“That
could have gone better,” Tarin remarked to no one in particular, but Moira
took it upon herself to lighten her captain’s mood.
“It
could have been a lot worse and we did learn something, didn’t we?”
“Yes,” Tarin grudgingly agreed and cursed under her breath as she stepped into yet another puddle of half-molten snow and mud. Spring on Regulon was neither to her liking nor, as far as Tarin was concerned, deserving the name. “Two talks and almost no information. But you are right, Moira, at least we know why we didn’t get anything.”
Tarin
Veal and her small entourage stopped at an intersection of the narrow streets
running through the shantytown, and the Centauran tried to get her bearings. To
her right the gleaming lights and towers of the city center beckoned to her and
she started walking in that direction, careful where she stepped.
“While
we are here we might as well try to get a good meal. That is, if they will allow
us into any reputable restaurant.”
“That
may be a problem,” Moira brought her jacket’s collar to her nose and
recoiled at the repulsive mix of stale smoke and alcoholic fumes that would
linger in her clothes for a long time. Mud-encrusted boots and coarse clothes
wouldn’t help land the Starfleet officers a table in any decent restaurant
either, but if the thought of a good dinner lifted Tarin’s mood that was fine
by Moira.
“And,”
she brought the discussion back to the mission, “we suspected the Cardassians
were putting pressure on the neutral worlds along the border, but at least now
we know that it’s not just a rumor. That has to count for something, doesn’t
it?”
“Agreed,”
Lieutenant Alvarez stepped in. “It looks like the Cardassians are
concentrating their forces somewhere else. Most of their attempts to foster
alliances around here are handled by diplomats with only minimal direct
pressure. Even if we don’t know what they are up to, that information must be
worth something?”
Tarin
Veal brushed away a strand of hair the relentless mix of snow and rain had
plastered to her forehead. “True. But it’s the why I am concerned
about. Either the Cardassians are trying to set up a buffer of supposedly neutral
worlds around their border, or they have their hands full elsewhere. Perhaps
their military advisors and diplomatic attaches are an economy of force
effort to control the border, but we still need a lot more information before we
can make any educated guesses about Cardassian strategy.”
She
stopped and turned to the Bajoran trudging through the mud a few meters behind
her. “Who’s next on your list, Kevas?”
“Groilag,”
the Bajoran replied without hesitation. “He runs a club on Temecklia, but his
main business is information.”
“Temecklia
is pretty far from any major Cardassian operations, not to mention several days
away,” Lieutenant Alvarez objected. “We should try some place a little
closer. The Cardassians may become suspicious about the Tiger flying
around this sector without any apparent purpose, so I don’t think we have any
time to waste in transit.”
“True.”
Tarin resumed her march through the mud and snow as she replied. “But as I
recall Groilag is an Yridian, and the Yridians’ stock in trade is information.
Not to mention that Temecklia is close to the Badlands, so he may know more
about the Maquis than anyone else on our list.”
Tarin Veal raised her head and looked up to the gleaming towers ahead. Despite the cold and dampness of the Regulon spring a smile took hold of her face,. “Tell me a little more about this club Groilag runs, Kevas. If we want to blend in with the crowd there we may have some shopping ahead of us.”
*****
“How
do you like this place?” Kevas asked the two security guards walking through
the city center with him.
Petty Officer Tzin looked around at the confusing mix of people milling about the pedestrian precinct, before he turned his eyes to the wet slate of the Regulon sky and the sporadic searchlights lighting up the night. “It’s hard to say. Regulon is just too different from most worlds I know, to make up my mind about it.”
“Yeah, I know what you mean.” Anna Althaus looked around, and everywhere there were aliens she had never seen before. Of course there were the Regulons – stocky, gray-skinned four-armed people, garbed in multiple layers of coarse green and brown cloth. And then there were the other aliens – Ferengi, Lisepians, a few Yridians, even a Breen or a Nausicaan here and there. Human-looking people seemed a small minority on Regulon.
“I
am surprised too. It’s been a while since I was here, and I pretty much forgot
what a melting pot Regulon is.”
“So,
how come there are so many different people on Regulon?” Anna asked.
