Chapter Ten

"What do you mean 'the distress signal isn't working?'" Kira asked, sitting up and putting a hand to her head. She felt the bandage on her forehead and quickly pulled her hand back.

Marina and Worf looked back at her from the distress signal controls. "It isn't working," Worf repeated, sounding very frustrated.

"Are you all right, major?" Marina asked.

"I'm fine. Hey--you're bleeding!" Kira exclaimed.

"What?" Marina looked down at herself, and sure enough, her left arm was covered in blood. "I didn't notice." She crawled on her hands and knees to the medical kit beside Carlos Garcia's prone form. "I think it's just a scratch."

"It's bleeding pretty badly, lieutenant," Kira said worriedly.

"I'll be fine." Marina ran the tricorder over her arm. The cut on her arm was long, but not very deep. She breathed a sigh of relief and ripped off her torn sleeve, then began bandaging her forearm.

"Any ideas on what to do, major?" Worf spoke up.

Kira sighed and stood slowly, stretching. "We should try to get to Catronis 6 as soon as possible. If Marina's planetary readings were correct, we were shot down by a team from the Dominion. They won't just let us sit here. They're probably looking for us now. We have to get to that base and send out a distress call."

"But how are we going to get all the hurt people there?" Jake spoke up.

Everyone was quiet.

"I don't want to leave Carlos," Hannah spoke up. "He's in pretty bad shape."

Marina bent over to check the wounded ensign. His condition had not changed, for better or for worse. Julian, what would you do?

"I can't--I can't just stay here." Harris paced up and down, limping noticeably. "I can't just stay and wait for those goons to get here and kill us. That--that--no. I can't."

Kira narrowed her eyes on him. "Calm down, Harris. We have to think of a plan."

"Perhaps this place is easily defendable," Worf suggested. "We need to go outside and look. Possibly, we could repair the communication equipment. And if we must, we could fight."

Harris stopped pacing. "Fight?"

"Yes."

"Uh… no… I don't think I could--"

"Harris, pull yourself together!" Kira exclaimed. "You're a security officer! You know how to fight--and if we have to, you will fight."

Harris sat down, scowling.

Marina sensed some dark emotion coming from the angry ensign--something deeper than just anger. "Harris," she spoke up softly. "Carlos is your friend. Think of him. We may need someone to stay here and guard him or something."

"Shut up!" Harris shouted. "I don't take advice from freaks."

Before the shocked Marina could react, Worf leaped to his feet. "That is enough, ensign," he said, his voice steely. "She is your superior officer. Show some respect."

Harris didn't say a word. He stood slowly and turned his back to the others, retreating to the back of the ship, to his damaged cabin.

"What a jerk," Kira muttered.

"So what do we do, guys?" Jake asked.

Everyone was quiet.

Then Kira spoke up. "We need to send someone to get to the base. Somebody has to get there and send out a distress signal. And if this place is easily defended, some of us could stay here with the wounded."

"Good plan," Worf agreed.

Marina was quiet. The noise of the wind reminded her of that awful dream she had experienced. Perhaps it had been a vision.

"Lt. Richardson, why don't you and Worf go check out the area?" Kira said.

Marina glanced down at Carlos. "I don't want to leave--"

"I'll look after him." Hannah scooted across the floor to kneel beside the wounded young man, her arm stiff in its sling. "Go on, Marina."

"Thank-you." Marina stood. "Let's go."

(LINE)

"Shouldn't they have sent us word by now?" Dax asked Sisko, frowning. They stood in the captain's office, waiting for a message from Catronis 6. "They've been there for at least two hours now."

"Perhaps they were delayed." Sisko rubbed his chin, then sighed. "But they shouldn't have been. They should be there, and they should have sent us a message."

Dax could tell that he was very frustrated--and very worried about his son. "I'm worried, too," she said quietly.

Sisko gave her a tired smile.

"Any word?" Julian slipped into the office, quiet and agile as a cat.

"None," Dax said softly.

Julian frowned. "Can we contact the base?"

"I just sent a message to them, asking if our party arrived," Sisko explained. "We should get a reply any time now."

Dax looked up from her station. "Captain, someone from Catronis 6 wants to speak with you," she said excitedly.

"Onscreen." Sisko sat quickly at his desk, shadowed by the doctor.

The face of a middle-aged man appeared on the screen. He looked worried--and frightened. "Captain Sisko, your team is not here," he said quickly. "And we need them desperately. Everything is going crazy! Our control on the weather is weakening, and the native animal life is going mad, attacking everything! And there are Cardassian and JemHadar--here! On our planet!"

"Have you seen any sign of our ship?" Sisko asked.

"Something large fell from the sky nearly twenty miles from the landing area. We aren't sure what it was." His face was grim. "It could be your ship."

"You are Commander Caldwell, I presume?"

"Yes, captain."

"Commander, you need to send a rescue party to find my crew!" Sisko exclaimed.

"We cannot--"

"You must!"

Julian found that he was squeezing the back of the captain's chair so hard, his knuckles were going white.

"Captain Sisko, we cannot leave the compound. Not with those wild animals out there. And the wind is very difficult to manage in."

"Then don't expect my people to come help you," Sisko replied, his voice cold. "If you don't go to them, they may never make it to you."

