"Our
reinforcements from Betazed should arrive within the hour," Captain Sanders
told his two guests.
After
Captain Veal and Commander Westmore had briefed him on the current tactical
situation both had headed straight to bed. While Sanders suspected they had both
found little sleep, there had been nothing else for them to do, but Kyle Sanders
was still surprised how readily Veal had agreed to the necessity of staying on
the look-out for Cardassian stragglers instead of insisting on a search for her
own missing ship. Now all three were having breakfast in the seclusion of
Captain Sander's private dining room, a luxury current Starfleet designs no
longer featured, but that had been standard at the time of the Malinche's
commissioning. "So far no news of the Valkyrie.
All our attempts to contact her have been unsuccessful, but as soon as our
reinforcements get here we will start looking for her."
"I am not overly concerned," Tarin replied in a level voice. "My crew can take care of themselves and I don't expect that they had any trouble with the Cardassians, wouldn't you agree, Commander Westmore?"
"Yes
Ma'am." Alex Westmore downed the last of his coffee and refilled his cup as
he spoke. "Any attack on the Valkyrie
would have run the risk of drawing more Starfleet forces to this sector and with
his own forces almost ready for deployment, that's the last thing Me'rok would
have wanted." He held up the coffee-pot. "Anyone?"
Tarin
just shook her head and Captain Sanders replied with a "No thanks",
before he took the word again. "Are you two still positive the Cardassians
won't be able to pull off their initial attack plan, even with their marker
buoys shut down?"
"Yes.
Those things were more than just markers on a safe route through the cluster,
they featured quite elaborate sensors as well that allowed them to constantly
update the course plots they transmitted to the Cardassian ships moving through
the Argolis." Tarin reached for the fruit bowl and noticed the small
irregularities and imperfections that told her nothing of it was replicated.
Captain Sanders had a reputation as a no-nonsense, straight-to-the point,
officer, but he was also a most gracious host.
"The smaller ships - that is the Hideki-class attack ships - may be able to find their way through the cluster into Federation space and maybe guide the larger ships along the way, but the battle cruisers will be lucky if they can retrace their original course back to neutral territory in one piece." She picked an orange from the bowl and looked up at Captain Sanders with a crooked smile. "They may get out, but I am confident that we won't have to worry about them much, if at all."
Kyle
Sanders leaned forward and propped his elbows on the table, his chin rested on
his folded hands. "Seems you are right. Apart from the Hideki that had been
chasing you, our sensors have so far only picked up three ships; one transport
and two Galors, and one of the cruisers had to be towed by the other two ships."
His gleeful smile showed how pleased he was with the Cardassian's predicament.
"We may not get a lot of reinforcements from Betazed, but once they are in
place we should be able to deal with any Cardassians that head our way, provided
they are in no better shape."
"You
won't have to worry about that," Commander Westmore replied with a wry grin
on his usually expressionless face. "Gul Me'rok isn't someone who sends his
troops on a hopeless task and once he has lost he is able to recognize it and
act accordingly."
* * * * *
"Coffee?"
Catherine asked and Moira nodded. "Yes, please." It was certainly not
the best way to stay awake, but for now it worked and Lieutenant O'Shea wasn't
ready to take any stimulants unless she absolutely had to, as much as she wanted
to stay up.
The
two women had settled in at a small mess hall about 50 meters from sickbay and
now Catherine Lee reached across a table strewn with tricorders and portable
computers to refill Moira's cup. She longed for some sleep, but glancing at the
medical read-outs displayed on one of the small computer screens she quickly
ruled out that possibility. Whatever happened, she would not allow herself to
become another victim of what had befallen the crew of the Valkyrie.
Unlike
Moira the Counselor was more than willing to take stimulants to fend off sleep
and she injected herself with another dose from the hypospray she had kept ready
for over a day. Nevertheless she poured herself another cup of coffee. Now that
the stimulants took effect the caffeine wouldn't help her stay awake, but at
least the simple act of holding a cup and drinking from it would do something to
distract her from the computer displays.
Catherine
Lee was at a loss and she was acutely aware of it. All she and Moira could do
was wait and pray for someone to show up who would be able to help the crew of
the Valkyrie more than they had been able to, which wouldn't be too hard,
considering that nothing they had tried had helped in any way.