Reto
Kevas stopped at a signboard and studied it closely until he had spotted the
small symbol pointing the way to the nearest taxi terminal. “I can tell you
little about the details, but then again, I guess you are not interested in them
anyway?”
“Right
you are. Just give me the short version, please.”
“Well, let’s see if I remember it all… About 40 years ago the Cardassians made first contact with the Regulons. The Cardassians wanted access to this world’s mineral resources, so they started trading with the Regulons.
“The Cardassians sold them a lot stuff you and I would consider obsolete, but the Regulons learned enough from it to advance their technology by a hundred years. Once that happened – and the mines started to run dry – the operation became too costly for the Cardassians and they lost interest in this world. That’s when the Ferengi moved in. At first the Regulons thought of them as just another bunch of basically nice alien people and now the Ferengi own half the place.”
“And
with the Ferengi came those who did business with them or thought they could get
a piece of the pie for themselves?” Anna speculated.
“Yes,
that’s part of it. And Regulon is close to the Cardassian and Federation
borders, not to mention several other civilized worlds. With aliens taking more
and more control behind the scenes it’s the perfect place for any kind
of business in this region. Can you imagine what crowd that attracts?”
“Yep.
The kind of people my mother always warned me about. But here I am in the middle
of this gloomy cesspool. Ahh, the things we have to do in our line of work,”
Anna said with a crooked grin.
“Oh,
very witty, Althaus, very witty.” Tzin flatly replied. “What I don’t
understand is why the Cardassians aren’t doing something about it. They make a
big show of patrolling most of the sector, but ignore what’s going on here
right on their doorstep.”
“Your
guess is as good as mine, but it could be there is more going on behind the
scenes than we know and the Cardassians are more in control than we suspect.
Besides, having all the... businessmen in one place makes it easy to keep an eye
on them discreetly.”
“Or
maybe they just don’t like the weather,” Anna Althaus offered. “The
Cardies like it warm and dry, and this place is neither.”
“True,
and you don’t want to see this place in winter. I’ll be glad when we are
back on the Tiger. She may not be much as spaceships go, but at least
it’s warm and dry there.”
Reto
Kevas stopped at the taxi station and entered his requirements into the
terminal, before confirming the order by slotting a pre-paid credit chip into
the computer. “On the other hand, we could take a small detour on the way to
the spaceport and get some dinner. The Tiger may be warm and cozy, but
the replicator there is far from being the latest model.”
“I
hear you,” Anna grinned. “But I am not sure if I like Regulon or Ferengi
cuisine.”
“Well,
the Regulon fare if pretty bland. I guess when it’s always cold, food that
would make you sweat isn’t a good idea.” Kevas was distracted for a moment
by the whine of servo-motors pushing an egg-shaped air car from the garage into
the street. “There are enough Humans and Bajorans on this world that we can
find something to eat we should all enjoy.”
“Really?
This place sure doesn’t look like it.”
“Oh
they just don’t hang out in this part of town. Either they are traders - most
of the Humans on Regulon are - and stay at the city center, or they are refugees
from Bajor or the DMZ. Most of those live in one of the suburbs and keep to
themselves. Just that they are poor doesn’t mean they’ve forgotten how to
cook.”
“Sounds
good. We may even pick up some useful information in a place like that.”
“I
doubt it.” Kevas waved his credit chip across the taxi door that obediently
swung open. “I guess most of them wouldn’t mind a chat, but I bet those who
know something are with the Maquis, or at least sympathize with them. That’s
not the kind of people who talk too much around strangers.”
“At
least the Captain and Lieutenant O’Shea won’t be the only ones who get a
decent meal tonight. Any idea why those two wanted to head into town alone?”
Kevas
shook his head and Anna Althaus just shrugged, before she asked: “While we are
talking about people going out alone, does one of you have any idea where
Lieutenant Alvarez disappeared to?”
*****
Felix
Alvarez shifted the backpack from his left to right shoulder and looked around
once again, to make certain no one was watching him. Positive that no one paid
attention to the silent figure hidden in the shadows of a small alley he drew
his tricorder from a coat pocket
He
took another reading of the club he was facing across a six-lane street. Once
again the scan came up blank – there were no surveillance devices in place, no
dampening fields, nothing out off the ordinary. Rick had either gotten really
careless or extremely clever. But Felix Alvarez had no intention to find out
what it was. He closed the tricorder and let his mind wander back to the last
time he had seen Rick Sandhope.
