DISCLAIMER: The following is fan fiction utilizing events and characters from all five "Star Trek" television series along with bits and pieces from the feature films. It is fan fiction only… there is no intent here to collect income or infringe on the trademarks, copyrights, or patented work of others. Please DO NOT use this material for anything other than pure reading enjoyment. If you have been missing at least occasional new "Star Trek" episodes in your life, this is the place to come.
Star Trek: Absolution
I have not kept up with the "Star Trek" novels the past few years, but this storyline takes place shortly before the events in the "Star Trek: Nemesis" feature film. Since many of the book plots have at times varied from what we see on screen anyway, what you will read is based upon the stories that we viewed at home on TV and while munching popcorn in the movie theatres.
Chapter I: Valkyrie
The shortest distance between two points is a straight line, the pilot of the Romulan ship thought carefully as she steadied her ship's trembling engines. The vessel was a heavy duty flier usually crewed by at least four Centurions, but so far she was handling the vessel just fine by herself. The Kh'Aja's course continued to take her directly toward the Neutral Zone that separated Romulan space from Federation, and she found herself nervously squeezing another few tenths of a warp factor out of the ship's already protesting engines as its border continued to grow closer. Behind her, the angry moan of the ship's over-taxed engines grew even louder.
The cloaking system was on and functioning but for the most part she considered it useless. The Kh'Aja had taken severe damage during her escape from the Reman penal colony, so even though she could still keep the ship invisible it was leaving a very noticeable trail of irradiated warp plasma. A simple sensor scan of the area would reveal her position almost instantly to her pursuers, if they hadn't already detected the blatantly unbalanced warp signature emanating from the ship's damaged engines.
Despite the reduction needed to top speed, she kept the cloak active because her pursuers would grow suspicious if she didn't. She intended to make it into Federation space alive and leave them far behind her. Once she was gone, it didn't really matter to her anymore how they went about fixing their messed up Empire. That she was willing to leave entirely up to them.
The helm console in front of her beeped as the Neutral Zone grew closer. As the light from the computer systems in front of her cast odd shadows on the contours of her face she turned off the cloaking device and diverted the extra power to the engines. Driven by the antimatter surge, the Kh'Aja accelerated another warp factor and she began to suspect that the warbird whose commander had initially attacked her was now far behind, still lost chasing sensor shadows and subspace transmission echoes.
The situation, however, was far from stable. Once again she checked the distance measurement between her and the edge of the Neutral Zone while briefly pondering the unlikely possibility that no other Romulan ships would be in a position to intercept her before she reached her objective. As the thought crossed her mind an alarm sounded and several proximity indicators on the console next to her began flashing an angry red. In front of her, the ship's sensors detected two D-Type warbirds decloaking as they prepared to cut short her carefully pre-planned journey out of Romulan space.
She had expected resistance but the two ships were both newer and faster than the standard warbirds with which she was most familiar. Her skills at evasive maneuvering sent the Kh'Aja shooting away from them, but not before a random disruptor blast tore into the ship's failing shields. If just one of their torpedoes were to hit home, it would all be over. Instantly.
"H'Niv," she cursed angrily, dropping out of warp. "E'Rin K'rh-T'rll!" Her fingers danced across the helm controls and she expertly flipped the Kh'Aja on its side before turning the ship sharply on a new heading 90 degrees from her previous course toward the border. "Sorry to disappoint you," said the pilot in delight, feeling a resurgence of confidence for the first time since her ship had touched space. "The Federation is not yet my primary objective."
Her warp drive reactivated and the Kh'Aja leaped toward its new target. She imagined the astonishment on their faces as her ship quickly crossed the other Neutral Zone and moved into Klingon territory. A smaller Romulan military vessel had decloaked along that border as well but they had not seriously expected her to choose the tougher route. She fired several disruptor shots into the small ship's shields as she passed, rocking the vessel and leaving its crew temporarily stunned. The powers that be had expected her to aim for the Federation all the way, knowing that incursions into their space would be met first with conversation rather than with weapons fire.
"I don't mean to disappoint you," she mumbled out loud. "But in all honesty there aren't that many habitable planets out this way and I quite simply am going to have to land somewhere with an atmosphere."
