Let Them Come

[Dominus]

Lord Dominus stood in front of the window of his private chambers. Shirtless, clad only in a pair of loose slacks and heavy boots. He clasped his hands behind his back as he watched his Battleframed drones. The armor was cobbled from various sources, Migichinian, Faerian, Borg, Romulan, whatever he could find. The drones were lead by his former concubine Ti'An'Ya. Now little more than a torso wrapped in so much Borg and Mig armor that there was more of it than there was of her. What his forces lacked sophistication, they made up for in sheer power. He knew his counterpart was coming. Of course he would be. His son was his prisoner and forced to clone his next army. Even if he took his son back, he still had his work. And he was pretty sure that they could pluck another Jackson Ryder from the other realities.

He half wanted Ryder to find his son surrounded by the bodies of those he cared about. But he wanted to see just how far he could get. Did the old man still have the fire he once had. The fire HE had given him all those decades ago. Dominus' lips curled into a grin. Nicholas Ryder only became the man he was because Dominus made it happen. Because he wanted to see what his counterpart was capable of given the same chance to power he was. It had taken Dominus years to get control of the Pythus Sector, but once he had control, he had exactly what he wanted. He had the face of a hero of the Sector. But he was no hero, oh no... he did have one thing in common with his son Jackson, nothing mattered. Only thing that mattered was power, was control. Entire planets fell to him. He took their leaders. Executed them in front of their families. Bedded their wives and daughters. Brutalized the ones they considered friends. Some he made watch as he destroyed everything in front of them. Obliterated their cities, their countries, their worlds. Made them watch as they realized just who was in power. For some that was a fate worse than death. Some of the leaders worked on his Starbase in menial roles. Some he used as he wished. Others he took their humanity bit by bit.

Dominus glanced at the crushed skull of a man that once ruled a world, his 'loving' wife weeping over his body, the weapon of his demise in her hands, bits of what was once his skull still clinging to her dress. He barely gave her a moment's glance.

"And that my dear... is power." Dominus said coldly. "Clean yourself up and remove yourself from my sight. I won't order the deaths of your people today. You are now in command of your people. " he went back to looking out the window. "Take the gun, put it in a prominent place. Remember that someday, it could be used on you. Now go. And never question my protection again."

Silently she shuffled out of his chambers, the slight sound of weeping could be heard as the door closed.

"Let him come." Dominus said as he watched the stars.

[Nick Ryder]

Nick Ryder sat in the Command Chair of the TAS Tigris, the ship he had made a name for himself with. The ship he commanded the last time he was in this sector. Oh sure it had a fresh coat of paint, it had probably 89% of it's deckplates, systems and hardware replaced since those days, but it was still 'his' old ship. The ship he fought in the COBRA War with. The ship had defended the Pythus Sector from so many threats. The ship he had given to another Captain, that eventually found its way into his ex-girlfriend's hands. The ship which had been deemed 'too old' to be a front line ship and its name given to a new ship. Although that was the official reason. The reason on the books. The real reason, this was his ship. Everyone knew it. Rexi had the new one, the Tigris-A. But the original, was his. And in the thick of things is where he belonged.

Oh sure he enjoyed his term as president. He loved being able to make a direct difference in things, creating a new Alliance. Setting the course... but, he knew that he couldn't do what he knew he had to do. Jack made a calculated move in letting Dominus take him. It gave the push to war, took the fight to Dominus doorstep and the first step in taming the Pythus. Although he did feel that this was a long over due rescue mission for those left behind all those years ago. After that, he wouldn't shed a tear if the entire sector burned. But Dominus... was his Moby Dick. The living embodiment of everything he was against and he wore his face.

[Rebecca Talon]

Rebecca sat next to him in the XO's seat. She was pretty sure what her friend was thinking. It didn't take a connection to the ijulna to see it. She'd known him too long for that, and they were often able to read each other's thoughts. "It didn't end well for Captain Ahab you know. In the end the white whale destroyed everything. Do you want that Nicholas?"

[Nick Ryder]

"Still have to try to end this." Nick replied. "I missed my shot last time. But... the priority is Jack and whoever else we can rescue, we left a lot of people here all those years ago." he looked at the viewscreen. "I still want to end him."

[Rebecca Talon]

"You are not the only one. You have the kill on sight order," she said simply. "Just don't forget the primary objective okay?"

[Nick Ryder]

"I won't... at least easily. Just... remind me if I get too pigheaded alright? Of course it's been a good four years since I've been in a decent scrape like this." Nick said with a half smile. "We were damn good at this kind of thing."

[Rebecca Talon]

Rebecca sighed, "Better than I'd like to be. We've come a long way since the Academy. There was a time when I thought I wasn't any good at tactical situations. All I wanted to do was build stuff. Make things better. Lily Sloan was always my hero growing up. That was another time, and we all have tapped into talents previously unknown."

[Nick Ryder]

"Jack did offer to take us back in time to meet her, he took me to meet Cochrane for my birthday last year. He was half in the bag and Lily was off stewing about, so I didn't meet her." Nick said with a laugh. "He reminded me of our old structural development teacher." He gripped his arm rest. "We're getting my son back. I'm getting real tired of the bad guys taking those I love."

[Rebecca Talon]

"There's always people out there trying to take what we love," she said grimly. She shifted in her seat, "Ow!" Grumbling she pulled out her kliden. "Bloody thing dug into my backside! Structural Development teacher? Jesus what was his name? He had that wonky eye that would never line up with the other one. How he designed a straight line I'll never know. And his breath. Always onions. No surprise he was single."

[Nick Ryder]

"Matheson... and yeah... he was an odd bird, genius, but odd. Kinda when I realized... we both kinda had a lot in common. I've always been a sort of... creative thinker. Never quite fit into the norms, I wasn't outside the box, I created my own damn box." Nick said as he looked at the scans of the station that was rapidly approaching. "Dominus... is probably very much like me in that regard, only he's taken it to insane levels and doesn't have a shred of humanity or altruism in him. Jackson was a nihlist but he still cared about himself. Dominus... he's more than that. He really doesn't value anyone's life, including his own, he's just very good at surviving and dealing it. He's a manipulator. And I can't go back to my wife and child and feel safe knowing that I didn't at least TRY to end him, I've got a ship, a crew, if I can't end him... then I'm going to make him hurt. It's petty... but I want him to feel like he's cornered and he makes mistakes. He gets rash and stupid. Like I do when I'm utterly at the end of my rope. Except... my rash and stupid is usually tempered by a voice of reason, one he doesn't have."