Chapter Seven
Meanwhile, several thousands light years away and into Romulan Space, Tomahawk's ships were waiting for the arrival of the USS Galaxy. On board the main ship, Tomahawk was busy explaining his current plans to one of his superiors.
"I know you don't like this plan very much, but it took me 11 hours to convince this brat in the first place to agree to it. I'm not about to back down. It's high time we prove it to them that we are superior to them in many ways. I'm telling you that once our little double agent removes the only obstacle in our path, the ship is ours to take, and I doubt that the rest of the ship could function without their strong willed captain who might be dead at this very moment. Now, I know I haven't heard from her lately but I'm sure she is covering her tracks as I instructed." coyly smiled Tomahawk towards the person on his monitor.
The person frowned and looked at Tomahawk sternly before he spoke, "Tomahawk, please don't ever underestimate them, they escaped from us once, they can do it again you know. On top of it all, this is not the same people you're dealing with; this is a whole new culture that is different from what we know of. I think you're fooling yourself too much and I don't like it one bit. They know, obviously that you're very ambitious and I gather that that "brat" as you refer to him as knows that and will use that against you. Now, it was the suggestions of the board of Admirals that I come to witness this battle so that I know what's really going on instead of hearsay. So, be aware that my ship will be soon departing from Romulas and I will join you within the day. So don't do anything too rashly before I get there."
"Please Admiral; I know what I'm doing. After all you're the one who promoted me to Captain in the first place. Don't worry too much, you always have." berated Tomahawk.
"Very Well Tomahawk, be warned though, failure is not acceptable." signed of the aging admiral.
The screen went blank and returned to their fleet's insignia. Tomahawk smiled at the screen and wondered what was taking his spy so long to contact him. The door beeped and Tomahawk snapped to attention, and barked, " Enter!"
The door swished opened and in enters a young romulan officer; he bowed first and then stepped forward with the data padd and handed it to Tomahawk and stood quietly awaiting any orders. Tomahawk looked at the padd and smiled. Perfect timing he grinned. It was from her, the double agent on board the Galaxy. He looked up to the young officer, "You're dismissed; I will call you in back with a reply to this message after I figure out what will come next."
The young officer bowed once more and turned to leave the room. Tomahawk watched as he left and re read the message again. Carefully going over the details of the message a plan was soon formulating in his mind. His one annoying obstacle was that captain Pieper was dead but another situation still loomed. He had hoped that they would give up upon hearing the devastation of Jaret's death but it was not to be. Apparently, the captain left orders for his first officer to assume the rank and continue onwards despite it all.
Tomahawk leaned back and thought to himself very quietly. He looked down and turned his computer on and started to type out a message. He had a very devious plan and wanted it to be carried out as quickly as possible. Time was of the essence and he didn't know how long it will be before the Galaxy or the Admiral arrives here. He knew better to not mention to the Admiral what he had originally planned. He knew he was going to get what he wanted all along and humiliate the crew of the Galaxy at the same time. It was too bad that it would require him to sacrifice the double agent but it was necessary. Having a person as a double agent will prove problems in the future and double agents are not as trusted as they themselves believe. He quite liked her spunk, but she was very young and very naive and trusted him too easily. That was what he wanted out of her. He also set aside some orders to deal with her when the time comes. Tomahawk smiled, he knew that everything he had wanted will soon be in his grasp. He will show the Admirals what power he has and they will side with him. He knew that he couldn't possibly fail now, for he was way ahead of everyone.
The very next day, the Galaxy had already left Aldrea's orbit and was heading back on their course towards Romulan Space. The tension begins again to build up as everyone is well aware of what will happen in the next few days. Meanwhile in main Engineering, Lisa and John were back to sitting by the console and waiting for a reply to their forged message that they sent to Tomahawk yesterday. Lisa was completely on edge and she got up from her seat and started to pace a bit. John leaned back in his chair and looked at her.
