"The alien ship is hailing us," Felsinger reported.
"Onscreen!" Allison snapped, no longer in even a remotely good mood.
The viewscreen activated, and she found herself looking into the face of one of the abductors. He had a Ferengi-like head with large ears and a ridged nose, but a Klingon ridge on his forehead. One of his eyes had been replaced by a black and green lens; the other eye was a clear sky-blue. Various tubes came out of his back and into his skull from behind.
"We are the T'MrijisuL K'JnN," he said in fairly passable English. "You will surrender to us immediately."
"I don't think so," Allison responded. "I've met your kind before." She signaled to Felsinger to cut audio for a few seconds, and turned to Lia. "Arm phasers. Aim for his engines. I only want them to be disabled, not destroyed."
"Aye, Captain."
"Resistance is useless," the T'MrijisuL K'JnN captain continued. "You will lower your shields or be destroyed."
"Fire."
Two red bolts of phaser fire struck the engines of the ship, and it rocked under the impact. With a puff of expanding shrapnel, the large engine drifted away from the rest of the ship. A second round, and the smaller impulse engine was nothing but space dust.
The alien on the screen let loose an inhuman screech/howl. "How dare you defy us?!"
"Easily!" Allison yelled, her anger easily a match for his. "Provoke a starship, that's what you get. Felsinger, close this channel and have Lieutenant-Commander Steve report to Transporter Room 2. Ship status back on Yellow Alert. Jessie, you're with me. Commander Kristian, you have the conn. Let's go, people!"
~~~~~~~
Allison, Jessie, and Steve materialized on the bridge of the alien ship. There were three of the T'MrijisuL K'JnN present. All three leveled phasers at them. "Escape is impossible," the lead alien said. "You will surrender."
Allison barely spared Jessie a glance, but it was enough. The half-Klingon Lieutenant-Commander howled in a Klingon battle cry, startling the aliens just enough for Allison to nerve-pinch the leader. Before the other ones could fire, Jessie slapped the first one's rifle aside and kicked the other alien in the head. The second one went down. Allison grabbed the wrists of the remaining alien and twisted them behind his back.
"Tell us what you're doing back here," she growled, "or I'll break both your arms."
"Stop!" he cried. "I will tell you what you wish to know."
"Then start talking."
"My name is R'IljiN," he said. "We were using standard procedure on a second batch of human children from the 21st century of the planet Terra..."
All three time-travelers paused for a brief instant. Allison released R'IljiN, and he gratefully sat down in a nearby chair. "R'Iljin," Allison said, "were you with the T'MrijisuL K'JnN when they experimented on their first 'batch'?"
He nodded. "I was opposed to it, but I had to follow orders." He looked nervously upward.
"Do you recognize us?" she asked gently.
The alien studied the three closely, and his remaining eye widened dramatically. "You are the results of the first experiment!" He seemed almost...apolgetic.
"You said you were opposed to the mutations they imposed upon us. Will you assist us?"
R'IljiN nodded, suddenly almost excited. "I will show you to the brig! Come!"
The three glanced at each other. Allison shrugged. "Let's do as the guy says."
~~~~~~~
True to his word, R'IljiN led the three officers to the brig, which they recognized. Allison looked over at the two empty cells, noting that the metal wall between them was still gone. She turned away from the reminder of their last visit, and glanced into the first cell.
The cell contained two women who looked to be half-Romulan. R'IljiN turned off the forcefield, and Allison called to them, "We're the good guys, and we've come to rescue you. I'm Captain Allison Danks of-"
"Allison?!" the younger woman exclaimed.
"You know me?" Allison asked cautiously, trying to match up the woman's appearance without the pointed ears and eyebrows. She was fairly tall, with light brown hair and an oddly familiar face.
"Of course I know you! It's me, Sam! You know, your cousin?"
Allison's jaw dropped. "SAM?!"
The second woman had long, straight blondish hair. She looked slightly uncomfortable. "Uhh...I'm Karin," she lamely introduced herself. "I'm also called Empressleia..."
Allison turned back to her. "Hey, I remember you!"
"Hey, can we get some help over here?" a male voice called from the next cell over.
Allison stepped over and looked in, with the two half-Romulan ladies behind her. This cell had two half-Vulcan ladies and a half-Andorian male teenager in them. The Andorian had light brown hair and dark brown eyes, with the trademark blue skin and antennae of an Andorian.
Allison immediately recognized the boy. "Nick? Well, well, well, this is just one surprise after another."
