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Inside of Two Evils

 

Jessie, Phoebe and Yasmin were now alone, wandering through a less dense part of the forest.

"I learned that at school, some guy tried to snatch my coffee off me," Phoebe was saying.

Jessie groaned, "my god, do either of you ever just fight for something other than coffee?" She glanced at Yasmin, "or for fun?"

"Survival obviously," Phoebe replied.

"Nope," Yasmin shook her head.

Jessie also shook her head, "fine, but when I find Duncan you'll both be in charge of guarding him. Just pretend he's a coffee jar, um actually maybe not a good idea."

Phoebe looked insulted, "hey, he's family. I don't need to think he's a coffee jar."

"Great, Yas?" Jessie questioned, raising an eyebrow.

Yasmin pouted, "if I'm on guard duty, that means I don't fight."

"No I will, that'll teach them for bringing Duncan into this," Jessie muttered.

"But Phoebe should just guard," Yasmin said.

Jessie stopped, the others did the same. "What's wrong?" Phoebe asked.

Jessie looked around, "do you hear that?" A faint rumbling sound slowly got louder and louder. She glanced to the left, "something's coming."

Phoebe and Yasmin frowned as they followed her glance. All of their eyes widened as they stared at a few dozen Softmicron heading towards them, most of which holding longish knives.

"Um, isn't that cheating?" Phoebe stuttered.

"We must be winning then," Jessie said.

Yasmin's eyes lit up, "let's go, I want one." Jessie grabbed a hold of her arm, she and Phoebe ran off in the opposite direction, dragging her with them.  

The Enterprise Bridge:
"We're nearing the co-ordinates," Bryan nervously said.

"Red alert," Angela ordered. The usual lights went off, the red lights started flashing instead.

Triah sighed, "ok this is not good."

Tom walked over to stand beside her, "what this whole thing or..."

"They must have expected us cos two new 8472 portals have appeared," Triah replied.

Voyager Bridge:
Chakotay stared at the viewscreen in disbelief. "How many ships are there now?"

Jodie sighed, "I'd say about thirty."

"Where's the 'enhancement'?" Chakotay asked.

"I'll put it on screen," Jodie replied. Everyone turned to the viewscreen as it showed one of the 8472 ships firing a beam. It was surrounded by a dozen and a half ships.

"We're never going to get through there if they spot us," Ian said.

"Never mind. We'll head straight for there," Chakotay said.

"We will? No doubt they'll protect that thing very well," Foster muttered.

"And they won't attack us if we hang around a few hundred kilometres away? Get a grip Foster," Chakotay muttered.

Foster pouted, "they'll pound on us more if we go closer."

"This is what we came to do. Power weapons you pansy and make sure shields are one hundred percent," Chakotay ordered.

"Aye sir," Foster muttered while everyone else looked uneasy.

The Enterprise:
"Ok, I've got the clear from the Leda. We go in first still and we're both ready," Bryan said.

Angela sat down in her chair, "ok, let's do it. Take us in."

"Uh, isn't Voyager supposed to wait with the others?" Triah stuttered.

"Yes why?" Angela asked.

Tom sighed, "Chakotay."

"They're going in now," Triah said.

"Viewscreen now," Angela ordered. Everyone watched Voyager over take and attack the 8472's. "Great, he's going to ruin it. Fire torpedoes, we may as well still distract."

"Aye aye," Faye said.

The Leda and Enterprise flew around the swarm of 8472 ships, trying to avoid weapons fire. Voyager kept randomly firing the nanoprobe weapons as it headed in a straight line towards the beam ship.

The Enterprise was hit by two ships fire, it got knocked violently to its left side. The Pegasus then dropped out of warp nearby, it started firing on the ships before cloaking.

The Pegasus:
"I knew those losers would be doing badly," Damien said, shaking his head.

"Boss, whenever we fire it'll give away where we are," Johnny said from tactical.

"Well that's why we continue moving, you idiot," Damien grumbled. "Just follow Voyager, try and distract as many of those ships as possible."

"Aye aye," Wesley Crusher said cheerfully.

"Uh yes sir," Johnny muttered.

"Just make sure you don't hit the fleet!" Damien snapped.

Johnny cringed, "yes sir."

"What do I do again?" Myleene asked.

"Just state the obvious, or comment on the shields when Johnny can't be bothered. Basically steal lines," Damien replied.

Myleene grinned, "wow, I love opps."

"And I love chops," Riker drooled, staring at the plate of Sunday's dinner on his lap. He used his knife and fork to dig into a big chop.

Damien stared blankly at him, "if that even moves an inch off your lap, you're dead."

On their viewscreen, the Lillyia dropped out of warp and started firing at enemy ships. The Erona soon joined the battle nearby the Leda.

Voyager:
A couple of consoles exploded, smoke was everywhere.

"Commander, we can't take anymore. The Erona would have been a better choice," Foster said.

"No, as long as we have the hull in one piece we'll keep going," Chakotay said.

A 8472 ship flew directly in front of Voyager, it prepared to fire.

"Crap, evasive maneuvers!" Chakotay yelled.

Ian's eyes widened, "oh god." He quickly punched in the commands, everyone was tossed to the side as the ship turned violently. The 8472 ship fired at the same time as another one, sending them flying.

The Pegasus:
Damien was standing up, scolding Riker who was crying over his lunch on the floor. "Why must you be a pig all the time! Can't you stop eating for five minutes, you imbecile!"

"Woah that's so cool," Justin said, staring at the viewscreen. Wesley was doing the same.

"Um," Johnny muttered, "boss?"

"Can't you people improvise? Fire more weapons, move around. Do I have to think of everything around here!?" Damien screamed at him. He turned back to Riker, "and you, what on earth are you doing?"

Riker looked up from the floor, "nothing." He picked up his chop from the ground, he tugged into it like a dog.

