ST: Pandora "Pandora's Light", Pt I

chemkarate

ST: Pandora "Pandora's Light", Pt I

May 26 2010

((Hey everyone. Welcome to the season finale of Star Trek: Pandora. I hope you have all enjoyed reading these stories as much as I've enjoyed writing them. In addition to being the season finale, this story was inspired by Yasunori Mitsuda's soundtrack to the game Xenosaga Episode I: Der Wille Zur Macht. So much so, in fact, that I had specific songs in mind for specific scenes. When applicable, I'm going to include a link to songs from the game during some scenes. I hope that they enhance your enjoyment of the story or, at the very least, pique your interest in Mr. Mitsuda's music. For reference, he's also responsible for the soundtracks of games like "Chrono Trigger" and "Chrono Cross".

Thank you, and I hope you enjoy the season finale to Star Trek: Pandora, "Pandora's Light".))

Edited May 27 2010 by chemkarate

chemkarate

Re:ST: Pandora "Pandora's Light"

May 26 2010

[Episode 1.5, "Pandora's Light, Pt I"]

At the edge of the border between the Klingon Empire and the Federation, the USS Pandora had come to a full stop near a gas giant, just outside of its outer rings. Large chunks of ice, adrift in a flat sea of dust, sailed peacefully by the Pandora. In stark contrast, Pandora's engineering staff was caught up in a flurry of activity.

"Wilson, status on the emergency reroute system!" barked War'en as he looked out over Engineering from his perch on the second floor.

"Almost done, sir!"

"I need it done ten minutes ago. Hustle everyone. Captain Oren-De was gracious enough to take the Pandora out here to conduct this test. I don't think we want to be wasting his time!"

A dissonant chorus of "yes, sir!" came from up from around the people hurrying about Engineering. War'en, out of habit, gave the massive warp core in the center a quick glance before turning to Oren-De, who had been standing behind him. The chief engineer's serious look instantly dissolved into a grateful smile.

"Thank you, captain. I think you're going to be very pleased with the results of today's test."

Oren-De nodded. "If you succeed in boosting our cannon output by 20%, it will be well worth this small detour. Besides, it has been surprisingly peaceful out here since we returned to the front."

"Do I detect a hint of boredom?" War'en asked with a cocked eyebrow and a small grin.

"Boredom? No."

When Oren-De didn't elaborate, War'en simply nodded and looked back out at Engineering. "T'vex! Where's that weapons diagnostic I asked for?" Before he got an answer, he quickly tapped the console in front of him. "And Bridge, are we in position yet?"

"In position and waiting for your go-ahead," responded Maggie, who was sitting in the captain's chair and looking like she was throughly enjoying it. "Ms. Roberts, status report."

"All systems normal," reported Talona from Ops. "The space around us is free and clear, too."

"Sounds like a perfect day for a little target practice," chimed Will from the helmsman chair next to Talona. "Think you can handle a bigger gun, Shrell?"

"It makes little difference" responded Shrell from his position at Tactical, deflecting Will's hundredth attempt to get a rise out of him. Will shook his head with a grin and looked back at the viewscreen.

"Engineering to Bridge," came Oren-De's voice. "We're ready to begin. Acquire test target."

"Target acquired," responded Shrell as the rest of the bridge crew looked back at their respective consoles.

"Fire at will."

"With pleasure," said Shrell as he entered the command, earning an annoyed look from Will.

A pair of bright blue tetryon energy bursts fired from the front of the Pandora striking a chunk of ice that had the misfortune of sailing by at that exact moment. The bolts ripped right through the icy hulk, blowing it apart into several smaller pieces. Maggie looked over her command chair display, which was feeding her a summarized version of her Science station's display.

"Engineering, I'll have a more detailed report later, but sensor scans show a significant increase in damage compared to simulations using normal cannon output. I'm going to hazard that you got at least 15% more power out of that shot, judging from the velocities of the major fragments. Ms. Talona, how is Pandora?"

"Her systems are still fine, though the temperature of the cannons spiked a little above normal. Nothing a little extra coolant won't solve."

Down in Engineering, War'en smiled as his staff let out a collective sigh of relief. Oren-De gave his chief engineer a rare smile.

