by Alys Landale
But still, his mind was clouded as thoughts of the Dykinae scientist and their current situation overlapped. He looked around him a few times. The drones were still chasing them. They were still running down the same corridor that they had been before Tom’s consciousness was pulled away. At least he had only lost a few seconds this time.
Kail had finally finished securing the ship for departure. They just needed to get to the vessel and then all would be taken care of. He hit his comm badge.
“Takma, the vessel has been secured. You can board it at any time.”
“Good work General.” she told him. “I’ll wait for you on the ship. Report here on level five as soon as possible. I’m ready to leave now.”
“Yes, Pretor,” he said and ended the transmission.
The flashing red lights were raining down on his eyes like thousands of needles. He cursed under his breath. Couldn’t they shut that damn thing off?
He made his way towards Takma’s ship. The last thing he wanted was for him to be left behind during this battle. Usually he held the utmost confidence in the Empire’s ability in battle, but now...
Soon his eyes weren’t his only senses that were seized by the atmosphere around him. His ears soon picked up the faint sound of gunshots coming from down the corridor.
He was torn between seeking out the unknown intruders and returning to his ship. Finally, his pride got the best of him.
Taking his phaser, he made his way towards the battle-zone. He could catch up with Takma later.
They only had one more deck to go up, and then they would be on the same level as the shuttle. He prayed to the Spirit once more that B’Elanna would be there to greet them.
Finally, something struck him as odd. The firing had dwindled down to only a few well-placed shots. For whatever reason, Tom looked behind him. Maris was still keeping the drones back as well as he could, but he had lagged behind the rest of the group. The drones however had lagged behind as well. One central figure seemed to emerge from the rest of them. It didn’t take anytime for Tom to realize who that figure was.
Paris was about to yell out for the consul to catch up, when he watched Kail pull out his gun...
The General couldn’t believe his luck. The drones hadn’t been that far away from him and now that he caught up with the intruders, the Consul of the Resistance just happened to be one of them.
The Empire had already extinguished all of the Resistance leaders except for the consul, now it seemed that this would be their final target.
Kail drew his gun and took aim. He was so preoccupied with hitting the consul that he didn’t pay any attention to the rest of the group ahead. If he had, he would have seen Rune quickly handing Xara over to Chakotay and then taking his good arm to draw his own gun.
Paris watched as the General took aim on Maris. He handed Xara to Chakotay in one quick move.
The Commander had no idea what had just happened, but he took the little girl into his arms. As he looked behind him, he watched Paris bring his rifle up level with the man down the corridor. The consul held a startled look for a moment, but that moment didn’t last long. Tom watched as Kail fired. The shot streamed through the air and hit Maris directly in the back. As the older man fell to the ground, Tom pulled the trigger on his own gun. The shot ripped through the air, directly towards its target.
Kail felt the shot grind its way through his chest. Rune had taken the stun feature off of the gun and now a hole had been driven through the General’s shoulder. He fell to the ground instantly.
His mind was clouded but he managed to see Rune making his way towards the Consul. With one harsh breath, he yelled. “Kill them now!”
Crawling away, he got out of the line of fire. He wanted Rune dead, but there was no way he could do that if he was killed as well.
As he finally made his way out of the corridor, he managed to get to his feet. Curses flowed over his lips, but he forced himself to head the other way. He needed to get back to the ship. His pride hurt him more than his wound, but he was no fool. If he didn’t get back to Takma’s ship now, she would leave without him. And even though he didn’t relish the thought of venturing into Borg space, he knew that he had best be at her side, less she deem him worthless as she had many of her other officers.
B’Elanna and Gerek made their way towards the shuttle. Soon they would be able to get off of this death trap and return to the ships waiting for them outside.
“You know, I never told you why you’re so important.” Gerek told her.
Her eyes flickered over to him. Savior or not, if the man was making a move on her now....
“Not now,” she told him. “We’re in the middle of a battle.”
“All the more reason for me to tell you now.” He paused as he tried to figure out the best way to tell her this. He remembered when an old man had come up to him years ago and told him just what he was about to tell B’Elanna. Of course, he had thought the man was crazy for a while, but then his opinion changed....
He looked over to Torres. He needed to tell her now. There was little time left as it was. She had to know. “Torres you are one of the most important people in the galaxy right now.” B’Elanna rolled her eyes as he continued. “This battle is going to fail. Once it does, it will be up to you to make sure that the next is a success.”
Torres turned to face him. “What are you talking about? We’re not going to fail.”
He stared at her for a while. He really was going to miss this place. Most of all he was going to miss some of the pleasures it had to offer.
“Didn’t you ever wonder why I always live life from one day to the next? Why I never have a steady home or family?”
“As horny as you are, I thought they had run off.”
He narrowed his eyes. “Funny. The point is I can’t have any of that. I have a responsibility to a far greater power than you could ever imagine, and that responsibility is about to be passed down to you. You’re the next in line.”
