USS Victory Mission Logs

 

The Triangle

 

 

Rear Admiral mc7_of_9 sat behind the large wooden desk in his office aboard Assailant. One of the privileges and problems of being the Personnel Officer meant that he had an office on all the main bases within Section 47 space, and as such it always took him awhile to get settled into his chair, depending on which office he was in.

He was so engrossed in the most recent reports from his Department heads that the door chime sounded twice before he released it had gone.

"Come in," he called, looking up from the reports to see his old friend Magellan come in.
”Mc” the Trill greeted him.

“How’s life out there?”

“Pretty much dark” Magellan quipped, “Long past time a desk jockey like you got back out there.”

The two made small talk about mutual friends for a few minutes and then got down to business. They spoke of the crew evaluations that the Personnel Office would be conducting of the Victory.

“You received your new orders from Command” Mc asked,

Magellan nodded sternly.

“Several times, it’s all very disturbing.”

“Then you understand why I have to take command of the mission.”

Magellan got up and ordered himself a cup of jala from the replicator.

“Not really, The Victory is my ship, I know her crew.”

Mc_7of9 nodded in agreement,

“Command knows that as a former-Borg I have vital information.  Don’t worry old friend, I’ll look after her”

“You better.” Magellan replied all the playfulness suddenly drained from his voice.


The Admiral Mc7_of9 exited the turbo lift and walked to the centre seat he said,

 "Commander Riker, take us out. When we've cleared the bases space lanes, set course for the Delta Triangle."

The ship's XO looked towards mc7_of_9 and said,

 "Did I hear you correctly Sir, you said the Delta Triangle?"

“Indeed, you did hear correctly.”  was the only reply the Commander received.

Riker got up from the centre seat and signalled his hands for Mc7of9 to take the command seat.
”Thank you Commander.”
”Ensign Rogue set course for the Delta Triangle warp 6.”

“Aye sir.”
Riker stood up and moved towards the Admiral.

“We have a passenger onboard shall I inform him of the changes to our schedule.”

Mc nodded and tapped away at a padd on his lap.
Riker tapped his badge,

“Commander Vreenak we will be arriving at the America a little late because we have to make a stop at the Delta Triangle.”
”Any idea when we will meet up with the America?” Vreenak replied.
”We will get you there as soon as we're able to.”
”Understood.”
Mc7of9 was still looking over the padd very speedily when Commander Riker began to speak.
”So, it looks like they're keeping you busy...”
” They sure are.” Was all Mc replied.
Mc7of9 seemed too involved in his padds to talk so Riker sat back in his chair and waited to arrive.

 

 

Hansard's ship shuddered again and men were shouting out that it was below the water line Hansard ran across to see three enemy warships moving in for the kill.
”Fire all cannon.”
There were multible booms and one of the ships masts began to fall but it was to little to late.
"Prepare to repel boarders." Hansard shouted out at the men.
Marines ran to the edge of the ship and started firing muskets at the ships and men were dropping limply overboard the enemy vessels. French muskets returned fire peppering the deck and killing a few musketeers and there grapeshot flew into the side of the ship so they all remained safe.
The two ships collided and Hansard nearly lost his feet but stood up in time to see the first boarders he raised a pistol and dropped one of the first boarders then dropped another with his spare then put them in his belt drew his sabre and charged.
”Computer freeze programme” Hansard was panting from all the sword play and looked up to see the duty security officer looking at him.
"Sorry sir but the new CO has arrived and you asked to be informed."
"Thanks O'Reilly."
” Computer end programme save.”
Hansard left the holosuite and made his way to his meagre security office.
"Anything happened?" He asked O’Reilly
"No sir nothing but we are recovering after the end of the last mission. Thank god that prisoner was dropped of at the base."
Hansard walked with O’Reilly to the turbo lift then headed for his quarters to change clothing then he would have to make sure everything was ship shape in security and give the tactical a shake down then meet the new CO.
It was going to be weird serving with a severed Borg and Hansard was uneasy about trusting him but then again he heard Picard was fine after his assimilation by the Borg and it was rumoured that some of Voyagers crew had actually voluntarily been assimilated and returned to normal afterwards. Hansard was eager for his new mission and hoped for a good fight

 

Riker sat on the bridge staring into space for a few minutes thinking about his family on Earth.
” Ensign Rogue what is our time to arrival?”
” 4 hours sir.”
” Thank You Ensign.”
Riker was not used to being so quiet on the bridge because usually Magellan was much more talkative.
”Sir do you mind my asking why we are going to the Delta Triangle?”

Mc appeared not to hear and so Riker let the matter drop.

 

Carter was in engineering reviewing the logs, he had heard on the grapevine that they were heading to a dangerous area of space called the Delta Triangle.
"Alright people lets run the numbers, make sure all systems are 100% I'll be back shortly once I've checked in with the bridge."
With a several aye sirs echoing in the engine room Carter left and headed to the bridge. When he got there he was greeted by Cmdr. Riker.
"Ahh just the man. Adm. Mc7of9 Cmdr. James carter, our chief engineer."
"Welcome aboard Admiral."
"Thank you commander."
"I just came to hand in my systems report; we’re currently running diagnostics on all key systems before we arrive at the triangle."
"How long will the diagnostics take?" Asked the admiral.
"They'll be complete before we arrive at the triangle."
"Very good then, I won't keep you any longer commander."
"Aye sir."
Carer headed back to engineering thinking that his first meeting with the new CO had went pretty well considering.

 

***

 

What was mc7_of_9 thinking? Vreenak's mind was racing as he walked towards the bridge. The Delta Triangle was one of the most dangerous parts of space. He knew the area, and on occasion had even gone through it. But for a Federation Star ship to travel into it would be suicide. He had had maps to let him travel through it safely.

Arriving on the bridge, Vreenak decided it would be best just to directly question the acting CO.
"Admiral. What are you doing?"
"I am taking this ship to the Delta Triangle, as my orders dictate. If you have a problem with that, give me solid reasons to disobey my orders, otherwise, don't question me."
"I have personal experience of the Delta Triangle. It is the single most dangerous place we could be going in the galaxy. I can see no good reason that we should go there." Vreenak was not in the mood to let this ex-Borg rule him. He remembered when he had served under him on the USS Olympia. He had changed very little

The Admiral rose from his seat and walked towards the ready room. As he did, he looked towards Cmdr Vreenak and told him to follow him. The Cmdr didn't look happy, but he did as he was instructed. When they got into the ready room, mc7_of_9 did not do his usual and sit behind his desk.
He turned round to face Vreenak and simply said,

"Who the hell do you think you are? You can give me your thoughts, and your opinions, but don't you dare give me your attitude or your arrogance" His voice showed no sign of emotion; it was cool, clear and had an edge to it.
Vreenak looked at the Admiral, in a way that could only be described as with disgust.

"You are so sanctimonious. You think that your right and no one else come into the equation. You’re probably taking the ship into the triangle to find some way of getting back to the collective. Once a Borg, always a Borg."

 Mc7_of_9 glared at him.

"I want you to go to your quarters, and you won't leave there until we have rendezvoused with the America. Is that clear Commander?" his voice betraying the anger he now felt.

"Yes Sir," Vreenak said, with more than a hint of sarcasm

 

Riker wondered what the Admiral was saying to Vreenak in the Ready Room. Vreenak stormed out of the ready room with a look of anger on his face
”Something wrong Commander?”
Vreenak walked off the bridge without answering
”Well that answers that...” Riker said to himself
Ensign Hansard grinned
Then Mc7of9's voice came in over the comm.
”Commander Riker, Mr. Vreenak has been confined to quarters.”
” Aye sir.”
Riker was surprised at the tension building already. It had been a long time since he had seen this type of behaviour since usually Magellan did not get angry easily. Riker thought to himself that he better watch his step with Mc7of9.
”Commander Matthews you have the bridge.”
Commander Riker entered Mc7of9's Ready Room to see him sitting in his chair and staring out his window
”Sir is something wrong?”

“Not at the moment no. Just make sure you follow orders.”

Riker nodded and returned to the bridge and joined Stone at the science station.

