Part 10 (1/2)
He heard footsteps clomping up the ladder, and he turned to see the rotund, beaming face of Enrak Grof. ”Excellent!” bellowed the Trill. ”Very efficient piloting, Lieutenant, and excellent work with the tractor beam, Commander.”
The Deltan scowled. ”My baby sister could have retrieved that cargo bin.”
”Baby steps are what we must take,” said Grof, ”until we are allowed to take the big step.”
The Trill flashed Sam a look, and then he climbed back down the ladder. There was something in his choice of words and his expression which made Sam wonder how hard he would resist an escape attempt. When the moment came, it would be hard to predict how any of them would react. It would either be escape or death, so they would have to choose the moment carefully. If Grof resisted, they would be forced to deal with him themselves.
There were more footsteps, and Joulesh poked his web-eared head over the top of the hatch. ”I wish to convey the Founder's extreme pleasure with your progress,” said the Vorta. ”Two more test flights, and we believe you will be free to make history.”
Whose history? wondered Sam. Who will end up writing it?
Jean-Luc Picard materialized inside a narrow, low-ceilinged tunnel that linked the subs.p.a.ce relay station to the barracks of the permanent garrison. He was glad that Letharna had warned him to duck, or his head would have materialized inside a concrete ceiling. More black-garbed guerrilla fighters were standing by in the transporter room of the Orb of Peace, in case they were needed, but the initial a.s.sault team consisted of himself, Letharna, and two young humans who looked Bajoran.
He and his crew members were armed with phasers set to heavy stun, although they hoped to slip in, broadcast the alert, and escape without being detected. Letharna was armed only with the isolinear rod. In a crouch, she motioned them to follow her as she scuttled down the dank tunnel toward a shadowy doorway.
Feeling unexpectedly nervous, Picard nodded to his subordinates to follow her, while he brought up the rear. The tunnel was intended for use during bad weather, to move from one building to another, but it had apparently fallen into disuse. According to Letharna, it wouldn't have sensors capable of detecting a small force beaming down, but the tunnel was giving Picard an uncomfortable feeling of claustrophobia. He didn't have enough knowledge of the station to take over the point from Letharna, so he had to trust her. Trusting Carda.s.sians, even dissidents, did not come easily.
He thought of another Carda.s.sian he had trusted, Joret Dal, a Federation operative who had infiltrated the Carda.s.sian military. Dal disappeared in a shuttlecraft with Ensign Sito Jaxa, attempting the same thing his team was trying to do-sneak into Carda.s.sian s.p.a.ce. Was Dal found out, or was he a double agent? They would never know. What a tragedy it had been to lose Ensign Sito, recalled Picard. Putting people in danger was his least favorite aspect of command, especially when he lost the gamble, as he had with Sito Jaxa.
A moment later, the captain arrived at the solid metal door where Letharna and his two officers were gathered. Confronted by a card entry system, Letharna drew a handful of Carda.s.sian security cards from her belt, and she intently fed them into the slot, looking for one that would work.
”They don't change the codes that often,” she whispered. ”After all, their nearest neighbors are on another continent, with no way to get here.”
While she worked on the door, Picard checked his chronometer. He was worried that if the operation took too long, their s.h.i.+p would move so far in its...o...b..t that it would be out of transporter range. Then the s.h.i.+p would have to backtrack, possibly raising suspicions.
He was about to tell Letharna to hurry up, when the lights on the door turned white and the lock clicked. Letharna pushed the door open, and it squeaked on rusty hinges. Stealthily they climbed a flight of metal stairs.
On the move again, Picard felt more confident. When they got to the open door at the top of the stairs, Letharna dropped into a crouch, and Picard moved into position behind her, his Bajoran hand phaser leveled for action. They crept into a large bunker filled with electronic equipment, computer stations, and the chirping sounds of a constant stream of subs.p.a.ce radio traffic. The only window was a narrow slit in the wall which afforded a partial view of a giant parabolic antenna on the outer grounds. Although it was night, the floodlights outside were as bright as day.
No one seemed to be present in the bunker, and Picard felt a mixture of relief and dread. Just as before, it was going too smoothly. He motioned to one of his officers to remain by the door, and she did so, crouching down on the upper landing. The other officer followed Picard and Letharna as they crept through rows of shelves, boxes, and electronic equipment.
Suddenly they heard voices mixed in with the subs.p.a.ce chatter, and all three of them dropped to their bellies and remained p.r.o.ne as two Carda.s.sian guards entered from an outside door. Laughing, the guards seemed to share a joke as they checked the readouts on a console by the door.
Picard saw Letharna draw a long, curved knife from her bosom and clutch it in a trembling hand. He quickly tapped her leg. After getting her attention, he shook his head vigorously, then he held up his phaser, hoping she would get the idea. Letharna had a look of bloodl.u.s.t in her dark eyes which he had seen before in Carda.s.sians. Looking somewhat disappointed, she nodded at him.
