I started writing this in 2021.
I detoured into a couple of other things.
I am now writing in the STB-600-esque universe as featured in the Omoikane stories, et al. That's a brighter, happier universe.
But I am posting this here for your amusement.
Final Flagg
-
jayphailey
- Posts: 1065
- Joined: Tue May 29, 2018 7:50 pm
Final Flagg 01/14
st-om flagg
Karla woke first. She and her brother were sleeping in a makeshift hammock slug under the bridge over the Kresala River. The nights flow of water removed most of the slime and sludge dumped by the city. The bridge was a working bridge, for commerce, not one of the pretty things on the upriver side.
She enjoyed the early morning. The sun was minutes away from cresting the horizon. Already the birds and animals were hard at work making noise and doing their animal things.
Jenkie woke and spent a few moments enjoying the sights and sounds before moving a little and asking "Are you up?"
Karla said "Yup. Let's get moving."
Getting out of the hammock was an acrobatic performance, the two children completed without much thought. Although slinging under the bridge was dangerous, it kept them out of the way of the predators that stalked the night.
After climbing to their securement points on the bridge abutments, they rolled up their hammock and secured it out of sight. It wasn't perfect. They'd been robbed before at other hiding spots. But that was just life on the street.
-*-
The two children patrolled the narrow streets of Molovara City, eyes out for opportunity. Stealing, begging or working, they made no distinction. Every day was a hustle, every day a new race to be run.
-*-
At the edge of the city they stopped by the Western Animal Stables. A collection of zurpelopes, rented or bought for riding or for working. Old Man Morbak was usually a soft touch for something. Charity or work, Karla and Jenkie were good either way.
Morbak was opening up for business as the morning sun razored into all the west facing windows and assaulted all vision with happy yellow rays.
"Ah. Miss Karla. Master Jenkie. Are you available for work today?" Morbak asked.
"Yessir!" Karla answered.
"Well, let start with the stables. You know the drill. Muck those out and we'll see what else we have to do."
"Yessir!" Karla and Jenkie leapt to. When Morbak hired the urchins, he paid nicely.
Morbak smiled to himself. Soon he'd bring them in off the street and have apprentices. Better than seeing them turn to sex work and theft. They were good kids, just a little wild from the street.
-*-
The screen cleared to show John Flagg. His face was calm. He had a superior smile. He was dressed in some sort of gray work clothing.
The bridge of his ship was set up like an old-fashioned Starfleet ship, with two crewmen ahead him at a nav/helm console. The men manning the ship were wearing black uniforms. Snappy. They red armbands, that had a familar angular device in a white circle.
His ship looked exactly like what you'd get if you had the Nazis build a Starfleet ship from 100 years ago.
"John, are you serious?" I asked, "Nazis? Space Nazis?"
He grinned wider "Well, they make the starships run on time."
"What do you want?" I pressed the soft yellow alert button on my control panel. It put the ship on yellow alert without the sounds and lights to give it away from looking at our bridge.
"I have a problem you can help me solve." My skin crawled at that announcement. He continued "Please watch this, carefully. Details are important. "
The screen switched to show a town scape. The people were orionoids. I looked at the details carefully. They looked like a ren faire. It was market day in their town. Carts and stalls full of goods grown, fashioned and hand made. The people there ran a range of color from lemon yellow to a deep red-bronze.
The scanner seemed to be stuck to a building so the images it created looked down on the street of the town. We could see more buildings and smoke from fires. We could hear the sounds of people going about their lives. Children ran and played. Animals of various types were engaged in various jobs. A purple donkey looking thing with antlers hauled a wagon.
There was a light. It was insanely bright. People looking into it were blinded. The people along the street panicked appropriately.
Then the thermal pulse set everything on fire. The people and animals burned screaming.
Then the pressure wave rolled through and smashed everything flat. All the people on the street were hurled and smashed, their green blood splattering everywhere.
I felt distant watching it. It was a horror show. All the worse because it was live.
A mushroom cloud formed and began rolling into the sky
I could see Carlos typing on his console. He quickly identified what planet we were looking at. A yellow star ahead of us, just about a light year and a half away.
The scene of carnage became small and Flaggs face returned to the center of the screen.
"The problem I want you to help me with is that I have seven more bombs, and you have my starship. "
I blinked as my brain tried to keep up. None of the space nazis looked especially happy. A man in a stylish blue civilian suit stood straight-backed behind flagg and wept, quietly.
I found myself standing and lurching forward as if I could throttle Flagg through the view screen. "Fuck you, you dirty fuck!" I raged.
Flagg laughed. "I'll give you some time to think about it. In 30 minutes I'll detonate number 2. If you burn my engines to get here, I'll make sure you're just in time to watch the remaining bombs detonate. Call me when you've done the math."
The screen went blank.
-*-
Karla woke first. She and her brother were sleeping in a makeshift hammock slug under the bridge over the Kresala River. The nights flow of water removed most of the slime and sludge dumped by the city. The bridge was a working bridge, for commerce, not one of the pretty things on the upriver side.
She enjoyed the early morning. The sun was minutes away from cresting the horizon. Already the birds and animals were hard at work making noise and doing their animal things.
Jenkie woke and spent a few moments enjoying the sights and sounds before moving a little and asking "Are you up?"
Karla said "Yup. Let's get moving."
Getting out of the hammock was an acrobatic performance, the two children completed without much thought. Although slinging under the bridge was dangerous, it kept them out of the way of the predators that stalked the night.
After climbing to their securement points on the bridge abutments, they rolled up their hammock and secured it out of sight. It wasn't perfect. They'd been robbed before at other hiding spots. But that was just life on the street.
-*-
The two children patrolled the narrow streets of Molovara City, eyes out for opportunity. Stealing, begging or working, they made no distinction. Every day was a hustle, every day a new race to be run.
-*-
At the edge of the city they stopped by the Western Animal Stables. A collection of zurpelopes, rented or bought for riding or for working. Old Man Morbak was usually a soft touch for something. Charity or work, Karla and Jenkie were good either way.
Morbak was opening up for business as the morning sun razored into all the west facing windows and assaulted all vision with happy yellow rays.
"Ah. Miss Karla. Master Jenkie. Are you available for work today?" Morbak asked.
"Yessir!" Karla answered.
"Well, let start with the stables. You know the drill. Muck those out and we'll see what else we have to do."
"Yessir!" Karla and Jenkie leapt to. When Morbak hired the urchins, he paid nicely.
Morbak smiled to himself. Soon he'd bring them in off the street and have apprentices. Better than seeing them turn to sex work and theft. They were good kids, just a little wild from the street.
-*-
The screen cleared to show John Flagg. His face was calm. He had a superior smile. He was dressed in some sort of gray work clothing.
The bridge of his ship was set up like an old-fashioned Starfleet ship, with two crewmen ahead him at a nav/helm console. The men manning the ship were wearing black uniforms. Snappy. They red armbands, that had a familar angular device in a white circle.
His ship looked exactly like what you'd get if you had the Nazis build a Starfleet ship from 100 years ago.
"John, are you serious?" I asked, "Nazis? Space Nazis?"
He grinned wider "Well, they make the starships run on time."
"What do you want?" I pressed the soft yellow alert button on my control panel. It put the ship on yellow alert without the sounds and lights to give it away from looking at our bridge.
"I have a problem you can help me solve." My skin crawled at that announcement. He continued "Please watch this, carefully. Details are important. "
The screen switched to show a town scape. The people were orionoids. I looked at the details carefully. They looked like a ren faire. It was market day in their town. Carts and stalls full of goods grown, fashioned and hand made. The people there ran a range of color from lemon yellow to a deep red-bronze.
The scanner seemed to be stuck to a building so the images it created looked down on the street of the town. We could see more buildings and smoke from fires. We could hear the sounds of people going about their lives. Children ran and played. Animals of various types were engaged in various jobs. A purple donkey looking thing with antlers hauled a wagon.
There was a light. It was insanely bright. People looking into it were blinded. The people along the street panicked appropriately.
Then the thermal pulse set everything on fire. The people and animals burned screaming.
Then the pressure wave rolled through and smashed everything flat. All the people on the street were hurled and smashed, their green blood splattering everywhere.
I felt distant watching it. It was a horror show. All the worse because it was live.
A mushroom cloud formed and began rolling into the sky
I could see Carlos typing on his console. He quickly identified what planet we were looking at. A yellow star ahead of us, just about a light year and a half away.
The scene of carnage became small and Flaggs face returned to the center of the screen.
"The problem I want you to help me with is that I have seven more bombs, and you have my starship. "
I blinked as my brain tried to keep up. None of the space nazis looked especially happy. A man in a stylish blue civilian suit stood straight-backed behind flagg and wept, quietly.
I found myself standing and lurching forward as if I could throttle Flagg through the view screen. "Fuck you, you dirty fuck!" I raged.
Flagg laughed. "I'll give you some time to think about it. In 30 minutes I'll detonate number 2. If you burn my engines to get here, I'll make sure you're just in time to watch the remaining bombs detonate. Call me when you've done the math."
The screen went blank.
-*-
-
jayphailey
- Posts: 1065
- Joined: Tue May 29, 2018 7:50 pm
Re: Final Flagg
st-om flagg
It was mid morning. The sun was higher in the sky when Morbak called "Break time!"
Karla and Jenkie all but teleported to his location. Break time meant food and drink.
Morbak laid out breakfast on a bale of hay and they grabbed whatever was handy to sit on. Meat, cheese and bread. Wine. Actually water that had some wine in it. They didn't know about bacteria, but they knew a touch of alcohol meant good luck in avoiding disease.
As they ate, Morbak asked "Have you encountered any more ghosts?"
Karla looked at him with big eyes "Nope!"
The dark figures moving through the night at the center of town scared Karla and Jenkie. Silent humanoid forms, they climbed like spiders and had little gems for eyes. The two kids wisely departed for less haunted quaters of town.
