“I
can’t believe it.” M’rroah put down her fork and stared at Tarin. “Even
with a good grasp of Starfleet computer protocols, how could they find a way to
knock out all the firewalls and code-barriers at once?”
“They
had some help. We didn’t know it then, but they had managed to obtain many of
the security codes for each of the ships likely to run into their trap. As most
of our ships use the same basic software architecture that - and a little time -
was all they needed.” Tarin motioned for the waiter to refill her glass again.
Indulging so much in wine might be a bad idea on the eve of great events, but
there were a few things Doctor Jascar could do against any hangover she might
get.
Once
more the Valkyrie’s captain looked out at the gently rolling waves of
the ocean. The second sun had just touched the horizon and the sanguineous light
it cast over the sea and sky mirrored the color of the wine Tarin now sampled. ‘Yes.’
This was the good life. Having dinner with a good friend, indulging in the
creature comforts only a planet could provide despite the best efforts of
Starfleet to make life aboard a starship comfortable. ‘Ben sure wouldn’t
mind if I settled down,’ Tarin Veal thought, but there was so much to do,
so many responsibilities she couldn’t avoid, even if she wanted to.
‘We
are still young. If we survive the next few days, if we can sort out this mess,
there will be time enough to settle down.’
Involuntarily the Centauran smiled. Thinking about the simple matters in life at
a time like this... On the other hand, she had survived a lot of bad situations
during her career, a thought that brought her back to the story she had been
telling her Caitian friend.
“I’ll
get back to the Cardassians in a little while,” she said as she picked up her
own fork again. “While their source of information was crucial to their plan,
it had little to do with what happened to me. If I hadn’t come around a little
sooner than the rest of the crew, we wouldn’t have this conversation right now.
It still amazes me that I was able to shrug off the affects of the anesthezine
so much sooner than anyone on the bridge, but it was what saved my life.”
* * * * *
„Damn it! I can’t believe they fooled us so easily.“ Felix Alvarez blurted out and slammed his fist against the wall for the seventh time, at least by Ben Tucker’s count.
“Well,”
the engineer offered, “they did, but they went to a hell of trouble to do it.
This was all very carefully planned.” After the second group of Cardassians
had been beamed out the rest of them had suddenly activated a dampening field
calibrated to jam standard Starfleet phaser frequencies. There had been little
Alvarez or any of his men could have done to prevent the Cardassians from taking
away their weapons and spacesuit helmets at gunpoint. Now they were stranded in
the Canatra, but Ben worried more about other things than their own predicament.
“What troubles me more is what’s going on aboard the Valkyrie.”
“You
are right,” Lieutenant Alvarez admitted after sharply and noisily exhaling.
“This certainly wasn’t set up to capture us. No, they must be after the Valkyrie
and we have no way of getting there.”
“Yes,
it looks that way, but I wouldn’t write us off just yet.” Ben pointed at the
window of the Canatra’s bridge. “Our shuttle is still there and to me
it looks undamaged. All we need is a way to reach it.”
“And how do you think we can do that, without our spacesuits? This husk of a ship has just enough power for life-support, so we have no replicators, no transports, no nothing.”
Ben
grinned, not at the Lieutenant’s frustration, but because he was suddenly in
his element. While he had discovered long ago that designing starships was more
to his liking than constantly repairing them, he was still a Starfleet engineer.
‘One of those legendary engineers that
can create a subspace transmitter from rocks and chewing gum, yep, that’s me,’
he thought and his grin widened.
“We
still have our suits. All they took from us are the helmets. Now I know the
suits are pretty useless without them, but I think I can improvise something
from all the things we have here.” His wide, sweeping gesture encompassed the
whole ship as he continued. “Even if the Cardies removed most of the useful
stuff, they can’t have thought of everything. All we need is something that
will hold up for a few minutes; just enough to get one man to our shuttle. We
still have the pattern enhancers in place, so we can beam everyone to the
shuttle, once we reach it.“
“Can
you really do it?”
