Two Vereleus class Warbirds and the Pretoria flew side by side, at Warp 9.75. The trio passed the Orion border, 2 hours ago.

Rakurai Stryker - Main Bridge

Red lights flashed off the ceiling.

Four decks below the bridge, Tactical Cartography was a hive of activity. Nine Starfleet officers were joined by Seven Romulans as the hunt for Angel continued into its 16th hour. The bridge received a feed in Real Time of their analysis. The Pretoria tactical officer, Belldandy was linked up with her Romulan counterparts with orders to fire at will.

On the viewscreen was a map of the sector, noting planets, spacial anomolies, and known borders of the different Orion Syndicates. Three White triangles moved silently across the viewscreen, searching.

Suddenly one of triangles turned red. Captain Stryker got up from his seat, hiding a sly grin. Here kitty, kitty, kitty !

-/\-

Main Bridge - USS Pretoria

Kretak stood at the science panel onboard the bridge of the USS Pretoria and the red light flashed above him. He watched the Captain and was debating if he should bring up the subject in his mind.

The Romulans building an android. I never knew they advanced that far, but they still cannot be trusted. Kretak thought. he looked down at the panel and then decided to speak.

"Captain, I wish to warn you about the Romulans." Kretak said.

Styker turned in his chair to face the Gorn and waited expectantly.

Kretak took a breath and started. "The Romulan Star Empire and the Gorn Confederation have been fighting for years and we have learned much about their thought process. We have discovered that 90 of the things the Romulans say are lies or half-truths. The Romulans NEVER tell ALL the truth, Sir."

-/\-

Angel

Angel had the Admiral beamed down to her fortress location on Indri 3. Without unnecessary delay, she had him hooked up to an old Romulan brain scrubbing device.
"I have no time for interrogations, refusals, torture, more refusals, more torture, blah blah blah. So, I've decided on a more technical approach. Yes, this will be absolutely excruciating for you, dear," said Angel. "The good news is, I only want certain information about your time with Commander Data, so your mind should be relatively functional at the end. Won't that be nice?"
Angel nodded to her people to hook Harkness up to the machine, and directed them to proceed. She left the chamber then, and went to check on other projects.

She considered herself superior to Data in almost every way. While he was built as a curiosity, she was built as a weapon. Technically, she was better. Certainly, she thought she had the looks.
However, the Romulans lacked a certain finesse when it came to technical design. Although she didn't consider herself 'related' to the captured mind-scrubbing machine, it was sort of true. Eventually, without upgrades, she would be obsolete over time. And, if the Tal Shiar ever made it a priority to find and destroy her, they would eventually succeed.

But with information about Data's longevity codes and positronic self initiated upgrade system, Angel could have that final piece of the puzzle that would let her live forever.
After all. What fun would the Galaxy be without her around?

There were other matters too. Angel was in the process of driving out almost all the Orion syndicates. The Kavak clan had to go, but she decided she might as well do away with all of them. Then, the Ferengi. And in time, her own small empire would grow, and become a major threat to the Galaxy. IT would take time, but she had time.

And, she had several (what she considered) brilliant plans. Currently, she had been staring work on several sneaky and very deadly plagues that would be released on Federation, Klingon, and Romulan worlds. It would kills billions of organic life. Oh, they'd probably find a cure, but the damage would be done. Angel could even work it to blame other Galactic governments and hopefully start a war. That would be lovely!

Then there was the planetary core bomb. Angel had a scientific curiosity to see what it would be like to obliterate and entire planet. To that end, she created a massive antimatter bomb that could in theory be beamed into a planet's core and detonated, causing mass chaos and eventual destruction. It required a powerful transporter, and she still had several bugs to work out.

Then there was the trilithium bomb that would destroy a star. Crude, but effective.

As Angel walked to the special projects lab, she downloaded current reports on her fleet development. She had tasked her best teams with capturing starships and brining them to her base.

Cain ran up to her as she walked. "Um, Angel, a word please?"
She sighed and looked over to him. He said, "That mind device thing is an antique. From what I gathered, it was only marginally successful even when it was new. If Harkness is in there too long it could kill him."
"Maybe. I'll just get a new Admiral."
"Angel," warned Cain, "This is serious. We went to a lot of work getting this man. I just think we should proceed more cautiously."
"Cain, the Galaxy belongs to the bold!" she said with a grin. "He'll be fine."
"The device was used more for torture than for getting information," said Cain.
Angel said, "Hmm. Tell you what. If we go back there and we have no information and his brain is goo, I owe you a Coke.

