Star Trek: Lineage Ch. 05

"And what happened?"

"We pretty much attempted suicide. We're good at that, ya know. Killing. Humans have a gift for killing," Sahar said glumly.

"Oh, that's not true!" Casana scoffed.

"Of course it is! Look at our past. Do you realize how many humans were killed by other humans? Fuck, at some points in human history, it was considered a science!" Sahar said emphatically. "Do you know what happened after the First World War? The fuckingSecondWorld War! And not a hundred years later, 20 years later! And the same fucking people fought it!"

"You can't judge a culture based on what they do once or twice."

"Or three times," Sahar interrupted.

"Or three times. You judge them by what they keep, no matter what. The most telling aspect of a culture is the things that they preserve above all else, the monuments, the documents, the things they see as icons. Things that transcend tangible existence and become ideas in and of themselves."

"Like what? The Colosseum?" Sahar said skeptically.

"Okay, a minor exception. But there are other things! Like the Great Pyramids, monuments to the dead."

"The dead dictator."

"Alright, what about Stonehenge? And before you make fun of it, let me remind you that Kara's ancestors built that one!"

"Okay, that's one, but-"

"And the Eiffel tower? Or the Millennium Gate? Hell, you went to the Academy, do you remember the Golden Gate Bridge? And how many of the Seven Wonders were about war?"

"The Great Wall."

"Defensive. Doesn't count." Casana smiled. "So Earth had some dark times. Every culture does. The important thing is what happens next. What happened after the Third World War?"

"After the Third World War, humanity was about as closed to extinct as we had ever been, and we were too busy trying to scrape by that we didn't have time to worry about what things were supposed to be like. Eventually, we realized that they aren't supposed to be like anything. Nature doesn't care about what things are meant to be, it cares about what they are."

"And that is why humans are so well adjusted. They have accepted the reality that diverse is not the same as different," Casana said, leaning back. They sat silently for a few minutes, staring out the window at the stars.

"Where did all that come from, anyway?" Sahar asked.

"My first host was a philosopher."

******

Deck 2, Conference Lounge, 1400 hours

Sahar paced outside the door, waiting to be called in. "Take it easy, Sahar," Kara said trying to calm her as she looked on. Sahar continued to pace until Kara grabbed her by the shoulders. "Sahar, baby, look at me," she pleaded. Sahar looked up, eyes full of fear. "It's going to be fine. It's a good plan. All you have to do is explain it."

"What if I screw it up? What if I forget?" Sahar whispered, as though afraid the words could curse her.

"Forget it? It's your plan!" Kara laughed. "Look, Harry-"

"Oh, god, not you, too!" Sahar cried.

"Sorry. Slip of the tongue," she apologized. "You're going to do fine. It's a good plan."

"It's crazy."

"The good ones usually are," Kara smiled. The door opened, and Lieutenant Commander Fuller poked his head out.

"Lieutenant, we're ready."

"Aye, sir." Sahar closed her eyes, and stepped through the door. The room was long and narrow, arching gently, with a window running the length of the outside wall. At the head of the long conference table sat Captain Lowe, with Commander Sull to one side and Lieutenant Commander Fuller on the other. Next to Sull sat Commander Kolarov, and then Dr. Collins. Across from them was Lieutenant Commander Osuna, a tall Betazoid and the Chief of Operations, and Dr. Muwara, the Chief Medical Officer. Every one of them was staring at Sahar.

"At ease, Lieutenant. I understand you have a plan for our last exercise against the Gorn," said Lowe.

"That's correct, sir," she said calmly. There was a brief silence.

"Would you like to tell us?" he asked impatiently, destroying Sahar's calm.

"Oh! Yes, sir. May I?" she asked, gesturing to the display console behind him.

"I think it would be helpful," Lowe said. Sahar walked down the outside of the table as the Senior Staff turned to face the display. She brought up the recording of the previous engagement.

"After analyzing the sensor readings from out last fight, I noticed something odd in the Gorn ship's shield configuration," she said, tapping the screen. The recreation ran forward slowly, showing theAthenabank into its turn and fire. As the phasers hit, the screen froze. "Right here," she said, pointing to the Gorn ship, and the image was magnified, clearly showing the phaser striking the aft shield.

"One of our phaser blasts hit the aft shield instead of the port one," she explained. Sahar pressed another button, and the recreation moved back a few seconds. As it played forward slowly, the tactical sensor display appeared alongside. "After the phaser strikes the aft shield, its strength drops briefly, but then rises precipitously, at which point the other shields loose strength," she said, finishing just as the phaser struck and the shield was reinforced. The screen again froze.

