Krystal taps her commbadge and beams out. As soon as she arrives she orders the ship out of Dominion space and calls for a staff meeting to know what she's dealing with.
Captain Nat and the holographic MACO walked the halls of the vessel. The lights were all out here, as main power hadn't yet been restored. They looked in various rooms. Some were quarters. Some labs. A couple mess halls, a couple of small holomatrixes, as they were called... various technical rooms. Nothing interesting so far. He stopped by another room, reading the text on the door. "Interrogation room. Probably has an agony booth or something inside, but you never..."
He screamed and backed into a wall. The photonic MACO pulled out it's rifle and aimed into the door. Nat spoke. "What the hell..."
In the agony booth sat a Betazoid male, somehow still alive; but motionless, and probably frozen in time. He was definitely in pain.
Now a bit more aware of what she's working with, as well as solidifying her position as the Armada's commander a bit, Krystal returned to the Mephiles and made her way back to ESD.
If anyone saw her beam onto the station, they'd notice that her usual Sierra 1 uniform was now open jacket style and she looked a bit tired. Also her hair was down in stead of in the usual ponytail.
Krystal tapped her commbadge. "Crisis averted," she replied, sounding tired. "Looking forward to just getting a soda and kicking back until repairs on the Lexington are finshed."
Nat replied. "Glad to hear it. Don't forget to have your crew vacate the Mephiles so my guys can come back to reclaim it, and please, send me a more detailed report when you can? That'd be great. Nat out."
The channel cut out.
I.S.S. Chronostorm
By now, Nat had called down Scott and a couple of security officers. "What does it look like?"
Scott looked over at the control consoles. "Temporal manipulation. He's not aging, and his biological processes are practically frozen in time except for the senses, somehow... oh... and they've sped up his mind. From the looks of it, a few years went by since you found him."
Nat gasped. "No way. Bring him out?"
Scott winced, said "alright..." and tapped some buttons on the console, freeing the Betazoid.
The Hestia-class starship dropped an unprecedented short burst of warp at Jupiter Station. With Zeta crawling around the helm, the ship moved passed the science structure and toward the spot the station personnel had detected. Elric stood when a Starfleet officer suddenly entered the Bridge in surprise.
"Oh," she said. "My name is Jessie. I'm the holographic maintenance program working on this ship, considering the engineering staff was reassigned."
Elric turned to her in shock. "Sorry, Jessie, I just needed my old ship back for a moment. We're scanning a distortion in space that may be a cloaked ship."
"Hm," she thought. "You could attempt a tachyon burst to reveal it."
The Captain nodded. "I agree. Thanks, Jessie."
She went over to a control panel and got to work. The Amaterasu shot out a burst which suddenly deactivated the cloak around a Caitian Atrox Carrier. Elric scanned it and found it was a ship registered as the Emerald and that there were lifesigns for Caitians and one Human aboard. In the next second, 6 advanced Stalker Fighters shot out from it and opened fire on the Amaterasu.
"Elric to Admiral Nat," he replied, noticing the hail. "I guess those Undine are still unaccounted for."
Sarah wandered around the station, having come aboard after the Sally and the fleet came back with the Hepzibah, with the admiral's permission, of course. She noticed Krystal and made a bee-line for her, walking over. "So how'd it go?"
Admiral Nat - U.S.S. Sally, Bridge
"I can see that, captain. We're still here to assist, since we're already here."
The admiral motioned for Jim to open fire, and the Sally opened fire on the carrier, as a pair of elite Delta Flyer class runabouts launched from the Galaxy-X dreadnought and moved in to intercept the fighters.
The admiral watched the battle closely, while Sarah gave out orders for various maneuvers and such. The admiral raised an eyebrow; for some reason, something felt... wrong. Didn't she go over to spacedock? He sighed, for he did not know, but rested one of his hands close to his phaser, just in case.
Ruby Rosette and her bridge officers left the Hepzibah, flanked by security guards. Rosette herself wasn't speaking, and First Officer Tarsi refused to look at her former captain.
