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Chapter Four
Verionius sat behind his desk and stared at Walker
for several seconds before speaking.
"So what does he want?"
"Sir?"
"This Gul Vendant. Why does he want you so
badly that he risks war to bring you to him?" Verionius continued
to stare at her.
Walker swallowed hard as she stared down at the
shiny black surface of Verionius' desk. There were many things that
she did not ever want to discuss with anyone, and this was near the top
of that list.
"I'd rather not say, sir." She exhaled heavily.
Verionius blinked. This was not the answer
he expected.
"Number One....may I remind you that Gul Vendant
was prepared to attack us to capture you," Verionius spoke as calmly
as he could muster. "I think that would be reason enough for you
to open up to me."
Walker felt her eyes burning and fought back the
emotions that were coming forth. "Verionius...in our short time serving
together I come to think of you as a friend. Don't get me wrong because
I do trust you....it's just that," She paused as she gathered her
thoughts. "There are some things in my past that I can not speak
of, to anyone."
"Why?" Verionius stared at her with a hard
look. "I would think that you could set any discomfort aside for
the moment. After all, the ship is at risk here....."
"It's not a matter of discomfort," Walker
interrupted him abruptly. She stood and crossed over to the full
length window across from Verionius' desk and spent long moments staring
out into the rainbow streaked view. "It's a matter of secrecy."
"What?" Verionius stood.
"My file shows that I worked in the Special Operations
area for three years, assigned to Starbase Theta Four," She continued
to look out the window. "That isn't true."
Verionius felt a slight chill in his blood.
"I can't reveal exactly what I was doing during
that time. Let's just say that I was working in a division that dealt
with covert threats to the Federation."
"Black Ops?" Verionius said breathlessly.
"Who?" Walker asked in an almost sarcastic
tone. "There is no organization by that name in Starfleet."
Verionius suddenly realized that much about his
exec had now been explained, and so much more had become even more mysterious.
He sat back down and realized that whatever Gul Vendant wanted Walker for
was worse than he could have imagined. With that thought came the
realization that even if he was left with no other options he couldn't
hand her over to them. Vendant would not let any of them escape alive.
"Carry on, Number One," He said quietly.
"Sir?" She turned toward him.
"You can go back to the bridge now," Verionius
said as he looked at her evenly. "I'm sorry I asked now."
Walker stood for a moment, clenching and unclenching
her fists. She nodded savagely as she decided on her course of action.
"This is off the record?" She finally said.
Verionius nodded. "Computer, shut off all
monitoring of this room."
*Acknowledged.*
Walker sat down.
"Here is why Gul Vendant is after me," she started.
Ramses watched his console with tight scrutiny.
If they were going to come out of this alive and in one piece, it meant
that he had to stay well ahead of the Cardassian ships pursuing them.
Not to mention that he needed to avoid any Cardassians moving toward them
from any other direction. Ramses felt sweat bead up on his forehead.
It was a daunting task, and Ramses prayed he was up to it. He swallowed
hard as he stole a glance around the bridge. The others were just
as intent on their job as him....and some of them seemed just as nervous.
"Matt," he hissed to the man sitting next
to him at Ops. "What do you think our chances are?"
"Slim," the man answered back with a shrug.
"But what a way to die, eh?" He grinned almost savagely at his colleague.
Ramses returned his gaze to his console. Responses
like the one Holbrock had given him were not what he needed.
"Mr. Ramses, adjust heading to three four one mark
two." DeLanthri spoke from the tactical console.
"Aye sir," Ramses responded as he entered
the course change. He frowned at the new course. "Sir, that
takes us into the gravity well of a binary star system."
"I'm aware of that, Mr. Ramses," came the calculated
response. "I'm also aware that it will throw off the Cardassian sensors
and will buy us some time."
"The gravimetric waves will do some pretty nasty
damage to us if our shields fail," Holbrock said. "In fact,
the longer we stay in the well the faster the shields will drop."
He checked his console. "And we aren't in the best of shape now."
"Take us in, Mr. Ramses."
Ramses felt more sweat bead up on his forehead as
he prayed that the tactical chief knew what he was doing. He rechecked
his console.
"Sir, we should reach the edge of the gravity well
in 3 minutes present speed."
"Maintain speed."
The seconds ticked by slowly. Too slowly for
Ramses' liking. He wanted this over with. He wanted the ship
to be somewhere safe where the repairs that engineering mentioned could
be made. Every instinct inside him screamed to drop the ship out
of warp, and set a course away from the upcoming star system. His
hands twitched slightly over the controls on his console.