"Honestly, you'll die eating," Damien muttered.

"Speaking of," Johnny stuttered.

Damien rolled his eyes, "what is Justin eating?"

"No," Johnny stuttered, pointing at the viewscreen.

Damien turned to look at the viewscreen, his eyes widened in panic. Voyager was hurtling towards them. Justin and Wesley were still stupidly staring. "Move the ship damn it!"

"But we're cloaked," Justin said.

Damien was now red with rage, "that doesn't mean that we can't get hit, move the..."

The Enterprise:
Everyone on the bridge watched Voyager smash right into what looked like nothing, but the nothing turned into the Pegasus looking slightly bashed. The crash slowed Voyager down, it drifted along nearby the Pegasus.

"Quick get there, put a tractor beam on them," Angela ordered.

"Yes ma'am," Bryan said.

The Erona quickly flew over to Voyager's position, they locked a tractor beam onto it.

In: "Erona to Enterprise, I suggest we retreat, more openings are forming."

Tom turned to Angela, "we really should."

She nodded, "good idea. Bryan get us out of here on my mark. Triah, inform the Leda and Lillyia."

"Uh Commander, we should make it snappy. Voyager hit the Pegasus near its engine core, it's going to breach any minute now," Faye stuttered.

"We're the good guys so in theory we should evacuate them," Bryan said, smiling sneakily.

"Right, but all of those people were meant to be dead years ago," Tom said just as sneakily.

Angela groaned, "oh for god's sake, even if we wanted to we don't have time. Get us out of here!"

Tom stared at her, "fine but you ruined a perfectly good joke."

"Yeah, we didn't even get to the punchline," Bryan groaned as he worked at his station.

The remaining Fleet along with Voyager under a tractor beam turned about face and jumped into warp. The Pegasus exploded, knocking a few 8472 ships away.

The Leda:
"Status?" Harry questioned, standing up.

"It could have gone a lot worse. We could all be dead," Naomi said.

"Voyager was badly damaged, the rest were just minorly," Nikki replied from opps.

"What about the Pegasus?" Lee muttered.

"Well he already knew what happened to that," Nikki said.

Harry groaned, "ok enough."

"How are we going to stop them? We had the Erona and Lillyia with us, yet we couldn't do anything," Naomi asked.

"We've still got time," Harry replied.

Nikki shrugged, "yeah great, time for what? For us to get our asses kicked one more time?"

"Well we thought Voyager being equipped with the nano weapon would be enough," Harry replied.

"Being from the future, doesn't the Erona have them and used them in battle?" Nikki questioned.

"We were outnumbered. The Pegasus, Enterprise and us being there didn't help because we couldn't do any damage. We should have enough time to get these weapons," Harry replied.

"Right, does anyone have any spare nanoprobes so we don't have to replicate them all?" Naomi muttered.

"Hmm," Harry sighed. "No we don't, I think our priority has just been switched, we need to end that game."

"We do, why?" Naomi asked. Everyone ignored her. "Why, oh come on."

Earth:
Duncan pushed through a few bushes, he hid behind a tree and turned to watch the fight nearby. The fight was however, James versus too many Softmicron.

He pushed one out of the way, and hit another. This cleared the way for him, he knocked another away before running. All of them followed him, totally oblivious to Duncan's hiding place. He glanced around looking worried, "um, dad? He forgot about me."

"Lucky me," somebody growled from behind him. A Softmicron quickly grabbed a hold of him, it put his spare hand around his mouth. It then followed the others.

Meanwhile James was still being chased by the horde. He stopped dead and looked around for something. At the last second he jumped up and grabbed a hold of a branch, some of the Softmicron continued running and ran off the steep edge of the hill. They all fell down into the river, which was twenty feet later.

"That's better," James said as he got back to the ground. The remaining Softmicron didn't look too happy, they all lunged for him.

While they fought, the one with Duncan came into the clearing. It just watched the fight for a minute. "That's enough," it sneered.

Everyone stopped, including James, and glanced at him. His eyes widened, "Duncan?" Two members of the group hit him hard at the same time, knocking him to the ground. The entire group knelt down beside him to stop him getting back up.

Duncan tried to say something but he still had a hand over his mouth. The Softmicron smiled slyly, "forget death matches, we've got a score to settle, right boys?"

"Ahem," some of the girls grumbled.

The Softmicron paced back and forth, "this whole game beats the whole point with its 'no kids' rule. Humans need to be taught a lesson." It walked over to the edge of the hill. "They need to feel the pain of losing a child, and I think the mini Slayer will be great as the first one."

James struggled against the group, but combined they were strong enough to keep him there. "No, you better get off of him."

"Or what? Your boy's going to die no matter what happens," the lead Softmicron said. He shook his head, "you shouldn't have left him behind anyway, game sphere is much more important than your own kids I guess. Oh, make sure his left side's clear, he has to see this."

One Softmicron moved a bit, "this should be good."

"That's better. It's no fun if he doesn't get to watch his son die. When he does, he'll know what it's like. True, it doesn't end there. There's two left right," the Softmicron said. He sighed, "oh well. Hope he can swim, it lasts longer that way," it sneered.

The group laughed or just smiled as James continued struggling in their grips. The Softmicron sighed before letting go of Duncan. "No!" he screamed. He managed to push the ones holding onto his arms away.

He then easily managed to get the others off of him, he stood up, rushed over to the hill side. The Softmicron got prepared for a fight, but he just pushed him to the ground. He swallowed hard as he glanced down at the river, he then took in a deep breath before jumping down into it.

The Softmicron pulled himself to his feet, it looked over the edge, "oh well, killed two birds with one stone there. Let's finish this thing now." The entire group walked away, most were sniggering.

As soon as they left the clearing, James re-surfaced. He looked around with panic in his eyes, face a little pale. "Duncan!" he yelled at the top of his voice. He took in a deep breath as he went back under the water.

