To
Fly on Waxen Wings, Chapter Three:
-Lt. Jadzia Dax, "Blood Oath"
---
"When were you going to tell me?"
Alex looked away, unable to watch the disappointment etched on every line of Selene's face. The locket still hung from her fingertips, the gold surface reflecting the flickering blue light of the forcefield. The hologram mercifully shut down, the smiling images fading away into the darkness of the cell. They sat there in the black, neither able to make a sound, Alex due to renewed grief, and Selene to shock.
"When were you going to tell me?"
Alex swallowed, wincing as the muscles of his throat constricted against the dry tissue. Unshed tears burned in his eyes as he fought to control himself. His heart raced, pounding in time with the dull thud in his head. He opened his mouth to speak, but the lump in his throat kept him from explaining himself to her.
With a sudden explosion of movement, Selene whipped the locket at him, the small, golden object flying past his face and clattering to the ground. Using the momentum from her throw, she lifted herself to her feet and pounced on him, her hands clenching fistfuls of his uniform shirt as she drove him to the ground. Alex didn't fight back as he hit the hard floor, his body limp as she struck him. "When, Carver? When were you going to tell me about this? How could you keep this from me? Didn't you think that I had a right to know? Didn't you even think about me?"
"That's all I thought about!"
The pressure against his shoulders relaxed and Selene stood, backing away from him. Rolling over, Alex pushed himself to his knees, taking the precious few seconds to consider how he could explain. Turning to face her, he slumped against the wall, arms wrapped around his raised knees. "Do you know what it's like? Have you ever lost someone you loved?"
"I'm in the middle of a war. Of course I have."
"As horrible as that feeling is, do you have any idea how much harder it is when they come back? When you find them again and they have no memory of you? All of the memories, the inside jokes, the emotions, they're all gone. It's like there's suddenly a wall between you, and you don't know if they built it, or if you did." Alex laughed bitterly, "Tantalus in the underworld."
"What?"
Alex sighed, "In Greek mythology, Tantalus was a man who was punished by the Gods. He was tied to a tree, with fruit hanging just out of reach and water just below his lips. Forced to see and feel everything he wanted, but to know that, no matter what he did, it was just out of his grasp. That's what it's like to see you, Selene. You're so much like her that it hurts, but you're not her, and I have to keep reminding myself of that. Every time I see you, I think to myself that maybe she survived, that maybe, just maybe, if I wish hard enough, this will all have been a nightmare. That I'll wake up, and none of this will have happened. But it did. All of it happened. She's dead and I'm alive.
"How do you forgive yourself for that?"
Selene stepped over and picked up the locket, staring at it for a long moment. Then, gently, she knelt and placed it in his hand. "You're right. I'm not her. I'm me. I don't remember anything that happened between the two of you. I never lived any of it." She sighed, hanging her head, "Did you know who I was when you saved me from the Jem'Hadar?" Alex shook his head, and a small smile spread across her face. With two fingers, she forced him to look at her. "Then you're wrong, too. You survived for a reason, Alex, even if she didn't. You saved my life, even when you had no idea who I was. That tells me everything that I need to know about you, Alex Carver. You're a good man, and no matter what your reasons have been since, I know that I can trust you.
"And I hope that you can trust me."
Alex and Selene looked at each other, and for the first time since his wife's death, Alex let himself grieve.
-----
"You have got to be kidding me!"
Tal and Nyssa sat on the bridge, staring incredulously at Kordath, who merely lifted an eyebrow. "No, I am not 'kidding' you."
Nyssa stood and threw her arms in the air, rolling her eyes. "Of all the crazy, half-cooked schemes that we've pulled on this ship, I think this one's the most insane! Well? Tal?" The Bajoran didn't answer, his shocked face turning pensive. "Tal, you can't seriously be considering this!"
Tal shrugged, "It's doable. Assuming that the Khanate cruiser goes down like the intel says it will." Nyssa felt her jaw drop even further. Tal noticed and raised his hands in surrender. "Hey, I'm not saying that it's gonna be easy. Hell, flying of this calibre might even be beyond yours truly. And like I said, assuming that the cruiser's power goes down. It's doable."
