The Star Eagle Adventures IV: All The Sinners, Saints
- Thread starter CeJay
- Start date
Sindron-Tia moved closer to the front viewport to get a better look, placing himself between the two pilots. “Blow them out of the skies,” he said. “But take care not to damage the plane.”
“Your Eminence, it would be safer for you if you stayed in the back compartment,” the pilot said.
“Don’t worry about my safety, soldier and follow the orders of your Prias,” he shot back angrily. “Take us in closer and finish them off. I am sick entirely of these Federation outsiders meddling in our affairs,” he said, conveniently leaving out the part in which Starfleet meddling had been part of his plan to acquire the antimatter and make it available to Deite and her gang of rebels.
The fewer people who knew about the truth of course, the better. In fact, finding Starfleet trying a last ditch effort to put an end to his plan presented him with another splendid opportunity. He would later claim that Starfleet and the Federation had been in cohorts with the New Light from the beginning. A reasonable scenario considering that there wasn’t enough antimatter on all of Tiaita to create the kind of bomb that was sitting in Deite’s plane.
The new Prias had personally done everything he could, put his personal safety at risk to try and stop the foreign interlopers. He’d shot down their spaceship even while they had been trying to assist the New Light to bomb the capital. It would all make for a riveting and believable story. Unfortunately, of course, even his selfless deeds had not been enough to save the capital from annihilation.
An act of unprecedented destruction for which all of the Ait would pay a steep price, of that he would make sure.
Emboldened by his own vision of the future he spurred his people on. “Do it, do it now. Destroy their craft.”
The tilt jet’s guns spooled up noisily.
The Medusa, like all Starfleet shuttle craft had a solid duranium hull which could not be penetrated by the high caliber bullets that were now pelting the small vessel.
But not all parts of the shuttle were equally invulnerable to this kind of attack. The thrusters and the warp nacelles couldn’t take that kind of punishment for long. And some of the external EPS lines ruptured under the pressure. Unfortunately one of those had been the main power supply for the shuttle’s defensive shield systems.
Inside of the Medusa, and sitting at the controls, Culsten shook his head while he desperately tried to keep the small craft level with the airplane just a few meters above. It was quickly becoming an impossible task. He needed to break off or risk the shuttle losing its engines and thrusters.
“We’ve just lost shields,” he said as his fingers raced over the instrument panels. “Doctor,” he shouted over his shoulder. “Bring him in now. I can’t hold her much longer.”
“I … I can’t do it,” the frustrated voice of the medical officer replied. “He keeps slipping away!”
The shuttle kept rocking dangerously and Solly Brin held on for dear life. He angrily glanced towards the emergency hatch where the doctor was attempting to reel in his first officer. “I knew I should have gone up there,” he said and tried to climb towards the hatch to help or replace the doctor. But there was little point, there simply wasn’t enough room to allow his massive frame through the hatch.
“If I let go now,” she said, “we’ll lose him.”
The big Orion gave up on trying to bud in and turned back to the cockpit instead. “Doesn’t this thing have weapons?”
“I won’t be able to get a lock from this angle,” he said with frustration. “I would have to swing us back around but if I try to do that we shake Commander McBride loose for sure.”
Brin sighed heavily. “So much for advanced Starfleet engineering.”
Another round of hits managed to take out one of the thrusters keeping the shuttle airborne. “We have to break off,” Culsten said.
“What about the commander?” said Solly Brin. “We’ll lose him.”
“Maybe not. Hang on.”
T’Ser had been watching the scene below her with increasing dread. They weren’t able to bring in McBride into the safety of the shuttle’s cabin while it was under attack. They had to disengage in order to deal with the Tiaitan plane but any such maneuver would spell certain death for McBride.
Then she realized that the shuttle was gaining altitude again, coming back towards her.
She understood what they had in mind immediately and she stretched out as much as she could to once again try and reach for McBride.
Seeing that his only way out was up, the commander grabbed T’Ser’s hand, this time allowing for a firm grip.
The shuttle dropped away leaving McBride suspended at twenty-five thousand feet.
But this time T’Ser was not going to let go.
“Can you shake them?” Nora Laas asked as she stepped next to the pilot.
“We’ve taken some damage to the impulse engine and the thrusters,” said Culsten as he checked the instruments. “That means our maneuverability is way down. The only way I can try to get rid of them now is to go where they can’t follow.”
The Bajoran knew what that meant. Take the shuttle back into orbit.
After handing McBride back to T’Ser, Wenera had returned into the main cabin of the shuttle. “How long will that take?” she said with obvious concern. “Our people on that plane are going to need our help.”
“She’s right,” said Solly Brin. “We don’t have time for a detour. We need to do something, now.”
“Listen,” said Culsten, slightly frustrated by their situation and even while he kept their course as erratic as possible to keep their pursuers from locking on to them for what could quickly become a kill shot. “I’m a good pilot. No, scratch that. I’m a great pilot. But I can do only so much with a six ton, type seven shuttlecraft running on only two thrusters. I’m not going to be able to flip us around for a clear shot, that’s for sure.”
The Bajoran had a sudden idea and tapped her combadge. “Nora to Eagle. We have a hostile vessel trying to prevent us from intercepting the bomb. Any chance we can get some assistance down here?”
It wasn’t a bad thought. Eagle had already proven once before her ability to wreck havoc from orbit in order to bail out the away teams on the planet.
Unfortunately they were clearly still struggling with the prevalent antimatter radiation and the comlink was so scrambled it was nearly impossible to make out Owens at the other end. “… still working … getting sensors … online, Lieutenant. … another ten minutes … least.”
Frustrated Nora Lass shook her head. “We don’t have ten minutes.”
Brin looked towards the back part of the cabin. “If only we had a few aft phasers on this damn bucket.”
Nora Laas followed his glance towards the main hatch. “Maybe we do,” she said and reached for her rifle.
“They are slowing down, Your Eminence.”
Sindron nodded to acknowledge the pilot. “We must have hit their engines, they cannot get away from us anymore. Get in close and let’s finish them off.”
The two pilots quickly shortened their distance to the Starfleet shuttlecraft until it became unmistakably apparent that it had taken serious damage. The formerly pristine white hull was scratched up all along the back and was now covered with dark scorch marks. Electrical sparks and fumes spoke of broken down components.
The Prias smirked when he realized that the damage was in fact much more severe than he had first thought. Their hull was coming apart, the entire back dropped away, allowing a clear view into the cabin of the shuttle.
He was surprised to see that the occupants didn’t seem particularly concerned about this fact. They were close enough now to clearly see a woman and a massive red-skinned alien standing quite confidently near the back as if to taunt their pursuers.
“Fools,” he said. “Fire!”
The Gatling guns rattled mercilessly, releasing hundreds of rounds per minute.
Sindron had become quite excited by the prospect of seeing these arrogant Starfleet officers being mowed down like blades of grass by the incoming fire.
But his smile dropped off his face when not a single high caliber bullet found its way inside the shuttle. Instead, every single one was stopped short by an invisible wall of energy which seemed to protect the interior of the craft.
The woman and the red giant produced rifles and took careful aim at the military aircraft in hot pursuit.
Sindron felt a cold shudder grip his entire body. He yelled so loudly, his spittle hit the front viewport. “Evade, evade, evade!”
It was far too late for that.
The phaser blasts passed through the force field smoothly and with zero effort but smashed violently into the plane’s cockpit.
Set to full intensity, they disintegrated the pilots and the self-appointed Prias of Tiaita so instantly, he didn’t even have the time to consider at what point exactly his carefully thought out scheme which had destroyed so many lives and would destroy so many more, had begun to fail so miserably.
“Your Eminence, it would be safer for you if you stayed in the back compartment,” the pilot said.
“Don’t worry about my safety, soldier and follow the orders of your Prias,” he shot back angrily. “Take us in closer and finish them off. I am sick entirely of these Federation outsiders meddling in our affairs,” he said, conveniently leaving out the part in which Starfleet meddling had been part of his plan to acquire the antimatter and make it available to Deite and her gang of rebels.
The fewer people who knew about the truth of course, the better. In fact, finding Starfleet trying a last ditch effort to put an end to his plan presented him with another splendid opportunity. He would later claim that Starfleet and the Federation had been in cohorts with the New Light from the beginning. A reasonable scenario considering that there wasn’t enough antimatter on all of Tiaita to create the kind of bomb that was sitting in Deite’s plane.
The new Prias had personally done everything he could, put his personal safety at risk to try and stop the foreign interlopers. He’d shot down their spaceship even while they had been trying to assist the New Light to bomb the capital. It would all make for a riveting and believable story. Unfortunately, of course, even his selfless deeds had not been enough to save the capital from annihilation.
An act of unprecedented destruction for which all of the Ait would pay a steep price, of that he would make sure.
Emboldened by his own vision of the future he spurred his people on. “Do it, do it now. Destroy their craft.”
The tilt jet’s guns spooled up noisily.
The Medusa, like all Starfleet shuttle craft had a solid duranium hull which could not be penetrated by the high caliber bullets that were now pelting the small vessel.
But not all parts of the shuttle were equally invulnerable to this kind of attack. The thrusters and the warp nacelles couldn’t take that kind of punishment for long. And some of the external EPS lines ruptured under the pressure. Unfortunately one of those had been the main power supply for the shuttle’s defensive shield systems.
Inside of the Medusa, and sitting at the controls, Culsten shook his head while he desperately tried to keep the small craft level with the airplane just a few meters above. It was quickly becoming an impossible task. He needed to break off or risk the shuttle losing its engines and thrusters.
“We’ve just lost shields,” he said as his fingers raced over the instrument panels. “Doctor,” he shouted over his shoulder. “Bring him in now. I can’t hold her much longer.”
“I … I can’t do it,” the frustrated voice of the medical officer replied. “He keeps slipping away!”
The shuttle kept rocking dangerously and Solly Brin held on for dear life. He angrily glanced towards the emergency hatch where the doctor was attempting to reel in his first officer. “I knew I should have gone up there,” he said and tried to climb towards the hatch to help or replace the doctor. But there was little point, there simply wasn’t enough room to allow his massive frame through the hatch.
“If I let go now,” she said, “we’ll lose him.”
The big Orion gave up on trying to bud in and turned back to the cockpit instead. “Doesn’t this thing have weapons?”
“I won’t be able to get a lock from this angle,” he said with frustration. “I would have to swing us back around but if I try to do that we shake Commander McBride loose for sure.”
Brin sighed heavily. “So much for advanced Starfleet engineering.”
Another round of hits managed to take out one of the thrusters keeping the shuttle airborne. “We have to break off,” Culsten said.
“What about the commander?” said Solly Brin. “We’ll lose him.”
“Maybe not. Hang on.”
T’Ser had been watching the scene below her with increasing dread. They weren’t able to bring in McBride into the safety of the shuttle’s cabin while it was under attack. They had to disengage in order to deal with the Tiaitan plane but any such maneuver would spell certain death for McBride.
Then she realized that the shuttle was gaining altitude again, coming back towards her.
She understood what they had in mind immediately and she stretched out as much as she could to once again try and reach for McBride.
Seeing that his only way out was up, the commander grabbed T’Ser’s hand, this time allowing for a firm grip.
The shuttle dropped away leaving McBride suspended at twenty-five thousand feet.
But this time T’Ser was not going to let go.
“Can you shake them?” Nora Laas asked as she stepped next to the pilot.
“We’ve taken some damage to the impulse engine and the thrusters,” said Culsten as he checked the instruments. “That means our maneuverability is way down. The only way I can try to get rid of them now is to go where they can’t follow.”
The Bajoran knew what that meant. Take the shuttle back into orbit.
After handing McBride back to T’Ser, Wenera had returned into the main cabin of the shuttle. “How long will that take?” she said with obvious concern. “Our people on that plane are going to need our help.”
“She’s right,” said Solly Brin. “We don’t have time for a detour. We need to do something, now.”
“Listen,” said Culsten, slightly frustrated by their situation and even while he kept their course as erratic as possible to keep their pursuers from locking on to them for what could quickly become a kill shot. “I’m a good pilot. No, scratch that. I’m a great pilot. But I can do only so much with a six ton, type seven shuttlecraft running on only two thrusters. I’m not going to be able to flip us around for a clear shot, that’s for sure.”
The Bajoran had a sudden idea and tapped her combadge. “Nora to Eagle. We have a hostile vessel trying to prevent us from intercepting the bomb. Any chance we can get some assistance down here?”
It wasn’t a bad thought. Eagle had already proven once before her ability to wreck havoc from orbit in order to bail out the away teams on the planet.
Unfortunately they were clearly still struggling with the prevalent antimatter radiation and the comlink was so scrambled it was nearly impossible to make out Owens at the other end. “… still working … getting sensors … online, Lieutenant. … another ten minutes … least.”
Frustrated Nora Lass shook her head. “We don’t have ten minutes.”
Brin looked towards the back part of the cabin. “If only we had a few aft phasers on this damn bucket.”
Nora Laas followed his glance towards the main hatch. “Maybe we do,” she said and reached for her rifle.
“They are slowing down, Your Eminence.”
Sindron nodded to acknowledge the pilot. “We must have hit their engines, they cannot get away from us anymore. Get in close and let’s finish them off.”
The two pilots quickly shortened their distance to the Starfleet shuttlecraft until it became unmistakably apparent that it had taken serious damage. The formerly pristine white hull was scratched up all along the back and was now covered with dark scorch marks. Electrical sparks and fumes spoke of broken down components.
The Prias smirked when he realized that the damage was in fact much more severe than he had first thought. Their hull was coming apart, the entire back dropped away, allowing a clear view into the cabin of the shuttle.
He was surprised to see that the occupants didn’t seem particularly concerned about this fact. They were close enough now to clearly see a woman and a massive red-skinned alien standing quite confidently near the back as if to taunt their pursuers.
“Fools,” he said. “Fire!”
