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!
(note—the winner of this episodes "name the object" contest was ladyshaw. Thank you for your response, I hope you like how I worked your object in. Anyway here begins chapter five all. Enjoy!)
Chapter Five
The bridge of the Hydra rocked violently, as a burst of romulan fury hit the hull. Captain Roberts was thrown from his chair in the quake, as Nancy and Quarn were barely able to stay in the chairs of their station. Roberts pulled himself back up into his chair and commented, "Well, I guess I shouldn't have made that comment about Commander Teral's mother. Quarn, damage report."
Quarn looked to Roberts momentarily and let his eyes roll back as he did it. He looked back to his station and pulled up a systems report on his console. He replied as he read, "Well shields are gone, pulse phaser cannons are still not operational, port fore torpedo launcher is history, impulse power is limited to twenty five percent, RCS thrusters are still nominal for the time being…we've got pressure loss on all decks, and oh yes EPS grid is down for the replicators. Looks like I won't be getting to have that vulcan soufflé that I wanted for dinner."
"Lie to me next time, Quarn, and tell me that all systems are fine." Roberts said.
Nancy laid in a course away from their attackers and set the impulse engines to their current maximum output. However, at one quarter impulse they would be unable to outrun the romulan warbirds. She kept altering their course to help prevent the romulan's from being able to get a lock on the Hydra. "Had I known it was going to end like this, I never would have let you out of my damn quarters, Roberts." She said.
Roberts shook his head and replied, "It's not over till the fat lady sings."
Quarn worked his controls furiously, trying to regain lost systems. He commented, "In case you didn't hear, hoo-man, she already sang her last verse and said goodnight."
The ship was buffeted again.
"There goes the impulse engines." Quarn remarked. He sarcastically added, "Do you think we can outrun them on thrusters?"
Nancy was quick to reply, "I'd get out and push this fuckin' tin can, if I thought it would help us to save our asses right now!"
Quarn looked at a message on his console and said, "Looks like Commander Teral wants to talk to us again. Should I put him on the main viewscreen?"
"Make it so, Quarn." Roberts replied.
The viewscreen cut from its forward view to that of Commander Teral standing on his bridge. He warned, "If you continue to run or resist further, we will be forced to destroy you. Either way I don't care. We can find out just as much information sifting through your wreckage as we can by taking you intact. You have three minutes to halt and power down your systems." With those words the viewscreen cut back to the starry expanse of the forward view.
"He's a real talkative one." Roberts remarked.
Quarn noted, "I never have liked negotiating deals with romulans, they are just too distrusting."
Roberts drew in a deep breath and said, "We are running out of time. I need options."
Nancy stood up from her station, turned to Roberts, and answered, "We could beam directly to the shuttle bay, and pilot a type ten shuttle away from here, letting the Warhead device ram into one of their warbirds as a distraction."
Quarn shook his head and commented, "No can do, female. The shuttlebay is completely depressurized from a hull breach and the shuttle bay doors are jammed from the hits we just took. Also the explosive bolts for the separation of the nosecone are offline, so someone would have to stay behind pilot the Hydra at the target in order to use the warhead device. So sorry to rain on your parade, female, but it won't work."
"I have a name, and it's not 'female' you little latinum rat!" Nancy ranted.
"Well in about two minutes forty-five seconds we will all have the same name." Quarn replied, finishing, "Dead."
Roberts thought about the situation. A look of deep contemplation on his face, he stood up walked between the con and the tactical stations, turned around, and said, "One of us could make it."
"What do you mean one, hoo-man?" Quarn asked.
"Simple, Nancy is right. We would need to create a diversion to allow someone to escape." Roberts replied.
"Whoa! The shit-headed imp said that the shuttles were out of the picture." Nancy said walking up to Roberts. She looked at his face, and realized that there was something familiar about it. Something in the way he was looking that seemed almost familiar.
"I'm not talking about using a shuttle. I am talking about having that person use an escape pod and having the people who remain behind create the diversion with the Warhead device."
"Why would it take two people to remain behind? Quarn said…" Nancy began.
