And So It Begins: Space

[Órlaith]

"I'm reading a massive tachyon surge," Órlaith exclaimed her finger still hovering over the fire button. "It's a large fleet of ships!"

The ships decloaked revealing the green painted hills of a dozen Klingon warships. The computer beeped indicating an income hail.

"Sorry we are late," General Hur'agha greeted. "It took some work to convince the council to allow this."

[Angel Ryder]

"Better late than never General. I could kiss you if my hands weren't full right now." Angel said as she spun the ship around to avoid weapons fire. "Take out their engines... and their transporters, that bitch is not getting off that ship."

[Hur'agha]

"We can share a barrel of blood wine over Bellatrix's corpse when this is over," she replied. "Today is a good day to die! Qapla!"

[Angel Ryder]

"I'll settle for us all making it out alive. And I'm pregnant... not drinking bloodwine." Angel chuckled and nodded her head. "Q'apla!" she closed the channel and looked at Orlaith . "And this is why I'm an optimist and I trust in higher powers to send who we need when we need it."

[Órlaith]

"So is that the secret formula my mother was always looking for? Dumb luck?" Órlaith asked with a slight amused look on her face.

[Angel Ryder]

"Faith. It's something my grandmother instilled in all of us and my father encouraged." Angel replied with a slight smile. "You can call it dumb luck, I call it having faith that somehow things will work in our favor and if they don't... as my grandmother Tess is fond of saying, hope for the best, cope with the rest." she checked the damage to the saucer and winced slightly. "And that may be all we have to work with, looks like the dorsal microtorpedo tubes are shot... overload the phaser banks, cheaper to replace those if this bird survives... let's keep the pressure on. I want to end her threat once and for all and I need proof she's either captured or dead."

[Órlaith]

Órlaith fired, and fired again. One of the massive Ajem'dasis ships exploded, yet the Vindicator continued to survive. "The Vidicator's shields are at 53% and holding."

[Angel Ryder]

"Okay. Stop firing." Angel said as she got up from her command chair and walked over to Orlaith and put her hand on the young woman's shoulder. "Clearly she's got some kind of regenerative shielding, which have as well, they can hammer us, but we're never getting below 25% of course, the more they keep hammering us, the more structural damage we'll have and the more systems we'll lose. So we'll just be a well preserved corpse floating in space." she looked at the sensors. "This may be insane, but... if I surrender to beam over, will she lower shields or can they beam through?" she put her hands up. "I'm not doing a suicide run and if she lowers her's, we'll have to lower our's as well. I just need like... three seconds of her shields down. In other words..." she whispered. "I want to beam her here. There's minimal crew for her to use as leverage and Hur'agha can continue the assault on her ship, but... I think Deck 8 which has been decompressed would be a great spot. Tiny pocket of air that beams in with her, take the fight out of her pretty quick hmm?" she gestured with her hand. "Or... we find some way to get her to punch out in an escape pod and we deal with her in that. I just want her off that ship."

[Lady Thade]

<ISS Vendicator>

Bellatrix was pinned down from a collapsed beam. Lady Thade had killed the loyal officers and clones on the bridge. That was easy enough. She couldn't stand toe-to-toe with Bellatrix, but for everyone else... Well, they were a joke.

Bellatrix stared up at Thade. There was no hate or anger in her expression. Just relief. "I didn't think it would be you."

"You thought I would be dead," Thade replied coldly.

Bellatrix laughed, "A loose end I suppose I should have tied up myself."

Thade looked around. The barrage from the Alliance fleet had stopped. The must have realized the Vendicator had regenerative shields.

"Do me one last favor Darth Thade," Bellatrix said weakly. "Destroy my kliden. I would hate for it to become a trophy."

Thade looked down amused. Bellatrix's weapon had fallen a mear meter out of her reach. Had she had it she would have gotten free no doubt. Thade shrugged and with a swipe of her kliden she cut the silver and black hilt in two. With a casual sweep her her kliden again she removed Bellatrix's head.

Smiling in victory she lowered the Vindicators shields, and beamed the grisly evidence to the bridge of the Kitea. Whisting in victory she activated the site to site transporter once more and beamed over to a small ship, barely bigger than a runabout and within seconds was at warp.

[Angel Ryder]

Angel practically screamed when she heard the transport hum and then saw Bellatrix's headless body and broken kilden appear on the bridge.

"Holy fu... okay who did that?!" Angel looked between the body and Orlaith. "What the... holy shit that's a kilden cut, I'd know it anywhere... who did that?!" she crouched down and picked up the kilden pieces. "Okay so... definitive proof Bellatrix is this body and she's dead but... who did this?"

"Ma'am sensors read a small craft leave the system at high warp immediately after the beam in." one of the science officers said as he wiped off the debris from a science station. "And ma'am... I need to go to sickbay, I've probably got a concussion, I just woke up... and there's blood coming out of my ears."

"Yes, go... go... hail the fleet... mop up remaining Scion and Dominus forces and rally around Byron." Angel said and used her uniform jacket to cover Bellarix's head and body. "Orlaith, set a course to rendezvous with the rest of the Kitea." she put her hand on her stomach and closed her eyes. "And... once we're docked together, inform my husband, wherever he is, I'll be at the Naval medical center. I... think I'm going into labor. Water hasn't broken yet, but... I think the stress of the battle is making the twins... antsy."