Star Trek: Wings of the Renaissance
A Star Trek fanfiction by Andrew Joshua Talon
DISCLAIMER: This is a non-profit fan-based work of prose. Star Trek is the property of CBS and Paramount. Please support the official release.
Setlik III Orbit
2357
Shran glared defiantly up through the canopy, as the Cardassian fighters loomed. He could just barely see the disruptors light up, the sensors screaming in his ears about the weapons lock.
It was as though it was all in slow motion-The beams arcing right for him. He kept his eyes open, refusing to close them.
Not now, not yet not yet-!
A dark mass flew in front of the beams, taking the blast and shattering into more debris. Shran started, as everything was still moving in slow motion. He checked the sensors-The debris had intercepted the shots, shielding him. The blow had pushed against the Peregrine, jerking it loose from the wreckage of the Ibuki that had trapped it. He almost didn't believe it.
But training took over, as his sensors blared a lockon warning. He hit the impulse drives, accelerating upwards out of the blasts. He was breathing hard, hearts pounding like drums against his chest, but his thoughts… His thoughts were calm.
Because he'd realized something. With the Ibuki destroyed… He had nothing left to lose.
"Papa Two," He muttered out of habit into the comms, as he launched two photon torpedoes. He immediately went to full impulse, narrowly evading the phaser blasts from the other flight of enemy fighters. The three fighters from before broke in all directions, trying to evade. Shran had to divide his attention between these fighters and the other flight, but he was able to see the obvious-Two of them were slowed trying to dodge through the debris field. And those were the two his torpedoes locked onto.
He had to turn away and focus on the phaser fire from the opposing flight-He charged right for them, pushing the impulse drives to maximum. He didn't get to see two of the ships that killed the Ibuki die-But the sensor contacts, showing their desperate, final attempts to escape the missiles were enough. Two shots… And two kills.
"Eight," he muttered through a grim smile. The Cardassians ahead of him stayed in tight formation, trying to overwhelm him with disruptor shots. He responded by hitting his deflectors to full, beaming as much electromagnetic interference at the enemy ships as he could. He hoped it would throw their targeting off at close range.
He closed the distance, dodging right and underneath the wreckage of Ibuki's warp nacelle, and locked torpedoes. He was within 10,000 meters, already knife fighting range, but kept charging. It was reckless, almost suicidal… 5,000 meters… 2,000...
But it worked, as the Cardassian commander was clearly not willing to call Shran's bluff. The fighters broke, forming a flower petal as they tried to catch Shran's Peregrine in a crossfire as he shot by. Shran had other ideas, and despite the straining protests of the spaceframe, he slammed on the impulse drives to vector his course right at the uppermost fighter. He stabbed phaser button like he was jamming a knife into his enemy's heart: Orange beams of energy lashed out. One fighter exploded, point blank range rendering his shields little use. Shran targeted the next one, firing, and blew off the Cardassian's impulse drive. It spun out of control into the debris, as his three fellow fighters attempted to pull around. They fired wildly, shots all over the place.
Shran spun the Peregrine around, letting his momentum carry him. He pumped more phaser shots into the fighters, who ascended with their noses points right at him. Against the protests of the impulse engines, he threw the fighter into a kind of arcing dive-Rotating to keep the nose right on his foes while the fighter "fell". One shot by the Cardassians struck his port wing, the shields giving out and a chunk of his hull was torn away. He compensated with the thrusters, and let loose three more torpedoes. He then flipped around and went for full burn, another phaser hit by the Cardassians striking his fighter. The hull shook, shuddered… But stayed together.
Shran allowed himself to spin around again, and watch. Two of the fighters, dogged and determined, had charged into the torpedoes-And he got to see them go up into plasma fireballs, their wreckage spraying into the cloud of metal all around them. The third had already been pulling away, and dropped some kind of debris from tubes-Something to confuse the sensors.
The torpedo may have been fooled… If Shran hadn't taken a hand, and sent a proximity detonation command.
The torpedo burst into a new, short lived star, the radiation washing over the Cardassian fighter. Its outer hull burned, cracked, and came apart like shattered glass. A second later, it's own fusion reactor went up, leaving a cloud of molten metal to spin away into the abyss.
