Well kudos to Star and how she's handling things ... wow did somebody actually say that about Star? Still lots of potential for things to go very wrong though...
The Star Eagle Adventures IV: All The Sinners, Saints
- Thread starter CeJay
- Start date
Star's doing a good job so far. I'm getting the impression that she's just about had it with being everyone else's fallgirl.
She felt pleasantly warm sunlight on her face.
When she tried opening her eyes she was forced to squint and raise a hand over her head in order to prevent the light to shine directly into her eyes.
She thought that to be strange because she distinctly remembered of having been indoors. The second thing she noticed was the horrible smell. The previous fresh mountain air had turned into something vile and burned. And it smelled of death, a scent she was unfortunately quite familiar with.
Only very slowly did her mind begin to recollect the events that had led to this moment.
There had been a battle. Deite’s people pitted against Balik’s.
Alarm sirens.
That awful high-pitched noise
Balik screaming, trying to reach her.
She remember a blast. An explosion. It had ripped her right off her feet.
Only then did she feel the pain. It was all over as if every single bone in her body had been shattered. As a physician she knew that that was unlikely while she was still alive. Her right shoulder felt the worst. Possibly dislocated, she thought.
She bit down hard on her teeth in order to ignore the pain and tried to get onto her feet. She succeeded on the second attempt which she took as proof that her legs were fine.
Her uniform was ripped and covered in dust, turning the predominately black outfit into a predominately gray one. As she looked down at herself she felt a fleeting regret over the state of her clothes.
That was until she realized that the building around her was no longer a building at all. The roof and an entire wall had collapsed. She was surrounded by rubble and as far as she could tell, she was the only person on her feet.
There was a man lying on the floor nearby.
“Balik?” she croaked as she approached. She found his neck but there was no pulse. The man was dead. She turned him over and realized it wasn’t who she had thought it was. She forced herself not to feel relieved.
There were more bodes littered all over the former garage. Some were still alive and coming around and not unlike she had done, were trying to piece together what had happened.
Then she heard that cry to which her ears had become so attuned to. The cry of a newborn child. And it was close, very close.
Gripped with sudden panic for the wellbeing of the child she hurried forward, desperately trying to locate the source of the voice. Her steps were unsteady and she stumbled a couple of times but it never deterred her. The problem was, she could see nothing but rubble. A whole lot of rubble.
Then movement. Somebody buried underneath was moving.
No, she realized. The rubble itself was moving. Somebody buried underneath was trying to push it away. Only a person of immense strength would’ve been able to do this. And the child’s cries were coming from exactly that spot.
Wenera rushed to the moving debris and pushed it aside to discover a body. Female and Vulcan. “T’Ser!” she realized and doubled her efforts. “T’Ser, are you alright?”
“If I’ll be perfectly honest with you, doctor, I’ve had better days,” she said as she attempted to dig herself out.
Wenera uttered a liberating sigh of relief when she realized that the Vulcan was still alive.
“Careful,” said T’Ser as she pulled away slightly to reveal something she had been cradling with her body, trying to protect it from the collapsing building.
The doctor’s eyes widened. It was the child.
She picked him up carefully and found that he was miraculously unharmed.
“He practically flew right into my arms after the blast threw me into the air,” she said as she watched Wenera holding the boy close. “The little feller has a guardian angel looking out over him.”
“So it would seem,” said Wenera and rocked the boy slightly in her arms, causing him to stop crying again. It was quite amazing to her how little it took. From all the living things around, the little boy seemed to be the least appreciative for the craziness of their situation. She looked at T’Ser. “And he’s not the only one.”
“We’re not out of the woods yet,” she said. “I can’t move my right leg.”
Wenera carefully placed the child next to her–a short little weep of protest from the infant making it clear that he didn’t appreciate being put aside– and then checked on T’Ser. A heavy cement fragment was partially covering the lower part of her leg.
She needed both her hands and all her strength to push it away. Underneath she found the pants leg shredded and covered in green blood. T’Ser squirmed noticeably in pain the moment she touched it.
“It’s broken,” said Wenera, shaking her head. “We need to brace it.”
“I don’t think there is time for that,” T’Ser said while she spotted something in the near distance.
Wenera followed her glance to spot a person she had hoped she’d never see again. Deite had also survived and was stumbling a bit aimlessly around among the debris. Whatever confusion she was experiencing, she refused to let go of the gun she held firmly in her hand.
“There is no justice in the galaxy,” mumbled Wenera.
“We survived so far. Let’s be thankful for small miracles at least,” she said with a playful smile.
Wenera didn’t know how she managed the effort. “We have to get you out of here,” she said.
But T’Ser shook her head. “That’s not going to work, doctor, and you know it. I can’t walk and you won’t be able to carry both me and the child.”
She looked at the infant by her side. He was smiling at her of all things and snickering happily at the attention he was eliciting from both women. T’Ser was right. It was her or the child.
She looked back up at Deite. She had not spotted them yet but it was only a question of time. She was recovering quickly and was now busy trying to find those of her people who were still alive.
“Doctor,” said T’Ser sharply, forcing Wenera’s attention back down on her. “Take the child and go.”
But she determinately shook her head. “I’m not leaving you here.”
“That’s an order, doctor.”
“You are with the Border Service, you can’t give me any orders.”
“Like hell I can’t,” she hissed.
“I guess we would have to look up regulations.”
T’Ser’s patience and good will were running out. There was a time for witty chitchat and facetiousness and then there was now. She grabbed Wenera’s arm with surprising strength and pulled her down closer towards her face. “Listen to me. If you stay here you risk your life and the life of the child. You get the hell out of here right now and try to put as much distance to this woman as you can, understood?”
The Vulcan’s grip was so strong, Wenera winced. She looked straight into T’Ser’s eyes. She was dead serious, she was not going to take no for an answer.
Wenera nodded slowly.
“Now. And don’t look back.”
The doctor picked up the child next to her. She wanted to say something else but T’Ser’s cold stare didn’t let her. “Go.”
The child in her arms picked that moment to start crying again. And loudly. Wenera’s heartbeat nearly stopped. She looked up only to see Deite, still some forty yards away, turning to look into her direction. Wenera could see her eyes narrowing.
And then she ran.
“Get her!” screamed Deite.
But the few of the men she had managed to rouse were hardly in any condition to follow her orders, or stand on their own two feet for that matter.
So she had to do it herself.
She ran for a few meters but then stumbled over a large piece of rubble blocking her path.
Wenera took T’Ser’s advice. Holding the crying child close to her chest, she never looked back as she desperately tried to clear the crumbled building and get out of her pursuers’ line of sight.
Deite found her balance and brought up her gun. The running doctor would make an easy target. What she failed to realize however was that the debris she had stumbled over had not been debris at all.
With her one good leg, T’Ser pushed herself up, ignoring the fiery pain shooting up from the broken bone and threw herself at the utterly surprised and unprepared Deite. The Vulcan easily wrestled her to the ground before she even knew what had hit her.
Wenera cleared the building. And then stopped. She had no idea which way to go. The settlement was coming apart by the seams. Buildings were collapsing all around her, the panicked inhabitants were running aimlessly into the streets and dozens of vehicles were blocking the intersections in a desperate attempt to get out while they still could.
One of the vehicles, a bulky cargo truck which looked surprisingly familiar, came to a screeching halt just a few feet away from her. Balik jumped out. His clothes were torn and as dirty as hers. He was bleeding from a number of wounds but still managed a firm tone. “Get in!”
But Wenera was not ready to give up on T’Ser. She glanced back into the building behind her. The Vulcan’s struggle which had allowed Wenera to get away was already over. Deite had gotten the upper hand, mostly because her people had since converged on her and come to assist their leader. Angrily, Deite kicked the Vulcan woman at her feet who by now was unable to offer any more resistance.
Balik had to physically restrain Wenera from returning into the collapsed garage. “No, doctor, we have to go.”
His words were emphasized not a moment later when Deite, spotting Balik and Wenera outside, took aim again.
Balik pushed the doctor and the child into the transport just before the vehicle was peppered by bullets.
“Get them!” shouted a frustrated Deite even as she watched the vehicle rev its engine, spin its wheels and then quickly accelerating away and around a corner.
Teldro shook his head. “We need to leave. That plane is coming back for another run. We stay any longer and we all die.”
Deite cursed loudly at the prospect of letting Balik and Wenera slip through her fingers but she understood that she didn’t have a choice. She had to let go. At least for now. But she made herself a promise. She would make Balik and his alien pet pay for his betrayal.
Teldro reached for her shoulder. “I’ve got a vehicle waiting outside. But we have to go now.”
Deite’s glance dropped to see the near unconscious and incredibly troublesome Vulcan lying by her feet. She turned around and began marching towards the waiting transport. “Bring the prisoner,” she barked. “I’m not done with her.”
When she tried opening her eyes she was forced to squint and raise a hand over her head in order to prevent the light to shine directly into her eyes.
She thought that to be strange because she distinctly remembered of having been indoors. The second thing she noticed was the horrible smell. The previous fresh mountain air had turned into something vile and burned. And it smelled of death, a scent she was unfortunately quite familiar with.
Only very slowly did her mind begin to recollect the events that had led to this moment.
There had been a battle. Deite’s people pitted against Balik’s.
Alarm sirens.
That awful high-pitched noise
Balik screaming, trying to reach her.
She remember a blast. An explosion. It had ripped her right off her feet.
Only then did she feel the pain. It was all over as if every single bone in her body had been shattered. As a physician she knew that that was unlikely while she was still alive. Her right shoulder felt the worst. Possibly dislocated, she thought.
