Star Trek: The Voth Offencive (IC)

[Mincaldenteans]

"I hate to be the fun spoiler, but I think we should talk seriously while we're all here."

Much as he wanted to relax, Richard did have other matters pressing on his mind.

"We're pretty far from the nearest Federation space, and we probably just seriously ticked off the Voth. We're an easily findable Task Force stuck in Voth territory, and we're on our own. And you know they're going to be coming back in force after the plastering we just gave them."

He fiddled with his ring a little.

"So...what's the general plan here?"

Mayleen nodded, taking into account the Captain's words. She knew Anjar was doing the same. It was after a few sips of her drink that she placed it down and spoke after him. "Our slip stream drives are all at different states of operation, or simply gone. My engineer is trying to gather all chiefs in the taskforce to see what they can come up with, though however they do that without budding heads is entirely on them. Anyway," she said with a pause, collecting her thoughts, "You're right about one thing Captain Avery, we are easily sought should the Voth come knocking on our door, but we've shown that we're not easy to trifle with either. They may have caught us off guard but its unlikely they'll be able to again, I think.

"Our goals should be clear, if there's a single consensus on it," she proposed, "Restore the slipstream drive if we're able to. Secondary objectives should the primary not be feasible is find the fastest way back to Federation space and not look back. We'd need supplies, mainly deuterium, and we'd have to be on constant vigilance. Like Avery said, we're on their turf."

[Pac union]

Bridge of the U.S.S. Quinn

The captain and the first officer sat in the bridge talking as the Quinn limped long at full impose
"number one who do you like for years football world cup" the captain said.
the first officer smiled as he said "Scotland or Germany"
the captain smiled and waged his finger and said "You"
slowly the captain became ware of the of silent bridge crew chucking "OK ok for once England are ranked number one"
The comm chirped "Save me chief what your report "
chief replied "France sir"
The captain chucked "not you as well go"
chief continued "the dilithium crystal are shot and so no chance of warp power "
"Not your fault chief" replied as he cut of the comm as he stood up to head to his ready room. The young man at the working at the ops station looked up and started to speak
"captain I picking up a group of Starfleet 10 light years way"
"thank you Mathew"
The captain ordered "open a and encrypted comm Jane"
the comm officer "done sir"

the captain said " to any Starfleet ship in range we require your help U.S.S. Quinn out"

he sat down and waited for the reply

[The Akasha Colony]

Sector 39021
USS Carthage
Premonition-class exploration cruiser

"Bridge to Captain T'Ren. Sir, it seems the captains' meeting aboard the Cardassia has begun," reported Mahin-Akhar via combadge. T'Ren was still in the metallurgy lab, looking over the collected data from the experiments thus far. "It would seem wise to attend."

"Understood, captain. I will be on the bridge shortly," the Vulcan replied as he left the lab, taking the short walk down the corridor to the nearest turbolift.

Emerging on the bridge, he continued without pause, "Status?"

"Some of the other task force ships are still recovering, but the meeting has already started aboard the Cardassia to determine the next plan of action."

"Very well. Inform the Cardassia we are prepared to beam aboard. Mister Roberts, you have the conn."

[Zepplien]

I.S.S. Cardassia, Captain's gambling table
Captain Lucido leaned back in his chair, sighing at the other two as he sipped at his tea. He leaned his head down, then told his XO something in the harsh Breen language, sounding different from their suits, but still of similar sounds. His office nodded slightly to him and walked off to give his orders to the interrogator. He then told the other Captains "Relax, we engaged the only ships for 20 Light years, their comm officer has been... Persuaded to inform us of all he knows. It is amazing how effective it is to have Terran Imperial equipment on the ship." he adopted a cocky smile, reflecting his augement like superiority views that his intellect granted him. He turned his attention to Captain Mayleen "The Cardassia's Drive is gone, no bringing it back. My chief says that we can provide some spare parts to other ships though, and we will in exchange for the rights to pick through Voth wreckage first, such a profit to be made in this stuff." he took a sip of his tea before adding "And we still have orders to destroy the Voth shipyards, along with their industrial replicators. We know the system they are sending their large Fortress, City, and Citadel style ships from, and we will lose the sphere in 2 months, 4 days, 8 hours, and 28 minutes if the production is not stopped.

I.S.S. Cardassia, Transporter Room 7
A young Terran woman stood ready as she sent a communication "USS Carthage you have been granted permission to beam over to Transporter room seven, at which time I, Crewman Fedinand, will escort you to meet with Captain Lucido, Captain Richard, and the Betazoid." the icy sound of racism hung in the air after she had closed the channel. She had been told to show respect to the others, but there was only so many non humans she could take at a time, and a Captain without even a splash of Terran blood disgusted her beyond words.

