“Commanding Officers log, After extended deployment along the Klingon neutral zone the Kaneda is being sent back to sol for a brief respite for the crew and a refit. As we are now deep in Federation territory I have decided to let them blow off some steam. I have made my “technically against regulations” personal stock pile of Alcohol available to Quinn. I can't stand that synthahol stuff. he is organising some form of relaxation simulation in the holodeck. I look forward to what he can cook up.”
Kelly baked in the artificial sunlight. Quinn had organised a beach resort simulation; well groomed gardens and palms lined the boundary of the courtyard. Half of the courtyard was taken up by a pool, which had a thatched roofed bar in the centre. The rest comprised of a dinning area with a buffet table and a lounge area with a dry bar. The patrons would sit on submerged stools while they drank. The crew bustled about, some swimming in the pool, some talking by the dry bar and others eating at the buffet table. Kelly herself lay on a recliner wearing some lose fitting civilian clothes she had picked up earth side as well as some polarised sunglasses. The short sleeve of her T shirt caught of the armrest as she reached for the green drink beside her. Quinn, Talitha and Lone; some of the Kaneda's senior officers, stood at the bar having a conversation, ever so slightly influenced by the presence of alcohol.
“Look ladies, the fact is that ever since man first looked up into the stars, he dreamed of making it with hot alien babes.” Quinn said leaning against the bar with a sly smirk across his face.
Lone, taking who was taking a sip of her drink, spat it back into the cup.
“By the Prophets.” said Talitha, cradling her forehead and using an exasperated tone.
Kelly looked over to Quinn. She dropped her sunglasses down her nose so Quinn could see her eyes.
“And Quinn, just how is that working out for you?” she said sardonically
Quinn turned to Kelly taking a defensive posture
“Hey, hey, last time I went to Risa-” Lone cut of Quinn
“Oh Risa doesn't count, every Tom, Dick and Harry with a Horga'hn can have Jamaharon. In fact I don't really know where the Risaians draw the line.” Lone said, almost as if trailing into though.
“Don't tell me you've had Jamaharon Lone.” Said Talitha in disbelief
“Not personally, but previous hosts have. Makes me feel kinda dirty come to think of it.” Lone said looking down at her drink solemnly
“Anyway, before you so rudely interrupted Lonna, I was saying last time I was on Risa I kept my pants on because I'm not all about the dream.” Quinn said in drunken defence
“Right Quinn, nice save there. Go back to your drink before I reprimand you for being an ass.” said Kelly in a mocking tone while she settled back into her recliner.
“You can't do that.” said Quinn
Kelly glared at Quinn with a soft smirk.
“Talitha, if Quinn says more than two words in the next five minutes I would like you to take him down to the brig.” She said as she once more resettled.
“Oh, I'd do it too” Talitha said
“I know you would Tali, your a good officer.” Kelly said as she put her hands behind her head.
***
“Commander, this is Mira.” Said her Andorian Executive Officer over the intercom
“Uh” Kelly stirred.
She rolled over her bed and lazily slapped her comm badge which was resting on the bed side table.
“Mira, this had better be important.” she said with groggy voice.
“We're getting a distress call from a freighter, about .3 LY away.”
“Right, ok. Redirect to intercept.” Kelly said with a sigh “Computer, lights.”
As the lights engaged Kelly had to shield her eyes; it took a moment for the cybernetic implants in her eye's to engage. Thosians lacked iris pigmentation, so in order to protect her retinas Kelly had cybernetic implants installed. They came standard with light amplification abilities as well but entered a low power state when she slept. She blinked a few times and sat up, clutching the blanket to her chest. She paused for a moment and looked around her room. It was a standard CO's quarters for an Akira class starship, with the bulkheads decorated with items from her past. The sword she carried though her clan training, her Alshak'ti robe, her service armour; all of them branded exile. With a heavy sigh she rose to her feet. She headed to her bathroom, dis robed and entered the sonic shower and then proceeded to complete her morning regime.
“Coffee, black, flask.” Kelly said as she walked by the replicator on her way out.
A flash of light created the the metal cylinder. Kelly scooped it up, grabbed her PADD and headed out the door.
Kelly stepped out of the turbo lift onto the bridge. She placed the PADD over her mouth as she yawned and proceeded to her chair.
“Mira, what's our ETA?” Kelly said as she poured a drink into a waiting mug
“3 minutes ma'am.” Mira, the Andorian XO on the tactical station
“Where's Lonna and Talitha?” Kelly said flicking through telemetry data on her PADD
“Dragging Quinn out of bed.” Mira said in an exasperated tone
“New rule, Quinn is not allowed to engage in competion while at an any time aside from shore leave.” Kelly said taking a sip.
“Roger that.” Mira said with a chuckle “You get a lot of that? I mean you say you've got a high tolerance and in my experience the next thing some one says is 'oh yeah?'.”
“First liberty with the marines back when I first enlisted and when ever we teamed with another squad or transferred to a new ship.” Kelly laughed nostalgic “Back on Thosia, one time I was emissary to a Klingon delegation. During the reception the ambassador wanted to see if the legend of the Thosian liver was true.”
“Really? I take it you won?” Mira said, leaning across her her console
“Nobody won.” Kelly laughed
Mira looked at the Commander perplexed
“Lets just put it this way, never give a Klingon too much blood wine just after he's had some g'ah. He was across the table, it got on my robe, in my hair.”
“Good lord.” Mira chuckled
“Needless to say, the proposed alliance failed.”
Quinn dragged himself through the door, followed by Lone and Tali.
“Never again. Never again.” Quinn said cradling his head
“Yeah, quit your whining LT and take your station.” Said Mira
Tali took up the helm from a crew man, Lone moved to the science station along the bulkhead and Quinn took up the engineering station next to her.
“Dropping to sub-light speeds in 1 minute.” Tali said
“Drop us behind that asteroid about point quadruple three AU from the source signal, I would like to be able to assess the situation if possible. Condition Yellow.” Kelly said poking the display of her PADD.
“Aye ma'am. Dropping out of warp in 3...2...1”
The Kaneda halted not 1 kilometre from the asteroid.
“Whoa, a little close there Ensign.” Kelly said
“We're still good ma'am.” Tali said
“Ok, take us out so we can see the freighter.” Kelly said, punching some keys on the key pad on her chairs arm rest.
A light glowed and a small holographic tac-map appear above the rest. The asteroid appeared in scale and a small starfleet icon represented the Kaneda. The small icon slowly moved around the asteroid. As it came around 4 grey dots appeared some distance away.
“Ma'am, Its a Neg'va class battle cruiser and two Bird of Prey escorts boarding the light Freighter.” Lonna said from her station.
“Open a channel to the Neg'va.” Kelly said
“Opening channel.”
“This is Commander Kel Zor'ah Har'cos of the Federation Starship Kaneda, you are ordered to disengage and return to the Klingon Neutral Zone, you will return any prisoners to the ship as well as any plundered items, power down shields and weapon systems and leave this system. Failure to comply will result in hostilities.” Kelly said to the blank screen, remaining in her seat
The view screen came to life. An older Klingon stood with his arms folded appeard.
“Commander Kel Zor'ah Har'cos? Your a Thosian in Starfleet? What is this?” the Klingon captain said, angry and confused
“I fail to see your point or the relevance of my race Captain, my order stands, you will power down your shields and weapons and leave.” Kelly said forcefully
“Ha! You must not have been home in a while Commander. Your kin are allied with the Klingons!” The Captain said amused.
“Captain, my peoples alliances are no concern of mine, I have made my pledge to serve Starfleet, I am honour bound. Now make a decision, either depart or fight. But I would rather not have to notch another mark on my ready rooms bulkhead.” Kelly said maintaining composure
“Ha, spoken like a warrior, what we have come to expect from your people. But engagement is unnecessary Commander, we are only searching for an Undine spy.” The Captain said diplomatically
“Thank you for the information Captain, but this ship is in starfleet space and is registered as a federation vessel. We will do everything in our power to investigate these accusations, but you must leave, this is your final warning.”
“We cannot! We must have vengeance for the actions these cowardly Undine have taken!” the Captain said now becoming frustrated.
“Then we are done talking.” Kelly said tapping a button on her key pad.
The screen went blank once more.
“Condition Red! Lock forward batteries on the lead ship and fire, move us closer to their formation.” Kelly ordered looking at the tac-map
The Kaneda fired its plasma cannons and phasers, as the bolts hit the shields they flattened out, spreading green fire.
“Neg'va's forward shield quadrant down to 75 percent.” Mira said punching keys on the tactical console. “Escorts are moving off and cloaking.”
“Reckon you could hit one with its pants down?” Kelly said slyly.
“I can certainly try, firing torpedos, overriding firing solution safeties.” Mira said with a smirk
A blue bolt was launched from the weapons cluster at the apex of the nacelle strut, it travelled without interruption until it struck an unseen target. The bird of prey was struck on its starboard side weapon strut, severing it form its body.
“Escort disabled ma'am.”
“Finnish it off.” Kelly ordered coldly
Mira almost hesitated. A second bolt was launched from the tube and it struck the bridge of the escort. The ship violently detonated and debris struck the side of the Neg'va. As it did the first volley struck the Kaneda. Kelly braced herself as the bridge shook.
“Forward shield quadrant down to 60 percent.” Mira said
“Divert power to the forward shield quadrant; prepare to fire another volley, all forward torpedo tubes.”
“Firing.”
”Ma'am! Escort decloaking off stern!”
As the bird of prey decloaked it unleashed a full volley of plasma torpedos. The attack damaged the shields and struck the hull. The bridge shook violently.
“Damage report!” Kelly said clutching the arm rest
“Plasma fire on decks 5, 6 and 7. areas being evacuated, fire suppression is in effect.” Quinn said
“Aft shield quadrant down to 25 percent.” Mira said
“Pull us back behind the asteroid, all fire on the escort. Tali, make sure you don't give them a firing solution on our pretty side. Quinn, see if you can divert some power to the shields” Kelly said, leaning on the side of her chair, pressing her finger to her lips.
“Aye ma'am.” they both said in unison
The Neg'va and the Bird of Prey continued to pelt the Kaneda with disrupter fire while she lazily turned and returned the favour. The odd disrupter bolt hit the asteroid, expelling clouds of dust which shrouded the Kaneda. The Bird of Prey pursued as she took cover, hitting the stern.
“Come about and lock forward plasma cannons on the escort. Lonna, see if you can do something about their shields.”
“Aye Commander.” Lone said
The Kaneda bared its teeth once more, plasma bolts struck the forward shields of the Bird of Prey. A blue beam of concentrated gravitons was emitted from the Kaneda's deflector array and joined the blots on the shield. The bird of preys forward shields were down.
“Fire all forward torpedo tubes.”
“Aye ma'am.”
The torpedoes struck the naked hull of the Bird of Prey, instantly forcing a warp core breach. The detonation shock wave hit the Kaneda, damaging her shields.
“Well done, now what about that Neg'va?” Kelly said staring into the tac-map.
“Shields are down to 80 percent, all subsystems undamaged, en-route to our location. ETA; 40 seconds.” Lonna said
“And ours?” Kelly asked looking to Quinn.
“Shields down to 32 percent, weapon system is operating at 75 percent, life support has failed on deck 6, crew is wearing exo-masks to compensate. Sickbay is reporting plasma burns on several crew members.”
“Alright, even if we weren't at a disadvantage a Neg'va is out of our weight range.” Kelly said to her self, pausing. “Ok, when you can get a firing solution, Lonna, launch a scrambler, Mira, hit her with everything you have until you don't have a firing solution on their fore shield quadrant, Tali, move the Kaneda to the Neg'va's port side and bring the forward cannons to bear. Once we're in position, Quinn, divert all power to the forward phaser battery for a single shot. Once that's been fired, Lonna hit that ship with the most powerful graviton burst you can manage, force it into the asteroid.”
“Ma'am, that power level through the phaser array will overload the EPS conduits.” Quinn said turning to Kelly
“Do it regardless, if this works we won't need them.”
“Yeah, but whose gonna have to repair them once we're out.” Quinn said under his breath, turning back to his console.
As the Neg'va came into view the Kaneda bristled with light as she released everything she had. The Neg'va, unable to get a firing solution, fired blindly, hoping to strike the Kaneda as she moved to the Neg'va's port side. The forward phaser battery glowed brightly as it emitted a powerful beam of death. The bridge shook as the EPS conduits overloaded, causing consoles to short circuit. Lonna punched in a command and the Kaneda emitted a graviton beam. The Neg'va was pushed quickly into the asteroid. As it hit it pushed dust up from the surface.
“Status.” Kelly commanded as she stood, looking at the view screen.
“Shields and weapons down, torpedo arming systems are fused, otherwise we're unchanged ma'am.” Quinn said.
“That dust cloud contains radium; I'm unable to get a sensor reading on ship.” Lonna said
Kelly squinted at the view screen, attempting to spot a piece of debris or a glow, something that would tell her what the status of the Neg'va. From the clouds emerged a green bolt.
“Plasma torpedo! All hands, brace for imp-” Kelly was interrupted as the torpedo struck the Kaneda.
She fell as the bridge shook violently. One of the support beams fell from the ceiling and narrowly missed Kelly's head.
“Report” Kelly groaned as she dragged herself up.
“Structural integrity at 67 percent.”
“The ship is immobile, but still has one active torpedo tube with a firing solution.” Lonna said
“Another torpedo, inbound!”
“Evasive manoeuvres!” Kelly ordered, sitting back in her chair
The Kaneda began to move, the torpedo narrowly missed the ship.
“Ma'am, its coming around.” Lonna said
“Set a collision course with the Neg'va.” Kelly ordered
“Ma'am?” Talitha asked turning to the Commander
“Do it ensign!”
“Aye ma'am, ETA 30 seconds.”
“Torpedo is 34 seconds from impact.”
“Hold her steady Tali, hold her steady.”
“Time to impact 10...9...8...7...6...5...4-” Kelly interrupted Tali
“Emergency thrust! Avert collision!”
“Aye ma'am, emergency thrust.”
The Kaneda pulled away, but not fast enough. The nacelles hit scrapped the surface of the Neg'va but managed to avoid hitting the asteroid. The torpedo following wasn't able to follow and hit the hull of the Neg'va. The shock wave slowly gained on the Kaneda until it was engulfed. She was set adrift, rotating slowly, scared but victorious. Kelly had fallen to the floor once more, her hair becoming untied.
“Report” she said as she once more climbed to her feet.
“Uh...” Lone groaned as she stood up “Neg'va is destroyed, Freighter is intact. area secure.”
“Weapons, shields and engines down, structural integrity down to 27 percent.” Quinn said
“Right, request two tugs and a security detachment from Sol, advise them that one of the freighter crew may be 8472. Initiate repair protocols and search and rescue operations.” Kelly said as she headed off the bridge.
“Ma'am, where are you going?” Mira asked
“Back to bed.” Kelly yelled back dismissively as she walked through the door. “Call me if anything interesting happens.”
Mira scoffed as she punched in orders into her console. Kelly pulled her hair back as she stepped into the turbo lift.
Last edited by RampantArc on 03/07/10 21:17; edited 1 time in total
Three days of since the battle and the Kaneda was still in a mess. Kelly read the repair report as she walked back to her quarters. She was covered in oddly smelling liquids that had blasted her when the various gaskets failed in her face and her pony tail had come undone, making her look like a bedraggled mess. She ran her fingers though her hair, trying to bring it under control, but quickly retracted as she came across a sticky spot. With a tisk she looked back at her PADD.
Weapons system; EPS conduits need a complete replacement, plasma attenuators need replacing and recalibrating, torpedo tubes need a replacement firing control circuit.
Shields; Need a complete overhaul of the shield emitter grid
Engines: Dilithium matrix is damaged, Injectors are damaged, Warp core offline, unable to maintain a decent containment field.
Life Support: Temperamental, relying on secondary fusion plants. Life support only active in designated areas, crew is using EVA suits to work outside these areas.
Auxiliary: Fusion plants operating outside of the recommended ranges; will need replacement in space dock.
Repair Quotation; three months in dry dock, where the vultures will mess up my configuration. Seriously ma’am, I jut got this thing the way I like it. I hope you’re happy.
Kelly smirked. Quinn was a bit of an idiot, but he always found a way to make her laugh, more often than not at his own expense, and he knew his way around a warp core. It wasn’t that bad today, aside from the stanky greases on her face. Quinn had his 1980’s classical music playing through his com badge, replacing conduits to AC/DC was almost cathartic, if not a little slow going. Every 4 minutes Quinn had to stop to do what he called an ‘air guitar solo’, which Kelly found most amusing. But now all she wanted to do was to go to her quarters, have a shower and get some shut eye.
