Star Trek: Zeus(PG-13)

[Founder]

Story:
The USS Zeus (NCC-23809) is an Excelsior class starship in service, in the year 2368. A year before the Bajoran wormhole was discovered, the ship�s primary mission was to patrol the border of Federation and Klingon space. It had done so for three years, with the occasional scuffle. Unfortunately, the mission took a drastic turn when the crew found itself in the unknown, forced to cope with a dire situation with no one to turn to for help but themselves. A growing enemy looms and the crew of the Zeus is the only ones who know. Now in unfamiliar territory, surrounded by hostiles, the crew must find a way back�.home.

USS Zeus:



USS Zeus Crew:



Executive Officer: Captain Cain Sebastian (Human)



First Officer: Commander Tulak (Vulcan)



Chief Helm Officer/Second Officer: Lieutenant Commander Miguel Fuentes (Human)



Chief Tactical/Security Officer: Lieutenant M�Tress (Caitian)



Chief Operations Officer: Ensign Jenna Smith (Human)



Chief Medical Officer: Lieutenant (Junior Grade) Saij Ut (Rigelian)



Chief Engineer Officer: Chief Petty Officer James Graham (Human)



Chief Science Officer: Lieutenant Monica Esposito (Betazoid)



Counsler: Ensign Janvi Varghese (El Aurian)



Starfleet Academy Assignment: Cadet Alexei Kazlov (Human)



Civilian: Refugee, Loval (Romulan)


(None)
Civilian: Disgraced Cook, K�Peq (Klingon)


(None)
Civilian: Owner of �Tranquil Nebula�, Kal (Unknown)


(None)
Civilian: Former Slave Seller, Z�jj �c�m����l�h�jj (J�mma)

Reoccuring Characters:



Nurse: Ensign Emma Creed (Human)



Assistant Chief of Engineering: Ensign Rex (Saurian)



Assistant Chief of Security: Petty Officer, 1st-Class Andr� Rousseau (Human)



Transporter Chief: Ensign Larry Fishburne (Novan)

Enemies:


(No Starfleet Rank)
Captain of the Pirate Ship-The Dark Orb: ? (Qirate)

[Founder]

Ship Decks

Bridge


Tranquil Nebula


Brig


Number of Deceased Crew Members:

450 Starfleet Crewmen. 150 Officers - 300 Enlisted Crew - up to 130 visiting scientists, diplomats and civilians (Deceased: 51)

Torpedo Count:

120 (Used: 6)

Probes Used:

9 Probes, 9 different class. (Used: 0)

Shuttles:

Six Type 15 Shuttlespods
Four Type 6 Shuttles
Two Type 9 Shuttles
Four Work Bees

Argonaut(Active)



Olympus(Active)



Timeline
2368
-The USS Zeus is pulled into the fringes of the Beta quadrant, several thousand light years away from Earth. Once there, they find themselves in the Poverty Zone, a quarantined area of space for the victims of the Interstellar Concordium, AKA the ISC. The crew of the Excelsior class starship is attacked by the Qirates, a fearsome gang of space pirates. Captain Sebastian enlists his fellow officers to save his missing crewmen and find a way to get out of the unexplored space. After gaining a new addition to the crew and saving the kidnapped officers, the ship races off to find someway back to Earth� (Episode 1)
-The ship goes to an abandoned space station haunted by an ethereal form. An away team is sent to retrieve the much needed supplies. They are attacked by the non-corporeal being, while the Zeus is attacked by Qirates. They discover the being is simply from a nebula and wants to return home. The ship brings it back to the nebula and gains much needed supplies-at the cost of young officer. (Episode 2)
-The USS Zeus' crew discovers a massive amount of dilithium on a floating celestial body. Cain, Janvi, and Jenna take a shuttle to collect samples to bring back to the ship. Meanwhile, Kal plots with the Poverty Zone underworld to take the Zeus for himself. A bounty hunter, hired by Kal, manages to capture the shuttle and lure the hostages to a planet to await Kal. The Zeus goes to the planet and rescues the crew before Kal can enact in his plan. (Episode 3)

[Lord Borg]

Wow...Hey, this is off to a good start! keep up the good work!

[Founder]

(Thanks Chris)

Episode One Synopsis:
While patrolling the border between Federation and Klingon space, the USS Zeus receives a distress call from a Romulan shuttle that is being attack by a Klingon Bird-of-Prey. The ship intercedes in the fight and is forced to go into the treacherous Bison Rift, an area of space torn apart by subspace weapons. The many subspace vortexes� forces the ship across the galaxy and into unexplored space. Meanwhile, their Romulan guest is not all he appears to be. The ship must face a deadly adversary while trying to get answers. Now trapped in the fringes of the Beta quadrant, they must find a way home, before they are destroyed by an enigmatic enemy...




Chapter 1
Cain Sebastian

The border that divided Federation territory from Klingon territory was quiet except for the hum of impulse engines from a Federation starship. The USS Zeus, named after the Greek king of the gods, quietly and routinely patrolled the invisible, but established, line that separated the two quadrant power�s space. The whitish blue light of the deflector dish was glowing brightly in the blackness of space, illuminating nothing in particular. The class of ship had been in service since the 23rd century, but was still largely used in the 24th. At one point in time, it was the most powerful starship in all of Starfleet. Now that mantle has gone to the Galaxy class starship which also serves as the flagship. The Zeus was constructed in 2367, one of the last non-variant Excelsior class starships to be constructed. The crew was still at arm�s length with each other, even though they�ve served together for one year. They have had their hands full with patrolling the Klingon border. While an unsteady peace between the Federation and Klingon Empire has endured since Khitomer, that does not mean trouble did not arise. Every now and then a scuffle would happen, but it usually resulted in very little. If this job could be described in one way, it would probably be �boredom�. That is exactly how Cain Sebastian, captain of the USS Zeus, felt at that precise moment: bored. He sat back in his seat, slouching every so often, only to get a cold stare from his number 1. The Vulcan first officer, Tulak, frowned on such behavior on the bridge. Well�he always frowned for that matter. Tulak was as Vulcan as they come. Disapproving of emotions greatly, this was ironic, because Captain Sebastian was a very emotional person. He used to be least, before the death of his twin sister, Clara. She had been killed during a skirmish between the Romulans and the Federation, ten months back. The tragedy was that it was more of a misunderstanding, then an all out battle. Cain had never been the same since and had taken to using Maraji Crystals. It was an illegal narcotic, but only illegal in Cardassian space. It was simply a controlled addictive substance. It calmed his nerves and getting a fix was not always easy, especially under the watchful eye of Tulak. The 55 year old man shut his eyes tightly, focusing only on the sounds of the various consoles on the bridge. It was soothing almost, if you focused on the rhythmic patters of them. His breathing became shallow and he could almost feel himself floating over his chair. One of the many side affects of the narcotic. He had taken some in his quarters before going on duty. It was the only way he could stand to wear the uniform and not burst into tears right in front of the crew. His pysch-evaluation did show he had depression, but wasn�t bad enough to hinder his work. He was required to attend counsel sessions every week though. Thanks to the miracles of technology, he managed to evade the chief medical officer�s scans. It was also another reason he HATED going for medical check ups. It was difficult to go without using the drug. He managed to keep his secret for this long, but he wasn�t sure how long it would hold up, certainly not forever. Cain�s eyes, now slightly blood shot, flew open as he heard the careful steps of Tulak approaching him.

�Captain,� Tulak, the Vulcan commander, said, �I have written a report on today�s activities. Engineering had to repair a sonic shower and damaged replicator. Science has detected nothing unusual. Finally, the doctor assisted crewman Wachowski�s pet in giving birth.�

Sebastian snatched the PADD out of the alien�s hands and didn�t even look at it. He felt a twinge of annoyance for being pulled out of his calm euphoria, by yet another report. The Vulcan filed one every three hours and he had, had it.

�Thank you commander,� He said sarcastically, �This report is just as refreshing as the last three you�ve given me today. I can�t take so much excitement in one day. So please save any future reports for when I order it understood?�

There was the sound of stifled laughter coming from the chief helm officer, Miguel Fuentes. Tulak raised an eyebrow and nodded, catching the hint of sarcasm in the executive officer�s voice.

�Understood sir.� He said stiffly, then turned away, returning to his station on the bridge.

If a Vulcan could be hurt, Cain would have though Tulak was, judging by the sound of his voice. Sebastian gently placed the PADD at the arm of his chair and ignored it, not wanting to read anything as monotonous as what Tulak wrote up. He eyed the second officer, an annoyed looked still on his face.

�Something funny lieutenant commander Fuentes?� He asked.

The Spaniard swirled around in his seat to face the captain, a familiar wide grin on his face.

�Not at all sir,� He replied, �I think you and the commander�s conversation may have accidentally drifted to my ears.�

Sebastian gave a fake; half smile in reply, �My apologies. I�ll be more considerate to your eavesdropping.�

Miguel�s grin quickly faded into his look of seriousness and he turned back to the helm. Sebastian sighed sadly at what just occurred. Yet again, he had let his emotions take the best of him. His eyes shut close once more and he reached for that peaceful high he had left abruptly�

Chapter 2
Tulak

The Vulcan was sitting at his station on the bridge. Unlike the Galaxy class, his seat was not next to the captain, but alongside the other officers. His fingers gently tapped the consoles, no rush whatsoever. There was no need to rush, nothing was happening. It was a familiar boring day onboard the starship. While some liked the serenity, others craved for some excitement, even if it wasn�t necessarily dangerous. There were just tired of having only the quiet sounds of the console to listen to. Tulak did not seek adventure. His fulfillment was found in the work he did onboard the ship. It might have been one he wrote report after report, not really having much else to do. Tulak was no fool, he knew the captain found the reports irritating, but the Vulcan liked to be precise and always prepared. A constant status report showed the captain where the ship and its crew stood.

�Not that the captain knows where anything stands.� He thought to himself.

The first officer knew there was something with captain Sebastian, everyone onboard did. It was painfully obvious that he was suffering from the loss of his sister to the hateful enemies of the Vulcan�s, the Romulans. Although, to his credit, Tulak could admit the captain did not let her death hinder his ability to lead. Even though he didn�t know the man too well, he felt that the captain was a decent leader, enough for Starfleet at least. Such an emotional wreck would NEVER serve on a Vulcan ship. That simply did not and would not happen. Tulak looked over at the nearby science officer, Monica Esposito. While she had a very Human name, she was by no means a Human. If anything, she was closer to Tulak if you went only be mental and cognitive abilities. She was a Betazoid, but raised on Earth by Human parents. Monica had been abandoned on Earth and left in an orphanage there. A Human family claimed her and raised her until she was a teenager. She started to gain her abilities when she hit puberty and didn�t understand what it was. At first, she had assumed she was hearing voice, but it was simply her people�s mental abilities coming through. Her parents had taken her to Betazed for help. They moved there with her while she learned to harness her abilities. No one had discovered what happened to her real parents but Monica believes they are still alive and not dead. If Tulak had any friends, he would probably consider her among them. The two found kinship in that they found solace in their work, while others craved battle.

�Lieutenant Esposito,� He quietly called out, �Do you have anything to report?�

She was reading something on her console when Tulak had called to her. Her hands quickly reached for the console and she changed it back to sensor readings.

�No sir,� She said, still surprised by the interruption, �Nothing to report except for a pulsar. The same one we detected three days ago��

The Vulcan noticed she seemed distracted and knew she had been reading something before the call for the report. Monica was addicted novels of ancient dynasties. She read them all the time and sometimes on the bridge, if things were boring enough. With a familiar frown, Tulak turned back to his console, �Understood��

He went back to reading over reports when an unfamiliar sound was heard. A loud beep on OPS console rang out�

Chapter 3
Miguel Fuentes

The Spanish born native turned his head to the console at his side when a klaxon was heard on the console next to him. He had been close to falling asleep at the helm, but the shrill sound woke him up quickly. His attention quickly became diverted to where he was and if evasive maneuvers needed to be taken. The strong, accented voice behind him was heard.

�Report!� Captain Sebastian demanded.

A quiet, but firm voice was the response to the loud, rough voice of the captain.

�I�m receiving a distress signal,� Jenna Smith, chief OPS officer, reported, �It�s from a Romulan shuttle. They�re under attack by Klingons.�

Miguel waited for the captain to immediately order them to divert course. He was glad to finally have something to do. The helm officer knew everybody was which is why he was confused to hear nothing. Fuentes turned in his seat and looked at the captain.

�Shall I alter our heading to intercept sir?� He asked, confused by the hesitant look on the captain�s face.

�Sir?� Miguel repeated, trying to get the man to say something. The captain looked conflicted by his options. Fuentes didn�t know why. Even though Romulans were not exactly allies to the Federation, it was still their duty to assist.

�Captain,� Jenna said, �We�re the only ship nearby and they are saying they can�t hold out much longer��

The captain looked at the ebony woman and then turned his attention to his second officer. A hurt look was on his face as if he was regretting the decision he had made.

�Captain-� Tulak said, but was cut off by Cain.

�Plot a course and engage.� Sebastian finally ordered.

Miguel spun around in his seat, grateful for some actions.

�Aye sir!� He yelled out, then though to himself, �The Gods must be listening, cause now it�s time for action��

The large Excelsior class starship turned around and entered warp, heading towards their destination�

Chapter 4
M�Tress

Chief tactical officer M�Tress felt the rush of adrenaline through his veins as the captain yelled out red alert. Finally, they would see combat. The Klingons weren�t very active at the end of this border, so participating in skirmishes rarely happened. Every time they had rushed to join a fight, it ended before they got there. Now, no ships were nearby and they would be the ones to handle it. The dark furred feline eyed his console closely, anticipating the moment something would appear in his targeting scanners.

�Shields at 100%,� He reported, �Torpedoes armed and phasers ready.�

The captain gave an absent minded nod and continued to stare at the view screen. M�Tress did not care though. The scent of battle was in the air and he craved more. He had sharpened his claws in anticipation of a fight with Klingons. It might not have been the best idea, because tapping the console was now difficult.

�ETA Miguel?� Cain asked.

�Five minutes, 14 seconds.� The helm responded.

A part of M�Tress felt strange for wanting a battle so badly. It was strange to be upset that peace was on the rise, not war. But the crew was tired of just sitting and scanning. Each deck with filled with bipeds pushing buttons, nothing more. After a while, that became tedious and the thrill of battle was needed. The ship could handle a bird-of-prey. It could�.

Chapter 5
Jenna Smith

The African born beauty checked the status of the ship as they rushed to assist the Romulan shuttle. It was her job to ensure that all systems were ready and working properly. She knew the condition of the system by memory though due to running scans nearly one hundred times in three hours. Boredom tends to do that to people. For once empty space, littered with stars, was not on the view screen. The image of the stars stretched was replacing the old view. It was nice to see something different for a change. The sound of replicated glass smashing into the ground was heard over the red alert sirens. She turned her head to see cadet Alexei Kazlov, kneeled on the ground, picking up the fragments of the shattered glass. An apologetic look was on his young face.

�I�m so sorry captain,� He stuttered, �I was bringing you a glass of coffee when I stumbled on the steps.�

The spilled coffee would have to have to be cleaned up later, but that was the least of any one�s worries. Jenna looked to her right and her eyes met with Miguel�s. The look on his face seemed to speak the same thing she thought about the cadet, �What a kiss ass�.

�Don�t worry about it cadet,� The captain said annoyed, �Just clean it up and get off the bridge. We�re about to go into battle.�

Jenna almost felt sorry for Alexei, but he was so pathetic that it was hard not to get annoyed.

�Battle sir?� He asked, �Surely�you could use me. I could assist. I�m well versed in bridge protocols during an attack. If-�

�I said get off the bridge and I don�t make a habit of repeating myself cadet,� Cain said, �Go warn the doctor we may have wounded.�

Alexei, still clutching the broken glass, bowed his head and rushed to the turbolift. The captain could have warned the doctor from the bridge, but he just wanted to give him something to do. The boy was born in St. Petersburg, Russia. He was still wet behind the ears and had a na�ve outlook on the way the galaxy works. Alexei was still at the academy and was only serving on the ship for a limited time for training purposes. Jenna shook her head and looked back at her console.

�Was I that pathetic when I was a cadet?� She asked.

Miguel gave a familiar smirk while piloting the massive starship.

�No,� He said with a straight face, �You were worse!�

�Shut up Miguel.� She said through gritted teeth.

Jenna had served on the USS Saturn as a cadet, while Miguel served as a Lieutenant J.G. He was annoying then on that ship as he was now with this ship.

�I remember you-� He said but was cut off by Jenna.

�Hey Miguel?� She said quickly and rather loudly, �Has that rash healed yet?�

Miguel�s smile disappeared almost as fast it appeared. He slumped into his seat, embarrassed and focused on the helm. Jenna smiled, proud of herself and shutting him up. She looked back and noticed the first officer giving a disapproving look at the banter between the two.

�Damn Vulcans.� She thought to herself.

�We�re dropping out of warp.� Miguel announced.

Jenna looked at the view screen, prepared to face a massive battle�.

Chapter 6
Saij Ut

Doctor Ut was cataloguing her blood samples in sickbay when the red alert sirens rang out. She sighed quietly and ignored it, having little to do during this crisis. Her first inclination was that this was a drill, but usually the crew was announced it was such before. The old Rigelian continued to alphabetize the blood samples. One the blood samples reminded her of a medical conference she had attended a few weeks back. A technician, Dr. Simmer-no, Dr. Kimmerman-no, Dr. immerman something was speaking at that particular conference and said he planned to revolutionize medical science onboard starships and stations all across the quadrant. He hadn�t had the finished product but showed a template of the EMH, emergency medical hologram. It was panned by the majority of people there, including her.

�Holograms serving on starships?� She muttered, �That�s just idiotic and would never work. What�s next? Ferengi serving in Starfleet?�

She was interrupted from her lamentation when the doors opened. As soon as she saw who it was, a guttural groan escaped her. It was the annoying cadet who was a little too eager to please.

�Cadet,� She said, �If you�re not suffering from Taggart�s Syndrome, then get out.�

Alexei looked hurt by her words, but didn�t leave. He stood tall and proud, relaying the message.

�I was sent by the captain ma�mn,� He announced pompously, �We�re about to enter a battle. You should prepare to receive casualties!�

Saij looked at him out of the corner of her eye.

�Is that so?� She asked, �Well thanks for the advice. Good-bye.�

He nodded his and turned away, not really having anything to do but stay away from the bridge. The Rigelian doctor went back to organizing the blood samples, eyeing the biobed nearby. It might have a patient soon�

Chapter 7
James Graham

If people looked at James, most would say he is not a day over 60. He could even maybe pass as 50 years old. He was 50 years old�.49 years ago. The 99 year old chief of engineering was as vibrant now as he was back then. A mix of really good health, exercise, and modern medical science left him in good shape. He was striding across engineering towards the warp core when the red alert sounds rang out.

�Well,� He said, �Strap a Klingon Targ to the hood of my shuttle, the red alert sirens are ringing! I never thought I�d hear that on this ship.�

A few engineers chuckled as his joke, while he clapped his hand loudly.

�Alright everyone,� He ordered, �Get to work!�

Chief Graham was born in England, nearly a century ago. He had a deep love for all things engineering. His first assignment was under captain Sulu when he commanded the USS Excelsior. Graham had never gone to Starfleet Academy, not really having the grades to enter. He had given up for a little while and worked with a former engineer. The man taught James everything there was to know about engineering. Tools, parts, schematics, you name it. He sighed up as a non-commissioned officer or a non-com, as they are more commonly known. To this day, he was a master chief petty officer. At the age of 60 Starfleet offered him a chance at teaching at the academy. James scoffed at the notion of being pulled away from a starship and served on various Excelsior class vessels.

�Chief,� An officer said, �The shield harmonics are slightly off balance. Could cause a problem if we�re hit.�

James was glad the officer remembered to call him chief and not sir. If people began to call him sir, it was admittance that he was old. James would never allow that, not even on his deathbed.

�I�ll try and compensate.� He said, moving towards the console.

His fingers raced over the console, while he read the information. He had been on the ship so long that he didn�t even have to look at what he was typing. Every glowing button was in his memory.

�There,� He said finally, �It�s fixed, but I want to look into that more. It shouldn�t have happened in the first place.�

�Aye sir-er�chief.� The engineer said, and then walked away.

James shook his head and headed towards the corridor. The man was meticulous about every tiny thing and he wanted to check on the torpedoes. That was not something that had been checked on for days due to taking a back shelf on the priority list. As soon as he stepped into the corridor, he ran into a familiar woman.

�Whoa,� Janvi Varghese, the chief counselor, said, �Going somewhere in a hurry chief?�

The older man gave a sheepish smile.

�Aye,� He said, �I didn�t mean to run into you m�lady.�

Janvi smiled, flattered by his obvious affection towards her. Even though the man was nearly a century old, he still acted like he was twenty.

�It�s quite alright,� She replied, �Carry on.�

�Thank you madam!� He yelled, and rushed away towards the torpedoes. If they were going into a battle, they would be greatly needed�

[La Forge]

That's pretty good, Founder! Keep it up! I'm in suspense...so...y'know...really...Keep it up!

[Lord Borg]

Wow, the additions were great andy. Keep it up, I wanna see more!

[Founder]

(Thanks you two)

Chapter 8
Monica Esposito

Chief science officer Monica Esposito was staring at the view screen with bated breath. She could feel everyone�s emotions, the gross anticipation from a coming battle. A Klingon bird-of-prey was firing on a small Romulan shuttle that was trying to dodge the disruptor fire. The shuttle was failing. She found it strange that a shuttle could take that kind of a beating. Her mind reached out to the shuttle to see if she can read the mind of the pilot, but she didn�t get anything. Strangely enough, she couldn�t get past the shuttle�s hull. Monica turned back to her console and ran a scan of the shuttle, trying to ascertain if it�s a newer model.

�Captain,� Miguel said, �They�re on our side of the border��

�Hail the Klingon ship.� Cain ordered.

Monica read over the sensor scan while the bridge waited for the Klingons to respond.

�Captain,� Monica said in her sultry voice, �That shuttle has been heavily modified.�

Cain looked at Monica and slowly nodded his head, processing the information. It may have seemed useless then, but it certainly might mean more later. Why was a modified Romulan shuttle fighting with a Klingon ship in Federation space? It would appear they would receive their answer because the view screen switched from the battle to the face of a burly and very angry Klingon.