Quarn nervously interrupted, "Yeah, why two people, hoo-man?"
Roberts explained, "Because I am staying with the ship, and I need you, Quarn, to operate the Warhead device. I don't know the systems as well as you seem to."
"I'm not going anywhere, you son of a bitch! How dare you treat me like…like…like…" Nancy began to fume, unable to find the words to finish her sentence.
"Yeah she's not going anywhere, hoo-man. I mean why me? Why do I get volunteered to stay and die the profitless death of a hero? The female knows more about this ship's systems than I do!" Quarn replied with the usual ferengi love of death.
Roberts reached behind himself and withdrew a small hand phaser from a holster on his belt that was hidden under the torn remains of his shirt. He pointed the phaser at Quarn and explained, "Because she has prettier legs than you do." Sliding his thumb over the power slide to the phaser's discharge setting, the phaser chirped the familiar cry of being set at its maximum setting. Quarn had heard that sound all to many times before to forget it. Captain Roberts asked, "Do you have a problem with her legs?"
Quarn swallowed a hard lump in his throat, grinned a nervous jagged tooth grin, and replied sheepishly, "No sir, I don't have a problem with them at all."
Nancy crossed her arms and spoke up, "So I suppose you think that this macho, man saving his woman crap is gonna impress my poor little feminine soul? Well it's not, Asshole!" She threw her hands up into the air in disgust turning around in a circle, only to face Roberts again and explain, "Men! They just can't get it through their pathetic testosterone clouded minds that, even if just by slightly, a dead man is more useless to a woman than a live one. So cut the shit out, Roberts and put that damn phaser down!"
"Mr. Quarn?" Roberts asked.
"Yes" he replied.
"Beam her directly to an escape pod right now, and immediately launch it."
Nancy threw back a laugh and responded, "In case you don't remember, Captain Valiant, we had to run here from my quarters because I had locked out the transporters. So try again to get rid of me, dickweed."
Quarn smiled, "She did lock out that system, hoo-man."
Roberts extended his phaser arm out all the way in Quarn's direction, poised his thumb above the trigger button, and simply said, "Quarn."
Quarn shook his head as the smile disappeared. He replied, "I knew I shouldn't have gone into this venture with you, hoo-man. Anyone who has done time, isn't good enough not to get caught, and that is a sure-fire way to get killed in my experience. All right, relax your phaser, hoo-man. Computer override lockout on transporters…Authorization Rip My Ears Off And I Might Just Like It Quarn alpha three."
The computer responded, "Authorization confirmed. System standing by."
Nancy was infuriated. "Now wait just one damn minute! I am not about to let you freakin' get away with this!" She yelled.
"Do it now, Mr. Quarn." Roberts commanded.
Quarn tapped away at his controls. Nancy began to make a dive for the phaser in Roberts's hand. Before she could reach it, the world began to fade in a glittering blue aura. Just before everything went white, she heard the final transporter distorted words of Roberts, "I love you." In an instant she found herself alone within the confines of the cramped quarters of a six man escape pod. She only had a second before Quarn would launch the pod, so she quickly moved to the hatch and began to reach for the panel to actuate its opening. She didn't make it in time. She heard the sound of the explosive bolts going off de-mooring the pod, and she was forced against the door as the thrusters fired. She looked out the hexagonal shaped view portal in the hatch and saw the Hydra moving away, growing smaller as the pod picked up speed. She pounded against the hatch with both fists. She saw the Hydra turn in its course one hundred eighty degrees back towards the pursuing warbirds. It had grown to almost spec in the viewport when she saw it happen. The brilliant white flash of an antimatter explosion blinded her. She looked down and clenched her eyes. The flash subsided, and she looked back out the viewport. The plasma ring from the shockwave of the explosion was growing ever larger outward from its origin. Within seconds it overtook the escape pod and tossed it about. As if in slow motion, Nancy was tossed into the air from the concussion of the shockwave and was hurtled towards a bulkhead.
She closed her eyes and braced for the impact.
