Earth, High Orbit
The Firestorm moved into a position to defend the Cardassian Kulinor-class vessel from the Federation fleet. On the U.S.S. Brock, Vice Admiral Nakari stood up as Captain Nat and 11 of 14 command code-linked with the Firestorm's systems, discovering a device that was some kind of Q-power absorber. The device had energy stores to hold those powers so someone can claim that power later. Probably never tested.
Captain Nat instructed the Firestorm to target Super-Q-Nat and Super-Q-Sarah, on the Cardassian ship, with that experimental device, and activated it, taking away their powers. The Firestorm's glow of light from the main deflector resonated with collected Q power.
A Klingon Bird of Prey, identified as the I.K.S. Nu'tok, next decloaked and beamed Emperor Nat, Regent Sarah, and newly retrieved T'Kek aboard.
Emperor Nat quickly sent a last-ditch command code to the Firestorm instructing the vessel to escape, where Captain Nat couldn't possibly reach it. The Bird of Prey then immediately cloaked and warped off into Breen space, certain no one would find them there.
In response, the Behemoth's planet-killing weapon charged up and targeted the Earth in an alternative attempt to lure The Infamous. To make things worse, they used their fluidic control to partially phase their ship into fluidic space, causing any and all attacks to phase right through them. They lied in wait for D'ren, The Infamous, to arrive.
Krystal, on the Lexington, coordinated a graviton burst, lighting up their deflector and unleashing a high power beam at the Behemoth. Admiral Nakari on the Brock then ordered the Federation fleet to fire on the Behemoth.
The Behemoth opened fire on the Leviathan with their aft planet-killing weapon. The Zipporah came out of warp merely a couple hundred meters from the Behemoth, and the planet killer had no time do react.
A massive round saw emerged from the Zipporah, rotating, from the front of the dreadnought as the ship phased, but remained visible, and then unphased in the middle of the Behemoth. The saw made quick work of the Behemoth, tearing its guts out and slicing the vessel in two. But the momentum of the Zipporah continued, and smashed the Undine planet-killer into more manageable sizes. Within seconds, there was no part of the Behemoth that was larger than a D'deridex.
---
The Infamous - T.I.S. Zipporah, Bridge
D'ren, the Infamous, was alone. He'd transported the rest of his crew to four other dreadnoughts - en route, mid-warp. His body jarred considerably with his beloved dreadnought as she crumbled around him and consoles exploded.
"Get outta here, Tali!" D'ren ordered the AI.
Tali sighed. "I've been damaged beyond repair by the impact. I just wanted to say," she groaned, "that I really hate you and you totally deserve this."
As both the main portion of the Behemoth and the Zipporah started their final death throes, D'ren nodded with a grin, tightly and fearfully gripping the armrests. "I know. I deserve worse."
Tali then overloaded the matter/anti-matter reactor.
---
Earth, High Orbit
The resulting shockwave of the explosion expanded from the center of the two titan space craft, completely obliterating them, and also incinerated the smaller chunks of the former Undine Behemoth. There was nothing left. Except for the escaped pilots.
The Lexington's deflector exploded, and the Sovereign-class starship lost power. After being towed, Krystal found herself sitting by a viewport looking out over Earth with a bottle of soda. A lot of things were going through her head right now.
On the main concourse, three powerful beings were issuing commands to lowly mortals now that the Super-Q's could no longer stop them. D'ren, aka The Infamous, appeared from a Jem'Hadar shroud a few meters in front of one of them, Amanda. His right hand quickly lowered to a revolver in his hip holster. His pendant glowed lightly. As D'ren moved toward them, she felt weaker. She glared at the radiating medallion around his neck. “Damn you,” she growled, falling to a knee. “My – my powers! They're gone!”
D'ren unceremoniously drew his revolver as he came closer to her. The two other beings vanished into the ether of another dimension to escape.
Meanwhile, the Sarai had been heavily damaged in the battle, and she limped back into Earth Spacedock. Suvel decided to head to a quiet corner of the station for reprieve.
---
Earth Spacedock, Admiral Quinn's Office
"This is Admiral Chekov of Starfleet Intel. We are currently surrounded by nine-hundred-and-ninety-nine enemy spacecraft. All phasers and torpedo launchers have been disabled somehow, but we do not believe the armada intends to destroy us, so I am ordering everyone to remain at condition yellow for the time being. Also, we have apprehended who we believe to be The Infamous himself. I would like someone to attend his interrogation with me."
