Mission: Foothold

[Lorian Smith]

Lorian knew that Captain Kirk and Commander Daya had been friends before joining the Darkhawk together, but Lorian had just realized how big friends they were. It made Lorian respect his captian even more, he had kept calm and steady while his best friend was in mortal danger.

"Aye sir," Lorian said as he ran towards sickbay. He knew the every second counted. As he started running towards sickbay he saw the dead, injured creman, and the bulkheads were just falling like rain. Lorian wanted to stop and help the injured but he knew that there were many more people in need on DSB.

"Commander I'm glad that you are here to help," Doctor Morgan said as she finished an operation on a Lt.

"Sorry doc, but I'm here to take the The Doc to DSB," Lorian said.

"You can't..."the doctor said, but then realized who he was talking to,"sir. We need his help here."

"I know Doctor but it has to be this way," Lorian said.

"Doctor are you ready?" Lorian asked the EMH as he was helping out other injured crewman.

"Yes sir, just give me a minute," the Doctor said as he went to get his mobil emitter.

"Commander Smith to transporter room 1, teleport myself and the EMH to the command Deck of DSB," Lorian said and the next second they were met with the stench of death and blood.

"Commander Ko'Vor," Lorian said as he quickly went to his side to see if he could help."

<Tag Commander Ko'Vor>

Lorian could feel the Klingon blood on his uniform and hands but that didn't matter. He had to try and save other people. He quickly left the command area with a med kit and went looking for survivors. In the back of his mind he coulnd't help but think about Commander Daya. He would find him, he kenw that the proabablity of finding him alive were slim, he woud still try.

There was one problem, there were so many injured or dead that it was slowing him down. He wouldn't pass over anyone who was injured so he helped each of them until a medic came along. A bigger problem was the dead, he was a Starfleet officer and he was going to treat them as such. They were all heroes and Lorian would make sure that no one ever forgot about them.

After what seemed like hours, which really were five, Lorian came to Deck 4. There were mulitple bodies of borg, assimalated Starfleet officer's, and dead officers and civillans. Out of no where he heard a soft moan. Lorian couldn't tell where they were coming from,but he was sure that it was real. Then he heard it again, he was sure of it.

There he was Commander Daya. Lorian knew that he was close to death. Lorian took off his comm badge, and put it on Daya.

"Darkhawk, transport my comm badge directly to sickbay," Daya quickly dematerilized and Lorian went back to work. He had to make sure that he found Captain Caspain.

[Ko'Vor]

Commander Ko'Vor," Lorian said as he quickly went to his side to see if he could help."

looking up Ko'Vor saw help. 'well we have finally met commander' he smiled. 'and now you must leave me, help everyone else, i am a klingon, i can hold out.'

Smith looked as if she was about to dissagree but Ko'Vor interrupted

'Leave me here' he growled 'we cant pull rank, just leave. come back to me when everyone else is fine.

Lorain got up and straitened his suit.
he gave a nod and walked off toward the doors.

Ko'Vor lay there. thinking 'd**n, maybe i should have accepted the help' and he faded back into unconcusness as he watched his help leave through the door.

[Scott McLean]

Scott and his engineering team beamed directly onto Deck 17A. Once they fully materialized they realized they were going to have their work cut out for them. The stations main power grid had taken a beating and was offline. It appeared life support and artificial gravity were being supplied through emergency power alone. Scott found it to be amazing the system could support both systems.

"Spread out," Scott ordered, "You all know what must be done."

Scott walked over to the first console he found still working. He ran a few quick scans to get a general idea of the condition of the station. After a minute of hard research Scott found the station was in bad shape, but not as bad as the Darkhawk's sensors said it was. Emergency power on this station could power an Akira class Starship it seemed.

"Powerful station." Scott mumbled to himself.

We still need to get that bloody main power grid back online, he thought to himself as he continued to scan more systems. Minutes later the problem smacked Scott in the face, systems all on the station had suffered from power surges due to large amounts of raw energy being transfered through out the station to weapons.

