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—It's late at night…I have just finished this update….I am exhausted…So I just think I'll quote Robert Plant of Led Zeppelin to set the tone for this chapter…On waves of love my heart is breaking…And stranger still my self control…I can't rely on anymore…New tides surprise my world it's changing…Within this frame an ocean swells…Behind this smile I know it well…Beneath a lover's moon I'm waiting…I am the pilot of the storm Adrift in pleasure I may drown…I built this ship it is my making…And furthermore my self control I can't rely on anymore…I know why I know why…Crazy on a ship of fools Crazy on a ship of fools…Turn this boat around back to my loving ground Oh no, oh no…Who claims that no man is an island…While I land up in jeopardy…More distant from you by degrees…I walk this shore in isolation….And at my feet eternity tries ever sweeter plans for me…I know why I know why…Crazy on a ship of fools…Oh, crazy on a ship of fools….Turn this boat around back to my loving ground…Oh no, oh no Ship of fools…Turn this boat around back to my loving ground Oh no,…oh Crazy on a ship of fools Oh, crazy on a ship of fools…Turn this boat around back to my loving ground Oh no, oh no Ship of fools…
Indeed….a ship of fools they are…but the real question is what ship is the ship of fools? Relax set your phasers to stun and above all else enjoy….and Nix….Even though my writing cannot compare to yours….(I feel ashamed that I am American and have less mastery of the English language than you do)…This chapter was inspired by you…..I read your work and decided that I had to keep on….so keep inspiring me kiddo….to call you my muse would be an understatement to what your writing, criticisms of, and all that you mean to me….worlds apart we are….but in this fanfiction universe we can meet and share our true love….that of writing…)
(Side note--Everybody else look away for a second except for Nix….okay A Troi jumpsuit in the Q Who Walks Through Walls, huh…I'll take that as a dare to tactfully weave it into the storyline.)
Chapter Eleven
The flight control center of the station's spacedock was abuzz with activity.
One of the controllers replied to one of the many ships that were docked in the bay, "I am sorry but I cannot give you permission to depart. The spacedock doors are closed and I cannot open them without a direct order from Captain Marcus during a red alert. You'll just have to wait till we stand down from red alert. This is Bajorana flight control, out." And with it he closed out the channel. He looked down the row of controllers and they were all busy responding to hails and giving the disappointing news that he had just delivered. When the young human ensign next to him got done with a hail he leaned over to her and asked, "Just why in the heck are we at red alert anyway?"
She turned and looked at him quizzically, "You mean you don't know?"
He felt as if he were back at the academy getting ready to take his finals and yet again forgot to study, "Know what?"
"There are five Borg cubes parked three thousand meters off of the stations outer bulkheads poised to attack us. I thought you heard Commander Mitchell mention that when he communicated with us not to let any ships out of the station under any circumstances and to keep the spacedock doors closed."
His disability had gotten the better of him this time, he looked down at his station to verify the status of one of the docked ships engine status, "I must have missed it when I was adjusting my audio implants. I was getting a sinusoidal RF feedback in the near mid sonic range with them so I had to turn them off and then back on to reset them."
"What's that?" she asked.
"Oh it's a type of feedback that is produced by the radio frequencies generated when the EPS power grid starts to get a large load…" he began to explain.
She cut him off as she stood up and pointed out the bank of viewports that overlooked the station's spacedock bay, "No, I mean what is that?"
He stood up and looked to where she was pointing. It was a Bolian freighter that seemed to be changing shape in a shimmering bur. When the transformation was complete, a defiant class starship remained in its place. "What the hell?" dumbfounded, he rhetorically asked.
She spoke up as she read the hull, "U.S.S. Hydra NCC 84201…Defiant class…I thought as a condition of peace treaty all but a token few of the Defiant class were put in for decommissioning."
He sat back down and began to work his console to bring up stats on the docked Hydra. He replied, "They did. My sister serves on one. Only the Victory Rose which my sister is stationed on and the Defiant herself were spared from the scrap yards. The Victory Rose is more or less the private yacht of Admiral Ya'Narin, and the Defiant is a now a museum on Earth's moon. The real question here is why the Hydra has holo-emitters installed onto its hull, and what was its mission here."
