Tales of Starfleet
Angels and Lionesses
Part 9
by Phillip Barlow
(p.barlow@ic.ac.uk)

Angels and Lionesses - Part 9

Churchill looked at the chronometer on the bridge. It was coming up to 47 hours since the shuttle had left - the time had come to make a decision.

"Lieutenant Brook, tactical status?"

"There are several commercial vessels of no tactical threat orbiting Zantor Prime. However, the Romulan Bird-of-Prey is still in orbit, and it appears to have been joined by a Cardassian Hideki class vessel." This gave Churchill pause for thought. On their own, neither of them was much of a threat to a Constitution class starship. Together though was another story.

"Is there any sign of an NX class vessel?"

"No sir." Churchill considered for a moment; now was not the time to be overly cautious. In spite of whatever she may have said, the Captain knew that he would never follow the orders she had given him. He had seen enough old motion pictures to know that, in situations like this, the subordinates did not sit idly by. They went in to rescue the commander. He had made his decision.

"Mr Perkins, set course for Zantor Prime. Lieutenant Brook." He looked at her, his face full of steely determination. "Battle stations."

* * *

Claire, Faye and Lisa sat along one side of the table, with Horton sitting facing them, a smug grin on his disgusting face. On the table in front of them sat three hand phasers and a tricorder that had been taken off of them during their capture.

"Well ladies, would you care to explain why three associates of a Ferengi ship merchant have been found with Starfleet issue phasers?" The three remained silent. "Or perhaps why you were trying to access my private files?" Still none of them said anything. "No matter. I've received word that my employer is coming to deal with you personally." He turned around to speak to the guard. At that moment, Claire lunged forward and grabbed one of the phasers off the table. As the guard drew his own weapon, Claire rolled to her right and stunned him, before pointing the phaser at Horton.

"Sorry," she said, shrugging her shoulders before firing. The hotel manager slumped forward over the table.

"You might have warned us you were going to do that!" said Lisa.

"You're complaining?" replied Claire. When neither of the others said anything, she nodded. "Thought not. Let's get out of here. Undoubtedly, Mr Churchill is speeding to our rescue, and we don't want to keep him waiting."

"But you ordered him back to Starfleet if we didn't contact him," said Lisa.

"Unfortunately, he's seen a few too many films where the subordinates disobey the commanders and rescue them anyway. Come on."

* * *

The three of them exited the elevator on the ground floor but, instead of moving towards the exit, went instead to a computer terminal. Claire sat down and keyed in the start command, bringing up the main public database screen.

"Shouldn't we be getting out of here?" said Faye.

"Omag said that the two ships were transported here on barges. All commercial ships have to log a flight plan, which is considered public information in this sector. If I can get in, we should be able to find out where they were delivered. Keep an eye out." They all fell silent as Claire began navigating her way through various public directories until she got to those of the Ministry of Transport. There, logged in, were commercial flight plans going back 20 years. Somewhere in here should be the information they were looking for. If only she could find it.

"Claire," said Lisa. Claire turned, to see the elevator doors opening, and a squad of guards from the casino emerge and start to look around.

"Damn it," said Claire as one of the guards spotted them, and started barrelling across the entrance hall. Claire and Lisa both pulled out their phasers and carefully took aim before downing two of the guards. Before she fired again though, Claire noticed Faye sitting at the terminal with her tricorder. Before she could ask, a shot zipped past her head and caused part of the wall to explode.

"Come on," shouted Faye, who had pulled out her own phaser and joined the fray. She led them to the main entrance and out into the street, where they disappeared into the crowd.

* * *

The Independence had entered orbit of Zantor Prime to be immediately confronted by the Mavona Bird-of-Prey and the Hideki fighter.

"The Romulan ship is hailing us. They want to know why we're here."

"No response. See if you can contact the captain." As soon as Churchill had finished speaking, the entire ship shook.

"The Romulan ship has just fired on us. No damage," said Brook, before the ship shook again.

"If they do that one more time..." said Churchill through clenched teeth. The Independence shook for a third time. "Lock phasers onto their weapons. Fire at will." Both the upper and lower forward phasers fired at the Romulan ship, hitting its forward disruptor emplacement.

"Direct hit on their forward disruptors," reported Brook. "They are maintaining fire. The Cardassian vessel is also firing." This was precisely what Churchill wanted to avoid, although in retrospect it seemed unlikely that he would. One of the major design flaws of the Constitution class was its lack of rearward firing torpedoes. Photon torpedoes took longer to arm than phasers - had the Independence had rearward tubes, Churchill could have swung the ship around, using the time it took to accomplish this to arm them and target the Hideki. As it was, he would now have to divide his phaser fire, halving the energy output he could throw at each ship.

