Alpha epsilon 3
Federation colony alpha epsilon 3July 9th 2195.
Steven and Tony were on their way home from school and were talking.
“I don’t understand why they make us take of all that history, when are we going to use it?” Steven asked.
“The teacher says that if we don’t learn history, were doomed to repeat it” Tony said.
“Maybe, but why do they have to make it so boring?” Steven asked.
“Beats me, I guess it’s just one of those things” Tony said. They were interupted by an odd rumbling in the sky. Both of them looked up to see what it was. In the sky, above the clouds was a very strange disturbance that looked almost like water in the sky with lightning arching through it. The rumbling got louder and the ground started to shake. A heavy wind began to blow through the air, making it difficut to stand.
“What is it?” Steven frantically asked.
“I don’t know but I think we should get home!” Tony shouted. Steven agreed and they both ran home as fast as they could.
In the time it took them to get home, the storm had worsened. Several smaller trees had been uprooted and large branches from the larger trees were down. Power in their house was flickering off and on. Strangely there was no rain.
“I’ve never seen anything like it!” Steven yelled.
“Me either” Tony said. Both of the young men suddenly, began to feel strange and dizzy.
“What’s going on?” Steven asked as he cradled his head.
“I don’t know” Tony said meekly.
“Steven! Your arm!” Tony yelled. Steven looked at his arm and nearly screamed when he saw red fur growing on it, and spreading. A large tree branch suddenly smashed into the roof, splting it open.
“We have to get to a shelter!” Tony yelled, noticing that was dark gray fur with white spots was starting to grow on his own arm. He looked at Tony to see that he had his shirt off and was wildly scratching white fur which had begun to grow across his entire chest.
“I think we’d better hurry!” Tony said as he looked up towards Steven.
When they ran out of the house, debris lined the streets and the storm was still very visible in the clouds. Several streetlights had fallen and sparks flew from their fixtures. Before they had gotten far they saw something else in the sky, a ship.
“That doesn’t look like any ship I’ve ever seen!” Tony said.
“There’s more!” Steven said.
“My god! It’s an invasion! The storm, the damage what’s happening to us, they’ve done it all to make taking the colony easier!” Tony said. Hearing no response from his friend he turned arround and saw that he was laying in a fetal position, his clothes had been ripped all to hell and his face looked different, like a the face of a fox. Through the holes in his clothes he could see that the red and white fur now covered his entire body. He ran over to him to try to ask him if he could continue.
“Run, while you still can!” Steven said as a tail burst it’s way though the seat of his pants.
“I can’t just leave you here!” Tony yelled.
“Yes you can! Please, save yourself, while you still can!” Steven yelled. Tony went to say something and Steven grabbed his arm, his hand having been covered in black fur and it’s appearance much more paw then hand like.
“Please!” he said.
“I’ll get help! I’ll come back for you!” Tony yelled. Steven nodded and tried to speak, but his voice had gone, and only sounds you’d expect to hear form a fox came out of his mouth. The ships they had seen in the sky were getting close and it sounded like one of them had landed close by. As Tony started to run he heard someone behind and felt something hit him that knocked him onto his stomache. Just before he lost consciousness he turned to see what looked like someone in a space suit standing behind him, holding a particle rifle.
***
David and Mike Otter’s house
Earth
David was awoken by the sound of his computer beeping. He crawled out of bed and walked over to the terminal. It said that there was an incoming communication from an unknown source. He tried to trace it, but was unable to. His curiosity got the better of him and he activated the sequence to answer the call. A figure appeared on the screen. It was a human male, but he was wearing a uniform he didn’t recognize.
“Hello David, it’s an honor to finally have a chance to talk to you” the man said.
“Do I know you?” David asked.
“No, but I know you and I have an assignment for you and Mike” the man said.
“An assignment?” David asked. The man folded his arms before continuing.
“Yes, but this isn’t the medium to discuss it under. I suggest you get your friend; we have a lot to discuss. I will contact you again in one hour” the man said before breaking the communication.
