ROCKS AND SHOALS

 Part IV

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“Since we’re now one big happy dysfunctional family…” Pierson quipped as his eyes took in the glowering faces of Sabrina Diaz’s Maquis group, “I can tell you what my plan is.  We’re going to need two teams:  one to squeeze Cherenkov to find out what he knows and the second to do the same with Tabor.  So…who goes with me to pay our friend Dmitri a visit?”  Smirking, the defrocked Starfleet officer pointed first to the red Orion standing nearby, “Let’s see I’ll take Chief Brin, Dak, and…”

“Me.”  Krakke spoke up.

“Why?”  Pierson asked, giving the man an appraising look.

“Because my price for cooperating with you is that one of my people goes along with you.”  Sabrina interjected.  “I see no problem with Danyor coming along with your group—do you?”

“No.”  Pierson grinned, “Now…who’s going to pay Tabor a visit.”

“Me.”  Manuele announced immediately.

“Ok…” The roguish ex-bar owner replied, nodding his head, “Makes sense…we have one ‘Fleeter on each team.  So Bri…” Pierson jibed, the smug grin remaining on his face, “Who’re you going to pick to keep an eye on our friend here?”
 

“I’ll go.”  Nura declared, sparing a withering glare for the New Kauaian. 

“Fine.” Sabrina replied, nodding her head in assent.  “Who are you sending, Lynn?”

“S’nurl.”  The rogue answered back immediately.  Turning to Atoa, he whispered as his eyes drifted momentarily in the direction of the now sullen Bzzit Khaht, “You might not think it, but I’m doing you a favor.  It can be awful handy having a big Gorn with a big gun and bigger knife watching your back.”

“All right.”  Diaz declared, “Both teams will leave as soon as possible—and I don’t expect either team to come back until you’ve got something solid.”

************************************************************************

“Everything is ready from our end.”  Dmitri Cherenkov stated to the Cardassian gul seated across from him as he sipped his vodka.  “Tabor’s people will pick up the shipment of Corillan acid and pay us.  Once the account is posted in our Ferengi bank account, we’ll deliver the arms.”

“What about Ayenga?”  Gul Rejak inquired as he swirled the kanar in his glass.  “I still don’t trust her.”

“Nor do I.”  The Syndicate representative concurred.  “As we’ve already discussed, while Tabor is a realist, Ayenga is an idealist and a fanatic—a dangerous combination.   And now…to make matters worse…she’s obtained a quantity of mutagenic gel.  We’ll need to ensure that she is no longer a threat.  And then there’s the matter of Diaz…”

A sly grin appearing on his face, the corrupt gul declared in a confident voice, “Leave that to me.  I think I know how to simultaneously deal with both of our problems.

“Very well.”  Cherenkov agreed as he downed the last of his vodka, “I’ll leave that to your capable hands.”  Standing up, the Terra Nova native regarded his business partner with a calculated grin as he offered him his hand, “I’ll see you on Taris III in a few days.  If something should come up, I’ll be on Elatra IV.”

Standing up as well, Gul Rejak flashed an equally insincere smile at his associate as he took his hand, “Relax, Dmitri.  Soon, we’ll both have what we want.  Just relax and enjoy the gift I’ve left for you in your quarters.”  Exiting the lounge, Rejak said his farewells, “Until next week.”

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“I figured something like this would happen.”  Morgan Bateson said as he shook his head.  “Those are two of the most stubborn, pig-headed people I’ve ever had the pleasure of knowing.”

“The problem is—it’s like they’re going out of their way to get under each other’s skin.”  Denise Murakawa sighed as she spoke to the image of her long-distance romance on the computer screen in her office.  Shaking her head, she remarked with a crooked grin, “They remind me more of battling relatives than two starship captains.”
 

Morgan answered back, a serious note to his voice beneath the surface joviality, “You’re not too far off the mark, Denise.”

Her laughter vanishing as well, the Japanese-Centauran doctor pleaded, “Tell me all about it, Morgan.”

Sighing as he regarded the image of the beautiful woman on his monitor, Morgan nodded his head, “All right…but get comfortable.  This is going to take a while.”

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“Welcome to Jacanta III—the Urinal of the Universe.”  Pierson grinned as the two other members of his team, Solly Brin and Danyor Krakke, entered the tiny motel room that the defrocked Starfleet officer had rented.  “Don’t worry…” the dark haired rogue added as his guests took their seats on a worn couch, “…Dak and I have swept the area for bugs or sensors—it’s as clean as a two hundred slip an hour hooker’s behind.”

“From what I know of some of the two hundred slip an hour hookers I’ve seen …” Senior Chief Brin snorted, “…that’s not saying much.”  His grin vanishing, the red Orion, now all business, inquired, “So…when do we make our move?”

“Soon.”  Pierson flatly replied, “Very soon.  My sources tell me that Cherenkov has just gotten back from a meeting with Gul Rejak.  We’ll give him a day or so to get comfortable—and then we’ll grab him.  We’ll get to work tomorrow.” The dispossessed bar owner quipped as he poured an amber colored liquid from a decanter into four glasses, “For now though, we might as well just sit back and relax.”

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“Nura…” Manuele declared as he turned his head towards the Bzzit Khaht woman seated in the copilot’s seat next to him, “…whatever you might think—I didn’t betray you.”

Shaking her head, the Maquis snorted, “And what were you going to do?  Give Sabrina the Starfleet Medal of Valor?”

“Do you know what that stuff does to a person?”  Atoa answered back, shaking his head somberly.  “Once you’ve seen someone hooked on Corillan acid…seen them turned into a shell…or worse…of what they once were…”

“I’m not interested.”  Nura rejoined, her eyes narrowed into slits, “All I know is that Sabrina would never have done anything like that and…”

“And you and Larkin were found on a ship smuggling that stuff into the Federation.”  Atoa interjected, pressing his case.  “What would you think if you were in Starfleet’s position?”  Taking a more conciliatory posture, Manuele urged, “Why don’t you take a moment and look at things from a broader perspective.  There’s a lot more going on here than just the Maquis and their cause…”

“I don’t care about the other stuff!”  Nura fired back as she got up out of her seat, “All I care about is kicking the devil-spawn Cardassians off my home.  Anyone—and anything—that helps in accomplishing that—I’m with.  Anything…or anyone…” she declared, her voice dropping lower and considerably chillier, “…trying to prevent that…is my enemy.”

Watching as the young Bzzit Khaht strode angrily to the back of the runabout, Manuele shook his head as the large Gorn, S’nurl, who had been quietly listening to the conversation remarked in a low, raspy tone, “Be careful, Ssssstarfleet.  You are her enemy.”

Sighing, Manuele answered back, “No, S’nurl.  She’s just upset and angry right now.  Once she’s thought things through, she’ll calm down.”

Shaking his head, the Gorn bouncer rasped, “You are wrong, human.  She thinks you have betrayed her and those she loves.  She will neither forgive nor forget.”  Eyeing the Bzzit Khaht as she picked up a drink from the replicator in the back, S’nurl left the security officer with one final piece of advice, “My people have a saying: A female is most dangerous when she thinks her nest is being threatened.”

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Filling Chief Brin’s glass with more of the amber liquor, Pierson asked, half jokingly, as the other two members of their group made their way back to their beds, “So Solly…you ever think about leaving the service?  I could use a man like you.  Pay’s good…hours not too bad…and…” he winked, “…you’ve already sampled some of the fringe benefits.”

“I don’t think so.”  The red Orion replied as he downed the fiery liquid in one gulp.  “I like it where I am just fine.”

“Oh well…” Pierson grinned, shrugging his shoulders, “…I had to try.”

“You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to…” Solly ventured as he refilled both glasses, “Why did you desert?  You were first officer on the Devonshire.  From what I’ve read about you in your file, you’d have had your fourth pip by now if you’d have stayed in.” His exposed canines giving his toothy grin a frightening appearance to someone unfamiliar to the red Orion, the chief continued, “Was it because of what happened on Allios II?”

“What do you know about Allios II?”  Pierson replied guardedly, his eyes narrowing into slits as he sipped his drink.

“Only what was in your dossier,” Solly answered back.  “Allios II was a colony in the disputed zone.  Your ship answered a distress call from the colony…”

“And when we arrived we found they’d been massacred.”  The former Starfleet officer interrupted, “Every man, woman, and child.  I led the landing party.  The Cardassians killed them all…”

“There was no proof…” Solly began only to be cut off by an angry Pierson.

“It was the damned Cardies!  You’re no fool Chief—you know it had to be them.”  Exhaling, Chief Brin, now just sipping his drink, stayed silent as the man sitting next to him at the bar continued his tale.  “It was so efficient…they were all lined up facing the wall.  All of the colonists were accounted for.  You know as well as I do, Solly, that if it were Orions or Ferengi slavers they’d have at least taken the younger women and children.  But they didn’t…they killed them all.”

“And then what happened?”  Solly asked in a quiet voice.

“And then nothing.”  Pierson replied in a grim tone.  “Starfleet did absolutely nothing.  It was completely covered up.  You see…the Federation and the Cardassians were just about to close the deal on the demilitarized zone and the diplos on both sides didn’t want something as ugly as a massacre queering their peace treaty.  So it was all hushed up and ‘unknown pirates’ got the blame.  A few months later, the Cardies even executed a few Ferengi ‘pirates’ who ‘confessed’ to carrying out the massacre—Cardassian justice at its finest.  Anyway…” Lynn sighed, “…a few days later, someone claiming to be from ‘Starfleet Intelligence’—let’s just say that I have my suspicions as to who he really works for and leave it at that—came by and made it very clear to the captain and the rest of the senior officers and those on the landing party what would happen should the truth slip out.  After that and the little demonstration the Cardies put on, the ex and I decided we’d had enough and took off and I haven’t looked back since.”

“So…” Solly probed further, “What made you leave the Maquis and go into the bar, pimping, and smuggling business?”

“That…my friend…” Pierson chuckled as he downed the last of his drink, “Is a story for another time.”  Getting up and stretching, the human yawned, “For now, though, I think I’m going to turn in.  I’d suggest you do the same.  The next few days are going to be busy.”

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“So…” Nura asked, with just the faintest traces of a sneer, “How do you plan on us getting into Tabor’s base?”

Shrugging his shoulders, Manuele grinned, “I figured I’d just go up to the front door and announce ourselves.”

“You’re joking!”  A dumbfounded Nura exclaimed, and then shaking her head when she saw that the man sitting next to her was serious, whispered as the large Gorn standing in the back flashed a predatory grin, “You’re not joking.  You’re serious.”

“Of course.”  Atoa answered back, this time with a straight face.   “As far as Tabor’s concerned, we’re after Ayenga—not him.  And he’ll continue to think that way—unless we give him reason not to.”  Looking the Bzzit Khaht straight in the eyes, Manuele declared in a grave tone, “If you really want to get back at me, Nura, this’ll be your chance.  You won’t have to worry about wasting your time scheming or backstabbing—you can do it to my face.  Or…you can wait and see if I’m telling you the truth or not.  It’s your call.”  With that, the New Kauaian turned away from his leathery skinned companion and turned his attention back to the runabout’s controls.  “We should be there in about half an hour.”

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Entering the Station gym with Chief Deryx, Ensign Bralus, and the rest of his Shodokan class, all wearing ghis, Captain Joseph Akinola, also wearing a ghi, tied with a black belt, paused at the doorway, his eyebrows raised in both curiosity and interest as he saw a Bajoran woman and the Klingon Starfleet officer, Lieutenant Commander Worf engaged in a fast and furious martial arts contest.

“Captain?”

Turning his head towards the Trill science officer calling out to him, Joseph quickly recalled her from their brief meeting in the Station’s operations center a few days ago.  “Lieutenant Commander Dax?”  The Bluefin skipper responded as he kept his eye on the contest.

“Yes, Sir.”  The raven haired beauty affirmed, her smile immediately lighting up the room. 

“Mok’bara?”  Joseph inquired curiously, nodding his head in approval as the Bajoran skillfully blocked the Klingon warrior’s slashing attack, turning the force of her opponent’s attack against him.

“Yes.”  The Trill responded with obvious pride in her voice.  “Worf is a pln’a of the first order.”

Nodding his head in appreciation at the dedication and skill it took to reach such a high rank, Akinola remarked approvingly, “He’s definitely a practitioner of the raised claw school while his opponent seems to prefer the spear thrust technique.”  Turning towards his class, the wizened skipper pointed out, “I want you people to watch closely.  While possessing some similarities, Mok’bara isn’t quite like Shodokan.  Mok’bara movements are faster…rougher.”

“Not a bad comparison.”  Dax observed before apologizing, “Oh!  I’m sorry! I didn’t know our time had expired.”

Before she could call out to her friends, Joseph quickly interjected, shaking his head.  “No…that’s all right.  Actually we’re a little early.”  Regarding the two contestants with a practiced eye, the martial arts master remarked, “They’re going at it pretty hard—even for Mok’bara,”

“Yeah.”  Chief Deryx chimed in, “If he’d been just a bit slower or clumsier in his move…”

“I know.”  Jadzia responded, a note of worry in her voice.  “But Worf insists that this is the best way for Jaxa to learn to control her anger…”

Wincing as the Bajoran woman connected with a glancing blow that would have felled an ordinary human, Joseph rejoined with a note of concern in his own voice, “Perhaps…provided she doesn’t kill someone first.”

Regaining control as her fist glanced off her sparring partner’s side, Lieutenant Sito stepped back, assuming the waiting stance as did her opponent.  Recognizing his par’Machai, waving to him from near the doorway, Worf bowed ritualistically to his opponent, declaring, “I think it is best that we end this session.  Others desire to use the gym.”

“Aye, Sir.”  Sito responded, bowing as well.   As she straightened up, she apologized, her voice taking on a despondent tone, “I’m sorry, Sir.  I did it again.”

“What do you apologize for?”  The burly Klingon replied as he draped a towel around his shoulders.  “Hitting me—or losing control?”

“Both…Sir…” Lieutenant Sito responded, somewhat sheepishly as she walked beside her former supervisor towards the exit.

“You have nothing to apologize for in hitting me.  It is I who am at fault for not guarding myself properly.”  The Klingon warrior declared before sagely adding, “Losing control, however…that is another matter.  I accept your apology for that.  Remember always, a true warrior fights not only with her body and heart, but with her mind as well.”

Nodding his head approvingly as he heard the Klingon’s last words, Joseph almost missed the Trill woman’s introductions.

“Worf?  You remember Captain Akinola, don’t you?”

“Of course, Sir.”  The lieutenant commander greeted, nodding his head respectfully, Jaxa doing likewise.  “This is Lieutenant Sito Jaxa from the Sutherland.”

“Commander.”  Joseph nodded back in return.  “Lieutenant. You both exhibited fine technique.”

“Thank you, Sir.”  Both officers responded in unison, the wise border skipper at once noticing the Bajoran woman’s body language—how she subconsciously kept a distance between her and all of the men in the room—even her Klingon friend.

“This is a Shodokan class I lead on the Bluefin.  You’re welcome to sit in if you’d like?”  Joseph invited, smiling as he spotted the gleam in the Klingon’s eyes.

“I’m sorry…” Lieutenant Sito replied, “But I have duty in half an hour.”

