STAR TREK: DEEP SPACE NINE
To Have Loved, Lost and Won
by Mirwalker
ACT THREE
Her three eyes seared through the video link, with a frustration her voice made no attempt to veil. "Captain Sisko, what would you have me do? Tear out our memories? Your doctor has already confirmed that your memory-wiping procedures will not work on our species.(1) Erase our ships' sensor records? I have already offered that in half a dozen petition hearings. All that I have left is give you my word that we will not provide the Dominion or anyone else with information."
Intent on keeping the situation from escalating beyond what his unpopular news had predictably already caused, Sisko willed his face and voice to indicate nothing but pleasant interest. "And the Federation's concern, Commodore, is that the information you likely possess is of such importance that I'm afraid your word alone is not enough."
Ensign Magenau stepped forward from among the Station officers who were still gathered when the Gamma Quadrant leader had called promptly as promised. "I can vouch for the sincerity of her words, Captain," he stated to his commanding officer with a matched calm confidence. "Her thoughts indicate a genuine intent to keep her promise. I sense no deception from her or any of the Tashu'at; as a group, they consider their silence a small price to pay in order to finally go home."
All eyes turned toward this unexpected addition to the conversation, with reactions ranging from astonishment to appreciation.
"Thank you, Ensign," Sisko dismissed, with no intended gratitude. "Unfortunately, Commodore, nothing he, you or I have said has convinced the Council that allowing you to return is advisable. Therefore, I must ask you to allow your Regatta to be escorted to Earth where it is safer, until such time as the hostilities between the Federation and the Dominion are resolved."
The last glint of hope so extinguished, the Commodore seemed to sink back into her seat; and her eyes dropped in sad resignation. "At last we are openly prisoners of your war." Just as quickly, she inhaled sharply, returned her trinocular gaze to the hairless headed human, and amended her assessment of the situation. "No, Benjamin Sisko, if the effects of your conflict with the Dominion are as unavoidable as you say, I can at least shape them in my favor."
Instantly, the Ops viewscreen went blank.
Before he could ask, his officers began to report.
"The energy readings from the Tashu'at ships have changed," narrated Dax from her station. "I think their shields are up. No other changes."
"Go to active scans," Sisko ordered, falling into easy step with the not entirely unexpected bad ending to the interaction. "At this point, they know we're watching; and we need any information we can get…"
Kira confirmed, "We're jamming all transmissions from them. Station defenses and all Ally ships are on stand-by."
"It's too late," shrugged the also unsurprised Betazoid. "They have already sent the request."
O'Brien looked up from where he was observing sensor data at Dax's station. "We haven't detected any transmissions from their ship; and we're jamming anything they can try. How can they have sent a message?"
"I'm not an engineer to explain how they did it, Chief. I only know that the mood of the Regatta has just changed from anger and action, to anxious anticipation. They've taken their step, and are biding time until the Dominion responds." He looked at the Captain, and let a little testiness slip into his voice. "You played your cards, and now they've played their-."
Sisko didn't wait for Magenau to finish, "In my office, Ensign." Whipping about, he further instructed, "Major, inform Starfleet Command, and notify me the instant anything changes."
He marched toward his office with such ferocity, several of his crew mumbled small prayers for the ensign who followed him with a not dissimilar air of anger about him.
The Captain whirled into the seat behind his desk, leaving Magenau to stand before it with no invitation to make himself comfortable. Instead, Sisko wasted no time in naming his displeasure. "Ensign, you may be new to Starfleet service in the field, and you may be the 'Tolesat;' but that does not excuse your contradicting me or questioning Federation policy—particularly in front of others. What were you thinking?"
Not showing any sign of intimidation, but knowing better than to speak out of turn or tone again, the junior officer asked, "May I speak freely, sir?"
"That doesn't seem to be a weakness of yours."
Permission granted, the young man actually leaned onto his superior's desk in open challenge. "What I was thinking, Captain, was that my insights as a telepath could provide an opportunity to break the stalemate you, the Council, the Tashu'at and the soon-to-be approaching Dominion task force have created here. Having lived the past few months in the crosshairs, I don't fancy sitting quietly in the center of this escalating crisis."
