Post by Deleted on Jul 21, 2014 2:42:15 GMT -8
OOC: This story takes place beginning around when Desan heads up to the Command Center, and continues on through the time period that was “jumped.”
Scroll to the end for a cast of characters.
After being dismissed from her holodeck trainings for the day, Rychel had returned to her assigned quarters in deck 1605, and taken a quick sonic shower. As she emerged a few moments later, feeling more relaxed and refreshed, she strode naked over to the console, and pressed a few keys quickly. Instantly, a readout appeared with the locations of several personnel who were important to her: Dakbar, Desan, and Leria to name a few. Judging from Dakbar’s location, he was likely busy working on whatever Desan had assigned him most recently. Desan was in the Command Center, which surprised her greatly. Normally, it was Desan’s habit to try to remain an “unseen power” around the station, and Rychel knew that if he was up there, something bad was happening. She tried not to let it concern her too much. Things that were bad for Desan weren’t always bad for her.
She blew air out between her teeth, sending wispy tendrils of her bangs flying. She needed a haircut. She needed a strong drink. She needed things to get back to the way they used to be, when things were simple, and she knew who she could and couldn’t trust.
She needed to get laid.
She felt trapped. Ostensibly Desan was training her to do what she wanted to do: be useful to him. But… what would come of it? She was an engineer first. It wasn’t like she was a security officer, already privy to far more information than most. She’d already helped him time and time again with various weapons technologies he sought to possess. After everything she’d seen, the deceptions she’d been through… did she want more? Did she want to be the deceptive one? “Honest, trusting, naive Rychel,” his brother had always called her. The tone was loving, yet even still it was clear that he thought less of her for her naivete. Yet at the same time, she knew he envied her. He longed for the simplicity of life that she had possessed until recently. Still, here she was hoping for the complexity, the control, the influence that he and his fellows possessed. There was always a life of someone else which looked more glamorous than the life one already possessed.
Still, even knowing this, Rychel was bored. And if there was one thing more dangerous than any intelligence officer, it was a bored engineer. Desan had allowed her a cursory amount of control over the various systems within deck 1605, although nothing that she or Dakbar could use in any destructive fashion. Desan trusted Rychel, but he did not share the trust that was in her heart for the Cardassian. He trusted him some amount, of course, or he would have just let the man rot in some Federation penitentiary for the rest of his days. But so long as the Cardassian Empire had some sway in Dakbar’s loyalties, Desan was keeping him on a short leash. Even then, it would take time and effort for the man to prove that he wasn’t evil, but desperate to save his family.
Her hands moved over the console with practiced ease as a plan began to form in her mind. Surveillance and hacking were two common ways of acquiring information, and both appealed to Rychel’s strengths. It shouldn’t be outside of her ability to muck around in the comm system for the deck and overhear something of interest that she could report back to Desan. A grin spread across her face as her fingers continued racing over the console. She evaded security protocols and countermeasures. She disguised her activity as a maintenance program. Deftly, she got to where she wanted to be: the auxiliary conference room’s comm system.
It threw several errors at her the first time she attempted to listen in, but with some diligence, she was able to open up the comm. Leaning back in her chair, she remembered that she hadn’t gotten dressed yet, but that could wait, she had more important things to handle at the moment.
“So what’s the first topic for discussion?” a voice asked. Rychel struggled to identify it. She knew it was familiar but she couldn’t quite figure out why. She leaned forward in here seat once more, closing her eyes to focus more.
“I think there’s only one topic to be discussed. I mean, the mission itself. There are a few different mission-related subjects, though.”
“That’s what I meant.” The first voice again, who sounded more and more familiar the more he spoke.
“Ah, yes. Well, there are three major points; the vessel, the location, and the plan,” number two said. In Rychel’s mind, she could see the man (she believed it was Stern) looking down at a padd, making certain that the details were correct.
“Let’s begin with the simplest: the ship. I assume we’ve got one?”
“Yes sir,” “Stern” said. “We’ve retrieved a Hideki-type Cardassian fighter, which has been momentarily hidden in the asteroid field surrounding the Aurevus system.”
“What about booby traps?” a third voice asked. This was a voice Rychel wasn’t familiar with, and she mentally labeled him “Three.”
“We’ve managed to disable all of the known sort; obviously we will need to exercise caution in our operation of the vessel,” “Stern” said.
“Fair enough, the familiar voice said.
“It’s a shame that we can’t put a Star Stream drive on this thing,” another man said. Rychel’s eyes opened as she realized who this man was: Torian Lam, a Joined Trill who had been part of Desan’s operation for some time now. He was one of Desan’s most trusted advisors, and Rychel knew that whatever she was listening to was big. She grinned once more. This was going to be perfect!
“So the plan, then, is to take a runabout from the station, and rendezvous with the Hideki-type?” the familiar voice asked. With more perspective, Rychel realized he was Sular Ramos, a Bajoran whom Desan had known since his childhood on Bajor.
“Yessir,” “Stern” said. Rychel was becoming more certain that her identification had been correct. “Lt. Commander Lam has reserved a runabout, it is being minded by Intelligence personnel right now in section 137 of the docking bay. He will pilot that vessel to and from the Aurevus-system.”
“And who will pilot the Hideki-type?” Commander Sular asked.
“The ensign who stole it for us in the first place,” Stern said.
“I don’t necessarily like that…” Sular cautioned.
“We have to take risks. This is a challenging assignment,” Stern said. “Besides, it’s too risky to take Lt. Commander Lam all the way in. With everything his symbiont knows…”
“I’m not sure we should even been attempting this, regardless of how involved I should or should not be,” Lam contributed.
“‘Ours not to question why,’” Stern quoted. He wisely left the latter half unspoken.
“Indeed,” Sular said. “And the location?”
“There are two; fortunately they are both near one another. The Arawath colony, or Internment Camp 179. The Internment Camp is in an asteroid belt near the colony.”
“We don’t know for certain?” Sular asked.
“No, sir. We know that the prisoner was transferred from a Galor-class cruiser to a freighter, and said freighter’s flight plan went near that system,” Stern said.
“The freighter is slow, compared to the Hideki-type we’ve outfitted for this particular mission,” Lam said. “So long as we move quickly, we should be able to get to the system around the same time as the freighter, or shortly after.”
“Leaving the plan itself somewhat up in the air,” Sular said.
Though she could not see what was going on, Rychel was certain Stern had shrugged. “We’re Starfleet’s finest, sir. I trust that any plan we improvise will be better than a plan the Cardies could put together in weeks,” Stern said.
“That said, we need to be careful. Since it appears that timeliness is critical to mission success, let us meet in thirty at the runabout,” Sular said. “I’ll let Commander Kayden know that Operation Zeitgeist is underway."
Rychel wasn't ordinarily the impulsive sort. Sure, there were those who would point to her relationship with a Cardassian or her "tactical suicide attempt" as evidence otherwise, but in general she made sold life decisions the rational way: after careful consideration. There was nothing rational about what she did now, which was throw a few outfits into a bag that already contained tools, a weapon, and survival supplies and head towards the door. She stopped herself at some point, remembering that she hadn't put any clothes on her body, but remedied that quickly enough. Outside of deck 1605, everyone believed that she was off duty, so it wasn’t like she could just throw on her uniform and be on her way. She decided on a tight-fitting black outfit, which would help her blend in a bit more.
She transported herself to the airlock outside docking bay section 137, and checked a chronometer. She still had ten minutes left to spare.
“Rychel, what are you doing here?” one of the guards tasked with minding the runabout asked.
“Yes, Rychel, what are you doing here?” came the voice of Stern, coming up behind her.
“I know where you’re going,” Rychel said.
“Indeed. Did you think you could eavesdrop on our meeting without anyone noticing?” Stern asked.
Rychel’s shoulders slumped some. “I know what mission this is. I know I’m the reason behind it. It’s not fair that you all will risk your lives for something that only I believe in,” she pressed. She knew that she was pushing her luck, but she hoped that her conviction would sway him.
“Your brother will kill me.”
“My brother needs to understand that I’m a grown woman and he can’t protect me for the rest of my life,” Rychel said.
“That said, you won’t be the one getting punished. Sure, you’ll get a slap on the wrist, but me… Desan might take my commission or worse,” Stern said.
“If I was anyone else… if I was this involved, this invested, would you tell me no?”
“It’s not as easy as all that, Rychel…”
“Oh? That’s funny, I was under the impression that you were your own man and you made your own decisions, regardless of what Desan said,” Rychel said, trying another tactic.
“That will not work on me,” Stern said.
“If she wants to come along, let her,” Sular said, coming up behind their little group. “The fact is, we don’t have an engineer, and we could use one.”
“But Desan…”
“Desan said to use all the resources we had available to us. He should have been more specific if Rychel wasn’t one,” Sular said.
Rychel’s eyes widened as the Bajoran walked over to the guards, who allowed him entry to the airlock. “You coming or not? We’re in a hurry,” he called.
“Y-yes sir!” Rychel said, surprised that had worked. Still, Stern didn’t seem too thrilled with the decision, though now the repercussions would fall to Sular. Rychel scrambled into the runabout, intending upon setting her things in the aft compartment, which she’d assumed would be outfitted with the short term bunk module. Instead she found… well, she didn’t know what she’d found.
Stern sensed her confusion. “You think Starfleet Intelligence hasn’t shrunk the Star Stream drive down to an acceptable size?”
“Wow,” was all she was capable of saying, a response that sent Sular chuckling.
“We won’t be on this vessel long,” Sular said. “Come up here to the cockpit.”
Rychel did as she was told, hesitating slightly. Lam had snuck in while she was awestruck, and had taken over the flight ops console. Sular was at the Ops console, and Stern was manning weapons. Her face flushing, she took the engineering console.
“This isn’t a test, just relax and do your job,” Sular said, and Rychel relaxed ever-so-slightly. “Is it just the four of us?” she asked.
“Five,” said the man whose voice caused Rychel to cringe slightly. It was her brother’s favorite Doctor, Karzen Ohden. He studied Rychel for a moment. “Uh, does bossman know we’ve acquired a tagalong?”
Rychel’s face was hot, but this time it wasn’t out of embarrassment. Before she could protest, Stern spoke up on her behalf. “She’s not a tagalong, Doc, she’s an asset.”
“Ah. Well then. That makes us look so much better when Desan needs someone to flay,” Karzen said. “Regardless, let us be on our way, we’ve no time for dilly-dallying.”
“Permission to depart has been granted,” Sular said. “Whenever you’re ready, Lam.”
“It’s so nice to be able to jump to the head of the line when departing,” Lam commented.
“I think they’re trying to clear room out for the Talon,” Sular said, forgetting for the moment that Rychel had once been assigned to the vessel.
“The… the Talon?” Rychel asked. Maybe she should stay behind…
“Yeah, she’s being towed back,” Sular said. “And before you ask, I don’t honestly know. The mission she departed on was to be routine. I’m sure I received a memo on where it had all went to hell, but alas, I’ve had bigger concerns on my mind.”
“Nothing is ever routine in this quadrant,” Stern commented, and there was a chorus of “mmhmms” from all present.
There was a brief lull in conversation as Lam skillfully maneuvered the runabout out of the docking bay.Once they were free of the station, Sular said, “Take us to the other side of the Etimon star, then enter the Star Streams.” The energy fields that surrounded Etimon would help to disguise their runabout’s unique capabilities.
“It’s still a shame we couldn’t outfit the Hideki-type with a Star Stream drive,” Lam said, “even though I won’t be flying her. It would make the mission go a lot quicker.” He skillfully manipulated the controls, guiding the runabout into the Star Stream with ease. “We’ll arrive in the Aurevus asteroid belt in approximately 45 minutes.”
“Is the Cardassian vessel safe there?” Rychel asked.
“As safe as anything in this quadrant is,” Sular answered. The Aurevans have been quite friendly with the Federation, and it’s extremely difficult for sensors to penetrate through the belt. You need a very skilled pilot to get in and out in one piece.”
“Ah,” Rychel said. She went back to quietly minding her terminal, and pretending that she wasn’t shocked by the sheer volume of power the runabout was utilizing.
“So your primary duty, Rychel,” Stern began, “is to ensure that the Hideki-type stays in one piece, preferably until we’re back in this quadrant. If that isn’t possible though, then we just need to get back in to Federation territory.”
Rychel nodded. Her gaze drifted to the front viewscreen, where brilliant colors flashed on the screen as they traversed the pathways that the Etimonians had revealed. She’d seen them before, on her few short bridge assignments aboard the Talon, but ordinarily she had other things that she was supposed to be focusing on when she was there. “Is it typical to bring a doctor along on these sorts of missions?”
