After an uncomfortable silence, Picard managed a smile. "Thank you, Captain Ro. Ensign Craycroft will escort you back to sickbay. I believe that most of your pa.s.sengers have recovered."
The lean Bajoran glanced at the gleaming models encased on the wall of the observation lounge-all ships named Enterprise-and she smiled wistfully. "Many times I thought about how I was such a fool to throw all of this away. And what happens? I find you-the Enterprise-in the same condition as me; we"re all fighting for our lives. It"s funny how time reduces everything to the essentials."
"I don"t see anything funny about it," muttered Riker. His scowl softened slightly. "But I"m very glad that we were able to rescue you, and thank you for coming to the aid of the Aurora."
"We can"t choose where to die, only how to die." Ro Laren glanced at the security officer at her side. "I"m ready to go."
Ensign Craycroft touched a panel. The door opened, and she escorted the Bajoran out.
As soon as the door snapped shut again, Riker declared, "She"s still a traitor. On top of that, we have absolutely no proof of her story. It could be a trap."
"Counselor Troi detected no prevarication." Troi nodded in confirmation. Captain Picard paced the length of the gleaming conference table. "We knew they were taking prisoners, but we didn"t know why. Ro is the first person we"ve interviewed who has actually been living behind enemy lines."
"Judging by her general health," said Beverly Crusher, "she hasn"t been living in luxury."
"I believe she is telling the truth," added Deanna Troi. "At least as far as she knows it."
"That"s the catch," said Picard. "Is this fact or rumor? Either way, we can"t ignore it. Data, is an artificial wormhole even possible?"
"In theory, yes," answered the android. "Three years ago, a team of Trill scientists, led by Doctor Lenara Kahn, set out to answer that very question. Using the Bajoran wormhole as a model, they determined that constructing an artificial wormhole would be possible, although there are many problems to be overcome. Without any working prototypes, one would have to construct a verteron collider of at least eight kilometers in length. I could give you a more exact estimate, if you wish."
"Perhaps later," said Picard. Geordi was leaning forward, anxious to say something. "Mr. La Forge?"
"In my opinion," said the chief engineer, "the biggest problem is not the size of the thing but the exotic construction material you would need to establish a permanent site. At the mouth of an artificial wormhole, the outward radial pressure would be tremendous-like the tension at the center of the most ma.s.sive neutron star. We haven"t got a building material that would stand up to that kind of pressure."
"Geordi, are you forgetting Corzanium?" asked the android.
The engineer grinned, his pale artificial retinas glowing with mirth. "Come on, Data, there isn"t more than a teaspoonful of Corzanium in the whole Federation. It has to be quantum-stepped out of a black hole with a tractor beam run through a metaphasic shield enhancer. But if you had enough Corzanium, I suppose, it would do the trick."
"The Dominion has considerable resources," muttered Picard. "I"m afraid they also have the personnel, some of it ours. So this artificial wormhole could be a reality?"
"Yes, sir," answered Data. "I believe we should take Captain Ro"s report seriously."
That simple declaration dropped a pall over the meeting in the observation lounge. No one had to reiterate what a disaster it would be if the Dominion could bring through more Jem"Hadar warships, more unctuous Vorta, and more shapeshifting Changelings.
"We"ve got to go there and see for ourselves," declared Picard. "If it exists, we have to destroy it."
"Captain," said Riker, stroking his beard thoughtfully, "I feel I should point out that what you"re proposing is ... a suicide mission."
The captain sighed. "And if we fail to go, and she"s right? That would be suicide for the entire Federation. I"m sending a message to Starfleet, asking them for permission to investigate Ro"s report. Thank you for your opinions-you are dismissed."
Ro Laren sat in a small therapy room with Shon Navo, helping the young Bajoran exercise the repaired tendons in his right elbow and right knee. Of the injuries her crew had received, his were fairly mild, but the youth felt ostracized on this ship full of humans flying under the despised Starfleet insignia. Shon had known nothing but hatred for Starfleet for most of his life, and now he was being forced to depend upon their protection.
He bent and straightened his elbow as Ro monitored his progress on a medical tricorder. "Very good," she said. "Ten more times, and we"ll work on your knee."
Shon let his arm flop onto the table. "What"s the point? We"re all going to be killed, anyway-or put in prison."
"We don"t know that. In our case, there"s a good chance we could be repatriated to Bajor."
"If we could ever get close to it," muttered Shon.
