Star Crossed Fanfic
Moderator: LadyTevar
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Captain Cyran
- Psycho Mini-lop
- Posts: 7037
- Joined: 2002-07-05 11:00pm
- Location: College... w00t?
Damn you Stravo, DAMN YOU!!!!
I have been planning an assembly of the remaining Federation for the next part of my fic and you beat me to the punch! And the Briar Patch too!!! Damn it!
Nice chapter though, as always.
I have been planning an assembly of the remaining Federation for the next part of my fic and you beat me to the punch! And the Briar Patch too!!! Damn it!
Nice chapter though, as always.
Writer's Guild 'Ghost in the Machine'/Decepticon 'Devastator'/BOTM 'Space Ape'/Justice League 'The Tick'
"The best part of 'believe' is the lie."
It's always the quiet ones.
"The best part of 'believe' is the lie."
It's always the quiet ones.
I'd be interested to know what everyone thinks are like the top three chapters...this one was one of my faves to write. I cranked this out in two days and I just couldn't stop typing until it was done.Captain_Cyran wrote:This one is DEFINATELY on the top three chapter list Stravo. I LOVED this chapter!
Wherever you go, there you are.
Ripped Shirt Monkey - BOTMWriter's Guild Cybertron's Finest Justice League
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Ripped Shirt Monkey - BOTMWriter's Guild Cybertron's Finest Justice League
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Mark, that just proves that great minds think alike!!Mark S wrote:Damn you Stravo, DAMN YOU!!!!
I have been planning an assembly of the remaining Federation for the next part of my fic and you beat me to the punch! And the Briar Patch too!!! Damn it!
Nice chapter though, as always.
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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Grand Admiral Thrawn
- Ruthless Imperial Tyrant
- Posts: 5755
- Joined: 2002-07-03 06:11pm
- Location: Canada
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Captain Cyran
- Psycho Mini-lop
- Posts: 7037
- Joined: 2002-07-05 11:00pm
- Location: College... w00t?
Damn I love the lines in your Work Stravo, Brillant agian“Who is that?” Togray demanded.
“Just a concerned citizen who’s wondering just what in the hell happened to my pension plan.” McCoy deadpanned.
Oh and to everyone who posted ahead of me, I will see you all DEAD
Give or take two hundred years of course
"A cult is a religion with no political power." -Tom Wolfe
Pardon me for sounding like a dick, but I'm playing the tiniest violin in the world right now-Dalton
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willburns84
- Padawan Learner
- Posts: 351
- Joined: 2002-07-25 07:17pm
- Location: Comforting Ritsuko Akagi.
Ah, well. Too bad about Admiral Ross. He was one of those stable minor characters I'd always liked in the series.
Any plans on bringing in Captains Jellicoe or Maxwell? No, wait, that's a stupid question - you have more than enough characters already.
Any plans on bringing in Captains Jellicoe or Maxwell? No, wait, that's a stupid question - you have more than enough characters already.
"Fleet admirals have it made. They only have to worry about the success of their subordinates, their Moff, and guys whose name beings with Lord."
-Captain Seledrood (deceased)
"Iron within! Iron without!"
-Captain Seledrood (deceased)
"Iron within! Iron without!"
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Master of Ossus
- Darkest Knight
- Posts: 18213
- Joined: 2002-07-11 01:35am
- Location: California
Excellent, Stravo. I see that your talents as a writer have transformed this fanfic into a masterwork. I predict that your fanfic will rightfully win several Golden Star Destroyers. And the idea of Kirk as an Arthurian figure--perfect!
"Sometimes I think you WANT us to fail." "Shut up, just shut up!" -Two Guys from Kabul
Latinum Star Recipient; Hacker's Cross Award Winner
"one soler flar can vapririze the planit or malt the nickl in lass than millasacit" -Bagara1000
"Happiness is just a Flaming Moe away."
Latinum Star Recipient; Hacker's Cross Award Winner
"one soler flar can vapririze the planit or malt the nickl in lass than millasacit" -Bagara1000
"Happiness is just a Flaming Moe away."
MoO I'm so GLAD you picked up on that small subtext I added in the story. I've been a fan of Arthurian Lore as long as I could read, so I always try to add something of Arthurian legend in most of my writing, and Kirk, for me anyway, seems like the PERFECT arthurian figure.Master of Ossus wrote:Excellent, Stravo. I see that your talents as a writer have transformed this fanfic into a masterwork. I predict that your fanfic will rightfully win several Golden Star Destroyers. And the idea of Kirk as an Arthurian figure--perfect!
As for the Golden Stardestroyer awards, I'm eagerly anticipating what categories it may be nominated for...winning any would be nice but I'd like to know what parts of the story folks found most interesting so far.
Thanks again for your support MoO
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
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Okay folks, here we have a new chapter. They seem to be getting longer, and that's AFTER I do alot of editing and cutting out stuff. Let me know if these are getting too long for you guys to read and I'll edit more stuff out.
Chapter 23: Plans within plans
“We have confirmation that the vast majority of Klingon fleet elements have stood down ever since Lord Nemesis’ masterstroke of diplomatic genius won us the day in a single battle.” Branna reported.
Tarsi rolled his eyes. He glanced over at captains Jan Her of the Executioner and Vash of the Inexorable. The triumvirate all nodded to each other and smirked. Branna was renown for his ability to kiss ass with the best of them. I guess being flung across the universe and out of time had not effected that ability.
Tarsi knew better. He had served a brief stint under Vader during the blockade of Tatooine, one did not kiss up to a Sith Lord, one hoped that they survived a Sith Lord. He glanced down at his datapad. he was supposed to be writing notes on this briefing but he knew the situation all too well. He led the offensive on the Klingon empire, he had defeated every fleet they fielded against him. It was a route and despite their courage he hated them for their obstinence. Courage was one thing, suicidal resolve was another altogether. Even rebels surrendered when the battle was won, they did not send their ships into death dives against the enemy’s ships. He shook his head in disgust.
“However there is word that a small group of Klingon ships has fled into uncharted space and are massing. We believe that a rebellion is brewing within the Klingon empire. Small fleet elements have openly broken with their government and refused to accept the terms of our surrender.”
“Usually such defiance would earn the destruction of the capital world.” Mara added softly from her place at the back of the briefing room. Nemesis sat beside her quietly watching the proceeding. One of his eyes was black and blue, a bad bruise from his fight with the Klingons. Mara insisted that he get treatment and have it heal before many of the men saw it. She worried that the bruise would be seen as a sign of weakness.
Nemesis ignored her, despite the fact that using the force he could have healed the bruise in an hour of meditation. He understood these men better than she did, he also had his own plans in motion. The bruise was not seen as a sign of weakness, but many officers and particularly enlisted saw it as a sign of his unity and devotion with his crew. He had gone down there and faced a hundred raving Klingon warriors, some enlisted men had started a rumor that Nemesis had actually faced 500 Klingon warriors because they had ambushed him dishonorably, by the time the story had filtered back to the rear echelon and Romulan provincial fleets, the word was that the Klingons had emptied entire starships of crews to try and bring Nemesis down.
He was no longer the dread Sith lord who strode the halls looking for ways to kill people, he was one of them, a leader that cared enough for his men that he would rather face the threat alone than risk anymore Imperial lives. The first barest whispers had begun on Romulus. The emperor would not have done the same, Vader would not have done the same. Nemesis was a Sith lord of the people.
These whispers were quickly crushed by a ruthlessly efficient Imperial security, but the whispers were becoming persistent.
The bruise was not a sign of weakness, it was a declaration. This is what I have suffered for you and I would do so again without complaint.
Kittaine found himself admiring this young man from his seat directly to Nemesis’ left. He had united this fleet through some very dark times and they were tasting the sweet nectar of victory. A good portion of this galaxy was now in their hands.
“What news of the Federation collapse?” Nemesis asked quietly.
Branna nodded for a moment, shifting gears in his head from the Klingon situation to the Federation. The map on the wall winked to a close-up of Federation space. Wide swaths of green representing Imperial control filled up most of the cool blue Federation map.
“With the fall of Earth and the destruction of her central government, there was an initial wave of surrenders from some of the outlying worlds as well as some worlds in the center. We have absolute control of two of the founding worlds, Earth and Vulcan. The fall of Earth in particular triggered the seeming collapse of the Federation.”
“Seeming?”
Branna cleared his throat.
“It seems that there are rebel elements within the Federation that have refused to surrender to us. Chief among these is a world called Andor.” The map lit up to highlight the system in question. “Andor is currently providing rogue elements of Starfleet with supplies and ship building capabilities.”
“I see we have our new target.” Jan-Her smirked.
“Unfortunately this will not be as simple as we first thought.”
“Go on, Captain.” Kittaine urged.
“Andor has turned itself into a fortress world, they have laid mines between the main planet and its outermost worlds. Hundreds of system patrol craft are on constant patrol and there are numerous missile emplacements as well as a new type of drone ship we have never encountered before, essentially a flying bomb it is programmed to collide with a target causing maximum kinetic and explosive damage.”
“We also believe that much of their defenses are cloaked.” T’Vok spoke up for the first time in the briefing. He was looking happier and more content in his role. Victories had a way of doing that to men. Kittaine mused.
“Curious, T’Vok, I thought that there was a treaty with your government that did not allow the Federation to develop this cloaking technology.” Vash asked in his low whisper.
