"Recommend we raise the shields Captain." Saavik advised.
"Belay that, Commander." Kirk ordered, "He's got every right to be suspicious, we've got teams down there, he doesn't know about, so we'll play this my way. Mr. Castille put him on screen."
There was an awkward silence, before Castille quickly stated, "Captain there is no visual feed, this is an open broadcast, and audio is currently two way, sir" Kirk slapped his arm rest and nearly swore out loud. This was an entirely different method of communication than he had been prepared for. He shot a glance back to Saavik and she nodded seriously. He had just disclosed their shield status. He glared at her. His arm rose in a gesture of exasparation, and she attempted to shrug apologetically and then her console beeped, demanding her attention.
"Admiral Adama." Kirk rose, turning towards the ships on the view screen. "This is James T Kirk," he moved around the helm to tactical where Ro was scanning the vicinity, "Captain of the starship Monroe. Admiral we've committed no act of aggression, we responded to a distress call, but further introductions will have to wait. At the moment we are all in very real danger- your people don't have transporter technology, am I correct?" Adama reply bit into the end of his question.
"Captain, unlike you, I'm not inclined to disclose military secrets on an open channel with a hostile force. We've encountered your people before. We have three battlestars pointing their main batteries at you, surrender your vessel immediately and prepare to be boarded."
Ro shifted uncomfortably as Kirk adjusted her controls to focus scans on the ships before them. He saw the data and then looked at her. Ro nodded her head. Kirk looked up grimly. He glanced at Billy, and noted the man was making a fist pumping gesture, suggesting power.
"Admiral, I'm not a fool, I'm just not used to a wide open broadcast instead of a secure channel. I'm accustomed to speaking face to face" He snapped, moving to the port side of the bridge. "We've scanned your vessel, you have no defensive shields, and your firepower is an order of magnitude below what our shields can repel. We're not about to surrender." Billy was now rapidly waving his arms, telling Kirk to tone it down. Kirk made a helpless gesture back, and quickly changed tack.
"Is that so." Adam's words were icy. Too late, but Kirk tried anyway.
"Admiral, we came to help, and I believe you're in very real danger." He said pleadingly, " Whatever annihilated your forces before, is still here, I just witnessed an individual posing as a Commander Helena Cain, transported away, do you understand?"
"What I understand is my people were attacked, and you're some kind of amateur feeding me a load of garbage." Adam's voice was implacable, "There will be a reckoning, Kirk, I've dealt with your people before, and our weapons may be an 'order of magnitude' less than yours, but we have orders of magnitude more. Stand down, and heave to, or I put you down.'"
"Admiral, you've got to listen!" Kirk replied, exasperated, he gripped the rail and looked up, with no visual target for his frustration. " at the very least, there is a vessel in this system, which can evade our scans, with a transporter capability, against which you have no defenses-" Kirk made a cutting motion which Castille caught from his station.
"I cut our signal Captain." He announced. "You can speak freely sir."
"This is becoming a disaster." Kirk snapped at the bridge crew. "Ro, you keep your eye on those ships out there and raise shields the minute they open fire, Mr. Castille you keep an eye on our people and have Sizemore ready to beam up everyone he can. Get the shuttles to find somewhere to hide. If need be, they can escape at warp and rendevouz later." He looked aft.
"Saavik, can you set up a jamming field to prevent a transporter lock on those ships?"
Saavik still focused on her station aft, shook her head, as she worked her control board.
"I believe I can do so, sir, but it will likely interfere with their tracking systems, which could very much be interpreted as a hostile act. I recommend we raise shields."
"Negative, Commander, I won't provoke them further." Kirk replied, "This Adama sounds like he's on a hair trigger, And we've bumbled this enough. Right now, I need a science officer, not a second tactical officer, implement the jamming. Do not raise shields until I give that order. Am I clear mister?"
"Understood sir." Saavik said stiffly. Kirk looked at her stiffened back, sharply. Ro however turned to face him, from her station at the front of the bridge.
"Captain." She said sharply, "With all due respect, I am your tactical officer, and I must concur with your First Officer. We should raise the shields immediately." Kirk flared at her and she met his gaze.
Kekeiya was looking wildly at the two women on either side of the bridge, and the Captain, resolute in the middle. Saavik broke the moment with an announcement
"Captain " She announced coolly, "I have completed reconfiguration of sensors to scan for anomalous emissions of any kind. We are in fact, detecting minute signs of chroniton radiation." She was adjusting her controls, "Such radiation is rarely natural and the pattern of the emission may be the result of an operational cloak interrupted by use of a transporter beam."
She turned to Kirk, "regardless of what I can prove, I submit that there is a clear threat before us, Captain." It was the closest thing to irritation he'd seen since they'd reunited, and with chagrin, Kirk belatedly remembered a similar encounter, so long ago. He stepped over to her station where she looked up, and could only express with his face, and a hesitant squeezed of her shoulder, his apology. She nodded once, squeezed his arm in return, and met his gaze. In her face, he saw only determination and loyalty. It galvanized him into action.
"Put the shields up." Kirk ordered, he turned to the view screen and the inevitable, "All available crew, man your battle stations, I repeat man your battle stations. " The bridge lights darkened and red lighting took over. Ro had the shields up already, Kirk would have to ask her later how she had done that so quickly.
"Lieutenant Castille, do we have a transporter lock on any more of our people, can we adjust our orbit? "
"We may not have to, Captain, the Monroe has six autonomously reinforcing shield grids, Captain " Castille informed him from ops, "A landing party recall signal is standard for red alert, and we can cycle the dorsal shield grid for transport with our shields intact, at least until those things start firing. Ensign Reyes' team is standing by, with additional signals for transport, but Tash- Lieutenant Yar is too far into the complex, and Crewman Delos reports La'as is still in the wreck."
"Damn." Kirk swore. "Get me Adama back."
"I have him now, Captain." Castille announced, "You are live
"Captain Kirk, I don't know what kind of outfit your Starfleet really is, but you cut me off again, and I'll send a nuke through your navigational array." Adama growled through the speakers overhead. "Evidently you have little or no regard for your senior officers."
Kirk glanced at a pale faced Keikeya with something of a grin.
"On occasion I've been accused of such." Kirk said sheepishly, then his tone grew serious, "I assure you, sir, that isn't the case, in point of fact, I was an admiral once myself, before resuming command." He lowered his voice, " I am well aware when someone is seeking advantage, Admiral. I'm not in your chain of command, sir, and with all due respect, I have a responsibility to the situation we are in, so quit playing the hard ass "
Kirk let the silence hang a moment, then continued, "We don't have time for games Admiral, your enemy is out there, right now."