She stepped through the door into her quarters, unclipped her side arm holster; throwing it on her bed and unzipped her uniform; tossing it, absent minded, at a closed hamper. She looked over at the gaping hole in the hull where the Kaneda had taken a disrupter strike. The structural integrity field was all that stopped her from being spaced. Kelly was very glad that her personal effects hadn’t been damaged. She took off her underclothes, walked into the bathroom and ran the shower. The grease and grime evaporated off her body as she stepped in. She rested her arm against the glass and hung her head with an exhausted sigh. All the sudden the shower started making a strange noise. Kelly opened her eyes and lent in closer. The shower head erupted in a high pitched screech. Kelly clamped her hands down on her ears and rushed to the control panel. She tried to shut if off, when that failed she simply palmed the keypad. The shower head continued to screech. Kelly then rushed to her bed and grabbed her side arm, strode back to the bathroom, took aim and fired. She lent against the glass again as the door opened.
“Ma’am, we got reports of phaser fire in your – whoa.” Talitha said, taken aback by the stark naked Thosian standing before her
“Yeah, my shower decided to get its self shot.” Kelly said stepping back
“Umm, any thing I can do?” Tali said nervously as she shielded her eyes
“Yeah, you can close the door before the whole crew finds out how far down these spots go.” Kelly said in a very relaxed tone as she picked up her towel.
“Ok, what did I miss?” Quinn said over the intercom
“Talitha came in while I was starkers.” Kelly said
“Damn it… uh, I mean… damn it.”
“Don’t worry ma’am I was leaving.” Tali said, her face going red.
“Ok. May I ask why you’re listening in?” Kelly said
“Hey, I just got a power surge from the sonic shower in your quarters.” Quinn said defensively
“It made a loud noise.”
“Oh, I’ve got a few reports about that happening in areas, but no ones been able to stop it. How did you?” Quinn said inquisitively
“I shot it” Kelly responded plainly
“Great that’s fantastic. With all due respect ma’am, stop breaking my ship!” Quinn said exasperated.
“Hey, Kaneda started it.” Kelly said defensively
“Honest to god, why couldn’t have been assigned to a ship with a reasonably sane captain.” Quinn said in a tone that suggested he wasn’t aware he still had an open channel
“Quinn, if you had a sane CO you’d have nothing to bitch about.” Kelly said as she donned a change of under clothes
“Yeah, and then what would I do? I don’t know; spend some more time on the holodeck.” Quinn said going on to a ramble
Kelly laughed as she sat down behind her desk. She grabbed her PADD and scrolled through the more comprehensive repair reports.
“Commander, this is Mira, we’re coming up on Sol now.” Mira said over her combadge
“That’s fantastic Mira; advise me if I’m needed, otherwise I’m getting some shut eye.” Kelly said yawning
“No such luck ma’am, the Admiral wants to see you asap.”
“Did he say why?” Kelly asked slightly confused
“He said he wasn’t going to discuss it over an open channel.”
“Right, tell him I’ll be over as soon as we’re in transporter range.” Kelly said exasperated
She walked over to her dresser and rummaged through her clothes to find a uniform not covered in dust.
***
Kelly stood before the reception desk. The receptionist tapped keys on the console in front of him, as if unaware of the Commanders presence.
“Excuse me, I’m here to see Admiral Quinn.” Kelly said politely
“Name?” the receptionist said, not taking his eyes off the screen
“Kel Zor’ah Ha-“the receptionist interjected
“Yes, the Admiral is expecting you, but before you go in you must surrender your side arm.” The receptionist said looking at Kelly but keeping the same uninterested tone
Kelly looked oddly at the receptionist as she reached for her phaser. She resisted the urge to say ‘this is unnecessary, if I wanted to kill the admiral I can do it with my bear hands’. It was more likely to lead to an hour long interrogation that her managing to hold on to her phaser.
“Its standard procedure, the brass is getting paranoid about security breaches.” The receptionist said turning back to his screen
“I take it your not too fussed.” Kelly said as she paced it down on the table
“Just more red tape for me to deal with.” The receptionist said with an exasperated sigh
“Right I’ll head on up then.” Kelly said turning away and walking to the turbo lift
The Admiral was waiting at the door to greet her.
“Kelly! It’s good to see you!” The Admiral said grabbing her hand firmly and shaking it.
Kelly was always reminded of the earth Christmas mascot Santa Clause when she saw Admiral Quinn. A moderately grown beard and a receding hairline, all in white, and he always had a smile on his face, even when he got reports of new attacks on colonies. He always approached it like he was amused at the gall of the Klingons.
“Far too long Admiral.” Kelly said with a friendly smile.
“Hows the Kaneda doing?” The admiral said guiding her into a chair across his desk
“My chief engineer thinks it will take 3 months of repairs before she is space worthy again.” Kelly said taking a seat
“Damn it Kelly, you don’t half go through our ships. What, the River Tam, then the Halcyon, now Kaneda?” The Admiral said maintaining his friendly tone, walking over to the replicator behind his desk.
He looked to Kelly as if to ask if she wanted anything. She raised her hand to decline.
“Bajoran tea.” He said to the replicator
“I like to think I get good mileage out of them.” Kelly said with a smirk
“You know when you want a new ship; ask next time before you go against impossible odds again.” Quinn said taking his seat
“I did have a bit of deja’vu with that last fight.” Kelly said. She maintained composure as movement in a dark corner behind the Admirals desk caught her eye
“I’d say, that was just a little less odds that the Kobayashi-“Quinn stopped as Kelly paced her hand on the desk
She stood, picking up a combat knife she had concealed in her boot as she rose. She ran across the table, kicking the tea on the admiral as she did and leaped at the shadowy figure. She pinned it against the wall with her right arm and pressed the knife in to its neck with the left. A spot of blood slowly trickled down the blade.
“You had better give me a damn good reason to let you live.” Kelly said forcefully
The figure attempted to back up into the wall; it raised its head, exposing more of its neck. The admiral cursed as he got to his feet.
“Kelly wait!” the admiral pleaded “That’s Captain Vernis, he’s a section 31 operative.”
Kelly flinched as the Admiral mentioned section 31. Her eyes filled with fury as she pressed on the knife a little harder.
“With all due respect, you’re not making a good case for him sir.” Kelly said, regaining composure
“Commander, you will stand down immediately!” The Admiral ordered forcefully
Kelly paused for a second, half because she really didn’t want to follow the order, the other half because she had never seen Admiral Quinn forcefully order like that. With a sigh she pushed off the figure, making sure to put all her weight on its wind pipe as she did. She took a step back from both of them, holstered her knife, folded her arms and waited for them to explain. The figure stepped from the shadows revealing a middle aged man in civilian attire. He had jet black hair and a small scar across the ball of his chin. He rubbed his neck where Kelly had lent on it.
The captain opened hoarsely “Commander, I understand you dislike for secti-“
“You understand? Lets forget the fact that I’ve had you guys hounding me since I got my officers commission, the amount of times you’ve manipulated orders to get me do your bidding, and focus on the amount of times you’ve nearly thrown my people into war with our neighbouring empires in the last 200 years. You have no idea how much I am resiting the urge to kill you.” Kelly said interrupting the Captain
“Commander, you’d be very interested in hearing what the Captain has to say.” Quinn said
Kelly raised her eye brow, beckoning the Captain to elaborate.
“How were you exiled Kelly?” the commander asked gaining some confidence
“I was charged with treason after a boarder dispute with the Klingons.” She said brusquely “Admiral, if this ‘Qal vancoolo’ wants to continue down this path you had better tell him to make peace with his god.”
“Just wait Kelly, it gets better.” The Admiral said calmly
“What actually happened was you turned your weapons on another clan’s squadron after they broke formation and took on an attack posture.”
Kelly’s eyes widened, shocked.
“You had no choice of course, if they had opened fire on the Klingons you would have ended up like the Gorn. But one ship survived and made it back to his clan, they had you tried and convicted while you were held up at the line.”
Kelly stepped backwards and lent against the window, resting her hands on the sill, stunned. She stared down at her boots as she remembered the encounter; the klaxons blaring in the back ground, the crew of the De’avalor, her clan’s flag ship, and the defiant Lo’tar Commander over the com; demanding an assault and disregarding her orders. In a forceful voice, she remembered, Kelly told the gunnery chief to fire on the Lo’tar squadron as they made the dash for the line. And her Mal’kanar, mother of her heart, on the Har’cos citadels presidium; telling her she could never return.
“What is the point of bringing this up?” Kelly said finally in a solemn tone, looking up from her boots
“Section 31 has, in our possession, an iso-linier data storage device from a scout ship that was observing the dispute and all its communication channels. It is impossible to rewrite or edit data on this storage device and a scan will confirm it.” The Captain said smugly
Kelly filled with rage. She wondered how long they had this data. They held onto it just to get a favour out of her further down the track?
“I take it you want something in return for this data?” Kelly said resentfully
“We have a small task for you, yes.” Vernis said with a cryptic smile
Kelly glared at him, folding her arms.
“We want you to convince your government to join the federation.”
Kelly laughed mockingly “You don’t really expect me to be able to do that.”
“You are still a respected figure in the Har’cos clan and the Devron party, and many on the high council thought that you didn’t get enough of a chance to present your side. And a Thosians voice carries more weight that a federation ambassador whose name and resume means nothing to them.” The Admiral interjected
“Even if it was possible, I wouldn’t. I joined Starfleet because it is the biggest stabilising force in the alpha quadrant; it was the best way to support Thosia’s independence. It wasn’t to allow my people to be assimilated later on by the federation.” Kelly said defiantly
“We’re not the Borg Collective, Kelly.” The Admiral said defensively
“The fact is Lo’tar is pushing to become a Klingon protectorate.” Vernis said plainly, stopping Kelly from responding
“What? That’s… that’s ridiculous.” Kelly said bewildered “Har’cos would go to war with Lo’tar before they allowed that to happen.”
“We’re not so sure, your people haven’t had open conflict between clans in ten thousand years. Regardless, if this was to happen it would shift the war drastically, Thosians don’t have the numbers but they are more technologically advanced. If they gave the Klingons access to that technology we’d be forced onto the defensive. We need to stop this before it starts.”
Kelly looked down at her boots once more. If Thosia joined the Klingon Empire, it would drive her people to blood lust and unending war; if they joined the federation they could lose their cultural identity. But with this evidence she could go to the council and talk them out of it, back to independance. She knew her course of action
“Ok, say if I was willing to go to Thosian to speak for the federation, how would I get there?” Kelly said, rising to her feet
“I was wondering when you ask that.” Quinn said smugly.
He tapped his com badge and the room evaporated around Kelly. All the sudden they were standing on the observation deck of a dry dock. The bay was dark. Kelly lent closer to the window, still a little shaken from the sudden transport. She turned back to Quinn as he started to speak
“Kelly, due to your outstanding service to the federation, you are hereby promoted Captain, and given command of the USS Kusanagi.” Quinn said with a proud smile
Kelly looked back at the dry dock with bated breath. The lights in the dry dock began to light up one by one, first revelling 4 nacelles, then the delta shaped hull.
“She’s a Cerberus class escort, photonic crew, fore plasma cannons, phaser arrays and quantum torpedoes, mark XIII warp core, multiphasic shield array and additional science facilities.” Quinn said proudly
“She’s perfect.” Kelly said looking at the stunning ship
Quinn laughed “She is just about that. The Kusanagi is just back from her shakedown run, only I minor variance in the deflector field, aside from that she’s good to go.”
“Yeah, Simmons will find something wrong with her no doubt.” Kelly said with a laugh
“Any way Captain, your mission is set. Convince the Thosians to join the federation.” Vernis said in an authoritive tone
Kelly looked back at the captain and glared at him once more.
“Don’t order me Vernis; just give me that data and I’ll be on my way.” Kelly said
Vernis handed the data to Kelly and then tapped his com badge. With a glow he evaporated into nothing. Kelly glared at him until he had completely vanished. She then turned to the admiral with an excited smile
Kelly had assembled her senior officers in the Kaneda’s briefing room. Quinn still hadn’t slept since he got back. He refused to allow the dock workers to operate unsupervised, but Mira, Lone and Tali all looked like they had just woken up. Kelly was explaining the situation.
“Ma’am, are you sure section 31 isn’t pulling our leg again?” Lone asked
“It’s entirely possible. Every action that they’ve taken against my people has been to force us to seek federation aid. But I need to see this for my self. I can’t risk a Thosian alliance with the Klingons.” Kelly replied thoughtfully “Hows the analysis on that data going?”
“The data stream seems intact and it’s un-rewriteable as Vernis said. It would hold up in a federation hearing.” Lone said looking down at her PADD
“Too bad my appeal is going to be driven more by politics that by evidence.”
“Kelly, how are we getting there? Because I don’t know if you noticed but the Kaneda’s a bit broken.” Mira said
“I’ve got a new ship. The Kusanagi; a Cerberus class.” Kelly said with a proud grin
“No, I’m not going.” Quinn said his arms folded leaning on the briefing table.
“Quinn, I have your transfer orders here.” Kelly said holding up a PADD
“I don’t care ma’am, I’ll put in for a transfer out of your command; I’m not leaving the Kaneda to work on some prototype Escort barely off the drawing board.” Quinn said stubbornly
Kelly knew he had already committed to going; it was just a game he liked to play. See how far Kelly would go to keep him on. Nothing was pressing, the Kusanagi still need to go through a full diagnostic on all systems even though the shakedown went perfectly so she was willing to play along.
“Quinn, come on. She’s a new ship, a beautiful ship, with state of the art equipment. It’s nearly impossible to get an engineering spot on one.”
“But what about Kaneda? She’s a fine old girl and stuck with us through thick and thin. You want me to just turn my back on her after everything and give her to these savages.”
One of the dock workers repairing a plasma conduit over heard and looked at the Lieutenant, hurt.
“Yeah, you heard me. Hey, keep and eye on what you’re doing. You keep your attenuator at that frequency you’ll burn out the plasma manifold.” Quinn said looking at the dock worker
“The Kaneda’s going to be down for 3 months, I need to get to Thosia in a week to stop this alliance and I don’t know what I’m going to face when I’m there.” Kelly said plainly
“And?” Quinn said rasing an eyebrow
“And… I need you.” Kelly said mumbling and looking down at her feet
“I’m sorry, I didn’t hear that.” Quinn said mockingly, cupping his ear
Kelly looked back at Quinn and glared at him “If I’m going in to the unknown I need a team at my back that I can trust, I need an engineer who can stop a warp core breach with a tribble and some chewing gum.” She then paused and solemnly admitted “I need you Quinn. I need you to help me save my people from them selves.”
“Well ma’am, you defiantly know how to bring up gallantry in a man.” Quinn said lifting his head up proudly
“So you’ll do it?” Kelly asked
“Of course ma’am, you know I would. I just wanted to know if you appreciated me as much as you should.” Quinn said proudly
“Ok, well in that case. Get your stuff together and get over to the Kusanagi.” Kelly said in a slightly annoyed tone.
“Aye ma’am.” He said saluting and then turning to leave
“Ma’am, I have to ask, why do you put up with that?” Lone asked with an amused look on her face
“If Quinn’s ego needs pandering every once and a while so he keeps doing his job I don’t mind playing along.” Kelly said with a smirk “Ok, you all need to square away your departments. Tali I need you to say behind.”
Mira and Lone gave Kelly a quick nod and walked off, leaving Tali by herself looking nervous. Kelly was about to open her mouth when she noticed the dock worker still going about his business.
“Uh, crewman…” Kelly said
“Johnson, ma’am” the crewman replied looking up from his work with a smile
“Crewman Johnson, would you mind moving on to another task. I need to talk to my officer privately.” Kelly asked politely
“No problem ma’am.” The crewman said placing his tools in his kit.
He quickly left the room and shoot a worried look at Tali as he walked past. She grew more nervous; she stood rigidly and gulped hard. Kelly walked over to the conference table and poured herself a drink out of her flask.
“Tali, I need to know something.” Kelly said looking at the mug as the liquid spilled into it
“Anything ma’am” The Bajoran ensign said, repressing a shaky voice
Kelly placed the flask down and glared at Tali.
“Do you trust me?” she asked
“Of course ma’am” Tali said still repressing that shaky voice
Kelly picked up her mug and looked up thoughtfully.
“I mean I know I’m not a convention Starfleet captain, I allow much more fraternisation on the bridge than some other captains.”
“I know ma’am, I like that.” Tali said relaxing slightly
“That’s good. I needed to promote some one, we have a much bigger crew now and you’re at the top of my list.” Kelly said turning her gaze out the window
She reached into her pocked and grabbed a small box that contained a new pip.
“I appreciate it.” Tali said almost relaxing completely
“I haven’t decided yet Ensign. I can’t have someone at my back that doesn’t trust me; because I can’t trust them.” Kelly said thoughtfully as she followed a work shuttle with her eyes as it flew by the window.
“I… I” Tali stuttered
“You have been an exemplary officer up until now.” Kelly said turning back “And I can forgive one flutter of faith, but I can’t have you question my orders in a situation like that again.”
