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

by John Vornholt

  Geordi shook his head. “To me, the whole thing went by in a blur. I never got close enough to anyone to worry about a coup. I watched the decisive battle from a distance. All I did was run from one end of the field to the other.”

  “But you won,” said Sidra. “That’s the important thing.” She glanced around the lecture hall. “They don’t look it, but you picked a good team.”

  Geordi looked at his ragtag team, and his chest swelled with pride. Jenna, Megan, T’Lara, Altos, Kareem, Zemusta, and Vernok were eagerly reliving the game as they talked with members of the Red team.

  Like their captain, the Red team was glum, but they had a lot to be proud about, thought Geordi. Every single one of them had gone down fighting.

  In fact, except for him and Altos, every single player in the game had been captured and beamed back to the Glenn. They had all fought hard. Harder than he.

  Still, Geordi reminded himself, I was the one at the end with the enemy flag in my hand.

  He took a sip of his lemonade. It was over now, and they could all relax. As a special treat, Lieutenant Pantano was going to allow them to watch the match between the Blue and Gold teams on the viewscreens. Geordi was looking forward to it, because he really did feel as if he had missed most of the action.

  Three overhead screens blinked on, and the voices in the hall began to hush. The game had begun. One screen showed the Gold team scurrying to find a place to plant their flag. The other screen showed the Blue team, just beaming down. The middle screen scanned the empty middle of the playing field.

  Emma Pantano entered the room and took a seat. “Relax,” she told the cadets. “I suspect you’ll enjoy this game more than the one you just played. In case you’re wondering, I’m giving these teams a chance to review your game later on tonight.”

  She smiled. “By tomorrow everyone will know how to make nets.”

  Geordi took a seat in an empty row. Seconds later Jenna took the seat to his left, and T’Lara took the seat to his right. He smiled at Jenna, who grinned back. T’Lara was too busy watching the viewscreens to look at him. They really are my lieutenants, thought Geordi. My left and right hands.

  “What are they doing?” whispered Jenna. She pointed to the Gold team.

  With his mop of blond hair Jack Pettey was easy to spot as he leapt over some tall rocks and landed in front of a white corner boundary marker. He planted the Gold flag directly in front of the marker.

  “Clever,” said T’Lara. “There is only one way to approach the flag—head-on. If the attackers aren’t careful, they risk going outside the boundaries and forfeiting the game. Plus, the Blue team has to cover the maximum amount of ground to reach the Gold flag.”

  Geordi turned his attention to the Blue team on the other screen. One of them must have talked to old Boothby, too, because they were planting their flag on a tall limestone formation. But it wasn’t as high or as easy to defend as the archway T’Lara had picked.

  Kareem leaned over Geordi’s shoulder and whispered, “I’ll give two-to-one odds on the Blue team. Any takers?”

  Geordi shook his head. Nobody wanted to bet against the Gold team. They already looked confident and in command. Pettey had stationed his three biggest players near the flag to guard it. Considering there was only one angle from which the flag could be approached, that would probably be enough.

  Led by Pettey himself, the rest of them fanned out and began a determined search for the Blue flag. Geordi noticed that the Blue team was wasting valuable time having a discussion. Just like the Red team had done. Considering that each team had the entire night before to plan its strategy, that was foolish.

  Finally the captain of the Blue team, Mike Takama, sent three of his teammates to find the Gold flag. Of course, he didn’t know they would be running into live enemy players. The Goldshirts were running at full speed, eating up several meters with each stride. Everyone’s attention shifted to the middle viewscreen, where a major battle was taking shape.

  In her excitement Jenna gripped Geordi’s arm. He smiled at her. “Are you nervous?”

  “Sorry,” she said. “I was thinking of the Red team when they rushed us. I don’t think I’ve ever been more scared.”

  “But we beat them,” Geordi reminded her.

  “Yeah,” she said. “Nothing like surprise. We won’t have that next time.”

  No, thought Geordi glumly. Surprise is a weapon you can only use once. The Red team had been overconfident, certain that brute force could beat a bunch of misfits. Tomorrow they would be playing for the championship, and no one would take the Green team lightly.

