DISCLAIMER:
"Star Trek" and all associated names and characters, with the exceptions of the ones created by myself for this story, are © Paramount. I am a fan of Gene Roddenberry's dream and just wish to keep it alive so that tomorrow's youth may gain by it as I have. This is fan fiction; there is no infringement of copyright intended with this story, nor have I written it for personal financial gain. So relax, engage at full warp and enjoy!
Chapter Two
The Hydra had cleared the boneyard, however, Captain Roberts, Quarn, and Nancy were far from being home free. There were four galaxy class starships set for an intercept course with them, and they would be upon them in a matter of minutes. The defiant class starship, they had stolen, was a tough little ship, but even it couldn't stand up to odds like that.
Nancy's voice screamed over Captain Robert's wrist communicator, "I got you the damn impulse engines in better time than any of those ingrates in starfleet could do. Now you want more?"
"Well, if we don't get the warp drive running in about six minutes you will not have to worry about getting it running at all. Many men in red suits with compression phaser rifles will come to visit you down there and make sure of that." Captain Roberts told her.
She let off about thirty seconds of cursing that would have any freighter crew running away their hands over their ears. She caught her breath and said with her teeth obviously clenched and a growl in her voice, "As you wish…out!"
"Shield strength should be back up to one hundred percent in about two minutes, captain." Quarn said sitting at the tactical station.
Turning in his seat at the conn, Roberts looked over to Quarn, and asked, "I don't suppose you have another miracle up your sleeve?" He was hoping that the resourceful ferengi would have a couple of ideas left in his bag of tricks that he hadn't used yet. Quarn used to be a member of ferengi intelligence, and his reputation was renowned for getting impossible jobs done. That is why Roberts was so willing to let him have such a big cut of future profits that they would make in the field of piracy.
"To believe in miracles would denote faith, and in case you don't know it, ferengi are not known for their faith. At least for any faith that can't be bought." Quarn replied tapping away at the controls of the tactical station.
"Well if nothing else…it has been nice working with you, Quarn." Roberts replied. He tapped the controls and made a short-range sensor scan come up on the main view screen. It would be about four more minutes before the end came. The starships were that close. Roberts had hoped that they could have actually gotten away with it. However, if nothing else, it felt good to have command of his own ship even if it were a brief run in the big chair he had yet to actually sit in. If he had the chance he would have cleaned the dust out of it, and sat there with pride as he commanded the crew that he had waiting on Flores Prime for him.
"I do have one option for you, captain." Quarn spoke up, pulling a map of the system up on the main viewscreen. He pointed towards the viewscreen and explained, "There is an asteroid field that is pretty dense located within two minutes of our current location. If we were to go into it we would definitely have to keep our shields up to avoid getting hit by a stray asteroid."
Roberts thought for a minute at what his ferengi counterpart was saying to him. The meaning became clear, as he replied, "If we did and they followed, they would have to keep their shields up as well."
"And shields up would mean…" Quarn started.
Roberts picked up where Quarn left off and finished, "That they would be unable to beam a boarding party over to take us" Roberts smiled at Quarn and said, "Quarn, if you weren't so damn ugly I'd kiss you! I definitely owe you an introduction to my sister." Roberts plotted a course for the asteroid field, and set the course for maximum impulse. When they arrived at the asteroid field, Roberts turned the viewscreen to a forward view. He quickly cut the speed and started to use the RCS thrusters to maneuver through the field. He only had two more minutes to get them so deep in the field that the four galaxy class starships wouldn't be able fire upon the Hydra without following them in.
"You know Captain Roberts, before I decided to take your offer as a partner in this venture, I bribed and called in some favors of people I know in ferengi intelligence to get your dossier for me. Do you want to know what it said?" Quarn asked. He was one of those people that could work a computer station and keep a conversation at the same time, as he didn't stop working the controls of the console in front of him.
Roberts looked down at the progress of their pursuers and replied, "Well you've got about a minute to tell me. Beyond that I will be too busy to listen or respond."
