OF TELEZART AND TRELAINA…

Chapter 39 of Starfighter! The Iconoclast

(Part Two of Two)

By: Tom Sczepkowski

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

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Trelaina was frightened by the cold hard steel of his wolf-like eyes that seemed to glow. Moreso than the breathing apparatus.

“How is it the clouds hang on you?” she asked.

Vaught replied “Not so,….. I am too much in the sun.”

“I see.” Trelaina said turning back towards Wildstar “Where is Mark?” Trelaina asked gently

“Lt. Venture has a responsibility to the Argo when Vaught and I are not there.” Wildstar said.

“He is on his way.” Sandor said.

“Then we shall wait for him.” Trelaina said “Permit me to offer you more comfortable surroundings.”

They walked through the open gate.

As Wildstar stayed back by Vaught, he said, “You said she was almost 20 years older than you. That would make her close to 70 and she looks younger than you…..are you sure this is her?”

Vaught didn’t reply in a few steps they felt a fresh breeze followed by a large lake; suspended above the lake was an oblong structure having many levels; with four pylons that must have been the castle’s antigravity system.

“I am home.” Vaught muttered drawing a look from all of them.

“Where’s the boat?” Vaught asked.

Trelaina looked at him.

“We had a Zodiac.” Vaught said Trelaina still looking at him waved her hand again and as if from biblical times the waters parted…..It was the first time Wildstar ever saw Vaught astonished.

They walked to the castle; Vaught was behind them however looking around him still in amazement.

Wildstar slowed his pace so that Vaught could catch up with him.

“You have a better poker face than that.” Wildstar said.

 “She shouldn’t be able to do this.” Vaught said “No Starfighter should.”

“How do you explain moving the Argo?” Wildstar said.

“I had to sit perfectly still and concentrate solely on the task of moving the ship she did it with the wave of her hand as an afterthought.”

Wildstar looked around as he continued to walk as the parted wall of water on both sides flowed evenly, when Vaught’s Communicator pin beeped.

“Go ahead.” Vaught said.

“Boss…Royster, Something weird has just happened.”

Wildstar looked back at Vaught “What is it?”

“After I got the computer back online as a test I was making a standard magnetic sweep. From Zero I suddenly got a reading that was off the scale….Then it reversed polarity…now I get nothing……I never saw anything like this reading…… Like a door opened then closed again.”

“Does Nova think it represents a danger?”

There was a pause “She’s shaking her head no.” Royster said.

“I’ll get back to you.” Vaught said as they reached Trelaina’s castle.

As a platform lowered as they stepped on it. When it reached the top they walked out where Trelaina walked ahead.

The room was a bluish-white in color. It was quite plain; there were no pictures nor decorations of any time.

It was very familiar to Vaught; the strange feeling of Deja Vu overwhelmed him. It broke quickly when Wildstar offered her the flowers that Nova wanted her to bring Trelaina. However he did not realize that they were already wilted embarrassed he put them down on a table.

“I’m sorry; they’re wilted… it took us a long time to get here.” Wildstar said. “Maybe they will freshen up if you put them in water.”

Trelaina looked at the flowers and waved her hand in a mannerism similar to Vaught’s and the flowers came back to life before their eyes.

They were all astonished especially Vaught.

“How is that possible?” Vaught said looking at Trelaina when his comm pin beeped once again.

“Yes, Royster what is it?” Vaught snapped.

 “It’s Nova.”

“Can I talk to you for a moment?” Vaught sighed and looked at Trelaina who smiled at him pointing to a room down a hall. Vaught walked there and sat on the edge of a small bed.

 “Go.” Vaught said.

“I just received a life form reading of tremendous intensity……suddenly it was just there.”

“What do you mean just there?” Vaught said.

 “Just there.” Nova said “All levels are normal then I get this biological surge of a life form registering.”

“Like a door opened than closed.” Vaught said.

 “Yes!” Nova said.

 “What direction?” Vaught said.

“Exactly at your location,” Nova said.

 “All right,” Vaught said “Is she ready to go?”

“I can move her to your location; not much else,”  Royster said.

“All right.” Vaught said “Bring her on up…..Nova will fly her. You have the coordinates?”

“Yeah ,we got em from Homey,” Royster said.

“You’ll come up to a cave where the opening should be enough for Inferno to fit through. You’ll find a small clearing by a large lake to set her down…..Suspended above the lake you’ll find a structure suspended above it that’s where we’ll be.”

“Be there about 15 minutes.” Royster said.

 “Call me when you get here.” Vaught said “Out.”

Vaught looked around the room for a moment and it seemed incredibly familiar to him.

He saw that there were models of Starships on shelves he slowly looked at them one by one until he came across a small picture in a frame he picked up the picture and grinned.

He took the picture with him out into the main area which led to a dining room.

There, Wildstar, Knox, Sandor and IQ-9 were commenting on some of the strange indigenous cuisine that Trelaina had prepared for them.

“Sorry.” She said to Vaught “No Chinese.”

Vaught smiled politely and took a seat at a table, while placing the picture in front of him.

“Everything’s OK?” Wildstar asked between bites.

“They were getting some strange readings.” Vaught said almost in a dismissive tone staring at the picture.

“Humble beginnings.” Trelaina said pointing at the picture.

“I remember taking this.” Vaught said.

 Trelaina and I visited Earth when I was six. “Blue Jay 4……”

Wildstar leaned over looking at the picture.

“F-104.” Wildstar said “Your father stayed true to form.”

“That almost looks like Inferno.” Knox said.

“It is the Inferno.” Trelaina said. “My Father was going to restore Blue Jay 4’s Frame to make it a spacecraft.”

“What’s so hot about this Blue Jay 4?” Knox said.

 “About a hundred years ago a Starship accidently was caught in a time warp back to the 20th century; she was intercepted and almost brought down by this very aircraft.”

“Once our father found the airframe he wanted to make it flyable instead it seems he made a first Strike weapon from it.”

Trelaina said “He had second thoughts about it.”

Vaught said “He had it in storage until the Tholians grabbed it…..I got it back that’s how I wound up here.”

“Bringing your destruction with you.” Trelaina said Vaught glared up at her.

 “You called us here.” Vaught said.

“You were the only ones that responded to my message.” Trelaina said in a more gentle tone.

Wildstar cleared his throat “We want to help you anyway we can, Trelaina.” Wildstar said “It is a debt we owe to someone that helped us once.”

Trelaina suddenly had a look of astonishment on her face; she said, “The great distance that you came….was for my benefit?”

“Like the Colonel said… You sent out the distress call.” Knox said.

 “And your presence here is by accident?” Trelaina asked Vaught.

“I do not believe in accidents….My coming here was the will of the Force.”  Vaught replied.

Trelaina sighed “and you have become a solider….was that also the will of the Force?”

Vaught stood up. “Sorry to have disappointed you.” Vaught said.

Trelaina looked at the flowers in the vase, “Your flowers remind me of a time when flowers could grow here.”

She looked as if she was about to say more when she turned her head towards the main entranceway.

“What’s wrong?” Wildstar said.

“Two ships are landing.” Trelaina said.

“Venture and Inferno,” Vaught said.

“Good timing,” Wildstar said.

“With your permission, Captain, I must make an evaluation of the Inferno I will join you later.”

Wildstar looked at Trelaina then at Vaught; he could tell they were both completely uncomfortable.

Wildstar nodded his head as Vaught quietly walked across the hall and into the elevator, as Wildstar looked back at Trelaina.

“What was NEST doing here?” Trelaina said.

Wildstar gave her a side-long glance, “They had business with Vaught.” Wildstar said.

Trelaina said nothing. She just stared out the window.

He didn’t know if Trelaina was about to say something when Mark Venture and Royster appeared on the platform.

She walked over to the Platform where their eyes met. They said nothing, as Venture slowly took her hand and kissed it gently.

Wildstar and Vaught looked at each other….comically. Royster simply rolled his eyes and pushed a button on the platform as he was going back down whistling, “Stranger in Paradise,” from Kismet.

Sometime later Vaught walked back across the parted lake to where Inferno was now parked along the bank.

There, Nova was leaning against the Inferno and all Vaught could see was Royster’s sneakers hanging out of a compartment.

“How did it go?” Nova said

“Our meeting hasn’t started yet.” Vaught said. “We still don’t know what we’re up against.”

Nova rolled her eyes, “I was talking about when Venture and Trelaina met for the first time…….What did they do?”

“He kissed her hand.” Vaught said.

 Nova smiled, “Oh… how romantic!” she exclaimed.

“What did she do?” Royster’s head popped out for a moment. “You have issues, Lady… you know that?” 

Vaught chuckled “She didn’t seem to mind.”

“So there is an attraction?” Nova asked.

“How the Hell should I know?” Royster said.

“Well you went up with Venture!” Nova snapped.

Royster’s head popped out again. “I didn’t hang around to find out!” Royster said.

Before Nova could respond Vaught made a sharp exasperated sigh

 “Status Report, Please?” he snapped.

“Three days, Boss,” Royster said coming out of the compartment “That’s when she can be moved up to the Argo…..I can fine tune when we’re on our way back.”

“Why don’t the two of you head on up and meet Trelaina? She has some food out,” Vaught said.

“I’d like to get her inside, Boss,” Royster said “I don’t know how long those converters are going to hold out.”

“I’ll take care of that.” Vaught said as Nova and started walking however Vaught remained looking at Inferno.

“Boss?” Royster asked.

“I’ll be with you straight,” Vaught said.

After Vaught secured Inferno in a large workshop inside the Castle, he quietly walked up a circular staircase not wanting his presence known.

Venture, of course, not being able to keep his eyes off of Trelaina, and of course Trelaina seemed to like it.  Nova stood by Derek, while  Knox and Sandor were sitting in chairs on another side of the room, and Royster being Royster was sitting at a console with a huge plate of food in front of him.

In the center of the room was a large monitor.

“Ready when you are, Kiddo,” Royster said to Trelaina who gave him an odd glance when he said it.

However, she nodded and a schematic came up….

“This is what your Comet is in actuality.” Trelaina said.

“That’s no Comet…..It’s a space station!” Wildstar said.

“Gatlantis Class battle Fortress.” Vaught said, as everyone in the room turned toward him, surprised to see him there.

“Yes.” Trelaina said “They are known as the Comet Empire. Gatlantis, as Vaught identified is a fortress city situated on a hemispherical moon. They have been using the interdimensional rift between the Federation universe and this universe. When they find a planet they can exploit they ruthlessly conquer it.”

Vaught walked into the room looking at the monitor, “Trelaina, can you show me a map of the Comet Empire’s influence?” Vaught asked.

Trelaina waved her hand again as Vaught studied the image. Nova whispered to Derek, and she walked over to Vaught a moment later, nodding as she pointed out various things on the readout.

“Do you see this pattern, Derek?” Nova said from across the room as the others got up and stood near Wildstar to study the large screen.

“Yes…stepping stones,” Wildstar said. “These planets are lined up with Earth.”

“Not good,” said Sandor in a grim tone of voice.

“They didn’t waste any time taking over the Gamilons’ space; Brumus was the final step.” Vaught said from the smaller monitor beside Nova. “From there, they can launch a strike force in any direction…There’s no question about it; you’re being invaded.”

“Vaught seems to think that the person behind all this is someone named Zordar,” Nova said.

“Nevar Zordar…..Yes.” Trelaina said.

