STARFIGHTER! The Iconoclasts

Chapter 1

By: Tom Sczepkowski

With editing and clean-up by: Frederick P. Kopetz

Copyrights: STAR TREK is (c) 2004 by Paramount Pictures, Inc. STAR BLAZERS is (c) 2004 by Voyager International, and, STAR WARS is (c) 2004 by Lucasfilm, Ltd. GARGOYLES is (c) 2004 by Disney Entertainment. All original elements of this tale are (c) 2004 by Tom Sczepkowski. All rights reserved, not to be copied without the author's permission.

It was a sunny cool day in San Francisco as Starfleet Admiral Creighton Dantes stepped off the Federation shuttlecraft. The weather was considerably different a half hour ago when he left Trenton. He thought about how humid it was when he left…However other pressing thoughts shortly consumed his mind.

It had been almost a year since his last visit; for it was never in his business to visit there.

Still, he always loved San Francisco and closed his eyes for a moment to take in the cool Pacific breeze before walking into the Main Complex. It hadn’t changed much over the years and Creighton remembered as if it was yesterday when the place was built.

That was over 200 years ago. And next week Dantes was celebrating his 400^th birthday.

The six foot-eight inch half gargoyle/half human made his way by as the cadets snapped to attention at his approach. He felt uneasy; especially with the news he had just received by his granddaughter. With his son on a classified away mission for the Marines he was the only one around to try and get answers.

What possible classified mission could Vaught be on for the Marines? Creighton asked himself. He’s a College professor for Christ sakes.

However Creighton knew that his son also was once a Marine. Along with his knowledge of the Force it made him a very major threat for those who would attempt to disrupt Federation interests. Although Creighton himself did not possess the power of the Force, his son did and so did his granddaughter who followed tradition and enlisted in the Marines as her father. He hated the thought of that. He then quickly drove the thought from his mind. Then, as he came upon a receptionists' desk the young ensign snapped to attention the moment he saw Creighton...along with the rest of the room.

“Relax, please.” Dantes said with his soft spoken Gentlemanly Virginia Southern accent. “Is he free?”

“He is just finishing up with Admiral Nechayev.” The Ensign said “It shouldn’t be too long, Admiral.”

Creighton smiled and went to sit in the waiting room reading over the message again that caused so much controversy within his family the Last couple of days……

He read over every word dismayed by what it said. The more he read it the more confused he became, welcoming the interruption from the Ensign.

“The Ambassador will see you now,” the ensign said. Creighton walked slowly into the fairly large office where it appeared he walked into a meeting in progress. Creighton recognized and nodded in greeting to the woman that he recognized as Admiral Nechayev but addressed himself in a more formal manner to the person sitting behind a large round conference table. Creighton raised his hand in a split finger gesture as the man behind the conference table stood.

“Live long and prosper, Ambassador Spock,” Creighton said.

Spock nodded, returning the gesture. “Live long and prosper, Creighton Dantes and welcome.” Spock said, “I believe you already know Admiral Nechayev?”

“I do; I did some work with the Admiral about five years ago, Ambassador.”

“Yes, the Cosmo DNA Project...If I remember correctly.” Spock said. “A very remarkable piece of engineering; you are to be commended.” Spock gestured Creighton over to the seat behind him. "Please sit down, Admiral Dantes."

“I never knew you even used it.” Creighton said as he sat down. “Conditions would have to pretty bad for you to even use the device, such as right after a radiological war…. What planet met the conditions for the unit to be used?”

Spock and Nechayev looked at each other. One of Spock's arched eyebrows went up at the question, and the half Vulcan/half human shook his head slightly. Admiral Nechayev nodded at Spock. She then turned back to Creighton with a tight, icy smile on her lips. “I’m sorry Admiral... that’s highly classified information that I can't reveal to you,” she said.

“Of course... I forgot I only work here.” Creighton said sarcastically.

Ambassador Spock cleared his throat. “I’m hoping that you can further assist us on some matters in spite of the fact that the Federation cannot reveal all its intentions right away, just as a player of the game of poker cannot reveal his hand.” said the Vulcan.

"That's real nice," said Dantes. "Especially, since we all know that Jim Kirk taught you how to play poker, Ambassador. Another skill you learned from us 'illogical' humans."