Ro frowned, unable to refute the fact that they were a long way from home, if indeed they could call anyplace "home." Being homeless had taken its toll, and Shon was much like her-cynical, disillusioned, with no respect for authority. Now there would be more refugees, more prisoners, more damaged and neglected lives.
She took a sip from her gla.s.s of tomato juice and replied slowly, "The humans and their allies are not bad people. In fact, they trust too much, always looking for the best, even in Carda.s.sians. If they survive this war, perhaps they won"t take so much for granted. The important thing is to realize that we"re all on the same side now."
Shon"s bravado slipped for a moment, and he looked like the frightened youth he was. "But won"t they send us to a camp or a prison ... just to wait until the Dominion finally gets us? Everybody says they"re losing the war!"
"Then look out for yourself. Fight if you have to, save people if you can, but survive. For once, it"s a good time to be Bajoran." She rubbed his shoulder in a friendly gesture.
The door slid open, and Ro turned to see Captain Picard standing in the corridor, a concerned look on his face. Out of habit, Ro stiffened, tempted to bolt to her feet and stand at attention. Then she relaxed as she realized that they were now both captains of their own ships, a respect he had shown her in front of his crew. If she could only be sure that the rest of Starfleet would be as forgiving as Captain Picard, she would feel more comfortable about this new alliance.
He smiled at the boy as he entered. "I"m sorry to intrude, but it"s rather urgent that I speak to Captain Ro. I"m sure one of the orderlies would be happy to help you with your therapy."
Ro gazed at the young Bajoran and nodded. With barely concealed hatred, the boy glared at Picard as he left, but the stalwart captain was too absorbed by more pressing concerns to notice.
"What"s going to become of my pa.s.sengers and crew?" asked Ro.
"They"ll be protected, but if we lose the war-" Picard"s glower finished his sentence. "All I know is, if you"re correct about the Dominion building an artificial wormhole, then all is lost. Unless we destroy it. I"ve asked Starfleet for permission to investigate your report, and their response was ... not entirely to my liking."
He sighed. "They refuse to allow us to risk the Enterprise on such a mission. That leaves us the option of using another ship, preferably one which isn"t Starfleet and won"t arouse suspicion."
Ro c.o.c.ked her head and smiled. "Such as the Orb of Peace?"
"Precisely. Mr. La Forge says it can be repaired in thirty hours; that includes adding several improvements. A small, handpicked crew could slip into Carda.s.sian s.p.a.ce and deal with this threat, being careful not to endanger Federation prisoners."
Ro"s smile grew larger. "Now you"re talking about a dangerous spy mission, followed by a major act of sabotage. If we"re captured, do you know how long the Carda.s.sians will torture us? We"ll be begging for death."
"I"m well versed in Carda.s.sian torture," answered Picard grimly. "If you"re worried about your crew and pa.s.sengers, I"ll make sure they"re treated fairly; they"ll be compensated for the Orb of Peace. I"m only asking for the ship, not your partic.i.p.ation-although I would welcome it."
"I go with the ship. Besides, none of you know the Badlands like I do." Hesitantly, Ro asked, "What will be our chain of command?"
"You"ll be captain of the ship, as you are," answered Picard. "I"ll be in charge of the mission. I often find myself in your position with somebody else in charge of the mission, so this will be a nice change of pace for me."
"Do you have any Bajorans on board?"
"No, but Dr. Crusher has gotten remarkably good at disguises over the years. She can alter humans to pa.s.s for Bajorans, even on scans. We"ll have a crew of fifteen, which is all I can spare. You know this mission has to succeed, don"t you?"
The smile faded from Ro"s gaunt face, and she looked like a soldier once again. "Yes. But you"re asking for too much if you think we can sneak into Carda.s.sian s.p.a.ce, find this thing, blow it up, and save all the prisoners. We have to be realistic-the prisoners are lost."
"The mission comes first," agreed Picard somberly. "All we can do for the prisoners is to scout the situation. Only by defeating the Dominion can we avenge the suffering of our comrades."
Ro lifted her gla.s.s of tomato juice and gazed into the disheartened but determined eyes of Captain Picard. "Here"s to vengeance."
Chapter Three.
