The Star Eagle Adventures: EVS-2 - Crossing Over

[CeJay]

The Star Eagle Adventures: EVS-2
Crossing Over



Preface​

The Star Trek universe is very much a place without limits. As vast as the galaxy itself, it can literally produce an endless amount of stories and characters. About 3 years ago a group of Star Trek fan fiction writers came together at the TrekBBS to create a single, shared universe inhabited by the characters of their individual series and in which events from one story could potentially have direct consequences for a story by a different author.

United Trek has steadily grown since its early days and as of this writing is made up of 11 writers, 14 series and various offshoot and spin-off stories. Since its inception its writers have created dozens of stories many of which oftentimes interlink with characters of other series. Generally one can find at least two or three United Trek stories in progress at the TrekBBS at any given time.

Crossing Over was conceived to make full advantage of this rich universe and its plentitude of fascinating characters. The second Eagle Vignette Series, like the first one, is a collection of short stories focusing on one of the main characters of The Star Eagle Adventures but instead of looking inward, EVS-2 looks outward and explores crucial moments in these character’s lives as their paths cross with individuals from other United Trek series.

The result, hopefully, is a compilation of ten interesting and entertaining stories about people learning about themselves but also making valuable discoveries about others.

This series of course would not have been possible without the help from the United Trek authors whose characters are featured here. Their assistance is greatly appreciated.

To learn more about United Trek and its many great stories and characters, visit the United Trek story archive at UnitedTrek.org or the United Trek Forum.

_ _ _ _


Three’s A Crowd
Featuring Elizabeth Shelby from DavidFalkayn’s Star Trek Sutherland.​

February 2376
The following story takes place a week after the events of the short story The Times They Are-A Changin’.



“Taking into account the acts of bravery and extraordinary courage displayed during the Dominion conflict which have been corroborated by numerous witness statements throughout these proceedings, it is the finding of this inquiry that Acting Lieutenant Erika Benteen’s sentence of conduct unbecoming and conspiracy is to be mitigated and is now considered time served.

Acting Lieutenant Erika Benteen is to be reinstated to the permanent rank of Lieutenant Commander with all its privileges and responsibilities as of this date. Her temporary assignment at Starbase 375 as tactical advisor is hereby terminated.

Lieutenant Commander Benteen is to report to Deep Space Nine by stardate 53154.5 to await her new assignment.

This inquiry is now concluded.”

Now Lieutenant Commander Erika Benteen had stood straight like a beam for the entire ten minutes it had taken Admiral William Ross to read his final verdict.

She remained at attention even after the panel including Ross and two other flag officers had vacated their seats behind the bench and left the crowded courtroom, almost as if any movement at all might cause them to change their mind.

Erika didn’t even notice the encouraging clasp on her back by her counsel or the slowly growing hustle and bustle of the crowd behind her as they shuffled to leave their seats, eager to discuss the results of what had been a highly anticipated inquiry.

“It’s over.”

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

“Erika?”

When her eyes opened again she turned to see Michael Owens standing by her side. She gave him a small, grateful yet clearly somewhat forced smile.

Owens was her first cousin on her mother’s side and had always been a close friend ever since they had been kids. He had been a fierce supporter of hers throughout this ordeal and even though there had been plenty of evidence to the contrary, he had vouched for the decency of her character on more than one occasion. He had been one of the first persons to forgive her for the mistakes she had made which had nearly led to a Starfleet coup d'état and had stood by her ever since.

She was sure that one of the reasons the final verdict had gone her way was thanks to Owens’ own witness statements.

She nodded slowly. “Yes, it’s over.”

“Than why do you look like you’ve just been given your death sentence?” he said, seeing through the masquerade with ease.

She looked him straight in the eye. “Because I didn’t deserve to get off this easy, Michael. Three years at a minimum-security facility, being reinstated due to personnel shortages during the war and now off scot-free. I was Leyton’s principle ally and I followed him without question. My actions or inactions, however you want to put it, led to thousands of innocent people losing their lives.”

“You almost single handedly saved this starbase during the war and possibly prevented the Dominion from taking the entire sector. Your heroic actions probably saved hundreds of thousands of lives. Yes, you made mistakes but you have redeemed yourself.”

She shook her head slightly. “There was nothing heroic about it. I did my duty as any Starfleet officer would have. I was simply in the right place at the right time, that’s all there is to it.”

Michael Owens sighed. He’d had to put up with her guilt-ridden attitude ever since these proceedings had begun and even now that she was officially exonerated, she was still looking for punishment. “Listen, Erika, you will have to spend the rest of your life with what you’ve done on your conscience but as far as Starfleet is concerned, you have been rehabilitated. So you will have to decide if you want to continue looking backwards, feeling sorry for yourself or take this chance to start over and make something of yourself again. You want to resign? Go right ahead, I’m sure nobody will stop you. But do you really want to throw away your one shot at making a difference?”

The frown on Erika’s face slowly turned into a smile. “Nice speech.”

Michael shrugged. “I’ve had plenty of practice.”

She chuckled and relaxed her small shoulders for the first time in what seemed like an eternity. Then she gave him a reaffirming nod. “Very well, sir. I suppose there are plenty of opportunities out there for a formerly disgraced Starfleet officer to try and make her mark on the universe.”

“More than you know,” he said, slightly absentmindedly.

“And thank you, Mike. I mean it. Not just for the motivational speech but also for standing by me through all of this and believing in me. I promise I won’t let you down.”

“I know you won’t.”

“I suppose I better find myself a ride to Deep Space Nine to see what they’ve got in store for me.”

He smiled. “Step ahead of you,” he said. “I’ve managed to secure a runabout for the trip already. Looks like the starbase is all out of pilots at the moment so I will be filling in as your driver today.”

