent some of their men to help repair the damage, to make sure First Contact happened."
"I doubt it was that simple," Ron said. "What happened?"
Jaden sighed. "The Borg are very persistent, that's what," he said. "They managed to transport themselves into the Enterprise, and started to take over the ship - much like how they are now. They were going to use the Enterprise to shoot down the Phoenix, and then call in reinforcements from the rest of the Borg in the Delta Quadrant. Thankfully though, Picard managed to take back his ship, kill the Borg Queen, and allowed First Contact to happen before returning to the future."
"This Picard guy seems to know how to deal with the Borg," Ron said.
"Captain Picard and the Enterprise-D was the first to officially make contact with the Borg," Jaden said. "Mostly thanks to some… Omnipotent being called Q who sent them there to discover the Borg. Picard was also once assimilated by the Borg, but the crew of the Enterprise managed to save him and reverse the process. He and the Enterprise has more experience fighting the Borg than anyone else in the entire Federation Starfleet."
Ron cupped his chin as if trying to remember a report tucked away in some dusty corner. "Archer," he muttered. "That whole thing explains what happened in 2152 with that Arctic research team: the Borg from the sphere crash landed on Earth, and were frozen for 90 years. Then those idiots dig them up and get… assimilated, was it?"
"Yeah."
"The transport was modified in-flight and nearly destroyed the Enterprise NX-01, but Archer managed to blow it up." Ron then smirked a bit. "Thanks, kid: you just solved one of the greatest mysteries of both the 22nd and my centuries."
Jaden shrugged. "I've just done a lot of research on the Borg," he said, before looking at the Captain, "Still, how do YOU know them, Captain? You said you've run into them before, yet you're from the 23rd Century, not the 22nd or 24th."
Ron bowed his head. "Level-9 clearance only," he said. "That means Captains and above. I only break that rule if there were lower-ranking officers there at the time. When we've got time, I'll tell you."
They came to the end of the corridor, where a sealed door was the only thing barring their entry into Main Engineering. Ron handed his shotgun to Riza as he walked toward the door. "I'll trigger the manual release," Ron said. "Get ready, because they're going to be coming out 'o the woodwork." He opened a panel and grabbed the handle inside. He pulled with all his might, but the damn thing wouldn't budge.
"Maybe we should just knock?" Jaden asked sarcastically.
"Riza, give me your knife," Ron said. "I'm prying this thing open." Riza pulled out the bladed weapon in question, then handed it over to her brother. None of them had noticed that both were carrying a knife, and that was a little bit creepy.
Ron stuck Riza's knife into the crack between the doors, then began to pry it open. He didn't need to, though, as the door opened, revealing several Borg drones, most of which were partly assimilated members of the Ptolemaeus' engineering staff.
Ron was - obviously - livid as he growled. "Ok, these assholes are REALLY beginning to piss me off!" he shouted. "No one turns my crew against me and LIVES TO TELL THE TALE!" He fired his ancient assault rifle at the drones in short bursts, killing several before switching to the more devastating Mossberg. Unlike the bullets fired by the SMGs, pistols and assault rifles, the buckshot in the 12-gauge shells were made of tritanium and nothing else.
They were made and designed to kill armored Gorn, so unarmored assimilated humanoids stood no chance in hell as Ron fired the shotgun at them. The Borg began to retreat as Ron reloaded and Riza took over for him with her MP-9. Not to be outdone, Jaden and his team also opened fire at the retreating Borg, but they had left their line of fire. "Main Engineering is right down here. Come on."
USS Ptolemaeus - Deck 16, just below main engineering
The team finally came to a stop as Jessica threw out her hand. "Hold it!"
"Looks like a few Borg have infiltrated to the deck you are currently on," Theo said.
"Damn!" Steven muttered. Footsteps echoed beyond the corridor as a Borg drone came marching around. Steven opened fire on it, shredding its head in a flurry of bullets. He turned to the others. "We have to keep moving!"
"There should be a Jefferies tube near your position," the AI replied.
"Thanks!" Jessica said. She turned to face the engineer. "Your ship, you lead the way."
"Uh, I hate to interrupt, but there seems to be a lot more of a problem," Theo said, cutting in.
"What?" Jessica asked.
"The ship appears to be getting ready to open fire on the rest of the fleet once more. Not only that, but I fear that the phasers won't be enough. I may have to deploy them," he reported.
"Then do it!" the captain snapped.
"Roger. Deploying remote weapons now."
Outside, the hull of the Liberator opened up, revealing the launch bay. But unlike other starships, there were no shuttles. Inside were four remote controlled weapons, each one consisting of either a Klingon, Romulan, or Starfleet weapon. In one case, the weapon looked as if it had been partially assimilated by the Borg before being cut off from the Collective. The weapons were mounted on small platforms with engines equipped and a pair of small wings. These were the ace in the hole of the Liberator. And each one was controlled by Theo.
One by one they launched and the bay closed up. The weapons charged up and sped in front of another ship under attack and fired off their own guns, hitting the phaser beams and canceling them out in an explosion of light.
"Remote weapons deployed," Theo reported.
"Good. That'll hold them off for now," Jessica said.
"If those things damage my ship, your ass is MINE, you hear me?" Sonja growled.
Jessica turned to look at her. "They won't. We're only using them to keep the phasers from hitting other ships. Just trust me. Theo knows what he's doing with them."
"Pinkerton to Henderson: respond." Ron's voice said on her Communicator "Sonja, I KNOW you're there-" The ship rocked from weapons fire again, likely from either the Yorktown or the Raging Tempest trying to get some of the fire off of the enemy ships, which had no idea how to fight the Borg in ship-to-ship combat. "GODDAMN IT, STOP SHOOTING AT MY SHIP!"
"Take it easy, Captain! This is Captain Miller of the Liberator! We're just trying to keep your ship from attacking the others!" Jessica snapped into her commbadge.
"When we're not getting shot at or kicking these assholes off my ship, you and I are going to have a discussion, Captain! And it will NOT be pretty! Pinkerton out!"
