Nibiru

Spent about 8 months with this on my writing plate. Finally finished it.

Cast List:

K'hotiim: James Spader
S'raat: Tony Jay
S'ag: Jeremy Irons
Thraak: Victor Caroli
Srin: Adam Baldwin
Toshme: Margot Robbie


D'Elon: Antje Traue


Captain Imzavia; Karen Gillan (Yes, she's a red headed scottish betazoid).
Emony Bearlo: Cristin Milioti
Derek Peck: Stone Cold Steve Austin
Jose: Antonio Banderas


Lord: Voiced by Robert Axelrod (Lord Zedd Voice)




Rolana Imzavia sat in her Captain's Chair, looking at the viewscreen. "Och. Talk about David among Goliaths."
Beside her, Emony looked up. "Sir?"
"Our piddly little ship beside those three. I dinnae know what Starfleet was thinking, sending us out here."
"They obviously thought you have the experience to deal with something like this. You are a science captain, in command of a science ship. We've charted our fair share of spatial anomalies on our patrols."
"Nae, I aint talking about the anomaly. I'm on aboot the ships."

Emony looked at the viewscreen and had to admit, she saw Imzavia's point. Their little Nova class ship was sitting beside a Vorcha cruiser, an Oddessy flagship and a D'Deridex warbird. "Well Captain, the opening of this spatial anomaly does seem to have intersections with the Klingons and Romulans as well. And Nimbus III is on the border of the three. It makes sense diplomatically to bring them onboard."
"Have you ever met a Gorn or a Romulan?"
"Yes Sir." Imzavia thought she saw a flicker of pain in Emony's eyes, obviously a memory of a past mission gone wrong. Her First Officer continued. "Gorn's respect strength and truthfulness. But Romulans tend to favour deceit. I'm afraid you're going to have your hands full Sir."

Imzavia set her jaw. "Well, that's just gonna make things interesting. Mr Peck, what do we know about the other Captains?"

From his tactical station, Peck smirked. "The Toraga is commanded by General K'hotiim. Reports indicate he's a rational and forward thinking General, but with a vicious streak. As long as the Empire isn't under threat, he can be trusted. The Tomalak is under the command of Commander D'Elon. A loyal soldier of the Star Empire, but has been noted helping the Republic on occasion. She isn't one of those Tal Shiar lunatics, but she is fanatically loyal to the Empire. Someone that needs to be watched."
"Great. That's just what we need. Hail the ships."

Imzavia waited for the other Captains to appear on the viewscreen. Admiral Rykon spoke first. "Captain Imzavia. Use caution and good luck. Remember, the planetary alignment that seemed to trigger this rift will cease within twenty four hours. You need to make sure you're out in that time."
"Yes Sir."
D'Elon stared intently at the screen. "Don't worry Admiral, we will ALL get out before that rift closes."
K'hotiim snorted. "We're wasting time. The KDF will lead, like usual."

He promptly cut the comm, prompting D'Elon to also cut the comm. As the two large vessels moved towards the rift, Rykon narrowed his eyes. "Remember Captain, we have other duties to attend to. We won't be here for support and another Starfleet ship won't arrive for two days. Watch yourself. Both for whatever you find, and our allies."
"Understood Sir. We'll be careful."


The comm cut and Imzavia ordered Jose to take them in. The little Nova class ship moved forward. As it penetrated the cloud-esque barrier of the anomaly, it started shaking. Imzavia could sense the nervousness of her crew. "Report."
"It's almost as if we're encountering atomspheric fritcion against the anomaly edge." Emony reported from the science station. "But we're not reading any atmosphere around the ship. Our hull is holding, but I'd rather we get out of this disturbance quickly."
"We'll get through soon enough. The Tesla is a tough little ship."
"These readings are really fascinating." Emony continued. "There's an unusual phase shift in the atomic level of the anomaly. It's similar to the readings seen in an Iconian portal, but severely skewered. Like some corrupted version. Definetely the same principle but yet completely different."
"So we could be anywhere in the galaxy?"
Emony looked up to her Captain. "We could be anywhere in any dimension."

Peck's console started beeping. "We're getting hull stress from this cloud, but integrity should hold."
"Jose, how long until we're oot this clood?"
"Any second now Captain."
"Och, then stay alert. If this is Iconian related, we need ta be careful. Last thing we wanna be doin' is startin' another war."


The viewscreen showed the cloud finally dissapate and the shaking stopped. Before them lay a starscape of black with rich, deep blue swirls slowly flowing across. A single planet was before them with a lone moon in an unusually close orbit. The planet looked to be covered in technology. An intricate web of orbital platforms spread out across the planet, as if long spindly fingers were trying to keep the planet held within. The star was nearby, casting light on the left half of the planet and keeping the moon in darkness. Imzavia sensed the awe from Emony and couldn't repress a smile, fully agreeing with her. This was a technological marvel, structurally speaking. But what were they for?

"Mr Peck, can you identify what those things in orbit are?"
"Not a clue Sir. There's EM signatures in the area, but that's about all we can determine."


"Captain, the other ships are hailing."
"On screen."

The Romulan and Gorn appeared on the screen, D'Elon speaking first. "Whatever this society is, its highly advanced. We are detecting Muon Particles within those orbital structures."

"Muon?" K'hotiim asked.
"A very rare particle that doesn't exist in nature." Imzavia replied.
"And what are Muons usually used for?"
"Dimensional portals."
D'Elon interrupted. "Then I suggest we locate someone to talk to. Quickly."
"I would suggest we start with the ship approaching. I will take point."
"So you can negotiate a deal for the Klingon Empire? No, I shall talk to them."
"Oh I think not Romulan. Your kind have a reputation. I say we compromise. Let the Starfleeter talk to them."
"Very well. Starfleet does usually act in the interest of fair play. At least the younger captains do. Captain, you speak to them. But we will be listening."


The two captains vanished off the screen. Imzavia swallowed. Hard. She had never been in a first contact situation before, and knowing the other two were watching did nothing to ease her strain. Emony seemed to pick up on this as she moved to her First Officer chair and leaned in close so she could whisper.

"Are you going to be ok with this?"
"What do ya mean?"
"First Contact. This is your first one and you seem a bit anxious."
Imzavia smiled, trying to put Emony's concerns at ease. "I'm fine Commander."
"Really?" It was obvious Emony wasn't buying it.
"I thought I was the telepath. You're right, I'm terrified. Not least because the eyes of two Empires are watching." She drew in a deep breath, holding it a moment to centre herself before slowly exhaling. "But I did join Starfleet for new experiences. Gotta do this sometime. Mr Peck, hail the approaching ship."
"They're responding."
"On screen."


