- Reap the Whirlwind -
A work of Star Trek Alternate Universe Fan Fiction
By Jeremy "HappyTarget" S.
- Prologue -
These events take place in the late 24th century. They occur in the mirror universe first visited by Captain Kirk almost a hundred years earlier. In this universe, the mirror Spock was unsuccessful in his attempt to moderate and change the course of the Terran Empire. But it didn't collapse like he predicted either. It continued to expand, steadily pushing outward until it spanned nearly the entire galaxy. When the Empire first encountered the Borg, they met the first credible opponent that the Terran Empire had faced in nearly 70 years. It was only due to the sheer weight of the Empire's attack combined with their on par or superior tech that allowed them to carry the day. Despite the campaign's horrendous losses in both ships and personnel, in the end the Empire was only strengthened by its conquest of Borg space.
Borg manufacturing facilities were adapted to benefit Imperial shipyards. The billions of trained men and women lost to the Terran Empire's war fleet were quickly recouped by adapting Borg maturation chambers to age unmodified human children. It didn't take long for the Empire to regain its stranglehold on the Milky Way. But with all enemies removed, the Empire's ruling council foresaw the death of their cherished way of life. They knew that in order to keep the subject species from rising up they needed a strong military. And in order to continue to justify the massive expenditures on military hardware, that military needed an enemy to fight.
And they found a possible one in the vast recesses of the captured Borg database. One of the species assimilated by the Borg shortly before they encountered the Terran Empire had been experimenting on various ways of accessing a possible other universes. There had been many ongoing attempts by the Empire's scientists to access other dimensions and parallel universes, but they had met with little success. Now, fortified with the new ideas provided by the Borg database, they were finally sure that they were nearing their long sought goal. What they discovered was much more than they bargained for.
- CHAPTER 1 -
- Delta quadrant, on the outskirts of the former Borg system of A875 34B9, Aegean Class Fleet Support Destroyer I.S.S. Hopolite -
The small destroyer came out of slipstream giving off the usual ghostly aquamarine glow. It looked like a cross between the Sovereign and Intrepid classes. It's saucer section resembled a miniaturized version of a Sovereign's. The shrunk saucer was mated to a secondary hull that looked like a stretched version of an Intrepid's. It stretched out almost twice the length of the oval primary hull, streaming gracefully out behind the warship. Slipstream drive nacelles were mounted on swept-back pylons which drooped only slightly below the saucer. The nacelles themselves resembled most strongly a stubbier version of a Sovereign's. They gave off only a pale blue glow through their grills, with their fronts devoid of any kind of bussard collector, as Slipstream drive required none. Shipyards across the Empire were busily swapping out the old-fashioned warp nacelles and drives for the recently acquired Slipstream versions as warships came in for refitting.
The Slipstream drive had proved a boon for the Empire. It had allowed them to strengthen their hold on rebellious systems with fewer ships. With Slipstream's much greater speeds than regular Warp Drive, a rapid response fleet could be anchored at important fleet bases and star systems. Then when trouble was reported, they could go to it with plenty of time to spare. It was added to the list of useful gadgets that Starfleet already had when it was taken from a species near Borg space. Even now, a new fleet was being prepared, equipped with every bell and whistle the Empire had. Subspace weapons, phase cloaking, quantum and tricobalt torpedoes, Type 2 pulse phasers, pulse phaser turrets, Type XVI phaser arrays, ECM drones, ablative armor generators. the list went on and on. All to fight an enemy that hadn't even been encountered by Imperial ships yet. The ISS Hopolite was to secure the Borg complex in system A875 34B9 until the primary attack fleet in Imperial service arrived to begin the assault. The new fleet units would be worked up and follow the primary forces, joining in the attack once thy had been certified fit for duty.
