CHAPTER
FIVE:
Milky Way
Captain's Log, Stardate 56946.6
We have entered the transwarp hub and have no idea where we will be when we exit the conduit. Sensors are off line and our shields are useless. Our armor is deployed, but I fear it may not be enough to face whatever may be on the other side of the conduit. We hope that it is a way home, but we are sure that is too much to hope for.
When the ship exited the transwarp conduit it was immediately hit by weapon fire that rocked them. JR looked at Munro as another phaser blast hit the ship. There shields weren't up, but their armor was still deployed. How could the Borg see them? JR wondered if maybe the conduit had damaged the armor.
"Raise shields," he cried.
"Captain, sensors indicate that we are now in the Milky Way galaxy," said Seven of Nine. "We are in the Delta Quadrant."
JR turned to stare at her. The Delta Quadrant? If that were true then the trip home just got a lot shorter but still massive. He wished the view screen was operational so he could see the Delta Quadrant. Admiral Janeway had talked to him about her time in the Delta Quadrant, and he knew that the Janeway Mentor program could probably tell him a lot about this vast section of the galaxy.
"The main viewer is online again, Captain," said Chang.
"Activate it," replied JR.
The scene that appeared on screen was not what he was expecting. There were no Borg Cubes firing at his ship. In fact the ships weren't firing at Lexus or Ranger at all. They hadn't noticed them. There were two different types of ships involved in the fighting and they were fighting each other. JR let out a breath he didn't know he'd been holding as he realized that they were not prey once again. Still with all of the weapons fire they were bound to be detected soon. The armor made them almost invisible but it wouldn't remain that way if weapons were fired at it constantly.
"Seven, any data on who's fighting?" he asked.
"Yes, the large number of ships belong to Species 329," she said. "The Kazon. They consider themselves warriors and despise orders from women. Until recently they were keeping the Ocampa from reaching the surface of their planet. The Kazon took over the surface while the Ocampa settled underground."
"The other ships," he said. "Who are they?"
"Unknown," she said. "It is a ship style I've never seen, and the computer has no records assigned to them."
The view screen changed and they were looking at an Ocampa man on a ship. He looked at them for a long moment, saying nothing. JR was starting to think that he was mute. He wondered how they would communicate with a mute species in space. It was sometimes hard enough to communicate with species that could talk.
"We have scanned your ship," said the Ocampa male. "We know who you are. Why have you come?"
"I'm Captain James R. Kirk of the Federation starship Lexus," said JR. "We mean no harm. We are simply trying to get back to Earth."
"We encountered a ship like yours once," he said. "They too said the same thing, but they caused us harm by destroying our Caretaker."
"Voyager did not destroy your Caretaker," said Seven. "The Caretaker died, and his array was destroyed to keep the Kazon from using it against you."
"The Kazon are a thorn in our sides," he said. "Will you help us if you really do not intend to harm us?"
"Give me time to consult with my staff," JR said quickly. "We will contact you in one hour."
As soon as the view screen was blank JR got up and headed for the conference room. Chad and the others followed him. He wanted to discuss this with the Janeway program as well. Helping the Ocampa wouldn't do anything to get them any closer to home, but he didn't think it would be wise to let the Kazon destroy the Ocampa.
"Computer, activate Janeway Mentor 1 program," he said once they were all in the conference room.
"Hello, everyone," said Admiral Janeway when she appeared.
"Admiral, we've encountered the Ocampa, but they're in ships fighting with the Kazon," said JR.
"In ships?" she asked. "I wasn't aware that they'd left the planet at all."
"The details of their emancipation aren't clear, Admiral," said Seven. "They are in ships and fighting the Kazon."
"They've asked for our help," JR said.
"I believe you should help them, Captain," she said. "Letting the Kazon gain any more power in the Delta Quadrant wouldn't be wise."
They talked about strategies and consequences for a while. Telsia said that she could make sure that the Kazon didn't gain any tactical advantages. Captain Sparks agreed that they couldn't let a species like the Kazon gain any more control over the Delta Quadrant when they informed the Ranger of their intention to join the battle. She said that she would do her part as well.
"Hail the Ocampa vessel," he said once they were on the bridge again.
"Captain Kirk," said the Ocampa male. "I was beginning to think you had decided not to help us."
"On the contrary," replied JR. "We'll be joining the battle to help you defeat the Kazon."
"Thank you, Captain," he said. "I am Jaris."
"It's a pleasure to meet you, Jaris," said JR.
They moved into a position that put them between Jaris's ship and four Kazon ships. JR entered information into his console and called it Attack Pattern Kirk Alpha 1. Telsia and Seven quickly fired torpedoes and phasers in the pattern he had ordered and two of the Kazon ships were destroyed. Three more Kazon ships converged on them as Ranger moved in beside them and began to fire full spreads of photon torpedoes. JR ordered a spread of transphasic torpedoes that crippled even more of the Kazon ships.
"We're being hailed by the Kazons, Captain," said Seven.
"On screen," he replied as the view screen came to life to show a Kazon male.
"Who are you?" demanded the man.
"I am Captain James R. Kirk of the Federation starship Lexus," replied JR. "With whom am I speaking?"
"I am First Mage, Jal Cullah of the Kazon," replied the Kazon. "Why are you destroying our ships?"
"We can not allow you to destroy the Ocampa," replied JR. "If you don't want more of your ships disabled you will stand down."
"We will not stand down," snapped Jal. "You will retreat or we will destroy you."
"I don't take kindly to threats, Jal Cullah," said JR. "You will withdraw from this battle or we will be forced to destroy you. You've seen what our weapons will do, and you have yet to be able to penetrate our armor."