“Have you ever met him?” Nova asked.

“Collided with him was a more accurate term,” Vaught said looking at her.

“He knows you’re here,” Nova said.

 “What difference does that make?”

“On Earth when we discovered all of this, Vaught noticed course corrections and the Comet’s path.” Nova said. She added, “As we left and the closer we got here the Comet has stayed on a direct course to this planet. The projection, as you see, ends up right…here…”

“I estimate about four days,” Trelaina said. “Then, Earth in another forty-six days.”

“He’s coming for you, Trelaina.” Nova sighed.

 “Whatever the reason that Zordar wants to come to Earth you’re part of the equation.”

Wildstar stood up. “So the overriding question is what can we do to stop the Comet empire form destroying Telezart and attacking Planet Earth?” Wildstar said.

 Trelaina turned away “I have given you all the tactical information that I have and that is all I can do, Derek Wildstar.”

“What?” Vaught growled.

“Vaught,” Wildstar said.

 Vaught ignored Wildstar and walked up in front of her, “This is not a game!” he shouted  

“What do you think you’re doing here?”

 “What was Starfleet doing?!” Trelaina shouted back “Why didn’t they see this?”

 “Look at the ship out there. Does it seem to you that Starfleet has had a lot of down time!?”

“Well Prime and the NEST team didn’t seem very interested.”

“You have the power to handle this Comet yourself.” Vaught snapped back “Your non- intervention is going to get a lot of people killed.”

Venture stood up and walked over to her, touching her gently on the shoulder. “A lot has happened to Starfleet during the years.” Venture said gently.

Vaught glared at Venture. “Are you insane?”

“Are you?” Sandor said to Vaught “Cut it out!”

“So essentially, this is ok with everyone; we’ve been out here 8 weeks and virtually found nothing…meantime I might lose six Marines,” Knox snapped.

“That hasn’t happened yet.” Wildstar said.

“Is there anything we might be able to do to help you defend yourself?” Venture asked Trelaina.

“Nothing,” Trelaina said shaking her head  “I cannot discuss this further.” Trelaina said.

“The hell you won’t.” Vaught shouted “You know what kind of person Nevar Zordar is!”

“Please return to your ship,” Trelaina said. Royster and Nova looked at each other as Royster turned around in the seat, away from the console.

“Hey, Trelaina?” Royster asked as if she was a lifelong friend of his.

She turned to him, “His ship is lying in about 50 pieces, if you’re not going to fight you mind if I can make it that he can?” Royster said pointing at Vaught.

“Royster!” Sandor snapped.

“Hey….I couldn’t give a rat’s ass whether or you hang around the living room here singing Kumbaya or not, and I don’t have time for this! She doesn’t want to do anything about what’s comin’ down the pike dats’ her business: I’ve got a different job and a different broad to worry about….!” He said this while turning back to Trelaina. Then, he said, “Now do I get the replicators or not?”

“Our father’s workshop is still in the lower level you may make use of it.” Trelaina said.

 “Thank you.” Royster said as he got up and walked past Vaught.

“Inferno’s already in there I’ll show you where it is.” Vaught said as Royster and Nova followed.

They walked down a circular staircase where they proceeded through an automatic door revealing a lab.

Royster looked around and looked for a computer terminal. Finding one he cracked his knuckles.

“What are you up to?” Vaught said.

 “First order of business,” Royster said, “Getting Inferno repaired and the hell out of here….If I have time left over I’m going to look over that core and files that Optimus Prime gave me.”

“Trelaina wants to be left to her fate.” Vaught said.

 “And you’re ok with that?” Royster said.

 “She’s your sister!” Nova snapped.

“And your aunt, too, Nova!” Royster said.

“She hasn’t been my sister in almost 40 years.” Vaught said “And we don’t have that kind of time to find out what the hell happened here and besides it’s not our problem.”

“Well can you guess what her problem is! Why is she moping around like she gave up the winning run in the World Series?” said Royster.

“Her thoughts betray her,” Vaught said.

“Well how about sharing with the little people?” Royster said

“Like you said earlier,” Vaught said pointing at Inferno “you already have someone to worry about!”

“She wanted everyone to leave but Venture is still up there,” Nova said.

“Venture ain’t exactly a fact finding mission.” Royster said.

 “But he may find out more than what he is prepared to,” Vaught said “Nova and I will return to the ship. I have to report all of this to Starfleet Command.”

“All right, Boss… I’ll get on it.” Royster said to Vaught as he looked at Nova and nodded and made their exit.

Royster was indeed tired and it had been a difficult day despite the fact that he had not fully recovered from his heart attack. He knew that Venture and Trelaina were up there they had been talking for some time.

He continued looking at several computer monitors as the repairs to Inferno went slowly. He made a quick smirk however when he saw a flash reflected in the monitor and knew that Q was sitting next to him.

“How tedious,” Q said.

“Vaught’s timeline is altered.” Royster said “So did some of the events regarding him in our time line. Except I am the only one who knows both.”

“I am somewhat amazed, Neville.” Q said “Most humans I know would fall apart at the seams.”

“Well the funny part is.” Royster said “I have a database of how the timeline was supposed to go before the interruption. What I find interesting is as time went forward there were less and less differences…..Finally most of the key points in history stayed the same….but that doesn’t have anything to do with what’s going on here, is it?”

“Trifling,” Q said with a wry smile.

“I keep looking at things here.” Royster said “I see why you’re concerned.”

“A novelty with you Humans, really,” Q said “Sometimes I just like to watch I find you all very entertaining.”

“Yeah, right,” Royster said. “You’re scared of Vaught and his sister and you started freaking out the moment he stumbled into this universe and made his way here.”

With wave of his hand on one of the monitors showed Venture and Trelaina sitting in the room upstairs.

He could see them looking at a monitor that was displaying a picture of the ruins of a city on Telezart.

“I……am the cause of the destruction you see.” Trelaina said.

 Royster  snapped a quick glance at Q then turned his attention back to the monitor.

“It wasn’t that long ago,” she said. “Telezart was the Jewel of the Talos system…..Centuries before we had a war with Talos which rendered the surface of the planet uninhabitable. But we rebuilt underground and for thousands of years we worked our way as a society again……But there were those that thought that other planets wanted to exploit our prosperity as we pushed out into space……..It started with isolated terrorist attacks…The Union of Interplanetary Council appealed to the Federation for Help. They sent the NEST team but they couldn’t deploy the whole team because of an attack on a Planet called Kithomer. I remember stopping home before picking up my Brother from daycare…..There was a terrible bombing raid…. the daycare was destroyed in the bombing….I went and searched through the bodies of the children and I found Vaught barely alive…..Thank God Optimus Prime came when he did…and took him to a medical ship that was standing by…..and I was there by myself among the bodies of these children,” She turned to face Venture.

“They were innocents, these children……and it was done on purpose. The daycare and the adjoining school were the targets; three extremists were arrested, tried and executed.

But I found out that it wasn’t extremists… it was our own Government behind it, as a ruse to bring the Federation in fully…..When I was reading this information I also received a report that that nothing could be done for Vaught………..I returned home that afternoon in some sort of daze…..I was helping these people….and the people I was helping attacked my own brother….he was more than that to me When my parents were taken by the Cardassians he was only two years old….He lived with me for six years….He was my brother by blood…but my son by emotion.”

“I can understand that,” Venture said “I have a younger brother. There’s about the same age difference as you and Vaught….But I never thought of what would happen if I had to take care of him.”

“Or have him ripped away from you.” Trelaina said. “You’ve seen the power that My Brother has….and he is very powerful with the Force…..but for some reason it is more powerful in me and when I thought Vaught was going to die I felt the Force Surge through me a surge that I have never felt before or since, In spite of myself I couldn’t control it…. the surge created a rift in the space time continuum and threw Telezart into this dimension….the resulting seismic forces devastated everything….and everyone with it…..That’s the way the war was ended.”

Royster rubbed his chin for a moment… then turned, and started typing on another monitor.

Trelaina said, “My brother and I share at least one thing in common….we’re both mass murderers….What I did was worse than any war…..I won’t use this power again to fight.”

“It’s still a story without an ending.” Venture said “That Comet is coming. What do you do when it gets here?”

“Nothing.”

“Vaught’s right, go after this guy…..and think of the terrible war you’d be preventing.”

She turned away from him. “It’s not as simple as that! Look around you…you see the results of the last war I prevented….That power came from the dark side of the Force.” Trelaina said.

 Venture grabbed her arm gently and turned her towards him, “If you do nothing you’re going to be killed.”  Venture said.

 She looked away, “I know,” she said.

“I’m getting Vaught.” Venture said. “You’re going to tell him what you told me and were going to figure this out.”

“No you’re not!” Trelaina shouted as she grabbed his arm. He was surprised by her strength, in spite of her frail-appearing form, and he let out a yelp, as she released her grip.

“I’m sorry,” she said. “My brother is not to know about any of this….I’ve seen what my brother has become and it was not what I wanted for him. This power was not given to us so that we could destroy or use for ourselves…it was given to create...not to destroy…”

“And to defend yourself!” Venture said. “How are going to create anything if you’re dead? And what about Earth and its billions of people……and have you thought about your brother and the rest of your family?”

She looked at him angrily.

“Yeah I know that look,” Venture said. “All right; you don’t want to use your power…OK fine… that’s your choice…..But this Comet Empire is going to be here in four days and it will do to this planet what the Force couldn’t even do……there is another option……Leave with me on the Argo.”

She closed her eyes and knelt on the floor, “I cannot go with you,” she said.

“Why not?” Venture replied. “Vaught can train you…he can teach you how to control your power.”

“And how to unleash it when you need it,” Trelaina said. “No…..I can’t do that; I won’t do that!”

“And this is your final decision?” Venture said.

 She nodded yes.

“Hopeless,” Venture said as he turned and walked away.

“Mark?” She called out to him.

He turned slightly.

“I wish you’d stay with me a little longer,” Trelaina said mournfully.

“I have duties on the ship,” Venture said and left.

The image faded.

“Atonement,” Royster said “that’s why she won’t fight the Comet Empire.”

“Do you feel the punishment fits her?” Q said.

"No I don't." Royster said.

"Something is rotten in the state of Denmark! No;  something’s not kosher here.” Royster said as he thought for a moment. “Every time she does something, I get these planet wide readings of intensity that are off the scale.……Amplification!” Royster said while tapping on keys.

“Is it possible she’s not aware of it?” Q said.

Royster suddenly stooped typing and glanced back at Q

“But what’s the idea?” Royster asked. “You knew that all Along.”

Q responded with a smile.

“Just testing me, huh?”  Royster asked

“I need you to truly believe in them.” Q said

“Them.” Royster said “She dies…doesn’t she?”

Q nodded.

“And the way you have it figured is that Vaught is the only one tough enough to keep her from getting killed,” Royster said.

Q stood up “Perhaps it is you who keeps her from getting killed.”

Royster snickered “Come on…..Q.” Royster said “I’m just some poor shmuck that got caught in the middle of things.”

Q leaned towards him “You forget….All knowing….All seeing…..remember Tiberius Avatar?”

“I remember Tiberius….and Bridget.....”

“You weren’t on the Argo accidently, Neville,” Q said.

Royster took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes.

