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Michael Rose takes us on a hair-raising adventure with a new, and interesting foe. Read on to find out if we live through it! Check out his bio on the Ulysses Officers and Crew page. Meanwhile, enjoy!

Chapter 1, Chapter 2, Chapter 3, Chapter 4, Chapter 5, Chapter 6, Chapter 7, Chapter 8, Chapter 9, Chapter 10, Chapter 11, Chapter 12, Chapter 13, Chapter 14, Chapter 15, Chapter 16, Chapter 17, Chapter 18, Chapter 19, Chapter 20, Chapter 21, Chapter 22

Chapter 1

Shortly after arriving on the USS Ulysses as a security team member, Ensign Michael "Wolf" Rose accepted the assignment of living for a time on a planet of humanoids, which had recently come into contact with the Federation. They had expressed interest in joining the Federation and had suggested this course of action as a gesture of good will, so that the Federation might see their intentions were good. He had also accepted an invitation to live and train with their military, which, though small by Federation standards, was well trained.

A short time after Ens. Rose had beamed down to the surface of the planet Tarces, Counselor Gengo approached Capt. Gamble.

"You look a little worried," she noted.

"Maybe," Capt. Gamble agreed. "He may have been about the most qualified of the crew, but I wonder about his...appropriateness."

"What do you mean?" the counselor asked.

"He's easily one of our most restless crewman," the captain replied. "Also, have you ever seen his holodeck programs? He's got wartime simulations, a Big Game hunting program, and twentieth century street racing... he's even created some kind of weird bounty hunter program set in space."

"Are you worried that he might do something that could lower their opinions of us?" the counselor asked. "I don't think he would do that."

"That isn't what worries me," Capt. Gamble answered.

"I'm more worried that without direct Federation influence he might do something foolish and get himself hurt."

On Tarces

After being greeted by a Tarcesian advance party, which arrived in a vehicle that resembled a hybrid of a dune buggy and a van with the body panels removed, Ens. Rose was transported to their nearby capitol city. It turned out that the military base was actually located at the far end of that very city, surrounded by high walls. From what Ens. Rose gathered by appearances so far, the Tarcesians were more or less human.

He was taken to the Base Commander, who greeted him and told him to make himself at home in the third set of troop quarters. He thanked the commander and left to do so. The vehicle took him and his things where he needed to go.

As he was unpacking some things in his room, he made his first friend among them: his roommate, a soldier named Searsk. Searsk was a vehicle specialist; he had built the vehicle that Ens. Rose had been picked up in. That gave them something to talk about right away. Searsk said that he would help guide him through things on their base. So, things went smoothly and without incident for an entire week.

On the second day of the third week, as Searsk and Rose raced through the hills in a pair of All-Terrain buggies after work-hours(something they now did every afternoon and day off), Searsk noticed something entering the atmosphere in flames.

"Did you see that?" Searsk asked over the vehicle radio. "Something hit a couple miles up ahead."

"We're the closest ones to it," Ens. Rose stated. "We should probably go and have a look at it, right?"

"Yeah, I know the shortest way through here to where I think it landed," Searsk answered. "Follow me."

The two of them pushed the vehicles to their limits, arriving near the area soon afterward. Ens. Rose noted smoke from up ahead. They drove on, until they located a small wreckage. It was moderately familiar looking, despite its severely damaged state. Ens. Rose blinked as he noticed the markings on the side of the scorched hull...

"Searsk!" he said, trotting into the crater urgently.

"Searsk, this is a Federation shuttlecraft...!"

Searsk followed him down, both of them searching for survivors. Once they finally managed to get into the wreckage, they did indeed find a single survivor, wearing the uniform of a Federation Lieutenant Commander. He was breathing slowly, sprawled against the control console. The two of them got him out, setting him inside one of their vehicles.

"You'd better radio the Base Commander," Ens. Rose told his friend. "Let him know the situation, tell him to get a spot ready in the Medical station... I've got to contact my ship. This could end up becoming a very sensitive situation."

Chapter 3, Top of Page

Chapter 2

The injured Starfleet officer was transported quickly to the military base and taken to the medics. In the meantime, Ens. Rose contacted the Ulysses to report the situation.

"Yes, that's right, Commander Ison. A Starfleet Lt. Commander. He was the only one on board. The Tarcesians sent out several long range ships but found no signs of the ship he came from. The shuttle is so damaged we can't make out any trace of ship identity, and the computer onboard was completely destroyed."

"Has he told anyone what happened?" Com. Ison inquired. "What's his name?"

