CONSPIRACY THEORY
Chapter 35 of Starfighter! The
Iconoclast
By: Tom Sczepkowski
With editing and clean-up
by: Frederick P. Kopetz
And with inspiration and
aid by: Angie Sczepkowski
Copyrights:
STAR TREK is © 2008 by Paramount Pictures, Inc. STAR BLAZERS is © 2008 by
Voyager International, and, STAR WARS is © 2008 by Lucasfilm, Ltd. GARGOYLES is
© 2008 by Disney Entertainment. The Technomugar Empire is © 2004 by Frederick
P. Kopetz and is mentioned here by the author's permission. All original
elements of this tale are © 2008 by Tom Sczepkowski. All rights reserved, not
to be copied without the author's permission.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Doctor Sane was hoping to study Mazar for longer than Wildstar would allow. Sane understood; he knew that Wildstar was under the gun to get as much information as possible. Dr Sane was able to at least identify his species…Orion.
No matter what Piel did said or asked the answer was still the same, “I don’t know.” Piel’s voice grew louder and louder and Mazar seemed to be frustrated as well. Finally he wouldn’t even give “I don’t know” as an answer and seem to shut down.
“I’ve never seen anything like this before,” Piel said turning to Doctor Sane. “Is there something about his physical makeup that could be preventing the mind scanner from operating?”
“Sane stood with his hands folded “Nothing in the short amount of time I had to examine him,” Sane said
”It doesn’t make sense,” Piel said. “It’s as if he can shut down his mind completely.”
“Maybe he can!” Sane said.
“It’s a reflex actually,” Vaught said as everyone turned around not knowing he was standing there. “He can’t let you force information from him.”
“Were not going to get anywhere with him this way,” Wildstar said.
“No,” Vaught said. “We are most assuredly not…”
“I hope I could do as well if I’m ever taken prisoner,” Wildstar said as he walked over to Mazar.
“I don’t know your name and we don’t have accommodations for prisoners……so I’ll release you to Colonel Corsair… you’ll be in his custody.”
Mazar smiled at Wildstar and nodded.
Starsha Corsair felt uneasy as she read the report of the
now missing Admiral Lysis, as she walked through the halls of the
She came across a door leading to what were her mother’s chambers. She had never gone inside them, although Queen Starsha had encouraged her to…she had a hard enough time sleeping in Astra’s bedroom.
She sighed heavily and walked into the large spacious room.
She was surprised what she saw that hanging on a far wall
was a huge painting of her and her father. She had never seen him look so
young….so happy. There was a wall that
had pictures similar to what she had known in her father’s bedroom on
Deneva; however these were holographic.
They were sorted by date. She had grown
accustomed to the timekeeping on Iscandar and was able to convert to a
stardate They were familiar sights to
her. There were pictures of her and her father swimming in the pool at the
family residence on
“Star, stop that!” Queen Starsha said.
“Sorry,” Starsha Corsair said “Should I not be here?”
“I was hoping as much,” Queen Starsha said. She sat on the bed as Starsha Corsair sat down on the floor next to her. Star heard the patter of rain on the glass outside as she pointed to the door and opened it using the Force.
“If Master Nokkar saw me doing that, he’d be royally pissed,” Starsha Corsair said.
“Astra told me stories of pranks that your father used to play on her,” Queen Starsha said.
“My father?” Starsha laughed aloud. “That I’d like to see.”
“He’s not like that now?” Queen Starsha asked.
“Not that I’ve ever seen,” Starsha Corsair said. “Now he’s…so different…”
“But you do love him,” Queen Starsha said. “Very much. Regardless…”
“Oh, he’s my hero,” Starsha Corsair said. “But…he doesn’t want me to follow in his footsteps….but I don’t have a choice.”
“Parents always want better for their children,” Queen Starsha said.
“My father was in his middle twenties when I was born; I
was five when he was commissioned as an officer in Starfleet,” Starsha Corsair said.
“My father never went to
Starsha slid off the bed and sat on the floor next to her.
“It just wouldn’t make sense,” Starsha Corsair said. “They weren’t in the same social circles.”
Starsha looked into her eyes
“Astra met your father almost the same way I met Alex. Except with your father, she found him walking on the beach. He was in shock, wet, exhausted, and his uniform was tattered. He had no idea how he got there.”
“How did he get here?” Starsha Corsair asked “What was he doing in this universe anyway?”
“The only thing your father had said about it was retrieving a file off of some sort of computer system.”
“Gamilon?” Starsha asked.
“Too far away,” Queen Starsha said. “Judging by his wounds, he had some bite marks that were from our animals from our jungles…..We contacted Gamilon and Talan seemed to know all about him….it was almost as if he was afraid of him. Then, they contacted Starfleet. Somehow, however, it took them some time so Astra tried to nurse him back to health. Just like I did with Alex when I found him.”
“Tried?” Starsha Corsair asked
“Your father insisted that he wasn’t hurt and he wouldn’t let Astra near him to take care of him! We both thought he was going to die, because he had contracted a jungle fever similar to Malaria on Earth. They fought and argued constantly and they were always bickering. However, Astra never gave up….and he made a full recovery. Until on a stormy night, your father tried to make amends by making her dinner. He was a very romantic and charismatic person even when he wasn’t trying to be, not to mention very handsome and strong, very muscular; a gorgeous man…”
“All right, all right,” Starsha Corsair said shaking her head. “I get the picture!”
“I wonder if you do,” Queen Starsha said with a smile. “I would have played every mean trick in the book to get him to pay attention to me instead of her….”
“HEY!” Starsha Corsair said
“It’s true,” Starsha said. “However I kept getting distracted.”
“Distracted with what?” Starsha Corsair asked.
“Well, who actually,” Queen Starsha said.
“OK, who then?”
“An equally young and charismatic Gamilon named Desslok,” Queen Starsha said as he grabbed a remote device off of the night stand showing her a picture of him.
Starsha Corsair grimaced. “Cute, but…ughh! He looks arrogant! I think you did better with Uncle Alex.”
“Uncle Alex does a lot of things better,” Queen Starsha said. In response, Starsha Corsair leaned back and sighed while rolling her eyes.
“Besides that,” Queen Starsha added. “Alex can look right through me…he can defuse me with just the slightest touch…..I long to just hear his voice. I really love him to pieces.”
“Yeah, OK,” Starsha Corsair said. “Lucky!”
Queen Starsha looked at her thoughtfully.
“There is no one for you, is there?” Queen Starsha said.