Spock nodded at the Admiral and put his hands together in a sort of steeple; a typical Vulcan gesture he used a great deal. “I fail to see the logic in your reference to the late Admiral Kirk, Admiral. As you know, my work on Romulus was deeply important to me. However new developments have forced my return before the time that I desired to return. I am not here to joke or bandy language, Admiral Dantes.”

"Then I pissed you off?" said Creighton.

"I have no ego to bruise, Admiral," said Spock. "Your presence here is as important as mine."

Creighton glanced at Nechayev. “Okay, then. How does this involve me?”

Nechayev took out a data pad and glanced at it. Then, she put it down on the desk and looked at Dantes.

“What was the project that you were working on before we approached you for the Cosmo-DNA?”

Creighton cracked an evil smile. “I’m sorry Admiral, that’s classified information.”

Nechayev slammed her fist on the desk “We know about Project Inferno ...damn it...this is serious, Admiral Dantes!”

Dantes did not flinch as Spock merely raised an eyebrow at Nechayev's outburst.

“Admiral,” Creighton said calmly than paused for a second and leaned back into the chair then his eyes widened as he chuckled to himself as he stood up and walked over to the window and looked out across San Francisco Bay. “You kept it. You didn’t destroy the prototype.”

Nechayev shook her head. “Admiral...that's...”

“Look, don’t tell me it’s classified!” Creighton shouted. “You’re dealing with a very dangerous toy that could reshape the balance of power in this galaxy if it falls into the wrong hands!”

“Admiral Dantes," Spock interjected. "Perhaps I can be helpful if I knew precisely what this Inferno project was.”

Creighton nodded. "Thank you, Ambassador. After the last Borg attack I was approached by Starfleet Command to create a superiority fighter called Inferno to deal with such emergencies. There specifications called for something with sleek lines ...and she had to be fast.”

Nechayev handed Spock a data pad, which had a picture of Inferno.

“Fascinating; I’ve seen this type of fighter before,” Spock said.

“I’m sure you have.” Creighton said “I based the design of the fuselage on an old 20^th century Fighter design."

“Captain John Christopher.” Spock said quietly as he looked at the picture. "You based the Fuselage on the 20^th Century Lockheed F-104C."

“Your knowledge of old airframes is impressive, Ambassador Spock.” Creighton commented. “If you look at the design of the F-104C, it solved certain issues. The F-104 was small, sleek, very fast, If you take the basic design and bring it to today’s technology and materials you have an effective craft. This is a very special star-fighter; its maximum speed is Warp 9.98 ...no...I correct myself...Warp 9.999. Further, that's no short-term afterburner burst speed...she's able to maintain that speed for extended runs."

"So I see," said Spock.

"Actually, Ambassador, it was your experience with Captain John Christopher that inspired my design. However, Admiral Nechayev, I was made to understand when Calix IV fell to the Dominion the prototype was destroyed before the base was evacuated.” Creighton said

“That’s what our intelligence reported.” Nechayev said. “But I stand here before you today to tell you…. they were wrong. The Tholians somehow got their hands on it and are very close to having discovered how the fighter works. "

Creighton sighed. “Damn. The President denied the existence of such a spacecraft to the Federation Council and the Romulan Empire. If anyone found out what we were testing ...well then, the Jem Haddar and the Dominion would suddenly become the least of our problems…We have to get that plane back!”

“What is it that makes the ship such a threat?" Spock asked.

Creighton snorted, “Just a metaphysical cloaking device that holds a thirty second charge and allows the craft to pass through solid objects and fire at the same time….Thirty seconds can do a lot of damage….that and it’s speed and Armament could rival some of our best Starships."

“Indeed,” Spock said looking at Nechayev

"Also, there was a revolutionary new computer system installed on her. With a thought guided and thought controlled weapons system,” Creighton added

Nechayev grumbled. "That's utter insanity, Dantes. Where did you get such a warped idea from?"

“I got the idea from a twentieth century novel,” Creighton said with a smile.

“I read the book, too.” Nechayev said. “And like in the book ...we've sent someone in to get her back.”

“You can’t beam the Inferno out,” Creighton said.

"Why not?" said Nechayev.

“Because the aircraft’s Flextrin skin interferes with a transporter lock….You’d have to fly her out and there are not too many people capable of flying such a high performance craft.”