"Relax Lisa, I'm pretty sure we did everything right. There's no way Tomahawk won't know that it wasn't Twyla. Although, it is kind of ironic that we're doing this for tomorrow is April Fools day. This is the next step and I have a feeling that Tomahawk will issue new orders that will involve the Galaxy itself. After all, what Jaret has told us about him, the man is very ambitious and will believe anything that gets handed to him. We are doing the right thing, although I feel a bit nervous doing this."
Lisa turned around from her pacing and looked to him, "April Fools day? What is that? You are not the only one that is nervous. I know that, it's just that I'm not sure how we can pull this off? Seems like Jaret is right, it's high time we have the upper hand. I just don't want my people to suffer for this. Who knows how Tomahawk's going to react to one of his plans going awry. He might decide to hurt them more than he is telling us."
John was about to reply to Lisa's question when his console beeped. He turned to see what it was beeping for and smiled. "Well, it worked and I was right.. Tomahawk issued new orders for us. He wants us to sabotage the ship and he kindly downloaded us a blueprint on how to do it. How nice of him, sending a blueprint to me, the chief engineer of the Galaxy. Now I feel so special. Apparently his plans are that when the Galaxy approaches his ship, after they talk, he will wait for us to go into combat mode. Upon seeing us into combat mode, he will send a code to us that have already been implanted to take down our shields and weapons and transporters. He even sent a virus program to have it installed before hand. The code that he sends us will activate this virus program and apparently we can't do anything about it unless he sends another code to deactivate it. "
"That is one intense plan he has going on. Can we fool their sensors to think that the ship is currently in trouble when the time comes? I mean when he sends his code to us unknowingly?" asked Lisa.
"Sure we can, it will take a bit of effort but we can do it. I can reprogram this virus to actually infect Tomahawk's ship when he sends us that code too. It will just piggyback to him and he won't be aware of it. One good thing about this, when we send that last message to him, I slyly put a non harmful virus within the message. It gave us a copy of their blueprints on their ship too. Including how we can detect their cloaking shields now. I can update the sensors and David will be very happy with me. No more hidden surprises for us. So who wants to do the honors?" asked John as he handed Lisa the data padd that had lined up with suggestions for Jaret.
"Thanks John, I'm sure Jaret will be happy for this report. I will inform him of what you want to do and maybe we can formulate a counter plan to Tomahawk's plans. You still haven't told me what April Fools day is?" laughed Lisa as she took the data padd and headed out of engineering.
"Just ask Jaret or Ryan, I'm sure they can explain it to you!", John couldn't help but laugh too and he got up from his seat and looked around the corner to find that his staff was looking at him funny.. He straightens up his uniform and barked new orders. It was about time to win this battle one way or the other even if it means turning the tables on a guy who had no qualms about cheating to win.
On the bridge, Jaret was having a small meeting with Ryan and he was informing him of the next step of his plans when the door opened and in walked Lisa with the biggest smile on her face. She sat down and handed Jaret the data padd she had. Jaret took it and read it and looked up at Lisa, "I assume John is handling this change on the virus program?"
"Yes he is. In fact, I like what he has suggested but we need to go beyond the next step." Lisa smirked.
Ryan looked at Jaret wondering what was going on till Jaret handed him the data padd, as he read it, he too wondered what the next step is, and "She's got a good point. We got the technical aspects down thanks to John, but there is more to this fight than Tomahawk's is relaying to us."
Jaret shook his head and sighed, "We know that we are going to play a trick on Tomahawk. From what I understand, the moment he sends that code to our main computers to initiate the power failure and everything else that follows will in turn allow him to input his own pass code to control our ship. From what we feared earlier, he got all of the former senior staff's code, but Tomahawk didn't realize that we would have control of the ship by now and that we would've changed everything when we took command of this ship. What helped us though, is that Capt. James feared the same thing and had decided to wipe the computer core of all the pass codes before they left, leaving us to make our own. The Romulans didn't know where the Galaxy was, so that was another of Capt. James intentions. So what we are going to do instead is to simulate the power failure. So when Tomahawk is looking at us, he will think that his virus had activated and that is when we know that Tomahawk has ordered his ship to take themselves into transporter range within us. What he won't know is that we will be ready for that. So our shields will be down, but we will have our security teams deployed in all decks to stun our arrivals. Tomahawk will tell his officers that when they will board, there will be expecting panic but find something quite different. I think we better get
David in on this shall we?"
