SB ASSAILANT MISSION 2.1 Reflections

[Deleted]

"Someday, I will kill her for her insolence love," T'Val told Magellan as the Klingon woman walked away. "The ship in orbit registers as the USS Copenhagen. Soon I must return to Norat, but first I shall check the ship out. If they can assist us, I will make it appear that they crash on Qualinost, thus letting Norat believe that they were of danger to him. He will not like it, most likely punish me for it, but so be it. Anything for your safety."

She continued to massage his shoulders and peered at the golden firelizard that landed on his lap. Her own bronze sat nearby, preening his wings. "There are firelizards on that vessel," she suddenly said, and noticed that Magellan's queen had just informed him of the same. "That may be extremely useful." She kissed him lightly and smoothed the leather of her outfit. "I will not be too long. If you do not hear from me in three hours, there is going to be trouble from Norat's end."

She brushed two fingers past his temple in affection before walking off. A few years earlier, she had been promised to a Romulan, but the man had died in an unfortunate accident. Then she had met the Trill, and she had instead been promised to him. Then he had proven to be a rebel, and she was then assigned to Norat. But she had taken to love Magellan, and despise Norat, but she would continue to perform her act as long as necessary, for the safety of the rebels.

Her shuttle was still where she parked it, and soon she was on a trajectory towards the Copenhagen. "Unknown vessel, lower your shields and prepare to be boarded," she transmitted, audio only, "you are in violation of spaceal agreements, therefor your ship will be confiscated."

She wanted the ship to fire on her shuttle and take her in, she could not just request docking, for she knew Norat would be listening in. Targeting their deflector shield, she fired her disruptors at it at full intensity. "This was just a warning," she transmitted, "next targed will be life support systems."

[Deleted]

“Admiral, are you sure that is wise?” Tedak asked with concern, “We have no idea what we might encounter!”

“That’s the whole point of space exploration,” Drew answered with a smile.

“To risk ones life worthlessly?” Tedak replied, “I think Starfleet might disagree with that.”

“Maybe,” Drew laughed, “But Starfleet isn’t here.”

Suddenly the deck shook violently, causing Drew and Tedak to fall, Drew felt his arm break as he landed on it in an awkward position.

“What is happening?” Tedak asked, pulling himself back to his feet.

“We are under attack,” Drew said through gritted teeth as he tried to ignore the pain in his arm.

“You are injured,” Tedak noted, “You should report to sickbay.”

“Admiral Drew report to the bridge,” came Abren’s voice over the comm system.

“On my way,” Drew answered, and then looked at Tedak, “Bridge first, sickbay later.”

Up on the bridge, Drew saw a small ship on the viewscreen, heading directly for the Copenhagen; he relieved Abren from the centre seat and asked for a report.

“Lock a tractor beam on them, and drag them into the shuttle bay,” Drew said after Abren had finished, “Let’s get a security team and go and meet our new guest.”

[Deleted]

ooc: as promised I'll post in two places until this mission is over.....as here I post as alternate T'Val intead of the real one.

T'Val was pleased to find that they locked a tractorbeam on her shuttlecraft and pulled it into their hangarbay. Of course she would make it appear as if she were trying to break free from it, just to make Norat believe that she was being taken against her will.

Once her shuttle was safely placed in the hangarbay, T'Val exited her shuttle, only to be met by a security squad. She smiled as she noticed their eager glances on her body; her outfit quite accentuated every curve. "You will take me to your leader," she demanded, tucking her gloves between the belt of her outfit, as well as the rod she had been holding.

Instantly she was seized roughly on either side and practically dragged away. She shook them off and glared at them. "I can walk by myself thank you, this is no way to treat a woman." She cuffed the guard on her left soundly and he winced as her flat hand caught him right across his cheek. The others stared at her in surprise, this was not the general behaviour of a Vulcan. "Take me to your leader," she demanded again.

This time, the guards just nodded and didn't attempt to touch her again. One of them walked ahead of her and the two guards on her side and went to warn Drew of their 'guest' and her temper.

[Magellan Lin]

Magellan made another lap of the perimter. Everyday he ran around the defences, partially to keep fit and toned but partially to let the people see him. He knew that the key to control was charisma, and being seen to do the right thing regardless of whether you did or not, it was something Toran had been good at. That man could talk a fish out of the sea.
They were in a delicate position, assualted on all sides. If the Empire didnt get them the Alliance would. He had heard of the Bajoran Wormhole. A way to reach a region of space where neither lived. He would get his people there by hook or by crook.
If it meant seizing this new ship, killing every man on board then he would do it. He would keep his people safe. He had offered them freedom and they would get it.

[Deleted]

T'Val roughtly shoved the two guards aside, and strode forward onto the bridge then halted where she stood. She was surprised to see Drew sitting in the centre chair, his face contorted by pain. She was even more surprised to find her former fiancé alive and well. "Well well well," she said, her voice little more than a sneer, "look what the cat dragged in. It is that my master needs your assistance, otherwise I would deliver you to his brother.......to which I must return shortly with a report, however much I wish to return to the planet."

