SB Assailant Episode 1.6 Robbing Peter to pay Paul

[Deleted]

As Tomlinson was talking, thoughts were starting to form in his mind. If they discovered his handiwork, then he wouldn't have much of a defence. Suddenly his sensors started twigging.

"Admiral, I'm getting something. A ship is decloaking to our port..." He looked sideways out of the shuttle's window. "Oh god!" He closed the comm link without thinking about it. He quickly brought up another comm link, straight through to Dillon. He had purposely flown alone for this reason, but had hoped it wouldn't be needed. It was much harder to keep it secret out here.

Suddenly the link connected. "Sean..."

"T'is better b' good... I ain got time for any of your rubbish."

"Sean, they've discovered the loose ends. It's not going to take them forever to trace them."

"What do you know about it. T'ey'll never trace em."

"You can't know that for certain. The have the Chief Justice there."

"Dillon out."

Tomlinson swore loudly, then opened a comm channel to the other vessels.

"All vessels, battlestations, engage the enemy."

Suddenly the Shial'ra lurched out of warp, and opened fire on the larger ship in the middle, hitting three shots at one spot, the first damaging the shields, the seconds removing them, and the third sailing straight through the hull leaving a gaping hole in the ship. A couple of seconds later, and with a completely silent explosion the ship blew up.

--- In the USS Avenger's brig ---

T'Val and Richard Jibb materialised inside the brig of the Defiant class vessel. The vulcan healer turned to Jibb.

"I do not think this was an intended part of the plan."

"No. It wasn't." He replied his teeth gritted together, his anger at the apparant destruction of Robert' Diamond and the Wanderer not leaving him too happy.

--- In Space ---

Able to move, Wanderer programmed her course, and set sail for Assailant. Recognising her, the federation ships avoided her, and provided help by taking out the small fleet that was scattered around the escaping vessel.

[Magellan Lin]

The Tekarans seemed to be nice enough, although Magellan was well aware that appearances could be deceptive.
"More wine?" he offered
The delegates nodded and he beckoned for a Steward to fulfill the task.
Tedak, Saarok and Jatira were mingling with the delegation well and Magellan was beginning to feel somewhat of a spare wheel.
"What exactly is it the Debrune?" He heard Garel say
"Not much in reality" Tedak noted
"Not much?"
"Just a to share the planet."
"hmmm"
"You do have to remember it isnt yours" Saarok noted
"Its not theirs either" snapped Garel
"Calm yourself Garel" Lorol interceded, "You must understand that Garel fears that our culture wil be diluted if forced to live with such a defined race as the Debrune"
"I see" Tedak noted
Magellan was beginning to see one of those deceptive appearances...appearing.

"Operations to Admiral Lin.”

=/\=Go ahead=/\= came Magellan’s voice.

“You’re not going to believe this,” Drew said, “but someone has locked us out of the sensor grid, we can’t tell what’s out there.”

=/\=How’s that possible?=/\= Magellan asked, concern in his voice.

Drew looked up at Tomlinson on the forward view screen, the Tactical Officer shared the same look of horror that was on Drew’s face, and probably Magellan’s too.

“I don’t know,” Drew answered, “but, there could be a fleet of ships out there right now, and we wouldn’t know about it”

"I ll be right up."

Magellan practically ran to Ops he burst through the door.

"Well. Report?"

F'rass began to answer but has beaten to it by Paul.

"We're not sure exactly, The Shial'ra has dropped out of warp and destroyed the lead pirate ship, Tomlinsons team of fighters and Runabouts are just arriving to mop up the rest, but its hard to tell"

"Hard to tell! Whats hard about it!" Magellan snapped "Either its destroyed or its not"

Paul ignored Magellans tone,

"Theres a lot of Comm Chatter out there and we re not entirely sure how much we can trust our sensors."

"And thats another thing, how is Assailant so compromised. I ll not have. I ll not have the safety of this base threatened by anyone. F'Rass lock down the station. No one in no one out. All flights are suspended."

"Aye Sir. How long shall I tell the Freighter captains the suspension will last, they will need to reorganise their schedules"

"Indefinetly"

"Sir?"

"Indefinetly damn it. I ll tell you when."

"Yes Sir."

"We're getting more information, there are still disruptions in the sensor grid. But the Shial'ra confirms one kill, and that the Wanderer has been picked up in the debris." Paul looked up as he read from the terminal and met Magellans eyes.

"Any survivors?"

"None yet."

Magellan stared at the viewscreen, now here was not only a personal tragedy but a political one - wife of romulan delegate killed in a ship piloted by a Fed Diplomat being captured by an unknown foe. Wars had started over less.

"Well tell them to keep looking. Hopefully we can find T'Val and Jibb before we need to contact Tedak."

Paul nodded, but he realised that there was little chance of their survival, Magellan was just going through the motions. He could almost see the rage physically building in Magellan once more.

The trill tapped his badge.
"Lieutenant Alari report to Ops with your best Computer Specialist and a damn good reason why we cant see a blasted thing out here"

"Aye Sir right away" the tiburonese Chief Maintenace Officer replied

With the line turned off Magellan turned to Keztrek.

"Admiral Keztrek, You have carte blanche. As of this moment you have full authority on the station. You may question anyone. You may search any room, any quarters any ship. You may appropriate any staff for any purpose. Find out who did this to us, find out who did this to T'Val and Jibb. Find Them, and shut them down. Lock em up whatever. End it and end it soon. If anyone has news I ll be in my office."
And without a backward glance Magellan stalked from Ops and in to his office, making a beeline for the replicator.

[Deleted]

With the lead ship down, the team of shuttles and fighters that Tomlinson was leading now started to clear up the smaller support vessels. Tomlinson knew that Dillon wouldn't shoot on them. He had his current prize, and from what he has heard, Robert's lot weren't high in the picking order. Losing them to keep his anonymity would be more his style.

