Consequences: The Hunt For Jake Grey Part Six

XFU-2.

Two days later.

The Revanche sits outside the the fields of rocks and debris that used to be Earth. A shuttle approaches. In that shuttle, is Security officer Haer'Dallis, and engineer Mac. They send a coded message to the Klingon battlecruiser that awaits them. Captain Redding reads the message. "Hmm. Interesting mix. Looks like Grey had a cache of starfighters and hand-held weapons here. Whoever stole it put up one hell of a fight." His secodn in command, Durgin, nods. "You think it was the Archangel?" "No, there would be evidence of quantum torpedo fire, wouldn't there?" "Perhaps." Durgin replies. Reddign sighs. "We should find her though. According to theses records Oakensheild has been going over, the Archangel has violated XDCA charter more than a dozen times. How can we possibly hope to restore order with TWO rouge agents to worry about?" "Sir," Durgin interrupts. "the records show that the Archangel has engaged Grey in battle on several occasions. Only one commander in the whole of the Agency can possibly anticipate Grey's actions this way." "Greymoran?" Redding asks? "Greymoran." Durgin confirms. "Well, that doesn't matter I'm afraid. We'll have to catch the Archangel. Try to get them back on track. Following XDCA charter again." "And if they don't?" Redding lowers his head, ashamed of what he is about to say. "We arrest them, and confiscate their ship."

Back at the repair base, one week after the battle...

The bots finish their work on the Archangel a day earlier than anticpiated. The badly damaged station is relieved of mnay of the ships in it's care, as they are towed away by tugs and by the U.S.S. Cairo to other bases. As soon as the ships that remain are finsihed, the station is going to be scrapped. Thus, many of the closed off areas of the station are removed and smelted, and used to replace the Archangel's ablative armor. Sitting in his chair, looking truly happy for probably the first time in a decade, Greymoran sips contentedly at his tea, watching the stars ahead, a repair bot occasionally flying by. Rita sits at her console, checking gauges, and generally making sure the engines are in top shape. Keith, at his science station checks out the new stellar cartography program the base crew installed. It improves the ship's long rnage snesors, provided energy readings twice as accurate as the old sensors. And a quick dialouge between Carrie, and the station's EMH has resulted in Carrie now being able to perform more complex medical procedures in an emergency. Hudzen stands at the tactical console, checking weapons systems. He's pleased by the re-load of the ship's dangerously low photon torpedo supply, and the repaired and fully aligned targetting systems, 10% more accurate than they were before.

Below decks, Jackosn Dupree walks about the engine room, watching as the base repair techs run their final diagnositcs on the reapired systems. "I'll be dammed." one of the techs says. He turns to Jackson. "What the hell have you people been doing to this ship? I mean, the battle scars kind of make snese after what you've been throuhg, but, how the hell did you get ice damage in here?"

Out in space, the last of the damaged Gorn vessels tow the heavily damaged Dreadnought away. The undamaged Gorn and the U.S.S. Arizona circle the station, battle ready in case the Breen retunr, or Jake Grey makes another assault attempt. A fully repaired science vessel warps away, carrying the traitorous base commander to Vulcan to face court martial. The Ryo-O is in the middle of the battle debris, slowly collecting and analyzing every bit of debris from the Breen vessels, and fauxRomulan Warbirds that had been destroyed, searching for any clues it can. Such as where Grey got his Warbirds, or how the Breen were able to slip through Federation detection nets.

And somewhere, in the nether between dimensions, an anxious Jake Grey fidgets in his throne while TorGal reads the report of the battle. Grey says nothing, merely looking angry. TorGal tries to comfort his master. "Sir, we could not have anticipated that Romulan intelligence would warn the Empire about the fake Warbirds. Experience taught us that thopse aganets are primarily in for themselves, selfish." Grey still said nothing. A good sign as far as TorGal was concerned. The fact that grey had not him killed yet was truly a good sign. Grey stroked his face, noticed the stubble for the first time, then stood up. "I'm going to go shave TorGal. I dislike facial hair. Try to get me a location on where the Archangel is headed next. We, in the meantime, will put a moritorium on direct attacks. For now, we will use our allies to wreak havoc. Take us to XFU-9. We'll send a few bone golems to torure Mulder and Scully. I've enjoyed their deaths, all 8 prior times I'd done it. I could use a pick-me-up right now." TorGal lowers his head. "Yes master."

Jackson looks at the repair tech and says:
It's a long story. Suffice to say this ship has been through a heck of a lot in the past few weeks.
Jackson to the bridge, I wonder if this universe would benefit from having my jar of instant redshirts? Also, where are we headed now, and how many other universes has Jake Grey spread destruction of innocent planets?

Ryo-O finished collecting pieces from the attacking ships, and then the entire ship rippled and vanished. Moments later, Ahz called up to the bridge from his lab.

I'm going to begin analyzing the wreckage from those ships. I'll call you if I find anything.