A little while later he resurfaced somewhere else, this time with Duncan, who was unconscious in one arm. He managed to get to one side of the river.

He lay him on the grass, and gently placed one hand on the side of his face. He started coughing as he opened his eyes. "Dad," he said weakly before coughing again.

"It's ok, I'm here," James said.

Duncan sat up, "what happened?"

"It doesn't matter, as long as you're ok," James sighed.

Duncan rubbed one of his arms, shaking, "its cold."

James took off his jacket, he tried to get most of the water out of it. He wrapped it around Duncan and pulled him closer, "sorry, this is the best I can do." He put his arms around him as he stood up. They headed back into the woods.

Meanwhile, the Erona Bridge:
Jacqueline paced back and forth, "this better work John."

"Hey, you didn't even give me a chance to test it," John muttered at one of the stations nearby Vicky's.

Tony glanced back briefly, "we're there."

"On screen," Will ordered.

The Game Sphere appeared on the viewscreen. "All right John, do it," Jacqueline commanded.

John headed over to Vicky's station, he worked at it. "Firing."

The Erona's deflector glowed a light blue colour, a beam the same colour emerged from it and hit the sphere. The whole thing started sparking like the other games.

"Well?" Jacqueline questioned.

John smiled, "it's crashing."

"I just hope you don't take the whole planet with it," Jacqueline muttered.

"Right," John rolled his eyes. "The spheres are different to the cubes, trust me."

"How long will it take for it to go then?" Will asked.

"Anytime between ten and forty minutes," John replied nervously.

Earth:
Kevin ran through some bushes into the clearing nearby the hill side. Following him were a group of Softmicron. He leapt to the side just as he was at the edge, a few of Softmicron fell but a few maintained their balance. "Ok, now!" he yelled.

Ylara and Emma leapt out of different bushes nearby, all they needed to do was push the leftovers and they fell too.

Emma pouted, "no fun, they didn't even put up a fight."

Ylara stared after the guys falling into the river, she smiled evilly, "there's nothing better than watching deserving people drown." She walked off, Emma and Kevin stared after her.

"Do you want to do the running this time?" Kevin asked.

Emma shrugged, "no I'm good. I like to push them in."

A bright light briefly lit up the forest. They both looked up to see what looked like lightning strikes all over the sky.

"What's going on?" Kevin asked.

"I dunno, you've been in more games than me," Emma muttered.

Meanwhile:
Jessie, Phoebe and Yasmin stopped in their tracks to look up at the new storm.

"What's that?" Yasmin asked.

Jessie frowned at her, "you lived on New Earth all your life and you don't know what a plasma storm is?"

"Duh, yeah I do, I mean what's that?" Yasmin asked. She quickly pointed at the sky. Another lightning strike lit up the sky, which looked more like a metal ceiling.

"That looks like..." Jessie muttered. "The waiting room ceiling, right?"

"This is too weird, maybe it's another cheat they're pulling," Phoebe replied.

Yasmin's eyes lit up as she turned around, "those guys with the knives are back." Jessie and Phoebe slowly turned around, they could see a few of the Softmicron walking slowly in their direction.

"Enough of this. We're in a death match, we're not going to get out until we fight back," Phoebe said.

Yasmin grinned, "about damn time." She started going towards the guys, Phoebe grabbed her arm.

"But we need a plan," she said.

"Couldn't agree more," a familiar voice said from behind them.

The girls turned around. Jessie sighed in relief, "oh thank god." She walked over to James, who was still holding a shivering Duncan. "What the, why are you wet? What happened?"

"The Softmicron thought it would be funny to make one of my worst fears come true," James replied. "That's all."

"Which one?" Yasmin asked.

James narrowed his eyes at her, "try and guess."

"Um," Yasmin muttered. "A big monster ate you?"

Jessie turned around not looking too happy, "ok screw the plan, let's kill things."

"Jess, Phoebe was right, we need a plan," James carefully said.

Jessie glanced back at him, "I don't think so. First those creeps try and bring him and Sarah-Amy into this, then try and drown him. They're so going to die for this." She turned around fully, "that is what they did right?"

"Yeah, dropped him. I went after him. Next they'll have a giant cat army with big bugs and stuff," James muttered.

Jessie sighed as she took off the jacket she had on, "here, put this on him."

"Right, plan, thinking," Phoebe said to herself.

Yasmin glanced at her, "why don't we chase them with frying pans, they're eggs so."

James put Duncan back onto the ground, he took off the jacket he had around him and replaced it with Jessie's. He glanced up at her, "what about you?"

"I'll probably warm up when I'm kicking Softmicron butt," Jessie replied.

"Brilliant, do you see a kitchen or anything around here!?" Phoebe snapped.

Yasmin tried to look innocent, "well it could be used in the future."

"I have a plan," James butted in.

"As long as it's realistic, I'll hear it out," Phoebe grumbled, shaking her head. Yasmin pulled a face at her.

"I actually like the idea of cooking them while they're alive," Jessie said.

Duncan's eyes lit up, "cool."

"I somehow doubt they'll stick around for us to do that. Maybe another time," James said.

"What's your plan then?" Phoebe asked.

"Simple. They have knives now, which is what we need. I say we take them off them," James replied.

"Um, how?" Phoebe muttered.

"Don't worry about that part. Surround Duncan, just in case ok," James said. He headed towards the group with knives, who were walking elsewhere.

"Get me two if you can," Jessie said.

Yasmin grinned, "me too."

"Oh brother," Phoebe groaned.

The leader of the Softmicron group glanced behind the others, "a Slayer's approaching, I can sense it. Stay together."

James went behind a tree and watched them, they walked straight down the path nearby. He grabbed the one at the back, and pulled it over. "Hi, can I borrow this?" He knocked it out, he knelt down to take its knife. "Ok, one out of seven."

