by Melanie
"Ah, yes, that was shortly after I arrived here. The security measures there, like all others my predecessor had initiated, were under review when that incident occurred." He reached out to the lift controls and changed their destination. "Now the security is much tighter and the Verta have not been able to repeat that regrettable incident."
As the lift doors opened and he led them down the hall to the caverns/storage rooms, E'Arte once again was thankful for I'Nu's unwavering loyalty to him and cursed his predecessor's clerk. When his predecessor had left for a new position, he had left behind his clerk/lover, claiming he would arrange for her transfer to join him as soon as he could. But she had been happy here on Rachar. Even though they still had to answer to the Homeworld, they were the supreme power on this Rachar and she had not wanted to leave it for near obscurity on some Gherop world. So, naturally, she had been resentful towards E'Arte and had reported
every little incident on Rachar as though it was personally E'Arte's fault. He had delighted in letting her know about her lover's wife and children and the fact he never had planned to take her with him. In a rage, she had gone AWOL to hunt down her duplicitous love and E'Arte had received I'Nu as her replacement. I'Nu understood the need for keeping T'Do in the dark about some things.
"The Stronghold is not only used to keep prisoners," he explained, leading them into the cavern filled with crates. "It also houses our weapons, parts for equipment, medical supplies, and such. Everything the Verta dearly would love to take from us."
"That is rather inconvenient if there is a need for them on the other side of the planet."
"Each centre has a spare of everything in case of emergency. There's only been a delay once?"
I'Nu nodded to him.
"Once and that was because their spare part had a flaw in it. This system has worked perfectly. No further losses have been incurred from our stores." He did not mention the times the Verta had raided their supply shipments when they were on route to their destination.
Entourage following, T'Do began to wander around the cavern, clearly looking for something to criticize. He found it only a moment later. "This hardly looks very secure."
E'Arte waved a dismissive hand towards the grate. "A remnant of the excavations of this facility. Ventilation and secondary access for the lower levels. It collapsed during the drilling of the level we just left. No security risk."
"But I can feel air circulating."
"From another room. There are pockets here and there that still are open, but the majority caved in and access to the surface was blocked by a rock sli-"
"What idiot sent the empty crates back here?" a voice shouted from near the doors to the hall.
"Wasn't me," a second voice denied, equally loudly. "Try the next stack."
"I am. They're empty too."
The tour group came out from behind the towers of crates that had been concealing them. The two Gherop technicians who were shouting to one another as one routed through crates while the other consulted a report. From the looks on their faces, they had thought themselves alone in the cavern. Quickly, they snapped to attention.
"Empty crates are worthy of such security?" T'Do asked with a smirk and checking the crates himself.
"Clearly an error."
"Hmm."
T'Do obviously was a firm believer that if one finds one mistake, one will find more for he began nosing around the area. No one could believe what he found.
Almost every crate was empty. A close inspection of each one revealed telltale marks on the crates signifying they had been opened previously.
"Over here," one of the entourage called and all cam running to see the two still bound and gagged Gherop now awake and struggling against their bonds.
T'Do turned accusing eyes on E'Arte whose mental shock was mirrored on his face.
"Get our security down here," T'Do growled to his aide then glared at E'Arte. "I want to know if this is incompetence on the part of the staff or this *impenetrable facility* isn't quite so secure as some claim."
-------
Word came of trouble as Tom was debating with Mksa and a few other hard-liners on the validity of his criticism of their plans. The queen had been quite correct in her prediction that Tom would shake them up. The majority of his carefully worded suggestions for modifications to their plans were gratefully accepted by most, especially in light of Plwa's introduction of Tom as "someone the Queen feels will be of great assistance to us," but Mksa's distrustful contingent were vocal in their disapproval of him.
Then word came of the Gherop having discovered the Verta "shopping trip." Tom had known the missing items would be discovered, but not so quickly. At that messenger's heels came another saying T'Do's people had discovered the tunnel now was passable and T'Do had issued an ultimatum that if the Verta were not revealed with in the next hour, they would begin executing Rachar. Large groups of them were being rounded up and brought to the grounds of the Royal Palace where the executions were to take place.
Probably without their even realizing they were doing it, all but Mksa's group looked at Tom for guidance. 'Well, Paris,' he thought, 'the Admiral groomed your entire life for leadership and The Protectors programd in into you. Now is the time to do some actual good with what they all taught you.'
"All right, exposing ourselves is not an option-"
"*Our*selves?" Mksa stressed. "You may look like us, but you're not one of us."
Seeing he had to nip this in the bud before it became a problem, Tom addressed him directly. "I may not have been born here and I won't lie to you, I'd rather be back on my ship with my people and have plenty of light-years between us and this place, but that's not an option. My ship is gone and the only long-range comm units are in the hands of the Gherop. And even if I could get to one, there's no guarantee Voyager's still within range. So I'm stuck here, maybe permanently. And as long as that is the case, I have to pick a side to be on. Verta or Gherop. Quite frankly, I don't like bullies and that's all the Gherop are -- bullies with weapons -- so that leaves the Verta."
Mksa opened his mouth to comment on the backhanded compliment. Tom did not give him the chance to voice it.