SAM LAVELLE FLOATED WEIGHTLESSLY through the void, his tethered s.p.a.ce suit feeling like a gown of the finest silk against his chapped, grimy skin. The umbilical cord brought him air, security, and close scrutiny. Only when he tried to lift his arms too far above his head did he feel the restrictions of the c.u.mbersome suit. Then he would relax and let himself float until he had found a better position in which to work on the exposed metal joint. He avoided using the jets on his suit, because they often caused him to overshoot his mark, losing precious seconds.
The large spanner in his hand had no weight-it felt like a feather-but it would make a formidable weapon, if he could only plant his feet. For the hundredth time that day, Sam fantasized about bringing the wrench crashing upon the head of his Jem"Hadar overseer.
"Number zero-five-nine-six," said a gruff voice in his ear. "You are falling behind the prescribed timetable. You have fourteen minutes to tighten that seal, or you will lose your privileges."
Sam held up his hand and waved, wondering if they could see that his middle finger was extended above the others. Probably not, with the thick, segmented gloves covering his hands. "Privileges" was a euphemism for food, water, oxygen, and a bunk-the bare minimum that was needed to stay alive. Those who lost their privileges only did so once or twice before they were expelled into s.p.a.ce with the garbage.
His mind still wandering, Sam Lavelle stared down the length of the ma.s.sive verteron collider, a skeletal tube over ten kilometers long and two kilometers wide. It was hard to envision the entire structure when all one could see of it were a few meters of spindly supports, surrounded by the daunting blackness of s.p.a.ce.
The sight of thousands of s.p.a.ce-suited workers, clinging to the structure like an army of inept spiders, gave him some perspective on its incredible length. The spectre of sleek Carda.s.sian shuttlecrafts patrolling the center of the tube gave him some idea of its immense width. The fact that he hadn"t moved since the Jem"Hadar had ordered him to do so made Sam think that he was prepared to die.
But he couldn"t die, not now, when so many of his mates depended upon him. Through default and the force of his own personality, Sam had become the spokesperson for five hundred prisoners in Pod 18. He harbored few illusions that he was any more n.o.ble than his fellow captives, or any more likely to survive his imprisonment, but he was willing to speak up for them. For some reason, his jailers hadn"t been troubled enough to kill him ... yet.
He latched on to the bolt with his spanner, read the digital printout on the handle, and tightened until the seal reached the prescribed tension. Two meters away, a cylindrical verteron accelerator looked down at him like a bizarre cannon, reminding him of the war. As far as he knew, the war could be over and the entire Federation enslaved. On the other hand, the frenetic pace of the work and the Dominion"s single-minded adherence to its schedules made it clear that the Federation was still a threat. The Dominion needed this wormhole.
And a remarkable achievement it was-a bridge to another quadrant, tens of thousands of light-years away. The artificial wormhole was a true mixture of Dominion and Federation technology, built by Federation and Dominion hands. It should have been a symbol of peace and cooperation; instead it sounded the death knell of the Federation.
Like thousands of other men and woman drifting inside the verteron collider or slaving in the laboratories or factories of the complex, Sam wondered how he could sabotage his own labor. Unfortunately, their work was tightly supervised, then inspected by Vorta engineers. Only when they started actual tests would they know if anyone had been successful in sabotaging the artificial wormhole. Sam waited for his moment to play the hero, but each pa.s.sing day only brought the Dominion closer to its goals.
Like a robot trained to labor without thinking about the consequences, Sam finished checking the seal and logging it as completed. This was the last task to be completed on this segment, and he pushed himself away and drifted in s.p.a.ce. There was no sensation in his body except lethargy and a gnawing hunger that could have been either his stomach or his soul.
Sam straightened his umbilical tether, watching it stretched back to the maintenance pod in the junction of six supports. "Ready to come in," he reported.
"There will be a delay in retrieval," answered the gruff voice of his overseer.
Sam breathed a loud sigh, which echoed in the hollow recesses of his helmet. He had just been threatened that if he didn"t finish on time he"d be punished, and now he had been told to continue drifting in s.p.a.ce. Wondering what the delay could be, Sam twisted around to look in the opposite direction.
That"s when he saw it-a Carda.s.sian tanker moving into position at the mouth of the verteron collider. Sam was no physicist, just a decent helmsman and navigator, but he knew that the gravitational and temporal forces would be greatest at the exit point of the wormhole. Only a few prisoners, kept in isolation, had seen the plans to construct that section of the collider. He a.s.sumed that it had to be a weak point in the machine, where sabotage could be very effective. Now he was about to watch an important development-from a distance of half a kilometer. He turned his dark brown eyes upon the figures in the distance.
