March 9 2268 Betelgeuse Nebula, Alpha Quadrant

Stardate 4209.069

The USS Cassiopeia coasted through the cold, dark abyss of space. Her silver, circular hull, cylindrical shuttlebay, and long warp nacelle stood out against the endless black background.

The Cassiopeia was a Kelvin-class starship of the United Federation of Planets. The Kelvin-class starships were one of the most numerous vessels in the Federation's navy of spacecraft, known as Starfleet, due to their speed, manoeuvrability, and multiple configurations. Some were training ships, others were escorts and patrol vessels. Since her commissioning in 2229, the Cassiopeia had always been a research ship.

On her current mission, the Cassiopeia was headed to the remote planet of Alnilam C, where scientists would observe the effects of high oxygen levels in the air on the growth of several fruit trees.

To get to the Alnilam system without passing through the Klingon Neutral Zone and violating the Neutral Zone Treaty, however, the USS Cassiopeia had to fly around the outer edge of the Betelgeuse Nebula.

This nebula had been formed a few years previously, when the red supergiant star Betelgeuse had blasted out a huge cloud of gas into the space around it. The ionised gas played havoc with the navigation systems, sensors, and shields on board starships.

Like all other vessels, the Cassiopeia followed a route around the edge of the ever-expanding bubble of hydrogen. Her leisurely pace allowed astronomers and off-duty crew on board observed the huge brown and blue cloud through telescopes and on viewscreens. Through the thick fog of ionised gas, the crimson glow of the Betelgeuse Star itself could be seen.

It was a perfectly normal trip for the Cassiopeia and her crew. Little did they know it would also be their last…

"Captain!" exclaimed the Vulcan Science Officer T'Palgov. "I am picking up something on my sensors!"

Captain Bruce Carter swivelled around in his chair to face his science officer. "What is it?"

The Vulcan turned back to her screens, analysing the multiple readouts. "It's a debris field, sir. Approximately 3219m by 2873m by 1198m."

"Inform Starfleet Base of this debris field," Carter ordered to Communications Officer, J'Varogu, a short, three eyed, rough-skinned K'nare from the planet Gliese 581G. "We're going in to investigate." Then he turned to his helmsman, Arnold Campbell. "Mr Campbell, plot a course towards the debris field."

"Aye, sir," the helmsman replied, typing away on his touchscreens as he manoeuvred the Cassiopeia towards the huge cloud of wreckage.

Slowly, the debris field grew closer and closer... but suddenly, another sensor on the science console beeped for attention. T'Palgov instantly checked the corresponding readout.

"Interesting…" she murmured.

"What is it?" Bruce Carter asked.

"I'm not sure, Captain," she replied, her upswept eyebrows furrowing in concentration. "But it is located inside the nebula."

"On screen!" barked the captain.

The viewscreen at the front of the bridge flicked to another view, showing the glowing, swirling, multi-coloured nebula. Everything seemed normal…except for a strange silhouette standing out against the glowing clouds.

Slowly, the shadow became clearer and clearer. Then, something emerged from the cloud of gas.

First, a pointed bridge emerged…then two long wings…and finally, the engines of a gigantic, pitch-black warbird emerged out of the nebula, heading straight for the USS Cassiopeia.

The whole ship looked like it had been carved out of obsidian. It was shiny black all over, almost as black as space itself. All over its hull and wings were icicle-like formations, looking suspiciously like phaser barrels as they jutted outwards from the vessel. No lights emitted from the vessel.

All eyes turned to the approaching ship on the viewscreen in the bridge.

"Is it Klingon?" enquired Campbell

"Can't be," Captain Carter muttered. "I've never seen any Klingon or Romulan ship that big. Hell, I've never seen or heard of any ship that size!"

"We could be seeing a ship of an entirely new race," T'Palgov suggested. "It's ornamental design features are unidentifiable with any known race in the galaxy, although its basic shape does suggest Klingon origin."

