Space is a cold lifeless void, infinite in all directions, yet at that particular moment it seemed to be revolving around the ASP that Rick Huntington was flying.

Many thoughts shifted through Rick's head as he sat in his armoured flight suit. It was a black body glove inside a shell of plastic steel armor. If anything failed on board the small ship, the suit would save him - but if that failed...

The pre-flight checklist had been too easy, thought Rick. Had he missed something? Could he have left off some vital sub-system?

 It only took one little part to fail, and his whole life would be over. "No", Rick chided himself. It was easy because it had been done time and time again. He was one of the youngest Lieutenant Commanders to ever lead a strike force and sometimes he felt as if his Commanding Officer where out to get him.

He let his mind drift back to the space just outside his viewpoint - Romulan space. The waiting was just enough to bring on madness. Madness!

Maddening like the lock of his black mop that fell in front of his eyes.. Madness. It was just like the Romulans to be late, to make him change his battle plan because they could not keep time. He chuckled at the absurd thought. Ah, but this was life, out in the middle of somewhere in a new untested fighter, hot off the production line. Hell, the plastic was still on the seat and had that "new shuttle" scent. And he had to wait for the Romulans to come along in order to use it!!!

Rick ran his gloved hand over the control stick. He ran his thumb over the raised letters that were just under the firing controls. "A.S.P" - meaning "Attack Strike Pod" - were imprinted at the base of the fire controller.

It was a cramped little craft. "You could move in this thing if not for the controls and life support," Rick said to himself.

"I didn't copy that Black Leader. Would you mind repeating?"

Rick tapped his com badge out of frustration more than out of habit. "Belay that Black 3. Just find out where that Warbird is."

"Oh, I see! You're just making a comment on these wonderful little coffins with impulse drives!" Black 3 quipped.

Everyone laughed at that.

"Incoming at T minus 10 to Ops!!" It was Black 10; a good fighter pilot, but still a little green with the code-speak.

Ah, if only he could use code-speak to get a position as a ship's fighter pilot. Better to worry about that when he had the time.

The data that ran across his helmet visor gave the read out of a D'Deridex class Warbird...

"All worms, here come the Early Birds, by the twos" Rick called out.

"Gee, I hope we look tasty!" laughed Black 7.

"The Early Bird" was the code name for the Warbird. It was anything but early. Damn! What class was it? Rick had a hard time remembering what name went with what Romulan ship class. They used the same design, but the mass was always diifferent, as was the weapon output.

It was about the size of a Galaxy Class ship, and that was all that mattered now. It was time to get to work.

Rick pushed back on the control that was connected to a make-shift set up just under his set. The counter read in a blue light, 15:45:59. He had until that time to get his ASP into place. He pushed his dual control sticks forward and the ASP shot away from the asteroid with deadly grace.

All thoughts cleared away from Rick's mind as the impulse engines kicked in. The Warbird had stopped to scan the asteroid for a distress signal of a sister ship. If they only knew!

The ASP jumped as the impulse engines came on line. Within minutes, the small craft would be within the shields of the mighty Warbird.

Rick gave the order: "Engage boosters" - "boosters" being impulse drive boosters, one of Starfleet R & D's little tricks. In theory, they would push the pod up to near warp speeds, hopefully without ripping the craft apart. The hard part was that if it went as it should, the pod would make a micro-jump just within the shields, just over the spine of the Warbird. The Warbird should have enough mass to make the little pod drop out if the auto cut-offs were working.

If not, Rick and close to one hundred and seventy five other people would become so much space junk.

If it did work the jump would form a type of shockwave that should buckle the shields. Again, it was an untested theory. Then it happened. 

A strange distortion in time and space where everything just stopped where it was. It was called "warpfront" by Research and Development, but even they didn't know what it truly was. The space between the ships seemed to stretch and bend...Then there was a flash of light. For the Romulans, time and space stopped for what seemed like forever. Inside the ASP, time became a wave of twisting colors and lights. The whirlpool that was once space changed before the small ships. It was quite unpredictable, and unnerving to watch as space itself was twisted inside-out.

When time caught up to them, only three nano-seconds had passed. The Warbird switched off, the effect of a warpfront. As the green of the Warbird stretched out in front of them, as if made out of rubber. Rick called out, "All Wings Report!"

"Red Group is Go!"

"Blue Group is Go!"

"Gold Group is Go!"

"Green Group is Go!"

"Phantoms are Go!"

"Insurgence Are Go!"

"Wolf Group is Go!"

