Crazedwraith wrote:Also I don't seem to recall Refellian having any backup weapons when he gets captured in the game. When you pull him out of the holodeck on the Warden Spacestation eh and the other guy with him have zilch with them.
He's learnt his lesson since then.
Besides, it's a plot point damnit. They get fucked over so badly so many times in this story, every now and then, they get lucky breaks. It prolongs their suffering.
Crazedwraith wrote: I know I'm just a nitpicky bastard.
Well. It's not much of a nitpick. I did establish that type one in Chapter 3.
Interesting point I didn't mention, is that it's an outdated type one too. A 'Burning Phaser' from ST6. They're more effective on Dalekenium, for the record, despite being banned in the Federation. This too will be relevant later on.
EDIT: PS, I also edited the last post after you posted. Ack.
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You wanted the Daleks to start pwning everything in sight again folks? I hope it's been worth the wait. Incidentally, looking over the plans for the rest of this fic, I fear I'm developing an EE 'Doc' Smith fascination with huge numbers in sci-fi. Not that this is necesserily a bad thing.
Chapter 5
A phalanx of Daleks rolled through the corridors of Dderas station, unopposed. Once more, the fearsome precedent set by the Battle of Earth had served its purpose, and made sure people, in this case, the Romulans, treated their threats as the deadly serious statements that they were. The Daleks never bluffed when they could carry out their threats.
Captain Picard hid in a side room as the mechanical ‘pepper-pots’ rolled past, the rest of the escapees, less than the ten they had hoped for, a mere three others, behind him. His grip on the disruptor he held was shaky, his nerves still under the influence of several drugs. They waited, knowing that the incursion was coming to pick them up, they were content to sit out the entire incident.
Data was talking in hushed tones to Verov about what he had seen in the Romulan research facility. He was quite agitated in his speech, “It appears that they have been reconstructing, among other things, phase-cloaking research, trilithium fusion inhibitors, and something known as the Genesis Device.”
Verov shuddered slightly, “If they hand the technology over to the Daleks, we can kiss this insurgence goodbye.”
“Unfortunately,” Data said, “we do not appear to have any means of preventing them doing so. An attack on the Daleks would only serve to get us killed. There appear to be far too many of them aboard to successfully overcome.” The Russian sighed, and Data continued, “We can only hope that the Daleks will make some kind of error that we can exploit once the Incursion arrives.”
“Slim chance,” muttered Refelian, “they don’t seem to miss a trick.”
“Agreed,” said Data.
Picard’s slightly trembling hand was raised, and the android was silent. Guards were coming.
════
In the Gamma Quadrant, much the same thing was happening, but this time, far more violently. Unlike the Romulans, the Dominion was not quite aware of what it dealt with, and was making the Daleks pay for each and every piece of ground they took. The Jem’hadar were fierce and brave to the point of fearlessness, but they were unable to win. Even a population of thousands could only bring their strength to bear on the armour plated killing machines in small numbers and confined spaces.
Where the Jem’hadar attacked, the Daleks gave ground, setting up cross-fires and ambushes in the winding corridors of the cloning facility. Where they defended fixed points, the daleks would rush them with numbers, relying on the superiority of their armour, or outmanoeuvre them, relying on the disruption their communications jamming to ensure that the defenders were not able to counter their thrusts.
Still, the Dominion’s soldiers fought on, heedless of the fact that they were loosing, determined to, if nothing else, hold the line against the daleks until reinforcements could arrive.
And arrive they did. No less than three battleships and fifteen ‘bug’ attack ships had been claimed by the Daleks that besieged the cloning facility. Their melted hulks drifted with a serenity that would lull an observer into a false sense of security. The embers of fire, scattered throughout the system as if from a bonfire, belied the shocking violence with which they had been created.
════
Daleks did not have names. It was one of the things that made dealing with them so difficult. It was also why Annika Hansen had becomes so useful to them. She could also find far more amusement in her work than the mirthless creatures that resided inside their armoured shells. Speaking to the Romulan Admiral, Sela, she could barely restrain herself from clichéd laughter.
“We have known of your little project for the past year now,” she said, “and I assure you, it would never have worked. We do however thank you, for you have been very helpful in creating the next generation of Dalek weapons.” The other woman’s jaw was slightly ajar, and she seemed to be in some kind of comatose state. The two daleks on either side of her desk seemed quite determined to ensure that she didn’t do anything foolish. Annika went on, paying no heed to the grey daleks with their weapons trained on the Admiral. “For that reason, we have decided that your researchers and population here will be spared. Certain treatments will ensure their loyalty, and then they will be permitted to work with Dalek researchers in continuing their work.
“However, you have been found to be responsible for much of this insurrectionary scheme. As such, you have committed crimes against the Daleks. There is only one punishment for that,” she said curtly, turning on her heel, and stepping out of the office.
Behind her, the dissident leader snapped something, “Now wait! I did nothing alone!”
