1-07 Ending
Big Steve
Know what you're doing yet?
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The ten seconds ticked down slowly, an eternity between each. Zack watched the timer as he lost that precious time. His instincts demanded he attack first, that if he got the first shot he stood a better chance of winning.
But his heart reminded him that if he fired first, the war would be his fault.
It already is. You're here, in their territory, aren't you?
"Sir...." Apley was looking back from the helm.
"Reich warship is locking on," Magda warned. "Weapons powering up."
"I have a shot," Sherlily added.
"Sir, we need orders," Apley reminded him.
Zack ran his fingers on his temples. "Evasive maneuvers, Plan Indigo, Lieutenant."
The Koenig's impulse drives powered up in tandem with the maneuvering systems. As the ship made a twist and a turn, green energy streaked by it. The ship rocked slightly under them. "They've opened fire," Apley said.
"Shields still at ninety-eight percent, it was a glancing..." The ship rocked harder this time. "Now ninety-three percent."
"Sherlily, put a solar torpedo the location of that mound, now," Zack ordered. "I'm not going to have them find any trace of the Darglan technology."
"Yes sir." Sherlily hit a key. "Torpedo away.... impact. Complete destruction of the surrounding area."
The ship rocked hard again. "Anti-matter missiles acquiring," Magda warned. "Shields at eighty-six percent."
"Evasive Plan Charlie!" Zack looked back to Caterina. "C'mon, Cat, tell me you've got something we can try."
"I'm re-setting the navigational deflector to try and jam their missiles' targeting systems," Caterina said. "But I don't think it's going to work well."
"Every little bit we can get, Cat." Zack turned back to the screen and drew a breath. "Alright, they fired the first shot. April, full spread, hold nothing back! Apley, Attack Plan Bravo!"
At Apley's handling the Koenig made a spin in space, shifting up and down and over to make several disruptor bolts miss or barely graze the shields. Koenig turned to face her attacker. Her phasers blazed to life, thick amber pulses erupting from near her swept-forward nacelles and slamming into the destroyer's own deflectors. Solar torpedoes shined with the blue-white fields of their drives before they found their mark, slamming the enemy ship's shields.
"Direct hit," Sherlily said. "I'm maintaining fire. Enemy shields at seventy-five percent and going down."
The ship rocked hard under them, straining everyone against their harnesses. "Cat, I need something done with those missiles!", Zack said urgently.
"Shields holding at seventy percent." The Koenig rocked again as it came around, Apley trying to match the lithe Reich destroyer's movements to keep it in the crosshairs. "Sixty-six percent. Slight armor damage to Deck 2 port side."
"Firing," Sherlily said again. On the screen more phaser fire and torpedoes converged on the enemy ship. The pilot twisted to one side, forcing Apley to adjust, and half of the barrage and torpedoes missed. "Enemy shields at sixty percent."
"We've got an agility advantage, let's use it."
"Aye Commander!"
Under Apley's control the Koenig's maneuvering became more aggressive and agile. G-forces acted against the crew on board as the inertial dampeners struggled to keep up from the ship's shifting and twisting and turning. With her superior agility and sublight speed Koenig could break off and make attack runs. After the ship shook again - "Shields down to sixty percent." - Apley pulled them up on the Reich destroyer and let Sherlily batter it with the Koenig's weapons. "Pass them. Attack Plan Whiskey on my mark," Zack ordered, keeping his excitement down. In his mind he visualized the maneuvering of both ships, the chance to get his main weapons to bear on weak enemy shields.
The Koenig let loose, pummeling the Reich destroyer repeatedly and degrading their shields. "They're shifting shields to the bow," Magda said.
"Good for them.... brace yourselves!"
Zack noticed the plumes of antimatter missiles erupting from the Reich ship as they made their pass. At this range there was no hope of evasion; an entire salvo pummeled the Koenig, making the ship rock violently. One of the secondary consoles sparked from feedback. "Shields down to forty percent!"
"Mark!"
At Zack's order Apley executed a near-flawless turn, bringing the ship's bow to face the aft of the enemy ship. Sherlily had the phasers blazing and fired a full salvo of torpedoes into the Reich destroyer's aft. The ship's shields flickered as their command crew tried to re-direct power back to aft, but it came a split second too late. The phasers blasted through them and made them fail, with the final bursts of energy slamming into bare hull and sending flames and debris spiraling from the impact points.
Four solar torpedoes crashed into the ship's aft. One hit a nacelle and blew it apart; the other three struck various parts of its rear section. The entire Reich destroyer disappeared in a blast of bright white energy.
There were some cheers and joyous sighs, but Zack shook his head. He'd just destroyed a Nazi ship... in their own space. Even if they were bastard Nazis... he was the one who was killing them in their territory. If this became a war, it could end up being his fault.
"Damage report," he asked.
"Shields still at forty percent," Magda answered. "We took armor damage to Decks 1 and 2. Warp drive, cloaking device, and long range communications still offline."
"Time to that battle cruiser?"
"Two minutes. Wait, one minute, they just accelerated."
"Dammit," Zack muttered. "Cat, have any science stuff?"
"If we had time I'd say go for the third gas giant," Caterina replied. "We could mask our energy signature more easily."
"It'd take hours to get there at sublight," Apley pointed.
"Yeah, I know," Cat replied.
"Tell me you can get more jamming on their missiles, Cat," Zack asked.
"Well... I can try," she answered.
"Alright." Zack took a breath to steady his nerves. "Aurora is on our way, we just have to hold out as long as we can." He keyed the intercom. "Medbay, how is Lieutenant Barnes?"
"Tired of getting knocked around," Barnes retorted.
"Talking to the Doc, Tom."
"I mended his leg," Doctor Opani answered, her accent the lilting one of a Mayali Dorei. "He needs follow-up care, but given all of the shaking I'm guessing you need him on duty?"
"That I do, Doc. Tom, can you get me some shield power back?"
"Sure, I know some tricks. There's always some room to shore 'em up even if they've been strained."
"Get to it. Hostile coming in...." Zack almost asked when, but didn't have to. He looked on the screen as the bigger, nastier cousin of the destroyer they'd just vaporized dropped out of warp, bristling with torpedo and missile bays and disruptor cannon emplacements. "Evasive Plan Charlie, Ap, and get us close without going by those missile bays."
"Yes sir."
"Communication coming in," Magda said.
"Go ahead and put them on," Zack answered.
"Alliance warship, this is Kapitän Heydrich of the Scharnhorst. You are in violation of the territory of the Third Reich and have murdered the crew of a Reich vessel. Surrender your vessel immediately or it shall be destroyed or taken, and no mercy shall be shown."
Caterina let out a stifled whimper. Lucy eyed Zack. "They'll probably be worse than Duffy was," she remarked, reminding Zack that Lucy was no stranger to what ruthless men could do to those in their power.
"Yeah, but it might let us stall for time." Zack nodded to Magda. "Kapitän Heydrich, this is Commander Zachary Carrey of the Alliance starship Koenig. If you want someone for the deaths of that crew, I'll beam over and you can hold me, but I won't turn my crew over to you. Let them go with this ship."
"That is unacceptable." There was a sharp click.
"They're locking on!", Magda shouted.
"Evasives, Apley!"
Koenig began to maneuver just in time as emerald beams of disruptor energy lashed out at them. The Koenig drew close, phasers blazing and pounding the shields of the larger vessel. "Enemy shields holding, only down to 94%," Magda answered. "This ship is tougher than the cruiser we worked with in Krellan Nebula, it's got an armored hull backing up its shielding."
Zack watched another large blast of green energy go by the screen, one of many small and large bursts and beams trying to hit his ship. "We're just buying time for Aurora to get here. Put all power to engines and shields."
The ship lurched under them, showing that despite Apley's best piloting efforts they couldn't avoid every shot. "Some of those disruptor weapons are packing a punch," Magda warned.
"Make sure to keep away from those super-disruptors then, Ap,"
"Yes sir," Apley answered.
Under his control Koenig made a tight turn as it came out by the aft of the Scharnhorst, avoiding the aft disruptors as they did. Missiles flew out of their launch bay and started tracking to acquire.
"Cat, we could use..."
"I know." Caterina manipulated something on the control. "I'm sending out interference, but I can only spoof so many!"
The ship rocked violently as a missile found them, followed by a direct hit by a disruptor. "Shields down to twenty-six percent!", Magda warned. "Damage on Deck 2."
"Keep it up, Ap," Zack urged, watching Sherlilly take what shots she could. More torpedoes went out, slamming into shields. "Status on that battlecruiser, April?"
"Their shields are stiill holding at eighty percent." The Koenig shook again. "We're whittling them down but we haven't gotten the shields low enough to make a difference."
"We just have to keep ourselves in the game," Zack said.
The Koenig made another tight turn in space to resume a strafing run along the Nazi battlecruiser's belly. Phaser fire defiantly hammered at the big swastika insignia on the lower bow, held back by the cruiser's powerful shields. The ship twisted and weaved to avoid fire. Missiles pursuing it didn't always hit, missing thanks to Caterina's desperate jamming efforts or even slamming into the Scharnhorst's shields themselves.
It was a shark versus a whale; the whale was big, it could take hits, but it couldn't keep up with the shark.
Zack tried not to hope for too much. He wasn't out to take this ship down, just to survive long enough for the Aurora to get here so they could dock and get away from this mess of a mission.