“Depends.”
Ben shrugged. “But even if I manage to improvise something I still need to get
out off this ship. The outer door is locked and we have no weapons to cut it
open.”
“Now
that you can leave to me.” Felix
Alvarez grinned. Suddenly
he had something to do again. “If you can find a way to survive a vacuum
without a fully functioning spacesuit I can certainly find a way to open a door.”
* * * * *
“This
will never work,” Lieutenant Alvarez declared as he looked at the bulky
yoke-like contraption Commander Tucker placed on his own shoulders.
“If
I thought it wouldn’t work, I wouldn’t do this, would I?”
“Can’t
you at least test it here, before going out there?” Alvarez pointed at
the Canatra’s airlock, his concern evident.
Ben
Tucker shook his head. “No. I was lucky enough to achieve a measure of
compatibility between the parts I used, but only at the expense of durability.
Once I switch this thing on it will drain the power cells very fast.
Testing it first could use just enough juice to kill me before I reach the
shuttle.”
“If
you say so. Still, I think I am the one who should be going. I am in charge of
this mission, you know?”
“Ts,
ts, ts.” Ben waved his finger under Lieutenant Alvarez’s nose. “Away team
regulations, section 12, subsection 4; command of an away team reverts from an
appointed mission specialist to the senior officer of the away team in case the
original objective of the mission becomes unattainable or the objective of the
mission changes significantly enough to no longer require the leadership of the
mission specialist to achieve the new objective of the away mission.”
“Phew,”
Felix Alvarez whistled. “I am impressed. I never thought an engineer would be
so familiar with the away team regulations.”
Ben
Tucker checked the seals of his spacesuit as he replied. “I surprised myself.
Never thought I could quote this from memory, but I figured that I would end up
on an away team sooner or later, maybe even lead one again, so I did some
reading the last few weeks. Now,” he raised his head and looked Lieutenant
Alvarez straight in the eye, “you know what to do?”
“Of
course,” Alvarez snorted. “We seal the next door and stay put, while you
risk life and limb, trying to correct my mistakes.”
Ben
drew a deep breath, before he grabbed the Lieutenant’s shoulders. “You made
no mistake. None of us did. We are not omniscient, none of us are. We couldn’t
have seen this coming. But if you think you made a mistake, let me get out there.
Let me get us to the Valkyrie and I bet you will have your hands full
enough dealing with the Cardassians to forget about what has happened here.”
Felix Alvarez grabbed the Commander’s gloved hands for a second and squeezed them, before he grinned and took a step back. “You may be right. Just take care of yourself out there and pray that your little gadget works. The Captain will never forgive me if I let you kill yourself.” With that he took one more step back and closed the corridor hatch between them.
‘Why
did he have to mention Tarin?’
Ben thought as he opened the inner door of the airlock and attached the
improvised explosive to the exit of the Canatra. ‘Why the hell did I ever sign up with Starfleet?’
* * * * *
“You
know, Sir, with all due respect for Commander Tucker, I think it's suicide,”
crewman Stevens proffered. “If it was such a hot idea to use forcefields
instead of helmets, Starfleet would have developed the technology long ago.”
“Actually they did,” Lieutenant Alvarez replied. “Back in the 23rd century Starfleet used what were called life-support belts, personal force field emitters that were pretty advanced for the time. It was a great idea in my opinion, but they could never work around the problems of dampening fields and EM interference, so the whole thing was dropped after a few years.”
“But
if interference was such a big issue, won’t the radiation around here do the
same?”
“We
will find out about that any minute now, won’t we?” Lieutenant Alvarez
sounded unconcerned, but deep down inside he was worried more than he would ever
admit. Cannibalizing
the Canatra’s internal force-field emitters to create an energy bubble
that would allow Commander Tucker to reach the shuttle had been an ingenious
idea. The Valkyrie’s CEO obviously knew what he was doing, but Felix
still had his doubts. Moreover, if anything went wrong, he would be the one who
had allowed Tucker to take the risk, regulations or not.
