Star Trek: Into the Void - Season One
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Chapter Four
The instant that Doctor Hollem and Professor Kee appeared on the deck of Sickbay, a gaggle of nurses led by Senior Nurse Herman clustered around the Trill and lifted him onto the nearest biobed.
“Where’s Doctor Marcinowski?!,” shouted the Doctor while he ran his medical tricorder over Kee’s prone body. The Trill was growing paler and he was shivering profusely.
“Ensign Stoddard hasn’t been feeling well. She didn’t want to leave her cabin so Doctor Marcinowski went to her. We’ve paged him. He’s on his way.”
“Okay,” said Hollem absently. Kee’s eyelids were fluttering and he reached over to hold one eyelid open. There was no sign that he could see anything. “Stay with me.” He released the eyelid and returned his gaze to the tricorder. “Temperature is up to a hundred and five. Heart rate is still increasing. Nurse, get me thirty ccs of lectrazine.”
A second later, Nurse Herman slapped a hypospray into the Bajoran’s outstretched hand. The doctor quickly administered it to Kee’s exposed throat before he returned to his tricorder. “Come on, come on.” Lectrazine was designed to stabilize cardiovascular functions but it should have started working by now.
“Temperature is at one hundred and eight and still climbing,” said Herman, looking at a nearby monitor.
Hollem was rapidly reading information from the tricorder. “This doesn’t make sense. His T-count is rising. What the … “
“Doctor?”
“The DNA within his T-cells are mutating and altering exponentially.” He kept looking at the information. “Nurse, ready for me a shot of T-50.”
“How much?
“What? Oh, uh…” Hollem looked at the tricorder readings again. “Three ccs. Let’s see if we can’t stabilize his DNA.”
Kee suddenly shuddered.
“We;re losing brain activity,” said Herman, handing the hypo to Hollem.
“Cortical stimulators, twenty joules.” As the nurse placed the small stimulators onto Kee’s forehead, Hollem gave the shot. “Clear,” he said as the first shock jolted through Kee’s brain.
“Still no activity,” said Herman.
The doors to Sickbay slid open and Doctor Marchnowski came in. “I’m sorry,” he muttered. “What do we have?”
“Severe infiltration of the DNA of both the host and the symbiont.”
“What caused it?”
“Unknown. Clear,” he said before administering another jolt. There was no response. “Thirty-five joules.” Kee jolted.
“Flatline,” said Marcinowski. The younger prematurely bald doctor rushed to one side of the biobed and grabbed a hypo. “Cordrazine?”
Hollem nodded. “Then we give him fifty joules.”
“We have zero brain activity in the symbiont,” said Herman.
“Damn it. We’re going to lose both of them,” said Hollem. Marcinowski had administered the shot now and the Bajoran chanted, “Clear,” once more.”
Herman shook her head.
“We’ve lost them,” said Marcinowski.
“Damnit!,” said Hollem. He still held the empty hypospray in his hand and he threw it hard, skipping across the floor of Sickbay like a stone. “It makes no sense. Nothing works that fast. Nothing mutates… unless…” He picked up a tricorder, just as the combadge on his chest chirped.
“Bridge to Doctor Hollem.” It was Captain Cardonez. “Commander Masafumi is showing similar symptoms. We’re preparing to beam them up.”
Hollem was lost in thought for a moment. When he replied, his voice was almost a screech. “No! Do not, I repeat, do not beam the Commander aboard! I’ll be right up. Arnold, I’ll be on the Bridge.” He went and bolted for the door.
****
Cardonez was pacing the Bridge when Hollem dashed out of the turbolift.
“I’m sorry, Captain,” he said,” but I can’t let you beam Commander Masafumi aboard.”
“Why not?,” asked Zia Kehn quietly from the helm console. “If it’s a quarantine situation, surely you’ve got force fields for that.” Despite her tone, Cardonez could see that she was on the verge of losing it.
She raised her hand. “Give us a second, Zia. Doctor, I assume that you have a very good reason for why I can’t beam my First Officer aboard?”
Hollem responded between gasps of air. “The transporter… the transporter mutated whatever was in Kee. It accelerated its growth. The only chance that Masafumi has is if we slow down the spread of the mutagen.”
“What is that?,” asked Adam Huntington who was feeling a tad uncomfortable in Masafumi’s seat.
Hollem shook his head. “Unknown but it’s presumably some kind of poison. Both the Professor and Commander Masafumi were bitten by one of the local insects.”
“I thought they were harmless,” said Cardonez.
“They should be,” said Hollem. “No visitor to Nendri Four has ever complained of anything beyond an annoying insect bite.”
Cardonez sighed. “Okay, so we can’t use the transporter.” She turned around. “Commander, how soon can we get a shuttle down there?”
Huntington considered this for a moment. “Ten minutes. Maybe a while longer.”
“Do it. Doctor, you go with him.”
“I’m on it,” Kehen said, hopping out of her seat.
“Belay that, Lieutenant,” said Isabel. “I need a pilot who’s focused on the task in hand. You stay up here.”
“Damnit, Captain, the man that I love is dying down there. You can’t order me to stay.”
Cardonez raised both eyebrows. “On the contrary, Lieutenant, I can and I am.” Her face softened for just a fraction. “Sit down, Zia. We’ll get him back.”
“I’m gone,” Huntington said, heading for the turbolift. He called after him. “Doctor.”
Hollem was still standing near Cardonez. “Captain, I would like to beam back down.”
“Negative,” replied the Captain. “I can’t chance it. You’ll go down in the shuttle.”
“Captain, this mutagen is unstab;e in the extreme. Every second might count for the Commander. I’m more good to him down there than in a shuttlecraft.”
“Doctor…”
“I know the risks, Captain!,” he interrupted her. “So stop wasting time and let me do my job!”
Cardonez felt a half-smile creep onto her lips. “Go,” she said and Hollem charged up the ramp after Huntington.
“Captain, I’m sorry,” said Kehen. “I just don’t know what to do.”
Cardonez looked at her. The Yulanian looked small and frightened now. “Take your station and plot a course to take us closer towards the planet. Like Azahn said, every second might count.”
Kehen smiled sadly and sat back down in her chair, grateful to have something to do.
****
“Come on, Commander! Stay with me,” said Patel. He was cradling Masafumi’s head in his arms now. “There’s a shuttle on the way. It’s not long now.”
The Asian gazed upwards but all that he could see was a blur. “Shuttle?,” he asked weakly.
“Yeah, a shuttle. Just hang in there.”
Masafumi was still gazing upwards over the blur’s shoulder and now he saw another darker blur. “Shuttle,” he said, raising a hand and pointing over Patel’s shoulder.
The Ensign looked and he wished that he hadn’t. A dark cloud of insects was descending… rapidly.
Oh, shit,” he muttered before he glanced around, trying to find any cover. There was only one place to hide. “I’m sorry, Commander,” he said, gently resting Masafumi’s head on the ground. He grabbed his phaser and moved over to the pit. Thumbing the power indicator on the weapon, he began to vaporize the dirt inside. As he did, the light from the phaser beam illuminated the inside which was metallic, manufactured, and the only haven on the planet.
With the dirt gone, Patel reached over and unceremoniously began to drag Masafumi towards the opening. When a sudden flash of light erupted nearby, the Ensign swung his phaser around to fire but he found only Doctor Hollem.
“Quick! Help me get him inside.” He was standing in the pit now, still pulling at the Commander’s limp body.
“What are you doing?,” asked the Bajoran.
“Look,” Patel said, gesturing with his eyes.
Hollem looked up.
“Oh, I see,” he said and quickly dropped down to the ground and helped push Masafumi into the put so that he fell between Patel and the wall. Patel dropped out of sight and helped the Commander into the cramped escape pod. The doctor followed after him as soon as he could, casting one last look behind him. He saw that the cloud of insects was close enough that it almost blotted out the sun with a shapeless mass of darkness descending to attack.
Dropping into the pit, he only saw the vague light from Kee’s flashlight. Dipping his head under the lip of the hole, he looked left and right, trying to find the control panel for the hatch. He couldn’t see much of anything but he was thankful for his Academy survival courses. It might have been years since he took them but the memory stayed with him. One scenario in particular was known as ‘Pitch Black’ and it required students to find their way from various points on a starship to the escape pods without any light. It was nightmarish in the extreme but it made this current task, a piece of cake. He found the control panel and closed the hatch.
For a moment, nothing happened and Hollem took a deep breath while the dark cloud descended even closer. With a reluctant squeak, the hatch closed and he let the breath out.
Meanwhile, Patel had discovered the emergency lighting control and weak red light now bathed the inside of the compact craft.
While he scanned the interior, Hollem felt like a character in one of those old-style horror movies that Commander Huntington seemed to like. His imagination had him expecting five skeletons to be sitting and grinning in the darkness but there was none. The pod was empty, aside from himself, Patel, and Masafumi who was lying on the floor.
“That should hold them,” said Hollem.
“The only trouble is that we’re buried in fistrium-loaded soil. So much for beaming out of here,” said Patel before he looked down at Masafumi. “If we could, of course.”
Hollem stripped his medkit off of his shoulder and dropped to his knees beside the Testudo’s First Officer. “His temperature is one hundred and two and rising,” he said, utilizing his tricorder to scan Masafumi,” but not at as fast a rate of mutation as Kee.”
Patel looked over Hollem’s shoulder. “It’s still mutating. It just means that we have more time.”
“Well, if the shuttle can get here, maybe we can make a run for it.”
“Carrying him?,” asked Patel. “With those insects out there? I don’t think so.”
“Let me guess, you want to leave him behind?”
“Not a chance. I might not like him but like they tell you on the first day of medical school. ‘Do no harm’. Even if it’s by inaction.”
“Medical school?,” asked the Bajoran. “I take it that it’s a long story?”
“Yeah. I did the first two years before I dropped out. I was easily bored, back then.”
“Ah, then how did you end up as a nurse?”
“Like I said, it’s a long story and I don’t think that Masafumi has the time.”
“Good point,” said Hollem. “Okay, so mutation of the T-Cell. It could be akin to Barclay’s Protomorphosis Syndrome.”
Patel shook his head. “No, that only worked to regress the victim’s DNA. This is rewriting it into something different. How about Molexus Plague?”
Hollem raised an eyebrow. “That’s very rare. That’s not something that’s even been written about much.”
Patel smiled. “I read a lot of medical texts.”
“So do I. No, it’s not like Molexus Plague. That takes fifty years to mature inside of a host.” The doctor frowned. “This is more like the reproductive methods of the lifeforms on Tarchannen Three, but again, there’s the gestation period.”
“Well, there must be some reason why the insects attacked.”
“There must,” echoed Hollem,” but why? Why would an insect need such a convoluted weapon at its disposal? Why not a simple toxin?”
Patel shrugged. “More to the point, how do we reverse it?”
Hollem handed off his medkit to him. “Give him a shot of T-50, three ccs. That should slow down the rate of mutation since it’s still in its infancy.” He turned to his tricorder. “I’m going over this again.”
****
“Well, this will be tricky,” Adam Huntington said from the flight deck of the shuttlecraft when he looked at the ground below.
“Just a bit,” said Valian Kandro from the pilot’s chair. Though he wasn’t Testudo’s most prolific pilot, the Security Chief had run into him on his way to the Shuttle Bay and co-opted the young Betazoid for speed as much as for anything else.
Below them, they could see the patch of white flowers that Commander Masafumi had described. Off to the left was the maw of the pit. There was no sign of anyone else but the presence of thousands of insects that were hovering in a swarm above the pit gave a possible indication about where their people were.
“They’re inside the escape pod,” said Huntington.
“I hope that it’s sealed tightly,” Kandro said, giving his opinion. “How in the name of Rixx do we get to them?”
Huntington considered it for a moment. “Set the shuttle down over there,” he said, nodding towards the flattest piece of land near the escape pod. “We’ll suit up and see if we can use the phasers to disperse the insects.”
Kandro nodded and began to bring the shuttle in for a landing.
****
Masafumi suddenly took a huge intake of breath and he began choking.
“Damn it! It’s spreading again. His temperature is up to one hundred and five-point-two,” Hollem said. “Okay, think, think!”
“What about the Ferengi?,” asked Patel suddenly while he tried to hold Masafumi still for the fear of him injuring himself.
“What about them? Oh, of course! They were bitten but without any adverse results.” Hollem grabbed his tricorder once more and he began scrolling down the information that it presented. “I haven’t dealt with Ferengi physiology that much but there has to be something different about them.”
Patel considered this for a moment. “I remember that we picked up the survivors of a Ferengi cargo ship once. There was a problem over the replicated blood supplies because… Got! Ferengi blood had three types of cells, not two like we have.”
“Of course! Not only white and red cells but a small proliferation of yellow cells. They act much in the same way as white blood cells to fight infection but they also contain adaptive DNA to fight viral infections.”
Patel smiled. “I guess that’s what comes from living on a planet where it always rains.”
Hollem ignored him. He was too engrossed in his tricorder readings. “We can’t create Ferengi cells within the Commander but I could create a retrovirus that would alter the DNA of some of his white blood cells to mimic Ferengi yellow cells.”
Patel shook his head.” They wouldn’t last long. The natural white cells would kill them off.”
“They would last long enough to do the job,” he said. “The only trouble is that I need to be in Sickbay to create the retrovirus.”
“Will he last that long?” Patel was looking at Masafumi. His breathing was becoming shallower and his skin was becoming waxy and pale.
“I hope so.”
****
“There’s rather a lot of them,” said Huntington while he and Kandro walked through the swarm of insects.
“Have I ever mentioned that I hate insects?,” asked the Betazoid. He swatted at a cluster of insects buzzing around his head.
Both men moved slowly, encumbered as they were by their environmental suits. They reached the pit and looked down, the Security Chief activated his suit’s communications system. “Huntington to Hollem, do you read me?,” he asked, hopeful that the fistrium wouldn’t interfere at this close range.
“I copy you,” came a crackled, staticy reply. “We need to get the Commander back up to the ship as soon as possible.”
“Understood. We’ll see if we can clear these insects away long enough for you to get out. It’ll be tricky though. There’s an awful lot of them.”
****
Buried beneath the surface, Hollem looked at Patel. “We could run for it anyway?,” he suggested. “I mean, I probably have an antidote.”
“Probably. Besides, look at how quickly Kee and Masafumi succumbed after one or two bites.”
“Damn it. If only we have suits… Then we would be…”
“What is it?”
Hollem smiled a crooked smile. “Suits,” he said, pointing behind Patel to where a set of lockers sat against the wall. They were marked ‘Environmental Suit Storage’.
****
Getting Commander Masafumi into an environmental suit was a hard job but extricating him from the escape pod proved to be harder, even with Huntington and Kandro’s help. Eventually, they were all out and with the Bajoran and Patel carrying the Commander between them, they made their way back to the shuttle with the insects proving to be only a minor hindrance to their progress.
Back in the shuttlecraft with the doors safely shut and the atmosphere purged of those insects that had been able to follow them inside, the four men removed their helmets.
“How is he?,” asked Huntington while he and Kandro prepped the shuttle for a fast takeoff.
Masafumi was laid out on the floor and now Hollem removed his helmet. “He’s still breathing. How quickly can you get this bucket back up into orbit?”
“Damn, quick,” Kandro said as the shuttle lifted off and plowed its way through a hundred insects and towards orbit.
The instant that Doctor Hollem and Professor Kee appeared on the deck of Sickbay, a gaggle of nurses led by Senior Nurse Herman clustered around the Trill and lifted him onto the nearest biobed.
“Where’s Doctor Marcinowski?!,” shouted the Doctor while he ran his medical tricorder over Kee’s prone body. The Trill was growing paler and he was shivering profusely.
“Ensign Stoddard hasn’t been feeling well. She didn’t want to leave her cabin so Doctor Marcinowski went to her. We’ve paged him. He’s on his way.”
“Okay,” said Hollem absently. Kee’s eyelids were fluttering and he reached over to hold one eyelid open. There was no sign that he could see anything. “Stay with me.” He released the eyelid and returned his gaze to the tricorder. “Temperature is up to a hundred and five. Heart rate is still increasing. Nurse, get me thirty ccs of lectrazine.”
A second later, Nurse Herman slapped a hypospray into the Bajoran’s outstretched hand. The doctor quickly administered it to Kee’s exposed throat before he returned to his tricorder. “Come on, come on.” Lectrazine was designed to stabilize cardiovascular functions but it should have started working by now.
“Temperature is at one hundred and eight and still climbing,” said Herman, looking at a nearby monitor.
Hollem was rapidly reading information from the tricorder. “This doesn’t make sense. His T-count is rising. What the … “
“Doctor?”
“The DNA within his T-cells are mutating and altering exponentially.” He kept looking at the information. “Nurse, ready for me a shot of T-50.”
“How much?
“What? Oh, uh…” Hollem looked at the tricorder readings again. “Three ccs. Let’s see if we can’t stabilize his DNA.”
Kee suddenly shuddered.
“We;re losing brain activity,” said Herman, handing the hypo to Hollem.
“Cortical stimulators, twenty joules.” As the nurse placed the small stimulators onto Kee’s forehead, Hollem gave the shot. “Clear,” he said as the first shock jolted through Kee’s brain.
“Still no activity,” said Herman.
The doors to Sickbay slid open and Doctor Marchnowski came in. “I’m sorry,” he muttered. “What do we have?”
“Severe infiltration of the DNA of both the host and the symbiont.”
“What caused it?”
“Unknown. Clear,” he said before administering another jolt. There was no response. “Thirty-five joules.” Kee jolted.
“Flatline,” said Marcinowski. The younger prematurely bald doctor rushed to one side of the biobed and grabbed a hypo. “Cordrazine?”
Hollem nodded. “Then we give him fifty joules.”
“We have zero brain activity in the symbiont,” said Herman.
“Damn it. We’re going to lose both of them,” said Hollem. Marcinowski had administered the shot now and the Bajoran chanted, “Clear,” once more.”
Herman shook her head.
“We’ve lost them,” said Marcinowski.
“Damnit!,” said Hollem. He still held the empty hypospray in his hand and he threw it hard, skipping across the floor of Sickbay like a stone. “It makes no sense. Nothing works that fast. Nothing mutates… unless…” He picked up a tricorder, just as the combadge on his chest chirped.
“Bridge to Doctor Hollem.” It was Captain Cardonez. “Commander Masafumi is showing similar symptoms. We’re preparing to beam them up.”
Hollem was lost in thought for a moment. When he replied, his voice was almost a screech. “No! Do not, I repeat, do not beam the Commander aboard! I’ll be right up. Arnold, I’ll be on the Bridge.” He went and bolted for the door.
****
Cardonez was pacing the Bridge when Hollem dashed out of the turbolift.
“I’m sorry, Captain,” he said,” but I can’t let you beam Commander Masafumi aboard.”
“Why not?,” asked Zia Kehn quietly from the helm console. “If it’s a quarantine situation, surely you’ve got force fields for that.” Despite her tone, Cardonez could see that she was on the verge of losing it.
She raised her hand. “Give us a second, Zia. Doctor, I assume that you have a very good reason for why I can’t beam my First Officer aboard?”
Hollem responded between gasps of air. “The transporter… the transporter mutated whatever was in Kee. It accelerated its growth. The only chance that Masafumi has is if we slow down the spread of the mutagen.”
“What is that?,” asked Adam Huntington who was feeling a tad uncomfortable in Masafumi’s seat.
Hollem shook his head. “Unknown but it’s presumably some kind of poison. Both the Professor and Commander Masafumi were bitten by one of the local insects.”
“I thought they were harmless,” said Cardonez.
“They should be,” said Hollem. “No visitor to Nendri Four has ever complained of anything beyond an annoying insect bite.”
Cardonez sighed. “Okay, so we can’t use the transporter.” She turned around. “Commander, how soon can we get a shuttle down there?”
Huntington considered this for a moment. “Ten minutes. Maybe a while longer.”
“Do it. Doctor, you go with him.”
“I’m on it,” Kehen said, hopping out of her seat.
“Belay that, Lieutenant,” said Isabel. “I need a pilot who’s focused on the task in hand. You stay up here.”
“Damnit, Captain, the man that I love is dying down there. You can’t order me to stay.”
Cardonez raised both eyebrows. “On the contrary, Lieutenant, I can and I am.” Her face softened for just a fraction. “Sit down, Zia. We’ll get him back.”
“I’m gone,” Huntington said, heading for the turbolift. He called after him. “Doctor.”
Hollem was still standing near Cardonez. “Captain, I would like to beam back down.”
“Negative,” replied the Captain. “I can’t chance it. You’ll go down in the shuttle.”
“Captain, this mutagen is unstab;e in the extreme. Every second might count for the Commander. I’m more good to him down there than in a shuttlecraft.”
“Doctor…”
“I know the risks, Captain!,” he interrupted her. “So stop wasting time and let me do my job!”
Cardonez felt a half-smile creep onto her lips. “Go,” she said and Hollem charged up the ramp after Huntington.
“Captain, I’m sorry,” said Kehen. “I just don’t know what to do.”
Cardonez looked at her. The Yulanian looked small and frightened now. “Take your station and plot a course to take us closer towards the planet. Like Azahn said, every second might count.”
Kehen smiled sadly and sat back down in her chair, grateful to have something to do.
****
“Come on, Commander! Stay with me,” said Patel. He was cradling Masafumi’s head in his arms now. “There’s a shuttle on the way. It’s not long now.”
The Asian gazed upwards but all that he could see was a blur. “Shuttle?,” he asked weakly.
“Yeah, a shuttle. Just hang in there.”
Masafumi was still gazing upwards over the blur’s shoulder and now he saw another darker blur. “Shuttle,” he said, raising a hand and pointing over Patel’s shoulder.
The Ensign looked and he wished that he hadn’t. A dark cloud of insects was descending… rapidly.
Oh, shit,” he muttered before he glanced around, trying to find any cover. There was only one place to hide. “I’m sorry, Commander,” he said, gently resting Masafumi’s head on the ground. He grabbed his phaser and moved over to the pit. Thumbing the power indicator on the weapon, he began to vaporize the dirt inside. As he did, the light from the phaser beam illuminated the inside which was metallic, manufactured, and the only haven on the planet.
With the dirt gone, Patel reached over and unceremoniously began to drag Masafumi towards the opening. When a sudden flash of light erupted nearby, the Ensign swung his phaser around to fire but he found only Doctor Hollem.
“Quick! Help me get him inside.” He was standing in the pit now, still pulling at the Commander’s limp body.
“What are you doing?,” asked the Bajoran.
“Look,” Patel said, gesturing with his eyes.
Hollem looked up.
“Oh, I see,” he said and quickly dropped down to the ground and helped push Masafumi into the put so that he fell between Patel and the wall. Patel dropped out of sight and helped the Commander into the cramped escape pod. The doctor followed after him as soon as he could, casting one last look behind him. He saw that the cloud of insects was close enough that it almost blotted out the sun with a shapeless mass of darkness descending to attack.
Dropping into the pit, he only saw the vague light from Kee’s flashlight. Dipping his head under the lip of the hole, he looked left and right, trying to find the control panel for the hatch. He couldn’t see much of anything but he was thankful for his Academy survival courses. It might have been years since he took them but the memory stayed with him. One scenario in particular was known as ‘Pitch Black’ and it required students to find their way from various points on a starship to the escape pods without any light. It was nightmarish in the extreme but it made this current task, a piece of cake. He found the control panel and closed the hatch.
For a moment, nothing happened and Hollem took a deep breath while the dark cloud descended even closer. With a reluctant squeak, the hatch closed and he let the breath out.
Meanwhile, Patel had discovered the emergency lighting control and weak red light now bathed the inside of the compact craft.
While he scanned the interior, Hollem felt like a character in one of those old-style horror movies that Commander Huntington seemed to like. His imagination had him expecting five skeletons to be sitting and grinning in the darkness but there was none. The pod was empty, aside from himself, Patel, and Masafumi who was lying on the floor.
“That should hold them,” said Hollem.
“The only trouble is that we’re buried in fistrium-loaded soil. So much for beaming out of here,” said Patel before he looked down at Masafumi. “If we could, of course.”
Hollem stripped his medkit off of his shoulder and dropped to his knees beside the Testudo’s First Officer. “His temperature is one hundred and two and rising,” he said, utilizing his tricorder to scan Masafumi,” but not at as fast a rate of mutation as Kee.”
Patel looked over Hollem’s shoulder. “It’s still mutating. It just means that we have more time.”
“Well, if the shuttle can get here, maybe we can make a run for it.”
“Carrying him?,” asked Patel. “With those insects out there? I don’t think so.”
“Let me guess, you want to leave him behind?”
“Not a chance. I might not like him but like they tell you on the first day of medical school. ‘Do no harm’. Even if it’s by inaction.”
“Medical school?,” asked the Bajoran. “I take it that it’s a long story?”
“Yeah. I did the first two years before I dropped out. I was easily bored, back then.”
“Ah, then how did you end up as a nurse?”
“Like I said, it’s a long story and I don’t think that Masafumi has the time.”
“Good point,” said Hollem. “Okay, so mutation of the T-Cell. It could be akin to Barclay’s Protomorphosis Syndrome.”
Patel shook his head. “No, that only worked to regress the victim’s DNA. This is rewriting it into something different. How about Molexus Plague?”
Hollem raised an eyebrow. “That’s very rare. That’s not something that’s even been written about much.”
Patel smiled. “I read a lot of medical texts.”
“So do I. No, it’s not like Molexus Plague. That takes fifty years to mature inside of a host.” The doctor frowned. “This is more like the reproductive methods of the lifeforms on Tarchannen Three, but again, there’s the gestation period.”
“Well, there must be some reason why the insects attacked.”
“There must,” echoed Hollem,” but why? Why would an insect need such a convoluted weapon at its disposal? Why not a simple toxin?”
Patel shrugged. “More to the point, how do we reverse it?”
Hollem handed off his medkit to him. “Give him a shot of T-50, three ccs. That should slow down the rate of mutation since it’s still in its infancy.” He turned to his tricorder. “I’m going over this again.”
****
“Well, this will be tricky,” Adam Huntington said from the flight deck of the shuttlecraft when he looked at the ground below.
“Just a bit,” said Valian Kandro from the pilot’s chair. Though he wasn’t Testudo’s most prolific pilot, the Security Chief had run into him on his way to the Shuttle Bay and co-opted the young Betazoid for speed as much as for anything else.
Below them, they could see the patch of white flowers that Commander Masafumi had described. Off to the left was the maw of the pit. There was no sign of anyone else but the presence of thousands of insects that were hovering in a swarm above the pit gave a possible indication about where their people were.
“They’re inside the escape pod,” said Huntington.
“I hope that it’s sealed tightly,” Kandro said, giving his opinion. “How in the name of Rixx do we get to them?”
Huntington considered it for a moment. “Set the shuttle down over there,” he said, nodding towards the flattest piece of land near the escape pod. “We’ll suit up and see if we can use the phasers to disperse the insects.”
Kandro nodded and began to bring the shuttle in for a landing.
****
Masafumi suddenly took a huge intake of breath and he began choking.
“Damn it! It’s spreading again. His temperature is up to one hundred and five-point-two,” Hollem said. “Okay, think, think!”
“What about the Ferengi?,” asked Patel suddenly while he tried to hold Masafumi still for the fear of him injuring himself.
“What about them? Oh, of course! They were bitten but without any adverse results.” Hollem grabbed his tricorder once more and he began scrolling down the information that it presented. “I haven’t dealt with Ferengi physiology that much but there has to be something different about them.”
Patel considered this for a moment. “I remember that we picked up the survivors of a Ferengi cargo ship once. There was a problem over the replicated blood supplies because… Got! Ferengi blood had three types of cells, not two like we have.”
“Of course! Not only white and red cells but a small proliferation of yellow cells. They act much in the same way as white blood cells to fight infection but they also contain adaptive DNA to fight viral infections.”
Patel smiled. “I guess that’s what comes from living on a planet where it always rains.”
Hollem ignored him. He was too engrossed in his tricorder readings. “We can’t create Ferengi cells within the Commander but I could create a retrovirus that would alter the DNA of some of his white blood cells to mimic Ferengi yellow cells.”
