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Star Trek: Mirror Wars Episode 201 "Betrayer of the Light, Part 2" By James Earl Part 1 October 22, 2602 1630 hours The ship was dying. The once pristine bridge now shock violently as it entered the atmosphere. As metal tore apart, the consoles sparked, flickered, and then turned utterly black, as if a preparing for the inevitable. In a few moments, the explosion resulting from a head-on collision with a force field surrounding the building would destroy it all. But James sat in his captain's chair, gripping the armrest. Going down with the ship, as all good captains do. The ship that had been his home shattered around him, his first command, his pride and joy. But as the bold U.S.S. Majestic endured its final moments with its captain, James saw his memories, playing like a movie in front of his eyes. Holding the acceptance letter. Meeting Sarah. Their first date. Fighting the Romulans. Taking command of the Majestic Almost losing her… Suddenly, he felt his heart pain at never being able to see her again. He had loved her, with everything he had. It was like a knife to his heart, ten times more painful than the thought of oncoming death. A single tear fell. It tumbled to the ground, and James watched it fell. But before it hit the ground, time seemed to show, and the ship finally collided with the inevitable, and James's world started on fire. As he prepared himself for what he thought would be slight pain and then nothingness, something happened. As he felt the warmth of the fire close in, suddenly it was all gone. No pain, no heat, nothing. And all around him was black. "Is this death?" Part 2 October 22, 2602 1635 hours Henry watched as the Majestic rammed the newly erected force field. He watched as the Majestic exploded, standing no change against the impervious field. He turned away as the vacuum of space quickly extinguished the ball of fire and metal that used to be the Majestic. As the escape pod entered the planets atmosphere, he didn't feel the ship being buffed by the entry. His hold body was numb. He didn't want to feel anything, for he knew his friend was dead. His best friend, stolen from him, and all he had been able to do was sit there and watch. Suddenly, his body was shaken by the impact, and he was jarred out of his thoughts. Quickly, he scrambled out, breathing in the air. Looking around, he saw the ruined city all around once again. Even now, the horror of this charred world brought a chill through his body. It was strange to think that this had once been a vibrant city only a short while ago. He could even see the ruins of a marketplace, not far off. The once clean air was filled with the smell of ozone, but Henry ignored this as he noticed several other crewmembers exiting newly landed pods. He slowly straightened up and went over to the closest one and helped its occupant out. A half-an-hour later, Henry stood next to Berinski. The engineer had been working with his combadge for the past few minutes, trying to get signal out of it to Ferby. Ferby was still trapped inside the building, having boldly stayed behind while Henry and Berinski escaped. Staring out at the distance, the foreboding figure of the building stood against the backdrop of the ruins. While it was small looking in the distance, it still had an dark feeling about it. It was just too out of place. Its gleaming structure stood out from the rubble. "I've got nothing out of this thing," said Berinski, looking down at his combadge. "The force field must be blocking transmission... or..." He didn't have to say it. Henry knew that it was a distinct possibility that Ferby had been taken capture, or worse. But he wasn't about to accept that thought. Having just having lost one friend, he wasn't about to lose another. "I say we head towards the building," said Henry. "There is nothing we can do here, and we can't activate the beacon while that field is still up. It's too powerful." "Agreed," said Berinski, reapplying his combadge to his uniform's tunic. It let out a small chirp as the metal reconnected with the shirt. "I'll assemble a team," said Henry, with a determined look in his eye, walking over the crowd of crewmembers. Part 3 October 22, 2602 1700 hours Phaser drawn, Ferby turned. Again, he was met by the same empty white hallways and windowless door, as he had for the past hour. Frustration bubbled up inside him. He had tried to work his way up to the upper levels, but so far had only managed to go up a couple of floors. "Who the hell designs a building like this? Its impossible to navigate," he said in that frustration. He slowly inched his way down the corridor, still holding his phaser at the ready. The entire building was exactly the same, as if the designer had no real care for great architecture, just efficienciency. It was strange, and almost creepy to Ferby. No windows, no color, no needless furniture, just plain empty rooms, except for the ones with the strange machinery that Ferby had never seen before. To his left, a plain white door stood, identical to every other one in the hallway. He opened it, and to his pleasure, stairs came into sight. "One more floor down, who knows how many more to go...," he thought silently to himself. As he slowly walked towards the