Reign of Terror

[Shogoki]

Just decided to bring this back to the front page so maybe Darth Wong will remember the fic and show some mercy to those of us waiting for the next chapter.

[Pcm979]

Just decided to bring this back to the front page so maybe Darth Wong will remember the fic and show some mercy to those of us waiting for the next chapter.

You shall fry in my vat of boiling-hot Piranhas for getting my hopes up.

[Singular Quartet]

Just decided to bring this back to the front page so maybe Darth Wong will remember the fic and show some mercy to those of us waiting for the next chapter.

We will now kill you for bringing our hopes up. Then we will ask Wong to fork over the next chapter.

[Shogoki]

I'm in for it as long as I get to see the next chapter before I die.

[Singular Quartet]

I'm in for it as long as I get to see the next chapter before I die.

Maybe.

[Jadeite]

Bah! You had my hopes up too, you ass.

[Singular Quartet]

Bah! You had my hopes up too, you ass.

Well stopped posting to the thread and you'll stop getting people's hopes up.

And yes, I now this is a hypocritical post.

[Shogoki]

Indeed.

[Stuart Mackey]

Dalton turned around to face Wilson, his second in command. Wilson was a tall, lanky former Starfleet officer who was old enough to have seen combat in the first Cardassian war. The two of them were sometimes referred to as "Rob and Rob" because they shared the same first name. "All right, we've got room for twelve. Get Wilkens, Vympel, Typho, Eleas, Coyote, Stravo, Lars, Mackey, Frank, and Sheppard."

Why do I get the feeling that at least one of these guys will be screaming "Jihaaaaaad!" before this is over?

You would be right

[Darth Wong]

Ha ha ha ha, I finally broke through my writer's block and started working on my fanfic again. Next chapter is already written (just being polished) and comes this weekend.

Chapter Four

Ando gingerly redressed Nitram's wounds in the cramped quarters of the turbolift, carefully avoiding the gaze of the Cardassians. Nitram was slowly regaining consciousness.

"Arrrrgghhh ..." Nitram groaned painfully, shifting position. "What's going on?"

"Well, we got away from the robot, but you passed out when we got to the bridge. That's when we got captured." Ando replied.

Nitram tried to sit up, looked around the turbolift for a few seconds at their Cardassian escort, and then slumped back to the floor. "Oh for chrissakes. Cardies? You got us captured by Cardies?"

"Sorry." Ando replied with an apologetic grimace.

"I take a nap and you get us captured by Cardies ..." Nitram grumbled. "Where the hell are we?"

Lucet interrupted. "You are in my custody, human. And you would be wise to show some respect."

Nitram rolled his eyes but said nothing. If Lucet noticed the gesture, he didn't seem to care.

"Anyway, both of our ships were destroyed by some kind of weapons fire from the ship-" Ando continued.

Nitram's eyes widened. "This ship's weapons are active?!?"

"Yeah, so we're stuck here." Ando replied. "The Cardassians are looking for a way off the ship. A shuttle bay, a communications console to call for help, anything."

"And you haven't been much help, human" one of the Cardassians interjected.

Ando ignored his glare. "So far, it's just empty levels and locked doors. Most places don't even seem to have lighting. Lucet ordered his men to skip all the way down to the lower decks. I guess he got tired of going through these levels one by one".

Nitram looked through the jagged hole in the door, mesmerized by the sight of the turboshaft walls rushing by. Each level passed, dark hallways followed by the solid metal of deck plates, faster and faster until they began to blur together. And then, just as it seemed to reach top speed, it began slowing down again. But something had changed. The rushing darkness was now flecked with lights, streaking up as the turbolift rushed down. The lights were obviously on in these lower levels, and he had nightmarish visions that any one of these floors might be full of homicidal war machines.

"What about that psychotic robot?" he asked.

"We barely got away from it. It was breaking through the blast doors into the bridge when we got out."

"So ... it's still after us?" Nitram's shoulders slumped. "Oh, this just gets better and better ..."

One of the Cardassians knelt down and shoved his disruptor pistol in Nitram's face. "Yes, human. And that thing killed a lot of my friends thanks to you! You're lucky I don't-"

"That's enough, soldier." Lucet said quietly, but firmly. The chastened Cardassian immediately returned to a standing position. "Count yourself lucky that we have some use for you. Otherwise, you'd be laying in pieces on the bridge right next to our fallen comrades."

Nitram groaned heavily. "I shoulda stayed in bed this morning."

"Shut up, human." Lucet growled, looking down at him. At that moment, the lift stopped. The corridor outside was empty and well-lit, but there was something else. There was sound echoing down the corridor, and it was not the dull thrumming sound that could be heard throughout the ship, but something more irregular, more distinct.

"There's someone here." Ardum said quietly.

Lucet nodded, and pointed to Ando. "All right human, you're coming with us. Ardum, stay here with his friend." he said, pointing to Nitram. "We'll stay in contact. If we miss a check-in, kill him."

Ando opened his mouth to object, but he knew it would be a waste of breath. This was Lucet's way of ensuring Ando's compliance, and it was precisely the sort of thing that a Cardassian would do. Lucet motioned him out, and he obeyed. He turned to stop just outside the door and looked back at Nitram, who smiled weakly. Both of them knew that their immediate prospects were bleak, to say the least.



