Disclaimer: None of us own Star Trek. None of us own Star Trek Online, though we all have Accounts there, and Takeshi Yamato and Ron the True Fan have Lifetime Subscriptions. We only own our OCs and OC-Specific Plotlines. Anything else you may recognize is the property of its respective owner.
This chapter is dedicated to a man who recently passed, a man who inspired a great many people.
Leonard Nimoy - 1931 - 2015
He lived long. He prospered.
Chapter 3: Guardians
USS Independence
The state of the ship was not exactly ready for a state visit, but they were only letting a few officers from the other ships on board. It wasn't like the President was coming on board. Joseph took in slow breaths to calm himself down, he managed to give himself a shave and put on a fresh uniform as he and the surviving Command Staff waited for the visiting starfleet officers in the teleporter room.
"Are you alright, Joseph?" said Rella, the Andorian Communication officer, and now acting First Officer.
"Yeah, still can't believe it's been twenty years out here, while it's only been a few months in that damn pocket." he said as Rella placed a comforting hand on his shoulder.
"We're out now, that's all that matters." she said, and Joseph nodded, as the crewmen in charge of the transporter spoke up.
"We're ready to receive, sir."
"Let them over, chief." Six towers of light materialized on the transporter pad, two of which were wearing older Starfleet uniforms. "Captain. Ronald Pinkerton, USS Guardian. Although if I had my way that would be USS Ptolemaeus."
Joseph, and the other Independence crew all blinked at the name.
"Wait, the-," Joseph began to say, only to be stopped by a raised hand from Ron.
"Yes, the goddamn fleet killer. Now you know what I meant by stuck in the event horizon of a MOTHERFUCKING BLACK HOLE!"
The Independence crew jumped back at that, while Jaden sighed as he facepalmed.
"Yeah. Still pissed about being led into a damned trap by those cockbites."
"Cockbites?"
"The assholes that blow up my last ship, made my life a living hell for two years teaching at the Academy and BLEW UP A SUN while turning it into a black hole. I think you know them as the Borg."
The Independence command staff all nodded at that, showing they understood. Joseph then fake-coughed into his hand.
"Anyway, I should introduce myself and the others," he said, and introduced himself, "Lieutenant Commander Joseph Cobb, formerly in charge of Engineering, and now de facto captain of the Independence." He then motioned to the Andorian woman to his left. "This is Rella Fillan, our Communications officer, and acting First Officer." The Andorian nodded in greeting, before Joseph motioned to a Bajoran male. "And this is Madek Teriel Ramos, our Security Officer, our doctor is busy at the moment, so…"
"I don't have a CMO, so the rest of my staff knows how the doc feels." The group made their way to a conference room before Jaden popped the question. "What happened? The last thing we knew, you just vanished."
The three gave a frustrated/tired sigh at that, as Joseph rubbed his temples.
"It started two weeks after we left for the border with the Delta Quadrant," he began. "We were searching for any rogue Maquis, or stray Borg ships, when… he showed up."
"He?" Jaden asked with a raised eyebrow. "Care to be more specific?"
Joseph sighed. "Have you guys read about an omnipotent being encountered by the USS Enterprise D?" he asked.
"Heard of plenty of assholes that ran into the 1701 with godlike powers," Ron said. "The Organians, Trilaine, the Hate machine-"
"The Beta 116 entity," T'Vrell commented.
"Same fucking thing." Ron said, "Then there's V'ger, but I don't think that thing counts. Same with the Cetean probe-"
"Well, this asshole sent us into a dimensional pocket for four months, and pranked the living shit out of the entire crew until we've almost lost our minds," he said. "I once didn't believe the reports that Picard and Janeway sent to HQ, but now I believe them!"
"Wait a minute…" Takeshi said, a bit of recognition entering his expression. "Picard and Janeway… are you talking about Q?"
Joseph sighed and nodded. "Yup, and let me tell you, if I find a way to kill that bastard, I would most certainly do it within a heartbeat!" he said.
"You could always give him the Sisko treatment," Takeshi replied. "I remember reading that Captain Sisko had an encounter with Q during the early days of his tenure of command at DS9 - punched Q in the face, and Q apparently never came back."
"Yes, but Benny was far too serious for his own good." All eyes turned to Ron, and standing behind him… was Q. "I was just trying to give Cobby boy here-"
A backhanded fist met Q's face without Ron looking back.
"…did you just Batman backhand Q?"
"Yes," Ron replied, before he spun the chair around before kicking Q in the balls. "I also just kicked him in the dick. Got anything to say about that?"
A knife from Jaden hit Q right in the manhood soon after, resulting in yet another squeal of agony from the being. "That's for Vega and every other colony that got assimilated thanks to you, you son of a bitch!" Jaden shouted out. "If it weren't for you, the Enterprise never would've met the Borg and causing their invasion in the first fucking place!"
"Oh, so I have HIM to thank for things I can't state?" Ron growled.
"Well the Borg DID pull the time travel card and nearly fucked up first contact."
"That's it. You die," Ron said.
Q let go of his face and his crotch, revealing that he WAS indeed bleeding. "I'm basically god!"
"Didn't stop me from beating the shit out of an Organian back in 82," Ron said.
Riza rose an eyebrow. "Didn't you get third degree burns from that?" She asked.
"Yes. But it was WORTH it. And Ish agreed, remember?" Ron drew his oversharpened sword. "Alright, I'm going to beat the fuck out of you. Then Cobb gets to beat MORE of the fuck out of you."
Q disappeared in a flash of light, his unseen voice saying, "And THIS is why we never showed ourselves to you before Jean-Luc!"
Jaden growled. "I swear I am gonna find a way to kill that bastard…" he said. "I hate people like Q… and the Organians too."
"He caused the original Captain and the First Officer to commit suicide," said Rella. "Q's pranks drove them to the breaking point, they used their own phasers to disintegrate themselves."
"Well, he's scared of my retaliation now," Ron said. "The Organians learned that making me angry was a BAD idea. They really didn't enforce the treaty after I beat the fuck out of one of them."
"And just for that, you earn a cookie," Joseph said. "So, what in the hell happened while we were in the pocket of torture?"
"Meh, same old same old," Jaden said, shrugging. "Klingons are pissed, war with the Federation…. Oh yeah, and Romulus blew up in a supernova."
"I thought Romulus' star was an overly healthy G-type."
"No, Hobus went supernova. The shockwave blew up Romulus and Remus."
"That makes no sense. Hobus is 30 lightyears from Romulus: there's no way in hell a supernova could travel THAT far and retain so much energy."
"It entered subspace and traveled there a LOT faster."
"…Supernovas don't do that."
"Not naturally, at least," Takeshi said. "Starfleet's got science teams there almost non-stop, looking to see if the Hobus Supernova was an artificial event."
"Yorktown to Captain Takeo."
"What's up, Elisa?"
"We've got a priority message from Starfleet Command: something about an attack on a research post in the Korvat system."
Jaden sighed. "Alright, I'll tell the others," he said. "Tell Zarva I want weapons back online ASAP, patch up whatever damage she can." He then turned to Ron. "Ron, we've got trouble - a research post in the Korvat system is under attack."
"I'll get back to the Guardian and head it off: you and Captain Miller will escort the Indy back to Earth. Take, you're with me. We'll find out what's going on before Jaden meets up with us at Korvat."
"Gotcha," Takeshi replied.
Ron and Riza left the briefing room, leaving the others behind in a rush.
