ACQUSITION
OF FAITH
The
door of the transport opened and Qarek stepped out into the airlock of the
Assailant’s docking bay 3. Carrying his 3 suitcases he headed to the promenade
looking around and assessing the situation on the station.
“I smell latinum.” he thought breathing deeply as he went on his way. Arriving
on the promenade, Qarek headed across it, towards a small vacant shop. In front
of it stood a Viridian, looking around as if he was waiting for someone. As
soon as he saw Qarek he headed towards him:
“Ah, Qarek, so glad to see you. Did you have a pleasant journey?”
“Yes, Teilor, but let us cut the small talk, shall we? You have to go places,
and I have business to attend to.”
“No problem, Qarek. Just give me my money and I’ll be on my way.”
Qarek nodded and handed the Veridian one of his suitcases. The Veridian was
suspicious but he didn’t say anything and instead he opened the suitcase. When
he opened it his face was clearly showing surprise. Inside the case were a few books,
some clothes and a few small items. It looked like a regular case with all the
usual stuff in it.
“You are joking, aren’t you, Qarek? Where is my money?”
“Well, there.”
“Don’t play with me, Ferengi. Show me my cash or I’ll...”
“Oh, really, Teilor, I was expecting more of you. Come let’s go in and I’ll
explain everything.”
Suspicious, the Veridian agreed and they entered the shop. Qarek threw the
strange suitcase on the table and went over to the replicator. The Veridian sat
down next to the table.
“Two litres of clean water in a medium bowl.” said Qarek and took it out of the
replicator. The Veridian was leaning over to se what Qarek was doing, as Qarek
brought the bowl to the table.
“Now, watch.” said Qarek taking a small frame with a picture and dropping it
into the water. The Veridian didn’t understand a thing but he realised what was
the case when, the next moment, all the colour vanished from the frame. The
whole frame, picture and all was made of gold.
“I wanted to be safe.”, said Qarek, “It’s not a small amount of money. This was
the best way to hide it. The rest of the items are gold, too, but I wouldn’t
recommend washing them until you’re on your own. There are a lot of people who
would be glad to get it.”
The Veridian smiled, closed the suitcase, and headed to the door:
“It’s been nice doing business with you, Qarek.” said the Veridian as he walked
out.
Qarek just smiled. “Now, back to business. Computer, locate Admiral Magellan.”
=/\=Admiral Magellan is in his office, but he doesn’t want to be disturbed at
the moment. =/\=
“Then, computer, I would like to leave a message.”
=/\=Recording. Please, state your message. =/\=
“Greetings, Admiral. This is Qarek. I just wanted to notify you that I have
arrived. I’ll be in my shop if you need me, or just call me if you wish to see
me. End recording.”
After he finished the message, Qarek started to clean up the place and prepare
it for business. He thought that he might earn some cash as long as he’s here.
The transports carrying his goods will arrive shortly and everything had to be
ready. He was expecting all kinds of rear good, being it technology,
information or small animals, and also a package for his friend Mike. This
won’t be boring; he felt it in his lobes.
Magellan
rubbed his eyes wearily and looked up from the stack of PADDs on his desk. Crew
Reports, Ship Maintenance, and Station Repair List the list went on and on.
He decided to take a break. He pushed back his chair and stepped away from his
black crescent shaped desk. He meandered over to the replicator and ordered a
cup of Trillian Star Tea. He sipped at the bitter hot liquid and stared out of
the glass window that looked out over the Base Operations Centre. A number
officers busied themselves about the room, working consoles and chatting in low
tones. 4 traffic control officers worked methodically to get each transport and
starship docked safely. Commander Zoilip, his aide spotted Magellan and headed
towards the door. Magellan met him in the doorway.
"Sir"
"Let me guess. A problem?"
Zoilip smiled a crooked grin that split his blue bifurcated face at 90 degrees.
"Depends on your perspective sir."
"Sounds cryptic"
"Not really, you have a message from Qarek."
"Not heard of him" Magellan replied thoughtfully "Thank you
Zoilip I all look at it now."
Magellan returned to his desk and drew up the message.
The name was beginning to ring bells now. Qarek was connected with the DCS and
had just come aboard, purchasing one of the empty units on "The
Arcade". He guessed his better show his face.
Checking his uniform, Qarek might be a Ferengi but he was still a diplomat, he
exited his office and entered the throng of the city like station. He stepped
in to the turbo lift. Habitat Section Deck 67 section 4 -
He located Qareks office quickly and entered cautiously,
"Hello?" he called in to the empty depths.
From somewhere in the back came a shuffling and then a diminutive Ferengi
emerged.
" Ah Admiral pleased to meet you" Qarek greeted with a toothy grin.
"And you" Magellan answered extending a hand that was
enthusiastically shaken. Magellan smiled weakly
" I m glad you could get here so quickly."
"When I see an opportunity I can move surprisingly fast."
Magellan nodded.
"I m a little short on time at the moment, perhaps we could meet in the
RecBar its called "The Fish Tank" its on the Spacedock Level, say
7pm."
"Excellent. I ll see you then."
Magellan nodded again and smiled.
"Good good, right I best get back to it; I have the USS Surveyor coming in
soon. Any problems drop me a line and feel free to contact my aide for a
tour"
"Thank you Admiral and see you later"
After
Magellan left, the computer sounded.
=/\= Incoming message for Daimon Qarek =/\=
Qarek just finished putting away the last piece of junk that the Viridian left
behind.
“Put it through.” Qarek said walking over to the Comm. panel. The next second a
picture of a Ferengi appeared.
“Greetings, Reek. Where are you?” said Qarek smiling. Reek was his nephew he
left in charge of the Krista and ordered him to pick up the supplies for his
new shop.
“Greetings, uncle. I’m calling to let you know that we’ll be docking at the
Assailant in 3 hours. “
“Excellent! I prepared everything here. As soon as you get here you can start
unloading the goods. You’ll be carrying it directly to the shop.”
“Good. Reek out.”
Qarek was looking forward to seeing his nephew and also he knew that he had to
be careful. They may be family, but the Rule of Acquisition number 104 clearly
states: Faith moves mountains... of inventory. He had to come up with a plan to
make sure he gets what he ordered... and everything he ordered.
Three hours later...
Qarek was standing in front of the airlock at docking bay 4. This is where his
ship, the Kreeta, had docked and he expected his nephew to come out every
second. The doors opened and a Ferengi, slightly shorter then Qarek, was
standing on the other side.
“Reek, nephew, so good to see you.”
“Uncle, I’m so glad to be here.”
“Did you have a smooth journey? Is my merchandise in one piece?”
“Yes, uncle, all of it. My men will begin unloading it shortly.”
“Excellent. While they work, let us go to my shop. I saved some excellent beetle
snuff.”
Reek smiled and they headed to the shop. While the workers carried boxes behind
their backs, Qarek and Reek were sitting down, enjoying the snuff and
exchanging information. After an hour a worker approached them.
“We’re done.”
“Excellent.” said Qarek and walked over to his desk. From it, he picked up a
small pad and started walking around the storage area. Going through the
inventory, he checked the contents of packages and boxes and when he realised
everything was there, he checked it on his pad. It took him about 30 to 45
minutes to go through everything but in the end he was satisfied that
everything checked out. But looking at his pad, he felt that something was
still missing, even though his pad was empty. Then it came to him. He came back
and addressed Reek.
“Excellent job, nephew. Everything is in order. I suppose you want to get on
your way.”
“Yes, uncle, you’re right, I have some business of my own to attend to.” he
said but his voice sounded a bit too enthusiastic. He rose from his chair and
he and Qarek headed towards the docking bays together chatting. When they
reached the docking bays Qarek asked his nephew.
“Tell me, you didn’t by any chance take any goods from that shipment, did you?”
“No uncle” said Reek just as they were passing next to one of the airlocks, “I
would never try to cheat you.”
“Good.” said Qarek. Reek and Qarek were walking side by side through the
corridor, with Qarek being the one closer to the airlocks (he was between Reek
and the airlocks). With one unnoticeable touch, Qarek pushed a button on the
console on the wall and opened one of the air locks. Reek didn’t pay any
attention to it and thought he was just going to walk by but when the doors
opened Qarek grabbed him by his tunic and swung him into the airlock. Reek,
totally unprepared, flew and fell like a rock, and Qarek locked the airlock
behind him.
“Hey, uncle, what’s going on?”
“Nothing, just wanted to make sure you stay put while I search the Kreeta. Just
to make sure you didn’t take anything from the shipment.” said Qarek but he
already knew that he’s going to find something; it was just the question where
will it be. After searching the ship and a short visit to Ops (he wanted to
make sure his plan will work) Qarek returned to the airlock carrying a
transparent canister with a green amoeba swimming in it.
“You didn’t take anything, did you?! Then what was this doing hidden in your
quarters?!”
“But, uncle, I...”
“Don’t you “uncle” me, Reek! Do you know how much is this thing worth?! It’s an
Arvadian Amoeba! It’s priceless, that’s why I haven’t put it on the supply
list, I thought it would be easier to hide it that way, so no one steals it!”,
Qarek yelled at his nephew but he didn’t tell him why was he really upset. Not
only was this thing very valuable and dangerous to acquire, but he was saving
it for his friend Mike.
“Sorry, uncle, it won’t happen again. Please let me out.”
“Oh, I’ll let you out all right. In space!”
“No, uncle, don’t!” Reek screamed as Qarek pressed the button to open the other
side of the airlock. The alarm sounded with the usual airlock-opening warning.
As the airlock opened, Reek curled up on the floor but after a few seconds he
realised that nothing happened. He opened his eyes and saw a corridor of some
unknown ship. Qarek set this whole thing up to teach his nephew a lesson.
That’s why he paid a visit to Ops, to arrange the alarms in the airlock. Reek
was still laying on the floor when the door opened and Qarek leaned down:
“Next time you try something like this, I’ll make sure that there’s no ship on
the other side of the airlock.”, Qarek whispered in Reek’s ear, turned around
and walked away, leaving Reek petrified on the floor.
Shortly
after Tedak had recovered from his nasty fall over the railing and after the
debates with Admiral Hunter, Tedak received the invitation to come aboard
Starbase Assailant.
T'Val, his doctor, would not let him go off gallivanting around the galaxy on
his own yet, and demanded in her usually emotionless way that she had to come
along for his own protection.
Tedak, however, knew there were other reasons for her not to let him go off
alone, and for this he appreciated her company. To him, she was more than just
a doctor and their casual dinners and lunches proved that to him. Often she
would suggest a date, instead of the other way around, and this alerted him to
her unspoken feelings.
Tedak returned his attention to his shuttle's screen as they approached
Starbase Assailant.
"Starbase Assailant, this is Shuttlecraft Romulus Pride requesting permission
to dock," he called, "I have a meeting with Mr Magellan. I carry one
passenger, my companion and physician T'Val."
Magellan
circled the Ops desk checking on the approaching shuttle.
"Zoilip" he called
The Bolian lumbered over his eyes as drawn as Magellan’s.
Since there move from the Victory it had been non stop action. The Starbase was
a vast place, a city in fact. It had its shops, its homes, its schools, its industries.
It had crime, it had health problems and a huge docking and repair facility. It
had resource issues and diplomatic status. That was all aside from the day to
day Starfleet business that needs to be conducted. Between them in the past
month they had perhaps slept a fortnight between them. Heavy reliance on stims
had got them through thus far but Matron Tsomba was becoming increasingly more
cautious about giving them anymore.
Things would improve Magellan assured himself; once his new staff arrived all
would become good again.
"Can you go down to meet the Romulan Ambassador"
"Of course Sir.”
"You best put on your Dress Whites; we have him assigned quarters in the
Diplomatic Section. I haven’t got round to assigning an Embassy space yet, I’m
still doing that now."
"Very Good Sir and make sure you keep it away from the Klingon Embassy."
"Good point Zoilip." Magellan smiled, and then frowned as he began to
wonder how many other races might not want to be located next or near the
Romulans. "They are berthing along Dock Arm Alpha C - Hatch 11"
"Understood Sir, I ll head down there now."
"Don’t forget your quarters and change"
Zoilip nodded and exited the Ops centre.
Magellan turned to re-enter his office but was held up by a Traffic Control
Officer.
"Sir we have the USS Arcata on long range sensors, they are experiencing
engine trouble."
"Their status?"
"The crew are fine but they are carrying a load of Trillium Ether."
"And?"
"It’s needed for a critical experiment on Qualinost within 24 hrs."
Magellan sighed; forward planning did not seem to be Dr Sharex strong point.
"Very well despatch a tug to the Errata and have them take Petty Officer
Thorpe to repair her. If they cant reach warp send out our own Cargo shuttles
and take the either planet side directly."
"Aye Sir"
Magellan finally made it into his office and he sat heavily in his chair.
He browsed the schematics for the Diplomatic levels for a space for the
embassy, but very quickly his head began to hurt. Slow a realisation dawned, he
had 2 diplomats on board already and hopefully the Vulcan Federation Diplomat
would be here soon. It was vital that the Qualinost Colony Project got full
funding or it was doomed from the outset, both the Ferengi and the Romulans
were potential investors, although he doubted his superiors would like the
Romulans involved, nevertheless first impressions counted.
He put down his PADD and combed the Chef.
"I need you to prepare a banquet for tomorrow night, full diplomatic
affair."
"Cuisine"
"Make it multi-racial with an emphasis on Ferengi, Romulan and Vulcan"
"Aye Sir"
Magellan shivered at the thought of live tube grubs anywhere near his own food
and then turned his attentions to preparing some fancy invitations which were immediately
despatched to the new diplomats.
As
Tedak and T'Val got off the shuttle, they were greeted by a Bolian aide. Tedak
smiled and extended his hand towards his companion, helping her out of the
hatch. "Greetings," he said, "I am Tedak, Romulan
Representative. My lovely companion is Doctor T'Val, my physician."
The bolian returned the greeting and showed them to their quarters.
"When will we meet Admiral Magellan?" Tedak inquired, as they entered
the quarters. He looked around and noticed they were quite roomy, but with only
one bedroom, and a double bed at that. He wondered whether the doctor would
request her own quarters, and smiled when she did not
After
clearing up the unpleasant incident that happened at the DCS centre Saarok got
an invitation from Admiral Magellan to come to Starbase Assailant and assist
with the negotiations which are happening there.
The ride on the shuttle didn’t take long, because he got one of the best shuttles
in the fleet with the compliments of the Admiral himself.
=/\=Delegate Saarok to Starbase Assailant , requesting permission to dock=/\=
=/\=Permission granted , you can dock in bay 6=/\=
=/\=Thank you=/\=
And a few moments later the shuttle has docked and Saarok got out of the
shuttle, and looked around the base.
As he was heading towards the exit of the bay carrying his personal belongings.
At the exit he was greeted by a Lt.
"Sir, I am to take your luggage to your quarters, but first I am to escort
you to the office of Admiral Magellan."
"Understood lt. , show me the way", he said in his usual emotionless
way
After a long walk they reached the office of the admiral , and the lt. left of
carrying Saarok's belongings to his quarters.
Saarok pressed the bell by the door and heard:
"Come in"
And he entered the office of the admiral:
"Hello admiral", he said
Ambassador
Saarok, A pleasure, please, comes in come in."
Magellan ushered the Vulcan in to the room. The tall man was dressed in a floor
length grey and taupe robe that was embossed on the chest with the IDIC sign
and some other Vulcan iconography that Magellan didn't recognise.
"It is not often a Vulcan invites pleasure"
Saarok said dryly and swept past the Admiral. He cast a swift eye around the
room and took a seat opposite Magellan’s wide desk.
Magellan retreated from the doorway and crossed to stand behind his desk.
"Can I get you anything, Tea, Coffee?"
Saarok rose an eyebrow in a typically Vulcan fashion and replied,
"Neither is acceptable, Water however would be most... appreciated."
A barest flicker of what may have been a smile surged across his face. So fast
that Magellan doubted he had ever seen it. This was like no Vulcan he had ever
met before, and nothing like the taciturn, stoic T'san who had served with for
2 years on the Victory.
"I see very well, one moment."
Magellan took the two glasses from the replicator, one of water and the other
of Leeloal Juice for himself. Passing the glass to Saarok he took his seat and
drew a deep breath.
"It is quite an honour to meet someone of your stature. I understand you
know Ambassador Spock."
Again the little flicker.
"Spock, yes always Spock." Then more directly to Magellan "Spock
is indeed an acquaintance of mine."
"That is amazing; my former host of mine was quite a fan"
"A fan?"
"Yes she was an exo-ecologist and greatly admired Spock’s paper on the
Space Amoeba."
"I am unfamiliar with that work."
"No matter" Magellan stated sensing that they were getting off track.
"I am very glad your here. I m more of a Starfleet Man and am relived the
Federation has sent you here to help with the negotiations."
"I have read your file Admiral, you should not underestimate your
diplomatic skills"
"Perhaps not, but it certainly helps to have a master like you
aboard."
Again a flicker, or was it?
“I am still not clear on my role here" Saarok continued before taking a
sip from the glass.
"As you will know the Qualinost Colony Project is vital to prove that the
Federation is capable of major colonisation work." Saarok nodded "The
Federation however is not willing to fully invest, especially as the intended
colonists are to be some of the less desirable denizens of the quadrant,
including Cardassian and Dominion refugees. We need to make the project multi
racial"
"Like Nimbus III" Saarok commented with a certain wryness in his
voice.
"Not quite" Magellan answered carefully "Better."
"Not a hard task then."
"No. We have two other races aboard at the moment, the Ferengi Alliance
and the Romulan Star Empire. I doubt the Romulans will help us, but the Ferengis;
well they could well be able to invest considerable capital in to the project,
put an end to all our financial problems. The problem is they are Ferengi and I
haven’t a clue how to bring them on board."
"And that is where I come in."
"Yes"
"Very well. I assume you have assigned me an embassy and quarters."
"Yes. And I have taken the time to organise a diplomatic dinner tomorrow
evening."
"Very good. I think I will begin now."
"Of course let me know if you need anything."
"That goes without saying. Live long and prosper"
"Live long and prosper."
Qarek
was tending to his shop’s window when he saw a Cardassian walk across the
“The party is about to start.” he thought to himself but, as few minutes
earlier, he didn’t bother to come closer to check out who exactly was that.
After ten more minutes Qarek was finished and sat down in his chair. Sitting
there he turned to the computer on his desk and accessed the stations crew
manifest. The resident diplomats should be listed there.
“Computer, display the rooster of Starbase Assailant’s resident diplomats.”
= Rooster displayed. =
Qarek started browsing the list with his eyes. First he found his own name, and
after that he found the two he was looking for. He was somewhat glad he saw two
familiar names there, the Vulcan delegate was Saarok and the Cardassian
ambassador was Tedak.
“Well, well, all playmates back together.” he thought to himself but his thoughts
were interrupted by a woman’s voice.
“Hello? Anybody here?” a Trill woman was standing in his shop looking at some
jewellery. Qarek deactivated the computer and headed to tend to his customer
Tedak
held out his arm to T'Val, ready to accompany her into the great hall for the
dinner party Admiral Magellan had organized for the diplomats.
He was wearing a long green brown tunic, embroidered with the insignia of the
Romulan Empire. T'Val wore a long red dress, completely complementary to her
green skin and brown eyes. She had her hair flowing around her shoulders,
reaching down to her lower back. Her face was expressionless, but anyone who
knew Vulcan’s knew that she was feeling happy.
The couple entered the hall, looking around for familiar faces. In a corner,
Tedak spotted Saarok and walked over to him. "Greetings Delegate Saarok
Ambassador
Tedak", he said bowing his head forward
"No need for that ambassador thing here, just Tedak would be fine and I
suppose you already know my companion", he said showing with his hand to
the Vulcan doctor
"Why yes, it is an honour to meet you again doctor"
"Saarok", she said
"Will you honour me by joining me and the good doctor at a table?"
"Thank you for the invitation, I shall do so"
And the trio went off to find a table and sit down. And perhaps discuss some
issues over dinner
Magellan
stood quietly at the back of the room. His dress uniform was immaculate, it
should be, and it was hardly worn. He guessed that would change now, as would a
great many things.
He itched, oddly to be back in Ops. He had yet to adjust to the pace of that
busy little room and often found excuses to be absent, but now in this
diplomatic melee he longed for the reassuring bleeps of consoles and the soft
chatter of colleagues at work.
Besides the
Magellan took a sip of his drink and nodded politely to a pair of andorians
passing him.
He gave the room a quick scan and noted with interest that Ambassadors Tedak
and Saarok were seated together. He hoped Saarok was finding out the romulans
agenda. Perhaps he was letting prejudice blind him. Qarek was conspicuously absent
from the party, perhaps it was worth approaching the Romulans for funding in
the colony project, it could mark an era of new relations with the Star Empire.
Realising that the dinner was nearly ready to be served he joined the
ambassadors on the top table.
*********************************************
On the edge of Assailants sensor range a pair of small ships hovered. Their
dark hulls masked their identity but their design was of no standard race
affiliation. They looked for all intents and purposes like cargo vessels.
At a subspace signal from the lead ship, they both ignited their impulse
engines and headed for the Starbase.
"Starbase Assailant, This is the Tremone and the Carter requesting
permission to dock"
"This is Assailant Control, we have no recorded of you booking berth
here."
"That is correct Assailant we didn’t know we d be coming."
"Understood Tremone. Dock in Berth 1A and report to the Harbourmaster as
soon as you arrive. Assailant out
So,
we have a deal, then?” said Qarek talking to a member of the Commerce Authority
through subspace.
“Yes. I hope to hear from you soon. Rog out.”
Qarek was very pleased that the talks with his bosses went smoothly. He had to
use every bit of his ingenuity to persuade the government to finance the Qualinost
project. The Federation is probably very short since even a Vulcan came to talk
to him about the funds. This could turn out to be one of the most profitable
projects ever.
“Computer, open a channel to Reek.”
“Channel opened.”
“Hello, Reek. How’s our little company?”
“Good, brother, we are making profit everywhere we turn. Why did you call me?”
“I wanted to know do we have anything on this Qualinost. What’s down there?”
“Well, we don’t know anything.”
“And what have we heard, Reek?”
“Well, rumours say that there might be rich Rogarium deposits on the planet...”