  On the barren plain the two attacking forces were running so swiftly at half-gravity that they almost crashed into each other. The action was furious. The Blue team was outnumbered three to five, but they were closer together. Pettey’s five attackers were spread out. The Blue attackers ganged, up on a Gold player, hit his coup meter, and sent his molecules packing.

  But the other Gold players swiftly converged on them. They heard Pettey scream like a banshee as he leapt over a rock and tackled a Blue player. He rolled the Blueshirt onto his back and slapped his chest. And the cadet was gone.

  Another Blue player fought valiantly and scored a simultaneous coup, taking one of the Gold players with him. The other one ran for his life and was quickly brought down by two Goldshirts. He disappeared in a swirling mass.

  Geordi turned his attention to the door of the lecture hall. Looking dazed and humbled, three Blue team members and two Gold team members walked in. Geordi didn’t know yet what it felt like to be captured. Judging by the expressions on their faces, it didn’t feel good.

  “How about four-to-one odds?” asked Kareem.

  There were no takers. Pettey still had three members of his attacking force left, counting himself. They moved cautiously forward, trying not to be spotted.

  On the other screen the Blue team was in disarray. Takama kept trying to contact his three scouts, but it soon became obvious that they were no longer in the game. Unlike the observers in the lecture hall, he didn’t know what had become of them until they were gone.

  He turned to a strapping Delosian. “Take a wide route around,” he told him. “Not through the middle. See if you can find their flag. If you find it, go for it.”

  “That is a mistake,” T’Lara whispered to Geordi. “He must realize he is fighting a defensive battle at this point. To waste one of his best players is illogical.”

  Jenna disagreed. “Yeah, but he’s got to find out what’s going on. As we found out, it only takes one person to capture a flag.”

  “True,” said T’Lara, “when there are no defenders.”

  “Maybe the Blue team can come back,” said Geordi. “They only have one less player.”

  T’Lara nodded. “Also true. But the Blue team is strategically unbalanced. They have one attacker and four defenders. By contrast, the Gold team is balanced. They have three defenders and three attackers. They are prepared for any contingency.”

  Geordi sighed and slumped down in his chair. Half of him wanted to play the Gold team for the championship, and half of him didn’t. He marveled at the way this game was completely different from the one they had played only an hour before.

  Because the Blue flag was planted high, Pettey and his two teammates had no trouble finding it. Geordi thought that Takama had done a good job positioning the Blue defenders. They waited at different levels of the limestone formation. The husky Asian stood on top, guarding the flag himself.

  “They can’t go straight at it,” said Jenna. “What is Pettey going to do?”

  “A frontal assault would be risky,” agreed T’Lara. “He could lose his advantage.”

  Kareem added, “His main advantage is that he knows how that last battle came out, and Takama doesn’t. To know the enemy’s strength—when they don’t know yours—is a major advantage.”

  Pettey huddled with his teammates behind a rock and discussed the situation. Geordi leaned forward
to listen to the audio.

  “Let’s rush them,” said one of the Goldshirts. “We can take them!”

  “Not so fast,” answered Pettey. “You never attack high ground unless you outnumber them. I count four of them, so they must have sent one man after our flag. I’m not worried about him. But if they sent one guy out, they might think we would do the same thing.”

  “Yeah?” asked one of his teammates. “What good does that do us?”

  Pettey smiled. “You’ll be willing to sacrifice yourself for the good of the cause, won’t you? I want you to run up there and act like you’re going to attack them all by yourself. Yell at them, throw rocks at them—I don’t care what you do. But get them to chase you.”

  Geordi leaned forward. Here was Pettey ordering his teammate to do what T’Lara had willingly volunteered to do. It made Geordi realize how lucky he was to have the young Vulcan on his team.

  Pettey was grinning. “If you can get two of them to chase you,” he said, “it’ll be even odds for Pete and me. Two against two. If either one of us scores a coup, we win. I’ll take those odds.”

