Deep Space Guardian: Season II-Episode 40

[La Forge]

Romulus, Maintainance Tunnel

The duo of Spock and the Founder made their way down the maintainance tunnel, underneath the Nautolian internment camp, heading towards the office complex, where Nautolian general, Sazi Villion. The two marched on in silence for a lengthy period of time, until Spock suddenly stopped in his tracks, holding a hand up in the air, as his ears perked up. The Vulcan must have heard something.

"Wait." the Vulcan ambassador ordered, emotionlessly. The Founder complied, without a word, coming to a halt, as requested. Now, with both of them completely motionless, the Founder could hear the voices, too, with his adept Changeling hearing.

"I hear them, too." the Founder spoke, referring to the voices.

IKS Fek'lhr, Bridge

The Fek'lhr was safe...for now, cloaked and hidden away from enemy sensors. However, K'Vagh despised the concept of hiding away from a fight. It was a Romulan tactic, the treacherous fools. Hiding away from a fight was no Klingon tactic. It was without honor. However, for the moment...it was necessary.

The aging Klingon general simply sat in his seat, drumming his thick brown fingers on his armrest, as red klaxons flashed all around, basking the entire bridge in a dim red light. Meanwhile, damage crews were working on making the necessary prepares to the severely damaged Klingon Bird of Prey, so the Fek'lhr could re-enter the battle and send those Nautolian bastards to Gre'thor, where the squid-headed scum belonged.

"(These Nautolians and their ilk...They fight with a ferocity seldom seen since the Dominion.)" came the voice of Kopok, from his tactical station, to the right. At those words, K'Vagh slammed a balled fist onto his armrest, nearly splitting it in two.

"(No! These Nautolians are without honor!)" K'Vagh roared, in Klingonese, saliva spraying from his snarled mouth. His voice was thunderous and frightening. It was as if his voice could be heard on Qo'noS, itself. "(We will defeat these scum, no matter the cost. We will defeat these scum for Chancellor Martok! We will defeat these scum in the name of the Klingon Empire! Do you understand me? We will be victorious!)"

+ 6 Dilithium. Good post.

Founder

[Captain Besuz]

U.S.S Saracen Saucer, Bridge
Udo stood on the bridge, still controling the weapons of the Saracen's Saucer, firing at the few small fighters that followed them into the Atmosphere. After the last few were destroyed, he finally looked up to see that they had just gotten through the Atmosphere. He stood there stairing at the site of the planet he hadn't seen for over 7 years. He had always wished Earth was his home planet, and the time he was there, he made the best of it and never forgot a single thing he saw. Then he snaped out of the little trance that the sight had put him in. He finally spoke out some orders to his crew.

"Ensign! Whats the statis of the Stardrive section?" He yelled across the bridge.

"Sir, the Section is taking Heavy damage and it's shields are very low!" He yelled back.

"Ensign, I want to see that onscreen!" Udo yelled, with a scaired look in his eye. He had a very bad feeling about this whole thing.

Seconds later the, a picture of the ship appeared on screen. It was being pounded by fire and the shields were very low.



U.S.S. Saracen Stardrive Section, Battle Bridge

The Battle Bridge of the Saracen rocked back and forth with great force, Bodies littered the floor and small fires poped up all around. Medics and engineers attempted to get things under control but they were thrown back and forth just as much as Senior Crew.

"Captain!" Yelled a Man strugling to stay on his seat, "Our Docking Bay has been completely destroyed! No Escape Pods could get through and the rest have been destroyed! What do We do?!"

McCallahan seemed to stand still among all the carnage and destruction as he scratched his beard. He seemed to be stuck in a trance, as he staired straight forward at the View Screen with a look of terrible refret and sorrow in his eye. The screams and crys and final prayers of a doomed crew were the last things anyone heard on The U.S.S. Saracen's StarDrive Section.

A few moments later, the ship was Destroyed in a rain of fire and debry. Udo staired in horror as the last thing that held any importance to him was destroyed right in front of him.

+ 8 Dilithium. Good post.

Founder

[Founder]

-Earth, Hidden Location-

President Goddard was sitting down, no longer wanting to watch the battle. What could he do? He was a politician, not a strategist or a fighter. His fingers stroked his beardless chin as he listened to dozens upon dozens of highly trained officers yell out status reports. Apparently, the Nautolian ground forces were spread out all over the planet, attempting to take various capitols of nation states. Not that it mattered anyways. Earth was unified and taking the capitol of a random country did not really hurt the planet as it would have in the past. However, the Nautolians were attempting to take the very heart of the Federation and Starfleet: San Francisco. He felt so furious at being helpless and unable to do anything. At this point, it was far too late to get him out of the Sol system. No, he was trapped and the Nautolians were invading. Dozens of thoughts flooded his mind as he tried to think about it all.

"This is all my fault." He whispered in a barely audible tone.

Goddard felt guilt ridden about no Federation ships being nearby. He approved of the plan "Operation Methane", which took away a large amount of starships in the fleet. Over 300 starships moved to Hydran space, led by Fleet Admiral Ni, to liberate the opressed Hydrans from the Nautolian's grip. Now, their system was free but the cost was high, many starships destroyed and the rest away from Earth in it's darkest hour. While not all Starfleet starships were part of Operation Methane, the remaining ones were no where near Earth to simply rush in at a moment's notice. Admiral William Ross, who is now trapped on the conquered Terra Nova, had worked with others to develop a defense net for Earth. After the Borg and Breen attacks on Earth, it was time for the planet of peace to be armed or so it was decided. The Scott, a Federation transport, carrying engineers, scientists, and tactical minds alike had arrived rather late. Now they were desperately trying to unload the orbital weapon's platform while the Nautolians attacked. It now a race against time and a fight for survival for everyone. He could only hope that they would survive this.

"Still blaming yourself, Mr. Goddard?" A voice asked.



Goddard spun around in his seat to see Admiral Russ standing behind him. The enigmatic admiral always seemed to be around, as if his eyes and ears were everywhere. Goddard believed the man to be an excellant officer but the nature of Russ frightened him. Russ was quiet and rarely pushed his rank on anyone. He was dedicated and voiced his opinion only when needed. However, when he spoke, people tend to listen.

"Always," Goddard replied, "Mr. Russ."

Russ took a step forward, walking away from the yelling and the ordering that was going on behind him. He looked down at the leader of the United Federation of Planets with a sympathetic look.

"Be unyielding and dedicated in the face of adversity," Russ quoted, "And give nothing but your entirety to the cause of duty."

Goddard smiled, recognizing the quote immediately. It was said by one of the earliest Marine Field Marshalls.

"Field Marshall Garret Moore." Goddard said.

Russ nodded his head, "Yes, the field marshall that took a battallion of marines aboard a Klingon starship during one of our earliest wars with the Empire. He said that speech right before the mission that cost him his life."

The Federation president was slightly confused as to why Admiral Russ was evoking that quote at that specific moment.

"I don't understand." He said.

The Section 31 operative motioned behind him with a curt nod of his head, nodding towards the activity in the room.

"Try not to sit and mope, Mr. President," Russ said truthfully, "We have a battle on our hands. A battle we must win if we are to ensure the safety of the heart of the Federation."

Goddard's face twisted into one of bitterness. Once more, the battle was brought to the forefront of his mind.

"I don't want to be the Federation President that lost Earth to another superpower, Mr. Russ." He said.

Russ bowed his head, "Let us worry about your legacy and the survival of Earth. For now, keep a clear mind and remember that your task is not complete. The people of Earth are frightened and are need of a leading voice to tell them what to do. Your duty, sir, is to be that voice. '...give nothing but your entirety', sir."

With that, Russ walked away from the President, leaving the elderly man to contemplate what was just said. He was right. As they sat and discussed strategy and Goddard bitterly focused on his mistakes, the people of Earth were waiting for some sign that things would be ok. He could only hope that at some moment...Goddard could give that sign...

-USS Detroit, Bridge-

While the Federation President was in thought, the battle continue to rage in orbit. The Galaxy class starship, the Detroit, had been fighting and attempting to defend the Scott. With all the protecting, the Scott had fared well and was nearly done in it's efforts to lay out the orbital platforms. Unfortunately, all of them were dormant and would not be activated until are in place. The Koinians, despite their low status in Nautolian society, had caught onto the orbital weapon's platforms handicapp and attempted to attack them before they could activate. The Detroit was destroying any vessels that neared the defenseless weapons.



"Direct hit." Gavro reported.

The bridge was filled with activity and injured officers. The Trill chief medical officer was racing back and forth, attempting to help them.

"We're getting packed in here!" Tanos yelled.

He was going to need to go to sickbay soon, as he did not have the items he needed to assist the injured. If that was not enough, the chief science officer had detected something rather disturbing on sensors. The Maori turned to face the captain with a grim look on his face.

"Captain," Lieutenant Paratene said, "Sensors are detecting 120 ships, primarily Nautolian in design, heading straight towards Earth."

Tanos looked at the captain, realizing what that would mean.

"I'll be in sickbay," He said, "I have a feeling I'll need more room for the injured...and the dead."

-Marine HQ, Main Entrance-

The Nautolians had attempted to storm the building that housed the marines, but they were met with severe resistance. Force fields had been erected in an effort to block them from trying to rush into the building. Colonel George Pierce rushed into the main foyer where officers were attempting to block the Nautolians from entering.

"Status report!" He yelled.

A younger marine, a 1st Lieutenant judging by the ranks pips on his neck, looked back at Pierce while clutching his phaser.

"We've sealed the doors and windows with force fields, but we don't know how long that will hold," He reported, "They've brought in some type of tank and their fighters are bombing the roof."

Pierce cursed and looked around, hoping that there would be something they could do. He had an idea as he looked towards a certain area.

"Hold your ground," He ordered, "I'll attempt to stop the tank."

With that, Pierce rushed off and attempted to enact his idea.

-Enterprise-E, Bridge-

The Sovereign class starship had not left the Scott's side for a moment. Thanks to this, the transport was still intact, otherwise, it'd have been destroyed by now. Picard had given the order to fire on any incoming ships, but that order just got a lot more difficult. A helmsman, ensign DeBello, immediately noticed the incoming ships moving towards the blue orb that was Earth.



"Captain Picard," He reported, "Incoming Nautolian vessels. Over...100..."

He turned around and gave a grave look towards the captain of the most powerful vessel in Starfleet. It seemed that protecting the Scott was about to become impossible.

-Romulus, Maintenance Tunnel-

Spock listened in closely while ignoring the Founder's comment about being able to hear the voices as well. It sounds like...Nautolian guards and...

"...we'll bring him through this tunnel," One said, "And then the General can be brought to a neighboring city..."

The Vulcan looked back at the Founder who no doubt already heard it.

"They are attempting to move the General," He explained uncessarily, "We must go, now."

With that, Spock quickened his pace towards the source of the voices. If they didn't stop Sazi from moving...everyone's efforts would have been in vain...including the Romulans dying in space.

-IKS Fek'lhr, Bridge-

Kopok slapped his chest with a closed fist.

