You're the first person/source I've met who says that ep. 3 happens 2 years after AotC. Every other source I've read says 3 years.Ender wrote:If ep3 happens 2 years after AOTC, how do you figure?Pcm979 wrote:Darnit I thought I could say FIRST POST! But I can't.
P.S. The Clone Wars lasted 3 years.
Star Crossed Fanfic
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Illuminatus Primus
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AOTC is 20 BBY.
Ep. III is 22 BBY.
Math. It might be almost 3 years. It is not 3 years.
Ep. III is 22 BBY.
Math. It might be almost 3 years. It is not 3 years.
"You know what the problem with Hollywood is. They make shit. Unbelievable. Unremarkable. Shit." - Gabriel Shear, Swordfish
"This statement, in its utterly clueless hubristic stupidity, cannot be improved upon. I merely quote it in admiration of its perfection." - Garibaldi in reply to an incredibly stupid post.
The Fifth Illuminatus Primus | Warsie | Skeptical Empiricist | Florida Gator | Sustainability Advocate | Libertarian Socialist |
"This statement, in its utterly clueless hubristic stupidity, cannot be improved upon. I merely quote it in admiration of its perfection." - Garibaldi in reply to an incredibly stupid post.
The Fifth Illuminatus Primus | Warsie | Skeptical Empiricist | Florida Gator | Sustainability Advocate | Libertarian Socialist |
Where's this from? I'm interested.-
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ANH and TESB did, but I think that was a coincidence.Admiral_K wrote:I don't see why that would need to be this way. I mean none of the other movies followed this trend.The time in between Ep2 and Ep3's release dates is supposedly supposed to correspond exactly to their difference in time in the SW universe. Or at least that's what they claimed.
Lore Monkey | the Pichu-master™
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The Prime Necromancer
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Damn it, I'm a moron.
I have no idea what the hell I was thinking, but I've posted in the Cleaned Starcrossed thread. Darth Garden Gnome has already caught me on it.
I *thought* (don't ask me why) that Stravo had posted a new chapter. Apparently I looked at a different thread or some other mistake. In any case, to accerbate my mistake, I posted my reply in the cleaned thread. I can offer no other explanation other than that I had a momentary complete brain failure.
My sincere apologies. I guess I just got a little caught up in the "first post" phenomenon.
I apologize again. This is embarassing.
I have no idea what the hell I was thinking, but I've posted in the Cleaned Starcrossed thread. Darth Garden Gnome has already caught me on it.
I *thought* (don't ask me why) that Stravo had posted a new chapter. Apparently I looked at a different thread or some other mistake. In any case, to accerbate my mistake, I posted my reply in the cleaned thread. I can offer no other explanation other than that I had a momentary complete brain failure.
My sincere apologies. I guess I just got a little caught up in the "first post" phenomenon.
I apologize again. This is embarassing.
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Darth Garden Gnome
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For some reason the thread was unlocked, I have no idea how that happened since it was locked the last time I posted a new chapter. Well, no harm no foul, the offending posts were deleted but I do appreciate the enthusiasm. 
Wherever you go, there you are.
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The Prime Necromancer
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Please enjoy the latest chapter. I can't contain myself but I LOVE the ending on this one...shame on you if you peak ahead. It kills the moment. Anyway as a side note, please be on the lookout for the first chapter of a NEW fanfic coming VERY soon *coughtomorrowcough*
Chapter 38: To the Proud the Strong
Admiral T’Vor smiled softly as he watched the Romulan ships taking off from the airfield. The new Scimitar cruisers were a wonder to behold, a marvel of Romulan engineering they were the pride of the new fleet. With Imperial help in securing resources from the conquered territories and a combination of industrial replicators and the new droid workers the Romulan ship building program was working at a rate unseen before in the Empire.
Many were calling this the brightest days of the Empire. Their territory had swelled to more than three times their original size, the despised Klingons were finally brought to heel and the Federation was nothing more than a rag tag band of rebels that would soon be crushed by the Empire. This was a wonderful time to be alive.
Lord Nemesis was a leader worth following, certainly not cut from the same cloth as the Praetors of late that had led the Empire down a path that relegated them to a third power status in this part of the galaxy. Now they were the premier power and currently Romulan fleets were holding a Dominion world. It was a turn around that he did not think were possible.
He had hated his Imperial counterparts in the beginning with a burning passion, but after seeing what they had accomplished in such a short period of time, there was no doubt that this was the future, this was the final sign that the galaxy could finally be unified under one banner, and the Romulan Empire would be under that banner.
Deep inside, even as a child, he always felt that Romulus had a destiny, a special road that it would take, apart from the nonsense that was spewed by the educational/propaganda branch of the government. he learned long ago that these were just words crafted by old men to enslave the weak and young. He felt it in his blood.
Unlike some of the other Romulans of his generation, he did not have this fascination with Vulcan and reuniting with the lost homeworld. As far as he was concerned the Romulans had their own independent destiny to fulfill and they were doing it.
Soon the entire galaxy would come under their banner and he would be part of that renaissance.
He smiled warmly.
He had found a place in the power structure and suddenly he no longer hated them, no longer despised them, no longer wished that they had never come.
“We are a power again.” he whispered to himself.
An alarm began buzzing in his communicator and almost simultaneously a siren began to wail on the airfield, angry crimson lights flashed everywhere. T’Vor’s eyes widened. The planetary defense grid.
He brought the communicator to his lips.
“T’Vor.”
“Admiral we have an incoming incursion.”
“Starfleet? Klingons? Be clear damnit!” T’Vor snapped.
“It’s a hyperspace emergence sir. But they are not Imperial.”
T’Vor stared at the communicator.
“Well, what are they?”
“We don’t know sir but they have just emerged in system and are moving to an intercept course with the planet.”
“Scramble all ships and recall whatever fleets we have within range.”
“Yes, Admiral.”
T’Vor shut off the communicator and quickly raced to the nearest transporter. He needed to get to the command center and figure out just what was happening out there.
Princess Leia stared at it from her vantage point on the bridge of the Reckless Hope. Alliance crewmen and officers moved about on their routine battle assignments as the destination point loomed ahead. Around the Hope she could see the armada of Starfleet vessels clustered around the Excalibur like attendant insects to a queen.
She could feel something else however. There was a darkness emanating from the Excalibur, a cold chill that permeated her to the bones every time she looked at the vessel. She had withdrawn herself of late, not attending the last round of strategy briefings and quite frankly she did not care. A concern was growing within her heart, a fear that was slowly gripping her. The Excalibur was dangerous.
The ancient warship seemed to glow with menace and danger and sometimes, if she looked at it long enough she could hear old whispers of something cold and dark, something calling to her and begging her to come. The machine was calling her but she could feel a darker menace beyond that, an ancient anger simmering just below the surface waiting to explode. As they made this jump to battle she felt that anger boiling now, it had found a foothold, a place to nest and it had grown in power and even now she could feel it festering. It sickened her and frightened her at the same time. The fear she felt seemed to feed it.
How all this was possible she did not know. All she did know was that there was something dangerous growing on the ship and she had checked all the databanks on the Hope. Granted, Alliance ships were not like Federation ships, they did not carry entire libraries in their data banks, she found nothing. The Sith were a long dead race and what little she knew of the Hyperspace wars she gleaned from tales her father old her at bed time.
A gnawing conclusion was bothering her. A decision that she needed to make but could jeopardize everything she and the others had worked for.
She watched the fleet racing through the pulsing blue tunnel of hyperspace and she could hear the laughter as the Alliance fighters slowly took point of the fleet. Wedge Antilles was leading the squadrons of both Alliance fighters and Federation Delta Flyers. He was nearly inconsolable when the news was broken of his little sister’s death on the Excalibur and he suddenly took on a cold professional demeanor that she had never seen in him before.