"He hasn't regained consciousness yet," Ens. Rose responded. "I'll inform you as soon as I know something more. Out."

By the time he and Searsk reached the medical facility, the Lt. Commander was slowly regaining consciousness. He was sitting up, rubbing the back of his head and looking around. He looked very confused at his new surroundings, but not panicked. He looked curiously at the dark green military uniforms that were typical of the denizens of the heavily forested planet, seeming to have recovered from any injuries he might have sustained.

"Hello, commander," Ens. Rose stated, walking up to him. "Are you all right?"

"As well as can be expected," he answered. "I'm Commander Davis."

"Ens. Michael Rose, on assignment from USS Ulysses. Where is your ship, sir? What happened? Are you the only survivor of your entire crew?"

"Yes," he said. "My ship, USS Nera was investigating a damaged ship of unknown origin not far from here. For some reason, we couldn't get a transporter lock on the weak life signs inside, so a small security team and myself took a shuttle to try and board. It was a trap."

"Trap?" Ens. Rose repeated. "A trap set by whom?"

"I don't know. I've never seen anything like them before. While we boarded the ship, three other ships just showed up out of nowhere and began attacking the Nera. Before we knew it, Nera had been utterly destroyed. Then, a group of creatures in body armor attacked my security team with energy weapons I've never seen before. I ran for the shuttle..."

"The ships were cloaked? Are you sure it wasn't the Romulans?"

"They weren't cloaked," he answered. "They just... appeared from space itself, like twentieth century submarines surfacing from the ocean. When I fled in the shuttle, I watched one of them 'dive' right back into space again! My shuttle took a hit, so I was forced to fight it this far so that I didn't end up adrift in space."

"Thank you for your help, sir," Ens. Rose stated. "Please try to get some rest."

As he and Searsk walked out of the building, Searsk shook his head negatively. He said he had never heard of any ships like the ones that Com. Davis described, especially not ships that could 'submerge' in space. Aside from that, sensors on the ships had detected nothing out of the ordinary in the vicinity, so it was a good bet that he hadn't been followed. He also wondered if maybe Davis had just gotten overly frightened and exaggerated a bit.

"Regardless, I need to report this to my ship," Ens. Rose told him.

On the Ulysses

"Ships that can do what?" Com. Ison said, looking moderately skeptical. "I'm going to let you explain this to the captain."

"Com. Davis claims to be the sole survivor of the USS Nera, captain," Rose said. "He claims that a damaged ship was used as a trap and that the Nera was attacked and destroyed by ships of unknown origin that could 'submerge' in space itself."

"That doesn't sound familiar to me," Capt. Gamble agreed. "If it's true, we could have a new and potentially dangerous species on our hands. See if he can tell you anything else and be extremely careful about space travel in that area for the time being."

"Right, captain," he responded, cutting communication afterward.

"If any of what Davis said is true, we could be stepping right into something very messy," Capt. Gamble said to Com. Ison. "It just makes me wonder why a new race would set a trap for a Starfleet ship if they don't even know who we are..."

"Au contraire, mon capitan," a voice called from near the viewscreen. "They know you all too well."

Standing at the front of the bridge was Q, dressed in a Starfleet Commander's uniform as usual. He was smiling a typical smug smile at Capt. Gamble.

"You..." she muttered. "What do you want here?"

"No, it's 'Q', but I'm pleased that Jean Luc was kind enough to spread the word," he said in an amused tone. "I wanted to see how another Starfleet captain would handle a tough, new crisis, of course."

"Then I would assume that you have something to do with this," Capt. Gamble said.

"Assumptions are a dangerous thing that I notice you people frequently indulge in," he said calmly. "However, in this case you are at least partially right. I couldn't pass up the opportunity to show you what your barbaric past has done to alter the present."

"What are you talking about?" Com. Ison demands.

"This new race, of course," he answered. "You may not know it, but your ancestors have helped create a race that mirrors everything that you people once were: proud, stubborn, bloodthirsty and power-hungry. You know what the most interesting part is, though?"

"What?" Capt Gamble demanded impatiently.

"Their ships are heading right for the planet Tarces, a planet defended only by a small military with a few ships in its fleet," Q said with a smile. "They've already proven their strength by destroying one of your precious Federation ships... Will you give them another opportunity?"

Back to Chapter 1, Top of Page

Chapter 3

"What have you done?" Capt. Gamble demanded of Q. "What are these ships?"