"Black Group Is Go!" Rick said as he ran down a mental checklist of all the Wings. They had all made the trip safely from the microwarp.

The counter had reached 00:00:59 - now the fun was going to begin.

"Insurgence team, begin your run." The insurgence team was in larger shuttles and runabouts. Hopefully they would have enough room for the cargo. They shot passed Rick's ASP. If it came down to it, they would have joined the fight, though they were not meant for combat.

When the shuttles had passed out of range, Rick called out to the other fighters: "All Fighter Wings, begin your attack runs now!" In his mind, he could see all the pilots flip over to channel 002, knowing what would happen next. Attack runs tended to unnerve everyone save himself, which left Rick to wonder why. Could it be his choice of music...?

As the counter ticked away the last second, the Jammer came to life.

The "Jammer" was something Rick had put together in his spare time from mostly illegal parts he found on far off worlds, the type of things you don't want you higher ups to know about. It would jam most, if not all com channels, and flood them with pre-selected music that Rick had a fondness for. It should work well on the Romulans. It sure did a job on the Klingons in the flight sims.

As that final second ticked away, Rick called out " Begin firing at will!!"

"Black leader - we are in, so far so good, but keep them busy. We will need some time..." cut in to the music from the insurgance team.

"Don't worry you have ten minutes, we have everything under control up here." Rick smiled as he thumbed his phaser control, and the Phaser made darkened slashes across the green of the Warbird's wing. Rick pushed his ASP into a barrel roll along the ridge of the ship's spine. That, in all of its unorthodoxy, was the signal to get the fighters to spread out over the Warbird. With luck, they would have pleanty of time before it would "reawaken". The red streaks of his phaser shot out in a random pattern.

His pot-shot would wreck enough havoc to keep the Romulan bridge crew from getting locked on to his pod, with any luck. His phasers were not enough to destroy the Warbird in themselves, but there were 175 fighters swarming it and picking it apart - if needed, there were a few starships waiting to finish off what the ASPs could not do.

If this worked it would be a day to remember. It was a once in a lifetime trick. They would go down in the history of the Empire as the first to steal a cloaking device from a war bird... if they lived that long and if their luck held true.

A tingling crept over the back of Rick's skull. Without thinking, he threw his ASP hard to port. A green thunderbolt of disruptor fire ripped past him. It missed by a few inches.

Okay, so the Romulans are waking up from the warpfront. Rick made a quick note for the boys back and R and D on how long it took the Romulans to recover. The disruptor hit two of his wing men. There was no time for warning, and little more for good byes. Though the Jammer, Rick broke in: "Good bye Kyla, bye Black Three you shall be missed..."

"To all Romulans, pray to your god, for you will meeting him soon!! Time to pay, bastards!!" Rick switched on his Photon torpedoes and picked himself a path over the hull of the Warbird, with his weapons scarring the green hull with burning marks.

"Black Wing - set off the fire works."

Rick had to make every shot count on this run. It's the least we can do for Kyla.

He fired his phasers long and hard, carving a rip in the green wing of the Warbird, then engaged his thrusters, flipping his ASP to stand over the jagged tear in the Romulan ship's hull. He fired torpedoes in to the Warbird's wound - only micro-torpedoes that would only do a little damage to the enemy ship, and not enough to disturb the insurgence team hard at work within.

Rick let his ASP fall back evel with the hull as Black Two came alongside. They swept over the front of the Warbird where the beak-like "head" was. That cold tingling feeling hit Rick like ice water running under his skull. All he could do was whisper, "Bye Two, nice knowing you..."

At almost the same moment, the ASP on his right was torn apart by a disruptor beam. Rick once again had cheated death because of some warning, some sense no one else had. It was an imperfect universe.

Rick kicked in his ASP's boosters as he shot out in front of the head of the Romulan starship. Knowning he only had minutes, he fired four of his remaining torpedoes ito the bow of the ship, just above the bridge.

"Black Leader we have it - repeat we have it. You gave us a rough ride but we have it. Call in the trip home." Rick had to twist his ASP out of the ray of a disruptor before he could send out his response. "Base One, this is Black Leader, we have it. Come and join the Party!!"

Rick switched back to the pod com channel. "All Wings set up the death song."

"Black Leader, this is Base One, you have confirmation. Light the candles."

Rick smiled. He had to. This was the making of pure history, unfolding before his eyes. "You heard them Wings - all ASP DSWs to fire, bring them on line now."