He had lost so much, his best friend, now his sister. There had been very little good news for the Alliance forces she had led into this galaxy. She wanted to give them something, a glimmer of hope that would inspire them.
Sadly, the Federation was inspired by the small victory won at Vulcan. But the Alliance knew the true depth of Imperial power and there was very little hope that they could break that hold now. The Empire simply had too many advantages here. Too much fire power, too many troops, too many worlds, it was a litany of advantages that no sane military commander would want to go up against.
Yet, Jim had rallied his people and they pressed on. Leia did not want to dwell on the other aspects of the war that were daunting. The fact that every time they went up against the Empire in a stand up fight, the Federation was losing hundreds of ships. Despite their bravery and bravado, they could simply not withstand such losses on a regular basis.
She did not know if Jim truly realized this or if he was trying to valiantly strike a blow hard enough to the Empire to bring them to the peace table. Either reaction was foolhardy. If Jim were ignoring the inevitable then he was dooming his people and this fleet to destruction. They needed to run and hide. They needed to find places to slowly grow and rebuild so that in time they would be strong enough to face the Empire. This campaign would take life times to win. If Jim were looking to bring the Empire to the peace table, he was sadly mistaken. They would not relent because they knew that they held all the cards and Luke would not relent. She could feel it in her bones, he would hold on for victory because he was the same way as a rebel. he never gave up, he always saw things through and sadly enough his dark persona had inherited trait.
She wondered how it had come to this. She had traveled to another galaxy, abandoned her own on the eve of the Alliance’s greatest offensive to find and turn Luke Skywalker back into the light. Now here she was embroiled in yet another war against tyranny, with an even dimmer prospect of survival and victory. Had she lost sight of her mission?
“We’ll be exiting hyperspace in two minutes your highness.” Captain Heken reported.
“Thank you Captain.” she replied absently, still staring at the blue giant racing beside her ship. Underneath the flap of her tunic she could feel the cold metallic kiss of the lightsaber she found on that vessel. It was nothing like Luke’s lightsaber. Luke’s seemed more simple and elegant. This blade was wicked and cruel. The hand guards that wrapped around the handle looked more like barbed wire than anything else. It was a weapon of a killer not a knight.
“Captain.” she called out softly.
Heken turned.
“Your highness?”
“Prepare a shuttle for me. I intend tot board the Excalibur.”
Heken’s face showed his utter surprise.
“Your highness, we are going into battle. I cannot allow you to take shuttle out in the middle of combat. Can’t this wait?” he asked.
She could hear a snarl of defiance from the ship.
“No. It most certainly cannot wait.”
Heken shook his head slowly.
“I cannot guarantee your safety on a shuttle ride over. I am so sorry, but I must disobey your order.”
Leia turned her head finally and pinned the captain with her steely gaze.
“Captain, I intend to be on that ship.”
“You will be killed before you get there.”
“Your highness, perhaps you should listen to the Captain. It is going to become extremely dangerous out there in moments.” Threepio added.
Leia though for a moment and smiled softly as an idea occurred to her.
“The Starfleet engineers recently installed transporters on the Hope, no?”
Heken blanched.
“Princess, they may be our allies but I wouldn’t trust your personage on one of those…disintegrators. They shouldn’t work but they do.”
“Captain, there’s no time to discuss your feelings about the transporters. You won’t let me ride out, then I will beam over. That should satisfy the cautious man that you are.”
“No, your highness, I regard them as equally dangerous.”
“Artoo?”
The little droid quickly trundled up to the discussion.
“Can you work the transporter?”
Artoo gave an enthusiastic beep.
“Excellent, come with me.” Leia ordered and swiftly strode out of the bridge followed by Artoo.
“Your highness, the Excalibur is going to raise her shields as soon as she exits hyperspace!” the captain called out after her but shook his head in frustration and beat his fist against a station. “That woman is going to get herself killed.” he snapped at Threepio.
“I have to agree with you sir. Unfortunately she has a knack for getting herself into trouble.” Threepio commented wistfully.
“All stations stand by.” Kirk ordered calmly as he watched his people waiting for the coming conflict. Spock walked down to Kirk’s command chair.
“Long range scans have proven difficult in hyperspace.”
“But you managed to find a way around that.” Kirk replied softly with a warm smile.
“Why yes.” Spock replied with a slight arch of an eyebrow.
“Go ahead.”
“The Romulans have just been alerted to our presence, they are scrambling ships.”
“And the Imperials.”
“That’s what concerns me. There is absolutely no Imperial presence in the system.”
Kirk suddenly sat up straighter.
“None? have you widened the scan. They could be laying in wait until we come out of hyperspace.”
“As best I can tell, Jim. There are no Imperial ships in this quadrant.” Spock replied meaningfully.
“That can’t be. They were on their way to Earth, Spock. They should have detected us enroute to Romulus and scrambled at least some stardestroyers to defend Romulus.”
“I have no logical explanation for their absence save that Lord Nemesis may have needed his fleet elsewhere.”
“The WHOLE Imperial fleet? What could possibly require their entire fleet?” Kirk pressed, feeling a sense of dread now. There was an old saying that no plan survived an encounter with the enemy. Here was one instance where his plan had not survived because there was NO encounter with the enemy. He had been counting on the Imperials being at Romulus or on their way to Romulus to confront him.
“You realize that I’ll have to switch to my alternative which is not as effective as if we had faced them.”
“There is no other alternative at this point.”
Kirk nodded and sat back again. This had not started off well.
“Captain, we are emerging from hyperspace now.” Sulu reported.
“All hands, prepare for battle.” Kirk announced.
The blue tunnel of hyperspace vanished in the blink of an eye and was replaced by a large greenish world with an angry red eye that seemed to glare at them as they approached. The impact point of the Imperial superlaser was a cold reminder of what kind of foe they faced. The fact that they had inflicted this catastrophe on the planet and the Romulans now embraced them freely was troubling to Kirk.
Why give up your freedom and your lives to an Empire that cared not a whit for either?
The answer was bubbling up in his mind but his heart would not listen to it, could not listen to it for there lay the conflict within his own soul.
“All fleet elements engage Romulan vessels.”
“Acknowledged.”
Kirk watched as the first wave of starships peeled away from the main body of the fleet and engaged the Romulan warbirds that were visible.
“Watch for cloaked enemy ships. I have a feeling we’ll be in for a few surprises today.”
“Captain, The Excalibur is signaling.”
“Put them on screen,.”
Riker appeared on the screen, concern etched on his face.
“Captain, my tactical officer tells me that there are no Imperials in system not so much as a fighter.”
“I know that, Captain. We’re going to have to switch to the alternative method. The Excalibur should move into position and prepare for a demonstration.”
“I’m not comfortable with this sir.”
“Captain Riker, we need to focus on the here and now. The Imperials are not here but we still have to convey our message. The key here is to create division. We cannot do that just by blowing up Romulan assets and ships.” Kirk explained grimly.
Riker nodded hesitantly.
“Excalibur will do her duty, sir.”
The screen winked out, replaced by the battle now escalating outside. Several warbirds were cloaking, displacing and decloaking within another group of ships and the orbital batteries were staring to open up with heavy plasma torpedo barrages.
“Have the Excalibur test her weapons. Tell them to engage and destroy the orbital batteries closest to the fleet.”
“Copy that sir.”
“Captain, I am detecting more tachyon variance signatures on the extreme edge of the engagement area. I do believe that the Romulans are gathering forces for a push into our flank.” Spock warned.
“Thank you, Mr. Spock.”
Kirk watched the Excalibur slowly lumber past the leading edge of the fleet as Romulan plasma torpedo fire suddenly concentrated on the behemoth as it approached. The detonations from the warheads lit up the vessel with glowing green light. Nothing else seemed to effect the giant as its open maw began to pulse.
