Star Trek: The Next Generation: Starfleet Academy #4: Capture the Flag

by John Vornholt

  I don’t want to let them down.

  He considered the eight members of the Green team: himself, T’Lara, Jenna, Megan, Altos, Kareem, Zemusta, and Vernok. They were all loyal and determined to do their best. What more could he ask?

  With that comforting thought in mind, Geordi took off his VISOR and relaxed in the utter blackness. He was soon asleep.

  Geordi was awakened by a strange beeping, and it took a moment to realize it was his comm badge. He sat up and tapped the badge.

  “La Forge here!” He reached for his VISOR.

  “Pantano here,” said a familiar voice. “We’ve made a random selection. Your team will play the Red team in the morning match. You have an hour to eat and get ready, then we’ll beam you up to the ship. From here, we’ll beam you back down to the playing field.”

  “I understand, sir!” Geordi replied.

  “Good luck. Pantano out.”

  Geordi rousted his teammates. “Get a good breakfast!” he told them. “We go in an hour!”

  “I don’t know if there’s any food left,” muttered Kareem. “I think Altos and Zemusta ate it all.”

  But there were plenty of packets of scrambled eggs, and even coffee. Nobody said much as they ate. The full impact of what was about to happen had just dawned on them. They were to be pitted against fellow cadets in a combat zone. The fact that there were no weapons didn’t make it any less serious. What would the Academy think of the losers? What rewards would there be for the winners?

  At least the day was fine, thought Geordi. Sunny but a little cool, with no sign of clouds. Considering the sparse vegetation, he didn’t think it ever rained much on Saffair. After breakfast they practiced jumping, running, and landing—until the call came.

  “We’re beaming you up,” said Lieutenant Pantano.

  “Yes, sir,” answered Geordi. He stood stifliy with his teammates until they had all dematerialized.

  When they reached the transporter room aboard the Glenn, Geordi was surprised to see that Cadet Swan and her Red team were already there. Sidra Swan was a cocky young woman who stood several inches taller than Geordi. He could tell from the smirk on her face that she didn’t think the Green team was going to be much of a problem.

  Geordi glanced around at his team. Except for T’Lara, they looked more scared than overconfident. T’Lara merely looked alert.

  Lieutenant Pantano produced two identical flags that were weighted at the bottom. One was red, and the other green. She handed them to the perspective captains.

  “The flags must be placed in plain sight,” she told them, “within three minutes of your arrival. They cannot be moved after that. The boundaries of the playing field are clearly marked by white stakes. If you go outside the boundaries, or move your flag, your team will forfeit.

  “During the game, many of you will have a coup scored against you. Because there’s a slight delay in beaming up, simultaneous coups are not uncommon. If you get captured, you’ll end up right back here. Just walk down the corridor to the lecture hall, and you can watch the rest of the game on the viewscreens.”

  She smiled. “We’ll have some cold lemonade waiting for you. There will also be a medic to patch up your bruises. But remember, this is not a war—this is just a game. Don’t get overly rough. A gentle tap on the coup meter is enough to dispatch the enemy.”

  Pantano consulted her padd. “By random draw, the Red team will be beamed down first. But they’ll only have a few seconds’ advantage. Before you go, I want both teams to shake hands.”

  Halfheartedly, the two teams shook hands. None of the players, smiled.

  “Red team, take the transporter.”

  Geordi felt his palms getting sweaty as he watched Cadet Swan and the Red team vanish from the transporter platform. His heart was pounding as he stepped upon the device. Jenna gave him an encouraging smile, but he could see that her fists were clenched.

  “Coordinates locked in,” said the transporter operator.

  Lieutenant Pantano nodded. “Energize.”

  CHAPTER

  6

  Geordi landed in a nervous crouch. Immediately he began to look around for a high rock formation on which to plant the flag. This part of Saffair looked similar to the area where they had camped—except for the white boundary markers that stretched into the distance behind them.

  “Start gathering vines!” Jenna ordered the others.

  Kareem grabbed a long vine and wrestled several meters of it from the greenish soil. But he couldn’t break off the last few centimeters.

