Renegades - Civil War Chapter Forty-Two

The gateway between the Alpha and Gamma Quadrants opened, and the U.S.S. Pinafore, along with the DS9 runabouts, had arrived at the other side of the galaxy.
    “Stay alert everyone.” Spalding ordered. “We could be attacked at any moment.”
    Spalding was right. Before they knew it two Jem’Hadar ships were upon them, attacking them with everything they had. The Pinafore was the first to take a hit, but they were able to carry on. Then the Ganges, piloted by Dax, O’Brien and Odo took a hit. O’Brien was able to get off a phaser blast at the Jem’Hadar ship, damaging it’s engines. Another blast soon saw it blown into a thousand pieces.
    “Chief, are you alright?” Spalding shouted into his communicator.
    “My port nacelle sustained a hit. I don’t know if we’ll be any more good in this fight!”
    There was another blast as Kira took care of the other Jem’Hadar ship.
    “Very well.” said Spalding. “We’ve located Commander Sisko’s runabout. You rendezvous with that. We’ll try and hold them off as long as we can!”
    The Ganges then broke off from the formation and headed in the direction of Sisko’s runabout.
    On board Nog was getting impatient.
    “How about flying this thing at warp now?”
    “Are you kidding?” said Jake. “I’m having enough trouble flying this thing at standard orbit speed!”
    Then a broad smile appeared on his face as his communicator sounded.
    “Ganges to Sisko!”
    The celebrations began. They had finally been rescued.
    “Chief! It’s me! Jake Sisko! Am I glad you’re here!”
    “It’s alright Jake! I’ll beam over!”
    Handing the controls to Dax and Odo O’Brien beamed over where he was greeted by a grateful Jake. O’Brien then set about trying to repair the damage that had been done. Shortly afterwards he contacted the Pinafore.
    “All the weapons are down Captain. This thing won’t be much good in a fight. I’m going on ahead to look for Commander Sisko and Quark.”
    “Understood Chief. We’ll hold them off as long as possible.”
    And as O’Brien steered the runabout in the direction of the planet three more Jem’Hadar warships appeared in the distance.

Renegades - Civil War Chapter Forty-One

    Kate Pulaski looked out of the observation port in the Ops Room of Pegasus as two ships, the U.S.S. Flying Scotsman and the much larger Liberator approached the station. She hoped that all aboard the Scotsman were safe and well. A short time later Plato joined her.
    “I have jus received a transmission from Captain Pendragon. Everyone is safe. It appears the Federation thinks both ships were destroyed.”
    Pulaski’s gaze was fixed on the alien Liberator vessel.
    “Will you look at the size of that thing!” she said. “The only thing that comes near to that size is a Galaxy-class ship.”
    “I have been told that an Imperial Star Destroyer is much larger than a Galaxy-class vessel.” Plato noted.
    Later Pulaski and Plato arrived at the airlock where Pendragon and Magus disembarked. Seconds later Blake, Avon and Jenna teleported over from the Liberator.
    “Please excuse our method of transportation.” Blake said. “There was no way the Liberator could have docked with your station.”
    After the introductions Magus laid out his plans.
    “I would like to call a meeting of all the senior staff here, including the ambassadors.”
    “What about the Council?” Pendragon asked.
    “Although this concerns them there is nothing they can do in this situation. Their interests can be represented by Bilbo.”
    And so it was. The crews of the Pegasus, the Liberator and the Flying Scotsman met in the main observation lounge of the station.