Starsha Corsair laughed aloud looking at the picture. “Hey, for a guy to put up with the way I live…I’d say he’d have to be a little bit crazy! But, besides that, I’m just afraid that what happened to my parents would happen to me.”
“Do you know why your parents drifted apart?” Queen Starsha said.
“She didn’t tell you?” Starsha Corsair asked. Then, she added, “Did you ever hear of Wolf 359?”
“Bits and pieces,” Queen Starsha said. “I know that many Gamilon Generals spoke about it. Something called the Borg?”
“Yes. The best way I could describe it is that they are like space age vampires,” Starsha Corsair said “The combined Starfleet tried to stop them at Wolf 359, but they had taken a Federation Captain hostage and made him a part of their collective….they didn’t have a chance. My father disappeared for six months when he came back. He and a starship Captain that they rescued, were promoted…she became an Admiral and he became a Lieutenant…..Astra couldn’t handle what my father went through, Or so I thought…”
Something in the picture caught Starsha Corsair’s eye….rather , it was someone. She immediately stopped laughing, and got up slowly and walked over to the wall. A few seconds later Queen Starsha noticed her niece’s sudden return to seriousness.
She pointed towards a person standing next to Desslok.
“Who is he?”
“Oh, him,” Queen Starsha said. “He was destined to be come one of Desslok’s generals.” Queen Starsha said. “I never liked him much; he was very full of himself, curt, nasty. I don’t remember his name….Vulgar served under him until his defeat at the hands of the Star Force at the Rainbow Galaxy.”
“Lysis!” Starsha Corsair said.
Queen Starsha thought for a moment. “Yes….I believe that was his name.”
Starsha Corsair nodded and looked at the picture for a moment and then she turned back to her Aunt, tapping her communicator pin.
“
Before Queen Starsha could even
protest, she was enveloped by the transporter beam… and she found herself
sitting in the
“I don’t think Piel did so well,” Venture said watching the Argo’s controls functioning on auto-pilot.
“Piel probably didn’t know what kind of being he was investigating,” Orion said. “He may to have also been trained to resist all forms of interrogation as well, you know.”
“Meaning?” Wildstar said.
“Maybe we were supposed to catch him,” Orion said. “And he was supposed to give us false information.”
“That is a possibility,” Sandor said.
“But he hasn’t given us any information at all,” Wildstar said. “The man is as silent as the grave.”
“My money is on Corsair,” Venture said. “He’ll get him to talk…..or he’ll kill him….or both.”
Wildstar shook his head and went back to typing his log at his station. Then, Nova walked up behind him, and crouched alongside him. The rest of the bridge crew were too busy in the debate at hand to notice.
“Hey,” Nova said.
“You on duty tonight?” Wildstar asked.
“Why Captain, propositioning a female crew member under your command,” Nova said with a wink. “You should be ashamed of yourself.”
Wildstar smiled, “You made me do it; the Force has an influence on the weak-minded. Like me.”
“Very funny, Derek,” Nova said while handing him a piece of paper. “I need you to make an immediate change in the Crew Roster.”
“Sure,” Wildstar said taking the paper. “How’s it going down there?” Wildstar asked
“Sane’s probably doing the Autopsy right now,” Venture said.
“Actually they had lunch togther,” Nova said.
“He’s feeding him!?” Venture exclaimed. “Yeah, right…the guy attacks us, and he gets free grub? That situation stinks!”
Wildstar turned to him, “What the hell is your problem today?”
“It’s personal. I just lost 20 credits,” Venture said.
“I think it should have been pretty well predicted that Vaught wasn’t going to harm him,” Sandor said “Some of the Marines told me that he took it pretty personally when they were being tortured. But maybe now might be a good time to question him.”
Wildstar returned to his station and pondered for a moment Sandor’s suggestion as he gazed out the bridge windows.
“Lets leave it to Col. Corsair right now,” Wildstar said opening the paper that Nova gave him. Then he looked at Nova hard while slowly exhaling a breath. Nova returned the stare.
“Do you really think I am that naive?” Nova said.
“No,” Wildstar replied. “I just hope both of you are up for this. It is a big change…”
Most of the crew, including Nova, thought that Mazar wouldn’t have lasted two minutes in Vaught’s hands. They never thought that Vaught was going to actually feed him.
“Thank you,” Mazar said suspiciously as he drank a glass of milk.
“I assure you it isn’t drugged,” Vaught said. “It isn’t necessary for me to resort to such crude methods.”
“Want do you want with me?” Mazar asked.
“To talk,” Vaught said. “Just talk. That’s all.”
“You don’t want to talk,” Mazar said sipping his milk. “I saw how you talked back on Brumus.”
“My grandfather had a saying,” Vaught said. “If you’re gonna lose, don’t bet.”
“It will take more than your Kor-like methods to break me,” Mazar said.
In response to his remark Vaught cracked a smile, chuckled lightly to himself, and stood up.
“You’re leaving?” Mazar said.
Vaught nodded slightly. “Yes. You’ve just told me what I wanted to know.”
Mazar wondered what he could have possibly said that answered anything in which Vaught would take interest. He was totally mystified as Corsair left.
Vaught strode past Nova without saying anything as Nova followed him out into the passage.
“HEY!” she shouted after him.
Vaught stooped suddenly, and then turned slowly, facing her with a hard look in his eyes.
“How long am I going to be in your dog house?” Nova said.
“You called her a Bimbo,” Vaught said. “I could not believe you, of all people, would be so…”
‘I know,” Nova said “She’s just so beautiful, and Derek for a time was so taken with her.”
“I think the Captain and I need to have a talk. A long one,” Vaught said calmly as he began walking down the passage.
“Why?” Nova shouted after him. “Because when we make love he’s thinking about your wife, while actually having sex with your daughter? Is that it? Does it disturb you?”
Vaught spun around quickly, however Nova was not startled. She stood toe to toe with him and returned his fiery stare.
“Damn you, leave it Alone!” Vaught commanded.
“No,” Nova said. “And damn you anyway for not telling me right then and there! What a wonderful way for you to treat your children!”
“I had just found out about it myself,” Vaught said “But you knew, didn’t you?”
Nova nodded. “Yes…I had suspicions,” she said in a slightly calmer voice.
“How long has it been, then?” Vaught asked.
“Since Brumus,” Nova said her with eyes tearing up. “You had lost so much blood and I wanted to see if I was a match for a donor, to help you…. I had Inferno run the scan…it was faster. That’s…”
“And Inferno thought you were Astra,” Vaught said.