“What in the name of the Praetor is that!?” Admiral T’Vor exclaimed pointing at the giant bluish vessel that was lumbering into the orbital batteries. He noted with alarm that the torpedoes were impacting harmlessly on its surface.
“Admiral, we are reading that the vessel’s hull is solid netrounium and her shield grid is putting out power on a scale we have only seen among our Imperial allies.”
“Impossible.”: T’Vor sputtered. “The Federation does not have the knowledge to build neutronium hulls or to generate the power necessary to create a shield grid of that magnitude.”
“Perhaps they do.” one of his junior officers replied, eyes wide with shock.
“Damn your eyes! I do not want anyone speculating on this vessel until we learn mo-”
A bright pulsing red beam lanced out from the maw of the ship and completely annihilated one of the orbital platforms.
“I believe we have an answer on their offensive weaponry.” A soft voice broke the stunned silence of the command center.
“Commander Sela? I thought you were stationed on the defensive fleet over head.” T’Vor replied snidely. he did not like the half breed one bit. She had been skulking about the edges of the New Imperial command structure, desperately trying not to be noticed yet wanting to be part of the new Imperial order. She had a history with Starfleet that dated back many years and a foiled invasion of Vulcan had all but sealed her fate. Her career was stuck where she was now, never to ascend further than a commander. Very sad indeed but the bitch deserved it.
“Luckily for me, I was inspecting my troops here on the surface. Has it occurred to you that perhaps the Federation has created that vessel. I mean look at it, it’s a crude attempt to ape the Imperial designs and technology. Are we at all surprised that the Federation is able to cobble something together like that? They are masters of adapting their technology to current threats, they’re almost Borg like that way.” she replied coolly.
T’Vor sneered.
“Are you seriously suggesting that the Federation could have built this warship with no worlds under their control and precious little resources. They are a rag tag fleet dependent on a single world for supplies and ship building. This monstrosity was not ‘cobbled’ together in a matter of moths. I assure you this is beyond even the miraculous talents you wish to assign to Federation engineers.”
“I don’t know, they did defeat the Borg even after the defeat they took at Wolf 359.” a junior officer spoke up.
T’Vor shook his head emphatically.
“We are fighting a battle to save our homeworld from these defilers, I will not allow you to drag me into this fantasy world that you seem to be living in.” T’Vor snapped.
“Then explain that warship!” Sela demanded.
Another pulsing beam from the maw of the Excalibur lashed out and evaporated three platforms as it lanced through them seemingly unimpeded by shields or armor.
“You want me to explain something that we have absolutely no intelligence on? And here I thought you were a military officer.” T’Vor sneered. He suddenly cleared the steps leading down from his post to the main level of the command center in several long imposing strides and stood face to face with Sela, their noses nearly touching as his voice dropped so that only she could hear him.
“Do you think me a fool? I see what you are doing you spineless half breed. If you cross me like that again I will snap your head off with but a word. You are spreading dissension and confusion among my ranks when we are in desperate need of order and discipline you fool. One more word, that’s all I ask, one more word and you will join your ancestors in whatever pit they reside in. And don’t think I don’t know about your connections with the Tal’Shiar, I will remind you that my patron is Darth nemesis and with a word he would dismantle your dishonorable little association. It survives at his whim, and I serve him. Do not cross me.” he whispered.
Sela stared back into his eyes unflinching but said not another word as T’Vor turned on his heel.
“Report on the disposition of the rest of the enemy fleet.”
“They are not advancing, admiral. They seem to be hanging back.”
T’Vor examined the tactical display and rubbed his chin.
“What is he up to?”
“Sir the Federation warship is locking onto surface targets.”
“Where?” T’Vor snapped.
“The Sasana Supply depot.”
A pulsing blast lanced out from the maw of the warship and shot down to the surface. T’Vor braced himself against a railing. The entire command center shook as a blast could be heard even under the kilometer of stone that the command center was located in.
“They’re commencing an orbital bombardment of the planet! We must hit that thing with everything we have!” Sela exclaimed.
“And accomplish what? We couldn’t get past their shields and even if we did we have no weapons that can pierce solid neutronium!” T’Vor replied hotly. T’Vor turned back to the tactical display.
“He’s planning something and it is not a general bombardment of our world. He could have accomplished that with his fleet.”
Another pulsed beam rocketed down to the surface and an airbase was completely vaporized leaving a massive smoking crater in its place.
“Two of them, both in isolated locations of our world away from the civilian populations.” T’Vor noted with a clenched fist. “he’s sending a message.”
“What that we’re helpless?” Sela spat.
“You don’t understand my dear Commander, this is not Jean Luc Picard or some android with pretentious to sentience.” she bristled at the reminders. “This is James Tiberius Kirk. He thinks on many levels at once and he is sending a message to those of us smart enough to understand.”
Sela’s face suddenly darkened and her eyes narrowed on T’Vor.
“Your grand father, of course!” she laughed.
“What now?” he relied icily as another blast destroyed an armory nestled in a mountain chain across the sea.
“He faced Kirk in the pride of the fleet over a hundred years ago, our first foray into Federation space since the war and he was humiliated. How you managed to avoid the stain on his honor I will never understand it.” Sela said acidly.
“Perhaps because there are those in high command that see ability over pedigree. A shame the same could not be said for you.” he turned to his attaché. “If she says another word, kill her.”
The attaché nodded grimly and placed a hand on his disruptor. Sela knew better than to speak now, she sat down at an empty station fuming.
“What are you telling me Kirk?” T’Vor muttered.
“Sir, the Federation warship is now turning and breaking orbit.”
“Now? What has he gained? he had us completely at his mercy?” T’Vor hissed in disbelief.
“The ship is on a course to Remus.”
“Remus? What is at Remus?” T’Vor shook his head. “Perhaps I have given him too much credit. We have stood and watched too long. Have all warbirds converge on the Enterprise and attack. It is time we took the head off this serpent.”
“The Enterprise, sir? How do we know he is based off that ship?” the controller asked.
“Because there is no other ship he would think of commanding from. He is a man from the past, he will search for the familiar to ground himself and I have just discovered that I can end this threat once and for all.”
“All wings…engage and destroy Enterprise. All other priorities rescinded.”
“Excellent shooting, gentlemen. Mr. Paris, set course for Remus.”
“Aye Aye, sir.”: Tom replied as he worked the controls of the beast. It was as slow and as sluggish as he expected her to be, but at the same time, there was a power to her that no other starship or fighter he had ever flown exhibited. It was as if he were sitting on a sleeping creature that could explode into motion at any second. The rumble of the engines could be heard throughout the ship.
Bit it was when the main weapon fired that they knew they were on no Federation starship. The entire ship was as quiet as a tomb and suddenly light flared everywhere, every panel, every conduit was alive with St. Elmo’s fire like light that pulsed in time with the blast and it rumbled like some great sea monster roaring underwater and then it was over.
To tell the truth, it unnerved Tom.
“Status of shields?”
“Holding steady sir.”
“Engineering to bridge.”
“Go ahead.” Riker replied as he glanced down at the makeshift tactical display Geordie had strung up for him by the newly installed Captain’s chair.
“Power curves are holding but every time we fire they spike and it looks like the reactor loses some of its potency, there’s a bleed off somewhere that I can’t explain yet but Data is working on a theory. Its been negligible so far, but the capacitors will eventually run dry if we keep running our weapons at high power.”
“Well, Geordie, as luck would have it, we’re about to refuel.” Riker replied but there was an edge to his voice. He was not of one mind with Kirk on this aspect of the plan. Starfleet officers simply did not employ weapons of mass destruction.
“Copy that sir.”
