Star Trek - Series Fan Fiction ❯ None ❯ Part 1: ( Chapter 1 )

[ P - Pre-Teen ]

By: 117

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Disclaimer: Star Trek and all its stuff belong to Paramount Pictures.

Warning: Self Insertion

Date: 170807

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Wanderer

Series: Star Trek

Part 1:

What was this place? From what I could see ... this place was rather dim in many places ... poor lighting ... nope ... the lights were working fine ... it just seemed that the occupants had decided to leave the lights that way for goodness whatever reason there was in their little heads. The corridors ... the rooms ... the hangar (what's a hangar doing here with so many ships?) ... the engine rooms ... the bridge (I'm on a spaceship?) they were all poorly lit.

The occupants of the rooms did not even appear to look human except for a bald-headed man who was barking orders left and right while the ugly, disgusting non-humans rushed back and forth to carry out his orders. Yea ... typical thing ... a human ruling over monsters ... right ... Strange dream ... to have ...

The bald-headed man continued to bark orders in that strange language. Stranger still, I could understand their words ... even if the language wasn't English ...

Words like ...

"Prepare a boarding party!"

"Get the cloak back online!"

were thrown all about the place.

And then ... it struck me ...

This place ... these words ... they seemed familiar somehow ...

like I had seen it somewhere before ...

It couldn't be ... could it?

No!

It just couldn't!

I was on a starship!

Not just any ship ...

The Reman Warbird Scimitar, to be exact.

A starship doomed to be destroyed ... A starship destined to become a footnote in Star Trek: Nemesis. But then ... how did I get here? I wondered. But first I have to find out ... this is strange ... if I were a self-insertion character in some fanfic writer's world ... what do I do?

Twister got a whole bunch of neat powers when he arrived in the Ranmaverse. He did lots of martial arts training ... Bert got in with the Knight Sabers in the Bubblegum Crisis universe ... and started hunting down Boomers for a living ... As for Legion and Baran3 ... One was a metahuman ... the other was stuck in the body of a Sexaroid ...

I digressed. The Scimitar was getting closer to being destroyed with every second that passes.

Got to get the hell out of here before it was blown to pieces! Wait ... a minute ... how do I get out of this ship??? I can see all the entrances ... the doorways ... the corridors ... and the ugly-looking aliens running up and down inside of it ... but goodness knows for whatever reason ... I can't seem to find myself. Which was pretty strange.

Hmmm ... Let me take a look at the situation again. Here I am ... trapped on a ship that's about to be blown up and I can't even seem to find myself! It's like I was all over the whole ship or something ... I don't seemed to be confined to anyone spot on the screen. That's it. I've really gone nuts. I must have been kidnapped and sent to a mental institution or something ... Either that or I'm actually seeing through all the ship's sensors and security cameras ...

I got a bad feeling about all this as realisation slowly crept upon me.

I'm a freaking software program aboard the Scimitar's computers!

As if to confirm my suspicions ... I could feel the ship's sensors and mechanisms as if it were my own body ...

I'm the ship itself ... But how did I get here???!!! This must be ... suspicion dawned onto me ... I'm either somewhere in a mental institution or ... there is only one being I know of powerful or mischevious enough to pull of something like this ... Q.

It was then I noticed the Enterprise-E facing me ... and I noticed Shinzon walking towards the window to look in the eyes of Captain Picard. I doubted that he knew what was about to happen next ... but I did! His overconfidence was going to be his undoing ... and mine ... If the Praetor was destined to die, so be it. He was a complete jerk anyway.

But I did not want to be destroyed alongside him!

To prevent this tragedy from happening, I activated the impulse engines going into full reverse much to the surprise of the Scimitar's occupants including Shinzon who flew into the front hull of the ship. I checked his vitals with the in-board sensors. There was still some heat signature and heart pumping. He was fine except that he was knocked out cold. The rest of his subordinates also appeared to be out at the moment ... giving me free reign of the Scimitar's controls.

At the same time, I opened fire with all my forward disruptors on the Enterprise-E's forward nacelles. The results were immediate. Both of the forward nacelles of the Enterprise-E broke off from the main body in a fiery explosion. Then the saucer section of the Enterprise separated from the main body. I activated the cloaking device. Much to my dismay, it was offline. The saucer section of the Enterprise headed towards me. D*** it, Picard! I don't want to kill you ... but you're giving me no choice!

I decided to sent a message to Picard.

On board the Enterprise ...

"Captain ... we're being hailed ..."

"On screen ... Mr. Worf."

The viewscreen cleared to reveal a command bridge with nobody on board. Still a voice could be heard ...

"Greetings ... Picard. How do you do?" I asked.

Disbelief coloured the face of the occupants of the Enterprise as they heard my question.

"Well ... as you can see ... I wish that we had met under better circumstances ... but I supposed we must make do with what we have."

"Cut the crap, Shinzon! What trick are you trying to pull here???" the First Officer asked.

"I am not Shinzon. He's rather out at the moment. Now if you will please stop trying to ram your ship into me, I will be willing to discuss terms with you."