"All right. Aside from that…" Jessica got on the comm one last time. "Theo, try and refrain from damaging this ship. Our goal is to counter any and all phaser fire. If necessary, keep the damage to a minimum. No more than a mild scratch!" she ordered.
"Understood," Theo replied.
Once that was done, she turned back to the engineer. "Sonja, right? How much further to the next tube to get us up to the deck?"
"We're almost there, but these cybernetic bastards hooked something up down here," Sonja said. "Probably one of those things your 'friend' was talking about. Keep two of your people down here-" The sound of dozens of feet, mostly 500 pound feet, hitting the deck was heard a short distance away.
"Okay, plan B."
"And that would be what?" Tony asked as he armed his rifle.
Sonja pulled out a set of trilithium-enhanced 40mm grenades. "THIS is plan B! I'll plant these things and fire a few incendiary bullets into them, blowing those things to hell!"
Tony blinked, but said nothing as he nodded. "All right."
Jessica nodded, a plan coming to mind. "Okay. Tony, you stay here with Sonja. Me, Vanessa, and Steven will get the charges from the armory and meet you back here."
"Sound good?" Steven asked Sonja.
"As long as you can get back here. Your sense of direction is worse than anyone I've met. Just what in the hell are they teaching you people at the Academy nowadays?" she asked.
"Forget that! We've got an idea on where to go from here." Jessica dug deep into her memory and called up a plan of the Excelsior class ship she had once read about for an exam, the ship in question being the Enterprise-B, which was most like the Ptolemaeus. She knew where the armory was now. "I got it covered."
The team nodded and they split off, Tony staying behind to give cover for Sonja.
He glanced at her. "Where do you think they planted it?" he asked her as he cocked his gun.
"Warp plasma vent is 10 meters that way. Those things must need a lot of power, so hooking it up near the warp core's the best option."
Tony pursed his lips, but nodded. "All right. First we take those bastards out, then we go in. Let's hope the others can get those charges in time."
One deck up, Jessica, Steven, and Vanessa had finally made their way over to where the armory was located. Steven mowed down three Borg drones in their path, leaving brains splattered against the walls. Vanessa was on her second magazine while Jessica shot a Borg in the face at point blank range without even missing a beat. "Theo, we're near the armory. Got any suggestions?"
"Yes. The Borg are guarding it, but there are only two. Recommended course of action is to snipe at them from a distance before moving in," the AI said.
"Got it," Jessica said. She turned to Vanessa and nodded.
The blonde-haired security chief aimed her gun and pulled the trigger, nailing a Borg drone in the face and blowing its head off. Steven blew the other one's head to a pulp. Once they were down, the captain ran forward and grabbed the manual release, opening it.
Within were all the armaments they needed, including…
"Spatial charges!" she noted.
"Then grab them and let's get back to the others," Vanessa said as she changed out clips.
The woman nodded and grabbed an armful of charges whole Steven grabbed extra clips for Sonja. Vanessa stayed long enough to grab a detonator. The trio exited the armory and shut the door behind them.
Fifteen minutes later, the trio made it back to the other two. "We got the charges," Vanessa said.
"Took you long enough: what, stopped by the mess hall while you were at it?" She took the charges and planted them on a cube-shaped device that all but Sonja knew was the central plexus.
"That is the central plexus," Theo said over the comm. "Blow that and the connection with the Collective will be severed. But you must act fast. More Borg drones are coming your way."
"You heard him. Sonja, hurry up! We need to move!" Jessica shouted.
"I have to do this carefully, otherwise we'll be drenched in plasma coolant! I hope you know what the shit DOES to organic material!" Sonja snapped.
"We know!" Vanessa snapped. "We'll cover you!"
As she worked, the four officers took up defensive positions close by. Jessica flipped up her patch to reveal her eye as she narrowed both of them. Steven crouched behind a conduit to keep himself protected, but his gun peeked over the edge. Tony was concealed, his rifle poking out and Vanessa held her gun to her side as she plastered herself against one of the pipes in the room.
The door slid open and a Borg drone peered in, only to get a shot to the head from Tony's rifle.
The drone, though, had managed to briefly send out a message to the other drones on the same deck. A few more were hurrying to that location in an attempt to protect the central plexus.
Jessica's right eye whirred a bit as she zoomed in on a shadow coming their way. She waited…
The drone came into the room…
Only to meet an untimely demise as Steven mowed it down. More drones came into view and the four opened fire, hitting them in the heads or in some cases in the arms and blowing them off as well. Jessica looked back. "How much longer?" she yelled over the firing.
"It's done! Get your asses moving, otherwise you'll get showered in tritanium shrapnel!"
The Liberator's senior staff quickly moved into cover around a corridor before Sonja set off the charges, but they still had one problem: they still needed to destroy the vinculum. Without that, the hundreds of localized voices would be in chaos. The drones would drive themselves insane and kill themselves to end their madness.
The explosion shattered the central plexus.
"I detected a ceasing of the connection to the Collective. I take it the central plexus is down?" Theo asked.
"Yeah. Where's the vinculum located on this thing?" Jessica asked him.
"Hold on. I'm conducting a scan right now." Theo fell silent as they waited for a bit. "I have it. It's located on the opposite side of the warp core to starboard."
"Fucking things are power-suckers!"
"All right, guys! Let's move!" Jessica ordered.
Meanwhile - with Jaden
Jaden fired a quick coup de grace into the head of a Borg drone, whose body soon fell lifeless on the floor. "Scratch another," he said as he ejected the spent clip of ammo before loading up another one. "Status?"
Around him, the men of the security team he lead - along with Ron and Riza, had just finished mopping up the rest of the Borg in Engineering. "I think that might be the last of them," Alina said, looking at her scanner. "I'm not picking up many more active Borg signatures."