She bit down hard on her teeth in order to ignore the pain and tried to get onto her feet. She succeeded on the second attempt which she took as proof that her legs were fine.
Her uniform was ripped and covered in dust, turning the predominately black outfit into a predominately gray one. As she looked down at herself she felt a fleeting regret over the state of her clothes.
That was until she realized that the building around her was no longer a building at all. The roof and an entire wall had collapsed. She was surrounded by rubble and as far as she could tell, she was the only person on her feet.
There was a man lying on the floor nearby.
“Balik?” she croaked as she approached. She found his neck but there was no pulse. The man was dead. She turned him over and realized it wasn’t who she had thought it was. She forced herself not to feel relieved.
There were more bodes littered all over the former garage. Some were still alive and coming around and not unlike she had done, were trying to piece together what had happened.
Then she heard that cry to which her ears had become so attuned to. The cry of a newborn child. And it was close, very close.
Gripped with sudden panic for the wellbeing of the child she hurried forward, desperately trying to locate the source of the voice. Her steps were unsteady and she stumbled a couple of times but it never deterred her. The problem was, she could see nothing but rubble. A whole lot of rubble.
Then movement. Somebody buried underneath was moving.
No, she realized. The rubble itself was moving. Somebody buried underneath was trying to push it away. Only a person of immense strength would’ve been able to do this. And the child’s cries were coming from exactly that spot.
Wenera rushed to the moving debris and pushed it aside to discover a body. Female and Vulcan. “T’Ser!” she realized and doubled her efforts. “T’Ser, are you alright?”
“If I’ll be perfectly honest with you, doctor, I’ve had better days,” she said as she attempted to dig herself out.
Wenera uttered a liberating sigh of relief when she realized that the Vulcan was still alive.
“Careful,” said T’Ser as she pulled away slightly to reveal something she had been cradling with her body, trying to protect it from the collapsing building.
The doctor’s eyes widened. It was the child.
She picked him up carefully and found that he was miraculously unharmed.
“He practically flew right into my arms after the blast threw me into the air,” she said as she watched Wenera holding the boy close. “The little feller has a guardian angel looking out over him.”
“So it would seem,” said Wenera and rocked the boy slightly in her arms, causing him to stop crying again. It was quite amazing to her how little it took. From all the living things around, the little boy seemed to be the least appreciative for the craziness of their situation. She looked at T’Ser. “And he’s not the only one.”
“We’re not out of the woods yet,” she said. “I can’t move my right leg.”
Wenera carefully placed the child next to her–a short little weep of protest from the infant making it clear that he didn’t appreciate being put aside– and then checked on T’Ser. A heavy cement fragment was partially covering the lower part of her leg.
She needed both her hands and all her strength to push it away. Underneath she found the pants leg shredded and covered in green blood. T’Ser squirmed noticeably in pain the moment she touched it.
“It’s broken,” said Wenera, shaking her head. “We need to brace it.”
“I don’t think there is time for that,” T’Ser said while she spotted something in the near distance.
Wenera followed her glance to spot a person she had hoped she’d never see again. Deite had also survived and was stumbling a bit aimlessly around among the debris. Whatever confusion she was experiencing, she refused to let go of the gun she held firmly in her hand.
“There is no justice in the galaxy,” mumbled Wenera.
“We survived so far. Let’s be thankful for small miracles at least,” she said with a playful smile.
Wenera didn’t know how she managed the effort. “We have to get you out of here,” she said.
But T’Ser shook her head. “That’s not going to work, doctor, and you know it. I can’t walk and you won’t be able to carry both me and the child.”
She looked at the infant by her side. He was smiling at her of all things and snickering happily at the attention he was eliciting from both women. T’Ser was right. It was her or the child.
She looked back up at Deite. She had not spotted them yet but it was only a question of time. She was recovering quickly and was now busy trying to find those of her people who were still alive.
“Doctor,” said T’Ser sharply, forcing Wenera’s attention back down on her. “Take the child and go.”
But she determinately shook her head. “I’m not leaving you here.”
“That’s an order, doctor.”
“You are with the Border Service, you can’t give me any orders.”
“Like hell I can’t,” she hissed.
“I guess we would have to look up regulations.”
T’Ser’s patience and good will were running out. There was a time for witty chitchat and facetiousness and then there was now. She grabbed Wenera’s arm with surprising strength and pulled her down closer towards her face. “Listen to me. If you stay here you risk your life and the life of the child. You get the hell out of here right now and try to put as much distance to this woman as you can, understood?”
The Vulcan’s grip was so strong, Wenera winced. She looked straight into T’Ser’s eyes. She was dead serious, she was not going to take no for an answer.
Wenera nodded slowly.
“Now. And don’t look back.”
The doctor picked up the child next to her. She wanted to say something else but T’Ser’s cold stare didn’t let her. “Go.”
The child in her arms picked that moment to start crying again. And loudly. Wenera’s heartbeat nearly stopped. She looked up only to see Deite, still some forty yards away, turning to look into her direction. Wenera could see her eyes narrowing.
And then she ran.
“Get her!” screamed Deite.
But the few of the men she had managed to rouse were hardly in any condition to follow her orders, or stand on their own two feet for that matter.
So she had to do it herself.
She ran for a few meters but then stumbled over a large piece of rubble blocking her path.
Wenera took T’Ser’s advice. Holding the crying child close to her chest, she never looked back as she desperately tried to clear the crumbled building and get out of her pursuers’ line of sight.
Deite found her balance and brought up her gun. The running doctor would make an easy target. What she failed to realize however was that the debris she had stumbled over had not been debris at all.
With her one good leg, T’Ser pushed herself up, ignoring the fiery pain shooting up from the broken bone and threw herself at the utterly surprised and unprepared Deite. The Vulcan easily wrestled her to the ground before she even knew what had hit her.
Wenera cleared the building. And then stopped. She had no idea which way to go. The settlement was coming apart by the seams. Buildings were collapsing all around her, the panicked inhabitants were running aimlessly into the streets and dozens of vehicles were blocking the intersections in a desperate attempt to get out while they still could.
One of the vehicles, a bulky cargo truck which looked surprisingly familiar, came to a screeching halt just a few feet away from her. Balik jumped out. His clothes were torn and as dirty as hers. He was bleeding from a number of wounds but still managed a firm tone. “Get in!”
But Wenera was not ready to give up on T’Ser. She glanced back into the building behind her. The Vulcan’s struggle which had allowed Wenera to get away was already over. Deite had gotten the upper hand, mostly because her people had since converged on her and come to assist their leader. Angrily, Deite kicked the Vulcan woman at her feet who by now was unable to offer any more resistance.
Balik had to physically restrain Wenera from returning into the collapsed garage. “No, doctor, we have to go.”
His words were emphasized not a moment later when Deite, spotting Balik and Wenera outside, took aim again.
Balik pushed the doctor and the child into the transport just before the vehicle was peppered by bullets.
“Get them!” shouted a frustrated Deite even as she watched the vehicle rev its engine, spin its wheels and then quickly accelerating away and around a corner.
Teldro shook his head. “We need to leave. That plane is coming back for another run. We stay any longer and we all die.”
Deite cursed loudly at the prospect of letting Balik and Wenera slip through her fingers but she understood that she didn’t have a choice. She had to let go. At least for now. But she made herself a promise. She would make Balik and his alien pet pay for his betrayal.
Teldro reached for her shoulder. “I’ve got a vehicle waiting outside. But we have to go now.”
Deite’s glance dropped to see the near unconscious and incredibly troublesome Vulcan lying by her feet. She turned around and began marching towards the waiting transport. “Bring the prisoner,” she barked. “I’m not done with her.”
* * *
T'Ser bought Wenera and the baby some valuable time, but perhaps at the cost of further torture at the sadistic hands of Deite. Here's hoping that Star and her team can arrive quickly enough to intervene or that the Border Dogs can get their Stallion back in the air.
Love this story!
Love this story!
That was an absorbing segment. I got caught in the dust and rubble as you opened with Wenera's point of view. I liked the language you used and the details focused upon and the clinical thought processes of Wenera, only to be expected from a doctor.
If T'Ser doesn't get a Medal of Valor out of all this, then the universe is fundamentally flawed. Sadly, it is--I can see how she would be denied any but the most minor of honors to cover up Schwarzie's stupidity...
The more things change...the more they remain the same.
The more things change...the more they remain the same.
The runabout had set down not far from the settlement on a piece of empty land which overlooked the seemingly endless desert, sprawling out below the foot of the mountain range.
The landing had not gone unnoticed by the inhabitants but nobody seemed to have any inclination on approaching the strangely unknown craft. On the contrary, most of the settlement was trying to get away as quickly as possible. The fact that the bomber had not returned yet was no indication that the government attack was over. In fact, most might have mistaken the appearance of the Starfleet ship as the second wave. It wasn’t a leap. Everyone on the planet knew about the Tia’s new alien allies and news of the Battle of Al Tre Nek in which the sky had rained deadly lances of lighting had spread around the globe like wildfire.
On the other hand, only a handful of people, even among the Ait and the New Light rebels, knew of Starfleet’s other and more clandestine involvement on Tiaita.
Tazla Star was thankful for that fact when she stepped out of the Nebuchadrezzar and glanced towards what remained of the settlement. Coming here herself had been a great gamble but one she had decided she had to take.
She turned to the Andorian pilot who had also disembarked. “Ensign, I want you to grab a couple of Marines and dig up all the medical supplies you can find on the runabout. Once you’ve run out, start replicating. These people will need them.”