“And I…” Dax responded with a mischievous smirk, “Have a date with Captain Shelby and Lieutenant Rysyl in one of Quark’s holosuites.”  Reaching up on tiptoes to give her lover a peck on the cheek, Dax smiled as she turned to leave, “You go ahead and play with the boys, Worf—I’ll make your excuses to Liz…”

“Thank you.”  The big Klingon responded, almost bashfully, his voice also tinged with relief.  “Much as I love you, par’Machai, I was not looking forward to spending the afternoon in a mud bath.”

Watching as the lovely Trill walked away laughing alongside Lieutenant Sito, Joseph commented with a grin, “A mud bath?”

“Yes.”  The Klingon responded in a rumbling tone that was part growl and part laugh, “A mud bath.”

“Well…” Joseph laughed, “At least there’s no mud here.”

“Good.”  Worf responded in a deadpan manner.  “I hate mud.”

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“I believe we did it!”  Cal Baxter exclaimed, slapping his two assistants, Dr. Denise Murakawa and Lieutenant Commander on their shoulders.  “That’s the right the sequence.”

“It’s working.”  Denise replied with a smile on her face as she observed the viral sequences being successfully disrupted.  “I’ll run a few more tests to be sure, but if they go the way this one does, I’d say we have a vaccine.”

“There is another problem, though.”  The elderly Vulcan science officer interjected, “If Ayenga is in possession of mutagenic gel.”

The wind seemingly knocked out of her, the Sutherland’s Japanese-Centauran CMO looked up, her dread reflected in her eyes, “If she bonds her virus with the mutagenic gel into a biogenic weapon…”

“The results would be catastrophic.”  A suddenly glum Dr. Baxter concluded.  “The rate of mutation and the possible permutations would be…”

“Astronomical.”  Varok completed.  “We cannot allow Ayenga to either complete or use a weapon of this magnitude—assuming that that is her goal.”

“I think it’s safe to assume that she intends to do just that.”  Calvin declared, “We need to inform Captain Sisko and the others about this—now.”

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Immediately on rematerializing in the empty room where they were told to transport down to by Daras Tabor, Manuele and the other two members of his group were met by a pair of Bajorans, each carrying Klingon disruptor rifles leveled at them.  Remaining motionless as one of the Bajorans removed their weapons while the other stood guard, Atoa declared, sparing his Bzzit Khaht a sideways glance, “We were sent by Sabrina…now take us to Daras.”

The guard standing watch tapping what appeared to be a comm badge on his chest spoke into it.  Nodding his head in response, he spoke again and then turned his attention back on Atoa and the others.  Motioning towards the door with his disruptor, the guard ordered, “This way.”  After being led through an interminable maze of tunnels, corridors, and false rooms, Manuele and his group finally came to a halt before a door.  As the door slid open, one of the guards jerked his head towards it, “In there.”

Leading the way, with Nura and S’nurl slightly behind and on either side of him, Atoa entered a large office.  Inside, a Bajoran man with brown hair sat behind a desk.  Getting up as his guests entered, the terrorist leader frowned, “You must be the people Diaz sent.”   Motioning at the chairs in front of his desk, he invited, “Have a seat…”  Pausing for a moment as he took in the sight of the large Gorn accompanying Manuele, he amended, “I’m sorry, but I’m afraid your friend will have to remain standing.  I regret we have no chairs that can accommodate him.  As you probably already know, my name is Daras Tabor and we have a lot to talk about.  Ayenga hasn’t just betrayed you…she’s betrayed me as well.”

“How so?”  Manuele asked guardedly as he sat down, gesturing for Nura to do likewise.

“I didn’t know about the mutagenic gel.”  The Kon Ma terrorist glibly lied, “But somehow she did.  She’s planning on using it along with a virus she’s genetically engineered to contaminate Rejak’s Corillan acid production facilities, along with the acid we’re picking up to smuggle into the Federation.  Needless to say, this can cause unwanted complications with Starfleet—complications we don’t want at this time.”  Leaning over in his chair, the Bajoran declared, “Not that I give a Prophet’s damn about Starfleet or the Federation—but now is a delicate time and neither Sabrina nor I need Starfleet barging in here.  We’ve almost got what we want—the Cardassians are being pressured hard by the Klingons, our raids are hurting them and we’re beginning to drive them off our lands, and…” he smiled, “…soon we Bajorans will be reclaiming our rightful birthright.”

Unable to resist the urge to see if he can pry out more information, Manuele inquired with a smile, “If you’re not looking to attract Starfleet’s attention, Tabor, why are you attempting to smuggle such a large amount of acid into the Federation.  If I were a Vulcan, I’d say that was…illogical.”

Chuckling, the Kon Ma leader responded, “Under normal circumstances you’d be right.  But…” he continued, his laughter fading away, “…it’s a necessary risk.  If we succeed…then we’ll have accomplished our task—the Cardassians will be driven out of this entire sector—not just driven out, but humiliated—and Bajor’s prosperity will be assured for all time.”

Sensing that pressing his host further might prove counterproductive, Atoa then asked, “So…what do you want us to do about it?”

“Ayenga has to be removed from the equation.”  Daras flatly announced, “Or all is lost.”  Handing a padd to the New Kauaian, the terrorist leader declared, standing up, “She’s probably hiding here.  Get to her…take her out…before she’s able to put her plans into motion.  It will take her some time to prepare, but not much.  If I were you, I wouldn’t waste too much time.”

Standing up as well, Manuele replied as he and his compatriots made ready to leave.  “Very well, Tabor.  Thank you.”

Waiting until his guests had left the room and the door had slid shut, Daras Tabor activated his computer monitor.  Smirking as he regarded the Cardassian gul on the screen, the terrorist leader declared, “I’ve sent our hara cats after their prey.  But what if Ayenga defeats or eludes them?”

“Not to worry.”  The corrupt gul stated with an oily grin.  “I’ve arranged for a warm…reception…for whoever survives the encounter.  I shall meet you at Taris III in a few days and we will complete our transaction.  Soon…my friend…we will have both accomplished our goals and in the process make ourselves rich beyond avarice.”

As the runabout sped away from Tabor’s asteroid hideaway, Manuele turned towards the Bzzit Khaht woman seated next to him.  “So…Nura…you had the perfect opportunity…why didn’t you point me out to Tabor?”

Looking the attractive New Kauaian straight in the eyes, Nura answered back in a soft voice, “Don’t think I’ve forgiven you.  Let’s just say that—for now—I’m willing to wait and see whether you’re telling the truth or not.  But…” she warned, this time her voice filled with menace, “…if I find that you are lying to me…if you do anything against Sabrina…I’ll kill you.”

“Fair enough.”  Atoa replied as he turned his attention back to the controls.

“Tabor will doublecrossssss ussssss…” S’nurl, relaxing slightly now that the danger had seemingly passed, “You know that, human.”

“Yeah.”  Manuele answered back, nodding his head.  “That’s why I’m calling in the cavalry.”

“You mean Sabrina?”  Nura asked.

“Of course…” Manuele replied, gazing straight into the eyes of the Bzzit Khaht.  “I gave my word that I wouldn’t go behind her back on this if she didn’t go behind mine and I intend on keeping it.  But…” he added, “Even with Diaz, we’re not going to be able to do this.  No...”  the New Kauaian declared, shaking his head, “…we’re going to need more muscle—and I know just who to call.”

************************************************************************

“You sure about this, Boss?”  Dak asked his employer as the pair watched a green Orion woman performing a sensual striptease.

“Looks like Alena before she got hooked on acid, doesn’t she, Dak?”  Lynn Pierson remarked wistfully before answering his long-time bartender’s question.  “Yeah.  Hacking into his system’s a no-go—besides being smart enough to not put that sort of info where someone else can get at it, where are we going to find a slicer here who’d be willing to run the risk?  And we’d never get away with snatching him in his villa—it’s much better guarded than Ershak’s and we don’t have S’nurl for heavy muscle.  Can’t get him in transit—so it has to be here and it has to be now.  It’s dark…crowded…and pretty noisy.  But, we have to do this quick and clean.”

“Pierson’s right.”  Solly interjected.  “Here’s the best place.  As long as we don’t make too much noise, we’ll be able to walk out with him.”

“But first we have to get him away from his bodyguards.”  Krakke pointed out, jerking his head towards the Andorian and green Orion standing near a celebrating Dmitri Cherenkov, who, at that moment, was enjoying himself with a scantily clad, fire-haired, Kataran woman situated on his lap.  “How’re we going to do that?”  And how am I going to make sure that I keep you alive, Brother, without you ruining our plans.  Krakke, otherwise known as Ivan Cherenkov, asked himself.

“Lucky I thought of that.”  Pierson grinned as he held three dermal patches out in his hand.  “We wait until Cherenkov has to go drain the lizard.  His goons’ll follow him in and we follow them.  Slap one of these on each of the guards and in a few moments, they take a nap.  It’ll look like they’ve had too much to drink or whatever and the bouncer’ll toss ‘em out. Slap another one on Cherenkov and then we carry our drunk friend out.  Any questions?”

“Nope.”  Solly grinned back as he took one of the patches.  “I’ll take out the Orion.”  Handing another patch to Dak, the Bluefin CPO instructed, “You take out the Andorian…”

“No…” Danyor interjected, taking the patch that Pierson held out, “I’ll take the Andorian—I know where best to put it so it takes effect quicker.”

“All right.”  Pierson replied, shrugging his shoulders.  “Then me and Dak’ll get Dmitri.”  His grin growing wider as the Terranovan Syndicate operative rose to his feet, the former bar owner remarked, “Looks like he’s about to go water the daisies.  Let’s do it.”

“And the guards are following right on cue.”  Solly remarked as he stood up.  Jerking his head towards Krakke, the red Orion remarked, “We’re up—make it good.”

Nodding his head once in response, Krakke and Solly staggered towards the restroom door, now guarded by the Orion and Andorian.  Laughing and talking loudly, the pair put on a pretty convincing performance as drunken revelers as they drew closer to their intended victims.

“And shoooo I tol’ her…” Krakke all but shouted, slurring his words, “…to put out or get out!”

“So wha’ she do?”  Solly answered back, also slurring his words as he staggered towards the green Orion.

“She put out, o’ course!”  Krakke laughed, “Wha’ else wash she gonna do?  Get out an’ walk? We was out in deep space goin’ at warp four.”

As they neared the door guarded by the two hoods, the Andorian sneered, “Where do you think you’re going?”

“We’s gotta take a leak.”  Solly replied as he stepped closer, “Wha’ else you think we gonna do?”

“Not now you’re not.”  The green Orion retorted as he made to push Solly back.

Taking advantage of the opportunity, Solly slapped the dermal patch in his hand on a piece of exposed skin on the Orion’s forearm as Krakke, lurching forward, did the same to the Andorian, only placing his patch near the neck.  Almost instantly the sedative contained in the patches took effect.  Catching the two goons in their arms, Solly and Krakke gently lowered them to the floor, signaling the other two members of their group as they did so.

“That’s it.”  Pierson grinned, “Let’s go pay Dmitri a visit.”  Walking past their two cohorts standing watch over the slumbering guards, Dak and Pierson entered the restroom.  Quickly spotting Cherenkov standing in front of one of the urinals, the two men approached, one on either side of the Syndicate hood. 

“Who?”  Dmitri demanded only to be quickly cut off as Dak slapped a dermal patch on the back of the Terra Novan’s neck.

As Cherenkov slumped into his arms, Pierson groused, “God, is this guy heavy!  Get that coat and hood on him, Dak, so that we can get the hell out of here.”
 

“Right, Boss.”  The burly barkeeper replied as he slipped a coat with a hood on to the Terranovan.  Making sure that the hood masked Cherenkov’s features, the pair staggered out of the bathroom, their unconscious victim between them.  Nodding his head at Solly and Krakke, Pierson and Dak began to make their way out of the bar with Cherenkov between them, the other two members of their party several steps back.  Approaching the exit, Pierson jibed to the Orion bouncer standing guard at the door, “Our buddy can’t hold Saurian brandy worth mugato crap!”

“Get him outta here, then.”  The bouncer ordered, jerking his thumb towards the outside. 

As the group made their exit from the bar, Pierson directed, “Ok, let’s get him back to our place fast—before his goons wake up.”

“How’re we going to get him to cough up where Rejak’s going to pull off the exchange?”  Solly inquired, “Not that I don’t mind roughing the man up—but I don’t think he’s going to talk that easily, and like you said, we don’t have a lot of time.”

“We don’t have to get rough with him.”  Pierson replied, “I’ve got a hypo back at the flat with a Romulan derived truth serum.  He’ll spill the beans…I swear.”

“And then what?”  Krakke asked as the group, still putting on a performance as a bunch of drunken partiers, made their way back to their apartment.  “Do we kill him?”

“No.”  Pierson replied, much to Danyor’s relief.  “He’s too highly placed in the Syndicate for us to knock him off without them taking reprisals.  We’ll dope him up with enough chemicals to keep him out for a couple of days and then, before we leave, slip word where he is.  As far as the Syndicate is concerned, he got kidnapped by two bit hoods who, after finding out who he was, panicked and took the better part of valor.”

“Sounds good to me.”  Krakke responded, urging, “Let’s hurry up.  The sooner we’re done, the sooner we’re out of here.”

************************************************************************

“Lay him down on the couch.”  Pierson instructed as he went into his room.  Returning moments later with a hypo in his hand, the former Starfleet officer explained, “I picked this up a while back—thought I was going to have to use it on you…” the rogue grinned as he turned towards Solly, “This is pretty new stuff, so it’s doubtful anyone’s come up with an antidote to it yet.  The Tal’Shiar uses this when they need to get information quick from someone who’s probably not immunized to truth serums or deep conditioned.”

“What if the Syndicate did deep condition him?”  Solly inquired, “After all, he’s pretty high up.”

“Not that high up.”  Pierson answered back.  “I’m gambling that as long as we keep our questions limited to what’s at hand and not go digging too deep into the Syndicate’s or his ahmet’sur’s inner workings, we’ll be ok.  Otherwise…” the rogue shrugged his shoulders, “…we’re all out of luck.  I don’t have the life support machinery here to keep him alive long enough to wring what we need out of him before he dies.”

“Is there another way?”  Krakke asked, fearing not only for his brother’s life, but also that Dmitri, under the effects of the drug, might well give away the relationship between the two men.

“I’m open to suggestions.”  Pierson replied as he readied the hypo.

“Maybe I can convince him to cough up the information.”  Krakke offered.

“I doubt that.”  Pierson responded, “He’s not going to willingly tell us anything.”

A sly grin crossing his face, Danyor continued to press his case, “I think I can make him give us what we want.”

“How?”

“By threatening to wring him dry.”  Krakke replied.  “System shock from deep conditioning isn’t a very pleasant way to go.  I think that if we give him the choice of selling out Rejak without being implicated in doing it or having to go into system shock, he’ll spill.’

“Maybe.”  Solly interjected as he turned to Pierson, “It’s worth a try at least.”

“Ok.  Won’t hurt to try.” Pierson responded as he replaced the vial containing the truth serum with another vial on the hypo. Looking up at Krakke, he stated, “This is a stim shot…it’ll bring him around. Then you can talk to him.”

Pressing the hypo to Dmitri’s neck, Pierson injected the contents.  Moments later, the Syndicate middleman struggled back to consciousness.  His eyes scanning his new surroundings, Dmitri started when he saw his brother’s face inches from his.  “I….” he began only to be quickly cut off by Ivan.