“The
“That will be enough of that smart mouth, young lady!” Vaught snapped.
“Or you’re going to wind up paying
for a wedding between Derek and I. I was thinking of some place around
Vaught stiffened. “All right I can deal with that,” Vaught said. “And the past twenty-one years with your adoptive mom and dad…what about them?”
“What about them?” Nova said. “Everyone stood by and did nothing! They could have been decent and told me years ago and not let me work through all of this all by myself!” she said while kicking a sheet-metal bulkhead with her boot and leaving a dent in it.
“What could be done?” Vaught said. “Calling yourself Corsair from now on isn’t going to change anything, Nova. You are still you. You still will have to deal with what happened to you, both regarding your aunt and also what happened to you on Diamond island.”
“Then I’ll deal with it as a Corsair,” Nova said. “Besides Derek, you are the only one close to me in my life that has ever had any real strength!”
“And Being Nova Corsair will change all this?”
Nova turned away from him “It’s not just that,” Nova said. “You have shown me more in two months than anyone has taught me in a lifetime. You had faith in me where no one else did. Everyone thought I was some kind of silly, clumsy nerd. If it went for you, I’d still be changing dressings in a hospital back home waiting for Derek to come back.”
There was silence between the two when Vaught spoke again
“This is what you’re sure of?” Vaught asked. “Once you start down this path, there is no return from it.”
Nova snapped a quick nod, and her eyes were full of rage. “I am not the same person I was two months ago. I can never go back. We go forward. That is it!”
Vaught let out a heavy sigh, “Very well Nova. If that is what you choose, so be it. There are conditions, however. We need to find out what happened here, obviously there was a reason behind all of these events.”
“I agree,” Nova said.
“You will show the proper respect to Karl and Teri Forrester as your parents should be treated. You will not shut them out,” Vaught said.
“Of course,” Nova said “Oh. You need to know that it was I who pushed Doctor Sane to check the database…Not Royster…..It is I that you should be angry with… not him.”
“He never said anything to me about it,” Vaught said.
“He’s a good guy,” Nova said.
Vaught had started to walk away when Nova called after him again.
“Vaught? Who is Kor?” Nova asked.
“A Classical Reference,” Vaught said. “But perhaps you might ask Captain Gideon the next time you see him.”
Vaught had begun to walk away when he stopped and turned towards Nova.
“Nova?” Vaught called after her.
She turned around.
“Ask Royster to show you a film
called Planet of the Apes.
“Charlton Heston again?” Nova asked. “I’ve seen it before…years ago.”
“It was Astra’s favorite picture,” Vaught said. “She couldn’t get enough of it.”
He continued to walk down the corridor….Nova was confused
“I don’t get it,” Nova said.
“Let’s just say I understand Astra’s logic…about a lot of things,” Vaught said while continuing to walk down the corridor.
All
hell broke loose on the
Starsha Corsair found herself alone in the Briefing room. There was no doubt in her mind that she was in a lot of trouble. After all, accusing a senior Admiral of treason just by a looking at a picture wasn’t going to go down easily with Starfleet. Several moments passed, then more than an hour passed. She simply gazed at the tropical world of Iscandar beneath her and marveled at its beauty. Finally, the doors opened, revealing Alsarida, She motioned Starsha to come with her. She followed her to the Transporter room she could tell by Alsarida’s movements’ not to say anything Alsarida stepped onto the transporter pad and then motioned to Starsha alo to the transporter pad.
“Where are you taking me?” Starsha Corsair said
“I’m not going to divulge that information.” Alsarida said “However I will assume what I have to say will interest you, “But I’m going to tell you who or what I represent….Except to say You weren’t supposed to get this far in,” And you’re close…closer that what you think.”
Alsarida touched a device on her wrist and the next thing Starsha Corsair knew she was on a mountain somewhere on Iscandar far away from the castle. Alsarida was facing her looking at something, Starsha than turned and looked at what Alsarida was looking at.
“Defiant!” Starsha Corsair said. “You knew about it all along!” Starsha
glared at her and folded her arms
“Starsha,
everything I'm going to tell you is classified top secret,” Alsarida said
giving Starsha a significant look. “None of it is to get out.” Then, she paused
and continued. “Before anything I am a soldier, Starsha. Two wars, I served on the Rutledge
under Ben Maxwell, Wolf 359, on the
‘Section 31,” Starsha said. “So what did you do?”
Alsarida
sighed, “Pretty much the same as your Father. We put out nasty little fires.”
She paused and went on…“Assassinations, coups d'état, rigging elections,
propaganda, psych warfare and so forth. On
Starsha continued looking at Alsarida still looking at the wrecked Starship
“Then we got into the Gamilon thing…. not so good. Fearing an all-out attack by the Borg, Starfleet initiated a treaty with Gamilon for high- grade inadaptable weapons, in exchange for logistical support of Gamilon’s conquest of EDF Earth. Our Section 31 helped Gamilon set up all the bases for the invasion in the EDF universe that was supposed to take place in October 2199. Princess Astra addressed the Federation Counsel, causing the Federation to investigate Starfleet, Starfleet couldn’t help Gamilon invade, and we were standing out there with our asses stuck in the wind…. a lot of pissed-off people, Starsha, you understand?”
Starsha continued to stare at Alsarida intently. Then, she said, “Continue…”
“I'll come to that later... So 2198, I spent much of that previous year on Iscandar working on Desslok’s plan for getting the entire Gamilon populace off of Gamilon by the end of 2199. This plan was one of the most aggressive from the Desslok Administration. On December 2198, one day after Astra’s address to the Federation Council and three days before the Earth Defense Fleet and Gamilon Fleet fought their major battle at Pluto, a strange thing happened to me. I was sent by my superior officer, “Admiral” Lysis, to Memory Alpha as the military escort for a group of VIP’s. I was on my way back and at Starbase 200 when your mother was killed.”
