Twist of Faith

by S. D. Perry

  Deck twelve looked very much like the one they had just come from: same green lights, same browns and greens in the décor, same nonfunctioning equipment, same miasma. The only improvement was that the burning smell didn’t make it down this far.

  As Taran’atar led the way toward the ship’s fore, Kira tapped her combadge. “Computer, can you pinpoint the exact location of the transporter room on deck twelve of this vessel?”

  The static was less here than it had been on deck two. “Negative. Theta radiation prevents a precise reading.”

  “Figures,” she muttered. “We’ll just have to try all the doors in the forward section until we find one.”

  The first two doors they came to seemed to be locked. Taran’atar pried them open to find that they were storage rooms.

  The third opened when they approached. At the sight of what was inside, Kira gasped. She tapped her combadge again. “Computer, can you scan the equipment in this room?”

  “Negative.”

  “Is the shield generator somewhere in the forward section of deck twelve?”

  “Affirmative.”

  She looked at Taran’atar. “If this is what I think it is…” She knelt down in front of one piece of equipment.

  The room was lined with machinery that looked enough like a shield generator to satisfy Kira—especially given the device that was attached to one of the consoles. The device was very obviously of a different design than the rest of the ship. It had a sleeker interface, a different control layout, and a different type of display screen from everything else on the tanker.

  It was also very familiar.

  “I was right,” she said after examining it. “This is just like the shield enhancers we had in the resistance.” She looked up at Taran’atar. “Under normal circumstances, our little ships couldn’t hold up to the Cardassian warships, but we were able to enhance our shields. This is very similar to something that one of the other cells came up with for our sub-impulse raiders.”

  “With respect, Colonel, we must find the transporter and—”

  “Help me remove this.”

  “Colonel, the Hirogen may arrive at any time to—”

  So much for unquestioning obedience. “Taran’atar, this may be what we need to save Europa Nova! Now help me remove it!”

  Taran’atar glared, then said, “As you command.”

  As she started undoing connections, she said, “It’ll still be another three hours before all the Europani going to Torona IV will be through the gateway at Costa Rocosa. The Defiant can’t disrupt the gateways until then. That huge mass of waste will go through in less than two hours. If we attach this shield enhancer to the Euphrates, it may just boost Nog’s shields enough so that we can use the ship to block this gateway completely. It won’t just stop the mass, it’ll stop more of the irradiated material from going through and give our people more time to evacuate.” She had removed all the rear connections by the time she finished the sentence.

  Taran’atar undid the last of the side connections, and the two of them gently set the enhancer onto the floor. Kira looked around, and found a handle. Awkwardly, she picked it up with both hands. These people also designed it to be portable. Smart move. When Kira’s resistance cell acquired the enhancer, the first thing Kira had said was it needed to have a handle on it so it could be carried more easily—without that handhold, it needed two people to move it. This one was heavier than the one they’d had in the resistance, but still manageable.

  The Jem’Hadar moved to assist her, but she shook her head. “No. I’d rather you kept your hands on your weapon. Let’s find that transporter.”

  The fourth door opened as they approached, and it appeared to be the transporter. Kira lugged the enhancer to the platform while Taran’atar sheathed his kar’takin and went to the controls.

  “I have locked on to the Euphrates.”

  “Good. Get up here.”

  The Jem’Hadar did not move. “If we both beam off the tanker, the Hirogen will simply beam us back. One of us must remain behind to distract the hunter while the other installs the shield.”

  Kira stared at Taran’atar. The Jem’Hadar, typically, betrayed only one emotion: resolve. Taran’atar knew that there was only one decision Kira could make here. He was armed and could shroud, and therefore had the best chance against the Hirogen. Kira knew the shield enhancer and how to install it—she’d done so once while under fire from Cardassians, she could certainly do it in a Starfleet runabout that was much more receptive to adaptive components than Bajoran sub-I’s.