She turned to him. She hated riddles and she really wasn’t in the mood for them now. “Look, I have no idea what you’re talking about, but just drop it. The only thing I’m next in line for is a sonic shower when we get back to Voyager.”
He let the topic drop at that. She wasn’t willing to accept this right now. That meant that she would just have to find out for herself.
He chuckled to himself as he thought how alike the two of them really were. When he had first been told, he had just laughed at what he thought at the time was just joke. But now here he was, years later with a tremendous responsibility resting on his shoulder. Needless to say, he wasn’t laughing now.
Janeway thanked the Spirit that the Dezorisians had finally made it. She let a smile touch her lips for a brief moment. *I’m beginning to sound like Tom,* she thought.
She watched as a series of torpedoes struck the Imperial cruisers to her starboard side. They lit up in a spray of red and orange fire. So far, the Dezorisian’s aid had been the decisive factor in their turn of events.
Janeway then saw an opening. It was perfect. She turned to her helmsman.
“Mr. Baytart take us into position with the Enterprise. We’re about to show the Empire a few tricks of our own.”
Paris fired a few more shots, but it was no use. There were just too many drones. Another idea then popped into his mind. He set his rifle on overload and threw it in the general direction the drones were coming. As quickly as possible, he bent down to where the consul was lying. Pulling the wounded man to his feet, he draped one of the consuls’ arms over his wounded shoulder and began to make his way out of the corridor.
Shots continued to fly around him, but luckily, none found a mark. There would only be a few more seconds before that rifle would become unstable. When that happened, the entire corridor would be lit up in a spray of photons.
“Take cover!” he yelled to the group ahead.
Chakotay could see the power surges slowly beginning to destabilize the rifle. Taki
ng Xara closer to him, he pushed Danag farther around the corner. He hoped that Paris would be able to clear the blast area before the explosion destroyed everything in that corridor.
Tom gritted his teeth as he felt the blood trickling down his back. It wasn’t because his shoulder was throbbing from every movement. He didn’t care about that at all. What was cutting through him was that the blood wasn’t his. It was the consuls.
“Leave me,” Maris gasped. “You’ll... you’ll get....”
“Don’t talk,” Paris told him. “And don’t think I’ll leave you behind. I’m not going to let you miss the victory party when we win.”
In spite of all the pain, Maris had to laugh. Rune did have a way of putting humor in any situation. He just hoped that the younger man would be alive to see that happen. He didn’t hold very much faith in making it out alive himself.
Tom tried to quicken their pace. They had to make it out before the blast. They just had a few more feet to go.
Just as Paris was thinking this, the rifle finally destabilized. One last power surge tore through the metal plating and then the air around it ignited as an explosion ripped through the corridor. A billowing fire of energy erupted around the drones. The gunfire immediately stopped as the Borg facsimiles were melted away by the force of the blast.
Tom closed his eyes as the energy wave made its way towards him. They weren’t going to clear it.
The Parvanian officer looked up from his console as all of the signals from the drones on deck five suddenly left the screen.
*What the Hell,* he thought. He bent over his console. Every single drone had been destroyed.
He cursed the air around him. At least he had been able to solve the problem with the weapons array. By using the Borg
Parasites the weapons would soon be back online. But he still needed to solve this problem with the intruders.
*If I let them get away, Takma will kill me for sure. Or have me assimilated....” He tried not to let these thoughts have much weight on his conscious. He just needed to do his job.
The intruders had boarded the station on some shuttlecraft that much was for sure. He just needed to find out where they had docked. He ran a search program through the station. If there was an unknown shuttle present anywhere, he would find it.
After a few seconds, a beep sounded on his console. He had found the shuttle. It was on deck four.
*Finally, I get a break,* he thought to himself. He quickly entered a series of commands onto his console. The intruders wouldn’t be able to leave if a forcefield was in their way. And with the Borg technology embedded in its matrix, not even a drone could get through it.
*He’s crazy,* B’Elanna told herself. Whatever Gerek had told her had to be the most bull shit she had ever heard. She didn’t even know what he meant by, ‘you are chosen.’
*He’s probably just trying to get me to sleep with him.* she told herself.
She kept on her route towards the shuttle. They had decreased from their sprinting down to a normal jog. She just hoped that they would be able to make it there without running into any more drones than possible.
They then went down another corridor. Her thoughts were disrupted as Gerek stopped in his tracks next to her. “What is it?” she asked.
“Do you feel that?” he asked.
Perplexion covered her face. “Feel what?”
He walked over to the wall and put his hand up to it. Small vibrations emanated through it. “Weapons have been brought back online.”
“What?! That’s impossible,” she asked.
“It doesn’t look like that now. Somehow they must have been able to reestablish the power couplings.” His mind then wandered. He had been expecting this to happen for some time. Now that the time was here, he felt fear flicker over him like the bright red lights that kept blinking around them. He had no choice though. “If those weapons are brought back online, the ships have no chance. We only have one thing to do. We have to destroy the station.”
