HERE IS WHAT THE FINALE LOOKED LIKE
Captain's log
We arrived at the planet with the Breen ship, that Kalekk found on the Astrometric sensor grid.
[Co] {Xo} Chance, this Breen ship might have just what we need to help us defeat the Gorn.
[Xo] {Co} I agree Dominick, let me take an away team over there with Devreaux and Kalekk, we will try to obtain any sort of cold devices they have.
As Chance assembles his away team the ship is rocked by explosions. Chance is thrown into a console and is stunned. Marciano quickly takes the command chair and calls for a red alert.
[Co] {Tac} Where did those ships come from??!!
As the shields go up and the ship continues to rock, the Tac officer explains that there were 2 asteroids on a normal parabolic arc that quickly shed their icy exteriors and revealed themselves to be Breen warships as they moved in for a perfectly executed sneak attack
The supposedly inactive Breen ship came to life and joined the attack. The initial barrage caused damage to the K-layer coils and the warp nacelles. Warp speed and K-layer retreat were out of the question. Also the main shield generator array had been damaged and all shields were at half strength. Chance began to stir and Marciano had an intense glare on his face as he barked orders at a furious pace. He managed to get all available power rerouted to the shields, and launched a full barrage of attacks which kept the Breen ships temporarily at bay, yet caused them little damage.
[Co] {Ceng} Devreaux get down into the bowels of this ship and hold the guts together with baling wire, chewing gum or use your own intestines if you have to!!!
::::Marciano pushes a button and transports Devreaux to main engineering:::::
The Breen ships begin to circle and close in like a pack of wolves ...no wait a minute... :::Thinks Marciano:::: Like a pack of CARDASSIANS?!!!!
[Co] {Devreaux} Status?
{Devreaux} {Co} Captain this ship is profoundly damaged , Shields at 47%, Photonic Canon mooring is damaged, 1 shot will rip it off, and we'd have to target it by manual. K-layer capability is at least a week away and warp speed is a half an hour away, if I work on nothing else.
[Co] {Devreaux} Fix those shields first, and attach a cable to the canon so we don't lose it, when I use it, get every man and hologram on the warp engines, I am going to try to buy us some time
Marciano pulls up the joystick manual targeting scanner and points at the closest "asteroid" ship, he fires the Photonic canon and smiles as the entire propulsion system fries out on the breen ship. Marciano then pulls away from the "hamstrung" ship and turns to face the 2 remaining ships. The photonic canon floats weightlessly on a tether past tthe main viewer, floating eerily by like a broken mast on an ancient sailing ship. Marciano then acts on one of his world famous hunches...
[Co] {Breen decoy ship} This is Captain Marciano......... I wish to speak to Gul T'zor immediately and I will give him my terms of surrender
The viewscreen shows a breen warrior in his breen armor and helmet. he slowly takes off his helmet and reveals a strangely reptilian head with a spoon shaped forehead.
[Gul T'zor] {Capt Marciano} Dominick, you never fail to amaze me, how did you know it was me?
[Marciano] {T'zor} You can wear a mask, but you can't teach an old wolf new tricks, your attack formation was straight out of the textbook you wrote 17 years ago.
[T'zor] :::smiles and replies:::: {Marciano} I am glad you decided to surrender, you were never a stupid man.
[Marciano] {T'zor} Me surrender?.... my dear T'zor you misunderstood, I was referring to your surrender, I will accept unconditional surrender, and no one else will die.
[T'zor] {Marciano} I must admit you did manage to leave 1 of my ...wolves behind in the dust, but your ship is too badly damaged, you cannot defeat these 2 Breen ships, YOU surrender and I promise that all but the officers will go free to limp home and tell of my might.
::::This testosterone laden posturing and negotiating goes on for another 5 minutes before a sly look creeps over T'zor's face as he realizes that Marciano is stalling::::
{T'zor} [Marciano] You are stalling so your petty officers can fix your ship!, you have 30 seconds to surrender or I will attack!