“You don’t have to do that. Aren’t you waiting for your ship to pick you up?”

He shook his head. “Eagle has been delayed, dealing with a mining accident on Kalandra III. I’ve already left word for them to meet up with me at DS9 instead.”

“Road trip then?”

“Road trip,” he said with a smile, referring to the time when they had been little more than teenagers and zoomed through the American Midwest in a vintage muscle car Owens had ‘borrowed’ from his father.

But Benteen froze as she and Owens turned towards the exit and after scanning the quickly thinning crowd.

“What’s wrong?” he said, noticing her hesitation.

She had only been able to spot the back of the blonde woman as she was beating a quick retreat and yet she had known immediately who she had been.

Benteen shook her head. “Nothing. Let’s get going.”

Owens nodded. “Good. There is a matter I wanted to discuss with you and I suppose now we’ll have plenty of time for that.”

But the newly reinstated lieutenant commander was only listening with one ear as she followed Owens out of the room. Instead her mind was occupied with another question entirely. How long exactly had her former lover, and later enemy, Elizabeth Shelby, been here?

* * *​

“You know, I’m perfectly capable to pilot a runabout.”

“Oh I see,” said Owens who had taken the seat behind the helm controls, studying the instruments. “You believe because I’m a starship captain I have forgotten the fundamentals of shuttle piloting. You couldn’t be more mistaken,” he added and then stretched his fingers like a piano player getting ready to dive into his symphony. “In fact it hasn’t been that long that I’ve sat in a very similar chair and –“

“Warning, antimatter containment field below recommended intensity. Containment failure imminent.”

Benteen jumped to action upon hearing the computer’s announcement, rushing towards the nearest console to try and avoid a disaster. But just as she was going to try and find the right panels to return the containment field to full strength, all the previously flashing panels turned back to a soothing green.

She whipped around to find Michael’s grinning visage.

“You did that on purpose.”

“Just sit back, stop complaining and enjoy the ride. It’s not very often you get a captain to chauffeur you around the galaxy.”

“If you’re going to pilot this thing the way you drove that GTO there won’t be any enjoying this ride,” she said and let herself plop down into the chair next to him.

“Great, we haven’t even left the starbase yet and I’ve already got myself a backseat driver,” he said with mock annoyance as he went through the pre-launch procedures.

But Benteen had found something else that had capture her attention. “Hey, wait a minute, we’ve got somebody in the airlock.”

Not a few seconds later they heard the doors behind them open and they turned around to see Captain Elizabeth Shelby of the starship Sutherland standing before them.

Benteen immediately jumped to her feet. “Liz.”

Shelby looked genuinely surprised to see the both of them in the runabout and it took her a moment to find the right words. “Erika.” And then after an awkward pause, “Captain.”

Michael Owens gave her an acknowledging nod but didn’t speak. Instead he looked as surprised as Liz did. It had only been a week since they had worked together during an operation in nearby occupied Cardassian space and he had seen glimpses of her during the proceedings on the starbase, usually standing hidden in the back. He hadn’t appreciated her being there for numerous reasons but had given it very little thought.

“I’m sorry I wasn’t aware this runabout was already in use. I was told the Zambezi would be available,” she said and looked around. “This is the Zambezi, or did I get the wrong ship?”

Benteen nodded quickly. “It’s the right ship,” she said. “Where are you going?”

“Suthy is undergoing repairs at Deep Space Nine,” she said and shot the briefest glance towards Michael.

There was clear accusation in the look and Owens thought he knew why. He had been the one who had led the combined task force against Cardassian insurgents which had also included the starships Agamemnon, Independence and Aegis. Sutherland had been one of the vessels which had taken damage from an unintentional skirmish with the Ulirians.

But last time Owens had checked it hadn’t been significant, surely not enough to warrant the surprisingly dark look she was giving him. Not that Michael particularly cared about the way Shelby was looking at him. In fact he cared very little about his fellow captain at all.

“The quartermaster must have made a mistake,” said Liz Shelby and began to turn. “I’ll go and find another ship. Sorry for the interruption.”

“Liz, wait,” Erika said before she had reached the exit.

Shelby turned to face her.

“I don’t think this was a mistake. We’re all going to the same place and I doubt Starfleet has a lot of ships to spare at the moment. We didn’t even get a pilot,” she said with a smirk. “The captain here volunteered for the job.”

But her attempt at humor found no takers, both Michael and Liz remained stone faced.

The Sutherland captain shook her head. “I think it’d be better if I wait for another ship. I don’t want to intrude.”

“Don’t be ridiculous,” Erika quickly replied. “You’re not intruding on anything and it makes no sense to make you wait if you’re going to DS9 as well.” It was only then that she spotted the less than cordial looks being exchanged between her two betters. She glanced at her cousin. “You don’t mind having another passenger, do you?”

Michael minded. In fact Michael minded a great deal. “Of course not,” he said and turned back to his consoles. “If you want to take your seats, we’re about to launch,” he added. “This is going to be a fun ride after all,” he said quietly under his breath but without the slightest humor in his voice.

 

[TheLoneRedshirt]

Ow. Awkward.

An intriguing start to your story. I anticipate you allowing us to be "flies on the wall" observing this forced three-some, (Oops! Poor choice of words where Shelby is involved. ) journey, I should say, to DS-9.

I'm a bit surprised at Erika's insistence that Shelby accompany them. I would figure that she would be as anxious to avoid the discomfort of a "reunion" as is Shelby. Of course, that begs the question - why was Shelby at Benteen's Board of Inquiry? Hmmm.

I guess I'll have to wait on you to finish writing to find out. Well written, by the way - I thought you did a great job with the dialogue and capturing the characters in a brief segment. Now - back to work with you!