Hansard ran across after a nod from Riker and entered the turbolift before it set off he stood silently behind Vreenak.
"What do you want I can find my way to my quarter’s thank you?"
Hansard ignored him and the doors opened Vreenak walked down a corridor and entered his quarters Hansard looked the door and tapped his comm. badge.
”Security detail to Cmdr Vreenak’s quarters at the double.”
Hansard stood by the door and waited and a team arrived quickly.
"You are to make sure that the cmdr does not leave his quarters. If he wants to talk ignore him as he can easily address the captain."
"Yes Sir."
"Organize a relief duty for later and make sure there is always to guards here."
"Sir!"
Hansard left for the bridge once more to finish his diagnostic of weapons and defence systems

”Cmdr riker his that report you ask for on the delta triangle Region” Stone said pointing to the information on his science console.
” Let me have the bad news cmdr”
” The xo was strait to the point as always he was always a just the fact kind of officer”
” Sir as you can see there no much around there to justify a mission into that system. There are nine planets in the system only two of them are listed by Dr Walker Thomas the director of star fleet command scientific research & development department that could be of use
The Good doctor reported the two planets could be use for human use or development but a lot of work would need to be done first the rest of the planets are:
2 Class K Type -planets
5 class -1Asteriod
1 class Type 2- Geo-Inactive planets
1 class type -1Geo-Crystaline 2 class -K type planets
The last federation ship that was in this sector was the S.S. Bonaventure. Pre-Federation galactic survey starship
as you will read in my report there Not much to Look at but a bunch of old dead ships and burn -out planets but sir I know im just the science officer but I don’t know why Starfleet has sent us out here
but I will continue to research this region sir maybe there something we miss during our search”
”Niice clear report cmdr stone I will note that in your service record it will look good at your next promotion review as soon as I have read it I will pass it on to the Admiral I’m sure he will be interested in what you have found. That will be all cmdr carry on.”
”Yes.”
Cmdr stone headed back to science Lab #1 to continue his research he called up the logs of the only Federation to survive the Triangle. The log was sketchy and difficult to read.
”S.S. Bonaventure. Pre-Federation galactic survey starship, Bonaventure-class, registry number NCC-S2100, the first starship equipped with warp drive. The ship was launched in 2115, and on its third voyage, the S.S. Bonaventure became lost in the region of space known as the Delta Triangle, a location where a large number of mysterious disappearances of starships had been recorded since ancient times by different civilizations all over the galaxy. On

star date 5267.3, the Bonaventure was discovered in the alternate universe of Elysia along with all of the other starships lost in the Delta Triangle region over the centuries. Bonaventure-class vessels were smaller than Constitution-class ships like the Enterprise, and had bulkier, less efficient warp nacelles.

***

 

As the USS Victory glided through space towards the dark blue and purple region of space, known as the Delta Triangle, her crew hurriedly made sure the ship was prepared for anything that they may face.  Mc emerged from the ready room and crossed to the centre of the bridge.
"Mr Riker, set course for the Talis Salvage Station, in Sector 45 Gamma within the triangle. Initiate a level 1 Communications black out. No comms in or out of this ship without my ok. I will be in my ready room, so please call me when we're on our approach to the station.

“ Ensign set course for Talis Salvage station in Sector 45 Gamma.” Riker repeated.
Riker was wondering why the Admiral wanted to come to the Delta Triangle but was debating whether or not to ask him. After a few minutes Riker spoke up.
” Sir do you mind telling me why we are out here? The Delta Triangle is certainly not the safest area in the galaxy and with all due respect I believe we deserve an explanation to why we are out here sir?”

"Do you think I would put this ship, or any ship, into any unnecessary danger?"
"no, Sir," Riker replied.
"Do you think I would endanger any member of this crew, or any member of this Fleet, without good reason?"
Again, Riker said no.
"And from what you know of me, am I like to have gone rouge, or gone on some clandestine mission for personal glory?"
Riker looked around the Bridge, assessing the mood. "Not in the slightest Sir."
"As I thought Commander. Since we have established our trust factor, please join in me in ready room. Hansard, you have the Bridge."

--15 mins past and then the two officers emerged from the CO's ready room.--

Hansard looked towards Riker, whose face betrayed a sense of relief, but also of burden. I wonder what the Admiral told him they thought to themselves

Hansard was relived that Riker was relived. But worried that Riker and the co new something he didn’t. He had enjoyed have 15 minutes of have the bridge and was relived nothing had happened

Rogue was still on the bridge looking worried.
She didn't like not knowing what to do and where exactly to go....
She had heard of the Delta Triangle....but that was in the ghost stories of her older brother...he just loved to scare her when Rogue was a little girl...and she was very scared of the stories.
"Sir, can I leave the bridge please for a second?" asked Rogue, Ii would like to try to get a little less nervous, i don't want to make any mistakes because of my nervousness"
"Yes, sure, just leave your com.badge on so we can always reach you"
"thank you" Rogue went to her quarters.
She walked into her quarters and took her headphones and played her favourite music very loud...that should help

Riker watched Rogue's facial expressions and he could tell that she was very tense about the situation. After Rogue exited the bridge Riker looked out at the view screen out into space to see that it was not the usual black coloured space that he had usually seen. The farther they got into the Delta Triangle the darker the purple colour got.
” Time to arrival.”
” 43 minutes at our current speed sir.”
Riker nodded with a serious look on his face. He glanced over at his former CO who had a blank expression on his face. He had remembered again that he had never shown any facial expression in a tense situation. Riker continued looking out into space)

Carter had heard nothing from the bridge since he had met our new CO. He had run nearly every diagnostic he knew just to keep himself busy. That’s when one of my officers approached me.
"Commander Carter can you tell us why we've come to the delta triangle." Farrel asked.
"I wish I could but I've not been told why we're here either."
"It must be something really important if there’s this much secrecy."
"Perhaps but keeping the crew completely in the dark could cause more problems in the long run if we don't at least have an idea of what to expect."
"I'm sure the admiral will fill us in when he feels it appropriate."
"More than likely, lets just hope it isn't too late by that time."

 

***

 

Vreenak went to his door, and pressed the chime. One of the security guards outside opened the door.
"Yes sir?"
"Can you please get me the large package in the top of Box 3 of my things."
"Of course sir."
About twenty minutes later, the door chime sounded, and the door opened. Outside the guard struggled with the package.
"Thank you" Vreenak acknowedledged the guard, and took his property.
Opening the seal, he pulled out a large collection of maps, which he scattered across his floor. They involved large maps of the Cardassian Union, maquis space, the badlands, smuggling routes, trade routes. Basically all the maps a mercenary could possibly need. One of them was of the Delta Triangle. The map was shaded in blue, grey and indigo. The blue and indigo represented the triangle, and any especially dangerous parts, while the grey represented safe routes through it. He looked at it, then out of his window. After half an hour of deliberation, he marked a spot on the map. That was where they were. A dead end. Any further forward and they would be in great danger.

He tapped his comm badge.
=/\= Vreenak to Vice Admiral mc7_of_9, I have something you may like. =/\=

 

"Vreenak to Vice Admiral mc7_of_9, I have something you may like."
the Admiral tapped his comm bsdge to signal he had received the message, and then replied,
"mc7_of_9 to Lt Walker, please escort Cmdr Vreenak to my ready room."
"Yes sir," came the Security Officers quick reply.

 

***

"How long untill we reach the station Commander?"
Riker checked his console and said to the CO,
"We should be arriving at the station in 22 minutes Sir."
"Very good. I'll be in my ready room. Please call me when we reach the station, and remember, we're under a comms blackout, so I want no communication with the base."
The former Borg drone walked from the bridge and entered the ready room, and sat behind the desk. He waited with interest to see what Vreenak had to show him, and hoped for his sake he didn't just want a change of scenery from his quarters.

 

Vreenak was walking through the ship behind a security Lieutenant. It was not the most dignified way to get through the ship, but it was a nice change of scenery never-the-less. He was carrying the particular map of the Delta Triangle. He stepped onto the bridge, and saw the whole crew hard at work, especially the Science officer.
"I wouldn't take the ship much further for the moment if I were you..." He commented before ducking into the Ready Room.

***

 

Chief science officer Cmdr, stone
star date:890501.84

computer star log >Today I have spent most of my time down in the Astrometrics Lab along with our head of Astrometric Lt,cmdr steward and ensign walker running some space abnormalities testing for Dr’ Erin Gray back at star fleet science fellowship foundation seeing how the Victory is the first federation starship to be sent in to the Delta triangle in more than 25 years

This maybe the only time Starfleet department of science and research Federation will have to do any kind of scientific testing in the area for a while so I been ordered to under take the running of these test on top of my regular ship duties after taking to the xo he gave me the time off from my bridge duty so I could spend more time on my unplanned scientific assignment I was told by the xo to use this small amount of free time in-between our mission to get this Done because very soon we will be needed to complete this mission

we continue our testing of the area while we are here in this system I’m hoping to talk the Admiral into letting us do 2 or 3 science Department away mission to some of the uncharted planets in this area

But I will need to put to gather a very detail mission plan first before I talk to him he from the old school of command he like to know all of the mission plans in detail first before to stay yes or no but if I catch him in a good mood he may give me the go a head you never know computer end log

 

***

 

The two officers were sat in the Captains ready room when Commander Riker's voice came over the Comms.
"We're approaching the Base Sir"
The Admiral rose from his seat and walked towards to door to the Bridge, and indicated for Vreenak to follow him.
As mc7_of_9 passed from the ready room to the Bridge, he said to the Science Officer,
"Scan for a Tridithorpe Isotope on the station."
The officer's hand flew over his console and then he replied,
"I've got it Sir, though I think I've got an error. The readings seem to be coming from *inside* a person. And their life signs are extremely weak."
"Bridge to Transporter room 1. Lock onto the Tridithorpe signal and beam it directly to sickbay. As soon as it has been beamed aboard, raise our shields. Riker, you’re with me."
The two officers entered sick bay to see Dr Kapoor and some orderlies scrambling around a biobed. The Admiral was the only person aboard the Victory who knew the person lying on the biobed. It was the Victory's new Chief Medical Officer, and the purpose of their visit into the treacherous Delta Triangle

Hansard raised the ships shields and got ready to activate weapons but being careful not to put enough power through so a nearby ship knew it was getting ready.
Hansard wondered why they had come to a station beamed someone or something aboard then raised shields. He wondered what had just been brought aboard and wondered if it was a security risk and worried that an admrial might be killed when he was in charge of security.
Hopefully what ever it was, was safe.
Hansard looked around the bridge He didn’t like secrets all the time and he was worried and by everybody elses face they felt the same.

