USS Heracles (NCC-80555)
VividShado
Member
These are the adventures and stories of the U.S.S. Heracles. Boldly going, boldly facing the mysteries of the Universe. Her crew and mission are taking her to places of peace and hostilities. These are her stories and the lives of her crew. ______
Rating:
Swearing, Sexual Content, and Violence are permitted, with some limitations. Reader's discretion is advised.
Please do not comment on the thread in the forum. If you want to comment please send me a Direct Message via Discord @VividShado#0996
Thank you and enjoy.
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===Departure===
Vausees looked up and out of the window to her quarters. It had been only a couple of months since she had received her orders to the Mithrar Anchorage her new home, or so she thought, and now here she was finding out that she was being recalled back to earth. As a crewman entered her room, she turned and looked at the young man. He couldn’t have been over 18 years old, and here he was out on the fringes of space where the closest help was days, if not weeks away. All she wanted was what he had and now here she was repacking her things so that he and his crewmates could whisk them and herself away to earth.
Thinking to herself, she takes a seat.
“Computer start a personal log,” she said out loud as the door hissed shut and the last of her belongings were heading for the cargo hold of a shuttle that was bound for a ship that was heading back to earth.
As a soft beep showed that the computer was awaiting her, she began.
“Stardate: 73940.07. Commander Vax Personal Log…”
After what seemed like a couple of hours, a soft beep showed that the log that she had recorded had been saved and had been placed into her file. As she looked around, a sudden sadness overcame her as the chime to her door echoed in the now spartan room. Clearing her throat as best as she could, she called out for the person at her door to enter. As the door opened, there stood a crewman that would escort her to the shuttle. She nodded to the man and took the lead to the nearest ship mooring dock.
***A shuttle ride***
Sitting in the guest seating near the middle of the shuttle, she watched as the Mithrar Anchorage shrank in size until it was nothing more than a shadow of itself and then a mere speck of a dot in the shuttle’s port side window.
Turning her head Vausees closed her eyes and meditated knowing that it would take the shuttle a full two hours until it was in the docking bay of the USS Paladin, and then three weeks aboard before arriving back to earth which would end with a twenty-minute run via shuttlecraft to San Francisco and eventually Starfleet Headquarters.
A soft hiss is heard as the pilot swivels around and looks at Vausees. He gets up and moves over to her.
“Pardon me, Commander, but would you care for something to eat or drink?” he asks her.
Vausees opens her eyes and looks at the man. Her light blue almost pale drift over the man as she nods. “That will be fine, Chief,” she states as she sees the three chevrons and two pips that show he is a senior chief.
As the man turns about to get both of them something to eat and drink, she asks him what he had done to be assigned to her. This causes the chief to pause for a moment and turn his head to face her.
“On the contrary, Ma’am. I requested this detail. I am at the end of my tour out in the Delta and thought it time to head back home to see what else Starfleet may have in store for me.”
He then turns back around and places a double order for the onboard replicator. As he is ordering, Vausees couldn’t help but feel like a fool for thinking that someone like him could have been a troublemaker aboard the Mithrar Anchorage.
“Forgive me, chief. I just assumed someone that was a problem would be assigned to send me away,” she stated as he turned back around with a plate in each hand.
“No apologies required, Ma’am. But I must ask why do you think the Mithrar is sending you away. To my knowledge, you are being recalled back to Earth, Ma’am,” he stated boldly, and then realized that he had spoken too boldly to a superior officer.
Vausees dismissed the thought with a simple gesture. “It’s ok, chief,” she stated as she realized his error and added a chuckle. “You rarely get recalled a month or two after you have received and taken orders to a new post.”
He nodded to her statement and took a bite from a slice of bread that he had cut for himself. Another slice lay on the plate for Vausees. As he chewed, he thought about what Vausees had said and then looked up at her. “Well whatever it is, Ma’am, I doubt you are in any trouble you did just get promoted to Commander a few weeks ago,” he stated as he finished the last of his slice of bread and washed it down with some water from a pitcher that had also replicated with the plates of bread.
An hour later, the chief had returned to the pilot’s seat, and Vausees returned to her meditation. She thought about what the chief had told her as she sat there in silence. She knew in her heart that she couldn’t have done anything wrong and that the chief was right.
***U.S.S. Paladin***
After she is checked out by the CMO she is shown to her quarters; which just so happens to be one of the guest quarters. Setting down her bags she takes a seat next to a small table and closes her eyes.
“Computer, what access do I have to the ship?” she asks
“You have full access to all areas. Is there someplace you would like to go?” the computer asked Vausees.
This shocked Vausees and she turned to the console on the desk next to her. “Show me where the gym is.”
A soft beep and a layout of the Paladin was displayed for her. A section on the port side of deck four was highlighted for her, as well as a route to it from her quarters.
A smile crossed her lips as she swiftly changed out of her uniform and into a pair of shorts and a tank top. As she moved towards the door and opened it she was met by a man dressed in red with four pips on his collar. “Oh excuse me, Captain!” she exclaimed as she nearly ran him over as she attempted to exit out of her quarters.
Captain Lance had his hand up to press a button on a console outside of Vausees quarters when he suddenly was looking at the woman that he was going to see. Hearing her apology he smiled as he looked at what she was wearing. “No apology required, and if I didn’t know any better you look to be heading to one of the three gyms on this ship?”
“Yes, sir,” she stated as she stood there at ease.
“Relax, Commander Vax. You’re not one of my crew so you can speak with me frankly.”
This confused Vausees for a moment as she was trained to always acknowledge all of her superior officers with respect to their rank, like ‘sir or ma’am’. She did relax slightly, but just slightly.
Lance offered her to exit her quarters as she spoke. “If you do not mind Vausees I will accompany you to the turbo-lift that will take you to deck four while talking to you.”
She exits out her door and the Captain falls in step next to her. “What can I do for you, Captain?”
He looks her over for a moment and shakes his head. “Tradition I am guessing.”
She looks at him and nods. “Can’t be helped, Sir,” she states as they walk down the corridor.
“I want you to know, Commander, that if you need anything while you are on board that you can contact me and I will do my best to accommodate you.”
She nods and continues to walk towards the lift that was at the end of the corridor. As they both reach the lift she turns and looks at them. “You might hear something about that sooner than you think, Captain.” With that, she pressed a button to hail the lift. The doors open a moment later and she nods to Lance. “Sir.” and she enters the lift and leaves the Captain behind.
***Gym***
Upon entering the gym she sees two other officers going about their routines. Walking over to a treadmill she lays her towel down onto the crossbar and then steps up onto it. She begins her run slowly; to allow her legs and body to warm up and for her blood to flow steadily within her body. After several minutes and a mile into her run, she reaches up and presses the controls to the machine. The machine in response elevates the platform up a few degrees and speeds up the contact pad of the platform.
Within a few minutes, Vausees is breathing heavy and a nice sheen of sweat can be seen glistening off her slender form. Looking down she sees that she has already passed the 10km required for passing the final physical exam for the academy and that she has done it in under 40 minutes.
Feeling a slight burn in her calves she reaches up again and presses on the controls to level out the platform and decrease the speed down to a slow jog. After a few minutes, she steps off of the treadmill and takes her towel with her; walks over a rack that houses several dumbbells, and retrieves two dumbbells that weigh 15 pounds each. Taking a seat on a bench she looks around and realizes that the gym was vacant now. “Computer, increase gravity to this room by a factor of two, and set a warning on the console to this room.” A soft beep confirms her request.
Holding the dumbbells on her thighs she feels the increase to the gravity and closes her eyes. She then begins to curl the weights, breathing slow, and steadily as she does, she enters into a meditative state of mind.
A soft chime at the entrance to the gym disrupts her for a moment, “Enter.” A sound of a hiss is heard as the door opens. She turns her head to see Lance standing there, “Something I can help you with Captain?” she asks.
“No, just coming to check on you is all.”
Vausees drops the dumbbells and stands up. She turns and looks at the Captain. “Sir, with all due respect, you could have called me on the intercom for that, and again, Sir, I feel like you are starting to stalk me.” Her light blue eyes bore into his as she states this. “I also do remember that you stated that if I needed anything to come to you, and right now need to be left alone, “ she states as she reaches down and retrieves her towel off of a bench next to her. She then moves to exit the gym leaving a dumbfounded Captain Lance standing there with a perplexed look on his face at the statement that she had just made.
***Mess hall - a week later***
Captain Lance enters into the mess hall and moves over to a replicator. He orders himself something to drink and turns around to see Vausees sitting alone. Moving over to her he stops, “Pardon me, Commander,” he states as she stands there. She looks up at him with a smile.
“Captain.”
“May I?” He gestures to the open seat.
“Of course. Please have a seat.”
Lance takes a seat and sets his drink down. He looks at her and then around the mess hall. Most of the Junior officers and crew were scattered about the compartment and only one group was within earshot of them.
“Vausees,” he says in a low voice.
She looks up at him with a questioning look on her face as he had only called her by her name once before.
“I want to apologize for how I treated you when you first came aboard my ship.”
“Captain, if you are thinking that I am holding a grudge against you for your conduct, don’t,” she states in a low voice as well realizing that this was meant for their ears only. “I said what I had to and left it at that.”
As she stood up and retrieved her empty tray she looked at him. He stands up as she moves toward a replicator and then pauses next to him. She leans over and whispers, “No offense, Captain, but you and the men on this ship are not my type.” She then disposes of her tray into the replicator for recycling and exits out of the mess hall.
***Captain’s Ready Room***
An alarm sounds off as Vausees sleeps. She opens an eye and looks over at the console on the wall. It shows 0400. Sitting up she stretches and begins her routine for waking up. After her shower, she dresses and checks out her uniform. “Perfect as always.”
Vausees exits the lift onto the bridge heading for the Captain’s Ready Room. She reaches up and presses a button on the console just outside of the room.
“Come in,” he states as he looks at the monitor on his desk.
Vausees enters and walks over to Lance. He looks up at her and cocks his head to the side, “Commander what can I do for you?”
“I need to do something. I can’t just sit back and do nothing.”
He listens to what she had just said and nods to her expression of wanting to help. “Let me see what I can do to get you onto the schedule.”
She nods and turns about heading for the exit; she stops before opening the door, “Thank you.”
***SOL- Earth - Earth Spacedock***
For the past two weeks, Vausees had kept herself busy, and as the Captain had stated he was able to place her on the schedule, as an assistant Chief Sec/Tac. Vausees was thankful for this and with the additional help, most of the workload that had their Chief of Security bogged down was completed before they entered into the SOL sector of the Alpha Quadrant.
Vausees had removed her uniform and was sitting comfortably next to the table. She had just sent off a letter to Jana when the door chimed.
“Enter.”
The door opened and Lance stood there, “We should be docking with Earth Spacedock in about twelve hours.”
Vausees stood up and walked over to Lance. She hugged him, “Thank you for all that you have done for me, Lance.” She then stepped away and smiled at him.
Lance stood there for a moment and nodded. “I am glad to have had you aboard, Commander.” With that, he exited out of her room.
Twelve hours later, Vausees stood inside of the promenade of the Spacedock. She was staring out of one of its bulkhead-sized windows watching all of the ships that came and went from the station.
Suddenly a hand came down on her shoulder, and she turned her head quickly to see a familiar face.
“Chief!” is all that she said as she wrapped her arms around him. “It’s good to see you.”
When she pulled away she saw a look of confusion on his face, “Is something the matter, Chief?” she asked.
He looked at her for a moment, “I have been assigned to you again, Ma’am,” he stated.
She cocked her head to the side and twisted her forehead, “What do you mean assigned to me?” she asked him.
Suddenly the two of them were approached by three uniformed Starfleet personnel. As soon as they came to a stop next to Vausees one of the three stepped forward. “I presume you are Captain Vax?” asked the woman.
Vausees looked at the Chief and then back to the woman. The Chief turned and looked at this woman and the two other Starfleet security officers. “Pardon me Ma’am, but who are you?” he asked.
She looks at the Chief, “Master Chief Petty Officer, Charles Tanners, I presume?” she said in a manner that caused both Vausees and Charles to take a step back. Charles had his arm out and over the Vausees, who was looking down at the arm with an irritated expression on her face.
The woman looked at both Vausees and Charles, both of whom had a look of confusion and doubt on their face. She then looked down at her PADD and her eyes widened after seeing her mistake. “Oh, excuse me, Commander Vax and Senior Chief Petty Officer Tanner.” She stated as she looked up from the PADD to the both of them.
Vausees placed a hand on Charles’s arm and pushed it aside as she stepped forward. He looked at her and lowered his arm as he looked at her. He could see the irritation on her face as she stepped by.
“I can assume that you have been sent to fetch me,” she stated as she looked away from the Chief to the woman that stood near them. She then looked at the two Sec Officers and back to the woman, “Are you detaining me?” she asked as she approached the woman.
The woman took a step back away from Vausees and bumped into one of the Security Officers behind her. She looked up and back toward the man that stood there looking down at her. She took a step forward and recomposed herself. She hadn’t been ready for Vausees' advance on her and it had surprised her.
“On the contrary, Commander.” She then reached into a case and pulled out two PADD’s and handed them to her. “These are orders to report to San Francisco.”
Vausees looked at the PADD’s and saw that one of them was for Charles; she handed it over to the Chief and returned her attention to the woman that stood before them. “And when do we report to Starfleet HQ?” she asked
“I think you misunderstand, Commander.”
Vausees looked at the woman and tilted her head.
“You are to report to San Francisco and wait until you are called to HeadQuarters.”
Vausees nodded her head and thought to herself that this was a complete waste of time. She turned to look at Charles who was about to say something along the lines of what she was thinking and shook her head no. She then returned her focus to the woman. “Thank you.”
The woman nodded in return and departed with the two Security Officers in tow. Vausees turned back to the Chief who looked rather pissed off at having to wait.
“Chief…,” she was cut off as Charles started in.
“That pompous woman has no right to keep us from doing our jobs.”
A sigh left Vausees mouth as she grabbed Charles by the arm and her bag in the other and drug both toward a departing shuttle. As they entered the shuttle she released his arm and spun him around to look at her.
“Listen here Chief, I am not your superior officer but I will be damned if I am going to have you make me look like a damn fool,” she bore her blue eyes into his, “do I make myself clear on that?” She stood there and looked at him, and did not care that they were not alone.
For the first time since they had met on that shuttlecraft bound for the USS Paladin, the Chief knew that this woman was not one to mess with or get on the bad side with. He took a step back and nodded to her. “Yes, Ma’am.”
***San Francisco - Downtown Apartment***
It had been nearly seven years since she had last been in this apartment. She set her bag by the door as it closed. She closed her eyes as she remembered some of the things that had happened. A soft sigh escaped her lips as a finger ran over a picture of her and Klair. She opened her eyes to see the goofy smiles on both of their faces and remembered that it was taken two hours before her death.
Vausees reached down and upturned the photo. As she looked around she sighed and then smiled. Reaching into her pocket she pulled out a small case and inside it was a key. She was lucky that she had friends during her time at the Academy and while on DS9. She reached the door and grabbed her bag and headed for the nearest shuttle that was heading out of town.
Before entering the shuttle she made sure all transmissions were routed to her friend's place at the Riviera Country Club in Los Angeles. Vausees took a seat and relaxed as she knew it would take only a few minutes to reach the LA terminal.
***Riviera Country Club***
Vausees was greeted by a pair of smiling Officers as she exited the shuttle. They both wrapped their arms around her as she tried to do the same to them.
“It’s good to see you Vax.” They both said at the same time.
“It’s good to see you both as well.”
Trance and Trever released Vausees long enough for a chauffeur to take her bag and escort them to a waiting shuttle.
As they sat in the shuttle Vausees looked down at the table and started to trace an insignia into the top of it. Trance looked at her brother and shook her head. He couldn’t help it and touched Vausees forearm. “How long do we have you for?”
She looked up at him and smiled. “I don’t know.”
This troubled Trance who knew that Vausees was a wild one and needed the open space, of space, to keep her mind at ease from the pain of the death of her fiance and their best friend.
Trance looked out the window of the shuttle and a grin crossed her mouth. Her brother saw the look on his sister's face and turned to see what she was looking at. “Oh Vausees,” they both chimed in.
Vausees looked up from the top of the table to the twins and then out of the window. Out before them stood the country club that Trance and Trever had inherited from their great grandmother. A place that always brought Vausees out of any foul mood. A smile crossed her lips as she looked back at the twins and took their hands. Trance looked at Vausees and nodded when she lipped out ‘Thank you.'.
“You know you are always welcome here,” Trever stated as he looked at the window and then over to Vausees.
She sighed as she looked over at him. “You know I hate when you two do that,” they all laughed as the shuttle touched down in the courtyard.
After unpacking her bags Vausees headed for the pool and took a seat in one of the lounge chairs. She laid back in her bikini and closed her eyes as the sun beat down on her skin. Trance walked over and took the one next to her.
“So what do you have planned for the night?” she asked
Vausees laid there for a moment and then turned her head to her friend, “Nothing other than laying here and enjoying this warmth.”
Trance looked at her for a moment and shook her head. “Who is she and where is she?” is all that Trance asked.
Vausees lowered the sunglasses and looked at Trance. “No one, yet, but I am hoping that will change whenever she and I can find the time to take leave together.” She stated. “As for where? I am not sure where her ship is at this time, but I hope that she is safe, well as safe as one can be.”
Trance nodded and laid her head back to enjoy the company of Vausees when a loud splash was heard followed by both of them suddenly becoming soaked from the pool. Vausees sat up and removed her sunglasses and looked toward the pool as Trever surfaced and was laughing. Setting her glasses aside she strolled over to the pool and dove in. As she surfaced she wrapped her arms around Trever and pulled him under the water.
The two then began to fight under the water, both tried to outdo the other. Trever tried to drag Vausees under the water but failed as she captured both of his arms and flipped over him. Unbeknownst to her Trance has slipped into the water and swam up next to her. She felt the smooth but powerful arms of her friend slip around her waist and she was suddenly removed from Trever and tossed across the pool. She surfaced and realized that she was suddenly outnumbered. A wicked grin crossed her lips as she slowly submerged below the water.
As she swam under the water she aimed for Trance only to find Trever in her way. She easily slipped past him and wrapped herself around Trance. Her legs locked on the woman's waist as her arms snaked up and around Trance’s chest. As Trance submerged Vausees looked into her friend's eyes and grinned under the water. She released Trance and surfaced a few feet away.
Relaxing on the edge of the pool she looked at the both of them. “Nice try but you should know better than to tangle with me.” She grinned at both of them as she allowed her legs to kick out in the cool water.
A chauffeur appeared near the edge of the pool and looked at them. “Dinner will be served in a few minutes. Where shall I have it taken to?”
“Poolside will be fine Max.” Trance stated as she swam over to Vausees. Trever was hoisting himself out of the water and was following Max to the kitchen. The two could be seen holding a conversation.
Vausees looked down as she felt Trance touch the pouch where her Symbiont resided.
“Trance you know that I don’t enjoy being touched there.”
“I know but I find it fascinating to know that you are a host to a Symbiont.”
