WILDSTAR

By Matt Saotome

Disclaimer: I make $12 an hour to live my life somewhat comfortably. If I owned Ranma ½, Dragonball Z, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, X-Men, Sailor Moon, CSI, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, House or any of the herein otherwise interweaved mess of shows, I would most certainly be living extremely comfortably somewhere in Japan in a quite unrepressed carefree manner. So, seeing as how I'm not doing that last part… I guess I don't own them, do I?

Note: This is the beginning of the end. What you thought you knew throughout the total duration of this story will now be tested, and all will be made clear. Pffft! If I have any sanity left after the end of this, it will be a MIRACLE!

On With Ze Shew!

Mission 2 Chapter 11

"Wildfire"

Wildfire…..

The word continued to echo through Steven's mind as consciousness slowly drifted back to him. He knew that it was important, even though he didn't understand at first exactly what had caused it to appear in his subconscious. Then he heard the murmuring of the crewmembers around him, and everything fell into place with a terrifying click.

He snapped his eyes open.

Wildfire!! Shit!!!

Without a second thought, he shot up in the bed, throwing his feet over the edge and standing as fast as he could. He ignored the swimming of his brain in his cranium, telling himself over and over that he had to regain his senses or this would all end very badly for himself and his comrades.

He ignored the nurse that started coming towards him with a hypospray, forcing his head to clear and give him back his balance if only for a moment. A moment was all he needed.

"Computer, Arch!" He called out, leaping back over the biobed to avoid being injected with whatever concoction the nurse had loaded into the hypo to knock him back out. As he did so, the arch materialized around the exit. The second his feet made contact with the floor again, he bolted for it like it was an oasis in the middle of some massive desert that he'd been crossing alone for days. His wild eyes bore nothing but purpose as he slammed his body against it and slapped the console in front of him, sparing not a second as he hollered into it.

"ACE TO LEVIATHAN! WILDFIRE!! CLEAR OUT, CLEAR OUT!!!!"

He couldn't get anything else out as a hypospray was pushed forcibly against the back of his neck, the hiss signaling the oncoming lack of consciousness as the world around him slowly faded away again. For the second time in the same hour, Commander Stoltz blacked out.

"They're coming around for another pass, sir," tactical informed Grissom, the viewscreen showing the Leviathan swinging around to take on the sovereign class starship again. Grissom scowled a little at the visual, keeping himself in check despite the now overwhelming odds against themselves and the Wildstar.

"Ops, deploy countermeasures," he ordered, coming up behind the helm station. "Change course on my next mark. Come about to 049 mark 26. Full impulse. Z minus 200 meters, then swing us around to 229 mark 76 and match forward pitch with their ventral axis."

"Aye, Captain," the helm officer responded.

"Tactical, stand by all weapons," Grissom continued to instruct. "Once we've completed our maneuver, lay into the underside of the Leviathan with everything you've got. Try to take out her primary navigation and sensor arrays. If we can get her to stand still, then maybe we can come out of this alive."

"Yes, sir," came the reply.

"Countermeasures deployed, sir," Ops informed him, just as the Leviathan entered weapons range again. "Active scanning is fully functional. The second she uses her plasma cannon's targeting sensors, they'll get a lock on the signature and move to intercept."

"Thank you, Commander," Grissom replied, moving to his seat. He sat heavily, took in a deep breath and watched the Leviathan on the viewscreen as it closed the gap a little more.

"Detecting plasma weapons lock!" Tactical frantically informed him. Now was the test of weather or not the countermeasures were effective.

"Mark!" Grissom signaled. Everyone set to work carrying out his last instructions. Grissom flipped up his chair's tactical readout. Sure enough, the probes zipped in the way, cutting off the weapon of mass destruction before it could reach the Sheffield. On the viewscreen, the first of the many probes exploded in a brilliant flash, effectively keeping the Sheffield from harm. Three more followed in rapid succession as the Leviathan continued its attempts to hit his ship. Grissom allowed a small grin to spread across his face as his ship dipped below the Leviathan's trajectory, turned about and pointed directly at her underside.

