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 7: Broken Mirror
Deep Space Nine
Captain's Log, Stardate 86997.1
Been about a week since our first encounter with the ships from the Terran Empire. I have to say, despite the massive beating we got, things have turned out alright in the end - all of our ships have received some decent upgrades.
About the only change on my ship that I'm… conflicted about, was my decision to have my Manual Steering Column and Manual Impulse Throttle removed from my ship's helm console. Those helped me considerably in performing maneuvers that could only be pulled by Peregrines before, but after seeing what Lieutenant Commander Pinkerton could do with standard helm interfaces… well, I guess now I can see the potential they have. I also took her advice to heart, and managed to find a… 'leitmotif', I guess… that I could use to guide me in battle.
And the addition of Admiral Lamperouge, one of Starfleet's greatest tacticians, to our taskforce is good news, as well.
Next time we run into Ron's Mirror Counterpart - who everyone seems to be copying Jaden and calling 'Dark Ron' now - he won't be so lucky.
A Nelson-class cruiser, a kind of Miranda equivalent to the Ambassador-class, towed an Excelsior-class starship to DS9. This ship was the USS Ptolemaeus NCC-2185, Ron's actual command. Ron was happy to see her again. "It's about fucking time." He said with a smirk.
Jessica nodded as she glanced back at the damaged Liberator. The ship would have to be repaired at Bajor's shipyards, but hopefully it wouldn't take too long. She glanced at the other vessel, the Rome. It felt… odd… not having Theo with them, but then again, considering the state of the ship, it was a good thing so he could recover.
The Liberator's crew were trying to adjust to the larger Devron-class dreadnought, while in stark contrast the Ptolemaeus' crew were happy to get back to the ship they were trained to use. The fortunate thing was that few of the ship's interiors needed to be changed: the Borg technology that was forced upon the Ptolemaeus made it almost pointless, although LCARS controls replaced the older style panels and the duotronic computers were replaced with modern isolinear and bio-neural computers. Old ship, new tricks.
"They modernized everything on the ship, right?" Takeshi asked. "LCARS Controls, latest model Warp Core, Shields, Engines, and Weapons?"
"Almost: they didn't rip out the bridge module," Ron said. "They just put in new displays and consoles. And according to the memo they sent me, Commander von Richtofen is going have a lot of friends on the Ptolemaeus." Ron handed over aforementioned memo. In a nutshell, it explained that a StarViper squadron would be stationed aboard the Ptolemaeus to take advantage of the Excelsior-Class ship's larger shuttlebay and the secondary bay.
Jaden smiled, nodding. "Johann will be glad to hear that," he said. "It will relieve him and his squadron from a lot of stress. With all this extra firepower, including the Anti-ship weapons of the Vipers, we'll have a distinct advantage over the Empire in our next fight."
"Not as much as you'd think." Ron said as he sighed, forced to burst the bubble. "The Empire has their own dedicated fighter craft: Wraith and Phantom-Class. They were only introduced in 82, and the Exeter was one of the first to deploy them. And just like the Connie..."
"They're still useful today," Jaden said nodding. "But still, they can't be as capable as the StarViper, though."
"No, but I have no doubt that my counterpart knows about them: Constitution-Class ships on both sides of the mirror have advanced sensor technology: it's likely they scanned the ship, found the fighters and, well, copied them."
"I doubt that," Jaden said. "Hikari said the StarVipers have an overlay stealth coating in place when they are not in flight, it was her way to make sure that the same thing couldn't happen if the Klingons or Tal Shiar Remnants couldn't copy her design. And there are several Klingon ships I can think of that have just as - if not better sensors than a Connie. Though you're probably right that we should be prepared for anything."
"True enough," Ron said. "Besides, we're taking on a flight of Peregrines as well: better to have something my engineers can actually maintain than having to relearn how to retrain themselves on new fighters."
"Speaking of which, Captain Kurland wants to brief us on something," Ron said. "So we'd better get up to the wardroom."
Later - Wardroom
Once again, the Captains of the local Starfleet vessels were gathered in the Wardroom of DS9, where Captain Kurland stood before them all. Behind him was a currently blank screen, but was powering up. "Alright everyone," he said. "I know these last few months haven't been kind to us all, but I believe its time to finally kick the Terran Empire out of this universe once and for all."
"You could say that again," Ron said. "Three of our ships were disabled thanks to my counterpart, and then those… what were they called again?"
"Undine," Jaden said.
"Thank you. Undine crippled the Liberator. Still, it's time for payback."
Kurland nodded. "The Terrans and True Way have over 40 starships in the Badlands," he said. "4 Galor-Class cruisers, 2 Keldon-Class battleships, four Noble-Class assault cruisers, a Sao Paulo-Class escort, two Akira-Class heavy escorts, nine Nova-Class support ships, a Typhoon-class battleship, and finally, one Constitution-Class heavy cruiser."
"And we know exactly who that motherfucking bastard is." Jaden muttered.
"Yeah," Takeshi replied. "Dark Ron's ship. We know what that Sao Paulo is, too, but not much info on crew. And what happened to their Avenger-Class Captain Miller ran into earlier? The one with her Mirror Counterpart?"
"We intercepted a number of transmissions from the Exeter: it seems that she was acting against orders." Kurland said, "Bear in mind those numbers were ships we know are there: there could be more under cloak."
"So what kind of ships do we have?" Jaden asked.
"We have, of course, your ships," Kurland said. "The Yorktown, Ptolemaeus, Liberator, Nighthawk, Raging Tempest, and Escalvantine, along with your siblings' vessels the Izanami and Marathon. In addition to them, we still have the Rome, along with two Nebula-class Advance Science Vessels, the U.S.S Phoenix and Sutherland, four Steamrunner-class Blockade Runner Escorts, three Vanguard-class Star Cruisers, seven Miranda-class Light Cruisers, three Gryphon-class Patrol Escorts, two Typhoon-class Battleships, an Oberth-class Light Science Vessel, a Dakota-class Heavy Cruiser, and lastly a Caitian Atrox Carrier."
"We're going to need them." Ron said, "My counterpart's a fleet-killer, same as me."
Kurland sighed. "Speaking of which, Command has given me orders you might not agree with," he said.
Ron rolled his eyes. "As usual," he muttered.
"You're to capture the ISS Exeter."
"WHAT!?" Jaden shouted, "Excuse me, but are you kidding me! We barely survived our last battle when we were going all out! Now they want us to go easy on this guy?"
"The Exeter is the flagship of that fleet, Captain," Kurland said. "It has all the intel on every Terran ship in the general area, and might have the same interdimensional rift technology we've seen used by the Devron and Odyssey-Class dreadnoughts from that universe. And as Captain Pinkerton will no doubt be demanding, he will be facing the Exeter himself. He just won't be destroying it."
"Oh, fucking great," Ron hissed. "So you're throwing Jaden's crew to the wolves? I just KNOW your orders state he'll be in charge of the away team!"
Jaden facepalmed. "You have got to be shitting me…" he muttered. "These guys aren't the Borg, Klingons, or Romulans for that matter, this is the evil twin of Ron we're talking about here. I'd be lucky enough to beat him in a ship-to-ship engagement, but I doubt I could stand a chance against him in person!"
Ron shook his head. "It's not my mirror self you should be worried about: it's Mirror Riza!" he said. "She's got the same scythe my sister does, and that thing's molecularly sharp! The only thing it CAN'T cut through is neutronium!"
Jaden glanced at Ron for a moment… before he smiled a bit. "Then… I think I know someone who can deal with her, then," he said, causing the others to blink. "Let's just say Engineering isn't Hikari's only strong point."
"I thought we couldn't practically use neutronium. My century OR yours," Ron asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Not en masse, but that's not the point."
"We're getting off topic, gentlemen," Kurland said. "Your orders are to capture the Exeter and drag it back to DS9. We need to develop a countermeasure to their rift technology, otherwise we'll be swamped with Mirror Universe ships!"
Ron scoffed. "Deny them one, they'll just use another," he said. "This will only delay them: nothing more."
"You sound sure of that," Kurland said.
"Remember my Exeter?" Ron asked, "She had a lot of sisters. Maybe the name Defiant rings a few bells."
"Oh, yeah, I do remember that from History Class," Takeshi remarked. "Didn't that first Defiant vanish without a trace? I think I remember hearing that Kirk's crew stumbled upon it but had it disappear from in front of them while they were having an encounter with Tholians."
"Oh, the Tholians are to blame for that, alright: here AND there!" he said. "The Defiant ended up in the Mirror Universe! In 2154, no less!"
THAT surprised all of them. "What? How-"
"I got it from the ISS Exeter's database during my first encounter with them," he said. "The ISS Enterprise NX-01 found the ship and used it to slaughter a rebellion back then! And I don't need to tell you that a Connie is deadly, especially one from the future!"
Jaden sighed. "So even if we capture the Exeter, it may not even matter afterwards," he said. "Fan-tucking-fastic."