Her back arched as she hit the surface and bounced. Her eyes opened, and she was not staring up at the ceiling of the escape pod. The ceiling she saw was that of her quarters onboard the Hydra, and the bulkhead she impacted turned out to be her bed.
"Damn, that was too real this time." She groaned. She was sweating hard and her sheets were soaked from her perspiration. Ever since their run in with the romulans she had been having that same nightmare. The nightmare was based upon what she first thought was going to happen when the romulans decloaked at their flanks. Why hadn't Roberts just told them that the government that was giving them a letter of marque was the romulans? The romulan empire was definitely strong enough and vast enough to give them a safe harbor in between raids. They weren't really asking for much in return either, just the occasional theft of information or equipment and other assorted dirty deeds that they couldn't afford to get caught doing. For war being so close, they sure didn't seem to want to be the ones who initiated it.
She pulled her moist covers off, and climbed out of bed. The cold deck plates kind of felt good under her foot. She walked to the head and turned on the sonic shower. She pulled its door open and wiped the sweat off of her forehead with the back of her hand. She needed a cool shower to get rid of the perspiration that covered her body. She set it for the coolest setting that it would go. Sonic showers did not compare to bathing in real water, but the practicalities of installing plumbing aboard a starship were mind numbing. Let alone installing that type of a system aboard an attack/escort like the Hydra. Oh well the sonic variety of shower would have to do. She pulled off her sweat soaked nightclothes, and let them drop to the floor. She stepped into the sonic shower and closed the door behind her. The waves of the shower enveloped her and begin to drive the sweat and dirt off of her body.
She had been getting very used to the feel of a cold sonic shower over the past week. Whenever she had to deal with Roberts over the past several days she always required at least twenty minutes of isolated venting time and a very cold shower as well. Damn that man! Why couldn't he just die, or at least give in. It was almost as if he was avoiding being alone with her. She didn't see what he was so afraid of. She was a woman, and he was a man. Didn't his mother ever explain these things to him?
Quarn's voice chimed in over the ship's com system, "Nancy, one of the romulan technicians needs to see you down in engineering right away."
Nancy stepped out of the shower, and walked back into the main room of her quarters. She casually strolled over to the replicator and asked, "What's the occasion, ferengi?"
He replied, "I think they need you to help get the cloaking device integrated with the EPS taps. They said something about the power source is not compatible with their hardware."
She tapped away at the control panel to the replicator and said, "That's not what I mean."
"What do you mean, Nancy?"
The shimmering of materialization danced in the replicator, and Nancy soon pulled out a fresh shirt to wear. She answered, "Just exactly that, Quarn. For the past three days you have been calling me the high queen of engineering mistress rags-a-lot. I am just wondering what the special occasion is today that you are reverting to calling me by my name?" She pulled the shirt over her head, and then pulled her long hair up and through the neck-hole.
"If you remember right, hoo-man, I only started calling you that after you yanked on my lobes for having programmed in a lower authorization command code for you to use than mine. I mean it hurt badly, and you try getting any sympathy from that starfleet EMH down in sickbay. . Boy talk about your starfleet mind jobs! At least he has an off switch that he can't activate by himself." Quarn replied.
"Well you shouldn't have done that then." Nancy said, entering in the specification for some pants into the replicator.
Quarn responded sarcastically, "Well, excuse me. I just thought that since the captain would have the highest codes that his XO should have the next highest codes on the ship, and that the third in command, you, should have the third highest."
She pulled the now materialized pants out of the replicator, walked over to her bed, and sat down to put them on. She explained, "I want to get this straight with you right now, troll. The captain might have command of this ship, and you might be his second in command, however, this is my damn ship. I am responsible for everything from all the plasma relays in the EPS system to every last single filament in the ODN network. If you men break it, I have to fix it. So just to let you know, I am not sucking hind tit when it comes to the command codes, got it?" She leaned back on the bed, and pulled her pants up. She then stood back up and looked around for her shoes. Having quickly located them underneath a small pile of clothes, she stepped into them one by one. "So you still didn't answer my question, ferengi. Why the sudden change in attitude?"