"Ensign, come here for a second." Scott said

"Sir?" The ensign responded.

"I need you to round up all the working spare power couplings you can find. It appears this station has blown a good portion of main power grids power relay couplings."

"Aye sir."

I hope they a decent amount of space parts on this station. I doubt the equipment replicators are online right now, he thought waiting for the reply from the Ensign.

[Jonathan Kirk]

Captain's Log, Stardate 2392.0913

We seem to be at a stand off right now, but it is clear to me, and the crew the Metron's can do with us as they wish. I am curious to know what they are waiting for.

The Darkhawk is in no condition to fight. Lieutenant Mathews has been down in Engineering running the repair efforts, he says she needs to go into dry dock for about a weeks worth of major repairs. I informed him I wanted main power back online in 3 hours, he has an hour left to bring main power back online.

The crew is working incredibly hard for me and they will get that day off I promised them.

End Log.

Kirk was slouched in his chair, he was getting tired of the waiting game that he was faced. It has been a few hours since Scott and his team had boarded Deep Space Beta. Sensor indicated that the engineering teams were making remarkable progress getting the station back online.

"What's our status Ensign Foster?" Kirk asked looking at the Tactical junior officer.

"Sir shields are now charged up to 23%. Power to the phasers and pulse cannon are now up to 75%." The ensign reported.

"Tell Engineering to take all the power they need from the cloak to get those shields back up to full power." Kirk ordered.

"Aye sir."

"Sir, I am picking up a transwarp signature at the edge of the system." Ensign Anderson reported.

"On screen." Kirk replied.

The screen blinked and now in front of the crews eyes was a bright green wormhole forming at the outskirts of the system.

"Magnify."

Here comes more Borg, Kirk thought to himself as he watched the green wormhole twist around in space. After moments of watching the wormhole nothing was coming out and Kirk did not hear any Borg commands in his head.

"Sir, I am reading massive Thelaron readings coming from the wormhole." Ensign Anderson reported.

"It seems six warship isn't enough to take us down." Kirk said sarcastically.

Moments later the light bending elements of a cloaking device began subside and a ship had instantly became visible. At least we know what they were waiting for, Kirk thought to himself waiting for the Metrons to make their move.

The new ship was massive, almost the size of Deep Space Beta in width and length. Tactical sensors could not penetrate the ships hull making a tactical analysis impossible.

"Sir, we are being hailed." Ensign Anderson reported.

"On screen."

"We are the Metron Consortium Flagship Destiny."

"I am Captain Kirk from the United Federation of Planets." Kirk replied.

"Captain Kirk," The Metron paused, "Ah yes. What is your business in our space Captain?"

"Our mission is exploration, and we did not actually know this was your space. Perhaps we can come to an understanding."

"I doubt that Captain."

"The Federation has changed since the last time you made contact with us, the entire quadrant has changed."

"Your weapons maybe have changed but your society is still primitive. We require nothing from you."

"Then why have you opened communications with us?"

"We were merely interested to see who could be able to defend themselves from a Borg Cube with only one ship and a station. We have observed greater fleets taken down by the same Cube."

"The Federation has had our share of encounters with the Borg," Kirk getting tired of small talk, "Tell me, are you having any problems using your Thelaron weapons?"

The Metron Captain looked stunned Kirk knew of their Thelaron technology.

"How do you know of Thelaron?"

"We get around. We know this is a new weapon for you," Kirk said putting on his best poker face, "Your ships emit high levels of Thelaron radiation. I doubt that can be very good for your bodies."

The screen blinked back to open space as the Metron Captain closed the channel.

"I guess I struck a nerve." Kirk said still facing the view screen.

[Main Computer]

Malachi groaned as he limped across the deck, he had lost a lot of blood and there was still one more Deck to clear of Borg, Deck 22.

The Starbase hadn't rocked violently in a while, this was good news for Caspian seeing as he could barely stand. He pratically fell onto Deck 22 through the access hatch and immediately landed on the corpse of a Borg.

He hurriedly stood to his feet and frowned, there were drones everywhere however there were no signs of a fight.