"You don't seem to realize I spoke in the past tense. We have already sent someone in to get her back out.” Nechayev said with a deadly, clipped emphasis on her words.

“Well let’s hope you get her out.” Creighton said. “Because if you don’t, and if the Tholians can figure out Inferno, it'll be bad...and, well... we’re going to be kissing ass in the Assembly for the remainder of this war.”

There was silence in the room as Creighton looked out the window again. A moment later, a cold sweat came over him and a knot formed in his stomach.

“Who did you send in for her?” Creighton said

“The Starfleet Marines seemed the most qualified department to handle this,” said Nechayev.

"Who did they send in?"

“They sent their best man in.” Nechayev said.

"A dangerous endeavor, no doubt," said Spock.

“Don't worry...they do this sort of thing all the time…right now that seems the only thing going for us,” said Nechayev.

Creighton closed his eyes, and then addressed Nechayev. "Was it a Major Vaught Corsair?”

Nechayev seemed surprised. “Yes it was...as a matter of fact …you know him?”

Creighton chuckled again. “You picked well Admiral. You see, Vaught Corsair is my son.”

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Later, Spock and Creighton walked along the Starfleet Academy parade grounds. Spock felt it would be more productive to talk to Creighton alone without Nechayev constantly trying to bait him.

“How is your family?” Spock said

Creighton laughed, “Not good.” As he handed Spock his data pad that contained the distressing message on it. “This message was transmitted to my granddaughter at the Marine Base on Deneva. It was, however, addressed to Vaught.”

Spock read the data pad and raised an eyebrow “Fascinating… I wasn’t aware Queen Starsha sent this message to your son.”

“I see nothing fascinating in the fact that “Queen” Starsha is writing to Vaught telling him of the death of Astra his ex-wife and my granddaughter’s mother.”

“Princess Astra was Queen Starsha’s sister.” Spock said “I wasn’t aware that she had a daughter with your son.”

“My granddaughter’s name is Starsha as well…which... well... made it more confusing.”

“Logical,” Spock said. “Princess Astra was quite devoted to her older sister and Humans as well as Iscandarians hold the same high level of emotions.”

Admiral Dantes stopped walking

“Iscandarian.... that’s what Astra was…. Iscandarian meaning that she hailed from a planet called Iscandar.”

“Quite correct, Admiral,” Spock said

“Except that the place doesn’t bloody exist!” Creighton said, “There is no planet or system called Iscandar! It’s neither in the Federation database nor the Klingons' Kran'Tal database. I was creeping around this planet ever since Kahn Singh was a dictator! I would know if there was a planet called Iscandar…and there damn well isn’t.”

There was a brief silence as the wind picked up slightly. Spock kept his stone logical face.

“Also this letter from “Queen” Starsha says that my Starsha’s mother was killed when her ship was attacked and crashed on Mars while carrying a message to Earth regarding the Cosmo-DNA….I checked, no ship has crashed on Mars in over ten years…What is this message!?”

“Iscandar doesn’t exist, Creighton.” Spock said, “Yet it does exist.”

“And Astra’s ship didn’t crash on Mars…yet it did.”

“Precisely,” Spock said. "It is, and yet, it is not. Just like the ISS Enterprise is, and is not."

Creighton nodded angrily at Spock. Than, he shook his head and threw the data pad over the cliff and into the bay out of frustration.

“Y’all are mad.” Creighton snapped as Spock again raised an eyebrow at him. “It's bad enough we have half a galaxy wanting to exterminate us…but we have to stick our noses into other damned Dimensional Planes as well?”

“I assure you the prime directive was not violated.” Spock said.

Creighton snapped, “Are you kidding me? The Prime Directive wasn’t violated? Damn straight…y’all just been pissin' on it!”

“You misunderstand our intentions, Admiral. We gave the Cosmo-DNA to Iscandar to help them combat an ecological disaster. We have been sharing technology for over a hundred years…. Their sister planet Gamilon that was experiencing the same problems had another solution to their problem and that was to destroy and invade a tiny planet in the Milky Way galaxy.”