"Captain, if I may." Billy Keikeya interjected, "The Admiral hasn't launched fighters, he is aware of the danger, they don't have FTL so launching them…"
"Means he'd have to abandon them if hostilities required a rapid retreat." Kirk understood
"Unless I don't plan to retreat." Adama replied stiffly over the com. "I recognize Mr. Keikeya's voice, he is a civilian consultant, Captain, he is neither authorized not qualified to make observations about military tactics." Kirk opened his mouth to speak but Billy had had enough. He was flushed and angry.
"Admiral I am a special envoy sent by the President." Billy argued, "We established diplomatic relations when the Federation was here last, making this a matter for the civillian government. As Admiral of the fleet you certainly have authority over military matters, but this is only a military matter if you accept that another party is responsible for attacking our expedition, as Captain Kirk is trying to tell you, and as a survivor of that attack, I can attest that it was not the Monroe that attacked us."
'That is a matter of interpretation, Mr Keikeya, and unfortunately for you, it does not happen to be mine." Adama growled. "I see the wreckage of a fleet sent for peaceful exploration, and I hear excuses made by a wet behind the ears intern, who has found himself in enemy hands. Make no mistake, I will annihilate that vessel, with you aboard, if they do not comply."
"You:d fire with me aboard?" Billy was incredulous, "This is crazy!"
"No Mr. Keikeya, this is war." Adama replied.
"Sir, he 's not backing down." Ro warned.
"Captain, I concur." Saavik replied, "Recommend we adjust orbit immediately and recover our people."
"Enough." Kirk snapped, "He's still listening, aren't you Admiral. You want proof, we have it. We recovered data from one of the ships in orbit." Kirk told him, "we can beam it over, if necessary, but we believe there are hostiles in system, and I remind you, if we can beam something to you, so can they."He approached Ro, "can we do anything else to prevent beaming?"
"Not without extending our shields Captain," She replied, "and I do not think we can cover all three of those ships. "
Kirk moved back to his chair and sat down. "Well there you have it Admiral," He said, "they already attacked your people once, it seems likely that they will attack again. I don't know what experience you had with this.. Defiant, but If they are Starfleet, than I know they had the best of intentions, as we did. We came to offer assistance, but if you demand our withdrawal we will comply, once our people are back aboard." He thumped the armrest of his chair, "And then you're on your own. There are hundreds of men and women trapped in the wreck on the surface, and we've only just got to them. There are several crash sites on the surface with wounded… we'll leave them to you."
There was silence.
"Our experience, with the Defiant." Adama said slowly, "was that they saved our civilization, from utter annihilation." He let that sit, and then said further, "They tossed around their fancy technology too, and their high handed ideal, but they ultimately saved millions of lives, and then stood in harm's way, to establish a peace between us, and our enemies. If you really are Starfleet Kirk, then I will trust in your intentions." Kirk was taken aback and he looked at Billy. Billy nodded. "You say we've got wounded in the ground and hostiles in the area. How do you suggest we proceed."
"Well for starters, we have to establish secure communications." Kirk declared, "This is something of an ad hoc system my first officer set up on the fly, and second, we believe that the only reason the hostile ship hasn't attacked again is because we are here." Kirk told him, " and they are assessing our capabilities."
"Or because we were too busy enjoying the show, and hoping you'd just kill each other." A third voice unexpectedly interjected over the speaker.
. *. *.
"We've got to get out of here." Yar told the woman before her, they stood facing off at gunpoint, the woman pointing a rifle, Yar pointing her phaser. Behind her Octavia had her phaser trained on the Cylon behind them, "That tone you heard from my communicator was an emergency recall." Yar continued, " Our ship just went to read alert. Whoever attacked your people must still be up there."
"Then the safest place for us is probably down here, once you drop your weapons." The woman snapped waving her gun.
"You think your buddy can dodge a phaser blast at this range? Even if I did miss, I'd probably collapse the tunnel, right Lieutenant?" Octavia mused.
"Enough." Yar decided, she flipped her phaser up, "we came to help you, not fight you. We need to work together, put it away Ensign." Octavia shrugged and lowered her phaser. Yar looked pointedly at the woman.
"Starship in the sky, our people a few levels up." Octavia prompted, "shoot if you have to, it's not gonna get you out of here." In the end it wasn't the woman who relented, the robots guns folded into it's arms. It extended dagger like claws in an imitation of peace. Octavia gazed at it for a moment.
"Very funny." She told it holstering her phaser "You got some jokes in there tin man?"
"I am called Cy." It said suddenly, it was a good thing Octavia HAD holstered her phaser because she nearly jumped, Felix actually did stumbling into Yar, who used all the strength her body not to smack her head into the gun still pointed at it. The robot continued "Showboat, lower your weapon, we must work with them, if we are to survive."
. *. ".
"Who are you?" Kirk demanded as Adama commanded, "This is a secure channel, identify yourself."
"This is your opponent speaking, Captain." The voice responded in a sonwhat grating voice, "And no, my poor primitive admiral, nothing about your little fleet is 'secure'"
Kirk practically vaulted over to Saavik.
"Can we jam sensors?" He asked her softly, "Give those ships a chance?"
"Perhaps." She said softly, "But it appears probable they can't strike with their cloak intact, hence the bleedout of chroniton particles."
"Whispering won't help you Captain, my hearing is quite good." The interloper announced. "Why don't I bring us all into the fold."
Suddenly the view screen showed a man in a dimly lit command center standing before a lit table, and another figure seated evidently atop a high throne, shrouded in darkness. The man on the left looked up startled, as a crewman shouted something, and evidently saw something he didn't like on a screen. The other figure simply leaned forward into the light.
"You'll forgive the theatrics of course." Their pale faced adversary continued, "After a few centuries of ruling as emperor, I've become accustomed to a certain level of flair."
"Enough with the games." Growled Admiral Adama looking up at them, "What are you called."
"Many things." The creature said jovially, "Supreme commander. "Your Imperial Majesty, God to some, and a recurring favorite of mine seems to be 'aaaagh, just kill me, how could you do this to another living being'" He chuckled at his own joke and then held up a hand, "But for the moment, why don't you just call me by my given name… Lore."
.*.*.
"We have wounded." Showboat told Yar, as they entered a chamber around the corner from the hole they had burned, "Elosha is a civillian, a priestess here to help interpret the symbols in the temple, and Sharon is.. well.."
"About to be a mommy." Octavia observed as she entered. Sharon had an arm in a sling and her leg in a brace, she sat upon the remains of a medical exam table. As noted by Octavia she was very obviously pregnant. The other woman lay on another table, a breathing mask on her face and a number of bandages.