A small tremble shook the Canatra and took Felix’s mind off the problems that could lie ahead. “He’s blown the outer hatch,” one of his security men exclaimed. ‘As if I didn’t know that,’ the Lieutenant thought as he craned his neck to watch the section of the ship that had just been blown open.
‘There!’
There he was, racing towards the shuttle in leaps and bounds, the head of
Commander Tucker encased in a flickering halo of energy that was all that stood
between him and the not so sudden death in the vacuum of space.
Unlike
many others, Lieutenant Alvarez had seen a man die in space. All the stories he
had heard about eyes popping out of their sockets, faces exploding, it wasn’t
how it would be, should the forcefield fail. Despite all it’s frailties, the
human body was capable of holding together even in the vacuum of space for some
time. But if the forcefield collapsed, Commander Tucker would have between ten
and fifteen seconds before the then oxygen-deprived blood reached his brain and
he became unconscious, outside the reach of Alvarez or any other member of the
away team. After that...
Lieutenant
Alvarez’ fist slammed into the wall again. ‘No!’ It wouldn’t
happen. The Commander had covered almost half the distance by now. ‘Faster,’
Alvarez thought, ‘go faster! I know you can make it!’
* * * * *
‘I
am never gonna make it!’
Ben Tucker tried hard to refrain from running as fast as he could. In the low
gravity of the moon each of his steps nearly turned into an uncontrolled jump.
Going any faster he could crash into the shuttle or just tumble by it.
‘It’s
too far!’
The forcefield kept the warmth in, but he was loosing atmosphere – fast.
Without the heads-up display of his helmet he couldn’t be sure how fast and
there was no time to check the control panel on his arm. ‘No
time.’
‘Exhale.
Don’t
keep the air in the lungs. Keep the internal pressure low. Might gain a few
seconds.’
The forcefield had been a haphazard affair from the start, but at least it had
only taken a few pieces of wire and some stuff he could rip out off the walls of
the Canatra or the away team’s spacesuits. Without tools to shape or
fuse materials it was the best he could have done.
‘Almost
there! I’m gonna make it!’
Ben
Tucker’s foot hit a rock and he stumbled, the momentum of his swift stride
propelling him forward in a low arch that send him flying straight at the
shuttle, tumbling end over end, out off control.
* * * * *
Detor
hastened back into the transporter room. Reading Starfleet instruments proved as
difficult as he had expected, but he had been trained for his task very
thoroughly.
The
Valkyrie shook under the first hit from the Maquis raiders and Detor
tried his best to concentrate, as he activated the communications terminal of
the transporter station. “This is Detor. Stop your attack at once. We have
control of the ship.”
The
small viewscreen sprang to life, displaying the face of Michael Edington, only
to blur a second later. Edington’s face was replaced by that of a Cardassian
officer. “I will signal the Trantor immediately. This is a glorious day
for the Cardassian Empire!”
‘Yes,
it certainly is,’
Detor thought, his face a mask of resolve and determination. ‘Once we ruled
supreme in this sector, our culture an example for all the lesser civilizations,
but now we are reduce to subterfuge and deceit. What would our ancestors think
of this glorious day?’
Glinn
Detor wanted to shake his head, but instead he just concentrated on the
transporter controls again. Just as his team started to beam up from the Canatra,
the four small ships who had been captured by Cardassian forces months ago
started to beam their own boarding parties to the Valkyrie.
When
Detor closed the com-line and looked up to the troops materializing on the
transporter platform he became aware of the carnage his troops had wreaked on
the Valkyrie’s crew in the transporter room. He grabbed one of his
troops and pulled him to the transporter controls. “Take over for me.”
