"Computer, begin log." Said Admiral Xavious Vexius Zevil, sitting poised and professional at his desk on Earth Space Dock. At the positive chime, Zevil began his recording.
Admiral's log, Stardate: 86712.1
After months of work, meeting with the captains of my taskforce-both old and new I am proud to say that our efficiency and mission completion rate is up by twenty percent and sector security for all infected areas of the recent attacks by the Borg are stable. While I am happy to serve in whatever capacity necessary to the security and betterment of the Federation, I am hoping that the repair and refit of the Hades will be done soon, and I can once again be among the stars of the Night Cloak.
"Computer, end Admiral's log and begin personal log." Zevil said and as soon as he heard the positive tone, he slowly fell forward and let his head hit the table with a thunk. "Personal log, Stardate: 86712.1. I have been stuck at ESD for months now and I am losing. My. Mind." Zevil punctuated each word with a light hit to his desk with his head. "End log."
"Considering your brain injury three months ago, is that advisable?" asked the no-nonsense, yet amused, voice of Lieutenant Commander Six of Nine as she sat down the admiral's usual cup of tea.
"My brain will be liquefied at this rate, so I won't need to worry about injury." Zevil grumped as he sat back up and took a restorative sip of his tea, grimacing at the taste. "Especially if the replicator keeps fouling up my tea randomly like it has been for months." He set the offending cup down and gave an apologetic smile over to Six.
"I'm sorry, darling. I'm acting like an ill-tempered viper bat." Zevil stood up and faced her, taking her free hand in his. "Especially since you've been doubling as my yeoman since our involuntary stay here. Delivering and fetching my messages, checking in on the crew, and even bringing me tea." He used his other hand to cradle her cheek, his smile growing as Six leaned into his touch. "What would I do without you?"
She turned her head so that she could kiss his palm and then held up a padd. "You wouldn't get this for a start."
Chuckling, Zevil took the padd and perused it, his face lighting up as he did. He looked up from the padd and his smile was iridescent. "She's done!" Zevil cheered as he hugged Six to himself and spun her around, laughing in pure joy. "We're finally free!" He dipped Six low and kissed her deeply.
When they were vertical again, Six had a dusting of pink on her cheeks and let out a breathy laugh. "Glad I could make up for the tea." They both chuckled at that but were interrupted by Zevil's badge chirping.
"Duty calls, we'll celebrate later." Zevil winked at Six, who gave a bemused smirk, and he tapped his combadge. "Zevil here."
"Sorry to bother you Admiral, but we have a subspace transmission from New Romulus coming in for you." Said one of the stations communications officers.
"Patch it through to the desk monitor in my office." Zevil ordered as he took his seat. A moment later his monitor lit up with the face of a familiar Reman. "Obisek! It's been far too long!" Zevil said with a genuine smile on his face.
"That it has my friend." Said the former freedom fighter, a small smile of his own on his face.
Zevil had met Obisek during his conflict with the Star Empire, more specifically his conflict with Sela, Hakeev, and the Tal Shiar. They had crossed paths in the Vault, an old and massive Romulan research facility. They had not started off on good terms, arguing over the use of thalaron weapons against the Star Empire and Tal Shiar. Zevil had empathized with the Remen's drive for freedom, but tried to convince Obisek not to take the weapons. He hadn't, but the Reman had been convinced to let him and the Romulan Intelligence agent he was working with to go. When they next met, Zevil had helped cover Obisek's and his entire cell's escape from a Tal Shiar attack and that had cemented their alliance and later their friendship.
"I wish I was merely making a social call, but I'm actually here on Republic business." He said as he tapped a command into his console and an image appeared. It was a schematic of an Iconian gateway. "I take it you know what this is?"
"You know I do." Zevil said, his tone confused but his expression became concerned as his mind worked over what the schematic could mean. They had encountered two gateways on Brea III, one on the surface and a massive one in the space above the planet. The last one had sent a vessel that dragged the Star Empire's Empress, Sela, through it. They still didn't know where she was, but hopefully she wouldn't return to cause trouble as she always has since Picard met her on Romulus.
