The Battle of Betazed

by Charlotte Douglas

  “Elias,” Deanna said, “if you don’t mind, I’d like a few moments alone with my mother.”

  Vaughn nodded. “It’s good to see you, Lwaxana,” he said sincerely, and moved off to confer with the other resistance members about their tactical status.

  Chaxaza, still holding Barin, also moved away as Deanna followed Lwaxana down another passage and into a small alcove. Her mother drew back a drape over the opening, and Deanna stepped inside.

  “Not very spacious, but it’s been home for the past four months.” Lwaxana settled on a pillow-strewn ledge carved out of the rock wall. Deanna sat beside her.

  First tell me, Lwaxana began. Did you bring him?

  There was no misunderstanding what her mother meant. It was your idea, wasn’t it, Mother? Using Tevren? Deanna found it impossible to suppress her disappointment.

  The involuntary feeling seemed to provoke anger in her mother. Don’t you dare presume to judge me. Not until you’ve spent four months living under the Jem’Hadar, waiting and waiting for Starfleet to do something while children die all around you, and then realizing the salvation you put your hope in just isn’t coming. We’re desperate, Little One. And I won’t tolerate your condemnation of that!

  The irony of hearing her own speech to Lanolan echoed by her mother didn’t escape Deanna.

  “Mother,” she said aloud, “Tevren is dead.”

  Lwaxana flinched as if Deanna had struck her. “That can’t be. Tell me that isn’t true, Deanna.”

  With exacting detail, Deanna related how the away team had released Tevren from prison, how Beverly had removed his inhibitor, the horrific deaths of the Jem’Hadar patrols Tevren had wiped out, and his eventual demise. “And before he died, Mother, he emptied his mind into mine.”

  Deanna felt herself shaking at the memory, and Lwaxana wrapped her arms around her daughter. Deanna drew back, her jaw set, her eyes blazing. “Let me tell you how Tevren killed people. He drew all a person’s bioelectrical energy to the pain receptors in the brain and literally fried the synapses there. The resulting deaths were slow and excruciatingly painful, with prolonged and indescribable suffering. I wouldn’t wish such an end on anyone, Mother, anyone, not even Jem’Hadar. To say Tevren’s method is sadistic and cruel doesn’t begin to explain it.”

  Lwaxana listened without expression. “If you’re going to try to convince me that I should care how the Jem’Hadar die—”

  “My God, Mother, can you hear yourself?” Deanna cried. “Your entire life has been devoted to peace, to working against barbarism and needless bloodshed. You’re turning into the very thing you hate!”

  She could see her mother shaking, feel the raw emotions raging inside, and for the first time in her life, Deanna looked at her mother with fear.

  “We have our backs to the wall, Deanna,” she said. “What else can we do? How many ships came with the Enterprise? How many Starfleet officers can beam down to Betazed? Can they arm every Betazoid? Can they do enough against fifty thousand Jem’Hadar? Are you really going to withhold from us what Tevren gave you?”

  “No,” Deanna said. “If you tell me this is what you want me to do, then I’ll do it. But before you answer, I need you to tell me something, truthfully.”

  Lwaxana met her daughter’s gaze, waiting.

  “Have you truly thought about what going down this road will mean for us, as a people? Do you really want to live in the kind of world the use of Tevren’s powers may create?”

  Lwaxana said nothing, and the silence stretched on, mother and daughter simply staring into each other’s eyes.

  Then Deanna’s combadge beeped. “Picard to Troi.”

  “Troi here.”

  “Counselor, have you revealed Tevren’s knowledge to the resistance yet?”

  “No, sir,” she answered, still looking at her mother. “But I may have to very soon.”

  “Belay that. You and Commander Vaughn must return to the Enterprise immediately. Commander Riker has already beamed up with his charges. I’ll explain when you get here. Picard out.”

  Lwaxana simply stared straight ahead. Deanna stroked her cheek gently. “I’ll return as quickly as I can.”