The station's security officer slid his shuttle down between two floating skeleton's of ships, their hulls blackened, and holes allowing him to see straight through them. On one he could see faint federation markings, all but removed and the pirates emblem painted on over the top. As he manoeuvered his shuttle through the gap, he spun slowly through 270 degrees, and then hooked back around the ex-federation ship to engage what looked like a commandeered bajoran assault vessel.

He kept tight to the framework of a ship below him, and then rose rapidly, flying within the shields of the assault vessel, before firing with his phasers. With the shields unable to defend against the attack, it ripped straight through the hull, cutting a line right through the middle of the assault vessel. The ship seperated at the centre, and proceeded to float away from each other. Tomlinson smiled, pleased with the move.

Glancing at his sensors, which were fully functional, he spotted that all enemy ships had been destroyed.

=/\= Tomlinson to all ships, return to base. =/\=

The fleet made their return to Assailant, where Tomlinson became stuck with another problem.

"..what do you mean, I can't dock. I work there, I am part of that investigation. I'm in a frigging wheelchair... what do you think I'm doing to do... roll over everyone?" he asked frustratedly. In complete contrast KezTrek remained calm and controlled.

"We need to find the source. We are investigating everything at the moment. You can return when we are satisfied..."

Tomlinson was sure she had more good news to spread, but he wasn't in the mood. He closed the comm link.

[Deleted]

"This certainly is proving to be an interesting venture," T'Val commented, "we get to be sightseeing a couple of brigs." She was not at all troubled by the fact that they were again locked in. "This is a Federation ship," she continued, "I am quite sure that whoever is in command will soon discover their error, and let us go."

She glanced at the firelizard, who had taken up a perch on Richard's lap, gazing at the man intensively as if talking to him. She noted the bronze wasn't disturbed either, at least not yet.


~~ On Assaillant ~~

Tedak was chatting to the new Fabrini ambassador, laughing good naturedly. He wasn't worried by the fact that T'Val had gone off on an adventure with the courier. ~she too, deserves her fun~ he thought idly, as he stroked the brown firelizard on his head knob. The brown crooned, as earlier he had been very agitated. Nut always knew if his 'brother' was in trouble, and communicated that knowledge to Tedak. As Sev was in tune with T'Val more so than with Tedak, even though he had Impressed the bronze, the brown was very much in tune with the man.

He watched as Magellan strode away briskly, his facial expresion one of anger and worry. "Something is going on," Tedak whispered to Jatira, "they seem to be extremely worried about something, or someone. Brown Nut had flown after Magellan, who seemed oblivious to that fact. Some time later, the brown firelizard came flying back into the conference room, chittering in agitation. Tedak looked worried, then gazed at Jatira."Come, let us see if they will tell us." He held out his arm courteously to the woman, and led her towards the admirals. "Gentlemen, Gentlelady," he said softly, nodding towards Lin, Drew and Keztrek, "something seems to be the problem, I think. Is there some way we can be of assistance?" He noticed the worried look in Lin's eyes, and the working of the man's jaw. Something was indeed amiss, but Tedak had already guessed that.

[Deleted]

Jatira was enjoying herself immensely, talking to the Tekarian delegates and getting to know some of them. They seemed to be very pleasant people, but she knew from past experience that officials often were on the outside and could be very different on the inside. She hoped that this wasn't the case with these people, but still kept her guard up.

At the buffet tables, many different types of food from the many cultures of the Federation had been set out. One table was reserved specifically for Tekarian fruits and vegetables, which one of the delegates pointed out to her and explained what each item was.

Jatira listened carefully and tried to learn all that she could about these people, knowing that she would be working with them for quite a while. She wasn't sure what things were going to be like at the negotiations table, so she wanted to have an idea of what to expect from them.

As the time wore on, Jatira struck up a conversation with Ambassador Tedak about the station. He told several amusing stories about some of the past events and Jatira told him a little about herself and her sister who was serving in Starfleet.

She was curious about his firelizard, so she asked many questions about him. Back home, she was allowed to keep many pets, which often included fish, birds and just about everything else one could imagine. However, since she had joined the diplomatic service, she couldn't keep as many, but still had her male Hiruss Finch. Tedak wasn't familar with the species, so she told a little about them saying that they were bright purple with white streaks on its breast. They were very much like Terran finches, except the Hiruss variety was capable of talking that could outdo even the best parrot. Jatira admitted that sometimes the bird could be a little obnoxious, but enjoyed having him around as a companion.

After a while though, Jatira noticed that some of the Starfleet officers were becoming rather anxious and coming in and out of the banquet hall. She frowned, wondering what was happening.

Tedak too noticed. "Something is going on," he whispered, "they seem to be extremely worried about something, or someone."

She nodded. "I've noticed the same thing," she said, thinking. "When I arrived, Admiral Magellan mentioned something about pirates in this sector. Do you suppose that might be what it's about?"

"Come, let us see if they will tell us."

Jatira took his arm and followed him over to where Admiral Magellan was standing along with a few others. He seemed deeply concerned about something and Jatira hoped that the situation wasn't as bad as it seemed.

[Deleted]

Richard sat on the bed in the brig and bided his time. T'Val was right. Eventually one of the geniuses on the bridge would figure out who they were and release them. He was more worried about the Wanderer. She was a custom built ship and couldn't be replaced, not for him anyway.

He barely noticed the lizard sitting on his lap, and Sev was unceremoniously dumped off when Richard stood up due to the sudden appearance of a Starfleet Commander at the door. "Excuse me, Mr. Jibb, Healer T'Val. We have just confirmed your identities. My apologies for the misunderstanding." The commander deactivated the force field and stood aside to allow them to step out of the tiny room. Richard and T'Val left quickly.

Richard was happy to be out of the room, and even more anxious to find out what was going on. "Thanks Commander. I would like to go to the bridge to find out the status of the pirate ship."

The commander nodded and the four of them left, bound for the bridge.