“The treaty of Algeron has been violated more times than we can count, many elements in Starfleet and Federation intelligence were never happy with the treaty, they realized that they were giving up an enormous tactical and strategic advantage. I always assumed that the deeper we probed Federation defenses the more of these supposed violations we would find. What troubles me is that we found no such examples until now.” T’Vok replied.
“The Andorians were planning to secede from the Federation.” Nemesis replied.
“My Lord, indeed they did. They seceded before issuing the proclamation that any Starfleet vessel seeking sanctuary would be welcomed in Andorian space.”
“No, Branna, the reason why they ARE a fortress world is because they were planning to secede from the Federation before we arrived.” Nemesis explained. Several of the captains exchanged puzzled expressions. Kittaine knew better. Nemesis intuition had proven 100% accurate so far in this little war and Kittaine had grudgingly accepted it as a valuable asset.
“Uh, I see.” Branna replied nonplussed.
Tarsi snorted.
“What is your strategic assessment of a strike against Andor, Admiral?” Nemesis asked.
Kittaine rubbed his chin slowly.
“It will be difficult, we would sustain heavy losses, particularly among our lighter ships which suffered heavy casualties during the battle for Earth.”
Some chairs were empty, a testament to the losses suffered among the lighter ships. Some stardestroyer captains nodded to themselves, there but for the grace of the emperor…but some like Tarsi shrugged. Such was war and if they were truly competent commanders they would have survived or they would have been commanding stardestroyers.
“Currently we are also facing a looming crisis regarding our starfighters. Our losses have been appalling, the enemy has quickly realized that our fighters do not have shields and have been concentrating much of their torpedo fire on our fighters. Some stardestroyers have lost 50% of their total fighter inventory.”
Nemesis nodded.
“Have we investigating retrofitting the fighters with shields?”
“That would be a good solution but time and resources are against us, to fashion shield generators small enough to fit on our fighters without significantly effecting weapons and speed performance is a task best suited for a dry-dock or research facility, not our limited hangar bays.”
“Not our shield systems, this galaxy’s shield systems. Their shuttles and small craft are all shielded.”
Kittaine wrinkled his face in distaste. “Their shield grids are primitive and frequency based, it would be utterly useless against rebellion starfighters.”
“But NOT against their own weapons.” Nemesis replied softly.
Kittaine slowly nodded.
“I see.”
“The fighters only need to be protected from the weapons systems that this galaxy sports and if their shields can protect their own craft from weapons, even limited protection is better than none. These ‘primitive’ shield grids would draw little power from our fighters’ reserves thus eliminating the problem of adverse impacts on their performance.”
“I will see to it that a squadron is retrofitted and field testing commence right away, my lord.”
Nemesis nodded and waved Kittaine to continue.
Mara watched him closely. When they had first come on board this fleet, Nemesis made it very clear that he wanted nothing to do with the officers or crew. He sealed himself in his room, appearing only in the most important briefings. But when they were brought into this galaxy, he seemed to flourish. He became the leader that she knew he was. As Luke Skywalker, he was one of the most important and visible leaders of the insipid rebellion. He was becoming as visible and as important to this fleet. She was uncertain how to feel about that.
There was a danger in this new attitude. She understood that in order to stabilize this infant Imperial province Nemesis needed to take the place of the emperor, but there was a difference here. She had worked with Vader, Vader never allowed anyone under his command forget who was truly in charge. Nemesis had barely mentioned the emperor in the last few days. At Romulus he was hailed as a hero of the people. She had seen holovids of rallies where thousands gathered and watched the replays of the BDZ of Quo’nos and the capture of Earth. They chanted his name and statues were being erected across many worlds.
This was not the way a servant of the empire should act. Oh, Nemesis made his show of protesting against the actions but there was never any violent reaction, never an order to arrest those that spoke his name as leader instead of the emperor. She could not accuse him of anything, because what he was doing made political sense. It just made her uneasy. Obviously she was the only one. Many of these officers were resigned to the fact that they were far from home and out of time. Many had made peace with the fact that they were never going to return and this galaxy was their new home…and how many were looking to Nemesis to be their new emperor.
Why was she so angry? Perhaps this was the only way. If everything was correct, they were thousands of years from home. The emperor was most likely long dead by now, the empire may have even collapsed. Why be angry at Nemesis fro creating a small piece of home in this galaxy?
She glanced at him out of the corner of her eye. He looked dashing in his black tunic and cape, he seemed to grow in stature since they arrived here. He was a natural leader and she had seen the way he tore those Klingons apart, the speed, the ferocity, Vader could never have done that.
She also remembered the kiss.
It sent a strange flutter through her belly. She fought down the feeling and pointedly ignored him.
“Our lighter ships have suffered heavy damage, quite frankly some require dry-docks to be brought back to full operational status.” Kittaine continued. “The Relentless is heavily damaged, her bridge was nearly destroyed, repair crews are trying to get the tower back in operational service, but current Federation shipyards are simply unable to handle such a project to my satisfaction.”
“What of Captain Belladonna?” Tarsi asked.
Vash glanced at his old friend. He knew that Tarsi and she had been lovers. He did not know whether they still were.
“She is still in the medical ward. Her injuries were quite severe.” Kittaine replied. “The Relentless will have to be pulled off the line until she can be repaired.”
“That is unacceptable.”
“My Lord, the Relentless has suffered extensive damage from our last engagement with the Borg, her engines were crippled and bridge tower nearly destroyed in the Battle for Earth. She is in no condition to keep on fighting, at least until there are some extensive repairs.”
Nemesis stared hard at Kittaine.
“We cannot allow the people of this galaxy to see any weakness, real or perceived, it will be destructive for us. We must use our greatest weapon, fear. Fear of this fleet will keep the other systems in line. Should we show that our ships can be taken off the line and we are afraid about losses then disorder will only grow.”
“What do you suggest we do, my lord?” Kittaine asked.
“Shift the Relentless to less stressful duty, have her patrol Vulcan space. Our lighter warships will split between Earth and Romulus. They will be repaired in the Romulan shipyards, the ones on duty at Earth will only have superficial repairs committed.”
“You don’t trust the Terran system?”
“Would you show your recently conquered foe how badly you’ve been hurt?” Nemesis asked pointedly.
T’Vok nodded.
“A strike against Andor is inadvisable at this time. Let us consolidate our holdings, regroup and repair then we will take that world by force.”
“I want a plan for an assault in my chambers by the end of the day. I will decide when we strike. I want to make one thing clear, we will not have a repeat of the diaster that Mon Calamari became. I will not allow the rebel Starfleet to find a safe haven in this galaxy. Is that clear?”
The assembled commanders nodded.
T’Vok cleared his throat.
“There is another matter which my government has asked me to relay to you.”
“Go on.”
“We realize that your fleet’s mobility is severely limited by our warp drive, Captain Tarsi could have advanced faster and further into the Klingon lines were his Romulan lines not forced to advance via warp drive.”
“Yes.”
“We are making a formal request of the Empire to provide us with some form of hyperdrive so that we can become a fully integrated portion of the fleet.”
There was an uncomfortable silence in the room. T’Vok forged ahead.
“Think of how differently the battle for Earth may have gone if you had our warbirds at your side, how fast tarsi would have cut through the Klingons with hyperdrive capable warbirds.”
“Frankly, Lord Nemesis, I could have been at Quo’nos in a single day instead of four.” Tarsi added.
Nemesis glanced between the men and exchanged a hooded gaze with Kittaine. Kittaine frowned slightly.
“I will grant your request. It is time the Romulans become true partners in this conquest.” Nemesis replied, there was shock on many commander’s faces. Tarsi nodded softly. He had no doubt that even if they gave these pointy eared bastards the finest hyperdrives in the galaxy, he could still destroy an armada of their so called warbirds with just the Adjudicator.
“Thank you my lord.” T’Vok replied and bowed his head deeply.
“There is something else that we may need to focus on quickly.” Vash added.
“What is it captain?”
“This prize is quickly becoming too large to hold onto. The fact is that many of these worlds that have surrendered to us do not have a single Imperial or Romulan soldier standing on their soil. This needs to be rectified immediately. It will become extremely difficult to maintain order, especially if this nascent rebellion gains any support.” Vash warned.
Nemesis smiled coolly.
“That will soon be rectified captain. Admiral T’Vok what is the status of Project Phoenix?”
“The first units will be operational in a week.”
“Excellent.”
The captains exchanged puzzled glances. All save Kittaine. He knew what this project Phoenix was and if it was successful, victory would be assured and a new province of the Empire would be secured forever.
“Admiral, I want one thing from our intelligence branch.”
“My lord.”
“Find out everything you can about a Captain James T. Kirk. I sense a threat growing from him.”
“We did some preliminary checking my lord…”
“And?” Nemesis pressed.
“According to all our inquiries and searches on surviving Starfleet databases Captain James T. Kirk has been dead for close to a hundred years.”
“What does that mean?” Mara asked incredulously.
“It means that we are facing a very dangerous thing.” Nemesis answered.
Mara and the others waited for Nemesis to complete his thought. Nemesis looked each of them in the eyes.
“We are going to be fighting a legend. Legends have ways of inspiring people, they have a way of growing, they are notoriously hard to kill.” Nemesis replied.
There was silence in the room. Tarsi grinned and turned to the rest of the triumvirate.
“I’ve never killed a legend before.” He stated with a hungry grin.