She sat down and began working her console as well, "Their computer has locked me out. It won't let me access their systems and they are powering up systems."
"Holy Moses!" he exclaimed not believing the information that was coming up on his console. He looked up and out the viewport to the Hydra as the countdown on his console zeroed out. The explosive bolts holding the mooring clamps and the docking transport tube exploded rocking the Hydra slightly and setting it freely adrift.
"They've activated maneuvering thrusters, and are making a course for the spacedock doors." She nervously explained.
He stood up and commanded, "Somebody get Captain Marcus on the horn, and contact whoever is in command of that ship, like yesterday! Let's snap to it!"
The tones of her voice became stressed and began to nervously trail up as she reported, "They're powering up weapons…" She furiously tapped away at the controls of her station, turned to him and in near shock informed, "They're targeting the spacedock doors!"
"Get those doors open now!" he exclaimed.
But it was too late.
Three volleys of multiple quantum torpedo fire screamed out from the Hydra and made a direct hit of the spacedock doors. Opening a large hole in the center of them. As the debris from the large doors cleared, the Hydra burned thrusters and made way through the opening and out of the station.
The com chirped and the sound of Captain Marcus's voice barked out, "Just what the hell is going on down there! The Unimatrix Alpha hasn't fired, yet it felt like the station was going to come apart up here."
He took a deep breath, cupped his eyes with his hands, massaged his temples for a second, dropped his hand back down, looked up and replied, "Ah, Captain, we've had a situation occur down here."
* * *
The Tal Shiar wasn't used to failure and Major Y'pel wasn't going to send them a bad report, "Commander Teral, what is your assessment of the debris field?"
The Romulan Commander was leaning over a subordinate's terminal overseeing his scan. He leaned back up, turned to Y'pel, and reported, "There's no doubt about it. Scans of the debris field have positively identified this as the remains of the Klingon ship that intercepted our transport of Dr. Tzu."
With a cold gaze she replied, "I see. Continue your scans and look for Human and Borg biological signatures in the debris. We need to be absolutely certain that Dr. Tzu was onboard this craft when it was destroyed, and that she is in fact dead before I report back."
Commander Teral paused for a second and then turned back to the terminal replying, "Understood, Major."
* * *
The turbolift doors whisked open and as Captain Keating made her way to the Captain's chair she commanded, "Lieutenant Yialla, hail the spacedock's flight control and get them to open the spacedock doors now. We need to be on our way before the trail gets cold."
The Andorian tactical officer obeyed her command and within a few seconds reported, "Flight control regrets to inform us that although the station has stood down from red alert, the damage the Hydra did to the spacedock doors has rendered them inoperable. Captain Marcus regretfully sends his apologies."
She growled out in response to the news, "A lone Defiant class starship doesn't stand an ice cube's chance in hell of putting up a fight for very long against one Borg cube, let alone five." She stood up, as she looked to the hole in the spacedock doors on the viewscreen, "Lieutenant Yialla how wide is that opening in the door?"
Yialla examined his sensor readings and reported, "One hundred twelve meters at the widest point, sir. It was barely wide enough for the Hydra to go though."
"Well its about to get wider!" Captain Keating sitting back down. She turned the command terminal to her, and brought up a tactical screen upon it. She would have to target the photon torpedoes manually in order to widen the hole enough to allow the Hoyle to pass through. With her targets locked she depressed the execute button, turned to look up at the viewscreen, and watched as four photon torpedoes successively screamed past moored starships on their way to their target, the spacedock door. After the explosions subsided the debris cleared the now significantly wider opening. "Mr. Yialla, report!" she barked.
He reexamined his sensor readings and answered, "The opening is now four hundred eighty meters wide and one hundred forty meters in height. It is barely large enough for us to pass through."
The Captain looked to her Bajoran helmsman and ordered, "Take us out, Ensign T'ralla."
