The Mysterious Case of Neelix's Lungs: A Star Trek: Voyager AU Series
Episode 1x1: "Caretaker" by worffan101
Cast list:
Acting Gil Daran Taril, helmsman, CDS Vetar: Alan Tudyk.
Gul Aman Evek, CO, CDS Vetar: Richard Poe.
Gil Kalar, operations officer, CDS Vetar: Sean Maher.
Ensign Tom Paris, helmsman/tactical officer, USS Voyager: Robert Duncan McNeill.
Lieutenant Harry Kim, operations chief, USS Voyager: Garret Wang.
Lieutenant Emergency Medical Hologram, deputy CMO, USS Voyager: Robert Picardo.
Lieutenant Commander T'Pai, CMO, USS Voyager: Aly Michalka.
Captain Veronica Stadi, CO, USS Voyager: Alicia Coppola.
Acting Captain Tuvok/Commander Tuvok, XO, USS Voyager: Tim Russ.
Crewman Celes Tal, sensor chief, USS Voyager: Zoe McLellan.
Neelix: Ethan Phillips.
Gil Ocett: Gina Torres.
Ensign Samantha Wildman: Nancy Hower.
Lieutenant Lyndsay Ballard, ChENG, USS Voyager: Kim Rhodes.
Lieutenant JG B'Elanna Torres, deputy ChENG, USS Voyager: Roxanne Dawson
Lieutenant Ayala, security chief, USS Voyager: Tarik Ergin.
Glinn Emil Tarak, security chief, CDS Vetar: Nathan Fillion.
Kes: Jennifer Lien.
Provisional Glinn Alina i'Kevratas t'Aimne, sensor officer, CDS Vetar: Morena Baccarin.
The Badlands, Federation/Cardassian Demilitarized Zone, Alpha Quadrant
Federation Stardate 48281.88 (6 February 2371 Earth Standard)
Cardassian Unified Date 4701.6.22/192
"Maquis ship has closed the channel, my Gul," reported Daran Taril from the Cardassian warship Vetar's helm station. "They're trying to fly through the particle storms; I can outmaneuver them, I'm sure of it!"
"Excellent," said Gul Aman Evek calmly, his voice taught with rage. "Tactical, strike to disable. Fire at will."
Hybrid phaser/disruptor pulses lanced out, striking the Maquis raider in its engines; the small vessel flickered and went dead in space.
"Tractor beams, now!"
The Vetar snagged its catch, and Gul Evek allowed himself one moment of triumph. The terrorist scum would be brought to trial; no more escaping fate for them.
Then the sirens blared anew.
"My Gul!" reported young Gil Kalar from the sensor station. "Detecting some sort of tetryon-based displacement wave, coming for us at .98c!"
"Helm, get us out of here!"
"I can't outpace that thing at impulse, my Gul!" screamed Daran Taril as he frantically pulled the cruiser around and rocketed out of the Badlands at full impulse. The Trill looked again at his instruments and cursed in his native tongue. "It will catch us in 10… 9…"
"All hands, brace for impact!" barked Gul Aman Evek. "Computer, activate safety harness for all bridge crew!"
Then the world went white.
One week later.
Red Alert.
That was the first thing on Ensign Kim's mind as he awoke on the deck.
Wait. The deck. Red alert sirens. Computer calmly stating damage reports.
Smoke. Fire.
"Harry? Harry, c'mon, man, get up! I need your help!"
"T...Tom?" managed Harry, turning his head sideways with some pain; the charming pilot's head swam into view without too much blurriness.
"Yeah. C'mon, Harry, the Captain's dead, Cavit's dead, and Stadi's hurt, bad. I can't get her to Sickbay on my own, and transporters are down."
"Right… right… what the hell hit us?"
"You were on sensors, man," said Paris as he helped Harry to his feet. "Something about a tetryon wave?"
"Yeah. That was it. Some sort of anomaly...oh, no."
"Don't look," said Paris, turning Harry's head away from the Commander's broken body. "Stadi's over here, she hit her head and there's some shrapnel embedded in her abdomen."
"The Captain?"
"Over there. Broke her neck, looks like she died instantly."
The Betazoid moaned softly as the men approached, but mercifully she was unconscious; Harry, being bruised but mostly unhurt, took her legs while Tom, sporting what might've been a sprained wrist on top of massive bruises and a wicked gash on his forehead, took her head. It took a little finagling, but the men finally got their charge into the turbolift; Harry entered the commands manually, since internal coms and verbal computer control seemed to be down, while Paris tried to stop Stadi's bleeding.
"She good to move?"
"As good as she'll ever be." Damn, Harry liked that voice.
Focus. Got to get Stadi to Sickbay.
"One, two, three!"
The two men managed to haul their charge to Sickbay, where a Vulcan woman and a balding Human man were working on repairing equipment. Another man in a medical uniform lay in the corner, unmoving.
"T'Pai? Stadi hit her head and took some metal in the gut, we need some help..."
"Put her over here," said the Human man. "Doctor, I will handle the patient."
"That is logical," said T'Pai without looking up from the biobed she was trying to initialize. "Once you have stabilized the patient, examine the others."
"Yes, sir," said the man; his body flickered momentarily with the lights, and Harry realized what he was.
"The EMH? That system's still working?"
"Of course," said Tom. "EMH is designed to function even when the rest of the ship is so much space trash. Its systems are absurdly durable and redundant."
"Wait," said Harry. "I just remembered something. Who's ranking officer now?"
"Until we find someone more senior? The LT there."
"Oh, no...we really are screwed, aren't we?"