"Well Captain Cobb, I guess you'll be following me and Miller back to ESD," Jaden said. "Just follow our lead. "
Later - USS Guardian
The new quantum slipstream drive was coming in handy: 49 lightyears in only five minutes, and that was going to allow them to stop the attack on the research post. "Stand to battlestations: I want anything that isn't Federation dead as soon as soon as we drop out. Tempest, you reading me?"
"I read you, Ron," Takeshi replied. "What's the plan?"
"Target the smaller ships and leave the larger ones to us. Your ship isn't durable enough to stand toe to toe without my sister at your helm."
"Hey!" Takeshi yelled. "Is that an insult to my piloting skills? There's a reason I command from the Helm, you know!"
"Yet I BEAT you, kid. My sister is a better pilot than you are."
"Dropping out of FTL."
"Time to prove my point. Sonja, enforce structural integrity. Riza."
"You are NOT ordering me to do that."
"I am. Attack Pattern Pinkerton Omega."
"Alright, let's get this party started," Takeshi said. "Looking forward to seeing just what Riza can do!"
"Computer, activate manual steering column." A side stick deployed from the console, and Riza took the stick. "Strap in, people!"
Takeshi blinked a bit at that - he knew most ships had a Manual Steering Column - he just had his moved to the center of the helm console, had it constantly deployed, and had a Manual Impulse Throttle installed, too. As far as he knew, he was one of the few people in Starfleet who did that.
"Not again!" The Guardian turned sharply, almost like a ship a tenth the size and mass as it sped toward a gorn ship: a Tuatua-Class cruiser. The ship flipped over and began skidding, firing all of its' phasers at once before firing its' engines at full impulse and firing a full volley of torpedoes.
On the Tempest, Linda decided to be blunt. "You could never do that."
"Agreed," Takeshi remarked. "I do admit, she is good. Still, might as well show them what we can do."
The Raging Tempest charged into the enemy formations, spitting out fire at the smaller Gorn ships. His path did take him closer to a Zilant-Class Battleship, though - and as he fired his weapons at it, he slightly angled above the enemy ship, so that when they returned fire, they fired at where he had been, as he used a Micro-Warp Jump similar to what he'd used against the Guardian before, shooting past the Zilant before picking out another target.
The Guardian continued to turn like an escort, tearing into the enemy formations before what was left decided to flee. "We'll transport down to the surface and find out what the fuck is going on down there. We're picking up a number of Gorn lifesigns on the surface."
"Understood," Takeshi replied. "I'll send Linda down as well, but I'll stay up here, in case of reinforcements."
"Sonja, Ishmael, we're going down there. Cock and lock, and tell the medical teams to stand by for casualties."
Earth spacedock
The Yorktown exited the transwarp conduit alongside the Independence, taking her straight back to the first station of its' kind. "Well, here we are," Jaden said. "Welcome back to Earth, Independence."
"Great to be home," said Joseph who sighed in relief, "Starfleet owes me and my crew a large amount of shore leave, after what Q put us through,"
"They'll probably grant it: you deserve no less." said Jaden before being hailed by the Spacedock.
"Independence, this is Earth Spacedock: you are clear to dock. Welcome home."
After returning the gesture, the two ships went to their berths, with the Independence's being filled with maintenance crews since even though it had been only four months for the crew, it had been over 20 years for Starfleet.
On the bridge of the Independence, Joseph breathed another sigh.
"Rella, have all hands prepare to disembark, once we have permission to get shore leave," he said, and Rella nodded.
"Captain, message from the Dock Master, your presence is requested," said another ensign and Joseph nodded.
"Tell them I'll be right there," he said and stood up from the captain's chair.
Admiral Quinn stood in the hatch, waiting for Commander Cobb to arrive. The hatch opened, and the commander was surprised to see him. "Commander. Welcome back to Earth Spacedock. It's a pleasure to meet you."
Joseph stood at attention as he entered. "Sir, I'm just glad we're home sir. I have already written up a report on what happened to us, as well as the condolence letters to the Captain and First officer's families," he said as he handed over three data pads.
"Let me guess… Q."
"Captain Pinkerton sent a transmission, didn't he?"
"He did. This is the second time he's injured a godlike being: the Organians don't like him. But your ship needs a new captain. And one HELL of a refit."
Joseph nodded at that, while sighing tiredly. "Yeah, I noticed that the ships in this Spacedock are more… advanced," he said. "And I hope the captain you pick for the Big 'I' has a strong mentality, concerning the Q. The crew can also use a shore leave, sir. A LONG Shore leave."
"Not to worry. I already have a candidate in mind," the Admiral said with a smirk, while Joseph blinked
"Who?" he asked.
"You."
Joseph froze in place at that. "Say what?"
"You've dealt with a stressful situation far better than anyone would expect. And your crew won't accept a stranger. You are THE best choice. But you will be spending a great deal of time relaxing. You've been through a LOT, recently."
Joseph could only blink a few more times, before he finally spoke, "I… It's an honor sir. Though I feel like I don't deserve it," he said and the Admiral just placed his hand on the Lieutenant Commander's shoulder.
"You do, and don't tell yourself otherwise," the Admiral said, "In the meantime, have yourself and the crew head down to Earth. Relax and try to get in contact with your families, I'm sure they'll be happy to know their loved ones are alive safe. You're dismissed… Captain."
Joseph didn't say anything, except salute. "A-Aye Admiral," he said, before turning and heading out of the office.
"I suggest reading up on the new regs for uniforms. You're being given more latitude towards uniforms, but remember to wear Starfleet issue uniforms, regardless of era. For now, though, get some rest."
Joseph stopped, before turning and answering, "Understood, sir," he said and walked out of the office, leaving the Admiral to himself. He sighed as he looked at the three datapads, two with the condolence letters, and Joseph's report.
He placed the three devices on his desk and headed to a comm. screen, needing to make a few calls with certain people.
"Computer, access communications relay."
"Specify contacts."
"Ambassador Jean-Luc Picard and Admiral Kathryn Janeway." A shrill beep was his response.
"Unable to comply."
Quinn blinked at that, "Why not?"
"Admiral Janeway is on classified duties. Ambassador Picard is unavailable."
Quinn groaned at that, "Computer, record message and then send to their personal comms when available," he said while the computer beeped again.
"Acknowledged…" the computer replied, "Begin message,"
"This is Admiral Jorel Quinn, head of Starfleet operations. The USS Independence, which disappeared 30 years ago, has returned. Information provided by the crew indicate the being known as Q was involved in the disappearance and subsequent reappearance of the ship. Please advise." He tapped the monitor, ending the message. It probably wouldn't do any good: the Q Continuum wasn't something Starfleet could fight. Besides, they had bigger problems. The Klingons, Romulans and God knew what else.
"Don't forget Remnants of the Borg Collective, my dear Admiral," a flash of light appeared and Quinn groaned.
"I hope you're not here to give me grief like your other counterparts," he said and turned toward a middle aged woman who only gave a small smile.
"Don't worry Jorel, unlike my… brother, I don't pull pranks and take my role as Q seriously," the woman said. "You can rest assured that He will given a severe talking to,"
"Please tell me that the Continuum's not going to screw with us now."
"We have no intention, Admiral. We'll stay out of the pithy affairs of you mortals." Quinn raised an eyebrow. "It's a turn of phrase. We actually owe you for ending that pointless civil war, so we're not going to make your lives difficult."