“Ty, Bridget and I were best friends we did everything together. They went into the service….I was scared to go into space….They died when The EDF Battled the Gamilons at Pluto…..Ty really looked up to his dad…

he was the skipper of the Argo when they went to Iscandar. I want to know what they died for.”

“You’re going to find out.” Q said as he disappeared.

“That’s what I’m afraid of.” Royster said as He turned on his I –Pod as music played.

____________________________________________________________________________

Star Date 4147.3

Washington DC

The White House Oval Office, 

Office of the High Federation Commissioner.

During Destine’s long and very full life, she had the honor of meeting every President in the Oval Office.

This was the first time she was nervous.

400 years ago she would have laughed at the mere suggestion of being afraid of a Human. High Commissioner Jacob Grasso scared the hell out of her.

As a historian, Jacob knew all the ins and outs of United States history, law, and government; up to and including making a condition of his acceptance of office, that it be located in the Oval Office.

So, Destine found herself there again.

She became even more nervous when she saw a stenographer sitting to the left of the large desk and several monitors surrounding the room, as she sat in the center of the room.

Then, Grasso walked in.

“The Oval Office, Jake?” Destine said. “You turned a historical monument into your personal office?”

“I like D.C.” Jake said.

“And I like New York,” Destine said. “But the office of the chief of operations for Starfleet is in San Francisco, just like yours is in Paris, France, along with the President.”

“And what do you call that edifice on Sandy Hook beach? That has a nice view of the Verrazano Bridge, doesn’t it?”

“Good point.” Destine said “Why am I here?”

“Your grandson filed a report with Admiral Neycheav this morning, who turned it over to her boss,” Grasso said.

“Chekov turned it over to you?” Destine said.

“Well, Admiral Spock did,” Grasso said. “It was the damndest thing you ever saw! In fact, I don’t think anyone in Starfleet ever read a report like this. So, I’ll tell you what we’re going to do……..We’re going to sit right here and talk about it.”

Just as Destine eased back into the chair, the door to the Oval Office burst open as several Starfleet security officers burst in….with their weapons drawn.

“What in hell’s bathroom is going on?” Jake demanded, as one of the Security officers handed a data pad to Destine.

Her eyes widened as she read it and she crushed the data pad with her bare hands as it dropped to the floor in pieces, “Please take the President to my home at Sandy Hook,” Destine said looking at him. “Contact Grimlock; inform him of the situation! I want all remaining NEST team members at my residence to protect the President at all costs! Recall Missouri and Swayback …….Recall Enterprise back here as well. Get me Admiral Ross and General Martock!”

“Hold those instructions! What’s going on?” Grasso snapped/

“The Breen have attacked Star Fleet Headquarters at San Francisco, and the President’s office in Paris, Mr. President,” one of the Security Guards said.

“Why are you calling me that?” Grasso asked.

“This is a whole new ball game…..Mr. President.” Destine said. “As of now, you are it!”

“First of all doesn’t there have to be a priest or something to swear me in?”

“You want that same priest for your funeral?” Destine said.

“I’m staying here in Washington,” Grasso said. “Feed everything into the Situation Room!”

“Jake you can’t!” Destine said.

“Do you think they would know to look here?” Grasso said. “Nobody Knows I’m here…They all think I’m in Paris…..They think you’re in San Fran,” Grasso said.

Destine looked at her Datapad. 

“Most of the Breen ships were destroyed in the Attack,” said Destine. “The rest are falling back.”

“Thank God for Task Force One,” Grasso said. “Fortunately they were on the dark side of the moon when the Breen started their advance.”

“What were the losses?” Grasso said.

“Several damaged; none destroyed,” Destine said.  ”But we can’t send those ships to help the EDF; at least not now.”

Grasso sat down behind the desk in the Oval Office.

“What was it that Truman said?” said Grasso. “He felt like a bale of hay fell on him?......I feel like I just got the whole barnyard……..Get me Corsair.”

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Vaught walked along the corridors of the Argo almost in a daze, after reading the message from the Swayback.  After a while he found himself on the Hangar Deck.

“Colonel?” He heard the Voice of a southern Louisiana accent coming from one of the Aircraft.

“Yes Lieutenant Hardy, what is it?” Vaught asked.

“We heard about the attack on your Earth……Was there a lot of damage?”

“Not as much as it could be.” Vaught said “But we lost our President and most of his Cabinet in the attack.” Vaught said. “Fortunately, our High Commissioner, who is in the line of succession had his office in Washington D.C…..You’d like him he’s from Kentucky.”

“I’m from New Orleans, but close enough.” Hardy said.

“The timing of this was no coincidence,” said Vaught. “The Dominion knew if we reached Telezart, we would find out about the Orions and a direct attack on Starfleet would prevent the Federation from sending any support.

.Somehow they also know that Trelaina will not fight.”

“Well I wouldn’t worry about that too much, Colonel.” Hardy said. “We have plenty of people around here that will fight!”

Vaught gave a short smile. “I’ll be on the Bridge,” he said.

A short time later, Venture arrived on the Argo and parked the transport. As the door opened, he walked down the ramp walking out into the corridor…..where Knox was standing there waiting for him.

“What do you want, Knox?” Venture said

“You know the Colonel’s planet was attacked?”  Knox asked.

“From what I heard, they are in a war,” Venture said.

“Yeah?” Knox said “They think it was coordinated so that Starfleet couldn’t send help once we got to your Girlfriend’s house.”

“You’re blaming her?” Venture said stopping in the corridor

“Yeah, damn right I’m blaming her!” Knox said.

“You don’t know what you are even talking about!” Venture said walking away from him as Knox followed.

“I know enough that Miss Stuck-up told you to get lost,” Knox said.

Venture stopped again and grabbed him by his collar. However, Knox just stood there glancing down at the much slighter Venture.

Venture didn’t care as he threw the first punch………..

 ______________________________________________________

Dr. Sane walked onto the bridge with Knox and Venture behind them. Nova turned and could see that the two were fighting; she just shook her head, as Wildstar turned to Vaught.

“Can you control your people?” Wildstar asked.

“Not any more than you can control yours,” Vaught said.

“I’ve got more than enough work as it is without fellows like you making more for me!” Dr Sane snapped.

The entire bridge crew seemed interested in what Venture had learned from Trelaina.

“She hasn’t changed her mind,” Venture said.

“Did she give you a reason?” Nova asked.

Venture nodded, “She won’t use her power.” he said. “She seems to be afraid that it will get out of control in some way.”

“What do you mean?” Wildstar said.

Venture shrugged “She absolutely refuses to take sides,” he said.

“Boy what a wasted trip,” Dash said “Why the hell didn’t she put that in one of her messages?”

Knox tapped Venture on his head slightly, “See I’m not the only one that thinks that.”

“Look,” Venture said, “I know it’s a tough thing to understand-but….”

“Vaught, maybe you should talk to her,” Dash said “She’s your sister, isn’t she?”

“It doesn’t matter!” Venture scolded. “This isn’t about Vaught or his sister, it’s about Trelaina, and it’s a decision only she can make,” Venture continued “She, like Vaught, has this frightening power. They both call it the Force. But unlike Vaught, she doesn’t know how to handle it. She tried to stop the fighting on Telezart, and she ended up destroying everything. She’s trying to find a way to use it to help not to destroy, she’s trying to be responsible to use it wisely, and she has to find a way to do it.”

“Royster thinks it’s something else,” Sandor said.

“It’s because of the sensor fluctuations that Inferno reads whenever Trelaina does something,” Vaught said.

“Right,” Sandor said. “It doesn’t happen when you use it. Why then, do all the readings go off the scale and equipment begins burning out every time she does something?”

“Because the power is being amplified some way,” Vaught said. “Something in the planet, perhaps.”

“Royster thinks it a separate power source altogether,” Sandor said.  “He also feels that she’s not aware of it.”

“How do you know so much about this?” Vaught said.

Sandor switched on the video panel. He said, “This is a copy of the Database that the Starfleet NEST team gave Royster…they make reference to a project “Tsunami.” The schematics to this project are similar to the Thought-Guided weapons systems on the Inferno.”

Vaught looked up at the video panel; then toggled between screens

“These designs aren’t my father’s,” Vaught said.

“No, and I’d trust your father’s designs before I’d trust this thing,” Sandor said.

“Wait a minute…that’s a lot of power,” Orion said. “It would be like standing in front of the wave motion gun…she’d be incinerated.”

“There are precedents of beings with the ability to channel great energies without harming themselves,” Vaught said. “I recall a friend of my father’s regaling us with a story where they were held captive a being claiming to be the Greek god Apollo. He harnessed a great amount of power; but it actually emanated from a structure that looked like an ancient Greek Temple. When the structure was destroyed, he didn’t have the power anymore.”

Wildstar looked at him almost in disbelief.

“How’d they manage that?” Wildstar said.

Vaught smiled.

“Kirk,” They said in unison.

“Meaning he blasted it form orbit,” Wildstar said.

“Are you suggesting that we are to find the power source and shut it down?” Sandor asked.

“Or simply remove her from it?” Wildstar asked.

“If what Royster says is true, the power source has to be either in the planet’s core or is the core itself. And Telezart’s core is composed largely of Trilithum,” Vaught said.  “This schematic has to be a device that’s gets triggered by her brainwaves whenever she uses the Force and it accesses the Trilithum, thus turning the whole planet into a reactor.”

“And then you get those strange readings,” Nova said. “Like a door opening and then closing….”

There was a beeping on Homer’s comm system and Homer tapped his keys.

“Captain Wildstar?” Homer said.

“Yeah, Homer?” Wildstar replied.

“I have both the EDF Commander and Starfleet Command on Channel E.”

“They’re talking now?” Venture asked.

“Yes…put it on the video panel,” Wildstar said.

An image appeared a moment later. It was a screen split two ways of both the EDF Commander and Jacob Grasso.

“I’ve had an opportunity to meet with the President of the Federation,” Singleton said. “He would like to speak to Colonel Corsair.” 

“Mr. President,” Vaught said.

“Ol’ Rock of Ages!” Grasso said.

“Are you all right, sir?” Vaught said.

“I’m madder than hell,” Grasso said in his heavy down-home accent. “A bunch of crazy Som’bitches are shootin’ up our planet!”

“I believe the attacks were coordinated with the Comet Empire,” Vaught said. “That attack was to ensure that Starfleet could not intervene when the Comet Empire reached the EDF solar system. This was a tactic that was meant to have our ships here to return to Federation Space,” Vaught said.

 “Well what I wanna know is how come you ain’t kickin ass and takin’ names, son?”

“I have the names, Mr. President,” Vaught said. 

“Well, would you please do whatever it is that you do and find these damned people?"

“And when I find them, sir?” Vaught said.

Grasso narrowed his eyes, “Then do what you do best.”

“Yessir,” Vaught said with a tight smile.

“What about the Gamilons?” Vaught said after a momentary pause.

“I don’t think you’re going to have too much of a problem there,” Grasso said. “We’re sharing some intel with the Romulan Senate. The Tal Shiar had an operative working for the Comet Empire.  At the time they pulled his credentials, they learned that Desslok returned to the Comet Empire….under arrest.”

“Talan isn’t going to sit still for that,” Vaught said. “He’ll get him out….once he’s out Desslok will be back hunting us again.”