The Gatling guns rattled mercilessly, releasing hundreds of rounds per minute.
Sindron had become quite excited by the prospect of seeing these arrogant Starfleet officers being mowed down like blades of grass by the incoming fire.
But his smile dropped off his face when not a single high caliber bullet found its way inside the shuttle. Instead, every single one was stopped short by an invisible wall of energy which seemed to protect the interior of the craft.
The woman and the red giant produced rifles and took careful aim at the military aircraft in hot pursuit.
Sindron felt a cold shudder grip his entire body. He yelled so loudly, his spittle hit the front viewport. “Evade, evade, evade!”
It was far too late for that.
The phaser blasts passed through the force field smoothly and with zero effort but smashed violently into the plane’s cockpit.
Set to full intensity, they disintegrated the pilots and the self-appointed Prias of Tiaita so instantly, he didn’t even have the time to consider at what point exactly his carefully thought out scheme which had destroyed so many lives and would destroy so many more, had begun to fail so miserably.
* * *
She had rushed him and tackled him to the ground so forcefully, his gun had slipped out of his hand and skittered across the cargo bay floor.
To his credit the Tiaitan spy was determined not to be taken down easily. After hitting the floor, he tried desperately to free himself by landing a few kicks into the woman’s face.
Star was not impressed. She easily caught one of his ankles in midair and pulled him back towards her.
He didn’t have enough momentum to do much damage with his other foot.
The Trill balled her right fist and drove it down hard into his midsection causing him to cry out in pain.
But she wasn’t done, determined not to make the same mistake twice and allow him to surprise them a second time.
While he was still trying to recover from her iron-like fist trying to drive itself clean through him, she picked him up off the floor and used her artificial lower arm to deliver a picture perfect right hook.
The sound of crunching bone was a promise of agonizing pain. Mercifully it never fully registered in Teldro’s brain as he was nearly lifted off the floor by the force of the impact only to come crashing down on top of a bank of computer consoles. He flopped down and back onto the floor like a broken ragdoll, blood pooling under his face.
Star looked at her hand. She had hardly felt anything but the tight black latex glove she had worn since their painful mission to the arctic had ripped in places, now revealing a metallic surface underneath.
“I’ve got you. Hang on.”
Star turned around to see that T’Ser was slowly reeling in Commander McBride who had come within a hair’s breadth to a deadly twenty-five thousand feet plummet just moments before.
By the time the Trill had come to her assistance, T’Ser had already pulled McBride back onto the floor of the cargo hold and away from the open loading bay doors.
They both collapsed, entirely exhausted by the death defying seconds that had come before.
McBride looked over at the sweat soaked face of the Vulcan by his side. “You know,” he said through labored breaths. “You’ve got this all wrong. I’ve come to rescue you, not the other way around.”
She smiled sweetly at him. “Truth is, I’ve kind of had it playing the damsel in distress.”
Talzla Star looked down at the couple and didn’t miss that they were lying so close together one might have been able to forget that they had just fought for their very lives. Their chemistry was undeniable, even now they drew closer to each other, momentarily forgetting where they were and who was watching. There was no doubt these two felt passionately for each other and she secretly envied them for it.
The romantic moment didn’t last.
Behind them a sudden series of beeps and chirps heralded serious trouble.
They turned to find that that was an understatement.
The antimatter bomb which had remained suspended above the open cargo bay doors throughout the entire time had come back to life, ready to be deployed at a moment’s notice.
Star couldn’t quite explained how that could’ve happened until she spotted Teldro again.
Unbelievably, he was back on his feet. Even if only barely. His face now a complete mess, his jaw bone badly dislocated, his mouth filled with thick red blood, it bordered on a miracle he hadn’t passed out from the pain he surely had to be feeling.
Tazla Star couldn’t quite believe that she had indeed made the same mistake twice. And worse even. Instead of making sure that Teldro was neutralized she had also failed to realize that he had landed right next to the bomb’s master control panel over which he now hovered.
His bloodshot eyes however were firmly looking into her direction.
She couldn’t tell due to his now disfigured face but she thought he was trying to smile.
McBride and T’Ser quickly jumped to their feet but then froze when Teldro very slowly shook his head – he could no longer speak – as if to say that any kind of move now would be too late.
McBride and Star knew why he was so confident.
His fingers were just inches over the release controls.
The Trill glanced back towards the antimatter device to see that the manual override she and McBride had used earlier to deactivate the bomb had been reinstalled. It was primed and ready to go. Ready to annihilate what was left of the capital city.
She could of course try to get to the override but the chances that she would reach it before Teldro depressed that single button to release it were next to zero.
Teldro knew that and that’s why he smiled.
The gunshot put an end to that.
It had come so sudden that the three Starfleet officers flinched noticeably.
Deite had entered the cargo hold unnoticed, holding a gun and shooting a single shot into Teldro’s shoulder, spinning him around and away from the control panel.
It didn’t kill him right away. Instead it brought him face to face with Deite.
He had a panicked expression on his bloodied face now that it was becoming quickly obvious to him that his chances of fulfilling his divine mission, the Prophecy, were slipping rapidly.
He attempted it nevertheless.
To no avail.
With furious delight, Deite kept squeezing that trigger until the clip was empty and every single bullet had been placed exactly where she had wanted it to go.
Teldro dropped to his knees and keeled over for what had to be the last time.
The three Starfleet officers had watched with disbelief as Teldro had been cut down by the rebel leader who had become a most unexpected savior.
T’Ser took a step towards the woman, feeling the sting of shame overcome her once more when she noticed her black and blue face, a direct consequence from the beating she had given her moments earlier.
Deite angrily pointed the gun at T’Ser, forcing the Vulcan to freeze in mid-step.
The Tiaitan woman squeezed the trigger again with the apparent intention to kill everyone. The betrayers, the interlopers and everyone else who had stood in her way.
But the gun was out.
Star decided that she had just about enough. “Get her,” she said and then turned back towards the bomb. She quickly found the manual override again and turned all four switches back into the off position, allowing the bomb to cycle down once more. She then tried to remove the key-like controls just in case but found that they didn’t budge.
A few bumps and shakes reminded her that they were still flying on a damaged plane without a pilot. This wasn’t going to be over until they were on the ground and the bomb was dismantled for good.
T’Ser and McBride slowly approached Deite who seemed to be standing on shaky legs. She was also apparently not willing to be taken down this easily and threw the now useless gun at the two Bluefin officers approaching her.
The Vulcan ducked, easily avoiding it.
The plane rattled again forcing them all to find something to hang on to.
It gave Deite the chance to play her next and final card.
With a surprisingly fast leap she jumped over Teldro’s dead body and towards the control console.
McBride and T’Ser immediately understood what she was up to and rushed after her even as they struggled to keep upright on the increasingly turbulent flight.
She reached the controls a moment before McBride and it was long enough to find the bomb’s release button.
Star jumped back when the device in front of her suddenly dropped. She whipped around to see McBride and T’Ser struggling with Deite and then looked back down to find the bomb free-falling towards the surface. It wasn’t armed and it wouldn’t detonate. The damage was going to be minimal.
Another, particularly nasty bump, nearly threw her out of the plane herself. By the time she managed to pull herself back onto her feet she realized that Deite had managed to free herself from the two Bluefin officers and was staring right back at her with a crazed expression on her face.
“It’s over,” said Star. “There is nothing more you can –“
Deite launched herself like a missile and right towards Commander Star.
The Trill acted instinctively. She jumped straight up, her hands finding a handle above her head and she pulled herself up even as she brought her knees against her chest.
The quick move appeared to have saved her life because Deite missed her completely.
But Star noticed that the woman wasn’t too concerned about this. Her facial expression wasn’t the distorted mask of madness she had come to expect but instead was an entirely focused visage as if she had set out to complete the final stroke of her plan.
She dove head first out of the plane and after the bomb.
Star dropped back onto the floor and watched after the woman flying through the clear blue sky not unlike a squirrel locked in on its target. The bomb. And she had a real shot of catching up to it.
T’Ser and McBride quickly joined Star by the open loading bay doors.
“What the blazes does she think she’s doing?” the Vulcan asked.
“Re-activate the bomb in midair,” said Star.
“Is that possible?”
Star wasn’t sure but she knew that Deite clearly seemed to believe that it was. All she had to do was to get to the manual overrides again. After all that they had been through, after all they had done to try to stop this outcome from coming to pass, it now appeared to be entirely out of their hands.
And then she decided that she was not going to let it all end this way. They had come too far.
Any second of delay was one more second Deite and the bomb were moving out of her reach.
Tazla Star took one step and dived into the sky.
The two Border Service officers looked on in stunned silence. They exchanged incredulous looks but there was little else they could do.
That’s when the plane’s autopilot finally gave up.
The two officers were flung away from the doors and towards the back of the aircraft. They managed to hold on to a harness and avoid being slammed violently into the back wall.
“We have to get this plane under control,” T’Ser shouted.
McBride nodded and fought his way towards the front. “Stay here,” he said
But the Vulcan didn’t like that plan. “What are you going to do? You can’t fly this thing.”
“I can pilot a Stallion, a shuttle and a starship,” he shouted back. “I think I can handle a damn airplane.”
But T’Ser was not convinced and followed him. “These things work entirely different.”
He looked at her, his face turning into an expression of anger which in reality was merely a mask for his concern and frustration. He had finally found and rescued T’Ser and he was going to be damned if he would allow them both to die in a fiery crash now. “I have to try.”
Their progress to reach the front part of the aircraft was helped quite suddenly when it began to straightened out again. Except that it wasn’t staying level. Gravity was beginning to take hold and without a pilot to countermand its effects it was now beginning to plunge.
T’Ser spotted Balik working his way towards them first. He had been shot earlier and was still holding his side with one hand. His clothes were drenched in dark blood and he was leaving behind a noticeable trail of his fluids as he approached.
The Vulcan realized that he was slowly bleeding to death but she had to give him credit to find the strength to stay on his feet, especially considering the rather unfavorable circumstances. She also knew that there was no time or opportunity to treat his injuries.
“You’re heading the wrong way,” she told him over the increasing noise of a plane beginning to fall apart around them. “We have to get to the cockpit.”
But he simply shook his head and continued towards the cargo hold. “No use,” he said with obvious difficulties. “Shot to hell. Controls dead.”
He had already tried.
Another bump, this one more subtle than the previous ones made McBride look over his shoulder. It had been accompanied with the sound of metal against metal.
“Does somebody here need a ride?”
Dale McBride smiled when he saw Ashley Wenera’s head pop up from the open landing bay doors almost as if she had magically flown up to meet them.
In truth he knew that the shuttle had managed to dock with the plane, probably by magnetizing its hull and was now standing ready to take them on board. He also knew that time was a factor, the shuttle would not be able to stop the much larger plane’s plummet towards the surface.
He looked back at T’Ser and Balik. “Let’s go.”
The Vulcan quickly reached out for the injured Tiaitan who had nearly collapsed a few meters before reaching the cargo hold and together with McBride they helped him towards the bay doors.
Wenera’s disposition noticeably darkened when she spotted the bleeding Balik but she wasted little time to carefully bring him into the shuttle.
Medusa’s upper docking hatch was too narrow to allow them all to embark at the same time and McBride and T’Ser had to wait until Wenera had managed to get Balik through the hatch.
“You’re next,” said Commander McBride once the docking port was clear.
She looked at him as if she wanted to object but the determined expression on his face discouraged her from even attempting it. After all that had happened over the last few days, he would take no more chances.
He watched her climb into the shuttle. “And Lieutenant, just so we are clear,” he said. “All future requests to join landing parties to strange, unfamiliar planets are hereby preemptively denied.”
She offered no objections on the matter.
Hee hee. McBride showing protective side to T'Ser is very sweet. And the thrills are not over just yet. Just love the image of Deite jumping out the plane with the bomb and then lo and behold Star goes and does the same. Gasp! Coolio.
Tazla Star had never much cared for the sensation that accompanied a free fall, be it an orbital jump or a good old fashioned sky dive.
Instead she much preferred the feeling of being in control in every given situation.
Thankfully the feeling of helplessness usually didn’t last. During one point or another a chute would be deployed allowing her to wrestle back some control over gravity.
This time, that option did not exist.
She was in a complete free fall with nothing to prevent her from slamming into the ground at speeds that would ensure very little of her would remain after impact.
Everything had happened very quickly and truth be told she really hadn’t had the time to think things through.
Once Deite had jumped out of the plane she had decided that she couldn’t take the chance to sit by and hope for the best.
She wasn’t entirely sure what her plan had been. The antimatter bomb she had released was disarmed, she had seen to that. It would drop relatively harmlessly to the ground, maybe destroy some property or crush a couple of unlucky people who happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time but it wouldn’t detonate over the city as it had been planned.
Had Deite simply decided to kill herself now that her game was up?
After seeing the disturbing look in her eyes after she had shot Teldro, it wasn’t a farfetched theory. Deite had reached her breaking point, overcome by grief, hate and betrayal.
But another, much more terrifying option remained. And the further they tumbled through the sky the more likely it appear to become.
Deite was on a collision course with the bomb.
For a brief moment Star was quite impressed by her opponent’s calculative nature, not to mention the force of will that would have been required for such an unlikely stunt. Under a different set of circumstances, Deite would have made an impressive special operations asset.
But no matter how strong her resolve was to see this through, Star’s was equally resolute as to not let her win.
And while Deite may have been strong-minded she lacked the training and experience Star possessed. Flying through the air at twenty-five thousand feet without a chute to try and stop a crazy fanatic from arming an antimatter bomb in mid flight was exactly the kind of thing she had trained for.
Well, not exactly.
She put her feet together and pressed her arms tightly to her side and then pointed her entire body towards Deite and the bomb.
She reached the weapon seconds after the Tiaitan woman who had already found the override control panel. Hugging the device closely she slowly turned the four keys one by one to rearm the bomb.