Caldwell frowned thoughtfully, then sighed. "We'll see what we can do, captain. Caldwell out." The screen went black.

"Captain, we have to do something," Julian said quickly. "We can't just leave our team--our friends--down there."

Sisko closed his eyes, setting his elbows on the desk. He leaned his chin on his hands. "I suppose you want to take a shuttle to look for them."

Julian nodded. "Yes."

Dax raised her hand. "Me, too, captain."

Sisko looked from one to the other, his gaze finally settling on Julian. "Dr. Bashir, you are working on a very serious project."

"It's nearly finished. I can complete it when I return." Julian walked around the desk to face the captain. "There were no medical officers on that ship, Sisko." He slapped his palms down on the desk and leaned towards Sisko. "They could be dying. You have to send me."

"And me," Dax added.

"And the chief."

"The chief?" Sisko raised an eyebrow.

"Repairs will need to be done," Dax said quickly. "Please, Ben. Think of your son."

"He is as much in my mind as Marina and Worf are in yours." Sisko stood. "In one hour, if we have received no word from the crew of the Longfellow, I will send the two of you and Chief O'Brien on a rescue mission to Catronis."

Julian straightened, trying to remain calm. Oh, God, please don't let anything happen to the woman I love… Let me get there in time… "Thank-you, captain."

One hour later, Julian, Dax, and Miles climbed aboard a shuttle and set out for Catronis.

(LINE)

The landscape was just as it had been in her dream. Well, what she could see of it. She could barely open her eyes because of the wind.

"Here." Worf handed Marina a pair of orange-tinted goggles.

Marina slipped the goggles on and looked at Worf. Any other time, she would have laughed at the sight of a Klingon in goggles and a thick jacket, but now was not a time to laugh. Absently, she thought of that Bible passage about times and seasons. "A time to laugh, a time to weep." Was it a time to weep? It certainly wasn't time to laugh.

"What do you think, lieutenant?" Worf asked.

Marina gazed out across the windswept beach. The sky was dark gray, the water darker blue. There were a few twisted trees here and there. She turned to face the other horizon. It was bright green, a meadow. There was a huge shadow in the distance, purplish against the sky. Mountains. "Catronis 6 is back that way." She pointed towards the mountains.

"Yes." Worf glanced around nervously. "This is a very open area. There is nowhere for any attackers to hide, but neither is there any cover for us."

Marina shivered. "So what do we do?"

"There is little we can do. One or two of us should try to reach the base for help. The others will have to wait here."

"I know. There is no way Carlos or Hannah will make it to the base. We're--what?--fifteen miles from the landing area?"

Worf nodded solemnly. "You, Jake Sisko, and I are in the best condition. Perhaps the three of us should head for Catronis 6."

Marina lifted a pair of binoculars to her eyes. "I'll go. I don't mind going."

"Your willingness to face danger is very honorable," Worf said suddenly. "It will be an honor to die beside you if it comes to that."

Marina smiled at him. "The same to you," she said.

"We should return to the ship," the Klingon said abruptly.

Marina nodded. "Yes. Let's." This situation seems so hopeless, she thought as she followed Worf back to the Longfellow. Will I ever see Julian again?

When she walked onto the battered bridge, Marina felt fear and anxiety coming from the others; she could even see it. Kira stood with her arms crossed, leaning against a blackened wall. Jake sat in his chair, hanging his head. Harris paced restlessly, still limping, still glaring darkly. Hannah was asleep on a thermal blanket, curled up next to Carlos.

"Aren't we a cheerful group?" Kira said dryly, as if reading Marina's thoughts.

The doors closed with a slam behind Marina and Worf, making everyone jump. Hannah sat up groggily, and Carlos stirred.

"M-marina?"

Marina knelt quickly beside him, reaching for the medical kit she had been carrying. "Yes, Carlos?"

"Was I just dreaming, or have you been taking care of me?" He squinted up at her, his long lashes fluttering.

"I've been caring for you, me and Hannah." Marina ran the medical tricorder over his body. "Looks like you're doing a little better. Do you think you can sit up?"

"I'd like to try," Carlos said.

Marina nodded to Hannah, and the two young women helped Carlos sit up.

Carlos winced and held his breath for a moment, but soon relaxed after Marina administered a pain killer. "Thank-you… Marina." He looked up at her, his brown eyes wet with tears. "I mistreated you so badly--you and Dr. Bashir. And yet… here you are helping me. I'm--I'm sorry."

Jake Harris stopped pacing. "Carlos! You--you…" He balled his hands into fists. "How could you apologize to that--that freak?"

"Shut up, Harris!" Kira exclaimed. "And sit down! That's an order!"

Harris sat down hard in the nearest seat.

Marina shot him an icy look, then turned to Carlos. "You're a human being. And so am I. I can't ignore that. Julian wouldn't either." She helped him scoot back against the wall, then leaned closer to whisper, "And I think you were just going along with Harris, anyway. I don't think you're like him."

A smile lit up Carlos' handsome features.

Marina thought Hannah would melt

Melt… That's what I'm going to do when I see Julian--melt in his arms. That is… if I ever see him again. Marina swallowed down the sob that was tightening her throat. "Come on, Carlos," she said, her voice a bit hoarse. "Let's see if you can stand."