“You
can’t be serious about leaving Starfleet, Rick! You are one of the best in
Rapid Response I know, and you’ll make Lieutenant Commander any day now.
Don’t just throw that away.”
Rick
Sandhope continued to take off his uniform as if he hadn’t heard his friend.
Only when he had stripped down to his skivvies did he answer. “You have no
idea what this is about, do you?” He started to fold his uniform – neat and
tidy as he had been trained to do – and casually added: “Don’t think I am
throwing away my career. I am just setting out on a different path. If you
really are my friend you should wish me luck, instead of trying to talk me out
of it.”
“But
running away to join the Maquis… We both know that they don’t stand a chance
against the Cardassians.”
“What
makes you think I’m going to join the Maquis?” Rick seemed genuinely
surprised and shot Alvarez a questioning look.
“Don’t
give me that crap, Rick. I know you have relatives on Dorvan and you always said
how much you care about them. Now Dorvan is in the middle of the DMZ and just
one week after the Maquis have gone public you decide to leave Starfleet.
Damn!” Felix smashed his fist against one of the dressing room lockers.
“Don’t take me for a fool, Rick! Everyone thinks you are going to join the
Maquis. What else could it be?”
“Yes,
well, I see why you would think that, but you were right – the Maquis are
fighting a hopeless fight.” Rick pulled his one set of civilian clothes from
the locker and closed the door.
“Then
why?”
“Because…”
Rick sat down on the bench running the length of the dressing room and slowly
put his clothes down at his side. “Because I think I can make much more of a
difference for the people of Dorvan, or any other world in the DMZ, if I leave
Starfleet and try to find my own way.”
He
looked up and searched for understanding in Felix Alvarez’s face. “You were
right, the Maquis are the reason I am leaving Starfleet, but I am not going to
join them. The Federation abandoned the people in the DMZ for some messed-up
political reason, but I am not going to do the same. Trust me, I will find a way
to help without getting myself shot in the process.”
Felix
answered Rick’s lopsided grin with a faint smile and took a step forward.
“All right, I’ll trust you to make the right decision. So far you always
have, but don’t let that get to your head.” Felix extended his hand and Rick
gripped it fiercely. “Good luck, wherever you may go.”
“Yeah,
good luck to you, Rick,” Felix Alvarez murmured and took a step back into the
deep shadows of the alley. Rick would be able to tell him a lot about Cardassian
and Maquis operations in this sector, but there was no telling how much he had
changed or where his loyalty now lay. After one last glance at the brightly lit
club Felix Alvarez turned and walked away.
“Haven’t seen you in a long while, my friend.” Rick Sandhope leaned back and stared at the silhouette of the man retreating into the shadows.
“Someone
you know?” his half-Cardassian half-Bajoran club manager asked.
“Someone
I knew. I never expected to run into him here.”
“I
can have one of our men follow him, see where he is going, who he is with.”
“No,
that won’t be necessary. Besides, you don’t have anyone who could follow him
unnoticed.”
“He’s
that good?” Falor asked.
“Yes,
he is that good. And I bet that whatever he’s into will be a tad too big for
local players like us.” Rick sipped his whiskey and switched off the image
relayed through an unpowered night-vision lens. The quality of the image left
much to be desired, but the setup was almost undetectable with tricorders and
comparable sensors.
Rick
Sandhope swiveled his plush chair around and ran his eyes over the bank of
monitors that filled one wall of his office. “Besides, we have other fish to
fry. Glinn Gota seems to be on a loosing streak tonight. Set him on a winning
streak and have his favorite Dabo girl join him. What’s her name again?”
“Cherry.”
“Ah,
yes. Have Cherry join Gota at the Dabo table just before you throw our money at
him. The more he thinks of her as a good-luck charm, the better. We still
don’t know enough about the new Cardassian ambassador, but I have a feeling
our luck may be about to change.”
*****
“We
look like dabo girls.” Moira complained.