Alsarida continued with, “Now your mother crashed on EDF Mars at 7:00PM EDF time…That’s Stardate 41102.3 the next day in our universe. But already the official report had the entire history of this unknown princess, Detailed biographical data; the exact details of the Raritan’s Flight plan, The cause of the crash, that the Raritan was caught in crossfire during the Gamilon-EDF battle at Pluto, and that Starfleet Command were pretty sure of the fact that she was flying it alone and had become “confused” thinking she was on the contaminated Earth; and accidentally walked outside and suffocated…… Although it was four more hours before the crash was detected by your uncle’s brother and Mark Venture……It felt to me as if……well…. a cover story was being put out like we would do in a black op……
“Anyway, after I arrived back at San Francisco I asked myself…why was I a part of Section 31, selected to travel to Memory Alpha at that time to do a job that any number of others could have done?” “
“I wondered if it could have been because, One of my routine duties were I on Iscandar would've been to arrange for a protection detail for Princess Astra, as per the protocols of the Gamilon Treaty regarding safe conduct of the Iscandarian royal family?....So I decided to check it out, and sure enough, I found out someone had told the USS Thunderbird stationed on Diamond Island to "stand down" that day, over the protests of the Ship’s Captain. Now this is significant, because it is standard operating procedure, especially in a known hostile area like the EDF dimension to supplement Starfleet vessels as escorts, for VIP travel.”
“Even if we had allowed Princess Astra to go in the first place, we would have placed at least 12 escort Vessels between Iscandar and Earth without question. We'd have started days ahead of time, studied the route, checked all the sectors... never would've allowed her to fly all alone in a runabout… never... we would’ve put her on one of our Intrepid class Starships… We would have had our own agents with her. We would have been watching the activity during the battle at Pluto…Much less take a dangerous route directly through an active battle zone! The moment there was any trouble we'd have been on it. You would have felt a Starfleet presence in the Sector that day, but none of this happened. It was a violation of the most basic protection codes we have. And it is the best indication of a massive plot in Starfleet.”
Starsha said nothing. However, she continued to listen intently
“Now who could have best done this?” Alsarida asked “Black Ops….Starsha. People in my business, People like my superior officer could've told the Thunderbird, "Look - we have another starship coming from so and so providing security. You'll stand down." During her flight, in fact, there were some Starfleet vessels between Balan and Earth, and I'm still trying to figure out who and why. But they weren't protecting Princess Astra.” As far as Defiant (pointing at the wrecked starship) Section 31 Intel had a file on her along with her exact position all along.” “Lysis never knew of her location neither did your father.” “On the day your mother crashed, there were many strange things happening and the USS Defiant had nothing to do with them.”
Alsarida continued with, “We had your father stationed on a Klingon outpost that day. We had 13 Starships around the interdimensional rift in Federation Space at the time of Astra’s crash, and the afternoon during the battle of Pluto in the EDF universe, the entire comm-system went dead on the Federation Earth for a solid hour. Does that sound like a bunch of coincidences to you, Starsha?
“No.” Starsha Corsair said
“Not
for one moment.” Alsarida said continuing, “Your father was sent off-world to
get his involvement out of the way; the Starships were there for possible Tactical
support. The comm-system didn't work to keep the wrong stories from spreading
to your Father if anything went wrong with the plan. Nothing was left to
chance. I bet you there were even backup teams and ships around the moon in the
event that the
Starsha, listened intently, stunned at what she was hearing.
“I
never thought things were the same after that. Once we heard that Astra’s ship
was destroyed, we thought that was the end of it. The
”I never realized that my mother was so dangerous to Starfleet’s Security. Is
that why?”
Alsarida chuckled. “That's the real question, isn't it - "Why ?" - the "how"
and the who is just "scenery" for the Public ... Lysis, Desslok,
Starfleet, the Defiant; it keeps people guessing like a parlor game, but
it prevents them from asking the most important question - Why ? Why was Astra
killed? Who benefited? Who has the power to cover it up?...
Who?”Alsarida paused and took a deep breath and
continued.
“On Star Date 6597.61 –After a brief visit to our universe from Princess Astra……. very few people know about this all right? –As per the Federation Council, I participated in writing National Security Memos 55, 56, and 57 These were crucial documents classified top secret; but basically in them were directives for your Grandfather to stop working on all weapons projects regarding the Gamilon Campaign and hereon forward to draw up plans for Environmental Repairing Devices and complete the prototype for the Wave Motion generator, to be delivered directly to the Federation Council…again classified top secret. This circumvented Starfleet Command, This was unprecedented. I can't tell you the shock waves this sent along the corridors of power in Starfleet and the Gamilon Hierarchy! You got some very upset people here…….And the people in the circle….they fight back their way.”.
“Your
grandfather’s Wave Motion Genator was never implemented after the Cosmo DNA
was delivered, due to Section 31’s bureaucratic resistance, but one of the
results was that his department suddenly came under direct command of Admiral Lysis.
A reverse engineering project of an alien ship that was
turned over to your grandfather’s department as "Project KOBOL.” Now KOBOL was pure Black Ops. It was secretly
based at the old Area 51 in
“Princess Astra announces that she is going to EDF Earth against her sister’s wishes At that moment “Admiral” Lysis begins his history in our universe; he starts bringing in starships and a strike team to be waiting on Mars….. maybe from section 31’s resources maybe Klingion mercenaries Orion, Breen, Iotion hire, Does it matter who blew the door on the escape capsule? ….Part of the scenery right?.....I keep thinking about that day when two young soldiers stationed on Mars found Princess Astra with this message clutched in her hands……..”
Alsarida pulled from her pocket a red capsule and placed it on the ground as a hologram began to play.
I
am Starsha of Planet Iscandar.
When and if my sister Astra arrives safely with this message to Planet Earth; Come to Iscandar
You have only one year left before the total extinction of all life on Earth. I have sent you plans for a Wave Motion Engine so you can make the long journey to Iscandar. When you get here we will give you the Cosmo DNA. This will remove the radioactivity from earth and is the only thing that can save you. I wish that we could get the Cosmo DNA to you ourselves but we cannot. Then follow the plans for the wave motion engine, it will get you to Iscandar. We are located 148 thousand light years beyond the galactic system. You must reach Iscandar in time to save Earth. I am Starsha of Planet Iscandar…
“In that message,” Alsarida said. “…Lay the birth of the Star Force and the destruction of Gamilon……. “
Starsha looked up into the sky and closed her eyes.
“I can’t believe she was killed her because she wanted to make a stand for peace!
Alsarida
chuckled “They’ve been doing it throughout history!....
“Kings,
“The
size of all this is... beyond me. Why can’t we just go to the Federation Council?”
“There’s no chance in hell we could do that, Starsha. We'd be arrested and
gagged, declared insane and hospitalized... maybe worse. I’m giving you
background, you got to find the foreground, the little things... Keep digging.
Find this Starship, Take out Lysis. If you do that, you’ll be saving lives.
That's important - it's historic.”
“You have the wrong Corsair.,” Starsha huffed.
