Star Traks: Banshee "Where Angels Fear to Tread, Part Three" "Death of Hope" By Brad Dusen "That is not dead which can eternal lie, and with strange aeons even death may die." -Abdul Alhazred The sheer timing alone was incredible. The blade flew downwards at an incredibly fast speed, only to be blasted meters away by gold blast from the side. Dan and Ben both turned to see Vince standing nearby with a phaser rifle in hand. "Dan, I think you have a bit of explaining to do." Vince said as he looked at Dan, then Ben, who was tied up on the table. "Just PLEASE tell me this isn't some kind of bondage gang bang!" "That might be your fantasy, Vince..!" Ben called out from his imprisonments. "Ahem..." Kristina said. Everyone turned to her. "Your timing couldn't have been worse." She smiled, then turned to her guards. "Get them." "Oh boy." Vince squeaked. "Captain's log, stardate 53188.5: The Banshee has completed a two week long assignment of charting the Helix nebula. We are now returning to the Mordor resort colony to pick up six of our crewmembers who are there on shore leave." "If I ever see another star chart again, I will kill myself." Dr. Lang said as she milled around with a few of her friends in The Twilight Zone. "You should have seen what the folks in Stellar Cartography were going through." Commander Riley smirked as he guzzled down a glass of Niranin fruit punch. "I heard one of them got so sick of charting the nebula that she jumped into the display screen." "You mean Lieutenant Seagle?" Liz asked. "That bitch!!" "Yeah. Some people say she was pushed, though. No one knows for sure." Dave said as he slurped some more juice in. "Umm, I'm sure that was just a rumor." Liz said nervously. "Did you go in there recently?" Dave asked. "NO!" Liz said defensively. She paused. "Umm, I think I left my drink at the bar." She darted off elsewhere. Dave looked perplexed. "How odd." "I have to admit, Captain," Dr. Issac began, "I have no experience with this matter of a Bajoran/ Betazoid hybrid." "Great, our child will have an untrained doctor." Axik mumbled. "Captain, I-" Brian was cut off as the lights dimmed and the alarms sounded. "Red alert!" Carn announced from the bridge, "All hands to battle stations, Captain Vorezze and Commander Tagel, get your asses up here!" The two walked onto the bridge as an ominous looking fleet of about 20 ships loomed closer on the viewer. Jad looked at the ships and his jaw dropped. "What the hell?" "That's what we were thinking." Carn said as he readjusted herself in the command chair. "How can there be Dominion ships this deep inside Federation territory when the war is over?" "These don't seem like ordinary Jem'Hadar fighters, though..." Axik said as she looked at her readings. "The engine signatures are different and..." She looked confused, "Only half the crews of these ships are Jem'Hadar." "Sir," Lieutenant Pisters said from his post as interim tactical officer. "They'll be within weapons range in 2 minutes." "Raise shields, arm quantum torpedoes, charge the pulse phasers." He then turned to sit down. "And get your ass out of my chair!" Carn obediently removed himself. All Jad could do was stare forward at the viewer and ask himself "What the hell is going on?" "You know, Dan..." Vince said sharply as he was led by handcuffs and chains, along with Peter, down a remote road in rural Mordor, "This isn't the best way to show your loyalties." "How do you know I'm not being loyal?" Dan said in his usual cryptic tone. "Because you're letting me be dragged around by a group of insane Satanists." "They're not insane." Dan protested. "Just... misunderstood." Vince's jaw dropped with disbelief. "What have they done to you?" "I've seen the light, Vincent." Dan said softly. "And I am embracing it." "You know what happens when a fly embraces a light?" Vince snorted. "Shut up. You're only making it worse. We shall show you the light as well. And we shall test the limits of your body." Dan paused. "Well, except for the ritual sodomization. You might enjoy that." Vince glared at Dan. "You are SO lucky that I'm tied up right now!" "They're still coming after us!" Lieutenant Pisters cried above the screeching alarms as a cloud from a broken coolant vent rained down a thick fog upon him. "Shields are at 20%!" "Can we engage the cloaking device?" Captain Vorezze asked in response. "No. There isn't enough energy to engage it!" Pisters replied. "Damn it!" Jad slammed his fists down on the sides of his chair. "Sir, we can't take much more of this!" Just as Lieutenant Pisters