USS Challenger, NCC 86128
On assignment, location [Classified REINDEER FLOTILLA]
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
"Corporal," Gabriel said, pausing before he left the battle bridge, "did she have any last words?"
"She did, sir," Cpl. Omoroqueva replied. "She said, 'holodeck two'."
Of course, Gabriel thought with a sad smile. That's where it all started after all, her and I... why wouldn't it end there?
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
The ship was a wreck. After the surprise attack by an overwhelming force of Calikron swarmships, only Gabriel’s last-ditch – and very nearly suicidal – gambit of combining a quantum torpedo, nova torpedo, and void torpedo into one Frankenstein’s monster of a weapon saved Challenger from utter destruction. As it was, she was virtually derelict, barely able to move and completely unable to defend herself. And the remaining Calikron were still nearby, cybernetically licking their wounds. The attack would resume, and soon…
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
The bridge was a hotbed of activity, flickering consoles and sparking EPS conduits supplementing the weak emergency lighting. Voices called out information, and Captain Gabriel Frost, sitting in the center of the storm, took it all in.
“Hull breaches, decks 7, 12, 13, 21. Forcefields inoperative, emergency bulkheads holding.”
“Power grid fluctuations… rerouting power to critical systems.”
“Shields at 42 percent!”
“What the Hell hit us?” asked Gabriel.
“Calikron swarmships,” Lt. Erika Priest called from the tactical pit. “My God.. hundreds at least!” Her fingers danced over her console, and Challenger’s phaser arrays spit death. The sleek, angular Calikron attack craft weren’t shielded, so the phasers wreaked havoc amongst them. But there were so many…
Challenger rocked from another wave of attacks. “Shields are at 27 percent. We can’t take much more of this.”
Gabriel was about to reply when his combadge chirped. “Captain,” said Connie, “I’ve reached the battle bridge. TALONS ready to deploy.”
“Give me claws, Commander.”
“On your word, sir.” Connie entered a string of commands, and Challenger’s six runabout-sized drone fighters slipped from their alcoves and took defensive positions around the ship. “TALONS engaged,” said Connie as she settled in to the battle bridge command chair. “Ready for Zero mode.”
“Challenger,” Gabriel ordered, “initiate Protocol Zero.”
Initiate Protocol Zero, aye. Challenger’s computer began speaking in a coldly clinical voice. Parsing tactical subroutines. Initializing alpha-strike systems. Initializing omega-strike systems. Engaging hull plating polarization. Deploying limited ablative armor. Engaging crew protection subsystems. Plasma lances online. Phaser blades online. Void torpedoes loaded. Nova torpedoes loaded.
Protocol Zero fully engaged, said Challenger.
“Fire at will!”
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
“She asked me once,” Gabriel said quietly, “if I believed in magic. Of course I do, I said. After all we’ve seen, all we’ve been through… You and I ending up together? Of course I believe in magic. How can you not?”
The battle was finally over, and Challenger was making her way home. Slowly, but under her own power, she was finally underway. Enough repairs had been completed that Gabriel felt it was time to honor the fallen. Challenger’s entire compliment, except those still in sickbay, was gathered in the main shuttlebay. Gabriel stood at a hastily-erected podium, in front of which were arrayed coffins draped with the Federation flag. Far too many coffins. And one of them held the body of the person about whom Gabriel was speaking.
His wife.
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
“We have left the Orpheus Salient,” Lt. Mokul announced casually. At the Romulan helmsman’s comment, Gabriel relaxed inwardly. After having been stuck relatively nearby in a static warp shell a little while ago (three days for me, but nine years in realspace.. it was a long story, he thought sardonically), Gabriel was none too keen to be anywhere near this region of space. But orders were orders, and the space around the Huuro Exclusion Zone wasn’t going to patrol itself.
“Helm, adjust heading,” said Gabriel. “Two degrees down bubble, then maintain course and speed.”
“On your word, sir,” Lt. Mokul replied, smoothly making the requested correction. Challenger responded instantly, continuing on her assigned patrol route.