[Tac] {Marciano} Sir there are 2 more "Asteroids" on a direct course towards us, I think we are outnumbered, outgunned and in big trouble sir
:::Marciano thinks long and hard:::::
[Marciano] {T'zor} I am going to make you an offer you can't refuse. ..........
I will fight you man to ....uh....Cardasian, your choice of weapons, and I will even take a handicap ...if you need one...what do you need?, blindfold?, 1 arm tied behind my back?....
[T'zor] {Marciano} I don't think the blindfold will be needed :::smiles evilly:::: meet me on the planet's surface, wearing only your uniform, no tools, no weapons, no communicator, I'll be there waiting, if you're not there in 30 seconds I will blast your ship to pieces and take your skull as a trophy back to Cardasia Prime.
[Marciano] {T'zor} Make it so, see you down there Gimpy
* Note that T'zor was born with a club foot and lived with the shame and discomfort of it until he was 16 when he had it fixed in a Cardasian medical facility, but he was teased mercilessly as a child about it.
[Marciano] {Chance} Get a doctor up here, fix your concussion, I order you to get my crew back home safe, whatever it takes. You are to leave me if need be on the planet, ...Don't argue, this is a direct order, Chance the crew is more important than me, rescue me if you can, but if you can't you must get the crew and my...ship!! to safety
:::The 2 combatants arrive simultaneously on the planet's surface, both wearing only a uniform...although of course Cardasian armor IS the uniform. T'zor pulls 2 rods from his belt and tosses 1 to marciano::::
[T'zor] {Marciano} I know you are proficient in the use of a Klingon Painstick Dominick, I saw a holo of you in the Nausican championship, you took 4th place I believe? ...... I of course took 1st place on Cardasia, that was of course after I won 3rd place in the Marathon race, pretty good for a GIMP, wouldn't you say?
[Marciano]{T'zor} Really? you mean the rumors of you using a carbon-pressed spring in your artificial foot was a lie?, I always figured you were a cheater, Gimpy.
:::The 2 combatants circle each other, feinting, parrying, stabbing, and slashing. They start to score on each other with increasing frequency and each grunts and grits his teeth to block the pain and avoid crying out in pain. The 2 take turns knocking each other off balance, cutting open facial wounds, and trading insults for another 20 minutes, all the while Devreaux works on getting the warp drive back on line.....
Finally Marciano scores a direct hit against the shin of T'zor's clubfoot and both are suprised to see an electric arc shoot out.
*Note that Carbon arc welding was popular in the 20th century and if you pass an electric current though a carbon/steel rod the resulting heat will weld metal together.
:::The entire foot catches fire and T'zor screams in agony as his foot "welds" to the artificial parts....T'zor falls to the ground and writhes in agony, although he never lets go of the Painstick::::
:::Marciano raises his painstick to deliver a stunning knockout blow to T'zor's now unprotected head::::
::::T'zor twists his wrist and points his painstick at Marciano, he presses a heretofore unseen stud on the handle and a disruptor beam fires out disintergrating Marciano's Painstick and both of his arms::::
:::as Marciano falls to his knees and lets out a yelp of pain, a glazed look comes over his eyes and he starts to go into shock, and blood starts to pool in his mouth:::
:::T'zor limps to 1 knee and points his painstick/disruptor at Marciano, Marciano is too far gone for heroics and they both know it, he looks T'zor directly in the eyes and says.....
[Marciano] {T'zor} you are a scoundrel, and a cheat, you may kill me, but you will never beat me, I am your superior in every way, and when you die an old sniveling weasel of a Cardie :::Spit blood:::: Scum, you will remember how I died, and you will wish you were half the man I was. I curse you and your line, you will never have an heir, you will die alone and in fear, I will be waiting for you on the other side, remember that well :::At this Marciano struggles to his feet looks to the sky, somehow intuitively KNOWING that his ship has had the time to be repaired, smiles and falls over backwards as another disruptor beam hits him from T'zor:::::
Chance's Log
Everyone on the bridge sat in stunned silence at what they had just witnessed. The Captain had bested the criminal Cardassian, until he cheated. Now the Captain was dead, that was painfully obvious. Chance felt a knot in the pit of his stomach as if he had just been sucker-punched in the gut by a Klingon!
