Shadows and Subterfuge: Chapter 1

Disclaimer: Some of the locations for this story came from the book Crisis on Centaurus, written by Brad Ferguson.

SHADOWS AND SUBTERFUGE

"Hurry, Piotr! They're gaining on us!"

A young woman and her male companion fled through the streets at night. The few passers-by that were out that late would only glance up, then pointedly pay attention to where they were going. They neither couldn't nor wouldn't see the dark figures giving chase.

"Faster, Piotr! Faster!"

"I'm running... as fast... as I can, Anna," panted the boy. Despite his shortness of breath, he managed to work out an extra bit of speed. Each building they passed was dark inside, an indication that they were closed, offering no haven from their pursuers. They ducked into an alley, in hopes to throw them off. The two men chasing them nearly overshot their hiding place, but quickly doubled back and entered the alley.

Realizing that they'd find no safe refuge there, Piotr jumped atop some containers and straddled a wall separating that alley from another one on the other side. "C'mon Anna," he said, lowering his arms. She gripped them, and he hauled her to the top. As she jumped down the other side of the wall, Piotr moved to do the same. But one of the men drew a weapon. A bright burst off energy escaped from the gun and slammed into the wall, collapsing it underneath Piotr. Anna saw this, and as they started to advance, she picked up chunks of the wall and hurled them toward the men. This gave Piotr time to get his bearings and stand up, and while the men were ducking and dodging the debris thrown at them, the couple renewed their flight.

They crossed the street to a park. There was no one in the park, but there was a brightly-lit station, where a public commpanel could be seen. Piotr and Anna made their way to it. Hastily, he punched in an emergency code listed off to the side. A small viewscreen lit up, revealing a Starfleet officer. "This is Lieutenant Handley. Is there an emergency?"

"Yes," Piotr gasped. "We're being chased by some men. We don't know what they want, but they're shooting at us! We need help!"

"If you can stand by, we'll trace your link and -" his voice and the image were abruptly cut off, as another energy blast struck the panel. It exploded in a shower of sparks and went dead.

Piotr looked back and saw the men emerging from the alley. "Run!" he yelled. They started to move again, when one of the strangers fired again, hitting Piotr in the back and sending him sprawling.

"Piotr!!" Anna screamed, and ran over to him.

He reached up and brushed her hand. "Go. Run. Save yourself, An-na," Piotr rasped. Without hesitating, she turned and ran into a grove of trees nearby. She somehow managed to climb one of them and hide deep within the branches and foliage. From her vantagepoint, she saw the men run up to Piotr. They said something, but she couldn't make it out. They kicked him once, and when he apparently still wouldn't tell them what they wanted, they backed up a step, pointed their weapons at him, and fired point blank. Piotr was enveloped in an aura of energy and disappeared. Anna wanted to scream, but she jammed her hand in her mouth, stifled all but a whimper. Then the men walked into the trees, looking for her. Anna made sure to lie very still. One of the men passed right under her, close enough for her to get a good look at him. Then he walked off. She stayed there long after they left the area, trembling.

CHAPTER ONE

Captain's log, stardate 53824.6, First Officer Racer recording:

We have received replacement crewmembers from Earth, due to our losses from plague that ravaged Minos VII. We are currently awaiting orders, however Admiral Racer spoke of taking the Highlander to Celtris III. It seems a splinter Dominion group, made up almost entirely of some Jem'Hadar and Cardassians who don't want to leave their homespace, are entrenched there. Our mission would be a simple one... we would give them three choices: escort to a penal colony, escort back to the Gamma Quadrant... or the more unpleasant alternative.

Personal log, stardate 53824.6:

I'm becoming concerned about Apollo. When he was first promoted to Admiral he seemed to have taken it in stride. But his attitude has steadily declined since then... he's been moody, introverted, and brooding. Oh, he does what is required on the bridge, but... if I didn't know any better, that extra pip sits on his collar with all the mass of a neutron star.

Sam closed the log and looked around the bridge. Everyone was performing his or her duties as expected. Ops was vacant; she normally held that position, but while she was in charge of the bridge, she ran Ops from the captain's chair. Tovas Kaylan, their Bajoran Con officer, was dutifully keeping his attention to the controls in front of him. She then glanced back at Circe. The Tactical officer noticed, and shrugged. It was her way of saying things are normal, but the quivering of the Andorian's antenna told Sam she wasn't in the happiest of moods.

Sam sighed. The crew seems to be invisibly tied to the well being of their commanding officer, she thought as she looked toward the door to the Ready Room. Finally, she stood and approached that door. If it were any other officer, they would have had to wait until he authorized them to enter. However, being who she was, the door slid obediently aside for her.

The first thing she noticed when the door closed was that it was darker than usual. The lights were out, but it could never be completely dark in the room, not as long as her husband occupied it. As it was, he looked as though he never even noticed her enter. Apollo was staring out the viewport at the stars streaking by. He was half-slumped in his chair, elbows up on the armrest, fingers steepled. She walked in a little further. "Admiral?" she said, probing. When she received no response, she continued, "Apollo, is there something wrong?"