"I? " Q said, feigning insult. "I have done nothing. This is solely the fault of your own blundering ancestors, who saw fit to launch a device filled with images and information chronicling their sad little history into space, in the hopes that someone would find it. You should be happy; someone did indeed find it."

"Get to the point, Q," Com. Ison insisted. "Who do those ships belong to?"

"A rather brutal race of lupine-like humanoids called the Kir Renac Empire," he answered smugly. "Quite a long time ago, their ancestors found that little device crash-landed on their planet. They possessed enough knowledge to get it to work, amazingly, so curiously viewed the contents. Their elders saw potential in some of the worst of your species. I understand that much of their inspiration came from what was called World War2, the two nations called Germany and Japan."

"You're saying these beings modeled their culture after those examples and developed accordingly?" Capt. Gamble demanded. "No wonder you seem to think this is funny. I've heard about your 'trial for humanity' against the Enterprise crew."

"Oh, really," Q muttered sarcastically. "That was a thing of the past. Now, this is a whole new sort of trial."

On the surface of Tarces, the Command Council has made the decision to look into what they conceive as a possible threat to the safety of their planet and people. They have a new two man high-speed fighter craft with long-range capabilities that will be used to do so. Ens. Rose has volunteered to serve as gunner onboard since he wants to search for any survivors from the USS Nera. Their top pilot, a man named Vearth will do the flying.

After digging out his rather antique fedora for luck, Ens. Rose takes the gunnery seat and the ship leaves the planet for its mission. The craft does indeed seem to live up to its reputation for speed and maneuverability. They arrive near the estimated coordinates very soon. The area was very easy to identify...

There was very little left of the Nera by the looks of it. He spotted a portion of a saucer section, a nacelle and a lot of assorted debris, but not much else. He saw no other shuttles or escape pods. It didn't look like there were any survivors.

"I've got a distress signal coming from up ahead," Vearth announced. "There's a ship of unknown design ahead, only auxiliary power to keep up life support. I read two humanoid life signs inside the stern and three unidentified life signs near the bow and closing..."

"That's got to be the abandoned ship he told us about," Ens. Rose reflected. "You say you read three unknown life signs?"

"That's correct," Vearth answered. "They're approaching the humanoids."

"They must be a party that was left behind to take care of any possible survivors from the Away Team. Well, we can't just leave them to die. Does this big thing have some kind of boarding capability?"

"Yes, just let me get us alongside that ingress hatch," Vearth said, steering the ship towards it. "I can get the boarding tunnel attached and we can get on board. There are weapons in the hold."

Once the tunnel was lined up, a set of locking mechanisms secured it to the hull of the other ship and flooded the tunnel with breathable oxygen. Vearth and Ens. Rose armed themselves with a pair of Tarcesian Bolt Rifles and headed for the exit hatch.

"Scans show an acceptable level of oxygen and no toxic content," Vearth stated, opening the hatch to the tunnel. "We'll be fine without suits. Let's try to get this done and get out of here as soon as we can."

They had to activate the lights on their Bolt Rifles upon entering the ship, since the lights were extremely low. They moved ahead cautiously, keeping an eye out for any suspicious movements from the shadows. The entire time, Vearth monitored a small, gauntlet-like computer device on his wrist.

"I input the interior layout of this ship into my computer," he explained. "According to my scan, the survivors should be directly ahead in what I would presume to be the cargo bay. They're alive, but not moving. They're most likely hiding, I'd guess."

As they entered the cargo area, Ens. Rose saw them; there were two people in Starfleet uniforms crouched behind some crates. He got their attention, as he and Vearth moved to meet them. Once they had gotten to them, he noticed one of them had suffered a shot from some sort of energy weapon in the side. Only one of them was armed with a phaser.

"Whoever you are, you picked a lousy place to show up," the injured security ensign remarked. "This ship was a setup. There are things in here that killed most of our Away Team. They use the darkness like predatory animals. We haven't even gotten a clear look at one of them, just glimpses in shadow."

"I'm Ens. Rose, with the USS Ulysses," he told them. "We came here from a nearby planet to investigate a report from your escaped First Officer."

"What are you talking about?" the other officer demanded. "Our first officer is dead; he died trying to evacuate the crew from our ship."

"Now may not be the best time to address that," Vearth whispered. "Those other life signs I mentioned are right outside of the entrance to this room!"

"Damn," Ens. Rose muttered. "Get those weapons ready, then. It looks like we don't have any other choice but to try to fight these things." As the doors opened, Vearth, Ens. Rose and the armed Starfleet officer stood in the shadows, awaiting their mysterious attackers...

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