- ISS Hopolite, Deck 3, Reprimand Cell, 24:03 AM ship time -
The man writhed in pure agony, his mouth falling open to unleash a scream. But instead of a piercing screech, only a hoarse croak escaped his cracked, parched lips. It was barely heard above the whining hum the Agonizer gave off while in operation. A harsh spotlight shining into his tortured face and bared upper torso was the only illumination in the room other than the pale glow of the control panels. It cast a harsh glow on the man's sweat covered face. His eyes alternately went from bulging, to tightly shut to rolling into the back of his head. Taunt muscles rippled and twitched of their own accord. The pain was unrelenting, coursing through his sweat soaked body like a wild fire, torturing each nerve ending in turn, relentless in it execution.
The staff running the Agonizer were surprised that the subject of their ministrations could still get out even that much. After nearly 12 hours in the machine's grip, most people would have been driven nearly insane from the constant pain rampaging through the nerve endings like a pillaging army. They usually enjoyed their job, and who wouldn't enjoy being able to dish out pain when the one you hurt couldn't do a damn thing back to you. But even men such as they were beginning to get upset. No one deserved to be punished like this. An hour in the chair was usually enough of a deterrent for even the worst offender to change his ways. Lt. Cmdr. Ulysses Vanguard must have done a little something extra to piss off the old man this much. Of course the old man did have a sadistic streak a mile wide so a little something extra didn't have to be much. The rumor mill said he had lost his family to the Borg, so perhaps that was the reason why he was being so hard on his new ex-Drone Second Officer.
A century ago, when the Agonizer machine was still crude in its execution, the subject regularly lost consciousness while subject to the ministrations of the machine. This allowed them at least a momentary respite from their torment. The latest version, of which the luckless Mr. Vanguard was strapped to now, was considerably more advanced. It sensed which nerve endings were beginning to lose sensation and shifted to other ones to maintain a constant state of pain. It also kept the subject awake for the entire length of their punishment, not letting them slip into the merciful, waiting arms of unconsciousness.
The door to the room slid open, admitting the man whom had ordered the punishment. Captain Garret McBride strode into the middle of the room, his blood red silk command cloak billowing behind him, contrasting perfectly his black and silver unitard uniform. He stared down at his second officer's writhing body, with no compassion what so ever on his face. In fact, there was a slight sneer on his lips and his eyes sparkled. After taking in his officers suffering for a full minute in deathly silence, he turned to the Agonizer's operators.
"You may release Lt. Cmdr. Vanguard."
The steady hum that had filled the room abruptly cut out, and with it, the rasping cries of the Aegean class' ISS Hopolite second officer stopped. He nearly instantly fell into the long sought arms of oblivion.
"Take him to sick bay and see if Doctor Unger can do anything for him." By his tone, he hoped that she wouldn't be able to repair the damage long exposure to the agonizer's field undoubtedly caused.
"Of course sir, right away!" The head Agonizer tech, Master Chief Olaf Sanderson said. Turning to the other three techs he said, "You heard the Captain, get him unstrapped and down to sick bay." The three techs began to slowly disengage Ulysses from the chair. The door slid shut behind the Captain, and each gave a slight shudder as their tense muscles relaxed. When the Captain was on the warpath, anyone who displeased him in even the slightest way felt the full fury of his wrath. His leaving without doing so to any of the techs meant one of two things. One, they had done nothing to displease him, or two, he had finally calmed down. But since the Captain so rarely calmed down, the more likely of the two was that they hadn't displeased him. They carried their second officer between them down the hall to sickbay, and considering what had just happened to him considered themselves very lucky they hadn't done anything to irritate their extremely irritable CO.
- ISS Hopolite, 03:14 AM ship time, Sick Bay -
Ulysses Vanguard's hazel eyes fluttered open, then slammed shut again as the harsh white lighting of the Hopolite's sick bay flooded into them like a million tiny needles. His body felt like it was one solid bruise. For a moment, all he knew was the dull ache permeating his every muscle and bone he possessed, even the largely mechanical ones left over from his time as a Drone. Slowly, awareness filtered into his groggy brain. He let out a groan and shifted his hands to massage his head. That was a mistake. Where the blanket covering him brushed against him, the normally silky fabric felt as if it was a power sander applied to his skin. That was another of the benefits of the Agonizer, for its effects also lasted for a time after the subject was released from its clutches.