"This has got to be a trick!"

"Explain."

"I am willing to turn over Shinzon and his underlings all to you. In exchange, I want safe passage into and out off Federation space."

"Out of the question! We can't let a thalaron generator wander freely and wantonly all over the galaxy in good conscience."

"Captain ... let me get this straight with you. You don't have enough firepower to take me on one on one and if you're still determine to destroy me by ramming your ship into me ... you will leave me with no choice but to open fire with every single disruptor that I've got into this little saucer of yours. Your chances of survival are little better than zero even with that ablative armour surrounding your vessel."

The crew of the Enterprise-E turned towards each other. In surprise at my lengthy explanation ... and the fact that I knew one of the Federation's guarded secrets well.

"He's right. But Starfleet Command will never agree to something like this." Riker spoke.

"On the other hand ... if we take Shinzon and his underlings ... this will buy time for us," Data answered.

Finally ... the captain said, "Very well ... we accept your terms."

"Good choice, captain ... I will beam Shinzon and his compatriots over. Stand by for transport."

A brilliant flash of light lit up the center of the forward section of the Enterprise. It cleared to reveal Shinzon and his unconscious Reman guards.

"Captain ... would the Federation accept me if I let you and your crew beam aboard the Scimitar to remove the thalaron generator safely?" I asked not giving up on trying to make my way to safety.

"This could be a trap, captain," Worf cautioned.

There was silence for a few moments as the Captain pondered my request.

"I cannot guarantee anything but the chances of you entering Federation space safely would be vastly improved ... " the Enterprise captain answered.

"So much for that. Whatever the case, captain, bring some of your engineering crew aboard ... I'm giving you transporter coordinates ... now."

"You letting us come aboard to remove the thalaron generator?" Riker asked disbelievingly.

"Yes. Do it now before I change my mind."

The First Officer answered, "Let me go with the engineering crew."

"Let me go instead. I am the most dispensable among the crew," the android added.

"Data ..."

"The safety of the ship and the crew depends on its captain followed by its First Officer," the android answered.

"Very well ... Engineering crew ... to the ready room."

"Ready captain."

"Transporter energize."

There was a shimmering of light and the crew was gone.

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The place was just as dark as Data had remembered. It was dim due to the Reman sensitivity to light.

"It's over this way. The ship's built around a thalaron generator but it can be neutralized by disabling the main generator." Data announced as he led the crew through the dark corridor.

The large access doors to the room that housed the thalaron generator were already open for them as though expecting their arrival.

"Hello, everyone. Let's get started," a voice chimed cheerfully over the intercom.

The Enterprise crew entered the main housing unit for the thalaron generator. It was the largest room in the Scimitar apart from the hangar.

"This place is huge!" a member of the engineering team commented.

"The Scimitar was built around the thalaron generator. Consequently, it is the central unit of the entire ship. Now please get to your positions ..." Data answered.

Three days later ...

Removing the thalaron generator was not a simple task. Actually it was ... if they intended to destroy me. One phaser shot at the thalaron generator would do the trick^_^. But Captain Picard did not intend to destroy me ... yet ... which was good. During that time I had gotten to speak with the crew of the Enterprise and got to know them like a family ...

There was Riker ... still doesn't trust me ... Worf ... a very serious person without a sense of humour ... though he has a kind heart. Dr. Crusher ... nice lady ... her body's looking good. Deanna too ... nice body ... very good and understanding person ... probably the reason why she's the ship's councillor ... Guinan ... she's a real enigma ... when I'm with her ... feels like I'm speaking with Grandma ... Data ... he's good at just about every strategy game that I've played him ... We play ruthlessly ... AI versus AI ... it was a draw in most cases ... and as for the other crew members ... I got to know them ... their likes and dislikes ...

It was at that time that I truly appreciated being an AI. Able to communicate with countless people simultaneously at any given moment through the network. Life was good ...

Unfortunately ... like they always say in the movies ... all good times must come to an end ...

It did ... in my case with the appearance of a D'deridex Romulan Warbird de-cloaking not far from my position. I had a bad feeling about this ... I raised my shields immediately.

There was a signal ... from the Warbird. I was being hailed.

"Greetings ... " A man with elf-like ears announced then stopped as he realised that there was nobody at the bridge on board the Scimitar.

"Shinzon ... where are you? Too afraid to show your face, eh?" The Romulan commander mocked.

No answer.

"Just as I expected ... a pathetic, gutless coward from Remus. No matter. In the name of the Ruling Senate of the Romulan Empire, I am hereby placing you under arrest for high treason, mass murder and attempted genocide. Stand down your forces or be destroyed. We will be boarding you shortly. That is all," The Romulan commander continued.

There was still no answer.

Suddenly, without warning, the body of the Scimitar lenghtened itself before ... disappearing in a flash of light. It had just gone into warp.

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"Captain, the Scimitar had just gone into warp."

"What???!!!" the Enterprise captain asked disbelievingly.

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"Why are we leaving the area?" a member of the engineering team asked as I relayed to them the news.

