Salvation Is At Hand

Posted on 04/02/2012 @ 10:00am by Commander Ty'Reynyk & Commander Joseph Sisko
Edited on on 04/04/2012 @ 3:32am

Mission: Azimuth Horizon: Crusade - Chapter 4: Operation Horizon
Location: Azimuth Horizon sector 4
Timeline: 87172.01

All their eyes were closed.

A soft golden-reddish light played softly on their features, almost softening them all up as if they were but masks of wax. None even seemed to breathe as they all faced in the same direction, all behind the lone figure nearest to the wide transparencies, his own form and most of his features buried under a long hooded robe of Tholian silk reflecting the very hues and colors that bathed the small room.

This silent, frozen scene was replayed on every deck, in every room of the vessel floating among the stars, slowly cruising towards the still distant yet immense burning fire of the heavens blazing before her flat, wedge-shaped prow. The same scene was also replayed on every deck of every ship, much smaller and slower, that followed in the wake of the great fish-shaped golden-hued vessel leading them in solemn procession towards the heart of the fire.

And at the head of the leading starship, on the vast observation deck, the hooded figure's eyes fluttered; as if the light hurt his eyes despite his closed eyelids. or perhaps, what was making him stir came from within, not without.

The faint lines marking his short flat nose followed those of his furrowing brow, but the rest of his dark-hued, bearded face remained blank. The conflict then suddenly faded as soft footsteps came up from directly behind him. Another figure, tall, lean and more soflty curved under its more formal attire, came to kneel besides him, whispering softly without turning her spine-covered, reptilian head to the man.

"They come."

The man with obvious Bajoran and Human heritage just shook his head slowly with a small sigh escaping his pressed lips.

"Two ships," the reptilian-looking woman added still whispering. "one is old, under the command of a crafty but careless man; the other is the ship of the blasphemous crew that profanated our sanctum."

The man lifted his face to the far away firelight of the heavens but said nothing.

"The blessed ones on board the old ship have been disposed of; their martyrdom has already been aknowledged in our prayers. But a few might still be able to serve us... but I fear it might not be enough. There is one among the blasphemers... the darkness in his soul and the blood on his hands will try to reach you, to touch you..."

The hooded man nodded and sighed once more, head bowed. His voice was almost a mere sigh itself when he said:

"Do what must."

The spine-headed woman bowed; enough to hide the sudden gleam of fierce pleasure in her large slitted golden eyes. Then she rose and softly padded away from the assembly.

Once the door shut behind her, she took a brisk pace while opening a channel from a wrist communicator.

"Bridge; condition amber. Alert the escorts and prepare for profanation of our sacred exodus. Blood will fule the fire of salvation on this day. All be as Will the Prophet."

Her last words were echoed throughout the great battleship as it suddenly flared to combat readiness.

As she emerged from a turbolift to step on the long bridge, she went directly to the command chair that dominated the stratified levels of the command center, from her command position down to the oval-shaped viewing screen occupying the entire front part of the ovoid room. All around, a motley crew of people, wearing almost every known uniform in the Alpha and Beta quadrant, readied stations and systems a sa soft amber glow permeated the air.

"Status report."

"The caravan is bound to the Gates of Paradise at full impulse right behind us," reported one officer, this one a full-blooded Bajoran woman. "Convoy standard formation is steady, our escorts at securing points as per your orders, Lady Ty'Renick."

"Tactical report," then asked the reptilian woman called Ty'Renick.

"Two Starfleet vessels approaching sector," now answered a young Bolian male wearing a Starfleet cadet uniform with the Red Squadron sigil on it's collar. "Sensors identifies the largest as the USS Republic, refitted Excelsior class Lakota configuration."

"Captain Wyatt's ship," recognized Ty'Renick with a smirk. "I know him and even more his ship; he'll be no match for us."

"The other is Defiant class; USS McKenzie."

The commanding woman's smile faded and a dangerous light sparked in her slitted eyes.

" Captain Crist... Snowfire K'leysha... Sorripto..."

The names, especially the last one, were spat like curses, with so much venom that a heavy, cold silence swept the entire bridge. Everyone knew those names; they were more than the names of those who would try to desecrate the Heavenly Fire and shut close the doors to Paradise; they were the names of those who had come and profanated their sacred home itself, dared to insult and threaten the Prophet himself! Tried to take him away from them and destroy their faith!

They were those who would die first.

Ty'Renick stood and raised her left fist at the screen, as if those distant ships could see her, hear her:

"I declare the Jihad on those who would deny us the promise of our Faith! May we all see that the coldness of space deny them and their sould the warmth of the Eternal Flame of Redemption! By the Will of the Prophet, let us pledge our lives to their death!"

"Be the Will of the Prophet!" all shouted as if of one voice, standing and throwing their left fist at the stars.

"We will all stand by your side and see his Will be done, my beloved."