Renegades - Civil War Chapter Forty

    For what had seemed like hours Jake and Nog had wandered around the forest, trying to find the location of Sisko and Quark. Jake moved the tri-corder in front of him, trying to look as if he knew how to operate it. Nog, however, had his doubts.
    “Are you sure you know how to use that thing?” he asked.
    “I think so.” Jake replied. “But so far I haven’t managed to pick up anything!”
    Nog finally lost his cool.
    “This is useless!” he snapped. “We’ve been wandering about all night and we still haven’t found them! Let’s go back to the runabout!”
    Then a smile appeared on Jake’s face.
    “I think I’ve found something! Two hundred metres ahead of us!”
    Excited, the two of them moved forward until they came to the edge of a clearing. Jake had to hold Nog back when he saw movement.
    “What are they?” Nog whispered.
    “I don’t know, and I’m not going down there to ask! They’ve probably got Dad and Quark, which means there’s nothing we can do!”
    “Which means we’ve got to get back to the runabout!”
    For once Jake agreed with his Ferengi friend. Getting to their feet they moved backwards until they were out of earshot of the aliens. Jake then activated his communicator.
    “Computer, this is Jake Sisko. Two to beam up.”
    Seconds later they were back aboard the runabout. Now, so they thought, came the easy part. Jake seated himself in the seat normally occupied by the pilot. He looked around, trying to work out what button did what. It wasn’t as easy as it looked.
    “Don’t you know how to work this thing?” Nog asked impatiently.
    “Computer, set a course for the wormhole!”
    “Course laid in. Please enter the command codes.”
    The slight smiled that had appeared on Jake’s face vanished as quickly as it had appeared.
    “Wait a minute!” he said, the smile re-appearing. “The relays! Chief O’Brien showed me how to dismantle them! If we can disable the command codes we can fly the runabout manually!”
    Getting to his feet Jake walked over to the main relay box. He kneeled down and took off the box’s cover. Nog soon joined him and looked confused when he saw all of the relay chips.
    “Which one is it?” he asked.
    Jake reached forward, going to grab hold of one of the chips.
    “This one, I think!”
    Jake pulled the chip out, and suddenly the alarm sounded.
    “Warning! Warp core containment field failure! Collapse in ten seconds…”
    “Put it back!” Nog screamed. “Put it back!”
    Panic set in the younger Sisko until Nog grabbed the chip and put it back in it’s rightful place.
    “I thought you said you knew how to work these things!” Nog screamed.
    “I didn’t say that!” Jake replied. “But the chip to disable the command codes must be in here somewhere!”

Renegades - Civil War Chapter Thirty-Nine

    The Babylon 5 council had been called into meeting, once again to discuss the growing tensions between the Centauri Republic and the Narn Empire. This time the dispute was over colonies, most notably colonies along their border.
    “The Narn colonies fall into Centauri space, according to the treaty that was signed between our two governments!” Mollari argued.
    “That is not so!” G’Kar replied. “Any interstellar chart will show that the Narn colonies are on the Narn side of the border!”
    Sheridan had had enough. In his short time in command of this station Mollari and G’Kar had been at each other’s throats constantly.
    “Gentlemen! I will not stand by and watch you two engage in a shouting match!”
    “Nor I!” Delenn added. “Surely there is some way we can resolve this matter!”
    “Not while G’Kar stays as stubborn as ever!” said Mollari.
    “Stubborn? Me?” said G’Kar.
    G’Kar was about to insult his Centauri counterpart when his communicator sounded. He was not happy with this interruption.
    “This is G’Kar!” he said, taking his communicator in hand.
    “This is Na’Toth. I am sorry to disturb you Ambassador, but there is an urgent transmission for you from Homeworld.”
    “Can’t it wait?”
    “No Ambassador. It is General T’Llar.”
    G’Kar turned to Sheridan and was about to adjourn the meeting with Sheridan adjourned the meeting. Shortly afterwards G’Kar arrived in his quarters, and Na’Toth left as the image of Narn General T’Llar appeared on the screen. G’Kar bowed his head.
    “What can I do for you General?” he asked.
    “I have just received a report from the rim, where the cruiser was sent following your report on the strange vessel.”
    “And?”
    “The cruiser was destroyed, apparently by the same sort of vessel you encountered.”
    “But there were nearly two thousand crew on that ship! How could this happen?”
    “That we do not know. All we can tell is that it muse have been a powerful vessel to have done this to a Narn war cruiser!”
    G’Kar’s head bowed low, the shock of the event hitting him.
    “Thank you General. I will contact you later.”
    The screen went blank. A few seconds later Na’Toth entered.
    “Captain Sheridan wants to know if you want the session to start again.”
    G’Kar paused for a moment before he gave his answer.
    “Tell Sheridan…tell him I wish to see no-one today.”
    Na’Toth could clearly see that G’Kar wanted to be left alone. She then made her exit and relayed G’Kar’s wish to Sheridan.