A smile curved Annika’s lips as the two Daleks screeched ‘Exterminate!’
She turned to face Sela’s body, slumped down on the desk, “Oh, don’t worry. I’ll find your friends eventually,” she said, as the double doors of the commander’s office closed behind her.
════
High above the planet Terakis, the Daleks were also busy. Ships were leaving. All those not necessary to the defence of the planet were leaving, their mission was part of the same master plan that brought their kind to the Romulan Station, and to the Jem’Hadar facility.
There were three pieces of crucial technology that would, or so the Supreme Controller of the Dalek expedition believed, seal their eternal dominion of this Galaxy, and then beyond. His agents had found, and were in the process of acquiring, two of the three.
The ships left one by one, their destinations, a multitude of worlds, in both former Federation, and Romulan space. The true destiny of the Daleks was at hand.
════
Commander Data hunkered down behind a crate in the Romulan cargo bay. The others had taken similar positions. It appeared that there was going to be very little time left for the Incursion to arrive before they were all captured. With his superior auditory acuity, he could hear the Romulans approaching long before they actually opened the door, and took careful aim with his captured disruptor.
The guards entered the room, and he fired. One went down from Data’s well placed shot almost instantly. He wished that disruptors possessed a wide beam setting. That would have allowed them to hold off the Romulans almost indefinitely.
Much like the last time however, the Romulan leader appeared to be no fool. The distinctive sound of a transporter in operation brought Data whirling around to put a stun, he would have used that setting anyway, to conserve ammunition, even if he did not care for the lives of their would-be captors, blast into one of the transporter assault troop’s chests.
The second Romulan fell, and he turned back to the door. They were through it now, and the distraction afforded by the beaming-in troops had let the enemy security teams through what could have been a valuable choke-point. Disruptor blasts zipped through the air, but ‘starfleet’s finest’ held their own.
More Romulans fell, and it came to physical combat. With the economy of movement shown by a skilled martial artist, Data felled another of the Romulans, then yet another. He could see a woman, the Tal’Shiar operative, grappling with Captain Picard.
He was about to take action, but he could not seem to manage a clear shot as she overcame the captain. Clearly someone else could though, as the blue beam of a phaser cut through the darkness of the cargo bay’s interior. Twin howls of pain and surprise called out, and Data looked to the source of the beam, then back, taking aim simultaneously on another Romulan.
Captain Refelian had just cut Picard’s arm off. And he didn’t seem particularly upset either. To be fair, the Romulan woman was also quite severely injured, grasping her upper arm in an effort to try and staunch the bleeding. He was sure he had just found another Human behaviour he would never understand. He felt a transporter grip him, and wondered if he would next find himself weapon-less in a Romulan transporter room, or aboard the Incursion.
════
The Vorta commander of the Cloning Facility, Luaran (number six), decided that she really didn’t wish to die. It was a hard decision. Not un-precedented among Vorta, but still, not what she had been conditioned to think was an acceptable choice. All Vorta were able to commit suicide at a moment’s notice. It was painless, supposedly.
Still. Living through this would be difficult. With two Jem’Hadar ‘guarding’ her, she could hardly surrender. But perhaps, knowing their mindset, they could be persuaded to leave her. She turned, and looked at both of the lizard-like creatures. “You’re needed on the front lines more than here,” she said, “Go.”
They hesitated for a moment, but it worked. They rushed off eagerly, out of the room, and she locked the door. ‘Now,’ she thought, ‘to see about offering them something for my safety,’ and with that thought, her gaze came to rest on the atmosphere controls.
════
Jean Luc slumped down to the deck of the Incursion, blood pouring from his wound. With a startled cry two of the crew hurried him back onto the transporter pad, and beamed him to the ship’s sickbay. He would need medical attention quickly if a biosynthetic limb could be attached.
Refelian dashed off the pad, and quickly made a run for the bridge of his ship. Panting, he flung himself, still garbed and cosmetically altered to appear Romulan, into the command chair. “Get us out of here!” he said, urgency poured into every word.
With a jarring slam the ship shuddered as one of the Dalek ships opened fire on it, hundreds of teratons of energy punching through and overloading the shields, and knocking a hole through the ship, which exploded outwards, most of the energy passing straight through the Incursion. Surviving such a shot was a feat of phenomenal luck, “Evasive action!” Refelian cried, holding on to the armrest, “Warp speed now! Any heading!”
A second shot lanced from the Dalek ship’s turret, but found nothing where the defiant class ship had been moments ago. The ship that had beamed away operatives from the station had survived, and the Daleks did not like that concept at all…
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I don't think that version is much more effective than a decent modern weapon. As such, you'd need to be pretty careful where you hit a dalek to take it out.
Again, with explosive bolts, hitting the dome might work, but the plot doesn't require such ground combat I'm afraid.
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Good. You killed Sela. Now lets finish off the Changelings.