Ty'renick slowly sat back and smiled. Her bony hand went to the one that clasped tenderly her own shoulder and her eyes went up to meet those of the man standing at her side, her First in command, lowering towards her the same gentle smile, the same golden, slitted eyes, the same reptilian face, the same spine studded head.

"Yes, beloved," she said softly, a wild light in her eyes reflecting his own. "Fate has brought us together; Faith will keep us together, here and beyond. Fate now brought our most hated enemy before us to test our Faith, our Love; both will be proven strong and true before the Gates of Paradise."

"Be the Will of the Prophet," answered the man. Withut turning his eyes from those of the woman, he then ordered : "All hands, stand ready. Helm; plot attack pattern One but maintain course and speed and standby until they try to intercept us."

The Orion male sitting at the navigation console nodded and aknowledged.

"By your command, Lord N'Eligahn."

Several billion kilometers away, the sleek, elongated shape of the USS Republic dropped out of warp in a flash of light . Immediately, the man at the tactical station turned towards the older one in the center seat.

"Captain; several ships in this sector. Distance: nine million kilometers; bearing: 45 mark 10. They are moving at full impulse towards 285 mark 15... straight towards the anomaly, Sir."

"Mister Leong; Identify and ETA before they reach the anomaly's corona," asked the blonde woman sitting at the captain's right.

"At current speed, they will reach the corona in three point seven hours," answered the Asian man looking back at his monitor. "About a dozen civilian ships of various origins, mostly old freighters, a few passenger liners, two commercial scouting ships, one Kobayashi Maru class neutronium tanker in the lead... They are escorted by three ships: an old Hideki class Cardassian light cruiser on the port side of the convoy; a refitted Maquis raider on their starboard... and rear guard assumed by a... a patched up Jem'Hadar attack cruiser."

"Lifesigns?" then asked the captain.

"Nearly three thousand humanoid lifesigns of various types distributed accross the entire convoy, Sir," reported the slim, stern Vulcan from the science station. "Thirty-five percent Humans, thirty percent Bajorans, twenty percent Cardassians, the last fifteen percent composed of various species from both Alpha and Beta quadrants... with no Andorians, no Romulans, no Tellarites and no Vulcans however."

"No one pragmatic, devoted, argumentative or logical in the cult," sumrized Captain Wyatt with a smirk. "Typical..."

"Also typical... they are all allowing themselves to be blindly led towards self-destruction," added the woman at his side with not even the hint of a smile.

"Sir?" then said the Vulcan with a raised eyebrow.

"Yes, Mister Revik?"

"Interference from the anomaly makes readings difficults but... there seemed to be an energy pattern in front of the lead ship that I can not identify."

"Speculate," ordered Wyatt coming forward in his seat, as if his eyes could see what their sensors tried to pinpoint.

"I can think of only one possibility, Sir; something cloaked."

"Yellow alert," then ordered the commanding officer of the Republic.

As the klaxon blared from one end of the ship to the other, sending additional crewmembers to vital stations, shields were raised, phasers pre-heated and one torpedo already slid into a forward tube.

"Raise them, Mister Leong."

"No answer, Captain; interference from the anomaly might be too much for civilian comm systems, especially on those old ships."

"These three escort ships are military issue, even old as they are," retorted Wyatt. "And there may be a cloaked warship in their lead. Open all comm channels."

"Hailing frequencies open, Sir."

"This is Captain Adam Wyatt of the starship Republic. You have entered a restricted area. Veer off and follow our instructions or you will be charged with illegal flight and taken into custody. You have two minutes to comply."

"They will be in range by that time. Sir, " confirmed Leong. "They are not aknowledging our hail."

"Repeat it at fifteen seconds interval. Ready tractor beams; target phasers on their impulse drive; ready torpedo for a shot accross their bow to rattle them a little. Contact the McKenzie and report situation."

"We cannot raise the McKenzie from here, Sir," then said the tactical officer. Interference from the anomaly prevent any transmission beyond a ten million kilometers at best. And if they maintained their inital speed, then they are thirty-three minutes behind us, Sir."

Wyatt sighed.

"It's up to us then... Mister Revik; prepare a log buoy from a class IX probe and launch it to intercept the McKenzie. At least they will know what's going on sooner and will know they have to hasten."

After a moment, the Vulcan said:

"Log buoy launched. It will intercept the McKenzie in sixteen minutes if they are still following their flight plan. Assuming they decide to go to maximum warp once they get the data, they will reach us in 18 minutes."

"Let's hope these loonies will listen to reason until then... but I fear this will get ugly pretty soon," grumbled Wyatt.

"This is Captain Adam Wyatt of the starship Republic. You have entered a restricted area. Veer off and follow our instructions or you will be charged with illegal flight and taken into custody. You have one minute to comply."