finished his statement, the intruder alert alarms went off. "Shields are down! We have intruders beaming aboard!" "Get security on it!" "Commander Smith was our head of security and he's away." "So who replaces him?" "Ummm..." Pisters thought for a moment. "I don't know!" The bridge doors flew open as several Jem'Hadar and other humanoids in dark red and black robes entered the room. Phaser bolts set to stun lanced across the room, knocking each person off their station. "What the hell!?" Vorezze shouted as he shot down a Jem'Hadar with his phaser. At that moment, a smug faced Vorta walked onto the bridge. Captain Vorezze dropped his jaw. "No! Anyone but you!" Before anything else could happen, a bolt of light struck him down. Night had once again fallen on Mordor. Kristina stood by her windows, gazing out at the pale green moon, called Gollum. The scent of burning incense hung in the air as she turned around to face the other in her chambers. "You have become everything I have ever wanted you to be." She said to the man. "I try." Commander Smith shrugged. "You have given yourself fully to us and now, I want to show you your reward. What you can have for all eternity." She moved Dan to the bed and lay him flay, climbing atop and locking her lips to his. The moment lasted as they each savored it. "You are the only person who could ever tear me away from that life back there." Dan looked past her and out the window, to the star filled sky. "And I never want to leave you." "I have lived my life for 3000 years, and I want you to be in the next 3000." The two began kissing again, more passionately than before until they were on the brink of initiating something else. The door opened. "Forgive the intrusion, oh great one." The anonymous looking cult member dropped to his knees. "But I have news." "This had better be pretty damn good!" Kristina bellowed. "Our forces have done more than you wanted. They have seized the Banshee and are going to bring it here so that we may leave this place." "Yeah yeah yeah, now go away!" Kristina said as she turned her attention to Dan. "You will see just how enjoyable this eternity shall be..." Things on the Banshee had gotten quiet. Extremely quiet. The last thing either Dave, Liz and interim bartender Siruk could remember was hiding under the bar as Jem'Hadar and Humanoid soldiers stormed into the Twilight Zone, stunning the crowd into submission. "Do you think it's safe to come out?" Liz whispered. "I didn't know you swung that way, Liz." Dave said. "I mean out from under the bar!" Liz snapped. "If things take a bad turn, I am confident I can help you." Siruk said. "By doing what? Throwing drinks in their faces?" Liz asked. "Your sarcasm will not aid you in this situation." Siruk snottily replied. "Who's the military officer here, you or me?" "You were not specialized in fighting however." Dave finally snapped. "Will you two shut up!? Look, I know things are bad right now, but we have to figure out what's going on. "And if we find someone unfriendly?" Liz asked. Siruk rummaged behind that bar. "I believe this will help." He pulled out a compression phaser rifle and handed it to Dave. "Why is this here?" Liz asked. "Peter asked for permission to have it so he can shoot anyone who does not approve of the way his margaritas are made." "Doctor, we have to do something." Dave said. "Okay, let's go." Liz said as she peaked her head over the bar. The Twilight Zone was totally abandoned. "Wow, I havn't seen the place this empty since Peter served that tainted chili last month." Dave said. With a splitting headache, Captain Vorezze awoke to find himself on the inside of the brig. "Oh boy, this can't be good." He uttered to himself. He looked around and saw Commander Tagel laying unconscious beside him. "What happened?" "A completed vengeance, dear Captain Vorezze." A woman called out from behind him. Jad turned to face the force field as a very smug faced Vorta stood before him. "Hanock..." Jad said grimly. "The one and only." Hanock smiled. "I never entered the Vorta cloning program." "Thank God." Jad said. "Why are you here?" "To take away your livelihood with the aid of our new partners." Hanock said. "Humans are such amusing people with their religious beliefs. I found that Mordor's Deimos Cult made for the perfect allies. They were committed to their cause." "What is their cause?" "To enforce their beliefs upon others and to become the most powerful political force in the Federation." "You mean aside from the religious organizations from every other world who