Star Traks: Banshee

"The Dark Fleet, Part I"

By Brad Dusen

	Two Galor-Class Cardassian warships moved swiftly through a small 
nebula.  One of the two was heavily damaged, all of its internal lights
off-line.  Gul Joyal sat on the bridge of the undamaged ship.
	"Are they still back there?"  He asked.
	"Yes, sir." The helmsman reported.  He punched up a reverse angle
on the viewscreen of a ship, jet black except for the glowing blue warp
engines and internal windows, nearing the two Galors.
	"It must be a new Federation weapon."  Joyal concluded.
	"We're being hailed."
	An alien's face appeared on the viewer.  It was extremely unhuman
and its eyes looked like plus signs.  The alien let out a high pitched
scream.  Every Cardassian on the bridge fell to their knees, clutching
their ears.  "Turn that damn thing off!"  Joyal shouted.
	"They're powering weapons!"  The helmsman shouted.
	"Shields up!!"
	"Sir, we just got a translation on the screaming."
	"What does it say?"  Joyal asked.
	"Your galaxy shall be purged."  The helmsman said eerily.
	The ship rocked violently as a lightning-like bolt of energy tore
through the hull, blasting both of the Galors to pieces.

	"Captain's log, stardate 51578.2:  It is a bleak time for both the
Banshee's crew and the entire Federation, and I'm not talking about
Charlotte's time-of-the-month.  Mysterious ships of unknown origin have
been terrorizing Federation, Klingon and Cardassian colonies along the 
border into the unexplored sections of the Beta Quadrant.
	"We know little of these people, only that they have a less than
sunny disposition and one motto: 'Your galaxy shall be purged.'  The
only good thing that came from these encounters is that these people
have a more bitchin' motto than the Borg's 'Resistance is Futile.'"

	"We've analized the sensor readings salvaged from two Cardassian
warships destroyed."  Admiral Jared Newman addressed the Banshee's
senior staff in the observation lounge.  "From what is most likely a
transmission sent to the Cardassians, we got this picture of what 
they look like."  He walked over to the wall panal and hit a button.
The image of two Orion slave girls involved in, well let's just say
involved, appeared on the screen.
	"Whoa, they can take me prisoner any time!"  Ben shouted.
	"Admiral."  Jad said.
	Newman froze.  "Oops."  He hit another button.  The image of the
alien's face appeared on the screen.
	"Ewwww!"  Charlotte shouted.
	"I'm sure they would say the same about you, Commander."  Newman
said.  "REALLY sure.  Anyway.  How many of you remember hearing the
news about the EMH of the Voyager being sent to the Alpha Quadrant?"
	The senior staff murmured a little.  "No."  The said in uni-
son.
	"Well in the Delta Quadrant, they and the Borg encountered
a hostile species of alien known only by the Borg designation:
Species 8472.  We formed an image of the species using what the
EMH remembered from their encounters."  Another image appeared
on the screen.  "Exact match."
	"Wait, I've heard of them."  Vince said.  "Weren't they
the ones who kicked the Borg's collective asses?"
	"I know something you'd like to do to the Borg's collective
asses."  Ben muttered.  Jad reached over and smacked him on the
back of the head.  "Owww!"
	"These people are closely related to this Species 8472.
Possibly even the same species who have set up shop here in
the Alpha Quadrant."
	"But I thought they were unstoppable."  Vince said.
	"We're not sure."  Newman said.  "So we want the Banshee to
go into their space to investigate."
	"Oh..."  Jad said.  "Joy."
	Newman turned to leave.  "Aren't you going with us?"  Charlotte
asked.
	"Ha!"  Newman said.  "Keep that sense of humor, Commander."

	Nexal walked forward through the hallways of the Great
Temple.  He entered the chambers of Warlord Sorinak.  He saw
two others standing there.  They were Jevon and Terakon,
captains of the twin flagships, Sivax and Triaxis, of the
Voran Imperium.
	"Thank you for coming, gentlemen."  Sorinak said.  "As
you know, we've been having some dealings with the Humanoids
from the three empires of Kronos, Cardassia and Earth."
	"Yes, oh mighty warlord."  The three bowed and said in
unison.
	"And we have learned that one of their most powerful
vessels, a ship called the Banshee, is invading our space."
	"Attack us!?"  Nexal shouted.  "The Voran Imperium!?"
	"Yes.  Jevon, Terakon, I want you to take the flagships 
to the border and dispense with these... pests." Sorinak's eyes 
squinted into a smaller cross.
	"Yes, my lord."  The three walked out.

