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A companion peice to Legacy of the Sith (who's chapter 2 is coming ) and is found here:

http://bbs.stardestroyer.net/viewtopic. ... highlight=

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Legacy of Night: Contact

{"Captain's log, Stardate 24268.33. Our small patrol force has been dispatched to Turkana IV to investigate a freighter captains report of ships in the Turkana system. Since Turkana IV has been quarantined since its government fell to mob rule, no ships are allowed to land or even orbit. The last Starfleet vessel to visit the system was the Enterprise-D and that was several years ago. Picard’s report though sparse on details indicates that there are several large 'gangs' that fight each other over resources and luxury items. Starfleet command believes that the ships sighted in the system may be Orion smugglers supplying weapons to one or both sides"}

Captain Jenna Fury, looked up from the panel on her Kirk-era command chair. The USS Exeter wasn't much, a old Miranda class refit that was starting to look its age, but it was hers. Technically the USS Manchester and Liverpool were to. The three near identical ships had been assigned together as a unit ever since the refit, and she was overall commander of that unit. The theory was that three Mirandas could match the larger and at the time newer Romulan Warbirds. Teams of Mirandas like theirs patrolled the borders of the Federation. The Dominion war changed that, now her team was pulling missions like this one that used to get assigned to larger, better armed ships.

Jenna looked over at her tactical officer, lt. commander Shal a member of the feline Caitian species. His black fur rippled slightly and his ears flattened. While many others had trouble reading the Caitians, Jenna's first assignment was to their home world. While some expressions were still a mystery, she knew enough to read confusion.

"Commander Shal, find something?"

"The long range sensors are picking up two ships in orbit around Turkana IV as well as identity markers."

"So what’s the problem?"

"One of the ships is reading as an old Klingon D7 battle cruiser, but is reading as massing almost twice as much as normal, with nearly three times the power output. It identifies itself as the IMC Blade's Edge. The second appears to be a modified Son'a Destroyer identified as the IMD Sanction.

"IMC, IMD those are knew ones on me. What does the computer say about them?"

"According to this they stand for Independent Mercenary Cruiser and Destroyer respectively"

"Mercenaries?", one of the helmsmen asked

"Yes and it appears the Blade's Edge has been employed by Independent freighters in federation space during the Dominion war."

"But why, Starfleet.."

"Was to busy to maintain our usual patrols against Orion Syndicate and other threats to non-essential shipping. Several freighters hired mercenary ships as protection."

"So the question is what are they doing here, and who hired them to do it."

"We could ask"

Jenna grinned at him before turning back to the helmsman.

"Okay take us out of warp well outside their orbital path. Wouldn't do to startle a bunch of trigger happy mercenaries."


IMC Blade's Edge

Ryan Blade smirked as the three Mirandas flashed into view. He fingered the hilt of his sword thoughtfully. He turned to his second, Lt.Cmdr Lisa. It wasn't her real name but ever since he won then subsequently freed her she refused to use the name her former master gave her. He liked the look on peoples faces when they saw a green skinned Orion girl who not only wasn't a slave but was armed.

"Lisa you have the bridge, when the 'fleeters' get tired of waiting invite their Captains to diner."

"And where will you be while I'm insulting their delusions of self importance."

"Sparring with Scorrth. Try not to be rude, I want them insulted because I didn't talk to them, not because you like the sound of your own voice."

"Please it was just that one time."

"You sang every swear in the klingon language to the tune of 'She's comin' round the mountain', not that your not a great singer but..."

"Alright, alright, no promises if they insult me though."

He smiled as he made his way to the sparring room. Major Scorrth, commander of his ground troops, stood in the center of the room practicing katas with a wooden training sword. Ryan quickly changed into his practice gear setting his black metal blade down in favor of a weighted wooden replica. He stood before Scorrth, even his 6'5" frame seemed small next to the Gorn trooper. With no word or sign Scorrth attacked. Ryan smirked inwardly, sparring with Scorrth was always more fun because unlike a human opponent the Gorn's moves became faster and more precise as the fight went on and his cold body began to heat up.

"How's the peace keeping going?"

"Hollister's troops made clearing the gangs out of their hole easier. That 'tear gas' has an interesting effect on humans."

"Any ill effects for our troops?"

Ryan parried and rolled away, he had to be more on guard than Scorrth since the Gorn also didn't have to wear the heavy protective clothing.

"The rebreather masks are effective enough. We have located the last Alliance stronghold we will take it tonight."

"Good launch the assault while I'm 'entertaining' the fleeters."


USS Manchester

Captain Fury blinked at the sight the view screen presented to her. A young and very attractive green skinned woman sitting in a command chair with everything around her concealed by a shifting distortion pattern. She looked to woman over the green skin and hair color marking her as an Orion, she wore a tight black t-shirt with dress pants and thigh high leather boots. An obvious weapon of some kind sat in a hip holster.

"I am Lt. Commander Lisa of the IMC Blades Edge, Captain Blade is occupied at the moment but has asked me to extend an invitation to dine with him at 06:30 hours. He will answer any questions you may have then."

Jenna was momentarily at a loss but reached a decision quickly.

"Very well at 06:30 then."

The view screen blinked back to an exterior view of the D7 cruiser. The helmsman spoke first.

"Rude aren't they."

"They fight for a living I imagine its altered their perspective on courtesy. In the meantime, is there any way to get some information on this Captain Blade."

"Possibly", Shal spoke up, "I know a Ferengi accountant in the Liquidators guild they keep records of mercenaries they've hired out work to."