There was a bustle of movement in the large hangar bay. Troops and crewmen moved throughout the massive hangar bay, prepping shuttles, delta flyers and runabouts. Crates of supplies were quickly stacked and taken away by hover pods. Spray painted across the far wall of the hangar bay was a new slogan that had caught fire with the fleet. It was a slogan taken from Kirk’s impassioned speech, a speech that had grown to take epic proportions among the enlisted men.
There were three simple words painted in blue on the neat hangar bay walls. THE FEDERATION LIVES. No one knows who started the spray painting, but soon it appeared everywhere. The spray painted slogan was in engineering Jeffries tubes, turbo lift walls, and recently began appearing on the hulls of the starships.
In the large conference room of the Enterprise, James Kirk stood at the head of the table, a collection of officers filled the room to standing. A battle plan was projected on the wall behind Kirk.
“So our mission will not be easy, it requires precision planning, courage and a little luck.”
“Are you sure we can hold our position for as long as you need us to?” Riker asked.
“We have to hold it, Captain Riker. There is no other way. If this works, we will have delivered three simultaneous blows to the Empire. We’ll cripple their plans in the Alpha quadrant, particularly their research in wormholes, we will destroy one of their invincible warships and we will bring hope to those without it. We all know what’s going on in the rest of the Federation. The only world in the entire Federation that supports us fully is Andor. We need to provide more victories. The sad fact is that no one is going to support a cause that seems hopeless. Only victories bring that kind of support and the Empire has gone out of its way to project an aura of invincibility.”
“Considering that they have conquered the Romulan Empire, crippled the Klingon Empire and have captured the capital of the Federation, without suffering significant casualties I believe that this aura of invincibility is not a simple perception.” Data interjected.
“Thank you commander, Data.” Kirk replied wanly.
“He’s a wonder for morale ain’t he?” McCoy drawled from the back of the gathering. This drew some laughter from the assembly.
Data looked slightly confused.
“I was merely trying to show that the Empire’s perceived strength is not just a simple matter of luck or skill. Their technology is many orders of magnitude ahead of ours.” Data went on to explain. Riker put a hand on Data’s shoulder.
“Thanks Data, I think we grasp that.”
“Engineers, the key to our victory is in your hands.” Kirk went on and the battle plan behind him changed to a series of engineering schematics.
Geordi frowned as he took in the full depth of Kirk’s plan.
“That’s quite an order you’ve put in Captain. You want this done in two days?!” Geordie asked incredulously.
“Ours is not to question why…” Scotty muttered to Geordie with a good natured smile.
“Indeed I do. If we don’t have this done in two days, then we miss a window of opportunity. The Empire will have a full week to indoctrinate the population of the Federation on the Battle of Sector 001. A victory now will give us something to rebut the Imperial propaganda with.”
“Sir, if I may, it’s going to take a lot of engineers, men and equipment to build that many warp cores, adapt them to those objects…in fact, I’m not even sure a stable warp field will be able to form over that.”
“Captain, Commander LaForge is right, we are going to need more than just the engineering teams we have in this fleet.” Scotty added seriously. No one had ever done what Kirk planned, but doing the impossible was what Starfleet engineers were best at.
“What will you need?” Kirk asked.
“Every able bodied man in the fleet to help set this up.”
“You will have whatever you need. This.” He pointed to the schematic, his finger jabbing right into the hologram. “is the key, the very crux of our attack. If you can’t get this to work we might as well call this operation off now.”
“Captain, you have my word, if I have to haul them on my own back, it will be done.” Scotty vowed.
“Good. I’m also open to suggestion regarding the delivery service. I need a ship that is relatively small, atmospheric capable and can take a pounding. I’m not as familiar with the new class of starships available to me so if there’s something I’m missing.” Kirk asked looking out over the assembled officers.
“Looking at the objectives this ship is going to have, the only vessel that I think can even begin to do this job is our Defiant class escorts. They’re small, fast and they take a helluva beating.” Riker suggested.
“It is doubtful that the Defiant could survive multiple hits from Imperial weapons.” Data replied.
“This will be a difficult part of the mission, but we have found a way to help the vessel going in for the extraction.” Spock replied and held up a large rounded device. It was a clear globe with glowing lights and a control rod descending down from the globe.
“What is that?” a captain asked from the back.
“That is a Romulan cloaking device.” Captain Entebbe answered.
“How in the hell did we get our hands on one?” another captain exclaimed.
“Well, its actually not a new model. This cloaking device was liberated by me and my crew in a classified mission.”
“THAT cloaking device.” another captain breathed.
“Well, it WAS classified.” Kirk smirked.
“Captain Entebbe was kind enough to liberate this device from a Starfleet museum during the battle and passed it on to me.”
“You’re turning into a regular thief there Entebbe, first the tricobalt devices from the Starfleet Central Armory now this.” someone leaned in and whispered into Entebbe’s ear. Entebbe merely grinned. He was not an exciting man, he rarely took any chances, he liked things to remain status quo, but there was something about Kirk that made you want to do the unthinkable, to be daring. He never felt more alive than he did in these last few days.
“Although this cloaking device is not as advanced as the ones currently fielded by the Romulans it should provide the vessel with some protection during insertion.” Spock added.
“We’ll still have to drop the cloak to commence transporter operations.” another captain noted with worry.
“Correct. That’s why we need a ship that can take a pounding and still function.”
“Captain, we may not be dealing with standard planetary defense systems. The Empire could have upgraded their defenses, particularly around the facility.” Data pointed out.
“Captain, may I make a suggestion.” Leia spoke up for the first time. She was seated to the right of the head of the table. The gathering had given her a wide berth, partly out of respect, mostly because an eight foot tall Wookie was seated next to her.
“Go ahead, Princess.”
“I have a ship that should be able to suit your needs perfectly. Its fast, tough and has taken more of a pounding than you can imagine.”
“Oh?”
“She’s called the Millennium Falcon.” Leia replied. Chewbacca stiffened and his head whipped down to glare at her. Leia ignored him. “She’s one of the fastest ships in the Alliance fleet and she has military grade shielding and armor.”
“Sounds like what the doctor ordered.”
McCoy snorted.
“I doubt the ship has transporters.” Riker pointed out.
Kirk looked over at Scotty. Scott rolled his eyes and muttered angrily to himself.
“I’m sure Mr. Scott and Mr. LaForge can install transporters and the cloak onto your ship.”
“Is he always this demanding?” Geordi whispered to Scotty. Scott glanced over at the young engineer and smiled warmly.
“Lad, this man has not even begun to task us. Wait until he starts asking us to break the laws of physics.” Scott replied.
Geordi stared at Scott waiting for the joke, his jaw dropped as it became very clear that Scott was being totally serious.
“Then it is settled.”
“Not quite, sir. We’re going to need a pilot for the Falcon and I think that Lieutenant Tom Paris would be ideal.” Wedge interjected. Chewbacca barked something that sounded very negative.
“The universal translator having problems?” McCoy asked dryly.
“I’d say he’s intimidated it to leave his words as is.” Kirk muttered out of the corner of his mouth.
“Chewie, please.” Leia asked putting a hand on Chewbacca’s forearm. Chewbacca sighed deeply shaking his furry head.
“In the interests of cooperation between our people it would be best for all of us of Starfleet personnel began working alongside us in all aspects of our missions, even flying some of our ships.” Leia continued for Wedge. Tom sat next to Wes and he was suddenly in the spotlight. He looked as if he had not slept in days, but there was a smoldering anger in his eyes.
“It would be my honor to fly in this mission.” Paris replied mechanically. Wes glanced at his newfound friend with some concern. He had talked it over with Wedge and assured him that Tom had talent, real talent. Many of Rogue squadron were appalled by the Federation’s pilots use of touch pad controls and over reliance on computer assisted flight systems. It took a lot for Wes to convince Wedge that Tom was real pilot material. Wes just hoped that Tom snapped out of his funk in time for the mission.
“Alright.” Kirk replied, a little concerned by Paris’ demeanor.
“I think our briefing is adjourned until 0900 when we begin prewarp checks and final mission briefings to all departments. Captains, be honest with your crews, a lot of us are not coming back from this mission. The current threat level of the Imperial vessels is simply to high to believe that we will not suffer heavy casualties in this mission but I believe that it’s worth it.” Kirk said seriously. “Remember what we are fighting for, we took an oath to protect and defend the Federation and that’s what we’re doing. Nothing less can be asked of any of us.”
The assembled commanders nodded grimly and filed out of the room. Kirk sat back and sighed heavily as the last of the men were leaving.
“Mr. Paris?”
Tom stopped at the door and slowly turned around. Kirk motioned for him to come over. Tom did so.
“Let me give you some advice son. Get some sleep. In two days you’re going to be flying a ship you are unfamiliar with into the teeth of some planetary defenses with little or no support from any of us because we will be too busy trying to stay alive.” Kirk said softly.
Tom stared into Kirk’s eyes for a moment before replying.
“Sir, this mission is going to hurt the Empire, right?”
“Yes.”
Tom smiled softly. It was a shadowy smile, one Kirk had seen too many times from men that no longer cared about much of anything. “Then that’s all I need to know, sir.” Tom turned and walked away.
Kirk decided against saying anything else. Wes paused by Kirk’s seat.
“Sir, he lost his wife and child on Earth. It would not be the first time and certainly won’t be the last time the Empire has destroyed entire families, but Tom is a good pilot and he will do what he needs to do. I’ll see to it personally.”
“Friend of yours, Janson, is it?” McCoy asked.
“Yes sir.”