Nervously, she took a second to glance over her shoulder at the inside of the older, maintenance needy cruiser that she was flying and found herself seriously doubting that it was stocked with any sort of long-term survival gear. But things were looking up… she had accomplished her goal after all. The warbirds were behind her now and – if they wanted to continue pursuing her they were going to have to do so by following her into Klingon space with no cloaks. Invisibility was still an option open to them, but they would never catch her if they chose it and she could tell by the promptness of their pursuit that they knew it too.
One hand began scanning for the star system she was looking for while the other activated subspace. She had no message to send, just simply began transmitting a static-filled shriek that would act like a beacon and irritate the hell out of any Klingon commander in the immediate vicinity. It wasn't like the warbird commanders planned to contact her… she knew that the time for her to surrender to them had long since passed. A distant star system appeared on her monitor and she immediately altered her course, continuing to parallel the Klingon border as she steered gradually toward her new objective.
"Vrajh' Nig Ku'Shok!" a voice screamed out of her receiver. Hastily she tied in the ship's universal translator, extremely curious as to the response that she had provoked. "… will all pay dearly for this intrusion into Klingon space. Reverse course immediately or you will be fired upon the moment we enter weapons range."
She chuckled nervously. Considering the gravity of the situation she found the Klingon Captain's mood to be quite acceptable. The Romulan presence here was a serious violation of treaty, and so far he was treating the incident as though it were a daily occurrence. She had expected much more from him and was thus far a little disappointed at his "patience". On her sensors she could see four Klingon ships in front of them, the closest of which was quite simply the largest starship she had ever seen.
The pilot dropped the Kh'Aja out of warp precisely where she had planned… directly next to one of the smaller Klingon vessels. Giving them no time to react she fired the last of her ship's torpedoes, watching them shake the cruiser as both impacted against its shields and exploded. Without hesitation, her next step was to completely shut down her warp drive and reactivate the Kh'Aja's cloaking device.
Before she could, the ship rocked violently back and forth as a series of Klingon phaser shots tore through her remaining shields. The badly depleted deflectors held, however, until her cloak finished activating. Her scanners were picking up a lot of weapons radiation in the area now – with any luck they would be unable to detect her for a few more precious seconds. Quickly she changed course and began angling back toward the Federation Neutral Zone.
"You were warned," the Klingon stated ominously. "I am Captain K'Blinn of the Klingon cruiser Mikku, and I promise you Romulan p'tach that you shall regret the day you chose to violate Imperial Klingon space."
The warbirds pursuing the Kh'Aja immediately slowed to a complete stop, and she tried to imagine the expression on the faces of both commanders as they hastily debated their next move. Unfortunately for them the Klingons were making the decisions now as all four of their ships moved into an attack formation against the larger two Romulan targets. Grinning, the pilot of the Kh'Aja watched with satisfaction as the Klingons began firing wildly at both Romulan starships and thus played right into her hands.
Both commanders had little choice but to reactivate their cloaking devices – anything else would provoke a major confrontation with the Klingons. That was an incident she knew they simply could not afford right now. The Klingon ships continued to quickly close on the last known positions of the D-type warbirds, randomly firing both torpedoes and phasers. The Romulans were in a race of their own now – it was their job to get back to Romulan space before one of the Klingons got lucky and hit them. Even a glancing blow could possibly disable them, and that would cause even more of a diplomatic incident than they had already created.
Behind them, the Kh'Aja decloaked and fired up its engines, rocketing back into high warp. The course she had chosen this time was very similar to her original heading… directly toward the nearest Neutral Zone beyond which lay the friendly United Federation of Planets and – hopefully – salvation for her. The enemy Klingon ships were totally ignoring her, tempted completely by the larger warbirds. To any ambitious Klingon Captain, they were quite simply a glittering prize too impossible to resist.
She was a bit surprised though when she detected a subspace transmission from one of the Klingon ships. Reviewing the message she noted quickly that one of the Klingon Captains had taken the time to send a warning to the Federation – about her. She cautiously took a deep breath and the acrid smell of burning electrical insulation filled her lungs. The intensity of the odor along with the small fire in one of the ship's computers mounted on the wall next to her were both grim reminders that her journey toward freedom was far from over.
A red light flashed brightly on the navigation board and she noted with grim despair that the cloaking system had finally failed and automatically gone off-line. No more hiding, she thought to herself as she anxiously reviewed her sensor scans of the sector again. The planet she had selected as her personal preference was quite simply too far away… she knew enough about the helm readouts in front of her to realize that the ship's warp field was rapidly beginning to destabilize. The engine behind her sounded as though it were on the verge of exploding in a fiery blast of matter and antimatter annihilation.
