Unseen Revelations, Part 1

Posted on Tue Apr 30, 2024 @ 12:22pm by Fleet Captain Rhea Kennit & Lieutenant Commander Miguel Torres & Lieutenant Commander Zachary Addams & Lieutenant Penelope Naroot & Lieutenant JG Aergad Halvor & Lieutenant JG Ardal King & Commander Cullen Walker

6,454 words; about a 32 minute read

Mission: A Lost Endeavour
Location: USS Endeavour / USS Victory

===ENDEAVOUR===

The turbolift doors parted with a soft hiss of sound, Captain Kennit exited the 'lift and stepped out onto Endeavour's Bridge. "Lt. Naroot.. what is our current status? Is this classic lady almost ready to get underway and finally go back home?"

"She's near ready," Penny said, vacating the center chair and returning to the ops station. "We've rerouted most of the damage, and they're finishing repairs on the MARC and should be done any minute now. "Commander Torres says he'd like to avoid straining the engines too much until we 'see if the tape holds'."

Rhea responded with a quick half shake of her head and answered, “Tape huh? Well, that can’t be any worse than the bubble gum and chicken wire Commander Bri used to use. Very well, contact the Victory and advise them that we will be getting under way in the next two hours so long as final system checks show green on the boards.”

"Aye," Penny said, accessing the ship's communications. "Endeavor to Victory, we estimate we will have the ship under power in under two hours. Please acknowledge."

Across the comms, "This is Victory. We copy.". He recorded the communication in the log.

Crossing the bridge toward the center, she paused a moment as she walked behind the captains chair and ran her hand along the soft, supple leather of the seat. The echo of memory teased the back of her mind and she paused a moment to smile softly before swinging around the seats there and sat down in the Captains chair. Leaning back, she said “I’d forgotten how comfortable this chair is. Maybe I’ll get Torres to swap it with the one on Victory.”

"Addams to Bridge," the CMO's voice said over the intercom.

“This is the Captain,” Kennit answered. “Go ahead Doctor.”

"Captain, I believe I have found a survivor," Addams said, his voice tinged with excitement.

Surprise tinged her voice as Kennit replied “A survivor? How is that possible? We’ve been on this ship for over 24 hours now, even the internal sensors indicated no life signs..”

"I've completed an inventory of Sickbay's systems, and I noticed that a portable life-support module was missing. I traced a power surge to the morgue and found it installed on one of the casket pods. The pod has also been fitted with a tricorder emitting a jamming signal, which is why life signs didn't register when I first scanned. With your permission, I'll attempt to resuscitate the occupant."

“Don’t do anything until I can get down there with security; we have no idea and no way to know who or what may be inside that life-support module!” Kennit answered sharply.

"Understood," Addams said, closing the channel.

“Lt. Naroot, you have the bridge.” Kennit said. Then, tapping her comm. badge she said, “Kennit to Security. Have two security officers meet me in Sickbay now!”

"Aye, Captain!" the team leader said, rushing into action.

Penny locked the helm and quickly moved back to the center chair, accessing the ship's systems again.

The security officers arrived in sick bay before the Captain did, though she arrived just a few moments after. Her attention locked on Dr. Addams, and as she walked toward him she said, “talk to me. What do you know about this life support module and its occupant?”

"Occupants," Zach said. "Two pods, both jerry rigged to be virtually undetectable," he said, pointing at the screen in front of which he was seated. "These pods are shielded to begin with, and somehow they set up a dampener to scramble our tricorders. I can tell you that whatever's inside them, they're alive, asleep, and require a very human-like enviro-setting."

“Human-like?” Kennit echoed. “Does that mean they’re not human? What are we possibly facing? Klingon? Vulcan? Romulan? Unknown? Before you crack those seals I want to have a better idea than ‘human-like’! Is it possible to transfer the pods to the Brig and open them up inside a secure cell?”

"I mean that the settings are for a Class-M environment that is comfortable for Humans, Bolians, Deltans, and other species that enjoy a moderate temperature and light humidity," Zach said. "Unfortunately, the only way to know what's inside is to, in fact, 'crack them open', as you say."