Will we be seeing the Daleks now take on some of one shot wonders in Trek which get wanked out of proportion in debates.
Never apologise for being a geek, because they won't apologise to you for being an arsehole. John Barrowman - 22 June 2014 Perth Supernova.
Countries I have been to - 14.
Australia, Canada, China, Colombia, Denmark, Ecuador, Finland, Germany, Malaysia, Netherlands, Norway, Singapore, Sweden, USA.
Always on the lookout for more nice places to visit.
mr friendly guy wrote:Will we be seeing the Daleks now take on some of one shot wonders in Trek which get wanked out of proportion in debates.
*points to the genesis device*
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"We believe in the systematic understanding of the physical world through observation and experimentation, argument and debate and most of all freedom of will." ~ Stargate: The Ark of Truth
USS Incusion, captain’s log, star date seven seven nine seven four point five one
We have managed to escape Romulan Space, but damage to our engines has rendered the warp drive barely operable. We have coaxed the engines up to warp factor five point four. Unfortunately, at this speed it will take us twenty-six days to reach starbase one five two. We were concerned about the magnitude of our ion trail, and chose to divert our route through a mutara class nebula in an effort to disrupt it.
Two warbirds have approached, and we are now running on minimal power while attempting to avoid detection. We have also been forced to shut down the atmospheric containment fields over our hull breaches, despite the protests of the Damage Repair crews. The hole in the ship’s hull has forced us into a dangerous EVA operation in an effort to repair the ship’s hull frame in order to restore full warp power.
With the destruction of our impulse engines, we are only able to choose between warp drive and thrusters power. More annoyingly, our holographic camouflage system has been, according to Commander Ijoula, ‘totalled.’ While I do not question her experience as an engineer, this frustrates me, as the major benefit of the Incursion is now gone. I intend to take command of the USS Justice if and when we return to star base one five two. Certainly, repairing the Incursion in the short term would be almost impossible with the resources we now have available.
With Captain Picard currently indisposed, I am also tempted to use my authority as the senior officer of this cell to rename the Justice the USS Incursion and append the letter A to its designation, then order this ship to be decommissioned and re-commissioned under a new name.
Even should we succeed in repairing the Warp Drive, one of the Romulan vessels appears to be one of the new Norexan fast warbirds, and we have little chance of outrunning, or in our current state, out-fighting it.
Captain Picard has been confined to a temporary sickbay established in the forward mess, awaiting the facilities to replace his arm. One of the options being explored is medical stasis, but without sickbay, and keeping our power emissions minimal, we are unable to replicate the required components.
Overall, the crew is now confined to a small selection of decks and sections, while we endeavour to repair damage. If we are able to make it past the Romulans using our cloak, we should be able to rendezvous with the Enterprise. I am of course, concerned by the ability of the Ship’s Counselor of the Enterprise to command any kind of combat mission, but unfortunately, the Enterprise’s Crew holds no-one of sufficient verified rank or combat experience to take command of the mission.
To be honest, the situation is grim, and Picard has apparently revealed that he compromised our mission by getting himself inebriated on the Romulan Station. Though he is one of the most respected commanders in Federation history, I suspect that the experience of the Battle of Earth may well have proven too much for him to handle. I try to tell myself that his actions must be understood in the correct context, and that I should remember our evolved sensibilities. But frankly, he makes me sick. Perhaps it’s fear that I might end up like him as this war drags on, or perhaps it is because he hasn’t lived up to my expectation from his records.
====
High above the Dalek World of Terakis, a rift opened. It was not a visible rift, but it was still a rift. Dalek ships flanked the rift, left and right, above and below, in front of and behind it. Through the rift came another ship, obviously dalek designed, but larger and more formidable than any of the ships around it.
Unlike the normal white hull of a dalek vessel, this vessel had markings. A solid crimson band about its midsection, blazoned with silver trim. The dalek ships exchanged codes in under a second, and the weapons of the Terakis garrison stood down.
Aboard the arriving vessel, a black dalek disconnected from the wall, its direct neural interface with the vessel’s computer shut down. It turned, its silver domes and slats gleaming in the soft light of the Dalek control centre. Looking up, the Dalek pilot could see the lights of its Emperor’s dome shining down onto the polished black floor. “We have arrived!” it said, red lights on its head flashing as it said so. Another Dalek, red and silver, turned its dome toward the Emperor, “Establishing link with Seventh Fleet command.”
“Excellent,” said the Dalek Emperor, “Inform the Supreme Commander of this sector to report on his progress immediately.”
“I obey,” said the Dalek operator.
“Now merging this vessel’s network with the local Dalek command network!” said another.
“Downloading Progress reports from the local command network,” said the red and silver operator.
“Excellent,” said the Emperor, “I will now access them.”
====
Marcus Refelian slowly eased himself into the mess. He cursed, there was no one there but himself and Picard. Picard lay on a table, one arm bandaged, with several medical devices strapped above the stump. He was awake though. Refelian tried to ignore the other Captain. Taking up space in his mess.
