Voren found himself shuddering for the first time, trying to figure out what to do to protect himself. This game of cat and mouse couldn't go on much longer... He looked out over the vast wasteland of...some planet he couldn't even remember. He looked out from his small hiding place behind a piece of metal scrap, and saw a small silver glint.

He reflexively ducked, and was glad he did when a streak of red flashed by him.

He jumped up and saw the glint, and fired again.

The glint exploded, and the landscape disappeared. Voren walked to it, holding his phaser ready. He knew if it was a guise, a lure...

He found Widiam Baahling lying on the ground, shuddering.

"Your beaten, buddy boy." Voren said cruelly. He looked around, pretty sure of himself.

That's when Widiam disappeared and a phaser blast hit Voren square in the chest. Voren watched it come, cursing himself as it impacted with his body.

He waited until the weak power of the practice phaser dissolved, then started walking towards the source of the beam.

He called out, "Computer, End program." Suddenly, the area around them slowly shivered into nonexistence. It was replaced with the yellow-and-black color sequence of the holodeck, and Widiam Baahling standing a good ten feet away.

"Good work, captain." He said, truly impressed. Voren, wiping sweat off his brow with a terribly odorous and rather sweaty uniform, smiled at him, and said, "Lucky. That's all it was. You were just lucky." The two of them walked towards the door, talking strategies.

"...and so I saw this small glint, and I knew it was definitely not old metal. I ducked, and whiz! this phaser bolt flew by too close for it to be one of the sim's drones. I stood, and knew you'd be utilizing those three seconds of recharge. I fired, and found you shivering on the ground. I didn't know if it was meant as a joke or not, and then you disappeared. Suddenly, ZZZZzap! square in the chest." Voren finished, explaining his theory to Wid.

Wid nodded, and replied, " That's true, I've never seen a remote as accurate as me." He said. Voren knew anything like that coming from Wid would include a wink and a grin.

Voren laughed, and said, "Oh, someday you're gonna build another K'tarian gypsy gun, I tell you!"

"Oh, no, I love the three out of twenty I have right now." Wid responded. Voren laughed at that, yet Widiam remained unreadable. The sparkle in his eyes was all the laugh Wid needed. Voren nodded towards the doors.

"Say, how about a drink in Ten-Forward. We can-" Voren was cut off when the ship shook from the impounding hit of a photon torpedo fairly close to where they were.

"Captain Na'al to the bridge!" Mara said over the comm. system. Voren nodded at Wid, who ran towards a turbolift. Voren did the same, and ran with him, towards a turbolift to the bridge.

They entered the bridge to see a large, bird-like starship on the main viewscreen. Its twin wings were in their standard attack position, and the small, green command pod, accented by the red shield ring and glowing photon torpedo bay was turned towards their ship.

A Klingon Bird of Prey.

"Captain, this Bird of Prey decloaked several seconds ago, and has been torpedoing us ever since!" Mara said, a look of tension on her face.

"Haven't you raised the shields?" Voren said, puzzled. Mara's face went from tense to scared as she replied,

"Yes!"

Voren looked back at the Bird of Prey, and felt his ship shudder under him again. The torpedo went straight through the shields, hitting somewhere below on the long, sleek hull.

"Uh...return fire!" He stammered out. A forty year old Klingon Bird of Prey is beating us? Voren thought to himself.

"Aye." Wid responded, and launched three photon torpedoes, all of which hit the shields of the Bird of Prey, doing nothing.

"Fire again!" Voren said. Wid launched five torpedoes this time. Nothing happened to the Bird of Prey. It changed its weapons selection from torpedoes to disruptors. Voren watched as systems on the Egypt shut down. Voren watched the lights go out, and said, "Computer, emergency lights."

The computer didn't respond.

"Computer?" Mara shook her head, and said, "The computer must be out." Voren tried communications, tapping his communicator.

"Don?" He said. Don replied, "Captain, everything's gone! Everything! I have power in the shuttle bays, and power to the lifeboats, but were losing everything, even life support!" Voren shook his head. He swore quietly, thinking, Somedays, you should never get out of bed. "This is the captain to all hands on Egypt. Abandon ship!"

As Voren ran through the sections of the Egypt that were still accessible, he continued to see people off in their lifeboats. He and the command crew were going to use the captain's yacht as their escape module. Widiam, Mara, and Voren had chosen the lifeboat, while Bobby, Don, and Evan had chosen the bridge.

