Or also maybe perhaps to misinform Jerjerrod though I don't see how Kahn would be ensnared in a trap of this misinformation. Bleh, just a thought.~Jason
Edit: Just wondering, where's Paris?
Star Crossed Fanfic
Moderator: LadyTevar
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Soontir C'boath
- SG-14: Fuck the Medic!
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- Location: Queens, NYC I DON'T FUCKING CARE IF MANHATTEN IS CONSIDERED NYC!! I'M IN IT ASSHOLE!!!
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I have almost reached the regrettable conclusion that the Negro's great stumbling block in his stride toward freedom is not the White Citizen's Counciler or the Ku Klux Klanner, but the white moderate, who is more devoted to "order" than to justice; who constantly says: "I agree with you in the goal you seek, but I cannot agree with your methods of direct action"; who paternalistically believes he can set the timetable for another man's freedom; who lives by a mythical concept of time and who constantly advises the Negro to wait for a "more convenient season."
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Trytostaydead
- Sith Marauder
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You may be thinking ROTJ Carrie Fisher who just looked like a tired out coke head (which she was at the time) but go back and look at ANH Carrie Fisher, she was quiet yummy especially running around in that white dress, there are sometimes where I SWEAR I can see nip. But truth be told, she did not hold up well.Trytostaydead wrote:Oh man Stravo, this was DAMN good stuff. One of your finest yet! But you know, truth be told.. I never found Carrie Fischer to be all that attractive :-\
Wherever you go, there you are.
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Trytostaydead
- Sith Marauder
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No he does not know she is his sister, but he has found love in Mara and the love he feels for Leia is naturally morphing into a brother sister type love. The Abyss is about personal truth and revelation. It is the place where all your personal demons dwell as noted by his lust for Leia. Deep down inside he KNOWS its wrong to feel that way for her but not quite why. The Abyss let him shed his hate and anger that made him become Nemesis. But that was all personal wihtin his own being, not an outside truth.Trytostaydead wrote:Question.. in this fanfic does Luke know Leia's his sister? And if not, why didn't he find that truth in the Abyss?
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
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Ughh!!! Please, my EYES ...
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Darth Fanboy
- DUH! WINNING!
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- Location: Mars, where I am a totally bitchin' rockstar.
Stravo, for someone with a KATE MULGREW FETISH, I think you're not the person id take advice from regarding female deterioration.
"If it's true that our species is alone in the universe, then I'd have to say that the universe aimed rather low and settled for very little."
-George Carlin (1937-2008)
"Have some of you Americans actually seen Football? Of course there are 0-0 draws but that doesn't make them any less exciting."
-Dr Roberts, with quite possibly the dumbest thing ever said in 10 years of SDNet.
-George Carlin (1937-2008)
"Have some of you Americans actually seen Football? Of course there are 0-0 draws but that doesn't make them any less exciting."
-Dr Roberts, with quite possibly the dumbest thing ever said in 10 years of SDNet.
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Trytostaydead
- Sith Marauder
- Posts: 3690
- Joined: 2003-01-28 09:34pm
The reason why this chapter was finished so quickly was because the previos chapter was far too long so much of it was cannibalized from the previous chapter into this one. BTW for anyone keeping track, the Darkstar stroyline is the last one before we start endgame.
Chapter 63: Darkstar
“Wake up my pretty, pretty.”
The voice was soft like a gentle desert morning breeze. He stirred.
“Wake up my little Sith Lord. I want to look upon you.”
Luke slowly opened his eyes. The light burned into his vision like fire. He squinted.
“Ahh…look at him, so beautiful, so powerful. I wish I had more of him.”
“He’ll be trouble to control, governor.”
“Oui, but I do so look forward to disciplining him.”
“Shhh.” the original voice admonished the other two.
Luke blinked and cleared his vision as he examined his surroundings. He could feel a cold metal clamp around his waist and his neck had a heavy collar on it. His hands and legs were free as best he could tell. A quick check told him that he was intact and healthy, no toxins or drugs in his system.
He saw the face slowly come into focus. It was the face of a young man, no older than Luke, he had a mane of red hair that swirled down in barely controlled locks to his shoulders. A thin red goatee framed his face. His deep purple eyes gazed into Luke’s and he smiled softly.
“He is beautiful.”
“He is dangerous if I may say so meself.”
“Dangerous can be fun.”
Luke slowly turned his head and saw the source of the two voices.
They stood together, almost hip to hip. Tall and imposing figures with muscles that seemed to have been sculpted on their bodies that rippled. They wore right and black skin tight body suits, each of their body suits patters were an opposite reflection of the other’s, as if Luke were looking into a mirror. One had a single top knot of white hair, the other a top knot of black hair and they even seemed to blink in unison.
“Who are you?” Luke asked.
“He is lucid as well, splendid.” the red haired human exclaimed and clasped his hands together joyfully. Luke got a better look at him now. He was slim and elegantly dressed, a silk robe over a custom tailored tunic and pants. His boots were polished and clean, they acted as mirrors, reflecting everything around them.
He saw the extra pair of legs behind the twin muscle men. He peered past them and saw a gorgeous woman standing nearly naked in a dress that only covered the strategic areas – barely. She moved in a languidly slow and elegant motion as she picked a grape from a plate she was holding in her hand. Her hands were covered in decorative body paint depicting a series of intertwined serpents, each one unraveling and traveling up her fingers. Each finger bore a beautiful ring of multi colors.
Her long blonde locks were in a several intricate braids with rubies and diamonds worked through her strands of hair like a delicate embroidery.
“I see you have noticed my lovely Anastasia. She is the jewel in my crown.”
“Your wife?” Luke asked softly trying to draw the power of the Force and prepare to escape this prison. The metallic band holding him by the waist would be a problem without his lightsaber but---his thoughts seemed to flow like water, hard to concentrate, he was so easily distracted, the flash of light from Anastasia’s platinum earrings, the shifting feet of the muscle bound twins.
What was happening?
“I take it from your expression my good Nemesis that you are slightly…confused?” The young man with the purple eyes asked softly, he placed his index finger under Luke’s chin and raised Luke’s face up to look into this eyes. “You were downed by the use of a subspace domain generator. It really is a work of art. The Romulans secretly developed it a long time ago, you see they feared this entity known as Q and they saw what havoc the Q would cause in the Federation so the Praetor at the time in his infinite wisdom commissioned the creation of an anti-Q weapon.” The young man explained his eyes wandering over Luke, making him feel like an animal on a dissection table.
“The weapon was designed to impose another set of rules on the wayward Q. Once immersed within the subspace domain, the Q would be bereft of his abilities and easier to handle and kill. Ingenious, the technology seems like technobbable magic to me but what do I know.”
“So it’s on now?” Luke asked trying to focus on the conversation. He could barely follow it, his mind would slip away like a fish leaping up waterfalls to the next level, busily being distracted with something else.
“Oh no, Nemesis. If it was on now you and I would be screaming like babes in diapers. No, no, no, we wouldn’t want that. Besides, prolonged exposure to the subspace generator results in insanity and death. I assure you.” the young man replied as he turned Luke’s face to examine the sides of his neck and shoulders.
“I’m only going to say this once. Release me now or I will make you pay for holding me here.” Luke said darkly, eyes locking with the younger man. His thoughts turned to worries about Mara while he was trying to search the man’s eyes. What was wrong with him?
“Oh a threat! This is rich. I was so hoping you would have spirit even in your condition. I see I was not disappointed.”
“Lord Darkstar, how long do we have to be here?” Anastasia asked lazily.
Darkstar’s face twisted into a grimace.
“My love, my dear sweet Anastasia, perhaps you can do your lord a favor?”
“Yes my lord?” she replied barely interested as she placed another grape in her mouth and chewed it seductively.
“Be quiet!” he hissed angrily glaring back at her with a withering gaze.
She frowned and said nothing else.
“Lord Darkstar I presume?” Luke replied. What a beautiful edifice. He noticed. The white marble rippled like the surface of water and was meticulously carved – what in the name of the Force was wrong with him?!
“Indeed I am Lord Nemesis. I am Anton Hieronymous Darkstar, lord of the Orion Syndicates. These are my associates –” he pointed to the twin muscles. He found himself examining their odd clothes and their pretty black and white patterns. “Tweetle Dee and Tweetle Dum. Mr. Dee and Mr. Dum are in charge of my security and they are quite frankly the best that money can buy. I have assigned them to keep a special eye on you, sweet Nemesis.”
“Please to meet you governor.” Dee stated in his thick cockney accent.
