10 Star Trek SID Catalyst

"Why did they drop out of warp?" Douglas murmured to herself.

Accessing the SPYards database, she learned that the drive components of the surveyor hadn't been modified. Like typical Nova-class starships, the Obsidian still held to a maximum emergency speed of Warp 8.3. Interesting things had been done to her shield emitters though and there was the revelation regarding ablative armor. And a curious side note was the fact the entire ship was equipped with holo-emitters in order to facilitate the ship's EMH.

"They've fired a torpedo," Kalana said with some amusement, "And now a second one. Sheer panic fire."

"Maybe. Maybe not," Douglas proclaimed, "They knew enough to raise shields before we struck."

"Did your lover give something away?" Kalana asked testily.

"I rather doubt it," Douglas replied in a cool tone, "Julian was sitting right beside me and his board was slaved to mine so I could observe what he did. I think the fact Macen is an El-Aurian plays into it here."

"What difference does it make what race he's from?" Kalana was growing short tempered.

"Captain!" the Tactical Officer cried out, "The second torpedo is bearing straight towards our aft quarter."

"What?" Kalana was stupefied.

"It's tracking us, ma'am," the Tactical Officer elaborated.

"He knows," Douglas breathed. More forcefully she declared, "Captain, decloak and raise shields!"

"That's ludicrous!" Kalana snapped back.

The Obsidian's photon torpedo struck and klaxons resounded throughout the ship. Kalana shouted over the noise, "Cut impulse engines! Maintain the cloak at all costs."

"Those bastards tracked us using our impulse exhaust," Kalana snarled at Douglas.

"That's how Captain Kirk defeated General Chang in 2293," Douglas calmly replied, "And Macen is an ardent student of Kirk's."

Kalana was barely mollified by that news, "Helm, engage in a thirty second warp jump."

"Ma'am, our transition to subspace will be marred by the fact we're bleeding momentum," the CONN Officer reported.

"Just do it," Kalana grimly ordered.

"I have detected a subspace ripple," P'ris reported, "The likes of which occur when a starship engages a warp drive. Additionally, the ripple was rather...choppy. I would venture to say they had shut down their impulse drive before translating into subspace. That would guarantee them a rather harsh transition."

"All right Hannah, resume course and speed," Macen ordered, "And Rab, I think we can stand down from Red Alert now."

"You're sure?" Daggit wondered.

"Not entirely but I think it's safe to say Sarina Douglas has other problems to deal with right now," Macen ventured.

"Chris, how can you be sending all of the Outbound Ventures ships to the same colonies they just returned from?" Riker demanded to know.

"Tellar and the Andorian Empire agreed to neutral observers monitoring the handover of those colonies over the next thirty days. It's a professional coup for the agency," Pike crowed.

"But those ships are currently defending Serenity from a threat," Riker dismally informed her.

"What threat?" Pike was bewildered.

Riker groaned and then gave her a brief synopsis of what was occurring. Pike grew angry, "This wouldn't have happened if field personnel would have communicated with office personnel. Those ships are committed, Tom. We gave our word. I gave my word to it and this agency has never backed out of a contract. We're known for our steadfastness."

Riker numbly nodded his head, "I know. Luckily, Brin is due back in a few hours and Starfleet dispatched the Defiant to assist us."

"That will have to do then," Pike said angrily. She terminated the connection at that point.

Riker received a page from the comm officer that Ro and Danan were trying to contact him. Obviously having every Outbound Ventures field unit pull out of the star system had alerted them to the situation. Danan looked very grim while Ro was amused.

"I take it Section 31 has found a way to divert our forces," Ro assessed the situation.

Riker confirmed it and then explained what the agency's new contract with Tellar and the Andorian Empire was. Ro chuckled, "We should've expected this."

Danan scowled but Riker nodded his agreement, "Yes, we should have. But now we have to redesign our defensive posture."

"This may, or may not, help but I have a few Cardassian orbital gun pods in inventory," Ro announced, "We could set them up to specifically target a Ramses-class ship."

"We have the same problem Deep Space Nine has and that's a helluva lot of civilian traffic," Riker informed her, "Plus there's the colony on Odin."