The fronts of the pods glowed with a bright light. The glow was the pre-fire sequence of the Deflector Shield Weapon, a tight beam of energy passed through the deflector grid on the under side of the little strike ship. It had most of the kick of a starship, and all of the radiation, but could only be fired twice before the grid had to be replaced. Two shots and they're worthless. Better make them count, thought Rick.

With a steady hand on the controls, Rick aimed for the back of the Warbird's head. He flipped up the protective cover and pressed down on the button. A beam of almost pure white, mixing with a rainbow of other colors along the egde of the beam, danced out in front of him. His helmet visor darkened as well as his view screen, yet Rick shut his eyes even with the darken panels. the light was just too much.

When he did open his eyes again a welcome site was before him.

The forward section of the Warbird drifted in space, its lifeless body in smaller pieces, left to drift in the endless void. There was not much left as Rick looked out at the once great warship, now a charred wreak that sparked with pale blue lightning.

As Rick pulled away, he checked his read outs, and cursed. He had use too much of his energy reserves. There was not enough to fire another shot. He looked around again, and knew there was not much need for the second shot. He pulled the ASP away, and begin thinking of the cake walk home.

Just as soon as the thought had crossed his mind, Rick was sorry he had entertained it. Decloaking before him and the other ASPs were two more Warbirds with weapons ready to fire.

The Warbirds were bigger than the last, not be so easily knocked out by the wave front. Rick scanned his controls panels. His eyes caught on the impulse booster controls. With his palm open he slapped it on. If he had to go out, he would go out fighting.

The boosters began to kick in. Just before he "jumped" he heard "Insurgence group, ETA to Base One T minus 2-" They would make it, even if he and the other ASPs did not.

As space twisted itself inside-out and stretched out of shape, Rick looked up. Above him was something large - no, huge would be more like it. Its shadow fell over Rick's ASP, blanketing him in total darkness.

Something was in the warpfront with him!

...Something was in the warpfront with him? It could not be true. It had to be some trick. No other ship could travel in the warpfront. Just as his mind began to take in this idea of the impossible, he was spat out into real space. The thought hit him that he was dead and this was what lay ahead for him.

Another thought fought to be heard. This one was from outside his viewscreen. The thought was just as improbable as another ship in the warpfront and who would think it could be just as true. Rick's ASP had reappeared in the middle of a junk yard in space.

...the Warbirds?

All the wreckage around him must have come from the other Warbirds, he thought. Had he destroyed them? How could that be? Just what the h-

"Black Leader - come in. Do you read me, Black Leader?"

Rick tapped his comm-badge. It was the comm-officer from Base One. "Black Leader here."

"Stop playing hero, and get back to Base One. If you don't mind, Captain Decker would like to speak with you - oh, and Houghton wants a few words with you as well."

"Roger that, Base One", Rick replied, and tapped the comm-badge again to turn it off. The questions remained unanswered. What had happened? What was in the warpfront...?

He saw the other ASPs swoop by on their final pass before heading home. They had won - three Warbirds, and they had won. The only part that bothered him was How? Was the warpfront that powerful? Or was there something more to it? What really happened to those Warbirds?

The line of thinking left him cold. A cold sliver of fear ran down his back. "I should be dead, yet I live." Rick murmured.

One last look at the graveyard of the Warbirds, and Rick pushed forward on his controls. The ASP gave a shudder, and moved sluggishly under his touch. He hit the impulse drive, and the small craft moved forward towards home. The sooner he got back to the Iss Zane the better. It could not come soon enough for Rick.

On board the ISS Zane...

Rick climbed out of the cockpit of the ASP, and attempted the short hop down to the flight deck of the Shuttle Bay. He nearly fell down, his legs were so shaky. He braced himself on the side of the pod.

You have to pull yourself together, you can't let Decker see you like this...

Rick pulled off his helmet, sweat pouring out and down his neck. He let the water build up under his collar. He took a few steps away from the ASP, just as Decker walked off the turbo lift.

The Captain walked over to him. Decker was a fair skinned man with sandy blond hair that was cut perfectly to regs.

Houghton was a robust female with a scar that ran down her right temple down to the side of her face. A real Ice Queen, thought Rick. "Welcome back Lieutenant Commander. We're lucky to have you back on board."

The Captain offered his hand to Rick.

Steadying himself, Rick took the Captain's hand and shook with a firm shake, adding some of his own muscle behind it. He didn't want to look weak in front of this pair. "It's a pleasure to be back. I always did like this ship." Rick surpressed a smile.

