The roaring reached its peak, and suddenly a large oni came crashing out of the woods. It shouldn't have had a chance:
"Iron-reaver soul stealer!" The Starfleet team did not have much opportunity to fire their own weapons, much to Sloane's relief. Unfortunately, Inuyasha's attack didn't quite do it's job: when the dust had settled, Kouga was there! He had been hit by the Inuyasha's attack, while conducting his own! Stupid show-off. The oni backhanded the now-limp Kouga to the side and charged straight at Inuyasha. Kagome released a purity arrow, but the oni dodged it!
Before Kagome could prepare a second arrow, the oni tackled Inuyasha, and she was knocked to the side by the sheer force of the impact! Sloane hadn't been near them, but she knew she had to act. She called to the rest of the away team with their new orders: "No phasers!"
"But lieutenant-!" Tyres started to protest.
"Captain's orders!" she called back. "Security detail! Protect the villagers, but do not use your phasers!" The she and the botany specialist and the village chieftain ran into the woods.
"What kinds of poisonous plants are native to this area?" she asked. Unfortunately, the tricorder did not translate that properly and the chieftain was unable to answer. The botanist, however had an answer ready and reported that some of the native vine-growths would be useful, and having a slightly better idea of the local language, she was able to translate the intended question appropriately. The chieftain was easily able to point out some dangerous plant-life, and the botanist collected several samples, while explaning to Sloane in English that the plant she had collected could blind or paralyze a target if dispensed properly.
"What did you say?" Sloane asked.
"I'll tell you when we get-" the specialist was about to answer. Sloane gestured to cut her off, fearing that the ensign might say something about the ship. But the crewman finished anyway: "-home."
"Let's hurry! We have to get back!" Sloane ordered. The botanist translated for the chieftain, and they hustled back to the village.
By the time they got back, the oni had destroyed three huts, one of which had Inuyasha lying on his back in the middle what had once been the roof. The oni was about to through him again when Sloane called to Tyres several meters away. The major pivoted in time to see the cylindrical shape of the hypospray tube flying toward her. She caught it and looked back to see that Sloane was gesturing toward the monster. An instant later, she understood and ran at it. The other two security guards were occupied, using their rifles as crowd-control batons to keep the villagers back.
Tyres was too late to keep Inuyasha from being tossed onto the roof of another hut, though this one retained its shape because of the angle that Inuyasha had hit it. The oni moved in for the kill when it felt something on its foot: the Bajoran security officer had just injected the whole 50mL of plant juice into his heel, and he immediately lost feeling in his foot. He reached down to grab the major, but she used the rest of the air in the discharge-capsule to release the remaining juice onto the oni's approaching claw. The mist began to irritate his skin with in seconds, as red blotches began appearing. Whatever this juice was, it had at least worked a little bit. The major retreated around the nearest hut, and the pissed-off oni tried to follow her, but it was barely able to stagger along, as the paralysis toxins spread throughout its legs and lower GI. Kagome released a purity arrow and-- What was that?
Something shiny glinted in the light of the bonfire. Kagome took a second to notice that the oni had a jewel shard in each of its legs, one near its collarbone, and one on its forehead. So that was how it had dodged her arrow! Kagome prepared to deliver a final headshot. A second later, she blasted the shikon shard from its place in the ogre's forehead, piercing the skin, but stopping inside the monster's thick skull, so basically the ogre has an arrow sticking out of its head, as it fell to the ground. Kagome retrieved the shards, and the monster turned to dust when the last one was retrieved. None of the away team members had anticipated that, and Sloane immediately took a sample of the dust to bring back to the ship.
Nearby, Kagura had observed this whole process, and she made her way back to Naraku to report on what she had seen.
USS SAGITTARIUS NCC 51766 PROMETHEUS-class
Captain Thorpe was normally on duty during Alpha shift, but since there would be nothing going on until next week, he was prowling the interior of his battleship, making conversation with whatever random crewmember happened to occupy the same stretch of visible hallway (not that there were INvisible sections of hallway, but, being human, the captain still lacks the ability to see around corners). Finally, he made his his way into main engineering, where he quickly found the Chief Engineer idly watching the dials and gauges that told him that the ship was working properly. "So, chief, why aren't we moving faster?" the captain asked idly, making conversation.
"Them Klingon bucket o' boltses (plural form of "bolts") flyin' with us are too damn slow, and if we speed up, we'll lose 'em all in our proverbial dust," the chief replied, the inescapable boredom saturating his voice. There were battles to be fought, but since nothing was happening now, the chief was less-than-thrilled with the Klingon escorts who were slowing them down somewhat.