"What of this?" asked Quinn, indicating the Celtic medallion on his desk.
Chekov shrugged. "I have never seen it before. But if it helps fight the Super Q's, we might have to keep it."
Nakari went to Admiral Quinn's office, seeing Admiral Chekov there. "I am Vice Admiral Nakari, assigned to lead all investigations and operations relating to former Admiral Nat, and I have reason to believe that The Infamous may have something to do with the situation."
---
Captain Oroku Seifer - Earth Spacedock, Infirmary
Cetra pulled out Alyce's body from the storage shelving, bringing with it a mass of cold air which was not enough to mask the smell. Seifer recoiled in horror.
"Ugh!!!" he tried squeezing his nose, but it was not enough.
The medical officer continued. "After further investigation, by your orders, we did discover something interesting. We found a single nanite in her bloodstream. But instead of it being completely mechanical, it's mostly organic."
"You had to pull out her body just to tell me that??"
Cetra shrugged. "I just thought you'd want to see it again. Were you close with her?"
"You're thinking of a quadruple hybrid!" He began to take imaging scans of Alyce's tattoos. "Anyway, I'm shocked the first scans didn't discover the variant nanite?"
The woman nodded in appreciation. "Ah, classic need-for-explanation request. You see, not only does our find consist of her own DNA, but it's extremely small. It's much smaller than a nanite."
"Hopefully this helps Elihu. Thank you, Doctor."
She pushed the body back into storage. "Oh, I'm not a Doctor."
"Help! I need medical assistance!" came the howling cry of a grown man. Trelane stumbled into the Infirmary with a pulled arm muscle.
Seifer turned to criticize him. "Dammit, man, that's nothing!"
"Hey, you're not the one in pain!" Trelane argued. "Ever since Terry turned and ran like a little baby at our encounter at Risa, the Kitana's been dry docked and locked down at ESD. He's nowhere to be found, so I've been trying to take command by repeatedly doing the 'Engage' gesture on its Bridge. Unfortunately, no one on crew will listen to me."
The Captain sighed. "It's possible he's another missing persons case. I'll add it to the list." He took out a PADD. "Anything you can tell me about his last whereabouts?"
"He was last seen boarding ESD. And something, I and some other crew have noticed... Terry is struggling with something. A sickness perhaps. But his eyes were witnessed to have glowed green."
Cetra began running a muscle relaxer device on Trelane's arm. "Green-eye syndrome. That could be the Romulan flu."
"Unlikely. He didn't show any signs of Plomeek soup addiction."
Seifer placed a hand on Trleane's shoulder, unconsciously causing him pain. "I'll find him, whatever you are." Then, attempting a guess. "Some kind of a space hipster?"
"I'm the under-powered version of an over-powered being! Everything in me is always in pain."
Eyeing him awkwardly, Seifer left the Infirmary.
---
Earth Spacedock, The Rondel
Krystal shook her head after a few minutes and got up. She decided that she needed a few answers herself and made her way down to the Brig.
Through the giant window, the armada then departed in random directions. A few vessels loyal to The Infamous remained.
---
Earth Spacedock, Brig
John Monroe and Jonah McDaniels walked into the security office. Jonah glowered at The Infamous and then turned to one of the security guards who'd entered the brig area to give the prisoners their food.
"This is ridiculous," McDaniels groused. "Elihu M'Konel's been decorated more times than most captains!"
Krystal entered the brig soon after the two officers.
The Infamous slowly stood up and grinned at Jade. "I don't think I've had the pleasure, love. What's yer handle?"
"Captain Krystal Jade, U.S.S. Lexington. You?"
Admiral Chekov entered the brig area and heard The Infamous' reply to Jade's inquiry.
"I wa-- I am The Infamous," he smiled darkly.
---
Fluidic Space
T'Vix's bio-cruiser tracked the U.S.S. Zephyra but did not make her presence known, till she wanted it known. She was soon joined by two more bio-cruisers. T'Vix was a very influential force, in both fluidic and normal space. She ruled all of The Infamous Undine, consisting of many Undine warriors and ships.
