A's N: This story is set the universe created in Where She Belongs so if you haven't read that you might want too. Of course I don't own anything this is all for fun and enjoyment. Please take the time to review :)
Some time in the Future
The desert wind blew harshly against porcelain skin already reddened by the high scorching sun. It blew strands of red hair from it's tightly woven braid and coated the red and black uniform that the woman wore in flecks of flesh cutting grains of sand. The Captain reached for the last remaining hand hold of the cliff, using all the strength in her upper body to pull herself onto the small plateau. She could see him running towards his waiting shuttle and knew that if she was going to get to him before he got there she would need to act quickly. As soon as she had her full body pulled over the lip of the plateau the Captain lunged at the man she and her people had been tracking down for the last four months.
The man, who carried a bundle wrapped in rags beneath his arm, turned just in time to see the red haired Captain's hands gripping for his prize. He only had moments to set the bundle aside before he engaged the woman, so in one fluid movement the man placed the bundle on a rock as he threw out his left leg. The kick to her chest sent the Captain stumbling backwards for a moment, which gave the man time to counter her attack. With all his force he charged her as he grunted angrily. He barreled into her, wrapping his arms around her tiny frame, sending them both to the ground. He pinned her to the ground and snarled at her, their faces mere inches from each other, he struck her and then reached for the knife in his waist belt The Captain was able to use this small opening of time to kick him off her, sending him backwards into a bolder. She scrambled to her feet as fast as she could and then once again lunged for him hitting him with all her might square in the face. The man stumbled back into the bolder behind him, and the Captain reached out grabbing him by the hair and sending his skull into the rock.
Dazed, the man growled in anger and lunged forward wrapping his hands around the Captain's neck. He squeezed with every ounce of strength he had causing the Captain's knees to weaken beneath her. She grabbed hold of his fore arms and held tightly as everything began to get fuzzy, and then suddenly she pulled back sending herself hurling to the ground backwards. Releasing her hold on his arms she pushed with all her might with both her hands and feet, sending the man sailing over her. Quickly she got back to her feet and seeing her chance she hurried over to the wrapped bundle.
The air sizzled all around her and she could hear the distinct whine of an energy weapon just before discharge. She felt the hairs on the back of her neck sizzle long before she felt the impact of the phaser blast on the small of her back. The Captain sank to her knees and gripped for her own weapon just before the sudden and sharp pain roared from the spot where the butt of his weapon made contact with her skull. The Captain fell forward, throwing out her hands to stop her fall, her eyes closed involuntarily. She could hear his laugher.
"Nice try Captain." She could feel his closeness but couldn't get her body to react as she felt the darkness surrounding her. "I have all the information I need and now I have the means to accomplish my goals."
He grabbed her by the hair and yanked her head up forcing her to look him in the eyes. "I'd say that I would see you when I got back but if all goes well you won't be here when I return." He reached down and kissed her hard on the lips, breaking the heat blistered skin. When the kiss was over he kicked her hard sending her crumbling to the ground. "It was fun my petite. No hard feelings?"
She lifted her head and looked him right in his cold dark eyes and then spit at him before seeing the edge of his weapon coming at her head again. The pain made her roar out loud before everything went dark.
The rest of the away team had seen the fight and were quickly making their way towards the Captain's position. Several of them began to fire upon the small shuttle as it took off but their phaser rifles did little against its upgraded shielding system. They warned the ship that the target had escaped and was heading their way while two of them climbed up to the Captain's now limp body.
The ship had attacked the shuttle but before they could get a tractor beam on it the shuttle jumped to warp and was gone. They tacked it as far as they could while they waited for the away team to return, but just before the shuttle cleared long range sensors they detected an anomaly and then the shuttle was gone. The away team beamed back to the ship and the Captain directly to sickbay. They'd let him get away and everyone knew that when the Captain awoke she would not be a happy woman.
"Captain, please lay back down. You've suffered a major head wound." The ship's chief medical officer pleaded two hours later as the Captain pushed away his hands.
"I've got to get to the bridge." She insisted. "If Bruening was able to fit his shuttle with the stolen technology then..."
"Then he's already opened up a transspaceal rift." Her first officer said as he walked over with a padd. He held it out to her and waited for her temper to flare.
The Captain read over the padd and then looked up to glare at the man who'd given it to her. "Damn it, this means he has a head start." She turned that heated glare onto the doctor. "Which means the last place I need to be is here!"
The doctor sighed. "Captain until I have finished treating your injuries your not going anywhere."
The captain huffed. "Fine, you have until we've reacted our destination." She told him in her most commanding voice before turning to her first officer. "Set course maximum warp."
"Aye Captain." The Commander nodded before leaving sickbay.
By the time the doctor was ready to release the Captain the ship was approaching it's destination. The Captain stepped off the turbo lift but instead of heading to her command chair she headed for her ready room as she barked out orders. "Hail the colony, Lieutenant, inform them that there will be one beaming down and then establish a standard orbit. Commander my ready room ten minutes."
Both men managed to say, "Aye Captain." before the doors of the ready room hissed closed behind their commanding officer. The Captain walked over to her replicator and ordered a strong black coffee before sitting at her desk and opening a secure channel.