"Simply put it said that you were one of starfleet's most promising commanders. That you were a very skilled pilot, and scored very high on your tactical maneuvers review. It also said that as a child you were a bed wetter and that you could not be bought at any price. So tell me starfleet, what went wrong?"
"Do you mean why am I now stealing a starfleet vessel, and taking up the time honored tradition of a privateer?" Roberts asked, swinging the Hydra around a large asteroid.
"Yes, hoo-man, that is what I want to know." Quarn replied. He watched as Roberts skillfully navigated the treacherous expanse of the asteroid field.
Roberts brought the Hydra to a standing halt near a large asteroid. He was hoping to use it as cover. "I'm surprised my dossier didn't include why I left starfleet. I left starfleet because of my father."
"The dossier said that your father died when you were only five years old. So how is that?" Quarn questioned.
"That's very right. He did die when I was a child. He was in starfleet, and was a first officer aboard a starship. Due to a direct order from his captain he never made it home for Christmas that year. That captain went on to become an admiral. That admiral was conducting an inspection tour of the ship that I was stationed as the first officer of. My hatred of this man was so great that I rigged the holodeck so that the safety interlocks were off during a klingon personal combat program. He took a bat'leth blow to the spine which left him crippled. They were able to trace down who turned off the safety protocols to the holodeck, and I found myself court-martialed and sentenced to five years at a federation penal colony."
Quarn looked over to Roberts and asked, "So you got out and piracy was your first choice for a profession?"
"Well it's the only one that would allow me to command a starship like this one. Being a freighter captain somehow wouldn't even compare." Robert's answered.
"Well that answers a lot." Quarn replied. He looked down at his console and commented, "Looks like we've got company one of the galaxy class ships is coming into the field to play."
"Just one?"
"Yes, it's the U.S.S. Hoyle. The other three are still en-route." Quarn answered, tapping away at the controls of his station.
Roberts brought his wrist communicator up to his mouth and asked, "How's it coming, Nancy?"
Their was a moment of silence before she replied, "Well so far I've managed to break a few laws of physics, and about every rule I learned at the academy about how to cold start a warp engine. Let me guess, you are going to tell me that we only have sixty seconds before an entire armada is facing us down and that you need the warp drive yesterday."
"Well not an entire armada, just one ship. But it will be within firing range in about sixty seconds. So any chance of getting the warp engines started by then?" Roberts asked.
There was another moment of silence before she responded, "Probably about the same chance that you had trying to get me into bed."
"It's gonna take that long, huh?" Roberts smiled and began to use the RCS thrusters to maneuver the Hydra away from their pursuer.
Quarn spoke up. "There is an incoming hail from the Hoyle. Should we respond or just ignore them?"
"Think if we just ignore them they will go away?" Roberts asked with a smile.
"I wouldn't even wager a slip of your latinum on that happening." Quarn replied.
"Go ahead and put it onscreen, Quarn." Captain Roberts said, looking up to the main viewscreen.
The viewscreen cut to the view of a woman standing on the bridge of the Hoyle wearing pajamas covered in little yellow ducks. "Okay, I don't like to be woken up for anything. So why don't you just play nice and power down so I can get back to my pillow?" the woman asked.
"My, starfleet's uniform standards are slipping." Roberts answered.
The woman looked down at her attire and explained, "They were a gift from one of my nephews, and if you make fun of them I may just have to have you thrown out of an airlock once I have you in custody. So cut the crap Mr. Roberts, and give up now."
"You seem to have me at somewhat of a disadvantage. You know my name but I don't know yours." Roberts responded.
"It's Captain Keating, and we have been monitoring your plan almost from its inception. We just didn't know when you would try it, till you did. So let's all save ourselves the bother of bloodshed and have you just give up now." She explained.
"I've got a counter offer for you. How about you go away now and we won't have to spread bits of your hull all over this asteroid field." Roberts replied, making the Hydra dive underneath an asteroid and then almost instantly swinging it around another.
