Posted 30 January 2009 - 04:12 AM
SEASON FOUR
EPISODE ONE
“Unleashed, Part 2”
PROLOGUE
Last time on Star Trek: Discovery…
Captain Josiah Graves and the crew of the USS Discovery NCC-76240 have survived a troubled year. Dogged by the persistent menace of a Ta’Heen spy, Graves has fought at every turn to find answers: why does this Ta’Heen attack? Who is behind him, ordering these attacks? What are they designed to accomplish?
Along the way, the Discovery crew have evolved. Lieutenant Commander Sakal has revealed his superhuman genetic abilities to his shocked friends, an echo of a long-past mistake in Suliban history. Lieutenant Mitan and Lieutenant Commander Gabriel West have clashed on numerous occasions over a long-standing rivalry that has roots in their shared Starfleet Academy experiences. Ensign Jason Allenbach, forced to mature thanks to the tragic loss of his boyfriend, continues to maintain his position. Commander Valerie Archer, First Officer to Captain Graves, is unaware at how close her Captain has come to revealing his true love for her, a love she shares… and a love endangered by the volatile temper and dark outbursts experienced by Graves himself.
The pacifist within Graves has been kept in check by nurturing a beautiful new alliance with the Shurvun. A friendly race of explorers, they promise to become an outstanding member of the Federation. Tano Jmara, Graves’ opposite number of the Shurvun exploratory vessel Vunara, has proven a valuable ally and a warm reminder of why the Discovery crew are in the Beta Quadrant after all.
But when an away team led by Rear Admiral Leo Quarren uncovers the truth behind the Ta’Heen attacks and the true nature of Tano Jmara is revealed, all hope of a peaceful resolution is shattered…
…and now the conclusion.
ACT ONE
“This waiting is killing me,” Valerie Archer admitted.
She sat, legs crossed, head slumped forward resting in her palm, in the First Officer’s seat just staring at the viewscreen. Upon it, the jungle planet below rotated blissfully through space as if mocking her impatience. It had been almost twenty minutes since the Rear Admiral had taken Captain Graves, Lieutenant Commander West and Ensign Allenbach down to the surface with the Ta’Heen. Surely that slimy good-for-nothing spy should have uncovered something by now? Surely there was something to report, an answer, an indication towards an answer… a hint, anything!
“Commander,” Mitan called out from the helm, his blue head rotating slightly to direct his words behind him. “I’m picking up a vessel on the other side of the planet. They’re just entering sensor range. Commander… it’s the Vunara!”
“Tano Jmara’s ship,” Valerie mused aloud. “Hail them, Lieutenant.”
“I’m getting an automated reply,” the Bolian helmsman read aloud. “It must be from the robotic crew. They’re saying Tano Jmara is unavailable, but they were in the sector conducting their mapping survey when they detected Discovery. Apparently, they’re offering assistance.”
“Good old Tano,” smiled the First Officer in ignorance.
Tano Jmara was indeed unavailable.
Clicking his silvery fingers, the Shurvun summoned a circle of ten deadly machines to stand around the traumatized Starfleet away team. The dank structure that played host to their impromptu meeting was suddenly alive with technology: the deathly-white skeletons of the robotic soldiers showed no emotion as they levelled their plasma rifles at their human prisoners. With a short jerk of his fingers, Tano silently ordered the four former friends of his to drop their phasers. They had no other choice. First Quarren, then Allenbach, then West and Graves together… all their sidearms clattered to the cold stone floor. They had been defeated by the element of surprise.
“Thank you, gentlemen,” Tano grinned wickedly.
“Anything to help,” growled Jed sarcastically.
“You son of a bitch, Tano,” Quarren picked up, finding his voice again after the gut-wrenching shock had worn away slightly. “You’ve been playing us, all along! You’ve been behind everything! This Ta’Heen works for you!”
“Quite right, Boxer,” the Shurvun chirped delightfully, his imbalance quite obvious and his previous friendly tones discarded. As he spoke, he moved into the circle of robots to stand alongside the proud-looking Ta’Heen. “This fellow has proven quite useful in my little tests. He works for a reasonable fee and kept you guessing for almost a year. I’m very proud with how it all turned out.”
Turning, Tano addressed the Ta’Heen spy directly.
“You’ve been most helpful.”
“Thank you, sir,” the Ta’Heen hissed.
“No… thank you.”
A bright flash of a muzzle discharge briefly blinded the chamber. As the combat-green figure of the Ta’Heen slumped to the ground, Tano holstered his small pistol and gave the corpse a slight raised eyebrow. The four humans recoiled, the stench of o-zone and twisted flesh almost overpowering.
Rear Admiral Quarren got over it first.
“Why, Tano?” he whispered, shaking his ageing head in dismay.