-/\-

9 hours later
Glen was semi-coherent. Someone stuck a hypospray in his neck. Stuck in an altered state, he was vaguely aware of being moved from one room to another. He then started quivering uncontrollably.

One of the senior medical techs noticed, her tricorder told her, his blood pressure was plummeting, "He's in shock. That idiot Nemaik overdosed the Admiral. Redirect to the infirmary. High priority."

5 hours later (present time)
Glen's first sensations were of a cold, numb, nerveless lump of meat that he somehow knew to be his body. Light shone on him, very strong, but he couldn't even squeeze his eyes more tightly closed, let alone move an arm to shield them.

Indeterminable time passed. Shadows moved across the light from time to time.

Then came the pins and needles, merely uncomfortable at first, but they quickly grew in strength all over his body until it was closer to pain. The prickling of Glen's skin surged, becoming like splinters all over his body.

Instinct would have had him rolling, massaging the blood starved tissues, forcing some sensation upon them beyond the sharp waves. At the least, he would have gasped or groaned, but Glen couldn't do any of it. He could feel himself breathing, but could not control it, could not make any sound.

Then the pins and needles started fading, but not nearly fast enough. He opened his eyes, but the light was too bright and they closed again involuntarily. He become aware of something holding his head and neck securely, leaving him staring at the brown ceiling and six high power lights.

His body strength regained, he fought against the restraints with all his strength. He realized he was on a table with devices of some kind on his temples. "What are you doing ?" he shouted.

"Finally." someone muttered. "I am glad you are awake."

"I prefer my patients to be awake for the procedure." said the voice. A Romulan male walked over and looked Glen in the eyes, "You might call what I am going to do, a mind probe."

"But I prefer to call it by another . . . more descriptive term." Nei explained as he activated the device.

An enormous bellow of pain escaped from Glen. He tried to arch his spine, his head slumped back. His eyes were wide from the burning pain in his mind, it felt like every pain nerve lit up. He tried to catch a breath and swallowed hard as his eyes glazed over. "Living hell." Nei said with a smile.

Angel nodded at Nei. "Stop toying with him." Cain told Nei, "Throw the switch! Admiral. Quit while you're... oh, never mind."

Nei shambled up to the pillar and lowered a switch in its base. Nei pressed on his control panel, making a larger panel behind it light up with blinking, flashing squares of colour.

Glen screamed. A line of ones and zeroes replaced the first column of flashing squares on Cain's station. The top number is 89. On the top row, a red square flashed green. Glen screamed more, and closed his eyes as if trying to resist.

Three digits are decoded on the second column, then they stopped. Angel nodded at Cain, then looked back at Glen. Cain pressed a blue button. The electricity stopped. Moaning, Glen's head sank slightly.

"Come now, Glen. Spare yourself the pain." Angel mused.

He whispering weakly, "I-I will fight you to the last."

"Fight all you want, you old fool." Angel laughed softly. "You're merely delaying the inevitable."

Angel nodded at Cain again. Cain pressed a red button. Glen screamed louder this time. Then his cries were weakening.

"Phase one is complete, mistress!" Nei said happily.

Glen was crying out again as electricity from the probes shocked him. Ones and zeroes appeared on the first column of the right side of the display from bottom to top, adding up to the number 68, and the light at the top flashed green.

Angel looked at Glen's head, which is not being electrified for the moment. Glen said weakly, "You...will... never... win..."

A square of numbers and information scrolled on the lab's monitors. Memories.
Design specs of the Excelsior and Ambassador class. Several Prototypes considered in the 2350s.

Another memory. Admiral Glen Harkness was giving a presention, "Soong created a total of seven androids, although only the last four had fully functional positionic brains. The first six Soong-type androids were built as images of Dr. Soong, albeit with pale skin and yellow eyes. No other individual since has been able to replicate Soong's accomplishment."

Angel was pleased with the information and ordered that the mind probe's output level be adjusted to maximum power. Glen's body and face painfully contorted. His mouth was open wide, and an endless scream emerged, filling the room with the sounds of his suffering. After a minute of torment, he fainted, mercifully blinded from the pain as his nerves become numb from the sensory overload.

-/\-

Main Bridge - USS Pretoria

"Captain, I wish to warn you about the Romulans." Kretak said.

Styker turned in his chair to face the Gorn and waited expectantly.

Kretak took a breath and started. "The Romulan Star Empire and the Gorn Confederation have been fighting for years and we have learned much about their thought process. We have discovered that 90 of the things the Romulans say are lies or half-truths. The Romulans NEVER tell ALL the truth, Sir."

