Chapter 1

Decisions

It's been three years since I escaped with the USS Victory in my control. Three years since my friends, no, my family had been slaughtered. I stayed in hiding for these years. At least I didn't do anything to be caught by Starfleet. But by no means was I dormant. I kept my skills working and I exercised my powers frequently.

The name Erebus became legendary among the borders of Federation space. I was a pirate. I raided Federation ships that came within my hunting grounds. I stole supplies that I needed and slaughtered the crew. I chose for myself a weapon, a sword because I was unafraid of close combat. There is something powerful in holding a cold blade that I can handle with near perfect abilities, something sophisticated about it.

Three years it took for the perfect timing of my plan.

I will crumple Starfleet. I will bring about a new era. One where my kind will no longer be hunted and tortured. I quickly type in the coordinates to earth. I quickly cloak USS Victory and I quickly stop it before it gets into Earth's atmosphere. I clip my sword to my belt and check my detonators which are all ready for my signal to explode. I then punch in some coordinates on Earth's surface. I quickly hack the code so I am allowed to beam down directly into a scientist's facility.

I quickly see that no one was in the transporter room so I quickly find my way to the library science achieves. I look specifically for any projects on Hybrids. I then access the files and grab all the information that is upon the shelves. I hear alarms go off. I quickly grab the last of the files and stuff them into a bag. I then place all my detonators around the facility and run out an emergency exit when I discover I cannot get out the way I came in.

I emerge into the sunlight and take in my surroundings momentarily. I then start running and I then press a button and the building explodes. Hundreds of scientist researchers are killed and I hardly feel any remorse. What I just did is more merciful than what they have been doing to my people. I gave them a quick death.

I hear sirens and the sound of footfalls behind me. I run even faster. I need to get away now. I look over my shoulder and count at least ten guards after me on foot and there are two on hover-boards. I then see an opportunity to lose them. I take a sharp turn and I jump over the railing. I land two stories down and continue running. I then see a transporter station that can get you to any coordinates that is within a certain distance of Earth.

I see a person who is managing the station and I quickly shove them out of my way and type my ship's code in and I quickly step on the pad. The person is trying to override the signal but it is too late. I see the beams of light that surround me and I am soon standing in the USS Victory. I quickly move to the Captain's chair and punch in coordinates. I watch as the ship goes into warp.

I sit down with a sigh and look through the files. I dedicate the time that I'm in warp learning as much as I can. Every second that I read the information, look at the pictures, or watch the videos, I feel deep boiling hatred in my being. I know that the knowledge will always be burned in my mind. Just like when I saw the Hybrid tortured to death in front of me. Just like watching the twelve closest people die in front of me.

I scowl. The orders for this project were given by the highest leaders of Starfleet. It was so corrupt. Creating lives to use as pawns, as experiments, as slaves, to destroy living, breathing, conscious creatures. I will bring the end of that era. It is time for Hybrids to be able to live without the fear of being destroyed.

It is time to eradicate our oppressors.

When the ship comes out of warp I quickly beam myself down on the planet Kelma. It's pretty much been deserted since it's not so suitable for the old species that lived here. Now the only inhabitants are pirates, scavengers and other rogues. Starfleet pretty much gave up this planet because it wasn't useful to them.

I know that Starfleet wouldn't dare to enter this part of space with an army. Even though it is technically Federation space. They would be destroyed by the pirates. The one thing pirates hate more than anything else is invasion on the little world where they could belong.

But I had a feeling that they would come. Not many, but some would come. They will most likely pose as pirates but they will be easy to pick out of a crowd.

I am in the small town of Jeg'mor. I pick up some supplies I need before there is a loud alert of an attacker I watch as a shadow fall over the city. A decent sized ship appears in the sky. I watch as the various creatures run around in panic and anger, arming themselves with weapons, most of them hide and a few of them actually are ready to challenge the attackers. I see that there are thirty-seven pirates who are willing to go down in a fight.

Five figures beam down at the edge of the city. I watch as the pirates start to charge towards the people from Starfleet. Pirates are so unorganized. They cannot work as a team… Even still the odds would be terrible for the Starfleet officers.

My mind is made up. I hate unfair fights. I take a gun and start firing upon the pirates. The gun I have has only twelve shots before it overheats so I make each shot count. I then go into the fight drawing my sword. I am running through the group and I'm killing them all with ease. I see the horror and they look betrayed. I don't think twice in bringing them down. I can't allow them to kill the people who could possible help me.

I have the makings of an idea in my mind. Perhaps I can turn Starfleet against itself, well more accurately, the cruel leaders. I could maybe bring my people out of persecution.

I look around and count the bodies. There are only eleven left living. I look around for them and I fear that they are harassing the Starfleet officers.

I hear a shriek from the Starfleet woman and it confirms my thoughts. I run back to where I heard the shriek. I quickly see the danger that the girl is in and I eliminate it. I then turn to see the remaining ten pirates coming at the others and I quickly dispatch them with a little help from two men from Starfleet. Well save for the last two. These last pirates were Hybrids too, Romulan Hybrids. Good this fight had been boring, this is my challenge.