"Excellent work, Mr. Sadda. Get me a summary of the test's results, and we'll see about trying this against the Klingons next. With any luck, they will be more hesitant to cross into Federation territory after seeing the results of your work."

"Thank you, sir," said War'en with a confident smile. However, Oren-De didn't even have time to leave Engineering before War'en was already barking out new orders to his staff, this time to undo all of the safety and back-up modifications they had just put in place. The Enhasan captain took some comfort in how smoothly this had all run. It seemed like finally his crew and staff were coming together, despite the rocky start when he had first assumed command.

"Bridge," Oren-De said as he entered an empty turbolift.

Back on the Bridge, Oren-De exited the lift to find Maggie standing next to the command chair, facing him.

"Sir, we just received a hail from Commander Wildman at Deepspace K-7."

"On screen," Oren-De said as he walked to take his place in front of the command chair. Maggie quickly walked back to her post at Science, exchanging quizzical glances with Dr. Redwing as she passed him.

Commander Wildman appeared on the viewscreen, seated at her administrative desk. "Commander Oren-De, how are things on patrol of the Neutral Zone?"

"Uneventful, Commander, save for a weapons upgrade test that I'll include in my next report."

"Oh? I look forward to it. In the mean time, however, I have an urgent order for you. K-7 just received a distress signal from Zarath III. The colony there reports that the USS Cosmos, which was there to conduct an assessment of the colony's security and scientific work, was attacked in orbit by a Klingon Raptor. The administrator said that both ships went down in the resulting battle. They are requesting emergency assistance, as they lack the personnel to safely and appropriately help the survivors of the Cosmos and subdue any remaining Klingons. The Pandora is the closest ship to Zarath III, so I am ordering you and your crew there to provide any assistance needed."

"What are our orders with regard to any Klingons that have survived?"

"Provide medical care and, in the case of the healthy, see if you can find out why they attacked. Zarath III is a strategically important colony for Starfleet and it would be helpful to know how much the Klingons know. Also, if the Klingons send another ship, defend yourself and the colony with all appropriate force. A state of war exists between the Federation and the Klingon Empire, but Starfleet wants to minimize conflicts as much as possible."

"Acknowledged, Commander. I will keep you updated as to the situation."

"Thank you. Wildman out," she said in a hurried voice before her image disappeared. Maggie once again exchanged glances with Red, who was now realizing he'd have a very busy couple of days ahead of him. Oren-De took a seat and began issuing orders.

"Mr. Lacera, set course for Zareth III, maximum warp. Dr. Redwing, prep the Medical Bay for the expected influx for casualities. Additionally, coordinate with Mr. Sadda and organize teams of engineers and medics to survey the wreckage of the Cosmos and the Klingon Raptor."

"Yes, sir," responded Redwing with a frown of concern as he began working through the logistics in his head.

"Course is laid in," reported Will, as the Pandora steered away from the gas giant. "Initiating warp drive."

The Pandora warped out of the system, and her crew began rushing to prepare for their arrival at the colony on Zareth III.

Edited June 22 2010 by chemkarate

chemkarate

Re:ST: Pandora "Pandora's Light"

May 27 2010

The following tags have no closing tag: url, url

Captain's Log, Stardate 87796.1. We are about to arrive at Zarath III, and the crew has mobilized with all necessary speed in order to help the crew of the Cosmos, as well as the colony. Taking into account their recent performance, as well as the promising test of Lieutenant Commander Sadda's modification to our weapons capabilities, has given me hope that the crew of the Pandora may be finally putting the past behind them.

The Pandora dropped out of warp outside the planet of Zarath III, which had a brown color punctuated by blue spots of bodies of water. While the planet met the requirements of an M-class, Oren-De didn't need to ask Maggie to see that it probably fell at the bottom of the scale. The fact that the Federation was supporting a colony on this planet was only further evidence for Commander Wildman's statement that the world was of strategic importance.

"Ms. Matoya, can you identify the wreckage of the Cosmos?"

Maggie looked over her display as the ship conducted it's first sensor sweep of the planet. "One moment, sir... yes. I've identified the wreckage of a Starfleet ship, approximately 3000 kilometers from the colony. Additionally, there is a second wreckage site about 1000 km north of the first. Hull composition is indicative of a Klingon ship."