The next half hour passed quietly; Challenger’s sensors recording 20 particles of space dust per cubic meter, 52 ultraviolet radiation spikes, and a class II comet. Gabriel was consulting with LCDR K’Kon, Challenger’s OPS officer, and Lt. Ha’arsui, head of the astronavigation department. The latter was joining in via holopresence as the good Lieutenant was a bottlenose dolphin currently in Challenger’s cetacean Guidance and Navigation lab, jokingly referred to as the ‘fish tank.’ The subject of discussion was the recent increase in ion storms on the borders of the Nalim Regency and how they were affecting astronavigation in the adjoining sectors.
“We need to place sensor buoys to determine the nature of the disturbances,” Lt. Ha’arsui chittered. “I’ve prepared a deployment pattern, and a minor course diversion will allow us to place the buoys later today. We could expect sensor returns within a few hours, which would allow us to implement and disseminate any pertinent astronavigational data.”
“The Nalim are allies, but we’ll need to submit your proposal to their governing body for approval,” said LCDR K’kon. “Perhaps Commander Tar Levan would be willing to help; s/he is Nalim, after all.”
“And yes,” added Gabriel, “I know the buoys would be deployed outside of Nalim space, but would you want someone pointing sensor relays at your home without asking?”
Lt. Ha’arsui whistled the delphine equivalent of a sigh. “I understand, sir. I’ll discuss this with Cdr. Levan at hir earliest conveeEEEEeenience.” Ha’arsui’s holopresence twitched slightly while finishing his sentence, and for some reason the hairs on the back of Gabriel’s neck stood up. Holopresence transmission glitches weren’t unheard of, but occurred so rarely…
“SHIELDS!” Gabriel yelled. “SHIE…”
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
The battle bridge blast doors had been violently pried open, and Gabriel found one of the Black Seven commandos standing guard.
"Captain," rumbled Sgt. Kyu-Syubi in his distinct basso profundo, "with respect, sir, you don't want to go in there.”
"Get the Hell out of my way, Sergeant," Gabriel said, his voice deathly cold. The massive Orcanoch warrior bowed his head and stood aside.
The lights in the battle bridge flickered erratically, then managed a weak but steady light. It was a good sign; it meant that the engineering teams throughout the ship struggling to at least get the battery backups reconnected were having some success. In order to restore main power, though, the warp core would require extensive repairs. Considering the beating Challenger had just taken, it would be a miracle if it functioned again at all.
Gabriel found Corporal Omoroqueva prowling the room, her ancestral n’guiin blades held in a deceptively casual manner. Sergeants Makto and Kraan stood near the command chair, guarding the body that lay on the floor next to it.
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
"All hands, stand ready to repel boarders!" The remaining Calikron swarmships had been driven off, but as a parting gift, they'd managed to beam several squads of their Darkfire combat droids aboard Challenger. LCDR Avallios, Challenger's head of security, began directing his teams to respond.
"Darkfire droids en route to engineering, computer cores, main bridge, and battle bridge," he said. "Security teams responding..." Avallios paused as he verified what the (barely functional) internal sensors were telling him. "They won't make it to the battle bridge in time."
Gabriel had to keep both hands death-gripped to his chair to keep himself from running to try and help his wife. My place is on the bridge, especially now... He had his duty, Connie had hers, and besides, the battle bridge was locked down and armored more securely than the legendary Fort Knox.
His combadge chirped. "I've dispatched my team," said Major T'sera, head of Challenger's commandos, the Black Seven. "They are en route to her now." The channel cut off.
Thank you, whispered Gabriel sotto voce. He hadn't had to ask her to have them hurry, the Black Seven were razor-focused when set to a task.
Hang on, Connie...
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
Connie sat on the edge of the bed in her and Gabriel’s quarters and fell back, sighing loudly. She’d just spent the last couple hours assisting Lt. Garcia-Shapiro’s Engineering Team Alpha with some routine systems maintenance. Damned dynotherms, she thought, never seem to want to communicate with the infracells…
As she debated what to do next, she felt Challenger’s course correction and smiled slightly, recalling what Gabriel had said to her once about the Huuro.