She turned around in her seat and questioned, "Sir?"
The Captain started to become cross, "Do you not understand the order, Ensign? I said take us out!"
Ensign T'ralla tried to explain, "But the opening is barely three meters larger than the height of the ship, that would leave me only…"
The Captain cut her off, "Then we'll all just have to have faith in your thruster control ability. Take us out now, Ensign T'ralla."
T'ralla paused for a second and then turned back to the helm, took a deep breath, arched her eyebrows and then let out softly, "Aye, sir." Having brought up the manual thruster controls on the helm, she worked them adding, "Speed is now one hundred KPH. Five seconds from opening."
Lieutenant Yialla spoke up, "Captain, we are being hailed from the Bajorana's CIC."
Captain Keating replied as the Hoyle began to squeeze through the opening, "We're a little busy here. What do they want?"
Yialla answered, "Using his own words, Captain Marcus would like to know just exactly what in the hell we are doing firing photon torpedoes off in his spacedock."
Captain Keating coolly replied, "Tell him it couldn't be helped and that he can send me the bill. T'ralla, once we've cleared the spacedock doors plot an intercept course for the Hydra."
T'ralla replied, "We've cleared the doors now but there is no sign of the Hydra within this or the surrounding sectors."
Captain Keating calmly replied, "I kind of figured they would cloak as soon as they cleared the station. Mr. Yialla, do you detect any Borg signatures nearby?"
"I am detecting the signatures of the Borg cubes that were surrounding the station approximately four light years from here moving away at high warp."
Captain Keating stood up, "Plot an intercept course and engage at maximum warp. Set to red alert and have all hands report to battle stations."
As the red alert klaxon sounded, Yialla with tones of concern addressed the Captain, "Sir, may I have a word with you?"
She turned and looked at her Andorian tactical officer. She wasn't used to having her subordinates do anything more than follow her orders, never comment or question them. However, Mr. Yialla had gotten her bacon out of the fryer more than once in the past so she answered, "In my ready room Mr. Yialla." With that she turned and quickly made her way to her ready room with Yialla close behind her. The doors quickly closed behind them and she quickly shot out, "In about 10 minutes we are going to be busier than we have ever been before since I took command of this ship. Make it brief, Mr. Yialla. I have other things I need to be attending to."
His antennae nervously twitched for a second as he answered, "You selected me for this position given my experience and training at the Andorian war college. That training tells me that what you are planning to do is foolish and has little chance for success."
She forced a smile, "Try to keep positive, Mr. Yialla, I'm going to be requiring your to focus and be at its best here shortly."
"Over a hundred ships' crews many of them whom were more experienced than this crew and were more than likely at their 'best' died in the line of duty at wolf 359 and the Borg battle of sector zero zero one and they were only facing one Borg cube. We will be a lone ship facing five cubes."
She roared, "I know the odds!" She turned away from him and regained her composure, "Your concerns are noted and will be mentioned in my official logs. In the mean time I will need a battle readiness report from you in five minutes, Lieutenant."
"Understood, Captain. If I may make one suggestion, however."
"Make it quick."
"We should evacuate all non Starfleet and non-essential personnel to the saucer section incase it becomes necessary to initiate a saucer separation in our up coming battle with the Borg."
Still somewhat irritated at her tactical officer's questioning of her command decision, she gritted her teeth and tried to calmly reply, "Make it so, and alert Commander Evans of our current situation and call him to the bridge. You are dismissed."
Without saying a word Yialla exited the room. She knew he was gone when she heard the doors close. She turned around and walked over to an end table next to one of the chairs in her ready room. She picked up a photo in a frame of an older man in a Starfleet uniform, and smiled at it. She spoke to it as if it was an old friend, "Well father, I could really use one of those late night talks about the life of a Starfleet captain we used to have over a nice hot cup of cocoa. I'm about to face a situation that doesn't seem to promising."
She turned, still holding the frame in her hands, and walked over to the corner of the room. She looked down at the wooden antique rocking horse she had purchased a few days before, and set the photo down upon it. "Unless I pull off the impossible shortly, it would appear that our family line is about to die off."