Patel shook his head.” They wouldn’t last long. The natural white cells would kill them off.”
“They would last long enough to do the job,” he said. “The only trouble is that I need to be in Sickbay to create the retrovirus.”
“Will he last that long?” Patel was looking at Masafumi. His breathing was becoming shallower and his skin was becoming waxy and pale.
“I hope so.”
****
“There’s rather a lot of them,” said Huntington while he and Kandro walked through the swarm of insects.
“Have I ever mentioned that I hate insects?,” asked the Betazoid. He swatted at a cluster of insects buzzing around his head.
Both men moved slowly, encumbered as they were by their environmental suits. They reached the pit and looked down, the Security Chief activated his suit’s communications system. “Huntington to Hollem, do you read me?,” he asked, hopeful that the fistrium wouldn’t interfere at this close range.
“I copy you,” came a crackled, staticy reply. “We need to get the Commander back up to the ship as soon as possible.”
“Understood. We’ll see if we can clear these insects away long enough for you to get out. It’ll be tricky though. There’s an awful lot of them.”
****
Buried beneath the surface, Hollem looked at Patel. “We could run for it anyway?,” he suggested. “I mean, I probably have an antidote.”
“Probably. Besides, look at how quickly Kee and Masafumi succumbed after one or two bites.”
“Damn it. If only we have suits… Then we would be…”
“What is it?”
Hollem smiled a crooked smile. “Suits,” he said, pointing behind Patel to where a set of lockers sat against the wall. They were marked ‘Environmental Suit Storage’.
****
Getting Commander Masafumi into an environmental suit was a hard job but extricating him from the escape pod proved to be harder, even with Huntington and Kandro’s help. Eventually, they were all out and with the Bajoran and Patel carrying the Commander between them, they made their way back to the shuttle with the insects proving to be only a minor hindrance to their progress.
Back in the shuttlecraft with the doors safely shut and the atmosphere purged of those insects that had been able to follow them inside, the four men removed their helmets.
“How is he?,” asked Huntington while he and Kandro prepped the shuttle for a fast takeoff.
Masafumi was laid out on the floor and now Hollem removed his helmet. “He’s still breathing. How quickly can you get this bucket back up into orbit?”
“Damn, quick,” Kandro said as the shuttle lifted off and plowed its way through a hundred insects and towards orbit.
Epilogue
Yashiro Masafumi slowly opened his eyes, expecting to see the skies above Nendri Four. He saw a vision of heaven instead.
“Well, it’s about time that you woke up,” said Zia Kehen. She was smiling though, despite the tears rolling down her cheeks.
He tried to smile back but he wasn’t sure if he managed it or not. He lifted a hand off of the bed and reached out to her. She took his hand into hers. “Love you,” he croaked. Kehen’s smile widened, even as more tears slid out of her eyelids.
“Welcome back, Commander,” said Doctor Hollem. “It’s always nice to see how talented I am. Although, it was touch-and-go for a while there.”
“What… what happened?”
“Insect bite. It altered your DNA for some reason that we still can’t fathom.”
“The Professor?”
“I’m afraid he didn’t make it,” the Doctor said. “It’s my fault for beaming him up. It exacerbated his condition.”
“Like hell,” muttered Masafumi. “You did what you felt was the best way to save him, just like you saved me.” He frowned suddenly.
“What is it?,” asked Kehen, with worry replacing the joy on her face.
Hollem grabbed his tricorder but Masafumi shook his head. “Nothing… no… not nothing, but not anything wrong. I just remembered a dream that I had while I was unconscious. At least, I thought that it was a dream.”
“What kind of dream?,” asked the Yulanian.
Masafumi didn’t hear her. “Not a dream though,” he said. “Doctor, where are the others?”
“In the Conference Lounge. Why?”
“Can you get me up there? It’s important.”
“Commander, you need rest…”
Masafumi nodded. “And I promise that I’ll get it. Sign me off-duty for as long as you like but not until I meet with the others.”
****
“Well, Commander, the Rouen will be here in another hour. Is there no way that you can postpone your next assignment?,” asked Captain Cardonez.
Tavuhn shook his head. He looked saddened and somewhat older than the first time that she had seen him. “No, Captain, we cannot. There are a lot of ships out there that we still have to find. We haven’t completely closed the book on the Akela, but trust me, we’ve gotten farther than we usually do.”
“There is still a chance that the crew survived,” said Lieutenant Commander Huntington. “The away team didn’t find any remains.”
“With those insects down there, I don’t see how they could have survived,” said Lieutenant Sharp. “I’m sorry, Ravi.”
Patel nodded. “It’s okay.” He turned towards Cardonez. “Captain, I have no right to ask but as you’re going to be in the neighborhood. From time to time, could you look in here and maybe see if you can find anything? Not just for me but for the families of the others.”
Cardonez smiled. “I don’t see a problem with that, Ensign.”
The doors opened and Commander Masafumi staggered in. He was propped up by Doctor Hollem and Lieutenant Kehen. Cardonez and Huntington half-stood up from their seats to render assistance but there was no need. In another second, he was sitting down.
“Yashiro, what are you doing here?,” asked Cardonez. “Doctor Hollem, you said that he needed to be off of his feet for a week, at least.”
“I know,” said Hollem,” but this is important.”
Cardonez and Huntington sat back down in their chairs. “Yashiro?,” she asked.
Masafumi seemed to be having trouble with focusing on the people sitting around the table but after a second or two to get his bearings, he spoke. “I think I know what happened to the Akela crew members,” he said, his voice still raw.
“How?,” asked Tavuhn.
“Dream. I had a dream while I was out. At least, I thought it was a dream. Now I think… differently.”
“You had a dream?,” asked Patel sarcastically. “Very scientific.”
“I said I thought it was a dream,” said Masafumi. “Now I believe that it was fragments of memories. Lieutenant Asher’s memories, to be precise.”
“This is ludicrous,” said Patel. “You were out cold and delirious…”
“Pixie pie.” That shut Patel up.
“That was what Asher’s husband used to call her. I remember fragments of a letter that she was reading, just before the attack. Now, how would I know that?”
“I… I… I don’t understand…”
Masafumi nodded. “The insect bite… rewriting my DNA… It wasn’t meant to be a hostile act. It was trying to communicate with me to give me the memories of one of the Akela crew. I’m not sure why.”
“What else do you remember?,” asked Tavuhn.
Masafumi coughed and Kehen grasped his hand.
“I’m okay,” he said but he kept a hold of her hand anyway. “It’s not like a real memory but more like a series of scenes. Random, unconnected, and definitely not mine. It’s quite a strange sensation but I think I know enough. I see the Captain asking for volunteers. I saw the crew… battered, scared, but still they all raised their hands… almost all of them.
“Then I see the Bridge, almost empty. The viewscreen is working and we’re leaving the nebula. I hear the Captain barking orders.” He looked at Patel. “I know what you mean now. I can feel how proud Asher was to serve with him.”
Patel was crying now. Carrie Sharp reached over and took his hand.
“It gets fuzzy for a while. I just sense rising panic and fear as the Jem’Hadar pursue us. Then I see the planet, Nendri Four. I can hear snatches of the crew talking. ‘Hull breaches on Deck Three’... ‘Loss of helm control’... ‘They’re firing again’. Now the helm console explodes and Ensign Palmer does down. Doctor T’Kura goes to her… Now I see her shaking her head. She’s dead.”
“Vivian,” said Patel softly.
“Yes, Vivian,” said Masafumi. “I see the viewscreen, filled with light as we hit the atmosphere. The Captain orders us to the escape pod. We just make it in before the ship falls apart. I’m very scared now.” He felt Zia clutch his hand tighter. “Then we fall… I remember Lucifer being cast down into Hell for some reason.”
“Asher always had a thing about religion,” said Patel with a smile.
“The escape pod functions perfectly and we land safely. The ground is soft and we sink in but we’re alive. No, no, we’re not.” Masafumi frowned. “For some reason, the Captain and Doctor T’Kura died in the landing. I’m not sure how. We bury them nearby. Just me and Kowalski are left now. We’re alive but we don’t feel well. I’m a nurse and I have access to a medkit so it doesn’t take long to work it out. Radiation sickness. The engine core must have leaked because we both received a lethal dose.”
“Do you remember anymore?,” asked Cardonez.
“Very little. Kowalsky dies. I bury him with the others but I can’t find the strength to fill in the grave. I remember seeing insects all around. One of them bites me…” Masafumi shook his head as though to clear it. “That’s it. Nothing else.”
“The white roses,” said Hollem. “That’s where they’re buried, isn’t it?”
“I think so, yes.”
“That explains why they didn’t fit in,” said Patel. “That’s where they’re resting.”
“So, are the insects intelligent?,” asked Sharp. “Is that what you’re trying to tell us?”
“I don’t know,” said Masafumi. He looked even more tired than before. “Giving me those memories hardly seems like the act of simple animals.”
“It wasn’t the insects,” said the Bajoran doctor. “Oh, I mean, it was the insects that gave you the memories but only in the sense of them being a tool. Just as I use a hypospray to inject something.”
“I don’t think I understand,” said Huntington. “If it wasn’t the insects, then who was it?”
“I took scans of the insect bites and I compared them with several mutated cells from Professor Kee’s body. I didn’t spot it, at first, but when I looked closer, I saw that what was injected into both the Professor and Commander Masafumi closely resembled pollen.”
“The roses,” said Masafumi, nodding furiously. “The plant life is sentient.”
“What?,” asked Cardonez.
“It’s not uncommon. Intelligent life exists in myriad forms in the Universe. Not all of them have two arms and two legs.”
“Fascinating,” said Tavuhn.
“I’ll say,” said Hollem. “Think of the plants as brain cells and the insects as neurons, passing information from cell to cell in the form of DNA links in the pollen.”
“Perhaps they act as senses as well,” said Masafumi. “Passing information to the planets about what they see.”
Hollem nodded. “Certainly. They utilized the insects to deliver a message to us. However, we’re so different that the message killed Professor Kee and almost killed you.”
“Indeed.”
“Intelligent plants?,” asked Kehen incredulously.
“Yes,” said Hollem. “How intelligent is anyone’s guess. They could possess nothing beyond rudimentary sentience or they could surpass us.”
“Can we communicate with them?,” asked Cardonez.
Masafumi shook his head. “It’s unlikely. At least, right now. We are very different. I suppose we could deliver a DNA-coded message but what would it say? Without a common frame of reference, we would just be talking gibberish to them.”
“It’s one hell of a First Contact,” said Cardonez.
“Actually, I think you’ll find that the crew of the Akela made the First Contact when they landed here,” said Hollem,” and I think that they’ve had quite an impact.”
“The wild roses,” said Patel. “Their DNA mixed with the local plant life to create a new species.”
“The circle of life,” said Tavuhn. “They’re gone but they live on in another form.”
“Should we remove the wildflowers?,” asked Cardonez.
“No,” said Masafumi. “For better or worse, they’re a part of the planet’s ecosystem now.”
“But the Prime DIrective…”
“It could be overlooked this time,” said Masafumi. “Whatever changes the roses that we saw have likely spread throughout the planet’s ecosystem. There is no way to undo the changes.”
“I’ll talk to Starfleet Command and the families,” said Tavuhn. “They might want to reclaim the bodies, but in all probability, the planet will be designated as a war grave.”
The room became silent now while everyone reflected on what Masafumi and Hollem had said.
****
An hour passed by when Doctor Hollem walked towards a suite of guest quarters on Deck Six. Stopping in front of a door, he hit the door chimes and a moment later, a voice said,” Come.”
Inside, the Bajoran found Ravi Patel sitting on the sofa. He was gazing at a computer display screen on the wall. It showed a high altitude view of a patch of ground on the surface of Nendri Four where a group of white roses grew.
“Still thinking about them?”
“I always will,” Ravi said, sadly.
Hollem sat down. “You didn’t leave with the others.”
“They’re heading off on another mission. Testudo is rendezvousing with a transport heading for Earth in a couple of days.”
“Then what?”
“Then I report back to Starfleet for reassignment. How can I help you anyway, Doctor?”
“You could apologize to Masafumi for a start.”
Patel snorted. “Why would I? Besides, I helped to save his life.”
“Yes, and he kept your secret safe,”
“What are you talking about?”
Hollem smiled. “I know how people see me. The slightly eccentric doctor who occasionally forgets what he was talking about and mislays stuff. My mind doesn’t quite work on the same wavelength as everyone else’s does some of the time. The advantage is that I make connections that don’t appear to other people. Like your dislike for Commander Masafumi… Quite venomous. I thought it was because you were angry because of the loss of your shipmates.”
“I am,” said Patel. He was trying to sound tough but Hollem sensed a trace of fear in his voice.
“Of course, you are, but then I saw your face when Masafumi said that he remembered the three crew members who didn’t volunteer. I think it says a lot about the man that he chose not to point out that you were one of them.”
Patel was silent.
“You’re not going to deny it?”
Patel shook his head. “Fear is a strange thing.”
“And so is guilt. Especially when you transfer it onto someone else.”
“Now what?”
“Nothing. If the Commander is happy to ignore the truth, then so am I. I just hope that you’ll face up to it, now that you know what happened to them. Testudo has an excellent counselor.”
“I’m not going to be here for that long.”
“Don’t be so sure. Here’s your reassignment,” said Hollem, handing over a PADD.
Patel read it. “Testudo?”
“If you want it. I'm down a nurse and you come across as someone being extremely competent.”
Patel was shocked into silence.
“Well?”
Patel smiled. “I still don’t like Masafumi,” he replied.
“He’s not so bad once you get to know him better.”
“You really want me on your team?”
“Yes, you’re talented and innovative. Besides, I want to hear that long said,” the Bajoran said, holding out his hand.
Patel shook it. “It’s a really long story.”
The End…
Yashiro Masafumi slowly opened his eyes, expecting to see the skies above Nendri Four. He saw a vision of heaven instead.
“Well, it’s about time that you woke up,” said Zia Kehen. She was smiling though, despite the tears rolling down her cheeks.
He tried to smile back but he wasn’t sure if he managed it or not. He lifted a hand off of the bed and reached out to her. She took his hand into hers. “Love you,” he croaked. Kehen’s smile widened, even as more tears slid out of her eyelids.
“Welcome back, Commander,” said Doctor Hollem. “It’s always nice to see how talented I am. Although, it was touch-and-go for a while there.”
“What… what happened?”
“Insect bite. It altered your DNA for some reason that we still can’t fathom.”
“The Professor?”
“I’m afraid he didn’t make it,” the Doctor said. “It’s my fault for beaming him up. It exacerbated his condition.”
“Like hell,” muttered Masafumi. “You did what you felt was the best way to save him, just like you saved me.” He frowned suddenly.
“What is it?,” asked Kehen, with worry replacing the joy on her face.
Hollem grabbed his tricorder but Masafumi shook his head. “Nothing… no… not nothing, but not anything wrong. I just remembered a dream that I had while I was unconscious. At least, I thought that it was a dream.”
“What kind of dream?,” asked the Yulanian.
Masafumi didn’t hear her. “Not a dream though,” he said. “Doctor, where are the others?”
“In the Conference Lounge. Why?”
“Can you get me up there? It’s important.”
“Commander, you need rest…”
Masafumi nodded. “And I promise that I’ll get it. Sign me off-duty for as long as you like but not until I meet with the others.”
****
“Well, Commander, the Rouen will be here in another hour. Is there no way that you can postpone your next assignment?,” asked Captain Cardonez.
Tavuhn shook his head. He looked saddened and somewhat older than the first time that she had seen him. “No, Captain, we cannot. There are a lot of ships out there that we still have to find. We haven’t completely closed the book on the Akela, but trust me, we’ve gotten farther than we usually do.”
“There is still a chance that the crew survived,” said Lieutenant Commander Huntington. “The away team didn’t find any remains.”
“With those insects down there, I don’t see how they could have survived,” said Lieutenant Sharp. “I’m sorry, Ravi.”
Patel nodded. “It’s okay.” He turned towards Cardonez. “Captain, I have no right to ask but as you’re going to be in the neighborhood. From time to time, could you look in here and maybe see if you can find anything? Not just for me but for the families of the others.”
Cardonez smiled. “I don’t see a problem with that, Ensign.”
The doors opened and Commander Masafumi staggered in. He was propped up by Doctor Hollem and Lieutenant Kehen. Cardonez and Huntington half-stood up from their seats to render assistance but there was no need. In another second, he was sitting down.
“Yashiro, what are you doing here?,” asked Cardonez. “Doctor Hollem, you said that he needed to be off of his feet for a week, at least.”
“I know,” said Hollem,” but this is important.”
Cardonez and Huntington sat back down in their chairs. “Yashiro?,” she asked.
Masafumi seemed to be having trouble with focusing on the people sitting around the table but after a second or two to get his bearings, he spoke. “I think I know what happened to the Akela crew members,” he said, his voice still raw.
“How?,” asked Tavuhn.
“Dream. I had a dream while I was out. At least, I thought it was a dream. Now I think… differently.”
“You had a dream?,” asked Patel sarcastically. “Very scientific.”
“I said I thought it was a dream,” said Masafumi. “Now I believe that it was fragments of memories. Lieutenant Asher’s memories, to be precise.”
“This is ludicrous,” said Patel. “You were out cold and delirious…”
“Pixie pie.” That shut Patel up.
“That was what Asher’s husband used to call her. I remember fragments of a letter that she was reading, just before the attack. Now, how would I know that?”
“I… I… I don’t understand…”
Masafumi nodded. “The insect bite… rewriting my DNA… It wasn’t meant to be a hostile act. It was trying to communicate with me to give me the memories of one of the Akela crew. I’m not sure why.”
“What else do you remember?,” asked Tavuhn.
Masafumi coughed and Kehen grasped his hand.
“I’m okay,” he said but he kept a hold of her hand anyway. “It’s not like a real memory but more like a series of scenes. Random, unconnected, and definitely not mine. It’s quite a strange sensation but I think I know enough. I see the Captain asking for volunteers. I saw the crew… battered, scared, but still they all raised their hands… almost all of them.
“Then I see the Bridge, almost empty. The viewscreen is working and we’re leaving the nebula. I hear the Captain barking orders.” He looked at Patel. “I know what you mean now. I can feel how proud Asher was to serve with him.”
Patel was crying now. Carrie Sharp reached over and took his hand.
“It gets fuzzy for a while. I just sense rising panic and fear as the Jem’Hadar pursue us. Then I see the planet, Nendri Four. I can hear snatches of the crew talking. ‘Hull breaches on Deck Three’... ‘Loss of helm control’... ‘They’re firing again’. Now the helm console explodes and Ensign Palmer does down. Doctor T’Kura goes to her… Now I see her shaking her head. She’s dead.”
“Vivian,” said Patel softly.
“Yes, Vivian,” said Masafumi. “I see the viewscreen, filled with light as we hit the atmosphere. The Captain orders us to the escape pod. We just make it in before the ship falls apart. I’m very scared now.” He felt Zia clutch his hand tighter. “Then we fall… I remember Lucifer being cast down into Hell for some reason.”
“Asher always had a thing about religion,” said Patel with a smile.
“The escape pod functions perfectly and we land safely. The ground is soft and we sink in but we’re alive. No, no, we’re not.” Masafumi frowned. “For some reason, the Captain and Doctor T’Kura died in the landing. I’m not sure how. We bury them nearby. Just me and Kowalski are left now. We’re alive but we don’t feel well. I’m a nurse and I have access to a medkit so it doesn’t take long to work it out. Radiation sickness. The engine core must have leaked because we both received a lethal dose.”
“Do you remember anymore?,” asked Cardonez.
“Very little. Kowalsky dies. I bury him with the others but I can’t find the strength to fill in the grave. I remember seeing insects all around. One of them bites me…” Masafumi shook his head as though to clear it. “That’s it. Nothing else.”
“The white roses,” said Hollem. “That’s where they’re buried, isn’t it?”
“I think so, yes.”
“That explains why they didn’t fit in,” said Patel. “That’s where they’re resting.”
“So, are the insects intelligent?,” asked Sharp. “Is that what you’re trying to tell us?”
“I don’t know,” said Masafumi. He looked even more tired than before. “Giving me those memories hardly seems like the act of simple animals.”
“It wasn’t the insects,” said the Bajoran doctor. “Oh, I mean, it was the insects that gave you the memories but only in the sense of them being a tool. Just as I use a hypospray to inject something.”
“I don’t think I understand,” said Huntington. “If it wasn’t the insects, then who was it?”
“I took scans of the insect bites and I compared them with several mutated cells from Professor Kee’s body. I didn’t spot it, at first, but when I looked closer, I saw that what was injected into both the Professor and Commander Masafumi closely resembled pollen.”
“The roses,” said Masafumi, nodding furiously. “The plant life is sentient.”
“What?,” asked Cardonez.
“It’s not uncommon. Intelligent life exists in myriad forms in the Universe. Not all of them have two arms and two legs.”
“Fascinating,” said Tavuhn.
“I’ll say,” said Hollem. “Think of the plants as brain cells and the insects as neurons, passing information from cell to cell in the form of DNA links in the pollen.”
“Perhaps they act as senses as well,” said Masafumi. “Passing information to the planets about what they see.”
Hollem nodded. “Certainly. They utilized the insects to deliver a message to us. However, we’re so different that the message killed Professor Kee and almost killed you.”
“Indeed.”
“Intelligent plants?,” asked Kehen incredulously.
“Yes,” said Hollem. “How intelligent is anyone’s guess. They could possess nothing beyond rudimentary sentience or they could surpass us.”
“Can we communicate with them?,” asked Cardonez.
Masafumi shook his head. “It’s unlikely. At least, right now. We are very different. I suppose we could deliver a DNA-coded message but what would it say? Without a common frame of reference, we would just be talking gibberish to them.”
“It’s one hell of a First Contact,” said Cardonez.
“Actually, I think you’ll find that the crew of the Akela made the First Contact when they landed here,” said Hollem,” and I think that they’ve had quite an impact.”
“The wild roses,” said Patel. “Their DNA mixed with the local plant life to create a new species.”
“The circle of life,” said Tavuhn. “They’re gone but they live on in another form.”
“Should we remove the wildflowers?,” asked Cardonez.
“No,” said Masafumi. “For better or worse, they’re a part of the planet’s ecosystem now.”
“But the Prime DIrective…”
“It could be overlooked this time,” said Masafumi. “Whatever changes the roses that we saw have likely spread throughout the planet’s ecosystem. There is no way to undo the changes.”
“I’ll talk to Starfleet Command and the families,” said Tavuhn. “They might want to reclaim the bodies, but in all probability, the planet will be designated as a war grave.”
The room became silent now while everyone reflected on what Masafumi and Hollem had said.
****
An hour passed by when Doctor Hollem walked towards a suite of guest quarters on Deck Six. Stopping in front of a door, he hit the door chimes and a moment later, a voice said,” Come.”
Inside, the Bajoran found Ravi Patel sitting on the sofa. He was gazing at a computer display screen on the wall. It showed a high altitude view of a patch of ground on the surface of Nendri Four where a group of white roses grew.
“Still thinking about them?”
“I always will,” Ravi said, sadly.
Hollem sat down. “You didn’t leave with the others.”
“They’re heading off on another mission. Testudo is rendezvousing with a transport heading for Earth in a couple of days.”
“Then what?”
“Then I report back to Starfleet for reassignment. How can I help you anyway, Doctor?”
“You could apologize to Masafumi for a start.”
Patel snorted. “Why would I? Besides, I helped to save his life.”
“Yes, and he kept your secret safe,”
“What are you talking about?”
Hollem smiled. “I know how people see me. The slightly eccentric doctor who occasionally forgets what he was talking about and mislays stuff. My mind doesn’t quite work on the same wavelength as everyone else’s does some of the time. The advantage is that I make connections that don’t appear to other people. Like your dislike for Commander Masafumi… Quite venomous. I thought it was because you were angry because of the loss of your shipmates.”
“I am,” said Patel. He was trying to sound tough but Hollem sensed a trace of fear in his voice.
“Of course, you are, but then I saw your face when Masafumi said that he remembered the three crew members who didn’t volunteer. I think it says a lot about the man that he chose not to point out that you were one of them.”
Patel was silent.
“You’re not going to deny it?”
Patel shook his head. “Fear is a strange thing.”
“And so is guilt. Especially when you transfer it onto someone else.”
“Now what?”
“Nothing. If the Commander is happy to ignore the truth, then so am I. I just hope that you’ll face up to it, now that you know what happened to them. Testudo has an excellent counselor.”
“I’m not going to be here for that long.”
“Don’t be so sure. Here’s your reassignment,” said Hollem, handing over a PADD.
Patel read it. “Testudo?”
“If you want it. I'm down a nurse and you come across as someone being extremely competent.”
Patel was shocked into silence.
“Well?”
Patel smiled. “I still don’t like Masafumi,” he replied.
“He’s not so bad once you get to know him better.”
“You really want me on your team?”
“Yes, you’re talented and innovative. Besides, I want to hear that long said,” the Bajoran said, holding out his hand.
Patel shook it. “It’s a really long story.”
The End…
If this is easier for some of you, here we go.
https://assinninewriting.wordpress.com/2024/01/25/star-trek-into-the-void-episode-eighteen/
https://assinninewriting.wordpress.com/2024/01/25/star-trek-into-the-void-episode-eighteen/
Star Trek: Into the Void
Episode Nineteen - ‘Skirmish’
By Jack D. Elmlinger
Prologue
The Federation starship drifted soundlessly through space, nestled within the cold embrace of the comet’s tail. Despite the fact that its location would obscure most, if not all, of its quarry’s sensors, the ship was in low-power mode. Lights within the vessel were dim and no active sensors were online. Its warp core was powered down and its weapons and shields were offline. Only the ship’s hull protected it from the dust and gas around it.
She was a Challenger-class starship which was a curiosity within the Federation. She possessed all of the traits of her brethren with an elliptical saucer section, twin nacelles, and yet she managed to look nothing like them. This was due to her novel construction. One nacelle hung close to the underside of the almond-shaped saucer section, emerging out of the secondary hull that stretched out from the rear of the saucer. The second nacelle sat above the secondary hull, perched on top like a conning tower-like structure that rose up from the bulk of the ship and ensured that the upper nacelle dominated the ship’s appearance. There were several Challenger-class ships in service, even though seventeen of them had been destroyed during the Dominion War, but they weren’t a popular assignment. As more than one sharp-eyed cadet had mentioned, from directly above or below, the ship looked like it was nothing less than a lollipop or a table tennis racket.
Those who had served aboard a Challenger-class knew differently, especially if they had seen combat. The Challenger-class’ profile was substantially narrower than most starships, making her a far more difficult target to strike.
Certainly the man who was sitting in the command chair of this particular vessel had seen more combat than most Starfleet officers and appreciated the ugly duckling that he commanded for its strengths over more aesthetics.
He was well over sixty years old and his body looked to be almost frail if he was perceived from a distance. Close up, his frame was slight yet firm beneath his uniform and his gnarled hands looked to be more like steel talons. His hair had once been a bright blonde but gray streaks ran through it now. The hair hung straight but it was cut haphazardly as though he couldn’t decide whether to wear it long or cut it painfully short. Beneath his fringe, icy blue eyes stared ahead at the viewscreen. His nose was thin, hooked and his lips were almost painfully thin. He looked like he was nothing less than a bird of prey, perched and ready to strike.
He sat alone at the center of the Bridge. There were no chairs beside his high-backed swivel chair. He didn’t need his First Officer at his side. He needed her somewhere useful.
“Time to target?,” he asked. His voice belied his appearance and it was curiously warm, almost fatherly.
The object of his question was sitting ahead of him at one of the two forward stations where normally the ship’s operations officer would be stationed. On this man’s ship, it was the seat of his First Officer who was also his Tactical Officer.