Star realized too late that she was coming in way too fast and couldn’t slow down to avoid colliding with her target painfully. She managed to hold on with one hand before she would have simply bounced off without any chance to stop the fanatic rebel.
Deite was stunned to see the Starfleet officer who she had been sure she had finally managed to leave behind. Realizing that she couldn’t waste a single second, she quickly reached for the last key.
And Star was completely out of position to stop her from rearming the bomb. Hanging on by only one hand, Deite was far above her and to the right, way out of her reach.
At this point, she was not going to let that stop her.
In an impressive display of strength, Star pulled herself up until she found another cranny for her other hand to give her better leverage. The additional weight on the bomb caused it to flip sideways in midair and almost threw Deite clean off.
“You cannot stop me!” she shouted at the top of her lungs. “Don’t you see? I was destined to do this,” she said and turned the last key to reengage the weapon.
“I’ve got your destiny right here,” said Star and drove the heel of her boot into Deite’s face with all the strength she could muster.
She cried out in pain as her nose cracked and exploded in dark red blood. Her fingers slipped from where she was holding on to the bomb, immediately transferring all her weight onto her other hand which was hanging on to the tiny slab of thin metal of the key switch she had only just turned.
It couldn’t hold her weight of course and snapped just before Deite fell away and through thick white clouds.
Star couldn’t be entirely sure but she thought she could hear her laughing as she plummeted to her certain death.
She quickly realized why she might have had reason to do so.
The manual override had been disengaged, all four keys turned, the bomb was primed and ready to blow at the designated altitude as it had been designed to.
Star immediately began to turn the keys back but found that she couldn’t use the fourth one, it had broken off.
“Come on, come on,” she said as she continued to try and turn the three remaining keys without success. The bomb wouldn’t shut down again without all four of them turned off.
A display next to the controls was now counting down rapidly using unfamiliar numbers. What had started as a six digit figure was now down to four. Star guessed that it was the timer. Once it reached zero the bomb was set to detonate, probably a few hundred feet over the city in order to ensure maximum destruction.
And Tazla Star would be riding her just like in an old Hollywood motion picture, the first victim of a bomb whose antimatter she herself had delivered. Ironic justice, perhaps.
A small smile crossed her lips despite her situation. It had hardly been the first near-death scenario she had found herself in. Not the first since she had come to this world and not even the first since she had gotten out of bed in the morning. She seemed to have a strange knack to get herself into these positions.
This one however more than any other that had come before truly felt like the last.
It mattered little if the bomb detonated or not, death was coming either way.
She wondered which one would be less painful.
The display was down to three digits.
Star decided for one last strategy. She struggled to free one of her hands, making sure she continued to have a firm grip on the bomb itself, and tapped the combadge on her chest. “Star to Eagle.”
There was no reply.
“Star to Eagle, do you hear me?”
Nothing.
“No, I didn’t think you would. Worth a shot, though.”
She mentally chided herself for starting to talk to herself.
“This is Owens. Commander Star, do you read me?”
Never in her entire life had she been more glad to hear another person’s voice as she had been that moment. She knew she would treasure it even if she was going to die. At least she wouldn’t have to be alone.
Owens’ voice had come heavily distorted over her communicator but she could just about understand it.
“Yes, yes, I can hear you and may I just say that I absolutely love your voice.”
That seemed to have thrown Owens off for a second and Star chided herself again, this time for behaving entirely inappropriate while addressing a superior officer. She thought that considering the circumstances however, she deserved some slack.
“What is your situation, Commander?”
This time she laughed out loud and didn’t care if it was appropriate or not. “About to be incinerated or crushed to death, take your pick, sir.”
“We have you on sensors now, Commander,” said Owens. “But not clearly. The antimatter radiation is playing havoc with our systems. We are still trying to compensate by bombarding the surface with carbon isotopes.”
“I hate to get my hopes up here but any chance you could use the transporter?”
Owens hesitated for a moment, a sign of bad news. “Not yet and probably not very accurately. Commander, the chances that we can lock on to you and beam you back onto the ship are very small.”
Star forced herself to slow her heart rate which was now pounding in her chest. “I take small over nothing any day,” she said and took a deep breath. Only two digits left now. “Sir, it looks as if this bomb is going to go off any second now,” she said and then paused. “Try to do whatever you can to lock on to my signal and beam everything you get into outer space. It’s the only chance we have left to stop this damn thing from taking out the city.”
“We’ll do what we can.”
“For what it’s worth, sir, and I know you don’t feel the same way, but it has been an honor to serve with you and your crew. You gave me a second chance which I know I didn’t deserve.”
And that was that.
There really wasn’t anything else to say and Tazla Star pressed herself closer to the device which was going to kill her in a matter of moments. She had seen this coming for some time now. She didn’t really believe in fate in the same way Deite may have believed. But she had always had that pesky notion in the back of her head that sooner or later all the morally ambiguous things she had done would catch up with her and that she would be held accountable for them all. She just never would have thought that she’d go out like this.
The timer was down to one digit.
And then she saw that the bomb was beginning to fade away.
She felt a familiar tingling sensation and knew that she was dematerializing as well.
Self-sacrifice is a bitch, she thought.
The explosion was utterly impressive.
It detonated with the equivalent yield of one-hundred fifty megatons of TNT or nearly twice the blast power of the most devastated nuclear based weapon which had ever been developed on Earth. It’s blast radius of fifteen kilometer would have caused immeasurable death and destruction over Tiaita’s capital city.
But in outer space, some thirty-thousand kilometers away from the starships Eagle and Bluefin and the small freighter convoy, there was no fuel to drive a massive fireball and the explosion remained nothing more than a bright blinding light.
So bright it fact, for a mere second it seemed to outshine the powerful Twin Pulsars hanging in the distance.
Instead she much preferred the feeling of being in control in every given situation.
Thankfully the feeling of helplessness usually didn’t last. During one point or another a chute would be deployed allowing her to wrestle back some control over gravity.
This time, that option did not exist.
She was in a complete free fall with nothing to prevent her from slamming into the ground at speeds that would ensure very little of her would remain after impact.
Everything had happened very quickly and truth be told she really hadn’t had the time to think things through.
Once Deite had jumped out of the plane she had decided that she couldn’t take the chance to sit by and hope for the best.
She wasn’t entirely sure what her plan had been. The antimatter bomb she had released was disarmed, she had seen to that. It would drop relatively harmlessly to the ground, maybe destroy some property or crush a couple of unlucky people who happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time but it wouldn’t detonate over the city as it had been planned.
Had Deite simply decided to kill herself now that her game was up?
After seeing the disturbing look in her eyes after she had shot Teldro, it wasn’t a farfetched theory. Deite had reached her breaking point, overcome by grief, hate and betrayal.
But another, much more terrifying option remained. And the further they tumbled through the sky the more likely it appear to become.
Deite was on a collision course with the bomb.
For a brief moment Star was quite impressed by her opponent’s calculative nature, not to mention the force of will that would have been required for such an unlikely stunt. Under a different set of circumstances, Deite would have made an impressive special operations asset.
But no matter how strong her resolve was to see this through, Star’s was equally resolute as to not let her win.
And while Deite may have been strong-minded she lacked the training and experience Star possessed. Flying through the air at twenty-five thousand feet without a chute to try and stop a crazy fanatic from arming an antimatter bomb in mid flight was exactly the kind of thing she had trained for.
Well, not exactly.
She put her feet together and pressed her arms tightly to her side and then pointed her entire body towards Deite and the bomb.
She reached the weapon seconds after the Tiaitan woman who had already found the override control panel. Hugging the device closely she slowly turned the four keys one by one to rearm the bomb.
Star realized too late that she was coming in way too fast and couldn’t slow down to avoid colliding with her target painfully. She managed to hold on with one hand before she would have simply bounced off without any chance to stop the fanatic rebel.
Deite was stunned to see the Starfleet officer who she had been sure she had finally managed to leave behind. Realizing that she couldn’t waste a single second, she quickly reached for the last key.
And Star was completely out of position to stop her from rearming the bomb. Hanging on by only one hand, Deite was far above her and to the right, way out of her reach.
At this point, she was not going to let that stop her.
In an impressive display of strength, Star pulled herself up until she found another cranny for her other hand to give her better leverage. The additional weight on the bomb caused it to flip sideways in midair and almost threw Deite clean off.
“You cannot stop me!” she shouted at the top of her lungs. “Don’t you see? I was destined to do this,” she said and turned the last key to reengage the weapon.
“I’ve got your destiny right here,” said Star and drove the heel of her boot into Deite’s face with all the strength she could muster.
She cried out in pain as her nose cracked and exploded in dark red blood. Her fingers slipped from where she was holding on to the bomb, immediately transferring all her weight onto her other hand which was hanging on to the tiny slab of thin metal of the key switch she had only just turned.
It couldn’t hold her weight of course and snapped just before Deite fell away and through thick white clouds.
Star couldn’t be entirely sure but she thought she could hear her laughing as she plummeted to her certain death.
She quickly realized why she might have had reason to do so.
The manual override had been disengaged, all four keys turned, the bomb was primed and ready to blow at the designated altitude as it had been designed to.
Star immediately began to turn the keys back but found that she couldn’t use the fourth one, it had broken off.
“Come on, come on,” she said as she continued to try and turn the three remaining keys without success. The bomb wouldn’t shut down again without all four of them turned off.
A display next to the controls was now counting down rapidly using unfamiliar numbers. What had started as a six digit figure was now down to four. Star guessed that it was the timer. Once it reached zero the bomb was set to detonate, probably a few hundred feet over the city in order to ensure maximum destruction.
And Tazla Star would be riding her just like in an old Hollywood motion picture, the first victim of a bomb whose antimatter she herself had delivered. Ironic justice, perhaps.
A small smile crossed her lips despite her situation. It had hardly been the first near-death scenario she had found herself in. Not the first since she had come to this world and not even the first since she had gotten out of bed in the morning. She seemed to have a strange knack to get herself into these positions.
This one however more than any other that had come before truly felt like the last.
It mattered little if the bomb detonated or not, death was coming either way.
She wondered which one would be less painful.
The display was down to three digits.
Star decided for one last strategy. She struggled to free one of her hands, making sure she continued to have a firm grip on the bomb itself, and tapped the combadge on her chest. “Star to Eagle.”
There was no reply.
“Star to Eagle, do you hear me?”
Nothing.
“No, I didn’t think you would. Worth a shot, though.”
She mentally chided herself for starting to talk to herself.
“This is Owens. Commander Star, do you read me?”
Never in her entire life had she been more glad to hear another person’s voice as she had been that moment. She knew she would treasure it even if she was going to die. At least she wouldn’t have to be alone.
Owens’ voice had come heavily distorted over her communicator but she could just about understand it.
“Yes, yes, I can hear you and may I just say that I absolutely love your voice.”
That seemed to have thrown Owens off for a second and Star chided herself again, this time for behaving entirely inappropriate while addressing a superior officer. She thought that considering the circumstances however, she deserved some slack.
“What is your situation, Commander?”
This time she laughed out loud and didn’t care if it was appropriate or not. “About to be incinerated or crushed to death, take your pick, sir.”
“We have you on sensors now, Commander,” said Owens. “But not clearly. The antimatter radiation is playing havoc with our systems. We are still trying to compensate by bombarding the surface with carbon isotopes.”
“I hate to get my hopes up here but any chance you could use the transporter?”
Owens hesitated for a moment, a sign of bad news. “Not yet and probably not very accurately. Commander, the chances that we can lock on to you and beam you back onto the ship are very small.”
Star forced herself to slow her heart rate which was now pounding in her chest. “I take small over nothing any day,” she said and took a deep breath. Only two digits left now. “Sir, it looks as if this bomb is going to go off any second now,” she said and then paused. “Try to do whatever you can to lock on to my signal and beam everything you get into outer space. It’s the only chance we have left to stop this damn thing from taking out the city.”
“We’ll do what we can.”
“For what it’s worth, sir, and I know you don’t feel the same way, but it has been an honor to serve with you and your crew. You gave me a second chance which I know I didn’t deserve.”
And that was that.
There really wasn’t anything else to say and Tazla Star pressed herself closer to the device which was going to kill her in a matter of moments. She had seen this coming for some time now. She didn’t really believe in fate in the same way Deite may have believed. But she had always had that pesky notion in the back of her head that sooner or later all the morally ambiguous things she had done would catch up with her and that she would be held accountable for them all. She just never would have thought that she’d go out like this.
The timer was down to one digit.
And then she saw that the bomb was beginning to fade away.
She felt a familiar tingling sensation and knew that she was dematerializing as well.
Self-sacrifice is a bitch, she thought.
* * * * *
The explosion was utterly impressive.
It detonated with the equivalent yield of one-hundred fifty megatons of TNT or nearly twice the blast power of the most devastated nuclear based weapon which had ever been developed on Earth. It’s blast radius of fifteen kilometer would have caused immeasurable death and destruction over Tiaita’s capital city.
But in outer space, some thirty-thousand kilometers away from the starships Eagle and Bluefin and the small freighter convoy, there was no fuel to drive a massive fireball and the explosion remained nothing more than a bright blinding light.
So bright it fact, for a mere second it seemed to outshine the powerful Twin Pulsars hanging in the distance.
Great visual imagery in this segment. Star straddling the bomb is something as was the bitch fight in mid air. Quite an explosive ending to the drama and it seems that the prophecy has been fulfilled. Phew, long time since we heard/read that and now we have reached this point. Now it remains to be seen whether Star has survived. Also what will come of the planet's inhabitants.
I'm sorry about being so poor about responding in recent days...weeks...hopefully things will begin easing up now that the semester break is approaching. I love what you've done with Star here--with what she's done, this is probably the best way for her to gain atonement--and the image of her doing a Major Kong is priceless. Very, very well done!
PROPHECY FULFILLED
Michael Owens had surprised himself with the urgency with which he had made his way towards the transporter room.
