Shattered Glass
Posted on Sun Jun 28th, 2026 @ 10:20am by Commander Jennifer Baldric & Commander Dean House & Lieutenant JG T'Lar & Remal Kajun
2,954 words; about a 15 minute read
Mission: Pirates!
"Shattered glass still reflects. It simply shows the truth in pieces."
USS Bristol – Bridge
The ship and her crew were tired. Not destroyed. Not defeated. Simply tired. Every deck seemed to groan beneath the strain. Every bulkhead carried fresh scars from the battle. Emergency repairs remained underway throughout the vessel. The smell of burnt circuitry lingered faintly in the recycled air.
Captain Bozeman remained standing. No one had suggested he sit.
Outside the viewscreen, the Badlands churned with rivers of plasma and storms capable of tearing starships apart. Somewhere within that chaos hunted the I.S.S. Sunfire.
The fact that they could not see it made the situation worse. "Drive plasma leak continues, Captain."
"Engine status?" The two words carried a heavy implication. If the engines failed, they were toast.
"Stable for the moment." For the moment. Nobody aboard the bridge found comfort in those words.
The tactical display rotated slowly beside the command chair. Their own plasma trail stretched behind them like a glowing wound through the Badlands. Every kilometer they traveled left another breadcrumb for the hunters following them.
"We need to get out of here, playing cat and mouse with a plasma leak isn't going to end well" Bozeman stepped closer to the tactical overlay on the main viewscreen as if it would magically supply a path out of the Badlands.
Meanwhile the Vulcan officer stood next to Baldric and T'Lar, awaiting thr next order.
"Do it" Bozeman said simply, nodding towards the Sunfire Commander. Before she had a moment to object were hands on her face and anothet mind riffling through her own. She screamed as she relived the horrors of the last few days. As the Vulcan released her with trembling hands, Baldric collapsed.
"She tells the truth, she is from this universe, and this one is also truely seeking asylum." The Vulcan took a breath. "Permission to leave the bridge Captain, I need a moment"
"Granted, take her to sickbay." He turned to T'Lar. "You stay here, we're gonna need your intel"
Then a sensor alert chimed. Every head turned. The tactical officer leaned forward over his console. "Captain."
" Spit it Leituenant" Bozeman said gruffly - knowing it was not going to be good news.
The display expanded across the main viewscreen. A growing plasma filament drifted through the surrounding storms, twisting through the Badlands like a living thing. "If that filament intersects our course..."
"If we change course, we run into the Sunfire - if we maintain, we get fried by a plasma filament" He grumbled, rubbing the bridge of his nose as though it may give him inspiration to get out of this mess.
I.S.S. Sunfire – Bridge
Dean gave a glance down at his glowing hands and then to Remal, "I have absolutely no idea. Poked and prodded and this. I suppose we'll just have to find out, won't we." He paused a moment, "We think the other Dean used this method to track us some how. Or track Batel more specifically. We share pretty much the same DNA. Only the variant differences between the universes. I wonder if I can track them using him."
"She's dead... I cut the DNA sample out of the corpse myself" Sarah retorted as though he had somehow offended her by not knowing his abilities. "Can you control space and time just by thinking? Can you bend planets at your whim?"
Dean smirked, "We can find out."
The hunt slowed. Not because the prey had escaped. Quite the opposite. The tactical display showed the Bristol ahead, crippled and bleeding plasma into the Badlands like a wounded animal stumbling through deep snow. The range continued to shrink. Weapons officers watched firing solutions mature across their consoles. Target locks came and went as storms rolled between the two ships.
"Captain," Tactical reported. "The Bristol is within weapons range."
No order followed. Several officers exchanged brief glances. Remal remained standing before the main display, studying the Federation vessel's position in silence. The damaged starship sat near the edge of a developing plasma filament. Engine output fluctuated. Shield signatures flickered. Every indicator suggested vulnerability. Which bothered him.
Bonnie noticed first, her eyes squinted at him like she could read his mind, "You're thinking something's wrong."