"Sounds like a good idea. Lt. Dyck, please report to the Captain's ready room" ordered Ryan into his combadge.
A few minutes went by and the door opened to reveal a very tired looking David. He sat down on the nearest couch behind Lisa and Ryan and groaned.
"Busy day?" asked Lisa.
"You wouldn't believe it, but I've been training our security forces in combat drills for the last 2 day and the good news they are better prepared now. I know we are ready. So what's up?" asked David.
"We are planning a surprise for Tomahawk. We have already figured out what we can do to counter his plans towards us. You'll laugh at this David, guess what he did? He actually replied to our message thinking it was from his spy. Then he proceeded to spill the beans to us without his knowledge. He wants a power failure as soon as he sends a code that will activate a virus in our computer, when that happens, we lose everything, weapons, shields, Transporters. So instead we are going to pull the wool over Tomahawk's eyes. They will board via transporter by their vessels and the moment they do, we throw our back shields on trapping their people on board us, and that will of course catch them off guard on the Romulan vessel. Meanwhile, John would by then piggyback the virus and code back to Tomahawk's ship, we will have our security teams on stand by on each deck and they'll be armed. While Lisa and John are in their computer, their weapons, transporters and shields will be useless while ours will remain online. We will deal with Tomahawk while his people are in the brig. So better get the brigs ready but make sure they're far away from Twyla's brig, I don't want any altercation to occur while we're in the midst of this. The less she knows and the less they know, will be better off for us all. During all this, John by then, will have updated your sensors for you, we can now detect their cloaking shields just in case Tomahawk had decided to expand on his plans for us. We might not no the full extent of his plans, but we know the more crucial aspects of it and we can plan according to It.", explained Jaret to David.
David whistled softly and he nodded, "Sounds like a plan. So does that mean we are going to board his ship once we get everything under control here?"
" I don't think that is wise, not when Tomahawk's got hostages on board his ship and they are way to vulnerable.", pointed out Ryan.
"Good point Ryan, the retrieval of the hostages also comes first. Since I was on board their ship and we have the schematics of the Tomahawk's ship from him, we can transport the survivors Aldrea to our ship. A few of them will need immediate medical attention and all but once they're on board, we can hail Tomahawk, and talk to him. He will not be happy but I don't think he'll do anything foolish. Who knows. While I talk to him, we will open the lines to the other ships so they know what's going on and not take any steps towards us. They're not responsible, but Tomahawk is though.", replied Jaret strongly.
The three of them understood what Jaret meant. They all sighed and looked at Jaret for anything else he had for them. Jaret closed his eyes, feeling very tired and leaned back in his chair. He opened his eyes and nodded his dismiss them. The others nodded and got up from their seats and left the Ready Room. Jaret watched them leave and once the door swished closed he went to his computer and turned the monitor on. Punched in a few buttons and activated his captain's log and started to log everything up this moment. He didn't mention to them that he had recorded a message just in case the Galaxy was destroyed. The moment it was, a probe would be launched to carry the message back to Earth. He considered it one last act as Captain and wanted to let the parents of his crew know what happened to them. He didn't want to be that cruel to them or allow fate to be cruel. He figured that if he let them know that the invasion would be on its way, perhaps it would be better if they know about it and stand a better chance being prepared for it.
During all of this meeting with some of the senior officers, the Galaxy sped quickly to their pre-arranged coordinates. Soon, they will cross the border of the Romulan Empire and decide who is fated is to win. The crew of the Galaxy awaits their eventual victory or their deaths, but with courage in their hearts and no fear. Many of the senior's officers made plans to prepare their staffs and to keep things ready for their trick against Tomahawk.