I.S.S. Cardassia, Interrogation Room 4
"Oh, by the Doctrine, please, please, turn it off." the Voth Lt. Commander cried as she pounded on the glass of the agony booth, her fingers curled into balls of pain and anger. Lt. Augustus just smirked a little as she said "Just tell me about the shipyards, that is all you have to do, and I move onto another person." the Voth cried in pain, pounding on the glass again, screaming "I demand to speak to your commander! This is illegal!" the Terran woman et a few minutes of pain tick by before saying "Be thankful you were captured by us, the Klingons are brutes of Torture, they would rape you, and slice off stuff until you talked. Starfleet, is much more humane." the Voth collapsed in the tube sobbing as the Terran shrugged sightly "We will leave her in there for half an hour, I imagine we will have reports flowing from her mouth like jewels." the various Terrans and Breen who operated the Cardassia's 'Enhanced Questioning' department all smirked at each other as they cleared the room, locking the doors, faint screams still audible.

[Kassaran]

Bridge of the U.S.S. Quinn

The captain and the first officer sat in the bridge talking as the Quinn limped long at full impose
"number one who do you like for years football world cup" the captain said.
the first officer smiled as he said "Scotland or Germany"
the captain smiled and waged his finger and said "You"
slowly the captain became ware of the of silent bridge crew chucking "OK ok for once England are ranked number one"
The comm chirped "Save me chief what your report "
chief replied "France sir"
The captain chucked "not you as well go"
chief continued "the dilithium crystal are shot and so no chance of warp power "
"Not your fault chief" replied as he cut of the comm as he stood up to head to his ready room. The young man at the working at the ops station looked up and started to speak
"captain I picking up a group of Starfleet 10 light years way"
"thank you Mathew"
The captain ordered "open a and encrypted comm Jane"
the comm officer "done sir"

the captain said " to any Starfleet ship in range we require your help U.S.S. Quinn out"

he sat down and waited for the reply

NX-92044 Fukushu
Federation Task Force Mu
Combat Information Center
Captain Mackenzie leaned back in his chair, listening to the deep thrumming that emanated from the massive warp engines pulsing behind him. Their power was primarily being used to power the cloaking system but seeing as how the Voth were pretty much gone for now he made the call. Signalling with a quick flick of his right hand off of the chair towards the Operations Console, the Lieutenant stationed there quickly shut down the main cloaking reactors, still keeping them hot in case any enemy vessels had been waiting for them. Then, a disturbance, one of the bridge crew began to tap furiously away at his console, though the added pressure wouldn't break the console, it certainly wasn't needed as of right now. Speaking up, Jonah broke the silence that had lasted nearly four hours.

"Lieutenant Karas, what do you have?" Leaning forward in his chair, he waited for the response, though at first it didn't seem he was going to get one. Just as he was about to speak up again, the Lieutenant turned and spoke.

"Captain, sir, we have incoming transmissions from the U.S.S. Quinn, she's heavily damaged, looks like her main Dilithium inversion matrix is offline, she is't Warp capable. She is however running at full impulse, so at least her antimatter-waste stores are being put to good use." Turning back to his console, he brought up a holographic rendition of the vessel on the small pedestal to the left of the Captain's chair. Scrutinizing the tiny holographic model, Mackenzie turned to the helmsman on call, Lieutenant Commander Duro Tel 'Avas, a shuttle pilot-ace in that had scored seven kills in combat against several vessels including a Klingon Bird-of-Prey. A calm and collected pilot, Duro was a Betazoid, a powerfully psychic one with the ability to predict the movements of others based upon what he could feel from them.

"Helmsman, bring us about hard starboard, 20 degrees, pitch us down along the eighteen mark two-one-five. Keep us steady half impulse, intercept the inbound Federation vessel and disable their engines with our Tetryon beam emitter," turning back to the Lieutenant at the communications console, he spoke again to him," Hail the Quinn, let them know we're friendly and that we're going to attempt to beam over some of our Dilithium surplus. That should get their Warp Engines up again. It's ten light-years to the fleet, and at full impulse, they'd be back home by the time the Quinn reached where they had been. Should they need anything else that we can spare, make sure they get it. Understood?"

The Lieutenant at the comms turned and saluted smartly," Yessir, understood, hailing them now, I'll keep them on my console unless you have need to see them."