"Odd.." He muttered. "Perhaps their circuits blew out when the Cube exploded..." Malachi knew this was a big jump but a lot had changed in the collective since the return of Voyager.

Malachi heavily sat down on the floor of Deck 22 and sighed. He could feel the blood flowing freely from his leg and left side and not so freely from his head.

"I did it..." He muttered. "It didn't happen again..." Then he slowly passed into unconsciousness.


OFF:

I apologise for the short post, not up to my usual standards so sorry!

[Jonathan Kirk]

off: No worries, we all can't always have time for sim'in.

Kirk had become inpatient with the Metrons now. After asking them directly about their Thelaron weapons the Metrons decided it would be best to end the discussion outright. They probably want to know how I guessed they were new weapons, Kirk thought as the looked over a casualty list. The list was bigger than Kirk thought it was going to be.

Kirk struck his com badge, "Kirk to Commander Smith. How is everything going over there?"

"I'm sorry Captain, this is Doctor Morgan. The Commander placed his com badge onto Commander Daya."

"Understood Doctor."

"Lieutenant you have the bridge." Kirk said leaving the bridge in a hurry.

Moments later he walked into sickbay. There were injured people everywhere, laying on bed with plasma burns, people leaning on the walls with broken bones, for Kirk there was no site more unsettling then that of Daya laying on the bed motionless.

"Doctor, how is he?"

"He would have died if Commander Smith had not found him when he did. We have him stabilized right now, but I will not awake him for you. His body has taken a bit of a shock and I his body might not react well to the stimulants."

Kirk crossed his arms upon receiving the news about his friends condition. He did not hear the last bit of information the doctor had given him, his mind was back at the Academy and all the good times they had those many years ago.

"Keep me updated Doctor." Kirk said leaving sickbay.

Kirk tapped his com badge opening a channel to the away teams, "All away teams report."

<Tag Away Team Members>

[Ko'Vor]

'online' the computer chanted on the command deck.

obviously somewhere repair teams were starting to make a difference. the sound of the computer was enough to make Ko'Vor engage with his surroundings again.

He had forgotten where and when he was. the lack of blood and energy had rendered him near death, but now he was able to come around just enough to remember his situation.

Unfortunately no one was around to help, and the klingon was unable to move.

Instead he started thinking of an old meditated state klingons were able to get into so that they could survive a crisis situation.

chanting the words 'Melok Strag, tooo savok' in his head over and over gave him something to concentrate on. this way, at least, when the teams got to him he would still be salvageable. if he didn’t keep concentrating then his current state would leave him dead within the next hour. he had to hold on. His mission was at stake.

[Scott McLean]

"All away teams report."

McLean rolled out from underneath the main engineering console to answer the Captains call, "McLean here Captain. We have reinstalled a number of fried power couplings that overloaded in the battle. I am going to be heading up to the Command Deck in a few minutes."

"Understood Chief, keep me posted."

"Aye sir." McLean said going back to work to finish installing the new coupling.

"Lieutenant, came with me." McLean said.

Getting onto the nearest turbo lift McLean ordered it to head to the command deck. Moments later the doors open to reveal the extremely damaged command deck.

"Spread out and look for survivors." McLean ordered.

McLean walked around the room, looking at the bodies of his fellow officers. He felt a great deal of sarrow looking at how young some of the officers were. McLean came upon a working console and carefully stepped around a Klingon body to get in front of it. Pushing a few command he noticed his work had worked better than he thought it was going to. As he was engaged in the console he was startled when the Klingon he thought was dead grabbed his ankle.

"Commander?" McLean asked.

The Klingon was mumbling something over and over again, McLean couldn't make out what it was. He bent down and noticed the Commander's breathing was very controlled for the state his body was in.

"McLean to Darkhawk."

"Go ahead." Kirk replied.

"I found the Klingon Commander. He is in bad shape," McLean said taking off his com badge placing it on Commander Ko'Vor, "Lock onto my com badge signal and beam him to sick bay."