It was two days later when the Galaxy suddenly slowed to a slow pace. Then they've dropped out of high warp and stopped. There ahead of the Galaxy were five Romulan warbirds awaiting the arrival of the Galaxy. Once within sensor range, the four of the warbirds drifted off towards the outside of the designated battle ground. Tension increased on both ships for both crew were well ready for what lies ahead.
On the bridge of the Tomahawk's ship, Tomahawk was grinning quite broadly. He waited so long for this confrontation. As he looked to one of his tactical officers, " Hail the Galaxy!"
"Aye sir!", acknowledged the tactical officer.
Back on the bridge of the Galaxy, Ryan was sitting in the Captain's chair yet again while Tressa was busily putting something on his collar of his uniform. He winced when she finally finished her task.
"I hate doing this again Tressa. Here I am, playing the role of captain again. Why is it that I'm always in charge here? I haven't seen Jaret sit in this chair for longer than 25 minutes.", growled Ryan.
Tressa laughed quietly and patted his shoulder in reassurance, "This is just for today and please considered this a practice round when it will be you one day that will be a true captain. What better way to prepare oneself for this task. Besides, we are just doing this as part as our plan to fool Tomahawk's intention towards us. Just remain calm."
"Sir, Tomahawk's ship is hailing us.", alerted David.
Ryan rolled his eyes and sat up straighter in the chair before replying to David, "Very well, so it begins. Bring him onscreen."
The main viewer switch from the star filled screen to the bridge of a sneering Tomahawk's face. Tomahawk looked at Ryan like he was inspecting him for a moment before he spoke.
" To whom do I have the pleasure of taking to? I want Capt. Pieper!" snarled Tomahawk while he feigned ignorance.
"My name is Capt. Ryan Livingston and I'm sorry to inform you, Capt. Pieper was killed in action 6 days ago following a fatal injury. I am now in charge." Ryan gritted through his teeth while he was trying his hardest to remain calm. He didn't like this guy and he knew it, Tomahawk wasn't fooled by his face.
"Please accept my condolences for your loss Capt. Livingston. Now, since he has passed on, my agreement with him is now null and void. Perhaps we could come to a new agreement about our situation?", Tomahawk continued to feign his ignorance of what was really going on.
Ryan winced and shook that emotion off his face before Tomahawk saw it, and shook his head sternly before speaking to Tomahawk, " Sorry Tomahawk, your agreement with Jaret still stands. As to per his orders after his death, he left us his last will and testament and in it, he orders me to continue the agreement that he made with you. So, I'm here to tell you, we are going to honor his wishes and fight one on one with you."
"I see, then if that is what you wish, I pray that you have notified your families of your untimely demise.", accepted Tomahawk as a grin broke out on his face.
Upon seeing that grin on Tomahawk's face, Ryan got mad, " Who says we are going to meet our demise?", retorted Ryan hotly.
The screen flickered off in the next instant. Ryan turned to David behind him, and nodded.
"Let's get ready. Ryan to Jaret, its April Fools time.", snickered Ryan happily.
For once, things looked like it was going in the right direction. God knows, he had enough of the excitement the last 11 days for him. He shook his thoughts off and took his phaser out of his pocket and checked it to make sure that it was still on the right setting. It was time to put his game face on.
Jaret was several rooms down by engineering. John and a few security officers were stationed in main engineering on the off chance that it would be targeted by Tomahawk's people. Once he heard Ryan informing him that it was time. He knew that John was going to time the suppose' power failure with David on the bridge. He also noticed that the security team was checking their phaser rifles to make sure it was on the right settings. That gave Jaret the time to look down on his hand phaser and noted that it was set to stun.