She strode forward and grabbed Drew's arm. Drew yelped in return as he felt the two halves of the broken bone grind past another. "Ah do not be such a baby human! It is a clean break." She jabbed a finger at one of the guards. "You, find me two splints and clean cloth."

Tedak stood gawking at the Vulcan woman, who resembled his bondmate. He knew instantly that this red-leather clad woman was very unlike his bondmate, more ruthless and less compassionate. Brown Nut chittered at her bronze, and even Saarok's queen seemed angry at the intrusion of the strange bronze.

T'Val turned to the romulan. "Tell yours to shut up, he may betray us to the firelizards on Norat's vessel, and the last thing you lot want is for Norat to find out." She turned back to Drew. "Now this is what I want you to do...." She started, as she deftly, but without tenderness and care, wrapped up his injured arm, "I must return to Norat. He believes I work for him, but I work for Magellan Lin. You must go to him and help him defeat Norat. You have deftly damaged my shuttle, which is well. You must injure me and then send me back into space, disabling my shuttle, otherwise Norat will not believe you to be evil. I will fire a last shot at your vessel, upon you must feign being disabled and go off course to Qualinost. Magellan will be waiting for you."

<Drew>

[Deleted]

“How about no?” Drew told T’Val’s counterpart bluntly, “Where I come from, my people have strict rules about non-interface in other cultures.”

Drew was surprised to see the rage that briefly flashed in T’Val’s eyes, clearly this woman was nothing like the one he knew, to the side of the command chair, Tedak was also watching T’vVal intently, perhaps wondering how like his bond mate she really was.

“Then Norat will destroy you,” T’Val answered ruthlessly.

“If I help his enemy he will also try to destroy me,” Drew pointed out, “We have scanned Norat’s ship, although it appears similar to our own, our ship does have the more advanced systems, Norat is no threat to us.”

“He has other ships Admiral, do not be so gullible to think he is alone, as you are.”

Drew eyed T’Val suspiciously; clearly this woman was a double agent of some kind, working for both Lin and Norat, in Drew’s own experience, double agents were only interested in their own well being, it was likely she would betray both her masters, for the right price.

“Tell me who Magellan Lin is,” Drew said calmly, deliberately not looking at T’Val, but instead looking at the viewscreen, better the Vulcan female didn’t know of Drew’s own associations with another Magellan Lin.

“Why should I tell you anything?” T’Val demanded.

“Because, unless you do, I wont help you, I’ll go to Norat myself, tell him all about your little scam.”

[Deleted]

Fear flashed across T'Val's face for a second, but long enough for Drew to notice. "No no, you must not," she said, her gaze flicking from Drew to Tedak, past everyone else on the bridge back to Drew. If he would inform Norat, everything would have been for nothing and all their planning would have been in vain. "Magellan supports neither the Empire nor the Alliance. Norat wants him dead because Magellan was chosen for the Lin symbiont. Magellan also leads the rebels against the Empire."

She looked at Drew nervously, praying he'd let her go to pursue her plan. Norat must be deceived and defeated. "I would trust Magellan with my life," she said, "and I work for him. Norat, however, believes that I work for him, which in return works well for Magellan. Norat trusts me, he thinks I am his woman...I belong with Magellan. You must do as I suggest, or we will all be dead. Once your ship lands on Qualinost, you will be safe." Her bronze chirped nervously; it was fortunate that Norat had never Impressed one of the useful creatures.

"You must," T'Val pressed, "he will destroy you if you do not follow my suggestion. You must make him think that I was captured, and that I escaped, and that I disabled your shuttle, causing it to 'crash', just before you nearly destroy mine."

[Deleted]

Drew studied T’Val carefully, the woman had obviously never played poker before, she had just revealed to Drew what a weak position she was in, and had now given Drew a chance to exploit that weakness. Although the Copenhagen was more than a match for Norat’s ship, Drew couldn’t take the chance that reinforcements could arrive, and avoiding a full on confrontation was always the best way, especially when they didn’t even know how to get home yet.

For now perhaps the best way to proceed was to do as T’Val requested, and land the ship down on the planet, there Drew’s people could go over the sensor logs in peace, and Drew could perhaps get some extra support for getting home.

“Very well Ms. T’Val,” Drew said, noticing the brief look of shock on T’Val’s face, she hadn’t given Drew her name, so now she was no doubt realising that just as she knew Drew and Tedak’s counterparts, they knew of her too.

“You will do as I say?” T’Val said.

“More or less,” Drew answered, “I will have my people simulate a massive systems failure, and ‘crash’ into the planet, from there, I will see where events take me.”

“You will help Magellan,” T’Val concluded.

“Admiral,” Tedak said forcefully, clearly upset at seeing his bond-mate, “I feel it is my duty to remind you of the prime directive.”

Drew looked up at Tedak, meaning he had to turn away from T’Val, he gave the Romulan Ambassador a wink, and turned back to face T’Val.