“After Lysis was taken down by your daughter, things started moving fast on Iscandar,” said Grasso. “Officially, Leader Desslok has been removed from office. General Vulgar has now been named Leader of the Gamilon people except Vulgar wants to hold elections…..we’ll see how that goes….Your old buddy Neycheav gonna stick close around there I know she wants to retire but I’m putting her as political liaison for the Federation. Depending how deep this goes I wanna set up a Starbase there if things get out of hand....Now if you run across Desslok and Talan …Well that's where the situation is going to get dicey."

"Macet?" Vaught asked.

"Well the Romulans say he's Zordar's bodyguard."

Vaught shook his head "That's not his style, Mr. President."

"Well you’re in good company." Grasso said. “Tal Shiar thinks that once Gorce found out you were here, he might have tipped Gul Macet. Now that would definitely bring him to your neck of the woods.”

Wildstar stepped up to Vaught, and said, "Desslok is the only one capable of matching us. If this Macet can match you, then you know he's going to reach out to Talan."

"A united front," Vaught said.

"The Captain has a point," Grasso said. "Here's the problem; General Vulgar told Admiral Neycheav that he understood the loss of the Gamilon carrier. Apparently he knew the Captain....and he didn’t think much of him. He didn’t think much of Lysis either. But he expressed that if Desslok and Talan are killed by you, it's going to destabilize the political situation on Gamilon."

"There is a lot of history between the Star Force and Desslok!" Vaught said.

"Which had nothing to do with you," Grasso said.

"I am serving with the Star Force; that’s going to be a little hard to sit out once Desslok finds us!" snapped Vaught.

"I am also not going to bench my best officer either!" Wildstar said.

"Captain Wildstar," Singleton said quietly but sternly.

Grasso nodded, "I know it's a crappy situation, but this thing is so far out of control I don’t know where to start! And I have to start somewhere. Now Vulgar understands that if Desslok meets with the Star Force, then fate deals what fate deals....but you are now under a Presidential order that neither you nor Inferno are to engage any Gamilon. The only exception is if Macet is present; then you are to engage Macet and your operations are restricted to him…Only. Is that clear, Colonel Corsair?"

Vaught looked at Wildstar, and then Singleton spoke.

"Captain Wildstar, I am ordering you to those bounds as well, and I am ordering you to honor the same instructions from the President of the United Federation of Planets."

Vaught turned around angrily, "Nice move. What's next? You're going to slap an NCC registration on the side of our hull?"

"We need this one, Vaught," Grasso said. "I need this one. Will you do it?"

Vaught looked at Nova then back at Wildstar then at Nova again. 

“Understood,” Vaught said. “I’ll honor your instructions.”

Grasso continued with, “Another problem is that our long range sensors see a large fleet of Jem Hardar heading towards the dimensional rift. With them is that pain–in–the-ass super starship they have. We think they’re going to support the Comet Empire’s invasion. So I’m going to pull our Battlestar along with Swayback, and Enterprise, and back to meet that threat along with a task force. Now your daughter is going to remain on Iscandar with an engineering team and when the Defiant is back in shape, she’s going to meet up with you.”

“No offence Mister President, but a hundred year old Constitution-class starship isn’t going to be much help,” said Vaught.

“I know,” said Grasso. “But we’ll be upgrading her with the latest weapons systems. She may not be the youngest girl at the ball, but she’ll turn a head or two. Once this Jem-Hadar threat is neutralized, we’re sending in a task force to help combat the Comet Empire.”

“Understood, sir,” Vaught said.

“I think that’s about it,” Grasso said. “Thank you, Commander Singleton, for the use of the airways.”

“You are all aware of the threat of the Comet Empire,” Commander Singleton said. “Although the information is incomplete, we must move at once to defend our planet. Therefore the Star Force is ordered to return to Earth. You will return as soon as your repairs are completed.”

“Yes sir,” Wildstar said, “We’ll give you an ETA of our departure ASAP.”

The Commander nodded “We await your return that will be all,” The Commander faded from view as the stars once again filled the video panel. Wildstar turned to Vaught.

"We'll worry about Desslok later," Wildstar said.

Vaught rubbed his eyes for a moment. Then, he said, "How the hell do we do that? Talan and Macet are going to come at me both at once...and they will already have a plan."

"Excuse me?" Nova asked.

"Not now, Nova," Vaught said.

"Yes now.....Your president said that Talan couldn’t be killed by your sword? Well, nobody said anything about mine."

Wildstar glared at her.

"You’re nuts!" Wildstar said.

"All you have to do is teach me what to know to beat him," Nova said primly.

"Absolutely not!" Wildstar said.

"Nova, you're talking about an opponent that was a Master Starfighter even before I was born. That type of Mastery…well… to be able to match that…. it would take years."

"You’re wrong. Dead wrong! All of you,” Nova said.

"Excuse me?" Vaught snapped.

“If anything in this life is certain," Nova said. “And, if history has taught us anything, it is that you can kill anyone when you put your mind to it. We are more than just this crude matter. Far more. "

Vaught looked at her thoughtfully, Nova thought, almost for a moment with pride.

"Hello!" Wildstar shouted "This is your Captain speaking! No! Not a chance!"

Nova stood up from her station and walked over to Wildstar.

"I want to talk to you." Nova said.

"It will have to wait."

"Right now," she said sternly. Derek noticed that her eyes seemed to glow.

Wildstar looked at Vaught.

"That look on her face?" Vaught said "When her mother had that same look on her face, I knew that I had better just do what she said." Vaught said.

"You have the bridge," Wildstar said. "I need to talk to Lieutenant Corsair for a bit. Guys, I want this ship put back together as quickly as possible."

Wildstar gestured to Nova as they left the bridge together. Soon, Homer could hear them speaking out on the lobby that led to the lift; talking urgently in clipped but muffled voices. He could only make out a little of what was said, but it seemed to be rather heated.

 Vaught looked at Sandor.

"How much is as quick as possible?" Vaught asked

 “About 18 hours.” Sandor said

Vaught tapped his Communicator pin.

"Royster?" Vaught asked.

"Starfleet can’t be serious with these orders, Boss!"

"They are serious and I need to know when Inferno can fly again!”

“She’ll be fully operational in about twelve hours,” Royster said.

"Would you brief Trelaina as to our situation? I will be down to see her soon....Out."

Wildstar and Nova walked through the hatch a moment later, looking hard at each other, but holding hands. Vaught saw that they appeared to have resolved their debate…for the moment, anyway.

Vaught walked over to Homer.

“Shipwide, Homer,” Wildstar said as he walked up behind him.

Homer flipped a switch.

“Attention, all hands,” Vaught said. “At 0600, the Argo is departing for Earth. All repairs must be completed by that time.”

“Well I guess that slams the door on Ms. Corsair,” Sandor said. He was looking over at Venture, looking out the bridge windows at the surface of Telezart.

Vaught also looked at Venture who seemed mesmerized at the planet’s surface. He knew that his thoughts were about Trelaina and their conversation.

“I’m sorry we have to leave so soon Mister Venture,” Wildstar said as he came over to his old friend. Nova laid a consoling hand on his shoulder.

Venture nodded, “I should have known better.”

Derek closed his eyes. Likewise, Nova also said nothing.

Several hours later…

Royster could hear the sound of Nova playing her violin throughout Trelaina’s castle. Then, it was followed by what seemed to be a voice singing.

He walked over and climbed into Inferno and activated her sensors as Trelaina’s voice filled the Inferno. He had not noticed Vaught standing there and, he was startled slightly.

“I think there is a law against what you are doing somewhere,” Vaught said.

Royster climbed out of the cockpit as Vaught climbed into it. However, he didn’t touch any of the controls he sat and listened to Trelaina’s singing and Nova’s playing the violin.

“It’s not English or Telezar, whatever she’s singing…” Royster said.

“No,” Vaught said as he seemed mesmerized….almost haunted by the music as he closed his eyes; and sung along softly.

The Terek runs over its runs over its rocky bed

And splashes its dark wave;

A sly brigand crawls along the bank

Sharpening its dagger;

But our father is an old warrior

Hardened in battle;

So sleep my darling, Undisturbed

Lullaby a-bye….

Royster stood in amazement at the beauty of Vaught’s singing voice, as much as he was mesmerized by the sound of Trelaina’s. A single tear rolled down Vaught’s face. He quickly wiped it away and shut the sensors off and straightened up in the seat.

 “Is she done?” said Vaught as the coolness returned to his voice.

“Done,” Royster said. “You up to a test flight?”

Vaught nodded as Royster took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes.

 “How long you been at this?”

“Ah you know me,” Royster said. “I’m the Nighthawk,” He said while walking down the small rolling stairs and walking back to the terminal where he was now conducting most of the repair work.

“Right now you look like a pigeon that crashed into a window. This wasn’t the only thing you were working on, was it?” Vaught said now starting to flip switches as Inferno started to come to life for what seemed an eternity.

“You know it wasn’t,” Royster said putting his feet up on the small desk and leaned back into the chair. “I called up to Sandor because I didn’t understand all the math…….. He said you were read the same database I was.”

“So you’re thinking along the same reasoning? Why she can’t control it is because she doesn’t understand the matrix.”

“Boss, I don’t think she knows what’s happening to her at all,” Royster said.

“That could be,” Vaught said.

“Have you read this other Intel from Prime about your daughter Starsha?” said Royster.

Vaught didn’t answer as he glanced at the hangar bay controls as the lever moved itself and the large bay doors opened. Vaught activated his breathing apparatus as it morphed around his face

“Why don’t you go upstairs and relax for a bit?” Vaught said through the voice modulator. “I can do the test flight.”

“You don’t want me to go with you?” Royster said.

“The Captain is flying near Telezart, practicing with the Black Tigers,” Vaught said. “I think I’ll pay them a little visit.”

“Yeah, on second thought, I’ll pass on that,” Royster said while pulling out a small disk from a drive. “I’ll use the replicators to zap up some eggplant parmagiana.”

“Just don’t hit on my sister,” Vaught said as he powered up Inferno’s engines and closed the canopy.

Inferno maneuvered out of the hanger doors and slowly out of the cavern as Royster walked over to the bay doors closing them.  

“Right now I couldn’t hit on a hooker,” Royster muttered as he heard the roar of Inferno’s engines right before the bay doors closed completely.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Royster walked up the stairs slowly, as he came up to the main spacious living area and walked into what was a kitchen. He held the tricorder up to the replicator and before his eyes, there appeared a huge plate of eggplant parmagiana.

He had a large smile on his face as he heard someone clearing their throat. He turned around to see Nova standing there with her arms folded.

“You just had a heart attack and that’s your choice of diet!?” Nova said. “What’s wrong with you?”

“Am I ever going to get that shirt back?” Royster said pointing at her attire. She had on his shirt, with jeans and battered sneakers.

Nova walked up to him. “All I have is my standard yellow uniform which I hate, and the Nurse’s uniform that I hate even more, along with my desert fatigues, and my black exo-suit with my helmet, along with Derek’s t-shirt, these jeans, and this shirt, along with five pairs of service boots, these sneakers, and one pair of sandals. You could put my whole wardrobe in one seabag.”

Royster chuckled as Nova sighed.

“Oh eat the damn eggplant!” Nova said as she followed Royster into the large dining room.

“You want some?” Royster said pointing at the plate.

“I’m having dinner with Derek,” Nova said. “We’ve got a lot to talk about.”

“Good luck with that,” Royster said while his mouth was full of food. “He’s out playing Top Gun with your father.”