Coldly yet sharply, as only he could, Sisko whittled his way toward the bucket in which he intended to hand the ensign his tail. "I appreciate the sentiment, Ensign; de-escalating this situation is at the top of my list as well. But in doing so, I will not be second-guessed by you or anyone else, nor will I challenge the Federation Council or allow you to do so."
Magenau's eyes narrowed as his voice chilled. "You're not always one to squabble over means to an end, Benjamin. I think Senator Vreenak would agree—if he were still with us…"(2)
Sisko's eyes opened wide before he could stop them. Buying time to gather himself, he shot back only, "And just what is that supposed to mean?"
But the Betazoid already had made his point and gained his confirmation; satisfied, he elaborated casually. "Your little plot with Garak, Captain; the memory passed through your mind several times during our interviews. I'd guess that some part of the murder and cover-up still bothers you."
On his feet instinctually at the audacity of the sharing, the violation of his privacy and the guilt at having his sin known, Sisko almost hissed the counter-accusation, "You would eavesdrop on my thoughts and then use the memory to blackmail me into ignoring a decision by the Federation Council? If not as Starfleet officer, then at least as a Betazoid, I would think your conscience would give you some pause…"
Magenau pushed away from the desk in disgust. "Always with the 'Betazoid ethics'?! You know, we don't all grow up to be counselors…!" Spinning back to face his superior, he returned to a cooler logic. "As a native of an occupied planet and as a Starfleet officer, I am using what opportunities present themselves to best protect and defend the people and principles I hold dear. And I see here the chance to overt an unnecessary bloodbath so that we can all get back to more important matters..."
"This is not about personal opinions or agenda, Mister; yours or mine."
Pulling himself to near attention again, Magenau persisted, "My professional agenda, sir, is to assess and recommend courses of action regarding the war effort. In my professional opinion, sir, this paranoia about the Tashu'at is a needless distraction and potential disaster. If you won't listen to the Regatta, why won't you listen to that?"
Seeing and sensing no apparent change in Sisko's attitude, his anger collapsed in on itself almost instantly. He dropped his shoulders, and sighed with disappointment. "Even you have high expectations of me, Captain. But I can't be your Tolesat savior if you won't be saved…"
Without another word, he turned on his heels and walked out.
Unexpectedly humbled by the young man's passion and final point, Sisko could only call after him half-heartedly. "Ensign! Yerian…" He too was suddenly disappointed, but not in the departed officer.
Two cups and a nearly empty carafe of coffee sat on the Wardroom table along with a few scattered PADDs. Jake and Yerian sat at its corner, gazing at the display on Jake's own computer.
Magenau smiled, "I'm impressed that you tracked this down. 'Yer and Watters': I'd forgotten the Academy paper printed the engagement announcement; Karen Farris arranged that somehow… " He sat back in his chair, almost cradling the tablet, before grinning up at Jake, "When you knew her, she played only bad cop to Tim's good, huh?"
Rolling his eyes and smirking, Jake almost recoiled at the memory. He didn't need to say more.
Half the article's title added more backstory into the nostalgia Jake's research had generated for this interview with the recent and acclaimed Academy graduate. "This engagement party was the one time she was publicly warm to us, in front of the Squad. But she did worship Tim, and would have done anything for him. They all would have…" he trailed off.
Jake agreed quickly, "And they did; and it got all of them killed."
The swift change in Magenau's expression made it clear he'd been too familiar, too frank. "I'm sorry, Yerian. I didn't mean it like that."
"Yes, you did," he was corrected quickly, but not defensively. "And you're right… Everyone looked to him for strength, answers, purpose and hope. He always knew what he had to do… It was one of the things I admired most about him, and one of the many things I tried to learn from him."
Magenau realized that he was tracing his hand along the edge of the static image, that he was falling into a reverie which had proven clearly fatal. He swallowed hard, and finished that story. "But in the end, he couldn't deliver. His charm blinded everyone to his faults; and his dedication to duty blinded him. He ran them to their graves, and left the rest of us to mourn them all."
The reporter didn't need to be a telepath to see how personally the follower before him had felt that leader's loss, not even two months before. How deeply he was feeling it still.