"You kidding?" laughed Paris, and damn but that was an infectious laugh. "This is where it gets good!"
Lieutenant Stadi awoke slowly. Groggily.
As always, she probed gently with her senses. Fear. Fear everywhere. Pain. A rock of control. That mind she knew. That was T'Pai; they'd been roommates at the Academy. T'Pai was anxious and terrified beneath that calm exterior, though…
Stadi placed the surface under her. Biobed. Sickbay.
"You are awake," said T'Pai, with just the merest possible hint of the terror beneath leaking through her alto tone. "Congratulations, Lieutenant. It appears that you are the ranking officer."
"Me?" managed Stadi, sitting up somewhat stiffly. "What about the Captain? The Commander? The doctor? The Chief?"
"Dead. I am effective chief medical officer; the emergency medical hologram will supplement my knowledge if necessary. Ensign Kim and the parolee, Paris, brought you here from the Bridge."
"By the Dagger of the Second Deity… all of the senior officers?"
"As well as most of the enlisted crew and junior officers. We now have less than two-thirds of our original crew complement."
"By the Dagger… I'm ranking officer."
"Yes, Lieutenant. Or, I should say, yes, Captain."
"Captain. Right. OK. I'm Captain now…" Stadi thought for a moment. "Right. Paris is an arrogant playboy who I don't trust, but he's got a record as the best pilot since Nick Locarno. He's helm officer as an Ensign until further notice. Kim can take Ops, make him a Lieutenant. We can handle security chief and sensors later; Ops can handle sensors in the meantime. Ballard's ChENG if she isn't already."
"Understood, Captain," said T'Pai, running a tricorder over Stadi briskly. "You are cleared to resume light duty, but do not put too much strain on your abdomen; it will require time to heal."
"Time. Got it." Stadi stood, straightened her uniform, and picked her way out the door.
"Mr. Kim!" shouted Stadi as she entered the Bridge. The residential areas of the ship were still a mess, but she'd been out for several hours; the Bridge was back in working, if chipped and scuffed, order.
The dead officers had, she had heard, been moved to the Captain's ready room. Stadi resolved not to go there anytime soon.
"Sir?" asked the young Human, working at Ops with a cast-armed man in Science colors.
"Congratulations, Lieutenant, you're promoted. Replicate yourself some pips later. Have you got any idea where we are?"
"Astrometrics reports that we're in the Delta Quadrant, Sir," said Kim. "70,000 light years from home. At standard cruising velocity...that's seventy years to get back to the Federation."
"Seventy… Deities. The warp core?"
"We had a microfracture in the containment unit," said Paris from the helm station, which he was trying to re-initialize. "Carey had to lock down the core. We don't have warp drive until further notice."
"Understood. Third question, and this one's important. What in the name of the Second Deity is that thing, and is it hostile?"
"That thing" was a massive, multi-pronged space station, hanging in space a few dozen kilometers before Voyager's bow. Just looking at it made Stadi shiver. There was something over on that thing… a mind…
"A space station, we think. Sir." This from the man in Science colors; he wasn't even a full ensign. Deities. She'd have to rework the command structure. "Looks like a couple of ships nearby; old Bajoran-designed raider from one of the semi-independent colonies by the Klingon border, and a Cardassian Galor-class. The raider's running Maquis codes, coming back as the Val Jean, the Cardie's coming back as the Vetar, commanded by Gul Aman Evek. No life signs on either ship, but plenty on the station."
"All right. Let's head in, and—"
And then Stadi was in a field.
What the…
"What in the name of the First Empire is this? Tell me where I am, or I WILL kill you!"
Stadi blinked. She was in a field. There were a number of Cardassian soldiers in the field, as well. One, with a Gul's rank insignia, was pointing a disturbingly menacing disruptor pistol at an elderly Human man with a banjo.
"I really don't know what…"
"Vhorrath! You know exactly what I mean! A poor imitation of Lakarian City, a bunch of shoddy holograms, and then subjecting my men to forced experiments? I am a Gul of the Cardassian Fourth Order! You WILL return the men you took to me this instant, or I will kill you!"
"I'm afraid you won't do that," said the man. The land shifted, and Stadi was in a cold, dark room, the Cardassians and crewmen who had been brought with her standing around in shock. The man…
He was gone. In his place was a shimmering, pulsating thing—the source of the alien mind Stadi had sensed, she realized.
"I asked for my men," snarled the Cardassian. "But now that we're here… Glinn! Get a search party together, see if the terrorists were taken as well! I'll be damned if some arrogant alien is going to keep them from justice."
"I do apologize," said the creature, its own universal translators instantly interpreting its hums. "But I require the subjects I have procured to save myself and the Ocampa. On the off-chance that they survive the tests, they will be returned to you once I have used them to reproduce or heal myself, to ensure the continued safety of the Ocampa…"
"You disgusting…" started the Gul.
"Um, sir?" said Stadi. "Veronica Stadi, Acting Captain of the Federation Starship Voyager. Not that I don't agree that this thing is behaving highly unethically, because it is making me sick with what it's saying, but maybe we should find our men and get out of here?"
"Good point," said the Gul. "I am Gul Evek, Cardassian Fourth Order. I don't know whether you can withstand disruptor blasts, alien, but if you do not show my men how to operate this array to retrieve the men you took from me, I will shoot you."
"Wildman to Captain Stadi! I think I'm the only one left on the ship, but I have transporter and weapons control! Should I beam you out or fire on the space station?"
Gul Evek smiled, his gun still pointing at the alien.