Meanwhile:
Kevin and Emma got to the riverside, they found Ylara smacking a Softmicron that was lying in the water.

"Will you just die, die!" she screeched as she pushed his head under the water. He turned into his default form. She continued to punch it.

Kevin rushed over, he took a hold of her arm, "it's dead Ylara. Calm down."

She pulled her arm out his grip, "well you can never know for sure." She stood up, "what?"

Kevin shook his head, "nothing, it's just."

Ylara rolled her eyes, "you're looking at me like, what!?"

"Nothing, it's just... you were acting like it was personal," Kevin replied.

"Right, this is the first time I've seen these guys before," Ylara said. She headed back for the trees, "I just think that anything that makes vampires should be drowned slowly. Is that really wrong?"

"No," Emma replied.

"Well it wasn't intentional you know," Kevin said. The two girls stared blankly at him. "Ok ok, they're the enemy I get it. But you said vampires existed a few millennia ago."

"You know, you're the lamest Slayer I've ever met," Ylara muttered.

"Do you know the literal meaning for lame?" Kevin asked.

"No, and I don't care," Ylara said. She turned back around and headed off again.

"She's in a mood," Emma said.

Kevin shrugged, "we'd better keep an eye on her. Ex evil remember." He followed Ylara back into the woods.

"Yeah that's always fun," Emma smiled, she rushed after them.

The Erona:
Tom and the rest of the Enterprise bridge were on the viewscreen.

"How's it going?" Jacqueline asked.

"It'll take a while to do this, but I do think it'll be ready before their little space changing thing is," Tom replied.

"Harry seems to think if we get the Borg crewmembers, we will save time by taking their nanoprobes. I somehow doubt getting ex-drones will help that much," Angela said.

"Depends how many there is. In our first visit to the real Voyager, they said they had, um five Borg crewmembers. That might be enough," Ashley said.

"Well one of those died, and her 'reincarnation' might not appreciate us poking a hypospray into her," Bryan commented.

"Who gives a damn?" Tani muttered from the back of the Enterprise bridge. "While you're at it, you can put some poison in her."

"Tani, that's enough," Tom snapped. She glared at him, he cringed and turned back to the viewscreen.

"We do have more Borg people since your first visit. Harry got assimilated briefly, Emma might have some of Lena's still in her after her little experiment." Triah said. "I think that's it, right?"

"Wow, that's quite a nice Borg army you have," Will commented.

"Yeah it is, two are Chosen Slayers, Emma's a Natural," Tom said.

"That explains how they got away from the Borg so easily," John said.

"It does?" Tom said, glancing back at Tani, she shrugged. "Lena, Tani and others ship was disconnected by accident. James and Jessie's, same but it crashed. Seven's, the Borg obviously got sick of her."

John nodded, "the Chosens were on both ships that were disconnected?"

"Uh yeah," Tom replied.

"Thought so, I told Starfleet my theory and they didn't listen. Finally, some proof," John mumbled.

Jacqueline rolled her eyes, "don't say what it is, or it'll be 'discovered' in the twenty fourth century instead."

Angela shook it off, "what's your status?"

"The game weapon is working. It should crash in a few minutes," Jacqueline replied.

Tom sighed, "I don't suppose anybody's got a dramatic finale line, right now? No?"

"Tom, we're nowhere near finished," Triah muttered.

Tom's eyes widened, "that's not the cliffhanger, well that's good I guess. But seriously, I need a good dramatic line to impress my fans."

"Ok, what about 'I'm gay'," Faye said.

Tom stared at her, "I'm not gay, turn the viewscreen off!"

"See, you don't like it," Triah commented. The viewscreen changed back to Earth view.

"Actually that would be a pretty nifty cliffhanger," Will said.

Jacqueline groaned, "this is not a soap opera, oh and..." She smacked Will across the back of the head. "Save that line for yourself."

Earth:
"That storm's getting worse," Phoebe mumbled nervously.

James came back over to the group. "Ok Jess, two for you, one small one for Yasmin, two for me, one for Phoebe," he said, sorting through knives he was carrying in his discarded jacket. "And another little one for Duncan."

"Ooh, cool I get one?" Duncan said, eyes lighting up.

"Just for defence," James replied.

Yasmin pouted, "hey, I asked for two."

"Well I was in the middle of stalking the last one, but then the group noticed what I was doing," James said.

"What were you doing, mugging them?" Phoebe smirked.

"Yeah, whoever was at the back," James replied.

"Nice, and after six people they noticed? Wow, talk about slow," Phoebe said.

The ground started shaking lightly. "Ok, now an earthquake?" Jessie muttered.

"The Softmicron in that group, I think they were talking about this," James said.

"Is it a cheat?" Phoebe asked.

"They were just as clueless I think," James replied.

The remaining members of the Softmicron group emerged from the trees. "There it is," one hissed with a black eye.

"Ok, I was in the middle of actually beating him when they noticed," James said.

"Damn it Slayer, that was a pretty stupid trick to play on us all," the leader said.

"Well you said no weapons, you were cheating," James said.

"Cheating's more fun," the leader said.

"Oh don't get me wrong, I agree. It's only fair if the other side cheats too," James said.

The ground shook again, this time more violently. The lightning strikes became more constant. The usual computer voice that announces the games said in a broken voice, "game has encountered a fatal error."

"What? How is that possible?" the leader growled.

One last lightning strike blinded everyone, instinctively they all covered their eyes.

Jessie and Duncan uncovered theirs and found themselves back at Starfleet Command. With them were Daniel, Craig, Wesley, Sasha and Sarah-Amy.

"What just happened?" Craig stuttered.

Sasha ran over to Jessie and Duncan, "hi mum." She eyed Duncan funny, "you take a bath? What was it, a torture session."

"Shut up," he muttered.