His groan brought a delicate touch to his muscular arm. Feminine fingers began to run along the fine hairs of his upper arm. Ulysses involuntarily jerked it away from the fine boned hand. The touch was even worse than the pain the blanket had caused, light though the contact was.
"Don't! That hurts like hell." He growled, his voice still gravelly and barely understandable from the abuse he had place upon it scant hours before. He slowly opened his eyes. His optic nerves still protested, but less vehemently than when he had first tried to use them. The lights of sickbay were dimmed except for the ones over his bio bed. They were turned up to full brightness, or at least it seemed so to his complaining eyes.
"I know that silly." A silken voice replied. "It's one of the side effects of extended exposure. Look at it this way, it doesn't last that long, a day or two tops." Ulysses let out another groan.
"You mean I have to go back to duty like this? No F**KING way! There must be something you can give me? Some drug in your pharmacopoeia that can at least lessen it?"
She leaned down and her voice purred into his ear. "Now Mr. Vanguard, that would be against the Captain's standing orders. You know how testy he gets when his commands are not followed to the letter." she paused, looking around conspiratorially, then continuing in a near whisper, "but I suppose I could make a special exception in your case." Doctor Cynthia Unger said as her hands traced the shape of Ulysses body scant millimeters from his hypersensitive skin. "Perhaps you could do something to. persuade me to give you some aid?" Her hands finished their roaming and stopped to flow through Ulysses chocolate brown hair. Oh crap, Ulysses thought.
He jumped like a scalded cat out of the bio bed and started backpedaling towards the exit, the pain contact with his skin forgotten. Then another fact finally sunk into his still clouded head. He was wearing very little of his uniform. This was bad. very, VERY bad. Ulysses was not usually easy to scare, but he was good and scared now. Part of him wanted to haul off and smack the Hopolite's CMO, but he had spent nearly all of his years since his stint at Starfleet Academy trying to ignore that voice. He felt beads of sweat break out on his back and forehead that had nothing to do with the corpulently warm shipboard temperature
"Oh Mr. Vanguard, I don't bite." She said through pouting lips. Then a predatory grin spread across her face. "Not much anyway!" She started to round the bio bed in his direction, leaving its pool of light and nearly disappearing into the dimness beyond. Her well-toned body moved with cat like grace, and her eyes were like a lioness that had just decided on which gazelle to take down.
"Ma'am, I think what you are proposing is a very bad idea. You are the Captain's Woman, and I'm in enough hot water with him now to know better than to pour more fuel on the fire." He backpedaled as he talked, and was now only a few steps away from the door. Continuing to back out of sick bay, Ulysses then stepped on something. Glancing down quickly, he noticed that it was the crumpled heap of his uniform. Barely breaking his stride, he stooped and grabbed the sweat soaked bundle with one hand. Then he stood and brought his sodden clothing up like shield.
But that momentary break in his concentration on her was all Cmdr. Unger needed. She was on him in a flash, wrapping her arms and legs around him in a vice like grip. Her form fitting uniform left little to the imagination while engaged in such an intimate embrace. Her lips found his and latched on greedily.
Crap, Crap, CRAP!!! I gotta get out of here PRONTO Ulysses thought. He forced the unwanted, highly dangerous remora off of his body with as much restraint as he could muster. Cmdr. Unger's arms windmilled and her pretty face's eyes went wide as her candy apple red lips formed a large O. Then she was falling onto the carpeted floor. She let out an angry squeal when her backside landed with a thud. Ulysses saw none of this though. Once free of her clutches, he nearly instantly turned and bolted for freedom, ignoring the aftereffects of the Agonizer nearly completely as he made good his escape. He didn't stop running until he dove into the turbolift at the end of the hall and it's doors swooshed shut behind him.