A man dematerialised on a bio-bed, barely alive. His uniform was scorched, and he had cuts on his forehead streaming with blood. Not to mention the disruptor marks where he'd been clipped by the disruptor beams. The acting Chief Medical Officer was rallying nurses and assistants around, demanding various instruments and hyposprays.
The doctors were now wielding med-tricorders.
"No internal bleeding," one reported. By now, the man was beginning to come to. He'd regained his hearing at least.
"Right, dermal regenerator. Now, nurse, we don't have all day!"
"Here, doctor," and she handed the shiny silver tool over. Within moments the cuts were vanishing and the blood disappearing. The doctor decided now was a good time to see if he was well enough to be woken. He pressed the hypospray to the mans neck. He groaned his breathing quickened and he coughed. The first thing he did was feel up his sleeve to check the PADD was in tact.
"Do you know who you are?" the assistant CMO asked. He rolled his eyes.
"I'm Captain James T. Kirk, aren't I? No, it's coming back to me...Picard!" The man retorted. He knew the concussion tests were standard for CMOs to carry out. He'd never been on the receiving end though.
"Very funny," Dr Kapoor replied staring at his tricorder that was registering no concussion.
"And my first order of business is to tighten the reins around here. To say your sickbay is slack would be an understatement." The man commented. Yes, he was back to his normal self. He'd spent too much time with EMHs.
He rolled over and stood up reaching to touch a comm panel.
” Sulla to Admiral Mc 7 of 9.”
”Go ahead”
”The package is ready for delivery”
” On my way.”

Moments later the admiral entered the sickbay. Max sat up on the biobed and presented the PADD. The admiral scanned some of the topics documented.
"Good work. Of course, I'll want a full debriefing on how you came to be in this condition when you've recovered."
"Yes, Sir." Max said and the admiral headed off

Vreenak had tagged along behind mc7_of_9 as he went to meet the new CMO. As they left sickbay he commented,
"He's a betazoid. You can feel the psychic power in his body."
"I noticed."
"So are we done here? If so, I'll take my maps back."
"Maps...of course. We may have need of them."

 

Lasooux sat tensly in the main science lab. It was her. She knew it. No matter what ever was happening on this ship was about her. She must have done something wrong. She'd put the ship in danger. The crew in danger. Herself in danger.
She swivelled in her chair, to observe crewman Novacs and Telaware, surely they were looking at her. The crewman sat with their backs to her peering in to a geospectrometer. Well they must have been talking about her at least.
All this unknown unsettled her more than the rest of the crew. Since Rear Admiral Magellan had left things had been different. Rear Admiral mc7of9 was terse and abrupt. So far he only seemed to have taken Riker in to his confidence. She had heard rumours that he was an ex-borg. She hoped he wasn’t, you couldn’t trust the Borg, not an inch. Perhaps that was what was beamed aboard, an army of drones. The ship could be assimilated by now. She might be alone, Crewman Novacs and Talaware might be... might be...
"Ensign could you look at this"
Startled Lasooux antennae twitched.
"Yes Crewman Alliande"
"I ran a quick scan of the Talis salavge Station"
"Salvage Station?"
"Yes Sir. We're orbiting it now"
"Yes of course Crewman" Lasooux nodded as if she knew that all along.
Alliande passed the Andorian the PADD.
"Hmmm" she mused "I best show this to Stone."
She took the PADD and walked out of the main lab towards the small room that served as Stones office.
"Sir Look at this."
She gave him the PADD.
"The Delta Triangle is incredible volatile and dangerous. So far we are okay as we have reconfigured our deflectors are only on the edge and keep moving."
Stone nodded in agreement he had made the alterations himself.
"Well if that’s the case. How is it the Station isn't torn to shreads. It has a minimal deflector array and is static so cannot avoid the plasma storms."
Stone looked at the PADD and frowned.
"I don't know but I sure want to find out. Just think if we could find away to safely navigate the triangle, Why it would even make the badlands navigable."

 

***

 

Rogue sat in her quarters an array of plans and copies of Vreenak’s maps laid out before her. She had been searching for a "save" place to hide for the ship so that if things would go wrong.....she was very close in finding one she believed...
”Rogue!” it was the commander through her badge
”Yes commander”
”Could you come back to the bridge, if you're relaxed enough and able to navigate again?”
”Of course commander, on my way”
”Rogue out”
She saved her findings and walked quickly to the bridge....the delta triangle...

"Hey Rogue"
Rogue turned to see who was calling her. Zoilip, the Victory’s bolian deputy security chief was dashing up to join.
"hold that turbolift"
Rogue complied and held the button down long enough for him to enter.
"Phew" he sighed "Thought for a moment I would be late. You going to the bridge?"
"Yeah"
"Computer. Bridge."
The Bolian smiled broadly. "I heard about your funny turn"
Rogue looked at her feet.
"Hey nothing to be worried about. I got terible space sickness on my first posting."
Rogue lightened a little.
"And your ok now."
"Yeah sure, but I havent experienced your shuttle piloting skills yet." he chuckled to himself.
"Whats that" he asked pointing to her PADD
"This oh, its just a new flight plan, It will take us to a saf zone in the triangle. Well as safe as anywhere is in this place."
"You hear they beamed someone aboard earlier"
"Really"
"Yeah all hush hush. Hansard wont even tell me. I guess thats why we're all the way out here"
"Gives me the creeps this place" Rogue admitted "Give me open space anyday"
The doors slid open on the bridge.
"You should show that the Admiral, he'd be interested, and hey if you feel quesy again give me a nod and I'll cause a distraction."
The bolian continued luaghing as he assumed his place at tactical leaving Rogue to retake the helm

Riker saw Rogue and Zoilip enter.
Riker walked up to the helm station so he wouldn't embarrass Rogue.
”Feeling any better?” he asked
” As well as can be expected sir.”
Riker nodded and sat back in his seat
” All Stations please give me a status report.”

 

Hansard checked the rosters for all security watches and wrote a review for a member of his team who wanted to try for a marines post. Hansard left a reminder on his console he must take him and do the first few tests in the holosuite soon.
” All stations give me a status report.”
Hansard luckily had a report ready. He added all the new data he had and sent it. Although he was tempted to write in how bored he and his team were out here but he didn’t add it as it might be construed as insubordinate.
Hansard had scheduled a holo mission for his security teams to combat the lack of action. So he departed to start it.
He arrived to find everyone geared up.
” Computer Battle 1 alpha 372 with subplot hostage rescue 3 Beta 9”
The doors opened to a briefing room where Hansard outlined his plan for battle this was going to be fun.
Hansard stopped and tapped his comm badge.
”All crew interested in a security training session report to holosuite 2.”

 

 

***

 

All systems were operating within normal limits and for the moment there was nothing left for Carter to do in engineering so he left the next senior officer in charge and headed to the mess hall. When he got there he could see stone sitting in the corner. I got some coffee and went over to join him.
"Mind if I join you stone."
"Not at all, how are things in engineering."
"Everythings fine so much so that I've had nothing to do this entire time. What about you."
"I've been running scans on this entire region hoping to get a detailed analysis and solve the mystery that is the delta triangle."
"Really hows that coming."
"I've done all the scans I can think of, the only thing left to do is to explore some of the planets in this region. I'm preparing a mission plan to present to the admiral."
"You think he'll agree."
"I can only ask."
"What we should really be looking for is the answer to why we came to this space station."
"Oh I already know that. We beamed aboard a new crewman. You didn't know."
"No. It seems lately that I'm the last to know anything around here. Who did we beam aboard."
"Our new CMO, Lt. Max Sulla."
"What do we know about him."
"Nothing but the admiral seems to know him and he believes he has information vital to our mission."
"Did anyone perform a security check on this guy."
"There wasn't any need the admiral vouched for him."
"Even so, someone on this ship should have run a security check but apparently we're all just to follow orders blindly and avoid standard procedures at all costs."
"You make it sound like the admiral could be putting the ship in unnecessary danger."
"Well what do you think, we're in one of the most dangerous regions of space that we know of, we're enlisting new crew at some derelict space station and to top it all we have no idea what our mission is."
"When you put it like that it does seem strange but what can we do. The admiral confined vreenak to quarters for protesting our entry into the delta triangle, he would do the same to us."
"You probably right but how long can we continue on a mission we know nothing about. Well I better get back to engineering to continue doing nothing. I'll see you later."
As Carter headed back to engineering I found myself hoping there was a good reason for all the secrecy and that I was just a little paranoid

 

As the Chief Ops officer James Mathew headed for the sickbay door to leave, Lt. Cmd. Max Sulla followed him in tandem and cleared his throat to attract his attention.
"I will be presenting my intelligence briefing to the senior staff later on so I'll see you then."
"Intelligence briefing?" James asked.
"I wasn't on that station to look pretty, Commander." Sulla replied and grinned. James smiled and left.