Jaden sighed. "Good," he said, glad that they managed to kill the Borg without him losing any of the men he brought with him. Though he wished he could say the same for those under Ron's command. "Gonna try and see what's going on outside." He tapped his commbadge. "T'Sani? You reading me? We think we've removed the Borg from the Ptolemaeus. How are things looking out there?"
There was a short moment of static, before T'Sani's voice came through. "That's good, and things are turning out better here as well. The Borg managed to destroy most of the unknown Gorn fleet, and they're running away with most of their ships gone. As for the Borg, we're taking care of them thanks to Captain Miller's ship and the rest of the Federation and Merc fleets."
Jaden nodded. "Good. Make sure every last ship gets destroyed," he said. "I don't want any of them to get out of here with more ships to use against the Federation - especially these new Gorn-like ships."
"Understood. We'll take care of them, Captain," T'Sani said before he turned the Commbadge off.
An explosion was heard, nearly knocking the team on their asses. "The hell was that?" The Borg that were just out of line of sight started screaming, as if they had been driven insane instantaneously.
"Jesus fucking Christ, SHUT THEM THE HELL UP!"
"Hang on, people!" a female voice shouted as the explosion died down. More gunfire erupted from the corridor over and before they knew it, a team of four officers ran into view, one of them clearly wearing a trench coat with the Starfleet emblem on the left side. She turned to look at them with mismatched eyes, one of them normal, the other cybernetic. "You guys all right?" she asked.
Ron uncovered his ears. "I'm fine: can't say the same for my crew, though! Who the fuck are you?!"
"The name's Jessica Miller. I'm the captain of the USS Liberator, one of the ships in this area. And this is my team, Vanessa White, Steven Krane, and Tony Larson," the woman said. "We just took out the vinculum and the central plexus of the Borg on this ship, in case you were wondering."
"I am very, VERY angry at the moment, Captain. I have lost several members of my crew, and thanks to a large number of regulations that Kirk's escapades through time have created, I can't go back to my proper place in time! Give me one good FUCKING reason not to have my sister turn you into a broken-" The Ptolemaeus shook before Ron could finish his sentence. "NOW WHAT?!"
"Corpsa to Captain: there's a large task force inbound! Warp signatures indicate that they're Klingon!"
"Dammit!" Jessica swore. "We'll continue this later." She pressed her commbadge. "Theo, how's the situation out there?" she asked.
"The enemy fleet has retreated, if you are wondering. But I have picked up a large group of Klingon ships heading this way. I recommend a return to the ship at once," Theo said.
"Shit… Just great! What about the weapons? Status on those?" she asked.
"They are fine. All have been stowed safely. No assimilation was done," the AI replied.
"Good." She turned to Ron. "Hopefully I'll be able to tell you more later. Right now, we have bigger problems."
Within seconds, the four Starfleet officers beamed back to the Liberator.
Ron, although not pleased with what happened, was more than happy to vent his frustrations into a fleet of Klingon warships. "Captain Takeo, get back to your ship. I'm going back to the bridge and seeing if I can salvage this mess!" The elder Captain and his sister walked toward a turbolift, forcing it to activate and reroute it to the bridge. Ron twisted one of the side handles. "Bridge!"
USS Raging Tempest, Bridge
"Of course there's a Klingon Fleet inbound," Takeshi muttered sarcastically. "First, it's the unknowns attacking this system, then it's the Borg coming from a 23rd Century Ship, and now it's Klingons. These things always seem to come in threes." He sighed, then turned to Kim. "Kim, can you tell the size and makeup of the incoming fleet?"
"It's massive," Kim replied. "3 Vo'quv-Class supercarriers, 6 Negh'var-Class heavy battlecruisers, 7 Vor'cha-Class attack cruisers, 9 Qin-Class Raptors, 5 Varanus-Class support ships, 5 K'tinga-Class battlecruisers, a squadron of Birds of Prey and...oh boy."
"What?" Takeshi asked.
"There's 3 Mogh-Class battlecruisers in that formation!" Kim informed.
The Mogh-Class: the KDF's answer to the Avenger, and a supplement to the larger Negh'var-Class. Heavily armed, maneuverable and not to be taken lightly, one of them would be a pain to deal with. Three… well, Takeshi WAS an adrenaline junkie. This might just give him an overdose.
"We may not have much to fear," Brok'tan mused. "We do have the wind on our side."
The bridge crew wasn't sure whether or not that was a joke. Still, if Brok'tan was right, and the Klingons feared and respected that ship's captain, simply having the Ptolemaeus there would be a major psychological advantage. But there might also be those that hated him so much that they would stop at nothing, even dishonor, to destroy him. "What's the Ptolemaeus' status?" Takeshi asked.
"She's operational, although she's got a lot of Borg crap gunking up some of her major systems," Kim reported. "It's going to be hot for the crew for a while."
"Hope they don't have too many Andorians on board," Kevin remarked. "It'll be torture for them."
Vo'quv-Class IKS Kahless' Wrath
Kovar, captain of the Kahless' Wrath, was slightly amused at the Federation fleet assembled at Alcyone: a Luna-Class science ship, a Constitution-Class cruiser, an NX Replica escort, a Sao Paulo-Class tactical escort, an Avenger-Class battlecruiser, a Stargazer-class heavy cruiser, an Ushaan-class escort, a Nova-class science vessel, Akira-class heavy escort, and Gallant-class tactical escort, as well as a D7-Class battlecruiser, a Saber-Class Escort, and an Excelsior-Class heavy cruiser. There were a LOT of wrecks, however, meaning that Starfleet had fought and defeated the foes that were attempting to invade Alcyone.
There was something odd about the Excelsior, though. "Magnify," he said, as the Gorn sensor officer did as he was told, zooming in on the Excelsior-Class starship's saucer. He regretted it. The name and registry read 'USS Ptolemaeus, NCC-2185'.
His eyes widened, as he and any other Klingon warrior or Captain knew the vessel all too well from legends long past. 'Impossible!' he thought. 'That ship was destroyed a century ago!'