That caused Captain Stryker to have a flashback.

USS Aurora headed towards Federation space at warp seven. The Akira class, USS Thunderchild due rendezvous with the Aurora in about 45 minutes just in case of Ferengi marauder vessel manages to pursue.

Cadet Stryker refused to go to sickbay, even though his face was badly beaten and injuries to his back from a 7 meter fall onto a metal catwalk. Commander Ciro Ramirez looked at the stubborn cadet and smiled as Stryker entered the bridge. Counselor Fumie arrived on the same turbolift car and took his seat next to the captain.

Stryker barely managed to sit at his workstation when tactical and helm consoles warned them of an error. The mysterious malfunction may present a danger to the crew, causing the computer to activate yellow alert. "What is going on ?"

The bridge personnel exchanged confused glances with each other. She tapped her combadge, "Bridge to engineering, what the hell is going on ?" Captain Marjean Holden demanded.

The Bajoran Chief Engineer was panicking, "Everything is operating as it should captain. No, WAIT !"

The bridge crew collectively held their breaths, waiting in suspense. Shaedal Tierney was getting a bad feeling about this. "Subspace density is increasing, highly localized."

The ship shook. "What was that ?" Holden and Ramirez asked simultaneously.

"It might be a tractor beam of some kind sir." Perl announced.

The helm console beeped, three icons representing danger appeared. "Captain, we are losing speed," Stryker informed his commanding officer. "The warp core is overheating. Two thousand degrees Celcius over the norm and rising."

"Battlestations !" she ordered. The red alert klaxon wailed three times. "Drop to impulse."

Stryker dropped the Aurora to sublight speed, one half impulse as per standard procedure. Various console around the bridge suddenly started beeping, warning of a threat. A second later, Lieutenant Throm's eyes grew wide in shock. "Warbird decloaking, directly astern. They are charging weapons !"

Holden cursed, "Merde !"

Cadet Stryker's body released an incredible amount of adrenaline as he looked at the ship on sensors. Barely eighty meters away, "They are practically sitting on our hull." he said outloud.

The reverse angle on the viewscreen was filled with a close-up image of a Romulan Warbird. Under different circumstances Stryker loved looking at the majestic dark green hull and its graceful shape, but right now he was staring in disbelief at the green light emanating from its massive nose-mounted disruptor cannon. And rightfully, frightened.

He remembered his tactical teacher at Starfleet Academy, Commander Key's exact words, "Romulan vessels have descent, well-built hulls and strong shields. Their ships rely upon stealth, the element of surprise attack and the ability to cripple or destroy nearly any unlucky opponent on the first strike."

"Ship to ship." Ciro barked.

"Hailing freqencies open sir." Ensign Newkirk replied from OPS.

"Captain Marjean Holden to Romulan vessel."

The ship rocked once, hit by a short burst of disruptor fire. "Transfer phaser power to the shields. Helm, evasives."

"Aye sir." the ensign and cadet echoed.

With fear in his voice, Lt. Throm called out, "Sir, two type-B warbirds decloaking directly port and starboard, triangulating on our position."

"They are trying to run us down." Ciro said to the captain.

"Cease fire, we are not your enemy." Holden pleaded via the subspace com-link.

"No response sir."

"Ensign Perl, send a priority one distress signal."

"Aye aye."

Another direct hit. And another. Stryker wouldn't keep the ship out of harm's way. It is simply impossible for an Excelsior class ship to engage and defeat one Romulan cruiser. No single Federation starship in existence stands a chance against three Warbirds. Going to warp was not the best possible idea as their opponents can effortlessly outperform the aging Federation vessel.

"Captain !" Throm bellowed. "Four torpedoes from opposite directions. We'll be caught in the crossfire !"

"Auxiliary power to shields." Ciro ordered. He then tapped his combadge twice to activate ship-wide. "Attention all hands. Damage control teams stand ready. Brace for impact !"

Sparks flew from the back wall of the bridge, the EPS conduit exploded. Throm flew backwards from the blow, and slammed into the back of the counselor's chair. The force of his velocity caused the chair to snap, and it toppled to the ground with Luitenant Fumie in it. The Diasoman and Bajoran was down for the count. Purple blood flowing a hairline fracture, covered Throm's fine golden feathery head crest.

Perl manually activated the fire suppression system. Ensign Enig Bardley rerouted the tactical station's functions to OPS. Ciro tapped his combadge, "Bridge to any transporter room. Medical emergency on the bridge! Two casualties !"