“Because assumption is the first step towards defeat,” Jmara replied. “I have been planning the invasion of the Federation ever since I saw the starship Discovery stand up against the incredible forces of the End space fleet. Two years ago, you destroyed an enemy we had struggled to weaken. You are far too powerful to remain unchallenged, and thus I plan to challenge you.”
“Who are you,” Jed asked from behind Quarren, “really?”
“I am Tano Jmara, leader of the Third Shurvun Empire, ruler of seven intergalactic civilisations and soon to be ruler of you. Each attack by my unfortunate Ta’Heen spy was designed to test different aspects of your tactical responses: a virus, to see how biological warfare would pan out, was the first step. Then I had Discovery cut off, to monitor how best to go about dividing your Federation. Wiping the database on Starbase 499 showed me how you coped with ignorance; perhaps a war of disinformation… but by far, the best and most ingenious part of my scheme was presenting myself as an ally.”
“It’s certainly done the most damage,” Quarren growled in defiance.
“Emotions make you weak,” Tano smirked. “Don’t be a sore loser, Boxer.”
“Your diplomatic staff,” Jason Allenbach suddenly blurted out, “back in the Sirrustra System… they’re not really there to sign Federation membership, are they?”
“At my command, they’ll turn guns on Starbase 499 and obliterate you,” the Shurvun leader boasted, his silver features morphing into yet another diabolical grin. “It will be the first step in the invasion of the Federation. You can’t possibly fight a war on two fronts, and I hear the Alpha Quadrant is rather tied up with the Dominion… leaving the Beta Quadrant nicely undefended. It’s back door diplomacy at the point of a gun, my friends… my gun. You will submit to our invasion forces. You will surrender without a single shot ever having been fired, for we know all about you and will use that knowledge to devastate and destroy you otherwise. You will accept our new position of ultimate authority.”
Rear Admiral Quarren had heard enough of this self-important rubbish.
“Over my dead body,” he objected through gritted teeth.
“If that is what it takes,” Tano simply said, “then so be it.”
Mercilessly, without remorse, Tano Jmara unleashed his plasma pistol and shot Leo Quarren squarely in the chest. The black material of his Starfleet tunic dissolved, along with several layers of flesh, leaving a smouldering wound that reeked of burning hair and melted skin. Acting entirely on instinct, his mind racing to catch up with the horror of seeing his best friend blasted, Captain Graves pitched forward and caught the falling shoulders of the Rear Admiral.
“You sick bastard,” the Englishman hissed.
“Take them to the cell,” Tano ordered to his robotic soldiers.
As he was carried away by his friends, Quarren tasted blood in his mouth.
ACT TWO
Gabriel West grimaced as he watched the cell door come crashing down.
Behind him, Captain Graves and Ensign Allenbach were tending to the serious wound dominating Rear Admiral Quarren’s heaving chest. The surroundings matched the style of the structure: worn, rough-hewn stone covered in bits of jungle, moss thriving in the damp and vines creating gigantic green webs. It was hardly the ideal place to treat a patient, and with absolutely nothing to hand, not even a tricorder, there was little the command and operations officer could do.
“Don’t die on me, Boxer,” Jed was saying.
“I’ll… I…” spluttered the older man from behind his grey beard. “God… this hurts…”
“I don’t think plasma pistols are supposed to tickle,” Jed managed a weak smile. “Gabe, what can you see out there?”
“Two of those robotic creeps are on guard,” the African-American tactical officer reported back after a quick glance through the tiny window in the cell door. “Tano seems to have left with the rest of them, don’t know where… this place is pretty dark.”
“I don’t think this shot is that bad,” Jason observed, mostly to reassure his fellow officers and not out of any practical experience. “All your major organs were missed and the plasma dispersed without hitting anything, but if we don’t get you back to Pulaski aboard Discovery soon, you’ll suffer extensive plasma infection.”
“And how do you propose we do that?” Gabe yelled in frustration.
Jed got to his feet, joining him at the cell door.
“Calm yourself, Mister West,” he stated in even tones. “Some of us came prepared…”
Suddenly there was a terrible cacophony from outside the cell. One of the Shurvun robots went down, the rifle it was carrying torn from its metal claws and turned around for devastating effect. The other robotic guard reacted quickly, but not quickly enough, seeing nothing visible to shoot at. Before long, it joined the scrap on the cold stone surface of the corridor.
The plasma rifle used to shoot them both hovered slightly.
It took Gabe a second to realise what had happened.
Then a Suliban male appeared, dressed in a Starfleet uniform, frowning deeply.
“Sakal…!”
“Reporting as ordered, sir,” the Discovery chief engineer hissed, dropping the plasma rifle as he worked on the cell locking mechanism. Within seconds he’d defeated it, causing the cell door to slide upward into the shadows and reuniting him with his shipmates. “It took a great deal of resolve to remain invisible when that fool Tano shot Rear Admiral Quarren… is he alright?”