The Maquis Raider "Starlight"

Dalton's small ship slipped silently through space like a wraith. They'd arrived at the last known location of their missing comrades an hour ago, but Dalton's refusal to use active sensor scans was slowing down the search. The Maquis had learned the hard way that the transmissions of active sensors are like the proverbial flashlight in the dark. So they slowly, methodically nosed through the asteroid field, searching for their missing men with nothing but passive sensors and luck to guide them.

"Captain, I think you might want to have a look at this."

Dalton came up from the rear of the ship to talk to Vympel at the pilot's area. "Whatcha got?"

"Still no sign of our lost raider, but I'm picking up a Gaylord." Vympel replied. He was young and inexperienced, but he was one of the better Maquis pilots nevertheless.

Dalton glared at him. "A what?"

Vympel cleared his throat uncomfortably under Dalton's gaze. He'd forgotten about his distaste for off-colour nicknames. "Ahem. Sorry, sir. A Cardassian Galor-class cruiser."

"That's better."

"Anyway, he came in fast, so his warp signature was clear as a bell. And he's already blasting out scanning beams at high power. Looks like he's pretty hot to find whatever he's looking for, sir."

Dalton stared at the tactical display. "Can he see us?"

"No sir. We can track him as long as he keeps his active sensors going, but we're outside of detection range."

Dalton looked thoughtful. "We had them searching for possible base locations out here because it's so isolated. Nothing of value to either side, and certainly nothing worth sending a Galor-class cruiser. So why is it here? They wouldn't send a Galor-class cruiser just to track down two men!"

"Damned if I know why, Captain. Want to put some space between us and him? We won't last long against a Gaylord- er, Galor, sir."

"No, just keep your distance and shadow him. We're not giving up that easily. We'll use the asteroids for cover."

"Aye sir." Vympel's manner was nonchalant, but he knew the stakes had just been raised considerably. This region of space was desolate even by the standards of the Cardassian DMZ, so they were expecting a small Cardassian attack ship at most. The training of Cardassia's conscript starfleet was widely known to be among the poorest in the Alpha Quadrant, and this fact, more than anything, had given the Maquis a lease on life. But the vessel on their scopes was a full-blown warship, nearly 400 metres long with 300 crewmen. Regardless of their training, it would be suicide to challenge a Galor-class cuiser, and both men knew it.



Alien Ship

After wandering the hallways for more than ten minutes without encountering anyone, Ando was starting to grow fatigued of the tension. Each time they came to a new intersection or a new room, he tensed up, expecting to hear the familiar chud-chud-chud sound of heavy weapons.

Out of the corner of his eye he saw one of the men stop to stare out a window, his mouth hanging open. Ando went to look, and caught his breath. It was an observation area just off the main corridor, and below them was a gigantic, cavernous room. It was dominated by a huge, bulbous armoured structure, and around it he could see androids. Hundreds, perhaps thousands of them in an almost dizzying variety, marching to and fro around its base and on dozens of levels above and below his own. Many of them were clearly maintenance robots, working on various pieces of equipment and not even appearing to notice anything else around them.

"Look at the size of that thing." one of the men muttered. "You could fit a small starship inside it."

"Must be the main reactor." Lucet said. "Look at all of the piping leading in and out of it. It's fully armoured, too. Very nice."

Ando stared at it. Catwalks and ladders wound around its leviathan mass, and huge pipes ran along the walls of the reactor chamber. A man could easily walk around inside those pipes, Ando mused. Unlike the transparent plasma conduits he knew, these pipes appeared to be as heavily armoured as the reactor, and for that matter, the rest of the ship. The entire vessel seemed to have been designed with the intent to use as much heavy metal as possible. It struck him as downright wasteful of resources, but it certainly conveyed an impression of solidity.

"So what do you make of it, human?" Lucet's voice came from behind him.

"Ummm, it looks like that android wasn't the only thing we woke up."

"Thank you for your brilliant insight, human. With such great powers of perception, is it any wonder that your kind has forged a superpower out of Vulcan hand-me-downs?" Lucet asked, to the sound of snickers from the other Cardassians.

Ando had grown tired of being constantly berated, and his anger flared. He glared directly at Lucet with fire in his eyes. "And yet our kind has soundly beaten yours every time we've ever had a stand-up fight, haven't we? So what does that say about you?"

One of Lucet's men moved to strike him, but Lucet stayed his hand with a gesture. "Such impudence from one whose life I hold in my hands!" he remarked with a smile. "I am impressed, human. There may be hope for your species yet."

Ando cast a glance at the other Cardassians, but Lucet seemed to be the only one who found this amusing. He ignored the rest of them and fixed his gaze on Lucet. "Gul Lucet, I suggest that we capture one of the smaller, weaker androids and interrogate it."

"And what happens when one of its bigger brothers comes looking for it, human?" one of the men snarled. "You whittle down our numbers some more? That's what you're hoping for, isn't it? You don't-"

"Shut up!" Lucet hissed. "Someone's coming!"

Sure enough, the light click-clack click-clack sound of a lone android's feet could be heard at the end of the hall. They all saw a gleaming silver-hued humanoid robot turn the corner, and froze. It was much smaller than the hulking war droid they'd encountered before, and it appeared to be unarmed. The android saw them too, and immediately began running away. Or at least, trying to. But the best it could manage was a hurried walk.

"Stop him!" Lucet ordered. "Before he can call for reinforcements!"

All of the Cardassians immediately opened fire. The gawky android was promptly hit in the legs and collapsed in midstride, its arms and legs awkwardly flailing on the deckplates with an insubstantial clatter.

"Hold your fire! I think we have our prisoner."



