AN: Salutations and bienvenue! Part two of my interpretation of Cold Call! I hope you like it!
The five officers made their way to the Armory, Zasva wanting them to be prepared in case there was a fight. Only three of them were going in armed though, which wasn't making the Chief Tactical officer happy.
"Admiral, I really must insist that you and the Commander take a weapon when we beam down." Tynizi said, her voice very official, but her eyes holding a mixture of anger and fear at the thought of the love her life going down into a situation that had the possibility of going fubar… and the Admiral too, of course, but she wasn't highly emotionally invested in his safety.
"Normally I would agree with you, Lieutenant Commander, but if Commander Utprut and I come to the table armed, it might send the wrong message to the Deferi." Zevil said adamantly.
"If I may suggest a compromise, sir?" Asked Tyufia, taking pity on her gentle giantess, "We can have Tiny and Lieutenant Violet bring extra phasor pistols for us in case the worst should happen."
Zevil thought about that for a moment before nodding. "That should be acceptable, nothing wrong with our security detail having a spare weapon."
"Tynizi, Dinah, get them a set of split beam phasers." Ordered Zasva as she prepared her weapon while the Bajoran and Android officers holstered additional pistols along with their rifles. Thus armed, they left the armory and headed to the transporter room.
"I'm surprised you chose not to tell Vex about the Ambassador's ship." Zasva said in the Valixian Admiral's mind, "I understand the need to keep it secret, sir, but we sweep the ship daily for bugs and we wouldn't have put it into a report till after the mission was over."
"It wasn't my idea, Commander, but I didn't disagree with it when Commander Burgess suggested it. He and I both agreed it was better to keep both ships secret from one another." Zevil told her, his 'captain voice' sounding just as cold inside her head as it would outside of it, "I'm more surprised that Vex didn't call me out on it sooner, considering you could sense my deception even if I was suppressing it."
Zasva knew that he was testing her, probably wondering if she had felt the lie he told when he came aboard. "I did sense something, but I figured it was something for the captain's ears only." She told him, and it wasn't a complete lie: she had thought that it could have been the reason.
Zevil gave her a sideways glance but seemed to accept this when they reached the transporter room where the Ambassador was waiting for them. They got onto the transporter pad and were whisked away to a large town square, crowds of Deferi walking around and talking to one another all around them.
"Welcome to Defera, honored visitor." The Ambassador told them with an expansive gesture, "This site is the oldest continually inhabited site on my world, and as such, we find it to be the ideal place to welcome visitors."
"On behalf of the Federation of Planets, thank you for welcoming us, Ambassador." Zevil said to the diplomat with a grateful smile then looked around at the town around him and the people going through their day, "It is a beautiful location and I can see the care you and your people put into maintaining it."
"We have an old culture steeped in tradition and respect for all beings." Surah said as they started walking to a large building in front of them, most likely a Town hall where the alliance would be hammered out, "The Makers taught us the concept of Balance, and we strive for it in all things. For more than a century we have remained neutral in our dealings with other worlds, for where there is balance, there is also truth."
"A commendable philosophy, Ambassador." Tyufia commented with a kind smile on her face, "My people, being telepaths, have a strong belief in honesty."
'Almost to a fault.' Zevil commented inside her mind and she stuck her tongue at him when the Ambassador wasn't looking.
"We are now looking to expand; our population is growing to a point where we will put a strain on our world's resources." The Ambassador continued to say, unaware of the psychic exchange behind him, "To correct this imbalance, a portion of our people have volunteered to seek new homes among the stars."
"This, of course, has put us into greater contacts with beings such as yourself, and we welcome the new ideas and the technology that you have to offer." Surah informed the group of officers as they walked up the steps to the meeting place, "Perhaps by looking inward for so long, we have become out of balance with the galaxy as a whole. I and my people look forward to your help in correcting this."
Zevil was going to comment on this, when he spotted ruins in the distance, "Tell me, Ambassador Surah, what do you know about the ruins to the east of here?" He asked, "I fancy myself an amateur history buff and I'm curious to know about it. Are they part of your people's early culture?"
"You could say that, Fleet Admiral." Surah told him with a smile. "We believe that the site was once used by the Preservers, and we have located several artifacts that appear to correspond with their technology.
"Although we do not know for certain, it is our belief that the Deferi were one of the races seeded throughout the quadrant by the Preservers." He continued to inform them, "They, like us, revered balance and saw life as sacred, and they went to great lengths to preserve all life.
The five officers were surprised and a little shocked at this information. The Preservers were an ancient race that died out eons ago but made a great impact on the galaxy in their time.