"Sasha, that wasn't very nice," Jessie muttered.

Sasha pouted and tried to look cute as she looked up at her, "I'm sorry mummy."

Wesley picked up the baby carrier, he handed it over to Jessie. "I believe this is yours."

"Uh yes, thanks," Jessie said.

In: "Stuart to Rex-Stuart."

Jessie tapped her commbadge, "hey that works. Yes I'm here. Where are you?"

Meanwhile in the middle of New York:
James looked around at the other Slayers, they looked just as confused as him. "I have no idea."

Ylara tilted her head to the side, "looks like some weird statue things."

"They're called buildings, god," Kevin muttered. Ylara glared at him, she punched him in the face. "Hey, don't do that!"

"We're in America, that's all I know," James said.

The Slayers all dematerialised, they rematerialised on the Erona bridge. A few seconds later, Craig, Jessie, Duncan, Sasha, and Sarah-Amy appeared.

Vicky ran over to the group, Ashley groaned and followed her. She of course went over to James. "Hi, I've missed you. So, what have you been up to?"

"And now I'm in hell," James muttered.

Jessie narrowed her eyes, she quickly went over to him. "You don't know when to quit do you, bugger off."

Vicky eyed the kids, "obviously neither do you, god." She glanced back at James. "So, it's been longer for you, did you miss me?"

Ashley dragged her away, "come on you, the Captain did warn you."

Jacqueline shook her head as she made her way over. "Sorry about that. The fleet are waiting a few lightyears away now, we'd better go and meet them. We have a bizarre new plan."

"Why don't I like the sound of that?" Zare said.

"Probably cos you shouldn't," Jacqueline replied. "Anybody who wants to stay behind on Earth is allowed to go now, not later."

"I wonder if Phoebe wants to play babysitter," Jessie said.

James shrugged, "well if she doesn't, there's always your dad."

"I like granddad better, he doesn't stink of coffee," Sasha said.

Jessie sighed, "fine, I won't be a second." She walked away from the rest of the group.

"So, what's the plan?" James asked.

Meanwhile, the fleet:

Lieutenant Paris's Log Supplemental: We're about half an hour away from battle and tension is rising. Our simple yet complicated plan, how's that for confusing, has been kept a secret from the crew. Only the commanders know about the plan in full. There's the feeling of dread as it's not like us to keep this sort of thing from everyone. We just haven't got time for questions, and the 8472's can use telepathy, so we're trying to keep the people who know it low. There's absolutely no way this can go wrong, I've just jinxed it haven't I? Oh well, end log.

Voyager, Chakotay's quarters:
A dark figure walked over to the desk, he picked up a PADD.

Chakotay walked in, he stared at the figure. "Computer lights." The lights came on. "Do you mind touching my stuff."

"No actually I don't," Damien replied. He turned around to face him holding the PADD in his hands. "Cute picture."

Chakotay marched over and snatched the PADD off him. "If you dare mock me, I'll make sure that's your last body ever."

"And how exactly would you do that?" Damien asked.

"I'd find a way, and then kill you," Chakotay muttered.

Damien smirked, he walked away. "Don't you know anything, only I know how to reverse this and I'm not going to tell everybody I know."

"That's why I don't get your side of this," Chakotay said.

Damien turned back to him, narrowing his eyes, "that's not your concern. Remember our deal, I help you with your thing and you help me with mine."

"Let me guess, you're sick of the choices. Surely jumping from one lame body to the next would be worse than death," Chakotay said.

"You have no idea, you cannot begin to understand my more advanced mind," Damien sneered.

Chakotay rolled his eyes, "if you say so. I do remember our deal and I'm sticking by it. We'll leave soon."

"Don't you have another pointless battle with the 8472 guys?" Damien asked. Chakotay stared coldly at him. "I didn't think you were the type to betray your crew."

"I'm not going to betray them," Chakotay said.

"Unless you've changed your plan, then you will," Damien said. "For once I have an incy bit of respect for you. All of these fools think they can stop this, but you..."

"Enough. Get ready, I'll handle the rest," Chakotay snapped.

Damien smiled deviously, "hmm, yes sir."

The Bridge:
James, Jessie, Kevin and Jodie were hanging around at stations. Kevin and Jodie were at their usual, Jessie and James at Tactical.

"Where is he, we're meant to be leaving soon?" Jodie asked.

"He said he had something to take care of," Kevin replied.

Jessie shrugged, "probably just being all angsty."

"That's angsty? He sure can't do it right," James commented.

Kevin sighed, "let's see." He tapped his commbadge, "Clarke to Chakotay." He didn't get a response. "Um, Chakotay? Wakey wakey."

"Computer, locate Commander Chakotay," Jessie said.

The computer responded, "Commander Chakotay is no longer aboard the ship."

Everyone looked confused. "Where did he go?" James asked.

"That information is classified," the computer replied.

Jessie frowned, "what the, that's odd." She glanced at James. "Up for some hacking?"

"Always," James replied. He turned around and started working at the back part of the station.

"God, I thought you were going to say something else," Jodie muttered.

"For the sake of the ratings, please shut up," Jessie grumbled.

"Hmm," James said quietly. Everyone glanced at him.

"What?" Kevin questioned impatiently. "We get enough of that from the doc."

James turned back around, "Chakotay somehow managed to get a shuttle away from the ship without us knowing. That was about half an hour ago."

"Most of us were working on the weapons but I would have thought somebody would have noticed," Jessie said.

James shrugged, "he's done it before."

Jessie glanced at him, "yeah you were with him, how did he do it?"

"He didn't, I did. He had this idea how to do it, but as I wasn't listening I just did my thing," James replied.

Kevin groaned, "maybe you should have listened."

"I'm sorry ok, I had just woken up from a coma," James muttered.

"Ok we have a problem. There's four of us and nobody in charge," Kevin said. He put his hand up, "I call captain."