“It was either that our stick out like a sore thumb. And consider yourself lucky. With so many Ferengi around I expected the local fashion for female humanoids to be stark-naked, not just skin-tight. Besides,” Tarin hid her emerging smile behind a menu, “compared to some outfits you wear for your holodeck adventures this is rather... conservative.”
“Now
that’s not...,” Moira started to protest before she noticed Tarin’s
expression. “You are making fun of me, aren’t you?”
“Yes,”
Tarin admitted. “But you should really look on the bright side. This way we
can enjoy a good meal surrounded by people who only see two attractive women,
instead of some Starfleet officers they’d hand over to the Cardassians in an
instant.”
“True.
But I am thinking that a good meal isn’t all you are after. I bet there’s a
reason you wanted to leave the others behind.”
“Yes.”
Tarin closed the menu and started to tap it against her chin. She had wanted to
give Moira a chance to talk, but now wondered if she was more interested in
someone who shared her own feelings. “I am not be certain about Kevas and Tori,
but as far as I know you and I are the only people on this mission who have
someone special waiting for us back on the Valkyrie. I thought that
perhaps you would welcome a chance to talk about that.”
“I
see. Well... it’s not like Dar and I are as close as Ben and you, but...”
Moira briefly paused as the waiter stepped to the table and Tarin ordered two
Jovian Sunspots. “So you noticed that there is something going on between
us?” was the best she could think of.
“Yes.
It’s not like you advertised the fact all over the ship, but I noticed that something
has changed between you two since our stay at Earth. The way you look at each
other speaks volumes, even if you are being pretty discreet about your
affair.”
“If
that’s what it can be called.” Moira tried to divert her attention to the
menu but utterly failed. “You are right, we are pretty close, but I am just
not certain what to make of it. I think Dar really cares for me, but I can’t
say if he actually loves me. I think so, but he never said so.”
“So
you two never...”
“No...
well... yes.” Moira took a sip from her drink and twisted her tongue around
the bittersweet bite of strawberries, orange, and vodka. “We never got
beyond... second base.”
“I
am not really familiar with those old Earth expressions, but I guess I know what
you are saying.”
Both
women fell silent and only after they had finished their meal did Tarin pick up
the topic again: “I am a bit surprised you and Dar apparently never really
talked about your relationship.”
“Well,
we did talk about it, but you know Dar – and me. I did most of the talking,
but I think he really cares about... us.”
“I
bet he does. How many holodeck adventures have you run together during the last
few weeks?”
“Not
sure.” Moira sipped her coffee and tried to split her mind between counting
and puzzling out the apparent non-sequitur. “Five. No, make that six. Why?”
Tarin
couldn’t help but smile at Moira’s bemused expression. “You know that Dar
and I served on the Galahad together for quite a while. Guess how many
holo novels we ran together.”
“I am not sure. Quite a few I’d guess. Why?”
“In
the eight years I’ve known Dar, we never shared a single holo adventure, but
you have run six programs together in a few weeks. What more do you need to
know?”
*****
Commander Enikal stared down the Jeffries tube, but all he could see was the faint glow of blue and green lights in the distance. “Commander Tucker, are you in there?”
“Yes.”
Dar
crawled through the maintenance tube until he could make out Ben Tucker’s
features, illuminated only by the few lights that shone from the open access
panel. “Is there any reason you took one of our phaser arrays down?”
“Well,
there was a small variance in the ODN coupling and I thought I’d better take a
look at it. I can’t run a full diagnostic with the array on line. And...,”
he added while reaching into his toolkit without looking, “...I cleared it
with Lieutenant Kusanagi.”
“And
that was about three hours ago,” Dar said. “This variance that happens to be
well within acceptable tolerances. But you had nothing better to do than start
working on it at five in the morning.”
The
Bolian leaned against the wall of the Jeffries tube and peered at the open ODN
junction. He didn’t know much about engineering, but he knew his way around
the Valkyrie’s weapon systems. If Ben had done all this work by himself
he had cut almost an hour from what Dar had expected it to take. “You know, if
you have trouble sleeping you should see Doctor Jascar about it. We are all
worried about the away team, but we need our chief engineer to be well rested in
case we run into any trouble. Don’t drive yourself too hard.”