Vausees shook her head as she reached out and took Trance into her arms. She held her against her chest as she looked out at the sun as it began to set.
Trance looked up at Vausees as she was being held. “You know you could just stay here. You have done your time in Space.”
Vausees kept her eyes away from Trances as she listened to what her friend had just said. She swallowed hard before she blinked, “As much as I would love to retire and move back to Earth and this wonderful place that you have here Trance. I know that my heart would not be able to stand not knowing what is just outside of the darkness that lies between the bright specks of those stars.” She turned her head down to her friend and smiled. “Besides you would get tired of me before you know it and want me to leave,” she stated trying to keep a straight face as she did only to fail at it.
“Come on you two!” came Trever's voice from the other side of the pool.
Both Vausees and Trance looked over at him and sighed together. Untangling themselves from each other they swam to the other side of the pool and at the same time exited.
Trever watched the both of them move in unison and shook his head. “I know that one of you is my sister and the other my best friend, but hot damn if I can say what I just saw to be a sin against all men.”
Vausees glared at him as she walked past. Trance smacked her brother and took a seat in Vausees lap after sliding her plate next to hers. Vausees wrapped her arms around Trance knowing why her best friend was acting like this. She could feel her Betazoid friend's emotions as her friend could feel hers.
Trance leaned back against Vausees and smiled at her brother who looked at the both of them. He shook his head as he began to eat. “You two are cute together, even if we all know that it has nothing substantial.” He stated as he continued to eat.
He was correct with everything he had just stated, and even though it felt good to hold on to someone Vausees knew that it couldn’t manifest into anything solid. But she would be damned if she didn’t enjoy this while it lasted. “We all know this and we all accept this, don’t we Trance?” She asked her best friend who shook her head in agreeance.
*** Station McKinley - Observation room***
A man stood in the shadows on a window that looked into the drydock. A ship sat there being worked on. His cold eyes calculating as he watched two workerbee’s flypast in route to some part of a half-constructed nacelle.
The sound of footfalls caused him to adjust his sight onto the slightly reflective window. If he could have smiled he would have as he saw the Vice-Admiral walking in.
“What can I do for you, Admiral?” He asked as the Admiral came to a stop behind him.
“I have a report here that needs urgent care, and you are going to be the one to take care of it.”
“What makes you think that I can do this?” The man stated as he continued to look out the window.
The Admiral stepped up next to the man as another workerbee flew past the window. “Because, Cody,” his voice was low, almost a whisper, as he turned and looked at his son. “You're going to be aboard this ship.” He stated as he looked at the man and slammed the report and his orders into his chest.
Before the Admiral had a chance to remove his hand from his son’s chest he was captured. The next thing he knew he was being slammed against the window. His head and face being forced into it.
“You should know better than to touch me, Father.” He stated as he tightened his grip on the twisted arm. “After all, it was your doing that transformed me into this weapon of yours.”
Cody gave a slight push into the Admiral's back and the twisted arm as he released the man. He retrieved the PADD that contained the report and his orders that had hit the floor when he had attacked his father.
A sigh escaped his lips as he sat down in his room. The lights dimmed as his head rolled back on the couch. He knew he shouldn’t have reacted like he had but it was instinct to react as such and he despised his father anyways. Still, he knew that this would have repercussions later.
***Starfleet HQ - Orders***
Vausees laid on her back under a tree. Her fingers played in the hair of Trance as she looked into the branches above them. Trance had her eyes closed as she was enjoying this attention.
She looked over at Vausees and caught her best friend's eyes. “I know that look Vax.” She stated as she pushed herself up and then straddled her waist.
“Oh do you now?” Vausees said as she looked up at Trance.
“You want nothing more than to get the hell back out in space.”
Vausees thought to herself, “She’s not wrong.” She then reached up and touched Trances face. “You’re not wrong.”
Trance sighed and batted away her hand. She reached up and pinched her nose as she closed her eyes. “One of…” a soft chirp cut her off and she looked over at the PADD that lay in the grass next to them.
As the PADD chirped a second-time Trance reached over and tapped the spinning Combadge icon. The image of the woman that Vausees had met on Earth Spacedock appeared.
“Commander Vausees…” she stopped when she saw Trance. “Oh, excuse me Commander Trance. I am looking for Commander Vausees.” She stated.
“She’s right here.” Trance, stated with a slightly irritated tone to her voice.
“Commander Vausees, you are to report to Starfleet Headquarters immediately. The same goes for you as well Commander Trance.”
Trance looked from the PADD to Vausees who shrugged her shoulders. She looked back at the PADD and tapped the screen before she looked to Vausees.
“What is this about?” She questioned her
“Not a clue, but I think we should go.” She stated as she slipped her hand up Trances thighs to her hips and rolled her onto her back and kissed her. After the kiss, she pushed up and then stood up. She offered Trance her hand and helped her to her feet.
An hour later their shuttle landed on the landing pad just outside of the gates that led to Starfleet HQ. They were met by two Security Officers who escorted them into the building and to a waiting room. AS they entered the room they were greeted by an irritated woman.
“The next time I call…” She was cut off by the sound of someone clearing their throat. “Have a seat.” That is all they heard.
They both took a seat as an Admiral with his arm in a sling turned around and looked at them. “Commander Vausees, Commander Trance. I have called you here to inform you that as of yesterday you both are to report to the USS Heracles for an assignment of the utmost importance.” He then walked over to Vausees. “Stand up Commander.”
She didn’t hesitate as she stood. The Admiral turned to the woman that was next to him and grabbed the single pip that she had in the palm of her hand. “As of this moment Captain Vausees I am promoting you and assigning you to the Heracles as its Commanding Officer.” He stated as he tried to place the pip next to the three others on Vausees collar.
Trance seeing the Admiral struggling stood up. “Sir, if I may.” She lifted her hand up and took the pip from the Admiral. She then placed it next to the others and pressed down, a soft snap announced the pip as in place. Trance looked at Vausees and smiled before she turned back to the Admiral and nodded.
“Welcome to the team, Captain Vausees.” He stated as he reached for the PADD that the woman next to him held out. “These are your orders and the report on this assignment. Gather your team and crew, Captain. Dismissed. “ Vausees took the PADD and with Trance in tow exited the waiting room.
===USS Heracles NCC-80555===
Vausees walked out of Starfleet HQ with a slight pep in her step. She could not help but let her pride be noticed. Behind her was Trance, who had also gained another Pip on her collar as well. As they walked out of the gates they were met by Trever holding out a PADD. He handed it to Vausees who took it without a second thought. She already knew what was on the device as she looked down at it. She nodded and congratulated the man.
“Welcome aboard, Lieutenant Commander Nief,” she teased as she motioned for Trever to look at his sister.
Trever cocked his head to the side and looked behind Vausees to see a new full pip on his sister's collar. A grin split his lips as he looked at her. “Well look at you. A full Commander,” he stated as he placed her into a headlock and ruffled her hair.
This caused Trance to elbow him in the ribs, a little harder than she meant to but he had warned him about placing her in a headlock. After all, he did deserve the bruised ribs for his actions towards a superior officer. He rubbed his ribs after he released her, and the three of them headed for a shuttle that was scheduled for the McKinley Shipyard.
As the shuttlecraft left the gravitational pull of the earth, Trance and Trever looked out of one of the portholes that faced the Shipyard. Vausees on the other hand had her nose in a PADD studying the Argonaut Class ship that she was now in Command of.
A slight smack to her shoulder brought her out of her studying, and she looked at where the smack had originated from and shook her head. Trance had been the one to smack her. She released the buckle on the restraint and moved over next to the twins; all the while shaking her head.
‘These two,’ she thought to herself before she peered out of the porthole and was amazed at the ship that they were approaching. The PADD hadn’t done any justice to the real thing.
“Captain Vausees. Commander Trance and Lieutenant Commander Trever. Please take your seats as we will be docking with the McKinley SpaceDock in two minutes,” came a voice over the intercom.
Not thinking twice about the announcement the three of them returned to their seats and replaced their restraints. Vausees looked over at Trance who had a giddy look on her face; for more than two reasons. It had been nearly three years since Trance and Trever had both served on a ship let alone together and now they had Vausees as their Commanding Officer. What more could they want.
As the doors to the shuttle hissed open a man stood at the end of the ramp. As he came into view Vausees instantly recognized him. He looked up at Vausees and nodded to her, and took the hand that she had held out. “Charles, good to see you again,” she stated as she shook his hand.
He felt in step with Trance and Trever as they all followed Vausees to the promenade of the SpaceDock. Charles looked over at the twins and then at the back of Vausees head. Trance couldn’t help but let out a chuckle as she looked at Charles. He returned the look and cocked his head to the side.
“Something funny, Commander?”
“You wanted to know if myself and the Lieutenant Commander are related,” she stated as she stopped Charles, letting Trever and Vausees continue on without them.
He looked at her as he waited for the answer to the question that he hadn’t voiced but thought about. It was then that he realized that Trance and he assumed the other man was Betazoids. His eyes widened slightly at his stupidity. A hand came down on his shoulder and Trance shook her head.
“At easy Chief,” she stated. “The other man that was with us is my brother and yes we are Betazoids.”
She felt the tension in Charles’ shoulders release at this announcement, and a smile came over her lips. She thought to herself, ‘he’s cute.’ as she lowered her hand from his shoulder.
“Shall we?” She motioned to Vausees and Trever who had stopped to wait for Trance and Charles.
After the two of them rejoined the group, Vausees looked at Trance, who winked to inform her that she would tell her later. She nodded and the group made it to the turbo-lift that would take them to the operations deck of the station.
***SpaceDock McKinley***
The door hissed open as the lift came to a halt above the promenade. Vausees exited out first and was followed by the rest of the group. She looked over her shoulder at Trance who nodded and escorted the rest to the waiting room. This confused Charles for a moment and Vausees fixed him with a look and he knew that this was for their own good.
After the doors hissed shut behind the group, Vausees handed over the PADD that contained the orders that she was given to a young man that sat behind the desk that was alone in the room. He looked them over and his eyes widened as he bolted upright.
“This way, Captain,” he stated as he motioned for her to follow him to an entrance that was behind the pillar that was behind his desk.
Vausees followed the young man who escorted her to a secured door that was being guarded by two guards. The young man nodded to both guards after holding up a security PADD. The two guards salute Vausees, which confused her, and stepped aside. The door then hissed open and a single man sat in a darkened room waited for her to enter.
Vausees entered the room and the young man exited. The door hissed shut once more and she was alone in the room with this man. He reached down and took the PADD that the young man had left, and he looked it over. After he read it he looked up at Vausees and nodded. He set the PADD down and transferred the Mission profile to the PADD and handed it to her without some much as a word being spoken.
As the doors once again hissed shut she walked down the hall to the reception area that she had arrived at. Once there she nodded to the young man behind the desk and retrieved the group that she had arrived with. They took the life once more and exited out back onto the promenade.
Vausees looked down at the PADD that was in her hand and gave it a slight squeeze. She didn’t know what the PADD contained other than it was the mission report.
A rough voice echoed in her ear and she recognized it as Charles’, “What was that about Vausees?” He asked her.
She turned about and looked him dead in the eyes. “If you were to know about it Chief you would have been permitted!” Her voice was low in tone but held more than enough attitude to let him know that he had overstepped his line. This was the first time that she had ever had to rebuke the man and she hoped that it would be the last.
Charles took a step back realizing that he had made an error in judgment, “My apologizes, Captain,” he stated.
Vausees nodded to him as she took the lead once more and the group headed for the umbilical that would take them to the Heracles.
***Heracles - Meet and Greet***
After a moment they entered the corridor that ran from the starboard hatch to the port hatch. The group then turned a corner and the main lift came into view. They all entered and headed up to the bridge. As soon as the doors to the lift opened a Bzzit Khaht announced the arrival of Vausees and the rest of the Bridge crew. Everyone stopped what they were doing and gave her their attention. She raised up her hand.
“As you were.”
The crew returned to what they were doing. She turned to the group and nodded to them.
“To your posts.”
They returned a nod and disappeared to their assigned positions.
Vausees turned to her XO, “Follow me, please,” she stated as she moved to her ready room. Zazzuit followed her Captain as ordered and entered the ready room behind her. The doors behind the Bzzit Khaht closed and Vausees leaned against the edge of her desk as she looked at the woman that stood before her.
“What can you tell me about our crew, so far?”
Zazzuit stood there for a moment, her for rigid as she thought about what Vausees had asked her, “They’re mostly green,” the Bzzit Khaht stated as she remained where she stood.
“At ease, Commander.”
Zazzuit looked up at Vausees and was confused for a moment and then relaxed as best as she could. Vausees moved to behind her desk and took a seat, “Have a seat Commander.”
Zazzuit nodded to her Captain and took a seat in front of Vausees. Her eyes looked at Vausees who looked back at her.
“I know that they are mostly green, Commander. I am asking what do you think of them?”
I think that they will do just fine and should we come up against another ship, hostile or not, they will perform their duties.”
Vausees nodded to what Zazzuit had said about the crew, “Anything else I should know, Commander?”
Zazzuit shook her head, “No, Captain.”
Vausees stood up, “Have the bridge crew meet up in here in ten minutes.”
Zazzuit stood up when Vausees did. She turned towards the door and exited. When the door closed behind Zazzuit, Vausees moved to the replicator and ordered a Jestral tea. As the light dimmed in the receptacle of the replicator she reached in and took hold of the mug that the tea had materialized in. She took a healthy swallow and returned to her desk.
A few minutes later she heard the chime at the door, “Enter,” she stated and the door opened. Trever, Trance, Charles, Cody, Jonton, Zozzak, and Zirtar entered. Zazzuit entered a moment later after making sure that a ship report was in her hand. After everyone had taken a seat Vausees looked at them and steepled her fingers. “Thank you for coming to this meeting,” she stated. They all nodded, “I want you all to know that I have the utmost respect for you all and look forward to working with you all.” Vausees leaned back in her chair. “If you have anything to tell me or suggest to me, my door is open.” It was then that Cody spoke.
“When do we depart?”
Vausees looked at him, “In one hour. We will be departing from the station and heading for Starbase 11 before we begin to patrol the area between Cardassian and Klingon borders,” she stated, “I advise that if you have any further business on the station, starbase, or Earth that you finish it up in this hour,” she looked at everyone as she stated this. “Otherwise you will be left behind and an official notice will be placed on your record.”
The Bridge team nodded to the orders that she had just told them. She remained silent as she waited for anything else to be asked. When nothing else came she looked to her XO and nodded. Zazzuit returned the nod and stood up. She then informed the Bridge crew of what needed to be done in the next hour so that they could launch on time.
===Heracles - Departure===
An hour later Vausees, sat in the Captain's chair, Zazzuit sat to her right, and Trance to her left. Trever had been busy calculating the best route to Starbase 11 when Vausees spoke to him.
“Lieutenant Nief, take us out?”
Trever nodded to the order as he finished the route.
“One-quarter impulse, if you would.”
“Aye Captain, one-quarter impulse,” he replied
Swiftly his hands moved over the controls on his console and the Heracles released the mooring mounts and began to move slowly out and away from the arms of the McKinley Station.
“We have cleared the station, Captain,” Trever stated.
Vausees nodded, “Good, engage the course for Starbase 11, Lieutenant.”
“Course already laid in, Captain.”
Vausees could not help but let a smile cross her lips. She knew that Trever had already laid in the course prior to leaving the stations.
“Good, set us on that course and at warp 5 if you please.”
“Warp 5, Aye Captain.”
Trever input the requested warp factor, and within a matter of moments, the Heracles entered into warp and left SOL. As they entered warp Trever looked at the Nav portion of his console.
“At our present speed and course, we should arrive at our destination in approximately 15 hours, Captain.”
Vausees stood up, “Good.”
She then turned to her XO, “Zazzuit the bridge is yours. Let me know when we have arrived or if something should come up.”
Zazzuit nodded to her as she swiveled the command console in her direction. Vausees moved from the bridge to the lift. She was followed by Trance.
“Where to,” she asked as the doors closed.
Trance looked at her with a mischievous look in her eyes, “Your cabin.”
Vausees looked at her for a moment and shook her head before she informed the lift of their destination.
===Starbase 11===
Vausees lay in her bed with Trance’s arm draped over her. A soft chime caused her to open her eyes. She looked at Trance who also started to open her eyes. She leaned over and gently kissed her before she softly whispered, “You better get up.” Trance smiled and returned the kiss before she slipped out of the warm covers and into the shower.
Vausees slipped into a black silk robe and walked over to the replicator. She ordered two Jestral Tea’s when she felt Trance wrap her arms around her.
“You know if you were any other member of my crew this could be considered fraternizing with your Commanding Officer,” she said in a joking manner.
Trance smiled as she laid her head on Vausees back, “Then I guess I am lucky that I am more than just a member of the crew.”
Trance then slipped around Vausees and kissed her once more as she took one of the mugs. “I have a few things that need to be done in the labs,” she stated as she drank the tea.
Vausees nodded as she set her mug down, “Just keep me apprised of what you're up to,” she said as she headed for the shower.
“Of course,” Trance replied as she finished the tea and set the mug in the receptacle of the replicator. “I’m heading.”
“Have a good day,” Vausees replied as she stepped into the sonic shower.
***Heracles - Ten Forward***
It had been a couple of hours since Trance had left for the Labs so Vausees stood up from her seat on the bridge and headed over to Trever. He looked up at her with a grateful smile and nodded. She returned the nod, “What our current time to Spacebase 11?”
Trever looked back down at his console and brought up the Navigation portion, “Six hours, Captain,” he informed her.
Vausees nodded once more and looked up at the main viewer. Star streaked by as she watched. To most this would have, over time, become unnerving, but to her it was hypnotising. After a moment she placed a hand on Trevers shoulder before she looked over at her XO, “Bridge is yours.” Zazzuit looked up at her for a moment before she nodded acknowledgement.
A moment later she exited the lift and took a left down the corridor. She entered into the “Ten Forward” and took a seat at one of the empty tables. She looked out the window at the stars as they streaked by. As she sat there a young crewman walked over to her.
“Can I get you anything, Captain?”
She looked over at him and smiled, “Jestral Tea and a Uttaberry crepe.”
The crewman nodded and went to get the order taken care of. Vausees smiled as she turned back toward the window. While she continued to sit there she felt the present of someone standing there. She turned her head to see a familiar face. “Charles?”
He looked at her with a mug in his hand, “May I?” he gestured to the empty seat, and she nodded, “Of course.”
She watched him take a seat crossed from her. “So what you drinking Chief?” she asked. He looked down at his nearly empty mug and then back at her. “Earl Tea.” She nodded as her order was placed down in front of her. The crewman looked at Charles, “Refill Chief?”
Charles looked at the crewman for a moment and then shook his head. The crewman nodded and departed leaving the two alone. Vausees watched him for a moment as he attended to the others that were there. She then returned her attention to Charles.
“Something on your mind, Chief?”
He looked up at her and smiled, “No, Captain,” he said, “Just thought you looked like you could use the company.”
“That bad huh?” she questioned.
This confused Charles and it showed on his face. She saw this and chuckled. “I look that bad?”