He stood up and beckoned them to follow, heading to the morgue. "As for transporting them," he said, stepping into the room, "that's going to be difficult."

He pulled the doors to the stasis chambers open and pulled out the pods. "The dampeners will interfere with a transporter. If we remove the pods from the chambers, their power is cut. That will take out the dampeners, but it will also give us only a minute before they run out of air. If we transport them to the brig, we'll have to open them up immediately anyway. I'd just as soon do it here with phasers ready, and a better chance of them coming out alive."

The Captain’s expression was dark to say the least. She let out a long exhalation of pure frustration, then said, “oh, fuck it. Get extra security in here. Let’s set up a containment field around the units and have security standing by and the we’ll knock Humpty and Dumpty off the wall and hope to God we don’t need to try and put them both back together again.”

The security officer nodded and stepped aside to call for reinforcements as Zach stood up and grabbed a programmable hypospray, readying it for action.

A few minutes later, the rest of the security team had arrived and had phasers drawn. Zach had three stand in the morgue with him and two more outside with the Captain as he activated the containment field, isolating the morgue.

"All right," he said, "here we go..."

He accessed the pods' internal systems and reset their access settings, unsealing them and deactivating the dampeners. With a hiss of air, they unsealed and the lids lifted slightly. Zach quickly lifted each one, guaranteeing the occupants oxygen.

To his immense relief, they were both human--or, at least, they appeared human. He scanned them quickly with his tricorder, checking for any abnormalities. "They read as human. One male, one female," he said, looking at the Captain for permission to continue.

Zach pressed the hypospray into the neck of both occupants. The woman's eyes fluttered and she gasped, struggling to sit up, flailing in panic.

"It's all right!" Zach said, fending off her hands and attempting to rein her in. "Hey! It's all right! You're safe!" He grabbed her by the shoulders and gave her a not-so-gentle shake. "Ensign! You're safe!" The girl finally seemed to focus on his face and looked relieved. "You're...you're Starfleet? You found us? We're rescued?" she said.

"Three for three, near as I can tell," Zach said, giving her a charming smile. "How do you feel?"

The ensign swallowed, trying to pull herself together. "I'm all right...I think," she said. "I--" she stopped and went pale as she looked around and saw the Captain watching them from the other side of the containment field.

=/\=Torres to Kennit, we have full power and ready to move out. =/\= the engineer said through her combadge.

"Good work Mr. Torres." the Captain replied. "Keep the Endeavour ready, notify Commander Walker on the Victory that we will be getting underway shortly."

=/\=Understood.=/\= Torres said as he closed the channel.

As she spoke, her eyes never left the Ensign now sitting up inside the pod. She noticed that the occupant of the other pod was also human, a male who was not quite waking up as quickly. When Kennit spoke, the ensign jerked as if with surprise, her eyes wide as she stared at the Captain with a look that was decidedly alarmed.

Typical.

"Doctor Addams, is Ensign..." she paused, one eyebrow raising as she locked eyes with the newly awakened officer. The young woman paled, realizing that the Captain was indeed looking directly at HER and expecting her to give her name. It took her a moment but she managed to find her voice. "Mac..MacKenzie Ma'am. Ensign Sarah MacKenzie."

"Are you able to answer questions Ensign MacKenzie?" Captain Kennit asked. "I realize you have just been awakened after almost nine-and-a-half years in stasis, however I very much need to know why the Endeavour made a transit from our dimension to Dimension 3, in flagrant violation of the directive banning all further attempts to return there." Kennit's voice was hard, sharp and left no doubt whatsoever that she was not in the mood for being particularly patient.

Zach let out a low whistle at the mention of how long they'd been in there. If either system had faltered, they would have had a very uncomfortable death. He shuddered slightly at the thought and turned to the second patient, who seemed to be in worse shape. He scanned the man slowly, frowning at the readings. The man's vitals were all over the board, and he couldn't see a pattern as to why. He prepared a hypo with a slight stimulant and a nutrient mix to help his body heal.

