And now, the latest installment in our tale ...
Cold Station 47
Somewhere in the Sanctuary Fold
As the fires fueled by the explosion of the Lachenal and the Herzog continued to burn, Kidder turned from the window and retreated to a dark corner of the room and began considering everything that had gone on since she had stepped onto the planet - every decision that had led to the loss of the shuttles and the loss of Ensign Marcus' life.
Analysing every step of the way how she could have saved his life. Should she have used lethal settings on the phasers, could she have given instructions to the team instead of just following the orders Indeskar had barked and assuming her crew would do the same.
It had all happened so fast, but she knew she could have done something to save his life. Something. Anything.
She hadn't heard Santoro make his way across the room. He perched on the edge of a bench and waited for her to register his presence.
"Permission to speak freely, Ma'am," asked the German/Italian pilot.
"Permission granted," said Kidder, afraid of what he was going to say but knowing that it couldn't be any worse than the accusations she was throwing at herself.
"What the hell happened out there?"
"I ... don't know ..." she stammered. "I should have been able to save him."
"Damn right you should have ..."
Kidder was shocked, it was like a verbal slap round the face - it sobered her up and made her focus on the matter at hand.
"Why didn't we try using lethal settings?"
"I wasn't willing to murder the scientists, Lieutenant. I believe ... no, I hope ... we can reverse what's happened to them," said the freshly minted First Officer. "And, in retrospect, I should have been willing - to use lethal force - to save Marcus."
"'Course you should have, Ma'am," continued Santoro, then, his face softening a bit. "But we were all there, we all had the option of using lethal force and it did all happen so fast and none of us used it ..."
He edged off the bench.
"Just don't let Marcus' death be in vain."
Kidder nodded, she wouldn't. At that point, Indeskar, who had been floating at a nearby work station made her way over to the two senior Starfleet crewmembers present.
Quietly, she spoke.
"Lethal force wouldn't have done much good, Lieutenant. The Great Bird knows I tried using lethal settings on the avaliable phasers, the energy just disperses across their bodies - it has no effect ..." revealed the scientist.
"How can that happen?"
Indeskar shrugged.
"I don't know. I had no way to anticipate that would happen ..."
Something snapped inside Kidder, she was sick and tired of not knowing the truth about what was going on at the station. Out of not knowing the truth, she'd lost one of her own crew and unwittingly stranded them on the planet.
She took hold of Indeskar by the collar and rammed the shorter woman up against the wall, unholstering her phaser and pointing it at the scientists head.
Santoro leaped in, Ensign Kelly rushed over. Samuel, Kalen and Lang looked on from the other side of the barricaded room, their faces painted with shock.
"You," said Kidder, "are going to tell me exactly what the hell was going on here."
USS Annapurna NCC 70000
Geo-stationary orbit above Cold Station 47
Lieutenant Orra looked up from the Ops station, angled her head to face Darcy who rested in the centralised commanders chair. His eyes determined, focused on the planet displayed on the screen and the electrical storm that still continued.
"Still no way to get through to the team?" he questioned.
"'Fraid not, Sir," replied the Deltan. "However, we have had a message from the Antiem. They're due to arrive on station in thirty minutes and are prepared to render all help possible."
"God bless the Antiem," said Darcy quietly. "Anything else, Lieutenant?"
Orra shook her head, until her eyes were drawn to one of her monitors and the blinking message flashing up on it.
"Sir? We've just recieved indications that the USS Shackleton will arrive in orbit within the next twelve hours at which point Captain Montoya will assume command of the situation ..."
Darcy raised an eyebrow.
"What the frack does Starfleet Intelligence have down there that's so important to them, Lieutenant?"
"Frelled if I know, Sir," retorted the Deltan.
Cold Station 47
Somewhere in the Sanctuary Fold
"I was provided with a sample of a bio-pathogen and instructed to develop it for use against the Dominion," revealed Indeskar. "But the pathogen had partly degraded when it was given to me, I don't know where Starfleet had got it from, so I had to spend my time restabilising the pathogen's viral coding ..."
Kidder blinked in suprise.
"Starfleet Intelligence was secretly backing a biological warfare initiative?" she questioned.
Indeskar nodded.
"As far as I know, they weren't entirely convinced that the Dominion were totally trustworthy and wanted this bio-pathogen ready in case they attempted to invade again," continued the scientist. "Thing is, the bio-pathogen appears to have been able to be attached to any genetic code - it could be tailored to harm only certain races - it could be released onto a planet with a mixed population and only affect one race ..."
"Pardon me if I'm wrong," said Kalen, "but that doesn't appear to have been the case here ..."
"I'd not finished coding it to a specific racial profile. It was wide open and it would affect everyone ..."
"Everyone apart from you, obviously," said Kidder, still angered.
"I used my own genetic code as a base for the virus, it won't affect me," said the scientist. "And the virus will have died now, it won't affect you either." Her face creased with guilt and the realisation of what she had done. "I had no way of knowing - no way of ..."
Kidder fumed, then spoke:
"Can you put together an antidote?"
"I don't know," said Indeskar.
Kidder forced her phaser into the scientists face.
"That wasn't the answer I was looking for, Doctor. Now, I'll ask again, do you or do you not think you can put together an antidote. Let me give you a hint, the right answer begins with a y and ends in an s and there's an e in between ..."
Indeskar nodded, tears rolling down her cheek.
"I can try, but I'll need equipment and a sample that we just don't have here ..." she stated, mopping the tears from her cheek with the sleeve of her tunic.
Kidder nodded.
"Tell me what you need."
Indeskar picked up a PADD and typed instructions into the PADD quickly before handing it to the Annapurna's furious XO who gave it a review and looked over it.
"Kelly, Kalen, you're with me. Santoro, until we get back, you're in charge ..." barked Kidder before she and the other two Annapurna crewmen left the room and Indeskar proceeded to barricade it again.