“This mission is a bit different than most,” Sular said, somewhat delicately.
“Oh?”
“We can’t exactly march three Bajorans into any sort of Cardassian facility, and while we’d have better luck with a human, it would still hinder us greatly,” Karzen offered.
“Oh.” Rychel said, wrapping her mind around the concept. She remembered words Dakbar had thrust upon her a month ago, asking if Desan would have her remove her ridges, too. Her nose crinkled further as she frowned, but she tried not to think about it too much. What would Dakbar say if he’d heard what she was doing? Would he find the gesture noble? Foolhardy? She regretted not having more time to let him know where she was going.
Save Lam, who needed to constantly monitor his terminal, the other passengers in the runabout had taken advantage of this time to read from padds they’d brought with them. Rychel, used to flights with friends, or at least compatriots, found the silence awkward. She debated several times bringing up some topic of discussion, but what did these men find interesting? Did they like sports? Science? Politics? Music? With Desan, she had known him as a brother before meeting him as an Intelligence Officer. These other men seemed different. Unapproachable. Above her station. For the first time since she’d departed deck 1605, she was having second thoughts.
She looked over to Stern, who had been responsible for much of her training ever since Desan had agreed to let her learn some of the ins and outs of espionage. She knew him better than the rest of the men in the runabout with her, and she ran a month of interactions through her mind, trying to pinpoint any hobbies or where he was from, or his first name, or… anything. But though she had a great memory, and was able to replay many conversations back in her mind, she found nothing useful to her cause.
He knew everything about her. The way Desan used to push her hair out of her face when she had a fever as a child. Her struggle to accept the Bajoran faith, which had ultimately resulted in her atheism. How she felt like she was untouchable when she was scaling the a wall or a cliff, regardless of how great the danger would be if she fell. Stern had asked her questions, shown interest in every stupid, insignificant detail that she had ever told her, made her feel important in a way that few others ever could.
Was it a lie? Was it a way to get inside her mind and report back to Desan? Was it the simple habit of a man akin to gathering and keeping secrets, or something more than that? She’d questioned the motives of others ever since her brother had brought her into “his” world; a world of spies and secrets. She longed to know that just one person liked her for her, and not for what she represented in the world.
These thoughts kept her preoccupied until the runabout departed the Star Streams a while later.
“I have to bring her out early,” Lam said. “The asteroid field is… well…” he gestured to the viewer.
At first, Rychel cocked her head to the side, trying to make sense of what she saw on the viewer. She’d seen many, many asteroid fields before, but none were quite like this one. So many people were quick to dismiss asteroids as boring hunks of rock, and Rychel admitted that there were many things in space far more interesting. Still, these particular rocks were fascinating, striated in various hues which reminded Rychel of tiger stripes. The density of the asteroids was far higher than in most asteroid belts, and the light of the Aurevan star fought to penetrate the field, its rays refracting in random patterns as they found their way to the galaxy outside.
“What are the people here like?” Rychel asked, jumping slightly as her voice broke the awed silence of the runabout.
“They’re synaesthetic,” Stern said, and Rychel chafed somewhat, her previous hesitations regarding the man coming back into play. “Their skin resembles the color patterns you’d find on a tropical fish, and their culture is strongly oriented around artistic expression.”
“They sound fascinating,” Rychel said. “Are they aware that you’re using their asteroid belt for intrigue?”
“They are aware we’re parking a few vessels in their asteroid belt,” Sular said.
“That’s not particularly honest,” Rychel commented.
“Very little penetrates this belt. So long as it doesn’t end up on their side, they aren’t terribly interested in why we’re leaving it here,” Sular explained.
“Particularly since it’s ugly,” Lam added. “I’m not going to lie, I’m not too sad about missing out on the next chapter of this little story.”
“I’m sure they don’t think our ships are attractive, either,” Stern said.
Rychel looked around a bit, surprised. As they drew nearer to the dangerous part of their mission, the men around her had relaxed. Stern was smiling, for crying out loud, grin stretched from ear to ear, practically, and Rychel was pretty certain he’d never once even smirked in her presence before. Yet where there was once tension, and a silence she was terrified to interrupt, there was now… calm?
“You still with us, rookie?” Sular asked, turning his seat around to face her.
“I…” Rychel wasn’t sure how to answer. “It’s different than I’m used to.”
“Men like us,” Stern began, and Rychel suddenly realized that she’d been completely wrong about the man. “This is what we live for. The moments between missions, the bureaucracy, the paperwork… that is the part we cannot abide.”
“The adrenaline is rather addictive,” Karzen said.
Stern nodded, “Trying to function in between missions, devoid of that adrenaline, the risk, the danger… it’s hard.”
“It’s what makes good operatives go rogue,” Sular added. “The higher up you progress, the further you are from the action. The best way to get in the shit again, so to speak, is to do something risky.”
“But Desan…” Rychel started, until she realized that everyone was shaking their heads.
“Desan is a different sort. He excelled at field work but… you could always tell it was too small scale for him. He wanted more. Bigger. Faster. Harder. That’s not to say there’s anything wrong with that. You need people who look at the big picture and take command. He’s just not the same type of person we are,” Sular said. “I’ve known him since we were both boys, and he’s been this way ever since we were small.”
As the discussion continued, Rychel’s impressions of all of her fellows for this mission changed. Gone was the belief that Stern was controlling, forcing others to speak of themselves to avoid having to speak of himself. Gone with it was the belief that these men knew no fun.
This was what they found fun. Risk. Espionage. Fighting the “good fight” behind the scenes. They weren’t aloof and distant, they were forcing themselves to endure the hours, days, and weeks that separated them from their next high. Even the more conservative-seeming Karzen was grinning now. The aura inside the runabout was electric, and it gave Rychel goosebumps.
“C’mon now, I’m trying to concentrate!” Lam said, though even his features were frozen in a mirthful state.
“It’s just an asteroid belt, not like you’re doing anything hard over there,” Sular teased.
“Yeah, seriously, you’ve got a symbiont and everything helping you out, too,” Karzen added.
“You think you could come over here and do any better?” Lam said. Despite his levity, Rychel could see sweat beading on his forehead.
Rychel’s second realization came a few moments later, when Rychel realized that it wasn’t that Desan didn’t want her to be like him. Desan was surrounded by men like Stern, Sular, and Lam at all times. He knew their weakness. Their addiction. The need to be in the thick of bad situations at all times. Still, Rychel couldn’t ever see herself following such a path…
Except…
She already had.
Looking back at her own life since she’d ended up aboard the Talon, she could see an absurd pattern of risk-seeking behavior. Sure, she hadn’t known what Dakbar was going to end up doing, but at the same time, she had seen all the warning signs and just careened on past them to do what she wanted to do. As a child she’d tried to do two things: climb the highest structures she could find, and blow things up. Even joining Starfleet came with plenty of risks attached, risks she’d gladly accepted, and even wanted more of. And then… there was her present state of affairs, zipping through a densely packed asteroid field with a bunch of crazy super-spies, en route to Cardassian territory.
“If my life was a holonovel, this would be the point where people started yelling at me,” Rychel said softly.
“What’d you say?” Stern asked.
“Nothing,” Rychel said.
“Relax, kid. That’ll make the whole ‘fearing for your life thing’ go by much easier,” Stern teased.
Rychel looked over at Stern, grinning somewhat as she understood why he’d never spoke of himself. Intelligence officers were a rare breed, who felt ill at ease when around more mundane people. In partaking in this mission, Rychel was slowly elevating herself in their eyes… even though she’d likely get them all skinned alive when her brother found out about this.
“Are we there yet?” Karzen asked.
“Almost,” Lam said. True to form, a moment later Rychel noticed something a bit more reflective than the asteroids surrounding them.
“There it is,” she said. She wasn’t terribly familiar with Cardassian vessel classes, and she had to admit that the vessel they were approaching was far, far smaller than what she’d expected. It was still longer than the runabout they were riding in by a factor of four times or a bit more, but she was far more acquainted with Cardassian warships.
“Do they only have one ship blueprint?” Karzen asked. “All of their ships look exactly the same, just different sizes.”
“Their engineers aren’t terribly good,” Rychel said.
“Well, let’s hope you can figure out their vessels quick, especially if we come across a booby trap,” Stern said.
“I’m up to the challenge,” Rychel said, with bravado she didn’t entirely feel. Still, how hard could it be?
Lam stopped the runabout close to the Cardassian vessel, which Rychel assumed was some sort of close combat “fighter” type. Still, it was at least a few decks high, and appeared to have a decent compliment of weapons, which was a start. “Grab your things, the Intelligence Express will be departing the station shortly,” Lam said.
Rychel grabbed her bag of things, and smiled at Lam as the Trill beamed the four of them over to the Cardassian vessel. She shuffled from one foot to the other, waiting to see what everyone else was going to do.
“What’d I tell you, rookie,” Sular said. “You’re not being tested. Just do what you engineers normally do.”
“Hah! Engineers. Normal,” Stern said.
Rychel headed up to the front of the vessel, intending to have a look at the schematics for the vessel, and to acquaint herself with the controls. Seeing the back of someone’s head at the helm, she decided to make her presence known, so as not to sneak up on someone. “Hey there,” she said, trying not to be too cheerful.
The pilot’s head swiveled around quickly, grey eyes meeting Rychel’s own green ones. “You. What are you doing here?” she asked, then remembered the matter of rank and protocol. “I mean… Lieutenant.”
“En–” Rychel started to say, but then remembered that technically, neither of them was on duty at the moment. “Reesa. I’m not sure what all has happened since we were together on the Talon, but my goal right now is simply the mission at hand.”
Reesa’s eyes squinted a bit as the half-Cardassian fought to determine whether or not the Bajoran was being sincere or not. Regardless, the mission would go a lot easier if they were on good terms. “As is mine,” she said. “I apologize it’s been a rough couple months for those of us in Starfleet who aren’t “approved” species.”
Rychel caught the insinuation. Between M’Khol’s defection and Dakbar’s sabotage, it was not an easy time for members of non-Federation species. “I wish I could say that I understand, but it’s not something I’ve experienced. I… I am sorry though.”
Reesa’s expression was unreadable, but her head dipped down slightly in acknowledgement. “Your brother does what he must do.”
“He always has,” Rychel said, more for her own benefit than for Reesa’s.
“So you can get us out of here safely?” Sular asked, coming up behind Rychel. Rychel busied herself locating the Engineering console. It was a more difficult task than she had anticipated.
“I got her in safely,” Reesa said. “I admit, I envy Lieutenant Commander Lam. He had the easier part of the deal.”
“How are shields looking?” Sular asked, and Rychel looked about, confused.
“I… can’t seem to find the engineering terminal, sir,” she admitted finally.
“Over there,” Reesa said, pointing the last console that Rychel would have ever thought to look at. It was small, and put away in a far corner of the bridge.
“Thanks,” Rychel said, not feeling terribly bad about the oversight. Perhaps she’d go back to Dakbar with a greater knowledge of his kind and their culture. Thus assuming that she went back at all, and that he wished to associate with her, of course. And that Desan doesn’t ground me when I get back to the station…
“Do we have permission to take this vessel back through the wormhole?” Reesa asked.
“The station’s Captain has been notified that a Cardassian vessel matching the description of this one will be passing through, and to allow it to go through without question,” Sular said.
“Shields seem to be at 100%, or at least as close to it as Cardassian engineering is capable of getting,” Rychel said. Then, realizing that Reesa might be offended, she cringed somewhat, looking over at the pilot. “Sorry!”
Reesa shrugged, “It’s true. What’s the plan then?”
“Take this baby to the Arawath sector and figure out the rest from there,” Sular said. Reesa’s eyes widened, but she said nothing. “You’ll need a bit of touchup,” Sular said, gesturing to his own forehead and nose. What is this ship called, anyhow?”
“The Tak’noret,” Reesa said, and Rychel did her best to memorize it in case she needed to use it as a cover story later… or worse, was quizzed.
“All systems functional, no obvious booby traps identified,” Rychel said.
“I disarmed the majority of them,” Reesa said.
“Why not all of them?” Stern asked.
“I misspoke… I disarmed the ones I could find. Cardassians are constantly changing those things,” Reesa said.
“How do people not die every time they get transferred?” Rychel asked, genuinely curious.
Reesa shrugged, “Cardassians have good memories. The ones that don’t are better off dead, anyhow.”