MacKenzie's eyes got wide. "Did you say...nine and a half....years?" she said, trying to hold back tears. "Captain," she said, "I'm just an Ensign. I was in Sickbay the entire time. The Chief Medical Officer told me to get in this pod, so I did. I didn't know we were going there."

Unfazed, Kennit replied "It has been 9 1/2 years since the Endeavour was declared lost. That does not however necessarily mean it's been that long since you climbed into that pod. How much time passed for you, from the day the Endeavour departed from Earth until the moment the Chief Medical officer ordered you to get into the pod?"

Sarah MacKenzie licked her lips and thought hard. She was struggling to get a number in her head other than "nine and a half" and thinking back to when she'd actually set foot on her first assignment. We left Earth just a few months ago," she said. "We came directly to the Delta Quadrant, and spent a few weeks in transit here while the Captain was embarking on whatever exploratory mission we were on. I assumed we were waiting for more specific orders, and we were just patrolling."

“Just patrolling.” Kennit echoed softly. The thought crossed her mind that the young officer was lying, but at the same time Rhea knew very well that a junior Ensign such as MacKenzie would very likely have no idea whatsoever of the ships standard orders, and definitely not know anything of the true operational orders issued by Section 31 to the vessels Captain.

After a moment she said, “what can you tell us about the officer in the second pod? Who is he? And why did the CMO order you into the pod to begin with? What was happening?”

"The ship...was at red alert," MacKenzie said. "The CMO had been on the bridge for the past several hours. He'd just told us to 'hold down the fort' and that the captain needed him on the bridge. My shift was almost over, and suddenly the alarm klaxons were going off. Doctor [Name?] wouldn't return my comms. We were all confused but no one was willing to leave their station to go to the bridge at first. Finally, Doctor [Is there an established one you want to name?] went to search for the CMO, but he didn't come back. A few others went to see what was going on, but they didn't return either. I couldn't get ahold of anyone over comms. I was starting to panic when the doors opened and Doctor [CMO's name?] rushed in, looking panicked. He mumbled something about 'all over again' and told me he had planned for this. He pulled the two stasis pods out of the morgue and ordered me to get in. I tried asking what was going on, but he just told me to get in 'before it was too late.' I had assumed he'd be in the other pod..." she looked at the second crewman.

Ardal came in, walking on all fours and started scanning the pod. He was using two different issues of tricorders, both a Scientific One and Engineering Tricorder; they scanned for different things.

Zach stepped aside, letting the science officer have a turn as he began analyzing the readings he took. "Well...clearly that didn't go as planned," he said. "So, like the Captain said...who is this lucky pod person? I don't recognize him from the crew manifest."

MacKenzie looked at the second pod for the first time and frowned. "I...I don't know. If he came to Sickbay, I didn't treat him. He's no one I recognize either..."

Ardal's ears twitched at that.

Zachary frowned and exchanged a look with the Captain, then glanced at Ardal. He didn't know their science officer well, but he thought he saw a look of confusion and suspicion on the Lieutenant's ursine face as well. He scanned the second pod's occupant again, as well as MacKenzie and set the computer to task. He stood behind them and busied himself while the computer ran its scan, taking time to silence any alerts to the result.

"I mean, he's in Operations, I'm in Medical, it's possible we just hadn't crossed paths yet...there were a lot of the crew I hadn't met. The Captain had us all running extended shifts, and the crew lounges were closed, although they never told us why..."

Zach watched the terminal light up with the results of the analysis. He caught the Captain's eye and glanced at the other pod, shaking his head in warning. "Not our quantum signature," he mouthed.

Ardal offered up his tricorders to the doctor so he could compare them, if he wanted. He moved around so he could look at the tech, but mostly he was repositioning in case things got stupid.

The Captain's expression changed. "Keep him in that pod, lock it down and make certain that individual stays right where he is, on ice."

Zach nodded quickly, deactivating the resuscitation protocols and putting the pod back into stasis mode.