Tactical's fingers flew over the panel, laying into the ventral shielding of the dreadnaught with everything he had, as instructed. A few seconds went by, and the Leviathan had coasted past them, slamming on the throttle to put some distance between them. Tactical swore under his breath, passing on the information on the outcome of his assault.

"Not as much as we'd hoped, Captain," he shook his head. "Knocked her ventral shielding down about 15%, but other than that… I'm afraid none of it got through to her navigational systems."

Grissom pursed his lips together. It sounded discouraging, but 15% was still a significant amount. All he needed to do now was hold this all together and keep assaulting the leviathan's ventral shielding. Of course, this was easier said than done.

"Captain, I'm getting a transmission from the Wildstar, printout only," Tactical reported. "It's Commander Kino, sir. She says that Captain Saotome wants us to clear the area."

Grissom scowled again. Clear the area? What the hell for? That would leave the Wildstar outnumbered three to one. His mind was moving light years per second, trying to figure out what Ranma had in mind. It would be suicide on the young captain's part to leave himself so heavily outnumbered, so logic dictated that there had to be motivation behind his decision. If only he knew what that was.

"Now there's more," Tactical continued. His face scrunched up a little in confusion. There was only one word flashing at him on the display. Big red letters that must have signified some kind of a warning, but he couldn't understand it. He lifted his head to look at his captain, the confusion still spread across his face.

"Widfire?"

Grissom's eyes bugged near twice their size, and he flew out of his chair for the helm station, coming right up beside the officer there to the point where he may as well be breathing down his neck.

"Get us the hell out of here!" he nearly barked. "Any direction! Maximum warp!"

"Any direction?" his helm officer confirmed, seeming to be just as confused as Grissom's tactical officer was.

"NOW!" Grissom hollered, letting his cool slip for just an instant. It was enough, however, to convince the helm officer that his captain was quite serious. He quickly dug up the star charts, tapped his finger on a random location in the adjoining sector and punched the ship to maximum warp without a second thought.

"Fire again," Will instructed his tactical officer. It was a little frustrating to him to see his plasma cannon's effectiveness reduced to practical worthlessness by nothing but a few probes. His logic seemed to favor the repeated attempts approach, hoping that one of these times the little bastards would fail to intercept their lock in time and he'd be able to blow the Sheffield out of the water.

It was not to be so, however, as the probes once again zipped in front of their targeting sensors, the swarm of them always seeming to stay between the Sheffield and the Leviathan.

Will was ticked. That little maneuver that Grissom pulled after his last swing around had left his ventral shielding at a whopping 68%, since they had already taken some abuse before the Crossroads and the Nevandeer had made the scene.

He growled a little when another one of the Sheffield's probes was blown into space dust in the most overcompensated manner he could possibly imagine. Just as he was about to instruct his tactical officer to switch to conventional weapons, however, the Sheffield suddenly straightened herself and launched into warp.

It took Will a second to register this completely, his left eyebrow slowly drifting upwards. Grissom was nowhere near out of the fight. His shields were still in the green, and he had plenty of weapons left to chuck at them. It didn't make any sense for the experienced captain to turn tail and run, unless he was trying to draw the Leviathan from the field of battle; but to Will, even that didn't make any tactical sense. They would be nullifying the possibility of the Wildstar coming to their aide if they were suddenly put into a tight spot.

"What the hell… is he doing…?"

It was at that exact second that the com system came to life.

"ACE TO LEVIATHAN! WILDFIRE!! CLEAR OUT, CLEAR OUT!!!!"

"Shit!" Will catapulted back to his command chair. "Spike, get us the fuck out of here! Maximum warp! Riker, signal the Crossroads and Nevandeer, tell them –"

"Massive energy spike coming from the Wildstar," Tactical interrupted him. "I think she's about to –"

He didn't get to finish his sentence either. The viewscreen flared white hot, and the last thing Will remembered was the sound of the hull screeching in his ears before the entire ship was slammed hard, throwing everyone to the deck. Blackness quickly claimed the captain of the Leviathan as he slipped into unconsciousness, the sounds of red alert shorting out as his ship died around him.