Even before the antimatter explosion had completely died down, he had headed for the nearest turbo-lift, leaving Captain Akinola, of all people, in charge of his bridge. The irony that the Border Service captain had been somewhat of an adversary just a few days earlier had escaped him at that moment. He hadn’t even stopped to check if Akinola had been willing to assume responsibility for a starship mostly unfamiliar to him.
With the bomb finally out of play and his away team accounted for, he had only one concern left on his mind. Only much later would he eventually admit to himself how worried he had truly been.
He was out of breath when he reached the transporter room.
The dais was empty.
He felt a tightness in his chest.
It wasn’t an entirely unfamiliar feeling. He had felt like this many times before, especially since the war had broken out. He had felt like this when he had been made aware of the two crewmembers and two Marines that had lost their lives during the rebel assault on Eagle’s away teams days earlier.
And yet he hadn’t gotten used to the feeling.
It was probably a good thing.
He turned to look at the transporter chief behind his station, the unflappable Yang-Sen Chow. The slightly rotund chief was wearing his natural smile on his lips which sometimes appeared to have been permanently painted on his face. Owens was of the perception that Chow was the kind of man who would smile at his grandmother’s funeral. Not because of spite or misplaced glee but simply because he didn’t have any other facial expression to draw upon.
“As instructed I managed to separate the bio signal from the transporter signal before initiating re-materialization,” he said with his good-natured demeanor.
The captain forced himself not to exhale in relief. “So, where is she?”
He gently tapped his computer console. “Right here, inside the transporter’s pattern buffer. And her signal is strong and firm with less than point zero one percent pattern degradation. She’ll might miss a handful of skin cells when she’ll come back but otherwise she should be perfectly fine.”
Owens nodded slowly only now becoming aware of how anxious he had been over the idea of losing Tazla Star. It wasn’t necessarily that he had taken a liking to her or that he felt that she had rehabilitated herself by her recent actions. He simply hated the idea of losing anyone under his command.
No, it was more than that, he admitted.
Maybe he resented the notion of her getting the chance of going out like a selfless hero. Maybe he still secretly looked forward to holding her accountable for all the things she had done.
Whatever it was, he was relieved that she was still alive.
“I can bring her back anytime unless of course you would like me to keep her cooped up in the buffer,” said Chow after the captain hadn’t said anything for a few seconds. “Naturally the longer we wait the less likely the Heisenberg compensators will be able to keep her matter stream coherent and we’ll risk uncorrectable pattern degradation.”
Owens gave the chief a stern look to communicate his displeasure with that comment. Mostly because he had in fact played with the exact same thought for just a second or so himself. She was alive and that was good but the truth was he was not looking forward to deal with the problem she still presented.
“Bring her back now, Chief.”
Chow nodded and activated the controls.
Within moments Tazla Star materialized on the transporter dais. Or more precisely, four feet above it. She immediately crashed onto the hard surface below her.
She remained there, unmoving.
Owens took a step towards her but then stopped when she began to stir.
“Commander?”
She pulled herself up slowly. “This is not what I expected it to look like,” she almost whispered.
“Expected what to look like?” he said.
Star turned to see Owens and her eyes grew slightly wider. She took another look around and a sense of familiarity seemed to settle on her face. “I’m on Eagle, aren’t I?”
“Yes, you are.”
She nodded slowly. “The bomb?”
“Detonated in outer space.”
She nodded again. “Lieutenant T’Ser and the rest of the away team?”
“On a shuttle, returning to the ship as we speak.”
Tazla Star straightened her uniform jacket to try and distract from her slightly embarrassing entrance earlier. “All in a day’s work, I suppose.”
* * * * *
The shuttle ride back to Tiaita had been bumpy but Ashley Wenera had experienced much worse recently. And yet the moment they had set down she felt a sudden sickness overcome her. Perhaps the traumatic events of the last few days had finally caught up with her.
Seeing the small mountain settlement in which she had been held against her will brought back many disturbing memories and perhaps those dark thoughts had triggered her queasiness.
After Lif Culsten had landed the shuttle, Ashley Wenera had rushed out of the hatch, holding her stomach and getting ready to heave.
The pain was gone as quickly as it had come.
“Doc, are you alright?” said Culsten after she had practically jumped out of her seat.
“I’m alright, don’t worry,” she said quickly albeit somewhat unsure of herself. She was determined to have herself checked out once she returned to the ship. “Why don’t you help unload some of those supply crates?”
The Krellonian nodded as he watched her walk away from the shuttle and towards the settlement.
Eagle, Bluefin and the freighter convoy which had come here to provide humanitarian relief and begin mining operations in this system were leaving. Upon receiving word of the events that had taken place here, including Admiral Schwarzkopf’s death, Command had decided that this mission was no longer important enough to justify the resources required. Not while those same resources could be put to better use in fighting the Dominion in more critical areas.
Wenera had pleaded with Owens to allow them to off-load as many supplies as possible before Starfleet and Border Service were due to return to Federation space. The captain had been perfectly willing to do so for the capital, where after all their very own antimatter had caused great destruction and hundreds of deaths. It had taken a bit more convincing to let her take food and medical supplies to other parts of this still suffering world.
As Wenera approached the settlement, it didn’t escape her notice that it looked far worse than she remembered it. Apparently after the aborted bombardment, Tia ground forces had moved in and left no stone unturned in their quest to root out every last New Light member. But those troops had since been recalled and after the destruction of the Sanctuary and without an active chain of command where unlikely to return soon.
Many of those who had managed to escape the government attack were steadily returning to this place they had called home and begun to rebuild it.
One of them was Balik-Ait.
Wenera found him with a crew of workmen in the process of reconstructing a building she was quite familiar with. The small hospital had taken serious damage during the bombardment.
Balik had removed his shirt and for a moment she found herself watching him and appreciating his well-toned upper body which was glistering from sweat and heat. For a brief moment her mind wandered back to that night they had shared together.
Then he noticed her standing there. “Ashley,” he said with a warm smile on his face as he began to approach.
Wenera quickly shook off those intruding thoughts. She didn’t return the smile. “You are glad to see me?”
He looked befuddled. “Of course I am, why wouldn’t I?”
“You left Eagle in such a hurry yesterday, you didn’t even have time to say goodbye,” she said.
“I’m sorry. I’m not very good with goodbyes,” he admitted. “When I heard they were sending a shuttle back down here I asked if they would take me along. I thought it be easier that way.”
“Easier for whom?”
Their eyes met briefly but he didn’t speak.
Wenera diverted her gaze first. “What are you going to do now?”
It took him a moment to focus on the new direction their conversation was taking. “Rebuild,” he said and pointed at the hospital behind him. “And then we pick up where we left off. Without the Sanctuary the Tia are in disarray, their armies are without leadership. If we act swiftly we just might achieve what we’ve been struggling for for so long. I suppose it is somewhat ironic but Deite’s actions, as misguided as they were and as fooled by the real puppet masters as she was, has actually handed us our best chance for victory we’ve ever had.”
“There is another way, Balik.”
He shot her a quizzical look.
“Your battle was never with the Tia, it was merely with the elite. Those who had the power and were unwilling to let go of it by clinging to an outdated and unjust system of government. That leadership is gone,” she said. “You are right, you have a chance at victory but the only real victory is lasting peace.”
“And how do you suggest we can achieve that?”
“Reconciliation.”
Balik laughed out sarcastically. “You’ve met the Tia, Ashley, you’ve seen their capital and their monuments and their fanatical dedication to the Brothers. With or without a government, without a Prias, they won’t just turn away from centuries of subjugation.”
“Stranger things have happened,” she said and handed him a padd she had brought along. Balik was unfamiliar with the device so she activated it for him.
It contained a recording from the late Prias Oldar.
Balik watched it in stunned silence.
“ … a new day has begun for Tiaita and all her children. From this day forward Tia and Ait will share the same privileges and responsibilities. We will come together as one people and reap the benefits of this new era together.
Today the Brothers are smiling at us for our resolve and our courage to lay down our weapons and embrace each other like the earthly brothers that we are.
It is their wish and their will and we will follow it gladly.
Today the Brother’s blessings are upon us all.”
When it was over, he looked up from the padd and at Wenera. “What is this?”
“Isn’t it obvious? The Prias was ready to let go of the old ways in order to secure peace on Tiaita. Our sensors picked up this recording a couple of days ago. It wasn’t broadcasted but I think it was a rehearsal for a very similar address he was to give on the day the Sanctuary was destroyed. In fact, I think it was one of the reasons he was killed in the first place. Because hateful and narrow minds couldn’t stomach the idea of change coming to their world.”
“So what do you expect me to do with this? I’m the only one on Tiaita still alive who has seen this. Do you expect me to just waltz into the capital and embrace the Tia like brothers and tell them that everything is going to be alright?”
“I’m not here to tell you what to do,” she said, shaking her head. “There have been times over the last few weeks that I almost forgot, but I am a Starfleet officer and I’m not in the business to tell anyone how to live their lives. But I’ve given you the tools to bring real, lasting change to all Tiaitans. What you are going to do with them is entirely up to you.”
Balik looked down at the padd again which still displayed the frozen face of the Prias, his former arch enemy making overtures towards peace. It was such a farfetched concept it was nearly to difficult to grasp.
Wenera noticed a young woman standing in the shade nearby. But it wasn’t the girl her eyes were drawn to. It was the young child she was holding lovingly in her arms. She recognized him immediately.
She walked over to the young woman. “May I?” she asked.
The woman looked concerned by the request and made eye contact with Balik who nodded approvingly.
A little hesitantly the girl handed the child over to the Starfleet doctor.
Vekte didn’t mind. On the contrary, he immediately snuggled up to her and giggled happily when she began to tickle him.
Once again Ashley Wenera was amazed how comfortable he felt in her arms. How right it felt.
She bit her lip as she looked into his large, bright eyes.
The woman watched her nervously. Apparently she had taken up the role of caring for the orphaned child after Wenera had left. The doctor couldn’t help but feel a slight tinge of jealously of having been replaced. She took a deep breath and returned Vekte into the young woman’s waiting arms. He protested momentarily but was quickly soothed by his new guardian.
Wenera continued to watch him. “You know there has been a lot of talk about destiny and finding the one person to lead your people to lasting change,” she said quietly as she continued to look at Vekte. “Something tells me that they’ve been looking in the wrong places.” She glanced at the young woman. “Take good care of him,” she said. “You never know, you just might become the mother of the future leader of your people.”
Wenera looked at Balik and then turned to head back towards the shuttle.
“Ashley.”
She stopped.
“You remember my offer, don’t you? It hasn’t changed. You don’t have to leave. You can have a life right here with us. With me,” he said and raised the padd she had left him with. “We could change this world together.”
Wenera looked at him for a moment and then back to the child. The truth was that she had played with the thought herself. The last few weeks had been confusing to say the least. She couldn’t deny that she had developed feelings for not only Balik but also the young Vekte. She couldn’t deny that she had lost sight of who she was supposed to be. She wasn’t entirely sure anymore how she would reconcile her time spent on Tiaita with her role as a Starfleet officer and physician.
She met Balik’s glance once more. “I don’t belong here.”
He took a step towards her. “But can you be sure?”
She wasn’t. “Goodbye, Balik.”
“You’ll always be welcome here.”
And then she left.
Wow! Owen's reaction at the end is the stranger mix of a captain's. He cannot condone much of what Star has done nor does he like her but he does feel responsible for his crew. Nice little scene there in the transporter room - I wonder did Star think she was seeing heaven or hell when she first came to? Ha!
And Wenera's own journey through all of this has been equally traumatic and possibly life changing in some ways. How will things work out for her after this?
And now the fate of the planet waits on the actions of those who would take over from the elite. Let's hope for a Star Trek ending.
And Wenera's own journey through all of this has been equally traumatic and possibly life changing in some ways. How will things work out for her after this?
And now the fate of the planet waits on the actions of those who would take over from the elite. Let's hope for a Star Trek ending.
I've been following the last several chapters of this story without really knowing what came before. Soon, I've really got to go back and start from the beginning. But I finally had to post and say love what I've read so far, and this chapter was particularly interesting. I actually didn't see the bait and switch with Star coming. You did an awesome job!
The reaction of Owen was fascinating to read. It's definitely a good thing not to get used to losing crewmembers. I also very much liked the whole scene with Wenera. It'll be interesting to see where that goes.
Sigh. So much reading, so little time ... I'll get back to the beginning of this someday, it's too entertaining not to!
The reaction of Owen was fascinating to read. It's definitely a good thing not to get used to losing crewmembers. I also very much liked the whole scene with Wenera. It'll be interesting to see where that goes.
Sigh. So much reading, so little time ... I'll get back to the beginning of this someday, it's too entertaining not to!
Thanks for the comments.
And kes7, I just wanted to say how much I appreciate for you to check out a story like this and try to follow it even though you haven't had the chance to catch up with the whole thing. That's no easy task.
This story has turned into a bit of a beast, much longer than your average Trek novel and it would probably take you considerable time to read it from the beginning.
But if you are interested, my suggestion is to give it a couple of months until it goes up on StarEagleAdventures.com at which time you'll be able to download a slighlty revised version as a Word file or PDF e-book.
And kes7, I just wanted to say how much I appreciate for you to check out a story like this and try to follow it even though you haven't had the chance to catch up with the whole thing. That's no easy task.
This story has turned into a bit of a beast, much longer than your average Trek novel and it would probably take you considerable time to read it from the beginning.
But if you are interested, my suggestion is to give it a couple of months until it goes up on StarEagleAdventures.com at which time you'll be able to download a slighlty revised version as a Word file or PDF e-book.
EPILOGUE
“Welcome back to historic Bryant-Denny Stadium right here at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa where at the beginning of the second half, #25 Starfleet is facing an uphill battle against division rival #2 Alabama.”