Cardassian Galor-Class Starship "Alkesh"

Gul Tain shifted uneasily in his chair. As a political appointee with a minimum of military training, he was unaccustomed to commanding a starship, never mind a Galor-class cruiser, and he tried not to let it show.

"Gul, we have the derelict ship on our scanners."

"Excellent. Hold position and try to scan for Lucet's ship."

"Gul, I'm picking up traces of tritanium and duranium composite fragments. Scanning ..." he said, working the controls, "it's a match. Cardassian alloy. Looks like Lucet's ship was destroyed, sir."

"The Maquis destroyed his ship?" Tain asked in surprise.

"Negative, sir. I'm getting some really strange energy traces in the debris. Doesn't match anything in the database. Definitely not any kind of weapons fire we've ever encountered. And I'm picking up debris from the Maquis ship too."

"How?" Tain asked with a combination of relief and fear. The idea of an ancient derelict ship was at once both intoxicating and frightening. Cardassian novelists routinely wrote horror stories about ancient, malevolent spirits being awakened on derelict starships, and while he tried to dismiss the idea as superstitious nonsense, it would not go away.

"Unknown sir, but I'm getting some strange power readings from that derelict, and they're ramping up exponentially."

The hairs on the back of Tain's neck stood on end. "Is it powering up weapons? Propulsion?" he asked nervously. It was quite obvious now why Lucet hadn't reported in, but if they had awoken something on that ship ...

The young crewman worked the controls without success. "I can't tell, sir. The readings don't match anything in the database. If I got in closer, maybe I could get a better-"

"No!" Tain almost shouted. He may not have been experienced in starship command, but every instinct screamed that they were in terrible danger. "Battle stations! Evasive maneuvers, now!"

The young crewman immediately complied, and the ship began to go into pre-programmed maneuvers. He turned to speak. "Sir, we're well out of range, and there's no sign that-" he began, only to stop in midsentence as the entire viewscreen lit up with a flash. A large asteroid near their position was struck by a green bolt of coruscating energy and exploded into a brilliant flare of superheated gas.

"Helmsman, get us out of here NOW! RIGHT NOW!!" Tain screamed in a strident, high-pitched tone, all pretense at decorum lost.

The Alkesh's engines flared to full intensity, and the warship turned to flee from the slowly awakening and no longer derelict alien ship.



Maquis Raider "Starlight"

"Oh shit," Vympel blurted out. "The Cardies turned around and they're comin' right for us!"

"Hide behind that rock and go cold." Dalton ordered calmly, pointing at the largest asteroid in range.

"Aye sir," Vympel said, fingers flying over the controls. The diminutive raider slipped deftly out of sight, whipping dangerously close to the asteroid before he punched the retrothrusters and brought it to a safe but jarring stop. He immediately began shutting down systems, bringing the ship to an emergency cold-stop. Lights winked out, the familiar hum of the warp core went silent, and the small ship went dark. It was always a risky maneuver to shut a ship down that quickly, but Maquis pilots knew the drill by heart.

"Cut it that close again and I'll have you on waste recycling for a week, hotshot." Dalton grumbled. It was a calculated risk to "go cold". It took five minutes to start even the smallest warp core back up again, even if they pushed every safety regulation to the limit. If the enemy spotted them, they'd be helpless.

"Sorry, boss. But I don't think they spotted us."

Dalton's visage was pensive. "We'll see."



Alien Ship

Ando and the Cardassians turned their heads at the muffled thump, the latest of many.

"What was that?" Ando asked.

"Ask him", Lucet grunted, pointing at the android. Its dismembered but miraculously still-conscious torso had been dragged into the turbolift.

"Well?" Lucet asked the android, holding the translator in its face. "What was that?" The android chattered back, but the translator was silent.

"Forget it," Ando said wearily. "We tried that before, and their language is nowhere in the database. Not even fragments. Translator's useless. Maybe Nitram can figure it out." he said, redressing Nitram's wounds.

"Hey, I'm no language expert-" Nitram began, and Ando froze. He glared at Nitram to shut up and prayed Lucet hadn't noticed.

"Well well well," Lucet began sardonically, "it looks like you lied to us about your friend's abilities. It would appear we have no real use for you two at all, do we?"

At a motion from Lucet, one of his men drew his weapon and pointed it at Ando's head.

"Wait," Nitram protested. "I'm a system hacker, and you need that too."

"I already have a computer expert, so it looks like you two are dead weight. Give me one reason to waste my limited manpower watching you."

No one had noticed how the android's gaze was fixed on Ando and Nitram. No one had noticed the low-volume sounds it was making as it tested certain vowels and consonants against the language it was hearing. But when it began to speak in perfect English, everyone noticed.

"Humans!" it said. "Well, I never thought I'd see another human again! It took a moment to retrieve your language from the database. It's quite obscure, of course-"

Lucet whirled around, his jaw hanging open in disbelief. "You ... speak their language?"

"Why yes! As a Kuat Drive Yards customer liaison protocol droid, I am fluent in over six million forms of communication. The base terms and syntactical rules for this language are very obscure and are really retained only for historical purposes, but it appears that it is still in use around this part of the galaxy. Quite fascinating, if I do say so myself. Now if you could re-attach my legs ..."

One of the other Cardassians grabbed Ando and shoved him against a wall. "I thought you said you didn't know who these people were, human!" he snarled.

"I don't!" he protested.

"You LIE!" the Cardassian retorted, drawing his pistol and roughly jamming its barrel against Ando's cheekbone.

