Chapter 1
Stardate: 68453.2
Location: Tau Primia, M-class planet, Badlands
Arid winds rushed up the steep cliff face to sweep over the wide mesa, shrubs and bushes reflexively buckled to each and every change in the wind. Such wind should have provided respite in the dry heat but its warmness did little to alleviate this scorcher of a day.
Such weather was typical of Tau Primia, an N-class planet in the middle of the Badlands. Half the planet was a vast desert with an equator uninhabitable to most humanoids, even Tau Primia's so called temperate areas regularly exceeded thirty degrees centigrade. Though the mesa had inadequate shelter at least its elevation took the edge off the often overpowering heat. The mesa provided a great view of the valley below where a mighty river swept along dusty flood plains, on both sides of the valley canyon-esque cliff formations bounded the catchment areas.
Most humanoids would not thrive under such conditions, but this environment was perfect for Cardassians, grey-skinned humanoids with prominent facial and shoulder ridges, a people who adored the heat and a strong sun. A Cardassian settlement had sprung up around the somewhat dilapidated frame of a redoubt which blended into the largely orange and red scenery, no one knew how it got here on this remote world or who created it. What mattered was that it was called home to the two thousand or so occupants who had been living here.
A remote Cardassian colony would be of small importance to the likes of Starfleet and its subsidiary branch Starfleet Intelligence, what was of great importance were the five hundred Cardassian soldiers who guarded the so-called "Butcher of Keram"- Gul Bordak. By chance a Bolian freighter had passed by the Tau Primia star system and picked up transmissions from the planet, two years later and this planet was regularly monitored by Starfleet.
And thus we come back to the mesa and to the casual observer there would be nothing out of the ordinary, indeed holographic technology would fool pretty much anybody if they did not know what to detect for. Inside this technological deception there existed an observation shack covered in desert orange and suitable shrubbery camouflage. Most of the time this shack remained unoccupied, today though it bore resident to one Megan Felpes and her human partner Jack Stiles.
A Starfleet commander and also agent of Starfleet Intelligence, SI, Megan had been tasked with this observational assignment due to the USS Liberty conducting some exploration of a completely different continent upon Tau Primia, this week-long mission just happened to coincide with the mission SI had given to Megan and her colleague to complete.
Monitoring like this sometimes caused Megan's mind to wonder, right now half-focused on the monitor screen in front of her as she thought a bit about the past. The "brown-eyed Mediterranean beauty" some male cadets in the Starfleet Academy would say, especially those looking to date her. This always struck Megan as funny because she was born on the east coast of the former country known as the USA, such silly statements...
And such silly thoughts Megan sternly told herself. Now was not the time for reveries, not when Gul Bordak was expected to come into their line of sight in about half an hour's time. Megan's ship, the Liberty, had intercepted subspace communications coming from the redoubt compound and thus at 1340 hours a meeting should be taking place between Gul Bordak and a contact of his, the Tren captain Abarzjid. Who the Tren were was a mystery both for Megan and her superiors, she had never even seen this alien race before. One thing appeared clear, the Tren were not local to the Alpha Quadrant.
The explorer in Megan buzzed with excitement, after all Starfleet's mission was to seek out new alien races and explore new worlds. The intelligence operative, and her experience, cautioned her otherwise, after all the technological capabilities of the Tren were unknown and in Megan's line of work considering the what ifs was the difference between a nasty surprise and immense peril. What if the Tren were aware of SI's surveillance, how would this alien species respond?
Such questions would gnaw away at any person until they became a dithering, undecided mess, Megan though was made of stronger stuff, she was trained to handle this persistent uncertainty which could change on a short notice. Should the worse happen she and Jack had a contingency plan to make their hasty escape.
As Megan waited for their quarry to arrive, since silence was observed and conversation kept to a bare minimum, the outlet of idle conversation was not provided for her. So instead she focused the optical sensors beyond the redoubt and at the Cardassian settlement. The buildings appeared hastily constructed and their dull gray duranium frames contrasted so vividly with the sandstone landscape. These were hardy people to live in such a wilderness, even for Cardassians...