“Hmmmmm,” Nova said. “That will give me the extra time I need…..I’ll see ya later.”

“Well, wait a minute, Nova! You’re not leaving me alone with…..uhh…,” Royster said, while pointing up to the upper level.”

Nova picked up her violin case.

“She really is a very lovely person,” Nova said with an airy smile. “I’ll see ya.”

Nova vanished from sight as Royster grumbled for a few moments. Then, he pulled out a datapad and started reading it.

He saw Trelaina out of the corner of his eye coming down the stairs and walked into the room where he was. Royster made an attempt to stand up. However, Trelaina mentioned for him to keep his seat while she walked over to a small piece of furniture that had several bottles and glasses on it…she angrily grabbed a bottle and two glasses. However, Royster politely declined. She sat down next to him and opened the long necked bottle as she poured the liquid into the glass.

“Skol,”  Royster said sarcastically as she drank the entire contents of the glass in just one gulp.

Trelaina said nothing. She just glared at the wall as Royster got up into the kitchen area and grabbed another fork while handing it to Trelaina.

“You should get in on this,” Royster said while pushing the plate between them. Trelaina looked at him for a moment, and then she took the fork and also grabbed a mouthful of food, while Royster opened the bottle and sniffed it as his eyes widened. Then, he refilled her glass and handed it to her.

“Thank you,” Trelaina said.

“Saurian brandy, I see,” he said as she again finished the glass in one motion. “Okayyyyy,” he said as he went and poured her yet  another glass of the brandy. This time, she just left it on the table and took another forkful of food.

“You and your brother ever going to talk?” Royster asked.

She glanced at him for a moment.

“He’s been through a lot,” Royster said. “The loss of his wife; the wars he’s been in. “ Royster paused and took another mouthful of food. “It’s not all bad though. He found out he had another daughter. You found out you have two nieces and a sister. Your parents are still alive. Now if we could just get you both to get your collective head out of your asses, we can stop playing for whom the bell tolls.”

Trelaina groaned as she got up, taking the glass with her and swallowing it again in one gulp.

“Has anyone ever told you, you have a unique way of putting things?” Trelaina asked, while pointing the glass at him.

“Yeah,” Royster said as Trelaina poured another glass. “My first two wives……and that’s why I’m approaching my forties without a girlfriend. You, on the other hand, telling someone who has a thing for you that you killed 40 billion people doesn’t get you a second date.”

“I want to thank you for making me feel better,” Trelaina said as she swallowed the entire glass again and refilled it. “Tell me, Royster, Do you think Queen Starsha of Iscandar drinks?” Trelaina asked.

“I’m sure there are a couple of Gamilons taking refuge there that might have opened up a few bars,” Royster said as he continued eating but was looking into the other room. He had noticed plaques and trophies on shelves.

“Those are Vaught’s?” Royster said, while referring to the trophies.

“Mine,” Trelaina said as she re-filled the glass. “In his younger days, Vaught couldn’t walk ten steps without tripping over his own two feet.”

She was about to drink another glass, when Royster gave her a Look. He said, “You keep that up, your liver is going to sue you for separate maintenance!”

Her response was a sidelong look as the took a small sip from the glass. Royster glanced at the trophies again. “These are baseball trophies?” Royster asked.

Trelaina leaned against the table while holding the drink in her hand. “Yes. One side is for pitching and the other is for batting,” Trelaina said while waving the glass from side to side.

“So you like baseball? I thought that your family was into music.”

“A person can do both can’t they?” Trelaina said.

“I heard your singing; you’re a Lyric Coloratura Soprano.”

“Very few people would know that,” Trelaina said. “Nova was right; you do have quite a love for opera.”

“I do,” Royster said. “But I like the happy-ending ones.”

“There aren’t that many, you know,” Trelaina said while sipping from the glass. Then she picked up the fork and took another piece of the eggplant. “During my schooling I performed at the Telezar Opera.”

Royster nodded. “I noticed that your voice is lower in pitch…sounds sexier,” Royster said.

“I’m not that drunk yet,” she said.

“You keep going like that…you’re going to get there real quick,”  Royster said.

“So…”she said as she sipped from the glass again. “You snuck aboard the Argo?”

“The Force must come in handy,” Royster said.

Trelaina then chuckled, “You forget that I’m part Gargoyle. I have hearing equal to that of a canine or feline. I overheard your conversation with the entity that calls itself Q.”

“Then you know what they want of me?” Royster said as she sat down in a chair across from him.

“I said…I overheard the conversation. I did not pay attention or take interest in it,” Trelaina said coldly.

“Too bad we don’t have a Starfleet.” Royster said

“You have a fleet.” Trelaina said

“I don’t think It’s enough.” Royster Not with whats coming….You see where new at this where Starfleet has been around for a couple a hundred years.”

“What happened?” Trelaina asked

“It was the best of times, It was the worst of times.” Royster said

Trelaina just looked at him.

Royster continued with, “While your Earth was forming its Federation, mine was getting its lemons knocked in! History wound up taking a lot of twists and turns! While the Federation prospered at the end of its 22^nd century, we were filled with despair and uncertainty. Where the Federation made first contact with hundreds of civilizations, we never did….we never even ventured outside our own solar system! All we had was a couple of outposts on some other planets and a resort on the moon. We didn’t have a Zephraim Cochrane or a Henry Archer, so we didn’t have a warp engine.  Hell we didn’t even have anything close to impulse power!”

“I guess a lot of your higher technology was lost during your wars,” Trelaina said.

“You get the cigar,” Royster said. “Electronic warfare….so with less and less reliable computers….nations go back to what works……Solid state machinery. Then the Gamilons came along followed by Queen Starsha’s message…she slips us your father’s technology…that nobody has any business having… and everything went wacko. Now we’re a presence in space and we are nowhere near ready for it.”

“How can you be ready for it?” Trelaina said as she got up from the table. She thanked Royster for sharing his meal then walked into another room. As she waved her arm, a jazz piece from the Dina Krall collection started to play. Royster finished his plate, placed it in a refuse container, and walked over to where she was where there was a large monitor looking at the Inferno in a mock dogfight with Wildstar’s Superstar fighter. She scoffed slightly as she went to a kneeling position.

“I don’t believe that you destroyed this planet using the Force,” Royster said.

“You heard what I told Mark.” Trelaina said.

“Yeah I believed you believed what you said,” Royster told her. “But it’s Bullshit!”

“You just contradicted yourself,” Trelaina said. “Maybe you should stop talking.”

“You don’t wanna listen,” Royster said getting up.  “You wanna kneel there and wait for judgment day that’s your call….I’ve got a bird to tend to! But I’m going to tell ya….you are the most dysfunctional family I’ve ever met no wonder your dimension is all fouled up.”

“I did the best I could,” Trelaina said.

“Again…….I’m callin’ Bullshit!” Royster said. “Lemmie give you the lowdown on who’s creepin around here! You have Zordar who somehow manages to pick up Desslok! Admiral Spock who somehow became an admiral after I had a heart attack! You have James T. Kirk pretending he’s someone else, Optimus Prime and his band of associated General Motors Vehicles; these Dudes called the Q…..who are scared Shitless of your brother! Yes, we have it all Ladies and Germs! We have two thousand year old droids giving out Intel, and conspiracy theories that make the JFK assignation look like a hockey match starring this cast of thousands who couldn’t even close an &*%$#@! umbrella!”

“Oh, really,” Trelaina said.

“You got so many side bars around here it would confuse Stephen King! In fact I wouldn’t be surprised if Rowland, Jake and Oy all walked by here later asking directions to the Dark Tower! We got everybody else poppin’ in and out of here why not them also? Shit! We got our own Man in Black right there!” Royster said pointing at the screen!

“Are you done foaming at the mouth, Cujo?” Trelaina snapped. “So, now that we established that we all are current with late 20^th century literature,”
Trelaina asked,  “what do you suggest?”

In response Royster tossed a disk on a table.

“What is that?”

“Your future,” Royster said as he turned to leave to go back down the stairs

Trelaina closed her eyes and meditated with the Force. She pondered mostly about Mark Venture. She couldn’t seem to get him out of her head; then the images turned to daydreams. The daydreams were of such things as them walking together in a park…another one was an image of them laughing while pushing a baby carriage. But then the images turned darker; with such things as Mark’s lifeless body lying in her bed with her trying to revive him.

She became confused…..both images couldn’t be right? What was the Force trying to tell her?

Then she opened her eyes as she saw Telezart as it once was. A small boy was running up to her and jumped into her arms….it was her brother Vaught as she remembered him. She looked into his eyes as they transformed into the Wolf-like eyes that startled her when she saw him so many years later. She than heard the menacing breathing apparatus echoing all around her.

The little boy’s mouth formed words, but the sound of his voice was that of Vaught’s breathing apparatus. He said, “In every Revolution there is always one….With a Vision”!

In a flash she opened her eyes to find herself where she began her meditation. She realized that quite some time had passed because as she tried to stand, her legs had fallen asleep.

The sounds of a piano were playing from upstairs. She stood up and walked up the stairs looking out the window and seeing a fully repaired Inferno with Nova and Royster standing in front of it, having a full conversation. She thought that it might have been an interesting one, even though she had no idea what it was about.

She reached the top of the stairs and noticed that the music was coming from Vaught’s old room. Walking in, she saw her brother playing the keys with his own style and finesse. It was one that she had never seen before. She always watched him at recitals, however she admired how his technique had transformed during the years. She realized that she was wrong. Vaught might have been a solider. But he was also an artist. She could feel his thoughts through the Force and she knew that Vaught’s heart wasn’t filled with power or conquest…..But with the longing to be right where he wanted to be, with his music. 

Vaught noticed her standing there and stopped playing.

“You were meditating and I didn’t want to disturb you,” Vaught said. “I hope you didn’t mind.”

She shook her head. “This is your home, Vaught.”

Vaught stroked the piano gently, “I first learned to play on this piano.”

“You have become quite an accomplished pianist,” Trelaina said.

“You gave me my first lessons,” Vaught said as he fell into silence for a moment then straightened.

“The Argo has been recalled to Earth,” Vaught said. 

“I know,” Trelaina replied.

Vaught closed the cover of the piano gently turned and faced her.

“In our last few moments, I have something to say,” Vaught said.

“You’ve never had much to say, little brother,” Trelaina said and smiled.

“The Comet Empire is wrong. The Gamilon Empire is wrong. So is the Dominion.”

“Yes,” Trelaina said. “But you have the power to change that evil in the Universe.”

 “Yes!” Vaught said pointing at her.  “So, if change is inevitable, predictable, and beneficial….Doesn’t the Force demand we be a part of it?”

Trelaina shook her head.

“A wise man once said ‘That one person cannot summon the future’,” Trelaina said.

Vaught snapped a quick response. He said, “And the wiser man replied, ‘That one person can change the present…..’”.

“So you and I sit here all day and quote passages from history; it changes nothing,” Trelaina said, “I will not change my mind on this.”

“Not if you find a logical reason to stop Zordar and make it stick. Push till it gives; we can defend ourselves better than anyone in the galaxy, ” Vaught said. 

“That’s our problem, Vaught! You think no one could beat us," she said, turning away. Vaught gently held her arm.

“What happened here wasn’t your fault,” Vaught said. “Royster found out that the Telezar Government, without your knowledge, tried to use the planet’s core as a weapon using brainwaves as an aiming and firing mechanism. Yours, especially, because you, like myself, using the midiclhorians in your blood, we can project those brainwaves.”