“We’re approaching Remus sir. Looks like we have a squadron of warbirds in our path…hold it….they’re breaking off.” Tom noted with some confusion.
“I guess we showed them.” the tactical officer replied with a grin.
“I don’t think so.” Tom added as he saw where they were heading.
“My god are they swarming the fleet?” Riker asked in concern as the visual switched to a rear view. The fleet was currently surrounded by warbirds, many of them decloaking within the fleet’s lines.
“It looks like they trying to blast their way to the center.” Tom remarked.
“The Enterprise.” Riker breathed.
“Hold on!” Kirk exclaimed as the ship bucked underneath him like a bronco. He turned to Spock.
“Status?”
“There are now three full squadrons of warbirds breeching our line and attempting to engage us directly.”
“Continuous fire all weapons! Scotty, give me more power to the shields!” Kirk snapped as he leaned forward, gripping the back of Sulu’s chair. “Hikaru, I’m going to need a miracle to get us out of this trap.”
“Working on one right now sir.:” Sulu replied grimly as the screen was engulfed with green fire from Romulan weapons.
“Have the fleet close the breech, Galaxy wings 27 and 29 form a wedge on Enterprise. Where the hell are my Akiras?”
“Sir, Captain Riker on the line he wants to break off and come to relieve us.” Uhura reported trying to block out the cacophony of emergency transmissions squawking on her board.
“Absolutely not! You tell Captain Riker to commence Operation Alderaan right now!” Kirk shouted and adjusted his gold command shirt. This was getting very tight and things were just starting. The whole objective of this mission was simple. Shatter Romulan morale, so far Romulan morale was holding quite firm. As if to punctuate his point the Enterprise was rocked by another volley of fire that sent some people stumbling backwards.
The sounds of battle awakened her. Slowly at first but the next shot lit up the interior of the vessel like a rising sun and her eyes blinked slowly. She moved her head and that was a mistake. Shooting pains lanced up her neck and chest. She felt something sticky on her face, like drying fruit juice.
She tried to raise her arm but it was restrained somehow.
She could feel how dry her mouth was, she desperately wanted a drink of water and her belly was an aching hollow hole waiting to be filled. She slowly, very slowly, raised her head. The world was swimming around her and sounds seemed distorted and loud. She groaned and her own voice seemed distant and muted.
She tried to move her left arm and it obliged her, to a point. She felt something pull against it as she tried to raise her arm to wipe her face. Breathing was hurting she just realized. Her entire right side felt like knives were pressing into her side. It truly hurt every time she took a breath.
“Ribs…must be broken.” she wheezed and heard her own voice slowly gaining clarity. Thoughts were still in a morass of have remembered things and pain. There was darkness for a long time, darkness and a long fall. There was wind on her face and then the impact.
She tried moving her left arm again and felt the restraint. She glanced down and noticed for the first time that she was lying in a nest of conduits and wires. They were wrapped around her like a lover, refusing to let go. Her right arm was completely wrapped in the grayish conduits, her left arm was only partially enmeshed in them. Her torso was a patchwork on conduits and her tunic was torn at the shoulder, revealing a very nasty purplish blue bruise that covered most of her shoulder and had oozed blood down her arm to pool on her left thigh.
Suddenly a face flashed in her memory.
“Bastard.” she spat.
She struggled against the conduits and suddenly the left arm popped free. She smiled triumphantly and felt her face. She pulled back her left hand and saw it was covered in thick dried blood. Her face must be covered in blood.
“Needs of the many…you bastard.” she whispered as she started to work on her other arm, occasionally glancing upwards at the huge gaping abyss above her. She was wrenched in-between two massive cooling units, out of sight from any other system or station on the ship. But she damned well knew how to get up there.
“We are in position captain.” Tom reported.
“Weapons?”
“Powering up for full power discharge. Targeting sensors are locking onto the nearest fault line.”
“Prepare to commence fire as soon as we’re ready.”
“Aye sir.” Riker paused as he noticed something. The repair droids that were constantly scuttling about the ship like spiders had all stopped. He glanced around. They were all standing absolutely still and looking out at the viewer. Many of them had mandible like pincers and they were twitching, faster and faster as if in anticipation and some were twitching and chittering something, like a chant. No one else seemed to notice as they were intent on their duty.
“Weapons are ready.”
There was silence for a moment as Riker stared at the dead glassy world. He was about to commit an act that if it were on a populated world would have made him the greatest mass murderer in Federation history.
“What price our freedom.” he whispered.
“Captain?” Tom asked.
“Fire the main weapon.” Riker replied sternly and clenched his jaw.
The main weapon fired and the interior of the ship flashed as if a sun had exploded in the interior. The crew covered their eyes for a moment and then there was only darkness.
“What happened?” Riker demanded.
“I don’t know, sir. Power readings are normal.”
“Geordie.” Riker waited and he could hear more of the droids chittering loudly now. “Geordie.” The silence was deafening. The view screen suddenly snapped on and they could see Remus, and it was missing a large section from its surface, rubble and debris were being pulled in by a ghostly blue light.
“Geordie respond!”
Then Riker heard the scream on his com and it died.
“Oh my god.” he whispered.
Geordie stared at the dead crewman and back up at Wesley.
“What did you do?” he breathed.
Wesley smiled softly and chuckled. The chuckle was most definitely NOT Wesley’s, in fact it did not seem possible that such a laugh could come from his frame, it was dark and deep as if coming from an open tomb.
“I’m claiming what’s mine.” Wesley replied.
“Wes is that you?” Geordie asked in shock.
“Yes it’s me Geordie and only our old friendship keeps me from doing to you what I did to him. The fool did not want to allow me to these controls so he was chastised.”
“Wes, you killed him.” Geordie replied aghast at what he was seeing in his young friend.
“He will not fail again, then, will he?”
“What are you doing?”
“What should have been done long ago. The Shar’lesk’vol needs life, Geordie. You fools are feeding her rocks of a dead world. Feed her life, give her that pulsing elixir and she will do things you could never dream of. You wish to destroy the Empire and free the Federation, this is the road to do so.”
“No Wes, we were very clear, no harm was to come to Romulus. Those are billions of innocents down there, Wes. We did not come here to kill.”
Wesley smiled and it was ice.
“Maybe you didn’t.” Wesley replied and suddenly Geordie was slammed back against the wall by an unseen hand. Wesley stared at his friend for a long moment and all he could see was pitiful weakness.
“You know, I used to admire you. You were blind and you never lost your sense of humor or your love for life but I see now that all that did not matter. You never achieved anything worthwhile with your life. But that is understandable, you were not gifted. Me on the other hand, I was the wunderkind, the family genius, that child prodigy that comes once a generation to accomplish something monumental. What have I accomplished? I managed to get myself kicked out of the academy and wander the universe like some vagabond.”
Wesley looked around the ship still plunged in darkness but an unearthly light seemed to emanate around him like ghost fire.
“This, Geordie, is going to be my accomplishment. I am going to burn my name in the heavens and people will remember me forever and I will have FINALLY accomplished something.”
“What are you going to accomplish, Wes? You’re going to kill billions of people, for what? What if the Empire doesn’t care? What if the fight continues, are you going to kill billions more to prove your point. Wes, you do that and we will have already lost the war. We’re the Federation,. we don’t do these things. We honor and respect life and law. The moment we take those steps, even to survive, we have lost everything that we were.”
Wesley stared at Geordie for a long moment,. eyes probing him with dark intent.
“You are a greater fool than I ever imagined, Geordie. You really think that Federation ideals are going o see us through this war?” Wesley through back his head and roared with laughter. He dropped his head again and his eyes were completely black.
“No, Geordie, this ends now. And no one can stop me now.”
There was a snap hiss from behind him and Wesley did not turn around, but Geordie glanced up quickly and spotted her.
