Star Trek - Gateways - 4 - Demons Of Air And Darkness

by Demons Of Air

  But she could always talk to Odo. Even before they became lovers, he had always been there for her when she needed him. And if he wasn't available for what-ever reason, there had always been someone-Jadzia Dax, Bareil Antos, Tiris Jast, even sometimes Captain Sisko, when she could get her mind around his being the Emissary.

  But Odo and the captain were gone, perhaps never to return. Jadzia, Antos, and Tiris were dead. Ever since becoming station commander, Kira had been putting more distance between herself and her offi-cers, even the ones she'd known for years. She ad-mired and respected Vaughn, but they were still

  getting to know each other. She'd also recently put a huge strain on her friendship with Kasidy.

  And since I became Attainted, most Bajorans can't even bear to look at me.

  What was it Benjamin once said? "It's lonely at the top." But dammit, even he had Dax-either one. Not to mention Jake and Kasidy. Who've I got?

  "Warning-power requirements of enhancement module exceed current capacity."

  'Dammit," she muttered. She had been hoping that Starfleet's adaptable engines would be able to handle it. But this enhancer was designed for that beast of a tanker out there, not something as small as the Euphrates.

  That can't be it, she thought. There's got to be an-other way. "Computer, is it possible to divert enough power from other sources to the shield generator to allow it to function?"

  "Affirmative."

  Another thought occurred. "Can it still be done if impulse power is left active?"

  "Affirmative."

  "Good. Do it."

  "Unable to comply."

  She closed her eyes. Take it easy, Nerys, you can't punch the computer. After taking a deep breath she asked, "Why not?"

  "In order to comply, life-support must be termi-nated."

  "There's always a catch," she muttered.

  "Please restate request."

  "Never mind." She searched around the enhancer, and found an inhibitor switch that would keep it from activating when it was hooked up. "Computer, time?"

  "The time is 1242 hours."

  She stood up. Little more than an hour before that mass goes through. "Computer, begin recording a message."

  "Recording."

  Placing her hands on the back of one of the side con-sole's chairs, Kira took a moment to compose her thoughts. "This is Colonel Kira Nerys on the Euphrates contacting all vessels at Europa Nova. The radiation is coming from a cargo tanker that's dumping antimatter waste from its hold into the gateway. The crew of the tanker is dead, killed by an alien who is currently en-gaged in combat with Taran'atar. There's a concentra-tion of toxic material bigger than anything that's gone through the gateway so far, coming through in one hour. I'll be using the Euphrates to block that and any further waste with the help of a shield enhancer I sal-vaged from the tanker." She took a deep breath. "In order for this enhancer to function, I'll need to shut down life-support. I'll therefore be evacuating the Eu-phrates and taking my chances on the fifth planet in this system, which is Class-M." Not much choice; with the transporter useless and no docking ports on that thing, there's no way for me to return to the tanker on my own. "As soon as it's feasible to attempt the disrup-tion of the gateways, do it, regardless of whether or not Taran'atar or I have returned. That's an order." She took another deep breath. "Computer, end message. When the Euphrates approaches the gateway, broadcast the message every two minutes."

  "Affirmative."

  She sat at the helm and set a course for the fifth planet

  As the runabout descended into the atmosphere, Kira programmed a course that would take the Eu-phrates on autopilot back to the gateway. The ship would take up position at the threshold, then activate the enhancer and expand the shield envelope to maxi-mum, with the impulse engines working to hold the runabout in position regardless of any force arrayed against it. After all, it would do no good to have that chunk of waste push the runabout through the gateway.

  The viewport showed an arid desert of a planet. The vegetation was sparse at best, and there were few bod-ies of water around. Kira did an intensive scan, and found a location that was near a freshwater lake and that also registered a survivably low temperature. Un-fortunately, that spot was currently in the early morn-ing, so the temperature would probably increase significantly before long, but she didn't have time to search for the perfect place to land.

  Once she set down, she got up to inspect the run-about's emergency kit. Everything seemed to be pre-sent and accounted for, and then some. Starfleet does believe in overcompensating, don't they? A small army could subsist on the combat rations, and Kira had to wonder if both a temperature control unit and an expandable shelter were necessary. The quick diag-nostic she ran showed that the small communications module was in working order, and the medikit had been stocked with arithrazine. The Hirogen had in-deed dispersed her phaser, so she took a Starfleet-issue one from the weapons cabinet-then took a second for good measure, as well as a tricorder.

  She opened the hatch. A blast of heat assaulted her face, a dry wind pushing her back from the hatchway.

  The air smelled stale and uninviting, and Kira was grateful that she hadn't bothered to put her uniform jacket back on, though she had tied it to her waist.

  Everywhere she looked on the ground was sand, broken very rarely by bits of plant Me, and the one freshwater lake that she had made sure to land near. It was flat land, with the only variations being the curva-ture of the planet itself. Not even any hills or moun-tains or sand dunes in sight. It was almost like a negative image of Europa Nova-where that world was the picture of luscious beauty, this was quite pos-sibly the bleakest planet Kira had ever seen.