“Listen to me, you goddamned digger.” Krakke growled, using the family codeword for danger, taken after the name of a small Terra Novan burrowing animal, “There is very little time and you must tell us what we need to know.”

Immediately picking up on his brother’s use of the family code, even in his near stupor, Dmitri groaned in response, “I can’t I’m…”

“You’re not that deep conditioned.”  Danyor responded, “If you cooperate, we won’t ask you anything that’ll trigger your body to go into arrest.  But if you don’t…” he warned, his eyes staring straight into the eyes of his brother’s as he told his half-truth, “…my friends will dig—and we’ve brought along life support machinery that keep you alive long enough to get the job done.” 

Gazing into his brother’s eyes, Dmitri nodded his head.  “Good.”  Krakke exclaimed, letting out an inaudible sigh of relief.  “We just need to know one thing—when and where is Rejak planning on making the exchange with Daras Tabor and do you know what Ayenga might be up to?”
 

“If I tell you…” Dmitri stammered, “Rejak will know…”

“No he won’t.” Pierson interjected, “We’ve set it up where you’ll come out of this completely in the clear—if you cooperate.”

“All right…all right.”  Dmitri sighed.  “The exchange will be on Taris III—where Rejak makes his Corillan acid.  Tabor’s supposed to meet him there in a couple of days and then Tabor will smuggle the stuff into the Federation…”

“With Diaz taking the blame.”  Krakke declared.

“Right.”  Dmitri agreed.

“What about Ayenga?”  Pierson then asked, “How does she figure in all this?”

“She’s a loose cannon.”  Dmitri answered back, “Once she got her hands on that mutagenic gel, she bolted from Tabor.  I don’t know where she is, but Rejak’s going to set it up where she gets taken down—he didn’t tell me how he was going to do it, though.”  The Syndicate operative quickly added.

“I think that’s as far as we can push him.”  Krakke declared, catching a brief smile of relief from his brother. 

“I agree.”  Solly concurred, “Let’s drug him and get out of here.”
 

“What do you mean—drug me?”  Dmitri exclaimed, his eyes widening, “You promised.”

“And we’re going to keep our promise…” Krakke quickly replied, placing both his hands on his brother’s shoulders.  “The drug will only knock you out long enough so that we can get away and so that you can’t contact Rejak or anyone else in time.”

“Right.”  Pierson chimed in, “All you have to do when you’re freed is tell your bosses that some two-bit hoods kidnapped you thinking you were some sort of rich border merchant from the Triangle and that when they found out who you were they decided to cut their losses and let you go.”

“That’s all you have to do and your part in this Great Experiment will be over.”  Krakke added in an almost inaudible whisper, his brother immediately picking up on another family code phrase, this one telling him that Ivan and the others were telling the truth that he would be safe.

Relaxing slightly on hearing his brother’s assurances, Dmitri nodded his head once, “Very well…get it over with.”

Nodding his head at Pierson, Krakke stood aside as the former Starfleet officer injected his brother with the sedative.  Watching silently as Dmitri slipped off into unconsciousness, Danyor nearly missed Pierson’s call.

“Let’s get packed and get out of here, everyone.  We need to be out of here yesterday.”

“Come on, Krakke…” Solly growled as he grabbed the Terra Novan by his elbow, “We gotta get moving.”  Looking back at the unconscious form of Dmitri lying on the couch, the red Orion asked, “Did you know him?  You two look like you’re acquainted…”

Sighing, Danyor responded with another half-truth, “We were on the same freighter once years ago—but we never kept in touch…”

“I see…” The red Orion replied, not satisfied with the answer he just received, yet at the same time not wanting to make an issue of it.  Filing it in the back of his mind for now; Solly made a mental note to inquire further into Danyor Krakke when he next reported to Starfleet Command.

**********************************************************************

“We know where and when now…” Pierson remarked as he and his compatriots beamed back on board their Maquis raider, “…but what are we going to do about it?  Rejak’s going to have at least his Galor and her escorts in orbit around Taris III and those, along with what he and Tabor are going to have on the ground…”

Grinning, Solly Brin declared in a smug tone, “It just so happens that I know some people who might be able to give us a hand.”

“What are you talking about?  They’ll throw us all into Sundancer!” Dak exclaimed

“Not necessarily.”  Pierson grinned, “Not if we arrange it just right…”

“What do you mean, Boss?”  Dak asked, his voice still tinged with doubt.

“First let me make a call to my ex, Solly…” Lynn grinned, “…and then you can call your friends and we can all pay Rejak a visit that he’ll never forget.”

**********************************************************************

Entering Sisko’s office together, the two captains kept their distance from each other as they took their seats opposite the station commander’s desk.  Frowning as he noticed the strained relationship between Akinola and Shelby, Benjamin deciding, for now at least, to keep his counsel, went straight to business.  “I take it you’re both aware of the messages received by Chief Brin and Lieutenant Atoa?”  Taking the two captains’ single nods of their heads as an affirmative, Sisko continued with a smile, “Well—I’ve got good news for you.  Admiral Glover has approved of your leading a task force into the war zone to Pallas V, Captain Shelby.”  Ignoring the glower appearing on Akinola’s face at the mention of Shelby being named task force commander, Benjamin continued his narrative, “You’re to take the Sutherland, Bluefin, and Defiant to Pallas V and from there take whatever action you deem necessary so long as it doesn’t result in a reopening of hostilities with the Klingons or straining relations with the Cardassian government.”

Smiling on hearing the news, Liz responded as she rose to her feet, “Thanks, Captain.  We’ll get underway as soon as possible.”

“I’m not so sure you should be thanking me, Captain Shelby.”  Benjamin replied in a grave voice, “You do realize you’ve been given enough rope to hang yourself with?”

“Of course I do.”  Shelby replied, her smile gone now.  “Admiral Glover has to maintain plausible deniability for the Starfleet and the Federation.  Sparing a sideways glance to her current bête noire, Liz stated, “I think both of us know that.”

“Good luck and good hunting then, Captains.  Commander Worf will command the Defiant.  He’ll be ready to warp out when you give the word.”

**********************************************************************

“Where is Cherenkov?”  Gul Rejak demanded as he paced up and down in front of his desk in his Taris III office.  “He was supposed to be here by now.  Tabor is due in the morning.”

“We don’t know.”  A green Orion Syndicate factotum replied.  “We haven’t heard from him in over twenty four standard hours.  Perhaps we should call off the exchange until we know more?”  The Syndicate operative suggested.

“No.”  Rejak replied, ceasing his pacing as he poured a glass of kanar from a crystal decanter on his desk.  Shaking his head, the corrupt gul explained, “We’re too far along to pull back now.  Starfleet wouldn’t take the risk of striking here anyway—we’re too deep into the disputed territories—they won’t run the risk of confronting the Klingons.”  Swallowing the contents of his glass in one gulp, Rejak declared, “We continue the exchange as planned.  But…” he qualified as he refilled his glass, “…I think I’ll take a few additional precautions—just in case.”

“A very wise move, Gul Rejak.”  The green Orion acknowledged with a sycophantic grin.  “I’ll inform my employers that they can expect their payment on time.  They will be most pleased to hear that.”

**********************************************************************

“Much as I hate to say this…” Captain Elizabeth Shelby said, addressing the scrambled image on her desk monitor, “…you’re right.  This is the only way we can be sure that this is ended once and for all.  All right, Pierson, I agree.  So long as Diaz and her people behave themselves, we have a truce.”

“Good.  I’ll let Bri know.” Pierson replied, added a jaunty goodbye, “See ya on Pallas V, Lizzy.”

Gazing at the now black screen, Shelby tapped her intercom, “Commander Hobson…Chris?  Come into my office, please, we need to talk…”

**********************************************************************

“Getting signals and what appears to be life signs.”  Nura announced as the Moselle drew near the asteroid belt surrounding a dim red dwarf star.  “Looks like Ayenga’s still here.”

“I’m not so sure…” Manuele Atoa demurred as he piloted his ‘stolen’ runabout towards one of the larger planetoids.

“What do you mean?”  The Bzzit Khaht sitting in the copilot’s seat asked.  “This is where Tabor told us she’d probably be hiding…”

“It’s too easy.”  The tactical specialist replied, “Too pat.  Yeah…” he conceded, “Everything looks right…the signals are what you’d expect from bleed-over even with security precautions…but…”

“You sssssenssse a trap, human…” S’nurl interjected, his voice coming across more as a hiss, “Sssssoooo do I…”

“Then you better let me pilot this ship.”  Nura declared, “Of the three of us, I’m the best pilot here.  That’s not bragging—it’s the simple truth.”

“Point taken.”  Atoa nodded as he turned manual control over to his copilot, “All right, Nura…it’s all yours.  Let’s see if Ayenga’s here or not.”

**********************************************************************

Pausing for a moment at the threshold of Rick’s, the name the previous Sutherland captain had given to the 1940s North African cabaret themed bar, Sam Lavelle took in the scene before him.  Lieutenant Alec Mikelson, from hydroponics, sat in his usual position behind the piano tickling the ivories as Lieutenant Commander Tol and his current fling, the Bluefin’s Vulcan operation’s officer, Lieutenant T’Ser, sat listening and talking softly amongst themselves.  Other off duty members of both crews were either congregated near the roulette wheel or were otherwise laughing and enjoying themselves.  All except for one lonely figure sitting at the bar by herself nursing her drink.  Immediately recognizing his old friend, Sito Jaxa, at the bar, Sam shook his head sadly before approaching her, calling out her name before he drew too close.

“Jaxa?  All right if I join you?”

The tormented Bajoran woman tilted her head slightly towards the empty seat to her right as she silently sipped her drink.

Taking the stool next to her, Sam, raising his hand, got the attention of the bartender, “Hey Mac!  Canadian on the rocks!”  Turning to his old friend, the dark haired helmsman then prompted, speaking in a low voice, “Wanna talk?”

*********************************************************************

“You know…” T’Ser remarked, tapping her feet gently to the music as she regarded the Trill sitting opposite her, “…there’s one thing I don’t understand about joined Trill…”

“And what’s that?”  Jadon asked with a roguish smirk as he took a sip of Saurian brandy.

“How do you keep all those voices inside you from consuming you?”  T’Ser asked, genuinely curious.  “Vulcans—being a long-lived species—tend to accumulate a lot of memories—a lot!  But joined Trill…the symbiotes can live for centuries—but hosts…” she sighed as she shook her head, “…live about as long as humans.  To suddenly be confronted by generations worth of memories and experiences and maintain your sanity—I don’t think even a kolinhar master could do it.”

“Well…” Jadon smiled, “I can give you the boilerplate explanation of how all candidates for joining are exhaustively screened by the Symbiosis Commission and undergo years of training—generally from childhood—and that the majority of candidates—even after going through all that training—wash out, but…” he shook his head, “…that’s not really the truth—at least not the whole truth.”   Exhaling deeply, the roguish Trill warned, “This could take a while…”

“Got plenty of time.”  T’Ser smiled, placing a hand over the hand of the engineer, “I don’t have to be back on the Bluefin for a couple of hours yet.  Go on…”

“Ok…” Jadon began, “You’re right…it isn’t easy at first.  No matter how much you think you’re ready for it…how much the Symbiosis Committee thinks you’ve been trained for it…those first few moments after the symbiote has bonded with you…the cascade of memories…of lives.”  Pausing for a moment, the normally loquacious Trill seemed to struggle for words, “Think of it like this…you’re floating on a lake.  It’s a clear, summer’s day…no wind…white clouds overhead…that’s your mind before the joining.  Then comes the symbiote and all at once the waves swamp you, the wind howls, the clouds turn dark and the sky turns gray and boiling.  You’re flailing about trying to keep afloat as all those voices start pulling you into the water…”

Shivering at Jadon’s description, T’Ser remarked in a low whisper, “That’s…how do you…”

“Then…” The Trill smiled, “…just as you think you’re about to drown, the symbiote steps in and helps you pull it together.”

“Wow…” T’Ser gasped, “I never realized…”

“It’s a Trill thing…” Jadon chuckled, “And there are other things that help.  For instance the zhian'tara ritual really helps to put everything in focus.  By getting the chance to physically interact with the symbiote’s prior hosts, it gives you the opportunity to see that while you might be part of a greater whole, you’re still your own person—a unique individual.”

Visibly impressed, T’Ser asked, “But does it always work out so smoothly?”
 

“No.”  The Trill engineer confessed, shaking his head.  “Sometimes the Symbiosis Commission makes a mistake—someone who looks like they’d make an ideal candidate actually isn’t.  Or…one or more of the prior hosts could be so strong…that they end up overpowering both current host and symbiote and for all intents and purposes take over.  When that happens…” Tol shook his head, “…things can get very bad for all concerned—host and symbiote—sometimes both end up lost.”

“Damn,” was all T’Ser could say as she regarded the man across from her, “And here I thought just having one voice inside me was tough.”

“You get used to it.” Jadon laughed, turning the conversation back to a lighter note as he offered the Vulcan woman his hand, “Now…since this is going to be our last night together…why don’t we just drink and dance the night away?”

“Sounds like a plan to me!”  T’Ser laughed as she took the Trill’s hand.

**********************************************************************

“So…” Sam ventured, waiting for his friend to make the first move.

“So…” Sito replied as she sipped her drink.  Then, after several moments of silence, the young Bajoran remarked, “Nice place.”

“Yeah…” The Canadian helmsman agreed, “We like it.”

“Where’s Maria?”

“She’ll be here in about an hour.”  Sam replied, “She said she had some stuff she had to take care of.”

“Oh.”

Taking a deep breath, Lavelle decided that it was time to finally address the elephant in the room, “How’re you holding it together, Jaxa?”

A thin smile coming to the security officer’s face, Sito answered back, “I’m glad someone other then Counselor Freedman has finally decided to just come out and ask me that question.”

Chuckling for a few moments, Sam gently pressed, “So…how are you doing?”

“I have my good moments and my bad.”  The tormented Bajoran woman confessed.  Touching her temple with her index finger and gently tapping it, she continued, “They’re still there…but they usually stay quiet now.  It’s better when I keep busy…” Recoiling automatically as a male crewmember accidently brushed her as he walked past where she sat, Sito clenched her teeth.  “It really isn’t as bad as it was.  Not so long ago, I’d have either tried to kill that crewman or I’d be in a ball in that corner over there.  Hells…” she exclaimed as she tossed back her drink, “…a few months ago, in a place like this, I might have…” She shuddered as the Junkie tried to push herself to the fore, “I might have…”

“Hey…” Sam consoled, “…Jaxa…it’s ok.  You just remember that you’re amongst friends here.”

“Thanks, Sam.”  The Bajoran responded with a shaky smile as she stood up.  “I think I needed to hear that.”

“Anytime.”  Lavelle answered back, flashing a toothy grin.  His smile disappearing to be replaced by a look of concern, the Canadian inquired, “You gonna be ok?  If you want…I can walk you back to wherever you need to go.”

“No…” Jaxa replied, shaking her head vigorously, “That’s all right, Sam.  I’ll be ok. But thanks anyway.”  Turning to leave the bar, she said over her shoulder, “Tell Maria I said Hi.”

Watching as his friend left the bar, Sam shook his head sadly.  It’s not fair.  She should be sitting here now and not me…

“You ok, Sam?”

Turning towards the bartender, Lavelle managed a shaky grin, “Yeah…I’ll be all right, Mac.”  Sighing, he said as he sipped his drink, “I was just feeling old.”