"Cardassian ships have reduced speed," Mr.
R'Mlek said in a quiet monotone. "Readings indicate they are adjusting
their courses away from here."
DeLanthri nodded and frowned as his console blinked,
indicating an incoming signal. The Cardassian ships were hailing
them.
"Captain to the bridge."
Verionius and Walker rushed in.
"Report." Verionius said as he approached
the command chair.
"The Cardassians are hailing us."
"On screen."
A static filled image of Gul Vendant appeared.
The image wavered as the Gul glared at him.
*Hiding in that gravity well won't save you for
long. Surrender Commander Walker to us, and we will withdraw.*
Verionius smiled coldly. "If you want her
bad enough, why don't you come in here and get her?"
Vendant smiled back just as coldly. *I think
not. When you are forced to pull out due to the damage to your ship,
we will be fully repaired and waiting. Then we shall see if you are
as bold. Vendant out.*
Verionius stood. "R'Ashiera to engineering.
We've bought you some time, Mr. Nathaniels...use it wisely."
*I hardly call the gravity well of a binary star
'buying some time', sir. But it will help.*
"Just do what you can. Bridge out,"
Verionius looked around. "While we have time to kill I want all senior
officers in the conference room," He looked meaningfully at Walker.
"We have something to discuss."
"Every repair we make is going to be complicated
by the gravity well." Perily snarled.
"Tell me something I don't know, lady." Nathaniels
replied curtly.
"If we don't get out of here soon..."
"Don't get your fur up about it," Nathaniels
grinned. "We'll be fine." He finished installing a regulator
on the coolant line. "There are worse situations than this one."
"Oh? Any you've been in?"
"Well...no."
Perily rolled her eyes and turned back to the patch
she was welding. "Beautiful." She muttered to herself.
The conference room was silent as everyone looked
over to where Walker sat staring at Counselor Andor.
Walker stood and took a deep breath as she moved a step towards the
Bajoran. "You're implying that this is my fault?"
Brakkis took a breath, almost withering under
the exec's glare. "Yes, ma'am... I am. Maybe not directly your
fault, but on some level you have involved us in an unnecessary conflict.
Obviously there is a good reason this Gul Vendant wants you, yes?"
Walker was right in the Bajoran's face now. "You think
I am involved in this situation that is endangering the crew? What
did you think I called the Cardassians to come out and play?"
Brakkis shook his head. "No, but as I said, there is a reason
that they are hunting you. I think it's only fair the rest of us
know why."
"Counselor," Verionius started.
"No, he's right sir." Walker looked around
the room at the others. "They do deserve to know."
"If you don't want to," Verionius started.
"No, I need to," Walker sat and looked at
Brakkis. "I'm sorry Counselor."
"Quite all right," Brakkis replied, his voice
barely a whisper.
"About five minutes ago, Commander R'Ashiera
said basically the same thing to me," Walker explained. "And, although
it was difficult for me to do, I told him what I knew. I told him
the truth."
She sighed then looked everyone in the room in the
eye calmly.
"I have informed the captain of certain... events
that happened in my past and involved Gul Vendat. I am afraid I simply
cannot give you any more details at the moment. If nothing else," Walker
sighed heavily, " I would say that it is in your best interest not
to know. The Cardassians hold people guilty even for just hearing
certain pieces of information. I suppose I'm going to have to ask
a hell of a lot from you. Namely... to trust me on this one. Let's
just say that Vendat is highly motivated in wanting to get back at me for
something that happened a few years ago and leave it at that for now, okay?"
The counselor smiled briefly. "We are crewmates.
On Bajor, during the occupation, we learned that sometimes we have to accept
things without knowing all the reasons. Even though that seems to
contridict my earlier comment that we deserved to know all, I think we
know enough without needing to know all the reasons." He looked around
the table. "We are Starfleet officers. We're all together on
the madien voyage of this ship for a reason, and part of that reason must
be that our fates are meant to be intertwined." An odd serenity flickered
through his expression. "The Prophets smile upon us indeed."
"Counselor Andor is right," Verionius said,
stepping in. "If we're going to survive this we need to have faith
in each other." He looked at Walker, but not in accusation... more of brother
to sister. "Right now, all we have is each other. The rest
of the crew is depending on us to get out of this situation safely and
in one piece. I, for one, do not plan on letting them down."
"Me either," the other officers chorused. There was a definite
energy in the room as these men and women began coming together for a common
goal. And made the first steps toward becomming a family.
Verionius nodded. "Then let's get to work."