"Excellent. Ms. Roberts, hail the colony."

"Yes, si--"

"Captain, a ship is decloaking in front of us! It's a Klingon ship, sir. Raptor type." barked Shrel.

"Go to yellow alert and raise shields." The lights that trimmed the ceiling began flashing yellow. "Ms. Roberts, open a hailing frequency."

"Hailing frequencies open."

Oren-De watched the ship on the viewscreen as he spoke. "Klingon ship, this is the Federation starship Pandora. We are here to conduct a rescue operation for a Starfleet vessel that went down on this planet, as well as secure the Federation colony located here. We will not attack you as long as you do not interfere, but we will defend ourselves as necessary."

Talona frowned after a few moments passed. "They're not responding, Captain."

"And they're charging weapons, sir," reported Shrel.

"Evasive manuevers and go to red alert. Let them take the first shot, but once they do, execute Attack Pattern Alpha."

The">

Pandora turned just as the Klingon Raptor let loose a barrage of green disruptor fire. The blasts struck the Pandora's port shields as it continued to turn and put some distance between it and the Raptor.

"Port shields holding at 85%," Talona reported as her hands flew over the console.

"Return fire. When we come around, all power to forward shields and focus all weapons fire on their shield subsystems."

The Pandora, after moving out from the battle, made a sharp turn and flew directly toward the on-coming Raptor, a green plasma beam lancing out from her side as she did so. After coming around and heading straight for the Klingon ship, the Pandora unleashed blasts of tetryon and plasma energy. The Raptor's shields crackled under the strain of the assault. The Raptor didn't take it quietly, executing its own attack on the Pandora. The two ships passed each other, flew out, and began to come around for another attempt.

"Our front shields are holding at 80%, Captain. Maintaining power diversion."

"Captain, I don't understand why this ship is continuing to attack us," Maggie spoke up from her console. "At least from my scans, we have this Raptor outgunned. The likelihood that they can win this battle is negligible at best."

"I doubt they will accept, Ms. Roberts, but try hailing the Klingon ship again."

Another negative chirp sounded from Talona's console. "It looks like they only want to fight, sir."

"Then we will oblige them. Mr. Shrel, target their weapons systems on this next pass and prepare to fire a quantum torpedo."

"Just one, sir?"

"I want to try and avoid destroying the ship. We are under orders to avoid escalating the conflict."

The Pandora and the Raptor made another pass at each other. While the former's shields held up and successfully deflected a volley of torpedoes, the latter's already battered forward shields fell in short order. Shrel's quantum torpedo struck the Raptor in its front disruptors, resulting in a colorful explosion.

"Their fore main disruptors are offline, sir," reported Maggie.

"The Klingon ship is cloaking, sir!"

Ind">

eed, the Raptor turned from its path toward the Pandora and disappeared from sight. Oren-De frowned and looked over at Maggie. "Continue scanning for any sign of the Klingon ship. It is likely they will take a lot of time repairing their weapon systems, but I want to avoid being caught off-guard." He then looked back toward Talona. "Ms. Roberts, status report."

"Shields are still holding with minimal damage to the hull, sir. No causalities have been reported."

"Then open a channel to the colony. Hopefully this time we will not be interrupted."

"Channel open, sir," said Talona with some relief, as finally one of her hails actually made it through.

"Zarath colony, this is Captain Oren-De of the Federation starship Pandora. Please respond."

The viewscreen suddenly showed a middle-aged balding man in what appeared to be a very plainly decorated administrative office. He let out a sigh of relief.

"Captain, we detected a battle between your ship and the Klingons. Is your crew alright?"

Oren-De nodded. "Yes, we are fine. However, the Klingon ship is now cloaked within the solar system, so I would like to make this brief. We are here to rescue the crew of the Cosmos and survey the wreckage, as well as secure the site of the downed Klingon vessel. In addition, we have been asked to complete the assessment of your colony in place of the Cosmos."

"Of course. As chief administrator, I welcome you and await your arrival." The man then let out a small gasp. "I just realized, I haven't introduced myself, Captain! I am Chief Administrator Margulis, as well as the mayor of Woglinde, the main settlement here on Zarath III."

Oren-De simply nodded. "A pleasure, Mr. Margulis. I look forward to working with you. Pandora out."

