Disclaimer: The characters of the Four Orders are entirely my own. The characters and universe of Star Trek belong to Paramount Pictures but the words are mine.
AU/DS9: It has been years since everyone left – Benjamin, Worf, O'Brien, Nog, Julian and Odo. But then why Kira kept dreaming of them being together? And most disturbingly she kept seeing Jadzia, an old man, and a young commander playing tongo.
Old Friends never leave: Part IX
Previously:
"Colonel?" Miles raised his voice.
She sighed and pressed another button. Miles' stomach lurched. The image showed the Deliver. It looked like someone had beaten the shit out of it.
"I'm sorry, Chief..."
"NOOOOO..."
And now:
Miles was out of his skin. He crawled on all four his hand stretched forward. He was a pitiful sight. Tears freely poured down his cheeks. His world had come crumbling down. No, it couldn't be. He couldn't have lost her.
Nerys walked to him and helped him up giving him a pat on the shoulder. She then sat on her seat. "I'm sorry, Chief..."
"She can't be de...d...d..."
"Oh, no," Nerys quickly shook head realizing she had taken this way out of line. "But she is in critical condition."
"How bad is it?"
"I'm not going to lie to you. It is bad."
"No," Miles buried his hands into his hair.
"The USS Nebraska is now under my command and the USS Bossley is due to arrive tomorrow morning. We will be joined by the Kardassian destroyer Govak too. I promise you we are going to find out what happened."
"Where is Keiko?"
"She is at the Kardassian outpost in the Gamma. Gul Ablant assures me she is getting the best care possible."
"We...we...have to leave now."
"The Nebraska is leaving in two hours. I will join you tomorrow."
"But you said you're in command."
"I'm in command of the mission yes but not of the ship. It is still going to take you there. Pack your things, Chief."
Miles swallowed and stood though he stood rather disoriented. All this had been a severe shock for him. "Ah, yes, of course, right away,"
Nerys threw him a sympathetic look. She knew how he feels. She felt this way many times.
The USS Nebraska departed as soon as Miles boarded. It entered the wormhole and headed straight for the Kardassian outpost at maximum warp. Miles could hardly find his place on the ship. He was pacing up and down his quarters worn out of worry. The feeling of powerlessness was overwhelming his emotions over and over again. He had uncontrollable itching to go out and push the ship to go faster.
"Bridge to O'Brien," A voice interrupted his pacing on the com. Miles recognized the captain's voice. She was a good captain, one of the best now in Starfleet.
"O'Brien, here,"
"Get on the bridge,"
"I'll be right there."
Miles left his quarters and was soon on the bridge. The captain was in her chair. She waited for him to sit beside her.
"Ensign Vaco, drop out of warp."
"Yes, Captain,"
The Nebraska slowed down to impulse. The front view showed the Kardassian base. It was just as ugly as every other Kardassian installation as Miles duly noted. There were no ships in the area other than a few runabouts, or at least the Kardassian version of them.
The Nebraska cut the distance to the station and reached the docks. On the left, they saw the Deliver. It looked worse than they had thought. The image they had seen definitely looked better.
There was no hull spot that did not have dark traces of phaser fire. There were also many holes on it as well. As it seemed the ship had lost atmosphere on several decks. On other places, the hell metal had simply melted. Miles started to wonder how it made it to the outpost.
"This is Kardassian outpost X51." A voice came from the com.
"This is the USS Nebraska, Captain Hiroshi Matsuma."
"We've been expecting you." The Kardassian replied. "Is Chief O'Brien onboard?"
"I am." Miles replied.
"You'd better come aboard. Mrs O'Brien has just gotten out of surgery. The doctor is optimistic but she is not out of danger yet."
"Go!" Captain Matsuma said.
Miles left the bridge and headed six decks down to the transporter room. He materialized a minute later inside the outpost. A Kardassian lieutenant was waiting for him.
"This way, Mr. O'Brien." The Kardassian said and led the way.
They reached a room where Keiko was lying. There was a doctor hovering around her and with sudden relief Miles recognized him.
"Julian!"
"Miles," Julian sounded happy to see him though certainly not under these circumstances. They had a brief hug.