do not have the Federation's most hated enemies as their mercenaries?" "Yes, them too." Hanock sneered. "Why do you have to be so god damned difficult?" "Because it's fun." Vorezze said in a jovial tone. "Besides, it's the least I can do, considering that you took over my ship!" "Okay, you've got me there." "And where is my crew?" "Everyone except you and Axik have been removed from the ship and left to float around in your escape pods in the nebula. What do you think of that!?" Vorezze razzed at Hanock. "You can sit and rot in that cell. You'll make a good human sacrifice when we take the ship back to Mordor." "Betazoid sacrifice." "Shut up!" Hanock stormed out of the room. Vorezze slumped down in his cell as Axik began to stir. "Jad?" She asked groggily. "I'm right here." He said as he helped her up. "Oh," Axik looked down. "You were probably looking for these." She handed Jad his glasses, which were broken. "But..." He stuttered, "I thought I was wearing them." Axik shook her head. "But... I can see perfectly." He felt his face, amazed. "I must have been shot in the head and it altered my eyes somehow." Axik smiled. "But at least now I can see your sexy eyes." "And I can see yours just as well." Jad smiled as the two embraced. The kissed for a bit, enjoying the quiet time. "Jesus, you two!" A voice called out from outside. Jad and Axik turned to see Dave, Siruk and Liz standing outside the cell. "We CAN see through that cell, after all!" Dave sneered. "How are you three free?" "They missed us when they cleared out the Twilight Zone." Liz explained. Dave began fiddling with the padd to turn off the force field. "It's not working. The only way I can turn that off would be to sever the control node in the wall there." Dave pulled off the panel. "Damn, it's too small for me to reach in." The engineer sighed. "We need something that can get in there." A smile came to Liz's face as she produced a squirming, fuzzy lump from her pocket. "How about him?" The lump looked up to reveal a somewhat dazed hamster sitting in Liz's palm. "A hamster?" Dave looked at Liz while restraining the urge to laugh. "Zeke, go in and sever the control node to free Captain Vorezze and Commander Tagel." Liz instructed the hairy little rodent. She set Zeke inside the wall panel and the hamster crawled further in. "You don't honestly think that's going to work, do you?" Dave smirked. "A hamster can't do that!" The forcefield crackled off and Zeke emerged, holding the control node in his teeth. "Good boy!" Liz picked up the hamster. "Such a smart, attractive hamster, why you're the best hamster in the quadrant!" Dave stood with an astonished look on his face as Jad and Axik emerged from their cell. "How the hell did he do that?" "Come along, commander." Jad motioned to Dave as they began to file out. "He's just a hamster!" Dave said. "He can't do that!" "Now we begin the second rite for your initiations." Dan said to a shackled Vince as he prepared him to undergo some rather 'rigorous' initiations rites. "Umm, what are you planning on doing?" Vince asked nervously as Dan pulled several whips, knives and other lovely items down from a shelf. "I plan on testing your physical limits and building your endurance of pain." "With those?" Vince's voice cracked as Dan set down a very sharp spiked mitt. "This is the standard procedure." Dan said. "Although I decided to take out the sodomy. You would like that, after all." Vince grumbled at Dan. "Brace yourself, Commander," Dan said, "This will not be pleasant." He strapped on the spiked mitt and moved towards Vince. "Oh boy..." "Oh Captain!" Hanock said jubilantly as she skipped into the brig with her Jem'Hadar first Crotel and several armed guards. "It's time for your noon torturing!" She looked into the empty cell. "WHAT THE HELL!?" "They've escaped!" Crotel shouted. "DUH!" Hanock turned in fury. "Find them!!!" "But our lunch break is in 4 minutes!" Hanock reached up and grabbed Crotel's ear. "Find them or I will rip off your head and mount it on the wall!" "Yes ma'am." Crotel said as he led the guards out of the room. "Imbeciles." "This doesn't look good." Dave said as he sat in the cockpit of the runabout Indus. "While internal sensors on the Banshee have been knocked out and there's no way to track us, I detect a large movement of Jem'Hadar coming our way." Jad glanced out the window and into the surrounding shuttlebay. "They shouldn't be able to find us among all the parked shuttles." "We have rifles for all of us, so at least we'll be matched in arms." Liz added. "But