Greymoran sighs at the mentions of the Redshirt jar. Clearly Jackson learned nothing from him. Rather than start another argument, Greymoran ignores that part of the question. "Well, the XDCA had jurisidction over a total of 947 universes. To our knwoledge, only 23 have not yet been attacked by Grey, directly or otherwise, because it's obvious now that Grey has used allies in his campaign. It's possible some the planets his people have wiped out, he was never even there. It would explain how he was able to do so much damage so quickly. The 23 that have not yet been attacked have one thing in common. Comedy. 19 of them are Red Dwarf, and the rest are American sitt-coms from the latter half of the 20th century. Also, all the XDSs in those universes are still fully operational. If Grey tries to attack opne of them, we'll know before his ship's even cleared the portal horizion. As for the exact number of planets, well, we don't know." Carrie's face appears on the viewscreen, looking very concerned. She interupts the conversation. "The satellites in dimension RDU-7 have gone dead. It's more than likely that Grey is going after the Red Dwarf." Hudzen who was walking from his console to the turbolift to go below decks and check on the damged shuttle that Jackson had been flying, stops suddenly in his tracks for a moment, then continues onward. Greymoran noticed this, and thought about asking Hudzen what was wrong, but in a moment of clarity, it came to him, and he decided not to press the matter. He sighed, then checked to maek sure Jackson was still istening. "So much for that ray of hope. We'll leave as soon as the repair crews have retunred to the station."

-

Aboard the Revanche, Oakensheild's conole changes from the energy signatures he'd been studying to the automatic alarm he'd installed. "Captain Redding. The XDS system in RDU-7 have just gone off-line rather suddenly. It could be a sign of an impending attack by Grey." Redding frowns. "Grey has never made ana ttempt on Red Dwarf universes before. That's why we've been hiding civilian survivors there. Are there any in RDU-7?" Oakensheild shakes his head. "No sir. Any agents we had in the universe we're pulled back into active service when Grey attacked. RDU-7 has bene, for the last year, free of XDCA influence, and-" Oakenshield stops. Then he hits a few buttons on his console. "Wait. There was a dimensional disturbance there a month ago. A Mark VII dimensional portal generator. Too big to be the Archangel, but far too small to be Grey's fleet." Redding rubs his chin. "We'd better investigate this. Are Mac and Haer'Dallis back aboard?" "Yes sir." Commander Durgin confirms. Redding nods. "Good. Tell them to do a double-check on all weapons systems, run a final analysis on the Inertial nullifier, and raise sheilds to maximum power. We're going to RDU-7."

Just before Hudzen leaves he turns to Greymoran.

Captain, if I am correct, we can make the redshirts survive longer. On Star Trek, where they first appeared, they usually only died in dangerous situations, usually not accidents. They were killed by traps or enemies. They were not randomly killed by any old accident until LICC was formed. It is possible that we can somehow modify their genetics to make them Star Trek redshirts rather than LICC.

Greymoran shakes his head. I'm still not comfortable with the whole concept of Redshirts Hudzen. Besides, you're aware as well as I that the XDCA directly forbids using sentient beings as cannon fodder.

The turbolift opens and Jackson walks out of it
I'm ready to go any time. I decided to return to the ship once I knew about the destruction that Jake Grey inflicted on this universe. I didn't want to just stand by and watch him destroy more planets in another dimension for his perverse pleasure.
And actually, Hudzen has a point. It was the LICC that bred redshirts to die at the touch of a feather. If he can modify the redshirts to also produce blue and yellow shirts, we can have something of a crew.

Greymoran sighs. "That will take some time, but go ahead. But be VERY careful."

Ahz continued working in his lab. He was working on his computer and studying the results of the analysis of the Romulan debris. Several sets of figures were displayed in bright red glyphs.

That can't be right. I'll need to run some more tests on those debris. The decoder should be just about finished with that data Ryo-O downloaded.

Ahz began working on the computer again. This time, is was displaying the translated contents of the fake Romulan computer core.

The Archangel glides gracefully away from the repair station. She swings about, doing one last fly-by of their home for the past week and a half. It was sad that such a valuable place had to be dismantled, but now that is was learned that the station could be attacked easily, adn that help would be too far off, the station became too vulnerable, and it would merely be easier to abandon it and destory it, then risk giving the Breen a new station to mount atacks from. Greymoran sighed as the ship turned away from the station, ready for it's trip to RDU-7. Keith gets up from his chair and walks over to Greymoran. "Sir, you said that some of the universes that Grey attacked had survivors, did they not?" "A few. What are you getting a-oh. I see. Well, after we investigate RDU-7, I know a place where we can go, but first things first Keith." "Yes sir." Keith nods then returns to his staion. Rita, who overheard the conversation smiles. Carrie's face appears on the viewscreen. "We're ready to go mates. All you gotta do is say the word." Greymoran nods, then sighs once more. It's become an all too common noise from the wizard. "Once more unto the breach, dear friends. Rita, open the portal, then take us through." Rita takes a deep breath, and without a word her fingers dance across the panel, and in moments, the Archangel is on it's way.

