"Sir!"
As expected the young woman drew her arm up crisply. Upper arm parallel to the ground; forearm at a forty-five degree angle, fingertips touching the edge of her right eyebrow. A clean sweep, the paragon of a soldier.
"At ease."
And her arm fell smoothly to her side again.
"Captain, I have completed all the assigned drills. May I ask for another job?"
His eyebrow twitched mirthfully. For all his experience, he would always have a jovial nature.
"That's enough for today," he replied with a nod. "That's a record, then – good on you."
Captain Jerrick Amador was young; how young, she couldn't say. Definitely older than herself, though, and it showed.
"Actually," he reconsidered, casting her a thoughtful glance. "I want you to come with me on a scouting mission. Van, too – bring him over for me."
She nodded, ever obedient. Jerrick smiled faintly.
"Thank you, Talya."
"Of course."
And she was striding down the corridors. She had questions, of course, but she never voiced them.
Unlike Van.
Called Vanni by those who had worked with him before – a friendly shortening of Vanguard – the lean young man was always the first to volunteer for everything. His sense of duty was like the stubble on his chin – impossible to miss and completely characteristic of him.
At the moment he was putting a rather large box of ammunition into one of the supply closets, movements quick and fluid, as a soldier's should be.
"Vanguard," Talya called.
He turned around quickly, his mouth pulling upwards at the corners.
"Yes'm," he called back. He jogged over to her, eyebrows raised. "You need something?"
She nodded, and inclined her head. Follow me. Vanni got the message and fell into step beside her.
"What are we doing?" he asked, eyes scanning the space in front of him. "Come on, you never invite me to walk with you. It's Captain Jerrick, isn't it?"
Talya glanced at him. She nodded.
"Uh-huh. Knew it."
They walked in silence for a few more seconds before Vanni had to speak again.
"What's going on with you, Catalya?"
"Excuse me?"
And there it was. The faintly perplexed look she wore when someone asked her something personal out of the blue and they were not Captain Jerrick.
At any rate, Talya blinked and tilted her head a little.
"Nothing of importance," she answered. She paused, then nodded, as if satisfied with her answer. "Is there anything relevant happening in your life?"
He smirked a bit.
"Depends on your definition of 'relevant,' kid. But… nah. Nothing real interesting has been going on lately. Hopefully that changes today!"
Sometimes Talya thought she rather liked Vanni. Other times she wasn't so sure.
"There you are, Vanni. Talya's quick."
She definitely did like Jerrick, though. Perhaps that came of her years of knowing him.
"Captain Jerrick," Vanni greeted.
Jerrick offered him a grin, and with a sort of snap jumped to the point of attention.
"Alright – you two. I want you both to accompany me on a scouting mission. The details are a little hazy. As you know, we don't like trespassers."
"Two were shot down as soon as they broke atmo last month," Vanni reported helpfully. "One of 'em anon, one of 'em Romulan."
"Right." Jerrick gave Vanni a nod. "And as you also know, as of two weeks ago, our techies have given us a serious advantage over a lot of other civilizations with the new scanning technologies. That said…" He trailed off. His face grew hard. "There's another ship heading this way. Large one. Looks like a flagship, even. Definitely not low-tech like what we get sometimes. You two are some of the best, and so I want you with me when we take them down."
Take them down. Talya knew those words well, of course. It was quite literally what she lived for – defense by offense.
Simultaneously, she and Vanni nodded.
"When are we starting?"
Jerrick met Vanni's question gracefully.
"What better time than the present, Van?"
The Spectre was not a passenger ship. It was not large, or spacious.
But it was lightweight, had a fantastic cloaking device and warping capabilities, only demanded a small crew of at least three – and was completely loaded with devastating weapons.
What more could they need to kill a ship?
Captain Jerrick and his aids were in the cockpit at the moment, discussing the plan of action. Talya hung back at the doorway, adhering to the two-person maximum occupancy rule.
"This guy's not a big one, but he is a quick one. Sharp. Dangerous. I think all we'd really need is a few clean sweeps across port and starboard, guns blazing…"
Jerrick's eyes were expressive when he wanted them to be, and right now they looked a deadly shade of Uranus blue.
"A couple hits and the shields would be trashed. A couple more and they'd be floundering. A couple more and they'd be sitting in the critical position and we'll have one of the larger ships warp over and pull them back through atmo–"
"And from there we let gravity crack 'em like an egg," Vanni finished.