He wondered why his friend would ask him this, but realization hit him as he studied the schematic more closely. "This is about the gateway found on New Romulus, isn't it?" Zevil asked, but he knew the answer. A team that was part of the colonization efforts found and cleared out a nest of Tholians. Turns out, they were excavating and trying to use an Iconian Gateway left over from when the planet's original occupants, the Dewans, had lived under the rule of the Iconian Empire.
"I'm not surprised you know about, considering who it was that found it." Obisek said with a good-natured smirk, not noticing the slight twitch of Zevil's eyes. The team that had found the gate and, in a way, started this whole mess was actually a Starfleet Intelligence crew. Normally, SI sticks to the shadows, but the CO in charge of the ship had a strong tie to the Romulan people. Admittedly, it was the Romulan archeological team that D'Tan had sent to study it, but Zevil knew it was Admiral Kassai Lydana who helped pave the way.
Things had been…strained between Lydana and Zevil. They had been good friends before a fight about chain of command had erupted between them. Zevil had wanted Lydana to come clean about her manipulation of the system and a clear oversight about the situation, she might light be demoted, but it would have been the right thing to do in Devils opinion. Her response? Recordings of him on Delta recruit missions and manipulating the timeline that she would use as blackmail. They hadn't spoken since, but Zevil has submitted his report to Quinn, for what little good that did.
"D'Tan is adamant that we share all we learn from the gateways activation and has asked our allies in the Federation and Klingon Empire to join in the first activation." Obisek informed him as he dismissed the schematic. "The Federation has already confirmed that they will be sending the Enterprise and her crew along with Admiral Kassai and her ship, but I want you there." Obisek leveled him with a penetrative gaze. "You know this technology and what it has done to not only my people, but the Romulans as well when the Tal Shiar used it against us. If this technology is dangerous, I will not have history repeat itself."
Zevil leaned in closer to the screen, concern creasing his brow. "What are you asking of me Obisek?"
Obisek took a breath, but his intense gaze did not faulter. "Lend the scientist your knowledge and expertise in Iconian technology and gateways, but if things look like they will turn to the worst? Stop us from bringing destruction upon ourselves."
ESD, Observation Deck Thirteen
"And here's one of me and the kids at Calash Monastery! Diman wasn't as interested in the holy script as Maris wanted, but Voria had the biggest eyes when she saw the mural of the Celestial temple when we arrived! She's going to be a Vedek, I'm sure of it!" gushed Citte as she showed the holoimages of his family trip to Tyufia, M'Mutt, K'Thoke, and Yizura as they made their way to meet up with Zevil and the rest of their crew. They had all met on their way to the observation and Tyufia had asked how everyone's leave was, which turned out to be a mistake because Citte was ready with a padd full of holiday pictures of his family.
'Me and my big mouth.' thought Tyufia as she plastered on a smile at the fiftieth image of Citte's daughter. She was glad Citte was such a proud father, but did he have to be so in your face about it?
"Your wife is really pushing for the priesthood for your kids, isn't she?" Asked Yizura with a wry smile, not doubting for a second that the monastery was Maris' idea. Zevil and his senior staff were close enough to know a bit about each other's lives, so they knew that Citte's wife would be much happier if he stayed home and not risk his life out in space, and she didn't want her children to follow in his footsteps.
Citte chuckled nervously as he deactivated his padd, scratching the back of his neck as he did so. He knew this fact very well and understood where his wife came from. She respected Starfleet and of course the Bajoran Militia, she just didn't like the idea of burying her husband or children, she had heard enough horror stories from her parents about their time in the resistance during the occupation to know the horrors of military service.
"There is great honor in serving a religious order," K'Thoke chimed in, arms crossed and an air of wisdom about him, not hard given that he was the oldest of them all. "The Monks of Borath are among the most revered of the Empires denizens, second only to the Dahar Masters and Chancellor."
"Well after meeting a Dahar Master, there is plenty to admire." Tyufia said with a grin, remembering her encounter with Dahar Master M'Zetta, a fearsome Ferasan woman that had been around since the days of Those Old Scientists. A thoughtful look crossed her face as she asked, "And didn't the original Kahless kill all of the Klingon gods?"