He couldn’t help but laugh, “Oh no. I just don’t normally see you in the “Ten Forward”,” he stated as he downed the rest of his tea.
She nodded and realized that this was in fact her first time in any “Ten Forward.” on any ship that she had severed on. Hell even when she had served on “Deep Space Nine” she hardly ever ventured into “Quark’s or any of the venues on the promenade.
“I guess I need to change that.”
“Only if you want.”
Vausees laughed at that . “I guess I will then.”
“Well,” Charles said as he set his mug down, “Back to my dungeon. Got to make sure that them boys at McKinley knew what they were doing.” He then stood up and smiled once more down at Vausees. “Don’t worry too much about whatever it is that has you here.” He then turned and exited out of the “Ten Forward.”
*** Orbit - Starbase 11***
As Vausees set her now empty mug down a chime echoed in the “Ten Forward”.
“Captain, Vausees.”
She reached up and tapped her Combadge, “Go ahead Commander.”
“We have arrived at Starbase 11 and are in orbit.”
“Acknowledged, I am on my way.”
Vausees stood up and reached down to pick up the plate and mug and a hand gently touched her shoulder.
“Leave it, Captain.” came a familiar voice of the crewman that had served her earlier.
She looked at the hand and then to the face and with a smile placed the plate and mug back on the table, and with a nod departed. She was not one to take someone's duties away from them if they were in fact doing their job.
As the lift stopped on the bridge and Vausees exits and she moved swiftly over to her chair. As she sat she looked at the main viewer and the planet of M-11.
“Hail the base.”
Cody nodded and sent the hail. A moment later, “Connected, Captain.”
Vausees watched as the main viewer changed from stars to the face of an older woman in a Captain’s uniform, “Captain, Vausees of the USS Heracles,” she announced.
The older woman tilted her head to the side for a moment before she realized what was going on, “Ah, that’s right,” she stated, “Captain, I sure that you are aware of the circumstances that you are finding yourself in?” she asked.
Vausees shook her head, “I have orders to patrol this area between the Cardassian and Klingon borders. Which is all I am currently able to tell you. I am also sure that you are aware that your base will become our port for the foreseeable future.”
“Yes, I did receive orders about that. However, I wasn’t expecting you for at least another day,” she said as she looked at Vausees, who nodded.
“New ship.”
The woman nodded in return, “Well feel free to beam down and we’ll set up the details.”
“Pardon me, Captain,” Vausees said, “I didn’t catch your name.”
“Oh? Yes… that would be Captain Munez, Commanding Officer of Starbase 11.”
“Well then, Captain. I and a couple of my officers will beam down shortly.”
Munez nodded and the communication was closed.
“Odd woman,” Trever stated, “that Captain Munez.”
“Odd indeed.” Vausees agreed. She then turned to Zazzuit, “Gather your away team.”
Zazzuit nodded and looked at Cody, and Jonton. She then paused and looked back at Vausees for a moment before she reached up and tapped her Combadge. “ Ensign Quadri and Lieutenant Jazsmith report to Transporter room one. On the double.”
A smile crossed Vausees lips as she heard the two names, but of course her back was to her XO at that time.
Cody and Jonton followed Zazzuit as she entered into the lift.When the door closed Trever looked back at Vausees, “Strange that two…” She cut him off with a look and shook her head. “Not when we need to get to know our crew Lieutenant,” she stated in a manner that would look disciplinary in a way.
Trever nodded as he continued to maintain the orbit around M-11 and Starbase 11. He then turned and looked at Vausees, who was still looking at him. “One last question.” She wrinkled her eyebrow as she waited.
“Why didn’t you lead the away team?”
She sighed softly as she replied, “Two reasons,” she said, “One, I am the Captain and it is my job to make sure that this ship is ready at all times,” she then leaned down closer to his ear, “Yes you are one of the few that knew I am not a traditional Officer, but I am not entirely ready for this crew to see that side of me,” she said in a slightly hushed voice, “Secondly,” she stated as she stood back up, “What is the point of having an Executive Officer if I know nothing about their leadership abilities.”
Trever nodded as she returned his vision back to the console before him. Vausees was glad to see that she didn’t need to further explain herself to Trever. She turned about and nodded to both of the Lieutenants that had taken over for Cody and Jonton.
***Starbase 11 - Command Officer***
Zazzuit, Cody, and Jonton, along with the rest of the away team materialized inside on the surface of the planet, and just outside of the Officers lounge. To the right appeared a newly fabricated building. Zazzuit looked at Quadri and Jazsmith, “Lieutenant...Ensign,” the both looked at her. “Find out what you can about that building. It is not on the Starbase layout back on the Heracles,” she stated. They both nodded and left the group. She then looked to where the portmasters officer should be and started toward it; Cody and Jonton followed her.
A few minutes later the three of them stood in the office of Captain Munez, she looked at them when they had entered. “Captain,” Zazzuit said to Munez. She nodded but had a look of confusion on her face. “Captain Vausees sent us in her place to see what you had to offer the Heracles and her crew,” she stated. “So far I am not impressed but I believe that our Captain will see it as sufficient.”
Munez narrowed her eyes at Zazzuit and the comment that she had just made. “Well if you had given us advanced warning the base would have been made ready for your Captain and her crew,” Munez rebutled.
Zazzuit realized her mistake and raised a hand up, “Easy, Captain, I didn't mean to offend you.”
Munez suddenly realized that she herself had also made a mistake and relaxed her stance, “Forgive me, Commander. It has been a few years since anyone from the Federation has set foot on this base. Besides my own crew.”
A sudden chirm from Zazzuit Combadge alerted her. She looked at Cody who nodded and departed for the Lieutenant and Ensign. This alerted Munez for a moment and Zazzuit relaxed her with an explanation of how she had sent two of her away team to look into the purpose of a newly fabricated building that wasn’t on the base's layout. A moment later Cody returned with the other two.
“Well you could have just asked,” Munez stated. “They are the quarters for the crew of the Heracles.”
Zazzuit looked at Cody who nodded in confirmation. She then looked back at Munez. “Good, I will let my Captain know of the status of the base. I am sure she will contact you when she is ready.” Munez nodded with acknowledgement and Zazzuit tapped her Combadge. “Heracles, five to beam up.” A moment later the away team transported up to the Heracles and left the Captain alone.
A soft beep came from Munez’s computer and she sat down. A moment later the screen on her computer was filled with a shadowy figure, “You mustn’t let them interfere, Munez.” The screen then went blank.
***Captain's Ready Room***
Vausees sat in silence as Zazzuit and the rest of the away team debriefed about what was going on down there. She steepled her fingers as she listened and every so often she nodded her head to a piece of information. When Cody finished with his report and became silent she unsteepled her fingers and stood up. She moved over to one of the windows and looked down at the planet, and just below the base, though fairly smaller.
“Dismissed,” she stated to the team. She then looked over her shoulder at Cody. “Commander, Cody, hold up.”
He looked at her and nodded as the rest of the team left. He remained where he was as he continued to look at her.
“Sit.” was all that Vausees stated, and he did as she requested.
With her back still to him she began, “I have read your file, Commander,” she stated and then turned to face him. “Including the Classified parts.”
This alerted Cody as no one but his father and the team that had built and trained him had access to that part of his service record.
“Besides the mission that your father has placed you on. I have a need for you here.”
He cocked his head to the side and did the best that he could to look confused at her statement.
“Don’t give me that, Agent Bettencourt. I know more than you could possibly imagine,” this alarmed Cody further, and Vausees has seen it in his eyes. “I will let this oversight by your father go if you will do me a favor and find out what is really going on here,” she stated. A grin crept over Cody's lips. ‘Oh she’s good.’, he thought to himself as he nodded to her.
As Cody turned to leave, “Commander, don’t try to double-cross me and complete your father's “request”,” she stated as she threw up air quotations after that last word, “It would be unhealthy for you after all.”
She knew she was playing a risky game with this man since she knew that he was sent to her by his father, to stop her by any means, and based on the classified portion of Cody’s file that could only mean assassination and cover-up.
***Three months ago - Commander Cody’s Apartment***
The shadows played over white walls of the apartment as shuttles flew past. In the shadows a man sat silently. The only glow in the room, a dule blue, emanated from the display of a PADD that lay on a glass table. The man looked at the PADD as he steepled his fingers. His cold eyes never looked away.
He waited for someone to come to his room and confront him for the damage that he did to his fathers pride more than to his arm. As if on cue the chime on his door sounded. His eyes were the only thing that moved.
As the door opened and flooded the room the man remained motionless as three men entered his room.
“Computer, lights,” one of the three men said.
Nothing happened, not even a flicker. While in the darkness of the room the man kept his eyes on the three men that had entered into his room. When the door closed behind them he slowly and silently stood up and moved in the shadows. When he was behind them he reached out and slipped his arm around the throat of the man furthest in the back.
The man yelped at the sudden tightness around this throat and the sudden pain in his left shoulder as it had been ripped back suddenly.
“If Rear Admiral Bettencourt sent you,” he started, “to punish me for tarnishing his pride, you can report that you failed, and that his son will honor the orders.”
The other two men turned at the sound of the third man in pain and the sound of the voice.
“Computer, Lights.”
The room was suddenly flooded with light as the internal lights came on. As the three men sheilded their eyes Cody shoved the slightly injured man towards the other two. His cold eyes looked at them as he stepped aside. The three men moved toward the now opened door, and one of them stopped and turned to look at Cody.
“How?”
“Let’s just say that I know my father all to well.”
With a nod the man left the apartment, Cody stood in his door frame and made sure that they disappeared down the lift to his floor. He then turned back to the table and picked up the PADD. He looked it over and his shoulders sagged as he left his arm fall to his side with the PADD in hand. ‘One of these days I will deny you the luxury of using me father.’, he thought to himself as he tossed the PADD back onto the table and walked into his room to pack.
***Starbase 11 - Agent Cody***
Vausees, Cody, and the rest of the day shift beamed down in teams to set up their quarter’s in the base's newly established personnel building. As Vausees placed the last of her clothes away a chime at the door sounded. She turned around as it opened and there stood Cody, dressed in all black. She nodded to the man as he entered.
“You know what to do Commander…” she was cut off as a hand was raised.
Cody shook his head as he looked at her, “Right now my rank and connection to this ship are null-void until I finish what you want,” he stated to her as he lowered his hand.
Vausees understood what he meant by that and nodded in acknowledgement and understanding. Two of her Symbionts had done some shady and off the books kind of jobs in their pasts.
After he saw Vausees, Cody left the building after the sun had set on the planet and moved silently through the base, undetected. He slipped into the Portmasters officer and moved silently in the shadow of the closed window, as the shade had been drawn down. While inside he heard the soft breathing from Captain Munez as she slept in her room, and someone else. As he passed her room he carefully peered in and saw that she was indeed asleep with someone. Who it was did not matter to Cody as that wasn’t part of his current mission.
He shook his head as she moved away from the room and along the wall toward where her desk sat. As his hand touched the smoothed surface of the desk he could tell that this was more than likely the same desk that had been delivered to this base upon its initial construction. Which to Cody meant that it would have secret compartments. This excited him as he lowered himself to where the top of the desk was level with his eyes. He examined every inch of the surface of the desk and smiled from time to time as he saw indentations that could possibly have indicated the presence of a pressure button.
After he pried himself away from the examination he carefully activated Captain Munez’s computer and started to meticulously and methodically go through each of the files that she had on her computer. He then realized that she had a few to many files for him to look over and brought out a storage device. He placed the device on the desk next to the computer and after a moment had the device begin to copy and transfer all of the files onto it. After a moment the last file was transferred over he ensured that no records of his activities on the computer were there and he powered the computer down.
Once he slipped back out of the Portmasters office he moved quickly, but still remained silent as he moved, toward the personnel quarters, most specifically those of his Captains. He came to a stop just outside of her door and looked down at the device that was in his hand. He closed his fist around the device and squeezed it tightly as he thought about what may or may not be on the device. He then reached up and tapped the chime on the door.
A soft chime at her door brought a dazed Vausees back to reality as she had dozed off while reading department reports from all of her Senior Officers and Department heads. She shook her head for a moment to clear the fuzzy feeling that she had. After she cleared her throat she replied, “Enter.” The door slid open and Cody walked in and over toward her. When the door closed behind him she reached up on her desk and locked it for more security than privacy.
Cody stopped in front of her desk and set down the device that held all of the copies of all of the files that had been stored on Captain Munez’s computer. He informed her of the device nearly being filled to capacity and that it might be a good idea to have the Heracles own Computer create a secure and separate server before attempting to decode the files. Vausees agreed with him and gave him permission to depart for the Heracles.
***Heracles - A file and deception***
The final hum from the transport rematerializing Cody sounded as he moved off the platform and onto the transport room floor. Before he had transported up to the Heracles he had contacted Lieutenant Zirzzish, who was on the night shift for Security and Tactical and had requested that a security team meet him at Transporter room 1. As he looked around the room he nodded to the two security crewmen.
“Follow me,” he instructed as he led them from the Transporter room to the Bridge.
Upon arrival at the bridge, Cody led them over to the pool table holographic situation table. He positioned the security members at the entrances to this part of the bridge with instructions to not allow anyone into the area. He saw Zazzuit give him a confused look, as one of the security crewmen held her up. Cody shook his head no and set the storage device on the table.
“Computer, visual confirmations only.” a soft beep confirmed his request.
“Computer, I need you to design a secure and independent server.” The computer beeped again and began to create the request. It then displayed that it would take ten minutes to complete the request. Cody nodded to this and took a seat near the table. His mind began to wander as he waited. Thoughts of what could be on there started to scratch at the surface of his mind. While he waited he once more caught the eyes of Zazzuit and he sighed. He stood up and walked over to the Commander.
“Ma’am?”
Zazzuit looked at Cody and then realized that he was not in his uniform but was in a black version. She then held up a hand to silence Cody.
“Do I need to know?” That is all the Commander asked Cody.
Cody thought for a moment before he answered, “At this moment I do not know, however, if I should require some insight I will come to you, Ma’am.”
Zazzuit nodded and dismissed him. Cody turned about and headed back toward the table. As he returned he arrived just as the computer beeped. It then displayed that the server was ready. He then tapped a couple of buttons on the device and then entered in commands onto the holographic controls on the table. Another beep sounded and displayed that it would take another ten minutes.
After the ten minutes had elapsed the computer prompted Cody. He sat there for a moment before he issued a command for the computer to scan the files for any corruption or traps. The computer complied and began to scan the files. After a moment the computer came back and displayed that no files appeared to be corrupted or trapped. Cody then issued a command to scan the files for common items. The computer displayed that it needed more information so Cody input a command that would command the computer to look for command items such as names, dates, locations, or ships. The computer beeped to acknowledge the request and began to scan once again.
After what seemed like an eternity to Cody, which had only been another ten minutes, the computer beeped to inform him that the request had been finished. It then showed the common items requested. What Cody saw caused him, inwardly at least, to inhale sharply. He then reached up and tapped his ComBadge.
“Captain Vausees.”
Vausees was almost completely asleep when she heard Cody’s voice on her ComBadge. She reached over and grabbed the badge and gave it a soft tap in the palm of her hand.
“Go ahead, Cody.”
“Captain I need you and Commander Zazzuit to meet me in your ready room immediately,” he said as he looked at Zazzuit, who had looked up from the PADD that she had in her hand. She had heard her name come from Cody and had a look on her face, a look of concern.
“Can this wait until the morning, Cody?”
Cody shook his head as he replied, “I am afraid not, Captain.”
Vausees could hear the urgency in his voice as he replied to her. She tossed off her covers and slipped into her uniform as she replied back to him, “I will meet both you can Commander Zazzuit in my ready room in five minutes.”
“Understood, Captain.” He then tapped his ComBadge and closed the connection.
Cody walked over to Lieutenant Zirzzish, “Lieutenant, I require two additional security officers to secure the Situation Room of the bridge.”
Zirzzish looked at Cody for a moment and then over to Zazzuit who nodded. Zirzzish called up for two more security officers who were then instructed by Cody to ensure that no one entered the Situation Room unless it was the Captain, XO, or himself. The security team nodded and took up positions to ensure that no one could enter the area.
Cody then moved over to Zazzuit, “We are to meet the Captain in her ready room.” Zazzuit nodded and followed Cody across the bridge and into the Ready Room.
A moment later the door to the ready room opened and Vausees entered. She had a slightly irritated look on her face as she entered. When the door closed she walked over to her desk and set the security lock.
“What was so important, Cody, that you had to disturb my sleep?”
Cody took a seat as he had been pacing while he waited for her to arrive. He looked at her and then spoke, “ I need to know who authorized this mission?”
Vausees looked at Cody and then to Zazzuit for a moment. She took a seat behind the desk as she thought about the repercussions that could happen if she gave out that information. She then looked back at Cody.
“Tell me what you have found and I might be able to confirm if you are correct,” she stated as she leaned back in her chair.
Cody then began to inform both Vausees and Zazzuit of what he had found on the files that the computer had scanned. He then stood up and moved over to the wall-mounted monitor and brought up the information from the situation table, after entering in a security command. The names Vice Admiral Bettencourt, Captain Munez, Commander Bettencourt, and Captain Vausees were displayed for them. This confused Vausees and Zazzuit for a moment and then they both turned to each other with wide-open eyes. Vausees looked over at Cody.
“Your father?”
Cody nodded and acknowledged that Vice Admiral Thomas Bettencourt was his father. Vausees then stated that it was his father that had authorized the mission. Cody then began to pace as he thought about what was going on.
“It appears that Captain Munez and my father are conspiring to have you killed, and possibly myself,” Cody stated as she looked over at Vausees and Zazzuit.
Zazzuit looked a Vausees, who lowered her gaze for a moment. She then brought up her computer and Cody’s file, “So it appears that he did not intend for either of us to live this mission, Cody.”
“That’s what it appears to myself as well,” he replied as he looked over to Zazzuit who was in deep thought. She then looked over to Vausees.
“You knew about Cody’s mission to assassinate you?”
Vausees nodded her head and looked at Cody, “However the young Commander, had a change of heart and informed me of this after I confronted him.”
Zazzuit looked at Cody and shook her head. This caused Cody to stiffen his body. An action that had been drilled into him since he was a child and even furthermore after his father had augmented him into the perfect soldier.
Vausees could see the disappointment in her face and knew that she had to intervene, “At ease Number One,” she said as she kept her eyes on her.
Zazzuit shook her head one more time and looked away from Cody. She had great expectations from the young Commander, but to find out that he had taken orders that had him planted on this ship, in order to possibly assassinate her Captain, was unforgivable in her eyes. Vausees knew that this information was going to cause issues in the future. She thought of only one thing to do, “Commander Zazzuit until further notice you and Commander Bettencourt will be on the same shift, and furthermore, until I feel that you two won’t kill each other you will both be on any away missions together.”
Zazzuit went to protest but she was beaten by Cody, “Ma’am with all due respect I think that would be a very horrible id…”, he was cut off by Vausees.
“That wasn’t a suggestion, Commander!” She stated in a manner that meant that she wasn’t going to take ‘no’ for an answer, “Is that understood?” She looked at both of them as she stated all of this.