"Quapla!" He yelled at the General's bravado.

They would keep fighting...even if it did take their lives. While the repairs went through, Kopok noticed the destruction of half of the Saracen. Do to all the skirmishes K'Vagh had with the Galaxy class starship, Kopok figured he should know what just happened.

"(General,)" He reported, "(The Saracen's stardrive section has been destroyed.)"

-USS Scott, Bridge-

One of the officers looked at T'Sa, ignoring the fact that their captain was dead. She quickly reported to the Vulcan captain.

"We are moments away from deploying the last platform," She reported, "We need another ten minutes or so. The ship's hull integrity is intact...for now."

-USS Saracen Saucer, Bridge-

The ensign at the helm saw the destruction of his ship and bit his lip in sadness. It seemed that this battle was going to cost the Saracen more then it had intended. Udo had been silent as he saw his vessel destroyed.

"Sir," The ensign yelled, "What are your orders?"

Udo had to focus on the task at hand. He was in command now.

-Guardian, Bridge-

Ian arched an eyebrow, not recognizing the name of the ship or it's captain.

"This is captain Ian Xavier of the USS Guardian," Ian responded, "We're attempting to reach Earth. It is under attack by Nautolians. Any other ships are needed, including yours."

[Lord Borg]

Enterprise-E, Bridge-

Picard let out a heavy sigh, things were getting worst by the moment. He thought over his options, he checked the display on his armrest they vessels would be there in moments. Picard looked up and spoke out,

"Inform the Scott, in four minutes, what ever is launched must be brought online"

-Scott, Bridge

T'Sa panted, she could feel her control starting to strip down, this was not a good addition to the current situation. T'Sa slowly nodded and looked to the officer,

"We have to get the platforms launched, it is our only mission in life for the moment."

+ 1 Dilithium. Good little details.

Founder

[Spellbinder Marik]

-U.s.s. Falkirk, Bridge-

The man on the screen had introduced himself as Captain Ian Xavier. Swanson didn�t recognize the man but he�d heard his name before.
�We�re about 20 minutes behind you captain. We�d be there sooner but we�ve already strained our warp drive.� Swanson regretted not being able to get there faster.
�There�s one other thing captain, The Romulans following you? Friend or foe?�

-IRW Sparverius, Bridge-

T�Rell could see the chaos around him. It was his fault. He was losing his edge. Sometimes it felt as though he wasn�t even Romulan anymore. That was it. He�d found words that made sense to him. T�Rell got up from his seat and walked over to the Ops panel. He�d activated the fleet wide transmitter.
�This is Fleet Admiral T�Rell on the Sparverius. I�ve been monitoring the situation and discovered discord within our fleet. We aren�t Klingons or savages here. We are Romulans! Let�s start acting like it and use some strategy. Follow my lead, Sparverius out.�

T�Rell closed the channel and returned to his chair.
�Helm, move us into attack range of the next largest target. Mr. Tokal, have the warbrids continue to cover us due to our low shield strength. � T�Rell was feeling a rush he hadn�t felt since the Dominion War. Maybe it was the fact that his home was under attack or maybe it was his way of life. There�d be plenty that needed doing when this war with the Nautolians was over. T�Rell had been subconsciously thinking about returning to Romulus after the war.

He�d serve under Donatra�s command. She seemed like a good commander. She was younger than N�Tran and T�Rell but she�d done a lot for the empire in the past few years. T�Rell began thinking about how it would affect N�Tran if he left. There was time to worry about that later, right now he had a war to win.

-U.s.s. Gaurdian, Main Engineering-

Kiris nodded. He was worried about Earth too. He didn�t like to let it show. He�d always tried to be Human and Romulan emotionally but in the end it looked like his Romulan side won out and covered his emotions. His emotions were covered, so they didn�t show. They weren�t suppressed the way Vulcans did. Kiris looked at Bengali and then at Cory.
�When we get back there�s a holonovel I think the three of us should run.� A nearby panel beeped. Kiris paused for a minute to check it. He finally turned back to Bengali and Cory.
�It�s one of the many variants of the Robin Hood story.�

-U.s.s. Falkirk, Hangar Deck-

Lt. Cmdr. Sally Maija was the assistant chief engineer of the Falkirk and manager of the hanger deck. She knew they were currently on rout to Earth and was running last minute checks on their Peregine class fighter compliment. There were only 12. She�d come to know the pilots. When they were in formation they were a force to be reckoned with. Sally felt a tap on her shoulder. She turned around.

It was Thomas Rico, the head fighter pilot.
�When are you finally going to have dinner with me?� Sally lowered her head for a moment and smiled. Rico was always trying to get a date with her. When the Falkirk first left the construction yard Rico convinced Captain Swanson that the fighters needed to be tested. When Rico told Swanson what was going on he reluctantly allowed Rico to go ahead with his plan. Rico and four other pilots preformed a Kolvoord Starburst. He�d told her to watch from the Observation lounge. She remembered that day vividly.

It was a nice spectacle and she thoroughly enjoyed it but knew it was only a clever ploy by Rico to try and impress her. She was impressed but didn�t let it show. She enjoyed watching him continue to try and impress her. She finally looked up. She knew he wouldn�t stop trying until she either told him to stop or decided to let him think he�d won.
�Alright Rico, if we survive the battle of Earth I�ll have dinner with you.� Rico�s face split in a wide grin.
�Seriously?� Sally closed her Tricorder and walked closer to him. She kissed him on the cheek.
�If we survive.� She smiled at him and walked away.

-IRW Salara, Bridge-

�8 Minutes to the Sol System Admiral.� The helmsman reported. N�Tran nodded. He wondered how many ships were rushing to aid Earth. N�Tran began to miss the old days. Part of him longed for death. He knew he had to stay alive though. He had to give the years he was missing back to Kiris and Laura. He also thought about his own coming mission. He and T�Rell still had to get the coordinates from N�Tran�s father and then return to the future to retrieve Tayvor.

He knew that if the Federation found out they�d never allow it to go forward. It was why N�Tran decided to keep it from Laura. He knew that he�d need certain data that only the Federation had. He�d have to tell Kiris and convince Kiris not to report him.
Simple enough�

-Unknown Klingon Ship, Elerran System-

Klingon Captain Kalok had taken her ship and crew away from the civil war in the empire to find the last man to have spoken to her father. She was told that at last known whereabouts N�Tran Ditex was in the Elerran system. They�d arrived about an hour ago but didn�t detect the IRW Salara anywhere.
�(Captain, I have located a Klingon ship on the surface of Elerra Prime.)� Kalok looked at the panel. The vessel�s ID scrolled across the screen.
[IKS G�Tarkin] Kalok knew that was the ship that the Romulan had gotten from Martok and given to her father.
�(Prepare a landing party. I will lead them my self.)� Kalok had no reason to want to speak with Ditex but if her father had found him a worthy ally, perhaps she could too.

+ 8 Dilithium. Good post. Nice connections with the dead Klingon and nice job being so many people.

Founder

[La Forge]

Romulus, Internment Camp

The Founder listened on as the voices spoke of moving a certain general, General Sazi Villion, no doubt, through the maintainance tunnel, out of danger. Once the voices had silenced, the Founder's Vulcan companion, Ambassador Spock, spoke aloud.

"They are attempting to move the General We must go, now." Spock stated, simply, referring to the voices, before starting off down the maintainance tunel, heading towards the source of the voices...

The Founder remained behind for only a moment or two, watching as the Vulcan darted off down the seemingly endless, poorly lit tunnel. The Changeling was growing weary of the endless walking and longed to revert to its liquid state, but, there was still work to be done. Capturing General Sazi Villion, for one.

In any case, the Changeling was beginning to grow tired its Odo-state and using its morphogenic powers, morphed into the form of a Bajoran bat The Changeling, now a Bajoran bat, fluttered off down the dark tunnel, straining its transparent wings, by flapping them at an exhausting pace, flying alongside the Vulcan. The duo were off to track down General Villion before the Nautolian could escape...

U.S.S. Detroit, Bridge

Captain Cipriani simply nodded as her Trill medical officer left the mess of a bridge of the devastated Galaxy-class vessel, as she kept her eyes fixed on the viewscreen, before her. The fight was going poorly. Only a handful of Federation vessels remained. The stardrive section newly-arrived Scaracen had been destroyed, in the middle of a saucer separation operation. The Scott was still placing the orbital defense platforms, as enemy fighters swarmed all about. The platforms were set up to be activated in a net sequence, which required all of the platforms to be deployed, before the defense system could be activated, a set-back, for sure. The Aichi was long gone, lost on the Earth's surface, somewhere. The Klingon vessel, the Fek'lhr, had mysteriously disappeared. Lucia hoped the Bird of Prey was still up and running. Any and all help, Klingon or otherwise, was needed, for a Federation victory. After all, the majority of the fleet was still far from Earth, due to the resource-depleting Operation Methane, in the Hydran sector. Luckily, the Enterprise-E was still in the fight and doing a damn fine job at putting those Nautolian bastards and their ilk in their plast. Picard was a hell of a captain and, if the battle was one, Lucia would be sure to commend the French man on his command abilities. Despite the this, the battle was going poorly for the Federation and this was no battle the Federation could afford to lose...the Battle for Earth.

"Those squid-heads picked a bad time to attack Earth." Lucia lamented, in her thoughts, as she realized any source of help was spread far and wide. Operation Methane used up the majority of the fleet and the Hydran System was a considerable distance away from the Sol System. It would take some time for the fleet to arrive and by that time, the battle may already be lost and Earth would be in the hands of Fito and his bastard Empire. "Don't think that way. Not yet. There's still hope..." came a voice from the back of her mind, scolding her for such grim and pessimistic thoughts. Suddenly, her Maori science officer broke the Italian woman's mental trance.

"Captain!" Lieutenant Koro Paratene addressed Captain Cipriani, from his science station. "Sensors are detecting one hunred and twenty ships, primarily Nautolian in design, heading straight towards Earth." the Maori man reported the bleak news, with a grim look on her face.

"Or not..." came the voice from the back of Lucia's mind, referring to the issue of hope. With one hundred and twenty vessels, Nautolian ones, in fact, the Federation was all but doomed. What hope did two and a half Federation vessels have against one hundred and twenty Nautolian vessels? Not a chance.

"What? Are you sure?" Lucia asked, wanting to verify the data. Maybe Koro had simply read the numbers wrong. Maybe there are only two Nauolian vessels. Maybe it was all a miscalculation. Maybe there were no Nautolian vessels, a trick of the sensors, perhaps? Maybe...

"Aye, sir. One hundred and twenty ships." the Maori man reiterated the results of the scan, after running it through the sensors, again, to be sure. The Italian captain simply stared out at the stars, blankly, through the viewscreen, watching the explosions of the ships around her blend in with the stars themselves. She buried her head in her hands, wanting to scream. There was no curse word she could think of that could justify the thoughts that were currently running rampant through her mind...as if a stampede. Unless reinforcements arrived soon...Earth was all but lost...