The EMH loaded and the bald-headed man began with his normal greeting:
"Please state the nature of the medical emergency".
"There isn't one, Doctor," Sulla replied. The EMH frowned.
"Look, as much as you may enjoy these little chin wags that's not what I was designed for. I am a medical supplement program, not a talking shop."
"No, you're a medical genius program who just happens to know every intricate detail that I may have forgotten."
"Well, I don't like to brag but…."
"There's no need to. This time I don't want a chat, I'd like you to tell me everything you know on Nutrinium-oxide compound warheads." Sulla demanded.
The EMH held a pensive expression.
"Well, for starters they're outlawed by the Khitomer Accord. There are few species known to use them. None in the Federation, Klingon Empire or Romulan Star Empire. Also-"
Sulla interrupted the EMH.
"I know that, I'd like to know the effects of using them."
"I see. They can be modified to penetrate shields and hull plating, at which point they emit a gaseous Nutrinium-oxide compound. The compound kills all organisms very painfully, with boils forming and bursting, blisters and-"
"Enough, doctor. I just ate."
"Oh, a squeamish doctor. Perfect. Anyhow, they were invented to kill the crew and leave the ship fairly in tact for take over. No resistance."
"That's what I was afraid of. Mustard gas, in effect."
"Excuse me?"
"In World War One...forget it, long story. But Doctor, hypothetically if we needed to could we create a vaccine for this compound?"
"Of course not. To begin with we'd need a sample to create a resistant vaccine and the compound is outlawed as I said. We’d never be allowed to have one."
"What about the crew wearing space suits to block them off from the gas?"
"This substance will make mincemeat of suits. It breaks down solid substances that are quite thick, but not thick enough to dissolve the whole ship of course. All that’s needed is some redecorating when the ship has been taken." The doc informed him.
There was a period of silence. Max was frowning pensively, with the EMH looking non-plussed as usual, but he broke the silence nevertheless.
"May I ask, why are you concerning yourself with this?"
"Need to know basis, Doc and you don’t need to know."
"I see."
Another period of silence.
Max was mulling over what he'd seen in that cargo bay. Hundreds of canisters of weapons grade Nutrinium oxide. Then he himself was a patient in sickbay. He couldn’t quite remember what happened between leaving the cargo bay and then arriving in sickbay, beaten to a pulp was defiantly part of it.
"Sulla to Admiral Mc7 of 9. Please report to sickbay."
"On my way."
"Sulla out."
Max looked up at the doctor, who was staring down at him.
"I don't want to know what you're scheming," the EMH said.
"No, not unless you want to have your memory banks purged, Doc. Thanks again for your help."
"Don't mention it."
"Computer, deactivate the EMH," Sulla ordered and the EMH vanished, leaving Max alone in silence. He was stunned but also afraid. Whoever wanted the Federation to stay out of contact with the Metreon Consortium was prepared to go to great lengths to prevent it. Or perhaps they were planning to do more than that with those weapons. There was no telling how many more caches and containers they had on their starbases. Hundreds of thousands....
Max also reviewed the list of their many ships, all refitted to be war machinations. He couldn’t help but think of the crew perishing in agony and then a boarding party beaming over hours later to take the ship as a prize of war. There were Cardassian ships right through to a Romulan warbird. It didn’t surprise Max that the Federation were never told about those ships disappearing mysteriously. The Cardassians and Romulans were known to keep internal affairs to themselves.

"You wanted to see me, Doctor?" the admiral said and Sulla jumped out of his skin. Sulla explained the predicament to the admiral.

The admiral listened to the Medical officer, and when he had finished talking, he immediately hit his comm. badge.
"mc7_of_9 to the bridge. Make sure that our shields are as strong as we can get them, and get me the Station Commander now. I'll take it in the Doctor's office.
Doctor, could you give me a few minutes please."
"Of course, Sir"
With that the Doctor stood from his seat and left his office, the door closing behind him.

After 5 minutes the ships CMO looked up from the tissue analysis he was doing to see mc7_of_9 hurry from his office, without saying a word. Within minutes, the admiral had crossed the bridge, entered his ready room, and was in subspace communication with Starfleet Command. Some decisions were too big for any one person to make, and this was certainly one of them.
"mc7_of_9 to all senior staff. Please report to the conference room immediately. Dr Sulla, I'm afraid I’m going to have to bring your briefing forward."
and with that, he headed for the conference room himself. The doctors Intel should prove interesting to the crew, but his conversation with command would shock them, of that he was sure

The Admiral had been in his ready room for about 10minutes. Communication was difficult in the Triangle at the best of times and the feed to command kept dropping out. On the conclusion of his message he emerged a stern look on his face.
He tapped his comm-badge and requested all senior staff to the conference room and then made to leave the bridge. At the door he paused and turned. "Lieutenant Can you join us I want as much tactical data as possible in this meeting"
Intrigued Zoilip nodded and joined the Admiral.
It took barely ten minutes for the senior staff to arrive. Mc7of9 began by having Max repeat his report to the whole staff.
"The Romulans and Cardassians had the misfortune of passing through the Triangle. The Federation shares a border with these people and are naturally the first choice ripe for the picking of ships. One of the Metreon Consortium's own planets was used as a testing site for this Nutrinium-oxide compound. I don't need to remind you that the warheads can go through planetary shields because they aren't like normal torpedoes."
"Some of the weapons are brought through Federation space, mostly by cunning Ferengi. I recommend we begin boarding Ferengi freighters, Sir," Sulla addressed Admiral Mc7 of 9.

He let the magnitude of what was being said sink in before progressing.
"Command is extremely worried by the threat this possess especially as it seems whoever is shipping these weapons has managed to get them through federation space and into the Delta Triangle."
"So what do we do" Riker asked
"Well Command wants the matter resolved swiftly and clinically. At all costs we must get those weapons. I have drawn up a provisional plan."
Everyone leaned in to receive their orders.
"Rogue you will pilot a shuttle to the station. you will take Matthews Sulla and Carters and Stone. You will then split into two teams. Mathews, Rogue and Sulla will try and locate the people who attacked Max and apprehend them for questioning. Carters and Stone you will need to get to the Computer Core and download its shipping logs and if you can get data on their special shields then so be it."
"What about the weapons" Hansard noted
"That’s the second half of the plan. Riker you will lead Hansard and a security team to retrieve the weapons. You will beam in to the cargo bay Max described. You ll need to take pattern enhancers to help remove the weapons. The Victory will remain in close proximity in case anyone shows up to disrupt the party. Any questions?"
Expectant faces stared back.
"Good. Then gather your teams and equipment. And make sure we get those weapons, no matter the cost."

 

"The rest of the weapons are manufactured on their own starbases. I think we'll need reinforcements if we plan to steal the weapons. Not including the ones already loaded on their ships. Our first priority is to procure a sample to see if a resistant vaccine can be made." Sulla finished, and received his orders to leave for the station.

 

***

 

 

Max Sulla entered sickbay and went to storage rack four to throw some things into his medkit incase there were injuries.
"Hycordrazine and ibruprenaline," Sulla checked.
"40 CCs" he added, checking the total dose he was taking.
He went into his office to find a PADD he'd left there, only when he entered there was nothing on his desk.
"Odd," he muttered to himself.
"Computer, activate the EMH," Sulla ordered.
"Unable to comply, that program has been restricted." the Computer replied.
"By whom?" Sulla demanded.
"Security".
"Oh perfect. Medical emergency override Sulla 4-4 tango charlie."
The EMH shuddered from a blur into a humanoid image.
"Please state the nature of the medical emergency," he began.
"Doctor, has anyone been in here?"
"Well...yes, and before you ask I can't remember who. I appear to be missing several memory algorithms."
Sulla worked at a console to restore them. As CMO he had direct control over the EMH, something that couldn't be overridden.
Moments later the EMH informed Max that he'd been interrogated by security personnel and asked if Sulla had done or said anything out of the ordinary. They had then searched his office. The EMH said they knocked a PADD on the floor during the search. Max thanked the EMH and deactivated him. Someone had some explaining to do.

On his way to the shuttlebay, Max was aware that someone was following him and that they were doing a bad job of disguising it.
When Max loaded his kits into the large personnel shuttle disguised as a Metreon Space Skipper, he was again aware that someone was behind him. He called out,
"this is heavy. Could someone give me a hand?" he asked, priming his phaser and hiding to one side of the door. It would be a clean ambush. The stupid security officer said,
"Sure," the man replied.
and hurried in eagerly. Max pressed the phaser to his neck and grabbed the officer's own phaser from its holster.
"Please don't kill me! I won't tell anyone you're a spy!" the security officer pleaded.
"You need to learn some lessons, Son. First and foremost, when you snoop around an office that isn't yours leave everything exactly as it was when you entered. If it hadn't been for your clumsiness I'd be unaware of your monitoring me. Second, why are you doing this?"
"Well, we're under orders to monitor you in case-"
"In case I'm a spy, I get it." Max retorted. He suddenly understood the logic behind it, he had to admit. He lowered the phaser and instantly the guard grabbed one of the phasers and held it up to Sulla.
"A-ha! Come quietly and you won't be injured!" he exclaimed, pleased that he'd caught a spy. With one swift and unnoticed motion, Sulla pressed a hyposray of cordrazine to the officer's neck and he slumped to the floor.
"Idiot," Max muttered and resumed loading his luggage. He would be having words with someone about this later, but until then he had a mission to fulfil

 

Hansard threw his kit bag into the shuttle. While a handful of officers prepared for launch. Hansard headed for the security rooms to check on the teams.