[Magellan Lin]

Magellan sat hunched over his desk. It was unusual for him to get this worked up of crises, but this was something different. As he knocked back the last of his drink he noticed movement out in Ops, Ambassadors Tedak and Laika had arrived. Kez and Paul were avoiding them and concentrating on getting the feedback on what was happening.
It suddenly struck Magellan that it wasnt appropriate allowing ambassadorial staff in to ops at will, here was a sensitive case that could only be made worse by their presence. He made a mental note to review the protocols. He pressed a button and spoke.
"Commander F'Rrass please show the Ambassadors in"
The regulan complied and the doors opened admitting the two diplomats.
"Tedak, Miss Jatira How can I help you. Not a problem in the negotiations so soon I hope?" he greeted forcing a smile to his lips.
Tedak looked at Jatira.

<Jatira>

"What gave you that idea?"

<Tedak>

Magellan looked uncomfortable and Tedak sensed something was indeed up and pressed further.

<Tedak>

Magellan got up fixed himself another drink downed it in one and then turned to face Tedak.
"It seems that I must break some bad news to you Ambassador. I was hoping to wait until I had a fuller story. Just under half an hour ago we received a distress call from the Wanderer."
"Jibbs ship?"
"Yes. It was under attack by pirates. We scrambled assistance. When we arrived there was no sign of the Wanderer, knowing Jibb it was assumed he had evaded them by going atmospheric or something, so the Shial'ria went in weapons hot."
"Isnt that a vulcan ship?" Jatira commented
"Yes Captain Solans. The lead ship was destroyed but unfortunatly we detected the Wanderer in teh debris."
"Then the Wanderer was in the Pirate ship" Jatira asked
"So it seems." Magellan seemed to shuffle, "Ermm Ambassador - were you aware that T'Val was with Jibb?"

<Tedak>

"No. We re not sure. We are currently looking for life pods. We are sparing no ships. We will find them, and there was no guarantee they were aboard that ship."

<Tag all>

[dillon]

The irish commanding officer had called for the prisoners to be brought up to the bridge. No doubt they thought that they were being released, and he had no reason to stop them thinking this. He smiled to himself, and glanced over at the large casket in the corner. It's mere presence was making the whole room much colder, but it was worth it, if only to see the look of horror on the faces of the two federation citizens when they realised what was going to happen.

They stepped onto the bridge along with Dillon's first officer, a man that he had met up with a few years ago when he had served with the Maquis. They had formed such a bond of trust between them that he had got the man instated as his number two on the Avenger. T'Val walked straight towards him, and was about to talk to the irishman, but he sidestepped her, intrigued on the courier's reaction.

He was standing open-mouthed looking at the freezer-like object in the corner. He turned to Dillon.

"That is banned under so many laws that simply having it on this ship could give this whole crew more time in prison than you'll live for."

"Aye, ya be righ' t'ere. It would indeed. T' only t'ing I can t'ink of t'at would increase it is if I were t' put her in t'ere." He said, pointing at T'Val, upon which his guards seized her, and one shot and paralysed the firelizard, allowing them to put it in there too. Once they were both inside he activated the power, and then turned back to Jibb.

He was rooted to the spot, amazed at what was happening.

"But this is a federation ship, and a damn good one at that. You can't have stolen it."

"No, t'ey gave me one of ma very own." He said with a wide smile.

"She had a link wit' her husband, so's they mighta still known yous bot' was alive. Now, he'll t'ink she's dead."

[Deleted]

"What gave you that idea?"

Tedak gave Magellan an apolligetic smile as he indicated the brown on his shoulder. "My little friend here picked up on your emotions, admiral."

Magellan looked uncomfortable and Tedak sensed something was indeed up and pressed further.

"What is going on admiral. Three admirals, huddled together in OPS, you striding away high on emotion a few minutes ago. Something must be going on."

<snip> "Ermm Ambassador - were you aware that T'Val was with Jibb?"

The Romulan diplomat nodded solemnly. "I am most aware admiral," he said softly, "my two firelizards are in constant contact with one another. Nut just told me that she is well, and he senses no stress from his hatch-mate." He frowned a second later. "Why? Do you suspect they are in trouble? Has the ship been recovered?"

"No. We re not sure. We are currently looking for life pods. We are sparing no ships. We will find them, and there was no guarantee they were aboard that ship."

Suddenly Nut rose on his haunches keening loudly. He squeeked his terror, his eyes picking up speed as they quickly turned a whirling bright yellow. Tedak paled visible, and threatened to collapse, had Magellan's strong arms not caught him. "She....," he managed, his eyes filling with tears, "I...." He faltered, looking up at his companions in dispair. "The bond....it...it's gone," he whispered, then collapsed. In the air, Nut continued keening piteously, as he took note of his hatch-mates 'passing'. Elsewhere in the room, Saarok's duo echoed the keening.


~~ avenger ~~

T'Val stood stunned as she gazed at the coffin-like, standing up device. She barely heard Dillon's voice, and only noticed something was extremely wrong when Sev suddenly screamed as two guards seized her and gave her a firm shove. Unprepared for such treatment, it sent her spinning into the 'coffin', upon which one guard secured her into it, while anoter stunned Sev and placed the bronze on her shoulder.

Too horrified to move, she saw the lid close before her, and through the glass she noticed Jibb's horrified expression. Intense cold flooded the compartiment, and soon her bodily functions had lowered to the absolute minimum, as the freezing cold brought them to a near stand-still, freezing her body in place.

[Deleted]

"Tedak, Miss Jatira How can I help you. Not a problem in the negotiations so soon I hope?" he greeted forcing a smile to his lips. Tedak looked at Jatira.

She too noticed his obvious discomfort and became a little more uneasy. "Admiral, we've been noticing strange behavior among the Starfleet officers and so have some of the Tekarian delegates. If I didn't know any better, I'd say that something was wrong."

"What gave you that idea?"

Tedak nodded in agreement and explained his reasons for his concern. Finally Magellan had to tell them what had happened to the Wanderer and that T'Val was onboard.

Jatira was somewhat taken back by this, knowing who she was. Tedak didn't seem very concerned and seemed quite confident that she was alright. However, his firelizard began behaving in a manner that she had never witnessed. She had heard that they were bonded with their mates and could sense each other. Was this one distressed because they other was also?