Refelian paused, of course, Picard could help himself to space in the Incursion’s mess. After all, he’d gotten six of Refelian’s crew killed. That was enough to have a table to himself. Refelian’s hand shook as he opened the coffee dispenser – the replicators were offline after all – and he glanced at Picard. The man was smiling.
Something inside Refelian snapped. He slowly, haltingly, set the dispenser down, and turned. “It doesn’t matter to you does it,” he said, “just more gold-shirted morons to expend?”
Picard gaped at the other man slightly, “What?”
“Well, I care damn you, you useless drunken bastard,” Refelian said, taking two long steps over to Picard, and hauling him off the table. He flung him onto the floor, shouting, “While you are on my ship, you’ll stay out of the way you smug bastard! And you can forget about my putting your arm over the welfare of this crew.”
Refelian’s shoe connected solidly with the other captain’s groin, and began to kick him repeatedly, shouting the names of his lost crewmembers.
“You left them behind,” Picard croaked out, “not me.”
Refelian screamed and hauled the wounded man up to his feet again. “You messed up the mission because you’re a useless piece of shit!” He let go abruptly, and Picard flopped to the floor, his legs seeming no more solid than jelly. “And now, we’ve got to try and get out of here before the poor sods they captured crack and tell the Romulans, or worse, the Daleks, where our base is. Do you understand? My men and women are out there being tortured right fucking now because of you!”
The doors slid open, revealing a moderately tall woman in her mid thirties. Picard looked up, blood pouring from a cut on his forehead, and Refelian stopped, his rage suddenly quenched by he presence of one of his crew. It was as if someone had pulled the plug.
Refelian walked out, leaving his coffee on the table, and nodded at her, “Sheila,” he said, courteous in his tone now. Picard looked over at her, and was taken aback by the incongruous lack of sympathy on her features despite the medical colour of the lieutenant commander’s uniform.
====
Several days later, former Captain Janeway had managed to round up several others to join her effort to infiltrate the Dalek fortress on Terakis. It was night, and the slaves were supposed to be in their barracks. It wasn’t a matter of fences or force fields. Terakis was barren, and radioactive. Without regular treatments the slaves could only hope to agonisingly perish even if they did avoid the Dalek patrols.
They ducked between the low buildings, careful to avoid the pepper-pot shaped travel machines, or perhaps worse, their lobotomised servants. As they slipped away, the dark shape of the hillside, with the fortress at its crest began to loom before them. Like jagged teeth the pointed towers surrounding the dalek base leapt up into the air.
====
The Supreme Controller entered the Emperor’s room silently, stopping before the raised dias that was home to the Emperor’s massive casing, pumbed into the walls at numerous locations, dozens of neural and psychotropic linkages to command networks, and other more esoteric systems.
“Report,” demanded the thrumming tenor voice of the Emperor, the lights around its dome blinking off as it spoke.
“We are ready to test the Genesis Device,” the controller said. They had intercepted the Romulans at just the right time. The few key deficiencies in the Romulan design were easily solved by the application of Dalek technology.
“Excellent,” said the Emperor. “Only one of this galaxy’s major powers still opposes our might. We shall use this weapon to decapitate them!”
“I will have it loaded onto a cruiser immediately!” the Supreme Controller said.
“No!” the Emperor scolded, “Your ships are to continue their hunt. Their mission is the key to our total victory. Report on the progress you have made reprogramming the Genesis Device to the new specifications.”
“It has not yet been completed,” the lesser Dalek said apologetically, “we only have the default Romulan Matrix.”
“It will play its part in our plan,” the Emperor said, assuring the other Dalek of its wisdom, “Synthesise it immediately and recall our Agent,” it said, referring to Annika.
“I will obey,” the Supreme Controller said.
“Leave now,” the Emperor commanded, and the Supreme Controller slid away the double doors of the command centre clanking shut behind him.
An image shimmered into view inside the Emperor’s mind, more precise and detailed than any image that could be perceived by man. A complex sequence of chemicals slowly rotated before his vision.
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I will note that what he put in the log was, shall we say, toned down. The log is after all, an In Character document. And, despite the unlikelyness of there ever being a new federation, he's still writing as if there were superior offiders who might be surprised by "I'm thinking of spacing the legendary Captain Picard." Force of habit.
Besides, Picard is a drunken ass with chronic depression. Refelian is writing bearing in mind the exploits of Picard's previous career, and trying not to dwell on the man's present assmunchingness. A lot of his 'efforts to understand etc etc' Picard just went out the window when they were actually in the same room.
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Catherine Janeway crouched behind one of the glassy rocks at the foot of the hill, and looked up toward the citadel once more. It was strong and high walled, but she knew that the group she had brought with her would be able to scale the walls, they were the best that could be found anywhere, and she was proud of them.