V'rar had a grim look on her face. "We could have handled things much differently, especially if I had been in command. As it is, lives were lost because an overgrown child was in charge of the Hepzibah."
The Betazoid... still wasn't moving. He was probably in shock from the ordeal. Captain Nat waited a moment, then turned to Scott. "I'd have him beamed over to ESD's infirmary for now, while we finish with the ship."
Scott nodded, and had the Betazoid beamed to the infirmary. Nat walked down the corridor, continuing to inspect the ship in it's entirety. He wandered by the access hatch to spacedock, and Sarah walked in. "Oh, hey, you! I came to help you guys with the ship. Where do you want me?"
Nat raised an eyebrow. "Er, just come around with me while I finish looking the ship over, I guess. Then we'll go back to the bridge and figure out what to do from there."
The 2 of them continued down a corridor, still followed by the photonic MACO.
The Betazoid woke up, and tried to assess where he was before sensing a familiar presence. He was on a station, and nearby... was the woman who defied him. Slipping out of Sickbay without anyone noticing, he followed the presence, snuck up behind a certain redhead Trill, and swiftly knocked her out. If this version of Earth Spacedock was anything like the one in his universe, there were places he could go where they wouldn't be disturbed.
And he had plans for this woman, of the revenge kind.
Sarah deadpanned and shot the Betazoid with a phaser, set to stun. "Shouldn't do that right in front of somebody, ya know."
She slowly walked over towards the two of them, looking around for security officers, who were approaching. The 3 of them all dematerialized into a large, yellowish transporter beam.
Undine Vessel, Nicor-class, Bioship-H3M17
The 3 arrived sometime before ESD had raised their shields again. Somehow, no one had noticed the Undine vessel nearby, although it was disguised as a civilian transport. They headed out of the system before their anti-Undine device immunity wore off, and were intercepted by a pair of Federation frigates intent on stopping them from breaking the newly declared quarantine of the system, but "the transport" simply shot the ships down and warped away to Saturn, taking the form of a Federation Avenger-class battlecruiser, and entering orbit unnoticed.
In the command center, "Sarah" woke up Krystal. "Good morning, Krystal. Surprised?"
"Sarah" shrugged. "Apparently they found him on the Chronostorm."
She walked over to one of the consoles, and started pressing buttons. "Hmm, looks like a patrol ship may have noticed that we're not supposed to be here. That's faster than I expected."
"Sarah" turned to Krystal. "We're aboard an Undine ship disguised as a Federation battlecruiser. Now, we've got a couple of minutes until they get here, so this is how it goes. The Infamous armada is responsible for the death of my brother. Help me destroy the armada, or that ship will be destroyed."
"After everything I've been through you expect me to just roll over for you?" Krystal deadpanned. "I've got plans of my own that involve the Armada. Petty revenge isn't one of them. Its not even possible. Too big an entity to just snap a finger and say boom."
"Sarah" laughed. "It'd be a shame if ESD blew up, wouldn't it? As for revenge, it is possible. I have allies where this ship came from, and a lot of them. All we need is for the armada to reveal themselves, and then we'll do the rest."
The patrol ship, a Sovereign class assault cruiser, came into range and moved to fire. It didn't. It seemed to have lost control entirely. The Betazoid, and Krystal, were inflicted with a terrible pain from in their mind, forcing them to the floor. They became very confused and disoriented, and eventually stopped recognizing friend from foe. Soon after, the Sovereign exploded.
"Sarah" blasted the Betazoid backward with a psionic blast, knocking him out again. She then turned to Krystal, eyeing her down. "Yes, call for the fleet to help you. That'd definitely make things more interesting."
"Sarah" walked over. "You know, we are one of those threats. We could pretty easily wipe out the Federation if we wanted to, but thankfully, they haven't bothered us, at least not the Federation from this universe. Don't be the first to **** up and cause an invasion."
She tilted her head to the side slightly. "No go?"