“That’s right Lee, and for the Vanguards the stakes couldn’t be any higher. Only a win here will guarantee a position in next month’s playoffs. A loss and Starfleet’s season is all but over. For the Tide it’s all about a shot at making history as they try to be the first team in the in modern college football era to have six undefeated seasons in a row.”
“Alabama has so far all but proven that they’ve come into this game as fourteen-point favorites, dominating the entire first quarter, keeping Starfleet to just a little over one-hundred yards of total offense and maintaining a comfortable lead of twenty-one to six.
“Starfleet of course has struggled all year on offense. Freshman quarterback Rajak has been an unsteady performer, recording just nine touchdowns and fifteen interceptions. But let’s remember, Lee, that the Vanguards are the only team in the history of the league to play without a single senior on the roster. A grim reminder of the real sacrifice of the Dominion War raging at our borders. Our thoughts of course go out to all our brave fighting men and women in Starfleet, the Marines, Border Service and all others who are putting their lives on the line everyday to keep us save.”
A whoop of collective approval rose across Eagle’s Nest after the commentator on the massive screen had made the praise.
The venue was packed.
Many of the seats and tables had been removed from the lower level in order to make room for that large monitor mounted by the windows and to allow for the dozens of spectators who had assembled here to watch a live feed from the college football game taking place some one-hundred light-years away on Earth.
Very few of the spectators had expected to be there. The game of course had been talked about for weeks now, after all it was the make-or-break moment for the struggling Starfleet team that many crewmembers tended to follow. But considering their distant location and the limited resources available for long range communication feeds during the war, watching the game live instead of days after it had been played had come as a great surprise.
Now members of Eagle’s crew along with those from the Bluefin and the freighter convoy had been given the chance to come together and enjoy an exciting match with sufficient replicated popcorn and synthehol to make sure no mouth would grow dry or hungry.
Many crewmembers had taken to the spirit of the occasion and dressed in football shirts of their favorite players or replicated little flags to cheer on their team, transforming the Nest into a sea of red and black, the guards official color scheme.
Unfortunately for the most of the first half there had been very little to cheer about. Starfleet was taking a beating.
There were exceptions.
“Roll Tide Roll,” Delta Simms cheered, waving her crimson and white banner which stood in stark contrast to the Starfleet ones all around her.
Bralus, Bluefin’s Bolian helmsman, just shook his head. “What is it with you? Are you trying to get us killed?”
“Don’t worry, contrary to popular belief homicide is generally frowned upon on Fleet ships,” said DeMara Deen and shot Bralus a sweet smile.
The young Bluefin officer felt something stuck in his throat when he saw those sparkling purple eyes focused on him. The stunning Tenarian had left him speechless. He nodded quickly, feeling only slightly foolish about himself and then took a large whisk from his longneck synthehol bottle.
“I trust you are a fan,” she said and sat down on the bench next to him.
“Oh, without a doubt,” he said, garnering him a quick, dark look from Simms who was too preoccupied with her former alma mater’s dominant offensive drive to pay him too much attention. “I’m not ashamed to say that a little bit of national pride plays into it as well.”
Deen nodded. “Rajak is the first ever Bolian to start as quarterback for the Vanguards.”
“Yes,” he said without being able to quite hide his surprise. He had not figured Deen to be a football enthusiast. “I’m confident he will redeem himself in the end and quiet his admittedly many critics.”
“You keep on dreaming, Bral,” said Joseph Steiner who had joined the group with Skyler McIntyre. “No offense to Bolians, but football is simply not in your blood.”
“The sad thing is,” said McIntyre, “he’s only saying this because he wants to win a bet.”
“The way things are going, you’ll be owing me big time,” the former Marine said with a large grin.
“We shall see,” the young woman said and exchanged a surprisingly intimate look with the Bluefin man that led more than one to suspect that the two noncoms had perhaps become a little bit more than friends in the short time they’d known each other.
“That’s right, the game isn’t over yet.” Nora Laas had not been above getting the next rounds of synthehols which she carried quite skillfully in between her fingers and then quickly distributed to the group.
Solly Brin took two. He was the only one who had actually put up his massive feet on another chair much to the frustration of a great number of other spectators in the packed lounge. Nobody had dared to challenge the Orion however. His roars of pleasure every time a Starfleet defender put a good lick on an opposing player sounded positively intimidating.
“Thornton is under heavy pressure, he has to get rid of the ball. … Corner blitz. … Nowhere to go. He’s sacked! … And the ball comes loose. …. Starfleet recovers!”
The room cheered as Alabama’s quarterback went down hard, the pig skin slipping out of his fingers, but it was Solly Brin’s voice that dominated the Nest. “I love this game!”
Nora Laas managed to squeeze herself in next to him. “Ever try it yourself, Chief? I’d say you have about the right body mass.”
“I tried it once a long time ago,” he said and emptied his second bottle of synthehol in one go as if it was merely water. “Turns out human sports are slightly too delicate for me.”
“Delicate?” Nora asked and passed him another bottle.
“Maybe it’s not the sports, maybe it’s the players,” he said and laughed again. “Hell of a lot of fun to watch though.”
The Bajoran smirked, trying to imagine what kind of damage the Orion would have wrecked on a football field. It would not have been a pleasant day for the other team.
“What’s wrong with this ref?” Delta complained noisily. “That was clearly an incomplete pass. The ball was moving forward,” she said and mimicked the motion with her hand, as if she was throwing a football herself.
Bralus groaned.
Captain Owens and Akinola stood at the far back of the Nest where the room was much less cramped and watched the game as well as their mingling crews from there.
“I have to admit,” Akinola said. “I wasn’t quite sure if this was such a great idea when you first told me about it. This entire place has left such a distinctively sour taste in my mouth that all I could think about was to get as far away from here as quickly as possible.”
“Believe me, I share those feelings. It took me some time and I had to pull a few strings and call in a couple of favors to get this done. It turns out, it helps to have connections at Starfleet Communications. And the truth is, after all that, I was about ready to call the whole thing off.”
“But you didn’t.”
Owens shook his head. “No. I want you to know that I very much regret the tension and conflict that ensued between us. To have two Federation ships at odds with each other, the way we were, it is unacceptable, even more so during war times. I figured we needed something to try and heal the rift that we created.”
“And from the looks of it, it seems to have worked out just fine in that regard,” said Akinola as he watched Solly Brin share a laugh with the Eagle’s security chief. A few days ago they had been ready to jump at each other’s throats. All that seemed forgotten now.
The Starfleet team was made up by players who were hoping to graduate into the regular fleet, the Border Service or the Marines. They were trying to fight for a victory together and as clichéd as that might have sounded in his head, it was what they all strived for and what for a short time they had nearly forgotten.
“Who knows, this might be the last distraction many of these fine people are going to get before all of this is going to be over. Tomorrow we will be back fighting our own war,” said Owens.
Akinola turned to look at his fellow captain. “And if we are too meet again. In battle. It would be an honor to fight at your side, Captain.”
“The honor would be mine.”
* * *
She turned away from the windows, sick entirely of seeing that sandy-brown planet. She couldn’t wait until they would leave this place far behind.
She momentarily locked eyes with the tall Vulcan she had come to visit.
He had been much more cordial, or as cordial as a logical Vulcan could ever be, this time around. He hadn’t asked many questions and instead simply accepted that she had come to seek him out. They hadn’t exchanged more than a handful of words since she had entered his quarters.
“I assume that you are one of those people who believe that the v’tosh k’atur are a threat to other Vulcans and to themselves. That by abandoning the way of pure logic we open ourselves to the emotional turmoil that nearly destroyed our ancestors,” said T’Ser.
“I have to admit that I have not adequately studied the v’tosh k’atur and their ways in order to form a well educated theory on their influence on Vulcan society.”
A weak smile formed onto her lips. “In that case, I apologize,” she said. “Somehow I had you pegged as a much more opinionated Vulcan. Most I’ve met were.”
“You have not come to visit me to discuss my views on the v’tosh k’atur.”
She nodded. “I suppose you have heard of the things that happened on the planet after Doctor Wenera and I were captured.”
“I have read all the reports available at the time. You handled yourself exceptionally well considering the circumstances. For a Vulcan and for a Starfleet officer.”
“Then you don’t know about everything that happened.”
He raised an eyebrow.
“I don’t know why it happened. I don’t know if it was the beatings or the continued frustration of being unable to escape imprisonment. I cannot explain where it came from and I certainly cannot explain the feelings that came over me at that moment. But the worst of it is, that I think that I would have killed Deite if Dale hadn’t stopped me when he did. She was defenseless at the time. She wasn’t even trying to attack me, this wasn’t self-defense. It was revenge, maybe even blood lust. It was neither Vulcan nor Starfleet.”
Xylion had indeed not heard about this particular incident but he quickly made a well educated guess of what had taken place. “You were exposed to an extraordinary amount of stress at the time. You were being held prisoner by a dangerous and cruel enemy and your actions were going to decide over the fate of perhaps millions of lives. It is not entirely uncommon for a person to lose a certain amount of control under such difficult circumstances.”
“A Vulcan wouldn’t have. You wouldn’t have.”
“That would be a hypothetical conclusion impossible to verify without being exposed to the exact same conditions you were.”
She thought that to be a surprisingly careful answer as if Xylion was making a conscious attempt to put her at ease. If she didn’t know any better she would have thought that he was showing some genuine sympathy for her plight.
“The point is, for one short moment I lost complete control and I nearly killed a person. Did she deserve it? Maybe. But that isn’t the point, is it?”
“The point, as you put it then, is that you did not kill her. And you may never would have, as you were interrupted before you may have ceased of your own volition.”
She shook her head. “You weren’t there. You didn’t feel what I felt at that moment,” she said and then turned away, unable to face him any longer. “I didn’t just lose control. I think I let myself lose control. I think I …“ she stopped herself when she suddenly realized the inescapable truth. A tear shot out of her eye. “I think I enjoyed it,” she said in a whisper so quiet, had Xylion not be a Vulcan he may not have heard her at all.
For a moment neither one of them spoke.
Embarrassed but mostly ashamed T’Ser quickly wiped away the tear and faced him once more. “This behavior is entirely inappropriate for Starfleet officer, for me. I can never allow to lose myself like that again.”
Xylion took a small step towards her. “There are a number of meditation techniques I may be able to teach you in order to achieve the kind of control and inner peace you seek.”
She nodded resolutely. “I think I would like that.”
“I am not quite able to put my disappointment into words.”
Tazla Star simply glared at the Deltan on the screen but didn’t say anything.
“You have let me down, you really have. I used to be able to trust you unconditionally. You used to be one of my best assets,” he said and then shook his head. “No, you were more than an asset. I took you under my wings like my own flesh and blood, taught you everything I knew myself. And this is how you repay me? You didn’t just let me down, you let down an entire people.”
The Trill had heard just about enough. “Let’s cut the drama, Altee, it doesn’t suit you at all. We both know that my mission here had nothing to do with helping the Ait achieve equality. This was about your personal vendetta against Schwarzkopf. And now he’s dead. You won.”
“You think I wanted old Schwarzkopf dead?” he said. “I have to admit, it isn’t the worst possible outcome but it doesn’t justify your actions. You should have never blown your cover, you should have never turned your back on me like you did.”
She couldn’t help but laugh out loud, eliciting an unusually irritated look from a man who was normally entirely in control of his outward appearance. “Oh this is rich. I’m sorry,” she added quickly without meaning it. “I’m getting a lecture about the ends not justifying the means from the man who is determined to reach his goals no matter the price. I didn’t realize this until now but I just figured you out.”
“Is that so?” he said with what appeared to be genuine curiosity. But behind that tiny smile, Star knew, he was hiding a fire of rage.
“Oh yes. You have everybody believe that you have your rules and principles, that you always know exactly what you want and how to achieve it. That you are always in total control. But you aren’t, are you? Not everything turns out the way you foresee it. And your rules only apply as long as they fit you. And you know what, you can’t even admit that you made a terrible mistake on Tiaita. You completely misread the picture and thanks to you hundreds of people are now dead, not that you would truly care about any of that, of course. But you were played just like everybody else. Instead of helping the Ait by having Singleton give them the antimatter you unwittingly brought them one step closer to extinction.”
“You theories, my dear, are all very entertaining. Sadly, they are also completely irrelevant. Because where you see failure, I see another success. Maybe I did overestimate the role Tiaita would play in the future of the Federation but trust me, after today not a single soul in the Federation Council will worry about this backwater planet ever again. And no one will talk about Schwarzkopf’s misguided treaty. As for you –“
“What about me?” she interrupted. “Am I going to disappear, like all you other enemies? Will you send somebody after me like you send me after Shuun?”
He looked her straight in the eye for a moment as if he had been considering just that. Tazla Star had fully realized that her actions would invite his scorn and Altee was not the kind of man you wanted as an enemy. But what did she really stand to lose at this point?
“I’ll do far worse than have you disappear.”
She suppressed the urge to swallow.
“It is a shame,” he said, now no longer even looking at her. “You could have been my greatest disciple. I’m not entirely sure what will happen to you, it’ll be a bit of an experiment I suppose. But whatever it is, I will no longer be there to look out for you. Personally, I think you’ll just crawl under a rock somewhere and die.” He gave her a broad smile. “I’m going to enjoy watching you self destruct.”
And with that Altee’s face blinked out.
The door annunciator signaled a visitor, causing her to nearly leap out of her chair. Had he been able to make good on his veiled threat so quickly?
She suddenly felt extremely alone and vulnerable and her first instinct had been to reach for a hidden phaser to blast whoever was going to come through that door to pieces. She ignored it. She also ignored her second instinct which was to give herself a quick fix before having to deal with all the problems she would undoubtedly have to face next.
The door rang again.
“Yes, come in,” she said and stood from her chair.
She had expected Nora Laas and a security team with orders to escort her to the brig.
Instead, Nigel Bane entered her quarters.
“Nigel,” she said without being able to hide her surprise.