Aboard the minign ship Red Dwarf, in their cell, Rimmer and Lister continue on with their regular banter. Rimmer finally caves and asks Lister about the time that he, Kryten, and the Cat had spent with the hologram Rimmer. "Not much to tell really." Dave Lister says to his bunkmate. "Although," he chuckles. "This one time, we were under attack by these robot ships from another dimension right?' Rimmer's eyes light up, then he remembers that Dave said 'robots,' not 'aliens.' "Then this group of people callin' themsleves the XDCA attacked them. Came out of these huge purple portals you see. They saved us, but you, or rather the other you, didn't know it at the time, and when they hailed us, he went on this whole alien god worship track. The guy, this bloke named Radagast, and me, and the Cat just started howlin' at how Rimmer was embarrassing himself." Rimmer frowned. "My holographic counterpart was something of a git wasn't he?" Dave chuckles. "He was you you-" Alarms interupt them. A call comes in over the ship's intercom from Captian Hollister. "Red Dwarf is under attack. Repeat, Red Dwarf is under attack." An image appears on the screen. Holly, the ship's computer's blad head appears. "Dave, Arnold. I know what those ships are, but the Captain won't believe me." Holly's face is replaced with an image of the attackers. Dave stands up. "Flippin' 'ell! It's the Trade Federation!" Rimmer looks confused. "Aren't those the good guys from Star Trek?" Dave shakes his head. "No, it's the bad guys from Star WARS!"

The Revanche come sout of it's portal just as the three Trade Federation battleships launch their fighter squadrons towards the city-sized mining vessel. With no defenses of it's own, the crew of the Revanche was left with no recourse but to take on the Federation by themselves. Captain Redding stadns up. "Disruptors at full power. Target the lead ship. Star Wars sheilds can't handle our kind of weaponry. A few well placed shots ought to rbing her down. Then we-" An alarm goes off. It's from Oakensheild's console.

Greymoran recognizes the ships friing on the Red Dwarf immediately. "The Trade Federation! They're launching Droid Fighters. Hudzen, power up the phasers. Their sheilds can't take our kind of weaponry. We ought to bring those ships down fairly quickly. But as for the fighters-" An alarm goes off on the ship. Jackson looks at his console. His snesors have idnetified a Klingon Battlecruiser TNG era, flying on attack vector towards the Trade Federation battleships. "what the-" he exclaims.

Sir, I've got a bio-reading on the Klingon ship... lots of humans and other races, but nary a Klingon aboard... I think I can scan the interior...Hmm... interior technology indicates XDCA doings...

Greymoran: Well whoever they are I'm not going to look a gift horse in the mouth. Find the Battleship enarest the one their targetting and make it ours.

Rita: Shouldn't be too hard. There are only six. 3 to 1 odds are better than 5 to 1 like the fast fight we were in.

Carrie: Sir, the ship's registry is that of the XDS Arakis, but the ident text on the side of the ship reads Revanche.

Hudzen: Revanche? Wasn't that Jerry Redding's ship?

Greymoran: Redding? I thought he killed when the fleet in MKWU-2 was wiped out.

Hudzen: I thought so too.

Keith: Who the hell is Jerry Redding?

Greymoran: Only the most arrogant captain in the fleet. No one's quite sure how he got all those promotions, but point is he's a maniac. He charges blindly with no sense of tactics or strategy. The only reason he's even alive right now is dumb luck.

Jerry Redding and Martin Durgin, Cpatain and Firsat Officer of the Revanche wtach the viewscreen as Maxine, the ship's computer, shows a picture of the second ship attacking the Trade Federation. "That's the Archangel all right. Should we try to arrest them now sir?" Oakensheilds asks. Redding shakes his head. "No. Now is not the time. Let's get these Federation boys out of here, then we'll talk to Greymoran. He understands XDCA charter. We may be able to talk him into a surrender." The door to the rear of the bridge opens, and two figures step out. The Tiefling Haer'Dalis, and the Chicken knowns as Mac enter the bridge. Tiefling takes the chair nearest Oakenshiled, while Mac struggles onto the arm of the Captian's chair. She looks up at Redding. "Cap'n, the Inertial Nullifier's workin' fine 'hen. We can use it anytime." Redding nods. "Do we have a firing solution yet Commander?" Durgin checks the panel at Haer'Dalis's station. "Yes sir." Haer'Dalis doublechecks. "Maxine did a good job Captain. Fire a ten second burst at," the viewscreen enlarges, and a pink box surrounds a small tower on the top of the Battleship. "that right there, we'll take out the lead ship's communications. Any and all Droid Fighters it launched will go dead, and we'll only have to deal with the squadrons from the other ships." Redding nods. "Good work. Fire at will." Haer'Dalis nods, then hits the neccesary button. The disruptor burst slams hard into the ship, almost complete ignoring the ship's inferior sheilds. The tower goes up in a massive explosion that scars the top part of the center sphereical structure of the ship. Haer'Dalis brings his chair about. "Sir, I am not as good at weapons as Ms. Alex. Where is she?" Redding sighs. "Still sleeping off that concussion she got in our escape in sickbay. It could be a few days befoe she's back to normal. But don't worry. MK III is taking good care of her."