  “No,” Lwaxana said firmly, and for the first time since Deanna had arrived on Betazed, her voice had all the energy and authority of the elder daughter of the Fifth House, Holder of the Sacred Chalice of Rixx, and the one true Heir to the Holy Rings of Betazed. “If Jean-Luc has something to say that will affect the resistance, then I’m going to be there to represent them. Tell your transporter secretary or whatever he’s called it’s three to boom up.”

  Deanna smiled at the deliberate flub. “Beam up, Mother.”

  “As if I care,” Lwaxana said impatiently. “Come, Little-One. Let’s find Elias.”

  “Lwaxana,” Picard said. “This is a delightful surprise.”

  Lwaxana snorted as she, Vaughn, and Deanna took their places around the observation lounge table, where Riker, Dr. Povron, and Dr. Crusher were already seated. “I’m afraid I really have no interest in returning your advances this time, Jean-Luc. I suggest we get down to business.”

  Picard managed to keep a straight face, but doing so was a challenge. “Of course, Ambassador. My apologies. You’re quite right. Time is of the essence. This is a bit complicated, but if you’ll bear with me, I believe you’ll welcome what I have to say.” He took his place at the head of the table. “When Commander Vaughn first came to us with this mission, Counselor Troi related to me her experiences with Tevren. In explaining how he had developed his abilities to kill with his mind, she described the first telepathic skill that he learned, the ability to project extreme emotion into the mind of another. Am I remembering correctly, Counselor?”

  “Yes, sir. He said that the emotion projection had no value to him except as a parlor trick, and held little interest for him, especially since it produced a debilitating drain on the telepath who employed it.”

  Picard nodded. “I’ve spent the last several hours interrogating Crell Moset. By appealing to the man’s enormous ego, I’ve convinced him to share results of his experiments on the Jem’Hadar.”

  A visible shiver of revulsion passed over Nerissa Povron, and Picard guessed she was thinking how close she’d come to being the subject of one of Moset’s experiments.

  “Moset succeeded in creating telepathic Jem’Hadar,” Picard said, “but they contained a fatal flaw. Because the Jem’Hadar mind processes emotions very differently from other humanoids, the ones that were made telepathic suddenly found themselves bombarded empathically, with no way to close off their new perceptions. Immediate, fatal seizures were invariably the result.”

  “You found a chink in the Jem’Hadar armor,” Vaughn said.

  Picard smiled. “I think so, yes. Using Moset’s information, I’ve developed a theory. Telepathic Jem’Hadar can’t handle an empathic overload. What if normal Jem’Hadar can’t handle it either?”

  Riker leaned forward. “That would explain why there were no mature Jem’Hadar on the station,” he realized.

  “Precisely, Number One. Neither the altered soldiers nor unaltered Jem’Hadar in close proximity could tolerate the empathic fallout of Moset’s procedure.”

  Lwaxana frowned. “Are you suggesting, Jean-Luc, that my people learn to project emotions the way Tevren did and give all our enemies brain seizures?”

  “Not exactly.” Picard glanced around the room. “What I’m suggesting is that normal Jem’Hadar won’t die from the overload of emotions, but if hit hard enough they will become seriously disoriented, perhaps enough to make their capture relatively effortless.”

  For the first time since the mission began, Deanna felt a surge of hope. “If that proves true, then Betazoids would be able to defeat the Jem’Hadar without wholesale slaughter.”

  “If,” the captain said, “is the operative word. I’ve had three Jem’Hadar beamed from the planet into the brig. Counselor, how quickly can you teach Tevren’s emotion projection method to s
ome of the stronger telepaths we rescued from the Cardassian freighter?”

  “It shouldn’t take long at all,” Troi said. “They’re among the strongest telepaths on Betazed.”

  “Make it so. When the telepaths are ready, assemble them in the brig. Dr. Crusher, you will monitor the responses of the Jem’Hadar.”

  Crusher inclined her head in agreement.

  “Dr. Povron,” Picard continued, “will you keep a close eye on the effects of the emotion projection technique on your people?”

  The Betazoid doctor nodded. “I’ll be happy to assist, Captain.”