"Let him go." Lucet said quietly. "The android knows Earth language. So do hundreds of alien species throughout the galaxy. So tell me android, what kind of ship is this?"

The android straightened its head to look directly at him. "Why sir, everyone in the galaxy can surely recognize an Imperial star destroyer on sight!"

"Star destroyer, eh? So it is a warship. What are its tactical capabilities?"

"Sir, I'm afraid that information is classified. Unless you have level 3 security clearance-"

"Where did it come from?"

The android had no facial expressions, but Lucet could swear that it was smirking at him. "Sir, if you are accepting delivery of this starship as a duly authorized representative of Moff Disra's third expeditionary force, you should already know that."

"And how would I prove that I'm a member of that force?"

"Imperial identity code, sir. But I highly doubt you have it, since Moff Disra's third expeditionary force has human officers."

All eyes immediately moved to Ando and Nitram. "Well, human," Lucet began, "it looks like we're partners again." he said with the most insincere smile Ando had ever seen. Lucet seemed to enjoy toying with them.

Ando ignored him and addressed the droid. "What kind of code clearance?"

"Perhaps if you re-attach my legs in less than 48 hours, I can help you." the droid answered.

"What's so important about 48 hours?" Lucet asked.

"The ship has been in a hibernation state for a considerable period of time, and it will take 48 hours for the main reactor to go on-line."

"And then what?" the two men asked in unison.

"We will regain full control of internal and external sensor and security systems, as well as shields, propulsion, and all weapons."

"Ha!" Lucet snorted. "You're lying, robot. The weapons are already on-line. Our ship was destroyed by them. And unless I miss my guess, that sound we just heard was more weapons fire."

"It would appear that one turret was manually activated. In violation of the cold-start procedure, I might add. Most improper! But I don't think you understand-"

It was Ando's turn to interrupt. "And what happens if we can't prove our identity before then?"

"Then you will be identified as intruders when the main computer goes on-line and activates the security droids." the droid replied calmly.

"And what will happen then?"

"Well sir, obviously ... you will be terminated." it answered, as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

[Dillon]

I knew there was a reason you wanted Cardassian ship names!

[Col. Crackpot]

IT LIVES! A tasty halloween treat. good stuff Mike.

[Peregrin Toker]

OOooh... reminds me to posting the third (or fourth, can't remember exactly) revision of TWW as soon as I can.

As for Reign Of Terror - it really keeps the reader interested, I am in particular curious how the protocol droid came to know English...

[Darth Servo]

I am in particular curious how the protocol droid came to know English...

Most likely through some means similar to the ending of 'conquest'

[Dillon]

lol, a 3P0 droid (or something similar, at least) saying "you will be terminated." Classic.

Great chapter, as usual.

[Lex]

wow thats an old story...but a good one!

[weemadando]

Yay!

It lives!

It lives!

[Vympel]

*does a happy dance*

[Shroom Man 777]

That's nice, Mr. Wong, I've been salivating for a 4th chapter for quite some time. Good stuff, how'd the 3PO droing know english? Keep it up!

[Icehawk]

Sweet! I thought Wong had given up on this completly lol good to see I was wrong.

Just one little question. I went back and read it again from the beginning because I had forgotten some of the stuff that had happened and I was just wondering why you don't have Sisko on DS9 as the Captain. Since the story takes is currently taking place 2 years before the end of the Dominion war and Sisko was in command of DS9 at that point I was just wondering why you decided replace him with this "Captain Sorresso" character.

[Dillon]

Sweet! I thought Wong had given up on this completly lol good to see I was wrong.

Just one little question. I went back and read it again from the beginning because I had forgotten some of the stuff that had happened and I was just wondering why you don't have Sisko on DS9 as the Captain. Since the story takes is currently taking place 2 years before the end of the Dominion war and Sisko was in command of DS9 at that point I was just wondering why you decided replace him with this "Captain Sorresso" character.

Captain Soresso is the captain of a ship docked at DS9, iirc.

[Icehawk]

Sweet! I thought Wong had given up on this completly lol good to see I was wrong.

Just one little question. I went back and read it again from the beginning because I had forgotten some of the stuff that had happened and I was just wondering why you don't have Sisko on DS9 as the Captain. Since the story takes is currently taking place 2 years before the end of the Dominion war and Sisko was in command of DS9 at that point I was just wondering why you decided replace him with this "Captain Sorresso" character.

Captain Soresso is the captain of a ship docked at DS9, iirc.

Ahh ok, that makes sense, just seemed weird when I first read it lol.

[AdmiralKanos]

Yup, it's chapter five!

Chapter Five

T - 48 hours

Dalton and Vympel watched silently as Alkesh flashed by their hiding spot.

"He didn't see us." Vympel reported in an obviously relieved tone of voice.

From the back, Wilson and Sheppard crowded up toward the front. Wilson was a tall, lanky combat veteran who mentored some of the younger men, while Sheppard was a boyish-looking young man with a history of disciplinary problems, but whose connections to the Orion crime syndicate were instrumental in procuring weapons for the colony.

"I hate just sitting here." Sheppard complained. "We should have loaded up a torpedo. Let 'em have it as soon as they pass."

"For what?" Wilson retorted. "To knock a few points off their shields and then have 'em turn around and vapourize us?"

"OK, then we load up some Omega torps." Shep said, grinning widely.

