AN: salutations and bienvenue!
I'm back and I must apologize again for the wait.
Writers block, mental health issues, and the stress of finding a new place to live have created a perfect storm to cause y'all to wait so long.
But I'm tan, I'm rested and I'm ready to give this story my attention again, to misquote the Joker!
U.S.S. Quinzel, right before Breen trap
"I'm surprised you didn't go down with them." Zevil said to Tyufia as he drew a card from the deck in front of him. He and his first officer were waiting for word from the away team when Tyufia decided that, rather than just sitting and waiting, she would replicate a deck of cards and started a friendly game with her old feiend.
"With the KI crew going with them, I thought it might be better if I stayed behind. Too many cooks in the kitchen as humans say." She replied, taking a card for herself. "Plus beating you at cards sounded like more fun."
"Well, I'm sorry to disappoint you then, because I believe the name of the game is…" He told her right before he laid all his cards down face up and said "Gin."
Tyufia threw down her cards in disgust. "You're not a Valixian, you're a damn card shark!" She hissed as he chuckled and started to expertly shuffle the deck for a new game. Tyufia's expression sobered as she decided now was as good a time as any. "Why didn't you tell me?"
Zevil stopped, but didn't look up as he let the question sink in. He knew what she meant, and he wasn't sure how to answer her. So he went with his best option: the truth. "At first… I told myself it was because I was ordered not to, that it was against regulations, and a lot of other sensible reasons, but that changed as we learned more and more about the Iconians influence in galactic events.
"I thought if I told anyone now, I could undo all that I and the other recruits had done to prepare for the inevitable attack." He grimaced as he slowly slid his hand down his face. "Then the commendations and promotions started to come and shame began to set in with the fear."
"You deserve everything that you have, Xavius." Tyufia said with a firm belief that acted as a balm for Zevil's guilt. "I said it before a while ago and it fits here too: none of that takes away from your other achievements. You did a lot of amazing things worthy of those recognitions and promotions." She made sure she was looking into his eyes as she said "You are worthy of your command."
Zevil, more than any other time before hand, was glad that he made friends with this obnoxious Betazoid woman on his first day at the academy. "I know that now, and it only took Q of all people to nearly fling us into a gas giant to get the point across."
Before Tyufia can even think to ask about that, the ship suddenly shakes violently and the lights turn red. "Red Alert. All hands to battle sta-" Came Toros before it was cut out as the ship took another hit.
"Breen?" Tyufia asked as she pulled out her phaser and got into a loose but ready fighting stance. She might be a science officer, but she had command training and knew how to defend and fight if she had to.
"It's a good bet considering they've been a consistent problem for us on this journey." Zevil said as he looked around wearily as he started to shuffle the playing cards again, then the lights started to flicker. "Energy siphon." He observed as the ship shook from impact again, the final shake being more violent than before. "And that would be our shields going which means we will have company right about…" As predicted, the shimmer of transporting energy heralded the arrival of three Breen soldiers.
Without a blink, Zevil launched the cards in his hands at the closest Breen's face with a spring flourish and psychically pulled the polaron rifle from his loosened grasp, shooting the surprised Breen at almost point blank range. Taking advantage of her friend's distraction, Tyufia shot the one of the other Breen, hitting him once to deactivate his shield and then another to kill him. She turned to shoot the other, but saw him fall down from having his neck snapped by Dr. Mrill.
"What happened to 'do no harm' doc?" Tyufia asked as she went over to the Breen that she shot to make sure he was dead and to take his weapon. Never knew when you might need something better than a standard phaser in situations like this.
Mrill just looked down at the dead man and then back up to Tyufia. "Trust me, he didn't feel a thing. I'm a professional after all." She then turned a glare to Zevil as she walked over to him. "I thought I said no telekinesis, Admiral. You could have killed yourself with that little stunt."
"Yes, well, doing nothing would have led to the same result, doctor. Extenuating circumstances and all that." Zevil snarked, surreptitiously wiping the trickle of blood coming out of his nose and choosing to ignore the dull throbbing in his head and the spots in his eyes. The doors then opened, and both Zevil and Tyufia pointed their weapons at whoever was trying to get in, but lowered their weapons when they saw it was two officers supporting a third between them. "Doctor, see to the patient. Ensigns, report on what you know of the situations."