Throm was coming around, but he was having some trouble breathing, the back of his uniform was burnt. "No response from our hails sir." Newkirk reported. Throm and Fumie dematerialized in transporter haze.

The deck shook, "Shields at 46 "

"Long range comminications is down." Ensign Perl reported from her engineering console.

The deck shook again. Lieutenant Xanatos jumped out of the way when a light fixture fell from the roof, the smell of burning isolinear wire was everywhere and smoke started filling the bridge. "Shields at 30 , moderate damage to secondary hull, casualties on all decks." Bardley reported.

The ship rocked again tossing anyone around. Bardley's tactical display fizzed and popped. He wasn't in the mood for this. He gave the display a sharp thump with a balled fist. It whined in protest, then cleared. "Better," he muttered. Stryker chuckled softly to himself.

The lights flickered uncertainly for a moment, but held. Stryker realized life support must be damaged as the tempature on the bridge suddenly increased. "Sir, fire suppression is not responding." Perl reported.

"Aft shields are offline." Bardley announced, moments before two torpedoes struck the port side of the engine room and a several bulkheads blew out. The deck shook terribily, followed by a horrible explosion from the lower decks.

On every other deck of the ship, in a chain reaction, conduits ruptured, and people went flying all over the place. The entire bridge crew was thrown forward and many concussions resulted from the impacts. Everyone returned to their posts immediatly.

"What was that ?" The captain voice was surprisingly fierce to Stryker's ears and he flinched.

The Aurora was now visibly wounded, green disruptor bolts burrowing deep into her hull, leaving vicious scars on the surface. The bridge's lights went out.

A chirping voice was heard on the bridge, "Emergency power engaged." the monotone of the female Computer voice announced as pale yellow lights activated.

Stryker tapped his readout screens, which flickered erratically in the drab emergency lighting. Almost every display on his console flashed an angry red, indicating critical damage across all systems. "Computer, reverse angle on the viewscreen." Ciro commanded. The viewscreen changed to a view back over the spine of the Aurora.

The remains of the starboard warp nacelle was spiraling off into space as fires and small explosions run up and down along the strut. The bridge crew shared a collective gasp of disbelief. Holden was horrified, "Oh, my God ..."

"Readings show a primary hull breach in Engineering. Forcefields are not responding." Perl said in a choked voice.

Stryker keyed in another manoeuver, his console flashed a message at him, ENGINES OFFLINE. "We lost engines," Stryker announced mournfully.

Ciro tapped his combadge, "Bridge to Engineering, Shaedal respond !"

Static played for a moment. Ciro avoided looking at the captain. "Bridge to Engineering. Any engineer, report !"

The bridge's lights flickered while debris covered the floor. Smoke was thick, the science consoles was on fire. The floor shook again as another disruptor burst impacted on the upper decks of the saucer section. "Warning! Structural Intregrity failure immanent. Decompression danger. Decompression danger." the computer voice announced, oblivious to the chaos.

Holden stood up and realized she has been defeated. For the first time ever, the first time in her 33 years as captain, defeat has been handed to her. She punched an access code into her seat's console. A ship wide announcement whistle sounded. "Attention all hands. This is the captain."

She was about to say the eight words that no commanding officer ever wants to utter. Most captains are fortunate enough to never find themselves in this sitation. But somehow, she found the strength. Speaking clearly and louder than usual, "Abandon ship. All hands to the escape pods."

Blue strip lights lit up around the bridge and on every deck, the evacation sound repeated itself every three seconds. Ciro looked at something on his private console. "Sir, we don't have enough time to evacute."

Holden nodded in despair, "Bardley, hail the Romulans again !"

"Yes sir !"

Its a long shot, but the only one available, the last desperate attempt to save 581 lives.

Holden gambled on a slim change that she can save the lives of her crew by leaving the matter up to diplomats. She steeled herself, "Captain Holden to Romulan vessels. We unconditionally surrender. I repeat, We unconditionally surrender !"

Stryker recollected his thoughts, "Thank you Ensign. Sometimes it is easy to forget."

A few seconds later, Stryker asked for an ETA.

"Ten minutes sir." was the reply.

-/\-

Main Bridge - USS Pretoria

The 2 Romulan warships and the Pretoria approached the Indri system when they were met by two Orion Salvage Cruisers, a Heavy Destroyer and 4 Light Raiders. They battled their weaker opponents and started destroying the Orion vessels, but not before the Romulan vessel, Avatar of Tomed was crippled and destroyed.

The battle was over within 12 minutes.

"Status ?" Stryker demanded.

