Return to Moria: Prepare for War

Captain Devore sat in the command chair pulling the Gamma shift. It had been a long time and the Bridge was fairly deserted. 03:00 was a time that little usually happened, and this actually gave him a chance to catch up on his reports. Cadet McCaffee was at the helm. It was figured that he should also put in some time on Gamma shift. Even though he was the Admiral's son or the Captain's son, depending how you wanted to look at it, he was still a member of the crew and obligated to the rights and heart aches of it.

Ops was being manned by Ensign Gordon, who herself has been on Gamma shift for some time. She was used to what she had to do and did a good job. Devore was pleased to have such a valued member of the Leviathan family. Devore smiled as he looked at the back of her head.

"Lieutenant Gordon. Set a course correction 001 mark 2." He said with a devious smile.

"Sir.. we are at 001 mar........ did you say Lieutenant, Captain ?" Gordon said puzzled as she spun her chair around. Devore was all ready behind her which caught her off guard.

"Yes Janet. You have proven yourself extraordinary and quite an Ops officer therefore as a lowly Ensign, I think that you get the garbage of command. As a Lieutenant junior grade though you may gain a bit more respect." Devore said pinning the black pip to her collar.

"Thank you sir."

"Computer." The computer did its familiar beep. "Effective Stardate 4121.03 Ensign Janet Gordon is promoted to the rank of Lieutenant Junior Grade with all the rights and privileges thereof and may God have mercy on your soul."

<Promotion recorded.> The computer responded.

"So as you were saying Lieutenant ?" Devore said as he sat down.

"Nothing sir ?" She said with a smile facing forward. Her chest heaved out with tremendous pride.

"Um Captain may I ask you something ?" Brayden asked.

"Go ahead son." Devore said. Brayden smiled.

"Why do you do your promotions so unorthodox ?"

"Well Brayden each crewmember is unique. I want them to maintain their individuality therefore by providing a 'promotion ceremony' tuned to their specific personality it makes them feel better about the rank. Also I hate formality. When it comes time for promotions then I like to get them to the crewmember as soon as possible."

"Okay I understand." Brayden said frowning.

"Good, because I don't !" Devore said with a smile.

The skeleton crew laughed as the Captain picked up a Padd and began to read. The Ronin was closely behind. They could not wait for the Proletarians any longer. They had waited for some time and Williams for all they knew were dead, but until they have final confirmation, a rescue attempt must be made. The Padds data was the battle plan the Major Phanan and Commander T'Kul had derived it was simple, a frontal attack with the Leviathan providing an aerial bombardment with the Ronin providing a close air support. If the Proletarians made they would make a ground force.

He sat there and pondered over every detail of the plan. Fortunately it was sound and ready to go. Now the matter at hand was that of these murders. Taylor hadn't yet given him the report he needed, but hopefully they were going to be solved soon. His blood pressure began to rise as he pondered the fact that a member of his crew was committing such atrocities. They were a family and as such should be responsible for one another not killing them.

"Captain !" A female's voice came from the turbolift. It was Tyra. She staggered on the Bridge.

"Tyra !" Devore said darting up to grab her before she fell.

"Captain. Something has happened to Teryek." She said softly

"What happened ?"

"He's dead Captain I can not feed and I am feeling weak. I need nourishment."

Devore tapped his combadge. "Devore to Doctor Katts."

[Yes Captain] A groggy voice responded.

"Lyn. I have a medical emergency on the Bridge STAT."

Suddenly there was an urgency in her voice. [On my way Captain.]

"Hold on Tyra all will be fine." Devore said as he held her in his arm.

"Find out what happened to him, please !" Tyra pleaded.

"We will do what we can."

"Thank you, Captain." Tyra said as she passed out.

The turbolift doors opened and Lyn in civilian attire rushed on the Bridge. Her medical tricorder was out scanning the unconscious lieutenant.

"Captain. She is in metabolic shock. I need to her her to sick bay." She tapped her combadge. "Two to beam directly to sickbay." The two suddenly dematerialised.