“What?” Trelaina said.

“That’s exactly it, lady! Why do you think his school was bombed!?” Royster said. “They needed you to project your brainwaves to initially calibrate the machine! They knew you would never go for it on your own, but if they angered you enough, and pushed you over the edge the Force would surge through you at Vaught’s death. But they weren’t counting on the Autobots getting to him then to a Starship, so they made a phony transmission saying that Vaught was close to death and that’s all they needed."

Vaught looked at her a moment. Then she let out a heavy sigh and started to walk away.

"Wait, Wait, Wait!" Royster said. "That’s it? That’s all the two of ya have to say?"

"Royster!” Nova warned.

"No I’m not going to shut up, Nova," Royster said.

"But it's not your place!" Nova snapped.

"Bullshit!" He yelled, pointing at Trelaina. “She loved him as if she was her son!” Then he pointed at Vaught, “And for eight years, she was the only mother he ever knew!"

"That was another life," Trelaina said. “Another age.”

"Another life," Vaught said quietly.

"Your family…. You’re a couple of Jackasses!" Royster said "Don’t let it end this way......in fact don’t let it end!"

"OK Royster!" Nova said grabbing his arm.

"He's right, Trelaina! Nova, stop trying to shut him up!" Vaught said as he turned around slowly and looked at Trelaina. "So what will it be?” he said. “Past or future….. tyranny or freedom?”

“Your thoughts betray you, brother,” Trelaina said “You are strong with the Force…..but not that strong…”

Vaught nodded. He then said, “In every Revolution…… there’s always one with a Vision!” At that, Vaught straightened and  nodded at her slightly. Then, he walked down the Stairs to the Bay following Nova and Royster ….and out of sight.

Within a few minutes, Trelaina watched Inferno  thundering past the castle, as it began to head back to the Argo. She dropped to her knees and began to sob. Her thoughts were of Mark Venture.

Two minutes later, Inferno was outside Telezart’s hollow shell and heading into space. Vaught was quiet as Nova and Royster were arguing heatedly about what had just happened over the intercom. Then, Vaught looked up towards the Argo and called out to her on the comm system.

There was no response.

Vaught tried again….and again there was no response.

“Royster, are our Comms up?” Vaught snapped in a tone that they both knew meant he wanted them to end their debate.

“Yeah it’s there and 5 by 5, Boss,” said Royster.

“The Argo’s not responding to my hails!” Vaught said. “Nova, check it out now!”

“Computer,” Nova called out to the Inferno’s computer system.

“Working,” it replied.

Nova said, “Scan Comm System of the Argo.”

The computer did so, and responded a moment later, saying, “The communication system on board the Argo is currently off line.”

“Why?” Nova said.

“A high energy surge from Telezart overloaded its main circuitry panel.”

“Are any other systems affected?” Nova asked.

“Negative,” said the computer.

“Trelaina,” Vaught Muttered. "You can try Wildstar's Blackberry. Text him something, Nova."

 “All right; let’s hope Derek is listening…”

_____________________________________________________________________

Aboard the Argo, there was smoke pouring out of Homer’s radio panel. As Sandor and Homer were trying to get to the circuitry, Wildstar walked over to Venture.

“Venture,” he said. “Go to Trelaina…… Find out what she wanted to tell us.”

The entire bridge was shocked by this including Venture who just stared at Wildstar.

“Hurry up!” Wildstar said “Maybe she’s changed her mind and is coming with us….and don’t forget…we’re taking off at 0600 hours. If she’s coming with us she has to leave right away.”

Venture made not a sound or a move.

Homer interjected “Wildstar…your Blackberry is buzzing…”

“Homer,” Sandor snapped.

“Come on!” Wildstar urged. “That’s an order!”

Venture stood up. “Ok,” he said.  “I’ll check out her message, and I’ll be back in time no matter what happens,Wildstar.”

He turned and ran off the bridge.

The entire bridge crew looked as the bridge doors closed behind Venture.

“Are you sure he’ll come back?” Orion asked.

Wildstar made no reply and there were a few seconds of silence when the beeping of his Blackberry flashing caught his attention. Wildstar walked over to his station, where he pushed a button.

The Blackberry read;

 Derek sighed, and he texted back the following message:

Nova read aloud the reply from Derek a moment later.

“Yep, there it is again,” came Royster’s voice from the Jeffries tube from the back of Inferno. “Same pattern on the sensors…”

“Like a door opening….,” Nova said.

“We’re on final approach,” Vaught said. “Nova, send that…to Wildstar.”

“Aye,” she said, typing back the following message on her own Blackberry.

Wildstar sent back the following message:

"He wants us to hold our position," Nova said.

“Affirmative,” Vaught said. He maneuvered alongside the Argo and kept station with her.

About five minutes later, he saw the hangar bay opening and he noticed a space mobile exiting the ship and heading towards Telezart.

"Their shuttle…what the hell?" Vaught asked. "Nova, Gimme that thing!"

The Blackberry again chirped and vibrated as Wildstar looked at it.

Wildstar called over to Homer, and tossed his Blackberry to him.

"I’ll be on the Hangar Deck," Wildstar said "Clear them in, Homer!"

“Yessir,” Homer responded. He sent the following to Inferno on Derek’s Blackberry;

Vaught frowned and tossed Nova’s Blackberry, as Nova tossed it at Royster and said, “You send any further communications from this point on…it’s been a long day…”

"I hate those things," Vaught said.

"I have an I-Phone 2100; I like it better than the Blackberry,” Royster said.

Vaught just nodded at that as the Inferno headed towards the Argo’s lower fighter bay hatch.

 ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Venture made his way into Telezart’s interior as he flew past the ruins to the cave where Trelaina’s castle was.

Trelaina, what has happened? Have you changed your mind? Venture thought as he set the craft down outside the entrance to the cave.

Trelaina was sitting when she felt a slight disturbance in the Force. She felt a presence, and she knew it was Venture

“What?” she thought as she ran to the observation window. She answered her own question a moment later with the thought, “He’s coming.”

Venture ran as fast as he could through the cave. He almost ran right through the lake, and stopped three or so feet into the water.

“Trelaina!” Venture called out. “Wildstar ordered me to find out what your message was! We thought it might be important. We thought maybe you gave changed your mind, Trelaina. We don’t have much time we have to take off for Earth if we are to get there before the Comet Empire!”

Trelaina gasped, even though she knew full well that they had to leave. She knew the data already, and she closed her eyes……

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Vaught brought the Inferno into the Argo’s hangar bay. He taxied her into position and shut down her systems. As he, Nova, and Royster climbed out of the fighter, Wildstar was waiting for them on the hangar bay deck.

Vaught walked directly over to Wildstar.

Wildstar reached into his pocket and pulled out a cigar and put it in his mouth.

“Derek!” Nova shouted as he just got the lighter to light.

Wildstar flipped the lighter closed and he put the cigar back into his pocket

“What the hell is going on?” Vaught said. 

“Don’t even start with me, Vaught,” Wildstar said, holding up his hand while he rolled up his eyes at Nova.

“Of all the gin joints, in all the towns, in all the world, she walks into mine!” Royster said.

“Leave it alone, would you?” Nova said as the four of them walked out of the hangar bay and onto the moving corridor

“That was a bad idea,” Vaught said as they moved through the ship. “Wildstar, sending Venture down there was a stupid move.”

“You might be right,” Wildstar said

 “This has disaster written all over it.” Vaught said.

“Come on…they’re in love, Vaught,” Nova declared while stepping a little closer to Derek.

“That has to be the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard,” Royster said.

“He’s right!” Vaught snapped. “Come off it; we’ve been here for only three days, Nova!”

“Who is to say what the heart feels?” Nova asked.

 “These little romances are going to start getting people killed! The four of you are going to be the death of me, I swear.” Vaught said while Nova rolled up her eyes at him.

“What’d I do?” Royster said.

“He meant Venture, Trelaina, Nova and myself,” Wildstar said.

“But no doubt you’ll get a girlfriend and that will probably end up with Inferno’s Warp Core Breaching!” Vaught Said.

Derek shook his head and groaned at that one while Nova put a hand over her mouth and giggled a little.

“Is your daughter Starsha single? In this little soap opera, remember, she’s your sister,” Royster said as he looked at Nova, while Vaught turned his head in anger.

"It's just a joke," Royster said. 

"It's not funny!" Vaught snapped.

“All right! Look it’s a soap opera, but you know you’re going to have to let this play out,” Royster said walking with him onto the Bridge.

“”That’s what I’m afraid of!” Vaught said.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Venture was now in Trelaina’s castle holding his helmet under his arm. She stood about five feet away from him as she looked into his eyes.

“And just as Homer said, the message was from you. The Communications system went out; what were you trying to tell us?” Venture asked.

 She closed her eyes.

“Trelaina?” he asked again

“I’m sorry,” She said in her light gentle voice. “I was trying to send my thoughts only to you but the Force…you see I’m-- not very good at controlling it.”

“The Force caused that?” Venture asked.

“Or something else that triggered it, or so I’m told,” she replied, turning and walking away from him. “Whatever the reason…there is nothing I can do about it. I don’t have any control over it, particularly when I am upset.”

There was a brief pause when she turned to look at him again

“You said that you will be leaving soon for your homeland, Earth,” Trelaina said. “Please be careful….Dear Mark.”

Venture looked deep into her eyes; he could stare into them all day for hours and hours. She turned and closed her eyes.

“Trelaina, please come with me to the Argo,” Venture said.

“Mark, can’t you understand why I can’t go with you!?” Trelaina said turning back to him.

“In three days the Comet Empire will get to Telezart,” Venture said. “I can’t leave you here by yourself….. what will you prove by staying here?”

“And what do I prove by leaving?” Trelaina said, while looking into his eyes

“Trelaina.. please,” Venture pleaded. “Can’t you come with me?”

She closed her eyes and shook her head “no”.

“Why?” Venture asked with a breaking voice.

She turned away from him again and closed her eyes. Then, she said, “Because if I go with you, you’ll want me to use the Force against the Comet Empire. I promised myself that I would never again use this power to take anyone’s life, never again. I don’t care if Royster can prove it was an accident…or if it was technology that I wasn’t aware of which I am the Catalyst. Perhaps it was true, all of what happened was an accident but this time if I go out there, I’ll be doing it deliberately….and there is no turning back from that.”

“Trelaina?” said Mark.

“I cannot do that…and you know that, Mark…”

__________________________________________________________________________

Vaught walked over to Homer and Sandor and Royster who were working on the radio.

“I wonder what caused it to overload like that, Sandor,” Homer said.

Royster looked up at Vaught who nodded.

“There might be something on the voice recorder; we can check it later.” Sandor said

“Don’t,” Wildstar ordered.

Homer and Sandor looked up at Wildstar with shock in their eyes.

“Leave the tapes with me,” Wildstar said.

They looked at each other, then at Vaught who gave them a stern look

“You heard the Captain!” Vaught snapped.

“Ok…..Ok,” Sandor said handing Wildstar the tapes.

Orion looked at his watch, “Venture is late.”

Vaught looked at Orion, “You in a hurry, Mr. Orion?”

“If we take off late, the Comet Empire will get to Earth before we do,” Orion responded.

“Orion has a point. We take off late, and we’re gonna get rolled by that Comet,” Royster said.