�Federation!� He yelled, �This does not concern you.�

Cain stood up from his seat, an angry look on his face. It was one that Monica had rarely seen. Depressed? Yes, but angry. That was a rarity.

�It does concern us because you�re in Federation space,� He said, �You are not authorized to cross over. Stop firing immediately and return to your space.�

The Klingon slammed his fist into the arm of his metal chair. Monica cringed inwardly, feeling a slight swell of pain from the Klingon over his hand.

�That Romulan petaQ fled into your space,� He yelled, �Romulans are without honor. I will not stand for it! We are destroying the Romulan! Stay out of our way!�

The screen cut off and returned to the battle still going on in space. Monica bit the bottom of her lip, uncomfortable with the situation. She could feel complete bloodlust from the Klingons. Battle was something she wanted, but not against an enemy that can�t see reason. The small Klingon vessel gave chase after the Romulan.

�Hail the Romulan vessel.� He demanded.

�I�ve tried to sir,� M�Tress reported, �No response, their shields are failing.�

Monica eyed the Caitian with curiosity and suspect. He acted reserved but she could feel his urge to fight. His thoughts betrayed him and he clearly was waiting for the captain to order him to open fire. She looked back at Tulak, who sat at his station in silence. The Vulcan�s emotions were like an island of tranquility in a stormy sea. Everyone else on the bridge was waiting to assist the Romulan, everyone except the captain of course. Monica was trained NOT to read the minds of those who did not allow it. She didn�t read the captain�s mind, but she didn�t have to. He was conflicted, because he did not want to help the Romulan. He didn�t want to, but he knew he had to. Not to mention, the Klingons had to be stopped. They made an incursion into Federation space and that needed to be addressed. The turbo lift doors opened and the young, beautiful counselor walked out. The captain gave a grateful look in her direction. The two had become close after the many sessions he had with her. Monica was wary of the counselor because she could not read her at all. She was very in control of her emotions and mental abilities. For a Human, that was impressive.

Chapter 9
Janvi Varghese

The counselor strode onto the bridge, knowing that she needed to be there. The captain was a complete wreck and if she wasn�t there to offer her strength, then he would not be his best.

�Janvi,� He said, �Glad you�re here. We have a�situation.�

She looked up at the view screen and nodded her head.

�I can tell,� She said, �You can handle it, don�t worry.�

The captain�s usually depressed face changed to a look of slight happiness or at least, much more uplifting.

�We should assist,� Tulak chimed in, �The Romulan shuttle can not hold out forever and the Klingons have violated a well established treaty.�

The captain slowly nodded his head in agreement, no longer as conflicted. Janvi folded her arms and remained at the side of his seat, not getting in the way.

�Open a channel to the Klingon ship.� He ordered.

Miguel tapped on his console and nodded to the captain, implying it was done.

�Klingon ship,� He said, �This is your last warning. Leave our space now or be destroyed.�

A heavy silence was the only answer the captain would receive.

�Lieutenant M�Tress,� He said, �Fire phasers. Destroy their disruptor arrays.�

Janvi was pleased to see a spark of life back in the captain. She had seen him weekly for counseling sessions and found him to be more depressed than his medical report let on. He simply didn�t speak much with the other counselors but for her, he said virtually everything. Not because she was better, but because she had an edge over all the counselors in Starfleet, she was El-Aurian. A race of listeners is what they are called because most people are inclined to speak to them, to rant on and on about their problems, their desires, their secrets. It didn�t matter what it was about. No one in Starfleet knew she was El-Aurian. She had kept it a well hidden secret because she wanted no one to know. Her child hood was traumatized by the Borg. Everyone she knew and loved were either killed or assimilated. It was something that was hard for her to cope with and she wanted to leave that old life behind. She changed her name and blended in with Humans, letting go of her past. It was something she hoped that she would never have to face, ever again. Her hand lay on the captain�s shoulder in an effort to offer more strength. He looked at her and gave a weak smile.

�Aye sir,� M�Tress said, �Firing phasers.�

The Excelsior class vessel closed in on the Klingon ship and an orange beam lanced out, sliding across the Klingon ship�s shields. Miguel piloted the ship over the Klingons to hit them and quickly turned about, prepared for retaliatory fire. The view screen changed back to the Klingon ship.

�What are you doing!?� He screamed, �You risk a war with us over the Romulan coward!?�

�The only person to blame is you,� Cain replied, �I�m demanding you leave our space right now. For your safety��

If Klingons could become red with anger, this one would look like a tomato. Janvi watched the captain, hoping he would not lose his temper. Diplomacy was never his strong suit. She felt uncomfortable with the captain�s veiled threat. The screen cut off once more and the Klingon fired everything they had in a mad rush to destroy the Romulans.

�Their shields are off-line,� Jenna reported from OPS, �They�re sitting ducks.�

Cain motioned towards Miguel with a pointed finger.

�Plot a course between the Rommie and the Klingons,� He ordered, then tapped his combadge, �Bridge to transporter room. Beam the Romulan to the ship, NOW.�

�Aye sir.� The transporter chief replied.

The large ship flew in between the shuttle and bird-of-prey, taking the brunt of their killing blow. The Zeus flew past, just as the Klingons blew up the modified shuttle.

�This is transporter room,� The transporter chief said, �We got him.�

Sebastian looked mildly pleased, unsure if it was a victory or not. Janvi recognized the look and spoke.

�It was the right thing to do.� She confirmed.

He slowly nodded his head and accepted it. Cain nearly fell out of his seat when the Klingons fired on the Zeus.

�What the hell!?� Jenna yelled, �Are they out of their minds!?�

Tulak clutched his console as the ship shook from disruptor fire.

�Sanity and logic are not a Klingon�s strength,� He explained, �They are an impulsive people. He is acting out of anger.�

The captain added, �He is also not part of any house. I can tell, his ship doesn�t have the markings. He doesn�t care what happens, because killing a Romulan and destroying a Federation vessel that interfered would garner him notice in the empire. The chancellor may be upset that he risked war, but if the Klingon blames it on us siding with the Romulans...�

Tulak gave a rare surprised look, �Very perceptive captain.�

�What can I say?� He said, �If there is one thing I know, it�s Klingons.�

�You�re right captain,� Monica confirmed, using her unique mental and empathic abilities, �He cares little if this could trigger an interstellar war. His lust for battle outweighs his common sense.�

Janvi looked back at Monica and eye contact was made. The Betazoid looked uncomfortable and looked back at her console. The counselor knew that she made the science officer uneasy.

�Very good captain,� Janvi said, �Now what?�

The ship shook again and Janvi clutched a nearby railing for support.

�Now we return fire!� Miguel yelled.

�Amen to that brother.� Jenna replied.

The Caitian gave a loud snarl as his long claws tapped the console. He looked frustrated at his readings.

�Captain,� He said, �Something is wrong! Our shields are not holding.�

�Oh really?� Miguel replied, �Shields not holding while we�re under fire? That�s just crazy��

M�Tress cast an angry look in his direction.

�No you fool!� He said, �Our shields should not be dropping so rapidly. We�re down to 11%.�

The captain looked at him in surprise.

�What? How!?� He yelled.

Janvi watched the exchange, while still holding onto the railing. Things just took a dire turn for the worst. She suddenly remembered the familiar chief rushing out of engineering as fast as a near century old man could do that. Something was wrong. Another hit rocked the ship hard, sparks exploding out of a console and onto the back of M�Tress. He growled in pain, but ignored it, continuing to stare at his console.

�Shields are down!� He yelled, �Klingons are beaming aboard��

The El-Aurian cringed and eyed the phaser set hidden under a nearby console. That would be needed really soon�

Chapter 10
Alexei Kazlov

The overly eager cadet clutched the bulkhead when the ship shook from the Klingons. A Russian curse escaped his lips and he continued down the corridor, rushing past officers. The ship had the capability of carrying 750 crewmen. Most of that was officers, but there a tiny civilian presence onboard the ship. They would need protection as the bulkheads were crashing around them. Alexei ran as fast he could, heading towards a good location for civilian rescue. He had transferred onboard the ship nearly 11 months ago. It was his fourth and final year at Starfleet academy and after he trained onboard the ship, he would take the final graduation exam, if he survived this battle of course. Originally he wanted to serve aboard the Federation flagship, the Enterprise-D, but there was no room for another cadet there. It was either this assignment or space dock around Earth. He wanted to be as far from Earth as possible, in the unknown. So this was the assignment he chosen. Perhaps space dock may have been safer�

�Get out the way cadet!� An officer yelled.

Two officers, one severely injured, rushed past him, probably heading towards sickbay. Alexei rolled his eyes, but obeyed. He was tired of hearing that phrase being yelled at him. It felt like he was always in people�s way. Alexei busted his butt working on the bridge, engineering, sickbay, and even in the restaurant serving food. He loved feeling like he was accomplishing something. But with the way everyone treats him, it doesn�t seem like anyone appreciates his work. The two officers disappeared at the turn of the corridor. There was a strange sound, like an alien transporter whine and the screams of people. Alexei turned around and rushed down the corridor to see the two officers, lying dead on the ground. A burly Klingon, wielding a bat�leth, stood over their dead bodies, letting their blood drip off the blade and back onto their corpses. Alexei felt his breathing become shallow and he stumbled backwards in fear. The Klingon approached him slowly, an evil smile on the alien�s face. Alexei felt a tear roll down his cheek as he could see the end coming. His hand hovered over his face in a weak attempt of defense.

�Please don�t kill me�� He begged, nearly sobbing.

The Klingon lifted the weapon into the air and stared down at the cadet, not immediately plunging it into him. Alexei shut his eyes, letting the tears stream from them. He had taken tactical simulations in the holodeck on Earth. Alexei was actually in the top ten when it came to that and many teachers theorized he would become a tactical officer. But that was in a fake environment where there was no danger of death. The most that could happen was you would get lightly injured and your uniform dirty. Real life would never equal that fantasy world. His dreams of commanding a starship slipped away as he thought of the razor blade slicing his stomach open. He opened his eyes, wondering why he was still alive and in one piece. The Klingon had his weapon at his side, while staring at him in complete disgust.

�You are honor less,� He seethed, �A warrior does not kill helpless, crying children. Fear growing up boy, because if I see you in the battlefield again, I will kill you.�

He stepped over Alexei and continued down the corridor, searching for others to fight. A wave of relief and hatred filled the cadet�s body. Relief at being alive and hatred at being alive. He felt like such a coward. He felt like he had let the entire crew down. The lifeless corpses stared at him in an almost accusing way. Alexei buried his face into the carpet of the floor and wept, letting his tears mix in with the small line of blood from the dead officers�

Chapter 11
Loval

The transporter whine ended and Loval was standing on a Federation transporter pad. He wouldn�t have minded the rescue if it didn�t end with two phaser rifles pointed at his head. Two men, dressed in black and gold, stood and eyed him carefully.

�Step off the transporter pad slowly,� One officer said, �And we�ll lead you to sickbay.�

Loval raised his hands to show he had no weapons. Green blood slid down his face from an injury onboard the shuttle. Having a console explode next to you tends to do that. He slowly approached the officers and waited for them to lead him on his way. Normally, he would do everything in his power to escape, but with the Klingons still not dealt with, it would be stupid to kill his would be rescuers. They walked alongside of him and led him down the corridor, towards the turbo lift. As soon as they stepped outside, the ship shook hard. Officers rushed past them, stealing a glance at the Romulan. It was a rare sight to see them onboard a Federation starship. The three crowded into the turbo lift and made their way towards the desired destination. The Romulan� thoughts drifted towards the shuttle he was flying. He hoped the Klingons hadn�t destroyed it or that the Federation took it. If it fell into either of their hands, that would upset the Tal Shiar. This is simply not done, if you�re Romulan or not. The doors opened and the trio continued towards sickbay. The silence of the Starfleet officers was irritating, but familiar. Romulans did the same thing when they took a prisoner. Their silence was impressive, but not daunting. Loval would say nothing either if he was questioned by anyone onboard.

�This way.� One of the security officers said.

Loval followed them into sickbay to see a decently sized medical area. It was empty except for a Rigelian who was hovering over small vials of blood. She looked at the trio with an annoyed look. When she noticed the Romulan, she expressed surprise.

�Romulan?� She said, �I didn�t think I�d ever see your kind around these parts��

Loval�s lifeless eyes squinted at the alien, but said nothing. The two security officers stood at the doors, their weapons ready for anything. The ship shook once more and Loval clutched a console to steady himself. Doctor Ut stared upwards, towards the bridge several decks above her.

�That idiot helmsman,� She said bitterly, �He can�t pilot a ship to save his life. Why he is chief helmsman is beyond me.�

Loval wasn�t sure what she was talking about, but didn�t say anything. He liked to remain quiet, speaking only when he really needs to. If Loval could be described accurately, many would say he was an enigma, wrapped in mystery, inside of a puzzle. He was virtually unknown to anyone, with a spotless record. It was the way he liked to keep it.

�Come over here, shut up, and sit down.� The doctor said, rudely.

�So much for a bedside manner.� He thought to himself.

He obeyed though and took a seat on the biobed. The doctor flipped open her medical tricorder and ran a complete scan.

�Broken bone, mild loss of blood, very mild concussion.� She reported.

It was not as bad as he thought it would be. This pleased him greatly. He had worried about being so injured that it would require surgery. There was not telling what the Federation would do while he was unconscious. A memory probe or scan of the equipment of the shuttle? If the shuttle was even intact. The ship shook hard again. Hard enough to know the hull, not the shields, were hit.

�What the hell is going on!?� The Rigelian demanded.

�That�s a good question�� Loval thought to himself.

[Lord Borg]

Good as always. I look foward to more, the way you divide each chapter to center on a specific person is interesting.

[Seven of Nine]

I like it a lot

Thank you

[Founder]

(Thanks you two. I've made a few updates on the first post. I'm glad people are reading. )

Chapter 12
K�Peq

K�Peq, son of Rog, let out a loud howl that only a Klingon of his size could. He didn�t cry out for the thrill of battle, the anticipation of a fight, the blood rush that was inside all Klingons. No, he cried out because dozens of heavy pots and pans collapsed on him. K�Peq let out a loud string of Klingon curses, while shoving the fallen kitchen items aside. The ship shook again from another hit by the Klingon disruptors, but K�Peq was much more prepared this time. He moved away from the galley and into the center of the tables within the restaurant, �Tranquil Nebula�. The captain of the Zeus allowed K�Peq and his partner, Kal, to set up a restaurant where the mess hall was. He felt that it would add a less boring touch to the mess hall. The food was not replicated, but bought every time they stopped at a star base. Crates of food sat in the cargo bay, ready for the Klingon to display his culinary skills. K�Peq was once a Dahar master within the Klingon Empire. He was the head of an honorable and large house back on Qo�noS. His influence could not be measured and the amount of ships within his house could have split the empire in half, figuratively speaking. He was most famous for the battle against the Orion Syndicate and the Romulans in Klingon space. The Romulans were buying illegal weaponry to use against the Klingons in secret. That way, the weapons, that were not Romulan, would not be traceable to them. K�Peq discovered this and a great battle occurred between his K�Tinga class vessel and two bird-of-preys against a Romulan war bird and three Orion interceptors. The battle was glorious and all who opposed the Klingons were killed. He returned home to be heralded as a hero. Songs were sung in his honor and many rush to try and join his house. Those were the times he cherished the most, before it had all fallen apart. The Orion Syndicate was not some backwater gang that could be trampled on. They wanted revenge for the cargo that was destroyed and more importantly, the death of their members. While the Orion was a criminal organization, they did have a twisted sense of honor. You don�t kill an Orion Syndicate member and walk away unscathed. It just wasn�t done. Especially if you return home and boast about it. K�Peq�s entire world came crashing down when �evidence� surfaced that he was a member of the Syndicate and he helped kill Bu�Lak, a member of the Klingon High Council. Bu�Lak, like K�Peq, was a hero to the Klingon people. He fought in many battles and brought glory to the Empire that had been unforeseen for nearly a generation. Many thought that K�Peq had killed him out of jealousy, a dishonorable reason to kill a hero of the Klingon people. To make matters worse, being a member of an organization that sold weapons to the Romulans was not viewed in a positive light. K�Peq was stripped of his rank and title and exiled from Klingon space. His house was dishonored and all lands and ships owned by them were divided amongst other houses. The family was left with nothing but complete and utter dishonor.

�Damn Starfleet officers!� A voice yelled, �How hard is it to kill a Klingon?�

K�Peq turned his attention towards the voice coming from view port. A male, dark skinned, stood at the view port, staring at the pursuing and attacking Klingon ship.

�An honorable Klingon warrior is unbeatable,� He bragged proudly, �You wouldn�t know anything about honor Kal.�

Ka, turned his head and gave a smirk that had more falseness in it than a Ferengi contract.

�What would you know about honor?� He retorted.

K�Peq had the biggest urge to find a kitchen knife and stab Kal over that grievous offense. But then again�Kal was right. What did he know about honor? He had none left�

Chapter 13
Kal

Kal stared at the elder Klingon with a serious look. The foolish warrior thought he could smart mouth Kal and get away with it. That was not something he would allow. Kal remembered the first time he met K�Peq on Farius Prime. K�Peq had been wandering the streets, drunk off Blood Wine, and depressed about what had happened to him. He knew the Klingon was lamenting his shame and the dishonor he had brought upon his family. He also knew that K�Peq was too honor driven to kill himself in shame. Because that was not an honorable thing to do and his family�s dishonor would still be there and he would forever be remembered as the killer of Klingon heroes. Kal offered K�Peq a way to regain his honor in exchange for his services, which included being a body guard or thug. While K�Peq was older than most, he was still very strong and his prowess with a blade was nearly unmatched. Kal told him that he knew that K�Peq had no ties to the Syndicate and that he was framed. He claimed that he had friends within the Syndicate and could even obtain evidence that would clear K�Peq of any wrong doing and regain his honor. The Klingon quickly agreed, having no other option to regain his family�s unfairly lost honor.

�Now clean up that mess.� He ordered.

The Klingon gave a guttural growl and went back into the galley. Kal owned a legitimate restaurant named the �Tranquil Nebula�. Originally he was going to have it on the promenade of the Cardassian run station, Terok Nor. The Cardassians were a species that often looked the other way when it came to wrong doing. Kal would have absolutely free reign onboard the station, something he needed for his operations. The restaurant was simply a front for his shady dealings and criminal activities. The prefect, Dukat, approved of the restaurant being there, segregated from the Bajoran slave labor of course. Kal was ready to agree until his sources revealed that a shrewd shape shifter eyed everyone carefully and would be quick to report any crimes. He was grateful that he didn�t end up placing the restaurant on Terok Nor.

�Good riddance,� He thought to himself, �Its not like that ugly bicycle wheel would ever get a lot of business anyways and if I had to deal with that idiot Ferengi and his trashy bar one more time...�

The ship rocked HARD from the Klingon disruptor fire, a little too hard. Kal recognized that instanstly.

�The shields are failing.� He commented.

�Your observations are as insightful as a Cardassian novel.� K�Peq said from the galley.

Kal looked away from the pursuing Klingon ship and looked back at his �partner� in the restaurant.

�My friend,� He said in a nice, but steadily nastier tone, �You seem to be under the mistaken impression that I want your opinion. I don�t. Now get you lazy butt back to work.�

The "partner" was just as much a front as was the restaurant. They were most certainly not equals and Kal held all the cards. K�Peq grudgingly obeyed Kal, angry at the situation that he was in. The fallen warrior had been working for Kal for nearly two years. Two years of acting like a slave, all so his family would be able to go to Sto-vo-kor, where the honored dead would go and Kahless would be waiting for them. Kal kept feeding him snippets of information every time K�Peq started to want to leave the duo. He told him they were close to unraveling the mystery of the Syndicate�s deceit that soon he would be able to return home. This of course would never come to pass as long as Kal would live. What K�Peq didn�t know was that Kal was not some two bit criminal hustler, but a member of the Orion Syndicate and K�Peq�s fall from grace was only the beginning of the revenge they would inflict upon him�

[Lord Borg]

Good additions, Andy. Well written. I look foward to more.

[Founder]

(Well here ya go! )

Chapter 14
Cain Sebastian

The captain, while older, was still fit and an able body fighter. He was grateful for training so much when a Klingon, wielding a bat�leth, charged at him on the bridge. Cain ducked and came back up with his fists closed together and slammed the Klingon in the face. The broad-shouldered Klingon fell backwards, over the railing near the captain�s chair which sat in the center of the bridge. Another Klingon dashed towards the captain, prepared to stab him in the back. Cain turned around in time to see the Klingon fall to the ground from a well timed phaser blast to his back. He looked over to see Janvi, her hair disheveled from the battle, brandishing the phaser. She winked at him and then continued the fight. Tulok was struggling against a Klingon near his console. He reached with a free hand and did the Vulcan nerve pinch, immediately knocking the Klingon out. Cain heard a loud snarl and saw his Caitian tactical officer fighting a Klingon hand to claw. His sharpened claws extended so long that his slash tore part of the Klingon�s face right off. The large �animal� continued to fight the Klingons off, but left tactical unmanned. Cain rushed towards the console and took aim at the Klingon ship pursuing. Even with shields down, the ship was still pretty powerful. He fired a photon torpedo and watched it fly backwards, ramming into the Klingon ship�s shields. A nearby console depicted the status of the Klingon�s shields. They were down to six percent, enough for a phaser to tear through. His finger pressed down on a button and a phaser beam lanced out, destroying what was left of their shields. He looked up to hear silence, save for the red alert sirens. No more Klingons were beaming aboard. No doubt they ran out of warriors to beam over, but more were still on the lower decks of the ships.

�Lieutenant M�Tress,� Cain said, �If you would be so kind to take a security team and sweep the ship, deck by deck.�

The officer�s claws were stained in Klingon blood and he panted heavily.

�Aye sir.� He said in a low voice.

He rushed off the bridge and onto a turbo lift, calling for security as he did so. Cain looked back at the console and saw the damaged Klingon ship, drifting in space. When he took out their shields, he also damaged their impulse engines.

�Miguel,� He said, �All stop.�

The captain made his way towards his chair and sat down, sighing in relief that the battle was over.

�Perhaps they are open to hails now?� He asked him.

�I don�t think so�� Jenna replied, while checking her console.