It was a chilling, and likely true, observation of what it meant to be a Cardassian. The more things like this Rychel learned, the more she felt for Helik. It was more than just the torture and control they’d inflicted on him, it was a system that left one ill-prepared for handling other cultures… which was likely exactly what the Cardassians were going for.
“Alright, let’s get underway,” Sular said. Looking over at Reesa, he said, “Do what you’ve got to do to get us out of here in one piece.” He didn’t want the freighter they were pursuing to get ahead of them, but that was a secondary concern to wanting to live to see at least one more day.
“I’ll never forgive myself if I die to an asteroid instead of doing something cool,” Stern said.
“What is your definition of cool?” Rychel asked.
Sular grinned, “Now she’s starting to become one of us, she’s already giving you hell!”
“I… I didn’t mean to, it was a serious question,” Rychel said.
“Well, you see, Stern has stupid ideas on what’s cool or not,” Sular explained. “So, Stern, what is cool?”
“Oh, you know, having sex with two women at the same time, while flying a runabout through a slalom of asteroids,” Stern suggested.
Rychel rolled her eyes, “As if you could have sex with two women at the same time,” she said. Then, realizing what she’d done, she clapped both hands over her mouth. “S-sorry!”
Sular was about to lose it he was laughing so hard. When he’d recovered enough to speak, he said, “I like her better than the brother.”
“I dunno, Desan wouldn’t tease me like that,” Stern argued.
“No, Desan would pull out a holorecording of him doing exactly that, while at the same time winning a game of chess versus a Vulcan grandmaster,” Sular said, then realized that perhaps wasn’t the shining mental picture that his baby sister wanted to have.
Rychel’s eyes were wide as saucers. “Does…. is Desan really like that?”
“There isn’t a thing that we’ve found to date that Desan is bad at, save caring about other people. Well, with the exception of you and your sisters, that is,” Stern said.
“He never had much of an affinity for our brothers,” Rychel said. “I mean, he cares about them, but not to the degree that he cares about myself and my sisters.” Rychel spared a glance over to the viewer, noting with some appreciation that Reesa was handily making her way through the asteroid field. Rychel made a mental note to send praise for her to Desan.
“He even treats you completely different than Leria,” Stern said. “Why is that?”
“Ohhhh, no,” Rychel said, wagging a finger. “You’re not going to get me to tell all of Desan’s secrets.
Sular laughed once more, “Oh, the girl is clever. I like it!”
“It’s not about his secrets, I’m honestly curious,” Stern said.
Rychel paused a moment, sincerely pondering the question, “I think it’s a few things, actually. First, none of my other sisters were big on risks. They just wanted to succeed, so they didn’t waste time with things like rock climbing or blowing things up.”
Stern grinned at Rychel, “Ah, a woman after my own heart.”
“Down boy,” Sular cautioned. “She’s still bossman’s sister.”
“Compared to–” Stern started, but wisely decided not to finish it. “So what else?”
“Well, I’m the youngest, too,” Rychel said. “Our parents were away a lot, so Desan took care of me until I was nearly 10 and he left for Starfleet.”
“Wait, did Desan change your diapers and such!?” Stern said, his tone full of disbelief.
“I… maybe?” Rychel said. “I don’t remember being that little!”
“Alright, alright, come on now,” Karzen said. “I’ve setup in Sickbay, or whatever passes for it soon. Which one of your pretty mugs is the first to try out a ridged look.”
Rychel looked around. None of the officers present seemed in too much hurry to end up looking like a Cardassian.
“Don’t you all jump for the opportunity at once,” Karzen said. He was rewarded with silence, and people avoiding looking him in the eyes. He sighed. “C’mon now, women are always talking about a man with ridges. Stern, you need a good woman, let’s get you taken care of, shall we?”
“I like my face, though,” Stern said. “Are you sure you’ll put it all back together again properly when we’re all done?”
“I dunno,” Karzen said slowly. He walked over to Stern, studying his face carefully. “The present one is pretty asymmetrical, it’s hard to duplicate something that lopsided.”
“Ass,” Stern said, though he walked along with the doctor. “Wish me well, for I am off to the land of Karzen’s tender ministrations.”
“They’re the only tender ministrations you’ll ever come by, so you best run along with him,” Sular said.
As Stern departed, Rychel looked over at Sular, “Are you guys always like this?”
Sular shook his head, “Nah, when there aren’t women around, we swear a lot more.”
“That wasn’t exactly what I meant…” Rychel said.
“You mean giving each other a hard time? Yeah. We’ve all been working together for a long time. It gets boring real quick,” Sular said. He hesitated before adding, “And when we’re like this, en route to a mission that we know is going to be difficult… we have anxiety. None of us wants to admit it, sure, but we have it nonetheless. I guess we just handle stressful situation by diffusing them with humor.”
“I just can’t imaging Desan ever doing that,” Rychel said.
“He doesn’t really. I think the jokes entertain him— I mean, the man isn’t completely devoid of humor regardless of how much he may act like he is— but he’s always been… different. Where we all need humor to get around the anxiety, despite how much we love what we do, Desan hates failure. He believes that he can plan for every contingency. So when we’re riding off to save the day, he spends the time thinking, planning, considering. For each plan he finally goes with, he probably throws away 100 others that weren’t applicable, or weren’t good enough.”
“But… what happens when Desan fails?” Rychel asked. Personally, it was one of her greatest fears in life. She couldn’t see Desan taking failure well… at all.
“That’s why Desan has us. We make sure he never needs to,” Sular said, in the manner of one who wasn’t accepting argument.
“Departing the asteroid belt now,” Reesa said. To Rychel, the other woman didn’t appear to be too bothered, but she suspected that Reesa was far better than most at keeping her feelings and fears to herself.
“Good, nice work, ensign,” Sular said. “Let’s try and keep a low profile, avoid the normal trade routes between here and the wormhole. I don’t want to attract any more attention to our vessel than we absolutely have to.” While the Cardassians weren’t officially at war with anyone at the moment, a small vessel alone in the gamma quadrant might attract the wrong sort of attention.
“Yessir,” Reesa said. She plotted in a few different courses in case she needed additional options later, before laying in a course to the wormhole.
It was warmer in the Cardassian vessel than what Rychel was used to, and she reached into her bag, and pulled out a hair tie. As she pulled back her hair, Sular stared at her curiously. “I didn’t think there were that many of us,” he said.
“I’m sorry?” Rychel asked, confused.
Sular gestured to his ear, which much like Rychel’s bore no traditional earring. “Those who have departed from the tradition of prophet worship.”
“I believed as a child. My skepticism began when I left for the Academy, but I went through the motions until recently. I mean… if I accept the Prophets as deities, doesn’t that mean I need to accept Q as one, too? I respect them; they’re wondrous creatures with capabilities that far exceed those of mere linear mortals. But I like believing that I control my fate.”
“Your argument sounds much like Desan’s,” Sular said.
“Oh, he didn’t force any of us to feel the same way, but he did present us with his thoughts on the matter, and over time, his mentality became pervasive.”
“Have all of your siblings left?”
“No,” Rychel said. “Leria left pretty early on; as soon as she was accepted into Starfleet Medical, I think. A few of our other siblings have departed as well. I mean, we grew up at the Science Institute. Although… I suspect my mother would like it if one of us ended up as a Vedek. But that’s more for the prestige and such.” She hesitated, trying to decide whether she should mention her more recent run in with the Prophets. It was something she’d wanted to tell someone, but had lacked a proper audience for. “I… something that happened recently made me reconsider, though.”
“Oh? I can’t imagine that anything could make me reconsider,” Sular said.
“There was an incident on Etimon, with myself and Dakbar…”
“When he attempted to kill you?”
Rychel squeezed her eyes shut. Despite knowing the reasons, she hated thinking back to Dakbar’s attempt at a murder-suicide. “Yeah.”
“There was something more than you’d mentioned already?”
“Dakbar told me what he saw when he was on the biobed and Sig was fighting to save his life. He told me that he saw figures, with piercing, bright-blue eyes,” Rychel said.
“He’s Prophet touched?” Sular asked, incredulous.
“I… I don’t really like using that term for him, given my own skepticism…” Rychel said.
“Gods or not, they protect the children of Bajor,” Reesa said.
“But he attempted to kill a child of Bajor,” Rychel said.
“The Prophets don’t view the galaxy in the same way we do. Again, Gods or not… they have many abilities we don’t. They can see into someone’s heart and mind in a way that even Q can’t seem to,” Sular said.
“That’s one reason I fought so hard to protect him,” Rychel said. “Even though everyone thinks I’m foolish, or that I have Stockholm Syndrome, or any number of other mental “afflictions” the counselors have named… the Prophets can tell what’s in someone’s heart.”
“You can’t help who you love,” Reesa said softly. Rychel wasn’t certain whether or not she should ask a probing question to get the other woman talking, or just let her open up on her own terms if she was so inclined.
“The heart wants what the heart wants,” Sular said. “Just because its choice doesn’t make logical sense for some reason or another doesn’t make the love felt any less real.”
Rychel heard footsteps approaching, and she looked up quickly, before doing a double take. Despite knowing that Stern was going to be cosmetically altered to appear Cardassian, it was still odd to see. Realizing she was staring she said, “Sorry, it’s just...”
Stern grinned, “It’s alright.” He made a few odd facial expressions, before saying, “It is really weird getting used to your face moving differently than normal.” He looked over at Reesa. “I can handle getting us the rest of the way to the wormhole, why don’t you go let Doctor Karzen take care of you.”
“Yessir,” Reesa said, standing up quickly so Stern could take the helm. “Keep her in one piece,” she joked as she departed.
“How far are we from the Arawath system?” Rychel asked. As a location within Cardassian territory, Rychel wasn’t terribly familiar with it.
“Just shy of a week,” Stern said.
“That far?!” Oh, she was going to be flayed alive by Desan. “Wait a minute. If it’s that far off, then why is Doctor Karzen doing the procedures right now?”
“A couple reasons,” Stern said. He paused for a moment, trying to acquaint himself with the Cardassian navigation system. “First, because we could run into Cardassian vessels en route to the system, and it wouldn’t look good if there were no Cardassians aboard. Second, it’s difficult to adjust to having all the ridges. Facial expressions are odd for a while. We need to be able to act like Cardassians.”
“Are you…” Rychel started, “or rather, am I…?”
“Going to undergo the procedure? Probably not. Reesa will, as she will handle communications with the Cardassians since she’s fluent in the language,” Sular said. “I haven’t precisely figured in how we’re going to use you yet. I have a few ideas. I’ll let you know when the time comes.”
“Ok,” Rychel said. She didn’t like the uncertainty of it all, but without knowing where their ultimate destination was, or what the game plan was, it was difficult to speak with any certainty. “Do the replicators in this serve any real food, or just Cardassian things?”
“We haven’t reprogrammed them at all,” Stern said. “I hope you’re feeling adventurous.”
“Well, I’ll eat anything,” Rychel said. She had food supplies for around a week’s worth of meals in her bag, but she didn’t want to resort to that unless absolutely necessary. She punched buttons experimentally on the replicator nearest her, and a moment later, something vaguely resembling food appeared.
“Intelligence officers must have iron stomachs,” Stern said. “You never know what you’ll need to eat to avoid blowing your cover. Heart of targ. Ferengi bugs. Haggis. All sorts of terrible crap.”
Rychel picked up something vaguely resembling a taco from her plate, and began to chew at it. Frowning, she swallowed. “Well, this isn’t great, but I’ve had worse.”
“That’s the spirit!” Stern said. Looking behind him to ensure that she hadn’t snuck back in without him noticing, he added, “I feel bad for Reesa, ya know.”
“Oh?” Rychel said. She hadn’t really encountered the woman much, though she had read through expressions that Reesa did not care for her. “I don’t think she likes me much. She seemed to object to a Cardassian and a Bajoran being involved.”
“I suspect she alternates between wishing she was fully Bajoran and fully Cardassian. It’s hard to be a mixture of two cultures so utterly opposed to one another,” Stern said. “She probably feared the two of you would bring another child like her into the world.”
“The galaxy is a progressively more accepting place,” Rychel said.
“Sometimes I see why your brother says you’re naive,” Stern said. “It’s easy to overlook hate and discrimination when you aren’t the target.”
“That’s true. I just… I wish there was some way that I could make it a better galaxy. And I love being a weapons specialist, because it’s something I’m good at. But… weapons don’t really promote peace.”
“They do and they don’t,” Sular said. “It’s a tricky thing. You can use firepower to protect the weak. Or you can use it to enslave, control, or dominate. You have to trust that the people you’re designing them for will use them in a way that promotes a better galaxy.”
