Stardate: 74429.49

Time: 0204 hours

Location: Alpha Quadrant – Deep Space Nine

USS Heracles

Vausees had excused herself from the party a few hours ago and was sitting in the ten forward, near one of the many bulkhead sized windows. Her head propped up with a hand as she looked out beyond Deep Space Nine. Ships of various designs flew by, some headed from the wormhole, while others to reaches beyond, deep into the darkness of space. 

As she sat there she did not realize that someone else had entered into the ten forward with her. It was until they sat next to her that she realized it. She turned her attention to them and smiled.

“Commander.” She said to Debrah as she pulled her attention away from the distractions of the station, “Is there something I can help you with?” she asked.

Debrah looked from Vausees to the worker bee that had flashed past. She had heard what her Captain had said and she shook her head ‘no’. “Just thought I would come here. I didn’t know that you were here until I entered,” she said as she returned her focus onto Vausees, “I almost turned around to give you peace as you looked so peaceful.”

A slight flush crept over Vausees cheeks and contrasted with some of her spots. She hadn’t expected this from Debrah, someone who had just arrived on her ship. Debrah saw the rose hue on Vausees cheeks and looked away.

“If I have offended you, Captain,” she said, “then I apologize.”

Vausees reached over and gently placed her hand over Debrah’s, “On the contrary, Debrah,” she said as her thumb began to gently rub the side of Debrah’s hand as if it had a mind of its own. “I am flattered by your comment.”

Debrah looked down at the hand that was on her’s, and she felt her cheeks begin to flush. She carefully slipped her hand free from Vausees and smiled. She brought the hand up to her lips and secretly kissed it. She didn’t know why she had just performed that act on her hand and frankly didn’t care at the moment. Debrah continued to smile as she leaned back in the booth that she was sharing with Vausees.

As the two sat in silence the doors to the ten forward opened and the night shift Assistant Chief of Operations walked in. The young officer came to a stop near Debrah and Vausees, he gave the Captain a quick salute before handing over a PADD, “This just came for you from the station, Ma’am,” he stated before quickly leaving.

Debrah looked at Vausees for a moment before her eyes came to rest on the Starfleet insignia. Her smile slowly faded as she realized that Vausees had a communique from Starfleet. Vausees lifted the PADD up and tapped on the screen. The icon on the screen changed to text, and a sigh left her lips.

“Orders.”

Debrah nodded and sat there for a moment until she realized that Vausees had her eyes on her. She nodded again realizing that it had to deal with ‘Omega’. As she stood up the smile returned to her lips and leaned over, “This might be overstepping my paygrade Vausees, but if you need someone to talk to about anything I am here,” she said as she leaned over and gently placed a kiss on the woman’s cheek.

This caused both of them to blush. Debrah then departed the ten forward. Vausees looked down at the PADD and read the orders. Admiral Ross had given them orders to return to the Gamma Quadrant and begin a thorough investigation of a sector near the edge of the known and charted sector of the quadrant. 

Vausees set the PADD down in front of her. Her eyes closed as the PADD slipped gently to the tabletop. A soft and slow breath escaped her lips as she realized that the Omega threat to the Galaxy wasn’t over and that their small victory, though warranted a celebration, was going to be short lived. Standing up Vausees reached down and picked up the PADD, she then moved toward the exit to the ten forward. As the doors slid apart she was greeted by a beautiful sight. 

Debrah stood with her back against the bulkhead of the adjacent wall that was across from the entrance to the ten forward. When the door hissed open she looked up into the lightest set of blue eyes she had ever seen. Granted she had gazed upon them moments earlier but now they seemed even lighter than before. She could tell that something was different about her Captain, and she reached out and placed a hand on her shoulder.

“Vausees, are you ok?”

A smile crossed Vausees mouth at the feel of Debrah’s hand on her shoulder. She didn’t know how this woman that stood before her knew something was off but was glad for it. Reaching up she placed her hand on Debrah’s as she shook her head. “I will be fine Debrah.” She said as she looked down for a moment. 

“The orders,” Debrah said, “I am guessing are not what you thought they would be.”

Looking back up she slipped her fingers between Debrah’s and smiled. “We’re heading back to Gamma.”

Debrah nodded and pulled Vausees into her arms. “I am sure it is more than just that,” she stated as she held her. 

Vausees let out another slow breath as she felt the warmth from this woman. She wanted so much to tell her what was going on like she had before. Her head slowly pressed into Debrah’s chest as she stood there in the corridor with her.

“I want so much to tell you what’s going on, but we both know that would be a violation of the Omega Directive.” Her voice caught in her throat as she stated this to Debrah.

With a gentle touch, she slowly slipped Vausees under her arm and coaxed her to walk. She led her toward the nearest lift and they both entered it. As the doors closed behind them Debrah spoke out Vausees cabin deck and the lift engaged. Moments later the lift slowed as the deck approached. Vausees looked up into the bright green eyes of Debrah’s and her face held a confused look to it. Debrah looked down and smiled.

“I’m taking you to your cabin. You need to take a nap before informing the crew of these orders,” she stated as the lift stopped and the door slid open. They exited the lift and headed toward Vausees cabin. When they reached her cabin, Vausees reached up and tapped the white bland-looking button on the console next to the door. The door slid open and the pair entered the cabin, the door closed behind them. 

Debrah walked Vausees over to the Adjoining sleeping quarters and helped her out of her uniform. Vausees sat on her bed and looked up into Debrah’s eyes. Debrah looked back and smiled.

“Get some rest.” That is all that she said as she went to leave. She stopped when she felt Vausees hand on her arm. She looked down and then back at Vausees. She turned back to her and stood there. 

Vausees let go of her arm and replaced the hand on Debrah’s waist. She looked back up into her eyes and gently pulled on her waist. “Stay here with me.” Her voice was soft as she spoke.

Debrah nodded and waited until Vausees had scooted over. She then slipped onto the bed beside her. Vausees turned over and rested her head on Debrah’s chest as she closed her eyes.

“Please be here when I wake,” she said in a slightly groggy voice. 

Debrah leaned down and kissed the top of Vausees head, “I won’t leave until you tell me to,” she whispers as she wraps her arms around a relaxed form of Vausees.

***

Cody had dismissed himself from the party and had returned to the bridge to check on the night shift. As he entered he saw Zyvia sitting in the chair next to the Command chair. Her head was down as she looked into the PADD she was holding. She looked up when she heard the door to the main lift open.

“Commander.”

“Lieutenant,” he replied in return.

“All quiet on our end,” she stated as she kept her eyes on him, her atenas moving slowly about as she watched him.

Cody took the Command chair and turned to look at her, “Why didn’t you sit here?” He asked her.

She shrugged, “No reason.”

Cody nodded as he looked at the armrest console. He scrolled through the reports that had come up to the bridge from various department heads. He then stood up and turned to Zyvia, “Hungry?” He asked her.

This caught her off guard and she thought for a moment before she nodded.

“Meet me in the Senior Officer’s Lounge in ten minutes.” Cody said as he slipped away from her.

Zyvia sat there for a moment surprised by how Cody had spoken to her. Reaching up she tapped her ComBadge as she stood up and requested for a relief. She then exited the bridge and joined Cody in the main lift.

***

Charles sat across from Skirak, a four tiered chess game sat between them. Both men sat in silence as they considered their next move.

“Tell me Chief,” Skirak said, “what do you enjoy about the Heracles?” He asked as his claw hand rested on a piece on the second tier. He was still deciding if he was going to move.

Charles kept his eyes on the game as he thought about what Skirak had asked. His thoughts were on both the game before them and the question when he saw Skirak make his move. He looked at each tier as he continued to think about the question. His hand came up and moved a piece from the first tier to the second tier. “Skirak, I don’t just enjoy the Heracles,” he said, “I love the Heracles because she keeps me on my toes with everything that we her crew have put her thought and she keeps on going.” He stated as he looked into the black complex eyes of Skirak. 

Skirak nodded, “I can appreciate that answer,” he stated as he took a piece from the fourth tier and moved one of Charles pieces off the board. He then looked up from the board to the doors that had opened. He saw Cody and Zyvia walk in and over to the food bar. Charles followed Skirak’s eyes and saw what he was looking at. He looked back at Skirak, “That’s odd,” he stated as he saw Cody with someone. 

Skirak cocked their head to the side, “Odd,” he repeated.

Charles looked at Skirak and nodded, “Cody is what you call a lone wolf, even though he joins away missions and participates in meets,” he said, “I have never seen him with anyone when he is doing something on his own.”

Cody picked up his tray and waited for Zyvia, who joined him shortly. He looked about the lounge and spotted an empty table near Charles and Skirak. He escorted Zyvia over to the table and nodded to the two men as he passed them. Zyvia mirrored his movement and sat across from Cody.