Suddenly Tedak gasped in shock and collapsed, saying something about how the bond was gone. Jatira quickly grabbed his arm and helped to lower him to the floor with Magellan's help. Nut kept crying aloud in distress and Tedak had tears streaming down his face. Jatira looked over at Magellan inquiring what she should do.

"Do we need to call for a medical team, sir?" she asked, kneeling down next to Tedak.

[Deleted]

The brown firelizard continued his piteous cries, burrowing his head in Tedak's robes, alternating it with flying to Jatira and Magellan. The colour of his eyes alternated between bright yellow and red, whirling to denote his personal distress. He batted his wings as he tried to keep eye contact with Magellan, picturing it's distress to the admiral.

Tedak lay writhing on the deck in agony, oblivious to the soothing attempts from Jatira, and the distress of his firelizard. All he felt was the loss of his bondmate, the place in his mind that first had contained an echo of his bondmate's mind now an empty void. He continuously cried out T'Vals name.

In their quarters, the nanny caring for D'Beren was having a fit. The infant had started crying, keening the moment that he too, felt the passing of his adoptive mother. Picking up the wailing infant, nanny McFaye ran out of the quarters, towards the conference room. Once there, she found that the ambassador had gone to OPS, and thus continued her way to that location. She let out a gasp of shock as she saw her 'boss' lying down on the deck, a group of people gathered around him.

"Let me pass," she demanded, elbowing her way through, while carefully holding the infant. The instant she reached the ambassador, she placed the infant on his chest, hoping it would help them both calm down. D'Beren indeed calmed somewhat, his tiny body still racked with sobs, but he was no longer wailing. Tedak, however was inconsolable.

"We need a Vulcan," McFaye announced, remembering a little of Vulcan marriage and mourning rituals, "where is Ambassador Saarok? Perhaps he can offer assistance." She gazed at the officers and the female diplomat that were standing around them.

[Deleted]

Richard's mind was working quickly. He was looking at a piece of technology that he had only heard rumours about. A Cryonic Neural Inhibitor. A device specifically designed to neutralize species with advanced mental abilities, like the Vulcans, Betazoids or Ullians. Richard had heard that a Ferengi scientist had come up with the concept, and sold it to the Romulans. But he had never seen one in actual use. He also knew that if T'Val stayed in there long enough, she would lose her mental abilities forever.

He looked at Dillon and said, "I know what that thing does and putting T'Val in there serves little purpose. If you think that it will make me do anything, you can forget it! I'm not overly fond of that woman anyway!"

"Ah, how grea'ly se'f centred ye are, Jibb My aim be on Assailant. Ye hae'nt changed sin' ye were on Daran 4." Dillon laughed at Jibb's puzzled expression. "I heerd abou' ye. Ye were fixin shuttles back t'en. You was workin' fer us wi'out even knowin' it!" The rest of the bridge crew broke into laughter along with Dillon and Richard knew his checkered past was coming back to haunt him, again. "I also heerd abou' how cle'er ye are. T'at won' work for ye here ei'her."

Richard had been thinking about ways to get out of this mess, and he was even shorter on options than he had been aboard Robert's Diamond. He had checked, and his remote for the Wanderer was gone again, and there was no way he could get at the last one. Sev had been frozen with T'Val. There was only one thing that could help him now, and that was on the Wanderer. If he could figure out some way to get in contact.

[Magellan Lin]

Assured that Tedak was being looked after Magellan stepped out into ops.
Paul and Kez looked up.
"Has anything changed?" Magellan asked
"Not so far." Paul replied "Tomlinson is still apprehending the last of the ships. Why whats wrong?"
"Tedaks collapsed. He said something about losing his bond."
"Then T'Val is dead" Keztrek responded coolly
"We don't know that. Just that the bond is severed. Any sign of the Wanderer at all."
As if on cue the comm chirped and Tomlinson appeared on screen.
"Sir's We have destroyed or apprehended almost all the pirate craft."
"Any sign of the Wanderer?"
"Actually yes sir. Its why I m calling, its adrift in an irregular orbit, its damaged, thats probably the debris we picked up and assumed it was destroyed."
"Anyone..."
"No there no lifesigns, and I ve done a scan but it wouldnt..."
"Pick up any dead bodies" Magellan finished icily.
"Err well no."
"Then dock and investigate. Assailant Out"

"I get the feeling we are missing something here" Keztrek noted "Something elemental"
Magellan huffed "Elemental or not we seem to be in the dark here. Perhaps you and Paul could put the hard word on our suspects on board."
"Actually you might have something there Kez" Paul noted, remember what I said when the net first went down."
"About us being blind and a whole fleet of cloaked ships being out there. But that is inaccurate an entire fleet would create a resonant inverse polarity wave and we've run tachyon scans"
"Yes yes the whole fleet thing was an exageration, but what about one ship. The stations sensor net is not sensitive enough to make anything discernable"
"You think theres something out there."
"Well its a possibility if we do not find TVal and Jibb on the wanderer or ... in the debris."
Magellan paced Ops.
"Jatira, could your scientific team help? Could they help us reconfigure or sensor network?"

[Deleted]

"Ta'e 'im back to 'is cell" Dillon ordered. The security detail that had escorted him up to the bridge grabbed Richard by his upper arms and hustled him off the bridge, back to the brig and dumped him inside.

Richard picked himself up off the floor and sat back down on the bed. He had seen more than enough detention cells in the past day to last him for several years, but he couldn't think of a way to get out. These Defiant class vessels were very short on excess controls, and there didn't appear to be anything in the cell that could help him that wasn't gamma welded closed. Looking out the door, there was one member of the crew keeping an eye on him. He was a human, and seemed to be watching carefully. The last thing he needed was an alert jailer. The door provided full view of the cell. Richard lay down on the bed. There was nothing to do but wait and think.

