Allies, Rebels, and Strange Bedfellows

Posted on Fri Oct 16th, 2020 @ 3:57am by Commodore Phoenix Lalor-Richardson & Lieutenant Sapphire Morgan [Lalor] & Lieutenant Colonel Azhul Naxea

Mission: SEASON 4: Episode 1: Know Thy Self!
Location: USS Elysium, Bridge / Elsewhere
Timeline: MD-4 Late
2541 words - 5.1 OF Standard Post Measure

Jessica watched as the ISS Elysium drifted harmlessly with several ships around it, who had pretty much helped the USS Elysium disable the ship and what appeared to be a Klingon Battlecruiser. Now that they had about half their crew onboard, she needed to know who they were fighting with.

"Lieutenant Morgan, lets find out who our friends are. After all, the enemy of our enemy." Jess noted as she sat down in the center chair.

"Attention unknown vessels. This is Lt. Commander Jessica Vaii. Acting Captain of the USS Elysium. We are grateful for your assistance in battle however we would like to know your intentions." Jessica noted. The Rebels would recognize her voice from the distress beacon in the security center.

Mishka heard the transmission, =^="USS Elysium, this is the Havraha Riov Valdran commanding. I assisted in your release, thus that makes me your ally". She turned to her XO, "Sounds as if this Federation doesn't trust us, get our crew off that floating wreck with the data they have liberated. I want to be able to get the hell out of here, if it becomes complicated". The Romulan Officer just nodded and began recovery of his people.

"I am Kie-Tanhuekuk Cipro O'Ganus, Ojnas Republic. We responded to your call for aid, I would suggest you do not turn your weapons towards us". Kie-Sinkahue Mocis Meguri turned to his weapons Officer, "Raise shields and arm our weapons, this Federation is as untrustworthy as the Empire".

Jessica looked at Morgan and then Gregory. 'Goddesses almighty, the Romulan Bitch who kidnapped Phoenix? Helping?!?!'

Jessica then spoke. "We are not going to engage in hostile actions against any of you. For the time being, our enemy is this Terran Empire. We've just spent three days fighting for our lives against Captain Gary Taylor and the ISS Elysium. In all my fourteen years of service in the Federation Starfleet, I have never witnessed such brutality. The reports that I have include torture, slavery, brainwashing, rape, and the reports just keep on coming in." Jessica noted. "I think we're in an Alternate Universe, as in our universe, there is no Terran Empire, and no Human I've ever meet would dream of such barbarism. If you are boarding the ISS Elysium, I need you to assist in recovering our crew. We have several crewmembers who look like the Empire's crew but are not. Put it simply if their uniforms are not half-tops nor sleeveless, don't kill them, they are not your enemy!"

The view screen suddenly split as a face Jessica knew appeared. Jess was suddenly taken aback when she was looking her mother in her eyes. The pilot's eyes widened full width.

"Jessica... I've found..." Lucianna then saw Jessica's eyes begin widen and shake in pure shock.

"YOU!!!" Jessica shouted... "What are you..." She then looked Lucianna in the eyes. This was not the cruel and mercurial face of her mother back on Betazed.

Lucianna realized what was happening. "I won't hurt you my Darling, None of us here will. We are in fact here to help you, Lt. Commander Jessica Vaii. My daughters and sisters will go with our away teams onto the ISS Elysium. They will know who's one of your crew and who's a Terran. We've had to use our awareness to tell friend from foe before."

Jessica looked at Lucianna. "My mother has never done anything that selfless in her life.... alright... We need you to find our officers and our Captain. Know this. There is a man onboard the Terran ship who looks like Gary Taylor. Suffice to say, he is Gary Taylor. But he's our Executive Officer."

"Romulan bitch who kidnapped Phoenix?" Mishka looked to her XO, "Have we kidnapped this Phoenix?" Her XO shook his head, "Not that I'm aware of". She walked towards the screen, "Khoal, if your hiding something". The XO stepped back and raised his hands, "I swear, we have never kidnapped anyone called Phoenix". With this information she now decided to confront this USS Elysium, =^="USS Elysium, I have never kidnapped this Phoenix you speak of. And I resent the fact you brand me a slaver, have I not just fought for YOUR freedom?"=^= She turned and went back to her seat, "Khoal, keep our weapons trained on this USS Elysium, they may attack us for this lie they weave".

Jessica spoke. "My apologies, Commander Valdran. We've had dealings with your alternate in our universe, and it's a very long story which I would be glad to explain at a later time. For now we are very grateful for your assistance."