-

The Arhcangel watches as a carefully placed disruptor blast form the Revanche disables the lead ship's droid fihgter squadrons. "Whoa! Nice shot!" Carrie exclaims. Greymoran rubs his beard thoughtfully. "Well thought out, carefully targetted. Definately not a standard Redding tactic." Rita brings the ship into firing range of the second Battleship, Turbolasers doing neglible damage to the shileds. Keith looks concerned, but Greymoran appeases him. "For them to do any serious damage they have to keep firing at us non-stop for almost 24 hours. And that's without our sheild recharge rates. They can't hurt us." Keith still looks concenred. "I figured that out already sir. My problem is that Grey knew this, or should've known this as well. Why would he-" A rumble shakes the ship slightly. Kieth turns to his console. "What the hell was that?" Rita answers their question. "That was the rear most Battleship. It has a pulse-phaser. If I hadn't swerved when I did that would've done serious damge to the sheilds. I'm putting this big boy between us and him." As she does so, a swarm of Droid Fighters flies out the second battleship's bay. They start ramming the Archangel. "Jesus! Those things must be pakcing some kind of chemical epxlosive! Our sheilds are actually eroding! In a few minutes we'll have nothing to prevent those lasers from bruning off our hull!" She moves her hand to a button on the far side of the console. A single Qunatum Torpedo flies stright into the launch bay, causing a massive explosion that travels acorss the bay all the way to the launch bay at the other end. The ship begins to flame and drift downward. The torpedo triggered a chain reaction that was destroying the whole ship. She brought the ship to a downward angle, away from both the flaming wreckage, and the Battleship armed with the phasers. Greymoran scowls. "It was a trap!"

-

In XFU-9, Mulder and Scully are hangin upside down and naked in a torture chamber. Jake Grey grabs his stolen lightsbaer and triggers it. He gently pokes the end into Mulder's body. The smoke and smel;l of brunt flesh cause Scully to burst into tears. Not the first time since the two had been brought here by this monster. A door opens. TorGal stpes in. Mulder shrieks like a little girl and passes out. Grey sighs heavily. "I was enjoying his pain TorGal!" The Troll took a step back. "I'm sorry milord. I just thought you should know, the trap we attempted to set for the St. Helens has come up with unexpected results." Grey's smile returns. "The Archangel." TorGal nods. "And another ship too sir. A Klingon Vor'Cha class cruiser. We have not yet idnetified it." Grey tilts his head. "Interesting. Have we installed the new dimensional drive yet?" TorGal shakes his head. "Almost sir. Engineering says it will be another six hours before power-up can begin." Grey frowns. "No, too long. I'll just have to take the Red Wizard. Meet me there TorGal. I have something I'd like to do to Scully before we leave. Won't take more than 10 minutes." With an evil grin he advances towards her.

Rita scowls at her console. "Dammit! Jackson, that chemical is still eating our sheilds away. Is there anyway way you can get rid of it? We'll be vulnerable in approximately 3 minutes, 4 seconds."

Well, I can put up another set of shields around our present ones and drop those... It might be a bit tricky, but I think I can do it... The odd thing is that I would never have thought that simple chemical weapons could erode a shield system...

Rita: Don't ask me how. It's just happening. At least it's not eroding the generators. That would really suck.

Keith: Jackson, I have an idea. The front end of that mining ship. That maw. It's set on low level chemical and mineral extraction.

Greymoran: I see where your going, and it's too dangerous. It could remove all the precious metals from the hull, and in a matter of minutes the whole ship will get sucked into the processing factories. Forget it.

I think we have secondary shield generators on the ship.
Looking at the console Looks like we do.
Activating the secondary generators. Second shield set coming online. First shield dropped, with the various chemical stuff between the new shield and the hull. and now...
Dupree opens the cargo bay doors, allowing the chemicals to be brought inside. Dupree closes the doors and lowers the shields in that area. He opens the doors again, causing the chemicals to be blown out into space

Rita breathes a heavy sigh. "That was close. Bringing us back around on that enhanced Battleship. I'm pissed." The Archangel speeds towards the Battleship that fired the phasers. Rita deftly avoids the incoming phasers with quick sideslips and turns. It keeps up until the Archangel is in firing range. Hudzen lets loose with the phasers, tearing hard into the enemy vessel, who's sheilds were apparently not enhanced the way the weapons were. The ship's hull peel away with bright explosions as the phaser superheat the areas that are blown open. The ship soon stops firing and drifting downward. "Yes! Nailed the sucker!" Rita exclaims cheerfully. Bringing us around to engage the remain-" She stops cold. She double checks her readings. "Sir, the other three Battleships have been disabled. The Revanche is now moving towards us." A look of concern passes over Rita's face. "Jackson, check your sensors. It looks like the Revanche is approaching us with their weapons still powered."