Mrill and her nurses took the injured man, who Zevil and Tyufia could see was Commander Toros with a bad head wound, and the two officers stood to attention in front of them. "Not to sound too cliché, sir, but they came out of nowhere." Said the ensign on the right, a human female with blond hair cut short into a bob. "One minute we're waiting for word from the away team, then we're being hit from behind by a Breen Capital Ship and a couple of frigates."
"Commander Toros barely had time to give the red alert when a console by the Conn blew up and sent him flying to the floor." Said the one on the left, this one a male Andorian. "We got him here as fast as we could. We're lucky we didn't run into any Breen."
"Doctor, what's Toros' status?" Zevil asked, turning to the doctor as she kept working on the Vulcan in question.
"I've dealt with the laceration he sustained in the explosion and the fall, but he's only in moderately better condition than you were when you got here." She said as she loaded a hypo spray and injected him with it. "He's not in a coma, but he'll be out for a while."
"Then we have little choice." Zevil turned to his second in command. "Commander Utprut, given that the usual commanders of this vessel are down on the planet or incapacitated," he inclined his head in the direction of said knocked out CO, "and I am currently bedridden, you need to make your way to the bridge, take command, and get us out of this mess."
Tyufia wanted to argue that she was qualified, but now wasn't the time. 'Put up or shut up.' She thought to herself before nodding at Zevil and began issuing orders to the two ensigns in front of her first to the blond one. "You stay here with the Admiral and keep him and the others here in Sickbay safe. Anyone wearing a freezer suit gets shot. Period." Getting a nod from the human she turns to the Andorian. "You're with me, keep your antenna on our front and I'll keep my mind on our backs." She turned back to Zevil as she primed her stolen rifle. "Don't die while I'm gone."
"I survived Tal Shiar, Jem'Hadar, the Borg, and three years with you as my first officer." he said, priming his own stolen rifle. "Do you honestly think I'm going to give these walking refrigerators the satisfaction of killing me?"
Both friends gave each other a quick smirk before they got back to business and Tyufia and the Andorian left out the door, leaving Zevil and the human pointing their weapons at the door. Zevil noticed that the Ensign's phaser was shaking. "What's your name Ensign?"
She was quiet for a moment, surprised at the Admiral's question, but said. "Callaghan, sir. Samantha Callaghan."
"Well Samantha- if you'll forgive the informality, I want you to know that we are going to get through this." He said this with absolute confidence, wanting to make sure the scared Ensign felt it as well.
It seemed to be doing the trick, because her hands stopped shaking. "How can you be so sure, sir?" she still asked. The door opened and right as four Been entered the room, Zevil let loose three rounds rapid at each Breen, taking their shields down with two shots and killing them with one. All this before Samantha could even let off one shot.
The young Ensign looked at the dead bodies on the floor, gob smacked at the speed and efficiency of the take down. She turned to the Admiral, who was still glaring down the barrel of the polaron rifle, before nodding and lowering it. "I know that," he said, as if he hadn't just expertly taken down four enemies, "because these morons threw a grenade at me and I lived. So, I'm not enamored with their fallow through."
Quinzel Bridge
"Alright everyone," Tyufia said as she and the Andorian walked into the bridge, "I know I'm not one of your usual CO's, but I'm what you got, so give me a status report."
There was only the smallest of pauses before the bridge crew started to inform her of the situation.
"The capital ship has left the system with one of the frigates, but the other two are still attacking us." The male Vulcan at tactical told her. "Port side phasers are nonoperational, and we only have use of one torpedo bay at our aft section."
"Shields are holding at twenty percent, but emitters are failing all along the ship." Said a human woman at the science station.
"Draw as much emergency power from all nonessential systems and reroute it to shields, maybe we can kick start the emitters." Tyufia tapped her badge. "Bridge to Engineering."
"Jorgenson here, who's that? Where's the Captain or the commanders? Stims! Don't bother with the manifold! Go to the power relays!" asked Clyde, sounding agitated and clearly trying to direct his people.
"Two are planet side and the other is in sick bay, so you're stuck with Commander Utprut, which is me." Tyufia said, taking her seat at the con. "Now give me a status report, how bad are things in engineering?"
"Aaah, Tynizi's girl!" Clyde replied, which made an embarrassed blush appear along the commander's cheeks. "And I won't say we need to abandon ship, but if we take another direct hit, we might want to consider it."
