Episode Four Teaser. In his home in San Francisco Shawn Gorman sat watching the display screen. It was great to be home, he thought to himself. After all he had seen in the past few months all he wanted to do was sit back and watch a movie. He listened to the display screen. "What, is you name?" "I am Author, King of the Brits." "What, is your quest?" "To find the Holy Grail." "What, is the maximum velocity of an unlaided swallow?" "What do you mean, an African or European swallow?" As if he expected it to happen, his door chimed. "UGH!" He shouted as he got out of his seat to pause the movie. He moved to the door talking to himself. "Can't I ever get through one damn movie without being interrupted. COME!" The doors opened to reveal a very beautiful woman. Her shoulder length blonde hair gleamed in the sun light. Her green eyes stared into his. Being winter, she wore her overcoat. Gorman stopped dead in his tracks. "April" He said in a somewhat high pitched voice. "Hello Shawn. Good to see you again." She paused waiting for a reply. "Did you forget to look me up when you got back in town?" "Um well uh no. It's just I thought.." Before he could finish his sentence she moved forward and kissed him. Gorman kept his eyes open in surprise. That was the last thing he expected. She ran her nails across the back of his neck giving him goose bumps. He shut his eyes and returned the kiss. Gorman could barely move. "I missed you." She said. "I missed you too." He replied as he rubbed his hands up and down her arms. Gorman stepped aside and motioned her into the living room. "Hmm, the living room huh?" She paused and looked around. "I have a better idea." She walked around the corner and Gorman followed. She took Gorman by the hand and moved them into the bedroom. She turned to him and removed her overcoat. She was not wearing anything underneath. Gorman was breathless. It was possible the only thing that could drag him away from his movie. Act 1 The roar of the crowd could have easily deafened Tarbis as he stepped onto the matte. His training had taught him how to tune out individuals and concentrate on the match. Even though he was a Romulan the crowd was more than behind him. They began to chant his name as the man over the intercom came on. "And now representing Star Fleet, the defending champion, Taaarrrbbbiissss!" His name echoed through the arena. The crowd stood to their feet. The matte felt cold to his bare feet. He was wearing his now famous Romulan ceremonial robe. No one was really sure what the black robe represented, but Tarbis knew and that was all that mattered. He crouched down and placed his fingertips on the matte. He pushed off slightly bringing his feet out before him. He was perfectly balanced on his finger tips, not even a slight movement could seen. The crowd was at an awe hush. "And his challenger." The man over the intercom shouted. "Representing the Klingon empire, Ku'Lagh!" The arena was filled with boo's as well as a few cheers. The Klingon walked onto the matte pounding himself on the chest. He was in full Klingon warrior armor with would weigh any normal human down, but this was a Klingon. He approached the center of the ring. As did Tarbis. The judged stepped between them mumbling a few words. Probably the rules. With his next word he quickly moved off the matte. "BEGIN!" The Klingon roared as he moved in a circle. Tarbis brought his hands up to chest level as he moved with the Klingon in a circle. The Klingon lunged forward fist first. Tarbis brought his hand up high catching the his fist. Tarbis stepped into his midsection and flipped the Klingon over his back. The Klingon was staring at the ceiling before he knew what happened. He jumped to his feet. Tarbis never changed his expression. Tarbis attacked next. He jumped in the air bringing his leg around in a circle. His foot caught the blind side of the Klingons face. He roared with pain but did not fall down. He tried to counter by grabbing towards Tarbis throat. Tarbis almost laughed out loud. he couldn't believe the Klingon would make such a stupid mistake, at least not in the championship match. Tarbis dropped down to one leg, bringing his fist up underneath the Klingons chin. The Klingon momentum all but ended the match. His jaw cracked in several pieces and he hit the matte hard. As quickly as it started the match was over. The crowd cheered with delight chanting Tarbis' name. "Tarbis! Tarbis! Tarbis!" The intercom could not be heard as Tarbis was announced as the winner. *** Michael Mirek stood outside the door of a very large two story house. He was shaking inside but did his best to hide it. He placed his duffel bag down on the side walk and with every once of strength he rang the