"We believe that the Gorn have programmed their computer to reinforce any shield that takes fire with energy from the other shields. I propose that we use this against them, simultaneously striking all but one shield, forcing the Gorn to use power from that shield to reinforce the others. We then strike the weakened shield with everything we have. When the shield goes down, we board their ship," she finished. The officers looked at each other.

"How do you know the Gorn are not controlling shield strength manually?" asked Kolarov.

"The shield reinforcement occurs less than half a second after the shield is hit, much to fast to be done manually."

"Alright, assuming you are correct, how do you know that the computer will respond the way you predict? Perhaps the shields will remain unchanged," the engineer continued.

"Two reasons. First, if the shields are not reinforced, it will still keep them from reinforcing the target shield. Our calculations indicate that even if it is not weakened, it will collapse under a full volley without reinforcement."

"And second?" asked Fuller.

"Psychology. Gorn tend to deal with problems head-on. They attack directly with overpowering force, crushing the enemy. They are set up for slugging matches, one-on-one. It follows they would optimize their warships to fight a single, heavy target, meaning that attacks will only ever come from one direction." Captain Lowe turned to Lieutenant Commander Osuna.

"What'd you think?"

"It's reasonable," she said quietly.

"How do you propose we strike from every direction at once?" asked the Captain, turning back around.

"Shuttlecraft," Sahar answered, pressing a button on the screen. It changed again, this time showing the two ships, facing each other. "We will make a full loop of the Gorn ship, offset from the horizontal plane." As she spoke, the image of theAthenamoved forward, pitching up and banking to one side. It moved around the Gorn ship, passing high to its right before dipping down below the enemy and coming back towards the front. "During the maneuver, we will launch shuttlecraft periodically," she said as small representations of shuttles split from theAthena.

"They will take up positions around the Gorn ship and, on command from theAthena, fire simultaneously at all shields, save for the port shield." Small orange lines extended from the tiny shuttles, converging of the Gorn ship. "TheAthenawill come out of the turn sharply, giving us a point blank shot at the weakened shield." TheAthenapassed below and in front of the Gorn ship before turning sharply into it. As it closed, several red dots fired from the ship, hitting the Gorn.

"Those shuttles are going to get butchered as soon as they are in range!" cried Kolarov.

"No, they will not," said Osuna before Sahar could respond. "The Gorn will ignore them, trying to save everything for when we close on them."

"Why the port shield? Isn't the aft shield weaker?" asked Fuller.

"It is, but if the shield doesn't fall, we can turn away from the bow of the enemy, denying them a shot at us," Sahar answered as the fakeAthenaturned hard to right and moved away from the Gorn ship.

"Will the exercise control protocols be able to keep track of what's happening?" Lowe asked Kolarov.

"They are designed to handle anything from one-on-one engagements to full fleets. This won't be a problem."

The Captain leaned back in his chair for a moment. "What you are proposing is a return to fighter tactics," he finally said to Sahar. "The Federation hasn't deployed fighters in combat for decades." He paused, exchanging glances with each of the Senior Staff. "Let's hope it works," he said.

"Thank you, sir!" Sahar breathed in relief.

"I also want you at Tactical for the battle," he added.

"Sir?" Sahar was confused.

"It's your plan. You should be at Tactical for it."

"Aye, sir," she said shakily.

"Dismissed, Lieutenant," he said. Sahar stumbled towards the door, wondering what she had just gotten herself into when Lowe called to her.

"And Lieutenant, I hate losing just as much as you do," he smiled.

******

Deck 6, Library, 0110 hours

Sahar rubbed her eyes and took a sip from her lemon sharbat. She was pouring over specifications, technical descriptions, performance evaluations, anything she could find on the Gorn ship, on theAthena, or on the shuttlecraft. The prospect of being in command, even for a few minutes in an exercise, had terrified her, and she had spent the last eight hours trying to prepare in every way possible.

She was so focused, in fact, that she failed to notice the door open. A figure quietly entered, careful to step lightly so as not to be noticed. It came closer and closer, until, finally, it stood over her. A single hand reached out, avoiding detection until the last possible moment. Then, with blinding speed, the hand shot out and seized the lemon sharbat.

"What the... hey!" Sahar cried as Kara took a long drink from the glass.

