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Seven-Year Mission

In an alternate universe two ships flew through hyperspace; the first ship, damaged, was maintaining warp speeds with difficulty, and the second was following at a distance to keep from being noticed. The CNV Goldcrest had come upon the other ship when it was leaving the vicinity of the Cerberan Hegemony Capital. There were damaged ships in space nearby and there was evidence of damage to several cities on the planet.

The Goldcrest, a modified Sovereign class heavy cruiser, was traveling through the edge of the Hegemony on the way to its new mission. Explore past the Hegemony towards the galactic core. A distress signal that was cut short sidetracked that mission. Upon arrival there they had witnessed the first ship destroy what appeared to be the last ship and escape to warp. A brief scan ascertained that the distress call had come from one of the destroyed ships. From the remains, they could tell that it was similar to the one that had fled. After a rebuff from the planet below when they offered assistance, they set off in pursuit.

"Sir, why are we following this ship?" asked Commander Brokarr the ships first officer and a Rakshasan male.

Captain Moira Rowan turned toward him. "Two reasons. First, they're going the general direction we were going to go anyway and second, I'm curious about anyone who can give as sound an ass kicking to the planetary defense forces of a Hegemony world as that ship and one other did. They may turn toward the Confederation next." She turned back toward the screen.

"Helm, what's our distance to the quarry?"

"We are approximately one half of a parsec behind them captain." Lt. Blackpaws replied, a Wemic with reverse tuxedo coloration.

"Tactical, do they show any signs of knowing that they are being followed? Raised shields, evasive maneuvering, anything?"

"Negative, sir. They are traveling as if they don't realize anything is following them from the site of the battle. Their warp cores are showing fluctuations and they are having trouble maintaining their current speed." Answered Lt. Malverk, a Vordoni male.

"Maintain this distance until further..." She was interrupted by Malverk. "Sir! The quarry is slowing! There is a star system ahead. It could be their destination."

Blackpaws spoke up "Slowing to match speed and maintain distance."

"Very good. Get me a reading on that system and put it on the screen." She replied.

On the screen appeared a yellow star orbited by four planets, a double asteroid field, three more planets and then a second sun!

"Very unusual. Dual-sun systems usually have suns that are close together and are roughly of the same size." Spoke Commander M'rann, a Caitian female seated at the sciences station. "Note the revolutions of the planets. They are in opposite directions and the asteroid fields are probably from two planets that collided."

"The quarry is dropping out of warp and heading for the third planet from the larger sun."

"Helm, drop out also and maintain distance. We don't want them to know that we're here...yet."

"Aye, sir. Dropping out of warp and maintaining distance at one third impulse."

"Mr. Malverk, any other habitable planets in either system?"

"Aye, sir. Two others in the larger and two in the smaller."

The world in question was approximately the same size as Mars, but looked remarkably similar to Earth, although the land to water ratio was reversed.

"Any cities Mr. Malverk?"

"Aye, Sir. There's one large city near this mountain range" it appeared on the screen. "There are several slightly smaller cities near the bodies of water scattered about the planet. "

Commander M'rann spoke up. "They have a comparable level of technology to the Confederation Captain, There are also no remnants of pollutants in the atmosphere like there would be if they had achieved this level as the Confederation did."

"OK. Mr. Malverk, track that ship to its destination and let's see what it looks like..." She was interrupted by Communications. "Sir, we are receiving a hail from the planet."

On the screen appeared the head and shoulders of a hyena morph. It had a patch over its left eye, and a scar ran from high on its head down to its muzzle. Consequently, the left lip was lifted up in a permanent snarl.

"...repeat, unidentified ship you are violating the space of the Roslovian Morphocracy. Return to the slave-holding world you came from or be fired upon. Two of our ships destroyed your fleet and ground installations. One ship will be no problem."

"Well that's straight to the point isn't it? Open channels. This is Captain Rowan of the Confederation Naval Vessel Goldcrest. We are not from the planet Cerberus or any of the other Hegemony worlds. We intercepted a distress signal from a ship identical to the one that we followed here. It was cut off and we arrived at the site of a battle to see that ship enter hyperspace and disappear. We were curious and followed." Before the hyena could say anything, Rowan's face took a harder edge and she continued. "Curious to see if we had to warn the Confederation of something that might attack it next..." she let her voice trail off.

"We only defend ourselves or retaliate against those who attack us." Replied the hyena. Rowan gestured for the channel to be muted on their end. "Tactical, Science what could they do to us?"

Malverk spoke up. "Their ships are about the size of a Defiant class ship. From the debris at the battle site, they appear to be similarly armed. There was no radiation except for that from destroyed fuel tanks."

"They do have old-style nuclear warheads however Captain. They were stored on the planet Cerberus and I have detected their signature coming from the ship we followed."

