The Journeys of the USS Thunderchild (Episode One: Loose Strings)

PROLOGUE​

"Acting Captain's Log, Stardate 53829.04"


"Where to begin." Sighs for a moment


"We are one day out of Utopia Planitia Fleet Yards enroute for Deep Space Nine. The USS Thunderchild NCC-63549, has once more risen from the ashes of its near destruction. This time our near destruction was at the hands of the Dominion and their ruthless Jem'Hadar fighters. During the final hours of the Dominion War, we were conducting rapid raids behind enemy lines. During one of our raids when we were jumped out by a handful of Jem'Hadar attack ships. At first the attack seemed random, but as the battle continued it was clear that somehow the enemy knew where we were and how to hit us hard. The attack came swiftly and without warning as they pounced on us from a nearby asteroid field. During the hight of the battle, both Captain Evelyn Hoffman and Executive Officer, Commander Zdenko were killed."


Another shorter sigh


"Prior to the battle, my role aboard the ship was as a pilot assigned to the tactical fighter wing. However due to injuries from a prior battle, I found my post on the Bridge coordinating the fighters with the ship's actions. I wish I was anywhere else but on the bridge during that battle. If I was just in my fighter with my brothers and sisters, I wouldn't be here today to leave this log. But fate had another role for me and now I must fulfill that role, rather I like it or not."


"With our core leadership dead or not on the bridge I was forced to assumed command of the ship. The battle was brutal and the Jem'Hadar once more proved how they can be a very aggressive enemy. With the bridge smashed I was forced to act as both Commander of the ship, Tactical Officer and Helm Officer all at the same time. As the battle raged, there were times that I was the only active officer on the Bridge. We took a heavily pounding during the battle and at one point we lost main power. I remember back during the Academy how it was said that within any military unit is a group of people on the verge of chaos and panic. This may be true, but not for this crew! They ARE the exception to that rule. Despite loosing nearly all of the senior staff, the junior officers held their departments together. I don't think any commander could ever be more proud of any crew during such a situation as I am after the fact. This ship survived that battle because of its junior officers and the crewmen that supported them."


"As the battle continued, engineering was able to restore main power and had beaten the Jem'Hadar fighters back. However this short breathing room came at a heavy price. So many of the ship's crew and our fighter pilots had paid a high price. Still despite our best efforts, time and the battle were shifting against us. Sensors detected a pair of Breen warships closing on our position. We only had minutes till the Breen were to arrive and the Jem'Hadar ships were regrouping to renew their attack on us. I was left with the painful decision. Do I order our retreat or stay and fight. In retreat I save the ship and whats left of the crew. And at the same time I would be abandoning our fighters at the edges of the battle. Staying and fighting didn't ensure that we could save those brave pilots or meant I could retreat later. My God, what a painful choice."


"With our warp engine back on line, I gave the order to withdraw from the area. I remember the moment those words slipped my lips. Those who agreed with my order followed them without question. Those who didn't turned and gazed at me. I felt their pain and knew what was in their minds. I was breaking one of the most important unwritten rules in Starfleet. Never leave your shipmates behind. How could I forgive myself for what I was about to do. I was leaving my own brothers and sisters behind. I could hear their voices as they were locked in a life and death struggle. I didn't have time to think, the window was closing on our escape. I demanded the order be followed and what was left of the bridge crew obeyed it. I never gave that order a second thought at the time. But it is all I can think about now."


"I can still hear the communication channels echoing in my memory when I close my eyes. The voices of my brothers and sisters calling out to me. They begged for us not to abandon them. Pleaded for us to come back and get them. But we didn't have a choice. I didn't have a choice. It was either leave or the whole ship would be lost. I won't lie, I do wonder sometimes if we could have pushed forward and broke the Jem'Hadar lines. And in doing so, allowed our cut off fighters to come aboard. Would we have been caught by the Breen during that attempt. I have replayed the battle over and over again in my mind. Each time, trying to figure out what I could have done to save them. To do something better than what I feel like I had to do."


"I guess the worse is not really knowing if I made the right call or not. I know for a fact that this will become an order that will haunt me for years to come. I can see this in the eyes of those crew members that remained aboard during and after the refit. So many of them look at me with honor and respect, but there are just as many that look at me with hatred and disgust. So many had been lost during that battle. So many friends and shipmates who had perished, could I have saved my fellow pilots? The unanswered question that will also haunt be, this much I am sure of."


"I know that Lieutenant Jenifer Luther, one of our engineers, thought my actions were cowardly. She has made her opinion of my actions and of me personally clear on a number of times during our repairs. I do feel for her loss. Her husband, Lieutenant Markus Luther, was a member of my fighter group who was still fighting when we were forced to withdraw. Both of them had been a pair of my best friends and now he is gone. Jenifer wont speak with me unless it is about the repairs or in regards to official business. I have tried to express my sorrow for her lost but she shut me out. Maybe it is something I deserve. After all, I alone stand by my actions and because of them, he is gone. Markus had been listed as missing in action but after the war his remains were discovered. Now his official status is listed as killed in action. My best friend is dead, and my order is to blame. I am to blame for his death. How could I ever expect her to forgive me when I can't forgive myself."


"If you ask Star Fleet, they think I made the right choice. I have a shiny new medal to prove their thoughts of my actions. 'Showing Courage and Leadership in the true spirit of Star Fleet' is what the plaque reads. Vice Admiral Ross patted me on the back telling me I did a fine job in saving my fellow shipmates and the ship. Some even suggest that I was a hero in my actions. I don't feel like much of a hero. Jenifer requested a transfer off of the ship two months ago. I don't blame her. I know that look in her eyes when she looks at me. I couldn't even bring myself to look her in the eyes anymore. She left the ship with hardly any fanfare. I guess her days of exploring the galaxy are over. She has returned home and started to rebuild her life. I too feel the call of the stars fading in my ears as well. Its time for me to find a new life beyond Starfleet as well. I don't think I have many more battles left in me."


"After the battle, the ship was in shambles and main power failed not an hour after we made our escape. For nearly three hours we were dead in space and the crews' nerves were on edge till a pair of Romulan Warbirds showed up. It was lucky for us that they did, they were able to tug us back to Deep Space Nine. To think, that I would have been so grateful to see Warbirds. It was under the orders of Vice Admiral Ross, that I would remain in command of the Thunderchild as we limp our way back to the Fleet Yards for repairs. He tasked me with an amazing mission. To command the complete refit of the ship. The vision of Admiral Ross and Admiral Tate was remarkable. An honor that I don't think I deserve. The repair crews couldn't believe that the ship had survived. By this time, we realized how badly our ship was damaged. But the Thunderchild was a proud and strong ship. She had survived the Battle of Sector 001 and she would also survive this. During the nearly year long repairs, I was promoted to Commander as I continued to over see the repairs and refit of the ship."


"During our repairs, I had to replace Lieutenant Luther as she departed the first chance she got. I was lucky to stumble across a upstart fresh Lieutenant Kiera Medart. Smart kid but she has no real idea what is beyond the Sol System. I caught wind that she was looking to leave the shipyards and we needed to new Chief Engineer. Who knew that my pretty shiny new medal won me some favor with Star Fleet Command. I went to Admiral Ross and spoke with him about her request to joining our crew. I mentioned how she was leading much of the repairs and the installation of the new engines. I pointed out that no one knew this ship better than Lieutenant Medart. Next thing I knew, she was promoted to full Lieutenant and her transfer was approved."


"For all of her smarts though, she has failed to be able to locate the problem with our warp engines. It would appear that we are bleeding off energy via our warp field. She has sworn up and down that her engines are operating at peek efficiency, however the loss of energy is still there. The problem started to show its self right after we left the Fleet Yards. During the last few hours, I have made a point to dog her about her new engines and the loss of power. I know it is getting under her skin but I need to see where her breaking point is. I plan to push her even harder tomorrow if she can't correct the problem by then. Hell we only been out of the yards for just over a day. There is no reason why the engines should be bleeding power like this."


"The energy bleed off is enough of a problem but there is also the annoying problems with our computer have been plaguing us since we left the ship yards. The good news is that the random false alarms are giving the security teams a run for them money. It is good training if you ask me. Still, I would like to deliver the Thunderchild to her new Captain in prefect working order. If only Lieutenant Medart can fix her engines or she better have a good reason as to why we are bleeding energy. That or I all give her some close personal combat training with our resident Klingon exchange officer."


Laughs a bit, "Lieutenant Kinchlirah seems like a fine officer. Her combat record is rather impressive. She brings to the ship a whole new point defense system that is singly designed to protect the ship against small ships like Jem'Hadar fighters. A massive power drain on the ship, but creates a interlocking network of micro phasers that can track and engage these fast moving targets at close ranges. The system is remarkable if it will function as Lieutenant Kinchlirah claims. On a personal note, when the rumors came down that I might be assigned as Executive Officer Lieutenant Kinchlirah and I had to end our personal relationship. We have assured ourselves that this is only temporary. Once I deliver the ship to Deep Space Nine and her new commander, I have my own plans."


"Ensign Arendse made a bothersome comment to me yesterday. He said that he was inspired to serve under a hero like me. I will give the young ensign credit. One day he will make a fine Tactical Officer, but his current judge of character is off. I am no hero. A hero would have been able to save those pilots before we withdrew from the battle. No, I am just that guy that made that call. For right or wrong, I must accept what I ordered. And because of that order, my best friend is dead. My fellow pilots are dead. Would Captain Hoffman or Commander Adolfs had made the same call? No, I do not see myself as a hero. I don't think I ever will."


"Currently we are enroute to Starbase 74. Limping along due to computer and warp field problems. The Thunderchild is operating on a skeleton crew and will be picking up the rest of her crew once we arrive. At that time we will also be picking up our new fighter wing along with their fighters. I had had the flight crews stationed at Starbase 74 to continue with their training. I managed to hand pick most of the pilots that would make up this ships new wings. Some of them are combat vets, while others are fresh from the Academy. Together they make a strong mix of skills, experience and fresh ideas. I am sure that our new captain will be impressed with these men and women."


"Speaking of, tomorrow morning we will be rendezvousing with the USS Intrepid to pick up our new Captain and Executive Officer. I personally know Captain Campbell. He served aboard as a Operations Officer during the war, before joining Admiral Tate's staff. He is a good officer and a friend. I can't think of a better officer to lead this fine ship and her crew. As for the new XO, there are only rumors about who that might be. My own guess is that Captain Campbell already has one in mind. As for my role, I have fulfilled my duty. I have seen the ship from space wreck to rebirth. Today, the USS Thunderchild has become the first official carrier in Starfleet. This along with my own long term plans, I have to say my career couldn't end on a better note. That considering how I reached this point in the first place. This is much more than what I dare ask for."


"After our short stay at Starbase 74, we will be departing for Deep Space Nine where our ship will take part in the promotion ceremony of Admiral Ross. I have it on good authority, that the Admiral has personally requested our ship along with a few others to be part of his ceremony. The Thunderchild was his Flagship during the invasion of the Velos system. While that invasion failed, the aftermath of that operation put this ship on the path that turned it in to what the Thunderchild is today."


"Commander Addison Bonham, acting Commanding Officer, USS Thunderchild, End Log."

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Personal Thoughts and Opening Scenes

Contributor: Kiera (Former Player)


“Chief Engineer's Log, Stardate 53829.04 ”

“Wow, still not used to saying that.” Giggles a bit

“I can't believe my luck. First it was good, and then the engine I helped put in this ship is giving me loads of trouble. It's like... like the way I was in my teens. I rebelled against my parents a lot then. My engine... Another thing I need to get used to saying... My engine is just like a teenager. It doesn't want to do as I tell it to, no matter how much screaming at it I've done in the Jeffries tubes when no one else was around.”

“Today has so far proved eventful, to say the least. Not two days into our leaving Utopia Planitia and already I'm getting pressed harder and harder by Commander Bonham, our acting Captain. I've never had to work under this kind of pressure, not even at the Academy. I have a feeling he's testing me, but I can't be sure if he's just naturally impatient and hot-headed.”

“I still have no clue how our power is getting drained. I feel like a surgeon who can't find the correct artery that's causing internal bleeding...” Pause “...Unless the patient is being stabbed in different spots, just out of sight of the surgeon. But who would do that so far inside Federation space? If this were a different era, like that of Captain Kirk's time, I'd suspect our Klingon exchange officer, Lieutenant Kinchlirah. But with all the help we've done for the Klingons, and vice versa during the Dominion War, I can't point the finger at her. Besides, she hasn't given me cause for suspicion. Except for a few outbursts and rumors, she hasn't shown any kind of malicious intent to harm the ship.”

“No, I have to rule out the possibility of sabotage. This is a problem that the work crews at Utopia Planitia have made, so I have to clean up our-I mean their mess. Nothing puts engineering work through it's paces like actual usage. Simulations can only do so much. If I can't fix this problem it will put a black mark on the reputation of the shipyards. The shipyards my parents are assigned to.”

“My mother and father couldn't have been more proud of me when I told them of my promotion to Lieutenant and posting as a chief engineer. To be honest I think my mom was rather jealous of me, seeing as it took her twice as long to reach Lieutenant, Junior Grade, when I made it to full Lieutenant in half the time. But that didn't stop her from hugging and kissing me over and over. To be honest it got kind of embarrassing, especially when her superior officer walked in on her giving me an especially big smooch on the cheek...”

“My dad wasn't as emotional as my mom, but he still hugged me in one of his trademark bear hugs. Unfortunately during my 2 years at the shipyards, I wasn't able to work with either of my parents directly. My dad was on another work detail the entire time I was there. He was working on one of the new Prometheus-class ships, so a lot of his work was classified. To be honest I was rather jealous of his assignment. I would have loved to have helped laid the foundations for such a magnificent ship. But I was able to help repair and refit the Thunderchild, a ship I'm quickly growing attached to.”

Sighs

“Unfortunately not so much of either had happened, to be honest. With all these malfunctions and the warp energy bleeding through the warp field. You know, its almost like we are dragging a weight behind us. But still, I am pleased with these new warp engines. Trouble and all. I was leading one of the best teams at Utopia Planitia by the time I transferred to the Thunderchild. All of my team's work was higher than Starfleet spec. But the other crews seemed to not put their all into the ship's systems. Once I became chief engineer I made sure to check on the team leaders, making sure that their teams completed the work well. Too many times I had to get on someone's ass for not fixing something the correct way. It seems like I had too many slip by me.”

“I haven't had a lot of sleep since we left the shipyards. And my engineering crew, what there is of it, are all pulling double shifts to try and fix the problems that slipped past my oversight. I just wish that we could have gotten the rest of my crew before leaving, instead of having to fly out to Starbase 74 to pick them up. With just a skeleton crew it's almost impossible to find and fix all the bugs in the systems.”

Sighs loudly

“I have to tell the Commander that I cannot fix the power drain issue. Not with a skeleton crew, at least. My parents always told me that if there was a problem I couldn't solve, I was to 'google it.' That's an old Earth term that meant researching what could be the answer. I'm kind of a history nerd... Well, I've searched through the Starfleet database, and couldn't find an answer that was plausible to our situation. I just have to keep searching through the bowels of the ship to find the problem. More sleepless nights. Maybe I can raid sickbay for some stimulants stronger than coffee.” Yawns “The doc and their medical team isn't supposed to board until Starbase 74.”

“I hope I'm not transferred off the ship when we get there. I don't think I can solve the power loss before then. But I have taken care of most of the small bugs when they pop up. Like the problem with the Ops station on the bridge not displaying the correct sensors. That was a pretty bad issue. Luckily I caught it right after we departed. To think that we were getting the wrong sensor readings for almost six hours. Lucky we didn't fly in to another ship or something. Another issue was with a short in the Captain's Ready Room. Commander Bonham was complaining about a light that kept burning out. That was actually one of my easiest fixes. It was just a problem with an EPS conduit housing being damaged. Everything else has been just one headache after another. This ship has more gremlins than I ever imaged it could.”

Another sigh

“I could really use some rest. Maybe a good night's sleep will help me with my problem tomorrow.”

“Lieutenant Kiera Medart, Chief Engineer, U.S.S. Thunderchild.”


--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Contributor: Kinchlirah (Former NPC)


Welcome Aboard Lieutenant Kinchlirah, again


Standing on the pad of just prior to transport, Lieutenant Kinchlirah looked around the ship that carried her back in to Federation space. She was returning to her first official posting aboard a Federation ship. Sure serving along side them in battle was one thing but this adventure had opened up a completely new experience for her. One that brought something in to her life she never dreamed from a human. It was General....er Chancellor Martok's idea that more warriors of the Empire serve along side our Federation allies. It is a trail program that had some success in the past. But for her, it meant so much more than just that. She was hoping beyond hope that this would open up doors for her that would other wise not be offered to her in the Empire. Already, she found something she never dared possible. All that was left was to continue down this path. She gave a nod to the transporter operator and soon she was beamed off the ship.


She stared through the transporter shimmer at the sight of the USS Thunderchild. There is a Petty Officer, Vulcan female, at the transporter controls and a young human man stands in front of the control platform just between the transporter pads and the Petty Officer. He wore the rank as Ensign as he smiled at me and said, "Welcome Aboard Lieutenant." She heard his Klingon and found it horrible and could only think, 'my reception committee.

The Klingon warrior is an impressive sight to most "starfleets". Nearly two meters tall in her military boots, she is clad in the traditional uniform of the Empire. There is a bright medal on her chest. Her hair is a cloud of red and it is displayed in full traditional style as so to show off her thick forehead. Her eyes are large, penetrating, and brown. The center of her chest was exposed in traditional style. Lieutenant Kinchlirah was well endowed just like most Klingon women. Hanging from her left hip was a Klingon Disrupter and on her right a traditional Klingon Blade. Lieutenant Kinchlirah smiles at the two crew members and it is a predatory display. She could see how the Ensign was uneasy at the sight. Her over-all impression is disconcerting, to say the least.

The Ensign introduces himself, but she stopped him with a hand, "Your Klingon is insulting. I can speak English just fine" Lieutenant Kinchlirah said coldly. Shifting uneasily, he reached for the large bag beside her - her personal effects. She also reach for it and they took hold of the handle. The pair stop and stared into each others eyes for a long second. He lifted the bag and so did she. Again they pause and stare.

He said, "I can carry this Lieutenant." He seemed determined to do so.

She was not some weakened beast and was determined to carry her own belongings. The bag was now suspended between them as she assure him, "I am quite capable." The Ensign gave another tug and she immediately counter by giving her handle a yank.

For the moment, they both had forgotten about the transporter technician. No one knows that that Petty Officer thought of the scene which was playing out before her. It must seem like a comedy routine just for her benefit as the two of them were struggling for possession of the bag.

Knowing his place, he bowed as he let go of the bag, "Yes Lieutenant, I am sorry." He took a step back and motioned for the door. "This way please."

He had surrendered the bag far to easily which disappointed Lieutenant Kinchlirah. She took the bag with such force that it whipped about. The battle over the bag ended before it could begin. She turned and headed for the door with the Ensign following closely.

The Thunderchild was in impressive ship. She was to be the first of her kind in the Starfleet. Lieutenant Kinchlirah had done her homework on the ship. After the Dominion War, the Federation had learned a valuable lesson regarding small ship tactics. The Thunderchild was to be a test bed of new technology, which was why she was here in the first place. This mighty ship had undergone nearly a year long refit to act as a carrier. The joint project involved some of the best minds that both the Klingons and Federation had to offer. Lieutenant Kinchlirah had been helping in developing a different kind of defense grid for the Thunderchild. The ship still carried its main weapons systems, however thanks to the Empire the Thunderchild carried a grid of weapons specially designed to target and engage smaller ships at closer range.

After the over all tour, Lieutenant Kinchlirah was pleased to finally see her weapon grid installed. She had been here before but had to leave a couple of months ago. The weapon grid had not been fully installed prior to her departure. She had been edger to see what was done since her departure. Her specifications were what she had planned them to be. She had left very clear instructions and she was pleased to see that they were followed.


She noticed that some of the new crew had come aboard since her departure. It was clear that some of these new recruits haven't seen a Klingon before. Their looks made her feel uneasy but she shook it off quickly. She knew the score aboard this ship. Being a Klingon aboard a Federation ship was one thing. However for Lieutenant Kinchlirah, being a scientist and a Klingon offered its own issues. She was brought to her cabin that she used to occupy a few months ago.


The Ensign attempted to explain the luxuries of the ship only to be stopped by Lieutenant Kinchlirah once more. "Ensign, I understand you are new. However I have been here before. I was part of the first phase of this ship's refit. So I know my way around" she said while turning around. She dropped her bag on the table as smiled, "Even your Brig is like Risa."

The Ensign nodded as he retreated, "The Duty Rooster has been posted Lieutenant. You are expected on the bridge within the hour. Also, Commander Bonham sends his regards." He said as she looked around the room.


She smile top herself at the name, but made to outward expression. With a nod she said, "Excellent, Ensign. Inform the Commander that I shall be there as soon as I get my things put back away."


He nodded as he continued to back out of the room and left without another statement.


Lieutenant Kinchlirah walked slowly over to the bed. It was not a Klingon bed, but over the past few months she had come to welcome it. Her untimely departure from the Thunderchild was of a personal nature and Commander Bonham didn't like not knowing, but accepted her request to keep it private. As she had promised, she had returned.


For the past few months, it was her work that had been the center focus of the Thunderchild's defensive systems. Thirty separate phaser arrays lined the ship on both top and bottom. Each array were independent of each other with their own back up power supply and targeting systems. The idea was that once the ship was placed on Red Alert the system would switch to automatic fire mode. It would be able to track and target fast moving ships at very close ranges. And engage those targets once the Tactical Officer removed the safety. The system was interlocked with advanced IFF systems to keep friendly fighters from becoming targets. If the test system worked, than she would be honored throughout the Empire for its development.

She walked along her quarters and came to a stop at her dresser. Her belongings were just as they had been the day she left two months ago. She ran her hand over the Bat'leth hanging over her dresser. She remembered the day that she was welcomed in to the Order of the Bat'leth. When she was young, no one thought she would make it this far. After all her love for science had easily over shadowed her love for battle. But she had found in battle, the science of war. She smiled as she reflected on her life and the rewards that came with her hard work.

She turned and walked for the bathroom and the shower beyond. It was time once more to prove why General....Chancellor Martok choose her for this critical mission. The way he put it, one would think that the fate of the Empire rested solely on her and her project. Her success and that of the Thunderchild would open up a new future for the Empire and change the balance of power once more.

 

Re: The Journeys of the USS Thunderchild

The Attack
Just Twenty Four Hours out of Sol System
USS Thunderchild, NCC-63549
Stardate: 53829.04
Commander Bonham, Acting Captain



Commander Bonham stepped on to the bridge with a look of concern on his rugged face. He had been summoned to the bridge by the Operations Officer regarding yet again another issue with computer control. "We can make it better Fleet Yards said. Seems to me that we have had more problems with our systems than ever before." He grumbled as he stormed passed Lieutenant Kinchlirah and the tactical station. It had been a very eventful day with false alarms and sensor blackouts across the ship. What made him the most mad over the situation was that no one, NO ONE on the ship could explain the rash of system failures.


Commander Bonham stood just over two meters tall and was a well built attractive human. Normally, a nasty burn that covered the left side of his face and went below his uniform often disguised his smile and the soul of a man that had great care for his shipmates. While he could easily have the scar removed, Commander Bonham has chosen to keep it as a reminder of that day he abandoned his best friend. Unlike so many officers from the Dominion War, he bore his scares for all to see. The years on this ship has taught him both courage and humility in the face of death. If it was not for his latest rounds with Starfleet Medical and their councilors, he would have been cleared for a position of Executive Officer. To him, it was those very scares that held him back from command. However to Starfleet Medicial, it was his inability to forgive himself that was holding him back.


Starfleet Medical was the last thing on his mind right now. He had much larger issues if he was to deliver this ship to its new commander safely. Their problme now was once one system went in to failure, it would cascade across other nearby systems. Teams would be dispatched to repair the faulty system only to find that the system was operating normally. "Tell me Lieutenant" he said speaking to Kinchlirah, "What do the Klingons call gremlins." There was a hint of humor in his voice but it was clearly a front as anger boiled just below the surface. He stormed passed Tactical on his way across the bridge.


The tall Klingon watched the ship's commander cross the bridge as she answer, "Gremlins? Yes, I know what you mean. We have many names for them. Pakleds. Ferengi. Tribbles. Sometimes we call them 'starfleets'."


As he walked across the bridge of the Thunderchild towards the Operations Station there was purpose with each step. He was in foul mood and dared anyone to cross him this morning. He knew that they were doing their best under the conditions. But being out of control like this was testing him. Still despite his anger, the crew had become his family. During the ship's repairs, he has come to know each member of this crew like they were his personal family. Even the twenty two cadets they took on two weeks ago. Commander Bonham took the time to get to know each of them on a personally level.


The situation on the Bridge of the Thunderchild seemed to be in a hyper sense of tension. "Talk to me Ops" he said in a deeply calm yet demanding voice.


Lieutenant T'Lora hands drifted over the controls of her station, "Sir, I have detected some more strange operations from the central computer. However I am finding it harder this time to locate which systems are being effected......Puzzling" Her Vulcan face shifted as the information revealed a new problem. Her hands moved over the console, then without looking up from her station, "I am detecting an unauthorized transporter operation."


Commander Bonham rushed over to the Ops Station, "What do you mean? Which transporter?"


Her hands glided over her controls as she discovered more information regarding the situation. Her station lit up as the situation evolved, "Sir......." she said as she looked up, "All of them." She paused for a moment, "I am confirming twelve separate site to site transporter beams across the ship. All beams have originated from within the ship and terminated within the ship."

"Damn those upgrades" Commander Bonham said with a cruise. "Some one locate our Chief Engineer and inform her that the transporters are acting up now."


Lieutenant T'Lora looked up from her station, "Lieutenant Medart and her entire engineering shift are currently located on deck fourteen, Holodeck two."


Commander Bonham looked at the young Vulcan with shock, "What are they doing there?" His frustration was no longer.


Lieutenant T'Lora returned her attention back to her station, "It would appear that they were just transported from Engineering to the deck fourteen." Commander Bonham was about to cut in to say something when the Vulcan cut him off with urgency, "Sir, I am detecting another unauthorized transporter operation cycling up."


Commander Bonham looked over the controls, "Shut it down!"


In that moment a buzzing sound filled the bridge as the five personal of the morning bridge shift started to glow in a soft blue light. Even as the transport was taking place, Lieutenant T'Lora fought in vain to halt the transport. However it was too late. Within seconds, the entire bridge crew were gone and five other crew members stood scattered across the bridge. The look on their faces showed their confusion. Each of the new inhabitants of the bridge carried some kind of tool. Finally an Andorian stepped forward and activated his com-badge, "Crewman Thelev ch'Irroh to Flight Operations, my deck crew and I were just transported from our stations on the flight deck to the bridge. The Bridge crew is not at their stations on the bridge. Please advice."




Deck 16, Section 8:


Commander Bonham and his bridge crew rematerialized in the ship's Gymnasium. There was clear anger over his face as he looked around. He tapped his com-badge, "Lieutenant Medart these computer issues have gone far from annoying to, FIX MY SHIP!" The anger dripped from every word as he looked around calculating how long it will take to get back to the bridge. However over the com-channel, a strange garbled noise was heard. Bonham turned in anger back to his staff.





Deck 8, Section 15:


The sounds of transporters down the corridor could easily be heard as the supposed transporter malfunction continued send members of the crew across the ship. At this point, each transporter was acting independent of the others picking up members of the crew and transporting them to another position within the ship. TurboLifts are all nonfunctional as well as voice interface with the computer. With engineering and the bridge not manned by their crews, it has become hard to bring the situation under control. Sounds of urgent calls down the hall indicated the chaos and confusion that has been caused by the 'malfunction'.


The corridor lit up with the soft blue glow of a transporter. Normally this would trigger a number of alarms on the tactical officers sensors on the bridge and within Central Security Station three decks above. However those stations were not currently manned by their crews. Also due to the 'malfunction' it was suspected that it would be nearly impossible for the computer to identify this one signal as that of an intruder. However with the latest upgrade that the Thunderchild had, the computer did detect the signal and identify that the origin of the beam was not from the ship. This caused an alert to be sent from the internal security sensors to both the bridge and Central Security. At two separate stations within the ship an intruder alert signal was activated. However neither stations were manned so there was no one to react to it.


As the transport completed, the woman dressed in a Starfleet uniform stood in the middle of the corridor. Her uniform indicated that she was a member of an engineering section. This would allow her to move about without drawing much attention to herself. Her long fiery red hair stood out as did the fire in her eyes. This fire from her eyes, reflected a deep routed mission that was driving her. Once the transport was completed she reached with her right hand up to a small device on her left shoulder and activated it with a few taps. Once the device was activated she cupped the right side of her face with her right hand and tapped a device in her ear with a finger, "Susquehanna, transport complete. Sensor dampening field has been activated."


The device on her shoulder was clearly homemade and ensure that the internal sensors of the ship could no longer detect her. Despite the upgraded sensors on the ship they would only be able to detect a shadowy ghost of her body. The device was playing havoc on the internal sensors of the ship making identifying the intruder all but impossible for the ship's stricken computer. All it could tell was that the intruder was a female and possible human. Beyond that, the ship could not gather any further information about her. It was the same device that allowed her to breach another Starfleet facility a weeks ago. However unlike today, she had been able to slip in and leave completely undetected. Today however, she wanted to be detected. Today, her mission called for her actions to be witnessed but her identity to still remain a mystery. 'All in good time' she thought as she gave a nod to herself.


Despite her goals today, she still had to move with caution. After all, the goal didn't call for getting caught. The Thunderchild proved to be more problematic getting on board undetected. Three times she had attempted to get on board only to trip the upgraded internal security systems. A number of fail safes had prevented her from taking the security systems completely off line. Truth be told, she was getting frustrated with the whole issue. Scrambling the entire Computer was starting to look like an inviting idea. However that would send the Thunderchild back to the shipyards for months of computer repairs. And worse yet, possible injuries. That was something she was unwilling to accept at this stage. She came up with this plan just before the Thunderchild left the shipyards yesterday. It was daring but offered the limited possible risks of other's being hurt. After all, she didn't have any issues with the crew of this ship. She only needed to complete her mission and that meant accessing their computer core.


A light brown leather pouch with a flap hung from a strap that crossed over torso. The pouch hung just above her waist and looked more like a purse. There were no markings on the pouch and the flap fastened with a simple leather tie. The intruder reached in to her pouch with her left hand and pulled out a tricorder. Carefully as her eyes scanned the corridor, she opened the tricorder and started to scan the area. Her voice seemed to be the only voice on the deck "continue to monitor the situation, Susquehanna. I can detect that damping field just a few meters away from my position. I am preceding towards Computer Control Center." Though the sensors could not detect her physical form, it was able to detect and record her voice. However it was unable to detect the signal which was being transmitted to the device in her ear.


Another female voice softly spoke in to the intruder's ear, "Confirmed. Our transporter protocols are still in effect. I am still detecting a large number of independent transporter signals across the ship. A number of intra communication traffic across the ship indicates the crew is in a state of chaos. Aside for who is in the Computer Control Center, your deck is clear of life forms. Proceed with caution. This wont last for long, you need to be quick. Be advised, there is an intruder alert single that has been triggered. However it would appear you were right, it has not been acknowledged by either security or the bridge station. There is no indication that the crew is aware of you beaming aboard. I will continue to limit their ability to track your movements from here and watch their attempts to regain control over those effected systems. Be safe." The transmissions that the intruder heard were only in her ear. No one around her would be able to hear what was being told to her.


The intruder nodded as she moved down the corridor, "understood. Keep monitoring my progress. I don't want to have any security personal sneaking up on me." She left the channel open as she started to walk down the corridor.


The intruder cautiously proceeded down the corridor as she used the tricorder to scan the area around her. She could easy identify the dampening field which prevented her from beaming directly to the Computer Control Room. The plan had been simple, override the Computer Operations by using Starfleet's own command codes. Set the crew in to a state of chaos and exploit the situation so that she can download the data that she needed. Then slip away before the crew could react to her actions. She had thought that she had calculated everything that could go wrong with this plan.


Seconds after her plan started, she detected a dampening field in the Computer Control Room. She wasn't sure if the dampening field was as a result of the 'computer malfunctions' which she had caused across the ship. Or it could have been someone detected the computer virus that she had uploaded in to the Computer Core yesterday and was reacting to it. Or as a result of a crew member reacting to the supposed random transporter malfunctions which was clearing a path for the intruder. It really didn't matter why the field within the Computer Control Room was set up. The fact that it was there was enough of a problem.


This forced her to beam in a corridor instead of the Computer Control Room as she had wanted to. She wouldn't lie, the speed of the damping field had impressed her. She already had her thoughts as to whom had attempted to ruin their plans. Still, now she had to adapt to the change in the situation. There was simply no choice to back off now. Tomorrow the Thunderchild's situation would change. No, she simply had no choice but to continue now. She had already passed the point of no return two weeks ago. She simply couldn't go back now. The fate of the Federation now rested in her hands alone. No one had believed her so now she had to do the unthinkable to protect the Federation.


The change meant that her limited time would be pressed even tighter than before. She had planned for the entire infiltration was to last four and a half minutes from beginning to end. The download of the date would take two and a half minutes. Now, she was forced to amend her time tables. Still she could not remain on board for longer than four and a half minutes. This deadline was the amount of time that it would take a security personal to override the lock outs that isolated this deck from the rest of the ship and reach the Computer Control Room. There was nothing left to chance, it was four and a half minutes. Not one second longer or else she risked capture and a return to Starfleet Medical. The very thought of that place caused her heart to race with fear. They tried to murder her and claimed it was a suicide attempt. She couldn't go back, not while the fate of the Federation was in the balance. Capture was simply not an option for her. She couldn't go back, she won't go back. She had to prove to them that she was not lying. And the truth that she needed was hidden in this ship's memory core.


However she couldn't tip her hand, not yet. He knew that she had escaped and was out for revenge. He had tried to kill her once already and he wouldn't stop now. She had tried to run and hide but his people had found her back on Mars and tried again to silence her. But now everything had changed. Now she knew who he was and she was able plot and plan for his actions. She knew that he had the resources of Starfleet behind him. No one would listen to her, no one would believe her. The crew of this ship would carry out his orders without question if they caught her. They would kill her just like he had tried on Earth. With her death, soon would follow the Federation. No, she couldn't trust this crew, capture could not be accepted. No matter the cost. It was because of this baseline fear, she had no choice but to get away before the crew could react to the situation.


Even if they could escape the ship, they were not out of harms way yet. Their runabout, the Susquehanna, despite being state of the art for a runabout, but it still had its limitations. It could never hope to out run a ship like the Thunderchild. This was why they had to keep surprise and time on their side. The success of their mission depended on keeping at least two steps ahead of Starfleet. Just like at the Proxima shipyards, they were able to take full advantage of Starfleet's weaknesses. Getting their hands on the Susquehanna while it was at the shipyards was no easy task. It was in taking the runabout while Starfleet was still unaware that the little ship was even missing, this was a work of art.


Our intruder worked her way up the corridor hoping that her luck would continue to hold out despite the changes to her over all plan. Still cautiously and with great awareness moved up to a door and scanned inside it. "Susquehanna, I am at Computer Control Room. The scans indicate that the field is in fact originating from within the room. I am detecting a few life signs within the room but the field is preventing me from getting a fix on numbers or races. Can you penetrate the field and beam them out?"


The ear piece came alive once more, "No, the field is too localized and is scrambling my targeting sensors. Look, it's too dangerous. Let us switch places and I will clear the room for you."


The intruder started to tapped a few commands in to her tricorder, "No. There is not enough time. It will be just like how you trained me. Don't worry, I can do this" she said as she closed her tricorder and placed it back in to the pouch. "Plus we will never get this close to the data again. We have to continue" she explained as she pulled out a set of darkened thick glasses and earplugs out of her pouch. "I have overrode their security lock outs and am proceeding forward with our plan. I will contact you when I have the room secured. Out" she said then removed the comlink from her ear and held it in her hand as she put the ear plugs in her ears. Then she placed the comlink in her pouch with one hand and slide the glasses over her eyes. As she pulled a metal canister from her pouch. It was crud but would be highly effective for her desired goal.


The intruder didn't like the idea of a direct confrontation with Starfleet personal. However, from the very beginning she knew that this was a risk that had to be accepted. She pulled the pin on the canister and remained low as she activated the door controls. On her command and to the surprise of those inside, the door hissed open. She rolled the canister in to the far side of the room where she saw the most personal. She shielded her eyes by turning away and covering her ears as the device went off. A loud popping sound erupted from the device as the entire room filled with a near blinding light. Nothing permanent just enough to give her the upper hand in the coming battle. She moved in as the doors closed behind her.

She scanned the room carefully as she sized up each of the four crew members. Even as the man standing next to her was drawing his weapon, she took the vital moments to examine the situation. In preparation for this mission she understood the importance of learning as much as she could about the crew. She felt that hours of study would be the difference between success or failure. Each bit of information no matter how trivial was critical to success. For her, this mission was simply too important to leave to chance. As she took in a deep breath her heart rate slowed and her eyes shifted from target to target. Each crew member coming in to prefect vision through her mind's eye. Carefully and rapidly she assessed each one.


