Star Crossed Fanfic

[desertjedi]

Very nice chapter. I hope to read the next chapter in a couple of weeks, the anticipation kills me...

[Captain Cyran]

Finally, we get to see Adare again. And I can't WAIT to see Kirk vs. Fett.

[El Moose Monstero]

Good stuff, Stavro, I wonder what will happen when Nemesis catches up with Boba Fett, I mean, Fett has his former best mate in carbonite, and Luke is looking for redemption... possibily allowing Kirk a glimpse of Luke from the depths of Nemesis, and encouraging him to believe that Nemesis can be saved. Hmmm... type on, Stavro, type on...

[Crayz9000]

Interesting chapter. Pretty good quality-wise, although not without its share of grammatical bloopers.

I liked the Spock-McCoy exchange; I thought it was all in Kirk's head until they ran into Chewie.

[CorSec]

Great work, Stravo. I, too, enjoyed the exchange between McCoy and Spock. (Plus the ever expanding cast of characters that were joining them!)

But I will mildly disagree with Fett's dismisal of Kirk choosing to carry a wounded comrade rather than the transmitter. If Fett were in a similar situation, he may not have carried the transmitter or the body. He might decide to bulk up with weapons and armor in the hopes that he could defeat his tracker. The final decision against the transmitter would have been the result of a similar dialogue as Kirk had, that the transmitter would alert both potential rescuers and the person who wants to kill you. Just a thought.

[Dark Primus]

It was a decent chapter. But I think Spock acts little to zombie liked.

[Kelly Antilles]

*heh* Chewie's great.

I wonder if I"ll make another appearance sometime... hmmmmm.

[Stravo]

*heh* Chewie's great.

I wonder if I"ll make another appearance sometime... hmmmmm.

Oh....I have plans for you milady.

Besides, people don't jump back from the kind of wounds you bravely suffered. But you will be there for the big end ride.

[Crown]

there would be no more tricks that would save James T. Kirk this time.

One can only hope ... What? So I don't like Kirk.

[Slowhand]

Stravo, your story is really something else altogether!!!

I'm really new here and I've just read all the previous chapters in succession and I CANNOT WAIT for the rest. It's amazing.

From reading you're story and just today rewatching the original trilogy, I feel as though I can finaly see the rebels point of view. No, I mean really see it. Ever since I grew up, I've been cheering for the Empire and Vader in particular. As I write this, I have a deeper understanding of what it might be like to live under the Imperial's heel.

Bring on the rest, Stravo: Grandmaster of Story-telling!!

[El Moose Monstero]

Just been reading through the later chapters again, I dont know if you can tell us, Stavro, but if the Shadow Fleet is dead, then what was Project Genesis - I assume it was a plan to destroy all star systems and habitable worlds in the federation, but how?

[Stravo]

Just been reading through the later chapters again, I dont know if you can tell us, Stavro, but if the Shadow Fleet is dead, then what was Project Genesis - I assume it was a plan to destroy all star systems and habitable worlds in the federation, but how?

Shhhh....plot points are NEVER forgotten, they simply pop back up when you least expect them. BTW A quick page count tells me I spend WAY TOO much time writing this saga.

[El Moose Monstero]

BTW A quick page count tells me I spend WAY TOO much time writing this saga.

Nonsense, man, there's no such thing as too much time writing Starcrossed...

[Stravo]

I'm more or less back in action I think. It has been a rough week but the dark picture that I saw turned out to be not as devastating as was my first impression. Anyway, I though what better way to make an entrance than with a new Chapter.



Chapter 52: Distractions and misdirection


Thrawn sat quietly in his quarters, most of the lights dimmed save for one light directly over Thrawn that illuminated the book he was reading. His crimson eyes skimmed the pages with machine like precision as he absorbed the words, mulled them over and nodded sagely to himself.

The door to his quarters slid open and Captain Jerjerrod strode in, careful not to make too much noise. It was late into the night cycle. He knew that Thrawn enjoyed the little free time he had.

He stood at attention, hands behind his back silently by the doorway.