Kennit's eyes flicked toward where MacKenzie sat. "I want her restricted and kept under guard as well. She does not leave sickbay. Use a security field, she stays right here."

MacKenzie looked panicked. "Wait..why? What's wrong with him? You can't leave me locked up with him!" she shrieked.

"Come with me," Zach said. "We'll set you up on a biobed." The Ensign immediately jumped out of the pod she'd been in and kept away from the others, staying behind Zach, using him as a shield from everything that was frightening her.

Zach stepped aside, took her by the arm, albeit gently, and guided her back into the Main Sickbay, and had her sit on a biobed. He activated the ship's quarantine fields and a forcefield came up around the biobed area, keeping her in. "There," he said. "Nothing can get in to get you."

She nodded a thank you, and looked at the morgue fearfully.

"Just lie back, try to stay calm. I'll be right back," Zach said, heading back into the morgue.

========

=/\= Torres to Walker. =/\=

Walker answered, "This is Walker."

=/\= Commander, The Endeavour is ready to move out. We're just waiting for the Captain to give us the word. =/\=

Answering, "Victory Copies."

=========
Kennit walked over to gaze into the stasis pod at the man lying inside. "What were you doing here..." she muttered softly as she studied his closed eyes and quiet, still features. Then, she walked toward where the Doctor stood by the doorway. "Doctor Addams--"  Whatever else she was about to say was cut off by a sudden, violent jolt accompanied by the unmistakable sound of weapons fire striking Endeavour's hull. The ship shuddered hard, alarm klaxon's wailing. The Captain caught herself against the bio bed, immediately calling out "Kennit to Bridge! What the hell was that?!"

"Captain! Three Klingon Warbirds just decloaked and opened fire," Penny said. "Shields are up, but that hit damaged something. Having a hard time getting the shield's to stabilize. They're firing on the Victory now."

"Kennit to Victory! Weapons free! Take those bastards out!"  

Penny took that as a cue for herself as well. She ran back to the helm station and slaved the tactical console to it as well. With her right hand, she began evasive maneuvers, and with her left, she attempted to return fire. The ship felt sluggish, however. Something in the computer was fighting with itself. If she had more hands she'd take something apart and run a diagnostic, but, sadly, her people weren't modeled after Edosians.

The ship shook as the Klingon shots landed, and despite her best efforts, the shields suddenly began to fail. Penny hit the intruder alert button immediately. "Captain! We've been boarded! Sensors indicate 22 Klingon's have beamed aboard."

The whine of a Klingon transporter sounded on the bridge. Penny flicked her wrist, her silver wand slipping out. She aimed it at the helm, locking in her commands, and then slipped it back in her sleeve before turning around to square off against the two Klingons.

-----------Victory--------------

Walker answered as he got knocked out of his chair, "Red Alert. Hit them hard and fast." He got up and made it to tactical. He fired off a barrage of specialty torpedos. A new alert sounded then on the Endeavor, the piercing alarm echoing through the ship.

"Lock down the ship! Barricade the Bridge and Engineering! All hands: weapons free! Find the intruders and put them down!"

-----------Endeavor--------------

Zach reached for his phaser pistol and swallowed nervously, then felt that familiar cool calm wash over him, and stepped towards the door, aiming his weapon. 

Ardal stood up on two feet as Klingons tried to enter Sickbay. He roared at them as loud as he could, which caused them to focus on him. With them focused on him, they weren't paying attention to the Captain or Doctor.

Zach immediately fired at the lead Klingon coming into the room, two shots bringing him down. Another Klingon was behind him, and Zach fired again. The few who had gained entry scattered, and he tracked one, bringing him down. He kept himself positioned so that he was between them and MacKenzie, protecting his patient.

As soon as they changed focus to the doctor, Ardal brought down a paw and mauled one to hell and back. 

“Lock down sickbay.” Kennit ordered. “Make certain they don’t get at our two guests.. especially him.. whoever he is..” she added with a nod toward the pod containing the unknown male officer. "We’ve taken out six..there’s still more of them to deal with.”

