STAR TREK: DEEP SPACE NINE

To Have Loved, Lost and Won

by Mirwalker

Though this story contains some original characters and situations, it is set in the Star Trek universe. Star Trek and all related items are copyright Paramount Pictures Corporation. All Rights Reserved. The story is written simply as a form of entertainment and homage. No profit is made and no infringement intended.

Originally finished in "script" format on 25 May 2003; adaptation to prose format began in November 2011.

Timeline Note: The events in this story take place between ST:DS9 episodes The Sound of Her Voice and Tears of the Prophets at the end of Season Six.


She was struggling. Fighting fiercely and fleeing fleetly, to be sure, but struggling still.

Two phased polaron beams arced toward her secondary hull, illuminating and barely being stopped by the weak shimmer of shields between her faintly glowing nacelles.

Still running, she responded promptly with a sustained phaser sweep and two photon torpedoes.

The lead Jem'Hadar fighter burst into flames, debris spiraling away from the continuing pursuit. Undaunted by the loss of yet another swarmmate, the two remaining black and purple ships barreled forward, resuming fire on the Excelsior-class starship's apparent soft spot.

The give and take continued as the hunted vessel continued emitting another form of radiation, on all channels, "…Repeat: This is the Federation starship Manchester, en route to Deep Space Nine. We are under Dominion attack, and need immediate assistance…"

Behind the crewmember's urgent voice, and amid various alarm sirens, a calmer voice also shared, "Warning. Shield collapse imminent. Warning…"

As if to add futility to the desperation of the distress call, the two trailing "bugs" intensified their fire. The first few shots shattered the remaining dorsal shields. The quick-following volleys slammed into the impulse engine housing on the rear of the primary hull.

The resulting explosion and rapid drop in velocity by the Federation ship would have given the Dominion gunners great satisfaction, if they didn't immediately turn to the next stage in vanquishing this prey.


Inside the Starfleet ship, as the backup lighting flickered on, joining the still pulsing red alert indicators, the tall Bolian woman helped the younger human-appearing officer to his feet. "Ensign, are you OK?"

The man nodded, carefully shouldered his case and holstered his recovered phaser as the room rocked with the latest impact.

The Commander picked her way toward the wall console, tapping repeatedly as she attempted to make contact with other parts of the ship. "No response from the bridge," she narrated, knowing he looked to her for an update in the moment, just as she looked to him for hope in the larger conflict. The command deck's silence also meant the rest of the crew likely now relied on her for direction as ranking officer; but she could spare only a little time.

Tapping her own communicator, in hopes the shipwide communications system wasn't entirely offline, she instructed, "Attention all hands! This is the XO. Prepare to repel boarding parties."

Turning to the even more wide-eyed man who had re-drawn his phaser, she ordered, "Time to go, Tolesat."

Carefully slinging the satchel behind him, he helped her pry open the unresponsive doors. She glanced around the dim, smoky corridor carefully before waving him to slip through and join her.

Through the haze, three security officers jogged up, sporting grim faces and phaser rifles.

"Commander Bleths," the lead officer greeted, with a quick lookover and nod to the other man. "We're already hearing reports of Jemmies appearing on other decks. No chance we'll get to the shuttle bay from here."

"They'll overrun us in no time," she concurred, thinking quickly of options and alternative routes. "Captain's gig or escape pods it is then. Move it."

The blue-skinned and the mustard-class officers circled around the command-clad man; and Bleths led them in the direction of the lowest deck in the saucer section.

Promptly and professionally, the youngest, newest officer among them was herded through turns and straightaways, always kept at the center of the tight circle of alert eyes and ears. He, in turn, was constantly shifting the case strung over his shoulder, keep his body between it and what evidence of danger they approached and promptly avoided.

As a deck pass-through hatch was pulled shut above them, all their ears caught the quick approach of footsteps and phaser blasts as a defense line crumbled through the rooms they'd just left. With little time to celebrate missing that firefight, or worrying for those in it, the team kept moving quickly and cautiously.

Turning back from the flash of energy exchange farther down the corridor ahead, the group took a different direction into the deck's interior. Picking up their pace, they turned a corner and nearly slammed into a squad of Jem'Hadar who were doing something undesirable to an opened wall panel.

The lead security officer managed to get off several shots instinctively, at near point blank range; and the two Jem'Hadar closest to them dropped to the deck, almost on top of them. But as the Starfleet team backpedaled in the direction they'd just come, the Dominion soldiers opened fire through the space their fallen comrades had occupied, without giving the new corpses so much as a single glance. Bleths heard Giles cry out, and something heavy hit the deck; but she could only curse mentally as she pulled the ensign down a side passage, hoping the remainder of the detail would react and follow.

Ducking into a Jeffries Tube, and quietly pulling the access panel shut behind them, the four let artificial gravity do much of the work as they slid down a level on the ladder. Letting that be all the breather they could take, they followed the crawlway as far as they could, before having to risk the main hallways again to continue their descent through the saucer section.