Cain�s eyes shut in annoyance, �And why not?�

�Because two K�t�inga class vessels have decloaked and are on a pursuit course.� She reported.

Miguel groaned loudly, which pretty much represented what everyone on the bridge felt. Two K�t�inga class warships against a damaged and shield less Excelsior class ship?

�Go to warp.� He ordered.

�I can�t,� Miguel replied, �Warp is off-line.�

The captain slammed his fist into the left arm of his chair, tired of nothing but negatives. Janvi approached him, her phaser lowered to her side.

�We still have impulse don�t we captain?� She asked, trying to find some good in all of this.

�I don�t know,� He asked, �Miguel?�

The helmsman ran his fingers over the console at lightening speed. �Full impulse sir. Heading?�

Cain sat and thought quietly for a moment, trying to think of what to do. The Klingon ships were closing fast and they were no doubt blood thirsty and looking to avenge the disable Klingon bird-of-prey. They would never be able to outrun the Klingons forever. At least, not long enough for them to find reinforcements. He had to get those Klingons off their back and fast. An idea hit him, but he didn�t like it.

�Lieutenant Commander Fuentes,� He said, �Distance to the Bison Rift?�

Janvi stared at the captain, surprised by the question, as were the other bridge crew. Miguel hesitated for only a moment and checked his instruments.

�Not far at impulse�� He said, although not in detail, not really wanting to encourage the captain.

�Plot a course and engage.� Cain demanded almost immediately, as if he had his mind set on it.

The counselor did not look pleased with the choice at all. Cain could tell by the look on her face, almost as disapproving as Tulak�s.

�Captain,� Tulak chimed in, almost as if on queue, �I don�t think I need to remind you that the Bison Rift is a dangerous area of space and is classified with a level 10 threat to starships. Starfleet has deemed this area to be-�

�-Hazardous,� He finished, �I know, but it may be our only chance.�

Jenna, while staring at her console, spoke to the captain, not happy about the idea at all.

�Captain Sebastian,� She said, �The Excelsior class is an exceptionally large starship. The chances of us navigating safely through the rift are��

��10, 535, 333, 543 to one.� Tulak finished.

�Thank you both,� Cain said, �But with Mr. Fuentes at the helm, we�re as good as-�

�-dead.� Jenna joked.

Cain looked at her; a visibly annoyed looked on his face.

�Belay that talk ensign,� He ordered, �Engage Commander Fuentes.�

The helmsman nodded and put the ship to full impulse, heading towards the dangerous area of space�

Chapter 15
Tulak

The Vulcan commander always found Humans to be an impulsive people and the captain had just proven it. Taking an Excelsior class vessel into the Bison rift was not smart at all. The rift was named after the Admiral Veronica Bison, a fleet admiral nearly three decades ago. A battle occurred between the Federation 5th fleet, which comprised of 54 ships of various classes against an unknown foe who used subspace weaponry. The battle raged for hours until the space became warped with subspace tears from the alien�s weapons. Virtually no ship made it out alive, save four three Federation ships, heavily damaged. To this day, no one knows who the aliens were that they fought. Only that it took the entire fleet to hold them back. Fleet Admiral Bison died and her ship was destroyed, all hands lost. Now, the space was torn apart by dozens of subspace tears, all of them varying in size. The USS Zeus would need the best pilot to get through their unscathed.

�Unfortunately we have Mr. Fuentes at the helm...� He thought bitterly.

Tulak looked at the view screen and saw the image of the twisted realm of space, anomaly ridden areas, torn apart by subspace. Miguel looked back at the captain.

�We�ve reached the Bison Rift sir,� He said, �Your orders?�

Tulak nearly fell out of his seat when a disruptor fire rammed into the shield less ship.

�Take us in!� He ordered.

�Captain, I must protest.� Tulak said.

Cain looked behind him, where the commander�s seat was placed.

�Noted,� He said, and then looked back at Miguel, �Engage.�

Miguel nodded and moved the ship, now rather damaged, towards the deadly area of space. One of the dangerous energy waves nearly rammed into the ship. The Zeus narrowly dodged it and continued inside, going deeper. Tulak stared at his console and tried to see if the Klingon ships were pursuing. Much to his surprise, they continued after the Federation starship, bent on destroying on it.

�There is no logic in their actions,� He whispered, then spoke loudly, �The Klingons are pursuing.�

Cain squinted his eyes in annoyance and thought about what to do. It was obvious from his hesitation that he didn�t expect the Klingons to follow. The captain got up and walked over to the tactical console and fired a phaser blast, but not at the Klingons, but at one of the nearby rips. It lit up brightly and exploded, sending a massive shockwave out that tore the Klingons apart. The bridge crew, minus Tulak, sighed in relief, glad that the situation was over with. A warning beep rang out at the helm.

�There are dozens of shockwaves heading straight for us!� He warned.

Tulak watched the shockwaves on the aft view. Dozens of them were spreading out and moving towards the ship or just flying outwards. Miguel flew the ship forward, not even bothering to avoid the hull debris. They would never be able to outrun the shockwaves at impulse speeds. If the shield less and hull damaged ship was swept up by the subspace shockwave, they would be immediately destroyed. The captain tapped his combadge.

�Captain Sebastian to chief Graham,� He said, �We need warp!�

�We�re working on it sir!� Graham replied.

Monica, who was studying some readings from her console, quickly spoke up.

�Captain,� She said, �Due to energy the warp engines emit, jumping to warp here is not advisable!�

Cain ignored her, not really having any other choice. The energy waves were closing in on them and with the debris ramming the ship; they would not make it out of here at this pace. Tulak did not like how the captain continuously ignored the crew�s suggestions. Warp would not be the best idea here, he certainly agreed.

�The shockwave will overtake us in 10 seconds.� Jenna said, then began to count down, �...9�8...7...6...5...4...3...�

Miguel saw the familiar glow of the warp engine button return to power. He immediately set it to warp 9 and engaged, just as the engines became engulfed in the wave. The ship leapt into warp, but by no means in a steady and controlled pace. Various consoles exploded all over the bridge due to the power overload, including Tolak�s. He flew backwards from the explosion and landed on the ground, green blood sliding down the side of his face�

Chapter 16
Miguel Fuentes

The ship flew at an impressive speed, quickly clearing the dangerous rift in space. Miguel would have smiled, but the problems just kept continuing.

�Drop out of warp!� Cain ordered from behind him.

Miguel did everything he could to make an all stop. He even tried to just shut the engines off, but it was no longer under his control.

�I can�t!� He yelled, �I�ve lost helm control! We�re exceeding warp 15�!�

He couldn�t believe what was happening, the ship was going dangerously fast at an alarming rate. The engines were overloaded and if this kept up, they would have warp core breach on their hands. Miguel was about to attempt to shut off all power and connection the warp engines when the ship finally slowed down and the shockwave they were riding finally dissipated. The ship was spinning in space at a fast speed, it�s once vibrant lights were all shut off. The helmsman clutched his console, his body twisted to one side. He pulled himself up and groaned in pain, feeling that something was definitely broken. His head twisted to see how Jenna was, to see if she was even still alive. Jenna was sprawled out over the OPS console, blood dripping from her mouth and onto the console.

�Jenna!� He yelled, �Jenna!�

He rushed out of the helm seat and immediately fell to the floor, immense pain shooting up his leg. His legs were definitely broken and if he didn�t know better, his knee caps were shattered. Well�that was how it felt anyways. He crawled towards Jenna and nudged her, while still on the carpeted floor. Much to his relief, she whimpered, signifying she was still alive.

�Are you ok Miguel?� A soft voice said.

The young man turned to see Janvi, sitting against the railing, obviously too injured to stand, but at least she was alert. He shook his head and motioned towards his legs.

�They�re broken.� He told her.

Janvi wrapped one arm around the railing and pulled herself up, struggling to stand. Miguel watched her survey the room, with shaky legs. He couldn�t see anything from the floor, nothing but bodies and damaged consoles and broken seats. The only light came from the few red alert lights that were still functioning. Miguel tapped his combadge with a weak slap.

�Bridge to sickbay,� He muttered, �Medical emergency��

He shut his eyes, letting the pain overcome him. When he said he wanted adventure�this was not what he had in mind�

Chapter 17
M�Tress

There was nothing but silence in the corridors of the USS Zeus. Bulkheads and rubble were lying out on the once clean carpet. Under all of that were Starfleet officers, all of them injured. M�Tress quickly pulled himself from the ground using one of the intact bulkheads. He shook the dust and debris off of him and looked around, trying to regain his bearing. Two security officers, J�broit and Steven John, were killed when the walls literally exploded. The corridors were nearly pitch black due to the power outage. Luckily for M�Tress, his species had night vision, so this was no problem for him. As sad he was for the fallen crewman, there was little he could do and the scent he picked up from them was death. He still had a task to do, given to him by the captain, but he wasn�t even sure if the captain was still alive. M�Tress wondered what forced the ship to shake that hard. Had it been the Klingons? If it was them, then their weapons packed a serious punch. This did not deter him at all though. He would find any Klingon left onboard and arrest them�or kill them. His heightened sense of hearing could detect a noise two meters ahead of him. He dropped low and slowly made his way towards the noise. As he came closer, he realized that it was not a Klingon�s voice, but a Human�s. The smell was a dead giveaway, Klingons tended to smell like Targ droppings. The sound was clearly someone weeping.

�Who is there?� M�Tress said, his voice somewhat slurred.

Caitians, due to their feline anatomy, could not clearly speak like a Human, universal translator or not. The person that was weeping shifted in fear and stared at the chief of security.

�Lieutenant M�Tress?� A young voice asked.

M�Tress immediately recognized it as the voice of the cadet serving onboard, Alexei. He was surprised to see the boy unharmed, well�minus the cuts and bruises.

�Are you alright?� He asked, wondering why the boy was crying. It was more than likely the fear of the situation.

Alexei pointed towards an opened hatch that led to one of the many Jeffries tubes.

�I hid in there�� He said, sound ashamed, �When the Klingons boarded.�

M�Tress could only nod, not really caring what the boy was talking about. The scent of dead Klingons were everywhere on this deck.

�Follow me,� He ordered, �There might still be some Klingons left onboard.�

He walked past the boy and stopped when he noticed Alexei was not following him.

�Cadet?� He asked, wondering why the boy was taking so long.

�Maybe I should just stay here,� He tried reason, �I�d only slow you down...�

M�Tress could see Alexei look at the floor in disgrace. The boy probably thought the Catian couldn�t see, but the night vision allowed it. The cadet was obviously ashamed of hiding in the Jeffries tube and now choosing not to come.

�Suit yourself,� He replied, �Find some place to hide.�

He turned away, rather disgusted with the boy�s cowardice and continued down the corridor, looking for more Klingons.

Chapter 18
Jenna Smith

The chief OPS officer was sprawled out over her console, barely able to move. She had been fading in and out of consciousness every few minutes. Finally, she found the strength to move, only to find blood dripping from her mouth and onto her console. A revolted Jenna wiped it from her mouth and looked around her. Miguel was lying on the floor, his eyes shut and his body motionless. Immediately, Jenna thought the worst and moved to his side, shaking his body and trying to stir him, just as he had done for her earlier.

�Commander?� She yelled, �Fuentes!?�

�He is stable, but I have to get him back to sickbay.� The doctor said.

Jenna looked over to see the doctor running a medical tricorder over the captain, checking him for injuries. Janvi was sitting in a chair, next to Monica, checking her for her wounds, while Tulak was still on the floor.

�I have to get all of you to sickbay,� The Rigelian said, �And immediately.�

The captain shook his head, pushing the tricorder away from his face.

�Not me,� He said, �Go help them.�

Doctor Saij Ut rolled her alien eyes and moved towards Jenna, trying to scan over her. Jenna did the same thing as the captain and motioned for the doctor to check Tulak, Janvi, and Monica.

�Don�t worry about me,� She said, �I�m fine, more or less. Just a little disoriented, that�s all.�

The medical tricorder snapped shut and the doctor was visibly annoyed.

�I don�t know about you all,� She said, �But last time I checked, I was the chief medical officer. I will give the prognoses around here. Understood?�

Jenna nodded, but didn�t let her continue with examination. The doctor gave up and approached Monica, having already checked Miguel and Tulak. Jenna slid back into OPS and tried to ascertain what was going on.

�Report.� Cain asked, realizing she was the only bridge officer that could work at the moment. Everyone else was either injured or dead.

�Main power is off-line,� She reported, while reading over the damage report, �We�re running on secondary power only. Engines are off-line. Weapons, shields, you name it, we don�t have it. We�re drifting in space.�

The captain rubbed the temple of his forehead in annoyance. When it rains, it pours.

�Any form of communication at all?� He asked, hoping that maybe they could contact a Federation starship.

Jenna checked quickly, trying to access short or long range communications.

�No sir,� She said, �But there is minor damage to the communications array. I could get to engineering and meet up with Chief Graham. We can have it fixed in an hour.�

Cain looked at her and replied in a no nonsense way.

�Get to it quick.� He ordered.

She slowly nodded and rushed off the bridge as fast as her sore body could take her. Now all she had to do was find the chief.

[Founder]

Chapter 19
Saij Ut

A dermal regenerator emitted a bright red, pinkish light over lieutenant Esposito�s injured face. As the beam of light ran over the scar across her cheek, it healed the tissues and made the disfigurement disappear. Saij shut the device off and placed it back in her medical kit.

�There,� She said, �You two are fixed up.�

Janvi, who had an arm placed around the disorient science officer, smiled.

�Thank you doctor,� She said, �Your assistance is greatly appreciated.�

Saij smirked in her sarcastic way.

�At least someone here appreciates my talents,� She muttered, then looked over at the injured Vulcan, �I�ll need to beam him to sickbay.�

The captain, sitting idly in his chair, not having much else to do, nodded to her.

�What about the rest of the injured?� He asked, motioning to two stationary bridge officers.

Doctor Ut gave a disheartened look in their direction.

�The only place those two are going is the morgue�� She replied.

Captain Sebastian got up from his seat, angry about the entire situation.

�I�ll be in engineering.� He said, and then walked out, without another word.

Janvi watched him leave, having a mild urge to follow him. She obviously decided against it, because she remained with Monica and the rest of the bridge crew.

�I guess that leave Miss Esposito in charge.� The doctor said.

She knelt next to Tulak and looked at Janvi.

�I have a feeling the transporter room is not at its best. If you would do the honors�?� She asked.

Janvi nodded and moved towards the nearby console. She tapped on the barely glowing buttons and beamed the three, including Miguel, into sickbay.

Saij and Tulak reappeared on deck 7 in sickbay. Medical tools were scattered all over the floor. The Vulcan was lying on the biobed, motionless. Saij picked up various tools and placed them back on the medical tray, while looking around in a suspicious way. When she had made her way to the bridge, the Romulan Loval, had been left in sickbay. He was to await her return, but he was no where to be found. Neither were the security officers that were guarding him for that matter.

�This keeps getting better and better�� She muttered.

Chapter 20
James Graham

The elder of about everyone onboard, was lying inside of a cramped Jeffries tube. He had been there since the shockwave rammed the ship. His head hit the top of the bulkhead and knocked him out.

�Bloody hell,� He said, finally waking up.

His engineering tools were scattered all over the place, but that was the least of his worries. He knew Excelsior class starships like the back of his hand and realized that the USS Zeus was heavily damaged. James began to crawl out of the tube towards a near opening, trying to get back to engineering. As the old man slipped out, he could hear officers in the dark.

�There he is!� An engineer, dressed in a yellow jumpsuit said, while pointing a wrist light at him, �The Jeffries tube!�

An engineer rushed to help James out, but James pushed him aside.

�Calm down,� He said, �I�m old, but I�m capable of doing this myself.�

�No one would ever say otherwise chief.� A voice said from the darkness of main engineering.

James looked up towards the sound of the feminine voice as he finally pulled himself out of the tube.

�Miss Jenna,� He said, �Your lovely voice is a true testament to your beauty.�

A chuckle was heard from the ensign.

�Cute, chief,� She said, �But now is now the time for flattery. We have to repair the communication�s array.�

James looked back into the Jeffries tube and then back at the beam of light aimed at him.

�Well me tools are in there,� He said, �But I think we can make due. We need to get a lot more then communications up though. I mean, we�ll need sensors, engines, and main power at the least.�

�Perhaps,� She replied, �But first thing is first, we need to get communications back online.�

The chief engineer shrugged and took a wrist light and a tricorder that was handed to him. He flipped it open and moved towards the console, motioning for Jenna to follow.

�Here,� He said, while tapped on a flickering console, �The damage to the ship is extensive��

He pointed towards a master systems display of the ship. Usually it was a mix of green and blue, showing which systems were which and which were operating. Virtually the entire ship was red with damage or yellow with warning.

��as you can see,� He finished, and then moved onto the array, �We can�t repair the array until main power is online. Not unless we physically go outside of the ship and repair it from there. I don�t want it to get to that. So let�s work on getting main power online.�

Jenna hesitated, but then saw the wisdom in the man�s words.

�You�re the chief engineer.� She replied.

James winked at her and clapped his hands loudly.

�Alright you bastards!� He yelled, �Lets get this ship back on it�s nacelles shall we?�

A group of engineers cheered and immediately rushed about, prepared to work. James smiled at the situation, however grim it was.

�Now this feels like the old days�� He thought.

Chapter 21
Monica Esposito

The science station flickered, obviously damaged from their run in with the subspace anomaly. Monica was working on trying to ascertain their exact position. The counselor was sitting alongside of her, trying to ensure that she was well. Monica appreciated the concern for her, but she also found it tiresome and did not like the pity. Then again, based off of the women�s emotions, she was more bored then anything. There was little for her to do, except search through the dead and wounded. Monica always found Janvi to be strange and was always on her guard around her. The Betazoid could never pierce into her mind, nor fully read her emotions. That concerned Monica, because there was never a Human she couldn�t read.

�How�s it coming along?� Janvi asked.

Monica looked over her and then back at her console.

�Decent enough,� She said, �But the sensors are damaged and off sync. I can�t really understand where we are.�

Janvi had her chair turned to look at the bridge, rather than facing the console.

�Oh,� She said, �I feel so useless right now. I want to go help, but I don�t know where to begin.�

An awkward silence filled the large room after she spoke. Monica was really uncomfortable around the Janvi and didn�t really know what to say. A smile crossed Janvi�s face as she slid a strand of hanging hair behind her ear.

�I don�t have to be one of your people to realize you don�t like me.� Janvi said.

Monica was taken by surprise by her random, but accurate comment.

�What?� She said, �I didn�t say that or�think it. If I�ve been behaving strangely towards you, I apologize. I just find your mental�discipline to be impressive. I�ve never met a Human I couldn�t read��

The counselor bowed her head in thanks.

�Thank you,� She said, then lied, �I found Vulcan meditation to be fascinating and quickly got into it. It helped focus my mind.�

Monica slowly nodded her head, not fully believing it.

�I see,� She said, �You and Tulak should have meditative session on one of these days.

Janvi chuckled and shook her head.

�No,� She said, �I�m not that lonely.�

She rose from her seat and looked around at the damage.

�I�m going to see if the doctor needs my help,� She said, �You going to be alright?�

Monica nodded her head in affirmation, �I�ll be fine. Thanks��

Janvi gave a curt nod and walked towards the turbolift. Monica was left alone on the bridge, minus the two dead officers. She felt a pang of guilt over their needless deaths. Monica remembered scanning the Bison Rift and trying to warn the captain about not going to warp there. The captain ignored her and they still made the jump. She didn�t really blame him, mainly because the alternative was annihilation. Monica knew the warp energy would attract the subspace shockwave and it would not let go of the engines until the wave dissipated. She stared at the flickering text, trying to find an answer to what the effects were. She remembered Miguel, the injured helmsman who was beamed to sickbay, said they had reached warp 15 and beyond. That was a rarity in itself and she believed they probably did make scientific history with this, but she also knew the captain wouldn�t care. What mattered now was where they were and how soon help would arrive. She pulled up an image of the galaxy map.

�Computer,� She said, �Can you mark our exact location?�

�Negative,� The computer replied, �Sensors and navigation are off-line.�

�Figures.� She muttered.

She went back to trying to figure out their trajectory from the rift.

�Computer,� She said, �Extrapolate any possible location we would arrive at if the ship jumped to warp 16 in the Bison Rift.�

Monica mentioned warp 16 just to be on the safe side. She knew it had been between 15 and 16, but was unsure. If only Miguel was there�.

�Information completed.� The computer said.

Her eyes scanned the information that was now presented. The galaxy map had dozens of areas they could have been sent to. Some weren�t at all accurate because it would place them beyond the galactic barrier. She had to give more details; the computer could only do so much.

�Ok,� She said, �Now take out any locations that we would be at if it resulted from us being pushed into an anomaly or wormhole. Check our helm records and match the direction we were moving. Then hypothesize where we would be if we moved in a straight, possibly slightly erratic, line forward at a speed between warp 15 and 16.�

The computer beeped and the galaxy map changed once more. There were now only a few locations and virtually all of them were bad. Her hand immediately slapped the combadge on her chest.

�Bridge to the captain,� She said, �Please report here immediately.�

An annoyed captain responded, �I was going to assist with the communication array. Can this wait?�

�Captain, if I�m right,� She said in a dismal tone, �No one in Starfleet will be hearing our hails. Not for years at least��

Chapter 22
Janvi Varghese

The brown skinned beauty carefully made her way down the long winded corridor. The lights on this deck were little better lit, but she still had her SIMs beacon on. She was heading towards sickbay, wanting to see if she could somehow offer her assistance. Dead Klingons and a few Starfleet officers were sprawled out across the winding passageway. She covered her mouth in horror, unable to stomach all the death. This reminded her of the Borg attack on her home world. She had been on that fateful transport, the SS Lakul, which had been destroyed by an energy ribbon. Before it was destroyed, she was beamed over to the USS Enterprise-B. Janvi had been one of the lucky ones. She remembered those moments so clearly. An officer has checked to see if she was alright, a nice Starfleet commander by the name of Chekov. She was forced to start life over after losing everything to the Borg. They conquered her home world, a planet filled with an incredible people. The El-Aurians were sensitive to the space time continuum and could tell if any changes were ever made to it. They were wary of the species, Q. An omnipotent group of aliens that sometimes plagued her people or rather, a specific Q would plague them. She was pulled out of her memories when an officer began to stir. She rushed over to him, squatting down at his side.