 

[CeJay]

Thanks for the feedback.

You bring up some interesting points, some of which I may not be fully exploring in this story.

I think one of the things to keep in mind about Shelby and Benteen is that even though they used to be enemies, Shelby was instrumental in working out a deal for her after the failed coup attempt. This also implies that Shelby still has some feelings for Benteen, remorse being one of them. I also think that Benteen is not fully aware of the animosity between Owens and Shelby and therefore might not realize what she's done by forcing them to share a shuttle.

We'll see how that goes.

Again, thanks for reading.

 

[CeJay]

The Danube-class Federation runabout was a starship just large enough to comfortably hold up to fifteen crewmembers but after just one hour into their trip to Deep Space Nine it had become far too small for its three-man crew.

Even if those three officers had hardly spoken a single word to each other after departure.

Michael had decided that he was going to stay at the controls throughout the journey and had hoped that perhaps Liz Shelby would eventually take the hint and retire to the more spacious back compartments of the ship to leave him alone with Erika.

But Liz had not complied with his unspoken wishes and instead had remained stubbornly in her seat behind Erika.

It had become something of an endurance test in which the first person to move or speak would have shown a sign of weakness and therefore immediately be declared the loser. It was a test neither Michael nor Liz were determined to fail.

Erika however couldn’t take it anymore. She turned to look at Michael sitting next to her who appeared to be so focused on his instruments one might have thought he was trying to fly them passed a black hole instead of cruising through open space at warp four.

“So, Mike, you wanted to discuss something with me?”

Her voice penetrating the silence was so sudden that even Liz looked up for the first time.

Michael glanced at Erika for a moment, surprised himself at hearing her speak.

“After the inquiry you mentioned you wanted to discuss something,” she said.

He nodded slowly but hesitated to speak up.

“And?” she prodded him, slightly annoyed by his hesitation.

Michael cleared his throat. “Your next assignment,” he said as if he had only just remembered. “I wanted to talk to you about what’s next for you.”

She shrugged her small shoulders. “That’s going to be up to Starfleet, I suppose. But it’s not like there is a shortage of open positions out there. I’m sure Starfleet will find use even for me. But I wouldn’t be surprised if they stick me on a far removed outpost in the hinterlands of the Beta Quadrant.”

“That would be a waste of your talents,” said Liz, the first words she had uttered since they had left Starbase 375.

Erika shot her a surprised look.

“You are a former starship captain. It would be a mistake to disregard that fact all together.”

“I was a starship captain for all but a few days and only because Leyton needed a loyal officer at his side. It had very little to do with my qualifications.”

Michael shook his head. “I refuse to believe that. You have proven your leadership abilities during the war and Starfleet would be smart to make use of them yet again. We are in dire need of qualified personnel.”

“I agree,” said Liz but without making eye contact with her fellow captain.

Erika blushed slightly. “Well, leadership potential or not, I doubt Starfleet will see it quite that way.

“I’m not so sure,” said Michael. “We’ll talk to the right people, make certain suggestions, maybe a few concessions and perhaps we can put you somewhere you can make a real difference.”

She looked at him with apparent skepticism. “And I suppose you already have some thoughts of where that might be.”

“As a matter of fact, I do,” he said with a smirk. “How does executive officer sound?”

Her eyes opened wider. She had not expected to be able to get a starship assignment again and most certainly not one as an executive officer. But then she thought she saw through his offer. “Where? On a Border Service cutter doing patrols along some never before heard frontier?”

“Don’t knock the Border Service,” said Liz. “Those guys do some great work.”

“I’m not arguing that. But I don’t think it’s the right place for me. Being bottled up on one of those tiny cutters and chasing after Orions and smugglers, that’s just not me.”

“Good,” said Michael. “Because I wasn’t thinking of the Border Service.”

“Then where?”

“Eagle. My ship.”

“Now I know you’re kidding me. You already have a first officer,” she said.

He nodded. “True. But I didn’t say first officer. I said executive officer.”

Erika didn’t understand and apparently neither did Liz. “What are you playing at exactly?” the other captain asked.

“I’ve thinking about splitting the position. A first officer and an executive officer. You would take on some of the duties of the first officer and others. It might not be your traditional XO post but it would be an assignment of significant responsibility.”

Elizabeth Shelby laughed and ignored Michael’s resulting glare. “What he’s offering you, Erika, is to be his secretary. A purely administrative job. You’d be sorting the ship’s paperwork, dealing with personnel issues while you watch other people take charge. You might as well sign-up with the Border Service, at least that way you’d be breathing non recycled air from time to time.”

“You’d be third-in-command of a Starfleet cruiser,” Michael said sharply. “It’s a step to get yourself back to the top. And I’m sure you’ll get your chance to sit in the big chair from time to time.”

“Oh sure,” said Liz, “during the night shift.”

“I’m hearing a lot of criticism, Captain,” said Michael, focusing on Shelby. “But do you have any offers of your own or are you just trying to invalidate mine?”

“You want an offer?” she said and then looked at Erika. “I could use a new communications officer on the Suthy. You might not be third-in-command but at least your going to head a real department and you’ll get to do some real work.”

“Yes, you would,” said Michael. “If we were still in the last century, that is. Let’s face it, being a communications officer these days means sitting somewhere in the bowels of the ship and looking over thousands of subspace transmissions until your eyes fall out. You won’t even set foot on the bridge.”

“I’m the captain,” she said defensively. “I can make it a bridge position.”

“Oh, I see, now you’re going to play favorites. I’m sure that’s going to go over real well with the rest of your crew,” Michael shot back.