“Huh…” Mac snorted as he plucked a gray hair from his head, “Wait ‘til you get a few of these. Then you can say you’re feeling old.  ‘til then, enjoy being young while you can.”

Shaking his head sadly, Sam replied, “But what do you do, Mac, if someone takes your youth away from you?”

*********************************************************************

“Sensssor contactssss…” S’nurl hissed from his position as the runabout picked its way through the asteroid field, “Two ssssshipssss…”

“Hidekis.”  Atoa swore.  “I was afraid of that.”

You’re crazy!”  Nura exclaimed with a sneer, “Why would Ayenga want to work with the Cardassians?” 

“I can think of any number of reasons.”  Manuele replied, “But I don’t think she called them in.  Might have been Tabor…” the New Kauaian speculated, “…using the Cardies to do his dirty work for him.  That way he gets to take out both of his problems all at the same time.”

“They’re closssssing on our posssition at maximum impulsssseee…” The Gorn hissed, his voice taking on a note of urgency.

“All right, Nura.”  Manuele declared, “Let’s see if you’re as Sierra Hotel a pilot as you say you are.”

“Just watch me do my stuff.”  The Bzzit Khaht answered back, her feelings of betrayal and distrust momentarily forgotten as the adrenaline coursed through her system.  “I hope you’ve kept up the maintenance on your inertial compensators—by the time I’m through they’re going to be getting one hell of a workout.”

*********************************************************************

“Dayum!”  Treasure exclaimed as she polished off the last of her ribs, “That Cookie of yours sure knows his BBQ—an’ Texas style to boot!  I ain’t had spareribs this juicy…” Seeing the far off look in her dinner companion’s eyes, the well-endowed engineer quipped, “Earth to Dale…Earth to Dale…”

“Oh…” Commander Dale McBride exclaimed as he snapped out of his reverie.  “I’m sorry, Treasure…”
 

“What’s up, Hon?”  Angela asked with a look of concern on her face.  “You look like you got the weight o’ the universe on your mind.”

“It’s just…” The Texas born XO said with a sigh, “…that once we’re done here…” shaking his head, his lips turned up in a nervous smile, “I’m afraid I’m not very good at this…”

“That’s ok, Sugar…” Treasure replied, her voice now taking on more of a gentle, consoling tone, “I think I know what you’re wantin’ to say and I gotta feelin’ that’s why you had Cookie fix up this special spread for us—‘cause this is gonna be our last night together.  After tonight, we’re goin’ to be busy finishing up with Rejak and all, and after that we’re goin’ to be goin’ our separate ways.”  Smiling, she placed her hand over his, “An’ that’s ok.  We had fun.  You’re a nice man an’ one day you’re gonna make T’Ser a great husband—that is if’n she’s got the good sense to realize that…”

Startled at the young ensign’s perceptive read of the situation, Dale’s eyes widened, “What…how…”

“Honey…” the North Star native chuckled, “…a girl knows these things.  I could see it in your eyes whenever the two of you were together.”  Leaning over, the buxom blonde whispered in his ear, “An’ I’ll let you in on a little secret…she’s got that same look.”

“But I thought…” Dale stammered, “Her and Commander Tol…the way they were laughing and all…that…”

Her chuckles turning into gentle laughter, Angela interjected, “Her and Jadon—long term?  Naw…neither of ‘em wants that.  No…” she said, her laughter slowly fading as her voice once again took on a tender tone, “…she’s only got eyes for one guy—lucky stiff!”

***********************************************************************

“Frak!”  Manuele cursed as a green disruptor bolt fired from one of the pursuing Cardassian frigates just missed them, shattering a nearby planetoid.  “That was too damned close.”

“Going to get a lot closer.”  Nura retorted in a low voice as she piloted the tiny runabout between the space detritus, weaving in and out and between with an almost reckless abandon.  “Hold on!”  She shouted as she pitched the craft up on its Z-axis, reaching the cover of one of the larger planetoids just as yet another disruptor beam lanced towards them.

Seeing a metallic glint on one of the smaller planetoids nearby, Manuele quickly glanced at his sensor display.  “Get outta here—NOW!”  The New Kauaian yelled as Nura, her reflexes instinctively taking charge, turned sharply about as the planetoid exploded, setting off other explosions causing the runabout to shake as rocky and metallic fragments struck the shields, straining them to their max.  One of the frigates, however, was not as fortunate as it found itself caught right in the middle of the blast radius.   It now drifted powerless in the belt, undergoing a pounding as planetoids impacted on it.

Watching as its sister ship slowed down, Manuele nodded his head, “Get us out of here, Nura.  Ayenga’s long gone and is probably already on her way to Taris III.”

“Where are we going?”  The Bzzit Khaht asked as the runabout slipped smoothly into warp, leaving their pursuers far behind.

“Taris III, of course.”  Atoa replied, “We’ve got to stop Ayenga, Rejak, and Tabor.”

Her laughter taking on an almost hysterical tone, Nura exclaimed, “You mean the three of us?  One Starfleet officer, a pilot, and a bar bouncer are going to stop the Kon Ma, Gul Rejak, and the Orion Syndicate all by ourselves!” Shaking her head, she spat out, “Are you sure you’re not the one on acid?”

“You two don’t have to come along if you don’t want to.”  Manuele said in a low voice, addressing both the Bzzit Khaht sitting next to him and the large Gorn standing in the back.  “I have to do this, but you don’t.  There’s a nearby system I can drop you off at if you want.  From there, you should be able to get back to Pallas V.”

“Ssssssmart move would be to leave…” S’nurl hissed, “But if I go, I will misssss a good fight.  I think I will sssssee thisssss through.”

“Ok, S’nurl.”  Manuele grinned, “Glad to have you aboard.”  Turning towards his copilot, Manuele asked, “What about you, Nura?  Want me to drop you off?”

“No.”  The young pilot shook her head, “I’ve always been one for lost causes.  ‘sides…” she said, a thin smile crossing her face, “I have a feeling Sabrina’ll be there too.”

 Sighing, Atoa uttered in an almost inaudible voice, “I hope someone’s there, ‘cause we’re going to need all the help we can get.”

***********************************************************************

“Assuming standard orbit around Pallas V.”  Lieutenant Lavelle reported from his position at the helm.

“We’re being hailed by the planetary authorities.”  Lieutenant Dryer interjected.  “They want to know what we’re doing here and when we’re going to get the hell out.”

“Yeah, I guess they would be pretty jittery about having a Nebula and an Albacore suddenly popping in on them…” Liz quipped as she leaned back in her chair.

“They’d really crap a brick if they knew about our other little surprise.” Ensign Django snorted, referring to the Defiant that had remained cloaked under Shelby’s orders.

“I think we’ve given the cockroaches long enough time to scurry for cover.”  Captain Shelby remarked as she gestured at the acting tactical chief, “Tell Pallas Control that we’re not going to be here long and then send the signal to Chief Brin.”

A few moments later, Nyota looked up, “Chief Brin’s confirmation signal received.  We’re on.”

“Very good.  Contact Captain Akinola and tell him if he wants to join us he better be ready now, ‘cause I’m not waiting on him.”  Shelby declared as she hit her comm button, “Lieutenant Sito?  Report to Transporter Room One for landing party duty at once.”  Noticing the dubious looks coming from her first officer and tactical officer, Liz explained, “I need to see how she’s going to perform in the field sooner or later…”

“Sir?”  Hobson inquired, lowering his voice so that only his captain could hear, “Are you sure you want to go through with this?”

“We discussed this earlier, Chris.”  Shelby replied in an equally low whisper, “And we both agreed that…no matter how distasteful it is…that there really isn’t any alternative—not if we want to put an end to this once and for all.”

“It’s just, Sir…” Hobson pointed out, “…if certain admirals were to ever find out…”

“I know, Chris…it’ll make their day ‘cause they’ll finally be able to roast me alive.” Liz interrupted; a sad smile on her face as she looked up at her first officer, “I’m open to suggestions.  Give me something—anything—else that even has a remote possibility of working and I’ll take it.”  Receiving only silence in return, Liz sighed, “It’s like we talked about…there really isn’t any choice.  If we don’t take care of the problem at its source—it’ll just keep coming back.” 

“Aye, Sir.”  Commander Hobson reluctantly agreed as his captain finished issuing her orders. 

 “Keep a lock on our comm frequencies, Chris and be ready to yank us out at the first sign of a double-cross.  Also, after we beam down, I want you to contact Mr. Worf.  Tell him, to get ready to receive some guests soon.”

**********************************************************************

Immediately upon rematerializing, Captain Shelby and her landing party were confronted by Larkin and Rof, both armed with phasers pointed straight at them.  “You two ought to know that we’ve left our comm frequencies open—my ship is hearing everything that’s going on right now.  So, you can either lower those weapons…” Shelby ordered in a crisp voice as both Sito and Akinola drew their weapons as well, “…or you’re going to know what it feels like to be transported into deep space.”  Noticing that the two Maquis members showed no inclination to lower their weapons, Liz took a deep breath, but before she could speak to issue her command, a voice quickly called out.

“Larkin!  Rof!  Stand down—now!”

“I thought we had a truce, Sabrina.”  Shelby remarked as the Rutian and Alshain reluctantly complied with their leader’s order.

“We do.”  The former starship captain replied as she gestured towards the door that she had just come in from, “Larkin was afraid you were going to try a double-cross.”

“Funny…” Liz quipped wryly as she and the others joined the Maquis leader in walking towards the door, “I thought you were going to pull the same thing.”

“I keep my word.”  Sabrina replied simply as she door slid open to reveal a makeshift conference room where Pierson, his wife, Danyor Krakke, Dak, and Chief Brin were already waiting.

“So do I.”  Liz retorted, but before she could continue, Captain Akinola, recognizing his Chief of the Boat even through the plastic surgery, interrupted.

“Boats? Is that you?”  Shaking his head in disbelief, the border skipper, relieved at finally being reunited with his long-time friend and shipmate, joked, “Damn!  I can’t believe it!  They actually made you look better!”  His smile growing wider, the white-haired grizzled mustang captain remarked with genuine affection in his voice, “It’s good to see you again, Solly.”

“You should have seen what they wanted to do with me, Skipper.”  Chief Brin joshed back, a big toothy grin on his face at seeing his captain once again.  “Good to see you to again, Captain.”

“While I’m enjoying this little reunion as much as everyone else here is, I think we’ve got some stuff to deal with.”  Pierson remarked as he fingered the scar on his cheek.

“Lynn’s right.”  Miriam chimed in, supporting her ex-husband.  “We have a lot to talk about.  So…let’s get started.  How are we going to take care of Rejak, Tabor, the Syndicate, and Ayenga?”

“Ok…”  Shelby agreed as she took a seat, “It just so happens I have a plan that’ll allow us to do just about all of those things at the same time.  The only hitch…” The petite blonde captain confessed, “Is Ayenga.  I haven’t heard from my man yet…” Turning to Sabrina, Liz asked, “Have you?”

“No.”  Diaz admitted with a frown.  “Nor have I heard from Nura.”

“I haven’t heard so much as a hiss from S’nurl either.”  Pierson added, tapping his fingers on the table.  “And that has me more than a little worried.”

“They might be maintaining silent running.”  The experienced Akinola pointed out.  “Not wanting to risk their transmission being intercepted.”

“That’s possible.”  Shelby allowed.  “Knowing Manny…” she speculated, “…he’ll have concluded that time’s at a premium, so he’ll probably head straight to Taris III.”

“Gutsy…” Joseph remarked approvingly, nodding his head.

“Stupid.”  Larkin sneered, “Smart play would be to come back here.”

“Manuele’s thinking about more than just himself.”  Shelby fired back, “He knows that if Ayenga gets away with doing what we think she’s going to do, then all hell’s going to break loose in this sector and probably beyond.”

“And what is she going to do?”  Diaz inquired, raising her eyebrows in a mixture of curiosity and skepticism.

“If my doctor and science officer and Captain Akinola’s doctor is right, then she’s going to contaminate Rejak’s Corillan acid shipment with the mutagenic gel she stole.”  Shelby replied flatly; Joseph silently nodding his head in agreement at the younger captain’s pronouncement.

“Damn.”  Miriam whispered, “I always knew Ayenga was crazy…but I never figured…”

“So…” Pierson inquired, “What’s your plan?”

As Shelby laid out her scheme, Captain Akinola shook his head in amazement as both Pierson and Diaz grinned.  As she continued to set out her stratagem, the space-wise skipper listened more intently.  It just might work.  He thought, much to his surprise.  But…she’s left out one detail.  Waiting until the younger captain had finished her presentation, the white-haired skipper cleared his throat.  “Captain.  I can’t believe I’m saying this, but your plan is a good one.  But…there’s one little thing you didn’t take into account…”

“By all means, Captain Akinola…” Liz replied, with just the faintest of sarcastic grins, “…enlighten me.”

“With pleasure.”  The older captain grinned smugly as he pointed out the single slender, yet potentially critical, deficiency in Shelby’s plan, “You didn’t account for the possibility—however slight—that Rejak would anticipate that move and have something ready.  I’d suggest that you do this…” Joseph continued as he outlined his proposal, “…that way, if Rejak does have an ace up his sleeve, you’ll be able to counter it at once.”

Chagrined at her lapse, Shelby bit her lip as she nodded her head, forcing herself to confess, “You’re right.  I should have taken that into account.”  Looking the older man straight in the eyes, the petite captain offered a simple, yet genuine, “Thank you.”

 “You’re welcome.”  A surprised Akinola replied.

“Now, I suggest we get ready—I want us to warp out within the hour.  Captain?”  Liz requested as she turned her attention back to Captain Akinola, “I need to borrow Chief Brin for a short while, if I may?”

A somewhat mystified Captain Akinola, taken by surprise by Shelby’s request, inquired in a skeptical tone, “Why?”

“It’s all right, Skipper.”  Chief Brin quickly interjected, speaking softly so that only his captain could hear, “She probably just wants to debrief me so that she can get a better idea on her man might be up to.  Can’t say as I blame her…” he added, maintaining a respectful tone.

Nodding his head, the Nigerian border skipper agreed, “All right, Chief.  I’ll see you back on the Bluefin when you’re done.”  Tapping his comm badge, Akinola called out, “Dale?  Beam me up.”

After Captain Akinola dematerialized, Liz again spoke, “Pierson?  I’ll want you too.”

“Anytime, babe…” The rogue leered as Shelby, smirking, touched her comm badge.

 “Shelby to Sutherland--Energize.”

Rematerializing on the Sutherland’s transporter pad, Liz again activated her comm badge, “Mr. Worf?  Would you mind beaming on to the Sutherland?  I need to see you in my ready room as soon as possible.”

“Yes, Sir.”  The Klingon’s rich baritone voice responded.

“If you’ll follow me…” Liz directed to her guests and Lieutenant Sito, “…this won’t take long.”

*********************************************************************

Minutes later, the little group, now joined by Lieutenant Commander Worf, sat in Captain Shelby’s office, the captain sitting on the edge of her desk.  “I want to make one thing perfectly clear—nothing said in this meeting will appear on the ship’s log, nor is it to appear in any personal logs.  For those of you who aren’t in Starfleet…” she declared, her eyes fixing on Pierson, “…it’s our word against yours.  All I have to say here is that even though I might not be the most liked person in some circles of Starfleet, you’re even less liked.”  Catching her breath, Liz continued, “Now that that’s out of the way, if anyone here is uncomfortable with this—you can leave right now—no questions asked and nothing further will ever be mentioned.”