Hearing nothing beyond the normal hum of background equipment on this desk, Bleths waved everyone into the deserted corridors. Moving briskly, and with three beings moving just as quickly behind him, crewman Luzblim was unable to stop or alter his direction in time to avoid the large, horned killer who materialized directly in his path. He was not even able to exhale a shout before being killed instantly with a quick sweep of a ketracel-emboldened arm, rifle or blade. Only his tangled, limp form kept the other materializing Jem'Hadar from laying hands or harm on the three surviving Manchester crew.

Now simply running away from a danger, rather than to a destination, the remaining security officer did not see the blast that struck him squarely in the back as a second Dominion squad joined the pursuit from another hallway. His dead weight was thrown into the final Federation duo, causing the ensign to drop both his case and phaser.

Managing to maintain a grip on her own sidearm, the Bolian rolled over and fired several shots back down the hallway, momentarily quelling the incoming blasts as the enemy took up positions at the nearest curve. Yanking the young man to his feet, she slapped a door panel, which opened to reveal a room off the corridor. As she again fired a hold-your-position message down the hall, the ensign hurriedly freed his case from under the too-still body of his colleague, and pulled it against a darkened spot on his own burgundy tunic.

Gracefully exchanging her hand phaser for the now available pulse rifle, Bleths seized the ensign by his arm and spoke calmly but firmly to his grimaced face, "Get in there and hide, Tolesat. You must live and win. We're all counting on you..."

Without further instruction or another look, she pushed him through the doors. Stumbling backwards, he managed to stay upright, and saw her slap the control panel and turn back down the hallway with the rifle at her hip.

For a moment, he just clutched the precious case and his aching side, shocked that she had just shut herself out of room's relative safety. It was only the latest in a quick series of surreal moments of the day.

His reverie was interrupted by the muffled sound of weapons fire and a shout in the hallway outside, neither directed at him. "That's an order, Ensign! Around the corner and three sections over to the turbolift. I'll cover you!"

Her unhappy audience replied with a less verbal volley, nonetheless indicating they were unhappy with her making a stand against them.

He set the case down behind the little room's only freestanding console, clutched his side and tried to decide whether and how to go out and help.

Before he could complete a thought, the XO's voice rang out from the hallway again, "You'll get to him over my dead-" Her vow was punctuated by a single flight of energy and a thud against the doors.

Realizing suddenly that the career officer now lay against or across the doorway, blocking access even in death, he counted her at least the fourth colleague to sacrifice self in his defense, in just the past few minutes. And these were only those he'd witnessed even indirectly. Anger and fear roiled in him; and he reached to his holster without thinking; but it was empty. His weapon, like his guardians, lay unable to help him any longer, beyond the doors before him.

The silence outside was short-lived, as there was a banging on the doors almost immediately. The Jem'Hadar were not pausing to reflect on the scattered lives or losses, only on their goal: him.

Now alone against that merciless mission, the ensign took stock of his solo situation: His ribs, under the burned uniform, had begun to sting significantly, and the muscles there, to stiffen. His de facto cell was a small medical bay—probably intended as just a triage station for this part of the living quarters. But he had only minimal medical training; and the visitors at the door probably would not permit him time to activate and search for any treatment for what was actually his least pressing physical threat at the moment. The room's single bed and side console provided virtually no cover from the door; the two chairs were moveable, but hardly a barricade.

As the clang on the door turned quickly to strains of failing metal, and lacking any other option, he grabbed the only handy piece of technology, pulled himself to full height and nudged the shoulder case farther under the console.

A quick silence was followed by a sharp bang and an electrical crackle, and the doors slid open. Two very unhappy looking Jem'Hadar stood in the doorway with their ready weapons aimed into room.

For an instant the opposing sides took in one another, as if daring the other to act first.

Grimacing slightly, the ensign hoped they wouldn't notice as he brandished the traditional hypospray and imitated the dry affect of some of Starfleet's newest technology, "Please state the nature of your medical emergency."

The Dominion foot soldiers were momentarily confused, not expecting that un-hostile greeting from the room's occupant; and in fact glanced at one another as if confirming the other witnessed the same surprise. Not actually caring what the other saw, or how they were welcomed, the soldiers quickly returned their attention to their aim… And were quickly cut down by energy blasts from behind them.

Gasping aloud, and wondering what approaching threat could make such short work of these living weapons, the young man gripped the edge of the biobed for support, and continued to face the open doorway resolutely, where nothing moved momentarily.

Slowly, a frowning Klingon face peered around the doorframe, followed quickly by a cooling phaser and the rest of its large wielder. Seeing only the pale and startled ensign, and glancing down at the pile of bodies in the doorway, the rescuing Starfleet officer relaxed and stepped into the room, "Ensign Magenau, I am Lt Commander Worf, from DS9. Are you all right?

The young man dropped the hypospray and his shoulders, and could only push out a pained, "I… I…," before his eyes rolled up and closed, and he began to fall forward.

As a Defiant strike team moved in behind him, Worf rushed forward and caught the unconscious man in his surprised arms.


to be continued…