"Tell those fools on the E'has to scan that ship!" Kovar shouted, "It must be Federation trickery!" That had to be it. The Windstorm was dead and gone: little more then a cautionary tale to Klingon captains about the price of dishonor and that underestimating a Federation captain was foolish at best, and lethal at worst.
The former Gorn Hegemony Varanus-Class support vessel began scanning the ship claiming to be the Ptolemaeus. Kovar began hoping that he was right: that it was little more then a trick. If it was, that ship would be destroyed. If not, the Kahless' Wrath was as good as dead.
"Captain…"
He glanced at the Gorn. "What?!"
"The E'has reports the ship's materials and engine configuration are of the 23rd Century," the Gorn said. "However, the vessel seems to have been recently enhanced with Borg technology and has traces of chroniton particles throughout the ship's structure."
Enhanced with Borg technology, and signs the ship had gone through time itself. It was true. It was the Ptolemaeus, the ship commanded by one of the greatest foes the Empire had ever faced. But was the Windstorm himself still alive? Or was he assimilated by the Borg and killed before his tactical expertise could be given to the Collective of the past or present? "Open a channel to the Ptolemaeus," he shouted, and he didn't need to see the looks of shock on their faces to know they were there. "Do it! We must be sure!"
The Communications Officer did as he was told, opening a channel to the Excelsior-Class vessel. The face of a man respected, feared and hated by the Empire appeared on the screen. It was true. Ronald Pinkerton, the Windstorm, was alive. "This is Captain Ronald Pinkerton of the Federation starship Ptolemaeus," the human said. "Your presence in this area is no longer required, so turn the HELL around before I start using my newly-enhanced guns to rip you a new hole!"
Yup, it was him. No Starfleet captain spoke like that over an open channel. "I am Kovar, commanding officer of the IKS Kahless' Wrath!" the Captain growled out. "The planet below requested assistance." His lifelong teachings kicked in: destroy the enemy, even if it was a legend. By destroying the Ptolemaeus, he would bring so much honor to his house that his descendants would bask in it for generations to come!
"They don't NEED your assistance, Captain," Ron replied. "Now, unless you want me to turn that ship of yours into scrap metal..." The human narrowed his eyes. "Turn that fleet of yours around and head back to Qo'nos."
He had been challenged to battle. Legend or no, he would not back down. "Heghlu'meH QaQ jajvam!"*
Meanwhile - U.S.S Yorktown
"Damn, whatever Ron did back in his time musta really pissed off the Klingon's if they still remember him," Jaden said, sitting on the Yorktown's bridge. "That's one hell of a grudge."
He turned towards T'Sani. "How are we doing, T'Sani?" he asked. "How's our ammo?"
"We've used up half of our Torpedoes in the first fight," she said. "We have 32 Torpedoes left, ready to go. We've sustained some minor damage to our hull, but nothing too major. We can still fight."
Jaden nodded. "Tell the Ptolemaeus we're ready to help," he said. "We'll be wherever he wants us. He probably has more experience fighting Klingons than anyone else here."
"And perhaps more than just Klingons," she said, and Jaden glanced at T'Sani, who had a slightly perplexed look on her face. "What do you mean?" he asked.
"I've been checking the database for any signs of Captain Pinkerton's record," she said. "I've only found one file, and all it has is his postings to the Reliant, Exeter and Ptolemaeus. No record of what he's done, nothing."
The tactical console sent out several warnings, detecting more ships: likely To'duj-Class fighters from the three Vo'quv supercarriers. This would be the chance the StarVipers would have to show their worth. Against the fighters from the invasion fleet, they were overkill: the pilots didn't have the skill to match the StarViper pilots' experience. But these were seasoned Klingon fighter pilots: a whole different story altogether.
"Is there any chance we can more reinforcements?" Jaden asked. "I'm not sure we can take on this many Klingon warships with just 10 ships."
"There IS another, larger, task force inbound," T'Sani informed, "But it will not get here for another 15 minutes."
Jaden sighed. They had to hold out for one quarter of an hour. It would be a miracle to hold off four times that many ships. But there wasn't much else they could do but hold out for as long as they could.
'Time to make another miracle I guess,' he thought. 'Sure hope we can pull this off...'
The Liberator and Ptolemaeus began moving toward the Klingon fleet, with the Avenger-Class ship covering the older Excelsior-Class cruiser as they did so. Several Hegh'ta and B'rel-Class birds of prey vectored toward the two ships, mostly targeting the Ptolemaeus. Whatever made him a high value target also REALLY pissed off the Klingons.
"Well, let's not let them go in alone," Jaden announced. "Full impulse! Bring us up with the Liberator and Ptolemaeus, let's give them some support!"
"Aye Captain!" said Vimul as the Yorktown trudged forward to keep up with the Ptolemaeus and Liberator.
Two of the Hegh'tas opened fire on the Ptolemaeus, which returned the favor with several bursts from her phaser banks, which managed to down the ventral shields and hack off one of the wings, sending the ship tumbling toward another bird of prey, almost like a Jem'Hadar attack ship during the Battle of Chin'toka over 30 years earlier. A B'rel tried to retreat, but the Liberator did the same thing, with a slight twist: the Ptolemaeus locked a tractor beam onto the stricken Klingon ship. The universal thought for all the Starfleet officers was 'what the hell is he doing?', but they discovered exactly what when the BoP was rammed into a K'tinga-Class battlecruiser less than five seconds later.
The Liberator meanwhile peeled away from the stricken ship, opening fire on the enemy forces and releasing what few missiles remained. All phasers opened fire, unleashing their devastating firepower and managing to pierce some of the shields before the remaining missiles hit them and exploded. The vessel then sped off, firing all phasers in multiple directions to deter any Klingons from getting too close. A few ships got peppered by the guns, but didn't blow up. The Liberator's shields glowed and flickered before they reinforced them with power from the warp core, encasing the vessel in a protective cocoon of energy as it nearly rammed headlong into a larger ship, dropping several mines in the process, which exploded mere seconds later, encasing the two ships in a fireball.
