Captain Watt sat in his ready room, deep in thought. Never before had he been ordered to attack a Federation starship, and never before, had he been ordered to kill a friend. Then, Magus entered.
“I sense something troubling you, Captain.” he said. “Could it be our new orders?”“It is indeed, our new orders.” Watt replied. “Our original orders were to apprehend Armand Theophilus, and rescue Mina Dones from the clutches of Count Dracula. Now I have been told to seek out the Lohengrin, and destroy here, along with my friend, and the only daughter of my oldest friend. Tell me, magus, could you look an old friend in the eye, and tell him that you murdered his daughter on the orders of an admiral?”
“Starfleet has a prime directive.” said Magus. “The Istari have something similar. We vowed never to take a mortal, innocent life. You have been asked to punish Mina Dones for the crimes of Armand Theophilus. I will do all in my power to see that you do not have to.”
Armand Theophilus stood in the science lab on the Lohengrin. The body of the Frankenstein monster lay on the table in front of him. Then, the door opened. The science officer, Lt. Quatermass, stood at the door. He was pushed in by Celsius.
“Well, Lieutenant.” said Theophilus. “You are one of the foremost scientific minds in Starfleet. Your knowledge of bio-chemistry is most impressive. If anyone can, you should be able to ressurect the Frankenstein monster.”
“I will not aid you in your destruction of innocent life.” said Quatermass.
Theophilus grabbed Quatermass by the throat.
“At this moment in time, your fellow officers are floating somewhere near the Star of Hope.” said Theophilus. “We can soon change our course, so that you can be reunited with them.”
Theophilus released his grip. He then turned toward Celsius.
“See that Mr. Quatermass stays in this lab. Make sure that he does not leave until life runs through the creature’s body.”
The engineering work on the Valkyrie continued at a reasonable pace. Larin continued to work closely with Lom. They continued to carry out their various tests.
Magus sat in his quarters, deep in touch. He was trying to come up with a plan to rescue the remaining crew of the Lohengrin. After a few minutes, he came up with what he thought was the perfect plan. He then made his way to the bridge.
“How long until we make contact with the Lohengrin?” he asked.
“Fourteen hours and nine minutes.” said Tompkins.
“I may have a plan to rescue those held hostage, Captain.” said Magus. “May I discuss it with your senior officers?”
The meeting took place. The plan was discussed. All agreed with Magus’ ideas.
Fourteen hours later, the Valkyrie entered the Serti-Alpha system. The Lohengrin entered from the opposite side some ten minutes later. They soon neared each other.
“The Lohengrin is now fifty thousand kilometres away.” said Amarus.
“Open hailing frequencies.” ordered Watt.
“Frequencies open.” said Amarus.
“This is Captain James Watt, of the U.S.S. Valkyrie.”
The image of Theophilus appeared on the viewer.
“And now the grandson seeks me.” he said. “It is nice that they keep it in the family.”
“Hand over your prisoners, and there will be no violence.” said Watt.
“No.” snapped Theophilus. “I will not hand them over unless you give to me something I want. The Eye of the Serpent!”
“The Eye of the Serpent is not aboard.” said Watt. “It never has been!”
“I am not stupid, Captain.” said Theophilus. “My scanners show that you do have the crystal in your possession. Give it to me, and I will release my prisoners.”
Sutek then approached Watt. Watt ordered for the sound to be cut.
“I have the Lohengrin’s access code.” said Sutek.
“Good.” said Watt. “You know what to do.”
The sound was restored.
“Do not try any foolish games with me, Captain.” said Theophilus. “I am five times more intelligent than you or any of your crew. Just hand over the Eye of the Serpent.”
“I keep telling you, Doctor, it’s not here!” said Watt. “If you were as clever as you say you are, you would realise that!”
Then, something happened on board the Lohengrin. The shields suddenly came down.
“Impossible!” shouted Theophilus. “How could do they do that?”
“The access code!” cried Dolcoon. “They found the access code to the ship’s shields!”
Just as the Lohengrin’s shields went down, an away team consisting of Magus, Pendragon, Amarus and Greenleaf beamed over to the Lohengrin from the Valkyrie. Theophilus and his crew mates were caught off guard. The first one to encounter the away team was Rezadon, the lizard. He tried to attack Greenleaf, but he was no match for the elf. He was thrown against a wall. Magus took care of Gilger, the humanoid lobster.
“Quickly!” shouted Pendragon. “The holding cells are this way!”
Pendragon lead the away team down the corridor. They stopped at a door. Pendragon pressed a button and the door opened. They entered the cell room, but what they first saw was not one of the prisoners, it was the near eight foot tall Frankenstein monster, with Droome standing behind him.
“The creature lives again!” sneered Droome. “The creature lives to destroy you all!”
The creature began to lurch toward the away team. Pendragon took out his phaser, and fired. It had no effect. Amarus and Greenleaf did the same. Again, no effect. Magus raised his hand, and fired a mystic bolt at the creature. Again, no effect.
“You are a fool, Magus.” said Droome. “The creature now feeds on twenty-fourth century energy, and twenty-fourth century wizardry!”
Droome raised his hand, and a mystic bolt ripped into Magus. He had not felt the likes of this for over two hundred years. HE had no idea that the renegade wizard was that powerful.
Amarus helped Magus to his feet.
“We’ve got to get out of here.” he said.
They ran out of the holding cells. Down the corridor, they were stopped again. This time, by Dracula.
“Once again we meet, Dr. Magus.” he said. “But this time, I have company!”
Dracula moved to one side. The young woman that was Mina Dones stepped out from behind him. But she was no longer Mina Dones. She was now the bride of Dracula.
“She is lost to you forever.” said Dracula. “She is now mine!”
A look of horror appeared on Magus’ face as Mina Dones walked up to him. Pendragon tugged Magus’ arm.
“Come on, Ambassador!” he cried. “We’ve failed. The plan didn’t work!”
Pendragon pulled Magus along. Until they came to an empty corridor, they were not safe. Pendragon activated his communicator.
“Pendragon to transporter room. Beam us back, now!”
Just as the transporter beam locked onto them, Rezadon, Dolcoon, Droome, Celsius and the Frankenstein creature entered the corridor. But it was too late.
Seconds later, they materialized in the transporter room. Watt was waiting for them.
“We failed, Captain.” said Magus. “Mina Dones is all but dead. She is Dracula’s now.”
“Do we still have access to their computer?” asked Watt.
Pendragon made a swift check.
“We do.” he replied.
“Then lock on to any survivors from the crew and beam them across. Then fire phasers at full intensity.”
“I suggest you route the phasers through the Eye of the Serpent.” said Magus. “That will end the menace of Theophilus and Celsius for good.”
Watt nodded. Lom set to work, altering the relays until all was ready.
Simultaneously phasers fired and transporters activated. Four figures appeared in the transporter, then one vanished just as the Lohengrin blew up.
“No survivors, Captain.” said Sutek.
Then Lom came in.
“We lozzt McCloud.” he said. “He appeared in the tranzzporter and then vanizzhed!”
Watt buried his head in his hands. Then another call came through.
“We have an anomaly on the transporter readings.” it said.
Lom and Watt rushed to the transporter. The engineer was frantically pressing buttons.
“I’ve done it.”
The shape of McCloud appeared in the transporter. He fell forwards.
“Is it over?” he asked.
“We’ve got them all.” he smiled.
McCloud lapsed into unconsciousness.
A few days later a message was received from Starfleet. It was four words long - “Return home. Well done.”
The End.
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