IKS Fek'lhr, Bridge

"(General. The Saracen's stardrive section has been destroyed.)" Commander Kopok reported, as the wreckage of the vessel's stardrive section appeared on the viewscreen, floating about, dead in space.

K'Vagh may have hated Scaracen, her captain, and her crew, however, no people deserved such a death...a death at the hands of those dishonorable Nautolian bastards. K'Vagh wouldn't cheer at the death of one his greatest rivals. No. K'Vagh would mourn for his death...for Captain McCallahan, despite all of the problems, conflicts, and difficulties...was a truly great and honorable man.

"Raaaaaaaaa!!!" the aging Klingon general growled, his head held up high and his nose pointed towards the stars. crying out the typical Klingon death ritual. "(Captain McCallahan was an honorable man. We will avenge him.)" K'Vagh stated, proudly, knowing the Human man and his crew had a place in Sto-Vo-Kor. The Klingon darted his glance over at his first officer. "(Report! What's our status? I want to get back in the fight! This waiting is driving me mad!)"

+ 9 Dilithium. As usual, your details are really good.

Founder

[Valathous]

~ Bridge, USS Guardian ~

Blake, who was off at the side of the bridge at a security station running meaningless scans for the few remaining moments, stood anxiously awaiting the dreaded battle. Blake longed for the battle, and dreaded it at the same time. On one hand, he desired to help his planet more than anything else, and to defend her to the best of his ability. On the other hand, the fact that the Federation's, and Humanity's existences stood on the edge of a knife worried him greatly.

Blake looked around the bridge and saw the worry in everyone's faces. They had every right to be, aswell. Blake wondered whether or not he'd ever see any of them again once he left the ship for Earth, be it he die, they die, or both. Blake hoped that they would once again reunite. Over the nearly two years he'd spent on Deep Space Guardian, he'd come to like a lot of the crew. Blake didn't doubt his or their combat abilities, though at the moment, sheer numbers had already dug their graves.

Blake stared quietly at the viewscreen as the stars flew by...

+ 5 Dilithium. Great details and it's nice to see Blake does care about Ian!

Founder

[ILoveHarry]

-DSG, Sickbay-

Slightly annoyed to be in the company of someone so... chipper so soon after her traumatizing ordeal, Sofie closed her eyes and swallowed hard. It's not that she wasn't grateful to be safe and taken care of, on the contrary. However, the recent events she had endured have left her exhausted and in shock. She wanted nothing more than a shower, clean clothes, and a good sleep. The though of sleep made her scoff. She knew it would be quite some time before she'd sleep peacefully again. Many of her nights were still interrupted with nightmares of Daien. Now this ordeal was sure to haunt her dreams as well.

Eager to be released, Sofie sat up and looked at Callie expectantly. �Doesn�t this station have one of those holographic doctors?�

Callie, who had been attempting to log onto sickbays computer looked up with an amused expression. �Goodness! I bet you�re right!� She smacks her forehead and chuckles. �Sorry� I�m not yet aquatinted�. I�m not even supposed to start yet� It is wartime though� I suppose,� She looks up at Sofie as if she had forgotten her task. �OH! The doctor! Right. Sorry �bout that.�

�Computer, activate the EMH.�

+ 4 Dilithium. Good post. Good details on how Sophia feels.

Founder

[Lord Borg]

-DSG, Sickbay-

The area right infront of the two women blured slightly, a buzzing hiss was heard as the form of the EMH filled the once empty spot. The holographic male stared strait ahead, untill spoken to, thats what he'd do.

"Please state the nature of the medical emergancy."

[ILoveHarry]

-DSG; Sickbay-

Callies face lights up. "Ah! Look at that. It worked!" She clasps her hands together and walks over to the EMH. "Here's our patient," she says indicating Sofie. "I've cleaned her wound, but given her special circumstance, I thought a doctor should have a look at her."

[Lord Borg]

-DSG, Sickbay-

The EMH rolled his eyes at Callie, what a strange greeting, 'Ah! look at that. It worked'. The EMH shook his head and sighed as he picked up a medical tricorder.

"Of course, 'it' worked. It's simple engineering, activate the program, and it turns on. Gee, who thought of that little idea?"

The EMH Began to scan Sofie, and then looked back to Callie, she said they needed a doctor, and he was activated. Just where was the staff?

"Does this station even have a Medical Staff? I'm begining to wonder."

The EMH turned and looked back to the tricorder display. His holographic mouth formed a frown.

"Just what happened to you?" he asked Sofie.

+ 3 Dilithium. Good job with the EMH.

Founder

[ILoveHarry]

-DSG, Sickbay-

Callie chukled at the question about the medical staff. "I certainly hope so... I.." She is cut off by the EMH who had turned his attention to Sofie.

"Just what happen to you?"

Sofie shook her head and sighed tiredly. "That's a complicated story. My son and I were...taken. By one of your officers... an Agent actually, from SI he said. He appeared in our room on Elerra Prime." She takes a breath as she relives the story.

"He transported us to a vessel. They attempted to take us to the Mirror Universe.... but that's not where we ended up. We were... somewhere else... another univers of sorts..."

She takes a brief pause knowing how far-fetched her story sounded. "Jonathan Archer was rthere... he and his army were fighting theese...gigantic spiders... They started coming after us... and we were trying to escape of course... before we could though, one of them caught my back. The agent was killed, but was able to send my son and I back to Elerra Prime first."

She lets out a breath and watches the EMH for his reaction to her brief synopsis of the hell she had been through.

+ 5 Dilithium. Nice explanation of Sofie's events. RIP Monroe

Founder

[Lord Borg]

-DSG, Sickbay-

The EMH simply stood there and listened to what Sofie had to say. To but it bluntly, it all sounded like a load of hogwash. However, the medical database was filled with cases connected to strange stories. He could recall the file on the Stations commanding officer, Ian Xavier. He had apparently been...transformed, into some weird flesh eating...blob. Life in Starfleet was interesting, particuarly on this Station.

"If this were anyother place," the Holographic doctor begain, "I'd have you submitted for psycatric evaluation. However...."

The EMH frowned and checked the display.

"Interesting... your blood stream shows insect venom...nothing harmful of course....at least, not now."

The EMH shruged and picked up a Dermal regeneration. Judging by the looks of the wound on the patient, her story could check out. The EMH activated the device and hovered it over the wound. The EMH looked over to the Callie and looked her over, not needing to watch what he was doing, as he was a hologram, a computer program, he could tell exactly what he was doing after just a quick glance for measurements of movements.

"Pardon, but you do not appear in the Medical Staff listing, may I inquire as to who you are?"

-USS Guardian, Armory-

Alicia Stone checked the status of the adjustment she was making on the Phaser rifle in her hands. She was going though and adjusting the beam frequency, or more like the beam width. No one really knew what a Nautolian ship was like, if there were tight, or narrow spots, each shot with a phaser would have to count. For this, she was narrowing the beam. Naturally, a narrow beam meant she could put a little more...punch into each shot. Alicia gave a sigh and sat the rifle down. She looked around the room, looking over the racks of rifles, some had been adjusted, some not. Thankfully, she had help, which made the job easier. Alicia had to wonder how her friend, Sue Burns was doing, she had been though an ordeal on that runabout, the USS Nile. With another sigh, Stone went back to work on the rifle.

+ 5 Dilithium. Nice response from the EMH.

Founder

[ILoveHarry]

-DSG, Sickbay-

All too happy to be involved again, Callie jumped up from the seat she had taken. As she did, she bumped into the desk, knocking saeveral items off of it.

"Oops!" she said as she stoopped to pick up the items. Once they had all been returned to the desk she approached the EMH.

"Of course. I just transferred here. I've been on the station all of about ten minutes... I came by here to say, 'hi,' and meet everyone. I'm a few days early actually. I'm Ensign Calista Simons. Your new head nurse. I go by Callie though. I always have actually. Calista... just doesn't really suit me. I'm much more a Callie, doncha think?"

+ 4 Dilithium. Good post.

Founder

[Founder]

(Alright, everybody. Due to all of this being dragged out for so long, I'm finally bringing us into the battle. The end has finally started for this episode. Now, its more up to Arellia and Republican_Man to post to really complete it. )

-Marine HQ, Main Entrance-

The green collared officer and right hand man to Alexander Andreas, Pierce, ran through the foyer that was filled with screaming officers. Explosions could be heard as the Nautolians attempted to use a tank to blow up the door. Force fields, presumably level 10, were in place and all that was keeping the doors sealed. Several fighters, a few dozen that slipped by with the troop transports, were firing torpedoes from the roof. With all this punishment from above and below, the force fields were going to give out. Then things were going to get really bad. Pierce pushed his way past a dozen other marines and ran towards a turbolift. He had to find a way to the roof. Despite the danger from the Nautolian fighters, the tank was the bigger threat. He flinched when he heard the powerful tank fire at the force field blocking the door to the HQ.

"Down!" A marine screamed.

Pierce turned around to see the force field shimmer and dissapear. The building rocked as the explosion damaged the now defenseless door. It was too late to stop the destruction of the force field, but he would destroy that damn tank. Pierce ran into the turbolift and yelled for the roof level.

-IRW Sparverius, Bridge-

The officers nodded and the word "acknowledged" could be heard from several of them. The vessel, surrounded by warbirds, flew towards another large Nautolian vessel. It seemed T'Rell had his work cut out for him. The large behemoth of a ship slid through space, surrounded by dozens upon dozens of fighters. Combating this ship would not be easy. However, the Romulans were far from push overs. They had managed to devestate the Nautolians in orbit, just as they had done in the past in the last Nautolian-Romulan war.

"We're coming up on the vessel." Tokal announced to T'Rell.

The starships moved in place and immediately began to open fire. Despite the large frame of the warbirds, they managed to keep up with the sleek and nimble Valdore class starship. All of them united in firing on the Nautolian capitol ship. Meanwhile, the rest of the fleet, having heard T'Rell's orders, began to go back to the strategy of using their cloak to fight. It was working, but who knew for how long.

"Direct hit." The centurion tactical officer announced.

The Nautolian vessel's shields shimmered as they were pounded by Romulan disruptor fire. Unfortunately, the Nautolians decided to use that moment to retaliate. They fired on one of the highly damaged warbirds and easily destroyed it. Tokal noticed the sheer force of the explosion ripped one of the wings off and saw it fly directly towards the Sparverius.

"Brace for impact!" He screamed.

He would have ordered evasive manuevers but it was too late by that point. The hull part rammed directly into the Valdore class starship, shaking it and causing heavy damage. What little shields they had before were now gone. Tokal gripped his console, but it was no use. He flew to the side as the ship began to dip in space. Tokal looked up to see the viewscreen showing the entire Nautolian ship. They were about to ram it...

"Pull up!!!" He screamed as the helmsman that replaced the deceased officer that was killed earlier.

To his horror, the new helmsman was dead, slumped over his console. With no one to take control of helm...they would soon ram into the Nautolian vessel...

