by Dayton Ward
Šmrhová was aware that Captain Picard had been wrestling with the Prime Directive implications of interfering in the conflict between the Raqilan and Golvonek, but to her the matter had been decided the instant the Arrow had unleashed its weapons against the Enterprise. Now it was a matter of survival for the starship, and the admirals, diplomats, and historians could argue about it later.
Which is why I’ll probably never be an admiral, or a diplomat, or even an historian.
Šmrhová was okay with that.
“Lieutenant,” said Ensign Regnis, who was pointing toward a dark lump on the deck ahead of them. “Another soldier.”
“How many is that, now?” Šmrhová asked. “Six?”
Upon their arrival in the landing bay, the first thing to greet her and her rescue team was the trio of unconscious Golvonek soldiers strewn around the shuttlecraft Jefferies, the interior of which appeared to have been rifled if not outright looted. With no way to know what had happened here and still lacking the ability to contact any of the missing away team, Šmrhová had assigned the fifth and sixth members of her group to remain with the shuttle and secure any remaining equipment. Guiding them was her tricorder and the internal schematics of the Arrow provided by Commander La Forge after his team’s initial surveys of the colossal weapon ship. It had not taken long before her scans had pinpointed human, Betazoid, and Vulcan life signs. One human as well as nearly two dozen Golvonek biosigns were scattered across the ship, with the human not all that far from her team’s present location. Along the way, they had found the half dozen other Golvonek soldiers, all unconscious, leading Šmrhová to believe that at least one member of the wayward away team was clashing with the aliens for reasons as yet unknown.
As for what she presumed was the rest of the team, they along with two Raqilan life signs were concentrated in or near the Arrow’s engineering section.
So that’s where we’re going.
“Whatever’s jamming communications is still active,” reported Jarata, studying his tricorder. “If we can get into the computer system, we might be able to take care of that.”
Šmrhová shook her head, her gaze still fixed on her own tricorder. “We know where the away team is. We’ll just concentrate on that.” Adjusting one control to better tune the device’s scans, she added, “I’ve got a human life sign heading in our direction, and he or she has a tricorder, too.” Whoever it was, they were coming at them at a rapid pace, the bio signature growing sharper with each passing second. Also clearing from the haze of distortion affecting the quality of the tricorder’s scans as a result of the Arrow’s armored hull were at least five other life signs, all Golvonek. “Company.”
“I hear them,” said T’Sona, and when Šmrhová eyed her the Vulcan gestured with her phaser rifle toward the length of passageway that lay ahead of them. Three dozen meters away, the corridor was intersected by another tunnel running transverse to the larger conduit. Within seconds, Šmrhová heard the sounds of rapid footsteps, growing louder.
“Take cover,” she ordered, and the team moved to crouch along the bulkheads to either side of the corridor, trying to conceal themselves using the shadows cast by the dim lighting. As Šmrhová raised her phaser rifle to her shoulder and sighted down its length, a figure dashed into the intersection and turned toward her, cloaked in partial shadow. She saw the familiar silhouette of someone dressed in a Starfleet uniform, carrying an equipment satchel while wielding a hand phaser and a tricorder. Shoulder-length dark hair gave away the runner’s identity as Šmrhová recognized Lieutenant Kirsten Cruzen.
“Hello, fan club!” Cruzen snapped as she came abreast of Šmrhová, turned, and dropped to kneel beside the security chief. Her breathing somewhat labored from what Šmrhová assumed was a protracted dash through the Arrow’s bowels with pursuers dogging her every step of the way, she offered a tired smile. “I brought some friends.”
Other running footsteps from the crossing corridor were coming closer, and Cruzen did not wait for any order to fire as the first dark figure emerged into the intersection. The orange beam of her phaser illuminated the hallway as it struck what Šmrhová recognized as a Golvonek soldier. He or she—it was impossible to tell with the uniform, helmet, and other equipment—was spun around and fell to the deck just as a second soldier appeared in the passageway. Šmrhová fired her own weapon, dropping her target. Voices called out from around the corner, the remaining soldiers taking obvious heed of their companions’ misfortune.