Both Zazzuit and Cody looked at each other and then nodded to Vausees as they looked at her. She wanted to make sure that they understood her, “Excuse me I did not hear either of you!”
Both of them said at the same time, “Yes Ma’am.”
Vausees kept her eyes on them for a moment before she returned to the reason for all of them being in the ready room.
“Now that the air is cleared about Cody. Let us continue with the discussion of what Cody has found out.”
Zazzuit inwardly sighed as she didn’t want to be in the same room at this time with Cody. However, Vausees was correct that they needed to find out what was going on. She looked over at Cody, “Continue with the presentation.”
Cody nodded after he had relaxed slightly. After a few moments, he had finished the presentation on his findings on the files that he had copied from Captain Munez. As the group sat in silence, each one in their own thoughts on what to do, it was Vausees that broke it, “Let us sleep on this and reconvene tomorrow night.”
Everyone agreed that this was the best decision at this time. Vausees dismissed everyone and instructed Cody to secure the server. He informed her that he already had. She nodded and dismissed the security team from the Situation Room. She then joined Cody on the lift and nodded to Zazzuit who had returned to the bridge and the night shift watch as the door closed.
***Starbase 11 - Confrontation***
The sun was just cresting over the horizon as Vausees leaned back against the back of the seat that she had taken over. Steam softly billowed from the mug that she had clutched in her hands. The mornings always seemed so cold to her when she was not aboard a ship, no matter how warm it actually was. She brought the warm mug to her lips and took a healthy draw from it.
The sound of a door opening caught her attention and she looked to where it had come from. As she watched from her spot she noticed two crewmen exit out of the now closing door. A smile crossed her lips as she was glad that her crew, her family, had not become sluggish in their duties while the Heracles was stationed here. As she watched them disappear from view she heard a snap behind her and turned her head to see Cody, he still hadn’t changed back into his normal unifor, and this brought a frown to her face.
“Commander, you’re out of uniform,” she stated to him.
He looked down at his uniform and sighed, “I haven’t had a chance to change as I have not slept yet, Ma’am.”
This confused her as she could have sworn that he had left her at his shared quarters, “Why is that Commander?”
“I couldn’t sleep with the thought that another person is running about with ill intentions,” he stated as he took a seat next to her, “all I could think about is how to bring her to justice.”
“I can respect the commitment, Commander, but as a Senior Officer and my Chief Security and Tactical Officer I need you at your prime, not sluggish because you couldn’t let things go,” she stated in a mild mannered scolding. “Do I need to replace you?” She asked him.
He looked at her from where his eyes had just been to see that she was truely asking if he needed to be replaced. He shook his head no and stood up, “I will be on time to my post,” he said as he left for his shared quarters.
A soft sigh left Vausees lips as she watched him leave. She knew he would be on time, however, she hoped that he would be at his peak as she needed him when she confronted Captain Munez. After a little while she too left for her quarters, but not to catch up on sleep but to get ready to relieve her XO.
After she entered into her quarters she looked about for a moment and shook her head. She knew that these quarters would not work for her so she reached up and tapped her Combadge. After a quick conversation she began to pack her things back into her bag. Luckily for her she had only brought down from the Heracles a few changes of uniforms so her repacking was quick and just as she had finished a chime at her door was heard. She headed over to the door and opened it. A crewman stood there as she backed away. She gave instructions for him to take her things back to the ship. He nodded to the request as she exited out of the quarters
Back on the Heracles, Vausees sat in her Ready Room with Zazzuit. She gave the night shift report and was about to exit out of the room when Vausees stopped her, “Get a couple hours of sleep Commander, and be prepared upon my request to join myself and Cody outside of the Portmasters Office.” Zazzuit nodded to her orders and departed.
Vausees followed her out and took her seat in the Captain's chair. She looked around and saw that all of her day shift crew were there, including Cody who was now in the correct uniform. He even had the appearance of someone who had gotten a full night's sleep. She would have to ask him about that, if she remembered.
She looked down at the console on the arm of her chair and brought up the day's schedule, and saw nothing that appeared out of the ordinary.
“Lieutenant Nief,” she said as she looked over at Trever.
He spun his chair around and faced her, “Captain?”
She thought for a moment and then stood up, “Take us into a higher orbit.”
“Aye, Captain,” he said as she spun back around, and began to enter in commands.
“Commander Bettencourt, let’s see what’s out there.”
Cody nodded and began to scan the sector. A moment later, “Scans indicate that there are a couple of freighters and a single surveyor.”
Vausees nodded, “Keep active scans of the sector and let me know if anything unusual happens.”
Cody looked at her, “Anything I should be looking for?” he asked her.
She looked out the main viewer at the open space before them, and shook her head. “Gut feeling,” is all that she said.
Cody returned a nod and kept the active scans going. After the twentieth scan he looked at Vausees, “Captain. I have a Ferengi vessel that just entered into the sector,” he informed her, “and it appears to be on an intercept course for the starbase.”
‘Gotcha.’, she thought to herself.
“Lieutenant, lay in a course and intercept that ship.”
Trever began to enter an intercept course for the ship, “Course entered, Captain.”
“Commander, when that ship gets to within fifteen thousand kilometers let me know,” she said to Cody.
“Aye, Captain.”
“Lieutenant, when I tell you, bring the nose of the ship directly at the Ferengi ship and engage impulse engines,” she ordered.
Trever nodded and his fingers hovered over the controls as he waited for the incoming command.
After a couple of minutes Cody informed Vausees that the Ferengi ship was now within fifteen thousand kilometers. Vausees nodded, “Now Lieutenant.”
Trever’s fingers slide over the controls on the console. The nose of the Heracles spun completely around and was now facing toward the incoming ship.
“The Ferengi ship is in visual,” Cody stated.
“Bring it up,” Vausees ordered.
On the main viewer she saw that the ship was heading for the planet, “Open a channel,” she ordered, “Ferengi ship, this is the USS Heracles. State your reason for heading to Starbase Eleven.”
The viewscreen changed to the face of a Ferengi.
“I have a diplomat on board that was sent from Earth.”
Vausees shook her head and looked at the Ferengi, “I think that you are lying, Ferengi,” she stated. “You and I both know that there is no profit out here.”
This caught the Ferengi off guard and he looked off screen for a moment, “Now Captain, why would I lie to you?”
“Oh, I don’t know,” she said, “Maybe to decieve me,” she said as she turned around and looked at Cody for a moment before she moved to the left. She stopped and then looked back at the the Ferengi.
The Ferengi shook his head and put up its hands in a submissive manner, “I have nothing to hide, Captain.”
Vausees looked over at Cody and he nodded, “Then why do my scanners detect a human on board your ship?” she asked.
This completely caught the Ferengi off guard and the viewscreen closed. A grin crossed Vausees lips as she looked at Cody, “Disable that ships engines and tractor it into the main shuttle bay.”
“Aye, Captain.”
Cody’s fingers flew over the console as he placed three shots into the Ferengi ship. He then entered a command for the Heracles to engage its tractor beam, which locked onto the Ferengi ship.
“”Commander,” is all that she said to Cody and he nodded as she followed her from the bridge to the lift. A moment later the two were at the entrance of the main shuttle bay and two individuals could be seen standing there with three security officers.
Cody’s eyes narrowed as he instantly recognized one of the two individuals, “Hello Admiral Bettencourt.”
Vausees grinned as she saw the man lift the hood off his head. “Take the Ferengi to the brig and escort the Admiral to my Ready Room,” she said to the security officers.
She watched as the two were escorted away. She reached up and tapped her ComBadge. “Commander Zazzuit.”
In her quarters on Starbase 11, Zazzuit was deep in a sleep state when she heard her name coming from her ComBadge. She reached over and tapped it, “Yes, Captain?”
“I need you back on the Heracles in ten minutes.”
“I can be back in three,” she stated.
Vausees then informed her that they had left orbit and that they would be back in orbit in ten minutes. Zazzuit then understood why the long time.
Ten minutes later Zazzuit appeared on the transporter pad in Transporter Room one. She stepped off the pad and proceeded to the Captains Ready Room. As she entered she was shocked to see Admiral Bettencourt sitting there and looked over at her Captain.
Vausees nodded to the open seat, “Commander.”
Zazzuit took the open seat and looked once more to Vausees, with a confused look on her face. Vausees lifted a hand up, “All will be explained.” Zazzuit nodded and looked at the Admiral.
“Shall I let you explain Admiral or should I just tell you why you are here,” Vausees stated as she leaned back in her seat. A look of contempt and anger was all over her face as she state there.
Admiral Bettencourt closed his eyes for a moment and sighed, “How did you know?” is all that he asked.
“Simple Admiral,” she stated as she stood up and moved to sit on the corner of her desk. “You see your son is one excellent Commander, let along Agent.”
The Admiral looked at her and cocked his head to the side, “My son?” he asked.
“Oh don’t play stupid, Admiral. I know that you sent him here to try and stop me from finding out about your little project,” she stated in a manner that was fully above her paygrade.
“Oh I’d love to hear this one,” he stated.
“I’ll do you one better,” she stated as she turned and pressed a button on her desk. “Commander Bettencourt will you join me in my Ready Room.”
A moment later the doors opened and entered in Cody.
“Commander would you please show the Admiral what you found on Captain Munez’s computer.”
A grin slipped over Cody’s lips as he nodded to her. He moved from the door to the wall-mounted monitor and brought up the files and messages that he had obtained from the Portmasters Officer computer. He then brought up several files and messages that showed the Admirals name.
Cody then opened a file that he had marked priority. A file that indicated to Captain Munez that she was to kill Captain Vausees and how she was to make it seem like an accident. Cody looked at his father, “ You almost would have gotten away with that had I not programmed the computer to search for you,” he stated as he continued to look at his father, who had now lowered his head into his hand.
A chime at the door made Vausees look toward her door, “Enter,” is all that she said.
The door opened and a woman dressed in red entered. A smile crossed Vausees lips as she saw the color leave the woman’s face, which confirmed her suspicions. “Captain Munez, thank you for coming on such short notice,” she said in a tone that was almost friendly.
Munez nodded and took a seat when Vausees motioned toward an open seat. She then looked at Vausees.
“We were just informing the Admiral of how the two of you had just committed an act of treason.”
This caught Munez off guard and she looked at the Admiral, who still had his head in his hand.
“Don’t deny it, Captain.” Cody said from the monitor.
Munez looked at him and her eyes widened as she saw the message on the monitor. She shook her head and looked at Vausees, “He said it was a simple job and that no one would find out.”
“Well unfortunately, Captain Munez,” she looked at her with icy cold blue eyes, “my chief is one skilled asset,” she said while indicating Cody with her head.
Vausees once more stood up and walked back around her desk. She tapped a button on her desk and the door to her Ready Room opened. Four security officers stood there. Cody moved from the monitor after closing the files, “Admiral, Captain, I am placing you both under arrest for treason and the attempt on my life,” Vausees stated. She then looked at Cody and nodded.
He moved closer to the two of them, who had stood up and moved toward the door. As the Admiral was about to exit he turned and looked back at Vausees, “You don’t know what you had done missy.” Cody gave his father a shove toward the door and the three of them left the room. “On the contrary, Admiral,” she said as the door closed.
Quadrant: Alpha
Mission: Archanis Operations
Time : 13:42
On every bridge, in every briefing room, the initial data package was the same: a holo-recording of Rear Admiral Alexander Beckett, straight-backed in his red uniform, impassive of countenance. If the grimness of the matter at hand perturbed him, it did not show in gaze or deep voice.
‘You are directed to proceed to Starbase 27 and the Archanis Sector, Beta Quadrant, in the largest operation of the Fourth Fleet in a decade. Multiple colony worlds and freight shipments have reported attacks by Klingon vessels and crews, committing acts of wanton murder, theft, and piracy. We have confirmed these ships to be affiliated with the renegade Hunters of D’Ghor.’
The recording expanded, for under no circumstances would Beckett surrender the stage, instead sharing it with a dynamically updating map of the Federation side of the Archanis Sector. Each colonised system and trade route shone bright, the afflicted glazed red.
‘Make no mistake: Starfleet is alone in responding to this threat. The Klingon Empire will not help us bring their rogue citizens to heel. Unprovoked, the Hunters are here to indulge their hunger for battle and hatred of the Federation, while sacking our worlds and people for resources. Our local task group is outmatched by the strength and numbers of their ships, and so it falls to us, Bravo Fleet, to defend our borders.’
The map faded, consigned to the briefing data package for future examination, and Beckett’s face was joined by that of a Klingon male, hair styled in a fashion some would recognise as traditional, his youthful face particularly scarred.
‘We have identified their leader as Kuskir, younger son of D’Ghor himself. While he does not command the full force of the Hunters, they have committed significant numbers to this venture. It remains unclear if Kuskir is feeding the Hunters’ bloodthirst and filling their coffers to prove himself, or if their agenda is more complicated. Do not mistake the D’Ghor for foolish brutes or honourable warriors. They will fight you for the satisfaction of it, and they will fight to win. We cannot prevail if we do not understand our enemy, and I expect your reports to include all relevant intelligence on their methods and potential motivations.’
Kuskir faded, and now Beckett was alone on the display again. ‘They have made ready use of their cloaking devices and gaps in our infrastructure. If they have a base of operations, we have not located it. We will. But our first priority is the immediate security concern.
‘This transmission package includes your assignments. We must give relief to our afflicted citizens and protection to those not yet targeted. Once Starfleet has restored safety and stability, then we will hunt these hunters. Show the renegades - show our own people, show the Empire, show all who might think the Federation weak - the consequences of this aggression.’ Beckett’s level tone made it unclear which he valued more: assistance for the innocents whose lives had been threatened or destroyed, or sabre-rattling at potential future threats.
‘I know you will all do your duty,’ said Beckett, and it sounded marginally more like a warning than an expression of trust. ‘Be bold, and we will end this threat swiftly. Beckett out.’
As if there was any potential mistaking the authority with which he spoke, the holo-display at once replaced his face with the crest of the Director of Fourth Fleet Intelligence at the message’s end. As crews and teams proceeded to their briefing documents of preparatory information ahead of full instructions at Starbase 27, or orders to head directly to the Archanis Sector, it hung there, a promise and a reminder.
Admiral Beckett would not brook failure.
***
Three Hours later...
===Captain’s Quarters===
Steam billowed over the slightly opaque glass of the shower. Inside and behind the glass stood a woman, Vausees. She stood there as the sleep washed away from her body. The water cascaded over her skin as she continued to wash away her sleep. She placed a hand on the bulkhead in front of her and lowered her head. The heat from the water flowed through her hair as she stood there and eased the previous day’s tension away.
After her shower, she moved into her sleeping quarters and began to dress for the day. As she moved in front of a mirror, she looked at her appearance. She smoothed out a wrinkle that was on her shoulder before she exited out of her quarter’s. A short walk from her quarter, she arrived at a lift that would take her to the bridge.
Upon entering the bridge, she was greeted by the night shift and her XO, Zazzuit. She looked at her Captain as she saw her entered the bridge. Vausees looked down at the woman that stood before her.
“Report Commander Zazzuit.” Vausees stated
Zazzuit nodded her head just before she delivered the night shift report, “A faulty EPS circuit burned Crewmen, the EPS circuit has been replaced. Medical reports that Crewman Parker will be able to report back to duty this evening. We are currently two hours out from arrival at Starbase 11.”
Vausees nods. “See you in 10 hours Commander.”
Zazzuit departs the bridge as Vausees took her seat and announced the change of shift to the computer. The lighting on the bridge changed from dim lighting to bright lighting. As she sat there, she looked about the bridge for a moment. A routine that she had become accustomed to doing upon arrival to the bridge.
===Captain’s Ready Room===
As Vausees sat there she continued to look over her crew. A sudden chirp behind her caused Cody, her Chief Security and Tactical Officer, to speak out. “Captain, an incoming call from the Fourth Fleet.”
This caused her to turn her head toward the man. “I’ll take it in my Ready Room.” With that, she stood up. “You have the bridge.”
As she took a seat behind her desk she opened the incoming call. An image of a woman wearing the uniform of an Admiral appeared on the screen. “Captain Vausees. I have orders from Admiral Becket for you to take the Heracles and investigate the distress calls near the Klingon border in the Archanis Sector.”
Vausees sat there in silence as she listened to the Admiral. She nodded as the Admiral spoke. “Any question’s?” she asked her. “Do we have any idea as to who is in distress?” asked Vausees
“Hunters of D'Ghor,” she stated before continued. “A group of renegade Klingons,” she finished.
‘Klingon’s’, she thought to herself. “Do we have any intel, such as their fleet strength or anything that may be of concern?”
The Admiral sat there for a moment before she continued. A look of concern could be seen on her face. “As far as we know they are using solo ship runs and small attack fleets.” She paused again and steepled her fingers together. “We also do not understand what has caused or provoked these attacks from the Hunters of D’Ghor. We also are not entirely sure how many ships they have at their disposal.”
This concerned Vausees as she continued to listen. Her mind absorbed the information and recalled the sector and its neighboring sectors. She knew that the Orion Syndicate was known to operate in and around the Archanis Sector. She knew that they had mostly kept to themselves but she was concerned if this aggression would stir them.
“Any word on if this event has caught the eyes of the Orion’s?”
The Admiral lowered his hands as she thought. “As far as we know and as far as our intel has informed us. They shouldn’t be involved, however, keep your eyes and ears open.” This caused Vausees to nod in acknowledgment.
“Captain, remember that you are to investigate and find out what you can about the distress call. If any further information arises I will call you.”
“Thank you, Admiral. We will do our best for the fleet.”
The Admiral nodded her head, and the transmission ended. Vausees reached over and pressed a button on her desk. “All Senior Officers report to the Captain’s Ready Room in twenty minutes.”
After she sent the announcement she looked over the orders that the Admiral had just given her. A few minutes later her door hissed open and her Senior Officers entered into her Ready Room. Her XO took a seat to her left and the rest of the open seating was filled as her Officers entered.
They all looked at her as they waited. When the last of her Senior Officer’s took their seat she began. “I have just received orders to take the Heracles to the Archanis Sector to investigate a distress call. We have intelligence to suggest that a renegade Klingon house calling themselves the Hunter of D’Ghor are behind the distress call.”
“Has this caused the Orion’s to become more active?” asked Cody.
She looked at him. “As far as we know they haven’t but we should continue to keep our heads about us while heading towards the Archanis Sector. Which should also be said the same about being in the sector.”
Cody nodded to the response from Vausees.
“Intel also states that if we should encounter the Hunters of D”Ghor that they should be either solo ships or small attack fleets,” she added as she looked at her Officer’s. “We will reconvene once we are closer to the Archanis Sector.”
After the meeting, she remained in her Ready Room. Her thoughts on the mission ahead of her. She knew that her ship and its crew were ready for this. She turned to the replicator next to her desk, “Coffee...Firenut...Extra strong” She stated. A moment later a large mug of steaming hot coffee appeared in the receptacle of the replicator.
She took the mug and brought the drink to her lips. After taking a drink she set the mug on her desk next to the monitor as she continued to study the mission.