=^="Guard your words well Commander, in this place a miss-spoken word can kill a person. And I am a Riov, first you accuse me of kidnap now you insult me further by demoting me. Are all Federation Officers as insulting as you?"=^= She waved her hand towards Khoal, "Stand down for now, but be ready to react instantly". =^="Commander, my crew are abandoning the Empire vessel. If we find any of your crew, we will transport them to your location"=^=.

General Azhul listened to the conversation as she opened visual communications. It was all very fascinating but she still yet had a job to do. "This is General Azhul Naxea of the Alliance. If you value your soldier's lives, get them off the Terran ship as my orders are to see it destroyed."

Jessica spoke. "That I cannot allow you to do, General. The ship contains intelligence that the Federation will be interested in within our universe. This is no longer a matter of this universe alone, as they've crossed into our realm, kidnapped a Starfleet Captain, and have stolen Federation Technology from our realm. We want it back. I can guarantee you we will not be silent about the crimes the Empire has done to our people, nor will we ignore the possibility the Empire will traverse into our realm and attack are worlds. We are certainly going to gather anything in the ship's computer that will be of interest to Starfleet Intelligence and retrieve our technology. However, I can guarantee you, the ship will not remain in the Empire's hands, nor will it be returned to them and I'm sure the other parties here would agree?"

O'Ganus now spoke up, "We of the Ojnas Republic have troops on the Empire vessel, should it be fired upon we will take that as a declaration of hostilities. I believe that would be a very poor response to all that has been achieved so far, even the Alliance would find it difficult to defeat our Republic."

"Difficult but not impossible, which would make victory all the more satisfying," Naxea corrected, producing a small grin as she noticed off screen at the sensor readout that her two escorts had arrived from Regent Martok and were still cloaked, awaiting orders. She then looked at Jessica. "You are in the wrong universe to make demands, Federation. Fix your ship and go back to your own universe. The Alliance is tiring of your Federation. "Pray we do not grow more weary," she now scowled at the woman.

Studying the tactical situation, K'Tar moved next to Naxea, whispering something into her ear, causing her smile to grow, nodding in response. "Very well. Keep your troop's precious lives," Naxea then cut communication.

"Helm, back us off of the ISS Elysium and target their engineering and fire the disruptor cannon when we are are at sufficient distance. We won't destroy them but they won't be space worthy anytime soon. Inform our K'Vort escorts to take up defensive positions on the Ojnas vessels and hold fire unless they attack us."

As the Dahkur backed away, the disruptor cannon powered up and fired. The massive pulse struck the ISS Elysium, visibly causing the ship to lurch and several decks in the engineering section to buckle, some sections collapsing altogether from the impact as other sections were exposed to the vacuum of space due to damage before the emergency forcefields could be raised automatically by the computer, containing several secondary explosions within the section, causing the ISS Elysium's primary shields to fail, the generators sacrificing themselves and saving the ship from certain destruction had the ship had no shields.

Turned towards her crew. "Return fire, Launch all fighters and bombers. I want those ships taken down. Instruct the Onjas and Rebels to engage and fire at will." Jessica barked. Phaser blasts and Quantum Torpedoes lanced towards the Alliance vessels, and put us between the ISS and the Klingons." Alpha and Beta wings launched from the Elysium and began to converge on Naxea's ship.

Having recovered all her crew, Mishka had backed away from the Elysium just as she had been hit. The Havraha rocked violently, "Khoal! Engage cloak and close on the Alliance vessel, put me just behind their bridge". The Romulan XO gave the helm the orders and the Havraha faded from view and scanners, moving swiftly to her new position. The incoming fire made it a hot place to be, but Mishka knew it was the right place to appear. "Send to the Alliance vessel, stand down or I'll blow you bridge and forward section to Areinnye (Hell)". Khoal now sent the message. as the Havraha reappeared right behind the most vulnerable part of the Alliance ship.

The Ojnas Kie-Tanhuekuk Cipro O'Ganus maneuvered his five ships along side the USS Elysium, "This is an act of war, your Klingon pets have withheld vital information. Our vessels are more than able to defeat yours, and the Republic will stand with the Rebels against your treacherous Alliance". the Ojnas then opened fire on Naxea.

The K'Vort Class Heavy Escorts decloaked as they opened fire on the Ojnas vessels, strafing them with disruptor and photon torpedo fire. Aboard the AWS Dahkur, General Azhul could not understand these people. First they were attacking the ISS Elysium. Now they were defending it. That made them enemies of the Alliance. She then heard the threat from the romulan and chuckled. "Helm, initiate a warp pulse on mark. Three...two...one...Mark!"