"Shields at 40 . Minor damage to hull." Belldandy answered.

Stryker prepared for a ground assault. 8 teams of 4 security officers plus a medic.

/\ "Bridge to Sickbay. I need your best staff, 7 in total plus you. Report to Transporter Rooms 3 through 10, one medic per room. I'll meet you in transporter room 2."

"Sir !" Cadet Kira Tierney called out.

"What is it ?" Stryker asked, annoyed.

"There is a feedback loop of some kind. Transporters are not safe to use."

"Romulan tricks" Stryker snarled.

27 minutes later - Surface of Indri 3
Stryker rematerialized along with his team, flanked by 7 other teams.

They were greeted by the scent of blood, hot flesh and death. Disruptor burn marks all over the place. About 400 Romulan bodies plus another 400 or so Orions and other species. Evidence of mortars and missiles was used against the Fortress

Nearby Romulan Commander Arlieen Tayva was dying. He tried to reach out to Stryker, "Kill s----"

Doctor Karen scanned him and shook her head. Stryker noticed a purple coloured device in the Romulan Commander's hand. He took it and motioned for the teams towards the fortress. "No lifesigns other than us." Doctor Karen told Stryker.

-/\-

USS Pretoria
Sickbay, CMO's Office
The night before

Alpha shift: that graveyard stillness between night and the new day's dawn. Throughout the ship, crewmembers went about their tasks with a certain lethargy, just about all the department chiefs had gone off-duty, and most of the non-essential sections were all but deserted, perhaps manned by one crewmember with a good novel and six hours to kill.

Karen leaned back in her chair with a yawn, rubbing at tired, sore eyes. A massive pile of PADDs sat in front of her, containing all the technical data the Romulans had forwarded about their escaped android. She'd been reviewing that information for over eight hours straight now, trying to figure out where the creature's weaknesses lay - and what to expect if it ran afoul of Pretoria or her Romulan escorts.

Absorbed in her reading, she didn't hear the door chime, nor see the dark head that poked its way through the door. "It's 2330. Do you know where your girlfriend is?"

"Hmm?" she said, looking up to see Alexandra Maxwell framed in the doorway. The willowy, olive-skinned brunette was leaning against the door frame with her arms folded and a look of amused disbelief on her face. The smile that spread across Karen's features was the first real smile she'd worn all day. "Hi, Alex. What are you doing down here?"

"Actually, that's what I meant to ask you," Alex replied. "Dinner, Dot's, 1900 - any of this ringing a bell?"

"Oh, shit...! Alex, I am so sorry. I completely forgot..."

"S'okay. The computer said you were still here, so I figured you either had stuff to do or got busy with patients." Alex walked around the desk and leaned over Karen's shoulder to see what she'd been reading. "What is that you're working on, anyway? Looks like something from my department...?"

"You're partially right - it's specs for a Romulan assassin android," Karen replied. "The Romulans asked for our help in hunting it down. Turns out it escaped from a top-secret research facility, destroyed the place and killed all the staff in the process, and it's been working within the Orion organized-crime syndicates to build itself a power structure. All that mess on Risa with the dead admiral? They're pretty sure this thing was behind it."

The engineer blinked once, twice. "Holy..."

"At any rate, it does have a significant amount of organic components, so the Captain asked me to look for a way to disable it. Besides, given how intelligent this thing is supposed to be, I'm worried that it'll try to pull something nasty on us, and I want to be prepared for whatever that might be..."

"I understand, Ker, but you're not gonna solve it tonight." Alex smiled fondly at her. "C'mon, I'm taking you home."

/\

"You want a beer or anything?" Alex asked, standing in front of the replicator in the CMO's quarters.

"Orange juice, please - I'm on call. You go ahead, though."

A few moments later, Alex returned with two glasses, and they settled themselves on the couch. "You really had a day, didn't you?" she said softly, reaching over to wrap one arm around the exhausted physician.

Karen leaned into the embrace, resting her head against Alex's shoulder, feeling the tensions of the day begin to dissolve. "Did I ever."

"Is it hush-hush doctor stuff, or do you want to talk about it?"

"Most of it's just 'same garbage, different day.' The bit with the android is really bothering me, though." Karen's expression clouded over. "Suffice to say that I don't much care for the Romulans or their way of handling their affairs. There's some bad past history there... Anyway, I can't shake the feeling that there's more the Rommies aren't telling us, and that whatever they're hiding is going to come back and seriously bite our asses."

"That's understandable."

"So, other than getting stood up, how was your day?"