“Perspective is hard, too. Many Cardassians, for example, believe that they are working for the greater good. And from the perspective that they’re protecting their way of life, the beliefs they feel are conducive to long term success, they are. The galaxy isn’t black and white. You don’t have good guys and bad guys separated into neat categories. There are many shades of grey, and often several shades exist within each person,” Sular said.
“Wow, that’s… I never really thought of it that way,” Rychel said. “I know I look at the Occupation, and I see the Cardassians doing what they felt was necessary to ensure their families didn’t starve. If I thought there were only two options, starvation and enslaving another, I don’t know which path I’d take. Particularly if I had children. And Cardassians value their own children above all else.”
“I have a son,” Stern said. “He’s three now. His mother takes care of him; Intelligence just isn’t a career suitable for a “family man.” And there are some days when I think of him, and I wonder what lengths I’d go to for him.”
“I’m sorry,” Rychel said. “That must be hard for you. Do you get to see him at all?”
“From time to time. His mother is station at DS9. I go there when I’m on leave. But she and I aren’t together again, and I wonder sometimes if there was another man in her life if she would be as accommodating about me spending time with him.”
“Life isn’t easy for the large majority of people,” Rychel said. “Sure, some people have it better or worse than others, but most have hardship. I think so long as she wasn’t seeing someone insecure that things wouldn’t need to change.”
“Yeah,” Stern said, though his tone was distant. He shook his head, “No more sadness. None of that on the way to a mission.”
“That’s a good philosophy. And when we’re on the way back and aren’t in a hurry, perhaps you can make a quick trip to DS9,” Rychel said.
When Reesa returned a few moments later, Rychel almost didn’t recognize her. Though her change was far less drastic than Stern’s since she already had ridges, there was a marked change in her carriage. She seemed somehow more sure of herself.
“The doctor is waiting for you, Commander Sular,” Reesa said.
Sular sighed. “My mother would have a coronary if she knew that I was going to be pretending that I was a Cardassian.”
“It could be worse,” Rychel said, “you could be pretending you were a Tellarite.”
“Ah, man, now I want some pulled pork…” Stern said. After Sular’s departure, he looked over at Rychel. “So what’s your brother’s deal? Think he’ll ever be a dad?”
Rychel considered it for a moment, “I think he’d be a good father, but the longer he works as an Intelligence officer, the more he realizes how much his family suffers as a result of their connection to him. A child would have it much worse. Besides, I don’t think he could handle having one woman stay in his life for that long.”
“I think we all feel that way,” Stern said, momentarily forgetting that there were two women on the bridge with him. “Uh… sorry.”
“It’s alright,” Rychel said. “How much longer until we reach the wormhole?”
“Eight hours,” Reesa said.
“Eight?” Rychel asked, her tone incredulous. “Man, I really am spoiled by the Star Streams.”
“Now you know why we give each other hell when we’re en route somewhere. At least this vessel has a reasonably fast top speed. Sometimes we have cargo vessels or freigthers that do warp 4 or 6,” Stern said.
Rychel ate another one of her “tacos,” fervently hoping that the next thing that came out of the replicator was something that at least tasted good. Perhaps she could have Reesa recommend something.
“Fortunately the Arawath system is near the edge of Cardassian territory,” Reesa said. “Hey, are those falarks?” she asked, eyeing Rychel’s plate from afar. “Those are my favorite!” Rychel made a mental note not to ask Reesa for her suggestions after all. If only Dakbar were here...
“We’re in the middle of nowhere right now. You should head back to one of the crew quarters and get some rest. Once we’re on the other side of the wormhole, things will get much more dangerous,” Stern said.
“Alright,” Rychel said. She wasn’t sure how she was going to sleep with the anticipation of things to come. Perhaps Doctor Karzen wouldn’t be opposed to giving her a sedative… She resolved to try sleeping the old fashioned way first, and pester Karzen if she couldn’t rest. She knew he was likely tired from the complexity of the cosmetic operations he was performing, and she didn’t want to cause him additional work, regardless of how easy it might be.
Hopping on the lift, she said, “Deck two.” Upon arriving there, she entered the first room on the left, and sat her things down. She didn’t bother undressing, for if they needed her in a hurry, she didn’t want to have to waste time dressing. Laying down on the bed, she was glad that she was accustomed to harder mattresses from being in Dakbar’s bed. She sighed. She missed him more than he would ever know; perhaps more than she should.
Fortunately, between the training she’d done early in the morning, and the excitement since, she was more tired that she realized. It wasn’t long before she fell into a deep sleep.
~*~
“Sular to Rychel,” came the voice over the comm system, and Rychel jolted awake. “Rychel here.”
“We’re nearing the wormhole, please report back to the bridge.”
“Yessir,” she said. Standing up, she stretched quickly. Looking down, she realized that she was still wearing her boots. “Man, I really was tired.”
Arriving on the bridge a few moments later, Stern greeted, “Good morning, sunshine!”
Rychel smothered a giggle behind one hand. “That’s so bizarre coming from a Cardassian.” She shot a glance at Reesa, hoping that she hadn’t caused offense, but Reesa was grinning as well. In fact, if one didn’t know better, they would assume their rag tag group was heading off to Risa, and not some Cardassian penal colony.
Reesa urged the Tak’noret forward, and the main viewer was soon filled with the image of the wormhole. Despite how many time Rychel had seen it in her life, she still found it beautiful beyond her capability to express. She wished she were a writer or a poet, so that she could compare it’s appeal to that of a flower, or a sunset.
“I once read a poem,” Stern said, causing Rychel to jump. Had he read her mind? “In it, the author compared the allure and beauty of the wormhole to that of an Andorian’s vulva.”
“That’s… that’s…” Rychel started, but she wasn’t quite sure what to say.
“Awful?” Reesa suggested, and Rychel nodded. “I’m willing to bet the man never saw an Andorian naked.” Reesa paused. “Do Andorian women even have vulvas?”
“I don’t know that this is the best topic of discussion,” Sular said. “Alright, everyone’s here, lets take her in.” Now it was Sular’s turn to pause. “In this poem, was every vessel that entered the wormhole… er… fornicating with this ‘Andorian woman?’”
“Oh for crying out loud, there are women on the bridge,” Rychel said, although the topic wasn’t particularly appropriate for a male-only bridge, either.
As Reesa directed the Tak’noret into the wormhole, Rychel closed her eyes tightly. She had no idea how telepathy, or communication with the Prophets, or any of those sort of things worked, so she concentrated on thinking one message, as loud as her mindvoice could be: Thank you.
She didn’t expect a response…
...and she did not receive one either.
Emerging a few minutes later, Rychel spared a longing glance at Bajor. If only they had a bit of time so she could stop home, get a bit of hasperat, see if her parents were on the planet at the moment. No, we have a mission, she thought to herself.
“Plot a course for Cardassian territory,” Sular said. “Keep an eye on your sensor readouts. I don’t want any surprises.” Though they weren’t at a high risk to be attacked in the alpha quadrant, that didn’t mean some hotshot Starfleet Captain wouldn’t get it in their head to do something extremely ill-advised.
“Course plotted, sir,” Reesa said.
“Engage,” Sular said. He looked over to Stern, “Any word on that freighter?”
“I’m speaking to our contacts right now, trying to get an idea on their location.”
“We’re making good time, at least,” Sular said. “So unless it’s gotten rerouted, or something…”
“Cardassians tend not to change plans once they’re solidified,” Reesa said.
“Yeah, but there’s always the possibility that we’ve received bad information in the first place,” Stern said.
“At this point, that would be an exceptionally inconvenient thing to happen,” Sular said.
“Oh, let me get the Cardassians on the comm, then. I’ll warn them against inconveniencing Starfleet Intelligence personnel out to remove a political prisoner from their possession,” Stern said.
Rychel giggled at that, “If only that worked.”
“That would make our jobs too easy. Remember, we’re weird. We like the danger and the challenge and the risks…” Stern said, winking.
“We’re approximately three hours from Cardassian territory,” Reesa said.
Rychel took a deep breath. After all of the waiting, they were drawing nearer and nearer to their ultimate destination.
“How you holding up, Rychel?” Sular asked.
“I’m… adjusting. Some moments it feels like we’ve gotten here too fast. Some it feels like we’re still too far away.”
“It always feels like that,” Stern said. “Some missions it’s more of one than the other, but no matter how far off the destination, it’s always some combination of too far and too close.”
Rychel forced herself to relax somewhat, leaning back against the back of her seat for the first time. There was a peculiar clicking, and she pushed herself forward quickly, knowing that wasn’t a good sound at all.
“Rychel!” several voices called out, as she threw herself to the floor before covering her head. It was an unnecessary gesture, though, as the trap had already been sprung. Where her back had been mere moments before, a jagged dagger stuck out, a booby trap that she’d tripped with her weight.
When no apparent harm had come, Rychel sat up, and looked at the seat cushion. Her eyes widened as she saw the dagger that would have severed her spinal cord had she not moved quickly. In disbelief, she reached around, and found a hole in her shirt where the dagger had just barely penetrated it, leaving a scratch behind.
“Are you alright?” Karzen said, rushing to her side. Rychel nodded numbly. Still, he took a quick look at her back. “Ah, just a scratch,” Karzen said. Nonetheless, he quickly repaired the scratch with his dermal regenerator.
Reesa’s eyes had been torn away from the screen, and were as wide as Rychel’s. “I’m so sorry, I must have missed that one!” she exclaimed. The last thing she wanted was to provoke suspicion with a simple oversight.
“It’s alright,” Rychel said, smiling at Reesa. “No harm done, honestly.”
“None to your back, but my heart will never be the same,” Stern said. Realizing that his comment had provoked a frightened look from Reesa, he smiled. “At ease, ensign. You’ve got a lot on your mind, no one faults you for missing a booby trap that didn’t cause any damage.”
Reesa exhaled heavily before focusing on piloting the Tak’noret once more. A heavy silence filled the bridge, as Rychel’s near-accident had hammered in the risks of the mission to everyone. A while later, Reesa broke the silence, “Entering neutral territory.”
“I wonder if this replicator makes popcorn,” Stern said, drawing funny looks from everyone else on the bridge. “What? You can’t tell me that I’m the only one who is hungry right now…”
Sular shook his head, “The more things change, the more things stay the same.”
“Well we can’t just sit here in silence for two more hours. We’ll go mad,” Stern said.
“You’ll go mad. We’ll be happier for it,” Karzen quipped.
Stern’s console beeped, and he looked down at it. “I just received word from our contact. The freighter is proceeding on schedule. It’s ultimate destination is Internment Camp 179. You know, we’ll probably beat it there, I wonder if we can just convince them to turn the prisoner over to us and we’ll convey her the rest of the way.”
“I don’t think that will work the way you think it will,” Sular said. It was clear from his expression that his mind was at work, busily planning the best strategy now that several of the key variables had been figured out.
“We could attack the freighter, it’s shields are likely weak…” Karzen offered.
“We wouldn’t get out of the system, let alone out of Cardassian territory,” Sular said.
“It’s a shame we don’t know what the freighter’s shield frequency is. That would make things easy,” Stern said.
Sular shook his head, “No, they’d notice too quickly. Just because the target isn’t terribly important in the grand scheme of Cardassian politics doesn’t mean they’ll let them go easily. It would be an embarrassment to the Empire.”
“So we either need to find some way to evade detection, or we need to convince them that we are rightfully meant to transport them to another location,” Rychel said.
“Precisely,” Sular said. “I think the former is more likely than the latter, but we’d need someone on the inside to know when the prisoner was left unguarded…”
“I see the expression in your eyes, friend, and I do not like it,” Stern said.
“We have the perfect person to infiltrate the camp,” Sular said slowly, forcing himself to think about the mission at hand, and not the people he was putting at risk. He looked over at Rychel. “Dakbar likely mentioned something of Rychel when he reported back to his contacts. She would be a valuable capture for them.”
Closed
OOC: 10292 Words
Traylen Reesa is an old PC by this writer
Cast of characters:
Lieutenant Kayden Rychel: Everyone’s favorite non-active engineer
Commander Sular Ramos: Kayden Desan’s childhood best friend, Bajoran, Starfleet Intelligence, Leaderly type person
Lt. Commander Torian Lam: Joined Trill, Starfleet Intelligence, Pilot
Lt. Commander Karzen Ohden: Bajoran, Starfleet Intelligence, Doctor
Lt. Commander Murphy Stern: Human, Starfleet Intelligence, Security
Ensign Traylen Reesa: Cardassian/Bajoran Hybrid, Cardassian name Adora Jerek, Pilot
Scroll to the end for a cast of characters.