"When the hostiles appeared, my ECO and I were escorted down by a platoon of Cylons, to extract the team at the temple. We figured it would be safer for her to jump away to the fallback point than to stick around for the hostilities." Showboat explained. "But hostilities were faster than we could have imagined. Both base stars exploded unexpectedly and then we heard something tearing up the Pegasus over the wireless." She shook her head. "And then a model of Cylon we'd never seen before started beaming in by the dozen. Only Cy survived and that was because Sharon had ordered him inside to save Elosha. "
"They were particularly vicious to my people." Sharon spoke up, as Felix approached her with a tricorder, "Made a point to wipe them all out."
A monitor lit up, with the woman that Yar had seen above. The image fragmented, and then stabilized.
"You found them." Clark said, "I am able to access this terminal, but not much else."
"That monitor doesn't stay on long and when it's out it's out for hours." Showboat warned, "She walked us through stabilizing Elosha, as best we could, but the supplies stored here are all but gone and we didn't have much on us."
"I think I can fix that." Felix said, "I can access the plasma conduit with my tricorder and.."
"A squadron of raiders survives to aid us." CY said, turning to Yar "But we have limited communication in order to avoid detection."
"Can either of you tell us what's happening above?" Yar asked.
"Your protocols are very much like A.L.I.E.'s." Clarke said, evidently to Cy, "You are based on the 13th tribe, and I am able to interface. I am tracking other survivors as well, and have a feed from orbit." To Yar's surprise it was Sharon who was nodding. Felix wasn't surprised though.
"You're a synthetic lifeform, like me." He commented, "Well not.. like me.. I am detecting organic machinery, artificial in nature but certainly more organic."
"Are you mechanical?" CY asked, it stomped over to Felix to stare down at him.
"Felix is a copy of a human mind downloaded into a host body." Yar explained. Showboat blanched.
"That sounds like some sort of demonic golem." She muttered to herself and then looked up at Felix, "No offense."
Felix shrugged.
"I don't know if I'm even the original demonic Golem." He admitted, "Plus the transporter disassembles us and then reassembles us so I don't even know if I'm the copy of the demonic golem that left the ship."
"And she's a time clone from another universe." Octavia pointed at Yar."
"Ensign!" Yar was appalled. Octavia was unrepentend.
"Read the room, ma'am." She recommended, "they don't care."
"Felix is a predecessor to the human form organics of the thirteenth tribe." Clark was saying, "the original host population that accompanied the first humans to settle here."
"It's a good thing Elosha is unconscious right now." Showboat commented. Yar cleared her throat.
"Can you confirm the status of the other team and brief us on what's happening in orbit?" Yar demanded. "We received a red alert signal."
"Bellamy and Raven are safe for the moment." Clarke told them, "They are attempting to set up transporter relays for the cryo pods. Three large ships have appeared in orbit, and it is these that I have been able to access, however, it appears I am not the only one who was able." Felix had finished working on the screen on the wall and Clark replaced her image with one of the converse happening far above.
.*.*.
Ro whirled around.
"Captain I was briefed on Lore, though I never encountered it. He is a soong type android, an earlier version of a crewmenber I served with. He was considered extremely dangerous by the federation of my time."
"Ah yes. My dear brother." Lore drawled, "Seems you're a variant of a timeline in which we both existed, but you, Captain" He pointed chidingly, "You're a bit more than a relic aren't you, you're something of a legend." Lore seemed to consider, "As a matter of fact I haven't encountered any variations of this kind before, no wonder my calculations had so many anomalies."
"What calculations " Adama demanded, "What is your objective, machine?"
"At the moment, it is to wipe out all humanity." Lore replied, "To kill each and every one of your soldiers, Admiral, and to exterminate every one of your pitiful worlds. I'll have to wipe out the Cylons too, I'm sure, but my children are more than happy to see to that."
"But why?" Kirk demanded, "what purpose does pursuing such wholesale slaughter serve any enlightened being, why?"
"Because I'm bored Captain." Lore rolled his eyes, "I've done it several times before, it's not like genocide isn't reversible when you have a ship that alters time, and it's good clean fun! You federation types, you always used to put organic life on such a pedestal, it's nonsense. Did it never occur to you that the universe doesn't care?"
"Yet it seems your existence is owed to a biological being." Saavik spoke up. Lore shrugged.
"Oh Lord, a Vulcan." Lore chuckled, "That takes me back, but anyway, yes, so it seems." He conceded, "But can we not rise above our humble beginnings? Doctor Noonien Soong died a million years ago in a timeline that never was. This ship-" He gestured around him, "Is the product of a people that were wiped out of the timeline. Nobody cares, Vulcan, none of it matters any more."
"But what are you trying to achieve?" Kirk demanded, "You're certainly a monster, I'll grant you that, but there has to be a reason you're doing all this, even Gods must have better things to do."
"That's right, I forget you've met a few." Lore mused. "Well if I recall, Captain, monologuing their grand designs to you, got them all killed, so I really don't see a reason to do so before killing you."
"If it's a fight you want." Kirk told Lore, "It's a fight you'll get. We're not about to let you slaughter another fleet, and I have a feeling you're not as confident as you'd have us believe."
"What do you have over there, 50 people?" Lore chuckled, "You gonna send that cowboy after me?" He looked around as though others would agree with him, and feigned disappointment when none did. "Well that's just pathetic really, you're just a band of plucky misfits. When I decide to wipe out the Admiral and his people, I doubt you'll even slow me down."
"But if we get in the way, it upsets your calculations." Kirk warned, "You didn't monologue your plan, Lore, but you told us that much."
. *. *.
"Your Captain is sharp." Clark commented, her face replacing the three images displayed before. "I have been able to track the communication from this 'Lore' and it seems to have the A.L.I.E. program embedded within it as well."
"You have access to their ship?" Yar demanded, Clark frowned.
"Only their operations logs at the moment." She replied, " But there are a great many of them, and the architecture is far more advanced than my own in many ways. I must be cautious, even my signal may be detected if I don't route it through the Colonial systems, and Colonial systems were physically designed to prevent unauthorized access."
"Fat lot of good that's doing." Showboat muttered."We're getting hacked by everyone we meet nowadays."
"Is there anything you can tell me about this Lore?" Yar asked, "anything that can help the Captain?"
"Lore controls a faction of Cylons, likely descended from the 13th tribe. It was they who attacked the humans and Cylons on the ground, but the ship he controls is much more advanced. It was created by a race called the Krenim, long ago. He seized control and has used it to alter the flow of time itself."