"You won't make it very far just on impulse, Mr. Roberts." The woman commented.
"What makes you think that we only have impulse?"
"Because we knew what ship you were planning on stealing, and sabotaged the mains so that no one could get them back online. Face it, you couldn't outrun us if you wanted to." She said looking Roberts dead in the eye.
"Is that a fact?" Roberts commented, adding, "Well I've got one hell of an engineer who might just surprise you on how resourceful she is."
Captain Keating laughed and responded, "My daughter isn't that good despite whatever she told you."
A look of shock came onto Roberts's face. He nearly piloted the Hydra into an asteroid by concentrating on the revelation he just heard. "Excuse me? Your what?"
"You heard me fly-boy. I said my daughter…Nancy…Nancy Griffith. You know the one that you seduced into joining your little fool's quest?" she explained.
"She told me that her mother was dead, I think that you are trying to lie to me." Roberts said.
"Her stepmother is dead. Along with the sperm donor of a man that ambushed me in back when I was young and naive ensign. I am just the woman that carried her in my womb for nine months, and never gets mother's day communiqués."
"I can see where she gets her charm." Roberts commented. He saw that they were coming to the edge of the asteroid field, and that two of the other three starships had arrived and were waiting just outside of the asteroid field. She was a clever captain. She had flushed them out of the field, just like a dog flushing game to the hunter. "Quarn, close the channel. This is gonna get messy in a minute."
Quarn tapped three short strokes on the panel in front of him, and the hail of Captain Keating was replaced with that of a fore view. The last of the asteroids cleared the field of view, and there were the two hunters poised to fire.
"Well Quarn unless you are eager to visit the Divine Treasury, I am open to any suggestions you have." Roberts said bringing the ship to a full stop. The Two galaxy class starships hung there before them in space like two lifeless dreadnoughts ready to come to life and strike.
"When I tell you to be ready to set for maximum impulse and run." Quarn smiled. Robert's wondered what the ferengi had up his sleeve.
"Computer." Quarn commanded. The chirping tones of the computer becoming ready for a command sounded. "Run program: Annoyance Alpha One and transmit to the following LCARS addresses", Quarn said, as he entered some numbers into the console in front of him. Within a few seconds the view ports of one of the ships in front of them grew dark.
"What the hell?" Roberts asked leaning forward in his chair. A few more seconds passed and all the view ports of the other ship cut to black as well.
"Now would be a good time to run, hoo-man." Quarn said.
Roberts laid in a course pas the two dead starships and set the speed for maximum impulse. He turned to Quarn and asked, "How did you do that?"
"You know how starfleet has command codes to remote control systems of another ship?" Quarn asked.
Roberts responded, "Yes, but we don't have access to any command codes high enough to have disabled them. Not even your little miracle chip could have done that."
Quarn explained, "You are right captain, but you think like too many hoo-mans do. You think that you have to directly order them to power down in order to get them to be disabled. In this case my little 'miracle chip' as you put it contained a program that caused all the replicators, sonic showers, sanitary fixtures, sinks, waste reclamation, and just about every other minor system that doesn't take a high command code to access to turn on at once. This has the result of overloading both the primary and secondary EPS grid."
Roberts eased back into his chair, laughed, and commented to Quarn, "You made them blow their fuses! I am so glad that you are on my side, Quarn." The smile quickly faded from Roberts's face as the ship rocked from an obvious phaser hit.
"Talk to me, Quarn." Roberts said, making the Hydra take evasive maneuvers.
"Looks like our engineer's mother cleared the asteroid field." Quarn answered.
"Roberts's rule number fifteen, never trust a woman wearing duckie pajamas." Roberts spoke up, bringing the Hydra around to face their attacker.
"What's rule number one?" Quarn asked.
The Hydra shook again from another phaser hit. Roberts worked the controls of the conn to try to avoid any more hits as the headed down the lion's mouth. He replied, "Never try to get an angry engineer into bed with you on the first date."