Mike was swimming in the large pool that they had in their basement when he heard David walk up to the side of the pool. Mike swam up to David’s location and climbed out of the pool.
“Hey David” he said.
“I just got a very strange call. Someone who wouldn’t indentify himself or who he represents said that he had an assignment for us” David said. Mike picked up towel and began to dry himself off.
“What kind off assignment?” he asked.
“He wouldn’t say, he said he would contact us in an hour” David said.
“Interesting, I guess we’ll have to wait and see.” Mike said.
“In the mean time, lets get some breakfast, unless you already ate?” David said.
“No, I got up and felt like some swimming. I’m actually quite hungry” Mike said.
“Lets gets something then” David said. Both Mike and David walked away from the pool and made their way to the kitchen.
Nearly an hour later
David had finished putting the dishes away when he and Mike heard a sound in their living room.
“What was that?” Mike asked.
“I don’t know, but I think we should check it out, but first.” David said as he tapped a control panel on a wall that scanned his finger to scan his DNA and then opened up, revealing a particle pistol. He pulled out the pistol and took the lead.
“Lets go” he said. With David at point, they slowly walked towards the living room and saw a man sitting on their couch. David pointed the pistol at the man.
“Who are you?” he asked.
“Now, now David, no need for that, I have no intentions of harming you or your friend” the man said.
“You’re the same guy that contacted me earlier” David said, holstering the weapon.
“That’s right and I have an assignment for the two of you” he said.
“You know, it’s not a good idea to just beam into someone’s house, what if I had panicked and shot you?” David asked.
“Your weapon wouldn’t have worked. We put up a dampening field around your house just after I transported down” the man said.
“We?”
“Before I tell you that, will you accept the assignment?” the man said.
“You haven’t even told us what it is!” David said.
“Of course, how rude of me” the man said. He motioned for David and Mike to sit down in front of him, so they each pulled up a chair and did so.
“2 days ago, Starfleet lost contact with their colony on alpha epsilon 3. Be believe that they were attacked. This is where you two come in. Long range scans picked up what appeared to be an ion storm within the atmosphere of the planet just before we lost contact. The storms configuration appeared to be the same as the storm which destroyed your ship and changed you two. We have reason to believe that either the same terrorist cell that captured or a cell that is allied with them were testing the weapon on a planet in order to see what would happen” The man said.
“But why would they attack a colony, I thought they wanted to attack starfleet HQ here on Earth? Can’t Starfleet send ships, certainly they can find a way to protect their people from the storms affects, especially if it had dissipated” David asked.
“The nearest ship is 2 days away, we have access to technology that can get you there in one day and undetected. The medical exams you underwent indicate that you are now immune to the effects of the particles, which are still very likely within the atmosphere of the planet. Because of this and because of your experience with these terrorists, we have decided to send you two to evaluate the situation” The man said.
“So who exactly are you?” Mike asked.
“Before I tell you that, I need to know whether not you accept the assignment” the man asked.
Mike and David looked at each other and both nodded their heads. The man smiled and stood up.
“Excellent” he said. Pulling out a communicator, he spoke into it.
“They’ve accepted, 3 to transport” the man said. Before David or Mike could react, they were transported into what looked like a lounge on a starship orbiting Earth. The lounge had a bar at one end, windows at the other, and several couches in front of the large windows from which you could see Earth. 3 men were sitting on the couches and walked over the David, Mike and the man after they stepped off of the transport platform that was in the middle of the room. They all shook hands and the men invited David and Mike to sit down with them.
A man, who had been at the bar, walked over to the group and asked them if they wanted anything to drink, The 4 men each ordered varies types of wine. David ordered and Andorian Ale and Mike ordered a blueberry smoothie. After they all had the drinks, David took a sip of his drink and put it down on the table in front of him.
“So who exactly are you guys and what ship is this?” he asked. The man that had brought them there put his glass down, looked at the others, who nodded and he continued.
“We are part of an organization dedicated to the safety of the Federation. This is one of our ships. We have access to technology that exceeds Starfleet standard and we make good use of it.” The man said.