He looked around for a moment, a bit unsure himself perhaps of what he was doing here. “You know, I was halfway expecting to visit you in a prison cell.”
She smiled at that. “You and me both.”
“I guess if they arrested you they would have to take me in as well.”
She wanted to laugh at that but forced herself not to. Nigel Bane’s discretions were those of a schoolboy compared to the things she had done. “I don’t think you have anything to worry about. My reports have made it clear that you are not to be held responsible for the things that happened.”
“That is very nice of you, I suppose,” he said. “But I’ve done some very stupid things and shown poor judgment while we were together. No offense.”
“None taken.”
“And my skipper knows it too. I’ll be pulling some serious double shifts for next couple of years or so before I live this down. In fact, at this point I’d be lucky if I ever make full lieutenant.”
“I’m so sorry, Nigel. I really didn’t mean to get you into trouble. I should have left you alone.”
There was a little gleam in his eyes. “Yes, you probably should have. But you know what, and I know I shouldn’t be saying this, but besides going behind my skipper’s back and having to see the misery on Tiatia and beside you trying to blackmail me and nearly killing me, I had some fun.”
Now she did laugh. And it felt good.
“I know what you’ve done on Tiaita to try and stop that bomb and getting T’Ser back. And even though I cannot condone your deception and your lies, I do stand by my initial assessment. Deep down you are a decent person who is just trying to do the right thing. Somewhere along the way you made the wrong choices but that doesn’t mean you can’t find your way back.”
She didn’t know what to say to that. And she wasn’t sure if Nigel Bane knew how much his words meant to her. He was perhaps the only remaining person in the universe to have any kind of faith in her character.
The silence between them was quickly becoming awkward. “They’re showing the Starfleet-Alabama game in your mess hall. How about it?”
But the truth was, the last thing she wanted to do now was to be seen. “That’s a sweet offer but I still have a ton of reports to finish.”
He nodded understandingly and turned towards the exit.
“You know you’re going to make some woman really happy someday,” she said before he had reached the doors. They had never been meant for each other, she knew that, but that didn’t stop her from realizing that she would have been blessed with a man like him as a companion.
He shot her a little smirk. “Me, settle down? I’m not seeing it.”
“I do.”
He nodded to her shortly, realizing that their paths would most likely not cross again for some time. “Take care of yourself, Taz.”
Her session with Xylion had been surprisingly successful and she couldn’t deny that she felt a whole lot better about herself after taking him up on his offer to meditate with him.
Not only that but he had shown her how she could use those techniques on her own. That she would return to them before long, she didn’t doubt in the least.
Bluefin didn’t have any counselors and the events of the last few days would stay with her for a long time. She was determined that should she ever be placed into a similar situation again, she would maintain full control of herself at all times no matter what. If meditation was going to help her achieve that, then that was exactly what she would be doing.
This didn’t mean that she was going to give up on her parents ways of v’tosh k’atur. She had no intentions of abandoning all emotions in order to become like Xylion, she enjoyed her life too much to be willing to make such a sacrifice.
She had nearly reached Eagle’s main lounge on deck ten where she intended to rejoin with the rest of her crew. Truth be told, she couldn’t wait to finally see Dale again.
“T’Ser.”
She turned upon hearing the familiar voice. She smiled warmly when she saw who had called out for her. “Ashley, how are you?”
That smile dropped off her face when the answer seemed just a little bit too apparent. Her face looked sickly pale and her eyes were bloodshot as if she hadn’t slept in days. After the ordeal both women had been through this didn’t seem particularly surprising. And yet somehow T’Ser was sure that the doctor, who had turned out to be much more stoic than she had anticipated during their captivity together, looked as if she was in a worse state now than she had ever been over the last week.
“I’m fine,” she said, obviously lying. “I just wanted to make sure you are alright, we didn’t get a chance to talk after we came back.”
T’Ser nodded. “I’d be lying if I said that I’ve been entirely unaffected by the things that happened. But I might have found a way to process some of it.”
“That’s good, that’s very good.”
“How about you, do you have somebody to talk to? I’ve been told Starfleet ships have very good counselors on board.”
Wenera nodded meekly but she seemed somewhat absentminded.
This prompted T’Ser to take a step closer. “Ash, you look pale, are you sure you are alright?”
The doctor looked directly into her eyes. “I’ve been feeling a little sick lately, it’s probably psychological.”
“Is that your expert opinion, Doctor.”
She nodded, trying to put on a smile which didn’t quite reach her eyes.
“Why don’t you come with me to your Nest? We’ll have a drink, watch that game and try to forget all about Tiaita. At least for the time being.”
“I really should get some rest,” she said. “If I don’t see you again, I just wanted to say that I’m sorry.”
T’Ser looked befuddled. “Sorry for what?”
“I’m not sure.”
The Vulcan locked eyes with Wenera. “You have nothing to apologize for. And don’t let anyone else tell you otherwise, especially not you.”
But Wenera’s words appeared to have little effect so T’Ser decided on a more physical approach. And the doctor didn’t object as the two women hugged shortly. In fact she seemed to welcome the gesture.
“We’ll talk later, alright?” said T’Ser.
The doctor nodded and then beat a quick retreat down the corridor and out of sight, leaving T’Ser no choice but to worry about what exactly it was that she was going through. But differently to Wenera, T’Ser was in desperate need for some distractions at the moment. So she turned back around and entered Eagle’s Nest.
She found the venue packed with crewmembers from both Eagle and Bluefin and yet it was eerily quiet.
The reason for that was quickly apparent. T’Ser didn’t consider herself a football fan but having been raised in Seattle on Earth, she understood the game and the significance of the one being shown at the moment.
It was the late fourth quarter, less than two minutes remaining on the clock. The Starfleet Vanguards were down by six points which meant they had to finish their current drive with a touchdown or their playoff hopes would come to nothing.
“Rajak hands it off to Brown. … He finds a hole. … And he takes it down to Alabama’s forty-five yard line.”
“ I don’t agree with this call here, Lee. With just about fifty-two seconds left in this ball game, Starfleet has to start bringing back the passing game if they want to have any shot at this one. Remember, they have no time-outs remaining.”
T’Ser scanned the crowd whose eyes were predominantly glued to the massive screen at the far end of the room. She even spotted Delta Simms, the die-hard Alabama fan, now holding on to a Vanguards banner as if her life depended on it.
She found the person she was looking for moments later. He stood at the opposite end of the room and yet their eyes met at about the same time.
They both managed to squeeze themselves through the crowd to meet up somewhere in the middle.
“Is this a bad time?” she said with a smirk.
“You mean this?” he said and pointed a thump over his shoulder and towards the screen. “It’s just a game.”
“Right.”
“Rajak drops back to pass. … He’s got a heavy rush …”
McBride couldn’t help but steal away a look over his shoulder to find the screen again.
“He’s hit as he throws. … It’s deflected! Intercepted!”
A collective moan echoed across the room from nearly a hundred disappointed and frustrated spectators.
“That’s it, isn’t it?” she said. “The game is over. We’ve lost.”
But McBride shook his head. “Not until that clock reaches zero. This game has been one turnover after another,” he said and looked back at her. “Every time you think you have it, it seems to slip away again.”
She looked straight into his blue eyes. “We’re talking about the game, right?”
He just smirked.
“All ‘Bama has to do now is to run out the clock. One more snap should do it.”
“ They give it to Studebaker for a run up the middle. … Oh, what brutal hit behind the line by this unforgiving defense. … And the ball pops loose! … Starfleet recovers!”
“Unbelievable, Lee. This game just won’t quit. I haven’t seen something like this in a while.”
“And the linebacker has nothing but green in front of him. At midfield, … to the forty, … the thirty-five, … the thirty and he’s tackled at the twenty-eight. Starfleet will get one last chance for a win with just twelve seconds left in the game.”
“My, this is one exciting game,” T’Ser said. “I feel sorry I didn’t come sooner.”
“You’re here, that’s all that matters,” said McBride and reached out and around her waist.
“Rajak sets up in the shotgun. Five receivers. The Tide is in the prevent defense. They’ve got most of their defensive backs deep, determined not to allow a score here.”
He pulled her closer.
“Dale, what about the game? There are like a hundred people here,” she said but didn’t resist McBride’s efforts.
“They all seem a bit distracted at the moment.”
“There’s the snap. Alabama blitzes! … Rajak is out of time, he has to get rid of the ball!”
“You know this isn’t like you,” she said as their lips were just inches apart.
“I just realized what was important to me.”
“Rajak let’s go of a high, wobbly ball. … He’s got a man in the end zone but he’s blanketed by defenders! … It’s a jump ball!”
A hundred pairs of eyes watched a ball which seemed to stay in the air forever, refusing to come back down and determine the outcome of this game.
Dale McBride and T’Ser’s eyes were not among those. They were closed as they exchanged the most passionate kiss either one of them could remember.
Nobody else noticed.
Tazla Star simply glared at the Deltan on the screen but didn’t say anything.
“You have let me down, you really have. I used to be able to trust you unconditionally. You used to be one of my best assets,” he said and then shook his head. “No, you were more than an asset. I took you under my wings like my own flesh and blood, taught you everything I knew myself. And this is how you repay me? You didn’t just let me down, you let down an entire people.”
The Trill had heard just about enough. “Let’s cut the drama, Altee, it doesn’t suit you at all. We both know that my mission here had nothing to do with helping the Ait achieve equality. This was about your personal vendetta against Schwarzkopf. And now he’s dead. You won.”
“You think I wanted old Schwarzkopf dead?” he said. “I have to admit, it isn’t the worst possible outcome but it doesn’t justify your actions. You should have never blown your cover, you should have never turned your back on me like you did.”
She couldn’t help but laugh out loud, eliciting an unusually irritated look from a man who was normally entirely in control of his outward appearance. “Oh this is rich. I’m sorry,” she added quickly without meaning it. “I’m getting a lecture about the ends not justifying the means from the man who is determined to reach his goals no matter the price. I didn’t realize this until now but I just figured you out.”
“Is that so?” he said with what appeared to be genuine curiosity. But behind that tiny smile, Star knew, he was hiding a fire of rage.
“Oh yes. You have everybody believe that you have your rules and principles, that you always know exactly what you want and how to achieve it. That you are always in total control. But you aren’t, are you? Not everything turns out the way you foresee it. And your rules only apply as long as they fit you. And you know what, you can’t even admit that you made a terrible mistake on Tiaita. You completely misread the picture and thanks to you hundreds of people are now dead, not that you would truly care about any of that, of course. But you were played just like everybody else. Instead of helping the Ait by having Singleton give them the antimatter you unwittingly brought them one step closer to extinction.”
“You theories, my dear, are all very entertaining. Sadly, they are also completely irrelevant. Because where you see failure, I see another success. Maybe I did overestimate the role Tiaita would play in the future of the Federation but trust me, after today not a single soul in the Federation Council will worry about this backwater planet ever again. And no one will talk about Schwarzkopf’s misguided treaty. As for you –“
“What about me?” she interrupted. “Am I going to disappear, like all you other enemies? Will you send somebody after me like you send me after Shuun?”
He looked her straight in the eye for a moment as if he had been considering just that. Tazla Star had fully realized that her actions would invite his scorn and Altee was not the kind of man you wanted as an enemy. But what did she really stand to lose at this point?
“I’ll do far worse than have you disappear.”
She suppressed the urge to swallow.
“It is a shame,” he said, now no longer even looking at her. “You could have been my greatest disciple. I’m not entirely sure what will happen to you, it’ll be a bit of an experiment I suppose. But whatever it is, I will no longer be there to look out for you. Personally, I think you’ll just crawl under a rock somewhere and die.” He gave her a broad smile. “I’m going to enjoy watching you self destruct.”
And with that Altee’s face blinked out.
The door annunciator signaled a visitor, causing her to nearly leap out of her chair. Had he been able to make good on his veiled threat so quickly?
She suddenly felt extremely alone and vulnerable and her first instinct had been to reach for a hidden phaser to blast whoever was going to come through that door to pieces. She ignored it. She also ignored her second instinct which was to give herself a quick fix before having to deal with all the problems she would undoubtedly have to face next.
The door rang again.
“Yes, come in,” she said and stood from her chair.
She had expected Nora Laas and a security team with orders to escort her to the brig.
Instead, Nigel Bane entered her quarters.
“Nigel,” she said without being able to hide her surprise.
He looked around for a moment, a bit unsure himself perhaps of what he was doing here. “You know, I was halfway expecting to visit you in a prison cell.”
She smiled at that. “You and me both.”
“I guess if they arrested you they would have to take me in as well.”
She wanted to laugh at that but forced herself not to. Nigel Bane’s discretions were those of a schoolboy compared to the things she had done. “I don’t think you have anything to worry about. My reports have made it clear that you are not to be held responsible for the things that happened.”
“That is very nice of you, I suppose,” he said. “But I’ve done some very stupid things and shown poor judgment while we were together. No offense.”
“None taken.”
“And my skipper knows it too. I’ll be pulling some serious double shifts for next couple of years or so before I live this down. In fact, at this point I’d be lucky if I ever make full lieutenant.”
“I’m so sorry, Nigel. I really didn’t mean to get you into trouble. I should have left you alone.”
There was a little gleam in his eyes. “Yes, you probably should have. But you know what, and I know I shouldn’t be saying this, but besides going behind my skipper’s back and having to see the misery on Tiatia and beside you trying to blackmail me and nearly killing me, I had some fun.”
Now she did laugh. And it felt good.
“I know what you’ve done on Tiaita to try and stop that bomb and getting T’Ser back. And even though I cannot condone your deception and your lies, I do stand by my initial assessment. Deep down you are a decent person who is just trying to do the right thing. Somewhere along the way you made the wrong choices but that doesn’t mean you can’t find your way back.”
She didn’t know what to say to that. And she wasn’t sure if Nigel Bane knew how much his words meant to her. He was perhaps the only remaining person in the universe to have any kind of faith in her character.