  “We don’t have any knives,” he complained. “How can we cut the vines?”

  “No problem,” answered Vernok. The little Saurian bent down and snapped the vine in two with his beaklike mouth.

  Altos used brute strength to rip the vines from the ground. Zemusta, Megan, and Jenna collected the vines, stripped off the leaves, and began to tie them together.

  “Use the thicker vines as a framework,” said Jenna, “and use the lighter vines as the netting.”

  T’Lara tapped Geordi on the shoulder and pointed into the distance. “Captain,” she said, “I believe that would be an acceptable defensive position.”

  Geordi followed her gaze to a weathered archway in the distance. The green rock looked like a giant doughnut that had been left outside too long.

  “That’s far away,” said Geordi. “We only have a minute or so left. Can you reach it?”

  “Yes,” said T’Lara. She grabbed the flag from him and bounded off like a graceful gazelle. In less than a minute she had reached the top of the rock and planted the flag.

  The others cheered, and Geordi felt like his heart would bounce out of his chest. “Okay,” he said, “we’d better get some people over there to defend it.”

  “Altos, take the highest position,” said Jenna. “Megan, you need to get out of the sun, so look for a cranny to hide in. The rest of us will gather a few more vines and come right over.”

  The Andorian and the albino dashed for the doughnut-shaped rock. Geordi’s comm badge beeped.

  “La Forge,” he answered.

  “T’Lara here,” came the answer. “We are close enough to each other to maintain visual contact, as well as communications. I suggest we proceed into enemy territory.”

  Geordi took a deep breath. “Right.” He may have been the one in charge, but it was nice having people giving him good advice.

  Jenna smiled. “We know what to do, Captain. We’ll fight to the last cadet. You just find their flag and tell us what you want us to do.”

  “Is that all?” asked Geordi. He was trying hard not to be overwhelmed. He took one last look at his ragtag army and felt a burst of pride. They weren’t pretty or impressive, but they wanted to win.

  “If you’re captured, there’s no shame,” he told them. “Just do the best you can.”

  “Yes, sir!” came the eager response.

  Geordi looked toward their flag and saw Altos and Megan taking their positions on the archway. He tapped his comm badge. “T’Lara, let’s move out.”

  “Yes, sir,” she answered.

  He saw the Vulcan woman leap off the archway and start running. Geordi began running as well, covering several meters with each stride. It felt good to be moving, but he reminded himself that the enemy was only two kilometers away. On Earth a person in good condition could run two kilometers in about ten minutes. On Saffair anyone could cover that distance in half the time.

  He stopped and touched his comm badge. “T’Lara, slow down. We want to spot them before they spot us.”

  “Yes, sir,” she answered. “Do you see the outcropping in the distance? It looks like a tower that is leaning.”

  “Yes,” said Geordi. “Let’s meet there.”

  A few seconds later Geordi and T’Lara crouched behind the oddly shaped rock. Geordi estimated that they had reached the middle of the playing field. He could just barely see some boundary markers in the distance. Thus far, there was no sign of any Red shi
rts.

  There was no sound and no breeze. It was eerie—as if he and the Vulcan were alone on the entire planet.

  “This is a quandary,” said T’Lara. “How do we find their flag without being seen?”

  Geordi smiled. “We have a secret weapon. I’m guessing that most of them will be gathered around their flag, just as we have done. I’m going to adjust my VISOR to look for a large amount of body heat.”

  “How do you adjust it?” she asked.

  “Usually, in my head,” answered Geordi. “There are a million impulses coming in I just have to decide which ones to look for.”

  Geordi concentrated as he scanned the barren horizon. He was looking for a telltale haze of extra heat that might indicate several warm-blooded creatures standing together. Finally he found it.

  He pointed excitedly. “Look! Oh, I’m sorry you can’t see it, but there’s a definite haze beyond that field of boulders. I think they’ve put their flag back there.”

  “That is not in plain sight,” said T’Lara.

  “Well, it might be if you were standing on the other side of the boulders. Anyway, something is giving off heat over there.”