“I understand ma’am
Kelly placed her coffee mug down and walked back to Tali. She looked down at the box and thoughtfully thumbed it for a second. Kelly then handed the box over to Tali who reached for it with shaky hands and a stunned look.
“You are hereby promoted to Lieutenant, with all the responsibilities and privileges of that rank.” Kelly said happily
Tali looked up at Kelly with the same stunned look on her face.
“Thank you, ma’am.”
“No need Lieutenant. Now I need you to square away your personal affects for transport, you are dismissed.”
Tali nodded and quickly strode off. Kelly sat down in a chair and gazed out into space once more. As she heard the door open she called out after Tali.
“And Tali; that cannot happen again.” She said forcefully
“You have my word ma’am.” Tali said sincerely, turning back to look at the Captain
Kelly said nothing, just thumbed the rim of her mug. Tali turned back and strode out the door, looking down at the shiny new pip in her hands with a solemn expression.
Kelly stood and paced the room with a nostalgic look on her face.
“And you, I’m sorry you couldn’t come with me on this journey.” She said to the empty room
With that, and a bitter sweet smile on her face she left the briefing room.
It was 30 minutes before they would cross the Thosian boarder. Kelly felt A little uneasy. This was the place she had been exiled from, it had been a while since she had talked to anyone in the Har'cos clan, she didn't know the kind of reception she'd get from the escort when she reviled her identity, she didn't know the strength of her clans voice in the high council, and she didn't know if what the section 31 operative said was true. She had decided to wear her old Har'cos service armour to the meet so that she would instantly be identified as Kel Zor'ah. It was similar to old medieval plate mail in its design, though it was much lighter, flexible and fitted her curves much better than 12th century plate mail. She slid her arms through the back piece first then strapped on the individual armour sections onto her arms, leaving the movable joints free but rather unprotected. She then did the same for her legs and boots, finally strapping a chest piece to her. A black pattern that to an uninformed individual looked like a simple tribal mark adorned her left shoulder, indicating that she was an exile, and she made sure that the armour got a green trim before she left space dock. As much as possible a Thosians clothes should indicate who the person wearing it is, and although she disliked being exiled she stood by her actions, she wore the mark of the exile like a badge of honour. She attached her combadge and captains pips and admired herself in the mirror in a rare act of vanity, surprised that the armour still fit her as it did 30 years ago.
She stepped out of her quarters with a flask of black coffee, as per normal, and stepped into the turbo lift.
“Bridge” She said to the panel
“Wait!” yelled a voice from behind as the door started to close
Kelly turned and stuck her arm in the door to see Mira running to the turbo lift; she was carrying a bunch of PADDs that she was desperately trying to keep from spilling out of her hands as she dashed.
“Thanks.” she said breathing heavily.
She took a step back as she noticed the captain was wearing full, non standard federation armour.
“Uh, ma'am? Is there something I missed in yesterdays briefing?” Mira asked, giving Kelly an odd look
“No, it's just my old service armour.” Kelly said plainly
Mira had known the Captain for a while now and she detected a note of intrepidation in Kelly's tone.
“Ma'am, are you alright?” Mira said in a concerned tone.
“Yeah, I'm fine.” she said in the same tone “Computer, resume, bridge.”
Mira looked forward toward the door with an empathic smile on her face.
“Well it’s just...” Kelly said suddenly, turning back to Mira “...just, it's been 30 years since I've been home, I've changed, it’s changed, things have... changed” Kelly trailed off
“You had someone back there didn't you?” Mira said with and incredulous smirk on her face
“No, well yes, but...it was... is... complicated” Kelly stammered
Mira raised her eyebrow inquisitively. With a heavy sigh Kelly elaborated.
“Nolan Vadam; he was in the Lo'tar clan, the closest thing to a rival clan we have.”
“Ah, so kinda like Romeo and Juliet?” Mira said with that incredulous smirk. “Sorry, I’m just imagining a younger you saying “You can’t understand our love” to her mother.”
“What? No, nothing like forbidden love in the strictest sense, he just wasn't exactly happy about me firing on his squadron and I wasn't exactly happy about his report to the High Council; especially since he lied in his testimony.”
“Wow, that's harsh.” Mira said with a thoughtful look on her face
“I can understand why he said what he said, I nearly destroyed his clan. But he should have understood that I had no choice. I would forgive him if he asked for it, but he wasn't the man I thought he was.”
“So that's why your uncharacteristically anxious, you’re about to confront an unfaithful lover.”
“Well the fact that my race is on the verge of making the biggest mistake of its existence might have something to do with it too.” Kelly said defensively
“Ok, ok ma'am. I understand that this isn't all about some boy.” Mira said trying to even the mood
“Damn straight it’s not.” Kelly replied as she looked towards the turbo lift door
It opened and Kelly stepped onto the defiant style bridge. She liked this one better than the Cerberus standard; it was much more intimate than that huge bridge module she came with. She was pleased that she could change it over. Tali and lone were talking as she entered.
“But hardly any Federation citizens have ever crossed over the Thosian boarder, let alone walk on Thosia” Lone said with excitement in her voice “You can't tell me you’re not looking forward to it.”
“I am” Tali replied defensively “But I’d rather just focus on the task at hand.”
“Captain on deck!” Quinn said, jumping up to attention as he noticed Kelly walk onto the bridge
“Quinn, I swear to god, if you don't stop doing that and stand at ease immediately I'll throw you out an airlock.” Kelly said wiping her hand on her forehead. “How far are we out?” she said turing to Tali
Tali diligently pushed some buttons on her console “2 minutes” she said with a tense tone of voice
Kelly sensed that she was still shaken from that talk they had. Quinn took his pace and sat down with a cheeky smirk on his face. He looked to Lone who rolled her eyes at him. Kelly took her chair, it was exactly the same as the Kaneda's chair by design but they had gone with a different seat stuffing; sank into a very comfortable position, she wondered if she would fall asleep on a dull shift.
“Coming out of warp in 3...2...1” Tali said pushing some controls
The stars stopped warping past and became still. Off in the distance Kelly could make out an anomaly in the visual.
“Whoa” Lone said at the science station. “That thing is huge.”
“It's the De'avalor” Kelly exclaimed as they approached
She was 3 kilometres stem to stern and had a beam of about 2 kilometres. She had only one, delta shaped hull section, no external nacelles like most other star ships, instead she had two shallow wings that glowed blue underneath. She had a massive gaping hole at the front, gauss cannon, which could fire a verity of projectiles. From massive DU slugs, to tricobalt torpedos to super heated plasma; all at near light speed velocities. The hull bristled with point defence weapons, broad side assault cannons and fighter bays.
“You said you used to command that thing?” Mira said in awe
“Ma'am, they may have a problem, their warp field seems unstable.” Lone said looking down at her console
“Thosian craft use Dimensional Shift Drives, antimatter reactors are only for power generation.” Kelly said dismissively
“We're being hailed.” Tali said
“On screen.” Kelly said rising to her feet
The screen came to life and a seemingly young man stood with a large bridge behind him. He had red hair, similar to Kelly's, cut short, and a large tattoo over his eye, only slightly smaller than Kelly's.
“This is Ripa Zor'ah Har- Kel?” The Thosian looked shocked
“Yes Ripa, it’s me.” She said happily
“Kel? What are you doing here? I can't allow you back into our space with your ambassador.”
“You can if I am the ambassador.” Kelly said with a smirk
“Wait, you’re representing the federation? Have you fallen Kel?” Ripa said concerned
“If it will allow me to cross the border and stop my people from falling, I will take on any title.” Kelly said defiantly
“Yes, I can allow you through if I treat you as a foreign dignitary as opposed to a citizen. But Kel, you walk a thorny path, and you may have to walk it alone” Ripa said solemnly
“What do you mean?”
“Jal isn't willing to risk civil war, even if it means an alliance. She is keeping many things close to her heart these days.”
Kelly took a step back and paused thoughtfully.
“I need to see this for myself.”
“Yes, tell your helmsman to move underneath us at a distance of 10 meters and hold position.”
“Done, Kusanagi out.” Kelly said sitting back down. “Lone, set the deflector array to emit a phasic energy field with a frequency matching that of the De'avalor.”
“Uh, ok, may I ask why?” Lone asked, turning to Kelly
“Because we don't we'll be scattered across the universe.” Kelly said in a smart tone
“Okay... emitting phasic energy field.” Lone said nervously as she turned back to her station
“Ma'am, in position, getting standing by signal from the De'avalor.”
“Ok, tell them we're ready.”
Light poured through the view screen until it consumed everything. It suddenly died down. It took a second for Kelly's eyes to adjust. An M class planet had appeared before the Kusanagi, it had a verity of stations in orbit and thousands of ships transporting goods to and from the surface. The planet was much like earth, but you could make out grey spots spread across the planet that were obviously urban centres. The massive shadow that overcast the Kusanagi moved off with the De'avalor, which moved with the grace and speed of a tactical escort.
“Ma'am... according to this we're about 20 light years from our original position.” Tali said amazed
“That's DSD for you” Kelly said with a smirk “Ok, Quinn, Lone, I need you as my entourage, Mira you have the con.”
“Aye ma'am” Mira said
“Kelly, we won't be able to transport down, they have a magnetic shield preventing it.” Lone said as she stood
Kelly smiled as she stepped into the turbo lift.
“Mira, tell the De'avalor we're transporting over, we're going to drop down.” Kelly said as she entered the turbo lift.
“Drop?” Quinn said
“Oh yeah, you’re going to love this.” Kelly said with a sinister smirk
They transported over to the observation deck of the De'avalor. It spanned a good 100 meters in either direction and had about 500 people all talking and drinking at the tables and lounges spread across the deck. Ripa was waiting with a primitive hologram at his side. Kelly walked over to him and gave him a hug.
“You have no idea how good it is to see you father.” Kelly said as she embraced him
“You too niri, how have you been?” He said reciprocating
“Just maintaining peace and stability within the known galaxy, you know; the usual.” Kelly said stepping back
“General.” the little hologram said
She looked like a little girl in the style of an anime character. Back when Kelly was the CO she had always wondered where Dee, as she was known, got her inspiration for her avatar, but now she had been exposed to human culture Kelly wondered if she had encountered an old human transmission. She looked like a young Thosian in civilian attire and her eye tattoo was huge, much larger than Kelly's, and she deserved it. An AI had the same rights under Thosian law as a normal citizen, and so she was allowed to show her status and rank through her mark.
“Hey Dee. You know I don't have that rank anymore.”
“General, I was there; you will always be my Commander.” Dee said sincerely
“You had no idea how hard she made it when I took over.” Ripa said with a laugh
“Wow, she is advanced.” Lone said in an impressed tone
“Lonna?”
Lonna pulled out her tricorder and knelt down.
“Advanced emotional inflections, and I take it she is running the ship too? Tell me; are you a collective AI in parallel or a single AI? And do you run on software or hardware? And-” she said quickly
“Whoa, Lone, calm down.” Kelly said placing her hand on Lone’s arm
Dee giggled “It's alright Kel. I am a single AI driven by a quantum matrix, and I do run the entire ship.”
“A quantum matrix? We've never got anything sentient out of those. We've only got sapient hardware AI from positronic networks.” Lone said exited
“There are a lot of variables to take into consideration, and a development period, AI like myself develop much like organic minds. We can be much more advanced than positronic nets, but can also be unstable.”
“That's enough Dee; we can't just give away our technology.” Ripa said “Come on, I'll take you to the drop bay”
Ripa lead the way and Kelly and her entourage followed. Dee floated off the ground and held out her arms as if she was flying.
“This ship... is amazing.” Tali said as they stepped into the massive corridors
“157 decks, 125,000 crew, 25,000 ground operatives, 78 mass drivers, 34 plasma arrays, a modular gauss cannon, 500 space superiority fighters, ablative armour, covariant mulitphasic shield array; I am the most powerful ship in the Thosian fleet, perhaps the most powerful thing this side of the galaxy.” Dee said proudly
“You certainly don't lack for confidence.” Lone said amused
“If you were 37 point 879 million metric tonnes of pure ass kicking power you might be confident too.” Dee said with a cocky smirk
“Dee, calm down.” Kelly said
“Aww, come on General, I never get to amaze new people with my awesomeness.” Dee said as they stepped onto a lift platform
Their vision blurred as the platform dropped down to the lowest deck almost instantly. Lone and Tali grabbed onto the railing to steady themselves as the decks blurred past them. They stopped suddenly and stepped onto the drop deck.
“You've got to be kidding me.” Quinn said as they stepped out of the lift on to an observation platform
Rows of single man orbital drop pods lined the lower deck, each attached to a tube.
“Nope, this is how we're getting down; I haven't done this in years.” Kelly said cracking her knuckles
“It's all ready to go; you remember how to fall in one of those Kel?” Ripa asked mockingly
“Please nayta, remember who you talking too.” Kelly said “You just drop me and we'll be fine”
“Oh no ma’am, ain't no way I'm “dropping”.” Quinn said defiantly
Kelly looked back at him squinting one eye and smirking
“Look, you can call me an idiot at every convenience, you can put my ship through fire until I have to rebuild it and you can transfer me from that ship, but dropping twenty thousand kilometres in a tiny pod is where I draw the line.”
“You'll be fine.” Kelly said dismissively, jumping down on to the main deck.
Quinn looked to Lone who just shrugged her shoulders and followed.
“Some people have phobias about transporting; I have a phobia of burning up in atmo in a little coffin.” Quinn said under his breath as he fell in line
Kelly stepped up to the pods pedestal; she stroked the side of the pod with her hand. She placed her side arm and her sword in the small equipment locker to the side. She stepped into the tight fitting drop pod and lent on the back rest.
“Ok, angle of decent is 60 degrees.” Dee said as she popped up in front of Kelly “And I'll give you overriding control over your party's pods.”
Ripa walked in front of the pod and placed his hand on the hatch.
“I'll be down for the council gathering.” he said
“Understood. It’s been good to see you nayta.” Kelly said sincerely
“You to niri, I wish we could talk more, but I promised Jal that I wouldn't hold you for too long.” Ripa said
He looked down solemnly “Kel, stop this, do whatever you must.”
“Have faith nayta.” Kelly said cheerfully “The day Thosia marches under a Klingon banner is the day I roll over and die.”
With a soft smile, Ripa dragged the hatch down.
The internal displays come to life and a holographic read out ran around her head. As with her head her hands were shrouded in holographic light, the moved with her fingers and changed the readouts on her holographic HUD.
“Whoa” Quinn said over the intercom
“Ok, I have back up control, but see how you do on your own. The on board computer will tell you your angle of decent and the target LZ. Try to stay at least 10 meters from my pod.”
“Ready to drop on your word Kel.” Dee said
“Do it.”
Kelly's body slowly went weightless as the pod gained speed down the drop tube. Kelly's vision blurred as the 'Mesh Map' on her HUD adapted to the velocity. As the pod came out of the drop tube Kelly was met by Thosia, a blue and green pearl that crowded her lower view port. She had missed the sense of vertigo she got as she left a drop tube, a planet below her and the void around her.
“Ok, I take it back, this is awesome.” Quinn said
Kelly looked at the positioning map; Quinn was circling around, spinning and looping all over the place.
“Quinn, be careful or you'll destabilise your attitude control.” Kelly said over her com.
“Its fine ma'am, I'm just getting the hang of it. I can't believe you get this much response out of a chemical thrusters.”
“Right well, when your finished, come starboard, we're about 30 seconds from entry decent.”
“Roger that ma'am.”
Both of the pods aligned themselves with Kelly's pod just as they hit the mesosphere. Heat and flames shrouded her view. The pod shook violently and the small compartment heated up somewhat. As the flames died down they were met by the sun rising over the clouds.
“You see transportation is all well and good but were else do you get sights like that as you hurtle to the ground.” Kelly said as they hit some turbulence
“In a shuttle pod?” Lone said in a shaken voice
“Not the same. Hang on; we’re hitting the cloud line. Activating way-gate indicator.” Kelly said.
The HUD started to show a line of triangular gates that vanished as the pod passed through them. Kelly once again couldn’t see as the clouds shrouded the view screen, but her HUD changed again to include what appeared to be massive structure. As they passed through the clouds Kelly could make it out. It was positioned on the edge of a delta, with thick green jungle on one side and ocean on the other. It had circular base, 5 kilometres in diameter and 5 kilometres high, three curved massive supports met at the apex of the structure and concentric habitat rings went up the structure. Landing pads and docking ports lined the structures exterior, one of them was flashing on the HUD.
“That’s the LZ, engaging air brakes.” Kelly said as she flicked her hand.
The bottom of the pod ignited and it started to slow down. As it hit the pad it had come to an almost complete stop. The hatch opened and Kelly stepped out with Lone and Quinn following behind her.
“Ok, that was cool.” Quinn said, pumped
“What!?! That was insane!” Lonna said
“And I suppose getting deatomised, converted into ones and zeros, then transported ten hundred kilometres, converted back into atoms and then getting reconstructed is saner.” Kelly said in a sarcastic tone. “Plus, have you ever seen a Klingon’s face when what he thought was a meteor shower turns out to be an assault team.”