There was a long period of silence.
Nancy yelled, "Answer me shit-head, or I am going to come up there and give you another reason to visit the EMH!"
"I'm being nice, because the captain ordered me to." Quarn replied.
Her tone changed almost immediately. With a seldom-used inflection of innocence and sweetness, she smiled and asked, "Oh? He did?"
"Yes, he did."
She asked, "Why is that?"
There was another long pause of silence.
Her voice became suddenly irritated, "Quarn!"
He hesitantly explained, "He said we needed to be nice to you because the surviving members of the crew from Flores Prime will be here to rendezvous with us in two days. He said that he needed you to be in a good mood, because when you are to 'bitchy' you don't work as efficiently. He wants all the systems modifications done by the time the crew has arrived. Apparently, he wants to depart as soon as they are aboard."
Her mellow tones had long since vanished, "Bitchy, huh? Don't work as efficiently? Where is our beloved captain now?"
Quarn answered, "He beamed down to the surface to meet with Commander Teral and a couple of other high level romulan officials to discuss our first target."
She walked to the door and said, "When he gets back, tell him I am in engineering getting the cloak online and that I want to see his ass right away. As she walked out the door she thought to herself that Roberts wasn't going to avoid her any longer. She had been taking entirely too many cold sonic showers over the past week. He was going to either put out, or she was going to kill him.
* * *
Roberts looked at Commander Teral from across the conference table, looked quizzically at him, and asked, "You want us to raid a federation transport for you? Why not a freighter or something that transporting something of value onboard?"
Commander Teral's slender form leaned forward in his chair over the conference table and explained, "Oh, there is something of value on that transport, captain. Or, rather, shall I say someone of importance?"
"You want us to perform a kidnapping?" Roberts asked.
A romulan female, who was standing silently in the corner of the room, walked forward towards the conference table and spoke up, "You did understand that by accepting a letter of marque from the romulan empire, that you would be expected to perform the occasional task for us, didn't you?" She had an emotionless look on her face. It was almost as if she were a vulcan and not romulan at all.
"Yes I understood that, and I don't believe we've been introduced yet." Roberts responded.
The woman sharply commented, "We haven't been introduced, because you do not need to know my identity, captain." She walked over to a mid sized viewscreen on the wall and began to manipulate its controls.
At her unwillingness to introduce herself Roberts knew that she must be Tal Shiar, and a pretty high ranking officer at that. Only romulan intelligence would be so secretive. He smiled and responded to her comment, "I see. Well since I don't like calling people 'hey you', I think I will call you Agent Smiley."
She pulled up a sector map on the viewscreen, and blandly replied, "No you will not, Captain Roberts. You will not make mention of me to anyone, by any name. As far as anyone outside of this room is concerned, I do not exist. I am just a figment of your imagination. All correspondence you have for me will be relayed through Commander Teral, and even then you will make no reference that the information or question is meant for me." She tapped the control panel and made the sector view zoom in closer to a view of a vessel's course. She turned to him and blankly asked, "Shall we continue with the briefing?"
Roberts gestured with his hand palm up and replied, "By all means."
She turned back towards the viewscreen, pointed to the federation symbol that represented a ship, and explained, "Your target is the federation transport vessel U.S.S. Henderson. It is ferrying passengers from Sol Four to Vulcan."
"The Mars/Vulcan run? That's usually just booked by a bunch of civilians. I don't see why anyone of interest to the romulan empire would be slumming it and booking passage on that tourist run." Roberts broke in and commented.
She turned around, and Roberts almost thought that he could detect a hint of annoyance on her stone face. She asked, "Are you ready to continue, Captain Roberts?"
"I'm sorry." Roberts apologized, and added, "Please go on."
She once again turned back to the screen. She typed at the controls, brought up a picture of an oriental human female, and continued to brief Roberts, "This human female is your target. Her name is Kimberly Tzu, and she used to be one of starfleet's leading cyberneticists. She spearheaded the satori-seven project twenty years ago. Her role now is more of an advisory one to matters of cybernetics"
"The satori-seven project?" Roberts asked trying to recollect why it seemed so familiar to him. He soon remembered and asked, "Isn't that the project where she tried to use borg nano-probes to enhance a series three Soong type android?"