Wilson's expression betrayed exasperation. "Shep, in case you hadn't noticed, the Omega torp-"

"That's enough, you two." Dalton gruffly interrupted. From their vantage point, they watched Alkesh continuing to flee, with the occasional green bolt flashing in its general direction. Vympel started moving to the tactical station to track the fleeing ship, when the ship was suddenly jolted by a tremendous impact. Everyone was sent flying and the ship tumbled end over end, flung like a toy, as if it had been struck by a great hammer. Unbenownst to them, one of the blasts had struck a glancing blow off the far side of the asteroid. Dalton felt himself flying up into the roof, and then being flung just as abruptly toward the back of the ship, only to slam into a bench with a sickening crack. The world seemed to explode into light and sound, and then everything faded into darkness and silence.

He awoke with a start, and looked around in a daze. He couldn't tell if he'd been out for minutes, hours, or seconds. Blood was oozing from a wound on his head, he couldn't tell where. It was in his eyes, and he couldn't see. He tried to wipe his eyes clear, but could only make out vague shapes moving around. A loud hissing sound announced the loss of atmosphere to space through a crack somewhere in the fuselage, and the hull-breach alarm was blaring stridently.

"Vympel!" Dalton shouted. There was no answer. "Anybody! We're venting! Get the emergency forcefields up!"

"Sir, Vympel's down!" Wilson shouted over the noise. He tried to access the control panel, but it was dark. He kicked open the access panel and fumbled with the restart, but to no avail. "Shit!" he screamed, slamming his fist against the panel in frustration. "System's dead! Ahh, to hell with it- that seam can't be too big or we'd all be dead already. I'm gonna try to find it and weld it, sir!" he said, stepping toward the back of the ship with his tricorder in hand.

Dalton tried to help, and struggled valiantly to his feet. But an excruciating pain shot through his leg the instant he tried to put weight on it, and he crumpled to the floor. He heard Wilson shouting instructions, and he could also hear someone screaming. As he slipped out of consciousness once more, he realized the screaming was his own.



Alien Ship

Lucet held the protocol droid by the neck, angrily spitting out words like venom. "How do we stop it? TELL ME!"

"Stop what, sir?" the droid asked innocently.

"The countdown, you idiot!" Lucet hissed, trying to squeeze the droid's neck harder but with no effect. "How do we stop the countdown?"

"I'm afraid I can't help you until my mobility is restored, sir." the droid responded calmly.

Lucet's grip on its neck did not seem to cause it the slightest discomfort, and he was beginning to feel rather foolish, so he relented. "Is there a self-destruct we can activate?"

"No sir."

"Is there any way to get off this ship?" Lucet said slowly, enunciating clearly as if for emphasis.

"No sir, not without security clearance."

"What if we try to cause as much damage as possible? Is there a way to slow down this start-up process?" Lucet's voice grew more strident.

"Sir, if you cause any kind of significant damage, the computer will automatically change the start-up sequence, and the security droids will be activated early." the droid replied calmly.

"How do I know you're not lying?"

"You do not. But I assure you that you will discover the accuracy of my statements soon enough, sir. If you would reattach my legs, I could possibly try to help you use one of the communications terminals in order to call for help. I am a protocol droid, sir."

"We don't KNOW how to reattach your legs!"

"If you like, I can give your men instructions on the procedure, sir." the droid replied without missing a beat. "I believe I may be able to communicate to them in your native language, if you would prefer. From what I have overheard, it has rather predictable syntactical patterns, and many of the root elements are already in my database."

"Fine. FINE!" Lucet growled, feeling vaguely insulted by the android's evaluation of the Cardassian language. "We'll reattach your legs, and then you will help us find a communication terminal and get off this ship. But don't try any tricks or I'll pull you apart piece by piece." He leaned in close to the droid's face. "Do we understand each other?" he said.

"Perfectly, sir." the droid replied in its infuriatingly calm voice.

Lucet gestured to his men to begin working.



The Maquis Raider "Starlight"

T - 45 hours

Dalton heard voices in his head, and tried to wake himself from a nightmare about being trapped on a burning ship.

"Captain?" it was Wilson's voice.

He opened his eyes to see Wilson and several other crewmembers hovering over him. He groaned and tried to move.

"Take it easy sir, you broke your leg and split your head open pretty good. Stravo's trying to fuse the bone."

"Uhhhhhh ..." Dalton groaned. "Report." he said hoarsely.

"The asteroid shifted, sir. Must have gotten hit by something on the far side. Smacked into us pretty hard and sent us flying. We sealed the hull breach but warp drive is out and I don't think we'll be able to field-repair it. There's a lot of other damage too; to make a long story short, we have no warp core, no weapons, no shields, and no impulse power. That gaylord is still hanging around. He ran until the derelict stopped firing at him, then he stopped, and now I don't think he knows what to do. He's holding station a few million klicks away."

"How long was I out?"

"About 3 hours, sir."

"Casualties?"

"Mostly bumps and bruises, sir. A couple of the other guys broke a few bones and we're patching 'em up. Vympel's got a concussion, he's still out but Stravo says he'll be OK. But Lars ... he broke his neck."

"Is he ...?"

"He's dead, sir." Wilson answered in a flat tone of voice.

Dalton closed his eyes, and couldn't help but wish this were all just a bad dream. "Understood." he said quietly. He tried to steel himself, to make himself seem authoritative and confident in front of the crew. "OK, forget the core, forget weapons, forget shields. We run off the battery for now. Our first priority is to get propulsion. Any kind of propulsion. I don't care if you give me full impulse, half impulse, or a thruster and a pair of oars. Get on it."

"OK, boss."