Srena nodded and went back inside.
“Looks like we’re about to have company,” said Wasco and gestured upwards where Bluefin’s Stallion was on approach, preparing to set down just meters away.
Star waited patiently for the vessel to set down and McBride and the rest of his landing part to emerge. While she had the coordinates of the settlement, she did not actually know where to start looking.
Dale McBride was quick to provide the answers. “We’re looking for teteron radiation,” he said, expecting the question shortly after he and his team had exited the vessel. Then glancing down at his tricorder he continued. “I’m picking up a small source, definitely emanating from within this settlement. I can’t pinpoint it yet but we should be able to once we get close enough to the source.”
“Alright,” said Star. “I suggest we split into two teams. You and your people take the eastern part of the settlement while my team with comb through the western part.”
McBride nodded in agreement.
“And remember, we’re here to get our crewmembers and get out. That’s all. Now some of these people belong to a well organized rebel movement –“
“More like terrorists,” mumbled Nora, her last encounter with these fighters still fresh in her memory.
Star took no notice of the interruption. “And may put up some resistance. However they know that their settlement has been located by the government and they’re more than likely going to try and move their operation as quickly as possible and before the military can mount another aerial attack or move in ground troops.”
“How do you happen to know so much about these people, Commander?” asked the Bajoran security officer.
Star glanced her way for just about a second in which Nora was sure she could spot a fleeting sign of insecurity, as if she didn’t quite know how to answer that question. It was gone within a flash. “I’ve been here for six weeks, Lieutenant. You pick things like that up.”
Nora wasn’t quite buying it.
But Star didn’t give her a chance to make further inquires in the matter as she quickly turned back to the assembled rescue teams. “Tiaitan are also generally more susceptible to phased energy than the average humanoid. Keep your weapons on a low stun mode. That should be more than sufficient.”
McBride was listening carefully but with a hint of impatience. “Understood. Let’s move out.”
Star nodded and the two teams headed into the settlement.
Progress was slow.
Even though many of the larger buildings had been flattened or severely damaged by the attack, enough two or more storied structures remained to pose a serious threat to the Starfleet teams. Tricorders were a big help but they couldn’t distinguish between harmless civilians or possible snipers who may have taken up position in one of the windows.
Commander Star had her team of ten Marines and Nora move in two files, one on each side of the road and sticking close to the buildings. The first two in each group were responsible to make sure the path directly ahead was clear. The two Marines in the middle kept their eyes on the windows on the opposite side, while the last two covered their backs. It was standard Marines procedure for urban operations.
“I’ve got multiple contacts, three-hundred meters, four o clock,” said Shin-Ja Moon, the Korean Marine in charge of scanning ahead with his combat-issue tricorder.
Star signaled her team to stop and take a knee. She turned to look at the sergeant. “Can you tell how many?”
“I can make out between ten to fifteen contacts. No way to be sure.”
“Any of ours?” asked Wasco who was positioned directly behind Star.
“No, I don’t think so.”
“Can we go around them?” Star said.
Wasco shook his head. “I wouldn’t recommend it. Not only would we be wasting valuable time, it’s a bad idea to have a large group of possibly armed forces in our backs.”
Star nodded. “Alright,” she said. “We engage them. Let’s see if we can get them to surrender. Fire only if absolutely necessary. Understood?”
Wasco and his Marines signaled their acknowledgement.
Nora, who was heading up the second team on the opposite side of the road, appeared to be barely listening at all.
Star shot her an icy look. “Lieutenant?”
The Bajoran refused to make eye contact. “Take prisoners, fire only if necessary. I heard you.”
“Good, let’s go.”
The team took back to their feet and moved in closer.
After some two hundred meters the road opened up to lead into something akin to a small town square now surrounded by mostly destroyed building many of which had been of such a makeshift nature in the first place, they hadn’t stood a chance.
Nora, backed by two Marines, moved up all the way to the corner of the road and spied around. She signaled back her findings to the rest of the team: Thirteen possible targets, some armed. None facing this direction.
Commander Star signaled back for Nora to hold position and provide cover while the rest of the team moved in.
She was the first one to move onto the open square.
There were some six armed men and women standing by a cargo truck which was waiting close to a damaged building. Seven others were hastily making their way from the building towards the truck, possibly to be evacuated.
“Drop your weapons!” Star yelled as she approached with the rest of her team. Her plan had been to use speed and intimation, to rush them so quickly they wouldn’t have a chance to respond.
One of the armed fighters, a young woman, tried to draw a bead on their attackers but was immediately hit by a phaser blast which had originated somewhere behind Star and had zipped by her so closely she had felt the heat of the blast on her cheek. It was then that she realized that having Nora with a phaser rifle pointed at her back had not been such a great idea.
The young woman who had tried to squeeze off a shot sagged to the ground upon impact.
“Drop your weapons, now!” Star repeated as they closed in on the remaining fighters. With at least one phaser rifle pointed at each armed rebel any further resistance was practically useless. “Drop them and nobody else gets hurt.”
Nora’s team followed and soon every single Tiaitan, armed and unarmed, was staring down into an utterly alien and fearsome energy weapon whose relentless power they had just witnessed firsthand.
“I won’t say it again,” Star said. “Drop them.”
There was some hesitation as the rebels considered their options. In the end it was obvious that they were outnumbered and completely outgunned. One by one let go of their rifles.
“Turn around and get on your knees,” Nora instructed. “Now.”
The rebels complied.
The security officer gestured towards the Marines. “Remove their weapons and bind their hands behind their backs.”
Star watched with a frown as they executed the order. She didn’t like the idea of restraining these people. Her original mission on Tiaita had been to assist the New Light in their struggle against their oppressive government. Now she was doing the exact opposite. “I’m not sure this is necessary,” she said but lacking any real conviction.
“They have to be restrained,” Wasco said, agreeing with the order. “We can’t run the risk of them coming after us. They should be able to free themselves once we’re gone.”
Which of course meant that by the time government forces were rolling in, they’d have a whole group of enemy soldiers nicely lined up to be taken prisoner or worse. Star decided not to voice her concerns for now as she quietly watched the Marines efficiently tying the rebel’s hands.
“Amika, no!”
[continued]
The landing had not gone unnoticed by the inhabitants but nobody seemed to have any inclination on approaching the strangely unknown craft. On the contrary, most of the settlement was trying to get away as quickly as possible. The fact that the bomber had not returned yet was no indication that the government attack was over. In fact, most might have mistaken the appearance of the Starfleet ship as the second wave. It wasn’t a leap. Everyone on the planet knew about the Tia’s new alien allies and news of the Battle of Al Tre Nek in which the sky had rained deadly lances of lighting had spread around the globe like wildfire.
On the other hand, only a handful of people, even among the Ait and the New Light rebels, knew of Starfleet’s other and more clandestine involvement on Tiaita.
Tazla Star was thankful for that fact when she stepped out of the Nebuchadrezzar and glanced towards what remained of the settlement. Coming here herself had been a great gamble but one she had decided she had to take.
She turned to the Andorian pilot who had also disembarked. “Ensign, I want you to grab a couple of Marines and dig up all the medical supplies you can find on the runabout. Once you’ve run out, start replicating. These people will need them.”
Srena nodded and went back inside.
“Looks like we’re about to have company,” said Wasco and gestured upwards where Bluefin’s Stallion was on approach, preparing to set down just meters away.
Star waited patiently for the vessel to set down and McBride and the rest of his landing part to emerge. While she had the coordinates of the settlement, she did not actually know where to start looking.
Dale McBride was quick to provide the answers. “We’re looking for teteron radiation,” he said, expecting the question shortly after he and his team had exited the vessel. Then glancing down at his tricorder he continued. “I’m picking up a small source, definitely emanating from within this settlement. I can’t pinpoint it yet but we should be able to once we get close enough to the source.”
“Alright,” said Star. “I suggest we split into two teams. You and your people take the eastern part of the settlement while my team with comb through the western part.”
McBride nodded in agreement.
“And remember, we’re here to get our crewmembers and get out. That’s all. Now some of these people belong to a well organized rebel movement –“
“More like terrorists,” mumbled Nora, her last encounter with these fighters still fresh in her memory.
Star took no notice of the interruption. “And may put up some resistance. However they know that their settlement has been located by the government and they’re more than likely going to try and move their operation as quickly as possible and before the military can mount another aerial attack or move in ground troops.”
“How do you happen to know so much about these people, Commander?” asked the Bajoran security officer.
Star glanced her way for just about a second in which Nora was sure she could spot a fleeting sign of insecurity, as if she didn’t quite know how to answer that question. It was gone within a flash. “I’ve been here for six weeks, Lieutenant. You pick things like that up.”
Nora wasn’t quite buying it.
But Star didn’t give her a chance to make further inquires in the matter as she quickly turned back to the assembled rescue teams. “Tiaitan are also generally more susceptible to phased energy than the average humanoid. Keep your weapons on a low stun mode. That should be more than sufficient.”
McBride was listening carefully but with a hint of impatience. “Understood. Let’s move out.”
Star nodded and the two teams headed into the settlement.
Progress was slow.
Even though many of the larger buildings had been flattened or severely damaged by the attack, enough two or more storied structures remained to pose a serious threat to the Starfleet teams. Tricorders were a big help but they couldn’t distinguish between harmless civilians or possible snipers who may have taken up position in one of the windows.
Commander Star had her team of ten Marines and Nora move in two files, one on each side of the road and sticking close to the buildings. The first two in each group were responsible to make sure the path directly ahead was clear. The two Marines in the middle kept their eyes on the windows on the opposite side, while the last two covered their backs. It was standard Marines procedure for urban operations.
