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Temporal Ambassador: Part 1
As a small Caitian runabout makes its way through space on its way to planet Risa, for the competition. This year they planned to give away the latest model onf Risian yacht,
with all of the latest luxurys a civilian could ever want. Aboard this craft, was Admiral Thomas the Caitian. A long time Veteran for Star Fleet. He was a highly decorated and
well seasoned officer, who took part in countless first contacts and negotiations, exploring and mapping out star systems and engaging in thousands of battles during the Klingon
wars until present day encounters. Within this period He was given the title of Federation Ambassador for settling just as many disputes as he did engaging in them. But after
a long and honorable career, he was ready to hang up his rifle and relax into his retirement years. Thomas, was getting old, and he could feel his age coming upon him with each
day. Planet Risa was a comfortable place to retire to, his donations of artifacts to thier historical museum allowed for him to be given certain leverage for a reservation of one
of the best Bungalos to stay in until he could contract a permanent residence to be built on the island.As his shuttle raced at warp 6 through space, cruising its way to paradise, a security alarm began to warn of danger. Thomas sat up out of his bunk, dropping his book and making
his way to the cockpit. “Report?” he inquired to his helmsman. The young Vulcan looked up at him puzzled, ” sir, It seems to be some sort of Tetryon emanation, I am unclear as
to the point of its origin.” “Do a full sensor weep lad, there should not be a tetryon disturbance in this sector.” “I am on it sir.” Thomas waits in a thinking posture, as he
paciently aways the Vulcans findings. “Sir, I can’t lock onto a direct point, it seems to be all around us, I will not be able to get a precise sensor reading.” “Hmm,
this craft isn’t designed for extensive scientific use, my sensors systems just weren’t built for research, normally I would modify a probe if I where still aboard my
starship.” Thomas paces for a moment, then looks back at the young Vulcan, “continue on our heading to RIsa, we can have someone look over our readings when we arrive.” “Aye sir,
continuing on our coarse to Risa.” Thomas eases himself into one of the seats, and shuts off the alert status. “I will watch the Con for now, go get something to eat lad.”
“Thank ou sir.” The Vulcan walks from the room stopping for a moment with a strange stride, then continues. As time passes along thier journey, the alert come up once more, and
overloads one of the lower sensor arrays near thier main power core. “Structural integrity compromised, life support failing, hull breach eminent!” The computers voice warns.
Quickly, Thomas runs to the equipment loacker while tapping his comm badge, Tr’lye, put on an environmental suit! Quickly LAD!” Thomas rushes to pull on his suit, “computer
depressurise the ship!” “Depressurising, life support failure…life support is no longer active.” The cold air and radiation slip into Thomas helmet as he locks it on and
activates the suits environental controls just in time to save his life. But not his consious state, the sudden shock to his system leaves him completely unconsious. Where he drifts in the
cockpit. His quick thinking also saved the ship from breaking apart, but soon the ships power will be drained and usless.Thomas awoke to the light sounds of clicking off in the distance, his awakening still seemed like a dream. He was disorientated and weak. A bright light shined into his face
and a strange dark shape stood above him, then he realized it was some sort of chatter coming from this creature, but useless information as he could not understand the language. He tried
to move but was under restraints. When the creature seemed to notice his struggle, he pulled a device over Thomas rendering him unconscious painfully, he begins to yell then fell
unconscious once more. They experiment on him more, these strange hooded creatures. Without a window of time to measure, it is unclear as to how much time has passed, Thomas
awakens once more, and as he comes to, he glances around just moving his eyes. He sees the creatures carrying off his helmsman and seem to dump his lifeless body into some
sort of tear in the fabric of space. “Noo.” he thought to himself, grieving the loss. But he kept his cool, from a lifetime of experience through countless periless and extreme situations and waited
for the right moment. His surroundings, he thought to himself…he visually scanned the room, he was in a restraint at the far end corner of some sort of chamber, what ever their project is wasn’t
him for the moment. Scents, he could smell another next to him, it had fur as well and it was breathing steadily. He looked once more towards the creatures, they where huddled
around a mechanical pillar shaped device busy with their work, so he turned his head to see what scent he had picked up. To his surprise it was a Caitian female in Risian clothing, most likely a
vacationer…they could be close to Risa, what ever took them seems to be taking people from this area he thought to himself. he looked back at the creatures, suddenly their
machine shut down and they began to walk over towards Thomas. He closed his eyes to fake being asleep. They began to take him from his bindings and that’s when he sprung into action.
Cat dropped down slipping from their reptilian grip, tumbled past them then turned with a powerful lunge knocking one of them down. He noticed his rifle on a table and ran for
it and they pursued. Just as he grabbed the stock, they took hold of him. Cat pivoted around and bashed the stock of his rifle directly into the one creatures head, knocking it down.