"Lieutenant Dakul report to the Bridge." Devore said as he tapped his combadge.

Nothing.

"Lieutenant Dakul please respond."

No answer.

"Computer Locate Lieutenant Dakul."

<Lieutenant Dakul is in his quarters.>

[Yes Captain] An out of breath voice came from the other end.

"Lieutenant. I need you to the Bridge now and bring Ensign Taylor."

[Sir it is 04:00 c.........]

"I am aware of the time Lieutenant. I want to see you on the Bridge in fifteen minutes with Ensign Taylor understood?"

[Aye sir.]

"Good Devore out."

Lieutenant Dakul and Ensign Mathews exited the turbolift unto the Bridge. The Bridge had a few officers as noticed by the weary Cardassian and he wondered why Captain Devore wanted to see him so early. It was only 05:30 and his shift didn't start for another hour, but it didn't matter.

"Lieutenant Gordon. Notify me once we come within 500 million kilometres of Moira." Devore said as he got up and pulled down his tunic. "Mr. Dakul... Mr. Mathews, follow me."

Captain Devore walked briskly into his ready room followed by the two officers. As they entered, Devore sat down in his chair as the two stood at attention. He looked up at them, steepling his fingers.

"Ensign Mathews. What is the status on these incidents on board the Leviathan ?" Devore said after a dissettling moment.

Mathews swallowed hard as Devore's eyes pierced through to his soul. "Captain at this time I have nothing to offer. However I have some suspects. Right now I am not at liberty to disclose too much."

"Ensign. I am aware of security protocol, but I need to know what is going on !"

"With all due respect sir, protocol is established to aid the investigator or investigators in the findings. By disclosing such information can....."

"Listen Ensign !" Devore said shooting forward in his chair. "I know what you are saying and I want an answer. I have just lost three members of my crew and now a fourth is not doing well because of it. I want to know what is going on and I want to know now."

"I am sorry sir."

"Ensign. I appreciate your integrity, but I demand to know what is going on."

"Sorry."

Devore looked at Mathews for a moment. It was almost as if Devore was going to kill him with his glaze. "Ensign Mathews. You are dismissed."

Mathews turned and left. As he passed the doors, he slouched against the wall just to the right of them.

*Phew !. I can't believe I just did that. I need to get to the bottom of this now !*

Inside the ready room, the attention was now directed to Dakul who stood there witnessing this short but intense exchange. An Ensign stood up to the ship's Captain unbelievable.

"Eran. Sit down." Devore said, his tone was now a lot more softer. "Aye sir."

"Eran, you have been on board since DS9 and I have noticed that you have been having a time trying to adjust to the fact that you are one of a kind. On top of it you are also hated by a lot of the crew."

"Yes sir. It is true. A lot of the crew cannot seem to get past the Cardassian-ness of me and get to know me especially Bajorans." Dakul said.

"Can you blame them ? After all you killed a lot of them." Devore said grimacing. He realized what he said and it was wrong. "I mean your people. What about Commander MacLeod ? How do you feel about him ? After all it was his people that decimated large numbers of Cardassian communities and cities."

"I see your point Captain" Dakul said casting his eyes to the ground. "But still shouldn't I be able to get a little more respect then what I have been getting ?"

Devore spun around in his chair with his back now facing Dakul. Without turning around he said, "Eran. This may be against my better judgement, but I think that your record is pretty impressive. I think that you can possibly demand a bit more respect if you had a position that warranted it."

"Sir ?"

"Lieutenant. I hereby am assigning you as Chief of Security. You work with Major Phanan in regards to planet side operations, but aboard ship that is your job. Hopefully as my chief of security you may be able to demand the respect and even get it willingly."

Rarely has Devore seen a Cardassian smile, as a matter of fact since the Dominion War he hasn't seen too many Cardassians anyway. He returned the smile. "Okay Lieutenant you first order of business is this. Lieutenant Tyra is a Valandran, very unique. She is like what my people call a mythical vampire. Well her 'food' was killed last night and she now needs to find some nourishment. I need you to keep an eye on her. That's it just an eye. She is free to move about, but you need to watch over her."