She fought to hold back her emotions, and tried to hold onto her anger at her daughter or even her duty to bring in the privateers that were an enemy to Starfleet. However, in the end a single tear won out.
* * *
Dr. Tzu stood in the center of the control center of the Borg cube, watching a Borg female circle her slowly. Tiring of the woman's smirk as she watched her she commented, "I told you all that I wouldn't join you then, and I haven't changed my mind."
The Borg female winked at her, "Resistance is futile, Kimberly."
"Is it? People like Admiral Jean Luc Picard or Janeway would seem to disagree with you." Dr. Tzu remarked.
The female smugly answered, "They faced the common Borg collective native to the Delta quadrant and not we of the Alpha. We're different. We all choose to retain our individuality, but yet on some level, share our collectiveness. We are superior."
"If you are so superior, what do you need me?" Tzu asked.
Irritated the Borg female lashed back, "You know full well what we need of you. What you don't know is why we need the nanoprobes."
Curious, Tzu asked, "And why exactly do you need them?"
A male Borg drone walked into the room and stated, "Ziara, we have the analysis on the Klingon computer core."
"Report." the Borg woman commanded.
The Borg male reported, "Our analysis of the computer core revealed that their sensor readings recorded the U.S.S. Hydra as the ship that Dr. Tzu was beamed off of. Review of the logs indicate that the U.S.S. Hydra was not under mission from Starfleet and was in fact decommissioned several years ago. It is highly probable from the Starfleet communications that we have been observing that the U.S.S. Hydra was under control of individuals not affiliated with Starfleet and not acting in their interests. It is the collective's belief that they were privateers seeking to deliver Dr. Tzu to the Romulans based upon what we can recover from the Klingon ship's logs. There is a ninety three point eight percent possibility that the Satori prototype was onboard the U.S.S. Hydra."
She looked to him inquisitively, "Current location of the Hydra?"
He replied, "The Klingon sensors report that the U.S.S. Hydra proceeded upon a course that led it close to a system's sun, whereupon the sensor readings lost the ship. A large concentration of chronoton particles was recorded near the sun."
"Chronoton particles?" the Borg woman asked. She strolled closer to Dr. Tzu and seemed to gloat with a sneer at Dr. Tzu, "Very clever. Seven of Twelve…" She walked over to the man, took one of his hands into hers, and stroked it gently, "…Paul…"
He seemed preoccupied by her touch for a minute before responding, "Yes, Ziara?"
Her tongue almost caressed his ear as she replied, "Analyze the Klingon computer core. When you have identified the exact course that the Hydra took towards that sun, lay in a course and let the fleet know to come out of hiding and lay in the same course. It would appear that we will need to follow them to when they went and not just where in order to get the nanoprobes."
His mouth gaped open and seemed to spasm for a second until she released him. He replied, "Understood, I will comply." He exited the room quickly.
She turned to Dr. Tzu and said, "Well it would appears that our fleet is going to have to initiate a temporal incursion to gain those nanoprobes."
Dr. Tzu asked, "Fleet?"
Ziara smiled, "Yes, we have a fleet of five cubes and a sphere now."
"I thought Starfleet put a ban upon any of the liberated Borg building anything above a scout ship." Dr. Tzu commented.
"They did. When those of us of the liberated Borg of the Alpha quadrant decided to re-assimilate into a collective of our own, it was decided quickly that some of Starfleet's mandates would have to be overlooked.", Ziara replied.
Dr. Tzu returned a smile, albeit a sarcastic one, "Hence the reason for your outlaw status."
Ziara returned the sarcastic smile, "Yes. But it was necessary for our survival. As you are aware, sentiments for liberated Borg isn't that high among members of the Federation. We have managed to keep the existence of the fleet a secret from Starfleet."
"The sentiments of a few bigots shouldn't drive you to build a small fleet of Borg cubes, Ziara. The Federation is no threat to your collective or to the independent liberated Borg of the Alpha quadrant." Dr. Tzu responded.