“But I’ve never heard of you before” David said.
“We are not an official organization. We operate in secrecy.” Another of the men said. The third man pulled out a communicator and ordered someone to lay in a course for alpha epsilon 3 and to engage the cloaking device. The ship quickly left Earth’s orbit and went into warp.
“Cloaking device? On a Starfleet ship?” Mike asked.
“As has been said, we operate in secrecy and have access to technology Starfleet otherwise would not” the man who gave the order said.
“We need you two to go down to the colony once we get there and to assess the situation. If it is the same terrorists that you encountered who are responsible for whatever has happened, then your mission is to stop them using any means necessary.” The man said.
“But how?” Mike asked.
“We will provide you with the appropriate tools and arms” the man responded.
“When will we get there?” David asked.
“Our ETA is 24 hours until then we will brief you on the colony and what to expect.” the man said.
***
David and Mike sat in a darkened room with a view screen at the front. A man held a small PADD, as he pressed its buttons, the view screen displayed information about the colony.
“This is alpha epsilon 3: 83% water and 2 continents. All 3 of the colonies cities are located on the northern continent. The colonies population is 750,000. The capital city has 500,000 and the other two 125,000.” The man said as the view screen gave a view of each of the 3 cities.
“Which city will be our primary objective?” David asked.
“The Capital. If they have taken the city we believe they would establish an occupying force there. There is a building that would make an ideal command post, you should make that building a priority.” The man said.
“How are we going to get down there without being detected?” Mike asked.
“I’m glad you asked.” The man said. He pressed a few buttons, which changed the view to that of the ships shuttle bay, complete with a shuttle.
“We have managed to capture one of their landing shuttles. It’s heavily armed and has transporters. I suggest landing in the outskirts of the city, it would look suspicious if you landed near the center” the man said.
“What should we do if we find wounded civilians?” David asked. The man threw them both a communicator.
“Use these to contact us and we will beam them to our sickbay,” he said.
“Any idea how many of these terrorists there might be on the colony?” David asked.
“We unfortunately don’t know. We have 12 hours until we get to the colony, I suggest you get some rest,” the man said.
***
Tony woke up in an cell, or at least that is what the room had been re-configured to be like. There were 5 other people with him, or at least they seemed to be people. What had happened to him had apparently happened to them as well. While he was unconscious, his changes had apparently finished. He looked like a humanoid snow leopard complete with fur, a tail and enhanced sense of smell and hearing. One of the other people appeared to be a dolphin, but with arms and legs, although still with the dorsal fin and tail, another appeared to be a ferret. Another appeared to be a kangaroo although her legs and hips weren’t quite as pronounced and her arms were more human length then a ‘normal’ roos but she still had a pouch. 2 of the other people, a hedgehog and a hamster walked over to him and helped him up.
“What is going on? Where are we?” he asked.
“I don’t know, whatever that storm was, it did this to us. They seem to be rounding up everyone that wasn’t completely transformed into a animal.” the hamster, who said her name is Terry said.
“Who did this to us and why?” Tony asked. The hedgehog, who said his name is Peter, examined him for any signs of injury.
“Besides a minor burn mark from the weapon they used to stun you, you seem to be okay, how do you feel?” Peter asked.
“I feel strangely good, strong and very angry. I want to break out of this cage and rip the bastards who did this to shreds”, Tony said. Peter touched Tony’s hands, revealing his claws.
“With those claws you could probably go through with that” he said.
“Guys, before we decide to start killing them, lets establish who they are first. This might just be a misunderstanding.” Terry said. The ferret walked over to the small group and knelt down beside Tony.
“Hi, my name is Dana. I think I may be able to help you out.” She said.
“How so?” Tony asked.
“It seems these guys are over confident. Just before they stunned me, I saw one of their landing vehicles and I recognize their uniforms. Their terrorists, that storm may not have been natural and may have been a weapon. They oppose the forming of the Federation and are determined to destroy it.” Dana said.
