[Oira]
The oira is drenched in orange fire light, panels flicker on and off intermittently. crew lay scattered under fallen bulk heads and burning conduit. A lone man remains alive. He sits, stubbornly clinging to his life, at the foot of his command throne.
A shimmer of blue and the cast of orange reflect off his three solid rank pips. he grins as an all too familiar man stands in front of him.
The man frowns, looking around the bridge and says: "I'm gonna miss this ship... she served me well," he looks down at the wounded officer and continues. "I see she and her crew served you equally well. What word Ghire? Do you want to live or should I leave you here?"
Ghire winces, a jagged piece of shrapnel protruding out of his left shoulder. "as I cant reach my disrupter to kill you... Ie why na?" His grin spreads across his blood drenched face.
The man before him exhales in a sigh. "I know what they did to you... and I know you don't want to go back- but I need you again- the people need you. I am going to have you changed back- back to the way you were before," the man is interrupted as a panel explodes in the back of the oira. Seeing no point in continuing the conversation, he taps his com badge and the two are beamed off the derelict ship.
[Elsewhere]
Vaek`riov Tyrone tr`Kirk walked down the corridor of the RES
Ju`lang, a D`Deridex-class Warbird, followed by two senior officers
of the vessel, one being the Enarrain. The last two in the small
group were the two personal escorts following them, which Kirk
always made sure he had near him.
"Ne`Galae`Fvillah, we should then be able to increase speed to
warp 9.68 for 12 hours before having to decelerate back to 9.2"
said the Enarrain.
Kirk smiled his usual, overconfident-like smile, "That's *excellent*,
tr`Dhi, I have *always* been satisfied with your vessel, that is why I
use it as my main shuttle!"
Dhi nodded as they walked, keeping his regular, very Rihannsu-like professionalism. Despite the fact he and Kirk had been on several long journeys together for wherever Kirk needed to go, and Kirk's continually instance that he needed to 'lighten up', training and discipline was much more comfortable.
Despite the fact Dhi wouldn't trust Kirk as far as he could throw him, he was still very loyal to Kirk for the way he spoke of Rihannsu people, and the way he lead several victories during the war with the Confederation. This was true to many people in the Empire, especially the civilian population. Kirk also had many of the junior officers of the Galae looking up to him, while the senior officers of the Galae, such as Riovs (Dhi being an exception), were either untrusting of him or hateful of him altogether. This too was said of the Tal`Shiar as a whole, and other organizations related to the government within the Empire. Reasons for this varied from the way he acted to simply his physical appearance, and the fact he did not have a drop of Rihannsu blood in him.
"And we are glad to have au aboard, Vaek`riov. Having the Ne`Galae`Fvillah on our ship almost every time he needs to somewhere is a great privilege and honor."
Kirk chuckled, enjoying the praise, which he never got tired of. "Enough, I am nothing more than a *simple* soldier, just like the rest of you." He smiled. "*Always* remember that we are *Rihannsu*, and we can do *anything* we want". He said this as he stopped just outside of his quarters, and was addressing those following him.
Dhi allowed himself to smile, "Ie, rekkhai. There is still the problem of the impulse engines before you go to b-"
"Enarrain," Kirk said, interrupting, and placing a hand on Dhi's shoulder. "I am *certain* you will be able to handle the problem. Always remember! There is no problem that cannot be solved by a *disciplined, Rihannsu* mind." With that, Kirk patted Dhi on the shoulder and turned, walking into his quarters, allowing the doors to swoosh shut behind him before turning to the replicator.
"Protocol 3" Kirk said.
Suddenly, the lights in the room began to blink on and off, as a wave of electric-like surges filled the room, passing by Kirk with no damage to him. A short yelp was heard from the next room...Kirk smirked.
Walking into the bedroom area, he found one body on the decking on the other side of the bed. A Rihannsu male, wearing the standard Galae uniform of an Erein. For a moment, Kirk thought he may have killed a loyal follower (a prospect that would not have troubled him in the slightest in any event), as he went over and began inspecting the young Erein.
After doing a thorough check, Kirk found a small transmitter of some sort in between the fingers of the deceased man. He ripped it off the man's skin, and took it over to a computer terminal, where suddenly the terminal blinked on, and Kirk began reading aloud to himself.
"Midmorning, Kirk goes to bridge... orders tea........ midafternoon... human turkey for lunch...." Kirk read further, beginning to frown deeper as he read more. This man was not even a member of the Galae, he was a Tal`Shiar agent. He had recognized the man as one who had been following him for quite some time, but he had thought nothing of it. Merely a fan following a mentor.
