"I wouldn't think so. Here, see for yourself," Lissa said, stepping to one side so that McCaffrey could stand beside her and see the readings.
McCaffrey looked at all the chrats, graphs, and numbers. "Oookaaayyy... translation?" She's a Captain dammit, not a scientist.
Ellie had her arms wrapped around herself, wondering why she was freezing and everyone else seemed comfortable. She wondered if her hematocrit was even in double digits. "People have been calling me destabilized for years," she muttered to no one in particular.
Elsewhere (but very close, as such things went):
Very faintly, through the distortion near the Stargazer and the William Wallace, came the automated IFF signal of a starship broadcasting on Federation frequencies. NX-111000, H.M.S. Awesome.
The signal was being regularly drowned out by static matching the effects of heavy phaser fire.
On board the Wallace:
Mikaan noticed the faint signal and did his best to boost it, then ran it through the computer for identification...and did a double take at the results.
"Commander..." he called to SnowHawk, "it's very faint, as if it's being drowned out by regular bursts of static that read...well, almost like heavy phaser fire, but I'm definitely getting the IFF signal of a Federation starship...computer ID's it as the NX 111000, HMS Awesome."
"Run a match through our computer, see if it does...Damn...SnowHawk to Stargazer, permission to enter the wormhole to see if I can help. That's if it is a Federation ship." SnowHawk sat down in the Captains chair.
The Stargazer picks up the signal of the IFF transmitter, and verifies that she was lost some time ago....
"Damn another Federation vessel. What in the name of .... is going on around here??"
Snowhawk asks permission to render assistance, and Garibaldi replies, "Damn!! " As if he did not know what he should do. Then he grants the permissions... "Go. Just be careful, and try not to make any more enemies for us on this side of hell."
"Okay people, transfer all non essential power to shields, arm photons and get us moving into the wormhole"SnowHawk ordered. "Mikaan, I need constant readings on what's out there, in all the subspace frequencies...we don't want to run into anything...Let's go people."
Mikaan nodded..."I'm on it now Commander" and he sets up the sensors for full scan of all subspace frequencies (and any other frequencies the systems are capable of picking up too, for good measure)...
Just off the portside aft of the captain-free ship, a slight subspace anomaly appeared. It's presence was quickly picked up by the Gazer's and the WW's sensors.
In nature it seemed like the ones tentatively connected with the disappearance of the doctor and the captain. But it was vibrating, at a low frequency, with a few harmonic ripples at the quantum level. It looked a lot like an attempt to open a wormhole.
On the Awesome:
Kirk looked over the helm panel. With the spatial distortion already underway, it should take little power to open up a wormhole using the jump engines of the Awesome. Kirk activated the engines...
A combination of things went wrong. A near miss from the Tholian warship's guns, a surge in the Awesome's 'special' engines, and the proximity of the Willian Wallace on the other side.
The gateway which opened up was wildly unstable. Looking like a headless snake where it opened up in real space, it thrashed around madly, missing the Stargazer and the William Wallace by centimetres. It's rapid movement prevented the Wallace from entering it straight away.
From the Awesome's side of things, it was as if a huge vacuum cleaner had been turned on, or a giant plug removed. The ship was pulled through the rift and tumbled end over end out into reality.
On the Awesome, Lissa held onto her console as the ship tumbled... "What the *hell*...?" she exclaimed as she checked the console readouts...
Some strange properties of physics took hold as the Awesome exited the rift, and it came to rest with its shields just grazing those of the William Wallace.
Sensors showed that the Wallace's weapons were powered and pointed straight at the Awesome, there was a second ship nearby also in an alert status. This put Morrain, in full control of the weaponry, in a very nervous mood.
"What in hell do we do now?" Lissa asked Jeffrey, pointedly ignoring Morrain, he was the last person she'd ask for anything.
Kirk diverted weapons power into the shields, before Morrain did something they all would regret, and backed the Awesome off.
"Hold your fire Morrain, I think they might be able to help us." On board the Wallace, Mikaan saw the disturbance and that the forces were keeping the ship away..."I'm scanning now, Commander...something has really stirred things up out there..." as he checked the sensors...
If not by the huge Union Jack emblazened across the hull of the ship which had been thrown out so abruptly from nowhere, then by the quantum telltales registering on the sensor, it was pretty obvious that this ship was not from quite the same Federation as the Stargazer and her crew.
It was about the same size as the 'Gazer's saucer, but looked to have the same power/weight ratio as the Defiant (which is considerably smaller), and mounted some fearsome phaser cannon which, as the pilot backed it away from the Wallace, were pointed down Mikaan's throat.
