"Now
this is even more than I expected," Commander Westmore slowly stated as he
took in the sight of the Cardassian force assembled in the protostar cluster.
A
whole battle-wing lay before his eyes, and while the shuttle's sensors were not
able to pick them all out from the interference of the nebula, his estimate
came up at around 25 cruisers, 40 fast attack ships and a dozen troop
transports. If this force moved against the Federation in a surprise attack they
could take Betazed - or any other target they picked - at their leisure, without
a chance for Starfleet to respond in time.
"Yes,
it is an impressive force," Tarin admitted. "And look at the sensor
read-outs. If we weren't so close we would only detect a bunch of Lisepian
freighters, Ferengi Marauders and half a dozen other ships, but none of them
Cardassian. It's a miracle our sensor nets picked up any Cardassians at
all."
Commander
Westmore's hand clenched into fists. "Yes, it must have taken them months
to set up this operation and right under our noses." He looked over his
shoulder at Captain Veal. "Now what?"
"That
all depends on you," she replied, without taking her eyes off the forward
window. "How assured are you that your little surprise will work?"
"I
am certain it will work and if you weren't sure of it yourself you would have
never brought us here." Tarin had to admit it was true. Finding the
Cardassians had been easy enough, once they had found the first of the buoys
that marked the safe route through the cluster. Turning Commander Westmore's
plan into reality had been more of a challenge with their limited resources, but
it looked like it could really work.
"Yes,"
she reluctantly replied after a moment of silence, "but do you remember our
little chat about fate we had earlier?" When her human companion just nodded she
went on. "What are the chances of two people, one with an intimate
knowledge of Cardassian military codes and one who is able to navigate through a
protostar cluster, being here at this moment in time?"
Tarin put her hands on the helm station and slowly and deliberately pushed herself back against her chair. "I may believe in luck, Commander Westmore, but this is stretching the concept of luck very thin. We may both be slaves to destiny after all, despite our believes to the contrary."
Westmore
laughed out loud - the strongest display of emotions since he had joined the
crew of the Valkyrie – and looked at the young Centauran with a wry
grin. "You know, for a member of a supposedly deeply spiritual people, the
prospect of a greater power influencing your decisions seems to trouble you an
awful lot."
Tarin
turned to him and met his gaze. "I have never been much of a spiritual
person myself, but I have learned a couple of things during the last few days
that have given me a lot to think about."
It
was certainly an understatement, but it seemed fate had not intended her to
think too much about it.
"We
have incoming," Commander Westmore called out and Tarin's fingers moved
over the helm controls without a conscious thought. The impulse engines died
down and the shuttle's thrusters pushed them back deeper into the cloud surrounding
the Cardassian forces.
* * * * *
"You
were right." Ben slumped down in one of the chairs across Doctor Jascar's
desk. "We have been subjected to several waves of chroniton radiation over
the last few days, the first one at exactly the moment Rishana collapsed in Ten
Forward."
"I
see." Doctor Jascar drummed his fingers on the desk without being aware of
it. " I have given her a second dose of Hyronalin while you were gone, but
so far it has shown little effect. However the radiation is affecting her, it
has obviously started a process in her brain that is strengthened by additional
chroniton bursts, but not dependent on it." He glanced at Commander Enikal
who stood in the doorway to the intensive care ward, looking at Rishana Hagen's
comatose body. "At least the Hyronalin should prevent her condition from
deteriorating, which should give us time enough to come up with a
treatment."
"I
hope you are right, Doctor." Dar turned towards the Valkyrie's CMO.
"Have you received any reply to your inquiries to Starfleet Medical and
Betazed?"
"Yes."
The hope in Theron's voice was replaced by frustration again. "I have
received replies from both, but it seems they are as baffled as I am." He
rose and joined the Bolian at the door to the IC ward. "Is it possible to
modify our shields to block any further chroniton radiation? The Hyronalin
should work, but I'd rather be safe than sorry and the Lieutenant's life could
depend on it."
"Commander
Tucker?"
"Yes,
it's possible, but I wouldn't recommend it. The modifications are simple enough,
but they would shift our shield frequencies so much to the upper subspace bands
that they wouldn't be much use anymore against solid objects. Including,"
he added, "torpedoes."
Ben
stood up and joined the two men by the door. "That aside, I could try to
modify the sickbay containment field to block chronitons or set up a mobile
forcefield emitter in here."
"You
better make it the latter," Theron replied. "I wouldn't want to loose
the containment field, even if we have not much need for it at the moment."
"Right,"
Ben agreed with a nod. "I'll get to work at once."
* * * * *
"Two
Hideki's are moving in on us. They will be here in less than a minute."
Westmore sounded calm, almost cold, but he knew they had an ace up their sleeve.
"I suggest we take the initiative before they blow us to pieces."
"I
couldn't agree with you more," Tarin stated. "Hail the Trantor."
A
second later Gul Me'rok's face smiled at Tarin from a small display on her helm
controls. "Ah, Captain Veal, I would call this a pleasant surprise, but I
have a feeling we are both not very surprised to see each other again."
"No,
I guess we are not," Captain Veal slowly replied. "But, as this looks
to me like the beginning of a most intriguing conversation, would you be kind
enough to make sure your attack ships don't end our little chat before it really
begins?"