The sun had set now, and the only light was the gleaming points of stars, and the moving, gleaming shapes of starships, wheeling above them on patrol, those and the lights from the fortress ahead. Lights glimmered up promisingly from the Dalek construct, and Janeway slowly eased her starved frame under the razor wire of the Dalek perimeter.
The others moved too, sliding under the rusted wire, carefully easing forward flat against the ground.
A blast ripped through the night, as one of the Starfleet officers was immolated by a mine, a powerful gout of flame leaping up, tossing the charred remains onto the fence. Janeway paused as she realised the implication. They were in a minefield.
But it wasn’t over there. Some of the mines were proactive now, the first detonation had set small skittering spider like mines hunting through the rocky ground. Time seemed to slow as one of the skittering things threw it at the man next to the former captain.
A dull thud accompanied the explosion of the mine.
In the distance, one of the hundred something towers around the Dalek base opened, its sloped top unfolding like the petals of some obscene flower. From it came a slender weapon on a ball turret, with a box like capacitor at its base, behind the ball, from which a thick cable trailed, down into the depths of the tower. The turret rotated, and pitched the weapon down.
Janeway didn’t even see it as it fired. Suddenly, everything seemed to be aflame, and the light around them seemed somehow inverted, the ground that had been dark moments ago now blazed with an eerie white glow, and the skin that had been pink through brown now turned various shades of blue-grey.
The rebel slaves screamed in agony, some clutching their midsections as the pain flashing across their nerves endured. Janeway fell, and the last thing she heard was the clunk of her head hitting a rock.
====
Weeks passed, and eventually, the Incursion limped back to starbase one five two. And so, fifteen days later Admiral Refelian – it wasn’t technically his rank, but it was his role, since he’d taken over from Picard. They’d begun evacuating the base, but it was a hard operation when though they knew that eventually they’d be found thanks to the bungled Dderas operation, they had to arrange the exodus from the base without drawing too much attention to themselves.
Daily Refelian cursed the treaty of Algeron, which had for so long banned federation cloaking device technology. Only the Incursion, the new Incursion, had such a device now. When they had returned, he had indeed taken the opportunity to decommission the Incursion and take over the Justice. The original defiant class ship was still operational, after a fashion.
It was waiting outside, in the nebula’s haze, powered down, for any Romulan, or indeed, Dalek visitors. When someone did come sniffing around it without the proper identification code, it would power up, and accelerate towards the enemy at full warp before immolating itself with its still half crippled warp drive and every gram of anti-matter left. He thought it was fitting that the ship had one last chance to destroy an enemy.
The new one however, was quite a ship. The Sovereign class had always been lean compared to a galaxy or a nebula, but with the changes the war had wrought on the ship. More torpedo launchers and phaser banks, force fields around the warp core, less science equipment and space for more personnel. Most importantly, the new Incursion retained many features of the original. Over the past few days, they had rapidly stripped out every piece of the old Incursion’s more valuable equipment they thought they could manage to take out, half the computer banks, the modified transporters made by the perpetually active and inquisitive engineering crews, even parts of its ablative armour had gone to the new ship.
Of course, the new ship was rather rough around the edges, but Refelian managed to put that out of his mind. He was confident that it would let them evade the enemy as long as possible. Perhaps it would be possible to find a decent planet that was suitably out of the way to retire on. In the near future that was looking more and more like the best option.
In a way he could see how Picard had become the pathetic excuse for a Captain he was now, contemplating the hopelessness of the situation it was easy to despair. But he told himself that he would not do so. For now, there were more urgent concerns. Reports had reached his ears of massive Dalek activity in the region of the former neutral zone, and Refelian was concerned that the Daleks might be looking for their group.
In the distance, three starships, the USS Endeavour and the Lafayette, Akira class ships zipped off into the relative security of warp speed.
====
In the Omarion Nebula, a great portion of the Dominion’s fleet was gathered. The jem’hadar crews of the dominion ships did not know why they were stationed here, but ever since the end of the last Great War there had been whispered rumours.
Rumours told of a secret attack.
Rumours that there was something important there they now guarded.
Rumours that they guarded the homeworld of the Founders themselves.
The rumours were true. But this time the Dominion was overmatched. Not by a fleet of Romulan or even Cardassian vessels, but by one ship. And it was far from any ship. The Imperial Command Ship was elegant in its design. But that elegance belayed the awesome destructive power invested in the Emperor’s personal flagship.
No less than a dozen missile ports could be discerned on the underside of the dalek vessel, each one capable of reducing a planet to a rapidly expanding cloud of vapour and cooling ejecta in a single strike, or disgorging missiles by the hundred in a matter of seconds to annihilate entire formations of enemy vessels. Countless maser and laser emitters dotted the surface, capable of hammering down the defences of an enemy in seconds. In this galaxy, capable of destroying any opposition yet encountered with a single graceful arc.