"You don't call it," Jodie grumbled. "I think I should do it anyway."

"Oh please, you have never commanded a ship before. We're going into a major battle here," Jessie said.

"So? All there is to it is 'fire weapons' or something," Jodie said.

A crewmember at the back meekly raised her hand, "excuse me but..."

"What?" Jodie asked. "Ooh, you think I should be captain?"

The crewmember looked nervous, "well by tradition the crewmember with the highest rank takes command. Whoever has the highest rank should get it."

"Damn it, can't I just make up a rank?" Kevin grumbled. Jodie looked disappointed.

Jessie bit her lip nervously, "I'm only a crewman."

She, Jodie and Kevin stared at nothing in particular before turning their heads slowly in James' direction. "What?" he muttered.

"James you're Lieutenant, you're the highest rank," Jessie said.

James' eyes widened, "oh no no, command was in the female side of the family, not the guys. It was mum and Lena's thing."

"What about your granddad, good old Admiral Janeway?" Jessie said.

"Damn it," James muttered. "No, I can't do it... maybe she should," he said, pointing at the crewmember who spoke up.

"Either way, we're so screwed," Kevin commented.

"Think of it as a monarchy," Jodie said with a shrug. "Mum dies, you get her spaceship."

Jessie cringed, "oh god, Jodie."

"Oh, sorry," Jodie muttered.

"I don't know, this isn't a good idea," James said.

Jodie shrugged, "like I said, all it is, is 'fire torpedo' or 'evasive manuvers'. I'm telling you, being a captain sounds easy."

"You can do this, it's in your blood," Jessie said. "I know you can."

"Right, are you saying child beating is in my blood too?" James questioned, eyebrow raised.

Jessie smiled as she reached out to stroke his arm. "No, you've been in charge of security teams a lot of times."

"That's different," James said.

"How?" Jodie asked.

Kevin groaned, "well for one, you can't smack your bridge crew around. It will be quite hard."

"I don't smack everyone I command," James muttered.

"But I thought Janeway was the whore captain that sleeps with at least one crewmember," Kevin said, eyeing Jessie.

"But I'll make an exception," James said.

"Oh come on, you used to say that stuff to her all the time," Kevin said.

James rolled his eyes as he walked over to the station behind the command chairs.

"Look, here's the bottom line. Kevin's good at flying ships, I'm better at tactical, Jodie's a blonde klutz but she can work opps fine," Jessie said.

"Oh thanks sis," Jodie muttered.

"I'm not saying this just because I'm married to him, but James is the only one with actual command experience," Jessie said. "Plus he hasn't got anything to do anyway. Oh and you can't forget that his mother and granddad were commanders."

"It's going by highest rank Jess, stop kissing ass," Kevin commented. Jessie glared at him. "No really I'm ok with it. We could have worse. We're going into battle, we need a fighter in charge which is why I wanted to do it."

James shook his head, "that's great, thanks."

"Well if you don't want to do it, we could always get Tom here," Jessie said, smiling sneakily.

"All right," James sighed as he made his way to the centre of the bridge, opps way. "Ok here's what's going to happen..."

The Enterprise:
"The fleet will be attacking from two angles, Voyager, Leda and Erona in one group, Lillyia and us in the other. The main target is the ship working on the transformation," Tom said as he paced the centre of the bridge. "It'll be guarded heavily and it'll be pretty tough to get a weapon in, let alone get near it..."

The Leda:
"The whole fleet is equipped with the nanoprobe weapons. In order to clear the way, we need to destroy as many ships as we can. It's not a hard plan, just shoot and kill," Harry said, circling the bridge. "Opps on all ships will keep an eye out for any opening. Just one of these weapons will end this war once and for all."

"At least until the next season," Craig commented from tactical.

"Did I ask for a critic?" Harry muttered.

The Lillyia:
"Species 8472 can easily get re-enforcements so don't get too cocky. Who knows what they've got in store for us," Lilly said. "We're all a good team, and I don't just mean the Lillyia crew, I mean Voyager, Enterprise... all of us. We've been through everything, and we may have lost a few people along the way, but we've showed the universe just what we're made of. We're going to win, cos we always do." She glanced at Scot, he smiled at her. "8472 don't stand a chance."

"Here here," James 2 commented.

Voyager:
"It's been almost ten years since this ship was launched. The crew then had no idea what would happen, who they'd meet. When we all got lost in the Delta, everybody felt the strain, it felt like a lost cause trying to get home. I have to say though, it was. We were better off there. Yes we had idiots like the Kazon, Borg, vampires, Vidiians, Damien..." James said.

"Who's the biggest of them all," Jessie said, smirking.

"Ooh I know this one," Jodie blurted out.

"But we all had each other. The past few months in particular have been hard and brutal, and I can safely speak for everyone that getting home was one of the biggest mistakes we ever made. But there's no use fussing, we're stronger for it and we're not going to take any more of it. I'm tired of waiting and getting stabbed in the back," James said.

"I'm sick of getting stabbed full stop and literally," Jessie muttered.

"I say we should be the attacker, we should stab them in the back and make them suffer like we have. We're going to show them how it's done, and we're going to make them cry," James said. "Any questions?"

The Enterprise:
Angela smiled, "very good Tom, I couldn't have said it better myself."

"Just saying what I feel," Tom smiled proudly. "Let's kill the b***ards." Everyone agreed.

The Leda:
"Let's do it," Harry said. "Let's do it for everyone who's been killed or lost because of this. Captain Janeway, Lena, Sandi and every single woman, man and child killed or taken because of the games."

Voyager:
"Ok, let's do it. Red Alert," James ordered.

The room dimmed, the red alert sirens and lights did their thing.

"You know, I'm sure your mother is up in heaven right now with a cup of coffee, saying that's my boy," Jessie said.