Dalton watched them work for a while and then laid back and tried to rest, shifting his leg into a less painful position. He couldn't help but reflect that this was as bleak a situation as he had ever encountered in his time with the Maquis.



Alien Ship

T - 43 hours

"Sir, your translator devices should all be able to interpret the necessary languages now." the protocol droid said, handing a Cardassian universal translator to Lucet.

"Excellent. You just bought yourself another hour of life. Now show us how to use this comm panel."

The android walked stiffly on its damaged but workable legs to the communications panel and activated it. The viewscreen lit up and displayed some cryptic messages in an alien language.

"What's that?" Ando asked.

"The computer is saying that it cannot locate any compatible transceivers." the droid answered, seemingly befuddled. "Oh my," it exclaimed, "I apologize sir, but I forgot to input those peculiar communication protocols you described earlier! I will endeavour to solve the problem."

"Hurry up, android. I don't have all day." Lucet grumbled.

After a few minutes of adjustment and reprogramming, the droid was able to send a Cardassian hailing signal. Much to Lucet's relief, Gul Tain's face appeared on the viewscreen.

"Lucet? If this is your idea of a joke ..."

"What joke?" Lucet said, taken aback.

"You fired on my ship! I don't know how you managed to seize control of that vessel, but it belongs to the people of Cardassia. If you are planning to take it for yourself-"

"You don't understand-" Lucet tried to interject.

"Understand what? That you tried to kill me just now?"

"Just shut up and listen to me! I'm not in control of the ship! You have to get us out of here now!"

"You're not in control?"

"I'm not in control! The ship is controlled by androids!"

"Then ... why did it fire on us?" Tain asked slowly, his brain seemingly unable to process this information.

"It's the androids! They've got at least one weapons array working, and I think they'll shoot at anything that looks hostile. I already told you, I'm not in control of the ship!" Lucet spluttered, frustrated by Tain's apparent stupidity. "We have 43 hours before this ship goes on-line, and I don't know what it will do. We have to destroy it before that happens. Call for reinforcements immediately and get us out of here!"

"All right, I'll see what I can do in 43 hours. But it's too dangerous to approach the ship right now, Lucet. Unless you can disable its weapon systems, you're on your own. Tain out." he answered. The viewscreen darkened, and was replaced by a diagram of the ship. Lucet moved to turn away but something caught his eye, and he looked carefully at the diagram. Most of it was blacked out, except for a region near the bottom of the ship, one at the bridge, and a lonely bright dot in the midst of the superstructure.

"Android, what is this diagram?"

"Oh, nothing interesting, sir. Just the locations of active communications terminals on the ship."

"These ones down here at the bottom, that's where we are now, correct?"

"Correct, sir."

"And this spot up here at the top?" he said, pointing his finger. "That's the bridge, correct?"

"Also correct, sir."

"And what's this last one? This bright spot in the middle of nowhere?"

"Sir, that would be the Captain's quarters, of course." the droid replied snappily, apparently unaware of Lucet's interest.

Lucet's eyed widened, and he and his men exchanged glances. The potential importance of the captain's quarters did not need to be said aloud.

He immediately turned back to the android. "Take us there. Now."

"If you insist, sir."

Lucet gestured at two of his men. "You two stay here, guard the prisoners and wait for our signal. The rest, come with me."

"Wait," Ando said. "You might need our help."

"Why?" Lucet was in no mood to play games with Ando now. "Your friend there is wounded. He can't travel."

"You heard the android. He knows humans, and he was expecting human officers. Don't you think there's a chance that whoever's up there might react better to a human?"

"Yes, perhaps." Lucet said with a barely perceptible smile. Despite his loathing for humans, he couldn't help but be impressed by this man's ability to think clearly under stress. "Very well, you come with us. I'll leave two men here to guard your friend, and we'll check in when we get to the comm panel in the captain's quarters. Let's go."



The Maquis Raider "Starlight"

T - 42 hours

"We've got maneuvering thrusters, sir." Wilson reported. "Manual on/off control only."

"That's it?" Dalton replied.

"Best we could do, sir." Wilson said apologetically. Makeshift wiring connected the ship's working thrusters to control buttons at the front of the ship, and parts of the ship's instrumentation had been cannibalized to make it possible. Dalton looked around, and thought to himself that the ship looked like hell. He couldn't help but feel a swell of pride that his men had somehow been able to scavenge anything useful from this wreck.

"All right, good work. How about sensors and navigation?"

"Nothing, sir. We've only got part of the computer core up, so we're stuck with optical and infrared. I can get you a nice view of that alien ship, but that's it."

"Anything else?"

"Comm system's working, sir. We even managed to pick up a transmission between the Cardies. Open data stream; looks like they managed to commandeer the comm system on the alien ship but luckily for us, they couldn't set up encryption. Anyway, it looks like the ship is controlled by androids and there's some kind of countdown until everything comes online. 42 hours left, and the Cardies are scared as hell of what it's going to do when that happens, so they want to get out of there."

"OK, let's move around this rock so we can get a look at that ship."

"No need, sir." Wilson punched the controls, and the ship promptly appeared on his tactical display. "We've already got a line of sight."

"Shit, they can see us?"

"Yes sir. The impact knocked us into the open. They don't seem to care, though. Must be our cold engines. We look like debris."

"Heh heh." Dalton tried to laugh. "Wilson, we are debris." He tried to struggle to his feet, but felt a hand on his shoulder pushing him back down. It was Stravo, wearing a look of concern on his face.