  “We must get closer to confirm it,” said the Vulcan.

  “Yeah,” Geordi muttered. “They know I’ve got the VISOR, and that might just be a decoy. This is a hard game.”

  “Ease of play is not the intention,” said T’Lara.

  Geordi sighed. “All right, let’s go. If they spot us, we escape together. Away from our flag. Let’s not lead them to it.”

  The Vulcan nodded. “Understood.”

  The field of boulders was like a giant rock garden. Greenish lumps stuck out of the ground at irregular intervals. As he and T’Lara got closer, Geordi was dismayed to see that the boulders were rather large, some two meters high. That was more than big enough for a person to hide behind. The Red team had not planted their flag high, but they had chosen a good spot to defend.

  He motioned to T’Lara to stop. “I have to check in with the others.” He tapped his comm badge. “La Forge to Pico. Come in, Jenna.”

  “I’m here. Have you found it yet?”

  “We think so,” said Geordi. “There’s a field of small boulders in the northeast corner. I think it’s back there. But we have to go in for a closer look.”

  “Take your time,” said Jenna. “There’s been no sign of the Redshirts. Zemusta is our forward guard, and he has great eyes. Plus, we have our surprise all ready.”

  “Good,” answered Geordi. “I hope it works. Out.”

  There were no great leaps and bounds now. Geordi and T’Lara crept forward through the field of boulders. Finally they saw their first glimpse of a Redshirt, jumping to the top of a boulder in the distance. Geordi and T’Lara dropped to their bellies and didn’t move.

  It was then that Geordi realized he had made another good decision by accident. Their green tunics blended in with the ground better than any of the other colors.

  They lay there for several seconds, waiting to see if they had been spotted.

  “Permission to offer advice,” whispered T’Lara.

  “Please,” said Geordi gratefully.

  “I can move swiftly. Let me run up there and see if their flag is present.”

  “You’ll be spotted,” whispered Geordi.

  “I know. But it does not seem likely that we can sneak up on them without being spotted. Especially if their flag is in plain sight—behind a boulder. They are obviously playing a defensive strategy.”

  Yeah, thought Geordi, they don’t want to lose to the oddball team.

  “We’ll both go,” he said. “Two sets of eyes are better.”

  T’Lara nodded. They rose to their feet and began running at full speed. There was no pretense of hiding—they wanted to see what there was to see and get out. Geordi marveled at the way they covered a considerable distance in only a few seconds. They jumped over the last row of boulders and almost fell into a meeting of the Red team.

  Sidra Swan jumped to her feet with a shocked expression on her face. “Hey!” she yelled.

  Several members of the Red team scrambled to surround their flag, which was planted on the ground. One cadet made as if to move the flag, then stopped, obviously remembering the rules. The rest of them just stared at T’Lara and Geordi.

  “Hi!” Geordi waved.

  Swan shouted, “Stevens and Mirayo—after them!”

  Now Geordi and T’Lara were running for their lives, bounding like kangaroos over the rocks and bushes. Within a matter of seconds T’Lara was several meters ahead of Geordi. He turned to see that the two Redshirts were fast behind them, running with powerful strides.

  What a jerk you are! Geordi cursed himself. You’re going to be the first one caught!

  A minute later they were spread out across the ragged plain. T’Lara was far ahead, Geordi was about fifty meters behind her, and the Redshirts were gaining on him. He could see that T’Lara was headed toward one of the weird archways. Maybe, thought Geordi, she planned to make a stand there. Sure enough, she jumped halfway up the arch and scrambled out of sight.

  Why are you stopping? thought Geordi. Keep going—you can outrun them!

  His communicator beeped. He tapped it, but he was too out-of-breath to say anything. He just gasped.

  “T’Lara here,” came a voice. “Lead them under the archway. I will attend to them.”

  “Can’t …” he gasped, “sacrifice … yourself!”

  “I can,” she answered. “If you lead them under the archway, I will know that is your wish. T’Lara out.”