"You have my word of honor that if my men are returned and I am shown how to operate this array, we will leave you in peace. You also have my word as a Gul in service of Cardassia that the Cardassian Union will burn every last atom of everything that you care about and make you watch if you do not comply. We aren't friendly pacifists like the Federation. So. What will it be?"
"All right," said Captain (!) Veronica Stadi as she took her seat in the Captain's chair. "Evek, Tuvok, are your ships intact?"
"We're good to go," said Evek's Trill helmsman over the coms link. "The Gul's helping fix the impulse engines; one of the starboard thrusters is still damaged, but it should be up in minutes."
"Tuvok?"
"Our structural integrity is low, but we are capable of impulse and warp drive."
"Good. We seem to have survived mostly intact—SIF took a hit but Ballard's team is working on it now that the warp core's working again—and our weapons and shields are back up and working normally, so we'll take point for this mission. Agreed?"
"Agreed," said Gul Evek, striding into view on the viewscreen. "I will command. Tuvok, will the terrorists obey you?"
"Yes," said the Vulcan. "One of their own has been captured; they will fight to retrieve her."
"Remember, Evek, I promised them Federation justice," said the Betazoid, checking her two extra pips surreptitiously. "I don't want them going to the Union."
"As long as they stand trial for their crimes," said Evek through clenched teeth. "Fifteen children died in their last bombing. Collateral damage my hunaf..."
"Trust me, Gul, Command will be fair in dispensing justice. I swear this on my honor as a Starfleet officer. Paris, bring us about, head for the fifth planet. Ops, do you have any information about it?"
"Class M, barely, sir. Looks like there's not much water; two main supercontinents separated by a small ocean; looks like less than a third the water of Earth, and most of that's brine. We're looking at massive desert environments across most of the landmasses. There's some sort of habitation about two miles underground in the southern continent, as well as some energy readings consistent with parked starships on the surface."
"Then that's where we go. Evek, how many of your men were taken?"
"Two. Glinn Tarak and Gil Kalar."
"Right. My ops chief got taken so I have Celes on sensors and Wildman on Ops...Tuvok, who got taken from the Maquis?"
"B'Elanna Torres. An engineer."
"Understood. Paris, is the core still stable?"
"Looking good, Sir."
"All right, course laid in, engage at warp factor four on my mark. Three...two...one...mark!"
Voyager jolted forwards, the inertial dampeners taxed heavily. They'd need to be brought back to capacity, and fast.
"Vetar to Voyager, we're developing a fluctuation in the antimatter containment field. Dropping out of warp."
"Understood. Paris, drop us to impulse. Tuvok, do the same."
The three starships re-entered normal space near a fairly average asteroid belt.
"Detecting a starship, unknown manufacture and configuration," reported Celes.
"Helm, hail them. Let's see if they're with those creepy fake farmers or not."
"Channel open, sir. Audio only."
"Get me video, and patch Tuvok and Evek in. Hello, unidentified starship; this is Captain Veronica Stadi of the Federation starship Voyager. We are on a rescue mission to the nearby planet, and did not come here to fight."
"Rescue?" said a strange voice over the coms link, and suddenly there was a very unflattering video picture of what Stadi was absolutely sure was a humanoid hedgehog. "Oh, thank goodness! If it's not too much bother, I could really use your help...the Kazon-Ogla took my Kes, they're holding her on the planet's surface…"
"That's where we're going," broke in Gul Evek. "How dangerous are these Kazon-Ogla?"
"Well, they're nasty, aggressive brutes… they're probably—oh, goodness, Kes, they must be doing something awful to her, they see women as inferior…"
"Tactical analysis, soldier!" barked Evek. "In its current state, the Vetar can pound a one-click-diameter asteroid into rubble in ten seconds. How much of a challenge will these Kazon-Ogla be?"
"I… I don't know, there are a lot of Kazon, but individually their ships are weak, only a threat to traders like myself…"
"Understood. What is your name?"
"My name? Neelix. Trader and guide in this sector."
"All right, Neelix. Prepare to be beamed aboard, we'll bring your ship in tow. Taril, get me Security and tell them to suit up for combat. I don't like the sound of these Kazon; we may need to engage in extrajudicial punishment. Task force, in hammerhead formation; Stadi, take point, Tuvok on the right flank."
"Engaging full impulse," said Paris. "In formation."
"Good," said Stadi. "What do we have for Security?"
"No more than Evek probably has," said Wildman. "Which isn't very much. Our original crew complement was 141; we're now at 87, and maybe 10 of those people have advanced combat training. Evek's ship's a modified Galor-class, standard crew complement of 300 plus flight crew and troops, but they took heavier casualties and a lot of them are still in Sickbay; he said he was on a skeleton crew already, so they've got maybe 10 trained security personnel and about 70 able crewmen out of around a hundred alive."
"Where did you learn so much about Cardie warships? And thanks."
Wildman blushed. "I'm a bit of a nerd, sir. I, uh, collect ships in bottles. Basically, you take a bottle and use these tweezers and glue to build a starship model inside of it…"
"Nothing to be ashamed of," said Stadi. "I served a tour on the Enterprise once. At one point we got stuck in an ancient alien trap and the two main rumors going around the ship for the next month were that Captain Picard loved ships in bottles and Commander LaForge had made a hot hologram to help him save the ship."
"Man after my own heart," snickered Paris.
The coms crackled to life again before Stadi could respond.
"Voyager, this is Gul Evek. We are within transporter range. Do you want to try diplomacy or do we go in Cardassian style?"