"Relax, I'm not taking all of it," she reassured Sahar. "What are you doing here, anyway?"

"I doing some research," she answered, turning back to the console.

"Why?" Kara asked slowly.

"I want to be prepared for tomorrow."

"Don't you think you should rest?"

"I can't. I'm too nervous. This is all I can think about," Sahar sighed, rubbing her eyes again and leaning back in the chair. Kara suddenly had an idea and reached for the sharbat again. She held it over Sahar and carefully poured a tiny amount onto her cheek. "Holy... what the fuck was that for?!" Sahar yelled as she jumped to her feet, the juice running down her neck. At first Kara didn't respond. Instead, she leaned in and licked the sour liquid from her neck, ending with a kiss on the cheek.

"I am giving you something else to think about," she whispered in Sahar's ear. "Now, sit back down, and let me take it from here." She gently pushed Sahar back into the chair before turning it so that she was behind her. Kara leaned over and ran her hands down Sahar's chest, drawing a deep, relaxed sigh. Sahar let her head hang back, exposing her smooth neck.

Kara dipped her finger into the sharbat and drew a cold, wet line down Sahar's neck. She quickly followed the trail with her tongue, still rubbing Sahar through the think jacket. Sahar tried to take it off, but Kara batted her hands away. "What did I say, love? Just relax," she scolded her.

"Okay, sorry," Sahar sighed, letting her arms fall limp on the chair. Kara slowly undid the buttons on the jacket and lifted it off, exposing the dark green undershirt which was quickly pulled off as well. All that was left was a bra between Kara and her lover's perfect breasts.

Kara spun Sahar in the chair and kneeled between her knees. She brought her lips to Sahar's firm stomach, kissing and licking as she reached around to remove the bra. Sahar gasped as Kara's tongue darted into her navel, and the bra finally fell free, releasing her firm mounds.

"Excellent," Kara sighed, sliding up Sahar's body, taking one of the breasts into her mouth while her hands fumbled with Sahar's belt.

"Going a little faster than usual, don't you think?"

"Would you prefer I stop?" Kara cooed, drawing back.

"Never mind," Sahar laughed.

"That's what I thought," she smiled, pulling Sahar's belt from around her waist. "Now, stand up for a moment." Sahar complied, and Kara pulled her pants and panties down together, still on her knees. Sahar sat again, and the redhead pulled the last garments from her.

"Now for the good part," she smiled up at Sahar, reaching for the sharbat. Kara took a small sip of the liquid before touching the cold glass to Sahar's inner thigh. A loud, high-pitched chirp sprang from Sahar's surprised mouth.

"Holy shit that's cold," she croaked, opening her eyes. Below her, Kara had one hand clasped over her mouth, shaking heavily. "What? What?!" Kara barely managed to put the cup down before exploding in laughter. "What the hell is wrong with you?"

"You..." was all she managed to squeak out before collapsing on the ground. After a few moments, her hysteria subsided, and she tried to catch her breath. "You... you squeaked!" she gasped.

"Like hell," Sahar blushed.

"You squeaked like a... like a wee schoolgirl!"

"That's not funny," she scowled.

"It wasadorable!" Kara breathed, finally getting ahold of herself. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I'm back."

"I'm not sure I'm up for this anymore."

"Oh, no! Sit your schoolgirl ass down, I'm not done with you yet!" Kara cried, pushing Sahar back down into the chair and grabbing the drink again. She stood up, raising the cup to her mouth, and took a mouthful of the icy, sweet and tangy liquid. But instead of swallowing all of it, she sat down sideways on Sahar's lap, the arm holding the cup around Sahar's neck. She leaned in and kissed Sahar, letting some of the drink pass into her mouth as their tongues intertwined.

The beautiful, sweet taste of the raven-haired woman's mouth mixed with the sour taste of the lemon in the drink, creating a gloriously delicious mixture. A small bit of the fluid escaped, running down Sahar's chin and neck. Kara broke the kiss, and lowered her head to lick back up the trail to Sahar's lips, covering her lips as she tried to breath, driving her tongue into her mouth passionately.

Finally, Sahar broke free of Kara, gasping for breath. "Oh, god, yes, that's just awesome," she smiled happily.

"That's just the beginning," Kara whispered as she again slid back down Sahar's body. She poured a bit of the sharbat onto one of Sahar's nipples, making her squeal softly at the sensation as goose bumps spread across her body. Kara watched as the juice trailed down Sahar's chest, over her stomach, and towards her groin. She ducked her head down, catching it above Sahar's bald pussy.