Thrawn slowly turned the page of his book and nodded as he finished another line.

“Captain.” he said, his voice breaking the silence of the massive quarters.

“Sir. I apologize for the disturbance.”

Thrawn held up a hand.

“I ask for my direct subordinates to speak their minds at all times, I did not remember specifying that this was limited during duty periods.” Thrawn replied coolly.

Jerjerrod nodded slowly. Thrawn was feared by many, despised by quite a few, but to be frank, he was the finest officer Jerjerrod had ever served with and certainly the best teacher he could ever have.

“I am disturbed by reports that Lord Vader has begun out right infiltrations of the Imeprium fleet.”

Thrawn did not react, instead he continued glancing down at the open book.

“Why is this disturbing? I commend Lord Vader for his initiative. I have undertaken such actions myself. Romulans are not as loyal as one would think for a conquered people.”

“It’s not that sir, it’s the goal of his infiltrations. He is not even attempting to discover fleet dispositions or strength.”

“It’s Nemesis isn’t it?” Thrawn asked but he said it in such a manner that it was an answer more than a question.

Jerjerrod nodded.

“Yes sir. He seems obsessed with finding Lord Nemesis.”

“I see this is Hoth redux, eh?” Thrawn replied with a tight smile.

“Sir?”

Thrawn closed his book with a solid thump and laid it flat on his lap. He casually indicated the open chair off to his left. Jerjerrod snapped his heels and quickly made his way to the chair and politely took his seat.

“Lord Vader commanded Death Squadron over 6 months ago in the Emperor’s campaign to crush the Rebellion by finding their headquarters and destroying it.”

“I remember that.”

“It seems that Lord Vader’s obsession with finding one rebel in particular had blinded him during that campaign, some quietly mind you, have whispered that it was this obsession which allowed the rebels at Hoth to escape.”

“The question in my mind, Admiral, is why he is so obsessed with the Sith Lord. It is obvious to me at least that Lord Nemesis has betrayed the Empire and thus the Emperor. Lord Vader should be obsessed with destroying the fleet and eliminating Lord Nemesis.”

“A suspicion has recently come to light that I will keep to myself but if true will explain a great many things regarding the Sith Lords. But I want you to keep one thing in your mind for the future.”

“Sir?”

Thrawn’s eyes burrowed into Jerjerrod’s.

“We may need to kill Lord Vader at some point in time.”

“Sir?” Jerjerrod gasped.

“He has walked a fine line of late and I have been watching him very closely. He backed me during the confrontation with Kittaine, but he has not been completely on our side. Frankly Vader could have taken that ship if he truly wanted to, but he is biding his time.”

“For what?”

“That is the question that preoccupies my mind. I will not burden you with my thoughts. Instead I will ask that you add this book to our required reading list for all line officers, optional for junior rank officers.” Thrawn said holding the book out to Jerjerrod.

Jerjerrod took it and examined the cover.

“Sun…I cannot pronounce that last name.”

“Tzu.” Thrawn added.

“The Art of War.” Jerjerrod read the title and flipped open several pages. “Are you serious? They have the audacity to think they can condense the Art of warfare into a single tome?” Jerjerrod asked with a smirk.

“They did.” Thrawn replied simply and sat back.

Jerjerrod looked back at him with some confusion.

“How is that possible? The strategies, tactics.”

“You misunderstand the sheer simplicity of the title, Jerjerrod.” Thrawn patiently explained. “That text is not purporting to simply be a collection of strategy and tactics. It is an examination of warfare in and of itself. It deconstructs warfare to its most simple aspects and postulates what a good commander needs to know and be aware of when waging war.”

“So it is a philosophical treatise on war?” Jerjerrod said with a grimace of distaste. Thrawn frowned slightly.

“The Emperor’s curriculum for the Academy has suffered gravely since the rise of the New Order. Philosophy is a valuable source of WHY we do the things we do, Jerjerrod. We cannot truly lead in war unless we know HOW to lead. Knowing how has been condensed into this one book. I want it disseminated immediately among the ranks. Humans of this galaxy wrote that, not ours and this may go on to explain much of why the Earthers have proven to be the most difficult to deal with in this war.”