He tumbled past the next two and recovered behind them, aimed and fired two shots dropping both of them. The rest fled out of the room. After taking a moment to browse his environment
for any more creatures or possible security retaliations, he turned back to the woman and free’d her from the restraints. She fell into his arms barely conscious. “Are you alright?”
He asked, still trying to hold the moment. Who was she, where was he, who where they…and what was he doing here? He pondered holding her in one arm and his aimed rifle in the otherTO BE CONTINUED..
Temporal Ambassador: Part 2
Finding himself in a hostage situation, it wouldnt be long before they came back with force, Thomas had to do something. He browsed the room for anything of use….his combadge! He gently layed the woman on the table, never loosing his alert state of mind and took hold of his comunicator. “Is anyone there, please respond! This is Admiral Thomas, is anyone reading my signal?” He paused for a moment, and sigh downwardly. After reattaching his badge to his jacket, he went over to the woman and checked her pulse. “Madam…madam can you hear me?” he softly asked, giving her a slight nudge to try and revive her. She began to come to, and looked up at him puzzled. “Are you ok?” She slowly sits up looking around, then back at Thomas, “who are you?” she purred. “I am Admiral Thomas, to whoom do I speak?” “I am Lt. M’ress, are you of Star Fleet, Admiral?” “That I am, where are we? and who..what are those creatures?” M’ress slides off the table to her feet, placing a hand on her forehead as if she was still affected by her sedatives.”I’m unsure sir, I can bairly make out thier dialect, but they seem to be searching for something.” Thomas ponders for a moment, massaging the fur on his chin, then looks back at her. “What significants could we possibly have to thier needs?” “I am unsure Admiral, they never would talk to me, they just keep sedating me and the others…” She begins to weep bitterly into her hands. “I’ve been here so long, I want to go home!” Thomas, takes hold of her in comforting embrace, wondering whats going on, “Easy, calm yourself.” He allows for her to finish then sits her down, ” listen to me, we will get out of this, but i need you to remember everything you can. Start with who else was here and when you arrived?” Suddenly the doors opened back up and a floating drone enters the room emitting some sort of fog. M’ress gasps, but Thomas takes her hand and begins to run to the far side of the room, firing at the object. As he reaches one of the tables he kicks it over and pulls M’ress down into the cover, then takes aim for another shot. “Stay down, i will try to clear us a path!” More of the creatures piled into the room, firing strange cresent shaped energy projectiles that would spark off the wall and his cover in a brilliant burst of energy disipation. Knowing they would soon over run them, Thomas leaped in the air and knocked one of them down, then followed through with a sharp strike to its face, knocking it unconsious. One grabbed him from behind, and pulled him back making him loose his footing. he looked up to see a metalic appendage about to be thrust into him, the sudden adrenaline surge of fear allowed him to kick upward at the creature knocking him away. Thomas then spun around back to his feet and aimed for another shot but was suddenly frozen in place by some sort of energy stasis field. The aliens walked over to him, and restrained him. One bearing wires and hoses, seeming to have several chemicals about his kit, it takes a needled device and went to inject Thomas when suddenly, the room shook, knocking everyone off thier feet. The sudden jolt broke Thmas free from his energy bindings, he shook it off and grabbed his rifle once more opening fire at the creatures, leaving them in disarray. He then called out to M’ress. “come child, take my hand!” M’ress sprung from her cover and ran from the room led by Thomas’s hand. The sudden treamors kept knocking them frrm thier stride, “someones attacking us, this is torpedo fire! We have to find a way out!” This way she pointed, Thomas quickly flashed a gaze twords that direction and seen a few doors with strage alien shapes and monograms. “Can you read those?” he asked in desperation. ” I am able to understand some of it, this symbol would light up in the room when ever they would take someone from a ship.” M’ress inspected the console for a moment, both trying to keep thier balance as they violently where shaken from thier feet with each impact. suddenly the door to thier left opened and armored tholians emerged, running down the hall. Thomas swung his arm about pressing M’ress to the wall as they both remained still and let them go by. They could hear energy weapon discharges further down in the corridor. After they where all out for sight, Thomas grabbed her hand and led her into the opened doorway to see a half destroyed shuttlebay. The entrance was blocked and it appeared none of the shuttles worked, the views from the breech showed them plummitiing twords a planets surface. M’ress screamed. “What are we going to do?!!” She cried. With a quick overview of the area, he noticed the Tholians infiltraition pod, only one Tholian was guarding it. “Theres our escape, come with me…HURRY!” They rushed to the pod, the Tholian noticed them and opened fire. One handed, Thomas fired his rifle at the alien and cut him down with several shots wounding the creature. he pulled his companion into the pod, and swung around aiming his rifle again to check for anymore hostiles. He then sealed the pods hatch. “Admiral, im unfamiliar with these controls.” he walked over and handed her the rifle, I know this, i’ve encountered this species before. Thomas uses the console to scan the shuttle bay and check the systems, “blast! it seems the shuttlebay is too damaged to launch from, we are trapped in here!” “Oh no!” She pointed to the view, any second they would impact. With quick thinking, Thomas activated a side by side transport to the surface beaming them both to the planet below just as the ship impacted and exploded.
