The Prince who would not die. Part One: A firestorm of unreality erupted in this galaxy of ancient civilizations. The dangerous, unstable forces that had shaped a world were wreaking their final havoc. In the realm of a science virtually uncomprehendable by humanoid species, a planet had been formed and destroyed by that which had formed it: Protomatter. In a young galaxy where their slow drives had forced them to result to such technology before they could properly use it, three ships had been destroyed within the gravitational and energy confines of the force. Lives had been snuffed out by it's energies. But as had been proven in a startling manner, the end of life was something that protomatter could undo. In deep space, rings of a shockwave spread out... A Nebula formed. The Mutara nebula. Recreated out of the matter of the destroyed planet that had forged it. At it's center.. Three ships. A battered, scarred and then repaired Constitution class starship, Klingons on it's bridge in stunned amazement that they were still alive. A small, Oberth class Scout, it's crew confused, and then worried to find several klingons and a single human drifting in the Nebula, dying swiftly. They were beamed aboard at once. Onboard the third ship, a Miranda class cruiser, in the same condition it was in when it had fatally.. Or so it had seemed, entered that Nebula.. one man was not confused. He grinned predatorily, and then laughed, and cried out one word. "Genesis!" As he looked around his shocked, healed bridge crew, and then out towards the viewscreen where the two ships drifted, their shields down as their crews tried to reconcile what had happened. There was no point in giving them a chance to do so, though. Khan Noonien Singh turned towards the people who had sworn to live an die by his command over two hundred years before. "Board those ships.. Phasers to stun. I want prisoners.. As swiftly as you can.. I must have those ships!" His followers were confused by the events, but they did not hesitate to obey their lord. And Khan went with them.. To personally stand on the bridge of Enterprise, and declare his victory. Sorting out the how would come later.. Revenge was his, and he was not one to ignore the chance to seize it. The Captain of the Grissom was as confused as hell. "Why did David end up in space? And what damned Nebula is this.. Good God.. Is that Miranda the Reliant!?" The ensign at the science console studiously began scanning, despite the intense interference of the Nebula. Then, seven individuals formed in a tight group of the transporter affect on the bridge of the Grissom, firing as soon as they could, stun bursts that knocked out the small scout's bridge crew instantly. Three moved to secure the ship's controls, while the other four went to the turbolift. Genetically enhanced, they'd have no trouble at all securing the confused and surprised crew of the Grissom. Another seven beamed aboard the bridge of the Enterprise. The Klingon boarding party there, possibly even more confused than the crew of the Grissom, was still working to gain control of the ship, and were surprised by the beam- ins.. but not to surprised. One was not stunned by the shots of Khan's personal assault squad.. But Khan himself met the Klingon's charge, blocking the arm that held the tri-bladed dagger and punching him with his other hand hard enough to send the Klingon into one wall of the bridge, knocking him uncounscious. He checked the security scanners next, and confirmed that the ship was completely empty. Shortly after that, the reports from Grissom came in. The ship had been secured. Khan smiled thinly. He now had three ships, and a mystery to solve. Several hours later. With the prisoners secured in one of Enterprise's cargo bays, Khan had called a convocate of his people. Five on Grissom, eleven on Reliant, fourteen, including himself, on Enterprise, though two of his people onboard the Reliant were still recovering from wounds sustained in the first engagement with Enterprise. Still, they were on Reliant's bridge, and the viewscreens were set for three-way. Then, Khan began to speak. "My people, our interrogations of the prisoners and study of the situation suggest that we had indeed been dead.. And yet, the effect of the so called 'Protomatter' has restored us all, and given us this fleet. The Klingon commander whom Grissom recovered from deep space claims that Kirk died on the Genesis planet just as he fell, and then the planet exploded and we were restored.. Wherever here is. We shall leave the nebula once we have answered two important problems.. Operational status and crewers. Joachim here," gesturing to his most loyal follower, on the bridge of Reliant, "has confirmed that there are enough spare parts among the three ships to bring them back to full operational status in three days of work." The woman he'd given command of the Grissom to spoke up then. "M'lord, then what of the matter of crewers?" He smiled grimly. "I believe we only have one choice.. Brainwipes and personality reconstruction of the prisoners." There was a look of surprise from Joachim. "That would be rather brutal, M'lord.. Their intelligence could be impaired by such." Khan chuckled slightly, and grinned. "Brutal, yes, but necessary if we are to survive. The personality reconstruction and repairs will both begin immedietly. That shall be all." Directly Outside the Mutara Nebula, Outer