Ardal came down on all fours, "I got this."

"We will maintain our position, Captain," Zach said, his voice steady and cold.

Tapping her comm badge ,the Captain said “Kennit to Bridge! Lt. Naroot..We need you to be our eyes so to speak. Two of the intruders are down, tell me where the others are"

Penny had one Klingon pinned to the floor with her hands and the other had his neck between her thighs, similarly held down. "Just a moment, Captain," she said. She tightened her grip on both as they thrashed, waited for their eyes to roll back, then held on a bit longer until she could feel their pulses slipping and knew they were unconscious. She unraveled herself and stood up, crossing to the rear of the bridge and accessing the sensors from the tactical station while she locked the doors to the bridge.

"Two down on the bridge, but I read several working their way towards me. There are six down in Sickbay, nice job. Four are in Engineering and another four are outside surrounding the entryways. Security officers are engaged with a small cluster of them near Cargo Bay 1 as well."

She stopped as she heard a pounding on the turbolift door.

[HR]  

No sooner had Captain Kennit warned the virtually empty ship of intruders. Four Klingons turned the corner and began to fire their disruptors at the engineers present. Lt. Commander Miguel Torres dove behind a bulkhead and tapped his combadge. "Computer activate the warp core shield."  

A shimmering energy barrier materialized around the warp core, enveloping it in a protective cocoon. The Klingons' disruptor fire ricocheted harmlessly off the shield, their frustrated roars echoing through the chamber.   With the warp core protected Miguel tapped his combadge again as he took a look from his protected spot.

"Torres to Captain. We're under attack by four Klingon intruders."  

“Deal with them..” Kennit ordered, her voice unwavering. “Security should be on the move.”

Torres knew they couldn't afford to let the Klingons reach the warp core. With a quick glance around, he assessed the situation. The engineers were huddled behind consoles, trying to shield themselves from the onslaught of disruptor fire.  

Feeling a surge of determination, Torres signaled to the engineers to regroup. "We need to hold this position until reinforcements arrive," he declared, his gaze unwavering.  

The engineers nodded in agreement, their faces set in grim determination. With their backs against the consoles, they prepared to defend the ship against the Klingon invaders.   Torres reached for his phaser only to realize he had removed it when he was under the pool table jury rigging a bypass circuit.   One of the junior officers saw that their chief engineer was without a weapon and reached behind him and pulled a phaser out of the security locker he was next to and slid it across the floor to Torres.

The Chief Engineer of the Victory grabbed the phaser that was now at his feet and returned fire at the Klingons.  Halvor grabbed a Klingon from behind in a chokehold. Halvor was getting shot. Klingon disruptors hurt. He laid there and choked the Klingon out. "Torres. You have all the fun."  

"Rank has it's privileges." Torres said as he fired and stunned one of the Klingons.

========= 

In Sickbay, the Captain was preparing to leave. There was no way she was going to hide out in sickbay when the Endeavour was under attack, and she knew Victory too was under assault by the enemy ships. “Dr. Addams, be ready for casualties to arrive. I need to go. We have to secure this ship and at the same time we need to assist the Victory too. There are likely to be a large number of injured from both ships.”

"Understood, Captain," Zach said.

“Mr Ardal, stay here to provide protection. Security officers should arrive to help though we are severely undermanned by the need to staff two ships. If more intruders arrive, handle them.” Kennit told Ardal.

Ardal made a happy bark.He might be a Scientist, but part of him enjoyed the violence.

With Lt. Naroot’s information in mind, the Captain left Sickbay and quickly headed down the passageway. First things first.. she needed a weapon!

Endeavour shuddered underfoot again, an echoing rumble of weapons fire hitting her shields again. The ship shifted subtly, but Kennit knew that sensation.. Endeavour was maneuvering hard, coming about to strike back at her attackers! She needed to reach the Bridge! It was imperative that she get to the Bridge where she could assess the situation both ships were facing!