"If we can delay them, it's still a win," Amy said with a shrug. "As long as we can hold them off until we can find a permanent solution, it sounds fine with me."
"You have your orders, people." Kurland said, "Command expects the best from all of you. Dismissed."
USS Ptolemaeus - bridge
Riza sat back down in her comfortable chair on the bridge of the ship she had called home for almost 7 years. "So, round three with the ISS Exeter." Riza said.
Sonja shook her head. "We've got the better ship!" she said. "And Command wants us to CAPTURE that thing?!"
Riza glanced at Sonja. "We have our orders, and my brother hates it just as much as we do," she said. "But he WILL complete this mission, whether we like it or not."
USS Yorktown - bridge
"Capture the Exeter my ass…" Jaden muttered to himself, sitting on the bridge of the ship. "Sometimes I wonder if Federation HIGHCOMM is even remotely competent…"
"Order are orders," T'Sani said with a sigh. "Doesn't mean we have to LIKE them… I suppose all we can do is do our best… and as my mother use to say… give 'em hell."
Jaden chuckled a bit at that. "Your mom sounds awesome," he said, glancing at her. "When we make it out of this, I'll have to meet her."
USS Raging Tempest - Bridge
Takeshi sighed as he settled into his familiar seat at the helm. "Command wants us to capture the same ship that kicked our butts last time?" he muttered.
"There are times I wonder, 'What is Command smoking, and why are they not sharing?'" Kevin remarked. "Then I think to myself, 'Do I even want to try whatever they're smoking?'"
"Yeah," Linda remarked. "Still, hopefully what Takeshi learned from Lieutenant Commander Pinkerton will be enough for us to deal with them… and Admiral Lamperouge should be able to come up with some decent strategies for us."
"Well, Captain Pinkerton's the one who has to deal with Dark Ron," Rina remarked. "Best way to deal with a fleet killer is to send ANOTHER fleet killer against him, right?"
"And he's got the better ship," Kim added. Still, they got the feeling that this was going to be anything but easy.
Meanwhile - Badlands
In the Badlands, the Terran Fleet, with their True Way 'allies', were busy hunkering down and preparing for whatever attack Starfleet would send their way. Specifically on the Relentless, where techs from both its own crew and the Exeter were working on a special project at the behest of both Hitomi and Pinkerton, kept secret from the rest of the fleet, in case of a potential GOTH scenario…
"You're sure they'll try to capture the Exeter?" Hitomi asked.
"It's the flagship of the fleet," Dark Ron replied. "All the intel we have is on that ship, as well as the rift generator. Luckily, I'm bringing in reinforcements: two ships are inbound from our side of the looking glass, as it were, as I speak."
"Only TWO?" Hitomi asked. "Admiral, your counterpart-"
"Will not be able to handle these ships under my command." Dark Ron finished before the Terran Admiral snapped his fingers, and an image appeared on the closest monitor. Two ships were there. And both of them were dreadnoughts: one was Devron-Class, the other, Odyssey. "I pulled a few strings to get her here."
"Her?" she asked, before Hitomi noticed the name of the Odyssey-Class ship: ISS Sato. Her eyes widened in surprise. "You… you brought the ship I want for my Flagship?" she asked, smiling.
"For now, though, she will be under my command," Ron said. "I hope you don't consider this an insult, my dear."
"What about the Exeter?" Hitomi asked.
"I'm putting the Exeter under Yuki's command." He said, "Riza, of course, will still be onboard, as she is the best pilot in the fleet. And the most lethal footsoldier with her favorite weapon."
Hitomi nodded. "I assume you'll bail her out if it looks like she's in danger?" she asked semi-rhetorically. "She is your woman, after all."
"Of course, but I do that for the Empire, not myself," Ron said. "If we lose her, we lose a valuable resource. And Command won't exactly be pleased if we do. Nor would you, when the time comes: I'm only half as capable without her manning the helm."
Hitomi nodded again. "Indeed," she said. "It would be a bad thing if we were to lose her. So, what is your plan for the upcoming battle?"
"I've learned that my counterpart has returned to the Ptolemaeus." He said, "He will be second-in-command of the fleet, seeing as he is the deadliest out of all of them: some boy named Lamperouge is in command of the fleet itself."
"Hmm… that name… Lamperouge… it sounds vaguely familiar, but I can't place it," Hitomi mused. "I'd imagine he has a counterpart in our universe somewhere, but he's not part of the Terran Empire…" She paused. "He could be part of that upstart Empire, the one that liberated its capital from Alliance territory and then started conquering every world they could, both ours and those of the Alliance. What was the name of that Empire again… oh, right, they call themselves the 'Neo Britannian Empire'."
"Bunch of fools: we're better united, not splintered," Ron remarked. "But they aren't our problem at the moment: Starfleet is. They have a force of 36 starships inbound. And as I've probably ranted before-"
"The Ptolemaeus is a force-multiplier, due to your counterpart's fleet killing skill," Hitomi replied. "But you have the advantage: the Sato."
"He's run into demons bigger than the Sato before, just as I have." Dark Ron said, "We both have experience with air and darkness, after all. He just doesn't know who they are, yet."
"I understand," Hitomi replied. "That race practically has no differences between their universe and ours - in fact, I've heard some rumors that that race actually exists across dimensions, with its true home being somewhere between the dimensions."
"They just like settling on that little planet near the Romulan border." He said, "It's a good thing we've claimed that world as our own, now. They won't come back unless they want to face our full strength, with me leading the way." He looked at an image of something being built in a nearby asteroid base. "Oh, yes, we know you, 'demons of air and darkness'." Dark Ron chuckled as he walked toward the Relentless' transporter room. "If our fallback plan fails, we'll be forced to use Plan B. Please, make sure that doesn't need to happen, my future Empress."
Miller snorted as she watched this scene. She ran a hand through her hair and tried to straighten it, but with no luck. She rubbed her eyes and finally stretched, making sure her patch was in place over her left eye. Her counterpart was no doubt waiting for some opportunity to strike back. But that was furthest from her mind.
She hated what Dark Ron had done.
Sure she was tough, but even an agony booth was pushing her limits. She was able to endure the setting it was on, but not for too long. She was notorious for being able to endure the weaker settings. She wanted to get back at him for this.
Big time.
The Terran Captain glanced back at her crew, not even really caring as they went about their duties. She had other things to worry about, such as beating her opposite self. The weak woman was no match for her, and the fact that her ship was commanded by an artificial intelligence like she had deduced after the pain-filled yelp when her opposite slammed her hands on the console only added to her weakness. Such programs were of no use in the Terran Empire's fleets.
Next time they ran across one another, she would die.
No doubt about it.
But for now, she had a bigger target in mind. If she killed Dark Ron, she would take his place as commander of the fleet, and they would strike at the Federation, conquering all. She pulled out her standard issue dagger, planning to ambush the old man and kill him. She watched him enter the transporter room, then made her move. Too bad that Ron had survived many attempts on his life before, and knew exactly how to deal with her. She quietly walked in, but received a knife to her abdomen before dropping to the floor, followed by two gunshots from an old Beretta model 92B handgun to her knees.
She collapsed, gritting her teeth as she clenched her fists against the pain. "Dammit!" she muttered.
"Typical of you," Ron sneered. "Command warned me of your ambitions, but I thought I could deal with you without truly breaking you. It seems you proved me wrong." He snapped his fingers, and two Andorian guards walked in. "Drag her to sick bay, get her patched up and put her back in the agony booth," he told them. "Maximum setting for short intervals: I don't want to kill her. And after a day or so of that… well, I think you know how to break a girl like her."
Miller snorted as she was hauled off. Oh, she'd get him, all right. But when, she had no idea.
USS Rome
Jessica looked around at the command bridge, her visible eye narrowing slightly. She could tell that the ship felt off because it lacked Theo's intelligence nestled within the mainframe. That, and it was not the ship she was familiar with.
"Still trying to adapt?" Steven asked as he approached.
"Yeah," Jessica said. "But we'll have to make do until the Liberator is fixed."
"Let's just hope the shipyard workers don't dismantle Theo," Tony remarked. "He's a very important member of the crew."
"Yeah. But anyway, how do things look weapon wise?" the captain asked.
"Well, we're only down to the Lance Shotgun, and we're sure as hell lacking the firepower that we are used to," Vanessa said as she stepped into the bridge after having done a check. "We'll have to rely on defense for this one."
"Using shields only, and the Lance as our ace, right?" Jessica asked.
The blonde nodded. "Yes. That's basically it."
"Dammit…" She clenched her fists. "I… I shouldn't have pushed for the Liberator to be flown by Riza…"
"Don't blame yourself. You had no idea that that Undine ship was there," Steven said gently.
Jessica sighed. "True, but for now…"
Tony nodded. "Right. We have to adapt and get used to this ship. Hopefully it will be enough for this mission."