“The true reason is James Kirk. Take the man away and you take away the symbol of their leadership. I learned that lesson from the finest officer and strategist I know. You.” Jerjerrod replied and gently handed the book back to Thrawn.

“I assure you Captain, flattery will get you nowhere.” Thrawn replied as he accepted the book.

“I was merely stating a fact.”

Thrawn eyed the young captain for a moment.

“Let us be frank then, your performance has degraded over the last few weeks.”

Jerjerrod blinked.

“Sir?”

“Jerjerrod, your performance has suffered seriously of late and I must bring this to your attention. Even Piett has come around and shown me that I have done something I rarely do, underestimated him. I want you to deal with whatever it is that is bothering you. By tomorrow I want to see a marked improvement or I may be forced to take on a new aide de camp.”

Jerjerrod stared at the expressionless face of the Chiss Grand Admiral for a long moment.

“Are we clear?”

“Crystal, Grand Admiral.” Jerjerrod replied smartly.

“Dismissed Captain.”

“Aye sir.” Jerjerrod replied stonily as he stood up and snapped a crisp salute. Thrawn returned it and Jerjerrod turned on his heel and walked with military precision to the door.

“And Captain?”

Jerjerrod did not turn around.

“Sir?”

“Make sure you distribute these books to the senior staff.”

“Of course Admiral.” Jerjerrod replied neutrally.

He walked out of the quarters.

Thrawn watched the door for a long moment. He slowly activated a comlink at the armrest of his chair.

“Standing by, sir.”

“Follow the Captain and report your findings to me tomorrow.”

“Yes sir.”

Thrawn released the comlink and stared at the book cover for a long moment. He nodded slowly to himself and opened up to the next marked page.






The Defiant shook hard as a storm of green plasma torpedoes exploded around it into a field of fiery blossoms.

“Emergency power to the shields. Where are those phasers?” Archer demanded.

“Shields buckling sir. Phasers are still recharging, the capacitors were damaged in the last pass.” his tactical officer explained in frustration.

“It’s like a death by a thousand pricks. That bitch is tearing us apart system by system.” Archer spat, smoke obscured the bridge forcing Archer to rely on voice recognition as the only way to discern who he was speaking to. The blowers were trying valiantly to suck most of the smoke out of the bridge but with half the consoles smashed and spewing sparks and plasma vapors the system was simply overwhelmed.

“Sir, the Queen’s ship is now less than a planetary diameter from the target. The gravimetric fields will force her to shunt more power to the engines and affect her maneuverability.” Seven explained calmly.

“So she chooses to fight with her back to the planet huh?” Archer replied rubbing his chin. He glanced around his ruined bridge. “If I had a ship that wasn’t damn near crippled that might make a difference.”

“It has been my experience that any advantage you can gain in battle should be seized upon.” Seven added.

Archer smiled. he knew there was a reason why this woman moved him so.

“Alright, take us out on an elliptical, give us a breather to repair some systems then reengage.”

“Aye sir.”






Picard heard another explosion deep down in the bowels of the Valhalla as he and R-7 cautiously made their way through the Jeffries tubes that ran throughout the primary hull their goal was the main junction that sat right under the bridge.

They had avoided the main corridors and the turbolifts as Picard could feel her mind focused on those avenues of attack. She was not sure if they had beamed aboard or not. The small personal transporter units the shadow fleet issued to their command personnel also doubled as a signature distorter, making locking in with internal sensors very difficult. It was serving him well at the moment.

“I wonder how she over powered the crew?” He muttered as the junction became visible.

“I suspect that she used our hyperlinks against us, sending a surge which overloaded our positronic networks. The androids we saw in the lower levels were damaged from within by a power surge, they were not assimilated.” R-7 replied.

“Can you be assimilated?” Picard asked seriously pausing to catch his breath and mop some sweat from his brow. He was really getting too old for this.

“We have been designed to self destruct should the presence of Borg nanoprobes be detected, that may be another reason she did not attempt assimilation.”