The Klingons attempted to get revenge, but the Avenger-class battlecruiser had vanished from sight. The Klingons knew what was coming, but they didn't have time to react as a Klingon BoP was blasted out of the air by a remote weapon after it materialized from stealth. The weapon recloaked and they lost sight of both ship and weapon alike. But the energy signature was still present, allowing the larger ships, armed with disruptor beam arrays, to destroy them, which they attempted to do. They were only marginally successful, as the beams only took out one or two of the drones. Cloaking technology made the job MUCH harder, but their problems did not end there.
The Ptolemaeus fired several of her 23rd Century-era photon torpedoes at a K'tinga, but the torpedoes did little damage, as the torpedoes weren't upgraded with the phaser banks. Luckily, her Captain was adaptive, as the ship fired two more torpedoes, but they moved slightly slower than the normal ones, which allowed the ship's phasers to target and fire at the torpedoes, detonating them and creating a shockwave that pushed the battlecruiser downwards, managing to cause damage to her internal systems: in short, the impulse engines were knocked out, and when the Ptolemaeus fired her phasers again, the shields went down and the ship locked another tractor beam onto the Klingon ship. Ron had a bigger target in mind for the K'tinga: a Vo'quv supercarrier. He was going to shove the smaller ship down its' throat. This was one of the many reasons the Klingons hated him: he used the wrecks of their comrades as weapons against them. And Ron had never killed a supercarrier before.
About three of the Qin-Class Raptors turned to either take on the Ptolemaeus or finish off the K'tinga before it could be used as a projectile, but they were interrupted as the Raging Tempest flew straight at them, a volley of Quad Phaser Cannon fire erupting from its nacelles as a spread of fifteen Quantum Torpedoes erupted from its forward launchers. The phaser bursts came in a cone, shredding the shields of the Raptors before the torpedoes detonated around them, taking down whatever shields were left and also causing massive damage to their hulls, destroying two of them outright. A swarm of To'Duj fighters streaked towards the Sao Paulo-Class vessel, only for its Aft-Mounted Phaser Turrets to come alive in Point Defense Mode, the blasts shredding the fighters apart as if their shields and hulls were paper.
The Ptolemaeus rushed toward one of the Vo'quv carriers, which attempted to fight off the practically ancient Excelsior-Class cruiser, but the Starfleet ship pulled up, deactivating the tractor beam and pulling an L4 turn (which did slightly strain the hull) to get away from the carrier's line of fire. The K'tinga crashed into the supercarrier, downing the shields within a few seconds due to sheer kinetic force, followed by the ship itself ramming into the Vo'quv's side, taking off one of the warp nacelles and destroying one of the hangar bays. Even if the ship survived, she wouldn't be able to carry over half of her fighters back to a starbase. Not that the ship was actually going to survive: the warp core had been hit, and that was always the death knell of any ship. The carrier exploded, showering the area with debris. The Excelsior-Class cruiser was not done, however, as the ship locked another tractor beam onto the only surviving nacelle before shoving it into a Negh'var-Class battleship. In quick succession, the Ptolemaeus had just destroyed 3 ships, which would have taken several ships to destroy. The fleet killer was doing what he did best.
The Oathsworn and the Yorktown were not inactive, and they were hitting the Klingon fleet as well, although not doing as much damage as the Ptolemaeus or the Raging Tempest, but that was due to one thing only: their size. The Constitution-Class in its' original configuration was 289 meters long, and 305 meters in the refit config. The Excelsior was 462 meters long and slightly wider, allowing for more weapons and equipment to be fit. The Saber-Class was actually slightly wider than the Defiant and Sao Paulo, but wasn't built for long fights. The latter two, on the other hand, were built to fight the Borg.
However they were making up for that gap, with their speed and maneuverability as the Yorktown fired Phasers and Photon Torpedoes at the oncoming enemy forces, while the Oathsworn did the same with its Phased Tetryon Cannons and Turrets and Quantum Torpedoes. "Lock and fire Phasers at that Qin Raptor! Fire Aft torpedoes at the Vor'cha while its shields are down!" Jaden barked out orders as the Yorktown unleashed its payload of weapons upon the Klingons. The bridge shook violently as Jaden cursed. "And someone tell Johann to get those damn fighters off our ass!"
The To'duj fighters continued to peck away at the shields, but the StarVipers finally got done with a squadron of them harassing the Vesalius, so they regrouped to defend their mothership. While the To'duj-Class fighter was highly deadly and maneuverable, it had one weakness: it was slightly frail. This was one of the few reasons the Federation didn't bother with new fighters: the Peregrine was built like a tank, and could take far more hits then the To'duj. The StarVipers, while roughly the same size as the To'duj, had all of the Peregrine's strengths and all of the To'duj's maneuverability. Sucks to be the Klingons… for now. The Klingon fighter craft had little choice but to break off, and some were easily slaughtered by the StarVipers.
The Raging Tempest, Liberator and Ptolemaeus continued to cause heavy damage to the enemy fleet, with the Ptolemaeus slightly ahead of the Liberator due to her captain's better tactical skill. However, the Ptolemaeus' phasers, while upgraded, were still 23rd Century-era weapons. Only under the control of the Borg could they do what they did to the enemy fleet from before. And her shields were finally starting to buckle.
"Captain, the Ptolemaeus is taking a beating!" T'Sani shouted. "Borg upgrades or not-"
"Move in to support the Ptolemaeus!" Jaden shouted, as the bridge shook once more. "Get some of that fire off her!"
Luckily for them all, they were about to get help: the task force had arrived. Dozens of Federation starships dropped out of warp, all of varying designs, most of which Jaden hadn't seen in frontline service as of yet, including Niagara-Class heavy cruisers, Springfield-Class science ships, New Orleans-Class light cruisers, Challenger and Freedom-Class light escorts, Constellation-Class cruisers, Akira-Class heavy escorts, five Ambassador-Class cruisers, a trio of Galaxy-Class cruisers, two Sovereign-Class assault cruisers, and a Devron-Class dreadnought cruiser, with a Luna-Class reconnaissance science vessel leading the task force.
