The Kuno Cube exploded into space in essentially the same place it had disappeared from mere seconds earlier; about four thousand kilometers from Earth.
Kodachi shoved her brother out of the way as she bounded towards a window. She looked out and towards the blue and white planet nearby.
“It looks just like it,” she stammered.
Tatewaki walked to the window and looked as well, cocking his head slightly. “Did we actually go anywhere?”
George began to check the readings on one of the terminals. “Oh yes,” he grinned. “There’s not a Starfleet ship or facility to be seen.” He laughed loudly as he continued, drawing a smile from Kodachi. “There are no lunar bases, there are very few communications satellites, and there are certainly no orbital defenses.”
Kodachi cackled as she bounced back over to George and hugging him, Tatewaki slowly following behind, a little sad that he didn’t get a hug. “Put us in orbit then!” she instructed George. “We need to meet our...” she grinned devilishly to both George and Tatewaki. “...partners.”
“Is Queen Metalia okay?” Nephrite asked Kunzite as the pair got out of Nephrite’s car and began walking into the park where they had told the Kunos that they would meet them.
Kunzite nodded. “The power drain weakened her,” he sighed, “but once we have the silver crystal, it will be a non-issue replenishing that power.”
Nephrite gritted his teeth as he nodded. “It will not take Beryl long to realize we disobeyed her.”
Kunzite agreed. “This is why we need to deal with her quickly.”
“Deal with her?”
Kunzite grabbed Nephrite’s shoulder, stopping him, and spinning him around so that he was facing the elder General.
“Beryl cares more about her own ego than she does anything else,” he explained. “She wants to succeed, but if success comes at the price of her being disobeyed, she will accept failure to ensure that she remains in control.”
Nephrite sighed and slowly nodded.
“We tell her what we’ve done,” Kunzite said, resuming his walking. “If she decides what I know she will decide, well...” he trailed off and shrugged.
Nephrite said nothing as the pair made it to the middle of the park as Kodachi, George and Tatewaki materialized, surrounded by a half-dozen Tatewaki drones.
The two Negaverse generals looked the group over curiously as George shook his head and mumbled.
“Why did you bring the drones...”
“There may have been treacherous land mammals,” Tatewaki proudly replied.
George began to inhale, as to reply, but chose not to and just shook his head again as Kodachi stepped forward.
“Hello,” she smugly grinned. “I am Kodachi Kuno, mistress of the Noble House of Kuno. These are my brothers, Tatewaki and George.”
Both Kunzite and Nephrite looked to George oddly.
“I’m adopted,” George groaned.
The pair accepted the explanation and bowed slightly. “As I said before, I’m Nephrite,” Nephrite said as he turned to his partner, “and this is my associate, Kunzite.”
The three Kunos nodded to the pair.
“We appreciate you answering our call for assistance,” Kunzite said. “Some force must have guided us to you for both Nephrite and I too have seen your ship in our visions.”
Kodachi nodded. “It would be too big of a coincidence for that to happen otherwise.”
George stepped forward, past his sister, and looked the Generals over. “I don’t know if they have bothered asking, but I will. What’s in this for us?”
Kodachi looked to George frumpily as Kunzite sighed. “Well, your sister tells us the only thing stopping you in your dimension is a ‘Starfleet’. That apparently doesn’t exist here yet, so I assume the answer to your question is ‘anything you want’.”
Nephrite nodded. “The only thing we ask for is the Earth, and... well basically this solar system.”
George pondered this for a moment. Let them have the Sol system, and the Kunos could have their way with pretty much the rest of the galaxy. It seemed like a fair trade.
Of course, he knew that his siblings had every intention of backstabbing them, but for now if that was the deal they wanted, he could live with it.
George outstretched his hand. “I hope this will be the beginning of a long and fruitful relationship.”
First Kunzite then Nephrite shook George’s hand. Kunzite then cleared his throat.
“We do have a small issue with... our boss, however.”
The Sisko dropped out of warp at the edge of the Sol system. Ranma, who was in a state of not quite asleep, not quite awake while sitting in his chair was nearly sent flying as three people called out for him simultaneously.
“Captain,” Shampoo, Makoto, and Minako all called.
“Yes?” Ranma asked, wiping the drool off his face.