Remal folded his hands behind his back. "I think Captain Bozeman has survived longer than expected for a reason."
That earned the faintest smile from Bonnie.
The tactical display rotated slowly. The Bristol appeared trapped between the approaching filament and the pursuing Sunfire. The geometry looked far too clean. Too obvious.
"A wounded ship stops running." Remal's eyes narrowed slightly. "A clever captain asks why his enemy wants him to keep running."
The bridge grew quieter. "He could simply be broken," one officer offered.
"He is broken," Remal agreed. His gaze remained fixed on the display. "That does not prevent him from being dangerous. In fact, quite the opposite."
Bonnie leaned back slightly in her chair. "A trap?"
"A possibility." The answer came immediately.
"Then let's spring it."
Remal considered the tactical situation for another moment before nodding once. "Open a channel."
The communications officer blinked. "To the Bristol, sir?"
"I don't recall stuttering."
The bridge speakers hummed softly. For several seconds only static filled the channel. Plasma storms distorted transmission quality. Then the connection stabilized.
Remal smiled a small smile. The sort that usually preceded unfortunate events. "Captain Bozeman." His voice carried easily across the bridge. "I see you."
Silence answered. The smile widened by a fraction. "Can you see me?"
Several officers on the Sunfire suddenly became very interested in their consoles.
Bonnie covered her mouth to hide a grin.
Remal continued. "Oh, come now, Captain." His eyes remained fixed on the distant Federation vessel. "One warrior to another."
Outside the viewscreen, the Badlands flashed with distant plasma lightning. "You stopped running." A breath, "That tells me one of two things." The bridge listened. "You are either out of options..." Another pause, "...or you believe I am."
Bonnie's fingers drifted lazily across her console as she monitored Federation telemetry. No response arrived. Not yet.
Remal seemed entirely unbothered. "If it is a trap, I would congratulate you. If it is desperation, I sympathize." His smile vanished. "Either way, Captain, your ship is leaking plasma, your engines are wounded, and I am still here."
Silence returned. Long enough for tension to settle across both ships.
Remal inclined his head slightly. "I look forward to seeing which of us breaks first." The channel closed.
No one spoke immediately. Then Bonnie finally exhaled a twisted laugh, "Like a rattlesnake hidden in the grass."
Remal's eyes never left the tactical display. "Good."
A new sensor alert chimed. The plasma filament continued growing. The Bristol remained motionless. And somewhere within the silence between predator and prey, both captains waited for the other to make the first mistake.
Dean shook his head, "I was about to say, I'd give real money if you'd shut up. Sir..." A bit of disdain attached to the 'sir' part. "So then, let's see what kind of magics I can conjure up to sway this staring match, shall we."
Dean's last word carried enough sarcasm to poison a room. Remal never looked at him. His eyes remained fixed on the tactical display where the Bristol drifted among the plasma storms.
Bonnie, on the other hand, looked up from her console at Dean, "Careful." Her expression remained pleasant. "You're mistaking tolerance for affection. You are a tool, a gift for the Emperor, nothing more."
"I'm not mistaking it for anything other than what it is." Dean shook his head and looked away from Bonnie. Glancing down at both of his hands. What could he do with this..
To hell with it, if it's supposed to have given him all these abilities...like he needed any more; Dean tried to see if he could concentrate on the Captain, Bozemen specifically, and make him physically ill, like go into a fit of seizures.
She watched him close his eyes and concentrate. It reminded her of a prisoner she'd once force-fed enough alcohol to dissolve good judgment entirely. He'd sung like a choirboy. The fact he'd spent the next week hopelessly constipated remained, to this day, one of her favorite unintended side effects. Bonnie's grin arrived before she realized she was smiling.
"I can hear you smiling, Bonnie." Which made Dean smile a little also. He knew well enough she was thinking about something nefarious she'd done, and reveling in someone else's pain.
USS Bristol – Bridge
"Options" Bozeman snapped, eyes still glued to the screen where Remal had just taunted him.
"We can't run, yet. Engineering says 5 minutes...minimum" Ops announced.