They both materialised 15 feet in the air, the fireball from the crash was dieing down just as they began to desend. The ship hadent fully crumbled yet, he grabbed M’ress around the waist and then grabbed one of the severed flailing coduits from the crumbling ship and swung them both to a pile of pushed up soil. Just then a large paneling fell over the top of them, caught by a cluster of severed bulkheads. Thomas exhailed in relief laying back for a moment to gather himself and catch his breath. He then looked over at M’ress who was gasping for breath from being in shock. ” Are you ok?” He asked. She cringed for a moment then grabbed hold of him in comfort. “We made it, it will be alright now.” Thomas noticed a strange device in M’ress’s hand. “What is this?” he asked. She looked up at him, then the object, “I found this on one of the tables in the lab. I kept it, as i figured it would be a clue for us to dicover who those creatures where.” Thomas smiled, “good work Lt.” After a few minutes, then began to try to unburry themselves from the wreckage, the smoke and fire where nausiating. They where also both roughed up badly, covered in scrapes and bruises. They noticed a figure coming from the smoke to confront them, “you there, i would have a word with you!” He called out. Thomas and M’ress looked at one another in confusion. Thomas stepped forward for a greeting trying to leave his companion safely behind him, but she wouldn’t let go of his hand. “Greetings, I am Tho…” “I know who you are Thomas, what i want to know is what gives you the right to be here?!” the man interupts with a distaste in his voice. “Im afraid i don’t understand, have we intruded on your world? Our presence here is not of our doing..” “Isn’t it?!” he again snaps. ” You think you can just play with time as if there no consiquences to your actions!” “Excuse me sir, what are you talking about?” ” Dont play innocent, we where watching when you entered the Gateway, we watched as your precious humanoid races have infiltraited and changed time and perverse of the continum….and now once again you are here, in our realm, a mere bactieria trying to infect our dimention! What do you have to say for yourself?!!” “Im afraid I am at a loss, did you not just see we where almost killed in this ship wreck?” The man turns from them as if pondering the situation, “yes, you didnt die easily, I hadnt foreseen your escape this is unusual that you once again cheated reality, I wouldnt have pulled the Elachi from thier mission agaist the Enterprise!” Both Caitians look at one another, then back at the man saying simotaniously, “my ship?” he looks back with a concerned expression,” Yes, you both served on different Enterprises, no Picard was serving aboard the Enterprise at that time…look, enough with the questions, I have been charged with bringing you back to face sentence from the high council of Elders.” ” Im afraid im not going anywhere until I recieve some answers!” “You are in no position to make demands..” he suddenly notices the device M’ress is carrying. “You there, woman, how do you have possession of that?” She opens her hand to look upon the device she took, “It was..” The man cuts in, “hand that over, that is not for your kind!” Thomas takes the item, “you seem awful concerned about this device, what does it do?” He holds it up and it begins to activate. “NO YOU FOOLS! Dont…!” But they both vanish and are suddenly standing before Paradise, an old town that has become a local slum and eye sore to the Tau sector. “It seems we have been pulled into a very serious situation, im not entierly sure as to what is going on, but I have a feeling we havent seen the last of him.”
TO BE CONTINUED..
Temporal Ambassador: Part 3
It was the break of a new morning on Nimbus 3, the dry morning air bit at the tongues of its enhabitants. Two figures huddled close together outside of thier time and home emerge from the windswept dustball, and enter the front gates of this mysterious and desperate town. They could feel the eyes studying them from the shadows. The fear of whats around that next corner makes thier heart begin to pound faster. Then a faint voice from a scafolding calls out to them “can you spare some Chips?” Thomas looks over and sees an old beggar crumpled up next to a boarded up door. “..please, just enough for some food?” “My apologies good sir, we have come upon misfortune and are without to give at the moment.” Then suddenly a man seems to come from out of no where before them, “come now, do you take us for fools. You are both dressed in finerys..” he reaches out to carress M’ress’s cheek, but she slaps his hand away. “How dare you defy me woman!” He draws back to backhand her but Thomas locks his wrist droping him into a subdued position. “Im sure you had no intention to upset the lady, kindy assure her that you will not!” The man stuggles in pain and frusteration, unable to retaliate or move from his vulnerable position. “yeah..yeah sure, no harm meant miss….I..I” Thomas twists his wrist tighter, “AHH, Im sorry!…can I go now?” Thomas releases him pushing him away, “we need to get off the streets.” “Where can we go?” She asks. Thomas browses his surroundings, and then walks over to the boarded up door near the old beggar. he hands his rifle to M’ress and reaches down to help the man up, ” come with us good sir, lets see if we can find you a meal.” Suprised by the sudden kindness from one in this town, the man becomes suspitious and begins to struggle in a panic, “please dont hurt me, I mean you no harm! I have nothing to take!” “Relax friend, im not going to hurt you, but we need your help and I promise that you will have more then your fill before the nights over with.” “Who…who are you?” Thomas moves him aside and kicks the door open, then invites him in the condemed building. “I am Thomas, after you.” They make thier way into the building and M’ress closes back the door and grabs a fallen beam, proping it against the door to secure it. “What is your name stranger?” He asks again, ” My name is Admiral Thomas, of The United Federation of Planets.” “What? Is that a new faction?” Thomas