�Are you ok crewman?� She asked.

He shook his head, which had a line of blood going down it.

�Hang on,� She said, �I�ll get you help.�

She moved to tap her combadge, when suddenly she was hit from behind. Janvi fell forward, a searing pain in her shoulder. She had been stabbed with a d�k tahg. A Klingon, injured, but still fighting, stood over her. He cried out and moved to attack her, but she rolled out of the way, while yanking the Klingon dagger from her back. She stabbed the Klingon in the ankle, only to be kicked in the stomach as retribution. Janvi cried out in pain, as the Klingon�s boots had steel, pointed tips on the toes. Just as the Klingon was about to bring his foot down on her face, he fled sideways, fired upon with a phaser. Janvi looked up to see her rescuer was none other than a Romulan. He was holding a Federation phaser, type 2. At first she was concerned he would kill her, but she relaxed a little bit, when he lowered the weapon to his side.

�When Klingons have battle in their eyes,� He said to her in a quiet voice, �It is always best to carry a weapon��

She pulled herself up, groaning in pain.

�Thanks,� She muttered, �I�ll have to remember that.�

�See to it that you do,� He said, �Because I won�t always be around to save you.�

Janvi stared at the weapon, wondering how he got a hold of it. He followed the direction of her eyes and smiled.

�You�re wondering why I�m carrying a phaser,� He guessed accurately, �Well as you can see, this ship is not very safe.�

She knelt beside the injured crewman, not fully keeping her eyes off the Romulan.

�Well,� She said, �If you�re here to help, then let�s get him to sickbay.�

The Romulan shook his head and looked behind himself in a paranoid fashion.

�I never said I was here to help,� He replied coldly, �Consider my assistance a random act of mercy, a rarity amongst my people towards yours.�

With that, he turned and rushed down the corridor, heading to an unknown destination. Janvi grew angry the Romulan, armed, left them defenseless. She tapped her combadge.

�Ensign Varghese to Lieutenant M�Tress.� She called.

The Catian replied quickly.

�M�Tress here,� He said, �Go ahead.�

Janvi clutched the injured man�s hand, while she spoke.

�There appears to be a Romulan onboard,� She said, �He is carrying a Federation phaser. I don�t know if he is dangerous, but I felt it was best if you knew he was on the loose.�

A low growl was heard on the other side of the comm. line.

�You were right in doing so, thank you,� He said, �I�ll keep my eyes and claws on the look out. M�Tress out.�

Janvi called for a medical team to assist her and the injured man. This would be a long day�

Chapter 23
Alexei Kazlov

The rather cowardly and self hating cadet was still in the corridor, sitting alone. He had been there for what seemed like hours. M�Tress had come by but he left as quickly as he had appeared. He had offered a chance for the boy to come with him, but he didn�t take it. Alexei had decided to remain there, on the floor like a coward. He had embarrassed himself in front of a senior staff officer, something that would not look good to the academy. It seemed like the battle was over and due to no Klingons taking over, the USS Zeus must have won. Alexei stood up, dusting his dirty uniform off. Some blood was smeared on it, but he didn�t care. That was the least of his worries. He stumbled in the dark, trying to feel his way towards a turbolift. Alexei wanted to do something for the ship. After all, his cowardice was not helping anyone, including himself. He touched a familiar button and the doors slid open, revealing dim light into the corridor. As soon as he got in, he called for the bridge. The turbolift shook for a moment and then rushed upwards. He hoped to goodness that there would be something for him to do. He needed something, to feel that he was useful and not some damn deadweight. The doors swooshed open and Alexei stepped out onto a battered bridge. The only person in the room was the chief science officer, Monica Esposito. A rather beautiful science officer, Alexei believed. She turned to look at him and a disappointed face greeted him.

�Not who I expected�� She said, and then turned back towards her console.

Alexei was sick and tired of people treating him that way. Just because he was some no name cadet, did not mean he wasn�t there. The Russian born human stepped over debris and approached her.

�Sorry to disappoint,� He said, �Cadet Kazlov, reporting for duty!�

She didn�t turn away from the console and replied, �What?�

He looked at the ground, losing his rigid and formal stance.

�Er�uh�how may I assist?� He asked.

She didn�t speak for a moment and then pointed behind her.

�Get to the helm,� She ordered, �Try to see if you can regain helm control and bring us to an all stop. If we keep spinning this fast, we�ll end up past the galactic barrier��

He nodded, slightly concerned about her comment, and then took a seat at the helm. His fingers tapped the unlit buttons.

�I�m not even getting a response from the helm.� He reported.

Monica slammed her hand on her console in frustration.

�I�m barely getting one from this console,� She said, �We need main power back online.�

Alexei shrugged his shoulders, not understanding the situation.

�I�m sure once we get a tow back to the nearest star base,� He said optimistically, �They�ll fix all of this in no time.�

She shook her head and then finally looked at him, a dour look on her face.

�If I�m right and I hope I�m not,� She said, �Then there are no space docks, starships, or help anywhere nearby.�

Alexei gulped nervously and stared back at her.

�Wha-what do you mean?� He asked.

Before she could response, the turbolift doors opened and the authoritative presence of the captain swept into the room. He looked at the cadet and scowled, not even bothering to acknowledge him. Cain immediately walked over to Monica.

�Report.� He demanded.

She motioned towards the science console and began to explain, while Alexei leaned in from the helm, trying to catch a glimpse and hear their conversation.

�Captain,� She said, �I had the computer give us a hypothesized estimate on our exact location on the galaxy map. A lot of it is only guesses, but based off of scientific knowledge, I believe that the result of the jump to warp in subspace torn rift could bring us to this location.�

Monica tapped on the console and brought up a large image of the galaxy map. Cain leaned in over her shoulder and stared at it in shock and horror.

�Oh no�� He said.

�What is it?� Alexei asked inquisitively.

Cain looked back at him with a frown, visibly annoyed by the interruption.

�Why are you on the bridge?� He said with a sour look on his face.

The cadet looked back at the helm and remained quiet and out of the loop. He was tired of their attitude towards him, but there was little he could do. Whatever Monica presented to the captain was bad, very bad. Even the captain, a rather emotionless man, looked flabbergasted by her findings, and disturbed.

�This can�t be good�� He thought to himself.

Chapter 24
Loval

When the shockwave hit the ship, the Romulan took advantage of the situation and fled sickbay. His guards could not pursue, since part of the bulkheads crushed them. The crafty Romulan made his way down the corridor, alone and armed. He was trying to avoid running into anymore Starfleet officers or Klingon warriors. They would only slow down his advance towards the shuttlebay. He had to reach his ship, without it, returning to Romulus was not an option. The Tal Shiar would never accept such a loss. The shuttle had been equipped with experimental shielding developed by the shadowy organization. His test run had worked out perfectly, the shuttle performed perfectly. If a shuttle could withstand so much punishment from a Klingon ship, then a Romulan warbird would do amazing against one. He wondered why the Tal Shiar vessel, that was monitoring his test run, did not decloak and assist. It was probably because the Federation ship became involved, that complicated everything. If they decloaked, the Federation would see that there was something going on there, beyond a Klingon and Romulan debacle. They were wise to not decloak. Very wise�

�Damn that Cardassian, he ruined everything.� He thought to himself as he kept walking.

There had been a Cardassian aboard the shuttle, unbeknownst to the Zeus crew. He had been an Obsidian Order agent that defected years ago and lived on Romulus. The Tal Shiar approached him when they discovered who he truly was. The Cardassian, Oyet Bocat, had been a scientist within the Order. He defected due to unknown reasons, not that the Tal Shiar cared. They only wanted his shield upgrades, upgrades that he was willing to hand over in exchange for being allowed to live on Romulus, unharmed until his death. The agreement was made and the Cardassian helped invent the upgrades, which were rather unstable if Loval was asked. The cowardly Cardassian panicked when the shields began to fluctuate and fail. He sent a distress signal out when the Tal Shiar ship made no move to assist them. Loval disintegrated him with a disruptor for his folly. Now the Federation was involved. The Romulan did not want to be held accountable for what happened and would inform them of the Cardassian�s spinelessness during the catastrophe. Loval stopped at a master systems display in the corridor and checked to see where the shuttlebay was.

�Deck 11.� He thought, then turned to rush off.

He turned at another corner and heard various voices, yelling about something. Loval peeked around the corner and saw a group of Starfleet engineers working on repairing something important.

�Alright!� A Saurian engineer yelled, �You heard the chief. We can get main power back online soon! Keep working!�

Loval cursed and looked behind him, back where he came from. He either had to get past this large group of officers or go through that other officer, begging for help with the injured. He tucked his phaser into his uniform and thought about what to do. Suddenly he felt a hand grab his shoulder.

�Sir,� An officer said, �You shouldn�t be in the middle of the corridors. You should��

Loval slowly turned around to reveal that he was a Romulan. The officer, already realizing that from the uniform, backed away in surprise. He was about to call for help, but Loval batted him across the face with the phaser. The officer fell to the ground, knocked out by the force of the hit.

�Annoying officer it is�� He chose, heading back where he came from.

He quickened his slow, but careful pace, and turned into a light jog down the corridor, desperately trying to make up for lost time. Loval stopped where Janvi and the injured crewman originally was. She was no where to be found, no doubt on her way to sickbay. He was grateful for small favors and continued around the corner, only to be batted by a furry fist. He flew several feet backwards and landed on a dead crewman. Loval rolled off to be faced with a Catian Starfleet officer, dressed in the gold uniform.

�Our mysterious Romulan,� The officer said, �I finally tracked you��

Loval reached for his phaser, but it had slid across the floor when he fell back. He stood up and stood a few feet away from the beast. The Romulan said nothing, realizing that silence was always the key. M�Tress sniffed into the air, acting like the animal he looked like.

�What is that scent coming from you?� He asked sarcastically, �Fear?�

The Romulan smirked, not wanting to pass an opportunity like this.

�I�m surprised you can smell anything,� He said, �What with that foul stench emanating from your body.�

M�Tress roared and charged forward, leaping into the air. Loval narrowly dodged having the 300 lbs. feline crashing down on him. He rushed towards the phaser, only to have his legs clawed. Loval cried out in pain, falling to the ground in the process. M�Tress� claws tore through his flesh and ligaments. He picked up the smaller Romulan with one arm and held him in the air.

�One filth down,� He seethed, �Many more Klingon ones to go.�

The security chief carried the Romulan all the way down the corridor, to the brig�

Chapter 25
K�Peq

The former Dahar master had completed cleaning up the galley area as Kal had demanded. Thankfully, the bossy man was gone. He left as he always did, every 16 hours, wanting to be alone. K�Peq didn�t know what he did alone and he didn�t care. His �partner� started out as his ally, but proved to be an unworthy and honor less bastard, seeking to exploit the Klingon�s pain. K�Peq threw a dirty rag over his shoulder and approached the viewport. Space seemed much�colder than usual. He didn�t know why, but something definitely did feel different. K�Peq stared out at the various stars and wondered which one was his home world. A place that he didn�t think he would ever see again. The Klingon grunted in disgust at himself.

�A true warrior does not give up so easily.� He told himself, aloud.

The doors to the usually packed restaurant opened and to his surprise, he saw Klingons rushing in. Three of them, two of them very injured, all wielding bat�leths. They yelled at each other in their native language, obviously trying to figure out their situation and cut off from command. They stopped in surprise when they K�Peq. He was well known on the home world, even after his falling out with the Empire.

�(It is you.)� One of them said.

The un-injured Klingon looked at K�Peq in disgust.

�(He is a traitor!)� He yelled, �(And he must pay for the brave warriors, killed by his criminal allies!)�

The other Klingons nodded in agreement and yelled out in fury as they rushed the Dahar master. K�Peq dodged the slow swing from one of the injured Klingons. He grabbed his arm and twisted it; bring the blade into his assailant�s stomach. K�Peq spun about and kicked another incoming Klingon, while ducking from the final one�s attack. K�Peq butted his head with his foe and turned to face the final Klingon. The young warrior looked unsure, noticing his friends were already down.

�(Where is your warrior spirit!)� He chided.

The Klingon yelled out in fury and charged at him, his weapon drawn from his belt. K�Peq savored the rush of battle with a fellow Klingon, something he did not experience often enough. The Klingon swung down, trying to stab the elder one. K�Peq caught his arm and held it at bay, preventing the blade from piercing his flesh. He slowly brought the blade downwards, but towards the young warrior. A disturbing laugh escaped his throat as victory was in his grasp. Suddenly, the familiar sound of a phaser was heard and the Klingon warrior went slack in K�Peq�s arms. He looked up to see Kal standing there, lowering the phaser, a sadistic smile on his face�

Chapter 26
Kal

Kal stared at K�Peq, who looked more furious than a Ferengi at a pro-feminist parade.

�Why did you kill him!?� He yelled.

The dark skinned man, confused by his question, shrugged.

�Where I�m from,� He said, �You don�t get yelled at for saving someone�s life.�

His cook stepped over the Klingon body and approached Kal.

�I could have beaten him!� He yelled, �You robbed me of my honor!�

Kal snorted and turned away, from the taller man. Not that him being taller frightened him.

�You have no honor to rob.� He replied.

K�Peq was left standing there, a sad look on his face.

�See?� He said, �The Klingons are still bent on killing you. You need me to help you regain your honor. Until then? You�re nothing but the enemy�.�

Kal walked back towards the galley, placing his alien phaser under the bar.

�Perhaps,� The exile admitted, �But I�ve been with you for some time and have yet to see�my honor reclaimed.�

K�Peq was eyeing him strangely, probably wondering why Kal was back so early. Usually, he left to be alone every 16 hours, for some time. But rest was not what he needed. Not that he could get it with all that was going on.

�It�s only a matter of time my old friend�� Kal promised.

Little did both men know, several alien ships were dropping out of warp and slowly approaching the Zeus�

[Lord Borg]

WOW Hey, great additions, sorry I didnt comment sooner. I look foward to more!

[Founder]

(Its ok Chris, I forgive you( ) and thank you. )

Chapter 27
Cain Sebastian

The image of the galaxy map and their approximate location gave a gloomy mood to the captain. It was times like these that he wished he had Maraji Crystals on hand. If this information was correct, he wouldn�t be buying any more any time soon. He closed his eyes, wishing that all of this was just a hallucination from taking the crystal. For a moment, he no longer felt himself on the bridge.

�Captain?� Monica asked.

His eyes instantly opened, broken from his trance.

�Yes,� He said, �We�ll need to present this to the crew��

He tapped his combadge.

�Captain to all senior staff,� He said, �Report to the observation lounge immediately.�

Alexia, who was still sitting at the helm, looked at the captain with excitement.

�Must be important sir.� He replied.

Cain rolled his eyes and walked passed him, not immediately answering him. He didn�t like the over eager and butt kissing cadet. Cain respected fighters and people who did their jobs. Not brown noses who tried to get ahead by making raktajino for their commanding officers.

�Yes,� He said, �It is. Stay here.�

Alexei�s face turned into sadness, wishing that he could go. A small pang of guilt hit the captain and he sighed at his charity.

�You have the bridge cadet.� He allowed.

The cadet�s face turned into one large smile, �I do sir?�

Cain, annoyed once more, shook his head.

�No,� He said, pointing to a dead crewman, �He does. Now shut up and watch the bridge.�

He walked into the observation lounge, followed by Monica, his chief science officer. The captain was grateful to be away from the irritating boy. He took a seat at his usual spot, after dusting it off.

�Lieutenant,� He said, �If you�re right��

�I know sir,� She quickly replied, �I know��

The implications of it all were horrible. The ship was obviously heavily damaged and without a space dock nearby, it would be impossible for them to get repairs done quickly. He leaned back in his seat, trying to clear his mind of the drugs. If there was any time that he needed to think. He buried his face into his hands, closing his eyes and forgetting the world around him. There was comfort in the darkness that swept him. Here, there was no pain. There was no sadness. There was�nothing.

�Captain.� A voice said.

Cain jumped in his chair, surprised to be pulled out of his private domain. He looked around to see Monica, Jenna, James, Dr. Ut, M�Tress, and Janvi sitting at their respectable seats. Miguel and Tulak were obviously still in sickbay, recuperating.

�How did you all get here so fast?� He asked, baffled, �I called you all a minute ago��

The officers looked at each other in confusion, not understand what he is talking about. Janvi gave a neutral response, not wanting to confuse him any further.

�Captain,� She said, �It�s actually been nearly fifteen minutes since you called us. In fact, the doctor was late coming here��

�Yeah,� The Rigelian confirmed, �I was working on repairing the damage to the second officer.�

Cain had lost track of time, as he always did when he entered his private void.

�Of course,� He said, �I must have dozed off. I haven�t gotten a lot of sleep��

�Perhaps when this meeting is over with,� The doctor said, �You should come to sickbay.�

�I said in fine!� He yelled, then calmed down, embarrassed by his outburst, �I�m sorry. I meant�I told you all, it�s just a lack of sleep��

An awkward silence followed his sentence and everyone looked at each other, waiting for someone to speak. Finally, Monica broke the uncomfortable silence.

�With very limited information,� She explained, �I�ve discovered our possible location.�

The doctor looked at her, surprised and annoyed with the information.

�What?� She asked, �I was torn away from two semi critical patients, so you can explain to us our current location?�

Janvi spoke, once more acting as the neutral anchor in the crew.

�We should hear her out,� She said, �This could be important.�

�It is.� The captain confirmed.

Monica nodded to both of them and continued her explanation.

�I believe that our current location is in the far end of the Beta quadrant,� She said, passing a PADD around with her information, �As you can see, we�re directly under the border between the Delta and Beta quadrant.�

James had the PADD and shook his head, utterly shocked by the information.

�My God,� He exclaimed, �If this is true��

�If that is true,� She finished, �It will take us decades to get home, even with warp.�

The doctor now held the PADD.

�Ok,� She admitted, �Slightly important information.�

The chief of engineering, always the engineer, tried to think of a way for them to get out of it.

�If I can restore shields and warp,� He said, �Can we�try to recreate what sent us here? That could be our ticket back.�

Monica shook her head, �It�s doubtful. Not unless you know any parts of space around here that are torn apart by subspace anomalies. Not to mention, I wouldn�t recommend recreating that, especially with the condition of our hull. If those shields failed��

James frowned, but nodded, �True��

The captain looked at the stunned chief of engineering.

�I have a question,� He said, �Why did our shields fail so quickly?�

Everyone looked over at James, waiting for an explanation.

�That would be my fault,� He admitted, �It seems that there was a problem with the shields and I was trying to repair it during the battle. My tinkering with the shields could be why they failed so quickly��
Janvi placed her hand on his wrist.

�Don�t blame yourself,� She told him, �It isn�t anyone�s fault. The fact is, we�re here and we need to find a way home.�

Everyone nodded in agreement with that sentiment. Just then, as if it was a stroke of luck, the ship�s main power was back online. The room became bright once more with the bright lights on the ceiling.

�About time�� Cain muttered.

Cain looked over at Monica, pressing her for more information.

�Can you use sensors now?� He asked.

She got up from her seat and walked over to a console, trying to activate sensors.

�Yes,� She said, �But I�m limited to short range. Our exact location is a little off. We�re further than I thought, close to the galactic barrier.�

The captain shut his eyes, pained by the information. They were very far from Federation space, very far.

�Estimate on how long it would take to return home?� He asked.

Monica tapped on the console and looked at the information.

�The computer estimate is 39 years, 3 months, 14 days, 35 hours, and 55 seconds,� She reported, �But that is an estimate and that is only if we go warp 9 the entire way.�

The officers in the lounge looked at each other, flabbergasted by the information she relayed. The ship could only go warp 9 for twelve hours. It could never go that many years. So that meant it would be much longer than 21 years. James offered a weak smile.

�Hey,� He said, �Look at this way�you�ll all be my age by the time we get back home��

No one laughed or smiled at the joke, to surprised by the information.

�I�ll inform the crew,� Cain said, �But I don�t look forward to their reaction of this��

Monica stared at something the short range sensors picked up.

�That may be the least of your worries captain,� She said, �Sensors are detecting dozens of small crafts heading our way.�

Cain nearly jumped out of his seat and headed towards the bridge. The cadet turned his head to face the captain.

�Sir,� He said, �I was just about to contact you. Once main power came back online, sensors detected-�

�-ships,� He finished, �I know. Open a channel.�

Alexei nodded and immediately obeyed, he watched as the other crewman moved to their consoles.

�Channel open.� He replied.

�This is Captain Cain Sebastian of the Federation starship Zeus,� He announced, �Please state your intentions.�

The only thing the captain received in return was absolute silence. He sighed and looked around, his eyes stopping on Monica. Her eyes were shut, trying to feel out the enemy. Even though she was a science officer, Cain usually took advantage of her unique mental and empathic abilities. She looked back at the captain.

�Sir,� She said, �I sense�pleasure from them. As if the pilots of those ships are ecstatic about finding us. I also sense greed coming from them��

Cain gulped and looked back at M�Tress, who sat at the tactical station.

�Raise shields,� He ordered, �Go to yellow alert.�

The chief tactical officer nodded and his blood stained claws ran over the console, obeying the order. He growled in annoyance.

�Shields are off-line.� He replied.

Cain looked at James who immediately spoke up, while holding his hands up in defense.

�I know I know,� He said, �Get them on-line.�

He moved over to the engineering station and sat down, looking at the damage and trying to ascertain a way to get shields up quickly.

�Captain!� Jenna yelled, �I�m detecting the ships are transporting items off the ship!�

Cain looked at her, gripping his chair.

�What!?� He yelled, �What are they taking?�

Jenna looked over at the console, trying to keep up with everything that was beaming off the ship.

�Engineering, medical, and tactical equipment,� She said, �Including weapons. They�re even beaming officers��

Cain stood up from his seat and looked at James.

�Chief!� He ordered, wanting some kind of result.

�I�m trying sir,� He said, �I�m trying��

�Captain!� Jenna yelled, �They�re trying to beam the warp core��

M�Tress looked up at the captain.

�Weapons are off-line�� He said, visibly aggravated by that.

�Figures�� Cain muttered.

James ran his pudgy fingers over the console as fast as he could.