Jack, her black-skinned, bald colleague, gave her a quick tap on the shoulder and Megan got the hint.
They had located Gul Bordak.
Bordak leaned back into his chair after reading the daily report on the status of the prisoners. He was quite tall, thin and possessed a rather twisted face, it revealed a certain gaunt and reptilian quality about it, and for a Cardassian his facial ridges were unusually pronounced.
To be a Gul was to command a ship, an installation or a battalion of men. Gul Bordak commanded all three: four Galor-class warships, a redoubt and five hundred soldiers. Additionally, he oversaw the prisoners who worked in the mining installations, many of the prisoners were bandits and mercenaries who had the misfortune of visiting Tau Primia. Though Bordak had a low opinion of criminals and prisoners in general, he was not cruel, he ordered the prison overseers to burden the prisoners with only what they could manage. A starved, emaciated prisoner was not a productive one and the Cardassian mining crews needed all the help they could get.
The four Cardassian ships under his command were his most important assets; he used them to attack ships passing through the Badlands. Outsiders thought that many of the disappearances in the Badlands were due to the region's ferocious plasma storms; but Bordak knew better. Some of these missing vessels were his work and Bordak remained careful of not being greedy, if too many ships were lost then undoubtedly further unwelcome visitors would come to investigate, visitors such as Starfleet.
Through careful raiding this ensured there was sufficient labour by capturing the crew of these ships. Through this process, Bordak had acquired all sorts of prisoners: humans, Klingons, Ferengi, Starfleet officers, slaves, and even a Bajoran vedek. On one occasion, Bordak and his men captured a shapeshifter, that had been an interesting challenge trying to imprison a shapeshifter. Over the years this penal workforce had grown to three hundred in number. This was yet more evidence of how Bordak had helped this colony to find a foothold on a world, though much akin to Cardassia Prime, was still unforgiving and supply ships from the homeland were few and far between- the price of negotiated, unofficial exile.
This afternoon was a Tren afternoon, one of Bordak's more useful allies Captain Abarzjid, of the Tren Empire, would be visiting to negotiate weapons sales, in return Bordak would have to hand over some of the prisoners into Tren hands. Although Bordak occasionally deployed torture, he shuddered to think what the Tren would do under the pretext of "medical experiments". But Tren weaponry was worth a thousand highly productive prisoners, thus it was a reasonable price to pay.
The door to his office opened and one of his Glinn's, Jeralin, came into the office.
"Sir, Captain Abarzjid has arrived. He asks to speak with you immediately."
Bordak merely nodded, he always valued Jeralin's direct manner, a quality he most valued in his closest confidant.
"Inform Abarzjid that I will come in five minute's time," he answered to his trusted Glinn.
Jeralin nodded before adding, "and what of those Starfleet spies?"
"Let them watch..." Bordak calmly replied.
"There is a strong possibility that this reconnaissance is a prelude to a Starfleet attack, I would not put it past Starfleet to seek revenge on the "Butcher of Keram"."
"As long as the President designates this planet as territory of the Cardassian Union then nothing will happen."
"And what of the meeting with Captain Abarzjid?" Jeralin inquired. "If Starfleet Intelligence has some inkling concerning our dealings with the Tren, what stops them from relaying their findings back to the homeland?"
"That is a risk I am willing to take," said Bordak stridently. "I have no intention of spending the rest of my years on this arid world!"
"Me neither, but our situation is precarious."
"I understand your concerns Jeralin but we should be grateful that fortune has bestowed to us the Tren."
Jeralin's brown eyes steadfastly gazed upon Bordak. "Whatever my inner doubts I do trust your judgement; the colony is proof enough of that."
With a slight nod Bordak silently bade Jeralin to leave and wordlessly his friend, and ally, departed from the office. Having Jeralin's vote of confidence provided a measure of certainty in unclear times.
In a slow fashion Bordak made his way out of the office, he was in no rush. What he most fancied would be a glass of kanar and a relaxing afternoon under the intense sun. Being both a Gul and the leader of this settlement denied Bordak the opportunity for such pleasant diversions, he may have been in exile but he was a busy exile nevertheless. The glass of kanar would have to wait for late, late in the evening.