“Just carry out your end Ms. T’Val, and leave the rest to us,” Drew said, letting a hint of aggression come into his voice, “Now, in keeping with our new relationship, get the hell off my ship, Imperial Spy!”

[Deleted]

The bronze on the Vulcan's shoulder squawked in anger, as T'Val herself felt her anger rise again. How had they known who she was? Yet, she hadn't missed the Romulan's glances in her direction, was it possible that in the other universe, they had stayed together? " But..." she started, as the two guards grabbed her arms yet again, but Drew's harsh voice was unmistakable and relentless, but she wondered if he would really do as she had asked.

The guards near to literally threw her back into her shuttle, upon which she cold started the engines of the small vessel and set out into space. The rough handling of the guards had torn the valuable leather of her outfit, which rather please T'Val, as it would certainly upset Norat. She set course straight for the admiral's vessel, feeling the tremor of phaser fire rake across the hull of the small craft. Shields had been disabled, and now she was vulnerable to destruction.

For a moment, fear passed through her; would the human actually let her go, or would he destroy her? She sighed with relief as tractorbeams of Norat's vessel caught her shuttlecraft and pulled it in.

<Norat>

[Deleted]

Off: I'm back, sorta lol couldn’t stay away from you guys for too long and as soon as I found some time I’m back, well at least as Saarok since he was only on a LOA So I hope you don't mind be just jumping back in here lol I'll think of something for where did I disappear of to.

On:

-- Somewhere over the rainbow....lol --

Saarok slowly came back to the world of awareness. He was not certain how long he was absent for the real world but it seemed a lot especially with the, dream, a dream he had a dream which felt like it was much, much more than a dream. But now being awake again it would appear it was nothing more, or was it? He felt hollow in some way but he was not able to explain it yet, but he was hoping, he was hoping? Something must be so terribly wrong, Vulcans do not hope. He shook his head as he slowly rose from the ground.

He looked around the room, it was not a room more likely a cave of some sort, he noticed that the walls were painted with, what appeared to be works of early stone age drawings like those that could be found on Earth in the Lascaux caves in the continent of Europe. As he turned again he saw that his firelizards appeared out of nowhere.

Where have you two been, he thought but the creatures could not answer his thought as they, like him were not aware how they from the bridge of the Copenhagen managed to end up in this cave on who knows where. He looked at the ground which was covered by soft red sand,, and he was able to make out footprints of some 5 to 6 people, perhaps those who brought him here, they were leading towards the entrance/exit of the cave. Seeing he was not going to discover anything new inside he decided to head out.

--Somewhere over the rainbow - cave entrance--

As he exited the cave he saw that it was day time, but there was something awfully familiar about the planet he was on in the correlation with the sun and other ground markers but then again something awfully odd and peculiar. He began to walk away from the cave - direction unknown. Hoping he would encounter someone who would help him. There was that hope again, how could this be what happened to him that he began to hope all of a sudden.

Perhaps his mental blockade had degraded due to the events that took place over the last few weeks, beginning with his memory loss over the recent unexplained appearance inside of an unknown cave. He looked up at the sky and noticed something that appeared like a meteor descending from the sky, but it could have also been a ship he did not know it at that time so he decided to proceed towards its point of landing or crashing depending on what the object is, according to his estimate the object landed not more than about 9 miles from his location. As it would be illogical for him to make an error of more than 0.000087% he proceeded to the assumed crash site.

[Deleted]

--Somewhere over the rainbow - traveling to the crash site--

Saarok was, step by step, making way towards the assumed crash site. While he was walking he was considering the chances he had in making it out alive should he encounter a hostile beeing on his way to the designated location. And the odds were not so bad, as he had his firelizards to aid him. He knew time and distance he needs to pass, would seem shorter if he kept his mind occupied with a problem.

But one things he could not get was how did he end up on this planet, there was no logical solution or answer to it at least none was there at present. It all seemed like a logical loop......

--Somewhere over the rainbow - encounter with lt. Hanigan or not ?--

As Saarok was getting closer and closer to his goal the area surrounding him began to change, and he could notice some sort of bunkers or houses in the distance. Soon after, he approached something that appeared like a defense perimeter.

"Hold it right there", a man said. And two of his companions pulled out their weapons.

Saarok stood for a moment studying the mans face and after that he spoke,

"Lt. Hanigan, do you not recognize me?", he asked

"How do you know my name Vulcan, I have never seen you before in my life", Hanigan said

This is peculiar Saarok thought, how is it possible that he does not remember me? There is something odd transpiring here. After a few moments Saarok heard one of Hanigans companions speak in a low voice, trembling with fear.

"Eh, sir... um I .... I.....think I know who this Vulcan is."

"Well then out with it man"; Hanigan responded

"Saarok - Telar - Jitlava", the man answered swallowing

"You mean the assassin wanted both by the empire and the rebel forces?", Hanigan asked

The man nodded yes.