From the main viewer, Commander Devlin sees T'zor trying to call to his ship. Knowing that if the Cardassian returns to his vessel, their chances of survival would go from slim to none, Chance knows he has to act fast.
Chance switches the main viewer from Captain Marciano's corpse, to the two Breen ships in front of them.
{Chance}[tactical] direct a high yield tachyon burst at both Breen ships!
{tactical}[Chance] what?
{Chance}[Helm] JUST DO IT! And do it quickly!
Chance knew he had to get the minds of the crew...his crew now he thought sadly...off the loss of the captain and, back to the job at hand.
Tapping her controls to comply with the Commander's orders, she looks somewhat confused
{Helm}[XO} I...I don't understand...
{Chance}[Helm] I don't want them beaming that bastard back to his ship
{Helm}[XO] emiting Tachyon bursts!
Just as the Cadassian transporter operator gets a lock onto T'zor and is about to initiate transport, his console goes offline as the tachyon bursts hit the Breen ship.
T'zor waited for the transport to begin, he was eager to get back to his ship and finish off the Federation starship. He looked down at the lifeless body of his old nemesis. He would have to take Marciano's head for a trophy. It was only fitting he thought, after all the trouble the Terran had caused him. Giddy in his victory, T'zor wondered what the hell was taking so long to beam him back up to the ship. Looking up to the sky, more out of instinct than any real expectation of seeing his vessel, he was beginning to get irritated. But he did see something, a light twinkling high above him. It couldn't be his ship; after all, it was daylight where he stood. He shielded his eyes as he gazed at it, it seemed to be getting bigger. Suddenly it dawned on him what it was. He frantically looked all around him and realized that his choice of this large open plain for a battlefield had left him with no where to hide. T'zor looked at Marciano one last time, and saw something he hadn't noticed before. As incredulous as it seemed, the Federation officer seemed to him to be...smiling!
T'zor barely had time to look back up as the whistling sound became too loud to ignore.
The photon torpedo struck the ground only 5 meters from where T'zor was standing.
Meanwhile...back on the Invicta.
{Chance}[CENG} Chief...do you have any of those bottles of anti-matter left?
{CENG}{Chance} just one
{Chance}{CENG} attach it to a photon torpedo and send it over to the Breen before they get too far apart.
In record time, the Chief Engineer carried out his XO's...no...his Captain's orders,
Just as the Breen had recovered from the Tachyon bursts and were about to separate to finish off the Federation starship, the Invicta fired a single photon torpedo for the second time. When the torpedo reached the optimum position between the two vessels, it detonated with tremendous fury! The Breen vessels had barely enough time to activate their shields. That was the only thing that kept them from being completely destroyed. As it was, they both hung there, dead in space, slowly drifting apart from each other.
{Chance} target both vessels and fire!
The two Breen ships exploded almost simultaneously. Then Chance ordered the third Breen vessel destroyed as it came back into Invicta's weapon range. Once warp power was restored, Chance gave the order for the Invicta to head to Starbase 22 for immediate repairs. Emerging from his ready room...his ready room, that was going to take some getting use too; Chance sat in the Captain's chair...his chair now...he was tired of taking the subspace calls from this admiral or that Starfleet muckety muck, congratulating him on his promotion to Captain and how he had managed to save the Invicta from sure destruction. But he didn't want to hear any of it. That fourth pip on his collar had come with too high a price, it had cost him his Captain...and more importantly, it had cost him his friend!