They were all saved from an impromptu Klingon lore lesson by the sight of their C.O. talking with Asouzi and Six, but that was no surprise as Six was almost always with Zevil. It had surprised no one that the two of them had started dating, there was even a betting pool on when they would tell everyone. It was to no surprise (and a lot consternation) that Asouzi had placed the winning bet. Spies always knew the best gossip.
Noticing their approach, Six tapped Zevil on the should, ending his conversation with a very animated Asouzi and alerting the Admiral that the others had arrived. Zevil turned to his crew with his usual professional yet fond smile on his face as he stood up straighter and clasped his hands behind his back. "Thank you all for coming on such short notice and I hope you've all had a good shore leave." He looked at the assembled faces and noticed that one was missing. "It looks like we're missing- Ah! There he is." Zevil exclaimed as his Chief of Engineering materialized in the subtle gathering of photons. "Excellent timing Chief."
"Augh! I'm sorry for my tardiness sir!" Said Rupert in his thick Scottish brogue, a smile on his face as he rubbed his hands together in an excited manner. "Just wanted to go over our lady's systems one last time before we head out."
"So, the Hades is finally repaired?" asked M'Mutt, tail lashing in excitement. He, like the rest of the crew, was excited to finally be back on their ship and among the stars where they belonged.
"Aye and nay, lad." Said the Hologram, looking to the admiral for permission to explain. Getting a nod from Zevil, Rupert explained. "The damage was severe to both the hull and the systems. Fluidic space is hard on any ship, but when you add Undine bio-electric and Borg plasma weapons fire, it's even worse."
"Having a whole Undine cruiser in our hull probably didn't help much either." Yizura observed dryly, getting a chuckle from most of the assembled, but a raised brow from Zevil and an unamused glare from Rupert shut them up fast.
"Things were further complicated by the Starfleet Corp of Engineers deciding that they will be discontinuing the Sojourner and Endeavor-class ships." Six said getting everyone back on track. While everyone was focused, they were both confused and a little sad losing another ship, especially so soon after losing the Le Fey.
"So, we're getting a new ship?" Asked Tyufia, wondering why she hadn't been consulted on this like she had when they first got the Hades. Did Zevil still not trust her after their adventures with the crew of the Quinzel?
"That's where the "aye and ney" come in, if you all had let the chief finish." Zevil said patiently, his calm and cool exterior helping to reassure everyone. "I was not only notified of the decision to mothball the Endeavor-class but was asked if we would be open to testing one of two experimental features on a new ship class." Behind him, a ship flew into view of the observation window. "As you can clearly see, I said yes."
"You totally practiced that!" Tyufia said in his mind, giving him a deadpan look before she turned her eyes to the "new" ship. At first glance, it looked like an Odyssey-class, but it not only had thicker armor around the hull, but it had a torpedo pod attached to the star-drive section and a spinal phaser lance on the underside of the saucer section. She also saw the name and registration on underside of the saucer too: U.S.S. Hades, NX-92994. "No 'A'?" Tyufia asked, looking at Rupert and Zevil confused.
"The Hades was still too relatively new, so command and the Engineer Corp. didn't feel it necessary to change the registration beyond the 'NX'." Zevil explained. "We can go over all the improvements once we're aboard." Zevil tapped his badge. "Zevil to Hades. Nine to beam up."
As the blue lights of the transporter engulfed them and then dissipated, they found themselves in what looked like a typical transporter room, but with a set of large doors that slid open to the bridge. The bridge had clearly had a style change along with the exterior: the walls were a bright white and the floor was red, grey, and clearly "Carpet?" asked Yizura as she knelt and felt the floor. "Nice! Very twenty-three-seventies." Said the Trill with a smile on her face.
"Aye! The designers of this new bridge wanted to bring much of the past into the present." Rupert said as he looked around the bridge like a proud parent.
"Well, we did need a new bridge after someone filled our last one full of holes." Snarked Asouzi, electing chuckles from everyone.
Rupert nervously cleared his throat, but still chuckled a bit as he pointed to a door on their right, "Over there is our conference room." He then pointed to the right of the bridge. "That's the captains ready room." He pointed to the center of the bridge, which was sunken in like its previous incarnation.