Thanks to the crew of the Enterprise, captained by James T. Kirk, they knew the Preservers would transplant members of races that were threatened by extinction to worlds where they could thrive. The planet Amerind was settled by them, and they brought ancient Terrans there to create a new community.
For many years, scientists theorized that the Preservers were responsible for the spread of humanoids across the galaxy, a theory that was proven by the crew of the Enterprise-D when they learned that the Preservers not only transplanted communities, but also created them.
The Preservers believed they were alone in the galaxy. In the hopes of creating an ecosystem of races like themselves, they seeded their genetic material on other planets. In this way, they gave their "children" the companions that they never had.
"Quinzel to away team." Said Vex's voice over Zasva's combadge.
"Away team here, what's wrong captain?" Asked the Aenar woman as the others turned to her, frowning as she felt her captain's unease from all the way down there on the surface.
"Breen ships just warped in! We're dealing with it, but sensors are picking up Breen transporter signatures!" She told them a second before the shimmer of transporters appeared around the town square, bringing Breen soldiers who fired indiscriminately into the crowd, causing a panic. "We're sending you back up! Keep the citizens and the delegates safe!"
"Understood captain! Away team out!" Zasva said as she and her team drew their weapons, Dinah and Tynizi handing Zevil and Tyufia their pistols, and the two Security teams beamed in.
"Ambassador, I would suggest you and the rest of the civilians get to safety while we deal with the invaders." Zevil told Surah as he prepared his weapon.
"An excellent idea, Fleet Admiral." Surah agreed as he moved quickly inside the Town hall, ushering the other Deferi to follow him.
"Any chance I can get you two to join them?" Zasva asked Zevil and Tyufia.
"Nope." Zevil said at the same time that Tyufia said "Not a chance in hell." Seeing it was futile to argue with them, Zasva rolled her blind eyes and turned to the security teams.
"Clear the area of Breen and get the civilians to safety!" Zasva ordered as she and her away team moved to engage the Breen in front of them, cutting a few down before the rest took up defensive positions, the away team following suit.
"I believe a distraction is in order, Commander Islop!" Zevil shouted over the weapons fire. Zasva nodded, gave Tynizi and Dinah a complicated hand sign, and concentrated. A moment later an exact duplicate of herself appeared next to her.
The duplicate, a telepresence projection, stood up and ran away from the fight. This drew the attention of the Breen combatants and they concentrated their fire on the projected image. As soon as they did, both Dinah and Tynizi let loose a full auto sweep from their rifles while Zevil and Tyufia fired their spilt beam pistols, killing all of the enemy combatants.
"Okay this area is clear of Breen!" Shouted Zasva as she 'looked' around the town, using others sight to compensate for her blind eyes, glad to see the security officers seemed to be doing all right, "We need to keep going through the town and make sure everyone gets to the Town hall!"
The other officers nodded and followed the Commander through the city. Up in space, the Quinzel was in a dogfight with two Plesh Brek Frigates and six Bleth Choas Fighters. It had been three frigates, but fortunately the Jeska helped them deal with that one before Vex ordered them to warp to safety.
"Status report on the stealth drone!" Vex demanded as she gripped her seat as the ship took another sharp turn to dodge enemy fire.
"It's attached itself to the Frigate on our port side and awaiting orders on where to focus our cyber-attacks!" Victoria shouted from her station, gripping it tightly as they were hit by torpedo. "May I suggest their weapons systems, sir?"
"Suggestion noted but denied!" Vex told her curtly, "Focus cyber-attack on their shields, I've got an idea!"
Vex turned to her Second Officer. "Toros, once we have their shields sufficiently down, transport a Tricobalt warhead!" She ordered and he nodded and started prepping the warhead.
She then turned to the Rigelian woman at the helm, "Ensign, as soon as that's done, engage the cloaking device and get us behind those ships."
She then turned to a Saurian officer that was at the tactical station. "Lieutenant, as soon as we're in position, launch a full spread of our torpedoes and overload our phasor emitters with the other frigate as the primary target and the fighters as secondary targets. We can take care of them easy enough after we've blown the big fish out of the water."
Her crew got to work, first activating the cyber-attack on the selected frigates shields. "The enemies shields are down, captain." Toros informed her, "Is there a desired location in mind, captain?"
"The engine room please, Toros! Preferably as close to the warp core as possible!" Vex ordered and with a stroke of a key the bomb was transported, and a second later the frigate exploded and the Quinzel activated her cloaking device and moved into position.
Just as the Quinzel decloak and fire, a new ship warped in and fired a tractor beam at them that ensnared the ship. It was a Sarr Theln Warship, a monstrous thing that looked more like a jagged piece of metal then a ship.