- Prologue -
These events take place in the late 24th century. They occur in the mirror universe first visited by Captain Kirk almost a hundred years earlier. In this universe, the mirror Spock was unsuccessful in his attempt to moderate and change the course of the Terran Empire. But it didn't collapse like he predicted either. It continued to expand, steadily pushing outward until it spanned nearly the entire galaxy. When the Empire first encountered the Borg, they met the first credible opponent that the Terran Empire had faced in nearly 70 years. It was only due to the sheer weight of the Empire's attack combined with their on par or superior tech that allowed them to carry the day. Despite the campaign's horrendous losses in both ships and personnel, in the end the Empire was only strengthened by its conquest of Borg space.
Borg manufacturing facilities were adapted to benefit Imperial shipyards. The billions of trained men and women lost to the Terran Empire's war fleet were quickly recouped by adapting Borg maturation chambers to age unmodified human children. It didn't take long for the Empire to regain its stranglehold on the Milky Way. But with all enemies removed, the Empire's ruling council foresaw the death of their cherished way of life. They knew that in order to keep the subject species from rising up they needed a strong military. And in order to continue to justify the massive expenditures on military hardware, that military needed an enemy to fight.
And they found a possible one in the vast recesses of the captured Borg database. One of the species assimilated by the Borg shortly before they encountered the Terran Empire had been experimenting on various ways of accessing a possible other universes. There had been many ongoing attempts by the Empire's scientists to access other dimensions and parallel universes, but they had met with little success. Now, fortified with the new ideas provided by the Borg database, they were finally sure that they were nearing their long sought goal. What they discovered was much more than they bargained for.
- CHAPTER 1 -
- Delta quadrant, on the outskirts of the former Borg system of A875 34B9, Aegean Class Fleet Support Destroyer I.S.S. Hopolite -
The small destroyer came out of slipstream giving off the usual ghostly aquamarine glow. It looked like a cross between the Sovereign and Intrepid classes. It's saucer section resembled a miniaturized version of a Sovereign's. The shrunk saucer was mated to a secondary hull that looked like a stretched version of an Intrepid's. It stretched out almost twice the length of the oval primary hull, streaming gracefully out behind the warship. Slipstream drive nacelles were mounted on swept-back pylons which drooped only slightly below the saucer. The nacelles themselves resembled most strongly a stubbier version of a Sovereign's. They gave off only a pale blue glow through their grills, with their fronts devoid of any kind of bussard collector, as Slipstream drive required none. Shipyards across the Empire were busily swapping out the old-fashioned warp nacelles and drives for the recently acquired Slipstream versions as warships came in for refitting.
The Slipstream drive had proved a boon for the Empire. It had allowed them to strengthen their hold on rebellious systems with fewer ships. With Slipstream's much greater speeds than regular Warp Drive, a rapid response fleet could be anchored at important fleet bases and star systems. Then when trouble was reported, they could go to it with plenty of time to spare. It was added to the list of useful gadgets that Starfleet already had when it was taken from a species near Borg space. Even now, a new fleet was being prepared, equipped with every bell and whistle the Empire had. Subspace weapons, phase cloaking, quantum and tricobalt torpedoes, Type 2 pulse phasers, pulse phaser turrets, Type XVI phaser arrays, ECM drones, ablative armor generators. the list went on and on. All to fight an enemy that hadn't even been encountered by Imperial ships yet. The ISS Hopolite was to secure the Borg complex in system A875 34B9 until the primary attack fleet in Imperial service arrived to begin the assault. The new fleet units would be worked up and follow the primary forces, joining in the attack once thy had been certified fit for duty.