“Oh, Romulans would like a run at that, wouldn’t they. Reek, send me the
financial records of the company.” said Qarek and Reek smiled, “But the real
ones, not the forgeries.” finished Qarek as Reek’s smile disappeared.
The records were there in a moment and Qarek closed the comm. channel. He sat
down and started going through them. After 5 minutes he was done. Then he took
two PADDs an started to write something. In 30 minutes two contracts were
finished, one on the behalf of the Ferengi Alliance and one on the behalf of
the Qarek Interstellar Trading Corporation, the QITC. The
After finishing the contracts he closed his shop and headed to the party
Admiral Magellan had organised.
Qarek entered the room and saw that everyone else was already there, sitting or
standing and talking. He saw Magellan sitting with the rest of the delegates
and ambassadors.
“Greetings, everybody.” said Qarek with a typical Ferengi smile and others
responded in a similar manor, with more or less appeal.
“Sit down, join us.” Magellan invited him.
“Yes, I will, Admiral. It’s nice to be here. Now, let us do some talking, I
have something here you might want to see.” said Qarek and pulled out the PADDs
with the contracts.
Magellan
waved his arm towards the nearest waiter and gestured to the kitchens. Shortly
platter upon platter of food was brought out. Each delegate got a choice from
their own society’s delicacies, and Magellan very quickly found his stomach as
he watched Qareks tube grubs squirming in the bowl.
Standing he tapped his knife on his glass,
Ting Ting
the assembled masses fell quiet and all eyes turned towards him,
"Ladies, Gentleman, and Gentle Beings. Welcome to this honorary dinner. A
dinner to honour our new diplomatic staff. Allow me to formally welcome to
Assailant - Ambassador Qarek of the Ferengi Alliance, Ambassador Tedak of the
Romulan Star Empire and Ambassador Saarok Delegate of the United Federation of
Planets.
Together I hope... I know we can ensure peace and security how live in this
region of space.
And that is where I wish to dwell for a moment. All those stars, all those
souls in this region. Section 47 administers a vast array of Star Systems, and
Assailant about a quarter of that. Millions of beings rely on us for security
and support and we give it without flinching.
Some of you may be unaware but the Tekenarans are in grave danger, within 2
years their home world Tekara will be destroyed when their sun goes nova. The
Federation has extended aide to them, but nothing but a full evacuation will
help them. Several races have offered help and their other colonies have taken
in many but still 2 million people remain homeless. Where will they go, what
will they do?
The answer is here.
Here is where they will have their new home.
It is my pleasure to announce that Starfleet will be beginning an auspicious
programme. We in co-operation with others will terraform and colonise
Qualinost.
Qualinost will be a new future for Takara and a new future for the Federation.
A new beginning, a beginning which I hope will be one of unity with our neighbours;
he swept his hand out to encompass the ambassadors at the top table with him.
So let us drink to that future.
The Future."
"The future" came the reply
"And as they say on Earth... dig in"
Magellan sat and sighed deeply, he hated such public speaking. He looked down
at his meal and began to eat.
"Delegate Qarek," Magellan said turning to one side, "Perhaps
you can help me. I have been looking to purchase a vessel of my own. One that I
can use in my time of, perhaps you could help me locate such a ship. There
would be a commission in it for you.
Qarek
heard and thought for a moment about Admiral’s question but soon he was delighted
when he remembered that he read not one but four ships that were available on
the market for buying and reselling in the records that Reek sent to him. With
a huge smile he replied to the Admiral:
“Yes, of course, Admiral. I believe I have something ready for you. Tomorrow
I’ll contact you with the prices and we can discuss our trade.” he smiled and
took a sip of his drink, “I didn’t think that Trills are so thrilled about
trading especially with the Ferengi.”
“Well, we just buy what we need. We don’t make a living out of it.”, replied Magellan.
“I see you have a trader’s tongue. It will be a pleasure working with you.”
said Qarek taking another sip, ”Oh, by the way, since we’re talking about
working pleasure, I think that the colonisation of Qualinost is very good thing
for the Federation, financially and diplomatically. There are some rumours that
Qualinost is rich in mineral deposits, especially rogarium, the most effective
Romulan fusion fuel.”
This conversation worked out for Magellan even better then he hoped. They got
to the issue of colonisation and development very easily and it would be very
easy and smooth to turn this conversation towards the financial side.
“Well, yes, I could be profitable, but it is a matter of time and money.” Magellan
took a sip of his drink just to buy time and see Qarek’s reaction. The Ferengi
listened very carefully especially since finances were involved. Magellan
continued:
“The thing is, the Federation could colonise the planet on her own resources,
but outside help would certainly speed up the process.”
Qarek was kind off expecting a statement like this, that is why he prepared the
contracts, but he let Magellan to finish: “Maybe the Ferengi Empire would be
interested in financing some of the project. It would make this station a very
important and profitable place, at least for a few years until things settle.”
“I’m way ahead of you, dear Admiral.” said Qarek with a huge grin and pulled
out the contracts he put together, “If you would be so kind, as to examine this
to contracts, we could close the issue of financing your project before bed
time. Well at least partially.” said Qarek handing Magellan the two contracts,
one on the behalf of the Ferengi Alliance and one on the behalf of the Qarek
Interstellar Trading Corporation, the QITC. The
From
the corner of his eye, Tedak saw Delegate Qarek approach Admiral Magellan. He
turned his attention back to Saarok, who was talking about Vulcan ethics and
diplomacy.
Tedak noticed that his companion was looking rather bored, at least as bored as
a Vulcan could look without being obvious about it.
"Please excuse us Mr Saarok, I see another acquaintance from the
diplomatic corps that I think my dear doctor should meet."
He took T'Val by her arm and together they walked over, interrupting the
conversation between Magellan and Qarek. "Hello Mr Qarek, not about to
blacken my government are you?"
His eyes twinkled in amusement, seeing the Ferengi jump at hearing his voice.
"I am sorry I startled you, I meant nothing by my comment. I still owe you
thanks for saving my life a while ago. May I present my company, Healer T’Val;
she also worked on saving my life. I owe her and you a life debt Mr Qarek
Magellan
quickly scrunched up the contracts and stuffed them in his pocket. He hoped
Tedak hadn’t seen. That Romulan had impeccable timing.
"Are you enjoying the evening Ambassador"
"Indeed I am" Tedak replied, "Its is proving nearly as
profitable as... say Rogarium."
Magellan smiled weakly unsure if the astute Ambassador was merely fishing or if
he had indeed heard his and Qareks conversation. Tedaks continued interest was
just beginning to pique Magellan’s; perhaps he shouldn't preclude Romulan
involvement in the project. Once he had read Qareks contract perhaps he'd
approach the ambassador
Maclob
grinned when the transmission came back that he and his other ship were allowed
to dock with the Starbase. This is going to be like taking candy from a
baby, he thought as he changed into the form of a Ferengi. He was now
Cambol the Ferengi. Once the ship was docked, he stepped off and walked around.
He found out that Ambassador Qarek was at a party. He told a passing officer
that it was urgent that he talk to the ambassador immediately. The officer
nodded and showed him to Qarek's <office? Quarters?> and was told to wait
there. The officer left and went to the party. He spotted the ambassador and
approached him.
Officer: Sir there is someone here to see you. He says he has something urgent.
Qarek: Can't it wait?
Officer: Unfortunately, no sir.
Qarek: Very well then.
He turned to Magellan.
Qarek: Excuse me a moment.
He followed the officer back to where Maclob/Cambol was waiting. Maclob stood
up and shook the ambassador's hand.
Maclob/Cambol: Thank you for seeing me on such short notice. My name is Cambol.
My ship just docked with the Starbase a little bit ago.
Qarek: You asked to see me, why?
Maclob/Cambol: I have something to tell you. My family is in terrible danger
and is being held by the Romulans. They say they will give them back if you
come and negotiate with them.
Qarek: I understand but I would need to arrange for an escort.
Maclob/Cambol interrupted.
Maclob/Cambol: NO! They told me that if I bring anyone from Starfleet or anyone
else for that matter besides you, they would kill my family. Please, help me.
Qarek could see the fear and pleading in his eyes and nodded.
Qarek: I will come with you to get your family back. Let me grab some things.
Maclob/Cambol: It will not be necessary. The meeting point is only a short
distance away from here.
They walked out of the room and down to the docking bay. Qarek nodded to the
officers there and told them that he was going on a minor mission and that he
would be back in a short time.
Qarek: I hope I can manage to get your family back for you.
Maclob/Cambol smiled menacingly at the ambassador's back.
Maclob/Cambol: (mutters) you will, believe me you will.
Qarek boarded the ship and they left the bay. Qarek then realized that one of
the pilots was Romulan and the other was a Klingon. Both were wanted by
Starfleet.
Qarek: What's going on here?
He turned to Maclob/Cambol and saw a black humanoid-looking form with red eyes.
He was Maclob again. Fear engulfed him at the sight. Maclob walked up to him
with a hypo spray injector in his hand.
Maclob: You've just been kidnapped by the Occultus lumen. Welcome aboard
ambassador. Don't worry, you won't be harmed. But to make the journey easier
for us all, we're just going to put you to sleep now.
He injected the anaesthesia and Qarek went limp.
Maclob: (to the pilots) get us outta here and contact Marcus. Tell him the
candy has been stolen.
He sat down in a seat and sighed. Things had gone exactly to plan. He HATED Ferengi
and so was happy when he became himself again
Tedak
watched Qarek leave with the human <?>, and eyed Magellan suspiciously.
He had seen the admiral grab some papers, but he was not interested in the
contents of the papers. He felt that that was something strictly confidential
between Qarek and the admiral.
After all, Qarek was and would always remain a Ferengi. And Ferengi were known
to deal in whatever they could get their hands on.
He looked at T'Val and noticed she did not trust the situation either.
"Something is amiss," she whispered in his ear, "but I think we
should not get involved."
"You are correct," he whispered back, then returned his attention to
the admiral.
"I find it remarkable that Qarek will help a mere human," he said,
smiling courteously, "and that without asking to be rewarded too. He
should be commended do you not think?"
After
T'Val and Tedak went of to find Magellan and Qarek, Saarok took a moment to
sort through his thoughts while he was doing that he saw an officer approaching
Qarek and talking to him about something after which Qarek almost ran out of
the party.
Saarok was wandering what was that about logic said that it had to be something
important but then again at this time.
He decided to let go of the thought for now. He went to join Tedak and
Magellan.
"Ambassador, admiral", he said
"I take you are enjoying the dinner?"
----------Meanwhile in ops--------------
The docking supervisor was going over some logs when suddenly his console
started to beep.
What now he thought. When he took a look at it he saw ships undocking without
permission.
"This is assailant control to Tremone and Carter you do not have
permission to undock."
But no response came.
While he was waiting for a response he saw that the two ships managed to undock
and started to move away from the station.
"Use the tractor beam to catch those two ships", he said to the ops
manager
"It's not working sir, someone has sabotaged the tractor beam, and the
ships are warping out"
"You try to locate their warp trail and ill notify Admiral Magellan."
Maclob jerked awake. He had dreamed that he had missed something when they were
leaving. Then it suddenly came to him. He walked up to the pilots.
Maclob: I don't suppose that the two of you remembered to ask for permission to
leave dock, did you?
The pilots looked at each other and then slowly shook their heads.
Maclob: IDIOTS!
He smacked them on the back of their heads. He contacted the other ship and
asked them the same question and the same response. He was getting a very large
headache from these four imbeciles.
Maclob: Then I suppose that I shouldn't even bother asking whether you've masked
our warp trail.
The pilots cringed.
Maclob: What are you two waiting for? DO IT NOW!
He contacted the other ship and told them to disband the ship and set off in
another direction. He watched as the other ship divided into two parts and set
off in another direction. The pilots entered the codes for the warp mask and
set off for the rendezvous point. Maclob went and sat back in his chair after
first checking Qarek. He failed to see why Marcus had hired such brainless things;
they were of little use to the group.
Maclob: Wake me when we're almost there.
He then went to sleep again
"Interesting
conversation partners the admiral has ehm?" Tedak whispered to Saarok, as
they quietly moved closer to attempt to overhear the conversation.
They knew it was not very integer of them, but at least Tedak felt that the
admiral was hiding something. "I also noticed that he has something to
hide," Tedak continued in low voice, "I saw him hastily grab some
papers and file them away as I approached him and Qarek. I made no mention of
it as I feel the admiral is free to pursue his own deals in his free time, but
I found it rather odd that he put them away with such haste as I
approached."
He paused as T'Val put a hand on his arm, sensing his frustration. He slipped
his arm around her waist and nodded in response to an unspoken question.
"I know my people are not always regarded as trustworthy, and I agree that
there are a lot of specimens of my race that do indeed mean harm. If the
admiral is prejudiced I wonder how I am going to convince him of my integrity
and good will."
Magellan
left the dinner party glad that he could now relax a little. As he walked
slowly back to his quarters he pulled out the papers from his pocket. He began
to scan through them.
The deal seemed sound enough if a little sweet on Qareks side, although that
was to be expected when dealing with Ferengi.
He had nearly reached his quarters when Zoilip called him to Ops. Wearily he
made his way up.
"Yes?" he asked tersely
"Sorry to bother you sir. I just thought you should know. We had a pair of
unscheduled ships break out."
"Break Out?"
"Yes. They were berthed and then left without clearance, they practically
rammed their way through the main doors if the USS Gesta was leaving as well I
m not sure what they'd have done."
"Do we have any information on them?"
"No sir. There registries are bogus as was their flight plan. They came
aboard for less than an hour and then left."
"I see. Any problems reported elsewhere?"
"No sir."
"Run a check with all the Security teams. See if there have been any
robberies etc. And run through our own security logs as well. Let me know what
you find."
"Aye Sir"
As
the two were approaching Magellan unnoticeably the have only managed to hear
about two ships breaking out of the docking bay.
"Strange things happen, perhaps the untrustworthiness of your people is
only a stereotype, and logic dictates that every individual is not like the one
before, unless they are Borg"
"Saarok said attempting to throw a joke.
"I believe that we will have good relations between the federation and the
Romulan star empire established with such trusty people representing the
romulans."
Saarok answered nodding his head.
"So do I, my dear friend"
"Now if you will excuse me I have a personal matter to take care of",
Saarok said
"Of course, we will meet again to talk I am sure", Tedak answered
And Saarok left, he wanted to have a word with the Ferengi, the ships which
have broken out of the docking bay led Saarok to a conclusion that he had
something to do with it, even though he is an delegate now he cant resist his
past.
"Computer locate delegate Qarek"
"Delegate Qarek is in his quarters."
And Saarok went to the habitat deck to locate Qarek. It took him a few minutes
but soon he arrived there. He chimed the bell several times but no reply came.
"Computer is delegate Qarek in his quarters?"
"Affirmative"
"Computer open door"
"Please specify code"
"Saarok alpha 5"
"Insufficient clearance"
After that he opened a panel next to the door and used manual overnight to open
the door. Hoping that no one would see him doing this.
He then managed to open the door and entered the Ferengi's quarters. There didn’t
seem to be anyone around.
"Delegate Qarek?", but there was no response
Then Saarok looked and saw Qarek's comm. badge lying on the floor.
Tedak
walked the other way with T'Val, whispering to her that she should go to their
quarters or wander around the station. "I have some business to attend to
my dear," he said, a smile crossing his face.
T'Val nodded, and walked off without questioning his secrecy.
Tedak gave her a light kiss on her cheek and walked off towards Qarek's shop.
He had decided that he needed to find T'Val a little gift to show his
appreciation of her, both as healer and friend. He found that he had come to
care for her as more than just a friend.
"Qarek, are you in?" he called, as he stepped into the shop. The shop
was eerily deserted, apart from one attendant who claimed that the Ferengi had
not been in all day.
"Thank you," Tedak said and left the shop, thinking that he could
perhaps find the trader in his quarters.
It was still quite a walk from the promenade towards the Ferengi's quarters but
Tedak was now in a good condition and he decided to be sportive and run down
there.
Once he got there, he noticed the doors had been broken open. Before calling
security, he decided to look first who had dared to enter the delegate/trader's
private quarters without authorization.
He stepped in, grabbing a pole that was standing near the door and held it
ready to knock out any adversary. He was surprised to find Saarok standing in
the middle of the quarters.
"Saarok?" he asked, lowering the pole, "what are you doing here?
Someone broke in do you know who? Where is Qarek?"
"Sir.
We have a security alert" Zoilip reported.
"Where Qareks. Someone bypassed his lock and opened his room
manually."
"Get a security team down there now."
"Aye Sir. Alpha Station is closest, Commander T'Lor is en route."
"Good. Have them approach with caution."
Magellan paced around the master situation table. Something was up. So far each
piece didn’t add up to much but in the all together there was the hint, the
barest hint of something going on.
He turned to see a fresh faced human enter ops.
"Matthew O'Connor reporting sir." The man announced proudly.
"Ah good. Our new Strategic Ops officer. Just in time. I think we have a
situation developing. No honeymoon period for you I m afraid. You can start by
reviewing the security data on the two ships that broke out of here
earlier."
"Err Aye Sir, I ll get right on it."
"Ambassador
Tedak", Saarok nodded
"I will answer all of your questions , take a seat ambassador"
"I was the one who broke into Qareks quarters, I was looking to find him
regarding the fact that those two ships broke out , I presume it is a leftover
from my past , when I asked the computer where he is , it answered that he is
here"
"Then I arrived here and chimed the door several times, but no one
answered, I have concluded that something might have gotten wrong with him and I
have bypassed the door , and entered , then I have found his commbadge on the
floor "
"It is logical to conclude that he has gone missing"
Just as Saarok was finished to speak the security team armed with phasers barged
into the room.
Tedak
looked up as he saw and heard the security team enter the quarters of the
Ferengi representative. He gave Saarok a warning look and both of them turned
towards the guards, waiting.
"Halt," the guard shouted, pointing his phaser towards the two men,
"you are trespassing. What is your business here?"
Tedak raised his hands, showing he was unarmed and took a step away from
Saarok. "We were walking by and saw the doors broken open. We were
concerned for Delegate Qarek's welfare and thought that he might be in need of
assistance. We found him to be gone and we do not know where he is."
The guard narrowed his eyes and glanced at his three team-mates. "So you
say," he said, training his weapon on the Romulan, "unfortunately
Romulans are not known for their integrity and honesty. You both will have to
come down with me to the security department."
Feeling blood rise to his cheeks, Tedak fought to remain calm. "I am not
going anywhere," he said through clenched teeth, "we found the doors
broken open, and we were about to report Qarek missing."
He looked at Saarok for confirmation, hoping that he would not counter speak
his statements.
"I am placing you both under arrest," the guard said. He would not be
mollified into believing the ambassador and thought it his duty to arrest at
least someone. "You can either walk down with us, or be carried
unconscious." He shrugged. "Either way you will come down with
us."
He and one of his partners grabbed Tedak by his arms, while the two others took
care of Saarok.
"I demand to speak to Admiral Magellan," Tedak growled, "and my
healer. I have a medical condition that needs attention."
By
some miracle, Qarek woke up in the back of the ship. He was about get up when
he remembered where he was and what went on earlier. He decided to remain on
the bed for a bit longer until he figures out what to do. He wouldn’t have any
chance against them if he tried to overpower them and he had no weapons. After
thinking for a few minutes he remembered something he once heard from one of
his human friends, a tiny wisdom that just might come in handy: ‘If you can
persuade them, confuse them.’ Apparently there’s no way to reason with his
kidnapers, so he might try to do something completely different. He got up and
headed towards the pilots.
“Excuse me, is there anything to drink around here.” he said totally calm.
The two pilots were totally confused and Maclob almost fell from his chair when
he suddenly woke up, hearing Qarek’s voice. Immediately he grabbed a hypo spray
and was about to sedate Qarek again when Qarek suddenly snapped at him.
“Put that away!” said he in a raised but totally indifferent and degrading sort
of way, “I’m not an wild beast to be sedated.”
Everyone was astonished by that reaction, which was totally crazy and
unreasonable. They just stood there looking at Qarek who was standing where he
was, not making one step forward or backward. After a moment of silence Qarek
repeated his question:
“Well, will I get at least a glass of water, or should I die of thirst?” he
said looking at Maclob.
Maclob turned and addressed the Romulan: “Get him a glass of water.”
The Romulan rose from the co-pilot’s chair and went to the replicator, allowing
Maclob to fill his seat. Qarek entered the room and sat on a bench in the back.
As soon as he started moving Maclob grabbed the hypo spray again but Qarek paid
no attention to it. He sat down and took the glass of water from the Romulan
who was now standing next to him.
“So, what’s your name?” he asked looking at Maclob.
“Do you think I’m that stupid?” asked Maclob rhetorically.
“No, no, I just asked out of courtesy.” said Qarek taking a sip of his drink.
“Courtesy? You do realise that you are kidnapped? There is no courtesy when
someone kidnaps you.” said Maclob somewhat annoyed by this silly Ferengi’s
behaviour.
“Depends on how you look at It.”, said Qarek with a small smile, “I look at it
as a business deal, and I work with those every day.”
“A business deal? You’re crazy. How did you get to that conclusion? ”, said
Maclob turning to the console.
“Quite simple.” said Qarek, “It’s all about exchanging goods. For example, you
kidnapped me to... ransom me of to somebody, am I correct? ”
“Yes, so?” said Maclob over his shoulder.
“Well, basically, you are trading my life for money; favours, what ever, and
you are looking for a god deal. And you kidnapped me because you needed someone
valuable. If you didn’t, you could’ve kidnapped any Ferengi.”
Maclob thought about what the Ferengi said and he figured out that it was
actually true. Well, he actually knew it was true, but it was very strange to
hear someone talk about himself like that.
“In fact, I even somehow admire you. For a non Ferengi you certainly have the
spirit.” Qarek continued.
“What?!” Maclob jumped clearly offended by that remark. He heated Ferengis and
now he was being compared to one.
“Well, yes.” said Qarek, “The RoA 202 clearly states: ‘The justification of
profit is profit.’, and you went so far that you even kidnapped me to make your
profit. And there’s RoA 62 which states: ‘the riskier the road, the greater the
profit.’, and what greater risk than kidnapping a delegate. The list goes on,
but basically it comes down to this: you and I are very much alike. ”
This did it for Maclob. He turned to Qarek and said, very angry: “One more word
out of you and you’ll go to sleep... forever!”