"Then I suggest you move the station," Ro replied.

Riker nodded his acceptance of that proposal, "We have a fallback contingency regarding that option. I suppose today's a good day to implement it."

"I'll have Nog transmit Chief O'Brien's logs of how he reinforced Terok Nor's structural integrity field to move the old Deep Space Nine."

"It would be appreciated," Riker admitted.

The Obsidian arrived in the Barrinor system to find Serenity already placed in an orbital track that carried it between Barrinor IV and Odin. There was some surprise among members of the Obsidian crew but P'ris noted Macen's amusement over this event. She concluded that it was part of the station's contingency planning.

Forger had been called to the bridge to relieve Macen while he retired to his Ready Room to confer with Riker. McMasters came with her, looking like a lovesick puppy, and he manned the otherwise vacant Engineering station. Macen had Grace place the Obsidian in a parking orbit near Serenity. Meanwhile, the Indomitable swept near space and Macen idly wondered what had happened to Ro.

The Sentinel cloaked before she passed by the Barrinor system's ort cloud. As she cleared the two asteroid belts the crew was surprised to find that Serenity was no longer in orbit around Odin. It didn't seem to be much of a risk to utilize the main sensors to locate the space station since EM radiation was flooding the system.

The source was revealed to be the Obsidian from her position between Barrinor III and Barrinor IV. The Indomitable's patrol around Serenity was soon discovered. The station itself seemed to have been moved between Barrinor IV and Odin. However, there was no trace of the Defiant.

Douglas was concerned about that last point. She knew Ro had received orders from Nechayev to assist Outbound Ventures in its defense of its station. Douglas was intimately familiar with the training Ro had received at Starfleet's Advanced Tactical Training Center. But more to it, Ro's adolescence with the Bajoran Resistance and then her tenure with the Maquis had forged Ro into a crafty wench. Ro was the single greatest threat in the system and the Sentinel didn't have one damn clue as to where she was.

"The station already has its shields up," Kalana advised Douglas.

"So we'll give them a reason to lower them," Douglas replied.

Kalana gave her a questioning look so Douglas rolled her eyes, "Attack the station's support craft. Once the Indomitable faces imminent destruction, Riker will lower the shields to beam survivors aboard the station. We'll break off at that moment and glide in on a ballistic course. They won't be running high enough resolutions scans to detect our braking thrusters so I can beam aboard with little to no interference. Even if station security is high alert, I served aboard a Nor-class station. I'll be able to get around their security patrols and checkpoints."

Kalana gazed at Douglas with adoring eyes and Douglas made shooing motions to get the Cappellan woman into motion again. Kalana began issuing orders and Douglas exited the bridge to gather her gear for her insertion into the station. Since her materials were stored in the armory, and said armory was next to the Security office, she stopped by the brig.

Bashir wasn't angry with her. Rather he seemed disappointed. Disappointed to the point of devastation.

"You shouldn't have betrayed us, Julian," Douglas informed him, "You won't be coming back from this."

"Are you seriously listening to yourself, Sarina?" Bashir wondered, "You're plotting my death because I tried to prevent you from murdering over a thousand people in one fell swoop. Who is the true betrayer here? I may have betrayed Section 31 but you're betraying your basic humanity."

"I'm defending the people of the Federation. Sacrifices occasionally have to be made in that cause," Douglas asserted.

"And how has Outbound Ventures become a threat to the Federation?" Bashir wanted to know, "We both have seen snippets of Macen's record and that of his SID contracted team. My God, there really wouldn't be an SID if it hadn't been for him. Why is he such a monster now?"

"If you'd read between the lines of those reports you'd have seen that the Special Investigation Division was designed solely to supplant Section 31's role in the Federation's security," Douglas angrily insisted.

"It was designed to provide Starfleet with a recourse other than Section 31 because Section 31 is notoriously unreliable. Starfleet wanted their own agency that would still operate within some boundaries while solving the same class of crises. Can you honestly tell me that Section 31 would have involved itself in any of the situations the SID teams have been deployed to handle?" Bashir sharply inquired.