"I intend to honor Janeway's deal with you," Krystal said, finally recovered. "We have no interest in Fluidic Space. If you want contact, it will be on your terms and by your choice. We will not force it. All I ask in return is that you respect us as we respect you. You leave us alone, we leave you alone."
She then tugged on her uniform a bit. "You value strength. Well strength comes in many forms. Physical being the easiest to see. Military power as well. But what is harder to see is the strength of conviction. Strength of will. Strength of belief."
Krystal took a deep breath and closed her eyes. "I believe I can turn the Armada into a force for good. To help people in times of peace, and to fight greater threats in times of war. Destroying something that is so integrated into so many corners of the galaxy out of revenge for the loss of a family memeber is not the answer. I'd be willing to work with you to find the individuals responsible, but I will not help you destroy potentially thousands of lives or more just to satisfy one lost life."
"Sarah" stared down Krystal. "There's two problems with that; they have an Undine faction under their control. They are invading our space, and by extension, the deal allows us to use any and all necessary force to remove them."
She sat down on the command chair. "The other, is that Janeway made a deal with merely one Undine faction; we are another, and are not actually bound by the agreement in question, although we agree with it as it suits our purposes."
"Then let me find who's responsible," Krystal countered. "It works both ways you know. Having you just come in and attack them without the rest of the galaxy knowing will look like an act of aggression on your part alone. Unprovoked. You want to know what will happen after that? More incursions in an effort to stop you from attacking again. You will effectively start a war and cause the very thing you don't want. More contact with us. If you want to be left alone... this has to be done quietly. Not with fire."
Two more Caitian Atrox Carrier's, the Feverent and the Gallaka decloaked behind the Amaterasu and the Sally, flanking them. Elric switched his viewscreen angle in mild shock.
"Admiral," Elric said. "These appear to be a thug group of Caitians not like the kind we are used to, or serve with in Starfleet. I believe them to motivated by brainwashing, but, from who, may be the father of a woman named Claire that I encountered on Spacedock. He must be the same guy that gave them cloaking devices. Claire's in danger now, aboard the Emerald, and I plan on focusing my ship into getting me over there. Elric out."
Two of the Stalker Fighters were destroyed by the two Elite Delta Flyers, prompting the remaining four to focus their tetryon pulse cannons into one Flyer at a time. Six more Stalker Fighters, three per ship, were launched from the two new vessels.
Elric tapped a few panels. "Initiating multi-vector mode. I want to target all vector firing into weakening the Emrald's shields to get me through."
The Amaterasu began moving forward as it split into three. The Emerald opened fire on them, while the Feverent and the Gallakaopened fire upon the Sally. Lancing phaser beam after phaser beam from each section of the Amaterasu suddenly caused a hole to be burned through and, doing as he planned, Elric transported aboard the Emerald to search for Claire.
The resident forum voice of reason (I HAZ FORUM REP! YAY!)
Captain Nat and the holographic MACO walked the halls of the vessel. The lights were all out here, as main power hadn't yet been restored. They looked in various rooms. Some were quarters. Some labs. A couple mess halls, a couple of small holomatrixes, as they were called... various technical rooms. Nothing interesting so far. He stopped by another room, reading the text on the door. "Interrogation room. Probably has an agony booth or something inside, but you never..."
He screamed and backed into a wall. The photonic MACO pulled out it's rifle and aimed into the door. Nat spoke. "What the hell..."
In the agony booth sat a Betazoid male, somehow still alive; but motionless, and probably frozen in time. He was definitely in pain.
Winning.
If anyone saw her beam onto the station, they'd notice that her usual Sierra 1 uniform was now open jacket style and she looked a bit tired. Also her hair was down in stead of in the usual ponytail.
The resident forum voice of reason (I HAZ FORUM REP! YAY!)
"Admiral Nat here. Report."
Winning.
"Crisis averted," she replied, sounding tired. "Looking forward to just getting a soda and kicking back until repairs on the Lexington are finshed."