"Hold on to something," said Churchill to no one in particular. "It's going to be a bumpy ride."

* * *

Claire, Faye and Lisa watched from an alley as the guards came down the front steps and piled into several ground vehicles which sped off in different directions.

"That's a plus," said Faye as the last vehicle disappeared around the street corner. They began checking in different directions, ensuring that there were no guards before emerging into the street. It was unfortunate that, just at that moment, Horton led a second group of guards out of the building. Spotting them, he and the guards sprinted down the steps and pursued them back along the alley.

"I hate to put a dampener on things," said Lisa, " but this is a dead end."

"Thank you for that observation," said Claire as they came to a halt. Taking cover, they pulled out their phasers and began shooting at the first guards to come round the corner.

"Churchill to Richards." Churchill's voice came as a complete surprise.

"Mr Churchill, you have no idea how glad we are to hear your voice."

"I'm afraid you may be less pleased when you hear what I have to tell you. We seem to be in a spot of bother. It might take a while to get you aboard."

"As soon as you can Mr Churchill," said Claire, ducking as a phaser bolt from one of the guards hit the wall above her head. "We're not going anywhere."

"Aye Captain."

* * *

"So, what's the plan?" asked Brook as the bridge shook again.

"Divert as much power as possible to the forward shields," replied Churchill. "Then orient the ship to ensure the stern is not being attacked."

"What'll that do?"

"Allow me to lower the aft shields and beam up the Captain." As Perkins at the helm began following Churchill's instructions, Churchill turned to Brook. "Arm the photon torpedoes and lock them on to the nearest target." This would allow the Independence to use full power phasers on a single target. The ship had swung into its new position.

"Torpedoes locked."

"Fire!"

The two launchers at the base of the gooseneck each spat out a golden ball - a pair of photon torpedoes streaking at high speed towards their target, the Romulan Bird-of-Prey. Both clattered against the ship's shields, causing them to flare for a second. Meanwhile, the starboard phaser banks on the upper and lower saucer were finding their own target, the Cardassian Hideki, which was shuddering with each impact. However, both were giving as good as they got, and the Independence was now in serious danger of sustaining structural damage, so much had the ship's own shields to take.

"Transporter room, lock on to the Captain and the others," Churchill shouted down the comm channel. He turned to Brook. "Lower aft shields."

* * *

The number of stunned guards was steadily increasing. However, Faye, Claire and Lisa were becoming increasingly hard pressed as more guards reinforced the ones that were there.

"This is becoming an increasingly boring situation," said Faye as she fired again.

"No kidding," replied Claire. "Oh oh." She had just noticed a guard moving to the front of the group carrying what appeared to be an Isomagnetic Disintegrator on his shoulder. Before any of them could get a shot off, the man had lined up the weapon and fired just over their heads. As the wall collapsed on top of them, they all ducked... ...And found themselves in the transporter room.

"Welcome aboard Captain," said Chief Rutherford at the console. "Bridge, we have them."

"Good news Chief. Well done. Captain, can you please come to the bridge."

"We're on our way Mr Churchill," replied Claire. "Thank you Chief."

* * *

"Status report?" said Claire as the three of them walked onto the bridge.

"We have engaged one Romulan Mavona class and one Cardassian Hideki class vessel, both at close range. Shields are holding, but they won't for much longer," replied Churchill. Claire moved down to the front console.

"Lisa, find us a shady spot."

* * *

Captain Gee watched as the Constitution class vessel turned and began moving away from the planet at impulse.

"They are escaping. Fire all weapons!" Bonecrusher nodded, before tying the Santa Maria's entire weapons array into a single console function, which he then pressed, causing the Hideki class vessel's disruptor cannons, spiral wave disruptor and photon torpedoes to lance their way through space to the escaping starship.

"Sir, their shields are down!"

"Fire," said Captain Gee with a cruel smile. He watched as a torpedo sped towards the fleeing ship. A phaser beam lanced out from its stern, in a vain attempt to hit the torpedo, but he knew that would be useless; it would take a crack shot to be able to hit a single photon torpedo in flight. There was an explosion, which overloaded the screen for a split second. When the interference cleared, the space ahead was empty.

"Excellent."

* * *

"Did they manage to find anything important?" asked Mr Big as he sat at the manager's desk in the Rock Garden.

"No sir," said Horton, standing on the other side of the desk.

"Nevertheless, they did manage to escape, and use a public terminal. Incidentally, I'll be petitioning the Legislative Council to change their rules over what can be put on the public database. You also allowed guards to be seen on the street, which I specifically ordered not to happen." Horton hung his head.