===Two hours later===
Vausees looked down at the command console next to her seat. A hiss from the bridge door announced that her XO had arrived. She had announced that she needed her on the bridge at her earliest convenience. She looked up from the console and nodded to Zazzuit.
“Permission to take my seat Captain?” she asked Vausees.
“Permission granted.” She replied as she returned her attention to the console.
“Conn, what is our current heading, and how much longer until our arrival into the Archanis Sector?” She asked Trever who was at the controls of the Heracles.
Trever looked at the navigation portion of his console before he spoke, “Head 356.74 mark 23,” he stated. “We should arrive in the Archanis Sector in one hour ten minutes, at our current speed of Warp 6.”
Vausees would nod at the reply as she stood up she looked at Zazzuit. “Commander you bridge is yours. I will be in my ready room.”
Zazzuit nodded, “If anything comes up I will notify you.”
With that Vausees departed the bridge and entered into her ready room. She moved to the replicator that was near her desk and ordered a hot Firenut coffee.
===Kolar===
A chirp from the desk caught Vausees attention. She reached over and tapped the button on the controls.
“Captain we are entering into the Orion-controlled sector,” Zazzuit stated over the intercom.
“On my way,” she stated as she closed the com-link.
She moved away from her desk with the mug of Firenut in hand. As she entered the bridge she moved to her seat and took a sip from her mug. Setting it on her lap she looked over to her Ops Officer.
“Jonton, do you detect any ships in the immediate area?”
Jonton pressed a few buttons on his console. “No, Captain, as far as the scan can see there are no ships in our sector of space.”
Vausees nodded her head as her eyes narrowed as she continued to look out into space through the main view screen.
Suddenly the console behind her began to beep. “Correction, Captain, I have two ships heading this way,” Jonton stated to her. “They both appear to be Orion Scout ships,” he stated as his fingers continued to flow over the console.
‘Interesting’, she thought to herself as she stood up. A crewman walked over to her and retrieved her mug that she held out.
As she stood there Cody spoke up, “Captain, they should be on visual now.”
“Bring it up on the main screen, “ she stated.
Cody nodded and after a couple of seconds, the main screen showed the two scout ships.
“Magnify,” Vausees stated.
She kept her eyes on the main screen as the two ships suddenly filled it.
“Hail them,” she told Cody.
“Hailing them, Captain.”
There was nothing but silence as she waited for the scouts to respond. She looked back to Cody. He looked down at his console for a moment and then back to her. “The hail was sent, Captain,” he stated.
Vausees looked back at the screen and once more her eyes narrowed.
“Conn, reduce speed to one-quarter impulse.”
“Aye, Captain, one-quarter impulse,” Trever replied. His fingers flew over the controls as he slowed the Heracles to the requested speed.
Suddenly the viewscreen was filled with the face of a male Orion. “This is Captain Demih of the Kolar defense force. What are you doing in the Kolar sector?”
Vausees looked at Demih. “Hello, Captain. I am Captain Vausees. We are heading to the Archanis sector in response to a distress call,” she stated
The screen suddenly changed to the view of the two scout ships that appeared to be moving away from the Heracles.
“I guess that means we can proceed,” Zazzuit stated as she turned to look at the console next to her seat. “Keep a watch on those two scouts,” she stated as she returned the console to its original position.
Vausees returned to her seat and looked over to Trever, “Conn, continue on our course. Warp six,” she stated.
Trever nodded and pressed a few buttons on his console, “Aye, Captain. Warp Six.”
“Engage.”===Archanis Sector===
An hour later Trever announced that they were half an hour from the Archanis Sector. Vausees nodded her head to the announcement.
“Jonton, locate the source of the distress call.”
Jonton nodded as his fingers flew over the console. “I have it barring 163 mark 39.”
Trever adjusted their heading. “Heading adjusted, Captain,” he stated.
Vausees nodded her head. She then swiveled the console on her left and looked at the readings. “Cody bring up the location of the distress call.”
Cody did as he was asked and a ruined city was seen on the main view screen.
“It appears that the city below was bombarded from orbit, before a ground assault,” he stated as he looked up at the screen. He then began to scan the surrounding area. “I am detecting life forms in a mountain range near the equator,” he brought up the area he mentioned on the screen.
Vausees stood up and looked at the screen. She turned around and looked at Zazzuit. Her XO knew that look and stood up. She moved over to her Captain, and in a low voice, she spoke to her.
“You’re not thinking of leading the away team are you?” she asked.
Vausees looked at her XO with a smile on her lips, and Zazzuit knew that there was no way to change her Captain’s mind.
===Archanis V - Planet side===
The sound of a transporter de-energizing was heard and the pale blue hue of its energy fading away was all that could be seen and heard as a group of six humanoids appeared in a field about a kilometer outside of a mountain range. Vausees raised the phase rifle to her eyes and began to scan the area around them, in a methodical manner. After satisfied that the area is secured she lowers her rifle.
While Vausees was scanning the area Zazzuit had her tricorder out and began to scan that way. She turned to Cody and his team of Security Officers, “Take your team and head up the left side of the mountain range. I am fairly certain that halfway up that particular mountain you will find a cave system that connects to the main cavern,” she informed him. “Keep your phasers on stun just in case,” she stated as she noticed Vausees lower her Rifle as he took his team and ascended into the mountain range.
Vausees nodded toward the immediate path that leads to the life signs that they had detected from orbit. “This way,” she stated as she began to move. Zazzuit and Trance, her Chief Medical Officer, began to follow her as she moved toward the cavern.
===Archanis V - Orbit===
Trever looked down at the console to his left. Just before the Captain had left the bridge with the XO and Chief of Security of Tactical Officer he was given the order to command the Heracles. Now here he sat in the Command seat and monitored the away team’s progress to the life signs and the constant scans of the sector.
As Trever continued to monitor the away team a chirp behind him at the Operations station caught his attention. He turned his head to Jonton. “Jonton?”
Jonton swiftly moved his hands over the console before him. As he continued to scan the area he noticed a momentary fluctuation in the sector. “I am not sure why the console chirped, Commander.” He continued to scan the area that had indicated that something had happened. “The computer indicated a ship in the area for a moment but now nothing is in the indicated area.” This puzzled Jonton as he thought about the reason for it. He then looked up at Trever with a worried look on his face. “This could be a momentary fluctuation of a cloaking device on a ship,” he stated.
Trever nodded his head, “Send the report to my console.” A moment later the report was sent to the console. He looked over the scanner logs and then stood up. “Lieutenant Zirzzish, raise our shields and set the ship to yellow alert.”
Zirzzish nodded to Trever’s command and did as he was ordered. “What is it, Commander?” He asked Trever.
“If I am not mistaken, that fluctuation was a Klingon Bird-of-Prey’s cloaking shields,” he stated, “Of that I am sure.” He had seen plenty of them while he sat behind the consoles of various ships and shuttlecrafts.
===Archanis V - Planet side - The Encounter===
Vausees peered around the corner of a wall from inside the cavern. She lifted the scope of her rifle and peered into it. Its thermal settings showed that it was empty. She lifted her hand and motioned for Zazzuit and Trance to move forward. Each had their phasers out as she moved with them.
As she moved with the other two she kept one eye on the scope and the other in the darkness. As they moved her com-badge chirped.
-/\- “Captain, we have entered into a large chamber just to the east of you.” -/\-
-/\- “Commander Bettencourt hold fast where you are. We should be entering the same chamber in a moment.” -/\-
Cody acknowledged the command and signaled his team. They all took cover as they waited for the Captain and the rest of the team to arrive.
Vausees rounded a corner and entered into the same chamber as Cody and his team. Upon arriving into the chamber several light sources light up the chamber. Both Cody’s team and Vausees team looked about the chamber. She raised her hand to signal both teams to lower their phasers.
As the two teams lowered their weapons a group of people exited out of an opening above them. Vausees raised an open hand to them, “I am Captain Vausees of the Federation Starship Heracles,” she announced.
As the group of people heard this one of them stepped forward, “What do we owe you, Captain?” asked a man that had stepped forward.
Vausees lowered her hand as she spoke, “We are here to provide aid as the Federation detected your distress call,” she stated.
“Oh so now the Great Federation decided to stick its damn nose in where it does not belong!?” His voice echoed throughout the chamber.
This confused Vausees for a moment. “I apologize if that is what you think, Sir,” she stated. “However based on what we have seen on the surface…” before she could continue, she was cut by the same man.
“So you think that you can just walk in and save us from terror and destruction?” the man stated. “Well then by all means.” He gestures to nowhere in particular. “Show us all,” his voice was thick with sarcasm as she spoke.
Vausees could tell that this man did not care too much for them being there. She narrowed her eyes at the man and shook her head. “Forgive me, Sir, but how about you tell us what happened so that we can know best how to aid you,” she held no punches back as she spoke. Her voice was just as malice as his was as he spoke to them. “That is unless you would like to stay here and perish like the rest of the colony.” She then turned her back as she started for the entrance to the chamber.
“Wait!” A female voice echoed out from behind the man. A young woman stepped forward as she pushed aside the man. She pointed to a stairway that leads up to where they all were. “Come,” she stated and ignored the anger and irritating look that the man gave her.
===Archanis V - Orbit===
“Jonton, keep your eyes on the scanners and let me know the moment that the fluctuations that we identified a moment ago,” he stated to the Ops Officer.
Jonton kept his eyes glued to the console as requested by Trever. His attention never wavered as he kept his eyes on the screen. “Nothing yet Commander,” Jonton stated as he slid his fingers over the controls on the console.
Trever nodded. “Keep on it, Lieutenant.”
“Aye, Commander.”
Trever looked down at the console to his left. “Lieutenant Bosor keep us steady above the Captain and the away team.”
“Commander!” yelled out Zirzzish from behind the Tactical Console.
Suddenly a Klingon Bird-of-Prey decloaked in front of the Heracles. This caused Trever’s eyes to widen.
“Shields up!” He yells out.
Zirzzish didn’t hesitate and his fingers flew over the console. At the same time, Bosor was doing the same thing.
“Hail them,” Trever said to Zirzzish
“Hailing them now, Commander.”
“This is the Federations Starship Heracles. I am Lieutenant Commander Trever Neif.”
Zirzzish looked down at the console and then to Trever. “They have heard the hail but are ignoring it,” he stated as he looked back down at the console.
Trever swallowed hard as she looked at the Klingon ship that stood before them.
“Hai...”
The viewscreen switched from the view of the ship to a female Klingon.
“This is Klothost K'gox. Captain of the Khoshtom,” she stated
“Captain may I assis…”
A shot was fired from the Khoshtom and impacted with the shields of the Heracles. Blue waves danced over the viewscreen as the shields absorbed the weapons fire.
Klothost looked at Trever, “That is a warning shot, Commander,” she stated, “The next one will not be.”
Trever looked at her and narrowed his eyes. He looked at Zirzzish and nodded. Zirzzish closed the channel. “What is your call, Commander?”
“We do nothing just yet,” he ordered.
Trever looked at the Khoshtom as it was displayed on the viewscreen. He thought about the situation that the Heracles was in. “Zirzzish, open a channel to the Captain.”
“Channel open, Commander.”
“Captain, situations have changed up here,” he informed Vausees.
===Archanis V - Planet side - The meeting===
Vausees moved to where the woman that had spoken indicated. She moved swiftly up the steps and stood next to the woman. She could feel the eyes of the others both from her team and of the group that stood behind the woman. She kept her eyes on the group behind the woman, and she held up her hands to show that she meant no harm to them.
Even though she showed them that she meant them no harm they still kept their weapons trained on her. The woman that stood with Vausees looked at them and narrowed her eyes at them. “Lower your damn weapons you fools.” They looked at each other for a moment and hesitated. The woman spun around and squared her shoulders. This stance caused the group to lower their weapons.
A chirp from Vausees com-badge caused the woman to look at Vausees.
“It is my ship contacting me.”
-/\- “Captain, situations have changed up here.” -/\-
This caused alarm for Vausees and she reached up and tapped her com-badge.
-/\- “Commander, define changed.” -/\-
-/\- “Well Captain, a Klingon Bird-of-Prey had decloaked in front of us and has fired a warning shot, or so the Captain of that ship has said.” -/\-
She nodded as she listened to what he stated to her.
-/\- “Do not fire unless fired upon again.” -/\-
-/\- “Understood.” -/\-
With that, she tapped her com-badge and closed the channel. She then looked at the woman. “After you,” she gestured for the woman to continue.
The woman nodded and walked into a room. As they both entered the room the woman stepped behind a console that was littered with documents. She indicated that Vausees take a seat on the other side of the console.
As Vausees took a seat she looked at the woman. “Pardon me but may I know who I am speaking with?”
The woman’s eyes widened as she realized that she had not introduced herself. “No please forgive me I forgot to introduce myself,” she pauses for a moment. “I am Sara Brooke,” she stated and then continued after a moment’s pause. “I am the leader of Archanis V.”
This shocked Vausees, “I assumed the man that spoke first was in charge.”
This brought a smile to Sara’s face. “No, he is my spokesperson.”
Vausees nodded to this information and then indicated that they should continue. Sara nodded and brought up the information on the console. She stood up and pointed to the console. Vausees joined her and looked down at the information.
===Archanis V - Orbit===
Trever acknowledged the orders from Vausees.
“Zirzzish keep our weapons powered but do not fire on the Khoshtom unless they fire on us.”
Zirzzish nodded to the order that Trever had given. He kept his eyes on the Khoshtom at the same time he continued to scan the sector.
“Commander, I am believing and assuming that this ship may be part of the Hunters of D’Ghor,” he stated as he looked up from his console to Trever.
Suddenly two more Klingon Bird-of-Prey ships decloaked in front of the Heracles. Trever’s eyes widened even more.
“Commander, two more ships have decloaked and have powered up their weapons. They are targeting us and are preparing to fire.”
“Lieutenant Bosor, evasive maneuvers,” Trever ordered.
Bosor nodded as his fingers swiftly moved over the controls. The Heracles pitched to the left and up. Her nose now angled on the Khoshtom which had launched three photon torpedoes at the Heracles. Which was then followed by a burst of fire from the other two ships.
“Forward shields down to 45% and we have major damage to our hull and decks eight through five,” Jonton stated, “Damage control teams have been deployed.” He continued to enter in commands on his console. “Medical states minor injuries and no casualties.”
“Zirzzish, open a channel to the Captain.”
-/\- “Captain!” -/\-
-/\-===Archanis V - Planet side - Orders===
Vausees heard her com-badge chirp and she reached up and tapped it.
-/\- “Commander, report.” -/\-
-/\- “Captain, we have taken major damage and we now have two additional Birds-of-Prey. I do not think that we will be able to withstand much more.” -/\-
-/\- “Commander, retreat.” -/\-
-/\- “Captain!” -/\-
-/\- “That’s an order Commander. We will be fine down here.” -/\-
Vausees closed the channel and looked at Sara. “This could be a problem,” she stated to Sara.
Sara nodded having heard the conversation that Vausees and Trever had, “You are welcome to stay here until you can return to your ship.”
“Thank you, Sara.”
===Heracles===
Trever acknowledged the orders from Vausees and looked to Bosor. “Get us out of here Lieutenant.”
Bosor nodded and his fingers began to fly over the controls. He entered coordinates for the nearest starbase. The Heracles began to move away from the other ships that began to follow.
“Bosor, engage warp 6 and get us out of here.”
===Archanis V - Stranded===
Vausees sat back down into the seat that Sara had offered her. Her thoughts were on her ship and the rest of her crew. She suddenly felt a hand on her shoulder and looked up to see Trance suddenly standing there. Trance could see the worry in Vausees eyes, “Don’t worry, Captain, my brother will keep the ship and the rest of the crew safe.” She gently squeezed Vausees shoulder before she released it.
Vausees looked at Sara, “What can you tell me about what happened to your planet?” she asked.
Sara looked down and her body slouched slightly. It was visibly concerning to Vausees that this topic affected Sara so badly. She stood up and walked over to Sara, and like what Trance had done to her a moment ago, she placed a hand on Sara’s shoulder. Sara looked at her, and tears could be seen fighting to fall from her eyes.
“I can see this is painful and I am sorry to have brought this up.”
“Have you lost anyone that you care for?” Sara asked her.
Vausees looked away as memories flooded her from her past. Sara reached up and touched Vausees hand. “I will tell you what we know in the morning,” she stated as she released Vausees hand and moved away.
A moment later the rest of the away team entered the room, some looking about while Zazzuit and Cody moved directly over to where Trance and Vausees stood.
Zazzuit looked at Vausees, “So are we staying or leaving, Captain?” she asked her.
It was then that she realized that the away team had no clue that she had ordered the ship away or that the Hunters of D’Ghor were in orbit. She looked at her away team.
“Mission Conference!” she ordered.
After the away team fully assembled around the console she looked at each and everyone one of them. She closed her eyes and pinched the bridge of her nose as she leaned back against the back of the chair that she sat in.
“I have ordered the Heracles away.”
She expected the away team to turn into an uproar but they sat there in silence as she spoke.
“As far as I am aware the Heracles was under attack by three Klingon… No corrections three Hunter of D’Ghor Bird’s-of-Prey,” she informed them.
Zazzuit looked at the away team and then back to Vausees. She sat there in silence for a moment as she thought about what needed to be done.
“We all need to dig in and help these people until our ship returns,” she stated as she looked away from Vausees to the crew. Vausees nodded to what her XO had done. As she continued to speak with the crew, Vausees looked away. She knew that they were stranded on Archanis V and that at any time she suspected that a ground force from the Hunter’s of D’Ghor would transport down.
She let out a soft sigh as she closed her eyes. Zazzuit had finished speaking with the away team and had turned her attention to the Captain.
“What are your orders?” She asked.
Vausees sat there for a moment as she thought of their next move. She opened her eyes and looked at her Executive Officer. She swallowed hard and took a breath before she spoke.
“I think that right now we need to take this time to evaluate our situation. Furthermore, our mission has not changed,” she stated, “We are to render aid to these people and defend them from the Hunter’s of D’Ghor when they arrive.”
She stood up after that and looked at the away team. “Find a place to hunker down and get some rest,” she said as she left them heading to where Sara stood in silence.
The away team did as they were asked of and found places around the room to sleep. Vausees stepped over to Sara and looked at the woman. She looked back and nodded before she returned to the main chamber where her group still remained. Vausees laid next to Trance who turned over and looked at her. She smiled at Vausees, “How long do you think we will be here?” she asked.
Vausees shook her head as she didn’t know how long it would take for Trever to get to a Federation outpost or Starbase, “I don’t know.” Trance reached out and caressed her cheek. “We will do what we must,” she stated as she lowered her hand down and laid her head on her hands.
===Archanis V - Devastation===
The next morning Vausees was awakened by a hand on her shoulder. She opened her eyes and seen Sara with a finger to her lips. She watched as Sara motioned for her to follow. She sat up and moved out of the room back into the main chamber and it was then that she realized that the chamber walls were lined with a tritanium alloy, which now made sense as to why they couldn’t pinpoint the survivors from orbit.