“Don’t give them a chance to regroup,” Cruzen cautioned, rising from her crouch and moving up the corridor toward the intersection. Before Šmrhová could utter the first word of protest, the security officer was halfway to the junction. Then something appeared from around the corner. It was small and close to the floor, and Šmrhová realized it was one of the Golvonek, peering out into the corridor to search for threats. Only a portion of his helmeted head was visible, but Cruzen saw it and lowered her phaser toward it. She never had the chance to fire before another beam flashed in the corridor and passed over Šmrhová’s shoulder to strike the Golvonek’s head. Using the confusion as cover, Cruzen advanced to the intersection and fired into the other corridor. Another weapon sounded in the passageway, and Šmrhová saw the pulse of red energy strike a bulkhead above and behind Cruzen, but then the hall was silent and the lieutenant was backstepping into view, searching for other targets.
“All clear,” she called out.
Shifting her position, Šmrhová saw Ensign Regnis lying in a prone position on the deck, his phaser rifle still aimed up the corridor. His had been the shot that had taken the concealed Golvonek. “Nice shooting,” she said.
“Thanks,” replied the ensign as he pushed himself to his feet.
The team regrouped at the junction, where Cruzen stood surveying the results of the brief skirmish. Catching Šmrhová’s gaze, she smiled again. “I’ve been trying to outmaneuver these goons for fifteen minutes. I was hoping if I led them this way, you’d be ready for them.”
“So it’s you who’s been leaving a trail of bodies behind you?” asked Regnis.
“They’re all stunned,” Cruzen said, “not that they’d return the courtesy if the situation was reversed.” She explained the methods used to subdue the away team, including the nasty-sounding device that had injured Rennan Konya and Tamala Harstad.
“How many more of them are aboard?” asked Lieutenant Jarata.
Cruzen shook her head. “No idea, but right now that doesn’t matter.” She grabbed the strap of the satchel slung over her shoulder. “We need to get to the engineering deck. Konya’s hurt pretty bad, and we have to get him back to the Enterprise.”
“That might be a problem,” Šmrhová replied, explaining in rapid fashion the state of the battle between the Arrow and both the Raqilan and Golvonek ships as well as the Enterprise. “I don’t know what happened after we beamed over.”
“Then we’ll fly him out of here on the Jefferies and take our chances,” Cruzen said. “But we can’t waste any more time talking about this, Lieutenant.”
She was right, Šmrhová knew. Focus on the mission.
“Okay, then,” she said, stepping to the front of the group and leading the way to the Arrow’s engineering deck. “Let’s do this.”
* * *
T’Ryssa Chen grew more agitated with each moment. She stood next to Beverly Crusher and the remainder of the away team, all under the watchful eye of Bnira. Jodis was immersed in the rush of information being relayed to the control console’s various monitors and indicators, all of which seemed to have increased their output as the Arrow continued to carry out its attacks. The illumination from all of the displays made his lavender skin seem almost pale, and to Chen he appeared like a ghost, which seemed oddly fitting given how he and Bnira had—in a manner of speaking—been resurrected.
“I think you’ve proved your point,” Chen said after Jodis
had halted the ship’s weapons and turned his attention instead to propulsion and flight control. He ignored her commentary, of course, instead maintaining his attention on those consoles that still were active on the engineering deck’s damaged central control tower. After what from Chen’s vantage point appeared to be a devastating attack on the Enterprise, Jodis had tracked and fired on several more Raqilan and Golvonek vessels before moving the Arrow away from the skirmish. The weapon ship had been following whatever course Jodis directed for twenty minutes, and though she only was able to read portions of Raqilan written text, Chen still was able to interpret some of the labeling on monitors depicting what appeared to be navigational charts. She also noted the large number of alert messages and indicators highlighting many of the control tower’s remaining functional displays. Despite the Arrow’s obvious advantage over the Enterprise as well as the Golvonek and even Raqilan vessels, the weapon ship still had sustained significant damage during the brief firefight.