To her left was the young Ensign Stanton Faulknen in a golden uniform. He graduated from the Academy three months ago and the Thunderchild was his first post. His dedication to his duties and eagerness to learn more earned him the respect of the ship's acting commander. He scored average in most of his classes but never seemed to give up no matter the obstacles before him. He was from a small town just outside of San Fransisco. He has had a relationship with a woman back home that was going on six years. He had recently acquired a ring which he had planned to give her next year on his shore leave. His position on the ship was with Security and was currently on duty.


This area was part of his normal patrol so she had figured that an encounter with him was probable. To her disappointment because of his location in relation to the concussion blast, he didn't suffer as much as the other three crew members had. This meant that he was much more aware of what was going on around him. Also his better training in security operations as well as the simply fact that he was about to target her with a phaser made him particularly dangerous. It was these reasons why she placed Ensign Faulknen risk assessment as the highest in the room and therefore he had to be subdued first.


Turning to face the intruder was the Vulcan Computer Specialist Lieutenant Paaleia. One of nineteen Vulcans aboard the ship. She graduated the Academy three years ago and served aboard the Thunderchild during their last ill fated mission. She had decided to stay on board after the ship returned to the shipyards for repairs. Her scientific mind made her a good selection for Computer Specialist though she has noted in her personal logs of her passion for music. There were more than ten entries in her personal logs regarding Commander Bonham. However, Lieutenant Paaleia felt that the Commander only saw her as more of a daughter rather than an acceptable mate. A situation that the Vulcan did not find logical. The intruder could empathize with Lieutenant Paaleia's conflict in having feelings for a superior officer.


Lastly, there were a pair of cadets set at their consoles within the computer control station. They were both reacting much slower to the situation than the first two officers. Cadet Arron Vangelos and Ashlea Galven. Both came aboard a few weeks ago as part of their cadet cruise. Each had scored unremarkable in their classes which is why they were not given better assignments for their cruises. The intruder placed their threat level as low on her list.


The intruder could plainly see the open tricorder on one of the consoles. It was clear that it was the source of the damping field. As she finished her assessment of the situation her eyes glided back to her single largest threat, Ensign Faulknen. Her breath now fully drawn and her body and mind fully switched in to combat mode. The sounds and smells of the coming battle triggered thoughts locked deep in dark places of the intruder's mind. Ensign Faulknen had just fully drew out his phaser and was just starting to swing it towards the intruder.


The intruder side stepped to the left in a fluid motion closing on the young security officer as he attempted to take aim at her. The intruder's speed was much faster then Ensign Faulknen had expected and her experienced gave her an unfair advantage over him. The intruder caught his wrist as he attempted to take aim at her at the same time she drove her left elbow in to his soft side just below his ribcage. The blow winded the young Ensign taking the fight from his lung and weakened his resolve.


If he had realized the close ranges, the young Ensign would have never reached for his phaser. It was a classic rookie mistake. The intruder comforted herself with the thought that at least in this encounter, he would survive and learn from the mistake. Something that so few of her closest friends had the opportunity to enjoy. But still she meant to make him pay dearly for the mistake. To make it a lesson that he would not soon forget. Holding his right wrist firmly, she twisted his wrist turning his elbow upward. At the same time she drew back her left arm and raised it above his right arm. She brought it down on the fully extended joint.


The arm bent in such a way that it clearly broke, the sound of the joint breaking was clearly heard in the room. The phaser flung from his grip and flew somewhere across the room as the intruder whipped the broken right arm like a rope. The young Ensign let out a scream filled with pain as he was helpless to stop the intruder. The intruder pulled on the damaged arm as she spun him around and built up momentum. Using her leverage and speed she sent the Ensign stumbling towards a nearby consoles. With the motion that was given to him, he flipped over the console and temporally vanished from sight.


Even before the Ensign was no longer a threat, the intruder was already tracking Lieutenant Paaleia. The Vulcan was in full motion to intercept the intruder when she had walked in to the room. As the Lieutenant plotted out her own actions, the intruder was considering the possible attacks that the Lieutenant could carry out. The intruder controlled the speed of the attack and this gave her an incredible advantage over the defenders. Lieutenant Paaleia's ability to act without emotion and fully with logic made her very dangerous as well as predictable and the intruder was not about to underestimate either. As Lieutenant Paaleia moved in for the attack, the intruder spun to the left side of Lieutenant Paaleia and drove a powerful punch in to the side of the Vulcan followed by another powerful blow to the lower back. The intruder's actions were clearly a martial arts form that Lieutenant Paaleia had seen back on Vulcan.


The two hits were surgical and meant to stun the Vulcan long enough for the next attack. For all the power of the twin hits, Lieutenant Paaleia spun as she blocked the third attack. Realizing that Lieutenant Paaleia had recovered faster than expected, intruder shifted her attacks in mid motion by dropping her torso and in doing so avoided Lieutenant Paaleia's swing. Again, the intruder actions were much like a martial arts form favored by many Vulcan officers. Like a great cat, the intruder sprung up and forward with a powerful side kick to Lieutenant Paaleia's right side shoulder. The force of the kick thrust the Vulcan to the right and square in to a bulkhead. The blow snapped the Lieutenant's head back and sent her stumbling down to the deck.


The intruder knew that the two cadets were moving to engage her long before they realized that their actions were detected. As she landed after her kick on Lieutenant Paaleia, she hit the deck in a roll to buy time and steel the advantage from the two cadets. With all her motion, she leaped her body back up in to the air once more. In mid air, the intruder spun her body over and in to a spinning kick. The top of her boot landed square on the side of Cadet Vangelos head. The blow sent him half stumbling half flying backwards and over the console that Ensign Faulknen had just stumbled over. The Ensign Faulknen was just recovering from his own beating when he was knocked back to the ground by Cadet Vangelos. The two shipmates were no longer a current threat as the intruder shifted her attention Cadet Galven.


Cadet Galven didn't waste any time as she unleashed a series of rapid random attacks on the intruder. It was clear that Cadet Galven had focused a bit too much time studying Computer Operations and Technology rather then her personal combat classes. The intruder was easily able to deflect each attack with skill of a martial arts' master. What Cadet Galven didn't realize was that the intruder was using the cadet's attacks to set the cadet up for defeat. The intruder deflected the cadet's last attack and using the momentum of the attack, the intruder spun the cadet around and locked her neck in a choking hold. The cadet let out a helpless scream as panic filled her mind. 'One, two, three' the intruder thought as she counted carefully. Too much time in the choke hold and the cadet could be seriously injured. The fight faded quickly from the cadet as her body went limp and the intruder let the cadet slip to the deck in a deep slumber. The battle was over for the young Computer specialist.


From the intruder's periphery vision, the intruder took notice of Lieutenant Paaleia moving at her. The motion of the Vulcan's arm was a clear indication of the Lieutenant's next attack. 'A Vulcan neck pinch....really?' crossed the intruder's mind. Such a classic Vulcan attack and for the trained infiltrator, easily blocked. It was a logical move for Lieutenant Paaleia, end the battle right here with one attack. The intruder shifted her weight in full motion as the battle tempo never slowed down. Using her speed the intruder shifted to the left while grappling Lieutenant Paaleia's attack. While Lieutenant Paaleia might be stronger than the intruder in normal situations, the use of momentum gave the intruder much higher advantage than the Vulcan's pure strength. The intruder spun around Lieutenant Paaleia body taking with her the Vulcan's arm and tightening the grapple hold. "Good night!" the intruder said as she surprised the Vulcan by reversing the neck pinch. Lieutenant Paaleia fell to the deck in a heap of unmoving flesh.


During the intruder's training for this mission, it was clear that the upper hand would at one point in time shift to the Starfleet defenders. It was a risk that could not be ignored. So as part of her training for this mission, she focused on what would happen once the upper hand shifted against her. It was Cadet Vangelos who bravely leaped from the console and grappled the intruder. There are times when timing just wasn't in your favor. In this game, Cadet Vangelos was able to get behind her before she realized he was there and grappled her in a tight bear hug style attack.


To both of their surprise, he was able to pin her arms just above her waist. It was in that moment that the intruder knew that the upper hand had shifted. Time was critical to steel back the advantage. In that moment, and much deeper in her mind something was unleashed. The intruder glanced at the reflection of the being behind her on a nearby monitor. She saw the Cardassian holding her fast in his arms.
"Settle down you Federation whore!" he spat at her.


Terror filled her mind as she knew what was coming next. It always came like this. The group of guards would hold her down and force their way with her. Panic filled her mind as she let out a terror filled scream that shocked everyone in the room. Her eyes refocused on pure survival. She fought back like a caged animal twisting and struggling with all her might. She had to ensure that he couldn't further secure and tighten his grip. The intruder flexed her body and twisted it over and over again to work his arms just a bit looser.


Her mind raced forcing herself to realize where she really was and not to allow these illusions to ruin their chance of success. Once more she screamed as she could see those nasty Cardassians lining up to take their turn with her. She fought both in her mind and with her body. She couldn't loss control, 'Goddess, please not now!' she screamed in to her own mind. By sheer force of will she could see past her nightmares and see what was going on. It was in that moment she spotted Starfleet's last critical mistake.


She spotted Ensign Faulknen rushing to where the phaser had been flung. She knew that due to this mistake she had time to work herself free. But that time would soon elapse. She had to work free, NOW! She used her motion once more and snapped her head backwards right in to the cadet's face. The impact broke his nose and caused both to stumble. Still he held her fast yelling for the Ensign to help. With the Cadet dazed slightly, the intruder bent her whole body forward as she thrust her right leg out and beside him. Bending as much as her body would allow, she forced her joints to bend beyond their limits. This caused her great pain but the attack had to be landed. She screamed out in pain as she landed her kick to the back side of his head.


The blow blurred his vision slightly and forced him to stumble forward towards one of the consoles. With their position right where she needed them to be, she put her final plan in to motion. She leaped up while he held her tight. Bending her knees she planted both of her feet on the console. With all her might she pushed herself off of the console and backwards. The motion sent both Cadet and the intruder in his arms stumbling backwards towards a nearby bulkhead. She timed her next action with such perfection that even a Vulcan would be impressed.


As Cadet Vangelos hit the bulkhead with his own head, she slammed her head once more in to his weakened face. The combined impacts took their toll on the young cadet. His grip gave way as he slid down to the deck. The sound of the door to the mainframe room hissed open in reaction to the cadet and the intruder being near the door. The Cadet slipped down towards the deck with thoughts of starships in his dreams. The battle for the Computer Control Room was reaching its conclusion and till this moment not one crew member had been permanently injured. A fact that she could take pride in. Still there was no time for reassuring herself as the battle was not over yet.


The intruder landed lightly on her feet with her center of gravity centered perfectly. Her eyes fixed on Ensign Faulknen who was just raising up from behind a console with his phaser in his off, left, hand. It was clear that this was not his dominate hand, but he was still focused on using the weapon. The smile on his face told her that he had assumed that the battle was over and he was the victor. 'Arrogant' she thought as the two carefully plotted out their next actions. Not even seconds passed as the two took their next actions.


Time faded away as the two combatants locked glares at each other. She saw hatred and revenge in his eyes. In her eyes, he saw her determination. In just a few short moments, she had taken down three of his shipmates with what seemed to be little effort. He had every intention to make her pay for her attack on his ship. It was these emotions that she knew all too well, revenge. 'If he only knew' she thought. What he could never understand was that he was the last person standing in the way of her mission to save the Federation. In her eyes, Ensign Faulknen saw the kind of determination that would not be denied. It was as much a test of wills as it was a test of speed.


Ensign Faulknen knew what had to be done and this guided his actions. His finger moved over the phaser while taking aim with the weapon. He changed the settings to heavy stun. He smiled cause unlike her first attack on him, now he had range on his side. He assumed that this automatically gave him the advantage. She had no weapon and thus he knew he had beaten her. It was arrogance that blinded him to the consequences of his actions. So what if she got a bit hurt from the stun. It was what she deserved for what she did here today. With little regard for cover or the skill that she had shown to this moment, he rose up from behind cover and took aim at her. Her speed and reaction was as fast as it was when she first walked in to this room. She leaped to the right side so fast that it was hard for the Ensign to track her.


Her actions were faster than what he could predict as he fired his phaser at her. He couldn't deny that the shot was a bit blind as she moved just moments before he hit the fire button. He watched her as time seemed to slow to a painful crawl. She reached out for the open tricorder on the console next to her. She snatched it up and flung it at him as she let out a loud grunting sound. The phaser beam passed over her left shoulder and in to the mainframe room. The tricorder spun on its flat side like a Frisbee towards him. Ignoring her desperate attack, he tracked her with the phaser counting on his next shot to hit her. A shot that would never come as the tricorder impacted his head causing his vision to blur and go black. The tricorder broke as it smashed in to bulkhead near where the Ensign had been standing. The battle for the Computer Control Room was over just moments after it started.

 

Re: The Journeys of the USS Thunderchild

Sections of this post were a contribution by Medart (former Character to our game).


"...Sato, check the-" The hum of a transporter beam ringing in her ears was the first sign that she knew something was wrong. Before she knew it, it was too late to stop what was about to happen. At first she was disoriented. 'Wasn't I just in Engineering looking at a diagnostic panel?' she thought as she looked around at her engineering team. All seemed to be just as disoriented as she was. The entire main engineering division was standing around the vast gardens of one of the holodecks on board of the Thunderchild.

It took Lieutenant Medart a few seconds to get her bearings. She knew this wasn't earth, but this also wasn't engineering either. 'Great' she cursed herself, "now the transporters are acting up." she looked around for the exit arch of the holodeck and she called out "Computer, exit." The computer responded with some kind of unintelligible gibberish. Lieutenant Medart let out a huff of frustration as she called out, "Computer, arch." Again the computer replied with an unintelligible gibberish. With a heavy sigh, she shook her head as the situation hit home, 'another thing I need to fix.' The weight on her shoulders was getting heavier and heavier by the minute.

She looked around and did a quick headcount to see who was with her. It seemed that her entire engineering staff including those who were working in the twin Impulse engine rooms were also transported to this holodeck. Just like they were, she was puzzled as to why they were beamed to the holodeck.

It was time for her to take control and start fixing this new malfunction. 'So the holodeck was still operational' She thought then put her priorities in line. 'End the holoprogram and reconnect with ships computer. Lastly find out why the transporters went haywire' she thought taking in the situation. Within moments she pointed to a crewman, "Crewman Kiev, find the computer terminal so we can get out of here" she commanded. She then turned to Lieutenant Jacobson, the senior officer of the Impulse team, "Tina, get a team together and start fingering out what is wrong with the computer interface." Lieutenant Medart turned and watched as her team were all watching her.

She motioned to Lieutenant Ottmar, her right hand in warp engineering. "Todd, I need you to find a communication hub and see if we can reach the bridge. We have to let them know about the malfunction."


Before anyone had a chance to react to the orders, a fussy broken communication link broke through the sounds of the vegetation. Despite the weak communications link, everyone knew the voice of Commander Bonham. "Lieutenant Medart these computer issues have gone far from annoying to, FIX MY SHIP!"

The young Lieutenant Medart took a deep gulp as she looked around as if she was searching for God himself. "Lieutenant Medart here, Commander. I was just about to contact you" there was clear nervousness in her voice as she spoke. It was clear that she didn't want to give this report. "It would appear that the transporters are malfunctioning right now. My team and I were beamed in to a holodeck and are currently trapped here. As soon as we can get out of the holodeck I will, sir. Voice commands aren't working so I'm having a crewman get the door open for us. I'll personally head to the computer core to shut it down so we don't have to continue to have these issues, at least for now."


She knew that this wasn't what the Commander wanted to hear but it was the only option if they were to fix the computer. The backup core could support the ship for the time being. But not at full operations, so she knew that they would have to keep the ship at low power until they can get the main core fixed. It was the only option they could offer the Commander at this moment.

'Good,' she thought. 'Maybe he'll let off my back a little since I thought about our other issues and had a plan on how to stop these problems. I just hope none of the crew were beamed to their death in space or halfway inside a wall because of me' she looked down as she thought. She should have been able to track down these malfunctions by now. But she couldn't understand why the computer was acting up like this. She had gone over hundreds of lines of code and found nothing wrong. The weight of the guilt was sitting heavy on her as she waited for the Commander to respond. That was even if he could hear what she reported. 'Great' my first real chance to show my skills and my ship is bound and determined to watch me fail.


In the Gymnasium Commander Bonham looked around at his bridge crew as the broken and static filled report from his Chief Engineer was coming over the communication's channel. "Computer!" he yelled out and was answered by unintelligible gibberish. By this point, his anger was clearly seen across his face. Before he spoke, Lieutenant Kinchlirah and raised her hand to stop his action.


"Before you act Sir" she said calmly and looked in to his eyes. "I was just in contact with a janitor who had been beamed in to the security office. I could hear an alarm over the broken comlink and talked him through how to figure out what was going on. It would appear that we have an intruder alert. Deck 8, Section 15" she informed.


In that moment the reality of the situation started to sink in. His eyes went wide as everything finally clicked. He turned around and realized that his entire command staff had been taken out of action in one series of transports. His mind switched gears as he turned and opened up the channel once more to Lieutenant Medart. "Belay that Lieutenant" he ordered to Lieutenant Medart. He continued, "Get your team together. Your orders are Lieutenant, make your way to the Bridge. Take the Main Computer Core off line at once. Lock out all command functions from there. Shut it all down. We have an intruder situation aboard. Make sure your people are ready to defend the Bridge."

He paused to hear the hum of another transporter operation. Within seconds he saw a three man security team beamed in to the Gymnasium. He didn't like the developing situation. He added to the open line, "Lieutenant we do not know how many intruders there are. Gather up as many crew as you can find. Get a force shield around the bridge and secure it all costs. Is this clear Lieutenant?"

As he waited for a reply from his Chief Engineer, he turned to Lieutenant Kinchlirah. "Take those security personnel and find our intruders." He paused then gave a stern look, "Lieutenant, defend the ship." His order was clear and to the point. "I will take the bridge crew to the Emergency Computer Core. From there, we will regain control of the ship systems."

He heard Lieutenant Medart come back over the com link but stopped her with the additional order, "I want you to send some of your team to take the main power relays for the transporters off line also. It would appear that our transporters are making this crisis worse for us."


Lieutenant Medart replied over the broken comlinks, "Yes, sir." Her voice was very distorted and nearly impossible for the Commander to understand. He shook his head as he knew the crisis could only get worse from here.







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Re: The Journeys of the USS Thunderchild

The Attack (Part Two)


The Attack
Deck 8, Section 15 Computer Control Room
USS Thunderchild, NCC-63549
Stardate: 53829.04
Commander Bonham, Acting Captain


The battle had been hard fought and was over within moments of its beginning. The intruder reached towards a console as she ripped off her glasses and pulled out the ear plugs. She returned them to her pouch as she pulled out her comlink once more. Catching the used canister between her feet she hoped it up much like a soccer move. It was flung upwards and she caught it with her waiting hand. She didn't want to leave anything behind that would give Starfleet something that they could use to track who she was. She returned the canister and its pin back to her pouch. Time was ticking down as she figured that the crew had to know that the transporter malfunctions was just a cover for her intrusion of their ship. Her only hope was that they didn't know where she was or her goals. This bought her just enough time.


Returning her ear piece to her ear, she slid to a stop before one of the consoles. She pulled out her tricorder once more, "Susquehanna, I have secured the Computer Control Room and am opening the data link now!" she said out loud as she opened her tricorder. The battle had eaten up valuable time so she had to rush. She tapped her tricorder a few times as she entered the commands needed to start her plan, "Time!"


The female voice on the other end replied, "T minus one minutes, forty five seconds. Data link has been created and uploading security protocols now. Hold on....scanning their internal communications networks." There was a pause over the communication link, "Be advised, security has been made aware of an intruder on deck eight, section fifteen."


The intruder blinked as she spun around scanning the room, "how is that possible!" Even before she could finish her statement the answer became clear. In the doorway leading to the Mainframe Room lay a third cadet on the deck. It was Cadet Madhev, another Vulcan aboard the ship. The intruder knew that this cadet along with a few others had been a last minute addition to the ship's crew. Her remarkable skills in science and computers pushed her through Starfleet Academy faster than even her fellow Vulcan classmates. Cadet Madhev had a younger sister back on Vulcan. They had just exchanged a series of person messages regarding the upcoming long deployment.


This was not Cadet's Madhev's normal shift. 'What the hell was she doing here!' thought the intruder as the situation ran through her mind. The cadet had to have been here when the malfunctions started. When the intruder came in to the Control Room, Cadet Madhev had to have been in the Mainframe Room, which was the chamber that actually housed the Computer Core its self. She had to have heard the combat and called security. The room was small and crowded with the Core. When the intruder and Cadet Vangelos slammed in to the bulkhead next to the door, the intruder remembered that the door had opened. When the door opened and exposed Cadet Madhev, it was then she decided to try to engage the intruder. If she had just remained safely in the Mainframe room, she would have been unharmed. When the intruder dodged the incoming phaser fire from that security ensign, it hit Cadet Madhev instead.


The phaser wound to the cadet's head was clear for the intruder to see. "Damnit!" the intruder cried as she reached down to the base of the console nest to her and pulled the first aid kit from its holder. "Susquehanna, We have a serious causality. Keep the corridor clear of security personnel. Buy me as much time as possible."


As the intruder rushed over to Cadet Madhev's side, she fell to her knees and opened up the kit. The female voice on the other end of the comlink spoke once more, "Their computer confirms Security Level Ten Accepted. Clone program is interfacing with their Computer Core now. Stand by.... Got it, we are in control. Starting bulk memory data transfer. Also uploading new protocols. Security personnel are attempting to respond to the alert. Locking on and engaging transporters. Time, T minus, fifty seconds. I am not detecting the damping field, I can beam you out at any time."


The intruder didn't waste time to respond to the statements as she focused on the young cadet. She scanned the cadet with a medical tricorder and allowed a frustrating sound to slip from her lips. The cadet's life signs were dropping fast. She couldn't understand how a phaser set on stun could have caused so much damage to a person. 'unless......' she thought of the different setting on the phaser. "This is why I didn't bring a damn phaser! There was no reason for him to fire like that!" she said pulling a hypo and injecting the cadet, "stupid.....stupid..." She worked with all the haste that she could to set up a device on the cadet's forehead. Finally she answered her female accomplice, "NO! Just keep buying me time." The intruder paused as she continued to work to save the cadet's life, "she's dying."


"They are attempting to regain control over their transporters. I am not sure how long I can keep blocking their efforts. Locking on to another security team on Deck Seven just above you, sending them to the weapons pod." There was a pause, "Damn! I have lost control over internal sensors, switching to our own sensors. The link holding. Luckily we have that sensor dampening field around you." The female voice said then added, "Transfer at forty percent. Data is clean and starting to increase in transfer rate."


Once more the intruder injected the Vulcan with another hypo and activated the device which caused the Vulcan's whole body to flex a bit. "Come on, fight!" The intruder scanned the Vulcan's body once more as she watched the life signs as they continued to drop, "don't give up on me!" There were tears in her eyes as she could relate to the pain that Cadet Madhev's sister would feel. The pain was so unbearable she couldn't let that little girl suffer as she did. Her mind clouded as she remembered the intense heartache that came with that pain. Beyond the walls of the Computer Control Rooms, the intruder could hear the sounds of intense combat. Explosions and the screams of the dying filled her ears. She looked over a raise of near by rocks and knew that it was only moments before a enemy patrol would be coming by.


"FIGHT MADHEV! Don't GIVE UP ON ME!" In the distance there were sounds of intense weapon's fire as she could see from the corner of her eye a Cardassian moving behind one of the consoles. She fought back the dark memories once more as the pain of the past rushed forward. She did everything in her power to calm her mind but her mind was racing to save the Vulcan's life. She couldn't loss control, 'please Goddess, not now.....' she begged.


The female voice spoke over the com-badge, "Bulk data transfer at eighty percent. I am losing control over their transporters systems. I have to get you out of there! T minus thirty seconds till mission termination. Locking on to you, get ready for beam out."


"NO! Not yet!" She never shift her eyes from the cadet whom she was working on saving, "I am not leaving her to die!" the intruder yelled out. She looked down and in a moment she saw a yeoman laying in the dirt. A large pool of blood had gathered.


A male voice called out to her, "Corporal!" The intruder looked up and saw a Starfleet Marine holding his hand out to her. In his other hand was a rifle and his uniform was covered in dirt as if he had been in combat for weeks. "She's dead! We have to go!"


A near by explosion caused the intruder to loss sight of the Starfleet Marine. Through the smoke of the Computer Control Room she could hear his voice. "Don't be a hero" the vile Cardassian said as he moved along the edges of the room. He stepped over the unconscious bodies of the Starfleet Personnel. His voice was filled with hate and evil. She knew him all too well, and she hated him. "The array, tell me the codes to the reactivate it and I can save her. I can save all of them. Just give me the codes."


Terror filled her heart as she shook her head. It was that kind of terror that one can only feel when they are faced with an evil that could have only crawled out of hell it's self. "NO! NEVER!" the intruder cried as her voice was filled with terror and fear at the same time. She had long before swore to die before she would give up the codes to the array. Emotional pain filled her voice as the tears blurred her vision. Somewhere in her mind, a scream snapped her mind back in to reality. At her knees, laid a Vulcan cadet, or was it a middle aged yeoman. Her hands shook for a moment as the intruder shook her head from side to side trying to clear her mind's eye.

Over the comlink, the other female voice sounded worried, "What? whats going on? Heads up! Scans shows security Personnel attempting to reach your section from Deck Nine. I am sure they are aware of what I am doing. Clever! They are using the EPS crawl spaces to mask their location." There was a pause then a bit of laughter. "Not so fast boys. GOT YOU! energizing! Enjoy the bio-waste tanks!" More laughter over the comlink, "Their life signs are stable and strong. Just wish I could see them swimming in that waste. Bet they didn't like that to much."

The intruder had no clue of what her partner was saying as her mind fought for control over reality and her heart begged for the cadet's survival. "Uh?? No. Nothing" the intruder's mind continued to race, "Sorry. keep me informed," the intruder said as she heard the explosions around her. The screaming of soldiers dying. The intensity of the battle raged around her as another explosion rocked the ruins of the once proud temple her unit had used for their last stand. Once more the intruder returned her focus to the wounded Vulcan, "I can't let her die!" The smell of burnt flesh filled the air as a pair of Cardassian Fighters rocked over head. Their bombs landing not far from the fox hole that she was using for protection. It was happening again, that out of body experience that plagued her for so long.


The skies were filled with the orange glow of explosions as the sounds of heavy energy weapons filled her ears. "Commander, we have to get out of here" yelled a tall bloody man dressed in a Starfleet Marine armor. He carried a TR-120, which was a magnetic pulse rifle, in his arms. It was clear that he was wounded and worn from the extended battle. From her advantage point high above the scene she could see her friends, her fellow soldiers below her. These marines were her family. There were others within the group that were not part of her military family. They were dressed in almost rags. Those were armed with what ever weapons they could get their hands on at the time. Even as detached as this was, the pain of the vision was nearly unbearable. In the real world, her tears dripped from her face as she knew that they would all die.


She saw a red headed female marine officer returning fire and yelling out commands, "reinforce that flank!" as a missile rocked over head and exploded somewhere behind them. Hidden in a small hole and protected by another pair of Marines, a blond female marine worked a communication uplink. "Where is the fleet!" the Major yelled as she fired her own TR-120.


Another female soldier rushed up as a new explosion filled the area. Throwing herself in to the air to avoid the explosion, she flew towards the foxhole. Within seconds the female marine landed right next to the blond. Two other marines flew in to the air as their death cries echoed in the memory. "Leave it to the fleet to miss all the fun! So where are those evac shuttles!?" screamed out the other female marine. Like the others, this one was dressed just like the rest of the marines and equally worn and wounded from the battle.


The blond looked up from her comlink equipment, "Fleet Support keeps ordering us to hold our position, Sixty Seven degrees, Five Minutes South, by One hundred degrees East. They are attempting to break through. However resistances has escalated considerable."


The Major rushed over to the blond through the smoke, "Tell Fleet Support we have been holding this position for three hours and are getting hammered. We can't hold out much longer. We need those shuttles!"


The blond turned up from her uplink. Blood covered her face as the horrors of this losing battle filled her eyes. "All I am getting is that we are to hold our position and stand by. It seems as if there is some argument on their end. I can hear their voices. It sounds so confusing on their end."


Another male soldier screamed from his fighting position while he returned fire, "Don't they know we are dying here!"


The world snapped back in to full vision. Once more the intruder was back aboard the Thunderchild as the female voice screamed out over the communication link, "HEY FOCUS!! Data transfer has been terminated. The mission time has elapsed. You have to get out of there!"


The intruder opened her eyes to see the young cadet laying on the deck before her. Her mind blurred from the memories as she looked at her hands shaking uncontrollable. Her vision had become blurred by the tears in her eyes. But the realization of life and death before her had not changed. "Susquehanna, you have to give me as much time as you can" she leaned down and placed her mouth over his and started CPR. In between breaths the Intruder cried out, "Come on Madhev, fight!"


The female voice broke in once more, "They've cut power to all of their transporters. I cannot cover you anymore. I have to beam out of there now."


The intruder didn't reply as she repeated the steps of CPR till Madhev finally let out a deep painful cough erupted from her lungs. The intruder sighed heavily as she placed the medical tricorder on the Vulcan's chest and tapped Madhev's own com-badge, "Computer Control to Medical Bay! Phaser wound to the right upper skull. Intracranial hemorrhage along the extra-axial. Subdural hemorrhage due to scoring of the bridging veins in the subdural space between the dura and arachnoid mater. Bleeding has been confined but not stopped. Prepare for Emergency Transport." Just as someone on the other end was asking who was placing the report, she closed the link.


The intruder spoke to her own ship. "Susquehanna, lock on to this medical tricorder and beam it and the cadet site to site, to the Thunderchild's ships medical bay." Her voice was filled with that presence that demanded that her order be followed without question.


"Standby, I have something strange on the sensors. I got the lock" There was a pause, then the Cadet's body glowed blue as she vanished. "Transport complete. She is in the medical bay. Can I beam you out now?"


With the time running out, their mission was now in jeopardy. The intruder was filled with a renewed sense of urgency. She turned and started to rush for the console and her own tricorder. Deep within her mind were the echoes of that long forgotten battle and the pain that came along with those powerful memories. Her mind raced with the events of this day as well as those of the past. She never heard the warning over her comlink about a sensor shadow right outside the door of the Computer Control Room. She moved as fast as she could towards the tricorder hoping that she could escape without further Starfleet involvement. It was the hissing of the main door in to the room that finally caught her attention.


The intruder turned just in time to catch a glimpse of the Klingon in full motion within the doorway. With all her power, lieutenant Kinchlirah slammed her fist in to the intruder. Her long red hair flew to the side as the blow landed across the intruder's jaw. The Klingon had hit her full and had drawn blood! The power of the hit was so much that it nearly knocked her completely out. Blood droplets flew onto the wall and fell to the floor. The Intruder had never felt such a powerful attack!

This kind of blow might have dropped nearly anyone else but this hit had another effect on the intruder. Something deep in the intruder's mind "clicked" and her instincts kicked in. Turning the power of the blow in to momentum even before the Klingon had fully recoiled from the swing; the intruder spun her on her heels. She absorbed some of the impact of the blow with the momentum of her body.


Dropping her torso, she was able to redistribute her center of gravity and coil her body into a spring. Blood dripped from her mouth as she came full around, ready, near the floor. The Klingon was poised for for her next attack. They locked eyes. To the intruder, it was a well known fact that Klingons were by far the best warriors in the Galaxy. All humans had a deep rooted and well founded respect for those warriors. After all, the intruder had fought side by side with Klingons during the war and on each occasion, they had earned her respect.


During that brief moment while they stared into each others eyes, it was clear that the Klingon had recognized the intruder. Lieutenant Kinchlirah paused, as a memory sprung forward from the ghosts of days long gone. Lieutenant Kinchlirah knew this intruder... but couldn't place how or when they had crossed paths.


In the intruder's eyes, the enemy couldn't help but see courage. The kind of courage that can be found in the heart of a Warrior. There was no hate, no anger in the intruder's eyes. This was not about the ship or anyone aboard. For this intruder, her actions aboard this ship were somehow demanded by some unknown reason. Just as in this very moment, the Klingon will carry out her duty to protect her ship. The fact that the intruder had taken the full force of Kinchlirah's first blow and was still willing to fight back was impressive on its own.


With all her might the intruder sprang upward and forward. At the same time she let out with a powerful yell. The yell mustered as much inner strength as she could summon. Unlike other battles that Lieutenant Kinchlirah had been in, where she had heard the cries of pain or weakness, this was a Warrior's yell that signaled the coming battle. The entire situation filled Kinchlirah with a sense of excitement - to face off with an opponent that was willing to go blow for blow.


This intruder might be small compared with a Klingon; however she didn't lack honor nor courage. In that, Kinchlirah could respect this intruder.


Up came the Intruder like a great spring unloosed. Using the built up energy and momentum from the first hit, the intruder's counter attack was both fluid and steady without a single break in action. The over all recovery and continued speed of this short but intense combat couldn't help but impress Lieutenant Kinchlirah. The intruder used her size, speed and leverage to their fullest advantage against the Klingon. As the intruder sprang upwards, she spun her body bringing her feet forward and landed a twin kick on lieutenant kinchlirah. The double kick attack against Kinchlirah's chest was powerful and could have easily knocked any normal person off their feet. However, this person was a large Klingon.


For all of Lieutenant Kinchlirah's skill in combat, the blow did have its desired result on the larger, more powerful Klingon. The exchange of energy between the intruder Kinchlirah was just enough to knock the larger Klingon off balance. The intruder landed on her back as Kinchlirah stumbled backwards into the corridor. The power of the intruder's kick caused Kinchlirah to yield valuable ground as now the doorway was controlled by the intruder.


The next action would mean the end in this short combat. Lieutenant Kinchlirah had the advantage now. The intruder's attack was masterfully carried out, however it ended with her landing on the deck. While the Klingon, on the other hand, was once more outside the room she had tried to secure. Not a second was lost between the two as each knew their next action would mean victory for their own cause. This was no longer about skill or power. What would happen next would be determined only by sheer speed alone. This type of contest placed the intruder in the advantage.


While regaining her balance, Lieutenant Kinchlirah was far from out of this battle. She surged forward once more with a sense of determination in the set of her jaw. Letting out her own Warrior's cry! The excitement of the battle filled her - she smiled! For, win or lose, the past few seconds had been the most exciting since she had arrived! Each time she served alongside Starfleet Personnel, she had noticed a trend that bothered her. They had automatically assumed 'the Klingon' would make for a good target... needs to be taught a lesson... or something.


This was different. Here was an intruder who had a mission - a goal! Some driving force behind her actions! While Lieutenant Kinchlirah didn't know what this mission was, she knew it was there. This intruder fought with both determination and Honor. An Honorable foe for an Honorable Klingon!
The door and victory were only milliseconds away. Already Lieutenant Kinchlirah saw that the intruder was also in full motion. Once more, timing was going to be everything.


The intruder kicked her feet into the air and coiled them back towards the deck as she flung herself upwards back to her feet. Her red hair flew through the air. Distance closed so fast that Lieutenant Kinchlirah could make out the blond roots along the intruder's scalp. The intruder could not withstand another attack from the Klingon. Lieutenant Kinchlirah was going to make sure of this fact.


BUT... In defeat, a warrior may still find victory through cunning. Once more, the pair locked eyes. The intruder reached for the door controls. Lieutenant Kinchlirah drew back her fist to deliver a final mighty blow. The grin on the Klingon's face could easily be mistaken for something else. In this case, it was the thrill of this short, intense battle. (Or just simply... exercise.) Lieutenant Kinchlirah continued to let out her scream as her fist surged forward at the intruder's head. However the blow would never come. The doors hissed closed once more. The clicking sound told Lieutenant Kinchlirah that the locks had been activated.


Her fist impacted with a loud... crunch.


With the door only acting as a momentary delay, she had only seconds, "Susquehanna, lock on to me and be ready for beam out!" She half yelled as she flung herself over to the tricorder on the console. With her body surging with adrenalin, her hand reached up and deactivated the device on her arm. In that moment, a ghost came in to prefect view of the ship's intruder sensors. Once more the ship detected the intruder and sent a renewed set of alerts of the intruder and her location. Now, the ship's computer could identify the intruder as Petty Officer, 2nd Grade Dolores Traver. Last known to be under the care of Starfleet Medical just a few months ago before she escape their custody.


Only seconds had passed and the intruder could hear the Klingon attempting to by-pass the locked doors. "Susquehanna, now!" she called out as she snatched up the tricorder from the console. That simple tricorder would hold the key to everything they are doing. Within that tricorder was her ability to right a crime that had gone unpunished for too long. To avenge those betrayed. He would be made to pay for his crimes! 'Please Goddess, don't let this end here' she prayed as she heard the door unlock and start to hiss open as she heard the transport start.


Her body now covered in blue as the intruder could see the Klingon rushing in to the room with three other armed security officers. The look on the faces of the security officers was that of anger. The Klingon on the other hand, had a different look. Just like that, the intruder was gone from the ship. For all of their training, all of their technology, the Thunderchild had been infiltrated and their shipmates subdued by this lone intruder. Despite their best efforts and security protocols, valuable data had been stolen. The anger of the security personnel was clear and written across their faces. For the intruder however, the quest for justice would continue one more day. Yet a new question was now raised. Who's justice would prevail in this contest.