"How long? We've got 4 hours, that’s it."

"Hour for the transmission to reach him an hour back, minimum."

"Do it."

"Yes Ma'am."

"In the meantime can we tell what they're doing on Turkana IV?"

"I believe so Captain. the mercenaries appear to be wearing transport inhibitors of a design I don't recognize. However running a transporter targeting scanner over the colony at very low levels lets me distinguish them from Turkana IV's local population without alarming them. From what I can tell they appear to be patrolling the streets in small groups, as well as guarding key locations."

"So they've invaded."

"It would appear so though their patrol patterns are more reminiscent of 'martial law' deployments of many old military forces."

Jenna left the bridge and headed to her 'ready room' to write an initial report for Starfleet Command. She sent a sparse report to Starfleet command, then laid down to sleep while she had time. The computer awoke her two hours later. A quick shower and a new uniform later she returned to the bridge.

"Well Shal, your contact come through?"

"Somewhat Captain, not as thorough as I'd like. The IMC Blade is captained by a Ryan Blade, a former federation citizen from a small deep space colony. He applied to the academy, but was rejected for psychological instability. He began his career as a mercenary shortly afterwards first as a fighter pilot, then worked his way up to acquiring a larger ship. His ship and crew are based out of Fortress, a freehold planet in Ferengi space."

"And the other vessel."

"The IMD Sanction is commanded by a Colonel Rayne Hollister. He and his crew arrived on Fortress via a Keedja transport, no point of origin listed. There is no record of any of his original crew members in the federation data banks. He hired his people out as ground troops until the Sonia gave them a stripped down Destroyer in lieu of monetary payment. Blade and Hollister work together often, and have even faced down a Jem'hadar group four times their number and come out with very few casualties. They have honored every contract they have taken, and take care not to kill non-combatants."

She mulled this over. They sounded like they were a step above the cutthroat image the word mercenary brought up these days.

'This should be interesting.' she thought to herself.


IMC Blade's Edge

Jenna materialized on a cargo transporter pad. Lt. Commander Lisa stood nearby dressed in a black dress uniform of uncertain origin. She walked forward slightly and gestured to the two men near her.

"Captain Jenna Fury, this is Captain Ryan Blade and Colonel Rayne Hollister."

Ryan Blade appeared almost 28-29, was a little taller than six feet, clean shaven, short dark blond hair, blue eyes, with an athletic build. He wore an identical uniform to lt.cmdr. Lisa with different rank insignias. Rayne Hollister, looked 25, and was shorter, just shy of 6 feet. His hair was long and blond pulled back in a ponytail and his eyes were green. His uniform was different, it looked like a US Marine Corps uniform dyed black, the pins and medals all looked like the ones in the Smithsonian exhibit on 20th century military history. Two of the medals drew her eyes, one was a Eugenics war campaign ribbon, the other was a Klingon, 'Star of Kahless', medal, neither of which he should have been able to earn. But something in his eyes said he was far older than he appeared. Jenna turned to introduce her comrades.

"This is Captain Culax of the Manchester." The dusky skinned Vulcan bowed slightly, " and Captain Richardson of the Liverpool."

Richardson glared at the mercenaries and didn't deign to acknowledge them otherwise. Jenna restrained a sigh of frustration, Richardson was symptomatic of starfleets biggest problem, an unshakable belief in the UFP's superiority over all others. The recent Dominion war had weeded out, or cause a change of mind in most of them, but not nearly enough. If the mercenaries noticed they gave no sign.

"If you would follow us."

Jenna and the others followed Blade and Hollister through the ship. The ship was well maintained and better lit than expected. On some doors a pair of armed guards of several different species stood at attention as they passed. They were led to a dinning room, Blade gestured for them to sit on one end while he, Hollister and Cmdr. Lisa sat at the other. A small padd, built into the table near each chair listed a small menu for them to choose from. The list wasn't very long but had selections from the planet each was born on. As a private filled their wine glasses Blade studied each captain before speaking.

"Since I doubt this is a social call, lets get right to it. What does the federation want?"

Jenna grinned a little, 'direct and to the point'.

"A few local traders reported your ships being here we were sent to identify who was here and why. There have been several cases in the last few months of Orion smugglers suppling weapons to places like Turkana IV. An armed invasion by mercenaries was the last thing we expected to find."

"We go where we're paid to."

Richardson's sneer increased slightly. Jenna scowled at him before responding.

"And you’re here to do what?"

"We've been paid to 'settle' things on Turkana IV. After we've finished disarming the gangs our employer will arrive with a peacekeeping force to maintain order and set up a governmental infrastructure. We'll be gone in a few days at most."

"Who is your employer?"

"That's confidential."

Richardson gave a hate filled look before he finally spoke up.

"How about we just arrest you I'm sure you'll come up with a name after a week in the brig."

"Richardson!!!!"

"You can't arrest me."

"Oh and why not, your violating the prime directive."

The mercenaries looked at each other before bursting out
laughing.

"I needed that. Look, Dick, first off we're not federation citizens, so you can't arrest us for violating an internal directive, secondly despite the almighty P.D. being toted as the reason for starfleets non involvement it has a lot more to do with disinterest in the planet."

"What are you talking about?"