While
Moira had been busy powering up one of the Valkyrie's shuttles and linking it's
sensor read-outs to the computer she had placed in the small lounge, Catherine
had checked everyone on deck 12 and every time she had come up with the same
results. As far as she could tell everyone on board, except for Moira and her,
was asleep and they were all dreaming, but they all dreamt a dream that wasn't
theirs.
Moira
took a sip of coffee and went back to studying the sensor display, but as much
as she tried to concentrate, it did little to take her mind off the memory of
what she had seen in the Valkyrie's
sickbay and she felt a strong primordial fear take hold of her again.
Suddenly
she put down her cup with a force that spilled coffee all over the table but she
didn't notice. "We have something on the sensors!" She took another
glance at the display before she laughed out loud. "A ship is coming into
transporter range. It's Starfleet!"
* * * * *
"I
am glad to see you two are alright" Tarin's voice sounded calm enough, but
her expression revealed how excited she was. The first sensor sweeps the Malinche had taken didn't bode well and it had been a tremendous
relief when Lieutenant O'Shea had contacted them and told her that at least she
and Counselor Lee were alright.
"Well,
you may be glad to see us, but I can't tell you how overjoyed we
are that you are back." Moira smiled and she was almost ready to let the
full extent of her emotions show when Captain Sanders entered the room.
After
Tarin had introduced her two officers to the Malinche's
CO she addressed Moira O'Shea again. "Why don't you give us a report on the
extent of the damage?"
"Yes
Captain. Many systems are still off-line, including the warp-core, the
com-system, and most of the sensors. The main computers are working, but at
reduced capacity and some secondary systems have suffered damage as well. None
of which," she added, "should take very long to repair." She
paused for air before continuing her assessment. "Most of the systems have
suffered damage only to a few critical components and we have all the spares we
need on board. With enough repair crews it should take only a few hours to bring
all systems back to working condition. All we have to do is pull out the damaged
components, insert the replacements, and the Valkyrie
will be as good as new."
"I
see." Tarin turned around to Captain Sanders. "As it seems our
technical problems won't require any major repair facility I would like to
borrow some of your engineering teams for a little while to bring my ship back
to working condition as soon as possible."
Kyle
Sanders had no objections, but the way she had placed a very small emphasis on
the word 'technical' and slightly tilted her head in the Counselor's direction
told him she was ready to deal with the rest of the problems they had found
aboard the Valkyrie.
"I
will have my Chief Engineer assemble as many repair teams as he can spare and
have him coordinate with Lieutenant O'Shea. If you ladies will excuse me I will
see to it right away." He gave a courteous nod to Moira and Catherine and
turned on his heel, heading out of the small lounge.
"Now,"
Tarin looked from Catherine to Moira and back again, "why don't you tell me
what's wrong with my crew?"
Both
women looked at each other and Catherine Lee sighed. While Moira was more aware
of some details of what had befallen the crew, this was her job. "I will
tell you all we could find out, but first there is something you need to see."
She
stepped into the corridor and motioned towards sickbay. "This way, please."
* * * * *
"Sanash!" It wasn't the strongest Centauran curse, but the universal translator still refused to provide a translation. On the other hand, both Moira and Catherine were pretty certain what it meant.
Small
wisps of mist drifted through the open sickbay doors, glowing in the strange
green light that shone from within the room. While the environmental system
carried away the vapors as soon as they drifted into the corridor, there seemed
to be no end to the glowing mist that wafted through the open door, but that was
not what had provoked Tarin's curse.
While
the fog made it difficult to make out all the details of the room that hardly
mattered. What was important was clear enough to see and that was Rishana Hagen.
Her motionless body hung in the air half a meter above the biobed without any
support, emitting the green light that basked the whole room in an eerie glow.
As
she noticed the unmoving forms of Ben and Doctor Jascar in the room Tarin cursed
again, this time under her breath. She took a step back from the door and leaned
against the corridor wall. "Please tell me I am imagining things." She
was certain it was no illusion, but for once there was little she could do to
hide her shock and surprise.
"So
you recognize it?" Moira asked as she handed the Captain a tricorder.
"Yes."