Not even seconds later, the intruder was back aboard the USS Susquehanna holding her valuable tricorder. An attractive red headed woman spun in the one of the command chairs of the runabout. "You really took your sweet time over there, Seona" the red headed woman said. Behind her and through the main view ports the mighty Thunderchild hung in space. Stars whipped passed as both ships were traveling at warp speed. The proximity of the Thunderchild to the runabout meant that the much smaller ship was using the Thunderchild's own warp field to 'hitch a ride'. The woman got up from her chair and moved over to the intruder, "Oh merciful Goddess, your face" she said with concern as she grabbed the first aid kit and started to walk over.


The Seona smiled as she waved off her companion, "It hurts more than it looks" she laughed as she walked towards Maura. "As for being late, that was a move right out of your own pay book, Maura." Seona flopped in to one of the pilot chairs as her energy seemed to fail her. She appeared exhausted as she allowed her arms to flop towards the floor. She looked out through the main viewing window at the Thunderchild just above them. She could easily make out the port side warp core ejection hatch and the red yellow markings that outlined the hatch.


Maura moved over with the first aid kit and tended to the nasty wound on the side of the intruder's face. "Goddess, what hit you, a brick!" With all the care of a nurse, Maura moved Seona's face so to get a better look at the wound.


Seona laughed, "No. Worse! It was a Klingon." The pair laughed at the joke over the nasty wound. Seona spun in her chair towards the controls and started to run her hands over them. "Securing tethers and deploying the anchors now" Seona added as she continued worked the controls. "If the program in their Emergency Computer Core runs right, they won't be able to regain control over their navigation, warp engines or helm for the next ten minutes. That should give us more than enough time to get out of here."


Once the commands were issued to the runabouts controls, the Thunderchild started to drift further and further away till the smaller runabout was no longer in the Thunderchild's warp field. In a blink of an eye, the Thunderchild rocketed away as the two ships separated. In that moment the Thunderchild's energy drain vanished completely and its power outputs returned to normal. The added strain on the warp field that was caused by the runabout's close proximity also vanished. With the tethers disconnected the Thunderchild was able to identify the source of the energy drain on the ship. It was positively identified as the USS Susquehanna. A Federation Danube class which had been modified to serve as Admiral Stamen Sartre personal launch. According to records, the tiny ship was currently reported undergoing standard maintenance at Proxima shipyards.


Maura watched the mighty Thunderchild slipped from vision as it continued on its current course and speed. "You were wrong by the way. It took them nearly ten minutes to lock down the Command Codes and the Computer Core. As for engineering, seven minutes to activate emergency override protocols. Thanks to your plan, we had control over their computer core in less than four minutes. Who knew that Starfleet ships were so vulnerable to suck attacks." There was a bit of a smile on her face as she explained how the crew had reacted to their invasion of the Thunderchild. "The only problem with your plan was the time you spent to save that crew member. Seona, I know you did what you thought you had to do. But you really need to be careful" Maura had a genuine look of concern on her face.
Seona nodded, "yeah I know." Seona said as she continued to work the controls, "but I couldn't let her die." she sighed for a moment, "though, the memories are coming back more intense. I am going to have to adjust the dose age." She paused a moment to wonder if the Cadet would survive or not.


Maura had a look of concern on her face. "Seona, maybe this is a sign. Look, we have the files we can send them to Starfleet Intelligence and run. Maybe we can find some help for you. Please Seona, we have to think of what those memories are doing to you."


Seona shook her head, "No Maura!" she waved off Maura's hand. "He will never stop hunting us. Starfleet can't be trusted to stop him or the attack" she demanded. "No we have to see this through." There was concern on Maura's face. "don't worry about Starfleet, I left a complete log of how we infiltrated their systems and how they can prevent such attacks in the future."


Maura looked shocked, "you did?"


Seona laughed, "well yeah, I am not a traitor you know" she said as her hands glided over the controls. "Coming to a stop" Seona added as she continued to work the controls of the runabout. Her hands ran over the controls with determination. They were away from the Thunderchild, but not out of danger yet. It was important to remain one step ahead of Starfleet at each turn. To underestimate Starfleet would mean certain capture and surely certain death. Seona's eyes ran over the controls as she issued in further commands. "Okay I am deploying the decoy probes now" she said softy as five small probes shot away from the runabout.


Maura only nodded as she continued to treat the nasty face wound. The Susquehanna's own sensors confirmed what they already knew would happen. Each probe left a warp trail as it departed, and that matched Susquehanna's own warp signature. However Seona had added a slight change to the probes programming. She knew that Starfleet would not be fooled by five identical warp trails. So she ensured that each warp field appeared as if it was masked in some way. As if the probe or the Susquehanna was attempting to mask its own trail. The masking was done completely at random as would be the Susquehanna's own warp trail.


It wasn't as if she was trying to hide the warp trail. Seona knew that this would be self defeating to their plan. She knew that the Thunderchild would be able to detect the warp trails. No she wanted to confuse the Thunderchild as to where they were actually going. Force time to remain on their side and cause the Thunderchild to react to them. The warp trails would be hard to find, but not impossible for the Thunderchild. It was more important to misdirect them.


"Let us get out of here" the Seona finally said once she was sure that her long range sensors detected the mighty Thunderchild coming about. She entered in to the helm their next direction and left just as the last set of probes were entering warp. She checked her watch and noted that everything was happening right on her time table. The reaction of the Thunderchild's crew was right on time, finally. 'Lets play cat and mouse' she thought as she watched the scatter of probes and their own warp trail behind them.


The Maura sighed as she finished treating the wound. "I knew I should have went." She said softy, "Seona, it was foolish of you to insist on you going. Next mission, I will go."


"I know its foolish Maura, but you can't go. You have to remain out of sight. He doesn't know about you yet. I can't afford from him to know you are helping me" Seona said as she rose up from the control. She touched the side of her face and felt no further pain. "I just can't believe I forgot to lock that stupid door" Seona said softly.


Maura smiled and reached up and took Seona's hand, "Hey baby sis, its okay. Even we can't be expected to think of every little detail."


Seona reached in to her sack and pulled out the tricorder. After looking at it for a moment before handing it to Maura, "So do you think they will take the bait?"


Maura nodded, "After today, I don't think they'll have to choice" she said opening up the tricorder. "After all, nearly half of the of the data is in regards to Admiral Ross and Admiral Tate. They will have to notify him of what happened. Once he knows we are after him, then he will have to start reacting to us. Then we can have our vengeance." She said as she scanned the data on the tricorder. "Now it is up to the Thunderchild to play their part in our game."


Seona smiled as she nodded, "Next, its time that we show our selves to him. Lets let him know that we are alive and well. Lets see how he deals with that fact." Seona stood there for a moment before adding, "soon sister we will have our justice. Soon they all will be avenged."


Maura gave her sister a hug, "Go get some rest" she said softly. Then Maura turned and set back down to check the controls, "We have a couple of hours before we reach the space lines. I want to continue your training."


Seona nodded as she turned and walked towards the aft section of the runabout. "I am glad you are here, Maura" she said as she came to a stop and half glanced over her shoulder. There was much more that she had wanted to say but she couldn't bring herself to say it. "I....." she stuttered then continued, "I don't think I could have made it this far without you."


A look of concern came over Maura's face again, "hey, something wrong?"


Seona looked back towards the aft of the ship, "no" she said with a lie. There was something wrong but she couldn't say it. Instead she shook her head as she said, "no, that blow just really shook me up." Seona continued walking aft, "I do need to rest." Within seconds, she vanished leaving Maura alone of the flight deck of the runabout.


Maura turned around in the command chair of the runabout. There was a look of concern on her face. Something was off with her little sister and Maura knew it. The trick was uncovering what was bothering her little sister. That was the mystery. Maura scanned the controls of the ship as she leaned back. The Thunderchild was already making maximum warp for where the Susquehanna had been. Maura smiled as she watched the long range sensors loose sight of the Thunderchild. "Time to play your part Commander Bonham. Notify Starfleet that there are terrorists out there looking for a pair of your star Admirals. And they will let him know we are coming," she said softly.




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Re: The Journeys of the USS Thunderchild

Captain Campbell's Logs
En rout to rendezvous with USS Thunderchild
VIP Quarters, USS Intrepid

"Captain's Personal Log Stardate 53829.04

This is Jackson Fionn Campbell, the new captain of the USS Thunderchild, at least I will be when I rendezvous with her at Starbase 74. I cannot wait to see her again, to walk her halls or to enter the bridge. To sit in the captain's chair? I still cant believe she is about to be mine. I can't think of a ship I would rather take command of than the Thunderchild. It is one thing being a Captain and adjutant to Admiral David Tate. But it is something completely different commanding a starship. I still remember when the command was given to me by Admiral Tate. The Thunderchild is to be Starfleet's very first carrier. This command will surely be one that will be written in to the history books. Not that the Thunderchild wasn't already in the history books. A fine ship with a heroic history.

The last time I saw her we had crawled back from the Cardassia space with our tail between our legs. Ambushed by a handful of Jem'Hadar attack ships, we never even saw coming. If I recall, I was in a scheduled meeting with Lieutenant Jenifer Luther, our ships chief engineer when the attack began. Tactical Officer Bonham took control of the bridge after the Captain and XO were killed. Even then he was a fine officer and he proved himself in an impossible situation that day, a situation I am not envious for missing. He lost both his best friends that day and the respect of much of the crew. They obviously do not know the cost of leadership or the toll it takes.

Fires had sprung up all over the ship, people were laying wounded or worse down every corridor. Power was failing everywhere as the ship took a heavy pounding that day. I knew my efforts would be better severed helping where I was rather than trying to return to the bridge to take command. Beside filling me in while in battle would not have been the best use of our time. I remember the end of the fight, most of its a blur but, toward the end I was trying to help a young ensign who had taken a piece of shrapnel to the chest. He was bleeding badly and there was no way to apply pressure without pushing the shard deeper into his body.


When that lad died, I sat back on my heels and looked out the window as one of out fighters was destroyed in a blast of light before the Jem'Hadar attack ship turned toward the Thunderchild. I could see more of our fighters out there but they could not stop the Jem'Hadar from firing in time. I shouted for everyone to brace for impact. The explosion had knocked me off my feet and into the adjacent wall knocking the air from my lungs. In that moment, I thought that this was going to be the end of us all. We would never escape this battle.

My head was swimming, outside I could still see our boys fighting. I remember thinking we needed to run, needed to get out of here. Our shields were dead and our haul wasn't going to last much longer. I cursed Bonham, 'get us out of here you fool', I think I even yelled it out loud. Another impact and another trip into a wall. I believe that's when I broke my nose, or at least when I noticed it was broken. A medical officer saw me then and tried to help but I brushed him off, telling him to help someone who was actually hurt. As he walked way I noticed he was bleeding himself and pretty badly. I stepped to help him when we went into warp. The acceleration with our ship degree of damage sent me off my feet.

That's the last thing I remember before waking two days later in a hospital bed in Deep Space Nine. A broken nose, three cracked ribs, a concussion, and a eight inch scar down my left shoulder blade. I was awake just in time to see her depart the space station. I remember watching her being tugged in to warp. Her haul was smashed and the scares of the battle were clearly visible. I actually thought that would be the last time I would see the Thunderchild. Surely they would take her to deep space and scuttle her. Fate played a hand in the Thunderchild's return to glory.


Later that day I was given my orders to report to Admiral Tate as soon as I was fit for duty. Admiral Tate had been a long time friend and hell taught me everything I know about leadership. It took almost a week before the doctors finally released me from their care though I bet they wanted to keep me longer. Being bed ridden was not going to be my fate. I started working for Tate the next day. We spent the next year helping the Cardassians rebuild their shattered Union. The Dominion had been beaten and driven from our space, but in their wake was left suffering and destruction that bordered unspeakable.


Now, I sit here looking out the window of this Intrepid Class ship eagerly waiting my new ship. The last time I was aboard, I was her Operation's Officer. I haven't named my XO yet, but after tomorrow my ship will have a Captain. Tomorrow I will be returning to the Thunderchild as her Commander.

end log"




"Captain's Personal log, Stardate 53829.72

I still do not have my ship and now I find that she has been attacked. I hate this, that I am not there to lead my ship. It appears that a young women snuck onto the ship and injured several of the crew and stole a number of sensitive files about Admiral Ross and Admiral Tate. I have ordered the Thunderchild to change heading and meet directly with the Intrepid so that I can take command of the ship and the situation.


What is surprising to me is that the clues are as confusing as those files that were taken. It would appear that we have three possible suspects. According to our files, the intruder could be a Petty Officer named Dolores Traver. She was under the care of Starfleet Medical till she escaped a few months ago. However this is where the clues take a nasty twist. We have DNA evidence that suggests that our intruder is either Corporal Seònaid Melville or Major Maura MacConnell. Both Starfleet Marines, and both killed in action during the Dominion War. Corporal Melville was killed during the invasion of Velos system. I know how bloody that failed invasion was, I was there. What a quagmire that was. So many lives thrown way for nothing. Major MacConnell however would survive the invasion as a POW only to die just days before we could liberate her POW camp.


I remember attending Major MacConnell's funeral. She was a member of my clan back in Scotland, and a full member of the Black Watch. I saw her body during the viewing. So what I don't understand is how her blood got aboard my ship. Okay, so even if she did survive the war, why attack a Federation ship. Major MacConnell's record indicates nothing less than a loyal marine. She trained on Vulcan and even was asked to teach at their Vulcan Institute for Defensive Arts. She has a combat record longer than I have ever seen and half of her commendations seem almost legendary. Within marine ranks, they called her 'The Gypsy'. None of this makes any sense at all.


On top of that, it turn out the intruder also stopped to help one of the more serious injured personnel of my crew. This intruder saved this crewman's life according to my medical staff. Not the safest thing for an intruder to do but crazy enough to sound like Maura or at least one of her ghosts. Her death was because of something just like that. She and her unit were always known to take risks even when these risks would put their own safety into jeopardy. During the battle of Velos, dispite her unit being assigned to a given task, they went off mission to raid a Cardassian POW Camp. Despite the risks to their own safety, her unit managed to save nearly six hundred Federation and Klingon prisoners of war. This act actually caused the unit to become trapped behind enemy lines and the survivors end up as POWs themselves. But they still managed to save those POWs at the end of three day operation.

We have been searching over the files that were stolen and trying to figure out what this intruder was looking for. None of this makes any sense. Most of the files pertain to Admiral Ross and Admiral Tate in some way or another. It is unclear what they were specifically after. I have sent a report to Admiral Tate and updated him on the situation. Currently Admiral Ross' promotion ceremony at Deep Space Nine is still going to take place. But I can't help but think that we are missing something here.


Okay so why invade a ship to take files that you could just download remotely. Why place yourself in such danger? Then why risk your mission to save a life of a Cadet? And what is confusing the most is why leave a complete description of what you did and how you did it. As if she wants me to make sure that this doesn't happen again. We have already informed Starfleet Intelligence about all of this. They are just as confused as we are. None of this makes any sense.


I have given orders to the Thunderchld to have her runabouts ro pursue the trail of the USS Susquehanna, while the Thunderchild meets up with me. Still, finding the Susquehanna seems like finding a needle in a hay stack. She masked her trail just enough to throw us off but not enough to hide her trail. Its like she wants us to follow her but not too closely. Where is she leading us?


In the mean time I will continue to read these files and try to find some answers. Why are they targeting Admiral Ross and Tate?"


Beeping sound....

"Bridge to Captain Campbell" an overly feminine voice breathed through Campbell's communicator.

"Go ahead"

"We are approaching the Thunderchild. Transporter room 2 will transport you there as soon as you are ready"

"Acknowledged. Computer, end log."

 

Re: The Journeys of the USS Thunderchild

Contributor: Captain Campbell (Current Player)

Welcome Aboard, Captain
Twelve Hours from Starbase 74
USS Thunderchild
Captain Jackson F. Campbell, Commanding
Stardate: 53829.75


Commander Bonham walked the long corridor as he reflected the events of his first official command. It has been just over six hours since the mysterious intruder invaded the USS Thunderchild and the crew is no closer to solving the mystery as to who the intruder was. In fact, if he had to rate his own performance, he wouldn't give himself very high marks. He felt out of his element as acting Captain of the ship. Bonham was actually looking forward to give this ship over to the Captain in a few minutes. It wasn't like he felt that he wasn't up for the command, but he couldn't help but feel as if he didn't deserve it. 'All I had to do was take the ship to Starbase 74 and look what happened' he thought as he summed up his command record.

To make matters worse, Lieutenant Kinchlirah in all of her Klingon stubbornness refuses to accept the Computer's identification that the intruder as Petty Officer Dolores Traver. Kinchlirah referred to the profile of Dolores Traver as a shuVak or servant, not fitting of being a warrior. Kinchlirah cited the short combat between the two of them as evidence to this. It was because of this, Kinchlirah couldn't accept that Traver was their intruder.


Nor will Lieutenant Kinchlirah accept that the intruder is Major Maura MacConnell as per the acting Chief Medical Officer's DNA identification of the intruder. Unlike Traver, Kinchlirah couldn't explain it, but she refused to accept that the intruder was Major MacConnell. This has sprung up some heated debates between the Klingon Tactical Officer and both the Science Department and the Medical Department.


Despite these debates and with a near complete lack of evidence Lieutenant Kinchlirah claims that neither of those identification match her own eye witnessed account of the encounter. With nothing else better to go on, Commander Bonham has granted Lieutenant Kinchlirah the time to expand her own investigation in to who might be responsible for the attack. While the ship's crew might not know who was behind the attack, it was clear what this intruder was after.

The intruder had managed to take over 65 teraquads of seemingly random data from the ship's computer core. However thanks to the science department, they were able to go over the data taken and verified that nearly half of the data stolen were all linked to Admiral Ross, Admiral Tate and their staff. Included in what was taken were personal logs, official reports, and activities. The rest of the data all appeared to be random bits of data to cover up the true target of the intruder. Commander Bonham personally placed Lieutenant Paaleia and two other computer techs in charge of rebuilding the worm in hopes of learning more about the intruder and her abilities.

The worm was impressive according to Lieutenant Paaleia. In her own words, it was truly a work of a master programmer. After its mission was complete, the worm self deleted itself. What made it so impressive was the skill used to mask the worm's actions till it was too late for the ship's own computer to react to it. The worm was also highly advanced in its search algorithms as it was able to search massive number of memory blocks at one time. It was twice as fast as the most advanced Starfleet search program. Sadly, this impressive worm was not able to be rebuilt fully. After six hours of work, Lieutenant Paaleia conceded that the most she and her team will be able to salvage was about one third of the worm.


However this was more than enough to help identify the programmer who created the worm. Her team had seen this style of programming by a very limited number of Starfleet programmers during the war. These programmers were used by Starfleet Marines to help hack their way in to Cardassian mainframes. Many of these programmers played a key role in understanding the Dominion communication array on AR-558. However all of these highly specialized programmers were either working for Starfleet Intelligence and accounted for or were killed in action during the war. Another seemingly dead end.

Thanks to the work of Lieutenant Paaleia and her team, three more virus were discovered in the ship's computer systems. One virus left the veteran Vulcan near speechless. It was a type of clone program that simulated normal computer functions while the entire system was actually hijacked. Regardless of what the crew commanded the computer to do, it only simulated the actions while the actual ship reacted to commands from elsewhere. This virus only survived for a few minutes till the ship's computer was able to identify it and neutralize the threat. However during that limited time, the Thunderchild had no control over her own helm, navigation or engines. This virus was clearly used to help the invader escape the ship on her terms.

The next virus was the one which took control over the transporters, internal sensors and internal communications. With controls of the transporters routed off the ship, the intruder or someone else was able to target select personal of the ship and transport them from where they were to another place on the ship. Using the ship's own sensors, the intruder or someone else was able to ensure that the Deck 8, Section 15 would remain clear of crew members while the data was stolen. This virus also allowed someone to monitor internal communications freely. Like the search worm, both of these viruses self destructed as well.

The last virus seemed to be linked with the long range sensors. It was some kind of masking program linked to the sensors. This virus surprised Lieutenant Paaleia and her team. They have no reason to suspect that this virus was written by the intruder. However, based on the data, this virus had gone undetected for weeks. Lieutenant Paaleia is unable to answer why the virus was detectable now. Her only answer was one that Commander Bonham didn't like very much. It was Lieutenant Paaleia's suggestion that it was something that the intruder had done that revealed this last virus. Once more, with one answer came more questions.


His deck crews led by Lieutenant Paxton were able to figure out how the intruder was able to fool the ship's sensors and remain so close. They actually took a space walk and found that the intruder had used tethers to form a direct link to the ship's sensor grid. Based on what they found, as far as the Thunderchild was concerned, the little runabout was just part of the ship. The intruder actually found a way to fool crew members who might have been looking out a window or view port. The intruder painted the runabout jet black and turned off all the running lights. The intruder ran cords of lighting along the haul of the runabout. These lights simulated stars whipping past while the ship was at warp. While the ship wasn't cloaked, it was very hard to detect. A clever low tech way of over come a possible problem. It was a bit of good news, but it also raised some bothersome questions.

The only bit of solid good news was that no one was seriously injured during the attack aside from Cadet Madhev. However the young cadet's wounds were inflicted by her own shipmate. A fact that Commander Bonham was going to bring up to Ensign Faulknen regarding phaser combat in close spaces. Nonetheless, it was surprising that there were no major causalities. Not that Commander Bonham was complaining. Still, a lone intruder made his crew look like a ship full of second year cadets. This bothered his ego more than anything else. Searching for warp trails was equally upsetting and proving to be just as frustration. Based on scans, there were nine equally hard to find warp trails. Each had a variance that could mean it came from the real USS Susquehanna. Each trail headed off towards major areas of space travel making tracking the trails at long distance much harder.

He simply didn't have the resources to follow all of them at the same time with the Thunderchild. If he commanded the Thunderchild off in the wrong direction he risked loosing what other trails as they dissipated. He decided to dispatch all four of his runabouts and all four warp capable shuttles to follow the numerous warp trails which were left behind by the intruder. As the scouts were deployed, he ordered the much faster Thunderchild to follow the most logical trail to its end. This bought them enough time to a hasty rendezvous with the USS Intrepid so that the Captain and XO can come aboard. The commander hoped to have something to report to his new captain and XO. However his trail came up cold as they discovered the trail ended at a Class IX Long-Range Multimission Warp Probe. They had followed one of eight decoys.

Based on the specs of the USS Susquehanna, the runabout was not capable of firing this model probe. Based on what they discovered with the probe, it was not launched via a normal torpedo launcher. This proved that the intruder could adapt to the limitations of what she had on hand. He and Paxton had gone over the specs of this runabout and attempted to figure out what kind of modifications would be needed to fire this probe. After four hours, they found out that the Susquehanna is even more dangerous then they first realized. This was topped by the computer viruses and the personal sensor damping device. The technical knowledge of the intrude was clearly on par with the best minds he had aboard the ship. These facts alone seemed to discount the computer's identification.


'At least Lieutenant Kinchlirah is right in that respect' he thought as he continued to walk towards the transporter room. He continued to ran over the encounter, the more he thought of it. The more it was clear that this intruder was one step ahead of them. This bothered the commander greatly. Based on voice recording, she knew her way around the ship. She knew their security protocols and more importantly, she knew the crew. It was clear that she was speaking with some unknown accomplice during the encounter. 'Most likely aboard the Susquehanna' he thought. This person could have been operating the ship's systems during the encounter. Commander Bonham felt as if he was in a match of strategy, logic and tactics with a Vulcan.


"Steps behind and still trying to figure out the rules of this dance" he mumbled to himself. "No, the trails are not meant to mislead us. Only to slow us down" he added as he paused for a moment.

An hour ago, two more reports from the scouts came back and they were disappointing. Two of his runabouts had discovered two more decoys. With three trails down, that only left six others to come back. 'Six' Commander Bonham thought. It seemed like such a small number, yet in this moment it seemed like a massive number. Commander Bonham thought for a moment before tapping his combadge, "Ops!"


The voice of T'Lora, the acting operations officer came up, "Ops here Sir." Lieutenant T'Lora had been assigned to Operations during refit. Her posting to the position was not permanent as she had expressed a desire to return to Vulcan to continue her studies. She only stayed aboard as a personal favor to Commander Bonham. The ship was sorely under manned as it was and couldn't afford to loss another skilled officer.


"Tell me, T'Lora. Of the remaining trails, how many of the trails lead away from the Sol system?" Commander Bonham asked as he stood there in the center of the corridor. He wasn't sure but something told him that if they were meant to follow the intruder, then it would only be logical that the trail would lead them away from Earth. Or at least that was what he was hopping.


T'Lora gave a moment before answering, "four Sir."


Bonham nodded, "Okay notify Flight Ops. I want those four trails focused on. If I am wrong it wont make much difference in all my other screw ups today. So lets bet that I am right."


"Yes Sir" she replied.


Bonham closed the channel as he turned to walk in to the transporter room. He blamed himself for not realizing that a stolen runabout had gotten so close that it could tether itself to the ship. An intruder was able to hack their computers and board the ship. He blamed himself for the fact that a cadet nearly lost her life. He just shook his head and was grateful that the Captain and First Officer were about to come aboard. Bonham turned and looked at the transporter tech.

"Sir we are ready to beam them over" informed the transporter tech.

Commander Bonham nodded, "Energize."

With that command the transporter lit up and a single person beamed aboard. It had been just over a year since he had seen Campbell. Back then, it was Commander Campbell and Bonham was just a Lieutenant Commander. Campbell and he had always had a good working relationship but they came from two different worlds. Campbell had always been close to Captain, then later Admiral, Tate. Bonham had always been a lone wolf kind of officer. When Bonham was selected to join the unofficial fighter wing during the war, Campbell was already on his way for Command. Bonham had always knew that Campbell was a far better leader than he was. So when he found out that Campbell would be taking command of the ship, he was proud to serve under Campbell.


Bonham was surprise to only see Captain Jackson F. Campbell standing alone on the transporter pad. 'Where is the First Officer' he thought for a second. Before too much time wasted away, he stepped forward and with all the honor and dignity of a Starfleet Officer. He called out, "Welcome Aboard Sir!" He added, "The USS Thunderchild awaits your command, Sir."


Captain Campbell stepped off the pad with a smile on his face "thank you Commander. I am honored to be back aboard." After a short protocol to transfer command of the Thunderchild Campbell motioned for the commander to follow him as he walked for the corridor. "I have been reading your reports Commander and I have to say this is an exciting way to take command." It was clear that Campbell was not an ordinary officer by how he carried himself.


Bonham listened carefully and couldn't resist the bait, "I wouldn't call the past six hours exciting, Sir." The pair continued to walk down the corridor as the conversation continued.


Campbell smiled as he half turned and looked at Bonham, "are you sure? Tell me, when was the last time anyone hijacked a Starfleet Starship's computer and single handedly seized control over the computer core. This lone intruder bested even our resident Klingon. Then leave behind only mysteries for us to solve."


Bonham looked puzzled but answered nonetheless, "Never Sir."


With a nod, "that is my point" Captain Campbell said with a smile. "Starfleet Intelligence has been in regular contact with me over this. Across all divisions they are scared that we are some how vulnerable to this kind of attack again or was this just a fluke."


Bonham followed the Captain around a corner, "Sir with all due respect. I forwarded everything we know to Starfleet Intelligence and to our Chief of Security on Starbase 74."


Captain Campbell nodded as he waved his hand in the air, "I know. And this left them wanting so much more. You just don't know the questions this event has given rise to" Campbell explained as he walked in to the turbo lift. "Deck Two" he commanded to the lift. "Listen Bonham. This intruder has given us a remarkable opportunity to gain some much needed spot light. If this carrier program is to survive, spot light is what we need." He laughed a bit, "if I didn't know better, I would suspect that Admiral Tate set this all up. But I know thats not the case."


Captain Campbell leaned up against the wall of the turbo lift, "still we need to find this intruder or this spot light will turn to poison to us" he said with a sense of seriousness came over his face. "I did some calculating and I have already ruled out some of these ghost trails" Captain Campbell said as he handed over a PADD to Commander Bonham. "I want you to focus your search on these trails" Captain Campbell ordered. In that moment the doors hissed open and Captain Campbell stepped out, "I am going to my cabin to get a shower and change. Set a course for Starbase 74, maximum warp. Its time that we man up completely for what is to come. The runabouts can sniff out our rouge runabout. I want a full briefing in an hour. My Ready Room."


"Yes Sir" Bonham said as he stood there looking at the orders as the Captain left the lift. Just before the doors closed Bonham stopped them by stepping in their way. "Sir wait" Bonham called out. Captain Campbell paused and only half turned. "Sir what about our First Officer. Will we be picking up our First Officer up at Starbase 74?"


Campbell laughed, "No Commander. You will be the First Officer till I find someone better." The words hit Commander Bonham like a fist to the gut. "Also, Commander Ponic has decided not to join our crew as our Commander of Air Group. So I will be looking at possible candidates as a replacement. I expect a list of references on my desk in two days." Captain Campbell said as he resumed his pace for his cabin.


Commander Bonham stepped back allowing the doors to close. "Yes Sir" he said as the doors hissed closed. "First Officer," he said as the lift remained motionless, "me?" He looked down at the orders and let out a heavy sigh, "bridge" he finally said. The lift reacted to the order as Bonham leaned up against the wall of the lift and rested his head against the wall. "Why does everyone think I can lead people. Don't they remember what happened last time I was in command" said as he looked up to the ceiling of the lift. The doors hissed open a few seconds later and revealed the bridge. Bonham saw that center chair and once more felt its weight on him.


However in that moment, he saw someone that lifted his heart. In his gaze he saw Lieutenant Kinchlirah at her station. She half glance up at him as she continued her task. He remembered the last night that they spent together. It was only a couple months ago but it seemed like only a few hours ago. As her eyes locked in to his own, all fears and doubt seemed to wash away. He smiled and lifted himself off the wall. It was like her own will and strength was lent to him. "Okay everyone" he said with a loud strong voice as he walked on to the bridge. "Captain Campbell is aboard and has orders for us" he informed, "so we are going to show him why we are the pride of the Forth Fleet." As he walked past Kinchlirah, he gave her a slight smile.

 

Re: The Journeys of the USS Thunderchild

I've read the the first three segments and I like it so far. The personal logs were a neat way of getting to know these characters, adding a very personal touch to the story. The characters seem interesting and varied, the reluctant, self-doubting 'hero' (something tells me he will stay on, no matter what his future plans are. XO perhaps?), the young rookie chief engineer and the Klingon scientist (say, what, now?) exchange officer. A colorful bunch already.

The period, immediately after the Dominion War, is one of my favorites and the same I'm writing in myself at the moment. My only, minor nitpick would be that the story could use another beta read or so for grammar and spelling.

Definitely going to keep reading.

 

Re: The Journeys of the USS Thunderchild

Thank you for your kind words. I happy that you are enjoying the story.

If you think this is good, just wait.There is much more to come. These posts are our (cleaned up) game posts. Some of these Characters are actually player Characters in our game. While the story is my idea, they deserve the credit for the actions of their characters.

LOL As for my spelling and grammar. I will try to do better. But this has always been my bane.

As for Kinchlirah, the concept came in part from a player who dropped the game. I was thinking why wouldn't Klingons have scientists. I mean after all they built some pretty nasty warships. In Enterprise we learned so much about the culture but it wasn't really explored as much as it could have been. So in her, I want to explore more about who they are. More then just warriors. But as a whole person.

 

Re: The Journeys of the USS Thunderchild

Something Old
Twelve Hours from Starbase 74
USS Thunderchild
Captain Jackson F. Campbell, Commanding
Stardate: 53830.20


Lieutenant Kinchlirah hands drifted over the screens of the Situation Table while other members of the bridge crew tended to their own duties. The table and its alcove were added to the aft section of the Bridge as a location where the Command Staff could meet and go over vital information without leaving the Bridge. The concept wasn't an new idea to Starfleet. During the year long refit, Bonham had been in charge of over seeing the refit. With the new mission of the ship, Bonham knew that the Command Staff would need a place to watch the battle unfold while still manning the bridge. While going over ship designs he had uncovered a set of schematics for the NX class ships. The NX had a very similar table in the aft section of its bridge as well. Bonham liked the idea so much that he asked if one could be added to the bridge of the Thunderchild.


Unlike the table on the NX class, this table could be lowered down to the floor and raised up only when needed. With the glass surface made of transparent aluminum, the table could resist a large degree of punishment when lowered to the floor. Its surface could be made to match the floor, concealing its presence. When raised, the table can act as a powerful projector giving the bridge crew a three dimensional view of the space around the Thunderchild. A set of holoemitters around the table gave the table remarkable focus and made for very detailed information. All the operator needed to do was to point at the section desired and the focus of the table would recenter of that part of the image. The table was tied directly to the ship's computer and also could act as a briefing area on the bridge.


Lieutenant Kinchlirah carefully went over four images that hovered over the table. As if four separate files were hovering in space over the table, Kinchlirah moved her hands in the air and manipulated the images. Before her hovered the personnel file for Major Maura MacConnell, Corporal Seònaid Melville as well as battle data. Her mind was focused on the task at hand, but she was not unaware of what was going on around her. She knew that coming up behind her, Commander Bonham was stalking. She smiled to herself as the memories of them a few months ago came back to mind. Despite his attempt to be silent, she could hear his motion. "Haven't I warned you about sneaking up on a Klingon, Commander" she said. It was almost impossible for those outside of earshot to hear the playful tone in her voice. She wouldn't allow anyone to know her true feelings for Commander Bonham.


As he side step around her, he smiled, "you have Lieutenant" he said. His voice was calm and braced. If there was anything currently between the two, it wasn't easy to tell. "You have also said that a Klingon could never be surprised. I mean to prove this wrong." It wasn't clear by his voice but in his eyes held the love that he had for her a few months ago. The first time Lieutenant Kinchlirah came aboard was just days after the major refit had started. Her mission at the time was to have her point defense system installed aboard the Thunderchild. The system was part of a larger technology exchange between the Empire and the Federation. It was designed to engage fast moving smaller targets much like the Jem'Hadar fighters that had swarmed Klingon ships during the war. It was a very fitting addition to a ship like the Thunderchild


The two had spent long hours working on this defense systems of the ship. Very few knew that Bonham and Kinchlirah had history before the refit. That history grew until it wasn't long before the two fell in love with each other. Their heated affair was the talk of Utopia Yards. Bonham had always been seen as a pretty boy with blue eyes to die fore. The burn marks on his face only added a deeper level of mystery to his appearance. Some even referred to Bonham as the Thunderchild's own Will Riker. Some females at Utopia Yards even referred to Bonham as a heartthrob.


No one understood why the relationship ended abruptly, it seemed to be going strong then one day Kinchlirah was leaving the Thunderchild. Neither Bonham nor Kinchlirah would speak of it. After she left, Bonham seemed noticeable sad that she had left. Now that she has returned, many wonder if the relationship will resume or if it would be over. Rumors across the ship and around the ships yards was that the relationship never really ended, it just went behind closed doors. Since she came back aboard, side from friendly playing the couple has not shown anything other then professional respect towards each other. "What are you looking at" Bonham asked as he moved to the other side of the table. He scanned the files that hovered over the table.


"I am searching for, what do you call it? A needle in a grass stack?" Lieutenant Kinchlirah said as she continued to read the files. Her eyes couldn't help but find his as she spoke. She saw in his eyes, the reflection of her own feelings towards him.


Bonham smiled as their eyes met as he heard the intentional mistake. He knew that she had studied all her life to be where she was today. Studying on Earth was something she had wanted since she was a girl. He also knew that she often enjoyed playing down her own intelligence allowing others to guess who they were dealing with. "The Invasion of Velos?" he questioned as he manipulated one of the files around so that he could read it. "The Invasion from Hell, as many would call it" he added.


Lieutenant Kinchlirah nodded, "I have heard stories of this battle from my brother. Its strange that such a battle would barely a historical footnote during the first year of the war. Both Major MacConnell and Corporal Melville fought in the invasion. They were serving in your Starfleet Marines. They also served in the same unit. Corporal Melville was the unit's senior communication tech and Major MacConnell was the unit commander." She looked up from the table and right in to Bonham's eyes once more. "These reports seem to be leaving much out. I know many of the stories from my brother, but I want to know more. Wasn't the Thunderchild part of that invasion," she inquired.


Bonham nodded, "Oh yeah, we were there. Admiral Ross had chosen the Thunderchild as his flagship during the invasion" he explained and then righted his posture as he folded his arms across his chest. He really didn't want to go down this road but he knew he didn't have much choice now. "So what do you want to know?" He took in a deep breath as he was getting ready to go down that dark place in his own memory. He couldn't help but realize that his mind had so many of these dark places. 'Had the war ruined me' he questioned himself.


Kinchlirah knew Bonham better than most. She knew that he wore his wounds much deeper than what was visible. There was a link here and she could feel it. "I am sorry to do this, but I want to know everything. Please tell me what you know."


Bonham nodded as he took a deep breath. "Well, the war was just getting underway. We had lost Deep Space Nine and pay them back in kind. Sure we just recaptured Deep Space Nine, but we needed a victory to rally behind. Velos seemed like a good bet. It was prison world that was far enough way from the main battle lines that could open up a new front. Velos had been used during the Cardassian/Federation war and rumor had it that there were still some Federation POW's held there. When this invasion was planned, it was a well known fact that Velos was holding current POW's from enemies of the Dominion. With the war shifting the way it was, no one was really looking at Velos. However when these plans were drafted it seemed almost impossible to ignore them."