The door slid open and the rest of the bridge staff approached. "You guys finished checking over the ship?" the captain asked.
Beth nodded. "We sure are. We're good to go."
"All right." Jessica nodded. She walked over to the bridge window and looked out as the Nelson locked a tractor beam onto the Liberator and began its journey back to the closest shipyards, those at Bajor.
"Just make a full recovery, Theo…" she murmured.
As if in response to her remark, the ship's lights flashed a few times and then they were on their way.
She turned away from the window. "C'mon. We'll do this, and kick Dark Ron's butt. For Theo!"
USS Ptolemaeus - bridge
Ron adjusted his uniform and the new rank pin he wore. It was technically a rear admiral's, as the rank of commodore didn't exist anymore, but it worked for this occasion. "Attention all ships: this is Commodore Pinkerton!" he announced. "You know the mission, and you know what we've got to do! Make these bastards regret the millisecond they thought they could take over this universe! Nagai wakusei renpō wa raibu!" The channel closed and Ron glanced at Riza. "Take us out."
Later - USS Yorktown - Bridge
Half an hour has passed since Ron's short - yet effective - speech, and the Federation Fleet launched out, and arrived at the Badlands, which they slowly entered. As they entered, their sensors were rendered useless, as the vessels quickly turned to alternative methods of detecting enemy vessels.
On the Yorktown, Jaden, as always was keeping a keen eye on the visuals on screen, looking at the distant plasma storms, looking for anything that was not suppose to be there. "Stay focused, everyone!" Jaden said. "Keep weapons ready, and shields raised. We're entering the lion's den."
The fleet closed in on the last known location of the enemy base, constantly at battle stations, ready to dive into the fireworks if need be. But they also kept an eye out for the ISS Exeter. Not only was the ship their target, it was the biggest threat: even Lelouch would have a hard time dealing with Dark Ron and the Exeter. "Anything yet?"
"Nothing, Captain," T'Sani reported. "If the Exeter's out there, she's rigged for silent running."
"And with all the plasma out here, emision-seeking torpedoes are useless."
It was nerveracking as they approached their target. "How long until we reach the base?" T'Sani asked. However before Jaden could form a reply, the Yorktown rocked as it was hit with weapons fire.
"I'd say now!" He shouted.
USS Raging Tempest
(BGM: Gundam 00: Awakening of the Trailblazer OST - 'Envoy from Jupiter (Segment III)')
Takeshi was more thankful than ever that Riza had given him some tips, and that he had decided to replace the Manual Steering Column and Manual Impulse Throttle with traditional LCARS. As soon as the fighting started, he went to work, weaving the ship through enemy fire like it was nothing. He still had control of the main weapons, though it too was on LCARS, but tying that into his 'music guide' wasn't much problem, as its Quad Cannons spit out Phaser blasts like machine guns, shredding through the Novas and Galors like their hulls were made out of tissue paper.
"Here they come!" Shouted Koret. "Enemy fleet's approaching! Three ships are targeting us! a Typhoon and two Nova's."
"Emergency Evasive!" Jaden shouted, as the Yorktown moved around to face the incoming enemy ships. "Load up the Photon Torpedoes, and target the closest enemy ship!" He smirked a bit "Let's show them just what this baby can do now."
(BGM: Battleship OST "Super Battle")
Across the Yorktown's hull, Photon Torpedo hatches opened, and phaser banks were risen from their own hatches, primed and ready to fire, appearing across its saucer section, main hull and every other imaginable spot a weapon could be placed on the vessel. And if anyone could see the Terran Captains, they would only be greeted by the wide eyes of shock at how heavily armed and armored the new and improved Yorktown was.
Makrep smirked. "Let's rain some lead on these mother-"
"FIRE!" Jaden shouted, as the Yorktown unleashed a massive volley of Phasers and Photon Torpedoes, soaring forward towards the enemy ships. The first vessel to be hit was one of the Nova's, as its shields held for a few seconds before they collapsed, and its engines were practically burned off by the Phasers, and a trio of Torpedoes hit it near its bridge and hull, obliterating the vessel in a swarm of fire.
The Yorktown wasn't done yet, as it kept up its volley on the other Terran ships, unleashing its massive amounts of Phasers upon the second Nova, the red beams cutting through its shields quickly, targeting its engines causing a chain reaction detonating the entire vessel. The last vessel, the Typhoon, moved in to take on the Yorktown as it turned into him. The Constitution-class fired its Phasers yet again, the shields of the larger and stronger Typhoon holding out, but the ship was clearly showing it couldn't keep up with the continuous bombardment the Yorktown dished out. By then however the Photon Torpedoes had reloaded, and two were fired at the ship. The Typhoon was hit dead on by the blasts, as it began breaking apart from the impact.
Already, the Terrans has lost three ships from the firepower of one. And now the Yorktown searched for its next victim to fall before its new upgrades.
"Captain, enemy contact closing, bearing 059 mark 330!" Eshlim said. "It's the ISS Exeter!"
The Exeter, which unceremoniously kicked their asses the last time, was closing in on the Yorktown.
Jaden smirked. "Time for Round Two, jackass…" he said, "Let's see what this ship can do! Let's beat the Dark Windstorm!"
ISS Exeter - bridge
Too bad Jaden didn't know Dark Ron wasn't onboard the Exeter. Instead, Lt. Commander Mari Yuki was in command, although Dark Riza was still at the helm. "Come to bearing 227 mark 9!" She ordered. "Lock phasers on the Yorktown's impulse focusing chamber!" The domed focusing chamber was a basic target for any captain: without it, the Yorktown's speed would be cut in half. This wasn't what Dark Ron would do, but he wasn't in command.
The Exeter's new phaser arrays lashed out against the Yorktown's upgraded shields, doing little damage. "What the hell?" Yuki said in surprise, "The last time we faced that ship, it crumpled against our phaser fire!"
"My brother was also in command, you brainless twit," Dark Riza snapped, as she turned the Exeter so that the forward launchers could fire their matter/antimatter torpedoes at the Yorktown. "Fire torpedoes! Bearing 31 - correction, Bearing 287 mark 097!" She ordered. The Exeter fired, but the torpedoes didn't do as much damage as before.
"Science station, scan that ship!" She ordered, "I want to know what the HELL they did to that ship!"
"It appears the Yorktown's shield power and resilience has been increased by practically ten-fold!" The Science Officer said, "Its hull also appears to have been highly modified beyond standard Constitution-class standards, and it has been given a massive amount of Phaser Banks across the ship. With all of its weapons and armor, it's practically a Battlecruiser at this point!"
Yuki cursed at that, knowing that taking down this enemy ship would not be as easy as before "Move five degrees starboard!" she ordered. "Arm Phasers for another attack! We are not going to lose to this ship!"
During her entire rant, the science officer was also deep scanning the ship's structure, that way the Imperials could copy and apply it to their own Constitution-Class ships, and downloading it into an isolinear chip for Dark Riza to take back to the base should they lose the Exeter to the Yorktown.
"Perhaps we should call in Ronald, hmm?" Dark Riza suggested. "The Sato still has more firepower than that Federation tug."
Yuki glared at Dark Riza, but said nothing. No amount of upgrades to the Constitution could ever put the ship on par with the Odyssey-Class. Still, this was her chance to prove herself to Dark Ron. "Set the torpedoes to proximity detonation!" she ordered. "We might be able to shake them to death!" The Exeter made another attack run, launching the photons in a vain attempt to kill the Yorktown's crew. The IDF had been slightly upgraded to prevent more injuries to the crew, but they would still take casualties.
USS Escalvantine - Bridge
Rather than sit in the Captain's Chair, Lelouch was standing at the rear of his ship's Bridge, where a special holotable had been installed letting him see a 3D map of the battlefield.
"Raging Tempest, redirect course 15 degrees to port, and perform a strafing run on their Typhoon," he ordered over the comms. "Izanami, you have a Keldon coming up behind you - turn and give them a broadside. Nighthawk, adjust heading to 293 mark 14, provide support to the Izanami. Q-1, N-Group, once the Raging Tempest has finished its run on the Typhoon, follow them in on a run of your own. We'll be right behind you."
"This is the Sutherland. We've detected a ship closing in - WHAT THE FU-" Several phaser beams hacked through the Sutherland's hull, nearly destroying the Nebula-Class starship.
"What just happened?!" Lelouch demanded. "Sutherland!"
At this point, a new contact appeared: a Devron-Class dreadnought cruiser, with Terran markings. If that wasn't a major miscalculation, Lelouch didn't know what was. 'Well, that's a giant monkey wrench if I've ever seen one,' Lelouch thought. And the monkey wrenches were about to multiply as another, even larger contact appeared on sensors: an Odyssey-Class superdreadnought. "Oh, you have GOT to be kidding me!"
Four of the Miranda-Class light cruisers turned on the Odyssey, which was IDed as the ISS Sato, but the type-XXII phaser arrays, the most powerful ever developed on either side of the mirror, simply hacked through the ships as if they were nothing but wet paper. "Admiral Lamperouge to Captain Pinkerton!" Lelouch said. "We have a major problem!"