"Sir, I'm sorry but you've suffered a head injury." Stravo said, leaning in closer to inspect the gash on his head and scanning him with his medical tricorder. "You need to stay off your feet for a while, sir."

Dalton grudgingly sat back down on the floor and leaned back against the wall of the ship so that Stravo could continue to work. He tried to see what he could see from his vantage point.

"Wilson, can you get IR?"

"Yes sir." One of the bridge console displays presently showed an infrared view of the ship.

"What do you see?"

"Sir, it looks warm enough to support a habitable atmosphere inside. And there's a huge heat bloom in the middle of its belly. Must be the main reactor."

In the back of the ship, Sheppard fidgeted restlessly. The near-destruction of the ship and the death of a fellow crewmate had severely shaken the young man's confidence, and he was having difficulty focusing. His cocksure airs had vanished, to be replaced by fear and uncertainty. Without technical training on the Raider, he was not qualified to help out with the repair work, and he found himself simply sitting next to Lars' body and staring at it.

"We're fucked, aren't we?" he mumbled to no one in particular.

"We're not fucked until I say we're fucked, soldier." Dalton growled. "And you don't see me breakin' out any lube, do you?"

"No sir." Sheppard replied, with a trace of a smile. It was much as could be hoped for, and the young man's melancholy expression did seem to brighten. He got up on his feet as if shaking off cobwebs, walked toward the front and took a look down at Wilson's infrared display. "What's this dot?" he asked, pointing toward a hot spot on the superstructure.

"Some kind of gun turret." Wilson replied. "Here, if we switch to visual and zoom in, you can see it pretty clearly." he said, his hands flying over the controls.

"Must be what they were shooting at the Gaylord with." Sheppard commented, beginning to feel more at ease with something other than death to occupy him. Wilson nodded in agreement.

Dalton heard the nickname but was too tired to berate anyone over it. "How many of these turrets do they have?"

Wilson panned around the ship with his display unit, and let out a long, slow whistle. "Sir, these things ... shit, they're everywhere. They must have a hundred of 'em. And they're the small ones! There's a bank of huge turrets flanking their topside superstructure, I don't even want to think about what kind of firepower they're carrying. No doubt about it sir, that thing was built for total war."

"And it goes active in 42 hours." Dalton muttered. "I wonder what it'll do first."

"The Cardies are pretty sure it'll go on a rampage, sir. They want to call in reinforcements and destroy it before that happens."

"Amen to that." Sheppard muttered under his breath.

"Typical Cardassian mentality." Dalton snorted. "How do we know these androids won't be interested in negotiation?"

"Sir, that thing was built to negotiate with guns, not words." Wilson answered flatly.

"But only one of those guns is online." Dalton retorted. "The rest are all cold, and it looks to me like if we just move a bit more to the right, the ship's superstructure will get between us and the hot gun. Then we can approach the ship."

"Approach the ship?" Wilson asked incredulously. "Sir, won't they just fire up another turret?"

"Maybe. Maybe not. And we don't know how long it takes them to do that. Remember, the Cardies said the ship isn't online yet. If it's only partially functional, they might not be able to fire up more than one gun. And their sensors are probably just partial like everything else. If we go to full burn on the thrusters and then coast the rest of the way, they might not even notice us." Dalton replied.

"Sir, are you serious?" Wilson asked.

"Have you got any better ideas? Remember, we used thrusters in plain sight of it once before without drawing any fire." Dalton said.

Sheppard laughed fatalistically. "Things can't get any worse, can they? I say we might as well go for it. Take our chances with the aliens."

Wilson looked from Sheppard to Dalton and sighed heavily. "I hate to agree with our resident loose cannon here, but at least the aliens will probably kill us quickly. That's more than I can say for the Cardies, sir."

"Stravo?" Dalton asked.

Stravo kept working while he answered. "Sir, all I know is that I have to make sure you don't get a brain hemorrhage."

"OK, get everybody up here for a board meeting." Dalton said. He never could bring himself to call these crew consultations "conferences", as was customary when he was in Starfleet, so he had taken to using the old 20th century business term "board meetings". He'd brought that habit to the Maquis, and it seemed to have caught on.

"Board meeting!" Wilson stood up and barked toward the back of the ship. "Bring your own donut!"

The other men dropped their work and filtered toward the front of the ship so that Dalton could address them.

"OK men, here's the deal." Dalton began. "There's an alien ship in front of us, there's Cardies behind us, and our warp drive is history so there's nothing but a slow death in every other direction. We have only two real choices: surrender to the Cardies or try to board that ship and hope we can negotiate or commandeer it. The Cardies will probably kill us. The ship ahead is full of androids who just tried to kill the Cardies, and who might try to kill us too. So what do you say, gentlemen? Everyone in favour of surrendering to the Cardies, say aye." He was met with deafening silence. "Nay it is then. We go for it. All right Wilson, bring us in."

Wilson moved to get into the pilot's seat, but not before Vympel stirred from his spot beside Dalton on the floor. "I- I can handle it, sir." he mumbled groggily, shaking off Stravo's ministrations and trying to sit up.

"You've got a concussion, pilot." Dalton said firmly. "Stay down and let Stravo work on it. That's an order."

Vympel slumped back to the floor, and Wilson dropped himself back into the pilot's seat. He jabbed at the controls, and the ship was roughly nudged and bumped each time the thrusters fired. This was not like normal flight at all; it felt more like being a soccer ball and getting kicked across a field. But it got the job done even if it had to be done in fits and spurts, and they were soon coasting in the direction of the alien ship.