Princess Leia stood at the entrance to the engineering section, she wore a combat suit and she held in her hand a lightsaber. The crimson blade hummed dangerously like a hungry thing and she stood eyes locked on Wesley.
“I’ve come to stop you, Wesley Crusher and I’m not alone.”
“Oh?” Wesley asked and his voice was a whisper.
Leia raised the lightsaber in an engarde position as she had seen Luke do so many times.
“The Force is with me.”
Chapter 38: To the Proud the Strong
Admiral T’Vor smiled softly as he watched the Romulan ships taking off from the airfield. The new Scimitar cruisers were a wonder to behold, a marvel of Romulan engineering they were the pride of the new fleet. With Imperial help in securing resources from the conquered territories and a combination of industrial replicators and the new droid workers the Romulan ship building program was working at a rate unseen before in the Empire.
Many were calling this the brightest days of the Empire. Their territory had swelled to more than three times their original size, the despised Klingons were finally brought to heel and the Federation was nothing more than a rag tag band of rebels that would soon be crushed by the Empire. This was a wonderful time to be alive.
Lord Nemesis was a leader worth following, certainly not cut from the same cloth as the Praetors of late that had led the Empire down a path that relegated them to a third power status in this part of the galaxy. Now they were the premier power and currently Romulan fleets were holding a Dominion world. It was a turn around that he did not think were possible.
He had hated his Imperial counterparts in the beginning with a burning passion, but after seeing what they had accomplished in such a short period of time, there was no doubt that this was the future, this was the final sign that the galaxy could finally be unified under one banner, and the Romulan Empire would be under that banner.
Deep inside, even as a child, he always felt that Romulus had a destiny, a special road that it would take, apart from the nonsense that was spewed by the educational/propaganda branch of the government. he learned long ago that these were just words crafted by old men to enslave the weak and young. He felt it in his blood.
Unlike some of the other Romulans of his generation, he did not have this fascination with Vulcan and reuniting with the lost homeworld. As far as he was concerned the Romulans had their own independent destiny to fulfill and they were doing it.
Soon the entire galaxy would come under their banner and he would be part of that renaissance.
He smiled warmly.
He had found a place in the power structure and suddenly he no longer hated them, no longer despised them, no longer wished that they had never come.
“We are a power again.” he whispered to himself.
An alarm began buzzing in his communicator and almost simultaneously a siren began to wail on the airfield, angry crimson lights flashed everywhere. T’Vor’s eyes widened. The planetary defense grid.
He brought the communicator to his lips.
“T’Vor.”
“Admiral we have an incoming incursion.”
“Starfleet? Klingons? Be clear damnit!” T’Vor snapped.
“It’s a hyperspace emergence sir. But they are not Imperial.”
T’Vor stared at the communicator.
“Well, what are they?”
“We don’t know sir but they have just emerged in system and are moving to an intercept course with the planet.”
“Scramble all ships and recall whatever fleets we have within range.”
“Yes, Admiral.”
T’Vor shut off the communicator and quickly raced to the nearest transporter. He needed to get to the command center and figure out just what was happening out there.
Princess Leia stared at it from her vantage point on the bridge of the Reckless Hope. Alliance crewmen and officers moved about on their routine battle assignments as the destination point loomed ahead. Around the Hope she could see the armada of Starfleet vessels clustered around the Excalibur like attendant insects to a queen.
She could feel something else however. There was a darkness emanating from the Excalibur, a cold chill that permeated her to the bones every time she looked at the vessel. She had withdrawn herself of late, not attending the last round of strategy briefings and quite frankly she did not care. A concern was growing within her heart, a fear that was slowly gripping her. The Excalibur was dangerous.
The ancient warship seemed to glow with menace and danger and sometimes, if she looked at it long enough she could hear old whispers of something cold and dark, something calling to her and begging her to come. The machine was calling her but she could feel a darker menace beyond that, an ancient anger simmering just below the surface waiting to explode. As they made this jump to battle she felt that anger boiling now, it had found a foothold, a place to nest and it had grown in power and even now she could feel it festering. It sickened her and frightened her at the same time. The fear she felt seemed to feed it.
How all this was possible she did not know. All she did know was that there was something dangerous growing on the ship and she had checked all the databanks on the Hope. Granted, Alliance ships were not like Federation ships, they did not carry entire libraries in their data banks, she found nothing. The Sith were a long dead race and what little she knew of the Hyperspace wars she gleaned from tales her father old her at bed time.
A gnawing conclusion was bothering her. A decision that she needed to make but could jeopardize everything she and the others had worked for.
She watched the fleet racing through the pulsing blue tunnel of hyperspace and she could hear the laughter as the Alliance fighters slowly took point of the fleet. Wedge Antilles was leading the squadrons of both Alliance fighters and Federation Delta Flyers. He was nearly inconsolable when the news was broken of his little sister’s death on the Excalibur and he suddenly took on a cold professional demeanor that she had never seen in him before.
He had lost so much, his best friend, now his sister. There had been very little good news for the Alliance forces she had led into this galaxy. She wanted to give them something, a glimmer of hope that would inspire them.
Sadly, the Federation was inspired by the small victory won at Vulcan. But the Alliance knew the true depth of Imperial power and there was very little hope that they could break that hold now. The Empire simply had too many advantages here. Too much fire power, too many troops, too many worlds, it was a litany of advantages that no sane military commander would want to go up against.
Yet, Jim had rallied his people and they pressed on. Leia did not want to dwell on the other aspects of the war that were daunting. The fact that every time they went up against the Empire in a stand up fight, the Federation was losing hundreds of ships. Despite their bravery and bravado, they could simply not withstand such losses on a regular basis.
She did not know if Jim truly realized this or if he was trying to valiantly strike a blow hard enough to the Empire to bring them to the peace table. Either reaction was foolhardy. If Jim were ignoring the inevitable then he was dooming his people and this fleet to destruction. They needed to run and hide. They needed to find places to slowly grow and rebuild so that in time they would be strong enough to face the Empire. This campaign would take life times to win. If Jim were looking to bring the Empire to the peace table, he was sadly mistaken. They would not relent because they knew that they held all the cards and Luke would not relent. She could feel it in her bones, he would hold on for victory because he was the same way as a rebel. he never gave up, he always saw things through and sadly enough his dark persona had inherited trait.
She wondered how it had come to this. She had traveled to another galaxy, abandoned her own on the eve of the Alliance’s greatest offensive to find and turn Luke Skywalker back into the light. Now here she was embroiled in yet another war against tyranny, with an even dimmer prospect of survival and victory. Had she lost sight of her mission?
“We’ll be exiting hyperspace in two minutes your highness.” Captain Heken reported.
“Thank you Captain.” she replied absently, still staring at the blue giant racing beside her ship. Underneath the flap of her tunic she could feel the cold metallic kiss of the lightsaber she found on that vessel. It was nothing like Luke’s lightsaber. Luke’s seemed more simple and elegant. This blade was wicked and cruel. The hand guards that wrapped around the handle looked more like barbed wire than anything else. It was a weapon of a killer not a knight.
“Captain.” she called out softly.
Heken turned.
“Your highness?”
“Prepare a shuttle for me. I intend tot board the Excalibur.”
Heken’s face showed his utter surprise.
“Your highness, we are going into battle. I cannot allow you to take shuttle out in the middle of combat. Can’t this wait?” he asked.
She could hear a snarl of defiance from the ship.
“No. It most certainly cannot wait.”
Heken shook his head slowly.
“I cannot guarantee your safety on a shuttle ride over. I am so sorry, but I must disobey your order.”
Leia turned her head finally and pinned the captain with her steely gaze.
“Captain, I intend to be on that ship.”
“You will be killed before you get there.”