	"I've never had a first contact meeting before."  Jad said
as he sat with Velorn in the observation lounge.
	"Normally Section Thirty-One does not deal with such matters,
but these people are a danger to the Federation, if not the whole
quadrant."  Velorn said.
	"In other words these guys make the Jem'Hadar look like a
little twerp with a cap gun."
	"If you wish to be so... enigmatic."
	"I'd hardly call that phrase enigmatic, Velorn."  Jad said as
he paced the length of the room.
	"Well given that I do not know what a cap gun or a twerp is,
it is quite enigmatic."  Velorn said, sounding all to Vulcan.
	"Normally, I say something along the lines of 'don't change
that attitude,' but in your case, I think I'll make an exception."
	Velorn was obviously insulted, so he go up and left.

	"Captain's log, supplemental:  The Banshee has left Federation
space and ventured out into the great unknown, perhaps the most
inhospitable area of the galaxy... well, second to rural Alabama.
Though we were originally supposed to be alone on this mission,
Starfleet feels that sending us out here all by ourselves would be
totally dumb.  Not because they're worried we'll all be killed, but
because they're worried the ship will be destroyed.  Therefore, the
USS Trueno, a smaller Akira-Class ship, has been assigned to join us
in our bloody deaths, I mean mission."

	Captain Vorezze sat alone in the observation lounge.  He examined
the three other ships in the display case, each bore the name Banshee.
The first was a Miranda-Class ship destroyed over a hundred years ago.
The second was a Norway-Class starship that was destroyed
about twenty years ago.  The most recent was an Akira-Class ship that
was destroyed in the Battle of Wolf 359.  Then there was the Sovereign-
Class Banshee.
	It was called the curse of the Banshee.  Any ship to bear the 
name Banshee is always violently destroyed with no survivors.  Though
JadÍs telepathic abilities were limited to simple mind reading and
occasional control, something told him that the curse might hold true
for this Banshee.
	It stood there as he turned.  Its twisted body, three necks,
plus shaped eye pupils.  It let out a high pitch whine.  Species 8472.
Jad screamed and fell back, hitting himself against the glass.  The
creature moved forward, lashing its wiry, but strong arms out to
strike.
	Jad moved out of the way as the alien smashed a pane of glass 
and crawled under the glowing conference table, where he shut his eyes 
and balled his body up.  He felt something grab his arm, pulling him 
out from underneath the table.  Jad looked up and screamed again.
	"Captain!"  Charlotte snapped.  "Are you all right?  What did you
drop your glasses or something?"
	Jad looked around.  No trace of the alien.  "Was there something
in here?"
	Charlotte looked around.  Nothing.  Jad looked at the display
case.  The glass was whole, unbroken.
	"I could have sworn I saw one of Species 8472 in here!"
	Charlotte continued to look around.  She shook her head.  "And
you people call me nuts!"  She walked back out onto the bridge.  Jad
followed her.
	"Captain."  Vince said.  "We're getting a distress call from
the USS Virgo, an Oberth-Class Federation freighter.  Audio only."
	Jad sat down in his command chair.  "On speakers."
	"This is the USS Virgo."  The transmission was very garbled.
"We are being attacked by a series of small, unidentified space-
craft.  We request immediate ass..."  The transmission ended.
	"Any ass?"  Ben asked.
	"I'm sure that was supposed to be assistance."  Jad said.
	"Sure..."  Ben smiled and nodded. "I've heard the rumors
about the captain of the Virgo."
	"Just shut up and fly us there!"