"Um, as a Starfleet officer, I've kind of got an obligation to try diplomacy. But all the same, I think that all of the security forces we can muster should beam down."
"Well," said Evek, "you're certainly a moderately capable officer. This may not be a complete disaster, after all. Armory, get five of our best into the heaviest gear we have available. Tell them to be ready for combat."
"Captain?" asked Samantha Wildman. "Are you beaming down?"
"Yes. Get me Rollins and ch'Tholas and ask Captain Tuvok to beam down as well."
"You've fallen right into our trap!" gloated Maje Jal Jabin. "Ha, ha, ha! Now, give me your water and technology and I may keep you as slaves!" He leered at Stadi. "Especially that one. If your woman is good enough to bring with you everywhere, she must really give good—"
Evek calmly shot him in the chest. The Maje crumpled.
"Shithole," muttered the Gul. "All right! This entire vicinity is now the property of the Cardassian Union! Surrender now and I may allow Captain Stadi here to subject you to Federation justice. And believe me, you want Federation justice!"
The Kazon looked at each other, then at Evek, then at Stadi. Then they burst out laughing.
"Ha, ha, ha!" snickered a particularly large and ugly man. "You have a female in command of a ship? You are fools! Ha, ha, ha! Let's kill them!"
"Heavy stun!" barked Gul Evek. The Cardassians opened fire, as did Stadi, Tuvok, and their escorts.
The Kazon that didn't fall immediately charged with clubs.
"Morons," muttered Gul Evek as he calmly took down Kazon with a shock wand. One unfortunate man got the wand to the gut, and promptly collapsed, spewing the contents of his digestive system out both ends. "I'm going to have WORDS with Jagul Madred when I get back; Picard was a good man and a worthy opponent, these fools are unfit to lick the boots of even Cardassia's meanest subjects…"
Two Kazon grabbed Stadi and tried to wrestle her away. She kicked one in the groin with every bit of force that she could muster.
Unbeknownst to anyone present, the leverage of the kick combined with Stadi's desperate strength caused the Kazon's testes to be forced through the muscular wall of his abdominal cavity, eventually coming to rest somewhere near his kidneys.
The Kazon's eyes crossed, and he passed out instantly.
The other Kazon tried to clap a foul-smelling hand over Stadi's mouth; the Betazoid lanced out with her mind instinctively.
Blood. Ugly laughter. Screams. More laughter. A red-haired woman of a species Stadi didn't know, screaming in agony and fear. More laughter. Blood. Screams. Laughter.
Motor cortex.
Stadi shoved.
The Kazon froze in place and collapsed in a limp heap. Stadi turned sideways and threw up.
"Stadi?" asked Evek, one of his men shocking the last Kazon into submission. "Are you all—"
Captain Veronica Stadi looked up, her black eyes glittering. "I've changed my mind, Evek. They get Cardassian justice. Especially this one."
"I see," said Gul Evek. "Glinn, round them up and transport them to the Brig. We'll convince them of their crimes later. Stadi, do you need to return to your ship?"
"No," said Stadi. "They have women here, prisoners. They've been… using them. We're going to save them."
"I see," said Gul Evek. "Glinn, perhaps you should prepare Interrogation Room One. The rest of you, with me."
"Captain Stadi," said Tuvok. "I believe that it would be wise for you to return to Voyager. First mental duels are always trying, and if I am correct in my assumption about what you saw, it would be logical to conclude that your judgement may be compromised. Gul Evek, as a Starfleet officer with de facto Captain rank, I must insist on Federation legal procedures for these Kazon."
Gul Evek looked over the Vulcan, standing impassively, and the Betazoid, wiping traces of vomit off of her mouth and glaring at a fallen Kazon.
"As you wish. For the purposes of maintaining our alliance, of course."
"Of course," said Captain Tuvok.
"I'm staying," said Stadi, her voice hollow. "Then I'm heading back to my ship and taking a three-hour hydrobath to clean out my brain."
"A wise decision," said Tuvok. "If you wish, I know several meditation exercises that can help in situations like this."
"Sir!" said one of Evek's men, standing by the open door of a Kazon shack. "There's some women in here, various species. They look pretty badly beaten, maybe starved, too!"
"Get me some light in here, not too harsh," said Evek, jogging over. "Evek to Vetar, get Sickbay ready for about a dozen victims of sexual violence."
The Gul approached the women slowly; they were huddled in a corner, some shivering and trembling, the others dead-eyed.
"Please do not be alarmed," said Evek. "You are under Cardassian protection now. The Kazon are being transported to our Brig for trial and execution. Is there one called Kes here?"
A blonde, pointed-eared woman with bruises on her face stood up, looking resigned. "I am Kes," she said. "How may I serve you, Master?"
"I am here with your friend Neelix," said Gul Evek. "He will be quite grateful to see you alive. Gil Ocett!"
"Yes, my Gul?" asked Vetar's only surviving female security officer, blinking in the relative dimness of the shack.
"These women have been subjected to… much unpleasantness. They may not trust men; please convince them to stay calm after we transport them."
"Yes, my Gul," said Ocett with a salute. "With your permission, sir, I will help them adjust to the new situation, as well."
"Permission granted. Captain Tuvok! Has your ship found our missing men yet?"
"I have just received a transmission from the Val Jean," said Tuvok. "There is a tunnel in the rock approximately a quarter-mile from here that should lead us to the city where our missing crew were detected. Hopefully, we will not be too late."