Jerry Redding stared out the viewscreen. "I really wish I didn't have to do this Marty." Martin Durgin places a hand on his captain's shoulder. Mac, sitting on the left arm of the Captian's puts her wing and his wrist. "You gotta Cap'n. We've gotta restore order the XDCA eh?" Martin nods. "She's right captain. If we're going to rebuild the XDCA, we'll need to mantain the charter, and Greymoran has violated that charter." Oakensheild walks over to the group. "Sir, I've finsihed my lifesing analysis. Including Greymoran, there are 4 humans on board. I detect that the ship has a 7th generation A.I.-" "Carrie." Maxine interupts with anger in her voice. Redding sighs. "I really wish you put aside that feud of yours Maxine! Continue Oak." The dwarf nods. "I also detect a Wanderer aboard, possibly of Elven decent." Durgin whistles. "There aren't any Wanderers in XDCA service are there?" Redding shakes his head. "Not that I can remember. Anything else?" "A human that registers as being in suspended animation. Also, there may be a robot on board. And there signs of atmospheric damage on board." Redding raises an eyebrow. "Well. Enough of this. Hail them."

Keith: I've been keeping one of the sensors trained hard on that ship. Five times during that battle that ship pulled off maneuvers that should've torn that ship apart. Also, I have sensors readings on her crew. Three humans, a lot of SW droids, a Dwarf, a creature called a Tiefling, whatever that is, a 7th generation A.I. just like Carrie, and, *Keith pauses, his eyebrow raised, a goofy looking smirk on his face.* And, a chicken!

Rita, Jackson, and Greymoran in unison: A chicken?

Hudzen: That would be Mac. I served with her during the last XDP Cartel War aboard the original Revanche. That was shortly before I was transferred to Grey's command. She's a briiliant engineer. Can fix just about anything, using anything.

Interesting mix of a crew...
Sir, we're being hailed by them. Let's hope they don't rain on our parade.

Greymoran only marginally recognizes the face that appears on the screen. Gone is the youthful arrogance that Greymoran had come to know during the last Cartel War. This was the look of a man who had to mature at an accelerated rate. A battle weary man, who looked much older than he was. "Jerry?" "Hello Greymoran. It's been 8 years hasn't it?" "Yeah. How you been? What happened to the Revanche?" "She got blown apart by Grey during the Avalon assault. Mac, Derisa and I were planetside when it heppend. We got on the only evacuation shuttle that made it along with Oakensheild from the Westchester. The Arakis picked us up a few weeks later. She was in bad shape, and her captain was dead." Greymoran winced. "Derisa Alex? My god, last time I saw her she was fresh out the Academy!" "She's our tactical officer." Hudzen walks into view and Redding's eyes widen in shock. "Hudzen? Last time I saw you you were being reassigned to Grey's ship! What happened?" "When Grey began his attack I led a mutiny that failed. Carrie rescued me." The screen goes split, and an angry looking woman appears. "Carrie! I knew it! You ran off leaving station 47 behind!" Carrie's face doesn't appear on the screen but her voice comes through loud and clear. "What could I do? I was outnumbered, the bays were damaged, and no one had any clue what was going on!" "You should've fought him Carrie!" "Listen here Maxine, I-" "Will the two of you shut the fuck up?!?" Redding and Greymoran scream in unison at their feuding computers. Maxine's angry face disappears. Greymoran refocuses on Redding and frowns. Jerry has the all too familiar look of a man who isn't happy with what he's about to say next. "Greymoran, I think the only way we can rebuild the XDCA once Grey is taken over, is to stick to the charter ourselves. If we allow violations like the ones we've recorded from you, well, it would be anarchy. That is why I have to request that you and any official XDCA agents on your crew surrender yourselves, and the ship to us to face fromal charges." "What?" Gryemoran says, shocked. Rita stands up. "Oh no, that is bullshit!" Keith gets up to calm Rita down, but she flashes him a look that makes him take several steps back. She turns back to the screen. "We've fought like hell! We've saved a lot of lives fighting Jake Grey. How many have you saved?" Redding lowered his head. "Yeah, I figured. You can keep following your rules and charters. They are clearly not helping. We appreciate your help, but-" "Look ma'am!" Redding interupts. "We have hidden surviving XDCA agents, knowing every day that Grey could stumble upon them and kill millions at a time. We have followed his every move, and have tried VERY hard to predict his actions. We have tried to mantain order, preparing universes he hadn't hit yet to defend themselves. Have you done that? Look, we need to maintain order here." Jackson walks over, and gently moves Rita aside. "Rita, calm down. I'm a Tacoman clone. I know how to deal with people like-" "LICC Tacoman?" Redding excalims. "Dammit Greymoran, that is the dumbest thing you've done to date! You know what could happen to you? The LICC universe is explicitly off limits to all XDCA influence! You could face the death penalty for that!"