The three all began to speak at once. Ranma sighed and waved his hands, silencing them. He then turned to Shampoo.
“Earth currently set to security zone,” Shampoo reported. “We no can get closer than Mars.”
Ranma blinked. “Why?”
Makoto spoke up next. “Probably has to do with the sixteen ships from both the Terran and Vulcan defense fleets that are there.”
“What the hell?” Ranma blinked again.
Minako chimed in now. “Commander Ishran has sent us a message saying that he took a Runabout to Titan so we wouldn’t have to deal with the blockade to pick him up.”
Ranma smirked. “That was thoughtful.” Ranma turned to helm. “Ensign Ikuhara, please adjust our heading.”
“Aye,” Ikuhara replied.
The Sisko nonchalantly impulsed her way through the solar system till she got to Saturn and established an orbit around the gas giant’s most populated moon.
Once there, Ranma and Shampoo again made their way down to the transporter room. Unlike before, however, they were not beaten there by Commander Gras.
In fact, they had to wait several minutes for Jitsia to show up. Both the Captain and the XO noticed that Jitsia looked quite different than she did when they were picking up Lt. Pan. Where she seemed quite excited to see him, now she seemed almost...
...reluctant.
They hoped it was, as she said, just a touch of sadness that the training of her NSO teams was a sign that she’d be leaving soon, rather than something deeper.
Ranma nodded to the transporter chief.
“Energize.”
A suitcase and 180 cm tall Bolian male appeared on the transporter pad. Ranma and Shampoo smiled at him. However, unlike Pan, he did not go over to greet the Captain first.
“Gras!” he called out, nearly running over to Jitsia, and hugging her, lifting her off the deck slightly. Jitsia slowly hugged him back. “It’s so good to see you again,” the Bolian smiled.
“Good to see you too, Siohxx,” Jitsia softly replied.
Lt. Commander Siohxx Ishran pulled away, sized Jitsia up for a moment, then turned to Ranma. He grabbed the Captain’s hand and shook it fiercely. “Captain Saotome, I presume?”
Ranma nodded. “Indeed. And this is my executive officer, Commander Shampoo.”
Siohxx grabbed Shampoo’s hand and shook it too. “I’m Lt. Commander Siohxx Ishran. It’s wonderful to meet you both. Thank you for allowing me to train aboard your ship!”
Ranma nodded and smiled. “It’s no problem. I am sure you will learn a lot. Our guys are very good at what they do.”
Siohxx smiled. “I sure hope Gras hasn’t been too much of a lead weight!” He laughed as elbowed Jitsia slightly.
Both Shampoo and Ranma chuckled uncomfortably as Jitsia grinned ever so slightly.
“I was a good friend of Gras’ before her previous host sadly died,” Siohxx explained, sighed. “Some weird Trill genetic disorder-”
“Carat’s Syndrome...” Jitsia mumbled.
“Yeah, that’s it,” Siohxx nodded. “Only affects the males though, so this one should be fine.”
Shampoo’s eyes drifted towards Ranma as Siohxx smiled at Jitsia and patted her on the head, almost as if she was a pet.
“Just really nice to be working with you again,” he smiled. “Thank you for the opportunity.”
Jitsia simply nodded.
“Well,” Ranma said, trying to end what was obviously a very uncomfortable situation for Jitsia, “shall we show you your quarters?”
Siohxx nodded and grabbed his bag. As the four headed to the turbolift, Ranma explained the situation with the quarters. Eventually, they reached Siohxx’s.
“There’s an introductory briefing at 09:00,” Jitsia explained. “Deck A conference room.”
Siohxx nodded. “We should have dinner.”
“I-I can’t tonight.”
Siohxx looked to Jitsia with a very disapproving look. He relented, however. “Another time then. I would like to catch up, old friend.”
Jitsia, again, just nodded.
The door closed, and Jitsia walked off towards the turbolift.
“Commander?” Ranma called out.
Jitsia continued to walk, either ignoring or oblivious to Ranma.
“Shampoo not the only one who see that, right?” Shampoo asked.
Ranma shook his head as his eyes followed Jitsia down the corridor till she rounded a bend.
“No, Shampoo, you are certainly not.”
Anthony walked into the NSO gym and looked around. He liked it when it was empty. No one was there to judge him for singing along to his Spice Girls mixtape.