"Weapons 50%, shields 40% and climbing slowly" tactical followed on.
"Life support and structural integrity 80% and holding. Sickbay reports 5 casualties and numerous wounded from our last encounter" Ops added as though any good news should be countered.
"And the filament is closing in on our location. Time to impact 4 minutes" the helm added to the bad news.
Bozeman took a breath and looked at T'Lar. "Got any more data packets up your sleeve?"
T'Lar shook her head.
"That was a one-shot option, I'm afraid. By now, any codes I have, they will have countermeasures in place to countermand." She said.
Bozeman dropped his head for a moment. They were in a desperate situation.
"You know his tactics...how he thinks." The Captain implored before coming up with an idea.
"What if we try a Picard maneuver. A true one... he wouldn't know about it, and it might just buy us time, and dodge that damned filament," he looked at T'Lar, then back to his bridge crew. "Or we find a way to use that filament to our advantage"
"If we can find a way to direct the filament to collide with the Sunfire, it would certainly incapacitate it. As for the Picard Maneuver, I'm afraid I don't know what that is..." T'Lar admitted.
"Well, if you don't know it, he won't know it. Hopefully, it will buy us time to vent a butt tonne of drive plasma to push that filament into the Sunfire." Bozeman's hairbrained idea was just that - crazy enough to work - almost.
"Helm - prepare for a 'Picard' - a good one please." He smiled for the first time in hours.
I.S.S. Sunfire – Bridge
The silence lingered after the transmission ended. Remal continued watching the tactical display for another heartbeat before speaking. "Helm."
The navigator looked up immediately. "Sir?"
Remal pointed toward a dense bank of ionized plasma drifting slowly across the tactical projection. The cloud stretched for thousands of kilometers, its interior alive with electrical discharges that confused sensors and scattered targeting beams. "Take us beneath the plasma shelf."
Several bridge officers looked up. Bonnie's smile returned. The helmsman hesitated only long enough to verify the plotted course. "Entering the ionized layer."
Outside the viewscreen, the stars disappeared behind curtains of crimson and amber plasma. Lightning rippled silently through the cloud banks as the I.S.S. Sunfire slipped beneath the turbulent shelf. The enormous carrier vanished into the glowing haze, her dark hull swallowed completely by the Badlands.
The tactical display immediately changed. Sensor confidence dropped. Targeting solutions dissolved into probability cones. The Bristol remained fixed upon the display.
The Sunfire became little more than a widening uncertainty.
Bonnie glanced sideways. "He has to be wondering what you're planning."
Remal never looked away from the display. "No." His voice remained quiet. "Now he has barely even begun to imagine."
U.S.S. Bristol – Bridge
The tactical officer frowned. "Captain..." Bozeman looked up. "I've lost them."
The viewscreen showed only the churning storms of the Badlands. Crimson plasma drifted between towering columns of ionized gas. Sensor returns fractured into static before resolving into meaningless echoes.
"They've entered the ionized cloud layer," the officer continued. "I'm reading intermittent distortions..." His fingers moved rapidly across the console. "...but I can't separate them from the background."
The bridge fell silent. Outside, the Badlands seemed suddenly much larger. The Sunfire had been there only moments before. Now there was only empty space. Which somehow felt far more dangerous. No one asked where the Imperial ship had gone. Every person on the bridge was asking the same question instead. Where would it emerge?
"Can we ride this ion storm out of this region?" Bozeman looked at the viewscreen as the tactical overlay was adjusted to meet his request. The storm was moving slowly through the badlands and would dissipate near the edge of the nebula. It would be the perfect ride out of their situation, but it wasn't without significant risk. If the storm changed direction, they would have to either reveal their location and make a run for it, or hoped it took them somewhere tactically advantages.
"Helm, get as close as you can to the epicentre, and ride it" he noted the hesitation "It's the best of a bad bunch of alternatives. I trust your abilities"
The helm officer swallowed, nodded, and prepared to fly into the eye of the storm.
The Badlands erupted.