The being that appeared on the screen was humanoid. Clad in golden armour with lots of intracate detailing, only the face was exposed. It had a stubby snout and pupiless red eyes.

"State your business."

His deep gravelly voice threw Imzavia off centre a moment, but she recovered. Smiling politely, she spoke with as much authority as she could muster. "Hello. I am Captain Rolana Imzavia of the Federation Starship Tesla. We came through the dimensional portal that opened on a peaceful mission of exploration." She paused a moment, giving him time to digest the information and respond. When no response came, she quickly continued. "To whom do I have the pleasure of speaking to?"

"You came through The Gap?"
"If.. Ye mean the spatial anomaly behind us, yes."
"Excellent. Then the Prophecy is going as foretold. Our Lord will want to speak to all the Commander's of the vessels. Follow me. I assume you have ways of landing on the planet."
"Aye, we can get down there. Lead the way."

The comm cut abruptly. Imzavia leaned in close to Emony.
"Well I think that went well."
"Be careful Captain. Prophecies are never a good thing, especially not when involved with first contact."
"What do you suggest?"
"We go, but have Tesla keep a lock on us at all times. And keep our eyes open."
"Thank you-"

Before Imzavia could say more, Peck interrupted to say the others were hailing. K'hotiim was first to speak.

"Haha you sounded like a Targ pup caught in its masters bed. Don't tell me, this was your first time." He stated it as fact, not a question.

"Oh come now Gorn, I'm sure even you were once a red cadet. I thought she did well considering. We got invited to the surface."
"Yessss, to meet their 'lord'. I'm not in the mood to meet someone playing God."
"That's enough! Both of ya!" D'Elon and K'hotiim looked at the young Starfleet Captain. "The pair of ya are acting like children. If ye cannae stop bickering, ya can head back through the anomaly."

D'Elon smiled. "The Human finds her spine. Good. Maybe there's hope for you yet."
"I'm not human. Now shut up and follow that ship."

D'Elon closed the link. K'hotiim smirked and gave a slight nod before also cutting the link. Imzavia blew out an exasperated breath and slumped back in her chair. Emony turned to her with a smile.
"Nicely done Sir."
"Och, it's enough to put you off kids for life. Jose, follow that ship." As she watched her ship accelerate, she leaned her head slightly to the side. "Commander, what did that Romulan mean by red cadet?"
"Like humans calling you green."
"Huh. Bloody cheek."


On the Toranga, K'hotiim leaned back in his chair. His first officer and friend S'ag came over, his one eye focusing on his captain.
"Despite how young she appears, the Starfleet captain has cranial spines."
"Yes, someone worthy of respect perhaps. Not so the Romulan. Do we have the coordinates?"

Toshme shouted up from the sensors station. "Yes, my glorious and honourable captain. It's a town square in front of some giant temple like building. One that gives me a baaad feeling."

K'hotiim turned his chair to face her. "Why are you manning sensors?! Get back to the Engineering station and let Kazengo do her duty!"
Toshme pouted as she made her way across the bridge. "Sorry, I was just curious."
"Your curiosity can be satisfied later on the away team. In fact, I depend on that. While I'm meeting this lord, I want you to go find what you can. Especially if you can tell me what that orbital web is."
Toshme threw a very over the top salute. "Oh yes! That I'll do! I-"
"Just shut up."


Imzavia, Emony and Peck materialised at the given coordinates. They were in some sort of city square. The dark green sky was almost obscured by the height of the rustic spires reaching for it, but always falling short. The orbital web could be faintly seen, a constant reminder of the technology of this place. More creatures walked around, clad in the same armour as the one from the view screen. Now Imzavia could see more. Each one was about six feet tall and the best gold armour covered them completely. They had two claw like toes on each foot and the standard four finger one thing hand, though the armour ended in claw like fingers. If their real fingers were like that or if it was a product of the armour, Imzavia couldn't tell. Nor could she tell any physical differences in their faces. But what she could tell was an overwhelming sense of pride and excitement. Something big was coming. Something they had been working towards for a very long time, and something that was about to see completion. Another whine of transporter deposited D'Elon and two of her officers at the same time K'hotiim, some half cyborg gorn and an orion woman materialised. K'hotiim looked around.

"Certainly an impressive city."
"Advanced tech usually just means more arrogance. We need to be careful. Course, you always are aren't you?"
K'hotiim just looked down at the Orion before making his way over to the Starfleet officers and Romulans.



D'Elon looked at the small screen on her wrist gauntlet. It confirmed Ta'el had left the ship in the shuttle and was on her mission of discovery. She quickly shut the screen down and looked at the approaching Gorn. "Well, it seems our host is tardy."

K'hotiim huffed. "Typical Romulans. Not everything runs on schedule. They clearly have bigger things going on."

"Aye," Imzavia interjected. "And we need ta find oot what it is. Course, this could also be a delaying tactic, keep us off guard."

"Whatever it is, we won't be waiting forever."
"Oh come now Romulan, surely you have enough patience to see this out. We're on an unknown planet in another dimension. Does that not just give you chills?"

D'Elon just tilted her nose up at K'hotiim. "I'll feel better when my crew is back in Romulan space."



It was then the Goldarian captain approached. "Honoured guests. My Lord will be pleased to see you. But please, only the commanders are permitted to enter the temple."

K'hotiim was the first to respond. "Very well. But may our crewmembers explore this fantastic settlement of yours? It surpasses anything we have."
"Of course. Feel free to explore. I'm sure you'll find we are a very rich culture."

K'hotiim turned to S'ag and Toshme and gave them a nod. They both left the group. As the other two Romulans transported away, much to Imzavia's surprise as she was certain they would have tried to find out something, she turned to Emony.

"Keep working on a way to close that rift. I donnae trust these people. They're hiding something."

Emony and Peck nodded and made their way into the city in a seperate heading to the KDF. The Goldarian captain motioned towards the temple doors.


The three captains entered the temple. For that was clearly what it was. Arches reached midway up into the rafters, forming a ribcage for the Gothic architecture. The rest of the wall was an old grey stone. Statues of the aliens adorned the walls in various commanding poses. Rows of pews reminded Imzavia of the church in her home town, but to an nth degree. And at the end was a large open area before a short set of stairs that rose up to a gold throne, intricately decorated with an avian influence. Sitting on the throne was another of the aliens. He looked at them as they approached. In one hand, he loosely held a long silver staff that had a triangular point on the bottom and a design of circles within circles, culminating in a red gemstone off centre.

