The Fall of Iconia

Chapter 22

The authors wish to point out that they do not own any of the franchises used in this story. We also wish to thank the late Tom Clancy for his book, The Hunt for Red October, and the wonderful characters he created for it.

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Chapter 22

"You're sure you can locate one of our ships, even when it's hidden by a mantle?" It wasn't that Kirk didn't believe the man. Quite the contrary. The twins had recommended him for this. He just wasn't sure how this man was going to accomplish the feat.

"Commander, I assure you, it will work."

"Do you have any experience with this type of thing?"

The man glanced at him and raised an eyebrow, not unlike the way a certain Vulcan would. "Before the nations of Earth came together, I trained men for the Soviet Navy, and I was the test pilot for each new type of submarine. I understand stealth, Commander. And I understand waiting. I can find Khan for you."

It wasn't that Kirk couldn't locate his nemesis by himself. In fact, it would be simple. However, if he did, it would not be simply skipping a boring thesis. Cheating in this matter could have terrible consequences, and he couldn't risk it.

Mentally, he went through the records on Marko Ramius, and found the man was not exaggerating his importance to the Soviet Union. In fact, he might not have said enough. He had been the golden child of the Soviet Navy. When his wife was killed by a drunken doctor, who couldn't be touched because of who he was, Ramius had defected to the United States with an entire ballistic missile submarine and its officers. The sub was on its maiden voyage, and a prototype at that. The man had style, Kirk had to admit.

They entered the bridge of Natalija. The vessel had started as a Defiant class ship, but had been intensely modified. It was used for testing the usefulness of new technologies and ideas. Some of them would never make it into use as standard equipment, but all had been tried by Captain Ramius.

One idea that had been installed into all ships utilizing a mantel, was a separate and unique phasing frequency for each. This meant that a phased ship would not be visible to another, nor would they be palpable to another. Natalija, however, possessed the ability to phase to any of her sister's frequencies. Of course, when phased, she could only perceive non-phased matter and matter phased to her own frequency. This meant that in order to find Khan, her crew had to find the correct frequency. Ramius was planning to enter the area of Deep Space Nine, under cover of normality, then do a passive scan on the frequency of Saratoga. Once she was located, Natalija would phase and then she would have the element of surprise in removing Khan and his people.

Ramius ordered Natalija's engines ahead, and they started toward the doors leading out of the sphere.

Somewhere in Cardassian Space...

"I'm sorry, Rene, but I can't transmit," Tessa Hammond told her shipmate, Rene Picard.

"We need to find a place to land," Rene responded.

They had been hit by a blast from a Dominion fighter. Their ship was without its main engines and the subspace radio antenna had been destroyed, causing a power surge that took out the transmission circuits in their comm system.

They were in a system that, thankfully, had a star similar to Sol. Tessa scanned the space in an orbital plane similar to Earth's, and found a planet that seemed likely to be class M. Using thrusters alone, Rene was able to slingshot them on an orbit that would intersect the planet in about three days.. How they would land safely when they got there was anyone's guess.