Jackson looks at the screen
Yes, I am a clone of Tacoman. He cloned me after after Greymoran visited the LICC universe. Greymoran gave us some help in a tight situation, and the original Tacoman decided that the best way to help Greymoran in his fight against evil was to send me here. Since I've arrived, I've seen and done some amazing things.

"Regardless of that Tacoman, or whatever you call yourself, you are all in violation of several XDCA laws and charters. Please, just lower your sheilds and surrender yourselves peacefully." "Forget it!" Keith chimes in, an unusal anger on his face. "Like Rita said, we've fought like hell out here! We're not gonna surrender dick!" Greymoran cuts off the communication before Redding can reply. "That was really dumb Keith! Redding has a notriously short temper. If he opens fire in the next minute, I'll make sure you get punished for it, assuming we live." Soon the crew of the Archangel gets it's answer. Redding's face reappears on the screen. "Look, Greymoran, you know as well as I do what will happen if we don't reestablish the XDCA. It'll be mutli-dimensional chaos! In order to return order, we must retain order. Surely you realize that." Greymoran stands up, looking calm, composed, and cool. "The Rebel Alliance. The French Resistance. The American Revolution. The Freedom Fighters of Retroyg 7. All of them were opressed and nearly wiped out by an enemy bent on domination. All of them violated whatever laws needed violating in order to bring peace back to their peoples. Join US Jerry. Our two ships can do more to hurt Grey than either of us alone." Jerry seems to ponder this. "No, Greymoran. It won't work. This is nothing like British Oppression, Nazi Occupation, Imperial Domination, and Telepathic Conquering. This is a whole new thing. Something we've never seen before. The mutliverse is too fragile to fly about all willy-nilly like you've been doing. Turn yourselves in. We've got the old prison facility on Alcatraz Beta working. We've been hiding some people and weapons there. And rumors are floating about of a third ship, launching raids on Grey's hidden depots. If we can find this ship, it'll be a great help to us." Redding takes a deep breath, then continues. "I can vouch for you. I can get some of these charges dropped. They don't even have to know about the Transporter Rule violation. Tops you'll get a hundred years. With your life-span-" "Forget it Jerry. Even if you got me down to time-served on all the others I'd still face death for the LICC incident and you know it. Forget it. Either come with us, and fight Grey with us, or go somewhere else." Redding sighs, and closes his eyes. The screen goes blank. At his console Hudzen says what Greymoran feared. "Sir, they're powering up their disruptors. They're targetting our warp drive." Rita doesn't even wait for an order, she brings the swing into a stepp downward turn that the inertial dampners only marginally compensate for. Keith and Jackson are thrown to the floor, Greymoran is pinned to his chair. The viewscreen shows the Revanche going into an even steeper turn, and spin that brings her back into firing range. "What in the hells!" Greymoran exclaims in shock. Even Hudzen's eyes appear to go wide. A move like that should've torn that ship apart. Not even a Bird Of Prey could've pulled off a maneuver as complex as that without suffering structural damage. Rita begins a gut-wrenching spin, the compensaotrs beginning to fail. The vertigo is over-powering but Rita keeps the ship in it's spin. "Can't let them get a clean shot at our engines." She grunts out painfully.

Jerry Redding's eyes widen at the site of the ship. "Who the hell is piloting that thing? She keeps that up and the ship's gonna tear apart!" Martin Durgin sighs. "Sir, while their in that spin we can't get a clean shot at her. Suggest we try another maneuver." Redding nods, and begins to give the order, when out of nowhere, an Ambassador-class ship appears, and begins firing on the Revanche.

Rita catches the sudden appearence of the ship out the corner of her eye. She suddenly stops the spin, and everyone goes flying to the left. She climbs back into her chair and checks again. "What the hell, that ship! It came out of nowhere. No portal, no dimensional disturbance recorded, nothing. Not even evidence of a de-cloak. It just came out of nowhere!" Greymoran rubs his neck. "What are you talking about?" Rita turns back. "The ship that's firing on the Revanche!"

Jackson looks at his console
Sir, the new ship seems to be part of Jake Grey's fleet.. Sensors show that Grey himself is on that ship. Of course, that could just be a sensor ghost of some sort.. I'm transfering the sensor data to weapons.