“I would see to his emotional well being more than his piloting and military skills right now. Anger and revenge have ways of making sure you get things done, but it leaves you empty inside, and that young man needs a friend right now more than he needs a combat mission.” McCoy counseled.
Wes nodded and left. Leia, Wedge, Spock, Riker, Data and McCoy remained in the room. Scotty and Geordi were the last to go and they were debating fiercely.
“No, we’ll need to bypass the plasma conduits at the junctions here and here if we want optimal warp performance.”
“Ach! That will make them nothing more than bombs waiting to explode!” Scotty snapped as they exited the room.
“So, what do you all think?” Kirk asked finally sitting down.
“It’s daring, but there are a lot of things that could go wrong, not to mention your method of destruction of a stardestroyer is…shall we say…unique.” Wedge offered.
“It has the virtue of never having been tried, so the Imperial forces won’t know what to expect.”
“It is also a fact that we don’t really know what will happen, we don’t know if it will crack their shields.” Riker countered darkly.
“I’ve run the equations several times with the help of your Mr. Data and it has more than enough energy to do so.” Spock replied.
Riker looked a little skeptical. He had gone toe to toe with these monsters and seen them take an enormous amount of punishment. It was hard to think that this simple plan would lay one of those behemoths low.
“I believe that we simply have no choice. Kirk is right, we need a victory and we need one now.” Leia added.
“I could use a little time alone. By the way, Captain Riker, thank you for letting me on board this ship. She is in every way as fine as the ship that I had in the past. She’s worthy of the name.” Kirk commented.
“The honor is mine sir, although I feel a little funny taking Mr. Spock’s place as your First Officer.”
“You proceed from a false assumption, Captain Riker, I am a Vulcan, I have no ego to bruise.” Spock replied.
“Just circuit boards and memory banks.” McCoy muttered.
“If you please, I have some things to discuss with my officers before I see to an inspection of the ship, I have a whole century’s worth of technology to get acquainted with in two days time.” Kirk said with a soft sigh.
“Of course Captain.” Riker said with a nod. The others said their respects and left. Leia lingered and smiled softly at him but Chewbacca suddenly grabbed her and dragged out of the room.
The doors slid shut leaving the three old friends alone.
“What is it, Jim? Something eating at you?” McCoy asked leaning in closely to see his old friend’s eyes.
“My God, Bones, what have I done?” Kirk asked in pain.
“What do you mean?” McCoy pressed. Spock did not look concerned, but his eyes narrowed on his stricken captain.
“I’ve read the reports, I’ve seen the combat footage from the battle, I’ve read Spock’s and Data’s analysis of their technology. This battle could be hopeless. I could be sending these fine people to fight and day without any hope.” Kirk lamented angrily and slammed his fist on the table.
“It’s one thing for me to go on and challenge these bastards by myself, but to ask millions of these people to fight and die for a cause that we may have no chance of wining?”
“Jim, you’re doing what you’ve always done, you’re turning defeat into a fighting chance at victory.” Kirk did not look convinced. McCoy gripped Kirk’s shoulder. “Jim, we need hope, these people need hope. They were ready to surrender last night and you turned them around. I’ve seen that damned slogan painted everywhere, even on some of my diagnostic sheets. Its contagious, its powerful and you brought it to them. Whether we live or die is no longer important Jim. Military victory may not be possible, but at least we have not gone meekly to the slaughter, we’re not going to simply fade away. You did this through sheer force of will.”
“Jim.” Spock began. Kirk glanced over at his old friend. “They know.”
“What?”
“They know that there is little chance at victory. These people are not children easily swayed by rhetoric. They are seasoned Starfleet Captains. They know when victory is just out of reach. This is not a test of our military mettle, this is a test of who we are. Perhaps Jim, this is the Federation’s Kobayashi Maru.”
Kirk and McCoy stared at Spock, not expecting the words from their solemn friend. Spock slowly rose from his seat and gathered his datapad.
“When the time comes and we stand together on the bridge for this battle, I will know that whether we live or die, whether we win or lose, I stood with my friends and no force in the universe can stop that fact.” Spock stated and promptly turned on his heel and strode out of the room.
Kirk stared after Spock for a long moment.
“Could you believe it? That old hobgoblin out talked me. He came up with a more stirring speech than I did! That green blooded son of a bitch, he’s been holding out on us all these years.”
Kirk smiled in spite of himself.
“Do you realize what you’ve done?” Scotty asked in shock.
“What is it? Oh you mean compared to your warp core on the old Enterprise. Well, Mr. Scott there was a revolution in warp propulsion in the last twenty years. We found that if you shunt the matter stream directly through the core intermix chamber without the plasma manifolds acting as buffers, warp power increases 15% compared to the standard warp cores of your day.”
Scotty stared up at the massive intermix chamber, exposed for all the world to see rising up through several decks.
“And the plasma blowback?” he asked sullenly.
“Well, we deal with the ionization differently, we allow some of it to fill the core and keep the core superheated at all times, thus allowing us to do a cold restart in less than 5 minutes compared to the half hour it took in your day.”
“Let me get this straight, lad. You’ve stripped out every back up, every safety feature so that you could gain a 20% boost in warp power and you allow super heated plasma to remain suspended in the core, I can also see that the heat is an issue from all the coolant leads going into the core.” Scott noted with disdain.
“Yes?” Geordie asked not sure where Scott was going with this.
“You’ve got more power than we could generate in my day but I guarantee that you have warp core breaches.”
“Well, they do happen on occasion.” Geordie conceded.
“Lad, back in my day, a starship could have had every part of its hull blasted away and there would never be a danger of a warp core breech. In fact I have only seen a warp core breech twice in my entire career, BOTH were created in a lab for experimentation purposes. There was a reason why we did not do what you did. We knew the risks. You think this set up is a revolution in warp propulsion, lad? This is a design routinely rejected by Starfleet’s corps of Engineers for over ten years in my time.”
‘There was a change in thinking.” Geordi replied weakly.
“Obviously.” Scott grimaced. “Safety was no longer a concern.”
“No, we simply developed the safety features needed to finally fully realize this design.”
Scott frowned. Some things had not changed for the better.
“Well come lad, we have some warp cores to build and set up.”
“Not to mention a transporter system to install in this Millennium Hawk.”
“Falcon.”
“Huh?”
“I believe the wee lass said Millennium Falcon.”
“What kind of name is that for a ship.” Geordie asked as they passed into the next access way.
Jim sat alone in the cool darkness of the conference room. Only a single light illuminated his place as he thought long and hard on what Spock said.
The doors to the conference room slid open. A small figure walked in.
“Yes?” Kirk asked softly.
“Jim, we need to talk.” Leia replied. Kirk nodded to an empty seat beside him. Leia slid in and examined him in the low light. He seemed tired and worn. She had seen that face on so many rebel commanders on the eve of a great battle. The last time she saw that face was on General Riekeen when it became obvious that they would have to abandon Hoth.
“What is it, Leia?”
“I want you to have something.”
Kirk looked at her expectantly. Leia hesitantly slipped a hand into her tunic and pulled out a strange object. It was a silver handle, it resembled a flashlight. Kirk’s curiosity was peaked.
“This is for you.” she slowly placed it in front of him. The silver handle had several buttons on the side, some scratches were clear on the surface indicating some heavy use but otherwise it looked pristine and new.
“What is it?” he asked slowly picking it up, surprised at how light it was.
“A lightsaber.”
“Lightsaber?” one of his fingers slid over to what looked like an activation button.
“Careful.” Leia cautioned. “It’s a sword.”
“A sword?”
He touched the button and there was a snap hiss. A cool blue blade lanced out of the handle and hummed. His eyes widened as he moved the lightsaber slightly and was rewarded with a strange resonant humming with each stroke of the blade. He felt no weight from the blade but it was obvious that the blade itself was solid.
He deactivated the weapon and reverently placed it back on the table.
“I’m sorry Leia, but we don’t use melee weapons in Starfleet, I would have no idea how to use this thing without killing myself.”
“No, its not for you to use as a weapon, it is for you to use as a symbol.”
“Come again.”
“The lightsaber is the symbol of the Jedi knights. They were guardians of peace and justice in the Old Republic, before the Empire took over. My people look to them as a symbol of freedom and the lightsaber is a strong link to that past. They are rare objects. This one belonged to Luke.”
Kirk froze.
“You mean nemesis?”
“No, I mean Luke. Nemesis is NOT Luke. He is a creature, a slave to the Emperor. Luke Skywalker, Jedi knight and hero of the Alliance wielded this lightsaber in the name of freedom. I want to see you wear this saber as a testament to the hero that Luke was and the hero that you obviously are.”
“I’m no hero, Leia.”
“I said those exact same words long ago, Jim. I’m asking you to do this to help seal the alliance between our people.”
“This would have nothing to do with the fact that Nemesis might see me wearing this?” he asked suspiciously, eyeing the weapon.
“I have my reasons, but it would do well for you to wear this. My people would be more attached to you as a commander.”
“I have never been one to attach much value to things granting anyone anymore ability to command than their own will.”
“Please.” Leia pressed.
Kirk slowly looked from Leia to the lightsaber.
“I’ll do it.” he finally answered and took the lightsaber off the table. Leia smiled.
“Thank you.”
“I take it you don’t like to lose.” Kirk noted with a wry smile.
“You don’t know the half of it, Captain.” Leia replied wanly. “Just getting that saber took a lot of trouble. I personally led the commando raid on the ship carrying this back to Coruscant.”
“Maybe you can tell me the story over dinner. I’m famished.”