The door at the entrance to the citadel opened and white light poured out. A middle aged Thosian woman wearing similar armour to Kelly led the group. She was followed by an older man wearing an extravagant robe, a young woman wearing a jump suit and another woman wearing a lab coat. The lead woman strode towards Kelly with aggressive posture.
“Kel, what the hell are you doing here?” She said in an angry tone
“Nice to see you to Anar’kar” Kelly said confused
“Don’t you “mother of my heart” me. The last thing I need is an exile supporting an alliance with Starfleet, go back to your ship and back to your federation.” Jal said putting a condescending emphasis on federation
Kelly pulled out the data storage device. “I have a way to prove that it wasn’t my fault.” Kelly paused for a second “And what do you mean my federation?” she said annoyed
“I thought that everything I taught you would stay with you, but as soon as you left you joined Starfleet! How did you think I would react? In fact having you here supporting the federation proves that we’d lose our cultural identity if we did join.”
“I’m not here to ask for an alliance, I’m here to support nationalism.” Kelly said with an extremely annoyed tone
“Oh, right.” Jal said, lowering her tone “Well, I guess then that’s fine.”
Kelly shook her head “Anar’kar, always jumping to conclusions.”
“We’re not all blessed with the temperament of an Alshak’ti.” Jal said shrugging her shoulders
“Wait, wait, wait.” Quinn interrupted “Kelly, you have a mellow temperament for your people?”
“Quiet male!” Jal said
“Jal, for god sake!” Kelly said angrily “Emancipation of males was over 130 years ago, and yet you still push this prejudice, in front of Jolinar patriarch.”
“I don’t have time for this; I have 3 days before the final gathering. I need to get back to work. Kel, you still have your old quarters.”
The older man stepped forward. “I’ll stay; I think I need to talk to Kel.” He said thoughtfully
“Fine, do as you with patriarch.” Jal said as she strode off.
The rest of her entourage seemed to shrug as they walked off.
“Uh... men were emancipated?” Quinn said in a low tone
“Yes, before then they were lower ranking personnel, labours and used only for reproduction. They had no say in national matters.” Kelly said out of the side of her mouth
“How often was the reproduction thing?” Quinn asked
“Sometimes every night I’m told.”
Quinn paused thoughtfully “And the men fought for rights under that administration? They’re nuts!”
“You’re telling me.” The Jolinar Patriarch said humorously
“And how are you Harnor?” Kelly asked the older man in a friendly tone
“Could be better Kel.” Harnor replied in an exasperated tone. “Could we walk a moment, alone?”
“Sure, uh just let me grab my stuff.” Kel said “You guys go explore the grounds; my quarters are on level 1724 section 41 room 149.”
She walked over to her pod. Black smoke slowly rose off the charred heat shield. She grabbed her sword and sidearm from the locker and attached it just above the small of her back. She then walked over to the old man who guided her into the massive structure.
“What do you need?” Kelly said as they entered the large cargo corridor
A bipedal mech walked pass slowly; nursing a massive assault rifle, followed by a small squad of Har’cos warriors.
“This is an interesting situation and I for see that you’ll be at the centre of it all.” Harnor said thoughtfully. “I am offering my council.”
Kel smiled softly, if the impetuous Jal Zor’ah Har’cos was the mother of her heart Harnor was defiantly the father.
“You know you never need to ask.” Kelly said with a smile
“This time I feel I must, there are things that I wish to discuss that I normally wouldn’t even consider.” Harnor said solemnly
“Speak you mind, I insist.”
Harnor looked to Kelly with a fatherly smile “You remember the Prophecies of Adir’ja?”
“I remember you telling me that they were most likely told by an old man driven insane by the void.” Kel said raising an eyebrow
“I was perhaps a little quick to judge on that. Remember; I taught you to keep an open mind. Since you left I was able to get my hands on some information about some other races. When the adrift pilot was found with this information he described a glowing hour glass. Its description was very similar to -”
“The Bajoran Orbs.” Kelly said thoughtfully “Oh no, no way.”
“Born from the womb of a poisonous spell. Defeated trials before her time. Beaten and broken, chased from the land. If interpreted in a certain way they could suggest-“
Kelly stopped and raised her voice angrily “I am not the chosen one, the emissary or the messier.”
“Calm down Kel, I have difficulty believing it to. It’s just many do.”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean Uta, Kol and Niltan party’s have already pledged allegiance to you because of the prophecy.”
“But the prophecy says that the daughter of war and wisdom” Kelly paused for a second realising that what she just said was a description of herself “Don’t you dare.” She said as Harnor laughed “that she will lead her people into a glorious new era. If anything I want everything to stay as it is.”
“The old axiom goes ‘don’t place your cards down until you have to’, you may change your mind once you get to the meeting.”
“And what? Lead the Thosians to the federation? Come on old man.” Kelly said sceptically
“I would just like you to head the prophecy, and be aware of it. It could help you.”
“I won’t exploit fools.”
“That’s not what I mean.” Harnor said pausing “the prophecy warns of a ‘Traitor at the heart of things’.”
“Ok, well that’s a given; the leader of the Lok’tar is at the centre of this thing and is a traitor of our way.”
“I agree, Nolan Vadam is probably the one the prophecy referees to” Harnor said thoughtfully “if it is indeed about you.” He said with a mocking smile
“Which it isn’t” Kelly said defiantly “Wait, Nolan?”
“Yes, he is the current Patriarch.”
“... Murphy’s law” Kelly said thoughtfully
“What?”
Kelly smiled “A human thing ‘if it can go wrong, it will’”
“Ah, I was curious as to the effect of another culture, tell me, is it as we fear.”
“More so. Humans have this thing called ‘Metal’; I just can’t get it out of my mind”
“You can’t get a type of element out of your mind?” Harnor said perplexed
Kelly laughed “Metal is like the ultimate fusion of all the greatest musical forms in the galaxy, it can bring you up or drop you to your knees. You can lose yourself to it.” Kelly said in a distant tone
“That’s not necessarily a bad thing; perhaps we can take it and make it our own.” Harnor said thoughtfully
“You sound as if you want this alliance.” Kelly said inquisitively
“I am a thinker Kel; I would love to encounter new ways to think.”
A buzzing noise came from his pocket. He lifted out the small device and read the message on the screen.
“I have to go, Jal wants to discuss this meeting more.” Harnor said in a hurried tone
“Say only nice things about me.” Kelly said with a smile
Kelly made her way to her old quarters. Level 1749; the second highest floor of the citadel. She stepped into an elevator which had a window, if she looked down she could see the jungle floor below, a mess of different shades of green spaning off into the horizon, she could make out the highway below for ground vehicles and reminisced about the time she spent on the open road during her pilgrimage fondly.
“1749, section 41.” She uttered
The Elevator began to move up the building quickly, the jungle below seemed to blur it was that fast. The lift stopped suddenly and the doors opened behind her. She stood out to see Quinn and Lone talking to the little avatar of the De’avalor that stood beside a larger male one.
“This citadel is almost designed like a ship; I see emergency bulk heads and structural integrity generators everywhere” Quinn said curiously
“These citadels were created to act as colony outposts initially, the first in production were about 75 hundred years ago. They have DSD and large thrusters; they have the ability to escape Thosia’s gravity well, go anywhere in the galaxy and land on any Matura class planet.” Dee said informatively
“It’s rather luxurious for a colony outpost... and big... and on your home world” Lone said with a smirk
“The Thosian high council decided that the ability for the whole race to be able to evacuate a planet was rather advantageous. So about 5 thousand years ago one of these citadels was built for each clan. As for the size, when a colony is set up the whole clan goes, when a clan gets too big it will often split into two clans, one retaining the mandate and name of the old, and a new one that may or may not maintain the mandate of the old which flies under a new banner.” The other AI said
“Hey Dee, since when can you project down here?” Kelly said pleasantly
“Quantum exchange interface, I can go to anywhere that can support an AI.” Dee said happily
“Yeah, and bother other AI’s.” The other AI said
“Oh you love it.” Dee said happily
“Yeah, I love a warship AI to pop round every afternoon that acts like a two year old.” He said sardonically
“Guys relax, Lone, Quinn, you guys settled?” Kelly interjected
“Yeah, we’ve gotten an ambassadorial suite across the hall from you.” Lone said
“Ok, I’m going to settle back in.” Kelly said
She walked the small distance to her quarters and paused outside of the door, again this was another place that she hadn’t seen in 28 years. She swiped the small controller to the left of the door and it slid open. She was met by the sight of her pristine room, the sleek white finish that the rest of the citadel had. She wiped her feet on the door mat she had placed outside so long ago to keep any dirt of the thick soft carpet. The walls were lined with shelves with trophies and medals on them. A few of them lay bear, the holster for her sword and the stand for her armour. As she walked in she approached the desk on the far wall and wiped her hand over it, a holographic display appeared with a complex console underneath. The display had a battle re-enactment paused for all this time.
“You know we never finished that game.” Dee said mockingly, appearing over the display
Kelly smirked as she walked by the desk, her hands dancing along the edge. She noticed a large object in the corner covered in a black sheet. Her heart skipped a beat as she approached the object. She pulled back the cover reviling what reminded Quinn of an old 21st century motor bike. Kelly knelt down and hugged the bike fondly
“Hey baby, did you miss me?” She said lovingly as she stroked the gas cylinder
“A fossil driven, archaic machine?” Lone said sceptically looking down at her tricorder.
Kelly stood and smirked at Lone “you have no idea who good this bike has been to me. I rode it on the open highway during my pilgrimage, best time of my life.”
“Yeah Lone, you should know that there’s nothing like a big black machine in between your legs.” Quinn said mockingly
Kelly looked back at Quinn with a humorous smirks
“Not even going to go there Quinn” Kelly said as she stood
She turned to around and saw Jal leaning against the door arch, staring at Kelly with a cold glare. Kelly met hers with the same. Tension filled the room, so thick that it could suffocate.
“Guys, you should leave.” Kelly said to Lone and Quinn
Without a fuss Lone and Quinn slinked out, Jal stepped forward allowing them to pass. She closed the door before she started.
“I have talked to the party; I need to know your plan.” Jal said coldly as she paced the room
Kelly sat down on a soft bed with black linen “Present my evidence, get reinstated and speak under the voice of Har’cos for nationalisation.” She said plainly, leaning forward and clapping her hands together
“You can’t show that evidence.” Jal said distantly as she admired a translucent ball of silver on one of the shelves. She touched it and a ripple travelled across the surface.
“Okay” Kelly said diplomatically “Why not?”
Jal looked at the daughter of her heart, not breaking composure but still admiring her. She could see the fire in her eyes, the desire to clear her name. She knew that she’d have to tread lightly or else she would cause problems for her.
“After that boarder fiasco we lost a lot of weight in the high council, we’re still strong but Lo’tar has a lot of sympathy votes after what happened.” Jal said, turning back to Kelly “It may create a civil war”
“And I take it an alliance with the Klingons is preferable to that?” Kelly said scepticly
“At least we will be one people.” Jal said with a heavy sigh
“But we will not be Thosian. Everything we are now will mean nothing; we will lose our soul.” Kelly said defiantly
“And what else do you purpose? If you came forward-“
Kelly stood proudly and interrupted “If I came forward with this data, I would clear my name, restore our much of our voice and weaken Lo’tar.” she said with fire in her eyes
This was not the woman she had left behind when she left 30 years ago. Her demeanour even now was that of a broken husk, her opinions like dust blowing in the direction of least resistance.
“Yes, but if Lo’tar lost that much standing in one go they may start a civil war out of panic. We will support your call to nationalisation, but now is not the time to regain your name.” Jal said
“Unity is important, but not as important as our soul. Sometimes we must fight to protect who we are Jal, if we don’t, now, we’ll never stop fighting, the Klingon’s will drive us into unending conflict, against the Federation, the Romulans, the Cardassians, and the finally, when no other enemy stands against us, we will fight amongst ourselves until we disappear into oblivion.” Kelly said forcefully
“We can use your data as a plan b. But please Kel, we have a plan, trust us.” Jal pleaded
Kelly stared at Jal with a calculating glare.
“What did Harnor say to this?” Kel said as she folded her arms
“He agrees, though he would like to see you cleared.” Jal said
Kelly paced the room for a second, thinking. Harnor was a very wise man and she never went wrong if she followed his advice. ‘Don’t show your hand’.
“Okay” Kelly said reluctantly “we’ll do it your way”
“Thank you niri.” Jal said with a relieved sigh “I’ll leave you to your quarters.”
Jal opened the door and walked out leaving Kelly in the room alone. Kelly reached into her pocket and grabbed the data stick and admired it for a second. She clasped it firmly sat back down.
“Your planning something aren’t you? Dee said appearing on one of the shelves, leaning on the random bits of equipment.”
“Me? Plan?” Kelly said in a pseudo defensive tone
***
Night had fallen a while ago. Kelly stood at her window; she had taken down the force field and was sucking in the crisp midnight air and nursing a warm mug of coffee. Her room overlooked the delta, on one side she had a view of the jungle and highway and on the other she could see the ocean. Lights danced around in the sky as shuttles went to and from the citadel. She looked down at the highway longingly; if she wasn’t exiled she would come here for shore leave and ride around the world, visiting the deserts, glaciers and planes of this world as she did when she was a pilgrim; nothing but the road and her bike on her mind.
Something in her peripheral vision caught her, a shine that she did not recognise. She went over to investigate, and tripped clumsily over the breast plate she had left strewn across the floor. She went over to her desk; a sliding door concealed a bathroom next to it, and admired the mysterious shine. The object was an old locket that belonged to her mother; she smiled nostalgically, thinking that she had lost it years ago. She felt something stir in the shadows behind her. As she turned to see, black hands passed over her face, bringing down a thin wire around her throat. She dropped her mug, the hot coffee scolded her feet but she ignored it. The assailant tossed her around violently. She felt her head get lighter as she gasped and fought. She managed to get footing on the wall and with desperation she ran up it and flipped over his head, pulling the figures hands behind him. She kicked him hard but he caught her foot before she could make contact and threw her into the wall. She fell on her desk. Remembering that this was where she had cast her combat knife she fumbled around for it as the shadowy figure tightened his grip on the gagroot. As he was about to pick her up again she slashed his face with the knife and he stumbled back. Kelly saw her phaser on the floor and leaped for it. With the phaser in her hand the figure backed out of the room, Kelly pursued but was winded and fell against the hall way wall, coughing and spluttering. She managed to raise her phaser in time to get a shot off, but the phaser made a sad noise and shutdown. Kelly regained her breath, looked at it with a frustrated expression and tossed it aside. Lonna stuck her head out of the ambassadorial suite with a shocked expression.
“What the hell was that?”She asked confused
“An assassin.” Kelly said firmly
She turned with stalwart conviction back to her quarters and began to don her armour. Lone popped her head around to see what was happening.
“You’re not going after him are you?” She asked concerned
“Lonna, someone wants me dead, I need to find out whom and kill him before he kills me.” Kelly said as she strapped her boots on.
As she walked out she grabbed a rifle that was sitting on a display case. She pulled back the stock and checked the clip and grabbed a few more from the side after she slung the rifle over her back. She then grabbed an old pistol from the same shelf and did the same before attaching the holster to her leg. Kelly made sure her sword was behind her and twitched it a strange way. A holographic display appeared over her eye and it showed a dot moving away from the citadel.
“Well how are you going to find him, the magnetic field of this planet makes scans difficult.”
“The combat knife I cut him with lightly irradiates on contact. I can see him; he’s already outside of the citadel.”
“Ok, why are you going after him with a damn projectile weapon?”
“Thosian projectile weapons are more effective that phasers.” Kelly said defensivly. She clicked a small toggle at the end of the barrel “see that? That phases projectiles so it passes though shields, but the shields destabilise the phase so it becomes solid again.” She clicked it off “Mass Accelerated Case-less DU or Tungsten rounds fired at a velocity of 7500 meters per second at a maximum fire rate of 1074 rounds a second, I haven’t seen a ground weapon that can do more damage.”
She pushed an ear piece into her ear and pressed down the button.
“Dee what do you reckon?” Kelly asked
“Target is moving at a speed of 180 kph along the HA-87 high way, the vehicle is a registered as a military grade mechanised armour transport, completely legal and on a planned delivery route. The target is probably stowing away.” Dee said appearing over the desk “I can hit it if you like; it is automated, no other life signs.”
“No, I want to interrogate this guy, not get him back.” She said walking over to her bike
She pulled a set of clear sunglasses from her desk and mounted her bike. She pushed a button on the side of the glasses; Lonna noticed some orange lights on the lens. Kelly placed her hands on the handle and pushed the start button. Lonna shielded her ears, not expecting the large sound.
“You’re going to mess up your carpet” Dee said
With a determined look Kelly pulled the throttle and revved the motor and pushed forward, she turned down the hall and into the service elevator.