She licked the fluid back up Sahar's body, ending with a flourish of her tongue on Sahar's nipple. Sahar cried softly, her eyes rolling back at the sensations washing over her. Kara repeated what she had just done on the other nipple, letting the juice get a little closer to Sahar's clit this time.

Kara continued this pattern, drawing closer and closer to Sahar's increasingly sensitive nub each time. Sahar was panting, unable to think or speak coherently. The scent of her arousal filled the air, and she could still taste the sharbat mixed with Kara's saliva on her tongue.

Sahar's jumped and shrieked as Kara poured a few drops of the liquid directly onto her clit. "Ohh, that sound is absolutely lovely," Kara moaned as Sahar squeaked and gasped in pleasure. She sealed her lips around Sahar's clit and sucked, pushing her to orgasm.

"Oh, holy fuck, Kara, yes," she cried incoherently, powerful waves of pleasure rolling over her, shocking her senses. Kara held on, forcing her hips down. Sahar's twitching slowed, and when her breathing began to return, Kara drove two fingers into her, forcing her to come again.

Half an hour later, Kara helped a very exhausted Sahar into her bunk, and she was asleep immediately.

******

Deck 1, Bridge, 0630 hours

The turbolift door opened, and Sahar stepped onto the Bridge of one of Starfleet's most advanced ships. To the average crewman or junior officer, the Bridge of a starship is a place of legend. It is where the important decisions are made, a place everyone knows about, but few ever see.

The layout of the Main Bridge was different from the Battle Bridge. Sahar stepped from the starboard turbolift, between the Science and Environmental stations on the wall of the circular room. On either side of the port turbolift were the Communications and Propulsions stations. The Bridge was well lit, and Sahar counted a dozen people in the room.

"Lieutenant Tehrani reporting, sir," she said, standing at attention. Captain Lowe, who was standing over the Comm Officers shoulder, turned to face her.

"Excellent. Take your post," he said as he sat in the captain's chair.

"Aye, sir," she said as she walked to the Tactical Station and took a seat. She was at the back of the room, with the Main Systems Display mounted on the wall directly behind her, a large schematic of the ship which showed the status of major systems. In front of Sahar was the captain's chair, beyond which were two stations, set below the captain, Helm on the right and Operations on the left, directly in front of the massive, rectangular viewscreen. An enlisted crewman sat at the Auxiliary Systems station on the wall to left of the viewscreen, and Commander Kolarov manned the Master Systems station on the right.

With the exception of Helm and Ops, all of the stations had seats for two operators, though all of the stations except Communications were currently manned by one person. Sahar entered her security codes and the console lit up. Lieutenant Commander Fuller took the seat next to her.

"Sir, what are you doing here?"

"I'll handle Internal Security. You concentrate on Tactical," he said.

"Thank you, sir," Sahar said gratefully.

"Sir, we are being hailed," said the Comm Officer.

"On screen." A Gorn officer appeared on the viewscreen.

"Captain, sssshall we begin?"

"We shall," answered Lowe. The Gorn nodded and the transmission closed, the screen returning to the forward view. "Red Alert! All hands to battle stations!" he cried. The siren sounded, the lights dimmed, and several turned red.

Sahar's console changed immediately. On the main display in the center of her half of the console, a general systems schematic was replaced with a tactical map, showing the two ships from top down, and a small window showed a view of the Gorn ship from theAthena'sposition. An auxiliary display activated, showing shield, hull, systems, and weapons status on theAthena. Flipping a switch, the display switched to show the same information for the Gorn ship. She clicked it back to theAthena, and checked the Tactical Systems display on the other side of the central screen, in the console's center.

"Shields are up, phasers standing by, torpedoes armed. All systems ready, Captain."

"Very well. Helm, take us into position," he said. Sahar felt the ship accelerate and turn, and on her screen she saw theAthenaand the Gorn ship separate from each other, moving apart in opposite directions, the distance between them rapidly growing.

"Sir, theReptilisreports that they are ready to begin," reported the Comm officer.

"Okay, Helm, bring us about. Lieutenant Tehrani, you have the Conn."

"I have the Conn, aye," Sahar called back, not looking up from her console. TheAthenacame about, as did the Gorn ship, and they headed directly at each other. "Shuttlebay 1, standby for launch. Shuttle Alpha, status?"