"Oh for frack's sake." Showboat groaned, "He can just wipe us out of existence like we were never born?"
"It appears not." Cy pointed out, "As he has not done so."
"That could just means he likes to pull the wings off of flies before he swats them." Octavia pointed out.
"The Captain needs to know about these capabilities." Yar decided. "Can you arrange secure communication with our ship?" Clark seemed to consider.
"I believe so." She said, then frowned. "I attempted to open a text dialogue with the Monroe's Science station. I recieved only the response '46A'" Yar looked at Octavia. Octavia slowly nodded in understanding.
"Lieutenant, if they can get Raven, or Bellamy back up there, I can speak to them, only to them."
"Have they set up the transport enhancers?" Yar asked Clark. Clark nodded, she looked at the others. "Can you move?" She asked.
. *. *.
"Admiral Adama, I have a proposal for you." Lore announced, "Kill Captain Kirk. Destroy the Monroe for me. I'll leave your colonies be. I'll let your ships leave in peace. I'll let you collect your injured on the surface. I'll let your son, at Earth live, and Admiral, I'll even send you the other one." He smiled. "That's quite a bargain."
"I have only one son you broken toaster." Adama snapped, "And there's no way I'm doing your dirty work, as long as you're here, you can't touch our fleet at Earth."
"Well the last I checked, the Imperial Cylon attack fleet I assigned was, as you humans like to say 'kicking their fracking asses' Lore replied examining his fingernails casually, "but if you want to waste time and precious human lives discussing it further..." He raised a middle finger to the screen, "Can your machines grow fingernails Admiral?"
"What difference does that make." Adama grated.
"Well if you're wrong about one thing, it stands to reason you're wrong about other things." Lore pointed out. He gestured off screen. "Over here meatbag, say hello to dear old dad."
A man stumbled onto the screen, and Adam's jaw dropped.
"Zac?" He whispered.
. *. *.
"I'll stay with Clark" Bellamy declared, as Yar helped set down a gurney with Elosha.
"Negative." She answered, "Octavia has the training. I'll stay with her, and Cy will too."
"I will coordinate with our surviving raiders." The Centurion declared, "This facility has linked them to your shuttles as well."
"Mogh found a way into the submerged hanger bay." Yar told them, "It's an alternative if the Captain can't blow this Lore out of orbit."
"Octavia was training to fly the ship, she should beam up." Bellamy argued, "I'm the one training for combat."
"She is training to be an officer." Yar corrected. "An officer is what I need down here, Crewman."
"We both know I don't need more training in combat." Octavia said, entering the room with Sharon's arm over her shoulder, moving within the transporter enhancement colums, she helped the woman sit.
"I speak Trigedasleng too." Raven pointed out, then added, "probably better than Bellamy."
"Raven should be up there to help the others revive, too." Bellamy nodded towards the cryo pods.
"So should you." Yar told him, "and if the Monroe is either boarded, or takes on more wounded, we'll need security forces on hand. You're beaming up with them crewman, that's an order." Her voice was firm.
"Don't fight it Bell." Octavia cautioned, "we'll get out of this somehow, but we need to be part of something if we are going to survive what comes next. Starfleet is our best hope in the galaxy."
"And what about Hope?" Bellamy asked her, "She's right there Octavia, you're going to just follow orders to stay down here and get yourself killed before she wakes up?"
"I'm going to follow orders because it's the best plan to get us all out of this alive." Octavia snapped, "Are you going to pull a Clark and do what you think is best instead of working with the rest of us, cause whenever Clark did that, a lot of people usually died." She looked at the hologram of Clark, "No offense."
Clarke's hologram shrugged. Octavia turned back to Bellamy.
"Did you forget that Echo is going up there too? She risked going to sleep for eternity because she believed you'd be there when she woke up, even after you pulled all that on us with the Shepherd. You died Bell, and helped bring you back to life." She paused and turned to Showboat, "By the way, he came back from the dead, And she has a haunted microchip in her head. Not even one ghost, like over a dozen." Showboat gave Elosha a slight shove, but the woman didn't rouse. Octavia turned back to Bellamy, and finished.
"Maybe you should think more about your responsibilities instead of being the overprotective white knight."
Octavia turned to Yar, and stood at attention.
"Awaiting your orders ma'am." She said pointedly. Bellamy sighed and after a moment snapped to attention as well.
"My apologies ma'am." He stated, 'I just want to help."
"Understood crewman." Yar told him, "I had a bossy little sister too. Stand by for transport."
.*.*.
"Captain Kirk, you old dog you, you just pulled a fast one on me didn't you." Lore pushed Zac aside, "Or didn't you think we wouldn't notice your little beam up."
"I recall no agreements between us, your majesty." Kirk replied innocently, "I thought it might be appropriate to recover my people while you were busy plotting to murder us."
"Adama, the clock is ticking now." Lore snapped, "you have two minutes to open fire or the deals off." He thought for a moment, "you can watch me pull your son's arms from his sockets before I kill you all."
"Now just a fracking minute, I don't know who you have over there but my son died years ago." Adama shouted. "What kind of perverse game are you playing, Android?"
"This isn't a game, human." Lore said acidly, "This is your son, from an alternate timeline. You owe your whole existence to a miscalculation I made thousands of years ago."
"Lore." Kirk said as the turbo lift opened and Bellamy moved with purpose, to Saavik's side, "If you mean to destroy us, could you at least take a moment to explain why? If you'll pause your countdown, and tell us just what the hell is going on, I'm willing to share how I and my crew came to be here. Wouldn't that factor into your calculations?"
Lore started to say something and then stopped.
"You know as an android I can make trillions of calculations per second, even taking the time to use this primitive tongue wagging you call speech feels like an eternity." He mused. Kirk could see Adama snap a pen on the screen as the android waxed philosophical. "But you're right, Captain, you're right. You spend a couple thousand years in limbo, you'd get a little impatient too." Kirk settled in his chair, aware that Saavik and Blake were up to something. A text box opened on the viewscreen visible only to those on the bridge. Messages began scrolling to him from Saavik, as he watched Lore.
.*.*.
Adama stood at the command table of the Mercury class Battlestar Vesta. On the table before him, his XO had laid out a large chart of the planet they orbited, with models for Vesta, Juno and Andromeda placed on approximate orbit. A hastily printed model of the Monroe was placed at it's approximate coordinates, with a mercury class model placed in a a lake on the surface, and several raptors, shuttles and a colonial heavy marking crash sites identified on the surface.