�Warning,� The computer said, �Warp core breach in progress.�

He quickened his pace, trying to scramble the transporter. They may lose the other stuff, but he could hold onto the warp core. Alexei cried out, as did Janvi, as both officers were beamed away by a strange transporter.

�Get them back!� Cain ordered.

Jenna shook her head, unable to do so.

�Transporters are off-line.� She replied.

Cain stared at the viewscreen, watching as dozens of shuttle sized vessels turned and fled from the ship, giving up on the warp core. They jumped to warp, fleeing from them before the ship could reactivate.

�Can you get a reading of their warp trail?� He asked.

Monica checked her console and nodded, grateful to give the man some good news for once.

�Yes sir,� She said, �They�re heading towards the fourth planet in the system.�

Cain stood up and motioned towards M�Tress.

�We�re going after them.� He said.

The Catian, grateful for the action, nodded his head and rushed towards a weapon�s locker on the bridge. Cain looked over at James, disappointed with the man�s lack of ability to get shields up quickly.

�You�re coming too,� He said, �Get a list of everything that is missing, I mean EVERYTHING, from a phaser rifle to a stitch in our uniform.�

James nodded and immediately checked on the console. Cain sighed, staring at the viewscreen. His friend and confidant, Janvi, had been taken�

Chapter 28
Tulak

The first officer had been recuperating in sickbay, fighting the injury through medical technology. He opened his eyes slowly, trying to take in the area. Sickbay was much brighter, due to main power being restored. He slowly sat up, feeling that a cortical stimulator was on his forehead. His hands reached for it and gently pulled it off. The nurse, a small, but loyal Human woman, ensign Emma Creed, walked over to him.

�Commander,� She said, grateful he was ok, �I�m glad you�re alright sir. You had us worried.�

The Vulcan raised his eyebrow, unsure of how to take that information.

�I did not mean to make the crew concerned about my medical condition,� He said, �I will be sure to be more considerate in the event of my next medical emergency.�

Emma was unsure if the commander was being sarcastic due to his monotonic voice. Tulak noticed the Rigelian doctor hovering around an empty biobed.

�Doctor?� He asked, unsure if he could leave.

Doctor Ut looked at him, a baffled look on her face. She pressed her hands down on the biobed, as if she was trying to see if someone was still lying there.

�Doctor?� He asked once more, confused by her actions.

She looked up at him, an unsure look on her face.

�Commander Fuentes was just lying here�� She replied.
Tulak gave his familiar skeptical look in return to her comment.

�Perhaps he left.� Tulak speculated.

The doctor nodded her head in agreement.

�Indeed he did,� She replied, �Through an alien transporter.�

He was unsure of what she meant by that and got off of the biobed. The last thing he could remember was the ship flying through space at speeds exceeding warp 15. His console exploded in his face and he flew into unconsciousness.

�Doctor,� He said, �I feel well. May I return to duty?�

The Rigelian stared at the Vulcan, her arms folded.

�I suppose,� She said, �They�ll need you�trust me on that.�

Tulak again, was unsure of what she meant. Her answers were more and more cryptic with every question. He simply decided to leave, no more questions.

�Understood.� He said.

He bowed his head to both the doctor and the nurse and made his way towards the bridge. The corridor was an utter mess, but at least the lights were on. Officers were running back and forth, trying to repair what they could. He was pleased to see non-engineering officers trying to do their part in repairs. Tulak wondered how the civilians onboard were faring. A decent amount of civilians were onboard, mostly families and people looking for a ship to bring them from port to port. Little did many of them know, they would not be going to any Federation space station soon. He got into a turbolift and called for the bridge, wondering what he would find there. The commander was still oblivious to the fact that the ship was no where near Federation space. The doors finally slid open to reveal the captain standing near tactical, discussing something with M�Tress.

�Commander Tulak,� He said, �Good to see you up and about.�

The Vulcan slowly nodded his head, unsure of what that even meant.

�Thank you captain,� He replied stiffly, �May I take my station?�

The captain shook his head.

�No,� He said, �I�m leading an away team and I want you to take command while I�m gone.�

Tulak raised a finger in protest.

�Need I remind you sir,� He said, �Starfleet regulations prohibit a captain from joining away missions��

James looked up at the Vulcan, his arms folded as he sat in the chair.

�I don�t mean to sound presumptuous,� He said acerbically, �But I believe I speak for the captain when I say, Starfleet regulations can stick it up its shuttlebay.�

An unfamiliar smile crossed the captain�s face, as it did everyone else on the bridge, except for Tulak of course.

�A�most unique phrase to convey protest,� He said, then looked back at the captain, �But I must insist that I go in the captain�s place.�

Cain shook his head, patting the Vulcan on the shoulder.

�Not a chance,� He said defiantly, �Besides, you�re still recovering from your injuries. You�re in no condition to lead am away mission. Just stay here and oversee repairs. Lieutenant Esposito will fill you in on what�s happened so far.�

The Vulcan, defeated by his commanding officer, bowed his head and moved towards the center chair.

�Mr. Graham,� Cain said, �You shall accompany us on this mission. I want you to ensure we get every item back.�

�Aye sir!� Graham said, �I�ll get ensign Rex to take control of repairs. He�s been with me since me last posting. He�ll have the ship up and about by the time we return.�

Cain nodded and headed towards the turbolift, flanked by M�Tress and James.

�You have the bridge commander,� He said, �Shuttlebay.�

The turbolift doors shut and the captain headed towards his mission�

[Lord Borg]

Good stuff. You show the desperation well, Andy. Good job with writting from the Vulcans point of view.

[Founder]

(Thanks. I just thought. *Think Spock* )

Chapter 29
Miguel Fuentes

The loud and clunky hum of the small vessels engines were enough to make Miguel stir from his slumber. He opened his eyes to find himself in a dimly lit alien cargo hold. A soft hand touched his chest and he heard a familiar voice.

�Commander?� Janvi asked, �Are you ok?�

He turned his head and looked up at the counselor.

�Where are we?� He asked, barely audible.

His lips were dry and cracked and his skin was pale. It was obvious his injuries were very severe and the doctor had not finished with him. Well, obvious to anyone in Starfleet. Their captors didn�t seem to care at all. Miguel turned his head when he saw a group of green, leather skinned aliens. They had long fangs coming from their mouths and wide eyes. They hissed and growled at each other, perhaps a form of communication.

�We�ve been forcibly removed from the Zeus.� Janvi explained.

He squinted his eyes, while clutching his stomach in pain.

�You mean�we�ve been kidnapped?� He asked.

�Yes,� A young voice said, �We have!�

Janvi looked back at the nervous cadet.

�Quiet,� She ordered, �We�ll figure something out and Captain Sebastian won�t give up on us.�

Miguel heard the voices, but he couldn�t see where they were all coming from. He looked over to see a small group of Starfleet officers, others that were kidnapped, standing around, confused by all of this. By the looks of it, they were in a cargo bay. Various Starfleet items were scattered all over the floor. He laid his head back on the ground, shutting them in pain.

�Hang in there commander�� Janvi said.

�I�ll try�� He whispered, unsure if he could keep that promise.

Chapter 30
M�Tress

The large alien followed the captain down the corridor towards a familiar place. Sensors showed the planet to be a spaceport of sorts. The captain did not want to attract unwarranted attention, so they would not in Starfleet clothing. M�Tress, Chief Graham, and captain Sebastian were in civilian clothing, heading towards the �Tranquil Nebula�. The captain figured there was no better way to mix in with civilians, then literally have them within your group. M�Tress did see merit to the idea, but he didn�t like the fact that the Klingon would be coming. The trio entered the restaurant which did not look as clean as it usually did. Dead Klingon bodies were lying on the ground, their scent reached M�Tress� nostrils.

�Captain Sebastian!� Kal said, noticing the group, �I never thought I�d see the day when you would walk in here.�

Cain raised his hands to quiet him.

�I�m not here to eat,� He said, �We�re going down to one of the planets and would love for your assistance.�

Kal looked at his cook and partner, K�Peq, in surprise.

�Really?� He asked, �And�what assistance can we offer you?�

M�Tress could see the captain was getting tired of beating around the bush. He was a more straight forward kind of man anyways.

�Look,� He said, �We want non-Starfleet officers to accompany us. It might be dangerous and if you don�t want to come, that�s fine. We�ll do this on our own, but we simply wanted to increase our chances and quite frankly, it would make more sense to bring civilians along. Not to mention, I can�t spare any Starfleet officers. Not with the damage to the ship.�

Kal nodded his head, his scent exuding confidence. It was almost as if he was enjoying the fact the captain was asking a favor of him.

�I understand captain,� He said, �I would love to come.�

�As would I!� K�Peq announced.

Kal slapped his open palm against the Klingon�s chest.

�Don�t be foolish,� He said, �You�ll stay here and manage the restaurant.�

The Klingon looked defeated, something M�Tress rarely saw on a Klingon.

�But I-� He said, but was cut off by Kal.

�But nothing,� He finished, �Remember what I told you�old friend.�

K�Peq nodded and moved back towards the galley, leaving the Starfleet officers to wonder what that was all about.

�Well captain,� He said, �Shall we?�

Cain gave a curt nod as his response and the group made their way to the shuttlebay. As they walked down the corridor, the chief engineer stepped alongside of the captain

�Captain,� He said, �I recommend taking a type-6 shuttlecraft. It�s small, quick, and would not attract much attention.�

M�Tress hissed in annoyance at the suggestion offered.

�It is also weak,� He said, �Its armaments are limited. Two type IV phaser emitters. No transporters��

�Ah ah ah ah,� James interrupted, �I�ve fitted them with portable transporter arrays, the victim of my boredom this past year. It�ll be fine and last time I checked, we weren�t going to rush in, phasers firing.�

The captain nodded in agreement as they crowded into the turbolift. He called for the shuttlebay and spoke.

�He�s right lieutenant,� He said, �This is more covert than anything��

M�Tress grunted, but relented, not wanting to argue with the captain. He stood back, watching Kal closely. There was something about his scent that the Catian did not like. M�Tress stood behind the entire group. It was an old habit of his since the academy. If everyone was in front of you, no one could attack you from behind, a motto that stuck with him till the present day. As they exited the turbolift, Kal looked back at M�Tress and gave a rather insincere and creepy smile, enough to even make the large feline shudder. They entered the shuttlebay, filled with 6 type-16 shuttlepods, four type-6, two type-9, and four work bees. The latter were outside of the ship, rushing about to repair the outer hull. M�Tress crawled into the rather cramped open aft section of the type 6. There were only two chairs for people to pilot and the rest of it was benches for others to sit. He took a seat on the bench, knowing the captain would pilot and the chief would keep track of any problems. Kal sat across from him and stared at the Catian, with a dark look.

�What are you looking at!?� M�Tress demanded.

Kal shrugged and stretched his legs out on the bench, taking up one entire side. The captain opened a channel to flight ops.

�Shuttle Olympus is ready to depart.� He announced.

�You�re clear,� A voice over the comm. said, �Good luck sir.�

With his excellant hearing, he heard James chuckled and shook his head.

�We�ll need it�� He muttered.

M'Tress did not like that sentiment at all...

Chapter 31
Jenna Smith

Jenna sat at OPS, trying to do everything she can to assist from that station. She ran non-stopped scans of the system they were in, trying to map it out. They would be there for a while unfortunately. Near some of the planets, a lot of a ship activity was going on. This was definitely a packed area of space. A beep rang out in her console and she watched as the shuttle pod flew from the ship and headed towards the fourth planet.

�Good luck�� She whispered.

The Vulcan commander stared at her back, confused.

�Ensign?� He asked.

She looked back at him, a sarcastic look on her face.

�It�s a Human thing,� She explained, �Wishing someone luck. It�s just something we say.�

Tulak raised his eyebrow, intrigued by her explanation.

�Humans say a lot of things,� He said, �But the meaning of it is usually pointless. Vulcans do not believe in luck. We believe that what happens, happens. There is nothing more to it.�

Jenna frowned and looked back at OPS.

�Not the most exciting species in the galaxy�� She muttered.

Monica had just informed Tulak of their situation and he took it rather well. Either that or his emotionless face didn�t reveal his true feelings. If he even had any to affect...

�Status of the repairs?� He asked her.

Jenna checked her console and ran a diagnostic of the ship. Slowly, but surely, repairs were underway. It would of course take many, many more hours until it was all completed.

�Ensign Rex is working diligently,� She reported, �Repairs are coming underway.�

The Vulcan nodded and sat back in the seat. Jenna looked over at Monica who worked at her station, trying to do her part. Jenna saw the shuttle warp away and could only hope that they would succeed, so they could go home soon�

Chapter 32
Saij Ut

Injured officers and civilians were flooding into sickbay at an alarming rate. Officers had done sweeps of each deck and found survivors, bringing them here to her. Doctor Ut motioned for one of the officer to be laid down on a biobed in the corner. She flipped open her tricorder and pulled out the scanner that was tucked inside the top of it. She ran it over the new officer that was brought to sickbay.

�Broken ribs,� She read from the medical device, �Minor loss of blood. Nurse!�

Nurse Creed rushed over, pushing a medical tray.

�I�m on it.� She said.

Saij walked over to another patient who was lying on a biobed, a clamshell was covering his chest. She checked the information and saw that his injuries were severe, but he was stable. She moved to get a blood bag from storage; the patient was in desperate need. So far, the casualties are only 20. Not too bad out of a crew of 750. Although the loss of life was certainly said, no matter how many are lost. She continued to work on the patient, fitting him with an IV. Repairs were underway and the healing was as well. Which left the doctor still wondering one thing- where was the chief helmsman?

Chapter 33
James Graham

The type-6 shuttle craft flew at warp 1 towards the planet the thief ships were headed to. James sat alongside the captain, ensuring that everything we going smoothly with the shuttle. So far, all systems checked out perfectly. The shuttle would be perfect for their task. It did atmospheric travel without any problems, but as M�Tress said, the shuttle was not heavily armed. The elderly man could only hope they did not run into trouble.

�Dropping out of warp.� The captain announced.

James nodded and stared out the large transparent aluminum window and saw a busy sight. Dozens upon dozens of alien ships were zipping about, back and forth. They were either leaving the planet or heading to it.

�We�re certainly the cleanest ship�� James noticed.

The ships, virtually all of them, were in poor condition. Many of them had phaser burns across them, hull breaches, and dents. Some of them had hulls that were placed together from different ships. Their small, but clean and in good condition shuttle, may stick out.

�If all the ships in this area look this bad,� James said, �That explains why they attacked the Zeus. We must have looked like the pinnacle of perfection, despite the way our ship looked.�

Cain slowly nodded his head, slowing down the speed of the ship to match the others.

�Indeed,� He said, �Or maybe this is some�space port that has meager ship parts for low prices.�

The chief engineer shrugged, not really have an answer.

�Maybe so,� He said, �And now we know where they get their��meager� ship parts from.�

A grim look crossed Cain�s face and he flew past the myriad of ships in space, heading towards the large green planet.

�Do you have their location?� The captain asked.

�Aye, I do,� He replied, �They�ve landed on the northern continent, the far left border of it. There is a populated city there. I�m detecting over 100 million life signs on the continent alone.�

Cain nodded and piloted the shuttle through the rather polluted and filthy atmosphere of the planet. The sky was being choked by smog come from buildings and smaller interplanetary vessels. Through the pollution, the city�s bright lights seemed inviting and comforting. It looked like a nice haven to escape the filthiness of the sky. The captain slowed the shuttle down and entered the city�s airspace. Immediately, one realizes that the city is not as nice as it was from a distance. The lights were flickering on and off due to poor electricity, the buildings were falling apart, their foundations crumbling, people of various species were crammed in the streets.

�Bloody hell,� James said, �Perhaps we can just beam what we lost eh?�

�If only we could�� He muttered, �I�m taking her down.�

He followed the sensors readings to where the ships landed. It was a landing pad that could fit dozens of smaller ships, near the city Cain immediately landed as close as possible, careful to not be too close as to where they would recognize them.

�Now what?� James asked.

The captain was about to respond when he the comm. line detected an incoming message. Cain tapped on the communications console and opened a shuttle.

�Unidentified vessel,� An obviously alien voice said, �You are not permitted to land here. What are you willing to trade for this crime?�

Cain squinted his eyes in confusion and looked over at James, who could only shrug in return.

�I have�much to trade,� He bluffed, �What can I offer?�

�Your vessel is impressive,� The voice replied, �I would like a chance to look at it.�

The captain frowned, not really liking that, but having little choice.

�Fine,� He submitted, �I�ll meet you outside. Olympus out.�

Cain closed the channel and looked at the others.

�Alright,� He said, �Arm yourselves, but hide the weapons. I have a bad feeling that attracting attention on this planet, may not be to our benefit.�

James got up from his seat and headed towards a weapon�s locker. M�Tress passed a phaser to him and Cain, hesitating to give one to Kal.

�You won�t need it,� He said, �I�ll protect you if anything happens.�

Kal gave an insincere smile and grabbed a phaser.

�Thanks, but no thanks,� He said, �Quite frankly, I trust the ability of my trigger finger over your claws.�

The captain nodded, allowing for the restaurant owner to have the weapon. He led the way, opening the shuttle door. There was a strange alien standing there, waiting for them impatiently. He had a bald head, with beady red eyes. His flesh looked very leathery and dry. His skin was a dark brownish color and he was humanoid. It was a species that James did not recognize, but he did recognize what was in his hand. It was a tricorder from the Zeus.

�I shall inspect your vessel now,� He said, �I am G�liokar.

James rushed forward and snatched the tricorder out of his hand.

�You bloody bastard!� He yelled, �Damn thief! You stole from us!�

�Chief!� The captain shouted, ordering him to stand down.

G�liokar grabbed the tricorder back, confused by the chief�s actions.

�Excuse me!?� He yelled back, �I am no thief!�

M�Tress pointed towards the tricoder with a furry finger.

�Then how did you obtain that piece of technology?� He asked.

They looked at the alien, waiting for a response. Finally, he offered them one.

�I bought it at the market,� He replied, �It was being sold alongside numerous amounts of new items.�

He lowered his voice, looking around to see if there was anyone nearby.

�The Qirates brought it in today,� He said, �A lucky salvage find.�

�Salvage my arse!� James retorted, �Those �Qirates� stole it from us!�

Kal immediately stepped forward, subjecting his own version of accounts.

�What my friend here is trying to say is�,� He quickly lied, �That we were the ones who salvaged it. They stole our items. Items that we procured from a derelict vessel. A good find if I may say so myself. Thus, my friend�s anger.�

G�liokar slowly nodded his head, now understanding the chief�s fury.

�Well,� He said, �I don�t see why you all are so surprised. I mean, the Qirates were never the most honorable group around here. Seeing as I had a good today with what I bought and that I pity your loss, I�ll allow you to keep your ship here for one hour, no charge.�

Kal bowed his head, grateful for the alien�s hospitality.

�Thank you my friend.� He said, �Enjoy the device.�

The alien lifted the tricorder in the air as he walked away.

�I certainly will!� He yelled back.

As soon as he was out of sight, the group looked back at each other.

�That was quick thinking.� Cain complemented to Kal.

Kal smiled in reply to the captain�s flattering remark.

�Thank you,� He said, �I had a feeling that if we admitted they came from our clean, and to these people, advanced starship, the Zeus would be swarmed by more of these�beggars.�

James felt sheepish for his outburst and saw the wisdom in Kal�s words. Even though he didn�t really trust the man.

�Now what?� James asked, �If we could take anything that man said to be true, then our equipment must be in the hands of dozens of people by now, if not more.�

Cain stared at the ground, thinking about what to do. The chief engineer was of course right. The option of taking each item, one by one, was no longer viable.

�What�s important now is our missing crewman,� The captain finally said, �We have to find them. We�ll deal with the missing items after that. For now�lets go to the marketplace he spoke of. Oh and�Kal will do the speaking from now on.�

James frowned and nodded his head.

�Agreed�� He replied.

Chapter 34
Monica Esposito

Not a single anomaly in this rather large system, not one. Monica cursed inwardly, looking for anything that could get them home quickly. There was nothing they could use to their advantage. No subspace anomalies nearby. Then again, all she had were short range sensors to work with, so hope was still a possibility. Not that she would ever tell the Vulcan commander, who sat in the center of the bridge. He would no doubt admonish her for saying such foolish Human epitaphs. She couldn�t really help it; she had been raised by Humans.

�Have you located anything lieutenant?� Tulak asked.

She looked back and shook her head.

�No sir,� She replied, �This space seems rather empty�of anomalies that is.�

The Vulcan gave one nod and looked back at the viewscreen. Thankfully, the ship had been placed at an all stop by the young cadet before being kidnapped. They could hold position in a rather solitary part of space and work on the damage. Hopefully, no more ships would return and steal more equipment and officers. Not that they had a lot to steal anyways. Thankfully the repairs were coming underway. Monica could only hope that things were going good with the away team. Even though she found Janvi strange and Alexei annoying, she didn�t want anything to happen to them. Monica found it strange how they went from being bored to tears with patrolling the Federation-Klingon border to this fiasco. Now crewmen were missing, their ship was damaged, and they were thousands of light years away from Earth. This was not what she had in mind when she had wished for more excitement. She continued to lament their present situation when her emotions felt a pull from an external force. Her eyes shut and she reached out, telepathically and empathically.

�Commander Tulak,� She said, �I�m feeling something��

�Please clarify.� He responded.

Her eyes remained shut as she felt an approaching force coming towards them. She was surprised her emotions caught it before the sensors. Then again, nothing was working properly.

�Command,� Jenna said, �A vessel is approaching us on an intercept course.�

Tulak, emotionless as always, did not immediately say anything, but calculated the situation in his mind.

�Hail them.� He ordered, going through the standard procedures.

�They won�t respond.� Monica said, understanding more and more.

Jenna looked back at the Vulcan and nodded.

�As the woman said,� She reported, �No response.�

Tulak looked over at Monica, no longer capable of using standard Federation tactics in this situation.

�What do they want?� He asked.

Monica cast a gloomy look in his direction.

�They�re like the ships from earlier,� She said, concentrating on the barrage of feelings and weak thoughts she was receiving, �A different group though. They didn�t expect to find us here, but are glad they did. Like the others before them, I sense greed��

Tulak didn�t need a Vulcan brain to understand what that meant. He got up from his seat and headed behind the captain�s chair, towards tactical.