"How's the cloak? Or is that just wishful thinking?" Tyufia asked, already having a good idea about the answer.
"Nonfunctional ma'am." Clyde confirmed. "I'm doing all I can to keep us flying and from total shield collapse."
"Do what you can Chief, bridge out." Tyufia tapped her badge and turned to the Intel station. "What's the status of the Intel drone?"
"It's still functional ma'am, just need a target." Said the Bolian female manning the station.
Tyufia thought on the very little she knew about this ship 'Got to love the high security clearance you get when you're an Admiral's Number One.' She though off handedly as a battle plan formed in her mind. "Launch the drone at the ship on our starboard and target their critical systems." She turned to science. "Activate hazard emitters to get that other leech off our backs." Helm was next. "Attack pattern beta. Keep them from getting a clean shot, but still in range of our starboard Phasers." Finally, she turned to tactical. "Full spread of quantum torpedoes when they're in range of our working torpedo bay."
The crew followed her orders despite her not being one of their usual commanders. They might have collectively had their heads up their asses over the Klingon thing, but they weren't completely idiotic. They were Starfleet Intelligence, they got the job done.
The drone was deployed and attached itself to the enemy vessel, triggering its viral attack on the ship's vital systems at the same time that the Quinzel's hazard emitters activated all along the hull, acting as a kind of jumpstart to the shield emitters. They wouldn't fully restore the shields, but they'd help them on the way to being fixed and had the added benefit of cutting off the Breen's siphoning of their power.
Once the Quinzel was freed, it shot forward and made a sharp turn to starboard and let loose phaser fire on the two ships. The frigates returned fire, but the Intel ship was faster and was being flown by someone who clearly knew what they were doing, bobbing and weaving through the beams of deadly energy and canon fire. Tyufia, while unable to see these moves from within the ship, was still very impressed by these fearsome flight maneuvers. "Nice flying helm! You the usual pilot?"
"I wish I was ma'am!" said the human at the helm, a fierce grin on her face. Tyufia could only see the back of her, but she could clearly tell that the officer at the helm was a lithe female with light brown skin and black braded hair that reached down to mid back with two silver feathers pined to where it started. "Ensign Jemma Crow. I fly the ship when Dinah's not here."
"You are wasted as a reserve, Ensign!" Tyufia said as the ship practically barrel rolled out of the path of a torpedo. "But I'm very glad the inertia dampeners are still working. Tactical, what's the status of the enemy ships?"
"Their shields are holding at eighty percent. Our weapons are having minimum effect." The Vulcan to her, his monotone sounding not at all worried like the situation called for.
Tyufia was considering what they could do to get the upper hand in this fight and not kill themselves in the process, when Ops station lit up and an alarm sounded. "Please tell me that's good news!" Tyufia practically ordered.
"Two ships coming out of warp ma'am! They reads as…Klingon!" The Tellarite at ops said just as said ships came into view on the view screen. One was the Mo'Kai but the other was considerably bigger. It was vaguely 'T' shaped, with the wings at the aft and what was most likely the Bridge section at the fore. It looked to be as big as an Odyssey class ship and it was armed with massive cannons at the fire, which opened fire as they got into range, the shields of one of the enemy frigates cutting out as the blasts hit, clearly the work of the Mo'Kai's infiltration drone.
"Switch the drone's viral attack to the enemies shields and bring us about so we can hit those frostbitten bastards with a tachyon beam and viral matrix. If that ship is still intact after they blast it, I want it's systems to be unsalvageable." Tyufia ordered, the ship and crew doing as she ordered as two beams, one blue and the other purple, fired from both deflector arrays and hit the remaining Frigate. The shield and in fact the whole ship stopped, all the onboard systems going haywire from the viral matrix and the shields being drained away by the tachyon beam.
Taking this as their que, the two Klingon ships let loose a barrage of all their impressive ordinance onto the Breen vessel and ripped through the hull like tissue paper, it exploding a half a minute later. Before the bridge crew could let loose cheers of victory, an alert from Ops sounded. "The lead ship is hailing us, Commander."
"On screen." The screen changed to the view of the leonine, and snarling, face of a Ferasan. She was female and unless Tyufia missed her mark, was old if the white and grey hair along her muzzle and long main of purple hair.