"I noticed!"Ron shouted. "My counterpart's not on the Exeter: he's got to be on that big motherfucker!"
"Aww, damnit!" Jaden cursed. "Here I was thinking I was kicking Dark Ron's ass for once!"
"Oh, that's not good," Lelouch muttered. "Captain Pinkerton, move to engage! I'm assigning B-Group and R-Group to cover you, along with our Gryphon-Class Escorts! The Odyssey-Class is our latest design, equipped with our most powerful weapons - I'd imagine their equivalents are the same, not to mention they have their own Rift Generators from what we can tell!"
"Negative on support!" Ron shouted. "That son of a bitch is my problem: everyone else would just get killed!" The Ptolemaeus, which was more or less beating the living crap out of several Terran and True Way ships, quickly moved toward the Sato, which was over 5 times the Excelsior-Class cruiser's size.
On board the Ptolemaeus, Ron narrowed his eyes as they closed in on the massive superdreadnought. "Riza, attack pattern Pinkerton Sigma Four." He said, "We need to avoid getting hit by those phasers."
"On it, oniisama!" Riza said, as the Ptolemaeus opened fire with her new phasers and photon torpedoes, scoring several hits to the Sato's aft shields. But if the phasers were ungodly powerful, so were her shields. "Minimal damage to the Sato!"
"Riza, get us in close!" he shouted. "Prepare to vent infused warp plasma on my mark!" Ron had used that trick before on the Gorn fleet: it might work again on the Sato.
"We're over the Sato's engineering section now!" Riza said.
"Vent the plasma!" Ron shouted. "Full impulse!" The nacelles sprayed out their lethal concoction, although Riza was forced to dodge phaser fire from the ship's arrays. The Ptolemaeus passed over the nose of the Sato, then took a hit to her aft shields from a phaser beam, which were downed instantly. "We've lost aft shields!"
"And they're fucked!" Ron shouted. "FIRE!" The Excelsior-Class ship fired her phasers, igniting the cloud of plasma, trilithium and thermite.
The Sato pushed through the explosion cloud, though - it was definitely scorched, but still mostly intact.
"You have GOT to be fucking KIDDING ME!" Ron shouted, "Who the hell DESIGNED that thing?!"
The Sato opened fire, forcing the Ptolemaeus on the defensive. At least, it looked that way. "Well, this fucking sucks!" Ron cursed, "We're fighting the most powerful ship in the known fucking galaxy with my incestuous Mirror counterpart commanding it! What the hell-" A trio of ships that Ron couldn't immediately identify made a pass at the Ptolemaeus, firing phased polaron beams at the Excelsior-Class ship. As if things couldn't get any worse, the intruder alarms began blaring. "We've been fucking boarded?!"
Ron's patience was being tested now. "Riza, introduce your scythe to them!" he shouted. "I'll take the helm!"
ISS Relentless
The battle didn't seem to be going too well. They had slightly higher numbers than the Federation Fleet, but most of the enemy cannon fodder ships were already destroyed, leaving the more powerful ships, which were doing massive damage to their fleet.
What was more, the way the ships were moving… which targets they went after, how they changed courses precisely, as if directed… Hitomi could swear that she'd seen that coordination before.
Well, enough time to worry about that later. "Target the Raging Tempest," she ordered, having seen the ship's name on its hull during their last engagement. "Let's see what they can do this time."
The dance began, as the two ships began circling and pounding at one another with their pulse cannons and adding phaser beam fire from their two arrays if possible. Takeshi's newly honed skills began to completely dominate the fight, however, as the Raging Tempest managed to get behind the Mirror Sao Paulo and pound into her aft shields with pulse cannon fire and quantum torpedoes.
"Engineering to bridge," came the report over the comms, "we're beginning to lose antimatter containment! We've got a warp core breach in progress!"
"FUCK! Damn that bastard!" Hitomi cursed, scowling as the Relentless turned toward the Sato, trying to avoid the Tempest's fire. "Admiral, this is Captain Maxwell!" she called out. "Requesting emergency transport!"
"Lower your shields," came the reply. "We'll get you out just as your warp core breaches. Might as well do some damage to your friend behind you." The Relentless closed in, lowering her shields before the crew was transported out, and the Sao Paulo-Class ISS Relentless exploded, sending teratons of explosive force toward the Raging Tempest, which was too close and took heavy damage from the aforementioned warp core breach.
Hitomi beamed onto the Sato's bridge, right in front of her current commanding officer. "I'd say this was disappointing, but it's all according to plan," Dark Ron remarked.
Hitomi nodded. "Yes, all we need now is to wait," she said. "I don't think we'll be able to win this battle, but if we can get Riza from the Exeter, I think it might finally be time to make our move back in our universe." She grinned at that. "I can just see the look on the Emperor's face when the Sato shows up, with some of our more loyal ships in tow, to remove him from power…"
"Actually, my Empress, I plan on letting the Federation do the work for us," Dark Ron replied.
Hitomi looked at Dark Ron in shock. "What?" she asked.
"My counterpart is having a hard time dealing with the Sato's improved shields and weapons," he informed. "Although I have no doubt that if he had a ship with the same specs, we would be evenly matched. I have already sent an agent to Utopia Planitia to… provide him with the vehicle that will propel you into the throne."
"A vehicle that you can disable," Hitomi said.
"To a point," Dark Ron admitted. "I can force him back into his universe at will, but I have no desire to kill him. He is my brother, after all."
Hitomi nodded. "Still, I think it would be a good idea to prepare to collect Riza, and then leave the rest of the fleet to their fate," she said. "We've dealt them some severe blows, including damaging my counterpart's ship again, but their tactician is just too good." She then paused for a moment. "Also, I can't help but shake the feeling that I've seen some of the strategies they're employing before - not in person, but through reports. How about you?"
"It's his counterpart from their universe," Dark Ron said. "And I will solve that problem now. I know which ship he commands. Target the USS Escalvantine. We will make the young Admiral regret the day he thought they could beat the Terran Empire."
The Sato slowly turned toward the Escalvantine, then engaged her overpowered impulse engines. The Ptolemaeus continued to try and whittle down the massive Odyssey-Class ship's shields, but they were still at 96 percent. "Admiral, the Escalvantine is recalling her fighters and several other ships in order to stop us."
"He knows I can swat him down," Dark Ron remarked. "It's a good thing I don't plan on killing him. Target his port nacelle and hangar bay." The powerful phaser arrays fired at the Escalvantine, slicing through the shields within four to five seconds and hacking off the port nacelle before a torpedo was shoved into the hangar, removing its' ability to contribute actively to the fight. "He can still direct the fleet, Admiral."
"He won't be able to: he'll be too focused on repairing his ship." Dark Ron stood up and straightened out his uniform. "I'll transport down to the base. Captain Maxwell… the ship is yours. Your orders are to recover my sister and return to the Empire."
Hitomi nodded, taking her seat in the Captain's Chair as Dark Ron headed to the aft transporter pad. "I assume you'll be using one of our shuttles on the base to get back?" she asked. "We did equip some of them with Rift Generators for scenarios like this, after all."
"Oh no," Dark Ron replied. "Knowing my counterpart, he'll try to kill me in person. Besides, a shuttle is too vulnerable. I plan on using IT." He smirked as the transporter engaged. "A final gift to the United Federation of Planets, you might say."
USS Yorktown
"Holy shit..." Jaden muttered. The ISS Sato was the last thing ANYONE wanted to run into. It was more powerful than most of their fleet combined, and not even the Yorktown's upgrades could turn the tide against THAT monster. "Status on the Exeter?" he asked.
"Her crew is beaming to the nearby asteroid base, and the rest of the fleet is moving off, following the Sato," T'Sani reported.
"What about the Ptolemaeus?" Jaden asked. "Those Jem'Hadar attack ships had to've left a few nasty presents for them."
"They beamed over several boarding parties, but the crew's got them contained," she replied, before the science post beeped out a small warning. "Sir, someone just beamed over to the asteroid base from the Sato." Jaden wasn't liking any of this. "Receiving incoming transmission from the base."
Jaden sighed but nodded. "On screen," he said, and just a few moments later, on the front screen was the image of none other than Ronald Pinkerton. For a split second, he thought it was their own Ron, however a quick look in his eyes, and Jaden could quickly tell it was not the case. It was Dark Ron.
"Well, if it isn't the tug captain," he said. "I see you upgraded since the last time we met. So, how's it feel?"
Jaden's eye twitched a bit. 'He's taunting me,' he reminded himself. 'Don't fall into that trap…' "So… you're Dark Ron, eh?" Jaden asked. "Weird… I don't see the resemblance between you and Ron."