Rim, unclaimed territory.. Deep Space, some time later. Captain Likar Jii'nta of the massive Trade Federation Battleship Kaeleron studied the Nebula that had simply appeared near the point where he was to prepare for the capture of the Entar station. The pirate warlord had lost a great deal of his fleet, leaving only the ancient Battleship under his command, in his last attempt to take the Entar station, an important, privately owned way- station out here along the frontier, but it had failed. Therefore, he was turning to another pirate group, and in alliance with them, they would jointly take Entar station. That assault would occur in one week, three days time.. Now the waiting would come.. A pity he'd had to flee his base thanks to a New Republic attack; it was far more boring out here. Atleast, of course, he could study the Nebula that made no sense at all. It simply wasn't supposed to be here. "Captain.. The sensors are detecting three solid objects in the Nebula.. Moving out of it..." Likar glanced back. "Moving out of it?" The sensor officer nodded once. "To much interference to find out if they're ships or not yet." Likar frowned. "M'lord.. A ship the size of a Starbase is out there.. And the sensors confirm.. We are not in the Milky Way galaxy. Do we hail the unknown ship, M'lord?" Khan looked intently to the viewscreen. "Shield status of the unknown ship?" The man checked his readouts. "Their shields are down, M'lord." Khan stood. "If they are hostile and they raise their shields.. We'll never have a chance against them. All ships are to raise shields and fire on my command, maximum forward weapons. Target likely points of power distribution and shield emitters on that ship." The man went to his console and transmitted the orders, linking the three ships on audio for the command, and then looked to Khan. "Reliant and Grissom report ready, M'lord." Khan's eyes focused on the huge ship. "All ships.. Fire." "Captain.. It is confirmed. The unknown objects are ships.. Two Frigates.. One corvette... Unknown des... They're raising shields... They're firing!!" Likar didn't even have time to order the combat holo on. He just watched the forward screen as five bright projectiles raced in, followed by five single and two double streams of red fire, from some kind of energy weapon. The massive ship actually rocked as the Photon torpedoes slammed into vital points of the Trade Federation battleship, phasers stuttering across the surface and doing great damage to the hull which was, though thick, not made of particuarly strong material, considering the ship had been designed as a freighter. He spun towards his crewer in charge of coordinating damage control as he gave orders. "Kriff! Raise the shields, all batteries return fire!" The Damage Control officer turned to him grimly. "We only have sixty percent power to the weapons, and the shields are inoperative!" Likar whirled about. "Operational batteries return fire at availible power levels.. Launch all the Starfighters!" "Fire." Two more photon torpedoes raced in towards a major energy distribution point at the base of one of the massive arms of the enemy ship, from the Enterprise's launchers, including the newly repaired one, as it's two twin forward phasers stuttered out in incredibly rapid pulses that blew apart a series of antennae atop of the central sphere. Reliant and Grissom's fire, Photon and phaser, raced home, blasting apart weapons emplacements across the massive hull, that were just beginning now to respond to their assault. "M'lord, scanners indicate that the enemy may be attempting to launch small craft from the two arms.. We're detecting numerous small drives powering up." Khan's hand rested on the back of the command chair. "Order Reliant to attack one of the arms.. We'll take the other. Grissom shall attack the bridge!" The two Starships crisscrossed courses and fired, while the scout went straight for the bridge.. Firing a it's single beam forward phaser and blasting through the armour.. followed a moment later by the photon torpedo that slammed home, decapacitating the Kaeleron's command structure. A second later, it went to emergency warp to avoid a massive volley of turbolaser fire. The shots from both Reliant and Enterprise were true, the phasers cutting through the hull around those points, destroying point- defence guns, and two torpedoes racing inside each hangar, exploding among the fighters preparing to launch and triggering a massive series of secondary detonations. Had not Likar modified his ship with bulkheads to protect the two reactors in the arms, they would have utterly destroyed the Kaeleron. A Trade Federation Battleship was not meant to get into any kind of action with it's shields down, and it was showing. Khan watched the plasma trail from the massive ship, grinning like a predator. They had been helpless before a sudden surprise attack. The Enterprise rocked faintly as a turbolaser bolt hit home, and a phaser burst lanced out in response, blasting apart another turret. The three starships were now clustered in a blind spot created by destroyed turrets as the crew of the huge vessel before them struggled to gain control of it. The cargo pods of the Botany bay had a supply of nerve gas onboard that Kirk had never confiscated from them.. And it had been transferred to the Reliant. Now it was time to catch a very big prize indeed... Or was it necessary? Khan's