Charles watched Cody and Zyvia out of the corner of his eye as he made his move. He watched as Cody and Zyvia ate and laughed. This was indeed odd for him to see coming from their new Executive Officer. He looked back at his assistant and shrugged.

“Maybe he is just trying something new,” he said as he returned his attention to their game, “nothing wrong with that,” he stated as he made his move.

***

Vausees opened her eyes and saw a black muscle tee staring back at her. She groaned as she turned her head and followed the material up to a sleeping form of Debrah. Sitting up she leaned over and gently kissed the woman that had her arms wrapped around her. A soft moan left Debrah as she slowly opened her eyes and looked into Vausees. Her eyes instantly widened as she realized where she was.

“Vausees,” she exclaimed as she unwrapped her arms from her Captain, “I’m sorry I fell,” she was silenced by a gentle touch from Vausees.

“I am glad you did,” she said as she slipped into an upright position. She groaned as her body stretched from the position that she had fallen asleep in. Turning her head she smiled. “Thank you for keeping your word and staying here with me,” she said in a soft voice. After a few moments of stretching she stood up and walked toward her bathroom. She stopped and looked back at Debrah, “You can join me if you want or wait until I am finished, either works for me,” she stated as she slipped her shirt over her head and tossed it toward the replicator for later disposal.

Debrah watched her movement and had heard what she had stated and sat there contemplating on which option would be best. After she heard the sonic shower turn on she stood up and moved over the door of the bathroom and leaned against it.

“I’ll wait this time,” she said as she looked down, fighting the urge to take a peek into the semi translucent shower stall.

Vausees heard what Debrah had said and smiled, ‘Thank you,’ she thought to herself as she rinsed away the grime from the previous day, ‘I am not sure that I could have resisted my urges,’ she continued to think as she shut the shower off and reached out for a towel.

Wrapping it around herself she walked out and over to Debrah. As she passed her she leaned over and whispered, “You pass, and when you’re ready let me know when you would like to move your things here,” she said as she kissed her cheek.

Vausees changed while Debrah was in the shower. The two held a conversation about the orders that Admiral Ross had given them. She thought it was best that she had someone she could talk to, and since Debrah had been a Captain, in the fleet, prior to her retirement and reactivation, she knew that anything she said to Debrah would be kept between them and not shared with the rest of the crew.

She had just slipped on her shirt when she heard the shower turn off and walked over with a fresh towel as Debrah opened the stall door. Debrah looked at Vausees and took the towel from her, “Thank you,” she said as Vausees moved away. 

“I have a fresh uniform on the bed,” she said as she heads for the replicator to dispose of both of their uniforms, “I hope you don’t mind.”

“Not at all,” Debrah responds as she walks out of the bathroom wearing the towel around herself, and picks up the undergarments that were laying on top of the new uniform. After dressing, Vausees attaches the three gold pips in place on Debrah’s chest, and smooths out a small wrinkle. She steps back and looks her over, “Beautiful.”

Debrah blushes and thanks her as she removes a stray hair from the shoulder of her Captain. Vausees thanks her and they both head for the door. 

Vausees and Debrah stood together on the main lift as he headed for the bridge. They both kept looking at each other and then away as if it was a sin for them to have feelings for each other, as if the Captain should keep her emotions locked away. As the lift started to slow, Vausees allowed a sigh to escape her lips, “This is stupid,” she said as she moved over to Debrah, “I am the fucking Captain and if I want to have a relationship I damn sure will,” she said as she leaned over and kissed Debrah just before the doors opened. She then walked off the lift, leaving a blushing and shocked Debrah standing there. 

Cody looked at the door of the lift and cocked his head to the side. As he moved to investigate a hand stopped him, as it was on his arm. He looked up at Vausees who shook her head. “Give her a moment,” she said in a lowered voice. He nodded as he looked into the lift from where he stood and saw Debrah trying to collect herself. He looked back at Vausees and shook his head, “What did you do?” He asked. Vausees motioned for him to follow and he did. 

They entered into Vausees ready room and Cody waited for the door to close. He gave her a go on look and for the first time Vausees was at a loss for words. Cody crossed his arms over his chest as he waited. Vausees looked up at him and her cheeks started to turn red as she could tell that he was waiting for her answer. Clearing her throat she told him about what had just happened in the lift and a little bit about what had happened a few hours ago. Cody stood there with a shocked look of his own on his face. He shook his head and smiled, “It’s about damn time you moved on Vausees,” he said as he placed a hand on her shoulder, “We were all worried about you,” he stated as he referred to the bridge crew, mostly referencing her friends.

“Don’t worry Cody, I think things are about to get interesting on this ship,” she said with a wink. She had heard the rumors of how he and Zyvia had been seen together last night in the Senior Officers Lounge, and she approved of this new Cody that stood before her.

After a moment she straightened herself out and informed Cody of the orders that she had been given, omitting the parts that she couldn’t tell him. Cody nodded and stated that he would inform the crew while she continued to prepare for the mission at hand. She thanked him and sat down at her desk. Cody exits the ready room and walks over the Trever.

“Mister Nief, make the ship ready for departure and inform the station that we will be departing.”

Trever nods as his fingers float over the console before him, “Aye, Commander.”

Cody looks about the bridge at the crew. He can see excitement in their eyes. He takes a breath and smiles, “We have our orders, and we are heading back to the Gamma,” he states

The bridge suddenly feels as if it is buzzing as the crew begins to smile, a couple of the younger Junior Officers whoop amongst themselves. Cody nods to the crew and turns to Debrah. 

“Miss Fergouson,” he looks at her for a moment as she looks back, waiting for his order. “Will you open the ship wide intercom please.

“Aye, Commander,” she replies as she presses a glowing icon on the console before her. “There you go Commander,” she states as the intercom activates. 

“Attention crew,” he says, “I have just gotten word from our Captain that we have orders to return to the Gamma Quadrant,” he states as he looks about the bridge. “We have been ordered to locate a world that isn’t on any known charts. A world that was once inhabited by a race known as the Tkon,” he states as he lowers his eyes to look at the bridge crew. All of them are holding the same expression, except for Debrah. He looks at her for a moment and dismisses it for the time being. He then continues to inform them that they are going to have a long journey ahead of them, and that it is not going to be a simple matter as much about what they are looking for is unknown to him. He then thanks the crew for the work that they have done so far before he looks back at Debrah and nods. She closes the intercom as the door to the Captain’s Ready Room opens and Vausees steps out. She looks over at Debrah for a moment, who has looked up from her console, and smiles with a nod.

She walks over to her chair and takes a seat, “Mister Neif, have you been cleared for departure?” She asks Trever.

“Yes, Captain,” he says, “Just waiting on your orders.”

“Take us out and back to the Gamma Quadrant, Mister Nief,” she orders.

Trever’s fingers glide over the holographic console before him as he sets in the course for the Bajoran wormhole, “Course plotted in, Captain,” he states as the Heracles begins to leave Deep Space Nine and head out into the area where the entrance to the wormhole is.

As they grow nearer to the spot a bright flash is seen as the mouth of the wormhole appears. The Heracles enters into the wormhole and disappears from view from the station. A few seconds later the exit of the wormhole appears and once more the Heracles enters the Gamma Quadrant. Trever turns and looks at Vausees, who is focused on the viewscreen.

“Where to, Captain?” he asks as he looks at her.

She continues to look out the viewscreen and her thoughts are on where to head. That part had been left out of the Admirals message to her. Vausees thought about it as she looked at Trever and smiled, “Pick a star and plot a course,” she said as she leaned back and looked to her right at Cody, who nodded. “Let’s see what secret’s this Quadrant holds, and take them for the fleet.” She states as she turns back to Trever.

A smile crosses Trevers mouth as he turns back to his console, “Aye, Captain.” He looks out into the coldness of space and then without looking at the console, brings up the navigation portion. Taking a glance down at what the sensor logs had given him he finds a system in a sector that is just outside of the known area of charted space and taps it. “Sensor logs have detected an unknown sector just outside of the star charts,“ he says as he lays in the course. The computer gives him the time of arrival, which he sends to the Captain, and turns to look at her. “We should arrive in about a week.”

‘Perfect’, Vausees thought as she stood up, “Good work, Mister Nief,” she said as she walked over and squeezed his shoulder. She then looked about the bridge and nodded. Her eyes land on Cody, “Mister Bettencourt the bridge is yours.” With that she exits the bridge into her ready room.

—Three months ago—

Stardate: 74161.2

Time: unknown

Location: Somewhere in the Gamma Quadrant

A figure passed under the glow of light that floated in the air on technology that had long been forgotten about, but was a common sight everywhere. Their head was concealed in the shadows of the hood that they wore which held the light away from their face. When it appeared that one would be able to see who was hidden in the darkness that the hood gave this figure, it would never come, as if the light was repelled away by some unknown and unseen force. 

The figure stopped at a corner of two intersecting streets and looked about. The area was free of anyone who would have seen them. After a few moments they turned away and headed down the street, and entered into a store, which had a single large front facing window that was glowing behind boards that had been placed over it, a single word pulsated ‘Ekie’pok’. 

The owner looked up as the door alerted them that they had an owner, however, when they looked into the holographic image of their storefront nothing appeared. Cocking their head to the side they stood up and moved toward the exit of their office. As soon as they made it to the exit they came face to face with a figure dressed from head to toe in leather and metal. When they tried to see who was hidden behind the shadows of the hood their head started to pound until they looked away. 

The figure reached up and lowered the hood back. Long white hair, which shimmered other hues when moved, contoured smooth pale skin. The figure then reached back up and removed a visor from their eyes, which appeared as white as their hair but also shimmered with other hues. As the visitor slipped the visor into the folds of the leather jacket, the air around them wavered for a moment and a female form could be seen. 

The owner, who had been shaking their head and rubbing both sides of their head, finally looked up and saw who was standing in front of them. Their eyes bulged out of their head, and they had to look away.

A voice then spoke, its tone was angelic and demonic at the same time, as if two different beings inhabited the same body, “Look at me, Spo’,” the woman said as she placed her gauntleted hands on top of the countertop that separated the two people.

The sound of her voice caused the owner to cringe and crush their eyes shut, both actions were involuntary. The owner’s body shook as they tried to force their body to comply with this woman’s request. Again the owner heard the woman’s voice, compelling them to comply with the previous request. The owner opened their mouth to speak and a small near-whisper of a voice was found, “I wish to comply, but I have heard whisper and rumor that your kind, or more spoken your soldiers, kill all those that look upon them.”

A soft sigh escapes the woman’s mouth as she lowers her head with irritation, her white, shimmering hair falls into her face as she shakes her head. ‘One of days my people are going to be extinct’, she thought to herself as she slowly looked up at the owner, she could feel, smell and taste the fear that emanated off them. “I give you my word,” she said in as calming of a voice as she could muster, “as a zealot of the Τοv Oeοu, that I will not harm a cell on or in your body or soul.”

The owner, still shaking visibly, allowed, through sheer will, one of their eyes to open and peer upon the woman. When they saw that she was indeed holding true to her word they relaxed, but still kept their guard up. “As custom to my people before we conduct whatever business you have I must know your name,” the owner stated, sweat was visible on their skin and clothing being this close to an Angelikós Zilotís, or the common tongue, an ArchAngel. Though the woman had dropped a portion of her disguise moments ago, she still had her wings hidden from view. But those that knew of the Angelikós Zilotís, knew what to look for. The owner could see the shimmering of the air, that most would have missed, and could almost make out the semi-translucent wings, like the rest of her people, theirs were white with shimmering hues, however her’s didn’t shimmer and were in fact not even white but black, and had they been visible would have engulfed all sources of light from around her.

The woman lifted her armored hand and placed it on her forehead, only two fingers actually touched her forehead while the rest were curled into the palm of her hand, she bowed her head in a sign of respect. “I am called Thý’ella,” she announced. Her name when translated meant Deathstorm. She then lowered her hand from her forehead and nodded to the owner.

The gesture was returned in kind, if not a bit shaky from the closeness that they were to Thý’ella. “I am called, ypállilos,” they returned as their hand lowered as well. 

ypállilos knew that if an Angelikós Zilotís was in their show that the meeting was of a certain business that needed to take place away from prying eyes and ears. Lucky for them the shop was empty except for the two of them. Reaching under the countertop they pressed a button which caused the door to lock and the open sign to shift to close. Thý’ella turned her head to the door and then back to ypállilos, as she realized that it had been locked. Anger registered in her eyes for a moment until ypállilos explained. She then nodded and followed them when a door to her left opened.

After a few moments in a lift that lowered the two into the belly of the shop, which was located below grounds, ypállilos and Thý’ella stepped into a dimly light, room that had holographic monitors and a steel table at its center. ypállilos took a seat at one side of the table, their back was to the monitors and Thý’ella took the seat in front of them. 

“So what does the Zealot have for me this late of night?” They asked.

Thý’ella reached into the folds of her leather jacket and pulled out two items, one looked to be a storage device and the other an idol of some sort of figure. Both items were something that ypállilos dealt in and sought after the most in all of the items that they acquired. 

“Tkon,” was all that Thý’ella said, the word caused the harsher side of her voice to sound even more deeper and demonic, nearly drowning out the angelic portion of her voice.

The look in ypállilos’ eyes had a look of entrancement, as if they were spell-bound by the two ancient items that both of their people have worshiped for eon’s. No one knew where the Tkon had disappeared to, or if they still existed at all.

Thý’ella then spoke, “I smuggled these two items off of an outpost that once belonged to a people called Star…Fleet.”

ypállilos’ interest peaked upon hearing that name. “I hear whisper and rumor that Star…Fleet is once more looking for items such as these,”: they said as their hands picked up the idol and held it up to a low hanging light, for inspection. As they inspected the idol they shook their head and set it back down.

Thý’ella continued the conversation by adding that the Romulans, Cardassians, Klingons, and even the Ferengi were also interested in the same items. ypállilos nodded in agreement to what she had just stated.

Stardate: 74448

Time: 1046 hours

Location: Gamma Quadrant

USS Heracles

The Heracles sat motionless on the outskirts of the system that Trever had a week earlier set a course for. 

“Jonton, what do our sensors and scans tell us about this system?” Vausees asked her Chief Operations Officer.

Jonton had been scanning the system for about half an hour since their arrival. He looked up at the Captain, “From what the Heracles is telling me there are twelve planets and three of them are class “M”,” he said as he looked back at the sensor logs, “What I find strange is that they system’s sun should not be able to support such an amount of planets as its gravitational yield is to small.”

“Not to mention, Captain,” Zozzak, the ships Chief Science Officer, spoke up from his console which showed the three “M” class planets, “the three planets are too far from the “Goldy Locks” area of this system, one of which happens to be near the edge of the system,” he stated as he turned and tapped on the holographic icon on the monitor, which sent the information from his console to the main viewscreen, changing it from the small red dwarf to the system’s planetary layout.

Vausees looked at the viewscreen and the displayed imagery of the system. Both of her officer’s were correct in their statements of the system, “How about advanced species?” She asked them. 

Both Jonton and Zozzak turned back to their consoles and began scanning the system for their Captain’s request. And in perfect sync they turned from their consoles and stated “yes”.

Zozzak looked at Jonton and nodded, giving him the floor to speak, seeing as they had both come to the same conclusion. Vausees hearing the two officer’s speaking in unison turned her head and looked at them both. When Zozzak gave the floor to Jonton she turned her attention to him.

“Go on Lieutenant,” she said to the man.

Jonton nodded and stated that all three of the planets were a part of the same two species, and that he was detecting interplanetary signals coming from all three, as if there was a trade system, or shipping lanes in place. Zozzak nodded in agreement to what the Lieutenant had said, which interested Vausees greatly.

“I don’t suppose that they have satellites?” she asked as she looked at the two men.

They both nodded their heads in excitement at her question. Once more they both say in unison that the systems communications system was highly advanced. Vausees pinched her nose at the sound of their synced voices, and couldn’t help but laugh at it. 

“Mister Jonton, would you..” However, before she could finish her request the Heracles klaxons sounded and the lights on the bridge dimmed and flashed red. “Red Alert!” She yelled out as she swung herself into the central chair and looked at the viewscreen as it switched from the system layout to a large ship heading their way, trailed and flanked by three smaller ships.

“Lieutenant Jonton, hail the lead ship,” she ordered.

Jonton was already in the process of hailing the lead ship when she gave the order, “Already on it, Captain,” he stated as he looked up from his console to the main viewscreen. 

The screen shifted from the ships to a battle scarred figure in a hooded leather jacket. Something about the figure suggested that they were not showing their true self.

“I am Captain Vausees Vax of the United Federation of Planets.” She said to the figure on her main viewscreen.

“Star…Fleet?” An angelic demonic voice responded.

This sound confused and sent a shiver down the entire bridge crew’s spines. Vausees shook it off and stood up. “Yes we are part of Starfleet,” she said as she took a step toward the viewscreen, “And you are?”

“Thý’ella of the Angelikós Zilotís,” she responded. The Universal translator displayed near the bottom of the viewscreen, a translation of the words that she had just spoken: `DeathStorm’ and ‘ArchAngel’.

Vausees saw the translation of the figure’s name and what she suspected was the figure’s people. She nodded to the figure, “Thý’ella, why do you have your weapons aimed and armed at us?” She asked the figure on her viewscreen.

It was then that the figure on the viewscreen lowered the hood on the leather jacket and the disguise that they had surrounding themselves. On the viewscreen a woman appeared with black semi-translucent wing’s. Vausees was intrigued by this woman and it shown on her face as she looked at the woman.

Thý’ella looked off to her left and then back to Vausees, “All weapons have been lowered, Captain.”

Vausees looked back at Jonton who looked up from his console. He nodded that the ships that they seen on the viewscreen a moment ago had disarmed their weapons and had lowered them. She looks back at Thý’ella. “Thank you, Thý’ella.”

With a nod Thý’ella thanked her as well. “What can the Angelikós Zilotís do for Star…Fleet,” she asked Vausees.

Vausees looked at Thý’ella for a moment, “I and one other would like to meet with you in person, if that is acceptable.”

Thý’ella looked at Vausees for a moment and nodded, “That is acceptable,” she said, “Would twenty minutes be fine with you, Captain?” She asked as she looked once more off screen at someone.

“That will do just fine, Thý’ella.”

The hail closed and the viewscreen changed from Thý’ella to the three ships, which had started to move closer. As they neared the Heracles the lead ship manuvered to the port side. Vausees looked at Cody, “The bridge is your’s,” she said as she looked at Debrah, “Follow me Commander.

Debrah nodded as she followed Vausees. They both left the bridge on the main lift and headed down one deck. Debrah looked at Vausees as they walked together. She knew exactly where they were going.

“Something on your mind, babe?” Debrah asked as they walked into the Senior Officer Lounge.

Vausees took a seat by one of the large bulkhead windows and looked out into the cold bleak darkness of space. Debrah sat across from her and slipped her hand into her’s. She could tell that something was on her mind, but she could also tell that she didn’t need to push the matter either. Vausees looked around the lounge and was again grateful that no one was within ear shot of them.

“Debbie,” she said as she looked at Debrah, “I need you to always be by my side, no matter where I go or what I do.”

This caught Debrah off guard for a moment, but she understood what Vausees was asking of her. “Vausees, babe, I will never leave yourself. You are after all the reason I came back to the fleet. I know that now,” she said softly as she gently caressed  the top of Vauesses hand with her thumb. “I’ll make you deal, babe,” she said as she slipped her free hand up and lifted Vausees chin up to see into her eyes, her gorgeous light blue eyes. “We make it out of this alive and I will move my things in with you.”

Vausees eyes brightened up and shimmered as tears threatened to break free from her eyes. “Are you sure?” She asked as she continued looked into Debrah’s eyes.

Debrah smiles as she brings Vausees hand up to her lips and gently kisses it. “I am sure, babe.”

Stardate: 74448

Time: 1046 hours

Stardate: 74448

Time: 1046 hours

The Heracles matched its position with the Angelikós Zilotís’ Battleship and extended an umbilical over the a hatch. Vausees watched the process happen from a monitor next to the hatch. When a solid seal was made the monitor changed color from a red to a green. REaching up she tapped her ComBadge, “Cody keep us in a stable orientation with their ship,” she said and then tapped her ComBadge once more.

Thý’ella greeted both Vausees and Debrah at the hatch to their ship. She placed two fingers on her forehead and bowed slightly. Vausees was unsure of what that gesture meant but mirrored it as best as she could. The three women walked away from the hatch, with three other hooded figures flanking them. Vausees could only assume that the other hooded figures where of  Thý’ella species. As they walked, Thý’ella spoke of the outpost that she had smuggled from, and of her most recent endeavours from there. 

“Thý’ella,” she said as she placed a hand gently on the womans forearm, which caused the other hooded figures to reach for their weapons, only to stop when Thý’ella looked at them. “Have you or your people figured out what is on the data storage device yet?” She asked.

Thý’ella shook her head, “I am afraid not, it seems to be locked and encrypted by some unknown language that we have never seen,” she confessed as she stood there in the corridor with the two ladies. 

“Could we possibly take a look at it and see if we could decode and unlock the information on that storage device.” Debrah said from behind Vausees.

Thý’ella looked at the woman that had spoken and then to one of the hooded figures. The figure departed the corridor, only to reappear a few moments later holding the storage device and the idol. Thý’ella took the items from the hooded figure and gestured once more. 

Vausees instantly recognized the idol to be of Tkon orgin. She watched as Thý’ella handed the storage device to Debrah. She then turned to her, “Head back to our quarters and start decrypting that device, I’ll join you shortly, Commander,” she hated to pull rank on her but knew that she needed to show some form of order in from of Thý’ella and the other hooded figures.

Debrah understood the situtation as it way, “Aye, Captain,” she replied as Vausees turned to face Thý’ella once more.

“Anything that we find we will share with you,” she said as she thought to herself, ‘unless it has to do with any locations or omega.’

Thý’ella smiled and shook her head. “Captain,” she said and was corrected by Vausees.

“Please Thý’ella call me Vausees.”

Thý’ella once more nodded, “Vausees would you permit some of my crew to interact with your crew on your ship. I would allow it on mine.”

Vausees could see no harm in the gesture and permitted it, “By all means, I accept under the conditions of not being in secured areas, which I am sure you do not want my crew to go into on your ship,” she said and Thý’ella nodded too.

***

Debrah sat in the Captains Cabin, her attention was buried into the monitor of a console and the holographic console as well. She squeezed her eyes shut as shew pinched the bridge of her nose. She had been staring at the monitor and the holographic display for hours. A soft groan escaped her lips as she opened her eyes and looked back at Vausees, she lay half covered in a dark blue blanket, her right leg and the back of her upper body were uncovered. A smile crossed her lips as she looked at her. 

“Computer, create an algorithm that searches for patterns in all known and hypothetical languages,” she requested, “Also combine language patterns, and alert me if anything is within a high probability.”

The computer beeped in acknowledgment. Rolling her neck, Debrah stood up and turned to look at Vausees. She slipped completely out of her nightclothes and pulled the covers away from Vausees. As her skin came into view she slipped into bed with her and kissed her skin with the Trill patterns. Starting with her ankle and slowly moved up her body.

Vausees felt the warmth of Debrah’s lips on her body and the coolness of the ambient temperature of the room kiss her skin after Debrah had. A soft moan and sigh left her lips as she turned over giving Debrah a view of her bare body. The next thing that she knew Debrah had her own body pressed on top of hers, and her mouth sealed around hers.

Both women laid together, Vausees was pressed up against Debrah’s body, her fingers were intertwined with Debrah’s. A soft chime caused Vausees to turn over and look into Debrah’s eyes, which had opened due to the beep. She kissed Vausees nose as she slipped over to the chair in front of the monitor, a silk sheet was all that she had covering her body.

Tapping on the monitor the holographic display shown a flashing red series of symbols. A moment later the symbols shifted to a translation that shown the word, ‘Tkon’. Debrah tapped the red symbols and the holographic display changed to a star chart and a golden ring around a planet.

“Babe,” she said as she turned and looked at Vausees who had sat up against the wall of the cabin when Debrah had left the bed.

Vausees looked up at her, “Hmm?” She responded as she moved over toward Debrah. She wrapped her arms around her as she looked at the display. She kissed her cheek before she spoke, “Our next course.” She tapped a button on the desktop, “Commander Bettencourt set course for the system that I have sent you,” she said as she sent the holographic information to the Command chair.

***

Cody had his eyes on the display of a PADD when he heard the intercom chirp. He looked up at the main viewscreen as he heard the Captain’s voice. He pressed down on the armchair console and it flipped open, activating as it did. He looked at the system and then tapped the intercom. “Mister Nief, if you would please report to the bridge. I know it’s an hour before your shift but I need you here sir.”

A moment later the door to the main lift opened and Trever entered the bridge, he was wearing running gear as he entered. “Commander?”

Cody looked over at Trever, “Lieutenant, please take the conn and plot in a course for the system on the console.”

Trever was already on the move as the Commander asked him to take the conn. He took the conn and entered in the system that was being displayed on the holographic display.

“Course and route laid in.”

“Confirmed Mister Nief.”

“We should arrive in three hours, Commander.”

Cody nodded and tapped on the display and the glowing holographic icon for the Captain’s Cabin. “Captain we should arrive in three hours.”

Vausees looked at Debrah, who had just told her how long it should take to get to the system. Debrah was smiling as she looked back at Vausees. “Acknowledge, Commander. I will be on the bridge in forty-five minutes, also let Thý’ella know what we have found,” she said as she reached past Debrah and deactivated the intercom to her cabin. She then whispers into Debrah’s ear, what she wanted to do to her in the next forty minutes. Debrah stood up, allowing the sheet to fall from her body, she turns and lifts Vausees into her arms and carries her back to the bedroom.

***

The Heracles dropped out of warp and slowly came to a stop just outside of the system. A moment later Thý’ella’s battleship arrived from warp. The viewscreen changed from a trinary system, two huge super nova’s that circled a white dwarf, that was drawing superheated material off of the other suns, to the face of Thý’ella. “Commander Bettencourt,” she said as the door to the main lift opened and Vausees stepped out, followed closely by Debrah.