Using the miniature jets on their suits, a squadron of workers maneuvered themselves into tight formation around the freight hatch at the aft of the tanker. There had to be fifteen white-garbed prisoners and an equal number of Jem"Hadar guards in gray s.p.a.ce suits. Something big was coming off that tanker. With thousands of workers spread across ten kilometers, it was impossible to say that one spot was the center of attention, but Sam could feel the work halt as every eye and every viewscreen focused on the activity at the tanker.
The hatch opened, and what looked like a gleaming beam of sunlight emerged from the recesses of the tanker. Sam wished he could see more, but he also had a feeling that he didn"t want to be much closer than he was. When it cleared the hatch, the stack of pure energy looked to be about ten meters long and a meter wide. Like the pallbearers at a funeral, the workers took positions around the blazing object and guided it away from the tanker.
Sam guessed that the mysterious material was encased in a stasis field, or perhaps a forcefield. He didn"t think even the Dominion could use antimatter as a building material, but they treated this substance with the same respect.
The Carda.s.sian tanker suddenly fired thrusters and tried to pull away. It got only a few meters when the s.p.a.ce between the tanker and the glowing cargo rippled like a Texas highway in the summer heat. Sam caught his breath, knowing this chain reaction couldn"t be planned. Sure enough, the glowing material increased in brightness until it seared his eyes.
Squinting, Sam could see the white-suited workers firing their jets and fleeing in panic. Ignoring the danger, the gray-suited Jem"Hadar began firing on the fleeing workers. Phaser beams crisscrossed the blackness of s.p.a.ce, and several of his colleagues exploded in their suits like helium balloons set afire. He gasped and held out his arms, unable to do anything but watch the tragedy unfold.
Those who escaped the ma.s.sacre did not escape the deadly chain reaction that followed. The stasis field flickered out, and the glowing material within it expanded like a solar flare, engulfing the workers, the Jem"Hadar, the Carda.s.sian tanker, and the collider. The tanker exploded in a vivid burst of silver confetti and golden gas clouds, and the mouth of the collider was consumed by a monstrous fireball.
Sam braced himself as the wake of the explosion struck him and flipped him over and over like a leaf caught in the wind. He could feel a momentary warming in his suit, which worried him until he crashed hard into a metal pylon. He caromed off the structure and spun to the end of his tether, which jerked him like a puppet on a string. He watched the tether stretch to a dangerous length, and he jammed on his jets in time to compensate.
Now Sam was hurtling in the opposite direction as debris from the explosion shot past him. Miraculously, none of it ripped his suit, and he was able to pilot himself back into a controlled drift behind a thick pylon. He finally had time to glance behind him, where it was complete chaos along the entire length of the collider.
Quickly Carda.s.sian and Jem"Hadar ships converged on the scene of the disaster, but there was no one and nothing to be saved. People who had been his shipmates and fellow prisoners now floated in the void, little more than sc.r.a.ps of charred flesh and cloth. The Carda.s.sian tanker was a quickly expanding sphere of dust.
"Stay where you are!" bellowed an angry voice in his ear. "Do not move!"
Sam barked a macabre, frustrated laugh. Scores of lives had been snuffed out in an instant of Carda.s.sian carelessness, and all his captors could think about was preventing the escape of their slaves, most of whom were floating helplessly in s.p.a.ce. Where could they go? How far could they run in a s.p.a.ce suit containing a few minutes" worth of breathable air, minus the cord?
If it weren"t so tragic, it would be funny, thought Sam Lavelle. Maybe this accident was a harbinger of good luck, and the artificial wormhole would never operate as planned. That might be good news for the Federation, but thousands of Federation prisoners would then become expendable, even more so than they were already. If it failed, no doubt the Dominion would take out their anger and frustration on the prisoners.
We"re all dead anyway, Sam decided as he floated aimlessly, watching a misshapen dust cloud in the distance. That ma.s.sive cloud was called the Badlands, and it had once been a refuge of the Maquis. Now it was a tempting mirage, promising them escape and freedom, when there was little point in thinking about such goals.
His life had ended with the capture of the Aizawa, the cruiser on which he and his best friend, Taurik, had been serving as bridge officers. Sam couldn"t help but wonder if their previous ship, the Enterprise, had survived the war so far. He hadn"t met any prisoners from the Enterprise or heard of its fate, but that didn"t mean much. By now, the Enterprise could be a cloud of s.p.a.ce junk, like the Carda.s.sian tanker which sparkled all around him.