"Ha ha. Staff meeting this morning was a total Monday-morning quarterbacking session. We're still running overtime to finish the repairs and refits we didn't get to before we left Starbase, and people are starting to bitch about that. Couple of idiots in Stellar Cartography decided they couldn't wait for the refit team, tried to amp up their EPS tap by themselves and managed to short out power to most of the deck, which was a real treat to fix..."

Alex trailed off mid-sentence as a sound caught her attention. A few seconds later, there it was again - a slow, deep intake of air, not quite loud enough to be charitably called a snore.

Placing a gentle kiss atop the sleeping physician's head, she lay back and closed her eyes, drifting off herself moments later.

0447 hours

"Sickbay to Dr. Coleridge..."

"Wha... mmph. Yeah, 'm here. Go 'head."

"Doctor, we have a priority call from the Bridge for a combat medic team. They specifically requested to talk to you."

Oh cripes, here we go, Karen thought. "Go ahead and patch 'em through." She waited to hear the chime indicating a three-way connection before speaking again. "Hi, this is Dr. Coleridge. What do you need?"

"I need your best staff, 7 in total plus you. Report to Transporter Rooms 3 through 10, one medic per room. I'll meet you in Transporter Room 2."

"Understood, we'll be there in about ten minutes." She spoke with the desk nurse for a few minutes before closing the connection.

"You gotta go?" a sleepy voice said in her ear.

"Yeah. Go back to sleep, honey. I'll call you when we get back." Being careful not to disturb her, Karen stood up and headed for the bathroom, took a fast shower and changed into combat blacks. Grabbing her helmet and vest, her medkit slung over one shoulder, she headed out the door at a run.

-/\-

Surface of Indri III
Present time

The moment the team rematerialized on the planet's surface, Karen felt the hair on the back of her neck stand on end. It wasn't the tableau of death and destruction that bothered her; she'd seen far worse far too many times. It was the wanton manner of the destruction, the telltale signs of a being that not only was trained to kill, but reveled in it. There was a distinct feel of evil in the air, and every instinct in her body was screaming to beam away from here and leave this miniature hell far, far behind.

Instead, she calmly took out her tricorder and began scanning for survivors. None appeared. Every body she scanned was very recently dead, most of primary blast trauma or disruptor trauma to the head or torso, many shot in the back. She knelt next to one corpse and switched the tricorder into detailed scan mode. This victim's chest had been completely obliterated by the blast, but the palms of the hands and the antecubital skin surfaces were charred from residual disruptor effects, and there were no defensive wounds. He had his hands up when he was shot. These people were trying to surrender, and it killed them anyway, she thought, fighting hard to keep her stomach under control.

A few meters away, Captain Stryker waved her over to one of the bodies, which, miraculously, was still alive. "Kill s..." Commander Tayva gasped, proffering a small purple device to Stryker. A moment later, the Romulan officer coughed, choked and then lay still, staring blankly into the unknown.

The tricorder's tiny screen told the tale: asystole, respiratory arrest, the beginnings of decerebration. Game over. Drive home safely. Karen looked at Stryker, shook her head silently, and then leaned over to close the dead man's eyes.

"Sir, there's no other lifesigns here except ours," she said quietly.

-/\-

Indri III
Hidden underground complex

Liz Archer looked around in the interior of the underground complex. As she walked through the corridors, she couldn't help feeling like being inside a Borg cube, an experience she didn't want to experience again. A human male came toward her and she went along with her role-play. He walked past her and she noticed that he looked quite bitter. Tough day? Well, working with a creature like Angel I would look like you too. Her whole body stiffens when she heard his voice behind her.

"Hey you, where do you think you are going?

She turns around and looks at him like she doesn't like to be disturbed. She replies.

"Who, me?

"Yes, you! Angel doesn't wants to be disturbed. "Chain answers with an annoyed voice.

Liz looks straight up to his face and replies with a coolness in her voice.

"Look, I don't know what Angel said to you. But I have orders to deliver this to her immediately. And I attend to do my orders."

Chain looks doubtfully at the black bag that Liz had in her left hand. He inspects her for a few minutes before he says.

"You are new here? " Liz shows an irritated look.

She replies. "Not that new...Look, I really have to be going now. Unlike some people I like to do my job in time, without getting stoped and beeing questioned everytime. "

He continues. "What do you have in the bag?"

Liz sights deeply and says. "Why don't you follow me to Angel and see for yourself."She brings her other hand in a gesture and continues. "Shall we...?"

