Battle for Empires (Part 1 of 3)

Posted on 30 Nov 2015 @ 1:27am by Rear Admiral Lirha Saalm & Queen Regent Lirha Saalm & Jynn & Lieutenant Oren Idris Ph.D. & Lieutenant Commander (La'Hom) Gerrin illm Warraquim & Lieutenant JG (SoghHom) Jynn & Warrant Officer ('etlh Suvwl') Keval Grayson
Edited on on 30 Nov 2015 @ 1:31am

2,236 words; about a 11 minute read

Mission: Episode 09 - Empires
Location: Nimbus System - USS Galileo, ISS Galileo, IKS Saalm
Timeline: MD 11 - 0350 hrs

[ON]

Within the secret Terran outpost and throughout the entire solar system, a broadband hail chimed across every comm system on all nearby vessels and stations. It didn't require an acceptance query, and instead was an open transmission to anyone who might be in the area.

"General Holliday, this is Queen Regent Saalm," said Lirha whose Orion-accented voice echoed menacingly throughout every corridor and office. "We have discovered your outpost and you are surrounded. Decloak your vessels and surrender your personnel for interrogation. That is...if you value your life."

The transmission quickly cut off, and now Lirha's own cloaked task force awaited the Terran's next move. On the bridge of her command ship, she looked back towards the assembled away team members who had all volunteered to infiltrate the complex. Intermittent sensor spikes and rudimentary EM scanning had reveal an installation of some sort built directly into the face of the asteroid, and she had prepared one of her shuttles with a cloaking device that would hopefully be able to penetrate the Earthlings' defenses with stealth.

"Proceed!" she commanded her forces.

Keval looked over at his Queen, "After this, you can change your title to Empress,your Highness." he said.

Gerrin waited with the rest. He had but one goal and that was to ascertain why there was an Akkadian. He seemed to ignore the weapon that he carried and instead his fingers played on the small device that was attached to the belt. It was the same thing that allowed him to call transport to the Fold Ship but like that ship it could allow him to phase out of this particular reality just as the Fold Ship was hiding within a nearby asteroid not quite in phase with the matter. Weapons, walls, people would mean nothing once he activated it. A thought glanced through his mind that perhaps the best course would be that each side here so completely hurt the other that they would have to finally figure out co-operation. It was not likely though given the history.

As for the Deltan, it had already become obvious why he was tagging along. Jynn was already swimming in the emotions of the away team. Everyone was already so gods damned, love for lovingly on edge. It was blissful. He was feeling the emotions of many at once and in short time he'd be feeling the emotions of many more. Even humans! It was a quest for feelings and he was just the adventurer for the job.

Tyrion was ready, but he had something else up his sleeve too. Though he wore his black leather, he also wore a black cloak that hopefully would conceal him in the shadows. Under his cloak, he'd carefully bundled up his baby daughter. He needed to get her to safety and on the Saalm it just wasn't safe. He no longer was a slave, but that didn't mean that his child couldn't be used against him. In one hand, he held a disruptor, in the other, Grayson's electrical whip which he knew how to use by now.

The queen regent rose from her chair and her golden cape billowed behind her as she headed towards the bridge's exit. With her assault team in tow, she checked the disruptor pistol on her hip one final time before making her way to the shuttle bay and climbing into one of the large, cloak-equipped green transports.

"You may launch when ready," she commanded to the Deltan pilot.

'Ready' was such a relative term, and it was a good thing that Jynn decided that in this case 'ready' would be when everyone was aboard. Had it had been his own readiness the shuttle would have departed before much of the crew even set foot on board. This would not have made the queen happy and so it was decided that he would wait until all the away team's feet were set upon the shuttle's floor.

Now 'ready' was exactly what the shuttle was now (mostly). “Hold on to your butts!” Jynn wasted no time in lifting their transportation off the bay floor before most of the tagalongs could even get off their feet and take a seat. Even with near perfect calibration there was at least the slight possibility that with the ship's erratic movements at least one of the crew would be sent toppling over with the sudden shift in momentum.

Tyrion looked as if he might throw up any second, though in truth he was protecting the small bundle that was tied up against his side and hidden under his cloak. Still, he didn't really like being thrown about and his expression showed a hint of fear.

Everyone was now comfortable and - whoops! Jynn quickly made sure to activate the cloaking device before exiting Saalm's protective insides. How cozy they were. It was a shame he had to leave it, but at least he had the more sentient of Saalm's right by his side. “Don't worry folks, we'll be fightin' in no time. This flight is sure to be quick!”

WHOOOSH! Off the shuttle went. Cloak or not Jynn was not one to waste time in the frighteningly unprotective void of space. The quicker they got to their target, the better. He made a bee line for the supposed area of the base, not wanting any erratic movements to trigger some warning somewhere that perhaps something unnatural had happened. The nature of space was often pretty straight-forward and so Jynn had made sure the shuttle would follow suit, it's course unaltered once it had set out...

Until the near collision! With a lurch and a shudder the shuttle and its occupants' speed was drastically reduced in a short period of time as some rudimentary readings came up on Jynn's console. “Base,” he shouted out as readings very unfitting of an actual asteroid began popping up. It certainly was more than just any old asteroid. It was a space station.

“Got all sorts of short range readings here, Queen, all across the EM spectrum. Trying to make sense of it now. We got what seems to be plasma exhaust; probably from energy production. Energy distortions of all types. Wavies and wobblies.” He started listing them off one by one with theories, much to the boredom of everyone aboard, when suddenly he stopped. “That! Those sly dogs can't hide it from me! They may be cloaked but that right there is the unmistakable register of a shuttlebay force field. Somebody should have told them not to leave the door open. Just look what they're going to let in!”