He played with the display revealing a series of defense platforms, "Velos had a defense array which was used as a model for the system built to protected Chin'toka system. Velos' defense system was not as vast as the one being built in the Chin'toka System but it was still critical for the defense of the region around Velos. In fact, the defense array at Velos was critical in keeping this sector protected. It was the heart of a series of detection and defense networks that took the Cardassians two decades to build. Chin'toka was to join this network," he explained softly.


He leaned forward and pulled up the historical records of the battle. "The plan was actually Major MacConnell's idea. She had a hell of a strategic mind on her. She knew that taking Velos out of the war would open up a vast region of the Cardassian Union to attack. One big misconception about the war was that we faced defeat after defeat during the first year. Actually the truth is that we had a lot of little victories here and there. The Marines really worked their tails off trying to hold off a tidal wave. But the little victories were not enough to stop this tidal wave. Velos was suppose to divide this tidal wave against its self. The plan was brilliant if I say so myself. Everyone who saw the plan was encouraged by it. But the big question was, could her unit get behind enemy lines and shut down the array before the fleet could arrive. This was critical to the mission's success. Major MacConnell was sure her unit could accomplish their part of the mission."


He continued to play with the images to that Kinchlirah could see what he was talking about. "So the small fleet departed Deep Space Nine with Admiral, well Captain back then, Tate was in command of the orbital assets while the ground forces were led by your older brother Kras."


Kinchlirah nodded, "Yes I recall him speaking about this battle, as I said. Kras often referred to this battle as Starfleet Marine in their finest hours."


Bonham nodded, "yeah. Heroes were born of this battle. And those same heroes also died during this battle. Once the fleet reacted its holding point, Major MacConnell took her unit aboard four runabouts. What happened next would go down in the history books of the Marines. Almost right away, the Cardassians and their Dominion allies knew about the attack. There was doubt that the mission could be successful. However the green light was given anyway. Despite the Cardassians knowing what her goal was, Major MacConnell and her unit was able to complete their mission. You should have seen the reaction on the bridge when we saw the defense grid going down. Velos was open for invasion. No one knew how she and her unit took down the array, but the array wouldn't come back online till it was destroyed after the war. Even after the invasion, the Dominion did everything in their power to restore the array with no luck. This would be one of few real victories of the invasion. From that day on, the Dominion had to position ships along the region. Ships that could have been used against the Federation and her allies later in the war."


There was a moment where pride creped in to his voice as he spoke, "Captain Tate gave the order for the space assets to start the invasion." He brought up an image of Major MacConnell and her personnel file. "Now, you see that Major MacConnell's nicknamed is gypsy. She earned that nickname because she often went on her own doing her own things. This was no different. With her part of the plan completed, all she had to do was withdraw back to their own runabouts and make it back to our own lines. You see, the Cardassians had nearly half the planet covered in a dampening field. So the only way for them to get out was by transport. But that is not what she did."


"No one knew what she had planned instead. She turned part of her unit for the prisoner of war camp that was almost twenty kilometers away from their target area. To everyone's shock, her unit liberated the camp and started to evacuate the prisoners using her own runabouts. As the battle shifted, her unit and the freed POW's had to take refuge in a mountainous temple overlooking the prison camp. After the first day of battle, we all actually thought that her plan could succeed. However that was before the Cardassian and Dominion reinforcements arrived. On the ground and in orbit, the tide had shifted against us. It was then we realized that this had been a trap from the beginning. Major MacConnell's unit was cut off behind enemy lines and their only hope was a closing window to get shuttles and runabouts in and out. We could have evacuated her entire unit at one time but she wouldn't leave behind any of the POWs."


He looked down, "when word came down that the window had closed cutting off the remaining POW's and MacConnell's unit, I think many of us took it like a kick in the gut. The orders were given that the fleet was going to pull out, leaving Major MacConnell and her unit behind. We had hours to do something. So a handful of us junior officers decided to make one last desperate run to get them out. We tried to get as many runabouts and shuttles together but math is a horrible thing. It doesn't matter what you do. If the math doesn't work, then there is nothing you can do to change that. It was my idea so I lead those craft in to a hell storm of fire. I don't think I will ever forget that night. We came in hot and fast and still lost two shuttles and a runabout going in." He looked up to the ceiling of the bridge, "god you should have heard Captain Tate dress me down when we got back."


He looked back at her as he continued his story, "it was like landing in the middle of a nightmare. The ground was soaked with blood." He closed his eyes as he remembered that night, "I recalled seeing my footsteps as we got ready to depart." Once more he opened his eyes and looked at her, "to think that many people died. Not just Humans, Vulcans or Klingons. But Cardassians and Jem'hadar as well. The field was littered with these dead bodies. I was on the ground for only fifteen minutes, and that was fifteen minutes too long for me. My God, I couldn't imagine what those Marines were going through."


He paused a moment to regain his thoughts. The memories were painful as he could almost hear the screams of the dying and the sounds of explosions. "The Dominion was pushing again hoping to catch us on the ground. I never saw Major MacConnell but one of her officers told me that she and her people would hold the lines while we evacuated the wounded and more of the POW's. We loaded up the remaining craft with as many people that we could get to fit. When we lifted off, I remember seeing the lights of hundreds of Cardassians getting ready to make a final push. Getting back was no easier as the Dominion was not about to allow us to leave. We lost another shuttle on the trip back. Instead of leading the retreat I held back with another runabout. We did our best to keep those fighters off the shuttles but there was just too many of them."


He stepped back and leaned up against a console, "so when we got back to the Thunderchild, we learned that MacConnell's unit had been over run shortly after we departed. It was a slaughter Kinchlirah. Before the Communication line when died, The bridge crew of this ship heard her" he said pointing at an image of Corporal Melville, "die." He paused a moment before continuing, "The entire battle, Corporal Melville was giving landing instructions to incoming shuttles, calling in fire support and giving details reports of what was going on. I remember as she talked us in to our landing sight. I could hear the weapon's fire over the channel. I had hoped that the report of her death was false but after the war, her body was discovered in a mass grave. Like I said, heroes were made that day. Melville was just one of those heroes. Her voice never choked till the bitter end. Velos was their finest hour."


Lieutenant Kinchlirah pointed at an image of Major MacConnell, "and her?" she asked then added. "Do we know what happened to her?"


Bonham only shook his head, "No. According to camp records she was killed by the camp commander just days before the camp was liberated after the war. Though there was no body found to support this. To think, that she survived the war in that camp only to be murdered just after the war."


Lieutenant Kinchlirah shook her head as she looked at the image of Major MacConnell. "I look at this image and I know that this is not the person I fought" she said but there was doubt in her voice. "The training is there. The skill, the Spirit of the Warrior. This was all there, but the eyes. This is not our intruder." She reached across the space above the table and with one fluid motion she wiped away all the files. She keyed up an invisible keyboard and brought up an image of Corporal Melville. She manipulated the image so that only Corporal Melville's eyes were visible. "This is our intruder! I know it" she proclaimed. "But the training is not there. And now you tell me that she is dead." She looked up and in to his eyes, "tell me, why would a ghost want to come back and haunt this ship?"


"Now that is the million Latinum question" Captain Campbell said as he walked up behind Lieutenant Kinchlirah. "I take it we are finding out the identity of our intruder?"


Lieutenant Kinchlirah shook her head, "not conclusively, Sir."


Captain Campbell looked down at the large pair of eyes gazing back up at him from the table, "so" he said changing the image to see the full face. "This is who we are looking at for being responsible for the attack?"


Commander Bonham stepped forward, "well Sir, as you can tell this person is dead. So there is much more to be uncovered."


"I am expecting something more definitive for my briefing, Number One" Captain Campbell said looking down at the image. He turned to Lieutenant Kinchlirah and smiled, "I have heard quite a bit about you Lieutenant. Honored Warrior and Hero from the Empire. I'm glad to have you aboard, Lieutenant. Chaq may' maH holodeck qaStaHvIS HeghDI' jIH settled vItul" he said in Klingon.

It was clear by her expression that his Klingon left much to be desired. But the meaning came across clear. Lieutenant Kinchlirah shifted her stance a bit reflecting that the way the conversation just turned was uncomfortable for her. "If you insist, Sir" she replied with her eyes shifting from Commander Bonham over to Captain Campbell. "For now Sir, I have work to complete if I am to be ready for your briefing. If you will excuse me" she said coldly and deactivated the table. She turned without waiting for the Captain to reply. As she walked away, the table slowly lowered while the glass table top turned off and shifted in to a color that matched the flooring.

As the two men watched her walk to a near by lift, Commander Bonham spoke up, "Don't be offended Captain, Lieutenant Kinchlirah is not like other traditional Klingons."

"Obviously, perhaps I should apologize" Captain Campbell said shaking his head. Campbell motioned for Bonham to follow as he walked towards his ready room.

As the two men worked their way across the bridge, "Its not that Sir. Kinchlirah, You see is different. Growing up as a Klingon means others will see her only as a warrior. Yes she can fight. But she is much more than that." The two walked in to the Captain's Ready Room. As Campbell took his seat, Bonham choose to sit on the lavish sofa. In his voice was much more than just respect for the Klingon Exchange Officer. "She has had to fight her whole life. First among other Klingons just to earn their respect. And that was not easy for her because she has chosen a path other than being a warrior. Now, with outsiders who only see her as a warrior. Truth be told if Starfleet Command would have allowed it, I would have made her Chief Engineer of Chief Science Officer. But surprising as it sounds, It was easier to get her posted as the Tactical Officer, and we really need her aboard, Sir" Commander Bonham explained.


Campbell had known of the relationship between Bonham and Kinchlirah before coming aboard. The feelings that Bonham felt for her were clear to Campbell. However instead of saying anything, Campbell only nodded and allowed his new First Officer to continue. "Don't apologize Sir. But try to look past her race and see the brilliant woman that she is." On that note Bonham paused as he looked Campbell in the eyes. "Sir I am bound by regulations to inform you that Lieutenant Kinchlirah and I have been romantically involved. We both decided to break it off just before she returned to the Klingon homeworld" he said using only half of the truth. The whole truth was that she ended without speaking to him about it. He never wanted their affair to come to an end. "She wasn't expecting to return so it seemed like a wise move for us. As it stands now, we have not rekindled our relationship."

The Captain looked outside one of his large windows and smiled as he leaned back in his chair. "I am well aware of your relationship Number One" he finally said. "Hell Addison, it would have been impossible for anyone to not notice your relationship. Just about every female on Mars weeped when it happened" Campbell joked. The truth was, that Starfleet Intelligence had already dug in to the relationship to ensure that this was not a security risk for the Thunderchild Program.


Bonham looked down and sighed, "Sir, we will not continue the relation..."

The Captain turned in his chair as he cut off Commander Bonham with a smile, "Do you think she would prefer tri-dimensional chess or Strategema?"

"Sir?"

"I choose my words carefully when I spoke to Lieutenant Kinchlirah, there is more than one way to do battle, Addison" Campbell said changing the conversation.

The Bonham looked a bit confused, "Kal-toh, sir"

Campbell thought a moment than said, "Yes, I know what game you prefer Commander. I'm not sure you could handle another loss like last time" there was a smile on his face as Campbell spoke.

It took a moment for Bonham to switch gears but he finally got on track. "Sir, if your memory is troubling you I could escort you to sick bay" he said smiling and added, "the last time we matched wits, it was a three day event and you only won by a narrow margin." Bonham waved his hand to ward off further talk about the past, "It is her preference as well. I taught it to her nine months ago and she can already beat me. That is what I love about her. Her mind is really something else Captain."

"According to her Personnel file, she is a remarkable woman" Campbell said as he got up and walked over to his replicator. As he walked across the room he added, "it's good to see you again, Addison"

Bonham nodded as he answered, "if it were under better conditions, I would agree Sir. However, the ship was infiltrated. I have a cadet in the sick bay that nearly lost her life. No one has any idea what this person was after or who this person is." As Captain Campbell was about to order up a bottle of Scottish Whiskey Bonham stood up, "If you would wait Sir. I have a surprise for you" Bonham said as he got up and walked over to a panel on the wall, "I figured that synthehol that you had to drink while on Admiral Tate's staff might have worn your taste buds." Bonham activated the security code and the panel opened up. Campbell nodded and walked up behind Bonham to see what he was doing. "So I did some shopping before we departed Mars" he said pulling out a bottle. Bonham turned around and handed the bottle over to Campbell.


Campbell read the bottle and rested a hand on Bonham's shoulder. "Scottish Whiskey. The real thing?2201" Campbell questioned. It was against a number of regulations to have real alcohol aboard. But this was Scottish Whiskey and Campbell being an honorary member of the Black Watch was not about to turn his nose up to such a gift. "Something special about that year?"


Bonham smiled as he returned to his place on the sofa, "I did some research. In 2201, Starfleet laid the keel for the first space going USS Thunderchild. Like us, that Thunderchild tested all kinds of new technology. A new warp six engine and the first of her kind to employ such an engine. So I figured that seeing how we are creating history with this ship, it was only fitting to find a bottle from that year. Like bridging history. Finding it was not easy, either. Took me over three months to find that bottle."


Campbell laughed looking at the bottle, "Okay. So tell me, Number One. When did you find out I was being assigned as Captain?" Campbell walked over to his desk and picked up a pair of glasses.


Bonham only smiled, "Oh come now Sir. You know I have my ways"


Campbell nodded as he walked over to the sofa and placed both glasses down. "We tried to keep this secret till the ship was actually through her space trails." Campbell opened the bottle and poured the golden liquid in to both glasses.


Bonham nodded, "True but some secrets just keep be kept" he said picking up the glass. The truth was something completely different. He had found out thanks to Lieutenant Pander who had found out after she seduced one of Admiral Ross' aides. It was one of few times that Lieutenant Pander's nightlife had benefited the ship. But Bonham wasn't about to let that cat out of the bag.


Captain Campbell raised his glass, "To a fine ship that will make history."


Bonham nodded as he touched his glass to the Captains. He took a sip from the glass and enjoyed the flavor and burn down his throat. It was something that synthehol simply couldn't match. "Sir, the Thunderchild is a fine ship" he finally after a moment of pleasure from the drink. "We have a crew that any Captain would be proud of. But are you sure that you want me as your Number One? I didn't think Admiral Tate would have approved of this. You know, after what happened and all."

Captain Campbell gave out a deep laugh at the shift in conversation. "You are right about this crew. As for Tate" he said taking another sip, "you two have your issues and history. I can't over look that. But he will back my choices for this ship. I have his complete support when it comes to this ship and this program. The Thunderchild has to prove successful. That is why you are here. I wouldn't want anyone else by my side."


Bonham looked in to his glass and sighed, "thank you Sir for your support. I wont let you down." Bonham didn't want to inform the Captain about his plans to transfer off the ship. There was already more than enough going on to be worried about that. Plus he assumed that the Captain had already gone to bat for him with Admiral Tate, so he didn't want to look a gift horse in the mouth. "Sir, I just don't know if I am cut for this anymore. After all, look what has happened already. And well you know about the last time I was in command...."


Campbell raised his hand to end the list of why nots, "it's not your fault, Addison. I read the reports. I'm not sure anyone could have prevented this attack. Now enough of this. You are my Number One till I have someone better. Is that clear?"

Bonham nodded, "Yes Captain."


Captain Campbell took another drink from his glass and smiled. Bonham was just like how he remembered him after that battle. If Admiral Tate had his way, Bonham would have been drummed out of Starfleet. But Campbell knew Bonham better and wanted him aboard this ship. Campbell wasn't about to give up on Bonham. But what Campbell wanted to know was if Bonham could find that officer that he had once been. That man who stood up to a Admiral and led a flight of shuttles in to hell and back. The Bonham that Campbell remembered was a fine officer who was most likely the best pilot in the entire fleet. There was no doubt in Campbell's mind that Bonham was the right man for this job. But he wasn't sure if Bonham still believed that, and that was the real question.

 

Re: The Journeys of the USS Thunderchild

Leave and Logs
Chief Medical Officer and Ship's Counselor
Starbase 74
Stardate: 53830.20


Contributor: Leana (former player)


Chief Medical Officer's Personal Log:

"I am trying to enjoy what remains of my shore leave here on Starbase 74. It can sometimes be hard for me to relax. I always feel like there is something I'm forgetting when most certainly there isn't. Councilor McCoy always implores to 'talk to me about it', knowing full well I don't want to. I am not a typical Orion...."

She rolled my eyes. "Computer. Delete last sentence."

"I did, however, take Erica's advice and took some holodeck time this morning. Though it was only simulated, I had missed my favorite beach on Sigma Orionis. The warm suns. The violet sand. A drink in one hand and soft violin playing in the background. Truly my kind of day. Though after about an hour of bliss I remembered I was to meet Erica for lunch. This assignment has already been long for me. For the past year, all I have been doing is wondering Mars waiting for the refit to be completed. I miss Orionis.

"As I left the holodeck, I was accosted by a Ferrangi who seemed to think that I could be purchased. Just a reminder of my heritage, I suppose."

Once more she sighed heavily. "Computer. Delete last two sentences."

The beeping sound notified her that a transmission was coming in. "Computer pause recording."


"Computer resume recording. Hold that thought. I have just received word that the Thunderchild has undergone an attack during my time away. From what little I have read of the acting CMO's reports, there is a lot of confusing going on. From what the reports tell me the intruder's identity is a mystery. How can someone's identity be unknown today? There has to be a mistake somewhere. It sounds like I will have my work cut out for me."

Doctor Leana Vanleare, Chief Medical Officer, USS Thunderchild. End Log"




Contributor: Vertroue (former player)


Counselor Erica McCoy's Personal Log:

"Sometimes talk is to much...When I can get everyone else to talk why can I not talk about me?"
Erica shakes her head at her terminal. Carefully she picks herself up from her desk. With her vacation nearly over she is waiting for the USS Thunderchild to arrive at Starbase 74. With a heavy sigh she starts pacing the room.

"When there is a war going on people need to talk. The very few other trained Counselors on board Thunderchild are good...But they need more work. They need time. With all the time during the refit, it surprised me that many of my team were more interested in day trips around Sol. So now here we are. There is no more time. The ship is ready and will be in a few days."

"I had a chance to really enjoy a much needed vacation with my good friend Leana. Sometimes I forget how much she means to me. Clearly one of the best Doctors I have seen in a long time. I think my Grandfather would even be impressed with her skills. We had a chance to spend some time with my family during this vacation. Mom and Grandmother were both great, but Great Grandfather made a point to avoid the gathering. As he often does."


"I had a chance to introduce Leana to my family. I know that she takes too much of her job to heart. In this short shore leave finally managed to get her to loosen up some. She is decidedly different then any other Orion I have met to date. Not a bad thing, in fact, it gives me a better knowledge on the facets of different cultures." Erica turns to the computer and sighs. "I am waxing again." Erica starts to pace again.

"Dr. Vanleare, is one bundled ball of emotional energy. Sometimes she really needs to lighten up. But she doesn't. Instead she dives so hard in to each case, giving all of her heart to what ever is in front of her. I have been after her to open up some. She needs to talk, either be it to her log, or to someone in the flesh. All that matters is that she does. That and relax, good gods that woman doesn't slow down!"

"We had lunch earlier today where she made light of a situation with a Ferrangi on her way to meet me. Only to a trained eye was it noticeable that it had her on an edge. Sometimes I hate being able to read emotions and sense their surface thoughts. I know the run in really bothered her. You would think in her uniform, someone would know better....."

Bzzzzt!

Incoming Message!

USS Thunderchild has been attacked!

Be advised all leave is hereby canceled! Expect to return to the Thunderchild upon arrival

End Message

"Crap! Computer end log."

Computer logged out as Counselor McCoy

 

Re: The Journeys of the USS Thunderchild

Captain's Briefing
Captain's Ready Room
USS Thunderchild
Captain Campbell, Commanding
Stardate: 53830.26


The captain's ready room was filled with the senior staff. This included Captain Jackson Campbell, Commander Addison Bonham, the ship's current XO, Lieutenant Kiera Medart, the ship's Chief Engineer, Lieutenant Kinchlirah, the ship's tactical officer and Klingon exchange officer. Attending the meeting via Subspace communication were Commander Leana Vanlaere the ships Chief Medical Officer, Lieutenant Erica McCoy the ships Counselor, and Commander V'rol, the ships Chief of Security.


The topic of the meeting was the recent attack on the ship by an unidentified woman. Unlike the Captain and Commander Bonham, most had not been aboard the ship for years and lacked that strong friendship among themselves. For most this was their first time serving together and even worse some had not even had a chance to report to the ship before the crisis began. Others like Lieutenant Kinchlirah were aboard for temporary posts. Lastly, there was Lieutenant Medart who not only was completely new to the ship, she was completely new to service beyond the Sol system.


After being given his blessing, Lieutenant Kinchlirah stood up and walked over to a monitor on the wall. She activated it as she began her presentation. "I know that the computer disagrees with my findings and so does the medical staff. I am not blinded by what must be because your records say so. Nor was I impaired by her flash and concussion device as were other witnesses to this intruder. I saw her eyes and I know who she is." A image of Major MacConnell came up with physical stats along side the image. "Based on her size in comparison to my own size, Major MacConnell, regardless of life or death, is too tall to be our intruder. Petty Officer Traver is simply too meek in the eyes." Lieutenant Kinchlirah explained. She turned to face the image of Petty Officer Traver.


"This woman" she said motioning to a picture of Petty Officer Traver. The image was a file image taken before her capture by the Dominion during the war, "is not our intruder." Lieutenant Kinchlirah ran her eyes over the image slowly as she thought. "I know you may find this hard to accept or see this as conjecture. All three of our suspects share one thing in common. Velos. Petty Officer Traver was liberated after the war on Velos. Major MacConnell was a POW on Velos and was murdered by the camp commander, according to reports."


She took a moment to pause and think of her next words, "But in my heart I know that these two first women are not our intruder. I read there personnel files over and over. Whom I battled with in that brief moment in time, in the main computer control room was not either of these women. There was fire in her eyes that can only burn from a heart of a warrior. Passion for what ever her goal had to be." Once more she paused and took in a deep breath as she turned to face the officers of the room.


"I admit that there is much in this that we don't know. But to further pursue this, Petty Officer Traver would be a mistake." she turned to the control panel and turned both images off and then she brought up a third option. "It is my opinion that this woman is our intruder." She said bringing up an image of blond human female holding a Violin. The image was clearly taken somewhere on Deep Space Nine.


"I have seen those eyes before. It was back on Deep Space Nine. She fought a Klingon who was assigned my ship. His name was W'Kanga from the House of Varnak. A Klingon that saw victory as more important than honor its self. Her ability to take hit after hit was impressive. I would not have believed it if someone had told me about this fight. But I saw it, I was there. He picked the fight with her expecting an easy pray. She turned out to be much more than she appeared. Like me at the time, he was young and inexperienced. But he was strong, much stronger than she was. She however was cunning. Allowing him to expend his energy in the fight. She managed to keep light on her feet and what blows she couldn't dodge she deflected. However that also meant that she had to take some painful blows. Each time, she got back up and taunted him. Finally, he made the mistake she was looking for. Tired from his own attacks, and eager to end this embarrassing match he left himself open. I watched her put him down with a series of combination blows that ended with a flying leap kick as the finish. My shipmates and I were shocked at what we had seen."


She brought the image out a bit showing Quak's Bar. She was wearing civilian clothes and the image was some kind of ad for the bar its self. "When we were stationed there, I know that I had seen this human before hanging out at Quak's with Doctor Julian Bashir. They used to frequent the bar on a number of times before this fight took place. However after this fight, um, around Stardate 52022.71, I never saw her again. And trust me, I had meant to speak with her about her fighting style. It was quite unusual to say the least. I believe my former commanding officer might have some information on this woman, so I have taken the liberty to request it from him. I am pleased to inform you that after hours of searching" she said turning to the image, "I was able to identify our intruder as Corporal Seònaid Melville. While the DNA does come close, it is not enough for a positive match. But I know that this is our intruder. According to Starfleet Marines, Corporal Seònaid Melville was killed in action during the failed invasion of Velos."


Lieutenant Kinchlirah brought up Corporal Melville's personnel file for everyone to read as she continued, "I know that this is not probable but the other matches simply don't measure up to what I saw. Who I hit. No, I know this for a fact, Corporal Seònaid Melville is our intruder."


Once more, the image zoomed in on the woman and her violin. Captain Campbell couldn't help but noticed the woman standing next to Corporal Melville was Major MacConnell. On his own display he moved the image around to get better angles on what he was looking at. In the image it appeared that both women were standing on the second floor balcony of Quak's waving to people below as if they had just preformed for the audience. He remembered that Major MacConnell had often invited him to join her unit back when the ship had put in at Deep Space Nine. He never made the time to join them. A mistake he was now wishing he hadn't made. She had often seemed to act as if they knew each other. Truthfully it kind of set him back a bit.


In the image, he saw that they were both smiling and neither were in any kind of uniform. Both women were wearing traditional Scottish Tartans. Major MacConnell's Tartan was of deep green, dark blue and black. Captain Campbell owned a kilt very similar to that. That was the Tartan of the Scottish Black Watch. The woman known as Corporal Melville wore a Tartan of blue, green and black which was of his own Scottish Clan. If Lieutenant Kinchlirah was right, than this meant that the trail was now taking them towards Earth. Captain Campbell knew knew just the man to speak to now. Father Douglas McLeod knew just about everyone in their Clan. It was time to shed some light on who was this ghost from the past. And Father McLeod was the man to speak with.


Lieutenant Kinchlirah's investigation revealed new light as to who the intruder was. However it didn't help with why she attacked the Thunderchild or where she was. The tall Klingon was replaced by Commander Bonham who got up to speak. "According to Operations, the intruder's attack on our computer seemed random but it was far from random. It was a targeted attack on files linked to Admiral Ross and Admiral Tate and their staff. Personnel Files, Logs, Tactical and Strategic Reports, everything. Somehow she managed to clone a Admiral's level security clearance. We have already notified Starfleet of the type of data taken. Strangely, no file accessed and copied were dated 2376 or later. Meaning that all the files were prior to 2376. A lifetime ago in the terms of information security. It was as if this was part of the search parameters. This means that the damage can be mitigated but doesn't shed any light on what the intruder was looking for."


He moved on to the nature of the computer attack, "She had everything timed out during her attack. She knew how long it would take us to react to the situation and plotted every move within that time table. A very highly precise attack and one that not just anyone can accomplish. She turned our own systems against us to hinder our response. This all shows us that our intruder shows a degree of forethought that makes her remarkably dangerous. Our intruder is also well thought out. She was able to use a computer virus to hide the fact that she stolen the USS Susquehanna from the Proxima shipyards. They actually had to physically check each bay, each holding area and each sub-yard before they could confirm that the runabout was not there. During this time, they actually argued with me that they were missing a runabout. While I have no doubt that she is dangerous, I can not ignore the fact that she saved Cadet Madhev's life. Clearly, a decision made in the heat of the moment. But listening to the voice recordings of the attack, you can hear that she had a strong familiarity to loss of life."


"But also as you listen" he paused to play a recording of the intruder.

"If you listen to the desperation in her voice, she was unwilling to leave the Cadet to die. There was a personal connection to the Cadet as the intruder knew the Cadet's name. I spoke with Cadet Madhev in depth on this matter. She has no knowledge of the intruder. This means that the intruder had been stalking us for some time. But we are clearly not her primary target. Based on this, In her eyes, I don't think we are seen as her enemy. More like, the means to a goal. Plus listen to how she presents her case to our medical bay. There is clearly advanced degree in medicine. I am under the assumption that this intruder has already thought of what her next series of actions will be." Commander Bonham took a moment to take in a deep breath as he searched the eyes of the senior staff.


"Even as we speak of her now, she is two steps ahead of us. We need to quickly figure out what her over all goals are and move to get ahead of her." During the past year, he had a number of senior staff meetings back at the repair yards. He made similar comments like this a dozen times. But in this moment he realized that was no longer the commanding officer of the ship. His eyes fell on the Captain, "My apologizes, Sir. I meant no disrespect. This is your meeting, it is your course of action that we should decide on." Commander Bonham said as he moved to sit down.

 

Re: The Journeys of the USS Thunderchild

Contributors: Kiera, Vertroue, Leana (Former Players)


Lieutenant Medart paid little attention to the briefing as others were talking. Instead she was more focusing on the information on her PADD. It wasn't as if she meant to be disrespectful, but there were a number of issues going through her mind at the same time. First she had been constantly rethinking her suggestion. She knew her facts were right but she hated that she doubted herself. So because she doubted herself, she forced herself to look at the data in as many different ways to ensure that she didn't miss anything. She had already had a number of little missteps and she wasn't about to make another one.


Second was the way the intruder had used the ship's own senors against them. It was masterful in the way they created a kind of fake skin around the runabout and fooled the Thunderchild in to thinking that skin was part of the ship. Looking at the data now, it all made prefect sense. This was the reason why the energy drain was happening on the ship's warp field. The senors could be fooled but not the warp field. 'Mass is still mass.....' she was thinking but her train of thought was interrupted by a long bit of silence in the room. She lifted her head to see that everyone was watching her. 'Oh great, I'm up to bat' she thought.

She slowly rose up to her feet as she cleared her throat. She turned and looked towards the captain across the large conference table. "I've been able to determine two warp trails that are the most likely courses of the runabout. Basically I checked the volume of gas of each warp trail and compared it against how much the Susquehanna normally produces when at high warp. That got rid of all but two of the trails." She paused to bring up on monitor the mathematics of how she came to her conclusion. It was all so simple to her. She was even able to check her work using a number of highly detailed charts.

"One leads towards Hellaspont Nebula. Read Admiral Tate is hosting a war game with part of the 4th Fleet near there and, according to Lieutenant Kinchlirah, that area is well known for smuggling." Once more she brought up a number of other charts and graphs showing the increase in smuggling over the past five years.

She smiled as she felt like she was on a roll. "The other warp trail leads to Starbase 74. The Lieutenant informed me earlier that currently there are only four runabouts and our fighter group stationed at the Starbase. So we could send word to have those units conduct searches in the area. But I don't think this is where the Susquehanna is going. If I was going to hit a Starfleet ship I wouldn't be caught dead getting near a Starbase. That is just inviting danger. But seeing how the Admiral and his ships had moved their war games to this area to discourage the smugglers and pirates. It is unlikely that the intruder knows about these war games. Its more likely that she is heading a path that will take her near Hellaspont Nebula."

She hadn't realized that during this time she hadn't taken a breath. Now with her lungs almost depleted, she paused just long enough to take a breath. She glance towards Kinchlirah before looking at the captain again. "I have conferred with Lieutenant Kinchlirah before this briefing and it is my recommendation that we should head to Hellaspont Nebula to intercept the Susquehanna." She smiled broadly as she felt as if she had really scored points in her briefing. She had even ensured that her charts and graphs were visually appeasing.


Captain Campbell flipped through the charts and the other resources provide and with a nod he spoke up. "Your data looks pretty sound to me, Lieutenant. Nice work. We will maintain our course for Starbase 74 and inform Admiral Tate to be on the look out for the Susquehanna."


Medart was floored at the Captain's comments, "Sir, I am sorry but didn't you hear me? I said that it is my belief that the Hellaspont Nebula is where the Susquehanna is going. Shouldn't we change course and intercept?"


"Lieutenant" Captain Campbell said as he looked up at her. "We belong to the 4th Fleet. There are over a hundred starships in the 4th Fleet. We have the largely Susquehanna out numbered. We do not need to chase her all over the sector like some mad man. We coordinate our actions with the rest of the fleet through Admiral Tate. Admiral Tate is currently ahead of her with a number of ships. With your help, they will know what they are looking for and will be able to trap her. If we are needed to assist, then we will need a full crew and our fighters" he explained softly. With a smile he leaned back in his chair, "see Lieutenant, this is how we do it. We work together and coordinate our actions with the rest of the fleet. Understand?"


She nodded as she took her seat. She didn't understand why they couldn't make the capture but she wasn't about to argue this point with the captain. Instead he motioned for the next person to offer their opinions. It was Dr Leana Vanleare's turn to speak up.


"Sir if I can" she said via subspace channel. "While I am unaware of how the intruder was able to get aboard the Thunderchild, I do know that she has advance medical knowledge. I listen to the replay of her voice through the transmission." She played back the recording for them to hear again.

Unlike Lieutenant Medart's briefing, the veteran CMO keep her findings concise and to the point

"Having gone over the reports of my staff regarding Cadet Mahdev's condition, our intruder was completely on the mark with her diagnosis. Which is remarkable. Even with a tricorder, you would need a greater understanding of the device to determine an intra-axial hemorrhage from an extra-axial one. I agree with the Commander, this person has advanced medical training. I doubt that she could have just 'picked that up on the road', or whatever the expression is."

It was clear that her time spent with Dr McCoy and her lessons in common Earth phrases just snuck into her report at the Captain's briefing. 'Fantastic' she thought then regather her composure.

"If she is indeed human and IF her identity is still in question, I suggest that we look into personnel files of medical schools. She has to exist somewhere. She may have altered her appearance, but with the right program I think we could 'snif her out'. Her clothing may also give us a better starting place as well if it is common among a certain group of Earthli-.....people." She didn't mean to make this mistake in calling them Earthlings. Sometimes she tended to forget that Earthlings don't like to be called Earthlings. "Though Dr McCoy may know more about that than I do. What are your thoughts, Captain?"


"May I cut in please Captain" said Doctor McCoy. During the meeting thus far she had been listening to both the spoken meeting and listening to the audio file from the intruder.


With his permission she continued. "I am going to point this out." Erica plays back part of the recording to the meeting.

"The actions given in this recording gives us multiple meanings. First, the person she is talking to understands the need to save the Cadet. The operator on the other end, while rushed to give orders, is not forcing a transportation which could be done during that time. The need to save a living but fallen comrade shows history within the ranks. That kind of loyalty is not normal to just anyone but is to someone brought up in this kind of culture."

Thinking for a moment Dr. McCoy continues.

"As Lieutenant Kinchlirah has already stated, the appearance of the Intruder matches that of Petty Officer Traver. Whose last assumed location was on Terra. If this was indeed the Petty Officer, which would be interesting as she was reported to be in a relapse mental breakdown after her ordeal on Velos VII would conflict with the almost calm person that was dealing with not only the injury but also that of implanting the security override to retrieve those files. Unless I am mistaken those files needing to be in a specific data search that would normally be easy to access if you have plenty of time. She did not have that luxury. From the sounds of it she was not only in a hurry, but was also dealing with several different fights between the time she entered the room till the time she was transported out."

"The Intruders voice also belied underlying emotional distress. As if there is much more here than meets our eyes or in this case our ears. I would advise to not be quick to jump to conclusions about what is happening. Even if we truly think we understand. As for our Petty Officer. We don’t know what happened to her when she was on Velos VII in that camp. According to her file, she never really wanted to talk about her time there. But if history is the key, it isn’t a pretty picture that could be painted. This can change someone completely, from meek to a fighter. But Lieutenant Kinchlirah saw her in action and from the sounds of it meek to fighter doesn't cut it. She was very well trained and Petty Officer Traver was never that good.

Pausing and taking a sip of water next to her,

“The files we have on Petty Officer Traver, again Lieutenant Kinchlirah has me on this, show an individual that had worked well under orders. But just that, Petty Officer Traver had always been willing to follow any orders given to her. But she never really excelled at anything. Kind of like just going through the steps of living in stead of truly living life. These are not the actions of the person on that audio file. To me, this seems too much like two people. Which given the fact that the DNA almost matches that of Major MacConnell, could very well be true. The Majors’ file does not list any family, but is it possible for it to be a close relative such as a sister in that picture?”


The Captain nodded as he took in all that was said. "I can see where my medical staff is coming from. There is no reason for us to change heading. This much is clear to me. However there is something I want done. Starbase 74 is hosting a very special guest. Gul Bolon. Don't bother searching for him, you wont find him. His location has been a very closely guarded secret, and for good reason. The Federation is meaning to transfer him to the Klingon Empire where he will stand trial for the horrors that he committed. It is most likely that he will be put to death by the Klingons. And this is the reason why this is all being kept secret because many in the Federation are against this transfer. So what makes Gul Bolon so special? He was the Camp Commander of Velos VII Internment Camp. Commander V'rol, I want you to take our two Doctors and question Gul Bolon about Major MacConnell. Lets see if we can prove rather she is a live or not." He waited for the nod from V'rol before continuing.


He paused a moment, "I don't think that this Petty Officer is our intruder. I would really like to believe that the dead have not chosen to hunt my ship. That leaves Major MacConnell. With no body, lets at least rule her out or put her name on our list." He was about to change subjects when he remembered something. "Oh, don't worry about the whole getting in to see the Gul. I will talk to the Starbase commander. Being on Admiral Tate's staff allowed me to make a lot friends, and he is just one of them. You will have a chance to speak with the Gul. Just don't waste this meeting. Get to the bottom of what happened to Major MacConnell."


He looked around, "Okay before we move on. Does anyone have any questions?"