"Fair enough," Jonah countered, then, turning to the sensors console and the two ensigns there, a Tactical Officer and Science Officer (though all crew members wear solid black uniforms with no distinguishing markings in order to allow for easy compartmentalization in the event the ship were to fall into enemy hands, Jonah only knows the difference because he hand-picked his crew), the former being a Human female, very attractive he might add, at least when standing next to the rather sullen looking Klingon-Vulcan hybrid. Jonah frowned, he had mostly wanted Humans on his vessel, seeing as how they were highly industrious, motivated, and all that even with a severe disadvantage in mental & physical development (speaking evolution-wise of course). Jonah himself was part Human and had a Human name to complement his heritage. Speaking to the two ensigns, he lowered his voice substantially, though it was still audible to all on the bridge due to the silence of the work being done," Tactical-Ensign Zoya, Science-Ensign Jilaru, see if you can get in contact with the main battlegroup, let them know we have a straggler out here, we might need help evacuating the vessel if it proves irrecoverable."

Nodding, the two ensigns set about contacting the flagship Cardassia. Jonah smiled as he watched the bridge crew begin to stir and look lively once more. His sides ached from the pain of not having eaten for so long, even with several tubes of nutrient-rich rations inside of him, he'd need to take a break, and soon. It had been almost two days since he ad last slept, and a Captain without sleep is like a monster set loose in the halls of school- not a pretty sight to behold- so he sighed and arose from his seat. Looking to the right, he waved another Lieutenant Commander over, Tuval was the name. She was a Human-Angosian female, a hybrid as well. There were many it seemed, but in actuality, there were less than a dozen serving aboard the vessel. Speaking, he gave her, her orders.

"Lieutenant Commander, I am expecting a response from the Cardassia shortly, wire it through to my ready room, I will be in there for a bit catching up on some paperwork. In the event I am no-longer awake, or in my ready-room, you may take the lead. The XO should be in here within the hour, once he arrives, he may take the Conn, understood?"

"Yessir, understood," came the familiar reply, the standardized protocol he had set in place before leaving had apparently taken hold. Moving past two more ensigns working on some repair diagnostics and system backups, he made his way into his Ready-Room. In the past, many starship captains had asked for larger, more open ready-rooms. Something about the size made them feel comfortable and safe, but Jonah, used to living his life primarily in closed spaces, had asked that the Captain's Ready-Room be made small, almost the size of a dormitory room at the Academy. Smiling as he walked over to the replicator in the wall, he spoke to it asking it for his meal," Computer, CRR Replicator-001 Command: Create ration 25-A1, grilled cheese and tomato soup. Soup temperature: moderate; grilled cheese temperature: moderate; bread selection: Sourdough-Rye; lightly toasted with a side of saltines."

Weeeeyuuuum

The soft hum of the food replicating filled the small chamber. Breathing in the rich smell of the food on the plate before him, Jonah dipped the end of his pinky finger into the soup, verifying the "moderate" temperature. It was perfect, smiling, he took his place behind his table and crumbled up the saltines into the soup and began to mix the two together, watching as the stark white of the crackers disappeared into the deep crimson soup. He smiled as he remembered the first time he had it, many years before on a tiny little starship he called home, still would if it hadn't been destroyed. A sting of pain in his heart, he pushed it away and continue to eat, but the memories kept coming back and before he knew it, he was no longer able to hold back the surge of emotions and memories as they flooded into his mind's eye once again:

A sunny day, no, not day, not a star, hundreds, the observation deck. A warm hand at the base of his neck resting on his shoulders: Mom. A man enters from a door in the side, a quick joke is spoken, laughter fills the air. Smiles, smiling, so many people smiling, and a cake! A giant cake with blue icing and replicated vanilla extract. It has candles, a birthday! Its a birthday! Singing, so much happiness, singing everywhere, lights, cake, singing, the man, the man with a bushy mustache and stubble along his jawbone, a deep voice, and a lighter one, speaking- no singing actually- in harmony, together. It's his own birthday party, "Happy Birthday dear Jonah-" Then sudden darkness, screaming, flashes of phasers and blasters in the sudden night.

Jonah couldn't help it, a tear began to well up, the spoon still in his mouth, he was stuck, remembering that day, that day he lost his home, the day he lost his parents:

Running, running through smoke, its hard to breathe, panic, mother reaches over and kisses daddy, no, not kisses, she whispers something to him, he nods and moves to a door and opens it up. The smell of plasma fills the air, the stench of dead bodies, charred and broken fill the small corridors, a boarding party! Raiders, no, not raiders, authorities? They aren't questioning anyone though, just shooting. Green plasma fire fills the air, flashes of blue occasionally fly past, burning the skin on Jonah's back and the top of his head. Mother grabs a piece of metal, a flash, she throws it and thunder fills the air, suddenly it is hard to breathe, daddy hits a button as he holds on tightly to my arm, my arm hurts so much, but my lugs hurt worse, more flashes, then a wall of light and the air fills my lungs again. Daddy and Mommy are crying now, so many dead, so many friends lost, but, what about me?