After being dismissed from her holodeck trainings for the day, Rychel had returned to her assigned quarters in deck 1605, and taken a quick sonic shower. As she emerged a few moments later, feeling more relaxed and refreshed, she strode naked over to the console, and pressed a few keys quickly. Instantly, a readout appeared with the locations of several personnel who were important to her: Dakbar, Desan, and Leria to name a few. Judging from Dakbar’s location, he was likely busy working on whatever Desan had assigned him most recently. Desan was in the Command Center, which surprised her greatly. Normally, it was Desan’s habit to try to remain an “unseen power” around the station, and Rychel knew that if he was up there, something bad was happening. She tried not to let it concern her too much. Things that were bad for Desan weren’t always bad for her.
She blew air out between her teeth, sending wispy tendrils of her bangs flying. She needed a haircut. She needed a strong drink. She needed things to get back to the way they used to be, when things were simple, and she knew who she could and couldn’t trust.
She needed to get laid.
She felt trapped. Ostensibly Desan was training her to do what she wanted to do: be useful to him. But… what would come of it? She was an engineer first. It wasn’t like she was a security officer, already privy to far more information than most. She’d already helped him time and time again with various weapons technologies he sought to possess. After everything she’d seen, the deceptions she’d been through… did she want more? Did she want to be the deceptive one? “Honest, trusting, naive Rychel,” his brother had always called her. The tone was loving, yet even still it was clear that he thought less of her for her naivete. Yet at the same time, she knew he envied her. He longed for the simplicity of life that she had possessed until recently. Still, here she was hoping for the complexity, the control, the influence that he and his fellows possessed. There was always a life of someone else which looked more glamorous than the life one already possessed.
Still, even knowing this, Rychel was bored. And if there was one thing more dangerous than any intelligence officer, it was a bored engineer. Desan had allowed her a cursory amount of control over the various systems within deck 1605, although nothing that she or Dakbar could use in any destructive fashion. Desan trusted Rychel, but he did not share the trust that was in her heart for the Cardassian. He trusted him some amount, of course, or he would have just let the man rot in some Federation penitentiary for the rest of his days. But so long as the Cardassian Empire had some sway in Dakbar’s loyalties, Desan was keeping him on a short leash. Even then, it would take time and effort for the man to prove that he wasn’t evil, but desperate to save his family.
Her hands moved over the console with practiced ease as a plan began to form in her mind. Surveillance and hacking were two common ways of acquiring information, and both appealed to Rychel’s strengths. It shouldn’t be outside of her ability to muck around in the comm system for the deck and overhear something of interest that she could report back to Desan. A grin spread across her face as her fingers continued racing over the console. She evaded security protocols and countermeasures. She disguised her activity as a maintenance program. Deftly, she got to where she wanted to be: the auxiliary conference room’s comm system.
It threw several errors at her the first time she attempted to listen in, but with some diligence, she was able to open up the comm. Leaning back in her chair, she remembered that she hadn’t gotten dressed yet, but that could wait, she had more important things to handle at the moment.
“So what’s the first topic for discussion?” a voice asked. Rychel struggled to identify it. She knew it was familiar but she couldn’t quite figure out why. She leaned forward in here seat once more, closing her eyes to focus more.
“I think there’s only one topic to be discussed. I mean, the mission itself. There are a few different mission-related subjects, though.”
“That’s what I meant.” The first voice again, who sounded more and more familiar the more he spoke.
“Ah, yes. Well, there are three major points; the vessel, the location, and the plan,” number two said. In Rychel’s mind, she could see the man (she believed it was Stern) looking down at a padd, making certain that the details were correct.
“Let’s begin with the simplest: the ship. I assume we’ve got one?”
“Yes sir,” “Stern” said. “We’ve retrieved a Hideki-type Cardassian fighter, which has been momentarily hidden in the asteroid field surrounding the Aurevus system.”
“What about booby traps?” a third voice asked. This was a voice Rychel wasn’t familiar with, and she mentally labeled him “Three.”
“We’ve managed to disable all of the known sort; obviously we will need to exercise caution in our operation of the vessel,” “Stern” said.
“Fair enough, the familiar voice said.
“It’s a shame that we can’t put a Star Stream drive on this thing,” another man said. Rychel’s eyes opened as she realized who this man was: Torian Lam, a Joined Trill who had been part of Desan’s operation for some time now. He was one of Desan’s most trusted advisors, and Rychel knew that whatever she was listening to was big. She grinned once more. This was going to be perfect!
“So the plan, then, is to take a runabout from the station, and rendezvous with the Hideki-type?” the familiar voice asked. With more perspective, Rychel realized he was Sular Ramos, a Bajoran whom Desan had known since his childhood on Bajor.
“Yessir,” “Stern” said. Rychel was becoming more certain that her identification had been correct. “Lt. Commander Lam has reserved a runabout, it is being minded by Intelligence personnel right now in section 137 of the docking bay. He will pilot that vessel to and from the Aurevus-system.”
“And who will pilot the Hideki-type?” Commander Sular asked.
“The ensign who stole it for us in the first place,” Stern said.
“I don’t necessarily like that…” Sular cautioned.
“We have to take risks. This is a challenging assignment,” Stern said. “Besides, it’s too risky to take Lt. Commander Lam all the way in. With everything his symbiont knows…”
“I’m not sure we should even been attempting this, regardless of how involved I should or should not be,” Lam contributed.
“‘Ours not to question why,’” Stern quoted. He wisely left the latter half unspoken.
“Indeed,” Sular said. “And the location?”
“There are two; fortunately they are both near one another. The Arawath colony, or Internment Camp 179. The Internment Camp is in an asteroid belt near the colony.”
“We don’t know for certain?” Sular asked.
“No, sir. We know that the prisoner was transferred from a Galor-class cruiser to a freighter, and said freighter’s flight plan went near that system,” Stern said.
“The freighter is slow, compared to the Hideki-type we’ve outfitted for this particular mission,” Lam said. “So long as we move quickly, we should be able to get to the system around the same time as the freighter, or shortly after.”
“Leaving the plan itself somewhat up in the air,” Sular said.
Though she could not see what was going on, Rychel was certain Stern had shrugged. “We’re Starfleet’s finest, sir. I trust that any plan we improvise will be better than a plan the Cardies could put together in weeks,” Stern said.
“That said, we need to be careful. Since it appears that timeliness is critical to mission success, let us meet in thirty at the runabout,” Sular said. “I’ll let Commander Kayden know that Operation Zeitgeist is underway."
Rychel wasn't ordinarily the impulsive sort. Sure, there were those who would point to her relationship with a Cardassian or her "tactical suicide attempt" as evidence otherwise, but in general she made sold life decisions the rational way: after careful consideration. There was nothing rational about what she did now, which was throw a few outfits into a bag that already contained tools, a weapon, and survival supplies and head towards the door. She stopped herself at some point, remembering that she hadn't put any clothes on her body, but remedied that quickly enough. Outside of deck 1605, everyone believed that she was off duty, so it wasn’t like she could just throw on her uniform and be on her way. She decided on a tight-fitting black outfit, which would help her blend in a bit more.
She transported herself to the airlock outside docking bay section 137, and checked a chronometer. She still had ten minutes left to spare.
“Rychel, what are you doing here?” one of the guards tasked with minding the runabout asked.
“Yes, Rychel, what are you doing here?” came the voice of Stern, coming up behind her.
“I know where you’re going,” Rychel said.
“Indeed. Did you think you could eavesdrop on our meeting without anyone noticing?” Stern asked.
Rychel’s shoulders slumped some. “I know what mission this is. I know I’m the reason behind it. It’s not fair that you all will risk your lives for something that only I believe in,” she pressed. She knew that she was pushing her luck, but she hoped that her conviction would sway him.
“Your brother will kill me.”
“My brother needs to understand that I’m a grown woman and he can’t protect me for the rest of my life,” Rychel said.
“That said, you won’t be the one getting punished. Sure, you’ll get a slap on the wrist, but me… Desan might take my commission or worse,” Stern said.
“If I was anyone else… if I was this involved, this invested, would you tell me no?”
“It’s not as easy as all that, Rychel…”
“Oh? That’s funny, I was under the impression that you were your own man and you made your own decisions, regardless of what Desan said,” Rychel said, trying another tactic.
“That will not work on me,” Stern said.
“If she wants to come along, let her,” Sular said, coming up behind their little group. “The fact is, we don’t have an engineer, and we could use one.”
“But Desan…”
“Desan said to use all the resources we had available to us. He should have been more specific if Rychel wasn’t one,” Sular said.
Rychel’s eyes widened as the Bajoran walked over to the guards, who allowed him entry to the airlock. “You coming or not? We’re in a hurry,” he called.
“Y-yes sir!” Rychel said, surprised that had worked. Still, Stern didn’t seem too thrilled with the decision, though now the repercussions would fall to Sular. Rychel scrambled into the runabout, intending upon setting her things in the aft compartment, which she’d assumed would be outfitted with the short term bunk module. Instead she found… well, she didn’t know what she’d found.
Stern sensed her confusion. “You think Starfleet Intelligence hasn’t shrunk the Star Stream drive down to an acceptable size?”
“Wow,” was all she was capable of saying, a response that sent Sular chuckling.
“We won’t be on this vessel long,” Sular said. “Come up here to the cockpit.”
Rychel did as she was told, hesitating slightly. Lam had snuck in while she was awestruck, and had taken over the flight ops console. Sular was at the Ops console, and Stern was manning weapons. Her face flushing, she took the engineering console.
“This isn’t a test, just relax and do your job,” Sular said, and Rychel relaxed ever-so-slightly. “Is it just the four of us?” she asked.
“Five,” said the man whose voice caused Rychel to cringe slightly. It was her brother’s favorite Doctor, Karzen Ohden. He studied Rychel for a moment. “Uh, does bossman know we’ve acquired a tagalong?”
Rychel’s face was hot, but this time it wasn’t out of embarrassment. Before she could protest, Stern spoke up on her behalf. “She’s not a tagalong, Doc, she’s an asset.”
“Ah. Well then. That makes us look so much better when Desan needs someone to flay,” Karzen said. “Regardless, let us be on our way, we’ve no time for dilly-dallying.”
“Permission to depart has been granted,” Sular said. “Whenever you’re ready, Lam.”
“It’s so nice to be able to jump to the head of the line when departing,” Lam commented.
“I think they’re trying to clear room out for the Talon,” Sular said, forgetting for the moment that Rychel had once been assigned to the vessel.
“The… the Talon?” Rychel asked. Maybe she should stay behind…
“Yeah, she’s being towed back,” Sular said. “And before you ask, I don’t honestly know. The mission she departed on was to be routine. I’m sure I received a memo on where it had all went to hell, but alas, I’ve had bigger concerns on my mind.”
“Nothing is ever routine in this quadrant,” Stern commented, and there was a chorus of “mmhmms” from all present.
There was a brief lull in conversation as Lam skillfully maneuvered the runabout out of the docking bay.Once they were free of the station, Sular said, “Take us to the other side of the Etimon star, then enter the Star Streams.” The energy fields that surrounded Etimon would help to disguise their runabout’s unique capabilities.
“It’s still a shame we couldn’t outfit the Hideki-type with a Star Stream drive,” Lam said, “even though I won’t be flying her. It would make the mission go a lot quicker.” He skillfully manipulated the controls, guiding the runabout into the Star Stream with ease. “We’ll arrive in the Aurevus asteroid belt in approximately 45 minutes.”
“Is the Cardassian vessel safe there?” Rychel asked.
“As safe as anything in this quadrant is,” Sular answered. The Aurevans have been quite friendly with the Federation, and it’s extremely difficult for sensors to penetrate through the belt. You need a very skilled pilot to get in and out in one piece.”
“Ah,” Rychel said. She went back to quietly minding her terminal, and pretending that she wasn’t shocked by the sheer volume of power the runabout was utilizing.
“So your primary duty, Rychel,” Stern began, “is to ensure that the Hideki-type stays in one piece, preferably until we’re back in this quadrant. If that isn’t possible though, then we just need to get back in to Federation territory.”
Rychel nodded. Her gaze drifted to the front viewscreen, where brilliant colors flashed on the screen as they traversed the pathways that the Etimonians had revealed. She’d seen them before, on her few short bridge assignments aboard the Talon, but ordinarily she had other things that she was supposed to be focusing on when she was there. “Is it typical to bring a doctor along on these sorts of missions?”