Morbak didn't know what the children had encountered, but their serious risk appraisal was persuasive. Urchins didn't flee in the fictional stories.
The sun rose in the east, where it had always set before
All three people froze and tried to process this. Animals in the corral outside screamed and panicked.
The light grew brighter and brighter until it seemed as if it would penetrate the wood of the barn itself, then it faded.
Along with the zurpelopes pancking, there were the sounds of various people having a reaction.
Morbak and the children ran outside. Goodwoman Gelsia was on her knees across the road screaming "I am blind! My vision has been stricken from me!"
To the east an ugly mushroom cloud rolled into the sky. It was fire and smoke and evil.
A great rush of air passed them by ripping pieces off buildings and shattering the few expensive windows in buildings. Harbel the Tinkers house collapsed to the ground.
"What in the name of the old gods is this?" Morbak whispered.
The great wind passed in the other direction, heading back towards the evil thing on the easter horizon.
-*-
Kell glared at Flagg, "You lied."
Flagg didn't look at Kell "I had to show Hailey I meant business. He wouldn't hand his ship over without severe coercion."
"And now we are accomplices to mass murder."
Flagg cast a side eye to Kell "They're Orions. Untermensch. "
"I don't care who they are! I care who I AM!"
"It's a little late to be growing a conscience."
"I am sick of being your pirate and marauder. I am sick of staining my uniform and my command with innocent blood."
Flagg turned to face Kell, "Think what that ship means to Ekos. When we bring her back, your name will go into the history books."
Kell was bitter, and didn't back down, "My name will already be in the history books, as the man who failed to stop you in time."
Flagg's express was dangerous, "Stop me?"
Kell addressed the bridge crew "Stand down. We will no longer be following Herr Flagg's orders."
"Are you sure?"
"I've never been more so."
Flagg drew a small phaser. It was so quick and fluid a motion that everyone just had time to register that it was a phaser when Flagg shot Kell. Kell flopped to the deck. Another quick thumb motion and Flagg shot Kell again, killing him.
"Does anyone else want to quit?" Flagg asked, calmly.
Otto Torvask, the XO of the Melkon barked "Resume your stations!"
The stunned bridge crew turned around and faced their stations, stiffly, with fear or shock coloring their minds.
"I'll say it one more time. I'll kill anyone. Anyone. Everyone, if that's what it takes to accomplish The Mission. Don't doubt it."
They didn't.
-*-
It was mid morning. The sun was higher in the sky when Morbak called "Break time!"
Karla and Jenkie all but teleported to his location. Break time meant food and drink.
Morbak laid out breakfast on a bale of hay and they grabbed whatever was handy to sit on. Meat, cheese and bread. Wine. Actually water that had some wine in it. They didn't know about bacteria, but they knew a touch of alcohol meant good luck in avoiding disease.
As they ate, Morbak asked "Have you encountered any more ghosts?"
Karla looked at him with big eyes "Nope!"
The dark figures moving through the night at the center of town scared Karla and Jenkie. Silent humanoid forms, they climbed like spiders and had little gems for eyes. The two kids wisely departed for less haunted quaters of town.
Morbak didn't know what the children had encountered, but their serious risk appraisal was persuasive. Urchins didn't flee in the fictional stories.
The sun rose in the east, where it had always set before
All three people froze and tried to process this. Animals in the corral outside screamed and panicked.
The light grew brighter and brighter until it seemed as if it would penetrate the wood of the barn itself, then it faded.
Along with the zurpelopes pancking, there were the sounds of various people having a reaction.
Morbak and the children ran outside. Goodwoman Gelsia was on her knees across the road screaming "I am blind! My vision has been stricken from me!"
To the east an ugly mushroom cloud rolled into the sky. It was fire and smoke and evil.
A great rush of air passed them by ripping pieces off buildings and shattering the few expensive windows in buildings. Harbel the Tinkers house collapsed to the ground.
"What in the name of the old gods is this?" Morbak whispered.
The great wind passed in the other direction, heading back towards the evil thing on the easter horizon.
-*-
Kell glared at Flagg, "You lied."
Flagg didn't look at Kell "I had to show Hailey I meant business. He wouldn't hand his ship over without severe coercion."
"And now we are accomplices to mass murder."
Flagg cast a side eye to Kell "They're Orions. Untermensch. "
"I don't care who they are! I care who I AM!"
"It's a little late to be growing a conscience."
"I am sick of being your pirate and marauder. I am sick of staining my uniform and my command with innocent blood."
Flagg turned to face Kell, "Think what that ship means to Ekos. When we bring her back, your name will go into the history books."
Kell was bitter, and didn't back down, "My name will already be in the history books, as the man who failed to stop you in time."
Flagg's express was dangerous, "Stop me?"
Kell addressed the bridge crew "Stand down. We will no longer be following Herr Flagg's orders."
"Are you sure?"
"I've never been more so."
Flagg drew a small phaser. It was so quick and fluid a motion that everyone just had time to register that it was a phaser when Flagg shot Kell. Kell flopped to the deck. Another quick thumb motion and Flagg shot Kell again, killing him.
"Does anyone else want to quit?" Flagg asked, calmly.
Otto Torvask, the XO of the Melkon barked "Resume your stations!"
The stunned bridge crew turned around and faced their stations, stiffly, with fear or shock coloring their minds.
"I'll say it one more time. I'll kill anyone. Anyone. Everyone, if that's what it takes to accomplish The Mission. Don't doubt it."
They didn't.
-*-
-
jayphailey
- Posts: 1065
- Joined: Tue May 29, 2018 7:50 pm
Re: Final Flagg
st-om flagg
The Conference room seemed close and resricted. I knew this was psychological.
"Okay, options."
Mendez looked defeated. Stephanie looked angry
"Not to put too fine a point on it, we're fucked," Stephanie explained "I can't see anything we can do, except to try and mitigate the damage."
I tried to bore a hole into the padd in front of me with my eyes. There had to be something we were missing. I hated the feeling of being powerless. I hated the feeling of all the leverage being against me.
"The way he spoke of the Discovery as his ship was odd," Mendez said. "Very aggressive and manipulative."
A piece fell into place. "Okay, so this isn't just a pirate grab for him. It's personal."
It felt both better because I understood where he was coming from more. It also felt worse. A psycho spent years plotting revenge against me.
"Who are those fucking space nazis?" I asked.
Stephanie replied "The Ekosians. They've been bit player assholes. I have no idea where they got that ship. According to our latest intel they don't have that kind of pull, but there they are. "
"I really thought they had their issues settled a hundred years ago."
Stephanie cocked an eyebrow at me "You know of the Enterprise encounter? Of course you do."
"I also read up on the Nazis when the colonists started calling me..." an idea hit me. I went and stood in the conference room door. "Gerald, get in here."
Gerald Bruce our computer specialist came in, "Sir."
"We don't have much time. Do we still have Dena Foote's virus?"
Bruce nodded "Yeah, it's quarantined."
"Can we reset the ship to Starfleet software and then infect it with Dena's virus on command?"
"If we tried that sort of reset, the problem would be avoiding the infection. I am not sure we could get every system in the ship reset back to factory specs in that period of time, but I think we could do the warp drive computer and the main computer and set them to try to do the rest. "
"Set it up. "
Mendez said, "You're going to give him the ship."
"Yes. Only the ship. With any luck Denas virus will infect his space nazis, too. "
"What about us?"
"You're going to head for the planet and try to find the bombs before Flagg can detonate any more of them. Then try to render aid to the city that was hit. "
Mendez stared at me "We'll be stranded."
"Do you have a better idea? I am pretty sure in a straight fight we can take Flagg and his Space Nazis, but we sacrifice all the victims on the ground. I can't do that. I'm pretty sure you can't either. "
"I suppose you mean to heroically sacrifice yourself."
"If it keeps Flagg off your back, hell yes. Flagg's insane. He could teach the the Nazis things about torture and brutality. If I could think of a way to put all of you forever out of his reach, I would. I don't think this is going to be fun, but if it keeps Flaggs eyes on me, and away from you I'm ready for that. "
Bruce finished outlining his plan. "Here it is. I think we can do it but it'll be close."
-*-
We called a red alert and gave everyone time to wake up and get to their battle station.
"All hands, all hands. Now hear this. We're up against a bad situation. Very bad. I am sure you've seen the results of John Flagg bombing a prime directive people. Soon you'll be getting instructions. Load up every ship and shuttle we have with supplies and tools, you'll be getting more briefings as we go. Once we're in range, we'll be bailing out of the Discovery. "
"Once on the ground, you have three missions. Find and defuse all of Flagg's bombs. Render aid to the stricken city as best as you're able. Then, stay alive, until help comes."
"It has been my pleasure to serve along side you. You're the best crew in the fleet hands down and any success I've managed has been all due to your support."
"Now get to work. Minutes and seconds count."
-*-
I took a few moments in my ready room. I thought of all the ways I'd screwed up on this trip. I thought of how miserable I was at being a starship captain.
It wasn't just self-indulgence this time. It was to help with the acting. I had to sell Flagg that he had me checkmated.
I called him
He looked very serious, "Three minutes left, Jay. I was getting worried."
"I am calling to officially surrender the USS Discovery to you. Do not detonate any more devices. You win. The ship is yours. "
Flagg grinned, "And what half-assed plan have you come up with to try and stop me?"
"I'm hoping that by giving you the Discovery and myself to play with, you'll ignore my crew when they drop onto the planet to try and ameloriate the effects of your war crime."
Flagg scratched his chin. "Very noble and self sacrificing. You're going to try and ram us and self destruct, right?"
I shook my head. "There's too many ways that could go wrong. One thing not going my way and thousands of more innocent people die in fire. Too risky."
"So you're just going to hand me a Galaxy class starship."
"Having a Galaxy class starship and keeping her are two entirely different things. Especially with your knack for making friends and influencing people."