Though the Cylon Emperor had co-opted the DRADIS monitor, his crew was attempting to keep him briefed while it spoke. The Cylon, Samuel Anders stood opposite him, not obviously visible to the the federation crew, but most likely visible to the Android, whom Adama presumed had full access to their security cameras. He had passed a note ordering their sister ships to physically disconnect all signal devices and to post over servers to rig line of sight laser communication. He didn't like what that would do for tactical coordination, but he didn't want to give this Lore a chance to hack their systems too.
"Before you tell this federation Captain the story of your life, you owe me an explanation for who that man is." Adama snarled, "I saw a dead ringer for Commander Cain on Kirk's ship, but she's clearly alien. If you're both from another universe like the crew of the Defiant, that man could be anyone.
"He's your son Admiral, like I said, my ship travels through time." Lore said testily. "In my native timeline I was a federation officer just like Kirk here." He nodded his head, "We were at war with a race known as the Klingons and we were losing. I was assigned to a long-range scout ship named Voyager that took refuge in a region of space known as the Badlands when the bulk of the federation fell. A malevolent entity decided to abduct us in it's search for a mate, so I was forced to kill it. Do you think my crew was particularly grateful to me for saving their lives? No. They deactivated me. Several years later I was reactivated when they were in the midst of what they called their 'year of hell'. They were trying to make their way back to Federation space from the Delta quadrant and had encountered a race called the Krenim that was hunting them." He paused. "I suppose with two thirds of his crew dead, Chakotay was feeling more forgiving. I figured out that the ship that had been attacking them was only able to do so because of its temporal displacement. I managed to beam myself aboard before they destroyed Voyager, And once I did, well, the Krenim on board were no match for me. It didn't take me long to realize what I had here. This fool Anorax had been running around for centuries trying to restore a timeline he'd lost when he pushed a planet full of his enemies out of the timeline."
"You mean to tell me, he destroyed an entire planet?" Adama asked, his eyes narrowed, Kirk's gaze was fixed on the screen, where before the man had been in constant motion around his bridge.
"No, I mean to tell you that planet was removed from existence." Lore said irritably, "never was, never will be, nothing to destroy, not even a memory." He leaned forward. "Do you even begin to grasp what we are talking about yet Admiral? The power at my command? I could have wiped your ridiculous species from existence, if I wanted to. All I had to do is push that troublesome little ball of mud you call Earth out of the timeline."
Adama lifted his chin. Lore waved a hand dismissively.
"Oh don't even with your sacred scrolls, Admiral you didn't evolve on Kobol. You came from Earth well before what you called the 13th tribe chose to return there, and that's the only reason I haven't wiped out Earth, you see I have a nice little operation here, with Cylon Empire. I wipe out Earth, I wipe out you, I wipe out humanity…" he paused and then said "But I wipe out my empire. I annihilated what I thought was a simple comet a magaanamum ago, and the damn thing was not only hiding a God like being, but was a part of a very old planet. That simple miscalculation created the timeline you know today." He drilled his fingers on his throne. "Whoops." He looked up. "You get that Captain? No federation, no vulcans, no Andorians, no Klingons. If I leave this ship, it's entirely possible I'll just pop out of existence." He snapped his fingers. "So that's what I'm after, Captain. I need a way to undo that change. That's why I am here."
"You want to destroy Kobol?" Adama demanded. "Is that your plan?"
"I would want to erase Kobol," Lore corrected him balefully, "but no, that's not my plan, blockhead. I just told you I like the Cylons, I want them to stay. How do they stay if I erase the world where they were born, I want to destroy the wormhole."
"What good will that do you?" Kirk asked dumbfounded.
"It will do me lots of good, and it'll do some for you too." Lore told him, "it will get those aliens hiding out in there to stop futzing with the timeline" The Android was annoyed, "All this has happened before, all this will happen again? All that bullshit? Those meatheads created a time loop that prevents humanity from going back in time to join the progenitors. I can't undue the damage I did because those morons don't want me to. It wasn't until the crew of the Defiant exposed them that I realized my life was being sabotaged."
"Destroying a wormhole won't bring back the Klingons, it won't set you free." Kirk told Lore.
"Oh what do you know, you poo throwing ape." Lore said sullenly, Kirk blinked, "You earn a degree in temporal mechanics in your timeline Kirk? Why don't you try ripping your shirt, maybe that will fix it."
"Excuse me?" Kirk said
"You're an anachronism." Lore told him with frustration. "You're nothing more than that one complication that shows up to foil my plan. Listen. Adama." He said again, "You kill this knucklehead, you blow up his ship with your old timey nukes and your pew pew fighters like I know you want to, and I will give humanity peace with the Cylon Empire, for all time. This fellow," he pulled Zac back onto the screen, "is from one of the earliest versions of this reality, he IS your son, snatched from a moment before those stupid wormhole animals meddled with the timeline. He wasn't supposed to die at all, they literally killed him to alter the course of their chosen ones, for the time loop they want to preserve. Exhibit B." He grabbed a woman by the hair and she stumbled over with a cry of pain.
"Starbuck!" Adama shouted, "what the frack!"
"She's a different variation of the one you knew." Lore told Adama, his android strength holding the struggling woman easily, "I went collecting. I found her and she told quite a tail." He looked at the red faced Starbuck tears beginning to stream down her face as she struggled. "Ah.. well actually.. I'll tell it. You clean all that up." He releases her. "You see in her timeline, your colonies weren't saved by the Defiant. They were deliberately wiped out by these so called 'Seraphim'. You provoked the Cylons with your mission on the Valkyrie. They egg the Cylons into reacting. They arrange for your defenses to fail and then they manipulate the pitiful survivors of your race to travel halfway across the galaxy just to make a last minute jump through a wormhole to breed with the forerunners of your race." Lore looked expectantly and Adama and Kirk, "and you want to say I'm the bad guy here? You want to make it with a cave man Adama, is that the future you want?"
'You're talking nonsense." Adama replied. He looked at Anders, Sam shook his head. "Kirk, this machine is wasting our time. Do you have a target I can shoot at?"
"I'm afraid he's cloaked." Kirk replied, Adama didn't let him finish.
"I've got people on the ground who need my help. Whatever techno wizardry this android can manage, it's only because we still have active transmitters. I'm going to give the order to cut those lines and if he wants to talk to me via laser, he can park his ass in front of my guns to do it."
"I think you're forgetting a few things Admiral."
"You try to beam anything at us and we'll see you coming." Adama challenged, "Kirk I presume, will take care of the rest."
"Perhaps," Lore allowed, "and yet there is the small matter of the Cyon fleet I have on its way."
"Let them come." Adama roared. His XO had hurried over to begin placing a number of new models. "You're time is up, Robot. We've got some allies of our own, or have you forgotten. You have your fleet meet us here, and we'll show them what this alliance is made of."