"The Romulans are here. They're demanding Shinzon's surrender and the handover of the Scimitar." I answered.

Seeing the look of concern on their faces, I quickly added ...

"Do not worry. I will take you to Federation space and put you down on one of the inhabited worlds before going off."

A slight vibration rocked the ship.

"Looks like they're here already. Guess I'll have to get busy."

Another vibration rocked the ship.

"Why don't you just cloak?" a Starfleet engineer asked.

"I wish I could but the cloaking device has been damaged in the fight earlier on with your vessel. I have not had the chance to get it fixed."

The Enterprise crew became silent at this news.

Another vibration rocked the ship.

"Looks like another D'deridex-class Warbird has join the first one. People, I've got a bad feeling about this. I think all the routes to Federation space has been blocked by the Romulan Navy. As powerful as the Scimitar is ... it can't take on the entire Romulan fleet by itself and hope to win ... short of using the thalaron cannon whose generator that you've just finished disassembling."

"If this is just some kind of trick to get us to put back the thalaron generator together ..." Geordi answered.

"I'm not asking you to do that. All I'm asking you to do is repair the cloaking device aboard the Scimitar."

"Repair the cloaking device? I don't know about that." He did not sound too sure.

Another blast rocked the ship.

"Shields down to seventy percent. Geordi ... if I end up dead because of your refusal to fix the cloaking device ... I will come back from the next world to haunt you for the rest of your life."

"Let me finish talking with the rest of the team first," he said finally.

"Make it fast. I picked up two more Romulan ships headed our way - D'tallax Torpedo Warbirds."

Next to the Norexan Warbirds from the Romulan Navy, The D'tallax Torpedo Warbirds were something that I truly feared. Having fourteen plasma torpedo bays in addition to its complement of standard issue of disruptor banks, a single D'tallax Torpedo Warbird presented a dangerous threat to any starship if properly utilised ... even to a combat ship like the Scimitar.

From my sensors ... I could more than ten disruptor blasts being thrown at me from the battlegroup. I shot down all the plasma torpedoes but was unable to avoid the disruptor blasts.

The ship rocked violently beneath the onslaught throwing the engineering crew to the ground.

Geordi was stunned. So were the rest of the engineering teams.

"D***! Sorry about that everyone. They threw a full spread of disruptor blasts at us. Shields down to fifty-five percent."

"Two Romulan D'ridren Destroyers de-cloaking off the port side. D***! They must have a got a whole fleet out here or something! Geordi ... the Scimitar cannot take anymore of this! I'm going to have a make a detour."

"What???!!!"

"We'll go towards the galaxy center."

"That's insane!" the chief engineer replied as he quickly got to his feet.

Another explosion rocked the ship, causing him to fall to his feet once more.

"Shields down to fifty percent. Well Geordi are you going to repair the cloaking device or not?" I asked impatiently.

It seemed like an eternity but in actuality it was only a few seconds ... where, to my relief, he got to his feet, before heading for the chamber housing the cloaking device. The two engineering teams did the same.

Outside the ship ...

The fight was getting fiercer with every second. Three Romulan Warbirds and two destroyer-class ships remained to pursue me ... one of them having abandoned pursuit after its shields dropped to critical levels. The commander having decided that discretion was the better part of valor, re-activated the ship's cloaking device, disappearing from my sensors.

I locked on all my aft disruptors on the weakest shielded ship of the group firing for all it was worth. I also took the dangerous choice of increasing power to the weapons rather than to the shields. They struck the forward shields of the D'deridex-class Warbird and under the combined barrage of the seventeen disruptor blasts, collapsed almost instantly.

And much to my surprise, nine of the seventeen aft disruptors opened fire almost immediately after that first round of disruptor blasts. The faster than normal rate of fire enabled me to fire a second salvo of disruptor blasts into the Warbird right after the first before they could divert shield power from other sections of the ship to the unshielded section ...

... which resulted in that section of the ship going up in a spectacular fireball.

Undeterred by the destruction of one of their vessels, the remaining four Romulan vessels maintained pursuit. Having decided that their heavy disruptors mounts and plasma torpedo armaments were more dangerous, I took the decision to take out the D'tallax Torpedo Warbirds first.

Failure ... was not an option.

Much to my dismay, both ships launched a full spread of plasma torpedos in addition to using their heavy forward disruptors on me. Quickly, I diverted shield power from the forward portion of the ship to the aft of the ship to re-inforce the aft shields. At the same time, I fired an entire volley of disruptor blasts to intercept the plasma torpedoes.

Fortunately or unfortunately ... depending on one's point of view ... I managed to hit twelve out of the fourteen plasma torpedoes being sent at me. The remaining two that I missed ... in addition to the disruptor fire from all four ships went straight into the shields dropping its strength to twenty-two percent. I quickly diverted more shield power from the forward shields to the aft shields bringing it back to forty percent.

Taking advantage of the faster rate of fire from those nine disruptors, I concentrated their weapons fire in addition to the starboard and port disruptors on one of the D'tallax Torpedo Warbirds. Eighteen disruptor blasts hammered into the Romulan Warbird, collapsing its forward and starboard shields almost instantly. With the shields gone, I lobbed off six photon torpedoes at it ... only to see them struck down by disruptor fire from those two Romulan destroyers.