"And we have our main stations: Engineering, security, operations." He gestured to a set of long curving consoles that were at the very back of the bridge. "Science stations are here now since we did away with the observation pit at the fore of the bridge." He pointed to two stations in the sunken in section, that thankfully had chairs, much to Yizura's relief.
"The helm controls." He pointed to the front of the bridge where the helm, that looked like an updated version of the original Enterprise's helm controls, sat in front of the now hanging view screen. "Tactical." He pointed to a curved station at the back of the raised portion of the bridge. "And of course, the Conn. Linked to the holo-emitters to allow holo-consoles." He finishes his tour with a gesture to the three chairs that symbolized command on a starship.
The group dispersed to investigate their new stations. Asouzi, Yizura, and M'Mutt oohed and aahed at their sleek new stations, Rupert looked on like a proud father as he perused the bridge, K'Thoke was practically giddy when he looked over the controls for the new weapon systems, but all eyes soon landed on Zevil as he stepped towards the Captain's chair, even the skeleton crew that had gotten the ship out of space dock.
Zevil had a lot of mixed emotions when he looked at that chair, it symbolized every decision he had made and what he had to do to get there. These thoughts all centered around his actions as a Delta recruit and his manipulation of the time stream, but there was no longer any doubt that he belonged in that chair, no matter what Lydana implied with her blackmail. Thinking of his former friend usually made his cold blood boil, but he shakes his head before he can let the negativity take. 'I deserve this chair and the responsibilities that come with it, to the void with what Lydana or anyone else thinks.' He thinks as he finally takes his seat, sitting straight and tall. 'I'm exactly where I belong.'
"-and that's all Obisek told me about the activation." Zevil said, briefing his staff on their latest mission. They were sitting in the new conference room, that didn't look too different from the old one, but had two gold models of the previous and the current Hades. They sat the conference table, with Zevil at the head and Six and Tyufia sitting in the seat to the left and right of him respectfully. All of them had contemplative faces on as they digested the information, all except Tyufia.
"I have one question: are they high?" she asked, tone incredulous. "They've read our reports, right? Not to mention their own history of dealing with this technology all the way back when Picard was in command of the Enterprise."
"It could be simple scientific discovery." Yizura put forward, a thoughtful expression on her face as she addressed the room. "The Romulans have some pretty good scientific minds and one of them could figure out how to replicate the technology. The benefits might out way the risks."
"Some technology is too dangerous to be tampered with." K'Thoke said with a growl. "If we discount the demons of smoke and air manipulation of the Tal Shiar, which would make us fools, the defenses on Iconia nearly destroyed a Romulan vessel and the Enterprise. Can we say, with complete certainty, that history will not repeat itself?"
"While all these arguments are valid, they are also irrelevant." Six said to the room. "The fact of the matter is that Proconsul D'Tan has heard all of the concerns about the Iconian threat from Starfleet, Klingon Defense Force, and his own people and decided to go ahead with the activation."
"Fortunately, he's allowing experts on this technology to attend the activation." Zevil said, bringing attention back to him. "Hopefully I and the Klingon representative can talk the Romulans out of doing so, but if we can't, we can at least make sure that nothing goes wrong."
"Do we know who the Klingons are sending?" Asked Citte
"Obisek didn't know, but I spoke to Quinn right before I met up with you all and apparently they're sending someone I have been wanting to meet for quite some time." Zevil lets the expense build for a moment, enjoying the anticipation in the air, before finally revealing who else is coming. "The Klingon Empire will be sending Ambassador Worf."
"The son of Mogh will be there?" asked K'Thoke as he shot to his feet, surprised but trying to mask it by clearing his throat and sitting back down. Like Zevil's admiration of the Voyager crew and especially their captain, K'Thoke greatly admired Worf as not only being one of the first Klingons to join Starfleet and later Captain of the Enterprise-E, but for his reputation as a great and honorable warrior. "Ahem, I would like to request to act as your security for this mission, sir."
"Under any other circumstance, I would happily approve your request, but I can't this time." Zevil said reluctantly, a pained smile on his face to soften the blow. "Captain Shon and the crew of the Enterprise will be providing security for myself and…the other Admiral attending."