"Oh, you're talking about my brother from YOUR side of the mirror." Dark Ron said, "The one who's trying to keep your precious Federation from dear old me. Too bad you're all pathetic to begin with. I mean, it took me, what, 2 minutes to disable your ship the last time I ran into you?"
"This coming from the captain of the ship I just finished disabling," Jaden retorted with a small smirk. "Yorktown's got a lot more under her hood now than last time."
"And yet you haven't tried to attack my new command," Dark Ron said. "Doesn't matter now, though: the Exeter was getting old, and you know what they say. Now, if you'll excuse me…" The frame shifted to show a VERY familiar device. "I've got a train to catch."
"Oh shit…" Jaden muttered. "T'Sani, is that…"
"An Iconian Gateway?" she finished, nodding. "Yes… yes it is…"
Starfleet had encountered this technology twice before: once in 2365, which resulted in the destruction of the USS Yamato, sister to the Enterprise-D, nearly destroyed the Enterprise-D and the IRW Haakona and the discovery of Iconia itself and in 2372, when a group of rogue Jem'Hadar discovered a gateway on Vandros IV, and resulted in the first-and-only Federation/Dominion joint operation to destroy it. The Romulan Republic had discovered a gateway on their new homeworld, and, although Jaden didn't know the details, had done something with it.
"What the HELL are they doing with an Iconian gateway?" Jaden asked, "Better yet, how come the Maquis didn't find this thing 40 years ago?!"
"No clue," came Takeshi's reply over a separate comm channel. "But have one they do."
Jessica's eyes narrowed as her voice came over the comm line. "Tell me about it. That kind of a gateway is really bad news for everyone!" Her voice was hard and angry, and Jaden somehow suspected that her current anger had to do with her ship.
Ron's voice piped in over another line. "Unfortunately for us, we can't destroy it: our sensors are detecting an extremely large amount of neutronium in the facility," he said. "We can't use our weapons to destroy the base, and it's likely the gateway's made of the shit as well."
Jaden sighed. "I don't like where this is going, Ron..." he muttered.
"No choice: I'm sending down a heavily armed team to secure that base." Ron said, "If we can't destroy it, we can at least take it and give my counterpart a few massive headaches, if not end that sick fuck once and for all."
The Ptolemaeus vectored toward the base, having broken off pursuing the Sato.
On the Rome, Jessica's eyes hardened as she gripped the helm controls. "Everyone, get ready!" she said. "This is for those who died! He killed all of our systems engineers and on top of that he injured Theo! This time, no more holding back! We'll show that sicko who he's messing with! All crew, prepare to engage!"
"Right!" the crew said as one.
The ship sped into the fray, using its shields to keep it safe. The crew got ready for separating the two sections while Jessica kept her gaze locked onto the Sato. "Dark Ron… This is your end!" she hissed.
Jaden sighed as he stood up. "Here we go again," he said. "Alright everyone, prepare boarding parties. I want one team to get to the Exeter, and secure her. Disable its self-destruct systems and remove any traps the crew may of placed onboard. Meanwhile I will lead another team onboard the station. T'Sani, you have the bridge." He then tapped his Commbadge. "Hikari! Get suited up, your coming with me for the boarding. Bring your toys."
Asteroid base
Dark Ron looked at the Iconian gateway as the warp reactor taken from a damaged Ambassador-Class cruiser began to power it up. Technically, the term 'Iconian gateway' was a misnomer: it was made using Iconian, Borg, and Imperial technology. As such, it didn't use the Iconian 'blue-red-green-yellow' control system, but standard Starfleet LCARS controls. He carefully began to input the coordinates to the Mirror DS9. His report would tell Command that this entire debacle was Miller's fault. Technically, it WAS: she struck too early, allowing Starfleet to quickly marshal a task force to destroy or capture the base. "Admiral, we've got reports of multiple strike teams beaming into the facility! Your counterpart-"
"I get the idea, Ensign. delay them as long as you can, then fall back to the gate room."
"Understood, sir! Long live the Empire!" the Ensign replied.
Ron chuckled. "Long live the Empire, indeed."
With Takeshi
Takeshi walked slowly through the corridors of the Asteroid base, keeping an eye out for any enemy troops.
He was currently clad in MACO Armor, gained when he spent a few months working and training with them. On his back was a MACO-Issue Phaser Pulsewave Rifle with a Photon Grenade Launcher Attachment, and he currently held Akatsuki no Ken, the Yamato Family Heirloom Katana, in a ready position.
With him was Linda, wearing more standard armor and looking through the sights of her Phaser Sniper Rifle, along with two Assault Squad Officers. All the Medical Staff on his ship were dealing with injuries sustained when they got caught in the Relentless' Death Throes, but Ron had lent him a pair of Combat Medics. He'd also been lent a Fabrication Engineer, since most of his own Engineers were busy with Damage Control and Repair after that explosion, though Ron had also sent a few teams to the Raging Tempest to help with that.
Escorting them were also a fire team from the Ptolemaeus, using 21st century firearms and 2293-era type-2 phasers to make the job slightly easier. They each carried M110 semi-automatic battle rifles, putting 7.62mm rounds into their targets in order to disable them.
All the strike teams from all ships that sent them had one goal - get to wherever that Gateway was and shut it down before the Terrans could use it to escape. However, it seemed like there were a fairly large number of Terrans who were trying to buy time for their superiors to get away.
"Captain, permission to use lethal force?! We're not getting anywhere at this rate!" A phaser bolt narrowly missed Linda, and Takeshi finally lost his patience. "Granted!" Two of the marksmen began firing, aiming for their enemy's heads rather than elbows or knees. Resistance began to slowly die down as the number of enemy troops began to dwindle. "Fall back to the gate room!"
Takeshi leapt into the fray, his Spatial Awareness allowing him to avoid any shots from his allies as he started carving through the enemies with Akatsuki no Ken, the blade removing arms, legs, heads, sometimes even chopping Terran Soldiers in half.
"Keep moving! Seal the hatch behind you the second you're through!" Two humans and an Andorian ran into the only exit before a heavy hatch lowered itself into place. Like most of the Terran-installed interior, the hatch was made of cast neutronium: the Starfleet strike team would have to take another route.
Meanwhile - With Jaden
Once again, wearing their specially modified Starfleet uniforms, Jaden led the boarding party through the interior of the Asteroid base, all of them using their same weapons as they used during their mission to save the Ptolemaeus. However walking next to Jaden was Hikari, who was a slightly odd sigh as carried behind her back was a large black sheath with a sword in it.
"Just be ready for anything, people," Jaden whispered. "Mirror or not, this is Ron we're talking about… no telling what kind of surprises he'll have in store for us here. So stay sharp."
The boarding party members all nodded in acknowledgement as they continued forward through the base.
"I'll commend you on the multiple boarding parties, Captain Takeo," the voice of Dark Ron's voice over the facility's comm system was unexpected as it was unsettling and annoying. "Fortunately for me, it's also predictable. And I have a present for you. Try to play nice."
"I get the feeling he just sent something VERY nasty our way." Hikari said, and moments later the sound of something sharp and metallic flying through the air was heard as a VERY large blade was stuck into one of the assault team member's heads, almost cleaving the head in half lengthwise. The curved blade was connected to a staff, and it, too, was made of metal.
"The 'play nice' wasn't directed at you, Captain," An oddly familiar - yet very different - voice said. The blade was pulled back thanks to a thin diamond-coated tritanium wire, into a familiar hand: Riza Pinkerton's hand, although she wore a different uniform and had longer hair.
Hikari however, smirked a bit at the sight. "Now we're talking," she said, as she reached for her back, and pulled out the long sword she had brought with her, the blade being large, with a sharp edge and a black handle (1). "It's been far too long since I've had some… practice."
"You sure you can handle her?" Jaden asked warily, however Hikari just gave Jaden a wide - yet scary - smile which transformed into a wicked grin.
"Please," she said. "Remember who you're talking to here."
(BGM: 'This Will be the Day' RWBY OST)
Jaden gulped a bit, before nodding. He signalled the others to follow, as they proceeded down the passageway. Dark Riza moved to intercept, however she was rather surprised as Hikari jumped forward, her blade raised as she intercepted her scythe's swing, and surprised that her molecularly sharp blade didn't cut through. "Oh, it's just gonna be you and me," Hikari said, smirking like a loon. "I'm gonna be your 'Playmate' for now."
"Your sword wouldn't happen to be coated in neutronium, would it?" Riza asked.
Hikari smirked "You'd be right." She said.
Mirror Riza chuckled. "You are a fool." She said as she swung the scythe's non-bladed end toward the blade, nearly knocking it out of her hands. "Neutronium is extremely heavy: even a .00000001 micron thick coating would make that thing heavy enough for you to barely hold. And not even current Starfleet technology can make it THAT thin."
Hikari just giggled a bit - and in a very eerie way - before she simply tossed her sword up as if it were as light as a feather, balancing it on her fingers before twirling it around. "Really? Haven't noticed," she said. "No heavier than a lot of other things I work on in Engineering."