Wildstar and Vaught exchanged glances.

“Ok,” Sandor said closing the console “The radio’s all fixed now.”

Vaught looked at his watch than looked again at Wildstar.

“Get his ass back here.” Wildstar said.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Venture’s helmet began beeping with the sound of Vaught’s voice calling his name.

Venture tried to cover the sound with his hand.

“Mark, they’re calling you,” Trelaina said. Backing away, as Mark advanced, Vaught’s voice now came through the headset muffled as Mark held the helmet.

“Venture, it’s Corsair…we are out of time…”

Mark continued to advance as Trelaina tried to back away.

“Trelaina, please come with me!” Venture said again.

She continued to back away.

“I can’t go back there without you!” he asserted.

“No Mark, No…!” she said shaking her head. “You must go back.”

Venture shook his head as he continued to advance and she continued to back away, while his helmet continued paging.

“Trelaina,” Mark said. “I can’t leave you here all by yourself, No! Don’t ask me to.”

“I don’t need saving, Mark.” Trelaina said.

“I’ll stay with you,” Mark said.

“You’d stay?” Trelaina stammered for a minute looking at him in horror. Then, she remembered the image of his lifeless body in her bed

“Oh dear God, you would…..even if it meant your own death, you’d stay here with me!”

“Yes!” Venture said, “What else can I do, Trelaina!? I must be by your side!”

“Good God in heaven, you fell in love with me?” Trelaina said in frustration. “There’s nothing that you can…I can’t….I thought it was just me that felt..!” All she was able to do was mutter Mark’s name as she began to cry and threw herself into his arms.

Venture embraced her. As the helmet crashed to the ground, their lips locked in a passionate kiss as, now, Wildstar’s voice resonated around the room from the helmet’s speaker. “Venture, What’s happened?!” Wildstar shouted. “Venture, are you there?! Venture we’re ready to leave!! You’ve got to get back to the Argo. We can’t leave without you! Come Back!”

He simply held her tighter.

“Mark…..” She said through her tears, “You can’t stay here….they need you….you must go back.”

“They don’t need me,” Venture said. “Vaught can fly the damn ship!” He said looking into her eyes. “I will not leave here without you,” he asserted. Then, he kissed her.

She welcomed the warmth of the kiss and the feeling of being held again. But what was running through her mind….was it indeed Love? Or suddenly after all the years of loneliness the emptiness, was it just having someone hold her again?

“In Every Revolution there’s always one with a Vision!” boomed Vaught’s voice in her mind.

She opened her eyes and looked at Mark, knowing at once what she had to do.

“I’ll go with you,” she said as they both held each other as tight as they could.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________

 Wildstar slammed his fists onto the radio

“Hey!” Homer yelled. “You’ll break it again!”

“That’s all,” Vaught said as he switched off the channel as the bridge crew looked at him.

Derek looked at the bridge crew and said, “Come on! Knock it off and hop to it!”

“I’m going down to the hanger bay and find something to do.” Royster said to Nova. “Lemme know how all of this works out.” Nova nodded at him as he left.

The crew started to go about their business.

“What do I do? Go down there and get him?” Wildstar muttered.

“No,” Vaught whispered. “We can’t interfere,” Vaught said. “We can’t go down there and drag him out. And if I did he would be useless to you, and even if he does come with me, he is not going to be the same Mark Venture.”

Wildstar glared at him in anger.

“He’s not and you know it!” Corsair said quietly still whispering. “If he does come back, it’s going to be that Trelaina forced him to or tricked him to.”

“Now how do you figure that?” Wildstar asked.

“Can I talk to you in private?” Vaught asked.

"SHEESH! Everyone wants private time with me today," Wildstar said as he shook his head at Nova. She just grinned at him and shrugged before going her way.

The made their way to the aft observation deck as Telezart loomed in the background.

“What’s on your mind, Vaught?” Wildstar said.

“Venture isn’t the problem.” Vaught said. “Orion is right, the Comet Empire is right on out there,” Vaught said. “Even if we left right now we couldn’t warp right away; there are too many planets in this system, plus we have the space cyclone to contend with on the way back. We can’t really warp until we pass that cyclone which is in four days, and by that time the Comet Empire is overtaking us. And let’s say we can get to Earth before the Comet itself. They’re not the initial problem we have to deal with!”

Wildstar looked at him attentively but said nothing taking in what Vaught was saying.

“Look at the tactical reports you’re getting from Command, Wildstar! You’ve got two Comet Empire advance fleets pushing in one move, heading towards Earth. You’ve got the Comet backing them up. In addition, you're going to have Desslok creeping around out there somewhere with his fleet gunning for us; and I guarantee you we haven’t seen the last of him, Wildstar,” Vaught said.

“Starfleet command said they had intelligence that he was under arrest,” Wildstar said.

“Talan is going to respond; I can guarantee you that!” Vaught said. “He and Desslok have been too close for too many years. Meanwhile on our side, The EDF  fleet hasn’t even deployed yet, and over at Starfleet Command they’re still all hiding under their desks.”

“Well what if the EDF fleet makes a stand at one central point?” Wildstar asked.

“Starfleet tried such a maneuver against the Borg. In that battle, Starfleet found out the hard way what happens if you throw everything that you have at once and lose.”

“Wolf 359…I know,” Wildstar said. “Doesn’t matter if it’s a workable strategy or not…we’ve got to try something!”

“But it’s not going to matter if that Comet doesn’t slow down and they’re able to back up that task force,” Vaught said.

“Ok! Look; just consider the possibility for a minute! If there was a last stand, can you predict where it would be?” Wildstar asked.

Vaught rubbed his eyes for a second as Wildstar could tell that there was something the matter with Vaught. He was beginning to feel fatigued.

“Saturn-Titan is the only place where the Fleet could meet up and strike the advance fleet,” Vaught said after a long paused. “I think Admiral Gideon knows that, but he needs time.”

“So how do we slow them down or stop them?” Wildstar asked.

Vaught shook his head. “If Trelaina won’t fight, than I will have to.”

“You’re going to do what an entire fleet may not be able to do,” Wildstar said. “How?”

.  

“It can’t be done…unless Royster can reprogram that weapon to read my brainwaves,” Vaught said.

Wildstar shook his head. “I want to exhaust everything else before doing that! I need you here! I just lost a Navigator…I don’t want to lose my first officer….and my friend.”

At this point Nova came on the observation deck and breathed a sigh of relief to see that the two were not fighting.

“I was just checking to see if you two were all right,” Nova said.

“Your thoughts betray you,” Vaught said. “You’re wondering if I know about your earlier conversation with the Captain and what he had said to me about it?"

“I hate it when you do that,” Nova said, while leaning up against Derek.

“Nevertheless, Nova, you are third in command, at least until Venture gets back. So you should be part of our little Pow-Wow,” said Vaught.

“So what do you think?” Nova said.

“About you being trained to fight Talan?” Vaught asked, as he looked at Wildstar.

"I don’t know…she's going to do it anyway, because she thinks she has something to prove," Derek said.

“No comment, sir,” Nova said tartly.

"It's your call, sir." Vaught said.

"No...."Wildstar said looking at Nova as she gave him a fierce look, "It's not that you’re teaching her; you're mentoring her....this isn’t my call. I know a little about how trainers mentor their students; and since you’re her sensei, I am not going to come between you and your student, regardless of how I feel about it…” Nova looked at him and breathed a small sigh of relief; she knew he loved her, but, for now, it appeared this was now just between her and Vaught.

“We will look at this more closely at another point. Right now, we need to get underway,” Vaught said.

“Not without Venture,” Wildstar said;

“You can’t delay anymore. He’s not coming,” Vaught said.

“I’ve known the man for fifteen years! I’m not going to maroon him there.” Wildstar said as Nova squeezed his hand.

“Wildstar what if the situation was reversed? What if it was Nova down there refusing to leave?” Vaught asked.

Wildstar looked at him hard for a moment. Then, he said, “Make preparations to leave orbit,” Wildstar said while looking at Nova. “Vaught, take the helm, please?”

“Yes sir,” Vaught said.

He turned to leave the observation deck, then turned to Wildstar as if in an afterthought.

“You said you were losing a Navigator?” Vaught said. “He is your friend, too,” Vaught said as he turned and left the observation deck for the bridge.

“He's right. Nova, what if it was you and me?” Wildstar said. “With everything that is going on with you?”

“...and if that ever happens?” Nova asked quietly.

“You couldn’t get me to leave your side,” Wildstar replied.

She leaned over and kissed him gently as he held her.

“Nova,” he said, “I know we haven’t had much time together…..”

“Bridge to Wildstar,” came Vaught’s voice. “Incoming traffic! It’s Venture!”

They both let out a sigh of relief

“Royster here…Inferno’s sensors are picking up two life forms aboard.”

“Meet us in the hangar bay,” Wildstar said.

“Are you sure about those two life forms?” Vaught asked.

“Yeah,” Royster said.

“No way this ends good,” Vaught said to Sandor.

Sandor just looked at him hard and nodded.

___________________________________________________________________________________

Sure enough by the time he and Royster got to the hangar bay and the door to the shuttle opened, there stood Venture and Trelaina. Vaught and Royster stayed back as Wildstar was talking to both of them. Vaught looked directly at her as her eyes met his.

They heard part of the conversation; something about Wildstar throwing them a party. However, first he had ordered Venture to the bridge so that they could depart. Trelaina smiled at him and touched his arm gently, as Venture ran off to the bridge.

Royster looked at Vaught

“Why does all of this make me itch?” Royster said.

“I sense a Great Disturbance in the Force,” Vaught said.

“I sense a great big pile of Bullshit…” Royster said. “You buying any of this?”

“I don’t know,” Vaught said. “But I’m going to find out what it is she’s up to.”

“I think I’ll tag along,” Royster said.

Wildstar, Vaught, Trelaina and Royster were standing on the Automatic corridor belt a moment later as Derek talked to Trelaina.

“Thank you for bringing Venture back to us,” Wildstar said. “We were starting to get worried.”

She looked back at Vaught and Royster and said nothing.

“Wait for it,” Royster said.

Wildstar turned around and looked at him

“What the hell are you talking about?” Wildstar snapped.

They stepped off the belt by an airlock.

“Well, Trelaina, why don’t you break the bad news?” Royster said.

Even Vaught turned and looked at him.

She looked at Royster and nodded. 

“Neville is correct; I cannot stay,” Trelaina said. “I have finished what I came to do.”

“What does that mean?” Wildstar said.

“Venture was determined to stay with you on Telezart,” Vaught said. “And face your fate with you. The only way for you to get him back here was to make him think you were coming along.”

Wildstar sighed, “How did I not see this coming?”

“Why was he even allowed to leave in the first place?” Trelaina said.

“That’s all you,” Royster said to Wildstar.

“What would you have me do?” Wildstar said. “In less than forty-eight hours the Comet Empire will be at Telezart!” Wildstar said. “You can’t or won’t Stop it, so….”

“Can’t I?” Trelaina asked looking at Royster "You just worry about clearing the area."

“You’re going to throw the entire weight of the Force through the weapon and direct it towards the Comet Empire?” Vaught said

“The Information on the disk was very helpful.” Trelaina said

“You can do that.” Royster said. “But you know taking them head on you could be killed.”

“There’s got to be another way,” Wildstar said “Vaught will you talk to her!?”