Anthony quickly put in his earbuds, hopped on the treadmill, and started running. Fast.
“IF YOU WANNA BE MY LOVER-”
“YOU GOTTA GET WITH MY FRIENDS!” Kio yelled into his ear.
Anthony jumped about two meters into the air before coming back down with a crash. Kio laughed as Anthony hopped up and started screaming.
“GOD-FUCKING-DAMMIT KIO!” he swore. “What the hell are you trying to do?!”
“What?” she continued to laugh, helping him up. “I assumed you wanted a duet.”
“Where were you hiding?”
“I wasn’t hiding, I was doing crunches on the floor right there!” she said, pointing to a mat next to the weight equipment.
“I did not see anyone doing crunches,” Anthony growled.
“That’s probably because I only did one,” Kio mumbled, “and it hurt like hell, so I didn’t do anymore and was just lying there. Then you came in and started singing.”
Anthony was about to say something else, but then grew concerned. “What hurts?”
“My battle wound,” Kio smirked.
Anthony cocked his head. “I thought you got that taken care of?”
Kio shrugged. “Apparently if you don’t take care of a second-degree disruptor burn right away, it scars pretty badly,” she said, pulling her shirt up and showing Anthony a pretty wicked scar about 15 cm across and 3 cm high right above her navel.
“Ewww,” Anthony said, squatting down to inspect it closer. “No man is going to want you now.”
Kio rolled her eyes. “Dudes dig scars.”
“Chicks dig scars,” Anthony corrected her. “And unless you’ve changed your mind on Commander Hino-”
Anthony, almost immediately, found himself upside down and in the middle of a weight rack. Kio walked over to him and poked him on the forehead.
“You’re begging for a scar yourself, bucko.”
“Maybe if I had one, you’d stop playing hard to get,” Anthony mumbled.
Kio looked Anthony over. “You know that’s not why I-”
“I think you’re just using protocol as an excuse,” he interrupted.
“An excuse?”
Anthony righted himself and nodded. “You’re scared.”
Kio just eyed Anthony.
“Of the two situations, which do you think is worse,” Anthony asked, “marrying Nik but knowing you would eventually lose him, or never marrying him at all?”
“Why are you bringing Nik into this?” Kio growled.
“Because I am trying to make you understand that I would rather be with you, knowing there is a risk I could lose you, than not be with you at all,” Anthony said. He sighed a bit before shaking his head. “Because if I lost you, regardless, it would still hurt like hell.”
Kio ran her hand across the top of Anthony’s head.
“The Captain said it was okay too,” he added.
“For fucks sake, Tony,” Kio laughed. “You told the Captain about us?”
“I asked for an OCS recommendation,” Anthony sighed. “But he kind of coerced me into confessing why I really wanted to go.”
“Wow,” Kio smiled. “I don’t know if I have the balls to tell the Captain I wanted to go to OCS just so I could get laid.”
Anthony scoffed. “Trust me, if that’s all I wanted from you, it’d be done by now.”
Kio rolled her eyes.
“Lemme see your scar again,” Anthony requested.
Kio pulled her shirt up slightly. Anthony looked around before grabbing Kio’s waist. He moved in close, Kio closing her eyes when suddenly the door opened, and Lt. Parker walked in.
Anthony flung himself backward, growling to himself. Parker, hearing the noise, turned in that direction to see Kio with her shirt pulled up to just below her bra.
“Oh hi,” he said. He noticed Kio’s stomach. “WHOA!!!!” he called out. “WICKED SCAR!!!”
Parker nearly flew over to inspect it closer. Kio, not sure if she should be offended that she was now being manhandled by the Alpha Team Lieutenant or not, smirked at Anthony as her ‘dudes dig scars’ theory was proven correct.
“Is that from the Breen or from when Commander Gras shot you?”
“It’s from the Breen disruptor, but I’m sure Commander Gras’s shot didn’t help matters any,” Kio chuckled.
Parker looked it over a bit more before removing his own shirt.
“Check this one out,” he said, pointing towards a long scar that ran down the left side of his torso from his armpit to nearly where his leg began.
“Damn,” Kio whistled.
“Yeah,” Parker nodded. “Freaking Jem’Hadar Houdini mine exploded. The mine wasn’t so bad, but it blew apart an already damaged bulkhead.” Parker shook his head. “I had about twenty-three different shards of the U.S.S. Darmount in me.”