Leia smiled hesitantly.
“You know there’s a certain Wookie who would tear your arms off if he knew you were asking me to dinner.”
Kirk smiled a boyish grin and offered her his arm.
“This is one instance where I just might not let the Wookie win.”
Leia laughed feeling happy for the first time in a long while. Kirk hefted the lightsaber hesitantly and clipped it on his utility belt. He wondered what the future held in store. As they stepped out of the conference room large blue letters were sprayed across the corridor.
THE FEDERATION LIVES
Chapter 23: Plans within plans
“We have confirmation that the vast majority of Klingon fleet elements have stood down ever since Lord Nemesis’ masterstroke of diplomatic genius won us the day in a single battle.” Branna reported.
Tarsi rolled his eyes. He glanced over at captains Jan Her of the Executioner and Vash of the Inexorable. The triumvirate all nodded to each other and smirked. Branna was renown for his ability to kiss ass with the best of them. I guess being flung across the universe and out of time had not effected that ability.
Tarsi knew better. He had served a brief stint under Vader during the blockade of Tatooine, one did not kiss up to a Sith Lord, one hoped that they survived a Sith Lord. He glanced down at his datapad. he was supposed to be writing notes on this briefing but he knew the situation all too well. He led the offensive on the Klingon empire, he had defeated every fleet they fielded against him. It was a route and despite their courage he hated them for their obstinence. Courage was one thing, suicidal resolve was another altogether. Even rebels surrendered when the battle was won, they did not send their ships into death dives against the enemy’s ships. He shook his head in disgust.
“However there is word that a small group of Klingon ships has fled into uncharted space and are massing. We believe that a rebellion is brewing within the Klingon empire. Small fleet elements have openly broken with their government and refused to accept the terms of our surrender.”
“Usually such defiance would earn the destruction of the capital world.” Mara added softly from her place at the back of the briefing room. Nemesis sat beside her quietly watching the proceeding. One of his eyes was black and blue, a bad bruise from his fight with the Klingons. Mara insisted that he get treatment and have it heal before many of the men saw it. She worried that the bruise would be seen as a sign of weakness.
Nemesis ignored her, despite the fact that using the force he could have healed the bruise in an hour of meditation. He understood these men better than she did, he also had his own plans in motion. The bruise was not seen as a sign of weakness, but many officers and particularly enlisted saw it as a sign of his unity and devotion with his crew. He had gone down there and faced a hundred raving Klingon warriors, some enlisted men had started a rumor that Nemesis had actually faced 500 Klingon warriors because they had ambushed him dishonorably, by the time the story had filtered back to the rear echelon and Romulan provincial fleets, the word was that the Klingons had emptied entire starships of crews to try and bring Nemesis down.
He was no longer the dread Sith lord who strode the halls looking for ways to kill people, he was one of them, a leader that cared enough for his men that he would rather face the threat alone than risk anymore Imperial lives. The first barest whispers had begun on Romulus. The emperor would not have done the same, Vader would not have done the same. Nemesis was a Sith lord of the people.
These whispers were quickly crushed by a ruthlessly efficient Imperial security, but the whispers were becoming persistent.
The bruise was not a sign of weakness, it was a declaration. This is what I have suffered for you and I would do so again without complaint.
Kittaine found himself admiring this young man from his seat directly to Nemesis’ left. He had united this fleet through some very dark times and they were tasting the sweet nectar of victory. A good portion of this galaxy was now in their hands.
“What news of the Federation collapse?” Nemesis asked quietly.
Branna nodded for a moment, shifting gears in his head from the Klingon situation to the Federation. The map on the wall winked to a close-up of Federation space. Wide swaths of green representing Imperial control filled up most of the cool blue Federation map.
“With the fall of Earth and the destruction of her central government, there was an initial wave of surrenders from some of the outlying worlds as well as some worlds in the center. We have absolute control of two of the founding worlds, Earth and Vulcan. The fall of Earth in particular triggered the seeming collapse of the Federation.”
“Seeming?”
Branna cleared his throat.
“It seems that there are rebel elements within the Federation that have refused to surrender to us. Chief among these is a world called Andor.” The map lit up to highlight the system in question. “Andor is currently providing rogue elements of Starfleet with supplies and ship building capabilities.”
“I see we have our new target.” Jan-Her smirked.
“Unfortunately this will not be as simple as we first thought.”
“Go on, Captain.” Kittaine urged.
“Andor has turned itself into a fortress world, they have laid mines between the main planet and its outermost worlds. Hundreds of system patrol craft are on constant patrol and there are numerous missile emplacements as well as a new type of drone ship we have never encountered before, essentially a flying bomb it is programmed to collide with a target causing maximum kinetic and explosive damage.”
“We also believe that much of their defenses are cloaked.” T’Vok spoke up for the first time in the briefing. He was looking happier and more content in his role. Victories had a way of doing that to men. Kittaine mused.
“Curious, T’Vok, I thought that there was a treaty with your government that did not allow the Federation to develop this cloaking technology.” Vash asked in his low whisper.
“The treaty of Algeron has been violated more times than we can count, many elements in Starfleet and Federation intelligence were never happy with the treaty, they realized that they were giving up an enormous tactical and strategic advantage. I always assumed that the deeper we probed Federation defenses the more of these supposed violations we would find. What troubles me is that we found no such examples until now.” T’Vok replied.
“The Andorians were planning to secede from the Federation.” Nemesis replied.
“My Lord, indeed they did. They seceded before issuing the proclamation that any Starfleet vessel seeking sanctuary would be welcomed in Andorian space.”
“No, Branna, the reason why they ARE a fortress world is because they were planning to secede from the Federation before we arrived.” Nemesis explained. Several of the captains exchanged puzzled expressions. Kittaine knew better. Nemesis intuition had proven 100% accurate so far in this little war and Kittaine had grudgingly accepted it as a valuable asset.
“Uh, I see.” Branna replied nonplussed.
Tarsi snorted.
“What is your strategic assessment of a strike against Andor, Admiral?” Nemesis asked.
Kittaine rubbed his chin slowly.
“It will be difficult, we would sustain heavy losses, particularly among our lighter ships which suffered heavy casualties during the battle for Earth.”
Some chairs were empty, a testament to the losses suffered among the lighter ships. Some stardestroyer captains nodded to themselves, there but for the grace of the emperor…but some like Tarsi shrugged. Such was war and if they were truly competent commanders they would have survived or they would have been commanding stardestroyers.
“Currently we are also facing a looming crisis regarding our starfighters. Our losses have been appalling, the enemy has quickly realized that our fighters do not have shields and have been concentrating much of their torpedo fire on our fighters. Some stardestroyers have lost 50% of their total fighter inventory.”
Nemesis nodded.
“Have we investigating retrofitting the fighters with shields?”
“That would be a good solution but time and resources are against us, to fashion shield generators small enough to fit on our fighters without significantly effecting weapons and speed performance is a task best suited for a dry-dock or research facility, not our limited hangar bays.”
“Not our shield systems, this galaxy’s shield systems. Their shuttles and small craft are all shielded.”
Kittaine wrinkled his face in distaste. “Their shield grids are primitive and frequency based, it would be utterly useless against rebellion starfighters.”
“But NOT against their own weapons.” Nemesis replied softly.
Kittaine slowly nodded.
“I see.”
“The fighters only need to be protected from the weapons systems that this galaxy sports and if their shields can protect their own craft from weapons, even limited protection is better than none. These ‘primitive’ shield grids would draw little power from our fighters’ reserves thus eliminating the problem of adverse impacts on their performance.”
“I will see to it that a squadron is retrofitted and field testing commence right away, my lord.”
Nemesis nodded and waved Kittaine to continue.
Mara watched him closely. When they had first come on board this fleet, Nemesis made it very clear that he wanted nothing to do with the officers or crew. He sealed himself in his room, appearing only in the most important briefings. But when they were brought into this galaxy, he seemed to flourish. He became the leader that she knew he was. As Luke Skywalker, he was one of the most important and visible leaders of the insipid rebellion. He was becoming as visible and as important to this fleet. She was uncertain how to feel about that.
There was a danger in this new attitude. She understood that in order to stabilize this infant Imperial province Nemesis needed to take the place of the emperor, but there was a difference here. She had worked with Vader, Vader never allowed anyone under his command forget who was truly in charge. Nemesis had barely mentioned the emperor in the last few days. At Romulus he was hailed as a hero of the people. She had seen holovids of rallies where thousands gathered and watched the replays of the BDZ of Quo’nos and the capture of Earth. They chanted his name and statues were being erected across many worlds.
This was not the way a servant of the empire should act. Oh, Nemesis made his show of protesting against the actions but there was never any violent reaction, never an order to arrest those that spoke his name as leader instead of the emperor. She could not accuse him of anything, because what he was doing made political sense. It just made her uneasy. Obviously she was the only one. Many of these officers were resigned to the fact that they were far from home and out of time. Many had made peace with the fact that they were never going to return and this galaxy was their new home…and how many were looking to Nemesis to be their new emperor.
Why was she so angry? Perhaps this was the only way. If everything was correct, they were thousands of years from home. The emperor was most likely long dead by now, the empire may have even collapsed. Why be angry at Nemesis fro creating a small piece of home in this galaxy?
She glanced at him out of the corner of her eye. He looked dashing in his black tunic and cape, he seemed to grow in stature since they arrived here. He was a natural leader and she had seen the way he tore those Klingons apart, the speed, the ferocity, Vader could never have done that.