Pointing out four soldiers at random Detor stormed out off the transporter room. “You four, come with me. We have to secure the bridge.”
* * * * *
‚At
least the computer virus did what it was supposed to and stunned the crew,’
Detor thought, as he watched two of his officers force open the door of the
turbolift. It could take days to bring all the Valkyrie’s systems under
their control. They had been lucky that the turbolifts still worked, but the
automatic door controls proved to be less reliable. On the other hand, it was
merely an inconvenience. Soon enough the Trantor would arrive and tow
their prize to the nearest Cardassian outpost, while her engineers would start
to restore all computer functions.
Soon
the Federation’s prototype for regenerative shields would be taken apart and
studied by the best engineers the Cardassian Union had to offer and all the
latest Starfleet deployment plans would be in the hands of the Central Command.
Despite Detor’s initial misgivings, the plan had worked like a charm. ‘But
only because Starfleet is so predictable.’
Two
of the guards preceded the Glinn onto the bridge of the Valkyrie, their
rifles ready to deal with any resistance, but Detor wasn’t worried. It could
take at least ten minutes, but more even longer, before the first crewmembers of
the ship awakened. By that time his technicians would have linked their own
canisters of knock-out gas to the ship’s environmental systems, ready to put
the crew back to sleep, should they decide to put up any resistance. It was
certainly efficient and the less people they had to kill, the happier the
military intelligence division would be. Despite all the enmity between
Cardassia and the Federation the thought of what the Valkyrie’s crew
would soon be going through sent a shiver down Detor’s spine. Perhaps even the
bloody but swift death under a Cardassian knife was preferable to that.
“Sir,”
one of the soldiers interrupted the Glinn’s thoughts, “this turbolift has
been activated.”
Detor
looked at the door the rifle-armed Cardassian pointed out and tried to remember
the layout of the Galaxy-class he had, among a few others ship classes,
carefully studied while preparing for this mission. “It leads to the secondary
bridge.” The young officer’s eyes darted around the main bridge. The center
seat was empty. Where was Captain Veal? There were only two women lying by the
forward stations. No, that would be Helm and Ops - not the place for the captain
of a ship to be during a fight.
“You
two,” he pointed at the soldiers still standing near the main turbolift,
“come with me." Hastening to the lift he pointed at the door to the
observation lounge. "You two lock up the bridge crew in the conference room
over there.”
* * * * *
Tarin
tried to keep her eyes open, but it was anything but easy. She wanted to fill
her lungs with fresh air, take a few deep breaths, but at least her mind was
working clear enough to tell her that it could alert the Cardassians. The
engines were down, computers only worked erratically and without that background
noise her ship seemed deadly quiet. All she could
hear
were the footsteps of armored boots that had to belong to the Cardassians.
Suddenly
the hissing sound of a closing door told her she was alone and Tarin Veal filled
her lungs with air. There was not much time, but she took another deep breath
before reaching up and drawing the small Type I phaser from it’s place under
the console. The Cardassians would return any second now. Could she take out
both in her dazed state? Maybe she should continue to pretend she was still
unconscious, but if her ruse was discovered she would have no chance to surprise
anyone and she would become just another prisoner on her own ship.
How
far was it to the door? ‘No, too far for a
wide-beam shot. Maybe if I wait until they get a little closer. Will they notice
if I turned around now or should I wait until they get close enough, even
feeling this dazed?’
Before
she had time to make up her mind Tarin heard the doors open again and the
decision was taken out off her hands. If only she had seen another way than to
drag Rishana into the turbolift and take her place and the Helm controls, but
just hiding in the ready room had seemed too risky. In hindsight it would have
conserved a lot of her strength to just start the turbolift to the battle bridge
and then hide, but if the lift had reached it’s destination before the
Cardassians entered the bridge they would have never searched in that direction.
How
many of the bridge crew had the enemy soldiers already carried to the conference
room and whom would they take next? Tarin heard the steps getting closer, coming
down the ramp from the aft stations and heading straight in her direction.