"Mr. Jitlava I presume", Hanigan spoke again

"Surrender or die", he said pointing his weapon at Saarok, his companions did the same

Seeing that at present he did not wish to fight them, Saarok willingly surrendered to the group. After another set of discussions they decided to take him to Magellan. Saarok was hoping that he would be able to shine some light on the peculiar events of the last few hours.

[Deleted]

On the bridge of the Copenhagen…

“Blue alert,” Drew ordered, taking his command chair, “Prepare for planetary landing.”

All around the bridge, the lights dimmed as if the ship was on red alert, except this time the blue alarm lights flashed, there was a hushed silence around the entire bridge, although it was now becoming more common for Starships to land, it was still a difficult thing to do.

“Captain,” Commander Abren said quietly, “The Copenhagen hasn’t been landed since the refit.”

“Time to test out the Engineering Corps then,” Drew said, waving aside Abren’s fears, “We have to land on that planet.”

Abren turned back to the tactical console, and shook his head in despair, there was just too many variables in the mission plan for his liking, and Drew just didn’t seem to care.

“Start simulating engine problems,” Drew continued to order from the centre seat, “Make it seem like we are in serious trouble, start flying erratic, and release some drive plasma.”

Minutes later, the Copenhagen was entering the atmosphere of Qualinost, appearing to the naked eye to be in serious distress, even if the ship was scanned, training programs were running that reported the ship was about to crash.

“Shall I start unlocking the landing gears?” the helm officer asked, matter-of-factly.

“Not yet,” Drew said, “Wait until the last possible second.”

“Admiral,” Abren said, speaking up again, “If we wait any longer, we won’t need to simulate a crash!”

“Trust me,” Drew answered, “Helm, wait for my mark.”

The bridge started to shake as the Copenhagen violently descended towards the planets surface, the helm officer’s expert hands could be seen flying across the panel, trying to keep the ship safe, while at the same time carrying on the pretence of danger.

“Unlock landing gear,” Drew finally ordered, when the ship was far enough away from Norat’s sensors that Drew was sure they couldn’t be traced. The entire bridge crew seemed to let out a sigh of relief as the Copenhagen gently touched down.

“Right, time for a little away mission,” Drew said, in what appeared to be a cheery voice, “Commander Abren, the ship is yours, I’ll be taking a small security team, Ambassador Tedak, I want you to accompany us, for all intents and purposes, this will be a first contact mission.”

“Admiral,” Abren said, this time not keeping the disagreement from his voice, “Regulations clearly state you are to remain on the ship.”

“Commander, if Captain’s can’t get me to stay sitting down, you don’t stand a chance,” Drew dismissed the officers concerns, “Everything will be fine, if not, then do everything you can to get the ship home.”

And before the First Officer could object again, Drew led his small team, including Tedak to the shuttle bay.

Soon the team were travelling along the surface in one of Starfleets new ground vehicles, heading for where sensor readings indicated the best location to find a base would be, suddenly alarms started to beep on the control board.

“What’s that?” Tedak asked, concerned.

“We have company,” the officer who was driving the vehicle, reported, “An air craft is approaching.”

“Try and find us some cover,” Drew ordered, looking up the skies, he could see what appeared to be a old Starfleet shuttle heading towards them at high speed.

“They are locking weapons!” the security guard exclaimed.

“Increas…” Drew never finished his order, as phaser fire impacted on the small vehicle, sending the entire team into darkness.

Sometime later…

A bright light shone in Drew’s eyes, forcing him to open his eyes, and then shield them. His throat was very dry, and his broken arm was again hurting.

“Where am I?” he managed to say.

“Where you were always meant to be,” an all too familiar voice answered, the hairs on Drew’s back stood on end as he recognised that voice, he tried to turn his head, but he found that he was unable to move.

“That really is pointless,” his captor said slowly, walking into Drew’s eye shoot, Drew looked into those familiar eyes and saw pure evil. And then the pain began, as that evil voice laughed out loud.

[Deleted]

The sound of anxious keening brought Tedak back to reality. He was lying on his stomach, covered by debris and his leg was caught between a beam and the deck. Carefully, he crawled from under the debris, trying not to cry out as his right leg would not support his weight.

When he slumped back down to the deck, he gazed into two sets of eyes that were frantically whirling a mix of red and yellow. "I'm fine, I'm fine," he assured his duo of firelizards, but they would not stop keening. "Quiet," Tedak told them, and on this command they fell quiet.

Looking around, his eye fell on a large pipe that had come falling down when the ship crashed. Oddly enough it had a dent in such way that it could be comfortably used as a walking cane. Clenching his teeth, he got to his feet and started limping away. "Admiral!" he yelled, then was sent sprawling as he tripped over something.

He twisted to look back and cried out in shock as he was staring in the nothing seeing eyes of Commander Abren. He crawled back to he man and gently closed his eyes. Then he got back to his feet. Besides him, and the dead commander, there was no-one left in the ship. "Admiral!" he yelled again, "Admiral Drew!"