Tears began to stream down Jonah's face as the last part of the memory, the last moment he was a part of a family, a real family, came to an end:

They're on a ship now, we all are on a ship, they're all on a ship, what's the difference, running, more running, and more running, but there is no actual running just flying fast through giant hordes of green vessels. Men with pale skin and pointy ears and dark hair keep appearing on the big view-screen, big men with pointy armor. Rommies, Romulins, no, Romulans, thats it, Romulans, hunting for something, no someone, two someones, three if they can. They're wanted for trespassing onto Romulan territory, it was an accident hsi parents plead, but they offer no mercy, only death. They run the blockade, they escape, but not for long. They pass a Federation scout ship in the Neutral zone, and mommy and daddy cry now, they cry and cry, but I, he, Jonah, can't tell why, that Jonah doesn't know why they cry so much, we're still together. Men in dark jumpsuits come aboard, Daddy argues with one in charge, Amnesia? Amnesting? Amnesty, he's asking for Amnesty, Asylum, safety for himself and his family. The Federation officer can't help, he can't defend against an entire Romulan Fleet!

Here it comes, the last moment, the final moments of Jonah's life, and the birth of a new Jonah, one filled with calm, collected hatred towards those who ruined his life:

Lights, flashing, the Romulans have caught up with the Federation vessel and Mommy and Daddy's shuttle, the cry, they shout, but they can't do anything to get onboard, so they point to Jonah, the old Jonah, and plead that I be taken, I don't understand why they're so upset, I'm confused and Mommy and Daddy are yelling my name. I don't want to be in trouble, I don't want to die! I want to stay with Daddy, and Mommy, but they smile, if only for a short time as one of the men in dark jumpsuits picks me up. We move towards Mommy, so I reach out for her, and her smile breaks, and she begins crying again. Take me back! Take me back! I'm sorry, I don't know what I did! Take me back! Don't send me away Mommy! Daddy! Someone, help me! I can't get out of this man's arms! Light flashes past my eyes, and I see Mommy talking without sound, but the words are written clear as a binary star system on her face, 'I love you so much'. Then she's gone and they've disappeared, and so has the ship. I scream, cry, hit the man holding me, beg him to take me back, but he doesn't. I watch Mommy and Daddy's shuttle undock & fly off into high Warp, followed by the sinister Romulans. Then and there I make a vow to avenge myself upon the Romulans.

Snapping out of his flashback, Jonah looks up and realizes he has yet to finish his now less than moderately heated food. Finishing the meal quickly, he makes way for his quarters to sleep off the anxiety, fear, and anger in peace.

[Synoma]

0230 Hours
Captain's Quarters

Captain Lewis was tossing and turning, beads of sweat forming. Another nightmare. "Sir, sheilds are down, warp drive offline." Yelled tactical.

"Hard to port, fire photon torpedos." Yelled Captain Lewis.

The ship turned as the borg cube fired a cutting beam on the engine section of the USS Challenger. Several conduits on the bridge blew out as a gurder fell down from the ceiling killing the navigator.

"Sir, we aren't doing enough damage." Yelled tactical.

"Is the deflector dish discharge ready yet?!" Yelled Captain Lewis. As the lights flickered.

"Warning, Hull breech eminent on decks 34, 35, 36, and 37." Chimed in the computer.

"Yes sir, it is ready!" Yelled the engineer.

"Fire." Said the Captain sternly.

Then Captain Lewis woke up with a loud holler. He looked around the dark room, panting. 'Just a dream' Captain Lewis though. He got up walked to the replicator. "Water, 5 degrees." He said as the replicator hummed and a glass of water appeared. He wipped the sweat off his face when Sam chimed in. "Sir the USS Quinn needs help. They are 10 light years away roughly a few hours at warp 6."

"Plot a course to the Quinn, I will be there shortly." Said the Captain as he got dressed and went to the bridge.

"Hail the USS Quinn." Said Captain Lewis.

"This is Captain Lewis of the USS Saratoga, we got your message. We will be at your position in a hour or so." Said Captain Lewis.

[The Akasha Colony]

Sector 39021
USS Carthage
Premonition-class exploration cruiser

"USS Carthage you have been granted permission to beam over to Transporter room seven, at which time I, Crewman Fedinand, will escort you to meet with Captain Lucido, Captain Richard, and the Betazoid." The response came from Captain T'Ren's combadge, for both he and his first officer to hear as they waited in his ready room. Although there was no video feed, neither man needed one to notice the chill that appeared when speaking of Captain Chax'zana.