“The Huuro are not a species we want to antagonize any more than we already do.”
“Already do?” she’d wondered. “How?”
“By existing.”
Maybe I’ll take a quick shower, she thought as she sat up and started to pull her boots off. Her left boot went flying in one direction while Connie flew off in another as Challenger lurched like she’d slammed into a duranium wall. The red alert klaxons started screaming, followed by another alarm, the one that sent chills up the spine (or equivalent) of any spacer, raw or veteran: hull breach.
As Challenger righted herself, Connie got her boot back on and headed for the door, the voice of Challenger’s Chief of the Boat struggling to be heard over the various alarms.
“Battle stations, battle stations. All hands battle stations.”
Connie grabbed her phasers and slapped her combadge as she ran into the corridor. “Bridge, this is Commander Taylor. I’ll be there in two minutes.” Gabriel’s reply brought her to a screeching halt.
“Negative, Commander. Turbolifts are inoperative all over the ship, and it would take too long for you to crawl through the Jefferies tubes to get here. I need you in the battle bridge.”
“You’re going to separate the ship?”
“Heh, I couldn’t if I wanted to, XO. Besides, Protocol Zero doesn’t work when the ship is split.” At the mention of Challenger’s unique combat mode, Connie got a chill. Things must be really bad for Gabriel to go straight to, what did he call it, the ‘nuclear option’?
“I need you there to help coordinate the Zero mode weapons with Tactical,” continued Gabriel, “and to direct the TALONS.” She knew there was another reason, one that Gabriel wouldn’t voice: the battle bridge was one of the most secure locations on the ship, and he needed her there in case something happened to the main bridge. She shivered at the thought, then headed for the nearest Jefferies tube access; the battle bridge was only two decks down.
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
Seeing Connie's shattered body lying on the deck hit Gabriel like a ton of neutronium, and he collapsed on his knees next to her, silently cursing his inability to cry. Corporal Omoroqueva spoke up, her voice reverent.
"Sir, it was incredible. Her phaser rifle had fired its last charge, so she took it like a club and..." LCDR Avallios entered the battle bridge a moment after Gabriel, a curt gesture silencing the Cohvli commando, telling her this is not the time. Avallios shifted uncomfortably on his feet, though, unsure of what to do. Despite the wailing klaxons and other sounds, an unnatural silence hung in the room.
It was Gabriel who broke the silence, throwing his head back and howling his rage at an uncaring universe. Makto and Kraan, both Klingons, instinctively joined in. When Gabriel finished, his throat raw, he leaned over and dipped a finger in Connie's still-warm blood. Avallios' eyes widened as he realized what Gabriel was about to do.
"Sir, no..." But he was powerless to stop him. Next to the tattooed stripe on his left cheek, Gabriel used Connie's blood to paint a second stripe. As he did so, he chanted in a rarely used Celvani language, the so-called 'lost high tongue'.
"Sa'a étanarr t'iorth oronnos esraldéon." May the fury of the stars guide the vengeance of my beloved. Gabriel repeated the phrase seven times, then stood, his eyes unfocused but burning with a cold fury.
"You three," he said to the commandos, "remain here, see that nothing disturbs her until a medical team can arrive to.. see to the body. Avallios, with me." Gabriel headed towards the broken doors. "We have a ship to save and a fight to finish."
His first Bloodquest yet unfulfilled, thought Avallios, and he takes on a second? Never in Celvani history or legend has such a thing happened. Avallios shuddered as he thought of the implications of such an action, but he remained silent. It was not his place to question his commanding officer, or his friend.
Sgt. Kraan had an idea of what was going on, though, and he growled in awe.
"Such songs will be sung of this day," he whispered. "They will echo through the galaxy..."
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
"If you're watching this, it means I'm dead..." The holographic Connie interrupted herself, laughing. "That sounds so clichéd, but unfortunately it's true." The fluctuating power levels on the ship caused the holo-recording to fritz and sputter, though not enough to make the hologram unwatchable. Gabriel could feel the vibrations through the deck plates that told him Challenger was maneuvering for docking with Gateway Station, her home base.