Liz starts to walk and shows openly that she doesn't care about his answer. When she hear him moving after her she smiled openly for a short moment. Like catching a fish!., she thinks to herself. The moves into the next corridor Liz leans her head back and says with a warning tone.

"I hope that you will explain to Angel the reason why I am so late. " Chain opened his mouth to answer but in stead you could hear a shriek of surprise. Mike, who had been hiding, attacked him and stunned him in a movement. Chains body fell down to the floor. Liz turns around and leans over the body.

"What took you so long?"

Mike shrugged his shoulder and said quietly. "I wanted to see you in action."

Liz gave him an angry look and said as she put a device on Cains arms.

"Didn't you see enough of action from me on Risa!"

Liz tabs her hidden COM badge.

"Bird is capture and is waiting to be set free. "

Mike had a funny expression on his face, he said. "Couldn't they have found a better password?"

Liz didn't take notice to his comment. Right a head she looked as Chain's body disappeared. Liz said.

"Let's hope that know one noticed the transport and that Karen succeed with transforming Stryker in to Chain. I don't know what you think, but this operation is a bit risky for my taste. "

Mike looks around the area as she says. "Desperate situation needs desperate measurement. " He takes another look around the area. "So, step one is complete. Let's us prepare step two as fast as we can. Time is running out. "

"You are right. Come let's get moving. " Liz whisper as they move along the corridor.

-/\-

USS Pretoria, sickbay

Karen takes a deep breath and claps her hands together.

"Considering the lack of time I think I did a good job. Here take a look!" Karen reaches for a mirror and gives it to her patient.

The man on the bio bed takes the mirror and hesitates before he takes a look. Alice takes her hand to her husbands shoulder and watches her husbands respond the change. Alice says quietly.

"I agree, you really looks like Chain. " She cast a look at the sleeping figure of Chain behind the force field on the other side of the room. She continues. "I don't understand how you did it. But you really did succeed. Stryker you look human…"

"Good job, Karen. " Stryker rises from the bed in a jump. He turns to Alice and asks.
Have you heard anything from our away team?" Alice, who still looks to be in a chock, shakes her head and says.

"Not a word from Liz Archer and Mike Anderson. But our second team is on place as decided. "

Stryker raises his eyebrows as he gets dressed in a replica Chain's clothes.

"Let's hope that they didn't get capture and are just delayed. Angel is not known to be kind to imposters."

-/\-

Bridge - USS Pretoria

Kretak stood at his science panel and his stomach had turned sick as he processed the tri-corder images from the landing party on Indri III. Even if it was his race's enemy laying on the ground as if they had been hit by a tornado, it still sickened him in the condition that they were left in.

"I hate them, but they didn't half to die that way." he thought as he started spectral readings.

Kretak finished the report and then approached Styker to hand him the PADD. "Sir, the tri-corder readings show that there was a massive fight in the area scanned. I have been able to pinpoint both Romulan Disruptors and Orion Disruptors. their's just one thing...The spectral analysis shows that there have been other weapons fired, they aren't prominent, but I there. I cannot identify the user."

-/\-

Indri III
Hidden underground complex

Stryker/Chain Stryker found himself standing in a confusing and intricate maze as thick, steel catwalks ran across to a gigantic central chimney, suspended about one hundred meters above the ground. A simple railing, barely a meter and a half high ran along the sides. A large metallic dome covering the entire complex. The rusty looking catwalk reminded Stryker of Kitsilano 12's dark, dismal service tunnels, largely unused, that run under and through the oldest and poorest parts of the cities.

Liz, Karen and Stryker walked through the corridors, phasers drawn and ready, side by side and back to back. A compact and highly effective unit. Stryker led them and Liz watched their backs.

Walking down another flight of stairs, Stryker stopped, standing in the open entrance of a small room. He felt a nervous, almost tangible energy in his gut, and it spread eagerly as he examined the room. The tiled floor was slick with some liquid spilled from broken metal coils that dangled from the high-vaulted walls and ceiling. A shredded skin of tubing sprawled across the floor, and all around them there were bits of soft multi-coloured matter.

"Watch your heads," Karen whispered as the team crept through the maze of piping in Angel's compound. Even though she was the shortest person there, she'd already had to duck a few times, and the need for caution took on added urgency with the number of pipes stamped with the "biohazard" or "hazardous chemical" symbols. "Especially you, Captain - that face was too much work for you to wreck it..."

Too late. A dull "thunk" and a muttered curse was the only reply.

"It's OK, Doctor," Liz whispered back. "He didn't break the skin."

Stryker turned around with a frown. "Enough chatter. Keep moving."