“The pleasure is all mine, monsieur.” Dum added in a fine French accent.
“What have you done to me?” Luke asked tightly, he could not even hold on to his outrage and frustration, they evaporated like fog in the sun.
“Hmm, you noticed that eh? Be assured you are not drugged nor have I done anything permanent to you.” Darkstar brushed back a stray lock of hair from Luke’s forehead. “This collar houses a very teeny tiny hypersonic generator. It is putting out a steady signal that is inaudible to human and most humanoid ears.”
Luke was having trouble focusing, suddenly Anastasia moved and bells on her ankles chimed softly drawing his full attention away from Darkstar. Darkstar frowned and placed his hand around Luke’s jaw and roughly drew his attention back with a solid jerk of Luke’s jaw.
“Listen to me, Nemesis. I know its hard for you to focus that is the general idea but I find it unconscionably rude to lose interest in what I have to say.”
Luke blinked and tried to clear his mind.
“The hypersonic signal disrupts certain portions of your brain, in essence it keeps you from concentrating. At higher settings…” Darkstar lifted one hand up to Luke’s eye level. In his meticulously manicured hand he held a small remote control device. He clicked on a button. Luke winced and shuddered in the grip of the metallic waist restraint. He bit back a scream as he felt ice picks stabbing into his brain. His left eye could no longer see and he was having trouble breathing.
“The signal can effect your brain, to the point where your central nervous system would simply…overload.” Darkstar leaned in close and whispered the word in Luke’s ear as he began to writhe in pain. He could not even concentrate enough to block the pain, the simplest of Jedi pain control techniques was beyond him. His thoughts passed each other like debris on a raging river.
Darkstar watched him for a moment then nodded in satisfaction. He clicked another button on the remote. Luke slumped forward breathing hard. A small thin red drop of blood slowly rolled down his left nostril.
“Oh!” Darkstar gasped. “I’ve injured you.” he placed his finger against Luke’s nostril and collected the blood on the tip of his finger. “I would never want to harm you permanently my sweet Nemesis. That would be tragic indeed after all the work we’ve done to bring you into my collection.”
“Collection?” Luke croaked.
“Yes.” Darkstar replied eyes widened gleefully. He stepped back and extended his arms out in an expansive wide sweep. Luke looked up and saw the walls were covered with all manner of objects, art work, items and clothes. Each one was neatly arranged on a stand or suspensor field. Artwork floated in carefully arranged rows, a small holographic label floated above each painting or sculpture giving a detailed description of the piece.
The sculpture closest to him was a medium sized female carved out of white marble missing its arms. The sculpture looked ancient but still had a beauty and majesty that could not be denied.
“I am a human being, Darkstar.”
“And that makes you oh so much more valuable.” Darkstar replied. “You see unlike the rest of my collection you will eventually whither and die. But before that I have you now and forever my adorable Sith lord.”
Luke looked closely into the young crime lord’s eyes. He tried to focus as best he could, his thoughts wavered, threatening to disappear at a moment’s notice. As he looked into his eyes he could see it clearly dancing just behind the young man’s eyes, like a shadow swirling just out of sight.
Darkstar was clearly completely insane.
He saw the silver glint of something clipped to Darkstar’s belt. His eyes narrowed on it. His lightsaber. Darkstar nodded and patted the lightsaber.
“You want this don’t you? I’ve seen what you can do with this little gem.” Darkstar said with a cold smile as he ran his right hand over the polished pommel of the lightsaber. “You of course can’t be allowed to have this. Just to be sure about that, I will be keeping this unique treasure on my person at all times. You should be honored. It is rare that I keep any of my treasures so close.”
“You will release me now.” Luke stated firmly and clearly as he tried to hold onto the rhythm of the Force, trying to make it flow from him to the crime lord.
Darkstar paused for a moment as if he heard something far away then a smile slowly crept across his face.
“You are learning, aren’t you that you cannot use your magic? I gambled that it would depend on your ability to focus and concentrate. I see now that I was right.”
“And if you were wrong?” Luke asked, he kept trying to search for another option, but as soon as he tried to reason a way out of this gilded cage his thoughts would break up and vanish, concentration lost before he could focus. It was quickly becoming frustrating to him.
The voice of his master filtered through the confusion.
“Calm at peace. A Jedi uses the Force for knowledge and” the words vanished in another flurry of thoughts.
“If I were wrong Nemesis then you would no longer be alive, I assure you. Dee and Dum would have handled the situation.” Darkstar nodded to the two behind him. Dee stepped forward hefting a long thin staff. One end of the staff ended in a sharp point emerging from a blunted rounded end. Yellow tendrils of electricity danced along the pointed end and Dee jabbed it into Luke’s shoulder.
Luke grunted in pain, fighting the urge to scream as his shoulder felt as if it had exploded. His nerve endings were on fire as the Dee pulled back the staff.
“Don’t do anything permanent to him Dee.” Darkstar snapped in annoyance.
“It’s alright sir, nothing permanent happened I swear. It’s set on the lowest charge.”
“Besides, boss, it would be wise to acquaint him with the consequences should he decide to do anything unwise.” Dum added and winked at Luke.
“I think he got the point, eh kid?” Dee chuckled and pressed a hidden stud on the pike and it retracted instantly to the length of a baton which he clipped to his belt.
“So I will set you free now, Lord Nemesis and you are free to roam my palace. You are of course to be at my beck and call at all times. If you make me wait or otherwise act willful.” Darkstar held up the remote control and touched the button again. Luke stiffened and clenched his teeth to fight the urge to scream. He would not give the bastards the satisfaction. Darkstar flicked off the control. “Are we clear?” He asked darkly.
Luke’s head snapped up and he locked eyes with the mad Orion crime lord.
“Yes, but we need to be clear on two other things, Darkstar.”
“Go on.” Darkstar replied, smiling expectantly. He obviously enjoyed Luke’s willfulness whatever he said to the contrary.
“One, my name is Luke Skywalker not Darth Nemesis. Nemesis died on Scythia.”
Darkstar glanced over at Dee and Dum. Dum put his finger to his temple and made circular motions with his finger. Dee snorted.
“And?” Dee pressed.
Luke smiled softly and looked at both of the twins.
“There will be a reckoning between us. I assure you of that.” Luke replied coldly. Dum strode over to Luke and thrust his face forward into Luke’s.
“I look forward to that n’est pas? You and I we will do a little dance.”
Luke nodded.
“Then we have an understanding.” Luke replied coldly.
Darkstar smiled and shook his head.
“You are as unique as I imagined you to be Nemesis or Luke Skywalker, whatever you choose to call yourself, it does not matter at all.” Darkstar nodded to Dum who touched a switch on the metal restraint at Luke’s waist. There was an audible click and it swung away from him. Luke stood calmly watching the three, trying his best not to let his attention wander.
“But in the end it is all the same, Luke.” Darkstar extended his left hand casually and Anastasia floated over gracefully and took his hand, the other holding her bowl of grapes. She spared Luke a glance of bored interest. “You like everything else on this planet are now mine.” Darkstar declared with a gleeful smile and walked away.
She eased the controls and marveled at the ship’s responsiveness. This certainly beat a battered and damaged Lambda shuttle. The faint beeping on her screen increased in pitch slightly and a pulsing light began to flash on another screen.
She smiled softly.
The tracking device she had planted on Nemesis was working perfectly. He was far away but not out of range of the transponder.
Mara made the calculations for the jump to lightspeed while keeping an eye on her sensor net. It wasn’t easy taking off in this thing and not attracting attention from the orbiting ships. A small flotilla of Klingon ships were in orbit. They were orbiting in tandem with a Federation science vessel and of all things a squadron of X-Wing fighters.
She doubted that Slave One could handle all that firepower at once, no matter what modifications Fett had made to the patrol ship. Of course actually trying to fly this thing had turned into an adventure in itself. It seemed that every inch of this ship was bobby trapped.
She spent precious hours undoing all the traps Fett had set for anyone who dared penetrate his ship. Luckily her training as a Hand prepared her for such eventualities. She had to admit however that some of the traps were quite ingenious and she almost lost a limb several times in the process.
She was driven and nothing would stop her. Not booby traps, not enemy ships, not the growing realization of how stacked the odds were against her. She was going to rescue Nemesis no matter what it took.
She did not want to listen to the quiet voice in the back of her head telling her to turn this ship around and return to the Imperial Fleet, bow before Thrawn and explain that Nemesis was dead.
She could not imagine herself doing that.