At last, he limped over to the nearest compartiment in the wall - or what was left of them - and pulled out a phaser. "Useless," he muttered, as he tossed the badly damaged weapon away, then pulled his Honor Blade from the folds in his robes. With the pipe in one hand, and his weapon in the other, he exited the ship and went in search for Admiral Drew.

[Deleted]

-- Somewhere over the rainbow - brig? --

After a while Saarok found himself locked inside, something that appeared to be some sort of a holding station. The guards have brought him here and locked him inside while they went to fetch Magellan, who was, at least Saarok hopped, not acting strangely. There it was again he was hoping again. Seeing he did not have anything else to do while waiting for Magellan to arrive he sat on the floor and prepared to begin his meditation.

It has been a while since he meditated properly and it started to get to him, but hopefully he would be able to keep his emotions under control with some meditation. He closed his eyes and began concentrating on the events, past, present and future. He could sense his id was slowly taking over for the ego and superego but hopefully this was all he needed to get them back into balance.

Magellan was rattled too many things were happening too fast. From suddenly being under threat of destruction they were now in a lull. The Alliance and Empire were fighting themselves to a standstill and now a ship appears, a ship that could very well take them to their promised land.
K'Ehlryr came and informed him of an imposter in the region, the vulcan, a spy no doubt for the renewed Empire had been found out near the caves.
"I ll interrogate him myself"
Magellan strode from the simple command centre, "assemble everyone, we need to be ready to move the minute T Val has lured this ship down to land. I ll be back soon"

Magellan went directly down in to the depths of the hab dome to the converted cells.
He motioned for the guards to move aside and let him see the Vulcan.
The man seemed oddly dressed for one of the Empire but that meant little to Magellan, he wouldnt fall for any Empire tricks not like Toya had, and trills never forgot.
"Who are you"
The Vulcan seemed to snap out of a sort of trance, a far away look inhis eye.
"Oh Magellan" Saarok began to say and was then reminded by the mans attire that this was not the Magellan he knew.
"You know me Vulcan?" Magellan asked his voice dripping with scorn.
"Of sorts"
"Bah, What are you here for?"
"errm thats actually a long story"
"Shorten it"
"I m not sure that would be prudent"
Magellan grinned, it was not a reassuring sight,
"If you know me, you know who I ve been."
"I have heard of your previous host Toya yes."
"Toya, pah she was weak and the weak do not survive in the universe, Lin was surprised she lasted as long as she did. Give her her due she did manage to terraform this planet for our use. I was referring more to Loran. Former Security Officer on the Alliance Crusier K'Tok"
Saarok looked blankly
"I see, don't know me that well then do you. Lets just say Loran, she was... efficient at information extraction."
Saarok said nothing unsure which way to turn.
"Lets start easily, who do you work for - Alliance or Empire."
"I work for the Federation"
"Hmm the Federation, I unfamiliar with them, a new faction is all we need, I doubt it. Were you sent by Norat to steal my symbiont"
"I do not know any Norat"
Magellan grimaced,
"This is not very productive. Lets step thing up a little. Now if I was Loran I d have a range of drugs to fill you full of. As it is I just have this."
Magellan pulled out a romulan disruptor from his pocket,
"I picked up this little gem just after Romulus fell to the Klingons. Got quite a few settings, I always start on setting 3, gives you 4 trys before I get to the highest setting and disrupt all your cells. Now I m beginning to suspect you maybe from this new ship. Tell me where it is and how I can get aboard, how many crew are there?"
"It would be illogical to fire so many questions at me, I can hardly answer all of them at once"
Magellan bit his lip in annoyance,
"Please spare me, Logic went out before the last Empire. Now nice and simple. Where is your ship?"
"I dont know"
"Wrong answer, Where is your ship?"
"I really do not know"
"Fine, Play hard ball if you like just remember I m not as...welll I dont have the finesse of Loran."
With that Magellan levelled the disruptor and fired, a beam of green light lanced out and struck Saaroks knee.
Saarok grunted as the beam burnt through his trouser leg and seared in to the flesh. Green blood welled up to be instantly cauterised.
"Okay thats was 3, this is 4. Where is your ship?"
" I ll can't tell you what I do not know" Saarok replied calmly using his meditation to ease the pain
Magellan levelled the disruptor.
"Sir." A guards voice came
"What?"
"We think we ve detected a ship, it entered the atmosphere and landed north of here."
"Excellent. looks like I dont need you Vulcan."
With that Magellan swept out of the cell and back up to teh surface


-- Somewhere over the rainbow - firelizards to the rescue --

At some point a silent squeak brought him back to reality, Aeries and her companion were there, and they had somehow managed to open the door. He looked at her and immediately received images of how they managed to get the door open.