“Any idea why were not fully transformed while others were?” Tony asked.
“I don’t know for sure but it seems to be an imperfection with the weapon. From what I’ve seen 10% of us became humanoid, while the other 90% became full animals.” Dana said.
“Even assuming these guys are stopped, is there any cure for this? Can we be restored?” Tony asked.
“I have reason to believe that there is a cure, but it will only restore those fully transformed into humanoid forms like us. I’m afraid we may never be ourselves again.” Dana said.
“Even a partial cure would be better then nothing,” Terry said.
“Perhaps it wouldn’t be so bad. I kind of like being this way. I feel so powerful,” Tony said.
“And I have to admit you do look kind of cute” Dana said.
“Maybe we should hold off on this for now, we have to focus on getting out of here” Terry said. Dana and Tony looked at her and both said,
“Agreed”
***
The ship had arrived at the system and had established geosyncronous orbit over the landing co-ordinates. David and Mike had climbed into the landing vehicle and David took the helm with Mike at the navigation station.
“We have the lading co-ordinates, preparing to launch when ready” David said.
“Landing vehicle 1, prepare for departure and landing procedure. Estimated ETA to the surface in 2 minutes.” The voice on the com said.
“These co-ordinates are going to put us in the outskirts of the capital city.” Mike said.
“Survey the area and then make your way to the center of the city towards what we believe is the command post. Avoid engaging the enemy if possible; this is primarily a scouting mission. We have additional ships on the way with troops standing by.” The voice said.
“Acknowledged. Engaging startup sequence” Mike said.
“Good luck” the voice said. The landing vehicles engines powered up and it departed from the cloaked ship and made it’s way towards the planet’s surface.
“Entering the upper atmosphere” Mike said. The ship started to shake slightly.
“All perfectly normal, don’t worry” David said in response to the shaking.
“Were being scanned” Mike said.
“All to be expected, they know that Starfleet is going to send a rescue mission.” David said. The ships communicator went off indicating that they were being hailed.
“They’re hailing us, what should we do?” Mike asked.
“Activate the holoporjector, it will make us appear to be 2 of their troops. Tell them were simply scouting the area for resistance” David said. David did so and informed the person on the screen and the person seemed to accept the explanation and cut communication.
“Hmmmm” Mike said.
“What’s wrong?” David asked.
“I don’t think they believe us” Mike said.
“Why not?” David.
“Well for starters they just send 3 of their ships after us!” Mike anxiously said.
“We don’t have time for this. If we try to contact the ship, they might detect them, we’ll have to try to out run them. But in the mean time, polarize the hull plating and arm the weapons” David said. Mike activated the proper command sequence to do just that.
“Done” he said.
“1 minute to the surface, we still might be able to bluff our way out of this” David said. The 3 other ships converged on their positions and one of them fired a warning shot a meter off their port side.
“Unknown landing vessel, surrender or we will destroy you” a voice over the com demeanded.
“This is landing vessel number 2578, how dare you fire on us! We are on a scouting mission. Disengage immediately!” Mike said, using the holocam to make his voice and appearance sound authentic. The ship rocked and alarms sounded.
“I’ll take that as a no!” David said.
“We have to fight back!” Mike said.
“Which is exactly what were going to do! Is the transporter operational?” David asked.
“Yes, but what do you have in mind?” Mike asked.
“You’ll see. Prepare to fire on the lead ship!” he said. Their ship came about and set a collision course for the lead ship, firing its duo phase cannons. The lead ship shook from the impact and it and it’s two wingmen returned fire. Mike and David’s ship shuttered under the impact and began to spin out off control, firing shots as best as it could. The 3 terrorist ships again fired, causing Mike and David’s ship to erupt on a massive fireball, destroying it.
***
On the surface Mike and David stood in the middle of a street.
“An interesting tactic, make them think they’ve killed us. Did it work?” Mike asked. David listened to the communicator.
“It seems it did, their not looking for us anymore” he said.