"I'll have to keep that in mind." Quarn smiled. He worked away at the console in front of him, and asked the captain, "I have forward quantum torpedoes loaded, and I have re-routed shield strength to the forward shields. I have a lock, should I return fire?"
"I don't know. Do you think that our engineer would get pissed if we wound up killing her mother?" Roberts asked.
"That hoo-man female could get pissed at a tribble's coo." Quarn replied.
"You're right, Quarn. If you've got a shot, take it." Roberts ordered.
Roberts watched as two shimmering stars shot forth and quickly raced away from them making a straight run for the starship that was quickly growing before them on the main viewscreen. A few seconds later they struck and expanding balls of plasma mushroomed out from where they impacted on the shields of the vessel.
"Direct hit, captain. Their shields were damaged." Quarn reported. The Hydra was buffeted again when another direct hit from the Hoyle. "Shields down to thirty percent. Do you want me to start telling you about the Divine Treasury yet?" Quarn asked.
"I've got an idea." Roberts said.
"Those are the famous last words of a fool." Quarn commented.
"Just trust me."
Quarn shook his head and smiled as he let another volley or torpedoes fly, "Rule of acquisition number eighty seven…trust is the biggest liability of all."
The Hoyle was growing larger on the viewscreen, when Roberts opened up the impulse engines to maximum. He asked Quarn, "You ever play chicken, Quarn?" The Hydra rocked as photon torpedoes slammed into the shields.
"Well so much for the shields." Quarn commented and then asked, "So how do you play chicken?"
"Quite simply, you head towards the other ship at maximum speed and then the last one to swerves wins." Roberts answered.
Quarn nervously watched, as the form of the Hoyle grew alarmingly larger on the viewscreen. He looked over at Roberts, who was intently focused on the main viewscreen, and asked, "When was your last psych evaluation, hoo-man?"
"The shrinks told me to stop bothering them, Quarn. They told me I was driving them crazy." He responded.
The impending collision between the Hydra and the Hoyle was only seconds away. The look on Roberts face was that of an expert poker player, not about to reveal a 'tell' to anyone. The impact was about to occur.
Quarn closed his eyes. He could almost see the gold pressed latinum bars of the divine treasury already. He braced himself for the end, and then…
Nothing happened.
Roberts laughed, "They chickened out."
"Captain Roberts, you are either the bravest or stupidest hoo-man I have ever met." Quarn said.
Just then the viewscreen cut to a hail from Captain Keating. She had the same pissed off look on her face that Nancy wore all the time. "Okay hot shot, we've tried it your way, now it is the time for the fun and games to end." She said. She nodded to someone off screen and continued, "We have already determined that you have disabled most of the command codes that would let us power you down by remote peacefully. But this is one you haven't been able to disable yet."
The klaxon of a red alert screamed to life on the Hydra's bridge. The computer came to life and said, "Attention, auto destruct sequence initiated. Five minutes until warp core overload."
"This day just keeps getting better and better, hoo-man." Quarn said.
"Do I have your attention now, Mr. Roberts?" Captain Keating asked with a grin on her face.
"Get her off of my viewscreen, Quarn!" Roberts barked.
"With pleasure." Quarn replied tapping a few times on the console in front of him. The image of Captain Keating cut back to a forward view of space.
With the red lights flashing and the klaxon sounding, Roberts brought his wrist communicator up to his mouth once more. He took a deep breath and said, "Nancy, I know you are busy…and you aren't going to like this…but…."
* End Chapter Two *
With the shields gone, no warp drive, and the computer counting down until the ship's destruction, will our heroes survive? Will Quarn visit the Divine Treasury? Will Roberts get the image of Captain Keating's duckie PJ's out of his head? Tune in because this story is…
To be continued…
P.S.—the I would love any questions or comments that you all have for me you can either post them on the review page or email them to me at: mojo@iowatelecom.net
P.P.S.—thank you ladyshaw and nixnivis I hope you both are enjoying this. I have way too much free time on my hands. So my girlfriend willing, I hope to have the next installment up within a couple of days.