T'zor barely had time to look back up as the whistling sound became too loud to ignore. The photon torpedo struck the ground only 5 meters from where T'zor was standing. Slamming into the ground with unbelievable force. So much so, that T'zor was knocked from his feet. But before the Cardassian pirate could even hit the ground, the earth around him exploded with unimaginable chaos! The photon torpedo vaporized everything within a kilometer of it instantly. The dirt, smoke and, ash roiled together as it rose high into the air as if some blackened mushroom from Hell had sprung up on this desolate planet. Rising so high, that it could have been seen from miles away...if there had been anyone there to see that is.
T'zor opened his eyes and he was standing there on the plain as before, all was quiet, not even the wind made its presence known. The Cardassian was puzzled, he looked to the place where the Federation torpedo had hit...where he was sure it would it have struck, but he couldn't see any evidence of it, not so much as a blade of grass was disturbed. Looking up, he saw nothing but blue sky above him. Only the body of Dominick was where it should be. The Pirate got a feeling that something wasn't quite right, but he didn't know what it was.
Now why did you go and do a thing like that for? T'zor spun on his heels at the sound of the stranger's voice, his painstick disrupter at the ready! Who are you? and where the hell did you come from? The Cardassian spat out. The newcomer just walked past him, seemingly ignoring him, as he walked over to the body laying prone on the ground. I'm sorry Dominick, I would bring you back if I could, but that would be a violation of our laws...sort of our Prime Directive. I know you will understand. The stranger said as he gazed mournfully down at his friend. Then kneeling beside him, he gently placed his palm onto the dead captain's forehead. By his people's law, he could not restore his friend to life, but he could make his body whole.
Not use to being ignored, T'zor pressed the stranger again for answers. "I asked you a question and, I demand an answer! I don't know if you know who I am, but..." but before T'zor could finish, the stranger had quickly stood and spun around to face the Cardassian, and something in his eyes had caused the pirate to go silent. The glare in his eyes caused a cold chill to run down T'zor's spine. In fact, for the first time in as long as he could remember, T'zor was afraid. More frightened than he ever was back on Cardassia Prime, where as a child, the older boys would taunt and tease him about his malformed foot. Giving him a head start, they would hunt him through the streets of the city where he grew up, then when they caught him, they would beat him viciously just because he was different. T'zor didn't like being afraid, he had once vowed to himself long ago that he would never have to fear anyone ever again, and he had kept his vow...until now!
Oh...I know exactly who you are, or to be more exact...who you were! the stranger exclaimed as he stood and took a step towards the pirate. His piercing eyes felt as if they were boring holes straight into T'zor's soul. The criminal took a step back, he wanted to flee, to run away like he always did all those years ago back on Cardassia. But there was nowhere to run to, nowhere to hide! T'zor, nauseated by his own fear, aimed his disrupter at the stranger and fired point blank....to no effect! The mysterious interloper didn't even so much as flinch as the energy beam struck him square in the chest. T'zor fired again...and again, each shot hitting its target, but that target just kept advancing towards him as if the disrupter's blasts were nothing but a slight summer's breeze. T'zor looked down to quickly check the setting of the disrupter or to see if it was damaged in some way, but everything was as it should be. T'zor couldn't understand why it was having no effect. He looked up to see how close the stranger was to him now, only to see nothing but open field before him. His heart beating wildly in his chest, T'zor's fears began to abate. Had the disrupter worked after all? Had it finally vaporized the stranger that had caused him so much fear? T'zor was about to laugh at himself for being frightened so easily, after all, wasn't he the infamous T'zor, feared throughout this region of space?