Just for a second, I saw the real Flagg. His face twisted, "I'm going to enjoy our time together-"
A green flash exploded behind him. As Flagg whirled, I saw a blue sleeved arm flop on the deck. Flagg slapped the button and the call ended.
The crying man.
I leaned back and hated Flagg even more.
Then I sent the coordinates for the rendesvous.
-*-
The big bay doors rolled up. I watched from the bridge as a mengerie of shuttles, run abouts, civilian ships and all sorts of stuff left in an orderly rush for the exits.
Below us, the pretty blue planet rolled.
Then the escape pods went. we filled the area with breakaway panels and debris as the small, limited use boats popped away from the Discovery, oriented themselves and skedaddled.
Lastly the transporters all over the ship began beaming.
I could see an ugly little orange scar on the surface of the planet where the fires from the first bomb were still raging.
-*-
The rescue effort seemed to be going well, so far. Morbak knew this was an illusion. The dark acrid smoke the fires was growing and growing.
People in the neighborhood turned out and started digging people out of wrecked houses.
Goodwoman Gelsia is the barn reported her vision was starting to come back a little. She was looking right at the light when it occured.
The zurpelopes were restless and unhappy but no longer panicking. Morbak checked and several of them were blind or partly so as well. Their fur was crunchy in places, as if burned.
Morbak kept a steady tone and and made sensible suggestions, so people jangled and shaken by the supernatural event gravitated towards him as leader.
Morbak dreaded this, because things were about to get worse.
Stragglers and injured people were walking into the area. Closer to the light, things were much, much worse. Injuries were more severe and there were burns.
And the way the smoke increased in density and smell reminded Morbak of when he was a boy and fire ran uncontrolled through the city.
Morbak considered where to run and how to start organizing people for an orderly retreat.
Lights sparkled into existence in and around his zurpelope corral. The light grew wider and taller and then became people. They had unnatural skin colors. Some had unusual shapes. They carried gear Morbak didn't recognize.
"Monsters!" Karla gasped.
"Hold on," Morbak said. He'd already seen some people run as soon as the sparkling started.
One of the strange new people raised his hands in a placating gesture and said "Meekle zorbibble crondati helspolosi?"
The new comers spread out and made enouraging noises and gestures, speaking a language no one knew.
Morbak watched to see what they would do.
The Conference room seemed close and resricted. I knew this was psychological.
"Okay, options."
Mendez looked defeated. Stephanie looked angry
"Not to put too fine a point on it, we're fucked," Stephanie explained "I can't see anything we can do, except to try and mitigate the damage."
I tried to bore a hole into the padd in front of me with my eyes. There had to be something we were missing. I hated the feeling of being powerless. I hated the feeling of all the leverage being against me.
"The way he spoke of the Discovery as his ship was odd," Mendez said. "Very aggressive and manipulative."
A piece fell into place. "Okay, so this isn't just a pirate grab for him. It's personal."
It felt both better because I understood where he was coming from more. It also felt worse. A psycho spent years plotting revenge against me.
"Who are those fucking space nazis?" I asked.
Stephanie replied "The Ekosians. They've been bit player assholes. I have no idea where they got that ship. According to our latest intel they don't have that kind of pull, but there they are. "
"I really thought they had their issues settled a hundred years ago."
Stephanie cocked an eyebrow at me "You know of the Enterprise encounter? Of course you do."
"I also read up on the Nazis when the colonists started calling me..." an idea hit me. I went and stood in the conference room door. "Gerald, get in here."
Gerald Bruce our computer specialist came in, "Sir."
"We don't have much time. Do we still have Dena Foote's virus?"
Bruce nodded "Yeah, it's quarantined."
"Can we reset the ship to Starfleet software and then infect it with Dena's virus on command?"
"If we tried that sort of reset, the problem would be avoiding the infection. I am not sure we could get every system in the ship reset back to factory specs in that period of time, but I think we could do the warp drive computer and the main computer and set them to try to do the rest. "
"Set it up. "
Mendez said, "You're going to give him the ship."
"Yes. Only the ship. With any luck Denas virus will infect his space nazis, too. "
"What about us?"
"You're going to head for the planet and try to find the bombs before Flagg can detonate any more of them. Then try to render aid to the city that was hit. "
Mendez stared at me "We'll be stranded."
"Do you have a better idea? I am pretty sure in a straight fight we can take Flagg and his Space Nazis, but we sacrifice all the victims on the ground. I can't do that. I'm pretty sure you can't either. "
"I suppose you mean to heroically sacrifice yourself."
"If it keeps Flagg off your back, hell yes. Flagg's insane. He could teach the the Nazis things about torture and brutality. If I could think of a way to put all of you forever out of his reach, I would. I don't think this is going to be fun, but if it keeps Flaggs eyes on me, and away from you I'm ready for that. "
Bruce finished outlining his plan. "Here it is. I think we can do it but it'll be close."
-*-
We called a red alert and gave everyone time to wake up and get to their battle station.
"All hands, all hands. Now hear this. We're up against a bad situation. Very bad. I am sure you've seen the results of John Flagg bombing a prime directive people. Soon you'll be getting instructions. Load up every ship and shuttle we have with supplies and tools, you'll be getting more briefings as we go. Once we're in range, we'll be bailing out of the Discovery. "
"Once on the ground, you have three missions. Find and defuse all of Flagg's bombs. Render aid to the stricken city as best as you're able. Then, stay alive, until help comes."
"It has been my pleasure to serve along side you. You're the best crew in the fleet hands down and any success I've managed has been all due to your support."
"Now get to work. Minutes and seconds count."
-*-
I took a few moments in my ready room. I thought of all the ways I'd screwed up on this trip. I thought of how miserable I was at being a starship captain.
It wasn't just self-indulgence this time. It was to help with the acting. I had to sell Flagg that he had me checkmated.
I called him
He looked very serious, "Three minutes left, Jay. I was getting worried."
"I am calling to officially surrender the USS Discovery to you. Do not detonate any more devices. You win. The ship is yours. "
Flagg grinned, "And what half-assed plan have you come up with to try and stop me?"
"I'm hoping that by giving you the Discovery and myself to play with, you'll ignore my crew when they drop onto the planet to try and ameloriate the effects of your war crime."
Flagg scratched his chin. "Very noble and self sacrificing. You're going to try and ram us and self destruct, right?"
I shook my head. "There's too many ways that could go wrong. One thing not going my way and thousands of more innocent people die in fire. Too risky."
"So you're just going to hand me a Galaxy class starship."
"Having a Galaxy class starship and keeping her are two entirely different things. Especially with your knack for making friends and influencing people."
Just for a second, I saw the real Flagg. His face twisted, "I'm going to enjoy our time together-"
A green flash exploded behind him. As Flagg whirled, I saw a blue sleeved arm flop on the deck. Flagg slapped the button and the call ended.
The crying man.
I leaned back and hated Flagg even more.
Then I sent the coordinates for the rendesvous.
-*-
The big bay doors rolled up. I watched from the bridge as a mengerie of shuttles, run abouts, civilian ships and all sorts of stuff left in an orderly rush for the exits.
Below us, the pretty blue planet rolled.
Then the escape pods went. we filled the area with breakaway panels and debris as the small, limited use boats popped away from the Discovery, oriented themselves and skedaddled.
Lastly the transporters all over the ship began beaming.
I could see an ugly little orange scar on the surface of the planet where the fires from the first bomb were still raging.
-*-
The rescue effort seemed to be going well, so far. Morbak knew this was an illusion. The dark acrid smoke the fires was growing and growing.
People in the neighborhood turned out and started digging people out of wrecked houses.
Goodwoman Gelsia is the barn reported her vision was starting to come back a little. She was looking right at the light when it occured.
The zurpelopes were restless and unhappy but no longer panicking. Morbak checked and several of them were blind or partly so as well. Their fur was crunchy in places, as if burned.
Morbak kept a steady tone and and made sensible suggestions, so people jangled and shaken by the supernatural event gravitated towards him as leader.
Morbak dreaded this, because things were about to get worse.
Stragglers and injured people were walking into the area. Closer to the light, things were much, much worse. Injuries were more severe and there were burns.
And the way the smoke increased in density and smell reminded Morbak of when he was a boy and fire ran uncontrolled through the city.
Morbak considered where to run and how to start organizing people for an orderly retreat.
Lights sparkled into existence in and around his zurpelope corral. The light grew wider and taller and then became people. They had unnatural skin colors. Some had unusual shapes. They carried gear Morbak didn't recognize.
"Monsters!" Karla gasped.
"Hold on," Morbak said. He'd already seen some people run as soon as the sparkling started.
One of the strange new people raised his hands in a placating gesture and said "Meekle zorbibble crondati helspolosi?"
The new comers spread out and made enouraging noises and gestures, speaking a language no one knew.
Morbak watched to see what they would do.
-
jayphailey
- Posts: 1065
- Joined: Tue May 29, 2018 7:50 pm
Re: Final Flagg
st-om flagg 04
-*-
Christian Zekol and Adolph Mellar walked into the corridor like they owned it. Looking this way and that, they entered the code for the escape pod just behind the panel. Alerts flashed and alarms whooped.
Christian and Adolph climbed into the escape pod with a purpose and slapped the eject button. The pod slammed shut and the ejection system hurled it away from the Melakon, headed for the planet below.
-*-
Torvask looked at the alarm on his panel, "Another escape pod has launched. That makes four."
Flagg's body and face betrayed no reaction. "We'll retrieve them later."
-*-
As the last of our shuttles went, the tactical alarm went off and a ship decloaked.
The Ekosian ship would have been right at home in the Starfleet of 2285. A saucer, a bulky blocky secondary hull, nacelles that wanted to seem fast just standing still and all sorts of weapons emplacements and heavy torpedo tubes.
It was just the thing to face off a K'tinga class battlecruiser.
I entered the commands. The computers on the Discovery shut down and began to reset themselves.
Flagg hailed. "We will be there shortly. Are you ready for me to assume command of my ship?"
"As ready as I'll ever be."