38 Years Ago Today

I was 12 years old when she passed away on this day in 1983. I'm 50 now, and even though it's been 38 years since she left us I've never stopped missing her.

The memories of that day and the days that followed are still quite vivid, as if they happened recently, and I've lost count of the number of times I've wondered about how my life would have been different if she'd lived.

Rest in peace Mum. x

Renegades - Civil War Chapter Thirty-Eight

    “Hello! Can anyone hear me?”
    The dulcet tones of Quark’s voice rang out through the cave he, Sisko and the alien woman had been taken. While the woman sat deep in thought Sisko watched as Quark continued to shout the roof down. Finally Sisko had had enough.
    “Quark! Will you stop that shouting?”
    “We can’t just sit here and do nothing!” the Ferengi replied. “We’ve got to do something!”
    “Well how about shutting up so I can hear myself think?” Sisko suggested.
    This time Quark did as he was told. It was then that Sisko leaned forward in an attempt to examine the force field that held the three of them prisoner.
    “This force field is very interesting. I’ve never seen anything like it before.”
    Sisko reached out and was about to touch the force field when suddenly the woman looked up.
    “I wouldn’t do that if I were you!”
    Sisko seemed surprised that the woman had broken her silence. Sisko pulled his hand away from the force field.
    “And why not?”
    “Because the force field will kill you. Everything the Jem’Hadar do is lethal!”
    “Finally she speaks!” said Quark.
    “Firstly.” said Sisko. “How about telling us your name?”
    “My name is Eris. I am from Kereal Prime.”
    “My name is Ben Sisko. He is Quark.”
    Sisko shook Eris by the hand. Quark declined to do this. Sisko then tried to get the information he needed.
    “Who, or what, are the Jem’Hadar?”
    “The Jem’Hadar are part of the Dominion. Whenever the Dominion have a problem they send in the Jem’Hadar. Kereal Prime was offered membership of the Dominion but refused, so they sent in the Jem’Hadar. We didn’t stand a chance. I only just managed to escape!”
    “The Ferengi have been negotiating with the Dominion for nearly a year now!” said Quark. “We’ve never heard of the Jem’Hadar!”
    “Then you have been lucky.” said Eris.
    “Can you tell us any more?” Sisko asked.
    “There isn’t much more to tell.” said Eris. “Except that we’ll be lucky to get out of here alive!”
    “Well that was encouraging!” said Quark.
    Sisko then looked annoyed as Quark once again started with his shouting.
    “Hello! Can anyone hear me?”

Renegades - Civil War Chapter Thirty-Seven

    Finally Jake had managed to calm Nog down. He was now merely annoyed with his uncle rather than furious. Shortly afterwards they arrived back at the camp site to find that something was wrong.
    “Where are they?” Nog asked.
    “I don’t know.” Jake replied. “But I know they wouldn’t have left us alone without a good reason!”
    They then began calling out for Quark and Sisko in the hope that they might suddenly appear. They did not.
    “We’ve got to do something!” said Jake.
    “We could wait for them in the runabout!”
    Jake stared at his Ferengi friend. He then looked around until he saw what he was looking for - a tri-corder. He picked it up and began to scan the surrounding area.
    “Come on! We’ve got to find them!”
    Reluctantly Nog followed.