"I am M'Zetta of the I.K.S. Sor'mang, Daughter of none, first and only of my House, Huntress of hunters, blood and battle sister of Kor, Breaker of warriors, Culler of weakness, and Dahar Master of the Klingon Empire." She growled in a voice that demanded you listen to it or else. "I am here to lend my aid to the idiotic lizards who thought leaving a barely functioning ship would keep an entire world safe! Where is Admiral Zevil and General Xrithath?"
Planet surface
"I'd like to personally thank you for finding the final star chart fragment." Said the Breen at the head of the group, clearly the leader and the only one not pointing a weapon at them. The Intel officers, both Klingon and Starfleet, were kneeling on the ground with their hands restrained and all comes and weapons removed and destroyed. Even Xrithath and Keeyas were bound in cuffs made for large Gorn, the former practically vibrating with barely restrained rage as his weapon was atomized.
"Happy to be of service." Vex said sarcastically, glaring at suited person from her place on the ground. "Mr…?"
"Trel, Thot Trel." He said, amusement in his screeching voice. He turned to look at the star chart "If I'd known you were going to ultimately prove useful, perhaps I'd have considered sparing your life." He paused as he turned back to them. "Of course, I'd have only spared it up to this point anyway, so things would have ended the same either way.
"Still," Trel said as he looked them over. "considering all you've done to aid the Confederacy in our final goal, I might consider letting you and your officers live. Why not just beam back to your ship and run back to your masters like good lapdogs?"
"I would rather rip out and feast on my own beating heart before I dishonor my crew and my empire by running away." Xrithath growled, rage barely contained and a noticeable creaking sound coming from his restraints.
"Same here." Vex practically growled also. They were joined in his denial by the rest of their team, even Ariat, which surprised Vex.
"If you wish to fall today, I am happy to help you." Trel shrugged nonchalantly, or as much as he could in his suit, as one of his men handed him a data chip with the star chart on it "Why don't you think it over and give your answer to Thot Par. He's been dying to meet you ever since the defeat of Thot Wen." He was them whisked away in the shimmer of a transporter.
"We'll start with the Starfleet rats first." Said Par as he gestured for his men to bring the four women closer. "A shame the Valxian isn't here, but I suppose I'll have to be content with my ships destroying the one he's on." He looked at Vex and she could just imagine the snear on his face. "That's your ship, isn't it?"
Vex is about snarl something venomous, when here badge starts to beep. It's fast, but Vex can clearly make out a sequence to the beeps. 'Back…up…five…feet…now!' She gave a quick look at her people, who nodded and all four of them quickly rolled five feet behind themselves, just as a stun grenade rolled into the group of Breen. Par looked down just as it went off and hit him and his men, electric sparks running along their bodies, locking them into place and cutting out their shields.
With a roar that would have impressed the ancient dinosaurs, Xrithath broke his cuffs and launched himself at Par, his massive jaws going straight for his throat and ripping it out with a vicious jerk of his head. The other Breen were soon dealt with as twelve bolts of energy, six phaser and six tetryon, were fired into the cave and hit all Breen center mass. They died before hitting the floor.
Dinah soon walked in, calmly side stepping the ferocious and very bloody Gorn, and made her way straight to Vex. "I am sorry it took me so long, Captain." Dinah said, getting behind Vex and tearing off her restraints like they were nothing more than aluminum foil. "It took longer than I care to admit for M'Krrt and I to get into position to launch a rescue."
"Your time was perfect Dinah, as always." Vex told her as she massaged her wrists, taking an stock of their situation and welfare. Dinah was freeing the others, M'krrt ran in and began taking scans of the star chart, and Xrithath was inspecting the dead Breen's bodies, so Vex decided to help him. "Anything useful?"
"A few tricorders, but I doubt they will be of any use." Xrithath rumbled, a almost inaudible growl adding a hint of anger to his words as he stood up. "Breen tend to have programs that sabotage their equipment from being tampered with."
"They are a counter intelligence nightmare." Vex sighed, arms crossed as she looked at the bodies, her eyes lingering on Par. "He can't have tasted good."
"I hate the taste of frozen meat." Xrithath growled dejectedly. "Gorn tend to stay away from the cold, it kills our young and makes us sluggish, but this was the most expedient way to kill this loathsome worm."
It's at this point Vex remembers what that aforementioned 'worm' said about her ship. "Dinah! I need your combadge, now!" Without question, Dinah took off her badge and tossed it to Vex. Vex tapped as soon as it was in her hands. "Away team to Quinzel! Please respond!"