The updated, repeated summon resonated through some static like some kind of disembodied voice lost in limbo accross the bridge of the command ship.

"As always, these idiots think people will be as docile and well-behaved as they are just because they flash their oh-so-mighty Starfleet badge," sneered with head spines flaring the Rethian male standing beside the command seat.

"They despize our resolve just as they despize the Truth they pretend to hold so dear," aknowledged the Rethian woman in the chair. "But as always, they come with words of law and order, pretend at peace and understanding but hold weapons of force ready to smite us if we deny them."

"They will blindly follow those stupid Starfleet protocols of theirs and try to warn us, then to convince us, then to restrain us, then to disable us even before realizing that they can only stop us by destroying us," mocked N'Eligahn. "And then, they will debate about it and probably try the whole useless cycle again."

He lowered his golden eyes to Ty'Renick.

"We are not Starfleet."

"Not anymore," agreed the Rethian woman. "Now we are the Blessed Enlightened Ones. And we are now touched by the Sacred Light of Heavenly Fire as we stand before the very Gates of Paradise."

She lifted her pointed, bony chin to the rest of her bridge crew.

"This be the Will of the Prophet; prepare to punish the Infidels."

The tactical officer turned towards the command podium.

"Lady, the escorts are worried about the convoy's safety."

N'Elighan stepped down and went to him so that he could directly talk to the fleet.

"All of you of the faithful, hear me; Starfleet comes to impose on us their will, the will of the unbeleiver, the will of the sinner. Do not let fear seeds doubt in your belief of the Truth! Only the Will of the Prophet must be obeyed! He showed us the Light! He brought us to the doorway to Paradise! We have chosen Salvation for ourselves as free people! And these hyppocrits would pretend speaking for a free people and yet refuse us our rights; they would treat our prophet as a mere criminal because he spoke the Truth! This shall not be! Defend your prophet! Defend your Faith! Defend the faithful!"

"This be the Will of the prophet!" clamored several voices through the speakers , all accross the bridge, throughout the ship and the rest pf the small ragtag fleet.

On the viewer, the three escort ships moved away from the convoy to intercept the incoming starship.

"The convoy will be defenseless..." whispered Ty'renick to her lover with concern as he returned to her side with a self-satisfied smirk.

"The convoy is in no danger," he retorted with a sneer at the screen. "You know as well as I do that Starfleet would never even think to harm civilians and defenseless ships, even in a time of war. Even against ships attacking them at full power, they will show restraint. They are tied by their rulebound mentality and their foolish, unrealistic morality and stupidly beleive it will make them prevail."

"Have a care, my love," Ty'Renick warned. "These are faithless sinners. Pushed far enough, they will foresworn their rules and morality... like they did under Benjamin Sisko back during the Dominion War."

"Because they can only be but children of this universe," explained N'Eligahn. "Sisko showed them the truth of this universe... but still many do not accept that truth. They refuse to see the inherent violence, cruelty and corruption in it, still childishly wish it to be peaceful, kind and pure. He then gave us the Prophet, to spread the Word and guide us to the Light, to a new, truly sanctified universe... But now that the Light is showing plainly the universal filth, they still close their eyes to the light, deafen themselves to the Word of the Prophet... and even refuses us our right to our Salvation that would show the error of their ways, their weakness born out of their lack of faith and their own corruption."

He straightened, hands behind his back and head high.

"As always, because they know their ways being wrong, they will be too weak to do what must."

"But WE will not," vowed Ty'Renick.

And on the main viewer, they watched the three escort ships closing in on the USS Republic.

"The three armed ships are on an attack vector, Sir!" warned Lieutenant Leong as he turned towards the captain of the Republic. "They're charging weapons!"

"Red Alert!" ordered Wyatt, gripping the slim armrests of his command chair. "Warn them off!"

"They're jamming all our comm channels, Sir!" Leong said as he targeted phasers and loaded all torpedo tubes, an eye on the shield output readout but then looking at his tactical sensor monitor. "These three ships have military-grade systems!"

"Evasive! All power to shields and back us away from the convoy! Do not open fire until we're out of weapons range of those ships! I don't want stray shots to threaten those civilians!"

It became pretty obvious that the three guard vessels of the convoy had no such worry. As soon as they came within range, they opened fire. The entire ship vibrated under the combined salvo and the shields of the much larger starship absorbed the impact of this first volley. But it would not be able to do so indefinitely. Already, the Republic was veering off to move away, shifting angle to dodge the next attack coming from three separate directions.

Then, before the Excelsior class refit could make any significant distance, it was suddenly boxed in by the sudden appearance of a fourth vessel... much larger and threatening than even the other three combined.

"Captain! Cardassian battleship decloaking astern, Galor class!"

"What?"

Then, everything was but sparks, smoke, fire, tremors and shouts, all Hell breaking loose... right before the gates to paradise.

 

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