 

Re: The Journeys of the USS Thunderchild

Contributor: A_Magical_Taco (Current Player as Captain Jackson Campbell)



With the new evidence before him, it was all that Captain Campbell could do but not become lost in the image that Lieutenant Kinchlirah had found. Something so innocent like a holoflyer could rip open unrealized emotions. He knew that his staff were all watching him as his fingers traced the face of Major MacConnell. 'If these women really are from my clan, then I may know someone who can tell me more about them.' He half whispered half thought. He didn't glance up as her eyes almost seemed to grip his gaze and refuse to let go. As if a voice from the shadows of his memory were calling out to him to not let go of these feeling. A voice calling him to look deeper in to the darkness and see what is not seen. "I know a Priest" he said to his command staff. "He is a well respect man among my clan and if anyone knows about these mysterious women, its him" he finally announced.

"Everyone, if you will. Please be quiet will I a place a call" he said as she turned his monitor over to the subspace communication net. "I want everyone to listen. What we uncover may shed some light." He said as he prepared for the communication link. Father Douglas McLeod was well known in his Scottish Clan. But it would be the first time he would ever reach out to the old Priest. Still the man was well respected. With no objections the Captain turned in his chair and opened up the link.

"Computer, open up a subspace link to Father Douglas McLeod location, Edinburgh Scotland, Earth"

After a moment a elderly man appears on the screen. The image of the man in his sleeping clothes almost brought a smile to Campbell's face. Campbell recognize the man immediately as the person he was looking for. "Hello?" said the old priest, his voice is rough but pleasant, "Its not like Starfleet to reach out at this hour. How my I be of help Captain?"

"Father McLeod, I am sorry for the late hour of this call but I really need your help. I'm Captain Jackson Campbell of the USS Thunderchild. Proud member of both the Black Watch and Clan Campbell. I was hoping you might be able to help me?"

His old face looked as if he was thinking a bit then all of a sudden he brightened up in to a smile. "Oh my goodness. Blessed by our Father in Heaven. It's you Jackie ole boy. How have you been m'boy. It's been so long since I have heard from you."

'This old Priest was clearly out of his mind' Campbell thought as he didn't remember ever meeting this man before. 'Better to play in to the old man's failing memory than to upset him' Campbell add as the old Priest finished talking. "My apologize Father, I know it has been a while since I've called the church. I will make a better effort in the future. Unfortunately, I am not calling for pleasure or spiritual guidance, I need information about the women in this picture"

Pressing a few buttons on the computer's panel the picture was sent all the way back to Earth. Campbell could hear several quick beeps through the monitor that told him that the image had arrived on Father McLeod's monitor.

He laughs, "Call son? Its been what, eighteen, twenty years since I last saw you. Oh lad, you used to get in to so much trouble." he looked at the picture. "Oh them? you mean the MacConnell sisters?" he added as he leaned back in his chair. "I remember how you and the older girl, oh what was her name. Maura! Yes, Maura! I am sure of it. How you two used to always get in trouble together. Lad they still talk about how you two used those holoprojectors and copied old man Grant's sheep." He laughed as he continued, "oh it took poor Grant what a whole day to figure out which were his sheep and which were made up of holograms." Father McLeod kept laughing, "I remember when they caught the Las, and they tried to make her give you up. Sure everyone suspected you were in on it with her, but she never gave you up. Four days she sat in that cellar till her foster parents finally gave up asking" his laughter at the flood of memories didn't reflect any intention to deceive. This is what bothered Campbell the most. He knew he had never met Father McLeod in person before.


"Oh lad, this is a treat for an old Priest" he added softly but a bit of coughing caused him to pause before continuing. "That one loved ya lad, it was shame you moved away. I really...." he started to cough again. It seemed to be worse but after a while he finally regained his composure. "Oh my boy, the years haven't been kind to this old priest. The Our Father came down and claimed my beloved Kenina two years ago. I am grateful that she was taken in her sleep."

He paused as he tried to bring his thoughts back in to order, "Oh I am sorry, a busy starship captain like you doesn't have time to listen to me ramble." he looked at the pictures once more, "So lad, what did you wish to know about the MacConnell sisters that you didn't already know?"

If recent events couldn't have been more strange, Captain Campbell just crossed over in to a realm of shadows and illusions. He took a deep breath and spoke softly. "Father, are you sure you have the correct Jackie, I don't recall that at all. Not the getting in trouble or the sisters. What was Maura's sister's name anyways?"

The old priest laughed, "You are Ken and Selina's Jackson. Right?" he paused a moment for Campbell to nod. "Here give me a second." The old rose from his chair and hobbled over to a book shelf behind him. He ran his finger over the books till he found one. "Ah here it is," he said as he pulled out the book and returned to the monitor. He started to flip through the pages of the photo album. "I Baptized you when you were just a babe. I remember your mother cried when the water washed over you. She was so proud." He sounded so sure of himself that it actually was starting to worry Captain Campbell.

He pulled out a picture, "Here you go lad" he said as she scanned the image and sent it over to the Thunderchild via subspace. The image ripped away any doubt in Campbell's mind that something was terribly wrong. Within the image set three children upon a large rock near a river. Two of the children, a boy and a girl, were clearly early teens. They were holding hands and the boy was smiling so shyly and the girl was blushing. The third child was sitting between and just below them. This child was a younger smaller female. The image seemed to be so natural as if it was taken during an outing or something. Campbell taped a command in the computer sending a closed message to V'rol to authenticate the image. Commander V'rol only replied via the monitor that he will begin at once.


What blew Campbell's mind was that he recognized himself in the image. 'How could this be, I should remember this!' Campbell thought as he heard Father McLeod continue, "that was taken the summer before you moved to Mars. Oh, and her name, that one there, the younger one. Her name is Seònaid, but she always preferred Seona. It was at a youth retreat. It was the last one you and Seona would attend."

He smiled as if he had just won a chess game. "Now tell me, lad. Do you question the memory of this old priest now?" The smile on Father McLeod's face showed that he was being censer in his statements. Sadly, with the revelation of her name came more questions.


Campbell thought long as he looked at the image, 'who are these girls and why don't I remember them?' Leaning back in his chair as he tried to smile sincerely. "Thank you for this" Captain Campbell said as he desperately tried to remember anything about what the old priest was talking about. "I don't remember the sisters, nothing at all. My first time on Earth wasn't until attended Starfleet Academy. As I was growing up I don't recall ever being any kind of trouble maker. My parent may have loved me but they are renowned scientists, "Campbell said as he was building his own case. "If I was caught misbehaving they would have had me survey every plant in our local atrium or would have had me write a report on foreign metals from some distant star system," he said speaking of his own upbringing.


"And my mother, she always knew when I had done something wrong, her position on the President's Council for Scientific Research made her into a human lie detector. So trust me, hiding something from my mother was nearly impossible. It made me sharp as a knife for sure but she was a surgeons scalpel compared to most. My family never so much as broke a rule that I can think of. So I just don't think we are talking about the same teenage who you remember me as" Campbell explained. He wanted to redirect the conversation back to the sister. So he asked, "father, why did Seona not go back to camp the following years? Did Maura ever go back?"

The old priest's smile faded, "That son was somewhat of a mystery to me. It wasn't long after Seona' turned ten there was a big dispute. Sure they claimed it had to do with you and Maura being caught out in the woods. But you two weren't doing anything wrong out there. I told them it was natural for two young lovers to be kissing and that such a drastic change for all three of you was not a wise idea. I found out later that there was so much more going on. Having been around the block for just over a hundred years lad, I picked up on things."


He paused a moment before continuing. "This had nothing to do with what you and Maura were doing. Seona was sent to live with other foster parents in the village of Torridon. Maura wouldn't see her sister again till much later. You and your family moved to Mars."


In that statement, Campbell knew that he had the Priest now. His family had always lived on Mars. He had pictures and everything to support this. "Father, I think you are mistaken....." was all that Campbell was able to get out before being cut off.


Father McLeod smiled and held up a hand. "Trust me lad, I am not mistaken. A few months after that, you showed up at the church with plans to reunite Maura and her sister. It would appear that you two kept in close contact after the move. According to you, the grand plan was that the three of you would run away and live together. Lad, you two were just teenagers and hadn't a clue. I couldn't allow this. At the time I just didn't know the truth." He lowered his head as he signed, "I am sorry I had to contact your parents. Your mother was fit to be tied when they showed up."

He looked up once more, "I know loosing you broke Maura's heart and being separated from her little sister was making it all worse. She would spend much of her time here at the church. I don't think she wanted to be at home because it reminded her what wasn't there anymore. I looked out for her till she ran off to join Starfleet," he paused as he thought.

"I would travel to see Seona each spring to continue her education in religion and philosophy. I would run letters back and further but I don't think that helped much. You lad, I didn't see you till after you graduated from the Academy. I had hoped that you and Maura would have met back up. You know, seeing how you two were at the Academy during the same time. Sadly, you seemed to have moved on with your life. When Maura returned from Academy for a family reunion, she seemed so hurt. The death of love, Lad, that is the worse of all feelings."

Captain Campbell just wasn't buying this story till a message flashed on his monitor. It was V'rol with disturbing news. The image was genuine! With a heavy sigh Campbell asked, "what do you remember of my plan to reunite Maura and Seona, Father?" This whole conversation was upsetting to say the least. How could Jackson not remember nearly half of his childhood. Then again, what about the memories he did have. 'Keep him talking' flashed in Campbell's mind. It was all he could think of right now because none of this made any sense. 'The MacConnell sisters are from my clan and they seem to have a stronger connection with Father McLeod. Perhaps he is helping the sisters, lying for them, playing a game to trying to confuse me or something.' Captain Campbell thought as he listened to what the Priest had to say next.

Father McLeod shook his head and smiled a bit, "Lad, that was it. Maura loved her sister as much as she loved you. And you lad, you loved Maura as much. I truly believe that in your hearts, you thought that together the three of you would do just fine." He paused a moment before talking, "I know that Seona and Maura were exchanging letters twice a year. See the sisters both spoke prefect Scottish Gaelic. I taught them the language of their ancestors they came to live in our community. It seemed to have brought them closer together." He rubbed his chin, "I am sorry rambling again."

Father McLeod looked down with sadness, "Not that any of this matters, Maura is gone. They didn't even have a body to bury. I know that she was not Catholic, but even her own believes had certain rights that had to be preformed. I did my best for Maura but with out a body, I couldn't do her justice."

Father McLeod slowly looked up from his desk, "tell me Lad, what is all this about?"

The revelation that the sisters spoke Scottish Gaelic continues to make this conversation even more confusing. It is a language that Jackson had been able to speak for as long as he could remember. Yet neither of his parents knew a word of this ancient language. Up until this point he figured the father was lying or mistaken. Even with the picture as evidence, Jackson didn't want to believe what he was being told. But now Jackson was no longer so sure. 'The three of us being able to speak the same language is definitely interesting turn of events' Jackson thought to himself. And then added to his thoughts, 'but if I really did know them why can I not remember any of this?'

Captain Campbell was starting to doubt his own memories. "Father, did you also teach me to speak Scottish Gaelic" Jackson asked softly.

The old priest shook his head, "No lad, I didn't teach it to you. Though the amount of time that you and Maura spent together, I thought she taught it to you. After all Lad, you two had a strange knack for learning things quickly. I remember when Father Seòsaid Kelly taught you two how to play three dimensional chess. Oh the Good Father, God bless his resting soul, was a great chess player. After a year though, the two of you were beating him on a regular basis. It got him so mad that he quit playing either of you. The only match you had, Lad, was Maura. You two would spend hours in my office playing each other to draws. Truthfully I had never seen anything like it. Sometimes you two would just look at the chess board in the middle of a match and then say that the match was over. When I would ask, you two would just say that it was clear that neither of you could beat the other in that match."

He smiled as if thinking about something, "I remember suggesting to your parents to have you two compete in the Federation Chess Competition. Neither of them would have it, saying your studies were more important."

Now that was something that Jackson could accept. He loved games of strategy. He could watch a match play out and know who was going to win long before it was over. "I do love a good game of chess." Jackson started to loosen up as he smiled at the old man and lean forward, "Father, what about Seona? didn't she learn chess with us?

The Father nodded, "aye, I do believe so lad. The wee las was like a puppy to you two. From the day she could walk she follower you two about. You took her under your wing as if she was you own sister. I guess you felt bad for her seeing how their birth parents were killed. I really don't know much of the what happened to them, they just showed up in the middle of the night. They were brought to our community from the city. Your parents and their foster parents were very close so it made sense that you three got close also."

He looked sad, "It had its tests from time to time. The last big test for our community was when Seona's sister tried to sue for custody of her little sister. I remember it quite well. It was right after Maura graduated from the Marine Academy. It was rough going for everyone involved. Even some members of the Clan were split on this. Your mother came in from Mars to talk to Maura personally about the case. I remember seeing Maura leave after that meeting. She was in tears and left. I found out that she dropped the custody suite and returned to the Marines. I never saw her again."

What Jackson was learning was heartbreaking to say the least. More troubling was the fact that he still had no memory of these events. He knew that his mother often traveled but all those were due to her duties for the President or the Science Council. After a moment to take in what was said, Jackson finally asked, "what else did she like to do? Seona that is."

Father McLeod smiled once more. "Oh Lad, she loved that violin I gave her when she turned nine. It was an old thing I found at a thrift store and reconditioned it for her. She loved playing it. Even made some hologram videos of herself playing. The only kid I know that could program complex hologram programs. She even at a young age, she was brilliant child."

Jackson could help but interrupt, "Do you have some of those holograms?"

The old father looked strangely back at Jackson, "Its strange that you ask that. I have a set of recordings that she left for you." He worked his hands over the controls of his computer, "I will send the entire package to you."

This confused Jackson even more but he waited for the download to finish while he asked another question, "you said that you keep in contact with her. When was the last time you spoke to her?"

The father nodded as he spoke, "aye yes lad, We would speak regularly before the war. Here and there I would get a message from her then nothing. I didn't know if she was a live or dead. When they told me she had been killed in action, I was heartbroken. I buried her next to her sister. It was raining that day when I laid her to rest Lad. But like a ghost lad, without warning, she showed up in the middle of the night here at the church. Jackie ol boy, all the time I have known her. I have never seen her so scared. She had a nasty wound on her back from a energy weapon of some kind. I wanted to call the authorities but she begged me not to" he paused a bit before continuing. "Half starved, half terrified for her life and running from something."

He cleared her throat before going on, "She said she was in trouble and needed help to get off world. When I asked her what kind of trouble, she only told me it was best I didn't know. I trust her and treated her like my own daughter. So I helped book her passage off world. A few days after she left the town was visited by a pair of Starfleet Officers. They said they were from Starfleet Intelligence but acted like a pair of thugs. They asked everyone all kinds of questions about some Petty Officer. They said that she was wanted for murder. But I knew they were lying. I knew Seona would never murder someone. It just isn't her, boy."

This conversation was really adding more twists to the situation than Jackson cared to admit. But he had to know the truth, "do you know where she ended up?"

The old priest shook his head, "after she left here I tried to follow her but her trail went cold. I guess those two officers lost her trail too cause they returned a few days after that and threatened me. They questioned me for hours. I didn't have anything to give them. Seona is a smart girl, lad, she knows how to not be found. Hide and seek was her favorite game as a child you know." He said but Campbell didn't know. "She used to keep you two searching for her for hours. When I demanded my attorney they let me go and it was the last time I saw them."

Jackson believed what the old priest was saying but wanted to make sure. "I would really love to get in contact with her, any ideas how I could do that?"

Once more the priest shook his head, "lad if I knew I would have helped your rude friends from Starfleet Intelligence. But Seona won't give me any details about what was going on, other than someone was out to kill her. She wouldn't tell me who that person was or why. Only that he was powerful and untouchable. I am sorry lad, she didn't tell me anything of her plans or where she was going. All she did ask of me was to give you that package. I can't tell you how she knew you would call but she said sometime in the future you would be calling on me to ask about her. She made me promise to answer any question you had as truthfully as possible."

Jackson looked at the file as the transfer completed. There were five holoprograms within the data stream. The title line read simply, 'I know my life is over, please don't forget who I was before it all changed' To Campbell's surprise the line was written in Scottish Gaelic. Jackson finally asked, "she knew I would call?"

"Aye lad, I don't know how. But she was for sure you would call" the priest replied.

It was what he had expected. After all why make the plans if she didn't expect him to call. "Any guesses as to who was after her?"

The priest leaned back in his chair and sighed, "No lad, I don't know. But I have to tell you this, who ever it is can instill fear in her like I have never seen before. It was if she was more fearful that something was going to happen to all of us instead of herself. She said that she hadn't slept in five days and had been on the run from 'them' since she escaped. I asked her where she escaped from but she wouldn't tell me. I asked who they were, she wouldn't tell me. Lad, I am telling you this girl was scared. She passed out before she even finished her soup. I treated her wounds while she slept. She was really beaten up. Someone had pushed her to her limits and was not letting up."

Jackson thought of changing the subject a bit, "do you know what my mother said to Maura?"

"Aye, I do" he said. "Before Maura left I asked her what was said. Maura told me that your mother said she could have Seona committed to a mental institution if Maura didn't drop the case. Further more, Maura had to break off all contact with Seona. It was the reason why I helped Seona get away from her foster parents. I am the one who secured her false identity." He smiled as he rubbed his head, "Even criminals need God's forgiveness every once in a while lad."

Jackson perked up, "False Identity? Can you give me a name?"

He nodded, "remember lad, she made me promise lad to answer all your questions. I gave her the name of Seònaid Melville. It was mother's maiden name. But I am surprised you don't know this already. I told those two Starfleet Officers the same thing as well. Told them just about everything I am telling you. But they didn't ask these kinds of questions. You know, you guys should learn to communicate more."

This troubled Jackson a lot, "do you remember the names of the intelligence offices?"

"Aye lad, Smith and Jones" he said firmly.

Jackson didn't even bother to push that. It was clear that they were fake names. He did ask, "what kinds of questions did they ask?"

"At first it was the normal questions. Then when I told them her name. They pushed me for more information about her military training and what she did. I didn't know anything about that. We only talked about personal things. But they wanted to know if she would betray the Federation. I laughed off the question, its Seona lad. She loves the Federation. She loves Starfleet but it was the Marines who was her family. The Marines saved her from her foster parents and that place she lived in.

Jackson nodded and found the situation growing more complex, He was going over the hologram programs as the Priest was talking. The degree of programming was impressive. He sent the file over to Medart so that she could look deeper in to them. "Where did she learn this level of programming" he finally asked.

The old priest laughed, "lad, she had the best teachers money can buy. Her foster parents would bring in some of the best minds from across the Federation just to teach her. I to think how lucky she was to have such generous parents looking out of her. She wasn't allowed to attend regular school because her foster parents felt that it stunted her education. Come to think about it, I don't think she had many friends once she moved to Torridon. The Estate she lived on was massive. But I don't recall her talking about friends at all."

Jackson thought for a moment than asked, "Why were things so bad that she had to move to the estate and new foster parents?"

"I don't think it was the actually foster parents themselves. After all, everyone who lived and worked on the estate treated the Seona very well. I think it was more the illness and the after effect is the reason why she was moved. You see lad, the two of you, Maura and you that is, were always being seen by Doctors. I used to think how strange it was that you two were always being seen by doctors. But your mother ensured that you had the finest in treatments. I lead the charge against this illness. Truly driven by the hand of God she was. You three had the same condition. I guess that is what drew you three together" the priest explained. He took a deep breath as he thought a bit.

"I guess I should explain from the beginning. Each month you and your parents would take trips in to Edinburgh to be seen by a specialist doctor for your condition. Your mother and father worked hard to find a cure for your genetic disorder. I remember when everyone found out. You were never suppose to have survived your first year. But you have always been a fighter Jackie ol boy. I think they call it, Krussk Syndrome. It attacks the mental and nervous system. But I would talk to your mother about it. From what I understand it infects one and three million humans. Now lad, that is the will of God. Three children infected with this very rare illness only miles apart. Not only that, but surviving this horrible illness. I used to tell your mother that you and Maura were meant to be together."

He paused a moment then continued, "When their parents passed away, the sisters were moved here and stayed with Doctor Volante and his wife. They were personal friends of your parents. During the first few years they lived here, Maura seemed to get sicker while you were getting a bit better. But after a while the treatment was starting to work for her too. But with the girls' immune system weakened, it was best to keep them away from other people. This was why they were not allowed to attend school. Your mother devoted most of her life here to finding a treatment for the illness. She really sacrificed her life for you three."

"I remember one time, Maura had a relapse. I was called in just in case to give the girl last rights. I remember seeing little Seona in the corner crying. Your father was so angry that he threatened to take Seona back to Edinburgh. By morning, the relapse passed as did the anger between your father and mother. I wont pretend to know what the entire situation was about but I know the emotions between them over Maura's condition ran deep. A few months after that was when the treatment really started to take hold and soon Maura didn't need further treatments."

"When you moved away, Maura remained with Doctor Volante's family. Seona was moved to Torridon. A small coastal village up the coast. She stay at an estate own and operated by Starfleet Medical. I think your mother knew the man that ran the estate there. Um, I don't recall the name but I am sure he is a Vulcan. Some Admiral I think. He took Seona in as his own daughter. It was really a very nice place. Everyone there loved Seona and she was always treated so nice. But she was always so alone. She missed you and her sister. I never understood why it was important to keep the sisters apart lad. I don't think I have much more to offer you lad. Tell me, is it true? Is Starfleet hunting Seona down? If so, why?"

Captain Campbell leaned back in his chair and sighed heavily. He simply didn't know enough about the truth to answer. What he did find out left more questions than answer. "I'm afraid at this point there isn't much I can tell you. We are still just piecing thing together ourselves, but you have been a tremendous help, father. I will be sure to let you know if we do find her."

He coughed more but got it under control. "Lad, if you find her. I don't want you to forget that she is a good girl. For as long as I have known her, she has never willingly hurt another being. I don't buy these claims that she killed anyone and you shouldn't either. Lad you act like she never existed before. But she remembers you like the older brother you were to her. Maybe if you just give yourself a chance to remember that." He coughed even more, "I have to go. Be well Jackie ol boy."

The transmission ended and Captain Campbell just looked around the room almost lost as what to say. There was a heavy weight on his shoulders as he searched the faces of his staff. He wasn't sure what he was looking for but knew it wasn't here. Normally it was a moment like this when Admiral Tate would step in and make an order. But this was his ship and his ordeal to deal with. He took in a deep breath. 'There's no going back now' he thought. "Okay, V'rol you have your orders. Medart, I want you to put a team together and get in to these holo programs. It was clear they were meant for us. So lets see what we can find in them. Anyone else have any other questions or comments?"


Hey guys, I am looking for a bit more feedback. If you are reading this and have comments, ideas, suggestions or would just like to tell me you hate what I am writing. Then please email me at Akirapryde2006@yahoo.com Please include in the email title the name of this thread. Thanks for your help/feedback.

 

Re: The Journeys of the USS Thunderchild

Contributor: A_Magical_Taco (Current Player as Captain Jackson Campbell)


Captain Campbell leaned back in his chair as the feeling of a thousand gazes rested on him. His entire life he had one image of his childhood and family. Now Father McLeod words were like a wrench being thrown in to a glass window and revealing something completely different. His looked around the room at his senior staff as they all watched him. 'Direction Jackson' he thought and added, 'no time to contemplate now, Jackson, your people need to see you in charge.'

He leaned forward resting his arms on his desk, "Commander Bonham."

"Yes, sir" the Commander said with a nod.

Captain Campbell look at Commander as if daggers were being thrust in to the man's eyes. Campbell made sure that there was no doubt in what was about to be said. "Commander, until this mission is over I not longer have a private life to you. I want you to conduct the most thorough security background check possible and I want it done on me. Find proof that this claim is accurate or put it to rest once and for all. There is simply too much at stake now."

Commander gave his captain a nod as he said, "sir, it is possible that what this Priest said could be false. It is highly unlikely that something like this could have gone this long without detection. With that said, I will find the truth. Where ever that truth takes us, we will find it. But I might require the help of our Chief of Security."


Over the subspace channel Commander V'rol nodded as he spoke, "I will speak with some of my contacts in Star Fleet Intelligence. I too also agree with Commander Bonham, something like is unlikely."


Captain Campbell had to have answers to what was just revealed. He nodded, "thank you both of you." After that he turned to Lieutenant Medart and Lieutenant Kinchlirah, "Chief, get with Lieutenant Kinchlirah and analyze those holovids. That last vid, at the end, that landscape appears like somewhere on Bajor. I can't put my finger on it. But I think I have seen this before."

While Lieutenant Medart nodded, it was Lieutenant Kinchlirah who answered, "yes captain."

"Doctors. it will take me a bit to set up your interview with Gul Bolon. In the meantime report to Commander Bonham. I want to know everything there is to know about this Krussk Syndrome, find out what doctor I supposedly saw in Edinburgh." He said then paused a moment, "Also, I want both of you standing by when we arrive. I want a full evaluation done to see if I show any evidence of this disorder, past or present. I want to know if any of this has a possibility of being true"


Both doctors nodded their head in acceptance of the orders. Captain Campbell looked around the table as if this crisis had just reached out and ripped out every memory he had of his home and childhood. With a heavy sigh he leaned back once more. "I don't remember any of this" he finally said. He didn't know what else to say as the words seem less than adequate. "None of it. I don't remember a childhood on Earth, at least not until I joined Star Fleet. I don't remember the MacConnell sisters and I can't recall one time where I have met the father. Now, I'm not sure what is going on but I want answers."


He looked around once more as he said, "if there are no more questions, you all have your orders." He motioned for the door continuing, "you are all dismissed." He was distrout over what was revealed. Something was nagging at him about all of this. As if a crack was made in a wall in the back of his memory. This nagging feeling that there was much more than what was being discovered. As the senior officers all rose and started to leave, Captain Campbell motioned to Lieutenant Kinchlirah. "Lieutenant Kinchlirah, if you would stay for a moment" he finally said with a level voice.

The Lieutenant stopped and turned toward the captain as she stood at attention. She patiently waited as Lieutenant Medart was the last one out the door and it had closed behind her.

Once the door was closed she finally spoke up. "Yes, Captain" she said calmly. Her muscles were tense as she already had an idea of what the captain waited.

Captain Campbell sized her up as he motioned towards her, "relax Lieutenant, take a seat." He motioned in the general direction towards a table along the wall.

Confused and not fully understanding what the captain wanted she only replied with "Sir?" as she remained standing.


The captain stood up as he started to see that this was going to need a bit more of a direct approach. He smiled as he said, "I would like that match if you are, Lieutenant?"

Lieutenant Kinchlirah took a deep breath, her displeasure was obvious. "If you wish, Captain. When would you like to proceed" she commented.

"Why not, right now," he said as he walked around the large table that occupied part of his office, ready room and briefing room. When he first reviewed the plans of this ship's refit, he didn't think he was going to enjoy having these rooms merged in to one. However Bonham and the designers really did a nice job giving the split level room a feel of a wide open and inviting space. "We have a 12 hour trip ahead of us and plenty of time to get to work, that is if this crew is as good as I think it is."

Looking around as he walked across the room she sighed. "But right here, Sir?" The confusion was still seen in the lieutenant's eyes.

"Why not?" he said as the Captain stepped toward her and she stepped back instinctively, raising her hands to defend herself. But the captain didn't attack, instead he stepped right past her to a corner of the office where a table and two chairs were. A very simple box sat on the table. The Lieutenant recognized it immediately as she lowered her hands and continued to watch what the captain was doing.

It was Kal-toh, the very game Commander Bonham had been teaching her. As it turned out she was pretty good at it. Any game that she could employ mathematics gave her an advantage. Kal-toh was a Vulcan game of intense strategy that could be played solitary or by multiple individuals. The object of kal-toh, is not about striving for balance but about finding the seeds of order even in the midst of profound chaos. Lieutenant Kinchlirah saw the game as a prefect game where mathematics and strategy are married in to one fluid system.


The Captain sat at the table and removed the top of the box and began to prepare the game. He looked up her to see her still standing defensively, "Lieutenant, believe me when I tell you that I have a great love for the martial arts and would be all to happy for the workout, but I'm told you do not enjoy a physical combat, have I been misinformed?" The Captain almost sounded hopeful.

Realizing that she had yet to fully drop her guard, she took a deep breath as she shook her head. "No sir, you have not been misinformed." She moved to take her seat, "I grew up in a household of six older brothers and sisters."

"Isn't that a bit larger than most Klingon households?" The Captain asked.

"Yes, it is unusually large by even Klingon standard. My childhood was surrounded by this constant struggle for superiority." She said as she watched him set up the game. "My childhood was always centered on being a warrior. Everyone expected it of me, trained me for it, demanded it of me. And I hated it. I have always had a drive and love for science and mathematics, not war." She paused as she looked around the walls of the briefing room. "When you look at me, you see a warrior" she said as her eyes moved over the room slowly. "Yes I am large and yes, thanks to my brothers and sisters, I am capable. But when I look for a figure to act as a role model, it is not some Klingon warrior of yesterday. Not my mother or father. No, It is Doctor Reyga to who I desire to be like. He had strive to break the break the profile of his race and prove that alone he was capable in HIS desired field. Not what others saw in him." She paused once more as her eyes moved back to the captain.

With a heavy sigh she continued, "I am more than what you see, Sir. Personally I detest the profile that because I am Klingon, I am some drunken, loud mouth brute that enjoys combat and the endless quest for honor through blood lust." The Lieutenant fell silent as she watched the final pieces being laid out. She realized that she was speaking out of turn. Something that Commander Bonham had warned to her about. In his warning he added, 'Be patient, Captain Campbell is a understanding man. I have in the past trusted my life in his hands. And you can learn to do so also. If you give the man a chance.'

The captain nodded "funny how things work out Lieutenant." He had already read her personnel profile. She was most likely one of the more intelligent beings on the ship. Her skills in both science and in engineering would have easily landed her a role in either Engineering or in one of his Science departments or as either of their heads. Commander Bonham was right, the language of exchange program was clear. She could serve in security or as a tactical officer, but elsewhere was not included in the program. A issue with language that he had planned on correcting at his first available time. But for now, she would remain as Chief Tactical Officer of the Thunderchild.

"How is that Captain?" She said plotting her first set of moves.

"In my family I was pushed into the sciences and I hated it," Captain Campbell said as he recalled the memories of his childhood. Even now, those memories seem to be brought in to question. He couldn't help but wonder if what the Priest had said was true or not. What scared him the most was he didn't know what he actually was hoping for. "well maybe hate is a big strong, but it was not something I wished to pursue. I take it you know who may parents are?" She nodded as he paused for a moment then continued.


Being a student of science, Captain Campbell would have been surprised if Lieutenant Kinchlirah didn't know who his parents were. After all, his mother was one of the most knowledgeable geneticist in the Alpha and Beta Quadrants. Her work for the President of the Federation and the Science Council against human augmentation made her a crusader for the cause. She helped write almost all the laws that governs augmentation in the Federation. His father was a well known and renowned botanist who has devoted his life to helping the sick and needy of the Federation. Currently Doctor Ken Campbell was leading the Federation's relief mission on Cardassia Prime. "They were not very happy when I took up an interest in sports and even less so when I joined Starfleet."

She nodded, "Sir, for me. Hate is the right word. When you first suggested that I 'train' with you in combat. It was if you had offered me a great insult." She held up her hand and cut off his next statement, "I know you meant no offense by it. But you did nonetheless. I do not wish to be a warrior. I never have. When you look at me, I do not want you to see a warrior. I am a scientist by heart and by desire. This is what I would prefer you to see. But even your own all welcoming Federation wont see me any different...." she paused for a moment and then lowered her head, "Forgive me, Sir for speaking out of place." she was genially disappointed with her statement.

"Its okay" He said and taking note of her discomfort, Captain Campbell decided to change the subject. "Well, for today why don't I just show you what a real Kal-toh opponent is like, the Commander has never been all that good" he said jokingly. Commander Bonham was probably one of the best non-Vulcans players on the ship. However, since he learned how to play, not even the best of the Vulcans could beat Captain Campbell. Strategy simple came that easy to him. "just don't tell him I said as much" Captain Campbell added with a smile on his face.

The Lieutenant nodded as she looked back up. The Captain handed Lieutenant Kinchlirah a piece, "Ladies first." The Lieutenant grunted but did not object as she played her turn. The pair played back and forth, as the pace of the game increased more quickly than an average game. Kinchlirah was the first player to show an advance but the Captain responded quickly with several moves that put him in a strong position. "So, tell me about you and the Commander, Lieutenant."

The Klingon hesitated during her turn for a moment but recovered quickly. "Sir, the Commander and I do have a history but it ended a short time ago." There was much more but she held back from adding it. "Truthfully Sir, our relationship has been recorded with Starfleet Security. Beyond that, there is nothing else to talk about. It is over."

"That is a shame," Kinchlirah looked at the Captain as he made the comment. "Are you sure there are no embers left?" The Captain pressed without looking at her, laying his own piece.

"Sir?" The Klingon said as she thought of her next move while trying to hide her emotions. They were there and she couldn't deny them. But at the same time, she didn't want to deny them. She loved Bonham with all her heart. He was one of the first who actually saw her for what she desired to be seen as. It was because of this that there is deep routed love between her and Commander Bonham. She wondered if word had somehow slipped back to the Captain regarding their accidental encounter within the Jefferies tubes a few hours ago. Neither of them knew the other would be there, as it was simply by mistake the pair crossed paths. It was a prefect meeting if only they had allowed their emotions to get the better of them. Instead, they parted after a short uncomfortable silence. She didn't think that anyone had seen the meeting. Before that, they had made a point to avoid each other where the situation could appear suspect.

"It's your turn Lieutenant." the captain said placing his next piece. He really never thought about it as he placed his pieces. For some reason, he just knew where to place them. It didn't matter if it was in game play or on the battlefield, he just knew what to do. This sense is what had made him one of the best minds in Starfleet.

Lieutenant Kinchlirah made a quick move, hardly paying attention to the game, "Sir, as I said. There is nothing else to be spoken on the matter." In her heart she knew otherwise, but it was the way it had to be. It was the price for serving aboard a Starfleet ship. Here the rules were different than on a Klingon vessel. She never thought that she would find love let alone in a human. But once more the galaxy had surprised her.

She thought that this assignment would open a door that would have otherwise never been opened aboard a Klingon vessel. Her dream was to prove herself and later be able to continue her education on Earth. Where one day she would become a master in her fields of study, among some of the best minds in the galaxy. All of whom had studied on Earth as well. Earth was well known for holding some of the best and brightest minds in the galaxy. It was a place she so desperately wanted to go and study. However the political situation simply wasn't helping her move towards her over all goal. This was the reason why she volunteered for the officer exchange program. She need to serve aboard a Starfleet vessel to earn the trust of the Federation. This was the only way she could hopefully have an opportunity to study at some of the best institutions in the galaxy. She knew that one Klingon had earned the unyielding trust of the Federation and she hoped that she could follow in his footsteps. It was going to be a long road but her heart was set on this path.

Then came Commander Bonham and those eyes that melted her heart. The passion that they shared was unrivaled by any other passion she had ever felt before and she doubted that she would ever feel again. He brought a new level of emotions to her world. He was an intelligent, compassionate and romantic man. The Captain looked at the Lieutenant and she met his eyes, Captain Campbell on the other hand was a hard man, she could tell he was a fine warrior. It was this 'warrior' attitude that she hated most about him. There was more to life than war and being a warrior. Captain Campbell was so much like her father and siblings. If she were to bring this man home, they would take her relationship much more seriously than if she were to bring Commander Bonham home to them. But Bonham and she had a plan to resolve this. Bonham would earn the respect of her father and family, by showing them who he really was.

Captain Campbell's eyes left little room in his next words, "Lieutenant, I will not have secret romances aboard my ship and I will not tolerate said relationship to distract anyone from their duties, and most importantly, Kinchlirah, I don't want to see it unless we are on shore leave. Am I clear?"

The thought of his accusation enraged Lieutenant Kinchlirah as her sight turned to a glare. 'How dare he' she thought as she fought back the urge to drive her blade through his throat. She might be only a mere scientist but she did have honor. She so much wanted to ignore the fact that she was Klingon and something else, but in moments like this she felt rage. There was no reason for anyone to suggest that she or Commander Bonham would lie about their relationship. If they choose to continue, they would do so in the open and damn what others thought.

She shared a love with the commander that she was willing to die for. It was painful enough attempting to ignore those powerful emotions. Her glare penetrated the captain deeply. Nothing of what he said after the accusation mattered to her. Without realizing it, she had gripped the hilt of her d'k tahg. Her mind raced as she tried to fight back that urge to kill the man that just accused her of having a secret relationship. Forcing herself, she released her grip on the hilt as she placed both of her hands on the edge of the table. She had always believed that idea let alone the act of lying was dishonorable. She said it had ended and that was it, it had ended. "There will be no secret relationships" she said in a harsh tone. "On or off this ship" she continued coldly then added with a great degree of harshness, "Sir."

The Captain played another piece as he had noticed the Lieutenant's hand move to her weapon. Always the cool commander, he keep his face from showing it and was quite impressed when she place her hands back on the table. 'So she can be rattled but has control over it' he thought then added, 'good to know.' He wasn't quite sure what to make of her. He knew he had gotten under her skin which was why he questioned her honor in the way he did. She had claimed she did not wish to be seen as simply a Klingon Warrior. He wondered how far that went. In his opinion she seemed to be struggling with it. If she did not share the Klingon view of battle, he had to know how she view their idea of honor. He hoped she had not lost that part of her heritage, for this was his favorite part about the Klingons. The Lieutenant watched as the Captain smiled, "Kal-toh" he said playing the final piece.