They briefly glanced at each other, to confirm their suspicions. Mahin-Akhar shrugged slightly; there was little that could be done, and this was hardly the time to be making a point of courtesy. So long as it didn't affect the judgment of the captains involved, and Captain Lucido was able to keep his crew in line, they would simply deal with it. There were more important matters to be discussed. The two officers stood, T'Ren holding a PADD loaded with the retrieved information.

"Energize."

In a pair of shimmering columns of light, T'Ren and Mahin-Akhar appeared on Cardassia's transporter pad. Both were clad in their typical command-pattern uniforms, black with red trim punctuated by identical gold rank insignia, although T'Ren's position ahead of Mahin-Akhar indicated he was the senior of the two.

The young Terran crewman held back a thinly-veiled look of disgust as the aliens appeared, Mahin-Akhar looking decidedly un-human, in contrast to T'Ren, who aside from his ears and brows could have passed for a rather well-worn human from some warmer climate. Neither of the men said a word as they simply waited for either a greeting, or instructions as to where to proceed. The young woman opted for the latter, stepping out of the room without a word, as if not trusting herself to make civil conversation. The two officers quietly followed, heading to the meeting room.

[Ameriganastan]

"Hey, check these two fun guys out."

Richard tried spinning his chair around. And since it didn't spin, it simply made him fall on the floor.

"Not my most graceful moment."

He stood and dusted himself off.

"How do you do? Captain Richard Avery, captain of the Southland. You're a Grazerite, right? Never met one of you face to face before. But hey, always nice to change that."

He extended his hand out.

"Pleasure to meet ya."

[Mincaldenteans]

The Trill commander burst in laughter at the sight but was elbowed by Mayleen whose squinted eyes told him everything. He coughed a bit, tempted to roll his eyes but refrained.

"Please join us," Mayleen said by way if greeting after Avery, "we need a few more voices in this planning."

She and Anjar moved to the right, clearing a space for the newcomers to take their seats.

[Zepplien]

Captain Lucido smirked a little at the Captain as he fell, though unlike the adorable Trill he refused to laugh at him. He turned around with a smile and said "Welcome, welcome can I get you something to enjoy on the I.S.S. Cardassia. I am captain Lucido, this is Ak'ched Gen, my first officer." the Breen woman, towering over him, nodded a little, offering no conversation. He dismissed the Terran woman with a mere flick of his wrist, and sat back down at the table, looking over his shoulder "Please join us Captain T'Ren, I am sure you must have fascinating topics of conversation. When I was a child I read your scientific papers, along with many others, and they are some fascinating takes on warp and temporal theory." He looked up at a Cardassian female, tough, and uniform indicating mirror, who handed him a PADD, he looked at it and then pressed his thumb against it to give formal authentication for her. He then said "Tell them to use the anticoagulents the Dominion gave us, we have adapted them to our phasers correct?" she gave him and nod and he handed to the PADD back. Then gave a sheepish grin to the other captains "Worth never stops eh?"

[The Akasha Colony]

Sector 39021
ISS Cardassia
Recluse-class carrier

As Mahin-Akhar shook Captain Avery's hand, T'Ren began with a polite nod, "Greetings, I am T'Ren of the USS Carthage, and this is my first officer, Captain Mahin-Akhar." At the mention of his name, the first officer also dipped his head slightly in acknowledgement before the two men took their seats, the Grazerite having become accustomed to his captain's rather brusque introductions.

"It appears, gentlemen, that we find ourselves in quite a predicament," Mahin-Akhar began. By now, he knew that T'Ren wouldn't be the first one to usefully start a conversation, but he had no compunction starting it himself. "Our mission as originally assigned would seem to be a rather difficult task, but then again, so would returning to Federation space unless we can repair our slipstream drives. And it of course there can be no further doubt that the Voth are aware of our presence in this sector."

"One thing to consider," added T'Ren, "is the nature of a distress signal sent by the USS Kobayashi Maru and her escort, the Kobe. We received their distress call at approximately the same time this call was received," he continued, referring to Gotterdammerung's distress signal. "Analysis of the last outgoing transmission point to a series of coordinates being broadcast, but the importance of these coordinates remains unknown at this time, as no other useful information has been retrived."

[Ameriganastan]

"Those coordinates could be a trap for all we know."

Richard flopped back down in his seat, scratching his chin.

"The Voth probably have them too, and they're waiting to ambush us."