Inside the command chamber of the Dalek vessel, Annika watched dispassionately as the enemy fleet flicked into view on the screen dominating one wall. “Range now at seven million kilometres,” one of the Daleks said, “Arming weapons.”
She smiled wickedly, “Wait,” she said, stepping forward, “it would be more profitable not to kill them.”
The head of the Emperor swivelled around to face her, eyestalk glowing malevolently, “We will exterminate all resistance,” it said.
“Yes,” Annika agreed, “But we can profit by letting them simply shoot us, they pose no danger to our shields, and the display of contempt will demoralise the enemy and make their capitulation swifter.”
The emperor seemed to think it over. “Agreed,” it said.
====
The monolithic shape of the Dalek ship was ablaze. Flashes of light, burning hotter than suns rippled along its surface. Blasts greater than the fission based arsenals of entire pre-warp planets hammered at the white surface of the Imperial Command Ship.
But it was all for naught. The great ship continued on as these inconveniences tickled its shields, paying them no more attention than a man might pay to a soft breeze against his skin.
Some of the enemy tried to ram the Dalek vessel, but the vessel’s vigilant guns disposed them of before they could impact, simply reduced to harmless clouds of high-energy plasma.
No beam or bolt came from the Dalek vessel, but far below, an awe inspiring glowing began to ripple across the planet’s surface. The mutagenic wave of the Genesis device, teleported into place through a miniscule gap in the Dalek vessel’s shields, consumed land and air, rock and sea. The sea of changelings known only as the Great Link had endured for countless centuries.
The Daleks erased it all in minutes.
As the wave swept across the planet below, the Imperial Command Ship began to ponderously turn upon its assailants.
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My nitpick for htis chapter: The USS Endevour is a Nebula not an Akira.
Humm... There is a USS Endevour in canon?
It got blown up at Earth, and the new Endevour is an Akira.
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Given that the Daleks had the ability to terraform Jupiter, what is the advantage of having a Genesis device vs their own existing terraforming abilities?
Never apologise for being a geek, because they won't apologise to you for being an arsehole. John Barrowman - 22 June 2014 Perth Supernova.
Countries I have been to - 14.
Australia, Canada, China, Colombia, Denmark, Ecuador, Finland, Germany, Malaysia, Netherlands, Norway, Singapore, Sweden, USA.
Always on the lookout for more nice places to visit.
mr friendly guy wrote:Given that the Daleks had the ability to terraform Jupiter, what is the advantage of having a Genesis device vs their own existing terraforming abilities?
The genesis device can reoganise matter on a planetary level. Now, the Federation used this to create a paradise planet. You will note however, that the Emperor was talking about doing something... more ambitious.
Chapter Seven wrote:“No!” the Emperor scolded, “Your ships are to continue their hunt. Their mission is the key to our total victory. Report on the progress you have made reprogramming the Genesis Device to the new specifications.”
All will be revealed soon.
Superior Moderator - BotB - HAB [Drill Instructor]-Writer- Stardestroyer.net's resident Star-God.
"We believe in the systematic understanding of the physical world through observation and experimentation, argument and debate and most of all freedom of will." ~ Stargate: The Ark of Truth
The daleks aren't trying to reprogram the Genesis Device to match the "apocalypse element" are they? Not that you would tell me if they were.
Never apologise for being a geek, because they won't apologise to you for being an arsehole. John Barrowman - 22 June 2014 Perth Supernova.
Countries I have been to - 14.
Australia, Canada, China, Colombia, Denmark, Ecuador, Finland, Germany, Malaysia, Netherlands, Norway, Singapore, Sweden, USA.
Always on the lookout for more nice places to visit.
mr friendly guy wrote:The daleks aren't trying to reprogram the Genesis Device to match the "apocalypse element" are they? Not that you would tell me if they were.
I can't even imagine why they'd want to blow up the Star Trek universe without someone like the Time Lords around to stop the reaction.
Ok, another clue, it's related to what they're searching for in the Neutral Zone.
Superior Moderator - BotB - HAB [Drill Instructor]-Writer- Stardestroyer.net's resident Star-God.
"We believe in the systematic understanding of the physical world through observation and experimentation, argument and debate and most of all freedom of will." ~ Stargate: The Ark of Truth
Jean Luc Picard looked out of the familiar and forgiving window of the Enterprise’s ready room. It was good to be back here, he decided, here he had respect, companionship, and for that matter a new arm. He flexed the fingers of the biosynthetic limb, disappointed by the slight jerkiness of the motion.
Turning from the stars sweeping past the window, he sat once more, considering the reports on Dalek activity. Dalek ships seen scanning the former-federation world of Denius Three, several more worlds whose names he remembered somewhere, and not least, one whose designation he himself had added to the charts, or indeed, re-added.
The former seat of what was once by all reports a truly galactic power, Iconia. Suddenly he remembered, all those planets were the sites of Iconian ruins. There was one possible explanation that explained what the Daleks were doing. Searching for Iconian Portals. The powerful teleportation devices would allow the Daleks to invade any planet they chose from any point, at any time, and there was no defence that Picard knew of.
