Title:
War
Author:
Foxfeather
E-Mail:
alwest@cityweb.de
Disclaimer:
All characters from Earth: Final Conflict belong to Tribune. Fa'loth. Fe'lazz
and Ter'kozz (well, his name) belong to me. All other mentioned persons belong
to themselves (Don't be mad at me if I mischaracterized you completely. This
goes especially for CadetDru ;) )
This
story is dedicated to Morrigan, the reincarnation of my murdered muse (long
story, will not tell), and it's dedicated to CadetDru, too, who wanted a story
with herself in it (there you are ;D)
„War"
is a sequel to my story „Captivity" (That one wasn't very good, but it's the
idea that counts here)
Words
in ** are mind speech.
This
story was written and "published" at www.philosophysphere.com,
one of the best sites for everything Gene-Roddenberry-related. I tried to put
as many Spherites (Fanfic-Authors and other specimen there) as possible into
this. So don't be confused if you don't recognize some names!
I'll
stop babbling now. Let's go.
Have
fun, Alexandra (aka Foxfeather)
The
War – Chapter 1
"Da'an, what happened on Jaridia?"
"I do not want to be reminded of that, Zo'or.
Do not ask me again about it."
Da'an shivered at the memory of his
experiences on the Jaridian homeworld. The captivity, the torture, he wanted to
forget all of that as soon as possible.
And how should he explain the
circumstances of his escape to Zo'or? If Zo'or found out about the successful
escape of the Jaridian captive Ter'kozz he would accuse Liam and Lili of
betrayal. They had reported to him that the Jaridian had died on the exploding
Kimeran vessel. Lili was already considerd a traitor and Zo'or belived her to
be dead. But Liam was still in Zo'or's confidence and that was something Da'an
did not want to destroy.
Even to Liam he had not been able to talk
about his captivity. Lili had briefed him about what she knew; he could see it
in Liam's eyes.
The pity
and fury at the Jaridian leaders he had not been able to hide. But he had not
spoken to him about it and he was grateful to Liam for that. But even Lili did
not knew all that had happened.
How should he explain to Zo'or that Ter'kozz
had saved his, the enemy's life? That he had welcomed him into his family?
Whether he spoke to him or not, Zo'or would accuse him of betrayal to his own
species.
Lili's involvement in this thing must
not, under any circumstances become known to Zo'or. He would try immediately to
find, question and then kill her. What T'than would do with her Da'an did not
dare to picture.
Da'an noticed Sandoval watching him from
his workstation on the other side of the bridge. Did he suspect Da'an of having
met Lili? What had he intended with sending Lili to Jaridia?
Da'an had no answers to these questions.
Sandoval was pursuing his own agenda. Lili had reported that Sandoval's CVI was
malfunctioning. Da'an had come to that conclusion, too. Even though Zo'or had
to know of that, too, he let Sandoval have his way.
"Da'an? Are you listening to me?"
"What?"
"I said, if you do not tell me what
happened to you I will have to remove you from the synod."
"I cannot and will not answer your
question, Zo'or. Do what you have to do."
With a resigned expression Da'an turned
around to leave the bridge.
"There you…"
"Zo'or! We are receiving strange singnals
from outside the solar system." Sandoval interrupted.
"What kind of signals?" Zo'or asked,
annoyed by the interruption.
"I can't identify them. But whatever it
is, it is _big_"
Da'an stopped. Zo'or rose and walked over
to Sandoval.
"Let me see." He looked at the display. "Where
did this… Object came from, Agent?"
"I
don't know, Zo'or- It suddenly appeared on our scanners. It doesn't seem to
come nearer, though. It just materialized near Pluto."
"I expect more from you, Agent Sandoval.
'I do not know' is not a sufficint answer." Zo'or rebuked his implant.
"What is going on here, Zo'or?" T'than
entered the bridge.
"An unidentified object appeared outside
the solar system, T'than." Zo'or sounded annoyed. He and T'than couldn't stand
each other and he tried to avoid the other Taelon as far as possible, while T'than
seemed to enjoy irritating Zo'or.
"Agent Sandoval, send some shuttles to
examine that object immediately."
"Yes, T'than."
Da'an could tell by Zo'or's expression
that he was annoyed at T'than's taking control.
Only minutes later four armed shuttles
were approaching the edge of the solar system.
"Continue examining the object on
all wavelengths and keep me updated on
any change, Agent Sandoval." Zo'or instructed his implant. With an angry look
at T'than he turned around to return to his seat when the ship rocked hardly.
Alarms went off and an energy drop darkened the bridge.
"Report!" T'than and Zo'or called at the
same time.
We are under attack! Five Jaridian
battleships have jumped out of interdimensional and we are cought in the
crossfire!"
"Return fire!" ordered Zo'or. "Send all
available shuttles out!"
Sandoval worked feverishly at his control
panel.
"Sir, the object out there, it just
vanished! The shuttles can't find anything! It looks like it was just an echo
to lure some shuttles away from the mothership!"
A new wave of attack shook the ship and forced Sandoval to cling to his
panels. "The lauching pads have been severely damaged! The shuttles can't
start! We have an intruder alert. The four shuttles we sent out were shot down.
We…"
Suddenly a loud voice roared through the
speakers of the communication systems.
"Surrender, Taelons! Resistance is
futile!"
Da'an turned pale. "Fa'loth! Not Fa'loth!"
he whispered. Trying to fight his rising panic he turned around and stumbled of
the bridge.
"Da'an!" Zo'or had noticed his flight. "He
has betrayed us. Sandoval, prepare the self-destruction of the ship. I will not
allow the ship to fall into enemy hands!"
Before Sandoval could react to Zo'ors
orders a strange sound rung out behind him, then a shrill whistle.
He felt how his Skrill, panicking, tried
to protect itself from the sound. Raven seemed to writhe with pain. Then the
agony washed over Sandovals brain, too, and and all went black around him.
Zo'or had turned around with the first
sounds and saw Sandoval break down. Behind the Agent stood five Jaridian
soldiers with activated weapons.
"Give up, Taelon. The ship is in our
hands."
With helpless rage Zo'or had to witness
the enemy taking over the ship.