Kordath turned in his seat to look at her, "Unfortunately, we do not have many options, Nyssa, and we have even less time. The Captain has been captured, and I am sure that we all understand the full implications of that." The three of them fell silent, and Nyssa sighed.
"Fine. How much longer?"
Kordath checked the chronometer. "Thirty-seven minutes."
Tal cleared his throat, drawing the attention back to him. "Not to spoil a perfectly good tension-filled moment, but what about these other two prisoners with the Skipper? What do we know about them?"
Kordath frowned, and rose to his feet. "Two Starfleet officers from a parallel dimension. I know little more than that."
Nyssa laid the palms of her hands on the back of her chair and leaned forward, "You know, one of these days you're going to have to tell us exactly how you got this intel, Kordath."
"Perhaps."
Tal waved a hand in the air, "Yeah, not done over here." Pointing a finger at his chest, he snapped his fingers. "Focus. Got your attention? Good. What do you mean by 'parallel dimension'? Does that mean they're from that evil Starfleet universe the stories talk about? All leather and murder and goatees?" Glancing at Nyssa, he stroked his chin thoughtfully. "Okay, maybe the leather wouldn't be so bad..." Lifting a hydrospanner that was sitting on the console, Nyssa threw it at him, watching him duck as the spanner bounced off the wall. "Will you grow up? The Skipper hired you to fly, not provide comic relief."
"Funny, I thought it was the other way around."
Kordath stood, towering over the bickering Bajoran and Romulan. "Enough! If the two of you wish to argue and joke, I would suggest you do so after we have retrieved the Captain!" Turning to Tal, Kordath lifted the spanner from the deck and held it before him like a knife. "Tal. The Starfleet prisoners are from a parallel universe, but one close to ours. Or so I have been told. They should not be a danger, but we should be prepared incase they are. Nyssa. There is a great likelihood of injury in this mission. Am I to assume the sickbay is prepared?"
Nyssa flinched at the growl in the Klingon's voice. "Yeah, I'm ready. You get them back on the ship, and I'll patch everyone up." Glancing at Tal, she frowned. "Assuming that there's a ship left." The Bajoran stuck out his tongue, his face face twisting in mockery. Nyssa rolled her eyes and turned to leave the bridge. "I still say that we're all insane."
"Perhaps."
-----
Selene watched Alex draw a shaky breath and straighten uneasily. Some of the colour had returned to his face, and though he was still shaking, she assumed it was from grief now, rather than the fever. He still looked drained and weak, a fractured image of the man she had met in the bunker, but the haunted look had finally left his eyes, leaving behind a determination she recognized.
She saw it in her own eyes every time she looked in the mirror.
Rising to his feet, Alex wiped a hand across his face, brushing away the tears that streaked his cheeks. "So. What do we do now?" Reaching into her pocket, Selene fished around until she found something. Lifting it up, she examined it in the dim light. A circular piece of metal, maybe half an inch in diameter, it looked like a coin. She shrugged, not really caring what it was. Placing it between her thumb and index finger, she flicked it towards the forcefield. There was a bright spark as it collided, making them both wince. The coin rolled back towards her, smoking and melted. "Not much while this forcefield's up. Think you can handle that?" Alex smiled hesitantly.
"I'm an engineer, remember?"
As he began feeling along the walls (looking for the forcefield controls, she guessed), Selene chuckled. "This universe or another. You engineers all seem to think you're miracle workers."
"That's because we are." He smiled over his shoulder at her, a genuine smile for once, and she smiled back. Now that she knew about her counterpart in his universe, she found that she could understand him. At least now, when he looked at her, he saw her, and not her reflection. For the most part at least. Slowly, he crept along the wall, his hands outstretched. "Funny thing about forcefields." He said "They take up a lot of power given all they do. Plain old bars, or even a wall, would be just as, if not more, efficient. You can't hack into a grate's power network. A grate doesn't need a computer to work."