"When you are too sure of yourself, you start to make mistakes he said", as he made way out of he improvised holding bay

Accompanied by his two firelizards he made way out of the guards building and was astonished that there weren't any guards around. Perhaps they went of to investigate the crash site, which he could see in the distance. Well my friends let us proceed there ourselves. He thought as he and the firelizards proceeded towards something that appeared to be the debris of a transport vehicle.

-- Somewhere over the rainbow - crash? site --

After he came closer to the crash site he noticed it wasn't a crash site but an explosion site. He also noticed a group of people moving so he quickly took cover in some debris that could be found near by. As they passed him he noticed they were taking someone away but his face was covered and he could not make out who it was. After the distance between the group and him increased enough he got out of the rubble and wiped the dust of his tunic. Just then he noticed a familiar shape moving away from the site.

"Ambassador Tedak, is that you?", he called after him loud enough for Tedak to hear but not enough for the group that couldn't be seen anymore to hear him.

[Deleted]

"Saarok?" Tedak called back, trying to catch his balance as he was threatening to stumble over something yet again. He was surprised to hear a voice he hadn't thought of hearing anytime soon again, if ever.

He leaned heavily on his make-shift cane as he waited for the shadowy figure to come closer. "Saarok is that you?" he called again, his voice barely louder than a whisper. He looked up as he saw something golden and something blue flit by, then sweep down to hover in front of him. From his left, brown Nut gave a happy chirp, acknowledging the presence of Saarok's queen firelizard.

"What happened to you?" the Romulan enquired as his Vulcan friend approached, looking haggard and a little pale on the cheeks. "You look as if you've just been through hell and back."

He readily accepted the support Saarok quietly offered, and allowed himself to be helped into the dense forests of Qualinost. All the while, the Vulcan still hadn't said a word. "Saarok, do say something," Tedak requested, "what is going on? Have you seen Admiral Drew?"

[Magellan Lin]

Norat watched the approach of T Vals shuttle. It was scored with phaser blasts but otherwise seemed fine.
"Bring her to me when she boards" he snapped.

Moments later T Val appeared bruised and bloodied.
"Well" he asked
"Good news."
"Yeah?"
"Yes I have laid a trap, Lin will be available to you. You need to take the ship down in to the Tauril Canyon. He wont be expecting you to approach from there.
"I see." Norat grinned, "A trap. then"
"Yes. you land and approach in force up teh canyon to attack the domes weak rear."
"I see and what happened to you?" He pointed to the bruises
"Nothing I couldnt handle. I ran in to that otehr vessel, They shouldnt be a problem I escaped them with ease and planted a tracker. We can pick them up after you ve got Lin"
"Very well. Signal general quarters and begin the descent. You better be right my dear or those bruises will be the worst of your troubles."

[Deleted]

"Oh I have no doubt," T'Val said bravely, though she was trembling in fear. She knew that Norat would probably mistake that for desire, which was just as well. "Lin his numbers are small, many have deserted him for one faction or the other."

She grimaced as she looked up at him, while wiping the grease and blood from her face. "I just hope that those on the other ship, the one with these 'Federation' markings, will realise who they are up against." She straightened her leather outfit and pressed up her body against Norat's. "The mighty Norat," she whispered, then a worried look crossed her face. "I am gaining Magellan his trust," she confided, "he thinks that I have gone back to you so that you will not miss my service, because he thinks that I am working for him."

She dearly hoped she sounded convincing. Neither man knew of her true plans to unite the two brothers. She also knew that eventually she had to choose, she loved both men, even though she also feared Norat. "I have to go back now," she said, "but I shall await you in the canyon. I promise."

[Deleted]

-- Somewhere over the rainbow - forest --

After Saarok thought they were deep enough inside the forest he stopped and helped Tedak sit on a branch of a nearby tree which was just at the right height for someone to sit on it. A few more moments passed before Saarok spoke.

"A lot has transpired since I last saw you, and it still is not clear to me how I ended up on the planet, but I will try to explain what I can.", Saarok started

Tedak looked at him oddly after Saarok said that mixture of words, which lacked order that could usually be found in Saaroks speech but decided not to comment on it as he believed that recent events were the cause of it.

"A few hours ago I woke up in a cave here on Qualinost, not knowing how I ended up there as only a moment ago, at least a moment ago for my perception of time, I was on the bridge of the Copenhagen. It is still not clear to me how I ended up here but that is no relevant at this time.", Saarok continued

"You vanished from the Copenhagen without an explanation a fair amount of time ago", Tedak interrupted

Saarok looked at him then he resumed speaking

"After I got my pieces back together I made way out of the cave and I saw something that appeared to be a landing starship. So I went in the direction of its landing place. But while I was heading there I encountered a military checkpoint guarded by lt. Hanigan, or so I presumed. However the lt. did not recognize me and later when he did he said I was Saarok - Telar - Jitlava a wanted assassin, and they decided to take me to Adm. Magellan or so I presumed. Later when Magellan finally reached me he acted very odd and began interrogating me about the landing site of the Copenhagen, which I was not sure about and did not wish to reveal so he used me for testing out a Romulan disruptor", Saarok said pointing to a wound on his knee