“300, land based transportation hub.”
The elevator started to drop. The level indicator stopped at 1000 and the elevator opened up at a park area. Two Thosians were locking lips when the door opened and were stunned when they saw the fully armoured and armed high ranking Thosian exile, mounted on an old motor bike.
“You may want to wait the next one” Kelly said to the dumb struck couple as she reached forward to press the close button
The door closed and the lift continued, opening again on the right floor. She revved the engine hard and spun then wheel as she left the lift leaving behind her a trail of smoke. The bike accelerated quickly as Kelly navigated it through the various ramps and crowds with skill, often passing within inches of walking pedestrians. She came to a chamber with a parking bay and loading area as well as the highway on a second lower level. Kelly moved passed the dormant vehicles to the on ramp on the side. The high way was massive, 8 lanes on either side with a complex monorail system in the centre, with vehicles moving at incredible speeds along it. As she neared the entrance Kelly pushed the accelerator as far as it could go. 1200 cc’s of power pushed her forward fast enough so she entered the system at the correct speed, but she kept pushing it and pushing it until she reached a speed of three hundred and fifty. Soft traffic lights lit the road as she weaved in and out of the traffic, most of them floating close to the ground. A massive freighter truck ahead indicated to change lanes, expecting Kelly to slow down. Instead she kept going and passed underneath the vehicle as it merged.
“What’s my eta?” Kelly said to her ear piece
“You’re about 5 minutes out, if you don’t splatter yourself on the side of the road” Dee said though the small speaker in her ear.
Kelly continued, pushing harder and harder. The road ahead was blocked with traffic so with her powerful Thosian leg muscles she forced the bike into a jump. The bike came down on a small domestic, sedan like vehicle. The cars anti gravity drive, not anticipating the extra mass, dropped and skidded against the road. Sparks trailed behind it. The wheel spun on the roof of the car and Kelly launched off the roof and continued down the high way. She saw the transport as she got nearer; it was a large vehicle that took up two lanes and had a low platform around the side with a long cabin and container in the centre, several ladders and staircases surrounded the vehicle that allowed access to the cargo container. Kelly drove along side and pulled over onto the platform. She turned off the motor and dragged it as far over as possible. She noticed a small button on the side of the container, she pushed it down and a glowing band appeared around her bike. She walked over to a step ladder. She climbed up to the hatch and un-holstered her side arm. She pushed down a panel to the left of the hatch and it slid away with a whoosh. Kelly cautiously stepped forward, the glasses amplified the light and a redical danced around the lens as the micro computer scanned anomalous light and IF sources. Three large bipedal mechs sat in service alcoves, plugged into the vehicles power core. Tubes and wires low hung from the ceiling and the plating below Kelly’s feet clattered as she made her way forward. She used the pistol to push aside the cords. Steadily she checked the nooks in every single alcove. She heard a clank and the jingling of chains in the distance. She slowly approached, checking for movement in her peripherals as she approached. A black figure bolted and threw an object out of his hand. Kelly dove into one of the alcoves and shut her eyes tightly. The device detonated with a loud bang and a bright light. Kelly couldn’t hear anything but static, but she could still see. The figure strode towards her as she fought the vertigo from the blast. As he reached down to pick her up she dove at him and drive dim into the container wall. The figure kicked her off and ran for the open hatch. Kelly stumbled back, still attempting to force herself to keep her balance. She shook it off and chased after him, still unable to hear. As she left the container the assailant ambushed her again, kicking her down onto the lower platform. He jumped down as Kelly collected herself, noticing her pistol had left her hand. When he approached she kicked her legs hard off the ground and spun around on her head, kicking the figure in the head several times. He stumbled back, dazed. Kelly got to her feet, pulling out her combat knife as she did. The assailant pulled out a knife from a black satchel on his back and took up and defensive posture. Kelly gave him a respectful smirk as he lunged at her; she pulled back and allowed him to dive past him. She kicked him in the back of the knee as he dove past. He fell to his knees, and Kelly knocked his head with the handle of her knife. He struggled to stay upright and Kelly backed off, allowing him to get to his feet. The assassin raised his blade high and came down on Kelly who raised her arm. The gauntlet was scratched but aside from that she was undamaged. He attempted to get her again as his arm came back up but she blocked him again. From the side he tried again but Kelly continued to block, but gave up ground. She noticed the gun in the peripherals of her vision. Kelly slid her leg behind his and tripped him up, knocking him on his back. She dove for the gun and turned it on the assailant as he got to his feet. She rolled over and took aim. The Assailants head turned to the road behind her for a second. Kelly heard a car come along side her head. He jumped over her onto the car. Kelly pushed herself off the ground, holstered her weapon and ran along the platform, attempting to catch up. As the car passed her by she looked to her bike. She pushed the release and remounted it. The motor came to life and she punched it again. She closed in, dodging cars as she went. The assailant pulled out a small automatic pistol form a holster and began firing. The bullets pelted the road in front of Kelly, causing asphalt to lift up and hit her glasses. Kelly weaved, avoiding the fire, but making sure she didn’t take cover behind a bystander’s vehicle. She pulled out her side arm and did her best to steady her aim as she fired, but firing on a moving target in gale force winds while riding a motorbike and getting shot at was no easy feat. Still she managed to force him to take cover. She took a mental note of how many rounds she had fired and holstered her weapon. The assassin fired on the vehicle next to Kelly, causing one of the stabilisers to fail. The car’s bonnet dipped severely, causing the vehicle to hit the road. The car lifted up violently, Kelly observed out of her peripheral vision. She drove underneath the car as it rose and changed lanes. The airborne car came crashing down where she would have been. Kelly was safe but she had lost some ground. The vehicle the assassin was standing on began to pull over to the innermost lane, Kelly wondered why until she saw the monorail station in the centre of the highway. The car stopped and the assassin made a run for the train, jumping over a dividing wall. Kelly saw a dip in the wall, low enough that she could get a wheel on it. She punched it, driving up the narrow surface. She used all her concentration to maintain balance on the short stretch until the bike caught air. She flew over the track and landed on the loading platform. Kelly pulled the bike into the train as the assassin entered as well. She put on the breaks, lifted out her side arm and took aim in one fluid motion as she saw the assailant run towards the cabin. With a pause she fired at the assassin’s leg, causing him to stumble over. She dismounted, keeping her weapon trained on the assassin, and moved forward. Confused onlookers watched intently, some wondering if they should intervene. The doors closed and the train picked up speed. The assassin cradled his wound. Kelly approached, pushed her pistol to his head and pushed aside his hands, making sure she didn’t hit the femoral artery. She didn’t notice the assassin go into his pack.
“You’ll live” She said firmly turning back to the assassin “Who sent you?”
The assassin stayed quiet. Kelly didn’t break eye contact. She felt the assassin’s hand in his pack which her to look down to the assassin’s hands. He was holding a satchel charge and had just pushed the detonator. Kelly ripped it out of his hand and threw it down into the cockpit.
“Everyone down!” she yelled as the device detonated.
The train lurched up and then down as the rail underneath failed. Kelly desperately grabbed onto the nearest object as she began to fall, she looked up to make sure her bike wasn’t about to come down on her head; it was stuck underneath a side bench in the luggage area. The bystanders grabbed onto what they could. The train fell 300 meters, scraping against the various trees as it did. It hit the jungle floor below violently. Kelly was thrown violently against the ceiling as it settled. The world blacked out for a second.
As Kelly came too she coughed. She brushed the away the smoke from the fire that had started. She looked around for the assailant but couldn’t see him. She saw a blood train that she tried to make her glasses scan, but the display flickered. She gave the side of her head a hard wack and the glasses started to work properly. They showed an anomalous beta emission emitting at 15 hits a minute; the same element as the one her combat knife was coated with. She picked herself up and checked her weapons. The assault rifle checked out but she had lost her side arm. She lifted it up and activated the digital sight. Kelly then made her way out of the train and onto the jungle floor. Morning had just broken, soft light poured in though the high canopy above. She cautiously moved forward through the debris. Noise from the various fauna in the area made it difficult for Kelly to hear any heavy breathing. She continued though, navigating the tangled roots on the floor. The blood trail lead her to a large tree. She pushed the assault rifle hard into her shoulder as she came around it. The assassin was dead; the shot she had made had torn during the fall, ripping the femoral artery. Kelly lowered her weapon solemnly and reached for the assassin’s balaclava. She pulled it off and took note of the man’s tattoo. Kelly frowned as she recognised it as a Har’cos mark, smaller than hers but this man was defiantly her kinsman. Previously she would have thought the chances of a turn coat were imposable; but that’s what must have happened here. She reached around his neck and tore off a set of dog tags, even if he was a traitor his family deserved to know what happened to him. As she thought that the crunching on branched behind her caught her attention. She rolled out of the way just before a large metal fist came down on her, turning the assassin’s body into a fine red paste. The large mech, one of the ones from that transport, stood up, faced Kelly and lunged again. Kelly ducked and ran for cover, again narrowly avoiding the attack. She pulled behind a thick tree just as it opened fire with its large assault rifle. The bullets wiped past, Kelly felt the wind off one narrowly miss her head. The smaller plants splintered as the bullets struck them. Kelly popped back around and took aim as the mech broke fire. The bullets struck the hull of the mech, doing little more than chip off its white paint. The mech charged at the massive tree, striking it so hard that it was uprooted. Kelly dove out of the way, once again narrowly avoiding getting crushed. She jumped up onto the freshly fallen tree and ran along it, back at the mech. She jumped over it while it was regaining its balance and targeted the neck joint, hoping to sever it from its sensors. As she flipped she pointed the assault rifle at it and fired. The mech was hit on the back of the neck and began to stumble. Kelly landed just in time to block the mechs arm as it came crashing down on her head. She deflected the arm with her assault rifle, causing it to bend into a useless shape. The mech lay down defeated. Kelly cast aside her rifle and pulled out the sword that was attached to her back. As she did she hit a button that made the bladed side glow teal with plasma. She cut open the canopy and ripped it off; the pilot was the same as the assassin, Har’cos. The pilot stirred. Kelly punched her out as she heard the movement of more mechs nearby. Two of them took up a line, knelt and held their weapons. Kelly had just enough time to take cover behind the fallen mech before a hail of bullets obliterated her. When the fire had paused Kelly quickly checked on the pilot, one of the rounds had struck her in the face, taking most of it off. Kelly took cover once again as they resumed fire. She quickly looked around. They were too far away to make a mad dash to them, she’d be slaughtered. She looked around and saw a large tree that had a branch that connected to another tree nearer to them. With the next pause in fire Kelly made the dash. The mechs didn’t pick up fast enough to hit her; she took cover behind the tree and began climbing. The mechs had started firing once more, with the odd round making it trough the tree. Kelly reached the branch as the tree began to crumble and fall. She moved along the branch like a tightrope acrobat, even as it fell. As she neared the next tree she leapt, and grasped for the next branch. Her legs dangled down as she tried to pull herself up. The mechs turned and required just as she had established footing. The hail of fire vaporised the branch and she fell again. She dug her hands into the bark to slow her decent and hit the ground hard. She rolled away from the tree to attempt to recoil, but she fell into the line of fire of one of the mechs. With her sword in one hand she leapt left over a large root, and then right, avoiding the rounds as best she could. One grazed her thigh but she ignored it. When she got close enough the mech made a wild swing at her with it’s weapon. Kelly ducked, narrowly missing it, and thrust her sword into the mech. The plasma blade passed though the mechs armour like a hot knife through butter. Kelly continued her momentum up and pulled the blade with her, severing the mech into two pieces, along with its organic component. It fell just in time to protect Kelly from the last mechs retaliation. Hiding behind the fallen ones legs she looked to the top section of the fallen mech. The large gun arm of it was pointing directly at the final mech. When it paused to change its weapons ammo drum Kelly ran to it as best as she could. She had begun to take notice of the wound on her thigh. Kelly slid to the weapon as the mech clicked the drum into place. She grasped the large trigger with both hands and pushed hard against the grip with her legs. The lower, under-slung grenade, barrel fired. The projectile struck the mech’s abdomen, tearing it apart. Kelly took cover just as a piece of shrapnel struck her just below her eye. Once all the secondary explosions had ceased, Kelly sat up in the muddy jungle floor. She held the dog tag that she had ripped from the assassin and examined it solemnly.
This chase had brought up more questions than it had answered. Har’cos turncoats? Ambushing her? It was more than she could process at this stage. She was burnt, beaten and probably mildly concussed. Kelly pushed up off the muddy ground and limped back to the train wreck. In her peripheral vision she saw her bike resting against a tree. It was scratched and dented, but otherwise fine, a little like her. With a warm smile she righted it and started the engine. She mounted it and slowly made her way to a nearby on ramp.
Kelly lay down in one of her clan’s hospital regenerator beds, after much persuasion, to get the damage to her leg repaired. Massive bruising around a large missing chunk of her leg was a bit more than a dermal regenerator and a few hypo sprays could handle. The room was sterile white, with only a bed and a large machine with a robotic arm that moved around the room occupied it, aside from her and the attending Doctor. Blue beams of light passed over the wound, slowly materialising new tissue. Kelly fought the urge to flinch as; one by one; neurons became reattached to her central nervous system.
“You know, I can anesthetise the area until it’s fully healed and we can test out the new connections later; when there’s no pain.” The attending said in a sympathetic but almost mocking tone, noticing Kelly's subtitle winces.
“And what do you think my response to that is?” Kelly asked with an amused smirk
“Something along the lines of; ‘I’m a Har’cos warrior, I have things to do and won’t be slowed down by a little pain’.” The Doctor said using a very poor imitation
“Too right” Kelly said with a smirk
She noticed the clan tattoo on her cheek, she had the marking of a Har’cos initiate; a pilgrim from another clan who came to learn from hers.
“How long?” Kelly asked with a curious tone
“About an hour” the doctor said absent minded as her fingers danced along the devices control panel
“No” Kelly said shaking her head with an exasperated smirk “How long until your training’s completed?”
“Oh” She said taken aback by the question “Uh, I go on the rite tonight believe it or not.”
“Oh, really? In my experience a Hal’torak is rare.” Kelly probed
“Well, we healers apparently don’t like combat, but I liked the idea of treating injured soldiers. You know, a healer picks up a soldier off the battle field, treats him and they fall in love” the doctor said in a distant tone
Kelly laughed “You’re a romantic, a hopeless one at that.”
The door slid open and Jal stepped into the room with a motherly smile concealing a look of concern. The doctor blushed; going a funny shade of purple, and diligently returned to her work.
“How are you doing?” She asked warmly, walking up to the bed
“Only a flesh wound.” Kelly said with a smile, laughing inwardly at the reference
“She’ll be up and about in an hour” the doctor said cautiously
Jal turned to the doctor and glared
“Speak when spoken to; initiate” She said in an authoritative tone
Kelly watched her matriarch, taken aback. Jal turned back to her, regaining her pleasant demeanour.
“Kel, there’s a rite ceremony tonight. Since you’ve never presided one before I thought you might like to.” She said
“Of course.” Kelly said in a confused and cautious tone
“What?” Jal asked
“Uh, nothing.” She said attempting to deflect the question “I would be quite honoured”
“Good” Jal said happily “I leave you to recuperate.”
“Wait” Kelly said as Jal turned to leave
She reached into her armour’s pocket, which hung off the head of the bed, and pulled out four dog tags.
“These families should be notified” she said solemnly, holding out the tags
“What?” Jal said dumbstruck
“My assailants were Har’cos” Kelly said plainly with a look that said she wasn’t ready to discuss it
She turned and left. Kelly looked at the doctor with a confused look.
“Ok, what was that about?” Kelly asked
“What do you mean?” The doctor said confused as she continued to adjust settings on the machine
“Ow” Kelly said as a particular nerve cluster reactivated “the way she talked to you.”
“She’s always been like that, ever since I came to the citadel” the doctor said in a solemn tone
“How long ago was that?” Kelly asked with a thoughtful tone
“25 years ago”
Kelly lay back with a thoughtfully disturbed look on her face. Perhaps Jal wasn’t the immovable object Kelly always though she was; perhaps events had made her untrusting of other clans. But she wasn’t the woman she left behind 30 years ago. ‘Traitor at the heart of things’, no, she didn’t even want to think that. She had just taken her exile hard, that’s all. That assassination was organised by Lo’tar and Nolan Vadam. Quinn came in and disturbed her train of thought.
“Ok, I just had a look at your bike, oh and you don’t need to thank me.” Quinn said with a superior smirk
Kelly lay back and rolled her eyes “Thank you Quinn” she said in an exasperated tone
“Yes. Anyway, I wouldn’t be able to believe that you could do that to such a beautiful machine if I didn’t already know you. But the good thing is that most of the dings and dents are just body damage, the motor and all the important parts are still good. I’ve been working with the mechanics here and I reckon we can have it fixed by this arvo.”