“Ouch,” Anthony mumbled.
“You know, at that point, it doesn’t really hurt anymore,” Parker laughed. He put his shirt back on and headed towards a weight machine. “You guys should get Yayo to show you the plasma burn scar on her thigh.” He smirked slightly. “I’m not going to comment on how I know about that one.”
Both Anthony and Kio eyed Parker for a moment before standing and running for the door, deciding to track down their medic for interrogation.
Beryl was furious. Her Generals had gone behind her back and used Metalia’s energy anyway, weakening her. In turn, Beryl had used some of her own power to make sure she was okay.
Metalia seemed to be fine, regardless, so it wasn’t really the energy drain Beryl was angry about.
It was the blatant insubordination.
She half expected that kind of backstabbery from Nephrite, but Kunzite seemed loyal. He seemed like someone she could count on. Someone she could trust to do her bidding without question and without hesitation.
Not only had she been betrayed, but she had been proven wrong.
Neither act of treason would be allowed to stand.
The Negaverse Queen heard footsteps approach her throne room. She laughed as she shook her head.
“So,” she said as she continued to laugh, “you two have the gall to show yourselves to me after what you’ve done?”
Nephrite and Kunzite walked into the throne room. The pair bowed, drawing an irritated scoff from Beryl, before speaking.
“What we’ve done,” Kunzite explained, “is guaranteed victory for the Dark Kingdom.”
“By trying to kill our master?” Beryl asked.
“It took less than a third of her energy,” Kunzite growled. “She did not resist. She understood what we were doing and what we could accomplish by doing it. Surely with that kind of support-”
“Shut up,” Beryl snapped. “I run things here, not you. It’s not your decision to make.”
“Why are you being blinded by your own narcissism?” Nephrite asked. “Do you not see the power we now hold?”
“NARCISSISM?” Beryl screamed, standing.
“Oh boy,” Kunzite grumbled turning and making a motioning gesture with his hand.
Beryl fired an energy blast at Nephrite, which the two Generals barely avoided. She readied another one but halted just prior to firing it as her attention was drawn towards the doorway.
There she saw, two by two, a dozen Tatewaki drones march in.
“WHO ARE THEY?” she screamed, firing a blast at the drones, obliterating the first six.
The Nephrite and Kunzite, who expected the Kuno drones to be invincible, gritted their teeth slightly at the scorch marks on the ground that used to be their backup. The remaining six continued towards Beryl.
Beryl fired another shot, destroying them.
“Really?” she asked Kunzite.
Kunzite didn’t have any words. However, before anyone could say anything else, another twenty-four drones beamed in. They began marching towards Beryl, being blown to smithereens, just like their predecessors. Again, another twenty-four beamed in. Again, they were blown to bits.
The cannon-fodder was effective, though. Beryl was tiring. She was using a lot of energy killing the Kuno drones. As well, the Kunos had a method to their madness.
The next batch that beamed down was simply six, as well as Tatewaki, George, and Kodachi.
Tatewaki, being the hot head that he was, ran full steam towards Beryl.
“CURSE YOU VILE WOMAN!!!!!!!!!” he screamed.
A blob of Negaverse energy nailed him, sending him crashing into the rear wall.
“That hurt, you know...” he whimpered.
Beryl’s eyes widened. She fired her energy blast at the Kuno drones, however, it hit them and dissipated.
“We’ve adapted to your attacks,” George explained, stepping in front of Nephrite, and taking a shot that was intended for him. “You are incapable of harming us.”
“I SHALL SMITE YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!” Tatewaki screamed, charging at Beryl.
“Tate, no,” Kodachi ordered.
Tatewaki stopped a few meters from Beryl’s throne. “Why? Why won’t you let me smite anyone?” he whimpered.
“She belongs to our partners,” Kodachi smiled, helping Kunzite to his feet. “We’ll put her in a stasis chamber and when we’re done, they can do with her as they see fit.”
Beryl simply scowled at both Nephrite and a smugly grinning Kunzite as she is swarmed by Kuno drones and injected with a sedative.
“Where will you keep her?” Nephrite asked.