“I’ve got multiple contacts, three-hundred meters, four o clock,” said Shin-Ja Moon, the Korean Marine in charge of scanning ahead with his combat-issue tricorder.
Star signaled her team to stop and take a knee. She turned to look at the sergeant. “Can you tell how many?”
“I can make out between ten to fifteen contacts. No way to be sure.”
“Any of ours?” asked Wasco who was positioned directly behind Star.
“No, I don’t think so.”
“Can we go around them?” Star said.
Wasco shook his head. “I wouldn’t recommend it. Not only would we be wasting valuable time, it’s a bad idea to have a large group of possibly armed forces in our backs.”
Star nodded. “Alright,” she said. “We engage them. Let’s see if we can get them to surrender. Fire only if absolutely necessary. Understood?”
Wasco and his Marines signaled their acknowledgement.
Nora, who was heading up the second team on the opposite side of the road, appeared to be barely listening at all.
Star shot her an icy look. “Lieutenant?”
The Bajoran refused to make eye contact. “Take prisoners, fire only if necessary. I heard you.”
“Good, let’s go.”
The team took back to their feet and moved in closer.
After some two hundred meters the road opened up to lead into something akin to a small town square now surrounded by mostly destroyed building many of which had been of such a makeshift nature in the first place, they hadn’t stood a chance.
Nora, backed by two Marines, moved up all the way to the corner of the road and spied around. She signaled back her findings to the rest of the team: Thirteen possible targets, some armed. None facing this direction.
Commander Star signaled back for Nora to hold position and provide cover while the rest of the team moved in.
She was the first one to move onto the open square.
There were some six armed men and women standing by a cargo truck which was waiting close to a damaged building. Seven others were hastily making their way from the building towards the truck, possibly to be evacuated.
“Drop your weapons!” Star yelled as she approached with the rest of her team. Her plan had been to use speed and intimation, to rush them so quickly they wouldn’t have a chance to respond.
One of the armed fighters, a young woman, tried to draw a bead on their attackers but was immediately hit by a phaser blast which had originated somewhere behind Star and had zipped by her so closely she had felt the heat of the blast on her cheek. It was then that she realized that having Nora with a phaser rifle pointed at her back had not been such a great idea.
The young woman who had tried to squeeze off a shot sagged to the ground upon impact.
“Drop your weapons, now!” Star repeated as they closed in on the remaining fighters. With at least one phaser rifle pointed at each armed rebel any further resistance was practically useless. “Drop them and nobody else gets hurt.”
Nora’s team followed and soon every single Tiaitan, armed and unarmed, was staring down into an utterly alien and fearsome energy weapon whose relentless power they had just witnessed firsthand.
“I won’t say it again,” Star said. “Drop them.”
There was some hesitation as the rebels considered their options. In the end it was obvious that they were outnumbered and completely outgunned. One by one let go of their rifles.
“Turn around and get on your knees,” Nora instructed. “Now.”
The rebels complied.
The security officer gestured towards the Marines. “Remove their weapons and bind their hands behind their backs.”
Star watched with a frown as they executed the order. She didn’t like the idea of restraining these people. Her original mission on Tiaita had been to assist the New Light in their struggle against their oppressive government. Now she was doing the exact opposite. “I’m not sure this is necessary,” she said but lacking any real conviction.
“They have to be restrained,” Wasco said, agreeing with the order. “We can’t run the risk of them coming after us. They should be able to free themselves once we’re gone.”
Which of course meant that by the time government forces were rolling in, they’d have a whole group of enemy soldiers nicely lined up to be taken prisoner or worse. Star decided not to voice her concerns for now as she quietly watched the Marines efficiently tying the rebel’s hands.
“Amika, no!”
[continued]
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The desperate cry forced everybody’s attention towards the building. Somebody was running out of the doors and directly towards them. Somebody else, still left inside, had unsuccessfully tried to stop that person from doing just that.
Nora and the Marines had their weapons back up instantly.
It was then that Star realized that the person running towards them was a little girl, no older than seven or eight, she guessed. And she wasn’t running towards them, she was heading straight for the young woman who had been shot during the attack.
“Hold you fire,” she instructed.
Gunshots rang out.
One of the Marines jerked back as he took a bullet to his upper right arm.
“Sniper!” yelled Wasco instantly dropped into a crouch and then grabbed his fallen man by the back of his black uniform and pulled him behind a cement embankment for cover.
Everyone else followed quickly even while the gunman continued to fire seemingly random rounds onto the square.
Star and two Marines took up position behind the safety of the bulky cargo truck.
“Keep your eyes on our friends over there,” she told them and indicated towards the row of still kneeling rebels some of which had tried to use the diversion to stand and try to get away. “Any of them move, shoot them,” she added loudly enough to be overheard by each one of them.
The Marines acknowledged and leveled their rifles. There was no further attempt to escape.
The Trill could spot the rest of the team having taken cover all over the square. Wasco, Nora and the majority of the Marines were behind the cement embankment. “Major, how’s your man?”
“Flesh wound,” Wasco’s voice responded. “Nothing serious.”
Star nodded and then moved closer to the edge of the vehicle to get a better look at the building from which they were under attack. She spotted the sharpshooter almost immediately. He wasn’t doing a particularly good job at keeping himself hidden. He was also not a very good shot and wasted his ammunition thoughtlessly by firing without taking proper aim. Star quickly realized why. He was just a boy, the rifle impossibly too large for him to handle.
Then she spotted the girl who had run out of the building. She was upset, crying and sobbing uncontrollably. She had found the woman and was hunched over her now, shaking and pulling her in a desperate attempt to wake her. She mumbled something incoherent, Star couldn’t understand.
Some of the Marines behind the embankment were moving in order to get into a better position to return fire. The boy noticed began firing, trying to hit one of them without success. “You’re going to pay for what you’ve done, you Tia bastards,” he screamed with a croaking voice which kept breaking up and betraying his young years. But his finger continued to squeeze the trigger of his automatic rifle.
“Listen kid, we’re not trying to hurt anyone, we’re just here to find some friends of ours,” Star said. “That woman down there is not dead, she’s just sleeping.”
One of the windows in the truck above her exploded in a thousand shards of glass as it was struck by a rifle round. Star figured that the boy had tried to hit her but the window was as close as he had managed to get.
“Your lying,” he screamed. “You black devil’s are all murderers.”
Star looked back towards the Marines. “It’s the uniforms,” she said quietly as she realized what he meant.
Indeed their black outfits were very similar to the ones worn by the government soldiers. They didn’t have the helmets and there were obvious differences in the material and the style but the boy was unlikely to be able to distinguish them.
She tapped her combadge. “Star to Major Wasco, have your men fall back and out of sight.”
“Understood,” replied Wasco, his voice slightly distorted due to the interference prevalent in this part of the Tiaitan desert.
“Keep your head down and do not take any aggressive actions. Do not return fire. Star out,” she said and closed the link by tapping the badge again. Then she quickly removed her phaser, sat aside the rifle and took off her black and gray uniform jacket. The red shirt she wore underneath would make her a much easier target but that was chance she was willing to take.
“Alright kid, I’ll prove to you that she’s just fine, ok? I’m going to come out slowly and I’m going to be unarmed,” she said and then noticed that he had stopped firing. She wasn’t sure if that was because she had gained his trust or simply because he had been caught off guard by her suggestion.
She took the silence as his agreement and stepped out in the open with her hands held out in front of her, palms facing forward. “See, I’ve got no weapons,” she said. She could make him out clearly now. He stood on a crumbled balcony on the second floor and he was noticeably shaking which was probably helping to throw off his aim.
She took a small step forward and towards the young woman lying on the ground some fifteen meters ahead. Ignoring all the noise and commotion around her, the little girl had refused to leave her side.
Nora Laas and the Marines had since moved into a nearby building and out of the sharpshooter’s field of vision but close enough to strike again if necessary. Kneeling by the window and watching as Star exposed herself, the Bajoran shook her head. “What the hell does she think she’s doing?”
Wasco also observed the scene. “We could move somebody in position to take him down fairly easily,” he said and then looked at the security chief. “Of course I don’t know how a phaser blast would effect a young child like that.”
“Have somebody move into position but tell them not to engage,” Nora replied. “If he should manage to hit her, take him down, otherwise hold your fire.”
Wasco frowned, apparently not happy with that plan.
Nora noticed. “Those were her orders, Major, remember? Don’t take any aggressive actions. If she wants to go and get herself killed than that’s her business.”
“Don’t come any closer,” the boy screamed at the alien woman below.
But Star ignored him as she took small steps forward. “Look at me. Do I look like one of those black devil’s to you?” She turned her head slightly to show him her spots. “You ever seen theses on government soldiers?”
“You killed her. You killed our mother!”
Another step. “No, we haven’t. Let me show you,” she said and took yet another step forward. Just a few more and she would be right by the woman’s side and once she was close to the girl–probably his younger sister–he wouldn’t dare to try shoot, or so she hoped.
“I said don’t come any closer!” he screamed and squeezed the trigger again.
Star froze as she heard the gunshot. For a moment she thought she had been hit but then realized that the bullet had struck the vehicle behind her again.
She took another step and there was another shot. This one hitting the ground some four feet to her left. She was certain that hadn’t been his target. He was trying to hit her and he was getting closer by the second.
Star took a deep breath, trying to pay no heed to the growing fear that each step could be her last and then moved forward quickly. In no time she had reached the young woman. The girl looked up at her with wide, teary eyes, not sure yet if she was supposed to run away or stay with her apparently dead mother.
