Star Crossed Fanfic

[NecronLord]

This was actually discussed in the chat last night. Who was it that said it would be great if Stravo did an April Fool's chapter of StarCrossed?

Where is this chat?

[Dartzap]

AIM- Type in Sdnet and voila your there.


read the FAQ

Very good Strav.. slightly disturbing.. but very good

[NecronLord]

Oh yes. The AIM one. Never mind.

[Comosicus]

New chapter - - must read NOW

EDIT: Baghhhhhh, you've got me with this one . 1-0 for you Stravo, hats off

[Captain Cyran]

It was about the middle of the sex scene that I went "Wait a minute..."

Very funny Strav.

[Anarchist Bunny]

Well, after reading it I must say I am disappointed. I spotted it out at the title, but thats partly because I came up with the idea, it just happened that Stravo came up with the idea on his own as well. While it was amusing, I was hoping for something a little more subtle to start out with. Odd turns of event out of the style of the author or what not, eventually degenerating into something obviously a prank to all but the most inept of us.

[Admiral Bravo]

Well, that was...interesting.

[Star Empire]

That was a fun chapter to read. I read it, right after reading that the Big Ten is going to change its name to the Big Conference.
On a more serious note, I really liked the end of the Borg subplot. The way you managed to tie in so many of the episodes was great (especially considering how much the Borg have changed since over time).

[Spice Runner]

hahaha, you got me with that chapter. Took me up to the end of the first part to realize that was a joke.

[Alan Bolte]

"Captain on the bridge."

[Darth Fanboy]

And in other news (and since it isn't April 1st on the East coast I can truthfully announce it) Unnamed Porno Fanfic and Starcrossed are going to do Author's exchange day. Shep will be doing Starcrossed for an episode and Stravo will do UPF.

[darthdavid]

And in other news (and since it isn't April 1st on the East coast I can truthfully announce it) Unnamed Porno Fanfic and Starcrossed are going to do Author's exchange day. Shep will be doing Starcrossed for an episode and Stravo will do UPF.

I hope you're being serious. If you are that will kick sooooooo much ass.

[El Moose Monstero]

That was truly fantastic! Nothing more to be said, was very entertaining.

[Mlenk]

Haha, nice work. Yours is the only April Fools Joke on this board that actually had me fooled for any significant amount of time. I was fooled all the way through the sex scene. But then when I started on the Thrawn/Vader exchange, it suddenly clicked into my head that it's a joke.

[Stravo]

Most assuredly NOT a joke. Anyway please enjoy the lastest.


Chapter 84: Homecomings


“What do you mean he’s gone?” Luke asked darkly.

Kittaine shook his head slowly. This was not the way he envisioned their reunion. He had not seen the young Sith lord in some time and now instead of smiles and congratulations for a return to the fleet and his Imperium Lord Nemesis was unfortunately greeted with alarming news.

“I had my men check the length and breadth of the Emperor’s Will. Captain Ochoa cannot be found.”

Luke scowled.

“There’s more.”

Kittaine nodded.

“My scanning crews picked up odd particle readings in the forward hangar deck. They followed up and upon further examination we confirmed that they were particles consistent with a cloaking device.”

“Not a Romulan or Klingon cloaking device was it?” Luke replied nodding knowingly. Sometimes Kittaine wondered why he bothered reporting these matters to Nemesis. He seemed to unravel the mystery within a few words.

“They were consistent with by products of a class 12 cloaking device. Imperial issue.” Kittaine finished.

Luke stood silent for a moment.

“They took him.”

“We came to the same conclusion. My main concern is how they got on board so easily, even with a cloaking device there are security codes, locked access ways, a thousand ways to impede intruders and not a single one was tripped and they managed to smuggle a person off ship without us being alerted to it.”

“Take me to his quarters.” Luke ordered suddenly and strode past Kittaine to the doors of his quarters.

“Of course my lord.” Kittaine replied and quickly followed.

They entered the quarters quietly. Two stormtroopers stood silent guard at the entrance. The room was neat, every piece of furniture in place, nothing amiss. There were no obvious signs of struggle save for a chair slightly off kilter.

Luke glanced around the room slowly, eyes tracking along the floor and then the walls. Kittaine stood hands clasped behind his back in the doorway and out of Lord Nemesis’ way. He shook his head slowly. How could he have allowed this to happen?