Tarin nodded and glanced at the small sensor device. As she studied the senor
readings more closely she shook her head in silent disbelief. While there was no
way to deny the obvious it still seemed impossible. "It's like the Well of
Urd in there, but I can't see how that is possible."
"Neither
can I," Moira admitted. "On the other hand it might explain why we two
are the only people who weren't affected by whatever hit us." She produced
a small box Tarin recognized instantly. "We were both touching this when it
happened and we couldn't find anything else that makes us any different from the
rest of the crew."
"There
is more than that," Catherine added before Tarin had a chance to say
something. "We may be at a loss as to what is going on here, but Lieutenant
Hagen is obviously at the center of it and while I was in no mood to go in there,"
she gestured at the door, "we have gained remote access to some of the
sickbay systems."
She
stepped to the Captain's side, holding up a padd. "Let me show you what we
have found." She pressed a control on the padd and a graph appeared on it
that Tarin recognized as a brainwave scan. "These are Lieutenant Hagen's
brainwaves. And these," she continued, calling up another graph, "are
Doctor Jascar's brainwaves and if you compare both..."
She
manipulated the controls again and the graph of Theron's brainwaves split into
two separate readings.
"Rishana's
brainwaves are overlaid on Doctor Jascar's and the same is true for everyone
else I have scanned during the last twelve hours."
* * * * *
Moira
O'Shea had reluctantly gone off to coordinate the Valkyrie's
repairs with Captain Sander's chief engineer and now the lounge was empty except
for Tarin and Catherine.
"Tell
me whatever you can about Rishana's condition," Tarin invited the Counselor
as her fingers turned the small box around and around on the table.
Catherine
kneaded her hands, as unaware of it as Tarin was unaware of the constant
movement of her own fingers. "Her neural activity is off the scale and it's
taking it's toll on her body." She drew a deep breath and gathered her
strength before looking Tarin in the eyes.
"Lieutenant
Hagen is dying. If we can't find a way to help her she doesn't have more than
twelve hours before her nervous system can no longer cope with the intensity of
the impulses it has to handle and will just overload."
"In
other words, her autonomous body functions will blow a fuse and her heart will
just stop." It wasn't really a question and Catherine just gave a very
small nod.
"Is
there anything we can do?"
"Maybe,
but I doubt it." While Counselor Lee had had several hours to come to grips
with her own helplessness, telling it all to someone else brought that feeling
back into sharp focus. "I had little success waking up anyone and I assume
that whatever keeps them unconscious is working even stronger on Rishana's mind
and body."
Again
she shook her head, this time in utter frustration. "Even if we manage to
wake her up I have no idea how her mental link with the rest of the crew may
affect the others. And that is the
biggest problem we have."
Tarin's
heart sank. There was no way things could get worse than just waiting for the
apparently inevitable demise of one of her friends, but the Counselor's voice
and agonized expression made it obvious that, to her, the future looked even
more grim than to Tarin. "Go on."
"If
Rishana dies with her link to the rest of the crew still in place it could
affect everyone else, forcing whatever happens to Rishana on the others. If she
dies while connected to the rest of the crew she may kill every one of
them."
* * * * *
"I
am sorry, but there is nothing I can add to Counselor Lee's analysis." The Malinche's
CMO met Tarin's gaze and what he saw in her eyes he took as a sign of
resignation, but he couldn't blame her. It had taken him a little over two hours
to complete his scans, but apparently there was nothing he could do that would
save Lieutenant Hagen's life.
His
colleague saw the same thing in Captain Veal's eyes, but the Malinche's
logistics officer knew better than to think of it as resignation. While she
tried her utmost not to use her Betazoid senses on someone without explicit
permission it was hard to shut out feelings as strong as the Centauran's. She
knew Captain Veal had resigned herself on a course of action that seemed
inevitable now, but resignation was still the smallest part of her emotions. Now
the Betazoid Senior Chief took the word.
"I
have tried to make contact with both Lieutenant Hagen and several members of
your crew and I am afraid I got nothing at all, Ma'am. While I could feel they
are all still alive, that's the only thing I can be certain of. Whatever they
are thinking and feeling, it's so far from everything I have ever met that I
can't get through to them."