	A number of small Voran bioships flew alongside the Triaxis.  
The Voran starfleet consisted of both bioships that they arrived in 
this universe in as well as metal starships more suited for non-
fluidic space travel.  The doors aboard the Triaxis's bridge opened as 
Terakon walked in.  
	"That is not the Banshee."  Terakon looked at the viewer,
which was like a miniature holodeck.
	"Yes, but it is of Federation design."  The Triaxis's first
officer, Maquin, said.  "It should suffice to lure the Banshee here."
Maquin dialated and retracted its eye pupils rapidly, a Voran gesture
which was like smiling.  "So that we may destroy it."
	A small insect had somehow found its way onto the Triaxis and
buzzed by Terakon.  It quickly shot its tongue out, catching the insect.

	"I didn't think that Betazoid mental powers could be manipulated
so effectively."  Counselor Emily Stokes said softly.
	"It was so real!"  Jad shook his head, leaning back in the
chair in Emily's office.  "It was like the alien was right there in
the observation lounge."
	Emily looked at a PADD she placed on the desk beside her.
"According to this, three other people on the Banshee and twenty
people on the Trueno experienced similar visions."
	"The Voyager's EMH did say that Species 8472 has incredibly
powerful telepathic cababilities.  They supposivly communicate
this way."
	"Counselor Stokes, your group session begins in fifteen minutes."
Emily's secretary said over the comm.
	Emily sighed.  "Godless bastards."
	"Who?  Species 8472?"
	"No, the people in my group session."  She got up.  "I'd better
go."

	The captain walked onto the Banshee's bridge.  "We're coming up
on the Virgo."  Ben said from conn.
	"On screen."  The wall melted into the Virgo, badly damaged with
hull breaches and the back of the stardrive section ripped off.
	"Cloak."  Jad said as he sat down.  "Whoever did this might still
be out here."
	The Banshee swirled and disappeared.

	"They're gone!"  Maquin's voice echoed through the Triaxis's
massive, two deck bridge.
	"What do you mean, they're gone?"  Terakon demanded as he looked
off the railing of the upper level.
	"They suddenly vanished."  Maquin shook his head.  "Sensors
can't find them."
	"Contact the Sivax, have them arrive here and help us search."
Terakon shouted.  "And when is my dinner going to be ready?"
	"They're cutting up the Flarn now."  Maquin said.
	The thought of a sweet, juicy Flarn made Terakon's mouth water.

	"Captain, I'm detecting a large, very mean looking vessel and
several smaller ones approximately 3 light-hours from our position."
	"On screen."  Captain Vorezze said.
	A large vessel, looking like a cross between a Dominion warship
and a Nebula-Class starship, appeared on the viewer.
	"That is a huge ship."  Jad gasped.
	Ben snickered.  "Not as huge as my..."
	"Not now, Ben!"  Jad shouted.  "Vince, can you tell how fast 
those ships are?"
	"Not as fast as I am in..."
	"Ben, SHUT UP!!"  Jad bellowed.
	Ben slumped down in fear.
	"The largest ship appears to have extremely powerful engines,
most likely capable of warp 9.992."
	"Damn.  Our top speed is warp 9.98."  Jad sat back down.
	"That's our top RECOMMENDED speed, captain."  Ben turned,
suddenly feeling useful.  "The fastest the Sovereign-Class has ever
gone is warp 9.9993."
	The bridge fell silent.  "I don't believe it."  Jad gasped.
"You actually contributed something useful!"
	Ben paused.  "Whoa, how'd I do that?"
	The Banshee suddenly rocked.  "Report."  Jad asked.
	"We were hit by some kind of low intensity wide beam phaser
blast."  Vince said.  "No damage, but it may have given our location
away."
	"Drop the cloak and raise shields.  I have a feeling we've
found the Virgo's attackers."  Jad ordered.

	"I have located the Banshee."  Maquin said.
	"Where?"  Terakon asked, spitting a piece of chewed Flarn halfway
across the upper level of the bridge.
	"Right in front of us.  They must have some type of cloaking
device."
	"Can you locate their commander?"  Terakon asked.
	"Yes, he is in the module on the very top of the ship, apparently
their command center."
	"Transport him to my office."

