Without A Cause
Featuring characters from Michael Garcia’s Star Trek: Full Speed Ahead
August 2360
It was always the same and she was tired of it.
She was tired of running and she was tired of the people she had encountered ever since she had escaped her native Bajor.
She had seen the little settlements they had built for themselves a dozen times. They were always much more like refugee camps than permanent homes, hastily put together but always with the not so well-guarded longing of someday being able to return to the world they had abandoned.
Unlike herself, they were weak-minded and bodied souls who had been lucky enough to escape the occupation through various means but hardly ever by fighting their way out. And their fantasy of returning to a peaceful Bajor someday had precluded them from leaving this sector behind for good.
Which also meant that they remained within striking distance of the Cardassian military, which cared little for boundaries and saw all Bajorans, no matter where they lived, as their subjects. And they were not above paying the refugee camps unannounced visits from time to time to remind these settlers that they could leave behind Bajor but they couldn’t escape the mighty Cardassian Union.
And the settlers put up with it. Counting their blessings that they were not in forced labor camps or subject to constant Cardassian rule like their kinsmen back on the home world.
A few former resistance fighters had grouped together to oppose their Cardassian visitors whenever possible but it was a mostly unorganized movement which did not resemble in the slightest the resistance back on Bajor. The few who dared to stand against the Cardassians here were more interested in causing death and destruction and vengeance than bring about any real lasting change.
Nora Laas had long since lost hope for her people. And the undeniable truth was, she wanted to leave it all behind.
It was what Leena had wanted. Her older sister had often talked to her about leaving Bajor and making a new home for themselves somewhere far away from war and misery.
Many Bajoran resistance fighters considered those thoughts to be cowardly and downright treacherous. Even Laas had felt like that once. But all Leena had ever wanted was a better life for her little sister and so Laas had gone along with the plan to try and sneak onto a Dopterian transport one night to take them away from their seemingly doomed world.
It hadn’t all worked out the way Leena had planned. An unscheduled Cardassian inspection had led to a firefight. Trapped and seemingly surrounded, Leena had sacrificed herself for a chance to allow her little sister to escape.
Laas had put up a fight of her own, not willing to leave her sister behind but in the end she hadn’t been given a choice.
Leena had sacrificed everything so that Laas could live a better life and yet it was all the same again. And Laas couldn’t stand the idea that she had died for nothing.
It was just after dawn that the strangers came.
She watched them curiously from her hiding spot on one of the many flat rooftops of the settlement.
There were five of them, all wearing unfamiliar uniforms. Laas was naturally weary and distrustful of people wearing uniforms but their colorful attire was a far cry from the dark body armor the Cardassians were so fond of. Most of them wore black and mustard colors but the woman who was clearly leading them wore maroon red.
They didn’t appear to have much tactical sense, she thought, making the officers stand out made them easy targets. They were all armed with what she suspected to be some sort of phasers.
They were predominantly human. Most Bajorans had heard of humans but not many could claim to have extensive knowledge of their race. Most were also aware that they belonged to the Federation, which according to rumors was one of the most powerful empires in the galaxy, possibly even more so than the Cardassians.
Bajorans generally didn’t much care for the Federation. They had heard stories of their worlds being like paradises and their supposedly high moral standards, including their insistence to give the same rights and privileges to all races. But if they were so concerned about the rights of all people and if they were indeed as powerful as some claimed, why had they never raised a finger to help the Bajoran people, many had asked.
Laas had been lucky enough to meet a few Federation volunteers who had visited Bajor and to her they had made a mostly positive impression. They had provided her resistance fighters with the best medical care one could have asked for and they had done so without questions and without asking anything in return. In fact Laas was certain that her sister would have met an early death from a Cardassian phaser injury if it hadn’t been for a human doctor.
The Cardassians had eventually forced them to leave when Cardassian-Federation relations deteriorated but as far as Laas was concerned, every enemy of the Cardassians was a friend of hers.
And yet she couldn’t help but maintain an amount of healthy suspicion of these newcomers as they began to walk deeper into the settlement.
She soon found out that the other Bajoran’s suspicion was far greater.
The female human waved her right hand in a swift half-circle. “Hello there." She put her hand back down and introduced herself, "My name is Commander Krystine Leone. I'm from the Federation starship
Potemkin." She was obviously in charge by her tone and demeanor. Her eyes scanned the Bajorans briefly before she continued, "We're looking for some Cardassians that might've been through here. You seen any?”
But most of them simply shook their heads and moved on, not in the least bit interested in what she had to say.
Leone frowned at the lack of response and tried again, this time speaking directly to those nearby. Once more, she failed to catch their attention. She folded her arms and began to rap her left fingers against the surface of her right upper arm, then turned to a male officer nearby and ordered loudly, "Beam down enough supplies and food for everyone here. Let's see if we can show that we're friends."
But even that promise didn’t help. The settlers and refugees simply scattered away quickly, doing their utmost to not be seen engaging with these officers.
It left Leone frustrated.
Laas knew exactly what was going on here.
They were looking for Glinn Rovat and his people who had indeed come to the settlement on the previous day. They had killed at least two settlers before making it painfully clear to everybody that anyone who would talk about their presence on this world would be met with an even worse fate.
Laas had immediately understood that Rovat had been afraid of something and now she knew what it was. Whatever he had done, these Federation people were serious about catching him.