A moment later the two women stepped out of an entrance and stopped outside of the cave on the opposite side of the mountain. Sara looked out over the ruins of a vast city that had once inhabited the majority of the population of Archanis V. Sara looked down as she slowly breathed in and out.
“You asked me last night what had happened to my planet?” she stated as she continued to look down.
Vausees placed a hand on the woman’s shoulder, “You do not need to tell me if it is too painful of a memory.”
Sara shook her head and looked up at Vausees. She had a look of concern on her face as she looked back.
“At first we didn’t know what was happening other than the ground started to shake,” Sara started with. “We didn’t hear the explosions until it was too late. Those that were caught in the initial explosions were killed on impact,” her voice broke as she remembered how her husband was killed in the initial attack. Tears fell from her eyes as she looked away from Vausees.
With a gentle hand, she grabbed Sara by the arm and spun her into her embrace. As she held her, Vausees could feel the front of her shirt start to become damp from the tears that have fallen from Sara’s eyes. She moved her hand from Sara’s back to the back of her head and gently caressed and comforted her.
“Shhh,” she said as she gently rocked her.
Sara buried the side of her face into Vausees chest with her eyes closed and continued the encounter, “After the bombardment from the ships in orbit, which lasted for what felt like hours, they stopped, and then the next thing to happen was the red hues of the transporters and the screams as the survivors were found,” her voice cracked as she spoke, reliving the terrors that the Hunters had caused, “Some were killed where they stood while others were gathered up and taken somewhere else,” she stated and then went silent.
All the while Sara spoke Vausees soothed and listened to what she had to say. She never once interrupted the woman for fear of her shutting down and not being able to speak about it again. As she held the woman, Vausees, felt her press against her as she repositioned herself.
“I can’t believe that it has only been a week since the first bombs hit the cities,” she stated. “It feels like it has been months, not days.” She finally opened her eyes and took a deep breath. She looked out upon the devastated city once more. “When the screams finally stopped and I finally looked out at the city below I could see nothing more than smoke and a few Klingons moving below. It wasn’t until I looked up and seen the ships that I knew that something was wrong,” she stated and paused for a moment. “I saw one transport ship and two Raptors.”
Sara looked back at Vausees and smiles. “For a Captain, you sure have a gentleness about you.”
Vausees couldn’t help but blush as she heard what she had told her. “Thank you. I think.”
Sara looked again at the city below. “No one up here has ventured down into the city. Not even for supplies,” she stated as she turned her head away from the city.
“No one?” Vausees questioned as she now looked down at the city.
“No one,” echoed Sara.
This caused Vausees to wonder if there were anything of importance down in the city. She tried to discern any visible landmarks from up here, but all she could see were crumbled buildings below.
===Archanis V - Recon and Resupply===
After an hour of listening to Sara’s recount of what happened, they both returned to the chamber. Vausees left Sara’s side and rejoined the away team. She moved over to Zazzuit’s side.
“I want the team assembled in twenty minutes,” she said as she looked at her.
Zazzuit nodded to her order and moved off to gather the team. A few minutes later she and the rest of the team stood near the console like they had the other night. Vausees looked at each of them and thought about their skillsets. She knew each of them and knew that they would do what was necessary to achieve victory in any mission. No matter its challenges or difficulties. As she thought about this she relayed what Sara had told her about the first days and how no one from her group had returned to the city.
As Zazzuit listened to what her Captain said about the events that lead up to the distress call she was already formulating a plan that would take them all into the city below. Vausees looked at the team as she finished. “I will understand if none of you want to go down into that city, and I will not hold it against you,” she stated.
“Captain, I do not speak for everyone but I am sure that no one here will stay behind in the safety of these mountains and let you go alone,” she stated as she looked at Vausees.
Vausees looked at Zazzuit and then everyone else. Some had nodded their heads to what Zazzuit had said. Inside her mind, she was proud of the away team and glad for their decision to come with her.
After a few minutes more of going over what they were going to be doing she dismissed them all. “Remember we move out tonight,” she stated as they started to move off. It was then that she saw Sara walking in the chamber below.
“Sara, a word please.”
Sara looked up to see Vausees and nodded to the woman. A moment later she was next to her.
“What can I do for you, Captain?” she asked
“I understand that no one has been back to the city since the attack, however, tonight my team and I will be going down into the city; to see what can be used as well as to see if any of the Hunter’s of D’Ghor still remain,” she informed her as she looked Sara in her eyes. She could see the terror start to return in her eyes.
“Don’t worry, you and yours do not have to come with us,” she stated as she tried to comfort her.
Sara shook her head, “No I think it is time that we returned and if possible retake the city below.”
Vausees looked at her for a moment before she spoke, “Are you sure?” she asked. “I don’t want you to feel pressured in having to return and possibly relive that horror and terror all over again.”
Sara reached up and touched Vausees’ face. “Captain, we have survived this long and need to know what has happened to our friends and family that didn’t make it up here,” she stated as she lowered her hand.
A simple nod is all that Vausees gave Sara as she walked back down to the main chamber. When she made it to the entrance to the chamber she looked back up to Vausees, “I will gather those that will join me and join you at the path that leads down to the city below, just before nightfall,” she stated as she disappeared into the shadows of the tunnel that exited out of the main chamber.
===Archanis V - Nightfall===
An hour before nightfall Vausees and her away team were met by Sara and three others. As Sara joined them she and her group handed Vausees and her away team packs full of gear and supplies. As Vausees took the pack from Sara she looked at her and then the pack.
“Supplies and gear for the city,” she stated as she helped Vausees with the straps. She nodded and then checked that the pack was secured on Sara’s back. After the two teams checked and rechecked that everyone was strapped up and good to go, Vausees turned to them and nodded. She then looked at one of her Security Officers and nodded. A young Andorian woman returned the nod and took point and Vausees followed after her. After a moment the rest of the team followed the Andorian woman.
Vausees and Sara lead their respective teams from the front and behind the point woman. Ever so often Vausees would peel away slightly toward the edge of the path that overlooked the city below and peer down into the shadows below through her scope, which had a thermal variant to its normal view.
As she looked down into the city she could see heat signatures here and there as she scanned below, but she couldn’t tell what they were exactly from the distance that they currently were at. As she rejoined the group she moved up to the lead with Zazzuit and Sara.
“Heat signatures, below but we are too far still for me to be able to clearly identify them,” she informed the two.
Two hours later the two groups converged on the Andorian woman who had taken a knee just outside a clearing that was just beyond walls, that surrounded the city, most of which had crumbled or collapsed altogether.
The Andorian woman turned her head away from the wall as the group came upon her. Vausees, Zazzuit, and Sara knelt down next to the woman.
“Anything to report, Ensign?”
The Andorian shook her head and looked back to the wall. “That doesn’t mean that there isn’t someone there,” she stated as she continued to peer into the shadows and fog that had set over the area. Vausees lifted her rifle and looked through the scope. She didn’t see anything as she scanned the area. She lowered the rifle and sighed as she thought about the next move. Her eyes narrowed as she looked about and then down at the Andorian woman. She turned and looked at Zazzuit and Sara, her eyes then returned to her XO, who was shaking her head as she knew exactly what her Captain was about to do. She knew that look and knew that she was about to venture off on her own.
Sara looked at Zazzuit with a confused look on her face, “What is it?” she asked her.
“She is about to take off on her own and scout ahead,” she stated as Vausees grinned and stood up.
As Vausees stood up so did the Andorian woman. She placed a hand on her security officer’s shoulder and shook her head, “Stay here and keep the area secured.”
The Andorian woman slipped back down to her knee and nodded to her Captain, “Aye, Captain, just be safe,” she stated.
Vausees looked back at the two teams and nodded to Zazzuit and Sara before she turned about and headed into the fog that had thickened since their arrival. As she moved she would lift her rifle up and peer through the scope from time to time. Since she entered the city her movements were slow and methodical. She used all her senses as she went from crumbled buildings and deficits caused by the bombardment that the Hunters of D’Ghor had caused from orbit.
She peered over the lip of a deficit that she found herself in and set the rifle up to peer into the shadows of a building. She slowly scanned up the building moving from window to broken window and so on as she continued up it. She did this to several other buildings, from both deficits and crumbled buildings.
After half an hour of scanning the area, she made her way back to the two groups. Upon her return, she looked at her XO and Sara. As she passed the young Andorian woman she placed a hand on her shoulder, “Well done, Ensign,” she said. She knelt beside Zazzuit and Sara and took the bottle of water that her XO handed to her. After she took a pull from the water bottle she spoke to them both, “I found a couple of buildings that could be useful to us,” she informed them.
They looked at each other and nodded to what she had told them. Sara looked at Vausees and then spoke, “Did you happen to see anything inside?”
Vausees shook her head, “No, but that doesn’t mean that there wouldn’t be anything of value or something that could help us.”
She turned moved over to the Andorian woman, “Get ready to move out.” The Andorian woman nodded to her and slipped her rifle up to her shoulder as she waited. Vausees nodded to the woman and turned to the teams.
“Let’s move out,” she informed the teams.
She then turned back to the Andorian woman and nodded. The Andorian woman nodded in return and moved off into the fog that had slackened up. The two teams followed her into the fog, into the city.
As the two teams entered the city Vausees looked over at Sara and Zazzuit, “Have the teams spread out.”
They both nodded to her and spread the word for the two teams to spread out. As they spread out Vausees moved forward with Sara and Zazzuit to her left and right. Her rifle was held up to her shoulder as she moved forward and behind the Andorian woman that led the way.
===Archanis V - City Survivors===
Vausees knelt down next to the Andorian woman as she came up upon her, “What is it, Ensign?” she asked her. The Andorian woman motioned with her head to the building in front of them.
“There are people inside of this building in front of us,” she stated.
Vausees looked to where she had indicated and lifted her rifle to her eye. She peered into the scope and scanned the building. Halfway up the building, the scope detected several thermal readings. She lowered the scope from her eye and looked to where the thermal readings were located. She looked at the Andorian woman and nodded as Zazzuit and Sara knelt next to them. The two teams knelt behind them, some in cover behind the crumbled remains of builds and others where they could find cover.
“Follow closely,” she said to the three of them.
Trance silently moved closer to the three of them and knelt down with them. Vausees, Zazzuit, and Sara all looked at Trance, “Perfect timing, Trance,” Vausees stated to her. Trance looked at Vausees and nodded. “Let the teams know to hand tight and secure the area. We’re heading into that building,” she indicated with a nod of her head toward the building. Trance nodded her head and slipped back to the teams. She moved from person to person as she passed on the orders. Vausees watched as each person that was given the orders would nod to her.
When Trance took cover Vausees turned back toward the building, “Let’s go,” she said to the three that were knelt with her.
As she stood up so did Zazzuit, Sara, and the Andorian woman. The four of them moved to the entrance of the building. When they were almost at the entrance the Andorian woman bolted and came to a stop next to the open door. Vausees and the rest stacked right behind her. She leaned over and whispered, “Go.” The Andorian woman nodded and slipped into the building. She made her way to the stairway and nodded back to Vausees. She looked back at the rest of the team, “Let’s move.”
The team caught up to the Andorian woman who was already ascending the stairs, two at a time. Vausees followed suit, her rifle trained up as she moved up. The rest of the team had their weapons drawn as well and looked up as they moved behind Vausees.
Five minutes later Vausees hit the ground as she ducked an incoming phaser shot that missed her head by mere inches. Sara raised her phaser and was about to return fire when Vausees raised a hand and yelled out, “Hold fire!”
Still laying as flat as possible she looked at her team and then up into the darkness from where the shot had originated. It was then that she saw movements just above them. “Hold your fire. I am Captain Vausees of the Federation ship Heracles.”
From the shadows a man yelled angrily down into the stairwell, “We don’t need your damn help, and where the fuck were you all when we were being attacked!”
Vausees lowered her eyes as she felt the anger that came from the man. She understood why the civilians near the frontier areas and neutral zones.
“I apologize for the absence of a Federation presence.”
“I don’t give a damn about your apology,” the man yells back.
“Sir, we do not want to harm you. We’re here to provide aid and defend you from any future attacks,” she tried to plead with the man as she spoke.
Another shot missed Vausees and forced her to take a step back so that she was out of view. She shook her head as she thought about how this planet and the people that lived here felt. Once more she tried to comfort this man that felt like he had been abandoned by the Federation. Vausees looked at the Andorian woman that was tucked into a corner of the stairwell slightly ahead of her.
She could see that the woman had her rifle trained on the man. Apart of her wanted this woman to take a shot at this man, while the other part of her wanted to keep talking to this agitated man. She didn’t want any more blood spilled on this planet if she could help it.
“Sir what is your name?” she asked the man that kept himself hidden from her in the shadows of the floor above them.
“What’s it to you, Captain,” his voice was thick with sarcasm as she spoke to her. She couldn’t blame him for the way he responded to her.
“I want to know who I am talking to,” she stated as she kept her eyes on the Andorian woman, who had moved her eyes to look down at her Captain. Vausees could tell that she had a clear shot on the man.
“That is none of your business. You are about as useless as the Klingon’s that you ally yourself with.”
“Sir, I am not your enemy, and as I stated before I am here to help.”
It became silent after she stated this to the man. The Andorian woman still had her sights on the man and could see that he had his hands in his hair and was pulling it out of being frustrated. Suddenly a door behind him opened and a child walked out. The man spun around and looked at the child. This would give the Andorian woman a chance to take a shot but she did not want to injure the child that the man was now blocking.
Without so much of a flip of her thumb on a toggle switch near the grip of the rifle, she switched the rifle from kill to stun. She once more looked down at her Captain, who had seen the movement and setting change. Vausees silently told her to give her a moment. The Andorian nodded as she looked back through the scope at the man and what she guessed to be his child arguing. She watched as the child threw up their hands and stormed off. She then watched as the man returned to the area that he had been in a moment ago.
“Captain, can you guarantee our safety?” he asked her from the shadows.
“My crew and I will fight to the death to keep you safe,” she stated with all confidence.
A hand came up and laid on her shoulder. She looked back and saw that it belonged to Sara. A confused look came over her face as she looked at Sara.
She moved slowly past Vausees with her hands up. “Josh?” she asked out into the shadows.
“Sara, is that you?” he replied back. “What are you doing with the Federation?” he asked her.
“Show yourself, Josh, before you get hurt,” she stated. There was silence for a moment before a man appeared looking over the railing. His hands were up as he came into complete view. Vausees looked at the Andorian woman who had lowered her rifle and had stepped out of the shadows near the man. He looked up and his eyes widened now as he realized that he had not seen her.
“ Zazzuit, head out and signal the rest of the teams to come in.”
She nodded to Vausees and moved back down the stairwell to follow her orders. A moment later the sounds of footfalls echoed up the stairwell as the teams started to file up.
Sara had already moved over to Josh’s side and was talking with him as the teams that had been stationed outside moved past Vausees. She nodded to each and everyone one of the members that had filed past her. She followed them up after the last person filed past her and she started to move over to join Sara and Josh when a hand gently grasped her arm.
She looked at the hand that had a hold of her and followed it up to a concerned face of Trance. She tilted her head to the side as she looked at Trance. Trance motioned for her to follow as she released her hold on Vausees. Without a second thought, she followed Trance as she disappeared into a shadowed area.
As she entered a pair of hands grabbed her by her uniform and she was pinned against a wall a second before the feel of lips on her own were felt. Trance had kissed her hard as she had felt Vausees emotions during the event a moment ago and had felt the terror of losing her best friend and current lover.
As the two broke apart for a moment, Vausees placed a hand on the side of Trance's face. “What was that about?” she asked as she caressed her face.
Trance kissed her hand and then looked out the window. “I was scared, no, terrified that I had lost you when I heard the phaser fire,” she confessed as she tried to peer into the shadows of a ruined building.
Vausees wrapped her arms around Trance as she slipped behind her, her head laid on her back. She knew that this was not professional, but she wasn’t a traditional Captain that separated themselves from their crew. After all, she had known both Trance and Trever, her Chief Flight Control Officer and currently the Commanding Officer of the Heracles that she had ordered to flee.
She released Trance and kissed her cheek before she turned about. “I am not going anywhere, Trance,” she stated as she started to move away. She rejoined Sara and Josh, who had moved inside. As she entered into the main area of the floor she was surprised to find that, whole families had actually survived the attack on Archanis V.
A moment later Trance entered and moved over and started to look over some of the wounded. Vausees nodded to her as she listened to what Sara and Josh debated on.
The following is all new.
Enjoy.
===Heracles - Deep Space K-7===
Trever looked at the console on the armrest of the Command chair. His thoughts were clouded by the order that Captain Vausees had given him, to abandon the away team on Archanis V. A voice brought him out of his thoughts. He looked over to the man that was sitting at the conn, Bosor.
“Lieutenant?”
Bosor looked back at Trever for a moment and then nodded towards the main viewscreen, “We are approaching Deep Space K-7,” he stated.
Trever looked at the main viewscreen and shook his head. How had he missed the travel from the Archanis Sector to here, he thought as he gave the order to hail the station. A moment later an older woman in a Command uniform appeared on the viewer.
“This is Commander Telus of Deep Space K-7.” the woman stated as she looked at Trever.
For some reason this woman made Trever feel slightly intimidated as he looked at her, “Commander, I am Lieutenant Commander Nief, of the Federation Ship Heracles. Our Captain and an away team are stranded on Archanis V. I was ordered by our Captain to leave the sector after three Birds-of-Prey began to attack this ship, damaging her severely. I would like to dock with the station for repairs before I attempt to rescue my Captain,” he stated as he brushed off the feeling from earlier.
The woman nodded as she listened to what Trever had to say and after he finished she spoke.
“Does your Captain tend to lead away missions?” she asked as the thought of a particular Starfleet policy came to mind.
Trever groaned silently as he continued to look at this woman, “Ma’am with all due respect, I need to dock and repair, do I have permission?”
The woman looked off-screen for a moment and then back to Trever with a nod, “Dock at platform three.” The view then closed and the station appeared in the place of the woman.
Trever looked at Bosor who was already ahead of the command. “Plot already laid in,” Bosor stated.
===Archanis V - Hunter===
As Vausees slept, Trance stood watch from the top of the building that they were in. A thick fog had settled over the city during the night. Trance had her eye in a scope of a rifle that Vausees had given her before she had gone to sleep. Her eye squinted into the scope as she had it focused on an area that she had begun to scan.
Her focus was so focused on the area that she was currently scanning that she didn’t notice that she was no longer alone on the roof. The sound of a piece of rubble skidding on the roof caused her to spin around with the rifle now aimed at the sound. In her crosshairs was the Andorian scout, her hands up in the air. Trance lowered the weapon.
“I almost shot you,” she stated in a lowered voice as she looked at the woman as she shook her head and turned back toward the city.
“That would be a first,” the Andorian woman stated as she took a spot up next to Trance.
Trance looked over at the woman as she kept her eye in the scope.
“What’s your name, Ensign?” she asked her.
The Andorian woman looked up at Trance, “Ensign Zyvia Sh'izhalrin,” she stated as she lowered her head and hunkered down.