He thought back to those days aboard the Enterprise, where his closest friends included Taurik, Sito Jaxa, and Alyssa Ogawa. With all their neurotic fretting over crew evaluations and promotions, those days couldn"t be called carefree, but that group had real camaraderie. They were gung-ho. Jaxa"s death on a covert mission had been their first taste of reality, and of the sacrifices they would be called upon to make.
Something twinkled in the corner of his eye, and Sam was glad to turn his attention elsewhere. He twisted around to see a squat, bronze shuttlecraft hovering over his head. "Uncouple," commanded a voice. "Prepare to be retrieved."
Sam sighed and closed off the intake valve of his umbilical cord. He attached the spanner to its holder, unscrewed the valve, and watched the cord retract slowly into the maintenance pod. Sam floated free in s.p.a.ce for a few seconds, thinking this was as close to freedom as he would ever come. A familiar tingle along his body alerted him that the transporter beam was scrambling his molecules.
He materialized inside the transporter room of the shuttlecraft, with three Jem"Hadar guards training their weapons at him. "Move!" ordered one of them, brandishing his phaser in a threatening manner.
Sam staggered off the transporter platform, suddenly clumsy and leaden in his s.p.a.ce suit. His captors looked particularly edgy today, and usually he was met by only one or two of them, not three. Under the cold gaze of their pinched, spiny faces, Sam quickly stripped down to nothing. He dropped his suit into a chute in the deck and stood there, shivering in his nakedness.
Modesty and decency had long been abandoned in this weightless and silent h.e.l.l, and Sam was ushered into a holding cell where three male and four female prisoners huddled, all naked. They looked wild-eyed and spooked from their recent brush with disaster.
At one time, seeing young women nude would have excited the handsome lieutenant, but now they were nothing but victims, stripped of their humanity and will. They were his sisters in this dark tragedy, not objects of desire. All of them needed a bath, and there was no pretext of trying to maintain proper appearance. Like most of the males, Sam sported a dark, ragged beard. Even Taurik, who was normally as fastidious as any other Vulcan, looked unkempt as he sat stoically with his naked back resting against a cold bulkhead.
Sam nodded wearily to his fellow prisoners as he slumped down beside Taurik. Just outside the forcefield entrance of the cell, an armed Jem"Hadar stood watching them. Sam wondered if he would allow the prisoners to talk. Some Jem"Hadar guards didn"t care, while others strictly forbade talking among the prisoners until they were locked safely in their pods. Carda.s.sian guards, who loved to be overbearing, would often beat prisoners for talking.
Deciding to test the guard, Sam turned to Taurik and asked softly, "What did you think of that explosion?"
The Vulcan c.o.c.ked his head thoughtfully, as if he had been asked a normal question under normal circ.u.mstances. "It appeared to result from the mishandling of a very volatile material. Possibly a stasis field was disturbed. I could only speculate on the material they are using to build the mouth of the wormhole."
A loud shuffling grabbed their attention, and the prisoners looked up to see two Jem"Hadar guards dragging an injured human with burns over most of his naked body. They carried the injured man like a bag of garbage and flung his body into an open cell. If he was still alive, it couldn"t possibly be for long-unless he got treatment soon.
One of the male prisoners began to weep. They all knew the man would never get treatment, or even a funeral. He would die, alone and forgotten, in a cage.
Sam turned to the man and said, "It"s all right. Stay alive, so we can remember this."
"I don"t want to stay alive," rasped the man in despair. "And I certainly never want to remember any of this!"
"He"s a collaborator," hissed a woman, glaring at Sam.
"That is inaccurate," replied Taurik. "Lieutenant Lavelle has volunteered to be Liaison Officer of Pod Eighteen, which does afford him more access to our captors than a typical prisoner has. But in no sense is he aiding and abetting the enemy as a true collaborator would do. He argues on our behalf."
"Never mind, Taurik," muttered Sam. "Let them think what they want."
"This one is all right," grumbled the oldest of the four women, a lean Klingon with scars over most of her body. "You want a collaborator, you take that turncoat Trill-Enrak Grof! Give me a knife, and I will slice the worm right out of him!"
"I believe Professor Grof is an unjoined Trill," said Taurik. "But I agree with you-he is a collaborator in the accepted sense of the word."