Why you #@&$%!!! ... I cursed. I opened fire with the other nine port disruptors in addition to letting off six photon torpedoes at one of the Romulan destroyers.

Once again ... the six photon torpedoes did not reach their target ... having been intercepted by weapons fire from the other D'tallax Torpedo Warbird. Fortunately ... those nine disruptor blasts were more than enough to puncture the shields and the ship, putting it out of action altogether.

Three Romulan vessels remained.

This time I fired a full spread of seventeen photon torpedoes at the three Romulan ships in addition to the full thirty-five disruptor blasts that the Scimitar was capable of unleashing. I divided my attacks at all three of them ... unlike before where I concentrated all my firepower on one ship at a time.

Nine disruptor blasts and four photon torpedoes for each vessel. Except for one unlucky one who received an additional eight disruptor blasts and nine photon torpedoes. The poor ship was consumed in a nasty fireball^_- ... regardless of what the commander aboard tried to do.

The two remaining Romulan ships fared little better ... their remaining shields gone altogether ... their weapon systems and engines ruptured ... both ships were little better than wrecks drifting through space. I was about to give myself a pat on the back when a Romulan D'deridex-class Warbird de-cloaked in front of me!

Crap! The ship's powering up its mega disruptor! If it fires that ...

"Geordi ... if you can get the cloak back online ... now would be a good time!" I just about yelled at him.

"Cut that out! We aren't deaf!" one of the engineering crew yelled back at me.

"Give me a couple of minutes. We're almost done here! This cloaking device is quite unlike the usual one, you know!" the chief engineer answered.

The mega disruptor fired its payload ... or misfired in this case ... as it missed its target by a wide margin. Unknown to me at the time ... mega disruptors mounted on board the D'deridex-class Warbirds were notorious for misfiring in battle ... Not looking a gift horse in the mouth, I hit back with all my seventeen forward disruptors ... causing its forward shields to buckle wildly under the onslaught.

Shield strength at fifteen percent ... I read from my sensor readouts. The combined disruptor fire had taken down eighty-five percent of its forward shield strength in the first round. The Romulan Warbird turned around with its starboard shields facing me as it let loose its own payload of plasma torpedoes and disruptor fire which I absorbed with my forward shields.

I replied back with my own salvo of disruptor fire and photon torpedoes which hit the aft shields of the D'deridex-class Warbird dropping it to ten percent. The shield strength of the enemy Warbird, however, rose as my sensor readouts revealed more power being diverted to the aft shields.

This fight was going to take awhile ... I thought ...

For the next thirty seconds or so, I continued to exchange disruptor fire, plasma torpedoes and photon torpedoes with the D'deridex-class Warbird. My shield levels were becoming dangerously low. Less than twenty percent on all sides. The other Warbird fared little better ... its shield strength hovering around twenty percent on all sides as well. But the commander seemed determined to finish me off.

Another explosion rocked the ship ... barely absorbed by the Scimitar's starboard shields.

Five percent ... and dropping ...

"Geordi! We really need to get that cloaking device back online now!" I yelled frantically.

"Five more seconds ... Done!" the chief engineer replied.

I sighed in relief ...

Right in front of the Romulan commander's viewscreen ... the Scimitar faded from sight like a ghost.

"Sir ... the Scimitar's re-cloaked. Our sensors have lost track of it," his First Officer answered.

"Full spread ... zero elevation ... fire all-"... the commander never finished his order as a blinding explosion ruptured through the bridge killing the entire crew onboard ...

From outside ... the D'deridex-class Warbird went up in a massive fireball as a ripple expanded out from it.

I was finally able to breathe a sigh of relief or its equivalent anyway. That was a close call. Too close for my comfort. When I had re-cloaked the Scimitar, I had flown back towards the D'deridex Warbird ... unknown to the commander. He had expected me to flee rather than fight, so the sudden rain of thirty-five disruptor blasts and seventeen photon torpedoes on his D'deridex Warbird must have truly surprised him. Yes ... I know it's overkill but I had to be sure ...

Besides it was better to err on the side of caution as my sensors scanned the wreckage for any possible signs of survivors.

"Is it over?" one of the engineers asked.

"Yes. Though we're still in Romulan space and I'm thinking of taking a roundabout route through the least guarded border of the Romulan Empire before heading for Federation space."

"Which route are you taking?" he asked.

"Well ... since the route to the Klingon border is likely to be filled with cloaked mines on both ends of the divide ... I'm going for Tholian space."

"Tholian space?" Geordi repeated in disbelief.

"Yes ... the Tholians. They don't have cloaking technology so the Romulans may not see the need to have cloaked mines guarding the border with the Tholians. Hopefully that would enable us to slip through undetected as we head for Federation space," I explained while powering up the warp drive.

"I wouldn't be so sure of that," said a member of the engineering crew.

"Well do you have a better place to go to than that?" I asked.

"The Xindi Alliance," the same person answered.