B’Elanna’s mouth dropped open. “There’s no way we can do that.”
“You’re right. There’s no way ‘we’ can do that. You can get back to the shuttle from here. I’m going back.”
“The Hell I’m letting you go alone! You won’t stand a chance.”
Gerek put his gun to her chest. “I’ve already told you. You’re too important. Find your way back to the shuttle. I can do this myself.”
B’Elanna was about to protest, but she could see the resolution in his eyes. She knew she had no choice but to give in.
“Good luck,” she said.
He smiled. “You know me. I’m always lucky.”
Xara pushed against Chakotay’s arms but the older man wouldn’t let her go. From her position in his arms, she had seen the explosion even though he had tried to conceal her eyes as much as possible. She had seen it, felt it, she had even smelled it. The smoky odor still lingered as she struggled against her captor’s arms.
“Let me go,” she begged, but Chakotay refused to do so.
The Commander was staring into the same direction as Xara. The blast had been so large, there was little hope that either
Paris or the Consul could have survived.
Six years ago, he couldn’t have cared less. But through his time on Voyager, he and Paris had formed a friendship of sorts.
Now it looked as if their friendship had been destroyed just like those down that corridor.
Just as Chakotay was about to turn away from the scene, a harsh cough caught his attention. He turned around and ran over to the site of the explosion.
Danag was the first one to make it to the corner. He stopped in his tracks and let a relieved grin spread over his features.
“Captain,” he managed to choke out.
A second later, Paris and the consul appeared around the corner. Each of them were coughing severely from the smoke, but aside from their previous wounds, neither looked any worse.
Chakotay stared at the pair in amazement. Xara took the opportunity to wiggle her way through his arms. Once she was on the ground, she ran over to Rune.
“Rune,” she said. “How’d you...”
She had no idea how to ask her question, so he answered it for her. “The guns were set on a drone or Parvanian DNA frequency alone. Even though it exploded, the energy wave wouldn’t do anything to us.”
Her brow furrowed. “Then why did you tell us to get to cover?”
He smiled slightly. “That was just in theory. I didn’t know if it would really work or not.” He then turned to Chakotay. “The rest of the drones have been taken care of. Let’s find B’Elanna and go.”
B’Elanna sprinted down the hall toward the shuttle. She was almost there. She wondered where Tom was and if the rest of his group was alright. She hated not being able to know what was going on. It was eating at her insides.
She finally reached the shuttle entrance. *Finally,* she thought. Just as she was about to enter the shuttle and get it ready for departure a force field at the entrance stopped her. She was momentarily stunned as she came in contact with it, but then her emotions turned to anger. *No* she thought, *not when we’re this close.*
Looking around, she found a computer terminal nearby. As she began to hack into the computer database, she found a few other bits of information that caused her even more worry.
A brief tremor shook the station as the weapons began to power up. Her thoughts then turned to Gerek. She wondered if he was alright.
Gerek made his way back down to the interior of the station. One carefully set explosion and the entire station would be destroyed.
Due to the security being sent after Rune and his group, Gerek had little to worry about in that line of thought. He finally made his way into the station’s powerhouse. It was the same room that Tom and B’Elanna had disabled the power couplings in earlier. Only now, those same couplings were working again.
He looked around. There had to be some way to explain it. He knew for a fact th
at the couplings couldn’t just reattach themselves, or could they.
He crawled through the wires and made his way over to one of them. Small Borg like devices covered the equipment around them. They looked like parasites that were forming protective barriers around the couplings.
*Their drones might not be able to adapt, but their engineering equipment can. Go figure.* he thought.
Pulling away as many of the small parasites, he then remembered Rune telling him about something like this earlier. The Jihaid had been destroyed by a parasite like this, but it had been bigger. A low hum then entered Gerek’s ears. His eyes widened. Perhaps that parasite was here right now.
He turned around and was barely able to distinguish a small ray of light through the web of cables around him. It was then that he realized that ray of light was a phaser inside one of the parasites preparing to fire at him.
Tom could feel the Consul’s footing become more erratic. The older man wasn’t doing well at all. The shot had gone through his back and out the side of his chest. It was a miracle that he was still alive. But by all the blood that he was losing, there was no telling how much longer he had.
“You...remember the conversation... we had a few days ago.” Maris said. His voice came in ragged gasps as he tried to convey his message.
Tom knew exactly what the older man was talking about. “Yeah, I remember,” he said. “But don’t get any ideas about dying. You’re still the Consul, and I’m going to make sure things stay that way.”
Maris’s voice was becoming weaker. “You... are... in charge now...”
Tom felt the man’s body begin to grow limp. “We have to stop.” he said.
He stopped in his tracks and rested the older man on the ground. Both Danag and Chakotay took up defensive positions around the pair on the ground. Xara looked down at Maris. She was silent as Tom tried to take a better look at the man’s wounds.