"Sir?" Lieutenant Kinchlirah said confused. Looking down as he placed the final piece. The mass of rods sprung to life and lit up, she had lost, badly. Her anger faded as her eyes drifted back to the captain. He was cool and collected despite the situation.

"You know, Lieutenant, you really should pay more attention" he said with a smile.

The Klingon stood and lowered her head at the defeat, "You would make for a fine Klingon" she said as she looked him in the eyes. She assumed his actions were to bait her and they did just that. In that moment she felt foolish for allowing her emotions to run away with her. Still the words had stung and it would not be soon forgotten. "Yes, a fine Klingon" she reaffirmed.

The Captain stood and bowed he head in return, "I tend to take that as quite a complement," he said without a hint of sarcasm.

 

Re: The Journeys of the USS Thunderchild

Stardate: 53830.91
Holodeck 2
Deck 3
USS Thunderchild
Enroute to Starbase 74
ETA: 6 hours


Lieutenant Kiera Medart searched through the hologram data files carefully as frustration set in. She slammed her hands down on the controls of the console. She knew that at least one of the holograms had been altered, but understanding what that alterations was, was another story. So far she found at least two different levels of alterations. But they were deep in the codex's of the hologram making them harder to decipher. Each of the hologram's alteration held some type of significance. But what she that was, she just didn't know. It seemed like the alterations were meant to be discovered but not deciphered easily. As time passed and her frustration grew, Lieutenant Medart started to realize that she was out of her league with who ever coded these holograms.


Kiera so much wanted to impress the Captain. She had already proven to Commander Bonham that she was an asset but she knew in the Captain's eyes that she was young and inexperienced. Her greatest fear was that he would see these faults in her and replace her as Chief Engineer. Despite this fear, she couldn't allow pride to get in her way of finding those answers for the captain. She needed help and it was that simple. It pained her to admit it, but if she didn't ask for help the answer could come too late. So she put a call out for help and it was answered by a handful of specialists from the Computer Control department. With them came their lead programmer, Lieutenant Paaleia.


For hours, the team poured over the matrix of the hologram that Medart thought held the most clues. They dissected the hologram one matrix after another till the hologram was nothing more than simple lines of code on the screen. It was then that they were able to uncover the secret to the hologram and its alteration. In their success, the group starred in disbelief at what was before them. This was much more than just a alteration as first suspected. It didn't take long for them to isolate the lines of code and the pieces all fell in to place. It was in that moment they realized what was going on. Lieutenant Medart taped her comlink, "Lieutenant Medart to Captain Campbell" she said looking at the alterations.


The Captain's voice came over the comlink, "Go a head." He seemed as if he had just woken up. And if his voice was any judge of it, his sleep was not very sound or well.


'Great,' Lieutenant Medart thought and flushed in color, 'first I spilled coffee all over him and now I woke him up.' She took in a deep breath before continuing, "Sir, you need to see this. We are in Holodeck Two. Please come down here at once."


It didn't take Captain Campbell long to reach the holodeck on deck three. The entire team of fifteen officers and crew stood along the walls waiting for the captain's arrival. As he walked in to the center of the room, Captain Campbell noted that Commander Bonham was already waiting there with the rest. As he did, a very excited Lieutenant Medart leaped at the chance, "Sir, you won't believe what we found."


Lieutenant Medart didn't wait for the captain to say anything before she continued, "We not only found the alterations but they were so remarkable. On the surface they seem like just an alteration. But much deeper than that is where it really gets in to the brilliance of this program." Her excitement was nearly overwhelming. She started to ramble on about the ultra technical aspect of the hologram.


Captain Campbell raised his hand to cut her off, "Lieutenant, get to the point please."


She nodded, "Okay, the point is this. Its not just a hologram but a virus, hologram, a hologram inside a hologram and another hologram inside those two hologram."


It was clear that the Captain was becoming more confused but the second. "Lieutenant, might I remind you what hour it is."


She nodded "Sorry Captain. I will explain better. The last series of images of this hologram" she said bringing up the last of the holograms. "Here we see the woman named Seona playing her violin free from her snow globe prison. Here she is playing on a field before a geographical region. This was in fact a place on Bajor. But not just anywhere. She choose Rakantha Province which is a geographical region on Bajor. Once one of the most productive agricultural lands on the planet, it was poisoned during the Cardassian Occupation and became barren wasteland. Clearly a place of suffering and hardship, allow me to show you."


Her hands flew over the control of the holodeck and the Rakantha Province came to life aboard the Thunderchild. Her excitement could easily be heard through her voice, "In 2371, the Bajoran Agricultural Ministry developed soil reclamators that could detoxify the soil. Kai Winn Adami, during her brief tenure as First Minister of Bajor, ordered the reclamators be deployed to Rakantha in the hopes of growing cash crops for export, such as boton, moreka, and salam grass. However, the reclamators had already been promised to Dahkur Province, and Kai Winn's attempts to force their early removal nearly led to civil war."


"Then" she added, "In 2374, instability in the Bajoran wormhole caused by the Reckoning led to widespread flooding in Rakantha, destroying two-thirds of the wheat harvest. But this was not the only thing on the surface within the hologram. The bat you see in one frame then it turns to a butterfly and then back to a bat again. It too was not part of the original program. What that means, well, just yet, I...we don't know. But we are digging. Also....." she said as she said with excitement, "well I will allow Lieutenant Paaleia to explain this part."


Lieutenant Paaleia stepped forward and gave a raised brow to Lieutenant Medart excitement. Her Vulcan face was as normal completely devoid of any emotion. "If you would" she said in a calm and level voice, "Draw your attention to these marks along the subject hologram of Seona's body during the hight of the hologram's song." She said as she worked over the controls, "here allow me to show you, Sir."


She continued as the image changed to that of a frozen Seona. "As you can see these markings along her face, arms and hands have a pattern. At first we nearly over looked them till we discovered that they were numerical figures written in ancient Vulcan. I have to admit, even I was challenged with these figures. I contacted a monastery on Vulcan. They were able to send us a translation matrix for the figures. Surprisingly they also reported that the very same translation matrix had been hacked a few days ago. They don't know by who but I would suspect it is by those who are also looking for our fugitive." She paused a moment to bring up the series of numerical figures and translated them.


"However the solution only arose another question. These figures," she said as she continued to work the controls and lifted the figures off of the holographic image and lined them up in their correct order. "Are in fact mathematical equations." She moved the equations off to the side and then turned to face the captain, "Sir, it took us several hours to solve them and then gain the meaning from them." In that moment a large map was brought up of the Cardassian Union. "Here Sir, these equations reflect locations of worlds within the Cardassian Union."


Captain Campbell looked at the large map, "worlds?" This was something he could appreciate. "Tell me something," he asked her, "Do you think these are possible targets?"


Lieutenant Paaleia nodded, "it is possible. most of these worlds have a significant population and limited defensive ability. But she is also targeting places of strategic importance like Cardassia Prime."


Captain Campbell didn't like what he was seeing. There were over a hundred different worlds. "Seona couldn't hope to attack all of them. But then again why tell us where she is going to strike" he said walking around the frozen image of Seona. "This makes even less sense" he added.


It was in that moment that Lieutenant Medart stepped up again, "Yeah, that is the exciting thing about all of this. You see, the hologram is only part of a three part message. Call it part of a lock that was meant to be unlocked. And oh my god this was so clever. I mean we are talking, gods of clever here. If we didn't actually stumble on it, we would have never discovered it. That is how clever this really was.


Captain snapped his head around and pierced her with his glare. She calmed down a bit, "well that was till it would be activated against us."


Commander Bonham finally stepped forward, "Lieutenant I think you need to get to the point."


She nodded, "Yes Sir. So when we use the hologram and activate this hidden matrix." she noted the concern on the faces of both command officers' she laughed, "Not only did we deactivated the harmful stuff. We always isolated this part of the ship so don't worry we are all perfectly safe. So there is nothing to worry about." She explained as she activated the new hologram.


As the hidden matrix activated, the images all vanished and before them and on all the other monitors in the room Seona's face appeared. She had pink hair that was woven in to a tight pony tail and wore some kind of white fit with brown leather patches on it. Both Commander Bonham and Captain Campbell moved closer to the main image in the center of the room.


Within moments, the hologram face spoke, "Captain Campbell and Commander Bonham."


Lieutenant Medart whispered to them, "Don't worry the program is designed to scan the people viewing it and name them in the recording. It was strange to see her speaking to Paaleia and myself."


The hologram continued without interruption, "I know what happened on Velos. Soon so will everyone else. Your secret shall not survive this, even if I don't. You are a traitor and because of your actions all those who benefited from your acts will suffer."


A world came in to view behind the holographic image of Seona. It moved as if she was speeding her way towards that world. "That is Cardassia Prime" commented Lieutenant Medart. A sharp glare from Commander Bonham silenced Lieutenant Medart as the hologram continued to speak.


"The suffering of millions will be brought back on those who caused it. I will burn the Cardassia Union under an anti-mater firestorm. Nothing you can do, can stop me. Not to prevent me from bring my revenge on those who deserve it nor to expose your secret. In these final hours, I want you to know. That all those you betrayed will be avenged!"


The hologram fell silent as her eyes seemed to burn right through the two command officers. The room was silent for a long uncomfortable moment. Finally Commander Bonham asked, "tell me lieutenant, what else was the program supposed to do?"


Medart turned her head as she looked at him, "Once activated, it would have activated a series of malfunctions across our warp core sensors and impulse engines. Each of those systems would be taken off line by the computer in preparation for a level one warp core ejection." She made a major effort to contain her excitement, "Clever little program even cloned my voice from the engineering computer security subroutines. This way the computer would actually hear me. My voice. Well the fake me that is, via the program, issuing the commands and my access codes to start this procedure."


She turned to the captain as she continued, "This would have effectively rendering us powerless in space. The strange thing about it was that the program was encoded to ensure that both systems would safely power down first before shunting power. The code could have caused a massive cascade across the ship's power systems that could have made us look like a minor supernova. But the program had safe guards written in to it to prevent such an accident from occurring."


Commander Bonham nodded as he commented, "I don't understand. She wants vengeance but programs safe guards to protect us?"


The captain continued to look at the hologram as he thought about the new information. "Tell me" he said not taking his eyes off the hologram, "You said that this was to be activated later, right? What would have activated it? It didn't activate when we got the holograms, so what would have activated it?"


Medart nodded, "That we couldn't find. There must be another piece of this program that is the activation sequence. Something we don't know yet. These files were designed to remain hidden within the computer core till activated later by another program. Till activated, it was designed to clone itself and pass to other ships operating near us. I found the same virus in all of our runabouts and shuttles. I already purged those systems and cleaned them. Luckily our virus here was never able to transport it self off the ship. Imagine what could have happened if we were closer to Starbase 74."


Lieutenant Paaleia spoke up, "with Starbase 74's massive communication hub, hundreds of starships could have been infected by this virus. But we are safe now."


Lieutenant Medart nodded, "Yes, it could have been a massive blunder. We would have never identified these viruses because the independent lines of code were non-hostile and were embedded in low priority subsystems. But this is what I really found amazing. Some of these codes were added prior to the holograms coming aboard. She must have uploaded them when she invaded the ship.


Captain Campbell turned and looked at Lieutenant Medart, "wait? what do you mean?"


She nodded, "Truthfully I really don't know how she got these other lines of code in to our systems. Because these lines of codes predate her attack on our ship. So these means that she had somehow been aboard before that attack. Oh and this is really strange. Some of those lines of code is what we needed to unlock this virus."


She paused a moment before continuing, "our systems are clean now."


Captain Campbell turned and rushed up to her, "stop" he commanded. "What do you mean, these lines of code where used to help find the virus."


She nodded, "Yes Sir. I don't know why but these lines of code were tagged with markers. Once we unlocked one, the rest just seemed to fall in to place."


"My head is hurting just trying to follow all of this" Commander Bonham said as he walked up next to the Captain.


Lieutenant Medart was about to explain till Lieutenant Paaleia stepped forward, "as illogical as it sounds. I suspect that the virus was meant to be discovered by us Sir. She knew we would have the holograms and the virus. So before this data came aboard she gave us the ability to locate it and isolate the virus.


Lieutenant Medart nodded, "Yes Sir, but not us. You Sir. Your own command codes were used by the computer to unlock these lines of code. It all happened on such a level that no one here knew that what was going on till it was over. She left you the anti virus knowing that you would contact the priest and get the holograms. I really think that you are part of her larger plan. I am not sure what that plan is, but you are critical to it."


Commander Bonham stepped forward and patted her on the shoulder, "it's a good call Lieutenant. What you did here might have saved us from a tight situation." Commander Bonham turned back to the captain, "Sir we need to notify Starfleet Command in give them an update on what we know." Commander Bonham reached up to his comlink to call the bridge.


Captain Campbell turned his eyes back to the holographic eyes of Seona. Everything pointed in one direction but something was screaming that there was more to this than met the eyes. Just over sixteen hours ago this all started with mirrors, shadows and misdirection. 'What was it that the Father said, that she loved hide and seek' Captain Campbell thought. He raised his hand and took hold of Bonham's wrist in mid motion. "Not yet Number One."


Commander Bonham looked confused, "Sir? She means to attack the Cardassian Union."


Captain Campbell couldn't explain it, but he didn't buy it. "Despite multiple times she had the opportunity to take life or even to allow someone to die, she did everything in her power to preserve life. No, this is a larger part of her plan but not what it appears to be."


Commander Bonham lowered his hand, "okay Sir, I will back your play. But we better make sure that we are right on this. Or we both will hang for it."


Captain Campbell nodded, "I know, but I can't explain it." he said walking up to the holographic image of Seona. "She wont commit mass murder. I just feel this" he said as he looked closer at the formation of force fields and light before him. After a moment he turned, "Lieutenant Medart, you pull everyone in Science if you have to. I want to know everything there is to know about these holograms" he said as he started to storm off, "Get Lieutenant Kinchlirah also on this. Everyone on this ship will eat, sleep and talk holograms till this mystery is solved!"


Captain Campbell motioned for Commander Bonham to follow as he continued to speak. "Her message to me was clear. 'I know my life is over, please don't forget who I was before it all changed' that was what she said. I know this sounds crazy but she wont kill anyone. That is not the goal she is after. Something tells me that we need to have faith in her." Captain Campbell said as they walked out of the holodeck, "I need to confirm something, but I am sure that she wont harm anyone."


Hours later Captain Campbell nodded, "Thank you once more for your time Father." The image on the computer screen faded to black as Captain Campbell looked up at Commander Bonham, "The two men after Seona copied the same data file he sent to me when they questioned Father Douglas."


Commander Bonham nodded, "A Trojan Virus sort of trap for those pursuing her," he said then fell silent. "Then give us the anti-virus. Very clever girl."


Captain Campbell nodded as he leaned back in his chair.

 

Re: The Journeys of the USS Thunderchild

Contributors: aipsylon (Current Player as V'rol), Vertroue (Former Player as Dr. McCoy), Leana (Former Player as Dr. Vanlaere)


Meeting With Gul Bolon,
The Brig,
Starbase 74
Stardate 53830.74

The brig at Starbase 74 was heavily guarded by both Starfleet personnel and a small group of Klingon warriors. Due his numerous crimes, Gul Bolon has earned the nickname the Butcher of Velos. His prisoner of war interment camp had a reputation of being one of the most cruel among all of the Dominion/Cardassian POW Camps. During his three year reign of terror on Velos, over five hundred prisoners were murdered or died as a direct result of abuse they were exposed to. None of the surviving prisoners who were brought to Velos VII Internment Camp would ever fully recover from the brutal conditions of the camp. Long before he took over the Camp,Velos had its own reputation of being a place of nightmares. When Gul Bolon took over, he managed to bring a level of efficiency to the horrors that earn it a place in both history and nightmares alike. If there ever was a place where pure evil would survive in the Galaxy, it was Velos and the rule of this evil place was Gul Bolon.


After the war, Gul Bolon was found by Starfleet personnel wondering the landscape of Velos VII mindlessly calling out for some benefactor who was suppose to take him away from Velos. A year after the war his fate had finally been sealed by the Federation Courts as numerous intense negotiations between the Federation and the Klingon Empire to have Gul Bolon extradited was settled. Today, Gul Bolon waits for final approval of the President of the Federation to sign the extradition order and send Gul Bolon to the Klingon Empire to stand trial for war crimes. Even with all of his crimes common knowledge the opposition to the extradition is steadfast which is why the President has failed to sign the order. Now, Gul Bolon waits at Starbase 74 for a single signature and a Klingon transport to Qo'noS. For now, the case regarding Gul Bolon has become a lighting rod and struck a deep nerve across the Federation.

A small group of Starfleet personnel have been granted special permission to speak with Gul Bolon. Commander V'rol and the Doctors Vanlaere and McCoy are escorted in to the interview room of the Brig Complex of Starbase 74. Six Klingons guard Gul Bolon, with three inside the interview room and three outside. Not since the days of Archer and Kirk has any single being gained so much hatred as the Butcher of Velos. A pair of Starfleet Security personnel monitor the interview from outside the interview room. Between the security station and the interview room was a security force field.


Gul Bolon set there in his chair contemplation the question at hand, was his actions a direct cause of the death of Major Maura MacConnell. He smiled as he leaned back in his chair, "So all this just to ask me if I killed Major Maura MacConnell," he said coldly. "I have never hid the truth of my actions Mr. V'rol. I am proud of what I have done in the name of my Gods" he added speaking of the Founders. The interview had to be conducted carefully as his mental state was a well known medical fact. Sometime near the end of the war, his mind snapped causing him to slip in to a state of delusion. Stuck between reliving the past and the present, Gul Bolon's attorneys was using this condition to keep him from being extradited.


He smiled and turned to Doctor Vanlaere. His gaze on her was cold and filled with that evil that could come from such a man. "Tell me Doctor, have you ever met a living God? I have, for all of the greatness that I have done. This alone is one of my dearest memories. She blessed me and my camp. How can what I have done in the name of a God be considered wrong among mortals?"


Doctor Vanlaere shifted uncomfortably as Commander V'rol spoke up, "Gul Bolon, did you kill Major Maura MacConnell?"


Gul Bolon nodded, "I did more than just kill her. I trapped her soul away so that we shall forever be together."


Doctor McCoy motioned for Commander V'rol to allow her to speak, "Gul, tell me" she said softly. "What do you mean, trapped her soul."


Gul Bolon got up for the table, a action that caused the Klingons and Commander V'rol to become uneasy. He walked towards the center of the interview room, "I have never hid my actions. But this one thing, I never spoke about till today" he said and turned to face Doctor McCoy with a smile on his face. "It was if it happened only yesterday. And for you, I will tell you what really happened and more importantly how it came to pass."


It was clear that Doctor Vanlaere didn't like what direction this conversation was already taking. But it was Doctor McCoy who spoke up, "please Gul Bolon. Tell us what happened to her."


Gul Bolon ran his hand over his head as he returned to the table and set down. After getting more comfortable. "For you, I will tell my secret. I want history to know the truth of what happened on Velos and how two hated enemies would become soul mates for all eternity." He paused before continuing, there was a noticeable twitch as he spoke about this subject. "Yes, I know The Gypsy very well. This is what Major Maura MacConnell's nickname was" he explained. There was almost this loving tone to his voice as he spoke of her.


It was almost confusing for Doctor McCoy who could sense his emotions. In relation to Major MacConnell, he hated AND loved her like no other. The three officers set silently and allowed Gul Bolon to continue. "Before the destruction of the Obsidian Order in 2373 her name crossed my desk a number of times. I had warned my superiors that her unit, the Ghost Recon, would became a serious threat to us in the future. I spent so much time studying them and their tactics. But we wouldn't cross paths till one fateful mission."


He leaned forward on his elbows and frowned, "My team had planned a mission to capture a group of Maquis that had been a bit too successful. Just before we were to carry out our plan, Major MacConnell and her Ghost Recon swooped in and captured our targets before we could get to them. Months of work and the our prize was lost just like that. All thanks to Ghost Recon, and their leader The Gypsy. It wouldn't be the last time they would embarrass me. It wouldn't be the last time she would best me and my plans. But my fate would change"

"In 2373 when the Cardassian Intelligence Bureau took over for the Obsidian Order, The Gypsy was already a well known threat to Cardassia. And each time, we planned to do something about it, she pulled off some miracle to best me. Everyone lost confidence in me and my abilities to stop this horrible menace. As a result, I was asked to accept the role as Camp Commander of Velos VII Internment Camp." Anger flashed in his eyes as he recalled the events of that year. He slammed his fist down on the table as he yelled out, "It was a demotion!"


After the momentary outburst he took a noticeable effort to control his anger. "It wasn't my political enemies that I had to fear, it was the reputation that I was having at the hands of the Ghost Recon. Namely, The Gypsy. My wife left me and took my kids shortly because of demotion to Velos. Because of The Gypsy, I lost my family. At one time I commanded hundreds of operatives across the DMZ. Now I was demoted to commanding a simply prisoner of war camp on some forgotten world far from the fame of the front. I knew why I was demoted to running an internment camp. It was because of HER. I would have my revenge. I believed this to my very cure. I just had to wait my time and I would have my revenge on The Gypsy" noting the question on their faces, "yes I hated her. With all the passion that burned in a star I hated her. But I would not hold on to this hate for long."

He leaned back in his chair and smiled, "then came the trap for Admiral Ross's fleet and his precious Ghost Recon. It would have been a brilliant plan if my benefactor hadn't told us of ever detail of the plan days before."


Commander V'rol knew enough to allow the man to speak, but Doctor McCoy was young and impatient. "Please tell me about this benefactor. How did he or she contact you."


Gul Bolon looked to her and tried to answer but for some reason he only set there with his mouth open. "I...." he mumbled, "He......" he struggled to speak, "he......I......" the Gul whimpered as he tried to speak. Then once more slammed his fist down on the table with such force that both Doctors nearly came out of their chairs. "Its not important!"


Commander V'rol noticed the risk of losing control over the interview and finally spoke up again. "Gul Bolon, please continue about The Gypsy."


It took a moment for Gul Bolon to regain his composure. "We knew everything of their plans, even the last minute changes that were made enroute to Velos system. Oh, the Array would be fully operational when Admiral Ross and his fleet arrived. And" he almost laughed with that evil that only a madman could muster. The Ghost Recon would have become nothing more than ghosts themselves. And the fate of the Gypsy would be mine to decide" he said with a smile. He pulled his hands back towards him and curled his fingers together almost relishing the thoughts and memories.


He frowned once more as he allowed his hands to rest flat on the table. "However that is not how it happened. Once more that bitch MacConnell and her Ghost Recon pulled a victory out of assured defeat. Somehow she had figured out that we had a trap planned for them. I don't know how they were able to slip in, but they did. They up loaded their damn virus right from regional commander's own terminal in his very office. To add insult to injury, they escape before anyone knew what happened. The Array was worthless to us when Admiral Ross and his fleet arrived." He almost slammed his fist against the table but the glare from the Klingon guards stopped him in his tracks.

He took a breath and continued instead. "The information we had said how the Ghost Recon was going to withdraw from our lines and rejoin their own forces. Two whole divisions were waiting to cut off Ghost Recon's retreat. But they never showed up for the battle. Instead she once more slapped me" he half yelled raising from his chair and jabbing his finger in his chest. "Me!" he repeated, "Slapped me in the face" his control was just moments away from being lost. "She attacked my own camp and liberated nearly all of my prisoners." he shook his head, "Oh she knew I was there. She knew how much I hated her. And this was her way of provoking me in to battle with her." He looked around and ran his hand over his head once more.


Slowly he took his place back in his chair and lowered his voice. "I demanded that I be allowed to capture the unit seeing how the plans of my superiors' had failed. I was given the a whole division with ordered to capture as many as possible so that the access codes for the Array could be recovered. I hate MacConnell and her Ghost Recon, but I respect them for their skills." He paused a moment and smiled so fondly as he remembered, "I think this was when I first realized how much loved her."


He looked down in sadness, "But the battle had been joined and I knew just on the other side of those battle lines she was looking back at me feeling the same love for me that I felt for her. But we would be true to our own causes. Three times I thought I had her pinned and ready for defeat. Three times she managed an escaped deeper in to the mountains. Even with information on when and where their evacuation shuttles would arrive thanks to our benefactor, Ghost Recon continued to survive despite my best efforts. But in the end, it was numbers who got the best of them. Each time a group of shuttles would flee the combat zone, my officers would wonder if The Gypsy had escaped. But they didn't know her like I did. Her love for me would keep her on the battle field till the bitter end. I knew it."


He smiled once more "Without hope of rescue, Ghost Recon became my celebrity guests. Fifty two in total were captured on that last day of battle. Major MacConnell thought that death would free her from the field that day. I ordered one of the best Cardassian surgeons from the other side of the planet to save her life. I waited as they worked to save her life. I couldn't have my beloved lost to death. Not after everything we did to be together."

He got up and walked across the room and sighed heavily. "But there was still a debt that had to be paid. Because of her wounds, I had to wait before exacting my revenge on her. So I tortured those under her command for the access codes to the array." He spun around to face them once more with laughter. A motion that caused the guards to reach for their bladed weapons. "Oh I knew they didn't have the codes" he said walking back towards the table.


He almost laughed at this fact. "The information said that the creator of the virus was a female communication tech. two of my men found her body after the battle." He bent over and rested his hands on the table as he continued, "If they knew the tech was dead, than the Major and her unit would have been taken away and used for other purposes." She winked at Doctor Vanlaere as he added, "we had risked so much to be together. I couldn't allow us to be separated just after we were together. I wanted to keep her with me till I was finished with her. So, I killed the two Cardassians that found the Tech's body and never reported its discovery. I would have all the time in the world to enjoy my revenge on that bitch. To enjoy loving her. And to enjoy her love. I hated her. I hated loving her. I....Loved hating her." There was almost shame in his voice as he spoke. He took a long pause as he walked back towards the wall of the room. He didn't look back as he continued.

There was joy and fulfillment in his voice as he spoke. It was if he found delight in these memories. "Oh the ways I inflicted pain and suffering on her. Her screams would filled my heart with such relief." His voice came to silence. Then he turned and walked back towards them. There was a sense of darkness in his eyes that was unmistakable. "But I had mercy on the woman that loved me," he said with a soft smile that was as twisted as his heart. "After all I loved her. She had her own medical staff standing by twenty six hours a day. She never wanted for any medical treatment. That is, once I was finished with her. I even moved her holding cell to my personal living quarters so that I could hear her screams at any hour of the night. I would dream up new ways to hurt her, to make her suffer. One by one her soldiers died and she knew that she was powerless to stop it."


He waved his hand in the aid, "Oh sure, there was the show. My superiors would come and check on the progress of my personal interrogations. So I would ask them questions I knew that they had no information on. About the Array and how to reactivate it. In the end, they begged for death. I made them beg for death before her" he said coldly as he looked right at Doctor Vanlaere. "I would ask her questions that I know she had no information on. She would tell me anything I wanted to know. But I didn't care about any of that. My superiors loved the flow of information but I didn't care. She knew that she had nothing I wanted. But that didn't stop her from trying. I learned so much about her. How her parents died, the boy she loved as teen, Her hopes, her fears, her passions. Even the love for a particular Klingon that she had just discovered. She told me everything. Or so I thought. Even as her life rested in my hands, she would still defy me" he said curling his hand in to a fist.


Doctor McCoy sighed heavily as she thought of the situation. Mentally shaking her head as the Gul recounted his history with Major MacConnell. It was dark, it was evil beyond anything she could have imagined. Dr. McCoy listened to the words and more importantly she felt the emotions behind what was said. All she could think was 'Narcissistic, Sadistic, Atychiphobia in a small dose, Atelophobia, extreme sense of attribution to the Major. Grandiose delusions after being forced into that camp. Perfection and obsessive about what he was good at-torture'


Doctor Vanlaere set there thinking, 'I am unaffected by the ravings of this misogynistic lunatic.' But her hands were shaking under the table. She tried over and over again to remind herself that this lunatic was not affecting her. She decided to leave most of the talking to Doctor McCoy and Commander V'rol. Talking was their job, not hers. 'Thank goodness' she thought as she listened to the horrors of what that poor woman endured at the hands of this narcissistic. Her own personal history gave her no tolerance for such beings that inflicted horrors on others. She could feel the heat from my blood surging in anger. She hate men that objectify women like this.


All the while, Gul Bolon continued his recounting of what happened. "It was only a few weeks before the end of the war when I learned some startling news. It would appear that there was a possible unknown member of Ghost Recon within my camp. I was told that Petty Officer Traver had changed. I guess if I had not been so fixated on the major, I would have noticed much sooner."


He rose up and walked back across the room as he continued talking. "Before, the young Petty Officer would make no effort to fend off my officers from enjoying her. However after the escape and recapture, all of a sudden Petty Officer Traver grew a spine. I ordered this woman to be tested. I set there holding her blond hair forcing her to look me in the eyes while she endured horrors that only a woman could. I saw the hate and rage in her eyes as she fought against the bounds that held her down. This...This thing in her eyes.... It had never been there before. No, something that Petty Officer Traver had never had." He turned to look at Commander V'rol, "trust me, I know." He then turned to face the wall as he thought a moment.

He rested his hands on the wall and took in a deep breath as he paused. Finally he spoke again, "I didn't know who this person was, but I was sure it was not Petty Officer Traver. I went on a hunch and dragged this impostor before Major MacConnell. I tortured both of them for hours but neither one would admit to knowing the other. Sure they would half heartily admit it, but I could tell that their efforts were not truthful." He slammed his fist in to the wall, "I knew that they knew each other but wasn't sure." He turned to the Vulcan once more, "you know what I mean. I had to be sure. If this was who I thought it was, I could reactivate the Array and the war could still be won. I would be a hero again. I would have my family, honor and fame back." He laughed coldly and almost mindlessly as he spoke.


He turned to face the table once more, "I turned my attention to this impostor and for the next few weeks, I warped her mind, beating her, hurting her. I did everything possible to break her" he said with pure anger and hatred in his voice. He curled his right hand in to a fist and held it out before him as he spoke. "I locked her in a sensory deprivation chamber for days on end. I even altered her perception of reality by using simulated memories. We made her believe that the war was over and she had returned home a hero. For days in real time, we had her believing she was actually home on Earth for months. Oh that was the greatest idea I ever had. When we were done with her, that little impostor was in tears crying so hard." His smile was so unsettling that Doctor Vanlaere had to get up and walk over to the force field.


"I personally dragged her sobbing like a baby before the major and demanded to know who this impostor was. I had that little impostor now, she was going to break. I could see it in her eyes. She was about to give up everything. That was till I heard the major say...." He paused a moment as if thinking. "Oh what were those words. Ah yes, I will never forget those words. 'Tha gaol agam ort, beannachd leat, piuthar.' I don't know what it means, but it shut that little impostor right up. I will never forget those words till the day I die. The Gypsy had done it again. She denied me, my victory."

Anger flashed in his eyes, "I didn't have a choice. It was her fault. I injected the major with a lethal does of radioactive particles. I had taken months to make sure I had the right mixture of everything. I wanted the major to live for as long as possible while her insides were eaten alive. I tested this mixture on other humans in my camp to ensure that the results would be what I wanted." The shadow of his soul seemed to become cast over his eyes as he spoke in such cold words that even Commander V'rol in all of his Vulcan trying was mentally moved by the coming statement.


"Never in my life had I heard someone scream out in such pain and suffering. It was almost pleasing to my ears as she laid on the floor. I told the impostor that I could save her if she only tells me what I wanted to know." he waved his hand and dismissed the anger in the room. He was completely lost in the moment as he told the final hours of Major MacConnell. "Sure it was a lie but she didn't know that. Still the impostor refused to answer any questions. I locked her in a box with holes in it. I wanted her to see and hear the major die. The Gypsy had denied me all this time. Now in her final hours, her death would serve my own ends. She would allow me to break this impostor."


He calmly walked back to the table as he spoke. Doctor Vanlaere forced her eyes to look away as the horrors continued. "It took hours for the major to finally stop screaming. Long after any test subject had lasted, she had screamed in suffering through the night. I had dinner while she laid there on the floor screaming and dying. Then after that, nearly a day had to pass before for her body finally stop altogether. Actually much longer than I had ever expected," he smiled as he continued to talk. "Not once had any of my test subjects lasted this long. But she did. Only proved that in our love she would not go easily. But the impostor wouldn't break. I ordered her to be placed back in her mental simulator."

"I had planned to bring her out at the end of the week but the war ended and well, lets say I had to make a speedy escape. But not before I took my prize from the major. Before her body was viporized. I claimed her soul." He walked up to Commander V'rol and took a knee next to him as he spoke to the Vulcan, "I can trade it, for just one piece of information." He got up noticing the more uneasy the Klingon guards were becoming. He set down at the table with a smile. "Tell me something Commander. Tell me who was the impostor. I have my suspicions, but I really want to have them confirmed." There was this look in his eyes of eagerness to learn this information. "You tell me who she was, and I will tell you how to find my trophy. I will give you the soul of The Gypsy if you tell me her last secret."


He turned towards Doctor McCoy and smiled, "a trade. yes....a trade...A soul for a secret."


Doctor Vanlaere turned and faced Gul Bolon as if she was facing a living nightmare. She spoke up and allowed venom to drip from her words since the thought of this being before her was alone absolutely ludicrous, "And how EXACTLY do you claim to have taken the Major's 'soul'?" There was clear anger in her voice at this twisted creature before her.

 

Re: The Journeys of the USS Thunderchild

Contributors: aipsylon (Current Player as V'rol), Vertroue (Former Player as Dr. McCoy)


Meeting With Gul Bolon,
The Brig,
Starbase 74
Stardate 53830.74


During the nightmarish accounts of Major MacConnell's final years in this realm, V'rol sat quietly. Outwardly it appeared that he was unmoved by the accounts. However this would be a misconception that the Vulcans didn't feel. In fact what he heard disgusted him and made the struggle between emotion and control harder. V'rol felt no petty for Gul Bolon and his situation. Instead, V'rol watched the Gul with a dispassionate blank face, his eyes searching the broken being before him. Keeping an eye on the Gul for any sign that would indicate that the man was lying during this encounter. He knew well the typical signals from the time that he had spent serving during the Federation-Cardassian war.


From what V'rol was able to discern was that Gul Bolon was not lying about anything up to this moment. V'rol was already able to figure out that the person that the Gul wanted to know about was indeed Seònaid Melville, Major Maura MacConnell's own sister. This revelation explained a lot regarding the nature of the attacker. V'rol thought back on the details that he had learned so far as he raised an eyebrow. He listened to the offer for an exchange of information and calmly shook his head as he answered.

"The Federation does not negotiate with Terrorists. There will be no trade of information for the object that you offer, Leniency too is unlikely in the case of the Klingon Empire and I find it unlikely that litigation to refuse extradition. Thus your case will not be reopened" V'rol explained the situation. He added, "However, as per Starfleet regulations you have a right to remain apprised of non sensitive current events and materials to that end must be brought to you. Logically your chances of determining anything further about the events you described is unlikely, however, knowing that we are currently investigating related events you know a few names to watch for in the media and by allowing us to continue forward with related pieces of information there exists a chance that you will see in the news information relating to that which you seek which may prove sufficient for you to deduce the answer to that question."

Having finished speaking he paused, awaiting an answer from the Gul. He glanced to Doctor McCoy, as she motioned for him to join her in the corner. Once more he raised an eyebrow to her surprising request. Both V'rol and Doctor Vanlaere joined Doctor McCoy in the corner. She waited till the Gul was out of ear shot before speaking in a low whisper. "Sir, I must advise that we consider dealing with him. I sense he had something that he believes we dearly want."


Doctor Vanlaere shook her head, "absolutely not" she protested in the same tome that McCoy started in. "He is a monster that deserves what is coming to him."


Before Doctor McCoy could counter V'rol brought the conversation to a close with a simple hand raise. "Time after time one constant has been made in situations such as this. The Federation doesn't negotiate. There will be no exchange of information. Is that clear Lieutenant?"


It was clear that Doctor McCoy hated the statement by the disgusted look on her face. "We could fail to learn what he is hiding" she whispered. "What if we fail to gain that information before this interview is over?"


V'rol looked at her with a matter of a fact look on his face, "then Councilor, I suggest that we stop wasting time speaking among ourselves and continue with the interview." She just stood there with her mouth open as if the statement had stunned her in to silence. V'rol nodded at her, "Councilor, I suggest that you proceed with the interview while we listen and watch." The statement was more leveled at Doctor Vanlaere than at Doctor McCoy.


Doctor McCoy nodding, she spat "fine" as she moved passed V'rol. She so badly wanted to learn what Gul Bolon was hiding. But she had her orders. So she decided on her next plan. She walked up to Gul Bolon with a soft smile. After all, she wanted to keep his trust. 'Just keep him talking' echoed in her mind. "Let me ask you a question Gul. If you wanted her to suffer why did you let her go so easily? You gave her peace from dealing with you.”


Gul Bolon watched them return back to the table as he walked back as well. He only laughed at them as he spoke again, "you Starfleet are all the same." He said as he took his sit at the table with them. He looked right at Doctor McCoy and said, "I have valuable information for you. I am sure someone has needs for what I know." He ran his hand along the steal table almost as if trying to find some imperfection in its design, "I was once powerful. I commanded thousands to do my bidding. My wife was from a politically powerful family. My children were chosen to..." he spoke of his family. All of them no long dead with the destruction of Lakarian City occurred. But his voice trailed off in to silence as he looked down.