She also remembered the kiss.
It sent a strange flutter through her belly. She fought down the feeling and pointedly ignored him.
“Our lighter ships have suffered heavy damage, quite frankly some require dry-docks to be brought back to full operational status.” Kittaine continued. “The Relentless is heavily damaged, her bridge was nearly destroyed, repair crews are trying to get the tower back in operational service, but current Federation shipyards are simply unable to handle such a project to my satisfaction.”
“What of Captain Belladonna?” Tarsi asked.
Vash glanced at his old friend. He knew that Tarsi and she had been lovers. He did not know whether they still were.
“She is still in the medical ward. Her injuries were quite severe.” Kittaine replied. “The Relentless will have to be pulled off the line until she can be repaired.”
“That is unacceptable.”
“My Lord, the Relentless has suffered extensive damage from our last engagement with the Borg, her engines were crippled and bridge tower nearly destroyed in the Battle for Earth. She is in no condition to keep on fighting, at least until there are some extensive repairs.”
Nemesis stared hard at Kittaine.
“We cannot allow the people of this galaxy to see any weakness, real or perceived, it will be destructive for us. We must use our greatest weapon, fear. Fear of this fleet will keep the other systems in line. Should we show that our ships can be taken off the line and we are afraid about losses then disorder will only grow.”
“What do you suggest we do, my lord?” Kittaine asked.
“Shift the Relentless to less stressful duty, have her patrol Vulcan space. Our lighter warships will split between Earth and Romulus. They will be repaired in the Romulan shipyards, the ones on duty at Earth will only have superficial repairs committed.”
“You don’t trust the Terran system?”
“Would you show your recently conquered foe how badly you’ve been hurt?” Nemesis asked pointedly.
T’Vok nodded.
“A strike against Andor is inadvisable at this time. Let us consolidate our holdings, regroup and repair then we will take that world by force.”
“I want a plan for an assault in my chambers by the end of the day. I will decide when we strike. I want to make one thing clear, we will not have a repeat of the diaster that Mon Calamari became. I will not allow the rebel Starfleet to find a safe haven in this galaxy. Is that clear?”
The assembled commanders nodded.
T’Vok cleared his throat.
“There is another matter which my government has asked me to relay to you.”
“Go on.”
“We realize that your fleet’s mobility is severely limited by our warp drive, Captain Tarsi could have advanced faster and further into the Klingon lines were his Romulan lines not forced to advance via warp drive.”
“Yes.”
“We are making a formal request of the Empire to provide us with some form of hyperdrive so that we can become a fully integrated portion of the fleet.”
There was an uncomfortable silence in the room. T’Vok forged ahead.
“Think of how differently the battle for Earth may have gone if you had our warbirds at your side, how fast tarsi would have cut through the Klingons with hyperdrive capable warbirds.”
“Frankly, Lord Nemesis, I could have been at Quo’nos in a single day instead of four.” Tarsi added.
Nemesis glanced between the men and exchanged a hooded gaze with Kittaine. Kittaine frowned slightly.
“I will grant your request. It is time the Romulans become true partners in this conquest.” Nemesis replied, there was shock on many commander’s faces. Tarsi nodded softly. He had no doubt that even if they gave these pointy eared bastards the finest hyperdrives in the galaxy, he could still destroy an armada of their so called warbirds with just the Adjudicator.
“Thank you my lord.” T’Vok replied and bowed his head deeply.
“There is something else that we may need to focus on quickly.” Vash added.
“What is it captain?”
“This prize is quickly becoming too large to hold onto. The fact is that many of these worlds that have surrendered to us do not have a single Imperial or Romulan soldier standing on their soil. This needs to be rectified immediately. It will become extremely difficult to maintain order, especially if this nascent rebellion gains any support.” Vash warned.
Nemesis smiled coolly.
“That will soon be rectified captain. Admiral T’Vok what is the status of Project Phoenix?”
“The first units will be operational in a week.”
“Excellent.”
The captains exchanged puzzled glances. All save Kittaine. He knew what this project Phoenix was and if it was successful, victory would be assured and a new province of the Empire would be secured forever.
“Admiral, I want one thing from our intelligence branch.”
“My lord.”
“Find out everything you can about a Captain James T. Kirk. I sense a threat growing from him.”
“We did some preliminary checking my lord…”
“And?” Nemesis pressed.
“According to all our inquiries and searches on surviving Starfleet databases Captain James T. Kirk has been dead for close to a hundred years.”
“What does that mean?” Mara asked incredulously.
“It means that we are facing a very dangerous thing.” Nemesis answered.
Mara and the others waited for Nemesis to complete his thought. Nemesis looked each of them in the eyes.
“We are going to be fighting a legend. Legends have ways of inspiring people, they have a way of growing, they are notoriously hard to kill.” Nemesis replied.
There was silence in the room. Tarsi grinned and turned to the rest of the triumvirate.
“I’ve never killed a legend before.” He stated with a hungry grin.
There was a bustle of movement in the large hangar bay. Troops and crewmen moved throughout the massive hangar bay, prepping shuttles, delta flyers and runabouts. Crates of supplies were quickly stacked and taken away by hover pods. Spray painted across the far wall of the hangar bay was a new slogan that had caught fire with the fleet. It was a slogan taken from Kirk’s impassioned speech, a speech that had grown to take epic proportions among the enlisted men.
There were three simple words painted in blue on the neat hangar bay walls. THE FEDERATION LIVES. No one knows who started the spray painting, but soon it appeared everywhere. The spray painted slogan was in engineering Jeffries tubes, turbo lift walls, and recently began appearing on the hulls of the starships.
In the large conference room of the Enterprise, James Kirk stood at the head of the table, a collection of officers filled the room to standing. A battle plan was projected on the wall behind Kirk.
“So our mission will not be easy, it requires precision planning, courage and a little luck.”
“Are you sure we can hold our position for as long as you need us to?” Riker asked.
“We have to hold it, Captain Riker. There is no other way. If this works, we will have delivered three simultaneous blows to the Empire. We’ll cripple their plans in the Alpha quadrant, particularly their research in wormholes, we will destroy one of their invincible warships and we will bring hope to those without it. We all know what’s going on in the rest of the Federation. The only world in the entire Federation that supports us fully is Andor. We need to provide more victories. The sad fact is that no one is going to support a cause that seems hopeless. Only victories bring that kind of support and the Empire has gone out of its way to project an aura of invincibility.”
“Considering that they have conquered the Romulan Empire, crippled the Klingon Empire and have captured the capital of the Federation, without suffering significant casualties I believe that this aura of invincibility is not a simple perception.” Data interjected.
“Thank you commander, Data.” Kirk replied wanly.
“He’s a wonder for morale ain’t he?” McCoy drawled from the back of the gathering. This drew some laughter from the assembly.
Data looked slightly confused.
“I was merely trying to show that the Empire’s perceived strength is not just a simple matter of luck or skill. Their technology is many orders of magnitude ahead of ours.” Data went on to explain. Riker put a hand on Data’s shoulder.
“Thanks Data, I think we grasp that.”
“Engineers, the key to our victory is in your hands.” Kirk went on and the battle plan behind him changed to a series of engineering schematics.
Geordi frowned as he took in the full depth of Kirk’s plan.
“That’s quite an order you’ve put in Captain. You want this done in two days?!” Geordie asked incredulously.
“Ours is not to question why…” Scotty muttered to Geordie with a good natured smile.
“Indeed I do. If we don’t have this done in two days, then we miss a window of opportunity. The Empire will have a full week to indoctrinate the population of the Federation on the Battle of Sector 001. A victory now will give us something to rebut the Imperial propaganda with.”
“Sir, if I may, it’s going to take a lot of engineers, men and equipment to build that many warp cores, adapt them to those objects…in fact, I’m not even sure a stable warp field will be able to form over that.”
“Captain, Commander LaForge is right, we are going to need more than just the engineering teams we have in this fleet.” Scotty added seriously. No one had ever done what Kirk planned, but doing the impossible was what Starfleet engineers were best at.
“What will you need?” Kirk asked.
“Every able bodied man in the fleet to help set this up.”
“You will have whatever you need. This.” He pointed to the schematic, his finger jabbing right into the hologram. “is the key, the very crux of our attack. If you can’t get this to work we might as well call this operation off now.”
“Captain, you have my word, if I have to haul them on my own back, it will be done.” Scotty vowed.
“Good. I’m also open to suggestion regarding the delivery service. I need a ship that is relatively small, atmospheric capable and can take a pounding. I’m not as familiar with the new class of starships available to me so if there’s something I’m missing.” Kirk asked looking out over the assembled officers.
“Looking at the objectives this ship is going to have, the only vessel that I think can even begin to do this job is our Defiant class escorts. They’re small, fast and they take a helluva beating.” Riker suggested.
“It is doubtful that the Defiant could survive multiple hits from Imperial weapons.” Data replied.
“This will be a difficult part of the mission, but we have found a way to help the vessel going in for the extraction.” Spock replied and held up a large rounded device. It was a clear globe with glowing lights and a control rod descending down from the globe.
“What is that?” a captain asked from the back.
“That is a Romulan cloaking device.” Captain Entebbe answered.
“How in the hell did we get our hands on one?” another captain exclaimed.
“Well, its actually not a new model. This cloaking device was liberated by me and my crew in a classified mission.”
“THAT cloaking device.” another captain breathed.
“Well, it WAS classified.” Kirk smirked.