The woman cocked her head slightly to one side and replied. “Thirty seconds and we’ll be in optimum firing range,” she said. Her voice was both melodic and harsh at the same time. She was in her early forties and tall at just over six feet. Her skin was coal-black and yet her hair managed to be even darker, perched in curls cut close to her head. She seemed to have a permanent sneer on her face which was the result of the faint scar that ran down her left cheek. Her eyes twinkled with excitement. She adored the thrill of the chase, almost as much as she did the kill.
The Captain’s lips twitched into a smile. “Excellent, Commander. Power up the weapons. If they haven’t seen us by now, then they won’t until it’s too late.” He shifted his gaze, slightly to stare at the back of the man sitting to his First Officer’s right. “Ensign, take us out of the tail, thrusters only. There’s no sense in letting them see us.”
“Aye, Captain,” said the young redheaded man sitting at the Helm console.
The Captain leaned forward in his seat now, his hands gripping the armrests tightly. He watched the viewscreen while his ship ascended out of the comet’s tail. There, ahead of him, sat his quarry and it was oblivious to its face. A New Orleans-class frigate that was already listing from damage that he had inflicted in their first attack, an hour before.
“Testudo is seventy thousand kilometers away, sir,” said the First Officer. “Their shields are still only at twenty percent.”
“Excellent. Raise ours and then target them with a spread of quantum torpedoes and full phasers.”
“Shields up,” said the woman at Tactical. “Weapons are online.”
The Captain’s smile faded away now. “Destroy them,” he said simply.
“With pleasure,” she replied before she tapped the firing control on the console before her.
Episode Nineteen - ‘Skirmish’
By Jack D. Elmlinger
Prologue
The Federation starship drifted soundlessly through space, nestled within the cold embrace of the comet’s tail. Despite the fact that its location would obscure most, if not all, of its quarry’s sensors, the ship was in low-power mode. Lights within the vessel were dim and no active sensors were online. Its warp core was powered down and its weapons and shields were offline. Only the ship’s hull protected it from the dust and gas around it.
She was a Challenger-class starship which was a curiosity within the Federation. She possessed all of the traits of her brethren with an elliptical saucer section, twin nacelles, and yet she managed to look nothing like them. This was due to her novel construction. One nacelle hung close to the underside of the almond-shaped saucer section, emerging out of the secondary hull that stretched out from the rear of the saucer. The second nacelle sat above the secondary hull, perched on top like a conning tower-like structure that rose up from the bulk of the ship and ensured that the upper nacelle dominated the ship’s appearance. There were several Challenger-class ships in service, even though seventeen of them had been destroyed during the Dominion War, but they weren’t a popular assignment. As more than one sharp-eyed cadet had mentioned, from directly above or below, the ship looked like it was nothing less than a lollipop or a table tennis racket.
Those who had served aboard a Challenger-class knew differently, especially if they had seen combat. The Challenger-class’ profile was substantially narrower than most starships, making her a far more difficult target to strike.
Certainly the man who was sitting in the command chair of this particular vessel had seen more combat than most Starfleet officers and appreciated the ugly duckling that he commanded for its strengths over more aesthetics.
He was well over sixty years old and his body looked to be almost frail if he was perceived from a distance. Close up, his frame was slight yet firm beneath his uniform and his gnarled hands looked to be more like steel talons. His hair had once been a bright blonde but gray streaks ran through it now. The hair hung straight but it was cut haphazardly as though he couldn’t decide whether to wear it long or cut it painfully short. Beneath his fringe, icy blue eyes stared ahead at the viewscreen. His nose was thin, hooked and his lips were almost painfully thin. He looked like he was nothing less than a bird of prey, perched and ready to strike.
He sat alone at the center of the Bridge. There were no chairs beside his high-backed swivel chair. He didn’t need his First Officer at his side. He needed her somewhere useful.
“Time to target?,” he asked. His voice belied his appearance and it was curiously warm, almost fatherly.
The object of his question was sitting ahead of him at one of the two forward stations where normally the ship’s operations officer would be stationed. On this man’s ship, it was the seat of his First Officer who was also his Tactical Officer.
The woman cocked her head slightly to one side and replied. “Thirty seconds and we’ll be in optimum firing range,” she said. Her voice was both melodic and harsh at the same time. She was in her early forties and tall at just over six feet. Her skin was coal-black and yet her hair managed to be even darker, perched in curls cut close to her head. She seemed to have a permanent sneer on her face which was the result of the faint scar that ran down her left cheek. Her eyes twinkled with excitement. She adored the thrill of the chase, almost as much as she did the kill.
The Captain’s lips twitched into a smile. “Excellent, Commander. Power up the weapons. If they haven’t seen us by now, then they won’t until it’s too late.” He shifted his gaze, slightly to stare at the back of the man sitting to his First Officer’s right. “Ensign, take us out of the tail, thrusters only. There’s no sense in letting them see us.”
“Aye, Captain,” said the young redheaded man sitting at the Helm console.
The Captain leaned forward in his seat now, his hands gripping the armrests tightly. He watched the viewscreen while his ship ascended out of the comet’s tail. There, ahead of him, sat his quarry and it was oblivious to its face. A New Orleans-class frigate that was already listing from damage that he had inflicted in their first attack, an hour before.
“Testudo is seventy thousand kilometers away, sir,” said the First Officer. “Their shields are still only at twenty percent.”
“Excellent. Raise ours and then target them with a spread of quantum torpedoes and full phasers.”
“Shields up,” said the woman at Tactical. “Weapons are online.”
The Captain’s smile faded away now. “Destroy them,” he said simply.
“With pleasure,” she replied before she tapped the firing control on the console before her.
Sentient flowers communicating via pollen delivered by insect bite...
Tremendously creative! Thanks!! rbs
Tremendously creative! Thanks!! rbs
You're welcome, RBS. I thought it was tremendously original and I happen to like roses. I used to take care of my Grandma's roses when she wouldn't.
In Data's words, "Oh, s**t"
Brace for Impact!!!!
Brace for Impact!!!!
Chapter One
“Incoming!,” shouted Lieutenant Commander Adam Huntington from Tactical.
“Evasive maneuvers,” began Captain Isabel Cardonez. “Get me a lock on them!”
“Too late. We’re hit.”
“Damn it! Damage report?”
On her right side, Commander Yashiro Masafumi swung his console towards him. “Shields are down. There are hull breaches on Decks Four, Seven, Ten, Eleven, Twelve, and Nineteen. The structural integrity field is down. Warp core is breached and – “
“Wouldn’t it be easier to just say that ‘We’re dead”’,” asked Lieutenant Valian Kandro from the Ops position, a smile on his face.
“Perhaps,” replied the Testudo’s First Officer dryly. “However, the Captain has requested a comprehensive damage report.”
“What’s the conclusion of that report, Commander?!,” snapped Cardonez.
“Simple. Testudo has been completely destroyed with all hands.”
Cardonez smashed her right fist down hard onto her armrest. “Where the hell was he?!,” she barked.
“Uhhh… well, it appears that the Lusitania was secreted inside the tail of the RG-Four comet,” replied Kandro.
Cardonez fixed him with a harsh stare. “I was under the impression that you were keeping an eye on that comet, Mister Kandro.”
Kandro kept his back to her and winced. “I was, Captain. It’s difficult to spot anything inside of there. My sensors picked them up but it was too late. They had already fired.”
“He’s hailing us,” reported Huntington.
“He probably wants to gloat again!,” said Zia Kehen.
Cardonez thumped both fists down onto her armrests this time before she sat back in her chair.
“Better?,” asked Masafumi.
“No,” she seethed before she smiled. “Calmer, though. Okay, you might as well patch him through.”
The viewscreen shimmered and the view was replaced by a vision of the opposing ship’s Bridge. Cardonez still found it odd to see his First Officer sitting in front of him. However, a man with his kind of reputation could get away with almost anything that he liked.
“Captain Cutter, you got us again.”
Cutter smiled and shrugged. “Three simulations and three kills. You shouldn’t feel so bad. The last Captain who beat me was Eddie Jellico and that was five years ago.”
“I thought we had you this time when we forced you to disengage.”
“Almost. I just had to regroup and get creative in sneaking up on you. You are trickier than most, Captain Cardonez. I’ll give you that.”
“I am curious,” said Masafumi. “Your ship was still in far better shape than ours. Yet you chose not to press home with the advantage. Why?”
“Because my advantage was too slim,” replied Cutter. “I would have taken far too much damage destroying you and I would have left myself wide open to attack from anyone else out there.”
“It is just a simulation,” said Cardonez. “There was no one else to attack.”
“That’s no difference. That’s why I don’t lose. Because I treat every combat as the same, rear or not.” Cutter’s smile widened. “Well, I had better debrief my crew. Same time tomorrow?”
“I wouldn’t miss it,” said Isabel. The viewscreen shimmered once more until it showed the other starship with the comet chasing away into the distance behind it.
“Tell me that you’re going to beat him tomorrow,” said Kandro. “I want to smash that arrogant smile off of his face.”
Cardonez sighed. “The trouble is that it isn’t arrogance, Valian. He really is that good.”
****
A few minutes later and Captain Cardonez had retired to her Ready Room to compose a log entry.
Captain’s Log, Stardate 55528.9;
We’re now in our third day of routine combat maneuvers and already my crew’s confidence and morale are dropping fast. While I understand it and indeed, welcome it, Starfleet’s policy is that all starships undergo regular exercises like this. After all, the war caught a lot of ships unprepared. I feel that throwing us up against a man like Ramius Cutter is helping no one. I mean, it isn’t like he needs the practice. Hell, the man’s work was standard reading back when I was at Starfleet Academy.
I know that Starfleet expects us to learn from him but having our ship blown to smithereens every day is teaching us nothing. And we still have another week to go.
Cardonez paused the recording when she heard the chirp of the intercom system. She tapped a control on the deck before her. “Cardonez here.”
“Captain,” came Commander Masafumi’s voice,” I have a signal coming through from the Lusitania. Captain Cutter for you.”
Cardonez sighed. “Patch him through,” she said, swiveling the computer console on her desk towards her. A second later and Cutter appeared. It looked like he was sitting in his Ready Room as well.
“Captain Cutter,” she asked,” what can I do for you?”
He smiled. “Please call me Ramius,” he said.
Cardonez smiled back. “I do like being on first name terms with a man who had killed me three times,” she said. “I suppose you might as well call me Isabel.”
He nodded. “Then we’re agreed. Less formality.”
“Agreed,” she replied. “So, I don’t suppose you would like to let us win tomorrow?”
His smile faded. “I’ll assume that you’re joking,” he said, his voice heavy.
“Of course,” she said. “After all, what would my lot learn then?” Her smile was somewhat forced now. If there was one thing that she hated, it was people who took her seriously when she was obviously joking.
Cutter’s smile reappeared with practiced ease. “Of course. I’m sorry. When you have a Bridge crew with no sense of humor, it’s sometimes contagious.”
“Of course,” she answered but she remained unconvinced. “So, Ramius, what can I help you with?”
“Nothing official. I was hoping that you and a few members of your command staff might join us for dinner this evening.”
Cardonez thought for a moment. She hated formal engagements and she wasn’t sure that she liked Cutter’s attitude. However, it didn’t pay to piss off your fellow Captains. “We would love to,” she replied. “Who should I bring?”
He shrugged. “You choose. I only insist that you bring your Chief Engineer along. It’s been too long since I’ve seen her.”
“Yes, she did mention that she was looking forward to seeing you again. How long has it been?”
“Since before she signed aboard Testudo. She wanted to come back to the Lusitania… I mean, the new Lusitania, but I told her that she would be better off, flying the nest.”
“Well, I can’t see that bringing her would raise any problems. I’ll see who else I can round up.”
“Excellent,” said Cutter. “Shall we say nineteen hundred hours?”
Cardonez nodded. “That sounds fine. We’ll beam across then.” She was about to add ‘Cardonez out’, when Cutter stopped her.
“There was one other matter. It is rather delicate,” he said. His smile had faded away again and it was replaced with a look of something that was similar to embarrassment now.
“What is it?”
“Hmmm,” said Cutter as though he was putting off having to say anything for a few seconds. “There isn’t an easy way of saying this but I hope that you’ll understand my reasons. You have a Betazoid on your command staff, a Lieutenant Kandro?”
“Yes, I do,” she replied warily.
“Of course,” he said with a thin smile. “I would like to request that you don’t bring him with you this evening.”
Alarm bells began to ring at the back of Isabel’s mind now. “May I ask why?”
“You may,” said Cutter. “My First Officer was… Well, there isn’t a polite way of putting it. She was raped several years ago. Not just a physical attack either. The assailant was a Betazoid. He invaded her thoughts and emotions too.” He paused and Cardonez saw a pained expression descend over his face. It seemed to age him by several years. For her part, a cold shiver ran down her spine at the mention of the word rape.
“She has a bit of an aversion to all Betazoids now,” resumed Cutter. “I know it’s irrational. Certainly, she does, but it is there, nonetheless. I hate to ask but – “
Cardonez shook her head. “That’s fine, Ramius. I fully understand and I think that Valian will too.”
“I would rather that this stays between us.”
“Of course. I have to leave someone in command. He’s as good a choice as any.”
“Thank you for your understanding. I’ll see you at seven. Cutter out.” The Starfleet emblem replaced Cutter’s image on the small screen.
Cardonez sighed and after a momentary pause, she tapped her combadge. “Cardonez to Masafumi. Can I see you in my Ready Room for a moment, Commander?”
“On my way.”
Cardonez sat back in her chair and wondered if there was any way of getting out of this evening’s dinner.
****
“Shit!,” Louise Ramblin said while she rifled through the pile of clothes on her bed, tossing items over her shoulder. “Shit! Shit! Shit!,” she repeated and then the door chimes rang. “Shit!”
She was half-dressed and it was six forty-five. She had her formal trousers on but they didn’t match with the top half of her dress uniform. Instead, all that she wore was a tight-fitting blue vest. As the door chimes rang again, she grabbed the nearest top that she could see. It was a sequined purple number that she was sure that she hadn’t worn in years and pulled it over her head before she stumbled towards the door.
Adam Huntington wore a crooked smile when he took in the sight that greeted him. “Oh, no, did they change the dress uniform again and nobody told me?,” he asked lightheartedly.
On any normal day, the sight of Adam Huntington at her door would have sent her heart fluttering. She would never admit it to anyone aboard but she had a small crush on the Testudo’s Chief of Security. She wasn’t alone either. She knew aboard half a dozen other female officers and, at least, two male ones, who were quite vocal in the fact that they went weak in the knees when Huntington was around. She wasn’t that bad and she certainly wasn’t in the habit of telling anyone but the crush was there.
Here he was, standing in the doorway to her quarters, looking more handsome than she had ever seen him before. The white dress uniform looked as good on him as a tuxedo would. Here he was and while on any normal day, the thoughts running through her mind would have followed the lines of ‘Isn’t he handsome?’ Or ‘Oh if only you weren’t married’ today but all that she wanted to do was strike him.
She didn’t, of course.
Ramblin was many things but suicidal wasn’t one of them. Instead she gritted her teeth and counted to ten. Then, seeing that several people were walking past her door and giving her clothing unpleasant looks, she beckoned Huntington inside, allowing the door to close.
“I can’t find the top half of my dress uniform,” she said. “Isn’t that just typical?!”
Huntington knew that the question was rhetorical but he couldn’t resist. “I don’t know. Mine was hanging up where it always is.”
She gave him a hard stare of the kind that she usually reserved for Valian Kandro.
“Sorry,” he said with a smile.
“Make yourself at home while I keep looking,” she said and disappeared back into her room.
Huntington went to sit down and he found that the sofa was piled high with PADDs and items of clothing. “Maid’s day off?”
Ramblin ducked her head through her doorway. “What? Oh, sorry. I’m usually a lot tidier but I’ve been throwing things left and right, looking for my uniform and a few presents that I’ve acquired for some of my old friends.” She ducked back out of sight again.
Huntingtin stood, tapping his toes for several minutes and a series of bangs, crashes, and curses emanated from the room next door. Finally, he gingerly walked over and stuck his head around the corner. If he hadn’t known better, he would have thought that a grenade had gone off in her room. Ramblin was standing in the middle of a pile of crumpled clothing, an angry look on her face.
“Lieutenant?”
“Yes?,” she replied, the fight having gone out of her now.
“Might I suggest just replicating a new uniform top?,” he offered.
Ramblin laughed. “I’m sorry. I don’t usually act like the Doc, you know?,” she said, striding past him and back into the living room area and up to the replicator. Punching in several commands, she turned her head to look at Huntington. “I’m just a bit nervous about seeing Captain Cutter.”
“You served with him for a long time?”
She nodded. “Pretty much straight out of the Academy and onto the Lusitania.” She looked wistful all of a sudden. “Have you ever served on a Constellation-class before?”
“The Trafalgar,” he replied. “An awful long time ago.”
“It probably wouldn’t be as moving of an experience for you as me. Did you know that I was born on one?” He shook his head. “The Libra, on deep-range exploration. I spent my first three years on that damned ship. Stepping onto the Lusitania was like coming home.”
“You spent the war there?”
“Uh-huh,” she nodded.
“A year behind enemy lines must have been difficult, especially in such an old ship.”
“We had it no harder than anyone else,” Ramblin said as she retrieved a freshly created uniform top from the replicator. “Those old Averdyne engines were damned reliable and with Cutter in charge, we were never going to get taken out.” Without a second thought, she pulled her top off, almost taking off the vest below with it.
Huntington get the gentlemanly thing and averted his gaze.
Ramblin had her top on now. “There,” she said. “How do I look?”
“Very nice,” he said, diplomatically. “You might want to brush your hair again.”
“Back in a minute,” she replied and headed back into her room. As soon as she did, she glanced at the small glass vase that sat on a small corner table in her bedroom.
“Crap,” she muttered, hoping that Huntington hadn’t seen it. She picked up the vase and carried it into the bathroom with her. The four reeds, each of them topped with blue flowers, seemed to be thriving on the nutrient gell that she had borrowed from the Botany Department. Still, she had brought them aboard secretly and, if Commander Masafumi was to be beleived, they were possibly sentient as well. Of course, when she had picked them, she hadn’t know that and by the time that she found out, the reeds were already in her room. It seemed silly to say something at the time and besides, she doubted that they could be replanted on Nendri Four and they seemed to be thriving here. So she felt that the best course of action was to do nothing. Now, as she dragged a brush through her blonde hair, she found herself regretting her decision for about the hundredth time. It was far too late to say anything now and she couldn’t just dispose of the flowers since they could very well be alive.
“How do I get myself into these situations?,” she asked her reflection quietly.
Finally satisifed that her hair didn’t look too bad, she walked back out to where Huntington was waiting. “Ready,” she declared.
“Just in time,” he replied. “We’ll meet the others at the Transporter Room.”
“Who’s going?”
“Just the four of us. The Captain and Commander Masafumi plus us.”
Ramblin swallowed hard. “I’m the only junior officer going?,” she asked him.
Huntington nodded. “The Captain didn’t want to take a large group over there and since Captain Cutter had already requested your presence…”
“He did?” Louise’s face lit up at that.
Huntington frowned. “Haven’t you spoken with him since we met up?,” he asked her.
Ramblin shook her head. “No. Captain Cutter isn’t big on communication. In fact, this will be the first time that I’ve seen him since I left the Lusitania. It’s just his way.”
“Well, we had better be moving or else we’ll miss the starter.”
****
“Damn, you look sexy,” Zia Kehen said while she watched Yashiro Masafumi straighten his collar in the mirror. “It’s lucky that you have a prior engagement or else I wouldn’t let you out of here.”
He smiled. “My luck is getting poorer all the time.”
“Aww,” she said, her blue-green skin blushing slightly. She strode up behind him and slipped her arms around his waist. Gently kissing him on the back of his neck, she said,” You know, flattery will get you absolutely everywhere.”
He turned around within her arms and kissed her. “I could always say that I wasn’t feeling well?,” he suggested.
“Yashiro Masafumi lie to his Commanding Officer?! The Universe would have a fit. No, you go and enjoy yourself,” she said, kissing her again.
A moment later and the door chimes rang. “That’ll be my date,” he joked.
“Ha!,” Kehen said, breaking away and slapping his chest. “You just remember who you belong to, Mister.”
“I will,” he said, heading for the door. “So, what do you have planned for tonight?”
“Not much. Azahn has a new holodeck program that he wanted to show us.”
“Us?”
“Valian and me.”
“I see. A hot date with Mister Kandro? Just remember who you belong to.”
She smiled mischievously. “Will do. Now go!”
Masafumi took a last glance at the woman that he loved and left.
“Incoming!,” shouted Lieutenant Commander Adam Huntington from Tactical.
“Evasive maneuvers,” began Captain Isabel Cardonez. “Get me a lock on them!”
“Too late. We’re hit.”
“Damn it! Damage report?”
On her right side, Commander Yashiro Masafumi swung his console towards him. “Shields are down. There are hull breaches on Decks Four, Seven, Ten, Eleven, Twelve, and Nineteen. The structural integrity field is down. Warp core is breached and – “
“Wouldn’t it be easier to just say that ‘We’re dead”’,” asked Lieutenant Valian Kandro from the Ops position, a smile on his face.
“Perhaps,” replied the Testudo’s First Officer dryly. “However, the Captain has requested a comprehensive damage report.”
“What’s the conclusion of that report, Commander?!,” snapped Cardonez.
“Simple. Testudo has been completely destroyed with all hands.”
Cardonez smashed her right fist down hard onto her armrest. “Where the hell was he?!,” she barked.
“Uhhh… well, it appears that the Lusitania was secreted inside the tail of the RG-Four comet,” replied Kandro.
Cardonez fixed him with a harsh stare. “I was under the impression that you were keeping an eye on that comet, Mister Kandro.”
Kandro kept his back to her and winced. “I was, Captain. It’s difficult to spot anything inside of there. My sensors picked them up but it was too late. They had already fired.”
“He’s hailing us,” reported Huntington.
“He probably wants to gloat again!,” said Zia Kehen.
Cardonez thumped both fists down onto her armrests this time before she sat back in her chair.
“Better?,” asked Masafumi.
“No,” she seethed before she smiled. “Calmer, though. Okay, you might as well patch him through.”
The viewscreen shimmered and the view was replaced by a vision of the opposing ship’s Bridge. Cardonez still found it odd to see his First Officer sitting in front of him. However, a man with his kind of reputation could get away with almost anything that he liked.
“Captain Cutter, you got us again.”
Cutter smiled and shrugged. “Three simulations and three kills. You shouldn’t feel so bad. The last Captain who beat me was Eddie Jellico and that was five years ago.”
“I thought we had you this time when we forced you to disengage.”
“Almost. I just had to regroup and get creative in sneaking up on you. You are trickier than most, Captain Cardonez. I’ll give you that.”
“I am curious,” said Masafumi. “Your ship was still in far better shape than ours. Yet you chose not to press home with the advantage. Why?”
“Because my advantage was too slim,” replied Cutter. “I would have taken far too much damage destroying you and I would have left myself wide open to attack from anyone else out there.”
“It is just a simulation,” said Cardonez. “There was no one else to attack.”
“That’s no difference. That’s why I don’t lose. Because I treat every combat as the same, rear or not.” Cutter’s smile widened. “Well, I had better debrief my crew. Same time tomorrow?”
“I wouldn’t miss it,” said Isabel. The viewscreen shimmered once more until it showed the other starship with the comet chasing away into the distance behind it.
“Tell me that you’re going to beat him tomorrow,” said Kandro. “I want to smash that arrogant smile off of his face.”
Cardonez sighed. “The trouble is that it isn’t arrogance, Valian. He really is that good.”
****
A few minutes later and Captain Cardonez had retired to her Ready Room to compose a log entry.
Captain’s Log, Stardate 55528.9;
We’re now in our third day of routine combat maneuvers and already my crew’s confidence and morale are dropping fast. While I understand it and indeed, welcome it, Starfleet’s policy is that all starships undergo regular exercises like this. After all, the war caught a lot of ships unprepared. I feel that throwing us up against a man like Ramius Cutter is helping no one. I mean, it isn’t like he needs the practice. Hell, the man’s work was standard reading back when I was at Starfleet Academy.
I know that Starfleet expects us to learn from him but having our ship blown to smithereens every day is teaching us nothing. And we still have another week to go.
Cardonez paused the recording when she heard the chirp of the intercom system. She tapped a control on the deck before her. “Cardonez here.”
“Captain,” came Commander Masafumi’s voice,” I have a signal coming through from the Lusitania. Captain Cutter for you.”
Cardonez sighed. “Patch him through,” she said, swiveling the computer console on her desk towards her. A second later and Cutter appeared. It looked like he was sitting in his Ready Room as well.
“Captain Cutter,” she asked,” what can I do for you?”
He smiled. “Please call me Ramius,” he said.
Cardonez smiled back. “I do like being on first name terms with a man who had killed me three times,” she said. “I suppose you might as well call me Isabel.”
He nodded. “Then we’re agreed. Less formality.”
“Agreed,” she replied. “So, I don’t suppose you would like to let us win tomorrow?”
His smile faded. “I’ll assume that you’re joking,” he said, his voice heavy.
“Of course,” she said. “After all, what would my lot learn then?” Her smile was somewhat forced now. If there was one thing that she hated, it was people who took her seriously when she was obviously joking.
Cutter’s smile reappeared with practiced ease. “Of course. I’m sorry. When you have a Bridge crew with no sense of humor, it’s sometimes contagious.”
“Of course,” she answered but she remained unconvinced. “So, Ramius, what can I help you with?”
“Nothing official. I was hoping that you and a few members of your command staff might join us for dinner this evening.”
Cardonez thought for a moment. She hated formal engagements and she wasn’t sure that she liked Cutter’s attitude. However, it didn’t pay to piss off your fellow Captains. “We would love to,” she replied. “Who should I bring?”
He shrugged. “You choose. I only insist that you bring your Chief Engineer along. It’s been too long since I’ve seen her.”
“Yes, she did mention that she was looking forward to seeing you again. How long has it been?”
“Since before she signed aboard Testudo. She wanted to come back to the Lusitania… I mean, the new Lusitania, but I told her that she would be better off, flying the nest.”
“Well, I can’t see that bringing her would raise any problems. I’ll see who else I can round up.”
“Excellent,” said Cutter. “Shall we say nineteen hundred hours?”
Cardonez nodded. “That sounds fine. We’ll beam across then.” She was about to add ‘Cardonez out’, when Cutter stopped her.
“There was one other matter. It is rather delicate,” he said. His smile had faded away again and it was replaced with a look of something that was similar to embarrassment now.
“What is it?”
“Hmmm,” said Cutter as though he was putting off having to say anything for a few seconds. “There isn’t an easy way of saying this but I hope that you’ll understand my reasons. You have a Betazoid on your command staff, a Lieutenant Kandro?”
“Yes, I do,” she replied warily.
“Of course,” he said with a thin smile. “I would like to request that you don’t bring him with you this evening.”
Alarm bells began to ring at the back of Isabel’s mind now. “May I ask why?”
“You may,” said Cutter. “My First Officer was… Well, there isn’t a polite way of putting it. She was raped several years ago. Not just a physical attack either. The assailant was a Betazoid. He invaded her thoughts and emotions too.” He paused and Cardonez saw a pained expression descend over his face. It seemed to age him by several years. For her part, a cold shiver ran down her spine at the mention of the word rape.
“She has a bit of an aversion to all Betazoids now,” resumed Cutter. “I know it’s irrational. Certainly, she does, but it is there, nonetheless. I hate to ask but – “
Cardonez shook her head. “That’s fine, Ramius. I fully understand and I think that Valian will too.”
“I would rather that this stays between us.”
“Of course. I have to leave someone in command. He’s as good a choice as any.”
“Thank you for your understanding. I’ll see you at seven. Cutter out.” The Starfleet emblem replaced Cutter’s image on the small screen.
Cardonez sighed and after a momentary pause, she tapped her combadge. “Cardonez to Masafumi. Can I see you in my Ready Room for a moment, Commander?”
“On my way.”
Cardonez sat back in her chair and wondered if there was any way of getting out of this evening’s dinner.
****
“Shit!,” Louise Ramblin said while she rifled through the pile of clothes on her bed, tossing items over her shoulder. “Shit! Shit! Shit!,” she repeated and then the door chimes rang. “Shit!”