  Chapter Eighteen

  AFTER BEVERLY CRUSHER and Nerissa Povron completed their evaluations of the Betazoids and Jem’Hadar who had tested the emotion projection theory, Deanna, Lwaxana, Riker, and Dr. Povron transported to the resistance stronghold. Sorana Xerix, Cort Enaren, and the rest of the council were waiting for them in the meeting room. Lwaxana faced the group. “We don’t have much time, so we’ll get right to the point. Deanna will explain what we’ve learned about an alternative to Tevren’s killing method.”

  Deanna sensed the council’s quickened interest as well as an unspoken sense of relief. The Betazoids would welcome another option, but the only other choice she could offer had its own horrible consequences. She was glad the decision wasn’t hers. She would present the council with the facts and let them make the hard choices.

  After explaining what Tevren did to her before he died and the brutal component to his killing method, Deanna told them, “You have another option. Tevren also had the ability to project intense emotions into people’s minds.”

  “What good would that do us?” Sorana asked with impatience. “Do you expect us simply to scare the enemy to death?”

  Deanna shook her head. “Thousands of Betazoids died on Sentok Nor, but as a result of the horrible experiments performed on them, we’ve learned something crucial about the Jem’Hadar. These soldiers have a flaw that telepaths can use to their advantage.”

  Enaren folded his arms over his chest, his face tight with concentration. Sorana and several other council members leaned forward, intent on Deanna’s explanation. Lwaxana observed her daughter with undisguised pride.

  “When Crell Moset succeeded in creating telepathic Jem’Hadar,” Deanna continued, “his subjects all died from horrific seizures. Their minds were overwhelmed by the tremendous influx of emotions and sensations that a natural telepath learns to control over time. This is what killed them.”

  “Are you saying the Jem’Hadar on Betazed are telepathic?” Enaren asked in alarm.

  “No,” Deanna said, “but even without telepathic abilities, they don’t process emotions as most humanoids do. When Captain Picard learned about this unique characteristic from Moset, the captain had several Jem’Hadar transported onto the Enterprise. In an experiment, I taught my mother and a group of telepaths we rescued from Sentok Nor how to project emotions into the Jem’Hadar’s minds.”

  “What kind of emotions?” Sorana asked.

  Deanna nodded to her mother to continue.

  “We tapped into the whole gamut,” Lwaxana explained. “Hate, guilt, apprehension, fear, anger, hope, despair, longing, sadness, surprise, resolve, annoyance, confusion, contentment, desire, grief, disapproval, even forgiveness and love. Our group bombarded the Jem’Hadar with these feelings, and Dr. Crusher monitored their responses.”

  “Did the Jem’Hadar die?” Enaren asked.

  Deanna shook her head. “They became catatonic, as if overwhelmed.”

  “I don’t understand,” Sorana said with a shake of her head but a glint of hope in her eyes.

  “Their minds shut down,” Povron explained, “like a computer protecting itself from a power surge.”

  “They’re permanently impaired?” Enaren asked.

  “The Jem’Hadar on the Enterprise recovered in less than an hour,” Povron said, “but during that hour they were helpless.”

  “So we don’t have to kill them to conquer them?” Enaren said.

  “That’s the upside of this method,” Lwaxana said. “We don’t have to reduce ourselves to murderers.”

  “What’s the downside?” Sorana asked.

  “There are several disadvantages,” Deanna said. She glanced at Will, who nodded in support. He more than anyone, besides her mother, knew how difficult presenting Tevren’s information was for Deanna.

  “First,” Deanna said, “we don’t know if the laboratory experiment can be duplicated over an entire planet.”

  “The Jem’Hadar are spread out,” Lwaxana explained. “Reaching every soldier in every enemy encampment to overpower them empathically may prove difficult or even impossible.”

  Deanna nodded. “And we can’t be sure how long the affected Jem’Hadar will remain catatonic. We need them incapacitated long enough to round them up and secure them behind force fields.”

  “We could imprison most of them in the prisons they built for us,” Enaren suggested. “Poetic justice.”

  Sorana sighed. “So if we choose this method, we’re taking a huge chance.”

  “The greatest stumbling block,” Deanna admitted, “is that we don’t know how much harm this invasive empathy will do to those who employ it.”

  Picking up on Deanna’s hesitation, Enaren frowned. “What happened to the telepaths on the ship?”