Blue/white light appeared out of nowhere and beamed Commander Ko'Vor off the command deck of the station to sick bay on board the Darkhawk.

[Ko'Vor]

''Melok Strag....' the klingon stopped.... he was on board a ship, he presumed it was the darkhawk but a few bulkheads in sickbay were down so he guessed it was still not repaired.
'Why am i hear' he breathed. unable to look around he didn’t notice the doctor and Deya on the bio bed next to him.
'activate EMH' Ko'Vor ordered.
the computer chanted in response 'EMH is online, status: mobile. current location deep space beta.'
'damn' he sighed. 'well someone will be along soon, i just hope they have helped everyone else too.' he thought.' then lapsing into another stream of chanting he didn’t see the doctor rushing over to him nor did he hear

'Hang on commander, you will be fine in no time. Just hold on.'
inside his head he could hear his heart beating. gradually getting slower and slower. and he felt his breathing getting heavier. then suddenly he became painfully aware of the pipe sticking out of his side and the pain of it made him pass out.

Off: i cant remember if there is a medic yet but if there is then he/she is tagged, if not then tag anyone

[Lorian Smith]

The rescue attempt wasn't going very well, Lorian started to think that it was no longer a rescue attempt. Of the 35 people that he found alive 31 of them were half assimilated already. Lorian with a heavy heart ended their lives there and then. This had to be the hardest thing he ever had to do.

Lorian was angry as he finally let himself realized what he had been doing. He was angry at himself for not destroying the Borg sooner, he was angry at the Borg for what they had done, and he was angry at Starfleet for just sending three ships into the Beta quadrant. Lorian knew that more than two thousand people had died this day.

The more he thought about it the angrier he got. This wasn't very well planned out, Lorian thought to himself as he once again heard the moaning of a survivor. Lorian quickly headed to wards that direction and found that there was a survivor there. She wasn't assimilated, but she was fatally injured. Lorian wasn't a doctor, but he already knew that she would not survive.

"Help me please," the woman sobbed. Lorian couldn't help but cry with the women. She was going to die in the presence of a man she didn't know.

"I'm scared." The women said as she to realized that her fate was sealed.

"I will stay here with you until the end," Lorian said knowing that no one wanted to die alone. Lorian quickly took the women's hand and just squeezed it firmly.

"Sir, can you sing me a song?" she asked. Lorian hadn't expected this, but he of course would comply with her wish.

"When I am down and, oh my soul, so weary," Matt began realizing that he himself was now weeping silently."When troubles come and my heart burdened be
Then, I am still and wait here in the silence,
Until you come and sit awhile with me.

You raise me up, so I can stand on mountains;
You raise me up, to walk on stormy seas;
I am strong, when I am on your shoulders;
You raise me up: To more than I," Lorian then realized that the women was no longer breathing and that she had died during the song, "can....be." Lorian quickly closed the women's eyes and continued searching.

"All away teams report."

Lorian really forgotten that he was part of a two man team. The Doctor had gone the other way trying to help some of the injured.

"Casualty list continues to climb, other than Commander Kovor and Ensign White all others I have found are dead." Lorian said with a voice of betrayed calm. At least for now Lorian knew that they were safe. If the Metrons were going to destroy them they would of done it by now.

"Commander Smith please report back to the Darkhawk, we need to talk about the situation concerning the Metrons." Captain Kirk said over the still surprisingly working station comm system. Lorian then remembered that he had given Commander Ko'Vor his comm badge.

Lorian without hesitation quickly made his way to wards a comm panel and asked the transportation officer on the Darkhawk to work their magic.

"One to beam up."

<Tag everyone>

Off: "You Raise Me Up" by Josh Groban

[Main Computer]

Malachi's eyes flickered beneath his closed eye-lids, his forced coma-like state disturbed by haunts of his past...

"All stations report!" The young, eager Commander ordered, stepping onto the large command centre of his new command.

"Green lights every deck and system Commander!" His First Officer reported.

He smiled. "Good good. How long until we reach our desitnation?" He asked.