Everything was going according to the plan, Megan watched as Gul Bordak entered a courtyard, contained inside the redoubt, and smartly walked over to greet Abarzjid. Sadly, an audio recording was not possible, however the video recording would hopefully be sufficient for Starfleet xenolinguists to lip read Bordak, perhaps even Abarzjid if this Tren captain was addressing Bordak in actual Cardassian and not a universally translated Tren-to-Cardassian tongue.
The last thing Megan remembered was adjusting slightly the optical sensor's focus, a sharp tap upon the back of her head rendered her immediately unconscious...
Bordak entered the outer part of the courtyard, his footfalls echoing off the stony floor comprised of black flagstones. This sheltered area had an outer perimeter of severe-looking ceramic columns holding up the high roof. Three sides of the courtyard bordered prison areas within the redoubt and the fourth connected up with the main command centre. Right in the middle a small fountain gushed water via a holographic generator. Though a facsimile, the sound the water made as it splashed into the pool was very real.
And there Abarzjid stood, patiently waiting at one end of the courtyard, as Bordak walked closer to the Tren he noticed how Abarzjid appeared just as equally bored as Bordak felt deep down inside. Though an ally of Bordak's, he knew Abarzjid had no real love of being a Tren liaison to the colony.
"Captain," Bordak said in his most courteous voice possible. "How was the trip from... well wherever it is you came from?"
"The same Bordak," Abarzjid replied as he forced a smile. "The same monotonous sights that I have seen for the last eight years of my assignment."
"Of course; how foolish of me," said Bordak, a faint smile of his own lingered before he made his point. "So how may I be of service to you?"
Now Abarzjid perked up. "I - that is to say the Tren military - want fifty of your prisoners for..." The Tren paused, searching for a reason. "Let's say "medical" purposes for the sake of the Empire's exploration of this galaxy and its study of the various inhabitants..."
"You have no need to explain yourself," said Bordak, "But fifty prisoners are quite a lot considering past dealings."
"You have a shapeshifter in your custody right?"
"Indeed and quantum subspace inhibiter or not, he has been quite troublesome to deal with."
"Well I can knock off twenty prisoners if you are willing to hand the shapeshifter, he would be very valuable-"
All of a sudden, the sound of an explosion muted Abarzjid's voice. Bordak instantly crouched down as he felt a terrific streak of heat run across his back. "Get down!" he yelled.
Behind his back one of the courtyard's columns had been damaged badly, a thin layer of molten metal oozed from the struck part of the column.
When Bordak got to his feet he was pleased to see that Abarzjid looked a little shaken. However, his vindictive pleasure rapidly faded when he heard the sizzling noise coming from the column. He had escaped death by millimeters, but where was the shooter?
Bordak looked around, someone had definitely fired a phaser beam, more than likely tracerless, and that someone could only be outside the prison... Instinctively Bordak knew where the shooter could be...
As he and Abarzjid made a hasty dash for the safety of the redoubt's confines, some of the initial shock began to wear off and a powerful rage built up inside Bordak. Who had the audacity to attack his prison and try to kill him? Was this some sort of botched assassination attempt on Starfleet's part?
In any case, the prison sensors would have detected the beam, and the telemetry of the heat signature would give the location of where the beam originated. Moreover, when he captured his would-be assassins, he vowed to punish them severely...
Megan came around and momentarily she felt horribly groggy, the back of her head still pounded. A surge of alertness, brought on by her Starfleet training, made her sit up and her eyes struggled to comprehend that they were seeing- Jack was hastily disassembling a phaser rifle trained in the direction of the redoubt, a phaser rifle?
"What are you-"
She dashed forwards, too late for Jack to really react, as she lunged for the rifle and snatched it out of Jack's hands. Without thinking she wrenched open the hatch to remove the energy cell, as if that could somehow alter what she had just witnessed.
"We have to leave now," said Jack tonelessly.