“She’s running out of time.” Picard interjected looking up at the junction, feeling her dark thoughts creeping into his own. “She’s desperate.” Picard nodded to R-7 and started towards the junction slinging his phaser rifle over his shoulder.

“Why is she desperate? Her vessel is significantly more powerful than the Defiant. I calculate only a 15% chance that the Defiant will survive the battle.” R-7 responded as they reached the junction and Picard looked up. A single ladder led up into the bowels of the systems directly beneath the bridge. He also knew that among those isolinear boards and plasma conduits was an emergency escape hatch. A hatch that would lead directly into the bridge.

“Because she feels the weight of decision. She knows that the longer we keep her busy here the less time she will have to re-establish the Collective. Those systems are slowly dwindling in capacity. Drones are slowly dying as their organic parts starve to death, in other words, if she acts quickly enough,” Picard started to climb the ladder. “She can salvage a good portion of her Collective. The longer she waits the less chance there will be of there being any drones left functioning for her to rebuild the Borg with. She cannot afford to start from scratch as the Empire is moving too quickly through the galaxy.”

Picard reached the top of the access area and turned his head to say something to R-7 when the air around him flashed a brilliant white and he shouted in surprise as he was rudely shoved off the ladder.

Picard desperately reached out to the rungs that were flashing by and realized there was no way that he was going to make it. He landed with a head snapping impact in R-7’s arms.

“Are you well, sir?” R-7 asked.

Picard glanced down. R-7 was holding Picard like a baby cradled in his arms.

“Uh…thank you, R-7 but it looks as if she has anticipated our move.” Picard replied darkly looking back up at the humming containment field.

“We could try your security protocols to over ride the containment field.” R-7 suggested.

“Good idea, R-7…but…can you do me a favor?”

“Sir?”

Picard frowned and fixed R-7 with a partially bemused expression.

“Can you put me down?”

R-7 looked down and nodded curtly putting Picard on his feet.

“The only problem with your suggestion is that she would have changed all the access codes.”

“Perhaps she has not. She may not have expected you as a boarder.”

Picard looked up at the containment field and smiled grimly.

“I don’t think so, R-7. I think she knew precisely who was going to board this vessel. She almost sent me an engraved invitation. But she wants me down here where she can contain me. She still has a use for me and I don’t want to find out what it is.”

“Alternatives?”

“We don’t have a lot of time, R-7 so I’m going to have to go with a wild alternative that would make Wil Riker proud.”

“Sir?” R-7 blinked in confusion as Picard raised his phaser rifle. “I do not advise that sir, the containment field is more likely than not far more resilient than the power output of the phaser rifle and there is a distinct chance that the resulting energy backlash may cause a ricochet which would prove quite detrimental to our well being.”

Picard smiled as he fired the rifle. The phaser bolt exploded against the walls of the junction, right around the field itself. Each blast taking out more than a fist full of metal and equipment. The containment field began to flicker noticeably. R-7 nodded as he realized what Picard was doing and took his own rifle and began marching his blasts along the opposite side of the junction, destroying the wall emitters as they went until the field finally collapsed.

Picard shook his head ruefully as he inspected his handiwork.

“You know, after all the years that we used those I always wondered when one of our captives would figure out this trick.”

“You were aware of this strategy?” R-7 asked curiously as Picard started his ascent again.

“As a captain I have to be aware of all the possibilities, but I always believed that no one would be that desperate to try it.” Picard replied.

R-7 nodded and started to climb after Picard.

Picard could feel her. There was confusion, uncertainty. What had he done? He smiled eagerly.

Right on time, the Valhalla shook violently.

“Keep up the good work, Captain Archer. Just give us a few more minutes.” Picard muttered as he reached the top part of the junction and frantically looked for the emergency hatch.





“What’s taking him so damned long?” Archer snapped as the Defiant soared between the support struts underneath the Valhalla holding a Borg cube. The Defiant snap fired a volley of quantum torpedoes that soared forward, then turned quickly and passed the Defiant exploding against the struts.

The Defiant spun quickly on its axis as hungry green plasma bolts lanced out trying to strike the small craft.