Just then, T'zor felt something near his right ear, before he had a chance to turn to see what it was, someone yelled BOO! T'zor nearly jumped out of his scales! Flinching, turning and taking several steps back away form the source of the noise, T'zor dropped his weapon when he saw who had startled him. It was impossible T'zor thought to himself, and he muttered out loud "but...but I just killed you!" The stranger felt his chest with both hands, then his stomach. Are you sure? Because I don't feel dead. T'zor quickly bent down to pick up his weapon, but just before he could grab it, it disappeared in a flash of light. Looking up, he saw it appear in the stranger's hand in an identical flash of light. You know...you shouldn't go around pointing this at people, its very impolite! How would you like it if someone did it to you? The stranger pointed the device at T'zor and fired. T'zor thought this was it, this was how he was going to die. But he didn't die, although the disrupter blast caused him incredible pain, it caused no actual physical damage. The stranger shot T'zor a second time, then a third, each time the pirate's body was racked with excruciating pain. The stranger kept shooting him, until finally falling to his knees, Tzor screamed out STOP!! Then, more of a whimper than a plea, he begged the stranger "please...please don't shoot me anymore!" The stranger stopped firing and said "see, its not so nice when you're the one being shot," as if he was scolding a child for throwing Rigellian Sand Peas at people as they passed below on a Promenade.
Managing to stand once again, the pirate tried to regain his composer, and at least some of his lost dignity. Just kill me and be done with it. Quit toying with me like some Pentanthon Leopard with his prey! The stranger stepped towards the Cardassian. T'zor, too weak to step back lest he lose his balance and fall, had no choice but to stand there as the stranger came face to face with him. The glare had returned to the stranger's face, and T'zor could taste his own bile as his fear also returned.
Oh...you're not going to get off that easy. I have other plans for you! The stranger snapped his fingers and suddenly the flat plain of the nameless planet they had been on was replaced with more familiar surroundings. T'zor looked around him and instantly recognized where he was. He was on Cardassia Prime, the small town where he had grown up. What...how...how did we get here? I vowed that I would never come back to this place as long as I lived! T'zor stammered. The stranger replied as he smiled; Don't worry pirate, you didn't break you're vow! The Cardassian had a perplexed expression on his face.
Stranger; You still don't get it do you?
T'zor; Get what?
Stranger; You're already dead! Have a nice eternity. ::laughing::
As the Cardassian tried to grasp what he had just heard, the stranger once again snapped his fingers and disappeared. T'zor wondered what the stranger had meant when he said he was already dead. Was he not standing here breathing? T'zor looked down at his chest as if to confirm that he was indeed breathing. As he did, he noticed something odd, he was wearing the same clothing he wore as a boy...in fact...he was a boy again...about the age of 12 he thought. T'zor looked down at his foot, his clubfoot had returned. Before he could fully contemplate what was going on, he heard a sound that caused a chill to run down his spine. In the distance, but drawing closer, the former pirate heard the sound of people running. Just as he looked up a group of Cardassian teenagers rounded a corner, one of them pointed directly at T'zor and shouted; "There he is...get him!" He tried to run, but with his clubfoot, the gang of youths quickly overtook him, and there in the alley, like so many days of his childhood, they beat him unmercifully. As the blows and kicks rained down upon him, his body bleeding and racked with pain, the stranger's last words echoed in T'zor's ears...Have a nice eternity!
Back on the planet, the stranger stands over Marciano's body and says; "Come on Dominick, its time to go! Marciano opens his eyes, not quite sure where he is. Where am I...what's going on? the former Starfleet captain inquired of his old friend. Smiling, he replied; Don't worry, I'll explain everything as I show you a little of what it is like to be Z!
::fade to black::cue the music::cue the credits::
I want to thank all of you for showing up to help make this sim work
I want to Thank Mike without who's help I wouldn't have even started up the sim.
A man could not ask for a better XO, nor a better friend I.R.L.
Mike took on the part of Z whenever I needed him to. I want ot thank Mike for helping me write the emotionally difficult final log, he wrote all of the Chance stuff and all of the Z stuff
Pat sent out a letter indicating that our sim is on Leave of absence, so that is our current status. And who knows, Marciano might come back someday, heck Kirk and Spock both came back from the dead, so did Picard, and I think Sisco will too someday
Thanks everyone for supporting the Invicta I'm sorry it had to end, but I can't attend on any sort of regular basis anymore due to work.