Nodding her head in satisfaction as no one walked out, Liz laid out her plan.  “I’m tasking you people with a special mission—one that I think will appeal to you.  You will have one objective and one objective only—Gul Rejak.”  Smiles appeared on the faces of everyone in the room on hearing the captain’s words.  “Your job will be to neutralize him so that he is no longer a threat.”

“Neutralize, Captain?”  Chief Brin inquired, wanting to be sure that he read Shelby’s unstated objective correctly.

“That’s right, Chief.”  Liz replied in a calm, level voice, her face devoid of expression as she laid especial emphasis on her first word, “Neutralize him.”

“That’s what I thought you said.”  The Red Orion said with a feral grin.  Glancing out the corner of his eye, he spotted a similar grin appearing on the face of the young Bajoran sitting next to him.

“If anyone has a problem with that—let me know now, and you can leave—again, nothing will be said.”  Hearing only silence in response, Shelby nodded her head grimly, “Good.  Now…as to how you’re going to get to your objective…that will depend on whether he’s on the planet’s surface or on his ship.  Mr. Worf—it’ll be the Defiant’s job to determine that.  Once we know for sure where he is, we can proceed from there.  I won’t lie to you…” she confessed, “…this might very well be a one way trip—but I think we’re all in agreement that it has to be done.  Any questions?”

“Lizzy?”  Pierson waved, flashing a roguish grin, “I’ve got a pretty good idea how we’re going to get to him if he’s on a ship, but what about if he’s on the planet’s surface?  He’ll have transporter buffers in place so we can’t beam down and if we go by shuttle, we’ll be shot down for sure…” 

“I’m glad you asked me that question.” Shelby replied, flashing a mischievous grin, “Tell me, Lynn…have you ever dreamed you were a bird?”

After everyone had a few moments to recover after hearing Shelby’s plan to get them to the planet’s surface, Liz stood up, “All right, let’s get to it—we’ve got a lot to do and not a whole lot of time to do it in.  Report to holodeck one to practice your ingress techniques for both contingencies—regardless of how it goes down, you’re only going to get one shot at this and you better get it right.”

************************************************************************

“Daras Tabor…you know Ahmet Nihal, second of the Nihalim family of the Orion Syndicate?”  Gul Rejak said, gesturing to the green Orion seated across from the Cardassian’s desk.

“Personally, no.” The Bajoran terrorist replied as he was ushered into Rejak’s luxuriously appointed office by an aide, “But we have spoken a few times through subspace.”  Taking the unoccupied seat next to the Orion, Tabor presented a padd.  “We’re ready to conduct the exchange.  Once we take delivery of the drugs, I’ll authorize the transfer of funds to the bank of your choice—I believe you mentioned the Borqu Bank on Ferenginar?”

“A good choice.”  The Orion declared approvingly, “Like any good Ferengi, Borqu takes his cut, but he keeps his security protocols up and is very discreet.”  Pausing for a moment to take a sip of springwine, Nihal continued, “Once I receive word that the goods in question have reached Federation space, I will turn over control of our freighter and its cargo to you.”  A sly grin crossing his face, the Syndicate liaison concluded, “I think you will find them sufficient to carry out your purpose.”

“I’m sure I will.”  Tabor responded, “So…when do we begin?”

“Immediately.”  Gul Rejak answered back, “We’ll have to use shuttlecraft to transport the cargo though—as an additional security precaution in the event Ayenga manages to elude the little trap I set for her, I’ve activated the planet’s transporter buffers.”

“A sensible precaution.”  Nihal quickly interjected before the Bajoran terrorist could protest.  “It won’t hurt us to spend a few extra hours on the surface.”

“Of course not!”  Rejak grinned, snapping his fingers.  As the door opened to reveal a pair of scantily clad women—one an Andorian and the other apparently human, the Cardassian leered, “You’re my guests!  Ketala and Tania will see to all your needs!”

********************************************************************

“Cloak’s operating at normal parameters.”  Chief O’Brien reported as the Defiant neared Taris III.

“Take us in. Begin passive scans.”  Lieutenant Commander Worf ordered as the tiny warship drew closer to the third habitable planet of the G2 star.

“One Galor class ship…” Jadzia Dax reported, “…four Hideki class patrol ships, a pair of modified Peregrines—those might belong to Tabor or his people, a pair of Orion raiders—and…” she added, a smile crossing her face, “…two freighters.  Looks like we caught them in time.”

“Good.”  Worf replied, “Any indication as to whether Rejak is on the surface or on the Galor?”

“It appears he’s on the surface.”  Dax replied, “There’s a lot of traffic emanating from these coordinates to the two freighters.” She reported as she downloaded the location into the Defiant’s computer.

“We have him then.”  Worf declared.  “Transmit the information to the Sutherland.”  Hitting the intercom button, the Klingon then ordered, “Landing party prepare for insertion.”  Turning his attention back to the lovely Trill sitting at the helm, he instructed, “Mr. Dax, the conn is yours.”

“Aye, Sir.”  Dax acknowledged, an unspoken, ‘be careful’ tacitly understood by the Klingon warrior as he nodded his head when their eyes met.

****************************************************************

“Transmission from the Defiant, Captain.”  Lieutenant Dryer stated as she relayed the results of the Defiant’s reconnaissance. 

Nodding her head, an unusually reflective and somber Elizabeth Shelby responded, “Very well, give the Go signal—all units to move according to plan. Red alert.”  The bridge now suddenly awash in red light as the alarm klaxon sounded, Shelby ordered, “Prepare to take us in, Mr. Lavelle.”

**********************************************************************

 “Adjust for planetary rotation.”  Lieutenant Commander Dax ordered as she tapped the intercom button on the command chair, “We’re in position, Worf.”  After a moment’s hesitation, Jadzia inquired in a worry-filled tone, “Are you sure about this, Worf?  If Rejak raises his shields before you touch down…”

Taking a deep breath, the Klingon warrior led his assault team into the airlock.  Receiving confirming nods from the human, red Orion, and Bajoran that would accompany him, Worf answered back in a surprisingly gentle voice, “I know.  We all know.  Depressurize and open.”

Grimly nodding her head at a young human ensign manning the starship’s tactical console, Jadzia imagined the airlock door opening into space at the same time as the force field dropped, exposing her par’Machai and the rest of his team to the vacuum.  She then imagined them stepping off into space, the retro-thrusters in their suits firing as they began their harrowing descent.

*********************************************************************

“That’s it!”  Sabrina announced into her comm as a green light on the control panel of her raider blinked.  “We’re going in.  Remember, people, our job is to draw those patrol ships off—let the starships do the heavy lifting here.”

Answering his beeping comm unit, a complacent Gul Rejak asked, “What is it?”

“Sensors have picked up several Maquis raiders at the outer edge of the system closing rapidly.”

“Then send the patrol vessels to chase them off!”  Rejak gruffly ordered.

“They’re taking the bait, Bri…” Larkin called out from his raider as his scanners picked up the oncoming Hidekis. 

“All right…” Sabrina ordered, “Remember to keep to the plan, people.  “Draw ‘em out as far as we can.”

*********************************************************************

Darkness surrounding her, Sito Jaxa felt her chest rise and fall as she breathed.  Her suit impellers firing automatically, the young Bajoran felt the gentle tugging of the planet’s surface as she, along with her comrades, began their long descent.  Zero-G freefall—that most dangerous of maneuvers—normally carried out by only the best of Starfleet’s Marines and commandoes, along with a few foolhardy adventurers, Sito Jaxa was now making her first dive with only a precious few hours of holodeck training.  Her odds of surviving were not good.

“Fun—isn’t it?”  The Huntress grinned as the laws of physics took effect. 

Ignoring the voice in her head, Sito ran the calculations in her mind.  An object falling freely at one earth gravity falls at 9.8 meters per second squared and Sito and her comrades began their descent at five hundred kilometers above the surface of Taris Three.  Without the anti-grav units in their suits, she and her friends would have reached terminal velocity long before even nearing the surface.  But that wouldn’t have been an issue as they would have burned up anyway due to atmospheric friction if not for the dissipation screens and ablative coating of their suits.  Of course, should any of those elements fail…well, Jaxa didn’t want to dwell on the consequences of that.  Instead, she fantasized about how it would feel to finally eviscerate Gul Rejak—the look on his face as she plunged her knife first into his groin.  As she and the rest of her team entered the planet’s stratosphere, she smiled, not even sure—or even caring now—if it was her—or the Huntress—who was smiling.

*********************************************************************

Watching intently as the Cardassian patrol vessels, taken in by Diaz’s ruse, sped off towards the raiders, Shelby nodded her head.  “Signal the Bluefin—now!”

“Signal coming in from Sutherland, Captain.”  Lieutenant T’Ser reported, “Now.”

“All right, Ensign Bralus, take us in.” Joseph ordered, “Prepare Mark 22s to fire on my mark.”

Disruptor bolts from the pursuing Hideki barely missing her, Sabrina Diaz pulled her tiny raider into a steep climb.  Her vision now a blurry red haze as her maneuvers strained the modified Peregrine’s inertial compensators to their limits and beyond, the former Starfleet captain fought to reach the firing button on her console before she passed out, touching the button just as the red haze began to turn black.

“They’re charging their disruptor banks, Captain.”  Lt. Dryer reported as twin yellow beams lanced out from the Galor.  The Sutherland shaking lightly from the impact, Captain Shelby ordered, “Return fire, all phasers.  Helm, take us to course two-four-five, mark three, then fire photon torpedoes two and four.”

“Aye, Captain.”  Sam Lavelle acknowledged as he piloted the Nebula class cruiser as its phasers impacted on the Cardassian ship’s shields.  “Torpedoes away.”

“One impact.”  Nyota declared, “Their shields are holding.”

“Concentrate on their lower quadrant, Mr. Lavelle—that’s where they’re weakest.”  Liz instructed as the Suthy shuddered once again under the Cardassian ship’s fire.

“Gods!”  Ensign Bralus whispered in awe, partially distracted by the lethal pas de deux of the two capital ships as explosions from the impact of beams and torpedoes on deflector shields filled his screen.

“Mind your helm, Mr. Bralus.”  Commander McBride ordered, somewhat in wonder himself at the display of raw power he was witnessing on his viewscreen, as the border cutter shuddered under the weapons fire from one of the Orion raiders.

“Fire the Mark 22s.”  Akinola commanded in a sharp, clear voice that immediately brought his bridge crew back to the task at hand, “Then switch to the photons.”

“Torpedoes away.”  The young Bolian, his mind now back on the job, acknowledged.”

The freighters are down.”  T’Ser reported as the ‘Rat Traps’ exploded near their targets, “But the raiders are still active.”

“They must have hardened their systems.”  Akinola concluded as he stroked his chin.  “Looks like we’re going to have to do this the hard way. Attack plan Tango-4, target the lead Orion, all weapons—Fire!”  The Nigerian captain ordered as he lowered his arm in a chopping motion.

“Direct hit.”  The Vulcan operations officer reported, “They’re drifting.”

“Good.”  Joseph replied, “Shift target to the lead Kon Ma raider...”

“Divide and conquer?”  Dale inquired with a grin.

“Let’s hope so, XO…” Akinola replied, managing a grin of his own, “Otherwise, we’re going to be in for a long day.”

************************************************************************

Rolling as he hit the ground with a thud Solly disengaged his parachute.  Rising to his feet, his phaser carbine at the ready, the red Orion chief petty officer scanned the landing zone, grunting as he saw the rest of his team recovering from their landings.  Their presence masked by both the darkness and their stealth suits, Solly nodded his head.  So far…so good.  Long way to go though.  Approaching Lieutenant Sito who was still tied up with her ‘chute, Brin drew his knife, making as if to cut the lines only to be rudely rebuffed by the Bajoran.

“I’ve got it.”  Jaxa snarled as she took out the Andorian war knife sheathed at her side and swiftly slashed the cords.

“So I see.”  Chief Brin replied in a flat tone as he backed off.

“Chief?  A moment…”

Recognizing the deep voice of the Klingon placed in command of the assault team, Solly nodded his head as Worf approached, “Sir?”

Speaking in a low, confidential tone, Worf inquired, “How aware are you of Lieutenant Sito’s situation, Chief?”

“I’ve read the official reports and Admiral Glover discussed it somewhat with me, but…”  The red Orion admitted, “I have a feeling there’s still an awful lot I don’t know.”

“You’re right about that.”  The Klingon warrior bluntly replied, “Did the report or Admiral Glover tell you that besides Cardassians, the ones most frequently abusing her were Orions?”

Chief Brin clenched his teeth before grimly responding, “I think I understand both her reaction and what you’re trying to say, Commander.  Don’t worry.  I’ll be careful around her.  And…” he added, a note of determination in his voice, “I promise I won’t let anything happen to her and I won’t let her do anything she might regret later.”

“Good.”  The Klingon replied, most satisfied with the chief’s answer.  Turning to the young Bajoran woman who was keeping her distance from the red Orion who had earlier come to her aid, Worf commanded, his deep voice bringing her back at once to the task at hand, “Lieutenant Sito?  Are we within that building’s defense perimeter?”

Her training at once kicking in, Jaxa took out her tricorder.  Nodding her head after a quick scan, the security specialist replied, “Yes, Sir.  We’re well within the shield wall, but we’re still open to possible weapons fire from the building itself.”

Jerking his head in the direction of Rejak’s compound, Worf, along with his team, began their stealthy approach.  “Then we should move quickly before they find out we’re here.”

“I’ll second that plan.”  Pierson declared sardonically, fingering the scar on his cheek.  “The sooner we get there…the sooner we can deal with Gul Rejak—once and for all.”

***********************************************************************

“What’s going on here?”  Ahmet Nihal demanded as he rushed half-naked and breathless into Gul Rejak’s office.

“What do you think?”  Daras Tabor replied with a sarcastic voice, “We’re under attack.”

“It seems Sabrina Diaz and Starfleet reached an accord.”  Rejak responded in thoughtful tone, “And at the most…inconvenient…of times.”

“So…” the Ahmet demanded, “What do you plan to do about it?”

“Why…” the corrupt gul shrugged his shoulders, “I intend to destroy the attacking vessels…what else?”  Tapping his comm badge, Rejak then ordered, “Prokan…raise shields and prepare ground defenses.”

**********************************************************************

Assured that the Worf’s team had begun its assault, Jadzia Dax ordered, “All right, Mr. Nog…time to give the Sutherland a hand.  Take us one hundred degrees mark six.  Prepare photon torpedoes and phasers.  As the Galor loomed larger in the Defiant’s viewscreen, the raven-haired Trill cupped her chin.  “Come in on their lower front quadrant, Mr. Nog…that way we’ll be able to catch them in a crossfire.”

“Aye, Sir.”  The Ferengi cadet acknowledged.

“All right…” Jadzia stood up as she felt the sudden rush of adrenaline, “Decloak and fire!”

**********************************************************************

Skirting the fighting, Ayenga smiled triumphantly as she piloted her raider closer to the drifting freighter carrying the cargo of Corillan acid.  “Transmit the recognition code.” 

“What if Daras has changed the code?” Her Bajoran copilot, Omkar, inquired with a worried frown.