Douglas' only reply was a defiant stare. Bashir shook his head, "Somehow I didn't think so either."

"Section 31 is the Federation's last line of defense," Douglas recited.

"Even from itself?" Bashir recalled the Gulag and Cell 51's creation.

"Especially from itself," Douglas grated.

"What's happened to you?" Bashir had to wonder, "When did you begin to see yourself above everyone else?"

"My destiny and my true nature as the Federation's defender were revealed to me by L'Haan. Thanks to you I was under the mistaken belief that I was merely human but she showed me how I was so much more," Douglas revealed.

"So you're genes were resequenced and now you're Khan Noonien Singh's true heir?" Bashir asked.

"If you'd like to think of it in those terms," Douglas replied.

"So when do you join Thor in mounting the throne?" Basher asked scathingly.

"You always have been so limited in your scope, Julian," Douglas said disdainfully, "People rebel against those greater than themselves. But if those far greater move behind the scenes and shape events and organizations so as to control the destiny of the populaces' lives, they remained fat and happy and stay out of the way of those in true control."

"How could I have been so wrong about you?" Bashir inquired in horror.

"You're very good at deluding yourself, Julian. You wanted the perfect lover. I barely had to perform for the part. Your own feverish little brain provided the details you were seeking," Douglas coldly informed him.

"You'll ultimately fail, Sarina," Bashir prophesied, "All would be tyrants fall."

"But they can have magnificent runs until the imbeciles regain control," Douglas countered.

"I may never have known the true you before but now that I do I pity you," Bashir proclaimed.

"Julian, you're such a colossal sanctimonious pain in the ass," Douglas decided as she triggered the control that flooded the cell with anesthezine gas. Turning to the guards, she instructed them, "Prep him and await my signal."

The Sentinel bore down on the Indomitable. Kalana began issuing orders regarding the attack, "Target lock the space between the warp nacelles. Angle our approach so that our shot clears the imbalanced portion of the shields and strikes Main Engineering."

The CONN Officer plotted the course while the Tactical Chief prepared the targeting sensors. The Chief warned Kalana, "They'll detect our targeting sensors."

"Echoes from the Obsidian banging away with the active sensors," Kalana dismissed the danger, "Carry on, Chief."

"Target acquired," the Chief announced.

"Begin firing and don't stop until that ship is a gutted hulk in space," Kalana ordered.

"Captain, we're being targeted," Danan's Tactical Officer, one Specialist Reardon reported.

"Source?" Danan's gut clenched.

"Unknown," Reardon admitted with some confusion, "Nothing's out there."

"Evasive action!" Danan gripped the sides of her seat as she yelled the order.

She had to give Ryobi credit; he tried his best to implement the order as the first quantum torpedo slammed straight into their shields. The ship bucked as energy bled through the shields. A second shot was followed by a third salvo. Reardon was grim as he stated the obvious.

"Our shields are at thirty-seven percent. Another couple of..." the ship shook again before he finished, "Make that one more torpedo strike and our shields will collapse."

"We need to call Serenity or even the Obsidian," Ryobi declared.

"They already know our situation," Danan informed her bridge crew, "They're already responding as best as they can. Standby for an evacuation order."

Two more hits came in succession. After the second one, every panel that hadn't already overloaded did so then. A few exploded. Two crewmen were killed by that event. Danan swore Sarina Douglas would pay for that in the end.

The lighting died out to be replaced by red emergency lighting. Danan called her engineering crew. To her surprise, the Chief Engineer was still alive.

"What's left, Alice?" Danan inquired.

Alice Sinclair let go of a forlorn sigh, "Just the batteries. It won't take much more pounding to rupture the antideuterium tanks and blow us all up."

"Can you at least clear up the sensors?" Danan requested.

"Captain, I've been lucky to keep life support running. Don't start getting choosy on me." Sinclair warned.

Danan suddenly felt a transporter's annular confinement beam lock onto her. The next thing she knew she was sitting on the floor of Serenity's Ops transporter pad. She immediately sprang to her feet.

"Tom! Raise the shields!" Danan demanded.

"We're still getting your crew clear," Riker countered.