- ISS Hopolite, Deck 3, Reprimand Cell, 24:03 AM ship time -
The man writhed in pure agony, his mouth falling open to unleash a scream. But instead of a piercing screech, only a hoarse croak escaped his cracked, parched lips. It was barely heard above the whining hum the Agonizer gave off while in operation. A harsh spotlight shining into his tortured face and bared upper torso was the only illumination in the room other than the pale glow of the control panels. It cast a harsh glow on the man's sweat covered face. His eyes alternately went from bulging, to tightly shut to rolling into the back of his head. Taunt muscles rippled and twitched of their own accord. The pain was unrelenting, coursing through his sweat soaked body like a wild fire, torturing each nerve ending in turn, relentless in it execution.
The staff running the Agonizer were surprised that the subject of their ministrations could still get out even that much. After nearly 12 hours in the machine's grip, most people would have been driven nearly insane from the constant pain rampaging through the nerve endings like a pillaging army. They usually enjoyed their job, and who wouldn't enjoy being able to dish out pain when the one you hurt couldn't do a damn thing back to you. But even men such as they were beginning to get upset. No one deserved to be punished like this. An hour in the chair was usually enough of a deterrent for even the worst offender to change his ways. Lt. Cmdr. Ulysses Vanguard must have done a little something extra to piss off the old man this much. Of course the old man did have a sadistic streak a mile wide so a little something extra didn't have to be much. The rumor mill said he had lost his family to the Borg, so perhaps that was the reason why he was being so hard on his new ex-Drone Second Officer.
A century ago, when the Agonizer machine was still crude in its execution, the subject regularly lost consciousness while subject to the ministrations of the machine. This allowed them at least a momentary respite from their torment. The latest version, of which the luckless Mr. Vanguard was strapped to now, was considerably more advanced. It sensed which nerve endings were beginning to lose sensation and shifted to other ones to maintain a constant state of pain. It also kept the subject awake for the entire length of their punishment, not letting them slip into the merciful, waiting arms of unconsciousness.
The door to the room slid open, admitting the man whom had ordered the punishment. Captain Garret McBride strode into the middle of the room, his blood red silk command cloak billowing behind him, contrasting perfectly his black and silver unitard uniform. He stared down at his second officer's writhing body, with no compassion what so ever on his face. In fact, there was a slight sneer on his lips and his eyes sparkled. After taking in his officers suffering for a full minute in deathly silence, he turned to the Agonizer's operators.
"You may release Lt. Cmdr. Vanguard."
The steady hum that had filled the room abruptly cut out, and with it, the rasping cries of the Aegean class' ISS Hopolite second officer stopped. He nearly instantly fell into the long sought arms of oblivion.
"Take him to sick bay and see if Doctor Unger can do anything for him." By his tone, he hoped that she wouldn't be able to repair the damage long exposure to the agonizer's field undoubtedly caused.
"Of course sir, right away!" The head Agonizer tech, Master Chief Olaf Sanderson said. Turning to the other three techs he said, "You heard the Captain, get him unstrapped and down to sick bay." The three techs began to slowly disengage Ulysses from the chair. The door slid shut behind the Captain, and each gave a slight shudder as their tense muscles relaxed. When the Captain was on the warpath, anyone who displeased him in even the slightest way felt the full fury of his wrath. His leaving without doing so to any of the techs meant one of two things. One, they had done nothing to displease him, or two, he had finally calmed down. But since the Captain so rarely calmed down, the more likely of the two was that they hadn't displeased him. They carried their second officer between them down the hall to sickbay, and considering what had just happened to him considered themselves very lucky they hadn't done anything to irritate their extremely irritable CO.
- ISS Hopolite, 03:14 AM ship time, Sick Bay -
Ulysses Vanguard's hazel eyes fluttered open, then slammed shut again as the harsh white lighting of the Hopolite's sick bay flooded into them like a million tiny needles. His body felt like it was one solid bruise. For a moment, all he knew was the dull ache permeating his every muscle and bone he possessed, even the largely mechanical ones left over from his time as a Drone. Slowly, awareness filtered into his groggy brain. He let out a groan and shifted his hands to massage his head. That was a mistake. Where the blanket covering him brushed against him, the normally silky fabric felt as if it was a power sander applied to his skin. That was another of the benefits of the Agonizer, for its effects also lasted for a time after the subject was released from its clutches.
