Star Trek - TNG - Dominion War 1 - Behind Enemy Lines

by Behind Enemy Lines (lit)

  Seeing the bodies of their comrades was no easier this time, but she struggled on, helping Picard drag the unconscious Romulan to the door of the dining hall. When the door didn't open, Picard pushed the panel beside it. When that failed, he rapped on the door.

  "Geordi! It's us!" The door slid open, and they dragged the Romulan inside, as Ro stole a glance down the corridor. The other two were still above deck, thinking their friend was in control.

  La Forge gaped at them. "You caught a Romulan?" "Yes," answered Picard breathlessly. "I see you have the door rigged?" "For now," answered La Forge, gingerly sticking a fork back into the open wall compartment and making an adjustment. "These aren't heavy-duty doors-- they could bust through fairly easily. How many are there?" "Three," answered Ro. "Him and two others, all Romulans." "And there were Romulans in that bunch of pirates who boarded us," recalled Geordi. "I guess they had a look around and liked what they saw." Picard's jaw tightened. "We've got a weapon, and we've lowered the odds. But I really don't want to try a direct assault on the bridge." Their prisoner groaned and began to move his limbs. Ro looked at the disruptor and scowled. "This is the cheap model, the one with no stun setting." "Don't hesitate to kill him if necessary," ordered Picard. "Mr. La Forge, have we got anything to tie him up?" The engineer reached into the open panel and yanked out several long strands of electrical wiring, which he tossed to Picard. "Use this, because I've disabled the door's circuitry." When the Romulan groaned some more and tried to open his eyes, Ro's finger encircled the trigger of the disruptor and aimed the weapon at his chest. La Forge jumped down and helped Picard tie the captive's wrists together. They were working on his feet when he came to and gaped at them with startling clarity.

  "What?" he gasped. "What is--" "Quiet," ordered Picard. "Kill him if he breathes another word." "With pleasure," answered Ro.

  The Romulan's darting eyes took in Picard's stern visage, then the disruptor in Ro's hands, and finally the intense look on Ro's face. She didn't need to do anything to put the fear into him, because her determination to kill him was etched into her gaunt features. He stopped his movements and stared at them, wide-eyed.

  "Why did you kill so many of us?" demanded Picard.

  "We wanted your ship," said the Romulan evenly.

  "Would you have given it to us?" "Why did you want this ship?" he pressed the captive.

  "It was the only one which presented itself to us." The Romulan winced as he shifted position. "You don't know what it was like, serving under Roll and Shek! We were virtual prisoners--allowed none of the luxuries they got. And all the things we were forced to do--well, we learned how to take over a ship from them." "Did they have anything to do with this?" asked Picard.

  "No, Rolf would torture and kill us, if he knew. We had been talking about deserting, if we could get a ship. After we returned from searching your vessel, we put our plan into action. We're Romulans. We were born to rule, not serve." "We're recapturing this ship," vowed Picard.

  "There's no need for bloodshed," offered the Romulan, struggling against his bonds. "Turn me loose.

  Let me talk to them." Ro glanced at Picard and La Forge, and it was obvious from their grim expressions that the Romulan was not getting his freedom any time soon.

  "On your feet," ordered Picard.

  "You're going to let me go?" asked the Romulan in amazement.

  "Yes, and you're going to march straight to the bridge. Only I'll be right behind you, with the disruptor in your back." When the Romulan struggled to stand up, La Forge tried to help him. With a sullen expression, he bumped Geordi with his shoulder and knocked him away. "I can do it!" snarled the Romulan. He strode resolutely toward the door, staring straight ahead.

  Something is wrong, thought Ro. None of this seemed right to herin not the hijacking, not the senseless killings, not the piratical Romulans.

  "Wait a minute," she said, moving toward to the prisoner with the disruptor leveled at his stomach.