Tarin
Veal rolled around, raising the tiny weapon she clutched in her right hand and
fired at the nearest Cardassian. Seeing that her first shot had hit the man
Tarin didn’t wait to see if he went down. She tried to swing the phaser around
fast enough to take out the second soldier, but it seemed to her that time had
suddenly slowed down, each millisecond stretching into an eternity, each
centimeter turning into a mile.
The
Cardassian soldier saw things quite differently. A moment ago he had been
confident that the ship was firmly under Cardassian control, but now his comrade
was down, maybe stunned, maybe dead, and he had slung his rifle on his back to
free both hands to carry the Starfleet prisoners. For an almost imperceptible
moment he hesitated, his training overruled by his surprise.
When
Tarin fired at him, the man’s reflexes suddenly took over and he dropped down,
dodging out off the way just in time, rolling away from the sudden threat. He
came up on one knee, reaching for his rifle, but now he was down on the floor,
on the same level as Captain Veal.
Tarin’s
left hand clutched her right wrist, trying to steady her aim. She braced both
elbows on the floor and hit the phaser’s trigger as fast as she could.
* * * * *
When
the glancing hit numbed the Cardassian’s leg he knew he wouldn’t make it.
His leg gave in under him and he fell to the floor, right in the way of
Tarin’s phaser fire. Before he could steady himself, two more phaser blasts
had hit the Cardassian and around him everything went black.
The
phaser cluttered to the deck and Tarin Veal just lay there, staring at the
ceiling, trying to concentrate on keeping her eyes open as she sucked fresh air
into her lungs. After a minute she got on her hands and knees and picked up the
phaser again. ‘Think girl, think!’ She needed information, she needed
equipment, but most of all she needed a place to hide. Whatever was going on,
the Cardassians would probably need some time to restore the Valkyrie’s
main computer functions and they couldn’t tow the huge ship with just their
four small raiders. Soon reinforcements would arrive.
Still
on her knees Tarin carefully aimed the phaser at the two unconscious Cardassians
and shot each one again at the strongest possible stun setting, before she
started to crawl to the nearest soldier. At least she wouldn’t have to worry
about those two for a while, but soon the others would return. Pocketing the
Cardassian’s communicator Tarin looked around. For now the ramp leading down
to deck two was her best option. She would find weapons and equipment lockers
there. Maybe she could use a tricorder to create a dispersion field that would
mask her life-signs.
Concentrating
hard on just controlling her still numbed body Tarin Veal reached for the XO’s
control panel and pulled herself up. Her legs felt wobbly, but at least she
could stand. Looking around the bridge she noticed that the Cardassians had
already carried most of the crew into the conference room without her even
noticing. Obviously she had slipped back into unconsciousness for a few minutes
after the other Cardassians had left the bridge to search for her.
‘I
don’t have time. They could be back any second now.’
Even using the medkit stored at the aft stations it would take some time to wake
the rest of the bridge crew – time Tarin might not have. No, she had to stick
to her initial plan; get her hands on some equipment and lie low for a while, at
least until she knew what was really going on.
* * * * *
Tarin
typed her security authorization into the locker keypad and with a clicking
sound the door lock disengaged. She was profoundly grateful that someone had
been intelligent enough to program the emergency equipment stores to require
only the shortest possible security codes. Captain Veal had still enough trouble
standing straight; recalling all her security clearances would have been nigh
impossible.
She
opened the first locker and glanced over the weapons and energy cells, before
surveying the contents of the next storage compartment. Taking off her combadge
she placed it in the locker before reaching for a backpack and starting to fill
it with what might come in handy. It could take the Cardassians a while to gain
access to the Valkyrie’s internal sensors, but there was no use in
ignoring the possibility, as unlikely as it seemed.