“You don't have a choice anymore,” Alsarida said. “You're becoming a
significant threat to Section 31’s security structure. They would've killed you
already, but you are the daughter of a Very feared man…..one they’re not
sure that they are in control of anymore. So they're going to try and destroy
your credibility. You have a lot of people watching your back…even me. But you
have to be honest with yourself – Use your gifts, stir the shit-storm. You
gotta hope to reach a point of critical mass where other people will come
forward and stand behind you. If that happens, then Lysis’s movement will
crack. Remember, fundamentally people are suckers for the truth, and the truth
is on your side, Starsha. Are we clear?” Alsarida turned and activated the
transporter within an instant they were back on the
Alsarida walked off the transporter pad and walked towards the door as the doors opened she turned and faced Starsha.
Starsha nodded grimly.
“I only hope you get a break,” Alsarida said as she walked out.
After the doors closed, Starsha buried her face in her hands and cried. The more she tried to stop, the harder she cried.
If my father was here, Starsha thought, He would know what to do… he’d shut this whole damned operation down.
But her father wasn’t here and if he was he would have told her it was up to her. Alsarida was right….the truth would be her greatest ally.
“Computer,” she said after sitting up erect.
“Working.”
“Begin transcription of the following:
“To Officers of Starfleet and the Starfleet Marines and Special Operations, Section 31…”
The next afternoon, they were all assembled in the main briefing room.
Some time later, Riker sat at the front of the table. Troi sat to his right, while Neacheav sat on his left.
Spock, McCoy, and Scotty sat down the left side, while Alsarida, Chekov, Sulu, Queen Starsha, Alex Wildstar and Vulgar sat on the right. Demona and Creighton could be seen on the small view-screen in the middle of the table.
Spock rubbed his eyes looking up from a data-pad.
“You may have to up your Retonox if you’re having trouble reading that,” McCoy chided.
“Really…Doctor,” Spock said as Starsha Corsair walked into the room. She was not in her uniform, but was, isntead, in one of her mother’s flowing fucia dresses. Her eyes and face were made up so carefully that she resembled her mother down to the most precise detail. Queen Starsha gasped slightly
“Lieutenant Corsair, we’re all waiting to hear what you have to report,” Neacheav said.
She bowed to Queen Starsha, with her glittery silver sandals showing beneath the hem of her dress as she bowed. “Your Majesty, I would like to make my address as a Princess of Iscandar.”
“That is your right,” Queen Starsha said. Then, Queen Starsha said, “Ambassador Spock, may I present Princess Starsha Corsair? She is my Ambassador to the Federation.”
“So noted,” Spock said. “Your Ambassador is recognized, Queen Starsha.”
“What the hell is all of this?” Neacheav demanded.
“It means we don’t have the authority to order her to shut
up, if we don’t like what she’s saying,” Demona said with a smirk. She thought,
OK, your Highness we’re listening….What are you telling?
Starsha Corsair glanced at a data pad, clearing her throat before she read,
Officers of Starfleet and the Starfleet Marines and
Special operations Section 31:
“All of you know who I am. My family makes up the many
powerful components of Starfleet and The Federation, But I am not representing
them today, Nor am I representing Starfleet, or my heritage as a Gargoyle, but
that of an Iscandarian.
It is not only I that addresses you today; my mother is
speaking to you today with my Voice. She is the one who sat as right hand to
the Queen of this world. Her only guilt was she tried to right a grievous wrong
by herself. Her life was taken from her for this sacrifice.
We all know what the history was after my mother’s
death; we know that because of her actions many people died on Gamilon. However
had Gamilon approached this from a different perspective as Iscandar begged them
to… perhaps history would have been more kind.
My orders in this affair were simple…To find evidence
that Queen Starsha and Alex Wildstar had in their possession the Starship Defiant,
or were using technology from the vessel itself. If that evidence was found, I
was to eliminate the Iscandarian Royal family….In essence, I was to kill my own
family!”
Starsha glared at Neachev and Chekov. Alex touched her hand slightly as Starsha Corsair continued.
“I had made my own judgment and my decision before I
ever left
My father has no recollection of Iscandar, yet he was
here, severely wounded, exhausted, weak, no doubt overworked by this Defiant
business. He was met with overwhelming resistance and was severely wounded and
was almost killed for his actions. He would have died iIf not for the young
beautiful woman who cames into his life and helped him. Just as this beautiful woman…”
At that, Corsair
paused and gestured towards Queen Starsha. “Just as this beautiful woman
aided the gentleman sitting next to her, now his brother and my father
serve together, there is no irony here just the will of the Force.”
Starsha Corsair
paused before going on. She said, “I believe the Defiant is on
Iscandar, and that she needs to be found. Over 400 people died on this ship and
their families had to carry on without them. All anyone has ever seen the Defiant
for was as an opportunity. I urge the Federation,
if possible to please find and remove the Defiant and end this
investigation and threat to our only home in the universe. Whatever was reverse
engineered, the technology is over 100 years old, whoever obtained the
technology either by one planet that is now dead or the other struggling to
stay alive. The "Neural" Syndrome… The cause
that they fought for no longer exists. There is danger here, in this dimension,
however. There is an artificial White Comet that is on a direct course with the
EDF Earth that no one knows about, although it is rumored that it’s origins
might have a connectio to Orion Technology. You at Starfleet have only asked
the "how" and the “who”! Which
is, as a close friend described, is just "scenery" for the suckers
... it keeps people guessing like a parlor game, but it prevents them from
asking the most important question –“Why ?” and the answer is simple; to stop a
more powerful world from committing genocide upon a weaker one.
By standing up to Gamilon, Queen Starsha has sealed her
own fate for she will not leave Iscandar.
Iscandar is being consumed, now as we speak, and her
fate will be the same as Gamilon’s…destruction. Do we need to hasten the
inevitable because of patriotic drum beating?”
Starsha Corsair laid the data pad down and sat down next to Queen Starsha and rubbed her eyes, as Destine cleared her throat.
“Creighton?” Destine asked quietly.
“I find it ironic that the ship that I am on, was built by
the same circumstances by which Iscandar came into contact with the Defiant.
I point out that we lost the ship due to a battle between the
Destine was quiet for a moment as she gathered her words then spoke.