"Either that, Captain, or you've been spending far too much time on the holodeck again and stumbled across this recording. If that's the case, then you're going to be dead, 'cause if I find out, I'm going to kill you." She laughed again, a sound Gabriel hadn't heard much in the time they'd known each other. His chest tightened at the thought that he'd never hear it again.
Connie gestured around her, at the scene she'd chosen for this last message: on the saucer of the refit Challenger, near the bridge, with the vastness of space surrounding them. Not long after after Gabriel had emerged from the static warp shell, he'd shown her this design. Of course, the ship had been a work in progress, and much of the design had changed.
"When you first showed me this, I had an odd feeling, something I couldn't place and quickly forgot. But when I saw the finished ship," and Gabriel noticed that as Connie talked the holographic Challenger they stood on had subtly shifted to her current, predatory hullform, "it came back to me. I knew, as surely as I knew that I loved you, that I was going to die on this ship.
"I.. I hope that when the time came, I made a good accounting of myself..."
"You did," whispered Gabriel. "Gods above and gods below, you did."
"...and I hope it didn't hurt much." She laughed at that, but it was a sad laugh. "Can I ask for that? Oh, and I hope whatever killed me didn't kill you too. I wouldn't want anything to derail that destiny of yours." The hologram stood silent for a moment, and Gabriel guessed that Connie had paused the recording in order to compose herself.
"I'll be waiting for you, Captain.. Gabriel, my heart.. in whatever afterlife may be out there for us. I'm sure you'll be late; just remember to turn off the holodeck on your way out." She smiled, offering a crisp salute. "My duty shift is over, Captain. You have the bridge."
The holographic Connie looked at Gabriel expectantly, and he realized the program was waiting for a response. For a long moment, Gabriel just looked at her, and eventually he mouthed 'goodbye', though he was unable to say it.
"Dismissed, XO," he finally said.
"On your word, sir." The program ended, and was replaced by the ice-blue grid of the holodeck walls. Gabriel stood, alone with his thoughts, for quite some time.
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
On assignment, location [Classified REINDEER FLOTILLA]
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
"Corporal," Gabriel said, pausing before he left the battle bridge, "did she have any last words?"
"She did, sir," Cpl. Omoroqueva replied. "She said, 'holodeck two'."
Of course, Gabriel thought with a sad smile. That's where it all started after all, her and I... why wouldn't it end there?
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
The ship was a wreck. After the surprise attack by an overwhelming force of Calikron swarmships, only Gabriel’s last-ditch – and very nearly suicidal – gambit of combining a quantum torpedo, nova torpedo, and void torpedo into one Frankenstein’s monster of a weapon saved Challenger from utter destruction. As it was, she was virtually derelict, barely able to move and completely unable to defend herself. And the remaining Calikron were still nearby, cybernetically licking their wounds. The attack would resume, and soon…
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
The bridge was a hotbed of activity, flickering consoles and sparking EPS conduits supplementing the weak emergency lighting. Voices called out information, and Captain Gabriel Frost, sitting in the center of the storm, took it all in.
“Hull breaches, decks 7, 12, 13, 21. Forcefields inoperative, emergency bulkheads holding.”
“Power grid fluctuations… rerouting power to critical systems.”
“Shields at 42 percent!”
“What the Hell hit us?” asked Gabriel.
“Calikron swarmships,” Lt. Erika Priest called from the tactical pit. “My God.. hundreds at least!” Her fingers danced over her console, and Challenger’s phaser arrays spit death. The sleek, angular Calikron attack craft weren’t shielded, so the phasers wreaked havoc amongst them. But there were so many…
Challenger rocked from another wave of attacks. “Shields are at 27 percent. We can’t take much more of this.”
Gabriel was about to reply when his combadge chirped. “Captain,” said Connie, “I’ve reached the battle bridge. TALONS ready to deploy.”
“Give me claws, Commander.”
“On your word, sir.” Connie entered a string of commands, and Challenger’s six runabout-sized drone fighters slipped from their alcoves and took defensive positions around the ship. “TALONS engaged,” said Connie as she settled in to the battle bridge command chair. “Ready for Zero mode.”
