Star Trek: Atlas

Prologue: Family Matters

ALPHA NATARI SYSTEM
200 YEARS BEFORE THE UNITED FEDERATION OF PLANETS...

Lieutenant Draconis Sky'thonar and his family ran down the decks of the Serenity in their mad dash to the shuttle bay. The ship had fallen into a trap of the Jarvanian Empire, let by Emperor Wraitan Zeriah. The Jarvanian whom held a grudge against his father, Nihlos, for destroying their Yamato dreadnought prototype before it's completion, among other things. Jarvanian Berserkers and landing parties were overrunning the ship, taking prisoner every Jrekkon they could find. If they fought back, they were either killed or vaporized by polaron disruptors. The Sky'thonar family already had a few close encounters already. So many soldiers on leave had sacrificed themselves to help them escape. The general was considered the Unity Clan's most important asset, and needed to escape alive at any cost.
"The escape shuttles are in here!" Nihlos input the codes for the shuttle bay, but the doors didn't open. Frustrated, he tore the door down. A fatal mistake.
On the other side of the door were Jarvanian Berserkers, and his sworn enemy. In the flesh.
"Surprise!" Wraitan laughed sarcastically, an electrified dual-blade in his hands. "Did you really think it would be that easy, fool?"
"The only fool here is you!" Nihlos roared, unsheathing his two-handed sonic-amplified sword. "Ziha, take the children to one of the shuttles!"
"You can't take them all, Nihlos!" Ziha argued.
"Don't worry, Ziha. Berserkers are as dull as a rock-fashioned blade, I can handle them. As for Zeriah, he can't fight what he can't see, and power has blinded him for centuries..." He then threw a flash flare, blinding his opponents, and charged. It didn't take long until the odds had been evened. Ziha, Draconis, and his brother, Commander Thri'gon had boarded a shuttle in the confusion, starting it up. Nihlos felt the adrenaline rush through him, feeling great satisfaction as he impaled the last Berserker on his sword, his flare dying out. This was turning out better than he first thought: Avenging the Serenity's crew, killing Jarvanian Berserkers, saving his family, and gaining a few honorable battle scars in the process. Not bad for a day. Victory was his...
"Father, behind you!" Draconis yelled, but by then it was too late. Wraitan jumped up on his back, stabbing him through the chest with his dual-blade. The pain from the electricity was so great, Nihlos couldn't even yell. He dropped to his knees, losing the grip on his sword, pain displayed on his features as blood from one of his hearts ran down over his uniform. Wraitan smirked. He killed the blade's electric field, and ran one of his fingers over the open wound on Nihlos's chest as it dripped drops of his silver-colored blood on the floor.
"Who says vengeance isn't sweet?" He licked some of Nihlos's blood of his hand, then put his mouth next to his head. "You should have known better than to cross me in the first place, Jrekkon. Now you, this ship, and your family will pay the price!"
"NO!!" Ziha drew two short swords from under her tunic and charged. "I WON'T LET YOU!!"
"No, Mother!" Draconis started after her, but Thri'gon held him back. "Let me go! He'll kill them both!"
"It's too late!" Thri'gon snapped, and hit a panel, shutting the door.
"What are you doing?!" Draconis yelled.
"Ensuring someone will avenge them!" Thri'gon snapped, getting ready to blow down the bay doors. "We will kill Wraitan, Draconis. Together. It's what they would want! It's what we need to do! If we don't survive, no one will avenge them or the Serenity!"
And with that, the bay doors were blown open, and the shuttle took off into warp before the Jarvanian ships could react. Draconis then thew his older brother out of the chair, and started to punch his brother in a rage, screaming "You coward!" over and over, before he finally broke down in despair. Father was all he had. All that he had cared about. Now he was gone...