After a few minutes, quiet noises from outside the cell brought Richard out of his reverie. His guard was moving around the small security area in a business-like fashion, but Richard couldn't figure out what he was up to. The man walked over to the door and fiddled with the controls for a second, then walked back to his desk, pulled a small device out of his pocket that Richard couldn't see and placed it in an open drawer, then started to walk towards Richard's cell. He quickly stood up and prepared himself, in case Dillon had given some new orders regardging his treatment. The guard stopped at the door and said "You're Richard Jibb?"

"Yes" he replied. There was no point in concealing himself.

"My name is Palan Sonev, Starfleet Intelligence." Richard's eyes widened at that admission. The man continued. "Sorry to reveal myself this way, but neither of us has very much time. I'm pretty sure that Dillon knows he has an infiltrator aboard, but isn't sure who it is. I have information that I have to get to SI, and this looks to be my last chance to get off the ship. And I think that he is planning on killing you, once you've served whatever purpose that he has in mind for you. Do you have any way of getting off this ship?"

Richard absorbed the information Sonev gave him as quickly as he could, and he mentioned the one question that popped into his head. "Why should I trust you? This could be some kind of game that Dillon is trying to run on me."

"No reason" Sonev replied. Then he reached up and deactivated the force field covering the door. When Richard stepped out, Sonev gave him a hand phaser and tricorder. Richard checked them both quickly. They both seemed to be in good working order. Sonev looked at Richard, hands empty and repeated a phrase he had said earlier. "Do you have any way to get off this ship?"

Richard stared back at Sonev and made his decision. "Yes," he replied "if you can get me a communicator. And we have to get T'Val as well."

[Deleted]

Sev woke from the stun blast slowly. The freezing cold of the cryonic neural inhibitor had no effect to him, as the between that he passed through when teleporting himself from one place to another was just about as cold. He nuzzled the woman that stood upright and motionless, but she did not respond. His eyes picked up speed and turned bright yellow. Without making a sound, he launched himself from her shoulder, and winked out.


The little bronze re-appeared under the seat of Jibb's cell, and chirped quietly, hoping the man heard. He was a ware of the man's dislike of him, and the woman, but right now, Jibb was all he had, short of abandoning the woman and going back to his friend Tedak.

He chirped again, drawing the man's attention to him again, after the man he was speaking to had left for a moment. The little bronze didn't know who he could trust, but he knew the woman did trust Jibb despite his apparant distrust of her.

[Felix Savali]

Off: Sorry for my absence everyone but its been pretty hectic lately and ive had computer trouble but im back now, so you havent seen the last of me yet Anyway to the story now


After Saarok noticed that Tedak and Jatira went of somwhere he excused himself from the party and went over to one of his guards to try to determine what is happening.

"Well?", he asked

"There have been to many messages going around during the last 10 minutes, apparently Richard Jibbs ship was captured by a pirate, and someone disabled Assailants security grid so that cloaked ships could sneak by. And it seems that there is a possibilty that Jibb and T'Val have been killed.", the man finished

"Ok, contact the USS Dark Cloud, they should be near by tell them to proceed to SB Assailant and use the Qualinost atmosphere to use the phase cloaking device and hide within Qualinost", Saarok finished

"Yes sir, i will proceed right away and inform you of their ETA."

=/\=McFaye to ambassador Saarok, ambassador Tedak is in a state of shock come up to OPS right away=/\=

Once he recived the message Saarok and his remaing guard hurried through the crowd who was observing the hive of active ships flying around Assailant to the nearest lift in order to reach the OPS level.

Once they entered the lift Saarok ordered it to go to OPS. After a few minutes they lift came to a stop and they existed and proceeded throught the busy ops level towards Magellans office. Before they entered Saarok turned to his guard:

"Go to my office and begin reviewing sensor data", he looked around and found a pad which contained some unimportant info, erased it and entered a security code and aproval complete with the authorization code which would grant, should someone from the security pop by, them some peace, as it declared all data located in the ambassadors quarters classified and only viewable by the permission of the ambassador himself.

"Take this, should someone bother you, if youfind any trace, no matter how small it might be of a ship sneaking away from the site where the Wandered was destroyed, inform me immediatly.", he finished

After the guard went away, Saarok entered Magellan's office and founf a crowd of people assembled around Tedak who looked catatonic, but Saarok hoped that he could reach him, because he was a dear friend and loosing him would be a great loss for both the federation Romulan diplomacy and for him.

After Jatira and the rest of the people around Tedak told him what he already knew more or less he told them to give him some room, then he proceeded to excise a mind meld with his friend.

"Your mind to my mind, your thoughts to my thoughts...", he began

Tedaks mind felt like it was completly shut down, it took Saarok a while to be able to enter it not to mention establish a link betwen them.

"I know you can hear me my friend, we are once again in a situation like we were in once more, the absense of the link does not mean your wife is dead, remember what happened last time when you lost the link, it was merely being blocked, and there is no undisputable proof that she is dead, everything is an asumption. Listen to my thought hear what i know he said as he let the knowledge of what he learned during his way up. And you have a child that needs you, you need to come out of it, and belive that she is still alive as it is only logical to do so untill we find undisputable eveidence, scientific proof that she is not among the living."; he finished

Once he was finished he felt a surge of power runing through Tedaks mind, and he broke the meld.

"I am gald to see you are still among us ambassador", he said offering a hand to help him up

<Tedak>

Meanwhile Saarok recived a message through his implanted reciver that the ship will be on the desired location within the hour. Good he thought, as he turned to his friend.

"I trust you are feeling well enough now?", Saarok asked

<Tedak>

"You probably wont agree to stay here and rest and do nothing while admiral Magellan is looking for your wife?", he asked

<Tedak>

[dillon]

Dillon was sat in the tiny anteroom next to the bridge. Although designed as a war room, he used it as a ready room most of the time, only convening with other people when necessary. He was reading through the most recent report he had received from his superiors. Apparantly Starbase Assailant was looking for him, something about their anti-cloaking technology. Admiral Nechayev actually seemed quite worried by it all, which confused Dillon slightly. She had always been such a calm woman. And besides, the people who had designed the anti-cloaking technology on assailant were the same people who had designed his... anti-anti-cloaking technology. His cloak couldn't even be picked up by Assailant.