Nick looked up. "Allison?!"
Allison shrugged. "Yep. Guess you're stuck with me again, little brother." She looked at the two Vulcans. "You might as well give me your internet names as well as your real ones, because chances are I'll know who you are better that way."
"Cheryl, a.k.a. Tavia," the first one said, shrugging. She had longish light brown hair as well, and pale skin.
"Haven't used it in almost ten years, but...I'm Monica, i.e. mLyn," the other replied. She had short brown hair and hazel eyes. She also wore a pair of glasses.
R'IljiN deactivated the forcefield, and Allison waved. "Say hello to Charmega, or Lugia42 as you might know me."
Their responses were similar to those of Sam and Karin. After the initial shock wore off, Allison noticed that there was one more forcefield activated. "Hey, I wonder who's in here."
The forcefield was deactivated, and almost immediately a Vulcan man fell out and into the main chamber. He was fairly tall, even for a Vulcan, and had tell-tale red hair. He looked up at Allison and managed to raise a hand to point at her. "You! I should've known you had something to do with this," he declared, shivering. And then he fainted.
"Is he gonna be okay?" a soft voice asked.
Allison looked past the Vulcan man and saw a woman with wavy brown hair and glasses sitting against the far wall. Allison frowned as she tried to place the species she had been merged with, and triumphantly found that the lady was half-Minaran, or half-Empath.
"I think so, yes," Allison answered. "I went through pretty much the same thing when they did this to me. I'm Allison 'Charmega'."
The Minaran looked over at her. "Really?"
"Really."
She stood up and walked to the front of the cell. "I'm Kat. Umm...Dark Jedi Princess, that is."
Allison smiled. "Great!" She pointed to the unconscious Vulcan. "Did he tell you his name?" She had a sneaking suspicion about him...
"Uh...he said something about Demos or Daimen or something like that."
Allison looked down at him and, very slowly, raised an eyebrow. "Okay, that works well enough. Steve, would you come over and treat this guy for exposure to cold? You know the treatment." Steve immediately complied, using the same treatment on him that McCoy had used on Allison when she had first become a Vulcan.
Allison pulled out her communicator. "Captain Danks to Yel'Hal-tor, come in please."
" Yel'Hal-tor here, Captain." The voice was Kristian's.
"Tell the transporter room to prepare for beam-up. We've got company."
"Aye Captain. Anything else?"
"Yes. Have a few nurses run a stretcher to the transporter room. We've got one unconscious. And as soon as we're beamed up, resume course for the Mutara sector. Can't keep Enterprise waiting."
"Aye, Captain. Yel'Hal-tor out."
Allison turned to R'IljiN. "Will you be coming with us?"
R'IljiN looked stricken. "Where would I go?" he whispered.
Allison shrugged. "Your choice. You can go wherever you want. And I think it'd be preferable to staying here for when your companions wake up. You could be so much help to us..."
R'IljiN glanced at the corridor that led to the bridge area. "I'm coming with you."
Allison smiled. "Thank you." She flipped open her communicator. "Danks to Transporter Room. Eleven to beam up."
"Eleven, Captain?" The transporter chief sounded mystified.
"Yes, eleven," she repeated.
"Aye, Captain. Beaming up eleven."
~~~~~~~
The transporter room of the Yel'Hal-tor was quite large. In addition to the ship having foldable nacelles, a saucer seperation program, a holodeck, and various other new features that weren't currently available on any other ship, the transporter room had been expanded to twice its size, allowing twelve to beam into it at once.
The eleven humanoids materialized in the large room, and Allison sighed happily. "Ah, I love this ship."
Steve and the two nurses picked up the unconscious Vulcan and put him on a stretcher, then headed down to Sickbay. Allison turned to Jessie. "Escort R'IljiN to guest quarters. Make sure he has whatever he needs."
"Aye, Captain." She made a gesture towards the door. "If you would come with me, please..."
R'IljiN looked at Allison, shrugged, and then followed the intimidating Klingon out into the corridor.
Allison turned and looked at the remaining six former humans, all of which looked equally baffled. "I'll take you to Sickbay, and have Steve look you over," she said. "Just to make sure nothing went wrong during the transformation."
She headed for the door, and then noticed that all of them were staring at her, and none had made a move off the transporter pads. "What?"
"Nothing," Sam said as she shot a glance towards the others. This snapped them out of whatever funk they were in, and they obediently followed the captain out into the corridor.