"Two hours thirteen minutes." Came the response of a civilian woman the Commander hadn't taken the time to learn the name of.

"Very good, patch me through to the fleet." He ordered taking the centre chair, which unlike usual Starfleet vessels had it's own console. However, this was no normal Starfleet vessel...

=^= Mission Commander, what can I do for you? =^= Came the voice of a stern looking Lieutenant on the other end of the comms link.

"I asked for a fleet-wide transmission, not a ship to ship." He stated blandly.

=^= The other six ships are updating comms links, when we passed through that nebula comms were shorted out briefly =^=

He smiled pleasantly in response. "Very well, You will have to do. What is the status of your vessel?"

=^= Ready to engage primary mission goals, as is the rest of the fleet when they have comms =^=

"Excellent, excellent. Very good Lieutenant, I will co-ordinate the Borg Hub Collective's co-ordinates within the hour." He tapped a button on his console and the screen flickered blank. The Commander stood to his feet and was about to leave the Bridge when the ship rocked violently.

"Report." He said, taking his seat yet again.#

"Sir, that was a shockwave." Came the voice of yet another person he had not bothered to learn the name of.

"Well done, I am well aware of that. What was it's cause?" He snapped.

"The fleet Sir."

"Excuse me?"

"Sir the other 7 ships of the fleet have just been destroyed."

The Commander stood to his feet. He knew he had failed and that his next priority was destroying all evidence of this mission, including himself and his crew.

"Computer erase Main Core, authorisation Caspian 134324. Priority One ALPHA, Mission Termination code 6576586"

=^= Code accepted. Erasure in progress =^= The computer sounded as the ship was hit by a volley of fire.

"Sheilds are down!" Yelled the woman who's name he did not know.

"Sir, we have to abandon ship! The mission has failed!"

"Negative, we stay here. Starfleet has sorted out your personal issues. Your deaths will be noted as a service to the Federation, nothing more." He said coldly as the computer screeched of hull breaches and the red alert sirens wailed.

"But my daughter, my husband!" Screamed the woman.

"Will remember you." He said staring at the viewscreen where 12 Borg Cubes could be seen firing on their location.

"It's over." He said...

Malachi's eyes snapped open, he was sweating and was extremely hot. The first thing he noticed was the lighting, back to normal, the second was that he was on the floor.

He stood up slowly and accessed a nearby console, he pressed a few buttons and then spoke.

"Caspian to Command. Command Report." He ordered.

<TAG Ko'Vor/ Anyone on Command>

[Scott McLean]

"Caspian to Command. Command Report." He ordered.

McLean heard Caspian over the com system and looked for an active com console. With more than half the lights out McLean found it difficult to locate anything.

"Commander McLean here sir."

<Tag Captain Caspian>

"The Command Deck is heavily damaged. We found your first officer and transported him to sick bay on board the Darkhawk. My engineering team has fixed several problems with the hull integrity field. The station is now stable. Main power is still low, I had to draw power from the weapons to keep life support up and running."

<Tag Captain Caspian>

"Understood sir." McLean replied.

"All away teams report."

"McLean here Captain."

"What is your report Chief?" Kirk asked.

"We have repaired several systems but this station is not in a position to defend itself still."

"Understood. Do what you can Chief, Kirk out."

"Aye sir." McLean said as the channel closed.

[Jonathan Kirk]

Kirk had checked and rechecked every station on the bridge while he waited for the Metrons to reopen a channel, if they would reopen a channel.

I wonder what the hell they are talking about over there, Kirk thought to himself finishing up with last PADD in his hand.

Hearing the swooshing sound of the turbo lift doors Kirk turned his head to see who had entered the bridge. He watched Commander Smith walk slowly onto the bridge. The man looked terrible, his hair was messed up, his face was dirty and it glistened from light hitting the sweat on his face. Kirk looked over Smith's uniform and spotted Klingon blood, and human blood that was partially washed from his hands and stained on to his uniform. Commander Smith was still walking very slow and his eyes looked distant as he quietly sat down chair next to the Captain's chair and put his head in his hands.