Renegades - Civil War Chapter Thirty-Six

    “Erghh!! Pesky bugs!”
    Ever since they had arrived in the Gamma Quadrant and found a Class M world for their planetary survey Quark had done nothing but complain.
    “It seems like paradise!” Sisko commented. “Various forms of plant and insect life, and nothing more!”
    “You know what I see here?” said Quark. “Wastage.”
    “You would probably want to strip mine the entire planet!” replied Sisko.
    “And why not? It would turn a tidy profit, and I never liked nature much anyway!”
    “You could stay in the runabout!”
    “No way!”
    Quark then began to scratch his large lobe. Another of the planet’s insects had tried to use him as a meal again.
    “Nog, get me that ointment we brought along! If these bugs had their way they’d take huge chunks out of me!”
    Nog was not happy. What started out as a nice trip to the Gamma Quadrant was quickly becoming a trip with a very annoying uncle. But Nog knew he had no choice, so he got the ointment for his uncle.
    “That feels better!” Quark said, rubbing it into his ear.
    Sisko wished he was back on the station.

Renegades - Civil War Chapter Thirty-Five

    Tarses stood at the tactical station when he noticed his communications board flashing.
    “Captain, we are receiving a transmission from the alien vessel.”
    “On screen.” Sinclair ordered.
    “At last!” Travis muttered.
    All were surprised when the image of Blake and Magus appeared before them.
    “Magus, what are you doing there?” Sinclair asked.
    “Isn’t it obvious?” Travis snapped. “They’re working together to bring down the Federation!”
    Sinclair shot Travis an icy stare. He then turned his attention back to the view screen.
    “Ambassador, I have no wish to harm you, your crew or Blake and his crew. I urge you to surrender now.”
    “I’m afraid I cannot do that Captain.” Magus replied. “Something is happening within the Federation that threatens to destroy the work laid down two hundred years ago. I cannot stand by and watch it happen.”
    On board the Liberator nobody noticed Avon take his station and gain manual control of the weapon and defence systems. Suddenly the neutron blasters powered up as Avon fired them at the Lohengrin. Almost instantly the Liberator’s force wall went up. Blake rushed over to Avon’s station and returned control of the weapons to Zen.
    “Have you gone mad?” he said. “Their weapons were not armed. They were willing to talk!”
    “We were not going to surrender.” said Avon. “Therefore we would have had to fight. Better to get it over with than try to talk our way out of this.”
    “What is the damage to the Lohengrin Zen?” Blake asked.
    “The Lohengrin has sustained partial damage to the phaser banks and shield generators. Photo torpedo bays are inoperative.”
    “Then we have time to get out of here.” said Vila.
    “No.” said Blake. “What we have to do must be done now!”
    Blake turned to Magus.
    “I think you know what I’m taking about Doctor.”
    Magus did. He placed his hand on Blake’s temple and closed his eyes. The scan of Blake’s mind had begun.

Renegades - Civil War Chapter Thirty-Four

    On  the bridge of the Lohengrin Travis paced up and down in front of the main viewer as Sinclair sat calmly in the command chair.
    “We can’t just sit here and do nothing.” he said. “We must arm all of the weapons and attack both of them!”
    “We have no idea what the alien ship is capable of.” Sinclair replied. “As far as we know that ship could outgun us ten-to-one.”
    “I agree.” said Shelby. “We talk first.”
    “Are you crazy?” Travis shouted. “There are six wanted criminals on that alien ship, and who knows how many on that other ship. We must arm the weapons and attack them now!”
    This outburst brought Sinclair to his feet.
    “May I remind you, Commander, that I outrank you, and that you are here mainly in an advisory role.”
    Travis stared long and hard at Sinclair and then backed down, taking the chair normally occupied by Counsellor Alexander. Sinclair then turned his attention back to the image on the view screen, to the image of the alien vessel and the Oberth-class starship, with a nagging feeling that he knew who the old science ship belonged to.