Apley's job was harder, trying to not allow the missiles to hit them at launch but also to avoid getting too close to the big "super-disruptor" emplacements on the Reich battlecruiser. He did his job as well as he could... but found that one maneuver to avoid a torpedo put him in a position to have to risk either. Seeing the missiles launching he made a split second decision to risk the disruptor, trying to time it between shots. They came up on the weapon.
It fired.
The Koenig shook violently under them. Feedback from the battered shields caused Apley's station to explode in sparks, making him cry out from the burns that resulted. "Shields down below ten percent!", Magda shouted. "Damage on all decks, forward port sections!"
"I've lost the port phasers!", Sherlily added.
That news was bad enough. But there was worse.
For one pivotal moment, there was no helm control on Koenig.
Missiles fired from the battlecruiser converged, along with the other emplacements training on a ship that was not quite so hard to hit as it had been. Despite Caterina's efforts to deflect the missiles, two still went off close enough to do damage. More sparks showered from the Koenig's overloaded power systems.
Zack's spirits fell when Magda told him what he already knew.
"We've lost shields."
Zack nodded. "Apley, you good?"
"Yes sir," Apley answered. "Burns aren't that bad, I still have my fingers."
"Keep the evasives up. This ship was built to take punishment..." The ship rocked violently again as another disruptor slammed into their armored hull, vaporizing chunks off. "...and we'll have to see how much she takes."
Apley nodded. "Maintaining evasive pattern."
"Good. As long as we're shooting at them, they can't risk dropping shields to beam...."
"Sir, the third Reich ship is coming out of warp," Magda warned. "It's another Z-2500. They're en route to intercept us."
Zack settled his head against his hand, ignoring another jostle from a glancing hit. There's no way to win this. Dammit, Rob, where are you?! Zack fumed over that. Where were the others? Why hadn't they gotten here yet? Was there more sabotage? More problems?
They never should have launched the mission. They should have aborted, dammit, the moment those security problems were showing up. Why hadn't Robert done the smart thing!? Why had he gambled on their lives?!
Damn you, Rob was the thought that came to him, not as unbidden as it might have otherwise been.
"Maintain evasive maneuvers as well as you can," he said.
"I'm trying." On the screen the newly-arrived Reich destroyer moved in. They had a clear shot if they didn't mind hitting the Scharnhorst. And he figured they wouldn't.
That was it. He'd lost. There was nothing more he could do. Zack felt helpless, so utterly helpless...
...just as he had when he saw his father was dead.
Looks like I might join you, Dad. Hope wherever we are going has a bar for us to share that drink.
"Commander!"
Magda's voice didn't immediately register with Zack so far into his thoughts, thinking about his father and all they hadn't done. It was only when she shouted his rank again that he looked over. "What?"
"New contact!" She looked at him and smiled as widely as he'd ever seen her do so. "The Aurora just warped in!"
Zack had to force the breath out of his lungs at hearing that, just to resume breathing.
Jarod had replaced Jupap at Ops. "The Koenig has lost shields and taken heavy damage."
"And it looks like we've got that battlecruiser's attention," Angel said from tactical. "They're locking weapons."
"Put me on, Jarod." Robert checked the seat harness. "This is Captain Robert Dale of the Alliance Starship Aurora. If you hold your fire, we'll hold our's. We only want to get our ship out of your terri..."
Thick beams of green energy lashed ou from the Nazi battlecruiser and hit Aurora's shields. "I think we have our answer," Julia noted drolly.
"They fired first." Robert sighed. The entire mission had gone to hell. "Lock weapons on both ships and fire."
The Aurora's forward weapons erupted in fire. Phaser fire and the thick blue pulses of the bow plasma cannons hammered at the Reich battlecruiser. A few shots were sent toward the enemy destroyer as well. Both ships turned to face them.
"Tell Zack to get docked ASAP."
"Sending the order."
More disruptor bolts crashed into them, although some missed due to Locarno's maneuvering. As missiles closed the distance the smallest emplacements on the hull fired out at them, destroying some before they could hit the shields. "Shields now at ninety-one percent."
"Status of their shields?", Robert asked Jarod.
"Down to sixty-five, I think. The destroyer's shields are holding at eighty."
Robert nodded. "Alright Zack, we've given you an opening, get over here so we can leave."
There was no premature celebration on Koenig's bridge. They weren't out of danger yet and everyone present knew this. "Head to the Aurora, full speed," Zack ordered. "Get ready for emergency combat docking."
"Aye sir." Apley's hands moved over the control panel.
Koenig broke away from the two ships. Suddenly the ship lurched underneath them. "The battlecruiser locked us in a tractor beam," Magda said.
"Suggestions?"
"Yeah. Shoot it."
"I'm locking with the dorsal phaser array," Sherlily said. "Firing."
On Aurora the ship shook again as the full fury of the Scharnhorst rained on them. "Shields down to seventy-eight percent," Jarod warned. "The battlecruiser's shields are now at fifty percent."
"Keep it coming, Angel," Julia said.
Angel focused on her board. The bow cannons blazed as quickly as the systems allowed, pummeling the enemy ship over and over with their thick sapphire bursts. Phaser fire and torpedoes struck out, some hitting the incoming missiles on their way to impacting on the batlecruiser. Locarno twisted the Aurora and kept the bow pointed toward them, allowing Angel to get another shot from the main cannons. The bursts of sapphire energy slammed into the enemy shields again while missiles and disruptor fire made their ship shake. "Shields holding at seventy percent."
"Laurent's ready for launch," Julia reminded Robert.
He shook his head. "Then we'd have to take time recovering them. Hold off on that. Miss Al-Rashad, any sign of further contacts?"
"Just one on long range sensors, at least half an hour away at current warp velocity."
"We have some time, then," Julia mused.
"Still not enough. Angel...?"
"Throwing everything we have at it," she answered. "They're maneuvering, I think they're trying to keep us from hitting their tractor emitter."
"Stay with them Nick."
"Doing what I can," he answered.
On Koenig the ship was rattling as they strained against the enemy tractor beam. "Suggestions?", Zack said. "The phaser isn't doing it."
"There's not much we can do without Aurora's help," Magda pointed out. "With the engine damage we can't pull out fo the tractor."
"Okay, we can't. We improvise. Cat, tell me you have some sneaky technobabble?"
"I' already tried everything we can do on Koenig," Caterina answered.
"Anthing you could do on Aurora?"
"Afraid not. This is brute forced-tech, its not going to be easily broken from technical tricks."
"Come one, Cat, you're giving up on it?"
"Of course not", she angrily countered. "But I can only do so much with the equipment we have on this ship. I mean, this ship wasn't meant for flexibility, she was built to shoot things. All she's really got is good combat sensors to see things with, weapons to shoot them with, and the tractor beam in case it wants to tow something.... around...."
Caterina's expression shifted just as Zack's did, the two minds arriving at the same destination from different paths. "The tractor beam,", they said in unison.
"Sir?"
"Magda, lock the tractor beam on their tractor beam," Zack ordered.
"Wait, what? But that will..."
"Ordinarily it wouldn't do much," Caterina agreed. "But I'm already altering the tractor emitter. Instead of a steady graviton stream, this will be a burst. It should go it like... like... something really dense smashing through something not as dense."
"Works for me," Zack said.
"That should do it... activate tractor beam now."
Magda didn't wait for Zack to follow up with a direct order. She triggered it.
The rear tractor emitter of the Koenig sent out a burst of blue energy that intersected the ribbon of red light holding Aurora in place. The enemy tractor beam failed and Koenig, freed from her fight with it, shot forward like a rocket, aimed right at the Aurora.
The ship shuddered violently under them. "They're targeting our impulsors," Magda warned. "Glancing hit on starboard impulsor housing. We're losing some power."
"Evasive pattern, Apley, but get us to Aurora!"
The Koenig shot free after the Nazi battlecruiser's tractor beam failed. As they raced forward, the enemy destroyer loomed up behind them, pouring disruptor fire into their rear. "Clever, they modified their tractor beam," Jarod remarked.
"Angel, get that destroyer off of them!"
Angel nodded and directed the awesome forward firepower of her ship on the Nazi destroyer.
The bolts of sapphire energy enveloped the small vessel. Its shields failed and flame erupted as the entire ship's bow came apart. It exploded in a fiery blaze when the barrage didn't cease.
The battlecruiser started focusing fire on the Koenig as well, now on their port side due to maneuvering. "Extend the shields," Julia ordered.
"Doing so." The ship started to shake. "Shield effectiveness is going down, we're at just fifty-two percent now."
Robert nodded. "Broadside fire, Angel."
The phaser arrays and quad-cannon emitters on the port lashed out at the enemy ship, striking its shields and intercepting the Nazi missiles before they could hit Koenig. "They're on docking approach."
"Open the doors, Jarod. All hands, brace for Emergency Combat Docking."
Apley swung Koenig up around the Aurora's nacelle, shifting the inertia of the ship through subspace to avoid overshooting on their course. Zack watched quietly and with a bit of trepidation, but only a bit. They'd trained for this maneuver several times.
The tricky thing was that it still involved docking with a moving starship in combat conditions and getting right on target. The slightest mistake and the Koenig would plow into other parts of the Aurora, damaging both ships severely. A big enough impact could even destroy Koenig.
For a moment, Zack regretted not forcing Apley to let him take the helm, given the burns on his hands. But it was too late; all he could do was show faith in his XO.
Apley fired the impulsors up to an overtake speed, but not too high of one. He gradually reduced them and fired retro-thrusters as they came up to the opened dock door. He twisted the ship ever so slightly to fit the airlock extension and the support struts.