we have another problem." Dave said. "The Banshee is on a course for Mordor, and unless we can retake the ship before then, we'll be overrun with the Deimos." "Swell." Jad, Liz and Axik said in unison. The shuttlebay doors opened as Hanock and twenty Jem'Hadar soldiers. "According to this, that's all the Jem'Hadar on the ship. The only other people are 3 humans on the bridge." "We'll distract the Jem'Hadar. Dave, try to beam the humans off the bridge and into a shuttle or something where they can't get out." Jad grabbed a phaser rifle. "I'm going out there." Hanock scanned the shuttlebay. "You're sure that your tricorder detected life signs in here?" "Yes." Crotel responded. "I'm sure they are here." A phaser bolt landed against the wall. "I would guess I was correct." Crotel smiled as another phaser bolt hit the Jem'Hadar in front of him and knocked him down. "Scatter!" Hanock shouted as her troops fanned out. She grabbed the last Jem'Hadar by the arm. "You stay here!" She said as she positioned him in front of her as a human shield. "Where are you taking us?" Ben demanded as he and the others were dragged up several flights of stairs in chains. "To perform the final ritual of initiation." Dan explained with Kristina at his side. "Then, you can freely give your mind to our cause, and be one with the Greater Truth to existence." "You mean the pursuit of sex?" Ben asked. "No, that's the Greatest Truth." Dan said. "The Greater Truth is where we must become one with darkness, to open our eyes to the real perils that we face, to embrace-" "SHUT UP!" Peter shouted from behind them. "You'll see soon enough." Dan smirked. "Then you'll be one of us." "Joy." Ben mumbled. "Gotcha!" Liz shouted victoriously as she nailed her sixth Jem'Hadar. "Shoot them, you morons!" Hanock gave orders from behind her Jem'Hadar shield. "We're running out of troops!" As the fighting continued, Commander Riley worked frantically at the transporters. He energized the beam and the nearby shuttlecraft Stewart lit up with light as five very confused cultists appeared inside. "Okay, I don't like how this is going!" Hanock shouted. Suddenly the Banshee began to shake. "What's that?" Axik asked. "Oh, that would be us entering Mordor's atmopshere." Hanock chirped. "We're on a course to arrive right at the Deimos temple." The launch doors opened at Dave's command as he picked up the Stewart with a tractor beam and hurled it out the back of the ship. "Was it a good thing that the bridge crew was just thrown off the back of this ship?" Jad paused to ask. "No." Hanock smiled. "But at least if I go down I get to take you with me!!" "Like hell you will!" He raised the his rifle and shot her shield, who screamed and collapsed, leaving only Hanock left standing. "Uh oh..." Hanock muttered. "Dave, you take Liz, Axik and Surik to the bridge and get the ship back under control!" Jad called out. "I want to deal with Hanock myself." The others promptly left. "I really don't think you want to do that..." Hanock chuckled nervously as she backed away. Jad walked right up to her and pressed the rifle to her chest. "Give me one reason why I shouldn't vaporize you right now!" "Because I'm really one of the nicest Vorta you will ever meet, and if you vaporize me, the experience will be lost!" Hanock smiled. "No dice." "Well then what about this?" By surprise, Hanock grabbed the rifle, wrestling it away from Jad. "No dice." Jad dove at Hanock, knocking her down onto the shuttlebay floor and the rifle went flying. Hanock got up and kicked Jad in his side, stepping on him with her heels. "I never liked you, Captain!" "The feeling is mutual." Jad gasped. He looked up and saw Hanock as more of a silhouette against the dim gray sky of Mordor that raced by in the open launch doors directly behind her. "And it ends this way, Captain." Hanock drew a weapon from her pocket. "As it should!" She raised to fire. Then a phaser blast came from behind Jad, knocking her back. Another shot lanced out, then another. Hanock flew backwards, falling against the force field and then passing through it and over the lip of the aft edge of the Banshee. The last Jad saw of Hanock was her form falling downwards and vanishing in the clouds. Jad was bewildered, then he turned around to see Axik standing there, holding a phaser rifle. "That'll teach her to mess with my man!!" She said coldly. "You have no idea how sexy you look holding that." Jad smiled at Axik. "We'll keep one in your quarters then." Axik winked at Jad. "Riley to Shuttlebay. We need you on the bridge