A commotion down the corridor drew his attention. He recognized the voice and stepped away from the doorway to intercede before it grew loud enough to distract the young Sith lord.

Lwaxana Troi was arguing hotly with a hapless stormtrooper.

“You will let me pass you armored buffoon. Do you have any who I am?”

“Lwaxana, for the love of the Emperor would you calm yourself.” Kittaine snapped as he approached.

“You see here, Grand Admiral, I just heard that Ernesto is missing and you didn’t bother to tell me?!”

“I needed to keep tight security on this.” He explained in exasperation and nodded to the Stormtrooper who obediently stepped out of the angry Betazed’s way.

“I could have helped, I am a telepath after all. I could pluck out the guilty ones with a simple glance.” She stated huffily as she stepped past the stormtrooper and faced Kittaine directly. “I cared for that young man very much.”

“As did I.” Kittaine protested.

Lwaxana frowned and began to stalk towards Ochoa’s empty quarters. She spared a glance over her shoulder at the stormtrooper who had blocked her way.

“And don’t think I didn’t catch that – for shame I’m old enough to be your mother.”

The trooper stiffened and looked back sharply.

Kittaine stifled a smile as they approached the empty quarters.

“What is he doing in there?” Lwaxana asked curiously as they paused outside the doorway. Kittaine said nothing for a moment than turned and looked at Lwaxana.

“He is doing what Lord Nemesis does.” Kittaine replied with a slight shrug.



Luke slowly walked a circuit around the room. He gently ran his hand along the furniture. He could still smell the scent of the blind Starfleet Captain in the slowly circulating air. His eyes slowly drifted along random parts of the quarters.

He could feel it coming. The Force flowed through him and it was tugging him towards the center of the room, in front of the bed, to the left of the dresser. He followed the flow until the tide rooted him to one spot.

He closed his eyes and reached back, easing through the gossamer strands of time and letting the Force fix him in place. He opened his eyes when he was ready.

The images were sharp as glass.

Ochoa walked past him solemn and at peace. He moved with deliberate purpose speaking into a recorder he held in his palm. The blind starship captain looked so vibrant. Nothing at all like the filthy matted down man sitting in a brig. The Starfleet uniform he wore was immaculately pressed and clean, hardly the rags that he wore when he first met him.

He was clean shaven, empty eyes swept across the room as he turned slowly as if he heard something.

Luke’s attention was drawn to the door. The lock was being tampered with. It was opening hesitantly and several shadows loomed beneath the door jam.

He looked back to Ochoa.

The blind captain was looking directly at him, his empty eyes pinning Luke under a steady gaze. Luke wanted to see past the empty orbs, to see into Ochoa’s mind and soul and speak to him.

I am so sorry. Luke whispered.

Ochoa’s lips moved in a silent statement and then he turned to face the newcomers who moved into the quarters with deadly intent and precision. Ochoa had whispered “This is not your fault.”

Before Luke could register the fact that Ochoa seemed to know he was there his eyes narrowed on the shadows as they approached the blind man. He could see their faces as they stepped into the light.

Noghri.

Luke’s face hardened.

Vader.

Ochoa smiled as if he head foreseen all of this. He went willingly as the small child sized aliens took a firm hold of him and dragged him away. He did not resist at all. The doors slid shut and the room fell into darkness.

Luke closed his eyes again and the dream like state of his vision faded away like smoke in the wind. He controlled the anger that flared inside of him.

“What did you see?” Lwaxana asked with concern.

Luke turned his head slightly to look over at the Betazed woman.

“And you would be?” He asked with a raised eyebrow.

Kittaine appeared behind her.

“My lord I apologize. My aide can get ahead of herself.”

Luke immediately felt the bond between the two. It was like each one was holding the end of a livewire. He couldn’t help but smile.

“Of course, Grand Admiral, I understand.” Luke replied and motioned them to approach. They did so, Lwaxana without hesitation while Kittaine shuffled his feet like a guilty school boy. Luke thought the man had more than earned a right to find a little happiness in this forsaken place. But then he realized that as far as Kittaine knew he was still the angry young Sith Lord ready to kill anyone that annoyed him in the least or showed any sign of failure.

There were many fences to mend and an image to repair. For some reason he was finding it very difficult to approach this matter forthrightly. What was he afraid of?

Luke sighed.

The answer was so simple. Why he did not want to address it was the more troubling question.

Luke looked into the Grand Admiral’s eyes as he had looked into the other men under his command, from Tarsi to Branna and now the Grand Admiral.

You were willing to follow Lord Nemesis, are you willing to follow Luke Skywalker.

He was afraid of the answer he would get.

“The people responsible for taking Captain Ochoa were agents of Darth Vader.”

Kittaine shook his head and cursed under his breath.

“As such Grand Admiral there was nothing you could have done to stop them. They would have had access codes that you would not even be aware of. Palpatine was a very paranoid old man.” Luke mused.

Kittaine was always taken aback by such intimate and revealing details revealed about a man that he had served most of his adult life. Nemesis knew more about the man that Kittaine had fought and killed for in 6 months of service than he did in his entire lifetime.

“As such we need to institute new security measures effective immediately, and damn it for not doing it sooner. I want you to oversee this personally Grand Admiral.”

“Of course.”

Lwaxana watched the young man intently. There was power behind his words and a burning intensity but beyond all that there was a quiet softness. As a telepath she always knew that what you saw was not always all that there was. Darth Nemesis was such a man.

“I want every line of code in every system and sub system checked for any unnecessary data. All passwords and encrypts need to be changed as well. I want only you, myself and Captain Branna to have access to all the codes for the Emperor’ Will.”

“My lord the amount of code on a vessel of this size is astronomical.” Kittaine pointed out in exasperation.

“Indeed, therefore you should start as soon as possible.” Luke was thoughtful for a moment. “Assign a small core team of our own personnel to this task, people you can trust.”

Kittaine began to speak but Luke continued unabated.

“Supplement their numbers with a team of Vulcans and Binars. The Vulcans are detail oriented and are not as susceptible to fatigue as our own human crews will be. The Binars’ skill with computers will also help speed the process along. It is about time we start fully utilizing our Federation assets.”

“But can they be trusted?” Kittaine pressed.

Luke eyes Lwaxana.

“You seem to think certain members of our Federation contingent can be trusted. Why not ask for the lovely Ms. Troi’s help in rooting out any potential saboteurs.” Kittaine did his best to hide his embarrassment but his cheeks flushed nonetheless. “Make no mistake we must make this project our top priority. We don’t want to enter a situation where Grand Admiral Thrawn or Lord Vader can enter a self destruct code in the middle of battle or disable our shields or the superlaser with some cleverly hidden lines of code.”

The possibilities of what sort of acts of sabotage could be wrought made Kittaine blanch.

“And Ernesto? What sort of priority are you giving his recovery?” Lwaxana pressed. Kittaine placed a firm restraining hand on her shoulder.

“Now is not the time woman. Do you have any idea who you are speaking ---”

“Captain Ochoa will be on his own for now. He is accustomed to that. His rescue will be effected but on my schedule not theirs.” Luke answered.

“He said you were a good man. I think he may have been wrong about that.” She snapped.

Luke said nothing for a moment but he could feel the tension in Kittaine rising rapidly.

“Think on this my dear, despite all we’ve been through I have never returned his sight to him. How good could I be?” Luke was surprised by his own answer.

Lwaxana stopped short at his cold tone and stared hard at the young man.

“Has it occurred to you that a Sith lord took him? Captain Ochoa means nothing to him, he has no access to secrets of strategies yet he was targeted for abduction, not Grand Admiral Kittaine or anyone else for that matter. Captain Ochoa was chosen for a very particular reason.”

“And that would be?” Lwaxana pressed.

“They want me to go rescue him.” Luke replied simply.

She calmed down as the logic of his deduction became painfully clear.

“They’re using that poor man as bait?” She breathed in outrage.

“Welcome to the cold logic of the Sith.”

“Why do I have the impression that this is more a plot by Grand Admiral Thrawn?” Kittaine added darkly.

“What makes you say that?”

Kittaine frowned.

“I’ve heard rumors about him here and there. He prefers to act from hidden strength and misdirection and is a master of ferreting out weakness in an enemy. If I were him I would find a way of eliminating you my lord and frankly there are no assassins in the known universe that can reliably bring down a Sith lord. The only way to get to you directly and place you in a prepared position would be to use a hostage.” Kittaine noted. “That kind of tactic is a little…indirect for Lord Vader.”

Luke nodded.

“It seems I made the correct choice in elevating you to Grand Admiral. Your suspicion feels right to me.”

“Thank you milord.” Kittaine bowed his head slightly.

“Which reminds me just why aren’t you wearing your uniform?” Luke asked pointedly.

Kittaine looked down self consciously for a moment at his gray Imperial Admiral’s uniform and back up at the young Sith lord. He grimaced slightly.

“With all that’s been happening my lord, I just…of course I will have one –”

“White doesn’t suit him. He looks rather….whalish.” Lwaxana interjected

“Whalish?” Luke and Kittaine replied simultaneously. Kittaine’s tone was outraged, Luke’s bemused.

“Never you mind, I’ll have something tailored that will suit him better shortly.” She said dismissively. “I am concerned about Ernesto. The man deserves better.” Lwaxana urged.

Luke nodded.

“You’re right of course. But I saw what I saw. He went willingly as if he knew this was going to happen. Captain Ochoa seems to know when fate has a new path laid out for him and he’ll have to walk it for a little while longer.”

Lwaxana frowned but there was nothing else to say and she knew it. The young man had made up his mind.

“I’ll begin the security upgrades immediately. Lwaxana, please see to the initial staffing from the Vulcan and Binar side.” Kittaine ordered.

Lwaxana looked back at Kittaine and he nodded to her meaningfully.

“You have your orders.”

Luke watched her hesitantly leave the quarters, eyeing Kittaine curiously. The doors closed and Kittaine and Luke stood together in silence.

“My lord, may I speak?”

Luke pursed his lips as he examined the older man for a moment.

“Of course Grand Admiral.”

“Something happened to you out there.” Kittaine noted eyes on the younger man.

“Try to be more specific Kittaine.” Luke replied turning to face the man arms crossed.

“You’re not the same man you were when you left us.” Kittaine said calmly.

Luke watched him closely, eyes narrowing on the older man’s face.

“What makes you say that? The same instinct that pointed you to Thrawn?”

Kittaine pursed his lips before he spoke and looked past Luke at the far wall as if gathering strength to speak. Luke understood. If he were still Nemesis, Kittaine’s next words would most likely lead to his death.

“You have not been the same since your arrival, you were far too forgiving concerning Captain Ochoa’s disappearance.” Kittaine held up a datapad. “Expecting your reprisals I had a list drawn up of the guards on duty on this level and one above and below ready to relate them to you for your assured discipline.” Luke said nothing, eyes drifting down to the datapad for a moment. “When I related the near impossibility of the new security protocols you wish to initiate you essentially told me to do my best. Lord Nemesis would have told me to simply get it done, perhaps throw in a threat to my life or the crews working the new protocols.” Kittaine took another deep breath. He knew his life was now forfeit if he were wrong about his hunch.

“You allowed Lwaxana far too much latitude. I honestly expected her not to leave this room alive. And frankly my lord, you’ve been seen smiling several times since your arrival. Lord Nemesis would not smile so freely, would not allow an annoying woman like Lwaxana play her verbal games, would not concede that certain tasks were simply beyond us.”

Luke said nothing.

“But Luke Skywalker, hero of Yavin and member of the Rebel Alliance would lead in such a manner, behave in such a manner.”

“And if Luke Skywalker were standing before you Grand Admiral what would you say to him when he said that he wanted to lead the Imperium to a final victory.”

Kittaine stared hard at Luke. Luke could feel the swelling of conflicted emotions in him.

“I was under orders to arrest you on sight as the greatest enemy to the Empire - even more dangerous than Mon Mothma. You were some young bush pilot from the Rim laboring under the delusion that you were some mystic warrior. You destroyed the greatest war machine the empire ever constructed, killing many of my friends by the way.”

“And?”

“Why the hell should I trust you now?” Kittaine snapped. Luke was taken aback by the Grand Admiral’s reaction.

“Because despite all that I am back here on this ship ready to lead this Imperium to triumph. We built this Imperium together, Kittaine, and just because I no longer kill people because they fail me and I no longer wish to rule by fear does not mean that I am not ready to do what must be done to save everything we’ve built here from the predations of a Sith Lord and his Grand Admiral.”

“And you’re the man to do that?”

“Yes. I am.” Luke replied without hesitation.

Both men remained staring at each other. Kittaine rubbed his chin and shook his head laughing bitterly before speaking.

“The way I see it, Skywalker, Thrawn is a tactical genius, a true Grand Admiral of the Fleet handpicked by Emperor Palpatine and he has Lord Darth Vader, Dark Lord of the Sith veteran of the Clone Wars and right hand of the Emperor himself. What do I have now? A gawking farm boy with powers that could be simple tricks and nonsense as far as I know.”

Luke shook his head and smiled.

“You see there’s where you always have had a failing Kittaine. You judge books by their covers. How often have I and this galaxy had to prove you wrong about this attitude. Captain James Kirk, a relic from his Federation’s past, utilizing sheer charisma and courage has forged a fleet that has fought us to a bloody standstill and won victories where he had no right or reason to. But you have something that they do not.”

Kittaine said nothing.

“Grand Admiral Thrawn has Lord Vader, a Sith lord, you have me, Luke Skywalker.”

“Doesn’t sound like even odds to me.”

“Depends on how you look at it Admiral. A Sith lord is anchored in the dark side of the force, enslaved by his rage and anger. I’m free of those entanglements.” Luke explained calmly as he turned his back on Kittaine and looked out the view port in Ochoa’s quarters. The fleet moved lazily in view, dozens of Romulan warbirds flanked the stardestroyers in perfect formation. A Valdore coasted by closest to the view port, close enough to make out the individual feather decorations painted into the emerald armored hull. The Romulans had recently taken to painting their vessels in the manner they used to in the early days of their empire.

Luke clasped his hands behind his back and watched the Valdore intently.

“You see I have grown more powerful than I ever was Kittaine. All that anger and rage was confusing, made me lash out when I should have thought things through.”

The Valdore began to slow down considerably, the starboard nacelle began to flicker erratically. Kittaine noticed and his eyes narrowed on Luke’s back.

“Power cannot be applied through the haze of anger and frenzy. Power must be a cold calculated decision, like a scalpel or a lightsaber blade.” A second and third Valdore began to slow as well, the first one was starting to spin out of control. “Power is a gift Kittaine, a gift from the Force.” A massive D'Deridex warbird skidded to a halt, both nacelles flickering violently as it began to sink down out of its plane of travel. Kittaine’s eyes widened as the Valdores began to spin in a precise ballet around the falling warbird. It slowly sped up into a dance right outside the view port.

Kittaine’s comlink buzzed.

He absently raised it to his lips as he watched several TIE fighters zip into the dance to investigate and they too rapidly joined the swirling cascade of ships.

“Grand Admiral, we’re receiving reports of a strange phenomenon off the starboard bow. Six provincial vessels and now a flight from the 83rd Interceptor squadron have been caught in it.”

“I am aware of the situation. Keep the area clear of traffic.” Kittaine replied quietly as he watched the young man with a growing sense of wonder and awe.

Luke smiled.

The Force flowed through him so cleanly and completely, part of him wanted to flow with it, to become one with the unifying Force and disappear forever. But that was not going to happen today. It had never been like this on Dagobah or Coruscant.

Luke turned back to face Kittaine.

“So you see Grand Admiral, what I am saying is that before you had Lord Darth Nemesis on your side who seriously considered killing you and some of your senior commanders for failures beyond your control. Lord Nemesis brought you fear and rule by force. Now you have Luke Skywalker and with me I bring the Force and a powerful ally it is.” Luke said coolly as he raised his arms palms up at his shoulders and the dance stopped. The ships slowly regained control.

“I see.” Kittaine managed to say.

“So will you follow me?”

Kittaine glanced over Luke’s shoulder and back at the young man.

“You have always had my loyalty Lord Skywalker. But when you reveal yourself to the others they will be asking themselves the same questions that I asked of you. Lord Nemesis did a marvelous job of emulating his master, Palpatine, in creating a realm based on fear. Can Luke Skywalker who fought so valiantly to bring down the New Order replace that system? Can he be a leader like Nemesis? Can he keep this fleet and this Imperium together and defeat our foes?”

“Look into my eyes and you will find that answer.” Luke replied.

There was a deafening silence in the room.

“Lord Skywalker, the men need to know this as well. They’ve earned the right to know.”

“Call for an assembly, all our captains, senior staff and Provincial leaders. It is time that Luke Skywalker ascends to the throne of the Imperium.” Luke ordered.

“As you wish.” Kittaine replied with a broad smile. “Lord Skywalker, if I may, you have been sorely missed.”