"Turkana IV is an earth colony, populated exclusively by humans, they are not a pre-warp civilization nor are they an un-allied alien species. There is no reason for the federation not to intervene except that there's nothing on the planet worth the effort it would take. The records indicate that the colony 'severed relations' with the federation. Since at the same time the colony government collapsed it shouldn't take a genius to see that its just an excuse to not intervene. Turkana IV has no special industries or mineral wealth so the federation washed its hands of it and moved on after a single ship was sent to see how bad it was an left with a 'Tasha Yar' in tow. A few years later the Enterprise visits again to rescue some crash survivors. Things had improved a little, gang warfare true but better than unrelenting chaos. But still this human colony was left to its own devices after a successful mission. The irony is that the enterprise crew caused the conflict to become prolonged by stopping Ishara Yar from destroying the Alliance fusion reactor that powered its defense systems. If they had let her do it the Alliance would have fallen and the conflict would be over."

"That’s ridiculous."

"But true, the only other explanation is that starfleet command is full of complete morons, which is possible."

Richardson stormed out in the direction of the transporter.

"I wish I could say that was a surprise. Richardson was a career
desk-jockey until the war was over."

"I wouldn't apologize for him, he's a product of the times. In its current state I doubt the federation will last out the century."

Culax raised arched an eyebrow.

"On what do you base that conclusion?"

"I'm sorry to say it’s a problem that dates back to the era after first contact. Humanity had just come out of one of its worst wars to achieve warp travel and met the Vulcans. This wasn't a bad thing in itself its one of our reactions to it. Vulcans treated us like children afraid we would ignite a war with one of the other powers. So they withheld technology and information we could have used. Our reaction was mostly to fashion our own ships. But a few leaders began to 'pacify' the human race via the education system. All this 'bettering ourselves' and 'mankind has evolved' crap came out of an attempt to make us 'acceptable' to the Vulcans. In general though it has a lot to do with the first Romulan War and the subsequent wars have put us in much the same place that France was in after the first world war. Most of the best people are either killed or are career men like Picard, with no children to carry on. The federation, starfleet in particular is run by cautious old men who are growing more so with every threat."

Their meals arrived breaking up Ryan's train of thought. After a few moments of silent Culax finally spoke.

"I am curious, Captain, as to the origin of the sword you carry. As well as why you carry it."

"That is a long story Captain. A very long time ago I found the ruins of a single city on a deserted planet. I don't know who they were but the pictographs showed a unusual if incomplete history, they were part of a fleet of colony ships traveling from somewhere, one ship had crashed on that planet. They built a colony and remained by themselves for a hundred years maybe more. Then a warship arrived from the fleet, they fought over something and the colony was attacked from space. It was either a poison or a plague they built a single monument even as they dropped dead to hold their story and a few artifacts from their original home. The sword was among them I took it a few other items with me and left only a couple days before the star it orbited collapsed."

Ryan drew the blade holding it so they could see its whole length. The blade was black and seemed to suck the light into its surface. Double edged and straight, it led down to a hand guard slightly curved towards the blade and carved with a strange flowing almost runic script. The handle was a little over a foot long and topped with a rounded almost egg shaped pommel, more of the strange script flowed around it. The handle though long enough to wield with two hands seemed to suggest it was mainly wielded with one.

"I don't know what its made of, its impervious to scanners, it can't be transported, I've deflected energy beams with it, and fusion torches set on high don't even heat it much. Its has a near mono-molecular edge, and hasn't needed sharpening once. Who ever they were they were beyond us. One of the less impervious items was well over 5000yrs old. As to why I carry it, when I picked it up it just felt 'right' for me."

They made small talk as they ate, then Jenna and Culax excused themselves and returned to their ships. Lisa came up to Ryan after they left. She looked at him curiously as she plopped down in his lap.

"You went easy on them."

"Yup."

"Why?"

"I looked through Jenna's service record, she was born in a backwater, she only made captain cause she requested a position out here."

"So back to Fortress."

"Yes, three more days till our employer arrives, then a week or two of R&R for us all."


USS Manchester

Jena was surprised to see Admiral Paris on her screen.

"Morning Jena."

"Admiral, what brings the head of starfleet R&D to my quarters?"

"Your next assignment I'm afraid. The USS Enigma was on route to explore the territory of the now extinct Husnock species when they picked up reading indicating the territory is already being occupied. The readings indicate a large amount of communications of an unknown type in the vicinity of the supposed home system. The Enigma is a science research vessel they don't have any trained diplomats onboard, this is almost definitely a first contact situation since you and Captain Culax are the only two in range with first contact experience its up to you to find out who's out there."

Jena brightened, this would be her third first contact mission.

"Thank you Admiral, any special instructions."

"Yeah, don't start a war." he said jokingly before the transmission cut off.

TBC
(edited to restore spacing)

This is a kickass story, and I WANT MORE OF IT.

You have roused my interest.~Jason

Edit: Where the hell have you been Falk?

I require more. I strongly urge you to hurry.

Excellent fic. It is imperative that you finish intertwining both Legacy: Contact and Legacy: Darkness immediately, yet giving continued excellence and quality and also providing us a long, long, set of stories. Then, you can start Legacy: War.

Great stories, can't wait for more!

hehe actually I intend to publish Legacy:Darkness on trekBBS, but not Legacy:Sith, I want trekkie views unbiased by my SD.net existance before continuing the trek side, I'll have the second chapter of Legacy:Sith out soon though,

Nice story

One compaint though: It is quite often very hard to know who is talking.