"What are you doing to the computers?"
"There's a process to be followed. I am scrubbing sensitive data. You probably have more recent copies than I do, but I might as well do it right. "
Flagg grinned "We'll see how well you do at keeping me out."
A data channel opened between our ships.
Flagg accessed the main computer with her admiralty prefix codes.
I wonder how he got those.
I pressed the button and hoped Dena Footes virus was flowing through the internal network and and the data link.
I had no way of knowing. The stock starfleet operating system and control programs had no way of tracking the thing.
The bridge went dark, and emergency lights came on.
So far, so good.
-*-
They found me on deck six, two hours later. I was looking for a set of binoculars to see if I could spot Flaggs ship by visible light through the windows. The computers mummered to themselves in Dena's obscure language, oblivious to all attempts to control or use them.
There were four kommandos, in space suits. They flashed lights in my eyes and bellowed "Halt!"
I raised my hands "Okay, okay, I surrender."
They threw me against the wall and searched me with insulting thoroughness.
"Flagg will want to speak to zis one. Ve'll take him to ze bridge."
I was about to gesture towards the ladder up, but I stopped myself. Flagg was probably going to torture me for information about how to undo the sabotage to the Discovery. So the Kommandos could find their own damned way.
Should I make them carry me?
I elected not to take passive resistance that far. This was going to hurt bad enough, in time. Might as well push that time back as far as possible.
-*-
We climbed up onto the Discovery's bridge from the access stairway under the trap door near the front of the bridge.
There was Flagg, as trim and thin as ever. More salt and pepper in his hair. He was in a space suit, too.
He didn't waste time "What did you do to my ship?"
I shrugged, "It wasn't me. A lady named Dena Foote created this. It's a hell of a piece of work. we almost didn't recover."
Flagg was not impressed. "And how did you recover?"
"We built an operating system from the Klingon Eado 35 kernal."
Flagg squinted at me "That's a 40 year old operating system for tricorders."
"Yup. It was weird enough so Dena's virus couldn't get it. It took a long time and a lot of effort to build it into a starship operating system. "
Flagg stared at me "How did you know it would affect Melakon?"
"Melakon? The looney who machine gunned John Gill? I thought the Ekosians dropped him." That got me glares from the kommandos
"How did you know?"
"I didn't. The goal was to give you the Discovery in a condition where you couldn't use her. Crippling your ship was a bonus. "
"Okay so where are the Klingon tricorders you used to boot strap from?"
"We destroyed them. And any others that might be used that way. You'll have to find your own alternate operating system."
Flagg looked at me "You know I'm going to tear your finger nails out."
I believed him and it scared me. A lot. I nodded. "I figured. I am hoping to put it off some by telling you the truth now. Hopefully you'll be practical now and put off recreational torture until you have your situation under control. "
"Coward," one of the kommandos hissed.
Flaggs jaw muscles worked as he stared. Welcome to command, buddy
He decided. "Fritz, Max you head back to the Melakon and tell them to search for anything we could use as a boot strap device. Any alien devices that are still functioning."
"The rest of you divide into teams of two. Begin searching this ship. The odds are that someone missed something. Go from top to bottom start on the forward axis and work your way around to starboard. Start now."
The kommandos went into action
Flagg looked at me for several seconds. He was deciding whether to hurt me now or hurt me later.
"Tell me everything you know about this virus."
"Well, it starts with a people called the Iconians...."
-*-
-*-
Christian Zekol and Adolph Mellar walked into the corridor like they owned it. Looking this way and that, they entered the code for the escape pod just behind the panel. Alerts flashed and alarms whooped.
Christian and Adolph climbed into the escape pod with a purpose and slapped the eject button. The pod slammed shut and the ejection system hurled it away from the Melakon, headed for the planet below.
-*-
Torvask looked at the alarm on his panel, "Another escape pod has launched. That makes four."
Flagg's body and face betrayed no reaction. "We'll retrieve them later."
-*-
As the last of our shuttles went, the tactical alarm went off and a ship decloaked.
The Ekosian ship would have been right at home in the Starfleet of 2285. A saucer, a bulky blocky secondary hull, nacelles that wanted to seem fast just standing still and all sorts of weapons emplacements and heavy torpedo tubes.
It was just the thing to face off a K'tinga class battlecruiser.
I entered the commands. The computers on the Discovery shut down and began to reset themselves.
Flagg hailed. "We will be there shortly. Are you ready for me to assume command of my ship?"
"As ready as I'll ever be."
"What are you doing to the computers?"
"There's a process to be followed. I am scrubbing sensitive data. You probably have more recent copies than I do, but I might as well do it right. "
Flagg grinned "We'll see how well you do at keeping me out."
A data channel opened between our ships.
Flagg accessed the main computer with her admiralty prefix codes.
I wonder how he got those.
I pressed the button and hoped Dena Footes virus was flowing through the internal network and and the data link.
I had no way of knowing. The stock starfleet operating system and control programs had no way of tracking the thing.
The bridge went dark, and emergency lights came on.
So far, so good.
-*-
They found me on deck six, two hours later. I was looking for a set of binoculars to see if I could spot Flaggs ship by visible light through the windows. The computers mummered to themselves in Dena's obscure language, oblivious to all attempts to control or use them.
There were four kommandos, in space suits. They flashed lights in my eyes and bellowed "Halt!"
I raised my hands "Okay, okay, I surrender."
They threw me against the wall and searched me with insulting thoroughness.
"Flagg will want to speak to zis one. Ve'll take him to ze bridge."
I was about to gesture towards the ladder up, but I stopped myself. Flagg was probably going to torture me for information about how to undo the sabotage to the Discovery. So the Kommandos could find their own damned way.
Should I make them carry me?
I elected not to take passive resistance that far. This was going to hurt bad enough, in time. Might as well push that time back as far as possible.
-*-
We climbed up onto the Discovery's bridge from the access stairway under the trap door near the front of the bridge.
There was Flagg, as trim and thin as ever. More salt and pepper in his hair. He was in a space suit, too.
He didn't waste time "What did you do to my ship?"
I shrugged, "It wasn't me. A lady named Dena Foote created this. It's a hell of a piece of work. we almost didn't recover."
Flagg was not impressed. "And how did you recover?"
"We built an operating system from the Klingon Eado 35 kernal."
Flagg squinted at me "That's a 40 year old operating system for tricorders."
"Yup. It was weird enough so Dena's virus couldn't get it. It took a long time and a lot of effort to build it into a starship operating system. "
Flagg stared at me "How did you know it would affect Melakon?"
"Melakon? The looney who machine gunned John Gill? I thought the Ekosians dropped him." That got me glares from the kommandos
"How did you know?"
"I didn't. The goal was to give you the Discovery in a condition where you couldn't use her. Crippling your ship was a bonus. "
"Okay so where are the Klingon tricorders you used to boot strap from?"
"We destroyed them. And any others that might be used that way. You'll have to find your own alternate operating system."
Flagg looked at me "You know I'm going to tear your finger nails out."
I believed him and it scared me. A lot. I nodded. "I figured. I am hoping to put it off some by telling you the truth now. Hopefully you'll be practical now and put off recreational torture until you have your situation under control. "
"Coward," one of the kommandos hissed.
Flaggs jaw muscles worked as he stared. Welcome to command, buddy
He decided. "Fritz, Max you head back to the Melakon and tell them to search for anything we could use as a boot strap device. Any alien devices that are still functioning."
"The rest of you divide into teams of two. Begin searching this ship. The odds are that someone missed something. Go from top to bottom start on the forward axis and work your way around to starboard. Start now."
The kommandos went into action
Flagg looked at me for several seconds. He was deciding whether to hurt me now or hurt me later.
"Tell me everything you know about this virus."
"Well, it starts with a people called the Iconians...."
-*-
-
jayphailey
- Posts: 1065
- Joined: Tue May 29, 2018 7:50 pm
Re: Final Flagg
st-om flagg 05
The USS Cincinnatus dropped out of warp and approached the planet.
Tandala said "I have the Discovery on sensors. She's shut down. There's another ship very close. She's also shut down."
Li'ira looked at the plot "Was there a battle?"
Draxil looked at his sensors "No signs of weapon fire. Ugh. I am reading an antimatter detonation on the planet. Very small, like maybe a third of a microgram."
Tandala spoke up. "I am reading beacons from the Discovery's escape pods. All on the planet. I am also reading several small ships. Shuttles, runabouts and small civilian ships. no comms from anyone."
"Hail the Discovery," Li'ira said
"Hailing... "
The screens on the bridge showed electronic interference. Tandala yelled "Uh oh!"
"All stop, yellow alert." Li'ira ordered.
The Cincinnatus sluggishly slowed down as the alarms flashed.
"What's going on?"
T'Nara, the helmsman said "The ship is slow to answer commands, whatever is happening is degrading my control of the helm."
"Its a virus of some kind, captain. Our computer is really struggling."
"T'Aera, report."
From Engineering, The Vulcan Chief Engineer replied "Captain, the computer is reporting an aggressive attack by a polymorphic virus array. Our counter measures are only partially effective."
"What can we do to?"
"I need to shut down critical systems until I can arrange for more effective counter measures to this attack. "
"Shut down main and secondary systems. Leave me tertiary systems. I have to have a ship, here."
"Aye, Captain."
"Aaron, go grab everyone with programming and electronic warfare experience and get to engineering to help T'Aera."
The lights on the bridge changed to emergency lights. The life support systems crew quieter. Many panels on the bridge shut off. The remaining panels showed partial functions. Tertiary back ups.
"Get us closer to the Discovery."
"Aye, Captain," T'Nara replied
The Cincinnatus began to crawl forward.
"What ship was that near the discovery?" Li'ira asked
Draxil put the image up on the main screen "That looks like a modified Ferengi export battlecruiser. I didn't get enough detail for markings. That will have to wait until we're closer."
"She's shut down."