"Last option," she said darkly, choosing the next closest star system. The number five planet was habitable and had an oxygen-nitrogen atmosphere along with the resources that she would need to survive alone, indefinitely if needed. The computer did not have a lot of information on it other than a catalogue number and a vague reference about being ceded to the Federation by the Klingons in some long forgotten treaty. She didn't really care… it would simply have to do for now.
Lexi slowly climbed atop the nearest hill and sat down for a rest. He carefully laid his best rifle in the tall grass next to him and paused to take a quick drink from his water canister. On the distant eastern horizon he could see the soft orange glow of the sun just beginning to rise. The early morning chatter of a few early-rising birds could be heard in the distance, but other than that it was a pretty quiet morning.
His Aunt would be extremely angry if she knew that he had left Vandahar so early in the morning, particularly because he had gone alone. The walled city was virtually impregnable, but no one lived there as long as Lexi had without finding at least one or two secret ways in and out. Hunting was his one true love and he was almost fourteen seasons old already. Soon the military would draft him into service and this simple freedom would not be available to him anymore.
It didn't matter to him whether he got a deer or an antelope, as long as it was a very large buck. He loved the taste of the venison and wanted a set of antlers for the wall in his room back at Aunt Meruh's. Bragging rights for such a trophy were extremely rare for someone as young as Lexi, particularly when the hunt took him into the more dangerous territory where the Mugato prowled. That's one of the reasons his Aunt would be so angry with him – because their fangs contained a powerful poison that could kill a man within hours if not treated properly.
Lexi watched a flock of birds pass over his position and stood up carefully, shouldering the rifle cautiously. In the distance he could see a shelter belt of trees and that, he decided firmly, was where he planned to go next. He would find a soft, comfortable spot to wait and let the animals come to him. Even on a calm, peaceful morning such as this one the land-going animals were easily spooked – there were always other beasts on the hunt in the area and just waiting to catch one of them by surprise. The plant-eating animals had learned almost from birth to keep alert and on the move, otherwise they quickly became an easy meal for one of the local predators.
Another flock of birds passed overhead – more of them and much louder this time. Their soft morning calls had quickly become louder and more agitated… he wondered what was disturbing them. Hesitating, Lexi carefully scanned the area surrounding him and saw nothing but trees and wild grassy hills. He did, however, hear a soft rumble growing slowly louder in the distance. Turning, he was surprised to see a bright, distant dot in the sky growing larger as it quickly moved toward him. A thin dark trail of smoke followed it and he quickly froze in astonishment as he realized that he was looking at some sort of flying machine.
Lexi watched the Romulan shuttle soar over his position and continue its inevitable descent from the sky toward the land below. Parts of the ship were glowing with an eerie green light, while other sections were obviously damaged. Smoke poured from some of the blackened areas and he smelled the bitterness of its scent as the mysterious aircraft passed over the trees he had been planning to hunt in.
"What in the world is that?" he wondered out loud as he watched it disappear behind the trees. He lost sight of the ship and could not tell how much further it traveled through the air, but the sound of it crash landing was very loud and obviously close by. From behind the trees he could see a large column of dark smoke rising into the morning air. Curious, Lexi shouldered his rifle and quickly began running toward the crash site.
There were still fires burning when Lexi reached it and he could see electrical machinery of some sort sparking inside. Large parts of the shuttle had broken off on its initial impact and the ship had obviously rebounded into the air at least once before coming to a stop against a wall of trees. It was lying on its side and he could see a door of some sort wedged partially open. Glancing carefully inside he couldn't see any signs of life. He was about to walk around to the front of the vessel when he heard someone coughing from smoke inhalation.
He was extremely scared, but decided that whoever it was had landed here by accident. That much was apparent by the condition of the ship itself, which obviously couldn't have flown much farther without major repairs. He set his rifle down on the grass and climbed into the opening, carefully watching where he stepped and what he touched. The air inside smelled stale and burnt, and Lexi found the instinct to run welling up inside of him more and more with each passing second. He had to stop and touch one of the consoles next to him in order to steady his balance and found the metal's surface extremely warm to the touch.