"Wildfire charging!" Dana called out over the growing sounds of power surging through the ship. "Discharge in ten seconds!"

Goku hit the com panel, his eyes not leaving the viewscreen.

"GENERAL QUARTERS, THIS IS A MAJOR LOCKDOWN! ANY OFFICERS ON THEIR FEET, HIT THE DECK IMMEDIATELY! REPEAT, ALL HANDS, HIT THE DECK!"

Everyone on the bridge quickly brought themselves to the deck plating, knowing that if they didn't they would end up there in a much more painful fashion anyways. Though none of them had been through this procedure before, it was a well known fact that anything packing as much wallop as the Wildfire scenario was bound to have one hell of a recoil.

Ryouga tucked himself under his makeshift helm console, quickly assuming the fetal position as dozens of possible bad endings played through his mind. Dana memorized the countdown's position before slipping out of her chair and onto the deck, hanging onto the mounts for her console. Lita, Mina and Mousse quickly followed suit, leaving Goku and Ranma standing. The two of them looked to each other for a brief moment before crouching down to the deck and holding onto whatever they could find for support. From her position on the floor, Dana counted down the rest of the timer.

"FIVE… FOUR… THREE… TWO… BRACE YOURSELVES!"

There was a tremendous echo off the hull around them, like the sonar ping off a 20th century submarine, followed instantaneously by an incredible jolt that threw any equipment on the surfaces around them to the deck. Tall standing heavy machinery tipped over, impacting with resounding clangs and smashes. The viewscreen fizzled and exploded, and half the panels around them shorted out and went dark, two or three of them blowing their sides out and beginning to shower sparks.

With every sound of destruction, Ranma seemed to cringe a little more. The noises themselves didn't frighten him, but instead brought on wave after wave of sympathy for his ship and pangs of worry about how the rest of his crew was faring.

Out in space, the Wildstar seemed to glow blue for an instant as the anti-proton burst surged to the shield generators. A massive wave of raw negative energy exploded from the ship, extending outwards like a tidal wave of destructive power. It swept over the Crossroads and the Nevandeer first, the wave washing over their shields and causing them to surge to their limits. Just as it seemed the shields would hold through the wave, they failed at the tail end of it, the dwindling energy of the blast still powerful enough to fry everything abut the two hybrid mega cruisers. All lights and indications of power fell dark on the two vessels, the nacelle vents of both spewing unnaturally green smoke.

The Leviathan was next, suffering much the same fate as the two Sovereign class hybrids. While her shields were lower, her hull integrity and overall structural security was better than that of the two smaller starships. When her shields failed, the blast burned hot and heavy against her hull, charring it severely and even managing to take two of the dreadnaught's upper nacelle braces out, the engines drifting uselessly away from the wrecked vessel as she went completely dark.

Two light years away, the blast fizzled out into nothingness, and it was all over. Elapsed time from the order to initiate: 30 seconds.

Captain's Log, Stardate 60011.5

The Sheffield has arrived back on the scene, bringing with them both the Enterprise and the Eridanus to begin collecting the Wildstar's crew. I've been informed that Starfleet has also dispatched three security transports to arrest the members of the three enemy vessels, until Starfleet Command decides exactly what they're going to do about this mess. Since the Wildfire was visible from four sectors around, it'll be somewhat difficult to deny that anything happened. I think Section 31 has finally been completely exposed, and I find myself hoping with all that I am that this is the last we'll ever see or hear of them in the future.