  But she hated the idea of leaving someone behind. With the runabout’s transporters unable to pierce the radiation, she’d be unable to beam him back to the Euphrates, or even return to help him once her task was done. “That thing out there will probably kill you.”

  Unsheathing his kar’takin and holding it across his chest, Taran’atar said, “I am already dead. I must go into battle to reclaim my life. This I do gladly because I am Jem’Hadar.”

  As if I needed reminding, Kira thought.

  “You must fulfill your oath to President Silverio, Colonel. And I must fulfill the one I made when the Founders gave me life.”

  Kira took a deep breath, then nodded. “Energize.”

  Taran’atar set the controls. Then he looked up. “One more thing, Colonel. When the Founders sent me on this mission, I thought that my gods had cast me out. I have since learned that I was wrong.”

  Then he finished the sequence, and both the Jem’Hadar and the tanker’s transporter room disappeared, replaced by the interior of the Euphrates.

  Sighing, Kira thought, Every time I think I have that Jem’Hadar figured out, he goes and surprises me.

  “Computer,” she said, then hesitated. She was about to ask for a full damage report, but that would take too long. “Status of shields and propulsion.”

  “Shields inoperative. Warp drive functioning at eighty-two percent of capacity. Impulse drive functioning at seventy-four percent of capacity.”

  “Reason for shield failure?”

  “Power conduits one through four have been irreparably damaged. Six microprocessors have failed.”

  “If the conduits are replaced, will the shields function?”

  “Affirmative.”

  “Do we have four replacement conduits on board?”

  “Affirmative.”

  “Thank you, Nog,” she muttered. Then, removing her uniform jacket and setting it on one of the chairs, she set to work.

  Within twenty minutes, she had replaced the conduits. “Computer,” she said, “prepare shield generator for installation of additional equipment.”

  This certainly brings back memories, she thought, as she looked for an appropriate access port. The last time she had to install one of these, it was in the midst of a firefight. She, Furel, Lupaza, and Mabrin were supposed to rendezvous with Shakaar at Singha when the Cardassian scout ship found their flitter. They had just obtained the enhancer, and Kira had been forced to connect it and use it without testing—all in about five minutes, while under fire. It only worked part of the time, but that was true of everything on that ship.

  Unbidden, the voices of her fellow resistance fighters sounded in her head.

  “They’re coming around for another pass. Hurry up with that evasive course, Lupaza.”

  “I’m moving as fast as I can, Furel. The controls are sluggish.”

  “I’m gonna slug you in a minute.”

  “They’re firing!”

  “Shields are down to fifty percent!”

  “Nerys, if you don’t get that damn thing installed in another minute, there won’t be any shields for it to enhance.”

  “I’m working as fast as I can, Mabrin. Anytime you want to climb under here and help out…”

  Kira smiled as she attached two more leads to the generator. So many memories—liberating Gallitep and freeing those poor laborers from their deadly mining duties, the attack on Gul Pirak, the destruction of the Sel
tran mine. Most of all, she remembered Lorit Akrem taking her twelve-year-old self to meet Shakaar Edon for the first time in the caves of the Dakhur Hills.

  It was all so much easier, then. Shakaar gave us our orders, and we fought. We knew who the enemy was, and we went after them.

  She stopped what she was doing, and shook her head.

  “What the hell am I thinking?” she said.

  “Please repeat instruction,” the computer droned.

  Ignoring the computer, Kira snarled and threw herself back into the shield enhancer. How screwed up is my life that I’m looking back fondly on the resistance? Now I’m feeling nostalgia for Gallitep?

  I wish Odo were here.

  She stopped working. Dammit, she thought, furious at her own weakness. I promised I wouldn’t let myself do that. Odo did what he had to do. I know that.

  But she could always talk to Odo. Even before they became lovers, he had always been there for her when she needed him. And if he wasn’t available for whatever reason, there had always been someone—Jadzia Dax, Bareil Antos, Tiris Jast, even sometimes Captain Sisko, when she could get her mind around his being the Emissary.