“Get away from her!”
But the Trill knelt down next to the frightened girl instead. She gave her a large, friendly smile. “Hi there, my name is Taz. What’s yours?”
The girl looked at her but wasn’t quite able to form words.
“He called you Amika earlier, didn’t he? Is that your name?”
She nodded her head fractionally.
“And this is your mother?”
Another nod.
“Give me your hand,” Star said and held out her palm.
Amika hesitated.
“It’s alright. I’m going to show you that your mother is alright, ok?”
The prospect of seeing her mother alive again ultimately convinced the young girl and she stuck out her little hand. Star guided it towards the woman’s neck. “Do you feel that?” she asked. “The steady throbbing right by her neck.”
“Y .. yes,” she said and her face began to lighten up slightly.
“That means her heart is still pumping blood through her veins. It means she is alive. Just sleeping, ok?”
“Okay,” said the girl with a small smile.
“Do you think you could tell your brother up there so he’ll stop trying to hurt us?”
The girl wiped away her tears with one hand while the other remained at her mother’s neck as if removing it might also end the pulse of life she had found there. She didn’t immediately react to Star’s suggestion.
“Amika, do you think you can do that?”
The girl nodded. “Yeah,” she said, stood up and looked at her brother above. “It’s okay, Reht, she’s okay, she’s just sleeping. I can feel it with my hand.”
Reht didn’t look quite convinced. “Stay where you are,” he told Star. “Don’t move,” he added and then disappeared from the balcony.
“Amika, I’m going to try and wake her up for you but I need the help of my friends to do that.”
She nodded again.
Star turned around and towards the cargo truck behind which she knew two of the Marines were waiting. “Corporal.”
Within moments one Marine carefully stuck his head out. “Sir?”
“Toss me a hypo with a stimulant package.”
He nodded and did as he was instructed.
Star caught it easily but before she could apply it, Reht appeared by the door, his rifle still in hand and pointed at the Trill. “What are you doing? I said don’t move.”
“I’m going to wake up your mother, don’t you want that?”
But the boy was still too confused to understand what was happening here. He stepped closer and Star took careful notice that at this range he would have little difficulties finding his target. She also noticed for the first time that she was quite familiar with the weapon he carried. It was one she herself had provided and she knew it was more than adequate to kill her a few times over. It would be the irony of ironies if she were to be ended by it, she mused darkly.
“Reht, please, she’s trying to help,” pleaded the girl.
Star used the distraction to press the hypo spray against the unconscious woman’s neck and inject her with the stimulant. The sudden move infuriated Reht, panicking, he rushed towards them and jumped Star. “Don’t touch her!”
The Trill commander didn’t quite see it coming and the boy’s clumsily thrown up fist somehow managed to hit her square in the jaw. She tumbled backwards as he pressed his entire weight against her and then found his rifle again. He brought it up surprisingly fast in order to shoot her at point blank range.
“Reht!”
The boy froze and turned around to see his excited sister watching their mother come back around.
“She’s alright, Reht. Look, she alright,” she said, her words practically pouring out of her mouth now.
“Mother?” Reht said and all of a sudden Star was forgotten as he dropped the rifle and rushed to her side.
“Amika, Reht,” the young woman whispered weakly as she tried to get up. “What happened?”
Star recovered quickly. She took the rifle and removed the magazine and the bullet in the chamber. Then she dusted off her uniform and stood, fully aware–and maybe even a bit embarrassed–that she had nearly been killed by a ten-year-old.
The woman regained her strength and quickly proceeded to embrace her children, astounded herself that she was still alive. Then she found Star. “You,” she said as her face revealed a flash of recognition. “I’ve seen you before.”
“I don’t think so.”
“No,” she said as she stood up slowly. “No, I know I have. You’ve come here before. You’re the one who met with Balik and Deite. You’ve helped us get weapons and equipment for the cause.”
Star looked around and to her relief found that nobody besides her and the children were close enough to overhear the woman. But that was going to change quickly. Wasco and Nora were heading her way, now that the threat had been neutralized.
Star took a step closer to woman. “You are mistaken. You don’t know me and you’ve never seen me before in your life. Now as long as we are perfectly clear on that I’ll let you and the rest of your people get into your vehicle and get out of here before the government’s troops show up. Do you understand me?”
The woman looked momentarily confused.
Star glanced back to see that Nora and Wasco had almost reached them. She shot another, urgent look at the woman. “Do you understand?” she whispered as loudly as she could without making herself heard by the approaching officers.
She nodded hesitantly.
“Commander, are you alright?” asked Wasco as he stepped up to the Trill.
“I’m fine, Major,” she said and kept her eyes on the still puzzled woman. “Instruct your men to help these people board their vehicle so that they can be on their way.”
Nora shook her head. “That’s a mistake. We should keep them restraint until we have what we came for.”
“Your objection is noted, Lieutenant. Now follow my order. The sooner you do, the sooner we can get back to our own business. We’ve already lost enough time here.”
But the Bajoran didn’t move, instead she had suddenly become quite interested in the young woman who stood close to Star. She was giving the commander a most curious look which the Bajoran couldn’t quite place.
Major Wasco followed Star’s order and his men quickly untied the rebels and then stood back as they cautiously entered the cargo truck, not entirely convinced yet that they were being let go.
Star handed the rifle back to the young woman. “Here, you might need this. Now get going.”
“Thank you,” she said and rushed towards the vehicle with her children in tow.
Nora looked on with a noticeably disapproving expression on her face. “I’ll be putting into my report that you are actively assisting a criminal element on this world, Commander. I don’t think the captain will be pleased.”
“The captain will want us to try and save lives, not risk them. But you are free to put into your report whatever you like, Lieutenant,” she said and began to collect the gear she had discarded earlier.
Sergeant Shin-Ja Moon approached the commander while he studied his tricorder. “Sir, I think I have managed to pinpoint the teteron source. We’re close. No more than four hundred meters, maybe less.”
“Good,” said Star and then addressed the entire team. “Let’s move, people, we’re almost there.”
Tazla Star, Nora Laas and the Marines reached what was left of what had once been a vehicle garage just shortly after McBride and his team which had apparently run into some problems of their own. Two of the Border Service crewmembers had been lightly wounded in a fire fight with retreating rebels.
The teteron radiation they were all looking for was concentrated in this destroyed building which was a bad sign as Star immediately recognized that nobody seemed to have survived the collapse of the roof.
Of course this didn’t stop them to start turning every single piece of rock and rubble to find any hint of the Starfleet officer’s they were looking for.
“Over here,” said Solly Brin, causing McBride to nearly leap to his side. Star and Nora also converged.
The Orion was on his knees and had just cleared some rubble when he had discovered something lying on the ground. It was however not a body.
Brin consulted his tricoder. “This is our source,” he said.
McBride picked up something shiny which at first glance looked like a medallion of sorts. Star couldn’t quite make it out because he quickly closed his fist over it. His knuckles were beginning to turn white and his facial expressions were unreadable, as if he was trying hard not to let it show how exactly this find was making him feel.
But Star began to understand for the first time that Dale McBride had a much more personal stake in this search than she had previously believed. “What is it, Commander?”
When he looked at her she could see the pain in his eyes. “Lieutenant T’Ser wore this,” he said without revealing the object. “It’s what we used to track her.”
“Her body is not here and neither is Doctor Wenera’s,” said Major Wasco. “That’s good news, I suppose, because everyone else here is dead.”
Star agreed. “They must’ve gotten out just in time.”
“Sir, I’ve got a live one over here,” shouted Bralus from across the building. He was hovering over the body of a Tiaitan man.
McBride took off in a dash. The man was barely conscious, bleeding from his nose and his mouth he probably suffered from severe organ damage and internal bleeding. The Texan took no notice of any of that. “Where is T’Ser?”
The man looked up at the tall officer but didn’t seem to understand the question.
McBride knelt next to him and dangled the necklace in front of the man’s eyes. “The woman who wore this. Your prisoner! The woman you abducted, damn it, what did you do to her?”
The man slowly shook his head but didn’t speak.
It wasn’t good enough for Bluefin’s first officer and he grabbed the man by his collar, lifting him a few inches off the ground. “Is she dead? Tell me!”
“Deite took her,” he croaked. “I don’t know where.”
Star, who had followed McBride, moved closer. “What about the other prisoner? The doctor?”
“I … I don’t know. She ran. Maybe Balik picked her up. There was a fight. Deite and Balik turned on each other,” he said with fading strength. He coughed up more blood.
“Where is this Deite! Where can I find her?” said McBride, still holding the man by his collar, shaking him, encouraging him to speak faster.
But it was little use. McBride was holding on to a dead man.
Frustrated he dropped the lifeless body. “Damn it,” he said and turned to look around. “Did you find anybody else still alive in here? Anyone else who could talk to us?”
But nobody had.
Star could see McBride’s shoulders visibly sag like those of a man deflated. A man who didn’t know what else to do. He had come here confident that he would be able to find his crewmember and bring her back. Instead he had come up empty handed and with no viable leads whatsoever to dictate his next move.
They had reached a dead end.
Author's Note:
This concludes Chapter 10 of All The Sinners, Saints. It’s also, roughly speaking, the end of the second act with one more to go. Sorry, if you thought we’re almost done. Trust me, I kinda wish we were.
The story will go on a short hiatus while I’m trying to figure out a few things about the direction of this thing which has given me some serious headaches lately. I also have some real life distractions I need to focus on.
At this point I’d also like to thank all my readers and especially those who have provided all the great feedback which is always appreciated and a great fun for me to read.