Then the computer chirped up. It had identified two of the life-signs on board. The missing Captain and the Doctor.
"Sir, that ship's armed to the teeth, I'm reading phaser cannons fully charged. And..." he paused as another indicator beeped. "Commander, life sign scans are positive. Captain McCaffrey is on that ship and so is Dr Spaulding."
"Move us in close, push our shields against theirs..we need to get our people back. Lock on with Transporters" SnowHawk snapped.
Mikaan nodded to the helm officer, then set the transporter controls. "Attempting to establish transporter lock now, Sir." he replied even as the helm officer made the adjustment to the ship's position.
Meanwhile, outside, the rift suddenly snapped to a halt, perfectly circular and stable, as if something on the other side with a superior knowledge of interdimensional travel had stabilised it.
On the Awesome:
"Damn, they're coming after us! Jayne open a communications channel to that ship in front of us, we need to talk quickly!" Kirk ordered.
Opening what she knew was a secure Starfleet comms channel circa the time of Stargazer's departure she hailed the two ships in front of them.
"William Wallace and Stargazer - this is the HMS Awesome. We have two of your missing crewmembers aboard who are keen to return - we have no hostile intent towards you, but we are being pursued by several Tholian vessels and may not have long to act before we must lead them off - we have them ready to transport"
On the Wallace, Mikaan noticed that as well and turned back to SnowHawk. "The rift seems to have stabilized in its present state, Commander. I know of no natural force that could cause such."
::Damn those Tholians...I know what you are doing..do not make me angry with you....:: SnowHawk thought, then replied "I think we have a problem, prepare the photon launchers to go full automatic at the target, prepare for another ship coming in to range...manouver us as close as you can and once we have our people scoot back quickly" SnowHawk rattled off the orders.
Mikaan glanced at SnowHawk even as he complied with the orders..."Another ship, Commander? Sensors only show the Stargazer and the Awesome out there."
SnowHawk turned to Mikann"They are out there...and we are waiting""
"Who do you think is out there, Commander?" Mikaan asked.
"The people who do not wish to lose their quarry" SnowHawk replied mysteriously.
Mikaan shook his head. "With *all due* respect, Commander, I understand there are certain things you cannot disclose, the Prime Directive and all, but if we are to deal with these beings effectively, there must be *something* you can tell me."
"Get everyone into key pounts on the ship, and then redirect life support to those areas and the rest put into shields...this will be a big fight" SnowHawk smiled at the thought of coming battle...
"Doing that now, Sir." Mikaan flipped a switch on the commpanel.
Once he'd adjusted the life support and shield controls he turned back to SnowHawk. "We have to know who we are dealing with, Commander. You are asking us to deal with a potentially hostile force without sufficient information to mount effective defenses."
"hmmm well there's a chance I'm wrong, but the Technology to do that is making me sure...Tholians, so be prepared to modulate our shields" SnowHawk replied.
Mikaan nodded and began to prepare for just that."Tholians? I wasn't aware they'd come this far out."
Snowhawk nodded, then replied to the call from the Awesome. "This is Commander SnowHawk on the Wallace, we are prepared to transport our crew men, but if the Tholians want a fight, I am prepared to give it to them" SnowHawk replied "You look slightly damaged, move behind me while we transport our crew"
"Roger Wallace, we'll be there in two shakes ... The lead Tholian vessel is big, far bigger than anything we've ever seen them use back home, it's us they're after so we'll not hang around too long ..."
"You are StarFleet and StarFleet protects its own..."SnowHawk replied, his eyes seemingly to glow with anticipation...
On the Stargazer..
Garibaldi had just finished his conversation with Dr. D'amondra and family when the ship emerged and made the hail. He returned his attention to the situation at once.
"Tactical, boost power to shields and go from Yellow alert to battle stations. Charge up all forward weapons, and put aft on stand by. Please tell Commander First that we have a problem up here and that he is on his own for a while.", orders the Commodore.
Then he calls the other ships, "This is Rear Admiral Markus Garibaldi of the USS Stargazer. Welcome to the party. I hear that you are bringing some crashers. The Wallace and the Stargazer will do what we can to help hold them off while you get to where you need to. How are our crew members, and can you send a message home for us?"