[Zepplien]

Imperial Star Ship Cardassia
Captain Lucido took a sip of his tea, listening to the Vulcan Captain while offering a slightly concerned smile, knowing his ship would never survive fleeing back to Federation space. He nodded slightly, until the U.S.S. Kobe was mentioned, when his face went stony, asking his exeutive officer "Please give me the crew manifest of the Kobe." he frowned deeply and said "If the Kobe was destroyed in an attempt to gain this data, I will order the Cardassia to go to the coordinates, with or without support ships." He took a sip of his tea, his hand trembling slightly, but his face clearly trying to hide the pain he felt, not particularly well either. As his XO returned shortly and nodded to her Captain, answering the question he couldn't bring himself to ask. She then verbally informed him "Ensign Bella Lucido was aboard the Kobe at last record update. Shall I..." she paused, watching as he captain started convulsing as tried to hold back his tears. What could be mistaken for compassion was quickly shown to be anger as she offered a low growl "How can you live with the dishonour of crying in front of your crew?"

[Mincaldenteans]

"It's okay," Mayleen said to Lucido, a slight glare at his officer, "We've all lost one person or another to the Voth conflict. That or the Klingon War. But your officer is right, we need to focus on the task at hand. Going to these coordinates would be a ruse as Avery mentioned. Though we're still in their territory, I suggest we close in on those coordinates and send scouts ahead first, to scan the area before actually enter. This would give us at least the advantage of not being caught off-guard. We can't possibly split our task force and the most damaged vessel in our fleet cannot enter a battle and hope to survive."

[Synoma]

Captain Lewis was sitting in his ready room going over reports of the cheif engineer. He was trying to avoid the meeting, he was commanding a supply ship. Also because Cardassians put him on edge, after his ordeal when he was abducted and interogated, he thinks of the torture when he sees one of them. He turned to look out at the stars, stationary. Then the door chimmed.

"Come." Said the Captain.

Samual came in. "Sir, aren't you going to the meeting on the Cardassia?"

"Well what do you think? Cardassia, Cardassian..." Said the Captain in a dark tone.

"Sir, that war ended years ago. You nee..."

"I don't need to go there, the war ended, but the memories remain. If you are so curious, go, please, when I look into the eyes of those scum bags, I see trechary, I see what they done. Treaty or not, those rats are not to be trusted." Said the Captain.

"Yes sir."

"Now go, oh, run this down to engineering, tell them to make sure the explosives didn't shift from transit, the last thing I need is my ship to be blown out from under me." Said the Captain handing a pad to him.

"Yes sir." Said Sam.

He walked to the turbo-lift. "Engineering." Said Sam, as the audible chime replied back as the lift went down. 'Old basterd, no wonder he was assigned to this ship, guess wars get to you after a while. A long while. But have I no remorse for what I been through. I do remember losing people. He must have lost half a ship with how he acted.' Thought Sam as the turbolift stopped. The doors slid open as he walked out. Muroc was standing observing the warp core like a mother looks after her son.

"Excuse me ummm." Studdered Sam, still shocked at he near perfect physical appearence.

She spun around as her vivid green eyes looked at him, Sam could have sworn she was looking into his sole.

"Ahh, orders." She said grabbing the pad from his hand.

"Y-yes, t-the c-ca..."

"Stop studdering and spit it out, I am busy." She said coldly.

"The captain wants to make sure the cargo didn't shift." Said Samual hesitantly.

"Very well, is that all?"

"Well, umm."

"No I do not find you attractive, and no you can't take me for a drink. You may leave." Said Muroc.

[The Akasha Colony]

Sector 39021
ISS Cardassia
Recluse-class carrier

T'Ren bowed his head slightly, "My condolences on your loss, captain." He did mean it, although his face betrayed nothing more than the usual inscrutable Vulcan demeanor. His first officer also curtly bowed his head, although didn't comment.

After pausing for a few moments, the Vulcan continued, "Nevertheless, we remain in a rather precarious situation. We must decide whether we are to pursue this matter further or prioritize escape."

[Kassaran]

Federation Task Force Mu
Federation Warship U.S.S. Fukushu
En route to Task Force Rendezvous Point Omega
Jonha leaned forward in his seat, the Fukushu had been hauling the Quinn for less than three hours now, but they had been able to extend their warp-field and drag the crippled vessel along with them. Captain Jonah smiled at the sight of the Task Force appearing on the long-range sensors, and then finally, within about ten minutes, viewing range. Looking over to his comms manager, he nodded to her, and then motioned for her to open up a hailing frequency with the Quinn and the few ships of the Fleet currently present that were in the process of repairing themselves. Next to them, the Fukushu looked incredible, her sleek silver and white ablative and multi-adaptive armor plating reflecting the beams of rogue starlight drifting in from the far reaches of space in startling contrast to the battle-worn grouping of vessels currently present. Sending out a fleet wide message informing everyone that he was now to join in their ranks, he also asked for assistance in the form of two shuttles, to be sent to his ship so repair teams could be transferred to the heavily injured Quinn.

