Prologue

[STSF Corizon 0]

Three days had passed since the Excalibur had left the base at Camillo. Varen had been rather pleased with their performance, with new crew settling in quickly and the old crew recovering from a week off with the expedience he'd come to expect.

 

He leaned back into his chair and took a drink of the hibiscus tea Joy had brought him a few moments before. It was good to be the Captain, he thought to himself. He only wished she'd be less suggestive in public.

 

The placidity of the morning came to a sudden end when the alarmed voice of his operations officer broke his train of thought.

 

“Captain,” the alarmed officer sounded in a high pitched voice. “I am detecting power fluctuations all over the ship.”

 

“Cause,” Varen snapped.

 

“Unknown.”

 

Frowning, Varen placed his tea on the railing and stood, making his way down from the perch of a Captain's Chair and approached the operations console. He looked over it briefly before hitting the comm badge on his chest.

 

“Engineering,” he barked. “This is the Captain, what the hell is going on down there.”

 

A few moments later, his Chief of Engineering crackled through the comm, “Trying to pin it down Captain, it just started a few moments ago. The whole damned power grid is fluxing. We've got surges all over the place. Suggest dropping out of warp Captain...”

 

Varen let a few choice words fly before regaining his steely resolve. “Very well, find the problem.”

 

He ended the comm and looked over to the helm officer with a searing glare. “Drop us to impulse. And someone find that damned Bajoran.”

 

The helm officer was three steps ahead of him and simply nodded as she dropped the Excalibur out of warp into normal space. Said Bajoran was already on the bridge, standing a few feet behind him and out of view. Though a small part of her wanted to smash the arrogant humans' mouth in for his tone, she resisted.

 

“Captain,” Kiera Najon said calmly. “Reporting.”

 

He turned and nodded unapologetically. “What the hell is going on?”

 

Sighing she shrugged. “I don't know, but we'll find out.”

 

Before he could say another word, the same Operations officer who'd started the whole debacle once again chimed in. “Captain! I am getting an incoming hail... it's asking for you.”

 

“From who?” Varen said, his eyes and voice tinged with ice.

 

“Doesn't say.”

 

“Put it on screen.”

 

They all looked to the screen; it flashed to life and filled with the visage of a slender, silver-haired, dog-eared man with an eye-patch on his right-eye and a yellow orb for his left. Dameon Varen thought to himself.

 

“Captain,” the man's voice said. “How nice to see you.”

 

“What is this about?”

 

“I see you don't waste anytime,” Corizon said with a wide, fanged grin. “That's good.”

 

Mentally recalling what he knew about the Dameons, Varen continued to glare at the screen. “What the hell do you want.”

 

“Your ship.”

 

Irae glanced around for a moment before laughing. “Oh, that's rich. What do you really want.”

 

Corizon smiled. “I am being quite serious.”

 

The laugh faded and Varen looked to Najon, who had the same wide-eyed look her Captain had. Finally looking back to the screen, Varen put his hands on his hips. Najon looked to the Operations and Tactical officers and motioned to them to begin tracing the signal.

 

“And just how, Mister... I didn't catch your name...”

 

“Ah-Windu, Ah-Windu Corizon.”

 

Varen nodded, making a gesture to Najon to look that name up. “Well Mister Corizon, how is it you plan on getting my ship.”

 

“You're going to give it to me.”

 

Varen simply smirked. “I am... am I?”

 

“Captain,” Najon's voice came.

 

“Mute,” Varen said before looking over to the Bajoran. “Yes?”

 

“We're having trouble tracing the comm, but I did find something on this Corizon... looks like he's a merc.... got a rap sheet a mile long.”

 

“Lovely,” he said with a grim expression. “Find out where his signal's originating from and send a coded message to the nearest star base advising them of our position.”

 

“Yes, Captain.”

 

“Restore audio.”

 

“That wasn't very polite,” Corizon said with a scowl. “I don't just mute you.”

 

“So... I am going to give you my starship?”

 

“Yes.”

 

“And just why is that? Let me guess you're going to blow us to bits otherwise? Planted an explosive on the warp core?”

 

Corizon smirked. “Hardly.”

 

“Then what?”

 

The Dameon smiled and laughed, saying nothing.

 

“You know,” Varen said with a scowl. “It is standard protocal for hijackings to...”

 

"Not now, yoeman."

 

"I must insist," she said. “The malfunctions? Someone has broken into the computer system. I believe they may have gained full override control.”

 

“What?”

 

“Whoever it is, they could cause inertial compensator failure, explosive decomposition, or beam people into space. You must sign this!”

 

“Or Anesthetizine,” said Corizon from the view screen, but he seemed to be speaking to Joy, not Varen. For some reason, it came out more as more than a suggestion.

 

Joy sighed. She loved her owner. How could she not? Still, the other options were so much more interesting. Organic beings are so fragile. Granted, some of her favored methods did leave quite a mess. Crew members smashing into things could cause collateral damage to equipment.

 

Varen examined the document Joy had handed him. It was a transferal deed for his starship.

 

Joy’s necklace briefly flickered. So did the lights on the bridge. Joy smiled at former Captain Varen.

 

Now came the fun part.