Her attention was then drawn to Vausees and her white skin turned slightly red when she saw the slight glow from the two women that had entered the bridge. 

“Vausees it is good to see you again and I would like to ask why we are here?”

Vausees noticed the change in color, even if it was subtle, on Thý’ella, “Good to see you too,” she said and continued to speak, “This is where the storage device led us to.”

Thý’ella nodded, “I have an armada on standby should we need them.”

Vausees returned the nod as she tapped an icon on her console. The screen split in two and the system showed itself. 

“Jonton.” That is all she said

Jonton had already been working on the sensor logs before Vausees had said anything. He looked up at her. “Trinary system that supports a number of planets,” he stated. “From what I can gather only one supported life at one point but now is a desolate barren rock. A few structures, ruins lie on the surface and below it.”

Suddenly the lighting on the bridge dimmed and the klaxons blared. Red flashes pulsated over the bulkheads, consoles, and flooring. Vausees looked from the viewscreens to Debrah.

“A single Romulan warbird decloaking off our bow.”

Sure enough, a Romulan warbird appeared out of space in front of the Heracles. Thý’ella’s eyes widened for a split second. 

Vausees looked back at Debrah, “Hail them Miss Fergouson.”

“I already have, Captain,” she stated, “I think they are choosing to ignore the hail.”

“Thý’ella, have your ships begin the warm-up of their warp drives, we may need them,” Vausees said to Thý’ella.

Thý’ella looked at Vausees, “Captain we can take this single ship.”

“If it was just one ship, yes, but I have a good feeling that there is more than one ship cloaked out there.”

“We do not detect anything other than the one ship,”  Thý’ella stated.

“If you know the Romulans as Starfleet does, then you wouldn’t underestimate them.”

Thý’ella nodded and looked off-screen for a moment. “The Armada is prepared to make the jump to here.”

Vausees nods as the wings on the Romulan ship shift slightly, and several more Romulan ships decloak in an attack formation around the first ship. Thý’ella saw this and gave the order for her Armada to jump. Within seconds, the space behind the Heracles and Thý’ella’s Battleship, the Boulóni Día, opened up into a swirling vortex of shimmering lights, a wormhole. Through it flowed ship after ship after ship. The Angelikós Zilotís Armada all took up defensive and offensive formations around the Heracles and Boulóni Día Battleship.

Suddenly the main viewscreen on the Heracles changed to a Romulan Commander, “Captain Vausees, I believe that you have something on that ship that belongs to the Romulans.”

“And what might that be, Commander?” She asked as she knew all too well what that item was, and she would be damned if it was going to end up in Romulan hands.

“Captain, we know that you are holding a figurine of some significant value,” the commander stated, “Let us not shed blood over it. Hand it over and we will depart this sector.”

“Over my dead body,” she replies.

Suddenly a massive ship decloaks behind the Romulan fleet. Vausees looked at it and then calmly to Debrah. 

“I don’t know what that is Captain,” she said, “However it does share a similar profile to a destroyed Reman vessel that the USS Enterprise-E destroyed in 2379,“ she stated as the Scimitar profile appeared on the console in the Command chair’s armrest.

Vausees looked at the information on the console and agreed, “Pass this to the Boulóni Día.”

Debrah nodded as she transmitted the info to Thý’ella’s ship, “Completed, Captain.”

Stardate: 74448

Time: 1120 hours

Location: Gamma Quadrant

USS Heracles

Thý’ella’s and Vausees sat in the conference room with Debrah. She sat there in silence as the two Commanding Officers talked about the Armada’s next move. Thý’ella’s idea was to just fight them off, to either total destruction or until their fleet flee’s. Vausees looked to Debrah, “What do you think Commander?”

Debrah looked up from a monitor that is inset into the conference table. “It might be the only solution, Captain,” she said as she looked from Vausees to Thý’ella, “Since we know that the Romulan Commander isn’t going to budge until the Tkon idol is in the Romulans hands.”

Thý’ella’s nodded to Debrah while Vausees remained silent with her fingers steepled. She wished that there was a way to negotiate with the Romulan Commander, but she knew that both Thý’ella and Debrah were correct.

As the three exited out of the Conference Room, Vausees took the Command chair as Debrah took her position behind Vausees. The two looked at Thý’ella’s as a shimmering of light surrounded her and she was transported to her ship.

“Mister Bettencourt please make the ship ready for battle,” she ordered as she looked at Cody.

Cody nodded and opened a ship wide and announced that the ship was being set to red alert. He then tapped the display on the console of the Command chair and the ship was placed into a Combat status. 

Vausees tapped the hailing icon on the holographic display of her armchair and Thý’ella appeared on the viewscreen. 

“The Armada is ready.”

Vausees nodded as the hail closed.

Debrah informed Vausees that Thý’ella and her Armada were moving closer to the Heracles.

“Jonton, hail the Romulan Commander,” she ordered.

Jonton did as he was ordered and hailed the massive Romulan ship. After a couple of tries Jonton looked up at Vausees, “No response Captain.”

“Then lock onto the closest warbird,” she ordered.

***

The Heracles and Boulóni Día Battleship all armed and took aim at various Romulan Warbirds. Suddenly all hell broke loose as a Romulan Warbird opened fire. The Heracles’ shields flashed as the disrupter impacted on them. 

“Fire!”

The Armada opened fire on the Warbird’s. The Heracles engaged her impulse drive and took evasive action while opening fire, as did the Armada. The Romulan fleet took flight as the Armada did and it was pure chaos. Within a matter of seconds half of the Romulan Fleet was vaporized. 

Vausees hailed Thý’ella, “Am I reading this right,” she said as she looked at the sensor logs, “Are your ships single firing some form of Energy based weapons that can completely destroy a ship in a single blast?” She asked.

Thý’ella nodded as her Battleship launched a volley of warheads and impacted on the hull of the massive Romulan ship. The ship was sliced in two as the warheads exploded. What appeared to be energy discharges erupted out of each warhead as they exploded. 

Jonton looked at his console, “Captain that ship is disabled, and the rest of the Romulan fleet is flee,” he stated as the remaining Romulan ships warped out. 

As the Heracles moved into place, in front of the disabled Romulan ship it suddenly exploded as all of the Armada unleashed their weapons on the remainder of the Romulan ship. Vausees eyes widened as she watched the explosion before her on the viewscreen. It changed to Thý’ella, “It’s finished,” she stated as she looked at Vausees. 

Vausees nodded and just before the comms closed, “Thank you Thý’ella,”

Thý’ella sat on the central chair on the bridge of the Boulóni Día. The Heracles sat on the holographic display that was before her, in the dark. She brought up the Armada on the display and signaled for them to depart. Like before the space behind the Armada exploded in a shimmering of hues as they swirled around a central point. The Armada flowed into the swirl and disappeared.

“Captain Vausees, myself and the Armada are at your beckoning call,” she said as she entered into the wormhole, “should you need us again all you need to do is call us.” she stated just before the wormhole disappeared.

Stardate: 74448

Time: 1156 hours

Location: Gamma Quadrant – Megara

USS Heracles

As the Heracles settled into an orbit around the only planet that had at one point supported an ecosystem that had oxygen. The ship was sending constant scans of the barren rock to the Command Control Room that was located just off the back side of the bridge. Vausees stood there bent over the holographic imaging of the planetoid. She studied the imagery and the readouts before she turned and headed back to the bridge.

“Cody, Debrah, Charles meet me in the Conference Room,” she said as she reached down and tapped the intercom on her armchair, “Zyvia, report to the Conference Room,” she tapped the intercom again.

—ten minutes later—

In the conference room Vausees and the Officers that she had called upon sat in silence, each person looking at Vausees and each other. Vausees thought about what she was going to say as she sat with the group.

“I and you four are going down to that barren rock that we are in orbit of,” she said as she looked at them.

“What are we looking for, Captain?” Cody asked as he looked at her.

“Anything that might look like this?” Debrah said as she set the Tkon idol on the conference table.

Zyvia and Cody looked at each other and then back at the idol. Vausees saw the reaction from them and cocked her head to the side.

“Something on your mind?” she asked both Cody and Zyvia.

Cody nodded to Zyviz, “The scans from the holographic table show similar items in a room below the surface,” she said as she brought up the current scans of the planetoid. She brought up the room that she had told the Captain about. Sure enough, scattered throughout the room were figurines and items from the same material as the idol. 

“Good work, both of you,” she said.

“Charles, what can you tell me about the structural integrity of the ruins on this rock?”

He looked at her, having looked up from the console in front of him, “Not much I am afraid, other than it is intact.”

“I can assume that there is no breathable oxygen on or inside these ruins?”

“I can’t give that information either as the sensors are all over the place,” he stated as he continued to look at his Captain.

Vausees sat back for a moment, her fingers steepled as she weighed out their options and the information that had been given to her. She looked to her left at Debrah, who had her eyes on Vausees the entire time the meeting had been going on.