studies the mans reaction, he seemed genuinly confused at the name. M’ress looks back surprised, “how could you not have heard of…” Thomas holds up his hand to silence her, “oh dear, I thought as much when I realised who you where, how long have you been here Mr. Quinn.” “How do you know my name? Have me met before?” The man says with an uneasy surprise to his tone. ” yes, but under different circumstances…and apparently a different time.” Thomas stops to ponder the situation, then looks back at M’ress. Something has happened, this shouldnt be!” “Whats going on, who is this man? What has troubled you?” “This is Admiral Quinn, he oversee’s all of Star Fleet in my time.” “Madness! I’ve never been apart of anything called Star Fleet, Im just an old miner, too old for work now, the Tholians dumped me here a few years ago when I outlived my usefulness to them.” “I see..” Thomas added. “Madam, we have a lot of work ahead of us, but first we will need to aquire some currency…” “Its no use, ” Quinn adds, “theres no work here, we live off of the scraps the pirates drop for us…im so hungry…please, you promised food..” Thomas helps him to his feet, ” and so you shall have food, but I will need you to come with us, I need a guide through this town, its unfamiliar to me.” Quinn smiles from a renewed hope of a meal, and soon they are off.
After talking about the technical and structural probelms of thier local environment, Thomas finds a quick way to earn some money. “…and there is no one here who is able to fix any of these machines you say?” “Yes, the last technitian we had here was killed when the scafold he was working on gave way.” “Then perhapse I may be of some assistance, I am an engineer.” Quinns eyes lit up, “everyone!…hear me, this creature is an engineer, he offers his skills to us!!” Shocked by the sudden outburst, Thomas readys himself, unsure of how the community will act. Several dirty and starved people emerge from the shadows and advance twords the two Caitians. “Is it true stanger, are you an engineer?” One of them asks. “That I am good sir, I have noticed that may of your structures and equipment are none functional and weathered…show me what needs attention first and lets get started.” The crowed begins chattering, some of them cheer other break down into tears. M’ress leans over to him with a sharp elbow to the side, “what are you doing!? We need to get out of here! This place could take years to retore if it can be at all!” Thomas smiles and lays a hand on her shoulder, “patience my dear, every journey begins with a single step, do you trust me?” “Yes sir.” she says reluctantly. “then lets get to work and live up to our training!” With the cooperation of the community and the inspiration of new hope in the town inhabitants, they begin to restore power and even have the replicator working later that night. The gathered feast was a celebration, as the old town tavern was organised to seat most everyone. Thomas stood outside wiping the dirt from his hands on a towel, as he put away his tools. M’ress came struting up next to him happy, “you did it sir.” Thomas smiles and looks down at his work, then tosses his rag on a bench, “we did it, any project, like the work of a great ship requires the use of many hands, these people just needed the motivation and direction.” M’ress advances closer to embrace Thomas, “and a fine leader.” she purrs. “Lieutenant!” he snaps. She backs away suddenly, as she realises the disipline in his voice. “We are still on duty here, I need you to stay focused.” “yes sir.” She answers almost standing at attention. Thomas pats her on the shoulder as he walks off, ” it will be ok Lt.” She looks at him stunned, the officers wherent usualy as strict while on board the Enterprise, she thought to herself. Thomas searches out and finds Quinn, the man raises his hands up twords Thomas, “you have saved us here, thank you good sir..thank you!” Thomas seats himself next to Quinn, wearing a serious expression. “Mr. Quinn, you mentioned you where a minor is this correct?” “Why yes, I spent fifty years of my life serving the hive.” “When did they take control of this region?” Quinn looked over at him suspiciously, “what do yo mean, they have always been in power?” “Excuse me, I must just be tired, its been a long day.” Thomas says to direct away his intents. Now realising further that the timeline was changed, but to what extent in this universe…he’s obviously in the right time, Admiral Quinn sits before him. Those hooded creatures that used tetryons to manipulate hyperspace, could they have changed something….no, this was completely different, it had to be. Thomas takes out and looks at the device M’ress took from their lab. He notices someone takes interest in the device, and waves him over. Thomas gets to his feet, “excuse me, ” he utters to Quinn, Quinn waves him on still eatting. Almost gitty in anticipation about Thomas’s approach, the wildly dressed man points at him pressing in on one of his coats buttons. “You..are not from our time, are you?” Thomas looks around to see if anyone else heard his statement, everyone was still enjoying thier food and talking. So he turns back to the man, “do you know what this is?” “Yes in deed i do!, I havent seen one for ages, I was beginning to thing they no longer excisted anymore.” “Enlighten me good sir, tell me all you can about it.” Well, my information isnt free, if you help me out on a situation I will also help you in return.” Thomas sighs under this breath, “what interests you?” “the mountain just up the trail have a cavern where i used to trade my goods until those cursed desert beasts overran it and I was forced to flee, if you could use that rifle of your to clear them out, I will tell you everything I know about that device.” “Why have you not just done this already?” “What? Civilians arent allowed to have weapons, its not permitted! The THolians would..” Thomas raises his hand to calm him, “yes I understand…can you show me where your old shop is?” The man smiles almost like a schoolboy, and grabs Thomas around the arm invitng him to the towns gate as he explains the directions.