“Your highness, perhaps you should listen to the Captain. It is going to become extremely dangerous out there in moments.” Threepio added.
Leia though for a moment and smiled softly as an idea occurred to her.
“The Starfleet engineers recently installed transporters on the Hope, no?”
Heken blanched.
“Princess, they may be our allies but I wouldn’t trust your personage on one of those…disintegrators. They shouldn’t work but they do.”
“Captain, there’s no time to discuss your feelings about the transporters. You won’t let me ride out, then I will beam over. That should satisfy the cautious man that you are.”
“No, your highness, I regard them as equally dangerous.”
“Artoo?”
The little droid quickly trundled up to the discussion.
“Can you work the transporter?”
Artoo gave an enthusiastic beep.
“Excellent, come with me.” Leia ordered and swiftly strode out of the bridge followed by Artoo.
“Your highness, the Excalibur is going to raise her shields as soon as she exits hyperspace!” the captain called out after her but shook his head in frustration and beat his fist against a station. “That woman is going to get herself killed.” he snapped at Threepio.
“I have to agree with you sir. Unfortunately she has a knack for getting herself into trouble.” Threepio commented wistfully.
“All stations stand by.” Kirk ordered calmly as he watched his people waiting for the coming conflict. Spock walked down to Kirk’s command chair.
“Long range scans have proven difficult in hyperspace.”
“But you managed to find a way around that.” Kirk replied softly with a warm smile.
“Why yes.” Spock replied with a slight arch of an eyebrow.
“Go ahead.”
“The Romulans have just been alerted to our presence, they are scrambling ships.”
“And the Imperials.”
“That’s what concerns me. There is absolutely no Imperial presence in the system.”
Kirk suddenly sat up straighter.
“None? have you widened the scan. They could be laying in wait until we come out of hyperspace.”
“As best I can tell, Jim. There are no Imperial ships in this quadrant.” Spock replied meaningfully.
“That can’t be. They were on their way to Earth, Spock. They should have detected us enroute to Romulus and scrambled at least some stardestroyers to defend Romulus.”
“I have no logical explanation for their absence save that Lord Nemesis may have needed his fleet elsewhere.”
“The WHOLE Imperial fleet? What could possibly require their entire fleet?” Kirk pressed, feeling a sense of dread now. There was an old saying that no plan survived an encounter with the enemy. Here was one instance where his plan had not survived because there was NO encounter with the enemy. He had been counting on the Imperials being at Romulus or on their way to Romulus to confront him.
“You realize that I’ll have to switch to my alternative which is not as effective as if we had faced them.”
“There is no other alternative at this point.”
Kirk nodded and sat back again. This had not started off well.
“Captain, we are emerging from hyperspace now.” Sulu reported.
“All hands, prepare for battle.” Kirk announced.
The blue tunnel of hyperspace vanished in the blink of an eye and was replaced by a large greenish world with an angry red eye that seemed to glare at them as they approached. The impact point of the Imperial superlaser was a cold reminder of what kind of foe they faced. The fact that they had inflicted this catastrophe on the planet and the Romulans now embraced them freely was troubling to Kirk.
Why give up your freedom and your lives to an Empire that cared not a whit for either?
The answer was bubbling up in his mind but his heart would not listen to it, could not listen to it for there lay the conflict within his own soul.
“All fleet elements engage Romulan vessels.”
“Acknowledged.”
Kirk watched as the first wave of starships peeled away from the main body of the fleet and engaged the Romulan warbirds that were visible.
“Watch for cloaked enemy ships. I have a feeling we’ll be in for a few surprises today.”
“Captain, The Excalibur is signaling.”
“Put them on screen,.”
Riker appeared on the screen, concern etched on his face.
“Captain, my tactical officer tells me that there are no Imperials in system not so much as a fighter.”
“I know that, Captain. We’re going to have to switch to the alternative method. The Excalibur should move into position and prepare for a demonstration.”
“I’m not comfortable with this sir.”
“Captain Riker, we need to focus on the here and now. The Imperials are not here but we still have to convey our message. The key here is to create division. We cannot do that just by blowing up Romulan assets and ships.” Kirk explained grimly.
Riker nodded hesitantly.
“Excalibur will do her duty, sir.”
The screen winked out, replaced by the battle now escalating outside. Several warbirds were cloaking, displacing and decloaking within another group of ships and the orbital batteries were staring to open up with heavy plasma torpedo barrages.
“Have the Excalibur test her weapons. Tell them to engage and destroy the orbital batteries closest to the fleet.”
“Copy that sir.”
“Captain, I am detecting more tachyon variance signatures on the extreme edge of the engagement area. I do believe that the Romulans are gathering forces for a push into our flank.” Spock warned.
“Thank you, Mr. Spock.”
Kirk watched the Excalibur slowly lumber past the leading edge of the fleet as Romulan plasma torpedo fire suddenly concentrated on the behemoth as it approached. The detonations from the warheads lit up the vessel with glowing green light. Nothing else seemed to effect the giant as its open maw began to pulse.
“What in the name of the Praetor is that!?” Admiral T’Vor exclaimed pointing at the giant bluish vessel that was lumbering into the orbital batteries. He noted with alarm that the torpedoes were impacting harmlessly on its surface.
“Admiral, we are reading that the vessel’s hull is solid netrounium and her shield grid is putting out power on a scale we have only seen among our Imperial allies.”
“Impossible.”: T’Vor sputtered. “The Federation does not have the knowledge to build neutronium hulls or to generate the power necessary to create a shield grid of that magnitude.”
“Perhaps they do.” one of his junior officers replied, eyes wide with shock.
“Damn your eyes! I do not want anyone speculating on this vessel until we learn mo-”
A bright pulsing red beam lanced out from the maw of the ship and completely annihilated one of the orbital platforms.
“I believe we have an answer on their offensive weaponry.” A soft voice broke the stunned silence of the command center.
“Commander Sela? I thought you were stationed on the defensive fleet over head.” T’Vor replied snidely. he did not like the half breed one bit. She had been skulking about the edges of the New Imperial command structure, desperately trying not to be noticed yet wanting to be part of the new Imperial order. She had a history with Starfleet that dated back many years and a foiled invasion of Vulcan had all but sealed her fate. Her career was stuck where she was now, never to ascend further than a commander. Very sad indeed but the bitch deserved it.
“Luckily for me, I was inspecting my troops here on the surface. Has it occurred to you that perhaps the Federation has created that vessel. I mean look at it, it’s a crude attempt to ape the Imperial designs and technology. Are we at all surprised that the Federation is able to cobble something together like that? They are masters of adapting their technology to current threats, they’re almost Borg like that way.” she replied coolly.
T’Vor sneered.
“Are you seriously suggesting that the Federation could have built this warship with no worlds under their control and precious little resources. They are a rag tag fleet dependent on a single world for supplies and ship building. This monstrosity was not ‘cobbled’ together in a matter of moths. I assure you this is beyond even the miraculous talents you wish to assign to Federation engineers.”
“I don’t know, they did defeat the Borg even after the defeat they took at Wolf 359.” a junior officer spoke up.
T’Vor shook his head emphatically.
“We are fighting a battle to save our homeworld from these defilers, I will not allow you to drag me into this fantasy world that you seem to be living in.” T’Vor snapped.
“Then explain that warship!” Sela demanded.
Another pulsing beam from the maw of the Excalibur lashed out and evaporated three platforms as it lanced through them seemingly unimpeded by shields or armor.
“You want me to explain something that we have absolutely no intelligence on? And here I thought you were a military officer.” T’Vor sneered. He suddenly cleared the steps leading down from his post to the main level of the command center in several long imposing strides and stood face to face with Sela, their noses nearly touching as his voice dropped so that only she could hear him.