The resident forum voice of reason (I HAZ FORUM REP! YAY!)
The channel cut out.
I.S.S. Chronostorm
By now, Nat had called down Scott and a couple of security officers. "What does it look like?"
Scott looked over at the control consoles. "Temporal manipulation. He's not aging, and his biological processes are practically frozen in time except for the senses, somehow... oh... and they've sped up his mind. From the looks of it, a few years went by since you found him."
Nat gasped. "No way. Bring him out?"
Scott winced, said "alright..." and tapped some buttons on the console, freeing the Betazoid.
Winning.
The resident forum voice of reason (I HAZ FORUM REP! YAY!)
Admiral Nat turned to the comms officer. "Hail Elric."
Winning.
The Hestia-class starship dropped an unprecedented short burst of warp at Jupiter Station. With Zeta crawling around the helm, the ship moved passed the science structure and toward the spot the station personnel had detected. Elric stood when a Starfleet officer suddenly entered the Bridge in surprise.
"Oh," she said. "My name is Jessie. I'm the holographic maintenance program working on this ship, considering the engineering staff was reassigned."
Elric turned to her in shock. "Sorry, Jessie, I just needed my old ship back for a moment. We're scanning a distortion in space that may be a cloaked ship."
"Hm," she thought. "You could attempt a tachyon burst to reveal it."
The Captain nodded. "I agree. Thanks, Jessie."
She went over to a control panel and got to work. The Amaterasu shot out a burst which suddenly deactivated the cloak around a Caitian Atrox Carrier. Elric scanned it and found it was a ship registered as the Emerald and that there were lifesigns for Caitians and one Human aboard. In the next second, 6 advanced Stalker Fighters shot out from it and opened fire on the Amaterasu.
"Elric to Admiral Nat," he replied, noticing the hail. "I guess those Undine are still unaccounted for."
Sarah wandered around the station, having come aboard after the Sally and the fleet came back with the Hepzibah, with the admiral's permission, of course. She noticed Krystal and made a bee-line for her, walking over. "So how'd it go?"
Admiral Nat - U.S.S. Sally, Bridge
"I can see that, captain. We're still here to assist, since we're already here."
The admiral motioned for Jim to open fire, and the Sally opened fire on the carrier, as a pair of elite Delta Flyer class runabouts launched from the Galaxy-X dreadnought and moved in to intercept the fighters.
The admiral watched the battle closely, while Sarah gave out orders for various maneuvers and such. The admiral raised an eyebrow; for some reason, something felt... wrong. Didn't she go over to spacedock? He sighed, for he did not know, but rested one of his hands close to his phaser, just in case.
Winning.
Ruby Rosette and her bridge officers left the Hepzibah, flanked by security guards. Rosette herself wasn't speaking, and First Officer Tarsi refused to look at her former captain.
V'rar had a grim look on her face. "We could have handled things much differently, especially if I had been in command. As it is, lives were lost because an overgrown child was in charge of the Hepzibah."
The Betazoid... still wasn't moving. He was probably in shock from the ordeal. Captain Nat waited a moment, then turned to Scott. "I'd have him beamed over to ESD's infirmary for now, while we finish with the ship."
Scott nodded, and had the Betazoid beamed to the infirmary. Nat walked down the corridor, continuing to inspect the ship in it's entirety. He wandered by the access hatch to spacedock, and Sarah walked in. "Oh, hey, you! I came to help you guys with the ship. Where do you want me?"
Nat raised an eyebrow. "Er, just come around with me while I finish looking the ship over, I guess. Then we'll go back to the bridge and figure out what to do from there."
The 2 of them continued down a corridor, still followed by the photonic MACO.
Winning.
And he had plans for this woman, of the revenge kind.
The resident forum voice of reason (I HAZ FORUM REP! YAY!)
She slowly walked over towards the two of them, looking around for security officers, who were approaching. The 3 of them all dematerialized into a large, yellowish transporter beam.