  "What are you doing here--in Cardassian space-- with a war going on?" It was the same question she had been asked a day earlier, and like her, the Romulan did not have a satisfactory answer. He looked evasive as he replied, "We were young and foolish, out for adventure." "They're Romulan spies," concluded Ro. "Perhaps they're even here for the same reason we're here." Picard and La Forge glanced at each other, while the puzzled Romulan turned abruptly to Ro. "I thought you were Bajoran merchants." "No," answered Ro with a clenched jaw. "You murdered a dozen Starfleet officers who were disguised to look like Bajorans. Now I'll ask again: Why are you here?" The Romulan licked his lips, as if tasting the truth for the first time in his life. "We may be neutral in this war, but it's only natural to gather intelligence." La Forge frowned. "And what better way to see what's happening than to enlist on a Ferengi ship that prowls back and forth across the lines. So what have you found out?" The Romulan smirked. "I know you're losing the war, but I don't suppose that's news." "Hakron!" shouted a voice that was distant, but not distant enough.

  When the Romulan looked as if he wanted to respond, Ro jabbed him sharply in the ribs with the disruptor and glared at him. "What else?" "Let's make a deal," he whispered. "Let me talk to my comrades. The chances are, we both want the same thing." "You wanted our ship," said Ro testily. "Why?

  What do you know about the Dominion's artificial wormhole?" "Hakron!" shouted the voice, sounding closer.

  "You haven't got a chance," said Hakron smugly.

  Picard promptly grabbed their captive and shoved him toward the door. "Be quiet and don't say a word." He nodded to La Forge, who went to the doctored door panel and awaited his orders. Then he held out his hand to Ro, who gave him the disruptor.

  Picard grabbed the Romulan by his collar and pressed the barrel of the weapon against his neck.

  "We're going out. Tell them to hold their fire. Don't try to get away, or you're dead. Understand?" The Romulan nodded languorously.

  The captain looked at Ro. "Can you be the eyes in the back of my head?" "Yes, sir." Picard nodded to La Forge, and the engineer applied his fork to the circuitry. With a jolt, the door slid open, and the captain pushed his captive out ahead of him. Ro immediately peered around the edge of the door, looking in the direction where Picard's back was turned. To her relief, she didn't see anything but a corridor littered with bodies.

  Her relief was short-lived, because Hakron suddenly whirled around with his foot and caught Picard in the knee. The captain started to fall, but he kept his grip on the Romulan's collar and dragged his prisoner to the deck with him.

  "T'ar'Fe'" cursed the Romulan.

  At the end of the corridor, his confederate leaped out of the dormitory, saw them, and aimed his weapon. Picard hoisted the Romulan to his knees and ducked behind his torso just as a red disruptor beam streaked down the length of the hallway.

  "No!" screamed Hakron as the beam struck him in the chest, setting it aglow. Using the slumping Romulan as cover, Picard fired his own disruptor. The deadly beam pulsed down the corridor and sliced his foe's left arm off at the shoulder. His screams echoed throughout the ship as he staggered for cover inside the dormitory.

  Ro suddenly realized that she was neglecting her duty by watching the melee, so she turned to look at the spiral staircase. When she saw the body on the top step move slightly, she shouted, "Watch out!" Picard whirled around to shoot blindly at the top of the stairs. The disruptor beam blew the corpse off the steps and forced their adversary to retreat; they heard his scurrying footsteps. Now they were in the difficult position of having to defend both ends of the corridor, although it wasn't certain that the Romulan on their level could still mount an attack. Picard motioned to Ro and La Forge to follow him as he led the way toward the dormitory.

  "Captain," whispered La Forge, "if I could get up one level to the transporter room, I could fix the guy on the bridge--without risking more disruptor fire." Picard stopped to consider the problem. "But the only way up is that staircase." "He might be changing course, taking us into
Romulan space," added Ro. "We've got to get the bridge under control." The captain nodded. "Let me see if we have another weapon." He moved cautiously down the hallway and inspected the deck in front of the dormitory door, which was closed. Ro could see the severed arm, but apparently their foe hadn't dropped his weapon.