Jayne piped up "Good to hear your voice again, Admiral. Doctor Spaulding is in need of treatment, for her condition but apart from that she and Captain McCaffrey are fine ... considering. As to messages, we'll take what we can, but we will have company PDQ. If you transmit now, I'll record anything you send to transmit nearer to home ..." there was a little uncertainty as to whether she would reach home in Jayne's mind, but she couldn't bail out here. Too many people jumping ship would get the Tholians' attention.
"Okay, Jayne and Norvek this looks like your stop too, get down to the transporter with Spaulding and McCaffery."
"If it's all the same, I'd like to take a shot at getting closer to home, as would the Ambassador no doubt ..."
"Yes, I would like to try to get closer home. It does not look like they are very close to where we are from. Besides, I do not think that we have time to get us all there." Norvek puts in.
"Lissa, what's our status, and how long is that wormhole going to last for?" Kirk manoevred the Awesome round behind the Wallace.
Lissa checked the sensors, "I'll tell you in a second."
The wormhole was staying open, indefinitely - someone was pumping energy into it, no prizes for guessing who ... the Tholians were not far behind.
"It looks like it's staying open," she replied..."someone must be *keeping* it open, and it's not hard to guess who."
"Mr Morrain, it looks like we'll be going in for a second time, you ready for a rematch?"
"There is a limit," Morrain answered testily, "to how long I can evade fire from that warship. If we were in an Alliance vessel, we would be dead already."
Lissa shot a look at Morrain at that remark. "If we get out of this there's some who'd be very interested to hear that, especially coming from *you*."
"Oh, be quiet child! Keep your jealousy that it takes a different race of Terrans to build a decent spaceship to yourself. I have more important things to worry about." -Like getting these warp engines to function as sublight inertial nullifiers, he thought.
Lissa simply snorted and forced her attention back to the sensors. If there was *any* justice in this or any other universe they *would* get back to their own...and then she'd wipe that self-satisfied smirk off his face for good.
For now, though...
Transporting the Captain and the Doctor from the Awesome to the William Wallace was completed quickly. For them, at least, the race to make it home alive was at a pause.
Morrain spent the last few moments available rejigging the Awesome's engines. Despite his success against the smaller vessels, he had no delusions of being able to hurt the 'Act of God', even with the arsenal avaliable to him.
"Any last minute ideas?" he asked.
And then the Tholians arrived.
The three ships came out of the rift slowly, the two small Abducters hiding behind the shields of the mothership. For a moment, the six ships faced each other like western gunfighters.
On the Stargazer, SnowHawk let himself smile slightly. Just as he'd expected. "There..." as the Tholians came through the wormhole "okay people lets get prepared to open fire at the first sign of aggression from them"
Mikaan nodded, and checked the sensors again ...
New readings indicate that the Tholians are armed for the nastiest, biggest Bear you can possibly imagine. The rift began to close gently.
The Act Of God hailed the small fleet facing it.
"You will stand down and surrender the Awesome to us."
On board the Wallace..."In your dreams laddie..." SnowHawk replied...in Tholian.
Mikaan looked at SnowHawk in surprise. "Commander...?"
SnowHawk looked at Mikann "prepare to open fire" was all he said....
On Stargazer, Garibaldi ordered, "Divert power to weapons and to the forward shields. Lock on the lead ship and prepare to fire on my order." Then he called sickbay,
"Dr. O'Toole this is the bridge. We got a winner of a situation here. This is just a heads up for you to prepare for incoming casualties."
"We're standing ready here - makes sense of course, I've just got it straightened out again ... O'Toole out."
Lastly, the Old Man replied to the Tholian vessel, "This is Rear Admiral Markus Garibaldi of the United Federation pf Planets vessel, USS Stargazer. The Awesome is under our protection. Please stand down so that we can discuss the situation under calmer circumstances."
On board the Act Of God, Cnkreet turned to his tactical officer in surprise and annoyance at the news he had just received. The officer gestured towards the representation of the William Wallace. "Destroy the Awesome, disable the other two. Now.~
The two remaining abducters made straight for their hanger.
Without a reply, to either Snowhawk's or Garibaldi's message, the Act of God opened fire. A rain of low-yield graviton-pulse torpedoes and web-spitter fire leapt at the Stargazer and the Wallace, whilst a higher-yield torpedoes and tractor beams reached for the Awesome.
Around the warship, gravity suddenly got wierd as it's shields came on.
"Open Fire, Full phaser power, and set Torps on Automatic...Target the Act of God....and be prepared to move us in closer to them when I give the word" SnowHawk seemed intense over what was about to happen..... "Phasers targeting--and firing, Commander." Mikaan replied...