"Princess Corsair stated that the technology is in
the hands of a dead world. Gamilon used reverse-engineered Starfleet technology
to attack, and the Star Force used reverse-engineered Starfleet technology to
defend themselves. The Neural syndrome, there is truth in this. In this
case, however, Starfleet bears some responsibility in this matter. It is for
this reason, that I am closing Starfleet’s investigation of Planet Iscandar and
dropping all charges filed with the Federation Council. Admiral Necheav is
hereby relieved of all duties, and she will be restricted to quarters on the
Nechaev’s eyes grew wide. She snapped,“You don’t have the authority!”
She was interrupted when Chekov shouted something in Russian. She simply sighed and stood up from the table and walked out of the room with a security guard behind her. Riker nodded to Destine when Necheav was out of the room. Destine continued.
"Queen Starsha…on behalf of Starfleet Command, I apologize for violating your sovereignity. We hope that you will allow us to try and help you resolve your environmental and ecological disasters."
"Thank you very much," Queen Starsha said. "Starfleet will always be welcome on Iscandar."
"If I was in your position, I don’t know if I would be as gracious as you," Destine said.
"My world is doomed, Admiral Destine," Queen Starsha said. “What does it matter now?”
"Your Majesty," Riker said. "I think the
Starsha just gazed at him.
“Starships are capable of more than just being weapons,” Sulu said.
“As I see it,” Creighton said. “You have two objectives. One…find the Defiant and… Two… research the root causes of the Tectonic Distress and repair the damage. We’re going to nail down what’s going on here with this Comet, too. My guess is that we’ll hear from Major Corsair as soon as he finds out something….Admiral Destine, do you have anything to add?”
“Nothing,” Destine said as she stared at Starsha Corsair.
“Carry on,” Creighton said as the panel went blank.
Starsha Corsair couldn’t stand to be stared at anymore. So, she was the first to leave. There, standing outside the briefing room was Selar. When she saw Starsha in her mother’s dress she simply raised an eyebrow.
“You may not want to get too close to me…I’m persona non grata,” said Starsha Corsair.
“Not among my presence,” Selar said. “Well done. Your Father would be proud of you.”
“His Father and his Grandmother aren’t,” Starsha Corsair said.
“You can’t worry about that right now,” Selar replied. “Lysis is out there, and he will stop at nothing until he has his vengeance, You are the only one who has the knowledge, let alone the strength, to stop him.”
Alsarida followed Corsair out. Then, Starsha glared at her. “Lysis is a Starfighter?”
Alsarida nodded “It is logical…I was speaking with Vulgar.
He told me that there were rumors going around that a
Starfighter, along with a with a battalion of
Gamilon soliders on the outskirts of the jungle, ambushed a Starfleet
operative. They captured him and tortured him. He finally escaped and they
hunted him for a week…half-starved and beaten until he came to your mother’s
compound.”
"That coinsides with the Queen’s
story on how my mother met my father," Starsha said. “I’m going to
take care of that Son-of a-Bitch…that’s the first thing on my list. Lysis set
up my parents…….that Stunz..”
___________________________________________________________________________________________
Mazar was surprised to see that there was no one to guard him after Vaught left.
He was surprised that the Starfighter could make such a tactical error, however did not question it.
He quietly walked outside the mess hall and down the corridors to a locker. He was able to gain access to the locker quite quickly. There, he obtained a flight suit, helmet and Astro Automatic.
He quickly made his way past the hangar. Someone on a Black Tiger spotted him as he quickly ran down the corridor.
Then he heard the alarms beginning to sound.
Mazar knew that if he didn’t get to his ship soon, it would only be a matter of time before he was caught.
He took a calculated guess as he opened up an airlock door; if he had to he would prefer to navigate on the Argo’s outer hull rather risk than getting caught inside.
With sheer luck, he found as soon as he was in the vacuum of space that his ship was directly beneath him.
Although had he heard Wildstar’s voice ordering the crew to let him escape, he might not have taken the risk. He was able to propel himself downward where he was able to cut the mooring cables with the Astro Automatic. Now floating freely, he was able to enter the craft through the escape airlock.
He quickly powered up the craft……at least two of the impulse engines were operational, although the warp drive was offline. He still guessed he could still make back to Major Hirax’s fleet in under two hours.
In the Inferno, Vaught watched all of this with interest as he pushed forward on the throttles. Although he was cloaked, he kept a safe distance from Mazar. Inferno’s Comm. System chimed as Wildstar’s face appeared on the canopy.
“He’s away,” Wildstar said.
“Aye, sir,” Vaught said.
“And you are positive you can track him all they way to his base or fleet?”
Vaught adjusted some controls and nodded slightly.
“I’m taking an awful risk,” Wildstar said. “This had better work.”
Wildstar ended the transmission.
Vaught trailed Mazar for about two hours cloaked as Mazar’s transport made its way back to his base ship. He kept one of his Comm. channels set to Mazar’s frequency and for the entire two hours, there was nothing but static. Then in an instant, Mazar’s voice could be heard over the speakers. Not in English, however. However, Vaught knew the language and nodded at the argument now taking place between the pilot and the senior officer on the bridge.
“Computer,” Vaught said “Record current conversation now being carried on subspace.”
The computer beeped in reply as Vaught slowed Inferno to a crawl while he listened intently to the conversation.
Another channel on his Comm. system beeped as Homer was trying to get through….Vaught opened the channel.
“They’re not going to let him land, are they?” Wildstar said.
“No,” Vaught replied. “The senior officer is saying that he was exposed to the enemy…….Vaught trailed off when he heard a name…it was a name that was familiar to him. It came through the speakers as clear as a bell while Vaught chuckled to himself .
“We’re going to take him back,” Wildstar said. “I’m sure he’ll give us all the information that we need now.”
“Captain….I would advise caution,” Vaught said.
Wildstar never heard the transmission as he opened a channel to Mazar’s ship.
Vaught watched the now exiled pilot buzzing the bridge of his former carrier while Wildstar’s offer flowed through the Comm. system. At first, it almost seemed that he was not listeningand was only intent on landing on his carrier. However one comment seemed to strike him.
“We respect you allegiance to your nation…. but does
your nation respect you?”
Mazar stopped his buzzing of his former carrier and headed back towards the Argo.
“We never even got to know your name,” Wildstar said.
“My name is Mazar,” he said. “I don’t know what to do.”
Mazar closed his eyes and shut his radio off and thought
for a moment he opened his eyes revealing a look of determination and flung his
throttles forward, and headed towards the Argo.
“What’s he doing?” Wildstar said
“I’m not sure he knows,” Sandor said. “All his years of fighting what he believed in were ripped from him in a matter of seconds….and we caused it.”