"My sincerest apologies sir." At this point, Captain Gee, who had been lounging on the sofa, casually flicking dirt off his boots with his d'k tahg, jumped up.

"Senor," he said, "what good are apologies to me? My ship needs repair and I am losing money all the while it is laid up."

"Indeed. Well firstly Captain, you have my humblest apologies. I hope that 100 bars of latinum will be sufficient recompense for any lost earnings. I also hope that you will accept the offer of my shipyard facilities at Station One for any repairs to your ship. Free of charge of course. Finally, I would ask that, during the period your ship is being repaired, you and your crew will consider yourselves to be my guests." Captain Gee nodded at this.

"There is just one more thing," he said.

"Name it."

"Him." He pointed at Horton. "Let me punish him for his incompetence." Horton's eyes widened in panic.

"Well...I was planning to punish him myself. But, why not. All I ask is that you keep him alive. I have a pair of Trandol lizards that require feeding." Captain Gee waved to his two men, who grabbed Horton by the arms and dragged him from the room. "Captain Gee," said Mr Big, as the pirate was about to leave the room. "Once again, you have my thanks." The pirate said nothing, merely nodding as he exited the office.

* * *

Captain Gee left his quarters feeling refreshed. He had showered and changed his clothes before sitting down to a well- earned meal of heavily salted hasperat and stir-fried vegetables. Having secured his belt, attached to which were his phaser, d'k tahg and agonizer, he was now strolling to the bridge.

"Ah, Mr Bonecrusher," he said as he passed his security chief. "Things are well?"

"I was just going in to check skipper," replied Bonecrusher, who entered one of the doors. As soon as they opened, an agonized scream emerged. Stood there, in a small alcove cut off from the rest of the room, bathed in a sinister red light, was Horton. It was from him that the screams were coming.

"How long were you planning to keep him in there?" asked Captain Gee. "Remember, our employer wants him alive."

"Trust me skipper," replied Bonecrusher. "I'll make sure he's still alive." He gave Captain Gee an evil grin before turning back to the agony booth. Captain Gee then turned and exited the room, continuing on his way to the bridge. He entered the command area to find it fully manned, which was unusual when the ship was in orbit. Smedley, his first mate, had his eyes pressed up to the tactical viewer attached to the captain's chair.

"Mr Smedley, I assume something is wrong. What is it?" Captain Gee liked Smedley, because he got straight to the point. There was nothing exceptional about him - he was as skilled in the tasks he was given as any of the other senior hands. But, unlike the others, Smedley refused to massage the captain's ego while he carried them out. This made him an able and trustworthy lieutenant, because he would always offer his own opinion, and not one he thought the captain wanted to hear.

"Our sensor beacon in the Negratus system has picked up something. We're decoding the data now." Smedley rose from the captain's chair, allowing Captain Gee into his customary position. Smedley meanwhile went to the duplicate viewer at the tactical station.

"Mr Smedley, is that what I think it is?"

"Yes sir. It should be here in about four hours."

"Then we'd better not be. It's one thing taking on an obsolete vessel when you have help. It's quite another taking on a modern starship on your own. Open a channel to the surface."

* * *

Mr Big sat back at the desk, digesting the conversation he had just had with Captain Gee. According to the pirate's own sensor beacon, a Federation Steamrunner class starship was less than four hours away from Zantor Prime. Owing to the many arrest warrants Captain Gee had collected from various Federation worlds, he would have to leave before the starship was in sensor range. Mr Big was forced to agree - the Steamrunner was a modern starship, and would have been a match for the Devora and Captain Gee's vessel even if they hadn't suffered damage. So, Mr Big had given the pirate coordinates where he could rendezvous with Mr Ell aboard the Friendship, from where he could then be escorted to Station One. The Devora, which had suffered significant damage, was on its way at low warp back to Station One under cloak for repairs. This left him stranded on Zantor Prime until Mr Aitch returned with the Freedom - when Mr Big had arrived to discover the three females missing, he had sent the Freedom back to Station One so Mr Aitch could oversee final preparations. Now though, he couldn't contact Station One, lest the signal be intercepted by the starship. Speaking of which...he turned his mind to the approaching Federation vessel. Tow of them turning up here in the space of three days was too much of a coincidence for his liking. Could it be that the Federation had discovered something? The ship thefts were surely too far apart, in terms of both time and distance, to be connected to each other. And the Freedom and Friendship were no-where near either the Klingon or Cardassian yards. And yet, he couldn't shake the nagging feeling that something was about to go horribly wrong.