“Good shooting. Now bring us around, low, she seems to be having trouble tracking us on this plane of attack.”

“Sovereign targeting sensors had this problem identified during the Dominion War. Refits were due sometime soon.” Seven replied.

“Good to know that this particular vessel never made the refit in time.” Archer added sardonically.

“Oddly enough, this ship does not show up on any Starfleet registry.” Seven added curiously.

“I guess Picard wasn’t kidding about this Shadowfleet.”

The Defiant pitched forward violently and Archer could feel his stomach plunging downward. Debris showered down from the ceiling and several displays winked out followed by a shower of sparks and smoke.

“Status?” Archer barked as he nearly flew out of his seat. Alarms were sounding all throughout the ships and he could see the warning lights flashing on the helm and ops stations through the thick haze.

“We’ve lost the starboard power coupling. Reestablishing attitude control and stabilizers.”

“Shields down to 15%. Port side torpedo launcher damaged.”

Archer grimaced and stood up, bracing himself against his command seat.

“Reroute all power to weapons, bring us around for one more pass.”

“Sir, even with all available power to weapons, we’re not going to make much of a dent in her. All systems are damaged or destroyed, we won’t be able to muster much of an alpha strike.” His tactical officer warned grimly.

“That ship needs to be taken out now or we’re looking at a reborn Collective and I don’t think anyone here wants that.” Archer stated and looked at the screen, static snow periodically washing across the image of the damaged Borg queen ship.

“Ramming speed.” He ordered simply and sat down.

“Aye sir.” His helmsman responded after a moment’s hesitation.




“Jean Luc, you were expected.” The Queen said coldly, a smile creeping across her face. Picard emerged from the emergency hatch aiming his phaser rifle.

“This ends here and now.” Picard replied stonily staring into her cold eyes.

The queen ran a finger along the skull of one of the downed androids haphazardly laid across the helm station. Her eyes did not leave Picard.

“Locutus, this is indeed the end. The end of the Borg as we knew them, the start of a new Collective. We can be at that genesis. Together as it should be as it was always meant to be.” She said seductively.

“What are you talking about?” Picard snapped, keeping his phaser trained on the queen, but she did not make any aggressive moves, instead she simply watched him, cold satisfaction on her face.

“A new beginning, Locutus. I could have killed you back at the Unimatrix but I did not. Instead I chose to let you come to me as your final test.”

“Test? This is no test, I can feel your own surprise at seeing me here.” Picard countered.

She smiled.

“You and I are meant to be, but frankly, I did not have faith that you would make it this far.”

“Allow me to surprise you once again, your highness.” Picard brought the phaser rifle up tight and fired. The intense blue bolt skipped off the Queen’s personal force field which flared up with a cascading lightning blue field as the bolt struck an overhead terminal destroying it with a loud crash.

“Locutus, you disappoint me, I used to hold you in such high esteem.”

Picard brought his chin against the rifle butt aimed and squeezed off several more rounds, each one skipping off the queen’s shield, but the sheer force of each impact drove her back a few steps until she slapped up against the helm station.

“Enough!” She snapped and waved her hand as if shooing away a bothersome fly. A green cloud of electricity smacked Picard hard across the body, catapulting him off his feet and across the bridge to land with a sickening thud against the lower steps leading up to the turbolift.

Picard groaned and rolled on his back, his shoulder was throbbing and he could see from the odd angle his arm hung that it was dislocated.

The Queen watched him in pain for a moment, sizing up the situation.

“You should not oppose me. If I fail, then this galaxy falls into the iron grip of the Imperial forces and that would doom your pathetic Federation to an eternity as nothing more than a slave state.”

Picard grunted painfully as he fought his way up to a sitting position and slung his rifle on his opposite arm for aiming.

“You are a far worse alternative, your highness. At least with the Empire we will still have the option of being human, of living out our lives as individuals, perhaps not free politically but our souls will be free.”

The queen sneered.

“You speak of souls to me, Locutus? I know you better than you know yourself. You who do not even believe in higher powers or deities invoke such an ephemeral concept as the human soul to me?”