"Polarize the hull!" Vex ordered, but the lights flickering caught her attention and she opened a channel to Engineering, "Clyde, please don't tell me they're siphoning our power!"
"…Okay, den I won't tell you." Said a male voice over the comm. Clyde Jorgensen was the very picture of a Swedish Viking: tall, built like an ox, pale blue eyes, and had his long blonde hair (both on his head on his face) done up in Nordic braids. He preferred to stay in Engineering rather then be on the bridge, wanting to be on hand to fix any problems there with his people instead of sending orders to them.
"Damn it!" Vex swore, "Any way you can divert the siphon to non-essentials?"
"We're trying dat now ma'am," Clyde responded, his voice sounding a little garbled due to the power going in and out, "But de damned ting is fast, and it's taking longer den we have to divert it before we lose shields and life support!"
"The other Breen ships are now focusing all fire on us and our shields are at 45% and dropping rapidly." Toros grimly informed. Vex tried to think of a way out of this, but the Breen were brutally efficient tacticians and if she waited too long, she could lose her ship and her crew.
Just when she was about to give the order to abandon ship, a flash of green hit the warship, causing the trail of blue energy to stop and the tractor beam to disengage. "Not that I'm ungrateful, but who the hell did that?" asked Vex.
"Ma'am! A ship is decloaking on our starboard side!" Vic yelled and the viewscreen showed a Klingon Qib-class Intel Battlecruiser decloaking. "They're hailing us!"
"Onscreen." Vex ordered and the screen changed to show one of the biggest Gorn she had ever seen sitting in the captain's chair.
"I am General Xrithath of Klingon Intelligence." Said the Xrithath, his deep voice barely haveing the hiss most of his people possed. He had black scales and a long fringe of scales on his head "We were passing by this sector when we picked up Breen weapons fire."
"I'm glad you're here, General, believe me," Vex told the Gorn General, relief and suspicion, "but I have to ask why you would come to the rescue of a Federation ship?"
"That explanation is far more lengthy then we have time for, Captain Vex, yes I know who you are," Xrithath explained when he saw the look on her face, "Suffice it to say, the Breen have many enemies, including the Klingon Empire."
Another hit to their shields and Vex put her suspicion to the side. "The more the merrier General! Let's deal with these ships and then we can talk!"
"Powers levels are already returning to normal, Captain!" Vic told her Vex, "What are your orders?"
"Send the stealth drone to the warship and focus cyber-attacks on their shields!" Vex ordered and then turned to the tactical station, "Target the other frigate and fire at will!"
Back on the ground, the away team and the security had already cleared out most of the Breen and sent the civilians to the meeting area building, they only had one more group to deal with before the town was clear. "I just had a terrible thought!" Zevil shouted over the weapons fire as he and Tyufia were ducking behind some metal crates.
"That we're going to be shot by a bunch of guys in refrigerator suits?" Tyufia asked before turning and returned fire, hitting her target. "I mean, normally that would be a problem, but these guys are dropping like flies!"
"That's my point!" Zevil told her as he took out a Breen that was trying to sneak up on one of the security teams. "The Breen tore through Earth's defenses during the Dominion war like they were tissue paper, but they're having trouble with a handful of Security officers and an away team?"
"The Admiral does have a point, Commander!" Shouted Tynizi to Zasva as she prepped and launched a trip wire drone at a pair of incoming Breen, blasting them back, "If the Breen really wanted this town, they would be sending more than this cannon fodder!"
"Then why the hell are they really here?" Zasva wondered aloud, before reaching out with her mind to see if she could pick up some surface thoughts. She would have looked into their minds, but her people had strict rules on going into a mind without permission, but she could see the surface thoughts to get an idea of what they were up to.
She scanned the remaining Breen's minds and was finding thoughts about the ruins, so she focused around that area. What she felt worried her. "They're going to the ruins! I'm getting a lot of thoughts centering around the Preserver tech!"
"Then it's time for this nonsense to end!" Zevil shouted and then he concentrated, grabbing every fallen weapon around him, pointed them, and fired at the remaining Breen, killing them all.
"I didn't know you could that, sir." Tynizi said in awe as she got up from her couch.
"He can but he shouldn't!" Tyufia said angrily as she helped Zevil stay up right when he stumbled getting back up from his crouch. "Vaalm told you to not overuse your psychic abilities after what happened with the Borg and what happened on DS9!"
"We needed to finish the fight fast and I'm fine." Zevil told his first officer calmly as he stepped away from her to stand on his own, "Now we need to stop them from doing whatever it is they intend to do at the ruins before it's too late."