Margulis' face disappeared from the viewscreen, leaving only an image of Zarath III. Oren-De looked around at his bridge staff as he began issuing orders.

"Mr. Lacera, bring us into standard orbit around Zarath III. Ms. Matoya, you will join me in conducting the assessment of Woglinde. Ms. Talona, please notify Dr. Redwing that you and your teams are to beam down to the wreckage site of the Cosmos. Finally, Mr. Shrel, monitor all communication frequencies and keep an eye out for any sign of that Klingon ship. The second you have any indication they are going to attack, notify all away personnel and began beaming us back. In the event of an attack, I want as much of the crew staffing the ship as possible."

The bridge staff let out a collective "yes, sir" and began about their respective tasks. As Oren-De headed to the turbolift with Maggie, he spoke into the comm system. "Oren-De to Mr. Sadda. You have the Bridge."

The turbolift doors shut behind Oren-De and Maggie as War'en's voice came back with a hurried acknowledgement.

Edited June 22 2010 by chemkarate

chemkarate

Re:ST: Pandora "Pandora's Light"

May 27 2010

The following tags have no closing tag: url

The">

wreckage of the USS Cosmos was strewn across the foothills of a mountain. Indeed, it looked like the ship had skidded across the planet's surface for a number of miles, leaving a trail of destroyed brush and shrub in its wake, and had come to a rest as it had begun to slide up the grade at the mountain's base. The ship appeared to have fragmented into several large potions, with the hull and saucer of the Excalibur-class cruiser actually laying behind the nacelles, which seemed to have been tossed into the side of the mountain and had since crashed back down to lay near the rest of the wreckage.

Talona put her tricorder back into her belt holster and took a seat on a rock. She looked over her shoulder at a large chunk of the starboard nacelle that lay a short distance behind her. The fact that the ship's registration, NCC-280208, currently read upside down only seemed to make the scene all the more surreal. She unconsciously touched the grief tattoo on her face with her hand as she studied the sight.

"Well, I think my team is almost done IDing the bodies. I can't believe we haven't found anyone alive yet."

Talona turned to the familiar voice to see Redwing standing next to her. He look tired.

"Were you honestly expecting any? The ship crashed on a planet and was strewn to pieces," she said skeptically, emphasizing her point by waving her hand at the ruin that surrounded them.

"You'd be surprised. One of the case studies that everyone gets at Starfleet Medical regarding rescue operations is the crash of the Enterprise-D. The crew evacuated to the ship's saucer section and almost all of them survived."

Talona looked up at Red in surprise. "Is that normally the case?"

"Nah, but that's not the point. The point is that you shouldn't go into a rescue operation expecting it to be body recovery; you should expect to rescue people. You should have hope that some will have survived."

"Hope..." Talona said to herself, absentmindedly moving her hand to clutch the tricorder that hung on her belt.

Redwing only shook his head and looked at the nacelle beyond them. "Yeah, hope. You know, that glimmer that keeps us all going, despite the fact that both the Alpha and Beta quadrants are sinking into complete chaos."

Talona followed Redwing's gaze to the nacelle and stared at it for a few moments before suddenly looking back at him. "Red... do you hope that War'en doesn't change?"

Red looked quizzically at Talona. "Where did that come from?"

"Well... I know that you were really worried about it before he was joined to the Sadda symbiont a couple of weeks ago. You thought that the symbiont would change him into someone else."

"Wow. Umm..."

Talona looked down at the ground. "I'm... I'm sorry, Red. That was a mean thing for me to ask. I don't know where that came from."

Red gave it another shake of his head and sat down next to her. "No, it's alright. Especially since that whole thing with the weapons system started a couple days ago."

"You think the idea came from the symbiont?"

"Who knows?" Red said with a shrug. "War'en's always been someone who has to be fiddling with stuff and trying to improve it. What isn't... er, wasn't him, anyway... was marching right up to the captain and convincing him with a technically minimal explanation to detour the ship and take time out of its patrol schedule to conduct a test. The old War, he would run computer simulations for weeks before even attempting to ask."

Talona only gave a nod. That was definitely something out of character for War'en. She still remembered one time how he had agonized for weeks before approaching Pandora's old chief of engineering with an idea that would improve the efficiency of the warp drive by 2%.