The settlers of course, as weak and as easily intimidated as they were, didn’t want any part of it. Better to stay out of this business altogether instead of inviting the wrath of the Cardassians.
Laas watched the Starfleet entourage as they continued further down the dirt roads of the settlement, hoping to find somebody who would talk to them and lead them to the people they were looking for. Curious, she followed them but taking care at first to stay out of sight on the rooftops but when that was no longer practical, she climbed down and continued on the ground.
The Starfleet team was not making much progress even after their starship in orbit had delivered the requested goods and they were handing out basic foodstuffs and supplies to anyone who asked for them, hoping that it would allow them to gain their trust.
It was yet another bad tactical move, Laas knew. The settlers took whatever they could carry without providing the slightest bit of information to the Starfleet officers.
Soon they had depleted all of the supplies and the newcomers found themselves empty-handed yet again.
Laas who had stayed mostly in the shadows while the greedy refugees had pushed and fought over any scrap they could get their hands on, stepped into the open for the first time to get a better look at these foreigners.
One of them, a well-built human with shaggy blonde hair spotted her almost immediately, his hands moving towards his phaser. He had good instincts, she thought, rightly realizing that differently to all the others, she was a threat to be reckoned with.
Laas moved more carefully, slowly circling the group.
“Commander,” the man said, indicating towards the teenage girl who had approached them.
Leone turned to see her.
The man pulled his phaser.
“If you are looking for more food, I’m afraid we’re all out,” said Leone.
“Something tells me she isn’t here for supplies,” said another woman who made an immediate impression on the young Bajoran even if she couldn’t quite explain why that was exactly. Differently to her colleagues, this one was wearing a short-sleeved mini-dress of sorts, showing off an impressive amount of well-toned and lightly tanned legs. The tight uniform did little to hide a well-endowed body and the mischievous smile on her lips gave proof that she enjoyed the attention she received.
Leone took a step towards Laas much to the frustration of the security officer and to the surprise of the young Bajoran who immediately took on a defensive posture.
“Commander, be careful,” said the blonde-haired security man.
“Stand down, Dawk, I’m sure she isn’t here to hurt us,” she said as she focused on Laas. “Isn’t that right?”
Laas produced a vicious looking blade, forcing Leone to stop short.
The other woman also took a step forward and freed her own weapon. “You quite sure about that, Krys?”
Dawkins raised his phaser to take aim but his commanding officer raised an arm to let them both know to stay back
Laas couldn’t help but be impressed by this woman’s courage. She was so close now that she could have easily slit her throat before any of her people could make a move to take her down but Krystine Leone was not intimidated in the least, didn’t even reach for her own weapon still clipped to her waist.
“It be wise to heed your people’s warning,” Laas said, holding the blade perfectly steady. “I could easily kill you where you stand.”
Laas’ bold statement had the intended effect and made the Starfleeter’s noticeably nervous.
All but Leone. “I suppose so but what would that achieve?”
The question stumped Laas. She wasn’t used to be engaged in such a manner. Usually when she threatened somebody she expected a similarly violent response.
Leone smiled.
“Your tactics are pointless,” she said. “You shouldn’t have given anything away until you had the information you needed. You should have interrogated one of the settlers.”
“You may not have noticed yet,” said the other woman. “But we’re not Cardassians.”
Leone shot the other woman a quick glare to which she simply shrugged.
Laas decided that she didn’t like the other woman. There was something about her she couldn’t quite place but she reeked of femininity and it made her inexplicitly uncomfortable. “No.
You most certainly are not,” she said under her breath and then focused on Leone again. “But this way you’re never going to find who you are looking for.”
“Do you know where Rovat is hiding?” asked the security man Leone had called Dawk.
“Why do you want to know?”
“We have orders to take them into custody. If you tell us where they are, we’ll take them away and they won’t be able to hurt anyone else, I promise,” said the Starfleet commander.
Laas laughed sarcastically. “I’m not afraid of the Cardassians. I haven’t been for a long time.”
She nodded again. “Of that I have no doubt.”
“Why are looking for them? What have they done to you?”
Leone took a knee just a couple of meters away from the girl “They’ve raided a Federation colony in a nearby system and killed a dozen of our settlers. They will need to answer for those crimes.”
“You will kill them?”
She frowned. “No. But the evidence against them is damning. They will most likely be sentenced to long prison terms.”
Laas tried to figure out if she had made a joke. But her facial expressions were dead serious. The woman named Krystine Leone believed in every word she spoke. The Bajoran put away her blade. “I cannot help you,” she said and turned her back to them.
“Why?” Leone asked after her. “Because you’d rather see them dead? Because you want them to pay with their lives for what they have done to your people? I understand that. And I know what suffering the Cardassians have brought on your people but killing them won’t change what they have done. And the satisfaction you’ll get won’t last. Revenge does not work.”
Laas faced her again. “I don’t care about revenge. Not anymore.”
“Then tell me what you care about.”
It was an odd question and one Nora Laas could not remember ever being asked before.
“I … I don’t know,” she said truthfully.
The human got back onto her feet. “When you figure it out,” she said. “Come find me.”
And then they all left, leaving Laas alone and not a little confused.
* * *
A dream sequence? A badly coded holo-deck program?
.