“Ah, Grand Admiral but you have never met me before. You will all soon get to know me.” Luke answered with a soft smile.





“Mr. Data you’re just full of good news for me aren’t you?” Kirk sighed.

The android’s hologram image looked perplexed for a moment.

“I was unaware that my report could be quantified as good news for you, Sir. I merely relayed my assessment of Captain Jellico’s actions during his stewardship.”

“Which means you walking mannequin that Jim’s job gets harder with every thing in Jellico’s good column you keep feeding us.” McCoy grumbled.

“I was following Captain Kirk’s orders for an honest assessment of Captain Jellico’s –”

“Yes, we know that Data, now back to your report, I am most concerned about the state of fleet unity behind Jellico’s command.” Kirk interjected.

“If we are going to assert Captain Kirk’s command we will need to know how many ships we can expect to stand with Captain Jellico.” Spock added.

The conference room on the Sagan had all of its seats filled. The round table was hollow in the center making room for the state of the art holographic communications suite. The holographic image of Commander Data serenely watched the others. Data was currently on the Enterprise at Avalon. The Sagan was still light years away rapidly approaching the secret Federation Remnant base. A flotilla of Klingon warships were flanking the Sagan in a protective umbrella. The X-wings of Rogue squadron flew in close formation with the Sagan, almost hugging her hull like remora.

Captain Kirk sat quietly in his gold command shirt, happy to be out of his Orion syndicate garb; however Princess Leia still sported her green skin as there was no time to reverse the cosmetic surgery before this war council. She wore a spare Starfleet uniform. Chewbacca sat hunched between two chairs, his massive Wookiee frame all but blotting out any sight of Artoo. C-3PO was standing calmly behind the Princess.

“The honorable thing to do would be to have Captain Kirk and this Captain Jellico face each other in combat. The winner would be the one best suited to lead the fleet.” Worf said sternly.

McCoy muttered something unintelligible under his breath.

“What was that?” Worf snapped.

“Nothing Chancellor, Doctor McCoy was doing his part for Klingon-Federation relations.” Kirk smiled. “And as to your suggestion Chancellor, that’s not the way I’m doing this. The Federation I’m fighting and bleeding for will not be built on strength and might makes right.”

“Does it even really matter how many ships Jellico has?” Worf pressed.

“Of course it matters.” Sulu protested.

“What are you suggesting Chancellor?” Leia asked curiously.

“That the Klingon fleet you have escorting your vessel will balance out any Federation defections.”

“You can’t be serious.” Sulu gasped.

Kirk frowned.

“No damnit. The Federation will not rise and fall on the strength of numbers each commander has. This is not ancient Rome where I come with my mercenary armies expecting to wrest control. I would rather die first than assume command in that manner.”

“Then why was it so important to make sure that I could muster as many Klingon ships as possible for this mission if not to ensure your bid for power was successful?” Worf challenged.

“Because Chancellor, it is vitally important that the fleet see that Captain Kirk has the broadest base of support possible when he arrives. If the fleet sees that the Klingon Empire and the Rebel Alliance is behind him then Jellico looks weaker diplomatically, politically and militarily. Your fleet numbers are making a difference just not in the way you envisioned it.” Leia calmly explained.

Worf blinked and sat back as he digested what she just relayed to him and began to nod approvingly.

“You weren’t kidding when you said you were a diplomat back home.” Kirk whispered to her out of the corner of his mouth. Leia smirked and playfully slapped his knee under the table.

“We must address the facts that make Jellico a good commander. He has instituted a crash program that has currently replaced over 60% of the fleet’s torpedo systems with the new proton torpedoes the Rebellion engineers have helped us create. He has repaired 89% of damaged vessels and rotated crews so that all ships are currently crewed at maximum efficiency. The fleet’s raiding assignments have yielded more supplies and equipment in the last two weeks than they were able to raid in the first two months of the Captain’s mission.” Spock calmly ran down the list.

“I’ve been involved in this war long enough to know that this is about loyalty and symbols. Jellico is doing things by the numbers but he wasn’t there when Earth had fallen and our fleet was ready to surrender. He wasn’t there when we took those bastards on at Vulcan. The fleet will remember that. They will remember what we’ve done.” Kirk asserted.

“Those victories were a long time ago by the time frame of this war. Jellico has been very visible and making sure the fleet knows what he’s done for them. Let’s not forget that our last battle was that disaster over Romulus.” Sulu countered.