As Ramses sat back in his seat he gut told him that
something was not right. He checked his console and found nothing
on the sensors to be concerned about. He frowned. Things just
felt wrong to him.
"Commander," Counselor Andor was saying.
"Something we need to consider. How did Gul Vendant know that Commander
Walker was on this particular ship....or that we were heading this direction."
Ramses started to turn to ask his own question when
he felt coldness in his back.
And it was then that his instinct proved right.
"Commander," Lt. R'Mlek spoke from the science
station. "My sensors indicate an object dropping out warp near the
gravity well of the two stars."
"Red alert. Is it the Cardassians?"
"Negative sir. The object is only 3 meters
in length."
"Too small to be a ship, but not to be a weapon."
DeLanthri exclaimed.
"The object does not give indications of being a
weapon," R'Mlek replied. "It appears to be a probe."
"Commander, maybe we should move the ship out of
here," Ramses added.
"Stand by helm," Verionius replied.
"Is the probe moving toward us?"
"No sir," R'Mlek replied. "There is
an anamoly that has formed near the probe. Perhaps it is analyzing
this."
DeLanthri frowned as he moved over to see what the
vulcan was referring to. "Solar storms?"
"Negative. It almost appears as if a subspace
bubble were forming." R'Mlek tapped on his console. "It does
not appear to be a natural phenomona." He looked up. "Sir,
I believe this probe has caused the bubble to form."
"Helm, adjust course. Steer us away from this
system," Verionius said rapidly.
"Aye sir." Ramses quickly entered a course
change.
'Then it is a weapon," DeLanthri frowned.
"I am detecting an unstable warp bubble growing.
It is destabilizing both stars."
"Dammit!" Verionius slammed his fist into
the armrest on his chair. "Mr. Ramses, take us to warp."
"The gravity well is interfering with the warp drive,"
He replied. "I need a few more seconds to get us clear."
"A level three gravimetric wave is spreading out
from the stars," R'Mlek stated in the typical calm voice of a vulcan.
"Impact in thirty seconds."
"We have a level three gravimetric shockwave approaching.
Impact in twenty five seconds." R'Mlek stated.
"Evasive manuvuers," Verionius said with a
growl. "Full power to the S.I.F. field."
"We're at full speed sir," Ramses was near
panic. "I don't think we can make it."
"Impact in ten seconds."
"Mr. Ramses, do whatever you can," Verionius tapped
the comm button on his chair. "All decks, brace for impact."
As the bridge crew gripped their consoles, nearby
railings, and whatever else they could, Andor said a silent prayer to the
Bajorn prophets.
The wave of distorted gravity hit the ship, flipping
it end over end. A brief glimmer surrounded the ship as it's shields
failed. As the Farseeker continued to spin slowly away from the destructive
wave of energy, every light went out.
Chapter Five
"I said no," Nathaniels shouted over the combined
sounds of hissing steam, furiously working engineers, and multiple alarms.
"THIS goes here.....THAT goes there." He pointed furiously at the
proper connections to a harried young tellarite. The engineer scrambled
to correct the connecting cables as Nathaniels rushed to another part of
the main engineering area. Verionius watched for a moment before
following the chief engineer.
"Mr. Nathaniels," Verionius shouted over the
noise. "What's our status?"
Nathaniels turned around to face the commanding
officer with a look of surprise. "Our status? Well, first of
all we're damn lucky to be alive. Otherwise..." He extended
his arms to the chaos around them. "You can see for yourself."
Verionius bit back the desire to punch Nathaniels.
"Lieutenant Commander Nathaniels, perhaps I should rephrase my question."
Nathaniels waved Verionius off. "No need.
I'm just a bit flustered sir. We're going to be doing without the
finer things in life for a while, but i think we're past the worst."
He handed Verionius a PADD. "Can I assume that you weren't just down
here to bust my chops?"
Verionius frowned.
"I can use some extra hands," Nathaniels confessed.
Verionius caught the meaning and nodded. "What
do you need me to do?"
"We'll start over here, replacing the isolinear
chips in these three units..." Nathaniels moved away from Verionius,
talking as he went. Verionius had to practically jog behind the man
to hear his instructions.
Three long hours later, Verionius wiped the sweat
from his forehead and tapped his comm badge.
"Verionius to bridge."
A burst of static answered him.
"Dammit." He swore as he turned to check the
connections in the main communications console.
*Walker here sir, good to have the system back up.*
Verionius grinned. "Agreed Number One.
I'm on my way back up to the bridge shortly. Get in touch with all
areas and have an updated status report ready for me upon my arrival."
*Working on it now.*