Path: newsspool2.news.atl.earthlink.net!stamper.news.atl.earthlink.net!elnk-atl-nf1!newsfeed.earthlink.net!newsswing.news.prodigy.com!prodigy.net!newsfeed.cwix.com!border1.nntp.dca.giganews.com!nntp.giganews.com!newsread.com!newsstand.newsread.com!POSTED.newshog.newsread.com!not-for-mail Newsgroups: alt.startrek.creative.erotica.moderated Approved: ascem@earthlink.net Organization: Better Living Thru TrekSmut Sender: ascem@earthlink.net Message-ID: <6a.49d585c2.2ee28f62@aol.com> From: Istannor@Aol.com MIME-Version: 1.0 Mailing-List: list ASCEML@yahoogroups.com; contact ASCEML-owner@yahoogroups.com Subject: New: TOS: A Higher Duty: PG: 12/28 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Lines: 168 Date: Sat, 04 Dec 2004 05:55:10 GMT NNTP-Posting-Host: 209.198.142.218 X-Complaints-To: Abuse Role , We Care X-Trace: newshog.newsread.com 1102139710 209.198.142.218 (Sat, 04 Dec 2004 00:55:10 EST) NNTP-Posting-Date: Sat, 04 Dec 2004 00:55:10 EST Xref: news.earthlink.net alt.startrek.creative.erotica.moderated:85908 X-Received-Date: Fri, 03 Dec 2004 21:55:13 PST (newsspool2.news.atl.earthlink.net) Title: A Higher Duty Author: Istannor Contact: Istannor@aol.com Series: TOS Rating: PG13 for violence Part: 12/28 Codes:TOS Summary: This is set during the second 5 year voyage of the Starship Chapter 12 The command crew of the Enterprise gathered in the briefing room. Spock, as was his custom, began without preamble. "The conference on Cygni has been overrun by an unknown number of terrorists. They have sent out ransom demands to all the participating governments, with instructions that the funds be delivered as untraceable dilithium crystals, and Federation credits to a designated point inside the Orion Nebula. When the funds have been received, the hostages are to be released on a planet in the Warsaw System, which you know is pro-Orion in its political leanings. The Captain's ransom was placed at 3 million credits. You are aware it is the Federation's policy to not bow to ransom demands. Therefore, we must arrive at a method of securing the military release of the Captain, and the remainder of the hostages." "Mr. Chekov, please put the schematic of the compound and the surrounding area on the screen. I want all of you to study these schematics." He flicked his hand and the plans and profiles for an Orion raider were flashed on the screen, along with all known weapons modifications that had been encountered over the last standard year. "You also have in your packets, a list of all the participating governments as well as what we know regarding any subversive elements within the Cygnian area of influence. The Federation has sent us their best estimate of how many troops and what type of armament they would have needed to take over the compound. What we must ascertain in the next twenty-fours hours, is a way to retake the hostages, defeat any ground resistance, as well as destroy whatever attacked the Araidne. At stake are five hundred diplomatic members of the conference, and James Kirk. Are there any questions?" "Mr. Spock, are we permitted to entertain deadly or extreme force," Sulu asked ? "Mr. Sulu, you may entertain anything that results in the ultimate achievement of our goals as I have detailed. Any more questions? No, then we will adjourn. Our next meeting will be in exactly twenty-four hours. I expect no less than your best. Dismissed." They filed out, already tossing out concepts to each other as they rushed to comply. The night passed peacefully while they took turns watching the slope that stretched down from their rocky sanctuary. The next day found Kirk going out alone to investigate their backtrail, and gather more provisions. When he returned, he reassured them there was no evidence of anyone on their trail, yet. The next day passed uneventfully for them. Each adult took a watch, and Jim made a checkerboard out of colored rocks and squares scratched into the dirt. He patiently taught Ramsthet the game amid much quiet laughter. Therenna joined them. They even got M'arenn involved, but she spent more time watching her sister than she spent watching the board. Later in the evening, while M'arenn was on watch, Jim sat and told them stories about some of the more exotic worlds he had visited. The quiet wonder in his voice helped to transport the boy and his aunt, and they could almost see the crystal life forms and mile long airwhales in their mind's eye. The last story he told them about a small Vulcan boy and his pet Sehlat, or giant fanged teddy bear had Ramie laughing and begging for more. C'Thuth was furious. It had taken them an interminable time to finally find the crash site. There had not been any survivors. Even if someone had still been alive, C'Thuth would have killed them with his bare hands. Those ball-less assholes had let an unarmed ship escape from them, even though their ships had higher speeds and weaponry. He wanted to scream, again. The crash site for the human's flitter showed that he, at least, had made a semi-controlled landing, and that they had all gotten away into the woods. "Ghosts of the ancestors, how does Kirk keep doing things like this?" He growled, without expecting an answer. They had to find the Romulan women. This was the true reason they had begun the insane assault in the first place. Now, they could find no further traces of them. The damn ore deposits made the hand held sensors useless, and whoever was leading them was covering the trail like a Klingon. Damn them all to the seven hells. If they did not find them by nightfall, they would have to report their failure to K'Rath and that damn, slimy, slinking, dog of a Romulan. He did not even want to think about the outcome of that report. He finally decided after the second day of trying to locate the human's trail, to head for the mountains north of them. The Orions he had sent to wait for the Romulans and their Human watchdog to head back towards town, had reported in to him that morning. No luck, again. He felt he was truly cursed. They sat off in the rover towards the mountain ahead, with his fervent hope that his ancestors' spirits would come to his aid. K'Rath sat at the desk of the Cygnian President. It gave him a great deal of pleasure to rest his heels on the presidential seal, while he listened to the eternal bitching of his Romulan employer. "K'Rath, your men must find those women. If they escape unharmed, all our plans are worthless. My employer will be most displeased, and you do not want to be the target of his displeasure." "Do not threaten me, Scharss," K'Rath snarled, "I fear no one, least of all someone such as your employer, who would betray his own Praetor. If you had done your job, we would not be in this position. It is your own incompetence that got us to this point. Your people were suppose to knock out the security shield after you made sure all the delegates were accounted for. Instead, you leave Kirk, and those bitches roaming the compound, and one of them even had a phaser. I lost five man to that PetaQ human in the compound alone and four more in the flyers. I will charge you an additional fee of course for your lapses." "Feel free to discuss any additional fees, later," the Romulan said disdainfully, "if there is a later. Right now, we have to get those women back and it must be done before morning. Our operatives tell us that the Enterprise is expected back by tomorrow, and two other Federation ships will arrive shortly. We need to get them off planet before that happens. The other worlds have deposited the funds as instructed, but the Federation and Romulus have not. Both, as expected. We know the Federation does not exchange money for hostages. So, we anticipate their counter attack will occur once the Enterprise and the other ships arrive. The women must, "die at the hands of the Federation rescuers", as planned. We must have this war, K'Rath, or we both will wish we had died. Death is a far better scenario, than being in the hands of our employer." [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ ASCEM messages are copied to a mailing list. Most recent messages can be found at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ASCEML. NewMessage: