EP 2 PROLOGUE



THE VEKARIAN SYSTEM, OUTER ZONE

Rebbik came to with a start.

"What happened?" looking at his smashed up cockpit he could hear a fire crackling in the deck below without having to smell or see it.

"Hit by second shockwave, taking us down!" was all Christian afforded him.

Rebbik remembered the initial wobble of the vessel indicating the wormhole's demise, but that was only the subspace tremor. The normal space shockwave had hit a few seconds later, sending them careering forward into the Vekarian system and the midst of many military ships, most either engaged in combat or damaged and adrift.

The Pod's current trajectory was straight down toward the charred and pitted surface of Helub. Across the semi-darkness of the powerless megacityscape, Rebbik could see plasma and other energies crackling around the surface of bizarre frills of twisted metal and plastic. The uppermost layers of the spaceport had been flattened as far as the eye could see, its many domes, towers and other structures were now a twisted mess of devastation.

Although most of the debris had been incinerated during the initial explosions, some tumbled into the vacuum of space above. Rebbik, still not quite conscious, watched as the Captain skilfully employed shield variation techniques to manually swerve the ship from side to side avoiding them during their steep descent - a Starfleet emergency technique for appearing weak while reserving main drive systems for when they were needed.

The shock wave of the wormhole's explosion had totally dissipated the magnetic storm. Minutes before, Qovakian forces had been trying to draw the battle away from the port in an effort to spare lives when the wave suddenly hit, causing a number of ships to collide.

From what Christian and Rebbik had seen the K'Tani vessels were relatively unaffected by the shockwave. From the pod's side windows, in the view receding above and behind, they could now see the smaller, faster and more agile insect-like K'Tani craft moving quickly around Federation and other vessels to assume boarding positions. A single Qovakian patrol craft and a Norsican Warship were managing a slow limp away, but were soon surrounded, the patrol vessel vaporising instantly, the other disabled in a flash of energy. However, other non-military ships on the fringes of the main concentration of vessels were slowly restoring power and moving away unharmed.

"They're not firing at any civilian ships," Rebbik said.

Christian made a quick sideways glance. "For the moment."

Christian had seen his fair share of destruction before during his Starfleet career - more regularly than he had wished, in fact. If this military race were like the others he had encountered, it would only be a matter of time before they secured themselves from any opponent and turned their attention to 'controlling' the civilians now under the power of their command.

Christian saw light coming from several large openings in the wreckage of the port, exposing the transit tunnel system beneath that led to the docking areas. It looked fairly intact - presumably the space port was built to withstand major disasters, though probably not of this nature. "I'm going to take us in."

"What?! Are you crazy?" Rebbik lashed at his own flight controls, trying to override the Captain's programming. He started to turn the Pod into a climb, but his wrist was smacked away.

"Think about it, Ferengi!" Christian shouted, almost possessed, and said the latter word more to get Rebbik's attention than cause insult; "the wormhole's gone. Our fleet has been all but destroyed. What would you have us do, turn and run away?"

Rebbik wanted to reply in the affirmative, but stopped himself. Yet his eyes said it all and behind the reproachful exterior, he felt a little shame.

"Frankly, I don't care what you think," Christian said as the younger pilot averted his eyes, "there must be Starfleet personnel still within the base, and civilians who need our help."

Christian levelled the small ship to enter the port at a steep but perpendicular descent, and through the skylight above, from the murk of battle, they saw about fifty or so larger and bulkier ships moving into position above the moon and around Vekaria. They were similar in colour and markings to the K'Tani attack craft, but clearly built for a different purpose.

"What are they?" Rebbik wondered aloud.

"They look like troop carriers," he almost wished he hadn't said it. The K'Tani were clearly not wasting time in securing Qovakia's ruling world and its space port moon. While their smaller craft destroyed or disabled and secured their adversaries, the bulkier troop carriers made a slow descent to pre-designated landing positions. Christian also noticed that they still seemed unconcerned with civilian vessels making their way out of the port and away from the Vekarian system.

***

ACT 1