She could feel the warmth of his body on hers, the soft silken kisses along her flesh still made her shudder with electric pleasure. She had said so much to him in the darkness of that cave. How could she turn back on him now? How could she deny the inexorable truth that had risen from her heart unbidden and unwanted.
She loved him.
The navcomputer indicated that the coordinates had been laid in and she was ready to make the jump to lightspeed.
“They say Fett’s ship was fast, fast enough to run down just about any quarry. Well, it’s time to find out.” she muttered and tripped the hyperdrive.
Slave One’s engines roared for a moment and the small patrol ship vanished into the star field as its hyperdrive activated.
“I’m coming to get you, Nemesis and pity the fools that get in my way.” she vowed quietly and made her way to the back of the ship and started to search through the weapons lockers and hold of her galaxy’s most formidable Bounty hunter for tools to help her in the quest.
The shipyards at Avalon were working in full swing, four shifts, twenty four hours a day. The nonstop activity was clearly visible to those in the main conference room. The representatives of the Federation government in exile could see as they spoke their fleet girding for battle. Endless lines of starships were pulling in for emergency repairs and upgrades on the eve of one of the most important battles in their history.
A Nebula class starship was parked not more than 200 meters from the main window that looked out on the center of Avalon so that the council was constantly reminded of what they were fighting for.
The Andorian representative paused in his deliberations for a moment to examine the starship outside his window. The blue lettering written boldly proclaiming: THE FEDERATION LIVES written along the primary hull’s saucer was faded and old, indicating that the ship was one of the first to join Kirk’s remnant fleet. Its battle scarred hull was a testament to her history in this war. One nacelle was cracked and blackened along the pulsing red bussard collector. Her secondary hull had several black scorched streaks running from the tip of the navigational deflector to the rear of the ship and a small corner of her sensor pod had been blasted off in some encounter.
Like a proud warrior the starship bore her scars without complaint as she patiently waited her turn to enter the over flowing shipyards, hoping to receive any last minute repairs that could be made before the order was given to travel to Andor and make a stand. Perhaps they hoped to receive the rapidly dwindling supplies of the first proton torpedoes produced by the Federation manufacturing facilities at Avalon.
A Miranda class cruiser coasted by, her overhead torpedo launcher reduced to a charred twisted mass of skeletal metal and the words THE FEDERATION LIVES was marred by battle damage to read: THE FEDATION LIES.
He wanted to cry at the sight before him.
Their finest warriors were coming to do battle despite their own damage, their leader lost to the fates and hope always at a premium during these dark times had abandoned the Federation.
His world and his people were facing slavery or worse and their only hope was these battered but proud warriors who would not bow to the inevitable. One could write a saga of this time.
“I finished ordering the transfer of three more wings of starships to the defense of Andor. Final adjustments are being made to Operation Rampart.” Jellico explained calmly as he stood before the council.
“These three wings.” the Andorian began. “consist primarily of Miranda and Excelsior class starships, each wing led by an Ambassador class starship. None of the Excelsiors are Lakota refits and only 15% of the total wings have received the new proton torpedoes we have developed.”
Jellico nodded.
“You are correct, sir.”
“Considering what’s at stake, Captain, do you think it wise to reinforce our system with your ready reserves? Did you think my government’s fears would be eased by seeing three wings, not even a full squadron of starships arrive to help reinforce the system and when we look closely those ships are all reserves that have been dragged out of mothballs or created by slapping together decimated wings from earlier battles?”
Jellico frowned and looked into the Andorian’s eyes.
“Sir, those men may be in old ships, they may come from wings, in some cases FLEETS that have been gutted by the Empire and Kirk’s fruitless attacks on their holdings but they are good people willing to fight and die for your world.”
“Not a single front line ship sir? Not a single Galaxy class, Nebula, Sovereign or Defiant? You have not even had the decency of sending at least the latest upgrades of these older ships. Not a single Lakota class refit?” The Andorian complained bitterly as he scrolled down the fleet manifests on his datapad, disgust evident on his face.
“Out of the entire Excelsior class fleet only a fraction received those refits before the war started.” Jellico replied evenly. What he wanted to say was, why would I throw away the cream of my fleet in a hopeless battle but that was not an option. Realistically, even though there was no hope of winning against a determined Imperial assault he had no choice but to make a stand.
Kirk’s plan on file was a laughably optimistic. He thought that he could hold the Imperials using a device that Spock, Scotty, Geordie LaForge and Leia’s engineering team had cooked up. The device was simple in description but the effect could be awesome except for one simple fact. The device would trap the Imperials in Andorian space and the last thing Jellico wanted to do was trap the fleet with his own.
He wondered whether Kirk had slowly gone insane as this war raged.
He was actually trying to fight this war to win it. The Federation could not win this war, Jellico had been certain of that since the Battle of Sector 001. He tried his best to be heard during those dark days. He thought that the Federation should either surrender and save the people any more suffering and save Starfleet lives. Either that or Starfleet should gather together what survivors they could and make a push out to the rim, somewhere in the Delta quadrant perhaps.
But this business of standing and fighting, frankly Starfleet was not cut out to be a guerrilla force. How do you fight a guerilla war utilizing ships that take time and resources to build, crews to recruit and train? The Empire held a vast majority of Federation space and every world of note save Andor was under their sway.
“When do you intend to make a stand at Andor? Our intelligence services predict a strike any day now. They have begun continuous jamming of our long range sensors.”
“I am well aware that the Empire is preparing the way for their strike but you must look at it from my view, this could all be an elaborate trap.”
The Andorian representative sat back slowly as if he had been told his children were dead. He slumped slightly, hands slowly folding together on the table top of the conference room.
“The Empire has made no secret of their intention to take Andor. Why are they taking their time? Its becoming obvious to me that they WANT us to make a stand at Andor.”
“You are afraid.”
Jellico shook his head and chuckled softly.
“Sir, it will take a lot more than that to get my goat, I’m not a Klingon, you can’t push my buttons with a simple assertion that has no basis in fact.”
“You are an accomplished orator, Captain Jellico.” the Andorian said softly as he gathered his belongings and rose from his seat. His aides immediately followed suit.
“What are you doing?” the Terran representative asked sharply.
“Is this wise?” the Vulcan representative asked.
“This is so typical. They have been hogging the attention all to themselves since this war began simply because their world had the good fortune of not succumbing to occupation troops!” the Tellarite representative spat sardonically.
“You called this meeting to discuss the defense of my homeworld. We have provided this remnant with shipyards, manufacturing centers, medical supplies, food, spare parts and we have given you, not sold, not lent or leased as the Ferengi have offered but GIVEN you a plethora of industrial replicators to aid you in your cause and now that we face near certain annihilation you tell us this could be a trap.”
“If you’ll calm down and listen—” Jellico began.
“I’m through listening to this funeral dirge Captain Jellico. You have decided that my world is a trap, that our defense will cost you ships and lives and that perhaps, maybe the Empire will crush your fleet but I ask you this—” The Andorian walked towards the door followed by his entourage. “Where will your fleet be three months from now when Andor has fallen. Where will you look to? The Gorn? The Tholians? How long before the Empire swarms over the rest of this galaxy? Once Andor falls they will move on and the lesser powers will certainly not hold out anywhere near as long as we have. So, Captain, please go on and lie to these people.”
“Don’t you accuse me of lying, sir. I’m trying my damndest to hold this fleet together against all odds.” Jellico snapped.
“Tell them that you are husbanding your fleet resources, that you are trying to avoid a trap crafted to destroy your fleet but don’t dare tell them what the Empire knows and I know. That this fleet will be destroyed if Andor falls whether you stand and fight or not.”
“You don’t know that.” The Terran representative replied.
The Andorian smiled sadly.
“Yes, yes I do. And so did James Kirk. The difference between this current administration and James Kirk’s command is that he was willing to fight even if the odds were slim to none he was ready to make sure that even if your fleet was to be defeated it would do so on its feet and not die slowly on its knees.”
“You answer me something then, councilor.” Jellico asked sharply. “You answer me what we gain by losing everything we’ve built here by willfully entering a trap the Empire has set for us.”
The Andorian glared at Jellico then looked at each of the Council with a sad gaze.
“If you don’t know the answer to that question then there is nothing more I need to say. You do not have the heart to win this war.”
“I’ve been commanding starships most of my career. I’ve fought in every war my Starfleet has sent me to defending and protecting this Federation. I am not afraid of war, or a battle.”