-Romulus, Maintenance Tunnel-

The obese Nautolian, Sazi Villion, and the Reman representative, were both rushing through the rather dimly lit tunnel. They had been evacuated from the lavish officer and ordered to go here. Sazi frowned, not pleased with the conditions he had to go through to evacuate the city. He was part of the aristocracy back on Nautolia Prime, so going through a dirty tunnel was...demeaning.

"Why could you not simply transport me to the other city?" He inquired.

One the burly Nautolian guards, paranoid and constantly looking around, turned to Sazi to answer.

"General," He replied, "I'm sorry, but transporters are off-line. Whoever did this has shut off everything. They had a very high access code. We're attempting to repower the camp, but...it's not going well."

Sazi rolled his eyes and continued to walk forward. The Reman, who was not bothered by the darkness of the tunnel, walked a few paces behind Sazi. The Nautolian General demanded that the Reman "remember his place" and not walk beside him.

"General," The Reman said, "Enough is enough. It's obvious that a rebellion has formed...a very professional one."

The Reman had been threatened to not bring up the rebellion by Sazi, but he had to. He felt so frustrated that the stupid Nautolian could not see that the battle in orbit was connected to the "sudden" rebellion on the planet. It was painfully obvious or so he thought. Sazi continued to believe that it was nothing more then a coincedence that they were going on simultaneously and that they would put down the rebellion in a swift stroke. So far, it has not worked out that way. Sazi ignored the Reman and once more, addressed one of the guards.

"Where is Ka'Mesh?" He asked, refering to his Koinian Aide.

While Sazi hated Koinians, he needed Ka'Mesh to perform all the grunt work for him. He wanted to send him back to the officer, where possible danger lay, and retrieve a bottle of the Nautolian alchohal he so enjoyed. The guard shook his head, not knowing the answer.

"Unknown," He replied, "We believe he may have been killed."

Sazi simply shrugged, not really caring or not. Once he was safe, he would order the extermination of all the Romulans in this camp immediately. It was better to be safe then sorry, he always thought.

-USS Scott, Bridge-

The officers simply nodded to T'Sa, who had demanded that the platforms be deployed and that nothing else mattered. She was right. For hours, they worked to deploy the platforms in a defensive net that required simultaneous activation. Finally, the fruits of their labor were about to be revealed as the final orbital weapons platform spilled out into orbit of Earth.

"Final platform deployed," An officer reported, "We have to wait for the engineers to send the activation codes."

-USS Scott, Docking Bay-

Lieutenant Conrad, who had given up searching for T'Sa, attempted to assist in the docking bay. They had worked, non-stop, in deploying the platforms into Earth's orbit. After all that time, they were finally finished. Conrad couldn't believe it, but it was really done. Now, all of the creators could watch their invention repel one of the largest offensives against Earth.

"Here we go." Conrad whispered.

He entered a code into a nearby console that would activate the defensive net and give lifre to the "combatants". Conrad, wiped sweat from his brow before pressing the final button of the activation sequance. He looked up at the open door of the cargo bay, which was obviously covered by a force field, and stared at the nearest weapon's platform. It lit up and spun around in space to face the nearest enemy. Conrad tapped his combadge and smiled.

"Conrad to the bridge," He said, "Weapon's platforms are in place and activated. Now...please get this transport the hell out of here!"

The last part was meant to be more of a joke, but in essence he meant it. The Scott had taken an absolute beating despite the other ships defending it. Now, a battle was no place for a transport to be...

-USS Scott, Bridge-

The officers heard Conrad over the comm. line and looked at the viewscreen. The weapons platforms were targeting the myriad of Koinian and Hydran starships. Torpedoes and phasers flew across space and rammed into the enemy ships. There were about two hundred platforms all together. So it was an impressive sight to see that many torpedoes flying across space.

"Shall we go, ma'am?" An officer asked.

They waited for T'Sa to respond, hoping that they could leave the chaos. While they knew T'Sa probably wanted to stick around to see if her upgrades fixed the problems, they hoped she would see the logic in fleeing while they still had warp and impulse drive.

"Ma'am?" The same officer repeated.

-USS Detroit, Bridge-

The viewscreen of the Detroit depicted the orbital weapons platforms firing into the enemy ships. For once, something good was happening to them. Gavro smirked from his position on the bridge and looked down towards the captain.

"I don't think I have to tell you that the orbital weapons platforms are activated do I?" He said.

One of the officers looked back at the captain while reading the information from his console.

"Captain," He said, "The Koinian and Hydran vessels are pulling back."

Before anyone could cheer over the results, Gavro spoke and broke everyone's happiness.

"The Nautolian vessels are still coming forward." He said.

-Romulus, Maintenance Tunnel-

Spock noticed the Changeling turn into an animal and fly down the maintenance tunnel. Due to it's small size, it moved a bit faster the Spock. The Vulcan rushed to keep up, while simultaneously trying to keep quiet. The Changeling was not going too far as it allowed Spock to follow. He stared down the tunnel and in the dim light, he could see Sazi and the Reman representative. Capturing them meant that they could end the occupation of Romulus. However, there was a problem because of the myriad of Nautolian guards around Sazi. To make matters worse, one of them had spotted the Vulcan. Spock was unable to hide due to being in a narrow tunnel. He ducked as the Nautolians fired on him, while ordering Sazi to flee. Spock looked up at the "bat" and realized the Nautolians didn't think it was a Founder, but simply an indegenious life form of Romulus that found it's way into the building.

"Go after Sazi!" Spock ordered, "I'll handle them. They won't fire on you."

He ducked and fired at one of the Nautolians, immediately killing him. They didn't notice Spock talking to the "bat" and remained oblivious to it.

-Enterprise-E, Bridge-

It seemed the order for the Scott to finish was not needed. However, the "victory" was short lived as a wave of large Nautolia battle cruisers moved forward and began to attack. The orbital weapons platforms fired and fought back, but between the many fighters and the capitol ships, there simply was not enough to do damage to the point of destruction. However, Admiral Ross had intiated a unique form of fighting through the platforms, but it could only be done through the planetary control. For now, the Enterprise had to do something else.

"Here they come." An officer at tactical announced.

The Sovereign class starship was rammed with phaser fire from the Nautolians, while their fighters attempted to swarm them. It seemed that the Nautolians were bent on winning this battle. The tough skirmish with the Koinians and Hydrans were just an "opening" to the ferocity the Nautolians had to offer.

"Shields down to 88%." The officer announced.

The shields had already been around 92% due to the fighting it took earlier. Despite the damage, that was rather impressive for how long it had been fighting. The Enterprise, no longer stuck watching the Scott, flew at one of the Nautolian ships and opened fire...

-Marine HQ, Roof-

Pierce ran out of the turbolift and towards the edge of the building where he could overlook the chaos below. He carefully peeked his head over the edge and saw a large group of Nautolians attempting to rush the building while one of the large battle tanks fired into the marine HQ. Pierce blocked the screams of his fellow marines and yanked out a Photon Grenade from his belt. He aimed it over his head and attempted to drop it on the Nautolian tank when suddenly he heard the loud sound of a Nautolian fighter engine. His eyes darted upwards when he noticed one of them heading towards the roof to fire once more.

"Oh no..." He whispered.

Pierce raised his phaser rifle while clutching the grenade in his hand and fired at the fighter. His shot missed and warned the fighter that he was there. Pierce turned to look for cover, but there was none. He ran across the roof just as the figher swung low and opened fire. Pierce screamed and jumped off a part of the roof onto another part, narrowly avoiding death. He was standing at the very edge and holding on for dear life. The fighter rushed off, pleased with his attack no doubt. Pierce attempted to climb back onto the roof, but slipped. He dangeled over one of the sides and simply...held on...

-USS Aichi, Bridge-

"Protect the Field Marshall!!!" One of the marines yelled.

Marines surrounded the body of Alexander Andreas as Nautolians and Koinians attempted to run into the down Akira class starship. Lieutenant Colonel Kline fired his phaser rifle at a Koinian. It fell to the ground in pain, leaving him to search for another target. A part of the bridge was missing and left the Koinians and Nautolians to climb up from the giant hole in the bridge and attempt to kill the marines. Kline wondered why they were trying so hard to kill them. He figured it was because they were trying to capture Andreas, but he couldn't be sure and he had a feeling that asking them would do very little.

"Fire in the hole!" He screamed.

He tossed an overloading phaser into the hole where they were climbing out of and ducked. A large explosion could be heard, just as the screams of the Imperial troops could be. There was a moment of silence as the smoke flew from the hole and the smell of charred remains filled the bridge. Kline stood up, barely phased by what just had occured.

"Let's move out!" He yelled.

Kline motioned for some of the marines to grab Andreas and carry him. Sadly, they could not transport as a transport inhibitor was in place around Earth. They had to walk all the way back...

-Earth, Hidden Location-

Goddard was still sitting alone, while the other admirals were focusing on the battle that was raging. They were pleased to see the weapons platform activated, but the Nautolians second wave quickly silenced any happiness within the room. Janeway, former commanding officer of the USS Voyager, folded her arms and spoke in a familiar nasal tone.

"I've faced the Borg, the Hirogen, the Malon, and so many others," She said, "Without any back up, however, I don't think I've felt more worried then I have at this moment."

Admiral Owen Paris, father to Janeway's former chief helmsman, was standing beside her. He had arrived late due to being all the way in New York. His shuttle raced to the hidden location and he attempted to assist in this debacle. Another admiral had joined them within the past half an hour, admiral Nechayev. Now, Nechayev, Smith, Russ, Janeway, and Paris were debating on the situation at hand.

"I think we know how you feel, Admiral." Owen replied in a soft tone.

Smith sneered at Janeway who he hated incredibly. He also hated how she took every chance to remind everyone in Starfleet she fought against many powerful foes and had no back up and overcame all of them.

"We're well aware of your exploits," Smith said, "But they matter very little in the Alpha quadrant."

Janeway was about to respond, but Nechayev cut in, stopping the growing fight.

"Enough," She said, "We have to focus on the battle at hand."

She stretched a hand and pointed to information on part of the large console they were all hovering over.

"Who ordered no transporting?" She inquired, "It's making it difficult for our troops to move around."

Smith shrugged, "I did and it's making it difficult for their troops as well."

Nechayev sighed and shook her head in obvious disagreement.

"That doesn't matter," She snapped, "We'll never win this battle this way. We're fighting all over Earth, not just in one nation. We have to be able to move quickly. I'm fine with transport inhibitors in key buildings, but you've placed them miles apart in many areas. It's too much and on top of that, we're losing the battle in space."

Russ interjected before anyone else could. An extremely unfamiliar smile was spread on his face.

"Not exactly," He said, "That is something we can change."

Smith snorted, "What, how? We're not in space, Admiral."

Russ ignored Smith, fighting the urge to smack the man. He leaned over the console and activated a connection with the orbital weapon's platforms.

"We're connected to the grid net," He explained, "A nice parting gift from Admiral Ross. We can order specific targets and can even reposition the weapon's platforms from here."

He tapped on the console and watched in glee as they moved to "swarm mode" and focused on a single target...