Shran's breathing suddenly sounded very loud in his helmet. He was covered in sweat, his suit felt tight and hot. He was floating now-The artificial gravity seemed to be offline, along with a half dozen other systems. He looked out, around, at the debris field. He could still see bodies floating among the wreckage… Almost close enough to identify.
He shut his eyes tightly. He'd been saved… He'd done it. And while his crew was in the afterlife, he'd sent the bastards who'd killed them straight to Hell ahead of them.
He supposed he had nothing left to do then, but join them. Shran found himself letting go…
His console beeped urgently at him again. Shran opened his eyes and looked at the screens. The fighter from the first group, that had killed the Ibuki, wasn't as dead as he'd thought it was. It was on the other side of the debris field, heavily damaged and trying to make a run for it. Shran's hands found the controls again.
"One left," he murmured. "One left…"
His hand rested over the impulse throttle-He'd need to get closer to make sure his last torpedo didn't get confused in the clutter of the Ibuki's grave.
"-ledge to any Federation starships, can you read us? Over! Repeat, USS Rutledge, to any ships-!"
Shran stared at the communications panel as though it was an alien thing. He hesitated for a moment, before he tapped the key.
"Rutledge, this is Bunyip 1. We-I hear you!"
"Thank God," the man gasped. "This is Captain Maxwell. We just barely took out a Cardie cruiser-Heavy damage sustained. What's the condition of the rest of the fleet?"
"The… The Ibuki's been destroyed," Shran reported shakily. "I-I can't find any other survivors. The Gral… I can't find her, my sensors were damaged-"
"The Gral's hiding in a nearby asteroid belt. They lost their warp drive from that sneak attack. We're rendezvousing with them while we avoid the other Cardassian ships. We've got a plan, but the men on the surface need help to last that long. You're the only asset in range."
The enemy fighter was accelerating, getting through most of the debris field. Shran's fingers twitched.
"Bunyip 1, do you read? You're the only chance they've got!"
"... I... " Shran hesitated. The man spoke again, more softly but just as firmly.
"Son… What's your name?"
"... Shran. Ther'in Shran," he murmured.
"I know… I know what you're going through," the man said. "That loss… You can't wrap your head around it. You're burning inside, but also hollow and cold and confused. I know. But we can't let that stop us, son. We can't let what happened to your crew, your friends, happen to anyone else. It's going to be hard-The hardest thing you do-but you have to do it. There is no one else. Do you read me, son?"
Shran took a deep breath. The Cardassian fighter was nearly out of range now.
"... I read you, sir," he said. He turned the Peregrine around, and set course for a low altitude recon orbit of Setlik III. "I read you."
Even as he headed for the planet though, he still watched the fighter. Watched it until it vanished out of sensor range.
Starbase Deep Space Nine
2370
The table was silent. Bashir was quietly horrified. Miles' own eyes were far away, but there was no mistaking where his mind was. And Calvin was cold, angry, and thoughtful-Looking dangerous.
"The Cardies had a few anti-spacecraft skimmers," Shran said. "I had to dodge them for the next three days."
Bashir gasped.
"Three days? All alone in…" Bashir trailed off. Shran nodded grimly.
"He was able to get in contact with me," Miles contributed. "It was hell on the ground, but Shran was able to give us intel to get civilians to safety, find out where their forces were…" He took a long pull of his now warmed Vithi, and set down the mug with a loud clink. "Without him, we wouldn't have survived an hour."
"Wasn't easy," Shran said softly. His eyes turned to Miles. "... Especially with how you kept getting into trouble."
Miles shook his head. "Had to drive the garrison out. It was the only way to get access to the comms relay. Besides… You could have refused to help."
Shran looked back at his mug. "No," he said. "I couldn't."
Silence fell again. Bashir's commbadge chirped, and he started for a moment before tapping it.
"Bashir here."
"Doctor, we have an injured dock worker we need you to treat," a nurse stated over the communications device. Bashir nodded, and looked a strange mix of awkward, apologetic, and grateful to the three older men.