I can't help but feel sad, looking around at the destruction caused by all that's happened. The Wildstar's a tough ship, to be sure, but I'm certain it'll be at least a couple of months before she's space worthy once more. The crew performed admirably to the highest possible degree, and while I'm pleased to say that there were no fatalities from the Wildfire blast… 56 men and women lost their lives today to the boarding parties and the damage to the ship. Let the record show that they died defending this ship and her crew against incredible opposition, and that I intend to award each of the deceased with the Blue Star of Valor… Starfleet's highest honor… May they rest in peace.

"Captain Saotome," a deep, accented voice called to him as he closed his log. His eyes passed over the remains of sickbay around him, charred stations and destroyed equipment littering the floor everywhere. He sighed again, the sadness of it all still seeming to remain with him. He knew it would be a good while before it left him in peace. He also knew he would never forget the lives that were lost. It was his barely bearable responsibility as Captain; the unspoken law. The fallen would never be forgotten. Sad copper blue eyes lifted slowly to look at the bald man approaching him.

"Captain Picard," he acknowledged quietly, his gaze falling to the padd in his hands which he had just recorded his log entry on. "How long have you been standing there?"

The Enterprise's captain gave no reply, choosing instead to place a hand on Ranma's shoulder in a few moments of silence. Jean Luc took a look around them as well, only being able to vaguely imagine the hell this ship and crew must have just gone thru. He finally turned his sympathetic eyes back to Ranma.

"She'll fly again, Captain," he spoke quietly. "And the brave men and women who gave their lives to defend her will not have died in vain."

"I won't let them," Ranma whispered quietly. "Too many people… All of Deep Space 3, just for seeing the Leviathan's launch… 56 of my people, just because I blabbed the words 'Section 31' to an overgrown insect over a viewscreen…"

A new thought came over Ranma, his eyes widening a little as his head lifted slightly. He turned for the first time to look Captain Picard in the eyes.

"Shampoo?" he asked in a worried tone. Akane had told him already of her fragile condition. If the Sheffield and Enterprise hadn't arrived when they did and taken over care of the wounded, it was most likely that Shampoo would be one of the covered corpses that littered the ship sporadically. That thought alone sent a nauseous wave through him. While he didn't particularly like her blatant advances, he certainly didn't hate the Chinese Amazon. In fact, a part of him was still holding on to the possibility that they could still become friends.

"Doctor Crusher and Doctor Tendo have stabilized her," the older captain replied. "Her wound wasn't very serious, but the residual energy from… whatever weapon was used on her… was wreaking havoc with her cardiovascular system. Luckily, they were able to isolate it's signature and purge the energy from her system."

"Thank God," Ranma breathed a sigh of relief.

Beside him, Picard smiled softly. He knew all too well what Ranma was going through. He had been there before several times. Loss was not easy to deal with, so when the good news came, you had to cling to it for all it was worth. The good news, no matter how small, would always ease the pain of the bad.

"Ready to go?" Picard asked.

"Has everyone else already left?" Ranma responded to the question with one of his own. He wouldn't leave the ship until he knew that everyone else had been tended to first. Jean Luc simply nodded at him in reply, silently telling him that it was okay to pass the responsibility on and look after himself for a little while.

Ranma took one more long look around him, burning the image into his mind so that he would never forget. Then, with one final sigh of exhaustion, he turned and nodded at Picard.

"I guess I'm as ready as I'll ever be," he breathed.

Captain Picard smiled again, reaching up to his com badge and giving it a tap.

"Picard to Enterprise," he called out. "Two to beam up."

Two swirling collections of energy embraced the two, lighting up the wrecked sickbay for a few seconds as the transporter beams snagged them, carrying them off and leaving the Wildstar empty. As his molecules were disassembled, Ranma remembered Picard's words to him.

She'll fly again, Captain, and the brave men and women who gave their lives to defend her will not have died in vain.

Ranma smiled. This ship would be an ever present memorial to those who had fought for her. When she flew again, their memories would take to the stars with her. It was enough of a thought to let his mind finally relax. As he was whisked away, he left his ship with a parting thought.

I'll be back for you.

