Chapter X - Only the Lost
On the disabled Starship Equinox...
Captain Rudy Ransom popped a release and lowered the hatch from the ceiling.
Ever so slowly Rudy poked his head down, then carefully looked back-and-forth. He saw and sensed no one near, so he grabbed the hatch's skirt and swung himself down, dropping to the floor of the starship's Laundry. He un-slung his rifle and scanned around him then. Satisfied it was all clear, he stood.
He strode forward, as Eleanor Bentley and Commander Luthrun dropped from the hatch behind him and followed. Rudy reached a door and tapped the release. It slid back to reveal the Rec Deck, as the eighth level of the saucer section housed the ship's recreation area. Holo-games, gymnasium and personal storage lockers, all part of the off-duty entertainment of a starship crew from more then a century ago.
And as this ship had been part of the Imperial Fleet, it also had an public Agony Booth, combat ring, and gallows. But for Ransom, Deck 8 housed his favorite part of the ship. Simply called the Greens by the crew, a botanical garden curved nearly thirty meters ahead of him now.
Rudy paused to breath in the fragrance of the sunflowers that bloomed year round. A tenderbot hummed past, scanning the trees for any sign of rot, and performing required pruning. Ransom walked carefully down the winding path, while Eleanor and Luthrun trooped after him. The trim Science Officer was consulting a map of the ship on a padd, looking up now and then.
Luthrun's head swung left and right, every shadow, every sound, a possible threat, "What a waste of space." he snarled under his breath, but Ransom heard.
"We spend weeks, sometimes months in space, so I'd go insane without the Greens. Best place to read." whispered Ransom, but the Talarian shook his head in annoyance.
"You could just as-" started Luthrun, but he then halted, bringing his rifle to bear, and Ransom had his weapon up too.
Eleanor was jarred to a stop and she glanced at her Captain in annoyance, "What? I don't understand-" there was a flash of movement and two other crew members burst from a cluster of trees and onto the path, both firing behind them with hand weapons!
There was a blast of return fire, striking the trailing one in the back, and he toppled over with a scream. Three Kazon emerged from the foliage, giving chase, and Ransom yelled challenge and opened fire, his first shots flying home. A Kazon was hit side-on, the force of the beam smashing him into a spread of bushes.
The other two invaders whirled and fired upon them. Luthrun thrust Eleanor behind a tree and ducked under a beam, firing his own weapon. He strode forward, clumsily blasting, not used to the strangely-shaped Klingon rifle that was standard defensive issue on the Equinox.
Angered at being so roughly handled, Eleanor raised her own rifle and stepped out from behind the tree, planning to join the fight. But a noise from behind her made her turn in time to see a smiling Kazon point a pistol at her head. She glared and dropped her weapon. He stepped forward and reached down for it, a fatal mistake.
She didn't look dangerous, but looks can be deceiving, especially in Eleanor's case. She flicked her wrist a certain way and a wickedly sharp dagger dropped into her hand. She lashed out and jammed it hard into the Kazon's throat. His eyes went wide and he jerked, dropping his weapon. Eleanor caught it, reversed it, and blasted him in the chest, sending burning organs and bone blazing out his back.
He dropped and she bent over him, searching, then found what she was looking for. She pocketed the wallet sized item and turned back to the battle going on to her right.
Ransom was running forward, between the two remaining Kazon, and he thrust the butt of his rifle into the solar plexus of one of them. The alien man grunted and dropped to his knees, so Ransom smashed him across the face. Teeth and blood sprayed horizontally, and the intruder went down.
The other made the mistake of turning to engage Ransom and Luthrun's shots mowed him down. Rudy rose from his battle crouch, breathing hard, "They're not so tough, they may resemble Klingons, but they fight like Ferengi."
Luthrun smiled and raised his rifle in salute, but a shout came from behind them.
They turned, weapons up as the outer doors opened, and a large group of Ransom's Terran crew ran into the Greens, with an even larger group of Kazon trooping after them. Luthrun glanced at Ransom and nodded. Rudy nodded back and together they opened fire, the battle joined...
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On the High Maje's command ship...
Ezri came awake, all at once this time, and sat up in bed, clutching the sheets to her naked body, "Oh, son of a-" then she grabbed her head, as it suddenly flared with pain.
An odd metallic taste permeated the back of her mouth and she recognized the signs immediately, as she had felt the same way once before. She had been the victim of telesynaptic manipulation. Anger filled her and she grabbed up what clothing she had, dressing quickly. She burst from the bedroom to find the Ocampan warlord reclining in a leather chair, studying the Kazon equivalent of a data-padd.
Kes looked up and smiled, but the grin faded at the expression on the Trill's face, "What?"
Ezri's tone was hard and low, "Is that how you obtain all your partners? Mental manipulation?" she asked in a tone cold as comet ice.
Kes's face displayed angry surprise, then she got control of herself, "I only influenced what was already there. You enjoyed it, believe me I didn't need to read your mind to tell that."