James glanced at her, "I don't know where to start. In heaven she'd have a pool of coffee."

"Ouch, that's hot," Kevin commented.

"Well you know what I mean by the other part. She'll probably be proud," Jessie said.

"No, both she and Lena will be nitpicking about my so called 'command skills'," James muttered.

"We'll see," Jessie said with a smirk. "Besides, you know what she's like. She got proud of Kiara when her band used to sing. We are all forgetting a certain someone who saved Earth from becoming a desert planet, she'd definitely be proud of that, despite what happened to Lena."

"Jeez Jessie, you can only kiss the boss' ass for so long," Kevin smirked.

"I'll kick your ass in a minute," Jessie grumbled. "I'm only encouraging him."

"Is that what you call it these days?" Kevin asked.

"What did I say about the ratings?" Jessie grumbled.

"Ok I'm getting disturbed. Let's kill things, shall we?" James said.

A little while later:
Voyager, Leda and Erona dropped out of warp and began attacking, meanwhile not far away the Enterprise and Lillyia appeared and started firing too.

On the Enterprise bridge, Angela glanced at Tom, he nodded his head. He sat down in his chair and started working on the panel on it.

Voyager:
"Enterprise is hailing us," Jodie said.

"Great, now's not the time for a chat," James muttered. "Put them on screen."

The Enterprise bridge appeared on the screen. Angela and Tom looked rather confused.

"Um, where's Chakotay?" Tom asked as he stood up.

"He nicked off," James replied.

Tom walked over to stand beside Angela, they both stared at each other nervously. "Damn that guy, he's going to get us all killed," Tom muttered.

"Ok it's not that bad," James said.

Angela sighed, "James, he was supposed to be in command. He was the only one on Voyager who knew the full plan."

"What full plan?" Kevin asked, looking nervous.

Tom shook his head, "check your console, I'll send you the instructions. Enterprise out." The viewscreen changed to the battle.

"Well this is a good start," James muttered as he headed over to Chakotay's old chair. He looked at the station beside it. "Kevin just fly as madly as you can, we have to avoid getting hit again."

"Check, this ship's battered enough," Kevin said.

James read the message on the station's screen, getting more worried by the second. He pressed a button on it before heading back to the centre of the room. "Ok, Jess prepare the high yield warhead."

"Already? Jacqueline was right, this is a bizarre plan," Jessie said.

"You have no idea," James muttered. "Kevin, get us a little closer to the beam ship."

Kevin glanced back at him, "what?"

"Just do it. Jodie, open a channel," James replied.

"A channel to what?" Jodie asked.

"Direct it towards the 8472 ships," James replied.

"But they don't talk, they're telepathic. Surely this wasn't the original plan as Chak's isn't," Jodie said.

"Why does everyone have to question what I say? Just do it," James grumbled.

"I didn't question that much. I just said already," Jessie said.

Jodie sighed, "fine. Channel open."

"This is the starship Voyager. You have twenty seconds to stand down and retreat from our space, or we'll be forced to destroy you," James said.

"Duh, no response," Jodie said after ten seconds. James didn't respond, he just stared at the viewscreen. "Um, both ways."

Jessie moved slightly away from her station, "James?" She didn't get a response either. "Close the commlink."

"Ok," Jodie muttered. She pressed a few buttons.

"Why haven't they fired on us?" Kevin asked.

"It's been twenty seconds, let's do it," Jessie said, she moved back over to her station.

James turned around, "no, don't."

"Why?" Jessie questioned. "There, one word again."

"Just trust me," James replied. He headed over to Jodie's side of the bridge, "disarm it. Jodie, when she's done prepare to transport. Kevin, keep going."

"Did they talk to you or something?" Jessie asked. James glanced at her briefly before turning back to the front of the bridge. "It's done."

"Energising," Jodie said uneasily.

"Kevin, all stop," James ordered.

"Right, we're screwed," Kevin muttered.

"I don't think so," Jessie said.

James headed over to Jessie's station. "Ok, just bare with me. Jess, disarm a normal torpedo and fire it towards them."

"Ok, was this Tom's plan or something?" Jodie asked, shaking her head. "And where am I beaming this?"

"Nowhere yet. How long will it take to do that?" James asked.

"Um a few seconds," Jessie replied.

"Ok, beam it to the Enterprise at the same time Jessie fires. You should know where," James said.

"Why haven't they fired at us?" Kevin asked. "They're more interested in the others."

"Cos we've got the high yield, and they think we're going to use it to destroy the beam ship. If we're this close and fire, we'll get hit too. Since we're battered, that would be a bad thing," James replied.

"No we won't, and what about the dud?" Kevin questioned.

"You'll see," James replied.

"Firing," Jessie said.

Jodie uneasily pressed another button, "energising."

One 8472 ship flew in front of the torpedo while the others headed towards the Enterprise which was heading their way.

"They know," Jodie said in a panicky voice. "Please tell me this is the plan."

"Those ones won't until it's too late," James said.

The Enterprise:
"It's armed," Triah said.

Angela smiled deviously, "fire the high yield."

The entire swarm of 8472 prepared to fire at once, the Enterprise fired its high yield torpedo. The torpedo exploded. The Enterprise quickly swerved out of the way, but a few of the ships managed to fire before being destroyed. Two out of three hit the Enterprise.

Voyager:
"The beam ship's clear now," Jodie smiled.

"Jess, fire," James ordered.

"Gladly," Jessie said. She pressed one of the buttons. The bridge crew watched the torpedo hit the ship firing the beam, a few seconds later it was destroyed.

The Enterprise:
The bridge was a complete mess, fires were everywhere and a few consoles exploded.

Tom pulled himself to his feet, "is everyone all right?"

Triah pulled herself off the console, "yeah I think so." She looked over at Bryan who was doing the same, looking dazed.