Draxil put the infrared scan of both ships on the screen. The Discovery's warp drives were hot. As if just recently used. The battlecruisers engines were cooler. They hadn't been used for some time.
Draxil pointed out "We'd expect to see the heat signatures over more of the hull and changing if the ships were live."
Tandala concurred "There's no impulse engine activity, no rcs systems activity. Both ship are drifting."
"Is it the virus?"
"That'd be my guess. But then I'd be paranoid about making the wrong guess."
"I'm having real problems understanding the picture i'm seeing here." Li'ira said, staring at the screen.
Tandala said "The only fix for that is more information. "
"Yeah, let's get closer. " Li'ira said.
-*-
The USS Cincinnatus dropped out of warp and approached the planet.
Tandala said "I have the Discovery on sensors. She's shut down. There's another ship very close. She's also shut down."
Li'ira looked at the plot "Was there a battle?"
Draxil looked at his sensors "No signs of weapon fire. Ugh. I am reading an antimatter detonation on the planet. Very small, like maybe a third of a microgram."
Tandala spoke up. "I am reading beacons from the Discovery's escape pods. All on the planet. I am also reading several small ships. Shuttles, runabouts and small civilian ships. no comms from anyone."
"Hail the Discovery," Li'ira said
"Hailing... "
The screens on the bridge showed electronic interference. Tandala yelled "Uh oh!"
"All stop, yellow alert." Li'ira ordered.
The Cincinnatus sluggishly slowed down as the alarms flashed.
"What's going on?"
T'Nara, the helmsman said "The ship is slow to answer commands, whatever is happening is degrading my control of the helm."
"Its a virus of some kind, captain. Our computer is really struggling."
"T'Aera, report."
From Engineering, The Vulcan Chief Engineer replied "Captain, the computer is reporting an aggressive attack by a polymorphic virus array. Our counter measures are only partially effective."
"What can we do to?"
"I need to shut down critical systems until I can arrange for more effective counter measures to this attack. "
"Shut down main and secondary systems. Leave me tertiary systems. I have to have a ship, here."
"Aye, Captain."
"Aaron, go grab everyone with programming and electronic warfare experience and get to engineering to help T'Aera."
The lights on the bridge changed to emergency lights. The life support systems crew quieter. Many panels on the bridge shut off. The remaining panels showed partial functions. Tertiary back ups.
"Get us closer to the Discovery."
"Aye, Captain," T'Nara replied
The Cincinnatus began to crawl forward.
"What ship was that near the discovery?" Li'ira asked
Draxil put the image up on the main screen "That looks like a modified Ferengi export battlecruiser. I didn't get enough detail for markings. That will have to wait until we're closer."
"She's shut down."
Draxil put the infrared scan of both ships on the screen. The Discovery's warp drives were hot. As if just recently used. The battlecruisers engines were cooler. They hadn't been used for some time.
Draxil pointed out "We'd expect to see the heat signatures over more of the hull and changing if the ships were live."
Tandala concurred "There's no impulse engine activity, no rcs systems activity. Both ship are drifting."
"Is it the virus?"
"That'd be my guess. But then I'd be paranoid about making the wrong guess."
"I'm having real problems understanding the picture i'm seeing here." Li'ira said, staring at the screen.
Tandala said "The only fix for that is more information. "
"Yeah, let's get closer. " Li'ira said.
-*-
-
jayphailey
- Posts: 1065
- Joined: Tue May 29, 2018 7:50 pm
Re: Final Flagg
st-om flagg 06
"That sounds like you never developed a counter measure," Flagg snarled, "You developed a jury-rigged work around an depended on that."
"We did develop methods for hard booting the Discovery's systems, but I ordered those destroyed."
"And you never reverse engineered the virus."
"Nope. Letting it run on any given system was too risky. I was honestly surprised we still had samples of it to hand off to you."
Flagg shook his head "Typical half-assed, improvisational, moment to moment bullshit with one of the most advanced ships in the fleet."
I laughed ruefully, "Oh you have no idea. Besides, don't tell me that getting out here to ambush us was all according to plan and sticking to the space lanes. "
Flagg gave me a moments stare before redirecting. "Are there any other surprises here I need to know about?"
"Nothing like this. We had to pull this plan out of our ass over the last day and a half. John, how do you plan to drive both the Discovery and Melakon home? You're going to be seriously undermanned."
Flagg leaned down into my face "I ask, you answer. Do not try to connect with me. Do not try to build empathy. Absolutely no negotiation or diplomatic tactic you know or can imagine will ever work on me."
"Why are you so angry?"
Flagg backhanded me. I am not used to being hit so I couldn't tell if it was hard or medium or what. My face exploded with pain and I found myself leaned over to the side.
"You're an idiot," he hissed. "I've trained for years to detect falsehood and lies, and I can tell you're really too stupid to see whats going on here."
He hit me again.
"You took everything from me! The Harrier was supposed to be my ship and the Discovery was supposed to be my ship! I was supposed to be the Captain! You were supposed to be shuffling papers at Starfleet command! You're an open faced moron!"
Another blow.
"You're right," I said "I didn't belong in command of this ship. But you just killed tens of thousands of people to prove you were willing to kill tens of thousands of people. You're a mass murderer. "
Pow. I saw stars. I tried to cover up.
"Idiot!" He yelled "Of course I'm a killer I'll kill anyone I need to in any numbers to protect the Federation!"
The irony of it got to me. I started to chuckle.
Flagg reared back "What?"
That made me laugh louder.
Flagg got angry "What are you laughing about?"
"Heh heh heh... its just.... that i've killed more than you. by an insane amount. "
"What?"
"I committed a genocide. It was an accident, but it was a genocide. That species that attacked the Klingon Empire and the Romulans..."
"The Kliges'chee. The best things to happen to the Federation since the founding."
"I'm why they stopped," I giggled. "I set lose a bio weapon. I didn't realize how far it would go. It wiped them out." Was I laughing or crying?
Flagg looked at me with a different expression, "I didn't think you had the balls."
That really made me laugh. "I don't! Had I known I never would have done it!"
"And now, you're upset over some aliens, rooting in the mud in some hellhole on the ass end of nowhere."
I laughed some more. "Yup! I really suck at this."
Flagg just looked at me for a minute. He didn't know how to process that.
"But you, you're a sociopath. You have no empathy and no internal moral compass. You're dangerous. You're a monster. Neither one of us should be anywhere near command of a starship."
"You poor idiot. You really bought all that Starfleet Academy shit about doing the right thing and values and all of that. "
I nodded "That's why Quinn threw me into the Harrier. As if empathy and a belief in right and wrong would somehow be some sort of speed bump or limitation for you."
"And here you are. I checkmated you and you threw down the only speed bump you had."
I nodded.
Flagg thought about that. "It hadn't occurred to me, just how useless you really are."
He pulled his phaser and pointed it at me.
"Whoa! Whoa! Whoa!" I bellowed
Flagg shot me.
-*-
"Alright, I am seeing more now. The Shuttlebays on the Discovery are all open, all escape pods have been ejected." Draxil reported.
"A few of the battlecruisers escape pods have ejected, but not many."
Li'ira tried to make sense of it, "The Discovery encountered the virus, and shut down, and the battlecruiser tried to render aid?"
Draxil shrugged "I guess so."
Tandala said "I have identified the markings on the battlecruiser. It's from Ekos. Its called ERM Melakon."
Tandala put the signage on the ship on the main screen. A red rectangle with a white circle and the angular device in the center.
Aaron stood up "Are you, Bloody, Kidding, Me?"
Everyone looked at him
"What are you seeing, Aaron?"
"My world is descended from the British Empire, which was originally on the British Isles on Earth. Historically the Great Rival of the British Empire was Nazi Germany. They fought a terrible war called World War II. Millions died. It was considered a great crusade and colors my world's history to this day.
But... the Nazis were destroyed in 1945, that's about 400 years ago. They never had starships."
Tandala shrugged "In the Federation's records these symbols refer to the planet Ekos, but its marked for further reading. Ekos is noted as a minor enemy of the Federation. They don't like us much."
Aaron sat back down "Ekos you say? I need to look into this."
Tandala said "One more thing, Ekos is between the Federation and the Klingon Empire, not far away from the Orion Main. How'd that ship get all the way out here?"
Li'ira took a deep breath. "Bring us to within transporter range."
T'Nara said clearly "Aye Captain. But to what purpose? We don't have transporters, currently."
"Whoa, Cap'n. Look at this."
Draxil put a static scan image up on the main view screen and the zoomed in. Two figures in space suits were tethered together and were using thruster packs to travel from the Discovery to the Melakon.
Li'ira squinted. "Who's on which ship there?"
Tandala scanned. It was a painfully slow process. She had to stitch together several partial images. "It looks like two hundred and fifteen humans on the Melakon, and twenty-five on the Discovery."
"All humans?"
"Looks like it."
Aaron said "Starfleet intelligence reports that the Ekosian National Socialist Party is a human supremacist fascist party, modelled on the German Nazis of World War Two."
"Can we scan the planet?"
Tandala sighed "Our sensors are not happy right now. I'll do my best."
"I suspect the Discovery crew are on the planet below."
"That sounds like you never developed a counter measure," Flagg snarled, "You developed a jury-rigged work around an depended on that."
"We did develop methods for hard booting the Discovery's systems, but I ordered those destroyed."
"And you never reverse engineered the virus."
"Nope. Letting it run on any given system was too risky. I was honestly surprised we still had samples of it to hand off to you."
Flagg shook his head "Typical half-assed, improvisational, moment to moment bullshit with one of the most advanced ships in the fleet."
I laughed ruefully, "Oh you have no idea. Besides, don't tell me that getting out here to ambush us was all according to plan and sticking to the space lanes. "
Flagg gave me a moments stare before redirecting. "Are there any other surprises here I need to know about?"
"Nothing like this. We had to pull this plan out of our ass over the last day and a half. John, how do you plan to drive both the Discovery and Melakon home? You're going to be seriously undermanned."