"You clouded my mind with images from my past and used me, I should kill you!" Ezri took a step forward, eyes flashing, hands twisted into claws, "In fact I think I will." and she leaped forward.
The High-Maje was on her feet and Ezri's charge was stopped as soon as it began, caught tight in the grip of Kes's telekinesis. Kes walked up to her and smiled in satisfaction at the naked hatred that flowed from Ezri's gaze.
"Fine, be that way. I've had better anyway." she said and struck Ezri across the face, knocking her to the floor.
The Trill rose into a crouch and glared up at the imperious Ocampa. Kes smiled down at her, confident that she had the upper hand, "Now, to business. I have some questions, and you will answer to the best of your ability." she raised the padd and turned it so Ezri could see the image it displayed.
"This Terran, do you recognize him?" Ezri paused then rose back up onto her feet. Deciding it was to try biding her time again, she took the padd and examined the picture, but shook her head.
"Nope. Never saw him before."
Kes sighed, "I didn't think you would, but I had to ask. The required information can be extracted from your ship's Captain, as a loyal officer of the Empire, he will tell me."
"What did the man do?" asked Ezri, curious despite her dire situation.
Kes stared down a the hazy image on the padd, "He destroyed my homeworld, with one cruel stroke. If I didn't mention it before, my race is the Ocampa, and more then a century ago, an entity from a race called the Nacene visited our star system, it's craft malfunctioning. My people were just starting to travel out into our system and we offered to assist the being. While trying to make repairs there was an accident and a rift opened up between our point in the galaxy and yours."
She paused, then her husky voice grew colder still, "Before it could be closed, a ship from your Empire passed through, commanded by that man on the padd. My ancestors greeted him, we used to be such an accommodating people, and at first the Terrans returned our attention in kind. We had made two new allies at the same time, my people rejoiced, and threw a celebration in our planet's capital."
Kes stopped again, the tale obviously painful for her, "At the height of the celebrations, the Terran starship attacked the Nacene's vessel, while the Commander took our leaders hostage. He demanded our planet's surrender and transported troops down. When we refused to give in, he had the Elders executed. But he was unaware of the mental abilities that we Ocampa possessed. We struck back. Their weapons useless, the Terrans fled back to their vessel and left the star system."
"We thought them gone and started to attend to the injured. But the next morning they returned and unleashed a weapon of tremendous destructive power upon us. It took only two hours and all was destroyed, the seas burned away, the forests vaporized, our lush tropical paradise transformed into a desert. Only a handful of Ocampa survived, in caves below the surface. The Imperial ship departed and returned through the closing rift." her narrative over, Kes stared at the wall, her back to Ezri, overcome with emotion.
"...My people possess an ability called Empathic Memory, and the experiences of the survivors have been passed down through every generation, all the way to me. But my people have become shadows of their former selves, scared and pitiful creatures, only a few retained even a fragment of our past mental powers. But I took to my father's meager training and rediscovered what had been lost, and much more." she took a deep breath to complete the retelling.
"I left the pathetic underground city the Nacene had constructed for us and encountered the barbaric Kazon who were mining our surface. It was easy to take control of them and within less then a year I had united their race and mobilized them with one goal: the conquest of the Alpha Quadrant. We attacked the Nacene's Array and took his technology." she turned back to Ezri, "So now you see why-"
And Ezri rose from her crouch and SMASHED the padd across Kes's face with both hands, knocking her backwards over a table!
Ezri leapt on top of Kes and grasped her head in both hands, then started pounding it against the floor over-and-over!
"BITCH! I don't care what score you have to settle, no one does that to me!" the Trill shouted, and she kneed the Ocampa in the groin, "I killed the last person who did this to me, took advantage of me! And I'm going to kill you too!"
But she stopped and slowly released Kes's hair, and the Ocampa dropped back to the floor, heavily stunned. Ezri straddled her, breathing hard, staring down at her attacker. Why had she stopped? I have to kill the monster, why am I not tearing her head from her shoulders? I killed Janel for doing the same thing to me...
She paused, lost in thought. But I had to kill Janel. After what he did to me, I knew he would do it again, and eventually kill me to cover up his crimes, I had no choice. But Kes is far worse and she has to be stopped, she'll kill Marla and Rudy and...
She caught herself. That was it, that was the real reason. If I killed Kes in cold blood, Rudy would be disappointed in me, for if I ever see him again, correction, WHEN I see him again, he'll ask what happened, and I can't lie to him. And he'd be right, it's wrong to just kill the bitch outright.
Damnit! she swore internally, then got to her feet. She looked around then went into the bedroom. Ten minutes later the doors to the High-Maje's quarters hissed open and she strode down the deck. She walked past a pair of Kazon guards lounging near a command station and they snapped to attention, at the sight of the woman dressed in the High-Maje uniform.
She had found a battle helmet in Kes's closet and with the visor down she was virtually identical to the Ocamapa. Well, close enough to pass a brief glance anyway. She nodded to the guards and stepped into the lift. Her only hope was to get to a transporter or shuttle as fast as possible, before either Kes woke up, or someone found her in her quarters...
To be continued...