  And I'm stuck in this place in order to fulfill my oath to save the other one. To think, some people be-lieve the Prophets don't have a sense of humor. Well, they do, and it's a black one. My life is proof of that.

  She tapped her combadge, and her hand almost slid off it, it was so covered in sweat. And I've only been here a minute. "Computer, activate program Kira-One."

  At those words, the hatch to the runabout closed. As soon as it locked into place, the runabout lifted off into the cloudless blue sky. Kira watched it ascend for as long as it was in sight, then tracked it with her tri-corder while it remained in range-which wasn't long at all.

  Now I just have to hope that my plan works.

  She checked the tricorder. Theta radiation was al-ready contaminating the atmosphere-that clear sky was working against her-and with the gateway blocked up, it was only likely to get worse.

  Kira gave herself a dose of arithrazine, then got started setting up the shelter.

  Within two minutes she had to stop. Sweat plas-tered her uniform to her body and dripped down into her eyes. Kira worked hard to keep herself in shape, and so little physical effort should not have exhausted her so quickly. She grabbed a bottle of water from the emergency kit and drained the entire thing in one gulp. It helped only a little.

  This is gonna be fun, she thought grimly. Then she got back to work on the shelter, moving more slowly this time, conserving her energy, praying that Taran'atar would win his battle.

  And that she would win hers.

  15

  EUROPA NOVA

  "commander, we can't do this."

  Vaughn didn't bother to turn the Defiant's com-mand chair around at Bashir's outburst. "What hi par-ticular is it that we can't do, Doctor?"

  Bashir stepped between Vaughn and the conn. He was holding a padd in his left hand and pointed at the viewscreen with it as he said, "This! All of it! I had hoped that the Trager and the gateway to Torona IV would make a difference, but I'm afraid they won't The Trager is transporting people more slowly man antici-pated. Each wave of evacuation is taking twice as long as the previous one. This relay method of the Trager and Intrepid picking people up and passing them off to the other ships is not what one would call expedient"

  "We're not exactly overburdened with alternatives, Doctor," Vaughn said dryly.
>
  "I'm aware of that, but-" Bashir sighed. "We had a chance when we started, but with the tortoise-like pace we've been going at, I'm afraid those chances have dwindled to nothing. People are going to die!"

  Vaughn simply stared at him. "We had this conver-sation in ops, Doctor. The chances were poor to begin with. We don't give up because the math is bad."

  "I understand that, sir, but we have a bigger prob-lem. Have a look at this." He handed Vaughn the padd.

  Looking down at the padd, Vaughn saw a familiar-looking sensor reading from the Gryphon, then handed it back to Bashir. "Yes, I know. Captain Mello told me about this an hour ago."

  Bashir looked incredulous. "If that mass comes through the gateway-"

  "I'm aware of the danger to Europa Nova. Tell me, Doctor, do you have any actual business on the bridge besides telling me things I already know?"

  "I'd like to know why I wasn't informed of this! And I'd like to know what's being done!"

  His voice as calm as Bashir's was frantic, Vaughn said, "Colonel Kira and Taran'atar have gone through the gateway to try to stop the radiation at the source. Since you've been occupied with coordinating relief efforts, keeping you briefed wasn't a priority. Neither is panicking, nor flailing about in outrage. We'll deal with the problem."

  A voice sounded over Bashir's combadge. "DeLa-Cruz to Bashir."

  "Bashir here. What is it, Martine?"

  Vaughn was impressed-and grateful-that Bashir

  and the surgeon general of Europa Nova were on a first-name basis. His predilection for histrionics notwithstanding, Bashir was a damned efficient doc-tor, and the treatment of the sick had been handled very well on this mission.

  "Julian, did you remove the arithrazine stock from Spilimbergo's hospital?"

  "Of course not."

  "Well, it's gone. And I've got hundreds of people here that need treatment."

  "Doctor, mis is Commander Vaughn. The Intrepid is supposed to be landing within the hour to take the re-maining population of Spilimbergo." While Kira's di-verting of the waste to Lago DeBacco saved Spilimbergo from any immediate danger, the level of exposure made that city's evacuation a priority. Unfor-tunately, the proximity of that waste meant that even the Trager's transporter wasn't reliable, so the Intrepid was tasked with evacuating Spilimbergo as fast as possible.

  "I'm aware of that, Commander, but some of these people can't wait an hour."

  Bashir looked over at the command chair. "Com-mander, with your permission, I'd like to have the Chaffee bring down some of our arithrazine stock to Spilimbergo."

  Vaughn nodded. "Granted." He turned to the conn. "Ensign Tenmei, can you please handle that?"

  Prynn said nothing, but simply nodded, got up, and approached Bashir.

  "Martino, one of our shuttlecraft will deliver your arithrazine within twenty minutes," Bashir said.

  "That's fine, Julian, but I'm also a bit concerned with who might have stolen it. Arithrazine has to be

  administered very carefully. If some amateur is pass-ing it out..."

  "We'll keep an ear out for it, Doctor," Vaughn said. "Thank you for bringing that to our attention, how-ever. Defiant out."