D.Turtle wrote:Nice story

One compaint though: It is quite often very hard to know who is talking.

if you mean the Manchester bridge scene its cause I wanted it to be that way, the 'round table' discussion on the bridge we see so often in trek is not considered appropriate on real military vessels for a reason, its confusing, it will get less so once the bridge crew gets names, (see real reason author is a lazy fuck )

For being patient you get two chapters, comment in the name of money and the almighty IRS comment (guess who just did their taxes)


Chapter 2:Plans within plans
USS Exeter
The trip had taken a week but had been worth it. They already had long range scans of several unknown ships. The scans were sketchy but the many of the ships were massive in size. A low level jamming field extended from the space they occupied preventing a more detailed scan. Jenna felt a little nervous, while she had done first contact missions before, there had been at least some basic information. Here she was going in blind.

"Captain we've entered the system."

"Very well, Take us out of warp Yaswei. Shal, any signs of the ships you detected?"

"Yes ma'am, the jamming has lessened somewhat."

"On screen."

With a little static the image of the alien vessel appeared. It was long and slightly rectangular, the front end had a fairly distinctive overbite design. Along the body were several oval 'blisters' and its width increased at a large drive section. The whole ship was a matte grey color.

"Tactical analysis."

"Limited, Ma'am. The jamming is still to great for clear sensor scan."

"What can you tell me?"

"The vessel is 600 meters in length, has more than double the mass of a Galaxy-class. I am picking up over 16000 lifesigns but cannot get readings on the type of lifeform. "

"Must be colony ship with that many on board" quipped Ensign Yaswei from the helm.

"Captain, one of the ships has changed headings its coming this way. Two smaller vessels are moving to join it."

"Enlarge view centered on the main ship."

They watched as the ship moved closer. The two smaller ships had similar designs though they lacked the 'overbite' shape in the command area. Once they flanked the larger ship it was clear they were nearly half its size.

"Captain, the two other ships are each 350 meters long, mass is similarly reduced. I can no longer pick up lifesigns. There is no trace of a warp signature. They have shields up but the jamming has increased beyond our capability to accurately scan them. While I cannot scan their weapon types I can make out surface details that appear to be weapon barrels."

"Increase magnification on one of these 'weapon barrels', Shal."

"On screen."

The view changed to a pair of cylindrical weapon barrels in a mounting that appeared to be capable of at least 20 degrees of motion in every direction from center.

"Looks like a lot like the world war two battleship main guns they have at the Smithsonian. You can even see where it compresses for recoil compensation."

"Hobby of your captain?"

"When I was nine my grandfather dragged us to earth, he wanted to make sure we knew where we came from."

"No warp signature, a pre-warp society?" Cmdr. Fogg chimed in, trying to get them back on track.

"We have monitored the ships being in one system then in another within mere hours so they have super-luminal travel of some kind."

"Thanks Shal, open hailing frequencies. Standard first contact hail."

They waited for several minutes everyone showing signs of tension. Shal's hand hovered over the control's for shield and weapon power. This was the most dangerous part.

"Receiving a signal, computer identifies it as a mathematical equation of universal constants. It appears to be a language protocol primer. Data stream halted but channel is still open."

"They're waiting for a response, instruct the computer to do so and download their language into the universal translator as soon as its finished."

"It may take several hours captain, they are sending it all as direct binary data."

"Shal you have the bridge, call me if there are any developments."

Jenna made her way to the conference room, there she activated the subspace communicator to starfleet command, earth was weeks away by subspace fortunately Admiral Paris was touring several closer R&D facilities. It took a moment for the logo to be replaced with the admirals tired features.

"Captain Jenna, I take it you found something."

"Yup, the crew of the Cousteau were right. We have three ships sitting off our bow that are transmitting the beginnings of a translation program."

"Anything else?"

"They seem to be colonists, the first ship had 16000 lifesigns aboard. The ships appear very utilitarian."

"16000, that’s far to many for crew, has to be colonists. If their just moving in to the Husnock territory they may be willing to share any leftover technology."

"There's one more thing admiral, they don't have warp signatures. We don't know how their moving from system to system. This could open up a whole new area of propulsion technology."

Paris smiled at Jenna's exuberance. He remembered being that young, once long ago before his wife died. Before his failure with his son.

"Well good luck Jenna. I hope it goes well. After our losses to the dominion any new members or at the least allies would be "

"I think it will, but thanks anyway. Jenna out."

She walked up to the bridge after a quick bite to eat. L.t. Commander Fogg, her science officer was bent over the science station. He looked perplexed and frustrated.

"Problems?"

"Not exactly, Captain. The translation matrix is nearly finished but is apparently unnecessary."

"Unnecessary?"

"They speak english, they have accents and inflections that make them a little hard to follow but its defiantly english."

"A lost human colony?" Shal asked

"Its happened before, colony ships that left in the early days getting lost or the records destroyed in the Romulan war.", after a pause, "Can we open a channel."

"Yes, ma'am but it'll be audio only, the video componants of their com signals aren't compatible with ours."

"Open a channel to the Liverpool and the Manchester, I want them to hear this, then contact our unknown.", she waited for the audio tone that confirmed the channels were open, "This is Captain Jenna Fury of the United Federation of Planets vessel USS Exeter, do you read me?"

"Yes, Captian. This Captain Frank Reele of the IDC Widowmaker, What brings you to our corner of the galaxy."

"Meeting you, we are explorers and meeting new life and new civilizations is our mandate."

"It'll have to wait, Captain, I have contacted our leaders they want us to wait for an envoy for formal contact, we are not diplomats."

"Ok, how long will it take them to get here?"

"Your guess is as good as mine. I've been told ask you to back off out of the system for now. Not that we don't trust you, but we don't trust you. Reele out"

"Abrupt aren't they." Commander Savalas said from his chair. Jenna flashed the Deltan a grin.