"A computer that you could hack into?"
He chuckled, "That's right. A computer... just like... this one." She watched as he closed his eyes, muttering under his breath
and shrieked in surprise as he screamed and fell to the ground.
The forcefield flared as it dropped, and Selene scuttled backwards on the palms of her hands as another form was thrown into the cell. Dressed in red and black like Alex, she assumed that it was his friend Jason. Looking up, she saw the Changeling standing at the entrance to the cell, two Jem'Hadar at his sides. A flash of light, and the forcefield was reactivated.
The Changeling's eyes were fixed on Alex's convulsing form, almost glowing bright blue as they stared. And as Selene watched, the Changeling's features began to shift.
-----
Rakiin stepped through the doors to Aishwarya's library and allowed a second for his superior eyesight to adjust to the darkness that pervaded the room. The flickering lights of the computer glowpanels had been deactivated, plunging the room into stygian depths lit only by a flickering lightsource above his sister's desk.
Aishwarya sat in one of the high-backed chairs, her head bowed down and her slight hands folded meekly in her lap. At her feet lay the remains of the Changeling Sirenn, nothing more than a pile of black ash. Her golden Sari clashed with the lightless surroundings, making her appear like a candle in the darkness.
Rakiin stepped forward, his own white robe brushing aside the shadows, master of everything, even here in Aishwarya's domain. He stood before her, the ashes of the Changeling lying between them. Still, Aishwarya remained still, her eyes fixed on the remains. Rakiin had watched as she had stepped free of the suddenly dead Changeling, moving to sit at her desk. Sirenn's death still puzzled him. How had she managed to kill a telepath as powerful as a Changeling?
"You sent him, didn't you, Rakiin?"
Aishwarya's voice was thin as onion paper, as likely to crack and rip as express the thoughts of the speaker. As he watched, she shifted for the first time since he had entered the room, raising her face to look at him. Naked pain and fright merged in her dark brown eyes, recreating her face into a mask of anguish. This time it was a statement, rather than a question. "You sent him."
Slowly, Rakiin nodded.
She knelt before him, her terror filled gaze returning to the ashes staining the floor of her library. "Was it necessary to kill him to make your point?"
Rakiin refused to allow his surprise to show, maintaining a stoic expression as his mind began to churn madly. She had not killed the Changeling, then? No. She believed that he had done it as proof of his power. Interesting. If the Changeling's fate could not be placed at her feet, than at whose could it be placed?
Still, the Changeling's mysterious death could prove beneficial. The reasons could be found at a later time. The advantages, however, could be reaped now. "What is the fate of a Changeling to me, Aishwarya, when it has passed beyond it's usefulness?"
"You sent him to frighten me, to remind me of my place" Aishwarya drew a shuddering breath, and knelt her head before him. "Consider me suitably reminded, My Lord."
Rakiin allowed a small smile to crack his stony expression. Her independence was a nuisance occasionally, yet she had her uses. To rid himself of her now would be... premature. Turning his back on her, he made for the doors. "This room is a mess, sister. Someone should clean it." As he stepped from the room, his eyes now adjusting to the light, he barely heard her whispered response.
"Yes. Someone should."
-----
There are certain moments when you can see through to the truth of your surroundings, understand that what an object may appear to be on the surface, is not what it is at it's core. That what you see and hear is nothing more than a glamour placed there to deceive you. Alex experienced that moment of clarity almost immediately.
He was standing on the beach, staring out at the roiling waters of the ocean.
The air was filled with the smell of ozone and salt, the wind picking at his hair, blowing hard enough that he had to squint to keep the sand out of his eyes. A storm was brewing on the horizon, dark grey clouds clashing with the blue skies above. He wrapped his arms around himself, huddling against the sea chill.
On the storm-tossed waves, images played out, his entire life rippling on the surface. Kneeling in the wet sand, he let the water lap up around his knees, feeling the chill of his memories touching his skin. With each tiny wave, a different memory brushed across his consciousness.
Wave.
But I wanna play on the swing set!
Wave.