It was quiet for a very long moment, but soon "Where the hell have you been!?" was their answer.
Vex breathed a sigh of relief, glad to hear a familiar voice, but was still confused as to why that particular voice answered her. "Fia? What are you doing on the bridge? Where's Torros?"
"Knocked out in sickbay, but alive." Tyufia reassured her, but got back to business fast. "You guys need to get back here now, Vex. The Klingons sent reinforcements in the form of a very pissed off Dahar master and she wants to talk to Xrithath and Zevil together now."
At the mention of Dahar master and 'she', the KI officers tensed. "Friend of yours?" Vex asked, eyebrow raised at their reaction.
"Not…exactly." Ariat was the one to answer, as it seemed Xrithath was more than a little shaken at the news of their guest, which honestly disturbed Vex. There wasn't many female Dahar Masters if her memory was correct and only one that she could think of that would instill this level of fear in a person like the general.
"Mrill is not going to like this." Vex said with a groan.
Outside Quinzel Sickbay
"She is not coming into my sickbay!" Growled Mrill as she stood in the doorway, baring the way of the Ferasan in front of her. M'Zetta was tall, easily six two, and was dressed in the long version of the red and black Bortasqu' uniform, but with red and black fur lined shoulder armor. Her own fur was a deep purple, almost black, but with white along her muzzle and in the main of hair on her head that reached down to her waist. She wore gold earrings and a single gold nose ring. She also had a wicked looking Kur'leth strapped to her back and Vex was sure that the augmented feline knew how to use it.
The away team had decided it was best not keep the Dahar Master waiting and quickly made their way to her as soon as they were beamed aboard. When they materialized on board the Quinzel, the transporter chief told them M'Zetta was heading to Sickbay. Vex urged everyone to get to Sickbay fast and hoped that the extra muscle would keep the two feline females from killing each other.
The cat women were letting out low growls as they glared at one another, heir tails were thrashing madly, and both looked ready to pounce on each other. Mrill's tail was even going bottle brush, not an indicator of peace.
"You will not stop me!" M'Zetta growled back, hands already forming claws, ready to attack. "I will get into that Sickbay, inferior!"
"Over my dead body, barbarian!" Mrill hissed, baring her teeth and her tail getting even more bottle brush somehow.
"That can be arranged." M'Zetta said through clenched teeth, her snarl that much more impressive with her larger incisors.
"Heh, cat fight." Vic said, earning her unamused glares from the others, the ones from the cat women just shy of murderous. "Sorry." Vic said, taking just the smallest steps back.
Mrill didn't look it, but she was old and she had history with M'Zetta. Both women had joined Starfleet and the KDF at the same time and had been fighting each other ever since. Something had happened between them a hundred years ago but Mrill refused to talk about it, even to Vex, and no amount of digging had revealed the answer either. It also didn't help that their species hated each other and usually one of them would try to kill the other on sight. Mrill had put up with M'krrt on the ship because one, they avoided each other like a plague, and two, M'krrt was smart enough not to antagonize her. M'Zetta clearly didn't.
"Mrill," Vex said in as calm a voice as she could "I know there's bad blood here, but she came to help and she needs to talk to Xavius and Xrithath."
"She can talk to them through comms. She isn't getting in here." Mrill said with finality. Vex could force the issue, she knew, but wasn't sure of the best way to do that. Fortunately, a solution soon made himself known.
"Then why don't I go to her." Said Zevil as he slowly made his way to stand behind Mrill, leaning heavily on Tyufia for support. He was dressed in the dark blue robe and gown that all Sickbay's give their patients to wear.
"What are you doing!? Get back in bed!" Mrill ordered, her earlier ire turning into worry in a matter of moments.
"Glad to see you have the core of your priorities straight, doctor." Zevil said, his words just barely keeping themselves from being sardonic. "However, time is of the essence, so if Muhammad can't come to the mountain, the mountain will come to Muhammad. I believe that's how the humans say it."
Vex turned to Vic for clarification, but she just shrugged, clearly she didn't know who this Muhammad was or his mountain. "I'll make sure he's okay Mrill." Vex told her ship's doctor and old friend. "If he starts to turn any other color than purple, I'll personally bring him right to you and you can give me a good dressing down as my punishment."