“Frankly Captain Jellico you have taken the spirit that Kirk infused in this fleet and made my people believe in the Federation remnant and have twisted and subverted it. You see, you’re fighting this war to survive. Kirk fought this war to win.”
“Where is your champion now, sir?” Jellico asked quietly.
“I wish I knew, Captain. I truly do.” The Andorian representative bowed his head slightly to the assembly and walked out.
The room was dark, only a single floodlight illuminated the center of the complex. A single missile sat on a launch pad. A series of command consoles surrounded the launch pad and technicians worked at computers lining the launch pad, several were running tricorder scans of the missile itself and comparing the readings to a datapad and nodding approvingly.
Silvis First Thane of Andor watched the proceedings with a grim determination.
Behind him on a large screen were large astrometric readings of the Andor system, her planets, moons and in particular her pale blue sun in the center. Readings concerning the sun’s solar mass, density, plasma flow, electromagnetic readouts and all sundry readings on the stellar body were continuously scrolling down the side of the main viewer. Scientists monitored the readings and were diligently plotting various course headings from Andor to the sun, shortest possible routes, circuitous routes, oblique approaches.
Data was fed from the astrometrics computer to a launch controller at the base of the pad. This self contained computer core’s sole function was controlling and caring for the missile and her payload.
It was also the computer that would most likely end all life on Andor.
“It is frightening.” Silvis whispered as he watched a small boxlike attachment being fitted onto the missile housing very carefully.
“It is our last defiant spit in the face of the Empire.” Holkom replied grimly. He was an older Andorian, his antennae were starting to become rigid and callused and his white down hair was fading to a more yellowish tone. Holkom was a mystery to many in the government but the First Thane knew who he was.
Holkom was the head of Andor’s intelligence community and a member of the Shadowfleet. The organization had secretly been helping Andor in its bid to secede from the Federation. They hoped to be able to create bases in an independent Andor and use Andor as a test bed for many weapons that the Federation and in particular Starfleet would have qualms fielding.
He came to Silvin’s office a few weeks ago when it became abundantly clear that Andor was going to stand alone against the fury of the Empire’s armies. The Andorian government issued a referendum asking the populace to grant them the mandate to do whatever it took to defend the honor of Andor even if it caused planet wide disruption to the lives of the people. The referendum was returned with a massive majority voting for the mandate.
Holkom had an alternative that was not open to the Andorians before. Stolen technology that the Shadowfleet had procured and was now disseminating to Andor. Silvis was no fool. He realized that if the Shadowfleet and Section 31 were starting to come out of the woodwork and working with the current governments of this quadrant then they had been dealt a mortal blow, one that Holkom had hinted heavily upon when making his proposal. There would be no cavalry of secret ships to help them.
However the option offered was chilling.
“The El-Alurians are a peaceful people are they not?” Silvis asked as he watched the device firmly fitted to the housing.
“Indeed they are. Mostly artists and craftsmen. The Borg assimilated their homeworld in the span of minutes. So much for the liberating nature of art.” Holkom replied. There was no hint of disapproval or derision. He was simply making a statement.
“I find it ironic that it was one of their species that designed such an awful weapon.” Silvis said softly.
“Irony is in the eye of the beholder, First Thane. This weapon will make our defiance against invaders legendary.”
“And the blood on our hands? Will it be any less damning?”
Holkom had no answer for the First Thane’s question as the missile suddenly wavered and vanished out of sight. The technicians that had attached the device to the missile’s housing turned to them and held up his hand in a positive gesture. Humans would call it the thumbs up sign.
The Melkot were slowly passing over their world, letting their minds float freely. It was their way. Their physical bodies had been reduced over time as their minds continued to evolve. They reveled in their ability to separate their minds from their bodies and float freely among the cosmos, allowing them to contemplate its mysteries.
Occasionally they would notice a starship that would stray into their space. They jealously guarded the area of their world, not through some aberration of evolution where they held on to such primitive notions of territoriality. They did so because they were afraid that the appearance of primitive minds may surprise a Melkot lost in the ecstasy of union with the universe.
In that surprise the Melkot would lash out hurt himself or the primitives. It had happened once in their distance past and the surprised Melkot annihilated a portion of their moon and the ship.
The last starship to cross their borders was a tiny vessel from the United Federation of Planets named Enterprise.
The Melkot dimly remembered James Kirk and his crew as they were brought to their homeworld’s surface and prepared for execution by the specters of their own mind. Lacking any knowledge of human history the Melkot simply plucked from James Kirk’s mind a setting for the execution. An old west shootout that would have eliminated the offenders were it not for the creative use of will power on the crew’s part.
The Melkot had been impressed and allowed the humans to leave, knowing that they would warn anyone else of the dangers of entering Melkot space. And they had done an excellent job, the Melkot were rarely if ever disturbed.
They continued as they had always done and did not notice the small moon that had suddenly appeared in the orbit of their homeworld. They did not feel the power of the battlestation as its main weapon was powered up.
One of the Melkot slowly drifted into the battlestation’s magnetic field and paused. It detected the electromagnetic disturbance and reached out. It was driven back by the raw hate and anger of the dark side of the force that had cloaked the massive vessel from the god like entities of the planet below. The Melkot reached out more forcefully this time, battering past the waves of anger and hatred and touched the source of this darkness.
“Who are you?” It asked.
“I am power.” came the reply in a reptilian like hiss.
“What are you doing here?”
“Killing you.” the reply was like ice.
The Melkot let loose a mental alarm as the battestation finally revealed itself in the light of the rising sun. Massive, hundreds of kilometers of durasteel and armor the superlaser lense irised and focused on the Melkot homeworld. The cloak of the dark side parted like a matador opening his cape defiantly.
The super laser fired.
An angry emerald beam lanced down to the planet and within seconds the ancient homeworld of the Melkot vanished in a titanic blast that evaporated the damaged moon in orbit as the debris of a dead planet smashed into the moon and continued accelerating away into the darkness of the void beyond.
The bodies of the Melkot were reduced to their component atoms in less than a heartbeat, delicate flesh and bone vaporized by the superheated death of their world. Their minds wandering the far reaches of the galaxy all screamed at once. Savagely deprived of their bodies they no longer had a source for their mental projection and in the instant their world died, the Melkot race vanished from reality with a death knell that continued echoing on through reality for all eternity.
“All is done as you command my master.” The young man in black announced as he bowed deeply.
The Emperor smiled.
“Good. Excellent work my young apprentice. Now we must leave this system before more of their brethren come to investigate.”
“Of course my master. I have already arranged for the Deathstar to hyperspace out to the extreme rim of the galaxy away from any civilized world. There in the shadow of a gas giant, lost in the frenzy of a pulsar star we will be undetectable until you order us to our next target.”
“Excellent work. I sense a question in your mind.”
His master knew him all too well.
“I did not think that slaying gods would be this simple, my lord. I could never have imagined this.”
“We have yet to ascend to the true heights I have planned for us. We will soon storm the very gates of reality and there will be nothing and no one that can stop us.”
“There are questions, my master. The Moffs and adepts are questioning why we have not contacted Grand Admiral Thrawn’s fleet?”
The Emperor glanced over at the chessboard set up at his right hand.
“All in good time, all in good time.” he promised softly in the shadows.
Chapter 63: Darkstar
“Wake up my pretty, pretty.”
The voice was soft like a gentle desert morning breeze. He stirred.
“Wake up my little Sith Lord. I want to look upon you.”
Luke slowly opened his eyes. The light burned into his vision like fire. He squinted.
“Ahh…look at him, so beautiful, so powerful. I wish I had more of him.”
“He’ll be trouble to control, governor.”
“Oui, but I do so look forward to disciplining him.”
“Shhh.” the original voice admonished the other two.
Luke blinked and cleared his vision as he examined his surroundings. He could feel a cold metal clamp around his waist and his neck had a heavy collar on it. His hands and legs were free as best he could tell. A quick check told him that he was intact and healthy, no toxins or drugs in his system.
He saw the face slowly come into focus. It was the face of a young man, no older than Luke, he had a mane of red hair that swirled down in barely controlled locks to his shoulders. A thin red goatee framed his face. His deep purple eyes gazed into Luke’s and he smiled softly.
“He is beautiful.”
“He is dangerous if I may say so meself.”
“Dangerous can be fun.”
Luke slowly turned his head and saw the source of the two voices.
They stood together, almost hip to hip. Tall and imposing figures with muscles that seemed to have been sculpted on their bodies that rippled. They wore right and black skin tight body suits, each of their body suits patters were an opposite reflection of the other’s, as if Luke were looking into a mirror. One had a single top knot of white hair, the other a top knot of black hair and they even seemed to blink in unison.