The next morning, M’ress awakens to a knock on the door, “up and about Lt. we have work to do!” She gets to her feet with a stretch, “can’t we atleast freshen up a bit, my dress is tatered. She walks out of the door dropping part of her sleeve on the ground. “I suppose a new set of clothes can be arranged.” An hour later they are both dressed in old miners jumpsuits. She flashes a leer at Cat, “I was thinking of something a little less spartain sir!” “It will do, come now, a hunt awaits us!”
TO BE CONTINUED..
Temporal Ambassador: Part 4
A new day broke, and the sight of both suns rising would have been more inviting where it not so hot for these two trekking the harsh climate. Now equipped with an old PaDD and and new attire, they set off for a cave a merchant once used for his business. The PaDD he gave them showed not only the location of his buisness, but a list of items he insisted they not break. As they leave the town gates, M’ress leans twords Thomas, “why again sir are we doing this?” He hands her the PaDD, ” this man seem s to know what this device is, he recognized it from across the room once he spotted it, im curious as to how the sight of it alerted his interest so quickly.” M’ress browses the computer, overlooking its content. ” Sir this could be a trap, many of the items listed here are illegal!” “Perhaps, but we are outside of out time, and as it stands this is our only lead.” She shakes her head slightly, and hands it back to him. “Hold onto it, you are a communications officer, correct?” “Yes sir.” Then use this device to record a log of everything here, when we return to our own time we will need as detailed a report as possible to inform Star Fleet.” “If we make it back.” She says looking down. ” You have trained for impossible odds, Lieutenant, remember your training and you will make it home again. Trust me!” She looks up at him, with a slight smile and embraces his arm as they continue their hike. Normaly Thomas wouldnt allow for this lack of protocol, but knowing the gravity situation they are in, he needed his subordinate steady to keep her mind off the chance that they wouldnt make it home. After a 30 minute walk, they come to the caves entrance, Thomas unslings his rifle pointing it at the cave. With a gesture to stand behind him, to alert his companion, he picks up a rock and tosses it into the cave. Multiple aggravated low pitch screeches echo from within, within seconds several giant scorpions emerge from the cave charging them. M’ress gasps in dismay. “Stay behind me!” Thomas announces. He takes aim for their cranial spot, or at least where a normal scorpions brain would be and opens fire at each of them with precision aimed shots. The phaser fire stuns them momentarily, allowing him to charge for a power shot. The overcharged blast sends the creature flying back, 5 more continue to advance on him. One of them steps over the other, and turns to attack it. “Thats it!” Seeing this tactical advantage, Cats next shot diverts an smaller scorpions path to interrupt the charge of another, causing them to turn on each other as well. He fires two more shots at the other leaving it crippled, the scorpions forget one another once more and turn twords Cat again, who has another power shot ready. The blast tosses back another defeated monster. Two of them over take his ground, he jumps on the larger scorpions back, trying to keep his footing while dodging its lethal strikes. With one clear shot he aggravates the other scorpion, to keep after him. Suddenly the larger ones tail comes down tearing his sleeve, nearly spiking him, cat drops his rifle and grabs onto the tail. It begins to wildly fling him around, the other scorpion manages to strike the larger one. its roar hisses with a blood curdling sound. Cat is thrown from his grip of the tail, he somersaults backwards and lands in a crouching position, ready to lunge back into the fight. M’ress see’s Cats rifle laying in the sand and runs over and snatches it up, aiming at the wound on the larger scorpion, rapidly opening fire. the scorpion jerks one way then the other from the pain of each hit, roars once more then collapses. The one it was fighting turns twords her and charges, but Thomas leaps onto it with a rock in his hands and bashes it in the head then tumbles off to avoid the strike. The monster rears back for one more strike, just as Thomas stumbles back wards loosing his footing. “Oh dear!” he mutters to himself. But just as the tail almost hits him, an overcharged blast sends the creature flying back against the cave wall. Cat looks back at the direction of the shot and see’s M’ress breathing heavy, her eyes wide from panic. Thomas smiles, “nice work Lieutenant.” he says with confidence as he grabs the tail of the smaller, crippled scorpion and tosses him away. “I thought… I mean I thought, he was going to kill you…its..” Thomas gets to his feet and brushes himself off, “truly he almost did get me..” Thomas puts his hand on the rifle, and looks into her eyes, ” But you kept your head, and for that, I am still here. Good work Lieutenant.” He then takes up the rifle once more and aims it twords the cave, he extends his hand out and she immediately takes it, leading the way into the unknown. As they entered, they seen a string of festive lights outlining wall. The multicolored illumination made for more of an eerie setting then fun, the noises in the distance where chattering of unrecognizable creatures and what also sounded like spoken words. “Someones in here.” he