‘Then
again,’
Tarin thought, ‘they have already boarded the ship, disabled the computer
and knocked out the crew. How likely was that? Now, what do I have?’
She
sorted through the contents of the backpack, just to make sure she hadn’t
missed anything. No, it was all there: Tricorder, medkit, flashlight, some basic
tools. ‘Now for the weapons.’
Tarin
stuffed some power cells into the backpack and reached for a phaser rifle, but
then thought differently. The rifle would only get into her way when crawling
through Jeffries Tubes. She selected a Type II phaser from the rack and checked
the energy. Satisfied it was fully charged she clipped the weapon to her belt,
before drawing two more weapons like it from the locker and putting them in her
backpack. Maybe she would run into some other crewmembers who had escaped the
Cardassians.
Just
as she was about to close the backpack Tarin Veal realized how dazed she still
was. She drew the tricorder from the rucksack and clipped it to her belt, before
shouldering her equipment.
‘Ready
or not, here I come.’
Tarin grinned, and if any of the Cardassian borders had seen her that moment,
they would have probably just turned around and left the ship. Admiral
Avanessian had called her a protector, Moira O’Shea had likened her to a big
sister, but now Tarin Veal was none of it; she was a starship captain defending
her ship and her crew and that mattered more than anything else. If she hadn’t
still been a little dazed Tarin would have been frightened by her own expression
and the thoughts going through her head, but for now it didn’t matter. One way
or another she would see to it that the Cardassians wouldn’t take their prize
home.
* * * * *
Tarin
leaned against the wall of the Jeffries Tube and opened her backpack. At least
the after-effects of the anesthezine had finally faded. Now it was time to make
sure she would enjoy her freedom a little while longer. She opened the tricorder
and slowly swept it around. There were no Cardassians nearby, but that was
little consolation. Soon enough the crew would awaken and then only one of two
things could happen: Either the Cardassians would start to occupy the ship in
full force, securing the Valkyrie in a systematic fashion, or they would just
knock out the crew again.
However
the boarders had activated the internal security systems, Tarin doubted that
they had managed to gain control of other systems just as quickly. ‘They’ll probably just use anesthezine again as soon as the crew
starts to wake up.’
Soon that would no longer be a threat to her, but Tarin wondered why she had
woken up so much earlier than the rest of her crew. ‘When this is over I
must have another talk with Doctor Jascar about my stamina. What is it that
Rishana has done to me, or was I just lucky?’
Captain
Veal shook her head and banished those thoughts from her mind. Whatever happened
right now it was bigger than anything Rishana Hagen had done to her. Perhaps it
wasn’t the world-shattering event she had glimpsed in Rishana’s vision, but
it was more than enough to require her full attention right now. Once again she
checked the tricorder read-outs and when she was satisfied that there were still
no Cardassians in the vicinity Tarin started to program the small device to
create a dispersion field that would mask her life-signs. She knew little about
the capabilities of Cardassian sensors, but there were certain principles used
in the sensor technology of most advanced spacefaring races and those Tarin knew
well enough from her time as a science officer.
Once
she had finished her work she put the tricorder back in the holster at her hip
and shouldered the backpack. Only twenty meters ahead and two decks down was her
objective. Soon Tarin would gain all the information she needed and then she
could start doing something to get her ship back.
* * * * *
Captain
Veal closed the hatch behind her and leaned against the airlock wall. So far she
had been lucky. She had left deck two only a few minutes ago, but every corner
in the Jeffries Tube, every meter across the hangar deck, had seemed like an
eternity of danger. ‘Stupid,’ she thought, glancing down at her
tricorder. ‘Should have brought another one for scans, not just one to use
for the dispersion field.’