Trance nodded as she returned her focus to the area below. Zyvia closed her eyes as her antennas moved around her head as if they had a mind of their own. A sigh left Trance’s lips as she slipped down next to her.
“Tell me Zyvia, why did you want to join this away, team?”
Zyvia spoke with her eyes closed, “I needed the experience.”
Trance shook her head, “I need more than that Ensign,” she stated as she pulled out a ration pack from the inside of her jacket. He broke off a piece and offered it to Zyvia.
Zyvia took the offered ration and popped it into her mouth, “Well to be honest I am very skilled with any energy-based weapon but I tend to have a happy trigger finger,” she stated. “I was advised to join this mission to hone my skills in patience.”
Trance nodded as she chewed a small partition of the ration that she had. As they sat there in silence the door to the rooftop opened and Zazzuit appeared. Trance and Zyvia both nodded to the XO as she walked toward them.
“Commander.” they both said in sync as the woman took a seat next to Zyvia.
She looked at Trance and Zyvia, “How is it out here?” she asked them.
Zyvia looked at Trance who looked at Zazzuit, “Quiet, almost deafening,” Trance stated as she shifted into a slightly more comfortable position.
Zazzuit nodded as she leaned the back of her head against the edge of the wall. She closed her eyes for a moment as she listened to the silence that was around them. A sigh then escaped her lips as she opened her eyes.
She looked over at Zyvia and Trance, “Well you two keep your eyes open, I am heading back in,” and with that she stood up and took a step toward the entrance.
All of a sudden she froze dead in her tracks and turned toward the city. Her eyes widened as she heard the all too familiar sound of a transporter and the red hue that indicated someone or something had been transported.
Trance had her eyes looking into the fog of the city below her when she heard the XO say that she was heading back inside. She had also seen and heard the transporters at the same time as the XO. The only difference was that instead of freezing like the XO had, she reached out with her free hand and smacked Zyvia, who had her eyes on the XO. Zyvia had felt the smack from Trance and looked at her with a slight irritation, having thought that the betazoid smacked her for no reason, but quickly realized that something was wrong when she saw the look on Trance's face.
With a quick movement she peered over the edge of the building, into the fog below, just as the last of the transporters faded away, just as the last hum from the transporter ceased to silence. She looked back at her XO and shook her head. Zyvia turned her attention back to Trance, “Looks like our XO is frozen in place. I am going to drag our XO back into the building and then alert the Captain of this,” she stated as she slipped from the buildings edge and over to Zazzuit, who was still frozen with the sight of all of the transporters having activated in the city.
As soon as Zyvia had Zazzuit behind the closing door she reached up and respectfully slapped the Commander, “Ma’am!” she yelled to the woman who shook her head and rubbed her cheek. Now having her senses restored. Zazzuit looked at the Ensign with anger and shock on her face.
“We’ll talk about this later, Ensign, but thank you,” she stated, “now go get the Captain,” she ordered as her mind started to think of what needed to be done.
Zyvia nodded as bolted down the stairs, taking two to three of them at a time. She bursted through a closed door, which caused everyone inside to become alert. She stopped at her Captain’s side and knelt down. “Captain!” she said in a harsh whisper into Vausees ear.
Vausees heard her name and her eyes snapped open and into the violet eyes of Zyvia. She could see the alertness in the Andorians eyes and instantly sat up.
“What is it, Ensign?” she asked as she shook her head, as she tried to clear the fog of sleep from her mind.
Zyvia relayed how Klingon transporters had gone off in the city. This instantly brought Vausees into a clear state of mind. She looked around the room that she was in and saw that her team was scattered. She looked at Zyvia and ordered her to inform the team and Sara. The Andorian nodded to the order and began to do as she was asked.
Vausees slipped off the cot that she was a moment ago sleeping on and headed for the exit to the roof. As she exited onto the roof she saw Trance with her rifle swaying from left to right. She moved slowly over to her friend and lover, and just before she reached the woman she heard a sigh.
“Took you long enough, hun.”
Vausees slid down next to Trance before she slid up to peer over the edge, “Only you could get away with that,” she stated as she started to take count of figures, Klingon’s she suspected, that moved in the fog below. Trance could not help, even under these circumstances, to let a soft giggle escape her lips at the acknowledgement from her Captain. “I know,” she responded as her trigger finger slid from the side of the rifle to gently rest on the trigger. She looked over at Vausees for a split second and then back through the scope.
“I count fifteen,” she informed Vausees.
“Sixteen,” she corrected Trance as she informed her of one that had moved into the adjacent building across from them and was moving up the exposed stairwell.
Trance sighted in the scope on where her Captain had corrected her, “Fuck, how did I miss that one,” she stated harshly as she kept the scope trained on the Klingon.
Vausees placed a hand on Trance, “Can’t be perfect all the time,” she stated as she moved her hand down to where Trance’s hand was on the rifle. Trance looked at her and saw that she wanted the rifle. She nodded and slipped from the position and felt Vausees slide under her as she slid over the top of her so as to not give their position away.
Vausees knew that Trance was an excellent shot, and was almost as good as she was, but there were some things that she could do that Trance had very limited skill in. As she came to settle behind the rifle and adjusted the scope back onto the Klingon that was hauling ass up the stairs, she trained the rifle ahead of the Klingon a full three levels ahead of them.
As she waited she heard the door creak open behind her and a lot of foot falls. She knew that Trance was looking that way so she never took her eyes off the scope. It wasn’t until she heard someone slide up next to her left that she peered away slightly to see who it was. She saw that it was Sara, “Klingon’s,” is all she said to the woman. She saw the woman close her eyes and bow her head to the information.
“I was afraid of that,” Sara said as she picked her head up.
“Fear is a good thing,” Vausees replied.
Sara looked over the edge of the building and started to count.
“Sixteen,” she said softly as she slid back behind the cover of the building’s rooftop. She looked at the group that she had assembled after Zyvia had informed her. Her eyes came to rest on the Andorian woman who was speaking with the rest of the away team. Sara wasn’t entirely sure what to do until Zazzuit came over and placed a small hand on the woman’s shoulder, “Relax and breathe,” is all the woman said to Sara as she slipped past her and up next to Vausees.
Vausees looked over at her XO for a moment, “You froze didn’t you?” she asked her, and Zazzuit nodded. “Zyvia?” Vausees asked her, and once more Zazzuit nodded.
“It won’t happen again, Vausees,” she said the Captain’s first name, a manner that her people did to emphasize that what they had said was a vow. Luckily for Zazzuit, Vausees knew this and didn’t reprimand her First Officer, instead she nodded.
“Are we set?” she asked Zazzuit
“Aye, Captain,” she said, “Just give the word and we’ll open fire with you.”
Vausees nodded and looked beyond Zazzuit and could see her away team had in fact taken up positions on the rooftop with her. Sara had followed suit to her other side and looked at Vausees, she could see the fear in the woman’s eyes but also the confidence to see this situation through. Vausees nodded to the woman and then shifted her attention to Trance.
“Commander.”
Trance looked at her.
“Step back inside and wait for any wounded, take four off the wall and secure the stairwell.”
Trance nodded and slipped away to do as she was ordered.
Vausees returned her attention back to the building across the way, and just in time to see the Klingon reach the bottom of the stairs that she had adjusted to. After a second she gently fingered the trigger on the rifle and a single blue bolt of energy left the tip of the rifle. The bolt entered into the neck of the Klingon and erupted out of the otherside, it embedded itself into the pillar and left a pinkish black mark on it.
All of a sudden phasers and phase rifles began to fire all around her as the defenders on the rooftop began to fire. She shifted her sights down the building to the fog below and it was then that the first red bolt came out of the fog. It impacted itself just a few feet below her. She gripped the rifle and took cover as more and more bolts started to fly over, disappearing into the dark skies above.
She watched as one of Sara’s men took a bolt to the shoulder and fell backward. He was dragged away into the building and a short time later someone else replaced him on the rooftop. Vausees knew that they had to do something and quickly. She looked over at Zyvia and nodded to her. The Andorian slid over to her, “Follow me,” Vausees said.
Vausees and Zyvia slipped away from the defenders and entered into the building itself. They moved over to the stairwell and slipped into the shadows. Before they made it to the floor below a hand came to rest on Vausees shoulder and she looked to see a concerned look on Trance’s face.
“I’ll be careful,” is all that she said to the woman as she slipped from her grasp.
Trance let Vausees go and sent up a prayer before she returned to the injured man that had been dragged into the building.
Vausees and Zyvia quickly made it to the second floor before each took up a defensive position. No one was going to be able to easily come up the stairs without either of them noticing.
Just then they both hear an explosion below them and loud gutral yells as several Klingons rushed into the building. Zyvia took aim down the stairwell as a Klingon entered, she squeezed the trigger on her rifle and a single bolt left the barrel and ended the Klingon’s life. Vausees nodded to the Andorian while she kept her eye down the hallway.
A sudden louder gutral voice echoed over the rest from below, on the first floor, “Hey you Starfleet petaQ!”
Vausees looked back toward Zyvia, who had her rifle trained down the stairwell. She smoothly slipped from her spot over to Zyvia, and looked down the stairwell. She then spoke down into the darkness of the first floor, “nuq Datlhap DaneH?”(What do you want, rogue?) she said, her Klingon was nearly perfect.
This caught the Klingon off guard for a moment, and he replied back, “I would like to speak with you.”
Vausees looked at Zyvia and motioned with her head to take up a position behind her. Zyvia nodded and slid back behind Vausees, “You may come up, but only you and you had better be un-fucking-armed,” she emphasized the last work making sure that her orders were understood.
A moment later a taller than normal Klingon appeared in the stairwell. His head was covered by a helmet, his hands were held up in a non-aggressive manner. Vausees kept her rifle trained on him as he ascended the stairs.
“That is far enough, Hunter,” she said as the Klingon near the top of the stairwell.
“My name is Atsak Runtoh of house Runtoh, and I am the Commander of the forces that you have engaged, and the Captain of the K’mparmdad, a D’Ghor Capital ship.”
Vausees nodded to the Captain, “Why have you attacked this colony, Atask?” she asked the Klingon Captain.
He grinned underneath his helmet. “Simple Starfleet.” His voice echoed in the stairwell as he spoke. “We want what they have and they are inferior to us. You Star..”
Vausees growled, “My name Hunter,” she intentionally used the word that described what he was on purpose, “is Captain Vausees Vax of the Federation ship the USS Heracles!” her voice echoed down the stairwell and impacted on the Klingon. It also echoed up the stairwell and reverberated all the way up to where the survivors huddled together.
Atsak’s frown disappeared from his face hidden under the helmet, “Many pardon’s honorable Captain of the Federation,” he stated to Vausees. “Now as I was stating, Captain, your interference makes no difference to what we do to these people.” he informed her, “I will allow you and your team to leave without further interference from my ground forces,” he told her as he looked at her, his eyes appeared to glow from the moonlight that filtered into the stairwell from the window outside.
Vausees stood her ground as she looked at Atsak from the top of the stairwell, “I will not abandon these people to your cruel methods, Atsak,” she replied to his deal. “So how about you take your remaining warriors and leave with your honor still intact,” she stated to the Klingon Captain.
Atsak kept his eyes on Vausees as he thought about what she had just said to him. He then took a step down the stairwell, still facing her. “Think it over, Captain,” he said to her as he disappeared into the darkness below.
Vausees kept her rifle trained on where the Klingon Captain had disappeared to as she slightly relaxed. After a moment she looked to Zyvia who also had her rifle trained on the stairwell. She looked up at Vausees and nodded when her Captain motioned for her to move back to the top floor.
As the two slipped up the stairwell they were met by Zazzuit, she looked at Vausees, “We heard what the Klingon said.”
Vausees looked at her XO, “What he said was nothing but empty words,” she stated, “You and I both know that he will not keep his word, and even if he did, as I stated I will not abandon these people to his cruelty.”
Zazzuit nodded to her Captain and returned to the rooftop. Vausees looked around the room, a lot of the wounded were from Sara’s group, and a couple of her away team lay wounded near the exit to the rooftop. She walked over to them and inspected them. Each of them told her that they were fine, and tried to get to their feet. She placed a hand on them, and shook her head, “At ease, find your breath and rejoin,” she ordered them.
As she exited the building and entered onto the rooftop with the remaining defenders she was approached by both Sara and Zazzuit. She looked at them both and it was Sara that spoke first, “Are you planning to leave?” she asked Vausees, who shook her head ‘no’. This caused Sara to visibly relax.
Vausees placed a hand on Sara’s shoulder. She then heard a familiar voice below in the fog, “Time is up petaQ, Captain.” Atsak yelled up.
Vausees moved over to the edge of the building but didn’t peer over. She replied in Klingon, “QeylIS DawI'neSja, Atsak.” (You have my response already Captain, Atsak.) she yelled down to the Klingon Captain.
Atsak heard her response and growled out. “So be it.” he said to his forces.
Red bolt then started to fly once more up at them. Vausees reached back and slipped the rifle from its sling and up into her shoulder as she took a knee. She carefully peered over the edge of the building, and made sure that little or none of her head was shown. She watched as bolts flew past her and took aim. She fingered the trigger and a light blue bolt exited the end of her rifle and disappeared into the fog below. A satisfying scream was heard and then silence as she moved on to her next target. As she scanned the fog for her next target the fog thinned out for a moment and she could see Atsak, he held a Bat’leth in his hand as he pointed up at her.
She looked at him through the scope of her rifle and squeezed the trigger. She watched as the bolt impacted at his feet. An intentional miss. She yelled down at him, “Last chance petaQ!”
This infuriated him and he reached down and removed a device from his belt, he contacted his ship that was in orbit and a red hue surrounded him as a transporter activated. Several more around him also activated as his ground forces were transported away.
Vausees took a deep breath and slid down to sit upon the roof. She lowered her head and gathered her thoughts.
Just then she heard someone yell, “Josh!!!!” and looked up to see Sara holding a bloody body of the man that she had introduced to them. She moved over to Sara and Josh as Trance came flying out of the building with her medical kit in hand. She had heard Sara’s scream and knew that something wasn’t right
Trance pulled out her medical tricorder and began to scan the man. The tricorder beeped a solid tone which indicated that the man was deceased. She lowered her head as she placed the small scanning device back into its receptacle. Her hand then came to a rest on Sara’s shoulder, “I am sorry, Sara, but he has passed on.”
Sara looked at Trance and then back to Josh. Her eyes swell up as tears flooded them and began to flow down her cheek. She gently lowered Josh to the rooftop and ran into the building. A moment later she returned with four others who lifted Josh up and carried him inside the building.
Vausees could see the pain on Sara’s face as she held the door open for the men to carry Josh in, this pained her. She suddenly felt a hand on her shoulder and looked up to see Trance. She stood up and followed her inside, before she entered she gave Zazzuit instructions to ensure that everyone was on high alert in case Atsak returned, which she was sure he would do.
===Deep Space K-7 - Decisions===
Trever stood at one of the windows that overlooked the Heracles as the station's force of worker bees flew around the damaged portions of the ship. As he stood there he thought about what he needed to do. A sigh left his mouth as he spun around and headed for the temporary room that he had been given, while the repairs were underway.
He took a seat and opened up a communications connection back to the fleet. He needed further instructions on what he could do. After a brief consult with fleet command and a letter of requisition in hand he headed for Commander Telus. He found her in the Command center and handed her the letter. She looked at it and sighed, “I hope you know what you are doing, Acting Captain Neif.” Her tone was that of irritation as she held in her hands the order to rearm the Heracles with half a dozen Valkyrie-class fighters, in place of the half a dozen Volga-class runabouts, that were currently aboard the ship.
Trever looked at Telus with a serious look on his face, “Commander Telus, you would be the first to know if I didn’t know what I was doing,” he stated. He was done playing nice with this woman and needed her to understand the importance of his mission to return to Archanis V with the firepower and armorment to ensure that the Captain and the away team were rescued successfully.
He didn’t care at that moment that this woman outranked him in an official capacity, because right now at this very moment he outranked her in an unofficial capacity, and that she had been ordered by the Fourth Fleet Command to give him what was needed to perform his mission with the utmost chance of success.
Telus looked at Trever and could see the seriousness of the orders that she had and nodded, in defeat, something that she did not take well to.
“This order will be finished in two hours,” she stated.
Trever nodded, “Thank you Commander.”
With that he left the Command center and headed for the temporary quarters that he had. He knew that he needed some down time while the repairs and the orders were finished.
===Archanis V - Retaliation===
Atsak was in a furious mood when the transporter finally rematerialized him on his flagship. As soon as his foot hit the steel flooring he reached out and snatched a nearby Klingon and threw them across the room. A resounding thunk echoed off of the bulkheads as he promptly stormed off.
As soon as the doors to the transporter room closed, several Klingons helped the misfortuned brother off the ground and drug him to the infirmary.
Upon entering the command center of his flagship Atsak growled as the image of the city below was displayed on the main screen of his ship. Turning toward his Tactical Officer he growled out, “Give signal to my fleet to begin bombarding that city and they had better not stop until I signal for them to.”
His Tactical Officer nodded and did as was asked of him. He signaled the fleet to open fight on the city below. All at once every ship began to launch warhead after warhead down toward the planet and ultimately the city below.
***
On the planet Vausees and the survivors braced for what they knew was to come. What? They were not entirely sure, but they all knew that Klingons did just run away, and more importantly that these Klingons in particular wouldn’t run until every man, woman, and child was enslaved or killed.
While leaned up against the wall of the building that they were in Vausees and Trance looked around the floor, people lay together, some with bandages and others with the look of fear in their eyes. A sigh left Trance's lips as she lowered her head down to Vausees shoulder.
“I am starting to become exhausted,” she stated to Vausees as she closed her eyes for a moment
Vausees nodded in agreement and turned to kiss the top of Trances head, “So am I babe.” She then looked back at the bleakness of the room and closed her eyes, “Try and get some sleep, that's an order.”
Trance could not help but giggle, “When we get off this rock, I am taking a nice long shower and sleeping for a week,” she said as she yawned and snuggled closer to Vausees.
Just as the two women started to fall asleep the sound of an explosion followed by another lower one shook the two women awake. The next explosion shook the building which caused both Vausees and Trance to reach for their weapons and start heading for the roof.
Just before they made it to the door it exploded off its hinges right in front of them, and Trance took the brunt of the explosion as the door hit her and lifted her off her feet. Vausees had felt the concussion from the explosion and was propelled out of the way. After she landed on her side she groaned in pain as she pushed herself up into a sitting position. Everything seemed to move in a slowed down version of itself. She could see people running in panic as she looked about for Trance. It was then that she felt a couple of hands under her arms as she was dragged away.
She looked at the arms that were attached to the hands and followed them up to see Cody and Zazzuit. She was confused as to why they were dragging her until she looked down at her body and saw a piece of the door frame sticking out of her side. It was then and all of a sudden that she felt the pain from her injuries. She let loose a scream that echoed the pain she was in, and tried as she might to move her arm down to the object sticking out of her, she couldn’t.