“What’s your thoughts, Commander Fergouson?” She asked as she continued to look at Debrah.

Debrah sat there in silence for a moment more as she thought about what could happen. All manners of danger came to her mind, but none of them seemed to fit and all of them seemed to fit. 

“We don’t have much information on the Tkon or their technology, however, I believe that there is something on this rock that could point us towards that information,” she said as she rocked the back of her chair looking at the only reason for her existence in the eyes. “Hell for all we know some of what we are looking for could potentially be on this rock. The risk is high, that is for sure, but so is the reward.”

Vausees nodded as she listened to her love. Her mind was on the mission at hand as she thought about what Debrah had just stated. She then looked at the group before her, “Join me in the main hangar in twenty minutes, suit up in EVA’s and be prepared to shuttle down onto the surface.” She then turned to Charles. “I hope you can do some fancy flying if we need it, Chief,” she said as she stood up. Charles nodded as Vausees dismissed the group. 

As the group left the bridge, Vausees tapped Trever on the shoulder once more. “Trever I am leaving my ship in your hands again.”

He nodded as he stood up and took the Command chair once more. Vausees knew she could count on him like before to keep her ship flying.

***

In the shuttle Charles’ hands flew over the console of the craft. He piloted the shuttle toward the surface of the barren rock, his speed was more of a combat pilot landing than of a shuttle pilot. When the shuttle touched down Vausees tapped his shoulder as she hooked up his oxygen to his helmet. She received two taps, one from Debrah, and the other from Cody, both of which had checked and double checked her suit. Zyvia stood at the ramp with her rifle at the ready, both her and Cody waited until the Captain joined them in the rear of the shuttle. 

A moment later the ramp lowered after the pressure in the rear compartment equalized. Cody and Zyvia stepped off the ramp first and scouted the area.

“No obvious defenses,” Debrah stated as she moved up behind them. Vausees followed her and Charles brought the rear.

“Tricorders,” Vausees ordered as she pulled out hers. “Spread out, Cody, take Zyvia and Charles. Keep your comms open.” she said as she looked at Debrah, and nodded. 

“Call out if you find something interesting,” she said as the two groups took off in different directions to cover more ground. 

Vausees and Debrah entered through an opening in the side of a cliff as they followed the holographic scan from the Heracles on their Tricorders. Debrah appeared on the other side of the opening and flipped on a flashlight. She cast the light about the room for a moment before Vausees entered.

“Nothing here, Captain,” she reported as the two headed for a room just off the room that they were in.

***

Cody, and Zyvia looked about a room that had lit up upon entry, the lighting was dim and as far as Charles could tell was run off of an unknown power source that he could not identify. He brought up his tricorder and started to scan the room. He looked at Cody, “I am not sure what is powering these lights or for that matter how they even came on,” he stated as he looked back down at the tricorder. “Unless our equipment is malfunctioning, I think that there is something here that is disrupting our tricorders.”

Both Zyvia and Cody checked their tricorders and agreed with the Chief. “Other than the scans from the Heracles, we are not able to confirm anything in these rooms.” Cody says to Vausees via the open comms, which they were lucky were still functioning.

***

Vausees and Debrah stood in a very large chamber, which was not on the Heracles scans.

“Away team relocate to my location,” she said as she and Debrah looked up and into the darkness of the room, as the dim lighting in the room could not reach the ceiling. 

In the center of the room stood what appeared to be a terminal of some sort. Or at least that is what both Vausees and Debrah deducted from the appearance. A moment later Cody and the other two with him entered into the chamber with Vausees and Debrah. They didn’t say anything to Cody and his team when they arrived. They wanted to see what they came up with, and sure enough everyone was on the same assumption about the object in the center of the room.

Charles moved up next to it and attempted to sync with it, with his tricorder. He let out a triumphant yell when the two devices connected. 

“We’re in business, Captain.”

Vausees patted him on the back, “Great job, Chief,” she said as she leaned over to take a look, “How much time do you need?” she asked him.

“None,” he stated as he closed his tricorder. “It’s all transferred.”

This shocked Vausees, “Do you know what it is that your transferred?”

He shook his head, “Not until we get it to a secured server on the Heracles and have her translate and decipher it,” he stated as he looked at Vausees.

Vausees looked about the room, she didn’t see anything of interest or value. “Ok wrap it up and let’s get back to the shuttle.

Stardate: 74510.65

Time: 0852 hours

Location: Gamma Quadrant – A few days outside of Angelikós

USS Heracles

It has been several weeks since the crew of the Heracles had been in orbit around Megara. Vausees had contacted Thý’ella a few days ago and asked her if they could use the Angelikós system, which Zozzak, her Chief Science Officer, had designated. He made sure that it was logged into the ship’s memory banks.

Thý’ella had given Vausees permission; she even liked how Vausees crew member had named the system. That had been a few days ago. Vausees sat in the Command seat and her focus was on the main viewscreen. The darkness was vast before them as they moved through it, under impulse. 

A hand came down on her shoulder and she looked over and saw Debrah. She cocked her head to the side.

“Captain, Zozzak, has informed us that he has decoded only a portion of the data that we collected from Megara.”

Vausees nodded as she returned her attention to the viewscreen. She did not like how long it was taking to decode the information this time. “Thank you Miss Fergouson,” she said, “Let him know that I am proud of his work and to keep it up.” Debrah nodded as she relayed the message before she called for her assistant.

Debrah stood in front of her Captain. “Vausees.”

Vausees looked away from the viewscreen. Her light blue eyes looked into Debrah’s bright green eyes. She stood up knowing exactly what Debrah wanted. She looked at Cody who had been sitting next to her. “Cody the bridge is yours, inform me immediately if Zozzak completes the decoding.”

Cody looked up from the holopad that he had brought with him and nodded to her. “Have fun you two.” he said as they left the bridge.

***

Vausees and Debrah sat cuddled in their quarters. Vausees had her arm’s this time around Debrah as they sat together. Debrah looked up at Vausees.

“Penny for your thoughts?”

“I am not sure what it is but I feel like something is off.”

Debrah raised up and turned to look into her eyes. 

“What do you mean?” She asked as she continued to look at her.

“I am not a very patient person, babe,” she said as she caressed the side of Debrah’s face.

Debrah closed her eyes to the touch, “You’re waiting for something to happen. Like what happened on Archanis V.”

Vausees nodded; she had a bad experience with relationships, let alone romantic ones. She knew that Debrah knew about them and that she was glad that she was accepting about her past.

“You don’t have to be so worried about us, Vausees,” she said as she lowered herself back into her body. 

Vausees closed her eyes and thought to herself, ‘I hope you are right.’

***

Zozzak had lowered his head a few hours ago as the dull hum from the Warp Core lulled him to sleep. He had just started to dream when the computer chirmed at him. He cracked his eyes open and looked up at the holographic display. His head snapped up as he looked at the display. An excitement consumed him as he read the displayed information. Reaching over he tapped the controls next to the display.

“Lieutenant Zozzak to the Bridge.”

Cody had been looking over the day shift logs when the intercom on the bridge sounded. He listened for a moment and responded. 

Zozzak was in such excitement that he stammered over his findings, and Cody had to have him take a couple of deep breaths before he could repeat what he had found on the data that they had recovered from Megara.

Cody smiled from ear to ear as he listened to what the Lieutenant had to say. He then ordered Zozzak to report to the Conference Room. As the intercom disconnected he tapped a white glowing holographic icon on the armrest.

“Captain Vausees.”

***

Vausees and Debrah had been under the covers when the chime came through to their quarters. Debrah had heard it and with her eyes still closed answered for Vausees. “She is asleep, Commander, what can I do for you?” she asked. 

Cody was caught off guard for a moment, “I have some news for her,” he stated as he leaned back in the Command seat.

Vausees placed a hand on Debrah’s back, “Zozzak,” is all that she said as she laid there in the warmth of their bed.

Cody nodded as he confirmed. “Seems like he might have found something of great use to the Federation,” he said as he sat there, “I have ordered him to meet in the Conference Room.”

Vausees sat up and looked at Debrah, her bright green eyes glowed in the dim lighting of their room. A smile crossed both of their mouths as they sat there for a moment.

“We will be there shortly, Commander,” Debrah said as she closed the intercom in their room.

***

Vausees sat in her comfortable leather bound chair as she listened to her Chief Science Officer explain his findings. On a holographic display was a hovering upper torso of Thý’ella; she had been contacted via the newly established hyperspace communications network that surrounded the Angelikós system. Debrah had moved one of the seats away from the table and into a slightly darkened corner. She had chosen to remain silent during this conference. 

Zozzak explained how another map was hidden in the data that they had recovered and how the computer had found it using the information that Thý’ella had given them. He also stated that it appeared that each outpost had a small portion of a larger map. He brought up his findings on the room’s main display.