The entire bridge crew watched him sit down. Each one of them could see the pain in the man's face. He had bore witness to something each one of them were glad they did not have to see. Kirk sat down next to his first officer hoping he would snap out of it.

"Number one, are you alright?" Kirk asked trying to sound comforting.

<Tag Commander Smith>

After Kirk and Smith finished up their conversation the bridge began to beep. They both looked up at the officer manning the tactical station.

"Sir the Metrons are hailing."

"On screen." Kirk said turning to face the screen.

"Federation ship, lower your shields and prepare two delegates to be transported over to our ship," The Metron Captain waited for a second then said, "We wish to talk."

The channel closed not giving Kirk a chance to respond. Kirk crossed his arms and leaned back in his chair. He was now in a sticky situation, ignore the Metrons and face a possible battle, or send over two crew members into an unknown situation.

The good of the many out weight the good of the few, Kirk thought as he began to think about possible people to send over to the Metrons ship.

"Mr. Church begin several scans, report anything you find no matter how small it is. If they run with our people I want to be able to track them. I know we don't have a full compliment of marines,but once your done scanning see what you can do about getting together an away team if we have to board them."

<Tag Lieutenant Church>

"Number One, I want you to head the talks with the Metrons, take Ensign Anderson with you." Kirk ordered, "See Mr. Church about replacing your normal com badges with transporter signal enhancing com badges.

<Tag Commander Smith, Ensign Anderson>

"Lower shields," Kirk ordered, "Open a channel."

"Channel open sir." Replied the tactical officer.

"Metron vessel, our delegates are ready to trans-"

Kirk did not get a chance to finish what he was saying as he was interrupted by a bright green flash of light. Once the flash died down he saw both of his officers were now gone.

"Mr. Church do we still have a lock on them?" Kirk asked.

<Tag Lieutenant Church>

[Lorian Smith]

Lorian appearance betrayed his age. There was blood all over his uniform and he didn't or rather couldn't get a new one at the moment. He decided to go to the bridge first, where he wanted to talk to the captain about the Metron situation.

Once he entered the bridge, Lorian quickly realized that the entire bridge crew were looking at him. Lorian really didn't care, his mind was mentally exhausted and all he wanted to was sit down.

"Number one, are you alright?" Kirk asked trying to sound comforting. Lorian for a second was about to say what he was really thinking, but realized that this wasn't the place nor the time for his true feelings.

"I'm fine Captain its just been a long day and I have seen many lives end today," Lorian said. It was a lame explanation, but that is all he wanted to say. Captain Kirk continued to ask him question, which Lorian wasn't really listening to. After what seemed like hours Lorian realized that the conversation had ended, but not because the Captain was done talking, the reason was simply they were being hailed by the Metrons.

"Federation ship, lower your shields and prepare two delegates to be transported over to our ship," The Metron Captain waited for a second then said, "We wish to talk." The voice of the Metron captain rejuvenated Lorian's body and mind. They were going to finally talk to them.

"Number One, I want you to head the talks with the Metrons, take Ensign Anderson with you." Kirk ordered, "See Mr. Church about replacing your normal com badges with transporter signal enhancing com badges.

"Aye captain," Lorian said as he stood up motioning to Ensign Anderson. Lorian quickly made his way to wards Lt. Church who was already working on the enhancements.

"Lt. how long will the enhancements take?" Lorian asked realizing that he was becoming a bit moody. After waiting what seemed to be hours, which were merely seconds, Lorian and Anderson were ready.

"Are you ready Ensign?" Lorian asked the young women.

<Tag Katie>

"Metron vessel, our delegates are ready to trans-" But before the Captain could finish, Lorian felt a strange beam of power come over him. The next second he realized that he was in the middle of a huge auditorium, in front of what seemed to be thousands of Metrons.

"We are the Metron Consortium and we are ready to talk."

[Katie Anderson]

Off:This is a joint post between Lorian and myself.