"How is she?"
"It is too early to tell." Julian replied. "Come with me. Now she needs rest."
They went into the adjacent room and there Julian told him of her condition. Miles sat heavily on a chair burring once again his hands into his hair. She was not out of the woods yet. He knew of course Julian had done everything to save her life.
"How did you get here?" Miles asked after a rather lengthy moment of silence.
"I was in the neighbourhood. I came to drop some supplies for the Kardassians when the Deliver came."
"The others onboard?"
Julian shook head. "One Bajoran and Kardassian made it the others were not so lucky. Their bodies were simply too much burnt. The Kardassian captain apparently left the bridge with the rest of the command crew when it blew up..."
"Then how did the ship come here?"
"I don't know. The Kardassians aren't saying anything and besides I've been busy."
"Thank you, Julian,"
"Anytime, Chief, anytime," Julian's voice dropped down to a whisper.
Miles knew how he felt. As a doctor, he hated losing lives on his watch. Still there was some hope. He gave a pat to Julian's shoulder and went back to Keiko's room. He was not about to leave her side. If she wouldn't survive he truly no idea how he would tell his daughter. No, he thrust head again he can't start thinking this way. She will make it. She has to.
The next day, the Kardassian warship Govak and the USS Bossley arrived. They began analyzing the Deliver. Colonel Nerys was with Gul Ablant. The latter was weapons and explosives' expert.
The data they collected however did not make much sense. The weapon signature was not in the database. It is energy based though not phaser or disruptor. The readings suggested a form of high yield fusion with elements of nanites particles, which was an unusual combination. Nanites technology usually suggested the presence of the Borg though nanites technology was not exclusively theirs.
The confusion was more in the area of how the ship returned home since its bridge was blown up before the ship jumped to warp. The structural integrity of the ship was severely compromised and couldn't have allowed the ship to enter safely warp.
Further investigation revealed the warp engines were not active at the time the ship jumped and this deepened the mystery. While examining the other hull, Colonel Nerys discovered something. It was focused burnt area. It was separate from the attack damage. Nerys searched the rest of hull for the same burnt area and found three more scorch marks equally positioned around the ship.
This discovery suggested well Nerys was not certain what it did. The burnt marks were at equal places around the strongest parts of the ship. But at these places there was no damage. Further detailed scanning revealed the burnt marks were of focused energy particles with unusual structural cohesion. Gul Ablant suggested it could be a tractor beam and while it had some merit it was not certain.
Even if the ship was towed with tractor beams there was no sign of any other ship when the Deliver appeared on the sensors of the Kardassian outpost. Further speculation argued the ship or ships that towed the Deliver must have been cloaked. But even so no cloaked ship could possibly be cloaked and in the same time tow another ship unless the tractor beam was cloaked as well and that is preposterous.
Sadly there was no definitive answer explaining what had happened. The new weapon signature was entered into the Federation database but that was all. Probes were sent to the coordinates were the ship was attacked but nothing was found. The black box of the Deliver was never recovered thus they had no visual record who or what attacked the ship, and why.
Keiko O'Brien spent almost three months in recovery but eventually got better. She was sadly a poor well on information as at the time she was sleeping. The other Bajoran and Kardassian were no help either. The mystery of the Deliver remained a mystery.
Starfleet in their infinite wisdom decided it prudent to increase their personnel on Deep Space Nine and add a prototype warship to provide additional security to the space station. Colonel Nerys was opposed to this idea but had to swallow it.
The new ship, the USS Ardent, arrived shortly after. It was roughly the same size as the Defiant but its technology was solely Federation. The only non Federation component was the Romulan cloaking device. The ship had no captain though. It was commanded by Commander Charles Tucker. He was rather young, twenty seven years old but charming.
Colonel Nerys came to greet him at the docking gate and as it opened she froze. The young commander was exactly the same as the one she saw in her dream. He was playing tongo with Jadzia and the old man.
Will she ever get to the bottom of her dream? Nerys wondered. She had thought that with the mystery of the Deliver life has returned to normal but apparently she had been wrong.
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Lordheaven