"However he only fired one shot as soon after that one of his guards came by and said they found the landing site, and he said he did not need me anymore and left. Some time later I was freed by my pets", he said pointing to Aerie and her companion

"A bit later I arrived at the place where I encountered you. But a moment before I saw you I saw a group of guards taking someone from the debris and taking him to an unknown location. I do not know where Drew is or what happened to him", Saarok finished

"Now what about you. What happened?", Saarok asked

[Deleted]

Tedak shrugged. "Not much since you left, though something interesting did happen. Apparently the version of my wife is a spy in this universe. She claims to be working for Magellan, but also works for Norat, Magellan's brother. She said that Norat believes she works for him, but that she is actually spying on him for Magellan. A complicated story, but it was clearly a lie. Nut got that much from her bronze, even though the creature would not acknowledge him. Her bronze is a fierce creature, very unlike my Sev, but Nut knew that T'Val was lying."

He paused, fiddling with the pipe he used for a cane. "Then Drew, Commander Adren and myself took a shuttle down to this planet, but we got shot down unexpectantly. Adren was killed, Drew taken and apparently I was overseen, otherwise I have no doubt I'd be taken also. I have no idea where to go from here, I have no weapon or tricorder, and I have not the slightest idea where to start searching for Drew. Got any ideas?"

Then Nut came gliding down, chittering softly, his eyes whirling the red of danger. "Shht," Tedak warned, just as Aeris opened her mouth to respond to the little bronze. "We've got company."

[Deleted]

When Tedak informed him that someone was coming, Saarok was not happy the two of them were injured and could not accomplish much in a face to face combat. So they had two choices either hide or lure the person that was coming into a trap and with the help of their firelizards capture him and perhaps extract some info on the current situation from them.

"We can either hide or attempt to capture the person or persons that are coming this way or i could surrender and as they do not know about you could go and get help-", Saarok said

During the few seconds while he was waiting for an answer from Tedak he evaluated the surrounding area in an attempt to form a plan should they decide to hide or should they decide to capture the person coming down the path and checked it for an escape route for Tedak should he decide to go and get help and let Saarok to surrender.

[Magellan Lin]

Tedak and Saarok cowered below the ridge. They peeped over to get a view.
Below them a line of some 20 people walked, at their head was Magellan, he carried a disruptor rifle. beside him walked the klingon, K'Ehlyer.
"I still think this is a trap"
"In that case you die an honourable death" Magellan grinned grimly
"Bah, that p'tahk wouldnt know honour."
Magellan rounded on the Klingon
"T'Val saved my life. She is everything. If she says shes luring my brother down here, then thats what shes doing. Once I ve killed him, we can either take his ship or find this 'Federation' one."
"Bah"
"Enough" Magellan barked, "It was your guards that allowed the Vulcan to escape."
K'ehlyer looked dissatisfied but said nothing.
"Once we ve sorted Norat I ll let you go find these Federationers, happy? Now lets move we dont want to be late."

[Deleted]

T'Val carefully picked her way through the canyon, knowing exactly where she would find Magellan. Soon, Norat would be following her trail leading towards his brother and then she would try to unify them. She knew it would be risky, and that it would also be a long shot but she deemed it worth the risk. She loved both men, though one more than the other...one was her partner, the other was not.

She actually smiled as she saw Magellan approach, but scowled as K'Ehleyr trailed behind him. "Did you have to bring her?" she scowled, ready to reach for her distruptor should the Klingon woman make a move. "Norat is on his way. The human was very reluctant to assist us, but I believe I managed to convince him. Did he arrive in one piece? He had a broken arm, and there was a Romulan male with him."

She paused. "At any rate, Norat believes that I shall be leading you into a trap, so that he can kill you. He shall be here soon."

[Deleted]

Drew awoke finding himself in a large comfortable bed, to his side was a beautiful young woman, both of them naked, all around them were thrown away clothes, and broken pots. Quickly and quietly he found his missing uniform, and without further delay left the small house through the front door.

He was surprised to see there were no guards at all nearby, he wasn’t stopped once on his entire track through the forest, he reflected it was a rather good thing both Qualinosts were identical, made it much easier to find ones way around.

Coming out into a clearing, he spotted a large group of men and women, who seemed to be marching somewhere, he noticed with interest that it was his old friend Magellan Lin leading the troops, and that the traitorous T’Val running to greet him.

Hidden away above the troops Drew could make out what appeared to be two Vulcan’s in long colourful robes, keenly watching the movements below.

“Everyone together,” he smiled, then tapped his comm badge.

“Drew to Copenhagen, one to beam up.”

Movements later he found himself back on the Copenhagen, a Medical Officer who was waiting nearby, quickly ran over with a medical tricorder.

“Admiral, what happened out there?” Security Officer Brok asked.

“We ran into difficulties, I got separated from the others in the team, I am a bit hazy on the details, but I somehow ended up in a hut.”

“Why didn’t you beam up from the hut?” Brok asked.