  Behind him, Geordi heard Kareem grumble, “Yeah, he’s the only one who will take any odds.”

  T’Lara tapped Geordi’s shoulder. “Over here,” she said, pointing to the screen on the right.

  The Gold defenders had spotted the lone Blueshirt who was trying to sneak up on them. Two of them set out in pursuit. Geordi watched the chase, remembering how he had been chased like that. It wasn’t a pleasant experience. If it hadn’t been for T’Lara, he would’ve been the first one to be captured.

  After a minute or so the Goldshirts broke off the chase and returned to guarding their flag. They weren’t too worried about an attack when it was three against one. The lone Blueshirt slumped to the ground, panting for breath.

  Geordi turned his attention to the other screen, where the scene was replayed in reverse. Now a lone Gold player ran in front of the Blue defenders and taunted them.

  “Hey!” he yelled. “You aren’t so tough! We’ve gotten rid of all the people you sent out so far!”

  “If you’re so great,” answered Takama, “come on up here!”

  “Are you scared of me?” the Goldshirt yelled. “When it’s four against one!”

  Jenna grabbed Geordi’s arm again. “They’re not falling for it.”

  Then Takama made his fatal mistake. He leapt down from the limestone formation and started to chase the intruder himself. One of his teammates came to his aid, and there were only two Blueshirts guarding the flag.

  Two Gold attackers appeared out of nowhere and began bounding up the rock toward the Blue flag. A Blue defender jumped on one of the attackers, and they hit the ground hard. Both of them disappeared in a cloud of swirling lights.

  That left Jack Pettey one-on-one against a defender who was much smaller than he. Pettey grinned as he walked toward him.

  The Blueshirt hit his comm badge. “Help! Help!” he yelled.

  Takama came running back, but it was too late. Pettey bounded up the slope and hit the defender’s coup so hard that the Blueshirt tumbled off the rock. Luckily he disappeared before he hit the ground.

  Geordi slumped back in his seat, his heart pounding and his mouth hanging open. That guy isn’t human—he’s an animal!

  Pettey swaggered up to the flag and clutched it like it was a trophy.

  “Yeah!” he bellowed.

  A buzzer sounded, and the screens went blank.

  Lieutenant Pantano rose to her feet. “Hmmm,” she said, “a rather one-sided victory. All in all, it’s been an interesting day. Your supplies have been replenished, so you can return to your camps. The championship game between Green and Gold will be held tomorrow morning. The match for third place will be held in the afternoon. You are dismissed.”

  Geordi gulped and stood slowly. There hadn’t been much time to savor their victory, he thought glumly. He looked at Jenna, who shook her head.

  “We’ve got our work cut out for us,” she said.

  CHAPTER

  8

  With a stick Geordi drew a square in the chalky ground. His teammates were gathered around him, watching intently. The only one missing was Zemusta, who was standing guard in case the enemy decided to send spies to their camp. The sun was slipping quickly behind the mountains of Saffair.

  “Here’s the playing field,” he said, pointing to the square. He drew two X’s in opposing corners. “There are the flags. In our match the major battle took place around our flag. That’s just too risky. If Altos hadn’t scored that last coup, we’d be playing for third instead of first place tomorrow.”

  He plunged the stick into the middle of the square. “This is where the Gold team won their match—in the middle of the field. After that, they had all the advantages and none of the risks. It was just a matter of time. This is where we have to win tomorrow—in the middle.”

  “But, Captain,” said Kareem, “they’re so much bigger than we are. I don’t think we can beat them on the open ground, even with nets.”

  There were murmurs of agreement. Geordi waved them off. “I wasn’t thinking of a fair fight. I was thinking of an ambush.”

  He glanced at T’Lara. “It wasn’t planned, but T’Lara and I staged an ambush in the middle of the field. It worked beautifully. The Red team lost two players to our one. If we can pull off a successful ambush, we’ll get an advantage in numbers. After that, the Gold team will have to play more cautiously.”

  The Vulcan cocked her head. “There is a strong probability that the Gold team will use the same strategy that was successful for them today. They will keep a few people back on defense and rush us with the bulk of their force.”