It was a terrible thought, and he tried to suppress a shiver. He failed, and reached out with a trembling to summon his officers to a conference.
====
The Enterprise seemed almost reluctant to drop out of warp into the system her captain had ordered her to, and for good reason. Its time was near. Aboard the ship’s bridge, the new first officer, and former ship’s counsellor, watched with interest as a planet came into view. It was green from space, not the healthy green of earth plants, but a strange green of an endless ocean populated by rampantly successful algal growth, covering its entire surface in a constantly living and chocking sprawl of green.
The Enterprise’ sensors would have told an interested operator that there had once been many more complex life forms than the bacteria that covered the small slivers of land and the algae that drowned the sea itself, but that the patterns of craters and unnaturally torn apart rocks coincided with the demise of that life. The time when the enemies of the Iconians had finally ended their reign.
But what those sensors also told their operators was that the cloudless green planet was home to complex life once more. Sentient life. What they could not tell, but an operator could surmise was that this life was malevolent. This could be told because this life was Dalek life.
“Captain,” Troi called, “There is a small flotilla of Dalek ships in orbit.”
Picard nodded, and snapped off orders to move behind the planet’s horizon, not a moment too late. Though it would not show up to the eye, a dalek weapon, a laser of extraordinary power, sliced through space, missing the manoeuvring federation ship by a few centimetres only. The turret pivoted, but was too late to hit the human ship, instead only illuminating a line of fire where its energy flashed the atmosphere to plasma.
====
Near the outskirts of the last facility of a bygone age on the planet, the air shimmered as four pillars of light appeared, figures materialising from them. Picard and three of the security crew of the Enterprise. They darted for what little cover existed around the neutronium ziggurat that protected the iconian portal. Picard had decided that there was only one solution to this, destruction of the portal. Unfortunately, that destruction had to be effected from inside the structure itself.
There were several problems with that. Not least was the presence of the Daleks in the structure. There was a wail in the distance as an alarm was triggered, doubtless by them. Picard sprinted, and he could see in the corner of his eye, a dalek, weapons firing wildly. Somehow, the initial scan of the area had been mistaken. Sorely mistaken.
====
Annika watched the Starfleet interlopers attempt to attack the facility by the local night, and laughed. She laughed because she was no longer truly one of them, but understood humanity better than the Federation would ever confess. She laughed because of the flash in the night sky as the Daleks destroyed the federation ship. And she laughed because here, at the end, she knew that the Daleks would triumph over all of this galaxy and then beyond.
She extended a hand out over the barren rocky shale of the land surrounding the ziggurat, and lightning lept from her fingers, joining the storm of fire from the daleks pouring out of the structure.
====
The chamber was vast and magnificent. Daleks moved about on platforms that were clearly different from the Iconian structure, clearly bolted on recently. A rack of what two meter long cylinders were being loaded into what seemed to be photon torpedo casings, though they sported white markings in the language of the Daleks. In the side of the neutronium structure was a wide gateway, snaking dalek cables climbed from it and up the walls, into control stations on the new Dalek platforms. “Fifty rels until procedure commencement,” said one of the black Daleks, and Picard stared up at it through the railings.
“What operation?” he asked, and Annika simply prodded him forward. A gold Dalek slid down the wall on an elevator, and rode toward the pair and their escort.
“This prisoner has attempted to lead a strike on this facility. Do you wish to interrogate him?”
The Dalek regarded Jean Luc with its eyestalk, and settled on an answer, “It is not necessary. Exterminate him.”
“Wait!” Picard demanded, “You can’t possibly be planning to launch an offensive like this!”
“Forty Rels,” the announcer said, and the gold Dalek paused, debating whether to indulge the penchant for gloating many daleks seemed to possess. “We are not attacking anyone,” it said “Soon, we shall be the Masters of this Galaxy. Thanks to your Federation.”
“Impossible,” Picard said, “I’ve heard talk like this from others before. It fades when one grasps the true scale of the galaxy.”
The Dalek turned its eye to regard Picard again. “Your genesis device has given the Daleks a far more effective way to conquer. We are preparing ten to the tenth power devices. Each one will created a fully industrialised Dalek world in minutes. We will conquer this galaxy – Exterminate him.”
“We obey,” chanted two grey Daleks behind Picard. “Exterminate!” they cried, and Picard looked up at the last moment as the bolts slammed into him. He saw one of the missiles fire from the rack, passing through the portal onto an airless planetoid beyond. A pulse of light would have blinded Picard if Picard were not already an unseeing corpse, and a mutagenic wave of distortion swept toward the portal aperture. The shields over the portal flashed as the energy passed them, breaking as a wave upon a rock. Beyond, new structures could be seen rising from the sludge the device had rendered the planetary surface into.