Impact.
The Koenig shook hard as it slammed into place, but the landing struts and airlock held from the impact.
"We're docked, sir," Apley informed them all, his voice even and level, not at all like he had just threaded a needle at thousands of kilometers per second. "Establishing airlock now."
"Good landing, Ap," Zack sighed, feeling a surge of relief.
It was over.
They were safe.
The impact of the Koenig's high speed landing jolted the bridge too. "Koenig is docked," Jarod reported. "Closing dock doors."
Robert nodded and felt the ship shake again as another antimatter missile hit their shields. "Locarno, get us out of here, maximum warp."
"Getting us the hell out of here... now." Locarno finished laying the course in and triggered the warp drive.
"Are they pursuing?", Julia asked.
"Yes ma'am," Ensign al-Rashad said from Science. "They're at Warp 9.4. 9.5. 9.6."
"We're now at Warp 9.7," Locarno said.
"9.65. 9.67. 9.6.... wait. They're dropping out of warp. I'm picking up a shift in their drive signature. I think they overloaded it."
"Always comforting to know we can always run away," Angel remarked.
"Yeah. But we got what we came for." Robert pressed the intercom. "Bridge to Security. Meridina, Commander Kane, get your teams and sweep the Koenig. Let's make sure our friend isn't aboard her."
"I do not believe it is. But we will check," Meridina answered.
"ETA to Harris, Locarno?"
"At current speed we should arrive in five hours."
"Once we're over the border, reduce our speed to Warp 9. No point in straining the engines even more." Robert wiped at his forehead. "I'm not in any hurry to face Admiral Davies anyway."
"I don't think any of us are," Julia agreed.
Ship's Log: 15 May 2641; ASV Aurora. Captain Robert Dale recording. We have returned to Harris Station for repair work. The mission was a technical success with the destruction of the Darglan data facility, but the cost.... the cost was too high, not just in those killed by the Changeling and the Nazis but in the fact we got into a fight with them. We knew peace was unlikely, but our actions may have made it impossible.
The command crew was sitting around the table in the conference room, including the officers from the Koenig. "Between our losses to the Changeling and the battle, we have twelve dead, fifteen wounded," Doctor Opani said from her seat near the end. The young Dorei woman, her skin a dark teal with light purple spots and dark purple hair, looked like she was going to choke. "I did all I could to stabilize some of the worst cases..."
"We've got them stabilized," Leo finished for her, giving his fellow physician a sympathetic look. "All of the remaining critical cases have a good chance at recovery."
"How long will it take to repair the Koenig?", Robert asked.
Zack looked to Derbely. "Two weeks at normal cycle time, sir," she answered. "The dock is a drydock in miniature so that's not the issue, it's simply having to fix all of the damage."
Julia nodded and looked down the table. "Scotty, do you think...?"
"Aye." Scotty nodded and looked to the younger woman. "I'll assign ye some teams, Lieutenant. We'll have th' girl up an' about again in nae time."
"Thank you, sir," Derbely answered. "I'll also need some replacements. I lost people, and I'm not sure Lieutenant Lopana will recover enough for ship duty."
"We'll speak with fleet personnel. Until then I'll leave Scotty and Tom to see who can be spared for Koenig," Robert said. "Well, that handles that subject. What about the computers? How much data was compromised?"
Jarod looked up. "We can rule out the IU jump drive technical data, the Changeling never compromised our computer security on it. At the very least, it could have sent out some of the data on naqia and non-critical ship information. And unsealed personnel data."
Robert nodded. "Any more surprises?"
"Security and Engineer personnel have been scouring the ship," Meridina said. "No further sabotage charges have been found, and the data we have so far hints that there were no others set. The greater issue is our computer security. The Changeling installed so many bypasses into our internal systems that computer security is completely compromised."
"We'll have to do a complete restoration from off-site backups," Jarod explained. "Which means a lot of systems will need to be brought offline completely. We'll probably require a week in spacedock ourselves."
"I'll forward the request," Robert said. "Caterina, that data... was it worth it?"
"I don't know yet," she answered. The bags under her eyes showed Caterina hadn't slept at all the prior night. "I've been going over what we recovered, sorting technical data and astrographical... all I can tell you right now is that it has more universe designations and a great deal of astrographical data in this universe. I'm hoping it will tell us where the main Facility for S4W8 is."
"I'm hoping it's not on Earth," Julia remarked, her hands together. "If the Nazis get any indication of how to search for these things..."
"We'll worry about that when we confirm it," Robert said. "Is there anything else?" When there was no immediate answer, Robert stood. "Alright, we'll adj..."
"I've got something."
All eyes turned on Zack. He had been quiet during the entire meeting, only speaking when his ship was involved. Now he looked at Robert. Robert could see that his friend's eyes were smoldering and lined with a bit of red. "Zack?", Robert asked.
"Why didn't you warn me, Rob?" Zack put his hand on the table. "Why didn't you tell me about this security leak before I left? If I'd known something was up, I would have been checking our systems, I would've seen the sabotage to our comm systems. Hell, I wouldn't have let that Changeling go one step without escort if you'd told me Draynal was a suspect!"
Robert sighed. "I made a judgement call. We had nothing solid and the mission..."
Zack's fist slammed on the table, startling everyone. "A judgement call?!", he shouted. "Seriously! You don't trust me with vital information because... what, you were afraid I'd abort? Were you so damned dedicating to pulling this mission off that you didn't care about what might go wrong?!"
"That's not what it was, Zack," Robert replied, his voice going up too. "I just... I have my reasons, but I knew that mission had to be fulfilled! And I didn't have enough warning to see what was..."
Zack leaned over and got in his face. "Twelve of my crew are dead Rob!" He brought a finger up so close it almost pressed against Robert's cheek. "Twelve! And I'm the one who has to write their families! I've got to tell a widower his only daughter got turned to vapor! Or maybe you'd like to tell Pammy DeSoto that her husband got flash-fried!"
"I had to make the call Zack!," Robert shot back. "That's my job! And that means people are going to die!"
"Easy for you to say when you weren't the one who's ass was getting shot up by...!"
"ENOUGH!" Julia's shout echoed in the room as she jumped to her feet. She took both and pushed them away from each other with her arms, getting between them. "That's enough, from both of you!" She faced Zack. "I'm sorry, Zack. Rob thought it was the right call." She turned to face Robert. "But he should have told you."
"It is my responsibility as much as Robert's," Meridina offered, standing as well. "You are right to be upset, Zachary. But please do not let your anger control you."
Zack's jaw clenched as he continued to glare at Robert and be glared back in return. "I'm done here," he finally said, turning away. "Permission to be excused, Captain."
Robert nodded stiffly. "Excused."
Zack made a mocking salute and stormed off, joined by the Koenig command crew. The Aurora crew looked around until Robert waved them off as well. "Julia, go inform Harris Station we need spacedock time, please," Robert said. "I'll be in the ready room checking my final report."
She nodded, sensing he needed time alone. Robert walked across the bridge and entered the ready room office. He remembered Farmer telling him about such offices almost two years before. "A place for the Captain to decompress when he's on duty." He felt like he needed it.
Robert found his seat and drew in a breath when examining his report. He had taken full responsibility for what happened, for the decision to launch the operation regardless of the security risk, and for its disastrous result. It was the least he could do.
With the touch of a button Robert sent the report off to Maran. He brought up another document. The casualty list, both the dead crew from Aurora's contingent to the mission and those Koenig lost. The numbers were horrifying; Zack had lost over a quarter of his small crew. No wonder he was angry.
At that point it just hit home. His bad judgement had cost sixteen lives, not counting the hundreds of crew on those destroyed Reich vessels. He'd ruined a clandestine operation, violated the space of another sovereign power, and fired on their ships in their own space.
He'd almost gotten Zack, Cat, Tom, and Lucy killed.
All because of a nightmare.
How in the hell could he put that in a report?!
The stress of the last week finally proved too much with this result. Robert broke down and actually began crying, feeling like he was being crushed.
After her bridge watch Julia decided to check up on Zack. She went to his quarters, saw he was home, and hit the door chime. After several seconds it opened. She stepped in and saw him leaning over on his sofa seat. "How are you?"
"I feel like crap," he said. "I sent off the condolence letters already, so you don't have to bug me about those." He looked up at her with the eyes of someone who had wrestled with his thoughts and was tired of it.
"You... I wasn't coming to nag, Zack," Julia said. "I wanted to make sure you were okay."
"Yeah. I know." Zack stood up. "I'm... I'm just tired of this." He walked up to her, his eyes red from tears and his expression full of apprehension and dread. "I've got to get this off my chest, no matter what happens."
Julia tilted her head. "Zack, are you okay? What's wrong?"
Zack put his hands on Julia's shoulders before she could stop him. "I've always felt this way, Julia Andreys," he said. "I... I love you, Julia."
Those words froze Julia just before she went to pull herself out of his grip.
"I'll always love you...", Zack continued. "I don't think I can ever get over it. You're just... you're... I can't think of how to say it but to say..."
They were so close that his breath actually felt warm on her face. A not-so-unfamiliar odor came across. "Zack... are you...."
He let her go and stepped away. "There, I said it," he said, sighing with finality. As if he knew the answer. "Now, all I want to ask is... would you ever say the same to me?"
Julia's words met her thoughts and jumbled up. "What?"