JARVANIA – HOME WORLD, GAMMA QUADRANT
FIVE WEEKS AFTER NIHNOS' DEATH

Young 20-year old prince Anasazi paced up and down the landing pad, more agitated by the second as his royal guard watched. He received reports that his father had been severely injured in his raid on the Serenity, and his Battle cruiser, Executioner, was on course for home four weeks ago. Now, his father was being shuttled down to the planet. Honestly, Anasazi could care less about his father's injuries. Personally, he wished he'd died. His quest to kill Nihlos and his ways of thinking were so outdated in his opinion. So outdated in fact, that the Empire was starting to regress under his father's leadership. Others would agree with the prince, but never spoke it in pubic for fear of execution. Wraitan was a power-hungry control freak. The only way for him to succeed his father would be if his father died, which he had hoped when he first received the message. Unfortunately, that hope had evaporated into thin air a couple days later. He made a mental note to later 'revoke' the rights of the medics whom saved his father. He then noticed the shuttle landing, and did his best to retain his annoyance and displeasure. He guessed Wraitan would live. For now...







USS SOVEREIGN – ORBIT OF OMEGA DRACONIS KESSOK COLONY
THREE MONTHS AFTER LEGATE MATAN'S DEFEAT...

Lieutenant Brahms sat at the science station on the bridge. He was still nervous about this first posting. Of course, it was a great privilege to be able to serve on a Sovereign-class vessel, but it still meant you had a lot to uphold. Especially if the captain is considered a local hero in the region.
"Hey kid!" Brex piped up. "You OK? You look like your going to hurl!"
This caught Commander Larsen's attention. "Brahms, do you need to go to sickbay?"
"Oh! No, Commander!" Brahms immediately snapped to attention. "I-I'm just still trying to absorb the fact that I-I-I got assigned to the Sovereign. She's uh... gathered quite a rep..."
"Very well, but try not to regurgitate anything on the bridge." She cut him off flatly.
"Now Saffi," The captain said, hinting at annoyance. "What did I tell you about giving him some slack? He's fresh out the academy!"
"With all due respect, sir, that's what bothers me. " Commander Larsen challenged. "He still has a lot to learn."
The captain pinched the bridge of his nose for a minute. Then, he turned to Brahms.
"What the Commander is failing to say is 'don't worry, we've all been in your position.' Just treat this like your academy drills and everything will be fine, Lieutenant."
Brahms sighed, a little relieved. "Yes, sir." He didn't understand why the Commander was such an over-tight prude when it came to crew matters, but it seemed she had an extra stick up her rear just for him. He was starting to get all those jokes the crew told about her "Missing her cycles." He also began to feel the same way he felt when he started through school on earth. Everyone thought him to be some sort of psycho or something, just because he was a Romulan. Even when they knew he hardly knew anything about Romulans in general, himself being human-raised. But he brushed it off like he did in school, and focused on operating the science station. That's when something caught his eye.
"Captain, I'm picking up a vessel warping in. It's configuration is Cardassian! It's a Hutet Dreadnought ! From the former House Arterius!!"
"RED ALERT! BATTLESTAIONS!" The captain barked, bolting out of his chair to tactical. "Felix, defensive posture! Kiska, alert the colony's defenses! Brex! Shields! NOW!" The crew's response to the captain's orders was so streamlined and quick, they might have set a record.
"Kessok cruisers are moving in, captain." Brahms reported. "They're in blockade formation, ready to defend!"
"We're being hailed, sir." Kiska reported.
"On Screen." The captain said. On the bridge of the Hutet was Legate Matan himself!
"Matan!" Saffi stood up. "What are you doing here?! You're supposed to be dead!"
"Oh, am I?" He said sarcastically. "You mean the sensors on your powerful Sovereign didn't pick up my escape craft? Looks like I overestimated your ship from the beginning. But enough on explanations. Time to finish what was started!" The transmission cut, and the Hutet started firing continuous volleys of high-speed torpedoes at the Sovereign! The deck shook from the impacts.
"Shields are at 67% and falling!" Felix said. "Starting evasive pa..." Before Felix could finish, the deck bucked up violently, throwing the captain into the ceiling, and Commander Larsen into the status panel behind the captain's chair! The panel shattered, electrocuting her as she screamed! The captain then fell to the floor, blood pouring from his fractured skull.