“Of course he did.”  Ayenga smiled back, “That’s why I gave you these codes—got them from our inside source just before everything started blowing up here.”  She declared triumphantly as she dodged a random disruptor bolt.

“All right…” Omkar replied, “Transmitting.”  Sighing in relief, Omkar reported, “Their systems are still down because of the Federation torpedoes, but they can manage to get their shuttle bay doors open.

“Good.”  Ayenga exclaimed, “Tell Hanya and Banan to get ready and signal Tohon to board the Orion.  We do this right, we’ll make off with both freighters before Daras, Rejak, or the Starfleeters know what’s happening.”

***********************************************************************

“Which one?”  Nura asked as she pointed at the tactical display.  “They’ve split up—one of ‘em’s going to each freighter.  Which one’s the one with Ayenga?”

“That one.”  Manuele decided, picking one of the freighters at random.  “We’ve got a fifty-fifty shot…”

“Better oddsssss than in mossssst casssssinossss I know…” S’nurl quipped, his toothy grin lending the Gorn a fearsome appearance.

“We’re in transporter range.”  The Bzzit Khaht pilot declared, “We won’t have any problems beaming over thanks to those ‘rat trap’ torpedoes.”

“All right…let’s go.”  Atoa ordered as he pressed a button on the runabout’s control console.  “I’ve just sent a tight beam locator signal to the Sutherland.  That way they’ll know we’re here and they can make sure the Bluefin or anyone else on our side doesn’t shoot us down.”

Cradling his disruptor carbine, S’nurl hissed, “Let’ssssss go….we are wassssting time.”

“Couldn’t have said it better myself.”  Manuele quipped, flashing a sardonic smile as he stepped up on the transporter pad, joining his comrades. “Energize.”

**********************************************************************

Her lips turning up in a smile as she witnessed the Defiant joining the fray, Liz muttered under her breath, “’Bout time you joined the party, Jadz.”

“Signal coming in…” Lieutenant Dryer reported, at first in a detached voice.  But then, a broad grin appeared on her face, “It’s from Manny!  He’s going after Ayenga, but there’s a problem…she’s going after both freighters and he can only chase one of the teams.”

“Relay it to Captain Akinola.”  Liz ordered as the Sutherland shook under the onslaught of the Galor’s disruptors and photon torpedoes.  “Course one-six-five, mark thirty, Mr. Lavelle…execute.  Nyota, fire photon torpedoes, pattern Sigma—Now!  Let’s see if between the two of us we can get that Cardie to break off.”

“Torpedoes away! The Cardies have launched too.”  The ebony skinned tactical officer exclaimed as four balls of red energy shot out of the Suthy’s tactical pod, racing past an equal number of blobs launched by the Cardassians.  “Brace for impact!”

“Shields!”  Liz commanded.  Lieutenant Rysyl, manning the operations console moved instinctively to comply just as the Cardassian torpedoes detonated, sending the Nebula class vessel into a convulsion of shakes and shudders.  Her console erupting into a fury of sparks, Anara screamed as she covered her eyes with her hands in a vain effort to keep the sparks away from her face and eyes.

“Anara!” Hobson called out, the expressionless mask he normally wore in public shattered as he saw the Deltan woman writhing on the deck in pain.  Rushing to the fallen Anara’s side, Chris kneeling down tapped his comm badge, “Medical teams to the bridge, stat!”  He ordered as, with surprising gentleness, he removed the Deltan’s blood stained hands away from her face, taking care not to disturb the metallic fragments embedded into her flesh.  Sighing in relief as he noted that none of her facial injuries were deep or serious, Chris managed a reassuring smile, “You’ll be all right, Anara…help is on its way.”

“Get those fires out, now!”  Shelby ordered.  Calling out to her tactical officer, the blonde captain commanded, “Return fire—all phaser banks!”

“Firing!”  Nyota replied as Maria and Varok, quickly grabbing fire extinguishers, moved to put out the fires that had erupted on the operations and sciences consoles.

Watching the Cardassian ship, now drifting helplessly in her viewscreen, Liz turned her attention to Commander Hobson, “How is she, Chris.”

“I think she’ll be all right.”  Her first officer replied as he fought to regain his normal equilibrium.  “I’ve stopped most of the bleeding, but she’s going to need medical help.”

“They’ll be here soon, Chris.”  Liz replied reassuringly as she heard her tactical officer call out to her.

“Captain?  The Defiant is hailing us.”

“On screen, Mr. Dryer.”  Liz responded as she turned back towards the viewscreen.  Seeing the face of her long time friend, the blonde captain managed a shaky grin, “Thanks for the assist.”

“Don’t mention it.”  Jadzia responded, “How’re you doing?”

“They got a lucky hit on us in their last barrage.”  Shelby answered back, “But I think we’ve got everything under control…”

“Sir?”  Maria Django interrupted, “We’re picking up unusual fluctuations in the warp engines!”

***********************************************************************

Alarm klaxons ringing, Jadon heard the voice of one of his engineers cry out in pain.  “On my way!  The Trill engineer shouted as he rushed towards the injured crewman, whimpering as he laid on the deck, his legs crushed by a piece of fallen conduit.  “Help’s on its way, Son.”  He said reassuringly as he tapped his comm badge, “Medical teams to engineering…”

“They’re on their way, Jadon!”  Denise Murakawa’s voice responded, “We’ll get there as fast as we can.”

“Boss!” 

His head jerking up as he heard Angela’s scream, a single word escaped the Trill’s lips…

“Treasure!”

*********************************************************************

“Holy…” Dale murmured as the viewscreen automatically adjusted for brightness.  “Trea…”

“I’m sure she’s all right, Dale…” Joseph declared in a reassuring voice as he clasped the younger man’s shoulder, “Right now, we’ve got our own matters to tend to.  Target that raider in quadrant three…”

“You’re right, Sir.”  The Texan replied, nodding his head.  “Photon torpedoes…Fire!”

*********************************************************************

“It’s all right, Sir” Crewman Phipps groaned as Jadon looked first towards the sound of Treasure’s voice and then back down on his injured crewman.  “I’ll be ok ‘til someone gets here—go.”

“If you’re sure?”  Jadon replied, patting Phipps on the shoulder as the injured man’s eyes flashed a determined look.  Getting up and rushing towards the young ensign’s console, Jadon frowned as he saw the bloody gash on her forehead.  “You all right, Treasure?”

“I’ll be fine.”  The North Star native responded, “We’ve got bigger problems though—look!” She exclaimed, pointing at her sparking console.  “That lucky shot’s caused a cascade effect.  If we don’t get those flux capacitors realigned in the next minute or two…”

“Boom.”  Jadon completed as he took over the console.  “Right…let’s get to it.”

“I’ll get my tool kit and get down there…”

Shaking his head, the Trill chief engineer made as if to speak only to be cut off by his buxom subordinate.

“Boss…we’ve got to get those warp-flux capacitors back online and the only way we can do that is for me to go down there and do it.  Please…let me do my job.”

Grimly nodding his head, Jadon sighed, “Go ahead, Treasure.  Watch your rad. dosage, get the job done and get out of there as fast as possible.”

“You know it, Sir.”  The younger engineer exclaimed with a big grin on her face as, clutching the tool kit in her hands, she dashed down to the warp core, ignoring the blaring klaxons as she ran.

“Shelby to Engineering…”

“Engineering…Tol speaking.”  Jadon answered his voice straining as he watched his young protégé begin the process of repairing and realigning the flux capacitors.

“What’s going on down there, Jadon?”  Shelby inquired, her voice barely betraying her growing worry, “We’re picking up dangerous fluctuations in the warp matrix.”

“The capacitors are offline.”  Tol gloomily responded, “Treasure’s down there trying to fix them.”

“Understood…” Liz replied, fully aware of the implications of her chief engineer’s words.  “Shelby to Murakawa…I need radiological specialists in Engineering right away.”

Having already received a report from the medical team that she had already dispatched to Engineering earlier, Dr. Murakawa responded, “They’re already on their way, Captain.”

“You hear that, Jadon?”

“Yeah.”  The Trill engineer responded somberly as his worried eyes gazed first on his rapidly redlining console and then on the young woman feverishly working while being simultaneously bombarded by dangerous radiation.  “Thanks.”

*********************************************************************

 “Who did we lose?  Sabrina called out as she witnessed one of her raiders explode under the disruptor fire of the last of the Hidekis.

“That was Rof.”  A solemn Danyor Krakke responded as he raked the Cardassian’s hull with phaser fire.  As the patrol vessel exploded, the Terra Novan grimly declared to his deceased compatriot, “I know it doesn’t bring you back, old friend, but now, at least, you’ve got someone to hunt in your hunting grounds”

“What do we do now, Bri?”  Larkin’s voice called out from the intercom, “We’ve lived up to our end of the bargain.  I say we get out of here before Shelby decides to change her mind.”

As the part of Sabrina Diaz that was once a Starfleet captain waged an internal battle with the Maquis terrorist that she had become, Sabrina gritted her teeth.  Finally reaching a decision, she announced, “We’ve still got work to do.  Set course for Taris III.”

“What?”  A surprised Larkin exclaimed as an equally pleased Danyor Krakke responded with a simple, “Sounds good to me, Sabrina.” 

“You heard me, Larkin.”  Diaz replied sharply.  “If you want to bug out, you can go, but I’m going in.  If nothing else, we owe ‘em one for Rof.”

“All right…all right!”  A reluctant Larkin responded as he brought his raider in formation with the other survivors of Diaz’s team.  “You win.  Now, let’s go before I change my mind.”

**********************************************************************

Firing as they exited their raider, Ayenga and Omkar quickly downed the two Kon Ma fighters in the hangar deck.  “Move!”  Ayenga hissed as Hanya and Banan joined them, Banan cradling a cylindrical container.  “We don’t have much time.”

As Ayenga and her team exited the hangar bay and made their way towards the cargo hold containing the Corillan acid, Hanya raised her hand.  Hearing the sound of voices coming from the other side of the door, Ayenga nodded her head as the pair listened.

“Our raiders covering us have all been either disabled or destroyed and it’ll be some time before we can restore shields, so we should expect boarders soon.  This cargo in not to fall into their hands.  The moment they board, the captain will activate the self-destruct sequence.  Once that happens, you will have two minutes to get the hells off this ship before it blows up.  Do you understand?”

“Yes, Kadan.”

“Good.  I’ll be in the hangar deck.  Daras wants Ayenga disposed of and I want to be there to see the look on her face.”

Her eyes flashing with anger as she heard the disembodied voices words, Ayenga motioned for Hanya to take the other side of the door as Omkar took cover behind a pallet of what appeared to be medical stores.  Pressing herself flat against the wall, the Bajoran terrorist held her breath as the door swished open.  Waiting until her intended victim had crossed the threshold and the door had once again closed, the ex-medical technician sprung out, grasping Kadan in a chokehold, her disruptor pressed against the small of his back.  “Make a sound…” she hissed, “…and you’re dead.”  A cold smirk appearing on her face, the Bajoran woman sneered, “You like the look on my face now?  I’m enjoying the look on yours.”

Facing the door now, her prisoner serving as her shield, Ayenga nodded to Omkar who had now moved up to her old position at the side of the door.  Acknowledging his leader’s non-verbal command with a nod of his own, Omkar touched the door control.  As the door slid open, Ayenga pushed her prisoner at the two men standing guard, firing with her disruptor as she did so with Omkar and Hanya firing as well.  Watching nonchalantly as the three Kon Ma gunmen slid to the floor dead, Ayenga wrinkled her nose as the smell of charred flesh wafted towards her.  “Leave it to Daras to rely on fools.”  Striding into the cargo hold, the Bajoran woman pointed at a nearby canister containing Corillan acid, “Here.”  She announced, “That’s where we’ll place it.  Now hurry…we’re wasting time.”

**********************************************************************

The alarm klaxons blaring, Treasure winced as salty sweat dripped into her open wound.  Pulling out the damaged capacitors, the young blonde engineer ignored the dosimeter on her chest as it changed color first from green to yellow then to orange and now the orange beginning to darken into a lethal red.  Replacing the old units, the ensign slipped the relays back into place.  Closing the access panel, Treasure tapped her comm badge.  “They should be good to go now, Boss.  Cross your fingers, I’m gonna restart ‘em.”  Taking a deep breath as she placed her hand on the touch display, she called out, “How’re the readings?”

Glancing down at his console, Jadon frowned as, at first, the flux readings stubbornly remained in the red zone.  Saying a silent prayer to whatever deities there were that he didn’t believe in anyway, the Trill pushed the reboot button on his display.  Letting out a sigh of relief as the readings began to drop down and then stabilize, Jadon all but shouted into his comm badge, “You did it, Treasure—now get the hell out of there!”

“Don’t have to tell me twice, Boss!”  The lovely engineer responded as her dosimeter turned a brilliant red.  Staggering towards the door, Treasure slumped to the deck, a rushing Jadon catching her in his arms just as she fell.  Setting her gently down to the deck, Tol looked up as the medical team rushed in.

“We’ve got her, Sir.”  One of the medtechs said gently as she ran a medical tricorder over the unconscious ensign. Taking out a hypo, the medtech injected Treasure in the neck.  “Hyronolin.” She explained.  “It’ll stabilize her until we get her into sickbay.  Tapping he intercom, the young woman spoke, “Mya to sickbay…emergency radiological transport.”

Watching as his engineer and the medtech disappeared in the blue transporter effect, Jadon ignored the other medtech who was that moment tending to his wounds.  Tapping his comm badge, the Trill spoke in a flat tone, “Tol to Shelby…systems are back online.”

“I can see that!”  A smiling Shelby replied from the Bridge.  “You have my thanks.”

“Don’t thank me.”  Jadon responded in a strained voice, “It was all Treasure. She did it.”

“I see…” Liz replied in a soft voice.  Turning to Lieutenant Dryer, the captain ordered, “Have security teams board that Cardassian ship.  Once it’s secure, you can start transporting spare damage control and medical teams over.”  Nodding her head at her tactical officer’s acknowledgement, Liz now turned her attention to the Trill woman on her viewscreen.  “Can you take care of Rejak’s, Jadzia?  We’re going to be tied up for a while dealing with his flagship.”

“Of course, Captain.”  Dax responded, “Can we provide assistance?”

“No…” Shelby smiled back, “I think we’ve got it.  But you better hurry—we’ve got Rejak on the ropes and I don’t want to give him any time to regroup.”

Before Dax could respond, another voice, this one belonging to Sabrina Diaz came through the intercom, “Don’t bother.  We’ll take care of Rejak’s surface installations.  You two have enough to keep you occupied.”

“Well, Liz?”  The raven-haired Trill quipped.

“Sir?”  Commander Hobson whispered, “It wouldn’t be a bad idea to keep the Defiant in reserve in case Rejak did manage to call in reinforcements.”

“Good point, Chris.”  Liz replied, concurring with her first officer’s observations, “Very well, Ms. Diaz…” Shelby responded, “You have the go-ahead.  Take out those facilities.”

***********************************************************************

Rushing back to cover, Pierson and Lieutenant Sito dived into the gully where the other two members of their team were already crouched.  “Three…” Pierson gleefully counted down, “Two…one…” followed by a muffled crump and a brief flash of light.”  That should do it.”  The rogue grinned as he cautiously raised his head.  “Now!” 

