A Universe of Change: Realized Probability
Disclaimer: see chapter one.
Author's Notes: Hope u enjoy this.
Summary: The Enterprise C and D blunder into the borderland between the Scarren Empire and The Peacekeepers. This fic is a part of AlbertG's Ruinations series and has been written with his express permission.
Chapter 8 Developments
Crichton and Aeryn remained stone-faced, past the straight-laced Peacekeepers, past the roles of techs and other personnel who were, thanks to Grayza's orders, too frightened to even look their way. The commandant's orders were explicit, as were her threats; leave them both alone on pain of excruciating death.
The two entered their borrowed Scarren shuttle, sealed the hatch and started their return trip to Katratzi and the very heart of the Scarren Empire. Both of them were still somewhat in shock by the recent events.
"Frell me! How long do you think we can keep this up?" Aeryn asked, finally allowing her surprise at this turn of events to show through her normally stoic exterior.
"I have no idea," admitted John. "But it couldn't have happened at a better time. This gives us some leverage that we didn't know we had." His mind was racing with the possibilities in front of him. "With Commandant Cleavage scared to death that we 'Humans' may swoop in and wipe out her little Nazi organization," he continued, "she'll keep our little secret and I'm going to milk this for all it's worth!"
Aeryn's mind turned away from the Peacekeepers and to their new 'friends', "John, I know they told us about this, but…I never believed them," she admitted.
"You and me both sunshine but you saw the same video I did…they really took out a Scarren dreadnaught and Peacekeeper spies had a ring-side seat to the whole thing. This does put a new light on things, doesn't it? I think we need to have a little talk with Mr Intimidation, as soon as we get back…"
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Back in Katratzi's conference room, War Minister Ahkna stared at the dark skinned Sebaceanoid male (the heat she could see he was giving off showed conclusively that he was not a Sebacean) in front of her standing next to the Luxan Crichton had brought with him as security. She wondered when this creature had joined Moya's crew…and why. Either way, this one and the other spotted one were an enigma; something she needed to investigate…and something that could prove dangerous if not dealt with soon.
Boldly, as was her right, she walked up to the trio. "You…who are you? Why do work with Crichton and the others?" she asked boldly.
Sisko stared at her contemptuously, her arrogant and intimidating stare having no effect on him, "I am Commander Benjamin Sisko, and it's none of your business."
She eyed him speculatively. His bio-signature was uncannily similar to John Crichton's; however, there were some differences. He wasn't some mutated Sebacean either and neither was the spotted one. "What planet are you from?" she asked.
"Earth," he responded indifferently.
Ahkna froze, Earth?! He was human?! She thought in shock. She gathered herself quickly and tried to see the truth behind his words with her telepathic abilities.
She received another shock when her telepathic power was blocked.
She gathered her self and eyed him speculatively. "Impossible Crichton is the only human to have left his homeworld," Ahkna said. "Who are you really?" she quickly demanded.
Sisko stared at her indifferently.
Ahkna's eyes narrowed, "Indeed. Perhaps I need to find some new sources…" she said slowly in a menacing tone.
Sisko gave her a small saccharine smile, "Perhaps."
She stared at him a bit more and then turned and walked away. Her mind reeling with possibilities and listing intelligence officers that she was going to have to execute for this lapse in intelligence. She thought idly perhaps Scorpious knows more about this? She nodded as she walked yes, yes; it was time to talk to her favourite prisoner before Crichton came back with that foolish bomb of his.
The moment she was out of the door, she ordered her security guards to watch them carefully. Somehow, these people had managed to find and disable all of the audio and video plants within the conference room. That spoke of considerable knowledge that could be of use to the empire.
Inside the Suite, Sisko shared a look with Dargo, "Very friendly, isn't she?"
Dargo stared at him for a moment before snorting, "I'm starting to think you are what you say you are, you humans have such a knack at understating things…come on Rygel is waiting for us."
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Ten minutes later, the war minister found herself in front of her favourite pet. The pain Scorpious was exhibiting was excruciating, exactly the way Ahkna liked it. He was strung up like a puppet, dozens of wounds leaked blood onto the flood. His torturer, Stark, was pleased by his condition, Pleased at his condition herself, Ahkna touched one of the wounds on his face and licked the blood off of her fingers.
"You bleed so wonderfully," she cooed. "It's a shame that I can't have it all. However, for some reason, the Emperor seems to like you alive so I must indulge him for a little while longer. Does it hurt?"
"-Just the way I like it," the half Scarren-half Sebacean managed to gasp defiantly. "You pleasure me well. It makes me think of you every time I'm tortured. Oh, the wonderful times we could have together."
"I shall make sure your fantasy continue to the best of my ability, Scorpious," she told him sweetly. "As you said, John Crichton did come."
"Does that matter?" she asked. Gently, almost lovingly, she used her fore claw to trace a ring of blood around his throat. Scorpious moaned in half pleasure and pain as more blood spilled.
"You do that so nicely. It's a shame that I can't return the favour."
The howling coming from Scorpious made her spine shiver in pleasure as she left him to the tender mercies of his tormentor.
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Accompanying Rygel and Dargo on their part of the mission was most illuminating for Commander Sisko; he hadn't thought that the small frog like Hynerian could be so manipulative. In fact, Sisko had seen worse performances from Starfleet Intelligence officers.
He and Dargo stood at the back of the Charrids' gathering room watching as Rygel worked his magic on the Charrid leader, to drive the wedge between the Charrids and Kalish in deeper and deeper.
Dargo nudged Sisko quietly, "Crichton wants to talk to you in the conference room."