"That's what Sarina Douglas wants," Danan informed him, "With your shields down they can make an approach and transport a boarding part over to the station."

"Well, they'll only have another twenty seconds in which to do so," Riker boasted.

"More than enough time," Danan murmured.

Douglas transported into her assigned coordinates. Gerrit Gren was no fool. He'd sought the assistance of the station Chief of Operations, Christino ard'Vret. Fortunately for Douglas, Chris was an Andorian patriot. When he'd received his orders from Imperial Security, he'd undertaken completing them.

Chris had entered a subroutine into the station's internal sensors. When they detected Douglas' comm badge, they automatically masked her life signs. She was therefore essentially invisible to the Security Office. In exchange for this service, Chris would be beamed out when Douglas withdrew.

Emperor Shan had signed off on Chris' orders. The Federation currently believed Shan hadn't been a part of Thor's coup. The reality was that he was the power broker that had arranged for the deal between Section 31 and Thor. Thor had been intended to take the fall before the Council of Ministers and herald in Shan's reign. Thor's carefully arranged "suicide" had been the merest of afterthoughts.

Chris had loaded a padd outlining all of the corridors that had been secured by Station Security. It had been left in an equipment locker by Chris. Douglas had the location of the locker, and its access code. Douglas had arrived in Access Point One, Section Theta. The locker was located in that section. Having retrieved the padd, Douglas proceeded on with her mission.

Douglas started for the reactor access way when she stumbled onto Macen, Rockford, and Ro. Douglas couldn't help her jaw from dropping, "How?"

"Gerrit has had Chris under observation ever since Outbound Ventures proceeded with the Tellarite contract," Macen explained, "His communications have been closely watched and every encrypted message was deciphered well in advance of your actual attempt to destroy the station. It's nice of you to be wearing the incriminating evidence, though."

Douglas' hands started to move and Ro took aim at her head, "I'd surrender, Sarina. Even at 'stun' a phaser's strike to the head is lethal."

"Which would have a certain symmetry since that's how Valeris killed the assassins who were responsible for Gorkon's death," Macen added.

Douglas suddenly smirked and Ro challenged her, "You really think this is funny?"

"No, but if you ever want to see Julian alive, you'll let me go," Douglas countered.

Macen taped his comm badge, "Tom, activate the tachyon flood."

Douglas glared at him. She knew the tachyon field would reveal the Sentinel's position below the station's reactors. Douglas' comm bade sounded.

She irritably tapped it, "Douglas."

"Agent Douglas, we're being bombarded by tachyon emissions and are now visible to the Defiant," Kalana reported.

"The Defiant is here?" Douglas was slightly surprised.

"She decloaked off our port side as soon as the tachyon bombardment began," Kalana dismally reported.

"You wouldn't dare attack my ship," Douglas asserted, "It would damage the station."

"The station can be repaired," Ro growled, "Can your tub?"

"I'll make my offer again," Douglas reiterated, "Julian for my freedom."

"You were going to leave him here to die anyway," Rockford interjected, "So what's the difference now?"

"If he stays with you, he lives," Douglas explained her reasoning, "Because I can't destroy he station if I'm not aboard it."

"I should be explaining to you now that the transporter inhibitor network is currently active," Macen wondered.

"There's no such network on this station," Douglas insisted.

"Call for a transport," Macen instructed.

She did so and nothing happened. Kalana reported that an inhibitor field was blocking the transporter's targeting sensors. Douglas began to have a hunted look in her eyes.

She made a break for it but collided into a force field. She spun around and began arming the explosive on her vest. Rockford scoffed.

"She's bluffing," she decided.

"No, she's not," Ro informed her companions, "Sarina spent most of her life locked up in mental institutions. She has an ingrained, overly paranoid fear of being incarcerated."

"Must suck when you're a secret agent," Rockford quipped.

Douglas broke free down a junction tunnel. Ro stopped Macen and Rockford from pursuing, "The only thing down there is an airlock."

"She can get off the station that way," Macen reminded Ro.

Ro shrugged, "If she does, more power to her."

Ro began issuing instructions to Tenmei while they waited to see if Douglas would return. No one believed she would.