Without warning the shuttle lurched to the right and darted for a stony outcrop on the asteroid with the conviction of a fool finding pyrite-pressed mercury.

Keval didn't like tight spaces, though of course he would admit to no one. Showing weakness was not a trait that the KCA appreciated. Just being in the ship when it was flying normally was a bit of a stretch for him, but now that it looked like they were all going to die, both antennae were pressed flat against his head and he let out an involuntary cry.

Lirha sat silent and wide-eyed in the co-pilot's seat, not sure whether or not to execute Jynn for insane flying or to issue him a commendation for said insane flying. Her fingers gripped her armrests and she said a silent prayer to the spirits to not let her die in a fiery blaze of Deltan-pilot-incompetency.

"Are you insane!" Tyrion cried out as he was nearly thrown from his seat. "Are you trying to kill us all, you incompetent fool!"

Just when the end seemed inevitable and all aboard could practically hear the anthropomorphic personification of death calling their names the scenery suddenly shifted to the cold confines of a Terran shuttlebay. The sneaking was now over and Jynn, along with everyone else, had been returned to the safety of inner space. “We're here,” he shouted as he gently plopped the shuttle down within feet of a couple of dutiful Terrans with nary a sound or even a whoosh of air. A 10/10 landing if there ever was one.

The shuttle had actually made it, and Lirha was impressed that they were still alive when the small craft touched down in the massive Terran outpost's hangar. But as much of a victory as it was to have infiltrated the compound, there was now much more that needed to be accomplished. The difficulty factor had now increased, and they no longer had the benefit of their shuttle's cloak to hide themselves. It would be a ground battle the rest of the way to find the general and kill him.

Lirha was the first out of the shuttle when the ramp lowered, and she aimed her disruptor at two of the unsuspecting guards and killed them instantly with several well-placed bursts of green energy fire.

Keval followed close, but not close enough to win her ire, or the suspicion of the her guards. He preferred a more personal and bloody weapon, his Ushaan-Tor. He used it to take out the next two guards, with a sweep. The first man was cut in half by the force of the razor sharp blade and died instantly, the two sides falling in separate directions. The other was not so lucky, The blade merely cut deeply into his thigh. The blow severed his femoral artery. Keval pulled the blade out in a twisting motion then let the man fall to the floor knowing he would bleed out in a matter of minutes.

Tyrion hurried after them, drawing the weapon he seemed to favour: his whip. He charged it with his fury and lashed it at all that had the misfortune to be within his reach.

Gerrin used the Akkadian weapon and wherever it touched the personnel vanished as though they had never been. He waited just long enough to ensure that things had gone well and then using the phase button strode off in search of the other Akkadian.

Once the remains of the initial Terran security were pacified, Lirha and her team moved at a quick pace into the nearest turbo lift. Strangely, once they were all in, there were no options for a designated level, and instead the car traveled upwards about 1,000 meters before stopping and depositing them on an unknown floor.

The turbolift doors swished open and Lirha cautiously stepped out with the rest of her team. "Careful..." she warned all of them, her phaser drawn while she looked down what appeared to be a long corridor with multiple doors arranged in rows on each side. She had seen this format before from both her studies and in practical settings...it was a cell block.

Inside one of the cells, Oren sat against the wall, on the floor. Knees pulled up, Oren contemplated his options, his arms resting on his knees, Lamar's phaser hanging from one hand. Lamar himself was restrained across from him. He'd heard the commotion outside and felt worried and hopeful. After all, whoever the guards were firing at clearly wasn't on their side. As he heard the group draw closer, Oren stood up and walked to the door, waiting for them to pass before opening it slightly.

The door to Oren's cell was suddenly lurched open and in stepped an armed member of Lirha's infiltration team to clear the room. Other metallic noises could be heard in the distance while the group went door to door in an attempt to release and rescue any of their own

Keval a sadistic smile on his face entered the cell. He looked Oren up and down and said, "Tell me what are you doing in this cell. Who's side are you on?"

Tyrion yanked open another cell, pointing his weapon inside. "Get up!" he ordered, "get up and state your name!"

The surprisingly intact Deltan with his universe on his skin stood up straight at the sight of another crewmember he thought he was familiar with pointing a high powered weapon at him. It was beginning to be all too common. “Jynn,” he blurted out in quick reply.

"What is your purpose," Tyrion snapped at the equally familiar -yet unfamiliar- person. "Your rank, and purpose. Quick!"

“I thought I already went through this with your interrogator,” Jynn began with a look of concern forming on his face. Maybe they didn't believe him? Maybe this was a test. He dug through his mind quickly, remembering parts of the story he had given earlier. “I'm special agent Jynn with the secret organization X-Ray Alpha Niner. I was placed aboard the Galileo to ensure safe transport of the Shawken Device. Look, must we go through this all again?”

"Special Agent," Tyrion taunted, "what is a Shawken Device. Special Agent Jynn, answer the question, yes we must go through all this once again. Especially...if someone's to pretend you're you..."

“What do you mean, 'pretend,'” Jynn questioned but began to trail off towards the end as it sort of answered itself. The next person to round the bend and answer the room was, well, Jynn!

“Oh, boy...”

To Be Continued...

[OFF]

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All Terran Empire Crew
ISS Galileo

All Klingon-Cardassian Crew
IKS Saalm

All Prime Universe Crew
USS Galileo

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