“And he knows we’re coming.” McCoy added.

“Where do we stand politically?” Spock asked Data.

“The Vulcans and Andorians are firmly behind Captain Kirk. The Tellarites have been very guarded about their support. The others are giving partial support to Jellico but many keep asking when will Captain Kirk return. Most troubling is that the Terran representative is firmly and vocally behind Jellico and has made sure to focus on the current advances under Jellico.”

Kirk watched the android intently, hand resting at his chin, forefinger casually running along his lips.

“Damnit, can you believe Earth would backstab us like that after all we’ve done?” Uhura exclaimed angrily.

“His repair schedule is nothing short of miraculous. He must be running his engineering crew ragged.” Scotty mused.

“The damage rates on his ships are almost nonexistent. Our casualties were outrageous in the opening days of the war and even on a relatively peaceful week the fleet would lose several starships if not more.” Spock added.

“It’s like they’re not fighting.” Captain Entebbe muttered.

“Wait.” Kirk snapped sitting up as if he had been kicked.

“Sir?”

Kirk leaned forward.

“Commander Data apart from the raids how many engagements has Jellico ordered or led against the Imperium?”

“None.” Data replied.

The assembled officers exchanged glances and looked at Kirk.

“None?”

“Captain Jellico is trying to institute a new policy of engagement where the state of the conflict would be ramped down to a level of pure guerilla warfare. No major fleet engagements. Raiding ships are under strict orders not to engage if there is any major Imperial presence nearby.”

“That’s how he’s keeping his casualty rates so low. He really isn’t fighting.” Entebbe noted grimly.

Kirk nodded knowingly.

“And that’s where we have him.”

“I do not understand.”

“How is fleet morale Mr. Data?” Kirk asked pointedly.

“It is neither good nor bad. There is a general sense of…resignation is how Captain Riker described it.”

“You can’t keep them down. My fleet are hard chargers.” Kirk slapped the tabletop.

Leia smiled.

“Hard chargers?” Data was thoroughly confused.

“It means Mr. Data that the fleet WANTS to fight. They want to engage the enemy and do what damage they can.”

“It is not logical to wish to place yourself in harm’s way and suffer heavier casualties under your command than under Jellico’s command where survivability has increased dramatically.” Data noted.

“I find Mr. Data that logic has little place in the fleet dynamics of this war.” Spock replied with an arched eyebrow.

“If Jellico wants to hold onto power so be it, but this confusion of command ends in twenty minutes. If there’s one thing you learn in Starfleet, it’s that a ship can only have one Captain. The fleet is going to decide this, not him or me.” Kirk stated confidently.

[Comosicus]

REAL first post

[Shroom Man 777]

FAKE FIRST POST!!! OMG LOL LOL LOL!!1111

[Crazedwraith]

Very nice. If a little short chapter. I look forward to kIrk meeting up with Jellico again.

[Ghost Rider]

Good stuff, and I liked the interplay between Luke and Kittaine.

[Shroom Man 777]

OMG! ROTFLMAOLOLOLOLOL!!!!

This chapter rocks. I can't wait what Luke will do, I can't wait for Kirk to face Jellico, I can't wait for what Vader will do also. And I want to see Palpy kill some more gods!

[Captain Cyran]

Very good set up. Luke has really wowed me, that's some very impressive shit he's been doing. But of course, you meant to do that.

Also, liked the part with Kirk, it's good to see politics playing a role in this story.

[Mark S]

Why would the Grand Admiral doubt Luke's powers, saying they may well be simple tricks and nonsense, when he's seen them in action before first hand?

[Stravo]

Why would the Grand Admiral doubt Luke's powers, saying they may well be simple tricks and nonsense, when he's seen them in action before first hand?

Kittaine saw Nemesis do his force thing. As far as he knows Luke Skywalker was a Jedi charlatan and it was only under Palpatine's tutelage that he became a 'real' foirce user. Now that he's abandoned his Sith teachings does that mean he's also lost his powers? Kittaine was trying ot find out where he stood with Luke. He doesn't want to have some hick farm boy against Lord Vader in this fight.

[Shroom Man 777]

str@v0 ur t3h l33t11!!1 OMFGROTFLMAOLOL111 LOL!!! LOL!!! LOL!!!

[NecronLord]

Painted Valdores. Coolness.