She was half-dressed and it was six forty-five. She had her formal trousers on but they didn’t match with the top half of her dress uniform. Instead, all that she wore was a tight-fitting blue vest. As the door chimes rang again, she grabbed the nearest top that she could see. It was a sequined purple number that she was sure that she hadn’t worn in years and pulled it over her head before she stumbled towards the door.
Adam Huntington wore a crooked smile when he took in the sight that greeted him. “Oh, no, did they change the dress uniform again and nobody told me?,” he asked lightheartedly.
On any normal day, the sight of Adam Huntington at her door would have sent her heart fluttering. She would never admit it to anyone aboard but she had a small crush on the Testudo’s Chief of Security. She wasn’t alone either. She knew aboard half a dozen other female officers and, at least, two male ones, who were quite vocal in the fact that they went weak in the knees when Huntington was around. She wasn’t that bad and she certainly wasn’t in the habit of telling anyone but the crush was there.
Here he was, standing in the doorway to her quarters, looking more handsome than she had ever seen him before. The white dress uniform looked as good on him as a tuxedo would. Here he was and while on any normal day, the thoughts running through her mind would have followed the lines of ‘Isn’t he handsome?’ Or ‘Oh if only you weren’t married’ today but all that she wanted to do was strike him.
She didn’t, of course.
Ramblin was many things but suicidal wasn’t one of them. Instead she gritted her teeth and counted to ten. Then, seeing that several people were walking past her door and giving her clothing unpleasant looks, she beckoned Huntington inside, allowing the door to close.
“I can’t find the top half of my dress uniform,” she said. “Isn’t that just typical?!”
Huntington knew that the question was rhetorical but he couldn’t resist. “I don’t know. Mine was hanging up where it always is.”
She gave him a hard stare of the kind that she usually reserved for Valian Kandro.
“Sorry,” he said with a smile.
“Make yourself at home while I keep looking,” she said and disappeared back into her room.
Huntington went to sit down and he found that the sofa was piled high with PADDs and items of clothing. “Maid’s day off?”
Ramblin ducked her head through her doorway. “What? Oh, sorry. I’m usually a lot tidier but I’ve been throwing things left and right, looking for my uniform and a few presents that I’ve acquired for some of my old friends.” She ducked back out of sight again.
Huntingtin stood, tapping his toes for several minutes and a series of bangs, crashes, and curses emanated from the room next door. Finally, he gingerly walked over and stuck his head around the corner. If he hadn’t known better, he would have thought that a grenade had gone off in her room. Ramblin was standing in the middle of a pile of crumpled clothing, an angry look on her face.
“Lieutenant?”
“Yes?,” she replied, the fight having gone out of her now.
“Might I suggest just replicating a new uniform top?,” he offered.
Ramblin laughed. “I’m sorry. I don’t usually act like the Doc, you know?,” she said, striding past him and back into the living room area and up to the replicator. Punching in several commands, she turned her head to look at Huntington. “I’m just a bit nervous about seeing Captain Cutter.”
“You served with him for a long time?”
She nodded. “Pretty much straight out of the Academy and onto the Lusitania.” She looked wistful all of a sudden. “Have you ever served on a Constellation-class before?”
“The Trafalgar,” he replied. “An awful long time ago.”
“It probably wouldn’t be as moving of an experience for you as me. Did you know that I was born on one?” He shook his head. “The Libra, on deep-range exploration. I spent my first three years on that damned ship. Stepping onto the Lusitania was like coming home.”
“You spent the war there?”
“Uh-huh,” she nodded.
“A year behind enemy lines must have been difficult, especially in such an old ship.”
“We had it no harder than anyone else,” Ramblin said as she retrieved a freshly created uniform top from the replicator. “Those old Averdyne engines were damned reliable and with Cutter in charge, we were never going to get taken out.” Without a second thought, she pulled her top off, almost taking off the vest below with it.
Huntington get the gentlemanly thing and averted his gaze.
Ramblin had her top on now. “There,” she said. “How do I look?”
“Very nice,” he said, diplomatically. “You might want to brush your hair again.”
“Back in a minute,” she replied and headed back into her room. As soon as she did, she glanced at the small glass vase that sat on a small corner table in her bedroom.
“Crap,” she muttered, hoping that Huntington hadn’t seen it. She picked up the vase and carried it into the bathroom with her. The four reeds, each of them topped with blue flowers, seemed to be thriving on the nutrient gell that she had borrowed from the Botany Department. Still, she had brought them aboard secretly and, if Commander Masafumi was to be beleived, they were possibly sentient as well. Of course, when she had picked them, she hadn’t know that and by the time that she found out, the reeds were already in her room. It seemed silly to say something at the time and besides, she doubted that they could be replanted on Nendri Four and they seemed to be thriving here. So she felt that the best course of action was to do nothing. Now, as she dragged a brush through her blonde hair, she found herself regretting her decision for about the hundredth time. It was far too late to say anything now and she couldn’t just dispose of the flowers since they could very well be alive.
“How do I get myself into these situations?,” she asked her reflection quietly.
Finally satisifed that her hair didn’t look too bad, she walked back out to where Huntington was waiting. “Ready,” she declared.
“Just in time,” he replied. “We’ll meet the others at the Transporter Room.”
“Who’s going?”
“Just the four of us. The Captain and Commander Masafumi plus us.”
Ramblin swallowed hard. “I’m the only junior officer going?,” she asked him.
Huntington nodded. “The Captain didn’t want to take a large group over there and since Captain Cutter had already requested your presence…”
“He did?” Louise’s face lit up at that.
Huntington frowned. “Haven’t you spoken with him since we met up?,” he asked her.
Ramblin shook her head. “No. Captain Cutter isn’t big on communication. In fact, this will be the first time that I’ve seen him since I left the Lusitania. It’s just his way.”
“Well, we had better be moving or else we’ll miss the starter.”
****
“Damn, you look sexy,” Zia Kehen said while she watched Yashiro Masafumi straighten his collar in the mirror. “It’s lucky that you have a prior engagement or else I wouldn’t let you out of here.”
He smiled. “My luck is getting poorer all the time.”
“Aww,” she said, her blue-green skin blushing slightly. She strode up behind him and slipped her arms around his waist. Gently kissing him on the back of his neck, she said,” You know, flattery will get you absolutely everywhere.”
He turned around within her arms and kissed her. “I could always say that I wasn’t feeling well?,” he suggested.
“Yashiro Masafumi lie to his Commanding Officer?! The Universe would have a fit. No, you go and enjoy yourself,” she said, kissing her again.
A moment later and the door chimes rang. “That’ll be my date,” he joked.
“Ha!,” Kehen said, breaking away and slapping his chest. “You just remember who you belong to, Mister.”
“I will,” he said, heading for the door. “So, what do you have planned for tonight?”
“Not much. Azahn has a new holodeck program that he wanted to show us.”
“Us?”
“Valian and me.”
“I see. A hot date with Mister Kandro? Just remember who you belong to.”
She smiled mischievously. “Will do. Now go!”
Masafumi took a last glance at the woman that he loved and left.
Chapter Two
The first thing that Captain Isabel Cardonez saw when she materialized onto the transporter platform was the nervous expression on the face of the transporter operator. A young Human woman, she guessed that she was barely out of the Academy.
Standing just shy of the platform was another person. A slightly overweight man in a gold-trimmed uniform. When they had finished materializing into solid forms, he stepped forward. “Captain Cardonez,” he said, extending his right hand,” welcome aboard. I’m Lieutenant Kerr, Chief Engineer. The Captain asked me to greet you and escort you to the dining room.”
Cardonez stepped off the platform and took the proffered hand. She estimated that Kerr was in his late forties. His face was round but his forehead was heavily lined because he spent too much of his time worrying. His eyes were a dark brown and a short dark bristle covered his head.
“I’m pleased to meet you,” she replied.” This is my First Officer, Commander Masafumi.” Kerr shook hands with Masafumi. “And my Tactical Officer, Lieutenant Commander Huntington.”
“Commander,” Kerr said, grasping his hand,” I heard that you’ll be accompanying us back to Starbase Seventy-Four when we finish up here.”
Huntington nodded.
“And I think you might know my Chief Engineer,” said Cardonez.
Kerr laughed when he looked at Ramblin. “Well, look what the cat dragged in,” he said. “It’s nice to see you again, Loopy.” Cardonez detected a lot of warmth in his words.
Ramblin sighed. “It’s nice to see you too, Harvey.”
“Loopy?,” whispered Huntington when they stepped off of the platform together.
“Don’t ask,” she replied. “And if anyone tells Kandro, I won’t be held responsible for my actions.”
“Was there a problem with the transport?,” asked Masafumi. Cardonez wasn’t surprised that he saw the worried look on the face of the transporter operator as well.
“It’s nothing too serious,” said Kerr. “A second or two before you beamed aboard, an ion storm blew up out of nowhere.”
“Is it serious?,” asked Cardonez.
Kerr shook his head. “It’s only Level Three on the Verek scale. Ensign Kelly was a trifle worried but I have faith in her.”
“It’s the first time that I ever had to beam anyone through an ion storm,” the young woman said croakily.
“Captain Cutter believes in throwing people off of the deep end,” added Kerr. “As I’m sure that Loopy can testify.”
Ramblin rolled her eyes at the use of that nickname but Cardonez saw the smile on her lips. The Captain was certain that if anyone aboard the Testudo called her Loopy, blood would be spilled. However, her Chief Engineer seemed to be at home with the ribbing here.
“Do you have any estimation on the duration of the storm?,” asked Masafumi.
“Our Science Department estimates between sixteen and twenty hours. I think that the Captain wants to go ahead with tomorrow’s simulation anyway,” said Kerr. “If that’s okay with you, of course?”
Cardonez saw the challenge in his words. “It’ll be fine. It won’t be the first ion storm that we’ve encountered out here in Sector 29004. It might even give us an edge.”
“It might at that,” smiled Kerr but his voice was flat.
“It shouldn’t affect us too much,” said Masafumi, sensing a verbal battle in the offing. “It will mean that we’re out of communication with Starfleet for the duration.”
Cardonez smiled at her First Officer. He knew that she was well aware of the effect of ion storms on subspace communication but she appreciated what he had done. Turning her attention back to Kerr, she decided to change tack.
“I think we might have overdressed,” she said, gesturing to her dress uniform.
Kerr smiled. “The Captain doesn’t like to stand on ceremony. We were going to ask you to dress informally but the Captain always feels a little awkward in social engagements so we assumed that you would come in standard uniform. I’m sorry.”
“That’s okay,” said Huntington. “I don’t get to wear this often enough anyway.”
****
The walk to the Dining Hall took only a few minutes and one very short turbolift ride. Cardonez was left to her own devices for the majority of the trip with Ker and Ramblin taking the lead, chatting away like the two old friends that they obviously were. Meanwhile, Masafumi and Huntington were lost in a conversation about something or other as well.
She felt uneasy. There was something odd about this ship but she couldn’t put her finger on it. The walls were painted the same color and the uniforms of those officers that they passed were the same.
And yet…
She didn’t have any further time to think about it because they soon arrived at their destination.
“Here we go,” said Kerr before he slipped through the double doors when they slid open. The four Testudo officers followed close behind him.
This was obviously the Captain’s Private Dining Room which was much like her own but it was still large enough to accommodate a substantial dinner party. The room was obviously on the dorsal side of the Lusitania’s saucer section since the large windows were located upwards. Cardonez took pride in the sight of the Testudo hanging off in the distance.
On the wall opposite the window, a large painting hung, showing an old-style Constellation-class ship that she assumed was the original Lusitania and she was in the midst of battle with several Cardassian fighters. One fighter was tumbling away from the conflict, obviously badly damaged. Another fighter had been struck by phaser beams lancing out from the Starfleet vessel. Two other fighters were maneuvering in behind it, their weapons fire bouncing off of the Lusitania’s shields. Cardonez wasn’t much of an art critic but she knew enough – gleaned from her father and Doctor Hollem – to know that the painter was an amateur. The scale seemed to be all wrong, making the Constellation-class ship seem as large as a Galaxy-class ship when compared to the Cardassian ships. She assumed that the idea was to portray the Constellation-class ship as heroic and powerful.
To her, it just seemed to be sloppy and arrogant.
A single table ran almost the length of the room. It was curved like a scimitar and topped with dark frosted glass through which ran gold lines. She did a rough count of the seats and came up with, at least, twenty seats arrayed around the table. Only two of them were currently in use with Cutter and his First Officer sitting at one end of the table.
Cutter stood up. “Captain Cardonez, a pleasure to meet you in the flesh at last,” he said, offering her his hand.
Cardonez walked over to him and took it. “The pleasure is ours,” she said. Although he seemed to be frail, she wasn’t surprised at the vice-like grip that he exerted.
Cutter didn’t disagree with her. Instead he bade them all to sit. Cutter was sitting at the head of the table with his First Officer sitting to his immediate right. Isabel took the seat on his left side with Masafumi, and then Huntington by her side. Ramblin sandwiched herself between Cutter’s First Officer and Kerr.
“Now then, I think some introductions are in order,” said Cutter. “You’ve already met Mister Kerr here but this is my First Officer, Lieutenant Commander Nyota Motaba.”
Motaba nodded and Cardonez saw the faint scar that coursed down her face, wondering why the woman had chosen not to have it removed. Then she remembered what Cutter had said about the woman and she decided to stop looking.
“This is Commander Yashiro Masafumi, my First Officer,” she said.
“Ah,” Cutter said, knowingly,” you were at Three-Five-Nine, weren’t you?”
“I was.” Masafumi nodded.
“So was I,” Cutter replied. “I lost a good ship that day.”
“I believe it was the Firebrand,” said the Asian.
Cutter laughed with a rasping sound that rattled uneasily out of his throat. “I see that we’ve both done our homework.”
“Indeed.”
“Yes, a fine ship,” echoed the Lusitania’s Captain,” and a lot of good people.”
To Cardonez, his statement seemed like it was far too much of an afterthought. Assuming that he was finished with Masafumi, she introduced Huntington.
“Ah, the redoubtable Commander Huntington. Your reputation precedes you, sir. I remember when you caught Kara Milova in ‘fifty-six. I can tell you that there was a loud sigh of relief on many ships when that happened.”
“I was lucky,” said Huntington.
Cutter shrugged. “A good officer makes his own luck,” he said with another rasping laugh. “Heaven knows that I always have. Seriously though, Commander, how long was she active? Three years?”
“Actually, just over four.”
“Hmm, and she killed how many men?”
“Sixteen, I believe.”
“She was a nasty piece of work,” said Cutter. “So, you’re back off to the Academy?”
“Yes, I am,” said Huntington.
“Shame, shame. I expect that you’ll miss him?” Cutter directed the question at Cardonez.
She turned her head and smiled at Huntington. “Just a little.”
Cutter laughed again. “Well, no trying to steal Motaba off of me!,” he barked, pausing for a moment when he spoke again, his focus had shifted once again. “And what about you, Lieutenant? Working as hard as ever?”
“Yes, sir,” Ramblin said. It was the first words that she had uttered since she entered the room and Cardonez couldn’t believe the reverence with which she spoke them.
“I’m glad to hear it. I was very proud when I heard that you had been promoted. We all were.”
Ramblin smiled nervously and Cardonez could swear that she was blushing. “I’ll try not to let you down, sir.”
“Good. Keep it up.” Cutter turned back to face Cardonez. “You’ve got a good officer there. She wanted to come back here before she was transferred to the Testudo but I felt that it was important for her to fly out of the nest and gain some new experiences.”
“A worthy goal,” said Masafumi.
It was almost as though Cutter hadn’t heard him. “Yes, a damn good officer. I don’t take too many under my wing. Just the good ones.” He nodded to himself before tapping his combadge. “Cutter here. Please bring in the first course.”
****
Kehen felt like her arms were being torn out of their sockets. “Well, this is fun,” he gasped. Her arms were pulled up above her head and attached to a hook that was dangling from the ceiling.
“Try and get into the spirit of things, Zia,” Hollem Azahn gasped, similarly trussed up and hanging on her left side.
“Oh, yes,” Valian Kandro said from the other side of Hollem,” the spirit of things. If I knew what this program entailed, I wouldn’t have swapped shifts with Carson.”
“The prisoners must be silent!,” shouted the wicked-looking Vulcan standing just a few meters away. He was clothed in dark leather and brandished a laser whip.
“Ah, let the pitiful Humans speak. It does them no good,” said the other Vulcan sitting in the Cargo Bay. She was tall, slender, and with piercing dark eyes. Her ears ascended into almost impossibly sharp points. “Besides, when Doctor T’Pel gets their hands on them, they’ll beg to be allowed to scream.” She smiled lasciviously while she ran her slender fingers over the whip that she carried.
“Have I mentioned lately that none of us are Human?!,” seethed the Yulanian pilot.
The male Vulcan laughed. “Pitiful Humans. I wish we had never found this backwards planet. Whatever the High Council thinks that we can gain from you primitives is beyond me. Still, I enjoy the procedures.” He moved close to Kehen and ran the cold metal half of his whip down her cheek while she tried to pull away. “Especially the ones that we conduct on female prisoners.”
“You’ll never get away with this!,” Hollem said, dramatically but only because he knew that was the signal to move things along.
The Vulcan was programmed to respond to that statement with only one answer. “And who’s going to stop us?,” he asked, laughing maniacally.
That was when the roof exploded downwards before a lone figure dropped down to the floor.
“What the…,” the Vulcan male started to say.
“Oh, no…,” the Vulcan woman said, her voice quivering with un-Vulcan-like fear.
“Party’s over,” came the booming voice of the stranger. Kehen struggled to make out more than a shadowy figure but then he stepped into the light.
He was a Human in his late thirties, well over six-feet tall, and he was dressed in old-style dark combat fatigues. Kehen had heard the phrase ‘square-jawed’ many times since she began to associate with Humans but this was the first time that she saw someone who fitted the description so perfectly. The man looked almost like he had been hewn out of solid rock because he was so chiseled. His hair was gray and in a crew cut. His eyes were blue, narrow, and he had a cigar clamped between his teeth. In each of his hands, he gripped a shiny machine pistol.
“Kirk Robinson!,” exclaimed the Vulcan woman.
“We’re doomed!,” shouted her partner.
“Damn straight!,” said Kirk. Without another word, both machine pistols spat out death, perforating the male Vulcan and knocking him to the floor. He was dead before he hit the ground. The female Vulcan screamed and tried to get out of her chair.
She was too slow.
Without even taking his fingers off of the triggers, Kirk strafed to the left, hitting her square in the chest. The impact of the bullets lifted her out of the chair and back against the wall where she hung for a second before sliding to the floor, leaving an ugly green stain when she did.
Kirk stopped firing now and surveyed the death and destruction that he had wrought. “Pussies,” he muttered before spitting out the cigar so it hit the dead Vulcan.
“Kirk, I knew you’d save us,” Hollem said, doing his best impersonation of a damsel in distress.
Robinson holstered both of his pistols and strode over to Hollem’s side. Grabbing the Bajoran around the waist, he kissed him hard.
“Ahem,” Kandro said before smiling. “Maybe you guys could get a room… after you cut us down, of course.”
“Sorry,” Robinson said before grabbing a large knife from the belt on his waist and cutting each of them down.
“Nice work,” Kehen said while she rubbed her wrists, trying to get circulation going through them again.
“It was nothing,” said Robinson. “Anything for friends of Azahn.”
“Now what?,” asked Kandro.
Hollem had knelt down by the nearest corpse and grabbed a disruptor pistol from the man’s belt. “Now what?,” he repeated as he stood up, brandishing the weapon. “Now we finish off every pointy-eared green-blooded freak on this ship and head home to Arkansas in time for apple pie.”
“Right on,” Robinson said, drawing his guns once more. “Let’s go!” He headed for the door with Hollem close behind him.
Kandro looked at Kehen and frowned.
She smiled and said,” Look on the bright side. At least, we aren’t hanging from the ceiling anymore.”
“I wish Huntington had never shown him those comic books,” the Betazoid said before the two of them wearily followed the holographic hero and his lovestruck sidekick.
****
The first course turned out to be Chicken Soup, accompanied by a white wine from Earth, circa 2307. The conversation was as mundane as the wine.
“So, Louise,” Cutter asked between mouthfuls,” how are your parents?”
“Fine,” she replied. “I saw my mother a few months ago.” Cardonez noticed that there was no mention of her father.
“How about your brothers?,” enquired Motaba.
“Fine, as always,” said Ramblin, somewhat testily. “All three of them are making my father proud.”
It looked as though Cutter was going to ask something else and Cardonez saw Ramblin tighten up somewhat when a flash of light outside of the windows interrupted anything when the ship shook momentarily.
Everyone around the table reacted to the light except for Cutter. He sat, as cool as before, carefully sipping at his soup.
“It’s just the storm,” Kerr said and he laughed nervously when another flash occurred.
“It’s like having a dinner party in a spooky old mansion,” said Huntington.
Cutter laughed at that. “Are we here to unmask a murderer, do you think?,” he asked and Cardonez saw her Tactical Officer grow slightly pale.
“This isn’t an Agatha Christie novel, Ramius,” she said as she finished the last of her soup.
“True enough,” replied Cutter. Silence followed when they finished their soup.
****
The main course was some kind of stew. Cutter called it borscht. They ate in silence. Several empty wine bottles stood as a testament to how much some of them had drunk. Especially Motaba.
It was Commander Masafumi that broke the silence. “I was under the impression that the Lusitania was stationed near the Gallivant System, keeping an eye on the Talarians.”
“We were,” answered Motaba,” but after nine months with no aggressive signs from the Talarians, the Federation dropped the local patrol from three ships to two. The Odessa and the Akira are still out there.” She drained her wineglass in one go. “You’re well informed about our past assignment. I had never heard of the Testudo before this exercise.” She smiled as though she was joking but Cardonez swore that she heard the same air of challenge in her voice that Kerr had demonstrated earlier.
If Masafumi had heard the challenge, he ignored it. “Normally, I don’t follow the fortunes of every little ship in the fleet,” – Isabel stifled a smile at that – ,” but my ex-wife and son live on Adrianis. So, as you can imagine, I have some slight interest in that area.”
“The Talarians are animals,” spat out Motaba. “Primitive fools who won’t even allow women to serve on their ships. Captain Cutter was laid up with Lopat Flu once and I had to deal with one of their Captains. He wouldn’t even speak to me. Our ships stood nose-to-nose for twenty-four hours.” She dabbed at her mouth with a napkin. “In the end, I had to get Lieutenant Kerr to take over command for the duration of the negotiations.”
“And trust me,” Kerr said with a friendly smile,” Commander Motaba hates to relinquish command to anyone, especially me.”
“It’s nice to see that nothing changes around here,” said Ramblin.
“Only how idiotic that Kerr can be,” said Motaba.
“Of course, Starfleet is wrong,” Cutter said, darkly, cutting through the air of jollity that was forming.
“About what?,” asked Huntington.
“The Talarians. I’ve watched them for a very long time. They were always prideful but now they have the technology to back up their arrogance. Did you know that there are still deliveries of Cardassian technology getting through, despite the sanctions?”
Cutter shook his head and continued. “No, mark my words. Before the year is out, they’ll attack. Probably Tylus. It’s the least defended colony within strike range.” He looked at Masafumi. “They won’t stop there. If I were you, I would get my family to move to a safer place.”
“I can’t see the Federation standing for the Talarians making more inroads. We were caught off-guard when they invaded Gallivant Four but I’m sure that we'll respond less diplomatically, next time,” said Huntington. “If there is a next time.”
“There will be,” said Cutter,” and I would have expected someone with your experience to know that the Federation has lost its stomach for a fight since the end of the war. Oh, we’ll be okay. The Talarians aren’t stupid. They’ll take three or four star systems and then they’ll be content to hold their territory, at least, for a few decades. They’re still expanding in other directions. They just want a buffer zone against us. It’s the signal that they’ll send out to the others… the Romulans, the Breen, and even the Klingons.”
“The Klingons are our allies,” said Cardonez.
Cutter laughed. “Really?,” he asked her with more than a hint of sarcasm in his voice. “Were they our allies, a hundred years ago? Or six years ago? I’ve read your personnel jacket, Captain. One of your ‘allies’ took your arm off on Solus Prime.”
Cardonez involuntarily rubbed her left arm. “I see your point,” she said,” but that doesn’t mean that we should start looking for enemies under every bed.”
“My latinum’s on the Cardassians,” Motaba said, suddenly. “Wine?” She had picked up a wine bottle.
Cardonez looked at her almost full glass and looked at the bottle. “I’m fine, thank you,” she said while the other Testudo officers all accepted refills. “You were saying, Commander?”
“Oh, yes, the Cardassians,” Motaba said. “There are already organizations trying to restore their pride. ‘Cardassia Reborn’ for example. I hear that it’s quite the movement.”
“A minor annoyance,” Huntington said with a smile,” or so I hear.”
“Now, yes, but every day, more and more Cardassians complain about the Federation's presence on their planet.”
“We’re helping them to rebuild their world,” said Masafumi. “The vast majority of Cardassians know that.”
“It’s foolish,” said Cutter. “Aiding an enemy to recover after a war.”
“Damn right,” said Motaba.
“We should have let them rot in the ruins and leave them as an example of what can happen if you mess with the Federation,” Kerr said, grinning.
“Animals,” the Lusitania’s First Officer said, downing another glass of wine and almost immediately pouring herself another glass.
“Sentient beings,” said her counterpart from the Testudo.
“Ha! That’s just what I would expect from someone who didn’t even make it to the party,” she said. Masafumi winced at her statement but he bit his tongue.
“I made it to the party if you can call it that,” Huntington said, his voice tightening,” and I saw the mess that the Dominion left at the end of the evening. Bodies piled high with no one left to bury them. Children starving in the streets and people living in modular shelters because there were no buildings left.”
Lusitania’s First Officer ignored him. “And what about you, Captain?,” she asked. “How do you feel about Cardassia?”
“The Romulan blood in her veins probably precludes her from any emotional feelings,” Kerr said. He smiled broadly to indicate that he was joking but she knew that he wasn’t.
Cardonez didn’t rise to the bait. She ignored the monkeys and stared straight at the organ grinder, Captain Cutter. “I say what I’ve always said and what I firmly believe in. Yesterday’s enemy is tomorrow’s ally.” She downed the wine in her glass. “I apologize, Captain Cutter. I hadn’t realized that this was another tactical exercise. Tell me. Do you always let your First Officer prod and probe while you watch for weaknesses?”
Deathly silence descended on the room while the seconds ticked by. Finally, Cutter smiled. “Of course. Don’t you?”
Now it was Isabel’s turn to smile. “I don’t tend to hide behind my First Officer in a fight. I like to stand by his side.” As the smile faded away from Cutter’s face, she pushed her seat back, dabbed her mouth with a napkin and stood up, tossing the napkin onto her half-eaten bowl of borscht. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m feeling rather tired. Thank you for your hospitality.”
Masafumi stood up next. “Actually, I’m feeling rather full. The borscht is quite filling. I think I’ll join you.”
“My wife makes a very appetizing borscht,” Huntington said when he followed suit. “I’ll have to send your chef her recipe.”
Cardonez looked down at Ramblin. “Of course, you can stay, Louise.”
A sudden flash from outside lit up the expression of confusion on her face. She was conflicted about what to do next and Cardonez felt for her. In the end, it was Cutter who made the decision for her.
“You should follow your Captain, Louise,” he said. “I think that this evening’s entertainment is over.”
“Okay,” she replied. “Maybe I could come back tomorrow? I would like to see some more of the old bunch.”
“Of course,” Cutter said in a fatherly manner. As Ramblin rose out of her seat, he looked up at Cardonez. “I trust that you can find your own way to the Transporter Room?”
“I think we can manage it,” said Cardonez.
“Until tomorrow then.”
“Until tomorrow.”
The first thing that Captain Isabel Cardonez saw when she materialized onto the transporter platform was the nervous expression on the face of the transporter operator. A young Human woman, she guessed that she was barely out of the Academy.