“Challenger,” Gabriel ordered, “initiate Protocol Zero.”
Initiate Protocol Zero, aye. Challenger’s computer began speaking in a coldly clinical voice. Parsing tactical subroutines. Initializing alpha-strike systems. Initializing omega-strike systems. Engaging hull plating polarization. Deploying limited ablative armor. Engaging crew protection subsystems. Plasma lances online. Phaser blades online. Void torpedoes loaded. Nova torpedoes loaded.
Protocol Zero fully engaged, said Challenger.
“Fire at will!”
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
“She asked me once,” Gabriel said quietly, “if I believed in magic. Of course I do, I said. After all we’ve seen, all we’ve been through… You and I ending up together? Of course I believe in magic. How can you not?”
The battle was finally over, and Challenger was making her way home. Slowly, but under her own power, she was finally underway. Enough repairs had been completed that Gabriel felt it was time to honor the fallen. Challenger’s entire compliment, except those still in sickbay, was gathered in the main shuttlebay. Gabriel stood at a hastily-erected podium, in front of which were arrayed coffins draped with the Federation flag. Far too many coffins. And one of them held the body of the person about whom Gabriel was speaking.
His wife.
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
“We have left the Orpheus Salient,” Lt. Mokul announced casually. At the Romulan helmsman’s comment, Gabriel relaxed inwardly. After having been stuck relatively nearby in a static warp shell a little while ago (three days for me, but nine years in realspace.. it was a long story, he thought sardonically), Gabriel was none too keen to be anywhere near this region of space. But orders were orders, and the space around the Huuro Exclusion Zone wasn’t going to patrol itself.
“Helm, adjust heading,” said Gabriel. “Two degrees down bubble, then maintain course and speed.”
“On your word, sir,” Lt. Mokul replied, smoothly making the requested correction. Challenger responded instantly, continuing on her assigned patrol route.
The next half hour passed quietly; Challenger’s sensors recording 20 particles of space dust per cubic meter, 52 ultraviolet radiation spikes, and a class II comet. Gabriel was consulting with LCDR K’Kon, Challenger’s OPS officer, and Lt. Ha’arsui, head of the astronavigation department. The latter was joining in via holopresence as the good Lieutenant was a bottlenose dolphin currently in Challenger’s cetacean Guidance and Navigation lab, jokingly referred to as the ‘fish tank.’ The subject of discussion was the recent increase in ion storms on the borders of the Nalim Regency and how they were affecting astronavigation in the adjoining sectors.
“We need to place sensor buoys to determine the nature of the disturbances,” Lt. Ha’arsui chittered. “I’ve prepared a deployment pattern, and a minor course diversion will allow us to place the buoys later today. We could expect sensor returns within a few hours, which would allow us to implement and disseminate any pertinent astronavigational data.”
“The Nalim are allies, but we’ll need to submit your proposal to their governing body for approval,” said LCDR K’kon. “Perhaps Commander Tar Levan would be willing to help; s/he is Nalim, after all.”
“And yes,” added Gabriel, “I know the buoys would be deployed outside of Nalim space, but would you want someone pointing sensor relays at your home without asking?”
Lt. Ha’arsui whistled the delphine equivalent of a sigh. “I understand, sir. I’ll discuss this with Cdr. Levan at hir earliest conveeEEEEeenience.” Ha’arsui’s holopresence twitched slightly while finishing his sentence, and for some reason the hairs on the back of Gabriel’s neck stood up. Holopresence transmission glitches weren’t unheard of, but occurred so rarely…
“SHIELDS!” Gabriel yelled. “SHIE…”
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
The battle bridge blast doors had been violently pried open, and Gabriel found one of the Black Seven commandos standing guard.
"Captain," rumbled Sgt. Kyu-Syubi in his distinct basso profundo, "with respect, sir, you don't want to go in there.”
"Get the Hell out of my way, Sergeant," Gabriel said, his voice deathly cold. The massive Orcanoch warrior bowed his head and stood aside.