"I am a trained soldier. I know this stuff better than anyone. It's been drilled into my head -- literally -- since I was a newborn. I am your best chance of survival. Whether you like it or not."
Without saying anything, Mksa made it clear he did not like it.
"Now, are we going to keep arguing or are we going to figure out how to prevent these executions."
The dissenters kept quiet.
"Fine. Now, they know we're not going to surrender so they're expecting the relatives and friends of those who are to die to come forward and begin betraying us. And at the same time they're going to be expecting us to attempt to stop this execution. They'll have as many of their people as they can spare, hiding all over the area near the Palace, waiting for us to stick our noses out. So we're going to do the opposite of what they're expecting.
"You're just going to let them execute them?" Mksa shouted.
"Hardly. I have something else in mind, but I need to know our assets. People, arms, everything."
As Tom gathered the information he needed and his plan was laid out before them, Mksa whispered to an aide who then detached herself from the assembly and departed.
In the other end of the room, Tom, engrossed in consulting a map with the others, did not see the exchange.
-------
"They are going to save us, aren't they?" Jmi asked Dtu as they and the other Rachar were herded out onto the Palace grounds. "I mean they won't let us die, will they?"
Dtu was silent for a long moment, thinking. When her mother, father, and oldest brother had left her and her other siblings with Jmi's family the night before, she had begged them to take her along. She had guessed they were going on some Verta mission and had wanted to help. They had refused her, saying she was too young and it was too dangerous. Well, she would love to hear their
responses now. When the Gherop soldiers had swarmed over the village and began grabbing everyone they could find, everyone had known it could mean nothing good for them. None of them had thought for a second they were being seized as an example group for execution. Usually when E'Arte ordered this, the soldiers picked from the Capital or whatever city was in need of a seeing an example of his absolute power over them. T'Do for some reason known only to him had chosen the population of their tiny village instead to be the example for the Verta ultimatum. Little did he know he had the families of a large number of them.
"Dtu?"
She shook her head, not looking at Jmi. "No, they won't if they are smart, which they are."
"But-"
Hissing for her to keep her voice down, Dtu grabbed Jmi's arm. "Do you honestly think if the Verta revealed themselves that they would be the only ones who would be killed. You've heard the adults talk about T'Do. He is ruthless. He won't stop even if a few of the Verta or all of the them turned themselves in.
Tears rose in Jmi's eyes. "We're going to die."
"But it will be for Rachar."
Not as eager as Dtu to give up his life, even for so worth a cause, Jmi began to cry.
-------
"Halt and identify yourselves," the Gherop soldier commanded.
As per orders, he had been guarding the side door of the shuttle hangar outside of the Capital since dawn and he almost was at the point of wishing something would happen just to liven things up. Apparently, T'Do expected the rebels would attack any number of a variety of locations -- including the hangar where he now stood -- in retaliation for the upcoming executions. The soldier could not help but wonder if no one had tried to tell the Emperor that, after one miserable failure to seize the hangar, the Verta never tried it
again. The rebels did not have the codes necessary to access any of the shuttles' functions so even if they did seize the hangar, it would be of little use to them.
But he was a soldier and he had to follow orders, stupid ones and smart ones regardless. So what if in the entire time he had been there, two P'Chi who were approaching were the only souls he seen, other than the guards patrolling the inside of the hangar. He was following his orders and not being brought up on report for questioning his superiors. If he ever was going to get promoted and off of this rock on the farthest edge of Gherop space, having notations like: "Questions authority" would not do him any service.
"We were sent by T'Do," the big P'Chi male said the instant he and his companion stood before him. "We bring new instructions."
"Why weren't we just notified over the comm?"
"The Verta are monitoring our communications. Some of the items stolen from the Stronghold's storeroom were communications equipment. T'Do sent us out here to personally relay the information to all of you. You need to round up your people so we can tell all of you at once then move on to the next ones we have to speak to. T'Do doesn't like delays."
With that implied threat, the soldier rushed inside the hangar, calling for the soldiers and others inside to come to him. He never saw the weapons the two P'Chi withdrew from under their tunics.
Less than a minute later, Plwa reappeared and a group of armed Rachar with Tom in front ran into the hangar.
"Where is she?" Tom asked Plwa and the big male pointed to the nearest shuttle. As the hangar doors were opened and the Verta began entering the shuttles, Tom closed behind him the hatch of the shuttle Plwa had indicated. "How's it coming, Lpse?" he asked running to the helm just passed her station.
"They don't seem to have found all of my tampering with their systems," she told him distractedly. "I've almost got -- We're in. The shuttles are ours."
"Then let's go."
She signaled the other Verta to proceed and he fired up their shuttle's engines, hoping the crash course the Verta had given him on the layout of Gherop helms had been correct.
-------
"The time is almost up and no sign of any Verta," T'Do remarked conversationally to E'Arte. On the once beautiful lawns of the Palace, stood dozens of Rachar. The adult's angry voices and the crying of the children reached T'Do's party where they stood on the Royal Suite's balcony, but they were met with indifference. "So be it."