Leave? Megan did not know what was going on and the small part of her which did found the conclusion too dreadful to bear... So she picked up a nearby optical visor and trained it upon the courtyard, what looked like a phaser beam had struck one of the courtyard's columns and her heart sank in despair.
Whirling around, removing her phaser from its holster, she confronted Jack. "What are you doing?" she demanded.
The strange neutrality from Jack started to crumble, those brown eyes betrayed desperation and even fear.
"You tried to kill Bordak, why?" she demanded, punctuating this with a jab of her phaser upon Jack's chest.
"We need to get out of here before the Cardassians detect us."
Anger flared up inside Megan, it was such a pathetic answer and after all they had been through and what they had so intimately shared... The betrayal hurt all the more for it. "We're not going anywhere until you answer my questions!" she said sharply. "Who are you working for?"
Jack failed to respond and instead moved closer to her.
"Don't move!" she warned.
Now the fear became detectable from Jack. "In less than two minutes the Cardassians would have traced the origin of the phaser blast. In another minute Cardassian soldiers will beam in and surround this shack, we need to leave. Now!"
Jack said the last couple of words with such incredible force that Megan almost jumped, through all the shock and dismay she began to focus and to quickly reassess the situation. Megan made a split second judgement; escape was a lot more important than questioning Jack. Any questions would wait until they were safely onboard the USS Liberty.
"Pack up the equipment," she ordered.
Jack worked at break-neck speed packing away the various devices and gadgets into a container. Megan haphazardly sorted out her own equipment, not once did she turn her gaze away from Jack though, after what he did she could never trust him again. After two minutes they were both ready to leave.
Only instead they both froze upon hearing the sound of transport beams close to their location. Megan knew the Cardassians could not see them or physically detect them, but even so haste was called for. She signalled to Jack, and he got the message, they both activated the site-to-site transporter devices which they wore on their wrists.
Suddenly the Cardassians started shooting randomly into the area Megan and Jack were hiding in. Megan dropped down to prone as phaser fire penetrated through the shack as did bits of burnt camouflage coating. Her hand flew from the transporter device on her wrist to her hip-mounted phaser, she set the weapon to stun.
The Cardassian soldiers continued firing, setting the surrounding bushes on fire. Smoke billowed through the shack's phaser holes and it clogged up Megan's mouth and nose. She heard a yelp from Jack and looking rightwards she saw a horrible penetrating wound embedded deep into the man's wrist, with a horrible lurch of worry Megan realised Jack's transporter device had been hit as well.
There was nothing for it; they were going to have to shoot their way out of this situation. Whatever Jack had done Megan refused to leave him at the mercy of the Cardassians. She nodded to Jack and, pointing their phasers through the large holes in the shack, they both fired at different soldiers
The two Cardassian soldiers crumpled and fell to the floor. The remainder of their comrades concentrated their fire upon Jack's position. He was a mere ten feet away from Megan but they caught each other's eye, in that moment she knew he was going to protect her no matter what the cost...
"Go!" Jack shouted. "I'll hold them off!"
For a brief moment Megan paused, she realised Jack really did care for her. Whatever comfort this generated faded immediately as she focused on what mattered, activating the site-to-site transporter. The last thing she noticed, as her body disappeared, was a phaser beam striking Jack. She yelled out his name but no sound came from her disembodied mouth.
Megan materialised, she held her phaser out expecting to be fired upon at any moment, but there was nobody around. She spotted the Starfleet runabout ten metres to her left, the Cardassians it seemed had not bothered to beam over to the runabout, not yet anyway.
The runabout was close to a series of lakes, enclosed on three sides by massive sandstone mountains and cliffs. Rainforest clung to the edge of the lakes and stretched some distance up the vast slopes. Rainforests were a rare sight on Tau Primia found only in canyons and vast gorges where the low water table was exposed.