Qarek decided not to push his luck further since it turned out good even though
he didn’t plan any of this. For a plan that had just a general layout and was
one big improvisation, it ended great. Qarek just sat down, drunk his water and
waited for Maclob to calm down.
Maclob
sat in his seat again and took a deep breath. It had taken a lot of
self-control not to kill the Ferengi ambassador right then and there. How dare
he think that he knew Maclob like he was a common thief and idiot? He
suddenly realized what the Ferengi had been trying to do and softly snarled.
Pilot: We're here.
Maclob: Good.
He turned to Qarek with an enormous toothy smile. Qarek was going to get his
just desserts now. Qarek noticed that each tooth was about an inch long and was
pointed.
Maclob: I hope you enjoyed all the time you've had to sleep on our little
flight because now all your worst nightmares are going to come to life.
He laughed manically and Qarek could feel chills run down his spine. These were
trained killers. Maclob then walked to the front of the ship. They landed about
10 minutes later and Qarek was blindfolded and bound. He was then led off the
ship and led to an extremely dark room. He was forced to sit on the floor and
the blindfold came off. He looked around the room but couldn't see anything. A
voice then came out of the darkness.
Marcus: Welcome to our little hideaway. I hope your trip here was pleasant.
Qarek: Who are you and what do you want with me?
Marcus shrugged and the lights came on. Qarek was momentarily blinded. His eyes
then focused on a scarred face with long white hair pulled back into a
ponytail.
Marcus: Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Marcus Drouet.
Qarek looked into Marcus' eyes and saw nothing but terror, bloodshed, and cold
death.
Marcus: As you have probably guessed by now, you have been kidnapped by us for
a reason. That reason will be made plain soon enough, until then; you will be
enjoying our company.
Qarek: Where are we?
Marcus laughed and just stared back at Qarek. He then started to walk away and
Qarek's anger flared.
Qarek: COWARDS!
Marcus froze and slowly turned around. His eyes were a bright red, like blood.
Marcus: What did you call me?
Qarek: The lot of you are cowards to treat me like an animal and then run away
like frightened herbivores.
Marcus smiled and nodded to someone behind Qarek. Qarek's bonds were released.
Marcus: And I suppose that you're one of the bravest men to be born into this
universe?
Qarek: I'm not the bravest but I am most certainly braver than you.
Marcus smirked and turned away from him. Qarek's anger flared again and he
charged Marcus. Marcus suddenly did two moves at once. He kicked out behind him
and nailed Qarek in the abdomen while also hitting him in the side of the head
with his fist. Qarek hit the floor and groaned. Marcus knelt down beside him.
Marcus: Piece of advice. Don't get me mad because I WILL kill you without hesitation.
Qarek: Starfleet will want to know I'm all right when you send the ransom note.
Marcus laughed and motioned to Maclob. Maclob stepped into the light and took
the form of Qarek. Qarek groaned and rolled over.
Maclob/Qarek: Nighty night.
He then kicked Qarek in the face and Qarek went unconscious. He was then
carried out of the room.
Why
was it that when it rained it poured?
Magellan sat in his office his face a picture of incredularity.
"You did what?"
The voice on the other end was unhesitant and clear.
"I arrested Delegates Saarok and Tedak."
"Yes I heard you the first time."
"Then why ask me again"
Magellan growled, at times Vulcan’s could be the most frustrating people to
work with.
"I meant why did you arrest them"
"I see. Then perhaps you should have asked that."
"That’s perhaps you should have asked that Sir!" Magellan corrected
deciding he needed to add a little leverage to this conversation."
"Yes Sir. I arrived with members of Alpha Team at Delegate Qareks. We
found the door bypassed and inside Delegates Saarok and Tedak. Delegate Qarek
was absent and there were signs of a scuffle. It seemed logical that the two
Delegates were involved as they were present."
"I can understand you distrusting Tedak- Romulans and Vulcan’s don’t sit
well together, but surely that means the same for Saarok and Tedak working
together."
"I make it a matter of routine not assume anything. The facts speak for
themselves."
Magellan sighed.
"Very Well. Have them released and sent to my Office. I will handle the interviews."
"Sir that is against protocol."
"It is not. I am Commander of this Station and the Flag Admiral for this
Sector. It may also have escaped your notice that the two delegates would be
under diplomatic immunity."
The line went unusually silent for a moment.
"Very Good Sir. I will have my men send them up immediately."
*********************************************
A little under half an hour, the two delegates arrived. Magellan bade them
entrance.
"Let me begin..."
"No let me begin" Tedak interrupted. “I may be Romulan. But I believe
it is beyond comprehension to be treated in this way. Not only am I not
involved, that I tried to help but that my diplomatic rights were
ignored."
Magellan winced
"All I can say is I m sorry. Commander T'Lor acted without my approval and
outside of her bounds as Watch Officer."
"Hmm. It is not words that will necessarily placate me but actions. Do not
make the mistake of tarring all of my species with the same brush. It has been
a long time since we and the Federation were adversaries. And our co-operation
in the Dominion War and your aid in the Shinzon Affair should be enough evidence
to put aside your prejudices."
Magellan nodded sheepishly, he would be the first to admit his distrust of
Romulans, it was hard not be after being blasted by one and nearly
disassociated from ones symbiont.
"I apologise whole heartedly but before I can attempt to make amends I
must ask you some questions."
"Of course Admiral Go ahead" Saarok interjected.
Magellan questioned - carefully the two delegates and quickly established there
complete innocence in the affair.
As he rose to get the delegates some refreshments, Zoilip entered the room.
"Sir I ve had internal sensors tuned to Ferengi life signs. We have 17
aboard. I ve had security teams intercept each bio sign, but none are
Qarek."
"Then it is easy to conclude that either Qarek is not aboard or that he is
dead."
Magellan accepted the report with a stony face.
"Very good Zoilip. Thank you."
"So where does that leave us."
Magellan frowned a moment.
"Well to be safe I ll have the whole base swept for a body. The rest of my
efforts will be on finding that ship."
Tedak leaned forward with interest.
"Ship?"
"Yes not long after the Dinner one broke from our docking bays. I have my
Strategic Officer looking into it. But the only information we have so far are
the fake registries and the fact that one of the pilots was Romulan."
Tedaks eyes narrowed a moment.
"And do not worry that doesn’t mean I m accusing you" Magellan added
quickly.
"Very good."
"If you ll excuse me. It looks as if I have a search to organise."
"Of course Admiral" Saarok nodded rising, "If I can be off
assistance the contact me."
"Of course Delegate Saarok, and the same goes for you Delegate
Tedak."
Tedak appeared deep in thought.
"Yes of course. Good Day to you"
Tedak
left the office with Saarok, in deep thought, but still shaking with anger.
Finally he looked up at his Vulcan companion. "It is clear the admiral is
hiding, and the time of that ship with the Romulan pilot departing does
coincide with the disappearance of our Ferengi colleague. Would you indulge me
for a moment? I wish to find our Ferengi friend, and deal with this pilot. I
will not have destroyed by one rogue person of my species what I have worked so
hard for to achieve, along with the other delegates that share the same belief
as I."
He stopped and leaned against a wall, closing his eyes in an attempt to calm
down and lose his angry feeling. "I have read the admiral's personal file
and I am quite understanding of his distrust of Romulans, but if he will not
give me a chance, how am I going to prove my good intentions to him? I could
use your assistance Delegate Saarok. Will you assist?"
A
week later
Maclob was standing in front of a doorway, waiting for Marcus to allow him
entry.
Marcus: Enter.
The doors opened and Maclob walked in and took a seat.
Maclob: It's been a week Marcus. We need to get her here now. The Ferengi is
starting to get very curious. I've done what you told me to and silenced him
each time he asks questions about us. He is also trying to confuse some of the
others and persuade them to help him out of there and get him back to
Starfleet.
Marcus: Let's not get hasty my friend. It is only a matter of time before
things start to fall in place. Starfleet is going to have a lot on its mind
soon.
Maclob: Marcus, you know that I would never go against your wishes but all the
men are starting to get fidgety and they are starting to fight with each other.
We need to execute our plan now before we loose too many of our followers.
Marcus rubbed his eyes and looked at Maclob then took a deep breath.
Marcus: Perhaps you are right Maclob. I think I'll have a chat with our
prisoner. You can come along if you want.
He stood up and they walked to the cell where Qarek was being held. He had
sustained many cuts and bruises from the repeated batterings of Maclob for
asking questions. But Qarek's will and mind still held their edge and were as
sharp as the knives held by the guards outside. When Qarek heard people coming,
he hid the lockpick he had been working on. Marcus walked into the cell and sat
down across from Qarek.
Qarek: Come to kill me?
Marcus: Actually, I came to answer some of your questions.
Qarek sat up straighter and looked at Marcus.
Marcus: You are right in assuming that you were captured for a ransom. But the
ransom is not a what or how much but a who.
Qarek felt his blood go cold as he half-expected Marcus to name an Admiral or
anyone of great importance to Starfleet.
Marcus: The who is my daughter, Rosalyn Cosette Drouet. She is my heir and the
only person I can trust to keep my legacy going. Unfortunately, she wants
nothing to do with me or the legacy so I'm going to have to execute some
desperate measures.
Qarek: What sort of desperate measures?
Marcus: Roz can't stand to have people get hurt or die as a result of her so
I'll just go find her, threaten her with either she comes with me or you die
and she gets blamed. You'll be staying here so you'll be in the capable hands
of Maclob here. See you in a while.
Marcus got up and started to walk out. Qarek raced up and touched Marcus'
shoulder. Marcus stopped and turned around.
Qarek: Just curious but why does Maclob hate ferengis?
Maclob: A group of them killed my friends, family, and my entire race. I am the
last of my kind.
Marcus smiled and then shrugged Qarek's hand off and walked out of the cell.
The door closed and Qarek went back to working on his lockpick.
Marcus
walked back to his room and started packing up his things. Maclob followed him,
he was outraged that he wasn't going with Marcus.
Maclob: Why am I not going with you?
Marcus: Roz is more dangerous than you can handle. I'm taking someone who is
more versatile and harsh.
Maclob: Meaning who?
Marcus: Meaning him.
He motioned to a dark wall on the other side of the room. The sound of
something disconnecting was heard and an android stepped into the light. It was
Alexander, only something was different about him. Maclob realized it and
started to laugh.
Maclob: Well, then I wish you good luck. But how do you intend to get to the
place where Roz is?
Marcus: We'll be taking the prison shuttle that was meant for me. There is
going to be a small meteor shower going past the Starbase where Roz is located.
Alex and I together will have enough fuel to reach the cargo bay doors.
He finished packing and closed his bag. They then walked out to the tarmac and
Alex and Marcus stepped into the shuttle. Maclob briefly waved goodbye then
walked back inside. "Look out sweetheart. Here comes daddy." thought
Marcus as the shuttle took off into space.
"Yes
my friend I will assist you , but first if you would excuse me I have something
of importance to take care of"
"I understand that you have a ship?"
"Yes I do"
"Well if you could go and prepare it we could leave the base as soon as I
am done."
"Of course I will be awaiting on the shuttle , I trust you know where it
is located?"
"Of course my friend", Saarok finished and went back to the lift whilst
Tedak was heading off to prepare his shuttle for take off.
He went back to his embassy where he found that his aide has finally arrived.
"Delegate", the aide said
"T'Dar you have finally arrived , I have an assignment for you , here take
this pad , and present this to Admiral Magellan , I hope you have seen the base
schematics?"
"Of course it is logical that I have , and where can I find you
after?"
"I will be away from the base for a small mission , I would like you to
cover for me and do not reveal where I am"
"Of course delegate", and he went off to see Magellan while Saarok
went of to meet Tedak in his shuttle
T'dar went off to Magellans office and chimed,” Come", he heard
"I am diplomatic attaché T'Dar the aide of delegate Saarok and have some
information for you."
"Very well attaché, you can present the info for me"
"Well as you can see", he said giving him the pad,” Certain
diplomatic circles have obtained some information about Tedak , as you can see
he was a part of the Tal Shiar , and has taken part in raids on the planets
which are part of the UFP , while he was still only an agent of the Tal Shiar ,
later when he became commander , he took part in one more raid although it is
unclear was he giving out the orders or not.", the attaché said the stopping
to talk to let the admiral read the file
While
preparing his personal shuttle, a gift from the emperor when he had left the
Tal Shiar to become an ambassador for the Empire, Tedak whistled a happy tune.
He had just finished his preparations when Saarok approached.
"Ready?" Tedak called to his companion, while he took his leave of
T'Val, who would remain behind on the station.
She had wanted to come along, but Tedak had made her see the logic of staying
behind. It was already bad enough he was going to endanger the life of another
diplomat, he did not want to have hers on his conscience also.
"When we are gone, inform Admiral Magellan that we are going to attempt a
rescue," he said, then boarded the shuttle, Saarok in his wake.
"Setting course to follow the warp trail," Tedak said, "will you
take weapons control Mr Saarok?"
They left the station, hunting after the craft that had most likely abducted
Delegate Qarek.
Qarek
sat in the cell working on the lock pick, constantly looking over his shoulder
to see whether anyone was watching. Hadn’t done anything like this in a long
time but lock picking is one of those tricks you never forget. Even more when
you are motivated. The beat him up very good already and he wasn’t going to
allow it any more, he was going to do something about it. The lockpick was
finished soon and Qarek headed to the door. The door was guarded on the out
side by two guards, and Qarek thought it would be foolish to just try to charge
out of the cell, hoping for the best. Instead he decided just to unlock the
door. When he did it he laid on the floor under the door with his legs towards
the door, just far enough so he can reach the door. Now it was time to do some
acting. Laying there on the floor he started coughing. The guards came to the
door and opened a small hole on it to see what was going on. Just at that
moment, from all the coughing, Qarek threw up. Turning to the door he said:
“Quick, get a doctor.”
One of the guards ran down the hall to get help. There was a possibility that
Qarek was faking it but what would Marcus and Maclob say if they let Qarek to
die. They didn’t want to risk it. The other guard that stayed at the door and
was about to unlock it. As he put the key in to the lock Qarek kicked the door
with all his might and the door burst open, hitting the guard on the head. He
fell backwards and hit the opposite wall, again banging his head, and went
unconscious. Qarek got up and out of the cell before the other guard came back.
Relaying on his instinct, he moved through the complex, looking for a ship.
After some running around he found one docked at an docking bay. Luckily it was
empty. Qarek sealed the hatch and initiated the launch sequence. He was ready
to lift of in a matter of seconds. The whole thing happened surprisingly fast,
but this was not the first time Qarek escaped a complex like this, he once did
something similar to his uncle.
Maclob
was sitting in his room writing up some reports. He finished them and decided
to go pay a visit to Qarek. He walked down the hallway and got to the cell. He
saw the guard lying on the ground and swore. Marcus would have his head if he
let Qarek escape. He raced to the docking bay and saw Qarek inside one of the
shuttle about to take off. He raced to a console on the wall and quickly typed
in the override sequence for the bay doors and then typed in the sequence for
the shuttle. Qarek started to panic and look at the consoles in front of him as
it all shut down. Maclob walked over to the shuttle and opened the door. What
happened next he did not expect. Qarek charged him and managed to pin him to
the ground. They rolled around on the ground for a while and then a black
tentacle came out of Maclob's back and grabbed Qarek by the throat and lifted
him off the ground. He then took his time getting up. He had sustained a bloody
nose and a few cuts from Qarek.
Maclob: That was a stupid thing to do Ferengi. You obviously didn't realize
that I could let you die and Marcus wouldn't really care. There are other
ambassadors that we could capture and we could easily trick Starfleet into
believing that you are still alive even though you're dead.
He then lowered him to the ground but not all the way. Just enough so Qarek
wouldn't be suffocating. The guards that were guarding Qarek soon appeared in
the bay. Maclob turned to them.
Maclob: I'll deal with you two later. For now go get Kathol and Xandra. (Pronounced
Sandra
the guards ran off and a few minutes later, Kathol and Xandra appeared in the
bay. Kathol was a borg drone who had been severed from the collective. Xandra
was a Betazoid.
Maclob: See if you two can do a better job of guarding than your friends did.
Take him away.
The guards took a strong hold of Qarek and Maclob released his hold on him.
Maclob: And if he tries to escape, I give you permission to break his arm or
leg.
The guards grinned maliciously and marched Qarek back to his cell. Maclob
walked back to his quarters and laid on the bed. The ambassador was REALLY
starting to get on his nerves and it didn't help that there were those
creatures outside their hideaway.
"I
will certainly take weapons controls", Saarok said as he took a seat at
the console
"I have located the warp trail , I presume that your vessel has a cloaking
device ?"
"It certainly does my friend", Tedak answered
Then Saarok pressed a few buttons and moments later the shuttle cloaked and
disappeared from Assailants sensors.
"Warp 9 I take you have?"
"Of course this shuttle is a gift but is a very good vessel"
"Then I suggest we use warp 9 it might allow us to track the ships faster
, the trail seems to be leaving into the L43 system , we should arrive there
within the hour at this speed"
"Our speed is now warp 9 , we seem to have some time on our hands "
"Yes , maybe you could tell me something about yourself ambassador",
Saarok asked
Tedak
set the controls to automatic pilot and swivelled his chair to meet Saarok's
gaze.
"What is there to tell?" he started, "I used to be a commander
in the Imperial fleet, but lost my ship in a battle. Worst of all was that I
was on track of the person who killed my wife and two children, and also who
killed my sister Aidoann."
His expression saddened.
"I decided to leave the Imperial fleet and with the blessing of the
Emperor I followed the diplomatic track, and now here I am, a distinguished
ambassador for the Romulan Empire."
He let a few details about his fleet past hidden, and he felt sure that if
Saarok would be telling him about himself that he would not be entirely honest
either. Yet he had not been lying, not straight out anyway.
"Anything else you wish to know?"
Tedak looked at the controls.
"We are losing the warp trail, but the computer can predict its
course."
Tedak pointed to the screen, where the projected course of their prey was laid
out.
"Seems
that the ships have separated at this point , to throw us of course , but it is
logical to take this course which the computer predicts in the l-56
system."
"I agree with you my friend", Tedak answered
And they entered the new course into the computer and the shuttle continued its
Voyage at warp 9"
"Now that I told you about myself , I would like to hear something about
you", Tedak asked
"I have been in service of the federation for some time , firstly I have
been working in Starfleet command , then after some time I have transferred to
the diplomatic corps.",
Saarok answered not willing to let Tedak know everything , he had told no one
yet of his actions before he became delegate yet.
"Is there anything more u would wish to know?", he asked
"Naturally,"
Tedak replied, "but all in good time when you trust me enough to tell
me."
He stared at the screens, wondering why Saarok was being so secretive. His personally
file had a large gap in it, so Tedak had assumed that a lot of his past service
to the Federation had been termed classified.
"We are nearing the planet projected by our course. I would recommend
sending admiral Magellan a message where we are, since I assume that surely by
now we should be missed. Unless T'Val has gone to speak to him on our behalf,
which I doubt."
He called up the telemetry from the planet they were closing in on.
"M class planet, breathable air fortunately. Rich on vegetation on the
southern continent. I am reading human life signs, but none Ferengi. I am
assuming his life signs are masked."
Just then alarms started blaring. "Engaging cloak," Tedak said
calmly, "Saarok please read out who is engaging us, I am getting no
readings. I am not even sure if our cloak works sufficiently for not being
detected by whoever engages us."
F'lar
was watching Mnementh lounge in the sun after swimming for a bit. The dragon
was enjoying the heat of the sun. F'lar was sweating like there was no
tomorrow. Suddenly, he saw something out of the corner of his eye and turned.
There was something headed towards them, he didn't know what it was. He called
to the others nearby and the alarm went up. Mnementh rounded up the other
dragons and they took to the sky. They tried to burn the thing and it had no
effect and then suddenly, it disappeared. F'lar sent riders to go look for it
while he flew back to Benden Weyr to make sure that Lessa and Ramoth were safe.
Lessa: What's going on?
F'lar: Nothing for you to be worried about.
Lessa looked at him and sent her thoughts to Mnementh who told her what he had
seen.
Lessa: Do you know what it is?
F'lar: Wouldn't I have told you if I knew? I want you and Ramoth to stay in the
Weyr no matter what. Is that clear?
Lessa: (crossing her fingers behind her back) Yes.
F'lar knew she was lying but he also knew that she wouldn't put Ramoth into any
danger. He got back on Mnementh and took off to look for whatever that thing
was.
Maclob was peacefully snoozing when he heard the dragonriders' alarm go up. He
bolted for the nearest window and looked out. He saw the shuttle and then its
cloak went up. He swore and ran to the guards. That had been a delegate's
shuttle, he had seen it as he was wandering through the base.
Maclob: Find the shuttle and bring it down. I have a plan.
The men fired on the shuttle and a few minutes later, it had landed roughly on
the grass.
As
the shuttle landed on the grass , the men started to move towards it and
capture the intruders.
But as they approached the door and cut it open and entered it they found no
one inside.
"They are not here , where could have they gone off to?"
One man asked the other and just as he turned an autoprotect system came to
power and disruptors started shooting all around and inside the shuttle.
Meanwhile Saarok and Tedak were making their way to the Ferengi delegate
"Did
you have to beam us into the middle of nowhere?" Tedak complained as the
two men ploughed through the high grass. At one point, the grass cut him over
his hand and he felt some of it go numb.
"Where are we?" he asked, rubbing his hand in attempt to return
feeling to it, "we need to get out of the open, and out of the field
before it paralyses us!"
He broke into a run towards the forests, aware of the colourful dragonets that
flew over their heads. Tedak pointed. "Look, dragons, hurry!"
He dove for the bushes as a large bronze dragon flew over, and he pulled the
Vulcan delegate with him into the bushes, where they hid for the dragons.
"Great, just great," Tedak complained, "we're on an unfamiliar
planet, no equipment, my shuttle detained, and just HOW do you propose we find
Qarek now?"
Magellan
could barely believe his ears.