On his way Hansard saw that a security alien arms room was open (Hansard new initiative to teach all security’s to use all technologies.) raising his hand phaser he burst in the room sweeping the room with his eyes. Hansard had barely finished when he felt the blade against his throat.
"I sometimes think you should work for me."
"Dammit Jones, what are you up to?" he asked the dark eyed man.
"Just dropped in to keep you up to date. Why are you so edgy, hell i have been doing this since you started here."
"I know I know. I want to know what is going on here but even with you tinkering in his ready room he has not revealed anything I don’t know. He is smart I never thought I would have to spy on my own CO, especially an admiral. Whats you news?"
"That guy you made keep an eye on sulla, Wesson is it? (Hansard nodded) Well he messed it up, and he is in sickbay unconscious. The doc handled himself well and he knows that we are watching him. But wesson took the fall for my work in sickbay but watch your back if he is a traitor then he might pull a fast one and i think we both know your slow at the moment." He paused to flip the knife in the air.
"Point taken." Hansard silently cursed he liked Jones and trusted him but he didn’t like losing.
"Well we have company time to go."
Hansard heard footsteps and looked out the door. Beta team were walking down the corridor Hansard turned and Jones had returned to his hiding place somewhere in the ship.
"Hello in there." an officer called.
"Its me." Hansard grabbed a Klingon knife and left waving it at his team.

"Tooled up aren’t you."
"Yes best way to be, anyway your running behind, get moving double time."
Beta team ran off. Hansard pocketed the knife and sealed the door using a level 4 algorithm so Jones couldn’t get in again. It was odd but Hansard couldn’t actually remember what it was that Jones did in his security team.

Riker arrived at the hectic shuttle bay and saw tons of security officers working hectically to bring all the necessary equipment onto the shuttles. Hansard approached Riker)
” Sir we are almost ready to go, our team will be taking shuttle 1 over.”
” Alright lets get moving then.”
”Aye sir.”
” By the way where did you get that blade from Ensign?”
” Ahh... The weapons room was unlocked so.”
” Never mind we'll need to be well armed in this mission.”
” Speaking of being armed. “
”Hansard yelled to a Security officer,
”Mr.Zoilip get Commander Riker a phaser!”
” Right away.”
Zoilip handed Riker a phase rifle.
” Thank You.”
Riker stashed his Rifle in the shuttle
” All Team Leaders please report to me when you're ready”
Slowly all of the teams reported in that they were ready for departure.
”Admiral we're ready for departure.”
” Understood whenever you're ready.”
” Aye sir.”
” Good luck Commander.”
” Thank You sir.”
All of the teams boarded the shuttles and awaited for the shuttlebay doors to open.

 

As the shuttles lifted off the deck and started towards the invisible force field which held the ship's atmosphere in and the emptiness of space out the Shuttlebay.  Techy tapped a few buttons, and the shuttles descended to the ground again. As soon as Riker's shuttle touched down, he had the door open to ask the Techy what the problem was, as mc7_of_9 walked through the hanger doors.
"Sir?" Riker said, looking rather bewildered.
"Hansard, you will not be going on this mission. Zollip will be taking your place, and you'll be coming with me."
After hearing this the Security officer looked confused, and was about to ask why when he got a glance from mc7_of_9, and he knew not to question him.

The admiral turned and walked from the shuttle bay, with Hansard following a few steps behind him. The senior staff member really didn't know whether to say anything or not, as they seemed to be heading in the opposite. direction from the Bridge and the ready room. They continued walking for another few minutes, and when they reached the holodeck doors they opened, and Hansard could see that there was a program running already.
It was an open space, like a national park. The admiral sat on a rock, which had once facing it, perhaps not by chance Hansard thought to himself, and indicated for the other officer to take a seat on the other one.
"I've just had a conversation with one of your officers in Sickbay. He tells me that you have both myself and the Doctor under surveillance. You've got 5 minutes to explain to me why, and if I don't think you've given me a good enough reason, then you had better be prepared to face the consequences."

 

***

 

The disguised shuttle neared the station, and a gruff voice crackled over the comm.
" Identify yourself." the man ordered.
"Now we find out if the false power signatures are worth the effort engineering made." Max said and checked the universal translator was on and replied,
"This is the shuttle Devram of the Metreon Consortium. Request permission to dock."
"Illam tut nawash Metreonam quil?" the man said. Sulla frowned and stared at the translator panel. It was reading the language as unregistered.
"Now what?" Sulla muttered. An ensign offered,
"Why don't we tell them we're a Federation party?"
"Because they aren't likely to quake at the mention of the Federation in the Triangle," Sulla retorted.
The gruff man asked the question again, slightly more agitated. Max couldn't answer.
"You do speak Metreolan?" the station operator asked. Max keyed Metreolan into the computer and it came up as the dialect used on Metreon Prime.
"I'm afraid I don't come from Metreon Prime, I only speak standard Metreon not the home world's dialect." Max countered.
"I see, well that isn't a problem."
"Thank you, now can we please dock?"
"Of course. Docking bay 37. Behave yourselves, one step out of line and the guards will kill you as they would any other Metreon, just for their amusement." the operator admonished and laughed.
"Still, it could be worse. You could be humans!" the operator chuckled. Sulla acknowledged and the shuttle was docked. Max felt relieved that they weren't now in a million pieces, blasted by the station.

When the crew entered through the airlock they were approached by three guards, armed with disruptor rifles.
"Humans!" one of them screamed.
"You Federation dogs!" another added. Max held his hand out to stop them.
"I am Betazoid," he began.
"Show us your permits, Betazoid. If you are Federation you will only be getting what all Starfleet officers will be getting, just a little earlier." one of them barked.
"And what is that?"
"A painful death!" the guard shouted and laughed.
Max stretched out with his mind and reached into the guard's mind.
"You don't need to see our permits," he said soothingly.
"You're right, we don't need to see your permits." the guard replied.
"We can go about our business,"
"You can go about your business,"
"Move along,"
"Move alone, move along," the guard ordered.
"I saw that in an old science fiction movie from the twentieth century. I've always wanted to do it. The cargo bay should be this way," Max said and they headed for it.
"Watch yourselves, this place can be a little rough," Sulla warned and eyed the people coming out of the bars smoking illegal narcotics brandishing weapons

 

On board the Victory in the Holodeck Hansard weighed up his options. He had of course done both those things. He had been suspicious about their new CO and the mystery agent they had brought aboard. He had thought it best to keep a close eye on both of them, as it turned out it looked as if he had been found out. Suddenly his head began to throb.
"Sir I have no idea what is..." he found himself saying.
"Leave it out ensign I found the bug."
"Bug sir?"
"Smart to use a channel that isn’t monitored but a science officer was experimenting to use a secret communications for missions that might occur soon."
"Sir I.."
"I don’t want excuses I want an explanation."
"Sir go to hell." Hansard screamed suddenly standing up and clutching his head.
"WHAT!" The admiral was taken aback by the hostility of his security officer.
”Computer battle plan alpha 2-01. Standard armament, security guest allowed.” Hansard ordered the computer.
Hansard bolted from the parkland into the newly configured streets of an 21st century city. Whilst raising a rifle and  leaving the admiral sat on a bench.
” End programme” the admiral called.
” Negative when there is a guest of security the command to end is held by the security officer and no-one else” the computer replied.
"Damm it." Mc cursed in confusion
The admiral called for a weapon and a rifle appeared in front of him and he ran in the direction of Hansard.
”Safety protocols off, and disarm guest 1” a voice called out, it didn’t seem to sound like Hansard’s though.
The admirals gun disappeared and the programmed enemy appeared.
"Hold you fire and take him prisoner." the hidden voice called.
The admiral raised his hands as a row of holographic guards approached him.
They led him to a cell where a man with piercing dark eyes oversaw his incarceration.

Hansard ran as fast as he could away from the Admiral. He was confused, his mind ached and he found it hard to think. He tried accessing the suite controls but failed, every command was locked down by Jones. Damn him he thought. Hansard’s mind began to mist he felt a conflict between two voices.
"Trust Jones he is your old friend."
"NO THE CO IS IN DANGER THIS IS A TRAP." He finally managed to assert, Jones was wrong, he knew that deep down. Hansard fell and blacked out.
When he woke his mind was clear and he realized what had happened. He remembered that he had run a check when he ran a check on Sulla he had discovered that a second person had piggybacked onboard. Hansard had tracked him down but then he had been hit with a phaser and when he woke he had a security officer named Jones working for him.
Damm Hansard thought the admiral was out there two alone and in trouble and Hansard could not stop the programme but he was armed. Hansard threw on a belt kit and loaded up with ammo and left quietly looking for the admiral.

The admiral fell to the floor and looked up as the door was shut. He was trapped and Hansard was a traitor. he hadnt expected this to happen.
His commbadge was not working and he was ounumbered by an army. The odds were not good.