Underfoot, a subtle pulsating sensation made the deck vibrate. Torpedo fire.. Endeavour was an older ship, but she still had very, very sharp claws.

Jogging down the corridor toward where she knew a weapons locker should be located, turning the corner Kennit came face to face with 2 Klingon warriors! One carried a bat’leth, seeing her he slashed the massive blade toward her head but she dropped down in a graceful rolling motion and the razor sharp weapon sliced through the air over her harmlessly enough. Rising back to her feet she kicked out hard at the second Klingon catching him in knee and sending him staggering back as he pulled a disruptor and tried to bring it to bear on her! She lunged forward, catching the Klingon’s hand holding the disruptor and twisted, shocking him with her strength as he had expected her to be merely a human female, her enhanced strength catching the tall Klingon by surprise … to his undoing.

Rhea closed in with him, holding the disruptor pointed away as he fired instinctively sending weapons blasts into the bulkhead. She twisted her body, forcing him to turn with her and one of those random shots caught his companion in the chest slamming the other Klingon back as she struggled with the other warrior in a fierce fight for survival. The Klingon snarled at her, still mistaking her for just a human .. if a surprisingly strong human!

She bared her teeth back at him, her eyes changing to solid black she smiled then, struck at his face with her elbow once, twice, and a third time forcing him back. They twisted in a macabre dance, and for a moment the Klingon thought he would defeat her.. until a sudden hard blow to his chest accompanied by a deep, ice cold agony struck as his own D’k tahg blade buried itself to its hilt straight into the very center of his 8-chambered heart. His last thought was one of disbelief as his life faded… to be killed.. by a .. human..Female..

Taking the disruptor, Kennit jerked the D’k tahg free of it’s former owner’s chest and after wiping the blade mostly clean on his pants leg she pulled his belt and holster free, holstering the razor sharp blade and securing the belt around her slender waist the Captain turned at a sound behind her. The other Klingon was staggering up, injured but filled with rage. She shot him again with the disruptor, sending the Klingon sprawling to the deck where she shot him once more.. just for good measure!

Picking up the heavy bat’leth as well (after all, with Klingons on the ship there was no such thing as too many weapons at hand), the Captain continued down the passageway intent on reaching the Endeavour’s Bridge.

Zach turned his attention to the biobed behind him. He tapped his authorization code and brought down the forcefield surrounding it.

Sarah looked at him with a mixture of fear and confusion. "Wh-what are you doing?" she said, her voice wavering.

"We have wounded incoming, and you are a nurse. I require your assistance," Zach said. "Please help me carry this Klingon onto the biobed." He walked over to the Klingon that Ardal had mauled and stood in front of his shoulders.

Sarah got off the biobed gingerly and walked quickly over to the Klingon's legs. She grabbed his ankles and as Zach grabbed his shoulders, they counted off and lifted. The Klingon weighed more than he appeared, and they both struggled to haul him, but they eventually got him onto the biobed, his wounds still bleeding.

"We'll need to replicate a liter of Klingon plasma," Zach said, examining the wounds. "I require a derma-sealer."

Sarah looked behind her, trying not to panic and went through the drawers quickly, trying to assemble a surgical tray while close to panic.

"Focus on your job," Zach said, calmly. "You are a nurse. You have a patient. Nothing else matters."

Sarah took a breath and nodded. She looked over her work, cleaned up the instrument tray and brought it over. "Derma-sealer," she said, handing it to the doctor.

Zach nodded and began running it over the Klingon's gashes on his back as Sarah went to get the plasma. As the wounds began to heal, the Klingon groaned. Zach immediately clamped his hand down on the Klingon's neck and shoulder, and the warrior passed out again. Zach returned to the wounds and as he stitched the last one closed, Sarah had attached the plasma container.

They quickly pulled the Klingon off the biobed and moved him to a corner with his similarly unconscious brethren, and returned to clean the biobed for the next patient.

The ship shuddered again, disruptor fire was the Captain’s guess as the jolt did not have the same abrupt hard quality to it that a torpedo hit on the shields would generate. She wondered how much power they still had to the shields, it was apparent they were taking hits from more than one hostile ship. “Kennit to Bridge.”