bell. After a few moments he heard the word of a young woman. "Come" she said. The door to the house slid open and revealed a very lovely woman. She had long curly red hair down to the middle of her back. A very athletic body, which of course didn't go unnoticed to Mirek. Her beautiful light blue eyes widened when she saw the man standing at the door. "Michael!" She shouted as she ran to embrace him. His heart sank. He was so happy to see his wife again. He didn't want to let go of her. He held on taking in the aroma of her hair. Directly after he graduated the S.O. Academy they barely had time to spend one night together before he was shipped off to Gormans team. It had now been four months since they had seen each other. He let go of her and moved back. "It is so good to see you again." He said. "Get in here." She said rather roughly. She grabbed him by the shirt and pulled him inside. He looked around the house. It was exactly as he remembered it. She hadn't changed a thing. "Did you get my letter last month?" He asked. Of course he left out the part about him almost being vaporized on the Dominion ship. "I sure did." She answered. "Did everything turn out ok with Gorman and Jamerson." "You could say that." He replied, trying not to give too much information. "But I don't want to talk about that. I want to know what you've been doing lately. I thought about you every day." They moved to the living room and sat on the couch. She crossed her legs. "There isn't a whole lot to talk about. You know me." "Yeah, that's what I'm worried about." They both laughed. She stared into his eyes. "You haven't even kissed me yet." He smiled and leaned over. Her kiss was exactly as he remembered. Mirek heard the sounds of someone behind him. He stood to his feet as the door to the bedroom opened. A man walked out of the room with a towel wrapped around his waist. He had obviously just gotten out of the shower. Mireks heart skipped several beets as his adrenaline started to kick in. His wife stood. The man didn't notice Mirek at first. "Hey Naomi.." The man started to say, but stopped abruptly when he saw Mirek. Mirek looked at his wife in disgust, then looked back at the man with vengeance. Act 2 As Tess Allenby stepped into the bar every male head in the place turned to catch a glimpse. She walked slowly through the bar passing and smiling at men as she went. She was dressed to kill in a short black skirt and a dark blue blouse. Her long black hair made her stunning in the dark room. She took her seat at a bar stool and ordered a drink. She crossed her lags and turned her bar stool a little so she could look around the bar.A man that walked by tried desperately to look at Allenbies legs. He only attempted to trip over someone and fall face first in front of her. She grinned at him. He was so embarrassed. She was not there to pick up a guy, but she was there to meet one. She hadn't seen him for months now and was sure looking forward to seeing him again. When she arrived back in San Francisco she called him almost right away. They agreed to meet here. She had met Tony Stroud back at the Academy and was taken with him right away. Of course she didn't let on. So this made Tony work even harder to win her heart. She watched as people danced out on the floor. The crowded place was accented by all of the smoke that filled the room. She wasn't used to smelling smoke. Being on a ship had its privileges she thought to her self. She turned back as the bar tender placed her drink in front of her. She sipped it a little then heard a mans voice. "Hey gorgeous." She smiled then turned around, but it was not Tony. She sighed loudly in disgust. The man was horrible looking, dressed in a ripped uniform. It was obvious that he was a freighter pilot. "What's a pretty lady like you sitting all alone for." He said. She rolled her eyes and went back about her business. The man sat down next to her. "Oh come on don't act like that. I haven't seen in you in here before. Where ya from?" He asked. "Not interested." She said bluntly. "Oh really, what sector is that in?" It was a poor attempt at humor. "Would you please leave. I'm meeting someone." She asked rather nicely, considering she was getting annoyed. "Hey baby, I'm already here." He replied. "No need to look any further, your dream man is right here in front of you." He reached over and put his hand on her knee. "That's it." She said more to herself than she did the man. She threw her drink in the mans face. The man was stunned and embarrassed, but he was also enraged. He stood up, and with a smashing blow hit Allenby across the face. She hit the ground hard. The music stopped. Now she was pissed. *** Doran Lapel walked through the streets in a very