-IKS Fek'lhr, Bridge-

Kopok flinched as the General screamed for a report. He was just as anxious to enter the fray as K'Vagh was. He checked the status of their repairs and was pleased to see the hull breach problem was fixed, as was their hull damage.

"(Hull strength has returned for the most part,)" He explained, "(However, our shields won't be going over 50% without a space dock, General. Also, there is damage to the cloak. Once I deactivate it, I don't think I can reactivate it without repairs being done.)"

He looked down at his console in dissapointment. Sensors detected something while they were cloaked. Kopok smiled when he saw the information and turned to K'Vagh as he read off the console.

"(The Federation transport has done it!)" He barked, "(The weapon's platforms are in place and attacking.)"

He switched the viewscreen to show a group of the orbital platforms swing around and move to fire on a single vessel, essentially "swarming" it.

"(Impressive.)" He muttered.

They were as repaired as they would be. Now, it was time to re-enter the battle...

-DSG, Sickbay-

Lieutenant Jones walked into sickbay to see Sophia, Callie, Demetrius, and the EMH. He ignored the hologram and smiled as the other three. Jones did not recognize Callie, but figured she was part of the medical staff. After all, there were so many crewmen aboard DSG it was nearly impossible to keep up.

"Mrs. Xavier," He said, "I heard you were found and came here. We've all been looking for you for some time. I'm glad to you and your child are safe."

He knew about his counterpart from the other side. A fierce, barbaric war machine that had been killed by Blake Robitaille. He could only hope that he did not frighten Sophia, who he also knew as from the other universe.

-USS Guardian, Bridge-

Ian listened as the commanding officer of the Falkirk questioned the presence of the Romulan vessels behind the Guardian. The fact that N'Tran was coming into the battle, placing himself in danger for an alien world answered that question.

"Friend. He answered immediately.

Before the Swanson responded, the Thunder class starship finally reached Earth. Ian quickly spoke, wanting to focus on this.

"We've reached Earth," Ian told Swanson, "See you here soon. Guardian out."

Ian took a careful step forward and look out into what was a very familiar sight. There was a space dock, the same class as Deep Space Guardian. It was not as heavily upgraded or armed, but it still looked the same. At that exact moment, Ian wished that he was back home, at DSG. He'd give anything for that space station to turn into DSG and Earth to turn into Elerra Prime. Ian realized the irony in the fact that his "home world" was no foreign to him, while Elerra Prime, a "foreign world" was now home to him. He squinted his eyes but could not see anything. From the ship's vantage point, there was only the space station and Earth. He saw no battle, no invasion. Ian hoped that this was all just some giant mistake and he worried for nothing. He hoped that he would be seeing DSG again.

"Bring us in closer, Ensign." He ordered Kathryn.

The small vessel moved past the massive space station that obscured the view...

-USS Guardian, Main Engineering-

Bengali gave a weak smile to Kiris, unable to focus on the nice gesture on the part of his friend. He could only focus on the timer as it counted down on the console. It had finally reached 0 and revealed that they had arrived.

"Lieutenant," Bengali said to Kiris, "We've reached Earth, sir."

The assistant chief of engineering had never felt more scared...

-USS Guardian, Bridge-

The Thunder class starship rused over the "mushroom" top of the space dock and flew past it until the only thing that could be seen was Earth. Ian had to sit back down when he finally saw it all. The battle had been obscured by the view because of the space dock, but now it was in plain view. He watched ships, many Imperial ships take on Earth's defensives. It was worth then he thought. While he was pleasently surprised to see the orbital weapon's platforms, he couldn't help but shudder at the sight of the Nautolian forces. There were so many of them. Fighters and shuttles from all sides were swarming Earth like locusts and the capitol ships fought hard to destroy each other, while the platforms fired torpedoes that lit up the dark space. Ian gently pressed a button on his chair, activating the ship wide comm. line.

"This is Commander Xavier," Ian said, feeling strange at the sound of his "new" rank, "All hands....prepare for battle."

Ian looked back at Ziona, "Send a message to the Romulans. Tell them we wish them luck."

He then nodded to Kathyrn to take them in, while watching as they neared the chaos. His eyes searched the battle and he could only wonder if Fito was on one of those ships.

"Are you out there?" Ian whispered, while studying the image on the viewscreen.

[Spellbinder Marik]

-Elerra Prime, The Beach-

Kalok and her landing party materialized a few clicks from the G�Tarkin. The BoP while small in space was massive sitting on a beach. Kalok�s weapons officer handed her a pair of binoculars. She looked through them. She saw several Romulans around the G�Tarkin. She saw one speak into a communicator. A few seconds later the G�Tarkin�s transporter activated. It beamed several containers near a structure nearby. They appeared to be building something.

Kalok threw the binoculars back to her weapons officer.
�(How many?)� The officer checked his tricorder.
�(According to this there are 30 Romulans but readings are inconclusive. There�s some kind of interference.)� Kalok wasn�t afraid of being outnumbered. During the Dominion War her ship had been boarded. Her bridge crew was already dead and she had to take a force of 15 Jem�Hadar alone. She�d sustained heavy injuries and before rescue teams arrived she�d heard the calls of her comrades from Sto-Vo-Kor.

Kalok un-shouldered her disruptor rifle and began walking toward the group. Her officers stayed behind incase anything happened. Kalok had nearly reached the G�Tarkin when a Romulan noticed her.
�Sound the alert!� All of a sudden there was a ruckus. All of the Romulans dropped what they were doing and picked up their weapons. A moment later Kalok found herself surrounded by 25 armed Romulans.

Several seconds later Kalok�s officers rushed to the top of a hill. They had an advantage being up higher.
�Drop your weapons Romulans!� Sub-Commander Satil turned to the Klingons on the hill.
�We have your Captain surrounded Klingon, we�re giving the commands here!� Kalok spoke.
�We are not here to cause trouble. I only wish to speak with your Admiral, Ditex.� Satil looked to the officer beside him.
�What do you want with him?� Kalok didn�t lower her disruptor. She didn�t know what would happen here but if she was going to die she wasn�t going to die unarmed.

�I only want to speak with him. Nothing else.� Satil didn�t trust Klingons like Admiral Ditex did. He even doubted N�Tran trusted them. Kor�Tagh was a special case.
�Is this in regard to a Klingon known as Kor�Tagh?� Kalok felt her heart flinch at the mention of her father�s name.
�Kor�Tagh was my father. Ditex was the last one to speak with him. I want to ask him about my father.� Satil knew as much as N�Tran did.
�Admiral Ditex is not here. I was on the mission where your father died. Do you wish to see the security recording?� Kalok nodded and after leaving her security officers outside went into the ship with Satil and several others.

-IRW Sparverius, Bridge-

T�Rell wiped the blood from his face and rushed from the command chair over to the helm. He wouldn�t have normally thrown a dead body like he did but if he hadn�t they�d all be dead. T�Rell appropriated helm control. T�Rell managed to pull them out of the ramming course just in the nick of time. He felt the force of something scraping along the underside of the ship. He guessed shields were gone if he was hearing the scraping sounds of metal on metal.

T�Rell began to feel anger. Sela had betrayed them�again. She would pay for this if he ever had anything to say about it. If she�d come maybe they wouldn�t be being torn apart like this.
�Tactical, what do we have left for weapons?!�

-U.s.s. Gaurdian, Main Engineering-

Kiris nodded briefly as Bengali announced that they�d entered the Sol System. Kiris rushed over to the power panel and routed the power that they�d been using for propulsion to weapons. They were going to need it. Kiris looked back to Cory and Bengali. He could see the fear in Bengali and couldn�t really form an emotion from Cory. Kiris looked over to the Engineering dispatch team. He was feeling a little pressured. So many people were looking to him for orders and direction.
�Disperse throughout the ship. I want teams on every deck.� The dispatch team grabbed their kits and followed his order.

-IRW Salara, Bridge-

N�Tran had a split screen channel open with his other two Warbirds.
�We�re going to follow the Guardian�s lead.� The two commanders nodded.
�Understood sir.� The channels closed.
�One minute to Earth.� N�Tran looked back to his tactical officer.
�Raise shields, energize disruptor banks and load all plasma torpedo launchers.�

-U.s.s. Falkirk, Bridge-

The Falkirk dropped out of warp and flew into the Sol System at high impulse. When they were in range of Earth they slowed down.
�Helm, get us into a formation. Tactical, give the go ahead for our fighters.�
Swanson could see the battle was already underway. The Falkirik would soon be in formation and part of the battle.

-U.s.s. Falkirk, Hangar-

Sally was watching the pilots enter their fighters. She noticed they were all suited up. Rico rushed out of his fighter and stopped next to her. He handed her a small box.
�Just incase I don�t come back.� She took the small box.
�You�ll come back Rico, you�re too cheerful to die.� He took her hand. She couldn�t feel his hands because he was already wearing his flight gloves. He smiled and rushed back to his fighter.

Sally entered the small room to the other side.
�Decompress the hangar.� She heard over the com. She reached down and activated the decompression sequence. The air was let out and then the doors opened. Seconds later 12 Peregrine class fighters sped out. Sally looked into the small box.

It was a beautiful Amber Pendant. It was the stone of her birth. She smiled. Rico probably intended to give it to her when they had dinner but he wasn�t sure if he was coming back and gave it to her anyway.

[Lord Borg]

-U.S.S. Scott, Bridge-

T'Sa looked over to the officer that had spoken to hear, it was clear what the crew wanted to do, indeed, T'Sa understood. The Scott was a transport, a non combatant, it would simply be an easy target for the Nautolian forces. T'Sa gripped the consol she was standing at when the Scott shook from weapons fire impacting on the vessels weakening shields. T'Sa hesitated for a moment, in a way they would have to see if the upgrades would truly work. There was one way...

"Get us out of here" T'Sa ordered, "Set course for Utopia Planitia, prepare to enter warp."

T'Sa knew the risk of an intersystem warp jump, but there were no other alternatives at this moment, not with an invasion force trying to conqure Earth. T'Sa's mind wondered for a moment, people she cared for entered her mind. Ian, Ziona...Nicodemus, her Father. She hoped they were all ok. Her father! He was Stationed on Earth. She wondered what would be happining with him at this time.

-U.S.S. Enterprise NCC-1701-E-

Captain Picard, the commanding officer of the historic Enterprise-E still sat in his chair, the seatbelts that were installed back in 2379 had come in handy on countless occasions. He checked a display on his armrest, he looked up to the viewscreen and looked at the sight of the battle raging near the Earth. He sighed, and hoped that help would come, it could be anymore, more Starfleet vessels, Klingons, Romulans....anyone.

"Charge the phasers and Torpedoes to full yield" Picard ordered.

He shifted his weight, it was now tht he missed everyone, while the newer officers were wonderful, it was times like this that Will, Beverly, Deanna, and Worf felt right being on the bridge.

"Prepare to fire a full spread."