�Red alert!� He announced, �I�m raising shields and powering phasers.�

Thankfully, shields and phasers were back on-line. Unfortunately, photon torpedoes were not available as all the tubes were damaged. Monica wished that her mental abilities could reach further, but they couldn�t. The most she could get were feelings from this range and barely anything telepathically.

�Open a channel, ensign.� He ordered.

Jenna nodded and opened a channel towards the ship. From the viewscreen, it did not look too big. Certainly smaller than the Excelsior class vessel.

�Channel open sir.� She replied.

�This is commander Tulak of the Federation starship Zeus,� He announced, �Please respond to our hails. If you do not and continue to approach us, we will open fire.�

Silence followed the Vulcan�s veiled threat, thus answering his question. The ship got closer, but made no immediate move to fire on them. Monica knew that Tulak would not fire unless fired upon first. So the only thing they could do was wait�

�Commander,� Jenna reported, �They�re charging weapons.�

�Then so shall we.� Tulak said.

Monica stared at the view screen, while running continuous scans of the vessel. It seemed rather unimpressive, if not backwards in technology.

�Commander,� Monica explained, �I don�t think they�ll be much of a threat. They have no shields, the hull doesn�t look like it can stand much and has multiple breaches, only held by force fields, and their weaponry won�t do too much damage to our shields.�

Jenna shook her head in complete confusion.

�They have the sheer audacity to try and steal from us in that condition?� She asked.

Monica shrugged her shoulders.

�They haven�t tried to steal from us yet,� She said, �Also�maybe they heard we were a really easy target?�

Tulak interrupted their discussion, more concerned with the now, then the why.

�Shields will remain raised,� He said, �We can not afford to be�courteous.�

Monica and Jenna nodded in complete agreement. The ship was in shambles and trust was not something they could bestow to anyone.

�The ship is leaving.� Jenna reported.

The massive, but terribly built, starship turned and jumped to warp.

�It is safe to hypothesize they gave up.� Tulak said, moving away from tactical.

Jenna shook her head, while checking her console.

�Maybe they did,� She said, �But I�m detecting four ships dropping out of warp and heading straight for us.�

Monica checked her readings and saw these ships were a bit more armed.

�Oh no�� She muttered, preparing for the inevitable battle.

Chapter 35
Janvi Varghese

Janvi felt her hands and knees hit the hard and cracked gravel. She had been shoved off the ship by one of her unsightly captors. He hissed at her and growled in a guttural tone, demanding that she got up and walked. Janvi stood up and fell in line with the other Starfleet officers. From what she could count, there were about 50 Starfleet officers, including the injured Miguel. He stumbled from the cargo hold, clutching his stomach and coughing up a little blood. Janvi let a few officers pass her to be closer to the chief helmsman. Alexei was trailing behind Miguel, shaking with fear. Janvi placed Miguel�s arm over her shoulder to help him stand.

�Don�t worry,� She said, �We�ll get out of this soon��

He gave a weak smile, his face pale from the damage to his body.

�Mira,� He said in Spanish, �You don�t need to tell me. I know we�ll be fine��

Alexei cast a nervous stare in the direction of one of the alien kidnappers. The filthy aliens growled and hissed at the officers and forced them in the direction of a large cage.

�Oh my God,� He said, �They�re going to keep us in cages, treat us like damn animals��

Janvi gave him a disapproving look, not wanting the boy to make things worse.

�Quiet.� She ordered.

One of the aliens slapped her in the back of the head with an alien whip. The long whip was made from a strange material, soft enough to not be heavy, but strong enough for it to hurt.

�Let him walk alone!� It demanded.

She looked at him, cringing from his lashes. The back of her uniform was being torn apart from each hit. Her cries were too much for the chief helmsman to bear. Miguel staggered towards the alien in anger, trying to shove him.

�Leave her alone!� He yelled, immediately hacking and coughing.

The alien flogged him with the strange whip, beating Miguel to the ground.

�Stop it!� Janvi screamed, trying to cover the poor man.

�COME BACK!!!� An alien yelled.

The hits stopped as the alien looked away towards something else. Janvi, groaning from the pain, looked up to see Alexei running away, as fast as his slender legs could take him. She could only watch in pain as the poor fool tried to outrun the alien pirates, chasing after him with an arsenal of lethal weaponry. The alien reached under her arm and pulled her up, forcing her towards the large cage�

[Lord Borg]

Good stuff Look foward to more!

[Founder]

(thanks)

Chapter 36
Alexei Kazlov

Alexei was many things, smartest in his class, best sharp shooter in tactical training, over achiever, brown nose, or coward. You name it; chances are Alexei will fit that criterion. He was, as his professors at the Academy would call him, a well rounded individual. It was at that exact moment that Alexei was grateful that he was the star runner on the Academy track team. His lean, lanky legs crossed long distances as he fled his captors. Due to his speed and stamina, keeping up with him would be very difficult. Alexei escaped the long line of captured Starfleet officers and the tiny cage that awaited him. Janvi had promised that captain Sebastian would come for them, but he held little stock in that. For all he knew, the captain was halfway back to Earth as he ran. He turned a corner and appeared in a busy and packed market area. Species, that the Federation has yet to encounter, were walking up and down, checking various items. The sound of dozens of alien voices could be heard on a loud, open comm. line. Images moved on large, cracked screens, depicting aliens trying to sell something. Alexei shoved past various people, desperate to get away from the alien thieves. Shouts of protest came from those he shoved, but it wasn�t like he cared. He looked back in panic and saw that the aliens were slowly starting to lose him amongst the large crowd. Alexei kept running until he turned into a shadowy alleyway, hoping to use the darkness as cover. He hid behind a large, robotic dumpster, waiting for the aliens to pass. The cries of the pirates could be heard as they shouted past the alleyway, running down the long market street. Alexei sighed in relief, slumping against the wall and gasping for much needed air. The robot dumpster opened up near him and a monotonic voice spoke.

�Do you have trash?� It asked, its voice sounding decayed.

Alexei jumped in surprise then shook his head quickly.

�N-no.� He stammered.

The dumpster shut and slowly drifted up and down the alleyway. It was obvious the robot was an archaic piece of technology, well past its expiration date. After catching his breath, he walked towards a light at the end of the alley. There was a light above a door, blinking on and off. Either on purpose or there wasn�t enough power going to it or it was simply damaged. He stood in front of the door, waiting for it to open. When nothing happened, Alexei figured it was either damaged or old fashioned. As he pushed against it, he found it was the latter. The door swung open just in time for him to be slammed in the face with a huge green fist. He fell back nearly three feet and landed in a filthy puddle. The rather large green alien grabbed him and tossed him over its shoulder. His vision faded as he began to lose consciousness. The last thing he saw was a device another alien was holding. It had used it to find Alexei. The device was a tricorder, a Starfleet one. Just a week before, he spent nearly an entire day, improving all of the tricorders to work more efficiently.

�Oh the irony�� He thought to himself before fading into black.

Chapter 37
Loval

The Romulan had been inside of a holding cell for hours and was sick of it. He had to get to the shuttle bay and get his craft back. Loval had been cagey and mindful of the room he was in, the brig. Due to the staff being put to work, there was only one security officer watching over him. He stood, staring at a console, idly tapping buttons every so often. Loval noticed the officer rarely looked over at him, as if he didn�t really care he was there in the first place. Loval took advantage of the officer�s inattentiveness towards him to find a way out of the cell. He had gone to replicator, which of course was limited in what it gave. Only filthy pellets and water, something Starfleet considered a meal. Nothing else could be replicated unfortunately. He had taken the casing off of the replicator and began fidgeting with the wiring. If he could do this correctly, he could short circuit the force field. The Tal Shiar were good teachers indeed. That was proven when the force fields went down as he sparked two wires. Loval leapt out of holding cell and immediately tackled the unsuspecting security officer. The man cried out and was knocked out when Loval punched him across the face. He took his phaser and looked around, thinking of what to do next. Everything had happened so quickly, that he didn�t really think about anything past this. Loval stood up and looked at the console where the security officer had been. He looked up at the force field and knew what to do next. Placing the phaser in his empty holster, he dragged the Starfleet officer into the cell, throwing his combadge on the floor, outside of the cell. He reactivated the field and ran back towards the console, searching through the various security cameras onboard, looking for a certain one. Finally, after cycling through nearly a dozen, he found it. The camera was scanning the large shuttlebay, keeping track of the interior of the room.

�Where is it!?� He yelled, not seeing his ship.

If the ship had been destroyed, then his career with the Tal Shiar would be over with. They would kill him for such an abysmal failure. Stricken with panic, he turned and ran out of the room, rushing down the corridor. A few officers saw him and reacted with surprise at the appearance of an armed Romulan rushing about. He turned another corner and ran right into a husky Klingon, carrying a basket of vegetables. Both fell to the ground, alien vegetables rolling out of the container. The Klingon stared at the Romulan in fury�

Chapter 38
K�Peq

The Klingon had no idea that Romulans were onboard the starship. Had he known, he would have been persuaded to go hunting for the said Romulan.

�Romulan scum!� He yelled.

�Klingon scum!� Loval yelled.

Both had yelled at each other at the exact same time, proving their people�s prejudices were well and alive.

�I didn�t know that the Federation had Klingons doing their chores for them.� Loval sneered, slowly getting up.

K�Peq bared his teeth in anger.

�And I didn�t know that Romulan children were running around the corridors in fear.� He seethed.

Loval pulled out his stolen phaser, a smug look on his face.

�I have nothing to fear from you, Klingon brute.� He shot back.

�But you might from us.� A voice said.

Loval and K�Peq looked over to see a security officer, armed with a phaser. The Klingon laughed deafeningly.

�What was that, Romulan filth?� He asked, enjoying the sight.

Loval frowned and lowered his phaser, defeated once more. Almost as if it was a stroke of luck, the ship shook hard. The security officer stumbled and the Romulan fired his phaser, stunning the officer. K�Peq leapt into action, slamming his fist into Loval�s turned back. The Romulan shouted and stumbled to the floor. K�Peq lost in the battle frenzy, charged forward, preparing to kill the Romulan. Loval looked back at him in surprise and fired his phaser. K�Peq felt the painful sting of the energy beam hit him. He fell to the ground, momentarily stunned. Enough for Loval to get up and rushed towards the turbolift�

Chapter 40
Kal

The enigmatic figure led the Starfleet officers through a large open market. It was filled with alien species from all over the sector. All of them of course looked like the ships and the city, filthy. The air smelled horrible and ground was filled with potholes. The patrons of the planet didn�t seem to care. In fact, they looked like they were used to this. Kal didn�t really mind either. The Syndicate did not always live in lavish conditions. They had to spend most of their time hiding form Federation authorities. Backwater worlds were usually their domain.

�Bloody hell�� James said, while staring into the market place.

Kal nodded, already understand what he was talking about. Various items from the Zeus were everywhere, some in the hands of the consumers and others in the various kiosks that was selling them. Retrieving them no longer seemed like a possibility, not unless they were going to devote a lot of time to it. A small alien rushed by, dressed in a stolen Starfleet uniform. Kal couldn�t help but grin at the sight, as rare as it was. He noticed a loud voice, over a speaker, yelling for people to come. Kal motioned towards the others, beckoning them to follow him. A crowd was growing at the end of the marketplace, near a massive stage. The diminutive but stocky Human pushed through the crowd, trying to get a closer look at the spectacle. He stopped when he made it to front and noticed a small alien, no taller then 3 or 4 feet, hovering over the stage. The creature had stubby wings that held up his short body. He had a flat device and used it as a microphone, yelling into it in a unique accent.

�Come one, come all!� He yelled into the device, �Today, I have some good merchandise!

The starship captain stood alongside Kal, staring at the stage and wondering what was going on.

�Any reason why we�re watching this?� Sebastian whispered to him.

Kal slowly nodded and pointed to the stage with a dark finger.

�I�d say that is enough to garner our attention,� He said, �Wouldn�t you agree?�

Cain looked back to see the undersized alien yank a grimy covering off a large object to reveal a massive, but cramped, cage filled with the kidnapped Starfleet officers. Many of them had torn uniforms, covered in dirt and blood. They looked disheveled and maltreated, no doubt because of their barbaric looking captors. The aliens that had attacked the Zeus looked utterly disgusting. Reptilian by their looks, covered in filthy and grimy armor like uniform. Sharp fangs were exposed every time they hissed at each other in fury. They stood alongside the cages, keeping the Humans towards the middle, where the crowd could see them.

�Janvi!� Cain said in a happy surprise.

Kal followed the direction of the man�s attention and saw he was focusing on a tanned officer in a rather torn up, blue uniform. She was tending to a very sick looking officer. He recognized her as the chief counselor and friend to the captain. The flying alien made his way across the stage, motioning for more to come and gawk at the poor hostages.

�I�ve acquired dozens of new products!� He boasted to the crowd, �All yours for a low, low price. Anything you want, entertainment, sexual favors, slave labor, food. It doesn�t matter to me. Step forward and take your pick!�

Several of the customers shouted for a chance to obtain one of the prisoners. Kal saw the desperate look on the captain�s face, feeling weak from being unable to help his crew. If Kal wasn�t so good at manipulation and being enigmatic, he would reveal the smile he had inwardly. A Starfleet captain looking weak and defeated was a pleasing thing for a Syndicate member. He shook his head, realizing he was wasting time with his pleasure. His dark hands cupped over his mouth and a loud yell escaped his throat.

�I�LL TAKE THEM ALL!!!!� Kal screamed over the crowd.

Silence followed his loud cry to the seller. Various people looked at him in shock, including the other members of the away team. The alien selling the officers nearly doubled over in the air. He regained his composure and flew over the crowd, eventually stopping in front of Kal, his wings flapping rapidly.

�What did ya say!?� He questioned, �YOU are gonna buy ALL of them? They aren�t that cheap.�

Kal started off the negotiation with an arrogant looking smirk.

�You obviously do not know who I am,� He said, �I come from several systems away. I�.uh�.�

He looked to the others, who had nothing to offer. They simply watch Kal put his foot in his mouth.

Kal suddenly stood up, proud and regal like. He looked down at the alien that flew in front of his face.

�I am the Baron of the Tholian Assembly!� He announced loudly, �Ruler of the Tholians!�

The alien squinted his eyes, unsure if he should believe him or not.

�Oh really?� He asked, �Then why is such an�important person like you all the way out here on this waste of a planet?�

Kal quickly responded, not allowing any more hesitation.

�You can not procure slaves in my system,� He said, �It is always hard to get good help.�

He motioned towards Cain, M�Tress, and James in a dismissive way.

�These are my servants,� He said, �And I had to go all the way into the Delta quadrant for them!�

Kal laughed obnoxiously at his �joke�. All three officers shot Kal a dirty look, but played along, staring at the ground like good servants.

�I�m willing to pay handsomely for all of your products.� Kal said with a large smile.

The others in the crowd gave a collective groan and turned away, heading back to their respectful businesses. They knew they could not outbid a �baron�. The loud alien stroked the stubble under his mouth. His trunk like nose flapped up and down as he spoke.

�Your boasts have driven away my customers!� He yelled, �You better have the money.�

Kal bowed his head in mock respect.

�I assure you, I do,� He replied, �Is there somewhere we can negotiate?�

He suddenly noticed Cain staring at the cage. A feminine voice cried out from the cage.

�Captain!� Janvi yelled.

She had noticed the group and more importantly, the captain. The alien turned back towards her, confused by what the Starfleet officer was doing. Kal quickly covered it up by punching Cain in the face as light as possible.

�Stop riling up the slaves!� He ordered.

Cain stumbled backwards, rubbing his sore jaw. M�Tress growled loudly and stepped forward to attack Kal. He was stopped by Cain, once again, playing along.

�No M�Tress!� He ordered, �You needn�t worry about the master. He did not harm his fist on my jaw��

M�Tress took a step back, defeated. Kal snapped his fingers, trying to get the flying alien�s attention.

�So shall we negotiate or not Mr�� He asked.

The alien, amused by the infighting, replied.

�My name is Z�jj �c�m����l�h�jj,� He introduced, �Well�baron�what are you offering?�

Kal offered his most insincere smile and put his hand into his shirt.

�Well�� He said, �How about�THIS!�

He yanked out a phaser from within his shirt and fired on one of the ugly Qirate guards. M�Tress quickly fired his phaser and stunned the other guard. Z�jj reacted in fear and tried to fly away. Cain fired on him at the lowest setting, enough to disorient and slow him down. The loudmouth alien fell to the ground, no longer able to hold himself up with his wings. Kal rushed forward and pointed his phaser at him, while holding his foot down on one of his wings.

�Now,� He said, �We�re taking those slaves with us and there ain�t a damn thing you can do about it.�

Cain stared at Kal in confusion and surprise. He was used to the man being friendly, never sounding so cold. His hand tapped the combadge hidden in his wrist.

�Computer,� He said, �Beam��

He looked around and thought about what to say. He couldn�t say anyone with a combadge, because many of the officers in the cage were missing their combadges. The captain also couldn�t say all the Humans, because some of the officers were not Human.

�Beam everyone, including myself, within twenty feet of me back to the shuttle.� He ordered.

Kal felt himself dematerialize and beamed back to the shuttle Olympus. Unfortunately, the vessel could not fit all of the missing officers. Many of them were either outside or crowded into the shuttle. He saw Janvi rush and hug the captain in happiness. A part of him wondered what was going on between those two. Although, now was not the time to think about that. They had to get out of there quickly. The alien coughed, cringing from the light, but painful shock of the phaser.

�We have to get out of here!� He yelled, �They�ll kill us!�

Kal stared down at him, not sure of what he was talking about.

�What are you talking about?� He asked.

�The Qirates!� Z�jj answered, �I bought all those prisoners but I�uh�lets just say that what I gave them won�t hold up under scrutiny! They�ll kill you all for stealing the slaves and more importantly, me! I sure do hope that you have a Tholian fleet ready to protect us.�

Kal shook his head, smiling.

�I lied,� He said, �I�m not the leader of the Tholian Assembly. Hell, I�m not even a leader.�

Z�jj flapped his wings and flew upwards.

�Then what are you!?� He yelled.

�A restaurant owner�� He replied.

[Lord Borg]

Oh, wow Nicely done! I look foward for more.

[Founder]

(This episode is nearly done. )

Chapter 41
Z�jj �c�m����l�h�jj

Z�jj stared in awe at what the burly man had just said to him. No Tholian fleet would be coming to their rescue, defending them from coming doom. No, the Qirates, the savages themselves, would be coming for them. The devious Z�jj would suffer the worst fate he panicked. He had given them an entire drone ship, armed to the teeth, in exchange for all of the slaves, not that there was that many. Fifty slaves did not add up in a system of space where most workers had a high death rate. Z�jj�s ship was not a warship but a broken down freighter, not even able to go past sub-warp speeds. The only thing that was sophisticated about it was the holographic generator. It would alter the outside of the ship to depict anything the crew wanted. Z�jj was bitter about giving up the device, but he thought he had a good deal with the slaves. Unfortunately, his slaves were stolen and he was now prisoner amongst this strange group of aliens. He fluttered his wings and flew over towards the cockpit, moving away from Kal. The various officers were either crowded into the ship or outside, standing in curiosity.

�We must leave!� He demanded.

A hairy animal like officer sat at the helm, hissing at the smaller slave seller.

�Quiet!� He yelled, �The captain will decide that, you parasite!�

Z�jj dismissed him and looked back towards the other �civilians� that had stolen the officers.

�Who is the captain?� He demanded in a forward way.

The bearded Human that was slapped by the �Baron� stepped towards him.

�I am.� He declared.

�That�s great,� He replied sarcastically, �Now we must go!�

Cain shook his head, motioning towards the large group of officers outside.

�We don�t have enough room for all of them,� He explained, �And I�m not leaving anyone behind.�

Z�jj was about to yell at the captain for making the plan of rescuing the slaves in a small vessel, but Kal stepped forward and offered a suggestion.

�Could we perhaps beam all of them,� He suggested, �And simply keep them inside of the transporter buffer?�

James quickly provided an answer.

�No,� He said, �The transporter buffer on this small shuttle can only hold so much. We�d still have to leave some behind.�

Cain shook his head, �And that is not an option��

Z�jj threw his arms into the air, exasperated with their self sacrificing captain.

�Fine!� He yelled, �Do what you want! We�ll just sit here and die!�

M�Tress growled in frustration and grabbed the alien by his throat.

�Quiet you!� He yelled, �We wouldn�t be in this situation if it weren�t for your buddies!�

He let Z�jj go in frustration, wiping his face and trying to find his calm. Z�jj rubbed his throat in pain.

�They aren�t my friends,� He said, �And it doesn�t matter�because they�re coming�and they�ll kill us all��

Chapter 42
Cain Sebastian

The captain eyed the slave owner carefully, trying to judge the situation. He didn�t like the creature, but the fear he was sensing from him seemed genuine. Whoever those�Qirates were, they obviously were malicious and dangerous.

�We are getting out of here,� He said firmly, �But we�ll need the Zeus.�

Janvi, exhausted and tarnished from her experience with the Qirates, continued to act as the rational mind for the captain, always offering a neutral solution and asking the right questions.

�Is the Zeus repaired enough to come to the planet?� She questioned, having no idea what transpired while she was gone.

The captain looked to James for an answer, unsure of how fast the engineering crews were working. The elder man quickly spoke.

�I had damage controls teams working around the clock,� He explained, �I think by this point�something is working.�

Cain motioned towards M�Tress.

�Send a distress signal to them,� He said, �They should get it from here.�

He looked towards the outside of the shuttle where his crew stood. They had to leave quickly. Time was of the essence�

Chapter 43
Tulak

�Commander?� Jenna said from OPS, �I�m receiving a distress signal from the Olympus.�

Tulak looked over at her, eyebrow arched.

�Put it through�� He ordered.

She tapped on her console and reiterated the message to him.

�It�s simply ordering us to the planet for immediate assistance.� She said.

Tulak slowly nodded and motioned towards Monica, who sat at Helm.

�Plot a course,� He ordered, �And engage.�

�I don�t think so.� A voice said from the turbo lift.

Monica turned to see the Romulan, Loval, aiming a phaser at her. He pushed his thumb down on it and hit her, mildly stunning her. Jenna immediately jumped from her seat and tried to rush Loval before he could fire on anyone else. Loval fired his phaser once more, immediately knocking Jenna to the ground. He turned his head to face the last person on the bridge, but Tulak was no where to be found.