After a moment, the captain got an idea. "What if we do a drill? How fast do you think your men'll be ready?"
"Thirty seconds, sir."
"I want'em ready in ten seconds, chief."
"Aye, sir."
With that said, the conversation ended, and the captain made his way to his quarters with less boredom than he had brought.
He walked into the room less than a minute later, since it was right next to the turbolift where he got off on deck 3. He sat down behind his desk and opened a private channel to the rest of the fleet. "Attention all ships, this is Captain Thorpe, commanding SAGITTARIUS. All captains standby for new orders at 1145 hours. SAGITTARIUS out."
USS JOHN F. KENNEDY GALAXY-class
"Captain, incoming transmission from the SAGITTARIUS," the ops ensign on duty reported as she turned in her chair to face her commander. "It's for your eyes only, sir."
"I'll take it in my ready room," said the captain as he stood up and hustled off the bridge.
Once settled in his ready room, he saw the Federation Seal on his communication interface with a caption saying that the message was for his eyes only. After reciting his personal access code, the message came through.
New orders? he thought. What could this mean? He saw that the present time was 1134. "Eleven minutes," he muttered. He hated cliffhangers, though he appreciated their literary purpose.
When he returned to the bridge, he told his first officer about the mysterious message from the flagship, and that earned him a raised eyebrow. "Whatever it means, we're about find out very soon."
"That, we are, commander," the captain said as he returned to his chair at the right-hand end of the row where the captain, first officer, and second officer (or counselor) were supposed to sit. "That, we are."
11 minutes later...
"Battle stations! Battle stations! All hands to battle stations!" These words and the red-alert klaxon sounded throughout the hulls of every ship in the fleet. Captain Thorpe had ordered a drill to see how ready each ship's crew was. Fifty seconds later, each ship reported battle-readiness, meaning that there was at least two security officers guarding each hallway junction, one engineer in each Jefferies tube junction, DC teams (Damage Control Teams) standing by at every turbolift, bulkhead, and corridor whose connecting rooms' farthest wall would be connected to the ship's outer skin. Overall, this was not too bad, but fifty seconds was way too slow by Captain Thorpe's standards.
"That was good, but not good enough," Captain Thorpe said from his seat on his bridge to every other captain in the fleet. "I want every ship to be ready within 15 seconds, got that, everybody? The Cardassians will probably know more about this region than we do, and they could attack us at any moment. We have to be on our toes, ready for an attack when it comes. We will rendezvous just outside the first solar system. I am taking the SAGITTARIUS ahead to scout the area. I am turning over command to Captain Hanson on the JOHN F. KENNEDY until SAGITTARIUS returns."
The Klingons started talking at once, also wanting to hunt Cardassians, not quite comprehending the meaning of 'scout'.
Captain Thorpe had expected this, and he had his own comeback ready. "If anyone expects me to lead this fleet, I will prove my ship's own worth. Even you Klingons understand that." And they did. The lieutenant at the communications closed the channel, and the captain returned to his command seat in the middle of the bridge. "Helm, set a course heading zero-four-zero mark three zero, maximum warp." The lead ship of the massive fleet gradually pulled ahead, picking up speed. Within seconds, the inverted-trough shaped starship was no longer visible, flying ahead at warp 9.988, faster than any other known starship could move. Her course would send her forty degrees to the right of the solar system, and thirty degrees above it. At this geometrically faster speed, the SAGITTARIUS would arrive one whole week before the rest of the fleet, which was traveling at warp six.
MEANWHILE.
SOMEWHERE ELSE, IN THE BETA QUADRANT
The Dominion War had been over for more than a year now, but not all of the Dominion's ships had actually departed from the Alpha Quadrant when the war had ended. The wormhole had been discovered during the war by a Dominion scoutship, and they had quickly devised a design for a construction ship that would be capable of flying through a planet's atmosphere. That done, the ship was launched, and the Dominion had built a base in the Beta Quadrant, complete with a Jem'Hadar cloning facility, and under the command of Keevan's fifth clone, and one Founder.
"Keevan, don't you understand! We need more resources before we can move against the Federation and their allies!"
"We will have those resources very soon, I assure you," said Keevan. "But for now, I think we can successfully execute an attack on the wreck at the edge of our territory." It was not the smartest thing to get in an arguement with one's god, no matter how convinced you were of your own correctness.