The silence between them was quickly becoming awkward. “They’re showing the Starfleet-Alabama game in your mess hall. How about it?”
But the truth was, the last thing she wanted to do now was to be seen. “That’s a sweet offer but I still have a ton of reports to finish.”
He nodded understandingly and turned towards the exit.
“You know you’re going to make some woman really happy someday,” she said before he had reached the doors. They had never been meant for each other, she knew that, but that didn’t stop her from realizing that she would have been blessed with a man like him as a companion.
He shot her a little smirk. “Me, settle down? I’m not seeing it.”
“I do.”
He nodded to her shortly, realizing that their paths would most likely not cross again for some time. “Take care of yourself, Taz.”
* * * * * * *
Her session with Xylion had been surprisingly successful and she couldn’t deny that she felt a whole lot better about herself after taking him up on his offer to meditate with him.
Not only that but he had shown her how she could use those techniques on her own. That she would return to them before long, she didn’t doubt in the least.
Bluefin didn’t have any counselors and the events of the last few days would stay with her for a long time. She was determined that should she ever be placed into a similar situation again, she would maintain full control of herself at all times no matter what. If meditation was going to help her achieve that, then that was exactly what she would be doing.
This didn’t mean that she was going to give up on her parents ways of v’tosh k’atur. She had no intentions of abandoning all emotions in order to become like Xylion, she enjoyed her life too much to be willing to make such a sacrifice.
She had nearly reached Eagle’s main lounge on deck ten where she intended to rejoin with the rest of her crew. Truth be told, she couldn’t wait to finally see Dale again.
“T’Ser.”
She turned upon hearing the familiar voice. She smiled warmly when she saw who had called out for her. “Ashley, how are you?”
That smile dropped off her face when the answer seemed just a little bit too apparent. Her face looked sickly pale and her eyes were bloodshot as if she hadn’t slept in days. After the ordeal both women had been through this didn’t seem particularly surprising. And yet somehow T’Ser was sure that the doctor, who had turned out to be much more stoic than she had anticipated during their captivity together, looked as if she was in a worse state now than she had ever been over the last week.
“I’m fine,” she said, obviously lying. “I just wanted to make sure you are alright, we didn’t get a chance to talk after we came back.”
T’Ser nodded. “I’d be lying if I said that I’ve been entirely unaffected by the things that happened. But I might have found a way to process some of it.”
“That’s good, that’s very good.”
“How about you, do you have somebody to talk to? I’ve been told Starfleet ships have very good counselors on board.”
Wenera nodded meekly but she seemed somewhat absentminded.
This prompted T’Ser to take a step closer. “Ash, you look pale, are you sure you are alright?”
The doctor looked directly into her eyes. “I’ve been feeling a little sick lately, it’s probably psychological.”
“Is that your expert opinion, Doctor.”
She nodded, trying to put on a smile which didn’t quite reach her eyes.
“Why don’t you come with me to your Nest? We’ll have a drink, watch that game and try to forget all about Tiaita. At least for the time being.”
“I really should get some rest,” she said. “If I don’t see you again, I just wanted to say that I’m sorry.”
T’Ser looked befuddled. “Sorry for what?”
“I’m not sure.”
The Vulcan locked eyes with Wenera. “You have nothing to apologize for. And don’t let anyone else tell you otherwise, especially not you.”
But Wenera’s words appeared to have little effect so T’Ser decided on a more physical approach. And the doctor didn’t object as the two women hugged shortly. In fact she seemed to welcome the gesture.
“We’ll talk later, alright?” said T’Ser.
The doctor nodded and then beat a quick retreat down the corridor and out of sight, leaving T’Ser no choice but to worry about what exactly it was that she was going through. But differently to Wenera, T’Ser was in desperate need for some distractions at the moment. So she turned back around and entered Eagle’s Nest.
She found the venue packed with crewmembers from both Eagle and Bluefin and yet it was eerily quiet.
The reason for that was quickly apparent. T’Ser didn’t consider herself a football fan but having been raised in Seattle on Earth, she understood the game and the significance of the one being shown at the moment.
It was the late fourth quarter, less than two minutes remaining on the clock. The Starfleet Vanguards were down by six points which meant they had to finish their current drive with a touchdown or their playoff hopes would come to nothing.
“Rajak hands it off to Brown. … He finds a hole. … And he takes it down to Alabama’s forty-five yard line.”
“ I don’t agree with this call here, Lee. With just about fifty-two seconds left in this ball game, Starfleet has to start bringing back the passing game if they want to have any shot at this one. Remember, they have no time-outs remaining.”
T’Ser scanned the crowd whose eyes were predominantly glued to the massive screen at the far end of the room. She even spotted Delta Simms, the die-hard Alabama fan, now holding on to a Vanguards banner as if her life depended on it.
She found the person she was looking for moments later. He stood at the opposite end of the room and yet their eyes met at about the same time.
They both managed to squeeze themselves through the crowd to meet up somewhere in the middle.
“Is this a bad time?” she said with a smirk.
“You mean this?” he said and pointed a thump over his shoulder and towards the screen. “It’s just a game.”
“Right.”
“Rajak drops back to pass. … He’s got a heavy rush …”
McBride couldn’t help but steal away a look over his shoulder to find the screen again.
“He’s hit as he throws. … It’s deflected! Intercepted!”
A collective moan echoed across the room from nearly a hundred disappointed and frustrated spectators.
“That’s it, isn’t it?” she said. “The game is over. We’ve lost.”
But McBride shook his head. “Not until that clock reaches zero. This game has been one turnover after another,” he said and looked back at her. “Every time you think you have it, it seems to slip away again.”
She looked straight into his blue eyes. “We’re talking about the game, right?”
He just smirked.
“All ‘Bama has to do now is to run out the clock. One more snap should do it.”
“ They give it to Studebaker for a run up the middle. … Oh, what brutal hit behind the line by this unforgiving defense. … And the ball pops loose! … Starfleet recovers!”
“Unbelievable, Lee. This game just won’t quit. I haven’t seen something like this in a while.”
“And the linebacker has nothing but green in front of him. At midfield, … to the forty, … the thirty-five, … the thirty and he’s tackled at the twenty-eight. Starfleet will get one last chance for a win with just twelve seconds left in the game.”
“My, this is one exciting game,” T’Ser said. “I feel sorry I didn’t come sooner.”
“You’re here, that’s all that matters,” said McBride and reached out and around her waist.
“Rajak sets up in the shotgun. Five receivers. The Tide is in the prevent defense. They’ve got most of their defensive backs deep, determined not to allow a score here.”
He pulled her closer.
“Dale, what about the game? There are like a hundred people here,” she said but didn’t resist McBride’s efforts.
“They all seem a bit distracted at the moment.”
“There’s the snap. Alabama blitzes! … Rajak is out of time, he has to get rid of the ball!”
“You know this isn’t like you,” she said as their lips were just inches apart.
“I just realized what was important to me.”
“Rajak let’s go of a high, wobbly ball. … He’s got a man in the end zone but he’s blanketed by defenders! … It’s a jump ball!”
A hundred pairs of eyes watched a ball which seemed to stay in the air forever, refusing to come back down and determine the outcome of this game.
Dale McBride and T’Ser’s eyes were not among those. They were closed as they exchanged the most passionate kiss either one of them could remember.
Nobody else noticed.
When Tazla Star entered the captain’s ready room, she immediately assumed that the two crewmembers who were also present were security officers.
It wasn’t a long shot. They were wearing the mustard-trimmed uniforms of the security department and after all Owens had ordered her to come here only shortly after her conversation with Altee and his not so indirect threat.
Owens sat behind his desk.
“Sir, reporting as ordered.”
He nodded absentmindedly, not focused on her at all.
She followed his glance to realize that he was looking at the Botticelli painting instead.
“Sir?”
“At ease, Commander.”
She relaxed slightly.
“What do you think of it?”
It took her a moment to realize that he was talking about the painting. She looked at it again. “It is very beautiful, sir. I have often found that humans possess an artistic skill and imagination that rivals those of the greatest artists in the galaxy.”
“Used to, Commander. Used to. Modern human art is nothing to write home about.”
“I suppose that lies in the eye of the beholder. We always tend to elevate older forms of art over contemporary works.”
The captain nodded, finding himself agreeing with the Trill. Maybe for the first time. “You don’t think that this belongs on a starship, do you?”
She looked at it and then back at the captain. “Uhm, no, sir.”
“Yes, so I’ve been told on numerous occasions. But you know, having this priceless piece of human heritage right here in front of me has given me a new found sense of appreciation. Admiral Schwarzkopf used it to try and appeal to my sense of humanism, trying to make me realize what was at stake if his plan failed. In a sense, I suppose he was successful. I desperately wanted him to succeed even though I should have known from the start that his entire logic was flawed.”
“I think the problem with people like Admiral Schwarzkopf is that they have so many gray zones that it is almost completely impossible to tell if they are doing the right thing for the wrong reasons or the wrong thing for the right ones. I had the misfortune of being employed by an individual with a very similar character trait.
The truth is we won’t even know if what they have set in motion on Tiaita might not turn out to be a blessing after all. I’ve already heard rumors that with the theocratic government gone, some Tia are willing to reach out to the Ait and vice versa. This could be the beginning of a new era on Tiaita. One can only hope that this time, tolerant and understanding minds will prevail over those looking for power and status.”
“Then maybe it’s true,” Owens said. “Every cop is a criminal and all the sinners saints.”
“Sir?”
“Just an old song I heard once.”
She nodded. “I think I remember that one. Beatles?”
“Rolling Stones,” Owens corrected and then looked at the two crewmembers still in the room. “Alright boys, time to get to work. Have it readied for transport back to Earth. And I don’t have to remind you that while this painting remains on this ship it will be your responsibility. If anything happens to it, and I’m talking so much as a scratch on the frame, you will not have to worry about what the Jem’Hadar will do if they ever catch up with you. Do I make myself sufficiently clear?”
The two young crewmembers blanched but nodded quickly.
Then they very carefully and deliberately placed the famed artwork into a specially designed box, durable enough to survive a warp core explosion, and then carried it out of the room with all the care one would have expected from a pair of young, terrified crewmembers.
Once the doors had closed behind them, Owens focused on the Trill standing in front of his desk again. “Now there is another matter which we need to discuss.”
She nodded, fully aware what was coming next.
He glanced at his computer screen. “I have to say these new orders are about as surprising as the last ones I received. And I’m not sure yet how I feel about them.”
Star’s facial expressions mirrored puzzlement.
“You don’t know, do you?”
“Know what, sir?”
He leaned back in his chair, momentarily enjoying her ignorance. He had of course hated the fact that Tazla Star had come aboard his ship and had treated the entire thing with a large amount of skepticism which as it turned out had been fully justified when she had admitted her true reasons for being on Tiaita.
But the admission had also marked a turning point after which she had done everything in her power to try and free the Starfleet hostages and stop Deite’s and Sindron’s plans, going as far as nearly sacrificing herself.
It wasn’t enough to make him forget what she had been doing before but it had changed his perception of her slightly.
“Your new orders, Commander. Your position on Eagle has been made permanent.”
“Permanent,” she said, repeating the word as if it was entirely foreign to her. She thought about Altee’s threat. He was going to do far worse than have her disappear. “Son of a bitch,” she mumbled under her breath.
“Commander?”
“I’m sorry,” she said quickly. “The man I used to work for threaten to cut me loose. He said he would ensure that I’d be miserable. I think his exact words were self destruct.”
“I see. I can try to fight these orders but for the moment I don’t think there would be any point. Starfleet has greater problems than to investigate personnel assignments. Depending on my report they might decide to file charges but it appears to me that the people you have worked for are pretty powerful and undoubtedly able to make those disappear. If this is really supposed to be your punishment.”
She nodded. “It is. And he will make sure that there is no legal way for me to get out of it. But I will not let him get away with this. And I won’t allow him to make you and your crew victims of his actions.”
“So what do you propose? If your thinking about resigning your commission, you can forget about that. Starfleet won’t let you, not with a stop loss order in effect, not during the war.”
“I know,” she said. “If you let me, I’m willing to disappear.”
“And go where?”
“I’m not sure. Maybe I’ll try to hitch a ride on a ship heading towards the Delta Quadrant. Or I’ll seek out the Nyberrite Alliance, I’ve heard they’re always looking for experienced officers.”
“Are you sure about this?” said Owens, leaning slightly forward in his chair. “You’ll be a deserter. Starfleet may not have time to chase after you now but you’ll never be able to show your face in Federation space again. If there is one thing Starfleet Command does not tolerate, it’s deserters in a time of war.”
“It’s a sacrifice I’m willing to make.”
But Owens shook his head. “I think if you do that, you will give this man exactly what he wants. If he’s really out to see you destroy yourself than running away from it all is the first step to achieve precisely that.”
“Crawl under a rock and die,” she said to herself, repeating Altee’s prediction. “But what is the alternative?”
The captain sat up straighter in his chair and tugged slightly at his uniform jacket. “I’d be lying if I said that I trust you completely. But your recent actions have shown that you are willing to turn a new page. You have the potential to be a good – maybe even a great – Starfleet officer. It’s not going to be easy, not for either one of us, but if you are willing to take the chance than so will I.”
She was at a loss for words. “I don’t know what to say, sir.”
“You say yes,” he said. “You will come clean with me about everything you’ve done while you’ve been on Tiaita and anything else that could compromise your position as my first officer. And you will commit yourself to fulfill your new duties to the best of your abilities.”
“I will not let you down, sir.”
“I’m not promising that you will be able to revive your career, I’m only promising you that I’ll give you a shot. If this is not going to work out, if you give me any reason to believe your loyalties might be divided or that you are not fully committed to your new role I will find a way to get rid of you, Starfleet regulations or not.”
She nodded sharply. “I understand. And … thank you.”