"No, I hate it when this happens," Faye moaned, rubbing her head.

Tom spotted Angela lying on the ground, he knelt down beside her. "Angela?" he said as he shook her. He checked her pulse, "she's dead. Damage report."

"We took two direct hits. There's still loads of ships left, luckily the Erona and co are handling them," Triah replied. "We really should retreat."

Bryan groggily looked up at the viewscreen, "oh god." He quickly fiddled with his station. Everyone else looked up and saw an 8472 flying right towards them. Again, the ship swerved rather violently.

"Faye, destroy it, now!" Tom yelled.

"I know, I know," Faye stuttered as she worked at her station. The two ships fired, both weapons collided with each other. The 8472 ship was destroyed, the Enterprise got hit by the blast and was knocked away.

"That wasn't so bad," Bryan sighed in relief.

In: "Henderson to bridge, that last hit damaged one of the warp drives. We're leaking plasma."

"Wouldn't be the first time," Tom muttered. "Get us out of here on impulse." Bryan nodded.

The Leda:
"Status?" Harry ordered.

"The deed's done, they fell for it. Unfortunately the Enterprise was badly damaged in the attack," Nikki replied from opps.

"We'll have to destroy as many of these guys as possible. How many weapons do we have left?" Harry asked.

"Just three," Craig replied.

"Make every shot count. Once we're finished, get us out of here," Harry ordered.

Voyager:
"They would have gotten less questions if the plan was explained," Kevin was saying.

"Not enough time, plus I think they were worried 8472 would read someone elses mind," James said.

Jessie sniggered, "I would keep away from Kevin's, that's enough to scare 8472 off."

"How would you know?" Kevin grumbled.

"Well," Jessie said, shrugging.

"I can't control it sometimes and I usually tell the wife everything," James finished off.

Kevin's eyes widened, "what, when were you listening in?"

"Usually?" Jessie grumbled.

"Always," James quickly said.

The Enterprise:
The ship shook violently. Tom looked around the bridge, "report?"

"Impulse was too much to ask," Bryan stuttered.

"What?" Tom questioned.

In: "Engineering to bridge, we've got a warp core breach in progress. We can't eject it."

"When can you ever?" Tom groaned. He tapped his commbadge. "Paris to all hands, abandon ship. Repeat abandon ship. Transporters only, transport to the Erona or the Lillyia, it'll be safer there. Repeat, transporters only."

"Great, all my stuff's here," Faye groaned.

Tom stared at her blankly, "prioritise! Let's get out of here."

The Lillyia:
"What?" Lilly said.

"Enterprise is going to blow in one minute," Scot said.

"How? That shouldn't have happened, a plasma leak shouldn't have..." Lilly stuttered. "Get everyone off it."

"Doing so," Scot muttered.

"When there's five seconds left to go, get us out of here Carly," Lilly ordered.

Carly nodded nervously, "ok, you should give me ten."

"Five's all you got," Lilly grumbled.

Voyager:
"Well?" James questioned as he looked over at Jodie.

"Forty to go," Jodie replied. "Ten seconds left."

"Kevin, go on my mark," James said.

"Ok," Kevin nervously said. "What did you tell her?"

"Kevin, later," James snapped.

"Jeez sorry," Kevin groaned.

"Just go," James ordered, shaking his head.

"Right, warp five," Kevin said.

Voyager, Leda, Lillyia and the Erona jumped to warp, leaving the Enterprise behind.

Two days later
Voyager:
Everyone had gathered in the Mess Hall. Tom, Harry, Lilly and Jacqueline were standing at the front, facing everyone else.

"We are all gathered here to say farewell to the brave crewmembers who were lost saving the quadrant," Tom said. He glanced at Harry.

He raised a PADD and started to read out the names.

"I can't believe it," Jessie muttered, she glanced at James who was just staring at the front. She put one arm around him. "What's going to happen to Kirsty and Kyle?"

James glanced at her, "I don't know, probably one of their grandmothers will take them."

Nearby Daniel was standing on his own, holding Scott. He started to cry, Daniel groaned as he tried to comfort him. "Shh it's ok, she was too much of a cleaning freak anyway." Somebody nearby elbowed him hard. "I'm just trying to help."

"Angela Turnbull," Harry read from the PADD.

"Oh finally, somebody I didn't like," Jessie said. "Why do I feel guilty for feeling relieved?"

James put his arm around her, "I dunno, I do too."

"Also Kevin would like to say a few words for his sister, Sandi," Tom said.

Kevin stood up, he headed over to stand nearby them. "She's not dead, she's alive so take her name off the list," he snapped. He kicked Harry in the leg and went back to sit down.

Harry sat down quickly pouting, "not my fault, I just read it."

Tom tried not to look amused, "ok, forget I said Sandi Clarke then."

"What about Chakotay? He's missing," Yasmin said.

Lilly shrugged, "maybe."

Tom shook his head, "no he'll be back. He probably just burst out crying and didn't want anyone to see."

"Still, I wonder where he is," Harry said.

Meanwhile:
A shuttle dropped out of warp. Inside it Damien and Chakotay were arguing.

"It is much easier that way," Damien grumbled.

"How? It's a crew you hated, they didn't respect you as you treat them like slaves, and they annoyed you more for it," Chakotay said.

"No, really?" Damien said, sounding surprised. He shook his head, "nah, I'm a great leader."

Chakotay rolled his eyes. "You're useless."

Damien narrowed his eyes, "and you're, you're an idiot."

"Wow brilliant comeback," Chakotay muttered, glancing at his station. "We're here. No turning back."

Damien looked up at the front window, he smiled evilly, "no, are you scared?"

Chakotay just sighed as he looked up too.

The shuttle flew slowly towards a large round object, which had a circular hole in it. A pyramid shaped ship emerged from the hole and flew towards the shuttle.

 

****TO BE CONTINUED****

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