"Heavy-worlder, are we?" Dark Riza asked with a small smirk, "Well, this should be interesting enough." She then noticed a slight cut on the edge of her scythe's blade. "And it's just as sharp as mine. This should be interesting."
USS Rome
The fight against the Sato was starting to heat up. The Rome, while not as agile as the Liberator, was still very fast when Jessica applied her own unique piloting skills to the fight. She gritted her teeth as the Sato let loose with its firepower, forcing her to flip the vessel before righting it.
"We're almost to the point of attack!" Steven reported.
"Good! All hands, prepare for separation! We're doing this!" Jessica snapped.
"Right!" the crew shouted. They each assembled in their respective sections and the docking clamps disengaged as the saucer section split from the engineering section. The two sections sped in different directions, one going left, one going right. The Sato seemed to expect this though as they let loose with their phasers at the two separate 'ships'. Jessica flipped the saucer section upside down as the engineering section slowed and pivoted to face the back of the Sato.
Now that they were in position, Jessica opened the comm to the Terran vessel.
"This is for those whom you killed… and this is for Theo!" she snarled.
The two separate sections powered up their lances as the crew in the engineering section shouted it out.
"LANCE SHOTGUN! FIRE!" The Lance shot out its devastating beam, going right for the engines just as the saucer let loose with its spinal lance, hitting the shielded section of the engines and decreasing its strength.
The Sato shuddered, but it didn't back down. "Keep firing until that damn shield goes down!" Jessica ordered. "And dodge all phaser fire if any comes your way! Same with any torpedoes!"
The problem was that Jessica had VERY little idea how powerful the Odyssey-Class was. Even the powerful phaser lance, from both sections, had done very little damage to the Sato's shields.
"Captain, we're not making much of a dent in their shields!" the chief crew member in charge of engineering reported.
"Back off! Back off and fall back!" Jessica replied. Now that she had an idea of what she was up against, she needed a new plan of attack. Both sections peeled off as phaser fire and torpedoes were sent their way. They dodged and weaved as they slipped behind some debris from an asteroid, rejoining and coming back together into one ship.
"Okay. Any ideas?" she asked.
"I got one," Vanessa said, looking at their makeshift shield. "I don't know if it'll do much good but…"
"Everything is riding on this, so we need to make a decision and fast!" Tony snapped.
"If only we had Theo here…" Beth murmured.
Jessica suddenly perked up, her eyes widening. "I think I may have an idea," she said. "It's risky, but it'll be worth it if it works."
She turned to face Tony. "How many torps do we have left?"
"Just fourteen. Why?" Tony blinked.
"That'll work." She outlined her plan.
The crew was stunned at how risky it was, but it did have the potential to inflict some massive damage on the ship's shielding. But it only hinged on whether they could dodge the phaser and torpedo fire from the Sato.
"I'd say we go for it," Steven said. "It's what we can do for those who died at this SOB's hands!"
"I agree!" Vanessa replied.
Everyone there nodded.
"All right. Then let's do it!" Jessica said as she retook her position at the helm.
The two sections split once more, and this time, the saucer section engaged impulse engines at full and began to move the large asteroid. The engineering section would distract the Sato's gunners while they inflicted as much damage as they could with the Shotgun.
The plan was actually simple, but at the same time it hinged a lot on luck.
The engineering section was to buzz and distract the Sato from the real threat, which was the asteroid. It was meant to hit the shield and deplete a large portion of its strength, followed by a missile assault. With luck, it could get the shield to go down, but since they'd been having some luck in staying alive against these guys, it was bound to work. At least, they hoped it would.
The problem was… would the Sato's captain catch on?
Hitomi didn't catch on directly, but she knew something was up. "Full volley of Quantum Torpedoes on that asteroid," she ordered. "I don't know if they're using it as cover or trying something cute, but we won't let them do it, whatever it is. Meanwhile, fire all Phasers on that Devron's Stardrive Section - concentrate on their port shields, just under the central Nacelle."
As the beams from the Sato's Phaser banks all focused on a single spot, the sheer volume of energy burned through the shields, then proceeded to burn through to the pylon connecting the central nacelle to the ship, slicing through the pylon and severing the nacelle from the ship. Meanwhile, a volley of four Quantum Torpedoes flew out of the Sato's aft launcher, the first three blowing the asteroid into tiny debris while the fourth flew through the debris cloud to slam into the Saucer Section's shields.
Jessica's eyes hardened as she realized that her plan had been compromised. 'Oh shit...' she thought, as the Rome shuddered from the impacts. 'Not good! Not good!'
Hitomi, meanwhile, just smirked. 'Too easy,' she thought. "Prepare to fire-" she began to say, before suddenly the Sato shook from several more shots fired at them. "What? Where did that come from!"
"I have nothing on scanners," the Science officer said. "Any remaining Federation ships are outside capable firing range. I've got nothing!"
Hitomi growled. "So, they have a cloaked ship," she said. "Fire Phasers in all directions, make sure you-" However the Sato shook from yet another barrage of fire, this one more violently. "Dammit, where is it coming from?"
"We don't-" The science officer said, before blinking. "Wait, ship decloaking!"
"On Screen!" Hitomi shouted, as the front screen shifted from the Rome, to another vessel which was emerging from a cloaking field. However, Hitomi blinked in surprise, as it was not a Federation vessel… it was a Klingon Negh'Var-class Heavy Battlecruiser, but it obviously appeared modified in several areas, and the ship itself had a very different color scheme to average Klingon ships, that being Crimson Red across its jet black hull. However near the front of the hull, Hitomi could just barely see words - written in English - which read 'S.S. Vengeance'.
"Klingons?" Hitomi asked. "What are they doing here? They'd never help the-" however, her sentence was cut off, as the Heavy Battle Cruiser suddenly fired off what looked like a white ball of energy out of the vessel, speeding toward the Sato, before it exploded into a massive rip-like wave of energy speeding towards them.
Any idiot knew exactly what that was: a subspace weapon, unused by Starfleet (prime, because they were illegal and Mirror largely because of their unpredictability) and most civilizations. The device almost hit the Sato, but when it exploded, it created a massive rift between normal space and subspace.
"Captain, we're going to need to eject the warp core!" the Science Officer shouted. "We can't use the rift device-"
"Just do it!" Hitomi shouted. "Switch over to auxiliary power and get us back to our universe!" The Odyssey-Class superdreadnought ejected her warp core prior to detonating it and sealing the rift, allowing them to use the interdimensional rift device installed on board. All of the ship's power (sans shield, but they were largely weakened, although not enough for either ship to damage the Sato) was diverted to the rift generator, allowing them to open a rift and escape.
Jessica perked up as she noticed the attack happening. Her mind went into overdrive as a plan came to her. "Hey! Engineering! Can ya hear me?!" she barked over the comm.
"We're fine, but we took some damage! We lost the Lance!" the crew member reported.
"Doesn't matter! We still have other weapons! If you're able to, we can still get a hit in! Use the debris from the asteroid as ammo and swing it at that damn Sato!" Jessica ordered.
"Are you crazy!? We could miss!" the crew member shouted.
"Then make sure you don't miss!" Jessica hissed. "Get all tractor beams up and running! We'll use them to sling this debris at the Sato and don't hit any of our allies! Let's do this!"
The crew nodded and the engineering section replied with a battle cry of their own.
The comm shut down and the damaged Stardrive section kicked into action, firing off a tractor beam and locking it onto a large chunk of the asteroid before swinging the 'ship' around and releasing the tractor beam. The asteroid chunk flew through space and slammed into the Sato's portside shields. The saucer section did the same thing, firing off a tractor beam and swinging another asteroid chunk at the aft shields, hitting them dead on.
The bridge of the Sato shook from all the debris impacts. "Shields are dropping, Ma'am, but not enough for them to do any damage yet!" came the report.
"How soon until the Rift Generator activates?" Hitomi asked urgently. "We're not staying here any longer than we have to, not with a Devron slinging rocks at us and a Klink ship with Subspace Weapons!"
"45 seconds, ma'am!" came the report. "Shields are at 67% and holding!"
"Make sure that they STAY that way!" she ordered. The Sato turned sluggishly as it attempted to avoid subspace tear-creating weapons from the Negh'var and asteroids tossed at it by the Rome. But even running on auxiliary power alone, the Sato was still more powerful than both the Rome and the Klingon ship combined. That was the only reason Ron wasn't able to do much damage to her: the Odyssey-Class had dozens of fusion reactors, combined with her Class-XI warp drive. The Ptolemaeus just didn't have the firepower, and neither did the Rome.
But Jessica wasn't about to let them get away without reducing shields as much as she could. As the saucer section came about, locking its tractor beam onto a large segment of the rock, her eyes flashed and she yelled out as she spun the vessel, swinging the chunk of rock at the Sato, but not before spinning the saucer section a couple times to boost the kinetic force. She let the tractor beam go at the last possible instant for maximum force and the rock sailed towards the ship, striking it right in the aft section with enough force to buckle the shields there, but they didn't go down. Then she followed up with the rest of the photon torpedoes in the launchers. The impact wasn't enough to do the damage, but it did ring alarms in the ship's bridge.