“This mission is a bit different than most,” Sular said, somewhat delicately.
“Oh?”
“We can’t exactly march three Bajorans into any sort of Cardassian facility, and while we’d have better luck with a human, it would still hinder us greatly,” Karzen offered.
“Oh.” Rychel said, wrapping her mind around the concept. She remembered words Dakbar had thrust upon her a month ago, asking if Desan would have her remove her ridges, too. Her nose crinkled further as she frowned, but she tried not to think about it too much. What would Dakbar say if he’d heard what she was doing? Would he find the gesture noble? Foolhardy? She regretted not having more time to let him know where she was going.
Save Lam, who needed to constantly monitor his terminal, the other passengers in the runabout had taken advantage of this time to read from padds they’d brought with them. Rychel, used to flights with friends, or at least compatriots, found the silence awkward. She debated several times bringing up some topic of discussion, but what did these men find interesting? Did they like sports? Science? Politics? Music? With Desan, she had known him as a brother before meeting him as an Intelligence Officer. These other men seemed different. Unapproachable. Above her station. For the first time since she’d departed deck 1605, she was having second thoughts.
She looked over to Stern, who had been responsible for much of her training ever since Desan had agreed to let her learn some of the ins and outs of espionage. She knew him better than the rest of the men in the runabout with her, and she ran a month of interactions through her mind, trying to pinpoint any hobbies or where he was from, or his first name, or… anything. But though she had a great memory, and was able to replay many conversations back in her mind, she found nothing useful to her cause.
He knew everything about her. The way Desan used to push her hair out of her face when she had a fever as a child. Her struggle to accept the Bajoran faith, which had ultimately resulted in her atheism. How she felt like she was untouchable when she was scaling the a wall or a cliff, regardless of how great the danger would be if she fell. Stern had asked her questions, shown interest in every stupid, insignificant detail that she had ever told her, made her feel important in a way that few others ever could.
Was it a lie? Was it a way to get inside her mind and report back to Desan? Was it the simple habit of a man akin to gathering and keeping secrets, or something more than that? She’d questioned the motives of others ever since her brother had brought her into “his” world; a world of spies and secrets. She longed to know that just one person liked her for her, and not for what she represented in the world.
These thoughts kept her preoccupied until the runabout departed the Star Streams a while later.
“I have to bring her out early,” Lam said. “The asteroid field is… well…” he gestured to the viewer.
At first, Rychel cocked her head to the side, trying to make sense of what she saw on the viewer. She’d seen many, many asteroid fields before, but none were quite like this one. So many people were quick to dismiss asteroids as boring hunks of rock, and Rychel admitted that there were many things in space far more interesting. Still, these particular rocks were fascinating, striated in various hues which reminded Rychel of tiger stripes. The density of the asteroids was far higher than in most asteroid belts, and the light of the Aurevan star fought to penetrate the field, its rays refracting in random patterns as they found their way to the galaxy outside.
“What are the people here like?” Rychel asked, jumping slightly as her voice broke the awed silence of the runabout.
“They’re synaesthetic,” Stern said, and Rychel chafed somewhat, her previous hesitations regarding the man coming back into play. “Their skin resembles the color patterns you’d find on a tropical fish, and their culture is strongly oriented around artistic expression.”
“They sound fascinating,” Rychel said. “Are they aware that you’re using their asteroid belt for intrigue?”
“They are aware we’re parking a few vessels in their asteroid belt,” Sular said.
“That’s not particularly honest,” Rychel commented.
“Very little penetrates this belt. So long as it doesn’t end up on their side, they aren’t terribly interested in why we’re leaving it here,” Sular explained.
“Particularly since it’s ugly,” Lam added. “I’m not going to lie, I’m not too sad about missing out on the next chapter of this little story.”
“I’m sure they don’t think our ships are attractive, either,” Stern said.
Rychel looked around a bit, surprised. As they drew nearer to the dangerous part of their mission, the men around her had relaxed. Stern was smiling, for crying out loud, grin stretched from ear to ear, practically, and Rychel was pretty certain he’d never once even smirked in her presence before. Yet where there was once tension, and a silence she was terrified to interrupt, there was now… calm?
“You still with us, rookie?” Sular asked, turning his seat around to face her.
“I…” Rychel wasn’t sure how to answer. “It’s different than I’m used to.”
“Men like us,” Stern began, and Rychel suddenly realized that she’d been completely wrong about the man. “This is what we live for. The moments between missions, the bureaucracy, the paperwork… that is the part we cannot abide.”
“The adrenaline is rather addictive,” Karzen said.
Stern nodded, “Trying to function in between missions, devoid of that adrenaline, the risk, the danger… it’s hard.”
“It’s what makes good operatives go rogue,” Sular added. “The higher up you progress, the further you are from the action. The best way to get in the shit again, so to speak, is to do something risky.”
“But Desan…” Rychel started, until she realized that everyone was shaking their heads.
“Desan is a different sort. He excelled at field work but… you could always tell it was too small scale for him. He wanted more. Bigger. Faster. Harder. That’s not to say there’s anything wrong with that. You need people who look at the big picture and take command. He’s just not the same type of person we are,” Sular said. “I’ve known him since we were both boys, and he’s been this way ever since we were small.”
As the discussion continued, Rychel’s impressions of all of her fellows for this mission changed. Gone was the belief that Stern was controlling, forcing others to speak of themselves to avoid having to speak of himself. Gone with it was the belief that these men knew no fun.
This was what they found fun. Risk. Espionage. Fighting the “good fight” behind the scenes. They weren’t aloof and distant, they were forcing themselves to endure the hours, days, and weeks that separated them from their next high. Even the more conservative-seeming Karzen was grinning now. The aura inside the runabout was electric, and it gave Rychel goosebumps.
“C’mon now, I’m trying to concentrate!” Lam said, though even his features were frozen in a mirthful state.
“It’s just an asteroid belt, not like you’re doing anything hard over there,” Sular teased.
“Yeah, seriously, you’ve got a symbiont and everything helping you out, too,” Karzen added.
“You think you could come over here and do any better?” Lam said. Despite his levity, Rychel could see sweat beading on his forehead.
Rychel’s second realization came a few moments later, when Rychel realized that it wasn’t that Desan didn’t want her to be like him. Desan was surrounded by men like Stern, Sular, and Lam at all times. He knew their weakness. Their addiction. The need to be in the thick of bad situations at all times. Still, Rychel couldn’t ever see herself following such a path…
Except…
She already had.
Looking back at her own life since she’d ended up aboard the Talon, she could see an absurd pattern of risk-seeking behavior. Sure, she hadn’t known what Dakbar was going to end up doing, but at the same time, she had seen all the warning signs and just careened on past them to do what she wanted to do. As a child she’d tried to do two things: climb the highest structures she could find, and blow things up. Even joining Starfleet came with plenty of risks attached, risks she’d gladly accepted, and even wanted more of. And then… there was her present state of affairs, zipping through a densely packed asteroid field with a bunch of crazy super-spies, en route to Cardassian territory.
“If my life was a holonovel, this would be the point where people started yelling at me,” Rychel said softly.
“What’d you say?” Stern asked.
“Nothing,” Rychel said.
“Relax, kid. That’ll make the whole ‘fearing for your life thing’ go by much easier,” Stern teased.
Rychel looked over at Stern, grinning somewhat as she understood why he’d never spoke of himself. Intelligence officers were a rare breed, who felt ill at ease when around more mundane people. In partaking in this mission, Rychel was slowly elevating herself in their eyes… even though she’d likely get them all skinned alive when her brother found out about this.
“Are we there yet?” Karzen asked.
“Almost,” Lam said. True to form, a moment later Rychel noticed something a bit more reflective than the asteroids surrounding them.
“There it is,” she said. She wasn’t terribly familiar with Cardassian vessel classes, and she had to admit that the vessel they were approaching was far, far smaller than what she’d expected. It was still longer than the runabout they were riding in by a factor of four times or a bit more, but she was far more acquainted with Cardassian warships.
“Do they only have one ship blueprint?” Karzen asked. “All of their ships look exactly the same, just different sizes.”
“Their engineers aren’t terribly good,” Rychel said.
“Well, let’s hope you can figure out their vessels quick, especially if we come across a booby trap,” Stern said.
“I’m up to the challenge,” Rychel said, with bravado she didn’t entirely feel. Still, how hard could it be?
Lam stopped the runabout close to the Cardassian vessel, which Rychel assumed was some sort of close combat “fighter” type. Still, it was at least a few decks high, and appeared to have a decent compliment of weapons, which was a start. “Grab your things, the Intelligence Express will be departing the station shortly,” Lam said.
Rychel grabbed her bag of things, and smiled at Lam as the Trill beamed the four of them over to the Cardassian vessel. She shuffled from one foot to the other, waiting to see what everyone else was going to do.
“What’d I tell you, rookie,” Sular said. “You’re not being tested. Just do what you engineers normally do.”
“Hah! Engineers. Normal,” Stern said.
Rychel headed up to the front of the vessel, intending to have a look at the schematics for the vessel, and to acquaint herself with the controls. Seeing the back of someone’s head at the helm, she decided to make her presence known, so as not to sneak up on someone. “Hey there,” she said, trying not to be too cheerful.
The pilot’s head swiveled around quickly, grey eyes meeting Rychel’s own green ones. “You. What are you doing here?” she asked, then remembered the matter of rank and protocol. “I mean… Lieutenant.”
“En–” Rychel started to say, but then remembered that technically, neither of them was on duty at the moment. “Reesa. I’m not sure what all has happened since we were together on the Talon, but my goal right now is simply the mission at hand.”
Reesa’s eyes squinted a bit as the half-Cardassian fought to determine whether or not the Bajoran was being sincere or not. Regardless, the mission would go a lot easier if they were on good terms. “As is mine,” she said. “I apologize it’s been a rough couple months for those of us in Starfleet who aren’t “approved” species.”
Rychel caught the insinuation. Between M’Khol’s defection and Dakbar’s sabotage, it was not an easy time for members of non-Federation species. “I wish I could say that I understand, but it’s not something I’ve experienced. I… I am sorry though.”
Reesa’s expression was unreadable, but her head dipped down slightly in acknowledgement. “Your brother does what he must do.”
“He always has,” Rychel said, more for her own benefit than for Reesa’s.
“So you can get us out of here safely?” Sular asked, coming up behind Rychel. Rychel busied herself locating the Engineering console. It was a more difficult task than she had anticipated.
“I got her in safely,” Reesa said. “I admit, I envy Lieutenant Commander Lam. He had the easier part of the deal.”
“How are shields looking?” Sular asked, and Rychel looked about, confused.
“I… can’t seem to find the engineering terminal, sir,” she admitted finally.
“Over there,” Reesa said, pointing the last console that Rychel would have ever thought to look at. It was small, and put away in a far corner of the bridge.
“Thanks,” Rychel said, not feeling terribly bad about the oversight. Perhaps she’d go back to Dakbar with a greater knowledge of his kind and their culture. Thus assuming that she went back at all, and that he wished to associate with her, of course. And that Desan doesn’t ground me when I get back to the station…
“Do we have permission to take this vessel back through the wormhole?” Reesa asked.
“The station’s Captain has been notified that a Cardassian vessel matching the description of this one will be passing through, and to allow it to go through without question,” Sular said.
“Shields seem to be at 100%, or at least as close to it as Cardassian engineering is capable of getting,” Rychel said. Then, realizing that Reesa might be offended, she cringed somewhat, looking over at the pilot. “Sorry!”
Reesa shrugged, “It’s true. What’s the plan then?”
“Take this baby to the Arawath sector and figure out the rest from there,” Sular said. Reesa’s eyes widened, but she said nothing. “You’ll need a bit of touchup,” Sular said, gesturing to his own forehead and nose. What is this ship called, anyhow?”
“The Tak’noret,” Reesa said, and Rychel did her best to memorize it in case she needed to use it as a cover story later… or worse, was quizzed.
“All systems functional, no obvious booby traps identified,” Rychel said.
“I disarmed the majority of them,” Reesa said.
“Why not all of them?” Stern asked.
“I misspoke… I disarmed the ones I could find. Cardassians are constantly changing those things,” Reesa said.
“How do people not die every time they get transferred?” Rychel asked, genuinely curious.
Reesa shrugged, “Cardassians have good memories. The ones that don’t are better off dead, anyhow.”
It was a chilling, and likely true, observation of what it meant to be a Cardassian. The more things like this Rychel learned, the more she felt for Helik. It was more than just the torture and control they’d inflicted on him, it was a system that left one ill-prepared for handling other cultures… which was likely exactly what the Cardassians were going for.