She
opened the inner hatch and stepped into the Hawk’s wardroom. The small
courier had been assigned to the Valkyrie six weeks ago, but so far Tarin
had never set foot aboard. At least Starfleet took care to clearly label
equipment lockers and storage bays. She opened one of the drawers set into the
wall and drew a tricorder from it, before making her way to the Hawk’s
cockpit. Pausing at the two small storage bays to port and starboard of the
central corridor Tarin opened both doors and looked inside. Just as she had
expected both rooms were empty, but it didn’t really matter. She had weapons,
tricorders, a medkit, and what was even more important right now, a place to
hide that had it’s own life-support. Now the Cardassians could use as much
anesthezine as they wanted. Tarin would be safe, at least as long as she didn't
have to leave the Hawk, which probably wouldn't be very long.
Settling
into the chair at the operations station Tarin activated the Hawk’s
emergency power. Even that was risky, but she had to gather some information on
what was going on. Diverting just enough power to the sensors for a limited
short-range scan, she shut down most of the other systems as soon as they came
on-line. Tarin Veal programmed the computer to initiate a sensor sweep in five
minutes and headed for the airlock again. There was no way to hide what she was
about to do from the Cardassians, but they would have their work cut out for
them if they wanted to locate her.
* * * * *
Hiding
under the bed was a rather undignified position, but like so many other
spacefaring people the Cardassians had developed a tendency to often rely more
on their sensors than their eyes. The Cardassians who had checked the Hawk had
only glanced into the cabin before moving on, but then again they had four ships
to check who had powered up almost simultaneously and performed automated sensor
scans of the Valkyrie and the surrounding space. Finally crawling out
from under the bed Tarin sat in the only chair of the small cabin and studied
the sensor scan results she had transferred to her tricorder right before
shutting down the Hawk’s systems. The four raiders were holding
position close to the Valkyrie and about eighty Cardassians had boarded
the Starfleet ship, but that was not the worst of it. A Keldon-class battle
cruiser was approaching the Valkyrie from the direction of the Draygo sun.
In less than half an hour the ship would be crawling with Cardassian troops and
that single cruiser would accomplish what the four small raiders could not -
towing the Valkyrie into Cardassian space. Soon enough the Cardassian boarders
wouldn’t have to worry about the Starfleet crew or the state of the Valkyrie’s
computer systems.
Now
Tarin needed a plan. Fighting back against all those soldiers on her own was out
of the question, but there was one thing she could do. All she needed was one
senior officer. Most of them had probably been locked up by the Cardassians by
now, but maybe she could get to Doctor Jascar or Catherine Lee. Both wouldn’t
be high on the priority list of the Cardassians, or so the captain hoped.
Drawing
the communicator from her pocket Tarin studied it closely, before starting to
use her tricorder to decipher the basic functions of the Cardassian device.
Trying to patch into the Cardassian’s com traffic without being detected would
take her a few minutes, but taking five minutes now to evade capture for another
fifteen minutes could give her just the advantage she needed.
After
a little while Tarin Veal was confident that she knew what she was doing. She
activated the communicator she had taken from the Cardassian soldier on the
bridge and linked it to the translation matrix she had downloaded from the Hawk’s
computer into her tricorder.
“...we
are under attack on deck seven, near the computer core. Require immediate
reinforcements. Repeat, require reinforcements immediately!”
“WHAT?!”
As
fast as she could Tarin stuffed her equipment into her backpack, drew her phaser
and headed for the Hawk’s transporter. Leaving the ship this way would
be immediately detected and deprive Tarin of the one ace she had up her sleeve,
but if someone was fighting back against the Cardassians she had to aid them
before the reinforcements arrived.
* * * * *
When
Captain Veal rounded the corner there was little left for her to do and the
Cardassian she stunned with her phaser never even realized someone was coming up
behind him. After a glance on carnage before her she quickly turned away, but
even the memory of what she had just seen was almost enough to make her sick.
Turning
around she jogged down the corridor, only to stop when she finally felt somewhat
safe from the Cardassian reinforcements and her own troubled emotions.
"What next?" Vontar asked as he wiped his Mek'leth clean on his trousers.