The Trill sighed in relief before pausing. "Brother? Are you related to the Q that toyed with the Enterprise-D and Voyager, or his son?"
"The former, dear Admiral. Although, his son is quite the mischievous little fox himself," she said before groaning. "Anyway, I should go back. Just here to give you the news that they won't bother you anymore. Good day, Jorel!"
And with another flash, the woman was gone, while Jorel blinked before sighing again.
"I need a vacation… a LONG vacation," he said and sat back into the chair.
H'atoria system
The Raging Tempest and Guardian had warped into the H'atoria system following a Klingon follow-up attack on Korvat, and had slipped quietly through Klingon patrols to get into transporter range. Now, both ships were preparing landing teams to assault a Klingon Research Post.
"I want a fully armed landing party. If the Gorn are involved, that means one thing: magnums."
The entire crew groaned at the mention of those things. "Magnums aren't combat weapons, Ron: you know that!"
"They pack enough of a punch to get through that thick Gorn hide, and if the Klingons are dicking around with genetic engineering, phasers will be near useless. Pistols only, and pack enough for two teams. We'll need to arm the Tempest's landing parties."
"Lethal force isn't something Starfleet does."
"WE use lethal force. Contact the Tempest and inform them to prepare to receive a supply shipment."
"Message from the Guardian, Captain," Rina informed. "They're wanting us to prepare for a supply shipment. Any idea what that means?"
"Likely they're sending us something they think we need," Takeshi remarked, before activating the comm to the Transporter Room. "Linda, don't beam down just yet - Ron's sending something over."
"Understood," Linda replied.
In the room, a large crate was beamed in, and Linda opened it. It contained a number of pistols, all modelled after the Colt 1911A1, but upsized and clearly strengthened for a larger bullet.
"Jeez, what's with the ancient slugthrowers?" one of her team asked.
"I think he's potentially overestimating the thickness of Gorn hides," Linda replied. "Takeshi, the shipment was a crate of old 20th-century pistols, but heavily modified. I think Ron's being overly paranoid."
Takeshi sighed over the comms. "Distribute them to your team, but bring your standard weapons, too," he said. "I've been getting an odd feeling about this, so better to be prepared for any eventuality."
"Right," Linda replied. She passed pistols to each of her other team members, and took one herself, though she still planned to rely on her TR-116B.
The rounds were chambered for 12.7mm. And only one magazine-fed pistol round was 12.7mm: the .50 Action Express.
"Overkill," said another team member. "This gun's built to take down elephants, not Gorn!"
"If the man's sending us guns in this caliber, the Gorn might be genetically engineered," the medic assigned them by Mogire informed. "They did take supplies from a medical post."
"We don't know if they're genetically engineered or not," Linda replied. "Take the pistols anyway. Remember Maxim 37."
"'There is no "Overkill". There is only "Open Fire" and "I need to Reload",'" the rest of the team chorused.
"Guardian to Raging Tempest: either get on the damn pad, or I beam you down there using MY transporter. And believe me, you don't want me doing that."
"Oh?" Takeshi asked from the Bridge.
"Let's just say I picked up a trick or three from an incident in '83."
Linda stepped onto the transporter after removing the crate, followed by the rest of her team. "We're ready to beam down," she announced.
The team transported down into a snowstorm, right in front of three-white coat-wearing Starfleet officers. "In Soviet Russia, FUCK IT'S COLD!"
"Brother, you are going to be the end of us. I presume you've got the handguns, Commander? We've dealt with genetically enhanced Gorn before, and these were the only things that worked."
"We do," Linda replied. "We've also got our standard weapons, as well, just in case they're needed - Maxim 37, after all."
"Riza, Linda, go on ahead, take out any patrols. Show the newbie how to snipe."
Riza pulled out an antiquated rifle with a simple scope. "Come on, kid. Let me show you how it's done."
"Alright," Linda said as she followed Riza. "And I'll show you how the TR-116 performs - one of the few Projectile weapons we actually have, it's a sniper's dream rifle."
Pinkerton the younger scoffed. "Quadruple stabilization, 8x scope, a transporter system and lack of recoil? It's not a sniper's dream: it's a nightmare." Riza laid down in the snow overlooking a path leading into the main base. "THIS is a sniper's dream." She shouldered the wooden-stocked rifle, looking through the simple scope before taking aim and pulling the trigger, taking down a Klingon guard. She quickly worked the action, then took aim and fired again, faster than Linda could with the 116B. Five rounds, five dead Klingon guards, in less than 9 seconds. "THIS is the Mosin-Nagant M1895 bolt action rifle. For 5 decades, this thing served the Russian Empire and Soviet Union as their long rifle. THIS is a sniper's weapon. That thing? That's an overly complicated nightmare for maintenance."
"The transporter system means almost zero transit time from bullet to target," Linda replied, demonstrating as she sighted in, pulled the trigger, and almost instantly another guard dropped as she quickly reoriented on her next target. "The only reason I'd need LOS on a target is to see where I'm aiming, and with a spotter close to the target I don't even need that - I could shoot through WALLS with this thing. And I don't need to account for the effects of gravity like I would on that museum piece."
"You're lazy."
"EXCUSE ME?!"
"Point and shoot. With this, you need to think. Try it. But then again, that's not a sniper rifle. It's a DMR. you're not a sniper: you're a fucking designated marksman."
Linda bristled at this, before she spotted a guard beginning to move towards the other side of a building. "I'll show you just what I've got!" she said, adjusting her aim to at the building wall as she quickly typed in range numbers. "Here's a shot you wouldn't even dream of making with that antique!" The guard passed out of sight, and a second later, Linda pulled the trigger, expecting the guard to fall back into view with a hole in his head.
Instead, a disruptor bolt came at her, and while it missed her body, it hit the TR-116B, destroying the barrel, magazine, and scope. "Amateur." Riza let out a breath, took aim at the attacker, and fired another 7.62mm round down range, causing a sizable hole in the counter-sniper's head.
Linda was beginning to freak out, as she was without her trusty 116B for the first time in years. "They jammed the transporter signal, and traced it back to you. So, what was that about your weapon being better?" Linda turned to snap at her, but instead she got a riflebutt to the face. "Get your head in the game, and start learning! The Academy's training regime made you over-reliant on your fancy targeting systems and stabilizers. I learned using a fucking unrifled MUSKET. WITHOUT a scope. If my brother has to beat the lazy out of every Starfleet officer he runs into, I will gladly help! STARTING WITH YOU!" Riza dropped the rifle into Linda's lap, along with all the ammunition. "Here. I might be the best shot on board my ship, but I am not a long-range person. I'm a bruiser. I get up close and make your life suck. Learn to snipe, newb."
Linda went to retort, hesitated, then sighed as she took up the rifle. "We don't really have a dedicated holodeck on the Raging Tempest, or a firing range," she admitted. "The ship's too small - best I can do for regular practice is a simulator mode on the TR-116. I use what opportunities I get to practice more properly in holodecks at whatever port of call we're at, but that's still not that often. I suppose I could get Matt to reconfigure one of our few cargo bays into a firing range for this thing…" Even as she said that, though, she picked up the rifle, set it up like Riza had, and began looking through the scope.