Kelly looked at her engineer with a happy smile “I knew I kept you around for some reason.” She winced again “thanks Quinn.”
“You can thank me by letting me have a ride round the block on that thing. Seriously; I would kill to have one of those.” Quinn said
Kelly lay back with a smile “I’ll think about it. You can at least tell the mechanics to move it to the landing pad with the rest of the things I’m taking back.”
“Understood ma’am” Quinn said; a little disappointed
“You can ride it over.” Kelly said rolling her eyes
Quinn stepped out of the room, giving Kelly a thankful smile as he left. Kelly lay back with a satisfied smirk, which suddenly change to a wince the next time one of her nerve clusters shot off again.
***
Mid day had struck and the small group undergoing the rite was awaiting their ‘elder’ on a cat walk that hung above the lowest habitat ring. Below them was a maze of live fire ranges and arenas where small squads were practising a variety of tactics. Kelly paused as she walked to the group and looked down. She saw a group of Thosian children, no older than 10, undergoing their first day of clan training. She smiled nostalgically as one of the children tried the drill instructors patience with some childish comment. She looked the next area where an older group was practicing a breach and clear manoeuvre. One of the cadets didn’t check a room properly and his drill instructor came out of a dark corner and knocked him down. The woman then took knocked down the rest of the small squad within seconds. After the final cadet was knocked down she helped pick him up and laughed at him.
“Interesting” Lonna said thoughtfully
The anthropologist within Lonna demanded that she come along on this excursion. Kelly looked at Lonna with an amused smirk.
“A little different from Starfleet basic; right?” Kelly said looking back out at the training floor
Lonna smirked back at Kelly who nodded in the direction of the ridged cadets, waiting to move out. She walked and stood in front of the group of ten men and women that had acquired the skill to proceed. They wore simplistic civilian clothing and carried only a combat knife. While they stood ridged; Kelly could still feel the warmth coming off them; they had finally come to the final step of a long journey and were ready to take their place as defenders. She motioned for them to follow her as she pressed a control on the side of the cat walk and a platform moved so quickly to her feet that if she didn’t know better she’d think it was transported to her feet. She stepped on and the cadets followed. She saw the young doctor among them and gave her a friendly smile. The doctor almost broke composure as she stepped on. Kelly walked over to the platform’s console and activated its destination. An inertial dampening field activated, causing the platform’s surroundings to ripple and dance along the field’s perimeter. The platform started, instantly reaching incredible speeds, blurring the arenas and then the long halls and corridors until the platform came out of the habitat ring and above the ‘depression’; a seemingly bottomless hole beneath the citadel that housed the geothermal power plants, the massive engines and the DSD systems. They finally came to a loading area on the far side of the chasm and the platform stopped. Kelly stepped off and the cadets followed. Even though the loading area was mainly disused, it was still well maintained. It was in stark contrast to the discarded ancient concrete structures that surrounded it; a remnant of the urbanisation over ten thousand years ago. Most of the taller buildings had fallen years ago, but some still stood defiantly; higher than the jungle canopy. Massive roots twisted through some of the larger buildings and poked up though the broken asphalt on the ground. Lonna stood in awe. Kelly put her hand on her shoulder to bring her back to reality. She then beckoned the group to follow her.
They walked down the ancient boulevard cautiously; the jungle still held danger. Lonna walked closely to Kelly and tapped her shoulder.
“So, that council meeting is tomorrow” Lone said inquisitively
“Yeah” Kelly said distantly as she pushed a large fern out of her way
“I was just wondering how they’re set up” Lonna said in a innocent tone
Kelly smirked warmly “What exactly is it that you want to know?” she asked
“Well, let’s start with this party thing. How does that work?”
Kelly pulled out her sword and began hacking the flora away as it got denser.
“Well, back when we were tribal, different tribes formed alliances.” Kelly paused as a particularly angry snakelike creature lunged at her. With the reflexes of a cat she grabbed it in mid flight and snapped its neck. “Eventually, as agriculture and art developed, tribes became specialised. Obviously as a warrior clan we hunted game and defended the others. Tribes became bigger and bigger, becoming clans and the alliances became nations. Industrial revolution brought war as it normally does, and then enlightenment. Now the nations are parties... a clan is like a province of a nation, a party is the elected representatives from each clan that deal with issues only concerning the party as a whole and the high council is concerned with issues that affect the entire race.”
“So kind of like a state, federal, global thing then?” Lonna simplified
“There you go” Kelly said as she continued to hack
“What about all this?” She asked as she looked around at the dilapidated buildings
“I told you that one day we all decided to live in citadels? Well this is what happed to the structures we left behind. Without people to maintain them, Thosia has reclaimed them.”
They finally broke their way into an ancient intersection. Overgrown; like the rest but the tall trees and large plants shrunk in size to permit a clearing. Kelly stepped forward but then something stopped her; she felt hostile eyes on her. She motioned for the group to hold while she moved forward with slow deliberate steps. She saw eyes glaring at her from beyond a line of tall reads and heard a low growl. It steadily grew louder until the beast burst from its hiding place. It lunged at her; Kelly narrowly avoided its gaping mouth. It landed and circled her. Two more jumped down from one of the buildings windows and joined in. They all growled loudly. The group Kelly was escorting was about to move forward and assist but Kelly warded them away. Lonna obeyed. Even though she was a scientist; she was willing to jump in front of a phaser burst for her CO. She looked at the creatures. They reminded her of cougars but had a series of small little horns that ran along their backs and above their eyes and had jet black fur. Kelly’s eyes darted from beast to beast. She noticed a black tribal mark on one of the creatures eyes.
“Mara?” she said confused, dropping her guard for a second
The creature paused and cocked its head in a confused manner. One of the creatures lunged and knocked Kelly down and thrashed her about. Mara lunged at the attacking beast, pushed him away, and took up a defensive posture. She started growling at the other two, warding them off. Their primitive noises almost sounded like a conversation. The one that Mara had lunged at barked and growled as if to say “what the hell”. Mara barked back, using a lower less aggressive tone. The other two looked at each other and jumped away with annoyed looks on their faces. Mara sat down in front of Kelly, waiting for her to get to her feet. She looked at the group following Kelly, who had all taken aggressive postures, with curiosity.
“Well that’s a nice way to say hi” Kelly said getting to her feet.
Mara stood back up and looked at Kelly. She then proceeded to brush past Kelly like a domestic house cat who wanted attention. With a warm smile Kelly knelt down to eye level with Mara and stroked her face.
“Yes I know; I missed you to.” Kelly said warmly
The beast seemed to take offense to this and hit Kelly with its massive paw. It growled with an annoyed tone.
“I know it’s been 30 years, but it wasn’t my choice!” Kelly said defensively, stumbling back a bit
Mara lowered her head and solemnly growled a few soft noises.
“If I could have brought you with me I would have Mara, but I had to leave then and there, I didn’t have time to find you... I’m sorry” Kelly said apologetically
Mara leaned in and rested her head on Kelly’s shoulder, allowing Kelly embrace her tightly.
“I did miss you” Kelly said softly
Mara pulled back and quickly licked Kelly’s face. Kelly pulled back in disgust.
“After all this time Mara...” Kelly said wiping the slobber off her face “I know where that tongue has been.” She finished in an annoyed tone
Mara sat down and made her eyes big with a sad puppy dog expression.
Kelly smirked “you still know all my buttons aye?” she said
The big cat stood and waged its tail with a happy expression on its face. Lonna stood in awe of the exchange. She looked back to the Thosians in the group and they all shared the same awestruck look. Kelly turned around and laughed to herself when she saw the expression of the others upon her. Lonna approached and reached out to touch the beast. Mara growled as she got closer.
“Uh... I wouldn’t do that if I was you.” Kelly warned
“Fascinating” Lonna said with the same awed expression “Why does she let you touches her and not others?” she asked with her eyes lighting up.
“Because she’s like a very close sister to me and you’re just a stranger. You don’t go up and start patting a stranger on the head. Personal space Lonna” Kelly said plainly
“But you’re able to understand her as well?”
Kelly looked at Mara with a mocking smirk “What? I only understand half of what she says.” Kelly laughed “No, we have a way of communicating... I don’t really understand it myself. The old tales talked of a Huntress being able to ‘spirit bond’, but I; mean that’s crap. We just have an understanding.”
“Ma’am, bonding with an Untar is said to be a lost art.” The doctor said
“On the first night of my rite, a hungry orphaned Untar attacked me, did a number on my arm. I knocked her out and just as I was about to kill it something stopped me.” Kelly said
Mara growled softly and rolled her eyes.
“I tied her up and lay her next to my campfire. When she awoke I said ‘We’re both out here, on our own. Rather than killing one another for a meal, why don’t we work together?’ She saw wisdom and we hunted together. Mara was pretty useless at the start but as she got a bit older and we hunted together she became cunning and dangerous.” Kelly said proudly. She looked down at Mara inquisitively “were those two yours?” she asked
The cat seemed to smile proudly. Kelly smiled warmly back at her.
“That level of intelligence is amazing for a predator.” Lonna said
“Untar are exceptionally intelligent, though I think Mara well above the benchmark.” Kelly said stroking Mara’s head
Mara moved it around in Kelly’s hand and purred happily.
“Ok, enough exposition; cadets form up!” Kelly said in an authoritive tone clapping her hands
She jumped up onto a large concrete retaining wall and waited for the cadets to form up.
“Ever since the first thought crossed though a Thosians mind we have strove to conquer our planet. What you see around you is the stagnant remains of a people who thought they had. Mother Thosia cannot be conquered. We live in citadels that transcend her laws but we do not rule her.” Kelly began to pace “You are here because it’s time to see if you understand this. The skills bestowed onto you will help you survive over the next year, but they will not save you if you’re unwilling to work with Thosia. This is how we prove that we are ready to perform our duty to or allies, prove that we are ready to defend them from those who would wish to conquer Thosia.” Kelly stopped pacing and glared at the cadets “You will hunt and forage and in a year’s time you will return home; you will be victorious and become Har’cos warriors.” Kelly finished and the cadets let sound the Har’cos Motto.
“By the right and dignity of the sword; we are always faithful.” They cried as the moved off
The doctor back and waited to speak to Kelly. She had an anxious look on her face as Kelly approached.
“Is something wrong cadet?” Kelly said with a warm smile
“No, well yes ma’am.” She stammered
“Well, out with it.” Kelly said with the same warm smile
“I realise your still exiled and when this whole mess blows over you’ll be leaving again, for good this time.” The doctor said
Kelly looked slightly disheartened, and the beast at her foot looked at her confused.
“Yes, that’s probably going to be the case.” Kelly said
“When I finish this, can I come with you?” She asked
“Don’t you want to go back to your clan?”
“Kind of, but I always wanted to be fore front of medicine. Since you’re out there I thought I could come with you, do some good. And it would be an honour to serve with you ma’am” The doctor said happily
“Really?” Kelly said thoughtfully “And why is that?”
“Well, I mean you’re young but have already done so much. I mean a fleet general and next matriarch at the age of 50, that’s unheard of. And the exile, and the Untar –“
Kelly interrupted “you mean you want to come with me because of the prophecy?” Kelly asked in a slightly annoyed tone.”
“Not at –“
Kelly cut her off again “I’m not looking for worshipers, and I’m not looking for adventurers who want to be part of the tale. Get the hell out of here.” She said angrily
The doctor walked off with a disheartened look on her face. Kelly thought for a second; they had been using the EMH up until now, they could use a doctor and she did seem to know her stuff. Kelly laughed to herself; the brash folly of the mother of her heart may have made her quick to judge.
“I don’t think I caught your name” Kelly called after the doctor
“Yelena” she called back
“Yelena, I’ll think about it” Kelly said
The Doctor turned back with her optimistic demeanour restored. The cat at Kelly’s feet patted her foot for attention. Kelly looked down and saw Mara’s sad eyes looking back at her.
“Yes, I’ll probably not be coming back.”
Mara growled mournfully.
“Oh, don’t do that. You’re more than welcome to come with. I mean it would be a change from the jungle.”
Mara gave Kelly a smile and nodded towards the Untar that was observing room from a buildings window.
“Your own responsibilities; aye? I understand.” Kelly said with a mournful smile
She embraced Mara once more and then left with Lone in toe.
_________________
Things that Skippy can't do
#77: The MP checkpoint is not an Imperial Stormtrooper roadblock, so I should not tell them “You don’t need to see my identification, these are not the droids you are looking for.”
Kelly and Lonna reached the citadel just as dusk fell. Kelly walked with an uplifted expression while Lonna had pulled out her tricorder and was scanning the ruins, which she put away when the sentries came in to view. About 5 mechs and 10 foot soldiers stood watch at the old loading zone. Kelly became wary as she passed them; she hated the fact that a group of her own brothers and sisters tried to kill her last night. They passed through without a fuss and stood back on the platform. Dee appeared alongside them as they travelled back over the pit.
“Kel, I have some... well your looking much better” She said, noticing Kelly’s more positive disposition.
“Undoubtedly you have something to ruin that though.” Kelly said with a smile
“Well, I don’t know to be honest.” Dee said thoughtfully “I have a code 78 Starfleet message addressed to you. I set up a suite to trick the message into opening, but then it needed a biometric input. I could have bypassed it but I thought I owe you a chance to let me take a look” She said with an almost mocking smile
Kelly rolled her eyes. “Code 78 is Starfleet captain’s eyes only message. You can’t see it.” She said with an exasperated tone
“Look, either I look at it Jotun does.” Dee said plainly “I can block him from monitoring the room and communication arrays.” She said as she dropped below Kelly, looked up at her and made her eyes wide. “Please” she begged
Kelly pouted with a thoughtful expression. “Ok, but you can’t talk and you can’t tell anyone what you hear.”
The avatar took on a serious look and saluted “Understood, sir!” she said at attention.
Kelly quirked an eye brow and Dee smiled childishly.
***
“Secure terminal verified; please enable voice print.” The monotone LCARS voice said
“No emotion. They castrate their systems in such a way?” Dee said thoughtfully
“Dee, quiet.” Kelly said
Kelly was about to speak her code just as she heard an angry man at her door
“Dee, you can’t put in limiting security protocols without my ok.” The Citadels AI yelled though the door
Dee flew over to the door and stuck her holographic head though it
“What are you going to do about it?” Dee said in a condescending tone
Kelly walked over and opened the door.
“Jotun, I have a private message. I need the protocols to avoid it being over heard under the intelligence directive.” Kelly said plainly
“Kel, with all due respect, you are no longer part of the Thosian Military; you don’t get to cite Har’cos intelligence directives.” Jotun said with an annoyed tone
Dee fumed. With an angry motion she seemed to dispel Jotun. The hallway’s lights flickered as the AI’s emitters failed.
“Dee, what the hell did you do?” Kelly asked taken aback
“Just threw up a couple thousand barrier mazes.” Dee said. She looked down at Kelly, bemused at her expression. “What? He was out of line” she said defensively “It will only hold him up for a few minutes any way.”
Kelly turned around with an amused expression. She walked back over to the console which was still standing by.
“Zor’ah, Hotel, Sierra, 729.” Kelly said placing her hands on the desk and leaning forward
“This is a code 78 transmission, a top secret communiqué between officers with class 10 security clearance or higher. You are not to discuss the information within this transmission with any subordinate or uninvolved officer. Do you understand and agree to comply with these conditions?”
“Yes, yes” Kelly said impatiently
The federation symbol vanished from the screen and Captain Vernis appeared on the screen. He tapped his hand impatiently on his desk.
“Well you took your damn ti-“ He paused when he noticed that Kelly’s surroundings were not federation. “You’re not on the Kusanagi?”
“And here I thought section 31 knew everything” Kelly said sardonically
“Not the time Captain. What’s the condition of this transmission?” He asked forcefully
Kelly paused thoughtfully as she searched her mind for the correct call sign. “Uh, Violet; counter sign?” she said, attempting to follow procedure
“Indigo.” The captain replied. He lent forward and took a hesitant sigh. “Kelly, we have reasonable evidence to suggest that the Thosian high council is compromised.”
“How so?” Kelly said, quirking a sceptical eyebrow
“We had a federation ship run a scan though this sector this morning. They found a communication carrier wave. We were unable to decrypt it.” Vernis said
Kelly lent back folded her arms and sighed heavily “So? It was probably a military communiqué to one of the ships in the field. Just because you couldn’t decrypt it doesn’t mean that it’s from a traitor.” Kelly said shrugging her shoulders
“Please Captain, Thosian military communication protocols aren’t any more complex than Starfleet’s. We could crack a Thosian algorithm in a matter of minutes.” Vernis said, almost as if he was hurt “No, what peaked or suspicion was the almost organic nature of the carrier wave and its destination, a fluidic nebula about 3 LY away.”
“Fluidic nebula?” Kelly said thoughtfully.
“Yes, all of these things are constant with a species 8472 informant.”
Kelly stood silently, not breaking her composure.