Approaching the runabout, Megan desperately tried to think of some kind of explanation to Ensign Cotore, who was inside the runabout. Since she was also a Starfleet officer, Megan usually kept secret to everyone else that she worked with Starfleet Intelligence, in reality she was a hired hand whom SI found to be useful. In between SI missions, she served onboard various starships. For the last six months, she had been stationed on the USS Liberty and her colleague Jack resided on Geckon II, a planet orbiting a trinary star system, which was the headquarters for SI in the Badlands. Given their private relationship, what Megan had thought a blessing now transformed itself into a terrible, terrible curse.
Her official mission, the cover for the SI mission, was to conduct a geological survey of a site half of a kilometre from the runabout. Only the Liberty's captain, Elenor Haydra, had knowledge of the SI mission. To date Megan had never completed an SI mission while still serving onboard the starship she had been posted in. Moreover, that fact did not bode too well with Megan.
In fact, she hated the secrecy, it was an idiotic decision from Starfleet Intelligence, since this very secrecy had just added several minutes between now and the moment of her informing the only person who could get the Liberty out of this peril. Megan presumed that the Cardassians possessed at least one warship, and there the Liberty was serenely orbiting the planet completely unaware of the danger...
264 lives. Unaware of the terrible threat bearing down upon them.
She opened the runabout's hatch, not really caring about the noise she made, and once closed she moved as quickly as she could along the compartment hold and into the cockpit.
Ensign Cotore, a Bolian, sat at the front operating the controls, she turned around as Megan approached.
"Commander?" Cotore inquired, looking startled. "What's going on? Where is Lieutenant Stiles?"
"Cardassians, they've captured Stiles," she said briskly as she occupied the chair next to Cotore. "We have to get off this planet immediately!"
"Cardassians?" said Cotore disbelievingly. "But how did-"
Whatever question Cotore wanted to ask she then quickly disregarded, the same with her surprise. "Aye sir," she replied and began preparing the runabout for takeoff.
As Megan sat back in her chair she contemplated the magnitude of Jack's recent actions. He tried to assassinate Gul Bordak, assassinate! There was no warning and no reason for doing so. So why? Now the despair returned, Jack was more than just a colleague to Megan, he was her lover, indeed home was wherever she and Jack lay down beneath the sheets.
Now Jack had betrayed that trust; whacked it out of her the moment he struck her unconsciousness. Megan was so troubled she barely noticed the runabout taking off and streaking upwards through the planet's atmosphere, the orange glow of the Badlands did catch her eye though.
The Badlands... Everyone wanted a piece of a vast expanse littered with fiery plasma fields, ionic storms and generally turbulent space. Virgin territory blessed with vast untapped natural resources in pockets of stable space and filled with plasma fields, a major source of energy if safely harnessed. Currently the Cardassian Union, the Federation, the Breen and the Ferengi Alliance were all laying claim to the right of controlling the Badlands. And the most dubious territorial claim of all only came from the Cardassian whom Jack had tried to assassinate, not just any Cardassian, the Butcher of Keram. Megan's only hope was a swift escape before Gul Bordak's wrath condemned not only her but the entire crew of the Liberty.
She could not bear thinking of this outcome, in agitation she looked out of the cockpit window and watched the planet growing smaller. It was a big mass of red mixed with orange, clumps of water and streaks of green vegetation. Somewhere down there the Cardassians were attacking Jack, the man was undoubtedly dead already...
Jack...
The betrayal stung deeply, so did the prospect of a lover lost. Megan was deep in thought when Cotore spoke. "What happened down there?"
It was more than a question, there was something almost accusatory in Cotore's voice which forced Megan to quickly revert back into her alert mode. "Stiles and I were carrying out the geological survey..." She paused as she tried to construct a story. "But... I sensed that someone was watching me... I turned around and I saw Cardassian soldiers approaching my position."
Cotore looked shocked. "What were Cardassians doing so far away from their settlement?"
"I'm not sure," said Megan, pretending to look confused. "I managed to escape, but Stiles was captured... I don't know if they killed him afterwards..."
Megan sincerely hoped Jack was not dead, though at the very least Cotore seemed satisfied with her answers, thankfully Cotore remained silent throughout the duration of the journey, permitting Megan some brief, but much needed, time to think.