"You are lazy." Riza walked away, scoffing at Linda. The married woman supposed she had a point and a right. After all, Riza not only used an older rifle, she was a better shot as she had to adjust for gravity, range, and loss of velocity. Linda never had to deal with that. No one did. In short, Linda had been cheating. Riza and the Ptolemaeus crew? Polar opposite. All of their weapons were nearly the same as their originals, sans more durable materials and tritanium-cored ammo: no stabilization technology, no enhanced scopes, no transporters.
"I guess I have a fair bit to learn…" she muttered, as she aimed at another guard, adjusted her aim the best she could, considering this would be her first time firing this weapon and she was mainly using guesswork, and pulled the trigger.
She missed, the round going past the Klingon's head. "Damn it!" She pulled the trigger again, but the weapon didn't work. She resisted the urge to facepalm. "Right… antique weapon… manual loading…" She recalled the actions Riza had done to set the weapon up again, and repeated them as best as she remembered before adjusting her aim slightly and firing again.
Another fire, another miss. "Damn it!"
"Pinkerton to sniper team: report! Riza, what the hell? Your shots aren't hitting the target: what the fuck is going on?"
"Sniper to Pinkerton," Linda replied. "Sorry about that - lost my weapon to counter-sniper fire, so your sister gave me hers and headed off, apparently to get in close." She made another aim adjustment. "It's… taking a little getting used to." She fired again, finally hitting the target with her third shot.
"…That's it. After this, you ALL get the Exeter treatment. STARTING with you."
"I take it that's not a good thing."
"Good for me. Not good for you."
She gulped. "Well, at least I'm starting to get the hang of this thing," she said, sighting in on the next target, making the adjustments she had figured out through trial and error, before firing again, once again hitting the target.
"Starting to figure out why the 20th and 21st centuries were the heyday of the marksman." Another bullet missed the mark, and Linda worked the Nagant action for a sixth time before pulling the trigger. Click. No boom. She sighed. Empty. "You'd think they'd make the magazines for these things a bit larger…" she muttered, as she tried to figure out how to remove the old magazine to put in a new one.
She looked at the spare ammo. "Striper clips?! Who the hell designed this thing?!"
"A better man than you, clearly."
Linda snarled at the continued insults, before pulling the bolt back, finding a way to shove the bullets into the magazine, then working the action once again. "Antique piece of SHIT!" Hell hath no fury like a DM scorned.
Meanwhile - USS Yorktown
"Dropping out of warp, Captain." Potter said, as the Yorktown slowed out of warp as it appeared at the H'atoria system.
"'Bout time… " Jaden said. "Where's the Guardian and Raging Tempest?"
"In high orbit, keeping away from the Klingon patrols." T'Vrell said. "Message incoming from the Tempest: teams on the ground."
"Then let's get some of our teams down there," Jaden said. "I want an away team down there, tell them to use the weapons in Armory C."
T'Vrell rose an eyebrow at that. "What's in Armory C?" she asked, as Jaden grinned.
"Oh, a friend of mine in Starfleet has been making new weapons and such, and while we were at Earth she beamed some onboard for… further testing," he said. "Ron's not the only one who likes Sci-Fi weapons from the 21st Century. Also tell them the armor is very effective as well."
"Understood. Message sent."
H'atoria research labs
Linda continued to struggle with the old Russian rifle, but the Ptolemaeus crew had no such issues with their older weapons. "I have no idea how you do this," she said.
"My crew actually spent six months in the early 21st century. 2016, to be exact. As long as we did nothing to fuck over the timeline, I allowed them to head down to the surface. We had one hell of a time."
She sighed. Well, once she got back to the ship, she could see about getting a new rifle - not another TR-116B, but something possibly based on old Sniper Rifles. But she would ask Matt to make some modifications - no artificial stabilizers, but perhaps a scope that could help adjust for wind and gravity, so she didn't have to manually correct every time she fired.
A roar was heard as a genetically mutated Gorn stomped over. The security chief had no idea how the hell she was going to take that 10 foot tall freak down: the hide had to be at LEAST 4 centimeters deep.
"Your weapon, Commander." Ron grabbed the Nagant, shouldering the weapon as he looked through the simple scope.
'There is no way he can do anything to kill that thing,' Linda thought as the brute charged, and Ron simply let out a breath before pulling the trigger, reducing any movement to make the shot as accurate as possible. The bang was loud enough to make her ears bleed, but the Gorn had bigger problems as it keeled over, drooling from its' mouth and bleeding from its' head. "But… how?! The skin's too thick to peirce, and the bones have to be harder than steel!"
"I wasn't aiming for his head." The captain kicked the Gorn in the head, showing off the target. Linda was close to fainting. The bastard. Shot it. In the eye. "It takes a very good shot to hit the eye of an organic being on the move. You wouldn't've been able to make that shot in the 116B."
"Not without a whole lot of luck," Linda agreed.
"And that is why I'm going to kick your ass later." He worked the action, reloading the weapon in less than two and a half seconds before tossing it back into her hands.
"Guardian to away teams."
Ron pulled out his communicator. "Pinkerton here."
"The Yorktown just arrived in orbit. Captain Takeo is prepared to beam down to your position."
"Lock onto our location and have him sent down." Ron said. "after that, throw a net over all transporter activity."
"Understood - They're coming down now."
Several pillars of light appeared before them, as Jaden and his away team beamed down before them. However Ron noticed that they weren't wearing the standard Starfleet Uniforms, instead they were wearing grey body armors with helmets on, each holding rather sizable rifles in their hands, some looking as if they had underslung shotguns or grenade launchers attached. However each set of armor still had the Starfleet insignia badges on their chests.
"Sorry we were late Ron, trip took a bit longer than we thought it would, and had to pick up some equipment." Jaden said.
"I've noticed." Ron said. "Looks like an upgraded version of 23rd century security armor. You've seen them."
"Yeah, Grampa Ish showed me once."
The former Ptolemaeus captain handed Jaden one of the magnums. "Here," he said. "Aim near the neck: they have thinner skin there. The bullets should bounce around inside the body enough to kill the damn things."
"Thanks, but we already took that into account when we came down here." Jaden said hosting the Magnum. "Guns are chambered with 7.62mm Rounds, plus we've got Grenade Launchers on most our guns too - more than enough to take down your average Gorn. "
Ron pointed at the Nagant in Linda's hands. Jaden got the idea: the 7.62mm rounds might not be enough. "Try to make your shots go into their eye sockets: there is zero protection there. The bullet'll bounce around inside the fucking thing's skull and liquify the brain."
"Shoot 'em in the eyes, got it," Jaden said, glancing back at his away team members. "Well, what are you waiting for? Come on you apes! You wanna live forever?!"
The three teams moved into facility, sweeping and looking for Gorn. Most of the enemy were on the ground, dying. "And this is why genetic engineering is illegal."
"But why should it?!" A bald man in the next room over, standing above them on a large platform, sealed them into the chamber. "I am Amar Singh. I am the future of life in this galaxy. And you are the next generation of the second so-called 'power trio'."
"Wait… did he just say 'Singh'?" Jaden asked, "As in… Khan Noonian Singh?"
"I would like to say I am the descendant of-"
"KHAAAANNN!" All looked towards Ron, who was smiling like a loon. "Sorry. I heard about what happened during the Genesis Incident. I've always wanted to do that."
"…So I see. Perhaps your DNA will come in handy." He pressed a button on a console. "Kill them, but try to keep them intact."
A pair of massive Gorn were released from their holding cells. "Kill… For master?"
"Aw, fuck me."