  Even at half his normal weight, Geordi’s heart was pounding furiously and his legs were starting to give out. He had a choice—run under the arch and save himself. Or let himself be captured and save T’Lara.

  What had she said? The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the one.

  He headed for the archway, still cursing himself for his stupidity. But he was their leader. Rightly or wrongly, his team was depending on him. He even slowed down to make sure his pursuers would follow him under the arch.

  Geordi couldn’t see T’Lara as he ran under the rock formation—she was well hidden. He wanted to stop and help her fight, but he knew her ambush depended on surprise. He was about forty meters ahead of the Red players, so he stopped when he got that far beyond the archway. He fell to his knees, gasping for air.

  He saw T’Lara leap off the arch and take one Redshirt by complete surprise. He vanished like a ghost. The other one attacked her, and they began to wrestle. In an instant they were both gone.

  A simultaneous coup.

  Geordi collapsed onto his back and just breathed for several moments. Nobody was after him now, and he knew where their flag was. He supposed their mission had been a success.

  But he missed T’Lara.

  His comm badge beeped. “La Forge here,” he answered.

  “Captain, it’s Zemusta. They are attacking en masse! I count five of them, coming fast! Iam falling back to our position. Out.”

  Wow! thought Geordi. After being taken by surprise, Swan apparently didn’t want to take any more chances. She was going for an all-out blitz! Because it was high up on an archway, the Green flag hadn’t been hard to find.

  Geordi was torn about what to do next. After that long chase, he figured he was much closer to the Green flag than the Red flag. Should he go back to help them defend? It was six defenders against five attackers—almost an even battle. Counting the two T’Lara had taken out, that left one Redshirt guarding their flag.

  Geordi couldn’t stand it—he had to see how his defenders were doing. If the Red attack was successful, he would never be able to get back to the Red flag in time. He skirted along the boundary markers until he could see the giant doughnut in the distance.

  The battle was raging. Redshirts were climbing up the rock like ants. But he could see the small defenders jumping out of hiding places, throwing nets. Not all of the nets worked, but some of the attacker
s tumbled to the ground, thrashing about in the nets. They were easy prey for Jenna, Kareem, and the others.

  Then Jenna was captured. Megan disappeared. Kareem was gone. Two Redshirts were left, and they fell back to regroup. He could see Altos, standing in front of their flag at the top of the archway. The last obstacle. He could hear Zemusta, who was laughing and taunting the Red team. He saw Vernok scrambling around.

  Then Geordi saw something else. Another Redshirt was running across the plain to join his comrades for one last assault.

  Their flag was unguarded!

  Geordi hit his comm badge. “La Forge to Altos. You’ve got to hold them off! Their flag is unguarded. I’m going to get it!”

  “Aye, Captain!” came the reply. “They get no flag over me.”

  Geordi ran across the plain faster than when he was being chased. Each stride gobbled up chunks of land. He could see the field of boulders in the distance. He could smell victory in every painful breath he took.

  Then came a beep on his comm badge. “Altos to La Forge. Better hurry. Just me and one of them left!”

  Geordi did hurry. He bounded over the rocks like demons were chasing him. Once he came down at an awkward angle and rolled onto his back, but he scrambled to his feet and kept going. When he finally spotted the unguarded Red flag, it was so beautiful it was like a mirage. He bounded over the boulders like a wild man.

  He dived the last few meters and cradled the flag in his arms. He hit his comm badge, yelling, “I’ve got it!”

  He was answered by labored breathing. Finally the deep voice of Altos replied, “No problem, Captain. Nobody left but you and me.”

  CHAPTER

  7

  Sidra Swan shook Geordi’s hand, but she refused to smile. “Good game,” she muttered.

  “A close game,” he replied. “You almost won.”

  She scowled. “We would’ve won, if it hadn’t been for those damn nets. That crazy Saurian wrapped me up so tightly, I couldn’t move.”

  “Sorry,” said Geordi.

  Sidra finally cracked a smile. “The nets were a great strategy, especially with your flag up high like that. It was so frustrating to see your flag but not be able to reach it. What did you think of the game?”