now!" "We can finish that thought later." Jad said as the two ran from the shuttlebay, strewn with slain Jem'Hadar. "Oh dark masters, true rulers of the universe!" Kristina chanted atop the roof of the Deimos temple. "Prepare to take a sacrifice to cleanse ourselves of that which contaminates our souls!!" Each of the captured crewmembers; Peter, Vince and Ben, were tied at separate "What the hell is she talking about!?" Peter asked as he watched from his bindings nearby. "Bring out the virgin." Kristina said. Several cult members brought out a heavily bound and gagged Emily. "Whoa!" Ben said in astonishment. "She's a virgin!?" "Doesn't surprise me." Vince said. "Dark masters, we sacrifice this virgin's soul to the hell fire to please you well!!" Kristina chanted from her altar. "Uh oh..." Peter mumbled. "May the name of Satan live on forever!" Kristina chanted as she raised a sword. There was a sonic boom overhead as the clouds parted and the Banshee came barreling through. "And here is our chariot now!" Kristina motioned to the Banshee, which had maintained a hovering status above the temple. "This is a sign that a new age is dawning! Prove me right! Give me another!!" A phaser beam from the Banshee struck at the base of the temple, causing it to violently rock. "What!?" Kristina bellowed in disbelief. "What's going on!?" Shimmering light engulfed Peter, Vince, Ben, Emily and Dan. The five vanished as the base of the tower gave way from the Banshee's phaser blast. It telescoped in upon itself, leaving a massive dust cloud in it's wake. "Welcome back." Captain Vorezze stood from his chair as the five wandered in. "Umm, I'd watch Dan if I were you." Vince looked over at Dan, who seemed stunned. "Commander, are you all right?" Jad asked. "He's a raving, murderous psychopath!" Vince exclaimed. "So you're saying he's back to normal?" Peter turned. "I-" Dan stuttered, "I don't know what happened. When I was with Kristina, it was like I was guided by pure darkness." "And you're penis." Ben noted. "Hypocrite." Vince added. "We'll talk about it later, we have to get back into orbit. Take your stations." Jad said as he sat down, relieved to have some of his crew back." "It's not fair!" Kristina sobbed as she stumbled from the temple's ruins. "It's just not fair!!" She then heard what sounded like screaming. She looked up and saw a female Vorta come hurtling down at her until... SPLAT!! "Captain's Log: stardate 53204.4: The Banshee has returned to Mordor after picking up our marooned crew at the Helix Nebula. Two Section Thirty-One starships have also arrived in orbit to further investigate the Deimos and their affairs on Mordor. We are finishing up business now in preparation for our imminent departure." Commander DiSanto led a small security team through the hallways of the Mordor hotel where they had been staying prior. Their goal was to finish up one last bit of business: find out what the hell happened to Charlotte. Vince opened the door, only to find Charlotte and a cult member on the bed, getting busy. "Commander!!!" Vince exclaimed. "Ummm..." Charlotte stuttered, starting at Vince. Two guards came up and took the cult member into custody. "That was, err, uh, a survival issue!" Charlotte said as she tossed on some clothes. "Uh huh, sure." Vince said as he gathered up all equip- ment from the Banshee. "Jealous that he didn't do it with you?" Charlotte sneered. "I'll make a note of this in my log." Vince snickered. "I'm sure Section Thirty-One Command will have fun reading all about this." He tapped his com-badge. "DiSanto to Banshee, eight to beam up." Vince, Charlotte and the away team vanished. "I can't explain it, Jad." Dan said with utter disbelief. "She just had this power over me. I had to do everything she desired." "Axik and I play that kind of game too." Jad nodded along. "All I have left is this." He held up a dark red ruby fragment from what was once a medallion bearing a pentagram that had been shattered. "You found someone who you can relate to." Jad patted Dan on the shoulder. "Granted she turned out to be a murderous 3,000 year old Vampire, but still." "Do you think I'll ever act like normal again?" Dan asked. Jad laughed and escorted Dan from his ready room. "You never were to begin with." AT LAST, THE END! NEXT: Has Velorn lost his mind, or just his self control? Going through that magical time that happens every ten years, it becomes a "get laid or die" struggle on the Banshee in "Those Pon Farr Blues," guest written by Star Traks: The Vexed Generation author Anthony Butler!