"Fuck off." Jaden shouted, as he raised his Assault Rifle, and fired off a Grenade at the first Gorn, hitting it square in the head where the eye was, blasting a massive chunk from its head and brain, causing the Gorn to collapse dead.
"Well, that was unexpect- " A throwing knife impacted Singh's jacket, followed by a VERY large number of knives, all pinning him to a nearby wall. One last knife ended up VERY close to something… important. Jaden stared at the knife-thrower in shock. "How in the hell-"
"Let's just say my Chief Engineer isn't exactly… normal."
"Huh… and I thought my sister was damn good with knives…" Jaden said.
"LET ME DOWN!"
Sonja pulled out ANOTHER throwing knife, causing them all to wonder where the hell she was keeping them. "I'll let you down. IN HELL!" She threw the sharp object at the wall, VERY close to Singh's head. He passed out in fear.
"Guardian, get us out of here."
"With pleasure, Captain. Lifting interference field and energizing."
3 hours later - USS Yorktown ready room
"You've done exemplary work, Captain. Starfleet Intelligence, however, has another assignment for you."
"Oh joyous day," Jaden said with a slight groan. "What now?"
A map appeared on his monitor before Quinn continued. "The Klingons have something going on in the Donia system. A large number of transmissions are going in and out of that place, all encrypted. I would send someone else, but as you've quickly proven, you are the best for the job. I'm sorry that I have to ask you to do this, as you need some R&R, but-"
Jaden sighed. "Yeah, fine, we'll be right there Admiral," he said. "It's not like I have a choice when it comes to these things."
"You were requested by STIG, Captain. And they report to the President. That means even I had no choice. I was going to pass this along to Captain Pinkerton alone, but they want all of you. Starfleet Command out." The transmission ended abruptly.
Jaden shook his head. "Times like these… I hate being the best at our job…" he muttered.
"Starfleet Technical Intelligence Group. Clever. But not good enough: I know Sanjuichi's tentacles when I see them." The other captains on the conference call were confused by the title.
Jessica blinked. "Okay… Not even gonna ask on that one…" she muttered. "But that aside, we're all being roped into something big, right?"
"The millisecond Sanjuichi got involved. Those fuckers cost me my ship in '85."
"Sanjuichi…" Takeshi muttered. "That's 'thirty-one' in Japanese… you referring to Section 31, Ron?"
"The same," Ron said. "They are the reason most of my record is redacted. I performed a LOT of covert operations for the bastards."
"And now, we're getting dragged along for the ride…" Jaden said. "Why can't there be more people like us, who can do this shit just as effectively as we can? 'Cause the fact we're almost ALWAYS the ones they call for these things is starting to get piss me off…"
"Now you know how I feel. But Sanjuichi knows better than to call us more than once a month."
"You mean they know better than to call YOU."
"Potato, potahto, Captain. Besides, I have it on good authority that we're going on vacation after this."
"Well, at least we'll have SOME R&R after this…" Jaden muttered. "So how shall we proceed?"
"We'll enter the system as stealthily as possible: the Raging Tempest actually HAS a cloaking device, so they'll head in and distract the Klinks. Then we'll move in and support them. Don't do anything stupid, Takeshi. If I have to find a way into the afterlife to kick your ass, it will NOT be pleasant. Might be for me. Won't be for you."
"Understood," Takeshi replied. "Also, I heard about what happened with Linda down there - she's already getting help from Matt on a new rifle."
"Worry about that later: you have something bigger to worry about. Try not to destroy anything."
Donia system
Five B'rel-Class raiders sat in their births, guarded by a single Vor'cha-Class attack cruiser. The IKS Targ was preparing to leave her berth as a ship decloaked, leveling bursts of phaser pulses at it, breaching the hull and severing one of the nacelles.
Takeshi refrained from fully destroying the ship - according to the brief, they had an intelligence asset onboard. Instead, after ensuring the Targ was disabled, he adjusted his aim to the next ship in dock.
"One attack cruiser disabled, and one Raider down," Takeshi remarked. "What IS the plan, exactly? Did Command give us any details?"
"Nothing beyond 'disable the ships and take them over'," Rina replied.
Takeshi sighed. "Maxim 53 at its finest," he muttered. "The intel you've got is never the intel you want."
The Yorktown and Guardian entered the area, putting a tractor beam on the Targ. "You REALLY need to learn restraint, Takeshi. Shirou wasn't this bad."
Following behind them was the Liberator, keeping an eye on the Targ from the rear in case anything or anyone tried to intervene.
"Jaden, send over a team to the Targ: she's yours now. Takeshi, I'll head over to your next target. After that, Miller. The last one is yours for the taking."
"Understood!" Jessica said.
"On it," Takeshi informed.
The two ships moved in tandem, downing the shields and sending over boarding parties.
The takeovers were mostly uneventful. The 'interview' of a Klingon First Officer named K'valk who had been thrown in the brig, on the other hand… "No. No way. No. FUCKING. Way. ONE of those things was ENOUGH! It took blowing up a Connie to stop that thing the LAST time!"
The sight that Ron was talking about, sitting before them was a colossal vessel with a cone-like shape and what looked like a gaping maw for a mouth glowing red.
"That… is the Doomsday Machine Captain Kirk encountered, isn't it?" Jaden asked.
Ron shook his head. "No. THAT thing is at the Boneyard near Pluto. THIS one… is new."
"Agents from the future gave the empire the information to find this monstrosity, in return for their loyalty two centuries ago. We took their information and spat in their faces: we obey no one but our hearts!"
"Ok, then WHY inform us, K'valk?" Ron asked. "You're Klingon. Contacting Starfleet about this is tantamount to treason."
K'valk glared at Ron. "You know much of our ways, yet you fail to understand that this machine is without honor." He said. "B'vat will use this to kill those who cannot fight back."
"Which is beyond monstrous," Ron said, nodding. "It is without honor."
"So… how do we kill it?" Jaden asked, "I'd rather not ram my ship into that thing's mouth unless we have to."
"You have encountered a weapon that was used against your ship before: the Hargh'peng torpedo. It was designed to defeat the planet killer."
Ron scoffed. "You can't penetrate neutronium without the energy from… Well, it's not possible."
"It wasn't made to defeat the doomsday machine by going through the hull, Windstorm."
"Oh, HELL no. You don't mean we have to fire those things down the fucking thing's throat, do you?"
"That'll require pinpoint accuracy, precision timing, and a lot of speed and maneuverability," Takeshi remarked. "I think I can do something like that."
K'valk pointed at the planet in the Imaga system that the horn 'o doom was in. "We must disable the device on the ground controlling it, as well as the communications system that operates it."
"And after that, we shove torpedoes down the horn 'o plenty's throat like there's no tomorrow. Simple plan. Not so simple to do."
"If we can get some of those torpedoes loaded onto my ship, I can cloak and head to Imaga and wait," Takeshi informed. "I'll stay on the fringes of the system until you take down that thing's control systems, and any other surprises B'Vat may have."
K'valk shook his head. "The entire system has a defense grid that uses a device like the Breen energy dampening weapon: only Klingon ships can enter the system."
Ron smacked Takeshi upside the head. "Why the hell do you think I'm giving the order to take these shitboxes, rather then strip them of the torpedoes and rush to Imaga? I've dealt with shit like this before."
"Well… if only Klingon ships can enter the system… let's use a Klingon ship then," Jaden said shrugging. "The Targ had only suffered minimal damage, with a bit of work we can get her back to 100%. We could load her up with the Hargh'peng Torpedoes, and take her down that way."