"Onscreen!" Allison snapped, no longer in even a remotely good mood.
The viewscreen activated, and she found herself looking into the face of one of the abductors. He had a Ferengi-like head with large ears and a ridged nose, but a Klingon ridge on his forehead. One of his eyes had been replaced by a black and green lens; the other eye was a clear sky-blue. Various tubes came out of his back and into his skull from behind.
"We are the T'MrijisuL K'JnN," he said in fairly passable English. "You will surrender to us immediately."
"I don't think so," Allison responded. "I've met your kind before." She signaled to Felsinger to cut audio for a few seconds, and turned to Lia. "Arm phasers. Aim for his engines. I only want them to be disabled, not destroyed."
"Aye, Captain."
"Resistance is useless," the T'MrijisuL K'JnN captain continued. "You will lower your shields or be destroyed."
"Fire."
Two red bolts of phaser fire struck the engines of the ship, and it rocked under the impact. With a puff of expanding shrapnel, the large engine drifted away from the rest of the ship. A second round, and the smaller impulse engine was nothing but space dust.
The alien on the screen let loose an inhuman screech/howl. "How dare you defy us?!"
"Easily!" Allison yelled, her anger easily a match for his. "Provoke a starship, that's what you get. Felsinger, close this channel and have Lieutenant-Commander Steve report to Transporter Room 2. Ship status back on Yellow Alert. Jessie, you're with me. Commander Kristian, you have the conn. Let's go, people!"
~~~~~~~
Allison, Jessie, and Steve materialized on the bridge of the alien ship. There were three of the T'MrijisuL K'JnN present. All three leveled phasers at them. "Escape is impossible," the lead alien said. "You will surrender."
Allison barely spared Jessie a glance, but it was enough. The half-Klingon Lieutenant-Commander howled in a Klingon battle cry, startling the aliens just enough for Allison to nerve-pinch the leader. Before the other ones could fire, Jessie slapped the first one's rifle aside and kicked the other alien in the head. The second one went down. Allison grabbed the wrists of the remaining alien and twisted them behind his back.
"Tell us what you're doing back here," she growled, "or I'll break both your arms."
"Stop!" he cried. "I will tell you what you wish to know."
"Then start talking."
"My name is R'IljiN," he said. "We were using standard procedure on a second batch of human children from the 21st century of the planet Terra..."
All three time-travelers paused for a brief instant. Allison released R'IljiN, and he gratefully sat down in a nearby chair. "R'Iljin," Allison said, "were you with the T'MrijisuL K'JnN when they experimented on their first 'batch'?"
He nodded. "I was opposed to it, but I had to follow orders." He looked nervously upward.
"Do you recognize us?" she asked gently.
The alien studied the three closely, and his remaining eye widened dramatically. "You are the results of the first experiment!" He seemed almost...apolgetic.
"You said you were opposed to the mutations they imposed upon us. Will you assist us?"
R'IljiN nodded, suddenly almost excited. "I will show you to the brig! Come!"
The three glanced at each other. Allison shrugged. "Let's do as the guy says."
~~~~~~~
True to his word, R'IljiN led the three officers to the brig, which they recognized. Allison looked over at the two empty cells, noting that the metal wall between them was still gone. She turned away from the reminder of their last visit, and glanced into the first cell.
The cell contained two women who looked to be half-Romulan. R'IljiN turned off the forcefield, and Allison called to them, "We're the good guys, and we've come to rescue you. I'm Captain Allison Danks of-"
"Allison?!" the younger woman exclaimed.
"You know me?" Allison asked cautiously, trying to match up the woman's appearance without the pointed ears and eyebrows. She was fairly tall, with light brown hair and an oddly familiar face.
"Of course I know you! It's me, Sam! You know, your cousin?"
Allison's jaw dropped. "SAM?!"
The second woman had long, straight blondish hair. She looked slightly uncomfortable. "Uhh...I'm Karin," she lamely introduced herself. "I'm also called Empressleia..."
Allison turned back to her. "Hey, I remember you!"
"Hey, can we get some help over here?" a male voice called from the next cell over.
Allison stepped over and looked in, with the two half-Romulan ladies behind her. This cell had two half-Vulcan ladies and a half-Andorian male teenager in them. The Andorian had light brown hair and dark brown eyes, with the trademark blue skin and antennae of an Andorian.
Allison immediately recognized the boy. "Nick? Well, well, well, this is just one surprise after another."