The lights in the battle bridge flickered erratically, then managed a weak but steady light. It was a good sign; it meant that the engineering teams throughout the ship struggling to at least get the battery backups reconnected were having some success. In order to restore main power, though, the warp core would require extensive repairs. Considering the beating Challenger had just taken, it would be a miracle if it functioned again at all.
Gabriel found Corporal Omoroqueva prowling the room, her ancestral n’guiin blades held in a deceptively casual manner. Sergeants Makto and Kraan stood near the command chair, guarding the body that lay on the floor next to it.
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
"All hands, stand ready to repel boarders!" The remaining Calikron swarmships had been driven off, but as a parting gift, they'd managed to beam several squads of their Darkfire combat droids aboard Challenger. LCDR Avallios, Challenger's head of security, began directing his teams to respond.
"Darkfire droids en route to engineering, computer cores, main bridge, and battle bridge," he said. "Security teams responding..." Avallios paused as he verified what the (barely functional) internal sensors were telling him. "They won't make it to the battle bridge in time."
Gabriel had to keep both hands death-gripped to his chair to keep himself from running to try and help his wife. My place is on the bridge, especially now... He had his duty, Connie had hers, and besides, the battle bridge was locked down and armored more securely than the legendary Fort Knox.
His combadge chirped. "I've dispatched my team," said Major T'sera, head of Challenger's commandos, the Black Seven. "They are en route to her now." The channel cut off.
Thank you, whispered Gabriel sotto voce. He hadn't had to ask her to have them hurry, the Black Seven were razor-focused when set to a task.
Hang on, Connie...
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
Connie sat on the edge of the bed in her and Gabriel’s quarters and fell back, sighing loudly. She’d just spent the last couple hours assisting Lt. Garcia-Shapiro’s Engineering Team Alpha with some routine systems maintenance. Damned dynotherms, she thought, never seem to want to communicate with the infracells…
As she debated what to do next, she felt Challenger’s course correction and smiled slightly, recalling what Gabriel had said to her once about the Huuro.
“The Huuro are not a species we want to antagonize any more than we already do.”
“Already do?” she’d wondered. “How?”
“By existing.”
Maybe I’ll take a quick shower, she thought as she sat up and started to pull her boots off. Her left boot went flying in one direction while Connie flew off in another as Challenger lurched like she’d slammed into a duranium wall. The red alert klaxons started screaming, followed by another alarm, the one that sent chills up the spine (or equivalent) of any spacer, raw or veteran: hull breach.
As Challenger righted herself, Connie got her boot back on and headed for the door, the voice of Challenger’s Chief of the Boat struggling to be heard over the various alarms.
“Battle stations, battle stations. All hands battle stations.”
Connie grabbed her phasers and slapped her combadge as she ran into the corridor. “Bridge, this is Commander Taylor. I’ll be there in two minutes.” Gabriel’s reply brought her to a screeching halt.
“Negative, Commander. Turbolifts are inoperative all over the ship, and it would take too long for you to crawl through the Jefferies tubes to get here. I need you in the battle bridge.”
“You’re going to separate the ship?”
“Heh, I couldn’t if I wanted to, XO. Besides, Protocol Zero doesn’t work when the ship is split.” At the mention of Challenger’s unique combat mode, Connie got a chill. Things must be really bad for Gabriel to go straight to, what did he call it, the ‘nuclear option’?
“I need you there to help coordinate the Zero mode weapons with Tactical,” continued Gabriel, “and to direct the TALONS.” She knew there was another reason, one that Gabriel wouldn’t voice: the battle bridge was one of the most secure locations on the ship, and he needed her there in case something happened to the main bridge. She shivered at the thought, then headed for the nearest Jefferies tube access; the battle bridge was only two decks down.
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
Seeing Connie's shattered body lying on the deck hit Gabriel like a ton of neutronium, and he collapsed on his knees next to her, silently cursing his inability to cry. Corporal Omoroqueva spoke up, her voice reverent.