grin changed to a smile. Engineer Iinar'silar, a Twi'lek mercenary, had just reached the secondary bridge and taken command there when the transmission came through. He had it put up on the holo-projector, a flat, 2D image.. Odd. An old-looking, muscular human stood on the bridge of the enemy flagship, his arms folded, dressed in clothes that one would more expect a desert nomad, or even a member of his own species, than a commander of any space force. That meant the human might be a mercenary.. Another pirate. He bowed slightly, spreading his hands. "Sir.. If I could know your name.. We will surrender as a crew and accept your leadership in exchange for our lives being spared.. We are but mercenaries and pirates, and there is no profit in senseless death." Khan smiled again. Pirates were undoubtably some of the easiest people to control.. And a civilization where Pirates could afford ships over three kilometers long must be mighty indeed. He would need the vessel, and his crew, to make any inroads of any kind in it. "I am Khan Noonien Singh. From now on, you will adress me as 'M'lord', and swear your fealty to me. I shall come aboard your vessel at take command of it at once." The humanoid alien bowed a bit more. "Yes, M'lord.. We await the docking of your ships. This vessel is named the Kaeleron." Khan ordered the channel cut, and decided that docking would be appropriate. Incase the crew decided to revolt, there was no reason to reveal transporter technology, should they not have it. "Scan that ship for docking clamps and make for them. Ready an armed boarding party.. I will take no chances with them." Entar Station, Six days later. Mara Entar, daughter of Francal Entar, the current owner of the station, was in the operations room. A spherical design 20km in diamter, with 2km in diameter, 10km tall cylender sections extending from the top and bottom, and four docking pylons extending from points along the equator, each also 10km long, but only 200 meters in diameter, Entar Station was a major deep space station, but smaller than some monstrous constructions such as Hosk station, and the massive, mobile Death Stars. Out on the frontier, they catered to everyone from smugglers to explorers, just beyond the reach of the New Republic's customs cruisers. And they also dealt with pirate attacks on a regular basis. With her father slowly declining in health, at age thirty two, she'd largely taken control of day-to-day operations, and was probably the most powerful woman along the Outer Rim, considering the impressive defences that Entar Station boasted. Suddenly, one of the young techies gave a yelp. "The Kaeleron has just dropped out of hyperspace!" Mara whirled in surprise. "Combat holo on.." She took to long strides next to the central holo emitter, activating a station-wide com. "All hear this! All hear this! We are potentially under attack! All crewers.. Condition one! Condition One! General quarters, on the double! General quarters, on the double! All civilians, make your way to designated safety bunkers at once!" Then she looked towards the holo of the Kaeleron and frowned. On it's docking clamps were two oddly designed frigates, and one corvette of similar design. Just then, another announcement cut her musings. "The Kaeleron is hailing us." She turned towards that crewer in surprise, and then stepped back from the holo. "Put it on, then." The Holo wavered into an imposing image a man, older, but strong and rather handsome in an enigmatic way, standing there, the look on his face not anything what she'd expected. He was smiling. "Miss Entar, I believe? I am Lord Singh. I must inform you with no regret whatsoever that I have... Appropriated.. The Kaeleron from it's former owners, and I mean you know harm. We merely need supplies and information. In exchange for that.. I shall offer you some information and assistance. A large pirate fleet is going to attack you in four days. You help me.. And you shall receive our assistance in that battle." Mara stared at him, utterly stunned.. She'd been expecting attack, only to find an ally. Suddenly, seeing him out of the corner of her eye, she turned towards her father. He smiled, and shook his head in acknowledgement. "Take the offer." Mara turned towards Khan again. "We accept.. Docking pylon one, outermost station, will be cleared for you to dock. The Trade Federation design dock with the end of it's arms engulfing the loading section of that pylon. I look forward to speaking with you in person.. Lord Singh." Khan was still smiling when Mara faded from the holo- communications system. Certainly an interesting woman.. Jade green eyes, black hair.. He would say Japanese descent on Earth, but not here. A keen mind for someone not genetically enhanced, as well. It would be a very interesting next few days for him and his people. He turned to Joachim. "Guide the ship in to the specified docking pylon." Joachim nodded once, and began to pilot the Kaeleron in as he spoke. "At once, M'lord." After the order had been given, Khan strode from the bridge of the Kaeleron.. Thinking... About the possibilities an entire galaxy, Hyperdrive, and his own fleet, could offer him. He might have been like a prince on Earth, but here he was nothing compared to the dead Emperor Palpatine. However.. He had many years of life left, and things like status and power could change... Very easily indeed... In his favour.