"As long as they aren't shooting at us they can be as rude as they like. Helm set course for a point outside the system."

They sat waiting, speculating on where these people came from. When Shal was called back to his station by the sensors detecting something they thought noteworthy.

"Captain, I have a ship, it appears to be of the same class as the Widowmaker."

"On view screen."

The screen shifted from the ships in front of them to the newcomer. It was indeed identicle to the Widowmaker. Unlike most of the races Jenna knew there were no exterior markings to differentiate between their ships.

"Tacticle analysis, Shal."

"Same as before Captain though I can extrapolate certain things based on the comparisson with our earlier observations on the Widowmaker.”

“That name still gives me the creeps.”, Savalas interjected, “I sounds just to warlike for my tastes.”

Jenna smiled indulgently, “Actually I remember a ‘Widowmaker’ from earth history, a prototype soviet ballistic missile submarine, the K-19 or ‘Widowmaker’, named not for its usage as a weapon of war but for how unlucky the ship was.”

“Oh?”

“Their doctor was killed mere hours before they launched, the replacement was nearly 70 years old and got seasick easily, their nuclear powerplant was faulty and almost half the crew had varying levels of radiation poisoning, from a few weeks of illness to death within an hour. As much fun as I have discussing history, Shal continue.”

“Based on the difference in speed the newcomer has compared to the Widowmaker and assuming they have the same mass, I’m assuming their at the upper limits of their sublight speed. It shows their powerplants are well beyond the generation capacity of all three of our warp cores. No reading on weapons, shields, or super-luminal drive."

"Fury to Culax and Richardson, can either of you get better readings than we are."

Richardson spoke first, "No but by the look of these monsters they must be centuries behind us."

"That is not logical", Culax chimed in, "Their ships are beyond our capability to duplicate. Any structure that massive we could build would not be capable of that level of acceleration."

"But they wouldn't build anything that big unless they couldn't miniaturize their technology."

"Do you consider the Enterprise-E to be less advanced than the Enterprize-A."

"That's not the same thing...."

"Enough gentlemen."

Culax merely looked impassive while Richardson however turned red with a a look of rage on his face.

"They're hailing. Audio only."

"Let's hear it "

"This is Captain Maximus Lennox of the IDC Valorious to the USS Manchester, do you copy?."

"Yes Captain Arkady. This is Captain Fury, USS Manchester."

"Would you prefer to meet here or on your vessel."

"Ours, I think."

"If you'd be so kind as to point us to a shuttlebay we'll get the envoy party to you."

"Certainly, I look forward to meeting them. Fury out. Rotate the ship and light up the shuttlebay."

"Told you they were less advanced than us, they didn't even suggest beaming over." Richardson quipped.

"That proves nothing, their other achievements do far out way us in many areas of engineering, they may just not have bothered with transporter technology." Culax countered.

"Enough, I want both of you over here for this."

She made a chopping motion and the channels to the other ships were cut. She left Savalas in charge and with Shal in tow made her way to the shuttlebay by way of transporter room 2. Culax and Richardson joined her. Richardson kept glaring daggers at Culax, who pretended not to notice. The trip to the shuttlebay was short and mercifully quiet. In the observation area they watched the odd shuttle enter the bay and land with smooth controlled motions. It was about 6 meters long and 3 high. There were a pair of angled panels on each side, its had two seperate cylidrical hulls. One had a hexogonal window with a black uniformed apparently human pilot. the second had a door that opened, a ramp sliding down to the deck. A human figure emerged. He was wearing a black military uniform with an almost samurai like helmet. A large black weapon sat in a hip holster, while he looked around for a moment before motioning others out of the shuttle. Another black clad figure came first, followed by two people. A short broad woman with cropped white hair wearing a dark olive green uniform with a plaque on her left side with twelve squares, six red, six blue. The second was a man in a similar uniform with only 8 squares, carring a small black attache case. Blond hair, blue eyes, he was otherwise completely average. The black uniformed men took up positions behind and slightly to the side of the apparently higher ranked pair.

"What do you think Shal?"

"The black uniforms are security personnel or soldiers, very disciplined.”

Jenna led her trio to the doors and strode out to meet them.

"Greetings I am Captain Jenna Fury, this is Captain Culax of the USS Manchester and Captain Ander Scott Richardson of the USS Liverpool."

The man spoke first, "I am Commander Adrian Saulus, of the diplomatic corps., and this is Admiral Snow commander of the 7th fleet."

"A pleasure. The Federation is interested in peaceful relations with those on our borders. Shall we head to the conference room."

The pair nodded and followed them out. They were a quiet bunch, Jenna thought, especially the soldiers. They passed Lt.Savalas and Counselor Kephalion both nodded to her as they passed. When they sat in the conference room the soldiers stationed themselves nearby against the wall rather than sit down. The admiral spoke as she sat down.

"Why don't you tell us what really the federation really wants."

"I don't know what you mean."

"We've monitored your ships, this is past the farthest ship you've sent in this direction. So there must be something you want in the territory we're moving into."

"To be honest the federation has problems right now. We've just come out of the bloodiest war in recent history and now find ourselves undermanned and outgunned by our more aggressive neighbors. Right now their in much the same boat we are having fought the same enemy. But they've always put more resources into their militaries than we have."

"You've lost me pretend, I don’t have a clue what your taking about, a little more background please."