Well, I was thinking of heading to British Columbia. Thought that you might want to come with me.
Wave.
Don't worry, guys. I'll be fine. It's Starfleet Academy. What could happen to me there?
Looking up from rippling water, he looked up into the distance. The storm was drawing closer, driving rain working the waves into a frenzy a dozen meters from shore. The line between the storm and the calm was knife-sharp, ten foot tall waves vanishing suddenly into silent waters.
Alex could feel the Changeling's presence before he saw it, a sliver of darkness in the light, the salty air suddenly cut through with the smell of death. Rising to his feet, he turned and saw the shape-shifter, it's unfinished features narrowed in concentration. As Alex watched, Shade stepped into the ocean, striding through the memories, absorbing everything that had made Alex Carver the man he was.
Alex felt anger begin to boil up inside as he waded further into the ocean. The Changeling was sifting through his mind, pulling apart the pieces of his soul and examining them, holding them up to judgment. Why this time was different from the last, Alex had no idea. Before, he had been submerged, drowning in the experiences and sensations of his life. Now, he could watch them pass him by, feel them brush his mind, but he was not lost in them. This time, he was neutral, a casual observer. This Changeling had no business in his mind. The telepath was the shark in the water.
No. He was the leach.
The cold water sloshed around his legs as he moved forward, deeper into the ocean, moving with more determination than he had felt since...
Since Selene.
A wave lapped against his thigh and for a second, he was standing in the darkness of their quarters, Selene standing behind him as he stared out the window.
It was bad though, wasn't it?
What makes you say that?
The fact that you're up and out of bed. Usually you at least try to go back to sleep before getting up.
You know me too well.
I'm your wife. I should.
With a disembodying jolt, he was back in the ocean of his mind, the Changeling growing closer with every step. Shaking his head, he remembered the real world, tethered himself to it. He remembered that there were still people out there who needed him. Selene Carver may be dead, but Selene Weller was still alive. Jason Madden was still alive.
He was not alone.
Memories crashed and churned against each other as he got closer to the Changeling and the storm, memories of those final minutes on the Albion.
Wave. Fine. I'm going to bed. Happy?
Another jolt, and he realized that he was now waist deep in the water, the crashing waves of the storm no more than a few feet away. The Changeling stood in front of him, his blue eyes focused on the water that surrounded them, slowly moving towards the edge of the storm front. Alex drew his arm back, his fist clenched
Wave. Can you hear me? Alex, don't leave me... please.
and decked the Changeling.
It was sloppy, weak and dulled by the fact that they were both almost chest deep in water, but it had the desired effect. Shade fell back, stumbling towards the edge of the high waves, gaping at Alex in shock, as though he hadn't even noticed Alex's presence until that moment. Flailing, the Changeling splashed around, trying to stay above water. "This is not possible. You should not be able to interfere."
"New rules." With an explosion of water, Alex swung again, driving the Changeling ever closer to the storm. "You don't belong here."
Wave. I'll see you soon. I love you.
"Get out of my mind!"
Wave. Not yet.
And Alex pushed, driving the Changeling into the storm.
Wave. It is not over yet.
As both men fell into the crashing waves, the mental block cracked for a split second, sending them both screaming back into the real world.
-----
Tal sat alone on the bridge, running over the flight plan for the hundredth time. Convinced that this might work, he nodded to himself and absently pushed a few buttons on his console. Nyssa was doubtlessly in her sickbay, and he had a vague idea where Kordath was, and if he was right, this plan was crazier than even Nyssa had believed. Glancing at the chronometer, he sighed.
Ten minutes to go.
-----
Selene watched in shock as the Shapeshifter's features melted and reformed, his hair lengthening and his pale skin darkening. As his shoulders grew broader and he gained several inches in height, even the Jem'Hadar at his sides stepped back, raising their weapons and training them on the telepath. She was so focused on the Changeling that it took her a moment to realize that Alex had stopped screaming and risen to his feet. Standing up herself, she watched as Alex stepped over Jason's prone body and moved to the forcefield, stopping less than an inch from the barrier. His eyes never left the Changeling, and Selene realized that he was still unconscious, his body reacting to whatever was happening between the two of them.