Bruce Carter nodded. The Vulcans were a highly intelligent and logical race, and T'Palgov was a perfect Vulcan woman.

"Mr Campbell, keep on current course," he ordered to the helmsman. Then he turned to J'Varogu. "Mr J'Varogu, hail this vessel. Standard first contact procedures, please."

"Aye, sir." J'Varogu tapped his touchscreen console to send out the standard friendly greeting message.

But the giant black starship merely drifted closer still.

"No response, sir," J'Varogu responded. "Trying again on a different frequ..."

BOOM!

Suddenly, an explosion rocked the ship. Red lights started flashing, bathing the normally white bridge in an eerie red glow.

"What was that?!" Captain Carter snapped.

T'Palgov checked her sensors. "Sir! The vessel has just fired a photon torpedo! She's firing an…"

BOOM!

A second blast shook the bridge.

"Raise our shields!" yelled the captain, clutching the armrests of his chair as the bridge rocked back and forth.

"We can't!" screamed another officer. "They've knocked them out!"

"Fire back!" ordered Carter.

The officer struggled with his controls. "Our weapons have no effect, sir! Their shields are still at ful…"

With a blinding flash, the officer's console exploded. He flew backwards over his chair, and crashed to the ground. The officer didn't move.

He was dead.

Captain Bruce Carter stared at the viewscreen, where the enemy ship was now firing a barrage of phaser fire.

"Mr Wilson!" he bellowed through the communicator in his chair. "Can you get us out of here?"

"No chance, sir!" screamed Ray Wilson, the Cassiopeia's chief engineer. "Those shots have disabled both the warp cores and the impulse drive! We're a sitting duck, sir!"

Suddenly, another voice burst through the speakers, interrupting the engineer.

"Sir!"

"Who is it?" Bruce asked.

"Chief Gardener Debbie Rhy!"

"What happened?"

"Our fruit trees! They were just beamed out of here! They're gone!"

'Curiouser and curiouser,' thought the captain.

He turned back to the Vulcan officer. "T'Palgov, the enemy seemed to want our fruit trees. Why do you think they wanted them?"

"There are many likely possibilities," T'Palgov replied. "Perhaps they have run o…"

But Captain Bruce Carter never got to hear his science officer's suggestion. For the Bird-of-Prey had fired another photon torpedo. And it was heading straight for the bridge.

Everybody stared at the growing, pulsating green ball on the viewscreen. It grew larger and larger.

Members of the surviving crew started to scream and wail.

But Bruce Carter stayed calm, even as his death approached.

He merely closed his eyes and accepted his doom.

Then the torpedo impacted.

The bridge turned to fire. There was a stab of agony.

Then there was nothing.

Another volley of torpedoes burst from the obsidian-black Bird-of-Prey. They zoomed towards the rear of the Cassiopeia's hull, and impacted directly on the still, running fusion reactors.

The entire ship blew up in a flash.

The battered hull, the large shuttlebay section, and the broken warp nacelle disappeared in a huge fireball. Shattered and charred pieces of the hull flew out of the explosion. Even for those in the surviving shuttles and escape pods, there was no chance of survival.

And when the fireball vanished, the only things that betrayed the former existence of the Cassiopeia and her crew was a small cloud of debris.

This scene of destruction was observed by a figure sitting in the captain's chair of the enemy ship.

Any onlooker would not be able to identify what species this figure was. It was completely hidden in shadow…save for one four fingered hand, another hand with one finger missing, and a metal replacement leg.

With one hand, the figure reached down towards a glass tank. A narwhal swam up through the water and surfaced, its head reaching out towards the extended hand.

The figure stroked the narwhal's head, which crooned contentedly.

"What a terrible turn of events," the figure said in an unforgiving, unmerciful voice. "I so love a terrible turn of events."

Then he let out a laugh. A pure evil laugh that echoed throughout the ship and struck fear into the hearts of all who heard it.

Guess who that figure is!

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