He spoke almost in a whimper, "it was said, that Legate Dukat himself was considering me to be one of his personal advisers." He lifted his head with eyes filled with hate, "Then SHE came in to my life! I warned them all of what threat she and her unit posed to us. No one would listen to me. 'She was one woman and they were just one company. What harm could they cause us?' they would tell me. But no, she was special. I knew this. She had a gift."


Doctor McCoy hated the idea of it, but she rested a hand on Gul Bolon's hand. The surprising move caught everyone off guard. Doctor Vanlaere watched the action by Doctor McCoy in disgust. Commander V'rol only raised an eyebrow at the move. Gul Bolon looked at her with sadness in his eyes, but then looked at Doctor Vanlaere. Doctor McCoy spoke softly as if she truly cared for the man's well being. It was perfection in the way she acted and held the Gul's focus. "Tell me Gul. What gift did you think that she had?"

He looked back at Doctor McCoy and smiled at her. "The Bajorians had the Prophets. You humans have your God. All species have their own supernatural being that they worship. The Gypsy had something else. She was something else unto this world. She was beyond lucky. She was gifted by the gods themselves. Gifted to win each time she stepped on to the battlefield. My best laid plans were beaten by her each time." There was pain in his eyes as he spoke. But that pain was fleeting as he broke the physical contact and rose up in his chair once more. He turned to the force field and looked beyond towards the Klingons waiting to bring his life to an end. He knew that it was just a matter of time. "Tell me something Doctor" he said calmly, "What was the name of the impostor."


For a moment V'rol thought that he had misjudged McCoy's ability to follow orders. But her answer reassured him as she spoke, "I can't tell you Gul Bolon. But I can tell you, that if you continue. Together we might be able to uncover those secrets."

He turned to face her as he believed that there was hope in uncovering what the Major had been hiding all this time. He turned to Doctor Vanlaere and smiled, "You asked me about her soul. I didn't want to let her slip away like that." He calmly walked up towards her as she moved uncomfortably in her chair. Carefully he took her right wrist in to his hand. She pulled away at first but relaxed her muscles as she exercised a great degree of will over her body. In her eyes was nothing but hate for this being and Doctor Vanlaere didn't make any attempt to hide it.


Commander V'rol immediately regretted Doctor Vanlaere's decision in allowing Gul Bolon to get so close as to allowed her hand to be taken by the prisoner. It was clear that Doctor Vanlaere was on the edge of controlling her own emotions as it was. He would have to make certain to review prisoner interaction protocols with the senior staff fortunately in the future. Luckily nothing came of the contact, but such contact could have proved quite dangerous to her physically. The Gul's speech was one he deemed an attack of its own nature on a person's emotions. But he would leave this to the counselor to contend with. Commander V'rol just continued to watch the interaction carefully.


Gul Bolon remained calm to everyone's relief as he looked up at Doctor Vanlaere while holding her wrist loosely. "I needed her to suffer" he explained speaking of Major MacConnell. "She had to suffer. Her unit had been broken by me but this wasn't enough." He reached up and motioned towards her. "I broke her on the battlefield. Made her beg for unimaginable things. But in death her suffering had to continue. That is why I had to have her soul. I knew her faith as well as she did, I denied her peace. Just like I denied her soldiers of life. I held power over her. If I couldn't have her, no one would. Not even in the afterlife." He rose up and let Doctor Vanlaere go as he moved away. He trembled as he spoke and Doctor Vanlaere noticed something in his eyes. She wasn't sure but there was something strange about his eyes.

He smiled coldly backing up, "Oh you should have see it. The day that I broke her on the battlefield. They fought admirably. But I knew every move they were planning to make before they made it." he turned back to Doctor McCoy, "My benefactor" he said calmly. "Told me everything I needed to know. Even their best laid traps were exposed to me. I watched from my command post as they were trapped like beasts led to the slaughter. But they wouldn't go down without a fight. They fought back with such fierceness. They were magnificent to behold. It was such an honor for mine to slay them. Just as they had ended my career, my family. My life" he said looking in to Doctor Vanlaera's eyes. There a coldness and hatred in his eyes that she couldn't deny. He felt no empathy, no mercy, just hate for the men and women of Ghost Recon. "So I in turn, ended them....." his voice echoed in her ears.


She looked away so not to give him the satisfaction of watching the effects on her. She couldn't cry, not here, not now. She wouldn't. She turned back towards him with as much hate and revolution in her eyes for him as he had for Major MacConnell.

Running his hand through his hair and down the side of his face he smiled as a strange twitch occurred in his motor control. "My orders were to capture as many as possible. My superiors wanted the codes to reactivate the Array" he explained as he almost laughed. "And I had the chance to on a few occasions to capture some of them alive. But I wanted to beat them soundly on the battlefield first. I had to show her that I was her better."


He turned to face V'rol, "did you know that they were called the miracle unit" he said with a slight cold laugh in his voice. "They wouldn't have a miracle this day" he stepped back and raised up his arms till they were level with his shoulders as he spun around, "behold the wonders of the miracle unit. They were blessed by your Gods and guess what!?" He stopped and looked at V'rol. "No miracle would save them. Even as Starfleet was planning a desperate rescue mission, I knew I would have them. Their plan was an all or nothing plan. It would be Ghost Recon's last hope for survival. And it would have worked if not for a timely message from my benefactor. I knew about the plan just after the shuttles left their ships. It was my turn to be uncannily lucky. I amassed as many fighters as I could to stop those shuttles. I couldn't stop all of them, but I stopped enough of them. I knew that Ghost Recon wouldn't flee the battlefield while the POW's were still in play. I had them now. This was the end of the miracle unit."

He turned and walked back to the wall once more, "I remember that day so fondly when the miracle unit was no more. I was walking the battlefield after my troops overran their positions. Your starships were in full retreat and Ghost Recon had been left behind to die. But for me, all I could think of was her. I searched for her. I knew she was out there somewhere. Bodies laid across the ground like leafs tossed about by the wind. I heard the cries of the dying as death filled my nose. Then as if the gods were shinning a light unto her body, I saw her through the smoke. I was meant to find her on the battlefield. I saw her laying there in the mud within a pool of her own blood." He turned from the wall as he spoke with an actually tear in his eye, "She was near death" he said softly planting his fist on the wall. "I couldn't let her die. She called out to me from the mud saying, traitor. She couldn't die, not like this. I called my headquarters and beamed both of us to our medical facility. I remember her words to me that day."

He took in a deep breath, "I didn't let her die that and I had no intention of letting her die on that final day either." Anger filled his voice once more, "I DIDN'T HAVE A CHOICE!" he screamed out.

Watching his guards carefully he brought his anger under control as he took in a deep breath. "I didn't have a choice. They all had to die. My benefactor told me she had a secret that we had to protect. He said that they all had to die, so it was my order to kill them. But she had one last secret to tell me."


Doctor McCoy spoke softly, "the identity of the impostor"


Gul Bolon nodded to McCoy's statement. "Just when my men were going to leave to carry out the deaths of the rest of the POW's she taunted me. Before all of them, she taunted me."

Returning to Dr. Vanlaere side he continued, "she taunted me. She laughed at me. Her jaw broken from when I kicked in her face, she laughed at me. Her body broken and beaten but she still taunting me that she held one last secret for me to unlock. I had to know what it was!" He looked around nervously almost as if he was worried someone was watching, or listening to him. "I had to know" he said dropping to his knees. "Yes, I was ordered to kill the others including her. But she was going to beat me again." he turned and looked towards Doctor McCoy as their eyes met, "You understand, don't you. In death she was going to beat me. AGAIN! I couldn't allow it."

He turned back to V'rol, "you could never understand the passion that we felt for each other. It was a contest of minds and will" he said softly as he slipped backwards till he was sitting on the steal floor of the interview room. He slammed his fist in to the floor, "Glinn Hirus told me I had to follow my orders. But she laughed at me. She knew she was going to beat me. One last time she taunted me." he said curling his fist in to a ball right before his face. "I had to find out what this last secret was. She had to time me. But there wasn't time. I had no choice. I told them to wait, that I had to find out what she was hiding."

He looked down once more as he shook his head, "There wasn't time. A Starfleet task force was already en-route to the internment camp. I would have her secret. I had to. But there wasn't time. I had planned for us to escape. I would had taken her along with a few loyal guards. I would have all the time I wanted to ensure her suffering would continue." He said as he looked down at the floor, "Let the rest of the guards kill the remaining POWs" he paused, "Yes! That was the plan. But there wasn't time and those weren't my orders" he looked up again. "The orders were clear. Kill the remaining POW's before Starfleet arrived. Leave no witness to that battle." He looked up at them and screamed out so suddenly that it caused Doctor Vanleare to jump in her chair, "she taunted me!"

He slowly rose to his feet as he turned to the far side of the interview room once more. "What could I do. I had to carry out my orders. What could I do" he said then turned to look at Doctor McCoy, "I looked her in the eyes and kissed her soft bruised lips. Her face was broken and scared from all the beatings. By my own hands, I had broken her body so many times before. But this was not enough. I would not release her. Not even in to death. Not ever! She would escape with me once the guards had their orders." he walked over to the force field and looked out at the Klingon guards beyond the barrier. "I would keep my prize. For all time, I would keep her alive and suffering each day for the rest of my life" he said as he shook his head and added, "but once more she challenged me to our game of wills."

Gul Bolon turned to face the three once more, "you will never understand the connection that we had. Before she was captured and after, we were connected on a level that none of you can understand." He smiled as he remembered the moment. "I remember her words that night as she laid whimpering after I had beaten her. She laid in her little cage as I was told to kill the rest of the POW's by my benefactor. It was then, in that moment she spoke up from her cage like an animal." He paused as he searched their eyes. He knew that they could not understand what he and Major MacConnell felt for each other. "She was an animal in that cage. Covered her own waste and half starved. Yes, she was my animal. An animal I captured and beat down. An animal that I had to break. But she wouldn't surrender. Not even in captivity."

He paused a moment as he remembered that time in his life. "She rose up on all fours and looked me right in the eyes. I watched her body shake due to the suffering that I had caused her. Her spirit was so bright that I couldn't look away from her. I felt our connection as she spoke to me. Those hollow words echo in my ears to this very day. I will never forget her courage. That primal courage that comes from a mere animal that knows that it had met its master. She spoke to me knowing that I would beat her once more. That she knew that she had to submit to me."

He recited her words perfectly. "I remembered her words, 'I tasks you!' she said then continued, 'I tasks you, and YOU shall never have me! chase me 'round the moons of Nibia and 'round the Antares maelstrom and 'round Perdition's FLAMES before you give me up. But you'll never have me!' He said almost in sadness. He shook as if a chill ran up his back while he spoke, "I had no choice" he said in sadness, "It was in that moment I ordered the impostor back in. If she would not give up her last secret, than the impostor would. Even as I injected her, she taunted me. My Glinns stood by watching her suffer. Watching her taunt me between her scream" he said with a half laugh, "They never carried out their orders to kill the rest of the POW's. Instead they watched her die like the animal she was. But I had no choice....."


Dispassionately watching V'rol choose to take a standing position, he stepped to the side of his seat, he had no intentions of being seated in the event of another outbursts from Gul Bolon. As Bolon talked about how he could not possibly understand, V'rol simply filed away that the man was not aware of Vulcans and how they suppressed their emotion. How every moment was a contest of asserting their will over their emotions. As Bolon continued his rant the man's obsession became more and more clear to V'rol. But something else came to light that was not known prior.


It was in the courage of Major MacConnell in her final hours. She knew how to manipulate Gul Bolon and forced his hand unto her instead of allowing countless other POW's to be put to death. Her final act was one of selflessness and courage well beyond anything else he had heard of before. He would make sure to include this in his report regarding Major MacConnell. A woman who gave up her life in the most horrid of ways to save the lives of others. It was no sooner than Gul Bolon had finished speaking that V'rol spoke up once more.

"You had no choice but to kill her" Commander V'rol questioned. "An outcome that you have deemed contrary to your goals. A failure to succeed in extracting that piece of information from her. This is defined as failure. I fail to see why such is something worthy of bragging about. It it not logical, unless there is more that you failed to disclose of course a way of extracting the information from her after her death that you managed to accomplish." He raised an eyebrow as if inquiring to see if that were the case. V'rol added, "her soul?"


Gul Bolon shifted his eyes right to V'rol and glared at the Vulcan, "It was against everything that I wanted. Killing her even like this was too merciful than she EVER deserved!" He said stepping forward with anger in his eyes. But there was something else as well. It was that twitch in this motor functions once more. Something that this time, Doctor Vanlaere had noticed. He closed on V'rol looked deep in to the Vulcan's eyes.

Before anything happened. The Gul turned and glanced beyond the force field. At this close range, V'rol could see the Gul looking beyond the force field. But now, it was clear that he was not concerned about the Klingons who were watching the interview with great care. No, the Gul's focus was on the Starfleet Security Office who seemed largely disinterested in what was going on. The Lieutenant glanced up every once in a while, but beyond that didn't seem to care of the interview or the Gul himself. V'rol sensed the fear and panic from the Gul in that moment. Something that V'rol found note worthy.

Gul Bolon backed up some from the force field, "Failure? Yes, it was a failure" he admitted softly as he tried to remain clam. V'rol could see that it was a effort for the Gul, but with an eye beyond the force field he held his composure. Barely though. "In death, she denied me that last piece of information. In my dreams she laughs at my failure. But I had no choice. Time was no longer on our side." He turned back to the two female doctors for a moment then back to V'rol. "She taunted me one last time! I had no choice but to disobey.....to try one last time to break her."

He paused a moment as he scanned the room. "Why" he asked walking up to the force field and looking beyond it to the security station. "Why did she have to die" he asked almost as if he was sincerely confused by her death. He turned once more to V'rul, "You know! Tell me! Why did I have to kill her! Why not allow us to leave that place together!"

To Doctor McCoy and V'rol, his emotions regarding Major MacConnell were conflicted. He hated her like no other being in the galaxy. Now that she is gone, he was left empty. Her death had created a void within him that nothing can refill. He holds no guilt over her death but the sorrow was nearly overwhelming. It could be even suggested that in his hate for her, he needed her to have that fulfillment in his life. There is no doubt that killing her was something he did only because he truly felt he had no choice. His anger over what she denied him in death consumes his thoughts. But there is something else. His emotions were a roller coaster and his thoughts were more like a mass train wreck. Despite his best efforts to control them, he can't focus or control them.

He turned to V'rol and lunged at the Vulcan security officer. The attack was easily blocked and stopped by V'rol as the Vulcan grappled both of Bolon's wrists rendering any possible future attack impossible. Despite the clearly disadvantage situation, the Gul struggled and Gul spat, "WHY! I told you everything she knew! WHY FORCE ME TO KILL HER!"

On that the force field was dropped and a pair of Klingons pulled Bolon back while the others were ready to act in a moment's notice. With Gul Bolon locked in their grip, the leader of the Klingons looked to V'rol for instructions. The Starfleet Lieutenant looked up from his station with his hand on the console ready to trigger an alarm.


But it was Doctor McCoy who acted first. She was able to get a clear sense of his emotions and thoughts. "Everyone, Stand Down please." Dr. McCoy looks to the Klingons and to the Starfleet Lieutenant just beyond the interview room.


In her mind, she could only think, 'at least V'rol is finally being almost helpful'

She waved everyone to calm down. She walked calmly over to Gul Bolon and rested a hand on his shoulder hoping to calm him down. She looked at him in the eyes as she spoke, "Gul, tell me more about the other prisoners. Tell me more of the methods used on this other prisoner. How you tried to use them to break the Major." She knew that speaking about Major MacConnell was triggering this wild emotional roller coaster within him. She hoped that talking about something else would help calm him down.


It took a moment for the pair of Klingons to release their grip and back off. They looked towards V'rol and accepted his control over the situation. They might not have liked the idea of it, but they knew for the moment the Gul was still a Federation prisoner. For the time being they would comply, even if they didn't like it. That backed off to allow the interview to continue. The Klingon commander made his displeasure over the situation clear as he spoke, "Speak with them for now, dog. Soon, you will be put down like the animal YOU are."

In that moment while Doctor McCoy was bringing the situation under control, Dr. Vanlaere moved up behind V'rol and whispered. "He is suffering from Cal'ix poisoning Sir." The Gul's attention was on Doctor McCoy as Doctor Vanlaere added, "His medical reports indicated that he was poisoned sometime right before he was brought in to custody back on Velos VII. It effects mental abilities, emotional control and memory. However the reports didn't indicated that the poisoning was this server. I suspect that he might have been poisoned a second time while in custody. I can't imagine him doing this to himself, it is possible that someone has tried to ruin what was left of his memory. This much is clear to me, Sir. Proceed with caution." V'rol nodded his understanding as he watched the situation clearfully.

The Gul moved towards Dr. McCoy as he was let go, "Oh the other prisoners. I knew that my assignment on Velos was a nightmare. It was much worse on my men. I hand selected some prisoners to act as, well you know hospitality for my men and even the women under my command."


Doctor McCoy added, "Petty Officer Traver was one of those selected?"


Gul Bolon nodded as he continued, "some prisoners took to their new roles well while others fought against it. I couldn't use those of Ghost Recon though. As much as I wanted to. I was ordered to keep them separated from the rest of the camp. Even new barracks were built just for them. It was feared that they would pull off some miracle out of thin air. But I had their Gypsy. I knew that there would be no more miracles for them" He paused as he followed Doctor McCoy over to the table and set down beside her. He reached out to hold her hand but stopped as the glares from the Klingon fell upon him.

"My men so loved the touch of Federation women, like Petty Officer Traver. Skin like silk and...and the touch of them" he said remembering his own experience with his own personal animal. For Gul Bolon, there could only be one Federation woman worthy of his touch. He didn't need to mention her, as Doctor McCoy knew who that woman was.


"I couldn't use the members of Ghost Recon as my men wanted. So I used those POW's to break her. I would torture them for hours just to get her to to say something I wanted her to say. Each time she refused me and each time I would make them suffer for it. I remember one night she cried after she broke. She cried for the man she loved. I looked down at her, as she cried for him. No not that Klingon she would marry but the man she never let go of. A childhood love that she grew up with. It was the first time I ever saw her truly cry."

He looked in to Doctor McCoy's eyes and smiled, "that is real power over a person. To be able to control a person like that. I made her beg for me that night. To forsake this man she loved and name me as her lover." He was cold in his voice and emotionless in his eyes. He looked over at Doctor Vanleare without a care, "the filthy beast didn't deserve me though. I beat her for making such a presumption then executed one of her men for the mistake."


He moved his hand across the table as if reaching out for Doctor McCoy, "you see, I never used technology to break her. Her love for her soldiers was more than enough to serve this purpose. I used them, or even other helpless prisoners to inflict suffering on her. I could beat her for hours on end and she would cry. But when I beat and tortured someone else for her actions, this was unbearable to her. It was in these moments that I could best control her."


Erica McCoy shuddered to herself. Her mind raced as the Gul continued to speak. 'Remember Erica, this is why you got into the field was to help people. There is no helping him! I have to ask these questions to finish that segment in time. And to shed light on what is happening now. This is Shock and Awe tactics at their best... I.... dear gods history proves this over and over again. The pain. His pain...His pain so wrong, but for him it is right. he didn't want her to die no matter what. He is truly sorry that she is dead. His world is gone from him with her death. She was his focus after his family was lost....I almost feel for him in this moment. As horrible as all his actions are, I understand them. As much as I would rather not.'


She ran through her mind as she cataloged the symptoms of what the Gul is displaying. Like Doctor Vanlaere McCoy caught on to the poisoning and realized something wasn't adding up. Euphorics, or poison. 'All in how much the dose is' she thought. She knew that he was poisoned by Cal'ix. This much was obvious. Cal'ix was a street drug known for his mind twisting effects. Doctor McCoy knew this drug well due to its horrific effects on telepaths and empaths. She had treated a number of cases where the victims had long term effects from it. 'This is not a fun drug' she added to her thoughts. His life will never be the same with these kinds of symptoms. 'I need him to be able to focus. I need to know what he is hiding. So far he has been almost 100% truthful' were her last thoughts before shifted her attention back to the Gul.

Gul Bolon turned back to V'rol, "you know Starfleet," he said softly with a grin, "I never reported anything of what she really confided in me. Those were secrets shared between two lovers. If my superiors had known, they would have taken her away from me. Taken my love away from me. So I forged the reports to indicate that I was getting closer to knowing what she knew, but she hadn't told me anything useful yet. When I was ordered to kill her, I told them. I told you all that she knew. I guess they believed my fake reports more than the truth."

He turned back to Dr. McCoy, "So I am to be blamed for her death. But I didn't have a choice, you see that now, right?" His eye twitched as she could feel the pain in his mind. He brought both hands up to his temples as the pain increased. "I" he said softly as the pain increased, "I......I" he slammed his fists down on the table as he leaped up from the table with anger in his eyes. "I didn't have a choice!" he yelled at Doctor McCoy. His voice sprayed with liquid and filled with hate. He backed up from Doctor McCoy and started to back up towards the wall. "Leave me alone!" he cried out his voice and mind filled with pain. "I told you all I know" he added. It was his first and only lie and they knew it.


Doctor McCoy got up and moved towards V'rol. She leaned in and spoke softly so not to disturb Gul from his pain, "The benefactor...something tells me it points to what was in those files that were taken from the Thunderchild. The ship was the flagship during the invasion of Velos. Starfleet reports of the failed invasion indicates either a passive program that was in the system at the time or that there were informants. The latter being more likely based on what we have learned so far. A informant only explains how they knew about all those last minute changes to the plans." Commander V'rol nodded his understanding as McCoy walked back over towards Gul Bolon.

"Gul," Erica McCoy said softly as she brought his attention back from the pain in his head. "Gul, talk to me about Petty Officer Traver, the one that you brought before the Major. Why did she become such a key focus in trying to get out that last secret from the Major."

 

Re: The Journeys of the USS Thunderchild

Contributors: aipsylon (Current Player as V'rol), Vertroue (Former Player as Dr. McCoy)

Meeting With Gul Bolon (Final Part)
The Brig,
Starbase 74
Stardate 53830.74


Gul Bolon smiled as he turned to face Doctor McCoy, "Oh that was because of Schmitt." he stumbled a bit as he reached up for the side of his head. It was clear that he was in pain but he continued to talk. "You can always count on a rat to fend for its self when its own life is threatened." Gul Bolon moved his hands so that they were in front of him as if he was carrying a small creature or item. "Schmitt got caught stealing food one too many times. I had already ordered that if he were to get caught stealing again, my guards were to execute him on the spot. But Schmitt knew something," he said then added as if he was talking to someone else, "didn't you Schmitt." Gul Bolon was speaking in to his hand and what illusionary creature was there.


"You knew something that would have save your worthless little life. At least you so badly hoped so." Gul Bolon looked up with his eyes out of focus and gazed back at Doctor McCoy. "He told my guards of a grand story as he begged for his own life." The Gul explained as he turned and walked up towards Doctor Vanlaere once more. He motioned as if he was going to touch her face with the back of his hand. However as he got closer to her face, he stopped when he noticed that the Klingons and V'rol gave the impression that such action would have consequences.

Doctor McCoy could feel the emotions raging through Gul Bolon. She was sure that in this moment, he couldn't tell the difference between reality and memories. Meanwhile Gul Bolon just looked in to Doctor Vanlaere's eyes he continued, "Schmitt told me how you used to wear a marine uniform," he spoke looking right in to Doctor Vanlaere's eyes as if she was some specter in the room. "Release her" he ordered to either side of Dr. Vanlaere. He continued, "Schmitt wanted to be evacuated during the great escape. But there wasn't enough room for him. He said how you carried enough weight with the Major to get him on the next transport. You, a lowly a mere corporal, could sway the opinion of a Marine Major. However that last shuttle never made it, did it. I made sure of that. No more of you would escape."

He paused for a moment before continuing without warning, "you told my guards, Schmitt, how you" he said pointing at Doctor Vanlaere, "took the clothes and identity of a dead woman to hide who you really were. How they all promised to keep your identity a secret from me and my guards. I was so happy when my guards relayed this news."


He turned to continue talking to his phantoms, "but I was outraged with you, Schmitt, for not telling me sooner. All the times I gave you extra bread and this was how you thanked me. It didn't matter, I never had a chance to reward or punish him over it. Someone made poor Schmitt swallow his own tongue."


He smiled from the deepest, darkest part of his heart as he looked right in to Doctor Vanlaere's eyes, "But I have you now and you were going to help me break The Gypsy once and for all. But first I have to be sure." He turned his back on her, "You have your orders," he motioned to the specters next to her. "I want to hear her scream," he added "make her scream like no other and you both can have your pick of the latest stock." Doctor Vanlaere just stood there looking confused as the Gul walked away from her with his hand waving in the air to some unheard music. It was clear despite her confusion, that she was disgusted in what was being played out. She hated Gul Bolon, now more than ever.

He walked over to V'rol, "Dramal, we have time for this" he said looking right at the Vulcan but clearly seeing someone else. "We will make our meeting long before the Appalachia is to arrive. And after all the order didn't say when it had to be carried out. We have time, Dramal" the Gul looked as if he was in pain as he flinched a bit. "Dramal, you alone knew why she was so important to me. You alone defended my actions to the rest. You knew that this wasn't madness, but genius, that she inspired me. With each passing day we spent with her" he said pointing at Doctor McCoy, "we learn something new about who she was. Something that would get us closer to having our revenge on her. Something that would heal my own pains. Just one more day and we will have her for all eternity."

He turned once more as Doctor McCoy spoke up, "tell me. Who gave you such an order. Why do we have to be separated." It was clear that Doctor McCoy was playing along with his illusion to gather more information from him.


"The order" he said in pain. He walked on weakened knees as he continued, "we had lost the war, but that didn't mean we...." he struggled with the pain as he stopped in the center of the room. He stumbled almost as if he had trouble standing. "Cardassian Central Command told me, we had to protect our benefactor after the war." He stuttered as he started to drool. The pain seemed to consume him has he spoke.

He dropped to his knees as he held either side of his head, "The pain....." he struggled "The secret.....He told us who was coming to liberate the camp and when.....He was...." Gul Bolon actually started to cry as he tried to speak, "He....told us everything....." finally he fell silent as he dropped his head in to his hands.


The mental pain was so great that even Doctor McCoy couldn't help but sense it. The pain that she sense was clearly visible on Erica's face as she walked over to him. She carefully placed a hand on his shoulder, "shhhhh" she said softly. "I know you hurt" she said with all the softness of her voice. "Please tell me what happened that day. Share your pain, Gul Bolon," she pleaded.


Gul Bolon rose his head up as he looked up at her with tears in his eyes. From some unseen hell, he let out a whimper in pain. He flung himself forward as he rested his head down on the cool floor for a moment as he gathered himself. "I....." he mumbled from the floor.

After a few moments of silence he spoke without warning, "Oh Dramal. My most loyal and trusted friend" he mumbled. Based on the reports when Velos was liberated, Dramal was one of the senior guards at the camp. His body was found almost a kilometer from the camp with a single energy wound in his chest. The painful look on his face started to subside as he rose back up again. His memories with the help of Doctor McCoy were taking him back to another place.

Slowly he rose back up to his feet. Still holding his head with both hands, he turned once more to face V'rol, "Oh Dramal, I am sorry. I didn't know he would kill you." Gul Bolono struggled up to his feet and slowly walked up to V'rol, "Oh Dramal....." Gul Bolon added as he rested his hand on the Vulcan's shoulder, "had I not been tending to my trophy, I too would have been killed along with you."

Almost as if answering some unspoken question. "Instead the Appalachia was early, and I was arrested by their officers." He raised a finger to his lips as he made a shhhhing sound. "But I told them nothing, Dramal." he said with a smile. "I kept our secret to this very day, Dramal." There was a hint of laughter through the pain in his voice. "No one knew how we knew their most vital of secrets. How many battles were turned to our favor because of our benefactor. How we knew when a fleet was on the move or when a world was vulnerable for attack. They never knew how we knew Dramal."


He grabbed the sides of his head once more as he struggled against the pain. "We had him to thank for everything." The Cardassian shuttered once more as he felt new waves of pain flood over him. But he tried to continued, "Dramal, I kept Cardassia's most important secret. Even after he murdered you. I kept it because this gave me power over him."

Once more on weakened knees he turned and walked over to Doctor McCoy. As if surrendering to gravity, he flopped down to his knees before her. He looked at her legs as if he was looking in to someone's eyes. Doctor McCoy followed him down till their eyes met and she became part of his illusion. She motioned for everyone to hold their ground. She could sense that the key to what secret he was hiding about the Major was about to be told. It was right there beyond the pain and she could sense it.


In that moment, their eyes never parted as he looked at her with such love and desire. He loved her as much as he hated her. In return, Doctor McCoy looked at Gul Bolon as memories collided with reality. He ran his hands between them as if there were bars between them. "I know you are dying. I know the pain you must be in" he said. His voice was filled sorrow, "I can't take you with me as I wanted. I am sorry but you have to die. But we will not be separated. I promise you this," he said as he acted as if he was opening a cage. "Don't cry my little pet. Soon your death will release you from this pain and we will forever be together."


He acted as if he was pulling Doctor McCoy out of her cage and she played along. He smiled to her, "shhhh my little pet, don't cry anymore. You see, you taunted me to do this my love. Oh how I hated you. How I wanted you to suffer like no other. But now I can look in your eyes and admit our love. On this day, your last moments. As that poison runs through your veins, I can admit to your power over me. I can admit how our love for each other grown."

He reached his hand out carefully and touched Doctor McCoy's face so softy. Once more she had to motioned for everyone to hold back. The situation was growing beyond the comfort of everyone in the interview room. Doctor McCoy never showed any fear as she played along.


"You knew about the order, didn't you" Gul Bolon said softly looking in to her eyes. "This was why you demanded me to hurt you one last time. You were here in your cage when I received that transmission. You were like that lamp over there" he said motioning to a empty corner, "here all along but over looked just as a lamp is. You knew our secret and yet you still held secrets from me. Did you hear his voice over the Com Channel? Or was it that you saw his face in the mind of my superior? Did you gain this insight through your telepathic powers? Doesn't matter how you knew, does it. You knew didn't you?"

His eyes were filled with such care and such passion for the woman before him. All other things slipped away in to darkness. In this moment, all Gul Bolon could see was his Gypsy on her knees before him once more. He ran his hand up and down her face as a tear slipped from his eye while he continued. He could see her in his memory. Her once lovely face scared and bruised from countless beatings. Her body shivered as waves of radioactive particles were burning her insides to ash. Her flesh pulled tightly over her bony structure from endless starvation. Her long red hair matted and filled with dried blood and dirt. But in her eyes, bore the spirit of the entire human race. That never ending courage that humans could seemingly summon to perform great feats. In her eyes, she welcomed death with open arms as if it were a long lover returning from a trip.


To Gul, he saw in her eyes that love for him that he always imagined was there. "I hurt you, beat you, and took you. Yet you still defied me. What did you dare to tell me, 'From Hell's heart, I stab at thee... For hate's sake, I spit my last breath at thee...' You tasked me one last time to spend my time with you. To cause your suffering once more. Did you do this cause you knew I loved you or because you wanted to save your own fellow prisoners as Dramal suggested. I believe that you knew this was our last moments and wanted them to be spent with me. You could no longer ignore our love either."


He smiled at her, "No, I knew the truth, didn't I." He looked down as his hand acted as if he was pulling something from his belt. "I never knew you could endure so much suffering. This was truly your finest hour my beloved. Ah, but you did this for me, didn't you. In that, you truly admit it. Admitted your love for me. And it is as deep as my love for you. No battlefield could keep us apart. You needed this as much as I did." He rambled as he looked in to Doctor McCoy's eyes. He voice was cold and calm. No sign of the pain that was there before. Instead this memories was clean of pain. He spoke to her wish such softness in his voice and his touch was filled with care.

In his mind, she could almost hear the words from Major MacConnell in his memory. Doctor McCoy reached out with her own senses as best as she could to try to touch these memories. She could her the pain and suffering from the woman in his memory. She could almost make out the beaten, starved and broken form of Major MacConnell. The form was laying curled before a small two by two by two metal cage. In that moment she could almost hear the voice of Major MacConnell through his memory. There was no doubt to Doctor McCoy, Major MacConnell was a telepath and a strong one at that.

The memories were so vivid and clear that Erica couldn't help but feel a cold shiver down her spine. Doctor McCoy's own body shuttered as the empathic link grew stronger. Erica could feel that there was part of Major MacConnell deep locked within his memory. Doctor McCoy could sense that the Major knew that she was at death's doorstep, and welcomed death. But there was something holding her to this world. Some duty or reason why she beckoned him to not take his attention off of her. Something of urgency that couldn't be left undone. For all she could sense, this was only an echo of Major MacConnell.


The emotions linked that connected these memories were filled with so much pain and suffering that Doctor McCoy couldn't help but tear up. She had to fight back from crying. She feared if she did cry, that the others would intervene in what was happening. Still this very real reaction to the situation caused Gul Bolon to become more lost in the illusion of yesterday. Doctor McCoy reached up and touched the side of the Gul's face as he looked in to her eyes. The two became locked in the moment within his memories. The death of Major MacConnell was close at hand and Doctor McCoy could feel it. The painful emotions washed over Erica like waves on the beach. Some more intense than others but one after another they kept coming. Sorrow and sadness filled Erica's heart.

"The look in your eyes told me what I wanted to know," the Gul added. "She means something to you, doesn't she" he said motioning towards Doctor Vanlaere. He nodded as he continued, "I know you know me. But after all this time, I too know you as well my lowly little beast. I can see that look in your eyes when you look at her," he said as he continued to touch the side of Erica's face. "I know she means something to you. Schmitt was right, she was important to you. But I just don't know how. Is she that missing Communication Tech I wonder," he asked coldly.

He rose up once more and walked over to Doctor Vanlaere, "oh I no longer care what you know. The array be damned. You WILL stay and watch. You will stay and bare witness to what I must do to her." He reached out and touched the side of Doctor Vanlaere's face as he spoke, "know that you CAN end this. Just tell me how you two know each other. Then, together, we can find out what she" he said pointing back to Doctor McCoy as she remained sitting on the floor on all fours, "knows. With your suffering and pain, we can finally learn what she has been keeping from me all this time."

Anger filled his voice once more as he moved back towards Doctor McCoy, "I will do what I must to her!" Others moved to protect the small framed, young counselor but she only waved them back. She couldn't waste the time explaining it, but she knew she was in no danger from the Gul. Despite his mind being warped by the poisoning, she felt he would do her no harm. To her, she had to follow this madness to its end. No matter what dark corners it came from.


He looked at Erica as he slipped back to his knees, "but she wont tell me, will she. Like you. Never once would you just tell me something," he said as he looked in to her eyes. "Tell me this one thing and I will set her free," he temped pointing to Doctor Vanlaere. "Right here, right now. Who is she" he asked as nicely as possible. "Tell me and she will go free," he demanded. It was a lie for he had no intention of setting either woman free. If he was right, he could use this lowly Petty Officer to hurt Major MacConnell like she had never been hurt before.

Curling his hand in to a fist he lunged forward as if he was going to slam it in to Erica's face. She pulled back in fear of the blow but he stopped short. "Damn you and your secrets" he said pulling back. "Your secret would die with you. That is what you kept saying. How you kept saying I would never have you. But I will have you. I will take your very soul. I will possess you in a way no other being could ever possess you." Motioning as if he had a knife or something else in his hand and with his other hand, he ran it through Erica's hair.


"Don't cry my little beast. Death will come soon enough," he said as he continued to run his hand through Erica's hair. "I have no choice in this," he said as he added, "you know that right? I have no choice but to do this."


He steadied her by holding her shoulder. The tension could be felt across the room as the situation continued to develop. His voice was steady for a madman as he continued, "but in death, this doesn't mean we can't be together." He motioned as if he had stabbed or cut in to her chest slowly and carefully. "Shhhhh don't cry....don't close your eyes. Watch me.....Keep your eyes on me" he said in his delusional state.


He continued to work his imaginary weapon across her chest as he spoke, "I know the pain you feel right now. Don't you remember. You did this to me when you caused my family to leave me." He added then looked to V'rol and added, "keep her awake and feeling for just a moment longer. Don't let her pass out Dramal. I am almost done. Keep her awake. If nothing else keep her awake and feeling."

He continued to motion as if he was cutting in her chest as he looked back in towards Doctor Vanlaere and spoke, "Don't allow her to look away." As if he was commanding phantom guards next on either side of Doctor Vanlaere he motioned for the phantoms of his mind to comply with his orders. "I never imagined how warm it would feel in my hand," Gul Bolon said as he pushed hard against Erica's chest. She fought the urge to pull away but she had to explore this to the end. The imagery of his mind told her the whole story of what was happening beyond what everyone else was seeing in reality.


Beyond his madness and his delusion, the scene was as tense as V'rol had ever seen before. For the combat veteran, he had never witnessed something so dark and so intimate as this. While there was no blood nor gore that would be expected from such a scene, the emotions still ran deep. It was these emotions that V'rol could tap in to and gauge how to react. Beyond these emotions, before V'rol was nothing more than a madman who has long lost his connection with reality. For Doctor Vanlaere, her anger over this was clearly written across her face. This scene had touched her much more deeply than anyone else baring wittiness to it.