A silent battle of wills played out for a moment between them, their eyes never breaking contact. Slowly, the shapeshifter's features blurred again, reforming into a vague shape that she recognized as the Khanate he had impersonated before interrogating her. Then he shifted again, becoming Alex, then her, a Jem'Hadar, all quickly followed by a myriad of faces. The changes were coming so quickly upon each other that his face became little more than a blur, barely having a chance to shift once before shifting again.
Turning her attention to Alex, she noticed that he was shaking, his face hardened by intense concentration, a small rivulet of blood dripping down from one nostril. He seemed to be on the verge of collapse, the mental battle between him and the Changeling taking as much a toll on him as it was on the other. The air in the cell seemed charged, burning with power. As one, the Jem'Hadar turned and focused their weapons on Alex.
Time slowed.
She could feel the forcefield drop, every particle burning out in a tiny maelstrom of energy as the barrier collapsed. She saw the emitter tips of the Jem'Hadar plasma weapons begin to glow, ready to fire. She heard Alex and the Changeling, their whispered voices breaking under the strain.
"It is not over yet."
With twin screams wrenching from their throats, they collapsed, tossed backwards by whatever force had ended their battle. Alex tumbled back into the cell, striking the far wall before falling to his knees while the Changeling stumbled back, melting away into a flailing golden column that held only the vague shape of a man. Selene and the Jem'Hadar fell back in surprise, the guards' shots going wild and striking the ceiling as the Changeling struck them, throwing them aside as it struggled to regain control of it's own body. One of the Jem'Hadar got to it's feet and took aim at the writhing shapeshifter, while the other took aim at Alex.
Without thinking, Selene spun and ran towards Alex's still shaking form. She had promised herself that he would live, and no matter what had been between him and her alternate, he had saved her life at least once. She had promised to protect him, and she would not fail!
She never even had the chance to fail. Before it could fire, the Jem'Hadar was struck by a hail of plasma bolts, falling to the ground in a heap of charred flesh, quickly joined by it's companion. The Changeling slowly began to reclaim it's humanoid shape, Selene could see a face forming, but before it could speak, plasma rained down on it, blue discharges peppering across the golden surface. It stumbled back, driven against the bulkhead by the force, desperately trying to avoid the fire. Another salvo hit it and it finally collapsed to the deck, spreading out into a golden pool, not dead but unconscious.
Selene stared at the entrance to the cell, unable to see where the fire had come from. Slow and steady footsteps sounded, drawing closer. Standing before Alex, she prepared herself to attack, ready to fight and die if need be.
A figure stepped in front of the door, it's eyes drifting from Selene, to the slowly rising Alex and finally to the limp form of Jason, a Jem'Hadar plasma rifle held limply at one side. Moaning, Jason looked at their saviour, a look of confusion drifting over his features before he spoke, pain intensifying a southern drawl.
"Aishwarya?"
And Aishwarya, historian, sister to Lord Rakiin, and now traitor to her people, smiled as she nodded.
-----
Nyssa chased after Kordath, almost having to run to keep up with the Klingon's long strides. Icarus' main corridor was dark, her power shut down as they drifted ever closer to Earth. Kordath claimed that without power or engines, they should appear like any other small piece of space debris.
Should. Nyssa hated that word.
"You are insane! I wasn't sure about it before, but you are! You're certifiable, Kordath!" The silver haired Klingon didn't even slow down at her outburst, and Nyssa cursed to herself as she kept running, reaching out to try and grab his arm. "We haven't used that thing in over two years! What if it doesn't work? Even when we had an actual mechanic he could only get it to work half the time!"
"It will work."
"You don't know that!" She caught a hold of his arm and pulled him to a stop. Alone in the corridor, they stared at each other. Klingon and Romulan. "You don't know that. Even if Tal can get us where we need to be without getting us killed, what if your intelligence is bad? What if the Gilgamesh's shields and weapons are still up?"