If only it wasn't for Tomlinson. He was slipping, people were starting to notice what he was doing. Dillon had considered killing him, but... he was family, in fact, Dillon's only family, and it didn't do to go around killing family. The irishman kept reading, Jibb and T'Val had been reported dead, that was good, although it would mean any access codes they had would be nullified, not that he needed them. Admiral Nechayev gave him clearance higher than most admirals, including all of those currently on Assailant, although the CJ's got close.

The door slid open and his first officer walked in with a frown on his face.

"The prisoner has gone, as has Sonev."

Dillon looked up, irritated. The report on his desk included some information about Sonev he hadn't like, and the guy had been about to meet with the wrong end of a dangerous weapon. Now it appeared he had proven the need for that treatment. Ah well, looked like they'd have a fun hunt around the ship first.

[Deleted]

Once he was finished he felt a surge of power runing through Tedaks mind, and he broke the meld.

"I am glad to see you are still among us ambassador", he said offering a hand to help him up.

"What...." Tedak started, feeling extremely weak. He shook his head and threatened to fall over again. Only Saarok's support held him on his feet. On his other side stood nanny McFaye, holding his son. Then he remembered, and gazed at his friend questioningly. "She may still live?" he asked, "I am not getting any readings from her. Last time there was at least some echo, after you had revived me."

Nut came flying to his shoulder, crooning anxiously rubbing his head against Tedak's cheek in affection. Tedak stroked his head absentmindedly, as his mind reeled fromt he images he received from his brown firelizard. "Sev escaped," he announced suddenly, "Nut is getting images from him. He says that...." He shook his head. "I don't understand what he is trying to tell me. Via Sev he shows me images of my wife, looking as if she is asleep, but no lifesigns are forthcoming...."

Meanwhile Saarok received a message through his implanted receiver that the ship will be on the desired location within the hour. Good he thought, as he turned to his friend.

"I trust you are feeling well enough now?", Saarok asked.

Tedak nodded curtly, holding out his arms to his son, as the infant reached for him. McFaye thought the child instantly was more lively and seemed far more contend than before. The boy buried his face against Tedak's shoulder, gugling happily as he clung to the man.

"You probably wont agree to stay here and rest and do nothing while admiral Magellan is looking for your wife?", he asked.

"I would very much like to join the search Saarok," he announced, "but I have other duties. I trust Magellan completely, even if his trust in me is lacking." He smiled wryly as he hugged his son close. "I have a child to care for. Even if T'Val has not survived, I have to make D'Beren my priority." He rested a hand on Saarok's shoulder. "I know friends of yours are looking for her and Ambassador Jibb also," he said softly, his eyes pleading, "bring her back Saarok, promise me you'll bring her back."

[Deleted]

Richard was still verifying whether or not the weapon and tricorder that Sonev gave him actually worked when he heard a familiar, quiet chirp from inside his former cell. He first glanced at Sonev, but the man didn't appear to have heard. Glancing over quickly, he saw T'Val's little lizard Sev sitting on the bed, looking at him questioningly. Richard looked away, not wanting to acknowledge the presence of the creature.

Hesitantly, he tried to use his mind to tell Sev to hide, but the lizard obviously didn't want to. An image of T'Val forced it's way into his mind, so strongly that Richard nearly tripped. Sonev looked over at him curiously and said "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine" Jibb answered. Mentally, he repeated an order for Sev to hide, and then sent an image of Richard opening the door to the device that T'Val was being held in. Reluctantly, Sev agreed, much to Richard's relief. He mentally upped their chances to get out of this mess, but didn't tell the supposed SI agent. The courier still had no guarantee that the man was actually what he said he was, and if he wasn't, Sev could be a significant ace in the hole.

Sonev looked over and said "Are you ready yet? They probably know that we're missing by now."

"I'm ready. Let's go" Richard declared. The two of them cautiously stepped out of the security area, where they could hear a crew member coming down the hall. They quickly went in the opposite direction.

"So, what's your plan?" Sonev asked as they proceeded cautiously down the companionway.

"I have a ship in the area, I should be able to arrange to beam us off, if you can get me a communicator" Richard explained.

Sonev looked at him incredulously. "That's your plan? You have no idea what you're doing! Dillon has a dispersion field running inside the hull of this ship. Nothing can be beamed off."

Richard's heart sank a little. "What about beaming off from here?"

Sonev shook his head. "The transporter has been limited to a range of 10 kilometers, so that he can beam from ship to ship. Changes are allowed by Dillon only, and it's not like we can ask."

Sonev had led them into a Jeffries tube and eventually to a small alclove. He opened a small hatch, that had several small electronic devices hidden inside.

An idea formed in Richard's head, but he didn't want to reveal it to Sonev just yet. Even if the man was who he said he was, Richard thought he wouldn't like his new plan very much. "Can you get access to the transporters?" he asked Sonev.

The operative looked at him in anger. "Aren't you listening? We can't beam more than 10 kilometers! I should have known better than reveal myself to you" he said bitterly.

Richard had been through a lot today and finally lost his patience. "Listen, if you want to get off this ship, answer my questions. I don't have time for your whining! Do you have access to the transporters, or any other ship systems that can help us?"

Sonev absorbed that and said "Yes, I can access the transporters. They aren't well protected as you can't go very far. I have programmed the internal sensors to ignore the two of us, but that won't last much longer once they start looking for us. That's pretty much it. Dillon has everything locked down with access codes."

"Great" Richard growled. Seeing a communicator in Sonev's little stockpile of equipment, he picked it up, popped off the maintenance plate and started fiddling with the settings.

[Deleted]

KezTrek, Drew and Lin all looked up at Jatira hopefully, if they could at least get the grid back online then they would be able to get somewhere, even if it was only to discover nothing was there. Although a number of starship’s were in the area, none had sensors anywhere near as powerful as Assailants and certainly none capable of finding cloaked ships.