"Julia, I only want honesty. Please, just honesty," Zack pleaded. "I can't move on without an honest answer. I just... I have to know! Could you ever love me? Could we ever have something together, something more?"
Julia stared at him for a moment, trying to process what he was saying. She remembered how much of a crush Zack had on her in school, but she always figured that was just because she was one of the few girls he didn't have a chance with. But... love? "Zack, what are you saying?"
"I'm saying, Julia, that I am deeply in love with you, that I have loved you for years and that it has become pure torture for me to be this close to you without working up the guts to ask." Zack went over to his table and leaned on it. "And I'm just tired of it. I just want to know if there's any hope of you ever feeling that way about me. I want to be more than your friend."
"Zack, you're kind of putting me on the spot here," Julia pointed out, feeling completely bewildered and off-balance. She'd come to give comfort, not find out... this.
"I'm sorry, I'm just...." Zack had tears in his eyes. "On Adrana. That computer being gave me the world she thought I wanted. She gave me a world where we were married. Where we were together and happy."
Oh God. Julia felt... she didn't know how to feel. She felt sympathy and confusion and even some disgust.
"It wasn't real. I... I realized it. But it made all of that come back. And then I talked to my Dad and to Clara and..." Zack sniffled. "I just can't stand not knowing any more. I just want to know. Is there hope? Is there any chance, Julia, that you could feel love for me, that we could become a family?"
"Stop pushing it, Zack," Julia retorted. "Do you expect me to just, in a few seconds, decide something like that?! We've never even dated before, we've..."
"We've known each other since we were kids," Zack countered. "You know me and I know you. And I think you are the most smart, beautiful, and talented woman to ever exist. And I would move heaven and earth to...." He stopped, seeing the expression on her face. He shook his head. "You don't. You won't."
"Zack..."
"Don't." He held up a hand. "I've been around you long enough. You don't feel that way toward me."
Julia swallowed and shook her head. "You're right. You're my friend but I just... that's all I see us as."
"And there's no hope of that changing."
"Well..." Julia shook her head and shrugged. "I don't know, I..."
"Don't you dare," he hissed. "Don't you Goddamn dare do that to me, Julie. Don't you string it out!"
"What is it you want from me, Zack?!," Julia screamed, her patience at an end. "You're a good friend, and you're funny and sweet and kind, but no, I don't see you as a lover or a future husband or anything. I love you to death as a friend, but that's all we'll be. And I'm not sure if that would ever change or not. I don't know the damn future! Now, I don't know what's gotten into you, but I do know this won't solve anything!"
And with that, she lifted the opened tequila bottle from the table by the sofa.
Zack stared at her and at the bottle, its amber liquid within jostling slightly from her movement. The bottle was missing over a quarter of its contents
"You're drinking this stuff, Zack!" Julia put the bottle back down. "Is it really me driving you to this? Why... you rarely like beer, now you're drinking like your Dad!"
"Yeah." Zack held up a shot glass that was on the desk, a bit of tequila left in it. In one move he sent it down his throat. "Yeah, I am. Trying to see if Dad was right. If it'd make the pain go away."
"Zack...."
"I'd hoped you'd think about it," he confided. "But I can't beat him, can I?"
"Who?"
"Rob." He slammed the glass on the desk so hard that Julia thought it would break. "He gets you, he gets Angel... he gets to be the Captain too. Robert Dale, the big hero!" He postured wildly, striking a melodramatic pose. "And Julia, the true love who swoons over him and never ever lets him know it."
Julia's face paled. It was the kind of pale that would make a smarter man, or in this case more sober man, stop.
"And there's me, Zachary Carrey. The also-ran. The second-best. The hanger-on." Each term seemed to drip more and more venom. "He gets it all and here I am, in his shadow." He walked by her and picked up the bottle. "He can even send me to get killed and the only thing I can do about it is be his loyal dog or run away. Run away run away run away.... maybe I should. Maybe I should give all of this crap up and go back home."
"Zack, you don't mean that! Rob's your best friend, I'm your best friend! We're all here for you."
"Yeah. All for one and all for one, eh?" He held up the glass and seemed to reconsider that. "Huh. Got that wrong. Must be working. Maybe a few more shots and the pain will go away."
At that moment Julia felt a tear on her own eye. "Zack, we should have breakfast tomorrow. All of us. We should all get together and help you through this."
"Yeah. God knows I need it." Zack poured another shot. "I'm a true Carrey, and you know how hopeless we are if we don't have someone watching over us, making sure we don't screw it up, right? Otherwise we'll go back to the bottle. Cheers."
He brought the shotglass up. Julia shrieked and lashed out, smacking his hand and sending the shotglass and its contents flying into the near wall, where the tequila splattered and the glass shattered. She felt words come to her tongue, but couldn't quite get them out. She looked into Zack's sad brown eyes and the red lines around them and... Julia realized she didn't know what to do. How could she fix this? How could she make it better? When it was clear that every moment she was here, she was twisting the knife in his heart.
His words had struck home too. Julia hadn't realized how much it hurt that Robert was with Angela again while she was still alone.
Maybe I should be getting plastered with him, was the dour thought that crossed her mind.
"I'll... I'll leave you alone," she finally said, trying to fight the tears. "But Zack, please... we're here for you. I know this is something you need to do for yourself, but if you need us we're here."
"Yeah, like always."
And she couldn't take it anymore. The tears were rolling down Julia's face as she stormed out of the room.
Zack watched her leave and the door close. Through the haze in his head his heart was still hurting, aching. He'd confirmed it was as bad as he thought. There was no hope. The woman he loved did not love him and would never love him. "Guess it's time to move on," he muttered, holding the bottle of tequila in his hand. "Hey Dad, havin' that drink." He brought the bottle up like he was toasting. "Let's see if you were right."
At that point, he didn't bother getting another shotglass to replace the broken one. He put the opening of the bottle to his lips and took as big a drink as he could manage.
Tag
Meridina had returned to Security and found a message marked urgent. Seeing it was Lucy, Meridina went straight to her quarters. As an assistant department head Lucy had her own quarters on Deck 4, not as large as a department head but sufficiently comfortable. Meridina entered and found it dark. Lucy was sitting on her bed in a nightgown, her knees curled up to her chin. She looked over at Meridina and showed that she had been unable to sleep and was under tremendous emotional stress. "Lucy, what is wrong?"
"What... what's happening to me?", Lucy said, tears in her eyes. "Because it's not making sense. I've got this thing in me now and it saved us but then it got cold and terrible and I ... I..."
Meridina's expression froze. She swallowed and walked up to Lucy, sitting beside her on the bed. She pressed a hand to Lucy's arm and felt the turmoil roiling with her. No, not just the turmoil.
She felt Lucy's swevyra. Where it had once been a small ember, it was a fire now. She had called upon it intentionally, repeatedly, and it had come. But now it wouldn't go away either.
"Can you make it stop?", Lucy asked. "It's..."
"I cannot," Meridina answered. "You have opened yourself to your swevyra, Lucy. It cannot be undone."
"But it scares me," she said, her voice hoarse. "At first it was... it was just useful, it saved our lives, let me fight the Changeling. But then it was trying to pull me back into the facility and I couldn't break free and I just... I was afraid and then angry and I just started to hate it and I wanted to rip it apart and then everything turned cold."
Meridina swallowed and clasped another hand to Lucy's shoulder. "Yes. You're not trained to deal with your emotions when wielding your swevyra. It brought forth the darkness within you."
"Tom said my eyes were turning yellow and that my hand was shooting out lightning!"
"Yes. That is what happens when swevyra is joined with darkness." Meridina found her own mind racing. She had to tell Ledosh about this, she had to share this with the whole Order. "I... I may have done you a disservice for introducing this power to you, and for that I am sorry. This is dangerous. You must learn to control your emotions when wielding your swevyra."
"Can you show me how? Please? Show me how to do this!"
"I..." Meridina lowered her eyes. "I must consult my superiors on Gersal. But you must promise me, do not use your swevyra again, not until I say! This is important, Lucy."
Lucy nodded. "I'll... I'll try..."
"No," Meridina growled, frowning. For Lucy the sight of her frown and the growl in her voice was terrifying, so completely unlike Meridina as it was. "Lucy, you do not try. You just do it. You must!"
"But if I can't...?"
"Then..." Meridina shook her head. "If you use it without training and let your darkness take over... it corrupts your swevyra, your very essence. Few have ever come back from corruption. They... they become murderers and monsters, they lose control and lash out at everything."
"That would... happen to me?", Lucy murmured, still terrified.
"It could. But it would not."
"Why not?"
"Because..." Meridina's face lost all emotion. "....I would kill you first."
It was the middle of the night when the chime went off in Robert's quarters. He shifted in bed, prompting Angel to slide off him in her sleep, and reached over for the comm button on the nightstand. "Dale here," he said, his vision still blurry from being tired.
"Admiral Maran is on comms for you, sir."
Sighing, Robert pulled his uniform jacket on as he went to his personal computer in his quarters and triggered the comm system. Maran appeared, dawn light behind him. "Admiral?", Robert asked.
"Captain Dale, I'm changing your orders. You will report to Fleet Command Spacedock immediately."
Robert blinked. "Sir? is there something going on?"
Maran nodded. "You're being called before the Defense Committee, Captain Dale. You and your entire command staff."
That made Robert swallow. "This is about the mission, right?"
"It is," Maran answered. "I'm doing everything I can to help, but..."
"But what?"
