Battles inside and out

Mary Owlna woke up, sure that something was terribly wrong. There was no physical pain now, but the ache had not faded and no matter what the docs did, it never went away. Just like the scars on her face and skull, she was likely stuck with it for the rest of her life. She had no regrets. Even with all of the hurt, she had saved her dorm mates and that was a good thing. Illian, Janice, Kireka, Coral, R'kerti. They had all been leery about her at first, but over the years they had studied, they had all opened up, even Mary and they had found more in common with each other than anyone could have dreamed. Cardassian, Human, Andorian, even a Horta and a lost and renegade Gorn, they had all come together in the hope of joining Starfleet. A hope that had nearly been dashed for all of them when Mary's enemies had found a way to get at her. The horrible weapon would have killed everyone in the dorm room, even the Horta! That is, if Mary had not thrown herself onto it and prayed with all of her heart for help.

It had come, but not from any external force. She hadn't had any idea that she could generate such a shield. She hadn't had any idea that it could block thaleron radiation. Well, mostly block. The pain that she still felt and would for the rest of her life showed that she was not immortal or invincible.

She sighed. Something was wrong. She shook her head and sat up, automatically checking the chronometer. They were two hours from the rendezvous. From what was in all probability, her death or worse. She had to do this though and she had accepted that. She checked herself in the mirror by her bed. Black hair, pale skin? Check. Civilian clothes? Check. Same scars as always? Check. Maybe a shower? She would-

She went utterly still as the bed underneath her shuddered. Something had shaken the ship! Some kind of impact of sufficient magnitude to get past the inertial dampening that every Federation starship boasted. Even a ship as big and advanced as the Denali needed something like that to keep the incredible accelerations and deceleration that the ship endured from making paste out of her crew.

Another rumble! She knew that feeling from simulations at the Academy! No one who survived the Kobiyashi Maru simulation came away without knowing what that felt like! That had been a torpedo impact!

Mary was at the room's terminal in an instant, but when she tried it, it flashed its usual message. 'Access denied'. Right. She wasn't Starfleet. As a passenger, she wasn't authorized to access anything but basic feeds and as what she was reasonably sure that she was? Only a true idiot would have allowed her full access to anything on a Federation ship. The Iconians had used lots of viral weapons in the war. Computer or biological, it was all the same to them.

She was contemplating what to do when the lights went out. She was well trained. She had her flash light in hand and activated before the emergency lighting kicked on. But then it faded! She hit her com badge and jerked as static erupted from it. Jammed!

"This is not good." Mary said to herself as she turned back to the computer. Without power it was inert, but she had a few tricks.

She had never lied to anyone, she had been very careful not to, but she had never told all of what she knew either. She had known that: 1) Few would believe her and 2) Any who did, it would scare the hell out of. She tapped the computer terminal and felt a bit of herself fold into it in a way that no human could ever have understood. She wasn't human, she knew that. She had no idea what she was, and frankly? Neither did any of the doctors, xeno-biologists, xeno-anthropologists, xeno-psychologists and xeno-'lots-of-other-things'-ists that she had talked to over the years she had been in school. She thought like a human and that was good enough for her. She physically faked it well enough most of the time to hide in plain sight, but she wasn't. And right now? That was a good thing if the ship was in as much trouble as she feared.

As always, the computer systems did not protest at all as her mind melded with them. Indeed, they accepted her as part of themselves. She was not flesh, she was energy that mimicked flesh most of the time. Her mind flew into the systems, flitting here and there. She wasn't an android or a Vulcan with the ability to multi-task built in or bred in, but she was fast, intelligent and well trained. In moments, she had a picture of what was going on and no, it wasn't good.

The ship was under attack. The attack had come without warning while the ship was in transit, huge gobs of guided plasma that had struck the ship even as the bridge crew tried to react. Only the Jupiter class carrier's massive size and armor had kept the ship from being disabled or worse by the first volley and the warp nacelles had taken critical damage. They were still leaking gobs of high energy plasma all over space. That was never a good sign. The engineering crew had managed to keep the warp core from going critical, but they had been forced to shut it down in the process, crippling the ship. No warp drive, no impulse drive, no shields, no weapons and limited sensors. Only the massive armor plating that characterized the Jupiter class had saved the ship and even that wouldn't be enough. Through what limited sensors were online, Mary could see the plasma eroding said armor. There had to be more weapons on the way and even this ship couldn't survive much more of this.

"Fighters. We were in warp. No fighters there. We need to get the Combat Space Patrol up." Mary breathed as her mind flitted through trained patterns.