"Welcome. I am the Lord of all here. Identify yourself."

The captain who lead them in bowed at the bottom of the stairs. " My master, these are the aliens from the Gap. Just as the prophecy foretold."
"Then step forward, so that I may see you."

D'Elon stepped forward first. "Lord. I am D'Elon of the Romulan Star Empire. It is an honour to make first contact with you."
"Welcome Romulan. Your arrival is a most fortunate sign. It means the Great Bird Of The Galaxy will bring about unity in the universe."
"Excuse me?"
"You must know?" Lord leapt of his throne, making his way down the steps. As he did so, a pair of black wings unfurled from his back, lined along the top hinges with the same gold armour. He came to a stop in front of D'Elon and firmly planted his staff in the ground. "The Great Bird Of The Galaxy will come when three visitors pass The Gap. He will bring together all species under his wing and the Goldarian Empire will have its day."
"Sounds like a bunch of nonsense to me."
"And yet, here you are."


Imzavia stepped forward. "Excuse me, but how is the Great Bird supposed ta unify the universe?"
"By bringing all under its wing. That is all that is written, that is all that needs to be."
"But, surely ye must have some idea?"
"You question the will of The Great Bird Of The Galaxy? That is a challenge I will meet. Defend yourself."

Lord swung his staff around into a horizontal position, ready to strike. Imzavia held her hands up and backed away.
"Woah there. I didn't mean anything by it. I was just curious."
"Then your curiosity will cost you."

Lord swung the staff at the betazoid, only for it to get caught in the steely grip of a scaly claw. K'hotiim leaned his head to the left as he spoke, a fiery intenseness Imzavia had no idea a Gorn was capable of. "She didn't know what she was doing. And you clearly outmatch her physically. What honour is there in challenging such an obviously inferior foe?"
"The honour lies not in the challengee, but in questioning our fundamental beliefs."
"Then let me take the challenge in her place. At least have some dignity."
"Unacceptable. Our laws clearly state only the one making the challenge can fight. Otherwise, people would never learn. Now, release my staff or I will hold you all in contempt."

With a snarl, K'hotiim released the staff and backed up to D'Elon who made a snide comment how that escalated quickly.

Lord approached Imzavia, swinging his staff around. Imzavia could sense the frustration from him that he had to do this. Oddly, there was no pleasure. It was almost as if he was only doing this because his role demanded it, and given the choice, he wouldn't. He swung the staff, Imzavia jumping backwards. K'hotiim shouted from the side: "At least give her a weapon!"
"She can use any weapon she can grab."

Imzavia looked around, but there was nothing to hand. And although she had the basic Starfleet combat training, she had no hope of holding her own against this guy. She jumped back from another staff swipe,only to be caught off guard when it lead straight into a shoulder charge. She hit the floor hard, rolling sideways and springing back to her feet. Her ribs ached but she couldn't worry about that now, as another swipe came. This time, she ducked under and tried to get close to punch, but Lord sidestepped and swept her feet. Landing hard on her back, her skull cracked against the floor. Colour exploded across her vision as she lost focus. Lord slashed the point of the staff across her face, setting her cheek on fire with a squeal. She clutched her face, feeling the tell tale stickiness of blood. It felt like it stretched across her whole head. She started panicking. This was the first time she had got in a proper fight since she took command. After all, technically she was still a Commander! She didn't have any real combat experience! She tried to roll over, but a kick to her stomach doubled her over into the fetal position as she gasped for breath. There was no way she was going to survive this. All she could do was struggle and sense the regret from Lord as he swung his staff around and above his head for the killing blow...


K'hotiim watched the fight with disgust. The small.... well, none human was getting battered. She clearly wasn't a fighter. He twitched, ready to move in but a hand on his arm stopped him. D'Elon looked at him sternly. "Don't interfere. We have no idea what would come from such an act. And Starfleet has a policy of respecting the individual planetary laws. She wouldn't want you to get involved."

He growled and snapped his arm free. "For some of us, honour means more than just following the orders of the Empire." He looked over and saw Lord moving in for a killing blow. He triggered his motion accelerator and charged forwards, tackling Lord to the ground.

"What are you doing? I told you this can't involve you!"

"And I told you she was no match for you. I will not alow you to slaughter someone so weak."
"Then you are not the ones from the prophecy. Heretics!"

Lord kicked K'hotiim off and jumped to his feet, bringing his staff around. K'hotiim caught the weapon, both combatants unable to break the other one free. K'hotiim snarled as he kicked his leg out, sweeping Lord's. The alien went down but rolled and came back up quickly. He straightened and slammed the point of his staff into the ground. Electrical discharges ripped through K'hotiim's body, setting every nerve on fire. He was only subconciously aware of D'Elon collapsing and Imzavia writhing in pain briefly. He dropped to his knees, but refused to yield. Punching the ground, he started to force himself up, but a swift kick to the face sent him down for the count.





D'Elon came to very slowly. A fog in her mind refused to leave. And truthfully, she didnt want it to. For then she would have to face the horrible truth of just how badly a betazoid and a gorn had screwed her over. She moaned, scrubbing her face. After all, she was an officer of the Star Empire. Her sense of duty kicked in fairly quickly.


Opening her eyes, she looked around. She appeared to be in a pretty large cell. There were no windows and only one door that looked solid. She got up and checked the walls. Solid metal. No panels to pry open. No bolts to loosen. The light wasn't great. She looked up. The featureless ceiling curved up to a hole with a grate. Light eas coming from it, but it was too high to grab. Looked like the bulb was directly on the other side of the grate, inset in a enclave only for the bulb. No help there.


She turned her attention to the door. There was no window on it. The hinges must be on the outside. But she could tell where they were. She could also tell where the lock was. She pressed her hands against it and pushed. Didn't move in the slightest. And they had taken everything she was carrying. Fortunately, Romulan Commanders were usually ready for such situations. She started by finding her lower back tooth with her tongue and sliding the tip under a groove. A sharp wrench snapped the fake top off. Spitting it out, she reached in and gently lifted the tiny device out of it's protective casing which shielded it from sensors and transporters, making it look like a normal tooth. Pinching the tiny thing between two fingers, she carefully lifted it out and set it in her palm. Ever so gingerly, so as not to break the device, she pushed the button, which should trigger an alarm on the Tomalak and let them know to find and rescue her. Of course, it would be better if it had a locator as well, but there was only so much such a small device could be fitted with.