The romulan woman answered, "It was, indeed."
"But she didn't have any success with the project. I mean as far as what I remember, starfleet abandoned the project, citing that it would be impossible to integrate the two technologies with any real success." Roberts commented.
"If that's what you wish to believe, human, then by all means do. I am sure that your starfleet would never lie to you. Irregardless of what you believe the romulan empire requires her services." The woman responded. She shut off the viewscreen and walked back to the table.
Roberts leaned back in his chair and took in a deep breath. "So you want me to intercept the U.S.S. Henderson and 'enlist' the willing or unwilling services of Dr. Tzu?" Roberts asked.
"Captain Roberts, we are not asking you to solicit her help for the romulan empire. Your mission is simple, get her and deliver her to Commander Teral. We would just take care of this internally; however, the tension between the federation and the romulan empire is at an all time high. The slightest mistake that would point towards us would trigger a war, and we would rather not have that happen." She answered, and added, "Yet."
"I see. Well I can be underway as soon as my crew arrives in two days. What is the timetable we are looking at?" Roberts asked.
Commander Teral spoke up, "I'm afraid it can't wait until then. You will barely have six more hours before you must get underway in order to intercept the Henderson."
Roberts shook his head, "I can't leave without a crew. Without a crew to service the subsystems we wouldn't last long in a firefight. I mean I am not worried about the Henderson, it's only a transport ship. It's the five or six armed starships that our sensors won't see coming that I am worried about. Our escape from the Hoyle should make my point clear there."
"Your concerns are noted and were already anticipated, captain. A warbird, the V'rok, has already been dispatched at high warp to rendezvous with your crew's transport, and are under orders to meet up with you en-route to the Henderson. You will have a partial crew before you face any threat of combat, Captain Roberts."
Roberts asked, "What about the cloaking device? I am not sure that it will be operational in six hours."
The woman replied, "I have spoken with your ferengi first officer, and he assures me that your chief engineer, and our technicians are finishing the installment of the device as we speak."
"What about the repairs to the shield generators and the warp drive?" Roberts asked.
Commander Teral answered, "I've had technicians from my own ship working on all the other systems. They are, shall we say, very familiar with federation technology. They will have your ship fully operational by the time we need you to depart."
Roberts stood up and said, "Well, I guess that's that then. I should get going in order to get prepared for the voyage."
The woman spoke up, "A copy of the mission specifications will be transmitted to your ship." She turned and walked to the door of the room. The door hissed open. Without so much as a closing salutation, she walked through the doorway and disappeared into the hallway as it closed behind her.
"Charming woman." Roberts commented. He brought his wrist communicator up and said, "Quarn, I am ready to beam back up now."
"Standing by, hoo-man." Quarn's voice squawked back over the wrist communicator.
Commander Teral smiled and said, "Happy hunting, captain."
"Energize." Roberts commanded. He disappeared into an ethereal cloud of a million blue diamonds.
* * *
Nancy stormed into the sickbay clutching her wrist tightly. The wrist trailed in blood, and her shirt was covered in some crimson splotches as well. Her teeth were clenched. She let out a roar, "Computer, activate the damn EMH!"
The computer chirped in hesitation, "Unable to comply, no program is listed under that designation."
"Explain." She barked.
"There is no listing for a program with the designation 'Damn EMH', unable to comply with request." The computer droned out.
"You know what I damn well mean!" Nancy winced in pain. She looked up and said with disgust, "Fine. Computer activate the emergency medical hologram." She was quick to add, "Please."
The computer chirped and replied, "Running program."
As the EMH materialized in front of her she responded, "Get stuffed."
"Please state the nature of the medical emergency." The EMH cheerfully said, adding with a look of question on his holographic face, "Excuse me?"
She answered, "Not you. I was talking to the other artificial intelligence program in the room. You know the bitch without a body?"