-USS Guardian, Armory-

Alicia checked a PADD display, the phaser rifles had been adjusted accordingly, just in time as word had spread though the ship that they had arrived to Earth. She sighed nerviously and figited, a drink sounded good at the moment. Stone quickly shook her head and cleared her mind of that, now was not the time for that.

-USS Guardian. CMO's Office-

Burns was seated in the chair at the desk, she had fallen asleep sometime ago, she had simply placed her head on her arms on top the desk and closed her eyes. That was a few hours ago, the events with the Nile had worn her out. Suddenly, the ship shuddered as it came out of warp, Sue opened her eyes.

"Wha...whats goin' on" Sue asked no one, half awake at the time.

-Deep Space Guardian, Sickbay-

The EMH looked over to Jones and sighed, no there was more people in this room. No one else seemed to be hurt. He ooked around, and spoke.

"Natuarally, more visitors, do you need anything lieutenant?"

[La Forge]

Romulus, Maintainance Tunnel

As Spock dealt with the Nautolian general's personal guards, the Founder, in the form of a Bajoran bat, headed straight for General Villion, himself. The Changeling swooped over the heads of the dumb Nautolian brutes and darted past the oblivious Reman representative, as he made his way to Villion. The 'bat' eventually made it to the obese Nautolian, who simply shooed the pesky pest away, with the back of his hand. The Founder flew up and over the idiotic Nautolian man and came to a stop, hovering a few feet above the ground. Had General Villion attempted to learn the native animal life of Romulus, the man would've known that the Bajoran bat wasn't native to Romulus and had no place there. However, as most Nautolians were, the man was simply a fat, idiotic, over-zealous brute and had easily been deceived. How like the solids.

A few mere seconds after flying past Villion, the Changeling began to morph into his Odo-like form, right behind the Nautolian general's back. Villion was no doubt shocked by the sudden appearance of a Changeling on Romulus. The Founder wasted no time in jumping into action as it grabbed the Nautolian man from behind, extending the length of his arms, in order to wrap them around Villion's jutting gut. No matter how hard the obese Nautolian struggled, there was no way he could break free, not against the sheer might of the Founder. General Sazi Villion was caught.

"Hello, General." the Founder breathed into Villion's ear, as the Changeling looked to Spock, who was taking on the Nautolian guards, down the tunnel aways. Hopefully, the aging Vulcan wouldn't get himself killed, however, in the end, it made no difference to the Founder.

U.S.S. Guardian, Corridor

Juliana had been walking down one of the narrow deserted corridors of the Thunder-class vessel, on her way to the bridge, when the Guardian entered the battle at Earth. She stopped dead in her tracks and looked up at the ceiling, as Commander Xavier's voice came through the speakers...

"This is Commander Xavier. All hands....prepare for battle." ordered the commanding officer of Deep Space Guardian and her accompanying vessel, the Guardian, Commander Ian Xavier.

The message was brief, but to the point. It was apparent that the Guardian had arrived at Earth. The battle was about to begin, as the commander had stated. There was no time for Juliana to be wandering the halls, especially in the midst of battle, and, there was no place for her on the bridge, at the moment. Her place was in Sickbay, for the time being. There, she would be able to make a difference by caring for the wounded who were fighting for the very survival of the Federation. And, to top it all off, the young Frenchwoman had the oddest feeling of dread that there would be plenty of casualties coming her way, soon enough...

The young doctor let out a brief sigh, as she realized the inevitable reality of it all, before she spun about on her heel, and headed on back down the hallway, off towards Sickbay...

IKS Fek'lhr, Bridge

"(Impressive.)" Kopok had muttered, at the sight of the now activated orbital defense platforms in action. K'Vagh simply nodded in his first officer's direction, agreeing with his sentiment.

"(I'll give the Federation this; their scientists know how to get the job done.)" the aging Klingon general stated, with a smirk, all the while watching the Hydran and Koinian vessels fleeing in fear of the defense platforms, while all of the stragglers were destroyed in a brilliant array of flames. "(However, those machines can't do it all by themselves. I won't allow some cold, heartless machine steal all of our glory. Bring us out of cloak! It is time to put these Nautolian scum in their place!)" K'Vagh roared, in glee, prepared to enter the fray of battle, once more. A truly grand battle, worthy of song...The Battle for Earth had truly begun.

U.S.S. Detroit, Bridge

Captain Cipriani watched in awe as Hydran and Koinian vessels exploded all around the Detroit, in raging balls of fires, in all the different hues of red, yellow, and orange. The defense platforms eliminated the retreating Hydran and Koinian vessels with ease. Now, the defense platforms had moved on to the major targets. With the help of the defense platforms and the newly arrived Guardian, commanded by an old acquaintance of Lucia's, the battle still could be won. There was still hope...

"We can't allow these Nautolian bastards to take our home. The line must be drawn here and no further. Target the closest Nautolian vessel!" Lucia ordered, speaking the same words a famous captain and a treacherous bartender alike had both spoken, as a new fire relighted inside of her, bringing her new vigor. Seconds later, the Galaxy-class vessel sped off towards the Nautolians, opening fire, alongside with the Enterprise-E. The battle raged on...

[Founder]

-IRW Sparverius, Bridge-

Centurion Solal checked his console, trying to decipher what was on it. Some blood from a dead officer sprayed all over it and after his attempt at wiping it away, it left a blurry smear mark.

"Weapons are still active but shields are gone," He reported while squinting his eyes to read the information, "Our hull integrity is failing, Fleet Admiral."

Tokal grunted and pulled himself up from the debris covered floor. He looked around to see mostly everyone alive save for an officer or two. T'Rell was standing at tactical, moving the ship away from the Nautolian vessel.

"Excellant piloting skills, sir." Tokal commented.

Normally he would not be such a suck up, but he was certainly grateful to be alive. He frowned at the report from Solal. When it rained, it poured.

"Lieutenant Sala," Tokal said, "I want you to go to engineering and assist in repairs."

Tokal heard no reply and looked towards the science console. Sala was not there, but on the floor, covered in debris. He moved towards her and pushed off some of the debris. Judging by the huge gash in her head...she was dead. First Sublieutenant J'Tal, now Sala. He was losing his old compatriots fast. Tokal resisted the anger within him, even though unlike Vulcans, Romulans embrace their emotions. He stood up and moved away from the corpse.

"Fleet Admiral," He said stiffly, "I suggest we finish this battle quickly. I believe the state has lost far too many of it's patriots for one day."

The tone of his voice reflect the somberness that he felt at that moment.

-DSG, Sickbay-

Jones shook his head absent mindedly at the EMH.

"No," He said, "I came here to visit Mrs. Xavier and the baby."

That was partially the truth. In actuallity, he wanted to get out of Ops to breath for a moment. The mood across the station was that of sheer worry. Everyone knew what was going on at Earth, but were unable to help. It was times like these that he wished he didn't choose to remain behind...

-USS Guardian, Main Engineering-

Bengali nodded to Kiris as the man ordered the engineers to spread out across the decks. He rushed to grab an engineering kit.

"I'll head to deck two." He said simply.

He wanted to be as close to sickbay as absolutely possible...

-USS Guardian, Sickbay-

Nurse Bolara noticed Dr. Burns, one of the many medical officers of DSG, suddenly stir and question her whereabouts. The Bolian looked at her with pity, knowing what she had gone through and what she's about to.

"Ma'am," She said, "I don't know if you know...but Earth is under attack. We've reached Earth I'm assuming. I suggest you prepare for injured...and casulties."

Bolara felt so stupid. First she upsets a persona hero, lieutenant roberts, then she forgets that one of few medical officers on the ship was asleep. As soon as they got the announcement about Earth, she should have awaken Burns.

-Enterprise-E, Bridge-

The vessel continued to repel the Nautolians, but it had been extremely difficult. The Nautolians were too great in numbers. One of the officers looked back at Picard, reading off of his console.

"Captain Picard," He said, "Another Federation vessel has entered the system. It's the USS Guardian."

-USS Detroit, Bridge-

The Galaxy class starship attempted to fight off the large force of incoming ships, but it was not enough. Thankfully, the orbital weapon's platform leveled the playing field a little bit.

"Captain," One officer announced, "The USS Guardian has dropped out of warp."

The Tellarite tactical officer shook his head.

"Just one other ship?" He asked bitterly.

-IKS Fek'lhr, Bridge-

Kopok grunted and decloaked the bird of prey. As soon as weapons were ready, he opened fire on an unsuspecting vessel. It exploded just as the BoP flew through the debris. He noticed that another Federation ship had warped into the system, but it was still not enough. He couldn't believe the Federation was missing a fight this intense...

-Romulus, Maintenance Tunnel-

Sazi nearly began to weep in fear of the Changeling. He couldn't believe that a Founder was there and fighting for the Romulans. It all seemed so...random. Of course, he had no idea about Odo, the other Changelings, and the vessel they stowed away on. He had no idea that the Koinian he spoke to about troop movements was...a Changeling.

"Don't kill me!" He begged in a whiny voice.

Before the Changeling could say anything however, a Nautolian cut through the Founder's "neck" with his energy sword. Normally a sword would have no affect on a Founder but due to the fact that that the sword was energy based, it did in fact affect him. His "head" fell to the ground in a strange puddle and his grip loosened. Sazi took advantage of that and began to run away, followed closely by the Reman representative. The Nautolian looked down at the puddle as it began to swirl on the dirty floor.

-Romulus, Sazi Villion's Office-

The dark office of the head of Nautolian forces on Romulus was occupied by two unsuspecting individiuals. One was a half Romulan, Human hybrid. The other was a full Romulan, paranoia and all. A dead body was laying on the floor with a disruptor hole through her stomach. Through a small viewscreen, the hybrid, Sela, and the Romulan, Torzin, watched the battle between Spock and his Dominion ally against the Nautolian forces. Sela watched with mild amusement and did nothing to assist her "allies".

"He is resiliant...for a Vulcan." She muuttered.

Torzin eyed the dead body of the Human Starfleet officer, Gloria Swank. The poor woman had been killed when she overheard Sela's plans for Spock. A painful disruptor blast later, she lay on the floor, unmoving.

"Should we not assist?" He asked.

Sela shook her head, not taking her eyes from the screen for a moment. She had absolutely no intention of helping Spock, nor did she ever. Sela simply allied with him because she knew that she could use his followers as canon fodder. Not to mention the Tal Shiar was gunning for her myriad of failures. They would kill her if she messed up one more time. Sela had the idea of not only liberating Romulus, but killing Spock. It would take out two birds with one stone, so to speak. Once Spock lowered the defenses, she cut off communications with him and hoped that he would be killed. It seemed that he was proving resistant to the idea.

"General Villion is far more important then stamping out Spock and his movement." He urged.

Torzin knew that all of this was personal and that she simply wanted revenge for Spock defeating her years ago. However, that was certainly not proper behavior for a Starfleet officer.

"Well?" He said.

Sela finally responded, "Fine. Order the others in. No more hiding in the shadows. I'll allow Spock to live...for now. However, if he gets in our way..."

She turned her head back towards the screen and watched Spock continue to fight...