The half-Klingon was steaming mad at everything in her general vicinity. Lieutenant Kim—for all of one minute before he was kidnapped, subjected to excruciating experiments, and sent to this underground city with a strange disease slowly killing him—was trying valiantly to remain calm and remember his training on being captured by possibly-hostile aliens. The more senior Cardassian was sitting calmly, scrutinizing every inch of the room, while the other argued with Torres.
"Dirty Cardassian!" shouted Torres, shoving Gil Kalar backwards into a wall. "You're trying to blame US for this? It's your fault, you stinking spoonhead!"
"Hey! If there's anyone who stinks here, it's you, terrorist! It's the age of replicators in every ship in the quadrant, and the best you child-killing scum can do is refugee scraps? I can smell you from all the way over here!"
"We don't kill children, spoonhead! You and your filth do that!"
"Vole sh*t! You want to know how many people died from that bomb you put in the city hall on Tara IV? Three hundred and eighty-seven! Including fifteen children! My niece was in the school next door! Your cell's damn bomb killed over three hundred people!"
"Collateral damage, spoonhead filth! If you think that—"
Kalar launched himself off the wall and crashed into Torres, his hands around her neck.
"I believe that now would be the appropriate time to intervene," said the senior Cardassian to Harry above the sound of the Maquis and Cardassian brawling.
"Yeah, probably. You get Kalar, I'll get Torres."
"Getting Torres" proved harder than it sounded. Glinn Tarak pulled Kalar off of the enraged woman, who immediately got up and tried to strangle the young Cardassian. Harry grabbed her and tried to pull her backwards, and found himself on his back, winded, with a piercing pain in his groin.
Definitely should've taken hand-to-hand at the Academy.
By the time he regained his feet and capacity for coherent speech, Torres and Kalar were both sitting rather sheepishly on Tarak's bed and holding their heads as Tarak stood over them with arms crossed sternly.
"Ohhhhh…" moaned Harry. "Definitely need to take hand-to-hand combat…"
"They let you onto a starship without that?" Tarak asked mildly.
"It was supposed to be an explorer only, not a warship… and I had the option to take Elementary Wormhole Theory instead. I was hoping to be posted to DS9 to study the wormhole…"
"Ah. You may want to have your gonads examined by a physician if and when we are rescued. The doctors here do not appear to be very effective."
Harry snickered painfully at that.
"On your knees!" shouted Gul Aman Evek, supremely tired of this whole situation. "All of you! You! You look like a leader. Where are my men?"
"The… the strangers?" asked the cowering Ocampan man. "O… over there, those rooms are used for the dying ones."
"With me. Evek to Vetar, prepare to transport five to…"
A door near where the Ocampan man had pointed exploded outwards as two white-clothed Ocampa flew outwards, followed shortly by a Klingon/Human hybrid and an enraged young Cardassian. Both had obvious sores and seemed ill, but the Ocampa were accustomed to lives of sedate boredom, unlike the harsh military training of Cardassian soldiers or the frontier lifestyles that most Maquis has had prior to the Cardassian/Federation war.
"My Gul!" said an older Cardassian with a salute, walking smoothly out of the ruined doorway with a pudgy Human man at his side. "I apologize for Gil Kalar, he is having a most unpleasant day. The Klingon half-breed is one of the Maquis terrorists, and this Human is a Starfleet officer."
"Yes, he's with Captain Stadi here. Maquis, you are under arrest for murder in the first degree, terrorist acts, and murder in the third degree of minors as accidental casualties. You may elect to be tried under Captain Stadi's court when she creates one, but until that point you will be confined to the starship Val Jean under guard by Cardassian and Federation forces."
The Klingon hybrid went for Evek's throat. He grabbed her arms with an iron grip that belied his middle age, and swiftly pinned her struggling body in a pincer hold.
"Don't you dare try to best me in hand-to-hand," snarled Gul Evek. "I have ten years of advanced melee combat training and five of short- to medium-range marksmanship. Do NOT disrespect me by trying to get a Klingon promotion at my expense."
"I'll take her now, Evek," said Stadi.
"Of course," said Evek. "Tarak, Kalar, welcome back."
"Vetar to Gul Evek! This is Daran Taril, we just detected a fleet of starships entering the system at warp 7! They're headed straight for the array!"
"Beam us up!" snapped Evek. "Even if only Nacene can operate the teleportation controls, we still need that array! Full power to the weapons and shields, we'll get our best chance to return to Cardassia's service or die trying!"
"My Gul! The Kazon are hailing us!"
"Might as well take it. On screen."
"Ha, ha, ha!" snorted an obese Kazon. "More fools to make slaves! Ha, ha, ha! I am First Maje Jal Retak of the Kazon-Ogla! Surrender and I may allow some of you to live after I take that space station! Ha, ha, ha!"
"Shut that moronic thug off," snapped Evek, trying valiantly to avoid rolling his eyes at the Kazon's arrogance. "Taril, tactical analysis."
"Reading three carrier-class capital ships, each one about three klicks long. About fifty raider-class attack ships each about the same size as a Cardassian frigate. Weapons are phasers, looks like early photon torpedoes. Shields and weapons tech seem primitive; maybe like the stuff the Federation was using around the time we made first contact. I'd say ten of those raiders versus the Voyager in its current state would be a bit of a challenge; with us and that Maquis ship, plus whatever that station can do…"
"The blob is dying, Taril. It can't or won't operate the device to send us home, and it's impossible for humanoids to operate. All we have is that thing's tetryon cannons."
"Great. Kazon vessels incoming at high impulse, they will be within weapons range in 30 seconds."
"Evek to Stadi."
"Stadi here!"
"Synch to our TacNet. Tuvok, try to flank those capitals. Voyager and Vetar will take on the raiders and draw fire from the carriers. Ocett, is the array working for you?"