On the display, a rotating image of the Gamma Quadrant came into view. It showed all of what the Federation had discovered so far, as well as Angelikós, which was surrounded by a lot of lonely darkness. Zozzak then tapped on a PADD and the two maps that had been discovered, one from Thý’ella and the other from the away team that had been on Megara. A flight play could be seen as soon as the two maps were displayed. 

“It seems as if these two maps coincided with each other,” he stated in an excited tone as he had been waiting to state this to his Captain.

Vausees looked over the Chiefs findings and then up at him. “Chief, pardon me, but I do not see our next destination,” she stated as she looked at him.

He shook his head as she stated this to him. “I know,” he stated, “but I am confident that the computer can extrapolate the course that this person had used,” he said as he once more tapped on the PADD. Sure enough the computer came up with several possible course plots. One of which passed near a system that had one “M” class planet in its system.

“Good work, Lieutenant,” she said as she stood up. “Thý’ella, we will have ourselves a peek into this system and if anything comes up I will contact you.”

Thý’ella nodded and the holographic image of her disappeared. Vausees looked at the group that was at the table. Her excitement showed on her face. She looked over at Trever, “Set the course Lieutenant.” He nodded as he sat there.

When no one moved she nodded, “Dismissed.”

Stardate: 74511.15

Time: 1340 hours

Location: Gamma Quadrant – A Tkon outpost

USS Heracles

Trever had returned to the bridge promptly after his Captain had dismissed the group from the Conference Room. He was already moving like a kid in a candy store; his fingers flew over the holographic display on his console as he plotted the course for the Heracles to take towards its destination that had been provided by the Chief Science Officer.

“Course laid in Captain,” he said as he waited for her orders on a speed.

Vausees nodded, “Warp Nine, Mister Nief,” she said as she slipped back in her seat.

Everyone looked up from what they had been doing as the viewscreen showed the stars that were in front of them stretch out as the Heracles engaged its Warp Engines and entered into warp. The excitement was palpable on the bridge as they finally had their next destination, they hoped.

—Several hours later—

In the darkness of space a flash would have been seen as the Heracles released the warp bubble from around itself as it entered into a new sector and system. It glided into the edge of the system as its impulse drive engaged. Its mat grey hull stood out in the dark inky blackness of space as it slowly slowed to a stop. Sensors emanate from along the nose as it scanned the system before it.

Vausees looked back at Jonton and Zozzak, an anticipation registered in her eyes and face as she waited for one of the two Chiefs to say something. She looked at Debrah, who had a giddy smile on her face, and smiled back at her. She was thankful that at least there was one person on the bridge that she could confine to about the orders that the crew had been given, and not have to hide it completely from her. 

Zozzak turned and nodded at Vausees. “We have a positive scan that the “M” class planet once held Tkon artifacts,” he stated.

Vausees looked over at Jonton who nodded in confirmation. “Good.”

Cody then spoke up. “Bring up the topographical imagery of the area.”

Jonton didn’t waste any time as he did what was requested. The viewscreen shifted from the system to the “M” class planet and then to the area that held the highest concentration of Tkon signature’s. A small outpost was shown on the viewscreen. 

“Definitely appears to be Tkon, if not mostly in ruins and destroyed,” he said as he looked at the viewscreen.

“Or Abandoned,” Debrah and Vausees said in sync. Which caused Vausees to look back at her for a moment before returning her attention back to the viewscreen.

Cody nodded his head to both women as he agreed with them.

“Zoom in on that larger structure just outside of the compound”

Jonton adjusted the viewscreen to the desired request.

“That might provide an obstacle if you want to send an away team,” he stated as the viewscreen showed what looked like a defensive platform.

Vausees looked at it for a moment, “Mister Jonton, are you detecting any energy signatures coming from the compound or the surrounding area?”

“No Ma’am, just the same old interference that we have detected before from Megara.”

She nodded, “Connect with the Angelikós Communications network, and contact Thý’ella,” she ordered.

Jonton tapped on the console and connected with the communication network, “Connected, Captain.”

The viewscreen split in two as Thý’ella appeared, “Thý’ella I believe that we may have found an outpost that belonged to the Tkon. If you would like, we can wait for you to arrive before we proceed,” she said as she looked at the woman.

Thý’ella shook her head no, “Feel free to proceed as you would like Vausees,” she said as she looked at the console before her at the incoming image of the Tkon outpost, “If you need us we will be waiting.”

Vausees nodded as the viewscreen changed back to the outpost. She looked at her bridge crew as she thought about her next move. 

“Cody, Debrah, gear up,” she said as she tapped the icon on the armrest for Engineering, “Chief Tanner, meet me in the main hangar,” she stated just before closing the connection. She then looked at Debrah. “Commander, contact Zyvia and have her meet us in the main hangar as well.”

She then looked at Trever, “Mister Nief the ship is yours.”

He looked back at her and nodded as he stood up and moved to the Command seat.

Debrah nodded as she relayed the message and then followed both Cody and Vausees to the main lift. The trio met up with Charles and Zyvia in the main hangar. Captain Roberts had just stepped out of the shuttle and nodded to Vausees.

“She’s all ready to go Captain,” Kelsie stated. She was glad that she wasn’t a part of this away team as she still remembered the last time that Vausees had volunteered her.

Vausees nodded at Kelsie. “Thank you Captain,” she said as the away team followed her into the shuttle. 

Charles took his seat in the pilot’s seat as Vausees took the co-pilot’s seat. She could have flown them down but she did not have the Chiefs natural skills for this. There was only one other person on the ship that she would have trusted to take them down, but she knew that Kelsie hadn’t quite forgiven her for the last time she had volunteered her.

As the shuttle lifted off and exited out of the hangar, Charles took the controls and set their course for the outpost. As they cleared the atmosphere he adjusted their course after Vausees informed him of the out defense platforms. He had glared at her and remarked that information could have been made useful earlier. She grinned and looked back out the cockpit at the pathway below them, mostly retaken by the vegetation and trees.

In the distance, and still outside of a presumed detection area, stood the monolith of the defensive platform. Looking at the topographic layout of the compound, Vausees indicated where a safe place to land was. Charles nodded and input the coordinates.

A slightly clear area came into view as the shuttle headed for the coordinates. Charles circled the area for a moment as he scanned around it. When he was satisfied with the scan he made for the clearing and landed the shuttle. After a soft jostling the shuttle was on the ground. He looked at Vausees with a grin and a shrug. She shook her head as she stood up and headed for the rear of the shuttle, Charles followed her.

Debrah and Zyvia looked at Charles with a glare in their eyes.

“Think you could have landed us any harder, Chief,” Debrah said. Zyvia nodded as she looked at him.

“I can take us off and do it again,” he said in a joking manner.

Debrah shook her head as she headed for the rear ramp as it lowered. Zyvia and Cody both exited out of the shuttle behind Debrah and Vausees. 

“Chief, stay with the shuttle,” she said as she looked back at Charles. “If we need you I’ll call back.” He nodded as he stood on the top of the ramp.

—A few minutes later—

Vausees knelt behind a tree as she looked over into the clearing just outside of the Outpost. Debrah was next to her peering through the scope on her rifle, it was set for thermal, and she was scanning the area ahead of them. She looked at Vausees.

“Nothing on thermal,” she said as she looked up into a tree where Zyvia had taken too.

Zyvia had scurried up one of the larger trees that encircled the perimeter of the outpost, and like Debrah, she too was scanning the compound in the clearing before them. Reaching up she tapped her ComBadge.

“Nothing moves, and that is freaking me out,” she said as her atenas twitched with irritation.

Vausees nodded, “Return to us Lieutenant,” she ordered as she looked at Cody who had moved into a shadowed area a little further ahead of them.

When Zyvia had returned to where Vausees and Debrah knelt she nodded, “Let’s go.”

The three women joined up with Cody who had not moved a muscle as he visually scanned the area between them and the remains of a guard tower.

“This has a military feel to it, Captain,” he said when he saw her kneel down next to him.

Nodding her head she looked ahead of them as she pulled out a tricorder. “I get that feeling too, Commander.” She looks down at the tricoder and then moves forward.

As the group approaches the tower, Vausees, who had been looking at the tricoder, shakes her head. 

“This tower was blown apart.” She indicates, motioning toward a missing half of the tower, that had been obscured from view until just then. The tricorder was showing faint energy patterns that Vausees had seen before when Thý’ella’s Battleship had fired.

This was starting to make sense. She made a mental note of the information and the group moved further into the outpost. Slowly and meticulously they moved as they headed for the center of the outpost. 

“This looks like a Command Center,” Zyvia stated as they moved toward the center.

Vausees looked towards where Zyvia had mentioned. She then looked at Debrah, “Commander, take the Lieutenant and check it out.”

Debrah nodded and her and Zyvia detached from the group and headed for the building that she had indicated. 