"Though it would be important to remember…" Talya spoke up, gaze flaring over the console, "that it should take such a large ship only one or two direct hits to bring the Spectre down."
"Right." Jerrick nodded. "So we need to move fast, act faster, and get out of there Godspeed."
"Yes sir."
"Okay."
Jerrick stood, running an eye over the other two. His lips were pressed together as he cast a glance behind him, almost as if looking back at their planet.
"We have their general coordinates – let's catch them blind."
Captain James Tiberius Kirk was confident that this particular exploration would go well. The planet they'd been headed towards was quite Earthlike in nature, with a bit less water and a bit more green-and-brown. No polar caps whatsoever. There wasn't much information on it, either.
Well, not yet.
Kirk was going to see to that, though.
"Hold on to your hats, you two," Captain Jerrick breathed. He leaned forward ever so slightly.
"Sir."
"Ready when you are, cap'n," Vanni tossed lightly over his shoulder.
Jerrick squared his shoulders, ready for anything and everything. Ready and more than able to hit the ground running.
And that was why, at only twenty-four and a half years old, he was one of the best captains their planet had.
"Engage."
They say hindsight is 20/20.
Of course, in hindsight, something would go wrong.
It always did. Whether it was Kirk's bad luck or that of the Enterprise, no one was really sure.
The spacecraft came out of nowhere – barely a ripple in space heralded its arrival. The Enterprise's scanners barely picked anything up.
But everyone felt the dramatic quaking as the flagship took an Incredible Hulk hit to starboard.
"Sir, there appears to be a single stealth craft circling around for another hit," Sulu reported dutifully, his eyes never leaving the screen he was studying. "Its intentions are hostile."
"Couldn't tell," Kirk replied quickly. He searched the view he had of the great unknown with a sharp, wary eye. That came out of nowhere, for absolutely no reason.
"Can we take it out?"
Spock glanced rather sharply at his captain.
"That would be rather illogical, taking into consideration the fact that we have not even attempted to establish contact."
Kirk opened his mouth ready with a witty rebuttal – only another hit, more direct this time, rendered him silent and grasping for balance. The Enterprise seemed to let out a soft groan of protest under this random fire.
And there it was – just a glimpse, easily written off as imaginary. But everyone saw it, leaned forward a bit.
"Was that it?" Kirk asked quietly. The silver flash wasn't enough for a complete analysis, but what else could it be? "It's not even twice the size of a shuttle."
He turned to the crew, sitting at their consoles.
"Open all hailing frequencies," he ordered, "Let's talk to them."
"Jerrick. They're hailing us."
The captain paused, for a second looking as confused as Vanni sounded, as Talya felt.
"No one ever tries to establish communication," she pointed out quietly.
Jerrick was completely silent. Considering.
"Is there a significant tactical advantage to answering?"
"Besides getting to know the enemy?" Vanni asked. "Is it worth showing them our faces?"
"There's a simple remedy for that." Talya tossed Vanni and Jerrick a helmet each before pulling on her own, concealing her face with the visor.
"That's my girl," Jerrick breathed. He looked over his two friends.
"Put it on screen?" Vanni asked.
A second.
"Not yet. Test their patience, first. They'll make mistakes."
"No response, Captain," Uhura reported.
"Oh. Great."
Kirk's reply was slightly muffled by another hit to the shields.
"Shields at 21 percent, sir."
The captain braced himself on his chair.
"Real great."
He met Spock's eyes with an eyebrow raised a bit.
"It's my turn now, Spock. Alright?"
The Vulcan gave a sort of reluctant nod.
"What do you intend to do?"
Kirk squared his jaw.
"Kill the ship."
It was when the attempts at communication stopped that the Spectre's crew got antsy. It meant they were preparing to respond in kind to their attacks.
Speed, Jerrick reminded himself. Speed was the key.
They swept around in a clean arc.
"How many more, Vanni?" he asked.
"Think this one'll do her in," the tactical officer replied. He scanned over the image of the damaged ship. There was a regretful spark in his eyes. "Shame we're taking this one down. She's a beauty."
"She is," Jerrick agreed. "Gathering information, Van?"
"Yessir."
Talya leaned forward. Her light eyes studied the other ship.
"Enterprise," she read.
Jerrick straightened. "Oh, I'm stupid."
"What for, Cap?" Vanni's eyebrows jumped a bit.