�Hiding are we?� He asked loudly.

His eyes darted from each corner of the room, searching for his cousin species, the Vulcan. Loval quietly stepped towards the helm, figuring the Vulcan fled during the fight. Rather cowardly of him, he thought. His hand tapped the console and he tried to determine how far he was from Romulan space. If he brought them the Federation ship, perhaps it would be enough to please his superiors and make them�forget his failure with the experimental shuttle. His eyes widened when he saw the distance the helm gave him.

�Impossible�� He said.

Suddenly he felt a sharp pain in his neck and his body went slack and his vision went dark.

�Not impossible,� Tulak said, �Simply, improbable.�

He had done the Vulcan Nerve Pinch on the Romulan, knocking him out. Tulak moved towards the helm and diverted course before assisting the women. Loval�s body fell to the floor, not moving�

[Founder]

Chapter 44
Miguel Fuentes

The injured officer was laid out on the bench onboard the shuttle. He was clutching his stomach in pain, staring up at the ceiling. There were voices, excited and desperate, all around him. His vision was becoming more and more blurry as time went on. He had been pushed to his limits in his current condition.

�Are you ok commander?� A familiar voice asked.

Miguel tilted his head to the side to see a shadowy shape.

�Yes captain�� He whispered, barely audible.

He could scarcely feel a hand pat his chest.

�We�re getting out of here.� The captain said.

Miguel shut his eyes, unable to keep them open any longer. If he didn�t get back to the ship, he would most certainly die�

Chapter 45
M�Tress

Lieutenant Commander Fuentes scent felt weak and sickly. He watched as Captain Sebastian and ensign Varghese comforted the man as much as possible. There efforts would be in vain if the Zeus didn�t get there soon. He walked over to the helm console and detected a large mass of objects heading towards their location.

�Captain!� He called out.

Cain got up and rushed over, standing behind M�Tress.

�What�s going on?� He asked.

M�Tress motioned towards the console, showing the captain what he was detecting, Cain�s eyes widened in response. M�Tress rushed towards the weapon�s locker on the shuttle. Unfortunately, there would not be enough phasers for everyone, but now was not the time to be picky. He rushed past the crowd in the overcrowded shuttle and ran outside. Several of the officers were standing nearby, not wanting to be left behind.

�Take cover!� He ordered.

Immediately as he yelled that, phaser fire came from an opposite direction. M�Tress took cover behind the shuttle and peaked around the corner. The landing pad was starting to fill up with Qirates, all armed to the teeth. They hid behind their ships, trying to pick off officers one by one. M�Tress saw one of the repulsive aliens crossing from one ship to the other. He took the opportunity for an open target and fired on him, hitting him with a medium setting. Cain rushed to M�Tress�s side, quickly changing the setting of his phaser.

�I tried hitting them with a low setting,� He said, �It has virtually no affect.�

M�Tress gave a toothy grin.

�Oh�� He said, �I started off on the medium setting.�

He quickly ducked as sparks shot from the corner of the shuttle. The Qirates were slowly moving closer and closer towards the Federation shuttle.

�We�re outnumbered.� He declared.

Cain slowly nodded and fired a quick shot, returning fire.

�I�m well aware of that,� He said, �But we have to hold out until the Zeus comes for us.�

�If they come for us�� M�Tress thought to himself.

M�Tress jumped nearly five into the air, an evolutionary advantage his catlike species has. He landed on top of the shuttle and saw two exposed Qirates from his vantage point. His wooly finger pressed down on the button and fired at both of them on a wide setting. He quickly ducked down, avoiding the retaliatory fire. The air became thick with phaser fire from the Qirates and the Starfleet officers. A loud roar was heard, silencing all phaser fire. M�Tress stood up and looked around, searching for the course of such a loud cry. The sensitivity of his ears determined that it must have come from something much larger than 7 foot. He turned his head when something shook the shuttle, making a large bang sound. A massive Qirate, dressed in loose armor, towered over M�Tress. The Catian�s eyes widened in surprise when he saw the being. The Qirate literally made a dent, a small one, in the hull of the roof where he landed.

�Give us our property!� He shouted in guttural tone.

M�Tress raised his phaser and fired on Qirate, not wasting any time whatsoever. The Qirate roared in fury and did not fall, but instead took several slow steps towards M�Tress. A smile crossed his face when he saw how the Catian reacted in utter shock. As soon as he got within range, he knocked the phaser at of his hand. M�Tress bared his teeth and extended his claws, letting out a war cry. He leapt into the air and flipped over the Qirate, landing behind him. Immediately he slashed as many times as possible, tearing up the rough, exposed skin. His claws had time cutting into the muscular flesh. The Qirate turned around and slammed a large fist into M�Tress�s face. He stumbled backwards, disoriented from the hit. Without delay, he came back and hit the Qirate as hard as he could. The Qirate growled from the hit, but was largely unaffected, coming back with a swift kick to M�Tress�s stomach. M�Tress fell and slid towards the edge of the shuttle. The Qirate jumped into the air and prepared to land on the security officer�s chest, effectively crushing it and killing him. M�Tress reacted with catlike reflexes and rolled out of the way. He flipped back up and kicked the Qirate as he landed, causing a dent as he did so. The Qirate, unaffected by the kick and tired of fighting, yanked out a knife and moved to plunge it into M�Tress. At that exact moment, M�Tress felt the familiar feeling of being broken down, molecule by molecule. The knife passed harmlessly through him as he was beamed back to the shuttle. He was pleased that the last thing he saw was the Qirate falling to the ground as the shuttle beamed away.

Chapter 46
Jenna Smith

Jenna was grateful when she saw the captain, Janvi, James, Alexie, Kal, M�Tress and a strange flying alien beamed back to the bridge. Everyone else was beamed into the shuttle bay with the shuttle itself.

�Good timing.� Cain said.

Jenna shook her head at the captain.

�We�re not of this yet sir,� She said, �We�re being chased by a dozen smaller ships, same class as the ones that robbed us. We�ve been fighting off ships for hours��

Cain sat down in his seat and stared at the damaged view screen.

�Fire torpedoes.� He ordered.

M�Tress, shook his head when he checked tactical.

�Torpedo tubes off-line.� He said.

�I have work to do.� James announced, moving towards the turbo lift.

Janvi quickly followed, �I�m gonna try and help sickbay.�

�And I want to check on my restaurant.� Kal said.

All three crowded into a turbo lift and went their separate way from the bridge crew. Jenna looked over to see Tulak, sitting at helm.

�Evasive maneuvers would be nice sir�� She muttered as the ship shook from pulse phaser hits.

Tulak rapidly tapped at the helm, �I am trying ensign.�

Cain clutched his chair, bracing for each attack.

�Tubes maybe off-line,� He said, �But we can still deploy them can�t we? Prepare a spread and drop them at their door step. Helm! Let the ships get within 2,000 meters.�

Tulak nodded his head and decreased impulse speed to allow the alien ships to come closer.

�M�Tress!� Cain yelled.

The Catian immediately opened the photon torpedo hatches and let the weapons fly out into space, idly ramming into the alien ships.

�We�ve taken out 8 of their ships,� He reported, �The others are retreating.�

�We�re being hailed.� Jenna announced.

Cain looked up at the view screen.

�Onscreen.� He ordered.

The image of the fleeing fighters was replaced with the large Qirate that fought M�Tress.

�You�re precious ship is damaged,� He said, �Your crew is injured. You will not last long in the Poverty Zone. It belongs to us and we will hunt you down until your ship is ours and your crew lay in a pool of their own blood.�

The image quickly cut off and was replaced with the traffic filled space lanes of the planet.

�And to think,� The flying alien said, �They used to be one of the most enlightening species in the Zone.�

�The what?� Jenna asked.

Z�jj looked down at her, flying over the railing on the bridge.

�The Poverty Zone,� He explained, �That is what this space is called. We�re all quarantined in here, fighting for survival, thanks to the ISC.�

�The who?� Monica asked, sitting at the science console.

Z�jj stared at her in disbelief, unable to comprehend what she said.

�The ISC,� He said, �The Interstellar Concordium. You Tholians must come from a galaxy far far away��

Cain held a hand up, clearing up the issue.

�We�re not Tholians,� He said, �We�re from the Federation.�

Jenna jumped in surprise when Z�jj shouted.

�YOU all are the Federation!?� He yelled, �I can�t believe it! Have you come to save us!?�

Cain, unsure of what he was talking about, shook his head.

�No,� He said, �To be honest, we�re lost here. We came to this end of the quadrant by accident. We�re�alone.�

Z�jj deflated at his words, looking defeated.

�Oh�� He whispered, feeling as if he had his hopes crushed.

�Why did you think we were going to�save you?� Jenna asked, intrigued by the alien.

�You all defeated the ISC when they attacked your space!� He explained, �Everyone knows about that here. The Federation brought hope to the hopeless.�

Cain still not understanding, asked, �The ISC does sound familiar, but who are they? How did we��defeat� them?�

�2296,� Tulak said, �A war between the United Federation of Planets, Romulan Star Empire, Klingon Empire, and other powers ignited against the Interstellar Concordium. Captain Hikaru Sulu led the Federation fleet against the invaders. In an alliance with other powers, we managed to defeat them, with the help of the Andromedans. The war was short, but pivotal to the political state of affairs in the quadrant, even to this day.�

Jenna slowly nodded, vaguely remembering learning about that.

�Yeah,� She said, �Professor Lucas taught us history and we did go over that. I don�t remember the details, but yeah��

Z�jj fluttered his wings, flying across the bridge.

�Yes!� He said, �The ISC only care about their twisted sense of order. They came to this space and conquered the Qirates, formerly the most powerful and enlightened government in this sector.�

�Those things?� Jenna asked, not believing that.

Z�jj nodded his head, �That�s right. The ISC, felt the Qirates were far too liberal in their politics and the amount of chaos in their space was not tolerable. They were furious that the Qirates did nothing and subjugated them. The Qirates resisted and in punishment, the ISC conquered their planet, destroying several colonies. The Qirates continued to resist and mounted a small war, allying with various other powers.�

�Who won the war?� Monica asked.

�The ISC of course,� He said, �They decided to use the Qirates and all their allies as an example to others who thought of resisting. They destroyed the Qirate home world, turning the atmosphere to poison. The Qirates fled, leaving behind centuries of culture and wisdom. They became nomadic and started to pray on others. The ISC quarantined this sector of space, forcing the Qirates and their former allies here. They call it Prison Sector 440. We call it the Poverty Zone, because we have absolutely nothing here. The Qirates, after centuries of living like this, reverted to a primal state. They act like savages now. I guess�we all do.�

He looked at Cain, flying near him.

�I know you think I�m a monster,� He said, �I feel terrible about your crew. I�m not evil and if I had known they were from the Federation, I�d never have bought them. I was just trying to make a living��

Cain nodded, not pleased with what he did, but understanding why he did it.

�How many ISC ships are here?� He asked.

�None,� He said, �After you all won the war, they retreated within their borders and we haven�t seen them since.�

Cain stood up, straightening his uniform.

�Then we�ll be sure to avoid them,� He said, �Helm, plot a course to the nearest nebula. We�ll hide out there, oh and, beam all our items from the planet back to the ship. We�ll need them for repairs��

Chapter 47
Cain Sebastian

It had been several hours since the Zeus fled into a nebula, hiding from any ships nearby. The captain sat alone in his ready room, staring at the reports from the various departments. He gently placed the PADD down and looked around the room. Debris was all over his desk, cluttering it up. He idly swept it off with his arm, intentionally procrastinating from reading the reports. Cain thought about his sister, while staring at a hanging Constellation class starship, in the ship showcase. She had been killed while pregnant with her first child. The fact that he lost two relatives crushed him deeply. A miscommunication caused the battle to erupt, with both ships being destroyed. All hands were lost as a result. Cain reached towards a drawer in his desk and slid it out. The familiar Cardassian drug was lying there, almost calling out to him. He quickly closed it and stared back at the showcase.

�Captain�s log. Stardate 45479.37, the USS Zeus has found itself stranded in an alien space, the Poverty Zone. Our exact coordinates are still unknown, but we�ve ascertained that we are in the fringes of the Beta quadrant. It will take decades to get home, centuries if we don�t get the engines repaired. The ship is in shambles and we�re hiding inside of a nebula. I�ve lost 50 crewmen within this one mission. I don�t know how we got from patrolling the Federation border to here, but I know that we won�t give up. I�ve informed the crew of our situation and am proud to say they did not waver in fear. We�re going to survive and live on. We will make it back to the Alpha quadrant. I�ve gained two new crew members, Z�jj �c�m����l�h�jj and Loval. The latter is a Romulan who refuses to speak. I�ve imprisoned him in the brig, under strict supervision. The former has asked for asylum onboard the Zeus, claiming that he would not cause trouble on a ship that would feed him three times in one day. I�m pleased to announce that my chief helm officer has made a full recovery. At least he didn�t die. I�ve been with this crew for a year and I feel I don�t know many of them, but after these events, I�ve seen the content of their character and I am impressed. I also can say that without hesitation, we will make it. I know it. Computer, end log.�

The chime at his door sounded.

�Enter.� He said.

The doors slid open to reveal his friend and counselor, Janvi.

�Captain,� She said, �I was going to get dinner at the Tranquil Nebula. Would you like to join me?�

His eyes darted towards the Cardassian drug in his desk, waiting to be used. He could have easily used the excuse that he had a lot of work and had no time for dinner. Then he could seal the doors and use the drugs to his leisure. He had every opportunity.

�I�d love to.� He said, getting up and joining his friend for a quiet dinner.

END EPISODE

Summary

The USS Zeus finds itself answering a distress signal from a Romulan shuttle under attack from Klingons. They intervene and manage to save the Romulan, at the expense of their shields. The Klingons battle the ship in fury, angry that the Federation would take the Romulan�s side over theirs. The Zeus is forced to flee into the dangerous Bison Rift, a part of space torn apart by subspace weaponry. The Klingons give chase inside, undaunted by the Federation ship�s desperate maneuver.



The ship makes the controversial move of jumping to warp within the nebula and as a result, is forced into the Beta Quadrant fringes, far from Federation space. The ship drifts in space as the red alert sirens continue to ring out. The crew find themselves in an alien space, heavily damaged and injured. They fight to get rid of the Klingon intruders who had beamed aboard during the battle, while ascertaining what happened.



The crew manages to beat the intruders back and work to repair the ship. The chief engineer and chief OPS officer work to get main power online. Once power is restored, the chief science officer learns an awful truth. The USS Zeus will not get home by a quick warp jump. More than likely they would be older than the chief engineer before they finally returned home. Trying to reenact what would happen was no longer an option. The USS Zeus was trapped.



The ship suddenly fell under attack from a small group of vessels, preying on the defenseless ship. The ship fought back, desperate to hold off the invaders. The raiders stole items, including Starfleet officers, and fled towards a populated planet. The captain took several crewmen and gave chase in the shuttle, bent on getting his crew back in one piece.



Meanwhile, the USS Zeus engineers and medical team work to the bone, doing all they can. The mysterious Romulan onboard does everything possible to return to his shuttle and flee, including facing the resident Klingon cook. On the planet, the away team, led by the restaurant owner, found the missing officers. They were being auctioned off by a small alien slave owner. Immediately they rushed to save the captured and flee.



A battle ensued on both the Zeus and the planet, filled with the poor. The Romulan tried to force his way onto the bridge, but was stopped by the diligent Vulcan commander. On the planet, the chief of security faces off against the leader of the Qirates, only to be narrowly saved by a beam out from the Zeus.



The Zeus flees the planet after retrieving the missing items and crew members. They learn they are in the Poverty Zone and surrounded by cut throat desperate people. Accepting of their fate, the ship hides inside of a nebula, working on repairs until it can move on and plot a course�for home.



Episode II Synopsis:
The USS Zeus continues to hide in the nebula, days after being pushed into the edge of the Beta Quadrant. Chief engineer Graham, regretfully reports that the ship is far too damaged to repair at 100% peak efficiency with the limited amount of supplies onboard. The captain orders Tulak to take an away team and discover supplies for them. Almost as if someone answered their prayers, they discover an abandoned space station, filled with supplies that they desperately need. The captain takes the Zeus to dock there and takes a page out of the natives of the Poverty Zone�s book. James and his team of engineers raid the space station, taking supplies for the ship. While there, they discover the crew had been killed and an enemy lurks within the corridors, an enemy that can not be killed by conventional weapons, ghosts. The station had been haunted by an unknown ethereal force. Now the away team must fight to get off the station before they join the dead crew�

[Lord Borg]

Wow, awesome. Congrats on finishing episode one

[Founder]

(Thanks Chris. I made a slight update to the synopsis for part II)



Chapter 1
Tulak

Things in engineering were not looking good at all. You did not need the brilliance of a Vulcan to realize that. Engineers rushed about from console to console, desperate to try and repair. They had been working for days upon days, anxious to repair the ship. Tulak, first officer of the Zeus, strode across engineering in an effort to ascertain the status of the repairs. James Graham, his sleeves rolled up to his elbows, was trying to repair a damaged console.

�Computer,� He said, �Try to restore power to the console now.�

�Unable to comply,� It replied, �Isolinear chips are damaged. Please consult chief of engineering.�

James kicked the console in anger.

�I am the chief engineering!� He yelled, �And I did repair the chips! Blasted computer!�

Tulak stood with his arms behind his back, a few feet away from the chief. He cleared his throat to get his attention. James looked over at him, wiping sweat from his face with his wrist.

�Can someone please alter the environmental controls!?� He ordered.

He bowed his head to Tulak.

�Commander,� He said, �How are you this fine evening?�

The Vulcan lifted a PADD, revealing why he was in engineering.

�I am collecting reports from every department,� He said, �Report.�

James sighed and held his hands up in defense, visibly tired of giving reports of bad news.

�I�ve given dozens of reports,� He said, �Nothing has changed sir. The ship is still in terrible condition and we�ll never go past warp 1. The ship is simply far too damaged. We�ve lost several supplies in the various hull breaches and the supplies we do have are pretty much exhausted. We�re on reserves.�

The Vulcan wrote everything on the PADD as fast as he could, although, there was little point to it.

�This is unfortunate,� Tulak said in a monotonic voice, �The captain will be displeased with this set of news.�

At that exact moment, Tulak�s combadge chirped and Captain Sebastian�s voice was heard.

�All senior staff, please report to the observation lounge.� He ordered.

Tulak arched his eyebrow and turned away, followed closely by the fatigued chief of engineering.

Chapter 2
Cain Sebastian

The captain sat at the head of the long table, waiting for his first officer and chief of engineering to arrive. The rest of the senior staff was available, including a guest, Z�jj �c�m����l�h�jj. Usually, he would not be allowed to attend, but the captain would need the alien�s input. He turned his head to see the doors swish open and the last two officers arriving, taking their respectful seating. The idle chatter quickly died down and all eyes went to the captain. He cleared his throat and rested his fist on the desk.

�We�ve been here for a week,� He said, �Working, day in and day out. According to the chief, we�re as repaired as we�re going to be with the resources at hand. We would have more resources if we didn�t lose over half of it in hull breaches. So we�re trapped people. No resources and a ship running at 35% efficiency. I want suggestions.�

Everyone looked at each other, wondering who would offer the first suggestion. Miguel leaned forward and quietly chipped in.

�Perhaps we should risk leaving the safety of the nebula,� He said, �And finding the nearest M class planet. Could have a lot of resources��

James shook his head, immediately disagree with the idea.

�Resources-yes, parts-no,� He said, �We�d have to make the parts from scratch and that would take a long time with the limited resources onboard. We�re not a bloody space station. We�re a starship, alone out here.�

Monica wiped her face with her sleeve, feeling the intense heat from the room. Environmental controls had been taken off-line momentarily for additional repairs. Life support remained online, but the temperature was as hot as a Cardassian sauna. It was quite brutal. Z�jj fluttered his wings, straining to see over the rather high up desk. He was not flying, but sitting down for the meeting.

�If I may interject,� He said in a gruff voice, �Most resource heavy planets around here are either settled, in dispute, devoid of all its resources, or completely empty. Finding the empty ones would be difficult��

Jenna quickly raised a hand, wanting to offer a suggestion. The captain nodded to her, giving her the proverbial floor.

�A space station,� She suggested, �Perhaps we can find one to dock with and trade certain items for much needed ones.�

Cain looked towards Z�jj, waiting for him to see if this was possible.

�Are there any space stations that would accommodate us?� He asked.

The short alien rubbed his chin, his fingers grinding the stubble.

�Not that I know of,� He said, �None that would be friendly at least. Despite the damage to the ship, it is still more advanced than anything we have. They would pick it apart in seconds. There is�well�.oh never mind.�

Cain leaned forward, intrigued by what he had just dismissed.

�No,� He said, �Tell us. We�re at a rather desperate cross road here��

Z�jj stared at the captain for a moment, obviously hesitating to give the man his idea. Cain didn�t have to be a telepath to see that he was mulling the decision over in his mind.

�Well�� He said tentatively, �There is a Qirate space station, abandoned for nearly two decades, quite close to our current location. It is stocked with supplies-weapons, equipment, food, medicine, you name it, and they have it.�

Cain stared at him skeptically, not believing anything he was saying.

�Wait,� He said, �Let me get this straight. A space station, filled with virtually everything a starship needs, is sitting abandoned in an area of space filled with pirates and poverty stricken people? All of that is ours for the taking? Sounds a little too good to be true.�

The guarded first officer nodded his head in agreement.

�I am inclined to agree with the captain.� He said.

Z�jj looked uncomfortable, as much as the alien possibly could.

�Yes,� He said, �Well there is a reason no one goes near it. It�s�haunted.�

Miguel laughed loudly, slapping the desk as he did.

�Haunted?� He asked, laughing even more, �Really? That is�.interesting��

Cain looked over at him, annoyed with his behavior. It is not the Starfleet way to ridicule other cultures and their beliefs.

�That�s enough commander.� He said to Miguel, silencing him with a look that shot out daggers.

Miguel bowed his head, quickly becoming quiet. Z�jj continued his story, not phased by Miguel�s laughter.

�No one knows what haunts the corridors of that station,� He said, �But the entire Qirate crew was found dead. A Qirate ship went to the station to see what happened and found the crew dead and something�else there. They barely escaped and told everyone what happened��

The Vulcan first officer, ever the cynic, did not believe the story.