“Our ship will be the safest place,” George replied. “She’ll be unable to tap any of the power sources down here from there.” He grinned a bit sadistically. “She’ll just be like any other trapped lady.”
“May we see your ship?” Kunzite asked.
Kodachi smiled and nodded. “I don’t see why not.”
George gritted his teeth. “We should probably tidy up a bit first...”
“Are you calling the noble Cube of Kuno, unkempt?” Tatewaki asked, drawing his bokken.
“Yes,” George nodded.
Kuno began to stammer out a response, but then remembered the closet he’d been living in for the past two years.
“It could use some vacuuming.”
“That will be fine. While you’re doing that, we’ll set up a trap for the Senshi,” Nephrite said.
“The who?” George asked.
“Those hookers in the short skirts,” Kodachi sighed.
“What?” George asked again, realizing that he probably should read up more on what’s going on.
“Very sexy,” Tatewaki added.
Nephrite looked to Kunzite with some concern.
“I’ll explain on the ship,” Kodachi sighed.
“They had me at ‘short skirts’,” Tatewaki acknowledged.
“That wasn’t even you, that was Father,” Kodachi growled.
“Great minds and all,” he replied.
George looked to Nephrite and Kunzite who were still watching the trio with great concern. He walked over to them, herding them away from Tatewaki and Kodachi, before handing them a couple of items.
“First off, here,” he smiled. “These communicators will allow you to call our ship. Secondly, these are micro-transport enhancers. In case these people were fighting have some sort of ‘magic’ energy field our transporters can’t punch through, that will help.”
“There are things your technology can’t get through?” Nephrite asked, shocked.
George shrugged as Kodachi and Tatewaki started fighting behind him.
“To explain the exact details of how the transporters work would take hours, but generally anything that disrupts the signal from the ship will cause the transport to fail unless you have something on the other end to support it.”
“Makes sense,” Kunzite nodded.
George smugly grinned. “Our technology isn’t infallible, but nonetheless, I think our partnership is likely to yield some very positive results.”
STARDATE 48950
THE SETLIK SYSTEM; CARDASSIAN DEMILITARIZED ZONE
Makoto sighed. It was always - ALWAYS - raining when she needed to wait for someone.
“Hey beautiful,” a voice called out from behind her.
Makoto jumped slightly, then turned around. Behind her was Gosnell, dressed in casual clothes like Makoto’s. Makoto smiled at him before leaning in and kissing him.
The pair kissed for a good thirty seconds before Makoto quickly tapped her arm.
“I probably shouldn’t record us talking,” she smiled.
“You would think they wouldn’t mind you hanging out with me,” Gosnell smirked.
Makoto shrugged.
“How much stuff do you have implanted in your arm anyway?” he asked.
Makoto looked down at the underside of her left forearm. “A communicator, a transport enhancer, a recording device and...” she paused and looked to Gosnell with her teeth gritted for a moment.
“What’s wrong?” he asked.
“Well, there’s what I call the ‘Oh shit, everything’s gone terribly wrong’ button,” she explained.
“What’s that do?”
Makoto scratched her head before smiling softly. “It turns me into a bomb.”
Gosnell blinked. “I don’t care for that one...” He looked at her arm. “How do you keep from accidentally triggering it?”
“It has to be hit simultaneously with one implanted in my mouth.”
Gosnell nodded. “I shall have to use care with my tongue then.”
Makoto laughed.
“I was thinking,” Gosnell continued, “you should get me tattooed on your arm, so when you do call for your ship, it will look like you’re poking me in the belly. Like the Pillsbury Doughboy.”
“I don’t have a clue what that is,” Makoto admitted.
“You and I need to sit down and watch some classical Earth entertainment sometime,” Gosnell sighed.
Makoto grinned, nodded, and kissed Gosnell again. A beeping suddenly started to come from a device in her pocket.
“The people I am meeting are nearly here,” she sighed.
Gosnell nodded and disappeared. Makoto reactivated her recording device and leaned up against the wall of the prefabricated building where she was meeting the Maquis that she had spent the last couple of months infiltrating.
“Lieutenant Chen?” a woman calls out.
Makoto looks around. “Yes?”
Makoto is quickly tackled by two men and slammed to the ground.
“Please, Lieutenant, don’t resist” the woman’s voice called. “This is just precautionary.”