Delegates Saarok and Tedak had left aboard the same ship.
A Romulan and Vulcan working together? It was highly irregular, he also had the
problem of the bios cans. Station scans indicated that at least one of the crew
of the abducted ships were Romulan. Was he not seeing something or was the
unthinkable possible -
Could Saarok by a sleeper spy, who Tedak had assist in the abduction of Qarek.
He couldn’t really believe it, but the thought nagged at him. Something wasn’t
right here, if this was a plan by Tedak and the Romulan government why had
Tedak left T Val behind or even sent her with a message to him. No he had to
accept Tedak at face value no matter his personal demons.
"Zoilip, are there any ships in dock ready and available"
the bolian looked up and then checked the docking report.
"One sir the USS San Carlo."
"Class and Captain?"
"Sovereign and Captain Sally Al-kali"
"Contact her. Inform her that I have a new mission for her, and that I
will be coming aboard myself."
"Yourself?"
"Yes I m going after the shuttle, these people mean business and one
shuttle and 2 diplomats aren’t enough, I think they may need help at some point
and I reckon we can trace the warp signature"
"Very Good Sir"
Within the hour the San Carlo was warping out from Assailant. Magellan sat quietly
and contemplatively in assigned quarters this was Sally’s ship and although he
was an admiral he didn’t want t step on toes, she tell him soon enough when
they caught up the two ambassadors.
The
two Vulcanoid men were running through the forests, hiding from the huge
dragons that were flying overhead. Suddenly Tedak tripped and fell face-first
nearly into a clutch of eggs that were hatching.
Grunting, he got to his feet when a crooning sound caught his attention. At his
feet, a bronze dragonet was gnawing at his boot. He pulled his backpack down
and reached into it for a ration bar, holding it out to the little bronze.
Beside him, Saarok had caught the attention of the brightly golden creature,
who was also crooning with hunger. Following Tedak's example, he fed it. They
were so intent on feeding the two that they did not notice the others hatching
and leaving, save one. A little blue and brown remained behind. Tedak broke off
another piece of the ration bar and offered it to the blue, but it staggered
off towards Saarok, ignoring Tedak's offering. The brown came staggering
towards him, snatching the offered food from his hands eagerly.
After a while, it seemed both had had enough. They were sleeping in Tedak's
arms, who wondered what to do with them. He would not leave the two little ones
behind.
"I am taking them," he told Saarok, who stared down at his golden and
blue catches, all but smiling.
Tedak smiled broadly. "Why, I am getting images of being happy and
contend. I wonder if T'Val will like them, she is not a pet-person."
He ducked back into the bush as a large bronze dragon came flying over. "I
wish we were near the shuttle, while I do like the surroundings, we need our
equipment to scan for Qarek."
He jumped as he heard branches break nearby, and pulled his companion down
Maclob
swore as another dragon flew over his head. He was always so nervous around
these creatures. Ahead he heard the squeaks of fire lizards and heard the
opening of ration bars. He ducked down and relayed his plan to the men he had
brought with him. He transformed into Qarek and squirted a packet of fake blood
on himself. He took on a limp and walked around the delegates and got in front
of them. He then make noise as he "limped" through the grass. The
delegates saw Maclob as Qarek and walked up to him.
Saarok: Are you ok Qarek?
Qarek/Maclob: I'm better now that I found you two. I heard that your shuttle
had landed and found a way to escape.
Tedak: Come. We must hurry back to the shuttle before your captors realize
you're missing.
They walked off and Maclob signalled to the men behind them. He pretended to
trip and the others went back for him.
Qarek/Maclob: I think I twisted my ankle.
Tedak looked at his ankle and then looked at his face, confusion written all
over it.
Tedak: Your ankle seems to be fine. You haven't twisted it.
Maclob changed back to himself.
Maclob: No but I have twisted your outcome here.
He hit a button on his wrist and the two delegates fell into a tunnel that led
to separate cells in their hideaway. The fire lizards squeaked as they fell.
Maclob: Cloaking devices on. One of the dragons would have most likely heard the
runts.
Maclob and his associates disappeared into the grass.
--------
Mnementh jolted as he heard in his mind the screams of the fire lizards. F'lar
turned them around and they searched the ground but saw nothing. They decided
to go back to the weyr. Lessa greeted them grimly and even with a bit of
hostility.
F'lar: What is it?
Lessa: I heard the fire lizards as they disappeared. I can't hear them anymore.
I also thought of something. Remember how
F'lar: I do.
Lessa: That thing that entered our atmosphere could have been her returning to
us. Did you ever think of that?
F'lar was startled by the Weyrwoman's reaction as she nearly broke down. He
remembered how attached the two had been. They were like mother and daughter.
F'lar approached Lessa and they embraced.
F'lar: If it had been
They walked inside and F'lar sent Mnementh the order that he was to alert him
if anything peculiar happened. Mnementh rumbled in reply and flew off to check
on Ramoth.
As
Tedak and Saarok reached an underground tunnel , Saarok was saying:
" Didn’t I tell you it was good to take those holo emitters with us?"
"Yes , it was an excellent idea my friend"
"Let us move now and rescue our friend Qarek so that we can all beam out
once the help arrives."
And they entered the underground system oh corridors bout with a drawn phaser
and a tricoder in their hand.
Tedak
felt sore also where he had landed after falling through the hatch, being
caught by whoever this guy was and his partners. He felt double a fool for
being caught like this. The tunnels were dark, save for a few glows on the
walls, but many were not lit.
Following the Vulcan underground, Tedak made sure that the two hatchlings
stayed content. In the few hours that they had Impressed them, they roused
frequently, demanding attention.
Tedak had figured that if he gave the bronze a clear picture, it went where
Tedak wanted him to. So he had sent the little creature to the shuttle to see
how secured it was. The brown he had sent to locate Qarek.
"Useful creatures," he whispered as they entered the dark tunnel
system.
Only minutes before, the creatures had saved their lives by pulling frantically
at their tunics. At first, Tedak had told his two to leave off, as their sharp
talons tore the fabric of his tunic. Then he felt something sear past his cheek
into his shoulder, and something else scored past his back.
He had let out a cry of surprise and pain, then looked up and back to see
silvery things rain down around them. Saarok had let himself be pulled into the
tunnels, and now Tedak had dived after him.
"Yes, useful creatures," he repeated, and stroked the bronze in
gratitude when it returned. The bronze rubbed his tiny head against his cheek,
crooning with concern.
"I am fine little fellow," the Romulan assured him, as he peered at
the tricorder and followed his companion deeper into the mazes, "just a
little scored." Indeed his cheek, shoulder and back did ache tremendously
but they had no time to treat the injuries, they would have to wait until they
were back in space.
"I am picking up Ferengi life signs," he reported as he caught up
with Saarok, "they are in a stone building, I am guessing on the topmost
point of the building."
Maclob
laughed as he walked back underground and went to go look at his new captives.
He reached the cells and saw... nothing. He swore but then came up with a new
idea to get the delegates' attention. He ran down to his quarters and relayed a
message to the other ship that had disbanded before. The reply came back
affirmative and Maclob couldn't help but smile maliciously. That would
get their attention, at least one of theirs. He walked back to Qarek's cell and
saw that he had been bound.
Maclob: (addressing Xandra) Well?
Xandra: We have found every trick that he has been hiding and we have kept him
from any escape attempts.
Maclob: Good.
He walked inside and sat across from Qarek.
Maclob: Your friends are trying to reach you.
Qarek: Who?
Maclob: We have identified them as delegates Saarok and Tedak. They have
escaped our grasp for now but it won't be long until they give themselves up.
Qarek had learned to somewhat understand how these people thought and was a bit
scared and what Maclob might be planning to do to get Tedak and Saarok.
Qarek: What are you planning? I have come to know how you people think. What
makes you think that they're going to give themselves up?
Maclob: You shall see when the time comes. (turning around to Xandra) Where is
your friend?
Xandra: She is sleeping at this moment but she'll be up soon enough.
Maclob: When she does, send her to me. I will be needing her assistance with
something soon. (turning back to Qarek) So how are we enjoying our little
adventure in this place?
----------
A few days later
Lessa woke up and turned over to see F'lar peacefully sleeping. She got out of
bed and silently got dressed and left the room. Ramoth's little ones had
imprinted that afternoon and so was ready to get back to being her adventurous
old self. She walked over to Ramoth and gently woke her up.
Lessa: Want to go for a flight in the night?
Ramoth quietly rumbled pleasantly and got up. Lessa mounted and Ramoth took
off. They went in between and came out a second later over Ruatha. Yes, this
was where she was getting the strong sense of baby fire lizards. She also knew
that there were hidden underground tunnels under the Hold. Ramoth landed and
Lessa dismounted.
Lessa: I'll be back in a bit. Stay here and don't get yourself into trouble.
"Must you treat me like a child?" came Ramoth's thought. "It has
been a long time since we first met." Lessa laughed and patted Ramoth on
her nose. She then went into the tunnels. She couldn't see anything but she
knew the tunnels well. A few minutes later, she heard voices ahead of her and
coming towards her. She slipped into the shadows and didn't make a sound. Tedak
froze as he thought he heard something.
Saarok: What is it?
Tedak: Shhh. I think there's something ahead of us.
They pulled out their phasers and Tedak scanned for life. He nodded and then
pointed his phaser at where Lessa was
Whoever
you are, we have you on our scanners," Tedak called, but sent the brown
firelizard ahead to check for sure. They had been tricked by their sensors
before.
Tedak had found it rather amusing that the little dragons had stayed with them,
and he found it pleasingly odd that he sensed their affection, at least of the
brown and bronze that constantly were in his attendance.
He peered at his tricorder again and noticed the figure ahead of them was
female, but she was in attendance of a fairly large dragon. "Do be
careful, " he had pressed the brown, which had chirped in apparent
understanding.
"We mean you no harm!" he called ahead, "we are diplomats and we
are looking for a friend of ours."
Lessa
remained silent. She could see the people, or were they. They looked different
than she did. She then sensed more than heard a fire lizard come towards her.
They impressed fire lizards?! Her rage emanated to the fire lizard and it
squeaked and returned to Tedak. She saw that she was outnumbered and sent
Ramoth a warning as she stepped into the strangers' view. They were a bit
surprised when they saw it was a woman.
Lessa: Who are you and what are you doing here?
Saarok: We were about to ask you the same question. I am Saarok. My companion
is Tedak.
Lessa: My name is Lessa of Ruatha. I am Weyrwoman of Benden Weyr.
"While this could be another trap, she seems to be telling the
truth," Saarok thought. They lowered their phasers and stepped forward.
Feeling it was the right thing to do, they bowed. Lessa smiled and bowed back.
Lessa: What are you doing in the lower caverns of Ruatha? Or even more
significant, what are you doing on Pern?
Tedak: We came to rescue our friend who was captured and brought here. We
thought he might be held somewhere underground.
Lessa: We haven't seen any other machine besides yours enter our atmosphere for
a long time.
Saarok: We know we did not come to the wrong place. His captors have tried to
capture us too. Do you think you might be able to help us?
Lessa thought about it and Ramoth replied, "They are telling the truth. It
certainly couldn't hurt to bring them to Benden Weyr and have the others there
help also." Lessa silently agreed and nodded.
Lessa: I will help you but I need to introduce you to the others first. F'lar
thinks you may be here to harm us but if you come with and introduce
yourselves, he may change his mind.
Tedak: Thank you.
They followed Lessa outside and when they spotted Ramoth, they froze in their
tracks. They were struck dumb with awe as they looked at the giant golden creature.
Lessa mounted and looked at them.
Lessa: This is Ramoth. She is the queen dragon of Benden Weyr. (laughing) She
won't hurt you, I promise.
Tedak and Saarok stepped closer and Ramoth took off into the air. She took a
hold of Tedak and Saarok and carried them to Benden Weyr. They landed and
Mnementh snorted angrily. "Hush," she told Mnementh. "They
aren't going to hurt anyone. Don't wake up F'lar either. He's had a hard past
few days and needs his sleep." Mnementh reluctantly relented.
The
firelizards squawked at the big bronze, and Tedak felt that some sort of
reverence was needed her as not to disgruntle the big dragon.
He stood proudly, but rather scared in front of Mnementh and bowed lightly.
"Fair day to you, bronze dragon," he said, stroking the two dragonets
to calm them down.
"Ma'am, I appreciate the courtesy, and may I ask a question regarding
these little fellows?"
He waited patiently for her approval, and when give he went on. "You
seemed angry that we attached these to us, but I assure you, we had no
intention of doing so. This brown fellow was trying to eat my boot, so I handed
him a ration bar to prevent him from destroying my footwear. The bronze followed
his brother's example. My partner here experienced the same thing. I assure you,
I do not understand how these remained attached to us, but I believe it is a
form of imprinting. Their mother left with the rest in the clutch. And we only
have them because we accidentally fell into it as we ran from a wing of
dragons."
He paused, looking at Lessa. For such a small woman she sure carried a
commanding air around her. He was fairly sure that this woman was used to being
obeyed.
"Will you assist us in reclaiming our friend so that we may depart and
leave you here in peace? I assure you, we mean the people of this planet no
harm."
He winced as the bronze affectionately rubbed his scored cheek as if to remind
him of the injury and the needed medical help.
Lessa
smiled as she softened. The fire lizards became more at ease and carefully approached
Mnementh.
Lessa: I have a question for you. Do you know of a young woman by the name of-
F'lar: (interrupting) LESSA!
F'lar came storming out onto the floor. Lessa stepped in between him and the
delegates. She scowled at Mnementh.
Lessa: F'lar. Everything's fine.
F'lar: Who are these people?
Lessa turned to the delegates
Qarek
refused to talk to Maclob. He just sat there staring at him. Maclob sighed and
stood up.
Maclob: Have it your way then.
He left the cell and walked back to his quarters. A few minutes later, a young
Vulcan woman came walking into his room. She bowed.
Maclob: Ah, Riana. I am in need of your help. I have sent two of our own to go
on a brief mission for us, making sure to do all the necessary procedures in
the process. When they come back with the things I need, I will need you to
find the delegates Saarok and Tedak.
Riana: May I ask to what we are planning?
Maclob: I would tell you but I need to make sure it arrives first.
Riana: As you wish.
--<On the shuttle>--
Andrew received another blow to the groin and groaned. His companion, David,
laughed at him but grabbed a rope and a hypo spray injector. David roped the
woman around the middle, pinning her arms to her sides. He then knocked her
feet out from under her and she fell hard onto the metal floor of the shuttle.
He then administered the hypo spray and she went out like a light. Andrew stood
up, his face red with pain and anger.
David: That's how you take care of a Vulcan woman. Being gentle with 'em's not going
to get you anywhere.
Andrew: Thanks for your help.
Andrew stood up straighter and made sure the Vulcan was tied securely then put
her in a chair and buckled her in there. David grinned and sat down in the pilot’s
seat. He pushed the communication button.
David: David to Maclob.
Maclob: What is it?
David: We got 'err.
Maclob: Did you make sure to go through all the correct procedures when you
entered and then left?
Andrew: Yes sir.
Maclob: Is your warp trail cloaked?
Andrew: Yes sir,
Maclob: Good. You two may be of more use than your friends. See you when you
get here. And be careful, that sun of theirs is close to the planet. I would
prefer it if you didn't ruin my shuttle.
David: Right.
The link ended and they set their course for Pern.
Andrew: So what do you suppose he wants the Vulcan for?
David: Who knows and who cares? I just want to have some more fun with 'err.
She's quite a fighter.
They laughed.
T'Val
didn't know what happened to her. At first she was conversing with Admiral Magellan
on possibilities to land on the planet below undetected, the next moment she
was being attacked and knocked out ~~some time later~~
T'Val awoke slowly, feeling a little mangled and sore all over her body. She
soon discovered that her hands were tied securely behind her back and that
trying to get them free was a futile attempt as the ropes only got tighter as
she struggled against them. Her feet were also securely tied, and she was
buckled into a seat.
She also knew that pretending to be still unconscious was futile as whoever had
caught her, was a professional and would not fall for comedy. Not that she
would put up an act that was not in her nature.
Slowly, she lifted her head and peered at the two men at the controls in
silence. She dared not move too much since she did not want to draw attention
to herself.
~where is admiral Magellan?~ she wondered ~and what would these goons want from
me. Surely they cannot be aware of my attachment to Ambassador Tedak? There IS
no attachment, we are not wedded.~
She blinked as she held that thought. An odd sensation went through her as she
thought of the handsome Romulan. ~a charming man surely~ she thought, as the
feeling continued ~love is an emotion~ she assured herself, shaking her head
slowly.
That drew the attention from one of the males, and he stepped towards her,
taking her face into his hand, caressing her cheek with the other.
She spat at him, and bit his hand hard. "Hands off," she growled.
~anger is an emotion~ she reminded herself, but was very pleased with the
result
Tedak
bowed to F'Lar, feeling it just to do so. "I am Ambassador Tedak,
representative of the Romulan Empire. I am here, together with my partner here,
to rescue a friend of ours who has been abducted. We have reason to believe
that he is being held here."
He smiled softly as he received images from Sev about the large bronze dragon.
"Yes, he sure is big, isn't he?" he said softly, as he reassured the
little bronze firelizard. He looked around to locate Nut, the brown and noticed
him perched on a ledge, well away from Mnementh.
"Oh don't be silly," he called, holding up his other arm, as Sev
nudged up towards his shoulder, "he won't harm you."
Tedak turned to F'Lar. "Will he, sir?" The bronze dragon did not seem
as he would hurt anyone of them, but he kept peering at them intently.
<F'Lar>
Qarek
was sitting in his cell feeling totally hopeless. Every atom in his being felt
like a puppet on a string, all tied up, just waiting for everything to resolve.
Anger filled his mind, he could fell rage flowing through his body. He felt
like an animal. He was sick and tired of all this. If anyone was to look in his
eyes now he wouldn’t find that sweet business man, but a foul beast, waiting to
be unleashed. He sat in his cell thinking hard about his escape and then he
remembered something. Suddenly he had that maniac look on his face, totally
unreasonable and petrifying look. He went to the door and asked the guard:
“Hey, you, how many days have I been in here?”
The guard smirked at him: “About a week and a half. Why?”
Qarek didn’t pay any attention to the guards question: “I want to see Maclob.
Now!”
The guard laughed: “You are not in the position to make any demands here,
little man.”
As soon as he said that the alarms all over the complex went off.
“Oh, I believe me do.”, Qarek said, “In fact, tell him that I can even explain
these alarms going off all over the place. I’m sure he’ll be more then
interested.”
While Qarek and the guard were talking Maclob was in Command. Suddenly the
alarms went off. He looked at the sensor readings and there was something to
see. Ten to twenty ships, Ferengi, Veridian, Chodack, even Klingon and Romulan,
dropped out of warp and started to take orbit around the planet. Maclob was
speechless. At that moment the guard walked in:
“Sir, the Ferengi wants to talk to you.”
“Not now!”, Maclob yelled.
“But sir, he says that he has an explanation for all these alarms. ”
That got Maclobs attention. He was very curious to know what was going on and
how this fleet got into orbit, and from where?!
“Bring him here.”, he said.
A few minutes later the guards brought Qarek to Maclob: “So, what is al this?
Speak!”, Maclob blew his lid of.
Qarek looked at him with that stone cold gaze, the gaze of an animal gone wild.
It was like looking a mad razor beast right in the eyes as it was about to kill
you. There was no Qarek Left there what so ever. Maclob was, if nothing else,
surprised to find that look in a Ferengi.
“That, my dear friend.”, said Qarek almost hissing “That is the fleet of the
Qarek Interstellar Trading Corporation. And the came to rescue me. And believe
you me, they are not leaving without me.”
Maclob wondered how did they find out where Qarek was. He did not know that
Qarek had a regular talk with the QITC every week and even if he knew, it
wasn’t predictable because every next meeting was arranged either that time or
even later. When Qarek didn’t show up, the QITC, as per protocol started
looking, and it took them a week to find him, tracing the ships around. Maclob
was about to assume Qarek’s form to throw of the QITC but Qarek stopped him.
“I wouldn’t do that if I were you.”, hissed Qarek, “They will ask you a code
for identification.”
Maclob was ready to gamble it but he didn’t know Qareks brother Reek. This will
be a talk or a fight he’ll never forget.
F'lar
softened a little bit.
F'lar: No he will not harm any of you. His name is Mnementh. He is the largest
bronze of all those on Pern. As I can see that Lessa won't speak much more to
me until I have relaxed, let us go inside and you can have something to eat and
drink.
He motioned for Tedak and Saarok to go first and he and Lessa followed.
F'lar: That was a very dangerous and stupid thing you did Lessa.
Lessa: Ramoth would have alerted Mnementh if I had been in any danger. I can
handle myself F'lar. I'm not the child that I once was when you first found me.
F'lar: (smiling) You're right. Somehow you always are right about these things.
He put his arm around her and kissed her on the cheek. He ordered some hot klah
and they sat down at a table while they waited for the drinks to arrive.
F'lar: So how did the two of you manage to impress two fire lizards each?
--------------------
Maclob frantically thought and looked around when it hit him. He turned back to
Qarek and smiled.
Maclob: You may have won this small victory but no one has ever won the large
battle against the Occultus lumen. Xandra shall probe your mind and get the
information I will need.
He raised his arm and snapped his fingers. Qarek was seized, tied into a chair,
and gagged. Maclob took Qarek's form and Xandra took his place by Qarek with a
knife held to his throat.
Xandra: I would suggest you give him the codes he will need unless you want all
your friends to die.
Qarek was confused. They couldn't possibly have enough members to take on all
those ships. Maclob then established an audio link with the QITC.
-----------------------
David stepped back momentarily when T'Val spat on him and then he smiled. He
sat down in a chair across from her.
David: You remind me of someone I knew once upon a time. I had a large crush on
her but she didn't return that love. She fell in love with someone else.
Unfortunately, that someone else is now dead and she is all alone in this
world. Her name is Roz Drouet.
T'Val consciously registered the name and remembered where she had heard it.
T'Val: You mean the daughter of Marcus Drouet, the mass murderer. What makes
you think I will bring her to you?
David: We are holding Ambassador Qarek hostage. We also have your friend,
delegate Tedak and his friend delegate Saarok. She will come to us so none of
them die.