"The other raiders are intact. We'll use them as escorts for the Targ. If this planetkiller is like the other one, we'll need more then one ship to distract it for the torpedoes to kill it."
"I will go on the Targ, and assist Takeo."
"Alright, this looks like a decent plan," Takeshi remarked. Privately, he thought, 'though I'll still send one of those Hargh'Pengs to Matt, see if he can reverse-engineer it.'
"The ground teams will wear holographic emitters to get to the facility." K'valk nodded, saluting by placing an arm on his chest.
Imaga system
The four birds of prey had dealt with defense drones before shutting down the defense grid. "They upgraded the security after I sent my message. Captain, we must land immediately and disable the planetkiller before B'Vat dishonors the Empire any further then he has already!"
"Yeah, just trying to not look suspicious…" Jaden said, as the Targ continued forward. "Just fly casual…"
"No sign of resistance besides the security drones. I think we're in the clear. Vectoring wings for landing sequence." Like a bird in flight, the B'rel's wings rose to an upward angle, like a gliding falcon. "We'll set down and then we'll destroy what needs destroying."
"Vulcan, your cavalier attitude towards this is not amusing in the slightest."
T'vrell sent a very Vulcan look K'valk's way. "We have destroyed planet killers before. We will do so again. It is that simple."
The Klingon was not pleased with that assertion, but the Targ was on her way to the ground, regardless.
"Man. This is not what I had expected!" Tony muttered as he adjusted the BoP's wings. The ship, while useful in many ways, was still a far cry from the Liberator. (As a precaution, every one of Jessica's bridge crew was taught and trained on how to fly the Avenger-class in case the helmsman or anyone else got wounded or KIA. So they all knew how the ship handled.) "The Liberator handles better in some ways, I think."
"Either way, we got ourselves a big cone-shaped menace to deal with," Jessica said. "So just follow the others. When the time's right, alert the rest." As a secondary plan, Jessica had insisted the Liberator follow in stealth, and she hoped that it wasn't needed. But if it was, then they had something else to fall back on.
Tony nodded. "Right." The only problem with her plan was that the dampening system left the Avenger-class vulnerable, so she was currently hiding someplace close by, just out of the base's range. As the Targ descended, Jessica's BoP circled back around and the vessel rejoined the others for the riskiest part of the mission.
"You look ridiculous."
The smile on the CO's face was enough to kill someone. But WHY did he have to wear that idiotic hat?
"We're in a ship that, more or less, hunts through an ocean of stars. It fits." Ron was wearing a gray hat that had what looked like a shark's dorsal fin on it. He looked like an idiot. His crew said as much.
Sonja shook her head as Ishmael (Riza broke the last BoP she flew) kept the B'rel in orbit.
"You're not a-" Rapid warning alarms were heard from the sensors post. "Subspace jamming field, massive power signature, and… neutronium hull."
"It's baaaaaack. Red alert." Klingon alarms blared throughout the ship, as the Targ ascended from the ground. "Report."
"We took care of the controls for the grid and the planetkiller: call the fleet in." The neutronium-hulled horn o' plenty fired its' antiproton beam at a moon, blasting it apart for a simple reason: fuel.
"Son of a bitch!"
"I faced that thing's brother back in 68: I'm not in the mood to see this one eat an entire solar system again!"
A shuttle took off from the Targ, heading for the planetkiller. "Stay where you are, Starfleet. I will handle this."
"K'valk, are you an IDIOT?! That won't do anything!"
"My life is nothing, but my honor...No, Captain. I must do this." The Klingon began singing as the shuttle made a suicide run at the planetkiller's maw at full impulse, being destroyed on impact. "Well, he pulled a Decker: equally pointless death."
IKS Targ
"Goddamnit, I TOLD YOU TO STOP HIM!" Jaden shouted on the comm.
"We tried to, but he locked down the shuttle bay!" the security team said. "By the time we bypassed the lock, he was gone!"
Jaden groaned. "Alright, alright… just get back to your positions." He said, before he switched the comm to Ron's ship. "Ron, let's hurry up so we can blow this fucking thing to smithereens."
"Commence attack pattern KILL IT WITH FIRE!" A brief laugh was heard from all parties before the B'rels approached the planetkiller as a fleet of Federation starships and another of Klingon warships warped in, firing everything they had at each other. "Arm the torpedoes and shove them down the fucker's throat!" The four-ship flight fired their disruptor cannons at the planetkiller, attempting and succeeding in getting its' attention. "FIRE!"
Takeshi was the first to fire his torpedo, and bank away quickly, getting out of range of its antiproton beam. The other three followed suit seconds later, as four of the Hargh'Peng Torpedoes went into its vulnerable maw.
"All right!" Jessica shouted as she fired her torps. The BoP blasted out of there not a moment later.
The HoS, under Lelouch's direction, was third in line, firing off another Hargh'peng torpedo into the maw. "Captain, finish it!"
"Fatality, motherfucker!" The final B'rel, under Ron's command, fired off the last torpedo, which entered the maw… and finished the planet killer. It destroyed all of the internal equipment, making it little more than a massive paperweight, as neutronium was indestructible.
"And scratch one planetkiller," Jaden said with a smirk. "Now, let's get the HELL out of here before anymore Klingons show up!"
"Sir, we're receiving a transmission-"
A scarred klingon face appeared on the screen, interrupting VanZyl. "Jaden Takeo, I am K'men, of Klingon Intelligence. I must request that you return those ships to us. We have fought enough for one day. Another battle is pointless. Even the Windstorm will agree."
"And what about B'vat?"
"He faces discommendation for his honorless warmongering. Any action he takes is not with the blessing of the High Council."
Jaden sighed as he stood up. "Alright, well I guess its time to head back to our ships. Bout time," he said. "As much as I love Klingon design, I just prefer the Yorktown."
"Gotta agree. The Liberator's more my type of ship anyway," Jessica said over the comm. "But these BoPs do give me an idea for future ship designs. If we ever get that far."
The four ships that they commanded were part of the armada, and as such, they quickly transported back to their real commands.
USS Guardian
"The Ptolemaeus' actual refit is complete, and I am REALLY tired of this ship. We're going back to Earth."
"Oh, COME ON, Boss! We haven't had a vacation in what, since we got back?!"
Ron glared at Sonja. "We're going to spend a week in orbit of that hellhole as soon as I get my ship back. It's an 8 hour delay."
"You hate vacation planets. I guess that playground turned you off them."
"YOU try spending a full 24 hours listening to a little girl that you NEVER want to see in real life. Riza, Earth. NOW."
USS Yorktown
"He's going back to Earth?" Potter asked.
"Who cares? We're going to Risa!" T'Vrell shouted, pumping her fists into the air. "Beaches, sweet sweet beaches!"
"We NEED a vacation after all this…" Jaden said nodding. "Potter - set course for Risa!"
The Yorktown, Raging Tempest, Escalvantine, and Liberator all jumped to warp, heading for the vacation planet in question. Then the dreaded sound of the communications console sending out a signal was heard.
"No. No, no no no no. We JUST got finished!"
"It's a distress call from the USS Kirk: they say they're under attack from a Klingon task force. They've lost shields and they're being boarded."
"Dammit," Takeshi muttered over the comms. "Murphy's Law: Emergencies always strike when you're about to go on vacation!"