“I wanted to get a feel of the place first,” Drew, answered, “I will be in my quarters if you need me.”

Finally alone in his quarters, Drew quickly accessed the computer systems, with a few quick keystrokes he set his plan into action.

Soon he reflected, all those who had wronged him would pay.

[Magellan Lin]

Magellan and his rebels reached the clearing first. Magellan gestured for them to fan out and take up positions. The perfect crossfire. Suddenly K’ehleyer appeared,
“They are coming, 15 armed Imperials, 10 humans two Vulcans, two Bajorans and Norat”
“Excellent” Magellan grinned, he could finally see the future appearing before him, Norat gone and his people on their way to a new home away from everyone. “Take your places everyone”
T’val walked boldly out into the clearing she was trembling. This was it. The apex of everything. Her two loves in one place, pretty soon only one would remain and she prayed it would be Magellan.
Norat and his men approached cautiously,
“T val” Norat greeted, “Is this the place?”
T Val could barely speak.
“Ye..ss” She stammered, “He is close.”
“VERY CLOSE” Magellan roared leaping to his feet. A volley of phaser fire shot from the tree line, several Imperials were felled instantly the others took cover. Norat to his credit was fast, he had dived forward knocking T Val down with him. He rolled sideways and pulled out his pistol. With two well aimed shots he took out two rebels and then dashed for the trees.
T’Val lay stunned second and then crawled for safety.
Phaser and disruptor fire whizzed about. Trees splintered in showers wood. Earth was kicked up in plumes of soil.
Norat could see a lost cause when he saw one and realised he was out gunned, he’d leave his men to hold them up and escape himself.
Magellan noticed his wayward brother disappearing back the way he came and leapt of in pursuit.

Out of the forest Norat relaxed a little, he wove around the boulders and slowed his pace, he could still hear the screams and phasers, until that went quiet he had time, time to reach his shuttle. Suddenly he was knocked to the ground his pistol scattering away. Fighting blindly he twisted and brought his knees up. He kicked out and sent his assailant spinning backwards. Quickly he regained his feet and found himself in front of his brother.
“You” He snarled
“Me. And now its time to end it.”
He lashed out with his right but it was blocked. He slipped his left hand down to grasp Magellan and flung him. Magellan rolled and was quickly back on his feet. They traded blows, one for one. Trained at the same academy at the same time, and having fought many times since childhood, each was the others equal. With in minutes both were bruised and cut.
“Just die” Norat wheezed
“After you” Magellan grinned, “You’ll be six feet under before I m going anywhere.”
“Bah” he swung and connected.
“Lin is mine. The commission chose me” He kicked and connected.
“They were wrong, I m the eldest”
Punch, block, kick
Magellan spat a broken tooth out and through the oozing blood growled,
“They choose the better candidate.”
“The weakest”
Roll, Block flick, retreat.
Locked in a deadly embrace they wrestled a moment before each broke free.
Magellan spotted his lost disruptor and dived.
Norat spotted his lost phaser and dived.
In unison they hit the floor, skidded, grasped, turned and…
Froze.
They faced each other weapons drawn, deadlocked.

[Magellan Lin]

T’Val picked herself up, bodies lay everywhere. There was still some fighting but she steered well clear. Frantically she checked around, looking for either Magellan or Norat. Finding neither she was unsure if she was relieved or not. Remembering she had seen Norat heading away she followed.
Leaving the forest she began to pick her way through the boulders that were strewn across the gentle slopes. In the distance she could hear the sounds of a scuffle and headed for it. Drawing her weapon she approached cautiously. She peered over the edge of a rock to see the Norat and Magellan facing off, weapons drawn. Her heart was in her mouth, it thumped louder than she thought possible. One shot now and Norat would be gone. She raised her weapon taking careful aim, she shifted her feet to gain a better… the rocks beneath her feet shifted and then rolled. Before she knew what was happening T Val was tumbling in a cloud of dust and scree, she slid to the floor at the bottom of the slope beside the two Trill.
“T Val” Magellan exclaimed in distress, he raced to her side, fearful she was injured, it was all the break Norat needed, the orange light licked out, a hiss changed to the wet sound phased energy reticulated light made as it burnt through flesh.
The beam on maximum setting struck Magellan in the upper chest, the uniform was seared away, the beam pressed harder, skin just melted away even the ribs were charred as he landed some two feet away. T Val dust covered and bruised staggered to her feet and over to Magellan, tears streamed from her eyes as she looked at the ruined body of her former lover, his lifeless eyes staring back at her accusatively.
“At last” Norat grinned in delight, he had slain his brother, the one man in his way, now nothing could stop him. “Transfer him to me. Transfer him now. Give me Lin, the symbiont I always deserved.”
T Val turned round pure hatred in her eyes.
“Transfer him” Norat replied icily raising the weapon “Or join him. Once Lin is in me, Magellan will not be forgotton. He will never die, and nor will I. Do it now”

Tag T Val