Nick looked up. "Allison?!"
Allison shrugged. "Yep. Guess you're stuck with me again, little brother." She looked at the two Vulcans. "You might as well give me your internet names as well as your real ones, because chances are I'll know who you are better that way."
"Cheryl, a.k.a. Tavia," the first one said, shrugging. She had longish light brown hair as well, and pale skin.
"Haven't used it in almost ten years, but...I'm Monica, i.e. mLyn," the other replied. She had short brown hair and hazel eyes. She also wore a pair of glasses.
R'IljiN deactivated the forcefield, and Allison waved. "Say hello to Charmega, or Lugia42 as you might know me."
Their responses were similar to those of Sam and Karin. After the initial shock wore off, Allison noticed that there was one more forcefield activated. "Hey, I wonder who's in here."
The forcefield was deactivated, and almost immediately a Vulcan man fell out and into the main chamber. He was fairly tall, even for a Vulcan, and had tell-tale red hair. He looked up at Allison and managed to raise a hand to point at her. "You! I should've known you had something to do with this," he declared, shivering. And then he fainted.
"Is he gonna be okay?" a soft voice asked.
Allison looked past the Vulcan man and saw a woman with wavy brown hair and glasses sitting against the far wall. Allison frowned as she tried to place the species she had been merged with, and triumphantly found that the lady was half-Minaran, or half-Empath.
"I think so, yes," Allison answered. "I went through pretty much the same thing when they did this to me. I'm Allison 'Charmega'."
The Minaran looked over at her. "Really?"
"Really."
She stood up and walked to the front of the cell. "I'm Kat. Umm...Dark Jedi Princess, that is."
Allison smiled. "Great!" She pointed to the unconscious Vulcan. "Did he tell you his name?" She had a sneaking suspicion about him...
"Uh...he said something about Demos or Daimen or something like that."
Allison looked down at him and, very slowly, raised an eyebrow. "Okay, that works well enough. Steve, would you come over and treat this guy for exposure to cold? You know the treatment." Steve immediately complied, using the same treatment on him that McCoy had used on Allison when she had first become a Vulcan.
Allison pulled out her communicator. "Captain Danks to Yel'Hal-tor, come in please."
" Yel'Hal-tor here, Captain." The voice was Kristian's.
"Tell the transporter room to prepare for beam-up. We've got company."
"Aye Captain. Anything else?"
"Yes. Have a few nurses run a stretcher to the transporter room. We've got one unconscious. And as soon as we're beamed up, resume course for the Mutara sector. Can't keep Enterprise waiting."
"Aye, Captain. Yel'Hal-tor out."
Allison turned to R'IljiN. "Will you be coming with us?"
R'IljiN looked stricken. "Where would I go?" he whispered.
Allison shrugged. "Your choice. You can go wherever you want. And I think it'd be preferable to staying here for when your companions wake up. You could be so much help to us..."
R'IljiN glanced at the corridor that led to the bridge area. "I'm coming with you."
Allison smiled. "Thank you." She flipped open her communicator. "Danks to Transporter Room. Eleven to beam up."
"Eleven, Captain?" The transporter chief sounded mystified.
"Yes, eleven," she repeated.
"Aye, Captain. Beaming up eleven."
~~~~~~~
The transporter room of the Yel'Hal-tor was quite large. In addition to the ship having foldable nacelles, a saucer seperation program, a holodeck, and various other new features that weren't currently available on any other ship, the transporter room had been expanded to twice its size, allowing twelve to beam into it at once.
The eleven humanoids materialized in the large room, and Allison sighed happily. "Ah, I love this ship."
Steve and the two nurses picked up the unconscious Vulcan and put him on a stretcher, then headed down to Sickbay. Allison turned to Jessie. "Escort R'IljiN to guest quarters. Make sure he has whatever he needs."
"Aye, Captain." She made a gesture towards the door. "If you would come with me, please..."
R'IljiN looked at Allison, shrugged, and then followed the intimidating Klingon out into the corridor.
Allison turned and looked at the remaining six former humans, all of which looked equally baffled. "I'll take you to Sickbay, and have Steve look you over," she said. "Just to make sure nothing went wrong during the transformation."
She headed for the door, and then noticed that all of them were staring at her, and none had made a move off the transporter pads. "What?"
"Nothing," Sam said as she shot a glance towards the others. This snapped them out of whatever funk they were in, and they obediently followed the captain out into the corridor.