Battleground Alpha : Oath of Allegiance

[Edinburgh apartment]

Baroness von Lowe was weeping. Weeping for her devastated planet. For
her wounded brother. For her missing husband. "Oh Alex, why did, did you
have to do it, why did you have to be so brave?" she sorrowfully cried.
Alex Sutton, the only man she had ever loved was missing and presumed
dead after departing Spacedock in a Peregrine. No wreckage had been
found so there was still hope, but she had known from the look in the
Commander and Chief's eyes that no one really believed he was alive. To
make things worse dear Kenneth had been injured fighting the Imperial
fleet. His ship, the 'Zhukov', had been broadsided by 2 destroyers,
ripping away its nacelles and eating through most of the hull. He was
lucky to be alive and was now recuperating at Starfleet medical, along
with thousands of other Starfleet officers. More people had died in that
battle than the 2 attempted Borg invasions combined. And that was just
among the fleet. The casualties on Earth had been beyond belief.
Starfleet had only just the process of installing shield generators and
only important military installations were protected. As a result, there
was nothing to stop the several hundred strong torpedo volley or the
tsunamis that it created. The earthquakes had been severe as well,
overcoming the earthquake protection systems of many buildings.
Fortunately, or at least relatively so, the Baroness was living on the
other side of the world to the detonation. That didn't mean she could
escape the huge dust clouds thrown up though. She shivered slightly in
the cold. The weather modification nets had all been knocked off line
and even when they were restored nobody knew how long it would take to
restore the atmosphere to its former condition. Getting up, the Baroness
put on a coat. Kenneth should be out of surgery now and he would
appreciate some company.

[Starfleet Medical]

"I love you my little English carrot"

"Well I love you more, my little Scottish dumpling."

"No I love you more, my sweet sugary Sutton."

"No, no, no, the surgery has made you delirious darling, _I_ love _you_
more, my lovey dovey thistle head."

"No, no, no, I-"

"Ahem." Captain Kenneth von Lowe and his soon to wife, Alexandra Sutton
were interrupted from their blissful argument by the entrance of Dr.
Lindsey. "Your sister is here to see you Captain." As the Baroness
entered the room, Dr. Lindsey departed.

"Kenneth, are you alright?"

"Yes, I'm fine Kennethina. I thought you would have been with Alex?"
Captain von Lowe realised the instant he said this that something was
wrong. "Is there something I should know? Has something happened to
Kevin?" The concern on his face and the anguish the Baroness still felt
all welled up and once again she began crying.

"Oh, Kenneth, it's so terrible, they can't find him, he's disappeared.
They think he's dead! They won't tell me that, but I know it's what they
think. I can see it in their eyes! Oh, Kevin, what am I going to do?"
With that, she collapsed into a chair, sobbing as Alexandra walked over
and tried to console her.

"Alex is dead?" whispered Captain von Lowe. He had never liked him ;
there was something just not right about him, but he had made his sister
happy and the resemblance of his name to that of Kenneth's girl friend
was mildly amusing. He might have taken a perverse pleasure in him
getting injured, perhaps crippled by the loss of a limb, but dead? That
just wasn't right, Kennethina shouldn't have to suffer like that.

Author: "Jonathan Boyd"