	Terakon entered his office, only to find a very confused Betazoid
sitting there.  "Who the..?"  Jad shouted.
	"Please, sit."  Terakon moved over to his desk.
	Jad sat down in an extremely uncomfortable chair most likely 
designed for the alien anatomy of a Species 8472ian.
	"Who are you?"  Jad asked.
	"Permit me to introduce myself."  Terakon sat down at his desk.
"I am Terakon, captain of this ship, the Triaxis, one of two flagships
for the Voran Imperium."  He paused and looked at Vorezze, recalling
the information he knew about him.  "Captain Jad Vorezze, USS Banshee.
Betazoid, age 28, possesses remote telepathic abilities."
	"Who's the empath, here?"
	"I knew that, Captain."  Terakon smiled.  "We Vorans come from
what is called fluidic space.  At least we used to.  A long time ago,
a group of us left to forge a new life here."  Terakon looked down.  
"But life in your universe was difficult.  We were outcasts because 
of our non-humanoid appearance."
	"Poor you."  Jad said coldly.
	"But now, the Voran Imperium controls a majority of the Beta
Quadrant.  Our race is thirving and powerful."
	"Well good for you.  Can I go now?"  Jad tried to get up.
	"No."  Terakon.  "Now, when someone wrongs you, isn't it only
fitting that you exact revenge?"
	"Two wrongs don't make a right."  Jad said.  'God, I sound like
my mother!'  He thought to himself.
	"That's Human logic!"
	"Betazoid!"
	"Whatever!"  Terakon snapped.  "In our culture, revenge is a dish
best served piping hot!"
	"I thought it was cold?"
	"That's Human culture!"
	"Betazoid."
	"WHATEVER!"  Terakon screamed.  "Now..."  He cooled off somewhat.
"Given that, we have decided that we should exact revenge now, starting
with the Federation and the Dominion, the two most lethal ones."
	"Good, Cardassia is ripe for the pickin'."  Jad said.
	"Oh no.  I'm going to enjoy destroying both."  Terakon smiled.
"Starting with the Banshee and the Trueno.  Therefore, at our hands, 
you will die painfully.  Have a nice day."
	Just as quickly as Jad had been transported to the Triaxis, he
was transported back to the Banshee.

	"Helm, set a course away from that ship, maximum warp."  He
said without hesistation.
	"Aye sir."  Ben said.
	"Since when have you started calling me sir?"  Jad asked.
	"Since I actually developed respect for you."
	The viewer sprang to life as eleven small gave chase as the 
Banshee warped out of there.
	"Ben, have the Trueno rendezvous with us."  Jad said as he sat
down.
	The Trueno, which was only a short distance away, pulled up
alongside the Banshee.
	"Sir, I'm detecting two large warships approaching out positions
at maximum warp."
	"Captain, look!"  Charlotte pointed to the viewer.  The eleven
bioships formed a circle, ten on the outside with one in the middle.
The ten surged power into the center ship, which lanced out with 
deadly energy in between the Banshee and the Trueno, knocking both
ships out of warp.
	The Banshee rocked violently, sending the crew falling to the 
floor.  Ben landed atop Dr. Lang.
	"While we're down here..."  Ben said.
	"NO!"  Liz shouted as she pushed him back into his chair.
	"Shields have collapsed!"  Vince shouted above the blaring of
alarms.
	The Triaxis flew towards the Banshee.
	"Load all weapons and prepare to fire!"  Jad climbed back into
his chair.
	"Ready!"
	"Fire!"
	The Banshee shot at the Triaxis with phasers and quantum 
torpedoes, but the Triaxis wasn't fazed as it shot back a powerful
golden beam, ripping into the Banshee.
	A blaze of fire erupted from the saucer as a quarter of the
saucer section's hull was blown off, leaving a gash on the face of
the Sovereign-Class vessel.
	"This isn't working!"  Vince said.
	"I can see that."  Jad screamed back as the Banshee continued
to shake.  "I need options."
	The bridge was now dark, with smoke pouring out of an exploded
display screen.

	Terakon smiled as he watched the crippled starship fight back
like a little girl against a lion.
	"Hail them."  He said.