“Do you think me a fool? I see what you are doing you spineless half breed. If you cross me like that again I will snap your head off with but a word. You are spreading dissension and confusion among my ranks when we are in desperate need of order and discipline you fool. One more word, that’s all I ask, one more word and you will join your ancestors in whatever pit they reside in. And don’t think I don’t know about your connections with the Tal’Shiar, I will remind you that my patron is Darth nemesis and with a word he would dismantle your dishonorable little association. It survives at his whim, and I serve him. Do not cross me.” he whispered.
Sela stared back into his eyes unflinching but said not another word as T’Vor turned on his heel.
“Report on the disposition of the rest of the enemy fleet.”
“They are not advancing, admiral. They seem to be hanging back.”
T’Vor examined the tactical display and rubbed his chin.
“What is he up to?”
“Sir the Federation warship is locking onto surface targets.”
“Where?” T’Vor snapped.
“The Sasana Supply depot.”
A pulsing blast lanced out from the maw of the warship and shot down to the surface. T’Vor braced himself against a railing. The entire command center shook as a blast could be heard even under the kilometer of stone that the command center was located in.
“They’re commencing an orbital bombardment of the planet! We must hit that thing with everything we have!” Sela exclaimed.
“And accomplish what? We couldn’t get past their shields and even if we did we have no weapons that can pierce solid neutronium!” T’Vor replied hotly. T’Vor turned back to the tactical display.
“He’s planning something and it is not a general bombardment of our world. He could have accomplished that with his fleet.”
Another pulsed beam rocketed down to the surface and an airbase was completely vaporized leaving a massive smoking crater in its place.
“Two of them, both in isolated locations of our world away from the civilian populations.” T’Vor noted with a clenched fist. “he’s sending a message.”
“What that we’re helpless?” Sela spat.
“You don’t understand my dear Commander, this is not Jean Luc Picard or some android with pretentious to sentience.” she bristled at the reminders. “This is James Tiberius Kirk. He thinks on many levels at once and he is sending a message to those of us smart enough to understand.”
Sela’s face suddenly darkened and her eyes narrowed on T’Vor.
“Your grand father, of course!” she laughed.
“What now?” he relied icily as another blast destroyed an armory nestled in a mountain chain across the sea.
“He faced Kirk in the pride of the fleet over a hundred years ago, our first foray into Federation space since the war and he was humiliated. How you managed to avoid the stain on his honor I will never understand it.” Sela said acidly.
“Perhaps because there are those in high command that see ability over pedigree. A shame the same could not be said for you.” he turned to his attaché. “If she says another word, kill her.”
The attaché nodded grimly and placed a hand on his disruptor. Sela knew better than to speak now, she sat down at an empty station fuming.
“What are you telling me Kirk?” T’Vor muttered.
“Sir, the Federation warship is now turning and breaking orbit.”
“Now? What has he gained? he had us completely at his mercy?” T’Vor hissed in disbelief.
“The ship is on a course to Remus.”
“Remus? What is at Remus?” T’Vor shook his head. “Perhaps I have given him too much credit. We have stood and watched too long. Have all warbirds converge on the Enterprise and attack. It is time we took the head off this serpent.”
“The Enterprise, sir? How do we know he is based off that ship?” the controller asked.
“Because there is no other ship he would think of commanding from. He is a man from the past, he will search for the familiar to ground himself and I have just discovered that I can end this threat once and for all.”
“All wings…engage and destroy Enterprise. All other priorities rescinded.”
“Excellent shooting, gentlemen. Mr. Paris, set course for Remus.”
“Aye Aye, sir.”: Tom replied as he worked the controls of the beast. It was as slow and as sluggish as he expected her to be, but at the same time, there was a power to her that no other starship or fighter he had ever flown exhibited. It was as if he were sitting on a sleeping creature that could explode into motion at any second. The rumble of the engines could be heard throughout the ship.
Bit it was when the main weapon fired that they knew they were on no Federation starship. The entire ship was as quiet as a tomb and suddenly light flared everywhere, every panel, every conduit was alive with St. Elmo’s fire like light that pulsed in time with the blast and it rumbled like some great sea monster roaring underwater and then it was over.
To tell the truth, it unnerved Tom.
“Status of shields?”
“Holding steady sir.”
“Engineering to bridge.”
“Go ahead.” Riker replied as he glanced down at the makeshift tactical display Geordie had strung up for him by the newly installed Captain’s chair.
“Power curves are holding but every time we fire they spike and it looks like the reactor loses some of its potency, there’s a bleed off somewhere that I can’t explain yet but Data is working on a theory. Its been negligible so far, but the capacitors will eventually run dry if we keep running our weapons at high power.”
“Well, Geordie, as luck would have it, we’re about to refuel.” Riker replied but there was an edge to his voice. He was not of one mind with Kirk on this aspect of the plan. Starfleet officers simply did not employ weapons of mass destruction.
“Copy that sir.”
“We’re approaching Remus sir. Looks like we have a squadron of warbirds in our path…hold it….they’re breaking off.” Tom noted with some confusion.
“I guess we showed them.” the tactical officer replied with a grin.
“I don’t think so.” Tom added as he saw where they were heading.
“My god are they swarming the fleet?” Riker asked in concern as the visual switched to a rear view. The fleet was currently surrounded by warbirds, many of them decloaking within the fleet’s lines.
“It looks like they trying to blast their way to the center.” Tom remarked.
“The Enterprise.” Riker breathed.
“Hold on!” Kirk exclaimed as the ship bucked underneath him like a bronco. He turned to Spock.
“Status?”
“There are now three full squadrons of warbirds breeching our line and attempting to engage us directly.”
“Continuous fire all weapons! Scotty, give me more power to the shields!” Kirk snapped as he leaned forward, gripping the back of Sulu’s chair. “Hikaru, I’m going to need a miracle to get us out of this trap.”
“Working on one right now sir.:” Sulu replied grimly as the screen was engulfed with green fire from Romulan weapons.
“Have the fleet close the breech, Galaxy wings 27 and 29 form a wedge on Enterprise. Where the hell are my Akiras?”
“Sir, Captain Riker on the line he wants to break off and come to relieve us.” Uhura reported trying to block out the cacophony of emergency transmissions squawking on her board.
“Absolutely not! You tell Captain Riker to commence Operation Alderaan right now!” Kirk shouted and adjusted his gold command shirt. This was getting very tight and things were just starting. The whole objective of this mission was simple. Shatter Romulan morale, so far Romulan morale was holding quite firm. As if to punctuate his point the Enterprise was rocked by another volley of fire that sent some people stumbling backwards.
The sounds of battle awakened her. Slowly at first but the next shot lit up the interior of the vessel like a rising sun and her eyes blinked slowly. She moved her head and that was a mistake. Shooting pains lanced up her neck and chest. She felt something sticky on her face, like drying fruit juice.
She tried to raise her arm but it was restrained somehow.
She could feel how dry her mouth was, she desperately wanted a drink of water and her belly was an aching hollow hole waiting to be filled. She slowly, very slowly, raised her head. The world was swimming around her and sounds seemed distorted and loud. She groaned and her own voice seemed distant and muted.
She tried to move her left arm and it obliged her, to a point. She felt something pull against it as she tried to raise her arm to wipe her face. Breathing was hurting she just realized. Her entire right side felt like knives were pressing into her side. It truly hurt every time she took a breath.
“Ribs…must be broken.” she wheezed and heard her own voice slowly gaining clarity. Thoughts were still in a morass of have remembered things and pain. There was darkness for a long time, darkness and a long fall. There was wind on her face and then the impact.