"Un-mute. It appears that you aren't above a little theft as part of that 'retaliation' you spoke about. The weapons that you took from Cerberus are more dangerous than useful. They make areas that they are used against unusable for centuries afterwards."

The hyena scowled. "That is none of your concern." He sneered. "For one who claims not to be from Cerberus I see you are surrounded by morphs that do your bidding like slaves. We don't intend to attack your 'Confederation'. What do you want in our space?"

Rowan's expression cleared. "We are on an exploration mission out past the Hegemony towards the galactic center. Your ship happened to leave Cerberus on the vector we were going to travel, so we followed.

In addition, while the people surrounding me are subordinates, they are not all morphs and they enjoy the same freedoms I do except for those that are permitted to me by my rank and position.

Now. To whom am I speaking? You have my name and rank, what is yours?" she asked.

"I am General McElroy, Defense Minister. How long do you plan on staying in our space?"

"Not long at all General, if you don't want us to. We..." She was interrupted by Mr. Malverk.

"Captain! An unidentified ship has just dropped out of warp! Correction, it appears to be a modified Miranda class ship. IFF shows it to be a ship sent to be scrapped. Its power is spiking!"

"Shields! Red Alert!" She yelled. "Scrapped? It appears to be intact to me. Mr. Brokarr, prepare a full spread from the rear weapons!"

The ship passed around the Goldcrest and followed after the Morphocracy ship. As it did the communications officer Ensign Rutan spoke. "Sir they're hailing us."

"On screen." She replied. "Mr. Brokarr, keep weapons trained on that ship. The Hegemony is not to be trusted...much." He grinned.

On the forward screen appeared a pale-skinned human with a square face and a monocle. His hair was crew cut and black. He wore a Green uniform trimmed in red, and a black, short-billed cap. "Confederation ship, do not interfere with us. The ship that you tracked here attacked the planet Cerberus, as you know. They stole weapons from us that we intend to reacquire. This has nothing to do with you unless you make it so." The screen went back to a forward view of the system and the Hegemony ship. Rowan's face was a study in controlled fury.

"Tell me what to do? In space, they don't control? Helm! Follow that stolen ship! Brokarr, target all weapons that will bear! Engage!" The Goldcrest leapt forward under Blackpaws experienced hands. "Mr. Brokarr, when we are in range fire to disable that floating scrap pile." Her calm voice belied the anger still on her face.

"Tactical, how did they catch up to us so fast? There was no sign of that ship anywhere near Cerberus." Mr. Malverk's hands flew over his board. "Part of her modifications appears to be triple the warp coils per nacelle. The nacelles have been lengthened and thickened to accommodate them. I would estimate that they could make warp 9.99 if they pushed them."

"We are in range captain, firing," said Mr. Brokarr. Four torpedoes and both phaser arrays lashed out at the Hegemony ship. The phasers made the ships shields flicker and die, and then the torpedoes struck both warp nacelles and made them go dark. The ship immediately started to drift on a ballistic course toward the larger sun.

"Malverk, tractor beam please when we're in range. I have some questions for the crew of that ship." She turned to Brokarr. "Secure the personnel on her..." Malverk interrupted. "Captain! Escape pods are being ejected and the warp core looks to be building up to critical!"

"Get us out of range! Brokarr keep track of those escape pods!"

The Goldcrest spun practically in place and fought to get clear of the impending explosion.

"We're not going to totally clear the zone!" Yelled Malverk.

"Divert what power you can to the shields!" replied Rowan.

The explosion was spectacular. The wave of released energy struck the Goldcrest and it acted as a rowboat struck from behind by the wake of a speedboat. The inertial dampeners struggled to compensate for the violent motions produced. Several people were thrown to the floor as the wave and some debris passed.

Damage and injury reports came in as Blackpaws brought them to a stop and then turned the ship about to return back to the site. Medical personnel arrived and treated the injured and Commander M'rann handled the damage repair.

Blackpaws looked at the captain. Shi got a nod in return. The Goldcrest went forward, returning to the systems edge and the site of the explosion.

"The escape pods?" Asked Rowan.

"Scanning now Sir. The blast broke the lock. I detect four intact escape pods. We can be in range to tractor them in approximately two minutes."

"Do so. Ensign Rutan, hail the planet." She ordered.

General McElroy appeared. "What happened up there?" He demanded. "Our sensor stations reported that a ship appeared from behind you flew around you, and then you chased and opened fire on it. It then exploded and you weren't there and now you are back." He scowled.

Rowan sighed. "The ship somehow followed both of our ships from the vicinity of Cerberus. It also turned out to be stolen from a salvage yard that belongs to the Confederation. When we fired and disabled it the crew set the warp core to explode and abandoned ship. We are picking up the few pods that survived now. Rowan out." She motioned for Rutan to break the connection.