Megan watched as the Liberty began to dominate the entire view from the cockpit windows. The ship loomed over the runabout and seeing the ship so close brought back to Megan, in full force, her worries for the Liberty's safety.
If the Cardassians on Tau Primia had even one warship, then the Liberty would be attacked in a matter of minutes. The Liberty was an Intrepid-class starship, the Intrepid class of starships had been decommissioned two years ago due to obsolete weaponry and shielding.
Ultimately the Intrepid class of starships was designed for deep-space missions, however after Starfleet cut the number of deep-space missions by more than a halve, the Intrepid ships were no longer needed anymore. Thankfully, the Liberty had been upgraded and retrofitted with tertiary shielding, adamantium armour, phaser banks and mark eight torpedoes; as per standard starship defences.
The moment the runabout had docked at the Liberty's shuttle bay, Megan dashed out of the runabout and practically ran towards the nearest turbolift, ignoring the staring of her fellow crew members. Megan felt like time was elapsing twice as fast.
"Felpes to Captain Haydra," she cried tapping the combadge upon her chest
In her haste she had already stepped onto the turbolift when Haydra responded.
"Yes Commander? How was-"
"No time to explain, Captain- the ship must leave Tau Primia, it must travel to Geckon II immediately!"
"What-? Commander I am not moving this ship anywhere until you explain yourself."
"I'm heading for the bridge right now; I will explain myself in person but you must believe me Captain! Felpes out."
"Commander-"
Megan banged the side of the turbolift with clenched fists as she urged it to travel faster, she could not wait any longer...
At last she was walking out onto the bridge and to her relieve she found Captain Haydra waiting for her, immediately Haydra rose from the commander's chair. Haydra was a human woman: small, thin with long red hair which was always, when on duty, tied in an implacable bun. At the first sign of trouble, she was on the Liberty's bridge in a matter of moments.
"Commander I want you to explain to me what exactly is going on!"
"Cardassians!" Megan breathlessly exclaimed. "They detected the shack when Mr. Stiles fired at their fortress, they are mad with rage and Gul Bordak knows. He knows!"
"Lieutenant Stiles attacked the redoubt?"
"Captain," Megan cried, putting her hands forth beseechingly. "What I say is the truth, I will tell you everything the moment this ship is travelling for Geckon II!"
Haydra just nodded with an if-you-say-so look on her face, immediately afterwards she addressed the officer at the helm. "Ensign Tabor set a course to Geckon II at once, maximum warp."
"Why sir?" said Tabor sounding confused.
"Just do it Ensign!" both Haydra and Megan commanded.
Haydra sat back down in the commander's chair and signalled to Megan to sit down. She shifted in her seat to face her first officer. "You were detected?" she whispered.
Megan nodded; and she could see Haydra quickly considering up her options.
"Commander," she said quietly. "What on earth happened down there-"
Lieutenant Commander Abrahm, who was directly behind Haydra, interrupted the Captain, as he looked at his console. "Captain! There are two Cardassian ships... decloaking!" There was surprise in the Andorian's voice. "They are directly in front of us!"
"Decloaking?" Haydra asked, though her voice was steady, hiding her surprise. "Hail them!" she ordered.
On the view screen was Gul Bordak, who was standing on his ship's bridge. Bordak was smiling unpleasantly and despite the visible humour his eyes belied a cold, hard fury. "Greetings Captain, I am Gul Bordak the administrator of the Tau Primia prison camp, although I think the title of the "Butcher of Keram" would be more appropriate."
"Captain-" Haydra desperately began only for Bordak to cut her off with one harsh, loud, "Silence!"
All the humour had vanished. "You have trespassed on Cardassian space. Because of this transgression you will now, unfortunately, be destroyed."
The transmission ended as Haydra stood up from her chair. "Now wait just one moment-"
The whole bridge suddenly shook as the Cardassian ships bombarded the Liberty with phaser fire and photon torpedoes. Consoles everywhere exploded as EPS conduits blew out. Bulkheads dislodged, one of them collapsing upon Tabor, crushing him.
