Chapter Two: Out of the Blue and Into the Black

 The clashing of metal against metal filled the icy cave as blade struck against blade. 

"yIHub'egh!" Klortho cried out, swinging his mek'leths in a perfectly synchronized cross-abdominal slash. Had he still been on the Imperial Guard, he would currently be bathed in his opponents innards. The memory of it all made him nostalgic for those days. It seemed, however, his fears of Starfleet making him soft were warranted.The blades of Klortho's mek'leths sparked as they were parried by the the serrated ushan-tor his captain manoeuvred in a blur. 

The martial dance of warriors continued, step for step, beat for beat. neither giving an inch for what felt like hours until...

"TIPH!" The Andorian shouted in his native tongue, his ice knives clattering to the floor of the cave as he grabbed at his left forearm.Grunting, he looked at the slow, light blue stream of his blood escape through his fingers. 

"Well struck, ghaH'e," Captain D'arko growled out. "I thought I had you there for a minute."

"You've improved, Captain. I very nearly had to exert myself."

If the Klingon was attempting humor, D'arko couldn't tell. The pain in his arm, however, was enough of a distraction that he didn't care, which was exactly as it was meant to be.

Ever since finding himself aboard the I.S.S. Pendragon two months ago, things had been weighing on him. First, he had to contact the Serenity and request escort to Deep Space Nine for the commandeered starship, then, he and his crew, along with the strange vessel were brought to Earth Space Dock where the Pendragon would be inspected and, if deemed safe, retrofitted and he, as captain of a starship which had been destroyed (especially within such a short time of her launch), he would face a board of inquiry to determine if he was, in any way, at fault for the loss of his ship.

The interviews of he and his senior staff were interminable, every niggling detail gone over again and again... explaining the existence of Moriarty, describing the events leading to the injury and near fatal poisoning of the Wadi delegate, the mysterious starship which had arrived answering his distress call and removed the holographic horror of The Professor, leading up to the eventual destruction of the U.S.S. Pendragon.

Da'mi'en was certain he could not, in any rational way, be blamed for these events. He was less certain, however, of the rationality of the board of inquiry.

"Jellico to D'arko" the captain's combadge barked.

"D'arko here, go ahead, Admiral."

""Captain, please report to my office immediately. If Commander Klortho is with you, he needs to come, too."

"Uh, yes, Admiral.... I just need to make a quick stop at the infirmary. D'arko out."

***

The mild tingling numbness of the freshly regenerated flesh was starting to fade as D'arko and his XO entered the office of Admiral Edward Jellico. He was a little surprised to find that the admiral was not alone.

Standing across from his desk was another admiral, whom D'arko immediately recognized by his facial tattoo: Admiral Chakotay of Starfleet Intelligence. Standing next to Chakotay was, probably, the most famous Andorian in Starfleet, Va'Kel Shon: Captain of the U.S.S. Enterprise NCC-1701F.

D'arko had met Shon on only one occasion, and, frankly, wasn't a fan. Shon was, admittedly, an exemplary Captain, which was obvious to anyone, but he was from a somewhat prominent family at Vega IX. Da'mi'en was, he supposed, a bit jealous. Regardless, the combination of these two officers was most confusing.

"Captain D'arko, in thirty minutes, this meeting will never have occurred," Admiral Chakotay said.

"Da'mi'en," Va'Kel began, "I know you are familiar with the records in regards to the Terran Empire. Obviously, you know the ship you came across originated within the mirror universe of that empire."

"My people have been examining the ship and her systems are, frankly, impressive. We want to thank you for bringing it to us. That isn't why you're here, though." Chakotay continued.

"The ship you described, this 'Nebula'; Obviously, it's not from Starfleet. We have no records of any ship classes matching that description. It concerns us greatly, mostly since the captain... Sorak... claims to be from Special Intelligence. Since that's MY team, and I've never heard of him, clearly he's lying."

"Which brings us to this meeting, "Jellico said after interrupting with cough. "We've had reports of ships being destroyed in attacks by an unknown vessel with no apperant motive; no cargo or crew taken, no connection between the victim ships, just random acts of violence.

"The attacking ship seems to have an advanced cloak and appears from nowhere, destroys its target and moves on. "

"Okay, but... what does that have to do with us,. Admiral?"

"I was getting to that," Jellico's irritation was painfully obvious.

"We've sent investigation crews out to some of the attack scenes. Full spectrum analysis on the wreckage we found indicates an identical energy signature to the phaser weapons on the ship you commandeered. Whoever is committing these attacks is, we are pretty sure, from the mirror universe, same as your ship." Chakotay said.

"My...?"

"Yes," Jellico interjected. "Captain Da'mi'en D'arko, you are hereby cleared of any wrongdoing in regard to the loss of the U.S. S. Pendragon NCC-99623. Because of the nature of these attacks, I am ordering the commandeered vessel to granted the registry, in toto, of the previous vessel and, henceforth, is officially entered into the registry as U.S.S. Pendragon NCC-99623, designation, officially, an Endeavour-Class starship... It's as close as we have, anyway..."

"Since you have the only experience with this mystery ship and captain, Da'mi'en, and, since I know your record, I've recommended that you be given, or... re-given, I suppose, command of The Pendragon," Shon tried to smile, though D'arko kept a straight, if somewhat aloof look on his face. 

"The Serenity will be assigned to assist with your new mission, which is to track down this rogue ship and stop their... rein of terror." Chakotay handed PADDs to D'arko and Klortho.

"By any means necessary," Jellico concluded the thought.

"You and your crew are to depart Earth Space Dock at 0600 tomorrow. Dismissed"