Nora and the Marines had their weapons back up instantly.
It was then that Star realized that the person running towards them was a little girl, no older than seven or eight, she guessed. And she wasn’t running towards them, she was heading straight for the young woman who had been shot during the attack.
“Hold you fire,” she instructed.
Gunshots rang out.
One of the Marines jerked back as he took a bullet to his upper right arm.
“Sniper!” yelled Wasco instantly dropped into a crouch and then grabbed his fallen man by the back of his black uniform and pulled him behind a cement embankment for cover.
Everyone else followed quickly even while the gunman continued to fire seemingly random rounds onto the square.
Star and two Marines took up position behind the safety of the bulky cargo truck.
“Keep your eyes on our friends over there,” she told them and indicated towards the row of still kneeling rebels some of which had tried to use the diversion to stand and try to get away. “Any of them move, shoot them,” she added loudly enough to be overheard by each one of them.
The Marines acknowledged and leveled their rifles. There was no further attempt to escape.
The Trill could spot the rest of the team having taken cover all over the square. Wasco, Nora and the majority of the Marines were behind the cement embankment. “Major, how’s your man?”
“Flesh wound,” Wasco’s voice responded. “Nothing serious.”
Star nodded and then moved closer to the edge of the vehicle to get a better look at the building from which they were under attack. She spotted the sharpshooter almost immediately. He wasn’t doing a particularly good job at keeping himself hidden. He was also not a very good shot and wasted his ammunition thoughtlessly by firing without taking proper aim. Star quickly realized why. He was just a boy, the rifle impossibly too large for him to handle.
Then she spotted the girl who had run out of the building. She was upset, crying and sobbing uncontrollably. She had found the woman and was hunched over her now, shaking and pulling her in a desperate attempt to wake her. She mumbled something incoherent, Star couldn’t understand.
Some of the Marines behind the embankment were moving in order to get into a better position to return fire. The boy noticed began firing, trying to hit one of them without success. “You’re going to pay for what you’ve done, you Tia bastards,” he screamed with a croaking voice which kept breaking up and betraying his young years. But his finger continued to squeeze the trigger of his automatic rifle.
“Listen kid, we’re not trying to hurt anyone, we’re just here to find some friends of ours,” Star said. “That woman down there is not dead, she’s just sleeping.”
One of the windows in the truck above her exploded in a thousand shards of glass as it was struck by a rifle round. Star figured that the boy had tried to hit her but the window was as close as he had managed to get.
“Your lying,” he screamed. “You black devil’s are all murderers.”
Star looked back towards the Marines. “It’s the uniforms,” she said quietly as she realized what he meant.
Indeed their black outfits were very similar to the ones worn by the government soldiers. They didn’t have the helmets and there were obvious differences in the material and the style but the boy was unlikely to be able to distinguish them.
She tapped her combadge. “Star to Major Wasco, have your men fall back and out of sight.”
“Understood,” replied Wasco, his voice slightly distorted due to the interference prevalent in this part of the Tiaitan desert.
“Keep your head down and do not take any aggressive actions. Do not return fire. Star out,” she said and closed the link by tapping the badge again. Then she quickly removed her phaser, sat aside the rifle and took off her black and gray uniform jacket. The red shirt she wore underneath would make her a much easier target but that was chance she was willing to take.
“Alright kid, I’ll prove to you that she’s just fine, ok? I’m going to come out slowly and I’m going to be unarmed,” she said and then noticed that he had stopped firing. She wasn’t sure if that was because she had gained his trust or simply because he had been caught off guard by her suggestion.
She took the silence as his agreement and stepped out in the open with her hands held out in front of her, palms facing forward. “See, I’ve got no weapons,” she said. She could make him out clearly now. He stood on a crumbled balcony on the second floor and he was noticeably shaking which was probably helping to throw off his aim.
She took a small step forward and towards the young woman lying on the ground some fifteen meters ahead. Ignoring all the noise and commotion around her, the little girl had refused to leave her side.
Nora Laas and the Marines had since moved into a nearby building and out of the sharpshooter’s field of vision but close enough to strike again if necessary. Kneeling by the window and watching as Star exposed herself, the Bajoran shook her head. “What the hell does she think she’s doing?”
Wasco also observed the scene. “We could move somebody in position to take him down fairly easily,” he said and then looked at the security chief. “Of course I don’t know how a phaser blast would effect a young child like that.”
“Have somebody move into position but tell them not to engage,” Nora replied. “If he should manage to hit her, take him down, otherwise hold your fire.”
Wasco frowned, apparently not happy with that plan.
Nora noticed. “Those were her orders, Major, remember? Don’t take any aggressive actions. If she wants to go and get herself killed than that’s her business.”
“Don’t come any closer,” the boy screamed at the alien woman below.
But Star ignored him as she took small steps forward. “Look at me. Do I look like one of those black devil’s to you?” She turned her head slightly to show him her spots. “You ever seen theses on government soldiers?”
“You killed her. You killed our mother!”
Another step. “No, we haven’t. Let me show you,” she said and took yet another step forward. Just a few more and she would be right by the woman’s side and once she was close to the girl–probably his younger sister–he wouldn’t dare to try shoot, or so she hoped.
“I said don’t come any closer!” he screamed and squeezed the trigger again.
Star froze as she heard the gunshot. For a moment she thought she had been hit but then realized that the bullet had struck the vehicle behind her again.
She took another step and there was another shot. This one hitting the ground some four feet to her left. She was certain that hadn’t been his target. He was trying to hit her and he was getting closer by the second.
Star took a deep breath, trying to pay no heed to the growing fear that each step could be her last and then moved forward quickly. In no time she had reached the young woman. The girl looked up at her with wide, teary eyes, not sure yet if she was supposed to run away or stay with her apparently dead mother.
“Get away from her!”
But the Trill knelt down next to the frightened girl instead. She gave her a large, friendly smile. “Hi there, my name is Taz. What’s yours?”
The girl looked at her but wasn’t quite able to form words.
“He called you Amika earlier, didn’t he? Is that your name?”
She nodded her head fractionally.
“And this is your mother?”
Another nod.
“Give me your hand,” Star said and held out her palm.
Amika hesitated.
“It’s alright. I’m going to show you that your mother is alright, ok?”
The prospect of seeing her mother alive again ultimately convinced the young girl and she stuck out her little hand. Star guided it towards the woman’s neck. “Do you feel that?” she asked. “The steady throbbing right by her neck.”
“Y .. yes,” she said and her face began to lighten up slightly.
“That means her heart is still pumping blood through her veins. It means she is alive. Just sleeping, ok?”
“Okay,” said the girl with a small smile.
“Do you think you could tell your brother up there so he’ll stop trying to hurt us?”
The girl wiped away her tears with one hand while the other remained at her mother’s neck as if removing it might also end the pulse of life she had found there. She didn’t immediately react to Star’s suggestion.
“Amika, do you think you can do that?”
The girl nodded. “Yeah,” she said, stood up and looked at her brother above. “It’s okay, Reht, she’s okay, she’s just sleeping. I can feel it with my hand.”
Reht didn’t look quite convinced. “Stay where you are,” he told Star. “Don’t move,” he added and then disappeared from the balcony.
“Amika, I’m going to try and wake her up for you but I need the help of my friends to do that.”
She nodded again.
Star turned around and towards the cargo truck behind which she knew two of the Marines were waiting. “Corporal.”
Within moments one Marine carefully stuck his head out. “Sir?”
“Toss me a hypo with a stimulant package.”
He nodded and did as he was instructed.
Star caught it easily but before she could apply it, Reht appeared by the door, his rifle still in hand and pointed at the Trill. “What are you doing? I said don’t move.”
“I’m going to wake up your mother, don’t you want that?”
But the boy was still too confused to understand what was happening here. He stepped closer and Star took careful notice that at this range he would have little difficulties finding his target. She also noticed for the first time that she was quite familiar with the weapon he carried. It was one she herself had provided and she knew it was more than adequate to kill her a few times over. It would be the irony of ironies if she were to be ended by it, she mused darkly.
“Reht, please, she’s trying to help,” pleaded the girl.
Star used the distraction to press the hypo spray against the unconscious woman’s neck and inject her with the stimulant. The sudden move infuriated Reht, panicking, he rushed towards them and jumped Star. “Don’t touch her!”
The Trill commander didn’t quite see it coming and the boy’s clumsily thrown up fist somehow managed to hit her square in the jaw. She tumbled backwards as he pressed his entire weight against her and then found his rifle again. He brought it up surprisingly fast in order to shoot her at point blank range.
“Reht!”
The boy froze and turned around to see his excited sister watching their mother come back around.
“She’s alright, Reht. Look, she alright,” she said, her words practically pouring out of her mouth now.
“Mother?” Reht said and all of a sudden Star was forgotten as he dropped the rifle and rushed to her side.
“Amika, Reht,” the young woman whispered weakly as she tried to get up. “What happened?”
Star recovered quickly. She took the rifle and removed the magazine and the bullet in the chamber. Then she dusted off her uniform and stood, fully aware–and maybe even a bit embarrassed–that she had nearly been killed by a ten-year-old.
The woman regained her strength and quickly proceeded to embrace her children, astounded herself that she was still alive. Then she found Star. “You,” she said as her face revealed a flash of recognition. “I’ve seen you before.”
“I don’t think so.”
“No,” she said as she stood up slowly. “No, I know I have. You’ve come here before. You’re the one who met with Balik and Deite. You’ve helped us get weapons and equipment for the cause.”