Everyone could see and feel the moment Zevil's mood turned cold as ice practically coated his words. There were only a few people who could provoke that instant change, and only one of them was in Starfleet, but someone still needed to ask.
Tyufia, feeling it was her duty as First officer, decided she would ask. "And who would that be?"
It was slight, but everyone could still see Zevil's eye twitch, and they had their confirmation before he said "Admiral Kassai Lydana of Starfleet Intelligence." Everyone flinched at the chill his words gave off, especially Asouzi.
She was affected the most by and put at greater risk by the rift growing between the two admirals. While Zevil was her boss and she was loyal to him, she was still an agent of Starfleet Intelligence, and therefore under Admiral Kassai's purview. Her situation had gotten even worse when Zevil had tasked her with making the Hades spy-proof so that no one, but especially the Bajoran admiral, could get any kind of information from the ship or board without his permission. Fortunately, he had released her of that particular task and given it to someone else. This person wouldn't have been her first choice, but she wasn't the one who decided on stuff like that.
"I will beam down while the Hades maintains a defensive orbit with the Enterprise and keeps communications in case of an emergency." Zevil rolled on, clearly not wanting or willing to talk about his former friend. "I believe that is everything…" he picked up a padded that had the bullet points of the meeting, something that Six must have made for him. "Ah yes, there is one more thing I want to deal with since you all are here." He stood and did a quick captain's tuck of his uniform. "Lieutenant K'Thoke, stand up and come here." The Klingon stood, confused at the brisk tone his superior was using, but complied as he walked over to stand before him. He was even more confused by the disapproving glares and shakes of the head he was getting.
Zevil turned a frosty glare up to the tactical officer. "I'm honestly shocked at this clear and flagrant violation of the uniform code, lieutenant." Zevil said as he looked K'Thoke up and down in disappointment and holding up his hand when K'Thoke tried to ask what he meant. "I will not hear your excuses, but I will correct your mistake, just this once." Zevil pulled something out of his pocket and pinned it to K'Thoke's collar.
K'Thoke couldn't see it, so he felt the addition to his uniform. As he did, he thought he had missed a pip, but no, he felt his usual two pips. However, he did feel- his eyes widened as he realized what he was feeling. A new pip.
"Congratulations, Lieutenant Commander." Zevil said with a smile, his early mood vanishing in an instant as the rest of the senior staff cheered and holographic banner materialized reading "Congratulations to the new LC!" They had all been in on the surprise and were happy to pull one over the usually stoic Klingon.
"I-I do not know what to say!" K'Thoke said, utterly flabbergasted at his promotion. He had been a part of Starfleet even before the war with his people and was constantly denied or looked over for promotion. When the war started, he feared he would be a Lieutenant forever.
"You say cheers and join us in toasting you, lad!" Rupert told him as he handed him a flute of synth-champagne. "Ya deserve it!"
"Here here!" Said M'Mutt as he raised his own flute, the others fallowing suit. "I've done some fancy flying, but only K'Thoke can keep the enemy off us better at the Tac station!"
"And he comes up with the best lines!" Yizura said with a laugh. She scrunched up her face and said in an imitation of K'Thoke "'Assimlate this, Borg petaQ!'"
"Don't forget his skills on the ground!" Asouzi said clapping the Klingon on the back, not even moving the mountain of muscle. "No one I'd want by my side in "glorious battle" than this warrior!"
"I'll second that." Zevil added as he stepped forward. "K'Thoke and I have served together for quite some time as you all know. He wasn't thrilled at the idea of a younger officer giving him orders and I wasn't happy to deal with so much insubordination." Zevil smiled up the older man, both smiling despite the hard memory the story brought up, "but we learned to respect one another, and I'm honored to have him by my side. To Lieutenant Commander K'Thoke!" Everyone raised their glasses and cheered for a promotion well deserved.
"Sir, we're ten minutes out from New Romulus." M'Mutt informed Zevil from the helm. They had made excellent time, barely a day out from ESD thanks to the improved engines and warp drive. Rupert would have preferred that they test drive the new transwarp or slipstream drives, but given how relatively close New Romulus was, Zevil vetoed that idea.