"He's right." Zasva said, butting in before Tyufia could voice her opinion, "The Breen clearly want something at those ruins, but considering the origins of the ruins, we can't let someone like the Breen get their hands on it."
"What is our course of action Commander?" Asked Violet simply as the she and the other officers from the Quinzel gathered around Zasva.
"Security team A," Zasva pointed to the group to her right, "take up position at the meeting area with the security forces and defend the Town hall in case the Breen decided to attack again. The rest of you with me and the away team."
The teams nodded and split into two. Zasva led her team to the ruins quickly, shooting a few straggling Breen that were still making their way toward the ruins. When they were close enough, Zasva spotted a group of fifteen soldiers at the base of the ruins. They were a mix of H'ren and Ak'ched soldiers, and one Thot who was most likely in charge.
"Breen forces!" Zasva shouted and the Breen turned around to face her, "In the name of the Federation of planets, I ask that you cease and desist all actions against the Deferi! We can sit down with the Deferi leadership and discuss why you are attacking their world."
"I am Thot Wen, and we will not 'cease' our actions, nor will we discuss anything with you." Said the Thot, his voice sounding garbled through the universal translator. "We broke through Federation defenses and attacked your homeworld. We ruined your fleets during the war. You should know better than to oppose us, Starfleet. We will wrest the Preserver secrets from this place, and we will destroy anyone who attempts to stop us."
Without another word, Wen and his soldiers opened fire on the Starfleet officers. Zasva and her team quickly dove for cover behind anything that would keep them safe, all except two security officers that were hit in the chest, tearing through their personal shields, and died instantly.
"Okay, diplomacy failed!" Tyufia shouted, from her place behind a boulder with Tynizi and the remaining three security officers. "Now what do we do?"
"I am open to ideas!" Shouted Zasva who was behind a large tree, Zevil and Violet taking up position behind another boulder. Just then, the red haze that meant Klingon transportation brought five warriors, clad in all black armor, behind the attacking Breen.
"Jaj lach'eghDI'!" Shouted a female voice before two of the newcomers came at the Breen with bat'leths while the remaining three opened fire with disruptor rifles, killing four right away.
"Are they on our side?" Asked one of the security officers, a male Bolian.
"I believe that is quite irrelevant, given that they are firing at the Breen." Violet stated calmly.
"'The enemy of my enemy is my friend' is the human term I believe!" Zevil said and turned to Zasva, "More importantly, I think it would be wise not to waste the advantage they our giving us, Commander!"
"Then let's give our new friends a hand! Cloaked Pincer maneuver and check your fire, we have friendlies out there!" The three security officers nodded and activated their personal cloaking devices to circle around to the other side while the away teamed opened fire.
With the Breen's attention divided, it was easy for the security team to hit them from another angle, taking them down quickly with the combined fire power of all three groups. Soon there was only Thot Wen left and he was on his knees with two Klingon warriors, the two with the bat'leths, holding their blades at his throat.
"Thank you for coming to our aid, who is…" Zasva began to say, but cut herself short as she sensed a familiar mind, "You have got to be kidding me." Growled the normally calm Commander.
"So nice to see you too, Zasva." Said the female voice from earlier, as she stepped out from behind one of her men. The shocking part was that she wasn't Klingon or any of their allied races, but Cardassian. She was dressed in a Cardassian uniform and her long black hair was tied in a loose ponytail. The only thing to show her allegiance was a Klingon Empire badge on her left arm.
"Ariat Iset." Tynizi growled as she and Zasva glared at the woman. Tyufia tensed and joined the other two in glaring at the Cardassian.
"Someone you know?" Zevil asked the three glaring women, feeling the anger and even hatred coming off them in waves. Except for Tyufia, he had never seen them act like this before.
"Why, yes Admiral, we do know one another!" said the Cardassian in wicked glee, seeming to enjoy the hateful glare coming from the three women, "We're old frenemies!"
"That statement is far from accurate." Violet stated, a frown on her face, "You are not any kind of friend of ours."
"Not after what you tried to do to Captain Vex." Tynizi seethed, her tone and face murderous.
"Is she still mad about that?" The Cardassian asked in mock annoyance. "It was a little tiff amongst friends."
"What was this 'tiff'?" Zevil asked, not liking the darkening mood he was getting from the others.
"What she's referring to," Zasva said as calmly as she could, but failing to hide the anger from her voice, "is when she almost killed the Captain and all of us."
AN: Dun, dun, duuuunnnn! How do you like that dramatic cliffhanger? Who is Ariat Iset and what did she do to the crew of the Quinzel? Tune in next time to find out!
A big thank you to my dear friend, MaliceUnchained, for proofing this story and his endless support. As always leave a review, but till next time, I bid you adieu!