deep thought. He really didn't mind staying on Earth. He was rarely homesick for Bajor considering he left at such a young age. The sun was starting to set and the temperature was dropping. He pulled the jacket he was wearing a little tighter. He was heading towards the one place in the city that he knew of which had a Bajoran temple. It was his only comfort these days. His thought wandered to his brother. The last images of his brother's face would forever be burned into his mind. He thought about how lonely he was. Normally Starfleet would send him to South Dakota to train new cadets in between missions, but for some reason they felt it necessary for him to take a vacation. "Curse them." He said, and then looked around to see if anyone listening. "Oops" He whispered. Lapel always tried to keep his distance from the rest of team during these down times. He knew they were his only family but he could never bring himself to open up to them. He watched people come in and out of restaurants holding hands and being intimate. He hadn't felt anything like that for someone in a very long time. He sighed. He could see the temple just ahead. There was a small commotion out side the front entrance but he did not pay it any attention. He reached the steps walking up to the door. As he entered the shrine he was taken back by the beauty. The last time he was here the place was being remolded. Little did he know they were going tobe so beautiful. He reached a spot that sooted his taste and kneeled down. He found himself lost in prayer almost right away, but it was about to take a different turn. Before he knew what was going on the window above him shattered. The window was only a foot or two off the ground and stood about six feet high. Lapel hit the ground covering the back of his neck. Several sharp pieces of glass found their way into his arm and back. An explosion came next. The blast came from the front entrance. The door crumbled like paper as it blew inward towards the temple breaking many Bajoran Icons. "Lets do it." A man shouted. Up to three men came rushing into the room each of them carrying a bag. They moved through out the structure placing what ever icons they could find into their bags. Lapel stood up watching them as the robbed him of his time with the prophets. He became overwhelmed with rage. That was the last thing anyone wanted to do. Act 3 The crowd never stooped roaring as Tarbis was escorted around the ring. "Tarbis!, Tarbis!, Tarbis!" Tarbis was proud and felt great. He loved martial arts, and contest like these were hard to come by these days. He held his head up high. He wasn't arrogant, just proud. The Klingon moaned as he rolled over on his side. He grabbed his jaw in pain. He looked around and noticed that he had been beaten. The bad thing was he was beaten by a Romulan. Tarbis saw a small glimmer a light come from the corner of his eye. He knew right away what it was. He waited a few seconds listening to the steps of the Klingon as he came running towards Tarbis' back with a blade in his hand. Tarbis stopped and concentrated on the Klingon. The crowd went from a loud roar to a dead calm. The judge looked at the crowd with confusion. At the last possible moment Tarbis pushed the judge to the side of the matte. The judge hit the ground and was stunned. Tarbis ducked and turned around catching the arm of the Klingon as the knife blade came crashing down. He turned the wrist of the Klingon causing him to flip. When he hit the floor the blade slipped out and went slidding across the floor. The Klingon slowly came to his feet and spun round to face Tarbis. Tarbis was ready for him in his traditional stance. The Klingon reached under his battle armor and revealed a disrupter type weapon. This caught Tarbis by surprise. Tarbis lunged forward before the Klingon could fire. He grabbed the arm of the Klingon turned his arm to the inside of his body. The next sound he heard stunned him. The Klingon let out a roar as the disrupter weapon went off and he was slowly vaporized before Tarbis' eyes. Tarbis didn't realize what had happened until it was too late. His training had taken over. *** "Wait Michael let me explain." Naomi shouted. Mirek was not a happy person. His heart sunk lower into his chest. He started to breathe very fast. The man standing in the door way was still silent. He wasn't sure what to say. Mirek started to walk toward the man. Naomi held her breath. "You must be Michael Mirek." The man said. "My name is David. I've heard allot about you." David walked forward and extended his hand. Mireks adrenaline got the better of him. He grabbed David by the hand. Instead of shaking it he spun around and threw the man across the room. The man came down on