"Yes, my Gul! I have propulsion and weapons online!"
"Excellent. Taril, attack pattern Macet One! Kalar, generate a tachyon pulse to strip the lead capital's shields. For Cardassia!"
The Vetar leaped forwards, spiral wave disruptors charged.
"Kazon vessels are in range! They are firing phasers! Minimal damage!" Kalar's reports were fast and relatively calm.
"Taril, shoot to kill. Open fire."
"Yes, my Gul! Targeting the lead capital with an overload pulse!"
The disruptors fired, a piercing beam of light striking through the depths of space. The Kazon warship's shields flickered.
"Enemy vessel's forward shields are down to five percent! Launching torpedoes, maximum yield!"
One of the torpedoes slammed into the shields, its antimatter detonation only scratching the Kazon ship, but the other slammed into the carrier's bulbous prow, the explosion instantly destroying a dozen decks. The Kazon starship reeled in space, drifting sideways and crushing one of its raiders before the smaller ship could get out of the way. A phaser shot to its side and it detonated explosively.
"Fire on the raiders! Attack pattern Lemek Beta, fire at will!"
The Kazon raiders tried to swarm, to outflank the Alpha Quadrant starships, but a blitzkrieg of beam fire from the two cruisers left them limping back towards the cover of the two remaining capitals, which were, despite their forward-heavy weapons arrays, positioning themselves for broadsides on either side of the cruisers for some unfathomably stupid reason; Evek barked a quick order, and disruptor fire tore into the facing shields as the Vetar's warning sirens blared under the Kazon assault.
Stadi fired a tricobalt device.
The gleaming blue torpedo slammed through the weakened starboard shields of the second carrier and tore into its midsection, the detonation ripping through half of the ship and igniting the warp core instantly. In under a second, the massive capital ship was reduced to floating dust.
"Crazy daughter of a vole… I like this woman! Taril, focus on those raiders!"
"Sir!" said Kalar. "Reading more Kazon ships inbound! It looks at least five more capitals…"
There was a tremendous explosion, and a screamed curse from Taril. Evek's chest slammed against his restraint harness; he realized, after a moment, what must have happened. A doomed Kazon raider had crashed into the ship…
"Damage report!"
"Hull breaches on four decks, my Gul! Impulse engines are damaged, disruptor bank 2 is offline! Voyager is moving to cover us!"
"This is Captain Tuvok," said a calm voice over the communications network. "I have a firing solution on the remaining Kazon capital ship. Opening fire."
The Val Jean streaked out of the darkness behind the Kazon carrier and sent phaser pulses and antimatter warheads lancing into its rear engine pods. The massive ship glowed from within and erupted.
"More Kazon ships inbound!" shouted Stadi over the communications link. "We're mopping up the raiders, they seem to be able to take only about three or four shots apiece, but there are five capitals inbound!"
"I've got the station working!" shouted Ocett. "Moving it behind the fifth planet, that's a gas giant that might be able to help hide it from sensors!"
"Good idea," said Evek. "Stadi, prepare a full spread of those tricobalt warheads. Taril, Kalar, I want those Kazon capitals' shields down as soon as possible!"
"Understood, my Gul!"
"Kazon ships exiting warp," said Stadi. "Tricobalt spread ready."
A wave of about thirty raiders dropped out of warp; all three ships opened fire with energy weapons.
"Bastard sons of nag-atin are hard to track that close to carriers," snarled Taril. "Firing all weapons, my Gul!"
"Ten Kazon ships still up!" reported Kalar. "Kazon capitals exiting warp!"
Stadi fired the spread, a dozen tricobalt warheads on subwarp missiles streaking out in every direction, some helping the Vetar's disruptors swat the last raiders out of space asVal Jean's weapons impacted against the carriers' shields while the rest blasted the lead two carriers into dust.
"Three Kazon capitals still up—they are launching fighters!"
"Concentrate on the capitals! We can withstand the fighters!"
Kazon phaser fire and photon torpedoes slammed into the Cardassian warship's shields; Evek swore as the red alert sirens blared and a console exploded.
"Hull structural integrity at 79%! Hull breach on deck 10!"
"Return fire!"
Stadi's ship fired a high-yield photon torpedo that slammed into one of the three remaining carriers' forward weapons arrays just as they powered up for another volley; the feedback pulse shorted out the Kazon ship's EPS grid and the core detonated as it lost antimatter containment.
The second remaining capital's fore shields took a withering hail of fire from the Maquis and Cardassian ships, photon torpedoes slamming into its hull. Another volley fromVoyager's phasers and it detonated.
"My Gul! The last Kazon ship, it's headed straight for us at high impulse!"
"Evasive maneuvers!"
"Impulse engines are damaged, I can't make it in time!"
"Tuvok to Vetar. I am transporting my men to Voyager. I shall attempt to ram the Kazon carrier. This should destroy it before it hits the Vetar."
"Stadi to transporter room, get me a lock on Tuvok and beam him out, now!'
"Course locked," said Tuvok.
The Maquis raider Val Jean streaked past the beleaguered Cardassian warship at one-quarter of the speed of light.
"Full power to shields!" barked Evek.
The ships collided, and the Kazon carrier detonated in a brilliant flash of light and dust, the shockwave slamming into the Cardassian vessel and causing even more sirens to blare.
"My Gul, shields are down and forward disruptors are damaged. But the Kazon are down and there are no more contacts on sensors, at least at the moment."