“I will have to review the data,” Jatira answered, “but we should be able to help.”

“Excellent!” Magellan said, hope returning to his voice, “Admiral Drew will arrange the access for you.”

As Jatira and Magellan continued talking, Drew accessed the primary databanks, and granted enough access to Jatira to allow her team to work, as he worked, KezTrek came up behind him.

“I still don’t trust Tomlinson,” she whispered in Drew’s ear, “Without our sensor grid, he could have done anything out there.”

“Kez, he wears one of our uniforms!” Drew protested.

“He also has all the opportunity to do this, and is the only senior member missing from the Base.”

Drew looked up at his trusted friend, and buried the feeling of anger he had, when he spoke his voice was clam.

“And what about motive? Why would Tomlinson betray us?”

“Now, now Paul,” KezTrek said in a mocking voice, “That’s why we have an investigation”

Drew shook his head, not able to believe how easily KezTrek was accepting the situation, talking about the Head of Security betraying the base like it was a common occurrence. He watched as Tedak and Saarok walked out of Magellan’s office and joined the discussion Magellan and Jatira were having. He didn’t envy how Tedak must be feeling at this moment, there was nothing worse than fearing the loss of a loved one.

“Lieutenant Tomlinson’s shuttle has docked,” F’Rrass called from his station, “Shall I inform Security to let him through the blockade?”

Drew was about to say yes, when he remembered KezTrek’s warning, if Tomlinson was somehow involved in this, he would likely hide any evidence as soon as he got back to base, something Drew couldn’t allow to happen.

“No,” Drew answered, before Magellan could, “Tell Lt. Tomlinson that Admiral KezTrek and myself will meet him at the airlock, he is not to board the station until we are there.”

“Aye Admiral,” F’Rrass replied, relaying the command’s to security forces as Drew and KezTrek entered the turbolift, leaving Magellan to solve the base’s problems for the time being.

“Time to go fishing,” KezTrek remarked as the turbolift doors closed behind and started its fall to where their prime suspect could be.

“Indeed,” Drew answer grimly, “I just hope we don’t catch anything too big.”

[Deleted]

T'Val was cold, extremely cold. Her mind was reeling, and to her she felt as if her thoughts were coming extremely slowly. It was as if she existed in her mind only, without control over her body. She didn't feel anything, all her senses had gone numb. Then she panicked, the sense of her bond was gone also.

~Tedak!~ her mind cried, frantically. She knew Sev was about, but she caught no images from him either. If she could sob, she would have done so. Her mind went over the situations that had happened lately.

The Romulan ambassador, Tedak, had been brought into sickbay, injured. The Cardassian ambassador, Havoc, had been accused of the murder attempt, but T'Val would not hear of it. She had known the two men were close friends, despite their species. She had healed the Romulan, and had proven that the Cardassian had been innocent. She had met up with Tedak several times, and allowed him to court her. After several meetings, they decided to get married

~I am glad we did not waste time there~ she thought.

T'Val was infected with the vampire virus, and though the feeling shamed her, she felt attracted to admiral Magellan Lin. She had made it her personal business to see to it that he was content at all times. She had even offered herself when there was no 'food' available. To her shame, she had also kissed him. Richard Jibb had been forbidden to them, and she had plagued the man in the form of a feline.

~so that is why he distrusts me~ she thought sadly. ~I wish I could make that up to him, we have wronged him greatly~

A baby was found on Qualinost, his parents killed only moments before by a trigger happy ambassador. Harmless and vulnerable, the baby would die if he would not be cared for. T'Val and Tedak had taken it upon themselves to care for the boy, whom she had named D'Beren, after his heritage: Debrune. The Debrune counsil had wanted to take the child from her, which had driven her to desperate actions. In the end, she was appointed surrogate mother.

~my son~ T'Val thought, letting out a mental sob ~I so wish for a child of my own. D'Beren is my son, even if he is not of my blood~

She was still extremely cold, and she knew that her skin would be an awful shade to look at. ~vasocontraction~ she recited to herself ~skin on a human will turn blue, on a Vulcan it will turn yellow.~ Thoughts came more slowly, as her brain was deprived from its valuable oxygen. At last, she didn't even have the strength to think anymore, as the intense cold penetrated her organs and slowed her blood stream even further.

[Felix Savali]

"I would very much like to join the search Saarok," he announced, "but I have other duties. I trust Magellan completely, even if his trust in me is lacking." He smiled wryly as he hugged his son close. "I have a child to care for. Even if T'Val has not survived, I have to make D'Beren my priority." He rested a hand on Saarok's shoulder. "I know friends of yours are looking for her and Ambassador Jibb also," he said softly, his eyes pleading, "bring her back Saarok, promise me you'll bring her back."

"I will do everything i can in order to assist in determinating what happened to her. You have my word.", Saarok said

<Tedak>

"However during this search, we will still need to hold negotiations with the Debrune and the Tekarans(hope thats the name of the race). I will requier your assistance on the matter as it would be logical for you to preocupy yourself with something to try and fill the emptiness you now feel.", he finished

<Tedak>

"Now i need to speak with the admiral", Saarok said as he made way towards the place where the admiral was standing

"Admiral, i hope i am not interupting anything", he asked

<Magellan>"You are but on the scale of things it hardly matters" Magellan replied tersely

"I know that you would like more if i would not interfeer in the crisis you have on your hands but i consider a situation where a diplomatic courier is missing a matter in which as the senior federation diplomat on the station i would need to interfeer in.", he began

<Magellan>"That is of course your perogative"

"Now i understand that some odd things have occured here prior to the incident, someone has disabled to stations sensor grid, and it went unnoticed untill recently?", he said

<Magellan>"The matter is still under investigation but that is the gist of it. Our sensor net has been compromised. Its been shut down and we cannot get it back up. Aside from that that is supposed to be classified information"

"News travel fast around here", he said

<Magellan>"So it seems" Magellan with obvious annoyance.