“Oh, don’t thank me yet. You will have your work cut out for you. Your recent actions on Tiaita may have increased your reputation slightly but you will still have to face a heap of adversity from those serving under you as well as those at Command who will want nothing more than to see you out of the picture for good. And you will have to find a way to deal with it without self-destructing in the process.”
Another nod. And she meant it. She hadn’t expected Owens to go out on a limb for her. And that was exactly what he was doing with this offer. After all that had happened, he had absolutely no reason to take a chance on her. She had given him an alternative, she had been perfectly willing to run away and try to fend for herself but the truth was she wanted to be a Starfleet officer. A proper Starfleet officer. She always had.
A chirp from Owens computer captured his attention. He activated the screen and his serious expression was immediately transformed into one of joy. He turned the computer to allow Star to see what had put an unexpected smile on his face.
Black and red clad football players had rushed onto the field to celebrate their victory.
“Starfleet wins,” Owens said.
She smirked. “A sign of things to come?”
The captain stood. “Together we will make sure,” he said and offered her his hand which she shook without delay.
“Welcome aboard Eagle, Commander Star.”
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It wasn’t a long shot. They were wearing the mustard-trimmed uniforms of the security department and after all Owens had ordered her to come here only shortly after her conversation with Altee and his not so indirect threat.
Owens sat behind his desk.
“Sir, reporting as ordered.”
He nodded absentmindedly, not focused on her at all.
She followed his glance to realize that he was looking at the Botticelli painting instead.
“Sir?”
“At ease, Commander.”
She relaxed slightly.
“What do you think of it?”
It took her a moment to realize that he was talking about the painting. She looked at it again. “It is very beautiful, sir. I have often found that humans possess an artistic skill and imagination that rivals those of the greatest artists in the galaxy.”
“Used to, Commander. Used to. Modern human art is nothing to write home about.”
“I suppose that lies in the eye of the beholder. We always tend to elevate older forms of art over contemporary works.”
The captain nodded, finding himself agreeing with the Trill. Maybe for the first time. “You don’t think that this belongs on a starship, do you?”
She looked at it and then back at the captain. “Uhm, no, sir.”
“Yes, so I’ve been told on numerous occasions. But you know, having this priceless piece of human heritage right here in front of me has given me a new found sense of appreciation. Admiral Schwarzkopf used it to try and appeal to my sense of humanism, trying to make me realize what was at stake if his plan failed. In a sense, I suppose he was successful. I desperately wanted him to succeed even though I should have known from the start that his entire logic was flawed.”
“I think the problem with people like Admiral Schwarzkopf is that they have so many gray zones that it is almost completely impossible to tell if they are doing the right thing for the wrong reasons or the wrong thing for the right ones. I had the misfortune of being employed by an individual with a very similar character trait.
The truth is we won’t even know if what they have set in motion on Tiaita might not turn out to be a blessing after all. I’ve already heard rumors that with the theocratic government gone, some Tia are willing to reach out to the Ait and vice versa. This could be the beginning of a new era on Tiaita. One can only hope that this time, tolerant and understanding minds will prevail over those looking for power and status.”
“Then maybe it’s true,” Owens said. “Every cop is a criminal and all the sinners saints.”
“Sir?”
“Just an old song I heard once.”
She nodded. “I think I remember that one. Beatles?”
“Rolling Stones,” Owens corrected and then looked at the two crewmembers still in the room. “Alright boys, time to get to work. Have it readied for transport back to Earth. And I don’t have to remind you that while this painting remains on this ship it will be your responsibility. If anything happens to it, and I’m talking so much as a scratch on the frame, you will not have to worry about what the Jem’Hadar will do if they ever catch up with you. Do I make myself sufficiently clear?”
The two young crewmembers blanched but nodded quickly.
Then they very carefully and deliberately placed the famed artwork into a specially designed box, durable enough to survive a warp core explosion, and then carried it out of the room with all the care one would have expected from a pair of young, terrified crewmembers.
Once the doors had closed behind them, Owens focused on the Trill standing in front of his desk again. “Now there is another matter which we need to discuss.”
She nodded, fully aware what was coming next.
He glanced at his computer screen. “I have to say these new orders are about as surprising as the last ones I received. And I’m not sure yet how I feel about them.”
Star’s facial expressions mirrored puzzlement.
“You don’t know, do you?”
“Know what, sir?”
He leaned back in his chair, momentarily enjoying her ignorance. He had of course hated the fact that Tazla Star had come aboard his ship and had treated the entire thing with a large amount of skepticism which as it turned out had been fully justified when she had admitted her true reasons for being on Tiaita.
But the admission had also marked a turning point after which she had done everything in her power to try and free the Starfleet hostages and stop Deite’s and Sindron’s plans, going as far as nearly sacrificing herself.
It wasn’t enough to make him forget what she had been doing before but it had changed his perception of her slightly.
“Your new orders, Commander. Your position on Eagle has been made permanent.”
“Permanent,” she said, repeating the word as if it was entirely foreign to her. She thought about Altee’s threat. He was going to do far worse than have her disappear. “Son of a bitch,” she mumbled under her breath.
“Commander?”
“I’m sorry,” she said quickly. “The man I used to work for threaten to cut me loose. He said he would ensure that I’d be miserable. I think his exact words were self destruct.”
“I see. I can try to fight these orders but for the moment I don’t think there would be any point. Starfleet has greater problems than to investigate personnel assignments. Depending on my report they might decide to file charges but it appears to me that the people you have worked for are pretty powerful and undoubtedly able to make those disappear. If this is really supposed to be your punishment.”
She nodded. “It is. And he will make sure that there is no legal way for me to get out of it. But I will not let him get away with this. And I won’t allow him to make you and your crew victims of his actions.”
“So what do you propose? If your thinking about resigning your commission, you can forget about that. Starfleet won’t let you, not with a stop loss order in effect, not during the war.”
“I know,” she said. “If you let me, I’m willing to disappear.”
“And go where?”
“I’m not sure. Maybe I’ll try to hitch a ride on a ship heading towards the Delta Quadrant. Or I’ll seek out the Nyberrite Alliance, I’ve heard they’re always looking for experienced officers.”
“Are you sure about this?” said Owens, leaning slightly forward in his chair. “You’ll be a deserter. Starfleet may not have time to chase after you now but you’ll never be able to show your face in Federation space again. If there is one thing Starfleet Command does not tolerate, it’s deserters in a time of war.”
“It’s a sacrifice I’m willing to make.”
But Owens shook his head. “I think if you do that, you will give this man exactly what he wants. If he’s really out to see you destroy yourself than running away from it all is the first step to achieve precisely that.”
“Crawl under a rock and die,” she said to herself, repeating Altee’s prediction. “But what is the alternative?”
The captain sat up straighter in his chair and tugged slightly at his uniform jacket. “I’d be lying if I said that I trust you completely. But your recent actions have shown that you are willing to turn a new page. You have the potential to be a good – maybe even a great – Starfleet officer. It’s not going to be easy, not for either one of us, but if you are willing to take the chance than so will I.”
She was at a loss for words. “I don’t know what to say, sir.”
“You say yes,” he said. “You will come clean with me about everything you’ve done while you’ve been on Tiaita and anything else that could compromise your position as my first officer. And you will commit yourself to fulfill your new duties to the best of your abilities.”
“I will not let you down, sir.”
“I’m not promising that you will be able to revive your career, I’m only promising you that I’ll give you a shot. If this is not going to work out, if you give me any reason to believe your loyalties might be divided or that you are not fully committed to your new role I will find a way to get rid of you, Starfleet regulations or not.”
She nodded sharply. “I understand. And … thank you.”
“Oh, don’t thank me yet. You will have your work cut out for you. Your recent actions on Tiaita may have increased your reputation slightly but you will still have to face a heap of adversity from those serving under you as well as those at Command who will want nothing more than to see you out of the picture for good. And you will have to find a way to deal with it without self-destructing in the process.”
Another nod. And she meant it. She hadn’t expected Owens to go out on a limb for her. And that was exactly what he was doing with this offer. After all that had happened, he had absolutely no reason to take a chance on her. She had given him an alternative, she had been perfectly willing to run away and try to fend for herself but the truth was she wanted to be a Starfleet officer. A proper Starfleet officer. She always had.
A chirp from Owens computer captured his attention. He activated the screen and his serious expression was immediately transformed into one of joy. He turned the computer to allow Star to see what had put an unexpected smile on his face.
Black and red clad football players had rushed onto the field to celebrate their victory.
“Starfleet wins,” Owens said.
She smirked. “A sign of things to come?”
The captain stood. “Together we will make sure,” he said and offered her his hand which she shook without delay.
“Welcome aboard Eagle, Commander Star.”
the adventures will continue …
A thoroughly comprehensive finish to the tale, with all the main characters therein getting their final bit of airtime. At this ending stage, it has to be pointed out the superb job you've done complementing the history as it already exists for the Bluefin crew and meshing this story into its larger arc. That had to be quite hard to do. Also, giving everyone a bit of airtime at the end had t be hard especially when you wan to wrap things up.
Now at the conclusion we have Star as XO and I can imagine her position being made permanent is going to cause some ruffled feathers. The likes of Nora Laas worked with Star perhaps knowing it was only a temporary gig and that Star would be moving on [or getting some jail-time]. But now it is permanent, I can see some tensions. At least it seems the tensions between the crews have been smoothed out quite a bit. And Owens seems willing and able to work with Star with his impressive little speech to her. But I wonder will she still end up on the road to self-destructing? Hmmm? Or will the Eagle be her rescue and redemption? All that remains to be seen. Looking forward.
Now at the conclusion we have Star as XO and I can imagine her position being made permanent is going to cause some ruffled feathers. The likes of Nora Laas worked with Star perhaps knowing it was only a temporary gig and that Star would be moving on [or getting some jail-time]. But now it is permanent, I can see some tensions. At least it seems the tensions between the crews have been smoothed out quite a bit. And Owens seems willing and able to work with Star with his impressive little speech to her. But I wonder will she still end up on the road to self-destructing? Hmmm? Or will the Eagle be her rescue and redemption? All that remains to be seen. Looking forward.
Just finished reading the rest of the story and I must say, this was a great ending! You managed to tie things up nicely following this long, convoluted and thoroughly entertaining roller-coaster. Great job, CeJay! 
Let me also say how much I appreciate the fine job you did with the Bluefin characters. I thought you captured them very well - they sounded "right" throughout the story. I don't think I could do another writer's characters justice, but you pulled it off without a hitch. You done Akinola proud!
In short, this was a great story - imaginative, action-packed and full of intriguing characters facing complex situations. Very, very well done!
Let me also say how much I appreciate the fine job you did with the Bluefin characters. I thought you captured them very well - they sounded "right" throughout the story. I don't think I could do another writer's characters justice, but you pulled it off without a hitch. You done Akinola proud!
In short, this was a great story - imaginative, action-packed and full of intriguing characters facing complex situations. Very, very well done!
Thanks guys. I also want to thank others who have taken the time over the last 18 months to read and comment on this story. To a writer, feedback is one of the most important things in a place like this and it makes posting stories worthwhile.
I'm especially gratified to hear that you thought that I did a good job with the Bluefin characters. It is always a gamble to write other people's characters because inadvertently they will take on a slightly different voice or tone than the creator may have intended. I'm glad it worked out here.
All The Sinners, Saints was by far the longest novel I've written even though it was never meant to be. The lesson that I'm taking away here is to write tighter narratives in the future and perhaps cut down on characters and sub-plots. As pointed out, you can tell just by the length of the epilogue that there was just too much going on here.
This is not to say that I didn't have fun writing this. Tazla Star is probably one of the single most interesting characters I've ever created because she is not a clear-cut Starfleet officer. She has made some questionable decisions and does not always play according to the rules one would expect. It remains to be seen how she'll fit in on Eagle where the captain and crew have been used to a very different kind of first officer.
And then there are plenty of other story-lines to explore in future stories, especially Nora Laas' often disturbing behavior as well as how her experiences on the surface may have changed Ashley Wenera.
I haven't made a decision yet on if or when I will start work on the next novel. But keep a look out for Crossing Over, a series of Star Eagle short stories, coming early next year.
Once again many thanks to my readers and have a Save and Happy Holiday Season.
I'm especially gratified to hear that you thought that I did a good job with the Bluefin characters. It is always a gamble to write other people's characters because inadvertently they will take on a slightly different voice or tone than the creator may have intended. I'm glad it worked out here.
All The Sinners, Saints was by far the longest novel I've written even though it was never meant to be. The lesson that I'm taking away here is to write tighter narratives in the future and perhaps cut down on characters and sub-plots. As pointed out, you can tell just by the length of the epilogue that there was just too much going on here.
This is not to say that I didn't have fun writing this. Tazla Star is probably one of the single most interesting characters I've ever created because she is not a clear-cut Starfleet officer. She has made some questionable decisions and does not always play according to the rules one would expect. It remains to be seen how she'll fit in on Eagle where the captain and crew have been used to a very different kind of first officer.
And then there are plenty of other story-lines to explore in future stories, especially Nora Laas' often disturbing behavior as well as how her experiences on the surface may have changed Ashley Wenera.
I haven't made a decision yet on if or when I will start work on the next novel. But keep a look out for Crossing Over, a series of Star Eagle short stories, coming early next year.
Once again many thanks to my readers and have a Save and Happy Holiday Season.
This was an excellent novel, CeJay--you deserve all the kudos you're getting from this and then some. Tazla Star is one of the freshest, and most interesting characters I've seen in some time and I'm looking forward to watching her as she continues on her path towards redemption.
Very nicely done and a Happy Holiday season to you as well.
Very nicely done and a Happy Holiday season to you as well.
All The Sinner, Saints is now available in a slightly revised version at StarEagleAdventures.com.
It is also available to download as a Word file or as a PDF e-book.
It is also available to download as a Word file or as a PDF e-book.
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