He then stood up and did something very bold, he kissed her. T'Val tried to
fight back but couldn't move. David pulled away and laughed.
David: Have a nice nap sweetheart.
He then punched her and she went unconscious.
Magellan
found the waiting unbearable, he had paced around his quarters for far too long
and proceeded to the bridge.
He stepped in to the hive of activity and hovered in the door way.
There was a certain amount of activity going on and he didn’t want to interfere
unless absolutely necessary.
"Mister Cartwright, do we or do we not have sensors online?"
"Yes Ma'am, partially"
"Partially?"
"Yes the ionic interference is disrupting long range sensors"
"Galbraith, Get down to Science and give me an appraisal"
The San Carlos XO nodded curtly and exited the room.
"Sir I m afraid I have confirmation."
"What?" Magellan asked finally allowing himself to get involved
"Confirmation of what?"
Captain Al Kali turned in her seat and then rose smartly.
"Admiral on the bridge."
Magellan waved them back to their places.
"What’s happened?"
"We entered the edge of a nebula, the ionic interference collapsed our
warp field and sensors have lost the Delegates warp trail"
Magellan nearly cursed but managed to stop in time
"So what are we doing"
Al Kali looked ruffled
"My crew are doing there best, but its simple gone."
"Okay then do you have a bearing from when we last had it"
"Yes"
"Then set a course off that"
"But they could have made any number of course alterations"
"And they may not have and its all we have. try and narrow it down by
looking for planets near that route"
"Yes Sir" Al kali replied with an edge of hostility.
Magellan retired from the bridge before his meddling caused more problems, but
it had to be done, he had to find the delegates or this was going to be one
short colony project.
T'Val's
eyes grew wide as the man tried to kiss her. She struggled, trying to turn her head
away but the short moment of touch was enough to learn what the man had in
mind.
~you wish~ she thought, and spat at him. Yet she knew now that this man would
aid her if she so wished, would make him so at any rate. She was quite adept at
mind control and if she had the opportunity and the strength, she would make
use of it.
For now, she would just play along. Yet she was surprised when this man's fist
connected with the side of her head, snapping it backwards.
Blackness danced at the edge of her vision, but she would not cry out in pain.
Soon, she was again enveloped by the mercy of unconsciousness
Qarek
looked at the Vulcan and smiled: “You might as well try, but it won’t help you.
You see, I don’t know the answer they are looking for.”
Maclob was looking very jumpy and nervous already, he placed his last hope on
this communication but now, when he heard this, he lost it.
“You smelly, stinky, foul, discussing Ferengi beast!!”, yelled Maclob crazy
with rage, “I’ll kill you, with or without the code!”
Maclob headed for Qarek’s neck but two guards, standing near by, grabbed him.
“Sir, control you’re self. He might be of little use now, but he’s even more
useless dead.”
Maclob was still held back by the guards but, gradually, he calmed down. Just as
he blew of most of his steam, the comm. system sounded.
“Sir, it’s the leading ship, the Kreeta”, said one of the operatives at a
station, “What should I do?”
“Put I through, audio only.”, said Maclob. He was well aware that not answering
is totally the same as answering wrong, in other words, in both cases they
would come down. As the channel opened the voice was heard.
=This is Reek, captain of the Kreeta. Anyone receiving this, respond. Brother,
come in.=
Maclob had to think fast. What would he do now. He opened the channel and
answered mimicking Qarek’s voice.
“Qarek here. Good to hear from you, brother.”, Maclob said.
“Good to hear you, too. Are you all right?”
“Yes, I’m fine. There’s just a small trouble with this comm. system, we can’t
get a visual.”
“No problem.”, answered Reek, “We’ll get you out of there soon. Oh yeah, I hope
you’ll give me that arvadian amoeba when you get back? You promised.”
After
a long while, T'Val slowly returned to consciousness and she groaned softly.
The entire left side of her face was aching and she suspected that at least
part of her cheekbone was fractured.
She hung limply in her bonds, but smiled mischievously for a second, her eyes
revealing the fury that she felt. She remembered the mind of the person who
tried to kiss her and she concentrated on him, forcing her pain to the back of
her mind.
~release me~ she commanded ~release me and you will be free~
She raised her head and winced as the blood resumed its flow into her arms when
she sat up a little straighter. She now wished she had a bond mate so she could
call upon him to rescue her, but she had none so she was basically helpless,
save for the goon whose mind she controlled now.
Her eyes flashed anger as another fellow approached her, grabbing her chin in
his hand, moving her face as if to inspect her. She involuntarily cried out in
pain as he caressed her injured jaw.
~help me, protect me~ she tried again, and the human male seemed to respond
David
slowly untied T'Val's hands and helped her up. She knocked out Andrew. David
took the controls and kept them going on to the base on Pern.
T'Val
gently rubbed her sore wrists and then tied Andrew securely in the chair,
making sure that he had no possibility of escape.
Next, she walked over to a cabinet and pulled out a hypo spray, pushing in a
container with tranquillizer. She pressed the hypo down on David's neck, and
tied him securely as well.
She knew both men would come in handy sooner or later, but right now she had to
focus on landing the shuttle safely on the planet below. She also knew that
Tedak was on the planet as scanners had registered his personal shuttle. Though
she knew better than to land exactly besides it.
Instead, she directed the shuttle into the forests and landed it neatly. Next,
she opened the hatch and took in the beauty of the forests. Next thing she
knew, she was hit by a phaserblast and she tumbled down the ramp onto the soft
soil, unconscious.
Riana
had seen the shuttle as it entered the atmosphere and tracked it to the forests
of Nerat. She transported herself there and was there to meet this
"prize" Maclob had told her about. She saw T'Val walk off the shuttle
and Riana immediately fired at her with her phaser and hit T'Val. She walked
over and looked at her. She was quite pretty. Perhaps a friend or lover of one
of the missing delegates. She looked inside and saw Andrew and David tied to
their chairs. She rolled her eyes and killed them. They were of no use now that
they were under a Vulcan mind trap. She contacted Xandra.
Riana: I have the prize. I'll be bringing her back there. When you see Maclob,
tell him that I had to dispose of Andrew and David. They were under the Vulcan
woman's mind control.
She then transported back to the hideout and locked T'Val in a cell. She personally
would watch this prisoner. Just to see what kind of tricks T'Val had up her
sleeves
Tedak
frowned, the lady of this place had already asked the same question which he
had answered in detail. He had assumed the dragons had exchanged that information.
"We were running from our shuttle as we had beamed out just before it
landed, after being shot down. We ran into the forests trying to hide from
dragons, which were obviously searching for us. Since we did not know if we
could trust them, we chose to hide from them. I tripped and nearly fell into a
clutch of about 40 eggs, which were already hatching. The brown chose my
footwear for food and to prevent others from doing it, we fed them. My partner
fed the gold and blue, I the bronze and brown. We still do not understand why
these stayed with us, but they are very caring."
He pointed at the bronze who kept rubbing his head against the thread score.
"We still have to learn what the colours of their eyes mean, but I can
tell that orange means danger, red is hunger and blue-green is reassuring.
Also, we are unsure whether they are male or female, but the golden one seems
to be the boss, the other three obey that one."
Again he indicated the bronze, whose eyes were whirling all shades of blue and
green at once.
"We were captured by someone but managed to escape, however just before
that the little dragons were frantic and tried to pull us into a cave. A
silvery rain came down and they saved us. One of them silvery raindrops came
past my cheek and burrowed into my shoulder, another raked past my back. I
would say the things have burned or cut me, I do not know. Yet it gives a
burning, aching sensation."
He hoped that would be a hint to some relief for it.
"Does it rain that stuff often?"
Riana
watched T'Val as she laid on the floor looking very pitiful. She then noticed
the bruise forming on T'Val's cheek and looked at it. Either David or Andrew
had broken her cheek. Even better now that they were both dead. She grabbed a
med kit and healed the injury then waited for T'Val to wake up.
-----------------
F'lar ordered food as he listened to the strangers talk. When Tedak spoke of
Thread, Lessa then noticed the burn on his cheek and got some numbweed. She
applied it to the burned areas and the area instantly cooled and went numb.
F'lar: That rain as you called it is called Thread. It is remnants of a nearby
planet/sun. Thread burns and destroys. You're very lucky your fire lizards got
you inside.
Lessa smiled at the queen. <r u gonna give her a name Saarok?> The food
came a bit later and they all ate. The fire lizards ate like they hadn't been
fed in a long time.
Lessa: The reason the others follow the golden fire lizard is because she is
the queen. No matter what size they come in. Ramoth is a queen dragon. Fire
lizards are just miniaturized dragons.
F'lar: Down to business then. Who are these people who captured your friend?
T'Val
woke slowly, feeling very weak. She did not know how long she had been
unconscious and her last memory was being stunned. She groaned softly as she
stirred, her chest still very painful from the phaserblast, but to her own
surprise her jaw was not as painful as it had been before. still, a dull pain
drummed in her head, but she knew from experience that the bone had been healed.
Looking up, she saw a woman waiting in front of the cell she occupied. Assuming
that the woman had attended to her injury, she muttered her thanks. Yet, she
still had no idea why she had been captured, nor where exactly she was. She
knew, though, that her companion, Tedak, was on this planet. The ships scanners
had confirmed that before landing.
"Why am I here, a prisoner?" she asked, "I am a Federation
citizen, you will face charges for abducting me."
~beloved, where are you?~ she thought, hoping that the Romulan would hear her.
She knew he had no telepathic gifts of his own, but she knew he loved her, and
on that love, she now drew her strength. ~I am captured, and injured, but I do
not know where I am~
Exhausted, the train of thought having drained her energy, T'Val sagged back
into the bale of straw she had been deposited on when she had been unconscious.
~~Benden Weyr~~
Saarok looked up suddenly, having sensed something. His little queen chirped
enquiringly, her eyes whirling orange with alarm.
Tedak watched his reaction, then felt something too. He gave a strangled gasp,
as he sensed who was accessing his mind. "T'Val!" he cried out,
setting his two firelizards off squealing in alarm. He snatched the bronze out
of the air and peered him directly in the eyes, his mind forming a picture of
the Vulcan woman. "Find her!" he gasped, "find her and return,
so we may rescue her."
The bronze chirped in acknowledgement, his eyes now green-blue in reassurance.
He rubbed his head affectionately against Tedak's cheek and winked out. The
brown settled on his shoulder, chirping anxiously, wanting attention.
Tedak stroked Nut absentmindedly. "What is T'Val doing here?" he
wondered aloud, "why is she captured?
"Calm
down my friend", Saarok said to him
"I know what you sensed , I have sensed her also as my telepathic gifts
are more developed than with the rest of the Vulcan’s", he said
"We will find her", he added
"As for about who's got our friend", he said an turned to F'Lar
"I am not exactly sure if I had access to a console or a communication
device of some sort I could find out that."
"Could you help us retrieve our shuttle?", he asked waiting for F'Lar
to respond
--------------Meanwhile at the HQ of S331-------------------
"Have you managed to contact him ?", one man asked
"No nothing as of yet , he hasn’t reported in like he does every day and
several days have passed"
"Can we trace him somehow?", the other man asked
"We can by using the Argus 4 array but he is the only one who can activate
it, unless , well there is someone else who can do this."
"Who?"
"If we can show the computer that he is missing it will start up auxiliary
algorithms and temporary place you in command"
"Do it"
After a few minutes they convinced the computer of the situation and then got
access and started the argus array.
"OK we have his location "
Just then a young ensign ran into the room with some news.
"Sir , Marcus Drouet has escaped from prison "
"Drouet , i knew we should have taken matters into our hands, and if im
not wrong i believe he has his fingers in the recent disappearance of a
delegate from Starbase Assailant."
"Prepare the Discovery and the
"Yes sir"
After a few hours the both ships were prepared for departure.
"Prepare to jump to warp 9 and head to the coordinates received from the
array "
"Yes sir"
"Engage the cloaking device"
"Device engaged"
"Warp 9 engage"
And the two ships were travelling at maximum speed to rescue their head.
Riana
jolted as she felt the pleading thought sent out by T'Val. "Why that
little-" She stormed up to T'Val and stood her up.
Riana: That was a stupid thing for you to do. You'll be regretting that now.
Come on.
She dragged T'Val down the corridor to Maclob's quarters and threw her inside.
Maclob looked at the woman at his feet and then looked at Riana.
Riana: She sent out a thought to her "lover" and I seriously doubt he
didn't hear it.
Maclob shook his head. "Would these people never learn not to underestimate
the Occultus lumen?" <that means "hidden light" in Latin, I
hope> He stood up and raised T'Val so they could look one another in the
eye. T'Val was a little frightened by the lack of warmth and hatred that
lingered in his eyes. He then came up with an idea, but he didn't know how well
it would work.
Maclob: We know who your special friend is and we know that he is on the
planet. He managed to escape our grasp for a bit but we caught him in the end.
(speaking to the guards outside) Bring in the ambassador Tedak.
He motioned for Riana to bind T'Val's arms and blindfold her. He had seen a
picture of Tedak from the Starfleet files and from their spy on SB Assailant.
<that should clear some things up> He concentrated and took the form of
Tedak, bruised and battered. T'Val was then let free and she looked upon the
face of Maclob as Tedak. She suddenly felt very sorry and sad and then realized
something was wrong.
------------------------------------------
F'lar took in the information he was given about Qarek and T'Val and then spoke
with Lessa, Mnementh, and Ramoth about it. He came back over to the delegates.
F'lar: We will provide you with whatever help you desire.
Sev
gave a light squawk, but managed not to be noticed by the woman who led the other
one from the barred room. His eyes whirled orange with anger as he silently
followed the pair, still unnoticed.
The young bronze firelizard hovered before the door, as it shut just in his
face, but managed to fly in when it opened again. He saw one of the women being
bound and blindfolded but he did not understand the significance of that.
He also noted one man changing forms, taking on the form of his friend. This he
found odd and dared not fly down to him as he sensed this was not his friend.
He gave a piteous cry and darted out the nearest window, disappearing between
only to pop out again at Tedak's location.
Tedak looked up as he heard Sev's anxious chirping, and stroked him to calm him
down, asking to repeat what he saw. "We need to hurry," he urged the
Weyrleaders.
~~elsewhere~~
T'Val looked upon the body of her friend, reaching out for him, yet she sensed
it was not him. She retracted her hand. "You are not my friend," she
said, glaring at the "unconscious" form of 'Tedak'.
She heard a piteous squeak and saw something dart out of the room. She was not
sure but it was possible her eyes were trying to trick her. She had not been
given any food or drink since her capture and she was feeling dehydrated. The
cold of the room was not being a help either and for someone who was used to
rather warm environments, she actually felt freezing cold.
T'Val shuddered visibly against the cold, but she dared not ask for food, drink
or warmth. She knew these people would kill her if they did not get her way.
Yet, she wondered how the woman, Riana, had caught her private thought. Dare
she take another chance at warning her friend? She had to try.
~Do not come here, there is danger, a possible trap~
She still sat on the floor, and waited anxiously for what was to happen. She
dared not move, nor look up at the people around her, but she also dared not
show her fear, for she was indeed scared. She had not been this scared in her
young life at all.
F'lar
told Mnementh to contact F'nor and the other wings. He changed into his
riding/fighting clothes. Lessa listened to the information relayed to Tedak by
Sev. She thought for a minute and then F'nor and the others started to arrive.
She directed them into the council room. F'lar came out a minute later and
explained the situation to them. No one disputed the reasoning or anything.
They accepted it all, which surprised F'lar. Then again,
F'lar: Stay here under all circumstances. I won't risk you or Ramoth coming to
help. Is that understood?
Lessa nodded and for the first time in a long time, meant it. F'lar kissed her and
then mounted Mnementh. They took off and headed for the shuttle.
___________________________
Riana's anger flared and she tied T'Val back up before she could react.
Riana: I guess you didn't get the idea the first time. Do I need to permanently
make it so you cannot do that?
Maclob sighed and stood up. Sometimes he wondered whether it was better if Vulcan’s
kept their emotions under wraps, especially if this was how they reacted to
certain things. He was also put off because the trick hadn't worked. He
secretly hoped Marcus would get back soon. He walked up to T'Val.
Maclob: For your information, that thing you saw a moment ago was a fire
lizard. They are part of the wildlife of this planet. They aren't curious
enough to come near people so I can assume that he or she belonged to either
Tedak or Saarok.
T'Val gave no reaction.
Maclob: I suggest you not send any more mental messages to your lover. I'd
rather not have to kill you, for you are the one thing I currently hold against
Tedak and Saarok. I hold Qarek on ransom. But I will kill you if that's what it
comes to. Am I making myself perfectly clear to you?
"He
is not my lover," T'Val said, anger flaring in her eyes, hiding the terror
she felt. She hoped they mistook her trembling for cold instead of fear, for
fear she did indeed.
"But your intent is clear. The damage is done, I need not send more
messages. Someone else sent the message for me. I do not even know if the
ambassador is at all susceptible to me."
That much was true, she had no way of knowing if he had heard her. She had
never mind melded with Tedak, and only by sheer force of will had she managed
to send the two messages, which had taken a lot of her strength.
Black spots were dancing on the edge of her vision and she felt dizzy, but
still she dared not ask for water.
~~~~~~~~
Tedak clutched on to F'Lar as he large bronze took off. He had borrowed a
flight jacket from one of the other riders, but still, the shock of between
startled him and he felt his teeth rattle. Soon after they emerged, Sev and Nut
were hovering around them again, chattering anxiously but also excited.
Tedak peered sideways and saw Saarok clutch onto F'Nor, on the large brown
dragon. Did the Vulcan delegate feel as agitated as he felt?
He worried for T'Val, and he knew that if they found her alive, he had to do
something about their attachment so that whenever such a situation arose again,
either would instantly be aware of the other's trouble.
He smiled widely, as for the first time, he acknowledged his feelings for the
stoic Vulcan woman. He tapped F'lar on his shoulder. "That is the
building," he cried, attempting to be heard over the soaring wind as the
dragon gained speed, "there is T'Val and possibly also Qarek."
Sev's pictures had been very clear and Tedak was proud of his little friend.
The
signal from the comm. system came again and reminded Maclob of the fleet that
was in the orbit. He managed to shake them of for a while the first time by
making it look like they’re having comm. system problems, but it probably won’t
work again.
“Get them out of here.”, he said to the guards because it wouldn’t be very wise
to let the fleet see the prisoners in the background. He opened the channel
again.
“Hello again, brother.”, Maclob said now completely transformed into Qarek. He
opened visual this time so it would look more natural.
“Hello, Qarek. You managed to repair the comm. system, I see.”
“Yes, it was only a small glitch.”, replied Maclob remembering how the previous
conversation went down. He had to be able to pick the line up. Qarek was still
sitting by the side quietly laughing.
“So, where were we?”, said Qarek’s brother Reek, “Ah yes, when are you coming
back, so you can give me that amoeba?”
Maclob stood there for a microsecond thinking what to say. He wanted to get rid
of the fleet as soon as possible.
“Very soon, brother. There’s a couple more things I need to take care of here.
And besides, you can take it your self.” Maclob answered. This was a sentence
he’ll regret for a long time.
“You are not my brother!”, Reek screamed and Qarek smiled silently, “Last time
you were so furious when I tried to take it, you even wanted to throw me out an
airlock. Me, your own brother! Who are you? Qarek if you’re there somewhere,
don’t worry we’re going to get you out. I promise.”
Maclob was furious. He struck the panel and terminated the comm. link.
“You slimy Ferengi.”, he said turning to Qarek, “You knew all along didn’t
you?!”
“As a matter of fact I didn’t:”, said Qarek and Maclob, looking into his little
weasel eyes, could see he was honest, “I had no idea what the code will be. We
always ask each other one random question from which we can recognise each
other. For all it matters he could’ve asked me what I had for breakfast last
Monday.”
Qarek was very glad that Reek thought of this very question. Reek obviously had
the lobes for business. Maclob and the others couldn’t have possibly known
anything about this because it happened without any witnesses. Qarek was saving
that amoeba for his friend Mike, and when Reek tried to steal it he went
ballistic. He would never try to vacuum his brother but the very fact that he
took that amoeba, which was supposed to be a present for Mike, made him
furious. Mike was like a second brother to him.
“Sir, the ships have taken a siege formation. We are reading multiple beam
downs.”, said a guy sitting at a console. Maclob was now in heap of trouble.
As
Saarok sat on the dragon holding for the rider he felt his anger coming as for
this was all a nonsense , they should have ended this a while back by bringing
in a fleet and not use these creatures he thought.
As the dragon took of he saw his two new friends hovering around and the gold
one held to his shoulder ,then he decide to call it Aeris. he wind was blowing
around them as they were flying high above the earth , but he did not show any emotions
as he did feel excited about this.
Some time later the raiders arrived to the building and Tedak pointed to it ,
there they are.
--------------Meanwhile in the two shipp fleet----------------
On the bridge of the Discovery.
"Sir we are approaching Pern"
"On screen"
And the screen showed a fleet of ships hovering around Pern .
"Identify"
"Fleet of the Qarek Interstellar Alliance"
"I wander how did they found out where Qarek was , well have to remain
cloaked so that they do not see us"
"Yes sir"
"Drop out of warp, and hail the Columbus"
"Aye sir"
And the ships dropped out of warp and hovered in between the ships of the interstellar
fleet.
=/\=Yes sir?=/\=
=/\=You will be taking a high orbit around the planet and place a dispersing
field around the planet blocking all signals=/\=
=/\=Yes sir=/\=
=/\=And you will remain hidden=/\=
=/\=as you wish=/\=
=/\=I will be leading a squadron down to free Saarok , there fore the Discovery
will be keeping a low orbit , but you will not suspend the dampening field for
no reason am i clear , not even if i order you=/\=
=/\=Yes sir=/\=
=/\=Dampening field active all signals on the planet surface are blocked and
all incoming signals are also blocked=/\=
=/\=Good i will beam down now , i want an opening of 10 seconds and afterwards
do not i repeat do not terminate the dampening field until you receive the
hidden key=/\=
=/\=Understood , out=/\=
And the man went to the transporters room where the teams were already waiting
to beam down to the location of Saarok.
