Historian's Note
This story takes place in February 2380 approximately two months after the events depicted in Star Trek: Nemesis.
CHAPTER ONE
Catherine Gallo never fought for anything harder in her life. She winced as the Jem’Hadar soldier approached her with his pistol drawn. She fired her own phaser rifle hitting the being in the chest but it did not faze him as he kept walking toward her with his weapon drawn. The Jem’Hadar fired again just missing Catherine’s ear by mere inches. Gallo looked around for somewhere to go, anything she could use for cover. After a few seconds, Catherine ducked behind a large boulder surrounded by several smaller rocks in the dark cavern she had found her way into on Hareah.
Hareah, a mining world. Known for the rich supply of dilithium at one time, the planet had been all but stripped of it in recent weeks since the war with the Dominion broke out three months before. Catherine had served on the U.S.S. Tian An Men, a Miranda-class ship that was attacked by the Dominion as the ship patrolled the border. Gallo had been captured by the Cardassians, and forced to work in the mines and take care of their wounded. The Lieutenant Commander frowned as a bead of sweat poured down her face from her long dark hair as she thought about what to do next. She turned to look through the cracks of the rocks facing the approaching Jem’Hadar forces this time making sure to line up her shot carefully. Catherine fired her phaser rifle hitting the giant of a being in the head knocking him to the ground. She winced as she saw more of them coming. Feeling trapped, and alone, Gallo decided to make a run for it. She grabbed the Kar’takin she had stolen for just such an occasion and ran down the cavern swinging the straight edge of the blade around hitting any Jem’Hadar that stood in her way.
Prisoner 10642, what the Jem’Hadar soldiers referred to her as. Catherine hated it, it made her feel like she was not human. She was bound and determined that after being made a comfort woman to Gul Mih Ekharc, the Cardassian that ran the camp, she would escape the hell she had forced to live for the past year. If she could just get word to Starfleet, she knew there would be a rescue not only for her but for the Klingons that had been captured as well. She could see the exit ahead of her. A bright beam of light in the dark cavern, if she could just make it there. Catherine ran with all her might, tucking her head down, keeping her Kar’takin close to her body. She could see the cavern’s exit better, it was no more than fifty yards away. She gave a high pitched scream as she turned and saw a blade now buried in her stomach.
Gallo looked up as she could see a Starfleet fighter flying over head, followed by another. Then she saw several Starfleet and Klingon soldiers surrounding the complex around her firing on the remaining Jem’Hadar soldiers knocking them to the ground as they fired their phasers.
Catherine winced in pain as she could feel her uniform being torn as she kept brandishing her weapon with everything she had trying to stay on her feet as she fought for her own survival. The Jem’Hadar fighting back at her with their Kar’takins were being just as brutal. Gallo winced in pain as she was stabbed several times more. Unable to stand, Catherine collapsed to the ground just inches short of the exit to the cavern she had once occupied. She had trouble breathing as she began to fade from darkness and life.
Gallo looked up smiling. She knew she had to try to escape, and she no more than knew that the effort could have been taken away from her. Her throat was now dry, she was unable to speak. Catherine closed her eyes as she no longer felt any pain.
“You need to stop turning off the safety protocols while you are in the holosuite,” said Doctor Julian Bashir, the Chief Medical Officer of Deep Space Nine as he stood over the body of Doctor Catherine Gallo waving the scanner of the medical tricorder over her as he took readings as he began to make his diagnosis.
“If I leave them on it’s not realistic,” said Gallo.
“True,” replied the Doctor, “but the war ended almost five years ago. You can not fight the Dominion every day, and the time to do so has long since passed. You must learn to put things behind you, and look toward the future.”
“I like to imagine what might have been,” said Gallo turning her head as Bashir injected her with a hypospray on her neck. “That hurt,” said Catherine as she winced in more pain.
“Come now,” said Bashir remaining calm, “think of your son. What would he do without you? He needs his mother.”
Catherine groaned internally before saying, “Spend time in a Dominion prison camp and get practically taken advantage of night after night by a Cardassian Gul, and then and only then Doctor can we talk about the concerns of my son.”
Bashir cracked a smile as he said, “Oh but I have spent some time in a Dominion interment camp Doctor. So trust me when I say that.” He then glanced at her medical file noting that in the five days that Gallo had been on board the station since the arrival of the medical ship Nightingale, she had been brought into the Infirmary four times, all with similar injuries. Bashir then ran his medical tricorder over the superior officer, “You have several contusions, a concussion, and not to mention a knife wound. You’re lucky I got to you when you were brought in here.” The Doctor watched as a nurse brought over a tray full of tools, “It’s going to take me a while to get you patched up Commander. I’m going to recommend some time with the counselor for you. I don’t want you taking any more unnecessary risks.” Julian fought the urge to smile knowing full well that her injuries were not as serious as what he had told her, hoping to scare his fellow medical professional into taking what he said seriously as a warning.
Gallo nodded as she laid on the biobed, “I understand.”
The Doctor ran his tricorder over her again as he took a dermal regenerator off the tray beside him and set to work healing the skin that had been broken open from the incident in the holosuite. “You know Doctor, you really did a number on that holosuite. Quark is some upset that you left it in such poor condition, and that he had to clean it before it could be used again.”
“Just tell him to send me the bill,” said Catherine, “besides I don’t trust Ferengi as far as I can throw them.”
Bashir formed a slight smile as he said, “You’d have a real problem throwing Quark anywhere. He’s a bit heavy as Ferengi go.”
“There’s nothing wrong with running that program Doctor. You know full well that it’s very appropriate to indulge in a little fantasy now and then. I needed the break from reality,” said Catherine.
Julian replied, “Yes it is, but taking too much of a break from reality can cause you to lose focus of the here and now. How can you expect to help other people with their own health if you can’t even take care of your own?”
Gallo rolled her eyes before saying, “Oh shut up Doctor, and finish what you’re doing.”
Julian shut off the dermal regenerator allowing Gallo to sit up on the edge of the biobed. “I’ll let you out of my Infirmary on the condition that I better not see you back here after you had visited a holosuite is that clear?”
“Crystal,” replied Catherine.
“Good,” said Bashir as he picked up a PADD and handed it to her, “This just came for you.”
Gallo took the PADD from him and activated it. “Thank you Doctor,” she said as she read the contents on the screen in front of her.
“New orders?” asked Bashir.
Gallo nodded her head in acknowledgment. She frowned slightly as she said, “Yes. I’ve been reassigned to the Oberon.”
Bashir then asked, “The Oberon, that’s Alex Marshall’s ship isn’t it?”
Gallo nodded, “Yes it is,” she replied.
Bashir smiled a little as he said, “I know him, we had a mutual friend who died during the Dominion War. He’s a good man, a brave one. You should consider yourself lucky to get such an assignment on a Luna-class starship no less. An exploration mission will do you some good, Lieutenant Commander.”
“I was hoping to be assigned to a Galaxy-class ship. If there is one thing I’ve come to realize while being held by the Cardassians is that I need my creature comforts,” said Catherine as she got up off the biobed.
“Well now, we can’t always get what we want,” said Bashir as he watched her leave the Infirmary. Gallo no longer wanted to continue the conversation with the doctor. She walked down the Promenade looking for a turbolift to being packing for her journey to Utopia Planetia where the Oberon was under construction.
More to come.