"This could take awhile, The United Federation of Planets was formed by several governments after a war with the Romulan Star Empire. Its mandate was to be an interstellar government where all members worked together for the collective good of all. We've stumbled a bit on the way, and run into hostile and aggressive powers that didn't like the idea. Starfleet was formed around the same time to be a force of exploration not war, but we are also charged with defending the federation from those who would seek to conquer it. Then a few years ago a stable wormhole to a point deep in the gamma quadrant was discovered. At first it seemed like a golden opportunity Then the Dominion, a gamma quadrant power, declared war on us.", Richardson started looking at her like she was crazy, "The ensuing war dragged not only us but virtually every major power into it, even old enemies worked together to defeat them. When the Dominion surrendered and the peace treaty was forged, we found ourselves at odds with our allies. But now we're in a slump, we lost a lot of personnel in the war. We sent a research ship out here to see if we could salvage the Husnock's technology. We didn't expect anyone to be out here. When your ships were detected the possibility of an ally or at the least a neutral trading partner became more important."

"I see, It may be possible but the colonies in this sector aren't finished yet much less inhabited. Once the civilian government is established they may wish to initiate more material trade but we can do little along those lines. The senate will be informed but beyond that I don't have the authority to do much to help you. You see we have just emerged from a civil war, resources are stretched thin. I'm afraid they've already passed down temporary judgement. Adrian."

He nodded, “Captain Fury, the senate has decided that while peaceful relations are wanted with your Federation, we can not risk full contact yet. However the technology of the Husnock is available for trade. We have salvaged schematics of various devices, we have a list of what we have and some items we want."

"That sounds reasonable. What are you after?"

"First and foremost maps, detailed ones, our maps for this part of the galaxy are woefully out of date or incomplete. Political divisions would be nice as well."

"That should pose no problem, maps are hardly classified material."

"Your historical records, for the UFP and starfleet specifically. A general history of your enemies would be helpful as well."

"There will be gaps you understand, some events from decades ago are still classified."

"We are aware, but we want them anyway."

"Anything else?"

"Tactical data concerning hostile groups."

"That poses a problem."

"Oh?" the admiral asked.

"While general data like ship recognition is available, detailed information will require clearance through starfleet command."

"We'll take what we can on that one. We have a list of refined materials that would greatly help jumpstart the colony.”

“As long as they aren’t terribly exotic I’m sure we can work something out.”

“That's all we have for now. When the government is up and running they'll contact you. Now if you'll allow me access to a computer we can transfer the data and you can be on your way."

"Certainly," she pushed the com button "Comander Fogg to the conference room please. I'm rather intrigued myself you said you've just come out of a civil war."

"Unfortunately yes," Admiral Snow had a grin that reminded Jenna of a cat watching a canary, "for most of our history we've been a republic, but governmental corruption led to an incident. Which in turn led to secession then out right war. Our leader then led us through the war despite his own advancing age and declining health only to die along with his successor when a space station they were on was destroyed by terrorists. There were several attempts at military coups, but no one had the public popularity he had. So the fighting dragged on until recently. So you can see why we're cautious, we can't risk another war."

"I understand."

L.t. Comander Fogg entered and led Commander Adrian to a computer terminal. Adrian opened his case as they neared the console. Just as they reached it Admiral Snow let out a sudden coughing fit, as if she couldn't breathe. The black troopers and Adrian rushed to her, dropping his case.

"Fury to Gannet, medical emergency in the conference room."

"On my way."

The troopers seemed to know what they were doing, they pulled various items from their belt packs. One of them injected her with something, the other held out a hand with three red and blue pills.

"Water," she gasped out. Jenna went to the replicator.

"A cup of water."

"Please specify temperature.."

"Twenty degrees below room temperature.."

She rushed the water over. Snow reached for the glass then paused. Nodding to the trooper who took it and fed her the pills and the water to swallow them. She spasmed but didn't start coughing again. The door opened and CMO Gannet entered. At first Adrian just stared, Gannet was from an evolved aquatic avian species. Jenna always thought he looked like a seal crossed with a bird. Gannet pulled his medical tricorder out and started scanning the admiral. She waved him off, "I'm fine"

"There isn't anything you can do to help me. Its an old injury, the implant that regulates my breathing is due for maintenance."

One of the troops finally spoke, his voice had an almost harsh tone to it.

"You need to return to the sickbay Admiral."

Gannet's beak dropped open while looking at the tricorder. He remained there stunned as the troops helped the admiral stand and walked her out of the room. Adrian replaced everything on the floor back into his case, then returned to helping Fogg setup the data channel. The Captain pulled Gannet to the side. Slightly amused at the stunned expression on his face she waited for him to come out of it.

"Captain?"

"Yes doctor."

"If I could drool I would."

"Oh, really? I hadn't have noticed."

"Meet me in sickbay when our guests have left."

After the transfer was finished Fogg showed Adrian back to the shuttlebay. Jenna meanwhile made her way to sickbay trailing Richardson and Culax. Inside Gannet waved her over to a holographic version of Admiral Snow stood in the middle of the room.

"Now what had you so flustered, doctor."

"Only this."

With a touch of the controls Snow's image changed to a skeleton. Both arms were severed at the shoulder, replaced with metal ones, with supports struts attached to the shoulderblades, there were more metal devices in the chest and stomach area, with wires and tubes leading to major organs. The 'floating' ribs were gone replaced with a material that looked like plastic. Walking around she found that the vertebrae the ribs led to were also replaced with metal ones. Looking closer she found that the eyes were artificial.