"The Xindi Alliance, Liana? Why? They're enemies of the Federation," the chief engineer commented, in shock at the suggestion..

"Explain ..." I requested, curious about the answer.

"Yes ... they're enemies alright. But are they enemies any more than the Tholians, the Breen or the Romulans, for that matter? Also they're the least technologically advanced civillisation in this quadrant. If not for their huge fleets and remoteness, the Romulan Empire would have overwhelmed them long ago. Their sensors are below standard and have been for sometime now. This fact alone should help us to slip pass their defenses," the engineering ensign answered.

"Good point! Well I'm open to suggestions. Anyone else care to add?" I asked.

There was silence for a few minutes.

"Very well then. The Xindi Alliance it is. To a safe journey," I replied as I beamed a couple dozen glasses of champagne for the engineering crew.

"To a safe journey," Geordi replied, lifting his glass.

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The crew had departed for bed at approximately 1100 hours Federation time. I was doing my usual things ... going through the sensor readouts and inventory listing. What do they have aboard the Scimitar? I wondered. Surely not ... just the fifty Scorpion-class attack fliers ... err ... forty-nine now ... since Picard took one?

Let's see ... they must have something for conducting repairs and maintenance of the ship. I shivered slightly at the thought of maintenance costs for a ship the size of a dreadnought.

Then ... I heard a voice from the ship's internal sensors.

"Great Scott! I never knew that Reman beds were so tough!" one of the engineering crew commented.

"Would you rather sleep in the holodeck than?" I suggested suddenly ... surprising the young Federation officer.

"I'm sure that any kind of bunk can be simulated in the holodeck,"I added.

"The holodeck. Never thought of that before. But sure, why not?" he answered as he got up and left the room.

"Where is it?" he asked suddenly.

"Two hundred meters from this location," I answered.

"Huh??" he mumbled unintelligibly.

"Fine then ... let me show you the way. Just follow the light," I said as a row of rainbow-coloured lights suddenly lit up the corridor to the holodeck.

"My thanks. Owe you for that," he muttered gratefully.

Without wasting anymore time, he headed for the place. While I continued going through the inventory ... hmm ... armoury ... there's enough weapons here to equip an entire division of troops ... rooms ... clothing ... food dispensors ... replicators ... industrial replicators ...

Industrial replicators? This was great! It was like winning the first prize on the lottery! I thought as possibilities ran through my mind ...

My first thought was to build a maintenance droid ... for the ship ... what should it look like ... I wondered ... Should it look humanoid? Should it look like a spider? Should it come equipped with hovering capabilities? All the robots that I had seen from the movies ... flitted through my mind. Once thought impossible from where I come from ... they now lay before me revealed ... their internal layouts becoming clear ... thanks to the advanced technology of this era.

Terminator robots ... They're good for infiltration ... and assassination but not suitable for maintenance. R2D2 ... maintenance cool ... but too clumsy ... and crude for my taste ... how about a Replicator drone from Stargate? Except that it would come equipped with hovering capabilities ... That might work ... and combine it with the T-1000 ability to morph ... *poof* the ultimate repair droid that can do maintenance, defense and intelligence-gathering all in one package!

Without any further hesitation ... I issued several key commands to the industrial replicators aboard the ship.

The next morning ... the engineering crew were treated to a new sight ... that of several shapeless pools of metallic liquid moving all over the corridors of the ship.

"What's that?" one of the crew asked.

"Repair droids ... " I answered as one of them hovered slightly in the air in front of an engineer before speeding off in another direction.

"How many?" the same engineer asked again.

"Two hundred ... I think ..."

"Two hundred??!!! Whatever do you want so many for?" he asked.

"If you haven't noticed ... the Scimitar is a big ship. I can't just have the twenty-four of you only doing maintenance and repairs for the ship all the time. The workload would be horrendous. Not to mention, our situation does not permit us from using any of the maintenance facilities in the region," I answered.

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Under closer examination, I discovered that the disruptors on board the Scimitar were not quite the same like I had assumed earlier on. In fact, they were different enough that they could be classified into three different groups.

The first group consisted of the conventional medium disruptors manufactured by both the Klingon and Romulan Empires. Though in this case, they were all Reman made. The medium disruptors had a fixed rate of fire and their damaged varied by as much as fifty percent on the same target with each shot. Sometimes more and sometimes less ... depending on the mixture of power and particles that energised the firing disruptor at the time.

Consequently, one could never tell with precision how much damage the disruptor was going to do to a target. More importantly ... if it was going to be high or if it was going to be low. Sixteen of the Scimitar's disruptor banks, both forward and aft, belonged to the first group.

The second group of medium disruptors was more interesting. It consisted of the nine forward disruptors that did more damage than the first group ... which was around twenty percent more. Just like the conventional medium disruptor, the damage they did was not fixed on the target. They varied by as much as forty-five percent on the same target with each shot.

Not to mention they also had a faster rate of fire when more power was provided to those disruptors compared to the first group. Twice as fast to be precise. There were also another nine additional disruptors that displayed the same characteristics on the aft side of the ship giving it a total of eighteen dual speed disruptors (a name I coined for the second group) all in all for the second group.