"The Federation?" Ziara began to laugh uncontrollably. She managed to regain herself a bit and added, "If the Federation was what I was worrying about I wouldn't need those nanoprobes that your prototype has developed."
Dr. Tzu was confused, "So what do you need them for?"
A look of seriousness came upon Ziara's face, "We need them for protection. You see, we have been in contact with liberated Borg ships in the Delta Quadrant. It would appear that the standing directive of the Borg Queen to eliminate all independent drones still stands."
Dr. Tzu asked, "The transwarp hub in that quadrant has been destroyed, they have no way here. Why should you or I for that matter worry about them?"
Ziara raised an eye ridge and responded, "You share our technology in your body, but you have really no idea what it is like to be a part of the collective…"
"What do you mean?"
Ziara replied, "If you knew the Borg like I do…been a part of them like I have…then you would know….know what they are capable of."
Irritated at the lack of a direct response, Dr. Tzu asked, "Know what?"
Ziara walked up to Dr. Tzu and touched her cheek with her hand, "The transwarp hub in the Delta Quadrant will be back up and running in less than a week, and payback to the Federation is rumored to be their first destination. So you see, I need those nanoprobes to protect my collective from annihilation and I will do anything to get them."
* * *
"Well you said that you needed to get off of the station and onboard the Hoyle. I mean you are just lucky that I know my mom's command codes and could get us onboard without the ship's sensors noticing. My abilities is probably why you sent the message to me asking me to join you.", Nancy of the past replied. Nancy smiled at Roberts and began to rub his back in an embrace. She leaned forward and whispered into his ear, "But somehow I don't think that's the only reason, sailor." And with that she squeezed his bottom.
Captain Roberts nervously replied as he looked around the plush quarters, "Yes I did. But I didn't mean for you to beam us to the captain's quarters. No offense but if your mom is to come back here she probably won't be happy to see me."
After tugging at his earlobe with her teeth she responded, "Oh Wesley? I didn't know you'd ever met her, let alone have the chance to get on her bad side."
Trying hard to both resist her advances and at the same time to not create a paradox by revealing information about the future he replied, "Oh well I've met her and let's just say that she doesn't like me that much."
She kissed Roberts passionately on the mouth and worked her way to his neck. She let up as she backed him towards the quarter's bed and began to loosen his belt, "I'm not surprised. It doesn't take much to piss in her corn flakes."
Quivering at her uninvited touch into his uniform and onto his skin he managed to croak out, "Ah Nancy, where exactly is Quarn and the rest of my crew?"
She ran her free hand though his hair. After working her way from one side of his face, round his temples, and back down to the other side, she answered breathing slowly yet heavily, "I beamed them all to the battle bridge's ready room on deck eight. It's never used so I figured they would be safe there." She commenced to grab the back of his head and probe his mouth with her tongue.
Roberts managed to break free long enough to comment, "Ah, Nancy, I don't think we should be doing this."
"After all the correspondence we had during your incarceration at the Adares Penal Colony, don't think that I am not going to make you live up to all your promises. Besides that, I was one of the few members of your former shipmates who stood up for you and that kept in contact with you after the trial. You owe me." She pushed him down onto the bed landing on top of him. She felt her hand down lower and lower until she had her goal in hand, "Now keep that gangway extended, and prepare to dock with my station, fly boy. I've waited to long for this."
Roberts was waiting for a transporter beam or for Captain Keating to come in and save him from this situation that could create a paradox in his timeline.
It never happened.
Five minutes is all it took.
First his world rocked and then the Hoyle's spaceframe did as well.
The definite sound of weapons hitting the shields and rocking the ship could be heard and felt.
The Hoyle was under attack.
* End Chapter Eleven *
Colossal Climaxes, Batman! Will Captain Keating survive taking on five Borg cubes? Will Ziara convince Dr. Tzu to join her in the collective? What about Nancy's baby? And just who the heck will launder the stain's out of Nancy's mom's bed sheets?
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