The pair were broken out of their respective reveries by crewman Sloan, a woman who currently served as a nurse and assistant to Redwing. "Doctor! I have the final count for the recovery."

Redwing stood and gave her an annoyed look. "Rescue, Alex. It's a rescue."

The red-haired woman realized her mistake and apologized, practically shoving her tricorder into Redwing's face for him to look at. Redwing accepted the device and looked at the readout.

"Then again, maybe recovery wasn't a bad choice of words. Not one survivor in over 300 people..."

Talona stood up from her seat and placed a hand on his shoulder. "I'm sorry, Red."

Red just shook his head as he looked over the data. "I was really hoping that... hey, wait a minute. That can't be right."

"Red?"

Red typed a few commands into his tricorder, which began downloading information from Pandora. After a moment, he smirked. "I knew it. The body count is 312, but the Cosmos is an an Excalibur-class ship, which can hold 400. Specifically, the Cosmos left Deepspace K-7 two weeks ago with a crew compliment of 380."

Crewman Sloan gave Redwing a perplexed look. "So 68 people are missing? But where? This is the entire wreckage site. Do you think they are hiding out somewhere?"

Talona suddenly frowned and took out her tricorder. Her fingers briefly flew over the screen as she initiated a download of information from the tricorders of her subordinates. As she read over the data, her frown deepened.

"My teams are mostly finished, but a number of key systems haven't been accounted for. A number of weapons... shield generators... and the computer core!?"

Red looked at Talona after a moment of mulling that over. "Do you want to, or should I?"

Talona, who now looked uncharacteristically angry, answered Redwing by tapping her combadge. "Lieutenant Roberts to Captain Oren-De. Dr. Redwing and I have a report for you regarding the wreckage of the Cosmos."

Oren-De's voice came back over the combadge. "Continue, Lieutenant."

"Sir, there are 68 people unaccounted for, as well as a number of the ship's weapons and equipment, including its computer core."

Oren-De was silent for a moment. "At the moment, I'd guess this is the work of that Klingon ship that was in orbit. Relay what you've told me to Mr. Sadda and ask him to alert Starfleet. Additionally, inform him that locating the Raptor is now a top priority. Understood, Lieutenant?"

"Yes, sir."

"Good. After you've finished at that site, request a security team from Pandora and move to the Klingon site. Oren-De out."

Talona looked at Redwing and Sloan. "Well, you heard the captain. Let's get this finished."

Red and Sloan exchanged glances as Talona marched off and began barking orders at her team. After a nod from Redwing, the two moved back to the medical teams to relay the orders.

Edited June 22 2010 by chemkarate

chemkarate

Re:ST: Pandora "Pandora's Light"

May 27 2010

The following tags have no closing tag: url, url

Chi">

ef Administrator Margulis was standing with Oren-De in a room filled with monitors that showed various aspects of the colony. The two were in front of one area that had a large glowing 'Defense' label above it. Prior to receiving the call from Talona, Oren-De had been looking over a large schematic of the colony's defenses. When Oren-De finished speaking with Talona, Margulis looked at him with some concern.

"Is everything alright, Commander? It sounded like you have a problem with a Klingon vulture."

Oren-De frowned as he went back to looking at the schematic in front of him. "Possibly. All the more reason to get your defenses up to a satisfactory level."

A few minutes of silence passed as Oren-De analyzed the console in front of him while Margulis tried and look busy, occasionally taking a very keen interest in some banal data that one of the displays would show. Finally, Oren-De stood back and spoke.

"Your defenses are sufficient for an average mining colony, but far below what I would think appropriate for one so close to the Klingon Front. This may have been fine back before the Klingons withdrew from Khitomer, but I am going to recommend to Starfleet that they send you a number of improvements to your infrastructure, as well as station some personnel here. This entire incident with the Cosmos has demonstrated your proximity to Deepspace K-7 is not sufficient protection."

Margulis nodded enthusiastically. "Thank you, Commander. I've been trying to tell this to that Commander Wildman for months, but she keeps saying giving me the same tired line about Starfleet's resources being stretched. Hopefully your opinion will help sway her and those back on Earth."