Again remembering where he was, Magenau sniffled and looked away from the happy faces on the screen, and the empathetic one at the table with him. Largely for his own sake, he tried to change the mood, smiling, "I remember a time… at the Academy: They had just finished a mid-term in the simulator; Karen and Tim were in rare form. The Squad hadn't done so well—at least not as well as he wanted. So, he was gently affirming the things well done, when she-"
He stopped so abruptly and sat up so stiffly, that Jake nearly jumped himself. "What? What's wrong?"
Magenau was no longer looking at him, but at the door. "In the corridor...," he half-explained, tapping his communicator. "Officer Rusto?"
When there was no response, Magenau stood and unholstered his phaser. "Wardroom to Security."
Nothing.
Jake looked back and forth between the door and the rigid officer.
"Wardroom to Ops."
Nothing.
Magenau leapt from stone still into a flurry of actions and orders. "Jake, order two open, large mugs of extra hot raktajino."
"You want a drink?!" he exclaimed, incredulous.
"Just do it," the ensign commanded. "I've only got one phaser; the coffee will give you a weapon." He moved to the door controls, as Jake obeyed mechanically. "Hurry! Someone's trying to decrypt the lock."
Without warning, Magenau fired his phaser at the pitcher and glasses on the table, disintegrating them.
Jake jumped back, nearly spilling his coffee.
As the beeping at the door grew faster, Magenau pushed past the civilian to the replicator and requested, "Computer, two kilograms of solid ultritium."(3)
This time, the computer buzzed negatively, unwilling to comply.
Not understanding any of these reactions, Jake asked, "What are you doing?!"
An alarm sounded immediately in front of Chief O'Brien. Without looking up, he called to the others on duty in Ops, with no small disbelief, "Major, we have weapons fire and an unauthorized replicator request for explosives in the Wardroom."
Dax met Kira's wide-eyed look, "Magenau and Jake are scheduled for an interview there."
"Captain," she called out as she tapped feverishly at the console before her. "Chief, beam them both out!"
"Can't," he reported even as he kept typing in hopes of proving himself wrong. "Looks like some kind of local dampening field has been activated in that section: no communication signals or transporter lock possible."
"Security to Wardroom immediately!" Kira called to the air as he headed for the turbolift. "Station-wide alert," she ordered as Sisko followed her, knowing he could ask for an explanation on en route to wherever she was headed in such a hurry.
From behind the freshly upended conference table in front of the windows, Jake could see Magenau set a chair on top of his own barricade closer to the replicator wall. The ensign intended to split up the targets in the room, and perhaps have a better angle of attack from his side vantage.
Just as Magenau was turning to wave Jake down, the computer panel pinged and the doors slid open. A small object sailed through and landed on the floor against the base of Jake's defenses, as he ducked behind the barrier.
Not watching that detail, Magenau pivoted, dropped to his knee and fired a few shots through the open doorway—wildly hoping to hit, or at least deter whoever was out there from taking any action.
Hearing a grunt and thud from the hallway, and sensing a change in the consciousness out there, the armed ensign moved swiftly but cautiously into the corridor to check the fallen figure.
Not sure what way the quick shots and footsteps had played out, Jake peeked over the table edge, and saw Magenau squatting over the prone form. Still balancing two mugs of hot coffee, his ear was caught by a clicking sound nearer him; and he looked down to see a crude bundle of metal and wire blinking rapidly on the floor before him.
"Mags!" he called, frozen in place. "Bomb!"
Sensing the fear even as his name was called, Magenau turned to catch his new friend's stunned expression as the Wardroom doors began shutting. Reaching them just too late, he beat on them, shouting, "Jake!"
The corridor rocked, the door sparked, and the lights went out as a loud bass note moved through the ensign, and threw him against the far wall.
NOTES
1. A medically-induced, amnesia first introduced in TNG in Pen Pals (TNG 2.15). Used, attempted or explained as unusable in additional episodes such as Who Watches the Watchers (TNG 3.4).
2. See In the Pale Moonlight (DS9 6.19).
3 Introduced in Manhunt (TNG 2.19), and making several appearances through DS9 and even STIX: Insurrection, this highly explosive and hard-to-detect material is normally mined.