For
the first time in three hours Ben looked up from his work and held the
Bolian’s questioning look for a few seconds, before he turned back to his job.
“I know, but if anything happens to the away team I want us to be ready to go
in with everything we have.”
Dar
Enikal inhaled sharply. “If anything goes wrong, we can’t come to their
rescue. The Valkyrie is a fine ship, but we can’t fight our way through
a dozen Cardassian ships – which is what we would be facing long before we
reached Cardassian space.”
“I
know, but I think we could still mount a rescue operation if we used the Hawk.
And don’t say it – she’s a fast little ship, but not fast enough to outrun
the Cardassians.”
“I
am glad you realized that, but why do I think you have an answer to that problem
ready?”
“Perhaps
because I have.” Ben stopped his work and grinned at Dar. “We could cross
our border at high warp, then turn around as soon as we run into any trouble.
Doesn’t matter if the Cardies think it was an aborted rescue attempt or
reconnaissance in force. What matters is that I bet they will pursue us all the
way back to the border – after we have dropped the Hawk as close to the
target as we can get.”
“A
nice plan, but it wouldn’t work,” Dar said flatly. “The Cardassians would
pick her up as soon as we dropped her and that would doom the whole rescue
attempt, even if we disguised the Hawk’s warp signature. No, there’s
no way to make this work.”
“Ah,
but there is. If we dropped the Hawk while we’re at high warp speed –
and the Hawk powers down all her systems – her launch would be masked
by our warp field.”
Dar
stared at him, first wide-eyed in surprise, then with a suspicion that Ben would
present him with an option almost too risky to consider. It was the almost
that worried Dar the most. “That is impossible, Commander, at least at the
warp speeds we’d be pulling.”
Ben
Tucker reached into his toolkit and handed a padd to Dar. “It’s not
impossible. We’d have to make some extensive modifications to the Hawk,
but it can work. If you don’t trust me, run this by anyone on this ship who
knows anything about warp-field dynamics.”
One
glance at the padd told Dar that whatever Ben proposed, or anyone else would
tell him, he wouldn’t understand half of it. But this was Ben’s specialty
and Dar didn’t expect the engineer to risk the Hawk – and her crew
– if he wasn’t certain it could be done, regardless of why he had come up
with the idea.
“Do
you carry this everywhere you go, Ben?” The Bolian waved the padd at the Valkyrie’s
chief engineer.
“Well...
let’s just say refining this took quite a while, so I had to kept it handy.”
“I
see... How long would it take you to make these modifications to the Hawk?”
“Eight
hours. Half as long if I ignore most safety-protocols.”
Commander
Enikal tapped the padd against his chin repeatedly, before replying, “all
right. Let’s assume you can pull it off, and let’s further assume that if
the away team runs into trouble we hear about it before it’s too late to mount
a rescue operation. The problem is that we would have no way of knowing where
they would be taken. We may be able to give the Hawk a head start, but
she can’t stay there long enough for an extended search.”
“Come
on, Dar, do you think I wasn’t paying attention during the mission briefings?
Surely they would be taken to one of the two main Cardassian bases, and we can
safely rule out DS9.”
“Because
the Bajoran resistance might try to rescue our people?”
“Yes,
that’s what I was thinking. Rescuing prisoners from the Cardassians would be
quite a risk for the Bajorans, but if they thought it could gain them some
Starfleet allies they would certainly try it, don’t you think?”
Dar
carefully nodded. “I agree. But the Cardassians would anticipate that and
could use our people as bait to draw out the resistance. I doubt they would pass
up an opportunity like that.”
Ben
vigorously kneaded his chin as he thought about it. “Good point,” he
admitted. “Say, why do I think I am not the only one spending more time
thinking than sleeping these days?”
“Perhaps
because that’s how it is.” Dar turned his back on Ben and started to crawl
down the Jeffries tube. Halfway to the exit he stopped and looked back over his
shoulder. “Just get the phaser array back on line as soon as you can.
Afterwards you might as well inform your people about the modifications we may
have to do on the Hawk - just in case.”
“So
you are worried, too?”
“Worried? Perhaps a little, but right now I am in command of the Valkyrie and I’ll be damned if I pass up a chance to prepare for any eventuality.”
Prologue Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3