“Who are you?” Luke asked.
“He is lucid as well, splendid.” the red haired human exclaimed and clasped his hands together joyfully. Luke got a better look at him now. He was slim and elegantly dressed, a silk robe over a custom tailored tunic and pants. His boots were polished and clean, they acted as mirrors, reflecting everything around them.
He saw the extra pair of legs behind the twin muscle men. He peered past them and saw a gorgeous woman standing nearly naked in a dress that only covered the strategic areas – barely. She moved in a languidly slow and elegant motion as she picked a grape from a plate she was holding in her hand. Her hands were covered in decorative body paint depicting a series of intertwined serpents, each one unraveling and traveling up her fingers. Each finger bore a beautiful ring of multi colors.
Her long blonde locks were in a several intricate braids with rubies and diamonds worked through her strands of hair like a delicate embroidery.
“I see you have noticed my lovely Anastasia. She is the jewel in my crown.”
“Your wife?” Luke asked softly trying to draw the power of the Force and prepare to escape this prison. The metallic band holding him by the waist would be a problem without his lightsaber but---his thoughts seemed to flow like water, hard to concentrate, he was so easily distracted, the flash of light from Anastasia’s platinum earrings, the shifting feet of the muscle bound twins.
What was happening?
“I take it from your expression my good Nemesis that you are slightly…confused?” The young man with the purple eyes asked softly, he placed his index finger under Luke’s chin and raised Luke’s face up to look into this eyes. “You were downed by the use of a subspace domain generator. It really is a work of art. The Romulans secretly developed it a long time ago, you see they feared this entity known as Q and they saw what havoc the Q would cause in the Federation so the Praetor at the time in his infinite wisdom commissioned the creation of an anti-Q weapon.” The young man explained his eyes wandering over Luke, making him feel like an animal on a dissection table.
“The weapon was designed to impose another set of rules on the wayward Q. Once immersed within the subspace domain, the Q would be bereft of his abilities and easier to handle and kill. Ingenious, the technology seems like technobbable magic to me but what do I know.”
“So it’s on now?” Luke asked trying to focus on the conversation. He could barely follow it, his mind would slip away like a fish leaping up waterfalls to the next level, busily being distracted with something else.
“Oh no, Nemesis. If it was on now you and I would be screaming like babes in diapers. No, no, no, we wouldn’t want that. Besides, prolonged exposure to the subspace generator results in insanity and death. I assure you.” the young man replied as he turned Luke’s face to examine the sides of his neck and shoulders.
“I’m only going to say this once. Release me now or I will make you pay for holding me here.” Luke said darkly, eyes locking with the younger man. His thoughts turned to worries about Mara while he was trying to search the man’s eyes. What was wrong with him?
“Oh a threat! This is rich. I was so hoping you would have spirit even in your condition. I see I was not disappointed.”
“Lord Darkstar, how long do we have to be here?” Anastasia asked lazily.
Darkstar’s face twisted into a grimace.
“My love, my dear sweet Anastasia, perhaps you can do your lord a favor?”
“Yes my lord?” she replied barely interested as she placed another grape in her mouth and chewed it seductively.
“Be quiet!” he hissed angrily glaring back at her with a withering gaze.
She frowned and said nothing else.
“Lord Darkstar I presume?” Luke replied. What a beautiful edifice. He noticed. The white marble rippled like the surface of water and was meticulously carved – what in the name of the Force was wrong with him?!
“Indeed I am Lord Nemesis. I am Anton Hieronymous Darkstar, lord of the Orion Syndicates. These are my associates –” he pointed to the twin muscles. He found himself examining their odd clothes and their pretty black and white patterns. “Tweetle Dee and Tweetle Dum. Mr. Dee and Mr. Dum are in charge of my security and they are quite frankly the best that money can buy. I have assigned them to keep a special eye on you, sweet Nemesis.”
“Please to meet you governor.” Dee stated in his thick cockney accent.
“The pleasure is all mine, monsieur.” Dum added in a fine French accent.
“What have you done to me?” Luke asked tightly, he could not even hold on to his outrage and frustration, they evaporated like fog in the sun.
“Hmm, you noticed that eh? Be assured you are not drugged nor have I done anything permanent to you.” Darkstar brushed back a stray lock of hair from Luke’s forehead. “This collar houses a very teeny tiny hypersonic generator. It is putting out a steady signal that is inaudible to human and most humanoid ears.”
Luke was having trouble focusing, suddenly Anastasia moved and bells on her ankles chimed softly drawing his full attention away from Darkstar. Darkstar frowned and placed his hand around Luke’s jaw and roughly drew his attention back with a solid jerk of Luke’s jaw.
“Listen to me, Nemesis. I know its hard for you to focus that is the general idea but I find it unconscionably rude to lose interest in what I have to say.”
Luke blinked and tried to clear his mind.
“The hypersonic signal disrupts certain portions of your brain, in essence it keeps you from concentrating. At higher settings…” Darkstar lifted one hand up to Luke’s eye level. In his meticulously manicured hand he held a small remote control device. He clicked on a button. Luke winced and shuddered in the grip of the metallic waist restraint. He bit back a scream as he felt ice picks stabbing into his brain. His left eye could no longer see and he was having trouble breathing.
“The signal can effect your brain, to the point where your central nervous system would simply…overload.” Darkstar leaned in close and whispered the word in Luke’s ear as he began to writhe in pain. He could not even concentrate enough to block the pain, the simplest of Jedi pain control techniques was beyond him. His thoughts passed each other like debris on a raging river.
Darkstar watched him for a moment then nodded in satisfaction. He clicked another button on the remote. Luke slumped forward breathing hard. A small thin red drop of blood slowly rolled down his left nostril.
“Oh!” Darkstar gasped. “I’ve injured you.” he placed his finger against Luke’s nostril and collected the blood on the tip of his finger. “I would never want to harm you permanently my sweet Nemesis. That would be tragic indeed after all the work we’ve done to bring you into my collection.”
“Collection?” Luke croaked.
“Yes.” Darkstar replied eyes widened gleefully. He stepped back and extended his arms out in an expansive wide sweep. Luke looked up and saw the walls were covered with all manner of objects, art work, items and clothes. Each one was neatly arranged on a stand or suspensor field. Artwork floated in carefully arranged rows, a small holographic label floated above each painting or sculpture giving a detailed description of the piece.
The sculpture closest to him was a medium sized female carved out of white marble missing its arms. The sculpture looked ancient but still had a beauty and majesty that could not be denied.
“I am a human being, Darkstar.”
“And that makes you oh so much more valuable.” Darkstar replied. “You see unlike the rest of my collection you will eventually whither and die. But before that I have you now and forever my adorable Sith lord.”
Luke looked closely into the young crime lord’s eyes. He tried to focus as best he could, his thoughts wavered, threatening to disappear at a moment’s notice. As he looked into his eyes he could see it clearly dancing just behind the young man’s eyes, like a shadow swirling just out of sight.
Darkstar was clearly completely insane.
He saw the silver glint of something clipped to Darkstar’s belt. His eyes narrowed on it. His lightsaber. Darkstar nodded and patted the lightsaber.
“You want this don’t you? I’ve seen what you can do with this little gem.” Darkstar said with a cold smile as he ran his right hand over the polished pommel of the lightsaber. “You of course can’t be allowed to have this. Just to be sure about that, I will be keeping this unique treasure on my person at all times. You should be honored. It is rare that I keep any of my treasures so close.”
“You will release me now.” Luke stated firmly and clearly as he tried to hold onto the rhythm of the Force, trying to make it flow from him to the crime lord.
Darkstar paused for a moment as if he heard something far away then a smile slowly crept across his face.
“You are learning, aren’t you that you cannot use your magic? I gambled that it would depend on your ability to focus and concentrate. I see now that I was right.”
“And if you were wrong?” Luke asked, he kept trying to search for another option, but as soon as he tried to reason a way out of this gilded cage his thoughts would break up and vanish, concentration lost before he could focus. It was quickly becoming frustrating to him.
The voice of his master filtered through the confusion.
“Calm at peace. A Jedi uses the Force for knowledge and” the words vanished in another flurry of thoughts.
“If I were wrong Nemesis then you would no longer be alive, I assure you. Dee and Dum would have handled the situation.” Darkstar nodded to the two behind him. Dee stepped forward hefting a long thin staff. One end of the staff ended in a sharp point emerging from a blunted rounded end. Yellow tendrils of electricity danced along the pointed end and Dee jabbed it into Luke’s shoulder.