“You cannot deny the essence of the human spirit that your assimilation utterly destroys.” Picard exclaimed as he fired a burst from his phaser rifle. The queen held her hand out, palm open and deflected the phaser burst back at Picard who ducked out of the way as it exploded against the closed turbolift doors.

He rolled away, biting back the pain that exploded in his shoulder as he rolled over it and tried to bring his rifle back to bear.

“Don’t you tire of this Locutus? Don’t you tire of fighting against the inevitable?”

“If I did…” Picard began, gasping for breath and fighting the pain. “I wouldn’t be human.” He finished and fired a burst at her feet. She tried to jump out of the way, surprise etched on her face as the blast wave sent her hurtling over the helm station and landed unceremoniously beneath the main viewer.

She struggled to get up and froze as R-7 stood at the opposite end of the bridge, training his own phaser rifle on her.

“Now Captain.”

Picard and R-7 fired a steady burst at the queen. She threw up her arms in front of her face and screamed something incoherent as both beams danced over her personal force field, some of her cybernetic implants began to glow a dull red as the beams remained on her.

“Alternate your frequencies!” Picard called out.

“Trying sir, we must maintain our phased variances in the high EM band.” R-7 replied.

It was Picard and R-7’s hope that the Queen’s personal force field would not be able to simultaneously block two phaser beams on alternating frequencies, in essence overloading her personal defenses to get in one good shot and it seemed that the plan was working.

The Queen suddenly dropped to her knees and they surged forward, keeping their beams on her. She reached out and touched and exposed circuit panel. Picard saw the movement and his eyes widened.

“Fall ba-”

Consoles around him and R-7 exploded with violent force and Picard felt several pieces of hot shrapnel dig into his flesh and he rolled with the blows landing on his stomach with a sharp exhalation of air.

R-7 tumbled backwards a large piece of debris clearly lodged in its lower abdomen.

The queen slowly rose up and inspected the carnage with an angry glare as she advanced on Picard. She reached down and grabbed a firm hold of his dislocated shoulder and picked him up wit one arm by it.

Picard screamed in pain as she squeezed the damaged shoulder and glared into his eyes.

“Locutus, I am so disappointed in you.”

“My name is Picard.” He spat back.

“What did you think you could accomplish with that attack? While I admit the android was a good touch it was nothing more than an annoyance, a distraction at best.”

“Good.” He spat through clenched teeth.

She cocked her head quizzically and jerked him forward to her face.

“What is that supposed to mean Locutus?” she demanded.

Picard locked eyes with her.

“It means that it brought you close enough to me to do THIS!” Picard brought the rifle butt around with his good arm and slammed it across the Queen’s chin. Her head snapped back and she released her hold on Picard, trying to recover her senses.

Picard braced himself and swung the rifle out like a bat, striking the Queen on the side of her head. She grunted and pitched to the left, propelled by the force of Picard’s blow. He did not let up, stalking after her and winding up for another blow.

He whipped the rifle butt around again but she managed to get one hand up, the rifle butt struck the her forearm and cracked loudly, the butt spun away from the ruined rifle stock. She countered with a hammer kick that struck Picard in the side of his left knee, followed by a sick wet snap.

Picard roared in pain and crashed to the floor clutching his ruined knee.

She wiped her mouth, seeing blood staining the back of her hand.

“Picard it is then. I have lost my patience with you. I thought that I had finally discovered the only being that could match my will, my desires, that could be a challenge for me but I should have known better.” She spat as she stood over him watching dispassionately as he held his knee to his chest and fought the pain as best he could. She coldly placed a foot against his dislocated shoulder and pressed.

He screamed.

She smiled as she held the pressure steady.

“You allowed a new world to slip your grasp, Picard. The new Collective would have finally been what it was meant to be, but you threw it all away you fool.”

Picard looked up at her, his eyes drifted over her shoulder for a moment and he allowed himself a satisfied grim smile.

“What are you smiling about?” she hissed as she turned her head to see behind her and her eyes widened. “No!” she shouted as the Defiant filled the screen.