Kirk tucked away the transmitter, then quickly performed a few small tasks. Within 10 minutes, he was sleeping soundly in his bed.
****** ****** ****** ******
A light blue transporter beam beamed her into his quarters. Her all black outfit with SF markings identified her as an SSS operative as she crouched down, doing a quick observation of the room.
Lieutenant t`Kleir took out a small device, and began scanning the room. Kirk was in his bedroom, sleeping. Just as she had planned, he usually goes to sleep at this hour. She knew her father better than he thought she did, her mother taught her much about him when he was away in Starfleet of how he use to act, and it was apparent he had turned back to those ways now that he was back in the Empire.
t`Kleir crawled into Kirk's bedroom, and took out a small hypo device, injecting it into Kirk's arm, which would knock him out for a good 8 hours without any chance of waking. She didn't want to take any chances by turning on the lights, her father was always paranoid, maybe he had booby-trapped the light switch, who knew.
t`Kleir then took out a small bag, with several tools in it. She removed one, and applied it to her father's head...her work was about to begin.
No longer was t`Kleir loyal to Kirk, not after she had discovered the truth about her mother's death, and how Kirk had killed her while he was still in Starfleet. She didn't believe his "She wanted me to, she had no life anymore" speech for a second. No, she would never be on the wrong side again. She knew *exactly* where her loyalties lay now.
****** ****** ****** ******
Kirk awoke with a snap. A nightmare. He was beginning to remember what it was, when a com-link opened.
"Vaek`riov, we have arrived at our destination. The assault fleet is awaiting you to come to the bridge," said the familiar voice of Dhi.
Kirk blinked, seeming confused for several moments before replying, his familiar smile returning, although it not as wide as it had been in the recent past. "Yes, of course. On my way."
Walking onto the bridge 15 minutes later, Kirk smiled to the crew, walking over to the front of the bridge, looking at the small planet of Yure on the viewer. A planet with dilithium deep in it's core, but a primitive race not wishing to concede their planet to the Rihannsu Empire. Kirk was under orders to see that the planet become Rihannsu property. Since it was on the direct opposite of where their border lay with the Federation and KDF, nobody would ever need to know to make a protest.
"Orbital bombardment reports ready, Ne`Galae`Fvillah, we should be able to eliminate the population within 14 minutes, and not do any damage to the dilithium underground," reported Dhi.
Kirk smiled, and wondered briefly why it felt forced. "Very well. How much of the population are we destroying?"
"All of it, rekkhai. All 6 million Yureans."
Kirk smiled, "Excellent! *But*, I believe it will have to be delayed."
Dhi blinked, a blank expression on his face, "W-Why rekkhai?"
Kirk kept his regular, cool expression, "I want it done in no more than 5 minutes, we need more ships. If we are here for more than 5 minutes, we may be detected. For all we know, they have a communications grid that could send a message to unsuspecting Klingon allies wh-"
"*Rekkhai*," Dhi interrupted, "The nearest Klingon vessel is 3 weeks away, this culture is 500 years *behind* us. They haven't even discovered the s-"
"Enough!" Kirk yelled, his voice very firm, "Cloak the fleet, send a message for as many ships as we need to destroy the population in 5 minutes. I will be in my quarters."
Dhi stared at him for a few moments, and it was not until one final deadly glance from Kirk that he bowed his head. "Ie, rekkhai. As you command."
Kirk stormed off the bridge, and was soon in his quarters. Almost instantly he calmed down, and began berating himself. "What am I doing? I've destroyed entire *planets* before, with *20* times the population as that primitive culture...why am I stalling? No race with ships are within 3 days from here besides my own people. Romulan. Rihannsu. Humans call us Romulans, it is an insult! And what of my dream? Why didn't I kill those people? And in reality, just now, why didn't I want to destroy that planet?"
All Kirk knew was that he didn't want to kill that population, but he couldn't *begin* to understand why.
Perhaps things would become more clear to him after he had a good sleep tonight and woke up in the morning...
It had been 3 days since tr`Kirk ordered the annihilation of the population of the planet Yure, and each morning when Kirk awoke, he felt worse and worse about it. He couldn't get it out of his head. 6 million people were dead, because of him. And why?
The *Empire* needed some dilithium to support more ships. The Galae was already big enough, why did 6 million people have to die for such a flimsy reason?
He had opened his mouth to protest when tr`Dhi ordered that all ships attack, but instead hadn't said anything. Looking back on it, after having returned to ch`Rihan, he spent many hours wishing he had.
Kirk drank another glass of Ale. He hadn't drank this much since his days as a young Lieutenant in Starfleet, where he was in nightly drunken brawls in Ten-Forward. He smiled, remembering, when the comm suddenly became active.