Mrill gave Vex an unamused glare, but did say "You promise?" Instead of the classic cross over her heart, Vex did an X over her symbiont pocket. With a roll of her eyes, Mrill let Zevil and Tyufia past and handed Vex two hypospray vials. One was blue and the other was bright red. "Give him one of these if he starts to get pale." She told Vex, pointing to the blue one.
"And the red?" Vex asked, eyebrow raised. She knew a few medicines that color, but none of them would be useful in this situation.
"That one's for her." Mrill didn't bother to be secretive, she said her words clearly and pointed at the other bipedal cat with a loathsome glare. Both women gave each other another hate filled growl before turning and walking away. "Dr. Keeyas, if you could please assist my nurses and I with triage, it would be most appropriated." Mrill said over her shoulder to the Gorn doctor, who followed her fellow doctor after getting a nod from Xrithath.
"Want some help?" Tynizi offered Tyufia as Vex and the others started making their way to the conference room. Assuming of course that's where the Dahar Master was going.
"Think I can't do it on my own?" Tyufia asked, a clear challenge in her voice and the cocking of her brow. There was only the slightest touch of censure to her challenge, the two women were on better terms than they were before, but the ground was still shaky.
"Of course you can, but we're always better when we do things together." Tynizi said in a rare show of flirting. Tyufia tried hard not to smile, but she loved this big goof ball that could inexplicably turn her insides to jelly.
"O-kay, no." said Vic, who was right in front of them, as she turned and took over as Zevil's helper. "If we leave him with you two love birds, he'll die from a sugar overdose. Come on Admiral, you can lean on me and not have your teeth rot."
Zevil was surprised at the constant emotional whiplash he was getting from this crew. 'I'm never going to understand spies.' He thought to himself then an image of Lydana, cocky smile on her lips and mischief in her eyes, came to mind and he suppressed a shudder. 'Maybe that's a good thing. That path leads only to madness.' He gave the human a mock serious look. "How would you like a commendation, commander?"
"Sir, I just saved your life. I want my own command." Vic said with a cheeky grin.
Quinzel conference room
"One ship?! One single, practically crippled ship?!" M'Zetta did not waste time as soon as they were all in the conference room, not even letting them sit down before she whirled on Xrithath, glaring up at the massive reptiloid. "You are the General of an entire fleet of ships and you couldn't be bothered to call any of them?"
"They were all on assignmen-!" Xrithath barely started to say, before he found the Dahar Master's fist in his gut. The punch was strong enough to bring him down to one of his knees, making it possible for her to grab onto one of his head spikes and twist, which was clearly painful from the surprised groan that the general let slip.
"I am not finished berating your stupidity, reptile." She seethed, giving Xrithath's spike a good twist for good measure. "A single damaged ship would not have survived another Breen invasion, even if they had help from that Starfleet ship this idiot called in." She waved a dismissive hand at Zevil, who wisely stayed quiet, not wanting to risk getting attacked himself. "At least he has the excuse of his fleet doing something useful like hunting the Borg! Yours is sitting like a targ in shit at an enemy's boarders, just listening!"
Xrithath looked like he was about to say something when she yanked his head down into her rapidly rising knee, back handed him to fall hard onto his side and unsheathed her kur'leth, holding it to his neck. "Now, you may give me your feeble excuse"
Gog looked ready to attack the woman, but Xrithath held a hand to stop him and anyone else from doing so. "I have none but the usual excuse, Dahar Master: the High Council decided against it."
M'Zetta let out a frustrated growl before she put her weapon away and let Xrithath stand. "Fools, the lot of them. J'mpok is more politician than warrior, makes me wish that welp Martok had survived."
"If we're quite done with this little inquisition, Dahar Master," Zevil said as he directed Vic to help him to one of the heads of the tables, taking a seat and giving the old warrior a level look. "Shall we get on with it? Or am I to be next on the chopping block."
"You are either very brave or very stupid to speak that way to a Dahar Master." M'Zetta said, giving the admiral the stink eye, but not moving to attack him like she did Xrithath. There was no honor in attacking a sick man, after all.
"No, what I am is tired, especially because you are wasting our time with this ridiculous lecture and show of power." He responded, and Vex was a little worried because he did look tired. She was about to say something when he held up his hand but didn't break eye contact with feme feline.