She had been more than happy to take a back seat in this whole affair, doing just enough to, rightly so, antagonise the Gorn. After all, he was just a Gorn. She had observed and learnt from the others interactions. But now they had jepordised the mission, it was time for her to take over. Sliding her ring finger nail under the thumbnail of the opposite hand, she yanked hard, ripping the nail off. A furious curse broke free. The tech department had said that was a painless procedure. Steeling herself this time, she ripped the other thumbnail off. Cursing the designer of these, she ignored the blood now dripping off both thumbs and moved to the door. Aligning the two nails so their undersides were face to face, she spat on one and pressed them together. They started fizzing, the sign the spit had successfully acted as the catalysing agent and she had about ten seconds. She rammed the nails into the door where the lock was and ran to the other side of the cell. A brief but powerful bang later, D'Elon moved to the door, wafting away the smoke. It had moved ever so slightly, but more importantly, the lock had disintegrated. It was now very easy to push the door open.


She cautiously checked outside the door. Not seeing any guards, she thought about seeing if she could free the others, but it was more important to get back to her ship and warn The Alliance. After all, she didn't even know if the others were still alive.




Pain. A sharp pain in her ribs. That was the first thing Rolana Imzavia became aware of. Something was broken. She hoped the difficulty breathing was just the ribs, and not a punctured lung, although she probably wouldn't be still alive if that was the case. The next thing she became aware of was that she was lying on her front on some kind of metal. She tried to remember how she got here. Something about a bird. And a fight. She moaned when it came back to her. How utterly outclassed she was and the fact it was only khotiims interference that meant she was alive.


Deciding it was time to move, she told her arms to get under her. Except they didn't. She moved her leg into a brace position against the floor. Except it didn't.

Her first instinct was to fear her back was broken. But if that was true, there should be some pain from it. Or so she thought. She wasn't a doctor. But she did know, if she could wriggle a toe, her back was intact. So that was what she focused on. Just one toe. One. Little. Toe. The pain was making it hard to concentrate. But she had to buckle down and get through it. Plenty of other Starfleet captains had been through things like this. It was almost a rite of passage. Move you blasted toe! There! It moved! Imzavia let out a mental sigh. Something good, finally. The next step was to stand.she tried to take slow, deep breaths to calm and centre herself, but it hurt too much to do so, instead resulting in short sharp panicked breaths. OK, she wasn't going to move under her own power anytime soon. Fortunately being Betazoid, she had other options. Though it would be tricky in her current state. And went against everything she believed in.


Imzavia closed her eyes, reaching through the haze for the closest mind she could sense. It didn't take long. It was actually surprisingly close. She narrowed her attention on it. Male. Scared. In pain. Wait... it was the boy from the observatory that was destroyed when the anomaly opened! He had somehow survived! She would have to make sure she got him out. She decided to seek out the other two Captains. They must be somewhere nearby. But she couldn't sense them. She could, however, sense a guard nearby. Doing something she hadn't done since she first discovered it was possible back when she was a wee lass, she connected to the mind, feeling its strange sensation bubbling in her own brain as she subdued it. It was a lot different to her first grade teacher's mind, a lot more aggressive. Some of that extra violence started to bleed into her own spirit, but it would fade over time. She pictured the alien on strings, it becoming her puppet. And like that, it was. Imzavia kept her eyes closed, using the anger and violence from the alien to keep her own pain down. She started seeing the world through his eyes as she commanded him to open her cell. The guard made his way to the cell without incident. It was only when he opened her cell and walked up to her did she realise just how bad she looked. T'Per was going to be busy patching her back together. The guard slid his arms under her, lifted her up and carried her out.


K'hotiim moaned as he finally started coming to. He was flat on his back, he knew that. Flopping a claw over his face, he tried to remember what happened last. Saving the Starfleeter... pain... nothing. Maybe security got there. No doubt it was some reaction to his interference, but he couldn't just let the young girl die. Not when she had proven her bravery in facing the challenge. And how she handled both K'hotiim and the Romulan filth. He sat up and looked around. A metal box. With a door. Always a good place to start. It had no discernable hinges or handles on this side, but he could see where the locking bolt was. With the right implement, he could do something. But there wasn't anything in the room. Not a bed. Not a chair. Not even a toilet. Then his gaze lifted upwards. Some grate in front of a light source. That could do. He instinctively reached for his belt, grasping where his motion accelerator should be. Not finding it, he looked down. Not only was the accelerator missing, all of his gear was. He let out a slight growl. That would complicate things if a fight broke out.


Still, he was still mobile without it. Just a lot slower. He went to the grate and checked how it was held in. Very flimsy. Sliding his claws through the gaps, he lifted his feet off the ground and started yanking downwards. A screech accompanied the release of the grate. Inspecting it, he decided it was indeed suitable. Breaking the end piece off, he went back to the door and jammed it into the door frame where the locking bolt was. Moving back, he readied himself. Without his accelerator, he wasn't sure this was going to work. But he was damned sure going to try. Running as fast as he could, he hit the grate flat against the door and jumped into it, the combined force and speed making an impact that shattered the wall section holding the bolt in place. The door itself was still in place, but a careful inspection showed the wall had indeed been damaged.


K'hotiim started picking at the damage, ripping apart small shards of the wall until the bolt was exposed. At that point, it was a simple process to push the bolt back into the door and swing it open. Grabbing the grate piece as a makeshift spear, he moved into the corridor beyond.





D'Elon moved through the hallway, determined to find some kind of shuttle bay. There had to be a way off here. The rifle/sword hybrid she had 'aquired' was heavy in her arms, but she refused to let that stop her. The alarm was blaring so any attempt at subterfuge was gone. She strode with purpose. Hearing some guards ahead, she ducked down behind a corner and took aim. Sure enough, two guards came into view. The weapon crackled as a ghostly green blast shot forth, hitting one guard in the chest. He went down, but it took more than one shot to get through their armour. Still, she fired again at the second guard, simply to make him duck, then returned fire on the first guard, hitting him multiple times before he could get to his feet. With him smeared across the hall, she paused, waiting for the second guard to poke his head out. And waited. And waited. With it obvious he was not going to move first, she quickly ran out, firing at the spot he had ducked into. Assuming he was taking cover, she ran around the corner and drove the blade forward, scoring a direct hit into the unaware guard's armour. She quickly pulled the trigger, getting the blast in behind his armour and causing him to drop dead. Picking up his sword rifle, she slung it over her back. After all, she didn't know how much ammo these things carried, if they had ammo or batteries at all. But she started moving again.