Gul Bolon continued his madness, "How much I so desired this moment but too afraid to actually do it. I didn't ever want us to end. But now I have no choice. I had to and you are already dying." He said as he continued to act as if he were cutting out Erica's heart. "Almost, my love. Almost...." he said with a smile "Don't let her sleep Dramal, give her another hypo if you must but she has to feel this. She must know that I will forever watch over her soul. Even after her death."

He let out a hint of laughter as he cupped something in his hand. "There my little beast. I have it. Your soul," he said showing his empty hands to Doctor McCoy, "don't cry, I will watch over it for all time. No one will ever have you. Not now. You will have no rest, no peace. Just as you have left me. Forever in suffering and in pain. We will shall forever be joined in suffering, my little beast. I will never let you go." He raised his eyes as he looked in to Doctor McCoy's eyes. Once more she could sense his memories. She knew that the Major was dying and there was so much pain around him. A second female voice was crying out but that voice was just outside of his vision. "Look my sweet little beast, it still beats, just a bit" he said with a smile as he looked down to his hands once more, "its so warm....so small and warm....sleep now my little beast......"


Still on her knees Erica looked up at him as if she was speaking for Major MacConnell. It was a risk and she knew it. But Erica had to try one more thing. One more thing before the time was gone.

Doctor McCoy had followed the rabbit deep in to its hole and was seeing the end. She knew what she was doing could send him into a mental breakdown or far worse than this drug could ever do to him but she had pushed him this far over the brink.

With tears in her eyes at the words that she must say, Erica whispered to the Gul and only to him. No one else mattered in this time and place. This was only between them. “Even with my heart in your hands, you will never have me, for I still have what you want.” Coughing slightly Erica played her part masterfully as she continued. “An answer for my secret.” She gave him a slight pause “You don’t have much time to decide, give me the name to the voice from the Com, the name to the face I saw in your Superiors mind’s eye. Tell me, and I tell you who she is.” Slightly pointing off to the side where the Doctor Vanlaere stood. Just as if her life actually depended on it, she played her part of the dying Major MacConnell perfectly. Too perfectly....


Anger filled his eyes once more at her word. It was the first warning that V'rol had to prepare to act. Gul Bolon moved back from Dr. McCoy, "I told them before" he said glancing without trying to show that he was intentionally avoiding looking at the Lieutenant standing at the Security Station. V'rol took noticed of the second time the Gul's attention was drawn to that Lieutenant. "I don't know. I don't remember. I don't know if I ever knew." He said moving his hands to the side of his head. "NO! NO MORE! Please....I don't want to hurt any more" he pleaded as he continued to move away from her and the others. Behind him a Klingon stood ready. Dr. Vanlaere reached in to her medical bag as the Gul's attention was else where.

"I told you I don't remember" Gul Bolon said to some mental illusion. The Gul shook his head as he tried to clear his mind. "I don't need any more.....I don't know what you are asking or why" the Gul said as his voice became more and more frustrated. "I don't remember......." He let out a scream filled with pain, "Nooooooooo"

Without further warning, Gul Bolon turned slamming both of his fists in to the Klingon who was standing behind him. Gul Bolon screamed, "I told you I don't know, I don't remember!" The Klingon was knocked off his feet. Erica pushed herself back on all fours to clear the combat area. Another Klingon attempted to subdue Gul Bolon but Bolon had lost his grip with reality all together. He took the knife full on in to the chest, but landed a left right to the Klingon sending him stumbling back. Not wasting any time, Gul Bolon let out another scream of pain as he lashed out at the next nearest target, Doctor Vanlaere!


She let out a startled scream as she leaped just barely avoiding his attack. At the same time she placed a hypo against his neck and activated it. The injection seemed to trigger a violent reaction from Gul Bolon. He grabbed her and slammed her against the wall screaming, "I don't want to hurt anymore!" With Doctor Vanlaere completely in his sights, it was up to others in the room to act. It was clear that what ever she did to Gul Bolon had no clear effect.


V'rol stepped up quickly as the man had become quite unstable and lost to anger. He noted that the Klingon officer was standing within a step's reach of the man and should have been in a stance that would allow him to respond to such a maneuver. Ahh to the impulsiveness of Klingons. As the Gul lashed out at Doctor Vanlaere. That was his cue before things escalated further. A long step, brought him up behind the Gul, his hand forming to the pressure points on the Cardassian's neck giving it a pinch, one known well to those who had served with Vulcan's.

As the Gul was losing consciousness V'rol spoke in that calm flat voice he always used. "Gul, your actions are not conductive to a peaceful resolution to events." He lowered the Gul to his back looking up to see Doctor Vanlaere as she fled from the room clearly an emotional reaction to the situation, one that would be better handled by one trained to deal in such things.

He looked up to the Klingons, "If you would please escort the Gul back to his cell and ensure that he receives medical attention. I believe we have gleaned all the information from him we are likely to in this session. I am certain the doctor will alert the medical staff to what was put into his system. Standing he looked to make certain that Doctor McCoy was unharmed. "Your discipline was commendable." He said his plan to walk out and get to the business of fact checking.


Dr. McCoy looked impassive as the Gul made his final outburst. She held it together even through the attack on the Klingon. She didn't want to admit it, but she was scared. It all happened so fast for her to react to. Long before she could react, her friend, Leana was in harms way and it was her fault. She heard Commander V'rol speak about discipline, but all she could do was look at her shaking hands. "Yes...." she mumbled as she tried to stand under her own power. "Thank you, Sir" she finally added as her legs had just decided to steady.

Walking through the opened door Erica found Doctor Vanlaere slumped up against the wall with her eyes closed as she was clearly fighting to calm her racing pulse. “Leana,” Erica said softly while she walked over. Carefully and making deliberate noises to not startle her friend. “Leana, I am so sorry you had to be pulled into that nightmare. I wanted to thank you for being strong in being forced to watch that." Erica tried to say but was finally cut off.

Leana didn't look up at Erica as she spoke, “yeah, but I wouldn't say strong.” Leana's hands were shaking so much that she couldn't control it. “I don’t think I can do this. Not again.”

Erica knew what Leana was talking about. This hit too close to home for the Orion Medical Officer. Turning and leaning against the wall next to Leana, Erica nodded but didn't say anything. Erica tried not to notice the tears rolling down Leana's face. Instead Erica asked, “Why didn't the sedative work?”

Leana looked at the hypo in her trembling hand and sighed heavily. “Because it wasn't a sedative” She finally said handing a full sample container to her long time good friend.

Taking the hypo and staring at it in surprise. It was one of the conditions that allowed them to have the interview. They were not allowed to perform any medical tests on Gul Bolon. Erica looked over to the side at her friend, “Leana, you could have been killed!" Leana only nodded, "no wonder The Gul went off the deep end after you did that.”

Leana nodded as she shifted her eyes to a distant point on the other side of the corridor. “Can I confide in you,” She said with a hint of sadness in her voice. “I am going to ask the Captain to leave me behind. I can’t do this. I thought I could after.....well you know.....but I can’t. I am sorry.”

Erica knew what she was saying. That terrible moment in Leana's past was the reason why the pair had met in the first place. They had started off as Doctor and Patient and grew in to so much more. Erica thought that Leana was moving too fast in requesting a return to active duty, but supported Leana anyway. Erica looked in to the sample glass from the hypo and sighed heavily as she nodded her head. "I will speak with the Captain personally about this. It will be as if you were never returned to active duty. I will make sure of this."


Erica turned to face Leana once more, "will you return home or what?"


Leana just shrugged her shoulders, "I don't know. I am not sure. Maybe I will just go back to Earth and continue this extended vacation" she said with a bit of a smile. She tried so hard to put on a pleasant face but she couldn't hide the pain, the shame or the anger that raged just beneath. She couldn't hide this from Erica.


Erica nodded, “You can always talk to me, Leana." She set there for a moment with her friend in silence. Finally Erica added, "Leana, you have nothing to be sorry for. Nothing. You are a very strong woman. Not many would have held up as you have since that day. One day, once the past is no longer a fresh factor in your mind and heart return to us. I will make sure you are received with open arms.”


On that statement, Leana leaned over and gave her close friend a hug. "I will always love you, Erica. For all that you have done for me. Thank you."


Hey guys, I am still looking for a bit more feedback. If you are reading this and have comments, ideas, suggestions or would just like to tell me you love/hate what I am writing. Then please email me at Akirapryde2006@yahoo.com Please include in the email title the name of this thread. If I include your ideas or suggestions I will give you credit at the top of the post. So let me know what your name on this site is also. Thanks for your help/feedback.

 

Re: The Journeys of the USS Thunderchild

Sector 004, Northern Corridor
Just outside of the system: UIH- 0351
USS Repulse NCC-2544
Vice Admiral David Tate, Commanding
Stardate: 53832.05

At the same time the USS Thunderchild is on the other side of Sector 004 arriving at Starbase 74, Admiral Tate was leading his Combat Squadron of starships on maneuvers. The location called Northern Corridor has always been a bee hive of smuggler activity for the Federation. With numerous navigational hazards and sensor blind spots, smugglers have found this area prefect for making runs in to the heart of the Federation. However, because of this very reason, Starfleet uses this area for training and patrols. Making this area a hotbed of traffic, both official and non-official. Today was no different than any other day for the Northern Corridor as it play host to Admiral Tate and his Squadron of fifteen starships. However, what is different about today was that Starfleet Command placed the entire sector on alert when a Tellar freighter spotted the USS Susquehanna in the area.


The alert was issued that the fugitive, Petty Officer Dolores Traver was attempting to make her way to Cardassian space using the stolen runabout. According to Tellar freighter captain, Petty Officer Traver informed them that she meant to attack Cardassian Worlds and bring some kind of revenge back to the Cardassian people. Because of this chance encounter, Starfleet Command had give the responsibility of capturing Petty Officer Traver to Admiral Tate and his 4th Fleet. A logical choice seeing how the 4th Fleet was already tasked with patrolling what remained of the Cardassian Union. Their mission was to protect aid and refugee ships within the Cardassian Union. Support Cardassian ships in counter pirate patrols. Also Admiral Tate was on strong, friendly terms with the current Cardassian government. But more importantly, the 4th Fleet had a brand new kind of ship at their disposal, the USS Thunderchild.


After the chance sighting, Admiral Tate ordered his ships in to search pattern in hopes of cornering the little runabout. Not a member of the squadron had any doubt that this hunt was over. After all, how could a little runabout stand up to the might and power of a starship. Admiral Tate, being an experienced Flag Officer, as demanded that all of his ships and captains follow the suggestions from Starfleet Medical in regards to the fugitive, Petty Officer Traver. The search continues for the stolen runabout and the fugitive across Sector 004. From a sensor's point of view, the entire Sector resonated with the search of multiple ships from Starfleet and the civilian merchant fleet. For everyone within the search, it was only a matter of time before this hunt was over.


Beyond the ships conducting the search, the runabout has managed to remain hidden from the search ships. Over the past few hours, only a handful of reports have surfaced sending members of Admiral Tate's squadron across the sector chasing down these reports. However they ended up being wild goose chases as no runabout was confirmed in the area by the time the search ship arrived. This has caused mix reactions from the captains of the search ship. Some pushed their ships harder to reach the location of the next sighting in hopes of catching the runabout before it could flee. Others acted more reserved and cautious. Not that it matters, either approach ended with the same wild goose chase. With the USS Susquehanna still remaining at large, concern over the threat has grown at Starfleet Command which has filtered back to Admiral Tate.


Across the search ships, rumors of the attack on the USS Thunderchild has already started being talked about. These rumors have identified the attack responsible as being Petty Officer Dolores Traver. Due to these rumors, searches of her medical files has shown escape from Starfleet Medical on Earth. During her escape, a shuttle crew were reported murdered by Petty Officer Traver. Starfleet Medical has described her as suffering from delusions and should be considered dangerous. These reports instruct that Starfleet Medical should be contacted once Petty Officer Traver has been spotted. The chase was on, and Starfleet was not about to allow Petty Officer Traver's flight for freedom to continue much longer.

Admiral Tate's orders were clear, secure the runabout and the safe capture of Petty Officer Traver. And within hours of the orders being issued the USS Repulse, under Flag command of Vice Admiral David Tate, had made the first solid spotting of the stolen runabout on their sensors. It was the first confirmed spotting since that Tellar freighter spotted the runabout operating in the Northern Corridor which triggered the massive hunt across the sector. The hunt was about to come to an end as Admiral Tate and his three starships were closing in on the USS Susquehanna. The only concern was reaching the USS Susquehanna before she reached UIH-0351.


UIH-0351 offered its own difficulties for the hunt for Petty Officer Traver. The system is an uninhabited binary star system that holds a separate pulsar within it. While a sight to be hold for travelers, due to the nature of the three stars and their interactions much of the system is covered in a inversion field. Because of this field, subspace communications and short-range sensors are disrupted. This made traveling at warp within the system dangerous and tracking ships nearly impossible. The gravity fields within the system had created a number of asteroid fields leaving multiple hiding places for a small little runabout. It was a prefect hiding place for a fugitive on the run. So no one was surprised when the USS Susquehanna showed up heading there.


It was said at Starfleet Command that this hunt was just about over. Even if the USS Susquehanna made it to the system, within hours the system would be cut off and it would only be a matter of time before Petty Officer Traver would be back in custody. Other ships near UIH-0351 had failed to report sightings of the stolen runabout, but now Admiral Tate had the little ship in his sights. Once the Susquehanna was spotted it increased to its maximum warp velocity as a desperate attempt to make for the system before the USS Repulse could catch up. Even when the Susquehanna was pushing her maximum warp speeds, the USS Repulse along with her two sister ships were already easily catching up to the runabout. Back on Earth, the pursuit was being monitored, as it was unfolding. Some were already breathing a sigh of relief as it was clear that the three mighty Excelsior class starships were closing fast on the little runabout.


For Admiral Tate, this was a rare time. During the Dominion War, much of his time was spent as a senior staff officer to then Vice Admiral Ross. In fact, this was the first time he had commanded a starship since he himself commanded the USS Thunderchild nearly five years ago. Under normal conditions, the USS Repulse would be commanded by her Vulcan captain, Captain Vakath. When Admiral Tate struck his flag aboard for the war games, he assumed command of the ship. He has yet to give up that command when the alert about Petty Officer Traver was issued. Admiral Tate, the man known as the Bulldog often liked to 'get his hands dirty' like this. It was a style of leadership that inspired junior officers but drove some senior officers crazy.


For Admiral Tate, this was personal. When word came out that an intruder attacked Admiral Ross' previous flagship, Admiral Tate made it his personal mission to put an end to all of this. Based on what little information Captain Campbell's people were issuing to Star Fleet, they didn't know much about the intruder or her goals. All that changed when the Tellar captain made contact with the fugitive. it was clear by that encounter that the fugitive was delusional. But for Admiral Tate, more was at stake here. This woman had not only attacked one of his ships and was now attempting to escape justice. She had attacked his pride and joy, the USS Thunderchild. A ship that he was placing the fate of his career on.


Capturing the Susquehanna was a top priority for the Admiral, who has pushed his ships and their crew to their breaking points running search pattern after search pattern. To the experienced officers of the 4th Fleet, The Bulldog had his bone and wasn't about to let it go. Captain Vakath's logical mind had made it clear that he thought that Admiral Tate was taking this situation too seriously. After explaining how the Admiral still had friends aboard the Thunderchild, the pair couldn't avoid a professional disagreement over the issue. Finally Admiral Tate issued his orders and Captain Vakath had little choice but followed them.


The three mighty Excelsior class starships move in formation at high warp. In lead, the USS Repulse, Admiral Tate's flagship. Along her left and right flanks flew the USS Potemkin and the USS Valley Forge. All three ships were traveling at warp speed with their crews at battle stations. The Admiral wanted to ensure that nothing was left to chances. This area of space was heavily traveled by Orion Pirates and the last thing he wanted to do was get jumped while attempting to apprehend the stolen runabout. Luckily though, the search patterns had driven most of the pirates from the region. As the three larger ships closed on the runabout, the Potemkin and Valley Forge started to spread out and gain speed on the Repulse. Soon they were running a V formation with smaller runabout slowly becoming trapped in the jaws of the starfleet ships.


The Bulldog's plan was simple. Kill the runabout's power and control systems, while the other two ships of his small wing cut off any chance of escape. It was all about mathematics. The solar system was ten minutes away and the three larger ships were five minutes behind the stolen runabout. The staff watching this from Starfleet Command, and those aboard the three ships pursuit ships knew that this chase was over. In just about five minutes, the Starfleet ships would be in range to engage the Susquehanna. When that happened there would be no place to hide, no place to run. There was simply no hope that the smaller runabout could stand a chance against the three larger ships. In all their minds, this was over.


Based on its actions, the little Susquehanna didn't seem to think it was completely helpless as it transferred all available power to its engines. From the sensors of the Repulse, the engines of the runabout were glowing a bright orange as the pilot of the runabout was red lining her engines. The little ship was trying everything it could to escape the Excelsior ships. But again, the numbers simply didn't support the effort. In five minutes, this chase was going to be over and Admiral Tate knew it. As he leaned back in his chair and smiled while watching the view screen of the little runabout making its futile flight for freedom he issued the order to increase their speed and put an end to this chase.


On the bridge of the USS Repulse, the situation was calm and collected. Admiral Tate had his crew at battle stations for almost eight hours now. Each member of the crew had worked towards the Admiral's goal. And now that goal of capturing the Susquehanna was about to be over. They had the small runabout on their long range sensors for almost four hours, but the Admiral held off notifying the rest of the fleet or Starfleet till he had a positive idea of what they were seeing on sensors. Most of his battle group had already chased sensor ghosts across the sector, he was not about to be fooled by a ghost. They were now spread out across an area and volume encompassing several light years. Despite his orders for them to regroup, it would take them hours to comply with that order. A situation that he simply didn't like, and this was just one more reason to exercise a bit of uncharacteristic caution. But once he had positivity identified the runabout, it was time to put an end to this chase. He ordered his three ships to engage the runabout.


Reports echoed across the bridge as they closed on the runabout. Its position, its engine status, and most importantly were the status of its weapons and shields were softly spoken across the bridge. On the main view screen hung the aft section of the Susquehanna traveling at warp speed. Captain Vakath looked up from the science station "Sir, the Susquehanna's warp engines are reaching critical mass. Based on the reports from Starfleet Medical we should back off." The voice of the Vulcan was calm, even and collected. "If the pilot is suffering from paranoia fueled delusions, than it is logical to suspect that our pursuit of the ship is only driving the pilot to act more irrational. A logical solution would be to deploy our shuttles and keep our distance while we wait for the rest of the battle group to regroup on us. This way we can allow the pilot to calm down and we can conduct a more safe capture of the fugitive."


Admiral Tate nodded as he watched the runabout on his main viewer, "Understood, but I am ending this now." Admiral Tate was well known for his hot temper and his decisive action in combat. "Captain Vakath, do we have conformation that this is in fact our missing runabout?"


"Indeed Admiral," Captain Vakath said as he nodded and added, "It is."


He turned in his chair, "Com, send to all commands 4th Fleet and Starfleet Command. We have confirmed the location of the USS Susquehanna. We are attempting to capture the fugitive now. With luck, this ordeal will be over in a matter of minutes. Include our current location with tactical data on the Susquehanna."


Lieutenant Yin nodded as he answered, "Aye Admiral. Sending now."

Admiral Tate spun in his chair, "give me a secure channel to both the Potemkin and Valley Forge."


Once more Lieutenant Yin replied, "Channel open Sir."


"Captains" Admiral Tate said as he rose up from his center chair. "Just as I have explained before once we drop out of warp, give me a second and then drop out of warp. Circle around and cut off any hope of the Susquehanna reaching that system. If you have to fire, fire to disable only. We do not want to kill the fugitive. Exercise caution and care in this. Lets remember we are dealing with a runaway patient that is suffering from a mental disorder."


Admiral Tate waited for each commander of the two other ships to acknowledge the orders before continuing, "Com, open a channel." He waited a moment for his communication officer to advise that the channel was opened.


"Susquehanna, this is Vice Admiral Tate. You are ordered to power down your engines at once. You are placing your life and that runabout at risk." The channel remained open for a moment with no reply. Finally the admiral motioned his hand across his neck for the channel to be closed. "Sensors! What can we see aboard yet?" he asked. The fugitive's ability to create sensor ghosts and shadows has made her very difficult to track across the sector. He would give her this, she was resourceful, for a petty officer and a Captain's Yeoman. However she was in the big league now. This was Fleet and they ran things a lot differently than the cargo ship she was used to. He added, "I would really hate to be chasing an empty runabout."


"Sir" cried out Lieutenant Thelev ch'Ranni. The male Andorian looked up from his tactical station, "Susquehanna's warp field is starting to show signs of destabilizing. She might be going in to a warp core breech."


Captain Vakath turned and scanned the runabout with the science station sensors. "Confirmed Admiral. I am detecting increase levels of fluctuation in her energy output. The readings are being distorted by the dampening field. But what we are seeing could the result of a plasma injector leak in progress."


Admiral Tate moved back to his center chair as he said "Captain, are those prefix codes ready for the Susquehanna." Once seated he spun the chair to watch the Vulcan at work.


The Command Codes Captain Vakath nodded, "the USS Susquehanna's prefix codes are ready now Sir."


The Admiral spun in his chair, "enter the prefix code and lets shut those engines down before our petty officer blows herself up."


Lieutenant Allyn Kader spoke up from her station, "Sir, the Susquehanna's computer reports acceptance of the prefix code. Commanding the runabout to power down all systems.


"She is dropping out of warp and coming to a stop" Lieutenant ch'Ranni scanned the surrounding space, "Potemkin and Valley Forge are conducting their end run."


"Drop us out of warp right behind the runabout." he paused for a moment than turned to his communication officer, "Com, inform the battle group to stand by. Send to Star Fleet and all commands 4th Fleet. We have disabled the Susquehanna using its prefix code. We will take the fugitive in to custody momentarily."

He smiled as he leaned back in his chair. Victory was at hand. He never once doubted the ability of his crew to capture a wayward petty officer. "Com send a secure message to Captain Campbell. Inform him that those stolen files will be returned in just a moment." A grin crossed his face, "include, just like old times, cleaning up his messes."

Lieutenant Yin nodded as the communication officer looked up from his controls. "Both messages sent Sir."


Admiral Tate turned back to Captain Vakath, "Scan her computer for the stolen files."


The Vulcan nodded, "I have located the files within the runabouts computer, Sir"


Admiral Tate nodded as he issued the command, "transfer the stolen files back to our computer." Then he righted himself as he started to return to his chair. "Captain Phillips do you have a lock on the fugitive yet?" Admiral Tate and Captain Phillips had actually attended Starfleet Academy together long before the Dominion War. Now that Tate was a Vice Admiral, he personally asked for Captain Phillips to be his Chief of Staff.


Over the comlink Captain Phillips' voice rang out, "Sir, I am still not detecting any life forms aboard the ship. That dampening field that is throwing off the transporter targeting scanners. Give me a few more minutes Sir."


Admiral Tate nodded, "cut through that field Capitan. I want Petty Officer Traver in our sick bay now."


"Aye Sir" Captain Phillips replied.


Captain Vakath looked up from his station with a blank expression. However in his own mind, the logical Vulcan found it strange that the Admiral's own Chief of Staff would be personally operating the transporter. It was unusual to have a Chief of Staff operating the controls instead of their own Transporter Techs. However Captain Vakath didn't mention anything as he continued to scan the Susquehanna. The dampening field was making any positive scan nearly impossible. Nearly was the key word. The engine and plasma injectors should have been covered by the same field but the field was set up to allow them to be scanned. Captain Vakath looked at the readings as he continued to scan the runabout. This all seemed too easy.


Admiral Tate scanned his bridge and then motioned for a channel to be opened between his own group. He watched the main view screen as the Susquehanna hung helplessly in space. "Ladies and gentlemen, it is important to understand that Petty Officer Traver is suffering from a mental disorder. We do not want to risk any harm to her. The petty officer is a victim of the brutal treatment that she suffered under Cardassian hands. We need to treat her with the utmost respect and compassion. now, Potemkin and Valley Forge focus your sensors to work in unison with our own. Lets cut through that dampening field and beam her in to our sick bay."


Lieutenant Thelev ch'Ranni looked up from his station, "Sir, we have interlink with Potemkin and Valley Forge. Our sensors are cutting through the dampening field."


"Sir, the pilot is attempting to regain control over the runabout" Captain Vakath said calmly righting himself and turning to face the center chair. "However Sir, I think we should exercise caution. There appears to be......"


With a nod Admiral Tate motioned to the Vulcan cutting him off, "I don't care what there appears to be. Don't loss her Captain. This woman needs our help. We can't fail her."


Before anyone could say anything more, Lieutenant Thelev ch'Ranni cried out, "Sir!" his voice drew everyone's attention, "The Valley Forge just jettisoned her warp core!"

Admiral Tate turned his chair to look at the tactical station, "WHAT!?" There was disbelief across his face as he slowly stood up from this chair.


Captain Vakath turned back to his sensors and confirmed, "Confirmed, sensors are detecting the warp core and anti-matter bottles of the Valley Forge twenty meters below her keel. Distance growing rapidly."


Before anyone could react to the new crisis, the voice of the Repulse's computer came alive as it echoed across the ship. "Warp Core Breach detected"


Admiral Tate reached for his comlink as he heard another voice echo over the intercom, "Computer, prepare to eject the warp core, authorization, Larea omega 894" The voice was of his Chief Engineer, Lieutenant Larea.


"Tate to Engineering! What that hell is going on!?" Admiral Tate ordered.


Over the open comlink everyone on the bridge could hear the computer's voice replying with, "Warp ejection systems enabled."


Lieutenant Larea answered back, "Sir there is no warp breach in progress and I am not issuing these commands. Its some kind of virus in our engineering mainframe. We are trying to shunt it."


The situation turned critical as all heard the mimicked voice of the Chief Engineer issuing another command, "Computer, eject the warp core now!"


It was in that moment a chime drew the Admiral's attention to his chairs personal data display. He flipped up the data display and read the display. There was anger in his eyes as he realized what the data was saying. While he was reading the data, the Repulse's massive warp core and her anti-mater bottles were all ejected from the ship. The massive starship's power levels all dropped as main power went off line.


The belly of the ship glowed a soft blue as the core rocketed away from the ship. Behind the Repulse the now near powerless Valley Forge attempted to maneuver on impulse alone. On the far side of the runabout, the Potemkin suffered the same fate as her two sister ships. Within moments, the all three Excelsior Class starships were brought to their knees as the runabout's power levels returned to normal. Without warning the little ship spun up on its axis as if a master pilot was at the helm. The chase was once more on as the spectators from Earth stood in disbelief over what they were seeing.


"Sir!" called out the Tactical officer, "The Susquehanna's shields and warp engines, weapons and shields are all coming on line. She getting underway."


The Admiral slammed the data display closed, "Phasers! Target her engines. Maximum power! FIRE!"


The runabout easily dodged the first blast from the Repulse but was caught by the second energy beam. Without the Repulse's main power, the energy level of the phaser was nowhere enough to penetrate the runabout's fully powered shields. The other two starships limped their way in to better firing positions only to have the much more maneuverable runabout whip past them at speeds their tactical officers were having trouble tracking. Each attempted to get hasty prepared shots off but those shots were wild and failed to connect on the Susquehanna.


Zipping between the larger ships at such close range, the Susquehanna used the larger ships as cover. This gave the targeting sensors of the larger ships problems in locking on to the smaller runabout. The Excelsiors could barely power their impulse shields, weapons and life support at the same time. The runabout made sure to leave just enough of a target to draw fire while it continued to maneuver around and among the three larger ships.


What started out as being a one sided chase that was all but over now appeared to have turned against Starfleet. The runabout zipped past the Potemkin as it raked the larger ship with fire. However sensor confirmed that this was not normal phaser fire. Instead the runabout fired a antigraviton pulse. Later science sensors would confirmed that the pulse had been a result of a link between the runabout's navigational deflector and its forward phasers emitters. The pulse slammed in to the Potemkin deflector shields which were made up of high concentration of gravitons. Weaken due to the loss of main power, the Potemkin's shields easily buckled and failed.


Ripping past the Potemkin at full speed, the runabout had one more surprise for the group of three ships. Targeting the Potemkin with its aft phasers, the runabout opened fired on the now defenseless ship. Without shields, the fire from even a runabout could cause critical damage across the ship. However like the forward emitters, these phasers had been set up for a pulse. Though this time it was not a Antigraviton pulse. Instead the runabout fired a series of short-duration bursts of broadband, high-intensity electromagnetic energy. This had the capable of disrupting magnetic fields and producing current or voltage surges in conductive materials via magnetic induction. The effects were seen across the Potemkin as the lights across the exterior ship started to flicker then go out all together. After the Susquehanna made her pass on the Potemkin, the ship was left dead in space. Though surprisingly, no real harm to the ship or its crew had been committed.


Across the Potemkin auxiliary power failed as the electromagnetic energy ripped through the power distribution systems. Without main power and now with auxiliary power failing across the ship, the Potemkin became completely helpless. No power to shields, weapons and only minimal thrusters. They barely had enough power for life support. The professional crew of the Potemkin switched gears as they fought to restore auxiliary power. Still none of them could believe that their ship was crippled by a lone runabout and a mentally disturbed petty officer. The runabout zipped between the Potemkin's secondary haul and its warp nacelles. The little runabout turned to its next target as the odds rapidly changed in to its favor. Rapidly the Repulse came in to view as the runabout cleared the Potemkin.


As it lined up its pass on the Repulse, it was forced to turn away as the Valley Forge attempted to rake the runabout with phaser fire. Spinning on its axis and going nose down, the Susquehanna narrowly avoided the onslaught of incoming fire. The runabout easily dodged around floating warp cores and anti-matter bottles floating within the combat zone. Unable to maneuver, both the Repulse and the Valley Forge started to back up from the combat zone. With much larger weapons with greater range, it was a logical action. Both larger ships moved to clear themselves from the floating dangers that now littered the combat zone. While the bottles themselves could not simply destroy a ship, they could act much like a mine. In their weakened state, an explosion near by could prove fatal to either larger ship. Adding a new level of difficulty to the situation, the Potemkin floating helplessly within the center of the debris field.


The Susquehanna used its tractor beam on a small group of bottles floating near the Potemkin and dragged them behind the runabout. As the runabout moved closer to the Valley Forge as it dropped the tractor beam as it switched its own shields back on. The runabout fired its forward pulse at the Valley Forge, however the shots ripped under the weakened ship. The runabout spun once more as she dodged the incoming fire from the Valley Forge. Unable to secure a clear shot on the Valley Forge while dodging intensive fire from the Repulse, the runabout whipped past the aft section of the Valley Forge refocusing its sights back on to the Repulse


The Susquehanna barrel rolled as she dodged a pair of torpedoes fired from the Valley Forge's aft launcher. Within seconds the pride of the 4th Fleet came in to sight as the Susquehanna raked the Repulse's weakened shields with a series of antigraviton pulses. Just like before, the weakened shields bulked and failed leaving the Repulse defenseless to the next attack. Even knowing what kind of attack to expect, there was nothing they could do to sure up their shields against the antigraviton pulse. Without main power, they were vulnerable to this attack. An attack that the Susquehanna was driving home with dogged persistence.


As the runabout turned along the dorsal section of the secondary haul, it was the desperate actions of the Repulse as they fired its dorsal phaser banks. Once more the hit wasn't enough to penetrate the runabout's shields. As the runabout rocketed over the Aft Crew Lounge, it came in to full view of anyone looking out the large windows. Another pair of phaser blasts from the Repulse's aft type 8 phasers weakened the runabout's shield a bit more but not enough to penetrate them. As the Susquehanna cleared the Repulse she fired another series of short-duration bursts of broadband, high-intensity electromagnetic energy. The fire ripped across the Repulse exposed secondary haul. Within seconds the ship was floating dead in space just like the [/i]Potemkin[/i].


With the flagship of the 4th Fleet drifting helplessly the situation for Starfleet has gone from apprehending a fugitive to a crisis on two of three ships. Beyond the battlefield, orders were being issued by Starfleet Command. All that stood in the way of the Susquehanna and open space was the USS Valley Forge. Despite being crippled the ship turned to continue the engagement with the smaller runabout. Just before the last of the power levels on the Repulse failed, the Admiral ordered that a broad band distress signal be sent to inform all Starfleet ships in the area of the situation at hand. It was a blow to a man who took pride in his combat skills. A humbling blow that would not be easily forgotten.


With both the USS Potemkin and the Repulse now helpless, it was up to the Valley Forge to stop the runabout. Normally, this wouldn't even be a fight. However with the Valley Forge stricken without main power, the runabout had a more fair chance of winning this combat. A pair of photons ripped from the Valley Forge towards the runabout. The smaller ship spun and pitched hard to avoid the incoming missiles. At the same time, the Susquehanna fired its own microtorpedo at a passing anti-matter bottle.


The explosion engulfed the two missiles and blinded the Valley Forge's sensors for a moment. It was all that runabout needed to whip around behind the powerless Repulse. Using the larger ship for cover, the runabout was able to gain a better attack vector. Zipping across the battlefield, the runabout made a sprint for the helpless Potemkin as the Valley Forge attempted to hold the engagement. With the Valley Forge holding back and trying to gain a targeting lock for its powerful torpedoes, the runabout spun about and ran along the side of the [/i]Potemkin[/i]. Crossing the aft section of the secondary haul of the [/i]Potemkin[/i], the Valley Forge was in the sights of the Susquehanna. The two ships fired at the same time.


The Susquehanna's antigraviton pulse slammed in to the Valley Forge's shields, forcing them to buckle and fail. The torpedo from the Valley Forge slammed in to the nose of the runabout appearing to cause major damage and as the runabout's shields failed. The faster runabout would have the advantage still as it ripped past the primary haul of the Valley Forge firing its aft phasers, leaving it just as helpless and powerless as its two sister ships. The battle was over and three Starfleet ships were left floating dead in space while the Susquehanna turned for the safety of UIH-0351. Damaged but not caught, the Susquehanna's flight would continue for at least one more day.


Aboard the Repulse the situation on the bridge was chaotic. Everyone was in disbelief over what just happened. In one moment, they had the runabout helpless and ready to be secured. Now, EM surges across the ship were causing havoc on all systems. The communication channels were flooded with critical situational reports. Each report told the same story, the ship was dead in space and helpless. The Susquehanna was locked in a battle with the Valley Forge and there was nothing that could be done to help. Admiral Tate hated the idea that his flagship was nothing more than floating metal in space.


Admiral Tate watched helplessly as the Valley Forge fought back the runabout. He tapped his comlink, "Bridge to Lieutenant Wyke." Lieutenant Walker Wyke was the flight officer of the Repulse. Once the Lieutenant replied the Admiral continued, "I want you to deploy our shuttles. You are ordered to pursue the Susquehanna and destroy her at all costs! Protect your computer systems, do not attempt any communication with the runabout."


"Admiral," Captain Vakath cut the Admiral off, "That order contradicts Starfleet Medical's instructions on dealing with this fugitive." Before he could complete his logic objection to the order, the Repulse rocked violently.


The tactical officer reported that an anti-matter bottle was detonated by the Susquehanna off the port bow. While there was no damage reported it was enough to shake the already bothered crew. Sensors reported that the Valley Forge was still locked in a bitter battle with the smaller runabout. But it was only a matter of time before the smaller runabout was able to get a more advantageous firing angle on the larger ship. Everyone on the Repulse's bridge were watching their Captain and their Fleet Commander.


It was Admiral Tate who wasted no time to act, "I am sorry Captain Vakath. I am not going to wait for our ships to be destroyed by that PETTY OFFICER." It was clear his anger was overriding his judgment but it was what he was well known for. He paused a moment before continuing his orders to Lieutenant Wyke. "Lieutenant....."


Captain Vakath was not about to allow an emotionally charged situation end the life of a mentally disturbed woman. "Belay those orders Lieutenant! Admiral under......" Despite the situation the Vulcan's voice never changed tone. He kept it level and calm.


Anger flashed over the Admiral's eyes as another shock wave rocked the Repulse. As the two men sized each other up in that second, the battle between the runabout and the Valley Forge continued. Admiral Tate cut him off, "Security, if Captain Vakath opens his mouth again. Escort him to the brig!" Admiral Tate ordered as he walked up and stared in to the eyes of the Vulcan. There was this look of daring in the Admiral's eyes. He demanded loyalty from his officers and crews and he would be damned if he didn't get it.


Captain Vakath looked in to the Admiral's eyes. He knew that the Admiral would act on his threat. Something to all this wasn't adding up. The Susquehanna had avoided capture this long. It was logical to assume that it could remain free despite the Admiral's orders. "I will resist no longer, Admiral. But I will log my protest with Starfleet Command."


"So be it!" Admiral Tate said. Then he turned to walk back to his chair, "Lieutenant Wyke, you have your orders"


"Yes Admiral," Lieutenant Wyke replied and closed the link.


The Susquehanna rocketed away as she headed for UIH- 0351. Just as she passed over a group of anti-matter bottles, they glowed blue as they were transported aboard the runabout. Just behind her, six type nine shuttles from the Repulse and the Potemkin formed up to give chase. Behind them, three cripple ships from the 4th Fleet hung helpless in space. Already shuttles from the Valley Forge were being deployed along with engineering pods as they started to collect their warp cores. It would be nearly twelve hours before the ships would have main power back. For the time being the flagship of the 4th Fleet and her escorts were out of the chase.