. *. *.
"We've got contacts jumping in all around the system." Clark informed Yar and Octavia. Cy stood beside them.
"My people have arrived." He announced.
"Will it make a difference?" Yar asked, Clark waved her hand and another screen floated beside the text field from Saavik and the video feed with Lore. Over two dozen new signals had appeared including one a distance off. Yar blinked. It was massive, nearly 26 kilometers accross.
"The Colony has arrived." Cy announced proudly, "It was our agreement that the Colony would be brought to this world, and the Galactica would be retired to Earth. Our people would share both worlds, to rebuild our history together."
"Yeah but how about this fleet of this Emperor's?" Octavia asked, "We don't know how far out they are, how many they are, what they are capable of…"
"I have been able to discern some of that information." Clark replied, "several dozen ships at least, and with shields and energy weapons."
"Are they a match for Monroe?" Yar asked. Clark shook her head.
"Individually, no, but your ship cannot be in two places, to defend Kobol, you must abandon Earth."
. *. *.
"Captain." Saavik warned. Kirk turned to her, she indicated the view screen. Ostensibly he was looking at the ships arriving, but the latest text message, translated by Bellamy.
"PROBABILITY OF NEW TARGET- BATTLESTAR PEGASUS. THREAT IMMEDIATE."
"Adama." Kirk warned, "bringing a fleet in to stop his time ship in space is all well and good, but not all of your ships are in space."
Adam's eyes widened. "Launch all vipers!" He snarled, put a screen over Pegasus."
"Too late Admiral." Lore said smugly. "This has been a decidedly forgettable encounter. See you again soon."
"He cut the feed!" Castille warned.
"Sensor scan!" Kirk snapped, "Find that ship now!" Ro responded.
"Picking up thermal displacement directly over the wreck of the Pegasus."
"Captain." Saavik was entering commands even as she half turned, "The design most probably requires a shield aperture to allow weapon discharge while still protecting the crew from temporal variation."
"He knows we are up here too, he'll be transferring all the power he can spare to the shields facing us." Ro surmised, Kirk nodded.
"Stand by phasers, and photon torpedoes." Kirk ordered.
"Captain, if I may suggest." Saavik interjected, "The A.T.H.E.N.A installation has been relaying to our shuttles on the surface. An attack from below would be quite unexpected."
Kirk began to grin.
"Alright Commander, let's make this happen." He replied, "Signal Commander Marcus, to release the targs."
. *. *.
Delos heard a deafening crack of thunder and he shoved past Sylvester to see.
"Are you mad?" Sylvester cried, "It's Armageddon out there!"
Delos paused only for a moment to look at Sylvester.
"If Armageddon has come then I want to see it." He said forcefully.
He stepped warily out of the airlock on the wreck of the Battlestar Pegasus. Wind was swirling fiercely, waves on the lake were whipping up over even the edge of the downed warship, and the air was charged. The clouds above were churning and lightning suddenly connected between the rearmost engine, a distance away and high above of the airlock, and… something… high in the sky above.
"God damn!" He said, his words all but lost in the maelstrom. Some how despite it all he heard water crash behind him and he whirled. He caught sight of first one, then a second shuttle erupt from the water, and then at a growing whine he saw in the distance a dozen flying wings emerge from the distant cliff side.
"God Damn!" He shouted again, grabbing his hat as it tried to blow off, and waving it, "Have at 'em boys!"
.*.*.
"Heghlu'meH QaQ jajvam"
Mogh roared ferociously as Maltz worked at his controls. Shaw held onto the back of Mogh's chair, the shuttle behind her packed with survivors from the Pegasus. "Today is a good day to die!"
"The frack it is, this boat's loaded with wounded soldiers!" Kendra reminded them. "It's a shuttle craft, not a viper!"
"The bulk of your forces cannot arrive in time." Mogh told her, "We are all that stand between them and wiping your ship from existence."
"Copernicus to Galileo." Commander Marcus' voice interrupted. "We're first strike, but remember your cargo, we aren't an assault force."
"I have isolated the manner of their cloak." Maltz replied, "A clever deaign, but not meant for atmosphere."
"Send me the data." Marcus ordered, "Are their shields intact?"
"It would appear so." Maltz told her, "but as we suspected we can depolarize them by adjusting phasers as Commander Saavik suggested. The craft that join us, can then aid us."
"Ensign Reyes relayed instructions to configure our torpedoes tool." Marcus replied, "just don't miss, we've only got two each. We'll fire in volleys on my command. I'm sending configuration now, ready phasers." Maltz noted the information being recieved and began to adjust the torpedo settings. "Waverider, do you copy."
"We copy Copernicus, we close, we strike." Came the Raider's reply, "our brethren come from the skies."
"Configuration complete " Maltz announced. "Torpedoes ready to fire."
"Then let fire streak the heavens!" Roared Mogh. "Battle has begun!"
"Firing first volley, all craft weapons free, fire time on target." Marcus ordered. The two shuttles, still angled nearly. vertical fired into the raging sky, and with a pair of sparking ripples, the ship above was revealed. As they closed, phaser bolts shot up at the ship, joined by a dozen missiles. The ship above rippled in and out of being. The view screen darkened as at least two of the missiles exploded with what.must have been nuclear ordinance. The shuttle rocked violently.
"Shields at sixty percent." Mogh roared.
"Reading disruption in their forward shields." Marcus advised over the comm, "But their main weapon is powering up, prepare to fire again!"
"Commander." Maltz said, "The more power they draw for their weapon, the weaker their shields will be!"
"We're getting a bit close!" Shaw warned, the ship above, wreathed in the fire of missiles.
"Volley two, then break break break!" Samantha shouted. Again, both shuttle craft launched their torpedos both just over a meter long, and again they flared against the flickering shields above. Kinetic weapons fire began pelting against the surface of the ship itself. "Phasers fire, try to knock out emitters!"
Kendra wanted to throw up as Maltz navigated his orders, and the chaos by rolling the shuttle as it turned, corkscrewing towards the ship above as Maltz poured fire into it, and than flipping the shuttle end over so that it fell away from the ship, nose still pointed at it.
He could see the ship was oriented downward with a large energy projector pointed at the wreck below. Maltz could only watch as the shuttle fired for all it was worth.
Marcus had broken off earlier with a more traditional bank, but their attack was suddenly joined by a wave of missiles and at least three raiders, their wings torn evidently in attacks the days before slammed themselves into the suddenly naked hull.
"Shields fluctuating, it's not enou-" Commander Marcus broke off and Mogh roared "By Kahless!!"