"Sir, it was incredible. Her phaser rifle had fired its last charge, so she took it like a club and..." LCDR Avallios entered the battle bridge a moment after Gabriel, a curt gesture silencing the Cohvli commando, telling her this is not the time. Avallios shifted uncomfortably on his feet, though, unsure of what to do. Despite the wailing klaxons and other sounds, an unnatural silence hung in the room.
It was Gabriel who broke the silence, throwing his head back and howling his rage at an uncaring universe. Makto and Kraan, both Klingons, instinctively joined in. When Gabriel finished, his throat raw, he leaned over and dipped a finger in Connie's still-warm blood. Avallios' eyes widened as he realized what Gabriel was about to do.
"Sir, no..." But he was powerless to stop him. Next to the tattooed stripe on his left cheek, Gabriel used Connie's blood to paint a second stripe. As he did so, he chanted in a rarely used Celvani language, the so-called 'lost high tongue'.
"Sa'a étanarr t'iorth oronnos esraldéon." May the fury of the stars guide the vengeance of my beloved. Gabriel repeated the phrase seven times, then stood, his eyes unfocused but burning with a cold fury.
"You three," he said to the commandos, "remain here, see that nothing disturbs her until a medical team can arrive to.. see to the body. Avallios, with me." Gabriel headed towards the broken doors. "We have a ship to save and a fight to finish."
His first Bloodquest yet unfulfilled, thought Avallios, and he takes on a second? Never in Celvani history or legend has such a thing happened. Avallios shuddered as he thought of the implications of such an action, but he remained silent. It was not his place to question his commanding officer, or his friend.
Sgt. Kraan had an idea of what was going on, though, and he growled in awe.
"Such songs will be sung of this day," he whispered. "They will echo through the galaxy..."
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
"If you're watching this, it means I'm dead..." The holographic Connie interrupted herself, laughing. "That sounds so clichéd, but unfortunately it's true." The fluctuating power levels on the ship caused the holo-recording to fritz and sputter, though not enough to make the hologram unwatchable. Gabriel could feel the vibrations through the deck plates that told him Challenger was maneuvering for docking with Gateway Station, her home base.
"Either that, Captain, or you've been spending far too much time on the holodeck again and stumbled across this recording. If that's the case, then you're going to be dead, 'cause if I find out, I'm going to kill you." She laughed again, a sound Gabriel hadn't heard much in the time they'd known each other. His chest tightened at the thought that he'd never hear it again.
Connie gestured around her, at the scene she'd chosen for this last message: on the saucer of the refit Challenger, near the bridge, with the vastness of space surrounding them. Not long after after Gabriel had emerged from the static warp shell, he'd shown her this design. Of course, the ship had been a work in progress, and much of the design had changed.
"When you first showed me this, I had an odd feeling, something I couldn't place and quickly forgot. But when I saw the finished ship," and Gabriel noticed that as Connie talked the holographic Challenger they stood on had subtly shifted to her current, predatory hullform, "it came back to me. I knew, as surely as I knew that I loved you, that I was going to die on this ship.
"I.. I hope that when the time came, I made a good accounting of myself..."
"You did," whispered Gabriel. "Gods above and gods below, you did."
"...and I hope it didn't hurt much." She laughed at that, but it was a sad laugh. "Can I ask for that? Oh, and I hope whatever killed me didn't kill you too. I wouldn't want anything to derail that destiny of yours." The hologram stood silent for a moment, and Gabriel guessed that Connie had paused the recording in order to compose herself.
"I'll be waiting for you, Captain.. Gabriel, my heart.. in whatever afterlife may be out there for us. I'm sure you'll be late; just remember to turn off the holodeck on your way out." She smiled, offering a crisp salute. "My duty shift is over, Captain. You have the bridge."
The holographic Connie looked at Gabriel expectantly, and he realized the program was waiting for a response. For a long moment, Gabriel just looked at her, and eventually he mouthed 'goodbye', though he was unable to say it.
"Dismissed, XO," he finally said.
"On your word, sir." The program ended, and was replaced by the ice-blue grid of the holodeck walls. Gabriel stood, alone with his thoughts, for quite some time.
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
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