  Deanna asked Povron to explain.

  “In our limited experiment,” the doctor said, “the telepaths became extremely weak. The distance between the participants and the Jem’Hadar was only a few feet, and there were only three soldiers. I anticipate the sustained planetwide effort necessary to overcome fifty thousand troops will exhaust many of our people to the point of death.”

  There was a sharp intake of breath from Sorana, and several of the council exchanged long looks of horror.

  Deanna had to tell them what she and Povron suspected. “Each telepath we lose will make it that much harder for the remaining ones to finish the task.”

  Will spoke for the first time. “Whichever method of ridding your planet of Jem’Hadar you choose, the Tulwar, Scimitar, and the Enterprise will remain in orbit to help coordinate communications and distribute weapons and portable force field generators. However, since either method requires telepathic skills, your people will be the ones on the front lines.”

  Sorana held up her hand. “We need more facts before we can make an informed decision. Would the original plan, teaching our people to kill with their minds, risk their lives?”

  Lwaxana looked as if she wished to speak, but for once, her forceful mother held her tongue and motioned for her daughter to answer.

  “Killing the way Tevren did,” Deanna said, “causes no physical harm to the telepath. However, one needs tremendous telepathic strength, much more than I have, to accomplish such a task.”

  Deanna had inherited strong telepathic genes from her mother, but her father’s human genes had diluted her skills. She was thankful that if the council chose to use Tevren’s killing method, she would be unable to participate.

  “If murdering others isn’t what killed Tevren, how did he die?” Sorana pressed.

  “Tevren died from the removal of his psionic inhibitor,” Deanna explained. “He had become dependent on it.”

  “Does the invasive empathy affect Cardassians?” Enaren asked.

  Deanna answered his question with certainty. “Projecting intense emotions in this manner won’t harm other humanoids, not even Cardassians or Vorta. To overcome the few thousand Cardassian support troops, we’ll need to use conventional weapons.” She swept the council with her gaze. “Using invasive empathy to defeat the Jem’Hadar will cause the deaths of many Betazoids. But if we can succeed using this method, we won’t become the heirs of Tevren’s legacy.”

  Lwaxana joined Deanna at the front of the room. “As I stated earlier, time is of the essence. Unless someone has more questions, it’s time for us to vote.”

  Swayed by Lwaxana’s influence,
the council, after heated debate, voted to attack the Jem’Hadar by invasive empathy. With the help of Commander Vaughn and the Enterprise senior staff, the planetwide assault was quickly planned. Deanna had requested and received permission to fight on the surface with the resistance movement.

  On a path in the Loneel wilderness, she hefted her phaser rifle, hoping she’d never have to fire it. Relying on her rifle would mean their empathic efforts against the Jem’Hadar had failed. Her government-in-exile’s decision not to use Tevren’s killing techniques relieved her. That her people were willing to risk death to preserve their way of life filled Deanna with hope for Betazed’s future—if their plan succeeded.

  After the council vote, Deanna, Lwaxana, and Povron had trained the three dozen telepaths rescued from the Cardassian freighter in the invasive empathy technique. The trained telepaths from that group were then transported to each resistance cell on the surface to teach the members of that group and to set up communications with the Enterprise to coordinate efforts. The planetwide battle strategy was based on information gleaned from reconnaissance missions by resistance cells in every province of Betazed. All over the world, every resistance cell would execute the plan in a simultaneous effort.

  Vaughn’s strategy entailed encircling each encampment of Jem’Hadar with Betazoids, who traveled to the sites in small groups in order to attract less interest from Jem’Hadar patrols. Breaking up the Betazoid attack force into groups also insured they were less likely to set off Jem’Hadar sensors. If one group was detained, at least the others would make it through.

  Every cell on the planet had a Starfleet officer and several security personnel responsible for protecting the telepaths. Each small group had to be in position, ready to project their emotions at the Jem’Hadar by the designated attack time. Other Betazoids, those less telepathically adept, would be responsible for placing the catatonic Jem’Hadar into force fields and prisons and taking out any remaining patrols that escaped the initial empathic assault. Timing and the element of surprise would be critical to the plan’s success.