Voren sat back in the lifeboat, and said, "Mara, let's go. On three." Voren pressed the docking clamps button.

"One..." He pumped the primer handle.

"Two..." He set his finger over the "release authorization" button.

"Three!" He pressed down, and the lifeboat was hurled away from the starship at tremendous speed. The Klingon Bird of Prey had switched back to torpedoes, and was now pummeling the Egypt, as Voren could see from the yacht. He watched the Egypt's core go critical, and suddenly, the giant two nacelles, the saucer, and secondary hull erupted in a small nova as the antimatter and matter collapsed in on each other, creating a shockwave which shook the yacht violently, as it did many of the other escape pods in the direct vicinity. Voren sniffed back a tear as his ship went up in smoke, throwing pieces of duranium through the small field of escape pods near the wreckage.

He gasped, looking at the blank space where his ship was seconds ago, stifling, "Klingon...bastards...this isn't possible."

Mara walked to him, and tried to hold his hand, saying, "Voren, calm down...um...you know its okay..." she tried to calm him, but the impending fact that she had lost her home yet again clouded much of her ability to reinforce the fact that it was "all right."

Voren shook his head, responding, "No, Mara, what I mean is...well, its just not right! It's NOT possible! Think about it!" Voren's mind was racing now. He went on right there.

"C'mon, people, think about it. That ship that just blew our beloved home to pieces is a Klingon Bird of Prey! Those were decommissioned from the Klingon Navy because they were too small! Everyone knows that they were even outgunned by Constitution class refits, including K'vorts!"

Voren started pacing the yacht's tiny confines, continuing. "It was proved that no Klingon Bird of Prey could approach a Galaxy class starship without its impending destruction. That was proved by the USS Enterprise-D, The USS Spirit of Saint Louis, AND the USS Pearl Harbor. After that came the Nova class ships, the Freedom class ships, and now us. What the hell happened out there?" After he finished his burst, he went into the captain's private room. Before entering, he turned to his rather quiet bridge crew, who all had something to think about now.

"I'll be in here. Please don't disturb me. I'll place that call." He walked inside, and locked the door.

Good, let them chew their brain candy for a while, believe that all is not lost. I have to get some answers. He walked to the standard Federation image computer, pressing in his code. He recorded a distress message, and launched it.

Voren knew that within two hours the USS Anthony would come to pick up the survivors of the Egypt, because Voren had sent the emergency distress beacon to them at its highest warp speed. He didn't really care about that right now, however, because he was sniffling back tears and wiping his eyes as the remains of the saucer section gracefully swept past the yacht.

"There's the holodeck..." Voren said quietly, noticing the yellow-and-black grid in the exposed rooms. Voren put his head in his hands, not even caring that the Klingon Bird of Prey had cloaked and gone to warp.

He looked down at the computer, and then back up at the wreckage, just to see some duranium shrapnel shatter an escape pod. Was this all real?

Just what the hell was going on here?

Skarr smiled to himself.

Wimps.

He thought that as he watched his beautiful display of holographic imagery blow up another beautiful display of holography, in other words, the Klingon Bird of Prey versus the USS Egypt.

Little did Voren know that the Egypt had not exploded at all. He did not know that the Klingon Bird of Prey had been an illusion, projected by Skarr's Vor'cha attack cruiser. None of the Bird of Prey was real. Skarr had simply disabled the Egypt, and then used the tremendous hologenerators on the Harlequin to project the destruction of the Egypt. None of the consoles on the lifeboats and shuttles worked, so they wouldn't tell the crew of the Egypt that the destruction never happened. The imposing, six foot man made only slight nods toward his crew. He had planned the entire operation so well that voice communication on the bridge was almost unnecessary. Skarr's cloaked craft docked with the Egypt, which was virtually cloaked, due to the holographic imaging field surrounding it. Skarr smiled. He had gotten Na'al back. After four years in prison thanks to a deceiving Bajoran and three years to find the ripple-nose idiot, he had done in the "almighty captain of one of the Federation's finest ships," as his dossier read. And now, he had the ripple-nose's ship.

"Commander Toral, dock the Harlequin with the Egypt. We will transfer our flag there, and return power to the ship. After that I will leave a skeleton crew on the Harlequin, and we will return to Pentelence 3. Do you understand me?" Skarr said, his low voice penetrating more than commander Toral's ears. When he spoke, everyone listened.