Standing just shy of the platform was another person. A slightly overweight man in a gold-trimmed uniform. When they had finished materializing into solid forms, he stepped forward. “Captain Cardonez,” he said, extending his right hand,” welcome aboard. I’m Lieutenant Kerr, Chief Engineer. The Captain asked me to greet you and escort you to the dining room.”
Cardonez stepped off the platform and took the proffered hand. She estimated that Kerr was in his late forties. His face was round but his forehead was heavily lined because he spent too much of his time worrying. His eyes were a dark brown and a short dark bristle covered his head.
“I’m pleased to meet you,” she replied.” This is my First Officer, Commander Masafumi.” Kerr shook hands with Masafumi. “And my Tactical Officer, Lieutenant Commander Huntington.”
“Commander,” Kerr said, grasping his hand,” I heard that you’ll be accompanying us back to Starbase Seventy-Four when we finish up here.”
Huntington nodded.
“And I think you might know my Chief Engineer,” said Cardonez.
Kerr laughed when he looked at Ramblin. “Well, look what the cat dragged in,” he said. “It’s nice to see you again, Loopy.” Cardonez detected a lot of warmth in his words.
Ramblin sighed. “It’s nice to see you too, Harvey.”
“Loopy?,” whispered Huntington when they stepped off of the platform together.
“Don’t ask,” she replied. “And if anyone tells Kandro, I won’t be held responsible for my actions.”
“Was there a problem with the transport?,” asked Masafumi. Cardonez wasn’t surprised that he saw the worried look on the face of the transporter operator as well.
“It’s nothing too serious,” said Kerr. “A second or two before you beamed aboard, an ion storm blew up out of nowhere.”
“Is it serious?,” asked Cardonez.
Kerr shook his head. “It’s only Level Three on the Verek scale. Ensign Kelly was a trifle worried but I have faith in her.”
“It’s the first time that I ever had to beam anyone through an ion storm,” the young woman said croakily.
“Captain Cutter believes in throwing people off of the deep end,” added Kerr. “As I’m sure that Loopy can testify.”
Ramblin rolled her eyes at the use of that nickname but Cardonez saw the smile on her lips. The Captain was certain that if anyone aboard the Testudo called her Loopy, blood would be spilled. However, her Chief Engineer seemed to be at home with the ribbing here.
“Do you have any estimation on the duration of the storm?,” asked Masafumi.
“Our Science Department estimates between sixteen and twenty hours. I think that the Captain wants to go ahead with tomorrow’s simulation anyway,” said Kerr. “If that’s okay with you, of course?”
Cardonez saw the challenge in his words. “It’ll be fine. It won’t be the first ion storm that we’ve encountered out here in Sector 29004. It might even give us an edge.”
“It might at that,” smiled Kerr but his voice was flat.
“It shouldn’t affect us too much,” said Masafumi, sensing a verbal battle in the offing. “It will mean that we’re out of communication with Starfleet for the duration.”
Cardonez smiled at her First Officer. He knew that she was well aware of the effect of ion storms on subspace communication but she appreciated what he had done. Turning her attention back to Kerr, she decided to change tack.
“I think we might have overdressed,” she said, gesturing to her dress uniform.
Kerr smiled. “The Captain doesn’t like to stand on ceremony. We were going to ask you to dress informally but the Captain always feels a little awkward in social engagements so we assumed that you would come in standard uniform. I’m sorry.”
“That’s okay,” said Huntington. “I don’t get to wear this often enough anyway.”
****
The walk to the Dining Hall took only a few minutes and one very short turbolift ride. Cardonez was left to her own devices for the majority of the trip with Ker and Ramblin taking the lead, chatting away like the two old friends that they obviously were. Meanwhile, Masafumi and Huntington were lost in a conversation about something or other as well.
She felt uneasy. There was something odd about this ship but she couldn’t put her finger on it. The walls were painted the same color and the uniforms of those officers that they passed were the same.
And yet…
She didn’t have any further time to think about it because they soon arrived at their destination.
“Here we go,” said Kerr before he slipped through the double doors when they slid open. The four Testudo officers followed close behind him.
This was obviously the Captain’s Private Dining Room which was much like her own but it was still large enough to accommodate a substantial dinner party. The room was obviously on the dorsal side of the Lusitania’s saucer section since the large windows were located upwards. Cardonez took pride in the sight of the Testudo hanging off in the distance.
On the wall opposite the window, a large painting hung, showing an old-style Constellation-class ship that she assumed was the original Lusitania and she was in the midst of battle with several Cardassian fighters. One fighter was tumbling away from the conflict, obviously badly damaged. Another fighter had been struck by phaser beams lancing out from the Starfleet vessel. Two other fighters were maneuvering in behind it, their weapons fire bouncing off of the Lusitania’s shields. Cardonez wasn’t much of an art critic but she knew enough – gleaned from her father and Doctor Hollem – to know that the painter was an amateur. The scale seemed to be all wrong, making the Constellation-class ship seem as large as a Galaxy-class ship when compared to the Cardassian ships. She assumed that the idea was to portray the Constellation-class ship as heroic and powerful.
To her, it just seemed to be sloppy and arrogant.
A single table ran almost the length of the room. It was curved like a scimitar and topped with dark frosted glass through which ran gold lines. She did a rough count of the seats and came up with, at least, twenty seats arrayed around the table. Only two of them were currently in use with Cutter and his First Officer sitting at one end of the table.
Cutter stood up. “Captain Cardonez, a pleasure to meet you in the flesh at last,” he said, offering her his hand.
Cardonez walked over to him and took it. “The pleasure is ours,” she said. Although he seemed to be frail, she wasn’t surprised at the vice-like grip that he exerted.
Cutter didn’t disagree with her. Instead he bade them all to sit. Cutter was sitting at the head of the table with his First Officer sitting to his immediate right. Isabel took the seat on his left side with Masafumi, and then Huntington by her side. Ramblin sandwiched herself between Cutter’s First Officer and Kerr.
“Now then, I think some introductions are in order,” said Cutter. “You’ve already met Mister Kerr here but this is my First Officer, Lieutenant Commander Nyota Motaba.”
Motaba nodded and Cardonez saw the faint scar that coursed down her face, wondering why the woman had chosen not to have it removed. Then she remembered what Cutter had said about the woman and she decided to stop looking.
“This is Commander Yashiro Masafumi, my First Officer,” she said.
“Ah,” Cutter said, knowingly,” you were at Three-Five-Nine, weren’t you?”
“I was.” Masafumi nodded.
“So was I,” Cutter replied. “I lost a good ship that day.”
“I believe it was the Firebrand,” said the Asian.
Cutter laughed with a rasping sound that rattled uneasily out of his throat. “I see that we’ve both done our homework.”
“Indeed.”
“Yes, a fine ship,” echoed the Lusitania’s Captain,” and a lot of good people.”
To Cardonez, his statement seemed like it was far too much of an afterthought. Assuming that he was finished with Masafumi, she introduced Huntington.
“Ah, the redoubtable Commander Huntington. Your reputation precedes you, sir. I remember when you caught Kara Milova in ‘fifty-six. I can tell you that there was a loud sigh of relief on many ships when that happened.”
“I was lucky,” said Huntington.
Cutter shrugged. “A good officer makes his own luck,” he said with another rasping laugh. “Heaven knows that I always have. Seriously though, Commander, how long was she active? Three years?”
“Actually, just over four.”
“Hmm, and she killed how many men?”
“Sixteen, I believe.”
“She was a nasty piece of work,” said Cutter. “So, you’re back off to the Academy?”
“Yes, I am,” said Huntington.
“Shame, shame. I expect that you’ll miss him?” Cutter directed the question at Cardonez.
She turned her head and smiled at Huntington. “Just a little.”
Cutter laughed again. “Well, no trying to steal Motaba off of me!,” he barked, pausing for a moment when he spoke again, his focus had shifted once again. “And what about you, Lieutenant? Working as hard as ever?”
“Yes, sir,” Ramblin said. It was the first words that she had uttered since she entered the room and Cardonez couldn’t believe the reverence with which she spoke them.
“I’m glad to hear it. I was very proud when I heard that you had been promoted. We all were.”
Ramblin smiled nervously and Cardonez could swear that she was blushing. “I’ll try not to let you down, sir.”
“Good. Keep it up.” Cutter turned back to face Cardonez. “You’ve got a good officer there. She wanted to come back here before she was transferred to the Testudo but I felt that it was important for her to fly out of the nest and gain some new experiences.”
“A worthy goal,” said Masafumi.
It was almost as though Cutter hadn’t heard him. “Yes, a damn good officer. I don’t take too many under my wing. Just the good ones.” He nodded to himself before tapping his combadge. “Cutter here. Please bring in the first course.”
****
Kehen felt like her arms were being torn out of their sockets. “Well, this is fun,” he gasped. Her arms were pulled up above her head and attached to a hook that was dangling from the ceiling.
“Try and get into the spirit of things, Zia,” Hollem Azahn gasped, similarly trussed up and hanging on her left side.
“Oh, yes,” Valian Kandro said from the other side of Hollem,” the spirit of things. If I knew what this program entailed, I wouldn’t have swapped shifts with Carson.”
“The prisoners must be silent!,” shouted the wicked-looking Vulcan standing just a few meters away. He was clothed in dark leather and brandished a laser whip.
“Ah, let the pitiful Humans speak. It does them no good,” said the other Vulcan sitting in the Cargo Bay. She was tall, slender, and with piercing dark eyes. Her ears ascended into almost impossibly sharp points. “Besides, when Doctor T’Pel gets their hands on them, they’ll beg to be allowed to scream.” She smiled lasciviously while she ran her slender fingers over the whip that she carried.
“Have I mentioned lately that none of us are Human?!,” seethed the Yulanian pilot.
The male Vulcan laughed. “Pitiful Humans. I wish we had never found this backwards planet. Whatever the High Council thinks that we can gain from you primitives is beyond me. Still, I enjoy the procedures.” He moved close to Kehen and ran the cold metal half of his whip down her cheek while she tried to pull away. “Especially the ones that we conduct on female prisoners.”
“You’ll never get away with this!,” Hollem said, dramatically but only because he knew that was the signal to move things along.
The Vulcan was programmed to respond to that statement with only one answer. “And who’s going to stop us?,” he asked, laughing maniacally.
That was when the roof exploded downwards before a lone figure dropped down to the floor.
“What the…,” the Vulcan male started to say.
“Oh, no…,” the Vulcan woman said, her voice quivering with un-Vulcan-like fear.
“Party’s over,” came the booming voice of the stranger. Kehen struggled to make out more than a shadowy figure but then he stepped into the light.
He was a Human in his late thirties, well over six-feet tall, and he was dressed in old-style dark combat fatigues. Kehen had heard the phrase ‘square-jawed’ many times since she began to associate with Humans but this was the first time that she saw someone who fitted the description so perfectly. The man looked almost like he had been hewn out of solid rock because he was so chiseled. His hair was gray and in a crew cut. His eyes were blue, narrow, and he had a cigar clamped between his teeth. In each of his hands, he gripped a shiny machine pistol.
“Kirk Robinson!,” exclaimed the Vulcan woman.
“We’re doomed!,” shouted her partner.
“Damn straight!,” said Kirk. Without another word, both machine pistols spat out death, perforating the male Vulcan and knocking him to the floor. He was dead before he hit the ground. The female Vulcan screamed and tried to get out of her chair.
She was too slow.
Without even taking his fingers off of the triggers, Kirk strafed to the left, hitting her square in the chest. The impact of the bullets lifted her out of the chair and back against the wall where she hung for a second before sliding to the floor, leaving an ugly green stain when she did.
Kirk stopped firing now and surveyed the death and destruction that he had wrought. “Pussies,” he muttered before spitting out the cigar so it hit the dead Vulcan.
“Kirk, I knew you’d save us,” Hollem said, doing his best impersonation of a damsel in distress.
Robinson holstered both of his pistols and strode over to Hollem’s side. Grabbing the Bajoran around the waist, he kissed him hard.
“Ahem,” Kandro said before smiling. “Maybe you guys could get a room… after you cut us down, of course.”
“Sorry,” Robinson said before grabbing a large knife from the belt on his waist and cutting each of them down.
“Nice work,” Kehen said while she rubbed her wrists, trying to get circulation going through them again.
“It was nothing,” said Robinson. “Anything for friends of Azahn.”
“Now what?,” asked Kandro.
Hollem had knelt down by the nearest corpse and grabbed a disruptor pistol from the man’s belt. “Now what?,” he repeated as he stood up, brandishing the weapon. “Now we finish off every pointy-eared green-blooded freak on this ship and head home to Arkansas in time for apple pie.”
“Right on,” Robinson said, drawing his guns once more. “Let’s go!” He headed for the door with Hollem close behind him.
Kandro looked at Kehen and frowned.
She smiled and said,” Look on the bright side. At least, we aren’t hanging from the ceiling anymore.”
“I wish Huntington had never shown him those comic books,” the Betazoid said before the two of them wearily followed the holographic hero and his lovestruck sidekick.
****
The first course turned out to be Chicken Soup, accompanied by a white wine from Earth, circa 2307. The conversation was as mundane as the wine.
“So, Louise,” Cutter asked between mouthfuls,” how are your parents?”
“Fine,” she replied. “I saw my mother a few months ago.” Cardonez noticed that there was no mention of her father.
“How about your brothers?,” enquired Motaba.
“Fine, as always,” said Ramblin, somewhat testily. “All three of them are making my father proud.”
It looked as though Cutter was going to ask something else and Cardonez saw Ramblin tighten up somewhat when a flash of light outside of the windows interrupted anything when the ship shook momentarily.
Everyone around the table reacted to the light except for Cutter. He sat, as cool as before, carefully sipping at his soup.
“It’s just the storm,” Kerr said and he laughed nervously when another flash occurred.
“It’s like having a dinner party in a spooky old mansion,” said Huntington.
Cutter laughed at that. “Are we here to unmask a murderer, do you think?,” he asked and Cardonez saw her Tactical Officer grow slightly pale.
“This isn’t an Agatha Christie novel, Ramius,” she said as she finished the last of her soup.
“True enough,” replied Cutter. Silence followed when they finished their soup.
****
The main course was some kind of stew. Cutter called it borscht. They ate in silence. Several empty wine bottles stood as a testament to how much some of them had drunk. Especially Motaba.
It was Commander Masafumi that broke the silence. “I was under the impression that the Lusitania was stationed near the Gallivant System, keeping an eye on the Talarians.”
“We were,” answered Motaba,” but after nine months with no aggressive signs from the Talarians, the Federation dropped the local patrol from three ships to two. The Odessa and the Akira are still out there.” She drained her wineglass in one go. “You’re well informed about our past assignment. I had never heard of the Testudo before this exercise.” She smiled as though she was joking but Cardonez swore that she heard the same air of challenge in her voice that Kerr had demonstrated earlier.
If Masafumi had heard the challenge, he ignored it. “Normally, I don’t follow the fortunes of every little ship in the fleet,” – Isabel stifled a smile at that – ,” but my ex-wife and son live on Adrianis. So, as you can imagine, I have some slight interest in that area.”
“The Talarians are animals,” spat out Motaba. “Primitive fools who won’t even allow women to serve on their ships. Captain Cutter was laid up with Lopat Flu once and I had to deal with one of their Captains. He wouldn’t even speak to me. Our ships stood nose-to-nose for twenty-four hours.” She dabbed at her mouth with a napkin. “In the end, I had to get Lieutenant Kerr to take over command for the duration of the negotiations.”
“And trust me,” Kerr said with a friendly smile,” Commander Motaba hates to relinquish command to anyone, especially me.”
“It’s nice to see that nothing changes around here,” said Ramblin.
“Only how idiotic that Kerr can be,” said Motaba.
“Of course, Starfleet is wrong,” Cutter said, darkly, cutting through the air of jollity that was forming.
“About what?,” asked Huntington.
“The Talarians. I’ve watched them for a very long time. They were always prideful but now they have the technology to back up their arrogance. Did you know that there are still deliveries of Cardassian technology getting through, despite the sanctions?”
Cutter shook his head and continued. “No, mark my words. Before the year is out, they’ll attack. Probably Tylus. It’s the least defended colony within strike range.” He looked at Masafumi. “They won’t stop there. If I were you, I would get my family to move to a safer place.”
“I can’t see the Federation standing for the Talarians making more inroads. We were caught off-guard when they invaded Gallivant Four but I’m sure that we'll respond less diplomatically, next time,” said Huntington. “If there is a next time.”
“There will be,” said Cutter,” and I would have expected someone with your experience to know that the Federation has lost its stomach for a fight since the end of the war. Oh, we’ll be okay. The Talarians aren’t stupid. They’ll take three or four star systems and then they’ll be content to hold their territory, at least, for a few decades. They’re still expanding in other directions. They just want a buffer zone against us. It’s the signal that they’ll send out to the others… the Romulans, the Breen, and even the Klingons.”
“The Klingons are our allies,” said Cardonez.
Cutter laughed. “Really?,” he asked her with more than a hint of sarcasm in his voice. “Were they our allies, a hundred years ago? Or six years ago? I’ve read your personnel jacket, Captain. One of your ‘allies’ took your arm off on Solus Prime.”
Cardonez involuntarily rubbed her left arm. “I see your point,” she said,” but that doesn’t mean that we should start looking for enemies under every bed.”
“My latinum’s on the Cardassians,” Motaba said, suddenly. “Wine?” She had picked up a wine bottle.
Cardonez looked at her almost full glass and looked at the bottle. “I’m fine, thank you,” she said while the other Testudo officers all accepted refills. “You were saying, Commander?”
“Oh, yes, the Cardassians,” Motaba said. “There are already organizations trying to restore their pride. ‘Cardassia Reborn’ for example. I hear that it’s quite the movement.”
“A minor annoyance,” Huntington said with a smile,” or so I hear.”
“Now, yes, but every day, more and more Cardassians complain about the Federation's presence on their planet.”
“We’re helping them to rebuild their world,” said Masafumi. “The vast majority of Cardassians know that.”
“It’s foolish,” said Cutter. “Aiding an enemy to recover after a war.”
“Damn right,” said Motaba.
“We should have let them rot in the ruins and leave them as an example of what can happen if you mess with the Federation,” Kerr said, grinning.
“Animals,” the Lusitania’s First Officer said, downing another glass of wine and almost immediately pouring herself another glass.
“Sentient beings,” said her counterpart from the Testudo.
“Ha! That’s just what I would expect from someone who didn’t even make it to the party,” she said. Masafumi winced at her statement but he bit his tongue.
“I made it to the party if you can call it that,” Huntington said, his voice tightening,” and I saw the mess that the Dominion left at the end of the evening. Bodies piled high with no one left to bury them. Children starving in the streets and people living in modular shelters because there were no buildings left.”
Lusitania’s First Officer ignored him. “And what about you, Captain?,” she asked. “How do you feel about Cardassia?”
“The Romulan blood in her veins probably precludes her from any emotional feelings,” Kerr said. He smiled broadly to indicate that he was joking but she knew that he wasn’t.
Cardonez didn’t rise to the bait. She ignored the monkeys and stared straight at the organ grinder, Captain Cutter. “I say what I’ve always said and what I firmly believe in. Yesterday’s enemy is tomorrow’s ally.” She downed the wine in her glass. “I apologize, Captain Cutter. I hadn’t realized that this was another tactical exercise. Tell me. Do you always let your First Officer prod and probe while you watch for weaknesses?”
Deathly silence descended on the room while the seconds ticked by. Finally, Cutter smiled. “Of course. Don’t you?”
Now it was Isabel’s turn to smile. “I don’t tend to hide behind my First Officer in a fight. I like to stand by his side.” As the smile faded away from Cutter’s face, she pushed her seat back, dabbed her mouth with a napkin and stood up, tossing the napkin onto her half-eaten bowl of borscht. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m feeling rather tired. Thank you for your hospitality.”
Masafumi stood up next. “Actually, I’m feeling rather full. The borscht is quite filling. I think I’ll join you.”
“My wife makes a very appetizing borscht,” Huntington said when he followed suit. “I’ll have to send your chef her recipe.”
Cardonez looked down at Ramblin. “Of course, you can stay, Louise.”
A sudden flash from outside lit up the expression of confusion on her face. She was conflicted about what to do next and Cardonez felt for her. In the end, it was Cutter who made the decision for her.
“You should follow your Captain, Louise,” he said. “I think that this evening’s entertainment is over.”
“Okay,” she replied. “Maybe I could come back tomorrow? I would like to see some more of the old bunch.”
“Of course,” Cutter said in a fatherly manner. As Ramblin rose out of her seat, he looked up at Cardonez. “I trust that you can find your own way to the Transporter Room?”
“I think we can manage it,” said Cardonez.
“Until tomorrow then.”
“Until tomorrow.”
Really very interesting character in Cutter and the dynamic of his crew makes an interesting contrast.
Thanks!! rbs
Thanks!! rbs
@Robert Bruce Scott, you haven't seen anything yet! LOL!
Chapter Three
It was the next morning and Captain Cardonez was on her way to the Bridge. She was just about to enter the turbolift when a cry of “Captain, wait!’ echoed after her. She stepped into the lift anyway but only to hold it while the owner of the shout caught up with her.
“Thanks, Captain,” Ramblin said when she jogged inside.
“You’re welcome. Coming up to the Bridge?”
“Yeah. I thought I could monitor Engineering just as well from up here.”
Cardonez nodded. “Bridge,” she ordered and the lift began to move.
“Captain, I would like to apologize for the way that Captain Cutter and the others behaved last night.”
Cardonez looked at her. “Halt,” she ordered the turbolift. “Louise, you have no reason to apologize for the actions of others.”
“I know but it was just so unlike them. I don’t feel like you’ve seen the real Ramius Cutter. That’s all.”
Cardonez gave the younger woman a smile. “Well, the very fact that he seems to inspire such loyalty says something about him, I suppose.”
“He’s an incredible man,” said Ramblin. “We spent a year behind enemy lines and they never even came close to getting us.”
“I appreciate his tactical acumen. Very few Captains get a starship renamed in their honor. The fact that Starfleet gave him another Lusitania speaks volumes but I’ve known some very good tacticians in my time and not all of them were particularly user-friendly. There must be more to your respect for Cutter than that.”
“There is. I suppose it’s the respect that he showed me. I never had much in the way of a strong male role model in my life,” said Ramblin. “My father never really appreciated having a daughter. There was my grandfather, of course, but he lost interest when the first of my brothers was born.” She smiled at that but it was a cold smile.
“Surely at the Academy…”
“There probably would have been, but all of the instructors were usually too busy to form any kind of bond with a student. No, Captain Cutter was right when he said that he took me under his wing. I needed it. I developed a bit of an attitude while I was at the Academy, especially with male instructors.”
“You don’t say,” said Cardonez.
Ramblin smiled. “Captain Cutter was different though. He treated me like an equal and not just as an unfortunate daughter.”
“I’m surprised that you ever left him.”
“Ramblin shrugged. “Well, when we got back from our jaunt behind the lines, Starfleet decommissioned the Lusitania. The Captain knew that it would be a while before he got another ship so he encouraged me to take another assignment.”
“You went to the Nobel, right?”
“Uh-huh. It wasn’t bad but it wasn’t great either. I don’t think their Captain spoke to me once while I was aboard. When I heard that Captain Cutter was getting a new ship, I requested a transfer and ended up here.” She gestured to the bulkheads around her.
“Sorry,” Cardonez said, lightheartedly.
“Don’t be. Look at me. I’m the Chief Engineer of a starship. So many people aboard believed in me. Commander Huntington, Commander Masafumi, you…” Louise paused noticeably before adding softly,” Lieutenant Tennyson. If there’s one thing that you have in common with Captain Cutter, it’s the fact that you both take an interest in your crew, even down to the lowest crewman.”
“I see. Well, I suppose we should see if we can fare any better against him today.” Isabel smiled before ordering the computer to resume their transit.
****
Seconds later, both women emerged on the Bridge. Ramblin headed for the Bridge Engineering station while Captain Cardonez took a seat in her command chair.
“How long until Showtime?,” she asked.
“The simulation will begin in four minutes,” said Masafumi.
“Excellent. And my request?”
“We have modified a Class-One probe to carry an ionic charge. Captain, what exactly do you intend to do with it?”
“You’ll see,” she said with a wry smile. “Let’s just say that it should even the odds.”
“It doesn’t seem to be entirely within the rules of the simulation, Captain.”
“Trust me, Yashiro. I went over the rules of engagement in great detail, last night in bed. We have to disconnect our phasers and torpedoes but there’s nothing in the rules that precludes us from launching a probe.”
“Captain,” said Huntington,” we’re being hailed.”
“On screen.”
Cutter was leaning forward in his command chair, a wide smile on his face. “Good morning, Captain Cardonez. I trust that you slept well?”
“Like a baby,” Cardonez replied. In truth, she barely had four hours. That’s how long she had spent, trying to find a way to outwit Cutter.
“Good, good.” He nodded. “I would just like to apologize over last night. Too much wine was flowing and some adrenaline is still running high after all of that mock combat. I’ve spoken with both Commander Motaba and Lieutenant Kerr. Both of them feel sorry about it.” Cutter smiled but it was the smile of a crocodile who was about to pounce. Cardonez couldn’t believe that he had shifted all responsibility onto his junior officers when he had made it plain, the night before, that he was the architect of the conversation. Still, this wasn’t the time to delve too deeply into that.
“That’s okay,” she replied. “I think we were all a bit on edge.”
“Excellent. Now then, I believe that the scenario is our choice today. Unless you would rather postpone because of the storm?”
“Not at all. I’m looking forward to it. Now then, as for the scenario… I chose number nineteen.”
Cutter frowned and checked the screen mounted into his chair’s armrest. He read a list of data before smiling. “The wounded bird scenario. I would have expected better from you, Captain. Still, it will be an interesting exercise. I’ll instruct Lieutenant Kerr to deactivate our warp – “
“Captain,” Cardonea said, cutting him off in mid-sentence.
“What?”
“You misunderstand,” she said with a smile. “We’ll be playing the bird.”
Cutter was phased by her remarks but only for a moment. “Giving up already, Captain? You can’t beat me so you decided to go for the option with the least amount of shame in losing?,” he queried her. “That doesn’t seem to be like you at all.”
“I like to be unpredictable.”
“Very well. We’ll begin our attack in two minutes.”
“Two minutes,” Cardonez repeated,” and may the best ship win.”
Cutter laughed. “Oh, we will,” he said before vanishing from the viewscreen.
Isabel turned around in her chair. “Lieutenant Ramblin, for the duration of this scenario, you will disable our warp drive.”
Ramblin looked at Cardonez and then locked eyes with Huntington. Her sense of disbelief was mirrored in his eyes but she followed orders. “Aye, sir.”
“Captain, have you, by chance, gone insane since the last time that I saw you?,” asked Huntington.
“Yes, I’m crazy.”
“Like the proverbial fox?,” Masafumi asked her, a lopsided grin appearing on his face.
“Captain, we can’t beat Cutter when we’re evenly matched,” said Huntington. “How do you expect us to beat him when we have the disadvantage of no warp drive?”
“Because this scenario has the easiest conditions for winning,” she replied. “We just have to stay alive for fifteen minutes.”
“Fifteen minutes,” Kandro said without looking up from his console. “We won’t last fifteen seconds.”
“Lieutenant Kandro is right,” said Huntington. “The Lusitania will make slashing runs at warp and cut us to pieces.”
“Don’t you trust me?,” Cardonez asked with a mock look of hurt on her face.
Huntington relented. “Usually, yes.”
“Good. So trust me now. I’m sure that Commander Masafumi can explain how we’re going to win this time.”
“The ionic charge,” he said. When the Security Chief looked blankly at him, Masafumi continued. “Ionic charges are of no use as a weapon. The charge that they impart are barely the equivalent to a Level-One storm, and the effect is limited to a small radius and a short duration. They’re mainly used to light up dark proto-nebulas. An ionic charge introduced into existent storm conditions have a ninety-six percent chance of exacerbating said conditions.”
“You’re going to make the storm worse?,” asked Kehen.