“What’s he doing?” Crusher asked, kneeling next to Rennan Konya.
Chen replied, “From what I can tell, he’s definitely put us on a course into the Canborek system. I can’t make out the exact destination from any of the charts he has visible, but do we really need to guess where we’re going?” She directed her gaze to Bnira. “You’re really going through with this?”
“Be quiet,” warned the female Raqilan. Based on how she held the pulse rifle she was using to guard the away team, Chen had no doubts Bnira knew how to employ the weapon.
“Or what?” Chen asked. “Your boss over there said he didn’t want to hurt us, so long as we didn’t get in his way. Are you going to shoot me for being annoying?”
Bnira’s eyes narrowed. “I am considering it.”
“I get that a lot.” Turning from her, Chen looked to the unconscious Konya as Crusher rested her hand on his forehead. On Konya’s opposite side, Harstad sat with her back propped against the bulkhead, doing her best to assist Crusher.
“How is he?” Chen asked. The Betazoid security officer’s condition seemed to have stabilized, but the doctor’s concern had not lessened. Despite the crude initial aid techniques she had been able to administer, Konya still required more attention than Crusher could provide without better resources.
“Not good,” replied the doctor. “We need that medical kit.”
“I know that your companion is en route back here,” said another voice, and Chen looked over her shoulder to see Jodis walking toward them. “If you continue to cooperate, she will be allowed to return and help you with your injured friends.”
Chen studied the Raqilan’s face, searching for signs of deception, but found none. “Just like that?”
It appeared to take an extra moment for Jodis to comprehend the meaning of her question before he nodded. “Yes. As I said before, I have no quarrel with you, and there is nothing you can do now to stop us.” He nodded back to the central control tower. “I have locked out computer access from every interface on the ship except that one. It is commendable that you were able to make so much progress circumventing our security measures, but there will be no more of that. From this point forward, only Bnira or I can interact with the ship’s systems.”
“What of the damage?” asked Bnira.
As though annoyed to discuss such subjects in front of their prisoners, Jodis said, “It has been mitigated. It will not interfere with our mission.”
“What mission?” Crusher asked. “What’s left to do? It should be obvious by now that the Golvonek can’t stand up to this ship. You’ve already won whatever battle you’re looking for. Surely, the Golvonek will realize this if they haven’t already. I can’t imagine their government won’t be begging to talk with your leaders about ending the war once and for all, so what’s the point of continuing?”
Rather than appearing to take satisfaction from his apparent command of the current situation, Jodis instead looked to Chen like someone weary of conflict. “The only battle I am interested in is the one I can prevent. To that end, I have no quarrel with the Golvonek, either.”
“What battle?” Harstad asked, glaring at him. “You’d think Mynlara would be sending messages back to her planet right now, telling them you’re on your way to blow them up. If that doesn’t get them to the negotiating table, I don’t know what will.”
Jodis smiled. “You actually believe my intention is to blow up Uphrel?”
“Isn’t that the whole point of all of this?” Chen asked, waving her hands to indicate the room and, by extension, the Arrow itself. “The whole crazy plan to send you back in time to end the war before it even starts?”
“I concede that may have been someone’s idea,” Jodis replied, before allowing his gaze to drift from hers as though recalling a memory. “Or, rather, it will be someone’s idea in the future, but that was not the Poklori gil dara’s original mission. That bit of frantic, desperate inspiration came much later, when it became obvious that time, lack of vision, and simple arrogance had seen to it that the Raqilan were destined to lose the war, no matter who historians in generations to come might declare the victor.”
“What are you saying?” Crusher asked. “That this ship was built to only be a deterrent?”
