Star Trek - Gateways 7 - WHAT LAY BEYOND

by Various

  Kira took it and hefted it. It was a pretty standard design, average balance, nothing spectacular. But it beats being unarmed.

  She looked at Torrna, who was now sweating rather more than was warranted by the temperature in the chilly, rank dungeon. "You okay?"

  "No," Torrna said honestly, "but it doesn't matter. Moloki is right, we must return with this news or everything we've fought for will be lost!"

  Chuckling, Moloki said, "You're as much of a crazed zealot as I suspected, General." He held up a hand to cut off Kira's protest. "I meant it as a compliment, my dear, believe me. I can say that as the craziest of crazed zealots. Now come, let us go over this map quickly before someone decides to check up on us ..."

  Chapter 7

  In over thirty-three years of life, Kira Nerys had been sure many times that she was going to die.

  Thus far, she'd been glad to have been wrong each time, but as she crouched in the half-meter of snow, sweat pouring from her brow even as she shivered uncontrollably, checking to see if anyone was coming up behind them, she was starting to wish she would die, just so her present hell would end.

  First they had spent two days trudging through a swamp. She had done what she could to keep Torrna's arm from getting worse, but it was an uphill battle, and she was no medic. Plus, they had no food - Kira had many skills, but foraging had never been one of her best. They'd scavenged a few animals here and there, but most weren't anything larger than a paluku.

  Resistance had been less than expected, but as Moloki had explained, the castle itself was not very well guarded. Support from the Bajora notwithstanding, in order to fight, in essence, a three-front war - on the ground against both Periki and Endtree, on the sea against their combined navies - the prince had limited resources to keep an eye on things at home. Kira and her newly acquired sword had been able to take care of the few guards they had seen with little difficulty.

  Then they'd gotten to the mountains.

  From humidity and high temperatures to snow and frigidity. From her old wound feeling just fine to her arm stiffening up from the cold. And now, quite possibly, coming down with pneumonia.

  If Julian were here, he 'd give me a shot of something, and I'd be fine. Of course, I'd have to listen to a lecture about not taking better care of myself.

  She shook her head. That part of her life was over now. She was here, and she had a duty to perform. The Prophets sent her here for a reason.

  Right. To die on a mountain with a blowhard general who got himself captured, and was only able to escape imprisonment thanks to a spy. Makes perfect sense.

  Sighing, Kira satisfied herself that they still weren't being pursued, despite the five corpses they had left behind in the castle and the obvious trail they had made through the swamp. She got up, hugged herself with her arms (wincing in pain from the wound), and, shivering all the way, went back to the small inlet where she'd left Torrna.

  "Dammit!" she yelled when she saw that Torrna had fallen asleep. He'd been fading in and out for quite some time. Kira's medical knowledge was limited, but even she knew that going into shock would be deadly.

  She slapped his face a few times. "Torrna. Torrna! Dammit, Antosso, wake up!"

  He blinked a few times. "Ash - Ashla?" he said in as weak a voice as she'd ever heard him use.

  "Yes, it's me," she said, plastering an encouraging smile to her face, hoping her teeth weren't chattering too obviously. "We're still not being followed. And we've only got a few more kilometers to go. Think you're up to it?"

  He nodded. "I think so. I just - arrrrrgh!"

  Torrna had started to rise, then collapsed back to the snow-covered ground. "Sorry," he said through clenched teeth. "Keep forgetting that the arm doesn't really work."

  "Let me take a look at it," Kira said, moving as if to pull back his cloak - stolen off one of the guards they'd killed on the way out.

  With his good arm, Torrna grabbed Kira's wrist. "No!" He took a breath. "I'm sorry, Ashla, but you fussing over it isn't going to change the fact that it feels like someone's driven a flaming hot poker through my shoulder."

  "Once we get back home - "

  "It'll be too late, then. Ashla - I need you to cut the damned thing off."

  Kira laughed derisively. "Antosso, I'm not a surgeon. And I don't have anything to staunch the bleeding or cauterize the wound with. If I cut your arm off now, you'll bleed to death." Not to mention that I'm shivering so much that I'll probably cut off your head by mistake ...

  "And if you don't, I'll die from the infection. You yourself said that was a risk."

  "A risk means the possibility of success. If I just hack your arm off right now with no alcohol, no bandages, no cauterizing agent - "

  "All right! You've made your point." Smiling grimly, Torrna added, "I suppose this means I'll just have to make it back to Perikia, then."

  Kira just nodded, and helped him to his feet.

  They trudged their way through the snow-covered region, climbing over outcroppings, under crevices, and through chest-high snowdrifts.

  She didn't know how long it was before she drained the water supply. Or, for that matter, when the blisters started breaking out all over her skin. She didn't have the wherewithal to check her tricorder to see how bad the radiation was. Every fiber of her being was focused on the overwhelming task of putting one foot in front of the other.