"I see." The doctor said. He looked down to the blood on her wrist and clothing, and turned to his stand to pick up a medical tricorder. Having picked it up, he turned back around and began to scan her clutched wrist. Not looking up from the instruments readings, he asked, "Well insults aside, how did you come about this trauma to your wrist?"
"I was down in engineering, assisting a romulan technician to install the cloaking device." She started to explain.
The doctor's nasally sarcasm was thick, as he interrupted, "Great, first privateers and now the romulans. Now if only we could get the breen, some drones from the borg collective, and then replicate some earl grey we would have the makings of a tea party that the Hydra has never seen before."
"Quarn was right about you, your attitude does suck." Nancy remarked. She continued to explain, "Anyway I was finishing up the installation of the cloak, when that bumbling idiot of a boy romeo romulan decided to show the surprise he had for me. I guess that the damn little love sick bastard was trying to show me that besides the women he liked all things Terran."
"Oh really? What did he show you or does this have anything at all to do with the deep lacerations on your wrist?" the doctor asked, turning back to the stand that he picked the tricorder off of. He set the tricorder down and picked up a vascular regenerator. He turned back around and removed her hand from its firm grip on the injured wrist. Blood began to pour freely from the wound. He slowly began to work the regenerator over the wound, slowing the blood flow as the arteries were sealed.
Nancy looked down at her wrist and cringed, she never liked the site of her own blood. She answered the doctor's question, "He pulled out a thirty centimeter long lanky twisting mass of fur, claws, and teeth."
"He brought an animal on board with him?" The doctor asked, raising an eyebrow. Having finished closing the veins he quickly turned to his table and exchanged the instrument for a dermal regenerator.
"He sure did. Apparently, he had managed to by a Terran ferret off of a bolian smuggler that was in port at a space station that his ship was docked at. When he saw it he just had to have it, because he is, in my opinion, obsessively into all things Terran.
"So the animal attacked you?" the doctor asked. He was working the dermal regenerator to close the skin of the bite wound.
"He forced the damn thing on me, like since it was from earth and I was Terran I should like the damn thing. I just have one thing to say. Animals and myself don't mix. It wasn't more than a couple of seconds that the smelly little ferret into my wrist with his fangs."
"I see." The doctor said. He finished closing the wound, and turned back to his stand. While setting the dermal regenerator down he added, "That information changes my diagnosis of your condition and the required course of treatment."
"How's that?" she asked. She rubbed her wrist where the wound had been and looked to the doctor.
He turned around with a hypospray in hand and explained, "There is a strain of rabies that ferrets have been known to be carriers for. I will need to give you an inoculation in case the animal was infected with the virus."
"Well make it damn quick, I've got to go and run some tests on the EPS system, and I definitely don't have time for shit like this." Nancy responded.
"Very well." He said. He held the hypospray up to her neck and then depressed the thumb button. With a hiss it delivered its load into her system.
She turned away from the doctor and faced the door, "Well, thanks doc, I need…" She fell backwards unconscious.
The doctor caught her, and laid her down on the floor, whispering, "I'm sorry, but I have my duty."
The doctor walked into the office of sickbay and sat down at the computer workstation. He began to tap away at the screen navigating the LCARS menu system. The computer buzzed in non-compliance.
He furled his brow and commented, "They've changed the command codes." He thought for a second, staring at the screen tensely, and then relaxed. He requested, "Computer, please display a listing of all possible ways of sending a message via subspace without having command code access."
The computer began to drone out a long list of responses that filled screen after screen. He began to read the first one, and then paused for a second. He thought about the major limitation he had and commanded the computer, "Computer, of those results that are displayed, list only those that can be done entirely from sickbay."
* End Chapter Two *
With their first mission for their romulan patrons assigned, the crew of the Hydra will soon be off to kidnap Dr. Tzu. Why is the cyberneticist so important to them? What plans could the romulans be hiding? Will the Hydra make it undetected into federation space, or will the EMH be able to send a word of warning out to starfleet? And even more importantly, even if they manage to make it in…will they be able to make it back out again? To get the answers to these questions you will have to tune in for the next installment 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