[Captain Besuz]

U.S.S. Saracen Saucer Section, Bridge

Udo took a few seconds to mourn for his fallen crewmen, and let a single tear slide down his cheek. But time was of the essence, and if he didn't want the surviving members of his crew to die as well, he had to begin taking action.

"Alright Helmsmen! I want us down on a clear landing spot ASAP! We can't afford to lose the Aichi, to!" Udo yelled.

"Aye, S-Sir!" Said the Helmsmen back, with pain and sadness in his voice.

A few moments later, the saucer was bellow cloud level, and slowing down, preparing to land. The Saracen found a clear landing spot and set down.

"Attention all Security and Military Personel! Prepare to leave the ship!" Said a voice over the Intercom.

"Helmsmen!" Yelled Udo across the bridge, as he was walking out of his ready room, dressed in Camoflage.

"Yes, Sir?" Said the young Helmsmen back.

"Your incharge, son, your highest ranking officer on the bridge. I want this thing ready to fly as soon as i return, and we may need you to come to the crash site to beam up wounded. I'll send orders to youvia combadge, understood?"

"Yes Sir!" Yelled the Helmsmen, with a hint of happiness in his voice. He liked the idea of being in charge, but he was still young, and Udo wondered if his choice to put him in charge was a good one, but he didn't have time to ponder it now.

A few moments later, all the men had gotten off the ship and were on there way through the woods to defend the Aichi. The followed a tracking device untill they were in range. They broke into squads and slowly made there way towards the reckage. As they got close, they could hear phasers being fired, and screaming. Suddenly, a loud explosion was heard and some final, loud screaming. They finally moved into sight of the destroyed ship. They saw some marines crawling out the hole in the bridge, carrying a wounded body. The men walked over to the marines and began talking.

"Whose in charge here?" Said Udo. A Marine pointed to a marine who had just finished climbing out. Udo walked over and began talking, " I'm Lieutenant Commander Besuz, Chief Tactical Officer of the, well, whats left of, the U.S.S. Saracen. We're here to rescue the survivors of this ship."

[La Forge]

Romulus, Maintainance Tunnel

The Founder fell to the floor, in a pile of ooze, as General Sazi Villion ran off down the tunnel, disappearing into the darkness. The obese Nautolian general's guards remained behind, two Nautolian brutes armed with laser swords. The Changeling remained as a puddle on the dirty floor of the old maintainance tunnel, recovering from his "wound" at the hands of one of the Nautolian guards. The two Nautolians simply watched on, in shock and awe, as the Changeling began to reform itself, back into its Odo-like form. Simple physical means of attack couldn't kill a Founder. Founders are eternal.

The Changeling, now completely healed and reformed, groaned in annoyance, at the sight of the two dumbstruck Nautolian brutes. Idiotic solids, the both of them. The Founder had learned to find some solids competent in his time among them, particularly Spock and his ilk. However, the Nautolians were a different story, entirely. The Nautolians were power-hungry, mindless brutes who longed for nothing short of complete domination of the galaxy.

One of the Nautolians had overcome its shock and attempted to strike at the Founder. The attack was futile, as the Changeling had managed to side-step the swipe of the laser sword. Instead, in an act of "friendly fire" the laser sword pierced the belly of the second Nautolian guard. The second Nautolian guard simply stood there, green blood spilling from its wound, where a Nautolian laser sword jutted from its gut. A moment later, the Nautolian brute collapsed to the ground, sword and all, crumpled into a ball in a pile of its own blood. The Changeling took the first Nautolian's momentary suprise and slammed its squid-like head into a wall, bashing its brains out and sending the bastard into the depths of hell, along with the rest of his Nautolian brethren.

After the guards had been dealt with, the Founder looked around, in search of Spock. While the Founder cared not for the Vulcan's safety, it would be in the Founder's best interest to keep Spock alive. The Vulcan ambassador had proved to be a useful ally, for the time being. And a skilled fighter, by the looks of it. The Founder spotted Spock fighting a group of Sazi's personal guard. The Changeling had no time to help the outnumbered Vulcan for the time being. Villion was his top priority.

The Changeling morphed into a fire wolf and dashed off down the tunnel, its glowing hide lighting a path through the darkness, in search of General Villion. This particular Founder preferred the form of animal beings. It gave a different perspective than that of the ordinary solids, all of whom were so hating, paranoid, treacherous, deceiptful, violent, and every other negative adjective under the sun. The form of animal beings gave the Changeling a sense of innocence and freedom...a simple existence in an all too complicated galaxy.

At length, the Founder, in the shape of a fire wolf, managed to catch up the General Villion, just outside of his office, at the end of the maintainance tunnel. The Changeling, in the form of the fire wolf, leapt up and pounced on the cowardly Nautolian, knocking him to the cold hard floor...

U.S.S. Detroit, Bridge

"No, Commander. It isn't just 'one other ship'." Captain Cipriani interjected between Gavro and the helmsman. "It's the Guardian." Lucia stated, simply, as if that was all that needed to be said on the subject.

Lucia had met Captain, or, as it is now, due to the Aikon incident, Commander Xavier at a conference on the Nautolian War about seven months ago and had found the man to be an exceptional officer. His and his crews exploits were known across the entire Federation and abroad. Xavier and his crew were some of the finest in all of Starfleet. The Guardian's presence was a good omen.

IKS Fek'lhr, Bridge

K'Vagh watched as an unsuspecting Nautolian vessel exploded on the viewscreen, in a brilliant array of fiery colors. It was a truly wonderful sight. Those Nautolian bastards were on their way to Gre'thor, where the dishonorable scum of the galaxy belonged.

As the battle raged out in space, a wide grin adorned the aging Klingon general's face, revealing his saliva-covered, sharp, rotting fangs, in the process. The thrill of the battle...It was so exciting! It had reinvigorated K'Vagh, who had grown weak, because of his tame border patrol assignment. However, this day, there would be more than enough glory to go around for the crew of the mighty IKS Fek'lhr and the all-powerful Klingon Empire!

"(Excellent, Kopok! Keep it up!)" K'Vagh roared, in glee, as the Fek'lhr battled on, ferociously, in the name of the Klingon Empire! However, the lone Bird-of-Prey couldn't stand up against the Nautolians forever. Federation reinforcements were direly needed for the battle to be one, even with the newly activated orbital defense platforms.

U.S.S. Guardian, Sickbay

Juliana re-entered Sickbay and took her place beside her pre-prepared medical station. The PADD which contained information on the Teplan blight that she had been reading earlier remained on the bio-bed where she had been sitting. She quickly snatched up the PADD and tossed it onto a nearby table, clearing off the bio-bed for any wounded who would come through Sickbay.

As the young Frenchwoman prepared her station for any incoming wounded, she noticed Doctor Burns had reappeared. Juliana had wondered where the doctor had gone. She had barely seen her since the two arrived on the Guardian. However, Juliana had spent much of her time with her eyes on a PADD and not the people around her. For all she knew, Doctor Burns could've been around the entire time. At the moment, she was talking with the Bolian nurse, Nurse Bolara. However, Juliana had no time to dawdle over such things. It was no concern of hers. There was a battle going on, after all!

[Spellbinder Marik]

-IKS G�Tarkin, Bridge-

Sub-Commander Satil and Klingon Captain Kalok were viewing a transmission on the view screen. Admiral Survok and Kor�Tagh were fighting the Yautja that were chasing them. Survok fell after several Yautja stabbed him with spears. Kor�Tagh continued fighting for a short time. He eventually fell from being overrun. Only Trip remained and seconds later he was beamed away with the bodies of Survok and Kor�Tagh. The recording stopped just after the G�Tarkin got back into space.

�So you see. You father died in battle. The way any Klingon would want to.� Kalok knew that. Her father, for all the wrong he did was still a good man and a good warrior.
�Thank you for helping him.� Satil was confused.
�Helping him how?� Kalok pointed to the screen.
�He died in battle. The way he wanted too. It would have been worse for him to die of old age on that moon where they abandoned him.� Satil nodded.
�Admiral Ditex preformed the Ak�Voh when they brought his body back to the moon where he�d lived.� Kalok was a little surprised.

A Romulan, one of the most hated races in the Klingon Empire had preformed a Klingon ritual.
�When do you expect your Admiral to be back?� Satil shook his head.
�I don�t know. He went to Earth to help thwart a Nautolian assault. Assuming her survives he�ll be back after that. The house we�re building outside was for his wife and son.� Kalok looked at the view screen again. There were different sections highlighted. One of the sections with Trip in it stood out to Kalok.

She activated it and paused it showing Trip in combat with his own kind.
�What manner of creature is that?� Satil didn�t know if he should be talking about such things. He reconsidered after he knew there was no chance of the Klingons ever seeing another Yautja.
�His race is called the Yautja. They�re a hunter race from the Delta Quadrant. This one calls himself Trip.� Kalok reactivated the recording and watched Trip intently. Or more accurately watched the way he fought. He looked as strong as a Klingon, possibly stronger.

On the recording Trip picked up and threw other hunters like they were weightless.
�I want to meet this creature.� Kalok was intrigued. She wasn�t often impressed by displays of strength, other than her own of course. But this creature, this Yautja she had to meet.

-IRW Sparverius, Bridge-

T�Rell moved over to the sensor console. He scanned the vessel they were attacking. The sensor console beeped.
�I�ll be damned� I can�t believe we didn�t see this before.� T�Rell transferred the same data he was reading to the main viewer so Tokal could see it too.
�When the Nautolian ship fires it�s disruptor cannons it�s shields around the weapons ports are down for about 5 seconds. If we could get close enough we could transport a few torpedoes into their weapons compartments.� T�Rell checked their torpedo compliment. [7 Photon Torps. Remaining]
Seven was supposed to be a lucky number. He hoped that it was.

T�Rell opened a com channel to the 2 Warirds still guarding them.
�I need a diversion. Keep them firing at you for the next 30 seconds.� The acknowledgment came through. T�Rell hit the cloaking device. The ship shimmered out of view. It was a good thing he�d said 30 seconds. The indicator for the cloak showed it would burn out in 35. T�Rell piloted the Sparverius closer until the were directly beneath the disruptor cannons of the Nautolian ships. He input a sequence so that he could get as much out of this desperate tactic as he could.

The Sparverius decloaked and simultaneously transported its remaining photon torpedoes into the Nautolian ship. It was a random transport so the damage would be spread out. Once the transport sequence was complete he began piloting the Sparverius away. He�d set the torpedoes for a 10 second detonation. The indicator blinked as it counted down.
[6�5�4�3�] T�Rell hoped this would work. If it didn�t he probably wouldn�t regret to live trying it.

[Lord Borg]

-Deep Space Guardian, Sickbay-

The EMH frowned at that, he then gave a shrug and checked...Mrs. Xavier? Wait a moment, who was that?

"Pardon me, but...is there any relation to Captain Xavier?"

The confuised EMH had not been to caught on all of the recent events, while he knew of such things like Ian's transformation, he didnt know about the rank problem, or Sofies...background.