"Excellent," said Gul Evek, scratching behind his ear where it always got itchy under stress. "Stadi, did you get Tuvok out?"
"Stadi here, we have him!"
"Good. He is a brave and sensible man. It would be a shame for him to die like a drunken Klingon."
"Enter," said Gul Aman Evek.
"Sir?" said a Romulan with short-cropped jet-black hair, entering cautiously. "May I talk with you for a moment?"
"Yes...you were one of the Kazon prisoners, yes?"
"Yes, sir. Alina t'Aimne, Arrain and ih'hwi'saehne, ch'R Vermithrax. The ahlh aehallhai got us, killed half the crew in the transit and half the rest in the those sick experiments, then left us for the Kazon. Riov t'Khellian tried to fight them; they...they used her until she died. And they laughed. Those monsters thought it was funny."
"What do you want?"
"I want to work for you. I have ten years of experience as…"
"Whatever you can do, I need it. Fortunately, my ship's counselor survived; talk to Glinn Nirymer, the Lethean, if you need help. He's a merc, but well paid, and a good man. And I give you my personal promise that we will destroy every one of these Kazon scum that we encounter. Moronic thugs are one thing, but these are evil monsters as well. Do you want to help in the interrogations and executions?"
"I want to watch," said t'Aimne, dark eyes glittering. "I want to look into their eyes and see them burn."
"I believe that could be arranged," said Evek.
Like most Cardassians, Gul Aman Evek was a calm, collected, quiet sort. But when he was forced to action...he was ruthless. Without mercy.
It was the Cardassian way.
"Enter," said Stadi, checking her uniform self-consciously.
"Hello?" said a brunette alien of a species Stadi didn't know. "Sir… I… um…"
"Yes? Oh, you're one of the women we rescued from the Kazon, yes?"
"Yes," said the woman, nodding somewhat timidly. "I'm… they call me Dukh."
"Is that your name?"
"It's what the Kazon call me. I think it's an animal they know."
"... I see." Stadi felt the cold rage boil up again. "Do you remember your name?"
"I think… I think my name was Ora. The Kazon, they've had me for what seems like forever…"
"Understood," said Stadi. "Do you need a counselor? T'Pai's not a real counselor, but she's telepathic and has a little training…"
"I… I just don't want...don't want to hurt."
"All right," said Stadi, standing up and gently taking the woman by the shoulder.
She shied away, almost imperceptibly.
"Did the doctors help you? If you haven't gone to Sickbay yet, is there anything about your species, any medical needs, that we might need to know?"
"I… I don't know."
"All right. I'll just lead you down to Sickbay, and we can get you checked out…"
The woman nodded slowly. Stadi gently took her hand and ushered her into the turbolift.
"Kim, mind the Bridge for me."
"Yessir."
"Thanks. Deck 5."
The woman clutched Stadi's hand in a vise-like grip the entire way.
"T'Pai?" called Stadi as she entered. "I need your help for this one, the EMH isn't going to work."
"You are cleared for duty," said T'Pai to one of the Maquis men, finishing sealing a cut on his forehead. "Captain. What do you require?"
"Ayala, I need a minute with you when we're done here. T'Pai, Ora here hasn't reported to Sickbay for her exam and therapy yet. Could you handle—"
"Yes, Captain. T'Pai to Nirymer."
"Yeah? What do you need, Vulcan?"
"I have another patient. She appears to be suffering from acute post-traumatic stress."
"Good, you need a lesson on that. Bring her over and I'll show you the ropes of PTSD. It's tricky, you have to be gentle, but if you catch it early enough it's easily treatable."
"I'll just leave you here with T'Pai, all right?" said Stadi. "I have to go talk to some of the crew about a new chain of command, but T'Pai and Evek's counselor will help you out, all right?"
The woman nodded shortly and let go of Stadi grudgingly, allowing T'Pai to run her over with a medical tricorder.
"Report to me when you're done, Commander."
Ayala was mercifully waiting outside.
"Yes?" asked the big man. "What did you need?"
"I need a security chief," said Stadi. "I'd ask Tuvok, but he said he would be better used elsewhere, and he's my first choice for XO unless he wants the big seat himself anyway. Your fellow Maquis said that you're the best fighter except for your late leader, and you have a military background. How would you like to be chief of security?"
"Will the Cardies go for that?"
"Evek said that as long as you all serve out the remainder of your sentences when we return, time in service counts as time served. On top of that, it'll be decades before we get back, so if and when we return to Earth you probably won't serve a day."
"I accept, then."
"Just like that?"
"Sir, Chakotay and I set a bomb on Tara IV. It was meant to kill the local governor—nasty piece of work, he was—but we miscalculated the yield, and it took out half of a school for officer's kids that was next door to the governor's offices. Hundreds of people died, including children. Torres, Seska, and some of the others may have been all right with that, but I'm not, and if possible, I want Evek to know. I'll do anything you need me to, sir; I've got a lot of blood to wash out."
"I'll see what I can do," said Stadi. "Thank you for being honest with me."
Maje Jabin woke up in harsh light.
"Guahhh… what the hell is that?"
"Ah, you're awake," said a calm voice, colder than the depths of interstellar space. "You know, there is one thing that I loathe more than idiotic thugs. And that is those who violate women. I have a wife, you know, two daughters in the civil service and a son in the Guard. I have a sister, two granddaughters, and a niece. I don't like rapists."
"Who...who are you? Where am I?"
"I am Gul Aman Evek of the Cardassian Fourth Order. You, my little man, are in Hell."
There was a humming sound, building up to a piercing whine.