Kordath smiled and placed a large hand on her shoulder. "The shields will be down." Turning, he walked off down the corridor. "And if they are not, then today will be a good day to die."
As he vanished into the gloom of the dark corridor, Nyssa frowned. "It's never a good day to die."
Six minutes to go.
-----
Jason winced as Aishwarya helped him sit, the pain from the beating that Rakiin had given him burning like fire in his veins. Every muscle ached, every tendon was sore. Hell, even his hair hurt. Alex sat next to him, moving tenderly. Jason chuckled. "You look like Hell."
"Yeah. Same to you."
Aishwarya dropped the weapon and touched him gently, examining his wounds. When she spoke, it was a statement. "Rakiin." Jason nodded, regretting the motion almost instantly as the pain behind his eyes flared. Note to self: Movement bad.
"Who are you?"
The voice struck a chord deep inside Jason and he looked up to see a ghost. Selene stood there, her dark hair shorter than he remembered, dressed head to toe in black, a tattered leather jacket over her shoulders. In her hands, she held one of the Jem'Hadar weapons trained on Aishwarya's back. Aishwarya sighed, rising to her feet and turning to face the weapon. "I would be the one who just saved your life, Captain Weller."
"Why?"
"We have a mutual friend, Captain. A friend who, as it happens, is going to die in four and a half minutes if I fail to do what I came here to do." Turning her back on Selene, she faced Alex. "You are Alexander Carver?" Alex nodded gingerly, wiping a small trail of blood from his face. "Your nanites, are they still active?"
"Yeah. Why?"
She smiled thinly. "Can you use them to deactivate this ship's main power?"
"Probably."
The small whine of Selene's weapon powering up filled the room as she pressed it against the back of Aishwarya's head. "I wasn't done asking questions."
"Kordath."
Aishwarya spoke the name softly, but the effect it had was incredible. Selene dropped the weapon, her gaze not leaving the other woman as she stepped back. "Alex?"
"Yeah?"
"Do it."
As Alex got up and accessed the computer terminal in the hall, casting an inscrutable look at the unconscious Changeling on the floor, Aishwarya knelt down beside Jason and began to wipe the blood from his face. Wincing under her ministrations, he barely heard her whisper.
"Four minutes."
-----
The nanites had infiltrated the Gilgamesh's computer effortlessly, gliding past firewalls and security measures that to Alex's mind were centuries out of date. In the space of heartbeats, he found himself deep within the ship's main power distribution network.
It was difficult to concentrate. In the space of a couple of hours, he had gone from telepathic torture, to feverish delerium, to grieving his dead wife with her identical twin, to a telepathic fistfight. His body had been running on adrenaline and willpower far too long. In the near future, he was going to collapse. He just had to keep himself going for a little while longer. Just a little while.
Streams of data flowed past him, reminding him of the ocean that he and Shade had fought in. For an instant, the mental block that Shade had described had shattered, letting loose a tidal wave of memories, but try as he might, he couldn't remember any of it now. Whatever the block was, it had rebuilt itself and sealed the memories away, leaving him in the dark once again.
Shaking off the image, he plunged his mind into the data, reaching out and touching the software that controlled the ship's shields and weapons systems, reprogramming the information with his thoughts. For a second, he was the ship's systems, nothing more than data and information. His mental grasp on the computer firm, he twisted, ripping the software to shreds as he rose from the computer and back into himself.
Opening his eyes to the suddenly darkening ship, he looked at Selene and grinned.
"Piece of cake."
Nodding, Selene turned and looked at where Aishwarya was helping Jason to his feet. "What about you? You can't stay here now."
Aishwarya smiled, "Of course I can. I came to the cells to check on Commander Madden when you escaped, taking me hostage and shutting down the ship's main computer. I was, of course, too weak to fight back when you killed the guards."
"You've really thought this through, haven't you?"
The slim woman nodded, handing Jason over to Alex. "Why else would I have had you infiltrate the computer? It fits within my alibi."