He motioned to the soldiers who were keeping the crowd confined to a tight area. At that signal, the Gherop fanned out into a line, raising their weapons. This new arrangement made it very easy for the shuttle suddenly appearing out of nowhere to pick the soldiers off without hitting any civilians. A cry still went up from the assembly of natives, who ran in all directions now that their captors were out of the way.
Immediately, T'Do's people rushed him indoors and out of danger and E'Arte and I'Nu followed.
"Contact the T'Do T'Nar and tell them to stop that shuttle! T'Do demanded.
"Our controls aren't responding," the T'Do T'Nar's Captain could be heard telling T'Do's aide a moment later.
The emperor grabbed the communicator from the aide's hand. "What do you mean, aren't responding?" he growled at the captain.
"We're locked out."
"Get our shuttles in the air," E'Arte told I'Nu.
"Already trying to," the clerk answered. "The soldiers at the hangar aren't responding."
The shuttle buzzed the windows and they rattled. "The Verta," E'Arte spat out.
Shoving the communicator back to its owner, T'Do glared at E'Arte, leaving no doubt in anyone's mind whom he blamed for everything falling apart. "You," he growled, turning to I'Nu. "That engineering genius E'Arte's been hiding here from me..."
"C'Nar," I'Nu supplied.
"Get him to my shuttle. I want to have control back. Immediately."
I'Nu nodded and ran out.
"Have the Final Weapon deployed," he ordered his aide. "The rest of you collect my things and take them to the shuttle."
While all hastily exited to do their leader's bidding, E'Arte gaped at the emperor. "You've placed a Final Weapon here?"
The Gherop emperor smiled malevolently. "The moment your so-called impregnable facility was revealed to be less than so. And you want to guess where it is?"
E'Arte reflexively shook his head.
"Inside your precious prison. The maximum security level was plenty deep for it."
"But the planet... There's got to be another way to-"
"You're not seeing the overall picture, E'Arte. If even one world is permitted to slip through our fingers, there will be a dozen worlds in turmoil tomorrow. But if the rebels here are dealt with severely enough, others elsewhere will know not to challenge me."
"But to-"
"It must be done."
"Like this must be done," a youthful voice said from behind T'Do and he screamed in pain as he fell to his knees then face down on the tile floor.
-------
"Captain, the readings on the Gherop are getting stronger," the Security officer called out. "They're just beyond the edge of the nebula."
"Yellow alert," Janeway commanded. "Bridge to Engineering. The ships are here. How long until you're done?"
"Maybe twenty minutes, Captain," B'Elanna's voice answered.
"Make it a brief twenty minutes, Lieutenant."
"Aye, Captain."
-------
"Talk to me Lpse."
"They're trying to get control of T'Do's shuttle. I- No!"
"What?"
"I'm listening to their talking in the shuttle. There's a Final Weapon on Rachar and it's been deployed."
"What is it?"
"It destroys planets. I don't know how, but it does.
"Any idea where it is?"
"No."
Tom was swearing to himself when an unexpected voice came over his subdermal communicator.
"Sunfire to Sunbird."
"Sunfire? Where are you?"
"In orbit. I'm so glad you're alive. We thought-"
"Where's Voyager?"
"Not here. What the devil's going on?"
"Armageddon. Tap into this ship's systems an
d take over controlling the ships in orbit. And use your sensors to find some weapon called the Final Weapon. Apparently it's powerful enough to destroy a planet."
"I have the ships and I'm into their database. The weapon's in the instillation in the mountain. Maximum security level."
"I placed enhancers down there. You should be able to beam it out."
"Beaming it out now."
"Part of it did not come," Tuvok's voice said in the background. "I have a faint signal matching that of the weapon's alloy. It is descending."
"Descending?" Tom blinked.
"It is burrowing through the planet towards the centre."
"Can you stop it?"
"It is out of range," Harry piped up. "I can't get a signal lock."
"ETA?"
"Twenty-two minutes, fourteen seconds to the planet's core if it maintains this rate of descent."
Tom ground his teeth then began snapping out orders. "Sunfire, lock onto all the Gherop on those ships and beam them to the surface. Then start beaming up the Rachar. Pack as many as you can onto the ships then start on the shuttles and yourself. Lpse, tell the shuttles to get into orbit. Tuvok, search the surface for the big battles and target any Gherop you find. Terminate with extreme prejudice. Harry, find a planet or moon. Class M or as close as you can get and plot a course. Preferably an uninhabited planet."
"You're just going to leave the Gherop here to die?" Harry gasped.
"Yes."
"What about the Doctor and me?" Neelix asked, letting Tom know they were there and ready to help.
"Neelix, when the Rachar start appearing on the ships they're going to be confused. Talk to them over the comm system. Tell them you speak for Queen Zjna and we are getting them to safety."
"The Queen's alive?"
"Yes. Doc, I'm sending you scans of her. She has some disease. See if you can find a cure. I'll get her to you as soon as I can. Paris out."
"What is going on?" Lpse asked.
"We're abandoning Rachar. Patch me through to home base. I have to tell the Queen."
She pushed away the pain of losing her home and everything they had fought for so long to wrest from the Gherop's hands and established the connection.