***

 
"Riker to the Bridge. We've left the Victory and are holding orbit off the station until the other shuttle is docked. So far things are going to plan."
The first officer reported, from 100,000Km away.
"Acknowledged Sir. I'll update the Admiral as soon as he returns to the Bridge."
That's strange Riker thought to himself. It was not like mc7_of_9 to leave the bridge during such a crucial mission like this.
"Bridge, where exactly is the Admiral?"
"Bare with me one minute Sir and I'll locate him for you."
The duty officer replied. This is very unusual. Something must be wrong on the Victory. mc7_of_9 doesn't leave the Bridge during a crisis situation, and if for any reason he did, he would always tell the duty officer where he could be reached.
"Bridge, I need you to also locate Hansard."
"Sir, both the Admiral and Hansard are on the Holodeck. We are unable to raise them through their communicators. "
This is all I need, Riker said udner his breath. A malfunctioning Holodeck trapping the CO and the CSTO.
"Bridge, get those 2 out of the Holodeck. I don't care if you need to fry every holo matrix on the ship, just get them out of there! Riker Out."

Within minutes of Commander Riker giving that order there were 4 engineering technictions outside of the Holodeck trying to open the doors.
"Waters to the Bridge, Sir, the Holodeck hasn't malfunctioned, it has been locked down."
"On whose orders?"
"Ensign Hansards, Sir."
That is strange Lt Cmdr Lynch thought, from the centre seat of the Bridge.
"Bridge to Riker."
"This better be important Lt."
"We'll sir, the Holodeck didn't malfunction, Ensign Hansard locked the system down."
"What?! My previous orders stand. Get them out of there by any means necessary, and when you do, unless the Admiral disagree's, take Hansard into custody."

 

With all the senior staff off the ship Lasooux was reluctantly now in a command meeting. She sat anxiously at the table. Kapoor sat beside her. Opposite Ensign Cobur a young human tactical officer was reviewing a padd. At the head of the table sat Lt Girade the now de facto Commanding Officer. The Betazoids stern face masked every bit of emotion. Beside him Engineer Matheson and Transporter Chief Tallows were still going over the details of their predicament. From what Lasooux could discern was that one of Hansards programmes had been infected with a complex computer virus that had overridden security protocols and locked the room down. Things didnt add up, Hansard was seriously out of line.
"So any suggestions?" Girade asked scanning the room both with his eyes and mind.
A number of blank faces returned his gaze.
"have we contact with them?" Lasooux asked
"Err don t know Tallows" replied
Lasouux tapped her comm badge
"Lasooux to Hansard. What is going on?"
"Han.... here... probl.., th ....deck. Was confron.. the Adm... then progr.... shorte... Jones's fault... hiss ovver.........."
"We've lost it" Tallows answered mnitoring the comm traffic from the wall panel.
"Well that brings us closer" Girade noted.
"Not really" Cobur stated. "there is nobody called Jones aboard"
"No -one"
"No. Not crew"
"Then what the hells going on"
"Well if its not a crew member perhaps its someone else" Kapoor offered.
"Who else could it be, no one else has come aborad the Victory" Girade snapped the headache he had had for the past few days was getting worse.
"then perhaps... oh I dont know" sighed lasooux " What about the transporter"
Tallows returned to his screen and brought up some internal scans.
"Ive no evidnce of any beam in other than Sullas the other day.... although...."
"Although?"
"There is a strange energy spike in the matter loop. It could be a piggy backed signal"
"hell" Girade cursed. "Then there could be someone else in there. Computer how many lifesigns are on the Holodeck."
"There are three lifeforms on the holodeck. 2 human and 1 Betazoid"

 

***

Jones crept back through the unfamiliar streets of 21st century Earth. He had trapped the Admiral. He would deal with him later. More important was his need to get the security officer. When he had come aboard he had been able to surprise the officer. Hansards mind had been particularly easy to manipulate. Even so his grip was slipping. Soon Hanasrd would realise something was wrong and then he would be in trouble.
Such a simple mission was now so complicated. He had initailly been hired to 'remove' a Federation spy. Unfortunatly he had missed him on the base and had only just managed to tag himself to the beam out signal. Now the doctor had gone again and he'd been stranded on the ship. There was one other telepath on the ship, he was successfully blocking him however. It was also his suspicion that the Doctor too was a Betazoid, but no where near as powerful as him.
It was now all down to survival. He had to find and kill Hansard and then use the Admiral as a bargaining chip to get him off this ship and well away from the Triangle

Hansard head was hurting but he stood frim and knew that he had to find the admiral and get out but with "Jones" in control both were going to be difficult.
Hansard had a silenced puistol n his bundle of weapons and he had managed to take down eleven of the holo enemy down without the enemy finding out yet. Fortunatley even with jones in control no new charecters could be added as that function was deleted. Hansard knew he could win but he would have to exploit his knowledge of the programme. Unfortunatley jones knew quite a lot. Each time he had arrived at a place in the city that held weapons or a spy the had been ransacked and the spy killed. Hansard was lucky to have got the weapons he had as jones was obviously busy with something else. Hansard hoped it wasnt the admiral.
"Halt friend or foe." A voice called.
"Definatley foe." Hansard span and was ready to take a shot when he recognized the face. But as he paused the new man darted away

"Lance corpral, It is me ensign Hansard i am a friend."
"PASSWORD! NOW!"
"5987352 alpha."
The commando walked out from cover and lowered his weapon.
"Good to see you sir. All the cells i set up are down i have taken down a few men but i attracted everybody and only just escaped."
"They must have thought you were me. We will talk later lets get going take us somewhere safe and we can sort out a plan."
"Plan sir we just have to kill them all." Damm Hansard thought this programme wasn’t smart enough.
"Wait a minute I have an idea."
"Idea?"
"Oh nothing. Its just that they have the president and we have to find and rescue him but there forces are superior to ours and we have to plan."
"SIR YES SIR." The commando shouted slipping back into his programming just as Hansard had planned. "Follow me i know a place."
Hansard and he new companion set off through the rubble and buildings of the city.
Hansard hoped with his help they would release the admiral and escape. Hansard felt guilty as this was his fault and vowed to kill Jones and his holo army.

 

***

 

On board the Talis Salvage Station Maximilian Sulla dodged a 7ft tall Nausican who came storming out of a bar, having lost a hand at poker. Max peered into the dark and dank bar and saw two dead humanoids: both Ferengi. The bodies were lying there ignored by everyone else. A barman came outside puffing on a pipe with blue smoke obscuring the air around him. He was short and stubby, and spoke to the doctor with a gruff voice.
“You look like a nice young man, not the sort to be lurking in this hell hole,” he commented. As if reading Max’s thoughts he added,
“They upset the Nausican. Ferengi are good at cheating in poker but they lack the sense to not cheat when playing a Nausican.”
For the first time Max realised he was talking to him.
“And what are Ferengi doing in the Triangle?” he asked.
“What do you think? Doing things they shouldn’t be! Word is they’ve been exporting weapons right under the Fed’s nose. The Federation may be so high and mighty but soon it’ll be smashed so hard it’ll be like a headless chicken! Who’s going to get it first? Well, I heard the Verengan aren’t going to bother with worthless outer worlds in the Federation. They’re going’ straight to Jaresh Inyo’s front door.” The barman said, grinning smugly.
Max assimilated the words, and it hit him. ‘Right to Jaresh Inyo’s front door.’ Jaresh Inyo’s, the Federation President.
‘Damn, they’re going to attack Earth first.’ Max breathed to himself.
“’Scuse me? How do you feel about that?” the barman asked Sulla. Sulla wanted to knock the smug grin off the guy’s face, and scream, “long live the Federation!” but that wouldn’t accomplish anything save for his arrest and torture. Besides, he needed to impart what the minute barman had just told him to Admiral Mc 7 of 9.
“Well, I tend to keep out of political issues myself. Live and let live, you know?” Max lied.
“Right, know the sort,” the barman said.
“So, if you’re not in the army, navy or otherwise, what’s your trade?” the barman asked.
Max was thinking fast for another fabrication.
“I’m a florist,” he said. The barman burst out laughing,
“You need to get a real job, boy!” he said and muttered something about the smoke break being over and headed back inside.
Max was tapped on the shoulder by one of Hansard’s security men, whom Max had christened ‘Shifty Fifty’ due to his sly look.
“We should get moving, Commander,” Shifty said “We need to track down the man who was following you.”

“You won’t have much trouble there then” a voice echoed out.

The two officers span round to face a trio of mean looking men one of which was a Betazoid. Shifty went for his phaser but the men were faster, the disruptor bolt disintegrated him completely. Max began to reach for his put realised the game was up and handed his weapon over. The betazoid pressed a hyposray into Max’s arm and he collapsed.