T'Vix waited for Captain Aeris to see them on her short-range scanners.
---
Earth Spacedock, Brig
Krystal's expression turned dark as she turned to face him. "You're the guy they were after? Admiral Nat and his associates? The whole reason they threatened to destroy Earth was to draw you out."
"Oooooh," said D'ren as if he'd just remembered. "Right. That. Yeah, ignore that. It's not important." He smiled and went back to sit down on his bed.
"Not important?" Krystal shot back, getting angry. "A whole planet was in danger and you say it was not important?"
D'ren lied down on the bed. "Bored now. Goodnight. And good luck gettin' anythin' outta him," he said, motioning at Elihu with a finger. A yawn later, and he was drifting off to sleep.
Krystal sighed and approached Elihu's cell. It was then that she remembered what Elihu told her in that freaky dreamworld thing. Stretching a bit, Krystal just made herself comfortable and closed her eyes. This had better work Eli... she thought.
---
Captain Aeris - U.S.S. Zephyra, Bridge
The Captain had been staring, seemingly unblinking at the viewscreen for hours as fluidic space flung by at incredible speeds. Winry had taken control of sensors, picking up something odd.
"I believe I'm reading three distortions in fluidic space. They may be Undine bio cruisers who are making themselves obvious on purpose," Winry reported.
Aeris sat up. "What!? Are you saying we lack the ingenuity to detect something without another's consent?"
"Well, I kind of just got off break with no intentions on making any statements, so, probably not," the engineer replied. "Anyway, do you want to hail them?"
The Captain nodded. "Undine vessels, this is Captain Aeris of the Federation starship Zephyra. We were brought to this dimension against our will."
---
Captain Seifer - Earth Spacedock, Brig
The Trill entered the holding cell area to find several officers already there. When he took notice of Chekov, he recoiled in utter shock.
"Whoa!" Seifer hesitated and then, to himself, said, "She's pretty hot..."
Chekov turned to him. "Captain, is there something you have to say?"
"Err, I mean," Oroku Seifer handed her a PADD. "I've found new evidence on Alyce's case, if that's what you're here for."
Meanwhile, Suvel transported over to Earth Spacedock from the Sarai, intent on having a conversation with Elihu. He'd earlier seen something in the man's eyes as he passed him on his way to a holding cell. Suvel was, in fact, curious. He began to walk towards the Brig.
Nakari walked over to Chekov and Seifer. "So what about it?"
Jorel Quinn then entered the Brig after Nakari, Suvel, and Seifer. Jonah McDaniels strode in behind Elihu's lawyer, Councillor Kranth, an Andorian. "So is everyone going to take a turn at interrogating him?" the blue man asked heatedly.
"Yes, actually, we are." Nakari eyed the Andorian carefully, then turned back to look at The Infamous. "I think he knows something I need to know, and I want to know what that something is." He turned to Admiral Chekov. "Should we wake him up and get this over with?"
Suvel stood there and watched as they attempted to rouse The Infamous. He turned to Vice Admiral Nakari, "Perhaps a retrieval mind meld would tell us what we need to know? I have been exceptionally trained. Almost completely non-invasive, there is a zero-point-four percent chance of mental damage to the patient."
"And open up his cell in the process? No thanks. I don't want him running off," Nakari said.
Suddenly enough, The Infamous found himself having been thrown into the back wall of his cell, although no one could see a source of whatever threw him into the wall in question. Nakari eyed him carefully.
---
Captain Aeris - U.S.S. Zephyra, Bridge
T'Vix answered the hail. "Yes. I know. Fortunately for you, you have been located by a vessel under The Infamous' influence, rather than an opposing faction, such as the one that attacked Earth Spacedock a couple weeks ago. You will beam to my ship immediately to discuss the terms of your surrender."
---
Earth Spacedock, Brig
Annoyed, The Infamous stood up angrily and glowered at Nakari and the others. "What. Now?"
Seifer activated a wall holo panel and checked internal systems. "That's odd? Well, not that odd. Spacedock's been having its day lately. More than 50 people have gone missing."
"Here's that PADD you wanted," Reeve said as he entered to find everyone there. "Anyone need anything? Coffee? Tea? I'll get a tray."