"Really? You seemed to want to get away from us pretty badly. Why, it looks like you even tried to destroy your own ASP to do so."

A smile slid over the Captain's face; one that Rick could only guess as to its true meaning. " Sir? I don't understand?"

Rick managed to keep calm, even though something didn't feel right.

"Surely you know when your Captain is joking with you?", Houghton butted in. "Of course you'll have to replace your impulse engines before you go", quipped the First Officer.

The universe and all things therein stopped except for Rick. He was in a state of complete numbness, as if someone had replaced his spine with a splinter of arctic ice. He could not help but wonder what they were talking about. He looked behind him at the ASP. It was siting a little crooked, to its left side.

Ignoring the Captain and First Officer, Rick made his way around the ASP. Where the housing for the impulse engine once was, there was now a gaping hole. In fact, almost the only things left were his seat, and the right engine. His seat was fused and melted.

How could he have missed that...?

He should have felt the heat-blast when the engine blew. How could this have happened? Did it have something to do with the wavefront?

Houghton walked around. "Well, Mr. Huntington, because of your little stunt, you have your wish."

Rick nodded, not fully understanding what she was talking about. "My wish, sir?"

"Yes, Huntington, Your wish after you fix this," the Captain pointed to the ASP. "You will gather up your things and prepare to ship over to Starbase...", he looked down his nose at a PADD. "Hmm - the order has been changed. You will ship over to Science Station Pertwee, where then you will be transferred over to ISS Ghidorah as her Chief Flight Officer. Good luck to you."

The Captain gave one of his better fake smiles, and turned back to the turbo lift, his first officer in tow behind him. Decker was a good actor. Houghton, however, could not hide her disappointment and anger. Rick had to wonder what he had done to set her off.

His mind went back to his ASP, but instead of working out how to fix the ship, all he could think of was that he was still alive,when he should be dead....And somehow there was something not right in this imperfect universe any more.

Epilogue : In Captain Decker's ready room.

Ima Houghton stormed across the floor, for about the hundredth time. Her pacing was better then her trying to destroy the ready room in a fit of rage. Decker walked from behind his desk to the replicator and ordered a drink.

"How could you be so calm? He still lives!! Even worse than that, he receives a promotion!!"

Decker took the drink from the dispensing slot, and casually walked back behind his desk, set the drink down, and sat in his chair.

"Will you answer me?!?", bellowed Ima.

Decker took a sip from his drink , then responded to Ima's demand. "Commander Houghton, restrain yourself. It is unbecoming, unless you wish to have yourself relieved."

"I'm sorry, Captain", said the Commander. She tried to sit down, yet she still seemed to exude raw anger.

Decker put down his cup and folded his hands together. "You planted the bomb yourself. You made sure it worked on at least three other ships, so therefore it could not have been something you did. By the way, that was a nice touch getting rid of his girl friend, what was her name...? Kyla, was it not?"

Ima smiled and nodded, a glint of contentment in her eyes.

"You did your part - we have his ASP as proof." He had managed to pull off this plan, and he has gained the first fully working example of the latest cloaking device for the Empire. "Now he is out of our hands, and placed into the hands of that creature that they let run around on the Ghidorah. It's all out of our hands, and if what I hear is true he will be dead in a week aboard that... thing's ship. What more could you want?" Decker open his hands wide across his desk.

"His head on a sliver platter!", Ima roared.

"Ima Ima Ima, he will be dealt with, in time", Decker chided.

"Dead in a week, you say?" Ima quipped hopefully.

"They're a bunch of savage little things. The only shame is that we won't be keeping the cloaking devices. Dr. Cinocard is on his way here to pick it and the prisoner up." Decker let out a sigh.

"What!?! I thought we were..."

"Yes... well, that was the plan, but Cinocard got wind of it, and he's on his way here, which is why we have to get Huntington off-ship soon."

Ima looked at Decker blankly, then her face twisted into a grin. " Ha! That's why your sending him to Pertwee!"

Decker nodded.

"But what if we hide it, keep it for ourselves?", Ima asked hopefully.

"R and D will find it", assured the Captain. "If we don't turn it over I can't imagine what would happen to the party that hid it." He didn't need to explain any further.

Somewhere in Space...

Onboard a unknown ship, three Romulan captains cursed a lone pilot that they have only heard about in reports. A devil that uses strange attacks and plays song of death.

Some how this devil had cheated them of their lives and lead them into the depths of their own hell. They cursed him for it, for it was the last thing they could do before their green scaled tormentor dragged them off in to the unknown...

And The Adventure Begins...