Cody and Vausees continued to the center of the outpost. A few moments later as they entered what appeared to be the outpost’s center, a chirp came from Vausees Combadge.

“Heracles to Captain Vausees.”

Vausees paused as she answered. Trever had been following their progress as they moved. It seemed that Jonton and Zozzak had been able to cut through most of the interference from before. He informed Vausees and Cody that they were close to a power source that had been undetected earlier. He informed them that Zozzak and Jonton would like a sample if not the power source itself. Vausees nodded as she acknowledged the information. “I’ll see what we can do, Lieutenant.,” she stated as both her and Cody moved toward where Trever had indicated the power source was.

As they entered the room where the source was, a sudden flash of light appeared and Zyvia appeared next to Cody. This caused both Vausees and Cody to aim their weapons on her. 

“Lieutenant, how did you?” Cody asked Zyvia, who had a perplexed look on her face.

“Commander, Captain? Is all that she said as she looked at them.

“Where is Commander Fergouson?” Vausees asked as she looked at Zyvia.

“Last I saw her,” she started to say as a second flash of light appeared and Debrah appeared next to Zyvia.

“What the fuck?” Debrah said as she looked at the others as they looked back at her.

Vausees pulled out her Tricorder and began to scan the area around both women. Very minut and residual particles appeared on the scan. ‘Interesting.’, she thought to herself as she sent the data to the Heracles.

Reaching up she tapped her ComBadge. “Heracles, this is Captain Vausees,” she said, “Trever I am transmitting some data to the Heracles. Have Lieutenant Zozzak and Jonton look it over,” she ordered. She then closed the communication as she looked at the away team. “Spread out and see if you can find this power source that Cody and I were informed of.”

Everyone nodded as they brought out their tricorders, and began looking for the power source. After a few minutes Vausees lowered her tricorder and looked around, she saw Zyvia and Cody comparing readings. Debrah appeared to be scanning a vine covered statue when, Vausees saw something behind her. She moved over toward it as she brought up her tricorder. Her tricorder began to chime as she neared it. ‘Gotcha.’, she thought to herself.

“Over here,” she announced as she put her tricorder away and reached up and took hold of a crumbling piece of the wall. Suddenly her body was surrounded by a ring of light and she disappeared.

Debrah’s eyes widened when she saw Vausees disappear. Reaching up she tapped her ComBadge, “Vausees!” she yells.

Vausees reappears back at the shuttle, just below the ramp as she hears her name coming from her ComBadge. Reaching up she taps her ComBadge, “I’m ok Commander.”

Debrah instantly relaxed when she heard Vausees voice.

“I appear to be back at the shuttle,” she said as she looked up at a very confused Charles, who had watched her suddenly appear at the bottom of the ramp.

“I think the outpost has internal defenses as well as external,” Cody states as he looks at a tricorder reading from Zyvia as she holds it out for him.

Vausees nods as she listens, “Return to the shuttle, we need to regroup and return to the Heracles so that we can find another solution to this transportation issue,” she stated as she nodded to Charles to prepare the shuttle for lift off. 

Stardate: 74535.79

Time: 0852 hours

Location: Gamma Quadrant – A Tkon outpost

USS Heracles

Vausees and Debrah sat against each other in their quarters. Vausees had her eyes closed as she enjoyed the attention from Debrah, who was massaging her shoulders. Vausees had her mind blank at the moment, but an hour ago her mind had been entangled with the problem on the planet’s surface and more specifically the Tkon Outpost that they had been inside of. 

It had been over a week since the Heracles and her crew had arrived in the sector and system of T74511, which Zozzak had designated the area for the Star Charts. Several away missions had taken place with nearly identical results from each away mission; the members transported away from the power source and back to the shuttle, which landed in different locations for each away mission.

One the last away mission, Vausees had tried to transport directly into the chamber room that the power source was in. She had been lucky that the transporter did not activate as the readings from the logs later showed that she would have ended up inside the power source itself.

Vausees leaned back against Debrah and received a soft kiss from her as she released her shoulders from her hands, which had wrapped around her. 

“Penny for your thought sweetheart,” Debrah asked as she rested her head on Vausees shoulder.

Vausees sat in silence as she thought about all of the information that they had gathered on every away mission, which unfortunately wasn’t much, other than the outpost was very old in some places and only days old in others. A sigh left her lips as she began to caress Debrah’s arms.

“I just wish that I had more information,” she stated as she closed her eyes, which had started to hurt from not blinking. “Hell, even my Phibi Dax, one of my past lives, doesn’t have much on the Tkon,” she confessed as she laid there, “and he was the lead Archaeologist and Head Scientist of the for my people in his time.”

A soft chime abruptly interrupted them and Vausees reached over and tapped a button on the bulkhead next to the bed, “Go ahead Commander.”

Cody sat on the bridge as he looked at the viewscreen and the arrival of Thý’ella’s Battleship, Boulóni Día. When he heard Vausees he informed her that Thý’ella was arriving. Vausees looked at Debrah and informed the Commander that Thý’ella was to be escorted to her quarters. Cody nodded as he listened to the orders, he tapped the comms closed and looked at the viewscreen and the approaching battleship. “M’Rill, contact the Boulóni Día,” he ordered.

With a nod the Assistant Operations Officer did as he was ordered. “Contact established, Commander.”

The viewscreen split in two as Thý’ella appeared.

“Ah, Commander Bettencourt,” she said as she looked at Cody from the viewscreen, “Pleasure to meet you once more.”

Cody nodded his head, “I can say the same to you Thý’ella.”

“It’s Prothypourgós Thý’ella, now Commander,” she stated as she looked at him. “I was recently elected as the next leader, and the former leader reactivated a long since disregarded title of Prime Leader.”

With a nod he congratulated her on her promotion and wished her and her people well. Thý’ella could see that he had something to tell her and dismissed any further conversations of her well-being.

“What’s on your mind Commander?”

“Oh,” he said as he was caught off guard, “Captain Vausees has requested that once you have boarded the Heracles that you are to be escorted to the Captain’s quarters.”

Thý’ella nodded, “Well then I guess I had better hurry up and get on board, wouldn’t you say Commander.” Her voice, though angelic and demonic at the same time, held an amusing tone as she joked about hurrying up.

—Ten minutes later—

A soft chime at the door caused both Vausees and Debrah to look up.

“Enter,” Vausees said as both her and Debrah adjusted into a more comfortable position, still in each others grasp.

The door parted and Thý’ella appeared without her wings on display. She had thought it best that not every member of the crew should see them, let alone allowing the wings themself to absorb the power in the Heracles and cause any damage to the ship.

“Ah, Captain Vax,” she said as she looked at Vausees. Her eyes drifted to Debrah and widened. “Oh God’s!!” she exclaimed as she realized who was behind Vausees.

With a slow movement, Vausees raised her hand up. “Take it easy,” she said when she realized that Thý’ella was embarrassed by what she had seen, and then motioned for the woman to enter.

Thý’ella nodded, still slightly embarrassed, as she entered. The door closed behind her as she moved over to an unoccupied chair across from them. 

“I hope that I was not intruding on anything intimate or otherwise,” Thý’ella said as she sat there.

Both Vausees and Debrah shook their heads ‘no’, “We tend to hold each other when one or the other is stressed out,” Vausees explained as Debrah nodded in agreement. “Or not feeling well,” Debrah finished as her arms slipped around Vausees.

“I see,” Thý’ella stated as she watched the movement.

“So what does the Prothypourgós of the Angelikós Zilotís have for the Heracles and her crew?” Vausees asked using Thý’ella’s new title.

Thý’ella was impressed that Vausees knew about her new title and had used it. She shook her head as she smiled, “I thought that you might need some assistance in getting past what your people call a brick wall,” she stated as she looked Vausees in the eyes.

This peeked Vausees interest. “Go on.”

Thý’ella reached into the leather jacket that she had on and produced a small device, which instantly caused the computer to beep and activate an alert. Vausees reached over and tapped a button on the console next to the couch, “Disregard the alert, Commander,” she said as she tapped the button once more and returned her attention to Thý’ella, “Sorry about that. Continue.”

Thý’ella had been looking at the source of the alert when she heard Vausees, “This device is a Tkon identifier and will allow you to bypass any internal defenses that you may have encountered while being here.”

Cocking her head to the side she held out a hand as Thý’ella offered the device. A small shimmering gem was inset inside the surface of the device as Vausees looked at it. 

“Thý’ella if I might ask,” she started to say but was cut off as Thý’ella lifted her hand up.

“I have waited for you to ask this question, and all I can truly say is that some of our technology is from the Tkon, at least what we have an understanding of. As for my people, we do not know if we are descendants of the Tkon, but we hope and pray that we are,” she states in a humble and honest voice.

Vausees nodded as she heard what Thý’ella had said, “Maybe we all will find out together.”