The commander nodded curtly, responding, "Yes sir." Skarr smiled to himself. This was what you get, Na'al. For four years in prison, I spit my last berth of freedom at you then. Now, I have returned.

He was dressed all in black, Skarr was. A man at an imposing height of seven feet, he walked in very tall Clarian Leather boots. His Morlinian death cape was a sign of his won battles. His loose pants bore many different scars and scrapes, with several penetrating holes, each mirroring a cut on the skin under it. His command shirt was made of Kressikan phaser-proof knitting, which could deflect a type 16 phaser blast or a Klingon disruptor. He always wore a black cowboy hat, and wore his beard cut loosely. of the twenty weapons dotting his body, only two were visible.

Skarr walked to the turbolift of the murky stolen Vor'cha class heavy attack cruiser, and rode it down to N level, where the transporters were. He watched security teams beam over to the Egypt. Skarr was glad that he was able to get Na'al to forget setting off self destruction, but knew the large, stolen, and very contraband disability phaser would be there if he did. He thanked the lord that Na'al had forgot about self destruction, but really didn't care if the ripple-nose sent himself to his death just to be beaten when his entire ship lost all power and he was aware of it.

Skarr saw Commander Torem, his Romulan Accomplice enter the transporter room, and then Skarr himself boarded the transporter bay, nodding to Maria Sencesto to beam them to the Egypt. He waited as the transporter sent them to the bridge of the USS Egypt, and saw the emergency systems slowly coming on-line. He pulled out his vocal manipulator, and spoke through it, using the ripple-nose's voice to transfer the command codes.

"Computer," he said in Na'al's voice, "transfer command to Lord Skarr. Command authorization: D498A-509S-689-Coalstocking."

The computer bleeped several times, before responding, "All codes of command transferred to Lord Skarr."

Skarr smiled to himself.

"We have her!"

He had decided that doing such a thing was so important, that he turned to Torem ,and said, "Torem, put me on full ship audio. The crew has to hear this."

Torem, who wasn't one for words, nodded, saying, "As you wish, My lord." That was something Skarr loved. He had changed his power in the Maquis after assassinating the governor in charge, and placed himself as the lord of the Maquis Rebellion. He was the master of them, now.

"NEW crew of the USS Egypt, let it be known that we are the first pirates to ever capture a Lightstar-class vessel intact!" Skarr bellowed.

He waited, listening to a roar from the bridge crew.

"We are pirates! And we are a force to be reckoned with!" He could almost hear everyone on his new ship roaring in triumph. He knew his crew was victorious, but it was time to find out what on this Starfleet bucket worked.

"Robert," he said, turning to his tactical officer, "what is the status of this vessel? I want to know everything; what it's mission is right now, how many torpedoes we're carrying, weapons status, you know...important things." Skarr had no care of sensors or deflector dishes. If they were working, he wouldn't start to assassinate crew members.

"We have four hundred and seventy torpedoes. Phasers are at top power, and there's a weapon of enormous power that I haven't even seen before, at least-"

Suddenly, a rowdy Starfleet crewer stumbled through the turblolift doors, and fired a phaser at Skarr.

"Die, pirates!" The weakling ensign said. Skarr smiled as the blast hit his shirt, sending it awry.

Skarr walked to the boy, who was now both afraid in awe and in desolate fear, and said, "My boy, I am afraid, your time has come." He always said this in a solemn, soft, executioner's voice.

"It is time for you to go."

The young boy trembled in fear, muttering, "Please no...no...no, please..." Skarr whipped out his disruptor and fired. The boy was incinerated as the fire of the disruptor quickly spread across his body, erasing him from existance. In the end, there was nothing left.

Skarr nodded, and said, "Very well." He walked back to the Captain's chair. He looked around at his crew, who were staring at Skarr.

"Would anyone like to attempt to fill his shoes?"

Everyone shook their head, mumbling, "No."

Skarr nodded, and said, "Oh-and that's 'No, my lord.'" He sat back down into the plush captain's chair.

"Now, you were mentioning a weapon..."

Captain La Forge nodded, listening to the finishing touches on the destruction of the Egypt. Voren, a friend of his, seeing as they both served under Admiral Harrison, had sent out a distress signal several days ago, which the Anthony had received.