"CAPTAIN!!!" Brahms vaulted over his console, running to the captain. "BREX, CUT POWER FROM THAT PANEL!"
Brex didn't need to be told twice. The panel died, and Larsen fell down to the floor, glass shards and circuit fragments sticking out her chest and abdomen. A crewman on the bridge ran over and checked her pulse. He frowned.
"Brahms, she's dead..."
"Felix, continue evasive!" Brahms barked. He checked the captain's pulse. He was still alive, but barely. "Brahms to sickbay, medical emergency!"
No response. Brahms tried to remain calm, tearing off the arm of his uniform and applying pressure to the captain's wound. "Sickbay, acknowledge! Brahms to Engineering! DAMMIT, SOMEONE RESPOND!!"
"System Alert! Complete internal ship-wide communications failure! Com systems are offline!" The computer voiced. Brahms began to panic. "Crewman, get me the bridge medical kit! Now!"
"Brahms...?" The captain opened his eyes.
"Stay still captain. You've been injured..."
"Where's ...Commander Larsen?"
"She's dead, sir." Brahms explained as a crewman got out the medical tricorder. "She was thrown into a console. There was nothing we could do..."
"Brahms... You have... Command... Stop Matan... That's an.... order..." He started to go limp in his arms.
"Brahms, we're losing him!"
"Crewman, 30 milligrams catirozine!" He injected the captain with the hypospray.
"No effect! He's flat-lining!"
"Cortical Stimulator!" They applied the stimulator. "Now!"
The captain convulsed, then went limp again.
"Again!" Another jolt. Nothing.
"God Dammit, Captain, don't give up on me! Again!"
A final jolt, but no effect. Brahms felt his stomach wrench. This can't be! He thought. He can't be dead!
"No. Captain..." He couldn't believe it. The one person he looked up to was now gone.
"Brahms? What should we do?!" Brex panicked.
"What?"
"He left you command, Brahms!" Kiska snapped. "You have the Conn! If you can't handle it, give to someone who can!"
It then hit him. Hit him like a quantum torpedo. For the first time since the Kobayashi Maru, Brahms was scared. He wasn't sure if he could cut it! What if he made a mistake? A mistake that could cost the lives of the entire crew? And the colony?
But then his thoughts went back to his honored captain, his hero. He looked at him, dead in his arms. This wasn't fair! He didn't deserve to die like this! That phrase kept going through his head. Then, he made his choice.
"I'll make you proud..." He whispered. He gently laid the captain down on the deck, and walked over to the captain's chair. He slowly sat down.
"Brex, ship status." Brex hesitated, stunned.
"BREX!" Brahms snapped. "That's an order!"
Brex snapped to attention. "Internal ship communications are down, forward shields have failed! We have hull breaches on decks 9, 10, and 11! force fields are holding. We have moderate damage to the main deflector and the shield grid has been damaged. The forward shield emitters are offline!"
"Lieutenant Savali, tactical status of the Hutet and the Kessok blockade." Brahms said. His face was as serious and hard as granite.
"The Hutet is trying to break the blockade with it's firepower. They've focused all their shield emitters on their forward shield. The don't have any shielding on any other section."
"Come about, Felix!" Brahms ordered. "Ready Phasers and Quantum Torpedoes! Target their warp core, full volley! Kiska, tell the Kessok Heavy Cruisers to focus their positron beams on our targeted coordinates."
"Core targeted, sir. We're in position." Felix reported.

"Kessok Ships in Position and Standing By." Kiska confirmed.
"Fire at will!" Brahms said, scowling at the view screen's image of the Hutet. The damaged Sovereign then unleashed it's fury of Phasers and torpedoes on the unsuspecting vessel, along with the two-pronged attack from the Kessok. The torpedoes impacted the hull, while the Phasers and positron beams pierced it.
"We've hit their core! It's destabilizing!" Felix reported. "They have a breach!"
"Back us off!" The Sovereign and the Kessok then distanced themselves from the Hutet, as it exploded in fury.
"...The Hutet has been destroyed, sir." Felix reported.
"We're being hailed by the Kessok colony. They send their thanks and gratitude for our help." Kiska said.
Brahms sighed. He got up out of the chair. "Brex, I'm sorry that I snapped. I was tense. Please get the internal com back online. Kiska, contact Admiral Liu. Re-route it to the ready room. I'll be there if anyone needs me. Felix, you have the bridge."
With that, he walked over to the ready room. Once inside, he sat behind the desk and cried.