Hitomi growled. That Devron's Saucer Section was becoming an annoyance. "Send enough power to the Weapons for one volley! Do as much damage to that Devron's Saucer Section as you can!"
The Sato spat out several Quantum Torpedoes from its aft launcher, even as one last volley of Phaser Fire drilled into the saucer's shields, using the same trick as before of focusing all fire on a single point to punch through, spearing one of the impulse engines.
"Damn!" Jessica swore as she tried to flip the 'ship' upside down to dodge the fire. One torpedo hit their shields, and Tony glanced back. "Forty percent shield strength remaining!" he reported.
"Keep fighting!" Jessica ordered. "Engineering, how are your shields?!"
"At fifty percent!" the crewman replied.
"Great! You're going to handle the aft sections! We'll shift our focus to the main front of the ship!" Jessica said.
"Right!"
Both ship sections split off from their respective attacks and crisscrossed paths before re-engaging the enemy ship.
The bad news…
The time for attacking was up. The rift generators were active.
"Shields down to twenty percent, Ma'am!" came the report. "Good news is the rift generators are online!"
"Activate the rift and get us out of here!" Hitomi ordered. "Also, one final spread of Quantum Torpedoes - discourage them from chasing us."
As a beam emerged from the main deflector, opening up a tear in the fabric of space, another volley of Quantum Torpedoes emerged. This volley was a bit wider in arc, but the Torpedoes weren't set to explode on impact, rather proximity detonation. They detonated around both of the Rome's sections, tearing through the already weakened shields to inflict severe damage to both hulls.
Jessica felt the saucer section shudder and she grimaced as the impact of the torps knocked her on her butt. She rubbed her head as she got to her feet. Sparks were flying from some consoles, and the lights were flickering as she glanced around. "Damn… They got a good one in on us…" she muttered.
"Bad news is that we lost communication with the engineering section. Good news is that we're alive, at least," Vanessa replied.
"That's about the only good news here," Jessica remarked. "Is everyone alright, though?"
The bridge crew nodded as Tony checked in with the others in both sections. "The others are all right as well. The engineering section has some broken bones among the crew, but other than that, we're fine," he said after a few minutes.
"Good," Jessica sighed. "Well, at least we did what we could…"
Personally though, she wondered what Ron would think of her actions regarding the Sato. Jessica didn't even know how close she came to breaching the shields.
Meanwhile, all they could do was watch as the Sato moved forward, passing through the rift it had opened and returning to its own universe, the rift closing behind it.
The Rome was too badly damaged to even try and engage the Klingon battleship for its' use of subspace weapons, which were illegal due to the Second Khitomer Accords banning their use. "Prep the saucer section for reintegration and try to hail that Klingon ship!" Jessica said. "I want to know what the hell they're doing here!"
Neo nodded as he sent the message. "Hailing frequency open," he said.
"This is Captain Jessica Miller of the U.S.S Rome, to the Klingon vessel Vengeance," Jessica said. "While I thank you for your assistance, I would very much like to know why you helped us, and what are you doing here?"
There was few moments of silence passing, before finally the response came. The front view screen switched to that of the bridge of the Klingon vessel. However upon seeing the bridge and those among the crew, Jessica and the bridge team of the Rome looked on in surprise at what they saw. The first thing they noticed was that there were only a few Klingons visible, manning some of the stations. However the rest were of varying other races, including Vulcans, possibly Romulans, and even humans.
However what truly surprised all of them, was who was sitting in the center command chair, obviously the captain. He was human, wearing what looked like a modified version of the Klingon uniform. He had short spiked black hair, and one crimson red right eye, his left eye being covered by an eyepatch, and she could see what looked like a scar moving below the patch. However it was not the fact the Captain was human, it was more or less the fact he looked almost identical to…
'Jaden?' Jessica thought in surprise. She didn't believe it at first, but then the man spoke.
"This is Captain Jaden Takeo, of the independent Starship S.S. Vengeance," he said, before he gave a small smirk. "Glad we could be of help. We've been waiting for a chance to hit these guys since they arrived here. When your fleet arrived, we waited until most of their forces were eliminated before we decided to help you… kick them out the door."
"I appreciate the assistance," Jessica said. Her eyes narrowed. "But that still doesn't explain why you're here. And for that record, how can I be sure this isn't some kind of a trick?"
"I have no reason to trick you," Jaden said. "If I wanted you dead, I'd have fired a Isolytic Burst at you and your task force, rather than the Sato. The Federation are not the only enemies of the Terran Empire."
Jessica smirked. "Well, that's good to hear," she said. "At least we have some other help on our side."
"Indeed," Jaden said. "With their fleet retreating, and the Sato gone, I believe it is up to the boarding parties on the asteroid base to finish off any Terrans who may still be onboard. We'll prepare to beam some of our own teams onboard to help them, and if you require it, we can beam over a few engineers to your ship if you require assistance in repairs."
"That'd be great. We could use all the help we can get," Jessica said. "Normally we can handle it ourselves, but this time…" She glanced around. "We'll need it."
"Very well," Jaden said. "I'll beam an engineering team over to your ship now. They will follow your instructions, Captain. In the meantime, I have a boarding party to assemble. Until we meet again, Captain Miller." With that, the video feed ended, replaced with the image of the Vengeance turning around, approaching the Asteroid Base.
Asteroid base
Terran security forces had fallen back by the time Ron made it into the deeper part of the facility, ARX-160 assault rifle in hand. "Is it me, or is everything here coded to answer to my voice commands?" He asked.
Riza, holding her MP-9 SMG at the ready, looked at her brother oddly. "Why do you ask?" She asked.
"Well, I've said variations 'open the door' about a dozen times and what do they do?" He said, "They open." They entered a large chamber, complete with a massive arch-like structure surrounded by Terran troops and off to the left working on a console was Dark Ron.
"You!" Ron shouted.
"I wouldn't bother, nii-san." Dark Ron said, practically ignoring him, "The gateway's surrounded by a 500 gigawatt forcefield. I don't want to see you get hurt." Riza pulled out her phaser and fired at him, the blue beam hitting the aforementioned forcefield.
"So, what the hell's going on here?" Ron asked, gesturing around them. "You build a base in the middle of nowhere and make this thing, only to abandon it?"
"Not exactly." Dark Ron said with a smirk, "As you've noticed, the facility computer only responds to our voice commands and codes. The second I leave, you will be this place's new master."
Ron rose an eyebrow at that, he wasn't impressed. "Oh?" He asked.
"I don't want Section 31 to start abusing this thing, after all," Dark Ron said. "You like them just about as much as I like Cerberus, so I know you wouldn't hand something like this over to them." He then seemed to look at a watch "And my sister should get here in a minute or so..."
A door opened to the side, and Ron smirked "Riza, its about time-" he began, before he blinked and saw it was Jaden and his boarding team enter."What?"
Jaden smirked, as he glanced at Ron. "Sorry we were late," he said, "Took a wrong turn a floor down, ran into some Terrans."
"What?" Dark Ron demanded again, "Where the hell is Riza? I told her to meet me here!"
Jaden chuckled a bit. "Oh, that?" he said. "Well… let's just say one of my friends are keeping her… preoccupied."
However at that very moment, another door exploded open, as Dark Riza jumped through, still wielding her scythe. However it was obvious Dark Riza had been fighting quite a bit, with several scratches, bruises and burns on her. Also emerging from the explosion was Hikari, who was jumping forward as the two clashed blades once more.
"Come on! This is just too fun!" Hikari said, with a smirk spread across her face. "I haven't had a fight like this in ages!"
The sound of a gunshot echoed throughout the room as Hikari's left knee nearly exploded from a round fired from Dark Ron's M92B handgun. "SON OF A BITCH!" she shouted. "FUCK! FUCK! FUCK! FUCK! FUCK!"
"We're wasting time!" Dark Ron shouted. "Get over here, Riza!"
"Hai, oniisama!" Dark Riza said as she almost skipped over to Dark Ron's position as the gateway activated.
"You won't be able to activate it for another few days, brother." Dark Ron said, smirking "Besides, I've got more on the other side."
"WHAT?!"
"We created this thing, Captain!" he said, smirking. "Long live the Empire!" The Terrans marched through the gate, with Dark Ron laughing as the forcefield went down and the gateway shut off just as he stepped through.
"Hikari!" Jaden shouted, running to his friend who was on the ground, clutching her knee. "Oh shit… hang on!" He tapped his Commbadge. "Jaden to Yorktown, Medical Emergency! Lock on to Hikari and beam her to Sickbay ASAP!"