"This is Admiral William T. Riker of the U.S.S. Titan," A man's voice echoed across the frequencies, "To any Federation Starships still active in the area, please respond."
Jaden let out a sigh of relief, reinforcements finally arrived! "This is Captain Jaden Takeo, of the U.S.S Yorktown," he said. "Thank god you showed up when you did sir, we're pretty outnumbered here!"
Moments after he said that, the front screen displayed the image of the famous First Officer of two U.S.S Enterprise's on the bridge of the Titan. He looked much like he did during his career on the famed starship, even though a few grey hairs were appearing around him. "We'll give you as much cover as we can," the Admiral said. "That Excelsior doesn't look too good, either." He then paused for a moment before continuing. "Speaking of which, where did she come from? There aren't any Excelsiors in the area that could've made it here in time."
Jaden sighed. "It's a LONG story, Admiral," he said. "I'll tell you later, AFTER the Klingons are dealt with."
"Good point," Admiral Riker said. "We're moving in to support you. And tell Captain Miller that I expect to speak with her later: she left her patrol against orders."
Jaden rolled his eyes. Jessica DID seem like a loose cannon. "That explains a lot…" he muttered under his breath.
"Good luck, Captain. Riker out." The image of the former XO of the Enterprise-D and Enterprise-E disappeared from the screen, replaced with the massive Klingon fleet, which was still shooting at the Ptolemaeus and the Raging Tempest.
"Takeshi! Captain Pinkerton!" he said on the Audio comm. "Federation Reinforcements have arrived! I think its time we drove the Klingon's out of this system!"
Ron's voice piped in a second later. "Ptolemaeus to fleet: we've lost engines! Shields are nearly gone! Get your asses over here NOW!" The fleet began moving in, firing their respective weapons at the Klingon warships. The Klingons, while continuing to fire, knew that with the damage they'd taken earlier, they wouldn't stand a chance against the Titan's fleet, even with the Vo'quv carriers and their To'Duj fighters.
They began turning away, but three of the Hegh'ta BoPs strafed the now unshielded Ptolemaeus, doing heavy damage to the ship's saucer section and nearly ripping off the starboard nacelle before turning away and running.
"Shit!" Jaden shouted. "Fire on those damn Hegh'tas! Cover the Ptolemaeus!" The Yorktown quickly moved in front of the larger Excelsior-class Starship, its Phasers and Photon Torpedoes firing at the retreating Klingons, while taking what shots were fired there way to protect the crippled Ptolemaeus.
Eventually however, the Klingons had enough as one by one, their ships escaped into Warp. Jaden wasted no time as he contacted the Ptolemaeus. "Captain Pinkerton!" he called out. "This is Captain Takeo, are you alright?"
There was a crackle of static before he finally got a reply, audio only. "We've lost warp drive and I've lost 53 people on my ship, Captain!" Ron reported. "Sublights are down, and those Klingon bastards disabled what weapons I had left! I hope you've got a tow ship: we're going to need it."
"Captain Miller here," Jessica said. "We're more than happy to offer a tow. We're still good to go, and we have the last three remote weapons stowed. We lost one, but it was a price to pay for saving your ass, Pinkerton."
"Speaking of asses, Captain Miller..." Admiral Riker said, and Jaden could almost tell that the former Enterprise first officer was NOT happy with her. "Report to the Titan immediately. You left your designated patrol route. AGAIN."
"It was necessary, Admiral!" Jessica snapped. "We picked up the fight and had to provide assistance! I just couldn't sit by and do nothing!"
"You were 60 lightyears from the planet," Riker said. "That excuse isn't going to work, Captain. You went rogue, AGAIN."
"I don't care! If I can make a difference, then I will! I didn't join just to become someone who stuck to regulations! I want to make a difference, and that is why I joined! So stuff it and let's just get back to base!" the captain snapped.
"That's ballsy of you, Captain Miller, but mouthing off to an Admiral like that is going to get you in VERY deep shit," Ron warned. "How the hell do you think I ended up in this mess?"
"Listen. This isn't the first time this has happened. I dealt with the Borg during a patrol run three months ago and I diverted to protect an innocent world. So, I know how to hold my own, even against Riker," she said. "And Riker, I know what I did was against orders, and I accept that. But the thing is, right now we have even bigger problems, like the whole thing with the Klingons. We need to figure out what was going on, and right now arguing isn't going to cut it."
"Captain Miller has a point," Takeshi remarked. "We need to figure out what's going on, not just with the the Klingons, but also with these mysterious attackers. Admiral Riker, we'll follow your lead to the nearest Starbase, where we can get Pinkerton's explanation of how he jumped over a hundred years into the future, analyze any recoverable salvage from our new foe, and fill Pinkerton in on all that's happened during his journey through time."
"...Very well, Captain Yamato. You have a point. Evacuate the Ptolemaeus of all non-essential personnel: standard Borg decontamination procedures. And this time we do it by the book. Understood, Captain Miller?"
"I do," she said. "And this time, I will. Even we know the deal with the Borg."
Her ship adjusted its course and fired off its tractor beam to strike the damaged Ptolemaeus on the nose of the saucer section. Once engaged, the engines fired up and the Liberator began to move. "We've got a tractor beam locked on and we're good to go."
"Very well. Set course for Starbase 74 as soon as evacuation of the Ptolemaeus is complete."
Jaden sighed a bit as he leaned back in his chair. "That was too close…" he muttered. "Hopefully now we can get some answers here…"
"We'll transfer most of our crew to the Vesalius: it's the largest ship you've got," Ron said."But my chief engineer, helmsman and I will be transferring over to the Yorktown for the trip over. I'd like to see what they've done to the Connies over the past century or so."
Jaden blinked in surprise, but nodded. "Understood," he said. "We will be ready to receive you once you are ready, Captain."