  How long ago was it that she had been trudging through the hot, arid wasteland of that theta-radiation-racked planet in the Delta Quadrant? Days? Months? Years? Now she was engaged in the same mindless task, staying focused solely on moving forward, ever forward, in the hopes of reaching her goal. Then it was to reach a gateway. Now it was to make it back to Perikia.

  Of course, the gateway took her to Perikia. Is there some kind of symbolism here?

  Or maybe it's just nonsense. Maybe all of this is. Maybe I'm just here because it's where the gateway sent me. There's no purpose, no road the Prophets have put me on, I'm just here because some portal built by a bunch of aliens hundreds of thousands of years ago happened to show up when I needed it to get off a planet.

  She closed her eyes and then opened them. Focus, she thought. Just put one foot in front of the other and try not to think about the fact that your internal temperature is skyrocketing while your external one is plummetting. At this rate, I'll explode by nightfall. ..

  Kira trudged her way through the snow, willing the feeling to stay in her feet even though they were starting to numb again - the last time they did, they had stopped in the crevice.

  "Yet your gods cast you out."

  "Not my gods. Only a few men and women who claim to represent them."

  Kira had no idea why the conversation she and Taran'atar had had in the Euphrates was coming back to her, but she tried to banish it from her head. "Shut up!" she cried.

  "What?" Torrna asked from behind her.

  "Nothing," Kira said, embarrassed. Great, now I'm yelling at the voices in my head.

  "We will make it, Ashla. We must. There is no other way - if we do not, Perikia will be lost. It's our land - the Lerrit do not belong there, and I'll do everything I can to keep them out! But we can't do it if we don't get Moloki's information back to the prefect."

  Kira looked back at Torrna, and saw the look of determination on his face even through the snow and facial hair, through the bruises, and through the pain he felt.

  And she felt ashamed for doubting.

  "We'll make it," she repeated.

  One foot in front of the other, she thought. You can do it. We can do it. We 'LL make it back.

  Half an hour later, she collapsed face-first into the snow.

  Chapter 8

  "Major? " "Sir?" "Tell me another story."

  "While you had your weapons to protect you, all I had was my faith - and my courage. Walk with the Prophets, child. I know I will."

  "I was there."

  "Sir?"

  "B'hala. It was the eve of the Peldor Festival. I could he
ar them ringing the temple chimes."

  "You were dreaming."

  "No! I was there! I could smell the burning bateret leaves - taste the incense on the wind. I was standing in front of the obelisk, and as I looked up, for one moment, I understood it all! B'hala - the Orbs - the Occupation - the discovery of the wormhole - the coming war with the Dominion..."

  "A people can be defined by where they come from. Who the Bajorans are is shaped in part by our world. It's part of what ties us to the Prophets. The Cardassians didn't belong there, so I fought them. All my life, I've fought for Bajor because that is my unit."

  "You believe caring for your home brings you closer to your gods?"

  "I suppose that's one way of looking at it."

  "Yet your gods cast you out."

  "Not my gods. Only a few men and women who claim to represent them."

  "Why have you taken this woman's you did a good job of keeping the wound clean. If you'd continued your summer stroll for much longer, it would've been infected, but he got the two of you here in time." One last beard-tug, then: "Enough gossip. You need your rest."

  "I'm fine," Kira said, and she started to sit up. The room proceeded to leap around, whirl in circles, and generally behave insanely - until she lay back down, and then everything was fine. "On the other hand, maybe rest isn't a bad idea."

  In a tone that sounded irritatingly like Julian at his most smug, Maldik said, "Soldiers make such wonderful patients. Try listening periodically, it'll do you wonders."

  Chapter 9

  Kira spent what felt like an eternity on her cot. Every once in a while she was able to sit up, but never for very long.

  As time went on, news from the front lines, and from the capital, came in the form of messengers. Admiral Inna led a convoy of ships to the Kendra Valley River in an attempt to cut off the Bajora's supply lines. Natlar also sent an envoy to the Bajora, asking them to cease their support of Lerrit.

  It turned out that the battle at Barlin Field had been more decisive than Kira and Torrna had realized, busy as they were being captured. It had been a major victory, and led to the complete reclamation of not only Makar Province, but also most of the Lonnat Valley.

  By the time Kira was well enough to travel, a ship was coming down the coast - the fort was located near the Korvale Ocean - to bring injured troops home. Being, in essence, an injured troop as well, Kira went along.

  The captain of the ship was a very short, no-nonsense woman named Tanhul Din. Kira noticed that she wore an earring in her right ear. "Who the hell're you?" was her way of introducing herself.

  "Kira Nerys. I'm General Torrna's adjutant."

  "Didn't know he had one. Well, find yourself somewhere to sleep. If you get sick, do it over the edge or clean it up yourself."

  "How's the fighting going?"

  Tanhul shrugged. "We haven't surrendered yet."