"H'Niv," someone said, causing him to glance toward the front of the craft. He could see a gray-haired woman sitting in the rightmost of two seats. Again fear welled up inside of him as he noticed her clothing. Although he didn't recognize it he was fairly certain that it was a military uniform of some sort. He knew very well that his home city of Vandahar and the territory immediately surrounding it did not have many friends these days. But he summoned up his courage, then stepped forward and put a reassuring hand on the woman's shoulder.
She coughed some more and he could see blood on her uniform. The woman was busy unlocking the safety straps that held her firmly in her seat and she whirled her head in surprise at his touch. Lexi didn't have a lot of medical training but he could tell by the look in her eyes that she was partially in shock. She tried to stand and move toward him but fell to the floor, dropping what looked like some sort of handgun as she did so. Lexi ignored it, and – helping her to her feet – he began to lead her back toward the partially open doorway behind them.
His mind was a spinning whirl of thoughts as they moved outside the small ship. Rumors of other nations on this world with weapons technology far surpassing theirs had been rampant for years. So had theories about distant visitors from the stars who stopped by now and then to provoke wars amongst his people or steal their precious resources. He had never believed any of them – had never seen anything that remotely convinced him the legends were true. But this sudden, unexpected incident on an otherwise peaceful morning had completely changed his perspective. Lexi stared into the sweaty, soot-covered face of the woman and found himself wondering just where it was she had come from.
Opening his canteen, he offered the woman his water and she drank thirstily, still trying to recover from the shock of the crash. He helped her sit down next to the ship, which was no longer burning despite the long columns of dark black smoke that continued to drift high into the air above them.
"Can you understand me?" Lexi asked, noticing that most of the blood was coming from a cut on her left arm. He took a soft cloth from the hunting vest he wore and pressed it firmly against the wound. "Do you know where you are?" he prompted, trying to keep her conscious. She lay silent for a moment, taking slow deep breaths of the fresh air surrounding them before opening her eyes. The woman looked at him without recognition, but reached out with her right hand and softly stroked his long dark hair. Her fingers moved, this time touching the small red spot painted on his forehead that ranked him among his people as he-who-is-not-yet-a-man.
He offered her more water but she firmly pushed the canteen away and defiantly attempted to stand. Giving in, Lexi helped her to her feet and then tightly tied the cloth around her wound. He was carefully putting the finishing touches on the knot when he noticed the odd look on her face. She was staring past his left shoulder with apprehension in her eyes, and it was then that he noticed the band of soldiers from Vandahar who had quietly moved in behind them.
"I am Captain Rendu, commissioned to serve in the standing army of His Majesty Apella the 2nd," said one of the soldiers, stepping forward with two others flanking him. He looked Lexi directly in the eyes. "What is your purpose here?"
Behind Rendu, at least a dozen more soldiers stood at attention with their rifles poised and ready. Most were staring in awe at the still-smoking wreckage of the Romulan shuttle, while the rest curiously studied the woman pilot and the strange looking uniform that she wore.
"My name is Lexi," he said proudly, pointing at his vest. "I left Vandahar to go on an early morning hunt." He looked to the woman, then to her ship and finally back at the Captain. "I am as surprised as you are… it was a normal morning until this huge object suddenly fell out of the sky and crashed here in the trees. I found the woman inside and – since she was injured – I helped her out into the fresh air and treated her injury."
"You've been in… there?" Rendu asked curiously, pointing at the crashed shuttle. He looked at Lexi with extreme suspicion in his gaze and the boy immediately began to feel extremely uncomfortable.
"I heard her coughing from the smoke," he said truthfully. "I didn't want her to die."
"How did you get out of the city?" demanded Rendu. "I'm sure you are aware that Vandahar has a curfew in place designed specifically to protect its citizens."
"I know," Lexi said, turning red. "But when I was a small child I learned of a secret way through one of Vandahar's walls." He paused, noting the Captain's angry reaction. "My Aunt and I eat mostly vegetables," he said with growing anxiety, "And I know from experience that the larger bucks are usually out feeding during the time right after the morning sun rises. So I made up my mind that I was going to bag myself a prize animal this year and add some real meat back into our diets for a time."
One of the Captain's soldiers pointed at the Romulan shuttle. "Could that be one of the vessels we've heard about from the land beyond the Great Ocean to the east?"
"Of course it isn't Balii," Rendu snapped at the man. "We clearly saw the object fall from the sky… it is quite probably another visitor from the stars." He turned and studied the woman carefully. "Is your ship armed?" he asked. "Do you have weapons?"