"We've been ready for five minutes, Captain Takeo: we're just waiting on you."
"Tell our transporter chief that you're ready, Captain."
"Understood." Jaden said, as the channel cut out and Jaden looked at T'Sani. "Connies? What the hell are Connies?"
T'Sani shrugged. "I have no idea." She said.
Later - U.S.S Yorktown Transporter room
Three pillars of energy appeared in the transporter room of the Yorktown, and moments later Ron, Riza, and Sonja fully materialized in the bay, where awaiting them was Jaden, and T'Sani.
"Greetings Captain," Jaden said, with a short salute. "Welcome to the U.S.S Yorktown."
"Lose the salute, Captain: we might be have a military duty, but Starfleet's primary job is to explore." He glanced around the transporter room, mildly impressed. "I see they've changed a few things since the last time I was on a Connie."
"Connie, Captain?" Jaden asked.
"It's shorthand in the 23rd Century," Sonja answered. "Constitution-Class is a bit of a mouthful."
"Oh," Jaden said, realizing it now. "That actually makes a lot of sense."
Ron looked at Sonja. "Take a look around their engine room if you want, Sonja, but don't break anything," he said, and Sonja smirked.
"Only one man knows more about this class then I do, boss," she said.
"And who would that be?" Jaden asked.
"The man who designed the refit version," she said. "Captain Montgomery Scott."
"Ah, right," Jaden said nodding. "Then I suppose you'll know your way around then. If you need any help the ship's computer can help you out, and once you reach engineering, talk with Victor. He's our Chief Engineer… just follow the sounds of shouting in Russian."
"Russians. They LOVE yelling obscenities in their own language," Sonja said with an amused chuckle before she walked out of the transporter room.
Ron glanced at T'Sani. "You're not fully Vulcan, are you?" he asked, causing her to blink in surprise.
"How could you-" she began, before Ron cut her off.
"I knew Captain Spock," he said. "And you're not a human/Vulcan hybrid, either. So, what's the last part of your blood from?"
T'Sani blinked in surprise again, amazed how Captain Pinkerton could tell that. "W-Well, my grandfather on my father's side was Romulan, and my grandmother was Vulcan," she said. "And my mother was human, so I'm one-half human, one-quarter Vulcan, and one-quarter Romulan."
"You should count yourself lucky that I won't attack you simply because of your Romulan blood," Ron said, causing T'Sani to gulp a bit. "The Tal Shiar are near the top of my shit list."
"You don't have to worry about Tal Shiar… for the most part at least," Jaden said, causing Ron and Riza to raise their eyebrows. "The Romulan Star Empire was practically destroyed after Hobus Supernova in 2387 destroyed Romulus, and the formation of the Romulan Republic. Heck, recently they've been discussing the possibility of Romulans rejoining the Vulcans. There is still those who want to return the empire to its former glory, namely old Tal Shiar remnants, but with the disappearance of Empress Sela, the Romulan 'Empire' is pretty much dead at this point. The Republic, however, is much more peaceful and honest than the Empire ever was."
"I would welcome them into the Federation as long as the fucking Remans stayed the hell away from me," Ron said, scowling. "Fucking telepathic vampires..."
"Sounds like you know from personal experience," T'Sani said.
"I spent three weeks on Romulus under the tender loving care of the Tal Shiar with a Reman constantly getting into my head, trying to get everything I knew about Starfleet security and defense!" Ron ranted. "Luckily, I broke jail. Unluckily for them, I blew up the base in the process."
"I doubt they took that very well…" Jaden said, as the group left the transporter bay, and headed down the corridor towards a turbolift that would take them to the bridge as they continued their conversation.
"They sent five ships to kill me and my stolen long-range shuttle: T'varo-Class," Ron replied. "I crossed the border and got back to the Exeter just before they caught up. I blew them up next."
"Let me guess," Jaden said. "They don't like you very much?"
"Nor do the Tholians," Ron informed. "They REALLY hate me."
"Well if they're anything like the Klingons we just encountered, it's likely they still remember you," Jaden said, as the turbolift came to a stop, before the door opened allowing them on the bridge.
"Not much has changed since I was last on the Exeter, it seems," Ron said, as he glanced around the bridge, noting races that he hadn't met. "So, our next stop is Starbase 74, right? I'd love to see what they've done with the place since I was last there."
"A lot, since it's been 116 years." Jaden said.
"Almost 118, actually," Ron muttered. "In three months it will be."
Jaden chuckled as the 23rd Century Starfleet captain looked around, seeing what had changed and what hadn't. In a weird way, he was an explorer, but not an explorer at the same time.
At that moment the Turbolift opened once again, as Johann entered the bridge. "Captain," the StarViper pilot said, smiling. "Glad to see you're alright."
Jaden smiled as he nodded. "And you, Commander," he said, looking at Ron. "Captain Pinkerton, this is Flight Commander Johann von Richthofen, he's the commander of the StarViper Squadron. Commander Richthofen, Captain Ronald Pinkerton of the U.S.S. Ptolemaeus."
"It's an honor, sir," Johann said with a nod.
"Pleasure," Ron said with a nod himself, before he rose an eyebrow. "But… what is a StarViper?"
"Starfighters, sir," Johann said, causing both Ron and Riza to blink. "A lot has changed in space combat since the 23rd Century sir. Starfighters are the latest addition, ever since the Maquis converted Peregrine-class courier ships to interceptor attack vessels. The Federation saw how effective they were, they adapted the design for their use in the later engagements of the Dominion War. While they were good… the Peregrines are slow and bulky, and don't stand much of a chance against the newer and more advance Klingon To'Duj Fighters. The StarViper program is the first project to create a new Starfighter from the ground up to challenge the To'Duj. " He then grinned. "And after this battle… it's obvious they work. We've already accounted for over 100 kills, both those unknown enemies and from the Klingons. "
"Commander, I know what a starfighter is," Ron said. "I'm just surprised and highly disappointed that it took 116 years for our universe's Starfleet to actually put them into service."