“Captain Entebbe was kind enough to liberate this device from a Starfleet museum during the battle and passed it on to me.”
“You’re turning into a regular thief there Entebbe, first the tricobalt devices from the Starfleet Central Armory now this.” someone leaned in and whispered into Entebbe’s ear. Entebbe merely grinned. He was not an exciting man, he rarely took any chances, he liked things to remain status quo, but there was something about Kirk that made you want to do the unthinkable, to be daring. He never felt more alive than he did in these last few days.
“Although this cloaking device is not as advanced as the ones currently fielded by the Romulans it should provide the vessel with some protection during insertion.” Spock added.
“We’ll still have to drop the cloak to commence transporter operations.” another captain noted with worry.
“Correct. That’s why we need a ship that can take a pounding and still function.”
“Captain, we may not be dealing with standard planetary defense systems. The Empire could have upgraded their defenses, particularly around the facility.” Data pointed out.
“Captain, may I make a suggestion.” Leia spoke up for the first time. She was seated to the right of the head of the table. The gathering had given her a wide berth, partly out of respect, mostly because an eight foot tall Wookie was seated next to her.
“Go ahead, Princess.”
“I have a ship that should be able to suit your needs perfectly. Its fast, tough and has taken more of a pounding than you can imagine.”
“Oh?”
“She’s called the Millennium Falcon.” Leia replied. Chewbacca stiffened and his head whipped down to glare at her. Leia ignored him. “She’s one of the fastest ships in the Alliance fleet and she has military grade shielding and armor.”
“Sounds like what the doctor ordered.”
McCoy snorted.
“I doubt the ship has transporters.” Riker pointed out.
Kirk looked over at Scotty. Scott rolled his eyes and muttered angrily to himself.
“I’m sure Mr. Scott and Mr. LaForge can install transporters and the cloak onto your ship.”
“Is he always this demanding?” Geordi whispered to Scotty. Scott glanced over at the young engineer and smiled warmly.
“Lad, this man has not even begun to task us. Wait until he starts asking us to break the laws of physics.” Scott replied.
Geordi stared at Scott waiting for the joke, his jaw dropped as it became very clear that Scott was being totally serious.
“Then it is settled.”
“Not quite, sir. We’re going to need a pilot for the Falcon and I think that Lieutenant Tom Paris would be ideal.” Wedge interjected. Chewbacca barked something that sounded very negative.
“The universal translator having problems?” McCoy asked dryly.
“I’d say he’s intimidated it to leave his words as is.” Kirk muttered out of the corner of his mouth.
“Chewie, please.” Leia asked putting a hand on Chewbacca’s forearm. Chewbacca sighed deeply shaking his furry head.
“In the interests of cooperation between our people it would be best for all of us of Starfleet personnel began working alongside us in all aspects of our missions, even flying some of our ships.” Leia continued for Wedge. Tom sat next to Wes and he was suddenly in the spotlight. He looked as if he had not slept in days, but there was a smoldering anger in his eyes.
“It would be my honor to fly in this mission.” Paris replied mechanically. Wes glanced at his newfound friend with some concern. He had talked it over with Wedge and assured him that Tom had talent, real talent. Many of Rogue squadron were appalled by the Federation’s pilots use of touch pad controls and over reliance on computer assisted flight systems. It took a lot for Wes to convince Wedge that Tom was real pilot material. Wes just hoped that Tom snapped out of his funk in time for the mission.
“Alright.” Kirk replied, a little concerned by Paris’ demeanor.
“I think our briefing is adjourned until 0900 when we begin prewarp checks and final mission briefings to all departments. Captains, be honest with your crews, a lot of us are not coming back from this mission. The current threat level of the Imperial vessels is simply to high to believe that we will not suffer heavy casualties in this mission but I believe that it’s worth it.” Kirk said seriously. “Remember what we are fighting for, we took an oath to protect and defend the Federation and that’s what we’re doing. Nothing less can be asked of any of us.”
The assembled commanders nodded grimly and filed out of the room. Kirk sat back and sighed heavily as the last of the men were leaving.
“Mr. Paris?”
Tom stopped at the door and slowly turned around. Kirk motioned for him to come over. Tom did so.
“Let me give you some advice son. Get some sleep. In two days you’re going to be flying a ship you are unfamiliar with into the teeth of some planetary defenses with little or no support from any of us because we will be too busy trying to stay alive.” Kirk said softly.
Tom stared into Kirk’s eyes for a moment before replying.
“Sir, this mission is going to hurt the Empire, right?”
“Yes.”
Tom smiled softly. It was a shadowy smile, one Kirk had seen too many times from men that no longer cared about much of anything. “Then that’s all I need to know, sir.” Tom turned and walked away.
Kirk decided against saying anything else. Wes paused by Kirk’s seat.
“Sir, he lost his wife and child on Earth. It would not be the first time and certainly won’t be the last time the Empire has destroyed entire families, but Tom is a good pilot and he will do what he needs to do. I’ll see to it personally.”
“Friend of yours, Janson, is it?” McCoy asked.
“Yes sir.”
“I would see to his emotional well being more than his piloting and military skills right now. Anger and revenge have ways of making sure you get things done, but it leaves you empty inside, and that young man needs a friend right now more than he needs a combat mission.” McCoy counseled.
Wes nodded and left. Leia, Wedge, Spock, Riker, Data and McCoy remained in the room. Scotty and Geordi were the last to go and they were debating fiercely.
“No, we’ll need to bypass the plasma conduits at the junctions here and here if we want optimal warp performance.”
“Ach! That will make them nothing more than bombs waiting to explode!” Scotty snapped as they exited the room.
“So, what do you all think?” Kirk asked finally sitting down.
“It’s daring, but there are a lot of things that could go wrong, not to mention your method of destruction of a stardestroyer is…shall we say…unique.” Wedge offered.
“It has the virtue of never having been tried, so the Imperial forces won’t know what to expect.”
“It is also a fact that we don’t really know what will happen, we don’t know if it will crack their shields.” Riker countered darkly.
“I’ve run the equations several times with the help of your Mr. Data and it has more than enough energy to do so.” Spock replied.
Riker looked a little skeptical. He had gone toe to toe with these monsters and seen them take an enormous amount of punishment. It was hard to think that this simple plan would lay one of those behemoths low.
“I believe that we simply have no choice. Kirk is right, we need a victory and we need one now.” Leia added.
“I could use a little time alone. By the way, Captain Riker, thank you for letting me on board this ship. She is in every way as fine as the ship that I had in the past. She’s worthy of the name.” Kirk commented.
“The honor is mine sir, although I feel a little funny taking Mr. Spock’s place as your First Officer.”
“You proceed from a false assumption, Captain Riker, I am a Vulcan, I have no ego to bruise.” Spock replied.
“Just circuit boards and memory banks.” McCoy muttered.
“If you please, I have some things to discuss with my officers before I see to an inspection of the ship, I have a whole century’s worth of technology to get acquainted with in two days time.” Kirk said with a soft sigh.
“Of course Captain.” Riker said with a nod. The others said their respects and left. Leia lingered and smiled softly at him but Chewbacca suddenly grabbed her and dragged out of the room.
The doors slid shut leaving the three old friends alone.
“What is it, Jim? Something eating at you?” McCoy asked leaning in closely to see his old friend’s eyes.
“My God, Bones, what have I done?” Kirk asked in pain.
“What do you mean?” McCoy pressed. Spock did not look concerned, but his eyes narrowed on his stricken captain.
“I’ve read the reports, I’ve seen the combat footage from the battle, I’ve read Spock’s and Data’s analysis of their technology. This battle could be hopeless. I could be sending these fine people to fight and day without any hope.” Kirk lamented angrily and slammed his fist on the table.
“It’s one thing for me to go on and challenge these bastards by myself, but to ask millions of these people to fight and die for a cause that we may have no chance of wining?”
“Jim, you’re doing what you’ve always done, you’re turning defeat into a fighting chance at victory.” Kirk did not look convinced. McCoy gripped Kirk’s shoulder. “Jim, we need hope, these people need hope. They were ready to surrender last night and you turned them around. I’ve seen that damned slogan painted everywhere, even on some of my diagnostic sheets. Its contagious, its powerful and you brought it to them. Whether we live or die is no longer important Jim. Military victory may not be possible, but at least we have not gone meekly to the slaughter, we’re not going to simply fade away. You did this through sheer force of will.”
“Jim.” Spock began. Kirk glanced over at his old friend. “They know.”
“What?”
“They know that there is little chance at victory. These people are not children easily swayed by rhetoric. They are seasoned Starfleet Captains. They know when victory is just out of reach. This is not a test of our military mettle, this is a test of who we are. Perhaps Jim, this is the Federation’s Kobayashi Maru.”
Kirk and McCoy stared at Spock, not expecting the words from their solemn friend. Spock slowly rose from his seat and gathered his datapad.
“When the time comes and we stand together on the bridge for this battle, I will know that whether we live or die, whether we win or lose, I stood with my friends and no force in the universe can stop that fact.” Spock stated and promptly turned on his heel and strode out of the room.
Kirk stared after Spock for a long moment.
“Could you believe it? That old hobgoblin out talked me. He came up with a more stirring speech than I did! That green blooded son of a bitch, he’s been holding out on us all these years.”
Kirk smiled in spite of himself.
“Do you realize what you’ve done?” Scotty asked in shock.