"Fucking shit..." Hikari cursed. "The one time, the one time I find someone who can keep up with me in a sword fight, and that asshole shoots my damn knee off! Fuck he's an ass!" She glanced at Ron for a moment, forcing up a smirk through the pain. "No offence."
"I take offense," Ron said. "Because I'd've done the same thing. Now get the hell out of my way: I'll get some of the work off the medical team's hands. Hand me a medical kit." A medic handed over the kit and Ron pulled out several field trauma tools in order to fix some of the damage and stop the bleeding. "Did NONE of you go through basic medical care at the Academy, or did they drop the course entirely since I was last there?"
"Well-"
"Shut up: that was rhetorical." The autosuture stopped the bleeding, but Ron could do little else without proper medical equipment. Or training: he wasn't a doctor. Moments later, Hikari was quickly beamed off the base and back to the Yorktown's sickbay.
Jaden sighed, shaking his head. "Well… at least we technically won…" he muttered before he looked at the gateway. "Terrans are gone… for now… but we couldn't get Dark Ron, so… it doesn't feel like a Victory…"
At that moment, Takeshi, Linda, and the troops with them ran into the room. "Sorry we're late!" Takeshi called. "Had to find a new way around after some of the Terrans locked a door in front of us."
Ron glanced at the gateway before sighing. "At least we captured the base and THIS thing." He said. "Hopefully the SCE can get something from it. At least the Tholians can't blow up THIS one."
"What?" Jaden asked, in surprise.
"I found one of these things near the Tholian border once," he elaborated. "They kinda blew up the planet, but-"
"T'Sani to Jaden, you reading me?" T'Sani's voice said on the Comm, "We… well, something weird is going on here."
Jaden sighed as he tapped his Commbadge again. "What is it, T'Sani?" He asked. "What's happening?"
"Well… most of the Terran Fleet has either retreated or been destroyed, and we've captured the Exeter," T'Sani said. "But… a Negh'var-class Heavy Battlecruiser decloaked, and attacked the Sato, saving Jessica and the Rome from destruction…"
Jaden and the others all looked surprised at that. "Klingons?" Jaden asked. "The hell are they doing this far out?"
"That's the thing, they're not Klingons…" T'Sani said. "Jaden… you're not gonna believe this, but-"
However, at that very moment red teleporter beams were seen to the side, as emerging from the beams were seven figures, all of them wearing some type of battle armor. Six of them were wearing slimmer armor, which were white with black and red with helmets that glowed with red eyes. However the seventh figure was wearing armor which appeared much more advanced, covering his entire body with a T-Shaped visor, colored black with red trimming.
While Jaden and the others were on alert, the lead figure seemed to look at them all. However when he looked at Jaden, he almost appeared to recoil slightly, but quickly composed himself. "Who's in charge here?" The figure asked, his voice sounding slightly altered from the suit's speakers.
"Technically, I am," Ron said. "Captain Ronald Pinkerton of the Federation starship Ptolemaeus."
Two of the figures raised their weapons and pointed them at Ron, but the leader gestured them to lower them. "That's not Admiral Pinkerton," he said. "One, he's wearing completely different uniform and two, he addressed himself as 'Captain', not 'Admiral'."
Ron's eyes narrowed "And just who the hell are you?" He asked. "You're not with the Imperials, otherwise you'd be shooting at us instead of having this delightful conversation."
"And where the hell did you get a Klingon Heavy Battlecruiser?" Jaden asked, his own eyes narrowed "You don't seem Klingon, your armor ain't Klingon, and they don't sell those things to anyone."
The figure paused for a moment. However he then reached for his helmet, as it made a small hissing sound as it was detached, and he removed it from his head… and the others looked in surprise - none more so than Jaden - as they saw none other than the face of Jaden Takeo, only with a scar and an eyepatch over his left eye. "Well, Jaden," he said, with a small smirk. "Let's just say we're… out of this universe."
Jaden was still shocked still, blinking in surprise as he looked at the second Jaden, which looked almost perfectly like him - only with the eyepatch and scar. "Y-You're… me?" He asked.
"Technically, yes," Mirror Jaden said, with a mock salute. "Captain Jaden Takeo, of the independent Starship S.S. Vengeance. I gotta admit… I didn't think I'd meet my mirror self so… soon. Nice to see you have both of your eyes at least."
"So, that Eyepatch isn't just for show, then?" Takeshi remarked. "I've heard of people who went for the eyepatch for the look, or even so they could keep one eye constantly adjusted for dark environments."
Mirror Jaden nodded. "That's correct… for the most part at least," he said, as he reached for his eyepatch, and pulled it up a bit, revealing the rest of the scar, but the others also saw that in place of a normal eye, he had a glowing cybernetic eye in its place. "I lost my left eye a while ago, and at the time we didn't have the means to heal the damage… so we came up with this alternative. This eye has some nice features… but, I'm told it freaks people out a lot, so I wear the eyepatch for their sake. Doesn't matter since I can see right through it." He lowered it back down over his eye.
"Enough with the life story, Captain," Ron warned, his own weapon raised. "You've got 30 seconds to explain what in the holiest of fucks you're doing here, or I will MAKE you leave and not want to come back."
"We're simply here to help, Captain Pinkerton." Mirror Jaden said. "We saw you only transported a handful of people onboard the station, so we thought we'd teleport over here to help clear out any Terran stragglers still on the station."
"There aren't any," Ron said. "They all ran through that-" He looked at Jaden. "What the hell did you call that thing? An 'Iconian Gateway' or something?"
"Yeah, that's technically what it is," Takeshi remarked. "Long story short, the Iconians were a race that had this huge interstellar empire thousands of years ago-"
"Captain Yamato, I KNOW who the Iconians are," Ron said with a sigh. "I just wanted to know if I got the name right."
"Oh, then yeah, you did," Takeshi replied. He then looked the gateway over. "Only, I don't think it's really an Iconian Gateway - look, you can see bits of Borg Technology connected to it, and the controls are standard LCARS displays. I'm no engineer, but I think that the Terrans might have built this themselves - which makes it even more frightening than their rift generators."
"Well, I think I speak for us all when I say this," Ron said, as he sighed out the last two words. "We're boned." There was no way in hell they could seal off Iconian gateway technology: even Omega molecules might not stop their use. And Dark Ron said they had a LOT of them on the other side of the looking glass.
"Well, at the very least we have some time to prepare for their return, and prepare a defense against them," Mirror Jaden said. "Assuming your 'Section 31' doesn't try to cover up this shitstorm as well."
Naturally, all but the Ptolemaeus' senior staff were clueless as to this 'Section 31'. "Uh, who?"
Ron sighed. "When we get back to the Ptolemaeus, I will explain everything," he said. "It's a LONG story." He looked at the controls, then walked over to them, inputting his command code and unlocking the facility to all Federation Starfleet personnel, and making sure that no one from Section 31 could actually use the damn thing. He knew all of their 23rd Century tricks, and the oldies were the goldies, as the saying goes.
"Well, since there are no Terrans left here, I should return to my ship," Mirror Jaden said, looking at Jaden with a small smile. "Though don't worry, we'll have more time later to talk about what's going on, Captains." He tapped his Commbadge. "Beam us back," he said, as moments later they were transported away.
Deep Space 9
The Nighthawk glided into her docking port, towing the ISS Exeter behind her. The docking clamps engaged and the engines shut down, although the tractor beam remained engaged. The airlock opened and the lift descended, Sarah finally emerging from her ship.
She wasn't that surprised when she had been informed by Zero of the man coming to see the vessel, but she was surprised to learn that he had already arrived there before she had.
"Captain Miller, I see you've brought the ship." Franklin Drake stepped into her view of sight.
"I did," she said. "But I don't really understand why you wanted me to bring it, unless it was to study it and try and gather information, right?"
"You would be right. The Exeter's being transferred to Starfleet Intelligence's control... at least, officially. In reality, Section 31 will be taking her. Just make sure Captain Pinkerton doesn't know about your connections to us: if he does, it will NOT be pretty."
"Don't worry. He'll never know," Sarah said with a grin. Then her face became serious. "I'll keep in touch."
"I've no doubt of that, Captain. Just remember: this never happened." Drake then fizzled away, and Sarah then realized that it was only a hologram: Drake was never there to begin with.
Regardless, her mission was finished. She turned and headed back to her ship, satisfied with the outcome of this.
Now how to explain this away…
Several ideas came to her mind and she grinned. She'd definitely use one of those ideas if anyone ever asked.
117Jorn: And yet again, chapter DONE! :D
Titanic X: But what are S31's plans for the Exeter, and can everyone manage to keep the Mirror Verse out of their own universe?
Takeshi Yamato: And what about Hitomi Maxwell's plans to become Empress of the Terran Empire? Will they come to fruition, or will they be disrupted?
Ron the True Fan: Well, at least now we know one thing: the Tal Shiar aren't the only idiots screwing around with Iconian technology.
Titanic X: So stay tuned for another chapter, peeps!
All: JA NE!