“Alright, let’s get underway,” Sular said. Looking over at Reesa, he said, “Do what you’ve got to do to get us out of here in one piece.” He didn’t want the freighter they were pursuing to get ahead of them, but that was a secondary concern to wanting to live to see at least one more day.
“I’ll never forgive myself if I die to an asteroid instead of doing something cool,” Stern said.
“What is your definition of cool?” Rychel asked.
Sular grinned, “Now she’s starting to become one of us, she’s already giving you hell!”
“I… I didn’t mean to, it was a serious question,” Rychel said.
“Well, you see, Stern has stupid ideas on what’s cool or not,” Sular explained. “So, Stern, what is cool?”
“Oh, you know, having sex with two women at the same time, while flying a runabout through a slalom of asteroids,” Stern suggested.
Rychel rolled her eyes, “As if you could have sex with two women at the same time,” she said. Then, realizing what she’d done, she clapped both hands over her mouth. “S-sorry!”
Sular was about to lose it he was laughing so hard. When he’d recovered enough to speak, he said, “I like her better than the brother.”
“I dunno, Desan wouldn’t tease me like that,” Stern argued.
“No, Desan would pull out a holorecording of him doing exactly that, while at the same time winning a game of chess versus a Vulcan grandmaster,” Sular said, then realized that perhaps wasn’t the shining mental picture that his baby sister wanted to have.
Rychel’s eyes were wide as saucers. “Does…. is Desan really like that?”
“There isn’t a thing that we’ve found to date that Desan is bad at, save caring about other people. Well, with the exception of you and your sisters, that is,” Stern said.
“He never had much of an affinity for our brothers,” Rychel said. “I mean, he cares about them, but not to the degree that he cares about myself and my sisters.” Rychel spared a glance over to the viewer, noting with some appreciation that Reesa was handily making her way through the asteroid field. Rychel made a mental note to send praise for her to Desan.
“He even treats you completely different than Leria,” Stern said. “Why is that?”
“Ohhhh, no,” Rychel said, wagging a finger. “You’re not going to get me to tell all of Desan’s secrets.
Sular laughed once more, “Oh, the girl is clever. I like it!”
“It’s not about his secrets, I’m honestly curious,” Stern said.
Rychel paused a moment, sincerely pondering the question, “I think it’s a few things, actually. First, none of my other sisters were big on risks. They just wanted to succeed, so they didn’t waste time with things like rock climbing or blowing things up.”
Stern grinned at Rychel, “Ah, a woman after my own heart.”
“Down boy,” Sular cautioned. “She’s still bossman’s sister.”
“Compared to–” Stern started, but wisely decided not to finish it. “So what else?”
“Well, I’m the youngest, too,” Rychel said. “Our parents were away a lot, so Desan took care of me until I was nearly 10 and he left for Starfleet.”
“Wait, did Desan change your diapers and such!?” Stern said, his tone full of disbelief.
“I… maybe?” Rychel said. “I don’t remember being that little!”
“Alright, alright, come on now,” Karzen said. “I’ve setup in Sickbay, or whatever passes for it soon. Which one of your pretty mugs is the first to try out a ridged look.”
Rychel looked around. None of the officers present seemed in too much hurry to end up looking like a Cardassian.
“Don’t you all jump for the opportunity at once,” Karzen said. He was rewarded with silence, and people avoiding looking him in the eyes. He sighed. “C’mon now, women are always talking about a man with ridges. Stern, you need a good woman, let’s get you taken care of, shall we?”
“I like my face, though,” Stern said. “Are you sure you’ll put it all back together again properly when we’re all done?”
“I dunno,” Karzen said slowly. He walked over to Stern, studying his face carefully. “The present one is pretty asymmetrical, it’s hard to duplicate something that lopsided.”
“Ass,” Stern said, though he walked along with the doctor. “Wish me well, for I am off to the land of Karzen’s tender ministrations.”
“They’re the only tender ministrations you’ll ever come by, so you best run along with him,” Sular said.
As Stern departed, Rychel looked over at Sular, “Are you guys always like this?”
Sular shook his head, “Nah, when there aren’t women around, we swear a lot more.”
“That wasn’t exactly what I meant…” Rychel said.
“You mean giving each other a hard time? Yeah. We’ve all been working together for a long time. It gets boring real quick,” Sular said. He hesitated before adding, “And when we’re like this, en route to a mission that we know is going to be difficult… we have anxiety. None of us wants to admit it, sure, but we have it nonetheless. I guess we just handle stressful situation by diffusing them with humor.”
“I just can’t imaging Desan ever doing that,” Rychel said.
“He doesn’t really. I think the jokes entertain him— I mean, the man isn’t completely devoid of humor regardless of how much he may act like he is— but he’s always been… different. Where we all need humor to get around the anxiety, despite how much we love what we do, Desan hates failure. He believes that he can plan for every contingency. So when we’re riding off to save the day, he spends the time thinking, planning, considering. For each plan he finally goes with, he probably throws away 100 others that weren’t applicable, or weren’t good enough.”
“But… what happens when Desan fails?” Rychel asked. Personally, it was one of her greatest fears in life. She couldn’t see Desan taking failure well… at all.
“That’s why Desan has us. We make sure he never needs to,” Sular said, in the manner of one who wasn’t accepting argument.
“Departing the asteroid belt now,” Reesa said. To Rychel, the other woman didn’t appear to be too bothered, but she suspected that Reesa was far better than most at keeping her feelings and fears to herself.
“Good, nice work, ensign,” Sular said. “Let’s try and keep a low profile, avoid the normal trade routes between here and the wormhole. I don’t want to attract any more attention to our vessel than we absolutely have to.” While the Cardassians weren’t officially at war with anyone at the moment, a small vessel alone in the gamma quadrant might attract the wrong sort of attention.
“Yessir,” Reesa said. She plotted in a few different courses in case she needed additional options later, before laying in a course to the wormhole.
It was warmer in the Cardassian vessel than what Rychel was used to, and she reached into her bag, and pulled out a hair tie. As she pulled back her hair, Sular stared at her curiously. “I didn’t think there were that many of us,” he said.
“I’m sorry?” Rychel asked, confused.
Sular gestured to his ear, which much like Rychel’s bore no traditional earring. “Those who have departed from the tradition of prophet worship.”
“I believed as a child. My skepticism began when I left for the Academy, but I went through the motions until recently. I mean… if I accept the Prophets as deities, doesn’t that mean I need to accept Q as one, too? I respect them; they’re wondrous creatures with capabilities that far exceed those of mere linear mortals. But I like believing that I control my fate.”
“Your argument sounds much like Desan’s,” Sular said.
“Oh, he didn’t force any of us to feel the same way, but he did present us with his thoughts on the matter, and over time, his mentality became pervasive.”
“Have all of your siblings left?”
“No,” Rychel said. “Leria left pretty early on; as soon as she was accepted into Starfleet Medical, I think. A few of our other siblings have departed as well. I mean, we grew up at the Science Institute. Although… I suspect my mother would like it if one of us ended up as a Vedek. But that’s more for the prestige and such.” She hesitated, trying to decide whether she should mention her more recent run in with the Prophets. It was something she’d wanted to tell someone, but had lacked a proper audience for. “I… something that happened recently made me reconsider, though.”
“Oh? I can’t imagine that anything could make me reconsider,” Sular said.
“There was an incident on Etimon, with myself and Dakbar…”
“When he attempted to kill you?”
Rychel squeezed her eyes shut. Despite knowing the reasons, she hated thinking back to Dakbar’s attempt at a murder-suicide. “Yeah.”
“There was something more than you’d mentioned already?”
“Dakbar told me what he saw when he was on the biobed and Sig was fighting to save his life. He told me that he saw figures, with piercing, bright-blue eyes,” Rychel said.
“He’s Prophet touched?” Sular asked, incredulous.
“I… I don’t really like using that term for him, given my own skepticism…” Rychel said.
“Gods or not, they protect the children of Bajor,” Reesa said.
“But he attempted to kill a child of Bajor,” Rychel said.
“The Prophets don’t view the galaxy in the same way we do. Again, Gods or not… they have many abilities we don’t. They can see into someone’s heart and mind in a way that even Q can’t seem to,” Sular said.
“That’s one reason I fought so hard to protect him,” Rychel said. “Even though everyone thinks I’m foolish, or that I have Stockholm Syndrome, or any number of other mental “afflictions” the counselors have named… the Prophets can tell what’s in someone’s heart.”
“You can’t help who you love,” Reesa said softly. Rychel wasn’t certain whether or not she should ask a probing question to get the other woman talking, or just let her open up on her own terms if she was so inclined.
“The heart wants what the heart wants,” Sular said. “Just because its choice doesn’t make logical sense for some reason or another doesn’t make the love felt any less real.”
Rychel heard footsteps approaching, and she looked up quickly, before doing a double take. Despite knowing that Stern was going to be cosmetically altered to appear Cardassian, it was still odd to see. Realizing she was staring she said, “Sorry, it’s just...”
Stern grinned, “It’s alright.” He made a few odd facial expressions, before saying, “It is really weird getting used to your face moving differently than normal.” He looked over at Reesa. “I can handle getting us the rest of the way to the wormhole, why don’t you go let Doctor Karzen take care of you.”
“Yessir,” Reesa said, standing up quickly so Stern could take the helm. “Keep her in one piece,” she joked as she departed.
“How far are we from the Arawath system?” Rychel asked. As a location within Cardassian territory, Rychel wasn’t terribly familiar with it.
“Just shy of a week,” Stern said.
“That far?!” Oh, she was going to be flayed alive by Desan. “Wait a minute. If it’s that far off, then why is Doctor Karzen doing the procedures right now?”
“A couple reasons,” Stern said. He paused for a moment, trying to acquaint himself with the Cardassian navigation system. “First, because we could run into Cardassian vessels en route to the system, and it wouldn’t look good if there were no Cardassians aboard. Second, it’s difficult to adjust to having all the ridges. Facial expressions are odd for a while. We need to be able to act like Cardassians.”
“Are you…” Rychel started, “or rather, am I…?”
“Going to undergo the procedure? Probably not. Reesa will, as she will handle communications with the Cardassians since she’s fluent in the language,” Sular said. “I haven’t precisely figured in how we’re going to use you yet. I have a few ideas. I’ll let you know when the time comes.”
“Ok,” Rychel said. She didn’t like the uncertainty of it all, but without knowing where their ultimate destination was, or what the game plan was, it was difficult to speak with any certainty. “Do the replicators in this serve any real food, or just Cardassian things?”
“We haven’t reprogrammed them at all,” Stern said. “I hope you’re feeling adventurous.”
“Well, I’ll eat anything,” Rychel said. She had food supplies for around a week’s worth of meals in her bag, but she didn’t want to resort to that unless absolutely necessary. She punched buttons experimentally on the replicator nearest her, and a moment later, something vaguely resembling food appeared.
“Intelligence officers must have iron stomachs,” Stern said. “You never know what you’ll need to eat to avoid blowing your cover. Heart of targ. Ferengi bugs. Haggis. All sorts of terrible crap.”
Rychel picked up something vaguely resembling a taco from her plate, and began to chew at it. Frowning, she swallowed. “Well, this isn’t great, but I’ve had worse.”
“That’s the spirit!” Stern said. Looking behind him to ensure that she hadn’t snuck back in without him noticing, he added, “I feel bad for Reesa, ya know.”
“Oh?” Rychel said. She hadn’t really encountered the woman much, though she had read through expressions that Reesa did not care for her. “I don’t think she likes me much. She seemed to object to a Cardassian and a Bajoran being involved.”
“I suspect she alternates between wishing she was fully Bajoran and fully Cardassian. It’s hard to be a mixture of two cultures so utterly opposed to one another,” Stern said. “She probably feared the two of you would bring another child like her into the world.”
“The galaxy is a progressively more accepting place,” Rychel said.
“Sometimes I see why your brother says you’re naive,” Stern said. “It’s easy to overlook hate and discrimination when you aren’t the target.”
“That’s true. I just… I wish there was some way that I could make it a better galaxy. And I love being a weapons specialist, because it’s something I’m good at. But… weapons don’t really promote peace.”
“They do and they don’t,” Sular said. “It’s a tricky thing. You can use firepower to protect the weak. Or you can use it to enslave, control, or dominate. You have to trust that the people you’re designing them for will use them in a way that promotes a better galaxy.”