  But Odo and the captain were gone, perhaps never to return. Jadzia, Antos, and Tiris were dead. Ever since becoming station commander, Kira had been putting more distance between herself and her officers, even the ones she’d known for years. She admired and respected Vaughn, but they were still getting to know each other. She’d also recently put a huge strain on her friendship with Kasidy.

  And since I became Attainted, most Bajorans can’t even bear to look at me.

  What was it Benjamin once said? “It’s lonely at the top.” But dammit, even he had Dax—either one. Not to mention Jake and Kasidy. Who’ve I got?

  “Warning—power requirements of enhancement module exceed current capacity.”

  “Dammit,” she muttered. She had been hoping that Starfleet’s adaptable engines would be able to handle it. But this enhancer was designed for that beast of a tanker out there, not something as small as the Euphrates.

  That can’t be it, she thought. There’s got to be another way. “Computer, is it possible to divert enough power from other sources to the shield generator to allow it to function?”

  “Affirmative.”

  Another thought occurred. “Can it still be done if impulse power is left active?”

  “Affirmative.”

  “Good. Do it.”

  “Unable to comply.”

  She closed her eyes. Take it easy, Nerys, you can’t punch the computer. After taking a deep breath she asked, “Why not?”

  “In order to comply, life-support must be terminated.”

  “There’s always a catch,” she muttered.

  “Please restate request.”

  “Never mind.” She searched around the enhancer, and found an inhibitor switch that would keep it from activating when it was hooked up. “Computer, time?”

  “The time is 1242 hours.”

  She stood up. Little more than an hour before that mass goes through. “Computer, begin recording a message.”

  “Recording.”

  Placing her hands on the back of one of the side console’s chairs, Kira took a moment to compose her thoughts. “This is Colonel Kira Nerys on the Euphrates contacting all vessels at Europa Nova. The radiation is coming from a cargo tanker that’s dumping antimatter waste from its hold into the gateway. The crew of the tanker is dead, killed by an alien who is currently engaged in combat with Taran’atar. There’s a concentration of toxic material bigger than anything that’s gone through the gateway so far, coming through in one hour. I’ll be using the Euphrates to block that and any further waste with the help of a shield enhancer I salvaged from the tanker.” She took a deep breath. “In order for this enhancer to function, I’ll need to shut down life-support. I’ll therefore be evacuating the Euphrates and taking my chances on the fifth planet in this system, which is Class-M.” Not much choice; with the transporter useless and no docking ports on that thing, there’s no way for me to return to the tanker on my own. “As soon as it is feasible to attempt the disruption of the gateways, do it, regardless of whether or not Taran’atar or I have returned. That’s an order.” She took another deep breath. “Computer, end message. When the Euphrates approaches the gateway, broadcast the message every two minutes.”

  “Affirmative.”

  She sat at the helm and set a course for the fifth planet.

  As the runabout descended into the atmosphere, Kira programmed a course that would take the Euphrates on autopilot back to the gateway. The ship would take up position at the threshold, then activate the enhancer and expand the shield envelope to maximum, with the impulse engines working to hold the runabout in position regardless of any force arrayed against it. After all, it would do no good to have that chunk of waste push the runabout through the gateway.

  The viewport showed an arid desert of a planet. The vegetation was sparse at best, and there were few bodies of water around. Kira did an intensive scan, and found a location that was near a freshwater lake and that also registered a survivably low temperature. Unfortunately, that spot was currently in the early morning, so the temperature would probably increase significantly before long, but she didn’t have time to search for the perfect place to land.

  Once she set down, she got up to inspect the runabout’s emergency kit. Everything seemed to be present and accounted for, and then some. Starfleet does believe in overcompensating, don’t they? A small army could subsist on the combat rations, and Kira had to wonder if both a temperature control unit and an expandable shelter were necessary. The quick diagnostic she ran showed that the small communications module was in working order, and the medikit had been stocked with arithrazine. The Hirogen had indeed dispersed her phaser, so she took a Starfleet-issue one from the weapons cabinet—then took a second for good measure, as well as a tricorder.