The ship was in danger. Mary was not Starfleet, but she was trained to be. There were almost a thousand Starfleet personnel on this ship and all of them were in danger. Jupiter class ship frames were highly adaptable. Science or battle, they could be outfitted for just about anything, given time and resources. The Denali was a carrier. The massive starship carried smaller vessels into combat and used those to project fire power over a far larger area than any single ship could hope to. The Klingons had used carriers a lot during their war with the Federation, many of their dedicated carrier class ships being large enough to carry even escort class ships into battle, but Starfleet mostly used fighters. Many Starfleet did not like the idea of expendable assets, preferring to fight with as many defenses as possible to safeguard valuable experienced personnel, but Mary knew from her studies that smaller craft were a great deal more survivable in most combat settings than the untrained could ever imagine. She had talked with many veterans of the Klingon War and they had all had a healthy regard for Klingon raiders and Birds of Prey. Small they might be, but they were all incredibly dangerous in competent hands. The Iconians had learned that the hard way. It didn't matter how insanely powerful your weapons might be if they couldn't hit what they aimed at.

Mary's mind flashed into the hangar computers of the carrier and checked the internal sensors. She found frantic activity. A dozen Peregrine fighters were ready to launch, their crews had to be fuming in the cockpits as the hangar crews desperately tried to get the hangar doors open. Hangar bays had been a glaring weakness on any carrier design from as far back as carriers had been built, a big red 'shoot here to destroy the whole ship' button, so Starfleet had built their hangars with as many protections as possible. The problem was that with internal communications crippled, no one from the bridge or Combat Information Center could issue the orders to open the doors and the automated systems that allowed for local control of the doors were apparently also all down. There were manual controls and overrides but from the feverish activity, not all of them were working.

"Oh crap." Mary intoned and then focused herself, sliding a tendril of her mind into the hangar computers. The computers were online, but oddly confused. Not a virus, but something was keeping them from responding. Wait… What was that in the ship's systems? It seemed like a virus, but not one that Mary had ever seen or studied. Not human or anything else she had seen in computer classes. It moved as if…

Mary stilled as something looked at her.

-There-

Rage slammed into Mary from that feeling and she instinctively curled into a ball, shielding her mind from the sudden onslaught. Whatever this was, it wanted her dead. Wait… It was after her! This whole attack was aimed at her! Would they kill an entire Federation ship to get her? She had to assume that. Just like the ones on Earth who would have slaughtered her dorm mates to get her.

What did I do to you? Mary demanded angrily as she focused herself. She would only get one shot at this.

-You exist.-

It wasn't the same. It wasn't like the people who had screamed at her, had attacked her on several occasions for who she thought she was. This wasn't rage or vengeance. This was something more impersonal. Almost clinical. It wanted her dead, but it wasn't angry about it. That was almost worse.

Yes, I do exist. Mary said quietly as she slid away from the attack, drawing her enemy with her. And like most beings I have met, I like existing.

-Irrelevant. You will be deleted.-

Almost certainly. Mary replied offhand and the other paused as she smirked mentally. But not today.

Suddenly alarm flew from the other. Too late. Mary acted, throwing a tendril of her being into a specific part of the hangar control systems. She could not do that and protect herself. Pain lanced through her as she withdrew her mind from the computers, but she felt it happen even as she collapsed to the floor of her stateroom, writhing in agony that was not physical. She was smiling through the torment as she felt the hangar doors open.

Then there was only pain.

Space

"YES! Full scramble!"

The Denali's hanger crews all dove to the sides as the ship's entire portside complement of Peregrines slammed out of the hangar bay at way too high a speed. Starboard side followed just as swiftly. Someone would get in trouble for that, but later. If there was a later. Regulations were all well and good anywhere but combat. In combat, there was really only one rule. Survive.

"Flight Two! Point defense! Flight One, on me! Find the aggressor and take them out!" Lieutenant Commander Tarsi was not a happy Andorian. She very rarely was happy as other people imagined such things. Her life had been an endless struggle against uncaring odds and it had scarred her deeply in far too ways to count. War had been her life from her earliest memories. Raised in a military family and trained for combat from a very early age, Tarsi had survived far more than most could imagine in their darkest nightmares. She didn't remember it all except in her dreams and she hated what dreams she could remember. The Denali's status on her HUD was limned in red, denoting serious damage. The ship couldn't take any more hits and survive. She jerked as her ship's sensors reported more and not what she had expected. "What the-? Multiple unknowns!"