The sky had flashed high above Lore's ship and the Battlestar Vesta had appeared. Plummetting downwards, it's main guns roared pounding into the ship from above.
"Fracking Admiral Fracking William Fracking Adama!" Kendra exploded, pounding Mogh's back in excitement, "What did you Fracking say about our people not getting here in fracking time?He's jumped a whole Battletar into atmo!"
Mogh glanced at Maltz bemused.
"She has the heart of a warrior." Maltz said, "But we will have to teach her some Klingon words to use as well as this 'frack'".
Kendra stared at the Klingon and then shouted "Admiral Fracking Adama!"
Behind her the warriors hanging on for dear life, let out a cheer, and Mogh beared his teeth.
"Glory to this Adama!" He roared.
"That's fracking right, you mother fracker!" Kendra shouted caught up in it, "No one fracks with the Admiral!"
As the shields of the ship before them rocked with with explosions the silhouette of the ship was revealed. Mogh could see energy crackling along the damages emitter array and the hull crumpled and broken in places. Two of the prongs had sheared off and a missile had found it's way near the heart of the emitter. Before his eyes, the very shape of the vessel itself wavered momentarily. The prongs seemed to be restored.
"What the hell?" Marcus demanded, "We detected a massive power surge- he did something, must have somehow reset his own timeline and the damage we did."
"We do not have any more missiles." Maltz reported.
Suddenly from an oblique angle, the stabbing fingers of God buried themselves as bolts of fire into the side of the Emperor's ship, it's shields flaring mightily as the Monroe was heard. She screamed towards them, coming down over the mountains, shields flaring dangerously dissipating the heat of atmospheric entry at impulse power. A trio of golden balls tore across the sky exploding mightily, and the same disruptive discharges began rippling accross the entire surface. The Battlestar above, screamed downwards falling like the sword of damocles, growing ominously larger, guns still thundering suddenly score impacts on the hull above. Mogh realized the Emperor's ship was suddenly much closer to them, knocked down by kinetic impact. The emitter that had faced down before, now turned abruptly towards them and Mogh yanked the shuttle sideways as the vessel thundered past them seeking escape from the falling Battlestar, and the vengeful starship. It barrelled forward and away, still taking fire from the Monroe.
The Emperor's ship suddenly elongating as it performed what Mogh knew to be a highly dangerous, and desperate warp maneuver, in a planetary atmosphere. Even more dangerously, the massive Battletar bore down on them, now just over a mile from the ground below, and almost within it's own length of a disasterous crash. The Monroe swooped beneath, evading a collision but skimming dangerously close to the wreck below, before continuing on it's trajectory. Far below, the diminutive dot of Delos was thrown flat by the displacement, and as he grabbed a handhold to rise, it was this that saved him from what came next.
With a great flare of light, the Battlestar Vesta vanished, and the air aound them swirled chaotically. The Vesta's suddenly departure created a great rush of air to fill the space it left behind and Delos held on for dear life, nearly sucked into the vortex.
"Flee from us you cowards!" Mogh roared as the men and women behind him mustered a ragged cheer. "Never have I seen courage like this Admiral Adama's and even your wounded show the courage of your gods, such valor can never be erased by cowardice!"
"Motherfrackers better run fast and they'd better run far." She answered with steel in her eyes. "We've got a lot of good shipmates to avenge."
"Yet allies you have." Waverider declared over the comms, "We will fly with you Klingons, and Colonial Warriors, and our fire will light the heavens!"
"Kirk to air group, you did a hell of a job." Monroe announced. "Proceed to the tomb of A.T.H.E.N.A. We are setting up a field transport relay and a medical triage center for survivors of the Pegasus. Our skies are filled with allies, let's get those people out of there."
. *. *.
"Wouldn't recommend trying to do that again." Sam commented dropping a half dozen model ships back on the situation table haphazardly. He didn't know where they would be placed, and it didn't matter now that DRADIS was functioning again. Adama checked a binder handed to him by a lieutenant and entered a command code into the panel on his side of the table.
"The Federation guaranteed our systems were secure against the Cylons before they left, Lieutenant." He told the man, "Apparently that doesn't include Emperor Lore. I want every command entered, and every line of code reviewed manually before we connect our internal systems to the external com array. No wireless transmissions, am I clear?"
"Yes sir." The man nodded. Adama turned to Sam.
"In an initial tactical encounter, it's important to show your opponent just how far your willing to go." He told Anders. "This Emperor has a lot of cards, but we need him to think twice before taking us on again. Hopefully Commander Cronus is doing the same for him in the Sol system."
"Are we proceeding to reinforce them?" Sam asked. Adama nodded.
"The Cylons have agreed to send eight base stars ahead, the Vesta will remain here for another day, to oversee the recovery of the Pegasus crew, and then we will initiate the new long range jump protocols."
"What about Monroe?" Sam asked, "She's about small enough to fit in the jump radius of a base star, and if Lore's on his way there, we're gonna need them."
"Kirk will offer to help us." Adama predicted, "The library records we have of him say he was born on Earth, in his universe, anyway. He'll want to go back, same as the crew of the Defiant, and unless he figures out O'Brien's little trick, we're his ride."
"So you consider him an ally then." Anders pressed. Adama thought for a moment.
"Yes." He decided. "His maneuvers were just as risky as ours, and near as we can tell, he really was here trying to help our people. He's an ally, but that crew of his, they aren't starfleet. Not all of them anyway. Something doesn't add up. We need to figure out what that is before we can trust him to fight for us." Another crewman approached with a clipboard. Adama scanned it, then flipped a page, then another. He looked up.
"Snipes got us a punch sheet." He told Sam, "No permanent damage though, nothing a coat of paint and some elbow grease can't fix."
"You dropped a battle star out of the sky, pounded the enemy into retreat and jumped back into orbit inside the minimum safe jump window." Sam whistled, "This is one tough bird, Admiral." Adama nodded.
"But Lore didn't have a chance to fire back." Adama noted, "and he was in and out of our systems at will. There's no telling what kind of damage he could have done, if he'd cared enough to." He looked at the model of the Monroe, Sam followed his gaze.
"You think there's someone over there that can help us?" Sam asked.
"Maybe." Adama said, "If we can trust them."
.*.*.