  Looking sickened by the violence, the captain returned to his comrades. "All right, I'll cover the stairs and the door to the bridge. Mr. La Forge, you go to the transporter room." "What are you going to do, beam him into space?" asked Ro.

  "Is that a problem?" "Not under these circumstances," she replied without hesitation. She knew that Picard cringed at the thought of fighting to the death, but the enemy hadn't left them much choice. With Ro keeping an eye on their rear, they began moving toward the spiral staircase.

  Startling them, a voice crackled over the ship's intercom. "To those who are resisting--you must stop! We have control of the ship. You must surrender!

  We won't harm you." Picard never stopped moving, and he was already halfway up the stairs, with La Forge behind him and Ro bringing up the rear. She assumed that if he was speaking to them on the ship's comm, he had to be on the bridge, probably with the door shut. When they reached the top of the stairs, she found her assumption to be true, and Picard covered them while La Forge and Ro dashed down the corridor to the safety of the transporter room.

  Ro watched the door while La Forge rushed to the transporter controls. A moment later, Picard joined them, as a voice continued to plead over the intercom: "Lay your weapons down, and we will talk. We are reasonable people, and we have all your weapons. I have control of the bridge. You must deal with me!" "Not necessarily," said La Forge as he skillfully plied the transporter console. "I've locked on to the only life sign on the bridge. That's an outer bulkhead behind the transporter. Ro, will you pace it off for me?" "Sure." She leaped upon the raised platform and quickly paced off the rough distance to the wall behind it. "Five meters," she reported.

  "All right," said La Forge with a sigh. "Do we give him a chance to surrender?" "No!" snapped Ro. "They didn't give our crew a chance." Keeping watch at the door with his disruptor, Picard shook his head concurring with Ro's assessment. "Energize." La Forge slid an old-fashioned lever forward, and a almost melodic noise sounded in the air. But nothing appeared on the transporter platform.

  "It's done," said La Forge heavily. "What about the one in the dormitory?" "No," answered Picard, "he's probably in shock.

  We should be able to deal with him. All of our weapons must be on the bridge--let's go get them." Cautiously, they made their way down the corridor, following Picard and his disruptor. The small bridge of the Orb of Peace, which usually looked so serene, now looked like a chamber of horrors. There were dead bodies everywhere, and an impressive pile of weapons in front of the viewscreen. Ro and La Forge each grabbed a Bajoran hand phaser, and Ro checked the readings on the conn.

  "We're still on course to the black hole," she reported. "Still at warp three." "I want to question the last Romulan," said Picard, "if he's still alive." Once again, they wound their way down the spiral staircase, past the familiar dead bodies. When they reached the dormitory, Picard motioned them away from the door as he pressed the wall panel. When the door slid open, they flung themselves out of the way, expecting fire to erupt from the room--but none came. Cautiously Picard reached around the edge of the door and felt for the panel that would turn on the lights. When he found it, the shadowy chambers were suddenly illuminated by cheerful lighting.

  Once again, they pinned themselves against the bulkhead in the corridor, expecting enemy fire to pulse through the doorway. Picard picked up a piece of nearby battle debris. He tossed the debris into the room, and it hit the deck with a loud clunk.

  "Unnh!" groaned a voice with surprise, as if they had awakened him from a nap. Suddenly wild disruptor fire streaked out the door and raked the opposite bulkhead.

  "Hold your fire!" shouted Picard, backing away from the door. "Your confederates are dead, and we've recaptured the ship! If you throw your weapon toward the door, we'll come in and give you medical attention." The scattered beams stopped, and they waited in tense silence, punctuated only by their own rapid breathing. Finally, there came a skittering sound as a disruptor bounced across the deck and out the doorway. Ro instantly scooped it up.

  "Mr. La Forge, see if you can find a med kit," ordered the captain. "Let's go." Still keeping his weapon leveled in front of him, Picard led the way into the hammock-filled dormitory. Ro tried to ignore the sight of more young officers, pointlessly slain in the cowardly attack; she concentrated on searching the room for the wounded Romulan.

  "Here!" called Picard.