The third group of medium disruptors that I came across while checking out the weapon systems and schematics was something of a novelty. They were different from the other two groups of disruptors in terms of the damage they did and the materials used to power them up. One ... the damage inflicted by this group of disruptors was fixed. There was no variation in the damage they did unlike the first two groups.

The second thing about them that made them stand out from the others were the materials needed to operate them. They were derived from a dangerous and volatile substance known as trilithium. Trilithium and trilithium resin were primarily used as catalyst agents in the operations of this type of weapon. There were a total of eighteen fixed damage disruptors on both the starboard and port side of the ship ... none whatsoever on the forward and the aft ... strangely enough.

How strange ... I thought as pondered the three groups of medium disruptors that I was presented with. Why three varieties? I wondered. Oh well ... I thought as I set about my task to begin my very own weapons upgrade program.

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After three months of materials acquisition and heavy weapons construction in a remote corner of Xindi space, the weapons were finally ready for testing. I issued a command to the ship's program to begin the test and it quickly carried out my commands ...

BEGIN PHASE 1 ...

INITIALISING MIXTURE WITH TRILITHIUM RESIN AS CATALYST ... DONE ...

CHARGING ... COMPLETE ...

1ST MEDIUM DISRUPTOR READY TO FIRE ...

I held my breath ... barely able to contain my excitement as the weapon system locked onto a large asteroid that had been prepared for this purpose.

3 ... 2 ... 1 ... 0

FIRE ...

It released a long stream of green energy at the target shattering it with the first shot.

1ST HIT CONFIRMED ...

CHARGING: 1... 2

RECHARGE ... DONE ...

FIRE ...

2ND HIT CONFIRMED ...

CHARGING: 1... 2

RECHARGE ... DONE ...

FIRE ...

3RD HIT CONFIRMED ...

CHARGING: 1... 2

RECHARGE ... DONE ...

RESULTS ...

DAMAGE ON ALL TARGETS ARE CONSTANT AND CONSISTENT WITH EACH SHOT ... NO VARIATION IN MAGNITUDE OF DAMAGE OBSERVED AS EXPECTED ... UNLIKE CONVENTIONAL MEDIUM DISRUPTOR ...

RATE OF FIRE IS EQUAL TO THAT OF CONVENTIONAL MEDIUM DISRUPTOR ...

REPEAT TESTING PROCEDURES WITH SECOND TRILITHIUM-BASED MEDIUM DISRUPTOR ...

INITIALISING MIXTURE WITH TRILITHIUM RESIN AS CATALYST ... DONE ...

CHARGING ... COMPLETE ...

WEAPON STATUS: FULLY LOADED ...

2ND MEDIUM DISRUPTOR READY TO FIRE ...

3 ... 2 ... 1 ... 0

FIRE ...

1ST HIT CONFIRMED ...

CHARGING: 1... 2

RECHARGE ... DONE ...

FIRE ...

2ND HIT CONFIRMED ...

CHARGING: 1... 2

RECHARGE ... DONE ...

FIRE ...

3RD HIT CONFIRMED ...

CHARGING: 1... 2

RECHARGE ... DONE ...

RESULTS ...

DAMAGE ON ALL TARGETS ARE CONSTANT AND CONSISTENT WITH EACH SHOT ... NO VARIATION IN MAGNITUDE OF DAMAGE OBSERVED AS EXPECTED ...

RATE OF FIRE IS EQUAL TO THAT OF CONVENTIONAL MEDIUM DISRUPTOR ...

REPEAT TESTING PROCEDURES WITH THIRD TRILITHIUM-BASED MEDIUM DISRUPTOR ...

This continued until all eight medium disruptors that my drones had constructed were all tested and proven to be reliable.

Finally ... when I was satisfied with all the test results, I proceeded onwards with the second part of my weapons upgrade programme.

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BEGIN PHASE 2 ...

INITIALISING MIXTURE WITH TRILITHIUM RESIN AS CATALYST ... DONE ...

CHARGING ... COMPLETE ...

1ST HEAVY DISRUPTOR READY TO FIRE ...

3 ... 2 ... 1 ... 0

FIRE ...

1ST HIT CONFIRMED ...

CHARGING: 1... 2

RECHARGE ... DONE ...

FIRE ...

2ND HIT CONFIRMED ...

CHARGING: 1... 2

RECHARGE ... DONE ...

FIRE ...

3RD HIT CONFIRMED ...

CHARGING: 1... 2

RECHARGE ... DONE ...

WEAPON STATUS: FULLY LOADED ...

RESULTS ...

DAMAGE ON ALL TARGETS ARE CONSTANT AND CONSISTENT WITH EACH SHOT ... NO VARIATION IN MAGNITUDE OF DAMAGE OBSERVED AS EXPECTED ... UNLIKE CONVENTIONAL HEAVY DISRUPTOR ...