"Energize"
Roz
woke up suddenly from the bed behind the pilots' seats. She looked around and
found she wasn't tied up, which surprised her. Marcus was watching the readings
from his chair. Roz stood up and sat in the pilot's chair.
Marcus: Good, you're awake. I was about to come wake you anyway. We're almost
at our destination.
An alarm went off and they read the readings.
Roz: Seems like someone found Qarek and whoever else you got down there before
you expected. They're charging weapons.
Marcus swore loudly. Roz however was calm.
Roz: Be quiet and stay out of sight. I'm going to try something.
Marcus stepped into the back of the shuttle and unknown to Roz, transmitted a
message to his ships elsewhere in the universe. It read, "Begin
attack." Roz hit some buttons and the shuttle's cloaking device came on.
She manoeuvred smoothly around the ships and landed the shuttle a bit later.
Marcus: I'm reading bio signs that don't belong to my group all over the place.
Come on.
They quickly exited and ran inside. Marcus was going to have a few words with
Maclob when he got a hold of him.
________________________
Maclob's fury increased as he read the readings of the people beaming down.
Riana could tell T'Val was going to faint at any moment on them. She sighed and
reached for her canteen of water. She offered it to T'Val who drank deeply
As
the dragon riders and Saarok and Tedak arrived at the building and landed. A
team of Starfleet personnel materialized just by their side. The dragonriders immediately
prepared to attack them when Saarok on motioned to them to stand down.
"They are friends", he said as he approached the commander , the
person who was commanding the Discovery
"I see you have managed to find me"
"Yes sir we did , i hope you are all right"
"Yes i am , these are my friends"
He mentioned to the dragon riders and Tedak , "And these people are , he
showed to the Starfleet officers they are , people whom i command"
"I require your help"
"Off course sir , you just say and well comply"
"Give me two phasers"
Then the commander motioned to 2 officers to give him phasers and he gave them
to Saarok. Then Saarok took one phaser and handed it to Tedak saying:
"You’ll need it"
"Let's go ", Saarok said
And the S31 troops followed by the dragon riders and Tedak and Saarok stormed
the building where T'Val was held captive. This was certainly going to be an
interesting battle Saarok thought as the S31 people blew the door open
T'Val
gratefully drank the water offered, but she was so cold that she could not even
feel her extremities anymore. Also her bonds were obstructing her blood flow.
She signed, and slid down to the cold stone floor as she fainted from hypothermia.
Tedak ran towards the building, grateful for Saarok who took care of the
guards. Sev and Nut flew ahead, chattering in cheer anger.
"T'Val!" Tedak roared as he charged on, and finally stood face to
face with Maclob. He saw the Vulcan woman’s limp form on the flood and his
blood ran cold. Was she....
Tedak adjusted the settings on his phaser and aimed it at Maclob. "You
hurt her, you are going to pay for this."
Sev at landed besides T'Val, sensing his friend cared for the woman. He chirped
anxiously, rubbing her face, then felt her stir a little and remain still
again. Sev gave a happy chirp.
Tedak ignored Sev, glaring at Maclob. "You hurt her, "he repeated,
"you shot us down, you were trying to kill us and now I am going to kill
you." He pressed the trigger of his phaser and saw the shocked look on the
shape shifter’s face when he dissolved into nothing.
He dropped the phaser and ran to T'Val's side, freeing her of her bonds and
rubbing her to get her blood flowing again. Then he just held her to warm her
up. "T'Val love, don't die on me. Now that I can admit I love you, don't
die on me."
The two firelizards chirped, rubbing the woman’s face and finally she stirred.
"You came," she said, and passed out again
After
the troops stormed the building they were all shooting phasers at guards and in
no time with minimal casualties made their way to the room where T'Val was held
there he encountered Riana an old acquaintance after he sent the commander and
Aeris to find Qarek he decided to take Riana himself.
"Long time no see", he asked
"Your still alive , im surprised"
"It is quite logical for me to be alive "
"Forget the logic it wont help you here"
"Very well Riana but it will not make me subtle to you psychic games
",he said as he let down his emotional barrier
"It is time for you to end Riana", he smiled
And he attacked he smashed her against the wall after which she threw him to
the floor. " I see you’ve been practicing since our last encounter",
you wont win this time Saarok. "I will and you know that", he said
As he got up and smashed her head against the wall than he smashed his fist
into her head a few more times after which she smacked him in the kidneys ,
then he decided to end this and he got his head around her neck and squeezed
until she fainted.
You he yelled to one of the S31 officers, "Take her and prepare to beam up
, you can do anything you want with her after it dispose of her", he said
as he was engaging his emotional control.
"Yes sir"
"Take her away", he said in his Vulcan tone
He went to Tedak and saw T'Val injured on the floor.
"Saarok Teak yelled , help me get her worm"
"Why don’t we beam her to my ship"
"What ship"
He signalled to one of his men and shortly after T'Val and Tedak and one of the
S31 people and Riana dematerliazed from Pern.
"Very well let us find Qarek now", he said
Then he got word that they caught him outside while he was running and a few of
the guards were going after him so he ordered all troops to leave the building
as they did and proceed to take out the guards which are outside of the
complex.
Tedak
held T'Val's unconscious, cold form as he felt himself dematerialise. He still
found it a disconcerting sensation but knew that without it, means of travel
would be very limited. He hugged the Vulcan woman close and began to feel the
sensation of rematerialisation, only to sense the effect reverse again.
Fear gripped him as he wondered what was happening. A few seconds later, he
found himself standing in the stone hall again, and to his surprise, Maclob
faced them, a phaser trained on them.
"I killed you," the Romulan said, surprise gradually being replaced
by anger, "how can you stand here when I killed you?" He wondered if
Saarok was having any luck locating Qarek, for his friend would probably not
know that the transporting effect had bounced off and reversed.
"You never killed me," Maclob said icily, "I was beamed away the
second you fired that phaser. Now, drop her, I do not want you pulling any
tricks on me behind her back."
"No tricks," Tedak said though clenched teeth, "I am
unarmed." That was not entirely true, as under the folds of his
ambassadorial robe he hid his Honor Blade, and outside the two firelizards he
had Impressed were waiting to be called in.
The instant he had rematerialized and had realized where he was, he silently
had commanded them to stay where they were until they were called.
"If I drop her, she will die. She suffers from hypothermia. If you kill
us, you have nobody to bargain with for your freedom."
Roz
and Marcus ran into the control room and didn't find anyone there. They did
hear the commotion out in the hallway and went to look. Maclob was holding a
phaser pointed at Tedak. Roz ran and stepped in between them. Her eyes were
burning yellow.
Roz: Stand down Maclob. NOW!
Maclob: So glad you could join us again little miss. Now step away from them so
I can kill them.
Roz: Over my rotting corpse you piece of guano.
Maclob: Have it your way then.
Marcus: Don't even think about shooting her.
Marcus disarmed Maclob and then grabbed him by the throat and pulled him into
the control room. Roz relaxed and turned to face Tedak, who took a step
backward.
Roz: You don't need to worry about me attacking you ambassador. My name is Roz
Drouet. I am trading myself for the safe return of ambassador Qarek and for
her.
She nodded to T'Val then noticed how she was turning blue. The fire lizards
appeared and Roz took a step backward.
Roz: I swear that I won't harm you or any of your friends or loved ones.
Tedak: What do you swear by?
Roz smiled wryly and looked at Tedak.
Roz: I can tell that you love her so I'll swear by the man that I love who I
had to leave behind.
Tedak thought and then nodded.
Tedak: Do you know the way out of here?
Roz: I do. I have a warning though, you might want to hand her to me so you can
keep others away. I noticed the lump in your shirt which means you probably
have a ceremonial knife on you. No one in their right mind would attack a
furious Romulan with a blade.
Tedak smiled briefly and handed T'Val to Roz. She walked the opposite direction
and they emerged outside a few minutes later. People moved out of their way.
They got to the shuttle and Roz put T'Val in the bunk and put some blankets on
her. She was walking out when she saw Ramoth's head in the doorway. She
screamed.
Tedak: It's ok. She won't hurt you.
Lessa came walking in a second later.
Tedak: Lessa, you're not supposed to be here.
Lessa: I know but I saw all the people down here and thought I could do something
to help.
Tedak: Very well. Could you watch T'Val while I go back for my friend?
Lessa smiled and nodded. They ran out of the shuttle and back into the complex.
Marcus and Maclob emerged from the doorway ahead of them.
Roz: Where's Qarek?
Maclob reluctantly showed them the way to his cell. Qarek stood when he saw
Tedak and some unknown girl in the doorway of his cell.
Qarek: What are you doing here Tedak? And who's she?
Tedak: No time to explain now. Come.
They ran outside to the shuttle and prepared for lift-off. Roz stepped out of
the shuttle. Tedak approached her.
Tedak: This is a major sacrifice you're making. I thank you for your help. Good
luck.
Roz: Same to you.
The door closed and the shuttle took off. Roz walked back inside as Marcus received
a transmission from one of the gang.
Marcus: Good. Report back to me when you have captured it.
Tedak
sat on the bunk, cradling T'Val. The woman was wrapped in dozens of blankets by
now, but still she did not wake.
He knew she had not been injured, as scans had shown she had not been. He also
knew she was not in shock, for her Vulcan constitution could withstand a lot,
so he knew it would only be the cold. Sev perched on his shoulder, while Nut
crooned at T'Val.
"Time will tell my friends," Tedak soothed them, "time will
tell. I have no doubt that she will heal, but we need to give it time." He
hugged her close to him, wishing for once that he was born with some telepathic
gift. He lifted her face up to him and gently kissed her lips, as if he were in
a fairy tale and expected her to wake up now.
She did not wake, but she did stir after he kissed her. Tedak smiled and
continued hugging her, the two firelizards crooning with a mix of pleasure and
worry.
--------------On
the Discovery---------------------
"Sir one of the transports has bounced off", the transport officer
said
"What, they’ll have my head for this locate the people that were supposed
to be transported"
"Yes sir"
A few moments later
"Got them they are approaching with a shuttle , Romulan Imperial
class"
"Drop the cloak and use the tractor beam to bring them into the docking
bay then restore the cloak "
"Is that wise sir?", the officer asked
"Just do it"
And the Discovery appeared out of nowhere which gave a shock to Qarek's fleet
but shortly after they dragged Tedak shuttle into the docking bay it disappeared
again.
Tedak and the others who were inside the shuttle were getting ready to strike
when they saw Starfleet officers opening the door of the shuttle.
"She needs help ", Tedak said as soon as they opened the door
The officer signalled to the medical team and they quickly ran in and
transported T'Val directly to sickbay , while one of the nurses stayed to talk
to Tedak
"Calm down sir , well take good care of her there’s nothing you can do for
her now"
Then Tedak remembered Saarok was still on the planet and decided to lave Nut to
care for T'Val while he went to help his friend and take care of that Macob guy.
He convinced the nurse to take Nut to T'Val and then he went to talk with the
officer in command.
"I want you to beam me back to the planet at the coordinates of Saarok's
post"
"But.."
"No buts you will do it"
And he managed to convince the officer to do it. Few minutes later he
materialized in front of Saarok who was just taking care of some guards.
"I believe you could use some help", Tedak said as he joined the
fight
Magellan
felt the ship shudder to a halt, they had dropped out of warp so fast that the
inertial dampeners had barely the capacity to keep up. He leapt to his feet immediately
and quickly made his way up to the bridge. Barely half way there his badge
Chirped.
"Admiral Magellan to the Bridge. Admiral Magellan to the bridge." the
voice was terse and anxious.
"Im already on my way" he replied without breaking his stride.
He emerged from the turbo lift to be met by Captain Al Kali.
"Captain what’s happening?"
"Its Assailant Sir. She’s under attack."
"What!!!"
"We just received a general All Stations Alert and Distress Signal. They
have been attacked by a small armada of irregular ships."
"Surely Assailant is capable of coping?"
"Apparently not"
"Get me them on subspace"
Shortly a crackled image appeared on the view screen. Zoilips normally
unconcerned face worried and haggard filled the screen.
"Admiral Sir, now is not a good ti..e"
"I understand please report your status"
"...Placed charges wit.in the ba.e have knock.d out half of the shield
gener.... and the first few salvos have buckled the ba. doors. The thr..
starships currently berthed are unable to exit. We h..e at leas. 30 host..es
mostly sma... to light but they are more ma..uvera..e than our phaser
trackers."
"Deploy support craft to fend them off"
"All read. d... All runa..outs are out"
"Hold on Commander we are on our way."
"Underst..d, we..l hold the. and rep.. boar..rs. Zoi..ip o.t"
"You heard him" Magellan announced "Set Course for Assailant
Maximum Warp. Contact all ships in the area to join us, The Venture and Hatashi
are nearby."
"Yes Sir. Tactical bring us to Red Alert. Helm Plot a course Maximum
warp." Sally Al Kali rattled off with professionalism, she took a seat and
turned to Magellan.
"Sir, perhaps you d like to remain on the bridge"
"Thank you." He took a seat 'Well then Ambassadors it looks like your
on your own.' he thought to himself
After
Tedak materialized on the planet besides Saarok who was just taking care of a
few guards. Saarok was surprised to see Tedak back as he during this
times of combat has let his emotional barrier down as he always did when
engaging into combat it allowed him to be more efficient when fighting.
"Tedak , why are you back here ? Haven’t you been transported along with
T'Val to the Discovery?" Taken aback by the emotional sense coming from
his Vulcan friend, Tedak frowned.
"T'Val is taken to sickbay, I am of no use there as I would be in the way
and then be kicked out of sickbay. I am more useful here and I thought you
could use a hand. But now I
see you are managing quite nicely." "I feel like at home when
involved at these
kind of situations but lets leave this talk for another time"
"I understand you freed Qarek?" Tedak nodded. "Thanks to little
Sev and your
golden, they showed me the way. Did she come back to you all right? I left Nut
with T'Val. If anything happens, he will alert Sev, who will then alert me.
Now, let's take
care of them, shall we? Then you can tell me how that ship up there got here,
and how they know you. There is more to you than you are letting on."
Tedak scowled at Saarok, but his eyes gleamed with a mix of mock anger and
pleasure. He liked a mystery, and besides he had not told Saarok everything
about himself either.
"Qarek is aboard his own vessel now, and they did not even manage a thank
you! Can you imagine?"
"Qarek is still a Ferengi my friend and as for that ship up there very
well i will tell you how it got there while the troops are regrouping for a
final strike and to end this here on Pern", he then motioned to the
commander to make a final plan to end all resistance and to
include the dragon riders in it "Well the ship up there , there are
actually two ships there , both cloaked, and these people are from a department
i was in charge with"; he said as he didn’t want to admit he was still in
charge of S31 not yet
"Well," Tedak said thoughtfully, while striking an attacking person
down, "they have great timing. I still have to get my shuttle into space
after this though, but perhaps one of those ships can bear it while we head
back home?"
Sev chattered as he clawed at an attacker, his talons leaving deep scratches on
the man's face. His eyes whirled with pleasure and anger, pleased that he can
assist, but angry at the attackers.
"He is happy to help," Tedak explained, then pointed at Saarok's
pair, the golden screaming with anger, while the blue sunk his talons in a
man's shoulder. "Look at them,
they are very useful aren’t they?" "Well they are i must admit."
"And do not worry i will arrange that your shuttle is repaired by the time
we reach SB Assailant after all it is my fault it got damaged"
By the time they were talking the commander has already prepared a plan to
attack on the HQ of these terrorists.
"The time has come to move ", Saarok said
"Here take this he said throwing a modified phasor to his friend , its
time to end this"
And they moved onto the building to end this once and for all: The troops blew
the door open and everyone stormed in shooting at the guards even engaging them
in hand to hand
combat.
Tedak caught the phaser and uttered a Romulan battle cry he had been taught
when he was still an imperial commander. Sev echoed his cry and his ferocity in
attacks increased, as Tedak charged with the storm squad. "Where
to!?" he yelled over the noise.
"You take your squad after Maclob, and ill go after Roz and Marcus",
Saarok yelled back
And they separated with each one heading his way. "Copy that!" Tedak
yelled and stormed another way, beckoning his squad.
Roz's
fury hit the ceiling as she stormed into the room. Roz said, her voice shaking
with fury, "What are you doing?" Marcus turned around slowly but
looked her straight in the eye. "I guess that by your reaction that you
heard the transmission?" he said. Roz's eyes were fluctuating between
green and yellow quickly. "Yes." she said almost on the verge of
screaming. Marcus calmly replied, "Then if you think about our deal, I
never said anything about leaving the Starbase alone. So you see my
child," he said slowly walking towards her, "no matter what you do to
thwart me, I will win." Roz slowly backed away and then she touched the
wall and it fell backward behind her revealing a hidden room. She fell
backwards but caught herself and flipped easily onto her feet. Marcus followed
her in.
"I won't let you kill and terrorize anymore. You've destroyed enough lives
and families, including ours." said Roz. Marcus' eyebrows reached for his
hairline and he smiled. "And what exactly, do you intend to do about
it?" Roz took off her coat and pulled her hair back then took a fighting
position. "Something I've wanted to do for a long time but never had the
courage until now to do. I intend to kill you." Marcus laughed which made
Roz's anger turn even more hot. "You have got to be kidding me. Do
you remember what happened to the last person who defied me?" Roz swalled
and tried not to dwell on the subject. "This will be different." she
said trying to bring back her courage which was quickly diminishing. Marcus
shrugged and took off the vest he was wearing. He then closed the wall with a
loud crunch. "I was hoping I might be able to keep you around as a mascot
and representative for the rest of the group but if this is the end you want,
then I'll give it to you." Roz's blood ran cold and she felt the first
twangs of fear in her after Marcus had finished. She had never felt him act so
cold to her before and it truly frightened her.
_______________________________
Maclob stepped outside and easily took down two officers that attacked him.
Then he heard a roar behind him and saw a wing of dragons fly over him and set
fire to a part of grass and managed to encircle a large part of Maclob's group.
The officers could then easily pick them off one by one or the dragons would
set fire within the surrounded area. Maclob could hear the screams as each
person writhed in pain. Maclob swore and then sensed someone rushing behind him
and easily stepped out of the way but maintained a slice along his rib line.
Tedak stood before him holding a ceremonial dagger with Maclob's black blood on
it.
Maclob: So we meet again.
Tedak: Yes, but this time, you won't come out alive.
Maclob: We shall see. But I will make one suggestion. Since we are so pressed
on killing one another, why not go somewhere where we are less likely to be
disturbed?
Tedak agreed and they set off for a secluded area by the rocks. They faced each
other. Maclob smiled immensely and showed off his many pointed teeth.
Maclob: Hope you said your last good-byes to the Vulcan love and your friends
because when you're dead, they won't be able to find your body.
Tedak just stared back with pure hatred blazing across his features
Roz
and Marcus started to circle each other. Marcus charged first and did a
complicated fist combination which Roz blocked almost too late. However, she
immediately kicked the legs out from under Marcus and he fell but caught
himself. He jumped back up and they circled some more. Roz attacked next and
sustained a punch in the gut which sent her flying across the room. She sat up
and was a bit winded. Marcus came rushing at her at an amazing speed and she
kicked out at his stomach and hit him. She then rocked back onto her back and
flipped up, simultaneously kicking Marcus in the chest and face. She landed
cat-like and watched Marcus stand up. There was blood coming from his nose. He touched
it and looked at it then laughed.
Marcus: You have the first blood but I will have the first death.
He charged her again and they battled back and forth each barely blocking the
other's attacks. Roz then stepped back and did a backward walkover but missed
Marcus and got kicked in the back. She hit the stones and groaned. She could
taste the metallic ring of blood in her mouth and spat. Marcus approached her
and pulled her up by her hair. She grabbed his wrist and pushed the pressure
point in the wrist. Marcus' hand and arm went numb and limp and he let go of
her hair. Marcus stepped back and shook his arm so the feeling came back into
it. Roz charged and they battled back and forth some more. Marcus punched and
Roz ducked and weaved and then jumped and kicked. Marcus hit the stones. He
spat and saw the blood come out with his saliva.
Marcus: Enough with these foolish games.
He walked over to a part of the wall and pushed one of the stones. A hidden
store of weapons came out and he pulled out a double-ended scythe. He manoeuvred
it around and then took an offensive position. Roz stepped back uncertainly.
She didn't know how to fight something like that without a weapon of her own.
She saw the other weapons in the storage area and Marcus saw that and smirked.
Marcus: Good luck on trying to get past me.
Marcus then charged.
We
shall see," Tedak growled, getting a firmer grip on his blade. Right now,
he wished for the more heavy Senapa, the Vulcan poisoned blade. He knew T'Val
had one in her quarters, a ceremonial weapon for her to train with.
Suddenly, he saw an opening and sliced Maclob across his ribs again. If his
blade were poisoned with the same poison on the senapa, his opponent would
start to weaken instantly and the next strike would have been fatal. He
regretted not having such a weapon, but now was not the time to dwell on it.
"You are good," he admitted, when Maclob thrust through an opening
when Tedak had been distracted with thought, and sliced him across his torso.
Tedak felt the pain of the not so superficial cut but he knew something of body
control and directed his attention away from the pain and back to the fight.
Tedak
moved around Maclob, painfully aware that he might not succeed in taking out
his opponent Maclob was good with the weapon he was holding, a much more usable
object than the medium sized blade of his own Honor Blade.
Yet, he had managed to draw first blood. Above him, Sev watched the fight from
a lamp, giving an encouraging chirp when Tedak stole a glance up. The little
young firelizard understood that he better not mingle into this fight.
Tedak bared his teeth in a devilish sneer and growled, then raced forward,
blade at the ready. Maclob, surprised by the full front attack, moved out of
the way, but that was exactly what Tedak had anticipated. He moved his blade to
his right hand with so much speed that for an instant it looked as if he had
two blades.
Maclob stepped aside, and was met by the full force of the blade going through
him. He uttered a surprised cry, and fell backwards, but not without mawing his
own blade through the air, managing to at least cut his opponent along his left
arm, as he pulled back his Honor Blade.
He fell back onto the stone tiles, the life slowly ebbing out of him.