  Bashir then spoke with Prynn about the particulars of bringing the arithrazine down on the Defiant shut-tlecraft.

  Nog announced, "Incoming message from the Gryphon, sir."

  "On screen, Lieutenant"

  The viewscreen shifted from a view of the planet to the face of Elaine Mello. "What can I do for you, Captain?"

  Mello broke into a smile. "You can enjoy the good news I'm about to give you, Commander. Colonel Kira did it. The toxic stream coming through the gate-way has reduced by ninety percent."

  "That is good news."

  Bashir, having finished his conversation with Prynn, said, "That'll improve the chances that we'll be able to evacuate in time." For her part, Prynn left the bridge without a word.

  "We're not sure exactly how she did it-sensor readings are still pretty spotty-but Dr. Bashir's right in that it should buy us some more time."

  Nog looked up from his console. "Commander, we're getting an incoming message from the Euphrates."

  "On audio, Lieutenant."

  Kira's voice was barely recognizable-and not con-sistently audible-over the static from theta-radiation interference. "This is Colonel Kira Nerys on the Euph... fleet vessels at Europa Nova. The

  radio... antimatter waste from its hold into the gate-way. The crew of the tanker is dead, Tatted by... ger than anything that's... using the Euphrates to block that and any further waste... eed to... fifth planet... soon... it is feasible to attempt the disrup-tion of the gateways, do it, regardless of whether or not Toran 'atar or I have returned. That's an order."

  "Can you clean that message up, Lieutenant?"

  "I'm afraid that is the cleaned-up version, sir. It's broadcast twice since the radiation levels decreased, and the first transmission was the better of the two."

  Vaughn scratched his beard thoughtfully. "Keep an ear out for more repetitions. With the radiation de-crease, we might get a better signal. Some of those gaps were too damn long."

  Nog nodded. "Yes, sir."

  "Captain Mello, I assume you got that message, as well?"

  "Yes, Commander. And to answer your next ques-tion, we've still got two hours before we've hit our quota for the Jarada." The Gryphon security chief had taken over supervising the evacuation at Costa Rocosa.

  Turning back to Nog, Vaughn asked, "Will the tachyon burst be ready by then, Lieutenant?"

  "It should be, sir." Nog hesitated, then added, "Sir, I'd feel better about it if Ensign ch'Thane was here to look over the specs one more time. It was his design. May I ask why he didn't accompany us?"

  "You may not ask, Lieutenant," Vaughn said with-out looking at the engineer. That was all he planned to say on the subject. He had ordered ch'Thane behind as a favor to Vretha. He wasn't happy about it, and Nog's concern was understandable. But then he

  thought about his just-departed daughter. I'm not going to keep a parent from trying to reconcile with her child. Especially given what's at stake. I just wish it were that easy for me to order Prynn to talk to me off duty.

  "Spillane to Mella." The voice was coming through the bridge speakers.

  "Mella here."

  "Captain, we've, ah, got a bit of a problem down here."

  Lieutenant Ann Spillane was Mello's chief of secu-rity, so "down here" was Costa Rocosa. That's not en-couraging, Vaughn thought.

  "There's a Europani down here," Spillane contin-ued, "holding jive people hostage along with six crates of arithrazine."

  Bashir looked up at that. "There goes Martino's arithrazine," he said quietly.

  "He just showed up with a ship and the drugs, grabbed five people who were about to go through the gateway to Torona IV, and blocked the way. He says he'll release the drugs and the people if we let him and his family through to Torona IV."

  Nog muttered, "So why not just let them through?"

  Mello apparently heard him, because she said, "Be-cause the jive-hundred-thousand-person limit the Jarada put on us is pretty strict, and all those slots are taken. I take it no one's willing to give up their slot, lieutenant?"

  "That's the kicker," Spillane said. "He won't let anyone give up their slot-says he doesn't want any-one else to suffer because of him. He just wants to add him, his wife, his mother, his five kids, and his sister

  to the group-and he'll kill the hostages and destroy the drugs if we don't let him."

  "Interesting method of not letting people suffer," Bashir said. "Especially if he's blocking the gateway."

  Vaughn stood up. "With your permission, Captain Mello, I believe I can handle this."

  "Granted."

  As he moved to the door, he said, "Doctor, you're with me. I'll need you to deal with the arithrazine when we're finished. Lieutenant Nog, you have the conn."

  It only took forty minutes for Vaughn to fly the Sagan, the Defiant's other shuttlecr
aft, to Costa Ro-cosa. Bashir spent the time contacting Dr. DeLaCruz to inform him that he had a promising lead on that missing arithrazine, and then checking the radiation levels to make sure that none of it penetrated the shut-tle's enhanced shields.

  Vaughn scanned the area in search of a decent land-ing spot. When he had beamed down the last time (Was that only yesterday? he thought; seems like decades... ), there seemed to be a paucity of places to land on the uneven ground near me gateway. And if this hostage-taker has a ship, he's probably used one of those places already.

  That last assumption turned out to be false. The Europani hostage-taker had landed his ship-a small atmospheric pod about five meters long-right on the rocky outcropping and was using it to block the gate-way.