There was a large set of doors ahead, and some kind of commotion from the other side. D'Elon kicked the doors open and fired at the first gold armoured purple monkey thing she saw, then ducked behind some crates. Sure enough, she had found an outside. It wasn't a shuttle bay, but it was some kind of court yard. Should be good enough. But what was strange was there had been no retaliation. She slowly peeked over the top of the crate, getting a better view of the situation.

There was a group of the aliens firing at a group of crates, which for some reason was shooting back. D'Elon shifted her postion to see better and was surprised to see one of th ealiens crouched behind the crates shooting at his own kind. Bizarre. But maybe one of the other Captains had found a traitor to ally with. Still, with no discernable way of knowing it was them, she decided it was better to stay put and catch them in a cross fire. Aiming her sword gun, she began picking them off. The confusion of suddenly getting attacked from behind caused the aliens to be quickly vanquished. The alien looked over to where D'Elon was, but couldn't see her in hiding.

"Commander D'Elon? General K'hotiim? It's Captain Imzavia!"

D'Elon peered around the side of her crate. The alien held up a Starfleet combadge.
"You call that proof? You could easily have taken that off her dead body."

"Bloody stubborn Romulan! We can't hang around! Get over here!"
"Ha! I need better proof than that."
"Ok. Tell me, are you always such a green cadet? Like K'hotiim?"

Well, it was a call back to something the aliens wouldn't know. So even if it wasn't Imzavia, it would be someone from their ships. She peered again, this time seeing a young human male with curly brown hair. Deciding there was nothing else to lose, D'Elon ran forwards, keeping her head down. She slid feet first behind the crates, keeping her gun sword pointing at the alien as she came to a stop. It crouched down at her.

"Now we just need to find K'hotiim and figure out a way off this planet."
"What's going on?"
"What do you mean? Oh, right. I'm mentally controlling this alien since... well..."

The alien indicated the body of Imzavia, propped up against some crates. Her eyes were closed but she was scowling. "I'm too injured to move by myself."

D'Elon filed away that little trick about Betazoids for later. "Help should be here any moment."
"How do you know that?"
"I sent a signal to my ship. I'm surprised they haven't already found me."
"Then we just have to hold out here long enough for your ship to beam us out?"
"Yes. Assuming they got the message." D'Elon paused, looking at the large doors at the far end of the platform. A small army came through and set up defensive positions. "Great. This is not going to be easy."
"As long as we don't let them flank us, we can hold."

D'Elon looked at the human boy. "What's your story?"
"I-I was on the observatory and was captured. Those things have been studying me."
"I think it's how they knew how to speak a language our universal translaters could interpret."
"Huh. I had been wondering about that. Keep your head down kid. This is not going to be pretty."


D'Elon and the alien opened fire. Blaster fire bounced back and forth across the platform but neither side would give in.


The wall near the escapees shattered open as a brute in gold armour tumbled through, grappling with the large scaley form of K'hotiim. The two traded blows but K'hotiim was much too slow and only managed to get the occasional lucky shot in. Imzavia's alien crouched back under cover.

"We have to help him!"
"We go out there, we're out of cover. We get shot, it's over."
"Dammit, what happened to Romulan pride? What happened to we all get out of here?"
"And what exactly do you expect us to do against someone that size? Assuming we can even get there?"


K'hotiim snarled as a sword pierced his left shoulder. He grabbed the wrist connected to the blade and began crushing it. The alien punched him to get him to release him, but the Gorn held fast.


D'Elon cried out in frustration. "Fine. Give the human your weapon and get out there. We'll cover you."

Imzavia gave her sword gun to the human. "What am I meant to do with this?"
"You shoot."
"But I've never fired a weapon in my life!"

D'Elon grabbed the human by his collar and pinned him against the crate. "I will not die here because some little human got scared. Nor will I let members of this team die because of some scared little human. Either pick up that gun and start shooting, or I'll run you through on my own blade and take the weapon myself. You don't have to hit them, just keep them ducked under cover. Understood?"

The human nodded and picked up the gun. Pausing just to watch how to fire it, he stuck the weapon above the edge of the crate and started firing. D'Elon was taking more targetted shots, but together, they did give Imzavia enough of a distraction to run across the platform and tackle the brute. The two aliens tumbled across the deck, trading blows. The brute landed on top, at first confused at seeing who his attacker was, but quickly overcame this. He grabbed the Imzavia alien under his chin and started to crush his neck. A sharp twist snapped his neck, prompting a sudden scream from Imzavia herself. Her eyes briefly flew open before she slumped unconcious.


But it had given K'hotiim enough time to approach the brute from behind and grab him in a headlock. His thick forearm under the brute's chin cut off his air supply. No matter what he did, K'hotiim kept applying pressure, only releasing him long after he stopped breathing. More weapons fire hit K'hotiim in his back and he collapsed.


The human checked on Imzavia. "She's unconcious but still breathing."
"That doesn't do us any good. Dammit Satra, where are you?"

Almost on cue, the sound of photon torpedoes rang out from above. They rained fire from the sky, hitting the entrenched aliens. D'Elon watched with satisfaction at the destruction, finally letting out a sigh of relief. The Romulan shuttle decloaked in front of them, already landing with it's hatch opened. D'Elon pointed at Imzavia. "Get her inside!"


Using the shuttle as cover, D'Elon ran over to K'hotiim and grabbed his feet. She started dragging him back towards the shuttle when he kicked her off.
"What are you doing Romulan?"
"Getting you to the shuttle. Though I'm perfectly happy to leave you here."
K'hotiim half rolled over, saw the shuttle and got to his feet. "MOVE!"


The two ran inside the shuttle and D'Elon slapped the door controls. The shuttle was already taking off as she moved into the cockpit. "Ta'el. Please tell me you were able to discover something?"
"Yes Sir. I believe I found the source of their dimensional projector."
"Good. Get us back to the Tomalak."




As soon as the shuttle docked, D'Elon marched back onto her ship. As doctors came in to attend to Imzavia, the Romulan commander moved straight to the bridge. As the doors opened, she commanded a comm channel be opened to her two ally ships. Commander Bearlo and S'ag appeared on screen.