“Hey guys here’s one for
the Holmes and Watson roundtable,” Royster
said through the bridge speakers. “That guy is loaded with bombs! If he rams
into us……..”
They looked up to the video panel and it appeared that Mazar was getting ready to do just that. However Inferno was nowhere to be seen.
“Where the hell is he?” Venture said.
“Take out the target?” Dash said.
“We don’t know what he’s trying to do,” Wildstar said.
Mazar continued his approach. By the way he was maneuvering his fighter, Vaught could tell that he wanted to go out in glory and what better way for Mazar to redeem himself in the eyes of the Empire than to sacrifice himself by destroying his enemy?
Mazar would not get that chance.As he began to feel his throat tighten around him, Mazar looked ahead directly at Inferno. He than noticed levers and buttons turning themselves. His control yoke was turning right on its own as his ship moved away from the Argo. While trying to resist the effect over him, he than grasped the control yoke and gritted his teeth. Then, he heard air escaping as the seams where the craft’s hull plating met began to tear. While as air rushed around him, he placed his visor of his helmet down. However, with a mind of its own, it began to raise again. He released the yoke and placed both hands on his visor fighting to keep it down. However, it was up enough where he felt the pain of decompression as he saw and felt his own blood escaping from his nose and eyes. Thenm almost as if some mercy had been granted to him, he heard and felt a popping and cracking in his throat. Then, there was a roaring sound as the metal seams gave way and the craft broke apart and disintegrated. While Mazar’s body harmlessly bounced along the hull of the Argo, it finally entered the exhaust stream from the wave motion engine, and then it disintegrated into a fireball.
Vaught never looked up from his computer monitor. “All too easy,” he said through his voice modulator.
Wildstar looked back at Nova who defiantly returned his stare.
“Wildstar, what was he trying to do?” Sandor said. “Was he going to attack us, or was he trying to land?”
“I don’t know,” Wildstar said. “I guess that is a question we will have to ask our X-O, isn’t it?”
Almost in a reply, there was a flash followed by an explosion as the carrier that Mazar attempted to land on moments ago was in flames.
“”How did he?!” Wildstar began. Then, he said, “Open all guns…target: enemy fleet……FIRE!”
The Argo joined with Inferno. As both ships attacked, all sorts of cruisers and support craft exploded around them while the Argo gracefully passed through the explosions and the damaged craft. Inferno came up from behind and flew next to the Argo, while the enemy ships caught in the crossfire finished each other off.
______________________________________________________________________________
When Vaught returned to the Argo, he did not leave the Inferno, because he was intent on finding out more of the conversation that he had taped between Mazar and the fleet commander.
Wildstar, not seeing his commander for several hours, finally found him still in his flight suit with several screens opened. He walked up the catwalk alongside Inferno and crouched down next to Vaught
“I am just doing some research,” Vaught said in Japanese as he continued typing keystrokes “I guess you’re upset about what happened today?”
“With myself, yes,” Wildstar replied in Japanese, while wondering why Vaught wasn’t speaking in English. “I should have realized what would have happened with Mazar if you hadn’t stepped in….there probably would be a massive hole in the side of the hull right now.”
“It was a tough decision,” Vaught replied in Japanese.
“Not for you.”
“You’re not an assassin!” Vaught said chuckling while still speaking in Japanese
“My list is longer than yours,” Wildstar said.
“Gamilon doesn’t count,” Vaught said as he continued playing the guitar. “That was Desslok’s doing; he was just asking for trouble.”
“Like Mazar….was he also asking for trouble?”
“Every time we climb into that cockpit, we ask for trouble,” Vaught said.
Wildstar stopped to listen to the recordings of the transmissions that Vaught was playing.
“This was from the argument between Mazar and his superior?” Wildstar asked.
“Yes…there are several references to someone by the name of Prince Zordar. Now, the Zordars are a ruling faction of the Orion Syndicate.”
Wildstar nodded; there was no arguing with Vaught’s logic and especially since it was so late as well, they wished each other goodnight in Japanese and Wildstar went to his quarters and began working on his most recent painting. That painting was a portrait of Mazar. He looked over at another painting of a Gamilon pilot that the Star Force had taken captive a little over two years ago. He stared at the painting, not noticing at first that Nova was walking into his quarters. She had never been in there before and Wildstar gasped at first not quite knowing what to do.
“You shouldn’t be here,” Wildstar said.
She was dressed in her PT gear, with her sneakers and regular gym socks on her calves, along with a sweaty towel over her shoulders. Her hair was sweaty as she tossed the towel to the deck. Nova walked provocatively past his small bathroom, and then she pointed slightly at something in the bathroom…and in an instant the shower was running and steam was coming out of the bathroom as Nova walked in.
Wildstar stood there dumbfounded for a moment. Then, he sighed heavily and walked towards the bathroom stopping at the door.
“Come in, Derek?” she said in an almost alluring tone before he could say anything else.
“I should hate this but I don’t,” he said to himself as he walked into the bathroom and sat down on the toilet seat with his eyes staring at the deck. He again sighed heavily.
“Vaught was speaking to me in Japanese tonight,” Wildstar said, noticing that Nova had undressed and thrown her PT garb to the deck.
“He speaks a lot of different languages,” Nova said while running her hair under the shower behind the shower curtain.
“Why Japanese?” Wildstar said.
“It’s probably because he so much trouble with English,” Nova said. “When he gets tired or distracted, sometimes he forgets it.”
“That’s strange,” Wildstar said.
Nova stuck her head through the curtain while it was still covered in soap. “He has his limitations too, Derek.”
“Oh, really?” Wildstar said sarcastically.
“What’s bothering you all of a sudden?” Nova said continuing rinsing her hair. “You sound awfully…peeved about something.”
“Well, you being in my shower for one thing!” Wildstar said.
“That’s a problem? Am I not your girlfriend?”
“It’s against regulations…besides I don’t want people to get the wrong idea.”
Nova stuck her head out of the shower with an evil grin on her face. “Oh? That you’re having sex with your girlfriend?”
“Nova!”
“Derek, what is it with you?”
“Oh here we go again…” Wildstar said.
“No, look! Every time we have a nice romantic moment and things are about to happen, you take a damn U-turn and all of a sudden you’re Samurai Jack, playing the Honor card. It gets to be like taking a cold shower after a while. I prefer hot ones, thank you!”
Wildstar turned away from her, looking back at the deck, and he rubbed his eyes.
Some silence passed between them as Nova looked at him thoughtfully.
“You’re afraid you’re going to lose me?” Nova said. “Is that it?”