"Contact our units in that sector, and see what they have to say," replied the Founder. "The Federation WILL send a taskforce to investigate, and they will find our base. It was foolish of Gul Kentar's Obsidian Order to approve the attack."
"We can move the base into a nebula. There are plenty of them around here, and our warships are strong enough to pull them."
"That may be so, but I wish we had more time to gather our assets."
"We never have time!" Keevan exploded.
"Watch yourself, Keevan. You have no say in the decisions of the Great Link."
"Don't be foolish! We are cut off from the Link and the rest of the Dominion! We must capture the Bajoran Wormhole, and hold it permanently!"
"We can do that as soon as our resources are put to good use. Our shipyards are still operating, and there is no local opposition." Keevan was scared, lest his object-of-worship kill him on the spot. To the Founders, nothing was so good as to be indestructible.
"See to it, Keevan. Are your soldiers as good as you say they are?"
"My Jem'Hadar First tells me they are, and they have demonstrated their battle-readiness."
"Call him in. I want to observe this for myself."
"As you wish," Keevan humbly responded. "Gutar'klan, report with your men to your warship. The Founder wishes to observe your combat-readiness."
"I will go," said Gutar'klan in his gravelly voice. "Victory is life."
"Also, Keevan," the Founder said as the Jem'Hadar soldier marched out of the room, "How are the Ketracel White factories operating?"
"They are producing the enzyme at peak efficiency," Keevan reported proudly. "We should have enough for three years of combat by next week."
"Then get more soldiers. We will be needing the White soon enough."
"As you wish."
"Lastly, I want to know about the shipyards."
"What about them?"
"Are they ready yet?"
"We have been building ships-" Keevan protested.
"No, no, no," the Founder said, cutting him off. "Let me be more specific: HOW MANY shipyards do we have?"
"Three."
"Only three?"
"Three of them are complete. There will be another one ready in the next two months, and another one six weeks after that."
"Not good enough," the Founder declared.
"We are working-" Keevan began to protest.
"TOO SLOWLY!" The Founder's voice boomed within the walls of the cubicle, emphasizing his opinion, and hurting Keevan's sensitive ears. "I want both of those shipyards operational in the next three months!"
"That's-" Keevan began to say, but stopped in midthought.
"'That's' what?" the Founder challenged his subordinate.
"That's acceptable," Keevan finally submitted. If the gods wanted it, it would have to be, wouldn't it?
"Good." That was the Founder's last word before he slipped through the door, and took his leave.
Keevan waited until the Founder was gone, before he moved again, walking to the communications interface in his quarters. "Kotan'adar?"
"Yes?" answered another gravelly voice. "The Founder wants the shipyards completed faster. Can that be arranged?"
"I will need more soldiers, but yes, it can be done."
"Excellent."
"Victory is life," the Jem'Hadar said, just before the channel shut off.
Keevan was stuck. How could he get more soldiers that quickly? Even more importantly, where would all that man-power come from? He would need a week before the next batch of Jem'Hadar would be ready, and... wait a minute! There was an inhabited solar system at the wormhole! Perhaps, he could round up some of the humans and use them to build the shipyards! Well, that might work, except that during the war, the humans that had been taken back to the Gamma Quadrant had tried to sabotage the construction, and that would not be acceptable. Well, that just meant more careful scutiny of the construction, and the people would have to be killed for every single mishap. Well, that could all be arranged, couldn't it? "Keevan to the Founder," Keevan said into the communications interface, "Might it be possible to draw some manpower from the inhabited solar system in the next sector?"
"It might be, but with the Federation sending a fleet of its own, I would think it's a bit risky."
"Perhaps, but we could borrow a cloaking device from our Cardassian allies-"
"Those traitors? You actually expect to continue talking to those traitorous bastards?"
"The ones under the command of Gul Kentar seem to be loyal enough to our cause," replied Keevan reasonably.
"After what we did to their homeworld!"
"Then we could steal the design from the Romulans."
"How?"
"You could sneak in and-"
"I am a Founder! I command this outpost!"
"I am a Vorta. I command the Jem'Hadar. You can change your shape, and you can sneak in and out of their shipyards unnoticed."
"Very well, then, Keevan. I will go acquire a cloaking device. In the meantime, you will be sure that the construction schedule for the shipyards is hastened. That will be all." As the Founder turned to leave, Keevan had one last thought, but he dismissed it. If they started drawing slave labor from the nearby star systems, wouldn't someone eventually notice?