"Commanders. We have your Captains on board. Imzavia is critically injured, I suggest transferring her to your ship where your doctors know her biology better. Give us coordinates to your medbay. Satra, transport Imzavia over. K'hotiim is injured but alive. He will also transfer to your vessel shortly. Now, we need to find a way to shut down this portal and stop these aliens here."


S'ag interrupted with his slightly robotic voice.
"We take no orders from Romulans. General K'hotim will tell us what to do."
"Shut up Gorn. Your commanders screwed up this mission. I have taken over operational command. We don't have time to argue. I assume you both have been gathering data. We need to pool our resources."

Emony spoke up.
"We've developed a way to collapse the dimensional portal. Based on the Iconian influence in the anomaly, we can create a phase shifted multi-spectral barrier with our ship and use our deflectors to close the portal. There are two downsides though. The ship to do it must fly into the portal until it's collapsed. And secondly, the portal can't be fully sealed unless that beam that's opening it is shut down."

"Good Commander. We've located the projection point of the beam, but it's secured behind multiple layers of security and shielding. We can cut through, but we don't have time. Gorn, you had a team on the ground. Have you found anything? Security codes perhaps?"


"Answer her S'ag." K'hotiim had entered the bridge, holding himself against a chair. His body armour had been removed and the open wounds on his back could be seen, blood trickling down between the scales on his back. "The Romulan has command now. We will follow her orders."

"But-"
"HASHIN! GRO PATCH GREA!"

S'ag winced, then motioned off screen. Toshme's bubbly face popped into view.

"You wanted access codes? Yeah, I managed to get one on the surface. Also managed to find out the termination sequence of the generator. But it aint gonna be easy to shut down."

K'hotiim stepped forward, straightening up. "Ready a full assault team. We're beaming over there as soon as I'm on board. Toshme, you will stay behind the squad. We'll cover you while you get that thing shut down."
"Aye aye, my General Sir."

D'Elon looked at Emony. "We'll provide cover for your ship while you get in there and shut down the portal. There's a fleet of ships between us and there, so we'll have to make this count."
"Our ship won't be able to survive against much of a fight. We're not exactly a powerful ship."

As K'hotiim beamed out to his ship, D'Elon turned to Lollius and spoke quietly to him, before turning back to the screen.
"Shut down your external dampeners. We'll tractor you between our dual hulls and cover you with our shields. A battering ram as it were. Once we're through the fleet, we'll release you and engage the enemy."

"Understood."


As they all vanished off screen, D'Elon sat down in her chair, clasping her hands in front of her face, steepling her index fingers against her lips, resting her chin on her thumbs. She watched as the Starfleet vessel was grabbed and moved into the safety of her own ship. What an interesting day this had turned out to be.




"Tomalak has released us. They've turned to attack the fleet."

Emony nodded at Peck and focused on the viewscreen. The command was her's now, and although she hadn't taken command since the Sentinel crashed, she knew this time was going to be different. She was alot more confident in general now. She knew who she was. She had got married since then. And if there was anything being with Amy had taught her, it was self confidence.

"Josie, get us in that rift. Shousha, make sure the shields have been reconfigured with the equations for the Iconain portals. Remind all crew to stay in the rear shuttle bay. Things are going to get hot."


The Nova class ship flew into the maw of the portal, turning lengthways and coming to a stop. Blue particle beams shot out from both deflector dishes, hitting the side of the anomaly. Emony brought up the sensor readouts on the Captain's readout panel. The portal had already shrank by forty seven centimetres. It appeared to be working, if slowly.

"Status of the Romulans?"
"They're maintaining a perimeter close to us, intercepting all weapons fire at us."
"Good. Let's hope this thing closes quickly."






The Vorch'a cruiser flew to the orbital web. A torrent of disruptor fire and torpedos lanced out, striking the origin point for the beam. When the explosions cleared, the only damage was blackened scorching on the hull. S'ag looked up from his console with his one eye.

"No noticable damage. That area is too heavily shielded."

K'hotiim groaned as the doctors applied some salve to the wounds in his back. A dermal regenerator didn't seem to be working on those wounds, something about the weapons used leaving a corrosive around the tissues that prevented modern tech from working. Though he would heal naturally in time. But time was something they did not have. He motioned for the doctor to leave.

"Then we'll have to board the web and shut it down at the source. Toshme, you have the security codes?"
"Aye Sir. If we can get to the main access console, I should be able to shut it down."

K'hotiim motioned for a pair of guards to move forwards. They began mounting large shoulder pads, reinforced gauntles, and leg armour to their commander.
"The assault team will beam onboard.While we distract the guards, you get to the console and work your magic."

The blue haired Orion saluted with a grin. "It'll be my pleasure."



The group of Gorn materialised in what was believed to be the command centre. They were in a close circle formation, all pointing outwards with weapons drawn. As soon as they were solid enough, they opened fire and gunned down any of the aliens they saw. K'hotiim lowered his minigun and stepped out of formation.

"Well, it seems this place was easier to take than I thought." He turned to the group as Toshme stepped out from the centre. "Get that computer system shut down."

As the Orion moved to a console, K'hotiim looked around at the dark room. It seemed to be a very generic control room, poor lighting and numerous consoles dotted around. Nothing too exciting or unusual. Although one of the walls appeared to be reinforced. "Srin. Is that a blast door?"

The small Engineer inspected the bulkhead. "Yes Captain. I'm detecting a power source on the other side. This may be the main core of the entire orbital web." Thraak came over, the grey Gorn focused on his tricorder.

"I'm having trouble scanning the area. But I think Srin is right. Mapping the power conduits, they do all seem to converge behind there."
K'hotiim looked over to Toshme. "Any luck shutting it down?"
"No. I can get into the systems but the shut down is on a completely different circuit. I can't do anything."
"Can you open this blast door?"
"Maybe. Why?"
"If we can't shut it down properly, we'll blow the core."
"And take us with it?!"
"To stop the invasion, yes. I'd rather live, but it would be a good death."
S'ag came over and held out some grenades. "Or... you know. We could set some timers on these and beam out."