  Kira had never traveled much by sea. Her initial assumption that it would be much like flying in an atmospheric craft turned out to be optimistic. She managed not to throw up, but that only through a supreme effort of will.

  When they came around the bend into sight of Natlar Port, she had other reasons for being ill.

  The port was on fire.

  She stood at the fore of the ship, next to the wheel, watching in shock. Tanhul was next to her. "Well, that was damn stupid o' them Lerrits."

  Kira looked at her. "What do you mean?"

  "Port's what makes this land so damn desirable. Why'd they cannon it to smithereens like that? If they're trying to win back the land, why screw up the most valuable part of it?"

  "It depends on your goal," Kira, who had spent her formative years as a terrorist, said after a moment's thought. "If you're trying to take land from the enemy, you're right, it is stupid. But if you're trying to do damage to your enemy where it hurts the most, that's the thing to do."

  Tanhul looked at her like she had grown a second head. 'That's insane."

  Kira had to bite back her instinctive response: You say that because the tactics of terrorism haven't really been invented here yet. They haven't needed to be. And you should thank the Prophets for that every night before you go to bed.

  Instead, she said, "It's actually a good sign, believe it or not."

  "How's that, exactly?" 'They wouldn't have attacked the port directly if they had any intention of taking it. This was the final Defiant act of a navy that knows it's lost. A kind of 'if I can't have it, no one can' gesture. This probably means the war's going well for our side."

  "Your definition of 'well' differs from mine," Tanhul said dryly.

  There were no obvious piers available for docking - half of them were damaged beyond usefulness, and the rest were occupied. The marina itself was a mass of chaotic activity, with small fires being put out and people coughing from the smoke.

  Someone noticed them eventually, though, as a small rowboat approached the spot where Tanhul had dropped anchor. Kira recognized its occupant as the assistant dockmaster, Hiran. As he pulled up alongside the ship, Tanhul ordered a ladder lowered for him.

  "Good to have you back, ma'am," he said upon sighting Kira as he arrived on deck. Then he turned to Tanhul. "I'm sorry, Captain, but as you can see, we're a bit shorthanded."

  "I've got wounded here."

  Hiran frowned. "Let me see what I can do. I might be able to get a few skiffs over to offload the worst of them." He turned to Kira. "Ma'am, you should know that General Torrna's in his office. You might want to see him."

  Kira didn't like the tone in Hiran's voice. "Is he all right?"

  "I really think you should see him, ma'am." Hiran's tone was more urgent. Kira also knew him well enough to know that he was unlikely to say anything else.

  She accompanied him back on the rowboat to the marina. As Hiran stroked the oars, Kira asked, "What happened here?"

  "Lerrit's last stand, you could say, ma'am," Hiran said, almost bitterly. "General Torrna pretty much beat them on the land. See, on his way back from Fort Tendro, he came across General Takmor's regiment - but Takmor'd been killed."

  Damn, Kira thought. She was one of the good ones. "I'd heard that she was the one who reclaimed Sempa Province."

  "Actually, that was General Torrna, ma'am. The general, see - well, he just plowed on in and led them to victory. They were ready to call it quits, but he rallied'em, and they took Sempa back. Meantime, Admiral Inna came back here when she found out that the Lerrit Navy was gonna throw their whole armada at us."

  Kira looked at the smoky, ruined port. "Looks like they did."

  "Oh, the admiral, she threw back pretty good, too. Cost her her life, mind, but - "

  "Inna's dead?"

  Hiran nodded. "Just what we needed after everything else."

  "What everything else? Hiran, I've been laid up at Tendro, and obviously I haven't been getting all the news."

  "Oh, ma'am, I'm sorry," Hiran said in a sedate tone.

  "I guess you didn't hear that Prefect Natlar was killed, too. See, same time the Lerrit Navy did their last stand here, the Lerrit Army did likewise in the capital. Didn't work, of course - thanks to the blockade, they were underfed, understaffed, and underarmed. We beat'em back mighty good, truth be told, but -" He sighed. "Not without a cost, if you know what I mean."

  Kira shook her head. "So we won?"

  "Yes, ma'am, if you can call this a victory."

  They arrived at the marina. Kira disembarked from the rowboat, and couldn't help contrasting this with the last time she set foot on the dock. Then, the sun was shining, a stiff breeze was blowing, carrying the smell of fish and seawater, with the Korvale Ocean a sparkling green in contrast to the dull-but-solid brown of the dock's wood. Now, the sun was obscured by billowing smoke, and the wind carried only the smell of that smoke, occasionally broken by the stench of blood and death.

  Then she saw the bodies.

  They were arranged in a row just past the marina in a ditch that hadn't been there before. Many wore Perikian uniforms
; many more wore Lerrit uniforms. A few - though even a few were too many - wore civilian clothing.

  Nerys walked into the other chamber, Furel right behind her. Kira Taban's body was laid out on the pallet. She had seen far too many dead bodies not to know one now.

  Her father was dead.

  "He died calling your name."