“Just temporarily,” said Cardonez. “By my calculations, we should be able to create a micro-storm that is the equivalent of Level Four on the Verek scale.”
Huntington smiled now. “And a Level-Four storm will have the effect of making warp drive impossible.”
“Not to mention blind every scanning device on both ships,” Kandro said. He had spun around in his chair and he was now looking in awe at his Captain. “Damnit, sometimes I forget just how devious that you can be.”
“I’ll try to take that as a compliment,” said Cardonez.
“I’m impressed,” said Masafumi. “I never knew you were that good of a scientist.”
“I’m not. Luckily, you are. Don’t you remember your third-year term paper on the properties of ionic storms?,” she asked, handing him a PADD.
“You read my work?,” asked a stunned First Officer when he took it.
“You read his work?,” echoed Kehen before she added,” “Even I don’t read his stuff. And I love him.”
“You should try,” said Cardonez. “If you can get past the big words, it even makes sense.” She smiled at Masafumi. “I just hope that this works.”
“Well, we’ll find out soon enough. Time’s up,” said Huntington. “The Lusitania is on an attack run.”
Cardonez’s smile disappeared when she said,” Shields up. Red Alert.”
****
On the Bridge of the Lusitania, Captain Cutter was barking orders. “Ensign Hopper, set course one-one-four, mark zero-zero-eight, warp two on my mark.”
“Course laid in,” replied the red-haired Ensign.
“Should I sever the modified beams?,” asked Motaba.
“Negative,” Cutter said, smiling. “Let’s allow Cardonez to think that this is still an exercise. For now.”
****
“Helm,” evasive pattern Cardonez-Seven,” cried out the Captain. “Full impulse.”
“Evasive pattern laid in,” Kehen replied.
“Go!”
Testudo began to swing hard to port when a streak of light arced past them at high warp.
“They’re firing,” reported Huntington. “Partial hit on the dorsal shields. Minimal damage.”
“Excellent,” said Cardonez. “Helm, come to one-four-seven, mark one-one-four. Tactical, prepare a spread of simulated torpedoes on my mark.”
“Affirmative. Here they come again.”
“Fire!”
****
“They’re firing torpedoes,” Motaba said. “Only one hit. We were traveling too fast to evade them.”
“Damage?,” asked Cutter.
“Forward shields are down to ninety percent.”
“And them?”
“We caught them with a full broadside. Multiple phaser hits.”
****
“Damage?!,” shouted Cardonez.
“They hit us badly,” Huntington replied. “Shields are at sixty percent.”
“Look out!,” cried out Kandro. On the main viewscreen, the aft section of the Challenger-class starship glowed red, three times.
“Evasive!”
Kehen’s fingers danced across the flat display screen of her console like a concert pianist. She input four random course deviations and executed a hard seventy degree turn to port.
“Nice flying but we got hit anyway,” said Huntington. “Shields are at thirty percent.”
“We have simulated hull breaches on Deck Six,” reported Kandro,” and we’ve lost power to Decks Thirteen through Fifteen.”
“That includes Engineering!,” Ramblin shouted out. “Emergency power only. I estimate that we’ll lose impulse power within three minutes.”
Masafumi looked at Cardonez. “Now might be a good time,” he said.
“Hold fast for the moment,” she replied. “If your theories are correct, that ionic charge will only create a micro-storm for twelve minutes. We need to hold out as long as we can.” She turned her attention to the tactical display on the main viewscreen. “Kehen, set a course away from the Lusitania, best speed. Commander, fire aft torpedoes and phasers at random targets. We might get lucky.”
****
On the Bridge of the Lusitania, Cutter almost leaped out of his chair. “She’s running! The stupid fool is running.”
“They’re randomly firing simulated phasers and photon torpedoes,” said Motaba. She turned around in her chair and sneered at Cutter. “Panic fire.”
Cutter laughed. “Really, it’s a shame. I had heard such fanciful things about Cardonez but she’s like all of the others.”
“I guess she got lucky at Pacifica,” said Motaba. “It’s typical of Starfleet to make heroes out of people like her. Damned half-breed. It’s people like Gavin who promote the likes of her that prevented you from becoming an Admiral.”
“Well, not for much longer, Nyota,” said Cutter. “Soon, things will be a lot different and you’ll get the Captaincy that you deserve.”
“Captain,” Lieutenant Kerr said from an aft Bridge station.
Cutter spun around in his chair to face his Chief Engineer. “Yes?”
Concern was etched on Kerr’s already lined face. “Sir, I must remind you that we have an appointment. We don’t have the time to waste, playing with Cardonez.”
“Worry wart,” Cutter snorted, turning back around. He sighed. “Unfortunately, you’re correct. It’s really a shame. I was quite looking forward to prolonging the agony for Cardonez and her uppity command staff.” He straightened his back. “Very well. Commander, sever the modified beams and prepare to target Testudo. I want her nacelles taken out on the first run.”
“And after that?”
“Then we cripple her.”
“Aye, sir,” said Motaba.
“Ensign, begin your run.”
****
“Here they come again,” said Huntington.
“Kehen, evasive.”
Under the skilled control of their Yulanian pilot, the Testudo swung left and right, dipping and rising - depending on your viewpoint - and otherwise moving as randomly as possible. Lusitania was at warp and she had more than enough time to slow down before she passed within a hundred meters of the Testudo’s upper levels. Then all too real streaks of crimson phaser fire spat forth from the attacking ship’s saucer section, sending a series of scorching strikes across the Testudo’s saucer section before consecrating her starboard warp nacelle.
****
Crewman Wyndra Chura was just twenty-years old and the Testudo was the Bolian woman’s first assignment. She had come aboard, just six months ago and every day was still an adventure for the young woman from Bolarus IX. She was the first member of her family to leave the Bolian Star System. When Lieutenant Ramblin had assigned her to the Starboard Nacelle Control Room, she had run to her room almost immediately to send word to her parents. They loved to hear about each and every new job that she was assigned, no matter how mundane.
Not that Chura thought of the Nacelle Control Room as mundane. It was actually quite an achievement that Ramblin thought of her as worthy of the role. She didn’t even think that she liked her. Then again, that was a sentiment shared by many people in Engineering.
On this particular day, she had little to do. The nacelles were inactive but they still had to be watched closely and Chura was throwing herself into the task. Giggling with delight with every time that the ship heaved around her, she imagined that the Testudo and the Lusitania were running rings around each other.
The last thing that she would ever see was a glimpse of the bulkhead when it started to glow red. A moment later, the hull exploded. Her body and all of her hopes and dreams were consumed in fire.
****
The Bridge was in disarray. Deep crimson emergency lighting had kicked in when the power had failed. Now the Bridge was illuminated in an eerie red glow.
Lieutenants Kehen and Kandro were frantically trying to coax any kind of response from their consoles while Commander Masafumi used an extinguisher to pull out a plasma fire raging on the far bulkhead.
“I’ll have power back in a few seconds!,” Ramblin shouted over the cacophony of noise emanating from both the fire extinguisher and the klaxon of the Red Alert siren.
“Good,” said Cardonez. “Commander, tactical status.”
“Not good,” said Huntington when his console sprang back to life. “We took some serious phaser fire to our starboard nacelle. I can’t raise shields and the weapons systems are still offline. I can’t sever the modifications.”
“Damage report!”
“The starboard nacelle is hulled,” said Kandro,” and we have hull breaches on Deck Two.”
“Power levels are at twenty percent!,” shouted Ramblin. “And I’m not sure how long I can keep them there.”
“I’ve only got thruster control,” reported Kehen.
With the plasma fire extinguished, Masafumi threw the near-empty extinguisher to one side and dropped back into the First Officer’s chair next to Cardonez. He proceeded to swing his console towards him. His face was blackened with soot.
“Casualty reports are coming in from all decks,” he said. “No numbers yet.”
“Where’s the Lusitania?”
“One hundred and sixty thousand kilometers and closing,” said Huntington. “She’s on an attack run.”
“Then this was definitely not an accident,” spoke Masafumi.
“I guess not,” said Isabel. “Commander, can you give me any good news on the shields or weapons?”
“Negative, Captain. It’ll take several minutes to get anything.”
“Damn it,” said Cardonez. On the main viewscreen, the Lusitania was closing on them. “Louise, I need impulse power now.”
Ramblin shook her head. “I can’t do it, Captain,” she cried. “The driver coil assembly is damaged and the EPS taps are fried. I can reroute them but it’ll take a few minutes.”
“We don’t have a few minutes,” muttered Huntington.
“Hail them!,” shouted Isabel.
“No response. They’ll be in firing range in ten seconds,” said Huntington.
Cardonez’s eyes narrowed while she watched death move towards her.
****
“Wounded bird, indeed,” Cutter said while he watched the stricken Testudo on the viewscreen. The New Orleans-class ship hung off-kilter in space and blue clouds of hydrogen drifted from her damaged warp nacelle.
“Target?,” Commander Motaba asked him.
“Their port nacelle and their impulse engines,” he replied. “I don’t want them going anywhere for a while.”
“Understood. We’ll be in range in … five…four… three… Wait, they’re launching a probe.”
“A probe?,” asked Cutter. “That’s the best that they can do? Launch a probe at us?” He laughed. “It’s of no consequence. If we’re in range, then fire.”
“Aye, sir,” Motaba said but before her fingers could hit the firing control, the ship shuddered as though it had been struck by a large bolt of lightning. Her sensors went blank and the viewscreen showered with nothing but static.
“What the hell?!,” Cutter barked. He turned around in his chair to face Kerr. “Report!”
“I can’t explain it,” the Chief Engineer said. “The storm just ratcheted up to Level Four. We’ve lost sensors and warp drive. I can’t establish a stable warp field.”
“Damn, she is lucky,” said Motaba.
Cutter stood up and walked over to Kerr’s station. “Too much of a coincidence for it to be luck. Especially when they’ve just launched a probe.” He tapped Kerr on his shoulder and asked,” Is there any way to artificially stimulate an ion storm?”
Kerr considered it for a moment. “I suppose so… yet. Why would you want to?”
Cutter smiled and returned to his position in the Captain’s chair. “Now it all makes sense with the wounded bird scenario. It seems that we’ve underestimated Captain Cardonez. Do we know how long this will last?”
“Negative,” said Kerr. “It could be a few minutes or anywhere up to an hour.”
“What about the size of the storm?”
“It’s probably quite small. You could create a localized effect quite easily but doing it, sector-wide, would take an almost impossible degree of power.”
“I have no targeting scanners but I could still fire manually,” said Motaba. “We know roughly where Testudo was. I could lay down a barrage and – “
“No,” Cutter interrupted her. “We don’t have the time and Testudo isn’t likely to be there anymore.” He rubbed at his nose. “We’ve slowed them down and by the time that they get their warp drive back up and running, we’ll be long gone.”
He turned towards Kerr. “I take it that we can use our impulse engines?”
Kerr nodded affirmatively.
“Good,” said Cutter and he turned around to face the front of the Bridge again. “Ensign, set a course, one-quarter impulse power. When we’ve cleared the storm, lay in a course for the specified coordinates and engage at Warp Nine.”
“Aye, sir,” said the Ensign, sitting at the Helm console.
Cutter kept his eyes focused on the static-filled screen, imagining that he could still see Testudo out there. “Commander,” he said.
“Yes, sir?”
“Should our paths ever cross again, remind me never to underestimate Cardonez again.”
“Yes, sir,” said Motaba.
Cutter smiled. “Well-played, Cardonez,” he whispered,” but next time, you won’t be so fortunate. Even Jellico only ever beat me once.” Then he chuckled to himself.
It was the next morning and Captain Cardonez was on her way to the Bridge. She was just about to enter the turbolift when a cry of “Captain, wait!’ echoed after her. She stepped into the lift anyway but only to hold it while the owner of the shout caught up with her.
“Thanks, Captain,” Ramblin said when she jogged inside.
“You’re welcome. Coming up to the Bridge?”
“Yeah. I thought I could monitor Engineering just as well from up here.”
Cardonez nodded. “Bridge,” she ordered and the lift began to move.
“Captain, I would like to apologize for the way that Captain Cutter and the others behaved last night.”
Cardonez looked at her. “Halt,” she ordered the turbolift. “Louise, you have no reason to apologize for the actions of others.”
“I know but it was just so unlike them. I don’t feel like you’ve seen the real Ramius Cutter. That’s all.”
Cardonez gave the younger woman a smile. “Well, the very fact that he seems to inspire such loyalty says something about him, I suppose.”
“He’s an incredible man,” said Ramblin. “We spent a year behind enemy lines and they never even came close to getting us.”
“I appreciate his tactical acumen. Very few Captains get a starship renamed in their honor. The fact that Starfleet gave him another Lusitania speaks volumes but I’ve known some very good tacticians in my time and not all of them were particularly user-friendly. There must be more to your respect for Cutter than that.”
“There is. I suppose it’s the respect that he showed me. I never had much in the way of a strong male role model in my life,” said Ramblin. “My father never really appreciated having a daughter. There was my grandfather, of course, but he lost interest when the first of my brothers was born.” She smiled at that but it was a cold smile.
“Surely at the Academy…”
“There probably would have been, but all of the instructors were usually too busy to form any kind of bond with a student. No, Captain Cutter was right when he said that he took me under his wing. I needed it. I developed a bit of an attitude while I was at the Academy, especially with male instructors.”
“You don’t say,” said Cardonez.
Ramblin smiled. “Captain Cutter was different though. He treated me like an equal and not just as an unfortunate daughter.”
“I’m surprised that you ever left him.”
“Ramblin shrugged. “Well, when we got back from our jaunt behind the lines, Starfleet decommissioned the Lusitania. The Captain knew that it would be a while before he got another ship so he encouraged me to take another assignment.”
“You went to the Nobel, right?”
“Uh-huh. It wasn’t bad but it wasn’t great either. I don’t think their Captain spoke to me once while I was aboard. When I heard that Captain Cutter was getting a new ship, I requested a transfer and ended up here.” She gestured to the bulkheads around her.
“Sorry,” Cardonez said, lightheartedly.
“Don’t be. Look at me. I’m the Chief Engineer of a starship. So many people aboard believed in me. Commander Huntington, Commander Masafumi, you…” Louise paused noticeably before adding softly,” Lieutenant Tennyson. If there’s one thing that you have in common with Captain Cutter, it’s the fact that you both take an interest in your crew, even down to the lowest crewman.”
“I see. Well, I suppose we should see if we can fare any better against him today.” Isabel smiled before ordering the computer to resume their transit.
****
Seconds later, both women emerged on the Bridge. Ramblin headed for the Bridge Engineering station while Captain Cardonez took a seat in her command chair.
“How long until Showtime?,” she asked.
“The simulation will begin in four minutes,” said Masafumi.
“Excellent. And my request?”
“We have modified a Class-One probe to carry an ionic charge. Captain, what exactly do you intend to do with it?”
“You’ll see,” she said with a wry smile. “Let’s just say that it should even the odds.”
“It doesn’t seem to be entirely within the rules of the simulation, Captain.”
“Trust me, Yashiro. I went over the rules of engagement in great detail, last night in bed. We have to disconnect our phasers and torpedoes but there’s nothing in the rules that precludes us from launching a probe.”
“Captain,” said Huntington,” we’re being hailed.”
“On screen.”
Cutter was leaning forward in his command chair, a wide smile on his face. “Good morning, Captain Cardonez. I trust that you slept well?”
“Like a baby,” Cardonez replied. In truth, she barely had four hours. That’s how long she had spent, trying to find a way to outwit Cutter.
“Good, good.” He nodded. “I would just like to apologize over last night. Too much wine was flowing and some adrenaline is still running high after all of that mock combat. I’ve spoken with both Commander Motaba and Lieutenant Kerr. Both of them feel sorry about it.” Cutter smiled but it was the smile of a crocodile who was about to pounce. Cardonez couldn’t believe that he had shifted all responsibility onto his junior officers when he had made it plain, the night before, that he was the architect of the conversation. Still, this wasn’t the time to delve too deeply into that.
“That’s okay,” she replied. “I think we were all a bit on edge.”
“Excellent. Now then, I believe that the scenario is our choice today. Unless you would rather postpone because of the storm?”
“Not at all. I’m looking forward to it. Now then, as for the scenario… I chose number nineteen.”
Cutter frowned and checked the screen mounted into his chair’s armrest. He read a list of data before smiling. “The wounded bird scenario. I would have expected better from you, Captain. Still, it will be an interesting exercise. I’ll instruct Lieutenant Kerr to deactivate our warp – “
“Captain,” Cardonea said, cutting him off in mid-sentence.
“What?”
“You misunderstand,” she said with a smile. “We’ll be playing the bird.”
Cutter was phased by her remarks but only for a moment. “Giving up already, Captain? You can’t beat me so you decided to go for the option with the least amount of shame in losing?,” he queried her. “That doesn’t seem to be like you at all.”
“I like to be unpredictable.”
“Very well. We’ll begin our attack in two minutes.”
“Two minutes,” Cardonez repeated,” and may the best ship win.”
Cutter laughed. “Oh, we will,” he said before vanishing from the viewscreen.
Isabel turned around in her chair. “Lieutenant Ramblin, for the duration of this scenario, you will disable our warp drive.”
Ramblin looked at Cardonez and then locked eyes with Huntington. Her sense of disbelief was mirrored in his eyes but she followed orders. “Aye, sir.”
“Captain, have you, by chance, gone insane since the last time that I saw you?,” asked Huntington.
“Yes, I’m crazy.”
“Like the proverbial fox?,” Masafumi asked her, a lopsided grin appearing on his face.
“Captain, we can’t beat Cutter when we’re evenly matched,” said Huntington. “How do you expect us to beat him when we have the disadvantage of no warp drive?”
“Because this scenario has the easiest conditions for winning,” she replied. “We just have to stay alive for fifteen minutes.”
“Fifteen minutes,” Kandro said without looking up from his console. “We won’t last fifteen seconds.”
“Lieutenant Kandro is right,” said Huntington. “The Lusitania will make slashing runs at warp and cut us to pieces.”
“Don’t you trust me?,” Cardonez asked with a mock look of hurt on her face.
Huntington relented. “Usually, yes.”
“Good. So trust me now. I’m sure that Commander Masafumi can explain how we’re going to win this time.”
“The ionic charge,” he said. When the Security Chief looked blankly at him, Masafumi continued. “Ionic charges are of no use as a weapon. The charge that they impart are barely the equivalent to a Level-One storm, and the effect is limited to a small radius and a short duration. They’re mainly used to light up dark proto-nebulas. An ionic charge introduced into existent storm conditions have a ninety-six percent chance of exacerbating said conditions.”
“You’re going to make the storm worse?,” asked Kehen.
“Just temporarily,” said Cardonez. “By my calculations, we should be able to create a micro-storm that is the equivalent of Level Four on the Verek scale.”
Huntington smiled now. “And a Level-Four storm will have the effect of making warp drive impossible.”
“Not to mention blind every scanning device on both ships,” Kandro said. He had spun around in his chair and he was now looking in awe at his Captain. “Damnit, sometimes I forget just how devious that you can be.”
“I’ll try to take that as a compliment,” said Cardonez.
“I’m impressed,” said Masafumi. “I never knew you were that good of a scientist.”
“I’m not. Luckily, you are. Don’t you remember your third-year term paper on the properties of ionic storms?,” she asked, handing him a PADD.
“You read my work?,” asked a stunned First Officer when he took it.
“You read his work?,” echoed Kehen before she added,” “Even I don’t read his stuff. And I love him.”
“You should try,” said Cardonez. “If you can get past the big words, it even makes sense.” She smiled at Masafumi. “I just hope that this works.”
“Well, we’ll find out soon enough. Time’s up,” said Huntington. “The Lusitania is on an attack run.”
Cardonez’s smile disappeared when she said,” Shields up. Red Alert.”
****
On the Bridge of the Lusitania, Captain Cutter was barking orders. “Ensign Hopper, set course one-one-four, mark zero-zero-eight, warp two on my mark.”
“Course laid in,” replied the red-haired Ensign.
“Should I sever the modified beams?,” asked Motaba.
“Negative,” Cutter said, smiling. “Let’s allow Cardonez to think that this is still an exercise. For now.”
****
“Helm,” evasive pattern Cardonez-Seven,” cried out the Captain. “Full impulse.”
“Evasive pattern laid in,” Kehen replied.
“Go!”
Testudo began to swing hard to port when a streak of light arced past them at high warp.
“They’re firing,” reported Huntington. “Partial hit on the dorsal shields. Minimal damage.”
“Excellent,” said Cardonez. “Helm, come to one-four-seven, mark one-one-four. Tactical, prepare a spread of simulated torpedoes on my mark.”
“Affirmative. Here they come again.”
“Fire!”
****
“They’re firing torpedoes,” Motaba said. “Only one hit. We were traveling too fast to evade them.”
“Damage?,” asked Cutter.
“Forward shields are down to ninety percent.”
“And them?”
“We caught them with a full broadside. Multiple phaser hits.”
****
“Damage?!,” shouted Cardonez.
“They hit us badly,” Huntington replied. “Shields are at sixty percent.”
“Look out!,” cried out Kandro. On the main viewscreen, the aft section of the Challenger-class starship glowed red, three times.
“Evasive!”
Kehen’s fingers danced across the flat display screen of her console like a concert pianist. She input four random course deviations and executed a hard seventy degree turn to port.
“Nice flying but we got hit anyway,” said Huntington. “Shields are at thirty percent.”
“We have simulated hull breaches on Deck Six,” reported Kandro,” and we’ve lost power to Decks Thirteen through Fifteen.”
“That includes Engineering!,” Ramblin shouted out. “Emergency power only. I estimate that we’ll lose impulse power within three minutes.”
Masafumi looked at Cardonez. “Now might be a good time,” he said.
“Hold fast for the moment,” she replied. “If your theories are correct, that ionic charge will only create a micro-storm for twelve minutes. We need to hold out as long as we can.” She turned her attention to the tactical display on the main viewscreen. “Kehen, set a course away from the Lusitania, best speed. Commander, fire aft torpedoes and phasers at random targets. We might get lucky.”
****
On the Bridge of the Lusitania, Cutter almost leaped out of his chair. “She’s running! The stupid fool is running.”
“They’re randomly firing simulated phasers and photon torpedoes,” said Motaba. She turned around in her chair and sneered at Cutter. “Panic fire.”
Cutter laughed. “Really, it’s a shame. I had heard such fanciful things about Cardonez but she’s like all of the others.”
“I guess she got lucky at Pacifica,” said Motaba. “It’s typical of Starfleet to make heroes out of people like her. Damned half-breed. It’s people like Gavin who promote the likes of her that prevented you from becoming an Admiral.”
“Well, not for much longer, Nyota,” said Cutter. “Soon, things will be a lot different and you’ll get the Captaincy that you deserve.”
“Captain,” Lieutenant Kerr said from an aft Bridge station.
Cutter spun around in his chair to face his Chief Engineer. “Yes?”
Concern was etched on Kerr’s already lined face. “Sir, I must remind you that we have an appointment. We don’t have the time to waste, playing with Cardonez.”
“Worry wart,” Cutter snorted, turning back around. He sighed. “Unfortunately, you’re correct. It’s really a shame. I was quite looking forward to prolonging the agony for Cardonez and her uppity command staff.” He straightened his back. “Very well. Commander, sever the modified beams and prepare to target Testudo. I want her nacelles taken out on the first run.”
“And after that?”
“Then we cripple her.”
“Aye, sir,” said Motaba.
“Ensign, begin your run.”
****
“Here they come again,” said Huntington.
“Kehen, evasive.”
Under the skilled control of their Yulanian pilot, the Testudo swung left and right, dipping and rising - depending on your viewpoint - and otherwise moving as randomly as possible. Lusitania was at warp and she had more than enough time to slow down before she passed within a hundred meters of the Testudo’s upper levels. Then all too real streaks of crimson phaser fire spat forth from the attacking ship’s saucer section, sending a series of scorching strikes across the Testudo’s saucer section before consecrating her starboard warp nacelle.
****
Crewman Wyndra Chura was just twenty-years old and the Testudo was the Bolian woman’s first assignment. She had come aboard, just six months ago and every day was still an adventure for the young woman from Bolarus IX. She was the first member of her family to leave the Bolian Star System. When Lieutenant Ramblin had assigned her to the Starboard Nacelle Control Room, she had run to her room almost immediately to send word to her parents. They loved to hear about each and every new job that she was assigned, no matter how mundane.
Not that Chura thought of the Nacelle Control Room as mundane. It was actually quite an achievement that Ramblin thought of her as worthy of the role. She didn’t even think that she liked her. Then again, that was a sentiment shared by many people in Engineering.
On this particular day, she had little to do. The nacelles were inactive but they still had to be watched closely and Chura was throwing herself into the task. Giggling with delight with every time that the ship heaved around her, she imagined that the Testudo and the Lusitania were running rings around each other.
The last thing that she would ever see was a glimpse of the bulkhead when it started to glow red. A moment later, the hull exploded. Her body and all of her hopes and dreams were consumed in fire.
****
The Bridge was in disarray. Deep crimson emergency lighting had kicked in when the power had failed. Now the Bridge was illuminated in an eerie red glow.
Lieutenants Kehen and Kandro were frantically trying to coax any kind of response from their consoles while Commander Masafumi used an extinguisher to pull out a plasma fire raging on the far bulkhead.
“I’ll have power back in a few seconds!,” Ramblin shouted over the cacophony of noise emanating from both the fire extinguisher and the klaxon of the Red Alert siren.
“Good,” said Cardonez. “Commander, tactical status.”
“Not good,” said Huntington when his console sprang back to life. “We took some serious phaser fire to our starboard nacelle. I can’t raise shields and the weapons systems are still offline. I can’t sever the modifications.”
“Damage report!”
“The starboard nacelle is hulled,” said Kandro,” and we have hull breaches on Deck Two.”
“Power levels are at twenty percent!,” shouted Ramblin. “And I’m not sure how long I can keep them there.”
“I’ve only got thruster control,” reported Kehen.
With the plasma fire extinguished, Masafumi threw the near-empty extinguisher to one side and dropped back into the First Officer’s chair next to Cardonez. He proceeded to swing his console towards him. His face was blackened with soot.
“Casualty reports are coming in from all decks,” he said. “No numbers yet.”
“Where’s the Lusitania?”
“One hundred and sixty thousand kilometers and closing,” said Huntington. “She’s on an attack run.”
“Then this was definitely not an accident,” spoke Masafumi.
“I guess not,” said Isabel. “Commander, can you give me any good news on the shields or weapons?”
“Negative, Captain. It’ll take several minutes to get anything.”
“Damn it,” said Cardonez. On the main viewscreen, the Lusitania was closing on them. “Louise, I need impulse power now.”
Ramblin shook her head. “I can’t do it, Captain,” she cried. “The driver coil assembly is damaged and the EPS taps are fried. I can reroute them but it’ll take a few minutes.”
“We don’t have a few minutes,” muttered Huntington.
“Hail them!,” shouted Isabel.
“No response. They’ll be in firing range in ten seconds,” said Huntington.
Cardonez’s eyes narrowed while she watched death move towards her.
****
“Wounded bird, indeed,” Cutter said while he watched the stricken Testudo on the viewscreen. The New Orleans-class ship hung off-kilter in space and blue clouds of hydrogen drifted from her damaged warp nacelle.
“Target?,” Commander Motaba asked him.
“Their port nacelle and their impulse engines,” he replied. “I don’t want them going anywhere for a while.”
“Understood. We’ll be in range in … five…four… three… Wait, they’re launching a probe.”
“A probe?,” asked Cutter. “That’s the best that they can do? Launch a probe at us?” He laughed. “It’s of no consequence. If we’re in range, then fire.”
“Aye, sir,” Motaba said but before her fingers could hit the firing control, the ship shuddered as though it had been struck by a large bolt of lightning. Her sensors went blank and the viewscreen showered with nothing but static.
“What the hell?!,” Cutter barked. He turned around in his chair to face Kerr. “Report!”