“The third planet in the Sol system no doubt, right?” Creighton said

“Correct. In our hundred-year collaboration with them, Iscandar begged the Federation to intervene in regard to Gamilon's aggression towards the humans…obviously, we could not intervene for reasons stated in the prime directive. So…their Earth was bombarded with radiological planet bombs which made the planet's surface totally uninhabitable. Then, the Iscandarians took it upon themselves to interfere and try to save their Earth. What we would not do, they did.”

“How did we even come across these people?” Creighton asked as he sat down on a park bench.

Spock sat down with him and sighed, "On stardate 5693.2, when I was the science officer aboard the original Starship Enterprise… we were ordered to an uncharted area of space to ascertain the whereabouts and material condition of the Starship Defiant.”

Creighton nodded. “I read about this…the Defiant was visible on the Enterprise's viewscreen, but your sensors read nada.”

"Correct."

“You beam over and find that the crew killed each other due to madness caused by the area of space. Then, your Captain Kirk got stuck in an interphase and you have to hold your position. With the Tholians knocking on your door at the same time. You got your Captain back but Defiant was lost.”

“Not quite. She reappeared near Iscandar in the Great Magellenic Cloud in another universe, where it crashed into one of their moons,” Spock said.

“Once they figured out the technology they somehow contacted Starfleet where everybody gets along…yada, yada, yada…and Vaught meets the beautiful young princess. Said young princess dies while trying to get the Cosmo-DNA to earth.” Creighton said.

“Not exactly,” Spock said.

“You know back in the twentieth century they were making anime films with plots like these. Think I even have one or two of them around on data tapes.”

Spock shook his head. “I wish this was a mere tale,” he said. "It was not. Iscandar was stricken with a deadly virus that decimated the entire population except for Queen Starsha and her sister…Astra. Thus, there was no way for either of them to man a ship that size to transport the Cosmo-DNA and their Planet Earth did not then possess the faster-than-light technology to make a trip that distance. So they sent plans for a special engine called the “Wave Motion Engine” which Starfleet gave to Iscandar. We didn’t realize that Iscandar would give the plans to their Earth to put in one of their modified battleships so they could make the trip.”

Creighton looked at him and chuckled “Starfleet gave Iscandar the plans to my damn wave motion generator…damn it… do you know how long I’ve worked on that design!?”

“Yes, I do, Creighton.” Spock said.

“I was working on that since the first Cardassian war…. My wife and I were held prisoner by the Cardassians…who tortured both of us to try and gain the secrets to that generator…and you hand it out like it's free tickets to a San Francisco Giants ball game?”

“We felt that Queen Starsha could use the technology to save her world.” Spock said. "And, we made a trade-off; a bit of what you call realpolitik."

“So, what did they give us in return?” Creighton snorted.

“Medical technology, mostly,” Spock said. "It has proved valuable."

“Yeah, good trade. We can see how good it worked for them. Welcome to Iscandar home of the used car salesman! You’re a historian, Spock! You ever hear of Iran-Contra?”

Spock looked at Admiral Dantes with a deadpan stare as the sun began to set.

Then, Creighton let out a big sigh. There was a long pause, and then he spoke. “Sorry I've been so hard on ya. I was truly sorry to hear about Sarek's death.” Creighton said

“Thank you.” Spock said.

Neither of them spoke for a while as they just watched the sunset. Then, Spock broke the silence. "As for Iscandar…we’ve had no contact with them since they extended their offer to the people of their “Earth”. We only found out they were successful after your granddaughter received the message.”

“So how does Vaught fit into this?” Creighton said.

“He was successful in retrieving Inferno from the Tholians.” Spock said, “On the way back to rendezvous with the Enterprise, Starfleet ordered him to inspect the area of interspace where an artificial White Comet with an Orion warp signature entered. That was the last time we heard from the Inferno, so we can only assume that she has accidentally entered the gateway to this other dimension.”

“Which is the same gateway that the Defiant went through.”

“Correct.” Spock said.

“The doorway works both ways, I assume. Unless you’re a Iscandarian, that is. All their doors seem one way.”

“Yes, he can get back. However I fail to understand your logic in your arguments regarding Iscandar,” Spock said.

“I’ve already lost one daughter.” Creighton said looking at the evening sky. “I don’t want to lose my son, as well.”

At that, Spock simply nodded, "A logical concern, Admiral."

End Chapter 1.

TO BE CONTINUED....

To Return to the Introduction to Starfighter: The Iconoclasts, click here