first step, still holding his phaser at the ready, he heard voices from above. "Is the process ready to begin," asked a very deep voice. "Almost Sir," said another deep voice, likely coming one of the six men Ferby had seen earlier. "We can begin in about an hour." "Good. Time is short. I shall need to finish preparations. Make sure your ready," said the original voice. "Oh and, what is the status of the Majestic's escape pods?" Ferby was startled. He had felt a strange shaking a few minutes ago, but he didn't think about, too focused on the mission. If the Majestic had released escape pods... "All of them have successfully landed about three miles north of the facility. The force field should keep them out, leaving us all the time we need." "Good. Remember how important this mission is. This could mean the final victory over this pathetic universe." Ferby didn't move until he heard the footsteps disappear. He drew his phaser, ready to incapacitate the guard above. Then, suddenly, everything flashed white in front of Ferby, and he quickly shielded his eyes. Part 4 Date: Unknown ???? hours "Is this death," said James. His voice sound distorted, like something was scratching at its intangible form, making an echoy and rough sound. He looked around at the nothingness, but the only thing he could see was his own body. But even that looked distorted, for as he looked at his hand, it seemed to be fading, blowing away in some unfelt breeze. Suddenly James heard a voice. It seemed to him to come from everywhere, and nowhere at the same time. As if somehow, God himself was speaking to him. "Its too early. How could this happen?" James took a cautious step forward. He felt ground beneath his feet, but it still looked like a vast expanse of black hung below him. It was unsettling. "Who is there," James asked tentatively. "What has happened?" Again the voice spoke, but it seemed to not notice him. It seemed to be talking to someone unknown, as if James wasn't really there. "Something has been changed. It must be corrected. It is too important." The voice sounded angry, but still had a sound of calmness to it, as if it wasn't living, but something else... Like some sort of computer. "What's too important," James asked, still startled by the power of the voice. "It must be corrected," still ignoring James's questions. And suddenly, the world of black suddenly flashed bright white, and James stumbled forward. "Captain?" Part 5 October 22, 2602 1715 hours Ferby watched in amazement as his captain suddenly appeared in a flash of light in front of him. "Captain?" he said, running over to him, as his captain nearly fell to the floor, as his knees collapsed. "What…," asked the captain, with a weak but stable voice. "Where am I?" "We're inside that building… but… how did you get here? I heard that there was a force field up, and… I heard the ship released escape pods…" Suddenly, at the mention of the ship, James seemed to come back to his senses. "The ship… what's going on," he asked, standing up. "I just heard the men talking about some sort of… 'process.' I don't know what it is, but I believe we need to stop it. Here," said Ferby, reaching for his second holster, and grabbing his extra phaser, "take this." James took the proffered handle, and checked the phaser setting, then looked around at the plain room around him, then at the stairs leading up. "From my count, there are six men in the building, five of which are heavily armed," Ferby said, helping the captain up at the same time. "There is nothing in this building except strange terminals and machinery. I am fairly good at engineering, but I don't recognize any of the technology here." "Well, we have to stop whatever's going on," James said, straightening up. "The men are on the next floor up. There is one right above us." Ferby said, also straightening and letting go of the captain. "Lets get going," said James. Part 6 October 22, 2602 1730 hours They stood just outside the force field. Although they couldn't see it, it was just in front of them, according to Berinski's tricorder. It was like one giant bubble, encasing the building. As Berinski took scans with the tricoder, Henry stood with the rest of the team that he had selected. He stood next to Ensign Berica, a heavily built human, she stood very tall and had a very impressive appearance. From what Henry had heard, she had a ton of commendations from Starfleet, making her an obvious choice. Across from him stood Lieutenant Torak, a Vulcan whose ability with a phaser was well known on the ship. Each held a phaser rifle in their hand, prepared for anything. They all stood in silence, staring at the imposing building. Suddenly, Berinski turned around and looked up from his tricorder. "Well, there's nothing I can do. I can't even find a way to disable it. Its just to powerful," he said, defeated. Part 7 October 22, 2602 1735 hours James looked at Ferby and nodded. James quickly stood up, looking over the edge of the top of the stairs, aiming his phaser. The guard fell without a sound, not even knowing what hit him. Suddenly and surprising, a shot, shot from the bottom of the stairs, hit the wall behind James, forcing him to duck, and causing sparks to fly out of the wall. "Did you really think I didn't know about you Ferby. The