Emony held on to her arm rests as the ship rocked. "Report!"
"Shields are almost out." Peck shouted from his console. "The aliens are openly targetting us."
"The Romulans?"
"No sign of them. They were covering us but they decided to cloak."
"Damn them. Bridge to Engineering. Shunora, divert all engine power to the shields and all weapon power to Auxillary."
"Yes Sir."
Peck shouted up as the ship rocked again, causing a rear console to explode.
"Sir! Is that such a good idea? Shouldn't we try to shoot back?"
"We can't fire phasers while we are collapsing the portal. The phased particles will react badly with our deflector beam, and cause a cascade reaction through subspace. There's no telling how that will manifest itself. The portal is almost closed. All we need is for the Gorn to shut down that beam so we can collapse the portal completely."




The blast door unlocked and started to open. With barely any opening showing, a metal point came through, piercing Srin's skull. The little Gorn collapsed as the others let out an angry roar. The doors finished opening to reveal Lord standing in the doorway, his staff dripping with Srin's blood. Behind him lay a vast circular generator, deep blue beams pulsing into the device from all angles. It was clearly the thing they needed to blow up. But Lord was standing in the way.

"You will not stop us from achieving our destiny!"

He lunged forward, sweeping Thraak's legs. Before they had a chance to react, Lord had leapt forward, plunging his staff into S'Sraat's eye. The Gorn roared and grabbed the staff, pulling it out of Lord's grasp and staggered back, slamming against a computer and collapsing. K'hotiim triggered his motion accelerator and ran forward, but Lord was able to flip him over. K'hotiim landed hard on his back, his wounds causing him to pause a moment. S'ag and Thraak moved in from a flanking position. Thraak went for the punch first, but Lord was able to duck under. Unfortunately, it also meant S'ag could use his robotic legs to kick Lord in his knees, dropping him. He tried to get up but the two Gorn started stamping on him, beating him badly. K'hotiim came over and grabbed Lord's head from behind, letting his claws reach over his forehead and dig into his eyes. K'hotiim then took one of the grenades, popped the pin and shoved it into Lord's mouth.

"For my men."

He quickly released Lord and moved back as the grenade detonated, scattering Lord's head across the room. He looked over to S'sraat. Toshme was over him. She looked up and shook her head. With a growl, K'hotiim moved over to Srin and checked him. Also dead. K'hotiim vowed their death would not be a meaningless one.



It was a matter of seconds to set the detonators and blow the power source. K'hotiim activated his comm. "Toraga. Report."

Kazengo answered. "There's been power fluctuations and the beam has decreased in power but it is still generating a rift."

"Scan for a secondary power source."
"Got it. It's four hundred miles from your position. But there's too much interference from secondary systems, we can't get a transporter lock into the area."
"Destroy that chamber with the ship weapons."
"Aye Sir."



K'hotiim waited patiently until Kazengo came back on the comm. "No effect. The hull is too thick to penetrate with our weapons."
"What's the closest you can beam us in?"
"Fifty miles away. It's as if that generator is located around the subspace induction fields generating the rift."
"Ha! Then we must be at the backup generator. Is there anything you can do?"
"No Sir. We don't have anything capable of breaking through the hull short of a warp core breach."


K'hotiim paused, letting that sink in.
"Do it."
"Sir?"
"Full ramming speed. Crash the Toroga into the generator and blow the core. Evacuate who you can first, but that generator must be destroyed at all costs."
"And what about you?"
"We'll find a way."

"We're evacuating the ship. Only a skeleton crew will stay on board to ensure the ship stays on target. Blast!"

"Kazengo. Report. KAZENGO!"

We got ambushed Sir. Critical system failue! The ship is breaking apart! The Romulans have taken the heat off us but structural integrity is failing. We'll have to ram it now!"
"Understood. You have been the finest crew I could have asked for. You die with honour to save our galaxy. May you all find peace in the afterlife."

"Thank you Sir. Helm. RAMMING SPEED!"



The comm cut as the ground under K'hotiim's feet shook. Toshme came over and put a hand on her Captain's chest, staying close to him. "What's happening?"

"The main generator was destroyed. Hear that rumbling? Those secondary systems Kazengo mentioned must have caused some kind of power surge. Or feedback loop. Something. This entire place is destroying itself."


S'ag came over and looked K'hotiim in the eye. They clasped hands in a show of solidarity, more than friends, almost brothers. His one red eye softened slightly, his robotic voice almost sounding like the old friend K'hotiim knew before the incident.

"It's been a true honour and pleasure to not only serve with you, but to call you friend. I do not regret these years I have known you."
"Nor I, you. You have been the best friend anyone could ask for. Thank you for everything S'ag. We die as free Gorn. And some day all Gorn will be free. Our actions here today have helped bring that one step closer."


The rumbling was growing more intense all the time. Thraak came over to stand with his crew as consoles started shorting out, the temperature of the room increasing dramatically. Toshme quickly gave K'hotiim a kiss on his cheek, prompting him to wrap his free hand around her waist and pull her close against his body. "I'll see you on the other side."


The wall before them disintigrated in fiery death, a wall of flame that washed towards them. K'hotiim decided this was a good final sight. The wall of red, yellow, orange as it all turned green. The fire tore through the control room, incinerating everything within.





"The beam is down!"

Emony nodded as Peck shouted confirmation. She checked the sensor readouts. Sure enough, the portal was beginning to now collapse within itself. Only problem is, it would take the ship with it.

"Jose, can we get the ship out of this anomaly before it crushes us?"
"I could, but then we would loose the deflector beam targeting."
"No. We need to keep the beams focused on the portal until it's fully closed."

Peck shook his head. "That'll crush the ship."
"Technically it'll invert and implode the ship."
"Same end result. We all die."
"You're right. Can the escape pods survive the distortions of the portal?"
"Doubtful. And they certainly wouldn't survive getting through the barrier."
"Then we stay put. If we have to sacrifice ourselves to save the Milky Way, then so be it. Launch the flight recorder through the portal. Hopefully Starfleet will learn the truth of what happened here."

Emony made an announcement to the crew, informing them this was the end. That they were paying the ultimate sacrifice to save their loved ones back home and to make peace with whatever deity/afterlife/loved ones they have.


The ship shook again. "The disturbance is about to make contact with the hull."
"All hands, brace for impact!"
The ship lurched violently but to Jose's credit, he was able to keep both deflector beams locked on target. The ship was shaking uncontrollably and constantly now. Consoles exploded and the lights started flickering. Emony reached into her uniform and pulled the necklace from under her shirt. Half of a unity symbol entwined with a symbiote, etched with the initials of Amy Vok. Just as Amy had the other half with the initials of Emony. The symbol of their marriage. She thought about that fateful first meeting with Amy back on the Sentinel. About all of the soul searching she had done, and all the years of bliss she had since accepting herself fully. She pictured Amy now, in her wedding dress. The most radiant she had ever seen her. She just hoped Starfleet would tell her the truth of what happened here.