M'Zetta stared him down, but when it was clear he would not break, she cocked a brow. "You've fought this kind of battle before." She didn't phrase it as a question, his behavior was answer enough.
"I have a grandmother whose only slightly younger than you must be, and I'm far more scared of her than I am of you." Zevil told her, and while he couldn't see it, Tyufia and Vex gave matching shudders. They'd met the Matriarch of Clan Zevil once and that was enough, she was not a woman who suffered fools. Ever.
The old Ferasan cracked a smirk then and walked over to the chair at the other end, sitting when she got there. "I think I want to meet this grandmother of yours, but you are right. Let's get to work."
There was an unasked question of the seating arrangement, mainly because M'Zetta was sitting in the specially made chair for Xrithath. He was too big for a normal chair, so he opted to stand at M'Zetta's right. Taking her cue from the General, Vex stood at Zevil's right as well
Instead of the old arrangement of sitting with their faction, the remaining officers mixed things up. To Zevil's left it was Tyufia, Tynizi, Gog, and Vic. To his left was Ariat, Dinah, M'krrt, and Zasva. Vex could see the slightest smile on her friend's face and she mirrored it as she realized the same thing: the alliance was working. Both warring groups were starting to find common ground. It wasn't perfect, too much remained complicated between them, but there was hope.
"There will be no living with him now." Tyufia said in Vex's head, clearly seeing what Vex saw in Zevil's expression.
"So, we now have another star charts fragment." Zevil eventually said, looking at both Dinah and M'krrt. "Do we know if there is a clue to another location?"
"I do not believe so, Admiral." Dinah took out her tricorder and activated the holoemitters in this room, bringing up all three fragments after she added the latest one. "There were no other coordinates or signals activated once the fragment was revealed."
"So, we did it? We have all the fragments?" Asked Tyufia, who was practically on the edge of her seat. "Can we use them, or do we need to jump through another set of hoops?"
"I do not believe more "hoops" are necessary." Dinah said as she inputted a set of commands into the emitter controls and the fragments fused into one long image. "I will now overlay this with Star charts on record to see where this chart fits."
"Keep it to the Alpha quadrant." Vex ordered on a hunch. "It can't be a coincidence that all the clues were in this part of space if the ultimate destination were somewhere else." She explained to everyone, getting nods of agreement from the higher ranked officers.
Dinah put in the necessary commands and a three-dimensional map of the alpha quadrant formed next to the chart. The chart merged with the quadrant map and a path from their location to what had to be the archive was clear.
"That is the Lae'nas system in the Raveh sector. Lae'nas III to be exact." Said M'krrt after studying the map for a moment and bringing up the last survey report. "Class M, with two moons, and uninhabited."
"Clearly it was at one time, by the Preservers." Zevil said as he studied the star chart. He turned to Tyufia. "Were you able to get a status report from Engineering before you left the Bridge Commander?"
Tyufia nodded as she keyed in a few commands and brought up a hologram of the Quinzel. "Chief Jorgensen says that the warp core and the engines are the only thing that weren't badly damaged in the fight. Our weapons are practically useless and our shields are barely holding, but he assures me that damage is mostly internal and he can probably fix it as we go."
"I can make that probability into a certainty." M'Zetta announced, a smug look on her face. "Among my crew are some of the empires most skilled. Be it with a bat'leth or a hyper spanner, my crew are all masters of their craft. I will have them beamed over and they can assist your Chief Engineer." She told them with a nod, not bothering to phrase it as a request and Vex wasn't going to argue with her. An extra hand or two would be helpful.
It was in that vein of thought that Vex asked "I take it you'll be joining us on our mission?"
"These two have nearly cocked this whole operation up, so of course I'm coming." M'Zetta said with a dismissive wave at Zevil and Xrithath, the former only cocking an eyebrow at the dig and the latter letting out a growl. "Besides, with the war nearly over and with the High Councils heads collectively up J'mpok's ass it will stay 'nearly over' for another decade at this rate, which leaves me with nothing to do now. So, I'm bored, and no one wants me bored Captain Vex." Xrithath grimaced and gave a head tilt of agreement.
Zevil and Vex looked at one another, both considering the situation. Neither of them liked the idea of M'Zetta coming along, for one thing her ship was built for war and clearly outmatched the Quinzel and for another the Klingons now outnumbered them twenty to one. The fact remained, however, even if they did have the crew of the M0'Kai with them they weren't strong enough tactically to go up against a Breen capital ship like Trel's.