Sisko looked at him and asked curiously, "Did he say what about?"
Dargo shook his head.
"Fine, tell him I'll be there momentarily," Sisko told Dargo; though he would have liked to stay and watch Rygel finish his machinations.
Sisko walked out of the smoky room and carefully made his way back to the conference all the while giving any person that crossed his path a dark intimidating stare as Crichton had suggested to him previously.
He reached the conference room and found Aeryn and Crichton waiting for him with pensive looks on their faces. Sisko looked between the one and the other before carefully saying, "You wanted to talk to me?"
"Yeah, we just came back from our meeting with Commandant Cleavage, it was interesting…to say the least," John began softly.
Sisko raised an eyebrow and said when Crichton didn't continue, "And?"
"I apologize," Aeryn said to Sisko. "I didn't fully believe what you said about destroying a Scarren dreadnaught. I believe you now."
"What changed your mind?" Sisko asked, surprised by this change in opinion.
"The Peacekeepers recorded the battle. They've always believed that Earth is not advanced enough to travel in space…because it's true. But your little show changed their minds."
"You scared Commandant Cleavage so much that she offered us unconditional pardons." John leaned forward conspiratorly with an amused smile on his face, "She begged me not to sic our Earth ships on her. When she finds out the truth, she is going to be one pissed off puppy. So we need to find Scorpy and get the hell out of dodge as soon as possible," he finished urgently.
Sisko looked at John holding at bay his anger at this ruse that Crichton had perpetrated without so much as a heads up-especially as the two Federation ships had such a pivotal role in the deception.
"So how goes the negotiations?" John asked not seeing Sisko's darkening mood.
Sisko held his ire back and reminded himself; they needed Crichton and the others more than they needed them, "The Dominar seems to have matters well in hand." Sisko paused for second before pulling out his tricorder, "If we need to find this Scorpious so quickly, why don't you tell me what species he is, I might be able to scan for him."
John stared at the device. Aeryn glared at the device as well.
"You're telling me you can find Scorpious with that device?" Aeryn asked sceptically.
"Tell me something about him and I should be able to find him," Sisko retorted confidently.
John shared a glance with Aeryn before shrugging, "He's half Sebacean like Aeryn and half Scarren. He looks humanoid but maintains a high body temperature."
Sisko stared at them for a second before replying slowly, "Interesting…combination," especially considering that a Scarren/Sebacean breeding is about as likely as a Gorn/Human breeding, he added mentally, "It will take a few minutes. I'll need to filter out the Scarrens and then all Sebaceans." He manipulated the controls of the tricorder for a few minutes. "Now I'll filter out the Hynerian, the Nebari, Kalish, and Charrids. Okay I have few possibles that fit our profile's target."
"Where are they located?" asked John eagerly.
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Elsewhere in the galaxy, Jothee, the estranged son of Ka Dargo was investigating strange readings that their ship had picked from an uninhabited system.
He piloted his cloaked Luxan Penetrator cautiously at low Hetch into the system looking for the source of his readings; he passed by lifeless gas giants and through a couple of asteroid fields before the ship neared the source of the strange signals.
"Contact," spoke the Luxan sensor officer.
"Where?" demanded Jothee immediately.
"10 degrees to port," came the other Luxans answer.
Jothee shifted the ship and found himself looking at the wreckage of a green vessel the likes of which he had never seen before. He could see that at one time the ship had had two wings and a long neck that extended from a compact body but all that remained now was a crumpled body and broken remains of one wing and the head. He then quickly went to work scanning the ship and trying to find a match for it in his database.
"It's lifeless," Jothee said as the results of his scans begin returning.
"Whatever happened to it, it took one hell of a beating," commented one of the watching Luxans.
"A better question would be is whatever did this to it still here?" commented Jothee darkly to the others under his command. "Eyes sharp," he warned the sensor officer as he warily scanned the debris field that once been a ship. Jothee's console beeped and he looked down. His eyes widened, there was a second ship out and this one was still active, though power readings were fluctuating wildly.
"Stand by everyone, we've got a second ship insystem!" he ordered as he turned towards where the other ship was.
As the second ship came into view, he immediately noticed the similarities between it and the destroyed ship, albeit this one was much larger and menacing. The warrior in Jothee admired the skill and precision that had gone into creating the unknown bird-like vessel.
Jothee eyed it warily, keeping his approach slow and cautious. As they got closer, he could see that this ship wasn't unscarred either.
Again, Jothee wondered what exactly had gone on in this system…and more importantly, who were these interlopers?
"Computer can't identify them Cleaver," one of his subordinates reported, cutting into Jothee's thoughts.
Jothee took in the information in his stride; he continued to watch the ship for a few more microts.
His mind turned inwards towards the ramifications of this encounter, could this be a first contact with a new species? And if it was, were they hostile or could he meeting a new ally? Considering that the computer couldn't recognize the ship, it meant that most likely neither could the Peacekeepers. True they had a mutual protection treaty but the Luxan government didn't trust them, and neither did the average Luxan as well.
The wheels in Jothee's head continued to turn as the worst and best case scenarios of this encounter passed through his conscious mind.
Should he decloak and introduce themselves? Or should he continue to watch them silently?
Jothee snorted at that second option, he was a warrior and a Luxan warrior at that he was no Scorvian spy that sulked about in the shadows!
What was it that Crichton had once told him?
Ah, yes, fortune favours the bold…
Jothee took a deep breath, "Prepare to decloak!"
Author's Notes: Hope you like this chapter, as always Read, Enjoy and Review!