The gleaming white of unpainted bonded polycarbide armour rose up from what had been a cratered void, systems and technology coming to life. Deep beneath the surface structures newly improved cloning processes were initiated, conveyor lines began assembling dalek casings, and automated mines began burrowing into the rock of the planetoid’s crust.
The age of the Daleks had truly begun.
Epiloge
The Christian Year 4384
Elisia Teliria was a subject of the Dalek Empire, for all the rights she had, one could easily call her a slave. But she had never found this an unsettling or frustrating concept. There were certain things that could be classified as matters of social inertia and conditioning, and this was one of them.
Elisia had never found it to be a problem, because the alternative to Dalek rule, as everyone knew, was utter anarchy. The idea of the galaxy being ruled not by one group, but by millions was utterly alien in an age when forty Dalek ships orbited every star.
She rose from the seat in the wooden chair she had been reading in and closed the suede and gold bound volume, another biography of her most famous ancestor, Annika Hansen. She actually had another, a Romulan commander of the same Era called Tomalak, though as she was careful to mention whenever anyone discussed her genealogy, the two most certainly didn’t marry each other.
With a curt word, she let the volume fall to the ground, not even watching as it was snatched away by the teleportation device that plucked away all but the small amounts of intentional disorder in her home and placed them neatly where they belonged – this traditional object of course, returned to the wide bookshelf covering one wall.
Elisia wandered out onto the balcony and looked up at the late evening sun, a shadow square seeming to have taken a rectangular bite from its perpetual midday height. She looked with interest at the chaotic greens, golds and crimsons of her garden, and the object that was making its way across the garden.
The Daleks of Elisia’s day were very much like those of the past, only in many ways more advanced. The most significant difference, aside from far greater fields of fire, was that they now sported personal defence fields, somewhat akin to those once used by a race known as the Borg in concept, but additionally able to vapourise kinetid weapons. The colouration of this basic foot-soldier had since changed from dull grey to resplendant bronze and gold. They now even sported identifying markings, if frustratingly small, below the eyestalk, in order to allow their subjects to interact more comfortably with them. Elisia wondered what it wanted here, and instinctively brushed her clothes and hooked her hair behind her slender pointed ears.
Whatever the masters of the Galaxy wanted, it would be interesting to be part of it…
Last edited by NecronLord on 2005-05-01 09:49am, edited 2 times in total.
Superior Moderator - BotB - HAB [Drill Instructor]-Writer- Stardestroyer.net's resident Star-God.
"We believe in the systematic understanding of the physical world through observation and experimentation, argument and debate and most of all freedom of will." ~ Stargate: The Ark of Truth
When there are 40 uber ships around each star in the milky way, any hope of independance and freedom is not even considered by anyone sane.
The sequel will be both about their next target, and quite how evil malevolent evil (did I mention evil) daleks run an empire of subjugated peoples. Behave children, and your utopia will make the UFP cry in shame. Kind of inspired by 'When my Daleks have conquered the universe, then there will be peace - wars will end.'
Superior Moderator - BotB - HAB [Drill Instructor]-Writer- Stardestroyer.net's resident Star-God.
"We believe in the systematic understanding of the physical world through observation and experimentation, argument and debate and most of all freedom of will." ~ Stargate: The Ark of Truth
Crazedwraith wrote:Ok that was strange, why was Picard suddenly in command of an Enterprise again?
Err. It's the E. It wasn't blown up, simply under repair. He was on the Incursion because of the mission, when they got back, he got the E back. With no one outranking him alive, it's rather hard to remove his command.
The E came through the Battle of Earth (just) and the other bits of the resistance, with only severe damage, rather than destruction.
Superior Moderator - BotB - HAB [Drill Instructor]-Writer- Stardestroyer.net's resident Star-God.
"We believe in the systematic understanding of the physical world through observation and experimentation, argument and debate and most of all freedom of will." ~ Stargate: The Ark of Truth
Crazedwraith wrote:Ok that was strange, why was Picard suddenly in command of an Enterprise again?
Err. It's the E. It wasn't blown up, simply under repair. He was on the Incursion because of the mission, when they got back, he got the E back. With no one outranking him alive, it's rather hard to remove his command.
The E came through the Battle of Earth (just) and the other bits of the resistance, with only severe damage, rather than destruction.
Crazedwraith wrote:Ok so what happened to the Refelian's posse?
In a bit I snipped from the epilogue, it was mentioned that they eventually give the fuck up and retire among the common herd of humans, occasionally making trouble for their dalek overlords, but mostly living to a ripe old age.
Hah! Eat that detractors who say I wouldn't know editing if it killed my mother shagged my father and stole my cattle!
Superior Moderator - BotB - HAB [Drill Instructor]-Writer- Stardestroyer.net's resident Star-God.
"We believe in the systematic understanding of the physical world through observation and experimentation, argument and debate and most of all freedom of will." ~ Stargate: The Ark of Truth
I know I'm just a nitpicky bastard. 