RATE OF FIRE IS EQUAL TO THAT OF CONVENTIONAL MEDIUM DISRUPTOR AND 1.50 TIMES FASTER THAN THAT OF CONVENTIONAL HEAVY DISRUPTOR ...

REPEAT TESTING PROCEDURES WITH SECOND TRILITHIUM-BASED HEAVY DISRUPTORS ...

INITIALISING MIXTURE WITH TRILITHIUM RESIN AS CATALYST ... DONE ...

CHARGING ... COMPLETE ...

2ND HEAVY DISRUPTOR READY TO FIRE ...

3 ... 2 ... 1 ... 0

FIRE ...

1ST HIT CONFIRMED ...

CHARGING: 1... 2

RECHARGE ... DONE ...

FIRE ...

2ND HIT CONFIRMED ...

CHARGING: 1... 2

RECHARGE ... DONE ...

FIRE ...

3RD HIT CONFIRMED ...

CHARGING: 1... 2

RECHARGE ... DONE ...

WEAPON STATUS: FULLY LOADED ...

RESULTS ...

DAMAGE ON ALL TARGETS ARE CONSTANT AND CONSISTENT WITH EACH SHOT ... NO VARIATION IN MAGNITUDE OF DAMAGE OBSERVED AS EXPECTED ...

RATE OF FIRE IS EQUAL TO THAT OF CONVENTIONAL MEDIUM DISRUPTOR AND 1.50 TIMES FASTER THAN THAT OF CONVENTIONAL HEAVY DISRUPTOR ... UNLIKE CONVENTIONAL HEAVY DISRUPTOR ...

REPEAT TESTING PROCEDURES WITH THIRD TRILITHIUM-BASED HEAVY DISRUPTOR ...

This was to continue until all eight heavy disruptors that my drones had constructed were all tested and proven to be reliable.

Finally ... when I was satisfied with all the test results, I proceeded on towards my goal with the third part of my weapons upgrade programme.

BEGIN PHASE 3 ...

INITIALISING MIXTURE WITH TRILITHIUM RESIN AS CATALYST ... DONE ...

CHARGING ... COMPLETE ...

1ST MEGA DISRUPTOR READY TO FIRE ...

3 ... 2 ... 1 ... 0

FIRE ...

1ST HIT CONFIRMED ...

CHARGING: 1... 2

RECHARGE ... DONE ...

FIRE ...

2ND HIT CONFIRMED ...

CHARGING: 1... 2

RECHARGE ... DONE ...

FIRE ...

3RD HIT CONFIRMED ...

CHARGING: 1... 2

RECHARGE ... DONE ...

WEAPON STATUS: FULLY LOADED ...

RESULTS ...

DAMAGE ON ALL TARGETS ARE CONSTANT AND CONSISTENT WITH EACH SHOT ... NO VARIATION IN MAGNITUDE OF DAMAGE OBSERVED AS EXPECTED ... UNLIKE CONVENTIONAL MEGA DISRUPTOR ...

RATE OF FIRE IS EQUAL TO THAT OF CONVENTIONAL MEDIUM DISRUPTOR AND 2.00 TIMES FASTER THAN THAT OF CONVENTIONAL MEGA DISRUPTOR ...

REPEAT TESTING PROCEDURES WITH SECOND TRILITHIUM-BASED MEGA DISRUPTOR ...

INITIALISING MIXTURE WITH TRILITHIUM RESIN AS CATALYST ... DONE ...

CHARGING ... COMPLETE ...

2ND MEGA DISRUPTOR READY TO FIRE ...

3 ... 2 ... 1 ... 0

FIRE ...

1ST HIT CONFIRMED ...

CHARGING: 1... 2

RECHARGE ... DONE ...

FIRE ...

2ND HIT CONFIRMED ...

CHARGING: 1... 2

RECHARGE ... DONE ...

FIRE ...

3RD HIT CONFIRMED ...

CHARGING: 1... 2

RECHARGE ... DONE ...

WEAPON STATUS: FULLY LOADED ...

RESULTS ...

DAMAGE ON ALL TARGETS ARE CONSTANT AND CONSISTENT WITH EACH SHOT ... NO VARIATION IN MAGNITUDE OF DAMAGE OBSERVED AS EXPECTED ... UNLIKE CONVENTIONAL MEGA DISRUPTOR ...

RATE OF FIRE IS EQUAL TO THAT OF CONVENTIONAL MEDIUM DISRUPTOR AND 2.00 TIMES FASTER THAN THAT OF CONVENTIONAL MEGA DISRUPTOR ...

CONCLUSION ...

ALL TESTS SHOW THAT TRILITHIUM-BASED DISRUPTORS FIRE DISRUPTOR BLASTS THAT DO FIXED DAMAGE TO THE TARGET WITH A CONSTANT AND FASTER RATE OF FIRE COMPARED TO NON-TRILITHIUM DISRUPTORS ...

I hoped that these weapon upgrades would be enough to take on possible hostiles while I was here. Not all of course ... but most. Especially the Romulans who were out for blood over the death of their comrades at my hands.