Rushing through the breech, the assault team dived for cover behind a pallet of containers as a squad of Cardassian soldiers appeared in response to the explosion. Quickly firing her phaser, a slender grin crossed Sito’s face as her shot struck one of the troopers on the chest, downing him at once.  Silently cursing the fact that her weapon was merely set on stun instead of kill, the Bajoran security specialist quickly set her sights on a new target as her teammates joined in the firefight.

Lost in the exhilaration of battle, Worf almost didn’t see the Cardassian aiming his disruptor at him, until, nearly too late, he caught a glimpse of metal.  Diving just in time as the disruptor beam passed over where his head would have been, the Klingon warrior nodded his head in appreciation at the red Orion who had downed the Cardassian with his own phaser.

“Don’t mention it.”  Solly said with a toothy grin as the last of the Cardassians fell, “You owe me one.”  Feeling the building shake, the Bluefin CPO exclaimed in surprise, “What the hell was that?”

“That would be the Defiant.”  Worf replied confidently, not realizing that it was actually Sabrina Diaz and her people actually carrying out the attack.  “Eliminating Rejak’s weapons emplacements and labs.”

“Good.”  Solly answered back with a grin, “Now, let’s go get the head snake.”

***********************************************************************

“That’s the last of ‘em.”  Sabrina Diaz declared as a building housing the equipment to manufacture Corillan acid exploded under the fire of her weapons.  “Let’s go home.”  Switching comm frequencies, the former starship captain spoke, “Diaz to Shelby.  We just took out the last of Rejak’s surface facilities.”  Pausing for a moment, she concluded, her last words taking on an almost challenging tone, “We’ve held up our end of the deal…now…are you going to hold up yours?”

“Captain?”  Commander Hobson interjected, “This is probably the best chance we’ve got to capture Diaz and her people…”

“No…Chris…” Liz replied, lowering her voice to a whisper as she shook her head.  “She’s right…she did keep her end of the bargain.  She could have easily bugged out while we were occupied with the Galor, but she stuck around.  She didn’t go back on her word, and I’m not going back on mine.”  Raising her voice to a normal volume, Shelby addressed the former captain, “You can go, Sabrina and thank you. Oh…” the blonde captain added, her voice now taking on a harder edge, “…one other thing.  Don’t let me catch you in Federation space or I’ll see to it that you get a free room with a view in the Jaros II Penal Colony.”

“Gotta catch me first!”  Sabrina responded with a laugh as she and her team sped off, their part done.

************************************************************************

“That’s the last of ‘em, Sir.”  Dale announced as an Orion raider exploded in the Bluefin’s viewscreen.

“Good, XO.”  Captain Akinola acknowledged, “Tell Chief Deryx and his people to prepare to board those freighters. Mr. Bralus…bring us in transporter range.”

“Aye, Sir.”  The young Bolian helmsman responded as he steered the aging border cutter towards the drifting freighters.

***********************************************************************

Materializing on the bridge of the Maquis freighter, Manuele and S’nurl both aimed their weapons at the three men who comprised the bridge crew of the tiny freighter.

“You’re too late.”  One of the terrorists declared with false bravado as he tried in vain to keep the look of fear from his face as he stood covered by a very large snarling Gorn carrying an equally large disruptor carbine.  “This ship is going to explode and its cargo with it and there’s nothing you can do about it.”

“Nura…” Manuele called out, pointing at the flashing console.  “Can you do anything about that?”

“I think so.”  The Bzzit Khaht replied as she quickly examined the display.  “You go ahead and check out the cargo hold—I’ll get this.”

“What about them?”  S’nurl asked, “We can’t leave them alone…”

“I’ve got ‘em.”  Manuele replied as he stunned the bridge crew.  “Now…let’s move.”

Waiting until the door closed behind Atoa and his Gorn companion, Nura tapped her comm badge.  “They’re on their way.  I’ll finish deactivating the self destruct and meet you in the hangar bay.”

Nodding her head as she heard the Bzzit Khaht’s words, Ayenga replied, “Good.  Be ready to beam us directly to our raider when I signal.”  Pushing a button on the cylinder that she had attached to one of the cargo canisters, the Bajoran terrorist declared, “The device is activated.  When that bomb goes off, it’ll give off a gas that’ll penetrate through anything—including the containers holding the acid.  I don’t need to tell you what’ll happen if you get exposed to the mutagenic and viral compounds released in the gas.”  Hearing a noise coming from just outside the cargo hold, Ayenga, acting on instinct dove just as a phaser beam sliced through where she had stood.

“Give it up, Ayenga!”  Manuele called out as S’nurl fired his disruptor, shattering a container next to where Omkar crouched, showering the male Bajoran with plasticine fragments from the container.

“I don’t think so, Starfleet!”  Ayenga challenged as she tapped her comm badge.  Smirking, she boasted as she and the rest of her people were surrounded by the red glow of a transporter, “Next time don’t believe the person you just stabbed in the back when they tell you that they’ve forgiven you.”

“Nura hassss betrayed ussss…” S’nurl growled.  “We musssst leave…the ssssself dessstruct…”

“No.”  Manuele disagreed, shaking his head as he pointed at the cylinder Ayenga had attached to one of the canisters of acid.  “Remember, Ayenga wants to contaminate the acid—and anyone caught on the ship when the bomb goes off.  I’m betting she told Nura to go on ahead and deactivate the self-destruct.

“A dangeroussss risssk.”  The Gorn remarked.

Atoa replied as he rushed towards the device, “You better go on and beam back to the runabout.  I’ll take care of things here.”

“No.”  S’nurl answered back with a hiss, “I will ssssstay and cover you in casssse ssssomeone triessss to sssstop you.”

“Thanks.”  The security chief replied, flashing a half-grin as he began work.

**********************************************************************

“Let’s get the hells out of here!”  Ayenga exclaimed as she took the seat next to her newest recruit.

“Taking off.”  Nura replied as the raider slipped away.  “We got a problem…” The Bzzit Khaht declared, “Looks like a border cutter…”

“Can you evade?”

Nura answered back with a sly grin, “Just watch me.”

***********************************************************************

“Captain…” T’Ser announced as she looked up from her sensor panel, “I’m picking up a Maquis raider pulling away from one of the freighters at full impulse.

“Mr. Bralus…pursue.  Lock phasers, Mr. T’Ser.”  Captain Akinola calmly ordered as the Bluefin’s impulse engines sprang to life.

“The raider’s gone into evasive action, Sir.”  The Bolian helmsman reported, shaking his head, “Whoever’s piloting that craft is either very good—or completely crazy!”

“Or both.”  Commander McBride commented.  “Do you have a lock yet, Mr. T’Ser?”

“No, Sir.”  The Vulcan woman responded, shaking her head, “That pilot keeps shaking us before the computer can get a full target lock.

“Maintain pursuit.”  Akinola commanded, “And target manually.  Let’s see if we can do any better with the good ol’ Mark One Eyeball.”

***********************************************************************

The sweat beading on his forehead, Manuele looked up at the Gorn standing watch.  “I can’t do it.”  He declared somberly.  “Ayenga learned from the last time.  She’s put in so many traps and blind connections that it’s impossible to deactivate it before time expires.”  Making a decision, the New Kauaian instructed his companion, “Beam back to the runabout.  See if you can raise one of the starships and then transport the freighter’s crew.”

“What about you?”  The Gorn inquired.

“I’m going to make my way back to the bridge and trigger a warp core explosion.  Whatever else happens…” the New Kauaian said with a sad smile, “Ayenga’s virus can’t be allowed to spread.

Shaking his head, S’nurl pointed, “There’ssssss not enough time…”

“Then we better move.”  Atoa rejoined, “Time’s wasting.”

Nodding his head, S’nurl tapped his comm badge, uttering, before he disappeared in the blue transporter effect, “Good luck, Human.”

**********************************************************************

Coming out of what was obviously an armory bearing three pistols in her hands, Lieutenant Sito announced, “Projectile weapons.  Since they’ve got an energy damping field, I figured Rejak would keep some of these around.”  She explained as she handed a weapon to each of her teammates.

“Good thinking.”  Pierson commented as he examined his weapon.  “Cardassian D-24.  Gas operated semi-automatic.”  He noted as he racked back the slide.  “You don’t see ‘em too much these days, but some of the lowest conscript orders still use ‘em.  They’re not much use against high-tech forces, but…they get the job done just fine when you want to plunder a bronze-age culture.”

“And you can bet that Rejak and his pals’ll have theirs with them.” 

 “Where’s Rejak and the others?”  Worf demanded as he held a Cardassian glin by his neck, his snarling visage mere inches away from the glin’s face as the Klingon warrior held his mek’leth in his other hand. “I am losing my patience.”

“Better tell him.”  Solly grinned Glancing down at the Cardassian soldier lying stunned at his feet, and then at a grim-faced Lieutenant Sito, the Red Orion remarked, “Klingons aren’t the most patient of people—and neither am I or that Bajoran woman over there for that matter…”

“All right!  All right!”  The Cardassian whimpered.  “They’re in the third chamber, but the entry is sealed with a coded lock…”

“Access code!”  Worf growled as he tightened his grip on his prisoner’s throat.

“35291!”  The glin quickly answered and then warned, “But your phasers…”

“Won’t work.”  Sito interrupted with a sneer.  “We know—he’s running a damping field.  Slipping her pistol into her belt as she drew her Andorian war knife, the Bajoran woman smirked, “That’s why I picked up those projectile weapons and brought this…”

“We’ve got what we need.”  Worf declared as he head-butted the Cardassian, smiling grimly as the unconscious glin slid down to the floor.  “Let’s go.”

“Not bad.”  Solly remarked with a lopsided grin.  His grin vanishing as suddenly as it appeared, the Red Orion growled, “Now, let’s end this.”

*******************************************************************

“Almost got her, Sir.”  Lieutenant T’Ser exclaimed as her manually targeted phaser shot barely missed the dodging raider.  Her reticule lining up, a slight grin appeared on the Vulcan woman’s face until a hissing voice came through the Bluefin’s intercom.

“Any ssssstarsssships…emergency…need asssissstance.”

“This is the USS Bluefin.”  Captain Akinola announced, “Who are you and what’s the nature of your emergency.”

“My name isssssss S’nurl.  One of your officerssssssss needssss help…the freighter he isssss on isssss about to ssssself dessssstruct.

 

“Captain?”  Lieutenant T’Ser inquired, “I almost have a lock.”

Taking a deep breath and then exhaling, Joseph Akinola came to the only decision he could.  “Our primary mission, Lieutenant, is Search and Rescue.  Set course for that freighter, Mr. Bralus…maximum impulse.”  Watching dejectedly as the Kon Ma raider flashed into warp, the white-haired border skipper shook his head, “Looks like this is going to be Ayenga’s lucky day after all.”

*********************************************************************

“I’ll enter in the code sequence.”  Sito volunteered as the rest of her team took cover.  Punching in the code, the Bajoran security officer smiled in satisfaction as the door slid open.  Rapidly taking cover behind the wall on the side of the door, Jaxa heard the crack of the bullets as they whizzed by her.

“Yup.”  Pierson noted dryly, “They’re waiting for us.”

“Then, let us not disappoint them.”  Worf responded as he fired his pistol, ducking back down as a return volley from Rejak and his accomplices came his way.

“Let’s hope they run out of bullets before we do.”  Solly commented with a crooked grin as he joined the firefight, noting wryly, “Thankfully they’re lousy shots.”

“We’re not much better.”  Sito countered as she let loose another three round burst.

“Well…” Pierson riposted, “When was the last time you fired a projectile weapon?”

“Last week.”  Sito responded, “You?”

“Can’t remember.”  The rogue responded as he fired his weapon.

“Will the two of you…” Worf called out in a voice that sounded almost amused, “Keep your mind on the task at hand.”  Noting the sudden lack of fire coming from the other room, the Klingon gambled, “Now!  Before they can reload!”

*********************************************************************

His fingers flying over the engineering console, Manuele successfully keyed in the sequence that would remove the matter—anti-matter containment bubble, bringing about an immediate cascade effect that would destroy the ship and its soon to be contaminated cargo.  Smiling in satisfaction, the New Kauaian leaned back in his chair as the countdown approached zero.

Five…four…The Bajoran numerals flashed on the screen. Three…two…Just as the final digit displayed; Manuele felt the unmistakable tingle of a transporter effect.

One

The Bluefin’s viewscreen erupted in a brilliant flash causing everyone on their bridge to avert their eyes as the screen automatically adjusted for the sudden brightness.

“Did we get him?”  Captain Akinola asked.

“Yes, Sir.”  T’Ser acknowledged with a grin.  “He’s in the transporter room.”

“Good.”  Keep him there for now until Dr. Baxter certifies that he’s not carrying any contaminants.  Then…” The Nigerian skipper declared, flashing an amused grin, “...if he clears, take him down to the wardroom and tell Cookie to fix him whatever the hell he wants.”  Pausing for a moment, the captain then inquired, “What does Chief Deryx have to report?”
 

“The Orion freighter—and the weapons it’s carrying—are all secure, Sir.”  Lieutenant T’Ser reported.  “The Chief reports some mild opposition at first from the Orions, but it died down pretty quickly.  He adds though…” she said with a crooked grin, “…that a lot of them will be waking up with headaches.”

“Serves ‘em right.”  Joseph replied with a snort.  “All right, Mr. Bralus.  Looks like we’re just about done here.  Take us first to the runabout so that we can pick up that Gorn’s prisoners and transport Mr. Atoa back and then to the freighter.  After we take it into tow, bring us up with the Sutherland and Defiant.”

“Aye, Sir.”  The Bolian helmsman responded as the border cutter’s impulse engines once more sprang into life.

************************************************************************

Lunging at the green Orion who was at that moment attempting to bring his handgun up to meet the onrushing threat, Solly, thanks to both his greater muscle mass and his momentum, easily brought the Ahmet down.  Striking quickly, the red Orion CPO stabbed his knife deep into Nihal’s chest as his other hand knocked the pistol out of the Syndicate leader’s hand.  Feeling the green Orion twitch under him, Chief Brin twisted his knife as he extracted his blade.  “Go to hell.”  Solly cursed as Nihal’s life slowly ebbed away.

Smirking, Daras Tabor raised his weapon at the human facing him.  However, before he could pull the trigger, the Bajoran terrorist’s eyes widened as he saw the hilt of a dagger thrown by his would be victim imbedded in his wrist.  Howling in pain, Daras dropped his pistol as Pierson’s wrist snapped back once again, releasing another projectile—this one puncturing the Kon Ma gangster’s neck.

“Now it’s your turn.”  Lieutenant Sito declared as her eyes fell on the one who had so wronged her.  Her Andorian war knife gleaming in her hands, the Bajoran woman advanced towards her prey.

“Now!” The Huntress exulted, “We have him!  Kill him!”

The other three members of the team, looking at each other questioningly, all came to agreement.  “Gentlemen?”  Pierson declared, “Why don’t we let the lady take care of business?”

“Sounds like a plan to me.”  Solly agreed.

“It is justice.”  Worf concurred, nodding his head grimly.

“No one to protect you this time, Palukoo.” Sito declared, flashing a cold grin as she brandished her knife.  “Now you answer for all the pain you’ve caused over the years—for the lives you’ve destroyed.”

“I’m sorry, my dear…” Rejak grinned as he tapped a button on his wrist, “But not today.”

Crying out as she saw a red field surrounding Gul Rejak, Jaxa threw her knife at her hated enemy—only to watch as both Rejak and knife disappeared.