"V'Dr'ek Niv," the woman said angrily.
Although Rendu couldn't understand her he decided that he didn't particularly like the tone of her voice. He grabbed her by the throat. "You are now a prisoner of His Majesty Apella the 2nd. You will accompany us back to our capital city of Vandahar, at which time you will be imprisoned until such time as King Apella either grants you an audience or pronounces summary judgment against you for trespassing upon our lands." He nodded to the two soldiers flanking him and they quickly bound the woman's arms behind her back and snapped a pair of handcuffs on her. Lexi noticed her wince as one of the men took hold of her injured left hand.
"Be careful, she's been injured," he said, looking a bit desperately at Captain Rendu. "She didn't crash here on purpose," he said. "I'm not sure but I think she may need a doctor."
Rendu ignored him and motioned to a couple more of his soldiers. Lexi became even more upset as the two soldiers quickly confiscated his rifle and handcuffed him as well. "You are also under arrest," the Captain stated flatly. "At minimum you are guilty of violating the city's curfew, and I also find it quite possible that you were out here to rendezvous with this enemy spy for dark purposes yet to be determined."
"I was not, I was hunting…"
"Yes, you were out here hunting," Rendu snapped. "I heard you the first time and would suggest that you save that story, since you will not have the opportunity to repeat it to anyone in authority until His Majesty's schedule frees up long enough for him to hear your case." He paused with a look of arrogance. "We will also be most interested to hear how you managed to get out of the city without any of my men noticing." Turning, he sharply motioned to the guards holding both prisoners. "Take them back to Vandahar and confine them," he ordered. "Then contact the King's advisors and let them know what we have found out here."
"Yes Captain," replied one of the guards. He gave Lexi a quick shove and both the young man and the female stranger were quickly marched back toward the city. Captain Rendu thoughtfully watched them go before returning his attention to the crashed ship. Small wisps of smoke still drifted idly into the morning air but – for the most part – the flames had all died.
"What do you think, Balii?" he asked one of his soldiers.
"It's unlike anything I have ever seen, sir," the man said with wonder, cautiously reaching out to touch the side of the ship's hull. It's definitely forged metal, but I've never seen anything so large. It must be from one of the nations across the Great Ocean that we've rumors of – no one in our lands could possibly have created it."
Intrigued by Lexi's story, the Captain entered the shuttle through the same partially open hatch that the boy had used. He carefully studied the electronic equipment on the walls inside, noting that some of them still blinked colored lights.
"It is powered by electricity," he said as he continued toward the ship's forward cockpit area. It didn't take him long to find the hand weapon lying on the floor next to the two empty seats. He picked it up with great care and noted that it too had colorful blinking lights on the top of the barrel. A weapon barely larger than his closed fist and somehow it had internal electrical power. The Captain shook his head with delight at this unexpected discovery.
"Are you all right, Captain?" he heard Balii ask.
"Yes, yes I am," he said, opening the pack slung across his shoulder that contained his ammunition and food supplies. He dropped the hand weapon inside and moved back to the hatch at the rear of the shuttle before stepping outside to rejoin his men.
"What do we do with this great find?" Balii wondered.
"For now, we station guards around it," Captain Rendu decided, motioning to four of the remaining soldiers. "I want you, Balii, to take command of these men and set up a guard camp. Make sure no one else comes near this object. I will return to the city with the rest of our men and make a report to the King and his advisors."
"Aye Captain," Balii replied, saluting Rendu with respect. "When will you be back?"
"As soon as we can arrange for enough tools and wagons to take this machine apart and bring it back to the city," the Captain replied. "You may have noticed that it is quite large and heavy." He placed his hands under the edge of the ship's hull and lifted with all of his strength. "It will take most of our horses and wagons to move it… even if we take our time and break it apart into smaller pieces."
"No one will get past us, sir," Balii assured him.
"I know," the Captain replied. "Let your men sleep in shifts and keep a careful eye out. We're a long way from Vandahar's border, but we have no idea how many other people may have seen this object drop from the sky."
"Yes, Captain," Balii replied. He watched Captain Rendu and the remainder of the troops begin moving back toward the city with interest, definitely intrigued as to just what would come of this unexpected discovery on such an otherwise ordinary morning.
End Chapter I