“The Borg vessel is going evasive!”

“Stay on the bitch!” Archer shot back as the Valhalla filled his screen. Archer spared one last second to look over at Seven, who was looking at him and he smiled softly at her.

The Defiant adjusted her collision course with the Valhalla at the very last moment and crashed through the lower quarter of the Borg cube still attached to the Valhalla, careening forward in a cloud of shattered Borg plating and conduits before crashing into and through most of the primary hull of the Valhalla. The Defiant jutted out of the top portion of the primary hull, one of its nacelles completely shorn away by the impact with the Borg. The rear of the smaller starship hung out at an angle towards the bridge, the forward portion of the Valhalla’s primary hull shredded and bunched up like so much confetti.

At the bottom of the primary hull the forward portion of the Defiant, charred and blackened, all of its ablative armor scraped clear off the hull hung exposed, the Valhalla’s outer hull plates wrenched into giant waves that made it look as of the Defiant were emerging from a sea of ivory steel. The ruined starships spun slowly in an embrace, explosions were rippling along the secondary hull of the Valhalla, lights flickered and in many instances did not come back on.

Both ships continued spinning, caught in the grip of the planet’s gravitational field, slowly descended to the surface, the leading edges of the Borg cube attached to the Valhalla began to glow red, trailing flaming debris and hot gasses.




“Are you sure?”

“Yes, my lord. He suspects.” Jerjerrod replied blankly.

Kahn nodded slowly as he rubbed his chin while watching the blank faced young officer intently. His quarters were simple and Spartan, Thrawn made it quite clear that he was lucky to not be relegated to the brig as the rest of his men and women were. Kahn could care less about the size of anyone’s quarters, right now he simply used it as his place to rest and eat. He spent most of his waking hours on the bridge or in the brig with his people.

A stack of datapads on his small work desk were all technical manuals and anything he could get his hands on that would bring him up to speed on Imperial technology. He had to admit that it was far more difficult to grasp than when he had to take a crash course in Federation technology. This civilization had been space going for millennia, there were so many aspects to their systems that he had to learn the fundamentals before going forward.

But his mind was designed to master any subject, his superior intellect would eventually give him the understanding he needed.

Grand Admiral Thrawn on the other hand was turning out to be the most difficult opponent he had ever faced.

“You will continue on your duties and focus on pleasing the Grand Admiral. You will not approach me in any manner shape or form unless I approach you.”

“But the pain, my lord, it grows worse.” Jerjerrod complained.

Kahn frowned.

“You will ignore the pain as I ordered you to. Once your mission is complete I will take the pain away.” Kahn ordered.

“Yes my lord.”

“Now you will leave here and as always forget our conversation, forget that you were ever here until I tell you to remember.”

“As you wish my lord.” Jerjerrod bowed his head low. He quickly left the quarters. Kahn remained silent for a long moment in contemplation. A shadowy figure stepped out behind him.

“Was he followed?” Kahn asked softly knowing the answer already.

“He was just as you expected my lord.” The figure replied.

Kahn nodded.

“Grand Admiral Thrawn is proving to be a far more challenging opponent than I gave him credit for.”

“Why does he simply not arrest you, My lord?”

Kahn smiled coldly.

“He is a strategist, my secret associate, a strategist like myself who thinks several moves ahead. Arresting me will only solve the short term problem, but he suspects that I know more than I am letting on and if he allows my plans to gestate further he may glean more about what I know than I would ever tell under interrogation. Besides, I have proven myself more useful than not so far. He is loathe to discard any advantage no matter how slight. He will prove to be my greatest challenge.” Kahn glanced back at the figure who finally stepped into the light. An Imperial Stormtrooper stood stoically behind him, helmet nestled under one arm.

“How are the plans proceeding?”

“On schedule, my lord. I have managed to infest some of the key personnel you requested.”

“Excellent commander. And the watchdogs following Jerjerrod?”

“They have been dealt with.” The trooper replied coldly.

“Unfortunately this will only bring more suspicion on poor Jerjerrod, but it could not be helped. We need to maintain even the slightest sliver of doubt in Thrawn’s mind. If he knows how deep my plans go he would disintegrate me on the spot.”