“I say we have our work cut out for us,” Mike said as he surveyed the damage. The entire area looked like it had been hit by a brutal storm, trees were down, debris lined the streets and several of the houses were in shambles.
“Life signs?” Mike asked. David scanned the area.
“I’m picking up life signs, but their odd.” David said.
“How so?” Mike asked.
“Their not human, Vulcan, Andorian or any other species that live on this colony. Their animal life signs” David said.
“Then it’s true” Mike said.
“It would seem so.” David answered. The two of them walked down the street until they heard a noise.
“Something’s coming this way!” David said.
“Can you tell what it is?” Mike said.
“The readings are inconclusive! I suggest we take cover” David said. And they did so, jumping behind a downed large tree.
“It’s right on top of us!” David said. They both jumped up, preparing to fire, when they saw what was running towards them, it was a humanoid raccoon, a child. Both Mike and David held their fire and ran over to the kid, who was obviously terrified.
“Help me!” he said. David ran over to him and the kid held onto his leg.
“It’s okay, were here to help!” David said.
“There are 2 guys coming after me! They’re trying to capture me” the kids said, his eyes starting to swell up.
“Where?” David asked. The kid pointed towards a corner and sure enough, 2 guys could be seen in the distance running towards him.
“Take cover behind that tree” Mike said.
“okay” the kid said.
“How come we didn’t detect them?” David asked.
“Their masking their life signs somehow” Mike said.
“Maybe we should teach these sons of bitches not to hurt kids. Set your weapon to maximum stun, if that doesn’t work, set it to kill” David said. Mike nodded his head and they drew their weapons. Both of them got on the ground behind another piece of debris as the two figures approached.
“He’s around here somewhere, wait a minute, I’m picking up 2 others” one of the figures said. Mike looked at David and David nodded his head. They both jumped out and fired at the figures, knocking them out. The kid immediately ran out and walked between Mike and David.
“You didn’t kill them did you?” he asked.
“No, but they won’t be waking up for a while” David said. Mike knelt down and picked the kid up.
“So who are you?” he asked. The kid sniffed and answered.
“My name is Sammy. I was at home when the storm hit. I felt strange and then this happened to me.” He said.
“What happened to your parents?” David asked.
“They turned into animals, a badger and a weasel. I was scared so I ran away. How come I didn’t full turn into an animal?” Sammy asked.
“I don’t know, but we’re gonna find out.” Mike said.
“Where do you live? Maybe we can help your parents” David said.
“A few blocks away” Sammy said.
“Why were those guys chasing you?” Mike asked.
“They said something about rounding up those who weren’t fully changed. How come your guys weren’t changed fully?” Sammy said.
“We weren’t changed here. It’s a long story” David said.
“Common Sammy lets find your parents. At least we’ll be in good company, a weasel and badger are pretty close to our species” Mike said. The kid held onto Mike and they proceeded to walk towards his house.
***
High atop the center of the city, the leader of the invasion sat at a desk in a makeshift office. He held a pad, which showed a recording of the ship being piloted by David and Mike being destroyed.
“Do you have any idea who they were?” the leader asked.
“No, they seemed to come out of nowhere” one of the pilots said.
“Could they have come from a cloaked ship?” the leader asked.
“It’s possible,” the pilot said.
“Begin intense scans of the area. Who knows what might be in orbit” the leader said.
“Yes sir” the pilot said. Turning to the soldier in the room he spoke,
“On another front, have you found all of the humanoids yet?”
“Almost sir, our estimates indicate that 10% of the population became humanoid creatures rather then complete animals. The colonies population is about 750,000 so that works out to about 75,000 individuals. So far we have detained nearly 50,000, latest reports indicate that 15,000 more have been located but 5,000 are still unaccounted for, assuming they survived the storm.” The man said.
“Very well, begin more intense searches for them. In the meantime” the leader said, suddenly being cut off by the sound of a communication coming in. The leader opened the channel, on the view screen the image of 2 soldiers in the outskirts of the city appeared.
“What is it?” the leader asked.
“We found 2 of our men unconscious sir” one of the soldiers said.