“Perspective is hard, too. Many Cardassians, for example, believe that they are working for the greater good. And from the perspective that they’re protecting their way of life, the beliefs they feel are conducive to long term success, they are. The galaxy isn’t black and white. You don’t have good guys and bad guys separated into neat categories. There are many shades of grey, and often several shades exist within each person,” Sular said.
“Wow, that’s… I never really thought of it that way,” Rychel said. “I know I look at the Occupation, and I see the Cardassians doing what they felt was necessary to ensure their families didn’t starve. If I thought there were only two options, starvation and enslaving another, I don’t know which path I’d take. Particularly if I had children. And Cardassians value their own children above all else.”
“I have a son,” Stern said. “He’s three now. His mother takes care of him; Intelligence just isn’t a career suitable for a “family man.” And there are some days when I think of him, and I wonder what lengths I’d go to for him.”
“I’m sorry,” Rychel said. “That must be hard for you. Do you get to see him at all?”
“From time to time. His mother is station at DS9. I go there when I’m on leave. But she and I aren’t together again, and I wonder sometimes if there was another man in her life if she would be as accommodating about me spending time with him.”
“Life isn’t easy for the large majority of people,” Rychel said. “Sure, some people have it better or worse than others, but most have hardship. I think so long as she wasn’t seeing someone insecure that things wouldn’t need to change.”
“Yeah,” Stern said, though his tone was distant. He shook his head, “No more sadness. None of that on the way to a mission.”
“That’s a good philosophy. And when we’re on the way back and aren’t in a hurry, perhaps you can make a quick trip to DS9,” Rychel said.
When Reesa returned a few moments later, Rychel almost didn’t recognize her. Though her change was far less drastic than Stern’s since she already had ridges, there was a marked change in her carriage. She seemed somehow more sure of herself.
“The doctor is waiting for you, Commander Sular,” Reesa said.
Sular sighed. “My mother would have a coronary if she knew that I was going to be pretending that I was a Cardassian.”
“It could be worse,” Rychel said, “you could be pretending you were a Tellarite.”
“Ah, man, now I want some pulled pork…” Stern said. After Sular’s departure, he looked over at Rychel. “So what’s your brother’s deal? Think he’ll ever be a dad?”
Rychel considered it for a moment, “I think he’d be a good father, but the longer he works as an Intelligence officer, the more he realizes how much his family suffers as a result of their connection to him. A child would have it much worse. Besides, I don’t think he could handle having one woman stay in his life for that long.”
“I think we all feel that way,” Stern said, momentarily forgetting that there were two women on the bridge with him. “Uh… sorry.”
“It’s alright,” Rychel said. “How much longer until we reach the wormhole?”
“Eight hours,” Reesa said.
“Eight?” Rychel asked, her tone incredulous. “Man, I really am spoiled by the Star Streams.”
“Now you know why we give each other hell when we’re en route somewhere. At least this vessel has a reasonably fast top speed. Sometimes we have cargo vessels or freigthers that do warp 4 or 6,” Stern said.
Rychel ate another one of her “tacos,” fervently hoping that the next thing that came out of the replicator was something that at least tasted good. Perhaps she could have Reesa recommend something.
“Fortunately the Arawath system is near the edge of Cardassian territory,” Reesa said. “Hey, are those falarks?” she asked, eyeing Rychel’s plate from afar. “Those are my favorite!” Rychel made a mental note not to ask Reesa for her suggestions after all. If only Dakbar were here...
“We’re in the middle of nowhere right now. You should head back to one of the crew quarters and get some rest. Once we’re on the other side of the wormhole, things will get much more dangerous,” Stern said.
“Alright,” Rychel said. She wasn’t sure how she was going to sleep with the anticipation of things to come. Perhaps Doctor Karzen wouldn’t be opposed to giving her a sedative… She resolved to try sleeping the old fashioned way first, and pester Karzen if she couldn’t rest. She knew he was likely tired from the complexity of the cosmetic operations he was performing, and she didn’t want to cause him additional work, regardless of how easy it might be.
Hopping on the lift, she said, “Deck two.” Upon arriving there, she entered the first room on the left, and sat her things down. She didn’t bother undressing, for if they needed her in a hurry, she didn’t want to have to waste time dressing. Laying down on the bed, she was glad that she was accustomed to harder mattresses from being in Dakbar’s bed. She sighed. She missed him more than he would ever know; perhaps more than she should.
Fortunately, between the training she’d done early in the morning, and the excitement since, she was more tired that she realized. It wasn’t long before she fell into a deep sleep.
~*~
“Sular to Rychel,” came the voice over the comm system, and Rychel jolted awake. “Rychel here.”
“We’re nearing the wormhole, please report back to the bridge.”
“Yessir,” she said. Standing up, she stretched quickly. Looking down, she realized that she was still wearing her boots. “Man, I really was tired.”
Arriving on the bridge a few moments later, Stern greeted, “Good morning, sunshine!”
Rychel smothered a giggle behind one hand. “That’s so bizarre coming from a Cardassian.” She shot a glance at Reesa, hoping that she hadn’t caused offense, but Reesa was grinning as well. In fact, if one didn’t know better, they would assume their rag tag group was heading off to Risa, and not some Cardassian penal colony.
Reesa urged the Tak’noret forward, and the main viewer was soon filled with the image of the wormhole. Despite how many time Rychel had seen it in her life, she still found it beautiful beyond her capability to express. She wished she were a writer or a poet, so that she could compare it’s appeal to that of a flower, or a sunset.
“I once read a poem,” Stern said, causing Rychel to jump. Had he read her mind? “In it, the author compared the allure and beauty of the wormhole to that of an Andorian’s vulva.”
“That’s… that’s…” Rychel started, but she wasn’t quite sure what to say.
“Awful?” Reesa suggested, and Rychel nodded. “I’m willing to bet the man never saw an Andorian naked.” Reesa paused. “Do Andorian women even have vulvas?”
“I don’t know that this is the best topic of discussion,” Sular said. “Alright, everyone’s here, lets take her in.” Now it was Sular’s turn to pause. “In this poem, was every vessel that entered the wormhole… er… fornicating with this ‘Andorian woman?’”
“Oh for crying out loud, there are women on the bridge,” Rychel said, although the topic wasn’t particularly appropriate for a male-only bridge, either.
As Reesa directed the Tak’noret into the wormhole, Rychel closed her eyes tightly. She had no idea how telepathy, or communication with the Prophets, or any of those sort of things worked, so she concentrated on thinking one message, as loud as her mindvoice could be: Thank you.
She didn’t expect a response…
...and she did not receive one either.
Emerging a few minutes later, Rychel spared a longing glance at Bajor. If only they had a bit of time so she could stop home, get a bit of hasperat, see if her parents were on the planet at the moment. No, we have a mission, she thought to herself.
“Plot a course for Cardassian territory,” Sular said. “Keep an eye on your sensor readouts. I don’t want any surprises.” Though they weren’t at a high risk to be attacked in the alpha quadrant, that didn’t mean some hotshot Starfleet Captain wouldn’t get it in their head to do something extremely ill-advised.
“Course plotted, sir,” Reesa said.
“Engage,” Sular said. He looked over to Stern, “Any word on that freighter?”
“I’m speaking to our contacts right now, trying to get an idea on their location.”
“We’re making good time, at least,” Sular said. “So unless it’s gotten rerouted, or something…”
“Cardassians tend not to change plans once they’re solidified,” Reesa said.
“Yeah, but there’s always the possibility that we’ve received bad information in the first place,” Stern said.
“At this point, that would be an exceptionally inconvenient thing to happen,” Sular said.
“Oh, let me get the Cardassians on the comm, then. I’ll warn them against inconveniencing Starfleet Intelligence personnel out to remove a political prisoner from their possession,” Stern said.
Rychel giggled at that, “If only that worked.”
“That would make our jobs too easy. Remember, we’re weird. We like the danger and the challenge and the risks…” Stern said, winking.
“We’re approximately three hours from Cardassian territory,” Reesa said.
Rychel took a deep breath. After all of the waiting, they were drawing nearer and nearer to their ultimate destination.
“How you holding up, Rychel?” Sular asked.
“I’m… adjusting. Some moments it feels like we’ve gotten here too fast. Some it feels like we’re still too far away.”
“It always feels like that,” Stern said. “Some missions it’s more of one than the other, but no matter how far off the destination, it’s always some combination of too far and too close.”
Rychel forced herself to relax somewhat, leaning back against the back of her seat for the first time. There was a peculiar clicking, and she pushed herself forward quickly, knowing that wasn’t a good sound at all.
“Rychel!” several voices called out, as she threw herself to the floor before covering her head. It was an unnecessary gesture, though, as the trap had already been sprung. Where her back had been mere moments before, a jagged dagger stuck out, a booby trap that she’d tripped with her weight.
When no apparent harm had come, Rychel sat up, and looked at the seat cushion. Her eyes widened as she saw the dagger that would have severed her spinal cord had she not moved quickly. In disbelief, she reached around, and found a hole in her shirt where the dagger had just barely penetrated it, leaving a scratch behind.
“Are you alright?” Karzen said, rushing to her side. Rychel nodded numbly. Still, he took a quick look at her back. “Ah, just a scratch,” Karzen said. Nonetheless, he quickly repaired the scratch with his dermal regenerator.
Reesa’s eyes had been torn away from the screen, and were as wide as Rychel’s. “I’m so sorry, I must have missed that one!” she exclaimed. The last thing she wanted was to provoke suspicion with a simple oversight.
“It’s alright,” Rychel said, smiling at Reesa. “No harm done, honestly.”
“None to your back, but my heart will never be the same,” Stern said. Realizing that his comment had provoked a frightened look from Reesa, he smiled. “At ease, ensign. You’ve got a lot on your mind, no one faults you for missing a booby trap that didn’t cause any damage.”
Reesa exhaled heavily before focusing on piloting the Tak’noret once more. A heavy silence filled the bridge, as Rychel’s near-accident had hammered in the risks of the mission to everyone. A while later, Reesa broke the silence, “Entering neutral territory.”
“I wonder if this replicator makes popcorn,” Stern said, drawing funny looks from everyone else on the bridge. “What? You can’t tell me that I’m the only one who is hungry right now…”
Sular shook his head, “The more things change, the more things stay the same.”
“Well we can’t just sit here in silence for two more hours. We’ll go mad,” Stern said.
“You’ll go mad. We’ll be happier for it,” Karzen quipped.
Stern’s console beeped, and he looked down at it. “I just received word from our contact. The freighter is proceeding on schedule. It’s ultimate destination is Internment Camp 179. You know, we’ll probably beat it there, I wonder if we can just convince them to turn the prisoner over to us and we’ll convey her the rest of the way.”
“I don’t think that will work the way you think it will,” Sular said. It was clear from his expression that his mind was at work, busily planning the best strategy now that several of the key variables had been figured out.
“We could attack the freighter, it’s shields are likely weak…” Karzen offered.
“We wouldn’t get out of the system, let alone out of Cardassian territory,” Sular said.
“It’s a shame we don’t know what the freighter’s shield frequency is. That would make things easy,” Stern said.
Sular shook his head, “No, they’d notice too quickly. Just because the target isn’t terribly important in the grand scheme of Cardassian politics doesn’t mean they’ll let them go easily. It would be an embarrassment to the Empire.”
“So we either need to find some way to evade detection, or we need to convince them that we are rightfully meant to transport them to another location,” Rychel said.
“Precisely,” Sular said. “I think the former is more likely than the latter, but we’d need someone on the inside to know when the prisoner was left unguarded…”
“I see the expression in your eyes, friend, and I do not like it,” Stern said.
“We have the perfect person to infiltrate the camp,” Sular said slowly, forcing himself to think about the mission at hand, and not the people he was putting at risk. He looked over at Rychel. “Dakbar likely mentioned something of Rychel when he reported back to his contacts. She would be a valuable capture for them.”
Closed
OOC: 10292 Words
Traylen Reesa is an old PC by this writer
Cast of characters:
Lieutenant Kayden Rychel: Everyone’s favorite non-active engineer
Commander Sular Ramos: Kayden Desan’s childhood best friend, Bajoran, Starfleet Intelligence, Leaderly type person
Lt. Commander Torian Lam: Joined Trill, Starfleet Intelligence, Pilot
Lt. Commander Karzen Ohden: Bajoran, Starfleet Intelligence, Doctor
Lt. Commander Murphy Stern: Human, Starfleet Intelligence, Security
Ensign Traylen Reesa: Cardassian/Bajoran Hybrid, Cardassian name Adora Jerek, Pilot