When the Red Wizard came out of the dimensional nether wihtout opening a portal, the crew of the Revanche stood shocked. The ship launched a barrage of nuclear missiles. The ship was undamaged, but the radiation caused the sheilds to flux for a few seconds. During those few seconds, a phaser beam lanced from the Red Wizard, and pierced the sheilds with little diffculty. The Revanche's tragetting sensors were destroyed. Jerry Redding was not about to lose another ship. He ordered Maxine to perfrom evasive maneuvers. The Klingon vessel twisted in turn, it's Inertial Nullifier allowing it to perfrom maneuvers that would've liquified the crew otherwise. "Maxine, Haer'Dallis. Can either of you get us a line of sight?" The Tiefling shakes his head, his ceremonial earrings clanging loudly. "If we stay in place long enough he'll get a shot off at us. Sheilds are still fluxing. We'll need to continue avoided him for a few minutes." Redding pounds the chair of arm, narrowly missing Mac. "Ey!" She shouts indignantly. "Sorry Mac. Forgot you were there. Haer, that's an Ambassador-class vessel! We have to know it's blind spots." "Aye sir, but, if it's a Grey vessel, doubtless that spot been enhanced somehow. I don't think-" He stops and checks his console again. "Sir, the Archangel is firing at the enemy vessel. It's going for the warp nacelles."

The sudden appearence of pulse phasers on the enemy vessel identified as Red Wizard, one of the ships stolen by Grey, threw off Rita's attack run briefly, but having fallen for that trick once, she was ready. She deftly dodged the blast, swung out of the firing arc, and begin firing the Archangel's pulse phasers into the nacelles. The sheilds held steady against the firepower being thrown at it, but Hudzen confirmed that the sheilds would fail after a few more blasts, and the nacelle would go up in a ball of fire, disabling Grey's ship. Greymoran stroked his beard thoughtfully. Why hadn't Grey come in his monstrosity? He thought to himself. And where did that ship come from? He thought back to something Ahz had said a few weeks ago. He got up from the chair. "Where are you going?" Keith asked. "I'm going to Ahz's lab. I think he may know what we're up against." As soon as Greymoran is in the Turbolift he pulls out his commlink. "Ahz, grant me access to your lab. I'm going to need your help."

Rita swung the ship in dangerously close to the enemy vessel's hull, swinging and firing occasionally. At one point it looked as though the Archangel would slam into the Red Wizard's port nacelle, but Rita deftly avoided it, also tricking the ship's automated defnse phasers to melt the Bussard Ramscoop on the fornt of the nacelle. Aboard Jake Grey is fuming mad. "Dammit! They're in too close and moving too fast for any of our major wepaons to hit them! Shut down the automated defnses. A few more quick manuevers like that we'll end up destroying ourselves. Fire a barrage of nukes at the Red Dwarf, then take us back to my ship!" TorGal makes a noise that is the Troll equivalent to a sigh. "Yes my lord." Jake Grey smiles. Inwardly he says to himself, "My second would have to be the only creature in the mutli-verse who likes defeat less than I do."

Rita cheers triumphantly as the Red Wizard begins to pull back, but the cheers stop when the ship vanishes as quickly as it appeared. Then, she notices the missles. "Shit! Jackson, we've got a dozen nukes heading for the Dwarf. REALLY fast. Can you target any of them?"

"Can you target any of those misles Haer?" Redding asks. The Tielfng nods. Yes sir, but I can only destroy maybe half of them. The others will have already impacted against Red Dwarf by the time we get decent line of sight. Targetting sensros still off-" "Don't dawdle Haer. Shoot those missles down!"

Jackson rapidly presses a number of buttons on his console
I've got the half dozen that are closest to the Red Dwarf. I'm sending the data to you, Rita.
If we use the tractor beams to snag one or two of them, that could make the job easier...

Rita: "Good idea Jackson. Better be quick though, and her face clenches for a moment." A small explosion on the viewscreen denotes the destruction of one of the missiles. She checks her console briefly. "Damn. Whoever's flying the Revanche sure knows what their doing. They've taken out," Another explosion. "three of them, and that's without their targetting system. Ours is intact and I'm having trouble." Three blue lights shoot out from the Archangel. Three missles stop in place. Rita delights as she fires the phasers that blow up all three. A quick glance at her sensors reveals that all but one missle were destroyed, and it's too close to the Red Dwarf for either the Archangel or the Revanche to destroy. "Oh no."

Carrie: C'mon Holly. *she mutters*

-
Lister: Smeggin' 'ell! They missed one!

Rimmer: Really? And I thought that was just a giant pencil flying at us! *he says in a panic*

The alarms on the mining ship go off. Captian Hollister's face appears on the small screen in Lister and Rimmer's cell.

Hollister: Abandon ship. I repeat abandon ship.

Lister: Holly!

Holly, his bald head appearing on the same screen, overlapping the Captain's message.

Holly: Yea Dave?

Lister: I've got an idea. Put one of the Blue Midgets on autopilot, and...

-

Jerry Redding shakes his head in dismay, as the bright explosion blocks his view of the red ship in the distance. "Dammit! God dammit!" "Cap'n!" Mac shouts, jumping up and down excitedly, her wings flapping towards the viewscreen. The explosion clears, and the Red Dwarf is still floating there. Clearly damaged but still alive. "What the hell?" Oakensheild walks up behind him. "The debris field sir suggests that a small shutle sized craft flew into the path of the missile. If I remember the details of RDUs correctly, it was most likely a Blue Midget.

-

Lister: That was close.