Alex winced as Jason shifted, raising his head to look at Aishwarya, "But what about Rakiin? Will he believe you?" His voice was strained, and Alex imagined that his own must sound similar.
Aishwarya's expression became hard. "Given what happened earlier today, Rakiin will believe what I tell him." Stepping over to Alex and Jason, she looked at Alex, her expression softening. "Take care of him, Lieutenant. Please." Alex nodded. "I will."
Aishwarya turned and looked at Selene. "Your ship is on the way. Your best hope for escape is to reach the forward Kindjal bay. Can you make it there?"
Selene frowned, and Alex answered for her. "We'll make it."
Aishwarya looked up as alarms began to blare in the distance, red emergency lights bathing the room in a bloody glow. "There isn't much time." Looking at Selene, she asked, "You know what to do?"
Selene nodded, lifted the Jem'Hadar rifle and fired.
Jason screamed as Aishwarya fell backwards, a puppet whose strings had been cut. Alex gaped at Selene in shock, "What did you do?"
"What she wanted me to. Her alibi'll hold more weight if I stun her. She'll wake up with a headache, but she'll wake up." Picking up another rifle from the dead Jem'Hadar around them, she handed it to Alex. "We've gotta go."
As they cautiously left the detention cells, Jason looked back at Aishwarya's limp form. "You're wrong, Alex." At Alex's puzzled look, Jason sighed. "She's not the same. Not at all."
Silently, the three Starfleet officers vanished into the depths of the powerless cruiser.
-----
Icarus's engines flared, turning an uncontrolled tumble into a headlong dive into Earth's atmosphere. On the bridge, Tal opened a shipwide channel. "Zero minutes!"
Nyssa came tearing the hatch as the ship plunged through the cloud cover, emerging a hundred miles out over the pacific ocean, moving at full impulse as she skimmed the waves, hugging the water. Spray coated the windows, blocking the view of the rapidly approaching west coast of North America. Tal's concentration was focused on his sensor readings, giving him a clear view of where he was going even through the water. The control yoke shook almost uncontrollably, and he was forced to maintain an iron grip to keep the ship on course.
On the screens, the ruined skyline of San Francisco approached at breakneck speed, the dark draconic shape of the Gilgamesh looming above the decimated city. As he and Nyssa watched, the giant cruiser seemed to shudder, dipping slightly towards the city before catching itself. "Nyssa?"
"They're down! The shields are down!" Triumphantly, Nyssa clapped the back of Tal's chair, "They're on emergency power!"
Tal's face broke into a wide grin as he lifted the ship from the ocean, the backwash from her engines creating a fan of water a hundred meters high as Icarus cut towards the Gilgamesh. Watching the black hull of the ship, Tal flipped the comm switch.
"Kordath? We're ready."
-----
Deep inside Icarus, Kordath silently adjusted the weapons that covered him, everything from a disruptor, to his Mek'leth, to his Bat'leth. "You understand the plan?"
Nyssa's voice crackled from the speakers. "If we don't hear from you in thirty minutes, get out of the system and don't come back."
Kordath nodded as he took a deep breath, feeling his hearts pound in his chest, pumping adrenaline through his system. Taking a deep breath, he stretched his muscles, lifting the ancient Bat'leth and holding it ready before him as he whispered to himself.
"Heghlu'meH QaQ jajvam."
Today is a good day to die.
-----
Icarus spun on her axis, Tal's maneuvering barely missing the gleaming black hull of the Gilgamesh as she turned towards the sky, beginning a near vertical climb back into orbit.
As she vanished into the clouds, a sparkling cloud of energy appeared as Kordath rematerialized fifty feet above the Khanate cruiser, plummeting towards his enemy, his bat'leth swinging as he fell.
AUTHOR'S NOTES:
Well, here we are. I hope everyone enjoyed their holidays (I sure did).Only one thanks this time around. I want to thank my mother, who helped me out with Rakiin and Aishwarya's little moment when I had a nasty case of writer's block. I'm telling you, that Aishwarya's a crafty one. (Man, I love writing her!)