They continued moving through the complex, a trio of heavily armed shadows. Stryker, in costume as Chain, carried a disruptor pistol, while Liz and Karen both wore chameleon suits over body armor and carried compression rifles. In addition, Stryker carried the Romulan kill switch, Liz had a half-dozen photon grenades and Karen carried both her medkit and the foray gun. That weapon rode in a specially designed holster, along with a dozen extra shells marked with red and green stripes - the "last resort" weapon Stryker had asked her to design.

The catwalk opened into a flight of stairs and a small room, and Stryker paused at the entrance. Destroyed equipment lay everywhere, and puddles of a viscous yellowish liquid sheened in the half-light. "Doctor, what is that?" Stryker asked.

Karen slung her rifle back over her shoulder and opened up her tricorder. A second later, the legend "Analysis Complete" appeared on the screen, along with a flashing hazard symbol and a materials safety monograph. "It's some kind of plasma coolant, sir. Don't anyone touch it."

Ahead a hundred meters or so stood a doorway into a second room, and they could see a female figure standing within, surrounded by bright bluish light. Stryker indicated "Stay back" with a wave of his hand.

Dropping to one knee, Karen flipped the phaser rifle's targeting piece into position, settling the reticle squarely on the android's torso. I just hope that thing the Romulans gave him works as advertised...

-/\-

"Starfleet is here!" said Cain. He saw Angel in a large chair, with several computer terminals attached to her head. Her eyes were closed, but said, "I know."

"First the Romulans, now…"

Angel opened her eyes. "I'll take care of it." He sat up, and ripped the cords off of her. "The fleet is deployed, yes?"
"Yes."
"And the other task I asked of you?"
Cain nodded. "It's all taken care off. But why…?"

"Stop asking stupid questions!" shouted Angel. "Just do as I say, Cain. Now, go. I'll deal with the latest visitors."
"Personally, I think you're crazy. I'm out of here." Cain left to depart on the last cloaked ship in Angel's fleet. Her organization had been dispersed. It was too bad after just getting set up, but her group was always mobile and hidden.

And anyway, she had gotten what she wanted from the Admiral.

The first group that had arrived had been Romulans, and that was a bad sign. If they had told the Federation all about her it put Angel at a slight disadvantage. But there was always a plan for everything. She had the Romulans brutally killed, which would put the Federation types who arrived next on edge.

Angel smiled, and activated several large antimatter self-destruct sequences. She input several fairly inspired lockout codes that would really challenge those who would even discover them.

She could track movement coming from the demolished protomatter sequencing room, and met the new intruders there. As the saw her they took aim. She smiled and held up a remote. "You didn't put too much thought into this, did you? Walking right into my home? And may I ask why? I haven't done anything to any of you. Not yet anyway. And if I see anyone's finger depress a trigger, I'll detonate plasma conduits in this room before any energy beams get to me."

Chain/Stryker were surprised by Angel walking up straight to them as they were about to make their move. The whole Chain-disguise idea was to get close enough to Angel to use the Kill Switch on her.

"Angel !" Chain said surprised.

Angel smiled and held up a remote. "You didn't put too much thought into this, did you? Walking right into my home? And may I ask why? I haven't done anything to any of you. Not yet anyway. And if I see anyone's finger depress a trigger, I'll detonate plasma conduits in this room before any energy beams get to me."

Chain/Stryker had his hands raised, as Liz, Mike and Dr. Karen had their weapons trained on him. "They surprised me."

"Idiot. I am not limited to humaniod standards of visual acuity. I can see right through your disguise. I can even know your blood type by looking at you." the andriod smiled. "Angel Blue."

Uncomforable silence passed between the two adversaries. Angel, "Oh and by the way: The Tal Shiar has DNA and blood samples of you Captain. How's the wife ?"

Stryker was more than mildly enraged now. He pulled out the Kill Switch remote, "Looks like we ourselves a little stand off here. A no-win situation."

"Indeed." Angel's mood seemed to turn sour. "Live and let live ?"

"We can not trust you." Stryker pointed out.

"I promise." Angel said. "Just once. And never again."

With that Angel dematerialized. Stryker, Liz, Karen and Mike dematerialized to the Pretoria. In orbit, the two opposing starships exchanged fire. Pretoria managed to do moderate damage to Angel's ship. But in the end, her ship was smaller and faster than Pretoria.

Stryker stood on the bridge, swearing he could hear Angel's laughter now. Stryker turned to Belldandy. "Advice Starfleet of our situation. Tell them I will contact them within the hour."

The End ?