whispers to her. They both creep through the cave, being as quiet as possible. The voices become recognizable, Cat stops to listen to what is being said. “…and what did your readings pick up?” “Power, there is a large power source coming from the town.” “Your crazy, we sabotaged all their machinery months ago!” “Im telling you, my scanner has picked up ..” The is a large (klink) sound followed by a plastic (shatter) sound. “You idiot, that was the only scanning device i had!” “So what it didnt work anyways!” The rest of them laugh. Cat slightly peeks around the corner for a quick glance, then eases back and whispers to M’ress, “looks like raiders, they are armed.” “What are we going to do?” She whispers back. “Talk to them, maybe they will see reason.” He winks at her. Cat removes his combadge and takes out a small set of tools from the stock of his rifle, he begins to modify its programming to pick up their frequency. Once the tester registered as green, he knew he found their channel. Quickly he secures his kit and taps his badge, “This is cargo vessel Faragut, requesting permission for docking.” The pirates quickly get to their feet, “how did that ship make it to our space without anyone spotting it?” “Assemble 2 raiders to assault that vessel!” Thomas backs M’ress up, “go…take cover behind those crates.” he whispers. “What are you..?” he puts a finger to his lips, and slips off into the cave. Two pirates walk past him, leaping down from the shadows he grabs the collar of one causing him to fall unconscious. The other pirate quickly turns and takes a rifle stalk to the chin, dropping him to the ground as well. Cat waves for his companion to come, she runs to his side, “where did you learn to use that? I thought only a Vulcan could do that trick?” ” I have a very good friend who taught me a few things during my time in Star Fleet.” They turn the corner and come face to face with 3 more pirates, They go for their guns, but Cat already had his gun drawn and takes all 3 of them, one of them managed to get a shot off, but the panic fire was unaimed and missed by a wide margin. “Quickly, take their guns! I need to collect that scanner they had.” More voices begin to eccoh in the far hall, Cat kicks over a table and points for M’ress to do the same on her side of the room. Both are positioned behind their cover when another group of pirates walk into the room, exclaiming a shocked curse, then draw their weapons. Both Thomas and M’ress open fire taking them down quickly. “A fine job madam.” He says saluting her with the barrel of his rifle. “I do hope they are the ones with the ships.” She remarks. “Lets have a look, but be ready for more of them.” “yes sir!” They make their way back through the tunnel, not encountering anymore pirates. Cat peeks from the entrance of the cave, and sees a couple more pirates standing next to 2 small craft. “you take the two on your side, ill take the other 3.” M’ress tips her head in acknowledgment, then they open fire, again the sudden surprise doesnt leave them any chance to retaliate. They rush out and clear both shuttles, one is Klingon the other Orion. “You take this one and i shall fly the other, lets head back to Paradise!” “This is amazing!” She exclaims excitedly. They lift off and return to town, in a panic the residence run for their lives fearing a pirate raid. the door opens and out steps Thomas, “greetings my friends, your friendly neighborhood CatStar has arrived bearing gifts.” They gasp in dismay, “you fool what have you done?” Thieu base is not far from here, when they find out what you have done we will all be wiped out!” Cat walks back into the shuttle and comes back out with a crate filled with weapons and gear, places it before them, “and what makes you think they will have that opportunity?” Thomas walks over to the merchant he had dealt with the previous day, “Lieutenant, the PaDD if you please.” M’ress comes running up and hands him the PaDD. “You will find sir, that aside from some wear and tear from pirate occupation, your merchandise seems to still be intact.” “Wonderful…simply wonderful!” Now if you dont mind, I would really like to know everything I could about this device.” Cat holds up the device, not letting go of it for him to inspect, “This is a time key, also called a code. I have never owned such a thing, but I have heard of them from lore and legends. People could leave their time and travel to another one…but that is all that I know of it.” “Have you no idea on how it works, or where it comes from?” “That is the extent of what I know about it, but I do know of another who has dealt with such devices before.” “Why did you not tell me of this before?” “It didnt seem necessary since there was no way off this planet.” Cat invites him to look back at the shuttles, ” I think we have accommodated that issue.” he merchant smiles, but looks down. He takes out his PaDD and adds in some data then hands it to Thomas. “Here is the last known coordinates of where they where located..” “Who?” Cat asks. The merchant swallows, “..the Borg!” Everyone turns in a gasp. “stranger, surely you wouldnt seek them out?” A voice calls out from the crowd. Cat hands the PaDD to M’ress. “prep the shuttle, “friends, I will help you to overcome the rest of these pirates, collect what gear and weapons you require to defend yourselves.” “But what if the Tholians detect the battle?” Another calls out. “Then they will detect pirates, wont they?!” Everyone laughs. gather around everyone and I will show you what to do!”