A moment later a man with a young, yet weathered face, and a single boxed pip appeared on her terminal. "Report Captain."
Her face was expressionless despite the turmoil churning in her gut. "He got away, Sir." The man frowned. "Do I still have permission to complete this mission the way I see fit?"
The man on the screen looked at her a moment and then finally nodded. "Of course, Captain. What did you have in mind?"
"My ship is in orbit over the research base." She told him.
No other explanation was needed. They had talked about this option weeks ago. Both had hoped it wouldn't come to this. "You're aware of the risk you're taking?"
Her features softened as she nodded. "I do, Sir. It's the only way we're going to stop Bruening from completing his mission."
The older man's face suddenly became very concerned. "You know Captain I have often been approached over the past several months by colleagues who think I made a mistake giving you this mission."
Her face remained cool and commanding but her eyes betrayed the emotions of knowing that the others did not trust her to do her best.
"I however, have never had any doubts." The admiral said with a boyish smile. "Do what you must, Captain, and god speed."
A very faint smile pulled at the corner of her lips. "Thank you, Sir, and hopefully when I return with the criminal we will finally be able to convince the powers that be that this project was a bad idea to begin with."
The man on the screen nodded and then sent the Captain a file that she quickly downloaded. She read it over and nodded as she sipped her coffee. When her door chime rang she didn't bother to look up, she simply pressed her thumbprint to a different padd, and called out, "Enter."
Her first officer and one of her closest friends walked in and stood before her desk. He didn't say a word and she hadn't expected him to. She knew that he was fully aware of what she was about to do. "Commander I am here by placing you in command of this ship until my return."
The young man who was actually several years older then she, frowned. "You can't really be thinking of doing this."
Finally she looked up from her padd and right into his eyes. "I already have permission. I'm doing this and nothing you can say can talk me out of it."
"This has never been attempted before, how do you know the test ship won't explode the moment you open the rift?" He asked her, his concern written all over his face.
"I don't." She answered as she slowly stood. "But, this is something I have to do. If Bruening is successful he won't just be killing one hundred and fifty innocent lives. His success will end up costing us hundreds of good people and I'm not about to allow that to happen."
The two were quiet for a moment and then finally the Commander asked, "Are you doing this because you want to complete this mission or is this personal?"
She sighed. "You know the answer to that."
He nodded and then reluctantly took the padd she was offering him. He looked down at it and noticed there was no set time for her return. "Your parents aren't going to be happy when they hear what you've done ya know."
This caused her to laugh a little. Her smile was bright and so were her bright blue eyes. "Don't worry about them I've been working them since I was old enough live out side the womb."
The testing center of the R&D colony was a buzz of hurried activity. As the Captain made her way through the halls she was glad that she wouldn't have to deal with any testy engineers who would gladly protest at her being the one to take out their latest project. Engineers hated when red suits ousted them on things like this, and normally she would have never dreamed of taking this honor from those who deserve it, but this was a matter beyond having your name in the history books. There was however one engineer that she knew she would have to deal with.
"So it's true. You're doing this." Came a voice from behind her.
She nodded as she slowed enough for the other woman to catch up to her. "I have to and you of all people should understand why."
"I do." The other woman said as she took up a stride along side her. "You know the rules? You can't tell them anything, you can't tell them who you are, and you can't change anything. You go, you get Bruening, and you get back here safely. Cause if you don't come back in one piece I'm going to kick your ass."
She laughed as they walked into the shuttle bay. "I'll be back. You still owe me an hour with Captain Proton."
The young engineer groaned before the two women embraced. Then she watched as the tall redhead walked over to the flight team to begin her briefing. Once everything was ready in the launch bay she headed up to the control room.
"Base control to the Discord, are you ready for launch, Captain?"
The voice seemed to echo in the small cockpit of the shuttle. "Ready for launch base control."
The lay out of the shuttle was comfortingly familiar to her as she powered up the high tech machine. The engines hummed and all systems powered up and awaited her command. "Shuttle craft Discord to base control, all systems ready. I'll see you all when I get back."
"Be careful." Came the young engineer, and her best friend's, voice.
A smile tugged on her lips as the shuttle lifted off the tarmac and headed through the planet's atmospheres with a slight shaking. When the darkness of space with its specks of light suddenly engulfed her front view port she gasped. It's beauty never ceased to amaze her. The sight of her ship as it orbited the planet was the last thing she saw before sending a purple fizzling beam of light out into open space causing a large spaceal rift in front of her.
The Captain took a deep breath and held it for a moment and then set course and headed right into the rift. Everything around her became full of bright and bursting colors. The shuttle shook hard as it picked up speed until everything looked like one long strand of color as the shuttle spun uncontrollably counter clock wise. Just when she thought her senses, and stomach, couldn't take anymore everything stopped. The colors were gone, replaced by the darkness of space once again, and the spinning had stopped. Once she could see straight again and she managed to swallow her heart and stomach back down, the Captain quickly accessed the nearest relay.
"I made it." She said with a smile as she felt at least a small part of the tension in her shoulders relax. "Now to find them before Bruening does."