Tedak watched, standing out of Maclob's reach lest it be a trick, but the
ebbing of life, along with the large pool of some substance forming, seemed no
trick. At last, Tedak saw the man's eyes glaze over and knew he was no more.
He held out his arm to the little bronze, which glided down gracefully and
settled on his shoulder, chirping happily.
"Yes, we won," Tedak muttered, and ran back towards his own shuttle,
hoping that the secret service shuttle would acknowledge his hail, and allow
him aboard to see his love.
~~aboard the Discovery~~
Tedak entered sickbay and to his surprise saw the Benden weyrwoman nurse T'Val,
whose expression lit up when she saw him.
"My love, are you all right?" Tedak asked, as he sat down beside the
bed. Only then did he feel his own injuries, now that the adrenalin rush had
passed. He yelped as he felt numbweed being slathered on the cuts and bruises,
but smiled gratefully at Lessa.
"Thank you ma'am, but I do think that the doctor has something more
effective." He told the doctor to leave the thread scores, he wished them
as a reminder of his fight on the planet. Nut chirped and wished to be
caressed, as Sev settled down on T'Val's long hair, nuzzling her by way of
greeting.
The two were aware of their friend's affection for the woman and equalled that
affection showing her at every opportunity.
T'Val smiled at the reaction of the firelizards. "He watched over me all
the time you were gone," she said softly, "not even the doctors could
make him go away. Look, he scratched the nurse. Good thing Mrs Lessa here had
her dragon tell him to calm down that the medical staff was not trying to hurt
me."
"I am glad," Tedak said, then asked Lessa to please give them a
minute alone. When she was gone, he grasped the Vulcan woman's hand and held it
in both his hands. "T'Val, you must know by now that I love you. Would you
be my lady wife?"
T'Val was speechless. She knew Vulcan’s never wasted time on romantics, but
Romulans too? "Yes," she finally whispered, and her answer sent the
two firelizards awing, chittering their happiness.
As
Saarok and his team were fighting the guards, sometimes using passers but
sometimes just were using martial arts which came in handy to Saarok once
again. They were slowly making way to the power generator which's shutting down
would benefit Saarok and his team allot.
Shortly after taking a few guards down and sustaining a few miner injuries they
finally made it to the power generator.
"Sir do you want me to try and take it offline? » the commander asked
"Have you got any plasma explosives with you? » Saarok asked
"Yes sir we have ", the commander said giving him a plasma explosive
charge
Saarok put the charge on the power generator and set it to go off in 10
seconds.
"I suggest we run, now", he yelled
And all the people started running from the room and after 10 seconds a
tremendous explosion shock the whole building that even Marcus and Roz could
sense it before the lights went out.
"Now that this is done switch to night mode and lets go find Marcus
Drouet", he said
-----------Meanwhile on the Discovery---------------------
The nurses felt relived after Tedak arrived and took over his dragonet. They
had some problems with it attempting to remove it from the Vulcan female so
that they could tend to her and cure her of her disease.
After Tedak arrived all wounded from the battle the doctor came and started to
heal his injuries.
"Your lucky to be alive ambassador", the doctor said
"Your blood has been poisoned by well known venom from the plant on
Tarkalia 3", he said
"But luckily you have arrived on time to be cured and you wont have any
consequences from It.", the doc said as he finished healing the injuries
on Tedak
Roz
saw nothing else to do but run for her life. She ran up the wall and flipped
over Marcus and ducked just in time to have Marcus' swing at her head miss. Roz
could hear the metal ringing through the air. She ran backwards and dodged the
attacks made by Marcus. She dodged an attack directed at her legs but Marcus
moved too fast and swung at her upper body. Roz moved but maintained a deep cut
on her side. She cried out, put a hand on her side, and kneeled on one knee.
Marcus slowly approached her.
Marcus: Good bye my daughter. You served me well but your usefulness to me has
ended.
Roz grabbed some dirt from the floor and threw it into Marcus' eyes. He yelled
in pain and Roz bolted for the storage area and grabbed another double ended
scythe but one that wasn't so bulky and difficult to manoeuvre around. It was
the one she had practiced with when she was a child in training. She then tore
off the sleeve of her shirt and wrapped it quickly and tightly over the wound.
Marcus then managed to clear his eyes and he saw what she had done and what she
was holding. The uncertain thought of perhaps things weren't going to be
as he thought they were occurred to him but he didn't dare show it lest it make
her feel more confident.
Marcus: You really think you can beat me with that? It's light enough that I
will easily break it.
Roz smiled knowingly.
Roz: You forget that this is the weapon I practiced with when I was a child. I
know how to fight very well with it. But perhaps like I said on the Starbase,
you are growing old and losing your memory.
Marcus grew furious and charged Roz but this time she was ready for him
Tedak
gawked at the nurse, eyes wide with surprise. "Poison?" he managed,
then looked at T'Val, who wore an expression of fear, "was she poisoned as
well?"
The nurse nodded. "She received water, it contained something that was not
lethal to the Bajoran guard nor to Maclob, but was lethal for Vulcan
constitution. The poison on Maclob's blade was similar, but mutated to be
virulent in Romulans. I suspect that he knew you were coming back for
him."
Tedak shook his head in dismay, then gazed at T'Val. "You all right?"
he asked, and only after her nod did he request a communiqué to Saarok.
"Tedak to Saarok, I have some good news if you can spare a moment? T'Val
is recovering, but she was poisoned. Beware for anyone with a blade, for it is
poisoned. The other good news: T'Val agreed to become my wife. I will need a
best man."
He turned to Lessa. "May I again express my gratitude towards you and your
queen dragon for looking after my fiancée?" The word sounded odd to him,
but he looked extremely pleased. "Also may we come back at a later date
for our honeymoon? I rather like this planet, but I promise we will stay away
from any firelizard eggs. These two are already a handful. Aren't you?" he
added towards the two chirping firelizards, "yes you are, but you are not
a bother my dear pets." He rubbed the hide of his bronze and the little
one crooned in delight.
Roz
fought back and forth easily with Marcus but she was starting to lose her
strength from blood loss. Marcus could tell and pressed her harder and harder.
Roz then ducked under a swing executed by Marcus and she hit him in the ankle
with the pole part of the scythe. Marcus yelled and kicked her under the jaw
and she dropped the scythe and rolled backwards, hitting her head on the wall.
Marcus pulled a dagger out from behind his back and threw it into Roz's left
shoulder, thus making her unable to continue fighting with the scythe since you
needed both hands for that. Marcus then advanced furiously when suddenly, the
lights went dead. Marcus swore. Roz shook her head of the immense pain she felt
and got her bearings. She almost panicked when she saw nothing but black but
then her eyes adjusted quickly to the dark. She saw that Marcus was struggling
in the dark and then smiled as she remembered those nights when she would see
him fighting nothing out in the dark and always accidentally hitting something
like a metal pole. Marcus couldn't see in the dark. Roz pulled the dagger out
of her arm, keeping absolutely silent. She then stood up and crept over to the
weapons store. She pulled out two
Roz: Halloween's coming, Halloween's coming. Skeletons will be after you. Witches,
cats, and big black bats. Ghosts and goblins too.
"Meow, meow, meow" say the ugly cats. 'Flap, flap, flap' go the big
black bats.
With every emphasized word, Roz struck out at Marcus and inflicted a wound of
some type on him. He would then lunge and strike at where Roz had been a moment
ago but wasn't any longer. By the end of the taunt, Marcus was insane.
Marcus: Enough! Come out and fight me!
He heard himself and realized how insane he sounded and relaxed a bit and
pulled another dagger out of his boot and listened carefully as Roz continued
her taunt. He then made a prediction where she would be and threw the dagger.
Roz saw it coming and had tried to spin around it but it hit her in the lower
back. She gasped in pain and fell to the ground. Marcus laughed in triumph but
he knew where he had been aiming and knew she would be alive for a bit longer.
He walked over to her, following the sound of her ragged gasps.
Marcus: You shouldn't have taken me on. I always win, that's the way it always
has been and always will be. Oh, and don't worry about your love back in the
Starbase. He'll be joining you soon in the underworld. Good bye.
He stood up and started to stagger his way away. Roz's fury hit a level of heat
she had never known before. She pulled the dagger out of her back and stood up.
Her eyes turned white and yellow streaks appeared in her hair. She saw on the
ground, the scythe she had dropped. She picked it up and broke part of it off
so it had a ragged end and turned to Marcus.
Roz: Marcus!
Marcus turned around and could see the white coming through the dark. He wasn't
sure what it was but it left him uneasy, very uneasy. Roz then charged Marcus
and it wasn't until she was 10 feet away did he realize who it was and tried to
defend himself with his scythe. He quickly realized Roz's fighting skill and
ability was beyond his. She was executing moves faster than he could think. He managed
to hit her in the chin, snapping Roz's head back. She brought it back forward
and then knocked the scythe out of his hands and drove the jagged end of the
scythe into him.
Roz: As I said, this was going to be different.
Marcus gasped then his eyes glazed over and he died. Roz dropped the weapon she
was holding and walked off towards the doorway she had come through. Before she
reached it, she went back to normal. The immensity of the pain made her black
out right there. She could feel her life ebbing away. "Good bye Art."
she thought. "I'll wait for you in the underworld."
While
Saarok and his team were clearing the building soon they have cleared most of
it and took out most of the guards.
"Ok begin to set the plasma explosive on the key positions , then I will
ask for the dampening field to be turned of and a portable shield generator
beamed down to contain the explosion , make sure you put the explosives in the
right places we don’t want any evidence left behind.", he said
"Yes sir"
And Saarok decided to check one part of the building they haven’t been to yet
and place some charges there. As he was moving towards it he heard a sound of
someone hitting the ground. He was slowly moving to the place where the sound
came from prepared to attack, when he turned around a corner he saw a person
lying on the floor.
He approached and saw it was Roz who went of with Marcus. She was injured but
still alive he entered the room and saw Marcus dead, he put the plasma
explosive inside the room and then returned to Roz, he couldn’t use a tricoder
as the dampening field was still in place so he picked her up from the floor
and carried her towards where he was to meet up with the team.
After some walking around he finally managed to carry her to the rendezvous point.
When the officers saw him carrying the young woman they ran to him and helped
him get her out of the building.
"All of the explosives are set sir, were ready to set up the shield and
activate the explosives it will leave no mark of this building except a hole in
the ground, but not too deep"
"Order the Discovery to deactivate the dampening field and to send a
shield generator to these coordinates, activate it and link it to the plasma
explosives. », he said
And a few moments later they could see a shield activating around the building.
"Are all of the dragon riders out? » yes sir
"Or our man accounted for? » he asked
"All except those who were killed."
"Good, detonate the building, now"
And suddenly the explosions started destroying the building part by part and
due to the shield generator it was all contained inside the building. Shortly
after there was no trace of there a building ever existed here.
=/\=Saarok to the Discovery, 2 to beam directly to sickbay and the rest of the
team for normal transport=/\=
And a few moments later everyone dematerialised from the planet surface and
reappeared on the ship.
Saarok and Roz materialized in the sickbay where the doctor took over Roz
immediately.
"Three cc of cordrazine he yelled"
And the nurses started running around bring him what he requested.
"We will have to put her in stasis to heal all of the damage", the
doctor said
"Do it", Saarok said
And the doctor activated a stasis field around Roz which allowed him sufficient
time to repair all the damage and save her life.
While this was happening Saarok was speaking to Tedak and was surprised to see
Lessa up here and was also congratulating Tedak on his upcoming wedding
Roz
woke up and saw she was surrounded by people. She sat up really quickly and got
dizzy. She had an enormous headache. " Probably from all the blood loss.
" she thought. The doctor tried to push her back down.
Doctor: You need to relax. You still have a lot of blood to regenerate.
Roz: How is it that I'm alive? I thought my wounds were severe enough that I
was going to die.
Saarok: I found you shortly after you passed out. I must admit that you were
bleeding a great deal. I had to go change my clothing after I carried you here.
Roz smiled weakly and shrugged off the doctor's hand.
Roz: Not to sound ungrateful for what you've done for me doctor but I know how
to take care of myself after I have been wounded badly. The easiest way to get
my strength back is to eat.
Doctor: Are you sure you can keep it down?
Roz: Yes.
Doctor: Then I clear you for a few hours so you can get your legs moving and
eat something but then I want you to come straight back, am I clear?
Roz: As a diamond.
Roz slid off the bio bed and then noticed Tedak and T'Val were also there and
they were holding hands. She smiled at them. The doctor turned to Saarok.
Doctor: Delegates Saarok and Tedak, I am putting you in charge of this young
lady. If she doesn't come back to sickbay after the few hours, then I will come
after the four of you.
Roz tried very hard not to laugh. She had heard things like this before and she
knew not to take the guy for granted. She started to walk forward and her legs
nearly collapsed under her. T'Val came to her rescue and helped her to stand.
The doctor looked at her.
Doctor: If you can't stand on your own, you're not going anywhere and the
delegates can bring you food. Now stand up straight and if you can stay
standing for 10 seconds on your own without any help, then you can go.
Roz had thought this was coming and had grabbed a long glass tube nearby. She
stood up and put a bit of her balance and weight on the tube. She kept her
balance for the 10 seconds and the doctor nodded.
Doctor: Very well. See you in a few hours.
Roz walked out and once out of sight of the doctor, she put the tube down and
sat down on the floor. Saarok, Tedak, and T'Val came out a minute later. They
saw her on the floor.
T'Val: Are you ok?
Roz: I don't suppose I could ask one of you for help?
Saarok helped her to stand up and she put some of her weight on his arm.
Tedak: I thought you were able to hold yourself up.
Roz: I put my balance and weight on a glass tube in there. I can support myself
but not yet completely.
Saarok and T'Val each raised an eyebrow and Tedak smiled broadly. Roz started
to get uncomfortable.
Roz: Anyone else hungry
"Yes,"
T'Val said resolutely, grabbing the young woman, having her lean on her for
support. "You are light for a woman your size," she commented matter
of factly as she easily bore Roz's weight.
The four of them wandered down to the mess hall, and after a quick bite of
food, Tedak excused himself for a few minutes. "I am going to request that
we head back for Starbase Assailant now, now that Qarek has been rescued."
He got up and wandered away, after telling Sev and Nut to stay with T'Val.
<your call here Saarok>
T'Val stared after him, then held up her arm for the brown to land on. The
bronze sat before her, glancing at her enquiringly, crooning softly.
"I suspect they want to be fed," she said, and set a bowl of red meat
before the little dragonet. Immediately, Sev dug in, and soon after Nut
followed.
T'Val stared at it with a look of distaste on her face. "I do not
understand how they can eat raw meat," she said, as she picked up her
sandwich. She turned to Roz. "Are you feeling better now? I believe I owe
you thanks, for without you, I fear I would not be sitting here. However,
without you, my fiancé would not have had to come here." She paused, then
regarded the firelizards. "But then we would not have had these two
beautiful pets," she hastily added.
After
Tedak walked off, Saarok stayed to talk with the ladies which were surrounding
him.
"I hope you are feeling better Roz? » he asked
"Yes I am , thank you for getting me out of sickbay , those doctors can
sometimes be overly protective.", Roz answered
"Id better go after our dear ambassador Tedak and make sure he doesn’t
cause any problems on the bridge." he
said and smiled a bit he let his emotional block down since the fight and he
hasn’t meditated since so still some emotions slip by him
Roz smiled at his words and T'Val made no expressions whatsoever. He turned to
Aeris and Sephirot and told them to stay with Roz and keep her company while
he’s away.
And then he left the room and headed towards the turbo lift, hoping that Tedak
hadn’t caused any trouble up on the bridge. After a few moments the lift came
to a stop and he entered the bridge.
He saw Tedak talking to an officer in command and the officer was telling him
that he can’t give the order to move out.
"What seems to be the problem here", Saarok said
"Ah Saarok if been trying to ask this officer here to return us to star
base Assailant but he said that he is not in charge here.", Tedak finished
Then Saarok turned to the officer:
"Disengage the dampening field , hail the Columbus and notify them that we
are heading towards Assailant , maintain cloak , and prepare to jump to warp 9
as soon as all of the actions I just mentioned are finished.", he said
"Yes sir"; the reply came
And a few moments later the two cloaked ships were on course towards Assailant.
Tedak
rubbed his hands together in dismay. "Why would they not do as I
requested?" he asked, then eyed Saarok with sudden suspicion, "yet
they followed your order immediately. What is going on here delegate?"
He positioned his hands on his hips, glaring at the Vulcan delegate, demeaning
an explanation.
"You are hiding something. If you wish me to trust you, you must trust me.
What are you hiding that you are not telling me? Will this withholding of
information endanger us? If that is so, I will take T'Val, and Roz and
depart in my own shuttle."
He had not realized he had raised his voice, but he grew conscious of the
stares upon them. He grabbed Saarok's arm and propelled him towards a more
private room.
"I will require an explanation," he insisted
After
Tedak drew him to a more private room Saarok had to explain this situation.
" Do not worry, nor you nor T'Val and Roz are in any danger. The officer
listened to my order because I am in command of these two vessels, and that is
why they came to look for me, these two vessels are under my control so the
officers listen to my orders."
"Control?" Tedak shouted, enraged, "command? You cannot command
a ship with officers, you are a diplomat! How can you command a ship and crew
when you are a diplomat? Hm? Explain that to me delegate, or should I
call you captain eh? I trusted you Saarok, can I trust you again?"
He pushed the Vulcan until the man stood with his back against the wall. Tedak
knew he probably was no match for him, but in his rage he did not seem to care.
"Control yourself ambassador ", he said
"All things are not what they seem , you can trust me again , I am a
diplomat and these people take my orders I do not have the rank of captain and
they take my orders because , because ", Saarok started to get agitated
again which was not a good sign , he tried to control him
"I am in control of the department which is independent from Starfleet
there for I am not a captain I am a diplomat and these people take my orders
they take orders from a diplomat this is something I did long ago before I was
made diplomat and something I can not stop doing as it I wasn’t in command of
this many things would go wrong and that wouldn’t benefit the federation nor
the Romulan Empire believe me ", Saarok finished as he pushed the Romulan
away from himself
Tedak stumbled back, unprepared for such a heated reaction. He even stepped
back towards the far wall, shaking his head in disbelief. "And I am to
believe you?" he managed, aghast, "I do not. Where is your proof that
you are an ambassador and that this past life is past?"
"You require proof , very well I shall give you proof ", he answered
remembering that the computer was convinced that he is no longer in charge of
S31 but that his deputy is
"Computer, who is the director of Section 31"
"The director of Section 31 is John Tyrell"
"And does delegate Saarok have any authority over this department?"
"Negative delegate Saarok no longer has any control of S31"
"Section 31?" Tedak managed, "you were in charge of THEM? That
lot of devious....." He faltered, remembering his own somewhat shady past.
"Ah well, if you say you no longer are a part in it, what are they doing
here? Yes they saved us and for that I am grateful. Now, however I wish to go
home to Assailant and get married without further fuss. I expect that if I
issue a request, it will be answered accordingly. I am an ambassador."
"I am sure you have also heard that Section 31 doesn’t respect that much ,
but however that can be corrected and I promise you that the officer will
receive a proper penalty for not obeying a command from an ambassador.",
Saarok said slowly calming down
"Why thank you," Tedak said, and laughed wryly, "now, how can I
ever trust you again? You realize that trust must be earned? Yes you told me of
your past, yes, you did save my life several times, but I seriously doubt you
told me everything. NO, I do not even want to know what you did when you were
part of that lot. They are worse than the Tal Shiar!"
"Remember that what you hear is not always true the reputation is
sometimes more blown that the truth really is , however you seem to know allot
about me and I have trusted you with all of this but you have not told me
everything about your past have you ? And I still decide to trust you doesn’t
this mean something to you? » Saarok said
Tedak sighed, and flopped down into a chair. "Yes, indeed it does. My
apologies. No I have not told you of my past, I wish to forget it. However I
will tell you at some point, that is a promise. However, I was not part of the
Tal Shiar, I was in command of an Imperial Cruiser, and a mission went
astray."
"Once you are ready I am sure you will tell me, but let us leave the past
behind and look into a brighter future together ", Saarok said
"Yes let us."
Roz
smiled at T'Val's comment about all this being her own fault and then
trying to rectify it.
Roz: Hey. This revolved around me, it's technically my departed father's fault
unless you like to blame me for not the courage to take him on before.
T'Val composed herself but inside was smiling. They ate in silence for a while
and then the fire lizards started to growl at each other. Roz stared at the
four of them incredulously and then put her hand between the two groups.
Roz: Hey, hey, hey.
The fire lizards kept going at it. Roz's patience ran out and she sighed.
Roz: Enough. I've had enough fighting to last me a long time and I'd rather not
have to get in between four creatures that don't even want to fight each other
in the first place. Now, come on and quit it.
The fire lizards calmed down a bit but they still gave each other evil looks.
Roz looked at T'Val.
T'Val: I'm just as confused as you are. Though I can make an assumption that
since the creatures are mentally bound to Saarok and Tedak they must be
fighting for them to be like this.
Roz: I agree. I don't suppose you know how far we are from SB Assailant, do
you?
T'Val: I do not but we can probably find someone and ask them. Are you done
eating?
Roz nodded and handed her plate to T'Val. She then helped Roz out of her chair
and they walked out of the room. They walked to the bridge. The fire lizards
followed them and then they started to play around.
T'Val: Seems Tedak and Saarok have come to terms with each other.
Roz nodded and wearily blinked. T'Val saw this and stopped walking.
T'Val: Do you wish to go back to sickbay now?
Roz: I'm fine. Besides, I want to spend as much of those two hours I have now
outside the grasp of the doctor. Art's going to be annoyed enough and worried
enough with me as it is. I don't need another person treating me like I haven't
lived on my own for nearly all my life.
T'Val: I understand, not from personal experience but I can see what you mean.
(pauses) There is something that I have wondered about. What colour are they? I
read that you have the ability to make them change colours yet when you lost
your temper, they stayed green.
Roz: I hit a new level of fury and fighting on the planet and I think that
might have changed that but who knows, it may only be temporary.
T'Val
nodded and cast her worry aside. Did the young woman know she was readily
tricked? The doctor of the Discovery had not mentioned that she, T'Val, was a
healer and had made a silent promise to keep an eye on the young woman.