Garibaldi ordered the Stargazer to open fire with all forward weapons, concentrating the fire on the lead Tholian ship. At once Phasers and Photon torpedos are fired...
The Awesome moved, sharply as Morrain performed the 24th Century equivalent of a rally start. It saved the ship, barely. A massive but short lived black-hole appeared just behind them as one of the Tholian torpedoes detonated. Klaxons and lights filled the bridge as some of the aft superstructure and hull lost integrity under the strain.
Without such violent manouvers, the other two ships were hit dead-on by the web-spitters which rapidly enveloped them in a tractor-net of glowing lines. Their fire was deflected harmlessly by the Tholian's shields. Even the phasers were bent away by the singularities orbiting the huge ship.
"Impulse power is at 80%, I can augment that with sub-light Warp, but the other two ships are sitting ducks!" Morrain yelled, above the noise of the alarms and the wall panels spitting sparks. "I suggest we leave!"
Lissa clung to the sensor console and tried to keep it functioning as long as she could. She wanted to snarl a retort at Morrain, but this wasn't the time, so she simply ignored him and shouted to Jeffrey..
"We need to get out of here before we're all spacedust!"
Though ending up spacedust might not be such a bad thing, if she could take Morrain with her, but there were Jayne, Jeffrey, and all those people belowdecks to consider. Norvek could take his own chances, as far as she was concerned he was no different from Morrain.
In the Wallace:
"Hmmmm much more powerful than I thought" SnowHawk said as he bent over the console and after a few taps the tractor net around the ship dissipated "Well that fixed that.....hmmmm now if I wanted to move closer....quantum" as SnowHawk moved over to the engineering console and started tapping away ::hmmm if I change the quantum flux of the engines and cause it to vent the changed signature plasma...we should be able to.....hmmmm something else is needed::
"Move us closer to the Act of God" SnowHawk ordered as he worked "Wont they get a big surprise" he smiled.....
Mikaan adjusted the ship's position as ordered. "What have you got in mind Commander?"
"Short circuiting their shields...I hope" SnowHawk answered.
On the Act of God:~Damn it how could they have cracked the web.~ Cnkreet gave the Tholian equivalent of a sigh, already knowing the answer.
The weapons officer looked at him. "Permission to target with Hard weapons sir?~
Tholian emotions are shallow at best, and for them to display it is rare, even to one another. So it was with a little surprise that the bridge crew saw the glow of frustration emanate from their Captain.
On the Wallace:
"I don't need telling twice! Full power to engines, it's us they're after, lets give them a run for their money!" The Awesome violently lurched to port dodging fire from the large Tholoian vessel, swung round behind and under the Wallace. "I need full power now!" ordered Kirk.
The Awesome surged forward under the Wallace straight at the Act of God. "Hang on this could get rough!"
"Which plan do you have in mind to use?" asked Morrain, above the unpleasant noises the ship was now making.
"We're going to the wormhole, where else! But if we went the sensible route we would be smoking rubble by now. This way we can take advantage of the Tholian's overconfidence, you'll see," elucidated Kirk. "Just give me maximum downwards thrust on my mark."
On the Act of God, Cnkreet turned to his tactical officer. ~They will not survive contact with the shields.~ Just to be on the safe side, the tactical officer increased the shield strength to 45%.
On the Wallace, Snowhawk grinned to Mikaan. "See they've transfered power to shields, they arn't even bothering to fire on us, they expect us to splash harmlessly on their shields"
The distance between the Awesome and the Act of God was reducing at an alarming rate. The huge ship was looming large in the forward viewer.
On the Awesome...
"Full downward thrust on my mark!" There was virually nothing to be seen in front now except the Act of God. "Now!" shouted Kirk.
Morrain pushed the right buttons, wishing momentarily that he had a ship with the experimental 'point embedded planar subspace induction multi-axial' warp engines he had heard about.
The Awesome ducked neatly under the Tholian's belly, but the stresses on the damaged section were too great and a large chunk of her aft quarter broke free and drifted into the AoG's shields. A cluster of black holes tore it into dust in a fraction of a second.
"I do believe the Tholian captain is going to be rather annoyed." Morrain noted, "He's fallen for that twice."
"Let's not make it a third time shall we, I need to know when the Act of God has entered the Wormhole," Kirk looked to Lissa.
"Morrain, take the helm, I've got to get the jump engines ready," Kirk started checking power levels and co-ordinates on the jump engine control panel.
Morrain very nearly stopped to argue with the Terran about just who was in charge here. Then he decided not to waste the energy, since he would only end up killing the man... Or them all, if the Tholian's had anything to do with it.