The security transports arrived three hours later, the Enterprise and Eridanus staying in the immediate vicinity to make sure that the three disabled ships remained powerless. It turned out to be an unnecessary precaution as none of the downed vessels were able to restore power.

Booth and Temperance made a good bit of noise about being arrested, preaching promises of death to everyone that handled them. Many times over Starfleet's security were informed that they had 'no idea what they were doing', going so far as to ensure that their lives would be ended, not simply made more difficult. No one seemed to pay them any mind, however; a fact that both infuriated them, but also humored Ranma to no end.

Apparently, someone at the top ranks of the Federation had green lighted the arrest of anyone section 31 from these ships. He could just picture his old man – actually, no he couldn't. His old man was still a coward at heart. Still, someone had given the word, and it pleased him greatly to see the duo thrown into their cells aboard the security ships.

Will and his crew followed not long afterwards. To his credit, Ranma noted the fact that the Leviathan's captain remained completely silent throughout the entire ordeal. He wordlessly allowed himself to be lead to his cell, informing his crew that anyone who resisted the security personnel would find themselves on the wrong end of his phaser first chance he got.

This made Ranma raise his eyebrow. Even Will's chief of security, Rebecca, walked silently and allowed herself to be lead. Either they knew something he didn't, or they were just that confident that they would get off without so much as a slap on the wrist for their actions.

Ranma intended to ensure that they all spent the rest of their lives behind bars.

Commander Stoltz remained in the custody of the Enterprise security personnel for reasons that the pig tailed captain could only guess at. He shrugged his shoulders. It didn't really matter to him deep down. Stephen had followed his instructions, but had only succeeded in taking out officer Lyle. While it seemed heartless to think like that, Ranma was much more focused on the people in the cells, who had killed hundreds in the last 24 hours. No, Stephen wasn't anywhere near his highest priority.

The trip back to earth was both relaxing and comfortable. Ranma made it his business to mind his own business, taking to spending the majority of his time with Akane. He checked on his crew a few at a time, making sure that by the end of the trip, he would have spoken to each of them. As Captain, it was his responsibility to ensure that everyone was in good health and spirits.

Ranma was sprawled out on the couch in his guest quarters aboard the Enterprise. Not two hours earlier, a transport from earth had intercepted them, and a blubbering Admiral Tendo had swept Akane away for some 'quality family time'. Ranma couldn't help but chuckle at the look of mild distress that overcame Akane when she realized how much this incident had most likely solidified his fears for the safety of his three daughters. An empty cup of tea was on the table beside him, and the young captain was quickly approaching sleep when his door chime went off.

He nearly jumped out of his skin at the sudden sound, reality still slightly blurry around him as he rubbed the sleep from his eyes.

"Come," he called out, sitting up on the couch as the doors hissed open. Goku walked in, followed in short order by his entire senior staff. They drifted to positions around the room, making themselves comfortable or simply standing here and there about the room.

"Hey guys," Ranma yawned. "What's on your minds?"

Goku looked around at everyone in the room, noting their silence and apparent wish that he be the spokes person for the group. He smiled slightly and turned to face Ranma, taking a seat on the recliner beside the couch.

"We're all curious about the Wildstar, sir," he said. "She took a considerable amount of damage once the heads of Section 31 arrived. Vegeta has concerns that she won't be able to be recovered."

Ranma allowed a smile to drift over his features. It was nice to see everyone was concerned as they were. He had no idea that these people had become so attatched to the ship. It had only been a short time since she was launched, and honestly the crew was so random and odd-balled that he was certain most of his senior staff hated the experience. As he took a quick glance around, he noticed that everyone seemed to be waiting on his answer with baited breath. He gave a little chuckle before answering the question.

"I have it on good authority that the folks at Jupiter II are going to personally do their absolute best to make sure she flies again."

The resounding sigh of relief around him made Ranma's smile full-blown.

"So I take it you guys don't hate your jobs?" he laughed lightly. It felt good to laugh. He'd been unable to turn his thoughts from the deceased, and any help he could get in that regard was welcomed like a cool summer breeze.