Maran lowered his eyes. "You're facing a lot of criticism here in Portland, Robert. If the Defense Committee finds against you, the President and I won't have any choice. You and your crew will be removed from the Aurora. Permanently."
But his heart reminded him that if he fired first, the war would be his fault.
It already is. You're here, in their territory, aren't you?
"Sir...." Apley was looking back from the helm.
"Reich warship is locking on," Magda warned. "Weapons powering up."
"I have a shot," Sherlily added.
"Sir, we need orders," Apley reminded him.
Zack ran his fingers on his temples. "Evasive maneuvers, Plan Indigo, Lieutenant."
The Koenig's impulse drives powered up in tandem with the maneuvering systems. As the ship made a twist and a turn, green energy streaked by it. The ship rocked slightly under them. "They've opened fire," Apley said.
"Shields still at ninety-eight percent, it was a glancing..." The ship rocked harder this time. "Now ninety-three percent."
"Sherlily, put a solar torpedo the location of that mound, now," Zack ordered. "I'm not going to have them find any trace of the Darglan technology."
"Yes sir." Sherlily hit a key. "Torpedo away.... impact. Complete destruction of the surrounding area."
The ship rocked hard again. "Anti-matter missiles acquiring," Magda warned. "Shields at eighty-six percent."
"Evasive Plan Charlie!" Zack looked back to Caterina. "C'mon, Cat, tell me you've got something we can try."
"I'm re-setting the navigational deflector to try and jam their missiles' targeting systems," Caterina said. "But I don't think it's going to work well."
"Every little bit we can get, Cat." Zack turned back to the screen and drew a breath. "Alright, they fired the first shot. April, full spread, hold nothing back! Apley, Attack Plan Bravo!"
At Apley's handling the Koenig made a spin in space, shifting up and down and over to make several disruptor bolts miss or barely graze the shields. Koenig turned to face her attacker. Her phasers blazed to life, thick amber pulses erupting from near her swept-forward nacelles and slamming into the destroyer's own deflectors. Solar torpedoes shined with the blue-white fields of their drives before they found their mark, slamming the enemy ship's shields.
"Direct hit," Sherlily said. "I'm maintaining fire. Enemy shields at seventy-five percent and going down."
The ship rocked hard under them, straining everyone against their harnesses. "Cat, I need something done with those missiles!", Zack said urgently.
"Shields holding at seventy percent." The Koenig rocked again as it came around, Apley trying to match the lithe Reich destroyer's movements to keep it in the crosshairs. "Sixty-six percent. Slight armor damage to Deck 2 port side."
"Firing," Sherlily said again. On the screen more phaser fire and torpedoes converged on the enemy ship. The pilot twisted to one side, forcing Apley to adjust, and half of the barrage and torpedoes missed. "Enemy shields at sixty percent."
"We've got an agility advantage, let's use it."
"Aye Commander!"
Under Apley's control the Koenig's maneuvering became more aggressive and agile. G-forces acted against the crew on board as the inertial dampeners struggled to keep up from the ship's shifting and twisting and turning. With her superior agility and sublight speed Koenig could break off and make attack runs. After the ship shook again - "Shields down to sixty percent." - Apley pulled them up on the Reich destroyer and let Sherlily batter it with the Koenig's weapons. "Pass them. Attack Plan Whiskey on my mark," Zack ordered, keeping his excitement down. In his mind he visualized the maneuvering of both ships, the chance to get his main weapons to bear on weak enemy shields.
The Koenig let loose, pummeling the Reich destroyer repeatedly and degrading their shields. "They're shifting shields to the bow," Magda said.
"Good for them.... brace yourselves!"
Zack noticed the plumes of antimatter missiles erupting from the Reich ship as they made their pass. At this range there was no hope of evasion; an entire salvo pummeled the Koenig, making the ship rock violently. One of the secondary consoles sparked from feedback. "Shields down to forty percent!"
"Mark!"
At Zack's order Apley executed a near-flawless turn, bringing the ship's bow to face the aft of the enemy ship. Sherlily had the phasers blazing and fired a full salvo of torpedoes into the Reich destroyer's aft. The ship's shields flickered as their command crew tried to re-direct power back to aft, but it came a split second too late. The phasers blasted through them and made them fail, with the final bursts of energy slamming into bare hull and sending flames and debris spiraling from the impact points.
Four solar torpedoes crashed into the ship's aft. One hit a nacelle and blew it apart; the other three struck various parts of its rear section. The entire Reich destroyer disappeared in a blast of bright white energy.
There were some cheers and joyous sighs, but Zack shook his head. He'd just destroyed a Nazi ship... in their own space. Even if they were bastard Nazis... he was the one who was killing them in their territory. If this became a war, it could end up being his fault.
"Damage report," he asked.
"Shields still at forty percent," Magda answered. "We took armor damage to Decks 1 and 2. Warp drive, cloaking device, and long range communications still offline."
"Time to that battle cruiser?"
"Two minutes. Wait, one minute, they just accelerated."
"Dammit," Zack muttered. "Cat, have any science stuff?"
"If we had time I'd say go for the third gas giant," Caterina replied. "We could mask our energy signature more easily."
"It'd take hours to get there at sublight," Apley pointed.
"Yeah, I know," Cat replied.
"Tell me you can get more jamming on their missiles, Cat," Zack asked.
"Well... I can try," she answered.
"Alright." Zack took a breath to steady his nerves. "Aurora is on our way, we just have to hold out as long as we can." He keyed the intercom. "Medbay, how is Lieutenant Barnes?"
"Tired of getting knocked around," Barnes retorted.
"Talking to the Doc, Tom."
"I mended his leg," Doctor Opani answered, her accent the lilting one of a Mayali Dorei. "He needs follow-up care, but given all of the shaking I'm guessing you need him on duty?"
"That I do, Doc. Tom, can you get me some shield power back?"
"Sure, I know some tricks. There's always some room to shore 'em up even if they've been strained."
"Get to it. Hostile coming in...." Zack almost asked when, but didn't have to. He looked on the screen as the bigger, nastier cousin of the destroyer they'd just vaporized dropped out of warp, bristling with torpedo and missile bays and disruptor cannon emplacements. "Evasive Plan Charlie, Ap, and get us close without going by those missile bays."
"Yes sir."
"Communication coming in," Magda said.
"Go ahead and put them on," Zack answered.
"Alliance warship, this is Kapitän Heydrich of the Scharnhorst. You are in violation of the territory of the Third Reich and have murdered the crew of a Reich vessel. Surrender your vessel immediately or it shall be destroyed or taken, and no mercy shall be shown."
Caterina let out a stifled whimper. Lucy eyed Zack. "They'll probably be worse than Duffy was," she remarked, reminding Zack that Lucy was no stranger to what ruthless men could do to those in their power.
"Yeah, but it might let us stall for time." Zack nodded to Magda. "Kapitän Heydrich, this is Commander Zachary Carrey of the Alliance starship Koenig. If you want someone for the deaths of that crew, I'll beam over and you can hold me, but I won't turn my crew over to you. Let them go with this ship."
"That is unacceptable." There was a sharp click.
"They're locking on!", Magda shouted.
"Evasives, Apley!"
Koenig began to maneuver just in time as emerald beams of disruptor energy lashed out at them. The Koenig drew close, phasers blazing and pounding the shields of the larger vessel. "Enemy shields holding, only down to 94%," Magda answered. "This ship is tougher than the cruiser we worked with in Krellan Nebula, it's got an armored hull backing up its shielding."
Zack watched another large blast of green energy go by the screen, one of many small and large bursts and beams trying to hit his ship. "We're just buying time for Aurora to get here. Put all power to engines and shields."
The ship lurched under them, showing that despite Apley's best piloting efforts they couldn't avoid every shot. "Some of those disruptor weapons are packing a punch," Magda warned.
"Make sure to keep away from those super-disruptors then, Ap,"
"Yes sir," Apley answered.
Under his control Koenig made a tight turn as it came out by the aft of the Scharnhorst, avoiding the aft disruptors as they did. Missiles flew out of their launch bay and started tracking to acquire.
"Cat, we could use..."
"I know." Caterina manipulated something on the control. "I'm sending out interference, but I can only spoof so many!"
The ship rocked violently as a missile found them, followed by a direct hit by a disruptor. "Shields down to twenty-six percent!", Magda warned. "Damage on Deck 2."
"Keep it up, Ap," Zack urged, watching Sherlilly take what shots she could. More torpedoes went out, slamming into shields. "Status on that battlecruiser, April?"
"Their shields are stiill holding at eighty percent." The Koenig shook again. "We're whittling them down but we haven't gotten the shields low enough to make a difference."
"We just have to keep ourselves in the game," Zack said.
The Koenig made another tight turn in space to resume a strafing run along the Nazi battlecruiser's belly. Phaser fire defiantly hammered at the big swastika insignia on the lower bow, held back by the cruiser's powerful shields. The ship twisted and weaved to avoid fire. Missiles pursuing it didn't always hit, missing thanks to Caterina's desperate jamming efforts or even slamming into the Scharnhorst's shields themselves.
It was a shark versus a whale; the whale was big, it could take hits, but it couldn't keep up with the shark.
Zack tried not to hope for too much. He wasn't out to take this ship down, just to survive long enough for the Aurora to get here so they could dock and get away from this mess of a mission.
Apley's job was harder, trying to not allow the missiles to hit them at launch but also to avoid getting too close to the big "super-disruptor" emplacements on the Reich battlecruiser. He did his job as well as he could... but found that one maneuver to avoid a torpedo put him in a position to have to risk either. Seeing the missiles launching he made a split second decision to risk the disruptor, trying to time it between shots. They came up on the weapon.