Flagg leaned down into my face "I ask, you answer. Do not try to connect with me. Do not try to build empathy. Absolutely no negotiation or diplomatic tactic you know or can imagine will ever work on me."
"Why are you so angry?"
Flagg backhanded me. I am not used to being hit so I couldn't tell if it was hard or medium or what. My face exploded with pain and I found myself leaned over to the side.
"You're an idiot," he hissed. "I've trained for years to detect falsehood and lies, and I can tell you're really too stupid to see whats going on here."
He hit me again.
"You took everything from me! The Harrier was supposed to be my ship and the Discovery was supposed to be my ship! I was supposed to be the Captain! You were supposed to be shuffling papers at Starfleet command! You're an open faced moron!"
Another blow.
"You're right," I said "I didn't belong in command of this ship. But you just killed tens of thousands of people to prove you were willing to kill tens of thousands of people. You're a mass murderer. "
Pow. I saw stars. I tried to cover up.
"Idiot!" He yelled "Of course I'm a killer I'll kill anyone I need to in any numbers to protect the Federation!"
The irony of it got to me. I started to chuckle.
Flagg reared back "What?"
That made me laugh louder.
Flagg got angry "What are you laughing about?"
"Heh heh heh... its just.... that i've killed more than you. by an insane amount. "
"What?"
"I committed a genocide. It was an accident, but it was a genocide. That species that attacked the Klingon Empire and the Romulans..."
"The Kliges'chee. The best things to happen to the Federation since the founding."
"I'm why they stopped," I giggled. "I set lose a bio weapon. I didn't realize how far it would go. It wiped them out." Was I laughing or crying?
Flagg looked at me with a different expression, "I didn't think you had the balls."
That really made me laugh. "I don't! Had I known I never would have done it!"
"And now, you're upset over some aliens, rooting in the mud in some hellhole on the ass end of nowhere."
I laughed some more. "Yup! I really suck at this."
Flagg just looked at me for a minute. He didn't know how to process that.
"But you, you're a sociopath. You have no empathy and no internal moral compass. You're dangerous. You're a monster. Neither one of us should be anywhere near command of a starship."
"You poor idiot. You really bought all that Starfleet Academy shit about doing the right thing and values and all of that. "
I nodded "That's why Quinn threw me into the Harrier. As if empathy and a belief in right and wrong would somehow be some sort of speed bump or limitation for you."
"And here you are. I checkmated you and you threw down the only speed bump you had."
I nodded.
Flagg thought about that. "It hadn't occurred to me, just how useless you really are."
He pulled his phaser and pointed it at me.
"Whoa! Whoa! Whoa!" I bellowed
Flagg shot me.
-*-
"Alright, I am seeing more now. The Shuttlebays on the Discovery are all open, all escape pods have been ejected." Draxil reported.
"A few of the battlecruisers escape pods have ejected, but not many."
Li'ira tried to make sense of it, "The Discovery encountered the virus, and shut down, and the battlecruiser tried to render aid?"
Draxil shrugged "I guess so."
Tandala said "I have identified the markings on the battlecruiser. It's from Ekos. Its called ERM Melakon."
Tandala put the signage on the ship on the main screen. A red rectangle with a white circle and the angular device in the center.
Aaron stood up "Are you, Bloody, Kidding, Me?"
Everyone looked at him
"What are you seeing, Aaron?"
"My world is descended from the British Empire, which was originally on the British Isles on Earth. Historically the Great Rival of the British Empire was Nazi Germany. They fought a terrible war called World War II. Millions died. It was considered a great crusade and colors my world's history to this day.
But... the Nazis were destroyed in 1945, that's about 400 years ago. They never had starships."
Tandala shrugged "In the Federation's records these symbols refer to the planet Ekos, but its marked for further reading. Ekos is noted as a minor enemy of the Federation. They don't like us much."
Aaron sat back down "Ekos you say? I need to look into this."
Tandala said "One more thing, Ekos is between the Federation and the Klingon Empire, not far away from the Orion Main. How'd that ship get all the way out here?"
Li'ira took a deep breath. "Bring us to within transporter range."
T'Nara said clearly "Aye Captain. But to what purpose? We don't have transporters, currently."
"Whoa, Cap'n. Look at this."
Draxil put a static scan image up on the main view screen and the zoomed in. Two figures in space suits were tethered together and were using thruster packs to travel from the Discovery to the Melakon.
Li'ira squinted. "Who's on which ship there?"
Tandala scanned. It was a painfully slow process. She had to stitch together several partial images. "It looks like two hundred and fifteen humans on the Melakon, and twenty-five on the Discovery."
"All humans?"
"Looks like it."
Aaron said "Starfleet intelligence reports that the Ekosian National Socialist Party is a human supremacist fascist party, modelled on the German Nazis of World War Two."
"Can we scan the planet?"
Tandala sighed "Our sensors are not happy right now. I'll do my best."
"I suspect the Discovery crew are on the planet below."
-
jayphailey
- Posts: 1065
- Joined: Tue May 29, 2018 7:50 pm
Re: Final Flagg
st-om flagg 07
It was a suburb of hell. The air was thick with smoke, fire and burning... everything.
Mishimi Miatsu and an Engineering crew were working with the natives to try and rig up a hand pump. If they could figure a way to move some water, they could try to fight the fires.
Senardnas, a delicate looking Atebian woman, who'd appointed herself as Mendez' yeoman said sadly "It looks like Ateb, my home world during the war. I was too little to help, then."
Mendez nodded, "I'm sorry." There didn't seem much else to say.
A boy ran up to Mendez' work area. Near the open tail gate of a shuttle, landed on some sort of parade ground, part of a native tent covered a table from the shuttle and a native chair.
Papers, maps and PADDs littered the area.
"Commander Star-Person, the temple of Nurzix has closed and barred its doors against all requests for aid! What should we do?" The boy was grateful just to have some idea of what to do.
This bothered Mendez, but that didn't show. "Let them know that tens of thousands are injured and need aid. If things get too desperate, they might be over run. If they insist on hunkering down, then that's that, move on to your next task."
"Aye, Commander!" The boy yelled and then fled the tent with his companion.
Another pair of children approached the collection of shuttles. "Excuse me. Are you Men-Dez?"
Mendez turned, "I am Who are you?"
"I'm Karla and this is Jenkie."
Mendez said, "How can we help you?"
"Mister No-jin-ee-ock is at the Western Animal Stables. He says we have to move upriver. There's a lot of people who are hurt. "
"Do you know this town well?" Mendez asked.
"We lived here ever since our pa died."
"Can you show this lady where the stables are?"
"Uh huh."
"Okay, Senardnas, take a shuttle and evacuate wounded back here."
Mendez turned around "Karla and Jenkie. I am going to trust you with something very important to me. Once you're back at the stables, I need you to lead the walking people from the stable back here, safely. The center of the city is on fire and it's spreading. You'll have to lead my people and your people back here on the ground, keeping them away from the fire, okay?"
Karla and Jenkie looked at Mendez with big eyes. Karla nodded "Yes Sir."
Sednardas gestured to one of the shuttlecraft, "This way please."
Sednardas led the children into the shuttlecraft and she sat down in the pilots seat. With a touch of a button the tail gate closed.
Karla and Jenkie looked at it with wonder. A door that could open and close itself.
"Come sit down here, please." Sednardas said
Karla and Jenkie wedged themselve into the right hand seat of the shuttle. Sednardas almost said something but held her tongue.
With quick, easy motions, she lifted off and turned west. "Please point out where this western animal stables is."
Karla and Jenkie stared in fascination, seeing their city from the air for the first time. Eventually they remembered to give Sednardas directions.
-*-
I woke up from being stunned. Its an interesting experience, waking up when you expected to be dead. It was physically horrible and I relished it.
I was taped to a chair in one of the lounges on deck 9 or 10. I was in the forward starboard quarter of the ship.
I started working on how to escape. The odds and the leverage were against me, but I wasn't doing anything better.
I hoped Flagg was having as much fun as I was.
-*-
"Captain. We have defeated the polymorphic virus." T'Aera reported.
"Good. Get me my ship back." Li'ira said.
"Estimated time to resolution, twenty minutes."
"Thank you."
Li'ira watched as the USS Cincinnatus came to life, piece by piece.
Soon the sensors were back on line.
Garan Draxil reported "I have a more detailed picture and it's not good. All the people on the USS Discovery are carrying Ekosian communicators, except one. An isolated guy in the forward section."
Li'ira turned "The Ekosians are taking the Discovery?"
"Except for the virus, they already have her."
"Put it on the tactical screen."
A map of the USS Discovery came up. Red dots showed the location of people who seemed Ekosian.
"When we have transporters back, we'll start taking back the Discovery."
"What about the planet?" Crystara asked
"One disaster at a time. I don't want the Ekosians to have the Discovery while we're dealing with the planet."
"We have transporters now."
"Grab that one guy near the front of the of the ship. Draxil, you're with me, lets get a security quad and a medical team to the transporter room."
"Aye aye, Captain."
-*-
It was a suburb of hell. The air was thick with smoke, fire and burning... everything.
Mishimi Miatsu and an Engineering crew were working with the natives to try and rig up a hand pump. If they could figure a way to move some water, they could try to fight the fires.
Senardnas, a delicate looking Atebian woman, who'd appointed herself as Mendez' yeoman said sadly "It looks like Ateb, my home world during the war. I was too little to help, then."
Mendez nodded, "I'm sorry." There didn't seem much else to say.
A boy ran up to Mendez' work area. Near the open tail gate of a shuttle, landed on some sort of parade ground, part of a native tent covered a table from the shuttle and a native chair.
Papers, maps and PADDs littered the area.
"Commander Star-Person, the temple of Nurzix has closed and barred its doors against all requests for aid! What should we do?" The boy was grateful just to have some idea of what to do.