"Sorry. Duty calls. I…" He trailed off. Miles and Shran shook their heads.
"It's all right," Shran said. "Go."
Bashir nodded, and took his tall, lanky form out the bar doors quickly. Miles shook his head, a bit of gallows humor in his smile.
"Poor kid couldn't hide an emotion if his life depended on it," he said. Shran chuckled.
"He's a good friend. I'm glad," he said. Miles snorted.
"More an annoyance who at least buys the first round," he muttered. Calvin shook his head, chuckling a bit himself. It sounded hollow and unnatural though.
"Chief, I hate to do this but we need some privacy for a short bit," he said seriously. Miles' brow crinkled, but he nodded and got up.
"Not a problem sir. Need to stretch my legs anyway," he replied. He walked out of the alcove towards the bar. Shran turned and looked at Calvin curiously.
"What is it?" Shran asked. Cal sighed, pressing his hands together.
"I was debating whether or not to approach you about this. Until I heard that story." He looked up and locked his dark brown eyes onto Shran's light blue ones. "Heard it again."
"This is about your assignment in the Demilitarized zone," Shran stated. Calvin nodded. Shran sighed and shook his head. "I told you before, Cal: This treaty is shav. I can't be a part of enforcing it. It will never work. All it does is sell out our people so we can focus on the Borg."
"I know," Calvin said quietly, "and I agree with your assessment. The Cardies will never stop with just one colony, one world-The Bajorans are proof of that."
Shran raised an eyebrow. "So what exactly are you doing in the Zone, then?"
Calvin smiled faintly. "Helping to… Organize the colonists. So that they aren't helpless against the Cardassians. So they can defend themselves."
"Sounds good," Shran said quietly. "But a few hand phasers and plasma rifles aren't going to be enough, are they?" He lifted his mug to his lips.
"Not with the Cardies giving their colonists weapons," Calvin said. Shran paused his drink's movement.
"... You can prove this?" He asked. Calvin growled.
"Not yet. But with some help…" He leaned back in his chair. "You have some leave coming up, right?"
"I always have leave coming up," Shran said with a slight smirk. Calvin smirked back.
"So why not… Join me? For a little while."
Shran slowly set his mug down. He fixed Calvin with a level gaze. "Calvin," he said quietly, "I'm not a fool. I can see where this is going. And I know where it ends."
Calvin stared back, just as levelly. "You don't agree?"
Shran looked down at his mug. "In principle? I might," he admitted. "In practice? I was at Wolf 359, Cal. I came in right after. I saw what they did." He looked back at Calvin, his voice cool and controlled. "I can understand hard decisions. Decisions that cost you your honor. Cost you your dignity. For a larger, greater good."
"If we don't enforce the smaller goods, then what use are the greater goods?" Calvin hissed, getting angry. "Where's the justice and honor in that?"
"I don't disagree. It's wrong. It's wrong and it's going to blow up in our faces one of these days," Shran said slowly, eyes locked onto Calvin's, "but when you're out of the system, you lose any credibility you might have. When you take that final step, you've lost all the trust you've built with everyone you knew. And you shrink all your options down to two: Fight, or die." He sipped his beer again, then slowly set it down. Calvin looked angrily down at his hands, then slowly back up at Shran.
"... Going to report me?" Calvin asked. Shran fixed the human with a long, silent look.
"... Over what? A friendly conversation?" Shran asked quietly. Calvin very slowly nodded.
"Of course," he said. "That's all it is."
"Of course," Shran nodded. "And we can have many more in the future if you like." He looked over at the bar where Miles had gotten into a mild argument with the Ferengi proprietor. "Chief! How about another round, on me?"
The Chief brought the drinks, and slowly, conversation turned to more light hearted topics: Calvin's children, Miles' little girl, Shran's latest ex. There was much ribbing and some laughter, and Shran almost allowed himself to forget the look in Cal's eyes. He was worried over nothing, wasn't he? He'd left the door open for more talks. What was there to worry about?
It was a question he would ask himself many times in the coming months and years.
More to come...