“No!”  The distraught young woman cried out as she sank down to her knees.

“NO!!!!”

************************************************************************

Looking down sympathetically at the sobbing Bajoran woman, Pierson remarked with a scowl, “The bastard had an out—he always has an out.”

“How?”  Chief Brin inquired, “The transporter buffers are still in place.”

“He obviously left a frequency band open so that he could snake his miserable ass out if he had to.”  Lynn replied, not even bothering to hide his anger.

His heart going out to the distraught Lieutenant Sito, Worf tried to console his former protégé, “Maybe your knife struck home, Jaxa.  It did dematerialize along with him…”

“Maybe…” Solly chimed in and then inquired, “So what do we do now?”

“We download everything we can from Rejak’s computers.”  Worf instructed, “Maybe he’s left something there that will force the Detapa Council to finally take action against him.”

“Don’t bet on it.”  Pierson remarked.  Looking first at Sito and then at the Klingon Starfleet officer, the roguish human suggested, “Me and Solly can handle this.  Why don’t you stay with the young lady—she knows and trusts you.  Come on, Solly—let’s get to work.”

**********************************************************************

Barely standing up as a Cardassian soldier removed the knife from his chest, Gul Rejak winced as another, this one a medical technician, sealed the wound.  Hearing a chuckle coming from behind him, the corrupt gul turned around.

“Didn’t I warn you about Bajoran women, Rejak?”

“Gul Dukat.  Thank you again.”

“Don’t thank me yet.”  The Cardassian rebel smirked, “At least not until you hear how you’re going to repay your debt to me for saving your life.

********************************************************************

“Shelby to landing party…”

“Yes, Captain Shelby?”  Lieutenant Commander Worf replied as he heard the captain’s voice coming through his comm badge.

“Report, Commander.”

“Rejak has unfortunately escaped…” The Klingon admitted ruefully.

“How’s Lieutenant Sito?”  Shelby asked, her voice filled with concern for the young Bajoran.

“She is…understandably…distraught at the turn of events.”  Worf confessed as he looked down compassionately on the young Bajoran security officer who now seemed to be slowly recovering from having her enemy snatched away from her so abruptly.  “But I she will be fine.”

“You’re sure, Mr. Worf?”  Liz asked solicitously.

“Yes, Captain.”  The Klingon warrior replied with a strongly confident voice.

“Very well.  That’s good enough for me.”  Shelby declared, affirming her confidence in the Klingon’s judgment.  “Do you have anything else to report?”

“Yes, Sir.”  Worf, glad to change the subject, replied.  “We have deactivated the transporter buffers and Chief Brin and Mr. Pierson are currently downloading information from Rejak’s computers.”

“I see…” Shelby replied, “Continue what you’re doing.  Once you complete the downloading, we’ll transport you back to the Sutherland for debriefing.  We’ll also begin transporting security teams to pick up any prisoners and gather evidence.”

“Understood, Sir.”  Worf acknowledged as he received a nod from Chief Brin.  “We’ve just completed the downloading.”

“Very good.  Prepare for beam up.”

***********************************************************************

“She’ll be all right…” Dr. Murakawa said with a smile as she addressed the cluster of officers standing before her, “Although she’s still a little groggy—so only a short visit—understood?”

“Yes, Doctor.”  The officers replied in unison as Denise’s smile turned into a mild chuckle.

“All right—go on in and say ‘Hi’.”

As the officers filed into the patients’ ward, the first of them, Commander Dale McBride smiled, “Hey Treasure.  I heard about what you did.  That was some damned fine work”

“Thanks, Dale.”  The North Star native answered back, her voice shaky and weak.  “How’re you and…”

“We’re getting together later on for coffee…” The Texas born XO replied with a shy grin.

“Good.”  Angela smiled back, “Just you remember…don’t rush her.  Just take it one day at a time an’ you’ll do fine.”

“I’ll do that.”  Dale promised as he bent over to kiss the young engineer on her forehead, “You just get better now, you hear.”

“Hi Boss.”  Treasure grinned as Jadon stepped forward, “How’re the engines?”

“Purring like kittens.”  The Trill chief engineer responded.

“That’s good.”

Smiling down at his hairless junior engineer, Jadon gently teased, “So…you going Deltan now?”

Her chuckle causing her to wince, Treasure retorted, “Yeah…once Doc Murakawa puts in those pheromones you an’ the rest o’ the guys down there better watch out.”  Her laughter dying down, she replied more seriously, “Doc says that once I’m feelin’ better, she’ll inject me with a follicle stimulator an’ I should have my regular hair back in about a month.”

“Well…” Jadon grinned as he presented Angela with a small jewelry box, “You hurry up and get better, ‘cause when you get back you’re going to have to wear these babies.”

Opening up the jewelry box, Treasure gasped as she saw the two black pips. 

“It’s not official yet…” Jadon admitted, “But Captain Shelby’s putting in the paperwork and she’s sure that it’ll go through.  So…” he smiled, “…looks like we’re going to have to start calling you Lieutenant Barrows.”

“I like the sound of that, Boss.”

“Ahem.”

Looking up, Treasure was surprised at seeing Lieutenant Commander Gralt from the Bluefin standing next to her bed.  “Sir?”

“Ensign…” His lips turned up into a slight smile as he noted the jewelry case the youthful engineer clasped in her hands, “I mean, Lieutenant…I just wanted to tell you…” The gruff Tellarite nearly stammered, “I just wanted to tell you that you can work in my engine room anytime you want.”

Knowing at once how high praise that was coming from an engineer like Gralt, Treasure felt a lump in her throat, “Thank you, Sir…I really do appreciate that.”

“You just let me know if that prissy Trill gives you a hard time and I’ll knock him on his ass for you.”

“I’ll do that, Sir.”  Angela replied, wincing once again as she laughed.

Appearing at the door, Dr. Murakawa gestured with her thumb, “All right—visiting hours are over.  My patient needs her beauty sleep, so everybody out—now.”

************************************************************************

Pursing her lips as she addressed the officers seated about her desk, Captain Shelby remarked, “Well…I spoke with Admiral Glover and Captain Sisko a few minutes ago.  It’s unfortunate that we could not catch either Rejak or Ayenga…”

“But we did stop their plans, the weapons going to the Kon Ma were confiscated, and Daras Tabor was killed…” Lieutenant Atoa pointed out.  “That counts for something.”

“That’s what Admiral Glover and Captain Sisko told me a few minutes ago in a conference call I had with them.”  Liz admitted, “And you’re right.  We did accomplish a lot—an awful lot.  Still…I have a feeling those two people are going to cause an awful lot of damage before they’re done.”

“You’re probably right, Captain Shelby.”  Captain Akinola agreed, nodding his head sagely, “But there’s nothing we can do about it now but be on our guard.”

“So…what happens next?”  Manuele asked.

“Now…we go back to Deep Space Nine, repair our damage and turn our prisoners over for trial.”  Shelby answered back as she rose to her feet.  “Thank you, gentlemen.”

As the officers filed out of her office, all save for one, Liz waited.  Once the door had closed behind the last of them, she turned to the Sutherland’s counselor.  “Thanks for staying behind, Max.”

“My pleasure, Captain.”  The curly haired, swarthy, mustachioed counselor grinned back, “What can I do for you?”

“How’s Lieutenant Sito holding up?”

“Surprisingly well.”  Counselor Freedman replied.  “Even though he escaped, I think that giving her the opportunity to confront her tormentor allowed her to work out a lot of her self-hatred and anger.  Even though…” his facial expression took on a somewhat disappointed countenance as he regarded the captain, “…I still think the circumstances under which she went were not the best.”

Taking a deep breath and exhaling, Liz briefly turned her eyes away from the psychologist as she responded in a soft, almost shy voice, “You’re right.  You’re absolutely right.”

His look now one of concern, Max inquired in a gentle voice, “Is there something you want to tell me, Captain?”

“No.”  Liz replied, shaking her head as she forced a smile to her lips, “It’s just something I have to work out on my own…”

“All right…” Counselor Freedman reluctantly conceded, “But if you ever need to talk…”

“I’ll know who to come to.”  The petite blonde completed, her sad smile now becoming more of a fond grin.  “Thank you, Max.”

************************************************************************

“We almost got him.”  The Huntress exulted, “Next time…we will.”

“No.” Sito replied, He got away…he always gets away.”

“That’s because you hesitated.”  The Huntress declared accusingly.  “Let me take over.  Then…no one will ever harm you again.”

“No!”  Jaxa exclaimed aloud, standing up.  “I am in charge here…do you understand?”

“For now…”  The Huntress grinned evilly, “For now…”

Hearing her door chime, Jaxa called out, “Yes?”

“It’s Chief Brin, Lieutenant.  May I come in?”

“Don’t let him in…”  The Little Girl begged, “He’s one of the bad men.”

“No, he’s not.”  Sito gently replied, “He’s ok.”

“He’s a prophets’ damned Orion!”  The Huntress swore, “You should have gutted him when you first saw him.”

“Shut up!”  Jaxa ordered, taking command.  Speaking aloud, the security specialist called out, “Come in, Chief.”

“I’m sorry to disturb you, Lieutenant.”  Chief Brin said as he slowly entered the Bajoran’s room carrying a small box in his hands, “But I thought…since…well…since you lost your knife back on Taris III, that I’d give you a replacement from my collection.  Here…” The burly red Orion grinned as he set the box down on a small table by the door.  “It’s Andorian make…just like your old knife.” He said as Sito admired the blade, gently caressing its hilt.  “I picked it up years ago back when I was a crewman.”

“Thank you, Chief.”  The young Bajoran replied with a genuine smile.  “Thank you very much.”

“You’re welcome.”  Solly smiled back.  “I better go now…the Bluefin will be warping out soon and it’s not a good idea to keep Captain Akinola waiting.  “Take care of yourself.”

“I will.”  Sito promised as the door slid shut, “And…thanks again.”

**********************************************************************

“Well Lynn…” Shelby grinned as she escorted the roguish Pierson and his Gorn bodyguard into the transporter room.  “I guess it’s time for you to go.”  Turning to the transporter technician, the captain ordered, “You can go now, Crewman…I’ll handle this.”

“Yep.”  Pierson grinned back.  His smile disappearing as the crewman disappeared behind the closed door, the ex-Starfleet officer consoled, “Hey, Lizzy…don’t kick yourself over sending us down to get Rejak.  It was the right call.  It might not have been the Starfleet call…but it was the right call to make.  That bastard’s got the Detapa Council, Central Command, and most of the intelligence spooks in this sector looking out for him.  There’s no way to take him down by the book. Besides which, he’s as slippery as a damned vole.”

“Heh.” Shelby snorted, “Then why can’t I get a decent night’s sleep.”

“Because you’ve still got that nasty streak of morality in you that you’ve always had.”  Pierson replied with a shrug of his shoulders.  “I guess you inherited it from the Old Man.”  He said, referring to Shelby’s grandfather.

“Him and Grandmother too.”  Liz conceded.  “Well…” she said as she moved behind the transporter control, “You better get going.”

“Yeah…you’re right.”  Pierson agreed as he joined S’nurl on the transporter pad.  “Next time you’re in the neighborhood, swing on by.  I’ll have a box of those Nuevo Habana seed maduro panatelas you like—the Hoyo de Santiagos—and a bottle of Clos de Mesnil Krug Champagne chilled.  We can talk about old times…”

Shaking her head as she activated the transporter, Liz exclaimed, “You’re irrepressible!”

“No…” Pierson replied as he began to dematerialize, “I’m Pierson.”

************************************************************************

Entering ‘Ricks’, the Sutherland’s 1940s North African cabaret-themed lounge, Manuele Atoa waved, smiled, and nodded his head at friends and acquaintances as he slowly made his way into the lounge.  Seeing one figure in particular seated at the bar, the New Kauaian took the seat next to her.  “Mind if I sit here, Nyota?”

“Manny?”  The lovely New Kenyan security officer gasped, “I’m…no…not at all…have a seat.”

“Look, Ny…” Manuele began, “I know I said some harsh words to you the last time…”

“Hey…” Nyota interrupted, “You didn’t mean ‘em.  I know that now.  It’s all right…honest.”

“Great.”  Atoa grinned as he picked up his drink, “So…want to fill me in on all the gossip that I’ve missed since I’ve been away?”

“All right!”  The ebony-skinned Lieutenant Dryer grinned back, “But I gotta warn you—it’s going to take awhile.”

“Got nothing but time, now that I’m back home.”

**********************************************************************

“We’ll tow the freighter and its cargo back to Deep Space Nine, Captain Shelby.”  Joseph Akinola said as he addressed the blonde captain’s image on his viewscreen.

“Thank you for your help and for recovering my tactical chief.”  Liz replied.

“Don’t mention it.”  Joseph coughed, “He’s a good man and he did good work.  I’m just sorry we couldn’t get Ayenga.”

“Me too.”  Shelby confessed.  “Thanks again and take care, Captain”

“You too, Captain.”  Akinola replied as Shelby’s image was replaced by stars.

“Gettin’ soft on her, Captain?”  Commander McBride quipped with a roguish grin.

“No.”  Joseph shook his head, “I don’t like how she lives her life and I don’t approve of the way she treats her father.  But…” he reluctantly confessed, “She does know how to command a starship.  I wouldn’t want to know her socially, but I would want her with me going into a fight.” 

“Well…” Dale grinned, “I guess that’s as close to a ringing endorsement as she’s ever going to get from you.”  Addressing the blue-skinned Bolian sitting at the helm, Commander McBride ordered, “Take us out, Mr. Bralus…warp three.”

**********************************************************************

Sitting alone in her darkened office, Liz barely heard her intercom beep.  “Captain?  Bluefin and Defiant have just warped out.  Lieutenant Commander Dax wanted us to tell you that she looks forward to seeing you again on Deep Space Nine.”

“Thank you, Ensign Smithurst.”  Liz sighed.  Looking at the painting of her grandfather, Commodore Robert Wesley, the disconsolate starship captain shook her head, “What would you have done, Poppy?”

“I don’t know.” The shade of her grandfather, seated on the couch underneath his picture responded.  “I wasn’t there.”

“Not much of an answer.”

“What sort of answer did you want me to give you?  Are you asking for absolution?”

“No!  Yes!  Maybe!  I don’t know.”  Liz confessed.  “I’m not sure what I want and that scares me!  I’ve never second guessed a decision before.  But now…” She shook her head.

“Now you’re confused.”  Seeming to chuckle, the phantasm continued, “Welcome to the club, Spitfire.  It only gets worse from here.”

“How do I know what to do…how do I go on?”  Liz begged, “Can’t you give me something here?”

“Do better.”

“Do better?  Is that all you’ve got?”  Liz exclaimed.

“That’s all you need.”  The apparition that was the blonde captain’s conscience replied, “But it’s up to you what you do.  You can sit there and wallow in self doubt and self pity or you can…”

“Do better.”  Liz completed.  “Guess that’ll have to do.”  As she exited her office to return to her quarters, Shelby paused for a moment as she passed her grandfather’s portrait.  It seemed to the lovely captain that, for the briefest of moments, the ruggedly handsome figure in the painting smiled at her.  Looking at the picture again, Shelby saw that it looked just as it always did.  Chuckling under her breath, Liz muttered to herself, “I really do need a good night’s sleep.”

*****************************************************************************************************************************

Part III

Part II

Part I

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Star Trek: Sutherland