This bothered Mendez, but that didn't show. "Let them know that tens of thousands are injured and need aid. If things get too desperate, they might be over run. If they insist on hunkering down, then that's that, move on to your next task."
"Aye, Commander!" The boy yelled and then fled the tent with his companion.
Another pair of children approached the collection of shuttles. "Excuse me. Are you Men-Dez?"
Mendez turned, "I am Who are you?"
"I'm Karla and this is Jenkie."
Mendez said, "How can we help you?"
"Mister No-jin-ee-ock is at the Western Animal Stables. He says we have to move upriver. There's a lot of people who are hurt. "
"Do you know this town well?" Mendez asked.
"We lived here ever since our pa died."
"Can you show this lady where the stables are?"
"Uh huh."
"Okay, Senardnas, take a shuttle and evacuate wounded back here."
Mendez turned around "Karla and Jenkie. I am going to trust you with something very important to me. Once you're back at the stables, I need you to lead the walking people from the stable back here, safely. The center of the city is on fire and it's spreading. You'll have to lead my people and your people back here on the ground, keeping them away from the fire, okay?"
Karla and Jenkie looked at Mendez with big eyes. Karla nodded "Yes Sir."
Sednardas gestured to one of the shuttlecraft, "This way please."
Sednardas led the children into the shuttlecraft and she sat down in the pilots seat. With a touch of a button the tail gate closed.
Karla and Jenkie looked at it with wonder. A door that could open and close itself.
"Come sit down here, please." Sednardas said
Karla and Jenkie wedged themselve into the right hand seat of the shuttle. Sednardas almost said something but held her tongue.
With quick, easy motions, she lifted off and turned west. "Please point out where this western animal stables is."
Karla and Jenkie stared in fascination, seeing their city from the air for the first time. Eventually they remembered to give Sednardas directions.
-*-
I woke up from being stunned. Its an interesting experience, waking up when you expected to be dead. It was physically horrible and I relished it.
I was taped to a chair in one of the lounges on deck 9 or 10. I was in the forward starboard quarter of the ship.
I started working on how to escape. The odds and the leverage were against me, but I wasn't doing anything better.
I hoped Flagg was having as much fun as I was.
-*-
"Captain. We have defeated the polymorphic virus." T'Aera reported.
"Good. Get me my ship back." Li'ira said.
"Estimated time to resolution, twenty minutes."
"Thank you."
Li'ira watched as the USS Cincinnatus came to life, piece by piece.
Soon the sensors were back on line.
Garan Draxil reported "I have a more detailed picture and it's not good. All the people on the USS Discovery are carrying Ekosian communicators, except one. An isolated guy in the forward section."
Li'ira turned "The Ekosians are taking the Discovery?"
"Except for the virus, they already have her."
"Put it on the tactical screen."
A map of the USS Discovery came up. Red dots showed the location of people who seemed Ekosian.
"When we have transporters back, we'll start taking back the Discovery."
"What about the planet?" Crystara asked
"One disaster at a time. I don't want the Ekosians to have the Discovery while we're dealing with the planet."
"We have transporters now."
"Grab that one guy near the front of the of the ship. Draxil, you're with me, lets get a security quad and a medical team to the transporter room."
"Aye aye, Captain."
-*-
-
jayphailey
- Posts: 1065
- Joined: Tue May 29, 2018 7:50 pm
Re: Final Flagg
st-om flagg 08
I was rapidly losing the romance of being alive when the bugs under the skin feeling of the transporter beam caught me.
It was a surprise. A big surprise. I barely had time to consider whether it was a good one.
I materialized in a Federation transporter room. It was different from any on the Discovery. A different ship. That was a better surprise.
The Starfleet crew there wore a different uniform. Shirts in the division colors, black over all and gray shoulders. These uniforms looked a little more practical than ours.
There was Li'ira. That was the best surprise. I grinned stupidly at her. "Hey. Good to see you." I was quiet, but it was the most heartfelt thing I have ever said.
"Jay, what the hell is going on?"
"Flagg took my ship," I began. I told her the rest of it, in short sharp bursts. Her medical crew cut me off the chair threw me on a gurney like they had practice and wheeled me to her sickbay. The corridors of Li'ira's ship were more square than those of the Discovery.
Along the way, Li'ira barked orders.
"Where is Flagg now?" Li'ira asked me. She wanted his location to transporter precision if she could get it. I didn't blame her. I had to disappoint her. "I have no idea."
A young woman with pointed ears, different from a Vulcan's waved a medical scanner at me "I don't think you won that fight, Captain."
"He did okay," Li'ira said
The young medic gave me an approving nod "Good enough."
It wasn't, but I wasn't going to argue with her. She started fixing my face. I didn't realize how bad it was hurting until she started that.
-*-
"Red alert," Li'ira called. The Cincinnatus went to battle stations.
"John Flagg is the most dangerous man I've ever met. Do not underestimate his ability to be cruel, violent, and inventive to get his way. Our scans might not be picking him up. If anyone sees him, do not engage directly. Call it out and fall back."
Draxil looked at her "That bad, huh? You think one of my quads couldn't take him?"
Li'ira looked grim "I am not going to throw away my people like that. We know what we want. We want the USS Discovery. Let's take her. No one plays hero. Everyone comes back."
-*-
In the USS Discovery's main engineering compartment, Ekosians kommandos lounged. Technically they were watching, but there was no one on the ship. They weren't programmers or engineers so fighting the computer virus was someone else's job.
Their job was to hold the main engineering compartment against counter attack.
So it was a horrible surprise when half a dozen stun grenades beamed in.
Three of the kommandos leapt out of the compartment or dove behind something heavy. The rest of the elite group went down, stunned.
"Contact! Contact! Counter attack in Engineering-" One of the kommandos was yelling when a stun beam took him down.
The remaining two kommandos took up a defensive firing position. THeir phasers were not set on stun.
In a brief exchange of fire, they were stunned.
-*-
On the USS Discovery bridge, Flagg was working carefully. Every move deliberate. His physicality was tightly constrained. He was working hard to suppress the screams and rage that wanted to come out. He was also working hard to reverse-engineer the virus that obstructed him.
Every time he thought he had a handle on it, it changed. It was rewriting itself on the fly. Almost like the borg. Except all of Flaggs anti-Borg tricks failed. It was like the Iconian virus, but all of the measures Flagg knew of to counter the Iconians programming failed.
Flagg had an epiphany. The virus was inspired by the borg and the iconians. But the writer of the virus knew that Starfleet would know those. So it deliberately used different means to accomplish those results.
So what programming language? What engines and complexes of code were used to make this fiendish thing?
Worse, Flagg was working from memory and his own skill. All of his normal tools lay dark and still, back on the Melakon, shut down by the virus. No wonder they used a Klingon kernal to rebuild. It was all they had that would work.
Flagg internally conceded. He would turn that defeat into a victory,
"Contact! Contact! Counter attack in Engineering-" The communicators yelled.
Flagg whipped his head up. Where had that attack come from?
"Sergeant Korfals! Respond!" Lt Borza called firmly. He would not panic in front of Herr Flagg
Flagg immediately moved towards the hatch to the lower decks "Hold the bridge." He called.
As Flagg slid gracefully down the ladder, stun grenades materialized on the Discovery's bridge.
Flagg ran.
-*-
Things were crowded now. It was wall to wall refugees. Thankfully with someone present to offer being in charge, it gave the locals permission to make up solutions. For now.
Mendez wasn't looking forward to the situation a week from now.
Sedmara approached him and handed him a commbadge. It was different from the Discoverys. The Discoverys were the Cochrane Delta over an oval. This one was the Cochrane Delta over a rectangular device.
"Captain O'Keefe for you."
Mendez pressed the new commbadge. "Mendez, here."
"Commander Mendez, this is Captain Li'ira O'Keefe of the USS Cincinnatus. We've solved the polymorphic virus. Please reactivate all comms and sensors. We'll push out secure fixes for all your equipment. We'll have the Discovery in hand, soon. Back up is here."
"How many ships do you have?" Mendez asked
"The USS Cincinnatus, and the USS Discovery, Commander."
Mendez sighed "We'll keep working. It's overwhelming. Flagg bombed a city here. We have tens of thousands of casualties."
There was a moment's pause. "Do the best you can. We'll join you shortly."
-*-
I was rapidly losing the romance of being alive when the bugs under the skin feeling of the transporter beam caught me.
It was a surprise. A big surprise. I barely had time to consider whether it was a good one.
I materialized in a Federation transporter room. It was different from any on the Discovery. A different ship. That was a better surprise.
The Starfleet crew there wore a different uniform. Shirts in the division colors, black over all and gray shoulders. These uniforms looked a little more practical than ours.
There was Li'ira. That was the best surprise. I grinned stupidly at her. "Hey. Good to see you." I was quiet, but it was the most heartfelt thing I have ever said.
"Jay, what the hell is going on?"
"Flagg took my ship," I began. I told her the rest of it, in short sharp bursts. Her medical crew cut me off the chair threw me on a gurney like they had practice and wheeled me to her sickbay. The corridors of Li'ira's ship were more square than those of the Discovery.
Along the way, Li'ira barked orders.
"Where is Flagg now?" Li'ira asked me. She wanted his location to transporter precision if she could get it. I didn't blame her. I had to disappoint her. "I have no idea."
A young woman with pointed ears, different from a Vulcan's waved a medical scanner at me "I don't think you won that fight, Captain."
"He did okay," Li'ira said
The young medic gave me an approving nod "Good enough."
It wasn't, but I wasn't going to argue with her. She started fixing my face. I didn't realize how bad it was hurting until she started that.
-*-
"Red alert," Li'ira called. The Cincinnatus went to battle stations.
"John Flagg is the most dangerous man I've ever met. Do not underestimate his ability to be cruel, violent, and inventive to get his way. Our scans might not be picking him up. If anyone sees him, do not engage directly. Call it out and fall back."
Draxil looked at her "That bad, huh? You think one of my quads couldn't take him?"