Luke grunted in pain, fighting the urge to scream as his shoulder felt as if it had exploded. His nerve endings were on fire as the Dee pulled back the staff.
“Don’t do anything permanent to him Dee.” Darkstar snapped in annoyance.
“It’s alright sir, nothing permanent happened I swear. It’s set on the lowest charge.”
“Besides, boss, it would be wise to acquaint him with the consequences should he decide to do anything unwise.” Dum added and winked at Luke.
“I think he got the point, eh kid?” Dee chuckled and pressed a hidden stud on the pike and it retracted instantly to the length of a baton which he clipped to his belt.
“So I will set you free now, Lord Nemesis and you are free to roam my palace. You are of course to be at my beck and call at all times. If you make me wait or otherwise act willful.” Darkstar held up the remote control and touched the button again. Luke stiffened and clenched his teeth to fight the urge to scream. He would not give the bastards the satisfaction. Darkstar flicked off the control. “Are we clear?” He asked darkly.
Luke’s head snapped up and he locked eyes with the mad Orion crime lord.
“Yes, but we need to be clear on two other things, Darkstar.”
“Go on.” Darkstar replied, smiling expectantly. He obviously enjoyed Luke’s willfulness whatever he said to the contrary.
“One, my name is Luke Skywalker not Darth Nemesis. Nemesis died on Scythia.”
Darkstar glanced over at Dee and Dum. Dum put his finger to his temple and made circular motions with his finger. Dee snorted.
“And?” Dee pressed.
Luke smiled softly and looked at both of the twins.
“There will be a reckoning between us. I assure you of that.” Luke replied coldly. Dum strode over to Luke and thrust his face forward into Luke’s.
“I look forward to that n’est pas? You and I we will do a little dance.”
Luke nodded.
“Then we have an understanding.” Luke replied coldly.
Darkstar smiled and shook his head.
“You are as unique as I imagined you to be Nemesis or Luke Skywalker, whatever you choose to call yourself, it does not matter at all.” Darkstar nodded to Dum who touched a switch on the metal restraint at Luke’s waist. There was an audible click and it swung away from him. Luke stood calmly watching the three, trying his best not to let his attention wander.
“But in the end it is all the same, Luke.” Darkstar extended his left hand casually and Anastasia floated over gracefully and took his hand, the other holding her bowl of grapes. She spared Luke a glance of bored interest. “You like everything else on this planet are now mine.” Darkstar declared with a gleeful smile and walked away.
She eased the controls and marveled at the ship’s responsiveness. This certainly beat a battered and damaged Lambda shuttle. The faint beeping on her screen increased in pitch slightly and a pulsing light began to flash on another screen.
She smiled softly.
The tracking device she had planted on Nemesis was working perfectly. He was far away but not out of range of the transponder.
Mara made the calculations for the jump to lightspeed while keeping an eye on her sensor net. It wasn’t easy taking off in this thing and not attracting attention from the orbiting ships. A small flotilla of Klingon ships were in orbit. They were orbiting in tandem with a Federation science vessel and of all things a squadron of X-Wing fighters.
She doubted that Slave One could handle all that firepower at once, no matter what modifications Fett had made to the patrol ship. Of course actually trying to fly this thing had turned into an adventure in itself. It seemed that every inch of this ship was bobby trapped.
She spent precious hours undoing all the traps Fett had set for anyone who dared penetrate his ship. Luckily her training as a Hand prepared her for such eventualities. She had to admit however that some of the traps were quite ingenious and she almost lost a limb several times in the process.
She was driven and nothing would stop her. Not booby traps, not enemy ships, not the growing realization of how stacked the odds were against her. She was going to rescue Nemesis no matter what it took.
She did not want to listen to the quiet voice in the back of her head telling her to turn this ship around and return to the Imperial Fleet, bow before Thrawn and explain that Nemesis was dead.
She could not imagine herself doing that.
She could feel the warmth of his body on hers, the soft silken kisses along her flesh still made her shudder with electric pleasure. She had said so much to him in the darkness of that cave. How could she turn back on him now? How could she deny the inexorable truth that had risen from her heart unbidden and unwanted.
She loved him.
The navcomputer indicated that the coordinates had been laid in and she was ready to make the jump to lightspeed.
“They say Fett’s ship was fast, fast enough to run down just about any quarry. Well, it’s time to find out.” she muttered and tripped the hyperdrive.
Slave One’s engines roared for a moment and the small patrol ship vanished into the star field as its hyperdrive activated.
“I’m coming to get you, Nemesis and pity the fools that get in my way.” she vowed quietly and made her way to the back of the ship and started to search through the weapons lockers and hold of her galaxy’s most formidable Bounty hunter for tools to help her in the quest.
The shipyards at Avalon were working in full swing, four shifts, twenty four hours a day. The nonstop activity was clearly visible to those in the main conference room. The representatives of the Federation government in exile could see as they spoke their fleet girding for battle. Endless lines of starships were pulling in for emergency repairs and upgrades on the eve of one of the most important battles in their history.
A Nebula class starship was parked not more than 200 meters from the main window that looked out on the center of Avalon so that the council was constantly reminded of what they were fighting for.
The Andorian representative paused in his deliberations for a moment to examine the starship outside his window. The blue lettering written boldly proclaiming: THE FEDERATION LIVES written along the primary hull’s saucer was faded and old, indicating that the ship was one of the first to join Kirk’s remnant fleet. Its battle scarred hull was a testament to her history in this war. One nacelle was cracked and blackened along the pulsing red bussard collector. Her secondary hull had several black scorched streaks running from the tip of the navigational deflector to the rear of the ship and a small corner of her sensor pod had been blasted off in some encounter.
Like a proud warrior the starship bore her scars without complaint as she patiently waited her turn to enter the over flowing shipyards, hoping to receive any last minute repairs that could be made before the order was given to travel to Andor and make a stand. Perhaps they hoped to receive the rapidly dwindling supplies of the first proton torpedoes produced by the Federation manufacturing facilities at Avalon.
A Miranda class cruiser coasted by, her overhead torpedo launcher reduced to a charred twisted mass of skeletal metal and the words THE FEDERATION LIVES was marred by battle damage to read: THE FEDATION LIES.
He wanted to cry at the sight before him.
Their finest warriors were coming to do battle despite their own damage, their leader lost to the fates and hope always at a premium during these dark times had abandoned the Federation.
His world and his people were facing slavery or worse and their only hope was these battered but proud warriors who would not bow to the inevitable. One could write a saga of this time.
“I finished ordering the transfer of three more wings of starships to the defense of Andor. Final adjustments are being made to Operation Rampart.” Jellico explained calmly as he stood before the council.
“These three wings.” the Andorian began. “consist primarily of Miranda and Excelsior class starships, each wing led by an Ambassador class starship. None of the Excelsiors are Lakota refits and only 15% of the total wings have received the new proton torpedoes we have developed.”
Jellico nodded.
“You are correct, sir.”
“Considering what’s at stake, Captain, do you think it wise to reinforce our system with your ready reserves? Did you think my government’s fears would be eased by seeing three wings, not even a full squadron of starships arrive to help reinforce the system and when we look closely those ships are all reserves that have been dragged out of mothballs or created by slapping together decimated wings from earlier battles?”
Jellico frowned and looked into the Andorian’s eyes.
“Sir, those men may be in old ships, they may come from wings, in some cases FLEETS that have been gutted by the Empire and Kirk’s fruitless attacks on their holdings but they are good people willing to fight and die for your world.”
“Not a single front line ship sir? Not a single Galaxy class, Nebula, Sovereign or Defiant? You have not even had the decency of sending at least the latest upgrades of these older ships. Not a single Lakota class refit?” The Andorian complained bitterly as he scrolled down the fleet manifests on his datapad, disgust evident on his face.
“Out of the entire Excelsior class fleet only a fraction received those refits before the war started.” Jellico replied evenly. What he wanted to say was, why would I throw away the cream of my fleet in a hopeless battle but that was not an option. Realistically, even though there was no hope of winning against a determined Imperial assault he had no choice but to make a stand.
Kirk’s plan on file was a laughably optimistic. He thought that he could hold the Imperials using a device that Spock, Scotty, Geordie LaForge and Leia’s engineering team had cooked up. The device was simple in description but the effect could be awesome except for one simple fact. The device would trap the Imperials in Andorian space and the last thing Jellico wanted to do was trap the fleet with his own.