“And what exactly is it that you’re doing?” she said with a steely edge in her voice. “You are going out of your way to make room for your own cousin on your senior staff. That reeks like nepotism to me. But I suppose like father like son. Or is it just your mission in life to help out the formerly disgraced? Is Eagle the new refuge for those fallen out of graces?”

“Liz!” Benteen interjected.

“It’s alright, Erika,” said Owens quickly. “Let her speak her mind. God knows we’ve all been sitting here in silence long enough, keeping our thoughts to ourselves. Better to have it all in the open, don’t you agree, Captain? Isn’t that how you prefer it? Doing things in the open and for everybody to see. Because you don’t just care what people think of you, do you?”

“You’re damn right, I don’t,” she shot back. “Never have and never will. I especially don’t care about people who wish to judge me solely on what I do when I’m not wearing the uniform.”

“You think I care how easily you seem to be able to shed it?” Michael said. “You want to engage in lewd behavior behind closed doors, that’s entirely your business. I don’t think you are a poor Starfleet officer because of your extracurricular activities, I think you are a poor Starfleet officer because of the choices you have made in the past and you continue to make today.”

“Don’t you talk to me about making poor choices,” she said, now clearly fuming. “At least I’m willing to take calculated risks. You on the other hand are so afraid of your own shadow, you will follow the book and play it safe even when the occasion clearly requires you to do more.”

“Guys, please, this is getting out of – “

But Erika’s appeal was falling on deaf ears.

“Calculated risks, is that what you call it? Let me ask you something. How calculated of a risk was it to stab a friend of yours in the back so that you could further your own career? Did you actually think how that would affect Erika before you executed your little scheme, how it would scar her for the rest of her own career and drive her to the choices she’s made.”

“Now wait a minute,” Erika said. “You can’t blame Liz for my decision to join Leyton’s –“

“Are you sure about that?” said Owens. “Because whenever I see one of Captain Shelby’s calculated risks, I see a whole string of consequences and none of which turn out to be good.”

“You mean like when you decide to play it safe during a joint operation because you don’t want to anger the great Picard?” Liz said.

Michael shot her another glare. “Yes, well, that didn’t work out the way I had hoped but I didn’t destroy anyone’s life making that decision.”

“Petty Officer First Class Marvin Sutton. You might want to remember that name when you talk to his wife and his family about not destroying people’s lives,” she said angrily.

Michael didn’t seem to understand and Liz was showing no intention whatsoever to clarify that point.

“You told me about that mission,” said Erika. “I thought you said you hadn’t taken any casualties.”

Owens nodded slowly.

“There was one,” said Liz without looking at neither one of them. “An EPS conduit ruptured while we were on our way to DS9 for repairs. A direct result of a battle that could have been avoided if a certain captain had shown more of a backbone and decided to take on the Cardassian insurgents head-on instead of playing an elaborate ruse doomed to failure from the get-go.”

“So that’s why you’ve been so angry,” said Erika who finally thought she understood. “It’s because you’ve lost a crewmember recently.”

Liz didn’t say anything to that.

“You know what Captain, you have quite the gall to blame me for a combat casualty. I don’t like losing a man under my command anymore than you do but in our line of work it is unavoidable. At least I’m not the one who is willing to play jury and executioner.”

“What the hell are you talking about?”

“Don’t tell me you’re denying that you tried to have Gul Rejak terminated when you had him cornered a few years ago. You had no second thoughts to order your people to have him disappear, did you? Another calculated risk of yours?”

Liz’s usually attractive face was distorted by an angry scowl. “I have no idea what you are talking about.”

“Of course you don’t. But I have it on good authority that you –“

A beeping computer console interrupted him.

“We’re getting a distress signal here. Looks to be from a freighter under attack by an Orion raider,” she said and looked up. “Less than thirty minutes from our position.”

“Those Orions have been getting bolder ever since the end of the war,” said Liz and turned to access her own station. “Our relief convoys to the Cardassians are making a mighty inviting target and we don’t have the ships to protect them all.”

“We can’t take on an Orion raider in this runabout,” said Owens. “There are multiple other vessels in the sector including Eagle, Sutherland and the Independence.”

But Erika shook her head. “But nobody is closer than we are. It would take them hours to reach the freighter. It won’t last that long.”

“There is nothing to think about here,” said Liz and looked up from her station. “We are the nearest ship so we will respond to the distress signal.” She looked straight at Michael as she spoke as if to dare him to disagree with her and to for once and for all support her case that he was a coward, unwilling or afraid to take any kind of risks.

Michael Owens hesitated for just a moment, understanding perfectly what Liz Shelby was thinking. The urge to disagree with her came almost naturally but he fought it, knowing full well that the freighter needed immediate assistance even if their help promised to make little difference.

“Changing course to intercept,” he said and entered the new commands into the helm station. “Stand by shields and weapons.”

 

[TheLoneRedshirt]

[Simon Pegg]"I like this ship! It's exciting![/Simon Pegg]

Aaaand, they're off! Nice segue for awkward silence to firing full salvos! Wow - talk about opening up!

This was quite revealing. Nice job of ripping back the veneer and allowing our two captains to vent. I feel sorry for Erika - she's caught in the middle of a rather ugly bidding war.

Thankfully, the Orions were nice enough to provide a distraction. Let's see how well a runabout stands against an Orion Raider. (This isn't going to end well, is it?)

One question - why would Owens split the first officer position? Why not just make her second officer, if she is to be third in command? He could then task her with a secondary responsibility to allow her bridge duty. Still - his offer sounds better than Shelby's offer of communications officer (do they still have those in the 24th century?).

Loving your story! More, please.

 

[CeJay]

One question - why would Owens split the first officer position? Why not just make her second officer, if she is to be third in command? He could then task her with a secondary responsibility to allow her bridge duty. Still - his offer sounds better than Shelby's offer of communications officer (do they still have those in the 24th century?).