She turned to Brokarr. "Well. Do you think the odds are good that the captain survived?" He shrugged.

"Pretty good." He replied.

"Let's see shall we?" She got up from her seat.

"After you sir." He motioned to the turbo lift.

"Mr. M'rann, you have the bridge." They moved toward the lift.

In the lift, Rowan hit her communication badge. "Rowan to Security."

"Security, Commander Owens here, captain."

"Have a team meet me in the aft shuttle bay." She ordered.

"Team One's there already Sir." She grinned.

"Out-thinking me again, eh Commander?"

"Only when I need to Sir. Only when I need to." You could almost hear the smirk.

"Rowan to Security Team One."

"One here. Lieutenant Blackmane."

"How many crew from the pods?" She asked.

"We have secured a total of fifty. All are human, which is consistent with a Hegemony ship."

"We'll be there in a few minutes Lieutenant. Rowan out."

By the time they arrived, the officers had been separated from the crew and there were chakats among the security team to keep the groups calm. Rowan nodded in approval. Lt. Blackmane, a liontaur, approached.

"No weapons Sir. One of the officers has been demanding to talk to the captain only not "one of you jumped-up slave meat".

Her expression hardened. "Very well Lt., bring him here." She motioned to an empty corner. "Someone bring a seat for the prisoner." A small empty crate was found, and the officer sat upon it.

Rowan stood, out of arms reach, in front of the man. He was approximately 178 cm tall, brown hair and eyes, and totally non-descript. "I'm Captain Rowan, CNV Goldcrest."

"This is a total archaic cliché, but there is a hollow heel on my right boot. Inside is information that you need to send to Naval HQ. My identity is also in there. I think you should act angry and have the Lt. and maybe the Commander here "escort" me to the "brig" and not gently so that the other crew aren't suspicious."

She gave him a squinty glare, then yelled "Get this piece of filth off of my ship! I don't care if you dump him out of an airlock!" She motioned for Blackmane and Brokarr to grab him. They jerked him off of the crate and practically dragged him, crying and yelling incoherently out of the bay. Rowan stalked after them. Out in the corridor she stopped them.

"Boots." Puzzled, the man gave her both boots. "Brig." She then said. He started to protest. "But..."

"I didn't get to where I am by taking anything at face value. Mr. Brokarr, join me in my office when you're finished." She headed for the lift, both boots dangling from her left hand.

Later, after going over the boots and the information they held with a fine toothed comb, Rowan had the man brought in. He had been given a non-specific ship suit to wear, and he saluted as he stepped in front of her desk.

She returned it lazily. "Sit down, Lt. Sanders." Commander Brokarr and Owens flanked her in chairs from the room making an impromptu board of inquiry.

"What is Naval Intelligence doing, on a starship, which has been supposedly scrapped and recycled, in the hands of the Hegemony?" He looked puzzled.

"You didn't read the infor..." She cut him off.

"Yes I did. And I will forward it to HQ. I want to hear it from you." She replied.

"OK. Intelligence came to Admiral Gates with information that "scrapped" starships had been sold to the Hegemony instead of them being scrapped. The one I was on was only one of about twenty. The names are in the report. I was sent to the scrap yard where the ships disappeared from and after being there for two years and letting drop choice epithets about certain aspects of the Confederation and the Navy was recruited to help. The latest ship to go through there was an Excelsior Class!

I notified the Admiral and Security and Intelligence went to shut the yard down. Someone inside told the yard manager about the raid and the group fled on that Excelsior class, myself included.

That was three years ago. Since then, the Excelsior class ship, Thomas Jackson, has been destroyed. I sabotaged the warp containment field. To my knowledge, everyone got off safely.

When the people of this system attacked Cerberus, the ship I was on, which used to be the Randolph-Macon, was sent from Hydra in response. It was able to follow ionized particles from the warp engines of the raider's ship here. After you immobilized the Heracles, I was able to enable the same type of sabotage device that I used on the Jackson. I also had sabotaged the Captain's yacht so he was unable to escape." He shuddered.

"He was a H1 member, I'm sure of it. I have absolutely no physical proof, but he spouted too many of their slogans to be otherwise."

Rowan nodded. "Well Admiral Gates has expressed an interest in getting you home. We're returning to Naval HQ. Until then you can consider yourself off duty. Here's your cabin number." He stood, saluted and left.

"Thoughts?" She asked the other two.

Brokarr growled. "He doesn't smell right. All nervous sweat and fear."

Owen nodded. "It jibes with what was in the report, but yeah it's all too pat."

She smirked. "That's why I gave him a cabin between Blackpaws and Smooththoughts." All three chuckled.