He wondered whether Kirk had slowly gone insane as this war raged.
He was actually trying to fight this war to win it. The Federation could not win this war, Jellico had been certain of that since the Battle of Sector 001. He tried his best to be heard during those dark days. He thought that the Federation should either surrender and save the people any more suffering and save Starfleet lives. Either that or Starfleet should gather together what survivors they could and make a push out to the rim, somewhere in the Delta quadrant perhaps.
But this business of standing and fighting, frankly Starfleet was not cut out to be a guerrilla force. How do you fight a guerilla war utilizing ships that take time and resources to build, crews to recruit and train? The Empire held a vast majority of Federation space and every world of note save Andor was under their sway.
“When do you intend to make a stand at Andor? Our intelligence services predict a strike any day now. They have begun continuous jamming of our long range sensors.”
“I am well aware that the Empire is preparing the way for their strike but you must look at it from my view, this could all be an elaborate trap.”
The Andorian representative sat back slowly as if he had been told his children were dead. He slumped slightly, hands slowly folding together on the table top of the conference room.
“The Empire has made no secret of their intention to take Andor. Why are they taking their time? Its becoming obvious to me that they WANT us to make a stand at Andor.”
“You are afraid.”
Jellico shook his head and chuckled softly.
“Sir, it will take a lot more than that to get my goat, I’m not a Klingon, you can’t push my buttons with a simple assertion that has no basis in fact.”
“You are an accomplished orator, Captain Jellico.” the Andorian said softly as he gathered his belongings and rose from his seat. His aides immediately followed suit.
“What are you doing?” the Terran representative asked sharply.
“Is this wise?” the Vulcan representative asked.
“This is so typical. They have been hogging the attention all to themselves since this war began simply because their world had the good fortune of not succumbing to occupation troops!” the Tellarite representative spat sardonically.
“You called this meeting to discuss the defense of my homeworld. We have provided this remnant with shipyards, manufacturing centers, medical supplies, food, spare parts and we have given you, not sold, not lent or leased as the Ferengi have offered but GIVEN you a plethora of industrial replicators to aid you in your cause and now that we face near certain annihilation you tell us this could be a trap.”
“If you’ll calm down and listen—” Jellico began.
“I’m through listening to this funeral dirge Captain Jellico. You have decided that my world is a trap, that our defense will cost you ships and lives and that perhaps, maybe the Empire will crush your fleet but I ask you this—” The Andorian walked towards the door followed by his entourage. “Where will your fleet be three months from now when Andor has fallen. Where will you look to? The Gorn? The Tholians? How long before the Empire swarms over the rest of this galaxy? Once Andor falls they will move on and the lesser powers will certainly not hold out anywhere near as long as we have. So, Captain, please go on and lie to these people.”
“Don’t you accuse me of lying, sir. I’m trying my damndest to hold this fleet together against all odds.” Jellico snapped.
“Tell them that you are husbanding your fleet resources, that you are trying to avoid a trap crafted to destroy your fleet but don’t dare tell them what the Empire knows and I know. That this fleet will be destroyed if Andor falls whether you stand and fight or not.”
“You don’t know that.” The Terran representative replied.
The Andorian smiled sadly.
“Yes, yes I do. And so did James Kirk. The difference between this current administration and James Kirk’s command is that he was willing to fight even if the odds were slim to none he was ready to make sure that even if your fleet was to be defeated it would do so on its feet and not die slowly on its knees.”
“You answer me something then, councilor.” Jellico asked sharply. “You answer me what we gain by losing everything we’ve built here by willfully entering a trap the Empire has set for us.”
The Andorian glared at Jellico then looked at each of the Council with a sad gaze.
“If you don’t know the answer to that question then there is nothing more I need to say. You do not have the heart to win this war.”
“I’ve been commanding starships most of my career. I’ve fought in every war my Starfleet has sent me to defending and protecting this Federation. I am not afraid of war, or a battle.”
“Frankly Captain Jellico you have taken the spirit that Kirk infused in this fleet and made my people believe in the Federation remnant and have twisted and subverted it. You see, you’re fighting this war to survive. Kirk fought this war to win.”
“Where is your champion now, sir?” Jellico asked quietly.
“I wish I knew, Captain. I truly do.” The Andorian representative bowed his head slightly to the assembly and walked out.
The room was dark, only a single floodlight illuminated the center of the complex. A single missile sat on a launch pad. A series of command consoles surrounded the launch pad and technicians worked at computers lining the launch pad, several were running tricorder scans of the missile itself and comparing the readings to a datapad and nodding approvingly.
Silvis First Thane of Andor watched the proceedings with a grim determination.
Behind him on a large screen were large astrometric readings of the Andor system, her planets, moons and in particular her pale blue sun in the center. Readings concerning the sun’s solar mass, density, plasma flow, electromagnetic readouts and all sundry readings on the stellar body were continuously scrolling down the side of the main viewer. Scientists monitored the readings and were diligently plotting various course headings from Andor to the sun, shortest possible routes, circuitous routes, oblique approaches.
Data was fed from the astrometrics computer to a launch controller at the base of the pad. This self contained computer core’s sole function was controlling and caring for the missile and her payload.
It was also the computer that would most likely end all life on Andor.
“It is frightening.” Silvis whispered as he watched a small boxlike attachment being fitted onto the missile housing very carefully.
“It is our last defiant spit in the face of the Empire.” Holkom replied grimly. He was an older Andorian, his antennae were starting to become rigid and callused and his white down hair was fading to a more yellowish tone. Holkom was a mystery to many in the government but the First Thane knew who he was.
Holkom was the head of Andor’s intelligence community and a member of the Shadowfleet. The organization had secretly been helping Andor in its bid to secede from the Federation. They hoped to be able to create bases in an independent Andor and use Andor as a test bed for many weapons that the Federation and in particular Starfleet would have qualms fielding.
He came to Silvin’s office a few weeks ago when it became abundantly clear that Andor was going to stand alone against the fury of the Empire’s armies. The Andorian government issued a referendum asking the populace to grant them the mandate to do whatever it took to defend the honor of Andor even if it caused planet wide disruption to the lives of the people. The referendum was returned with a massive majority voting for the mandate.
Holkom had an alternative that was not open to the Andorians before. Stolen technology that the Shadowfleet had procured and was now disseminating to Andor. Silvis was no fool. He realized that if the Shadowfleet and Section 31 were starting to come out of the woodwork and working with the current governments of this quadrant then they had been dealt a mortal blow, one that Holkom had hinted heavily upon when making his proposal. There would be no cavalry of secret ships to help them.
However the option offered was chilling.
“The El-Alurians are a peaceful people are they not?” Silvis asked as he watched the device firmly fitted to the housing.
“Indeed they are. Mostly artists and craftsmen. The Borg assimilated their homeworld in the span of minutes. So much for the liberating nature of art.” Holkom replied. There was no hint of disapproval or derision. He was simply making a statement.
“I find it ironic that it was one of their species that designed such an awful weapon.” Silvis said softly.
“Irony is in the eye of the beholder, First Thane. This weapon will make our defiance against invaders legendary.”
“And the blood on our hands? Will it be any less damning?”
Holkom had no answer for the First Thane’s question as the missile suddenly wavered and vanished out of sight. The technicians that had attached the device to the missile’s housing turned to them and held up his hand in a positive gesture. Humans would call it the thumbs up sign.
The Melkot were slowly passing over their world, letting their minds float freely. It was their way. Their physical bodies had been reduced over time as their minds continued to evolve. They reveled in their ability to separate their minds from their bodies and float freely among the cosmos, allowing them to contemplate its mysteries.
Occasionally they would notice a starship that would stray into their space. They jealously guarded the area of their world, not through some aberration of evolution where they held on to such primitive notions of territoriality. They did so because they were afraid that the appearance of primitive minds may surprise a Melkot lost in the ecstasy of union with the universe.
In that surprise the Melkot would lash out hurt himself or the primitives. It had happened once in their distance past and the surprised Melkot annihilated a portion of their moon and the ship.
The last starship to cross their borders was a tiny vessel from the United Federation of Planets named Enterprise.
The Melkot dimly remembered James Kirk and his crew as they were brought to their homeworld’s surface and prepared for execution by the specters of their own mind. Lacking any knowledge of human history the Melkot simply plucked from James Kirk’s mind a setting for the execution. An old west shootout that would have eliminated the offenders were it not for the creative use of will power on the crew’s part.