As soon as she stopped moving she wrenched her arm from Zazzuit and placed it around the object. However, as soon as she touched it she felt a course of searing pain race from the entry wound around her side and to her back. After she gritted her teeth to keep from screaming further she looked at Cody, “Find Trance!” she ordered.
Cody looked away and over his shoulder to a white, stained sheet that was covering a body. His face was emotionless on the outside but on the inside he was a mixture of pain, sadness, and anger. Vausees tried to look behind him but when she moved the pain intensified which caused her to yell and collapse back down, as she saw the blood stained white sheet. The pain was so intense that it overwhelmed Vausees and she passed out. As she lay there she knew that the body under the sheet was Trance’s and a feeling of guilt, anger, and grief swelled in her chest.
Cody looked over at his Captain, when she yelled, and his eyes widened when he watched her collapse and become silent. He turned his attention instantly to Zazzuit, “Ma’am, the Captain.”
But Zazzuit was already in motion before he even had said a word to her. She looked about for Trance's medical kit and saw it half buried under some desbri where she had been found. She rushed over to the kit and grabbed it. On her way back she opened the kit and pulled out the tricorder and a hypospray that was loaded with a sedative. She knelt down and began to scan Vausees. A steady beep sounded from the device as she scanned.
“I’m no doctor but from what I can gather from this tricorder her pulse is strong but she’s collapsed from shock and exhaustion,” she said to Cody. He took the hypospray from her and hit Vausees with it in the neck. He then looked at the piece of the door frame that was lodged in her side.
“If we don’t get this out of her soon, that strong pulse is going to start to become weak,” he stated.
Zazzuit nodded in agreement and reopened the tricorder and began to scan around the object. She sighed as she closed the device, “Unless we can get her to a medical facility in the next hour she’s not going to make it, and her symbiont won’t either.”
“Starfleet, Captain!” came a deep Klingon voice out of nowhere.
Both Zazzuit and Cody both reached for their weapons and began to look for the source of the voice when they heard it again.
“How do you like my new, yet old, tactic!”
It was then that they realized that the voice was coming from their ComBadges. Zazzuit was about to reach up and tap her badge when a pissed off voice came over the comms, in perfect, if not sounding weak, Klingon.
“Batlh quvmoHmeH batlh SuQaghmoHmeH SoH. Tugh jIHaghmeH maghomchugh, vaj chovaqlaH. JoHwI', bIquvtaHvIS, choparHa'chuqtaHvIS. NgaSwI' rurmo' ghoS, ngaghHa'choH.”(Listen here you honorless dog. You may have wounded me, after I showed you mercy. You killed my best friend and lover. Now I will send you to the gates of Hell where you belong.)
Cody’s face held a confusion to it as he looked at his Captain who was speaking Klingon. Her eyes were closed as she spoke and she had a paleness to her skin tone.
“SoH qatlhob, chotlhob, Atsak,”(I am coming for you, Atsak.) She said as her eyes opened and she slowly sat up, pain registered all over her face as a nice sheen of sweat began to cover her pale-ish face.
When she stood up Cody’s eyes grew even wider, as did Zazzuit. Both of them moved to restrain her, but she held up a bloodied hand, as she braced herself against a wall.
“Cody go find Sara,” she ordered between her gritted teeth and gasps of pain.
Cody was about to protest when he saw the anger in Vausees eyes, and thought better of it and did as she requested. He knew that if they survived this that he was going to have words with her. Vausees then looked at her XO, “Zazzuit when he gets back here with Sara, I want you to rip this fucking piece of shit door frame out of me and you three are to patch me up,” she said gritting her teeth as a surge of pain hit her, “I then want you to take the rest of the survivors and head to the cave system. You’re in charge.”
Zazzuit narrowed her eyes at the request from her Captain and shook her head no. “If you g…”, Vausees cut her off, “That wasn’t a request Commander.” With a sigh and shoulders slouched she nodded, “As you order, Captain.”
Cody then reappeared with Sara in tow. When Sara saw Vausees, at first there was a mixture of grief and love, until her eyes drifted down to the object sticking out of her. “Captain!” she yelled as she rushed over to her.
Vausees held up a hand to halt Sara in her tracks. “Find some reasonably clean sheets and shred them,” she ordered. Zazzuit and Cody nodded and disappeared. Sara stood her ground and looked at Vausees, who looked back with narrowed eyes.
“You can’t order me around, Captain,” Sara said defiantly.
A sigh left Vausees lips, which spurred a moment of pain, “You are lucky for that,” she said through the pain.
Just then both Cody and Zazzuit returned with a bundle each of white sheets. They both began to tear them to strips as ordered. Sara reached over and took one that was still intact. “Lay down,” she ordered Vausees, who looked at her and shook her head as she slid to the floor.
As soon as the sheets were shredded Vausees nodded to Sara, Zazzuit, and Cody as she placed a strap in her mouth and bit down. A moment later blinding pain flooded her mind as the piece of door frame was removed from her side and strips of the sheets were packed into the gaping wound. She was then bound up.
Vausees spat out the strap and held a hand up. The three helped her to her feet and steadied her.
===Heracles - Last Shadow===
Trever was in his room when he heard a chirp from the intercom on the desk. He looked up from the PADD that he had in his hands. He set the PADD aside and walked over to the desk and pressed the flashing holographic button, “This is Captain Nief,” his voice held a slight irritation at being disturbed while looking at the reports that had come in from the Archanis Sector.
“Captain, the Heracles is repaired and refitted per the requisition order from Starfleet.” came a reply in a voice that he had become all too accustomed to, Commander Telus.
“Thank you Commander,” he replied and then closed the comms. He then reached up and tapped his ComBadge.
“This Acting Captain Nief, to the crew of the Heracles, it is time to return to the fight and bring those that thought to take us out a one way ticket to hell,” he stated as he picked up the PADD from the side table that he had discarded it to.
He then headed for the nearest lift that would take him to the promenade. After he exited out of the lift he headed for the corridor that would lead him to the umbilical that was attached to the Heracles. As he passed by the viewing window that he had stood before he could see the Heracles moored there in all her glory and knew that soon she would be in the thick of battle. However, this time he knew that with the addition of the Valkyrie-class fighters and full complement of 90 photon torpedoes and 180 quantum torpedoes that she would be flying in on the burning wings of the Phoenix to deliver fire and brimstone on the Hunters of D’Ghor and those that thought the Heracles was easy pickings.
As soon as Trever’s foot hit the flooring of the Heracles he was met by Zirzzish, who was currently the Acting Executive Officer. The Zaranites looked at Trever, “Captain, there is a group of men in the Main hangar that I think you need to see.”
Trever looked at Zirzzish and nodded as the two headed for the Main hangar. As soon as the door opened a voice barked out, “Captain on deck!” and every man and woman that had been standing about in conversation came to attention. Trever walked toward where the voice had come from and came face to face with a woman who was dressed in a grey uniform with white shoulders and a single red stripe. As he looked at the woman he saw on her collar four solid pips.
“Captain Kelsie Roberts and the Valkyrie wing Last Shadow reporting for duty,” she stated smartly as she stood at attention. Trever looked the Captain over and it was then that he noticed the patch on the shoulder of her flight suit. It was the Heracles surrounded by three black winged pegasus’, and underneath was NCC-80555 and in brackets two letters, ‘AW’.
Trever looked about the Main Hangar at all of the men and women that all wore the same uniforms with either a red or yellow stripe. As he looked back at Kelsie and nodded to her. “Captain, please report to the Captain’s Ready room.” He then looked at the rest of them and nodded, “Dismissed.” He then turned to Zirzzish and Kelsie and took the lead and led the way to the bridge.
A few minutes later the three of them, Trever, Zirzzish, and Kelsie, sat in the Captain’s Ready room. Trever looked at Kelsie for a moment as he thought about what he was going to say.
“Captain, I am thankful for you and your Air Wing taking the orders to the Heracles,” he said to her as he leaned back in his chair. “With that having been said, I can fully expect you to follow my orders, and the orders of my Captain once we have recovered her and the away team that is stranded on Archanis V,” he continued as he kept his eyes leveled on her.
She nodded to him, “Of course.”
“Good, then this is what we are going to do,” he then spilled out who they were going to fly in and drop out of warp on the farside of the planet and then engage any Klingon ships that happened to come into view.
After the briefing Trever dismissed Kelsie and Zirzzish from the Captain’s Ready and he sat back once more to think about what was about to happen.
After a moment he stood up and headed for the bridge. The doors opened and he stepped out to the calm vibes, the calm before the storm. He took the main seat and looked over at Bosor. He knew it was time that they got underway.
“Lieutenant,” he looked at Bosor. “Take us out,” he ordered, his voice held an eagerness about it, as he watched the Lieutenant move about the holographic controls on the console.
“We have cleared the moor’s, Captain.” Bosor stated as he kept the Heracles moving at one quarter impulse.
When Bosor slowed the Heracles to full stop, Trever stared out of the main viewscreen, at the scattering of stars that were before them. His eyes locked onto one star in particular, Archanis.
“Lieutenant,” he paused for a moment, and then continued, “set course for the Archanis Sector. Warp 8.”
Bosor nodded as his hands flew over the controls. “Archanis Sector,” he replied, “Warp 8.”
Trever leaned forward, his eyes intense as he sat on the edge of his seat. “Let’s bring in the wrath. Engage!”
=== Archanis V - Retribution ===
Vausees grimaced in pain as she knelt down next to Trance. She held her hand as she softly looked at the covered woman. Anger swirled inside her as she looked at her. She would see to it that Atsak paid, in one way or another.
She brought Trances hand up to her lips and gently placed a kiss on it. She then slowly laid it on her body and covered it. For a moment she stayed there knelt as she thought about what she should do next.
Opening her eyes she slowly slid to her feet and moved towards the exit to the rooftop. It had been silent since the communication between Vausees and Atsak. She stood just under the awning and looked up at the now clear red sky as the sun started to set. Her hand reached down to the bloody bandage over the wound that she had sustained, as she felt the warmth from the blood that had started to ooze. Gritting her teeth she reached up and smacked her ComBadge.
“Atsak!” she yelled out into the emptiness of the approaching darkness.
A moment later a deep voice replied.
“Ah, Captain Vausees, it's good to…” His voice was stopped mid-sentence as Vausees cut him off.
“Stow it Dog,” she snapped at him, “I am going to give you one chance to surrender,” she stated as pain started once more to flood her mind.
A guttural laughter could be heard coming from all of the ComBadges. “You think you have the position to negotiate?” He stated as he turned to look at the planet from his chair. “I only called the ceasefire so that you would be able to think about…” once more Vausees cut him off.
“This isn’t a negotiation, Atsak,” she stated, “This is the only way you survive.” She gritted her teeth as she spoke trying to overcome the pain from her side.
Atsak narrowed his eyes as he looked at the planet, as if he could see her standing there on the rooftop.
“Or are you without honor?” Vausees said as she unclenched her teeth. She knew this would trigger him and she was counting on it.
Atsak’s eyes widened at this accusation of his honor. Standing up from his chair he looked at his communication’s officer and signaled for the connection to be cut. As this was happening he moved from the bridge and towards his quarters. As he entered he removed a silk covering from a Bat’leth and picked it up off of its rack. He looked at his reflection in its blade and growled as he picked up his helmet and headed for the transporter room. Before he stepped onto the pad he slapped a glowing button on the nearest bulkhead.
“This is Commander Atsak. I am hereby ordering two attack units to transport down to the surface,” he growled out as he spoke the order. “The rest of you will secure this orbit.” With that he released the button and stepped up onto the pad with three other D’Gor hunters. A moment later they stood just outside of the building that Vausees and the survivors were holding up in.
Vausees heard the sound of transporters and she rushed to the edge of the building to look down into the courtyard below. A grin crossed her lips as she saw Atsak. Turning her head she yelled back into the building, “We have company!” and she retreated from the rooftop into the building still yelling.
Zazzuit snapped her head toward the commotion coming from her Captain, and watched as Vausees snatched up her rifle as she was running in. Her eyes narrowed at the large crimson stain on her left side. She had been in the middle of setting up the last evacuation when she heard Vausees. She moved over and snatched Vausees by the arm as the woman approached. Vausees shrugged her off as she looked around the room at the remainder of the survivors. A sigh left her lips. “We need to get them out of here and now,” she stated as she looked at Zazzuit.
Zazzuit shook her head as Zyvia approached. “We are surrounded,” the Andorian woman said as she placed the butt of her rifle on the floor. Her breathing was heavy as she looked at Zazzuit and Vausees.
“Report, Ensign,” Vausees ordered as her blue eyes looked at Zazzuit’s yellow ones.
Zyvia took a moment to catch her breath before she spoke, “I got the last group of survivors to the cave system with Sara and was about three blocks away when I heard the transporters,” she paused for a moment as she continued to catch her breath. “I counted at least forty to fifty before I took off for the back entrance. I sealed the entrance,” she stated as she stood up. “Only one way in or out.”
Vausees looked at the woman and nodded. “Good. Get some water and get on the roof.”
Zyvia nodded and left the others. Zazzuit looked at Vausees. “What’s your order’s, Captain?”
“Nothing has changed, Commander,” she stated as she turned and headed for the roof.
A moment later Vausees was laid out on the roof with her rifle perched up. Her eyes peered through the scope as she scanned the D’Ghor hunters below. She knew that Atsak was below and she knew that he was coming to wipe out the rest of the survivors and her away team.
***
Trever looked over at Bosor, “Bosor, what’s our ETA?”, he asked the Lieutenant as the anticipation began to take hold.
Bosor looked at the Navigation portion of his console, “Three minutes, Captain.”
Trever nodded and turned his attention to the console to his right. He pressed a holographic icon, “ Captain, Roberts get your wing ready, we arrive in approximately three minutes.” He then tapped the icon once more and returned his attention to the viewscreen and the stars that were flashing passed.
His mind was racing as his body was being flooded with adrenaline. He took a deep breath and slowly released it. He then looked over at Zirzzish who was sitting next to him. The man appeared calm, but on the inside he was nervous and scared, why he wasn’t entirely sure but he knew that lives depend on him making sure that everything went off without any problems.
Trever leaned forward, “Zirzzish, set us to Red Alert,” Trever said in a calm tone as he continued to look forward.
Zirzzish nodded as he turned the console to his left to face him. The bridge dimmed as the lighting on the bulkheads began to flash red. He then tapped the holographic icon on the console. “Battle Stations!”, is all that he said.
A moment later the Heracles exited out of warp on the farside of the Archanis V. Trever wasted no time and ordered the Air Wing to launch. From the viewscreen watched as a dozen Valkyrie fighters left from the nose of the Heracles, out of the main hangar.
“All fighters, launched.” came a voice from the intercom.
Trever nodded as he looked at the console on the arm of the command chair. He thought to himself, thirty seconds until engagement. Without looking back, “Jonton, when the fighters engage I want you to try and contact Captain Vausees.”
Jonton nodded as he prepared to establish the link to her ComBadge.
***
Vausees continued to look through her scope trying to find Atsak.
“Captain Vausees.” a guttural yell came from the courtyard below and a Klingon stepped out from a group and stood alone.
Vausees instantly swiveled the crosshairs onto the lone Klingon. Her finger slipped over the trigger as she recognized the Klingon as Atsak.
“I know you can hear me, Captain, and I am no doubt in your crosshairs,” he stated as he pointed directly at her with his Bat’leth.
How he knew where she was was beyond her as she was concealed in the shadows of the pitched roof. ‘No matter,’ she thought to herself as she kept the man in her crosshairs.
“What do you want, Atsak?” she yelled down.
“Come on, Captain, let’s end this.” he stated as he looked at a group of three hunters moving up a building.
A blast of three bolts left a rifle and ended all three hunters, who collapsed into a heap of lifeless bodies. Vausees looked to where the shots had come from and seen Zyvia in another shadowed cove. A smile crossed her lips, “Nice try, Atsak, but it seems that your attempt to find me has failed.”
This caused Atsak to growl and he started pointing and issuing new orders at groups of Klingons.
***
While Vausees was handling Atsak on the surface, Captain Roberts and the Air wing had just begun their attack on the rearmost Bird-of-Prey. As soon as the first explosion came into view on the screen Jonton opened the Comms. “Open, Captain.”
Trever nodded, “Captain Vausees.”
He waited as more and more explosions riddled the Bird-of-Prey.
Vausees had her finger on the trigger and was about to send the bolt into Atsak when she heard the voice on her ComBadge.
“Captain Vausees here,” she replied as she relaxed her finger, “Trever is that you?” she asked.
Trever let out a sigh of relief as he replied, “Aye, Captain and we are in the process of disabling a few ships in orbit,” he stated as one of the Birds-of-Prey turned and took aim at the Heracles.
Zirzzish quickly tapped on a couple of icons on the console to his left and a barrage of torpedoes and phasers left the Heracles and impacted on the shields of the D’Ghor ship.
Vausees heard Trever giving the orders for evasive maneuvers and grinned. She then grunted as she stood up and with the rifle leveled at Atsak, she grinned.
“I think you need to surrender Atsak, as your fleet is being disabled as we speak,” she announced as she lowered the rifle.
Atsak reached down to his waist and pulled out a communications device. A moment later he lowered his arm and dropped his Bat’leth to the ground.
Vausees had taken to the staircase which was being guarded by the survivors. She emerged from the entrance, with Zazzuit, Cody, and Zyvia, all who had their rifles trained on Atsak.
“Commander Zazzuit, take Atsak into custody.”
Zazzuit nodded as he stepped forward to Atsak.
A soft chirp on Vausees chest sounded and she reached up tapped her ComBadge, “Captain Vausees here.”
“Captain, we have disabled all but one of the D”Ghor ships. It had managed to flee before we were able,” Trever announced.
Vausees nodded. “Good, send down a security detachment, we have a few prison..” she didn’t finish her statement as she fell backwards, unconscious from the blood loss.
Cody was instantly at her side, “Heracles, Emergency Transport, on my location, two to beam up directly to sickbay.”
A moment later both Cody and Vausees disappeared as Zazzuit grabbed Atsak by the arm. By then the survivors had emerged from the building with their weapons trained on the surrendered ground forces.
===Heracles - Enroute to Earth===
Vausees lay on a biobed her heartbeat could be heard coming from a monitor above her head. She was stable now but when she was brought on board her heart had stopped, Trever sat next to her, his head in his hands as he sobbed silently in learning about the death of his sister. Zazzuit had finished with the colonists after the last D’Ghor Hunter was transported to the Heracles.
Zazzuit entered sickbay and placed a hand on Trevers shoulder, “Go get some rest Commander,” she ordered as she looked into his blood shot eyes.
He stood up and nodded as he headed for the door. He stopped and looked back at Zazzuit who shook her head, “I’ll inform you the moment she wakes,” she stated as she took over the seat that Trever had been in moments ago.
Zazzuit had informed Starfleet of what had transpired on Archanis V and how they had a Commander of the D’Ghor in custody, now she was in sickbay watching over her Captain as the Heracles headed home, not to StarBase 11 but Earth. As she sat there watching Vausees she told her of the orders to return home, not knowing if Vausees heard her or not.
She then let a soft sigh escape her lips as she leaned her head back against the bulkhead and closed her eyes.