Bnira replied, “That was its original intent. The Poklori gil dara was to be the ultimate, final weapon constructed by either side for our war, its supremacy never to be challenged; and once the war ended? It would remain on patrol, always ready to take up arms against anyone who challenged the truce both sides would inevitably embrace.”
“Peace through superior firepower,” Chen remarked.
“Exactly,” replied Jodis, shaking his head. “It was a ridiculous plan: deploying incredible, untested technology created by trying to mimic weapons and other systems purloined from an alien race. We were banking the future of our civilization on the promise Poklori gil dara offered, motivated as we were by sheer desperation. According to analysts and other experts, we were losing the war. It had been predicted that the Golvonek would win as a consequence of simple attrition, possessing as they did more ships and people to fly to them, along with a wider availability of more plentiful resources. Facing this, we had been devoting everything we had into what many believed to be an anxious, final gambit. If the scheme failed, it likely would signal the eventual defeat of our people at the hands of the Golvonek.”
Chen asked, “If that was the case, then why the time travel element? It’s our understanding that the basic idea was to go back and prevent the war in some manner, and avoid all the bloodshed, loss of live, and damage to both planets.”
“That is basically correct,” Jodis said, stepping back to the control tower. “As you have learned, our war has not been a constant source of conflict for all these generations. There were periods of truce, if not outright peace. Government leaders and diplomats spent inordinate amounts of time attempting to reach lasting agreements, but something always disrupted those negotiations, and we would find ourselves back where we had begun.
“The idea of traveling through time was introduced by a small group of radical scientists. Until that point, they had toiled in near obscurity, fielding outrageous theories and making bold claims about the concept’s feasibility. Somehow, they managed to acquire the attentions of someone in the Raqilan senior military leadership, where the idea took hold. It was an audacious plan, to be sure, and perhaps if all had gone as conceived, it might well have been successful.”
“Except that your people didn’t count on this ship’s crew being traitors.”
The statement was out of her mouth before Chen could even stop it. Standing here, watching Jodis work, reviewing his cryptic statements and the actions he had taken to this point, she had found a thread weaving through it all, and in one moment, it all made sense.
With an expression of genuine admiration, Jodis nodded in her direction. “In a manner of speaking, you are correct.
”
“You’ve been working for the Golvonek all this time?” Crusher asked, her brow furrowing in disbelief.
“Myself, Bnira, and our dear friend Ehondar. We are—or will be—members of a group of Raqilan dissidents working with the Golvonek to end the war. We were many, scattered all through our civilian government and military structure. When word of the Poklori gil dara’s construction became known, and later the mission for which it was being built, an effort was put in motion to recruit and train specialists who could then be inserted into the project. The effort took many cycles and required great patience on the part of all involved, most especially those of us who might end up actually working on the ship. We worked in isolation and secrecy, each not knowing who among us might be part of the resistance movement. Only when the three of us were selected along with the others for the ship’s crew did we know who our allies were.”
“All that time,” Harstad said, “all that secrecy, and they never knew about the spies working among them?”
“I am certain they at least suspected such an effort,” Jodis replied, “but we were never discovered. We maintained our secrets throughout our training, even as the ship neared the end of its construction. At the time, the goal was simply to seize control of the vessel and deliver it to the Golvonek leadership. Once we learned of the mission to travel to the past, things changed.”
Chen nodded in understanding. “The Golvonek saw the advantage in such a mission.”
“Correct,” Jodis said. “Not everyone, of course, but even the Golvonek have their extremist voices, calling for more aggressive action against the Raqilan. For the most part, they had fought a defensive war, launching offensives against enemy targets only when it served to protect Golvonek interests, rather than the simple securing of territory or resources. This, however, was different. Now, some within Golvonek leadership circles were demanding more forceful responses to the Raqilan threat. Despite a brave façade, for the purposes of leading the populace, in private the Golvonek leadership was all but paralyzed by fear. How does a leader go about telling his people that they might be wiped from existence by a colossal weapon sent through time to destroy their planet generations before they were born?”