The Dahkur seemingly used a short warp jump without fully powering up their engines by field-saturating the nacelles, firing the engines at maximum intensity and then disengaging them. This method caused the Dahkur to seemingly jump without warning to a new, advantageous position. "Bring engines online in case we need them," Naxea ordered. "Tactical, fire a full spread of Quantum torpedoes, maximum spread and yield. Fire full disruptors! Bring up the point defense systems for those fighters." The Dahkur, like the beast she was unleashed her deadly potential, spewing forth death

As the Dahkur suddenly moved, Mishka fired a spread of torpedo's. Three slamed into the Alliance vessel, "Khoal, get us the hell out of here. Close up to the Serpents Tooth and watch their six". The Havraha moved quickly into place, and waited to see what would happen next.

---

On the ISS Elysium, Lianej was mopping up survivors, sending their alternate reality versions back to their own ship, and sending those from her own to the Serpents Tooth. "Captain!" A voice barked from her comm. "Garrison's back with his prize, and there's an Alliance ship and a new one firing at each other!"

"Start the disengage." The ISS Elysiums failsafes would seal the bulkheads when the drills pulled away. "And get me back on board."

She was barely reassembled by the transporter when she took stock of the battle. Mishka was keeping a safe distance, and didn't look to be in need of an assist. It would be another minute before the drills were detached and they'd be free to move. "If it comes to it, our job is to get the other us's back where they came from. Afterthat, its the enemy we know. The Alliance. The terran ship is no threat to anyone now. Hail the new Elysium."

The chanel opened. "USS Elysium, I'm Lianej Derani, captain of the Serpents Tooth, We've sent you as many of your people as we could find. Can we assist you further?"

Jessica spoke. "Get your warp engines online. We won't be able to stay here." Jessica thought her options. "Tactical, I'm authorizing the use of Tri-Cobalt Torpedos on that station to give us cover as we retreat. Call back our fighters and the Rebels back. This is going to be one hell of an explosion. Load the torpedoes into the aft launchers."

Jess moved towards the helm. "Use our tractor beam to tow the ISS Elysium. We neet to get the Klingons close to the base. Keep the base between that ship and the Klingons."

Jess opened a secure channel with the rebel ships. "Rebel and Onjas ships, form up and extend your shields around the ISS Elysium. We're going to need all the shields we have left. Once we fire these torpedoes. Push all your power to the warp engines and run like hell. You don't want to be here when I fire a volley of these kind of torpedoes."

"Havraha to Elysium, I will form up on the Serpents Tooth. Don't worry, I'll follow the rest". She spoke to Khoal, "Prepare for a warp jump, if she's about to let loose what I think. We most certainly don't want to be here, engage!"

On the Serpents Tooth, LIanej cut transmission. "Tricobalt warheads?" She asked Tserek. The Nausicaan shrugged. "I guess Terrans are just awful everywhere. Alright. Do as the lady says, but stay on them. Lets make sure they get home. One Gary Taylor in this universe is bad enough."

>>Tag Alliance and Rebels.

Jessica spoke as she saw the Klingon Vessels move near the station on pursuit courses. "Almost there. Fire and punch it!!'

The Elysium spat out six Tricobalt Torpedoes and immediately jumped to warp with the rebels.

Onboard General Azhul's ship, one of her officers spoke. "Tricobalt Torpedoes!!! Six of them!!!"

Six explosions literally crushed the station, and on top of that, a rift was opened in subspace where the base used to be. The shockwave tore one of the K'Vort cruisers in half.

Sapphire watched and was glad that they had gotten everyone off that station.

Jessica watched as the Rebel Ships were in warp with the Elysium and the captured ISS Elysium. She was waiting for the Senior Staff to return to the Bridge, so she didn't have to be Acting Captain anymore. She knew she was going to catch hell for detonating six tricobalt torpedoes on the Arena Station.

Jessica reached over to the the armrest of the center chair and pushed a button. She had to announce it. The intercom sprang to life. "Ladies and Gentlemen, the ship is ours. Take a head count of all departments, Senior staff to the bridge."

Jess then spoke. "Avalon..."

"Aye"

"Let the ship's log note that I authorized the use of six Tri-Cobalt torpedoes, to blow that nightmarish station and those Alliance bastards to hell. If Starfleet wants to prosecute me for the illegal use of subspace weapons in battle. I take full responsibility." Jessica was looking like hell, she'd been fighting since she disobeyed the orders to report to the cargo holds.

"Acknowledged" the AI replied