Oren-De said nothing and instead moved to leave the room, with Margulis following close behind. Another few moments of silence passed as Oren-De went over what he had seen of his tour from the colony.

"Mr. Margulis, I would like to speak to my science officer. Where did she and... uh... I apologize, what was her escort's name again?"

Margulis practically lept at the chance to be helpful. "Shion. Dr. Shion. She and Ms. Matoya would be in our main sample analysis laboratory. This way, please."

Oren-De was escorted up several floors. As Margulis led him around with what might have been the most overly official walk that Oren-De had ever seen, Oren-De looked out of the large glass windows that lined the corridors of Woglinde's central administrative building. As he had expected from seeing it from space, the planet wasn't much to look at it in terms of beauty. The view was very rocky and mountainous, with the only vegetation being low-lying shrub and dry brush.

"Here we are," Margulis said as he and Oren-De approached a door that read 'Mineral and Ore Analysis'. The doors slid open to reveal a very clean, white room with a number of impressive-looking scientific instruments. Gauging the ability of such equipment wasn't Oren-De's forte, however, so his eyes quickly passed them over and landed on Maggie in the rear of the room, who was conversing with a Vulcan dressed in very plain attire.

"Lieutenant, what do you have to report?" asked Oren-De as he approached.

The pair turned toward Oren-De. Dr. Shion looked at Oren-De and watched him as Maggie gestured to a rock sample located on a small sample platform next to her.

"Captain, the ore that this colony has been processing here is amazing. It produces an incredibly strong interference that blocks sensor sweeps, communications, and other types of data transmission. However, the field of effect is very contained, so it wouldn't interfere with anything inside a shell made of it. Like a hull, for example."

"Ah. I take it this is the reason why Starfleet views this colony as 'stratgically important.'."

"Most likely," replied Maggie with a nod. "It's also probably why Commander Wildman didn't elaborate. If the transmission were intercepted by the Klingons, or hell, any of the Federation's enemies, they'd be after this colony in short order."

Oren-De turned to Margulis. "Was this why this colony was founded?"

Margulis shook his head. "No, no... we were originally founded a number of years ago to mine materials that, while valuable in the construction of starships, are much more mundane than this ore. This is a pretty recent discovery. It's why the Cosmos was sent here initially, but I was told by Starfleet to keep this as quiet as possible."

Oren-De frowned. "In that case, I'm increasing my defense recommendations." He then looked at Dr. Shion, who was still looking at him. "Can I help you, Dr. Shion?"

"I apologize, Commander," replied the Vulcan scientist with all of the facial cues one would expect of a Vulcan. "I did not mean to be rude, but this is the first time I have met someone of your species. You are Enhasan, correct?"

"Yes, I am."

Dr. Shion only nodded before moving back to continue her work. Oren-De gave Margulis an annoyed look, which sent the administrator into a rather worried state. "Um... uh, Commander, is there anything else you would like to see here?"

"No... I think I've seen enough." He turned to Maggie. "Lieutenant, as soon as you're done here, return to the Pandora and assist with efforts to locate that Raptor. It's becoming increasingly imperative that we intercept it."

"Yes, sir," Maggie replied. Oren-De turned and left with Margulis right by his side. Dr. Shion turned to Maggie and motioned to a shelf on another side of the laboratory. "Lieutenant, if you'll follow me over here, I have another sample that I believe you will be most interested in."

While Maggie continued to look at the new ore, Oren-De was escorted to the transporter room within the building. He walked up onto the transporter pad and turned to face Margulis, who was now standing next to the room's attendant.

"Thank you for your cooperation and hospitality, Mr. Margulis. I will make sure to mention it in my report."

Margulis nodded. "Thank you, Commander." He nodded to the attendant, who promptly pulled a phaser pistol out at Oren-De and fired.

The">

shot hit Oren-De square in the chest, knocking him off his feet and onto his back. The Enhasan lay motionless on the transporter pad. The attendant wordlessly walked up onto the pad and examined Oren-De's fallen form, then nodded to Margulis. Margulis promptly walked out of the transporter room and back to the sample laboratory.

The doors to the laboratory opened to reveal Dr. Shion standing over an unconscious Maggie. She looked at Margulis.

"The Commander?"

"Subdued. Was this woman able to make any communication with the Pandora?"