The captain rubbed a hand over his face, his lips quirking into a troubled smile-grimace. "Oh, crap. The Enterprise, Vanni. We've heard of this one."
"USS Enterprise," Talya amended. Now Vanni caught on.
"Aw, crud. That's… that's Starfleet, isn't it." His voice was flat. "Out here? Now?"
"We were always told to watch out for them," Jerrick murmured. "Who knows what kind of destruction they'll cause?"
"'A formidable enemy,'" Talya quoted from the textbooks, "'who have clashed with the Fourth Collective in a costly and devastating battle centuries ago. Since the Clash Starfleet has not been able to locate our people; and yet the military must be on guard, for bloodthirsty tenacity is Starfleet's motto.'"
"Dramatic," Vanni murmured. "This is them, then?"
"Right." Jerrick was strangely pensive. A strange gleam danced in his irises. "Bring it down."
"Yes, sir."
And that was when things went horribly wrong.
"Got a lock on them?"
"As good as we can get, sir."
"How accurate is the estimate on their location, Spock? Will we hit them?"
"By my calculations, a successful blow is 86.15% certain."
"Good enough for me. Alright. On my count, fire."
"Yes, sir."
Talya was quick. Nothing escaped her notice. She had a reputation for her observational skill.
But in this case, everything happened so fast that it was a blur even for her.
Sirens wailed and the world quaked violently. Vanni fell out of his seat and Jerrick slammed his head nastily on the console.
"Captain!" the word tore out of her mouth even as she gripped tight to the back of Vanni's chair, even as her mind figured it out.
We've been hit, we've been hit, her brain screamed irrationally, over and over and over, we're hit, we're damaged, we've been hit, we've beenhithithit -
And suddenly Jerrick was standing, a couple red rivulets making their way down from his hairline. His eyes were stony as he helped Vanni up.
"They hit us," she heard him mutter to himself. "Crap."
"Can we bring them in?"
"Yes, sir. Locking on."
"Excellent. Beam them into the shuttlebay. Mr. Scott, how's she doing?"
"Shields're badly damaged, and the dilithium's overheatin' a bit, Cap'n. 'M goina need some time to sort her out."
"Well, get on it. We're having visitors."
"They've got us in a chokehold, Cap," Vanni rumbled, face troubled.
"We're not going down without a fight," Jerrick replied calmly. The gleam was back in his eyes, though, and as the Spectre was drawn into the Enterprise, Talya recognized the look as pure dread laced with a grin.
"Talya, Vanni, you're both alright?" he asked next.
"I've sustained insignificant damage," Talya replied quietly.
"You're one to talk, Jerrick," Vanni said. "I've only got a bruise. You cut your head open."
"It's not as bad as it looks," the captain reassured them. Talya passed him a strip of gauze and medical tape anyway. He smiled despite the situation.
"Catalya," he said, "I need you to grab some weapons. Arm yourself and bring some toys for us. Some sub-macs, if you find enough ammo, some knives and a few grenades. You know what, bring whatever we can hide on ourselves. And sub-macs, for the opening show."
"Aye."
She left the cockpit.
"Van, I need you to start brainstorming with me. We need to do as much damage as possible before we become prisoners of war – because that's where we're headed. Head up, Vanni Beck, and breathe deep - 'cause these are the last moments we're spending as free and proud soldiers of the Collective."
Vanni swallowed thickly. He gripped his captain's hand roughly in a display of loyalty, jaw setting.
"Yeah. Let's give them a thrashing."
"Sulu, you have the bridge."
"Yes, sir."
"Spock, Uhura, you're with me. Bones, you come too. Time to meet these guys."
"We're likely in their shuttlebay, sir," Talya murmured. She held her submachine gun with a practiced ease, shoulders straight and entire frame ready.
The two men at her sides were equally prepared for action. Silence settled over everything; even outside there was a tense wait.
Then one of the Enterprise people spoke.
"This is Captain Kirk of the USS Enterprise," his voice came. The three inside tensed. "Show yourselves."
"I'll go first," Jerrick said. "You two…cover me. Please. Don't get hurt."
"You either." "Aye."
He opened the Spectre's doors in one quick burst, and, sub-mac at the ready and head held high, Captain Jerrick Amador walked into the lion's den.
I'm doing it, guys! I'm happy!
How is it so far? Coherent, I hope.
Is everyone in character? Any questions?
Thanks for reading, dears, you're fantastic!