A moment later, Picard felt a tap on his leg, and he looked back at his young officer to see him urgently pointing. The captain turned to see one of the Carda.s.sians strolling nonchalantly across the room, checking various readouts as he went. He was coming closer.
For the moment, they were hidden by stacks of equipment, but there was no way of telling when the Carda.s.sian would walk down their aisle. There was also no way of knowing how long these workers would remain on duty in this bunker, and time was running out.
With both of his comrades staring at him, awaiting a decision, Picard made one. He held up his phaser, motioned to his officer, and pointed to the guard making the rounds. Then he pointed to himself and motioned to the guard farther away on the main console. A sense of urgency gripped the captain when he saw his target insert an isolinear rod into the receptacle on the instrument panel.
He jumped to his feet, seeing his comrades do the same. Picard took quick but sure aim and unleashed a red beam, which streaked across the room and struck his target in the back. The Carda.s.sian gasped and slumped over his console, unconscious.
Picard heard shuffling and cras.h.i.+ng sounds, and he turned to see that his officer had missed his target. The second Carda.s.sian scrambled down the aisle, making a dash for the exit, and there was another flash of movement to Picard's right.
With a total disregard for her safety, Letharna leaped over a computer console and pounced upon the escaping guard. Picard watched in horror as she neatly slit his throat with her curved blade. His body slumped uselessly onto the floor, yet she continued to shake him, looking annoyed that the life had so quickly seeped out of him.
”That's enough!” hissed Picard, grabbing her arm.
”He was going for the alarm,” she said defensively.
”That could be,” muttered Picard. As disappointed as he was in her rash actions, he still needed Letharna, so he swallowed the rest of his words.
”I'm sorry, sir,” said the officer who had missed his target. The young man looked quite mortified.
”Dispose of his body,” said Picard. He took the young man's phaser and set it to vaporize. The officer nodded and went about his grim task.
Letharna was already at the main console. She grabbed the unconsious guard and tossed his body to the floor; then she sat down at his place. Picard looked nervously over her shoulder and studied the unfamiliar readouts.
”Can you do it?” he asked.
”Oh, yes, that was never in doubt.” Letharna gave him a sardonic grin, and for the first time Picard saw a look of madness in her sunken eyes.
”I have control of the whole station from here, the whole security grid-the whole planet!” With confident fingers, Letharna worked the instruments. ”Do you know how long we've waited to get in here?”
Picard tried to curb his anger and impatience. ”The message to the wars.h.i.+ps,” he reminded her.
She removed the rod from the console and replaced it with the one given to them by the village leader. ”This should give us access to the interrupt codes. Yes, there it is. You want them to receive a general alert that will cause them to return to base?”
”Yes,” breathed Picard, worried that Letharna was beginning to look upon this as an opportunity to right as many wrongs as possible.
As she entered commands, an urgent beeping caused all of them to jump, and Picard looked accusingly at the blinking communications panel. Letharna kept working, a delighted grin on her face, and Picard finally slapped the panel to silence it. A moment later, a stream of spoken Carda.s.sian erupted from the panel, and he tapped it again to squelch that.
”Hurry,” he breathed.
”Your part is done,” she said. ”Now I have to collect as many new codes as I can, while we have this chance. I'm going to fill up this rod.”
The man on the floor groaned, and Picard adjusted his phaser to a heavier stun and drilled him at point-blank range. A second later, they heard footsteps running outside the bunker, and Picard knew it was time to go.
He looked around, took stock of the situation, and tapped his comm badge. ”Orb of Peacefive second delay, then six to beam up.”
”Yes, sir.”
Picard motioned to his officer stationed by the tunnel, and she hustled over. He heard more footsteps and voices outside, plus the comm panel began to beep again. ”It's time to go,” he told Letharna.
”One more minute,” she growled, her fingers working furiously.
Picard grabbed her precious isolinear rod and yanked it from its slot. The screen went blank. Enraged, Letharna screamed and jumped up with her knife over her head, but Picard shot her in the stomach. Stunned, she slumped to the floor, and Picard caught her falling body just as their molecules turned into a swarm of swirling fireflies. When the Carda.s.sians burst in a moment later, they found no one.
Captain Picard, two humans disguised as Bajorans, and two unconsious Carda.s.sians materialized in a heap on the transporter pad of the Orb of Peace. Picard staggered off, setting Letharna gently on the floor and tucking her knife and her isolinear rod into her belt. The blacked-garbed officers quickly surrounded the fallen Carda.s.sians. The wounded one appeared to be dead.
”Mr. La Forge,” said Picard urgently, ”what about the wars.h.i.+ps?”
The engineer grinned. ”They lit out right on cue, twenty seconds ago.”
”Accelerated orbit,” ordered Picard. ”I want Ro and the rest of the team back here as soon as possible.”