"Take us out of warp and quarter impulse if you please, lieutenant." Zevil said, not looking up as he read over a padded with all that Starfleet know about Iconian technology. He knew most of it already, but it was always smart to brush up on what he didn't. He put down the padded as they entered the system. As soon as they gained orbit, though, an alarm sounded. "Report!" Zevil ordered.
"Someone just attempted to beam aboard." Asouzi told him, looking over the read out from her screen. "Thanks to the new defenses we installed, we have them in the pattern buffer."
"I'd wager they were targeting my ready room." It wasn't a question. Zevil knew whose signature move that was. "Beam them here on the bridge and activate a stasis field, let her breathe but not talk." His words were calm, but there wasn't any way to mistake them for anything other than cold rage, which made everyone look at him warily.
Asouzi gulped, also having guessed who the intruder must be, but complied. A figure materialized in the middle of the bridge and was immediately engulfed in a green stasis field. Admiral Kassai Lydana looked like a statue until you noticed that her eyes were rolling around in her head as she tried to see what was going on.
"Uh, Xavius? What are we doing?" Ask Tyufia, but Zevil didn't answer her.
Zevil got up from the conn and stood before her, arms held behind his back, and looked down at her. They hadn't seen each other since the incident in her office, not even after it was learned she really wasn't dead. "Open a channel, all Starfleet frequencies."
Six quickly did so. "Channels open, sir."
"Crew of the Shadow of Bajor, this is Admiral Zevil. In the next ten seconds I am going to have your C.O. transported off my bridge." Zevil bent down so he was eye level with the diminutive woman, who was looking at him curiously. "Whether that's back aboard your ship or into the vacuum of space is up to you." Lydana's eyes narrowed, before they widened, seeing the truth in his eyes.
Before he could even start counting the proximity alarm sounded. "A Scryer-class Intel ship just decloaked on our port side." K'Thoke informed.
"It's the Shadow of Bajor, admiral, and they are lowering shields." Six informed him.
"Never do that again." Zevil said in her mind, but out loud he said. "Transport the admiral off my ship please." Zevil said as he stared Lydana down till she was nothing but a swirl of blue lights.
Six wanted to see if Zevil was alright, his behavior was concerning, but her holo-console beeped at her. "The Shadow is hailing us, shall I put it on screen?"
"No. Inform New Romulus that I'll be beaming directly to the gateway facility." Zevil said as he started walking to the transporters. "Commander Utprut, you have the conn."
Tyufia and Six got out of their seats and quickly caught up with him. Zevil stood on the padded as Six went to the transporter controls and sent the message to New Romulus command. "They have cleared your entry and sent coordinates."
"You weren't really going to transport Lydana into space… were you?" Tyufia asked nervously.
"Energize." Zevil ordered and then looked Tyufia dead in her eyes and she saw what Lydana did and that was yes. He would.
AN: Salutations and bienvenue! No Q at the start of this one folks, gonna let him play in the cannon sandbox for now. I prefer the cannon adjacent as my playground, which brings me to something I want to talk about.
A lot of my older stories were made before the last season of Picard and while I loved it, there were a few things that kinda messed a few things up for my continuity. Namely Ro dying and the Enterprise-G, cause she's still alive and the Enterprise-F is still a thing in the STO timeline. "But !" I hear you say, "This is FanFiction and timelines don't matter!" Yes. shoots the anon who said that You're right. shoots them again What an observant person you are. empties clip into corpse.
Sigh Look, while what I write isn't cannon, I still like and respect cannon enough to use it. It makes my life less complicated. So, here's where the LOZverse timeline devates from cannon: Ro was captured and saved with Tuvok, Voyager-B is the ship Tuvok uses, and Seven is captain of the Titan-A.
Now with that rant over, I can't tell you guys how excited I am to be working on this story, especially since I will be working with one of my favorite people in the multiverse, MaliceUnchained! If you haven't read his stuff… well, you'll be extremely lost going forward. He and I will finally be putting our main characters together in this classic STO adventure!
Till next time, I bid you adieu!