“I can’t explain it,” the Chief Engineer said. “The storm just ratcheted up to Level Four. We’ve lost sensors and warp drive. I can’t establish a stable warp field.”
“Damn, she is lucky,” said Motaba.
Cutter stood up and walked over to Kerr’s station. “Too much of a coincidence for it to be luck. Especially when they’ve just launched a probe.” He tapped Kerr on his shoulder and asked,” Is there any way to artificially stimulate an ion storm?”
Kerr considered it for a moment. “I suppose so… yet. Why would you want to?”
Cutter smiled and returned to his position in the Captain’s chair. “Now it all makes sense with the wounded bird scenario. It seems that we’ve underestimated Captain Cardonez. Do we know how long this will last?”
“Negative,” said Kerr. “It could be a few minutes or anywhere up to an hour.”
“What about the size of the storm?”
“It’s probably quite small. You could create a localized effect quite easily but doing it, sector-wide, would take an almost impossible degree of power.”
“I have no targeting scanners but I could still fire manually,” said Motaba. “We know roughly where Testudo was. I could lay down a barrage and – “
“No,” Cutter interrupted her. “We don’t have the time and Testudo isn’t likely to be there anymore.” He rubbed at his nose. “We’ve slowed them down and by the time that they get their warp drive back up and running, we’ll be long gone.”
He turned towards Kerr. “I take it that we can use our impulse engines?”
Kerr nodded affirmatively.
“Good,” said Cutter and he turned around to face the front of the Bridge again. “Ensign, set a course, one-quarter impulse power. When we’ve cleared the storm, lay in a course for the specified coordinates and engage at Warp Nine.”
“Aye, sir,” said the Ensign, sitting at the Helm console.
Cutter kept his eyes focused on the static-filled screen, imagining that he could still see Testudo out there. “Commander,” he said.
“Yes, sir?”
“Should our paths ever cross again, remind me never to underestimate Cardonez again.”
“Yes, sir,” said Motaba.
Cutter smiled. “Well-played, Cardonez,” he whispered,” but next time, you won’t be so fortunate. Even Jellico only ever beat me once.” Then he chuckled to himself.
I kind of got the idea that Cutter was off his rocker, but evidently he's taken his entire crew rogue with him... Not seeing how he gets a long-term win out of this. But evidently he does.
Thanks!! rbs
Thanks!! rbs
Chapter Four
Captain’s Log, Stardate 55531.7;
Despite my crew working with breakneck speed to get the Testudo running again, we had little cause to worry. When our little micro-storm had cleared, the Lusitania was nowhere to be seen. That was an hour ago. Since then, we have continued repairs and waited with trepidation to see if the Lusitania would return to finish the job. There are dozens of questions being asked on every deck of this ship right now, but there’s only one that counts at the moment.
“Why?,” asked Isabel Cardonez. “What the hell made him do it?”
Louise Ramblin shifted uneasily in her chair. She was sitting in the Testudo’s Conference Lounge and the Captain, Masafumi, and Huntington were looking at her with wary eyes. She could understand why.
“I don’t know, Captain. “What I said to you in the turbolift earlier was true. Captain Cutter is a loyal man. I can’t believe that he sanctioned the attack.”
“The ship’s crew is composed of his most trusted officers,” said Huntington. “Are you suggesting that they mutinied?”
Ramblin held up her hands. “That’s all that I can think of. There’s no way that Captain Cutter would do something like this,” she said and then repeated, “No way!” with extra emphasis.
Cardonez slumped back into her seat and cast a quick glance at Commander Masafumi.
“That’s all right, Lieutenant,” he said. “You understand that we have to ask these questions?”
Louise nodded. “I know, I know. I’m the only person aboard who knows him. That’s why it’s vital that you listen to me.”
Huntington changed tack. “Let’s assume that it was a mutiny. Who? Motaba? Kerr? Someone else? Who had the ability to take over the ship and why?”
Ramblin shook her head. “I don’t know,” she said. “All I can say is that Commander Motaba seemed to be different somehow. She wasn't how I remember her.”
“What do you mean?,” asked the Tactical Officer.
“She was a lot angrier. And I never saw her drink as much as she did last night.”
Cardonez leaned forward again. “Louise, if you have any information about where the Lusitania was heading, you need to tell me. Lives are at stake here.”
Ramblin shook her head again. “I don’t know,” she said. “Honestly.”
Cardonez cast another glance at Masafumi.
“Thank you, Lieutenant,” said the Testudo’s First Officer who was somewhat uncomfortable with playing good cop to Isabel and Adam’s bad cops. “I don’t think we have any further questions for you. You may return to Engineering and continue the repairs.”
“Thanks,” the Chief Engineer said, looking paler than any of the Testudo’s command staff had seen her before. She stood up and walked towards the door. For a moment, she started to turn back as though she was going to defend her former Captain again, but then with a slump, she was gone.
“I hope we weren’t too hard on her,” said Masafumi.
“She’s the best lead that we have to find out where Cutter’s gone,” said Huntington.
“You think she’s lying?,” asked Cardonez.
There was a definite pause before Huntington responded. “No,” he said with a shake of his head. “She was in as much danger as the rest of us were.”
“Good,” said Cardonez. “Neither do I.”
“I agree,” said Masafumi. “However, I do believe she is wrong. Cutter is still in command of that ship.”
“Assuredly,” said Huntington. “I’ve done a lot of digging through the computers and it appears that Captain Cutter isn’t as popular with Starfleet Command as you might think.” He picked up a PADD from the table. “He got back from his jaunt behind enemy lines, expecting a hero’s welcome but Starfleet was a little concerned about some of his methods. It was hushed up but from reading between the lines, I get the impression that several of his ‘kills’ were suspicious.”
“In what way?,” asked Masafumi.
“There is evidence to suggest that he destroyed a lot of poorly-armed freighters and, at least, one unarmed passenger ship that was carrying refugees.”
“Damn,” Isabel said. “Let me guess? The brass didn’t want to make a scene?” Huntington nodded. “Well, I did always wonder what a man of his caliber never made Admiral.”
“Well, there were rumblings even before the war. I get the impression that Starfleet looked the other way on several occasions. It looks like he had the ear of several Admirals. That’s what kept him in command.”
“I should have seen it coming.” Cardonez recounted Cutter’s reluctance to invite Valian Kandro to dinner.
“He obviously doesn’t know about the Silena?,” asked Masafumi.
“Or he does and he didn’t want to take the chance that Valian might have miraculous recovery over dessert and pick up a hint of his plans,” said Huntington.
“Either way, I should have picked up on it. I just got distracted when he implied that his First Officer had been raped.”
Masafumi leaned forward, resting his hands on the table. “Captain, you had no reason to be suspicious,” he said. “When the days comes that we must suspect our fellow officers, well, then, the Federation will fall.”
“Thanks, Yashiro,” Isabel said, running her hands through her hair and resting it behind her ears. “Onto other matters. What’s the casualty list like?”
Masafumi picked up a PADD from the table. “Twenty-seven injured but none of them seriously. Three are dead. Ensign Potter, Lieutenant Gesali, and Crewman Chura.”
Cardonez closed her eyes. So many deaths and all of them were on her hands. No, she corrected herself, there was nothing that I could have done. Those three deaths were Cutter’s responsibility and one day, she would exact payment for them.
“What’s the status of our defensive systems?”
“Phasers are back online. Torpedo launchers will be operational in less than thirty minutes,” reported Huntington. “Shields have been restored but they’re only at fifty percent.”
She opened her eyes. “And we’ll have the impulse drives back online and Lieutenant Ramblin says that she can give us Warp Five if we don’t give the ship too many bumps.”
“What do you intend?,” asked Masafumi.
“I intend to go after Cutter.”
“Captain, I feel like that course of action is unwise,” said Huntington. “We’re no match for his ship in our present condition. Besides, we have no idea where he’s gone.”
“Actually, that’s not strictly true. As you know, the current storm is almost sector-wide. While it lasts, we have the ability to track the Lusitania.”
“Explain,” said Cardonez.
“Simple. By detonating the ionic charge, we have ionized the hulls of both ships. It’s not a big charge, obviously. In fact, I would wager that his crew haven’t even noticed it, but it’s there. It will have an effect on the storm around them as they move.”
“Ripples. It’ll cause sparks in the storm because, for instance, it will exacerbate the storm around them.” Isabel smiled. “Good work, Commander. See if you can locate…” She stopped talking when a PADD was placed in front of her.
“I already did. The wake ends at this position,” he said, pointing at a local star chart displayed on the PADD. “They’re less than a lightyear from our current position.”
“Where’s there?,” asked Huntington.
“Nothing. As far as I can tell, it’s just interstellar emptiness out there.”
“Is it possible that the trail has entered there?”
Masafumi shook his head. “Impossible. The trail stopped because the ship did.”
“Set a course,” Cardonez said, half-standing from her chair. “Warp Five.”
“Captain,” Huntington said,” I feel that this course of action is reckless. We’re not in a fit state to engage in combat.” He took a deep breath. “I understand your need for justice but this isn’t the way.”
“Yes, it is,” said Masafumi, now standing behind his chair.
Huntington glanced at him.
“The storm will last another twenty hours. Even at Warp Five, it will take us much longer than that to get out of the range of the storm. That gives Captain Cutter a twenty-four head start on any pursuit.”
“Exactly,” said Cardonez. “We have a chance to catch up with him now before he can do any more damage. What if he’s about to attack a colony? You heard him last night. That man and his crew aren’t exactly enamored with non-Humans. Did you spot an alien face on his ship last night?”
Huntington shook his head.
“Neither did I,” said Cardonez. “For all we know, he has plans to attack Cardassia.”
“For all that we know, he might be about to turn his ship over to the Romulans or the Breen or who knows who else,” said Masafumi.
“If we run now, then whatever destruction that he causes is in our hands. And I won’t allow that,” said the Captain. “Adam, I really appreciate your advice. I do, but this is the right thing to do.”
Huntington grinned.
“What’s so funny?”
“Nothing,” he replied. “I was just remembering a young Captain. Her ship was trapped in the atmosphere of a gas giant and I had to remind her of her duty. I always knew that you would end up returning the favor.”
“You know we’ll miss you.”
“If you’ll pardon my impudence, not as much as you would have done, a year ago.” His grin widened. “Shall we get this hunt started?”
****
It took the Testudo seven hours to reach the point where Masafumi had determined where the Lusitania was located. Ramblin was as good as her word and they kept at Warp Five the entire way. They had approached the coordinates warily with shields up and weapons charged. They discovered that there was no need.
“Okay, so where are they?,” asked Valian Kandro.
On the main viewscreen before them, there was nothingness.
“They should be here,” said Masafumi, perturbed. He was sure that his calculations had been spot-on.
“Scanning nothing for a quarter lightyear,” said Huntington.
“Is it possible that they’re cloaked?,” asked Cardonez.
“Maybe.”
“Keep your trigger finger ready,” Cardonez said before she looked across the Bridge at Masafumi who was standing at the forward science station. “Commander, can you detect anything?” When he didn’t move or speak, she repeated herself. “Commander?”
“Captain,” he finally said,” you need to see this.”
Cardonez frowned and walked over. “What is it?”
Masafumi pointed at the sensor readings showing up on the console display. “There’s something out there, Captain,” he said, nodding towards the main viewscreen.
Her frown deepened. “What is it? A cloaked ship?”
“No, it’s not a ship. In fact, I don’t even think that it’s manmade.”
“Okay, Yashiro, you need to explain in greater detail than that.”
Masafumi smiled. “Mister Kandro, please dispatch a probe to these coordinates: one-seven-nine, by two, by one-zero-eight.”
“No offense, Commander, but that’s empty space.”
“Humor me, please.”
“You’re the boss,” said Kandro before he realized what he said. He looked up at Cardonez. “Well, not quite,” he added with a smile before he returned his gaze to the console in front of him. “Launching probe.”
“Watch carefully,” said Masafumi.
Cardonez sighed and folded her arms but she looked at the viewscreen as well.
The bright spark that was the probe shot out from beneath the image and proceeded to turn into the distance. Cardonez was flummoxed. She had no idea what she was supposed to be looking for.
Then she saw it.
Kehen gasped. Kandro muttered, “Shit” under his breath and Cardonez felt her jaw drop open. One minute, the probe was moving along in a straight-line away from the Testudo. The next, it was as though it was yanked sideways at such a velocity that it disappeared from sight in a matter of seconds.
“Okay, I’m intrigued,” said Huntington. “Just what the hell was that?”
Masafumi smiled smugly.
“Oh, no,” said Kehen.
“What’s wrong, Lieutenant?,” asked the Captain.
“I know that look,” the Yulanian said, looking at Masafumi. “It’s his ‘I’ve just discovered something so incredible that it will make me famous’ look.”
Masafumi winked at Kehen before he turned towards Cardonez. “Have you ever heard of tachyon eddies?”
Cardonez frowned. “It sounds familiar but I can’t place it.”
“An interstellar current of tachyon particles, traveling faster-than-light,” said Kandro. “They’re naturally occurring but quite rare. It’s how the ancient Bajoran solar-sail explorers made it to Cardassia.”
“Correct, Mister Kandro. Now if you would kindly switch the viewscreen to a tachyon resonance scan?”
The Betazoid officer did as he was asked and Kehen gasped again. The view of nothingness outside was superimposed with a ghostly white glow that looked like nothing less than a fast moving river running through space. It seemed to appear out of nowhere and it disappeared off to the left of the viewscreen.
“Is that what those are?,” asked Cardonez. “Tachyon eddies?”
“Not quite,” said Masafumi. “They’re far more intensive and agitated. I would be more inclined to call them tachyon rapids.”
“That’ll be the title of the paper that he’ll write,” said Kehen with mock indignation.
“Zia!,” Cardonez seethed with uncharacteristic harshness.
“I’m sorry, Captain,” Kehen said, suitably chastised.
Cardonez softened her manner. “That’s okay, Lieutenant. I’m just not sure if this is the time for frivolity.” She tore her eyes away from the viewscreen and looked towards her First Officer. “What if a ship were to enter those rapids?”
“Doubtlessly, they would be propelled at high warp speeds.”
“How high?”
“Unknown,” was the Commander’s answer.
“Valian, does the last telemetry from the probe give any indication of its velocity?”
Kandro frowned. “Very little,” he replied while he studied his console. “From what I can tell, the probe was coming apart at the seams and it was under a lot of pressure. I’m extrapolating from its last known position compared to the timeframe and … whoa!”
“Lieutenant?,” asked Masafumi.
“Oh, you won’t believe this. I don’t believe you but the probe was tugged away at something close to Warp Nine-Point-Nine-Nine-Nine-Nine-Nine-Six.” Silence greeted this assessment and he added, superfluously. “Give or take a point-zero-four variance.”
“Good Lord,” said Huntington.
“That’s faster than subspace radio,” said Cardonez.
Masafumi was still smiling. “Much faster,” he whispered.
Cardonez walked back to her command chair and sat down. “Could a ship survive that?,” she asked, her voice tinged with a combination of shock and disbelief.
“Sure they could,” said Kandro. “There have been accounts of Starfleet vessels being tossed along at ridiculous velocities ever since the first warp-capable ships flew through the cosmos. Inertial dampeners and structural integrity fields are a lot tougher than people think.”
“Well now,” said Huntington,” it would appear that we now know where the Lusitania went.”
“Commander, do you have any idea how far that effect could travel?”
“Untold,” said Masafumi. “A tachyon stream that fast has been encountered before. It might run for a few lightyears or a few million lightyears. There’s no way to know for sure… unless…”
“Unless we follow them,” finished Huntington.
“No way,” said Cardonez.
“Then we’re letting him get away?,” asked Kandro.
The Captain nodded. “Oh, yes,” she said. “I was prepare to go into battle with the odds against us but I’m not willing to strand my crew, seventy thousand lightyears away from home. We’ll wait here until the storm has ended and then we’ll inform Starfleet.”
“Damn,” said Kandro,” I really wanted another crack at them.”
“Me too,” she said,” but it’s not…”
“... to be,” she finished. Although she finished her sentence in a different place.
The Dining Room aboard the Lusitania.
“What the…”
Cutter sat at the table and he was smiling. “She is adversarial.”
“Belligerent,” said Masafumi who walked up behind her.
“So linear,” said Ramblin with a sad smile.
“Was I any different?,” another voice asked from out of sight. It was a deep baritone that resonated through the room. She recognized that voice and now everything made sense.
“Captain Sisko,” she said when he stepped out of the shadows.
“Captain Cardonez. It’s so nice to see you again,” he said with a wide smile.
“What do you want now?”
“The same as I always have,” said Sisko. “To warn you about what lies ahead. And to ensure that you take the correct path to deal with what lies ahead.”
“Cutter? This is about Cutter?”
“She is not ready for the burden,” Huntingtin said, sitting next to Cutter.
“We must choose someone else,” said Cutter.
“The Emissary must choose someone else,” said Ramblin.
“No,” said Sisko and his voice boomed around the Dining Room.
“I don’t understand,” said Isabel. “You warned me about a threat, a year ago. That the greatest enemy was the one in the mirror.” Suddenly the confusion on her face gave way to clarity. “You mean the Federation. The enemy of the Federation is the Federation.”
Sisko smiled enigmatically. “You’re correct in a manner of speaking.” He turned to the others. “I told you that she was the one.”
“She will not go,” said Cutter.
Sisko turned back towards Cardonez, a look of worry etched onto his face. “She will go,” he said solemnly. “She must go.”
“Go where? After Cutter? Into the rapids?”
“You must follow,” he said. “If you don’t, disaster will follow.” The room around her and everyone in it began to fade away now. “Disaster for the Federation.” She could see right through him now and see Kandro and Kehen at their stations. “For Bajor.” His voice grew fainter.
Then she was back, sitting on the Bridge. She saw the worried looks on the faces around her and all that she could focus on was one final word that was barely audible now.
“Jake.”
“Captain?,” asked a concerned Masafumi. “Are you all right?”
“I am now.”
“You appeared to zone out on us for a moment there.”
Cardonez smiled. “I did. It wasn’t my doing though.”
“Captain?”
“Remember how I was contacted by Captain Sisko and told to return to Cassius Five, last year?”
“I certainly do,” said Masafumi,” and in doing so, you saved the lives of myself, Zia, Lieutenant Kandro, and Ensign Tilmoore.”
“Well, he just gave me another warning.”
“What did he want?,” Huntington asked from behind her at Tactical.
Cardonez stood up. In part, she was worried that her crew would believe her so readily. She wasn’t sure she would believe in disembodied Starfleet Captains if the roles were reversed. However, she had seen him and she knew it was real. That they trusted her spoke volumes.
She walked up behind Kandro’s station and rested a hand on the back of his chair. “He wants us to follow Cutter.”
“Are we going to?,” asked Masafumi.
“No,” said Cardonez. “It takes more than…” She paused and suddenly walked away from Kandro with a vacant look on her face to stand before the wall by her Ready Room.
“Captain?,” asked Masafumi.
That shook her out of her daze. “Sorry,” she said, turning to face her Bridge crew. “We’re going.”
“But you just said that we weren’t,” said Kandro. “Did you just have another vision or something?”
She smiled. “No, Valian, but you could say that I had an epiphany.”
“It’s not often that you hear a Helm Officer say this,” said Kehen,” but I’m lost now.”
“I was about to say that it takes more than the word of one Starfleet Captain, no matter how legendary they are, to get me to gamble the lives of my crew on a potentially disastrous course.”
“But?,” asked Huntington.
She smiled. “I suddenly realized that I have more than one fellow Captain pointing the way,” she said.
When the faces of her command crew, her friends, remained blank, she looked back over her shoulder at the section of the wall that she had been staring at. More to the point, she looked at the ship’s dedication plaque mounted there and to the quotation inscribed at the base.
“‘Risk is our business,’” she quoted, turning back towards the others. “James T. Kirk knew that a century or more ago. We’re not out here to play it safe. If we wanted a risk-free life, we would have never joined Starfleet. We have to stop Cutter and that’s a fact. All that’s different is that we might have to travel a bit further to do it.”
She returned to her chair.
“I want this ship prepared to enter those rapids in less than an hour. I don’t know what we’re walking into but I do know this. There’s no group of people that I would rather face the unknown with.”
Captain’s Log, Stardate 55531.7;
Despite my crew working with breakneck speed to get the Testudo running again, we had little cause to worry. When our little micro-storm had cleared, the Lusitania was nowhere to be seen. That was an hour ago. Since then, we have continued repairs and waited with trepidation to see if the Lusitania would return to finish the job. There are dozens of questions being asked on every deck of this ship right now, but there’s only one that counts at the moment.
“Why?,” asked Isabel Cardonez. “What the hell made him do it?”
Louise Ramblin shifted uneasily in her chair. She was sitting in the Testudo’s Conference Lounge and the Captain, Masafumi, and Huntington were looking at her with wary eyes. She could understand why.
“I don’t know, Captain. “What I said to you in the turbolift earlier was true. Captain Cutter is a loyal man. I can’t believe that he sanctioned the attack.”
“The ship’s crew is composed of his most trusted officers,” said Huntington. “Are you suggesting that they mutinied?”
Ramblin held up her hands. “That’s all that I can think of. There’s no way that Captain Cutter would do something like this,” she said and then repeated, “No way!” with extra emphasis.
Cardonez slumped back into her seat and cast a quick glance at Commander Masafumi.
“That’s all right, Lieutenant,” he said. “You understand that we have to ask these questions?”
Louise nodded. “I know, I know. I’m the only person aboard who knows him. That’s why it’s vital that you listen to me.”
Huntington changed tack. “Let’s assume that it was a mutiny. Who? Motaba? Kerr? Someone else? Who had the ability to take over the ship and why?”
Ramblin shook her head. “I don’t know,” she said. “All I can say is that Commander Motaba seemed to be different somehow. She wasn't how I remember her.”
“What do you mean?,” asked the Tactical Officer.
“She was a lot angrier. And I never saw her drink as much as she did last night.”
Cardonez leaned forward again. “Louise, if you have any information about where the Lusitania was heading, you need to tell me. Lives are at stake here.”
Ramblin shook her head again. “I don’t know,” she said. “Honestly.”
Cardonez cast another glance at Masafumi.
“Thank you, Lieutenant,” said the Testudo’s First Officer who was somewhat uncomfortable with playing good cop to Isabel and Adam’s bad cops. “I don’t think we have any further questions for you. You may return to Engineering and continue the repairs.”
“Thanks,” the Chief Engineer said, looking paler than any of the Testudo’s command staff had seen her before. She stood up and walked towards the door. For a moment, she started to turn back as though she was going to defend her former Captain again, but then with a slump, she was gone.
“I hope we weren’t too hard on her,” said Masafumi.
“She’s the best lead that we have to find out where Cutter’s gone,” said Huntington.
“You think she’s lying?,” asked Cardonez.
There was a definite pause before Huntington responded. “No,” he said with a shake of his head. “She was in as much danger as the rest of us were.”
“Good,” said Cardonez. “Neither do I.”
“I agree,” said Masafumi. “However, I do believe she is wrong. Cutter is still in command of that ship.”
“Assuredly,” said Huntington. “I’ve done a lot of digging through the computers and it appears that Captain Cutter isn’t as popular with Starfleet Command as you might think.” He picked up a PADD from the table. “He got back from his jaunt behind enemy lines, expecting a hero’s welcome but Starfleet was a little concerned about some of his methods. It was hushed up but from reading between the lines, I get the impression that several of his ‘kills’ were suspicious.”
“In what way?,” asked Masafumi.
“There is evidence to suggest that he destroyed a lot of poorly-armed freighters and, at least, one unarmed passenger ship that was carrying refugees.”
“Damn,” Isabel said. “Let me guess? The brass didn’t want to make a scene?” Huntington nodded. “Well, I did always wonder what a man of his caliber never made Admiral.”
“Well, there were rumblings even before the war. I get the impression that Starfleet looked the other way on several occasions. It looks like he had the ear of several Admirals. That’s what kept him in command.”
“I should have seen it coming.” Cardonez recounted Cutter’s reluctance to invite Valian Kandro to dinner.
“He obviously doesn’t know about the Silena?,” asked Masafumi.
“Or he does and he didn’t want to take the chance that Valian might have miraculous recovery over dessert and pick up a hint of his plans,” said Huntington.
“Either way, I should have picked up on it. I just got distracted when he implied that his First Officer had been raped.”
Masafumi leaned forward, resting his hands on the table. “Captain, you had no reason to be suspicious,” he said. “When the days comes that we must suspect our fellow officers, well, then, the Federation will fall.”
“Thanks, Yashiro,” Isabel said, running her hands through her hair and resting it behind her ears. “Onto other matters. What’s the casualty list like?”
Masafumi picked up a PADD from the table. “Twenty-seven injured but none of them seriously. Three are dead. Ensign Potter, Lieutenant Gesali, and Crewman Chura.”
Cardonez closed her eyes. So many deaths and all of them were on her hands. No, she corrected herself, there was nothing that I could have done. Those three deaths were Cutter’s responsibility and one day, she would exact payment for them.
“What’s the status of our defensive systems?”
“Phasers are back online. Torpedo launchers will be operational in less than thirty minutes,” reported Huntington. “Shields have been restored but they’re only at fifty percent.”
She opened her eyes. “And we’ll have the impulse drives back online and Lieutenant Ramblin says that she can give us Warp Five if we don’t give the ship too many bumps.”
“What do you intend?,” asked Masafumi.
“I intend to go after Cutter.”
“Captain, I feel like that course of action is unwise,” said Huntington. “We’re no match for his ship in our present condition. Besides, we have no idea where he’s gone.”
“Actually, that’s not strictly true. As you know, the current storm is almost sector-wide. While it lasts, we have the ability to track the Lusitania.”
“Explain,” said Cardonez.
“Simple. By detonating the ionic charge, we have ionized the hulls of both ships. It’s not a big charge, obviously. In fact, I would wager that his crew haven’t even noticed it, but it’s there. It will have an effect on the storm around them as they move.”
“Ripples. It’ll cause sparks in the storm because, for instance, it will exacerbate the storm around them.” Isabel smiled. “Good work, Commander. See if you can locate…” She stopped talking when a PADD was placed in front of her.
“I already did. The wake ends at this position,” he said, pointing at a local star chart displayed on the PADD. “They’re less than a lightyear from our current position.”
“Where’s there?,” asked Huntington.
“Nothing. As far as I can tell, it’s just interstellar emptiness out there.”
“Is it possible that the trail has entered there?”
Masafumi shook his head. “Impossible. The trail stopped because the ship did.”
“Set a course,” Cardonez said, half-standing from her chair. “Warp Five.”
“Captain,” Huntington said,” I feel that this course of action is reckless. We’re not in a fit state to engage in combat.” He took a deep breath. “I understand your need for justice but this isn’t the way.”
“Yes, it is,” said Masafumi, now standing behind his chair.
Huntington glanced at him.
“The storm will last another twenty hours. Even at Warp Five, it will take us much longer than that to get out of the range of the storm. That gives Captain Cutter a twenty-four head start on any pursuit.”
“Exactly,” said Cardonez. “We have a chance to catch up with him now before he can do any more damage. What if he’s about to attack a colony? You heard him last night. That man and his crew aren’t exactly enamored with non-Humans. Did you spot an alien face on his ship last night?”
Huntington shook his head.
“Neither did I,” said Cardonez. “For all we know, he has plans to attack Cardassia.”
“For all that we know, he might be about to turn his ship over to the Romulans or the Breen or who knows who else,” said Masafumi.
“If we run now, then whatever destruction that he causes is in our hands. And I won’t allow that,” said the Captain. “Adam, I really appreciate your advice. I do, but this is the right thing to do.”
Huntington grinned.
“What’s so funny?”
“Nothing,” he replied. “I was just remembering a young Captain. Her ship was trapped in the atmosphere of a gas giant and I had to remind her of her duty. I always knew that you would end up returning the favor.”
“You know we’ll miss you.”
“If you’ll pardon my impudence, not as much as you would have done, a year ago.” His grin widened. “Shall we get this hunt started?”