Makoto nodded slowly as a third man came and began to run his tricorder over her while patting her down.
“Lieutenant Chen was my Starfleet designation,” Makoto grumbled. “I am fairly certain I am not welcome back there, so just Yumi will be fine.”
“Fair enough, Yumi,” the woman replied.
“She’s clean,” the third man reported.
The two men who had tackled Makoto helped her to her feet.
“Sorry,” one whispered. “Starfleet Intelligence has been trying to infiltrate us for the past three years.”
Makoto nodded. “All things considered; you’d think they’d be trying to help us.”
The woman, a human, walked over and sized Makoto up. “Us?” she grinned. “Well, we’ll see if you’re truly one of us if this virus of yours works.”
“I was one the lead programmers of the new defensive turrets that Starfleet is deploying,” Makoto sighed. “I’m fairly certain that I can make a virus that will shut it down.
“Besides,” Makoto continued, “you can ask Adrian. I’ve been helping gather supplies and provisions for the Maquis for the last two months since I abandoned my post.”
“And why did you do that?” the woman asked.
Makoto rolled her eyes. “Same reason everyone else did. It sickens me that the Federation would give Federation worlds to the Cardassians, and I think it’s both our right and our duty to fight for them.”
The woman nods approvingly.
“Just because these planets are not, nor never been my home doesn’t mean I am going to ignore the oath I took as a Starfleet officer to defend them from all threats,” Makoto stated.
“Foreign or domestic,” she added.
The woman again nodded, moving closer to Makoto. “Where’s the virus?”
“In my bag,” Makoto said, pointing to a small satchel sitting on the ground. The woman bent down and picked up the bag. She opened it and pulled out both an isolinear chip and a picture.
On the picture was Makoto, an older man, and an older woman, all in Starfleet Engineering uniforms.
Makoto looked at it and frowned slightly. “Oh...”
The woman looked to Makoto for an explanation.
“Yeah, my parents work on the Gallant Shipyards. I was kinda hoping in exchange for the virus, I could get it taken off any target list.”
The woman smiled at Makoto. “Don’t worry. Right now, our targets only include observation posts and supply depots.”
Makoto sighed in relief, taking the picture, and holding it tightly to her chest.
The woman put the isolinear chip in her pocket and patted Makoto on the shoulder.
“Thank you, Yumi. You’ve quite possibly turned the movement in our favor with this action.”
“I certainly hope so,” Makoto smiled back.
“Give Adrian my best,” the woman waved as she and her group walked off. Makoto nodded before turning and walking in her own direction. She made her way to a forested area before moving her hand to her arm.
Before she could call for transport, though, she disappeared and reappeared in her Runabout.
“Damn transporter takes too long,” Gosnell complained.
Makoto chuckled as she took a seat at the helm. Gosnell walked up and sat down next to her, dodging the crumpled-up picture that she was throwing towards the trash receptacle.
“So, what does that computer program really do?” Gosnell asked.
“Well,” Makoto said, powering up the small craft and setting it on a course to meet its mothership, “it actually does what I said it does. If it didn’t, they would notice that and realize it was a fake.”
Gosnell blinked. “So, you gave them a virus that could shut down the Federation’s orbital defenses?”
Makoto nodded. “Yup.”
Gosnell cocked his head slightly as the ship exited the Badlands and went to warp. “There’s more, isn’t there?”
“Yup,” Makoto smiled, turning to him. “Before sending the signal to the orbital defenses, it sends a command to the ship it’s running on, instantly triggering the self-destruct.”
Gosnell blinked. “Wow.”
Makoto nodded.
“That seems a bit...” Gosnell paused for a moment. “Harsh.”
Makoto sighed. “Those people are terrorists, and they need to be dealt with harshly.” She leaned forward as she spoke. “They don’t want to bypass those platforms so they can buy the people on those stations candy, Gosnell. They WILL kill them.”
Gosnell still wasn’t sure if he was cool with summary execution, but he accepted Makoto’s reasoning.
He loved her, and he knew she was a good person, and a good person would not do bad things unless there was a good reason for it.
Gosnell smiled and took Makoto’s hands.
Makoto looked to her terminal. “We have about two hours before we reach the Minneapolis,” she said, eying Gosnell devilishly. “Wanna play cards?”
Gosnell narrowed his gaze. “Yes.”