security system alerted me to an unauthorized presence an hour ago," said a very familiar voice from behind them. James turned and looked down the stairs, and their stood Gregory, the man he had spoken to earlier. And he saw surprise in his eyes. "Well hello Captain. I wasn't expecting you at all," he said with a slight smile, but it didn't hide the surprise in his voice. "Hello Gregory. We meet at last, face to face." "I always wanted it to be this way. I thought I lost my chance when you blew up your ship," said Gregory, "But I think its better this way. The better man always wins," said Gregory, leveling his phaser at James and fired. But just before the shot reached James, he ducked, dodging to the left, as Ferby jumped right, moving out of the way of the beam. Gregory realized he missed and snarled in anger, turning and running the opposite direction. Both James and Ferby barreled down the stairs after the man. Part 8 October 22, 2602 1745 hours After racing through the corridors, following the sound of running footsteps, just one corridor away, the men finally reached another flight of stairs, going up two levels. They both charged up, James in the lead, Ferby behind. When they finally reached the top, they ran through a door, just starting to swing shut, as if someone had just run through it. As they raced out, the appeared on a catwalk, a few floors up. Below them, an opening in the middle of the building showed them all the way to the first floor, a staggeringly high height. And in front of them, on the other end of the catwalk, stood Gregory, phaser aimed, as he smirked. "To bad. In the day or so, this building itself will become the weapon that will destroy the Federation. This world is located directly on the path of a space phenomenon know as the Nexus. When it hits this building, it will suck all the energy and send out a directed pulse so powerful that it will destroy anything it hits... and that includes most of the Federation," he said, "allowing us to come in, and claim our prize. And you two will be the first have the honor of being destroyed," he said still smirking. But before he could fire, Ferby grabbed inside his tunic and pulled out a psionic grenade, a experimental weapon. He threw it down the shaft and as all three watched the device fall, as it reached the middle of its decent, it exploded in a huge fireball, taking with it half of the building below them. "No! What have you done?" yelled Gregory. Suddenly, the entire world seemed to shake, as the building started to explode. "Everything we have worked for! We are going to destroy the Federation." "Looks like you failed," said James, taking aim as Gregory looked below at the destroyed shaft. Suddenly, Gregory looked up and smirked. "You haven't seen the last of me captain. We will meet again," he said, as he hit something on his wrist. The world the behind Gregory shimmered, like a ripple in a pond, and Gregory jumped backward, disappearing into it. Part 9 October 22, 2602 1815 hours Henry stumbled forward, and watched as all four of them struggled to stay standing as the ground shook. "What's going on?" yelled Henry to Berinski, trying to talk over the deafening noise. "I don't..." started Berinski, but before he could finish, something huge flashed next to them, and the saw the force field collapse. James and Ferby raced out the front door of the building, and sprinted away, trying to get as much distance between themselves and the building. Suddenly, they were thrown to the ground as a deafen noise sounding behind them, signaling the explosion. They were both flown forward as they fell, just barley escaping the fireball behind them. And then all was black. Part 10 October 22, 2602 2200 hours "Look, the captain's waking up," came voice to his right. "'Good, I was starting to worry," said another familiar voice next to him. James opened his eyes, and saw the top of a tent and realized he was lying down. He looked to his right and saw Henry, Berinski, and Nurse Derek standing next to him. "I'll go get the doctor," said Derek, and turned and left. "Captain... how are you feeling," asked Henry stepping forward. James groaned, and said, "Glad to be alive at least." "Yeah... so I am. But captain... I have to ask... how are you alive," said Henry. James didn't say anything at first, not knowing what to say about his strange encounter... "I don't know…" Part 11 November 28, 2602 1743 hours A month later, James sat at his desk, a smile on his face. He looked down at his new orders from command. He couldn't believe it. He had to tell someone. He'd spent to long at Starfleet HQ, being debriefed. It was about time he got some good news. But right before he could hit his combadge, his door opened, and in walked Sarah. Having just left the hospital just a few days ago, after making a full recovery, she was still getting used to not being on a starship. "Well, don't you look happy today," she said, smiling as she sat down on the chair opposite the desk. "Just take a look at this," he said, handing her the PADD with the commands on it. She starred down at it for a few moments, and then her eyes widened. "No…," she said, looking at him in disbelief. "Yep," he said with a gleam in his eye, "You're looking at the new captain of the U.S.S. Enterprise." |