Both officers came to this conclusion and communicated this silently, like old friends do. No psychic abilities required. Vex nodded and Zevil turned to M'Zetta, "We would be happy to accept your aid, Dahar Master."
"Of course you will, I wasn't giving you a choice in the matter." M'Zetta gave him a smug smirk, but quickly returned to being serious. "General Xrithath, I'm sure your ship could use your attention. Take your crew back to it and see that everything is in order."
Xrithath looked like he wanted to argue, but M'Zetta gave him a look that made him rethink that thought, so he simply nodded and turned back to Vex. "Thank you for your hospitality, Captain Vex. We will return to the Mo'Kai and will prepare to depart for Lae'nas III." At his words, the other KI officers stood, said their good byes, and followed their General out.
"Commander Zasva," Zevil said, gaining the Aenar's attention, "why don't you, Commander Ejpez, Commander Rogers, and Lieutenant Violet head to the bridge while Captain Vex, Commander Utprut, and I discuss the particulars for the repair teams with the Dahar Master." Before she can even ask Vex about this order, who was also curious about it as well, he then said "I'll contact you on your delta when we've worked everything out."
She got the message loud and clear, as did Tyufia and Vex, and took the others with her to the bridge. Once the door was closed and after Vex made sure they were not being recorded, Zevil turned back to M'Zetta. "You can speak freely now. The Captain and the Commander are in the know."
"Yes, Daniels told me that me that your Chakotay Protocol was activated. He thought you might need help." M'Zetta said with an eye roll. "Checkov and I disagreed, but Daniels is the one in charge of all temporal maintenance at the end of the day."
"Wait, wait, wait! You're a Delta Recruit?" Asked Tyufia, clearly surprised despite the forwarding when Zevil said Delta earlier.
"And I'm sorry, but did you just name drop an Enterprise alumni? As a temporal agent?" demanded Vex, but then another thought occurred to her. "Wait, did you know she was a Delta Recruit?" Vex asked as she turned to her friend.
"Only after she sent me a message during our little stare down." Zevil told her, tapping his head to let her know the type of message it was. "Ferasans are telepathic, not as strong as a Valxian, Betazoid, or Reman, but stronger than a Vulcan." Noticing the glares he was getting from his two friends, he quickly added. "I didn't send anything, so I'm still following doctors orders."
"Getting back to the task at hand," M'Zetta said, a hint of agitation giving her voice an edge. "Daniels is concerned about the activation of Chakotay Protocol and your ability to finish the mission."
"His concern is…appreciated, but unnecessary." Zevil said levelly. "The protocol was activated because it was necessary. My wounds were severe and I want sure I would wake up in time to complete the mission… wasn't sure I was going to wake up, honestly." Zevil places a hand on his healing but still sore ribs. "As for the mission, I have absolute faith in Captain Vex and Commander Utprut." The two women smiled at their friends trust, but he saw none of it as he leaned forward. "I was under the impression that there were no operatives that could take on this assignment, which was one of the reasons I had to find a ship I could trust and take me."
"Is that what Daniels told you?" She asked a chuckled when Zevil swore on Valxian, which actually made the two women beside him gasp, meaning it must have been a particularly bad one. "I would advise always thinking that Daniels is lying to you, young man, but he wasn't lying completely. There are no other Starfleet operatives available at the moment and I was the only one in the Empire who could aid you."
"Well, on behalf of my ship and crew thank you for coming to our rescue, Dahar Master." Vex said M'Zetta with a respectful bow.
"Don't you have your hands full with a certain Cardassian?" Tyufia asked with a cheeky grin. "do you really want to add Ferasan Dahar master to make a love triangle?"
As the god natured banter started to flow between the three friends, for just a moment, M'Zetta saw not three Starfleet officers, but three Klingons. It was as if Kang, Kolath, and Kor lived again, and it brought a small smile to her face. 'Maybe this generation isn't such a lost cause after all.'
AN: Oh my goodness, this story took waaaaay too long to write, but it's done and a little longer than usual as a small apology from me to make up for the wait.
We're getting close to the end folks, hopefully I'll be able to get it done sooner cause of that, but I don't want to make promises I can't keep. All I will say is that I will do my best!
Till then, I bid you adieu!