One disturbing question that had reared its ugly head to me ... how was a ship like the Scimitar actually constructed? Judging from the sheer size and technological advancements of the ship itself ... it would have taken nothing short of a miracle to acquire the necessary materials in building a ship like this in secret as the resources required for this undertaking would have been massive ... and wonder of wonders without the Romulans finding out about it ...

Right from the very beginning, I was very doubtful that the Remans alone could have constructed a ship of this scale all by themselves without outside help ... It was also a big question mark as to whether the Scimitar was even constructed in Romulan space at all for that matter ... as the Romulan Tal'Shiar watched everything that happened inside the Empire meticulously.

In addition to that, the rebel forces had less resources and manpower to pull on than the government they were rebelling against.

How did they accomplish all of this right under the very noses of the Romulan Empire?

"How did a Reman get to be Praetor?"

"He must have had Romulan collaborators."

From what I knew of the Romulans, it was doubtful that they would have allowed a ship of this size and strength to fall into the hands of the Remans even if both sides had collaborated in the beginning to take control of the Federation.

That left outside help. If so ... from who? That was the million dollar question.

Shinzon's words came back to me ...

"The Scimitar was built on a secret base, Picard."

The big question was ... where?

I had several clues. The first was the origin of the cloaking device aboard the Scimitar. I had expected the cloaking device to be Reman or Romulan made but much to my surprise ... the designs in them were clearly of Klingon origin. Geordi had mentioned this little tidbit to me after he had fixed the cloaking device with the engineering crew.

Flashback:

"There's something I got to tell you."

"What's it, Chief Engineer LaForge?"

"No need to be that formal. Well about the cloaking device. Guess what I found out about it?"

"What?"

"The cloaking device ... It's Klingon ..." he said.

"Say that again ..." I answered in disbelief.

"The cloaking device ... the design is clearly Klingon." He repeated.

End of Flashback:

Liana had also agreed with his findings by pointing out something she remembered from Federation records ... something about the Federation encountering a Klingon Bird of Prey that was able to fire its weapons while cloaked ... during the time of Captain James Tiberius Kirk. Which of course begged the question ... was the cloaking device aboard the Scimitar an advanced prototype of the cloaking device used by that particular Klingon Bird of Prey?

The engineer also mentioned the Klingon commander's name. General Chang or something similar. But if this was a Klingon cloaking device ... how in the heavens did it wind up aboard the Scimitar?

I wondered.

Second question ... Why would the Klingons want to give up their most advanced cloaking device and leave it to Shinzon anyway? What did they stand to gain by doing so? I knew that the Klingons were honourable ... But generous? That was stretching it.

It didn't make any sense. Either that or there was more at work here than I had initially suspected.

The second thing were those dual speed disruptors ... they also appeared to be of Klingon design. Geordi and Liana who had checked those disruptors confirmed my findings. I had a feeling that those dual speed disruptors were advanced prototypes of the conventional medium disruptor that the Klingons had been building ... like the enhanced cloaking device.

Something was seriously wrong here. The Scimitar was clearly a testbed of many advanced prototype technologies. But they were Klingon technologies ... not Romulan or Reman technologies ... for that matter.

The third thing that convinced my of Klingon complicity in the construction of the Scimitar was the use of photon torpedoes instead of plasma torpedoes aboard the ship. The Romulans favoured the use of plasma torpedoes over photon torpedoes while the Klingons favoured the use of photon torpedoes over plasma torpedoes.

All this led me to one disturbing conclusion ... The Klingons had planned all this ... but why? Did they provide military aid to Shinzon just to free the Remans from servitude to the Romulan Empire?

I was quite doubtful of their benevolent motives ... so something else ... was in the works ...

What was it? What would have happened if the Remans had acquired enough firepower to take over the Romulan Empire? Would they become the master race? I seriously doubted that Shinzon could have taken over the Romulan Empire ... and ruled for long anyway. The Remans may have had enough firepower to take over the Romulan Empire but to hold it? That was a different matter entirely.

For one thing ... the Romulans despised the Remans immensely ... treating them worse than the second-class subjects of the Empire. They would never have tolerated one of their former servants ... some might say slaves ... ruling over them for very long ...

A protracted civil war ... then ... would have resulted. The Klingon Empire secretly cheering the Remans from the sidelines ... since ... whatever the outcome ... this war would have drained the strength of the Romulan Empire ... weakening it to the point that ... the Klingon Empire would have been able to exploit in the future ... and as for the thalaron generator ... Shinzon's plan on using the thalaron generator would have resulted in a war with the Federation. A war without mercy ... No quarter given or asked ... until one side was completely destroyed ...

Something was not adding up here.

I extrapolated further. Use of the thalaron generator was not likely to have crippled the Federation as Shinzon had planned for ... but it was more likely to have resulted in an all-out fight to the finish between the Federation and Romulan Empire. The former for justice and revenge while the latter for conquest and survival. The Klingons would then have been ready to pick up the pieces of what was left of the Federation and Romulan Empire ...

There was something going on here ... something that I did not like at all ...

So many questions ... and so few answers.

Already the implications that the answers were hinting at were disturbing ... to say the least ...

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