It fired.
The Koenig shook violently under them. Feedback from the battered shields caused Apley's station to explode in sparks, making him cry out from the burns that resulted. "Shields down below ten percent!", Magda shouted. "Damage on all decks, forward port sections!"
"I've lost the port phasers!", Sherlily added.
That news was bad enough. But there was worse.
For one pivotal moment, there was no helm control on Koenig.
Missiles fired from the battlecruiser converged, along with the other emplacements training on a ship that was not quite so hard to hit as it had been. Despite Caterina's efforts to deflect the missiles, two still went off close enough to do damage. More sparks showered from the Koenig's overloaded power systems.
Zack's spirits fell when Magda told him what he already knew.
"We've lost shields."
Zack nodded. "Apley, you good?"
"Yes sir," Apley answered. "Burns aren't that bad, I still have my fingers."
"Keep the evasives up. This ship was built to take punishment..." The ship rocked violently again as another disruptor slammed into their armored hull, vaporizing chunks off. "...and we'll have to see how much she takes."
Apley nodded. "Maintaining evasive pattern."
"Good. As long as we're shooting at them, they can't risk dropping shields to beam...."
"Sir, the third Reich ship is coming out of warp," Magda warned. "It's another Z-2500. They're en route to intercept us."
Zack settled his head against his hand, ignoring another jostle from a glancing hit. There's no way to win this. Dammit, Rob, where are you?! Zack fumed over that. Where were the others? Why hadn't they gotten here yet? Was there more sabotage? More problems?
They never should have launched the mission. They should have aborted, dammit, the moment those security problems were showing up. Why hadn't Robert done the smart thing!? Why had he gambled on their lives?!
Damn you, Rob was the thought that came to him, not as unbidden as it might have otherwise been.
"Maintain evasive maneuvers as well as you can," he said.
"I'm trying." On the screen the newly-arrived Reich destroyer moved in. They had a clear shot if they didn't mind hitting the Scharnhorst. And he figured they wouldn't.
That was it. He'd lost. There was nothing more he could do. Zack felt helpless, so utterly helpless...
...just as he had when he saw his father was dead.
Looks like I might join you, Dad. Hope wherever we are going has a bar for us to share that drink.
"Commander!"
Magda's voice didn't immediately register with Zack so far into his thoughts, thinking about his father and all they hadn't done. It was only when she shouted his rank again that he looked over. "What?"
"New contact!" She looked at him and smiled as widely as he'd ever seen her do so. "The Aurora just warped in!"
Zack had to force the breath out of his lungs at hearing that, just to resume breathing.
Jarod had replaced Jupap at Ops. "The Koenig has lost shields and taken heavy damage."
"And it looks like we've got that battlecruiser's attention," Angel said from tactical. "They're locking weapons."
"Put me on, Jarod." Robert checked the seat harness. "This is Captain Robert Dale of the Alliance Starship Aurora. If you hold your fire, we'll hold our's. We only want to get our ship out of your terri..."
Thick beams of green energy lashed ou from the Nazi battlecruiser and hit Aurora's shields. "I think we have our answer," Julia noted drolly.
"They fired first." Robert sighed. The entire mission had gone to hell. "Lock weapons on both ships and fire."
The Aurora's forward weapons erupted in fire. Phaser fire and the thick blue pulses of the bow plasma cannons hammered at the Reich battlecruiser. A few shots were sent toward the enemy destroyer as well. Both ships turned to face them.
"Tell Zack to get docked ASAP."
"Sending the order."
More disruptor bolts crashed into them, although some missed due to Locarno's maneuvering. As missiles closed the distance the smallest emplacements on the hull fired out at them, destroying some before they could hit the shields. "Shields now at ninety-one percent."
"Status of their shields?", Robert asked Jarod.
"Down to sixty-five, I think. The destroyer's shields are holding at eighty."
Robert nodded. "Alright Zack, we've given you an opening, get over here so we can leave."
There was no premature celebration on Koenig's bridge. They weren't out of danger yet and everyone present knew this. "Head to the Aurora, full speed," Zack ordered. "Get ready for emergency combat docking."
"Aye sir." Apley's hands moved over the control panel.
Koenig broke away from the two ships. Suddenly the ship lurched underneath them. "The battlecruiser locked us in a tractor beam," Magda said.
"Suggestions?"
"Yeah. Shoot it."
"I'm locking with the dorsal phaser array," Sherlily said. "Firing."
On Aurora the ship shook again as the full fury of the Scharnhorst rained on them. "Shields down to seventy-eight percent," Jarod warned. "The battlecruiser's shields are now at fifty percent."
"Keep it coming, Angel," Julia said.
Angel focused on her board. The bow cannons blazed as quickly as the systems allowed, pummeling the enemy ship over and over with their thick sapphire bursts. Phaser fire and torpedoes struck out, some hitting the incoming missiles on their way to impacting on the batlecruiser. Locarno twisted the Aurora and kept the bow pointed toward them, allowing Angel to get another shot from the main cannons. The bursts of sapphire energy slammed into the enemy shields again while missiles and disruptor fire made their ship shake. "Shields holding at seventy percent."
"Laurent's ready for launch," Julia reminded Robert.
He shook his head. "Then we'd have to take time recovering them. Hold off on that. Miss Al-Rashad, any sign of further contacts?"
"Just one on long range sensors, at least half an hour away at current warp velocity."
"We have some time, then," Julia mused.
"Still not enough. Angel...?"
"Throwing everything we have at it," she answered. "They're maneuvering, I think they're trying to keep us from hitting their tractor emitter."
"Stay with them Nick."
"Doing what I can," he answered.
On Koenig the ship was rattling as they strained against the enemy tractor beam. "Suggestions?", Zack said. "The phaser isn't doing it."
"There's not much we can do without Aurora's help," Magda pointed out. "With the engine damage we can't pull out fo the tractor."
"Okay, we can't. We improvise. Cat, tell me you have some sneaky technobabble?"
"I' already tried everything we can do on Koenig," Caterina answered.
"Anthing you could do on Aurora?"
"Afraid not. This is brute forced-tech, its not going to be easily broken from technical tricks."
"Come one, Cat, you're giving up on it?"
"Of course not", she angrily countered. "But I can only do so much with the equipment we have on this ship. I mean, this ship wasn't meant for flexibility, she was built to shoot things. All she's really got is good combat sensors to see things with, weapons to shoot them with, and the tractor beam in case it wants to tow something.... around...."
Caterina's expression shifted just as Zack's did, the two minds arriving at the same destination from different paths. "The tractor beam,", they said in unison.
"Sir?"
"Magda, lock the tractor beam on their tractor beam," Zack ordered.
"Wait, what? But that will..."
"Ordinarily it wouldn't do much," Caterina agreed. "But I'm already altering the tractor emitter. Instead of a steady graviton stream, this will be a burst. It should go it like... like... something really dense smashing through something not as dense."
"Works for me," Zack said.
"That should do it... activate tractor beam now."
Magda didn't wait for Zack to follow up with a direct order. She triggered it.
The rear tractor emitter of the Koenig sent out a burst of blue energy that intersected the ribbon of red light holding Aurora in place. The enemy tractor beam failed and Koenig, freed from her fight with it, shot forward like a rocket, aimed right at the Aurora.
The ship shuddered violently under them. "They're targeting our impulsors," Magda warned. "Glancing hit on starboard impulsor housing. We're losing some power."
"Evasive pattern, Apley, but get us to Aurora!"
The Koenig shot free after the Nazi battlecruiser's tractor beam failed. As they raced forward, the enemy destroyer loomed up behind them, pouring disruptor fire into their rear. "Clever, they modified their tractor beam," Jarod remarked.
"Angel, get that destroyer off of them!"
Angel nodded and directed the awesome forward firepower of her ship on the Nazi destroyer.
The bolts of sapphire energy enveloped the small vessel. Its shields failed and flame erupted as the entire ship's bow came apart. It exploded in a fiery blaze when the barrage didn't cease.
The battlecruiser started focusing fire on the Koenig as well, now on their port side due to maneuvering. "Extend the shields," Julia ordered.
"Doing so." The ship started to shake. "Shield effectiveness is going down, we're at just fifty-two percent now."
Robert nodded. "Broadside fire, Angel."
The phaser arrays and quad-cannon emitters on the port lashed out at the enemy ship, striking its shields and intercepting the Nazi missiles before they could hit Koenig. "They're on docking approach."
"Open the doors, Jarod. All hands, brace for Emergency Combat Docking."
Apley swung Koenig up around the Aurora's nacelle, shifting the inertia of the ship through subspace to avoid overshooting on their course. Zack watched quietly and with a bit of trepidation, but only a bit. They'd trained for this maneuver several times.
The tricky thing was that it still involved docking with a moving starship in combat conditions and getting right on target. The slightest mistake and the Koenig would plow into other parts of the Aurora, damaging both ships severely. A big enough impact could even destroy Koenig.
For a moment, Zack regretted not forcing Apley to let him take the helm, given the burns on his hands. But it was too late; all he could do was show faith in his XO.
Apley fired the impulsors up to an overtake speed, but not too high of one. He gradually reduced them and fired retro-thrusters as they came up to the opened dock door. He twisted the ship ever so slightly to fit the airlock extension and the support struts.
Impact.