Star looked around and to her relief found that nobody besides her and the children were close enough to overhear the woman. But that was going to change quickly. Wasco and Nora were heading her way, now that the threat had been neutralized.
Star took a step closer to woman. “You are mistaken. You don’t know me and you’ve never seen me before in your life. Now as long as we are perfectly clear on that I’ll let you and the rest of your people get into your vehicle and get out of here before the government’s troops show up. Do you understand me?”
The woman looked momentarily confused.
Star glanced back to see that Nora and Wasco had almost reached them. She shot another, urgent look at the woman. “Do you understand?” she whispered as loudly as she could without making herself heard by the approaching officers.
She nodded hesitantly.
“Commander, are you alright?” asked Wasco as he stepped up to the Trill.
“I’m fine, Major,” she said and kept her eyes on the still puzzled woman. “Instruct your men to help these people board their vehicle so that they can be on their way.”
Nora shook her head. “That’s a mistake. We should keep them restraint until we have what we came for.”
“Your objection is noted, Lieutenant. Now follow my order. The sooner you do, the sooner we can get back to our own business. We’ve already lost enough time here.”
But the Bajoran didn’t move, instead she had suddenly become quite interested in the young woman who stood close to Star. She was giving the commander a most curious look which the Bajoran couldn’t quite place.
Major Wasco followed Star’s order and his men quickly untied the rebels and then stood back as they cautiously entered the cargo truck, not entirely convinced yet that they were being let go.
Star handed the rifle back to the young woman. “Here, you might need this. Now get going.”
“Thank you,” she said and rushed towards the vehicle with her children in tow.
Nora looked on with a noticeably disapproving expression on her face. “I’ll be putting into my report that you are actively assisting a criminal element on this world, Commander. I don’t think the captain will be pleased.”
“The captain will want us to try and save lives, not risk them. But you are free to put into your report whatever you like, Lieutenant,” she said and began to collect the gear she had discarded earlier.
Sergeant Shin-Ja Moon approached the commander while he studied his tricorder. “Sir, I think I have managed to pinpoint the teteron source. We’re close. No more than four hundred meters, maybe less.”
“Good,” said Star and then addressed the entire team. “Let’s move, people, we’re almost there.”
Tazla Star, Nora Laas and the Marines reached what was left of what had once been a vehicle garage just shortly after McBride and his team which had apparently run into some problems of their own. Two of the Border Service crewmembers had been lightly wounded in a fire fight with retreating rebels.
The teteron radiation they were all looking for was concentrated in this destroyed building which was a bad sign as Star immediately recognized that nobody seemed to have survived the collapse of the roof.
Of course this didn’t stop them to start turning every single piece of rock and rubble to find any hint of the Starfleet officer’s they were looking for.
“Over here,” said Solly Brin, causing McBride to nearly leap to his side. Star and Nora also converged.
The Orion was on his knees and had just cleared some rubble when he had discovered something lying on the ground. It was however not a body.
Brin consulted his tricoder. “This is our source,” he said.
McBride picked up something shiny which at first glance looked like a medallion of sorts. Star couldn’t quite make it out because he quickly closed his fist over it. His knuckles were beginning to turn white and his facial expressions were unreadable, as if he was trying hard not to let it show how exactly this find was making him feel.
But Star began to understand for the first time that Dale McBride had a much more personal stake in this search than she had previously believed. “What is it, Commander?”
When he looked at her she could see the pain in his eyes. “Lieutenant T’Ser wore this,” he said without revealing the object. “It’s what we used to track her.”
“Her body is not here and neither is Doctor Wenera’s,” said Major Wasco. “That’s good news, I suppose, because everyone else here is dead.”
Star agreed. “They must’ve gotten out just in time.”
“Sir, I’ve got a live one over here,” shouted Bralus from across the building. He was hovering over the body of a Tiaitan man.
McBride took off in a dash. The man was barely conscious, bleeding from his nose and his mouth he probably suffered from severe organ damage and internal bleeding. The Texan took no notice of any of that. “Where is T’Ser?”
The man looked up at the tall officer but didn’t seem to understand the question.
McBride knelt next to him and dangled the necklace in front of the man’s eyes. “The woman who wore this. Your prisoner! The woman you abducted, damn it, what did you do to her?”
The man slowly shook his head but didn’t speak.
It wasn’t good enough for Bluefin’s first officer and he grabbed the man by his collar, lifting him a few inches off the ground. “Is she dead? Tell me!”
“Deite took her,” he croaked. “I don’t know where.”
Star, who had followed McBride, moved closer. “What about the other prisoner? The doctor?”
“I … I don’t know. She ran. Maybe Balik picked her up. There was a fight. Deite and Balik turned on each other,” he said with fading strength. He coughed up more blood.
“Where is this Deite! Where can I find her?” said McBride, still holding the man by his collar, shaking him, encouraging him to speak faster.
But it was little use. McBride was holding on to a dead man.
Frustrated he dropped the lifeless body. “Damn it,” he said and turned to look around. “Did you find anybody else still alive in here? Anyone else who could talk to us?”
But nobody had.
Star could see McBride’s shoulders visibly sag like those of a man deflated. A man who didn’t know what else to do. He had come here confident that he would be able to find his crewmember and bring her back. Instead he had come up empty handed and with no viable leads whatsoever to dictate his next move.
They had reached a dead end.
________________________
Author's Note:
This concludes Chapter 10 of All The Sinners, Saints. It’s also, roughly speaking, the end of the second act with one more to go. Sorry, if you thought we’re almost done. Trust me, I kinda wish we were.
The story will go on a short hiatus while I’m trying to figure out a few things about the direction of this thing which has given me some serious headaches lately. I also have some real life distractions I need to focus on.
At this point I’d also like to thank all my readers and especially those who have provided all the great feedback which is always appreciated and a great fun for me to read.
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CeJay that was a tight chapter with a touching scene at the end with Dale. A little typo I noted was of instead of off. Star showed real guts and her rating is going up all the time, except that we are reminded here of how complicit she is in all that us going on. Nevertheless, she bravely opted to talk her way out of a situation again and saved a young family from heartache and bloodshed.
Excellent story telling and a great weave of action and drama. Hate to see the story go on hiatus for too long. Also hope that doesn't mean you'll be staying away from the boards.
Excellent story telling and a great weave of action and drama. Hate to see the story go on hiatus for too long. Also hope that doesn't mean you'll be staying away from the boards.
Star showed a lot of courage in this segment, but it looks like her involvement in smuggling in arms may soon catch up with her. At least it appears she has a conscience - she's become a much more sympathetic character in my estimation. Great job portraying McBride's anxiety over T'Ser's fate.
I understand the need to take a break from a story. You've done a masterful job thus far and I look forward to when you're ready to resume it.
I understand the need to take a break from a story. You've done a masterful job thus far and I look forward to when you're ready to resume it.
Very nicely done. Star does seem on a mission of redemption, but you know what they say about good intentions...
And yes, that was an excellent scene with McBride.
And yes, that was an excellent scene with McBride.
Thanks, guys.
There was a bit of interesting and unintentional 'foreshadowing' in this last segment which I only became aware of after writing it.
Star is nearly killed by a ten-year old, trying to protect his mother/younger sister. Unfortunately, a certain Bluefin officer wouldn't get this lucky. Kids these days, huh?
Hey, TLR, I swear I wasn't (consciously) thinking of that while writing it.
There was a bit of interesting and unintentional 'foreshadowing' in this last segment which I only became aware of after writing it.
Star is nearly killed by a ten-year old, trying to protect his mother/younger sister. Unfortunately, a certain Bluefin officer wouldn't get this lucky. Kids these days, huh?
Hey, TLR, I swear I wasn't (consciously) thinking of that while writing it.
Actually, it never crossed my mind until you mentioned it. Very weird foreshadowing, indeed!
Are you going to tackle any other writing projects while this story is on hiatus?
I've got a few other things in mind that I want to do, including another series of vignettes and a story about the Agamemnon but I doubt any of that will see the light of day before the conclusion of Sinners.
I don't think the hiatus will last very long anyway. I've gotten to the point where I really want to be done with this story.
Oh no, take your time we will wait patiently ... 
- Do I look like a doctor? Well then don't expect me to have patience! 
- Do I look like a doctor? Well then don't expect me to have patience!
ELEVEN: THE TRAITOR
Melvin Schwarkopf jumped onto his feet from behind his desk when Captain Owens entered his guest quarters unannounced. “Captain, what do you think you’re doing?”
But Owens didn’t respond right away. Instead he walked all the way up to Schwarzkopf’s desk and then unceremoniously dropped a padd in front of him. Only then did he look directly into the man’s eyes. “I was hoping you would be able to provide an explanation for your actions?”
The admiral held Owens’ cold stare, trying unsuccessfully to make his displeasure clear over the unorthodox manner in which he had entered a superior officer’s quarters. “I don’t have to explain myself to you.”
“Will that be your official response? Because I will note it in my log.”
“You think you can simply barge in here with your holier than thou attitude and expect me to answer to your accusations?” he said and stepped around his desk. “I am a Starfleet admiral.”
Owens held his ground. “I know. That is why I’m here. This is a courtesy I am extending to you because of your rank and position. I am here to give you a chance to give me a plausible explanation for what you’ve done.”
“Who the hell do you think you are?”
“I am the captain of this vessel.”
“Not for much longer, I will see to that,” he said and only barely caught himself from shouting outright. “This is an outrage.”
For a moment neither man spoke. Schwarzkopf seemed desperate to try and dominate the room but with Owens refusing to yield his position, the captain continued to tower of the shorter man.