His groan brought a delicate touch to his muscular arm. Feminine fingers began to run along the fine hairs of his upper arm. Ulysses involuntarily jerked it away from the fine boned hand. The touch was even worse than the pain the blanket had caused, light though the contact was.
"Don't! That hurts like hell." He growled, his voice still gravelly and barely understandable from the abuse he had place upon it scant hours before. He slowly opened his eyes. His optic nerves still protested, but less vehemently than when he had first tried to use them. The lights of sickbay were dimmed except for the ones over his bio bed. They were turned up to full brightness, or at least it seemed so to his complaining eyes.
"I know that silly." A silken voice replied. "It's one of the side effects of extended exposure. Look at it this way, it doesn't last that long, a day or two tops." Ulysses let out another groan.
"You mean I have to go back to duty like this? No F**KING way! There must be something you can give me? Some drug in your pharmacopoeia that can at least lessen it?"
She leaned down and her voice purred into his ear. "Now Mr. Vanguard, that would be against the Captain's standing orders. You know how testy he gets when his commands are not followed to the letter." she paused, looking around conspiratorially, then continuing in a near whisper, "but I suppose I could make a special exception in your case." Doctor Cynthia Unger said as her hands traced the shape of Ulysses body scant millimeters from his hypersensitive skin. "Perhaps you could do something to. persuade me to give you some aid?" Her hands finished their roaming and stopped to flow through Ulysses chocolate brown hair. Oh crap, Ulysses thought.
He jumped like a scalded cat out of the bio bed and started backpedaling towards the exit, the pain contact with his skin forgotten. Then another fact finally sunk into his still clouded head. He was wearing very little of his uniform. This was bad. very, VERY bad. Ulysses was not usually easy to scare, but he was good and scared now. Part of him wanted to haul off and smack the Hopolite's CMO, but he had spent nearly all of his years since his stint at Starfleet Academy trying to ignore that voice. He felt beads of sweat break out on his back and forehead that had nothing to do with the corpulently warm shipboard temperature
"Oh Mr. Vanguard, I don't bite." She said through pouting lips. Then a predatory grin spread across her face. "Not much anyway!" She started to round the bio bed in his direction, leaving its pool of light and nearly disappearing into the dimness beyond. Her well-toned body moved with cat like grace, and her eyes were like a lioness that had just decided on which gazelle to take down.
"Ma'am, I think what you are proposing is a very bad idea. You are the Captain's Woman, and I'm in enough hot water with him now to know better than to pour more fuel on the fire." He backpedaled as he talked, and was now only a few steps away from the door. Continuing to back out of sick bay, Ulysses then stepped on something. Glancing down quickly, he noticed that it was the crumpled heap of his uniform. Barely breaking his stride, he stooped and grabbed the sweat soaked bundle with one hand. Then he stood and brought his sodden clothing up like shield.
But that momentary break in his concentration on her was all Cmdr. Unger needed. She was on him in a flash, wrapping her arms and legs around him in a vice like grip. Her form fitting uniform left little to the imagination while engaged in such an intimate embrace. Her lips found his and latched on greedily.
Crap, Crap, CRAP!!! I gotta get out of here PRONTO Ulysses thought. He forced the unwanted, highly dangerous remora off of his body with as much restraint as he could muster. Cmdr. Unger's arms windmilled and her pretty face's eyes went wide as her candy apple red lips formed a large O. Then she was falling onto the carpeted floor. She let out an angry squeal when her backside landed with a thud. Ulysses saw none of this though. Once free of her clutches, he nearly instantly turned and bolted for freedom, ignoring the aftereffects of the Agonizer nearly completely as he made good his escape. He didn't stop running until he dove into the turbolift at the end of the hall and it's doors swooshed shut behind him.