"Kinda busy, Captain," Penny said, once again at the helm, trying to avoid the other ship's fire. "Enemy ship is engaging, Klingons are literally at my door and shields are down to seventeen percent.

“Where are the intruders? Can you track their movements?” Kennit asked as she quickly but, cautiously continued on her way trying to get to the Bridge.

Penny had divided her attention, maintaining forcefields, keeping the shields up and trying to keep them out of the line of fire. Even she had limits. "Sounds like a half dozen banging on the turbolift doors and emergency hatches here, Captain," she said. "Last I looked, there were another group around Engineering, and a few more trying to get into the ship's armory."

"What about the group that was heading toward Cargo Bay One? Have they been stopped?" Kennit asked, her thoughts on the crates of material and equipment which they'd found there.

Penny dropped the ship under another disruptor blast, but it clipped them, knocking them sideways slightly. She switched her ops board to ship's systems, but it didn't tell her much. "Can't tell, Captain. Internal sensors are down." She gripped her console as the ship jolted again and tried corkscrewing around the blasts, doubling back repeatedly, trying to throw the ships off.

"We can't let them take anything from the cargo bay. Try and get security to the Cargo Bay. I'm heading there now," Kennit answered. "Whatever is in there that they want, we're not going to let them have it!"

Penny hit the communications button quickly. "All hands! Secure Cargo Bay--" She stopped as both an emergency hatch and a set of turbolift doors exploded. She immediately flicked her wrist, her silver wand dropping out. She aimed it at her console and it exploded in sparks, as did the others on the bridge, as the ship suddenly angled around and leaped to full impulse. As she did, she felt the pair of disruptors hit her in the back. She ignored it as long as she could, continuing to directly instruct the computer, but her systems quickly had to shut down to protect her, and things went black.

Armed with a phaser, the Captain stopped where she stood and speaking quickly, said, “Computer! Authorization Murdock-One-One-Zeta-2-4-6-6-7. Bypass security lockout and lock onto my signal. Internal transport to Cargo Bay One.” She used a hidden code which had been embedded into Endeavour’s computer nearly 20 years ago when she’d been the ship’s XO. One of several codes which she had checked when they’d first found the ship, verifying the emergency codes and hidden commands were still active in the system.

Without any sound, the computer followed her command and her slender form vanished in a shimmering haze of energy, the passageway fading into darkness replaced by the shadowed interior of the Cargo Bay, lit only by the emergency lighting ever present inside such spaces. Quickly, she headed to where they’d noted crates of weaponry stored. She resealed and locked those containers, hearing the tell-tale sounds of someone attempting to physically bypass the security lockout and knew time was short.

Walking to the hatch, ignoring the banging sounds of someone on the other side smashing their way through the bulkhead to access the door lockdown systems and get the access opened Rhea quickly accessed the external feed and saw four tall, very muscular and heavily armed Klingons just outside. She was alone. Help was coming but the security team wouldn’t get there in time and she knew it.

She turned, gazing toward the crate containing the Borg technology which they’d found. Walking back across the bay, she opened the container and gazed inside with a mixture of longing and dread. Specialized nanotechnology, which when activated could behave as a liquid and flow via magnetic fields to form any shape or form desired. It could become a weapon. It could be used to repair combat damage. it could form an impenetrable body armor. To any other race, any being without Borg nanites in their blood and Borg technology melded into their physical being it was to all appearances and tests, just an odd dark metallic grey powder.

But for a Borg.. or.. former Borg..

Rhea held her hand out over the open container, flexed her fingers slightly and beneath her outstretched hand the nanotechnology rippled and rose in a swift, smooth fluid motion to rise up and cover her hand. It spread gracefully, swiftly and encased her body in a shimmering cloak of dark grey-black material which took on the form she needed. In a matter of seconds she was transformed, no trace of the Starfleet uniform she still wore underneath was visible. Covered from head to toe, even her facial features hidden behind the shimmering mask. When the cargo bay hatch was forced open with a harsh grinding sound, the first Klingon through the door faced not an empty bay full of materials to be stolen as expected, but instead within the dark shadows stood a figure that was even darker. She cocked her head slightly to the right, and in a voice which held a distinct dual tone said “You should have stayed where you belong.”