Johann sighed. "You're not the only one," he said. "In my opinion sir, the Federation needs to think more militarily when dealing with the likes of the Klingons and Borg. While exploration is all fine and well, we need to be more capable of defending ourselves, and if need be, to strike back against our enemies. Me and Hikari are hoping the StarVipers will be the first of many new technologies that will improve the Federation's fighting capacity against them."
"While I agree with you, we can't fully militarize Starfleet." Ron said, "Do that and we'll be no better than another Starfleet I've run into, and once that happens we might as well start saying 'long live the Empire'."
"Are you saying that we'll turn into the Klingons or something?" Jaden asked.
Ron and Riza blinked. "You don't know? You really don't know?" Riza blurted.
Jaden was confused now. "Know what?" He asked.
Ron growled and walked over to a bulkhead before slamming his head into it. "Chikushō, anata wa wareware wa ni jikkō shita tawagoto no tame ni yōi sa rete iru no o kakuninshitekudasai nani o shinai yō ni shiyou to, Kubun Sanjuu-ichi de, korera no baka wa nanidesu ka?!"**
"Oniisama, calm down," Riza said. "Those fools always believe that if a threat is unknown to all, they're better protected against it."
Ron sighed. "When you look into a mirror, Captain, what do you see?"
Jaden blinked. "A reflection of myself," he said.
"Ever wondered it the reflection is just like you... or the exact opposite?" Ron asked cryptically. "'For now we look into a glass, darkly'. I've run into them, Captain. There is such a thing as a dark reflection. There is no Federation there: in its place is the Empire. The Terran Empire."
"Terran Empire?" Jaden asked, with a raised eyebrow. "What are you talking about?"
"Intelligence clearly wanted to make sure no one knew so no one would get any ideas," Ron said, shaking his head. "Kirk was the first to run into the bastards: literally beamed into their universe during an ion storm in '67. I ran into them 16 years later when the Exeter fell into an interphasic rift. Barely got out of there with my life."
"In that universe, Cochrane killed the first Vulcan that set foot onto Earth," Riza said. "They killed every Vulcan on board the ship and eventually reverse engineered all of its' technology. THEN they did what they did best: conquer."
Jaden looked both surprised and disturbed - along with everyone else on the bridge of the Yorktown. "So… you're telling me there is a Mirror universe, just like ours… only everything is reversed?" he asked.
"In a way." Ron said as he smirked. "You've already met someone from the Mirror Universe."
Jaden blinked in surprise. "Who?" He asked, just before the turbolift opened and out came Sonja, carrying her red uniform jacket over her shoulder.
"I fixed a bit of a problem with the EPS feed," she said. "They should be able to get past Warp 9 now."
"Nice work." Ron said, before he looked at Jaden. "Speaketh of the devil, and she shall come."
Once again, Jaden and T'Sani blinked before they looked at Sonja, then back at Ron, and then back to Sonja "Wait… she's from the mirror universe?" Jaden asked, pointing at her.
"Not all things exist in each universe," Ron said. "And not all things are evil. But we should make damn sure NEVER to encounter my counterpart: he's just as good at blowing shit up as I am. As for Sonja, she was a civilian that we rescued. She fixed a shuttle without my knowledge. I asked if she wanted to join my crew and get the hell out of that universe."
Sonja just smirked "Telling my life story, boss?" She asked.
Ron glanced at his chief engineer. "He didn't know about the Mirror Verse." He said.
Her smirk dropped before she let out an annoyed sigh "Idiots at 31 clearly need their heads examined." She muttered, "But he's right: I wanted to leave and never go back. I joined his crew and he gave me a commission."
Jaden could only blink at that, clearly surprised by the info he just got. He then mentally imagined how the Ron in the Mirror Verse looked and acted, and shivered at the picture in his head.
"Well… either way, I understand where you are coming from, sir." Johann said, after he came over the shock. "I agree we don't want to turn the Federation into anything like these Terrans you told us about… you must admit it would be much better if the Federation had an Army, Air Force and maybe even a Marine Corps to operate with Starfleet, so they are not the only ones standing between the Federation and our enemies."
"I'd rather them working under Starfleet's control," Ron said. "We have the experience. I'd rather not have a bunch of greenhorns with egos on the front lines commanding their troops to die for nothing." He then glanced at the helm. "Mind if Riza takes the helm for the trip over to SB 74?" he asked. "I'd feel more comfortable with her at the wheel."
Jaden looked at Lieutenant Perce. "Lieutenant?" he asked. The Bajoran looked back before he shrugged as he stood up. "There you have it," Jaden said, looking at Riza. "Helm's all yours, ma'am."
Riza walked over to the conn and sat down in the chair. "Controls seem slightly different," she said. "Nothing I can't work around, though." The clone's hands glided across the LCARS controls, plotting the course to Starbase 74 much faster then most helmsman.
"Sonja, get back to engineering." Ron said, "I think our friend down below could use a few tips."
"And I could use a language lesson or two!" she said with a sigh before walked back into the turbolift and back to engineering.
Jaden nodded as he stepped towards the Captain's chair. "Alright. then," he said. "Well, let's not keep the Admiral and the others waiting. Lieutenant Pinkerton, set course to Starbase 74, maximum warp."
"Aye, sir." Riza said, her fingers dancing along the controls. "Warp 9.1, engaging." The Yorktown's warp nacelles flashed blue as the warp bubble formed around her, propelling her far past the speed of light, with the Raging Tempest, the Liberator and the rest of the fleet on her coattails.
117Jorn: And Chapter 4 is DONE!
Ron the True Fan: Can the fans find out what I've pulled from the series and put in? I'd love to find out.
Takeshi Yamato: Things are definitely heating up, though. We've got some serious action ahead.
Titanic X: So don't be surprised if you find yourself wanting more action!
117Jorn: That's right! So until next time…
Everyone: JA NE!