“Captain? You can’t trust anyone, understood?” Vernis said forcefully
“Understood.” Kelly said solemnly.
She put her finger to the disconnect button and pressed it. Dee came flying though the wall behind the console with a deeply offended look on her face.
“Matter of minutes, yeah right, I bet they’ve never intercepted one of my transmissions” Dee ranted
Kelly ignored her completely. She walked over to her bed and sat with the same thoughtful look on her face, almost as if she was in shock.
“Hey, Kel? Anything wrong?” Dee said sympathetically as she flew over to her side
Kelly looked to the AI with a deeply disturbed look. “Dee, you can’t tell anyone what you just heard.” She said forcefully
“Well, we should tell Jal.” Dee said pausing thoughtfully “Wait, you don’t think?”
“I” Kelly stammered “I don’t know, Jal hasn’t been acting like herself.”
“Yes but, I mean she changed when you left. She took your exile very hard.”
“That’s what I’ve been thinking, but we can’t take the chance.” Kelly said
“She could suspect something; her change might be defensive against the threat.” Dee said optimistically
“I’m not going to rule that out, I’m not ready to rule anything out.” Kelly paused thoughtfully. She then looked up at Dee with pleading eyes “Dee, I need you to promise me; you won’t tell anyone what you just heard.”
“Kel?” Dee asked
“Nolan is still the number one suspect. But please, let me handle this.” Kelly pleaded softly
Dee looked at Kelly almost like a mother looks at a daughter; a soft smile that she gives the day she releases that her daughter has grown up.
“I trust you Kel; I promise that I won’t tell anyone.”
Kelly collapsed into her own lap with a heavy relived sigh. “Thank you Dee.” She said softly
***
It was still the wee hours of the morning, a fact that Quinn was all too willing to remind them as they boarded the small transport for the Thosian capitol. The cramped looking VTOL shuttle craft was surprisingly well furbished. The two walls were lined with well upholstered seats and several viewing portholes. A variety of sockets poked out of the bulkhead allowing a direct hard link to the shuttles communication array and soft incandescent lights gave the sterile white interior a less harsh appearance. About 5 minutes after takeoff Quinn had fallen back asleep and had slumped on to Lonna’s shoulder, who didn’t seem to notice. She had pulled out a PADD and continued to furiously type notes, probably for an anthropology report to the Daystrum Institute. Kelly hadn’t said a word since they boarded. She had barely slept as she continued to run everything though her mind; Jal’s actions, her behaviour, anything that might indicate whether or not she was an 8472 infiltrator. They were now 2 hours into the journey. The vast jungles of the Devron province were far behind them now. They had flown over a tall mountain range, desert and finally an ocean before the capitol came into view. It was a cluster of three structures very similar to the Har’cos citadel; wide based spires consisting of 3 large support beams converging at the apex with concentric habitat rings with diminishing diameters going up the supports, but they were linked by a bridge that converged in-between the cluster. From that hung an inverted triangular pyramid structure that would hold the high council during discussions. The small shuttle came to a landing pad on the highest habitat ring of one of the structures. 3 more landed adjacent and the rest of the Devron party disembarked. Kelly followed the group while making sure to keep her distance; she didn’t want to give Jal any indication that she was suspected of being an 8472 informant. They entered the pristine halls of the capitol that were identical to those of the Har’cos citadel. They eventually came to the sky bridge that would take them to the large central chamber. Lonna and Quinn admired the view of the council chamber as they moved closer. The suspended structure seemed to defy the laws of structural physics; no support beams or graviton emitters visible to hold it in place, only the thin sky bridges held it up. The small group was joined by more and more finely robed individuals as they walked. The hallway eventually opened up into a waiting chamber; lifts lined the walls that would take the parties down to their seats in the massive chamber underneath or to a private office where they could hold private conferences and simplistic thick white pillars. Kelly’s group stopped near their lift. She approached Jal, feeling that she needed to test the waters a bit.
“You going to let me in on the plan?” Kelly asked politely
“I honestly don’t know Kel.” Jal replied thoughtfully. She continued to looked forward; away from Kelly
Kelly winced, she dropped her head with an exasperated expression and wiped her forehead whither her palm.
“High matriarch, with all due respect, that’s not good enough.” Kelly said in an exasperated tone
Jal turned to face Kelly with repressed rage
“And what is good enough for the exile?” Jal asked, putting condescending emphasis on exile
Kelly winced again. It could have been a defensive posture, she could suspect something herself, but Jal would never have held her exile against her under normal circumstances.
“Some idea of a game plan; mingling with the other parties to figure out their standing” Kelly said defensively.
“So what? You’re a damn politician now?” Jal said sardonically
“You!” Kelly stopped herself, realising that she had raised her voice “You groomed me for the position of high matriarch for 20 years.” She said lowering her tone “And you’re skirting the question.”
Kelly noticed Ripa standing coming from the other side of the chamber. She shot him a look that told him to keep his distance. Jal noticed her quick shift in glance and began to turn. Kelly grabbed her arm and stopped her.
“Mother of my heart, answer my damn question! If we have no plan how can we expect to maintain our independence?” Kelly said forcefully
Jal jerked her arm free “What is it that thing that Harnor says? Keep your hand to yourself until the last bets been placed?” Jal said in a condescending tone
Kelly looked away thoughtfully. Jal gave her an angry glare as she turned to walk off. Kelly reached into her pocket and lifted something out. She opened up her hand and looked at the cylindrical data storage device thoughtfully.
“Yes.” She said to herself softly
Ripa stepped forward towards her. “I take it we’re not going to well niri.” He said pleasantly
Kelly looked up; slightly startled. She smiled warmly at her father.
“Jal doesn’t seem to trust me. I can’t really do anything unless I know what she’s planning, it’s her show.” She said plainly, looking distantly after Jal
“But you’ve got a backup plan, right?” he said concerned
“I have a contingency, yes.” Kelly said with a cryptic smile
“Anything that you need me to do?” Ripa said in a sincere tone
Kelly fought the urge to look at him suspiciously. He was in a position to order the assassination, to manipulate Jal into abnormal behaviour. She smiled reassuringly at her father
“It’s nothing that you can help with.” She said thoughtfully. “Just follow my lead if anything goes down.” She said with a smirk
Ripa put a loving hand on her shoulder.
“Ok Niri, I trust your judgement.” He said warmly
He turned and walked off to join Jal and the rest of the group. Kelly let go of a heavy sigh. She hated this; she was not a spook, she was a soldier, a warrior, a guardian. This cloak and dagger, not knowing who she could trust BS would have been hard enough if the top suspects weren’t her closest relatives. She straightened up with resolve; she was a guardian, and if she was to protect her people she needed to adapt. She walked off, away from the party, towards the guest lift.
“Kel, wait!” another familiar male voice came from behind her
A handsome man, with black hair and a large clan mark approached her.
Kelly let off another heavy sigh as she turned around.
“Nolan.” She said with repressed hostility
“It’s been a while” he said with a cautious smile
“Yeah, I wonder why that is.” Kelly said with sarcasm
“I deserve that.” Nolan said solemnly
“No, you deserve a hell of a lot more.” Kelly said with hostility as she turned to walk off
“Wait Kel, what if we recanted?” Nolan asked
Kelly stopped and turned to the man and glared at him.
“Why would you recant?” Kelly said sceptically
“Believe it or not, you’re a religious icon to many of the members here. If you supported an alliance with the Klingons it would solidify our position.” He said
“You think that is a good incentive?” Kelly said, scoffing
“You’d be allowed back on Thosia on a permanent basis, as a leader.” Nolan explained
“I’d still be exiled from my home.”
“What do you mean?” Nolan asked
“You never got it, did you? The Klingons are not what we are, if we become allied with them we will lose our selves to them.” Kelly said forcefully
“We are warriors, the Klingons are –“
Kelly stopped him “We are warriors, Thosia is so much more. Philosophy, science, medicine-“
“ The Klingons have all those things.” Nolan said defensively
“Not like we do Nolan. We have a completely different code of honour, we don’t kill senselessly, and we don’t fight pointless battles.” Kelly paced quickly back and forth with a frustrated expression. She then turned back to him with an angry glare “you think that once they’re done with the federation and the Romulans you think they’ll stop there? You know what will happen? Once the entire galaxy is defeated they’ll turn on themselves.”
“You’re wrong, you’ve been fighting this war from Starfleet’s perspective for the last 30 years; your view is tainted.” Nolan said in an almost condescending tone
“Let’s say you’re right, and I have a skewed view on things; it’s irrelevant. I made a pledge to protect the federation and its interests. I won’t null a false accusation by losing my honour. If I did that I’d deserve exile.”
“Null a false accusation!?!” Nolan exclaimed “You nearly decimated my clan!”
“Your clan broke the line! It was a choice between destroying your fleet or going to war with a foreign nation.” Kelly said defensively
“They were about to attack!”
“And if they had-“ Kelly stopped herself “you know what Nolan, I’m not wasting my time. You proved to me that day that you would never understand.”
“And who are you to say I don’t understand? One who was exiled!”
Kelly glared at Nolan with anger. She clenched her fist and repressed the urge to punch him. Control she thought silently to herself. She unclenched her fist, turned calmly and walked off.
Lonna and Quinn followed closely as Kelly stepped onto the lift. Nolan glared at her; Kelly sent him back a calm look, as if he was just another stranger staring at her. As the door slid shut Kelly let go of an exasperated sigh. She didn’t know what to feel at that moment; Nolan was more manipulative than she remembered, but behind his accusations and manipulation she sensed panic. She was angry at herself for ever feeling anything for him, proud of herself for coming to the correct conclusion, scared that he was a panic stricken manipulative leader, hopeful because those traits could betray him. She decided to be relived; a confrontation she needed for 30 years was behind her, what had to be said had been said.
***
They stepped out of the lift onto a small circular platform that stuck out of the council chambers wall. 5 comfortable looking seats occupied the centre of the platform, each with its own table and a small holographic display with a long list of dishes that one could order; without molecular transportation, and by extension replicator technology, they had to rely on cooked food made by a catering staff in the bowels of the council building. Kelly looked around the massive chamber; it matched the contours of the external structure, being an inverse triangular pyramid. Hundreds of circular platforms, identical to Kelly’s, lined the walls. Each one would hold a party for the duration of the meeting. In the centre a large disc like object hung from the ceiling. It was split in half down through its equatorial centre, with consoles and seats for staff to take down the minutes and control the various floating cameras that would make their appearance once the meeting got underway. Kelly looked at Lonna and Quinn with an amused expression, once again awestruck at the sight of the engineering expertise of her people.
“You guys keep doing that your jaws are going to lock.” Kelly said with a mocking smile
Lonna and Quinn snapped out of it. The chamber slowly filled with other dignitaries. Kelly looked left and up, the next platform to hers was the Devron party’s. She saw Jal and Harnor take their seats. The noise in the room slowly got louder and louder as chatter increased. Kelly sat down as it started. An image of a young looking woman, by human standards, appeared on a massive holographic display in below the control structure. a low tone sounded and the chattery echoes died down.
“This meeting has begun. We are gathered here to once again discuss the path our race must take.” The speaker said in an official tone. “As a special guest we have Ambassador Kel Zor’ah of Starfleet.” Kelly winced at the omission of her clan name.
“I object to the presence of this exile.” One of the dignitaries said on the other side of the chamber as one of the cameras flew over to her. “Kel Zor’ah has no place on this planet and no say in the future of our people”
“Kel Zor’ah was treated unfairly, she didn’t have a chance to defend herself, and even the testimonies of the other clans in the formation were ignored.” Said another
Kelly rose to her feet, she shielded her eyes as a hovering camera shone a light in her face.
“I am here as an agent of Starfleet, nothing more. Under tradition any ambassador, regardless his or her personal and national relation with Thosia, has been able to speak before an assembly.” Kelly said forcefully
“Starfleet did pick a rather opportune time to send a well informed dignitary.” Another council member said sceptically.
“I won’t mince words then.” Kelly said with a smirk “Starfleet would like me to promote an alliance with the federation as opposed to the Klingons.”
“So; the prodigal daughter has turned.” Said the same council member in a patronising tone, cutting off Kelly
“Allow me to finish.” Kelly said; mimicking the tone “I am not here to push that agenda, I have come promote Nationalisation. Thosia has no place getting involved in this war.”
“I agree.” Another council member said “We have seen firsthand what happens when we get involved in battles that aren’t our own.”
“Yes” another said “We came very close to falling when the Preservers did.”
“It is still unclear as to what exactly happened when the Preservers left.” Harnor said “But Kel is right, we have no place in another battles.”
“The Jolinar representative will know his place, and not speak on matters of defence.” The speaker said
“Wait.” Kelly said thoughtfully “This is an alliance between Thosia and the Klingons, it involves a cultural exchange as well as joint defence. Harnor should be able to speak on the wisdom of this alliance.”
“Very well; I retract my reprimand, but tread lightly Harnor.” The Speaker said humbly
Harnor stood and approached the railing. “As Kel said, this is much more than a military collaboration; we will be exchanging culture and technology. I would suggest that this warrants an Indo’vancor.”
Loud murmurs and a few outraged cries could be heard at his proposal
“What’s an ‘Indo’vancor’?” Lonna asked softly
“It’s where each individual clan gets its own vote, instead of one vote per party.” Kelly said
“There will be order in this council!” the speaker bellowed. The room fell silent once more “I agree with the Jolinar Patriarchs assessment, this will be an Indo’vancor vote.”
The loud chattering was audible again
“It doesn’t matter” Nolan said proudly, rising to his feet. “Most here will realise that the Klingons embody everything that we are.”
“That’s a bit narrow minded Nolan” Kelly said in a patronising tone, looking up to the Lo’tar platform “Putting aside the fact they have a drastically different honour system to that of the guardian clans, not every clan is a guardian clan.”
Nolan smiled down at her. “They are not just warriors, they are poets and philosophers. We would be enriched if we joined them.”
Kelly looked out at the council “The Klingons are those entire things yes, but they are all warriors first, and those who aren’t are marginalised. Here, Artisans, philosophers, healers, engineers and guardians are respected equally and work in harmony. The Klingons only work in harmony when they are fighting something external, if there was no federation the chance is they’d be fighting amongst themselves.”
“That’s not true, the Klingons are only fighting to reclaim planets conquered by the federation” Nolan pleaded
“Yes, that is true, but those planets were then fairly declared federation territory in the Khitomer Accord.” Kelly corrected
“They have honour!” Nolan exclaimed
Kelly scoffed “Yeah, if you think that hiding from an opponent is honourable, if you think attacking unarmed freighters is honourable. I have seen colonies after a Klingon invasion, and I won’t soon forget them. Bodies in the streets, unarmed innocents and children, all slaughtered.”
“But doesn’t this fate await us if we don’t join?” another member asked
“Possibly, I still think the federation will prevail. And even if it does, you’re going to condemn our people to participating in that depravity out of fear?” Kelly asked rhetorically
“Kel Zor’ah, you have made your point.” The Speaker interjected “are there any more concerns?”
She was met by silence. Kelly looked down into her palm at the data storage device longingly. She could end this right now, but the way Nolan was, he would rally his allies against them
“Alright; we will now take votes, starting with Lo’tar.”
“Lo’tar votes in favour of the alliance.” Nolan said
“Yan’katar votes in favour of the alliance.” The woman sitting next to him said
The voting continued for about an hour as over 1000 clans each individually called out their vote. The holographic screen in the centre kept track. Kelly’s eyes glazed over. She rolled the isogenies data storage device in her palm. The votes were neck and neck. She stared longingly at the input for her device. Finally it came down to the last group, the Devron party by chance, with just enough votes for them to win it.
“Jolinar votes against the alliance” Harnor said
“Kay’tran votes against the alliance.” The woman next to him said
“Rakanor votes against the alliance.”
“Lu’far votes against the alliance.”
Finally it was Jal’s turn. She slowly got to her feet
“Har’cos votes.” She hesitated; she shot Kelly a look that said she was sorry “Har’cos votes in favour of the alliance.”
Kelly didn’t even flinch; she simply stood and approached the railing.
“The votes have been cast, the alliance proposition is passed. Is there anything that anyone wants to say before I call it.”
Kelly mustered all her strength, she was about to defy the person that meant the most to her, even if she was convinced that she was a 8472 infiltrator.
“I do, if it pleases the council.” Kelly said calmly
She felt thousands of eyes directly upon her. Kelly looked to Jal who looked back at her with an angry glare.
“Yes, Ambassador?” the speaker said
“I have evidence that brings into question Lo’tar’s honour and judgement.”
She heard the outraged cries of the council, an angry buzz came from all sides.
“There will be order!” the speaker said forcefully “why was this not brought before now?”
“Because I was operating under the directions of my clan’s high matriarch.”