"No. The nerve pinch is a very effective technique."

Margulis walked over to Maggie and looked down at her. "Excellent. Soon that entire crew will make fine servants. She will be pleased."

Dr. Shion nodded. "And we will finally be saved."

Edited June 23 2010 by chemkarate

chemkarate

Re:ST: Pandora "Pandora's Light"

May 27 2010

The following tags have no closing tag: url, url

Talona stood in front of the leaders of the surveying teams she had been assigned. "Gather your teams together and report back here. Once we're ready to go, we'll be moving to the site of the crashed Klingon ship. The Pandora will be sending us a security detachment and weapons equipment."

The crew members gave an acknowledgement, then moved out to relay the orders. Talona let out a breath and looked around. She saw Redwing was going through a similar routine with his team. She began to wonder what kind of unwelcome surprises would await them at the Klingon ship. With a sigh, she bent down to pick up her equipment... just as a phaser beam lanced through the air where her chest had once been. The sound caused Talona to drop to the ground and look around in alarm.

All">

around her, beams of orange phaser energy were shooting through the air. In less than a second, the site had erupted into utter chaos as the Starfleet personnel scrambled to get a bearing on what was going on. A number of officers went down in the first volley and now lay crumpled on the ground. Talona scrambled for cover behind a large piece of the Cosmos' debris. She briefly saw Red doing the same some distance away.

Where the hell did they come from!?

Talona quickly took out her tricorder and scanned the area, but couldn't find any strong lifesigns. Confused, she peeked over the top of her cover. Phaser beams were still coming out of the mountainside down at them. She ducked back down again to check for signs of turrets, but still nothing came up.

It's like they're being fired out of thin air...

From his cover, Redwing was coming to grips with a similar confusion. After a frustrated curse, he tapped his combadge.

"Dr. Redwing to Pandora! We are under fire at the Cosmos wreckage site! Please respond!"

War'en's voice immediately came back. "Red!? Who's firing at you!?"

"That's just it. I have no idea, and they're not showing up on my tricorder! All I know is that all of the firing is coming at us from the mountain side. It was by complete surprise, and I'd say half the people here have already gone down. We're pinned down and we need a transport back up!"

Back on the Pandora, War'en was standing up from his seat on the command chair and looking at the officer filling in for Talona at Ops. "Beam them up immediately to the Medical Bay."

The ensign was already at work at his console. After entering a series of commands and only getting a negative-sounding beep back for his trouble, he turned to War'en. "Sir, there's some huge amount of interference that's blocking the transporter. It wasn't there when we beamed them down, but it's there now."

War'en's face started losing its color. He forced himself to think and tried to push out the image of Red being shot at.

"Can you pinpoint an area that we can beam people down to help them?"

The ensign went back to his console. "It looks like the closest area is about 1 kilometer outside of the away team's location. The interference seems to extend in a wide circle around the area, and its centered on the wreckage of the Cosmos."

Shrel looked over at War'en from his position at Tactical. "This has all the markings of a trap. Whoever set this knew we would beam a large team down to the Cosmos."

War'en nodded. "Shrel, organize a security detachment and have them beam down as close to the site as possible. Their priority is to extract our team out of there."

Shrel nodded and began issuing the orders via his console. War'en turned back to the front of the bridge and spoke through the comm.

"Red, I need you to hold your ground as long as possible. We can't beam you out due to interference that's gone up around the site. We're sending security teams to come get you and provide cover, but they need to come from outside the zone of interference."

Red's voice came back harried. "Are you serious!? We can't hold our ground here. We've got phaser fire coming down on us like rain!"

"I'm sorry Red, but there's nothing else we ca-- wait, phaser fire!?"

"Yes, phaser fire! You know, that bright orange beam that we shoot out of those little pistols they gave us at the Academy!"

War'en ignored Red's sarcasm as his brain latched onto that one ill-fitting detail. "Red, hold your ground. That's an order. Help is on the way. Pandora out."

Red's protest were cut off by the comm system. War'en tapped his combadge again. "Sadda to Captain Oren-De." No answer. "Sadda to Captain Oren-De. Please respond."

War'en's frustration was visibly increasing. "Ops, hail the administrator of the colony. I want to know what is going on down there."