Everyone spoke briefly with him, most just offering their condolences towards the fallen officers and speaking their excitement to getting back to work as soon as possible. It wasn't until everyone but Commander Goku had petered out of the room that Ranma realized Commander Kino's presence.

Goku leaned forward in his seat, his smile wavering as he handed Ranma a padd.

"Commander Shampoo regained consciousness this morning," he reported, his lowered tone telling Ranma that he was about to receive news he didn't want to hear. He took the padd from his first officer and read what was on the screen in front of him. After a moment, he lowered it slowly, his gaze faltering a little.

"She wants a transfer?" he questioned. It fell against the air as one that didn't expect to be answered. The evidence was before him of what she was requesting. Goku just nodded shortly, looking at his captain sympathetically.

"She told me that… that it was a conflict of personal interests to remain under your command. She said that if you deny her transfer request, she'll continue to serve under you as best she can, but hopes that you'll put your signature on it."

Ranma breathed out a breath of air. He didn't want Shampoo to leave. He had no romantic feelings for her, true enough, but the hope that he would be able to call her a friend someday had just been beaten to a pulp. With a sigh, he let his hand hover over the thumb print scanner on the padd for an instant. Shaking his head from side to side a little, he dropped his hand down and signed the request.

It would be pointless to order her to stay aboard if she was going to be unhappy. He hoped that she would find what she was looking for in Starfleet, and even hoped that someday, he would be able to have her serve aboard his ship again. She was an excellent officer, that was for certain. He allowed himself to admit that he would miss the Amazon Commander, handing the padd back to Goku wordlessly.

Goku took it from him, looking down at it for a brief moment before looking back up to his Captain.

"I'll let her know," he said softly.

"Now," Ranma sat up a little straighter and turned his gaze to Lita. She smiled sadly back at him, sharing his feelings for a moment at the departure of his third in command. "We didn't get a proper chance to say hello to each other, Commander."

"Hello, Sensei," Lita answered him.

"Sensei," Ranma breathed in response. "I haven't heard that in a good while."

"Pardon me," Goku interrupted, looking to Lita. "Are you telling me that Ranma here was your teacher?"

Lita nodded with a chuckle. It had been three years since Ranma had taken her under his wing, teaching her the finer points of the Anything Goes style, including a few of his own more powerful attacks. She had studied under him intensely, pushing herself to the limit and beyond with her training. She had known at the time that Starfleet Intelligence was where she wanted to be, and she wanted to make sure that she was the best candidate available.

"It's been a few years," she responded verbally. "But the short answer is yes."

"What can I do for you, Lita," Ranma smiled fondly at the memories of training the young senshi. She had started out promising and had only gone monstrously uphill from there. Her training had been both a pleasure and an honor for him as he graduated her not even one year later.

Lita looked down at her shoes, her pending request seeming much more like some kind of an evil now than it had just a few moments before. She took in a deep breath of air and looked back up at Ranma.

"I dunno if you remember or not," she began. "But once upon a time ago I told a certain teacher of mine that, if the opportunity ever presented itself, I would want to serve under his command one day."

Ranma's smile became gradually larger as he came to realize what Lita was about to request. He certainly had no intentions of turning her down. In the time that he was training her, she had become so much like a sister to him. He had enjoyed teaching her, and had also shard the same hope that they would be able to serve together one day.

"You do realize that the position comes with a downgrade on the chain of command, right?"

"Actually, Captain…"

Ranma turned to face Goku after he spoke, a nearly adorable blank yet curious expression on his face.

"I believe I may have the solution to that."

Author's Note: The final installment of this mission should be up within the next few days. Yes, that's right, the epilogue is just round the corner! God, I can't believe how long I left this alone. Anyways, your reviews would be greatly appreciated. After a year, it's nice to know whether or not people still give a crap about this story.

So yeah.

REVIEW!!!!!

Please?

Matt Saotome