“You have no clan exile! This is ludicrous, the vote has been cast; the alliance is passed!” Nolan said outraged
“Lo’tar has a point, but this vote effects the future of Thosia, all facts need to be taken into consideration.” The speaker said
“Thank you” Kelly said humbly
“Indeed, you’re on very thin ice Kel Zor’ah.” The speaker said in an annoyed tone
“I understand.” Kelly held up the storage device “This contains the minutes of the border dispute in which I committed the acts that got me exiled.” Kelly said as she put it into the input jack
The massive holographic display flickered and showed a pitch black image with a timer on the side of the image counting up
“Acquiring” a male voice said,
The image panned around until it made out several blurred objects, the camera adjusted and showed a large fleet led by the De’avalor and a second Klingon fleet.
“Com channel is opening between the lead ships, open communication, no decryption required, intercepting.” The voice said again, Kelly could have sworn it was Vernis’s
“This is General Kel Zor’ah Har’cos of the Thosian Guardian Ship De’avalor; you are trespassing in Thosian space, leave immediately.” Kelly recognised her own voice, talking forcefully
“The Klingon high council claim ancient territory rights to this space.” The Klingon general said in a patronising tone. “You are ordered to gather your citizens and leave”
“You have no claim to this system; we had a presence here while you were still blowing up each other with nuclear devices, possibly before that.” Kelly said in an exasperated tone
“The high council tends to disagree, but by all means stand against us, I look forward to testing my skill against the legendary Thosian warriors.”
“Encrypted communication coming from one of the support formations, decrypting.” The Male voice said.
“- Attack, we should first, prove that we are not to be trifled with.” A new female voice said
“No, we know that they don’t shy away from battle. Starting this here and now; firing the first shot may lead us into a conflict that we can’t win.” Kelly said thoughtfully
“The hell with that, we need to prove a point, this is the 4th incursion in a week!” the other woman said
“With no shots fired.” Kelly said calmly
“You’re a coward.” the woman said patronisingly “The promoted you too fast it would seem, just as I suspected. Har’cos bragging that they have the most talented operative.”
“This is not a competition between our clans.”
“The hell it isn’t, I’m not going to listen to a Har’cos upstart.”
“Comm channel cut.” The male voice said
The large formation on the left flank of the Thosian fleet broke the line and headed to Klingon formation. The De’avalor turned to bear and unleashed a torrent of light on the rouge formation. Once it had dissipated only debris remained. A soft white glow emanated from one of the ships left behind before it vanished.
“De’avalor, opening channel to all other ships in the formation.” The male voice said
“This is General Kel Zor’ah Har’cos to all remaining ships, fill up the gap and then hold position.” Kelly said in a solemn tone.
The sequence ended. Nolan stood enraged
“How do we know it’s not a fake? Lo’tar will not stand for this!”
“It is un-rewriteable and matches the logs of the De’avalor’s onboard AI. Analyse it if you wish.” Kelly said plainly
“A committee of 4 clans will analyse the DSD in question, until that is complete the meeting is adjourned.”
Jal shot Kelly an angry look and nodded over to her office. Kelly turned and left the council chamber with a smirk.
***
“Do you have any idea what you’ve done?” Jal said in a disappointed tone. She looked out at the afternoon though the large window behind her desk. She stood with a drink in her hands
“I may have just stopped an alliance with the Klingons.” Kelly said in a proud tone
“No, Lo’tar and its allies will still join the Klingons and declare war against the rest of us. We will be slaughtered.” Jal said solemnly
“I’d rather die a Thosian than live as a Klingon’s slave.” Kelly continued
“And you’d condemn all of us to that fate as well?”
“Any Thosian would.” Kelly said putting empysis on Thosian “All Thosians understand that we are more that flesh and blood. It’s our soul that defines us.”
“What are you implying?” Jal said confused
“That the mother of my heart was the one who taught me that, not this facade that stands before me.” Kelly said in a resentful tone “you are a creature of manipulation and subterfuge, not a Thosian.”
Jal smiled “So you figured it out did you? Before it was too late.” She said thoughtfully “well that doesn’t happen that often.”
“So, 8472, what now?” Kelly asked
Jal winced at the name “Well, the Klingons still get Thosia’s technology, that should speed up the war even though not as fast as we would have liked. Har’cos and those who stand beside you will fall and the galaxy will still be ours.”
“I thought the Klingons were the ones who started this campaign against your kind” Kelly said inquisitively
“Yes, but as you said, once the federation has fallen they will turn on themselves. Once they are weak enough we will take over.” Jal said plainly “So what do you and I do now?”
“If you were willing to step down as High matriarch...” Kelly trailed off thoughtfully “I can’t kill you because you were following orders.”
“So if I just leave without a fuss we can part with no hostilities?” Jal said taken aback
“MMM” Kelly muttered thoughtfully
“Ok then” Jal said, she took off her extravagant cloak and placed it on the desk’s chair
Kelly turned to face the 8472 imposter as she, he, whatever; opened the door to exit.
“I didn’t say yes, I’m not going to kill you for following orders.” She said, drawing her sword “I want you to know that I’m killing you because you tainted the memory of the mother of my heart.” She said forcefully.
Jal gave Kelly a final threatening smile before she transformed into the three legged beast. Kelly squeezed the handle of her sword and the blade glowed a hot teal. They paced around each other until Kelly’s back was to the door. Kelly stopped and held her sword out, expecting a charge. The 8472 ran at her and threw her out of the room with a single swipe. The wooden door splintered and burst as Kelly slammed into it. She hit the hallway wall with a thud. Winded she rose to her feet, noticing two very confused Har’cos body guards.
“Stand by to fire!” She commanded hoarsely
The guards took up positions and sighted Kelly, waiting for their high matriarch to come out and order her execution. Instead a giant beast, the likes of which they had never seen burst out of the chamber. The hesitated for a second; in awe. Just before the beast gave Kelly its killing blow they opened fire. The 8472 was startled. Kelly got to her feet and lunged at it with her sword. The 8472 just brushed her aside violently then leapt after the guards, ramming one though a window. It turned and picked up the other one. It saw Kelly stumble to her feet and threw the soldier at her. She noticed and moved out of the way just in time. The limp body flew past her with enough force to crush her bones. His side arm must have flown out of his holster in transit because a small pistol struck her foot softly. She picked it up and holstered her sword. She shot several rounds at the 8472s face, but this seemed to have the effect of simply pissing it off. The 8472 lunged at her as fast as it could. At the last second Kelly dove back into the office. The 8472 skidded past, unable to slow its momentum. Kelly took the pause to dive out of the office and run up the hallway to where the guards had been stationed. She came to the end and turned the corner. She looked behind her quickly; the 8472 was in pursuit.
“Dee!” Kelly yelled
“Damn Kel, it’s never anything simple is it?” Dee said amused
Kelly reached the end of another corridor. She turned and let off another volley of rounds.
“Indeed, anything you can do?” She asked during the pause
The 8472 continued towards her. Kelly ran up the next set of corridors. She saw a group of guardians running towards her, investigating the commotion.
“Fire!” she yelled.
Just as she dropped down to the floor a wall of bullets passed through the space she had previously be occupying.
“Working on it.” Dee said in a distracted tone of voice
***
Mira sat in the captain’s seat. She had been twiddling her thumbs for the last few days. She was incredibly jealous of the away team, which wasn’t helped by the fact Lonna kept sending back anthological reports with her usual bubbly optimistic tone. Talitha had started to socialise a bit more as she used to on the bridge but Mira didn’t know if it was just while the captain was absent. It didn’t matter though, in a few hours they’d be back on the patrol, though she’d probably have to listen enviously to the various stories Kelly, Quinn and Lonna had made for themselves for the next few days. All the sudden an alarm sounded.
“What is it?” Mira said curiously
“I’m not sure ma’am, it looks like a hack.” Tali said hesitantly as she furiously pushed the controls
All the sudden a little girl, only it wasn’t a little girl, appeared before her.
“Uh, hi.” Mira said confused
“No time for introductions, I’m uploading a flight plan to your helm, follow it exactly.” The anime caricature said quickly
“I have it ma’am.” Tali said thoughtfully “It takes us straight through a defence net and then tells us to fly at an altitude of 50 meters.”
“And just why exactly would we do this?” Mira said audaciously
The caricature pouted for a second before Kelly’s voice came across the comm.
“Kelly to Kusanagi?” Kelly said, gunfire and explosions could be heard to the background
“Mira hear ma’am”
“You have a little girl in front of you telling you to do things?”
“Yes ma’am”
“Do everything she says, that’s a direct order, Kelly out.”
Mira sat back in the chair thoughtfully.
“So you want us to pass though a defence grid, enter the atmosphere and then perform an NOE approach in a star ship?” Mira said sceptically
“I have disabled the defence grid, the scanners for that part of the planet and the ground penetrating radar on the capitol, however the high altitude sensors are monitored closely by personnel, and I have calculated that this is the safest way to get to your captain before she dies.” Dee said in a hurried tone
“You still have us doing an NOE in a star ship” Mira said thoughtfully
“I can do it” Tali said forcefully
“Tali?”
“I can do it” she repeated
“Understood, lay in that course.” Mira tapped her comm badge “All hands, blue Alert.”
***
The group of guardians she had linked up with slowly fell back as the 8472 soaked up all the rounds they fired, slowly advancing. All the sudden a loud piercing noise could be heard, only it felt like it came from inside her own skull. The formation fell to the floor, red blood dripped slowly out of their ears and noise. The 8472 stopped and waved its arms around like it was casting a spell. Kelly summoned all her strength and rose up to her feet. She unsheathed her sword but feel against the wall as a sudden wave of vertigo struck her. She rebalanced and focused on the 8472 with determination and lunged at it, stabbing it though the abdomen. The 8472 stopped and looked down at the blade. Kelly fell to the floor in a fit of exhaustion, felling as though she could faint. The rest of the group got to their feet and resumed firing. The 8472 lunged at them once more, crushing each one by one with powerful blows. Kelly opened her eyes and once again got to her feet. The 8472 noticed this as it held a soldier in its hand; pushing him hard against the wall. The man pulled his combat knife out of his boot and stabbed the 8472 in the neck. The 8472 stumbled back, clutching the new wound. As the soldier go back to his feet the 8472 simply batted him away. Kelly fired a few shots to get its attention back and then ran away as fast as she could.
“You need to get to landing platform 49.” Dee said appearing next to her
Kelly ran with purpose. She whipped past the new defensive positions, followed closely by the 8472, who just bowled through them. She saw the external door way to the landing platform. She burst out into the daylight onto an empty space. As the 8472 closed in it slowed, cautiously stepping forward. It almost seemed to have a sadistic smile on its face. Kelly sighted down the 8472 with her pistol, taking note of the sword through its abdomen. The 8472 lunged at her again. Kelly fired at its head. It closed its eyes. As it got closer Kelly grabbed hold of the sword and ran with it through the 8472. It cried out in pain and knocked Kelly aside with the wild failing of its arms. Kelly cried out as she felt her rib crack. She stumbled to her feet, expecting to see the 8472 severed in two; instead the wound was almost healed. It approached her slowly and cautiously. Kelly clutched her side with one hand and held out her sword with the other. She knew she wouldn’t survive, but honour demanded she go down swinging.
“The weak shall perish” the 8472 said sadistically
Kelly edged to the edge of the platform slowly. She heard the sound of thrusters and smirked. The Kusanagi rose slowly from over the edge of the platform with its bow facing Kelly.
“Indeed” she said with a smirk as she motioned for the ship to fire
The 8472 stood awestruck and an orange beam of light engulfed it. It dissipated and nothing was left but ashes. Kelly looked back at the Kusanagi with an appreciative smile. She then indicated for it to land on the large platform.
***
“You sure this is the right thing Kel?” Harnor said sceptically
“It’s the only thing we can do.” Kelly said with an exasperated tone.
She donned the extravagant cloak over her armour as they walked back to the council chamber.
“Lo’tar and its allies will join with the Klingons and we will be fighting a war we cannot win if we stay. This is the best solution.” She said thoughtfully
“We stand behind you.” One of the other matriarchs said as they entered
Kelly sighed heavily as the speaker called order.
“We are here to discuss the recent attack. Where is Kel Zor’ah?” the speaker said looking down at the empty guests platform.
“Here” Kelly said raising her arm
The cameras moved in. Murmured whispers became audible as they noted that she had donned the cloak of the High Matriarch.
“Kel, care to explain where Jal is?” the speaker asked
“Jal is dead, she has been for some time; an imposter was in her place.” Kelly said leaning on the railing
“Even if that were the case your remittance is still in question, you are not recognised as the High Matriarch of clan Har’cos.”
“Kel Zor’ah Har’cos was never omitted from her clan, and she was named successor. By right she bears the title of High Matriarch.” Harnor said, stepping forward.
Kelly smiled and then retook the stage.”I don’t care whether or not you do remit me. Clan Har’cos and the rest of the Devron party are enacting the rite of cession.”
The chamber buzzed loudly.
“Even if we win this vote, that won’t stop Lo’tar from enlisting Klingon help; the coward that Nolan is. We will be thrown into civil war, a war we cannot win, and one that will claim all that we hold dear. “Kelly paused thoughtfully, she was making this on the fly. “The events of today have shown me that the politics of the galaxy are catching up with us, and perhaps we were naive to think that we were above them, beyond them. Species like 8472 and the Borg face us with the grim prospect of annihilation and they won’t care whether or not we kept our noses out of it or not. The Federation has protected us more than we’d care to admit, and it’s time to join in help out.”
Nolan scoffed “So what is it exactly that makes the federation so great as opposed to the Klingons?”
Kelly paused thoughtfully. “The Klingons are a warrior race, they always need to fight. Even our warrior clans shy away from combat. If we join with the Klingons we will become as they are, driven by bloodlust. The Federation a defenders and explores. If we have to assimilate into one of them, I would pick the federation. If we have to lose are soul, we might as well lose it to something we can be proud to be a part of.”
“But one can make the same argument for the Klingons Kel.” One of Nolan’s associates said
“I’m not here to change anyone’s mind anymore. I’m telling you that we’re leaving. If you want to come with, recall your people to your citadels and be in orbit by 1600 tomorrow.” Kelly said finally.
She turned and left; her party in toe.
***
Kelly lent against the railing at one of the ground loading areas she watched the initiates as they returned from the jungle. She saw Yelena emerge from the foliage followed by Mara and her pack.
“What’s happening?” Yelena said as she got closer “We heard the recall signal and come straight away.”
Kelly put a sympathetic hand on Yelena’s shoulder “We’re leaving Thosia.” Kelly said softly
Yelena was dumbstruck “Why?”
“If we stay there will be an unwinnable war.” Kelly said solemnly, looking away “I’m not looking forward to fighting an army of our own people, so away we go.”
“What about Thosia? Our home? Our mother?” Yelena said repressing hysteria
“We will find another. Besides, you always wanted to get out and see the galaxy.”
“I was kinda expecting a home to come back too.” Yelena said slightly annoyed
Kelly paused thoughtfully. She looked behind Yelena to the jungle. The light pouring through the tall canopy, the damaged ruins that held up the massive trees; so much of their history was here. It was almost like being exiled again, only a thousand times worse. This time it was millions upon millions of people that would never be able to return. But she was confident that she was doing the right thing.
“If you’re still interested I still need a doctor.” Kelly said with cautious optimism
Yelena’s eyes lit up “Of course I’m interested.” She said with glee
“Ok, report to me at 1545 today at landing platform 12, I have a shuttle standing by.”
Yelena walked off with a bitter sweet smile on her face.
“And you” Kelly said looking down at Mara and her brood. “Invites still open, at least until we find a new planet.” She said with a smile
Mara indicated to her pack with a begging expression
“They can come with too.” Kelly said warmly “So long as they don’t cause trouble.”
Mara smiled as Kelly turned and walked back to the lift.
***
The hour had come. Kelly sat in the captain’s chair on board the Kusanagi. Yelena stood next to Kelly and Mara sat at her feet.
“Bring up an image of the Har’cos citadel.” Kelly said
A bird’s eye view of the citadel appeared on the view screen. The countdown timer began on the lower left of the screen
10...9...8...7...6...5...4...3...2...1...0
The citadel was engulfed by smoke and dust as the thrusters engaged. Slowly the massive spire emerged from the clouds. It climbed steadily until it was at the same orbit as the Kusanagi. Shortly after the Jolinar citadel was standing by, then another, and another until the sky was filled with over 600 structures. The remnant fleet watched helplessly as the fleet supporting the De’avalor grew larger and larger. Kelly smiled to herself.
“Transmit the coordinates of the space between earth and mars.” Kelly ordered
“Ma’am, the brass isn’t going to like a big fleet appearing out of nowhere.” Mira said
“I know, but where else do we have to go right now.” She said distantly.
One by one the structures flashed into nothingness, until finally only the Kusanagi and the De’avalor remained. They flew into close proximity and vanished away aswell.
_________________
Things that Skippy can't do
#77: The MP checkpoint is not an Imperial Stormtrooper roadblock, so I should not tell them “You don’t need to see my identification, these are not the droids you are looking for.”
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