The crippled ship dove into the Wormhole, and the Act of God turned to follow.
As the Act Of God neared the wormhole, the anomaly ceased shrinking, and expanded slightly to accomodate the huge ship. Then it was in the Wormhole and coming on fast.
The Awesome was in its sights.
"She's in position, activating jump engines!" Kirk shouted.
Behind the Awesome in the wormhole, a second wormhole started to form in front of the Act of God, violently distorting the walls of the original wormhole as it grew in size.
"Get us out of here as fast as you can Morrain, I've no idea if we can survive the explosion."
Morrain didn't need any encouragement, he had already wound the engines (both warp and impulse) up as far as they would go. The Awesome screamed away.
A massive salvo headed out at the fleeing ship.
Morrain saw the incoming fire, and the expanding field of 'extreme unpleasantness' rippling out from the two wormholes as they interacted spectacularly. If he turned to dodge the spread of fire, the Awesome would definately be caught by that wave, if not... Maybe the Tholian weapons had a limited range?
Miraculously, only one pulse torpedo actually hit the Awesome, and it passed harmlessly through the aft section before detonating amidships.
The Awesome was torn apart.
In engineering, the core shut down instantly, but failed to eject. Anti-deuterium tanks fell away into space like spinning drops of water from a dog as the aft section of the ship tumbled into the advancing shockwave.
The forward section lost all power in an instant and the bright lights on the bridge went out as all three remaining occupants were hurled against things in the dark. The emergency lights failed to come on, and in the dark, one could almost feel the wave of destruction approaching.
Then there was a massive bang, and the world went away.
______________________________________________________________________
Stargazer:
The Act of God retreated into the wormhole, which then seemed to detonate from within. The blast lit up the sky down on the planet, and sent the Wallace spinning out of control, knocking out some of its systems.
Paradoxically, wrapped up snugly in a Tholian Web, the Stargazer was completely unharmed by the explosion. As the dust and cerenkov radiation faded into the darkness, the Web started to dissipate, freeing the ship.
_______________________________________________________________________
Triangle:
A thousand klicks from the starbase, there was a sudden distortion in space. The stars behind seemed to bend inward as if a giant hand was plucking the dropcloth of space. Then it snapped back, lobbing a wrecked chunk of starship at the starbase.
The object was without power of any kind, and had no markings. The only recognisable feature was the remains of a huge, but darkened and lifeless impulse engine which must have taken up the entire rear of the ship.
Next to the lifeless warp core inside, a lonely palm beacon floated in weightlessness, spinning around gently. Its beam fell alternately across the unconscious faces of Norvek and Jayne.
_______________________________________________________________________
Mirror:
A thousand klicks from the starbase, there was a sudden distortion in space. The stars behind seemed to bend inward as if a giant hand was plucking the dropcloth of space. Then it snapped back, lobbing a wrecked chunk of starship at the starbase.
The object was without power of any kind, and had no markings. The only recognisable feature was the remains of a huge, but darkened and lifeless deflector dish which must have taken up much of the foreward aspect of the ship. The blackened markings above could barely be made out as reading '..S Aweso..'
Amongst the lifeless consoles inside the bridge, a lonely palm beacon grasped in his hand, Morrain fought to hold on to consciousness. He played the beam alternateley across the unconscious faces of Kirk and Lissa, and watched as they stirred back to life.
"wha...uh..." Lissa moaned as she stirred. Her head pounded as she sat up and the rest of her muscles weren't in much better shape..."ahhhh..." She blinked trying to see in the semidarkness...the only light was coming from a figure a short distance away...who...
Morrain.
"Damn it!" she snarled. "Should've *known* you'd come through this... what about the rest of them?"
"Whilst your faith that Cardassians are inherently superior, and should therefore know everything is touching, and often well founded, I do not know. Nor do I much care."
"I didn't *expect* you to give one whit about Jayne, or all those poor people down in the hold. They're only humans after all...but your buddy was down there too or have you forgotten that? I thought Cardies stuck up for their own!"
She looked around but could only see Jeffrey....fighting the aches she went over to him "Jeffrey...?" she called..."are you all right?" (oh God please wake up)
Meanwhile on the Starport:
Alarm bells go off all over Ops. Arlath, barely sparing breath for a few choice Klingon curses [omitted: this is a family show *grin*], ordered intensive scanning of the new arrival, firing questions at the ops crew faster than they had time to comprehend, let alone respond to.