***

The shuttlepod Kafir slung in a wide arc around to the starboard section of one of the Stations docking arms
The massive station defied nature and the laws of physics. With minimal deflectors it was incredible the station hadn’t been destroyed years ago. Dwarfed by its bulk the shuttle angled into a docking port that was closest to where Sulla had reported seeing the illegal weapons.
Zoilip sat calmly beside Riker behind the conn. The first officer ignited a short burst of thrusters before a dull thud heralded their arrival.
Zoilip snatched up his phaser rifle and checked his charge. Behind him T'san sat upright her face stony. Crewman Talter and Tarrain both looked
apprehensive.
Riker took out his phaser and placed a tricorder in a pouch on his hip.
"Alright people. Lets do this by the numbers. In and out before Station Security know whats hit them. Zoilip you take point, T'san, Rear. If we cant carry the
weapons out of here we secure the perimeter and let Zoilip lay charges, Understood"
The security team nodded and at a nod from Riker Zoilip pushed open the door and stepped tentatively out in to the corridor.
It was empty and very humid, a light fog of steam drifted in the air and breathing was hard.
Riker pulled out his tricorder and began a scan. We are two decks down from the cargo bay."
Zoilip began by striding down the corridor his rifle raised to his shoulder. No sirnes sounded and no one was about.
They proceeded towards the nearest access lift. As they approached Riker held up his hand. The tricorder twinkling.
"There two life forms up ahead." He hissed. He indicated for Zoilip and Talter to advance.
The two crept forward to the very edge of the corner. Zoilip on the finger count of three leapt around the corner with Talter.
In front of them two station security officers stood simple phase pistols in holsters at their sides. With two aimed shots the two men were dropped
unconscious. As the very first beam was fired the lights suddenly dimmed to red and a klaxon began to sound.
"Internal sensors" Riker remarked leading them quickly into the lift.
They travelled up the shaft and arrived at the correct deck. Rikers tricorder flashed brightly. It showed 4 people outside the cargo bay.
With two teams of 5 advancing from two different directions on the deck they had just left.
"Right we need to be quick" Riker asserted. "Heres what we do..."

With the plan outlined everyone leapt into action. The 5 officers quickly and easily overpowered the 4 guards outside the bay. T'San and Talter and took up positions outside the room whilst the others entered.
The Cargo bay was vast and Riker stood slack jawed it was crammed full of weapons cannisters. There were enough weapons of all descriptions to arm an army.
"Phew" he whistled. "Looks like its plan B then. Get to it Zoilip."
The Bolian slipped off his pack and began to lay the charges. Suddenly there was a series of phaser blasts and the doors slid open. T'san and Talter weapons firing backed in to the room. T'san slammed the door closer and quickly encrypted the lock.
"Whats going on?" Riker asked
"There are 13 hostiles approaching outside. We held as many as possible back. But were forced back"
"Thats ok. you did your best. Any other ways out?"
T'san shook her head.
"Oh" Riker replied “It's now or never so once we get out there we're going to have to be fast.”
Zoilip and T'San nodded. Riker, Zoilip, and T'San turned the corner and each one of them took out one security guard leaving one left. The last Security guard took a shot and struck Riker in the chest. From what T'San and Zoilip could see Riker was burnt pretty bad. Zoilip took a shot and held his phaser in place for about 5 seconds frying him.
” Victory we need an Emergency Transport to Sickbay!”
”Aye Aye”
”Riker was transported to sickbay. Dr.Kapoor hurried to the biobed and a bunch of medical officers crowded around with hyposprays and other tools. Kapoor scanned Riker for lifesigns and they were very faint. Kapoor injected Riker with hypospray and got to work. However 10 minutes later Riker hit a flatline and passed away”
”Make a note in the log.”
Zoilip could barely contain his dismay. This whole mission was going to hell in a big way.
Not only was Riker dead, killed in one of Zoilips away mission but the Admiral and Hansard were locked in the holdeck with a homicidal Betazoid.
On top of the the second strike team still hadnt left the station. A station that was due to be blown sky high from the charges he'd set in only a few minutes.
As now the most senior officer aboard Zoilip was now in Command. He made his way to the bridge quickly and prayed the others returned soon.

***

 

Max woke up abruptly and gradually sat up, groaning as he did so. The light was shining into his cell and it had caused him to wake up. Using the clock on the wall he was able to work our he'd been asleep for four hours. He'd been imprisoned for two days and he was already beginning to crack.

The doors rattled open and the forcefield deactivated.
"You will report to Commander Drakos now," the guard instructed. He moved forward and kicked Max in the gut. Max winced on the floor.
"That's a warning, don't try any funny business. Now move!" and Max crawled out of the cell like a baby until he could muster walking.
Sulla was led into a darkened chamber and the only illuminated parts were two chairs facing each other. One chair was occupied by a man with greying hair.
"Sit, Mr. Sulla." he ordered calmly.
"I apologise if the guards were a little rough. They won't be like that with you in my presence, unless I order it to happen. Please don't make me do that." he said coldly.
"Who are you and why can't I leave?" Sulla asked.
"Questions, questions, questions. Let this become clear. I ask the questions, Mr. Sulla." the man said almost angrily.
"Let us begin. Doctor Korvan, inject Sulla with level 3 neuro-relaxant chemical. He's feeling rather resistant I sense."
"You're Betazoid," Sulla stated.
"Technically that wasn't a question so I won't punish you. I am Betazoid, that is correct Mr. Sulla."
Max winced as the chemical was injected into his neck. His vision blurred, and his captor's voice sounded slower and deeper. The other Betazoid tapped into Max's mind.
:: You will answer my questions :: he began.
:: Yes :: Max replied telepathically.
:: Good man. First, I'll tell you why we captured you. You are Betazoid and I have been controlling several crew members of your ship. You were a threat, so we captured you. On the other hand, you are a great advantage to me. You will be the key to Earth's destruction and the Federation's downfall. Do you agree? ::
:: I agree :: Max replied like a drone.
:: Excellent. Now, Sulla, Federation medical protocol allows you to relieve any officer, regardless of rank, from duty if they are unfit? ::
:: Yes ::
:: Then that's what we'll use you for. Get that Admiral Mc 7 of 9 out of the way for a start. I think Alvellian Dementia will be a good reason to relieve him. But that's later. First you will give me the command codes for the Victory's main computer and the Starfleet Tactical Database. ::
Sulla stared on, not answering.
"He's resisting us. Increase to level four potency, Doctor. :: the captor ordered. Moments later Max handed over the requested codes. The interrogator asked what they were doing in the Triangle and if there were any more teams on their stations. In no time at all he knew all about the explosives the second team had set and the commander ordered them to be located and destroyed.
:: Now, there is something else you can do for me... :: the interrogator said sardonically and Max obeyed.
"We've run out of room in our other cells. You'll have to share," they said and grinned. Then, a very tall man with alien features came in and hovered over Sulla. The man grinned, moved closer and licked Sulla's face.
"Enjoy," one of the guards said and they all laughed. The alien sat on his bed, staring at Sulla. Max hoped that was an alien form of greeting, nothing more. Either way, he knew, there was no way he was going to wait and find out. The hallucinations had made him unstable and he really was in no mood for this.
"Before this station blows to high heavens I'm going to kill you," he warned and the warning was met with laughter. The guards left.
Sulla felt his right shoe heel. It was fortunate he came prepared on this mission. The type one phaser slotted out of the heal and Max primed it to vaporise.
"I don't like to share," he said and grinned sardonically.
"I won't share my cell," he repeated six times.
The alien roared,
"He has a weapon! Help me! Guards!"
Max lowered his voice,
"Shush! You'll wake the mice up!" he said insanely.
"We can't have that! I won't share! The mice won't share!" he said and pointed the phaser at the alien.
"Bye-bye" he said, and fired.
"Noooooooooo-!" the alien screamed as he turned orange/red and was vapourised. The cell was silent for two seconds before a screeching siren sounded. Max heard footsteps on the deck-plating heading his way.
The guards rounded the corner.
Max fingered his collar, feeling for his pips. He pressed one, and instructed "transport forward ten metres," and he disappeared in shimmering blue energy. The astonished guards stared on in stupidity, ignorant of the dematerialisation from behind him.
"He's behind you!" Max said like a lunatic, setting the phaser to wide beam. The guards turned as he fired and they were vaporised before they could complete the turn.
The short-range transporter couldn't get him to the Vic, it had a range of ten metres maximum. It still had its uses.
There was no time to lose. Sulla ran down the corridors and came to the bar he'd seen earlier. The short and fat barman stopped him.
"Hey, kid, you look rough. It suits you, you're blending in." the barman said.
"I really must go," Max said, panicking, as he heard station security hot on his trail. The barman eyed the phaser.
"Hey, you're no florist. You're Starfleet!" the barman said and shouted into the bar. An entourage of Nausicans, Ferengi, rebel Klingons, Romulans et al. drew their weapons.
Sulla ran frantically, with the band of thugs and security close behind.
A new alarm sounded and everyone was hurrying back to their shuttles. The word was out that the station had a bomb on board and that the stations staff had no way of disabling it. Sulla detected some thoughts about the weapons and traced them to a group of Ferengi in the crowd. He worked out what the Ferengi was saying.
"Get the weapons on the ship! They're worth a lot to us!" he was screaming. Without thinking Max ran as fast as he could to the group. When he arrived the lead Ferengi stared with fire in his eyes.
"So you're going to kill me, Starfleet?" he asked.
"But even with me dead, the weapons will still be on my ship and will be leaving the station."
"I can't allow that. The weapons must be destroyed," Sulla said. He set the phaser to overload and tossed it into the airlock.
"No!" The Ferengi screamed. The airlock exploded as did the cargo ship holding some of the weapons. The Ferengi broke down in tears reciting the Rules of Acquisition he'd broken.
"There he is!" the fat barman called and the thugs were rushing across the room for him. Sulla headed for another corridor only to find station security there, disruptors drawn. In the centre was the Betazoid commander.
"You disappoint me, Mr Sulla. I had plans for you," he said.
"You could have been a son to me," he continued, "like the one that was killed by your mighty Federation!" he said not hiding his contempt. So this was personal. He hated Starfleet.
"I lost my father to the Dominion," Sulla replied.
"But with every Dominion ship I saw burning it made me feel worse not better."
"That won't matter. Soon we will all be dying in flames...but you won't be. I want to see you torn apart!" he screamed. The Betazoid commander withdrew a dagger and lunged at Max. Sulla reached for his phaser. The one he no longer had. To make matters worse, the timer on the bombs now read only two minutes.
The impact of the Betazoid man sent Sulla plummeting to the floor. He landed on the deck plating, and the man landed on top of him. Sulla held onto the hand with the dagger that was edging closer to his jugular. The other Betazoid was groaning with frustration, and Sulla was panic-stricken. The adrenaline guided his hand when it became a clenched fist and punched the man in the gut. For a second, the Betazoid lost his pin on Sulla and he was able to role over to be on top of the Betazoid. The Betazoid jabbed with the dagger and sliced into Sulla's arm.
Not spending any time to notice the wound, Sulla kept his gaze on the Betazoid. He tapped into his mind,
:: You know something? I wouldn't mind you being my father because I wouldn't mind losing you like I did my father :: he telepathed.
:: Sulla, I will be losing you first :: he replied and slashed again with the dagger, narrowly missing Max. Max knocked the dagger from the Betazoid's hand and it clattered across the floor. He removed one of his rank pips from his collar and clipped it onto the Betazoid.