In Medic Bay, Tammy having already been informed by Jaret and Ryan what they were going to do once the battle starts was ready for any casualties. She had all of her staff on duty and had all the supplies ready. John thankfully got the medical replicators fixed so they had lots of supplies on hand to deal with any possible situation. She had a high hopes in her staff that they were just as ready as she was. Everyone was fitted with phasers too just in case they get any uninvited intruders.
Again in Main engineering, John stared at his console very carefully and had his hands poised over one or several buttons, so that as soon as Tomahawk's code would appear before his eyes on his monitor, he can immediately shut down main power to make it look like the ship was having problems.
Back on the Bridge, Ryan still seated in the Captain's chair finally issued out orders, "Red alert, raise the shields and arm the weapons, this should give Tomahawk the go to send us his command only we will be ready for him. Lisa in the meantime, as soon as John gives you the go ahead, get inside their computers and get their weapons and shields offline along with their transporters. I don't want to take any chances. What about those four ships?"
Lisa looked at her sensor readings before replying, "Those four ships are still hanging outside the assigned combat zone, so I'm hoping Tomahawk doesn't decide to call on them for their assistance once he realizes what's going on. Don't worry, I'll get inside their computers and have them at our feet before they know it. Transporters are standing by with me so we can get the hostages out. Medic bay is also on stand by to receive them as well. I say, we're ready than ever.", muttered Lisa.
Once David heard what Lisa said about the other ships, he smiled. Thank to John's upgrades on the sensors, he knows there are no cloaked ships hanging about, and so he punched in his command to raise the shields and weapons. He hoped that would make Tomahawk immediately send his code. Good thing he spilled the beans two days ago… and they were ready.
Several minutes ticked by slowly and then the power started to fluctuate. He made sure that their sensors will register that they have no shields or weapons in the meantime and he noticed that Tomahawk's vessel closed the gap between the two of them. He smiled to himself and knew what was next in store.
"Here it goes. We have intruders on deck 36, 34, 33, 5 and we have some coming our way!" warned David. Soon the sound of a transporter beam could be heard on the bridge. Several security officers were waiting for the arrival of their guest and were ready to stun them once the transport cycle was complete.
"I've piggybacked the code back to Tomahawk's vessel, Lisa you have the go ahead to root around in their computers. David, it's all yours!" announced John through the comlink.
Ryan jumped out of his chair as he noticed that the arrival of Romulan soldiers were appearing right in front of him, he got his hand phaser ready. As soon as the transport cycle was finished, the Romulan soldiers took aim on the bridge crew only to find out
that their weapons were not working.
"Oh by the way, surprise!" grinned Ryan as he stunned the first soldier down while the rest of the security team stunned the rest of the group. The small parties of 6 were down on the ground, stunned. Their weapons noisily clattered to the floor. Ryan put away his phaser while he looked at David to get any further reports.
"We got reports coming in from those decks, our guest are being handled quite nicely. No injuries reported on either sides, but our guests are going to be in one lousy mood when they realize they've been tricked." smirked David.
"Get those shields and weapons back online, its time to finish this on our terms! John, get the subspace loop ready to transmit, from looking at Lisa's flying fingers, it won't be long before Tomahawk starts yelling at his own people for having ship wide problems." Ryan chuckled as he bends down to the stunned Romulan party and took their weapons away from them and handed them to the nearest security officer.
Lisa could be heard muttering to herself, "Just about there, how do you like that Tomahawk! Payback time!"
Meanwhile in Main engineering, John was busily helping Lisa out by disarming the Romulan soldier's weapons when the arrived here and they maintained their false sense of power failure to the Romulan vessels sensors. He grinned as he saw that Lisa finally finished her task.
"John, how long?", asked Jaret when he finally finished talking to his security officers about their unconscious guests.
"Oh, any minute now. You might want to get to the bridge by now, so you can tell Tomahawk himself that he failed. I'll be transmitting the conversation to the other Romulan Warbirds so they know what's going on." informed John as he turned to Jaret and ushered him out of main engineering.