Li'ira looked grim "I am not going to throw away my people like that. We know what we want. We want the USS Discovery. Let's take her. No one plays hero. Everyone comes back."
-*-
In the USS Discovery's main engineering compartment, Ekosians kommandos lounged. Technically they were watching, but there was no one on the ship. They weren't programmers or engineers so fighting the computer virus was someone else's job.
Their job was to hold the main engineering compartment against counter attack.
So it was a horrible surprise when half a dozen stun grenades beamed in.
Three of the kommandos leapt out of the compartment or dove behind something heavy. The rest of the elite group went down, stunned.
"Contact! Contact! Counter attack in Engineering-" One of the kommandos was yelling when a stun beam took him down.
The remaining two kommandos took up a defensive firing position. THeir phasers were not set on stun.
In a brief exchange of fire, they were stunned.
-*-
On the USS Discovery bridge, Flagg was working carefully. Every move deliberate. His physicality was tightly constrained. He was working hard to suppress the screams and rage that wanted to come out. He was also working hard to reverse-engineer the virus that obstructed him.
Every time he thought he had a handle on it, it changed. It was rewriting itself on the fly. Almost like the borg. Except all of Flaggs anti-Borg tricks failed. It was like the Iconian virus, but all of the measures Flagg knew of to counter the Iconians programming failed.
Flagg had an epiphany. The virus was inspired by the borg and the iconians. But the writer of the virus knew that Starfleet would know those. So it deliberately used different means to accomplish those results.
So what programming language? What engines and complexes of code were used to make this fiendish thing?
Worse, Flagg was working from memory and his own skill. All of his normal tools lay dark and still, back on the Melakon, shut down by the virus. No wonder they used a Klingon kernal to rebuild. It was all they had that would work.
Flagg internally conceded. He would turn that defeat into a victory,
"Contact! Contact! Counter attack in Engineering-" The communicators yelled.
Flagg whipped his head up. Where had that attack come from?
"Sergeant Korfals! Respond!" Lt Borza called firmly. He would not panic in front of Herr Flagg
Flagg immediately moved towards the hatch to the lower decks "Hold the bridge." He called.
As Flagg slid gracefully down the ladder, stun grenades materialized on the Discovery's bridge.
Flagg ran.
-*-
Things were crowded now. It was wall to wall refugees. Thankfully with someone present to offer being in charge, it gave the locals permission to make up solutions. For now.
Mendez wasn't looking forward to the situation a week from now.
Sedmara approached him and handed him a commbadge. It was different from the Discoverys. The Discoverys were the Cochrane Delta over an oval. This one was the Cochrane Delta over a rectangular device.
"Captain O'Keefe for you."
Mendez pressed the new commbadge. "Mendez, here."
"Commander Mendez, this is Captain Li'ira O'Keefe of the USS Cincinnatus. We've solved the polymorphic virus. Please reactivate all comms and sensors. We'll push out secure fixes for all your equipment. We'll have the Discovery in hand, soon. Back up is here."
"How many ships do you have?" Mendez asked
"The USS Cincinnatus, and the USS Discovery, Commander."
Mendez sighed "We'll keep working. It's overwhelming. Flagg bombed a city here. We have tens of thousands of casualties."
There was a moment's pause. "Do the best you can. We'll join you shortly."
-*-
-
jayphailey
- Posts: 1065
- Joined: Tue May 29, 2018 7:50 pm
Re: Final Flagg
st-om flagg 09
Flagg checked transporter room 4 thoroughly. It was as dead as the rest of the ship. The attack was not coming from the Discovery. That left only one answer. There was another ship. One that was immune to the virus. Flagg hated them for that.
Flagg went through his options. He needed more information.
-*-
"Captain! There's a phaser overloading in the Discovery's anti-matter storage!" Tandala reported.
"That's him. Will the phaser overload penetrate the anti-matter bottles?"
"I can't tell, but it's too close."
Li'ira considered it. Flagg was baiting a trap. He wanted people to go into the space and defuse the phaser.
"Can we eject the bottles?" Li'ira asked.
Tandala shook her head "Recovering the Discovery's computers is turning out to be harder than we thought. There's all sorts of random crap in there that's not reacting the way we want it to."
Li'ira nodded "Find me the Discovery's chief engineer. Get someone down there to defuse that phaser. Take double the number of people you need, no one is to be alone as the device is disabled. Flagg will try to pick someone off."
Draxils voice sound over the comms "Aye Sir."
Good. He was too focused for his usual banter.
-*-
The new kids were a little better than Flagg was expecting. They stayed close to each other but not too close. He couldn't get one alone, but he couldn't launch an attack on a cluster and have them interfere with each other. No one quad was far enough away from the others. If Flagg jumped into the middle of a quad to attack it, another quad could just hose everyone down with stun beams and pick him out of the pile.
Flagg grimaced to himself. The problem with Starfleet was that sometimes they learned from their failures. He withdrew. There had to be a away. If their forces were here and focused on the Discovery, then that implied something about their thinking and their goals.
He considered his options as he moved away
-*-
Mishimi Miatsu was building a hand pump. It was hard work. Under other circumstances he'd have enoyed it.
He recalled his visits to the Hiroshima and Nagasaki memorials. He recalls the ancient video of the survivors.
The old films didn't carry the smell. The feel of the air. The sounds of injured people. They only carried a fraction of the horror.
His comm badge beeped. Miatsu was surprised. All comm systems were dead from Dina Foote's virus. He tapped his badge. "Miatsu here."
"This is the USS Cincinnatus. We need you up here to help recover the Discovery."
"There are many injured people here. There are many who need help."
"We can help them better once we have a functioning Discovery, Commander."
Miatsu could see the logic. "Agreed. Beam me up." To his crew he said "Keep working. I will return with more tools and materials."
The transporter whisked him away.
-*-
The fixed operating system was crawling through the USS Discovery. Technology was coming back to life. Flagg grabbed tricorders and engineering materials. He was back in business.
-*-
The transporter hummed. Ekosian Kommandos turned and tried to bring non-existant phasers to bear.
The transporters were grabbing Kommandos, not their gear.
Most of them surrendered when they realized they were naked, facing full security quads with armed phasers
-*-
Flagg walked back into Transporter room 4 on the USS Discovery. It was now alive, in standby mode. Flagg grinned, and locked the door behind him.
He took the access cover off the transporter console and tied his tricorder into it. Then he entered a code.
It didn't work, and a small alarm sounded. Flagg almost laughed to himself. By god, Starfleet did learn. But he had other codes. He tried one and it worked.
Gaining command access to the transporter, and some of the local network, Flagg secured it and triggered a class 9 isolation event in his section of the USS Discovery.
Alarms start whooping, and force fields snapped into place.
Flagg checked transporter room 4 thoroughly. It was as dead as the rest of the ship. The attack was not coming from the Discovery. That left only one answer. There was another ship. One that was immune to the virus. Flagg hated them for that.
Flagg went through his options. He needed more information.
-*-
"Captain! There's a phaser overloading in the Discovery's anti-matter storage!" Tandala reported.
"That's him. Will the phaser overload penetrate the anti-matter bottles?"
"I can't tell, but it's too close."
Li'ira considered it. Flagg was baiting a trap. He wanted people to go into the space and defuse the phaser.
"Can we eject the bottles?" Li'ira asked.
Tandala shook her head "Recovering the Discovery's computers is turning out to be harder than we thought. There's all sorts of random crap in there that's not reacting the way we want it to."
Li'ira nodded "Find me the Discovery's chief engineer. Get someone down there to defuse that phaser. Take double the number of people you need, no one is to be alone as the device is disabled. Flagg will try to pick someone off."
Draxils voice sound over the comms "Aye Sir."
Good. He was too focused for his usual banter.
-*-
The new kids were a little better than Flagg was expecting. They stayed close to each other but not too close. He couldn't get one alone, but he couldn't launch an attack on a cluster and have them interfere with each other. No one quad was far enough away from the others. If Flagg jumped into the middle of a quad to attack it, another quad could just hose everyone down with stun beams and pick him out of the pile.
Flagg grimaced to himself. The problem with Starfleet was that sometimes they learned from their failures. He withdrew. There had to be a away. If their forces were here and focused on the Discovery, then that implied something about their thinking and their goals.
He considered his options as he moved away
-*-
Mishimi Miatsu was building a hand pump. It was hard work. Under other circumstances he'd have enoyed it.
He recalled his visits to the Hiroshima and Nagasaki memorials. He recalls the ancient video of the survivors.
The old films didn't carry the smell. The feel of the air. The sounds of injured people. They only carried a fraction of the horror.
His comm badge beeped. Miatsu was surprised. All comm systems were dead from Dina Foote's virus. He tapped his badge. "Miatsu here."
"This is the USS Cincinnatus. We need you up here to help recover the Discovery."
"There are many injured people here. There are many who need help."
"We can help them better once we have a functioning Discovery, Commander."
Miatsu could see the logic. "Agreed. Beam me up." To his crew he said "Keep working. I will return with more tools and materials."
The transporter whisked him away.
-*-
The fixed operating system was crawling through the USS Discovery. Technology was coming back to life. Flagg grabbed tricorders and engineering materials. He was back in business.
-*-
The transporter hummed. Ekosian Kommandos turned and tried to bring non-existant phasers to bear.
The transporters were grabbing Kommandos, not their gear.
Most of them surrendered when they realized they were naked, facing full security quads with armed phasers
-*-
Flagg walked back into Transporter room 4 on the USS Discovery. It was now alive, in standby mode. Flagg grinned, and locked the door behind him.
He took the access cover off the transporter console and tied his tricorder into it. Then he entered a code.
It didn't work, and a small alarm sounded. Flagg almost laughed to himself. By god, Starfleet did learn. But he had other codes. He tried one and it worked.
Gaining command access to the transporter, and some of the local network, Flagg secured it and triggered a class 9 isolation event in his section of the USS Discovery.
Alarms start whooping, and force fields snapped into place.