Valid point.

Perhaps Owens figured that it be a hard sell to Starfleet to justify the need for a dedicated second officer on Eagle and felt it be easier to explain an additional executive officer. In the end of course, this is all really just semantics.

Thank for reading.

 

[Gibraltar]

A terrific start to another great Star Eagle adventure, CeJay!

Owens, Shelby, and Benteen, all in the same runabout... wow... uber-awkward! And now you're throwing a fight on top of it? Woe be unto the Orions, especially if they get between Beth and Michael, there's bound to be all kinds of collateral damage.

 

[CeJay]

I'm glad your enjoying this so far.

Thanks for the feedback.

 

[Mistral]

This is fun so far. You are going to write ten of these? Cooooooollllll!!!!!

 

[Gibraltar]

CeJay, I'm curious to know what other crossovers you've got planned. This one is a hoot so far.

 

[DarKush]

Loved this concept and I like how you are exploring the UT. This was a great character piece, Owens v. Shelby.

 

[mirandafave]

Woah! Awkward moments. Quiet moments. Loud angry moments. Yipes. This has ahd it all so far.

Obviously, both captains feel a certain obligation and connection to Erika Benteen, however, they share little else - and it seems not even basic courtesy or respect to a fellow captain. Shelby and Owens have quite a prickly relationship - both disproving of the other and the actions they take. Shelby accuses Owens of being cautious. Owens believes Shelby to be reckless in her command decisions. They approach their jobs from completely different tacts and this jars the other greatly.

Both however are a little hypocritical - Owens has been fairly hard on Star even though she is trying to make ammends for her past mistakes - he's willing to forgive and allow Erika her redemption. Shelby kicked Erika to the curb when it suited her, sabotaging Erika's career to further her own, yet now she is willing to try and help it along. So for both to now be willing to accommodate a fallen Erika reeks a little of double standards by both parties.

I guess it's that complication of the relationship between the three that makes this such a dynamite meeting. The Orions are a welcome diversion. Though I doubt things will go over easily. Terrific.

 

[CeJay]

Thanks for all the great feedback.

Mistral:
The plan is indeed to write 10 short stories of various lengths. Unless I get burned out of course ...

Gibraltar:
I haven't posted a content section because I kept shifting the order of stories after realizing that I found some more difficult to write than others. I will post an updated and hopefully final sequence over at the UT Forum shortly.

Mirandafave:
Owens does seem a bit hypocritical about Benteen when comparing his attitude towards Star. But then again he did keep her on as a first officer even though he had a way out at the time. Also, Benteen is family and Owens figures that he's better at judging her character than somebody he has only known for a short time.

Thanks for reading and commenting everyone. Another segment should be up by the weekend.

 

[CeJay]

“Von Stauffenberg, this is the USS Zambezi. Please respond.”

Three sets of eyes watched the small freighter hanging limply in space as they drew nearer. She had clearly taken damage, evident by a number of hull breaches which leaked cobalt-colored plasma into the void of space.

Erika Benteen tried again. “Von Stauffenberg, do you copy?”

But a reply was simply not forthcoming.

“She took a beating alright,” said Liz as she scanned over her sensor data. “And from the residual energy signatures I’m picking up here, I’d say it’s a safe bet that our bad guys were Orions.”

“Any life signs?” Erika said.

“I think so.”

Michael turned to look at the captain of the Sutherland. “You think so? Are there any life signs or not?”

She frowned, not particularly used to be spoken to in this manner. In fact it had been some time that she had to do this kind of stuff herself, analyzing sensor data and making reports. It did however all come back to her quite quickly. “I think they’ve taken some serious damage to their warp core. The entire engineering section appears to be radiated and it is interfering with sensors. There are life signs but I can’t tell how many and in what condition.”

It was then that the speakers crackled to life. “Zambezi, this … Von Stauffenberg. … have injured … warp core … critical. Assistance … “ the connection was so bad that it was difficult to make out more. It wasn’t much but it did appear to sum up their problems.

“Von Stauffenberg, your signal is breaking up, please say again,” Erika said. But the speakers remained silent. She looked at Michael. “Their comm system must have been damaged as well.”

He nodded and then focused on the freighter again. “I don’t like it.”

Liz was already on her feet and heading to an equipment locker to retrieve medical supplies and toolkits.

Michael noticed. “What do you think you’re doing?”

“What does it look like?” she said without gracing him with a look as she was collecting all the supplies she could find. “I’m getting ready to beam over there. Obviously they need our help.”

“That is not a good idea,” he said. “We don’t have the slightest idea what’s going on over there, how much of the ship has been irradiated or for that fact if the raider responsible for all this is still out there.”

Elizabeth Shelby stopped and turned around to face her colleague. “You’re right,” she said and carefully put all the supplies back on the floor. “Let’s not take any unnecessary risks then. We’ll just sit here, with our shields up and wait until everybody over there is dead. That way we’ll know for sure that they’re no longer a threat. Does that sound like a good idea to you?”

“No. What does sound like a good idea to me is to try and get as much information as we possibly can before we beam over into a potentially hostile situation.”

“People over there are dying,” said Liz, pointing out of the viewport. “That warp core could go critical any minute while we sit here and analyze and re-analyze sensor data. I’m not willing to take that chance.” Liz apparently felt that the discussion was over and began to pick up the supplies again. “Erika, can you find me a relatively secure beam-in spot over there?”

Erika looked at Michael who was making no effort to hide his displeasure. She swallowed and then attended her instruments. “There is a transporter room in the aft quarter of the ship I could beam you to.”

Liz nodded. She had stuffed all the supplies she could find into a backpack and stepped into the small transporter alcove. “Then that’s where I’m going. Energize.”