"I understand. My God, Voren, this is definitely not standard Starfleet protocol. No wonder you cussed several times in your communiqué'." Voren, whose face had lost much of its color over the last few days, sat looking at Captain Gordi La Forge. He slowly responded,

"Gordi...it was...terrible. They uncloaked, and continued to fire, and fire and fire...and whatever we did, it was more powerful. Damnit, Gordi, it was a goddamned Klingon Bird-of-Prey! The old Constitution-class refits could take them on with little or no effort!"

Gordi thought for a second, and then replied, "Well, remember that the D-10 B'rel class Bird of Preys were upgraded to D-12 K'vort class Bird of Preys during the Klingon uprising all those years ago. Are you sure it wasn't a K'vort? I'm not saying the Egypt couldn't handle a K'vort class Bird of Prey, but maybe that was what gave it the firepower." Voren shook his head.

"No, it was a B'rel class Bird of Prey. Never even got the Klingon Bastard's name." Gordi looked into Voren's eyes with concern.

"What makes you so sure it was the Klingons?"

Voren seemed to consider this for a minute, and then replied, "Do you really think a pirate force could beef up a Bird of Prey like that?"

Gordi shook his head, and replied, "I only know of one force that powerful. You've heard of the Maquis, haven't you?" Voren nodded.

"They provided opposition to the Cardassian-Federation union for a while during the Cardassian-Federation treaty. After that, they kind of dissipated."

Gordi shook his head. "Wrong, my good friend. They never dissipated. They relocated to several moons and assorted planets, and grew. They became such a powerful force that they gained the support of the Ferengi, who you remember closed their borders three years ago. The Ferengi helped them boost power, supplies, almost anything. For a while, there were rumors of a 'ghost ship' that looked like a beefed up Ferengi Marauder. Those rumors are true. It's a new Ferengi starship, completely upgraded from the old Marauders. This new ship is a Ferengi dreadnought, Voren. I know. The Anthony's been up against two."

Voren was now completely immersed in what Gordi was saying. "Voren, I think the destruction of your ship was a hoax." He said at last.

Voren coughed, and stood. "Finally!" He blurted out.

Gordi stood as well, and said, "Calm down, calm down." He walked to the viewer in his ready room, and activated it.

"Now, remember how you said you remembered seeing the saucer fly by your escape pod?"

Voren nodded. "I could see the holodeck, the very same one I had been on minutes ago." Gordi nodded, and pressed several buttons. An image of the surrounding twenty kilometers showed up.

"This is a close range scan we did of the destruction area of the Egypt. No debris. No saucer. We found nothing, except for a warp trail congruent with the warp signature of the Egypt. Your ship is now safely in someone else's hands." Voren thought for a few minutes. This threw an entirely new monkey wrench into Voren's beliefs of who blew up his starship.

"Can you find any traces of warp particles other than the Egypt's?" Voren said.

Gordi nodded, and said, "Yes, actually, we have. We found traces of an old Klingon starship..." he walked to the screen, and pressed a few buttons, before continuing, "...which was once used by the Klingon Empire as the IKC Hakh'bekh. The Hakh'bekh was decommissioned from service and sent to a quarantine and salvage depot. We couldn't find any records after that." Voren nodded.

"I know whose ship that is."

Gordi replied, "Say again? I believe I heard you say you knew whose ship it was."

Voren nodded, and responded, "Yes, I know who commanded that Klingon ship. Back at the rank of commander, I had him arrested when he tried to smuggle cloaked vessels across the Klingon Neutral zone. He had been doing it in a Vor'cha class cruiser named the Hakh'bekh for months, stealing about five thousand tons of weapons and bulk cargo from the Klingon Empire. I found an error in his plan when one of the ship's cloaking devices exploded, causing it to drift for seconds." Voren's eyes glazed over as he recalled the memory.

"We were watching from the viewscreen...he turned his cruiser around and finished off the thing...and then went after us." Voren shook his head, and returned to the present.

"You see, he believes in a 'no witness' style death. If no one saw him do it, he didn't do it, in his opinion. He is responsible for more deaths than any rogue I've ever known." Voren finished.

Gordi looked at Voren, and said, "And just who is this person?"

Voren clenched his fist.

He turned away, slowly, to the stars, saying, "I captured him. I had him sent to prison. And now that he's got my ship, he's after me." He said quietly. He turned back to Gordi.

"His name is Skarr, and you'll find him on Pentelence 3."

If you like the story up to here, there's much more! E-mail ME at vorenaal@ix.netcom.com for the entire story in either .DOC format (For Microsoft programs like Word or Works) or .TXT (reads under Notepad for Windows) format!