The ship started loosing hull integrity, the outer edge of the ship imploding inwards before blasting outwards into the vacuum of space, taking anyone and anything in those sections with it. The computer announced the warp core was becoming unstable due to damage to the nacelles. Commander Emony Bearlo whispered quietly as the world turned green. "I love you Amy."





"Nice sentiment Commander, but save it until we are out of this mess. Ta'el, lock onto that Starfleet vessel and fire on Satra's command."

Emony looked around, She was on the bridge of the Tomalak with the rest of her bridge staff. K'hotiim and a couple of his officers were also present, though at the back of the bridge out of the way. They looked shaken. Commander D'Elon was sat in her chair, watching the viewscreen inently as the ship shook from weapons fire. The sound of plasma beams rang out.

"Direct hit on two enemy vessels. One is breaking off-" Ta'el paused while the ship lurched again. "The other three are continuing pursuit."

Emony quickly tucked the necklace away as D'Elon turned her chair to stare at Emony. Her tone was calm, cold, calculating. How very Romulan. "Commander. Our only way out is through that portal. And your ship is in the way. We will have to destroy it."

"But is the portal closed enough?"
"We time it right, it will be. We beamed the rest of your crew to one of our cargo bays, but thought you would prefer to be here. Stay out of my crew's way."

"This is your ship Commander."

D'Elon turned back to the viewscreen with no acknowledgment of any kind as Emony gathered her crew and moved to the rear, but keeping a respectful distance from the Gorns.

"Satra. How long?"
"Almost.... almost...."
"That portal is already too small to fit us through fully. We wait any longer, we'll be destroyed too."

"It's almost at full implosion po-NOW!"

Instantly, torpedos rang out from the nose of the craft. Emony watched as the little Nova class ship, almost right ontop of them by this point, took the hits and exploded in a blinding flash. The Tomalak flew straight into the fireball, her shields protecting her from suffering catastrophic damage from the ship's destruction. But the portal was too small to fit them through fully. The nacelles at teh wings of the ship sheared off, taking sections of the double hull with them. Tomalak lost all power and everyone crashed to the ground. In the darkness, Emony could hear people moving around. The bridge was chaotic, but somehow still organised. She did have to admire the Romulans for their discipline.



Finally, power came back on. D'Elon was stood by a console with Satra. She looked over to Emony. "Good news Starfleet. The portal closed and we are in the Nimbus system. No sign of the aliens."

Emony let out a sigh of relief. It was done. The day was saved. Through the joint efforts of the KDF, Starfleet and the Romulan Star Empire. Ironic, really, that such a thing happened in the Nimbus system of all places. "Well done."
"Oh don't start all that yet. We've lost both our nacelles. So we're stuck in this system. And neither of you have ships. We're going to have to wait until someone comes to pick you all up."
"The Magpie is due to arrive for support two days after we left."
"Which shoul dmean they will be arriving soon. When they arrive, you and your crew will transfer to them. And take General K'hotiim and his survivors with you."
"I don't think there'll be enough space for the crew of a Vorcha class as well as us and the Magpie's crew."
"Doesn't matter. They are the only survivors we could grab."


Emony looked over to K'hotiim and understood now the look in his eyes. It was the look of a captain who lost everyone. She decided to keep her distance for now. Instead, she decided to check on her own crew.






A few hours later, Emony entered the mess hall of the Magpie. She spotted K'hotiim at a table by the window by himself. She ordered a strawberry milkshake and walked over to him. "Is this seat taken?"

He indicated with his palm she could sit. She did so, admittadly feeling a little nervous. The last time she was this close to a Gorn, it was an attack squad that had boarded the Sentinel. In fact, this guy looked vaugly familiar, but she dismissed that thought. "How are you doing?"

"I'm alive. Which is more than I can say for my crew."

He picked at the piece of meat on the table in front of him. Whatever it was, it had clearly been sitting there for some time, and only had one bite out of it.

"You did everything you could. I'm sure your crew knew that you would have died in their place."
"Yes. But when one consigns his crew to death, it's expected one dies with them."

K'hotiim leaned back and looked at Emony.
"I'm not sad my crew died. They performed their duties well. The acted above and beyond the call of duty. They did everything I could ask of them and more. And they never questioned my order for them to die. It was a good death. No, I'm sad that I did not die with them."

Emony just slightly grimaced. "I understand what it's like to loose your crew. My old ship was ambushed. The Captain and many of the crew were taken captive and our first officer was gravely wounded. I was left in command and.... I wasn't ready. And I lost alot of crew that day. Even now, I still sometimes think I should have been with them." She placed a gloved hand on K'hotiim's claw and patted it gently. "But that's the burden of command. Sometimes we have to send others to their deaths so the many can live."

"Don't mistake this for something it's not. I've sent many warriors to their deaths before. And I'll do so again. It's just accepting your fate, only to have it ripped out of your hands at the last second. It's unnerving. Not that I'd expect a Trill to understand. You don't have the heart of a warrior."

Emony took her hand off K'hotiim. "No. No I don't. We'll be meeting with a supply ship in four hours. They will take you to Garamba Station where you can make your own way from there."

Emony picked up her milkshake and moved to another table of Starfleet officers. K'hotiim picked up his mug of some aweful substitute of a Klingon drink and raised it to the windows and the passing stars.

"To absent friends."

Approved by the former owner of the Magpie! Good story. I like the description of Imzavia using her powers. Good to hear from you and glad you finally got it finished, I know how great it is when you finally manage to complete a story after ages!

You don't fly the Magpie anymore? Awww, I liked that ship. It was great for when I needed a search and rescue ship, and since we flew a fair few missions in game, I liked giving you the shoutout.

Heh, Glad you liked it. I wanted to give all three of my captains their moments to shine, and since Imzavia isn't even a full captain yet, I figured she'd lack combat experience. It all just fell into place very nicely.

Rather misleading remark there, yep. I don't play/write STO any more. Moved on to other things + complete lack of spare time + complete lack of energy. If I played, I'd still fly the Magpie! And I liked the shoutout too! It makes it feel like our RPs and fanfics are all one little world, where if you flew out of one person's RP far enough you could find all the rest of the gang from Serenity Station.