"Captain, he's charging weapons," said Seven as the view screen went back to showing the battle in front of them.
"Target those weapons and fire phasers," replied JR. "I want that ship defenseless."
"Aye, Captain," said Telsia as she programmed the computer to fire the phasers in rapid succession. The effect was instant. The Kazon ship was without weapons. "He is retreating."
"Captain, the Ranger has been severely damaged," said Chad quickly. "The warp core is breached."
"Lexus to Ranger," said JR.
"Sparks here," came the voice of Captain Sparks.
"Can you stabilize your warp core?" he asked.
"Negative," replied Sparks. "We're going to have to abandon ship."
"Mr. Chang lock on to their energy signatures and beam them aboard," he said. "We'll see you soon, Captain Sparks."
"Thank you, Captain Kirk," she said. "Ranger out."
"Chad, once they've been beamed aboard take us as far from the Ranger as possible," he said.
"Aye, Captain," he said.
"Commander Munro, if you and Juliet would accompany me to the transporter room," said JR, getting to his feet.
There was a calm on the bridge. Lexus had proven that her weapons were far superior to those of the Kazon and no one believed that they would be attacked by them again. JR wanted to make sure that having what was left of the crew of Ranger on his ship was something that he could stomach.
"Deck four," he said once the three of them were in the turbo lift.
"Captain, if I may," said Munro. "Our last meeting with Captain Sparks didn't go well."
"I remember," replied JR. "We'll just have to remind her that I am captain of this ship."
"She doesn't like you because you are young," said Juliet. "She doesn't believe that you are really a Starfleet Captain."
"Well we'll just have to relieve her of that disbelief," he said as the doors opened on deck four.
Captain Sparks and her skeleton crew were waiting in transporter room 1. She smiled at JR when they came in, and Juliet stiffened beside him. He was about to tell her to calm down when Captain Sparks began to talk.
"Thank you for beaming us aboard, Mr. Kirk," she said.
"You will address him as Captain Kirk, Ma'am," said Commander Munro. "He is the Captain of this ship."
"I intend to take command now that I'm on board, Commander Munro," she said with a smirk.
"Security to transporter room 1," said JR, tapping his com badge.
"It won't do you any good, Kirk," said Sparks. "You aren't even old enough to be a captain."
"You will be confined to the brig, Ms. Sparks," he replied. "I warned you about insulting me on my ship." Just then Icheb, Telsia and two others from security arrived. They looked at Captain Sparks and then at JR. Icheb looked confused.
"Is there a problem, Captain?" asked Icheb.
"You will take orders from me now Lieutenant," said Sparks. "I'm relieving Mr. Kirk of command of this ship."
"We will not take orders from anyone other than Captain Kirk," replied Icheb.
"Telsia, Icheb, would you escort Ms. Sparks to the brig?" JR asked. "I believe that Commander Porter will have to join her."
"You won't get away with this," said Commander Porter.
"I believe I will, Mr. Porter," replied JR.
Telsia and Icheb drew their phasers while the others from security relieved the crew of Ranger of their own. JR watched as they were escorted out of the transporter room. He followed shortly after they were gone. They returned to the bridge and JR told them that he would be in his ready room if they needed him. He had just sat down with a cup of replicated tea when the computer alerted him that someone had come to his door.
"Come," he said with a sigh but was relieved when Chad came in.
"I just heard about Captain Sparks and Commander Porter," said Chad as he took a seat beside JR. "What are you going to do with them?"
"They'll remain in the brig until we reach Earth," he replied. "I can't have them attempting to take over the ship every half hour."
"What about the rest of the crew of Ranger?" asked Chad.
"I'll integrate them into our crew as best as I can unless they give me reason to restrict them," he said with a sigh. "I wish there was another way."
"I wish we'd never designed this ship," said Chad. "I want to go back to Earth, JR."
"So do I, Chad," replied JR. "In case you haven't noticed I got us as far as the Delta Quadrant."
"I wasn't implying that you weren't doing anything to get us home," said Chad. "I'm just tired of Borg and battles with other species. I'm not even sure I want to go to the Academy when we get back."
"I do," JR said quickly. "I want to graduate and take command for real."
"This is real, JR," said Chad. "All of this is real. We're not on the holodeck anymore. Either of us could be killed in any attack. You know that."
"Yes, I know that," he admitted. "But I'm still not really a captain. Captain Sparks is right about that."
"But she's in the brig and you're commanding Lexus," replied Chad with a smirk.
"I wonder how Starfleet will react to that," JR said with another sigh.
"You did what you had to do," Chad said. "If they had taken over it wouldn't have been long before they'd have noticed the strange configuration of the conn. Then where would we be?"
"I'm wondering just what they know about us," said JR. "She said they were patrolling the Neutral Zone, but had they been told about our existence before the Borg took them through the hub?"
"Has she said anything to make you think they'd been told about us?" Chad asked.
"Captain, a Borg Cube has just came through the conduit," came the voice of Commander Munro.
"Here we go again," said Chad as they got up and left the ready room.
"Report," JR said as he and Chad walked to their stations.
"Sir, the Cube hasn't fired at anyone since it arrived," said Munro.
"We're being hailed," said Chang.
"On screen," replied JR. The view screen showed a single drone. He looked at them before he said anything, and JR got chills as the drone's eyes settled on Seven and Icheb.
"Annika, I've found you at last," said the drone.
"Axum," gasped Seven as she stared at the screen.
THE LEXUS CHRONICLES