At least three ships were dancing around each other in the distance. One of them was an old Romulan T'Liss warbird and Tarsi's blood boiled. The Denali had been hit by plasma torpedoes. Romulan weapons. But the others were just as bad. One was a Tholian ship, a tiny triangular form in odd colors. A Meshweaver light escort. Tholians were paranoid, reclusive and downright dangerous to fight with their odd technology. The fact that they were nothing like most races of the galaxy often made things interesting as well. They were more rock than animal, and their preferred environments would kill any unprotected more common being in seconds. Their odd weapons and energy webs were devastating. But the third was a Klingon ship. Not one that Tarsi was familiar with. She had fought in the war with the Klingons, so she knew most of their designs, but this one was different. Smaller, lighter and it didn't seem to have torpedoes! Just disruptor arrays and forward disruptor cannon. Then again, as she watched, it took out yet another plasma torpedo that the Romulan managed to fire. It maneuvered like a fighter, not a capital class ship! Did it need torpedoes?

"Klingon ship is not in our databanks, but it looks kind of like a D5. That would make it over a hundred years old, but it is clearly capable." Weapons officer Eshade asked from her console. The Ferengi was calm. Then again, she always was. "Hail from the Klingons. Audio only. Putting it on speaker!"

"Federation fighters!" The voice was clearly Klingon but wrong. Tarsi wasn't sure how it was wrong, but it was. "Help is on the way! Protect your carrier! We have these scum!" A bright burst of green energy lanced out from the Klingon ship to slam into the Romulan who spun away, leaking plasma.

Tarsi snarled as the Klingon ship took fire from the Tholian and evaded hard just in time to avoid a spherical Web that sprang into existence where it had just been. Tholian Webs were no joke at all. The massive energy constructs surrounded any unwary starship and then constricted, crushing anything that could not find a way to escape. She had seen webs that captured rather than killed, but those were rare. The Tholian fired its main weapons and hit the evading Klingon ship, but this time, the Klingon fired back and the disruptors hit hard. They blew right through the triangular ship's shields and bit deep! In moments, the escort was spinning away, clearly out of control. Then it vanished! It didn't go to warp, cloak or anything, it just vanished!

"What the hell?" Eshade spoke for both of them as the Klingon rounded on the Romulan even as the Romulan ship fired another torpedo at the stricken Denali. This one got past the Klingons, but Tarsi was ready and her small ship's weapons flew true to detonate the plasma well away from the carrier. Eshade spoke up again. "Denali has her sensors partly online. Multiple warp traces converging on this location. Too much damage to the sensors to tell who they are, but they will be here in moments."

"Protect the Denali!" Tarsi snapped as the Romulan ship took a full broadside of disruptors and darted away with the Klingon ship in hot pursuit. Then its form wavered and vanished, going into cloak. "They will be back!"

"Klingon ship is moving towards the Denali!" Eshade warned and a quick flip of Tarsi's controls had the fighters that were covering the carrier reorient. The Federation crews had no idea who this was or their intentions, but they were clearly not amateurs and Klingons should never be taken lightly. Her people knew that better than most. "Another hail."

"Federation fighters." Was the speaker amused now? "If I wanted your carrier dead, it would be."

"Patch me in." Tarsi said quietly and Eshade nodded. "Unknown Klingon ship, this is Lieutenant Commander Tarsi of the Federation Starship Denali. What are your intentions?"

"My orders…" The other corrected her a bit grimly. "...are to protect what your ship is carrying at the moment." Tarsi stilled and she knew Eshade was just as still. He knew. He knew what the Denali carried! How? "If I could safely transport it off your ship and leave, I would. I cannot."

"What? I do not understand." Tarsi fought not to gasp at the iron hard determination that sounded from the other. This Klingon was angry, but controlled. Far more controlled than any Klingon she had ever met except… maybe Ambassador Worf? She had met Worf once, in a very messed up situation and he had impressed her greatly. Not a typical Klingon at all!

"Think, Federation." The other was not calm, but calm-er. "How did a Rom ship hit yours with plasma torpedoes while yours was traveling in warp drive?" Tarsi had only thought herself still. That hadn't occurred to her. Plasma torpedoes were sublight weapons. They could not have hit the ship while traveled in warp. The subspace effects of the warp drive would have shunted them away. Or… it should have!

"No…" Eshade breathed and Tarsi felt chill as realization struck. The only way that someone had hit the Denali at max warp with such was if the Romulan had known exactly where they would be and had a way to bypass the warp field! That shouldn't have been possible. Only the bridge crew knew the course the ship was setting or how the warp field was configured! They had been betrayed.

"That… I don't know what happened." Tarsi admitted. "What I do know is that my duty is to protect my ship. And right now? You are the biggest threat I see."

"Wise." Came from the other. If anything, he was truly amused now. "There are multiple ships approaching. They probably know what you are carrying as well. Some will be friendly, some will not be. We need to keep the hostiles off balance until your ship can make repairs. Then as long as you have no more traitors…" Anger simmered, but it was squelched. "...you can outrun them."

"What do you suggest then?" Tarsi inquired.

"Simple." The other replied. "I intend to capture your ship."