Undine Vessel, Nicor-class, Bioship-H3M17
The 3 arrived sometime before ESD had raised their shields again. Somehow, no one had noticed the Undine vessel nearby, although it was disguised as a civilian transport. They headed out of the system before their anti-Undine device immunity wore off, and were intercepted by a pair of Federation frigates intent on stopping them from breaking the newly declared quarantine of the system, but "the transport" simply shot the ships down and warped away to Saturn, taking the form of a Federation Avenger-class battlecruiser, and entering orbit unnoticed.
In the command center, "Sarah" woke up Krystal. "Good morning, Krystal. Surprised?"
Winning.
The resident forum voice of reason (I HAZ FORUM REP! YAY!)
Winning.
The resident forum voice of reason (I HAZ FORUM REP! YAY!)
She walked over to one of the consoles, and started pressing buttons. "Hmm, looks like a patrol ship may have noticed that we're not supposed to be here. That's faster than I expected."
Winning.
The resident forum voice of reason (I HAZ FORUM REP! YAY!)
Winning.
The resident forum voice of reason (I HAZ FORUM REP! YAY!)
The patrol ship, a Sovereign class assault cruiser, came into range and moved to fire. It didn't. It seemed to have lost control entirely. The Betazoid, and Krystal, were inflicted with a terrible pain from in their mind, forcing them to the floor. They became very confused and disoriented, and eventually stopped recognizing friend from foe. Soon after, the Sovereign exploded.
"So do you really want to say that again?"
Winning.
"Need... the fleet... in case something... comes..." she groaned, holding her head in her hands.
The resident forum voice of reason (I HAZ FORUM REP! YAY!)
"Yes, call for the fleet to help you. That'd definitely make things more interesting."
Winning.
The resident forum voice of reason (I HAZ FORUM REP! YAY!)
She tilted her head to the side slightly. "No go?"
Winning.
She then tugged on her uniform a bit.
"You value strength. Well strength comes in many forms. Physical being the easiest to see. Military power as well. But what is harder to see is the strength of conviction. Strength of will. Strength of belief."
Krystal took a deep breath and closed her eyes.
"I believe I can turn the Armada into a force for good. To help people in times of peace, and to fight greater threats in times of war. Destroying something that is so integrated into so many corners of the galaxy out of revenge for the loss of a family memeber is not the answer. I'd be willing to work with you to find the individuals responsible, but I will not help you destroy potentially thousands of lives or more just to satisfy one lost life."
The resident forum voice of reason (I HAZ FORUM REP! YAY!)
She sat down on the command chair. "The other, is that Janeway made a deal with merely one Undine faction; we are another, and are not actually bound by the agreement in question, although we agree with it as it suits our purposes."
Winning.
The resident forum voice of reason (I HAZ FORUM REP! YAY!)
Two more Caitian Atrox Carrier's, the Feverent and the Gallaka decloaked behind the Amaterasu and the Sally, flanking them. Elric switched his viewscreen angle in mild shock.
"Admiral," Elric said. "These appear to be a thug group of Caitians not like the kind we are used to, or serve with in Starfleet. I believe them to motivated by brainwashing, but, from who, may be the father of a woman named Claire that I encountered on Spacedock. He must be the same guy that gave them cloaking devices. Claire's in danger now, aboard the Emerald, and I plan on focusing my ship into getting me over there. Elric out."
Two of the Stalker Fighters were destroyed by the two Elite Delta Flyers, prompting the remaining four to focus their tetryon pulse cannons into one Flyer at a time. Six more Stalker Fighters, three per ship, were launched from the two new vessels.
Elric tapped a few panels. "Initiating multi-vector mode. I want to target all vector firing into weakening the Emrald's shields to get me through."
The Amaterasu began moving forward as it split into three. The Emerald opened fire on them, while the Feverent and the Gallakaopened fire upon the Sally. Lancing phaser beam after phaser beam from each section of the Amaterasu suddenly caused a hole to be burned through and, doing as he planned, Elric transported aboard the Emerald to search for Claire.