"There are also implants replacing her inner ear. She's been ripped to shreds and put back together with medical technology far out of our league. We could manage limb replacement but the rest of this is beyond us. There is an experimental treatment for spinal injuries like this one but its only had a single success and that was only because the patient was a klingon. The lung replacment is beyond our capabilities, if any of my patiants had that level of lung damage they'd be bedriddin for life at best."

"Wow. This is amazing, the shear level of support technology nessicary to make this possible is staggering."

"It comes with a downside to. While I only got a partial scan, the circuitry appears to be built from the subatomic level up. She'll never be able to use a transporter, it would damage the circuits and kill her in a few minutes."

"That would explain the shuttle, if all their technology is like this transporters would be useless."

“So much for you belief in our superiority, Captain Richardson.”

“You green blooded vulcan bastard, I’ll get you for that.”

Culax mearly raised an eyebrow, his logical mind boggled that someone as childish as Richardson reached the rank he had. Jenna continued her conversation with Gannet ignoreing their squabble.”

"But it certainly opens up a lot of possibilities."

“I still can’t belive you told them so much about us.”

“What would you have prefered, that I lie and cause an incident later?”

“You pretty much told them the federation is weak, ready to fall if hard pressed, you stupid bitch. You all but told them they could attack us with near impunity”

“That’s enough Richardson, I’ve put up with your high and mighty attitude for most of your tour of duty but one more word and I will take action. Understood.”

“Yes, sir” he snarled out turning to leave.

In the conference room a small sphere sat under the table. Three lenses on it glowed a light red as it watched the room. The sphere split and rose revealing a multi-legged figure to go with the eyes, it walked to one of the airducts and with the saw that tipped one leg cut a hole large enough for it to enter. It quickly found its way into a jefferies tube and locating the data cables it followed them to a network hub. It stood on it as its drill activated and bore a hole into it. A quick inspection told it which tap-in type to use. It selected an optical data transfer link and tapped in. It sat watching the system without altering it, learning. It received the ultra-low frequency pulses from its five ‘brothers’, three could do the job but the risk of discovery made back ups necessary. It was 6, 1 was doing the same thing it was, 2 and 5 were hunting down the communications system, 3 and 4 were tracking the data lines to the main computer. Soon they would be ready and phase two could begin.


Richardson made it back to his quarters on his ship before losing control. He’d had the boxing bag installed for ‘exercise’ officially. Unofficially it was there to let him blow off steam. He didn’t even bother with the gloves and just started punching away at it. He hated this assignment, back on earth he was treated like an idiot, givin low priority desk work. It got worse after Voyager was lost and it came to light Janeway was his cousin. The war gave him a chance to get a ship. He had avoided any kind of controversy and bided his time, rising to the rank of commander on his time served alone. His secret support of admiral Leyton had been his chance at real power, but that hadn’t worked. His brother had shown him how to cover his tracks. So He got his ship, but he was its captain only when he was on board, his official rank was still Commander. He was givin this substandard ship with a mostly green crew. Then he was put under that backwater trash Fury. He had more time as a Starfleet officer than her, but no she got command because she’s ‘experienced’ What kind of name was Fury anyway? She made him look like a fool at every turn and then to not only coddle those....those mercenaries but to treat these primitive morons with their warp driveless ships as equals and tell them about the federations problems. Inexcusable, the only bright side was the admiralty would remove her from command of the patrol group if not her ship for doing it. This actually enraged him more since that would put that soulless vulcan idiot in charge. Hit the bag until he was exhausted only then noticing his bleeding knuckles. A quick pass with the dermal regenerator he kept in his room fixed that. Calmer he thought of his supposedly dead brother, then smiled.

“I bet Section 31 could do something with these guys. Computer prepare a message to be sent to Risa encode for the message box of Benedict Miller, encrypt with key phrase ‘I need scissors 61'.”


Chapter 3: Visitors from the past:

IMC Blade's Edge, Turkana IV orbit

Ryan looked up as Sssarrk spoke.

“I’m rrrreading two vessssalsss approaching, one readsss ass ourr employer’s freighter. The other is an old Orion Malice-class troop carrrrierarrr.”

“Scan the right weapon pylon has it been replaced with a romulan disrupter?”

“Aye, sssssir.”

“Its Hucson, bastard.”

“I take it you know thissss ship, Captain?”

“Yeah Marc Hucson, professional scumbag. He’s from Angosia, he worked there administrating a process to chemically alter his peoples soldiers to make them more aggressive. When the soldiers were being brought home he decided that discretion was the better part of valor, stole the records of how they did it. He was selling his ‘treatment’ on Fortress until the side effects to non Angosians were discovered. He bought that rustbucket from the Orions and hires out as a transport for ground troops.”

“We are being hailed by the ‘Pride of Turkana’, it is our employer.”

“Lets hear him.”

The channel opened and revealed the pudgy dark-skinned figure of Devon Barker. Behind him was a more dangerous looking individual. He had red-blond hair, brown eyes, and appeared to be about 5'7". He also appeared to be in quite good shape.

“Ah Mr. Blade, is everything ready for the occupation?”

“Yes, we will begin rotating our men out as yours arrive. I can assume you have our payment?”

“Yes, yes, Billy here will bring your payment over in return for a lift back to Fortess.”

“We will be expecting him.”

The channel cut off.

“Hisss troopsss arrre beaming down.”

“Inform Scorrth and Hollister to begin retrieval. Is this ‘Billy’ beaming over.”

“Apparently not, therrre isss a modified Peregrine fighter launching from the Pride. Its rrrrequesssting docking instructionsssss.”

“Have him clamp on to the aft topside airlock. I’m going down to meet him. Lt. Aaus has the con.”