[Ameriganastan]

Sector 39021
ISS Cardassia
Recluse-class carrier

T'Ren bowed his head slightly, "My condolences on your loss, captain." He did mean it, although his face betrayed nothing more than the usual inscrutable Vulcan demeanor. His first officer also curtly bowed his head, although didn't comment.

After pausing for a few moments, the Vulcan continued, "Nevertheless, we remain in a rather precarious situation. We must decide whether we are to pursue this matter further or prioritize escape."

"My vote is for escape."

Richard kicked his feet up on the table.

"We need to make a b-line for Federation space, and not let anything slow us down. I don't wanna be stuck out here for years like that nitwit Johnway or Jimway, whoever it was."

[Zepplien]

I.S.S. Cardassia
Captain Lucido looked grimly at the table before lifting his eyes to the other Captains and tapping his comm badge “Ops, deploy an armed patrol to these coordinates, two science, five escort. Widdows and Runabouts.” He then offered the coordinates that the Kobe had been destroyed protecting, looking to the other Captains “They can travel at minor transwarp speeds, we should prepare for their report within half a day.” He frowned a little as he looked up hearing another transmission from his bridge “Acting Captain… We are receiving a data package from Starfleet command, and um, the Terran… Um, sir, can others hear us?” He looked around and then carefully said “The Terran Security Commander, is she done with the Voth?” the voice from his comm badge quickly chirped back “Yes sir.” He nodded a little before tapping his comm badge to cut her off and offered “Any of you are welcome to question the Voth we captured if you wish, though I insure you that between my Terrans and Breen, not even the most hardy can resist interrogation.”

Behind him his XO stood unmoving before she leaned over her commander and whispered something to her Captain, in the native Breen tongue. The Captain waved his hand slightly and silently, following which she walked away without another word, walking toward their turbolifts.

[Ameriganastan]

I.S.S. Cardassia
Captain Lucido looked grimly at the table before lifting his eyes to the other Captains and tapping his comm badge “Ops, deploy an armed patrol to these coordinates, two science, five escort. Widdows and Runabouts.” He then offered the coordinates that the Kobe had been destroyed protecting, looking to the other Captains “They can travel at minor transwarp speeds, we should prepare for their report within half a day.” He frowned a little as he looked up hearing another transmission from his bridge “Acting Captain… We are receiving a data package from Starfleet command, and um, the Terran… Um, sir, can others hear us?” He looked around and then carefully said “The Terran Security Commander, is she done with the Voth?” the voice from his comm badge quickly chirped back “Yes sir.” He nodded a little before tapping his comm badge to cut her off and offered “Any of you are welcome to question the Voth we captured if you wish, though I insure you that between my Terrans and Breen, not even the most hardy can resist interrogation.”

Behind him his XO stood unmoving before she leaned over her commander and whispered something to her Captain, in the native Breen tongue. The Captain waved his hand slightly and silently, following which she walked away without another word, walking toward their turbolifts.

"Question him? I can expedite that process a little for you, chief."

Richard tapped him com-badge.

"Commander Katrenti? I need you over here on the Cardassia quick as you can transport. I need some of that Vulcan mind trickery you guys are good at."

If it was possible to hear someone roll their eyes over a com channel, then Katrenti was being very loud.

"We do not refer to it as 'Mind trickery' Captain."

"Yeah, yeah. Give me the riot act later. Just get over here pronto."

He smoothed his hair back a little, feeling rather undeservedly clever.

"Vulcans. No fun at parties, but that Mind Meld thing is handy."

[Mincaldenteans]

Mayleen and Anjar

Mayleen blinked a little confused. Wait, did she hear correctly. Acting Captain? Turning her eyes to her first officer, the Trill merely shrugged as though to say it wasn't any of their business what was going on. Problem was, it was. The task force was headed under a young man who came through the ranks as an acting captain would likely not bode well for the rest of the captains in the fleet that weren't here currently. Still there had to be an explanation and calling out the commanding officer deliberately as acting rang too many alarms and questions.