****
It took the Testudo seven hours to reach the point where Masafumi had determined where the Lusitania was located. Ramblin was as good as her word and they kept at Warp Five the entire way. They had approached the coordinates warily with shields up and weapons charged. They discovered that there was no need.
“Okay, so where are they?,” asked Valian Kandro.
On the main viewscreen before them, there was nothingness.
“They should be here,” said Masafumi, perturbed. He was sure that his calculations had been spot-on.
“Scanning nothing for a quarter lightyear,” said Huntington.
“Is it possible that they’re cloaked?,” asked Cardonez.
“Maybe.”
“Keep your trigger finger ready,” Cardonez said before she looked across the Bridge at Masafumi who was standing at the forward science station. “Commander, can you detect anything?” When he didn’t move or speak, she repeated herself. “Commander?”
“Captain,” he finally said,” you need to see this.”
Cardonez frowned and walked over. “What is it?”
Masafumi pointed at the sensor readings showing up on the console display. “There’s something out there, Captain,” he said, nodding towards the main viewscreen.
Her frown deepened. “What is it? A cloaked ship?”
“No, it’s not a ship. In fact, I don’t even think that it’s manmade.”
“Okay, Yashiro, you need to explain in greater detail than that.”
Masafumi smiled. “Mister Kandro, please dispatch a probe to these coordinates: one-seven-nine, by two, by one-zero-eight.”
“No offense, Commander, but that’s empty space.”
“Humor me, please.”
“You’re the boss,” said Kandro before he realized what he said. He looked up at Cardonez. “Well, not quite,” he added with a smile before he returned his gaze to the console in front of him. “Launching probe.”
“Watch carefully,” said Masafumi.
Cardonez sighed and folded her arms but she looked at the viewscreen as well.
The bright spark that was the probe shot out from beneath the image and proceeded to turn into the distance. Cardonez was flummoxed. She had no idea what she was supposed to be looking for.
Then she saw it.
Kehen gasped. Kandro muttered, “Shit” under his breath and Cardonez felt her jaw drop open. One minute, the probe was moving along in a straight-line away from the Testudo. The next, it was as though it was yanked sideways at such a velocity that it disappeared from sight in a matter of seconds.
“Okay, I’m intrigued,” said Huntington. “Just what the hell was that?”
Masafumi smiled smugly.
“Oh, no,” said Kehen.
“What’s wrong, Lieutenant?,” asked the Captain.
“I know that look,” the Yulanian said, looking at Masafumi. “It’s his ‘I’ve just discovered something so incredible that it will make me famous’ look.”
Masafumi winked at Kehen before he turned towards Cardonez. “Have you ever heard of tachyon eddies?”
Cardonez frowned. “It sounds familiar but I can’t place it.”
“An interstellar current of tachyon particles, traveling faster-than-light,” said Kandro. “They’re naturally occurring but quite rare. It’s how the ancient Bajoran solar-sail explorers made it to Cardassia.”
“Correct, Mister Kandro. Now if you would kindly switch the viewscreen to a tachyon resonance scan?”
The Betazoid officer did as he was asked and Kehen gasped again. The view of nothingness outside was superimposed with a ghostly white glow that looked like nothing less than a fast moving river running through space. It seemed to appear out of nowhere and it disappeared off to the left of the viewscreen.
“Is that what those are?,” asked Cardonez. “Tachyon eddies?”
“Not quite,” said Masafumi. “They’re far more intensive and agitated. I would be more inclined to call them tachyon rapids.”
“That’ll be the title of the paper that he’ll write,” said Kehen with mock indignation.
“Zia!,” Cardonez seethed with uncharacteristic harshness.
“I’m sorry, Captain,” Kehen said, suitably chastised.
Cardonez softened her manner. “That’s okay, Lieutenant. I’m just not sure if this is the time for frivolity.” She tore her eyes away from the viewscreen and looked towards her First Officer. “What if a ship were to enter those rapids?”
“Doubtlessly, they would be propelled at high warp speeds.”
“How high?”
“Unknown,” was the Commander’s answer.
“Valian, does the last telemetry from the probe give any indication of its velocity?”
Kandro frowned. “Very little,” he replied while he studied his console. “From what I can tell, the probe was coming apart at the seams and it was under a lot of pressure. I’m extrapolating from its last known position compared to the timeframe and … whoa!”
“Lieutenant?,” asked Masafumi.
“Oh, you won’t believe this. I don’t believe you but the probe was tugged away at something close to Warp Nine-Point-Nine-Nine-Nine-Nine-Nine-Six.” Silence greeted this assessment and he added, superfluously. “Give or take a point-zero-four variance.”
“Good Lord,” said Huntington.
“That’s faster than subspace radio,” said Cardonez.
Masafumi was still smiling. “Much faster,” he whispered.
Cardonez walked back to her command chair and sat down. “Could a ship survive that?,” she asked, her voice tinged with a combination of shock and disbelief.
“Sure they could,” said Kandro. “There have been accounts of Starfleet vessels being tossed along at ridiculous velocities ever since the first warp-capable ships flew through the cosmos. Inertial dampeners and structural integrity fields are a lot tougher than people think.”
“Well now,” said Huntington,” it would appear that we now know where the Lusitania went.”
“Commander, do you have any idea how far that effect could travel?”
“Untold,” said Masafumi. “A tachyon stream that fast has been encountered before. It might run for a few lightyears or a few million lightyears. There’s no way to know for sure… unless…”
“Unless we follow them,” finished Huntington.
“No way,” said Cardonez.
“Then we’re letting him get away?,” asked Kandro.
The Captain nodded. “Oh, yes,” she said. “I was prepare to go into battle with the odds against us but I’m not willing to strand my crew, seventy thousand lightyears away from home. We’ll wait here until the storm has ended and then we’ll inform Starfleet.”
“Damn,” said Kandro,” I really wanted another crack at them.”
“Me too,” she said,” but it’s not…”
“... to be,” she finished. Although she finished her sentence in a different place.
The Dining Room aboard the Lusitania.
“What the…”
Cutter sat at the table and he was smiling. “She is adversarial.”
“Belligerent,” said Masafumi who walked up behind her.
“So linear,” said Ramblin with a sad smile.
“Was I any different?,” another voice asked from out of sight. It was a deep baritone that resonated through the room. She recognized that voice and now everything made sense.
“Captain Sisko,” she said when he stepped out of the shadows.
“Captain Cardonez. It’s so nice to see you again,” he said with a wide smile.
“What do you want now?”
“The same as I always have,” said Sisko. “To warn you about what lies ahead. And to ensure that you take the correct path to deal with what lies ahead.”
“Cutter? This is about Cutter?”
“She is not ready for the burden,” Huntingtin said, sitting next to Cutter.
“We must choose someone else,” said Cutter.
“The Emissary must choose someone else,” said Ramblin.
“No,” said Sisko and his voice boomed around the Dining Room.
“I don’t understand,” said Isabel. “You warned me about a threat, a year ago. That the greatest enemy was the one in the mirror.” Suddenly the confusion on her face gave way to clarity. “You mean the Federation. The enemy of the Federation is the Federation.”
Sisko smiled enigmatically. “You’re correct in a manner of speaking.” He turned to the others. “I told you that she was the one.”
“She will not go,” said Cutter.
Sisko turned back towards Cardonez, a look of worry etched onto his face. “She will go,” he said solemnly. “She must go.”
“Go where? After Cutter? Into the rapids?”
“You must follow,” he said. “If you don’t, disaster will follow.” The room around her and everyone in it began to fade away now. “Disaster for the Federation.” She could see right through him now and see Kandro and Kehen at their stations. “For Bajor.” His voice grew fainter.
Then she was back, sitting on the Bridge. She saw the worried looks on the faces around her and all that she could focus on was one final word that was barely audible now.
“Jake.”
“Captain?,” asked a concerned Masafumi. “Are you all right?”
“I am now.”
“You appeared to zone out on us for a moment there.”
Cardonez smiled. “I did. It wasn’t my doing though.”
“Captain?”
“Remember how I was contacted by Captain Sisko and told to return to Cassius Five, last year?”
“I certainly do,” said Masafumi,” and in doing so, you saved the lives of myself, Zia, Lieutenant Kandro, and Ensign Tilmoore.”
“Well, he just gave me another warning.”
“What did he want?,” Huntington asked from behind her at Tactical.
Cardonez stood up. In part, she was worried that her crew would believe her so readily. She wasn’t sure she would believe in disembodied Starfleet Captains if the roles were reversed. However, she had seen him and she knew it was real. That they trusted her spoke volumes.
She walked up behind Kandro’s station and rested a hand on the back of his chair. “He wants us to follow Cutter.”
“Are we going to?,” asked Masafumi.
“No,” said Cardonez. “It takes more than…” She paused and suddenly walked away from Kandro with a vacant look on her face to stand before the wall by her Ready Room.
“Captain?,” asked Masafumi.
That shook her out of her daze. “Sorry,” she said, turning to face her Bridge crew. “We’re going.”
“But you just said that we weren’t,” said Kandro. “Did you just have another vision or something?”
She smiled. “No, Valian, but you could say that I had an epiphany.”
“It’s not often that you hear a Helm Officer say this,” said Kehen,” but I’m lost now.”
“I was about to say that it takes more than the word of one Starfleet Captain, no matter how legendary they are, to get me to gamble the lives of my crew on a potentially disastrous course.”
“But?,” asked Huntington.
She smiled. “I suddenly realized that I have more than one fellow Captain pointing the way,” she said.
When the faces of her command crew, her friends, remained blank, she looked back over her shoulder at the section of the wall that she had been staring at. More to the point, she looked at the ship’s dedication plaque mounted there and to the quotation inscribed at the base.
“‘Risk is our business,’” she quoted, turning back towards the others. “James T. Kirk knew that a century or more ago. We’re not out here to play it safe. If we wanted a risk-free life, we would have never joined Starfleet. We have to stop Cutter and that’s a fact. All that’s different is that we might have to travel a bit further to do it.”
She returned to her chair.
“I want this ship prepared to enter those rapids in less than an hour. I don’t know what we’re walking into but I do know this. There’s no group of people that I would rather face the unknown with.”
Once more unto the breach.
Saddle up. Lock and load!
Saddle up. Lock and load!
Sweet references to both Kirk and Sisko. And a good job with the voices of the prophets. So now we see just a tiny bit more of Cutter's deranged mind. The monster was there all along, just waiting for the war to bring it into its own. Very interesting antagonist.
Thanks!! rbs
Thanks!! rbs
Epilogue
Captain’s Log, supplemental;
We’re ready.
Ready to enter the unknown, just like we always have been. The hatches are battened down and the structural integrity fields have been strengthened. I don’t know what Sisko expects of us. I can only hope that we can live up to his faith in us. There’s only one thing to resolve before we leave.
“No!,” Zia Kehen said, standing before the desk in Captain Cardonez’s Ready Room.
“Lieutenant, you must.”
“No,” the Yulanian repeated, shaking her head. “You cannot order me to leave the ship.”
“Actually, I can.”
“Zia, listen to her. It’s not safe for you to accompany us,” Yashiro Masafumi said, standing beside her.
“It’s not safe for any of you,” Kehen said with a sad smile.
“Maybe so, but it’s even more dangerous for you,” said Cardonez. “We’ll be traveling at high warp, and at speeds higher than any of us have traveled before. You know what a substantial warp velocity does to Yulanians.”
“Yes, I do,” said Kehen,” because I’ve done it.”
“Yes, and we almost lost you,” said Masafumi. “If your consciousness were to become dislocated from your body and we can’t get it back…” He left his statement unfinished.
“Hollem brought me back last time. He can do it again.”
“A panicked injection of Cordrazine is hardly a conclusive technique.”
“Look, Zia,” said Cardonez,” we’ll leave you here in the runabout. Chances are that we’ll be back.”
“With all due respect, the chances are that you won’t be back,” said Zia. “Risk is my business as well as you know. I won’t be left behind every time that the ship heads off into danger.”
“Zia,” said Masafumi.
“Okay, fine, leave me behind. Because seconds after you go, I’ll turn the runabout around and follow you anyway.”
Cardonez looked up into her eyes and saw the determination there. She knew that she wasn’t lying. “Permission to remain granted,” she said with a heavy heart,” but I want you to report to Sickbay now so that the Doctor can monitor you.”
“Captain, you can’t do this,” said Masafumi.
Kehen silenced him, placing a finger to his lips. “I’ll be fine.”
He looked into her eyes. “All right,” he said. “Captain, permission to join her in Sickbay for the duration of the flight?”
“Granted,” Cardonez said, wondering if she had just sentenced a member of her crew to death.
****
Louise Ramblin stepped out of the turbolift and onto the Bridge. “Commander.” She nodded to Huntington when she took up her position at the Engineering console.
Adam smiled and asked. “So you decided to ride the roller coaster from the front, eh?”
She smiled back. “Something like that.”
“Okay,” said Cardonez. “I guess we’re as ready as we’re ever likely to be. Valian, launch a log buoy. At least, Starfleet will know where we went.”
“Aye, sir,” said Valian Kandro. “Buoy away.”
Cardonez took a breath. “Ensign Tilmoore, take us in.”
Pamela Tilmoore reached forward to the navigational controls of the Helm console and she began to input a course into the rapids. As the ship moved into position, Isabel felt her hands tighten on her armrests.
“Hang on,” she said.
****
On Deck Seven, Doctor Hollem Azahn felt the ship move seconds before Captain Cardonez’s voice echoed throughout the ship. “Hang on.”
“Well, here we go,” he said, gripping onto a nearby biobed.
To his left, Kehen lay on the bed. She wasn’t looking at the Bajoran though. She was looking at Masafumi who sat on the other side. They were holding each other’s hands. “It’s going to be okay,” she reassured him. “Everything is going to be okay.”
“I know,” he said, tears stinging his eyes.
Everything shifted slightly and the ship began to shudder and shake around them. A moment later, it was thought all of the light had gone out in Kehen’s eyes and her head went limp.
“Zia.”
Masafumi was crying now as he frantically held onto the bed with his free hand.
“Zia!,” he screamed.
****
After she moved into the rapids, the Testudo was gone, leaving nothing in the void behind her except for a small buoy, transmitting the ship’s logs until the point that it was jettisoned. With the storm still raging around it, no one could hear its message but in a matter of hours, Starfleet would know everything.
The buoy had no intelligence of its own. No reasoning powers and only limited sensors. So, when the space nearby rippled, it saw nothing. At least of all, a ship decloaking. If the Testudo had still been around, doubtlessly everyone aboard would have recognized the seamless silvery body of the ship and its twin nacelles that reached forward from the front of its hull like a pair of talons. There was no one to witness the ship when it destroyed the buoy. And no one witnessed it when it proceeded to follow the Testudo into infinity.
****
Captain Cardonez couldn’t help herself. Despite the abject terror that she felt, she was almost exhilarated at the streaks of blue and white light soaring past them on the main viewscreen.
“The structural integrity fields are holding,” said Kandro,” but only just barely.”
“I’m rerouting auxiliary power to see if I can’t strengthen it some more,” Ramblin shouted from the back of the Bridge.
“Helm controls are locked,” said Tilmoore. “I can’t maneuver us out of this.”
“I guess we’re riding it all the way then,” said Huntington. “I hope we won’t go too far. The Academy would be pleased.”
Cardonez didn’t speak. She watched, waiting for an end to this ride and for an answer to what lay ahead of them.
“How long?,” asked Huntington while he struggled to keep a grip onto the Tactical console.
“Thirteen minutes,” said Kandro.
“I hope it isn’t much longer,” said Louise. “I’m starting to feel sick.”
“We can’t have that,” quipped Kandro. “I thought that I was the only thing that turned your stomach.”
“Usually yes,” she replied,” but this is getting ridiculous.”
Without any warning of any kind, the ship was spat out of the other end and they saw stars again before the ship slowly shuddered to a dead stop. For several minutes, no one spoke, each of them content to wait for their hearts to stop furiously beating and their eyes to focus on something other than flashes of light.
Cardonez broke the silence. “Where are we?”
Kandro’s mouth felt dry and his stomach still felt like it was twisting and turning. He was sure that he must have gone green. “Checking relative position,” he said, tapping away at his console. “Okay, got it.” He looked up and swung his seat around. Everyone was staring at him with both expectation and trepidation. “We’ve just traveled over fourteen thousand lightyears, and we’re currently somewhere in the Gamma Quadrant.”
“Fourteen years travel time,” said Cardonez.
“It’s a shame that we can’t communicate with Starfleet from out here,” said Huntington. “I really should tell the Academy that I’m going to be a touch late.”
****
“She’s alive,” Doctor Hollen said leaning over Kehen’s body. “That’s good news. And according to these readings, we still have brain activity.”
“Yannis Lekon showed brain activity,” said Commander Masafumi, referring to the father of Yulani warp technology.
“I know, Commander, I know. Nurse, three ccs of Cordrazine.”
Ravi Patel placed the hypospray in Hollem’s hands. “Here goes nothing,” said the Bajoran, pressing the implement to Kehen’s neck with an audible hiss.
Masafumi held his breath, waiting for the woman that he loved to wake up. He let the breath out. “It hasn’t worked, has it?,” he asked softly.
Hollem leaned forward and lifted one of Kehen’s eyelids. “Any change?,” he asked.
“Negative,” said Patel. “Readings are still the same.”
“Damn it,” the Bajoran whispered to himself. “It worked last time. Why not now?”
“Give her another shot,” ordered Masafumi.
Hollem looked up. He didn’t think that he had ever seen the Testudo’s First Officer look so defeated. “I can’t,” he said. “At least, not right now.”
“What do you mean?,” asked Masafumi. “I’m not a medical doctor but I know enough to know that you could give her another shot without harming her.”
“Believe me,” the doctor said,” it could harm her in her present condition.”
“Doctor, I really need you to clarify that point before I have Doctor Marcinowski replace you.”
Hollem closed his eyes for a moment. He knew that the Commander wasn’t thinking straight. He also knew that he deserved a straight answer. “I can’t give her another shot because it might harm her baby.”
Masafumi’s eyes widened. “Baby?,” he whispered.
****
“Anything yet on long-range sensors?,” asked Cardonez.
“Negative,” reported Kandro. “I am detecting a Class-M planet, three lightyears from here. That’s the closest object.”
“Okay, then, that’s as good a place as any to start looking. Ensign, lay in a course.”
“Captain, vessels decloaking,” said Huntington.
“Shields up. Red Alert,” Cardonez said. “On screen.”
:Oh, my,” she added, half-rising from her command chair when she looked at the three ships on the main viewscreen. She recognized the two flanking ships, of course. They were identical to ones that she had seen on several occasions. The mysterious enemy that had attacked Sector 29004 many times. It was the ship that hung between them that shocked her the most of all.
It was a Federation starship but not the one that she might have expected.
This one was older, much older, although its white hull was as pristine as the first time that she had left Spacedock and she could clearly make out the lettering on the hull.
USS Ranger, NCC-1822
Huntington also stared at the Constitution-class starship before them. “Well,” he said, sardonically,” that’s unexpected.”
To be continued…
Captain’s Log, supplemental;
We’re ready.
Ready to enter the unknown, just like we always have been. The hatches are battened down and the structural integrity fields have been strengthened. I don’t know what Sisko expects of us. I can only hope that we can live up to his faith in us. There’s only one thing to resolve before we leave.
“No!,” Zia Kehen said, standing before the desk in Captain Cardonez’s Ready Room.
“Lieutenant, you must.”
“No,” the Yulanian repeated, shaking her head. “You cannot order me to leave the ship.”
“Actually, I can.”
“Zia, listen to her. It’s not safe for you to accompany us,” Yashiro Masafumi said, standing beside her.
“It’s not safe for any of you,” Kehen said with a sad smile.
“Maybe so, but it’s even more dangerous for you,” said Cardonez. “We’ll be traveling at high warp, and at speeds higher than any of us have traveled before. You know what a substantial warp velocity does to Yulanians.”
“Yes, I do,” said Kehen,” because I’ve done it.”
“Yes, and we almost lost you,” said Masafumi. “If your consciousness were to become dislocated from your body and we can’t get it back…” He left his statement unfinished.
“Hollem brought me back last time. He can do it again.”
“A panicked injection of Cordrazine is hardly a conclusive technique.”
“Look, Zia,” said Cardonez,” we’ll leave you here in the runabout. Chances are that we’ll be back.”
“With all due respect, the chances are that you won’t be back,” said Zia. “Risk is my business as well as you know. I won’t be left behind every time that the ship heads off into danger.”
“Zia,” said Masafumi.
“Okay, fine, leave me behind. Because seconds after you go, I’ll turn the runabout around and follow you anyway.”
Cardonez looked up into her eyes and saw the determination there. She knew that she wasn’t lying. “Permission to remain granted,” she said with a heavy heart,” but I want you to report to Sickbay now so that the Doctor can monitor you.”
“Captain, you can’t do this,” said Masafumi.
Kehen silenced him, placing a finger to his lips. “I’ll be fine.”
He looked into her eyes. “All right,” he said. “Captain, permission to join her in Sickbay for the duration of the flight?”
“Granted,” Cardonez said, wondering if she had just sentenced a member of her crew to death.
****
Louise Ramblin stepped out of the turbolift and onto the Bridge. “Commander.” She nodded to Huntington when she took up her position at the Engineering console.
Adam smiled and asked. “So you decided to ride the roller coaster from the front, eh?”
She smiled back. “Something like that.”
“Okay,” said Cardonez. “I guess we’re as ready as we’re ever likely to be. Valian, launch a log buoy. At least, Starfleet will know where we went.”
“Aye, sir,” said Valian Kandro. “Buoy away.”
Cardonez took a breath. “Ensign Tilmoore, take us in.”
Pamela Tilmoore reached forward to the navigational controls of the Helm console and she began to input a course into the rapids. As the ship moved into position, Isabel felt her hands tighten on her armrests.
“Hang on,” she said.
****
On Deck Seven, Doctor Hollem Azahn felt the ship move seconds before Captain Cardonez’s voice echoed throughout the ship. “Hang on.”
“Well, here we go,” he said, gripping onto a nearby biobed.
To his left, Kehen lay on the bed. She wasn’t looking at the Bajoran though. She was looking at Masafumi who sat on the other side. They were holding each other’s hands. “It’s going to be okay,” she reassured him. “Everything is going to be okay.”
“I know,” he said, tears stinging his eyes.
Everything shifted slightly and the ship began to shudder and shake around them. A moment later, it was thought all of the light had gone out in Kehen’s eyes and her head went limp.
“Zia.”
Masafumi was crying now as he frantically held onto the bed with his free hand.
“Zia!,” he screamed.
****
After she moved into the rapids, the Testudo was gone, leaving nothing in the void behind her except for a small buoy, transmitting the ship’s logs until the point that it was jettisoned. With the storm still raging around it, no one could hear its message but in a matter of hours, Starfleet would know everything.
The buoy had no intelligence of its own. No reasoning powers and only limited sensors. So, when the space nearby rippled, it saw nothing. At least of all, a ship decloaking. If the Testudo had still been around, doubtlessly everyone aboard would have recognized the seamless silvery body of the ship and its twin nacelles that reached forward from the front of its hull like a pair of talons. There was no one to witness the ship when it destroyed the buoy. And no one witnessed it when it proceeded to follow the Testudo into infinity.
****
Captain Cardonez couldn’t help herself. Despite the abject terror that she felt, she was almost exhilarated at the streaks of blue and white light soaring past them on the main viewscreen.
“The structural integrity fields are holding,” said Kandro,” but only just barely.”
“I’m rerouting auxiliary power to see if I can’t strengthen it some more,” Ramblin shouted from the back of the Bridge.
“Helm controls are locked,” said Tilmoore. “I can’t maneuver us out of this.”
“I guess we’re riding it all the way then,” said Huntington. “I hope we won’t go too far. The Academy would be pleased.”
Cardonez didn’t speak. She watched, waiting for an end to this ride and for an answer to what lay ahead of them.
“How long?,” asked Huntington while he struggled to keep a grip onto the Tactical console.
“Thirteen minutes,” said Kandro.
“I hope it isn’t much longer,” said Louise. “I’m starting to feel sick.”
“We can’t have that,” quipped Kandro. “I thought that I was the only thing that turned your stomach.”
“Usually yes,” she replied,” but this is getting ridiculous.”
Without any warning of any kind, the ship was spat out of the other end and they saw stars again before the ship slowly shuddered to a dead stop. For several minutes, no one spoke, each of them content to wait for their hearts to stop furiously beating and their eyes to focus on something other than flashes of light.
Cardonez broke the silence. “Where are we?”
Kandro’s mouth felt dry and his stomach still felt like it was twisting and turning. He was sure that he must have gone green. “Checking relative position,” he said, tapping away at his console. “Okay, got it.” He looked up and swung his seat around. Everyone was staring at him with both expectation and trepidation. “We’ve just traveled over fourteen thousand lightyears, and we’re currently somewhere in the Gamma Quadrant.”
“Fourteen years travel time,” said Cardonez.
“It’s a shame that we can’t communicate with Starfleet from out here,” said Huntington. “I really should tell the Academy that I’m going to be a touch late.”
****
“She’s alive,” Doctor Hollen said leaning over Kehen’s body. “That’s good news. And according to these readings, we still have brain activity.”
“Yannis Lekon showed brain activity,” said Commander Masafumi, referring to the father of Yulani warp technology.
“I know, Commander, I know. Nurse, three ccs of Cordrazine.”
Ravi Patel placed the hypospray in Hollem’s hands. “Here goes nothing,” said the Bajoran, pressing the implement to Kehen’s neck with an audible hiss.
Masafumi held his breath, waiting for the woman that he loved to wake up. He let the breath out. “It hasn’t worked, has it?,” he asked softly.
Hollem leaned forward and lifted one of Kehen’s eyelids. “Any change?,” he asked.
“Negative,” said Patel. “Readings are still the same.”
“Damn it,” the Bajoran whispered to himself. “It worked last time. Why not now?”
“Give her another shot,” ordered Masafumi.
Hollem looked up. He didn’t think that he had ever seen the Testudo’s First Officer look so defeated. “I can’t,” he said. “At least, not right now.”
“What do you mean?,” asked Masafumi. “I’m not a medical doctor but I know enough to know that you could give her another shot without harming her.”
“Believe me,” the doctor said,” it could harm her in her present condition.”
“Doctor, I really need you to clarify that point before I have Doctor Marcinowski replace you.”
Hollem closed his eyes for a moment. He knew that the Commander wasn’t thinking straight. He also knew that he deserved a straight answer. “I can’t give her another shot because it might harm her baby.”
Masafumi’s eyes widened. “Baby?,” he whispered.
****
“Anything yet on long-range sensors?,” asked Cardonez.
“Negative,” reported Kandro. “I am detecting a Class-M planet, three lightyears from here. That’s the closest object.”
“Okay, then, that’s as good a place as any to start looking. Ensign, lay in a course.”
“Captain, vessels decloaking,” said Huntington.
“Shields up. Red Alert,” Cardonez said. “On screen.”
:Oh, my,” she added, half-rising from her command chair when she looked at the three ships on the main viewscreen. She recognized the two flanking ships, of course. They were identical to ones that she had seen on several occasions. The mysterious enemy that had attacked Sector 29004 many times. It was the ship that hung between them that shocked her the most of all.
It was a Federation starship but not the one that she might have expected.
This one was older, much older, although its white hull was as pristine as the first time that she had left Spacedock and she could clearly make out the lettering on the hull.
USS Ranger, NCC-1822
Huntington also stared at the Constitution-class starship before them. “Well,” he said, sardonically,” that’s unexpected.”
To be continued…
And this is an epilogue?? Talk about a cliff-hanger... A long missing federation starship, a mysterious enemy known to lose taking over federation starships, and a comatose pregnancy.
Stay tuned...
Thanks!! rbs
Stay tuned...
Thanks!! rbs
Well, I do have to keep you guys coming back for more, @Robert Bruce Scott. LOL!
I should have the prologue for the next story, 'Life is but a Dream' posted before I have to go to Awana tonight.
I should have the prologue for the next story, 'Life is but a Dream' posted before I have to go to Awana tonight.
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