Rimmer: *swallows hard* Yep. *passes out from the tension*

-

Rita breathes a heavy sigh of relief. "Oh man! That was beautiful!" Keith walks over and pats her on the shoulder. She bolts out of her seat and embraces him. The happy couple laugh and kiss excitedly at the victory. Hudzen appears unfazed, as though he didn't particulary care wether or not the Red Dwarf was destoryed.

-

In Ahz's lab Greymoran tells the Wanderer about his fears. "The ship came out of nowhere Ahz. I fear that that thing I told you wasn't possible, is. Is there naything I need to get you for you to confirm or deny this? If Grey has gotten his hands on a dimensional drive undetectable by the XDS network..." Greymoran's concerned voice drifts. He shudders at the thought of what he just said.

Now that's my idea of a good battle. I'm just glad that the tractor beams worked so well.
Jackson looks at his console I wonder what that last explosion was...
Cross checking sensor data on the small shuttle with known ships in the database... the database says that it might have been a Blue Midget...
Anybody want to talk to either ship?

Aboard the Revanche Jerry Redding breathes a heavy sigh of relief as the few escape craft that got away from Red Dwarf return, more then likely amazed at what happened. Durgin limps over to Redding, his artifical leg malfunctioning again. "Sir, shall we go ahead and attempt another arrest of Greymoran and his crew?" Redding shakes his head, looking defeated. "He's right Marty. When the XDCA was whole, we could afford to play by the rules. But the rules are no longer a luxury. One, Jake Grey knows we're out there now, and he'll be looking for us. Two, playing by the book nearly got the Red Dwarf blown to kingdom come. And three, it's just not worth it. Putting them in prison would only hurt in the long run. Activate the portal generator. We need to find a hiding place where we can make repairs." Maxine's face appears on the screen. "Sir, the Archangel is hailing us." "Ignore them. Just take us away."

-

Keith and Rita, still holding each other, watch as the Revanche goes into the portal it opened, and disappeared. "Carrie," Rita asks, "can you tell where they went?" "Fraid not love. They've musta gone to a system without a working XDS net."

Rita, Keith, Jackson, and Hudzen sit in their seats on the bridge uncomforatbly. Greymoran should be up there in a moment, but the silence is deafening. Rita is avoiding Jackson's line of sight, Keith decides to study sensor records of the battle, hoping to learn something about Grey's tactics. Rita finally gives up, and decides to speak. "Hey Carrie. Why don't we go over to the Red Dwarf and see if we can grab you a Hard Light generator?" Although the motors that power his movements are designed to be silent, Hudzen's engines whir audibly. He appears to be shifting uncomfortably. Carrie's face appears on Rita's console. "Fraid not again love. They won't have one. But there IS a space station about 30 or so light years away at top speed. We can get one there. I should warn you though-" Carrie is interupted by the sound of the trubloift door opening. Greymoran steps out. "What was the deal with that ship coming out of nowhere?" Keith asks. "Greymoran takes a deep breath. "It's entirely possible, that Grey has gotten his hands on an exprimental engine, that allows dimensional travel without opening a portal. Carrie and Hudzen lower their heads in a gesutre of defeat. Jackson, Rita, and Keith merely look confused. "How is that possible?" Jackson asks. "Don't know. What's important though, is the danger this represents. Travel between dimensions is instantaneous, without the 5 second delay of flying through and exiting a portal. There's no warning, because as you know portals give off very distinctive glows. And worst of all, travelling through the mutli-verse that way, doesn't set off the XDSs. If Grey gets that installed on his main ship, which we should assume he hasn't yet since he came in that Ambassador-class, he can go anywhere, and we won't know it until it's too late."

My god... all those universes hit and destroyed before we would know where he was. Maybe we should locate your friend Jerry and join forces with him... the old two heads are better than one thing.

Greymoran: I don't know Jackson. He most likely left because of his damaged targeting systems. He may try to arrest us again. I think our best hope is to start warning any universes that haven't been hit yet. With any luck we can prevent further tradgedys.

Rita: True, but how can we possibly monitor every single universe?

Greymoran: Dimensional communicators Rita. We can also start herding survivors in to those universes to enhance the forces. We're going to go to those universes that have already been hit. We'll pull together as many ships as we can, and start moving them in. It's obvious that grey is going to start going after the comedy universes now. He may even make another attempt on this one, so we'll start moving these ships into RDUs. It's not muhc of a tactic though. We proobably should have a meeting. Hudzen, Keith, Jackson, ready room. I'm going below to get Ahz. Carrie and Rita, take us back to the STU we were just in. Gather what's left of the Federation, and move them into this universe here, in case Grey tries to launch another assault.

Aye sir. Jackson goes to the ready room
Comedy universes... Fraiser isn't safe...Old Cheers reruns aren't safe... I wonder when Grey will hit children's show universes... My god.. no Sesame Street will be safe...

Keith, smiling: But hey, if he ever decided to hit Barney-OW!

Rita punches him in the arm: Don't even go there.