  She opened the hatch. A blast of heat assaulted her face, a dry wind pushing her back from the hatchway. The air smelled stale and uninviting, and Kira was grateful that she hadn’t bothered to put her uniform jacket back on, though she had tied it to her waist.

  Everywhere she looked on the ground was sand, broken very rarely by bits of plant life, and the one freshwater lake that she had made sure to land near. It was flat land, with the only variations being the curvature of the planet itself. Not even any hills or mountains or sand dunes in sight. It was almost like a negative image of Europa Nova—where that world was the picture of luscious beauty, this was quite possibly the bleakest planet Kira had ever seen.

  And I’m stuck in this place in order to fulfill my oath to save the other one. To think, some people believe the Prophets don’t have a sense of humor. Well, they do, and it’s a black one. My life is proof of that.

  She tapped her combadge, and her hand almost slid off it, it was so covered in sweat. And I’ve only been here a minute. “Computer, activate program Kira-One.”

  At those words, the hatch to the runabout closed. As soon as it locked into place, the runabout lifted off into the cloudless blue sky. Kira watched it ascend for as long as it was in sight, then tracked it with her tricorder while it remained in range—which wasn’t long at all.

  Now I just have to hope that my plan works.

  She checked the tricorder. Theta radiation was already contaminating the atmosphere—that clear sky was working against her—and with the gateway blocked up, it was only likely to get worse.

  Kira gave herself a dose of arithrazine, then got started setting up the shelter.

  Within two minutes she had to stop. Sweat plastered her uniform to her body and dripped down into her eyes. Kira worked hard to keep herself in shape, and so little physical effort should not have exhausted her so quickly. She grabbed a bottle of water from the emergency kit and drained the entire thing in one gulp. It helped only a little.

  This is gonna be fun, she thought grimly. Then she got back to work on the shelter, movi
ng more slowly this time, conserving her energy, praying that Taran’atar would win his battle.

  And that she would win hers.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Europa Nova

  “Commander, we can’t do this.”

  Vaughn didn’t bother to turn the Defiant’s command chair around at Bashir’s outburst. “What in particular is it that we can’t do, Doctor?”

  Bashir stepped between Vaughn and the conn. He was holding a padd in his left hand and pointed at the viewscreen with it as he said, “This! All of it! I had hoped that the Trager and the gateway to Torona IV would make a difference, but I’m afraid they won’t. The Trager is transporting people more slowly than anticipated. Each wave of evacuation is taking twice as long as the previous one. This relay method of the Trager and Intrepid picking people up and passing them off to the other ships is not what one would call expedient.”

  “We’re not exactly overburdened with alternatives, Doctor,” Vaughn said dryly.

  “I’m aware of that, but—” Bashir sighed. “We had a chance when we started, but with the tortoise-like pace we’ve been going at, I’m afraid those chances have dwindled to nothing. People are going to die!”

  Vaughn simply stared at him. “We had this conversation in ops, Doctor. The chances were poor to begin with. We don’t give up because the math is bad.”

  “I understand that, sir, but we have a bigger problem. Have a look at this.” He handed Vaughn the padd.

  Looking down at the padd, Vaughn saw a familiar-looking sensor reading from the Gryphon, then handed it back to Bashir. “Yes, I know. Captain Mello told me about this an hour ago.”

  Bashir looked incredulous. “If that mass comes through the gateway—”

  “I’m aware of the danger to Europa Nova. Tell me, Doctor, do you have any actual business on the bridge besides telling me things I already know?”

  “I’d like to know why I wasn’t informed of this! And I’d like to know what’s being done!”

  His voice as calm as Bashir’s was frantic, Vaughn said, “Colonel Kira and Taran’atar have gone through the gateway to try to stop the radiation at the source. Since you’ve been occupied with coordinating relief efforts, keeping you briefed wasn’t a priority. Neither is panicking, nor flailing about in outrage. We’ll deal with the problem.”