"You have been found guilty—under Federation legal protocols, no less—of over five hundred counts of murder, rape, theft, piracy, and crimes against sentience. You make the worst excesses of Cardassia during the Bajoran Occupation seem tame, and on top of that you are quite possibly the stupidest excuse for a commanding officer that I have ever had the misfortune to meet. I have but two questions for you, both of which you will answer truthfully: Do you have anything to say in your defense, and do you wish to be punished by Federation or Cardassian methods?"
"Ha!" spat Maje Jal Jabin. "You think that women are worth anything? They are nothing more than animals to be used as men please! Do your worst, fool!"
"Does this satisfy you, Tuvok?"
"Given our resources and situation, yes," said another voice, even and emotionless.
"Thank you," said Evek. And suddenly Jabin's body was on fire, every neuron in his body shrieking in a world of unbearable agony as thousands of watts arced through his body.
He was dead in under five seconds. But every single one seemed like an eternity.
"That," said Gul Evek, "is how Cardassians punish criminals of this magnitude. Let the punishment fit the crime."
Personal log, Gul Aman Evek, Cardassian Fourth Order.
Lycoris.
You'll probably never hear this. But I want to say it anyway… I love you. I love you with everything in my being, no matter how tense our relationship has become after our sons' deaths.
I am currently fifty years from Cardassia. Fifty years at maximum sustainable speed. Fifty years from home. From my family. From you.
Due to the circumstances, I was forced to allow the Federation captain, an inexperienced but competent young woman named Stadi, to take the terrorists in as a form of serving their Federation sentences. It irks me, but we are one ship in unexplored space. We need the superior equipment of the Federation science vessel, while they need the firepower of the Vetar.
Our first major opponent was a species called the Kazon. They are unimpressive foes, primitive, violent, and incredibly stupid. This is a warp-capable species that was literally able to kill themselves with a REPLICATOR, if our new guide is to be believed.
Our new guide is a man named Neelix. I found him mildly annoying in personal appearance and grooming habits, but a decent sort in his own way. He is a trader in this area, and while he admits that his knowledge is as far from perfect and all-encompassing as his expertise, he has been willing to share considerable information on local species and power balances.
Frankly, said species and power balances are unimpressive. The only major power here is the aforementioned Kazon, the other local species controlling a few systems at most.
We have adapted the alien technology that brought us here, cannibalizing the power cores, hull, and weapons in order to retrofit and repair our ships in order to face the quadrant. I wish you were here, my love. It is beautiful, I miss you, and I could really use your special touch with people right about now. The Kazon had captives, you see. Don't worry, I gave them a suitably painful and humiliating end.
I have a new sensor officer, a Romulan woman who we rescued from the Kazon. She is polite, competent, driven. Very much a Cardassian in spirit. Gil Taril has joined the crew full-time; I hope that we return faster than expected for him, as well as myself; his wife is pregnant and no father deserves to miss the birth of his child, especially for a reason such as this.
Stay safe, my love. Do what you can to keep Skrain Dukat out of any position that could make him Legate—he is a dangerous and untrustworthy man who looks at a choice between light and darkness and chooses the darkness, every time.
I love you.
Your husband,
Aman Evek.
Captain's log, stardate 48316.1. We have scavenged the Caretaker's array for its hull material, weapons, and power source; initial estimates have both the Voyager and the Vetar being able to sustain a cruising velocity of Warp 8.5 with these enhancements. At that rate, we should be home in about fifty years.
The victims of the Kazons' brutal and violent society have joined our crews, some on the Vetar, some on Voyager. Our current total crew complement is three hundred and two, including the Maquis survivors who we have accepted provisionally into Starfleet. Commander Tuvok has accepted a position as my executive officer, stating that I have shown promise and potential and that he wishes to see me fulfill said potential. I only hope that I can do so.
T'Pai is taking lessons on counseling from Gul Evek's counselor, a Lethean man named Nirymer. He seems friendly enough.
Evek executed the Kazon prisoners after the best trial we could whip up. I am of two minds about this: on the one hand, those were murdering, rapist pirates and we don't have the space or crew to hold on to twenty-odd Kazon in the brig. On the other hand… execution isn't something the Federation does. We're supposed to be better than that. Commander Tuvok has agreed to help me through this emotional turmoil.
Deities. By the time we get home, I'll be an old woman, if we're lucky. Many of the crew will likely never see their families again.
It's a sobering thought.
Deities. I didn't want to be a captain! I'm just a pilot, for the First Deity's sake! But Tuvok says that I have potential, and he served under Captain Sulu… and the crew have accepted me quite easily. I just hope that I can be as good of a captain as they need.
The Maquis are serving their sentences for terrorism as Starfleet officers. Gul Evek was somewhat upset about this, but agreed that as a matter of convenience it would have to do. On the off-chance that we do get back home in this lifetime, they have agreed to serve any time remaining on their sentences in a Federation penitentiary, with time on Voyager counting as time served.
I just hope that we find a wormhole or SOMETHING to get home sooner. I don't even want to think about making this a generational ship.
Well. I've rambled on long enough. Could have been a worse first Captain's Log.
Computer, end log.
"Commander, are we ready?" asked Stadi, sitting in her Captain's chair.
"Yes," said Tuvok. "Helm control reports that our course is laid in. We are synchronized with the Vetar."
"Bridge to Engineering, how's the alien core synching with our systems?"
"All systems are go, Captain," said Ballard over coms. "Torres, keep an eye out for any power fluctuations."
"Gul Evek, are you ready?"
"At your leisure, Captain," said the Cardassian on the viewscreen.
"All right. Engage."