The Koenig shook hard as it slammed into place, but the landing struts and airlock held from the impact.
"We're docked, sir," Apley informed them all, his voice even and level, not at all like he had just threaded a needle at thousands of kilometers per second. "Establishing airlock now."
"Good landing, Ap," Zack sighed, feeling a surge of relief.
It was over.
They were safe.
The impact of the Koenig's high speed landing jolted the bridge too. "Koenig is docked," Jarod reported. "Closing dock doors."
Robert nodded and felt the ship shake again as another antimatter missile hit their shields. "Locarno, get us out of here, maximum warp."
"Getting us the hell out of here... now." Locarno finished laying the course in and triggered the warp drive.
"Are they pursuing?", Julia asked.
"Yes ma'am," Ensign al-Rashad said from Science. "They're at Warp 9.4. 9.5. 9.6."
"We're now at Warp 9.7," Locarno said.
"9.65. 9.67. 9.6.... wait. They're dropping out of warp. I'm picking up a shift in their drive signature. I think they overloaded it."
"Always comforting to know we can always run away," Angel remarked.
"Yeah. But we got what we came for." Robert pressed the intercom. "Bridge to Security. Meridina, Commander Kane, get your teams and sweep the Koenig. Let's make sure our friend isn't aboard her."
"I do not believe it is. But we will check," Meridina answered.
"ETA to Harris, Locarno?"
"At current speed we should arrive in five hours."
"Once we're over the border, reduce our speed to Warp 9. No point in straining the engines even more." Robert wiped at his forehead. "I'm not in any hurry to face Admiral Davies anyway."
"I don't think any of us are," Julia agreed.
Ship's Log: 15 May 2641; ASV Aurora. Captain Robert Dale recording. We have returned to Harris Station for repair work. The mission was a technical success with the destruction of the Darglan data facility, but the cost.... the cost was too high, not just in those killed by the Changeling and the Nazis but in the fact we got into a fight with them. We knew peace was unlikely, but our actions may have made it impossible.
The command crew was sitting around the table in the conference room, including the officers from the Koenig. "Between our losses to the Changeling and the battle, we have twelve dead, fifteen wounded," Doctor Opani said from her seat near the end. The young Dorei woman, her skin a dark teal with light purple spots and dark purple hair, looked like she was going to choke. "I did all I could to stabilize some of the worst cases..."
"We've got them stabilized," Leo finished for her, giving his fellow physician a sympathetic look. "All of the remaining critical cases have a good chance at recovery."
"How long will it take to repair the Koenig?", Robert asked.
Zack looked to Derbely. "Two weeks at normal cycle time, sir," she answered. "The dock is a drydock in miniature so that's not the issue, it's simply having to fix all of the damage."
Julia nodded and looked down the table. "Scotty, do you think...?"
"Aye." Scotty nodded and looked to the younger woman. "I'll assign ye some teams, Lieutenant. We'll have th' girl up an' about again in nae time."
"Thank you, sir," Derbely answered. "I'll also need some replacements. I lost people, and I'm not sure Lieutenant Lopana will recover enough for ship duty."
"We'll speak with fleet personnel. Until then I'll leave Scotty and Tom to see who can be spared for Koenig," Robert said. "Well, that handles that subject. What about the computers? How much data was compromised?"
Jarod looked up. "We can rule out the IU jump drive technical data, the Changeling never compromised our computer security on it. At the very least, it could have sent out some of the data on naqia and non-critical ship information. And unsealed personnel data."
Robert nodded. "Any more surprises?"
"Security and Engineer personnel have been scouring the ship," Meridina said. "No further sabotage charges have been found, and the data we have so far hints that there were no others set. The greater issue is our computer security. The Changeling installed so many bypasses into our internal systems that computer security is completely compromised."
"We'll have to do a complete restoration from off-site backups," Jarod explained. "Which means a lot of systems will need to be brought offline completely. We'll probably require a week in spacedock ourselves."
"I'll forward the request," Robert said. "Caterina, that data... was it worth it?"
"I don't know yet," she answered. The bags under her eyes showed Caterina hadn't slept at all the prior night. "I've been going over what we recovered, sorting technical data and astrographical... all I can tell you right now is that it has more universe designations and a great deal of astrographical data in this universe. I'm hoping it will tell us where the main Facility for S4W8 is."
"I'm hoping it's not on Earth," Julia remarked, her hands together. "If the Nazis get any indication of how to search for these things..."
"We'll worry about that when we confirm it," Robert said. "Is there anything else?" When there was no immediate answer, Robert stood. "Alright, we'll adj..."
"I've got something."
All eyes turned on Zack. He had been quiet during the entire meeting, only speaking when his ship was involved. Now he looked at Robert. Robert could see that his friend's eyes were smoldering and lined with a bit of red. "Zack?", Robert asked.
"Why didn't you warn me, Rob?" Zack put his hand on the table. "Why didn't you tell me about this security leak before I left? If I'd known something was up, I would have been checking our systems, I would've seen the sabotage to our comm systems. Hell, I wouldn't have let that Changeling go one step without escort if you'd told me Draynal was a suspect!"
Robert sighed. "I made a judgement call. We had nothing solid and the mission..."
Zack's fist slammed on the table, startling everyone. "A judgement call?!", he shouted. "Seriously! You don't trust me with vital information because... what, you were afraid I'd abort? Were you so damned dedicating to pulling this mission off that you didn't care about what might go wrong?!"
"That's not what it was, Zack," Robert replied, his voice going up too. "I just... I have my reasons, but I knew that mission had to be fulfilled! And I didn't have enough warning to see what was..."
Zack leaned over and got in his face. "Twelve of my crew are dead Rob!" He brought a finger up so close it almost pressed against Robert's cheek. "Twelve! And I'm the one who has to write their families! I've got to tell a widower his only daughter got turned to vapor! Or maybe you'd like to tell Pammy DeSoto that her husband got flash-fried!"
"I had to make the call Zack!," Robert shot back. "That's my job! And that means people are going to die!"
"Easy for you to say when you weren't the one who's ass was getting shot up by...!"
"ENOUGH!" Julia's shout echoed in the room as she jumped to her feet. She took both and pushed them away from each other with her arms, getting between them. "That's enough, from both of you!" She faced Zack. "I'm sorry, Zack. Rob thought it was the right call." She turned to face Robert. "But he should have told you."
"It is my responsibility as much as Robert's," Meridina offered, standing as well. "You are right to be upset, Zachary. But please do not let your anger control you."
Zack's jaw clenched as he continued to glare at Robert and be glared back in return. "I'm done here," he finally said, turning away. "Permission to be excused, Captain."
Robert nodded stiffly. "Excused."
Zack made a mocking salute and stormed off, joined by the Koenig command crew. The Aurora crew looked around until Robert waved them off as well. "Julia, go inform Harris Station we need spacedock time, please," Robert said. "I'll be in the ready room checking my final report."
She nodded, sensing he needed time alone. Robert walked across the bridge and entered the ready room office. He remembered Farmer telling him about such offices almost two years before. "A place for the Captain to decompress when he's on duty." He felt like he needed it.
Robert found his seat and drew in a breath when examining his report. He had taken full responsibility for what happened, for the decision to launch the operation regardless of the security risk, and for its disastrous result. It was the least he could do.
With the touch of a button Robert sent the report off to Maran. He brought up another document. The casualty list, both the dead crew from Aurora's contingent to the mission and those Koenig lost. The numbers were horrifying; Zack had lost over a quarter of his small crew. No wonder he was angry.
At that point it just hit home. His bad judgement had cost sixteen lives, not counting the hundreds of crew on those destroyed Reich vessels. He'd ruined a clandestine operation, violated the space of another sovereign power, and fired on their ships in their own space.
He'd almost gotten Zack, Cat, Tom, and Lucy killed.
All because of a nightmare.
How in the hell could he put that in a report?!
The stress of the last week finally proved too much with this result. Robert broke down and actually began crying, feeling like he was being crushed.
After her bridge watch Julia decided to check up on Zack. She went to his quarters, saw he was home, and hit the door chime. After several seconds it opened. She stepped in and saw him leaning over on his sofa seat. "How are you?"
"I feel like crap," he said. "I sent off the condolence letters already, so you don't have to bug me about those." He looked up at her with the eyes of someone who had wrestled with his thoughts and was tired of it.
"You... I wasn't coming to nag, Zack," Julia said. "I wanted to make sure you were okay."
"Yeah. I know." Zack stood up. "I'm... I'm just tired of this." He walked up to her, his eyes red from tears and his expression full of apprehension and dread. "I've got to get this off my chest, no matter what happens."
Julia tilted her head. "Zack, are you okay? What's wrong?"
Zack put his hands on Julia's shoulders before she could stop him. "I've always felt this way, Julia Andreys," he said. "I... I love you, Julia."
Those words froze Julia just before she went to pull herself out of his grip.
"I'll always love you...", Zack continued. "I don't think I can ever get over it. You're just... you're... I can't think of how to say it but to say..."
They were so close that his breath actually felt warm on her face. A not-so-unfamiliar odor came across. "Zack... are you...."
He let her go and stepped away. "There, I said it," he said, sighing with finality. As if he knew the answer. "Now, all I want to ask is... would you ever say the same to me?"
Julia's words met her thoughts and jumbled up. "What?"
"Julia, I only want honesty. Please, just honesty," Zack pleaded. "I can't move on without an honest answer. I just... I have to know! Could you ever love me? Could we ever have something together, something more?"