TO BE CONTINUED..
Temporal Ambassador: Part 5
On the outskirts of Nimbus 3, the sun sets and night falls. The dry heat slowly fades away and the cool night air settles across the landscape. Lights flicker on as the pirates camp sets itself up for night watch. With in one of their structures, a tempered debate rages on. ” …I tell you they only mentioned a cargo ship!” “They would have reported back by now if it where a routine raid!” “Could the settlement people have set up a trap for them?” “Hah, those poor broken down old fools couldnt fend off a handful of Gob Flies!” “We are still missing our two best raiders and our Chief…what are we going to do?” One of them stab’s a knife into the table rushing to his feet, ” I say we go out to the settlement and knock them around some, I know they heard something! That annoying merchant always has his ear to the wall!” Some in the room begin to cheer for the idea, each agreeing for it in their own rants. Suddenly a few objects fly in through their opened windows…they gasp, “grenade!!” The explosion starts the chaos as explosions rip across their compound. The pirates not caught in the detonations scatter in a panic trying to mount a defense against their unknown enemy. As they make it into the open, they each begin to be picked off by 2 sets of elevated firing lines, reining down destruction onto their camp. Inside one of the structures, two more pirates remain alive, in terror they sweat looking at the door with their weapons drawn, shaking in fear that leaves them even too afraid to breath. As one of them stutters in a muffled breath, the floor explodes under the feet of his companion and he is pulled under to the lower level, the dark hole from which he vanished only reveals the sharp sound of a wet break sound, and then silence. The remaining pirate begins to scream in shear terror firing into the hole while tears flow down his cheek like an overflowing drip pan. He catches his breath and wipes his face, his panting grow heavier as he backs from the hole. There is a sudden pause and he takes a larger breath and wipes his eyes, when he hears a soft whisper in his ear, ” your mine..” He turns throwing himself against the wall in a panic of wanting to flee, he looks to the left and the right…no escape, he looks back up at the creature who spoke realizing his peril, the creatures eyes glow a bright yellow from the moonlight dimly shining in. ” NOOO Stay away! HELP! Someone help me!!” He raises his gun to fire, and a flash of a blade flickers thought the darkness disarming him, and with lightning speed the creature then spins with a back hand striking the pirate with the pommel of hid sword across his head. The pirate crashes to the floor unconscious. The creature steps into the light, looking down at him revealing himself. Thomas sheaths his newly acquired cutlass and walks out of the room. The towns people of Paradise meet him as he exits the building, “Sir Thomas, we have secured the pirates compound.” “Sir Thomas?” He asks. M’ress runs up to him cuddling his arm, “yes, it was my idea..” “At attention Lieutenant!” She snaps into position, Thomas looks at M’ress then the people, one of them slide up to him, “uh sir, she…uh, we thought since what you did for us was a great deed, we consider you our champion..” Another speaks up, “you helped us when no one else would, your like nobility to us…so she thought, or we..” Thomas waves his hand in acknowledgement, “yes, I get it” he then rests his face in his hand, for a moment concluding with a sigh. “Well in any case, you are liberated from this threat.” “What about the Tholians?” One of them asks, “they will come to investigate!” “Relax everyone, I have already planned for this.” He waves for the merchant to come forward, I want you to take the Orion shuttle and hide it within your cave, they wont be able to detect it in side of an ore filled mountain. I will then take this Klingon one and leave a trail for them to follow…” Everyone begins muttering amongst themselves, “Sir Thomas, they will find you…your no match for a Tholian patrol ship in that old shuttle!” Thomas smiles, ” I dont plan to fight them son, rather to lead them to where im headed.” ” No! You cant just run into danger like that, its suicide! If one doesnt kill you the other will!” Thomas walks up to him, being only 5ft. tall he looks up at the man and pats his shoulders, “trust me, I have a plan and I will solve the problem of both of these enemies for you.” “Sir?” M’ress steps in, to ask, “wont they eventually find out the truth and the hidden shuttle once they begin to investigate?” “Yes, that is true, but we wont give them the opportunity to, I will modify your long range scanners aboard the shuttle to pickup a beacon on a specific frequency. This will be my signal to you to leave the planet…” “Thats why your not taking the raider?” “Correct, an Orion raider is designed to hold a larger group of people for raiding party’s. I admit it will be cramped but it is your ticket off this planet, and once I create a diversion you should have a clean break to escape undetected.” The merchant bellows a hearty laugh, provoking others to.Soon they are back at Paradise, the inhabitance go to meet Thomas as hes about to disembark. “Sir Thomas?” “Please, its just Thomas. “Yes sir…we have something for you.” Thomas stops his work and wipes his hands on a rag, he sees them bring out a brand new uniform, resembling his old. White pants, black boots lined with a