Katie watched along with the other members of the bridge crew as their first officer quietly snaked his way around the bridge until he flopped down in his chair. Katie turned back around to face her station. Before long there was another transmission from the Metrons and all attention focused back on them.

Katie was looking over her station when she heard her name mentioned in conversation between the Captain and the first officer. She got a bit nervous that she might have done something wrong, it was usually only when she did do something wrong that the higher ranking officers noticed her.

"Your going to be joining me on this away mission." Katie heard somebody say to her.

She turned around to find her first officer standing over her. He towered over her and she was starting to feel nervous in his presence.

"There is no need to be nervous Ensign, I'm not going to bite," Lorian said smiling hoping it would calm the ensign down a bit.

"Uh...Ok." She blurted out.

Lorian smiled and waited for the Lt. to finish his work,"Lt. how long will the enhancements take?" Lorian asked realizing that he was becoming a bit moody. After waiting what seemed to be hours, which were merely seconds, Lorian and Anderson were ready.

"Are you ready Ensign?" Lorian asked the young women.

"Yes sir." She replied as she stuck the new com badge on her jacket.

"Metron vessel, our delegates are ready to trans-" But before the Captain could finish, Lorian felt a strange beam of power come over him. The next second he realized that he was in the middle of a huge auditorium, in front of what seemed to be thousands of Metrons.

"We are the Metron Consortium and we are ready to talk."

"I am Commander Lorian Andrew Smith, representative of the USS Darkhawk and the United Federation of Planets," Lorian said looking up at what he thought was the leader's seat. "This is Ensign Katie Anderson, the other delegate."

Katie looked around the large room. She couldn't see very much because a long spot light was shining down upon them. Katie felt herself step closer to her first officer.

"I don't like the look of this." She whispered.

Lorian had to agree, the Metrons seemed to not have changed in two hundred years. They still thought they were better than human beings. Then all of a sudden a Metron male stood and spoke.

"I am Metral the High Chancellor of the Metron Consortium and we ask for your help," Metral asked.

They need our help? Katie thought to herself.

Lorian hadn't expected this, he thought they would of told them to leave their space.

"I first wish to thank you for helping us destroy the Borg," Lorian said completely truthful.

"No thanks is needed, we protect our neighbors from the Borg," Metral said," but you are not a neighbor. You are just like Captain Kirk, two hundred years ago. savage."

Katie got a little riled up when she heard the man call them savages.

"How dare you call us savages. You know nothing about us!" Katie yelled up at the male voice.

"Ensign be quiet," Lorian said a bit harshly. He knew that wouldn't look good in front of the Metrons, but he didn't care. He didn't' like being called savages either.

"We want to know everything you know about thelaron technology," Metral said. Lorian knew this might come up and nodded his head.

"If you want to know about thelaron, we need a face to face," Lorian said.

Katie now had a better understanding on why the Captain had sent her. She had some extensive experience with Thelaron in the Academy. For one of her final projects she built a small Thelaron weapon from plans 'found' from the battle of Basin Rift. She found that the technology the Metrons were using to be very similar in design to the experimental weapon she built and the weapon on board the Scimitar.

The Metrons had become quiet for a minute or so and then Metral spoke, "So be it."

The main spot light in the room quickly turned off leaving the two officers in the dark. Katie grabbed onto the commander arm.

"Easy Ensign." He said.

"Sorry sir." She said letting go of his arm.

Before they knew what was happening they had been transported to a white room.

"You are to change into these robes before you we meet with you" A voice said in the room.

Katie and the commander looked at each other with confused looks. They both pulled the robes over their uniforms. Once they were over they helped each other out by straighten them and trying to make them look as presentable as possible.

Once they had completed putting on the robes the white room dissolved into an old Roman looking meeting room. There was a large wooden table that ran almost the entire length of the room, surrounded by chairs and candles.

"You may be seated." A man said.

Katie and Commander Smith turned around to see a group of men already sitting at the table. Katie thought they weren't there a moment ago. Katie followed her first officer to the table and sat down next to him.

"Lets begin, shall we?"