  “Right!” said Jenna. “And they’ll expect us to use the same strategy that won for us. They’ve seen the log of our game, so they know that we kept most of our people back, making nets. They won’t be looking for us in the middle of the field.”

  “Now you’re getting the idea!” said Geordi.

  Megan frowned. “But we’ll have to rush out there and find hiding places. We won’t have time to make any nets.”

  Geordi scratched his chin. “Yeah, I had thought about that. I don’t know how effective the nets will be if we try to use them again. That’s why I was looking for some new kind of surprise. I’m open to suggestions.”

  Vernok opened his beak and started to speak, then the little Saurian grew quiet.

  “Go ahead, Vernok,” said Geordi. “We should all feel free to speak our minds. What were you going to say?”

  “I am small,” said Vernok. “Not so good in battle.”

  “But you wrapped up Sidra Swan like a birthday present!” said Jenna. “That was cool.”

  Vernok grimaced, or maybe it was a smile. “I was lucky,” said the Saurian. “I have noticed that our flag and our uniforms are the same shade of green. If I turn my back to you and lower my head—do I not look like our flag? I can raise my elbow to let the wind blow my sleeve.”

  He demonstrated, and Geordi sat forward eagerly.

  “From a distance, you would look like a flag,” he agreed. “But how long can you hold that position?”

  “We are a cold-blooded species,” said the Saurian. “By nature we conserve our body movement. In other words, sitting perfectly still is something I do very well.”

  “Okay,” said Geordi, “then we’ll use you as a decoy. Altos, when we beam down tomorrow, you take our real flag and put it at the farthest corner boundary marker you can find. Just like the Gold team did with their flag. Then you hide and guard it. Vernok, you’ll climb up one of the limestone formations and plant yourself at the top. Then pretend to be a flag.”

  He turned to Megan. “You go with him, and make sure you’re very visible. Let them see you making a net. I don’t know how you can look like more than one person, but you’ll have to try.”

  “I’ll tie my hair back,” she offered. “I’ll use leaves from the vines to make my hair look a differen
t color.”

  “Great!” said Geordi. “That will leave five of us to stage our ambush. If they use the same strategy they used today, they should be coming with five attackers. We can’t plan the ambush until we see the terrain. But we know what direction they’ll be moving, once they see our decoy.” The Green captain sighed. “It sounds complicated. I just hope all of its works.”

  Jenna added, “One thing that’s very important is that we treat the decoy like our flag. If the ambush doesn’t work, or you get separated, retreat to the decoy. Not the real flag.”

  “That’ll be easy,” said Kareem. “None of us will know where the real flag is, except for Altos.”

  The big Andorian twitched his antennae. “No one will get past me,” he promised.

  Geordi sat back in the green dirt and stretched his legs. “Okay,” he said, “we have a plan. We’ll find out tomorrow if it works.”

  He looked up in time to, see the last slivers of sunlight disappear behind the craggy mountains. Gloom fell over the camp, and Jenna began to light the lanterns. Altos searched through the pouches of food, looking for his favorite dishes. No one had anything else to say.

  Geordi was startled when his comm badge beeped. “La Forge here,” he answered.

  “This is Zemusta,” came the reply. With amazement he said, “Jack Pettey is standing in front of me.”

  “Did you catch him spying?” asked Geordi.

  “No. He walked up to me and said he wanted to meet with you. He’s alone.”

  Geordi looked around at his teammates, but their expressions were as puzzled as his. “Send him to us,” said Geordi.

  “Yes, sir. Zemusta out.”

  Jenna frowned. “He probably wants to pick our brains. Nobody tell him anything.”

  Geordi looked at the diagram he had drawn in the dirt. He wiped it out with his hand. “Maybe he just wants to be friendly.”

  “Right,” said Jenna doubtfully.

  There was no mistaking the tall, blond-haired kid who strode out of the darkness. He could have bounded several meters at a time, but he seemed to be moving slowly on purpose. He acted like he didn’t want to alarm them.