And Ron was en route back to Earth. Using quantum freaking slipstream, no less. They were on their own for this one. But then again, this could also be used as a sign that they didn't need the fleet killer to serve as their safety blanket.
"So now what? We go and rescue them?" Jessica asked.
Jaden growled. "Goddamnit… Potter, re-set the course," he said. "Let's finish this up quickly. We take care of the Klingons, help the Kirk get back to a starbase, then we head to Risa!"
JFS47
The Exeter-Class heavy cruiser shuddered under another disruptor cannon bolt hitting the primary hull, breaching the hull in that section. The ultimate successor to the Constitution wasn't holding as well as her elders, but she was holding as best she could under a Vor'cha-Class attack cruiser and a full squadron of Ning'tao-class raiders. The Vor'cha got a nasty surprise, however, as phaser cannon fire hit it from behind, coming from a Sao Paulo-Class escort and an Avenger-Class battlecruiser.
The Avenger peeled around to the right, blasting back with her phasers at full power, followed up by a torp barrage, vanishing under cloak a moment later. The captain apparently had something planned, because a few minutes after the ship vanished four beams of cannon fire struck the Vor'cha from the sides, apparently from nowhere. Then the Avenger emerged, behind the other ship, hitting it from the rear again, forcing the shields in that sector to drop more.
The Sao Paulo struck next, a volley of phaser cannon fire tearing through the Vor'cha's hull, before it angled and unleashed another barrage, this time on a Ning'tao, and with a volley of Quantum Torpedoes added into the mix, shredding the Bird of Prey's Shields and Hull like they weren't even there.
"This is Captain Takeo of the USS Yorktown," Jaden shouted, as the Yorktown opened fire on a group of B'Rel's, obliterating them. "I'm going to make this as clear as day, since I am pissd off right now since my vancation just got delayed because of YOU ASSHOLES! You retreat now, you'll live. But so help me if you fight me, I'll dish out so much pain both your ANCESTORS and DESCENDANTS will feel it!"
The Klingons wisely retreated, or at least they regrouped under the flag of an annoyingly familiar Negh'var: the Baj. "Takeo! I should be impressed that you're fighting me without the aid of the Windstorm! No matter. I have the Kuvah'magh, and there is nothing you can do to stop me! All ships, destroy them! I have more pressing matters." The Baj jumped to warp, heading for a world quarantined since 2267: Gateway.
"Oh God. Fucking. DAMNIT!" Jaden shouted. "If there is a God up there, he can officially go ahead and suck it! What is WITH our luck?!"
The Klingons, what was left of the force, attempted to fight them, but the Armitage-Class Escalvantine took out the weakened force with a barrage of torpedoes. "We have to head to Gateway, people: we cannot allow B'vat to make contact with the Guardian of Forever. I hope you recall the LAST time that happened." They did: a social worker screwed up the timeline and made sure the Nazis won the Second World War. NOT an experience they wanted to repeat.
"Then let's get there and fast!" Jessica said as her ship's drones reentered the shuttle bay. "The sooner we do, the faster we can take the guy down!"
"Agreed," Takeshi replied as he angled his ship towards the Gateway System. "Rina, contact Starfleet Command, and get us clearance to beam down, just in case!"
"On it, sir!" Rina replied.
The task force jumped to warp, about to earn a name in history.
Gateway system
B'vat only had one ship left: the Baj. It wouldn't last under fire, as the ship really hadn't been repaired from the last encounter they had with it. As such, the Yorktown's first and only torpedo volley tore the shields down and breached the warp core, destroying the first annoyance for the fleet. "Sir, we have permission to beam down, but we've been ordered not to make contact with the Guardian if at all possible."
"I have a feeling we'll be making contact weather we like it or not." Jaden said as he headed for the transporter room. "We're not leaving until we either have B'Vat in cuffs… or we have his head. I'm not accepting any bullshit today."
"Transporter room, standing by." Jaden and Elisa left the bridge, with T'Vrell on their coattails.
The surface was dusty and dead, and there was nothing there beside ruins. And only a few hundred meters away was a rocky formation that was the portal known as the Guardian of Forever. And B'vat was shepherding Miral Paris through it.
The four away teams were running as fast as they could towards the formation, Jessica's team heading the pack. "All right! We got him!" Jessica remarked, her cybernetic eye humming a bit as she zoomed in on them.
The two passed through the portal, moments before the Starfleeters arrived. "NO!" Steven roared.
The Guardian lit up to respond. "You have questions?"
Tony swore loudly as he skidded to a stop. "Shit!"
Takeshi looked up at the portal as they walked next to it. "Where… when did they just go?" he asked.
Jessica gritted her teeth as she approached. "No clue, but something tells me he's got something big planned."
"The one you know as Miral Paris has gone into the time before her time. She is the Kuvah'magh, the savior of her people. And your time, all that you know, is gone. Bring the future to the past, or all is lost. "
The words sent silent shock reeling through their minds. Everything… was doomed? That couldn't be right! Could it…?
Takeshi, however, realized what exactly it was saying: Everything was doomed… but it could be fixed - and they were the only ones who could fix it. "We have to follow them," he said.
"Wha - are you crazy?" someone else asked.
"No, he's right," Lelouch remarked. "If we just stand here, B'Vat will make changes to the timeline - changes that will destroy everything we know. Our only chance… our only choice is to follow him… and stop him."
"You will need your vessels to face the challenges ahead," the Guardian announced. "Step through my portal and they shall be returned to you."
"Then let's go!" Jessica said, charging through the portal first. Her away team followed, leaping through after her.
Takeshi and his team went through next, followed shortly by Lelouch and his team, leaving Jaden, Elisa, T'Vrell and their team as the last group there.
"Fuck. My. Life…" Jaden muttered as he and his team headed through the portal. "Kirk should've destroyed this thing back in the the 23rd…"
"Uh… Jaden… The Guardian's made of neutronium." T'Vrell said. "We can't destroy it."
"Nothing is indestructible," Jaden said. "You just need to apply the proper force… at the very least we need to find a black hole to shove this thing into… "
Gateway system, 2270
A full fleet of Klingon D7s pounded at a Federation constitution-Class starship, barely in the sensor range of four Federation starships from the future. "We've travelled back to 2270, roughly a month prior to the end of Captain Kirk's five-year mission. I'm picking up a large number of Klingon D7-class cruisers near a Federation starship, Constitution-Class."
Jaden sighed. "And let me take a wild guess…" he said. "NCC-1701?"
"It IS the Enterprise." T'Vrell said. "We're picking up a transmission from the ship. Patching it through."
The voice of a legend piped in a moment later. "Unknown vessels, this is Commander Spock of the USS Enterprise. We are under attack by Klingon vessels and are requesting assistance."
The Raging Tempest surged ahead without further prompting, and blitzed through a cluster of D7s with a combination of Scatter Volley cannon fire, a Spread of Quantum Torpedoes, and his variant of the Picard Maneuver shooting him past the initial group to blast another set.
The Liberator sped into the fray, speeding past as well before sending something out of the shuttle bay. The four drones fired on one ship, forcing its shields down before the battlecruiser spat out four Photon Torps and blew it up, followed by a barrage of phaser fire that took down three more.
"This is the Federation Starship USS Yorktown," Jaden said on the comm as the Starship moved to protect the Enterprise. "I'll keep this short: We're from the future, and that one new Klingon ship is also from the Future and wants to kill the Enterprise. I can't tell you anything more than that - Temporal prime directive an all that. Just know we're here to save your asses."