"What is the original colour of your eyes?" she asked casually, and
motioned to Nut, whose eyes seemed to go from one colour to another
continuously. "Do yours also express your emotions? From what I
understood, their eyes turn orange when they are alarmed, red when they are
hungry and blueish green when they are contend and happy."
***
This was supposed to be posted earlier. ***
It was a great feeling for Qarek, being back on his ship. After so many days he
had power again. He would never be able to thank Tedak and Saarok enough for
doing this for him. But there was no time for sentiments now, for the attacks
that Maclob told him about were probably now well under way. Entering the
bridge of the Kreeta, Qarek addressed Reek.
“Hello, brother.”, Qarek said but, as Reek wanted to respond, he interrupted
him, “No time for sentiments now, open a channel to the fleet.”
“Channel opened, brother.”, said Reek and Qarek addressed the fleet.
=Attention fleet of the Qarek Interstellar Trading Corporation, this is Daimon
Qarek. The Starbase Assailant is in danger, my friends are in danger, and we
are going to help them. All Birds of Prey, set course to Assailant at maximum
warp. The rest stay here and provide any aid to ambassadors Tedak and Saarok as
soon as they request it. Qarek out. =
As soon as the comm. was finished the 7 Birds of Prey turned around and,
following the Kreeta, went to warp and towards the Assailant.
*** At the Assailant ***
“This base wasn’t to hard to handle.”, said the captain of a ship attacking the
base.
Just at that time his tactical officer said: “Sir, I’m reading multiple warp
drops of to port.”
The Kreeta followed closely by the Birds of Prey started dropping out of warp.
“Open a channel, all frequencies.”, said Qarek and the response came
immediately, “Channel open.”
=This is Daimon Qarek of the Qarek Interstellar Trading Corporation. All
attacking ships, stand down and surrender or you will be destroyed. End
transmission.=
Naturally, this was only a curtsey call and Qarek didn’t expect them to listen.
“Brother, communicate to the rest of the fleet. They may fire at will, but they
mustn’t hit the station.”, said Qarek and Reek responded, “Already under way.”
The Birds hit the attackers hard form every direction. Their first target was
what seemed like the leading ship. Three birds coming at it with a very high
angle, fired three torpedoes each all in the same spot. Needless to say the
ship was turned to dust and the birds scrambled to engage the others. The
Kreeta went after one of the ships, firing at it but the ship evaded
successfully, right until it wasn’t intercepted by a Bird and hit with two
torpedoes. It wasn’t destroyed but it took some serious damage. Qarek was very satisfied
with the battle so far but at that moment on the view screen he noticed three
ships teaming up against a Bird of Kreeta’s starboard.
“Save that ship!”, he yelled and the Kreeta made a hard right but it was to
late. The only thing they could do was watch the Bird blow up. The Kreeta fired
at the attackers but they managed to evade it. Turning around Qarek saw that
one of the attackers was pursuing a damaged Bird but it itself wasn’t in great
condition.
“Open fire at that ship!” he yelled and Kreeta’s phasors fired destroying the
attacking ship. The Bird continued its way towards and fired a spread of
torpedoes at an attacking ship just bellow it blowing it to pieces but at that
moment it was hit by an attacker from behind and destroyed. None of the ships
there were in perfect condition, on the contrary they were all pretty messed up
already so it was no wonder that the attacker was blown to pieces when it was
hit by three torpedoes from the Kreeta that didn’t miss this time.
The
San Carlo dropped out of warp nearly on top of the Starbase, flanked on either
side by the Venture and the Hatashi, 2 Akira Class vessels, it swept in a loop
around the main core of the station.
"Status" Magellan commanded
"Assailants Shields are down, they are being boarded."
"Number of hostiles?"
"We have 60 ships on sensors, mostly small raiders, less than half have an
ID tag of Qareks interstellar trading."
"Flag them as friendly. Captain, have the Hatshi break and support
runabouts, Delta and
"Aye Sir" Al Kali nodded as the ship shuddered violently.
She turned sharply in her chair to begin issuing orders.
Magellan could do little but grip the edge of the rail and watch the consoles
as the battle raged before him. He felt almost powerless.
After
his argument with Saarok, Tedak stormed down to the hangar bay. They were now
nearing Assailant and he wanted to take out his shuttle. As it was an Imperial
vessel he hoped that he would not draw as much fire, after all, imperial
usually meant highly placed.
"Tedak to Saarok. Shuttlecraft Ch'Havran is ready for take-off."
He waited for the doors to open and engaged his thrusters, manoeuvring the
shuttle easily through the door without guidance into open space.
Surprised at what he saw, Tedak nearly missteered his little craft into a
phaserblast of one of the Federation vessels.
"Hold your fire!" he cried, as he sent his identification code to the
Starfleet vessels. He peered at his sensors, picking out the enemy with ease.
He also spotted admiral Magellan’s craft.
"Tedak to Saarok, I will fly towards the admiral's vessel and attempt to
draw fire away from him."
After
Tedak flied out of the bay Saarok decided its time for him to do some that will
really benefit the federation.
"Red alert, shields and weapons on line, prepare to drop cloak, notify the
"But Sir I...."
"You are not here to think you are here to do what I tell you to", he
answered
"Yes sir"
And the ships went to red alert arming its phased cannons, loading quantum
torpedoes, shields frequency changers set and ready.
"We are ready sir"
"Target the lead vessel, and drop cloak ....now"
And the two ships decloaked giving a shock to most of the fleet and especially
to the federation vessels which saw 2 federation ships decloaking.
They immediately began firing on the ships they targeted and the ships were
vaporized within seconds. Then they started to cover Starbase Assailant from
the attack of the ships as their shields were down.
"Target at will", Saarok said and the CTSO started to target ships
which attempted to fire on Assailant.
"Sir were detecting, boarding parties on Assailant"
"Prepare a team 30 men, I will accompany them initiate emergency transport
I don’t have time to go to the transporter room", he said
And a few moments after he found himself and the team on Assailant, fighting
against the "Hidden light" terrorists
Roz
smiled as T'Val asked about her eyes.
Roz: I used to be able to make them turn green or yellow but it seems that I
pushed myself so far down on the planet that I have been deprived of that
ability. I can say that there were times when it came in handy.
T'Val: Such as?
Roz: If someone was about to attack me, they thought twice when they saw my
eyes change colours. Most of them ran off but a few stayed and fought but their
confidence was lowered.
Roz became very quiet and withdrawn when she finished. T'Val looked at her.
T'Val: Is everything ok?
Roz: If Marcus hadn't threatened Art's life, I would have died down there.
Everyone that had challenged my father before me had died a very painful and
horrible death. I told him that the situation was going to turn out differently
but I didn't fully believe it myself.
T'Val put an arm around Roz's shoulder. They were walking towards the bridge
when the ship shuddered. Roz tripped and fell onto the floor.
Roz: What was that?
T'Val: I don't know. (taps combadge) T'Val to bridge. What just happened?
Officer: We just sustained a hit from one of the ships attacking the base.
T'Val: Thank you. T'Val out.
T'Val held out her hand for Roz to grab but Roz had leapt up on her own and was
standing. She ran down the corridor faster than anyone could have thought
possible for someone in her condition. T'Val ran after her. She found Roz
arguing with an officer on the bridge.
Roz: You have no authority over me right now. I am the only person alive who
knows how these people think.
Officer: I'm sorry but I can't allow you to go out there.
Roz lost her temper and decided to do something drastic before too many people
got hurt or killed. She pulled a small dagger out of her boot and pointed it at
the officer.
Roz: Get me to the base now.
The officer nodded and made a communication to the docking bay. T'Val stepped
up to her.
T'Val: Roz, you aren't thinking coherently. You've lost a lot of blood and are
in no condition to fight.
The firelizards chirped in agreement. Roz just stared back and then ran out of
the bridge to the docking bay with T'Val right behind her.
T'Val: You're acting quite childishly and if you don't cease this, I will need
to do something drastic. Tedak and Saarok can handle things.
Roz stopped and closed her eyes.
Roz: You're right but I can't just sit here and do nothing.
T'Val: Would telling them that your father's dead stop them?
Roz: They would only fight harder so they go out but only after putting a big
dent in our supplies, weapons, and personnel.
They thought for a minute and then an idea came to her but it could be
dangerous if something went wrong. She ran into a random crewman's quarters and
made a comm. link with Commander Penfold at Conqueror. The fuzzy commander
picked up and instantly recognized her.
Penfold: Roz! So glad to see you! How are things going? You've given quite a
few of the people here a scare with your taking off like that.
Roz: Good to see you too commander but I was wondering if you could do me a favour.
T'Val
stood quietly to the side when the young woman was in conversation with
Commander Penfold. She knew that, given the chance, Roz would go off into the
fight anyway. The woman was not the type to sit around and wait.
So, T'Val decided it was time for a little drastic action of her own. She
waited until Roz had disconnected the link with the academy Starbase and
quietly revealed a hypo spray from the folds of her dress. She still wondered
why Roz had not recognized the Healer colour of her dress.
She stepped up to the young woman and pressed the hypo spray against her throat.
She jumped out of the way when Roz whirled round, ready to strike, but the
sedative was already taking effect.
"I am sorry," T'Val said, as she caught the collapsing woman, "I
cannot let you do something stupid and compromise your just barely recovered
health. It would be against my oath as healer."
She lifted the unconscious woman and carried her back to sickbay, positioning
her on the bio bed she had occupied earlier. Drawing up a comfortable chair,
T'Val seated herself beside Roz. The four firelizards perched on a monitor
overhead, as if keeping watch also.
Roz
woke up a while later to her head pounding. She remembered what had happened.
T'Val had knocked her out with a sedative! She was a healer! That's why the
robe T'Val was wearing looked so familiar. She inwardly cursed and looked
around the room. She could see the doctor furiously working on someone else.
The whole room was buzzing with people being brought in hurt and doctors
rushing around the room. She saw T'Val helping a doctor, fortunately her back
was to Roz. Roz silently got off the bio bed, found she had her strength back,
and snuck out of sickbay. She ran down the corridor and into the bio lab. A
minute later, she heard two pops next to her and saw Saarok's firelizards.
Roz: Please don't sound the alarm guys. I need to do this myself and I can't
have T'Val or anyone getting in the way or getting hurt. Ok?
The firelizards nodded and kept quiet. Roz smiled and worked at the computer to
mask her bio sign. She then saw that the information she needed from Commander
Penfold had arrived. The bio readings for the algae she had gotten from Gaius
II. She put the information into the replicator.
Computer: Unable to copy information.
Roz: (to herself) This is not happening. (speaking louder) Why not?
Computer: Sample contains hazardous material.
Roz: No duh. Well, we're just going to have to override that now, aren't we?
She pulled out a console and rewired a few things. She wasn't Art who almost
made a living of hacking computers but she was still pretty good.
Computer: Sample being replicated.
Roz turned to the firelizards, covering her mouth.
Roz: Don't breathe this in guys or get it on you. You'll die but your death
won't be quick.
The firelizards took to the air and watched from above, ready to alert Tedak's
firelizards if something should go wrong. Roz pulled the algae out of the
replicator and smiled. She grabbed some water sprayers from a corner of the
room and emptied them then filled them with the algae. She carried the tubes
out and walked down to the docking bay. She put the tubes in a shuttle, got
inside, and set out for the base.
_________________________________________
T'Val finished with the patient and looked over to check on Roz. She was gone!
She looked around but didn't see her anywhere. T'Val ran out of sickbay.
T'Val: Computer, find Roz Drouet.
Computer: Unable to locate.
T'Val was almost panicking but managed to get herself under control. She
thought about what Roz had been doing and where she had been going. The docking
bay! T'Val ran down to the bay and saw the shuttle taking off. She then ran
down to the bridge.
T'Val: Contact that shuttle!
Roz appeared on the screen a few moments later.
Roz: Sorry T'Val. I have to do this. I'm the only person who knows how to make
my plan work.
T'Val: Roz, this is insane, even for you.
Roz smirked and pointed to the two firelizards behind her.
Roz: They're with me and they'll alert you, Tedak, and Saarok should something
go wrong.
T'Val turned to one of the officers on the bridge.
T'Val: (softly) Get the tractor beam on her.
Roz: I heard that T'Val. Don't even think about trying to use the tractor beam
to bring me back. I will fire upon you if you do.
T'Val sighed. This girl was a handful and was giving her quite a headache. Roz
gently smiled.
Roz: I promise T'Val. I promise that I won't get myself hurt or killed. You've
got enough injured on the ship to begin with.
The visual link buzzed as the shuttle got hit with a blast.
T'Val: Roz!
Roz: See you later, T'Val. I now have to concentrate on avoiding all this
weapons fire.
The link was terminated and Roz expertly manoeuvred around the weapons fire always
heading towards the base. "Come what may, I will survive." she
thought aloud. The firelizards chirped in agreement
T'Val
shook her head and sighed. "Let Aeris know to take action when she does
something silly," she told Sev, who had cocked his head at her.
She walked off back to sickbay, knowing she would be best off there, with many
wounded expected to arrive anytime soon.
~~elsewhere~~
Tedak had located the admiral's shuttle and hailed it.
"Admiral, we have returned. Delegate Saarok has brought some friends, we
thought you could use the assistance. Meanwhile, I shall endeavour to assist
you in fighting off the enemy engaging your craft."
Magellan
registered the Ambassadors offer and quickly scanned the master tactical board.
He could see that the rogue ships whilst small where holding there own on
several fronts, unfortunately they had allowed themselves to be pushed away
from the station and towards the planet.
He beckoned for Captain Al Kalis xo to join him, he quickly pointed out his
plan and then tapped his commbadge.
"Ambassador, bring your vessel in line with us we're beginning a manoeuvre.
We plan to sweep in an arc around to co-ordinates 232mark4 using phasers only
to herd the enemy towards the planet. They may be able to go atmospheric put if
we get the angle right they wont be able to. They'll be trapped between us and
Qualinost. They ll be forced to surrender or face a full torpedo onslaught
without the ability to manoeuvre."
"Understood Admiral, We will follow your lead. Tedak out"
Magellan rose again and stood at the rear of the bridge.
"Okay Captain Al Kali, signal the fleet and Qareks Ship. Initiate Manoeuvre."
In unison the Starfleet and Ferengi Ships separated and swept in whirl pool
like formation around the enemy ships. The whirlpool tightened and shifted
pulling towards the planet.
Understood
admiral," Tedak replied as he manoeuvred his vessel as directed. He then
contacted the discovery and let them know over a secure channel what the
admiral had in mind.
"Waiting for your mark admiral!" Tedak called, "standing
by."
Roz
got a com link to the base.
Roz: Roz Drouet to Starbase Assailant. Requesting permission to board.
Officer: Affirmative Ms. Drouet.
Roz punched the air and swiftly docked with the base. She was met by a small
group of officers holding phasers at her.
Officer: How do we know you're actually Roz Drouet?
Roz: I honestly don't have time to prove myself to you so help me with these
canisters. Be careful and don't open any of the valves, it'll kill you if you
do.
The officers looked at each other and smiled. This young lady certainly had the
guts for Roz. They helped her with the canisters and they carried them to where
Magellan and Tedak were meeting to establish a plan.
Magellan: Qarek's fleet can pick off the vessels outside but what are we going
to do about the people who got inside?
Tedak: We don't have enough people to take them on at once or in groups.
The doors opened behind them and in walked the officers and Roz.
Roz: Admiral, Tedak. I have an idea for what we can do to get rid of the people
on the base, if you're willing to listen.
Tedak was staring at the persistent young woman who a while ago had been
battling with death. He walked up and put his hands on her shoulders.
Tedak: What are you doing here?
Roz: I know these people and none of you do. I thought you would need my help
and by the looks on your faces when I came in, you need it badly.
Tedak sighed and hung his head but then brought it back up with a smile.
Magellan: Glad to have you on our side civilian. May I ask what's with the
canisters?
Roz: They're filled with algae.
Everyone looked confused.
Roz: Let me explain. On my first mission aboard the Hepta, we were to take care
of this algae on a planet called Gaius II. It had grown enormously and was
causing a great deal of trouble. We sent down a team to figure things out and
to make a long story short, the algae is very dangerous in its mutated state.
There is a covering on it that when it comes in contact with anything, it causes
that thing to swell up. So basically, if you breathe it in, your throat is
going to swell up and you are going to die of asphyxiation.
Magellan: Very interesting but how exactly is that going to help us?
Roz: We disengage the gravity on the base and release the algae into the air.
We'll be wearing masks so we won't breathe it in. My father's minions should
breathe the stuff in and they'll die a painful death.
Tedak: Cruel but fitting.
Magellan smiled and immediately started distributing orders for bio masks to be
given out to the crew on the base and for the gravity protocols to be
overridden. Tedak turned to Roz.
Tedak: I want you to go back to the ship.
Roz: Not in this century. I came up with the plan and if something goes wrong,
I'll probably be the only one who can fix it.
Tedak: Very well. You're sure you have the strength for this?
Roz: Yes.
They were given masks and they put them on. They divided into groups and then
Magellan gave the command for the gravity to be turned off and a minute later,
they were floating. Roz grabbed one of the canisters and flew out the door with
it. Tedak grabbed another one of the canisters and headed the opposite
direction.
Roz: Good luck Tedak.
Tedak: Good luck Roz.
They floated around until they could hear the minions around one of the
corners. Roz positioned herself against the bulkhead and released the algae.
She could hear the men coughing and gagging and then nothing. She looked around
the corner and saw the dead minions floating around like buoys in water. She
shivered and continued on until her canister was empty. She then headed back to
the headquarters. A while later, Tedak and others showed up. Two men had been
lost; one to the algae, another to weapons fire. Magellan floated over to Roz.
Magellan: How long should we give the algae?
Roz: Scan for life signs outside of this room.
The scan came back negative. No one was alive on the base outside the room.
Tedak: Now what?
Roz: Now comes the dangerous part. We're going to need to flush out the system
and send the algae into space. I have changed part of its DNA so it doesn't
survive outside of the base. I suggest we get into escape pods and seal
ourselves inside and then open the doors to space. The algae will be flushed
out, it will die, and then its remains will float about harmlessly in space.
Magellan thought about it.
Magellan: There's only one problem with that idea. The doors control will need
to be activated from the base. The pods don't have the controls to access the
panels from inside.
Tedak: So basically, the person who activates the doors isn't coming back?
Magellan: Yes.
Roz: Fun.
No one volunteered to activate the doors once everyone was safe. Then a shaky
hand went up and Roz looked over at a Klingon. He was wearing the gear of a
minion.
Klingon: I will do it.
Roz: How do we know you won't kill us?
Klingon: I joined the gang so Marcus wouldn't harm my family. I am the last of
my family now. I have nothing more to live for. I want to see Marcus' plan fail
as much as you do.
Roz debated internally then nodded.
Roz: It's a risky idea but it should work. Let's go.
After gravity came back, they ran to escape pods and got inside. A few minutes
later, Roz could see algae flying into space and then the Klingon. She spoke a
parting prayer for the honourable warrior and then she opened her door and
stepped into the hallway. It was clear, no sign of any algae. They had won. She
contacted T'Val and told her the news.
"Yes,
we do need the help," Tedak admitted, "but I believe you were told to
stay in bed. T'Val would not have let you go without a fight, is she all
right?"
At Roz' nod, he continued. "I see you brought Sev and Aeris? Very good
they may be of assistance."
He turned back to Magellan. "Stubborn girl, that one, but one with spirit.
I suggest you allow her to come along in this, otherwise she will go off on her
own. It is safer if she stays with us."
Magellan
nodded an assent.
"I believe I cannot oppose such an idea given the support you have all
shown. Whilst were it not for Miss Drouet none of this may have happened, it is
safe to say she cleared up her own mess, and anyone who helped avoid such a
diplomatic incident is certainly welcome to remain on Assailant. If you ll
excuse me a moment I have a few matters to deal with but would like to meet
with all the delegates in the next hour."
"Of course Admiral" Tedak agreed, "it will give me time to
freshen up"
Magellan quickly left and made his way to Ops. Zoilip was already there and he
gave a quick report of damage and casualties. Not too bad considering what they
had been through.
"Lieutenant we better start getting the inhabitants back up to the
station, I doubt the Bio dome on Qualinost will be able to cope for much
longer. Have all emergency transporters begin shipping people up have Captain
Al Kali assist you."
"Aye Sir"
"Zoilip, Have the shuttles run a perimeter sweep and begin picking up
survivors from the pirate fleets, have security with you. Maintenance get those
doors open and give priority berthing to Qareks ships, full free overhauls to
each one."
With orders given, repairs underway and a brief report to Command filed he
realised it was time to meet with the delegates.
He made his way to 'The Fish tank' where they were all assembled.
"Thank you for coming" he greeted. "First off I m glad to see
Delegate Qarek is safe and well. I would like to extend my sincere thanks to
Ambassadors Tedak and Saarok and Dr T'Val for their help.
To show my/our gratitude I am sanctioned to make the following agreements.
The Federation grants full partnership to the Qualinost Colony project to the
Ferengi Alliance and exclusive mining rights to Qareks Interstellar Trading
Company. The Federation has also permitted me to formally invite the Romulan
Star Empire to join the Colony Project as a full partner. If agreeable
Ambassador Saarok can begin negotiations for the deal immediately."
Roz
walked back to sickbay where she was greeted by a disgruntled doctor and T'Val.
T'Val: Welcome back Roz.
Roz: I'm glad to have finally washed my hands of my father and everything that
involved him.
The doctor motioned for her to sit on one of the bio beds while he did a scan.
He frowned at the results.
Doctor: From my scans, you are in complete health and are ready for full duty
again. However, I would like you to stay a bit just in case.
Roz: Wish I could but I can't. (taps combadge) Roz to Saarok.
Saarok: Saarok here.
Roz: Do you think you could arrange for a shuttle to take me back to Starbase Conqueror?
Saarok: I'll see what I can do.
Roz: Thanks. Roz out.
She turned to T'Val.
Roz: I'm sorry for my actions before but I thought it was necessary at the
time.
T'Val: I'll admit it was irrational but I think you probably did the right
thing for the good of all of us.
Roz smiled and hopped off the bio bed. They walked to the bridge, followed by
the four fire lizards.