-USS Guardian, CMO's Office-

Burn's face went white, her jaw dropped open, what did Nurse Bolara say? She stood up suddenly and ran into sickbay and looked around. She groaned slightly, this sickbay was small due to the size of the ship. If people got hurt, that is a lot of people... there was going to be trouble, major trouble.

Burns looked back to the nurse, she had no idea on how they could do this, limited space, limted staff, limited materials.

"Get everyone together, Bolara, we are in trouble."

-U.S.S. Enterprise-E, Bridge-

Picard looked to the officer in question, there was only one vessel coming in to help? This was Earth, how can there only be one Vessel? This was all due to how far every vessel was sent out, when completed, ships rarely came back to Earth.

"Hail them, I need to Speak with the Commanding Officer."

The officer nodded and turned entered a few commands and looked back to Picard, he gave another nod to let Picard know that the channel was open. Picard cleared his throat and spoke over the noise, to make sure it got though.

"This is Captain Picard of the USS Enterprise, I need to speak with the Commanding Officer of the Guardian"

-Earth Space Dock, Main Operations Center-

The Operations Center of the Earth Space Dock was filled with activity, officers were moving back and forth, one man stood in the center of the Ops area and stared at the battle raging out of their weapons range. In a way, this is when it sucked that Space Stations were immobile, he couldn't help. A station like this would be very helpful, especialy if enemy ships were caught in a crossfire.

"How much longer" Vice-Admiral Daniel Coyle asked

There was a sound of a consol beng accessed behind Coyle, he looked over to the officer at the Station who took that moment to look up to him.

"Ten minutes before we enter weapons range, Admiral"

Admiral Coyle sighed, ten more minutes before they could help? This bothered the man, a station of this size, and power, and they couldn't get to the battle faster. There just had to be something they could do.

[ILoveHarry]

-DSG, Sickbay-

Jones entered the room and addressed Sofie. By now, she had come to expect and except seeing the counterparts from her former universe. The expectation, however, never seemed to soften the initial impact of seeing someone she once feared. What Sofie found to be most interesting was that the more dreadful the person was in her universe; the more kind they seemed to be in this one. So when the man she knew to be an ogre of a man, entered sickbay and spoke to her, Sofie took a deep breath and reminded herself that this Jones was most probably a kind man.

"Mrs. Xavier," Jone said, "I heard you were found and came here. We've all been looking for you for some time. I'm glad to you and your child are safe."

Sofie was quite surprised to hear this. She had assumed her absence had only been noticed at the Governor's mansion. Her shock caused her to sputter, which was covered by the EMH addressing the Lieutenant.

"Natuarally, more visitors, do you need anything lieutenant?"

Jones replied,"No. I came here to visit Mrs. Xavier and the baby."

This news shoked Sofie straight into suspition. She held Demetrius tight as her body tensed. "Is that so?"

[Republican_Man]

--Dark Shadow, Bridge--
�Report,� Grand Admiral Surak stated, strolling down the bridge of his large command ship.

Roj, the ship�s intelligence officer, looked up. �There are five Federation starships present at this time, and a number of orbital weapons platforms present. The Klingon Bird of Prey and three Romulan warbirds are present as well.�

�Can we clear them away and make ready for Phase II?� the Admiral inquired, curiously. He was anxious to get the battle pressing forward. Things were taking too long now.

�Yes, sir,� the Nautolian lieutenant replied. He then studied the readout in front of him, speaking as he discussed it. �An analysis I just completed suggests that we should order the fleet to concentrate its firepower on the orbital weapons�� The black creature suddenly paused, glaring at the screen. �Admiral,� he said, pushing great curiosity upon the superior officer.

�What is it?� Surak asked, raising a scaly eyebrow, intrigued by the pause.

�One of the Federation ships...� he said, rereading the information before him. Looking up at Surak he said, �It�s the USS Guardian.�

�Guardian?� Surak inquired, rhetorically. �Xavier must be there.� He paused and turned to face the ship�s communications officer seated at the opposite side of the intelligence officer. �Communications, contact the Eclipse. Alert Lord Obsidian that Captain Xavier is here.�

�As you command,� the officer replied, nodding his head once. He then proceeded to carry out his orders and contact that Imperator�s massive warship.

--Eclipse, Bridge--
�Imperator,� Admiral Oasis, Commanding Officer of the Dreadnaught Eclipse, said, walking up to the man who was standing at the end of the massive bridge, hands clasped behind his back.

�What is it, Admiral?� Obsidian inquired darkly as he turned to face the inferior officer.

�We�ve received word from Earth on a certain starship with a certain captain that you might have interest in,� Oasis reported.

It took the Dark Lord a mere second to ascertain what ship and captain he was talking about. �Captain Xavier?� he asked.

The recently-promoted admiral nodded. �We believe so,� he answered. �The USS Guardian has been recognized by the fleet from a previous engagement.�

The Dark Lord�s mouth slowly formed into a smile. �Excellent,� he said. �Order Alpha Fleet to concentrate all firepower on the weapons platforms. Order the Phase II fleet to prepare for launch. We leave for Earth in five minutes.�

�As you command, My Lord,� Admiral Oasis stated, bowing his head and turning about.

�At last I will have my revenge,� the Imperator said to himself, reaching out to ensure that his old nemesis would be present upon arrival.

He reached out long and hard, finally brushing upon him and sending a cold shiver down the captain�s spine...

--USS Thunderchild, Bridge--
Battle had raged for three days in the Auros system. Auros IV had initially fallen to the Nautolian Empire, the Federation Ground Forces forced to surrender. However, a small Federation task force, led by Special Forces Commandant Kyle Katran, who had managed to successfully flee the battle before the surrender, managed to strike back and retake the planet. Roughly three hundred Federation troops � far lower than the initial level � remained. When word was released that the Empire had begun an assault on Earth, however, the Ground Forces, now commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Thy�ror Vorn, had begun preparations to launch, preparations which had now neared completion.

�Commandant,� the tactical officer of the USS Thunderchild stated. �The situation at Earth is going critical. It is necessary that we make our way for the planet immediately.�

The 55-year-old man nodded, looking back at the officer. �Have we received permission to disembark form the Colonel?� he asked.

�Not yet, Commandant,� the officer replied, but then he stopped. �Strike that,� he said. �The Colonel has just reported in. The four transport ships are ready to leave for Earth, as is the USS Aladdin. He has placed you in command of the task force until we arrive.�

Katran nodded. �Understood. Contact the fleet and tell them to set course for Earth, Warp 8. Helm, do the same. We�re to stay out ahead, understand?�

�Aye, sir,� the Andorian helmsman replied.

�Alright,� the Commandant said. �Let�s make it so.�

And with that the orders were passed through and the group jumped to warp, heading towards Earth, where the three hundred remaining Federation Ground Forces troops would engage in battle on the ground and the USS Thunderchild and USS Aladdin would take action as well, in space.

--Earth, Paris, Government Security Bunker--
Federation Councilor James Watts, representative of Earth, hid in the Government Security Bunker of the capital city of the United Federation of Planets, along with all the other councilors currently present on Earth.

The Nautolian strike came at a sudden moment, unbeknownst to the planet. Watts, like all the other government officials, save for the President, whose location was unknown, had been caught up in fear and surprise. Removed from the council chamber by Federation Security mandate, he had quickly gathered a few critical items from his office and fled, along with the others, through the violence to a secret government bunker, where they now safely resided.

�The situation is stable on our end,� the security chief assigned to the Counselors reported. �We should be safe here, despite the Imperial bombardment.�

�Have you received any report regarding the status of the battle?� the Vulcan representative inquired.

�Only minimal,� the chief answered. �Unfortunately we�re not privy to much information in our circumstances. We have to keep a low profile.�

�How does being without information �keep a low profile,� Commander?� Counselor Watts asked, curiously.

�I have no answer for that,� the human male replied. �All I know is what I�ve been told.�

�I�d like to cut through the bureaucratic red tape, Commander, and learn just a bit more about what we�re facing,� the black councilmember, always skeptical of Starfleet and the Federation government in general at this point, pressed. �In other words, I want to know what the hell is going on, and not just the obvious fact that we�re under attack by the Nautolian Empire.�

�I told you,� the security chief spat, �I have my orders and I�m not about to violate them.�

�But why?� Watts pressed on. �What is the purpose of such a decision? Why do we need to be left in the dark? We�re the councilmembers of the Federation Council, for God�s sake!� His frustration was evident not only in his tone of voice, but with his facial expressions.

�Please, sir,� another security officer, a Lieutenant, interloped. �Calm down. Everything will be alright.�

Watts shook his head up and down, controlling his breathing. Nodding he said, �Yes, yes, of course. I�m just sick and tired of being held ignorant of all Starfleet activities, I suppose. But that�s unimportant.� Looking around the room for calm, the black human noticed the guitar he had placed in the room earlier, bringing it with him from his office as one of his few possessions.

Walking over to it, he picked the instrument up, found a seat, sat down on it, and began to slowly play the old Blues song �Three O�clock Blues.� Some of the others in the area, bored at the present, treaded over to listen to the man play and sing the song, all by his lonesome, on the guitar, making the best of their miserable stay in the bunker, unaware of what was going on outside.

--Obsidian�s Hammer, Bridge--
Supreme General Koon stood on the bridge of his large military flagship, the Obsidian�s hammer, glaring out the window in front of him. The battles below and around him raged on, nothing but good news coming from the lower front.

�We have subdued New York City,� an officer reported. �San Francisco and Paris are both facing heavy damage, and Beijing is critical as well. Tokyo is taking heavy damage. Soon enough we will control a number of the planet�s major cities.�

�Very good,� the General said. �I want to continue this progress. Order the second group to set course for Earth immediately. I want those thirty thousand troops and their accompanying tanks and mechs to arrive on the planet as soon as possible. This progress must continue upwardly, not in the opposite direction.�

�As you command,� the officer replied, and went to send out the order for the second group of thirty ships to head for Earth.

--Dark Shadow, Bridge--
�Primary shields are at 92%,� the ship�s tactical officer reported. �We�ve received minimal damage thus far, and our deflector shields are at full capacity as well.�

Grand Admiral Surak nodded, turning back to face the liaison officer. �Has the fleet targeted the weapons platforms?�

�As you commanded, Admiral,� Lieutenant Joc answered. �Twenty Nautolian warships have continued to target the Federation ships, as have the Koinian crafts. The rest of the Nautolian and the Hydran forces are concentrating all their firepower on the weapons platforms, as are the Reman forces currently present.�

�We must make way for the Imperator�s arrival,� Surak stated. �I want efforts doubled. We will not allow Our Lord to face the trials and tribulations were are currently facing. Over a hundred and twenty ships to nine, with some unmanned weapons platforms along the way? The current pace is unacceptable. I want our efforts doubled.�

�As you command,� the officer replied, and carried out his orders. At this time the Eclipse and the fifty ships scheduled to accompany it entered warp and would arrive at the planet within twenty minutes to engage the Federation in battle.