"Ne`Galae`Fvillah, the Empress is here to see you." said the voice.
Kirk looked up, surprised. He hadn't been expecting t`Kazan. He tried not to slur his voice, but it came out as such anyway. "L-let her inn.."
The doors to his room swooshed open, and the Empress walked through, looking intimidating as usual in her black anodized uniform with the purple metallic trim. Her two aides stayed outside at her gesture. She looked Kirk up and down, taking in the ragged, civilian clothing, and noting he had shaven, or perhaps even bathed, in days.
"Kirk...?" t`Kazan said, somewhat surprised at the state of the man in front of her.
Kirk looked up, and smiled, regaining himself as he shakily stood up, "Yes, it's me. I carried out your orders, as you said I should."
t`Kazan nodded firmly, returning to her usual posture and tone, all traces of surprise gone. "Menkha. The whole population has been eradicated?"
Kirk nodded, twirling a glass in his hand. "...The whollle population."
"Excellent"
With that, Kirk slowly looked up at her. There was a dead silence before Kirk finally spoke, asking her a question he had wanted to ask ever since he gave the order to kill the population. "Why...why did you order me to destroy the population for simply a little bit of Dilithium?"
t`Kazan frowned, more than her usual expression, "It was beneficial to the Empire." She took a few paces to the left and considered him again. "You have asked some odd questions in the past, Kirk, but none of them have been about *concern* for lives other than your own."
Kirk replied, bitterly, his former over-confident attitude and up-beat manner of speaking now gone. "We must stop the killing of innocent civilians."
t`Kazan's eyes grew with rage, "You are drunk, Kirk, otherwise I would kill you for telling me how to run *my* Empire." She stepped up to him. "Especially when the accursed Starfleet continues to smile at me and deny that their ships are attacking our colonies." Her eyes grew unfocused for a moment as she recalled the latest reports. "But they will pay... oh yes, they will pay." She regained her composure and glared at the man who stood, swaying drunkenly, in front of her. "Remember, Kirk, I can have you killed as easily as I can anybody else." With that, she turned and left.
Kirk watched her leave, then shuffled over to a computer terminal. After tapping several things into it, the computer spoke. "Please state destination for communication"
"Cardassia, and then, Oria"
Minutes later, a split screen came on, with one side being the face of a Cardassian who Kirk recognized as Boheeka, leader of the Cardassians. On the other side, was a man with a green face, an Orion, who Kirk recognized as Jum`mal, his Deputy in running the Orions. Both Cardassia and Oria were unofficially Romulan colonies, but only a few people in the entire galaxy knew such a thing.
"Gentlemen," Kirk said, bringing a smile to his face, it being very forced. "I believe we have a common enemy. The Romulans."
Despite Boheeka and Jum`mal both showing dumbfounded looks, Kirk continued. "t`Kazan has gone too far. She controls too much. When the Cardassians have established a large military, and the Orions produce the new fleets of Warbirds, she will have more power than anyone in the galaxy, and she will not be able to be stopped. Now is the time to stop her. I know I want the Orions to be free, I can assume you wish to run your own government, Mr. Boheeka?"
Boheeka was silent for several moments, before he finally nodded. "Yes, I do"
Kirk smiled, "Good. Now, I know of 153 Warbirds who are unsatisfied with t`Kazan. I will enlist their help. Here is how we are going to do this..."
****** ****** ****** ******
Later that evening, as Kirk slept, t`Kleir came to him again, as she had been doing each night for the past week. Once again, she began to reverse the effects of the brain damage he suffered long ago at the hands of the Dominion, where his conscience was all but eliminated. That had when he began to turn from a loyal Starfleet officer to the man he was now...or used to be a week ago. She had reversed some of the damage. Rather than the 'evil to good' ratio being 100 to 0, she would estimate he was now about 60 to 40.
She had also been watching him. Despite showing signs of chivalry,
Kirk still had a lot of his self from a week ago inside him. The thing that was probably pushing him to begin a civil war was his hate of t`Kazan, and his ambition for power. She did not believe for a second he was returning to his former self from years ago, not until he was fully recovered from the brain damage.
SSS doctors she consulted before leaving had informed her to reverse the damage, and then they would take care of everything. Whether they planned to capture him and put him in jail, or put him in command of a Starfleet vessel, she was uncertain. Knowing how things were going in Starfleet right now, they could use all the loyal Captain's they could get.
Hours later, she was finished. She still needed lots of time to totally reverse the effects. She could only hope her father didn't start anything until then as she beamed out...
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