Michael stood. “Belay that.”

Liz glared while Erika hesitated.

“I might not like this plan of yours,” said Owens,” but I’m not going to let you go over there by yourself,” he added as he reached for the weapons locker to retrieve a phaser.

Sutherland’s captain smirked. “I see,” she said. “Don’t want me to take all the credit, do ya? I guess it wouldn’t reflect particularly well on you if I ended up saving the freighter single-handedly while you remained here fuming that you didn’t take a risk for once in your life.”

“You tell yourself whatever you have to,” he said as he placed himself next to her on the platform and then looked back at Erika by the controls. “Beam us over.”

But she didn’t budge.

“Come on, Erika, we don’t have time for this,” said Liz with obvious impatience in her voice. “Energize.”

But instead she stubbornly shook her head. “I don’t think so.”

The two captains could scarcely believe it. “Commander, you’ve been given a direct order,” Michael said, putting on his most authoritative sounding tone.

“Don’t you commander me. I’m not stupid, you know. And there is no way I’m going to allow the two of you to go over there at the same time. Not only because I think that together you would do more harm than good –“

“You are way out of line, Mister,” said Liz.

Erika continued as if she hadn’t even spoken. “It also goes against all the regs in the book to have two command level officers go on an away mission together without any security.”

“If you are thinking that you are going over there by yourself –“

This time Erika interrupted Shelby. “Here’s a compromise. You obviously won’t let me go alone and it would make little tactical sense for all three of us to go. So I’ll accompany one of you while the other stays behind.”

“I can’t believe we are being dictated to by an officer who until a few hours ago was an acting lieutenant,” said Owens.

“Fine, whatever,” Liz said, becoming increasingly annoyed with the delays. “You and I go, Captain Owens stays behind.”

But Eagle’s captain didn’t appreciate that decision and made that quite clear with a less than pleased look.

Liz noticed. “Unless you know how to secure a warp core gone critical? I happen to have taken a lot of engineering extension courses back at the Academy, did you?”

Michael Owens had no way of knowing if that was really the case or not but in the end he did realize that they were already losing plenty of time thanks to Benteen’s mini-rebellion. And the truth of the matter was that he really did not want to beam over to the freighter with Liz Shelby at his side. Reluctantly he stepped aside to let Erika take his spot.

“Be careful,” he told her just before he operated the controls to drop the shields and beam the two officers onto the Von Stauffenberg.

After that things progressed at a painstakingly slow pace.

Shelby and Benteen reported in shortly after leaving the runabout but the comm lines were so badly laced with static and interference, it was difficult to make out much of anything.

Michael Owens was placed into the unenviable position of being left with nothing else to do but to wait for their next report.

It came almost twenty minutes later at which point he had already decided that he would give them both an earful about disregarding standard away team procedures once they had returned.

“ … worse than we thought. We need an extra hand over here and some more tools to stabilize the core. Beam in coordinates provided. Benteen out.”

He found this to be very odd. She hadn’t even given him a chance to ask any questions. He was eager to find out more about the situation. How many wounded were there? What exactly was the status of the warp core and how long ago had the Orion attack transpired?

He wondered if Shelby was behind the vagueness of Erika’s report. Had she somehow managed to draw her in onto her side of this battle of wills between the two Starfleet captains? Were they trying to annoy him on purpose with their short and imprecise reports?

He quickly disregarded the notion as misplaced paranoia.

But he didn’t like this situation one bit. Not any of it. But it appeared as if he had little choice but to beam over and take stock of the situation himself.

He left the controls of the runabout in the computer’s care and began to replicate whatever tools and supplies would be required for the task at hand.

 

[Gibraltar]

Hmm. I smell an ambush!

"Danger Michael Owens, Danger!"

 

[CeJay]

Hmm. I smell an ambush!

"Danger Michael Owens, Danger!"

Where is your helpful, spaceship robot helper when you need him?

 

[mirandafave]

Me smells something suss as well. Nice tense situation - and that's just on the runabout. Ha! Gets more interesting.

 

[Mistral]

Stinky. Fish. Denmark. Bad.

 

[CeJay]

Looking down the business end of an Orion phaser rifle, Erika Benteen mentally cursed herself for having been placed into this position on what had supposed to be the first day of her renewed, and this time mistake free, Starfleet career.

And what had she done with her second chance?

She had promptly walked into a trap.

Not a moment after she and Liz had materialized in the transporter room of the Von Stauffenberg, they had been surrounded by half a dozen, two meter tall Orion thugs who quickly relieved them of their weapons and supplies. There had been a few arguments with their leader, Graat, a short but heavyset, red-skinned Orion with an ugly and noticeable scar running all the way from his chin across his eye-patched covered left eye socket right to the top of his bald head.

Shelby had done all the talking at first and shown some impressive skills at frustrating Graat who demanded that she immediately contact whoever was left on the runabout and instruct them to beam over as well.

She had done no such thing. Instead she had Erika send over a short status update and nothing else. She had refused to comply even when threaten with physical harm which never came.

Graat had eventually changed tactics. Deciding that talking to the captain was too much effort, he had focused on Benteen who eventually gave in when Graat made it perfectly clear that he would execute Shelby on the spot unless she made the call.

Over Liz’ objection, Benteen contacted the Zambezi with the instructions she had been given but made an effort to sound uncharacteristically clipped and vague.

After that had been done, the two women were moved into a large and mostly empty cargo hold and Graat appeared satisfied. “That wasn’t so difficult now, was it?” he said with a cruel smile that made Benteen wanting to heave.