“I have already,” Wildstar said. “You are so...different…”
“Because of my father?” Nova said.
“Are you talking about Karl Forrester?”
“No.” Nova flung open the shower curtain. In a reflex, Wildstar closed his eyes. As Nova stepped out of the shower, Wildstar sensed her walking up to him.
“Open your eyes, Derek,” Nova said. “NOW,” she added.
“No,” Wildstar said. “I won’t.”
“Why not?”
“Because it will start something that neither of us will be able to stop,” Wildstar said. “Especially me.”
She had no more use for words, as she growled slightly and kissed Derek passionately, embracing him with a strength he had never experienced before. She wasn’t hurting him, but he knew that at that moment she was far stronger than he was. Derek realized that the passion of her Gargoyle side was beginning to dominate her. Derek returned the embrace, as well as the passion of the kiss. Both of them responded as their lips pressed harder. Then Nova growled again, as Wildstar finally opened his eyes. And, at that, he was seeing her as she really was for the first time ever. He could have stared at her perfectly toned naked body for hours. She was more toned, muscular, and elegant than he expected; she was, in fact, something like a work of art come to life.
Derek took a step back…she was panting heavily, and her eyes had changed to almost the same wolf-like eyes that Vaught had, and her fangs had become prominent as they returned. Wildstar didn’t even wonder if he should be afraid as he walked forward and embraced her again.
At that, she pulled him into the shower with her, and closed the curtain…
_______________________________________________________________
Later that night, Vaught continued his research on the bridge. Venture was at the helm controls, and Homer was at the radio. Eager was at the main radar in Nova’s usual place.
“Mister Venture, we are due for a course change, ” Vaught said.
Venture gave him a sidelong glance, “Standing by.”
“On my mark come port heading ‘040.’ Mister Eager is that area clear?”
“5 by 5 Number One,” Eager said.
“Commence your turn,” Vaught said.
Venture commenced the turn and looked behind him at the Astro Compass.
“Coming to 040, Mark.”
“Very well Mister Venture; maintain present heading and speed,” Vaught said.
Vaught went back to what he was doing. When Royster came up onto the bridge, he looked uneasy and nervous. Vaught stopped what he was doing and looked up at him.
“You were covering for Nova,” Vaught said. “And took the blame for something that you didn’t do…Why?”
“Nova Corsair is my friend,” Royester said.
“Nova has a lot of friends,” Vaught said.
“Well, I don’t,” Royster said while handing Vaught a data pad.
“Communication from EDF Command sent directly to Inferno,” Royster said.
“Impossible. EDF doesn’t have the communication protocols to send a message directly to a Federation ship,” said Vaught.
“Unless a Federation ship relayed the message for them. Look,” Royster said pointing at the top of the data pad.
Vaught looked up at him.
“Captain Jean-Luc Picard U.S.S Missouri NCC-0911?” Vaught said. “This has got to be some sort of mistake.”
Vaught continued to read:
TO: Col. Corsair
U.S.S Argo
Relaying
message from Captain Draco Gideon U.S.S. Andromeda.
Starship
Lt. Starsha
Corsair on temporary assignment….
_____________________________________________________________________________
Captain Gideon shut the terminal off as the sounds of a party were heard downstairs.
He turned to Creighton and Picard.
“OK, Gentlemen, I’ve just unzipped my fly,” Gideon said.
“Thanks, Jim,” Creighton said.
“You know that Starfleet isn’t going to do anything about
this,” Gideon sighed. “And I won’t have you violating the Prime Directive. That
means that
“Ordered by Whom?” Creighton said defiantly.
“Admiral,” Picard said, trying to avoid a fight between the two.
Gideon and Creighton both gave him a sideways glance briefly, then they looked back at each other. Picard knew that he would have to leave this to the two relic Titans.
“I’ll withdraw from Earth Orbit but I’m not leaving the system,” Creighton said. “You need to put yourself in my place, Jim.”
“And you need to put yourself in mine,” Gideon asserted “I know about Telezart, and I know about Nova, and while were on the subject I have a pretty good idea about Astra too.”
Creighton let out a heavy sigh. “Nova and Astra are Vaught’s business,” Creighton said.
“And Major Corsair?” Picard said. “Whose business will that be?”
“That’s me,” Gideon said. “I asked for him to be here.”
“I don’t think the Federation will take a high view of that request, Captain,” Picard said. “Regardless of the immunity he holds.”
“Why?” Gideon asked.
“Because of the emotional and personal stakes that are on Telezart,” Picard said. “He heard those recordings, Admiral. He recognized her voice, based on his personality…”
“Have you ever met my son, Captain?” Creighton demanded.
“Unfortunately, yes,” Picard replied.
“Wolf 359?” Gideon asked.
“You know about that?” Creighton said.
“I follow your history somewhat,” Gideon said.
“Then you also
know,” Picard said. “That Major Corsair served on the
“While saving fifty members of Starfleet personnel in the process,” Creighton said.
“You think he’s coming after you?” Gideon asked.
“After our encounter with Hugh, when I did not upload the virus, which infuriated Admiral Necheav….I expected to see him. You see, Necheav was the first he rescued. Until now, the two have been inseparable and from what I understand, they have been holding to the true legend of the Sith. I knew what he was doing before I was removed from the Collective. He won’t eat, he won’t sleep…..and he absolutely will not STOP until his objectives are fulfilled…..and considering the reputation of this wild young man he is serving under….”
“I don’t want them controlled, Captain Picard,” Gideon said. “I want them Unleashed.”
There was silence for a moment when Creighton spoke. “I don’t know what’s going through my son’s head. But what he’s gone through and pulled off…..Well, he wouldn’t if he was a hot head. I think so far, we’ve gotten some pretty good results from them both so far.”
“On what analysis did you base that on?” Gideon asked.
“They beat you, didn’t they?” Creighton said.
There was a clearing of the throat by the door as Donna Gideon leaned up against the door. Creighton immediately recognized the woman and nodded slightly.
“I believe you two know each other,” Gideon said.
“Creighton Dantes,” Donna said.
Creighton chuckled while looking at Gideon. Then the two laughed aloud
“I’m missing something,” Picard said to Donna.
“The Admiral understands the irony of my husband’s deception,” Donna said.
“Come again?”
Gideon and Creighton stopped laughing when Gideon walked over to Picard
“May I present my wife…..Odonna, of the planet Gideon,” said Gideon with a dark smile.
TO BE CONTINUED…..
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