“What happened to them?” the leader asked.
“At least check in, they were after a humanoid raccoon, a child. They appear to have been hit with particle rifles.” The soldier said. The leader slammed his hand down on the desk
“What kind of rifles?” he demanded.
“Unknown, but they appear to not be one of ours, it’s possible someone has landed troops.” The solider said.
“Terrific!” The leader said sarcastically.
“What should we do sir?” the solider asked.
“Begin patrols of the area, whoever did this couldn’t have gotten far.” The leader said.
“Yes sir” the soldier said before breaking the communication.
The soldier turned and faced several of his subordinates.
“It looks like we have some intruders, we’ve been ordered to patrol the area for them. Move out!” he said as he got into the landing ship with 2 other soldiers.
“We will patrol the skies, if you find anyone take them prisoner.” He said as he closed the hatch and the ship took off.
***
Mike and David had managed to locate Sammy’s house. David walked into the house while Mike followed, holding Sammy. David held his tricorder, scanning the house.
“I’m picking up 3 life signs, looks like a badger, weasel and porcupine, but the readings from the porcupine are strange.” David said. Sammy asked to be let down and called out for his parents.
“Looks like they’re in the basement” David said. Mike nodded and the group slowly walked downstairs, turning on their flashlights to see in the dark. The stairs creaked as they walked down. David sniffed the air.
“There down here, I can smell them and hear them breathing” he said. When they got to the bottom of the stairs, David shined his flashlight towards the source of the breathing and saw a badger, weasel and humanoid porcupine huddled in the corner.
“Who are you?” the porcupine asked.
“It’s okay, were here to help” David said. Sammy ran up to the badger and weasel,
“it’s okay they saved me, their friends” he said. Mike walked over to the weasel and picked her up, petting her.
“Can you understand me?” he asked. The weasel nodded her head. David knelt down and petted the badger,
“I think we should be able to use the UT to talk to them, they seem still be able to understand us.” He said. Sammy asked to hold the weasel and Mike handed her to him. The weasel made chittering noises at Sammy. The UT translated them as
“Thank you for saving our son”.
“It was our pleasure. We are going to find a way to reverse this” he said. The badger made several odd sounds, which the UT translated as
“Thank you, but who are you? If you’re not from this colony, how did you become otters?”
“It’s a long story” David said. Suddenly the house began to shake, and they could hear the sound of a landing ship landing nearby.
“Damnit!” Mike said. David handed the porcupine a weapon he lifted off of one of the soldiers they stunned.
“Do you know how to use this thing?” he asked.
“Yes, and my name is Jack. I live a few houses down the street” he said.
“We will try to hold them off, but if they get past us…” David.
“Then I frag their asses” Jack angrilly said. Mike and David nodded and slowly climbed up the stairs. David held out his tricorder,
“Damn I’m still having trouble reading them, I can’t tell how many of them there are.” He said.
“Hopefully not a lot” Mike said. David sniffed the air and listened as best as he could.
“Sounds like 4 of them, they appear to be holding position outside of the house.” He said.
“Just give the call and I’m ready to go up shooting.” Mike said. Suddenly a voice outside of the house called down.
“Starfleet! We know you are in there, surrender now or die” it said. Mike reached into his pocked and pulled out a spherical object.
“Photo grenade, never leave home without it,” he said.
“Setting 3 should do.” David said. Mike altered the setting on the grenade, and they slowly walked up the stairs. David’s ears perked up.
“They’re all by the door, their preparing to charge in” he whispered. Mike held the grenade and armed it, setting it for a 30 second countdown and it began to quietly beep for each second. In his head, David counted down the seconds until 3 remained.
“Now!” he said. Mike threw the grenade and it arced and landed right in the middle of the 4 troops waiting to charge the house and detonated, knocking them all out. David and Mike walked to the area and made sure they were out ‘out’. Jack walked up stairs and confirmed it as well.
“Jack, you stay here and guard them, we need to put and end to this” David said. Jack nodded, and Mike and David left the house.