I see that the girl is injured and that she has four companions. One of them has a broken arm and the other two are beaten up pretty badly, one is stunned. My attention lasts only a moment on the Starfleet officers. I have more important matters to attend to. I turn and smirk at the Hybrids.

I quickly get into myself into position and I let them make the first move. They both charge me at once and I leap into the air. I land on the taller one's shoulders and smirk as the other one accidentally decapitates his friend. I then land on my feet with a look of satisfaction. I again wait for him to make the first move, which is my first mistake with this one. He is not emotional over his accidental murder of his friend. He is a powerful enemy and his movements are precise. And he hasn't fought except for the last few minutes while I've been fighting for the last ten. My energy is wearing thin which means I must have taken some blows and not have noticed. My speedy reflexes aren't as quick and I find out how badly damaged they were when suddenly my sword is knocked from my grasp. I internally curse myself but I keep a calm exterior. I know that I'm not beaten yet.

He tosses his weapon away and I raise an eyebrow. Interesting. I feel suddenly very confident. It soon becomes a brawl. He of course had the advantage being much larger and heavier than me, but I have a greater intellect and I am stronger than I appear. Within moments both of us are nearly at a standstill. I have his neck secure in my arms with one twist of my hands I can snap his neck but he has his blaster aimed at my heart. I know that I have a slight chance of getting out of this so I take my chances and I snap his neck.

An instant later I feel the pain of a laser entering my body. I fly back and clench my jaw shut too keep myself from screaming. A second later I have got my breath and I stand up shakily. I then look to the humans and Vulcan. I look at the girl and I can tell that she is completely stunned by my fighting skills.

"What are you?"

I don't answer. I just continue to stand where I am. I am exhausted but I refuse to let that show. I am stronger than that. I then point my sword tip in the direction of who I assume the captain is.

"You're looking for me…"

"Yeah… You're under arrest." I stare directly at him and sneer. He then pulls a gun out and aims it at me. I can see that he knows I can easily take him out and the others pull their guns on me but they look doubtful. They fear me. And what I do surprises them.

"I surrender… But I have conditions…" I sheath my sword and move my hands away from it slowly.

"I don't accept!" The girl stands up and walks towards me. I study her and she hits me hard in the face. I merely look at her which seems to tick her off even more. She tries to swing another punch at me but the Vulcan grabs her wrist.

"Lieutenant Uhura… Allow me." I look at Uhura and then to the Vulcan. He then places his hand to my face and I instantly feel his mind starting to peer into mine. I instantly put up defenses in both my mind and I attack him. This surprises him and within a matter of moments I had my arm at his throat effectively pinning him to the wall. Half a second later I felt myself being tackled to the ground.

The woman, Uhura drove her knee into my stomach and she started to punch me. I was weakened from my fight and I was no longer as resilient to damage. I felt bruises forming under my normally perfect skin. My body went into autopilot and I fought back. I quickly used my strength to try and get on top of her and pin her hands. But despite my normal strength she had so much adrenaline and rage fueling her, and she soon got on top of me again and she took the sides of my head and slammed it into the ground. This angers me; that a pitiful human is beating me, and I find a bit of extra strength and I get the upper hand of the fight. My hands are at her throat and I realize what I'm doing so I move my hands from her neck. I quickly pin her wrists down though and glare at her. I refuse to harm her any further because it would harm my cause.

She glares at me but I don't think she'll lash out again. I cautiously get up and then offer her my hand. She smacks it away and pushes herself to her feet.

"Lieutenant…" I say calmly as I dust off my coat and she looks ready to strangle me. I notice that the Vulcan has restrained Uhura by placing his hands on her shoulders.

"Cuff her…" the Captain says and within moments my wrists are in cuffs but I remain calm. I see that everyone has a gun trained on me except for the captain and Uhura, I see that the Vulcan has her weapon.

"Captain will you hear my terms for compliance?"

"I don't need your cooperation," he says.

I raise my eyebrows.

A few minutes later we are beamed aboard a ship and I'm taken directly to sickbay and I'm briefly examined by one of the men that had been beamed up with us. He then orders for me to take a shower so he can see the extent of my damage.

Soon I am back on the table and the doctor examines me again. All of my bruises have faded away by now and the only major injury I have is where I was shot. My shoulder is dark purple but I was lucky to just get a bruise from the velocity I was shot at.

"It's amazing…" the doctor says in shock.

"Isn't it?" I say and I then look to my hands which have healed completely by this point. I wince as he touches my shoulder.

"Here," he says as he stabs a needle into my arm. "It's a pain killer… Don't tell them I gave it to you. Uhura will be ticked and hell has no fury like a woman scorned." He winks in good-natured spirit.

I nod in agreement. The guards then start to drag me down to the prison cells.

I am then tossed in the cell and I watch as the glass comes down. I don't make any move to escape. I just stand still and watch as the guards leave. I look about my cell. Fairly large as far as cells go, and clean. I see a bed along one wall so I sit on it and stare blankly ahead of me.

So far my decision to help them hasn't got me anywhere except imprisoned. But if they can help me I will be imprisoned as long as I need to be without despair…

Thank you for reading! All reviews are appreciated! Special thanks to UniversalIndicator for encouraging me to continue with this idea.

~ Maethorni