the table in the middle of the room. The table shattered. "No Michael!" Naomi shouted. Mirek picked David up off the table and punched him in the face. David flew back and slammed against the wall. Mirek jumped into the air. With a roundhouse kick David went crashing through the wall into the bedroom. Naomi ran to the communication system. Mirek stepped through the wall and looked down at David. David was covered in blood. David stood up but didn't know what to do. He held his hands up in front of him as if to say No More, but Mirek didn't care. He kicked the man in the face. David flew backwards and landed on the bed. Naomi ran into the room and started to hit Mirek. "You bastard!" She shouted. "He's my brother!" Mirek was stunned but didn't have time to reply. Four security guards beamed into the room. *** Mirek was being escorted down the hall of the security facility. He passed by cell after cell. He looked at the floor obviously embarrassed by what he had done. The security guards stopped him at his holding cell. The guard released the force field and pushed Mirek in. Mirek stepped in still looking at the floor. The force field was reengaged. He heard a voice from inside the cell. "Mirek?" Mirek looked up with surprise. "Tarbis? What the hell are you doing here." "I was just about to ask you the same thing." Act 4. Allenby stood up and held her hand across her face. Several men ran over in a rescue attempt, but she held her hand up telling them to stop. She whipped the blood off her lip and looked into the mans eyes. She stepped forward and grabbed him by the shirt pulling him inches from her face. "Never piss off a Special Ops officer." She whispered. The mans eyes widened. Before he could move she brought her knew up between his legs. He doubled over in pain as did most of the men in the bar. She brought her foot up and kicked him square in the face. She hit him so hard he did a black flip. After gaining his composure the man charged at her as if to tackle her. She simple moved out of the way. With a large THUD he hit head first into the support pole knocking him unconscious. Allenby figured it was over until she noticed he was not alone. Three other guys stood from their table an approached Allenby. The first guy took a swing at her. She ducked and caught his arm. Using his momentum she made him fly forward over the bar breaking several bottles of ale. Without turning around she threw a kick behind her hitting another man in the mid section. The man shot backwards like a cannon breaking the table he landed on. A man that was walking past the bar was nearly knocked down as the glass shattered before then. He was carrying a dozen roses and dropped them as he dove for cover. He was even more shocked to see the cause of the window breaking. A man came flying out of the window backwards. He hit the ground and was knocked out right away. Allenby stepped through the broken window to pick up the man. She wasn't done with him. "Tess?" The man that was knocked down said. "Oh hi Tony." She said calmly. Before she could do any more damage three security guards beamed in from all around. Tony stared with his mouth open as she was escorted away. *** Allenby stood out side the cell. After being attended by a Doctor she was immediately arrested. She walked into the cell and heard the force field reengaged. She looked at the bunk to her left. "Tarbis, Mirek." She said with surprise. "What the hell are..." "Don't ask" They both said in unison. *** One of the men noticed Lapel in the room. He pointed him out to one of his comrades. "You got a problem." The large man shouted. "What's a matter you don't like Breen?" Lapel ignored the man. Instead he walked towards them. All three of the men stopped what they were doing and put their bags down. Except for the Breen the other two men were human. "What are you doing?" Lapel asked, even though he didn't care about an answer. "What is it to you Bajoran?" The Breen shouted back. Lapel was too pissed to let him continue. He used one of the seats in the temple to propel himself into the air. He brought the heel of his foot down onto the Breens head. The man was knocked unconscious. One of his comrades revealed a very large blade, close to a meter long. He swung it at Lapel. Lapel jumped back letting the blade pass by. There was a loud clang as the blade found its way into a column. It could not be retrieved. Lapel moved forward before the man could do anything about it. He threw a chop block up to the mans face. His nose shattered killing him instantly. The other man, seeing both his comrades fall, ran out the door. There was no way he was going to deal Lapel. Lapel looked around the room. He picked up one of the bags and looked inside. He