“Not for long,” Jed shook his head. “Signal Valerie for an emergency transport.”
“Sakal to Discovery,” the Suliban barked, tapping the only remaining commbadge in the room, “five to beam directly to sickbay!”
“Acknowledged, Sakal,” came the reassuring tone of Commander Archer. “Stand by.”
Captain Graves, sans commbadge, was a sight for sore eyes.
One of his hands was smeared with blood. Sweat glowed on his brow.
“Jed,” gasped Valerie, “what happened down there?”
Jed wasn’t listening. The first thing he’d seen when entering the bridge was the image on the main viewscreen: there, hanging before his ship, was the glistening chrome shape of the Shurvun exploratory vessel Vunara. Before today, he’d been impressed by her beauty and excited at her appearance. Now it fuelled his empty stomach and pumped his heart twice as fast… it filled him with rage.
“Quarren’s in sickbay with Pulaski,” the Englishman finally answered. From the turbolift behind him, the three other members of the away team emerged and took their stations. Sakal instantly began hammering his LCARS display, working on the pre-arranged plan discussed on the way up. Jed turned to Valerie, giving her a look of ice that rammed home the seriousness of his words. “Tano shot him.”
“Tano Jmara?”
“He’s the enemy, Valerie. He’s behind the Ta’Heen… or, at least, was.”
“But… but…” the Commander stammered, “I’m about to speak to him…!”
“It’s alright,” Jed reassured her. “I’ll take it from here.”
When Tano Jmara’s face appeared on the viewscreen, it took a second for the false expression of kindness and honesty to crack. The eyes that first locked with Valerie Archer quickly shifted, noticing Josiah Graves standing there… on his bridge! How was this possible? He was in a cell on the planet below! Slowly, Tano’s silver cheeks began to vibrate. Incredulous fury consumed him.
“I know what you’re thinking,” the Captain began. “Still, I can’t blame you. I mean, you can’t be expected to look for somebody you can’t see…”
“What?!” screamed Tano.
“My chief engineer… oh, didn’t you know? Didn’t test him, eh?”
“You… well, it hardly matters. Your ship will be destroyed. I tested it with you in command, and therefore I know your command style. You will be a simple conquest, a nice starter for my robotic forces to practice on.”
Jed held up his hand as if back in school, gaining his moment to speak.
“I have to say, you were very clever… planning all those tests. You’re right, of course, when you say that assumption is the failing of most armed conflicts. The thing is, though, that Starfleet never assumes anything either. If being out here, in this corner of space, has taught us anything… it’s to be prepared for the worst, Tano. When Starbase 499 suffered that database wipe, you made a critical error by visiting as our ally. You kicked into gear an element of doubt, played a part in a coincidence… and I don’t like coincidence. To that end, I’m afraid to inform you that in your scramble to avoid assumption, you’ve managed to underestimate us.”
“What do you mean?”
“Let me show you… Sakal, fire at will!”
Outside, the relentless night of space was interrupted. The deflector dish on the ventral hull of the USS Discovery flared to life, cutting through the vacuum towards the Vunara with a single arc of crackling energy. Tiny sparks reeled and scattered as the energy struck the Shurvun shields, instantly collapsing them inward and opening up a clear line of attack. The single arc then broke, turning to smaller arcs that danced along the chrome hull plating of the Vunara. They seemed to play like excited children, bouncing off one another and running the full five-hundred meter length of the vessel. By the time they’d finally dispersed, Tano Jmara knew what had happened.
It was the oldest trick in the book.
An electro-magnetic pulse blast had disabled every piece of technology on his ship.
That included, of course, the entire robotic crew.
The viewscreen on the Discovery bridge started to flicker. With a nod from Jed, Sakal stabilised the connection to compensate for the severe power failure on Tano’s end. Soon the image returned to normal, and the Captain could continue.
“I asked my chief engineer to quietly design a weapon capable to defeating a robotic crew,” the Englishman explained briefly, “after I started to suffer from some good old-fashioned paranoia. Looks like I was justified in my decision.”
“Curse you, Graves!” Tano howled in defeat.
“Don’t curse me yet, you traitor,” Jed went on. “Leo Quarren is in my sickbay in critical condition thanks to you. You’ll drift here while we return to the Sirrustra System and knock out your invasion force. When we’re done, I’ll come back for you… and your fate depends on whether Leo lives or dies.”
Tano Jmara believed him.
Everybody did.
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Oh my. I love angsty/romance/hurt/comfort slash... ooooh...
Loved it and I am SO glad you decided to post it! Thanks!
But Sakal's attitude might stand in the way... but still, the idea intrigues me somehow... hmm... 
But not as much as there is between Quarren and Graves, of course... oh and then there is my older man/younger man fetish, that's another factor I have to take into consideration here... although, come to think of it... how old is Jason Allenbach again...?