  She caught up with the captain as he knelt down beside a shivering humanoid who was clutching the burned stump of his arm. Sweat and grime smeared his once-proud face, and he blinked at them with terror and shock.

  "La Forge!" called Ro.

  "Coming!" The engineer reached them a moment later. He popped open a white case and took out a hypospray.

  After they injected the hypo into the Romulan's neck, he calmed down considerably and stopped shivering. Ro figured that they had only a few seconds before he lost consciousness... probably forever.

  She bent over him, her face inches away from his.

  "The Dominion is building an artificial wormhole.

  What do you know about it?" "Must see if it works--" he answered dazedly.

  "Why?" He was losing consciousness, and she had to shake him to get his attention. "Why?" "If it works," he rasped, "we become their allies... we join the Dominion." Then he was out, unconscious but still breathing roughly. She looked gravely at Picard and La Forge.

  None of them needed to say what it would mean if the Romulan Star Empire turned against them, too. They would be caught in a vise.

  "It's not going to work," vowed Picard. "It's never going to work." He slumped back on his haunches, weary and shell-shocked. The raw struggle for survival had been won, leaving Ro with a sense of failure and a dread of the killing to come.

  His fingers twitchy and nervous, Sam Lavelle sat at the conn of the Tag Garwal, waiting for his crewmates to finish their last-minute preparations. In the hold was a mining probe that would soon be dangled over a black hole. He didn't know why he was so nervous, because theoretically he had the easiest job of the lot of them--to simply maintain their position. Of course, he was captain as well as helmsman, and he knew it would be up to him to take over in an emergency. At the same time, he had to look out for providential opportunities to escape.

  He glanced at the viewscreen, knowing it was the Eye of Talek that made him nervous. Although small as black holes went, it looked like a stealth moon--an alien world within the endless void. In some strange way, it made space seem vulnerable. Although Grof had said that matter escaped from it, the flow of dust, debris, and gas seemed to be all one way.

  "Beautiful, isn't it?" said Grof, settling into the seat at the ops console.

  "It's still scary to me," answered Sam. "Maybe that's because I don't trust it." "When the Cardassians discovered it," said Grof, "they only had telescopes, no space travel, and they didn't know what it was. But they had a myth about a large monster with one eye which consumed everything it saw. That was Talek." "That makes me feel so much better," murmured Sam. "I take it your main job is to shoot the tachyons?" "That, and to monitor everything that goes on. I'd like to observe you, for instance, and learn your job." "I'm sure you would," Sam replied snidely.

  "In a positive sense," said the Trill defensively. "We have a small crew, so the more efficiently we can relieve each other, the better off we'll be." "Just do your job," ordered Sam, "and let everybody else worry about theirs." In truth, he would rather have had Taurik on the bridge with him, but the consensus was that Taurik was needed at the airlock with the mining probe, which was too heavy for anyone else to lift. Then Taurik would assist the material handlers in the transporter room and the recombination chambers.

&nb
sp; Footsteps on the ladder made Sam jump, and he whirled around to see Tamla Horik, the tractor-beam specialist, emerge from the hatch. The Deltan looked contented and relaxed these days, just glad to be free.

  This was Sam's first command, he thought to himself, and he couldn't even enjoy it.

  The Deltan took her seat at the tactical station and reported, "The others are all set. Commence when ready." "Thank you," said Grof testily. He punched the communications panel, and his voice echoed throughout the ship. "Crew of the Tag Garwal, we are ready to begin our historic mission. Release the mining probe." Sam shook his head at the pomposity of the Trill.

  He talked as if he were running the operation when, in reality, the only one in charge was the Jem'Hadar attack ship. It continued to scrutinize from afar, with the power to destroy them at any second.

  Knowing he had to forget about them and concentrate on the job, Sam put the mining probe on the viewscreen. The small unmanned craft looked ungainly with its array of robotic arms, sensors, and reflector dishes. And it looked helpless as it cruised inexorably toward the deep emptiness of the Eye of Talek.