"But now to go back on topic, and you still havent been able to bring it back on line?", he asked

<Magellan>"That is currently the problem. The sensor net actually works as in we scan to a distance of some hundred metres, we can also detect stellar events, basically very short range and very long range are both working, but in between seems to be the issue, and that covers most of the Qualinost System"

"I used to have some experience in code breaking so if you would like me to assist on the matter, all i would need are 2 of your engineers, and we will atempt to bring it back online, and i might be able to find out who it was that has done this, however if you would like your base staff to take care of it, which would not be logical at this point when a better option is offered.", he said

<Magellan>"Any assistance you can render will of course be most welcome. I m hoping Jatiras scientific team can sort it out, perhaps you can work with then once she brings them up"

[Deleted]

Richard continued to work on the communicator as Palan Sonev kept an eye on his tricorder, looking for any members of the crew of the Avenger that were heading their way. Sonev's device quietly beeped a warning and Richard looked up from his work. "What's going on?" he asked.

Sonev continued to work with his tricorder. "I programmed this to tell me when Dillon managed to figure out that I had compromised the internal sensors. They might be able to track us down soon. How's it going?"

"Slowly" Richard replied. "I'm trying to contact my ship. I take it that Dillon monitors all outgoing comm signals."

"Of course" Sonev stated.

Richard rolled his eyes. "Of course. There is heavy comm traffic in this system. I'm trying to find a passing carrier wave that I can use to piggyback this signal out of the Avenger. Someone on the bridge would have to be monitoring all local traffic to pick it up."

Palan narrowed his eyes. "That's pretty clever" he stated.

"Yes," Richard grunted "but only if it works. How much time do I have?"

"I'm not sure" Sonev replied. "I have isolated this area from the internal sensors by putting them on a continuous feedback loop. From the bridge, they will appear to be working fine, but will show nothing. The area would have to be physically checked to find us."

Richard nodded absently. He was getting close to having completed the modifications on the communicator. All he needed now was an errant subspace carrier. Suddenly, several lights on the communicator started to glow. Quickly, Jibb activated the device and said quietly "Jibb to Wanderer". The communicator did nothing except return static, underlain with a muted conversation from the subspace signal he was using. Richard shook his head and tried again. "Jibb to Wanderer. Acknowledge."

A second later, the communicator came to life. "Wanderer here. This is the doctor. Is that you, Richard?"

[Magellan Lin]

Things had moved on a pace since Drolem had been visited by Paral and NRek. The Orion and Nausicaan had really frightened him. He was in way over his head and he knew it. He sat in his office his head buried in his hands. All thoughts of his real job were on hold, very much the same he felt about his life. His secretary Miss Lamont was beginning to suspect something was up as was his cabinet, he had cancelled all his meetings and held all his calls.
His mind swam with possibilities and fears. There was no way out, he was between a rock… and well an even bigger rock.
It had all seemed so simple way back when. The life of Mayor was not a profitable one. He wasn’t especially talented at it, he wasn’t particularly talented at anything much really, except perhaps at hiding that vacuum of talent. It was why he had managed to become the lead administrator on an out of the way space station in the middle of nowhere, then suddenly out of nowhere the station had become the centre of a terraforming project and site of a re-emergent Debrune civilisation.

He had been approached several years back by a trader, well more of a pirate. The man, a human named Carlos ran a small smuggling business taking goods to and fro across the Klingon Border, he often ran into difficulties with the KDF and branched out into piracy, he needed a base of operations and Assailant was perfectly placed. He had approached Drolem and after offering him a cut of the profit persuaded him to help. As Mayor he set aside some remote warehouses for Carlos to use and that was it then, he’d been on the payroll ever since. He had been doing well out of it but then got greedy, he had been approached by Robert. He was an agent for ‘Peter’. Most of the pirates spoke about Peter and when they did so it was in awe. Few knew his real identity, some said he was ex-starfleet, others that he was a non-corporeal being and others still that like a ghost he could appear from anywhere.

And so Drolem found himself working for both Carlos and Peter, at the time he thought neither knew about his involvement with the other. Such foolish naivety. Peter knew all, but tolerated him because as Mayor he had access to shipping routes. The problem came when he became greedy and had started to give the same information to both sides. The pirates had often attacked the same transport at the same time and had to fight over the spoils, damaging both pirate rings. That all led him to here. Peter warning him to stop and Carlos doing the same and on top of all that Tomlinson was snooping around as well as Admiral Drew and that JAG officer. If they found out he’d be locked up for a very long time. It was then a solution struck him. A way to get rid of peter and the investigators.
He put in a call to a hacker he knew and set it all up.
He leaned back very pleased with his work. By transferring some of his funds into Admiral Drews account, it implicated the Admiral as the inside man and left a paper trail back to peter. Tomlinson and that JAG officer couldn’t miss it. They’d lock Drew up stop looking for leaks and in any luck pick up Peter, at the very least Peter would be scared off from the sector and he could go back to the simple life, dealing with just Carlos.

[Deleted]

"I will do everything i can in order to assist in determinating what happened to her. You have my word.", Saarok said

Tedak nodded in gratitude. "Thank you Saarok, that means very much to me."

"However during this search, we will still need to hold negotiations with the Debrune and the Tekarans(hope thats the name of the race). I will requier your assistance on the matter as it would be logical for you to preocupy yourself with something to try and fill the emptiness you now feel.", he finished

Tedak gave him a rueful smile. "Between caring for my son, and the negotiations, as well as keeping poor Nut occupied....I think I will be quite preoccupied." He gazed at his brown, and noted that the firelizard had regained some of his color. He also seemed calmer, and not because he himself was back on his feet. "Look at him," he pointed out, then grinned for a moment. "My bronze, he still lives." Realising this, he suddenly stared at his friend. "If Sev lives......" he let his voice trail off. Saarok gave a half smile, something he very rarely did, and his gaze was one resembling an 'I told you so'. Then Saarok walked off, leaving Tedak wondering about the situation.