:: What's this? :: the Betazoid asked.
:: A going away gift :: Max replied sardonically.
Max estimated the power generator they were next to on their left was at least 10 metres away. He pressed the pip and instructed,
"Transport left ten metres," and threw himself off the Betazoid, who was beamed away. Seconds later the Betazoid transported into the generator and was melted and electrified in the generator. The last thing he said to Sulla telepathically was,
:: There are more of us, Sulla. You aren’t the only other Betazoid in the Delta… :: and he fell silent.
Sulla got up and saw the gang of thugs staring.
"Damn, I haven't got enough pips for all of you," he said and added,
"now would be a good time for a rescue Victory style," and the timer read 30 seconds till detonation.

Max stood baton straight determined to take his death like a man. He hadn’t exactly planned to go out like this but what the hell at least they had stopped some really nasty people. Suddenly he felt a characteristic tug on his stomach and his surroundings shimmered and disappeared. He rematerialised inside a shuttle.

“Hows that for timing?” Stone commented from the helm of their shuttle craft.

“A little too close for my tastes.” Sulla replied dryly.

 

Mattews paced the bridge nervously, they still hadn’t got the Admiral out and all of the crew weren’t back aboard.

“Helm take us out of blast range of the station” he ordered, they had waited long enough.

The comm. Beeped.

“Shuttle Gilmore requesting permission to dock.” Stone asked.

“Granted” Matthews sighed, “ Helm go to warp the minute they are aboard.”
 

The shuttle set down gently and moments later the door hissed open. The shuttle's occupants headed down the ramp door and Sulla, in particular, was greeted by a medical team. They were holding blankets, medical tricorders, a warm pot of tea and hyposprays to relieve any pain or stress he may have. As soon as Sulla stepped out the blanket was thrown around him, a cup of tea was poured and three medical tricorder scanners were pushed in his face and worked their way down his body. The medics were making a fuss of him, but Sulla said nothing because it was what they were trained to do.
"All hands brace for impact!" the voice sounded over the comm.
The ship rocked as the station exploded sending out a violent shockwave out into the triangle.
Sulla got to his feet and ran the dermal regenerator over his face.
"First order of business, replicate a safe shaver," he said quietly to himself and left the quarters.
The two medics stood to attention.
"Thanks for your help," Sulla said sarcastically and ordered them to follow with a hand gesture. He entered sickbay to see it had a few people in there with injuries.
Sulla scanned the bio-beds, looking at his patients in turn. Riker wasn't there.
"Where's Commander Riker? You said he was seriously injured." Sulla asked.
"Um, Sir..." an ensign began, but Sulla headed off before he could listen to the ensign. He went through his office to the other side of sickbay, a place he'd never been to before except on the first day when he was surveying the sickbay. It was the morgue. A unit was powered up, and Sulla knew who was inside, mostly from gut instinct because he couldn't sense someone after they were dead.
Max Sulla pressed a panel and the table slid out. On it was Commander Riker's cold, pale and lifeless body. Max swallowed hard.
"Oh no," he breathed.
"Sir, it wasn't your fault," the ensign said.
"I should have stayed. I could have saved him." Sulla said.
"Not even the best doctors in Starfleet could have saved him. He was almost brain-dead when he arrived here," the ensign informed Sulla. Sulla pressed the panel again and the body was concealed once more. He asked to be alone in his office and he sat in his chair. A tear rolled down his cheek. It was hard losing a patient, but when it was your First Officer who died when you should have been there to help him, it was unimaginable.
Max cleared his throat and tried to make his voice sound less broken up, which was hard because his throat was tight.
"Computer, recognise Sulla44betagolf. I hereby approve the death certificate of Commander Riker and note that the time and stardate of his death given by Lieutenant Carling is accurate. Seal this certificate and make it available to level four and above access," Sulla instructed and the computer acknowledged with a tone.

***

 

Hansard crept up through the town towards Jones and his men. He had managed to gather a small army of his own to assist in the attack. They now created a diversion that had drawn of most of the soldiers away from Mc. Jones remained, his dark eyes searching every where.

He crawled forward and through a stone to one side. Jones span round and walked around the building to investigate. Hansard took the opportunity to cross the open ground. He reached the building and breathed heavily, Jones could be back at any second. With a swing of his rifle he took out the only remaining guard and heaved open the Admirals cell.

“Grrr” roared the Admiral.

He leapt out of the cell pushing Hansard to the ground, his rifle skittered away.

“I ll have you sent to New Zealand, no… Rura Penthe for this” he screamed punching Hansard. The security officer flipped backwards and tripped Mc.

“No Sir. Its not what you think. It wasn’t me, it was Jones.”

As if heralding him, Jones stepped in to light. He raised his gun and fired. A trail of bullets slammed into the wall and Mc and Hansard threw themselves to either side. Hansard scrabbled for his weapon.  His fingers grasped round it as Mc regained his feet and launched himself at Jones, the betazoid dodged but met the butt of Hansards rifle. He crumpled like a rag doll. Hansard sighed.

“It was him. He got in here, in my mind. I couldn’t do anything.”

“Well we’ll see about that. Now that he’s gone lets see if we can get out.”

“I should think so. Jones countermanded each of our requests and now he’s unconscious that should do it.”

“Computer End Program”

The image around them shimmered and vanished being replaced with the standard lattice.

“Lets get to the bridge. We’ll sort this out later.” Mc ordered. “ Lock him up.” He pointed at the prone betazoid.

 

***

Sulla stared on. The stations were destroyed. Starfleet was safe from a potential threat. But everything had its price

Rogue asked permission to leave the bridge and she walked to the morgue. As she entered Sulla was stil standing there.
"Strange to meet like this, but I'm Rogue"
"Hi Rogue, I've heard about you..." said Sulla.
"I'm sorry to come here Sulla but I just couldn't believe it..."
"it's ok...I'm really sorry that I couldn't help him anymore"
"It wasn't your fault Sulla...no-one blames you"
Rogue looked at Rikers face....it had turned pale already.
She looked a side and saw that Sulla was still having a tough time with it...She couldn't bear to stay there any longer...
Rogue placed her hand on Sulla shoulder as she walked out and pinched softly...
"Nice meeting you and see you around" she gave one last look on the pale body and then walked to the holodeck.
Rogue entered the code and entered. She looked down at the old celtic dress she was wearing and looked up, she was standing on a hill...you could see the cliffs and the sea...she walked slowly in her dress towards the edges and looked over the sea...
"Still love that view don't ya"
Rogue turned around and saw Tyro, a irish boy she met last time she ran the programm.
"Come", he said," there is a party in the town over there, with lots of music and people, will you come dance with me?"
"Off course Tyro...I would be honored" Rogue said.
She smiled at Tyro and walked with him down the hill towards the town.
<<Rogue, could you please report to the bridge, we could use a hand out here>> her badge suddenly shouted
"damn" Rogue thought. <<Yes sir, be right there, Rogue out.>>
"What's wrong" Tyro asked.
"You've gotta save that dance for me, ok?" Rogue said.
"computer end programme" she said and walked towards the bridge

 

 

Back on the bridge Mc called for the senior staff to assemble. Matthews had informed of the missions success and Rikers death, Magellan would be devastated.

Max approached him.
"Admiral," he began. "How've you been?"
"Just fine. And yourself?" Mc asked. Max grinned. He'd been through a rough time too.
"Also fine," he replied.
"That bad, huh?" Mc said.
Sulla pulled the scanner out from his med tricorder. He read the results and surmised,
"Nothing that a good meal and drink won't fix," and smiled.
"I thought you'd confine me to sickbay for a week, Doc," Mc said with relief.
"No, my rock-side manner is improving, wouldn't you say?" Sulla grinned, "we'll be at the starbase Assailant soon, and I hear they have a good restaurant. Care to join me?" he asked the admiral.
"Why not. 1900 hours, Ruck's" the admiral replied.
"1900 hours," Max echoed and headed out.