She tried moving her left arm again and felt the restraint. She glanced down and noticed for the first time that she was lying in a nest of conduits and wires. They were wrapped around her like a lover, refusing to let go. Her right arm was completely wrapped in the grayish conduits, her left arm was only partially enmeshed in them. Her torso was a patchwork on conduits and her tunic was torn at the shoulder, revealing a very nasty purplish blue bruise that covered most of her shoulder and had oozed blood down her arm to pool on her left thigh.
Suddenly a face flashed in her memory.
“Bastard.” she spat.
She struggled against the conduits and suddenly the left arm popped free. She smiled triumphantly and felt her face. She pulled back her left hand and saw it was covered in thick dried blood. Her face must be covered in blood.
“Needs of the many…you bastard.” she whispered as she started to work on her other arm, occasionally glancing upwards at the huge gaping abyss above her. She was wrenched in-between two massive cooling units, out of sight from any other system or station on the ship. But she damned well knew how to get up there.
“We are in position captain.” Tom reported.
“Weapons?”
“Powering up for full power discharge. Targeting sensors are locking onto the nearest fault line.”
“Prepare to commence fire as soon as we’re ready.”
“Aye sir.” Riker paused as he noticed something. The repair droids that were constantly scuttling about the ship like spiders had all stopped. He glanced around. They were all standing absolutely still and looking out at the viewer. Many of them had mandible like pincers and they were twitching, faster and faster as if in anticipation and some were twitching and chittering something, like a chant. No one else seemed to notice as they were intent on their duty.
“Weapons are ready.”
There was silence for a moment as Riker stared at the dead glassy world. He was about to commit an act that if it were on a populated world would have made him the greatest mass murderer in Federation history.
“What price our freedom.” he whispered.
“Captain?” Tom asked.
“Fire the main weapon.” Riker replied sternly and clenched his jaw.
The main weapon fired and the interior of the ship flashed as if a sun had exploded in the interior. The crew covered their eyes for a moment and then there was only darkness.
“What happened?” Riker demanded.
“I don’t know, sir. Power readings are normal.”
“Geordie.” Riker waited and he could hear more of the droids chittering loudly now. “Geordie.” The silence was deafening. The view screen suddenly snapped on and they could see Remus, and it was missing a large section from its surface, rubble and debris were being pulled in by a ghostly blue light.
“Geordie respond!”
Then Riker heard the scream on his com and it died.
“Oh my god.” he whispered.
Geordie stared at the dead crewman and back up at Wesley.
“What did you do?” he breathed.
Wesley smiled softly and chuckled. The chuckle was most definitely NOT Wesley’s, in fact it did not seem possible that such a laugh could come from his frame, it was dark and deep as if coming from an open tomb.
“I’m claiming what’s mine.” Wesley replied.
“Wes is that you?” Geordie asked in shock.
“Yes it’s me Geordie and only our old friendship keeps me from doing to you what I did to him. The fool did not want to allow me to these controls so he was chastised.”
“Wes, you killed him.” Geordie replied aghast at what he was seeing in his young friend.
“He will not fail again, then, will he?”
“What are you doing?”
“What should have been done long ago. The Shar’lesk’vol needs life, Geordie. You fools are feeding her rocks of a dead world. Feed her life, give her that pulsing elixir and she will do things you could never dream of. You wish to destroy the Empire and free the Federation, this is the road to do so.”
“No Wes, we were very clear, no harm was to come to Romulus. Those are billions of innocents down there, Wes. We did not come here to kill.”
Wesley smiled and it was ice.
“Maybe you didn’t.” Wesley replied and suddenly Geordie was slammed back against the wall by an unseen hand. Wesley stared at his friend for a long moment and all he could see was pitiful weakness.
“You know, I used to admire you. You were blind and you never lost your sense of humor or your love for life but I see now that all that did not matter. You never achieved anything worthwhile with your life. But that is understandable, you were not gifted. Me on the other hand, I was the wunderkind, the family genius, that child prodigy that comes once a generation to accomplish something monumental. What have I accomplished? I managed to get myself kicked out of the academy and wander the universe like some vagabond.”
Wesley looked around the ship still plunged in darkness but an unearthly light seemed to emanate around him like ghost fire.
“This, Geordie, is going to be my accomplishment. I am going to burn my name in the heavens and people will remember me forever and I will have FINALLY accomplished something.”
“What are you going to accomplish, Wes? You’re going to kill billions of people, for what? What if the Empire doesn’t care? What if the fight continues, are you going to kill billions more to prove your point. Wes, you do that and we will have already lost the war. We’re the Federation,. we don’t do these things. We honor and respect life and law. The moment we take those steps, even to survive, we have lost everything that we were.”
Wesley stared at Geordie for a long moment,. eyes probing him with dark intent.
“You are a greater fool than I ever imagined, Geordie. You really think that Federation ideals are going o see us through this war?” Wesley through back his head and roared with laughter. He dropped his head again and his eyes were completely black.
“No, Geordie, this ends now. And no one can stop me now.”
There was a snap hiss from behind him and Wesley did not turn around, but Geordie glanced up quickly and spotted her.
Princess Leia stood at the entrance to the engineering section, she wore a combat suit and she held in her hand a lightsaber. The crimson blade hummed dangerously like a hungry thing and she stood eyes locked on Wesley.
“I’ve come to stop you, Wesley Crusher and I’m not alone.”
“Oh?” Wesley asked and his voice was a whisper.
Leia raised the lightsaber in an engarde position as she had seen Luke do so many times.
“The Force is with me.”
Wherever you go, there you are.
Ripped Shirt Monkey - BOTMWriter's Guild Cybertron's Finest Justice League
This updated sig brought to you by JME2
Ripped Shirt Monkey - BOTMWriter's Guild Cybertron's Finest Justice League
This updated sig brought to you by JME2
1st
Nice. Kelly isn't dead, the Feddies are going to kill a world, and Leia is using the force.
Nice. Kelly isn't dead, the Feddies are going to kill a world, and Leia is using the force.
Last edited by Ender on 2003-01-23 06:50pm, edited 1 time in total.
بيرني كان سيفوز
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Nuclear Navy Warwolf
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in omnibus requiem quaesivi, et nusquam inveni nisi in angulo cum libro
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ipsa scientia potestas est
*
Nuclear Navy Warwolf
*
in omnibus requiem quaesivi, et nusquam inveni nisi in angulo cum libro
*
ipsa scientia potestas est
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2000AD
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bugger. I thought i might get it but then when the page has loaded some1's got there before me.
Ph34r teh eyebrow!!11!Writers Guild Sluggite Pawn of Chaos WYGIWYGAINGW so now i have to put ACPATHNTDWATGODW in my sig EBC-Honorary Geordie
Hammerman! Hammer!
Hammerman! Hammer!
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Kelly Antilles
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2000AD
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Good chapter. It looks like you've been ressurected Kelly.
Ph34r teh eyebrow!!11!Writers Guild Sluggite Pawn of Chaos WYGIWYGAINGW so now i have to put ACPATHNTDWATGODW in my sig EBC-Honorary Geordie
Hammerman! Hammer!
Hammerman! Hammer!
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Oohhh...lightsabre battle coming up! Keep up the great work, Stravo. I wonder when Thrawn will show up.
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Time to see:
Romulan fleet vs. Starfleet, battle to the death
Wesley vs. Leia, battle to the knockout....if Leia wins.
Shadow Fleet comes in next, assisting the Fed's.
Thrawn comes in, blowing everyone away.
And I can say no more about it beyond two words, Borg, and Nemisis...only Nemisis won't only fight the Feddies. 
Romulan fleet vs. Starfleet, battle to the death
Wesley vs. Leia, battle to the knockout....if Leia wins.
Shadow Fleet comes in next, assisting the Fed's.
Thrawn comes in, blowing everyone away.
And I can say no more about it beyond two words, Borg, and Nemisis...only Nemisis won't only fight the Feddies.
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