“Aye, ssssir”

“I have the con, aye, ssssir.” The Lt. responded, taking Ryans place in the command chair.

Ryan smiled slightly, the Gorn were easier to train military discipline into than the ex- federation recruits. He made his way down to the airlock arriving in time to hear the decontamination cycle run. A forcefield snapped on at the same time the door opened revealing ‘Billy’. On his belt was the seal of Ferenginar’s Liquidators guild in blue, meaning he was a bounty hunter licensed to work in Ferengi territory.

“Place your weapons in the lockbox and I’ll let you in. The only armed personnel on my ship are my people.”

Billy nodded and placed his side arm and the katana he was carrying into the box. After a moments refection he added a small pistol and dagger from his boots. Ryan looked at the scanner to confirm that he was unarmed and not carrying weapon components. Ryan had heard of a group of Klingon religious nuts who collectively carried a complete disrupter between them nearly destroy the enterprise, so he took no chances.

“Captain Ryan, I am Billy Bugas.”

“Ryan Blade, what’s your part in all this?”

“I was born here, I helped pay for this.”

“But your not staying.”

“No, though since you’re here I might join up with you.”

“We’ll discuss it later, I’m not in the habit of employing bounty hunters.”

Billy nodded. “Not many are, but I’m tired of being alone.”

“Ex-maquis?”

“How did you know.”

“Your stance, the look in your eye, they just scream maquis to me.”

Billy nodded, “Yeah I joined the maquis after the colony I was on was made part of the DMZ. I left here looking for an,” he paused as if considering his words, “, an old flame who left with on a starfleet vessel years ago, but she was dead by the time I got the resources to look for her”

Ryan raised an eyebrow as he led Billy into the ship.

“Hungry?”

“As long as it isn’t replicated. My ship has a ferengi replicator, its better than a federation one but still tastes weird.”

“This is a kirk-era klingon D7 battle cruiser, it may be refitted but we kept things like the galley, with a few modifications. Come on I’ll introduce you to the cook.”

He led Billy through the decks to the galley. It was a simple room with long tables and benches, a smaller table was on a slightly raised dais. Noticing Billy’s curiosity Ryan spoke up, “Officers table, I have a private dining room but I only use it for important guests.”

“Ah, and I’m not ‘important’?”

“You’ve paid us already.”

The pair shared a laugh as they approached the kitchen door. Through it was controlled chaos. Several small Gorn (merely 6' or shorter) a few humans and a couple ferengi swirled around the room under the direction of a mousy looking middle aged blond woman. She seemed to effortlessly direct her workers like a general on a battle field. Billy took note that there was a weapon rack on the wall with a mixture of pistol type weapons, and that the woman wore a large projectile weapon in a hip holster.

“Billy Bugas this is Clare Raymond formally of 20th century earth.”

“Um..hello ma’am, how...”

She smiled at his obvious confusion, “My late husband had me cryonically frozen in the hopes I’d be revived later. The USS Enterprise found me and the others a few years ago. We all left earth about six months after we got there.”

“Others? There are more of you?”

“Three of us survived, me Sonny Clemonds and Ralph Offenhouse. We just couldn’t take it the federation is just to...to..”.

“Bland, vanilla, boring?”

“Pointless. There’s no challenge, good god I was a fucking housewife and my life was more interesting then most federation citizens. There’s nothing to do. No challenges unless you’re Starfleet or a scientist. Ralph nearly hit the roof when he figured out how the economy worked.”

Billy giggled, “Starfleet and economy in the same sentence, he must have gotten some strange looks.”

“Not half as strange as when he explained it to me. He was a financier before his ‘death’ it didn’t take him to long to figure out how it really worked. The ‘moneyless’ federation system is a computer based illusion, its Lenin’s dream system. Everyone gets an allocation of credits, which represent a unit of power, to provide basic needs. Actually having a job of some kind adds to it based on the amount of work you do, how much education you have, and the ‘credit’ you get for recycling damaged items for new ones. These invisible credits are exchanged in the computers that’s why there’s so little in the way of private starships inside the federation, the system would collapse if it couldn’t keep track of its citizens. Members of starfleet get the largest additions of credits of course. At the moment the federation is staving off financial suicide by exploiting less developed worlds, taking raw materials but withholding technology from less developed societies, for ‘their own good’ of course The war helped, the massive building projects were a huge boost to the shadow economy. I thought about becoming a school teacher until I saw how the curriculum worked, it read like a bad ripoff of the Manchurian candidate. They indoctrinate children at an early age that selfless devotion to duty is the best thing, obey the rules no matter how stupid they seem, lets not even get into those stupid psychological tests. They treat any attempt at wealth as some kind of aberration. Its like a communist country, there’s no poverty because everyone’s poor..”

“Strong feelings about this huh.”

“I was a polite mousy housewife before. Hanging around this bunch has ruined me,” she said jokingly. “If I could I’d fix the federation, it was worth it once, the history of the federation shows it was worth it once.”

‘When ‘men were men and women wore miniskirts”

“Har har, a little past that thank you. Besides don’t remind me of that guy on the enterprise who wore one ugh. Anyway all three of us ended up on Fortress working with the Captain here, I became a cook, Sonny manages entertainment for the troops and his own country weatern bar. Ralph manages the company finances and plays stock broker in the ferengi markets.”

“Okay you two break it up I’ve promised Billy here a real meal, Clare.”

“Aye, aye captain. I foresee fried chicken-like animal in your future.”

“Chicken like?”

Very good. I hope to see another chapter soon.