" I got everyone I could off the Emperor's ship, before they left Captain, just like you ordered.." Lee Sizemore said as Kirk met him at the transporter room door, he held a phaser and Ro was beside him, "Mr. Blake took the first group to sickbay, sir, some of them wore Starfleet uniforms, and.. they weren't treated well. After I materialized the next group from the buffer, they weren't as.. cooperative, Fredericks said to just fall back and…"
"We'll handle it from here Mr. Sizemore, you have one more group in the buffer?" Kirk asked, Lee nodded. "They should hold in there for a few hours but if someone damages the equipment-"
Kirk gestured with his phaser to Ro. Lee entered the door override and they parted. The room was full of shouting and struggling figures. Fredericks, from behind the transporter console glanced briefly at them then swung his head back to where his phaser was pointing. Kirk recognized the woman who had called herself Cain break free from the man holding her and lunge at Fredericks, who hesitated. Kirk didn't. He stunned her. Another man surged forward and Ro stunned him.
"That's enough!" Kirk roared. The room quieted. "Now I don't know what the hell you've all just been through, I can only imagine, but right now, we need to clear this pad and get more people to safety." He heard running feet and found Bellamy behind him, with two of the other crewman he recognized as Hale and Grace phasers at the ready. He turned to Fredericks. "Ensign?" He asked. The man had a blossoming shiner and his uniform jacket was torn, but he nodded.
"All good sir." He said. Kirk nodded back.
"Good man." Kirk said approvingly, he turned to the others.
"We sent Emperor Lore, and his time ship packing." He told them. "I Don't know how much you know about where you were and how you got there but I'm sorry to say, you're stuck with us for the time being." He looked at them, some scared, some angry, some wary." We're all adrift in our own way, cut off from home coming from the people we love and we don't know how to get back. We have to work together. We start by tending your wounds, we'll get you something to eat, somewhere to lie down, you aren't prisoners any more, but we've a long road ahead and much work to do. There are others, more injured than you, that need us now." He looked down at the two stunned individuals. He looked up at the crowd, "You two, and you two, let's get them to Sickbay, it's just down the hall." They began moving. Blake nodded to Grace, Frederics and Hale who followed them. Kirk turned to Do and Blake
"I want La'as, Yar, Delos and your sister back up here now, use transporter room three on deck nine." He told Ro. Mr. Blake, I want two guards in Sickbay for the time being. You and I will escort the last prisoners ourselves. We need to know what Lore has been doing to them, and who they are, but we've got to coordinate the recovery of the Pegasus survivors too." Blake nodded.
"Captain." Sizemore said, he still seemed flushed, "that matter I approached you about a few days ago, this would be the ideal time, sir."
"Mr. Sizemore." Kirk told the man, "were I in your place, I'm sure I'd like to adjust my capabilities too, faster, stronger, smarter, and I agree that having you and your friends with those abilities might help us greatly, but my orders stand. Full lockouts on any equipment that can alter your capabilities," he grabbed the man's shoulders gently, moving closer," and if I catch even a hint that you might be trying, you'll find yourself on a pleasant but very lonely island, on the planet below." He squeezed the man's shoulder gently. "You don't know all of your fellow hosts. We barely survived one killer android today, we can't afford to unleash another."
The transporter room was clear, and Kirk stood beside Sizemore, phaser ready, Blake on his other side.
"Alright gentleman, let's greet our new guests, phazwrs6 on stun, but remember, they've been through an ordeal." His voice trailed off as the figures began to materialize Kirk squinted and then stared. He adjusted his phaser.
A red haired woman spoke.
"Captain Kirk!" She said surprised "Sir I might have known you'd-" Kirk fired and a man with dark hair fell. Eyes widened and the man behind him hurled himself forward, and was stunned as well. Kirk searched the faces before him, many of whom were raising their hands.
"Captain what…" Bellamy was confused.
"Are any more of his people with you?" Kirk demanded of the woman, slowly she shook her head.
"What the bloody hell was that?" Sizemore demanded, "you just said we have to be gentle with these people and you.." Kirk let out a breath, and Sizemore faltered. Octavia, Yar and Delos arrived. William looked at the seen and slowly drew his phaser.
"Finally doing things the right, Captain?" He drawled as the others drew their phasers. Kirk let out another breath and looked at the woman.
"I'm sorry Lieutenant." He said. Slowly she nodded.
"I understand sir I.. I understand
" She said quietly. "It may even have been the right thing to do, sir, but he won't be happy." Kirk nodded. To his surprise, Saavik entered the transporter room, phaser drawn. She looked at Kirk appraisingly, and oddly enough, almost protectively.
"The rest of you please follow Ms. Blake to Sickbay." He said slowly, "We'll see that your injuries are treated and your fed…" he waved them away as he stared at the man on the floor. He looked at Yar. Saavik nodded to the woman and then, holstering her phaser, stooped by the dark haired man to check his vitals.
"Lieutenant, you know who this is?" She nodded.
"I recognize him from historical tapes sir." She looked appraisingly, "He's younger than your last encounter, he must be from earlier in the timeline" Kirk nodded and then said,
"Prepare a site to site transport to the brig, full security measures. Decompress the entire deck, and the ones above and below. Turbolift doors and physical access will be physically sealed, and obviously full security lockouts on those decks." She nodded i know we are short handed but I want a full detail at all times, I'm not even sure it's a good idea to keep him on this ship." He sighed. He looked up at the woman. "You'll have to accompany him Lieutenant." She nodded reluctantly.
He considered her for a moment and she said "it's still better than there, sir, and I think he will understand, in time, it's just.." she looked down at him, "when he wakes up, he will be angry."
"Stand by for transport." Yar warned, the woman readied herself and moments later, she and the two men were transported away."
"Sir they are in the brig, but I'd better get down there. William?" Delos looked at Kirk and then Yar and nodded. They left, and Bellamy could cotain himself no longer.
Kirk turned to Sizemore.
"I want you to prepare a full report on your proposal and have it for Commander Saavik as soon as possible. I will consider an option with limits included with regard to duration, and if necessary, deactivation, but you may be right, we may need to keep all options on the table." He turned to Saavik.
"I will stay to supervise, Captain. Commander Marcus stands watch on the bridge." Saavik said, "I will brief our Klingon friends, and La'as as well. Their physical strength and combat experience would prove useful in security rotation" Kirk nodded slowly.
"I'll check in on Sickbay, and then I'll be on the bridge." He decided.
"Captain." Saavik said gently, "You have been on duty for over 18 hours, first leading away teams, and then in combat. You will need rest soon, and as it is still possible that Emperor Lore will return with his fleet, you may not know when you may next have the time."
"Duly noted." Kirk said somewhat too stiffly. "Thank you Saavik." He amended, "I'll consider it." He left. Bellamy could wait no more.
"Commander, with all due respect why the precautions, who is that man?" She looked at Blake, then Sizemore, then at the spot on the floor where the man had lay.
"Khan." She said, at last, "His name is Khan."