Shelby’s mind had been working overtime ever since she had realized that they had walked into a trap. She had spent a few short moments mentally cursing herself for having been so careless. And she couldn’t stand the idea that Owens would undoubtedly find a way to put on record that he had been against beaming over to the freighter in the first place, suddenly making his decision appear to have been the smarter option. Of course he would leave out the fact that he had eventually intended to join her and would have ended up in the exact same position.

But Liz Shelby wasn’t much for second-guessing and she had quickly left those thoughts behind and instead began to appraise her current situation. Her initial plan had been to remain completely defiant and not to give Graat and his thugs the satisfaction of a response to any of his questions.

But Erika hadn’t been as strong when he had put a gun to Shelby’s head.

Liz could see a total of six large Orions in the cargo hold, all of which heavily armed. The chances of overpowering them all, without weapons, were small to non-existent. But it hadn’t escaped her that a few of these men had glanced their way with more than the kind of look a captor would give his prisoners. And she couldn’t really blame them. She had always thought of herself as quite a catch.

“I want to know who’s left on your ship,” Graat barked. “What’s his name and his rank?”

“Go to hell you –“

“His name is Pava Lar’ragos,” said Liz Shelby, cutting off the surprised Benteen who immediately shot her a puzzled look. But Liz was giving the Orion commander a crooked, self-confident grin instead. “Ever heard of him? You might have. Starfleet Special Teams, the toughest of the tough. Four hundred plus years of experience in taking out the scum of the universe. He’s a killing machine. During the war he disposed of more Jem’Hadar soldiers than any other single person the Dominion has ever faced. He’ll have you and your ragtag band of wannabe gangsters for breakfast. I do feel a bit sorry for you.”

That hit a nerve somewhere because Graat didn’t find the words to respond right away. She noticed with satisfaction that at least a couple of his men looked slightly concerned. They probably had heard of the man.

Then the burly Orion leader began to laugh, either due to genuine pleasure or to mask his own anxiety. “Nice speech. You will fetch quite a decent price on the slave market. And not just for your oratory skills, I’m sure,” he said. “You both will. And as for your friend the war hero. I will make sure he’ll join you. As a corpse. I personally don’t care of his accomplishments and I’ve got a few surprises of my own.”

He swiftly turned around and headed for the exit, barking orders to his men. “If they try anything, anything at all. Shoot them both,” he told the two guards he was leaving behind by the doors. He did notice that one of them was paying the women a little bit too much attention. “Nelt!” he shouted and immediately got the young man’s full attention. “I don’t want them touched, you hear me? Two high-ranking female Starfleet officers are going to be priceless on the market. I want them in perfect condition. If you have to, stun them. But do not touch them,” he said and then added. “In any manner.”

Nelt nodded quickly and then watched as his boss departed.

“What the hell was that about?” Erika asked in a hushed tone. “Why did you tell them that Lieutenant Lar’ragos is on the runabout?” Of course Benteen was quite familiar with the man’s reputation. But besides being a skilled warrior, the El-Aurian officer was also quite the detective, something she had learned the hard way when he had been part of team which had uncovered the attempted Starfleet coup she had been part of. She couldn’t understand what they stood to gain from making them believe he was on the runabout.

Liz kept her eyes on Nelt who remained by the doors. He was slightly on the short side for an Orion slaver and his light green skin tone revealed his youth and potential inexperience. She had indentified the weakest link. “It’s called a bluff,” she said quietly, making sure the two guards wouldn’t overhear their conversation. “It’s going to make them nervous, we can use that.”

But Erika shook her head. “It’s also going to make them more careful and overcompensate. Michael is no Pava Lar’ragos, he won’t be able to help us if they expect some sort of uber-soldier to come barging in here.”

“Exactly. Which means we have to take the initiative. Just follow my lead.”

“Follow your lead? What’s your …”

“Hey guys, it’s awfully hot in here, any chance you could do something about that?” she said, taking a small step towards the doors.

The two phaser rifles came up in a flash. “Don’t move,” said the guard to her left.

“Oh, come on,” Shelby said but wisely stopped any attempt to get closer. “You caught us, fair enough. But we might as well be comfortable in here.”

“If you are hot,” Nelt, the guard to the right said. “Feel free to dress down.”

“I bet you would like that, you pig,” Benteen shot back angrily.

Nelt shrugged his shoulders. “You can undress voluntarily now or somebody will do it for you later. We prefer our slaves out of uniform,” he said, now quite obviously licking his lips and watching the two women very closely.

To Erika’s utter surprise Liz zipped open her gray and black jacket and dropped it to the floor.

“What do you think you’re doing?” Erika hissed urgently.

“Nelt over there is right,” she said and then began to unzip her red uniform shirt as well. Slowly. “We’ll have to take off our clothes eventually anyway,” she said and then looked directly at the young guard. “Is it true what they say about Orion men?” her voice had taken on a distinct purr now, one that would have put an Orion slave girl to shame.

“You’re going to find out soon enough,” Nelt said and took a step towards the Starfleet captain. His eyes were now fixated on her cleavage which poked out tantalizingly from her halfway undone shirt.

“Can we find out now?” she said, moving the zipper further down to reveal a white, lacy bra.

“How stupid do you think we are,” barked the other guard. “Nelt, mind your post, you dumbnut. Can’t you see she’s trying to play with you?”

The younger man seemed to be torn between his orders and Liz Shelby’s not so subtle advances. He took a deep breath and then straighten his shoulders in an effort to cement his resolve.

Liz sighed with disappointment. “We could’ve had a good time here,” she said and turned to look at Erika who had been watching the spectacle with wide-open eyes. She was fully aware of her friend’s sexually outgoing manner, once upon a time she had in fact been a very big fan of such displays, and yet she couldn’t believe what was happening. She certainly couldn’t believe what was going to happen next.