As he went to a nearby replicator, Seifer tapped at the PADD and brought up an image to show. "I'm not sure what everyone's business is here, but I've been investigating Elihu's charges. When I examined Alyce's body for a second time, I found a microscopic, partially organic nanite in her blood stream, as well as evidence for a hypspray on her wrist."
"Go on, Captain Seifer," Chekov said.
Seifer faltered a little bit at her address of him. "Uh, anyway, I took an imaging scan of Alyce's tattoos, and found this design within connected to a mesh of other patterns. It's the symbol The Infamous uses on people he is claimed to own--" He addressed him for a moment-- "Appreciate the Earth-save, by the way." Then, back to his PADD, "And that's all I found."
"Tea!" said The Infamous. "Chocolate Mint please!" D'ren grinned at Seifer at the thanks and bowed his head slightly. "You're welcome, mate."
Krystal got up and went over to the replicator for some water. After a moment her eyes locked on D'ren. Suvel recieved a notification and left.
Chekov said, "Why are you here and what happened out there with that female Q you murdered?"
"Well, she betrayed me, obviously," answered D'ren. To Seifer, he said, "And by the way, yes - ARK is one o' mine. It's a pity she's gone. She was quite the loyal slave."
Nakari looked very thoughtful. "So he can kill Q? Interesting. Very interesting." He walked over to D'ren's cell. "How?"
Wow, really? This is too easy, thought D'ren, before reaching through the force field and grabbing both Nakari and Jade by the throat. "A little like this."
He yanked them both through the force field and flung them at the bulkhead behind him. They would feel a slight tingle as they passed through, but no pain. However, there might have been a tiny needle in one of D'ren's fingertips because a small prickling sensation went through Jade's neck as he clutched her.
Catching the cup before it fell to the floor and lost most of its content, D'ren finished off the water and hurled it at Quinn's head as several people drew their sidearms. That's when Jedden's, another prisoner's, eyes glowed red with the power of the Pah-Wraith in him, and he also strolled through the force field. With a wave of his hand, Jedden sent a blast of energy at everyone in the room, putting them to sleep.
Steve Jedden collapsed as the Pah-Wraith left his body and went into someone else. D'ren groaned. "Steve, we don't have time for this!" he shouted into the ceiling.
After a second of silence, D'ren turned to Nakari and Jade, who were still awake in the cell, albeit probably a little dazed from having just come in forceful contact with a wall. "So here's the deal," he said, collecting two type II phasers from Chekov and Quinn, "I am not the man you need to be questioning. Stop trying to capture me. Stop trying to make deals with me. Stop trying have me killed." He went over to the replicator and ordered some Chocolate Mint tea. After a sip, he turned to Nakari and Jade with a slight smirk. "My armada is growing." To Jade, he said, "I'll be in touch."
He vanished into thin air.
The Andorian Kranth awoke and rubbed his antennae. "Ugh," he groaned. "What happened?" He looked over and saw Steve Jedden still unconscious.
---
Captain Aeris - U.S.S. Zephyra, Bridge
"While I appreciate your restraint and that you have the ability to speak, surrender is not something we have time for. Though, I will discuss the situation with you," Aeris replied.
But before she could give the order to transport, the Zephyra was pulled out of fluidic transit by a large, disgusting green and veiny tentacle. It suctioned its end to the hull, followed by another one. The Zephyra was pulled toward a giant organic Undine biobase.
"Damn!" Aeris recognized the biobase. "It's the same one from before, only it's bigger?"
Winry got up from the floor at her console. "Well, I think we found what we were looking for."
"Prepare the environmental suits. We're going into that thing."
---
Captain Oroku Seifer - Earth Spacedock, Brig
Seifer and Reeve awoke, groggily. Clutching his head, the Captain noticed that D'Ren was missing from his cell. "Somehow, I knew that was going to happen."
Suddenly, the lights and power throughout Earth Spacedock began to flicker, defectively. "It's getting worse now," Reeve said, checking a report at a nearby console. "More than 100 people have been reported disappeared, and the number is increasing."
"Ugh. This is all my fault. I was so wrapped up in this case, I left a bigger situation to handle itself." He got up, and suddenly the lights went out. The Brig force fields went down. "Reeve, are you there?"
But there was no response. He was gone.
"Dammit, just my luck. I need to at least find Batou and get the systems back online." Seifer left the Brig, in the dark.
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