"Why
yes, of course, my dear Captain." Me'rok made a small gesture to someone
behind him and Tarin could see the Hideki's slow down. "On the other
hand," the Cardassian added, "we should be ashamed if we wouldn't
provide such an illustrious guest as yourself with an honor guard, like, for
example, the two ships that are now very close to your position."
Tarin
allowed herself a small laughter. She had never considered herself very
eloquent, but her Cardassian antagonist had a way of making it all sound so much
like a big game that she started to enjoy herself. "On the contrary. It is
us who should provide you with an honor guard, however inadequate a shuttle may
be to the task."
"Oh,
what makes you think that?" The Gul still smiled, a hint of real interest
showing in his eyes now.
"You
see, Gul Me'rok, your enthusiasm to complete your scientific studies of this
cluster must have distracted you from the fact that you are now well within
Federation territory. But," she added, leaning back in her seat, "we
would be happy to escort you and your colleagues back to neutral territory at
your earliest convenience."
Me'rok
leaned closer to the viewer, his chin rested on his folded hands. "I am
afraid my superiors wouldn't agree with such a course of action." The smile
vanished from his face and he gave a little sigh. "You see, I have one of
the oldest excuses in the book; I am only following orders." He winked at
the face on his viewer, curious how the Centauran would respond.
"Well,
that is too bad," Tarin replied. "I, on the other hand, have one of
the oldest reasons there is; I am protecting what is dear to me and, as
much as it may surprise you, I have the means to do just that."
Gul
Me'rok just looked quizzical and Tarin adjusted the focus of the shuttle's
camera pick-up. "Allow me to introduce you to Commander Westmore."
"You?!"
Me'rok quickly recovered from his initial surprise. "No wonder I didn't
recognize your name on the Valkyrie's crew manifest. Apparently you have
more names than they have words for rain on Ferenginar."
"And
it is nice to see you, too." Alexander Westmore slightly bowed to the face
on the viewer and added: "I hope you didn't have too much trouble because
of me."
"Oh
no, not at all." The smile returned to Gul Me'rok's lips, but not to his
eyes. "Central Command decided to blame your escape on the Obsidian Order
and I must say, the embarrassment you inflicted on them I found quite
pleasing."
"Now,
Captain Veal, will you enjoy the suspense all day or would you like to reveal to
me your grand scheme that will allow you to stop the advance of a full
battle-wing with just one shuttle?"
"Oh no," Tarin replied, her hands raised in a defensive gesture, "I wouldn't want to torture such a charming man as your any longer than necessary." Suddenly all warmth and friendliness vanished from her voice and expression. "Your network of marker buoys is most impressive, but, as Commander Westmore has assured me, the computer codes you used with them are not up to the latest standards."
Westmore
slowly shook his head. "Elgol Red, please, Me'rok, what were you
thinking?"
The
Cardassian shook his head, much like the human just had. "Believe me, it
was certainly not my idea, but you know how impatient the Central Command can
get. Mapping the cluster and setting up the buoys had been time-consuming enough
and some people just didn't want to wait for a software upgrade, however
reasonable it would have been."
"Well, be that as it may," Tarin interjected, "you must by now realize that we have been able to break the codes protecting your buoys' computers and I intend to make full use of the access that gives me, unless you withdraw your forces to neutral territory immediately."
"Ah,
but you should know that my superiors would never forgive me if I just took your
word for granted, and neither would I be able to forgive myself, however likely
I think your statement may be." Me'rok knew his operation had never allowed
for any margin of error and he had done his utmost to rule out any possibility
of failure, but Commander Westmore's presence – if that was really his name
– had introduced an element into the equation he could not have foreseen. He
was certain Captain Veal was not bluffing, but if he simply withdrew his career
would never be able to survive such a disgrace.
"Farewell, Captain Veal, Commander Westmore." The Cardassian snapped his fingers and pointed at one of his officers.
"Farewell,
Gul Me'rok," Tarin replied as she turned the shuttle around and accelerated
it to impulse speed. She shut
off the comm-system and nodded slightly at Commander Westmore.
"Now!"
* * * * *
"I
am almost finished," Ben remarked as he made some final adjustments to the
forcefield emitters he had set up in sickbay.
Theron
Jascar was pleased. While he had yet to discover a way to reverse Rishana
Hagen's condition, he was secure in the knowledge that very soon he could halt
whatever had befallen her from getting any worse.
* * * * *
Alexander
Westmore activated a control on his station, just as the two Hideki-class attack
ships targeted the shuttle and powered up their disruptors.
A
single command reached the next Cardassian sensor buoy and was transmitted from
there to the next one and so on, again and again.
A
split-second later every one of the small devices had received the same order
and carried it out as obediently as it was programmed to do.
Chroniton-generators
came to life, their power steadily increasing.
* * * * *
A
few disruptor bolts stabbed at the retreating shuttle, the Cardassian's
targeting sensors hampered by the interference of the molecular cloud, and yet
one of them still found it's mark, collapsing the small vessel's shields in an
instant.
* * * * *
All
across the Argolis cluster the Cardassian buoys went to full power and then
exceeded it.
As
each of the small devices exhausted it's power in one final burst it sent out a
massive wave of chronitons before it fell silent, it's power spent and it's
systems fussed.
* * * * *
"Oh
my god!" Theron Jascar shouted, as the sensors went wild and Rishana
Hagen's body convulsed under the massive dose of chroniton radiation.
Prologue Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3
Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7