The Liberator clipped a D7, forcing it into a death spiral heading for the Yorktown. Double suicide was popular with the Klingons in battle. "Take evasive action!" Before Potter could turn, the D7 took a number of blue orbs to its' primary hull before a blue phaser beam cored the ship and destroyed it. "Uh... thanks, Enterprise."
"That was not us."
Another Constitution from that era flew out of the fireball, and jaws hit the deck at the name and registry. USS Exeter, Naval Construction Contract Sixteen-Seventy-Two.
"What the hell?!" Jessica was shocked, but she kept quiet about some things. "Is that…?"
"Huh… Ron 2270 decided to show up," Jaden said. "I wonder if he'll remember this when we get back to our time…"
"This is Captain Ronald Pinkerton of the Federation starship Exeter, responding to the Enterprise's distress call. Where the fuck did those ships come from?! And why is one of them a Phase III Connie?!"
Jaden sighed. "Captain Pinkerton, this is Captain Takeo, USS Yorktown - long story short, we're from the future," he said. "25th Century to be exact, but a Klingon has come back in time to destroy the Enterprise. We followed him thanks to the Guardian of Forever, but right now - we've got Klingon asses to kick, and these fucking assholes have PISSED ME THE RIGHT FUCK OFF!"
"Second time this month."
"YOU! PINKERTON! I WILL KILL YOU!" B'vat. He was on a Klingon ship: the IKS Worvig, a Somraw-class Raptor. The ship made a beeline towards the Exeter…
...only for the Yorktown to hit it square in the engines with a phaser blast, knocking them out before several more shots took out its weapons. "B'Vat..." Jaden growled. "I have had ENOUGH of your bullshit… you picked the WRONG. FUCKING. DAY. TO MESS WITH ME! "
"And the rest of us!" Jessica growled as the four drones from the Liberator hovered around the damaged Klingon vessel, acting as a warning sign to not try anything stupid.
The Worvig engaged its' warp engines, escaping the wrath of the four future Starfleet ships, while the rest of the Klingons cloaked, hiding.
"Follow them! Now!" Jaden shouted. "Captain Pinkerton, I would prefer it if you stayed here with the Enterprise, just in case the Klingons attack her again. We're going hunting for the Worvig."
"I can help deal with any of the Klinks that joined that son of a bitch. I don't have the sensor tech to find them. But YOU do." The 25th Century Takeo blinked. Ron's deductive skills might've not been in his resume, but he was sharp. D7-Class cruisers were easy to find using a metaphasic sweep.
Jessica's ship recalled its drones and the shuttle bay sealed shut. "Okay. But remember, we have a mission," she said. "And if there's anything we can do, just let us know!"
"We'll follow your lead, Jaden," Takeshi said as the Raging Tempest formed up alongside the Yorktown, the Escalvantine close behind.
"Alright, T'Vrell!" Jaden said. "Start a metaphasic sweep - scan the area and coordinate with the Exeter to target all of the D7's in the area. Once we target them - open up. Takeshi, I need you to follow the Worvig, we are NOT losing that bastard this time!"
"And me?" Jessica asked. "Want me to follow as well?"
"Did the standards drop in your time?" Ron asked.
"You have NO idea." Jaden muttered.
IKS Worvig
B'vat was holding his head. With Pinkerton heading back to Earth, he thought he could ESCAPE the Windstorm. Instead, his 23rd Century self shows up! "We must avoid him. Pinkerton is dangerous in ANY century." His younger self shook his head. His future self was insane, and needed to be put down.
"Sir! The Federations ships from our time are showing up on sensors!" one of the operators shouted. "And the Windstorm is with them!"
"NO! Battle stations! Get the weapons online-" B'vat froze as he felt the tip of a blade at his neck.
"No." The younger Bvat said. "Prepare to abandon ship. There is no honor in remaining on this ship to die at the hands of the slaughter-master Pinkerton."
The elder B'vat roared before four older-style columns of light appeared on the bridge. Ronald Pinkerton, Shirou and Rin Yamato and Ishmael Takeo appeared from them. "Hello, vaty. Sup?"
Before the older B'vat could say anything, another pair of transporter beams were made, as Jaden and T'Vrell appeared, both with their weapons drawn. "B'Vat - your ass - MINE." Jaden growled, with a look that could kill lesser men.
"Geez Jaden," T'Vrell muttered. "Just because he postponed-"
"T'Vrell, after ALL of the shit we've been through since we graduated, in less than three months, I've been wanting to relax in a nice little vacation," Jaden said. "Then THIS Cockbite comes in, and decides to mess around with the fucking time-space continuum! I have HAD it with this GODDAMNED BULLSHIT!" He then shot his phaser on stun, hitting the older B'vat as he fell to the ground.
"For all our sakes, Starfleeter, kill him," the younger B'vat said. "He deserves to die at the hand of an enemy with some honor."
The younger Ron set his phaser to maximum before shooting the elder B'vat, vaporizing him in a blue flash. "Done." HE said. "Now, get off this ship. BEFORE I let Shirou loose."
"I thought Riza was your personal attack dog," T'Vrell asked, causing Ron to blink.
"Who?"
T'vrell facepalmed. "Temporal Prime Directive," she muttered. "Forget I said anything - we're leaving."
"We'll be leaving now," Jaden said, as he reached for his commbadge, put paused for a moment. "Well, just to be safe… you may sometime in the future face some Romulans, and one of their Warbirds might be performing some crazy-ass stunts. My advice: Do NOT destroy it, just disable it."
Ron the younger, as well as his senior staff, was confused, but simply accepted it. "Well, whoever it is, he's no match for Shirou." Ron tapped his older communicator (which Jaden and T'vrell noted was STILL in use in THEIR day) before they disappeared.
"He has no idea about good of a pilot his sister is, does he, Jaden?" T'Vrell asked.
"Hasn't met her yet, how could he?" Jaden said with a light chuckle, "I almost wish we could somehow record their reactions when that day comes… but we need to get out of here."
Gateway system - 2409
An Excelsior-Class starship hovered near a temporal vortex, waiting for its' companions to return from their vital mission. Once they came through, her commander tapped his chair's controls, opening a channel. "Enjoy your trip, kiddies?"
"Hey Ron - Good to see your back on the Ptolemaeus," Jaden said with a tired sigh. "Now… we shall be going back to our vacation now… and I need to take a fucking nap… "
"Consider this an order, brats: 21 days of service on that hellhole called Risa." Ron said. "And Jaden, thank you. My family was happy to see her the first time. So was I."
A device on Ron's belt began beeping. "Let's get going. Helm, set course for Risa, maximum warp." The fleet entered formation with the elder ship, heading for the vacation world.
Titanic X: And another chapter of the rewrite is complete! :D
Takeshi Yamato: Yep! We've cleared the Klingon War Arc with the Guardian Episodes, and now we have some time for Rest and Relaxation on Risa. You know what that means… BEACH EPISODE! :D
117Jorn: Also meaning… FANSERVICE :D
Ron the True Fan: Delta Recruits might have an idea of what Ron's got on him. Don't spoil it for them, STO players.
Patriot-112: I'm not actually a Star Trek fan, but I will add a thing or two there, like the Independence.
Titanic X: Yeah. So, anyway, get ready for some fun in the sun, peeps! XD
117Jorn: Until next time…
Everyone: JA NE!