Julia stared at him for a moment, trying to process what he was saying. She remembered how much of a crush Zack had on her in school, but she always figured that was just because she was one of the few girls he didn't have a chance with. But... love? "Zack, what are you saying?"
"I'm saying, Julia, that I am deeply in love with you, that I have loved you for years and that it has become pure torture for me to be this close to you without working up the guts to ask." Zack went over to his table and leaned on it. "And I'm just tired of it. I just want to know if there's any hope of you ever feeling that way about me. I want to be more than your friend."
"Zack, you're kind of putting me on the spot here," Julia pointed out, feeling completely bewildered and off-balance. She'd come to give comfort, not find out... this.
"I'm sorry, I'm just...." Zack had tears in his eyes. "On Adrana. That computer being gave me the world she thought I wanted. She gave me a world where we were married. Where we were together and happy."
Oh God. Julia felt... she didn't know how to feel. She felt sympathy and confusion and even some disgust.
"It wasn't real. I... I realized it. But it made all of that come back. And then I talked to my Dad and to Clara and..." Zack sniffled. "I just can't stand not knowing any more. I just want to know. Is there hope? Is there any chance, Julia, that you could feel love for me, that we could become a family?"
"Stop pushing it, Zack," Julia retorted. "Do you expect me to just, in a few seconds, decide something like that?! We've never even dated before, we've..."
"We've known each other since we were kids," Zack countered. "You know me and I know you. And I think you are the most smart, beautiful, and talented woman to ever exist. And I would move heaven and earth to...." He stopped, seeing the expression on her face. He shook his head. "You don't. You won't."
"Zack..."
"Don't." He held up a hand. "I've been around you long enough. You don't feel that way toward me."
Julia swallowed and shook her head. "You're right. You're my friend but I just... that's all I see us as."
"And there's no hope of that changing."
"Well..." Julia shook her head and shrugged. "I don't know, I..."
"Don't you dare," he hissed. "Don't you Goddamn dare do that to me, Julie. Don't you string it out!"
"What is it you want from me, Zack?!," Julia screamed, her patience at an end. "You're a good friend, and you're funny and sweet and kind, but no, I don't see you as a lover or a future husband or anything. I love you to death as a friend, but that's all we'll be. And I'm not sure if that would ever change or not. I don't know the damn future! Now, I don't know what's gotten into you, but I do know this won't solve anything!"
And with that, she lifted the opened tequila bottle from the table by the sofa.
Zack stared at her and at the bottle, its amber liquid within jostling slightly from her movement. The bottle was missing over a quarter of its contents
"You're drinking this stuff, Zack!" Julia put the bottle back down. "Is it really me driving you to this? Why... you rarely like beer, now you're drinking like your Dad!"
"Yeah." Zack held up a shot glass that was on the desk, a bit of tequila left in it. In one move he sent it down his throat. "Yeah, I am. Trying to see if Dad was right. If it'd make the pain go away."
"Zack...."
"I'd hoped you'd think about it," he confided. "But I can't beat him, can I?"
"Who?"
"Rob." He slammed the glass on the desk so hard that Julia thought it would break. "He gets you, he gets Angel... he gets to be the Captain too. Robert Dale, the big hero!" He postured wildly, striking a melodramatic pose. "And Julia, the true love who swoons over him and never ever lets him know it."
Julia's face paled. It was the kind of pale that would make a smarter man, or in this case more sober man, stop.
"And there's me, Zachary Carrey. The also-ran. The second-best. The hanger-on." Each term seemed to drip more and more venom. "He gets it all and here I am, in his shadow." He walked by her and picked up the bottle. "He can even send me to get killed and the only thing I can do about it is be his loyal dog or run away. Run away run away run away.... maybe I should. Maybe I should give all of this crap up and go back home."
"Zack, you don't mean that! Rob's your best friend, I'm your best friend! We're all here for you."
"Yeah. All for one and all for one, eh?" He held up the glass and seemed to reconsider that. "Huh. Got that wrong. Must be working. Maybe a few more shots and the pain will go away."
At that moment Julia felt a tear on her own eye. "Zack, we should have breakfast tomorrow. All of us. We should all get together and help you through this."
"Yeah. God knows I need it." Zack poured another shot. "I'm a true Carrey, and you know how hopeless we are if we don't have someone watching over us, making sure we don't screw it up, right? Otherwise we'll go back to the bottle. Cheers."
He brought the shotglass up. Julia shrieked and lashed out, smacking his hand and sending the shotglass and its contents flying into the near wall, where the tequila splattered and the glass shattered. She felt words come to her tongue, but couldn't quite get them out. She looked into Zack's sad brown eyes and the red lines around them and... Julia realized she didn't know what to do. How could she fix this? How could she make it better? When it was clear that every moment she was here, she was twisting the knife in his heart.
His words had struck home too. Julia hadn't realized how much it hurt that Robert was with Angela again while she was still alone.
Maybe I should be getting plastered with him, was the dour thought that crossed her mind.
"I'll... I'll leave you alone," she finally said, trying to fight the tears. "But Zack, please... we're here for you. I know this is something you need to do for yourself, but if you need us we're here."
"Yeah, like always."
And she couldn't take it anymore. The tears were rolling down Julia's face as she stormed out of the room.
Zack watched her leave and the door close. Through the haze in his head his heart was still hurting, aching. He'd confirmed it was as bad as he thought. There was no hope. The woman he loved did not love him and would never love him. "Guess it's time to move on," he muttered, holding the bottle of tequila in his hand. "Hey Dad, havin' that drink." He brought the bottle up like he was toasting. "Let's see if you were right."
At that point, he didn't bother getting another shotglass to replace the broken one. He put the opening of the bottle to his lips and took as big a drink as he could manage.
Tag
Meridina had returned to Security and found a message marked urgent. Seeing it was Lucy, Meridina went straight to her quarters. As an assistant department head Lucy had her own quarters on Deck 4, not as large as a department head but sufficiently comfortable. Meridina entered and found it dark. Lucy was sitting on her bed in a nightgown, her knees curled up to her chin. She looked over at Meridina and showed that she had been unable to sleep and was under tremendous emotional stress. "Lucy, what is wrong?"
"What... what's happening to me?", Lucy said, tears in her eyes. "Because it's not making sense. I've got this thing in me now and it saved us but then it got cold and terrible and I ... I..."
Meridina's expression froze. She swallowed and walked up to Lucy, sitting beside her on the bed. She pressed a hand to Lucy's arm and felt the turmoil roiling with her. No, not just the turmoil.
She felt Lucy's swevyra. Where it had once been a small ember, it was a fire now. She had called upon it intentionally, repeatedly, and it had come. But now it wouldn't go away either.
"Can you make it stop?", Lucy asked. "It's..."
"I cannot," Meridina answered. "You have opened yourself to your swevyra, Lucy. It cannot be undone."
"But it scares me," she said, her voice hoarse. "At first it was... it was just useful, it saved our lives, let me fight the Changeling. But then it was trying to pull me back into the facility and I couldn't break free and I just... I was afraid and then angry and I just started to hate it and I wanted to rip it apart and then everything turned cold."
Meridina swallowed and clasped another hand to Lucy's shoulder. "Yes. You're not trained to deal with your emotions when wielding your swevyra. It brought forth the darkness within you."
"Tom said my eyes were turning yellow and that my hand was shooting out lightning!"
"Yes. That is what happens when swevyra is joined with darkness." Meridina found her own mind racing. She had to tell Ledosh about this, she had to share this with the whole Order. "I... I may have done you a disservice for introducing this power to you, and for that I am sorry. This is dangerous. You must learn to control your emotions when wielding your swevyra."
"Can you show me how? Please? Show me how to do this!"
"I..." Meridina lowered her eyes. "I must consult my superiors on Gersal. But you must promise me, do not use your swevyra again, not until I say! This is important, Lucy."
Lucy nodded. "I'll... I'll try..."
"No," Meridina growled, frowning. For Lucy the sight of her frown and the growl in her voice was terrifying, so completely unlike Meridina as it was. "Lucy, you do not try. You just do it. You must!"
"But if I can't...?"
"Then..." Meridina shook her head. "If you use it without training and let your darkness take over... it corrupts your swevyra, your very essence. Few have ever come back from corruption. They... they become murderers and monsters, they lose control and lash out at everything."
"That would... happen to me?", Lucy murmured, still terrified.
"It could. But it would not."
"Why not?"
"Because..." Meridina's face lost all emotion. "....I would kill you first."
It was the middle of the night when the chime went off in Robert's quarters. He shifted in bed, prompting Angel to slide off him in her sleep, and reached over for the comm button on the nightstand. "Dale here," he said, his vision still blurry from being tired.
"Admiral Maran is on comms for you, sir."
Sighing, Robert pulled his uniform jacket on as he went to his personal computer in his quarters and triggered the comm system. Maran appeared, dawn light behind him. "Admiral?", Robert asked.
"Captain Dale, I'm changing your orders. You will report to Fleet Command Spacedock immediately."
Robert blinked. "Sir? is there something going on?"
Maran nodded. "You're being called before the Defense Committee, Captain Dale. You and your entire command staff."
That made Robert swallow. "This is about the mission, right?"
"It is," Maran answered. "I'm doing everything I can to help, but..."
"But what?"
Maran lowered his eyes. "You're facing a lot of criticism here in Portland, Robert. If the Defense Committee finds against you, the President and I won't have any choice. You and your crew will be removed from the Aurora. Permanently."