"What do you think?" Dalton asked. "Are they doing anything?"

"No change in their status, sir. If they saw us, they don't care."

"Good. Let's hope it stays that way." He turned around to address the crew. "Cross your fingers, gentlemen. We're in Sir Isaac Newton's hands now." He turned back to the cockpit window and said a silent prayer as their battered little ship coasted silently toward the alien behemoth ahead.



Alien Ship

Lucet and his men walked down a corridor lined with what appeared to be doors leading to various crew quarters. Most of them were pristine, but as they approached their destination, the pattern began to change. They could see pockmarks in the walls, and bits of debris laying on the deck. They walked farther, and began to see bloodstains on the floor and walls.

"Looks like a firefight, sir." one of the men piped up, checking his tricorder. "No lifesigns, but I'm picking up some organic matter ahead."

Lucet nodded and then turned to the android. "What happened here, android?"

"I'm afraid I don't know, sir. Droids are normally not permitted here."

They continued to walk on. The signs of a firefight became more obvious, and they could see that one of the doors had been blown apart by weapons fire. The tension level immediately skyrocketed and they moved to the door, one man bursting into the room with his weapon up.

"Report!" Lucet hissed.

"Sir ... I think you'd ... better come see this." came the reply.

Lucet and the others moved to the doorway and peered inside. It was a medium-sized room, with a bunk and some shelves and a desk. But their eyes were drawn inexorably to the sight of an apparently human body on the floor, laying in a pool of blood. It was a male, perhaps in his 40s. His features were fine and his hair was brown. He had been eviscerated by what appeared to be an energy weapon of some sort, his abdomen torn open and its innards splayed out in all directions.

Ando immediately began to scan the body with his tricorder, and was hesitant to report his findings.

"Well?" Lucet asked impatiently.

"He's human, Lucet. Pretty well preserved too."

"How long has he been here?"

"Impossible to say. The ship was too cold for his body to decay. All I can tell you is that he must have been dead for at least a few weeks before the ship went cold and the body froze up."

"What happened here?" Lucet asked, speaking to no one in particular. "Are there any other rooms open?"

"Just one, sir." one man reported from outside in the hallway. "The one at the end. Door looks blown open, but from the inside."

Lucet came out into the hallway immediately. "Android, is that one the captain's quarters?"

"Why yes it is." the droid replied brightly. "May I go now?"

"No." Lucet answered brusquely, shoving him towards the end of the hallway in front of him. "Let's go." he said, motioning to his men. One of them roughly pulled Ando away from the body they'd found and dragged him along. The group moved to the wrecked door and burst into the room.

Ando peered around the room, which was in total chaos. Trinkets and various pieces of technology lay strewn about the floor, the desk had been dragged to the centre of the room and turned on its side, and there were innumerable pockmarks in the walls, floor, and ceiling. Several weapons lay on the floor which Lucet's men immediately began to inspect, and there were bloodstains, but there was no body.

"Over here!" one of the men called out, motioning the others to a doorway leading to a second room. Ando and several others rushed to the doorway and saw through into what was obviously the captain's bedroom. There was a large bed, pictures and holographic displays of what appeared to be the captain's family, and the captain himself, sprawled over the bed with half of his skull missing. His brains had been largely evacuated, with blood and viscera sprayed onto the walls. There was a pistol in his right hand, and the wound appeared to have been self-inflicted.

"Holy shit ..." Ando whispered. "What the hell happened here?"

"I was hoping you could tell me, human." Lucet muttered under his breath. His air of superiority was gone, and he was clearly feeling rattled by this discovery. Something had killed these men, and his fervent desire to get off this ship was slowly becoming desperation. There was an almost palpable sense of menace in the air. He cast a glance at his men, and they all showed the same unease in their eyes that he felt.

"What's this?" Ando said as an object in the captain's left hand caught his eye. It was a small palm-sized object with a switch on one side. He gingerly pried it from the dead man's hand and pressed the button. The device immediately projected a holographic image of the captain himself, briefly startling both Ando and Lucet. All of the other men stopped what they were doing to look at the image of the ship's long-dead captain.

"It's here! It's here!!" the ghostly image of the captain said, his face contorted with anguish. "I tried to stop it. Tried to fight it. But it's here. I don't know if anyone's ever going to find this. I don't know where it took my ship. The men ... my men ... they ... " he said, and then he broke down in tears, sobbing.

Ando and Lucet shared looks of alarm as the holographic image continued to weep, tears streaming down his cheeks. "You can't kill it ..." he whimpered. "It won't die ... it gets into your head, and ..." Suddenly, the image of the long-dead captain seemed to stiffen with resolve, and he faced the camera. "I'm putting the ship into hibernation. Perhaps ... perhaps the Emperor will find us someday. Perhaps He has the power to kill it. But ... it is too late for me." he said. "What I do now, I do for the Empire! Long live the Emperor!" he shouted, saluting smartly and then putting a pistol into his own mouth. There was a flash of light, and the projection ended.

There was a stunned silence in the room. And suddenly, Ando felt very, very cold.

[Connor MacLeod]

Re: name requests. I'll see what I can do.

I deserve to be a Sith with a scottish accent, dammit.

[Stuart Mackey]

Yup, it's chapter five!

Chapter Five

Monstrous good!. Allthough I cannot help but think 'Event Horizon'.
Oh...More me is always good..at the risk of sounding like a certain C.S Strowbridge