“Well.” Vaught said “We could try and re-program the weapon to my brainwaves and I’ll take him on.”

“NO!” Trelaina said sternly.

“Trelaina, this is what I do,” Vaught said “This is my business!”

“This was my business Long before Demona and Nokkar but that saber in your hand…”

“They have nothing to do with this,” Vaught said. “But if Nokkar were here, he would tell you that at the speed and mass that Gatlantis is traveling at even at full strength you’re only be able to slow them down!....If were working together you and I can finish it right here.”

She shook her head “No, Vaught. I can’t allow you to stay. It’s too dangerous.”

“I won’t allow it, anyway,” Wildstar said. “Trelaina if you want this Death Wish to be your campaign, then so be it; I have no authority over you.”

Derek then turned to Vaught. “I, on the other hand, controls what goes on here and whatever your death wish is, I’m not going to allow so far as you’re under my command! Do I make myself clear, Colonel?”

“You think that’s going to stop him?” Royster said.

 “I have done the calculations and I will be all right,” Trelaina said. “Our home can withstand the vacuum of space. If you can use Inferno’s transporter, beam it out of the cavern. I can use it as a spacecraft and I will return to Federation space at the Calix IV system.”  

“Oh my God,” Vaught muttered to Royster.

“There has to be another way,” Wildstar said.

“I will be all right,” Trelaina said. “Just as the Star Force and the Federation fights for peace, in my own way I too must fight for peace.”

“Trelaina…” Wildstar said.

“Yes I know,” she said. “You do not understand.”

“How can I?” Wildstar said. “First, you’re reciting the Prime Directive, and now you’re giving me “To boldly go where no one has gone before?””

“Dude…. you have got to stay out of the Federation database,” Royster said to Wildstar.

“I have learned much since you came here,” Trelaina said. “I have learned not to be afraid. For as somebody reminded me, In every revolution there is one with a Vision,” she said while smiling at Vaught.

“Three minutes until we break out of orbit, came Venture’s voice over the intercom.

“Well, I’m glad we could be of help,” Wildstar said sarcastically.

“Royster, get my pre-flight worked out will you?” Vaught asked. “So we can get to work on that Castle?”

“Wait a minute!?” Wildstar exclaimed. “Aren’t you going to see Venture before you leave?”

“No.” Trelaina said. “He needs all the thoughts for his work ahead, and I know he will understand.”

“No he won’t,” Wildstar said. “As soon as he knows you’re not here he’s going to go crazy.”

“I left him a message on your voice recorder,” Trelaina said. She turned towards the airlock when Vaught called out her name. She turned her head sorrowfully towards him.

“You know how they’re going to come at you?” Vaught asked.

“I have a pretty good idea,” Trelaina said. “Vaught, although I am your older sister….you are the elder.”

Vaught smiled, “Remember…your eyes can deceive you; don’t trust them……I see the conflict within you, the confusion, and the anger. It hasn’t consumed you fully. Don’t give into hate …..that leads to the Dark Side.”

“But do us a favor…knock this guy’s teeth out, anyway,” Royster said. 

Trelaina smirked at him.

“I leave my love for all of you,” Trelaina said. “For Mark….and you, my dear brother.”

“Well send Mark back to you as soon as our mission is done,” Wildstar said.

“Yes tell him I’ll be waiting. I’ll be in the Federation on Calix IV.”

“Dad’s Lab,” Vaught said. "The Tholians had it when I was there."

“I hear it’s back in the Federation’s hands, now,” Trelaina said as she motioned her hand opening the inner airlock door.

“We can get you down to the surface,” Wildstar said.

She cracked a smile, and turned and went through the doors as they closed behind her. The three rushed to the window to see the outer airlock door opening.

Trelaina was heading back to Telezart.

As the three of them watched, Royster said something almost in a whisper

Something has changed within me
Something is not the same
I'm through with playing by the rules
Of someone else's game
Too late for second-guessing
Too late to go back to sleep
It's time to trust my instincts
Close my eyes: and leap!

“What was that from?” Vaught replied.

“Just something,” Royster said. “That’s some lady, let me tell ya.”

Vaught gently squeezed his shoulder. “Prep Inferno I’ll be down in a few minutes.”

“Right,” Royster said. “Good luck with Venture.”

Wildstar looked out the Porthole at the small figure of Trelaina looking up at the Argo. Then, he began to make his way back to the First Bridge.

_________________________________________________________________________________

Venture was busy with his pre-flight checklist when for some reason something caught his eye. At first he thought they were playing tricks on him but they widened when it registered.

“Wait a minute!” Venture said “That’s Trelaina!…..No!”

Nova walked over to the window wondering if what he was saying was true.

He was about to shut down the ignition sequence when the bridge doors opened as Vaught and Wildstar walked onto the bridge.

“Belay that!” Vaught commanded. “Continue the ignition sequence.”

“What did you two do!?” Venture yelled.

“Are you even aware of the tactical situation!?” Vaught asked. “She’s doing her job!” Then Vaught shouted “Commander Mark Venture, I think it’s about high time you started doing yours!”

“We tried to stop her…” Wildstar said softly “I  tried to stop her….I couldn’t.”

Venture just collapsed in his seat gazing out the window.

“She’s going to be killed,” he muttered. “And I can’t do anything to stop it!” he looked up at Vaught, with tears in his eyes.

Sandor stood up from his station and walked over to Wildstar gesturing at Homer’s radio set. Wildstar looked over at Vaught.

“Clear the Bridge, please,” Wildstar said. “I want to talk to Venture for a minute.”

There was a moment’s hesitation but they did as instructed. As Vaught was about to leave, Wildstar motioned him to stay.

Vaught gave him a confused look. However, he stayed on the bridge, as Wildstar walked over to Homer’s radio panel and placed a small cassette in a receptacle.

“Trelaina wanted you to hear this after she left the ship, Mark,” Wildstar said.

He pushed a button as the speakers crackled.

“Mark, leaving with you on the Argo would be what I would have wanted most. I had to deny that happiness for the both of us because of what evil is coming; Where I go now, you cannot follow; what I have to do you cannot be any part of; When all this is behind us, my Brother will give you the coordinates to a Planet in Federation space. I will be there waiting for you….I will always wait for you.”

The message ended.

“You’re lucky,” Wildstar said pointing at Vaught. “This man never got any message when we buried his wife on Mars. There is no doubt that Trelaina loves you, very much. In loving you, she knew that your place was here…and that she has her mission, too. You heard it yourself; you can’t be any part in what she has to do……None of us can…..What she is doing is out of her love for all Life and even her brother but I think mostly…it’s her love for you.”

“She may look frail down there; vulnerable,” Vaught said. “But she has a power that is far greater than all of us.”

“It’s my own fault,” Venture scoffed “I should have known better… How did I not see it coming?”

“How do you see it coming?” Vaught said “I am strong with the Force, but not that strong. But she’s there right now……”

“Send her your thoughts,” Wildstar said “She’ll hear them.”

Venture closed his eyes for a few moments and turned his head slightly.

“I can hear her,” Venture said “She heard me. She heard me…yes…”

Wildstar looked at Vaught who pressed a button on a console.

“All bridge personnel, resume your stations,” Vaught said.

“Captain?” Vaught asked.

Wildstar nodded. As Vaught left the bridge, he touched his communicator pin activating Inferno’s transporter and materialized in front of Inferno where he found Royster waiting for him.

“You mind if I do this solo?” Vaught asked as climbed into Inferno’s flight deck.

“Kind of figured you would,” Royster said as he pulled the staircase back.

Vaught engaged the systems of Inferno. As she came to life again, Vaught hesitated for a moment and punched up something on the computer as music filled the cockpit And hanger, while Royster smiled and pointed to him.”

I'm through accepting limits
'cause someone says they're so
Some things I cannot change
But till I try, I'll never know!
Too long I've been afraid of
Losing love I guess I've lost…

Vaught threw the throttles forwarded as Royster chuckled to himself and shook his head, while Inferno launched from the Superstar’s launch rail and sped across the planet.

Well, if that's love
It comes at much too high a cost!
I'd sooner buy
Defying gravity
Kiss me goodbye
I'm defying gravity
And you can't pull me down:

Wildstar watched from the bridge as Homer put the music on the speakers.

“Dash,” Wildstar said. “Prepare to fire a salute for Trelaina.”

“Yessir,” Dash said.

It's time to try
Defying gravity
I think I'll try
Defying gravity
And you can't pull me down!

Inferno was in her position as Vaught locked onto Trelaina’s castle. It materialized in far orbit of Telezart. Vaught saw flashes of light filling the dark skies of Telezart as the Argo fired her Wave Motion engine than fired her salute from her main guns. 

On the First Bridge, every hand stood at attention, with their hands to their hearts in salute.

Derek doubted there was a dry eye on the Bridge as the ship began to cruise away from Telezart at last.

Trelaina watched as the Argo began to pass out of sight, with her guns blazing in tribute

“Good-bye Brother…….” she thought to herself as tears rolled down her face  “Good-Bye Mark.”

She heard a thundering noise in the distance coming closer followed by a small cloud of dust as the Inferno approached while the Argo receded.

Then, she heard music, as the sound of the pounding song came to her from the Inferno’s speakers….

So if you care to find me
Look to the western sky!
As someone told me lately:
"Ev'ryone deserves the chance to fly!"
And if I'm flying solo
At least I'm flying free
To those who'd ground me
Take a message back from me
Tell them how I am
Defying gravity
I'm flying high
Defying gravity
And soon I'll match them in renown………………

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

James T Kirk, known as Admiral Gideon, looked out of the window of his quarters at the newly completed Saturn-Titan base on Saturn’s Moon of Titan. He was deep in thought of his past two lives and how they came together as one. Then, they all faded with the knock on his cabin door.

“Come in, Creighton,” he said. 

“I kind of figured you know it was me,” Creighton said.

“My first officer thinks he’s very efficient,” Kirk said.

“On that note Spock thinks you’re planning an offensive…..he wants in.”

“Spock’s an Admiral,” Kirk said. “Let him plan his own offensive.”

“That’s not the answer, I was looking for Jim,” Creighton said.

“You saw Corsair’s data,” Kirk said. “Without a Battlestar like the Missouri, I couldn’t hope to mount a challenge against a Gatlantis-class capital ship!”

“You could take out the Advance Fleet,” Creighton said. “I could be back in time to mount a challenge for Zordar.”

Kirk Frowned. “When it comes to General Stone, I’m at a standstill. I can’t by pass him. I can’t scramble the fleet overnight……”

 “Do you Remember Excalbia, Jim?” Creighton asked.

“Lincoln,” Kirk said.

“Right,” Creighton said.  “Abe Lincoln had a similar problem with General George B McClellan,” Creighton said. “McClellan was a great little organizer but he couldn’t decide when to fight, and indecision is a virus that can run through an army and destroy its will to win, or even to survive. Lincoln called in a hard headed Yankee named Grant; and Grant didn’t give a damn about organization and neither was he infected with a virus. He just pointed his battalions in one direction, and shoved off. Well, you’re Gonna be my Grant, Jim. Deal with Stone or just go around him. Just get the job done.”

“I need more than that Craig,” Kirk said.

“You know it’s the right thing, Jim,” Creighton said. “You’ve risked more for less….what else do you need?”

“Spock,” Kirk said.

___________________________________________________________________________________________

TO BE CONTINUED….