‘Gods,
why did I ever bring a Klingon aboard? No, wait, this is just... is this really
what the Klingons are?’
Tarin leaned against a bulkhead and rubbed her forehead, for a moment lost in
her own thoughts, before she decided that she had more important things than a
single Klingon to worry about. "We can't retake the ship without help, but
I think the Cardassian reinforcements will arrive before we have a chance to
gather enough of the crew to make a stand, so I can see only one option. The Valkyrie
must not fall into Cardassian hands, but to prevent that I need one of the
senior officers."
"The
bridge will be heavily guarded."
"Agreed.
That leaves Doctor Jascar and Commander Kobango or Counselor Lee, at least until
we know what happened to our away team, but we have to assume they have been
taken prisoner by now. I have some idea where Commander Kobango and the
Counselor might be, but I believe Doctor Jascar is our best choice. I doubt the
Cardassians give priority to our medical personnel."
"I
will go and get him."
Tarin
nodded. There was no arguing with the Klingon and there were a few things she
had to do as long as she had a chance to move relatively free across the ship.
Captain Veal tore a panel off the wall and pointed at the storage compartment
behind it. “Find yourself a breather mask and one for Doctor Jascar. Once you
have that get me an EPG.” Noticing the Klingon’s puzzled expression she
quickly explained: “An emergency pressure garment. I think you can stand
another dose of anesthezine with a little help, but I want to be on the safe
side.” As Vontar searched through the equipment lockers Tarin set her second
tricorder to create a dampening field. "This should hide you from the
Cardassian's sensors. If you stick close enough to Doctor Jascar it should even
work for both of you." As the Klingon took the tricorder Tarin went on.
"We will meet in your quarters in twenty minutes."
As
she headed for the nearest Jeffries Tube entrance, Captain Veal turned around
again and called out after Vontar: "Please try not to kill anyone, unless
you have no other choice."
* * * * *
'Try
not to kill anyone,'
Vontar thought and snorted. It was not that Klingons were mindless killers who's
only goal in life was to shed as much blood as possible. No, what his people
sought in battle was the ultimate test of their own abilities that only combat
could provide. 'But if the fight is not to the death, how true a test of one's
abilities can it be?'
Perhaps
bringing death to an enemy was the ultimate goal of a Klingon, not in
itself, but as the only real proof of one's skill and spirit. In all the years
he had studied Klingon philosophy and traditions Vontar, son of Dengar, had
never consciously realized why death was so important to his people, but as he
descended the ladder down the Jeffries Tube he started to think about it and how
it was perhaps the biggest difference between Klingons and other species.
'Others
set themselves a goal and strive to achieve it and once they have done that they
are satisfied, just as we Klingons do, but we are never satisfied unless what we
achieve is something grand and epic.'
Ultimately this epic feat had to be a battle and merely defeating an enemy was
apparently not enough; the enemy had to be completely annihilated.
The
way of Starfleet and the Federation was very different, but was it inferior to
the Klingon ways? He had no choice but to think so, but it had one advantage
Klingon culture lacked. The Starfleeters could set their own goals and strive to
achieve them, while Vontar's people were ruled by tradition and ancient customs.
It suited most Klingons fine, but in a small corner of his mind Vontar couldn't
help but wonder if his people weren’t sometimes more constricted by their
customs than guided by them.
Perhaps this was why Vontar found it so difficult to build a connection with the crew of the Valkyrie. How these people derived satisfaction from small, insignificant things seemed somewhat strange at best and often downright alien. Yet despite this obvious difference the crew of the Valkyrie seemed more than willing to strive against all manner of adversity with a determination that Vontar could relate to. These people were a strange and contradictory lot indeed, but he had pledged his life to Captain Veal and it was her crew and her way, too. After they had defeated the Cardassians, perhaps it would be time to study the customs of the Federation a bit closer, if only to better understand the captain.
Prologue Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5