was then blinded by a bright light. "Don't move!" The Starfleet security officer yelled. "You're under arrest." Lapel sighed again. *** The security guard behind the desk looked as if he never smiled. "Please place your right hand on the pad." He ordered to Lapel. Lapel did so. A small red light could be seen as his hand was scanned. After a few moments all information on lapel appeared on the screen. "You are Commander Doran Lapel. First officer of the USS Shadow Horseman, engineering specialist for..." The man paused. "For the Special Operations task force." The man placed his head between his hands. "Not another one." The man said. Lapel was confused. "Put him in there with the others." The security guard ordered. Act 5 Shawn Gorman stepped into the living room with April by his side. The both sat on the couch. "What's that?" She asked him. She was motioning to the view screen with a frozen picture on it. "Oh, it's just a movie I was watching." "You and your dang movies." She said back. Gorman smiled. "Well this is a good one. I think you'll like it." He looked at her. "Computer resume playback." The computer made a noise as it was warming up to play. Just as the scene started to run again, the front door chimed. "I don't believe it!" Gorman shouted. He stood up and walked very quickly to the door. "SOMEONE BETTER BE DEAD!" He shouted as he pushed the button to open the door. On the other side of the door a young security officer was startled by Gorman. He stuttered as he tried to gain his composure. "S..S..Sir. Um.. I'm afraid I need you to come down to the holding cell." "What is Shawn?" April asked him from behind. "I don't know?" He replied. "May I ask why I need to go with you." "I'm sorry sir, but I will explain everything when we arrive." "Oh very well." Gorman said with a sigh. "April I will be back as soon as I can." He walked out and let the door shut. *** After the constable at the holding cell explained the situation to Captain Gorman, he was not a happy person. The very idea of his entire team being arrested. Boy this looked bad, he thought. He was being escorted down the hallway to where his team was being held. He was going over in his head what it was he was going to say. The constable stopped him. He then reached up and turned off the force field. Mirek who was lying on a bunk jumped to his feet. So did the rest of the crew when they noticed he was standing there. The constable turned and left. Gorman stepped inside. He looked around at each of them. No one could look Gorman in the eyes. Gorman thought about it for a moment and almost started laughing. Gorman shook his head and then read the pad he was holding. "Lieutenant Commander Tarbis." Tarbis stepped forward. "After further investigation they have come to the conclusion that you acted in self defense. The charges against you have been dropped Dismissed!" Tarbis didn't even breathe in Gormans direction. He hurried up and left the cell never looking back. "Commander Lapel." Lapel looked at Gorman. "You're in luck. They managed to capture the third individual involved in the robbery. He confessed to every thing including how you put the fear of the prophets into him." Lapel smiled a little. Gorman stepped forward. "You think this is funny mister. Do you know how this looks. The first officer of my task force arrested. I don't find it funny at all. Dismissed!" Lapel felt as small as an atom. He was gone before Gorman finished saying, "dismissed". As for the rest of you. He looked at Allenby and Mirek. Both of them still in their military salute. "Mr. Mirek. The charges against you has been dropped." Mirek let out the breath he was holding. "Yeah that's right, instead your wife is filing for a divorce." Mireks mouth dropped. He started to say something but Gorman interrupted. "Get the hell out of here!" Gorman shouted. Mirek ran. "Allenby" Gorman waited a minute until everyone was out of ear shot. "Do you know what I had to do to get the charges against you dropped? You put three men in the infirmary." Gorman waited for a reply but it did not come. "On my way over here I received our new orders. If it wasn't for that you would have to stand trial. An investigation proved that you were attacked first yes, but you did not bother calling security." Gorman stood a few inches in front of her face. "Never take the matters of a civilian into your own hands is that understood." "Yes SIR!" She shouted. "Now get out of here. We ship out in two days. I expect you to be ready." "Aye sir." Allenby left the cell. Gorman stopped a minute and looked around the cell going over all of this in his head. He smiled to himself. "Too funny." He said as he left the cell to prepare for the next mission. "Too funny."