“So we proceed apace?”

“Indeed we do.” Kahn replied without hesitation.

He stared at the monitor on his personal computer and his thoughts flashed to those few moments on Seti Alpha Five, when he first infested the stormtrooper commander with the eels that had plagued his people. With the commander under his control he had a secret ally that made sure that more eels were brought onboard and avoided the stringent controls around the ship and hangar bay.

He smiled coldly as he imagined the expression on Thrawn’s face when the depth of the betrayal was finally exposed and he ordered his personal retinue of stormtroopers to dispose of Kahn. His smile grew broader as he thought of the response from Thrawn’s personal guard and Thrawn’s resulting dismay shortly before it was all over.

Then we would see would control this proud Imperial fleet. And more importantly, then he would deal with James T. Kirk.

[Stravo]

Board errors force me to bump this as soon as it is posted.

[Crazedwraith]

Does a 1st to post equalify if the authers posts sumthing after the chapter?
If so first post ( i hope)

Yay! A new chapter. The end of the Borg. More Thrawn. Kahn's got an evil plot going on. All in all, An amazing chapter Stravo

[Mitth`raw`nuruodo]

Great chapter Stravo!

*Ding dong the borg are dead...*

I look foward to the climax of Kahn vs. Thrawn, and both of them vs. Kirk.

[Captain Cyran]

Very cool, I liked the Borg fight. That was very cool.

I LOVE seeing Thrawn and Kahn going at each other like that. It's great to read all of that.

[Natorgator]

Wow, I had no clue that Kahn had infected more people than Jerjerrod. That's going to shape up to be quite interesting.

[Crown]

Kahn is clearly self deluded. As Thrawn pointed out to C'boath in TLC, he will have to infest and control not only the bridge crew but also all the Stormtroopers and security in order to take over the ship. And then what's he going to do about the rest of the fleet, mutiny on board the lead ship does not a control over the fleet make.

Plus, there is still Vader. If Thrawn actually believes that he could command Vader's death than he is clearly not functioning. I can see Khan going for the kill and take over, and then he is struck dumb as a mysterious power begins to choke him. I can just see his 'superior intellect' failing to comprehend the situation as he gasps for breath, and Vader mocking him with 'I find your lack of faith disturbing'.


EDIT:: P.S. Nice chapter Stravo, I hope things in the real world are going better for you, and if I make a slight request ... please, please, please update you Matrix fic! *begs*

[Ghost Rider]

Sweet chapter, and nicely done with the Borg and Definat's death.

Liked that you expounded on what Khan's been doing and like that we know that Thrawn is capable of adapting very well.

Sorta wished this had more Nemesis or Kirk, but fine chapter.

On a side note...glad your personal troubles were not as grave as you thought.

[JodoForce]

I guess that Thrawn would actually come close to beating Vader before he gets screwed by Kahn, but then Kahn would lose to Vader

Or Thrawn's plans would be too disrupted by Kahn's intrusion and there will be some kind of confrontation between the three of hem

[Vympel]

I see plans within plans- so much plotting. Ack.

I am eager to see Kahn get his comeuppance. I will be agitated though if Thrawn doesn't know all about this already- you can't just smuggle biological organisms from a strange planet onto the fleet flagship and proceed to infect the security forces with *noone* knowing about it at any point in time.

[Stuart Mackey]

Jerjerrod took it and examined the cover.

“Sun…I cannot pronounce that last name.”

“Tzu.” Thrawn added.

“The Art of War.” Jerjerrod read the title and flipped open several pages. “Are you serious? They have the audacity to think they can condense the Art of warfare into a single tome?” Jerjerrod asked with a smirk.

“They did.” Thrawn replied simply and sat back.

I do hope that you dont ot forget the likes of Clauswitz and Jomini, and the maxims of Napoleon. Sun Tsu was not the only person to realise the eternal principles of war

[Crown]

'Always existing by nature between every Greek City - State' ~ Plato on war, it was the most important thing we humans do.