"I'm sorry," she interjected as politely as possible. There was no easy way to do this without sounding like an aggressor or questioning the officer on his own vessel, but it had to be done, if only for the sake of rank and where everyone stood in this taskforce, "Did I hear correctly? Acting Captain?" She asked Lucido gently, though her voice was firm. "What happened to the commanding officer on this ship, unless you're the first officer who has taken the rank? I was under the impression you were in command of this vessel without question. Unless I'm interpreting this incorrectly?"

[Zepplien]

I.S.S. Cardassia
Captain Lucido nodded slightly to the Captain wishing to transport her Vulcan over "Indeed, the melding is most useful, I regret not having a Vulcan in my command staff." he then turned his attention back to Mayleen, taking a sip of tea slowly as their black eyes met. He sat it down as he started "Captain of this ship was Hrkiline, a Tholian who was killed by the Terran Empire, after it came Captain Bram, who was killed by a Cardassian boarding team, from that Gul Tain was killed by me, who was put in charge of this ship by Admiral Ro personally. You see, I am technically an Ensign, but due to the situation with the Klingons, and my almost unique understanding of the Tholian language and culture, I was left in charge of this ship. I am undisputed unless I act dishonorably, in which case my Breen XO will disintegrate me, and she will take command." he spoke calmly as if he was explaining the menu options of his replicator instead of telling his most likely method of death. He then leaned back, looking at his tea, then smirked slightly "I told my story of becoming captain, you too must also, be it a story of daring protocol or not."

[Ameriganastan]

I.S.S. Cardassia
Captain Lucido nodded slightly to the Captain wishing to transport her Vulcan over "Indeed, the melding is most useful, I regret not having a Vulcan in my command staff." he then turned his attention back to Mayleen, taking a sip of tea slowly as their black eyes met. He sat it down as he started "Captain of this ship was Hrkiline, a Tholian who was killed by the Terran Empire, after it came Captain Bram, who was killed by a Cardassian boarding team, from that Gul Tain was killed by me, who was put in charge of this ship by Admiral Ro personally. You see, I am technically an Ensign, but due to the situation with the Klingons, and my almost unique understanding of the Tholian language and culture, I was left in charge of this ship. I am undisputed unless I act dishonorably, in which case my Breen XO will disintegrate me, and she will take command." he spoke calmly as if he was explaining the menu options of his replicator instead of telling his most likely method of death. He then leaned back, looking at his tea, then smirked slightly "I told my story of becoming captain, you too must also, be it a story of daring protocol or not."

Whether or not he was talking to him, Richard spoke up.

"Well, fair is fair I suppose. A story for a story. So, there we are. Minor patrol near Klingon space. We're going about our business, when Captain Mason picks up a distress signal. A Klingon battle cruiser doing some routine patrols of their own. Apparently they had suffered an engine breakdown, and they couldn't get a hail out to get a pick-up."

He adjusted his collar a little, making sure his pips glittered a little in the light.

"Naturally, we considered the option that it was a trap. I advised Captain Mason against responding, but he was always a bit of a softhearted guy. So, we answer their hail, offer a tow back into Empire space, and send a basic hail out to the Klingon's to come get them. But there was one thing we failed to consider. How did the cruiser drift all the way out of Empire territory? The answer? They didn't. We tractor beam the ship to tow it..."

He leaned forward a little.

"AND IT EXPLODES! Turns out it was an empty decoy the whole time. The Arrowhead gets messed up pretty bad, and Captain Mason gets knocked out cold by the shockwave. But the fun wasn't over yet. Out of the blue, three more battle cruisers de-cloak. There we are. One damaged Federation vessel vs 3 Klingon vessels. Well, I had to take action."

He started gesturing with his hands as he spoke.

"We're getting blasted left and right. No way we're gonna get out of there. Our engines our too damaged to try and run. We're blasting all we can to keep them at bay. So I decide a crazy idea. A shuttle bomb. I have the crew set the shuttles on autopilot, and the engines for maximum overload. We're limping along, barely keeping our shields up and sustaining bad damage."

His hair actually frazzled a little as he spoke.

"But that's not all I'm thinking. As I have them launch the shuttles, I cease firing. The Klingon's don't pay any mind to a few harmless shuttles. And they assume we've lost weapons function. The shuttles smack into their shields. BOOM! Explosions everywhere. And their shields are barely functioning. And here's the fun part. I have the crew divert engine power, which wasn't doing us much good, and pour it into the weapons. Our phasers are juiced like mad. And I fire! Bing, bang, boom! Blow all three cruisers to smithereens. We sent out a distress signal when we were ambushed, and we got a tow back to Federation space."

He leaned back again.

"Captain Mason recovered, and commended me for my quick thinking. And with his good word, along with a ship full of Starfleet crewmen getting back home in one piece, I landed myself a promotion to Captain. And here I am."