The officer wasted no time. Within seconds, Margulis was on the viewscreen, his face calm and collected. "Greetings, Pandora. How can I help you?"

"I'm trying to contact Captain Oren-De. Our team at the Cosmos site is being attacked and his presence is required back on the ship. Can you put him through?" asked War'en, trying to keep his voice as calm as possible.

Margulis frowned. "Oh... I'm afraid that won't be possible. The Commander is currently unable to talk to you. Is there anything I can do to help?"

War">

'en began glaring ice daggers at the face on the viewscreen. "Get Captain Oren-De on this communication channel now, or I will be sending a security team to do it for you."

"Oh, I doubt they'd be able to find him. We've gotten very good at keeping ourselves, and our things, hidden when we want to. Besides, I think your security teams are needed more at the wreckage of the Cosmos, wouldn't you say?"

"What!?" exclaimed War'en. "What in... what are you up to!? What are you trying to achieve by kidnapping and attacking Starfleet personnel who are here to help your colony!? Have you defected to the Klingon Empire?"

Margulis shook his head, a very odd grin forming on his face. "Oh no. Those savages? They're even worse than the Federation. So much death, confusion, and chaos. Neither they nor you can offer what we have been promised by the Nephilim."

The color immediately drained from War'en's face. Will's jaw had practically dropped. "Oh... hell."

Back on the ground, Talona was listening to commands Redwing was shouting over his combadge. "The Pandora says they're sending down an extraction team. We just have to hold out until then!"

Talona peeked out again over her cover. "Easier said than done! They're advancing on us!"

"What!?"

Sure enough, figures were starting to emerge from small caves in the mountainside, continuing to fire. Redwing grabbed his phaser and fired at one of them, narrowly missing. In doing so, Redwing announced his position. Several phaser beams shot out as his direction, and one struck him in the chest. The doctor fell instantly.

"Red!" shouted Talona. She was about to run over to him, but a phaser beam cut through the air just in front of her, stopping her in her tracks.

No...

She looked around frantically. She knew she couldn't take on the advancing attackers by herself and, judging from how nothing was being said over the comm, it was very likely she was on her own. As the seconds ticked by, she spotted another piece of debris a small distance away, further from the attackers. Talona took a breath and sprinted. Phaser beams struck the ground behind her as she dove behind it. She looked around again, spotted some more cover, and sprinted again. Finally, Talona managed to reach the broken saucer of the Cosmos, running as hard as she could to get behind it. When she finally had it to her back, she took a moment to catch her breath.

She was standing next to a large, blown-out window of the saucer that was one-quarter buried in the ground. Inside was the ruined interior of an unknown crewman's quarters. As Talona stood next to the frame of the window, a pair of hands extended out from the darkness. They grasped around her and quickly pulled her inside, her scream for the help echoing across the otherwise silent wreckage.

Up on the bridge of the Pandora, War'en had recovered from Margulis' revelation. "So... you're a Gnostic. Starfleet will be happy to know that. Within hours, you're going to have more Starfleet officers breaking your door down than you can count. Do you really think that you and your foolish cult are going to get away with this!?"

Margulis only laughed. "I have no fear of Starfleet or the Federation. Soon I will be one with the Nephilim, as will the other faithful of the colony. Even you, should you surrender, may be fortunate enough to join them."

"He's insane," muttered Will from his seat at the helm.

A beeping could be heard off-screen. Margulis looked over to the side then turned back, his grin even wider.

"Speaking of which, they want to have a word with you, Lieutenant Commander Sadda. You should be honored. I hope you make the right decision and surrender to them. After all... resisitance is futile."

Every member of the bridge felt a pit form in their stomach as the viewscreen blinked off. Shrel's console started beeping an alarm. "Two ships decloaking outside orbit range of Zarath III!"

"Red alert! Onscreen!"

The bridge became bathed in red as two Klingon Birds of Prey, heavily augmented and glowing with a sickly green color, decloaked on the viewscreen. A dissonant chorus of robotic voices sounded throughout the entire ship.

"We are the Borg. Lower your shields and surrender your ships. Your biological and technological resources will be added to our own. You will be made to service us. Resistance is futile."

TO BE CONTINUED...

Edited June 23 2010 by chemkarate