“What is it? Oh you mean compared to your warp core on the old Enterprise. Well, Mr. Scott there was a revolution in warp propulsion in the last twenty years. We found that if you shunt the matter stream directly through the core intermix chamber without the plasma manifolds acting as buffers, warp power increases 15% compared to the standard warp cores of your day.”
Scotty stared up at the massive intermix chamber, exposed for all the world to see rising up through several decks.
“And the plasma blowback?” he asked sullenly.
“Well, we deal with the ionization differently, we allow some of it to fill the core and keep the core superheated at all times, thus allowing us to do a cold restart in less than 5 minutes compared to the half hour it took in your day.”
“Let me get this straight, lad. You’ve stripped out every back up, every safety feature so that you could gain a 20% boost in warp power and you allow super heated plasma to remain suspended in the core, I can also see that the heat is an issue from all the coolant leads going into the core.” Scott noted with disdain.
“Yes?” Geordie asked not sure where Scott was going with this.
“You’ve got more power than we could generate in my day but I guarantee that you have warp core breaches.”
“Well, they do happen on occasion.” Geordie conceded.
“Lad, back in my day, a starship could have had every part of its hull blasted away and there would never be a danger of a warp core breech. In fact I have only seen a warp core breech twice in my entire career, BOTH were created in a lab for experimentation purposes. There was a reason why we did not do what you did. We knew the risks. You think this set up is a revolution in warp propulsion, lad? This is a design routinely rejected by Starfleet’s corps of Engineers for over ten years in my time.”
‘There was a change in thinking.” Geordi replied weakly.
“Obviously.” Scott grimaced. “Safety was no longer a concern.”
“No, we simply developed the safety features needed to finally fully realize this design.”
Scott frowned. Some things had not changed for the better.
“Well come lad, we have some warp cores to build and set up.”
“Not to mention a transporter system to install in this Millennium Hawk.”
“Falcon.”
“Huh?”
“I believe the wee lass said Millennium Falcon.”
“What kind of name is that for a ship.” Geordie asked as they passed into the next access way.
Jim sat alone in the cool darkness of the conference room. Only a single light illuminated his place as he thought long and hard on what Spock said.
The doors to the conference room slid open. A small figure walked in.
“Yes?” Kirk asked softly.
“Jim, we need to talk.” Leia replied. Kirk nodded to an empty seat beside him. Leia slid in and examined him in the low light. He seemed tired and worn. She had seen that face on so many rebel commanders on the eve of a great battle. The last time she saw that face was on General Riekeen when it became obvious that they would have to abandon Hoth.
“What is it, Leia?”
“I want you to have something.”
Kirk looked at her expectantly. Leia hesitantly slipped a hand into her tunic and pulled out a strange object. It was a silver handle, it resembled a flashlight. Kirk’s curiosity was peaked.
“This is for you.” she slowly placed it in front of him. The silver handle had several buttons on the side, some scratches were clear on the surface indicating some heavy use but otherwise it looked pristine and new.
“What is it?” he asked slowly picking it up, surprised at how light it was.
“A lightsaber.”
“Lightsaber?” one of his fingers slid over to what looked like an activation button.
“Careful.” Leia cautioned. “It’s a sword.”
“A sword?”
He touched the button and there was a snap hiss. A cool blue blade lanced out of the handle and hummed. His eyes widened as he moved the lightsaber slightly and was rewarded with a strange resonant humming with each stroke of the blade. He felt no weight from the blade but it was obvious that the blade itself was solid.
He deactivated the weapon and reverently placed it back on the table.
“I’m sorry Leia, but we don’t use melee weapons in Starfleet, I would have no idea how to use this thing without killing myself.”
“No, its not for you to use as a weapon, it is for you to use as a symbol.”
“Come again.”
“The lightsaber is the symbol of the Jedi knights. They were guardians of peace and justice in the Old Republic, before the Empire took over. My people look to them as a symbol of freedom and the lightsaber is a strong link to that past. They are rare objects. This one belonged to Luke.”
Kirk froze.
“You mean nemesis?”
“No, I mean Luke. Nemesis is NOT Luke. He is a creature, a slave to the Emperor. Luke Skywalker, Jedi knight and hero of the Alliance wielded this lightsaber in the name of freedom. I want to see you wear this saber as a testament to the hero that Luke was and the hero that you obviously are.”
“I’m no hero, Leia.”
“I said those exact same words long ago, Jim. I’m asking you to do this to help seal the alliance between our people.”
“This would have nothing to do with the fact that Nemesis might see me wearing this?” he asked suspiciously, eyeing the weapon.
“I have my reasons, but it would do well for you to wear this. My people would be more attached to you as a commander.”
“I have never been one to attach much value to things granting anyone anymore ability to command than their own will.”
“Please.” Leia pressed.
Kirk slowly looked from Leia to the lightsaber.
“I’ll do it.” he finally answered and took the lightsaber off the table. Leia smiled.
“Thank you.”
“I take it you don’t like to lose.” Kirk noted with a wry smile.
“You don’t know the half of it, Captain.” Leia replied wanly. “Just getting that saber took a lot of trouble. I personally led the commando raid on the ship carrying this back to Coruscant.”
“Maybe you can tell me the story over dinner. I’m famished.”
Leia smiled hesitantly.
“You know there’s a certain Wookie who would tear your arms off if he knew you were asking me to dinner.”
Kirk smiled a boyish grin and offered her his arm.
“This is one instance where I just might not let the Wookie win.”
Leia laughed feeling happy for the first time in a long while. Kirk hefted the lightsaber hesitantly and clipped it on his utility belt. He wondered what the future held in store. As they stepped out of the conference room large blue letters were sprayed across the corridor.
THE FEDERATION LIVES
Wherever you go, there you are.
Ripped Shirt Monkey - BOTMWriter's Guild Cybertron's Finest Justice League
This updated sig brought to you by JME2
Ripped Shirt Monkey - BOTMWriter's Guild Cybertron's Finest Justice League
This updated sig brought to you by JME2
You go to Hell Dooey you go to hell and you DIE!
Wait.. no fanfic, sweet fanfic,
Urge to kill one who posted before me.. lowering... loooowering
RISING
Lowering......
Wait.. no fanfic, sweet fanfic,
Urge to kill one who posted before me.. lowering... loooowering
RISING
Lowering......
"A cult is a religion with no political power." -Tom Wolfe
Pardon me for sounding like a dick, but I'm playing the tiniest violin in the world right now-Dalton
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Dooey Jo
- Sith Devotee
- Posts: 3127
- Joined: 2002-08-09 01:09pm
- Location: The land beyond the forest; Sweden.
- Contact:
MUAHAHAHAAA!!Mr Bean wrote:You go to Hell Dooey you go to hell and you DIE!
Wait.. no fanfic, sweet fanfic,
Urge to kill one who posted before me.. lowering... loooowering
RISING
Lowering......
Aahh, how good it feels to be the first one who posted...But don't feel bad, Bean. You posted second. That's just one post away from being the first one
And for Stravo:
Very good chapter, as always. *claps hands*
Should be intresting to see where this leads...
Mai smote the demonic fires of heck...
Faker Ninjas invented ninjitsu
nice, really nice, that part of nemsis smiling as he thought of killing kirk was scary
"a single death is a tragedy, a million deaths are a statistic"-Joseph Stalin
"No plan survives contact with the enemy"-Helmuth Von Moltke
"Women prefer stories about one person dying slowly. Men prefer stories of many people dying quickly."-Niles from Frasier.
"No plan survives contact with the enemy"-Helmuth Von Moltke
"Women prefer stories about one person dying slowly. Men prefer stories of many people dying quickly."-Niles from Frasier.
Acutaly I think Tarsi grinedThere was silence in the room. Tarsi grinned and turned to the rest of the triumvirate.
“I’ve never killed a legend before.” He stated with a hungry grin.
Oh and new Avatar(I got a ton of new ones)
"A cult is a religion with no political power." -Tom Wolfe
Pardon me for sounding like a dick, but I'm playing the tiniest violin in the world right now-Dalton
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Soontir C'boath
- SG-14: Fuck the Medic!
- Posts: 6844
- Joined: 2002-07-06 12:15am
- Location: Queens, NYC I DON'T FUCKING CARE IF MANHATTEN IS CONSIDERED NYC!! I'M IN IT ASSHOLE!!!
- Contact:
Very very good...... I read so many good lines and I can't choose which is my absolute favorite!!!!
Cyaround,
Jason
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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ViciousMink
- Youngling
- Posts: 82
- Joined: 2002-09-17 01:06am
- Location: Winter Park, FL
Ooooh, sweet fanfictional goodness! The explaination for why warp core breaches happen at the drop of a hat in TNG was superb! I was a little surprised at Kirk being given Luke's lightsabre, but that was a nicely-handled scene -- the lightsabre as symbol rather than as weapon -- all the same.
Looking forward to the next installment, of course! =)
Looking forward to the next installment, of course! =)
The Jedi asked, "What is balance for me as a servant of the Light?" The Master replied,"Balance is not what you seek. For you it is accepting that destruction is a part of the universe."
-- from Koans of the Silver Master
Founder, the Cult of Wilhelm. "Praise be to Wilhelm. AAAAIIIIUH!"
-- from Koans of the Silver Master
Founder, the Cult of Wilhelm. "Praise be to Wilhelm. AAAAIIIIUH!"
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Rightous Fist Of Heaven
- Jedi Master
- Posts: 1201
- Joined: 2002-09-29 05:31pm
- Location: Finland