Unsatisfied at the answers he was getting, he went off to investigate personally in a runabout.........
The damaged cruiser 'Redemption' was also close to the wreck's path. Gul Ducos had elected not to dock with the starport until more of his ships systems were back online. Nevertheless, He ordered his ship to move in as best it could, and lay a tractor beam on the debris, if only to stop it colliding with the Starport.
Sensors reported only three lifesigns, two of them Terran, the third mostly Cardassian.
"Are we within transporter range yet?
"Yessir!"
"Then beam that Cardassian lifesign to sickbay.
On board the Awesome, Gul Morrain dissolved into the transporter beam.
Lissa heard the hum from where she was bending over the still-dazed Jeffrey. She looked up..."Damn you *no*..." she lunged towards Morrain intending to grab him... and bounced off the transporter's containment beam. A few seconds earlier and she might have ended up wherever he was going. The fact that the transporter was Cardassian, and that they had retrieved their own meant that, wherever the Awesome now lay, it was not in Terran controlled space.
Elsewhere:
"Hail the Runabout" Ducos ordered.
"Hailing sir."
Arlath manipulated the runabout's sensor array - the debris looked like part of a larger ship which had run into a spot of bother. The comms system chirruped at him, an unwanted destraction for a warrior for whom matters technical had been learned out of necessity not interest.
'Commander Arlath. Identify yourself, please.' he grunted, attempting to persuade the sensors to tell him what species he addressed....
"This is the A.V. Redemption. We have retrieved a Cardassian from the wreck, and taken it under tow. Do you wish to coordinate boarding operations? Our sensors show two Terran life-signs aboard."
In Starport Ops: Gruber was handling the arrival of a very touchy Jem'hadar ship as space seemed to go mad. Naturally the Jem'hadar thought it was some sort of new weapon and by the time he'd convinced them otherwise Arlath had already gone.
He noticed the new arrival - so did the Jem'hadar - and the advancing runabout. He hit the comm button. "Unidentified vessel, this is Alliance Starport 17. Halt your progress and prepare to be boarded." Well, Arlath did look as if he was planning a boarding action of some sort.
There was no response from the wreck, and given its power outages, this might not be unreasonable. However, the Starport's sensors were showing the same readings as Redemption's, two Terrans. The possibility that this was a Maquis ship was not negligible.
On the Awesome's bridge (or what's left of it):
Lissa swore, as she bounced backwards...a containment field?? that was certainly what it had felt like. That plus the fact that only Morrain had been beamed out added up to a solution she didn't like at *all*... one, that it had to have been a Cardie transporter, which made it all the more likely that two, they were not in any space controlled by Terrans...no longer in the world where those other ships had been, one of which was the one McCaffrey and Spaulding had been returned to.
She went back to check on Jeffrey again, who still lay dazed on the deck.
He was waking up, though bruised and dazed, he didn't seem to be otherwise injured.
She then turned to the consoles and tried to see if any of them were working or could be made to work. She had to find out how much of the ship was left. What had happened to Jayne, the other Cardie, and all those people in the hold??
There was no power left in the bridge consoles. But the phasers still had power cells. Just as on the Big 'I', what seemed like years ago, she quickly wired a phaser into the ops panel.
With the barest glow the panel, and the viewscreen came on.
The console showed that only the forward half of the ship remained, and that that was an insurance write-off. She and Kirk were the only living things aboard.
And more importantly where/when were they now? She looked at the console, then up at the viewscreen trying desperately to locate some clue regarding that.
When she looked up at the viewscreen, it was not a pretty sight. In the distance, Starport 17 glowered like an angry stepfather, whilst closer at hand a Fayet-class cruiser had a tractor beam fastened on the Awesome, and a small runabout was closing fast. A second pursuit ship lay off the starport, occasional flashes amongst her darkened areas indicative of repairs ongoing.
Then the power ran out, or something shorted, and both screen and console went dead.
On the runabout:
Muttering under his breath, Arlath steered the runabout in closer, and looked for somewhere to dock, or at least gain access even if in a more destructive way.
Once aboard, he would look around for any survivors with the intention of taking them back to Starbase 17.
Several docking hatches appeared to have survived the general pounding the rest of the ship had taken. He docked easily enough and then picked his way through the wreckage of the ship. It must have been quite impressive when it was still functional, most of the ship was taken up by defensive, offensive and backup systems, with almost nothing in the way of crew quarters.
Beyond a door marked 'bridge' in Terran script, his tricorder read two Terran lifesigns.
Cautiously, Arlath opened the door and went looking for them.
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