gold band. A royal blue jacket trimmed also in gold. “We thought it fitting to replicate you a new uniform like your old one.” Thomas smiles and accepts it, “your too kind..” A tear comes to his eye, “it means a lot lad, thank you.” M’ress bounces before him showing off her uniform as well, proud to once again be wearing her normal dress from when she served aboard the Enterprise. ” I helped them with the design specifications Captain Darling.” Thomas flashes her a cold stare, “Lieutenant, I have been lenient so far due to gravity of our situation, but me and you are going to have a chat about your conduct!” A scolded surprise comes to her face, biting back her lip but hesitently answers, “yes sir..” As he steps into the shuttle, he pauses and looks back at everyone, extending his hand waving to them with his final farewell. Systems power up, and the shuttle launches, they pass by the cave where the merchant waves at them to show hes secured the shuttle. Thomas then fly’s over the smoldering compound, and uses a side console to activate a defense system, before they leave the planet. Once they leave orbit they send an encrypted message on an open channel, leaving it loose enough to track to the the planet below. Thomas then purposely begins to leave a trail of the direction of the coarse he set. M’ress, quietly sits in the cargo hold inputting data into her PaDD. The door slides open and Thomas walks in and sits on a bench opposite of her. She quickly stands to her feet, assuming the position of an officer on deck.” Thomas extents his palm offering her back her seat, “as you where Lieutenant.” “Sir, im sorry, I thought…I mean…I..” “There is no need for explanations Lieutenant, I offered you some liberties seeing we where in difficult and emotionally disturbing situation, but now that we are back on our feet i will need you to resume with the same conduct as you where trained for.” “Aye sir” She responds, kind of re-leaved as she was expecting to be disciplined. “Sir, if you dont mind me asking, what are we going to do?” Cat ponders her question for the moment, ” not knowing what has happened to our timeline, or at what exact point it was interrupts we are left with only investigating what currently is the the reality of this universe and hope some clues come our way.” “But what if we never find anything?” “hmm…there will always be that possibility of never finding what we sought when we began to look, yet once we we took it upon our selves to explore, the answers always found us.” M’ress smiles, with some renewed hope. “Yes sir, I think I understand…its why Star Fleet was founded in the first place….and why I joined up.” She lays down her pad, kind of cringing with uncertainty as she asks, “sir…why is your outfit ….I mean, that uniform you wear, why does it mean so much to you?” Thomas looks down at his jacket and picks off a minor bit of lint to a rather perfectly pressed a tidy jacket. “That is personal lieutenant, now if you will excuse me, I will try to fix this tricorder, I have a feeling we will need it sooner rather then later. Some time later, as M’ress is manning the cockpit, some transmissions begins to buzz the comm. Tholian chatter, quickly she isolates the signals coming in and notifys Cat to come. When Thomas walks into the cockpit she quickly gets to her feet, “sir the Tholians found the pirates camp, the automated defenses opened fire on them and damaged their patrol ship. You really stirred them up!” “Good, im assuming they have picked up our trail?” “Im unsure, they…wait…” She listens to the chatter some more, ” They are taking the towns people into custody..” She pauses to look at Cats reaction unsure of what to say. “Have they said why? “I haven’t heard any talk of a shuttle, or that they found anything yet, they are only buzzing about the compound.” Cat turns to think, his posture as it always was upon times of worry and deep thought; he would stare off into the stars silently with his hands postured behind him. After a moment he spoke up, “continue on our current coarse, I will be back for them after this mission.” “Sir…are you ok?” “Get some rest lieutenant, Ill take the watch from here.” “Aye..aye, sir.” What happened, he thought to himself. Why would they take them, its not normal behavior for them. Could someone have given in to the pressure and sold them out? A million thoughts raced through his head, but time for that issue will have to wait. The Borg colony was only an hour away, and he had to stay focused on his plan if it was going to work properly. During this time he had been working diligently on the tricorder the pirates had left behind in the cave. It was once again assembled, but needed to be calibrated once more. A task that would have to wait as his hour had come. “Lieutenant, prepare yourself…we have arrived.” Despite the calm and soft tone of his voice, the words themselves sent a cold chill down her spine. The Construct, was a massive entanglement of technology and levels, floating in space. What exists upon this station is anyone guess, again the unknown haunts them as their shuttle docks in the hangar bay. No messages, no greetings nothing but cold silence. Thomas scans the base, there is life support to accommodate us here, but we should wear environmental suits just in case.” “I’m unsure about this.” She mutters, ” None of this feels right…” “We have our work cut out for us…suit up!”
TO BE CONTINUED..
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