“Looks like it’s the girls who are going to have all the fun then,” said Liz as she slowly walked back towards Erika, her hips making alluring propositions with every step.

Erika took a step away from the approaching captain when she began to fathom what she was thinking. She quickly shook her head. “Don’t,” she said almost pleadingly.

“Just play along, Erika,” Shelby whispered under her breath not a moment before she reached out for the other woman’s shoulders and holding on to her before she could try to slip away any further. She drew her closer even while Erika resisted. It wasn’t nearly enough resistance. Not after Liz touched her face and brushed through her hair. Not after her lips pressed themselves against hers. For Erika a whole wave of long forgotten memories came back to the surface within an instant, a familiar feel and smell transporting her back to a different time and place when Liz Shelby had meant so much more to her. She gave in fully, forgetting for a moment where she was now and who was watching their passionate kiss, not caring that her hands were roaming over her body and that her jacket had already joined Shelby’s on the floor.

Nelt just couldn’t take it anymore.

“Mind your frekkin’ station!”

But the younger man was not paying his older comrade any attention as he quickly approached the two kissing women who now seemed so completely lost in each other. “Just … just keep a watch out,” he said, clearly more concerned of being caught by his boss than of his captives. “This … wont’ take long.”

“You are right about that,” Liz whispered just moments after her mouth had disengaged from Erika’s. A massive grin now plastered on her face.

Nelt had already lowered his rifle as he approached slowly, desperately trying to get into whatever kinky promises were being made by this sensual show.

Liz waited patiently, listening to his approaching footsteps and his increasingly excited breathing.

Then, when she thought that he was just inches away, she whipped around with such speed that it caught Nelt entirely off-guard. Her balled fist struck him viciously in his face and he was so unprepared for the attack that he stumbled backwards.

Liz’s other hand had already reached for his phaser rifle and in one quick motion she had ripped it out of his grasp.

The other guard didn’t have a shot, his own man was blocking the line of fire.

Shelby had the rifle up in an instant and helped Nelt along on his tumble to the ground by unloading onto him at point blank range.

She then took aim at the second guard and fired again.

He was just a second faster and managed to throw himself behind cover before the beam could cut him down.

Shelby jumped as well, trying to get a better angle but too late did she realize that the guards’ target was not her but Erika who had not adapted to the situation particularly well. In fact the earlier kiss had thrown her so much, she was hardly aware what was going on and now stood in the middle of the cargo bay, unarmed and an easy target.

“Erika, get down!”

It was too late, the Orion had already drawn a bead on her.

That was when the maintenance hatch in the wall next to him exploded outwards and hit him square in the head. Surprised, more than anything else, the guard fell onto his backside.

Shelby finally had managed to get a clear shot and pulled the triggering stub on the rifle but not before a phaser beam shot out from within the now open maintenance crawlway.

The Orion guard was struck by the two phaser blasts simultaneously and immediately lost consciousness.

A moment later Michael Owens emerged out of the narrow conduit. He looked down at the fallen Orion to make sure he was out, picked up the weapon the man had dropped and then immediately headed towards Benteen. “Erika, are you alright?”

She looked at him for a moment as if she wasn’t quite sure it was really him. Then, remembering what had happened just moments before the firefight, she nodded but blushed intensely. “I’m fine,” she said. “Thanks.” She found her jacket on the floor and quickly slipped it on again. “How did you get here?”

“After I got your message I knew something was wrong. I decided to disregard your coordinates and find a more secluded place to beam over. Appears to have been a good call. I think they were waiting for me to show up in the transporter room.”

“Honestly, this is quite the surprise,” said Liz. “I didn’t quite expect you to show up like this.”

Michael turned to look at Liz who unlike Erika hadn’t even bothered to zip up again. “And yet nothing about what I’ve seen you do has come as a surprise to me.”

“Wait,” Erika said. “How long have you been watching?”

“Just a few minutes,” he admitted. “I was waiting for the right opportunity. If I had busted in here too quickly, I wouldn’t have stood a chance. Of course I didn’t quite expect this kind of distraction,” he said and then shot Liz a revolted look. “Do you have no shame?”

“I gave you the distraction you needed,” she fired back angrily. “If it hadn’t been for what I did you’d probably remained on your backside until you’d be discovered or worse. And don’t tell me you couldn’t have made your move sooner. Instead you were perfectly happy to sit back there, watching us and wait as long as possible to do anything.”

“What are you implying?” Owens fumed. “That I enjoyed this little show you put on here? Don’t flatter yourself.”

Erika jumped in before Liz could formulate a retort. “We’re still stuck on a ship full off Orions. Any chance we could reprioritize here?”

Michael and Liz left it at shooting each other toxic glares.

Then he focused on Erika.

For a moment she felt embarrassed again as she noticed his accusatory stare. She knew he had seen her making out with Shelby and she couldn’t deny that in the end she had completely gone along with it. And perhaps not just because it was all part of a distraction.

She swallowed. “We should try and get to the bridge,” she finally said. “From there we might be able to take back control of the freighter.”

Owens nodded. “I’ve only counted about a dozen Orions on the ship, most of which were guarding the crew in another cargo hold.”

“Let’s stop wasting time then and get going,” said Liz. She has since zipped up her crimson uniform shirt again but not bothered to retrieve her jacket.

Within moments they were on the move.

 

[Gibraltar]

Okay, that was too funny! Not only Shelby’s attempt at deceit by referencing Pava, but also her chosen method of distracting the Orion guards and the ensuing argument with Owens after their rescue.

This fractious trio is nearly more dangerous to each other than they are to the Orions.

I was pleased to see that Owens took a gamble (though he conducted his raid as safely as possible) in order to rescue his comrades. I doubted he’d stay sitting in the runabout for long after he realized something was amiss.

Great stuff!