The Melkot had been impressed and allowed the humans to leave, knowing that they would warn anyone else of the dangers of entering Melkot space. And they had done an excellent job, the Melkot were rarely if ever disturbed.
They continued as they had always done and did not notice the small moon that had suddenly appeared in the orbit of their homeworld. They did not feel the power of the battlestation as its main weapon was powered up.
One of the Melkot slowly drifted into the battlestation’s magnetic field and paused. It detected the electromagnetic disturbance and reached out. It was driven back by the raw hate and anger of the dark side of the force that had cloaked the massive vessel from the god like entities of the planet below. The Melkot reached out more forcefully this time, battering past the waves of anger and hatred and touched the source of this darkness.
“Who are you?” It asked.
“I am power.” came the reply in a reptilian like hiss.
“What are you doing here?”
“Killing you.” the reply was like ice.
The Melkot let loose a mental alarm as the battestation finally revealed itself in the light of the rising sun. Massive, hundreds of kilometers of durasteel and armor the superlaser lense irised and focused on the Melkot homeworld. The cloak of the dark side parted like a matador opening his cape defiantly.
The super laser fired.
An angry emerald beam lanced down to the planet and within seconds the ancient homeworld of the Melkot vanished in a titanic blast that evaporated the damaged moon in orbit as the debris of a dead planet smashed into the moon and continued accelerating away into the darkness of the void beyond.
The bodies of the Melkot were reduced to their component atoms in less than a heartbeat, delicate flesh and bone vaporized by the superheated death of their world. Their minds wandering the far reaches of the galaxy all screamed at once. Savagely deprived of their bodies they no longer had a source for their mental projection and in the instant their world died, the Melkot race vanished from reality with a death knell that continued echoing on through reality for all eternity.
“All is done as you command my master.” The young man in black announced as he bowed deeply.
The Emperor smiled.
“Good. Excellent work my young apprentice. Now we must leave this system before more of their brethren come to investigate.”
“Of course my master. I have already arranged for the Deathstar to hyperspace out to the extreme rim of the galaxy away from any civilized world. There in the shadow of a gas giant, lost in the frenzy of a pulsar star we will be undetectable until you order us to our next target.”
“Excellent work. I sense a question in your mind.”
His master knew him all too well.
“I did not think that slaying gods would be this simple, my lord. I could never have imagined this.”
“We have yet to ascend to the true heights I have planned for us. We will soon storm the very gates of reality and there will be nothing and no one that can stop us.”
“There are questions, my master. The Moffs and adepts are questioning why we have not contacted Grand Admiral Thrawn’s fleet?”
The Emperor glanced over at the chessboard set up at his right hand.
“All in good time, all in good time.” he promised softly in the shadows.
Wherever you go, there you are.
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Crazedwraith
- Emperor's Hand
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1st post. Cool, the emperor's fun ball has arrived.
I like the parralel with the DSII temptation scene and the Darkstar one.
I like the parralel with the DSII temptation scene and the Darkstar one.
Last edited by Crazedwraith on 2003-11-13 06:40pm, edited 1 time in total.
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El Moose Monstero
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Not a criticism perse, but I assume that this was one of the last chapters before all the ends start tying back together, hence the large quantity of subplots in the chapter?
Evil Brit Conspiracy: Token Moose Obsessed Kebab Munching Semi Geordie
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Captain Cyran
- Psycho Mini-lop
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Hehehe....very nice Stravo. Interesting way to deal with Luke. Liked that. The Andorian thing was GREAT, loved that part. Especially this.
And of course, it is wonderful to see the Death Star finally in action.[/i]
Heh, I found it humorous as you are writing a saga about what's happening.One could write a saga of this time.
And of course, it is wonderful to see the Death Star finally in action.[/i]
Justice League, Super-Villain Carnage "Carnage Rules!" Cult of the Kitten Mew... The Black Mage with The Knife SD.Net Chronicler of the Past Bun Bun is my hero. The Official Verilonitis Vaccinator
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Soontir C'boath
- SG-14: Fuck the Medic!
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This part is just so DAMN awesome. It is so Palpatine! Chilling to the bone as always.“Who are you?” It asked.
“I am power.” came the reply in a reptilian like hiss.
“What are you doing here?”
“Killing you.” the reply was like ice.
Cyaround,
Jason
I have almost reached the regrettable conclusion that the Negro's great stumbling block in his stride toward freedom is not the White Citizen's Counciler or the Ku Klux Klanner, but the white moderate, who is more devoted to "order" than to justice; who constantly says: "I agree with you in the goal you seek, but I cannot agree with your methods of direct action"; who paternalistically believes he can set the timetable for another man's freedom; who lives by a mythical concept of time and who constantly advises the Negro to wait for a "more convenient season."
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Trytostaydead
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Ghost Rider
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Nice set-up...glad to see the Death Star make it's debut...and nice nod at James Bond villains.
Nice set up for larger things.
Nice set up for larger things.
MM /CF/WG/BOTM/JL/Original Warsie/ACPATHNTDWATGODW FOREVER!!
Sometimes we can choose the path we follow. Sometimes our choices are made for us. And sometimes we have no choice at all
Saying and doing are chocolate and concrete
Sometimes we can choose the path we follow. Sometimes our choices are made for us. And sometimes we have no choice at all
Saying and doing are chocolate and concrete
Stravo, you are the greatest fanfic writter whose work I have ever had the pleasure of reading. I love the scene where Palpy uses the DS and you got Jellico perfectly. Lots of little mysteries to wonder at, you nailed everybody's personality, and finally the imps took notice of the fact the Emperor's Will could blow the Executor in just one shot of its superlaser. Only one minor complaint. After Luke went to such lengths to put himself back together again, I was really hoping to see him kick at least a little ass once he woke up and instead he's in some crazy's hands with a shock collar on him.
"I want to mow down a bunch of motherfuckers with absurdly large weapons and relative impunity - preferably in and around a skyscraper. Then I want to fight a grim battle against the unlikely duo of the Terminator and Robocop. The last level should involve (but not be limited to) multiple robo-Hitlers and a gorillasaurus rex."--Uraniun235 on his ideal FPS game
"The ability to destroy a planet is insignificant compared to the power of the Force."--Darth Vader
"The ability to destroy a planet is insignificant compared to the power of the Force."--Darth Vader
All the more to please you when he gets free of that collar. Remember his promise: "There will be a reckoning."Trogdor wrote: After Luke went to such lengths to put himself back together again, I was really hoping to see him kick at least a little ass once he woke up and instead he's in some crazy's hands with a shock collar on him.
Wherever you go, there you are.
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Trytostaydead
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Yeah, I would've expected know that he found himself and traveled to the Abyss and came back he would've amassed some type of inner-strength that no other Jedi has had before and proceed to biset those sons of bitches.Stravo wrote:All the more to please you when he gets free of that collar. Remember his promise: "There will be a reckoning."Trogdor wrote: After Luke went to such lengths to put himself back together again, I was really hoping to see him kick at least a little ass once he woke up and instead he's in some crazy's hands with a shock collar on him.
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Stuart Mackey
- Drunken Kiwi Editor of the ASVS Press
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How old was she at thatime of that photo?Stravo wrote:Now I give you the deterioration of Ms. Fisher.
Princess Leia with cottage cheese thighs....you KNOW Han is going somehwere else for some lovin'
Ahh Stravo..I hate to tell you this, but as you get older you tend to change a bit...and genetics can be cruel..being a junkie does not help either... When older age you reach, look as good you will not.
Via money Europe could become political in five years" "... the current communities should be completed by a Finance Common Market which would lead us to European economic unity. Only then would ... the mutual commitments make it fairly easy to produce the political union which is the goal"
Jean Omer Marie Gabriel Monnet
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Jean Omer Marie Gabriel Monnet
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Impressive. Andorians going to pop thier sun eh? Combined with Kirk's ploy of trapping the fleet in the system, he could have possibly won the war... Too bad Jellico doesn't have all the information at hand, he could pull off that manuver with far fewer qualms then Kirk would have had.
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
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Nuclear Navy Warwolf
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in omnibus requiem quaesivi, et nusquam inveni nisi in angulo cum libro
*
ipsa scientia potestas est
Thrawn will stop it easily. The final reckoning will be against the Death Star II, though who will be where and doing what, I'm not sure of.Ender wrote:Impressive. Andorians going to pop thier sun eh? Combined with Kirk's ploy of trapping the fleet in the system, he could have possibly won the war... Too bad Jellico doesn't have all the information at hand, he could pull off that manuver with far fewer qualms then Kirk would have had.
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