Megan clung on to her chair for dear life. Suddenly her chair gave way as a bulkhead came crashing down displacing the chair and herself, she was thrown onto the floor and in that instance she could not hear any more such was the ringing in her ears.
Time seemed to slow as the ship continued to shake and fires burned in the bridge. Darkness mingled with the fires, when the emergency lightening came on, the red illumination revealed a scene of complete devastation.
The shaking stopped and Megan slowly got herself onto her feet. She looked around to see dead body after dead body, some were burnt, others twisted and bloodied, some of them were still on fire. Shock threatened to paralyse Megan, hope flickered in the midst of her dark terror when she noticed someone moving on the floor.
It was Haydra; there were cuts all over her face and her bun had collapsed causing her long hair to drift down the middle of her back. "Damage report!" Haydra ordered.
"Captain they're all dead!" Was the first thing Megan could say.
Megan stopped panicking and she pulled herself together; Haydra's calmness was her courage. Megan went over to the closest functioning console. "There's massive damage to pretty much everyone of the ship's systems! No shields, phaser banks are depleted, the ship's computer is heavily damaged, and the warp core is moderately damaged - containment holding barely - and Captain..."
She looked up from the console. "We're being boarded!"
Haydra went pale but it was hard to tell under the flashing red lights. Regardless, she promptly tapped the console on the commander's chair to address the Liberty's crew. "This is Captain Haydra to all crew members. We are being boarded by the Cardassians!" Still Haydra's voice remained as calm as ever. "Evacuate the ship immediately; open fire on the Cardassians if they try to stop you."
"Captain," protested Megan, "we don't stand a..."
Megan stopped talking as eight Cardassians, including Bordak, transported unto the bridge.
Haydra lurched for her phaser beneath her chair, the Cardassian soldiers simply snatched it off her and the Captain stood where she was, with fists clenched and defiance firmly holstered, while Megan froze.
"Captain what an unfortunate situation..." said Bordak with chilling sarcasm.
"Unfortunate?" shouted Haydra, anger in every syllable. "You attack my ship, kill my crew, and you say-"
Bordak interrupted Haydra. "If you surrender yourself I will let the survivors escape - unharmed - you have my word."
"And what do you want from me?" Haydra spat out.
"You'll soon find out..." said Bordak, he was almost teasing Haydra. "I also want your first officer to..."
"Commander Felpes?" Haydra interrupted.
"Why yes," replied Bordak heatedly. "After all it was your first officer and her accomplice who were spying on the settlement, that I could tolerate until they attempted to assassinate me." The Cardassian's tone became ferociously harsh. "They will pay the price for their attempt on my life!"
Haydra's composure slipped, now she looked shocked and her eyes betrayed a terrible agony. "Is this true Megan?" the Captain said imploringly, as if hoping for the opposite. "Did you really-"
Somehow Megan tried to tell Haydra that she played no part in this, yet her lips and tongue made a mockery of her attempted answer. Too late though- a Cardassian swung his phaser rifle hard into the back of Haydra's head, the Captain fell to the floor unconscious. A terrible guilt erupted inside of Megan as her doom drew nigh, if she had only realised what Jack was planning to do! Then the Liberty would never have been attacked by the Cardassians and 246 crew members would not have to die horrible deaths or, worse still, face the horrors of Cardassian imprisonment.
Megan moved closer to Bordak, her fear became so strong it caused her hands to shake. At last she stopped before him and she was ready to die to protect her crewmates. "Please let the survivors go," she pleaded, now she was on her knees, dignity be damned. "They're innocent, take me... not them please... Punish me, not them... Please, I beg you!"
Bordak was not swayed, such vivid triumphalism seemed only to savour the despair on Megan's face. He whipped out a communicator. "Troops!" he said, while holding the communicator to his mouth. "Capture all the survivors, those that resist, kill them! Let us show them some of our famous Cardassian hospitality..."
Terror struck Megan, this could not be happening... this was not real... "Please!" she screamed.
The last thing Megan saw was a Cardassian soldier swinging the butt of his gun towards her face...
Blackness followed...