The I.S.S. Sunfire burst upward through the underside of the ionized plasma shelf like a leviathan breaching from dark water. Crimson lightning crawled across her armored hull as the great carrier emerged almost directly below the Bristol, weapons already charged. "Target acquired."
Remal never raised his voice. "Fire."
Scarlet phaser lances stabbed through the storms, followed almost instantly by a spread of torpedoes ascending toward the crippled Federation cruiser.
USS Bristol
The tactical display screamed. "They're below us!"
Bozeman had expected an attack. He simply hadn't expected it from there. The Sunfire rose out of the clouds with terrifying precision, its weapons already firing before its hull had fully emerged from the plasma.
"Helm!" The order came instinctively. "Warp! Now!"
"We're still venting drive plasma!"
"I know! One problem at a time."
The Bristol vanished with the press of a button. Not gracefully. The emergency jump ripped the wounded ship into subspace while engineering continued dumping superheated plasma from the damaged warp coils. For the briefest instant, the expanding plume hung exactly where the Sunfire's weapons converged. Then the phasers struck it.
Reality flashed white. The released plasma ignited all at once. What had been a drifting exhaust trail became a roaring wall of incandescent energy, expanding outward with explosive violence before colliding with the nearby cyclonic plasma filament.
The filament bent. The filament shifted because it had been redirected. Like a wildfire catching a fresh wind.
I.S.S. Sunfire
Bonnie's smile disappeared. "...Captain. The plasma trail..."
Understanding arrived almost instantly. Remal had already seen it. "Shit..."
The tactical display transformed from orderly vectors into cascading probability models as the filament curved sharply toward them. Remal spoke without hesitation. "Full reverse."
The navigator complied immediately but it didn't matter. The I.S.S. Sunfire was enormous. A carrier simply could not dodge. It committed.
The plasma wall struck from starboard like an ocean breaking across a cliff. The bridge disappeared beneath blinding white light. Every shield emitter overloaded simultaneously. Targeting displays exploded into static. Communications vanished beneath roaring interference.
Across the ship, recovered fighters broke loose from their moorings. Half-docked craft slammed against armored bulkheads. The cloak emitter failed. Bonnie's intrusion routines died instantly.
Bonnie moved just before the impact arrived. The warning had barely left her lips when she abandoned her station, instincts beating conscious thought by a heartbeat. The bridge rolled violently beneath her. She caught one handhold, missed the second, and a flying equipment housing clipped the side of her head with a dull crack.
She hit the deck shoulder first, sliding several meters before colliding with the base of a support column.
For a moment she simply lay there. Then she reached absently to her temple. Her fingertips came away slick with blood. Bonnie stared at them. "...Huh." The grin that followed looked entirely inappropriate. "And I was having such a nice day..."
The entire bridge lurched sideways. Gravity disappeared. Then returned from the wrong direction. The great carrier rolled. Slowly. Relentlessly. Until the stars rotated across the viewscreen and the I.S.S. Sunfire found itself inverted, tumbling helplessly through burning rivers of plasma.
Consoles burst apart. Crew struck bulkheads. Emergency lighting replaced the tactical glow.
The predator had lost control...
USS Bristol
The escaping plasma storm caught the smaller cruiser like a leaf on a flood current. The ship shuddered violently as the expanding ion front wrapped around her battered hull.
"We've lost helm!" The helmsman stared in disbelief. "No..." They took a breath "We're being carried!" The filament surged toward the edge of the Badlands, dragging the crippled Bristol along with it.
Bozeman steadied himself against the command chair as stars blurred outside the viewscreen.
Behind them, hidden within the burning storm, the Imperial carrier vanished beneath waves of incandescent plasma.
One had escaped.
One had survived.
Neither had achieved victory.
T'Lar stood on the bridge in stunned amazement. They'd actually done it. She might just live to seek asylum after all.
Bozeman drew a shaky breath, not willing to believe they had survived the encounter. "As soon as we're clear, send our logs to Starfleet and advise them of our two 'guests'" He ordered before taking a seat in the now slightly crooked command chair. It would do until they had time for repairs.
TBC
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