	"We're being hailed!"  Vince said.
	"On screen."  Captain Vorezze stood up.
	"It should be painfully obvious to you by now that the Federation
is no match for the Voran Imperium, and the fact that our two flagships
can't compete is proof."  Terakon said cockily.
	"You can never defeat the Federation!"  Vorezze responded.  
"NEVER."
	"And how do you figure that one?"  Terakon asked.
	"Because for some odd reasons, nothing bad ever happens to the
Federation!"  Jad said.  "We've faced the Klingons, the Dominion, the
Borg..."
	"And got your asses kicked each time."  Terakon said.  "We know
your history better than you do."
	"Okay, so maybe I failed the Federation history course in high
school, big deal!"
	"Your Federation will not be able to avert destruction this time."
Terakon said coldly.  "I'd say that I'm sorry, but I'm not."
	The transmission ended.
	"That ass hole!"  Charlotte said.
	"You would know."  Jad sat back down.  "Oh sure, now he gets to
act all smug and superior.  Why do villians always get the coolest
lines?"
	"Uh, captain?  The Triaxis?"  Axik motioned back to the viewer.
	"I need options, or else the entire Alpha Quadrant is pretty
much screwed!"
	Liz jumped up.  "I've got it!  Channel power to the deflector
dish, something that was supposed to work against the Borg, it might
work against them!  The only problem is that we'd lose the saucer
torpedo laucher, since it's in the way of the deflector!"
	"Do it!"  Jad said.  "Until then, we have to hold them off."
	The Banshee swerved in space, flying circles around the Triaxis.
The mighty warship fired, but was unable to maintain a target lock on
the Banshee.
	"How's the Trueno doing?"  Vorezze asked.
	The viewer changed to the nimble Akira-Class starship swerving
back and fourth as the group of eleven bioships attempted to hit her
with their mega-phasers.
	The Banshee rocked, pitching hard to port as a phaser blast
took off a chunk of the saucer section.  Sparks poured out from
everywhere on the bridge.
	"We're ready!"  Liz shouted above the explosions.
	"Hail them!"  Jad shouted.  "It's my turn to say some bitchin'
lines.  Ben, position the Banshee behind the Triaxis."
	Terakon appeared on the viewer.  "It is too late to beg for mercy,
captain.  Just hope that your death is quick."  He said.
	"Done."  Ben said.
	"Hey Terakon."  Vorezze smiled.  "Up yours!"
	A bright blue beam blasted out of the Banshee's deflector, hitting
the Triaxis from behind and knocking it back.
	On the viewer, the Triaxis' bridge was alive with sparks and 
alarms.  Terakon started barking out orders in Voranese.
	"They're retreating!"  Vince said happily.
	Jad fell back into his chair and smiled.  "Have Commander Riley
start work on the engines so we can get back to the starbase."
	Their attention was turned to the viewer as a purple torpedo
shot from the back of the Triaxis, headed for the Banshee.  Jad shot
up.  "Where is that torpedo going?"
	"Saucer section,"  Vince gasped, "the bridge!"
	"Captain, even if we evacuated now, we could never make it in
time."  Ben said.
	Carn looked disturbed.  "Captain, all transporters are offline!"
	The torpedo loomed closer, headed straight for the bridge.
	Since Jad knew that these would be his dying words, he decided to
make them good.  "Perhaps today is a good day to die."
	The torpedo hit the bridge.  Each person felt the intense heat
against their skin as the top two decks of the Banshee became nothing
more than dust in space.  All that was left was Captain Vorezze's chair,
spinning slowly in the vastness of space.

	Commander Riley felt the Banshee rock violently as he looked at
his display screen.  "Computer, what happened."
	"Explosive decompression of the main bridge."
	"Was anyone on it?"  Dave asked in horror.
	"Affirmative."
	"Who?"
	"Captain Vorezze, Captain Velorn, Commander Burns, Commander Tagel,
Commander Rachow, Lieutenant Carn, and Dr. Lang."
	Dave hit his communicator.  "Riley to Captain Vorezze."
	No response.
	"Riley to anyone on the command crew!"
	Nothing.
	"Computer, were they beamed anywhere?"
	"Negative."
	Dave dropped his head, as did everyone else in engineering.
"Computer, make a note.  The command crew died at 1500 hours on
stardate 51598.6 due to explosive decompression of the main bridge."


TO BE CONTINUED...