�A most stimulating story,� Tulak said in a monotone voice, �However, I do not believe in fairy tales or ghosts and I think the Qirates simply spread rumors to keep others away from the station, ripe with supplies. I would not be surprised if they use it to hoard everything they�steal.�

Cain nodded his head in complete agreement, �I agree. I think we should go and take a look. If the Qirates are gone, then I want to take everything on that station. If they�re there, then we�ll have to look for some M-Class planets.�

Tulak raised a hand, preventing the captain from dismissing the meeting, �Yes commander?�

�If I may so sir,� He said, �I do not believe it is appropriate for Starfleet officers to steal from the station. We would be no better than a common thief.�

Cain wondered how right Tulak was. Under normal circumstances, it would be wrong to do, but this was not a normal circumstance. They needed to find a way out of this space and fast.

�I take it you�ve never heard of salvage rights?� He asked, �If the station is abandoned, we have the right to claim it. Especially, when the race it used to belong to are a group of belligerents that seek only to hurt others��

He looked around the table and noticed very mixed emotions from the group. Some of them were ok with it, others were bothered by Tulak�s objection, unsure if he was right in someway.

�Listen,� Cain said, �We may not be in Federation space, but we will never compromise our beliefs and oath. We won�t ever do anything to hurt someone, not even to get closer to home. Is that understood?�

Everyone at the table nodded, accepting this and feeling better about what they were planning on doing.

�Tulak,� He ordered, �I want you, Miguel, James, and Z�jj to take the Argonaut and do a recon of the station. I don�t want to risk pulling the Zeus from the nebula.�

Tulak nodded, �Aye captain.�

Cain stood up from his seat, �Dismissed.�

Chapter 3
Kal

The enigmatic man stood at one of the tables inside of his restaurant, running a rag over it for the fourth time. The table was clean and had been for several days. No one, save for a few civilians came to the restaurant to eat. The officers were too busy and usually ordered things to go, while the civilians were too frightened to leave their quarters. Kal tossed the rag on the table, no longer caring. No one was around so keeping up the pretense of caring about his restaurant was no longer important to him. He walked towards the small bar and sat down, pouring himself a glass of Aldebaran whiskey. There were many things running through his mind as he took a sip of the alcoholic beverage. He knew the ship was stranded, far from Federation space-a piece of information he enjoyed greatly. To the Orion Syndicate, Starfleet were a galactic form of police officers. They were everywhere and ruined many of the Syndicate�s operations. The idea of them being lost in a part of space where Starfleet doesn�t exist was amazing. Kal could take advantage of this, but he wondered what K�Peq would say about it, not that he really cared about his opinion. He simply liked having the Klingon as backup. His promises were starting to sound empty, even to K�Peq, a desperate Klingon seeking honor. Speaking of the Klingon, he wondered where he had gone to. Kal sent him nearly an hour ago to pick up more produce for the kitchen. They had a lot of food in the storage compartments and if they did not get customers soon, it will have been a waste of money. Kal gulped down the entire glass and placed the bottle of whiskey back, just as the doors opened. K�Peq walked in, flanked, or rather led, by two Starfleet security officers.

�What is going on here?� Kal asked, already having a vague idea.

One of the security officers, an Andorian, lightly nudged the Klingon forward.

�The Klingon was caught altering environment controls,� He said, �He was trying to fill the brig with neurocine gas, no doubt trying to kill the Romulan prisoner.�

Kal could only smirk inwardly at the sheer stupidity of the Klingon. He of course outwardly conveyed horror and shock, fake of course.

�K�Peq!?� He exclaimed, �You? Oh please say it isn�t so! That is terrible! We all must value life, that is the Starfleet way! If you�re going to serve here, you must adhere by those rules.

K�Peq rolled his eyes, not buying what Kal was saying.

�Sir?� Kal said, �You�ll have to forgive my friend. He has slight mental problems��

The Andorian slowly nodded, eyeing the Klingon.

�I�ve informed the chief of security,� He said, �Since no harm was done, we�re willing to let him go with a warning��

Kal was relieved to hear that, but the Andorian didn�t finish.

��and he will be required to twenty hours of officer duty,� He finished, �So instead of sitting in the brig, he can assist in repairs, under guard of course.�

�Like community service?� Kal asked, understanding, �Sounds good to me.�

The officers nodded and walked away, leaving K�Peq and Kal alone. Kal waved them off, a smile on his face. As soon as the doors shut, he turned back to K�Peq.

�You worthless piece of garbage,� He said, visibly seething, �Don�t EVER do something like that again. We don�t have time for your petty Klingon crap.�

K�Peq bared his teeth at Kal in anger.

�If you were any other man,� He threatened, �I would tear your spinal cord out through your mouth.�

Kal smirked, undaunted by the Klingon�s anger.

�But I�m not any other man,� He said, �I am the person that holds all the keys to your future. I will give you back your honor. I told you who was behind it��

�Yes,� He said, �And we killed the person who did it. That did not get me my honor back!�

Kal held a hand up in defense, �No, but I already told you. Many people were behind it, we only took out one person.�

The person that had been killed was an Orion who was a rival to Kal. Often, the Orion screwed up plans or took over operations that Kal was meant to have. He was sick of it and tricked the Klingon into killing the unsuspecting Orion. The memory of it brought a smile to Kal�s face.

�I promise you,� He said, �Once we get back, we�ll find the rest who did it. It isn�t enough to kill them; we must also get the evidence. So you can return home and have songs sung about you once more! You and your family�s honor will be restored and you will die, justified by your actions. After all you�ve done for the empire, it isn�t right for you to die with them not knowing the truth is it?�

K�Peq stared at him in suspicion, wanting what Kal said to be true. It was true, but he simply didn�t fully trust Kal to �pay up� with his promise.

�Yes,� He replied in a deep voice, �Then what must we do?�

Kal shook his head, �Nothing. We stay out of Starfleet�s way and let them�repair and toil away with the engines. We�ll be back home in no time, but we MUST stay out of their way.�

The Klingon slowly nodded, seeing the wisdom in his words.

�We should take advantage of this part of the quadrant,� He plotted, �No authorities here. We can plunder worlds and lure people to our cause��

�Our� cause?� K�Peq asked, not understanding.

Kal cringed slightly, revealing a little too much to his cook.

�I simply meant,� He said, �We can gain a lot here. Away from the prying eyes of Starfleet, minus this ship. This quadrant is ours for the taking. You�ll have so much to bring back to your home world that even the chancellor will bow to you.�

The Klingon shook his head, not really impressed with the idea, �I do not care about the material things. I only want to return home, with my honor.�

Kal patted the Klingon on the back, making him face the view port.

�When this is all over,� He promised, �You�ll have your honor�and I�ll have my quadrant��

Chapter 4
Loval

The Romulan had been in the brig for an entire week, simply sitting. He would die from sheer boredom if this kept up. His attempts of escape were always stopped by the random security officer of the day guarding his cell. He remembered the battle on the bridge and his discovery of the ship�s location. If it was accurate, he would not be seeing Romulus for quite some time. He sat stiffly, staring into the brig area, letting his mind lament the fact he would be in a holding cell for years. His vision was obscured when a young woman stood in front of what he was staring at, staying safely outside of the holding cell.

�Hello,� She said, �I�m the ship�s counselor, ensign Janvi Varghese.�

Loval stared blankly ahead, not saying a word.

�I wanted to come down to see how you were,� She said, �And if you needed anything, even if it is just to talk...�

The Romulan looked up at her, forming a smile so cold that it would put a Breen winter to shame.

�Is that so?� He asked, �You know, on a Romulan ship, an interrogator would be sent, carrying Romulan mind probes. We would force any information out that we wanted. Starfleet? You all send counselors to interrogate us. People that hide behind the guise of being friendly and only wanting to learn about you. I had no idea that Starfleet was so�insidious. There is hope for you all yet.�

Janvi looked uncomfortable, shaking her head, �No no, no, that isn�t why I�m here. I simply wanted to-�

�-talk,� The Romulan finished, �I know. I have no desire to talk to you. You may leave.�

The counselor looked hurt, but not really surprised, �Well I am around if you ever do need to.�

Loval bowed his head, �When I take over the ship, I will not forget your kindness.�

�Oh?� She asked, �Let me guess, you�ll let me live as your slave.�

Loval laughed and shook his head, �No, I will kill you, just like the others. But it will be a quick and clean death. You�ll feel nothing.�

She looked visibly bothered and rushed off, no longer wanting to face the Romulan. He went back to staring outside of his cell�having nothing else to do�

[Founder]

Chapter 5
Miguel Fuentes

The shuttle Argonaut had left the ship and was en route towards the abandoned space station, not far from the ship�s present location in the nebula. Miguel was piloting the class 9 shuttle, while Tulak was his co-pilot. James and Z�jj were in the aft compartment, waiting for them to arrive towards their destination. The type-9 shuttle was not in full use of the fleet at the time, but a few starships were given a few as a �test run� for the small shuttles. So far, they worked well and Miguel had no doubt they would become more prevalent with the fleet. Miguel, bored as usual, looked over at Tulak.

�Hey commander,� He whispered, �You creeped out about this ghost thing or is it just me?�

The Vulcan, typing away on his console, spoke without looking at Miguel.

�I can not be �creeped out� lieutenant commander,� He said rigidly, �I suggest you focus more on attaining the information we need, then on ghost stories.�

Miguel frowned at the Vulcan�s response to his query. He was trying to make conversation but Tulak was not much for idle chatter.

�Aye sir,� He said, �We�re approaching the station now.�

Both Tulak and Miguel stared out of the canopy and looked out towards the large space station. It had a vertical build to it, rather than most Federation horizontal ones. The technology certainly had a Qirate look to it, but much more clean and advanced. The station itself looked like it was in good condition, if not abandoned and slightly old.

�All stop,� Tulak ordered, �I do not wish to get any closer than need be. Sensors are running on full.�

Miguel nodded and stopped the ship at a safe distance, �All stop.�

He tapped his combadge, knowing that James and Z�jj would probably be needed.

�Miguel to the chief,� He said, �Get to the cockpit, we�ve arrived.�

The aft doors quickly opened and the two quickly came in, crowding the rather cramped forward compartment. Z�jj looked shaken when he saw the space station. He shut his eyes, while hovering next to James.

�You alright?� James asked.

Z�jj slowly nodded, �Yes, I�m just�not looking forward to going to that station. Is there anyway I can stay onboard the shuttle?�

Miguel shrugged and looked over at Tulak, �If the commander is ok with it�?�

Tulak did ignored the question and read over the sensor information.

�Life signs-none, nearby ships-none, oxygen level-nearly depleted,� He reported, �I�m having difficulty getting a fully sensor reading due to energy levels spiking within the station.�

He turned to his right began to send a hail to the USS Zeus. The image of captain Sebastian appeared on a small screen.

�Status?� Cain asked.

�I have deemed the station safe,� Tulak reported, �We will remain here as a warning beacon should any ships approach the station. You may join us at your leisure. Shuttle Argonaut out.�

The channel closed and they were left with the task of waiting for the large ship to arrive�

Chapter 6
Jenna Smith

The USS Zeus was moving at high impulse speeds out of the nebula and back into the familiar site of space. She was glad to finally see stars again, not really liking the look of purple gas surrounding the ship. They were moving towards the Qirate station to raid it of supplies. This was certainly a first for her or any Starfleet officer for that matter. It was not everyday that they would move to do something of this nature. To her right was cadet Alexei Kazlov, filling in for Miguel at helm. The young man was some supposed prodigy from Starfleet. He excelled in almost every field he applied to. He was also the biggest brown nose that Jenna had ever seen as well. She looked away from him around the bridge, taking in the way it looked. The bridge was still a mess, not really being prioritized in cleaning. At least they had dusted off any remaining particles from the consoles�

�Ensign?� Captain Sebastian called out, �Do sensors pick up any ships?�

Jenna wondered if that was paranoia or fear she picked up from the captain�s voice. Nevertheless, she immediately ran a scan of the system they were in.

�Nothing,� She said, �It�s almost like a�ghost system or something.�

Alexei looked over at her, a skeptical look crossing his face, �Oh please. You know you don�t believe in any of that�none of us do.�

�Speak for yourself,� Monica said from her console, �I believe that this stuff maybe real��

M�Tress, sitting at tactical, which wasn�t easy with a tail, gave his two cents, �On Cait, there is a peninsula that we believe is haunted with the fallen of a great battle, embittered by their premature death in war.�

Alexei shook his head in disbelief, �We�re Starfleet officers, with all due respect. Surely we shouldn�t waste our time with this garbage.�

Cain leaned back in his comfortable seat and gave a gloomy smile.

�Perhaps so,� He said, �But that doesn�t mean we should ridicule those who believe in it. Besides, there is no real proof that they are wrong and we are right.�

Alexei looked back while in his seat, �What do you believe in sir?�

Jenna looked back at the captain, wondering what his response would be as well. The interested look on Cain�s face quickly vanished.

�I believe I am the captain,� He said, �And personal beliefs like that are mine and mine alone.�

Alexei quickly nodded his head and looked back at the helm, �We�re approaching the station.�

�Onscreen.� Cain ordered.

Jenna looked up at the view screen to see the alien station and the small shuttle quietly orbiting it.

�Open the hangar bay doors for the Argonaut and then bring us alongside the station.� Cain ordered.

�Aye sir.� Alexei said, then obeyed.

�OPS?� Cain asked, �What are you getting from the space station?�

Jenna quickly ran as many scans as possible, trying to be thorough, �No life signs. I am detecting a strange energy reading though, but I can�t pinpoint it. Doesn�t look dangerous though.�

She kept reading the information and looked over at Monica, �Science?�

Monica tried to doing a scan of the energy reading, but shook her head in frustration, �I have no idea. I�m having trouble getting any readings. The energy reading is making sensors go nuts.�

Jenna nodded in agreement, �Confirmed. I�m not getting any life signs, but if the sensors are wrong��

Cain got the hint and nodded to M�Tress, �Go with the away team.�

He looked over at Monica, �You too. I want you to ascertain what is going on over there, while James pillages the station.�

Alexei looked back at the captain, �Sir�can I go as well? I think I would be an invaluable asset to the team.�

Cain contemplated letting the young man go with the team. It could be an invaluable chance to get rid of the annoying officer. A chance that Jenna hoped the captain would jump on.

�Fine.� He allowed.

Alexei smiled and headed towards the turbo lift, following after M�Tress and Monica. Jenna looked back at her OPS console and continued to run scans�

Chapter 7
Alexei Kazlov

The young cadet was still suiting up, dressing in a rather snug EV suit, aka environmental suit. He was glad to be joining the away team. After all of his�cowardly antics before, he was eager to prove himself to the others. Especially, M�Tress and Janvi, both of whom had seen his spinelessness. Tulak and James had joined them and were done suiting up, in addition to three engineers that would accompany them. Doctor Ut was sent as ordered by the captain, to ensure that their medical needs would be taken care of. Everyone was crowded into the transporter room, waiting for Alexei. He placed the helmet on as fast as possible and rushed up to the transporter pad. Tulak cast a critical look in the cadet�s direction and gave a curt nod to the transporter chief for transport. Alexei felt himself being torn apart, molecule by molecule. Torn apart may not be the most accurate of descriptions. It was more like broken down, piece by piece. His vision blurred and he entered darkness for a second. He rematerialized onboard the station, but the darkness was certainly not gone. He and the away team were floating, alongside numerous amounts of various objects. Alexei felt his body hover and nearly reach the ceiling, laughing as it did. Something about this was almost�fun. The cold voice of the Vulcan commander could be heard within his helmet.

�Magnetize.� He ordered.

Alexei reached down pressed on a button, slowly forcing his boots to stick to the ground.

�Chief Graham,� Tulak said, "Is it possible to restore gravity and oxygen?�

Graham had his tricorder open and he scanned the area, looking for a power source, �I�m checking sir.�

Alexei opened his tricorder as well and scanned the massive corridor they were in. The only way they were able to see anything is from the lights coming from the EV suits. He detected strands of organic material nearby, implying a life form.

�What the�� He said, slowly following the signal.

His hand pushed away a damaged piece of floating metallic material out of his face.

�I�m detecting something.� He informed the others.

Eager to try and discover something before anyone else, he turned the corner of the corridor. A massive door blocked his way, but whatever he was detecting was on the other side. He tried to scan for a way to open the door-a lock, a button, a hole, anything at all.

�Cadet Kazlov,� He heard Tulak say, �Return to us immediately.�

Alexei bit his lip, not wanting to ignore the first officer of the ship, but he also really wanted to find out what was on the other side of the door.

�Aye sir.� He said, not really moving.

Alexei tapped various buttons on the tricorder, setting up a pulse that would emit and force the electronically controlled door to open.

�Cadet Kazlov,� Tulak said with more force, �If you do not return now, you will be forced to return to the ship for disobeying a direct order.�

He finished setting up the tricorder and pressed the button, forcing the door to open, �Got it!�

The doors opened and from his throat escaped a deafening scream. The sight that he beheld was too much and he turned to escape it, but he couldn�t. It was trapped in his mind and would be forever so. Alexei continued to scream, desperate to get away, but still frozen in place. He clutched his helmet, trying to cover the ghastly sight that caught his attention.

�AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!� He shouted as loud as possible.

For a moment, Alexei thought he would be trapped, staring at the sight forever, but he quickly felt someone grab him. He turned and tried to pry the hands off of him, but the grip was simply too strong. Alexei turned to see the large Caitian standing next to him, pulling him away from the door. Tulak, Monica, and Dr. Ut had appeared as well and was staring at what had frozen Alexei: dead bodies-dozens of them, floating inside of the large room. All of them where Qirates, but dressed much more sophisticatedly. All of them were mutilated in some way, having died a most painful death. Some of the bodies began to float into the corridor they were in. Alexei was no longer able to control it, as if he ever could, and threw up into his EV suit�

Chapter 8
James Graham

James had been working tirelessly at a console he discovered while the others investigated the cadet�s screams. He and three engineers were trying to find a way to restore main power, or at the very least, gravity and oxygen. He was disturbed by the cadet�s screams and was about to go and help when the others came back, dragging the poor young man. His face couldn�t be seen because the transparent aluminum in his helmet was covered with vomit. He cringed lightly and asked the question on his mind.

�What the bloody hell happened!?� He asked.

�There was a room filled with dead bodies,� Monica explained, �This corridor is about to be filled with them if you don�t get gravity online.�

He nodded inside of his helmet and looked back at the console. James and the other engineers had been close to getting results. He rapidly tapped on the alien console, somewhat understanding what it was for. Technology was often similar enough to figure out where what went where, not always though. Fortunately for the crew, James managed to figure it out and restored the much needed gravity and oxygen. Everything around them fell and clattered to the ground. In the distance, various other objects, including the dead bodies also fell.

�What about main power?� Tulak asked.

The lights were still off as were many consoles littering the massive corridor they all stood in. James yanked off his helmet, barely able to see anything in it.

�It will take me a lot longer to figure out main power,� He said, �I don�t know about you, but I want to get the items and then get the hell out of here. This place is giving me the creeps��

Tulak arched an eye brow, �That phrase again.�

He took off his helmet, as did the others, and they used wrist beacons to look around the darkness.

�Understood,� He said, �We�ll divide into two teams. Mr. Graham, you lead the engineers and M�Tress, locate the items and beam them to the ship. Lieutenants Esposito and Ut will accompany me, as will the cadet��

James nodded and motioned for the others to follow him.

�It isn�t far,� He said, �I detected an engineering section. We�ll see what the ship has to offer and then simply order the Zeus to beam it all.�

The old man was annoyed that they couldn�t beam it all in the first place, without walking around. Unfortunately, the strange power source was making things difficult for specific sensor scans. It had to be done manually�

Chapter 9
Saij Ut

The doctor, grateful to no longer having to don the EV helmet, was scanning one of the dead bodies with a medical tricorder. When the Qirates had stolen the ship�s equipment, including medical tricorders, they used a lot of it. Studying it, the doctor managed to get accurate and helpful readings on the Qirate anatomy. No doubt, they scanned themselves trying to figure out what the devices did. She smirked, thinking about how many were probably stunned when they test the phasers.

�Well doctor?� Tulak asked.

Saij clipped the scanned back into the medical tricorder and looked up at the Vulcan from where she was squatting.

�Definitly a Qirate,� She said, �He has been dead for two or three decades, I�m not too sure, due to strange readings coming from the body.�

�Clarify.� Tulak ordered.

She shook her head and stood up, �Source of death is unknown.�

Monica quickly gave her opinion while scanning the bulkhead of the station. �Really? I would have thought that the huge hole in his stomach would have been a dead giveaway��

The Rigelian gave disdainful look in the science officer�s direction, while snapping her tricorder shut.

�He was dead before the hole appeared,� She angry replied, �I can�t tell what happened, but it was as if his�cells were yanked out of his body.�

Tulak stared at the rather well preserved dead body, obviously from the lack of oxygen, �Intriguing. Continue your scans, both of you. I wish to ascertain what has happened here.�

Cadet Kazlov was sitting at the corner of the room, his legs tucked into his chest. He was trying to steady his breathing as much as possible.

�You sure you don�t want to go back to the ship?� Monica asked, while continuing to scan.

He gave an ashamed look in reply and then nodded, �That might be a good idea��

His hand tapped the combadge sitting on his chest, �Cadet Kazlov to the Zeus.�

Monica looked over at Alexei, sharing his surprise that the ship did not immediately respond.

�Lieutenant Esposito to the Zeus,� She said after tapping her combadge, �Please respond.�

Alexei stood up, visibly nervous that the ship was not responding, �Do you think something has happened to them!?�

Monica motioned for him to be quiet, trying to block out the wave of frightened emotions emanating from him. She walked away, trying to find Tulak and Dr. Ut. The doctor was scanning over a dead body when Monica and Alexei approached her and Tulak.

�We�ve lost contact with the ship.� She said in a concerned voice.

Saij stared at her in surprise and confusion, not really understanding what was going on. Tulak tried to contact the ship through his combadge, but gained the same results as they did.

�Let us not panic,� He said, �Perhaps Chief Graham has done something to warrant the communication�s failure.�

He tapped his combadge once more, �Commander Tulak to Chief Graham. Please respond.�

Once more, there was no response whatsoever