"Yes sir. Where is she now ?"

"She was taken to sick bay about an hour ago.. I will ch......"

[Captain. We are approaching Moira.] Gordan interrupted.

"Very well." Devore said as he rose from his chair.

Devore walked on the Bridge and saw the familiar planet. From this distance it was quite beautiful, but as discovered it was quite deadly. Many people have died all ready at this planet, but Devore was not about to leave a member of his crew, captured by the hostile Zeratul brood.

"Brayden. Slow to one half impulse. Tac.. make sure the refractive shielding is online."

"Aye sir." The tactical officer acknowledged. "Refractive shielding is operational."

"Good."

"Captain." The tactical officer said sheepishly.

"Yes ?"

"Sir. From the planet surface I am detecting hundreds of objects heading into space."

"On screen." The tactical officer complied and filling the view screen was an armada of m'lisks, Overlords, and octupi.

It looked like a swarm of bees leaving the hive as the conglomerate of creatures headed towards the Leviathan. Devore looked at the viewscreen. His hands began to sweat as the flapping wings of the m'lisks rose up and down. "What is their heading ?"

"They are on an intercept course."

"I don't like this. Red alert raise shields. All hands to your posts."

Immediately the klaxons sounded. The lights turned low and the mainframe computer redirected it secondary systems to the primary ones. "Charge the phaser array, and load quantum torpedoes maximum spread."

"Aye sir."

"Range to the planet ?"

"Three hundred-twenty five million kilometres."

Devore drummed his fingers.

"Marcus..." A familiar but unwelcome voice said from behind. It was 'Q'. "I told you before, that these creatures are more resilient than the Borg. They will destroy this ship and all aboard, but I can save you."

"'Q'. Leave me alone. Can't you see I am a little busy right now ?" Devore said spinning his chair to face her.

"They will destroy effortlessly, but I can save you all you have to do is join me."

"'Q'..." Devore said standing up getting into her face. "I wouldn't be with you if you were the only female in the galaxy. Even if I wasn't married, I still wouldn't."

"But because you are...."

"I still wouldn't."

Her eyes began to blaze with anger. Her temper flared. "You will be sorry. I will not ask you again."

"Good."

"Oh and by the way, forget about getting home. You might as well fight the Zertul and die."

"Get off my ship !"

"Only because I wish to." She said clapping her hands together. 'Q' disappeared.

With 'Q' now gone he put his attention where it was supposed to be, the on coming battle between the crew of the Leviathan and the Zeratul Brood.

"Captain, whats going on ?" Came a voice from behind. It was Commander Soliel. He took his seat to the Captain's side. The Bridge crew followed the Commander and took their posts. Lieutenant MacLeod "Mac" took his post at Ops and the newly promoted Lieutenant Gordan took a secondary Ops position. Shale came on board and went to the helm but instead of taking it, stood just behind of Brayden.

It was time the Brayden put in some more combat experience. Ensign Grafton took over Tactical as Dakul assumed his position to the left. Rashad ran on the Bridge and took the empty seat to the Captain left. Commander Devore sat just next to Rashad. The entire Bridge were now in their positions working furiously to the coming brood.

"Status ?" Captain Devore yelled noticing the Brood coming everso close.

"All weapons charged and ready. Refractive shielding at 100%. Lieutenant Taline reports all is ready," Soliel said.

"Captain. Major Phanan and his troops are in the holodeck training." Mac informed the Captain

"Okay fine. I think that we may need to help our beloved leather necks this time. Lieutenant Dakul. Prepare a security team of about twelve people." Devore said.

"Aye sir."

Devore tapped his combadge. " Devore to Major Phanan."

[Major Phanan here.]

"Major. Please make your way to the Bridge immediately."

[Aye Captain, on my way.]

*God help us !*