“Is this all you will say in the matter then?”
Schwarzkopf was the first to break eye contact. “Whatever I’ve done was for the good of the Federation and I’ll do it all over again if I have to. I have to say, I am disappointed in you, Captain,” he said as he stepped up to the windows overlooking Tiaita. “Gravely disappointed, in fact, that you still cannot see the greater picture here.”
“I can live with that.”
He turned around. “Can you really? The next time you look over the weekly causality reports, ask yourself what you would be willing to do to ensure the continued survival of the Federation. Ask yourself what you would give up in order to save just a few more of the brave men and women under your command who die every day for what they believe.”
“You know what the problem is with people like you? You spend all your time thinking entirely in hypothetical terms that you completely lose track of the very real implications of your actions.”
“And your problem is that you cannot understand that without sacrifice you cannot win a war.”
Owens took a step towards Schwarzkopf. “And who decides who to sacrifice, Admiral? Is it you? Who decides how many need to die until you have achieved what you set out to accomplish?”
“I took an oath to protect the Federation and I –“
Owens cut him off. “Based on the information you provided to the Tiaitan government, three entire settlements were turned to rubble, thousands of people have been killed. The Tiaitans whose blood is on your hands never took an oath to the Federation. Their deaths were entirely unrelated to our war effort and the direct result of your misguided ambitions. You set out to kill Starfleet officers and anybody else in your way.
You also took an oath, Admiral, to honor the Prime Directive and to never use your position and influence to meddle with the internal affairs of another world. What about that oath?”
“Don’t you think for one minute that I’ve done all this because of personal ambition,” said Schwarzkopf, now again fuming with anger. “And don’t you think for one second that I don’t regret every single one of those tragic deaths –“
“I’m sure your regrets will be a tremendous comfort to the families you have destroyed today.”
A small smile formed onto the admiral’s lips. “It is so very easy to be in your shoes, isn’t Captain? You can stand there with your sanctimonious arguments and proclaim to the entire galaxy what a horrible person I am and what great suffering I’ve brought to a small group of lawless terrorists on a backwater planet. But deep down you knew all along that this was going to be an ugly affair and you thanked your stars that you could have me to blame for it all. Because you knew, like I did, that no matter how repulsive this was going to become, in the end it would yield results and you’ll be able to sleep just that little bit better knowing that for the first time ever we will have a more than decent chance to win this war. Admit it, Captain. You want me to succeed. You need me to succeed.”
Michael Owens studied Schwarzkopf carefully as if he was trying to evaluate every single word that had come over his lips. Then he walked over to the desk and picked up the padd. “I’m sorry, Admiral.”
Schwarzkopf nodded slowly. “Of course you are. But it’s alright as long as we understand –“
“I’m sorry that I didn’t see sooner that you’ve become so obsessed with your own delusions of grandeur that you’ve completely lost any kind of grip on reality. A lot of lives might have been saved.”
“You son of a –“
“Your mission here is over. Whatever you tried to achieve, you’ve failed. From this point forward my one and only concern will be the safe return of the missing crewmembers. You may remain in your quarters for the remainder of your stay on my ship but if you make any attempts to interfere with our rescue efforts, I will have you placed under guard. Do you understand?”
Schwarzkopf was livid. “You can’t get away with this. I am here at the bidding of Starfleet Command and the Federation Council. You neither have the right nor the authority to tell me what to do.”
Owens walked towards the door but stopped short of leaving the guest quarters. “We’ll see how far your authority extends once Command learns of the extend of the damage you’ve done here. I’m sure they will be very interested to learn of your orders to fire on a Border Service vessel without any hostile provocation. And the Council will more than likely have to seriously reevaluate supporting your agenda once they find out that you openly assisted a foreign government in attempting to kill Starfleet officers as well as hundreds of innocents. I’m quite confidant Captain Akinola would gladly correlate my detailed report.”
“You can’t do this.”
“Watch me,” said Owens, turned his back on Melvin Schwarzkopf and walked away.
“You won’t get away with this, Captain,” he yelled after him. “I’ll have you court-martialed. I’ll have your head for this. And I’ll have Akinola’s head! You are finished, you hear me?”
But Michel Owens had long since stopped listening
* * * * * * * * * * * ** * *
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
* * ** * ** * * * * * * * *
For Tazla Star things couldn’t have worked out much better.
After taking a landing party to one of the devastated New Light settlements she’d had little choice but brief the captain on the realities on the ground. There was now little point to try and deny the civil war that was raging on the planet. Exposing it hadn’t been part of the plan but so far it had worked in her favor.
She already knew that upon learning the truth and finding out about Schwarzkopf’s unwisely attempt to hide it by having the evidence destroyed, Owens had confronted the admiral and withdrawn his support to his mission.
This meant Schwarzkopf was now near powerless to further assist the government which in turn would greatly help her own efforts to try and support the New Light to take control of Tiaita.
It wasn’t however as if she didn’t have her own doubts about the mission. She was still convinced that at its core it was the right thing to do. It were the means with which to achieve her goals that were increasingly worrisome to her. And there was nobody she could turn to for advice. Altee was going to see it as a weakness and she didn’t trust Singleton, the only other person who knew of the details of their clandestine undertaking.
She also realized that dealing with the New Light had become immensely more complicated since they had decided to capture the two crewmembers. An action which didn’t sit right with her at all.
In the meantime Owens had pretty much decided to sideline her. Even though Schwarzkopf was now out of the picture and she had managed to keep a cool head while intercepting Bluefin’s rescue team, the captain still didn’t trusts her.
So while Nora and a small contingent of security investigators had stayed on the surface to try and pick up any trail of their missing crewmembers, she had been recalled to Eagle to oversee the search operations from orbit. The simple truth was that Owens wanted to keep her close by where he could keep an eye on her.
“Taz.”
Star who had been walking down a corridor, preoccupied with her thoughts, stopped upon hearing the voice behind her. There were very few people who would have called her by that name. She turned around.
“Nigel?” she said with apparent surprise to find the Bluefin officer on board Eagle. She quickly glanced down the corridor and was relieved to find that they were alone for the moment. “How did you get here?”
“Oh trust me, it wasn’t easy. I had to go through one of the freighters and cash in some serious favors from an old Academy buddy who conveniently serves as a transporter technician on Eagle.”
Star shook her head slightly. “Never mind how you got here, tell me what you’re doing here.”
“You haven’t been returning my calls.”
A crewmember passed them by and gave them a curious look which was quickly cut short by a disapproving scowl from the Trill. She glanced back at the Bluefin officer. The irony of how they had first met didn’t completely escape her at that moment. An awkward encounter in a ship’s corridor seemed to be a returning motif for them. But this time the implications were far more troubling. She couldn’t afford for people to draw the wrong conclusions. Or even the right ones, for that matter.
She quickly grabbed him by the elbow and led him into an empty room nearby.
“I’ve been rather busy, I’m sure you can appreciate that,” she said once they had some privacy.
“Yeah, we’ve all been pretty busy. And you notice how we’ve all been busy with the same thing? Damn it, Taz, we need to do something about this. You need to do something.”
“I’m trying. It’s just not that easy.”
That was not what he had wanted to hear. “Your people nearly shot McBride out of orbit while your friends on the surfacekidnapped T’Ser. What the hell is going on here?”
The Trill massaged her temples. “It’s complicated.”
“Well, un-complicate it then,” he shot back angrily. “To be honest, I can’t even believe you let it come this far. You know these people. Get them to give us T’Ser back before something even worse is going to happen.”
“Nigel, I’m the first officer on this ship now. I can’t just go up to the captain and tell him that I know these people because I happened to help them in their struggle for equality, don’t you understand that?”
“No, Taz, I don’t bloody understand. But I’m beginning to think that this is all about you trying to save your own skin. I’m beginning to believe that they were right about you after all,” he said.
Star sighed. “There is more to this than my skin. There is more to this than two people being kidnapped.”
“You know, you’re beginning to sound a lot like Schwarzkopf.”
She grimaced at that. “You just have to trust me, Nigel. Please.”
For a moment they didn’t speak. The Australian began to contemplate perhaps for the first time, all the things that had happened over the last few days. It was almost more than he could handle. He had kept a terrible secret from his friends and colleagues. Form the very people he had sworn to serve to the best of his abilities. And it was driving him insane. Of course Nigel Bane wasn’t entirely new to the idea of keeping secrets. There was the matter of his brother whose own allegiances were questionable at best. He couldn’t help but think the same way about Star now. The one major difference that eventually swayed his thoughts however was that Star was gambling with the lives of the people he cared about.
“I’m sorry, Taz, I just can’t do this any longer,” he said. “You have to get her back or I’ll have to go to Akinola and tell him exactly what you – what we – were doing on Tiaita.”
“Don’t put me into this position.”
“You’re not giving me a choice here.”
Star hit the nearby bulkhead with such force, Bane flinched.
“You won’t be able to hide this forever. Better to come clean now before this gets any uglier.”
She gritted her teeth. “Alright, but you have to give me some time.”
“Two hours, that’s all I’m willing to risk.”
Star walked away. “You’ll hear from me.”
“Taz?”
She never turned around again. For whatever reason, it scared him.
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Confrontation time on the Eagle - Owens puts Schwarzkopf in his place (finally!) but I imagine the Admiral is not one to give up easily. Likewise, Bane's surprise appearance and ultimatum seemed to shake up Star a bit. But with her unpredictable nature, I don't know whether that's good or not.
Glad to see you back with more of this story - very well done!
Glad to see you back with more of this story - very well done!
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