Slowly
and deliberately Captain Veal shook her head before she forced a smile on her
lips and faced the older woman. "I am sure you did the best you could,
Chief. Now, as far as you can tell, is Lieutenant Hagen aware of her link with
the rest of the crew?"
"I
am sorry Ma'am, but there is no way to be sure of what, if anything, she is
aware of right now." The Chief's brows furrowed as she pondered about the
question. "On the other hand I am pretty certain she must be aware of it,
at least at a subconscious level. A telepathic link with over six hundred people
would be hard to miss for anyone."
Tarin
looked around the room and met Captain Sander's gaze. Tarin
knew
how much at a loss he felt - he had told her himself, right before this meeting.
At the same time he had made sure to let her know he trusted her to solve this
conundrum, even if he hadn't said so in so many words. He knew she had more
knowledge about what was going on than he had and it was most likely true, but
so far she had only a very faint and instinctive idea of what to make of this
knowledge.
"Now, everyone, let me get this straight. In a little under ten hours Lieutenant Hagen's nervous system will suffer a complete and terminal breakdown and everyone she is telepathically linked with at that moment may suffer the same fate, because of the shock of sharing that death experience through the telepathic link?"
"Yes."
"I
see." Tarin leaned back in her chair and stared at the ceiling for a moment.
She had made up her mind as soon as she had received the first preliminary
reports from the Malinche's CMO that confirmed Counselor Lee's diagnosis, but it was
something quite different to say it out loud. Sending her crew in harm's way had
become a regular part of her duties as commanding officer, but what she was
about to do seemed to be something entirely different - and yet, there was no
other way.
When
her head snapped down again her face betrayed no trace of emotions, except a
strong determination that didn't allow for any opposition.
"Doctor,
as soon as Lieutenant Hagen's condition becomes critical you will sever her
telepathic connection with the rest of my crew." Tarin went on slowly,
choosing each word carefully. "If everything else fails you are hereby
authorized to perform invasive surgery in Lieutenant Hagen's telepathic cortex,
should you deem that to be the only option, however great the risk for
Lieutenant Hagen's life may be."
Not
just the Malinche's CMO, but everyone else knew what she had just ordered – if
everything else failed the last option was to lobotomize Rishana Hagen.
* * * * *
"You
shouldn't do this!"
"I
have no choice." Tarin motioned at the Malinche's
logistics officer and the Betazoid stepped aside, giving the Valkyrie's
captain and her Counselor a little privacy.
"I
have no choice," Tarin repeated in a softer voice. "Maybe Rishana
could sever that telepathic link herself, if only she was aware of the danger
she is placing everyone in. I can't just stand by and do nothing and if I don't
succeed I will at least have tried." When Catherine Lee just nodded and
flashed her a quick smile Tarin knew that the Counselor realized how much she
needed to try, regardless of how slim her chances might be. "Thank you Mei
Hsin."
"Please
take care of yourself... Tarin."
Tarin's smile was more natural than anything Catherine had seen on her face for the last few hours. It was the first time she had called her Captain by her first name, even if Tarin had offered it to her weeks ago.
If
they hadn't been surrounded by crewmembers of the Malinche
Tarin would have spontaneously embraced Catherine – Mei Hsin –, but with so
few of her own crew around she was more acutely aware of a need to keep up
traditional command appearances than she had felt for several years.
"I
will and once this crisis is over, maybe we can find the time to get to know
each other a little better." She gently touched the petite Asian's shoulder
before she turned aside and nodded at the Malinche's
logistics officer. "Chief!"
Moira
O'Shea watched the Captain vanish into the mists that engulfed the sickbay, as
the Malinche's sole Betazoid
crewmember stepped close to the sickbay doors.
"Mei
Hsin," she whispered in the Counselor's ear, "what does that mean?"
"Well,"
the woman who had become accustomed to being called Catherine long ago replied
in an equally hushed voice, "it's Mandarin Chinese, but in Hong Kong we
have adapted to that about a two centuries ago and if you must know it means 'beautiful
heart'."
Moira
pursed her lips in a silent whistle. "That's a nice name." After a
long moment of silence she added. "Do you have any idea if the Captain's
name means anything special?"
"Yes,
I do, but you should ask her yourself if you want to know."
Prologue Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3
Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7