When he first realized she was in the room, she knew so not by anything he did, but in what she felt. Through the bond they shared, she could feel intense despair. As soon as she sensed it, she slowly came up behind him and wrapped her arms around him. "Darling, what is it?"

He remained silent for a moment longer before softly replying, "Who am I?"

"What?" Sam asked with a smirk. "Is that supposed to be a trick question?" As she straightened, he turned his chair around to face her. All traces of mirth left her face as she noticed the pained look on his face.

"Who am I?" he said again. "What am I doing here?" It took her a moment to realize the philosophical depth of his questions. "What is my purpose? What are my goals?"

"Ohhhh... Is that all." She sat in his lap and gave him a hug. "Why, dear, your goal was to meet me so we could live a long, happy life together," she said with a big goofy smile to let him know she was joking. He looked at her blankly, and she lost the grin. "Not gonna work, is it." She kissed his forehead and rested her head atop his. "Apollo, I'm probably the last person you can ask. All I can tell you is that I'm here for you. We all are."

He sighed. "That's nice. But it doesn't answer my questions."

She began stroking his hair. "Sometimes part of life is going out and finding answers to those questions. Sometimes the search itself is the answer. It's different for each person." Now she found herself looking at those very stars Apollo was gazing at when she entered. After a while, she seemed to notice she was swaying slightly. She sat up and looked at him. "I didn't know this chair could rock."

"Mmm hmm," he said, nodding. "Sometimes it helps me think, sometimes it helps me relax... sometimes it helps me not think." They both chuckled. They enjoyed the gentle motion of his chair a little longer until the comm chime broke the silence. Apollo reached out and tabbed it. "Racer here."

"Admiral," Circe said, "we're getting a subspace message from Admiral Ross at Starfleet Command."

Sam quickly left Apollo's lap. "Put him through," he replied.

The workstation screen on Apollo's desk lit up with the visage of Fleet Admiral Ross. "Greetings, Admiral Racer."

Apollo nodded. "Admiral," he said, returning the greeting. "What can we do for you?"

"We received a message from a Commodore Ryan on Centaurus. It seems an officer in his security department received a partial call for help before it was abruptly cut off."

Apollo looked puzzled. "And... my help is needed... how?"

"Since Centaurus is deep within the heart of the Federation, Ryan doesn't have too much there in the way of security." Ross explained. "Security is mainly handled by planetary forces rather than Starfleet. I'm not knocking the skill these men possess, but they've investigated the incident, and this incident might be a little out of their league. They've asked Starfleet for help, and since the Highlander is the closest ship to that sector, we were hoping you might wish to take a look."

Apollo stroked his beard. Normally, they might not have bothered with such an incident. However, faced with a stint of patrolling space for threats and stellar phenomena alike, the thought of working on a simple mystery was appealing to him. "Well now, I wouldn't want to let your hopes down, would I?" he replied. "We'll be on our way."

"Splendid. Commodore Ryan will give you any further information upon your arrival. Admiral Ross out." The connection closed.

Apollo immediately stood and cracked his knuckles. "This should be fun," he said neutrally. Sam couldn't tell if he was joking or serious. She followed him out of the Ready Room and onto the bridge, where they took their positions. As he sat down, he told his Con, "Mr. Tovas, set a course for Centaurus, warp factor four. Engage."

~ * ~

Later that week, the Highlander pulled into orbit around the planet Centaurus, a planet in the Alpha Centauri star system, which was a mere 3 light years away from Earth. Apollo frowned a little. This close to Earth, he was sure Ryan could have easily sent someone from there to look into this. Instead, he chooses to give me something to do, to keep me busy. Hardly a good way to spend resources, thought Apollo. But then again, he admitted to himself that he'd rather be doing this than an uneventful patrol run.

Apparently, the two Racers had the same idea at the same time... they both rose out of their chair, and were about to pick their away teams when they looked at each other. Apollo smiled. "Tell you what, Captain. We'll both go this time." She smiled at that, and as they headed for the turbolift, Apollo said, "Commander."

Circe was already halfway to the lift when he called on her. When the doors closed, he said to her, "Am I getting that predictable?"

The Andorian shrugged, her antenna quivering as she did so. "I figured that half the time one of you leads an away mission, I'm on the team, and when both of you are on the mission, I'm always on the team."

Sam looked at her husband. "I think we need to leave her at home more often."

"I don't know about that," Apollo replied. "We do that, and next thing you know, we come back and there's a wild party going on."

Circe, by now quite familiar with this banter, gave them both mock glares. "I never have any fun," she said, pouting.

By the time the doors opened, they had regained their bearing. They proceeded to the transporter room and stepped up onto the pads. "Energize," Apollo commanded.

As the person behind the console sent them beaming, she could have sworn that at the last minute, just as they dematerialized, she saw Circe stick her tongue out at her superior officers.