She lunged at him even as the first Klingon and the two behind him fired at her. The armor absorbed the weapons energy without visible effect, and she hit the lead warrior with a savage backhand blow that sent him crashing back into the bulkhead. All six of the Klingons charged her with roars of fury and were met with a creature out of nightmare.

She killed the first two swiftly with a slashing kick, the armor covering her foot reforming into a razor sharp blade which separated their heads from their necks. Now she toyed with the two remaining, falling back to draw them in. The third Klingon charged her, slashing at her with a wicked blade drawing from a sheath at his belt. The blade scraped along her armored form without effect, and she grabbed at his arm her strength enhanced by the armor she wore she twisted and forced his arm down and behind his back. Releasing him of his blade, she flipped it around and drove the blade straight up under his chin and into his brain, killing him.

The last Klingon attempted to flee and retreat back, shouting for more warriors to come but his attempt was very short lived. Kennit was on him in a few quick steps, but instead of killing this one.. what she did was far worse. Assimilation tubules lashed out from her hand and embedded themselves deeply into his neck. She dropped him then, standing over his form as he dropped to his knees, face frozen in horror as she tore through his mind, taking everything and pushing deeper and deeper, destroying his mind as she learned everything about the Klingons attacking them. Who they were. Where they had come from. And what they wanted.

After a moment, Kennit released the Klingon. He fell forward to the deck, his body convulsed once and then went still. She’d killed him, the nanites in his bloodstream sent a command which caused them to congregate in his brain and tear an artery open, killing him swiftly.

"Well done," a male voice said. A hologram shimmered into existence and gave a salute. "Captain Kennit, awaiting your orders to remove the other Klingons," David said.

To say that seeing David reactivated was a cause for considerable alarm would have been an understatement. Thankfully, a side effect of the Borg armor system currently active and covering her body also meant that emotions were suppressed, controlled and she gave absolutely no indication what-so-ever of the immediate deep concern she felt at seeing the hologram once more on-line.

"I need one taken alive." the Captain answered immediately. "As for the others, get them off my ship."

David nodded once. “Understood Captain.” He paused, then said “Scanning Endeavour for intruder locations. Locking on. One intruder transported to the Brig. The rest have been removed.”

On Endeavour’s sensors, the remaining Klingons appeared .. now adrift and rapidly freezing solid in the eternal cold of deep space.

The Captain however had continued speaking as David took action and said, "Penny! Where are the Klingon ships? in relation to us and the Victory? We need to catch them in our cross-fire and disable their ships for capture if possible, if not.. then we need to destroy them."

When no response was forthcoming, David raised a hand. "Captain? If I may?" He shimmered and vanished, being quickly replaced by Penny.

"Captain," Penny said. "This is one of two messages that I've downloaded into David's system in case of emergency. If you're hearing this, it means that the disruptors I was shot with did enough damage that I was incapacitated, and the Klingons have taken the bridge. I've negotiated with David's systems and he should now recognize you as Commanding Officer of the Endeavor. If we're lucky, I won't be dismantled before my systems can be repaired. Until then, good luck."

She disappeared and David returned. "To answer your previous questions, sensors indicate we're traveling at full impulse away from Victory, with basic evasion programming in place, however both ships are in pursuit and will close in shortly."

“Contact the Victory, let’s coordinate our attack and take the fight to them. I want to capture one if at all possible make sure that you transmit that that to Commander Walker. The Endeavour’s crew are still alive, held captive by the Klingon warlord who controls those ships.. I’m not sure if they’re here on this side of the rift, or if they’re still on the other side.”

"Understood, Captain," David said, pausing a moment. "Message to pursue and assist has been transmitted to Commander Walker on the Victory. What are your orders, Captain?"

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