Darn. I forgot DS9 uses the metric system. I'm awful with the metric system, anyway. Probably, after I write the whole story, I'll go back and attempt to use my mad skills in math to fix the problem (haha).

Chapter Fourteen

"He's… here?" Julian cleared his throat and placed his hands on Marina's shoulders. "Gentanar is here?"

Marina nodded. "I just… felt him."

Julian stood and dragged her to her feet beside of him. "Marina… that means he can feel you, too." The young doctor looked around the wreckage of the Longfellow. "We have to get out of here. The shuttle can't hold everyone, so--"

Marina held a finger to his lips. "Julian, if he knows we're here… it's to late…"

"No it's not." He grasped her upper arms and stared intensely into her eyes. "If he has shields, then you have shields. You can block your mind from him, and maybe everyone else's, too."

"But Julian…" Marina sent a thought to him.

Julian's face went pale. "Oh. You're right. We have a mission. Catronis 6. We have to rescue them from Gentanar and his Dominion friends."

Marina nodded slowly, her green eyes wide. "Which means, we can't run from Gentanar."

"Which means we have to face him," Julian finished.

They were quiet for a moment, just looking at each other.

Julian spoke first. "Marina--"

"Hey, how is our superhero doing?" Miles popped his red head into the room where Marina and Carlos had been placed.

"I'm fine, thanks, Miles." Marina smiled at him. Then she frowned. "There's something Julian and I need to tell you--all of you."

"Is it a boy or a girl?" Miles chuckled.

Julian rolled his eyes. "It's nothing like that, Miles. It's--well, I'll let Marina explain." He turned to Marina. "And it's not just us. It's them, as well. The party from Catronis 5 that came to meet us."

(LINE)

"So… the Federation needs to stop this Gentanar guy--and really soon." Dax sighed. "I guess it's up to us, then."

"As usual," Julian added.

"Don't we--don't we need to tell my dad or something?" Jake Sisko spoke up.

"You mean Captain Sisko?" asked the tall, bearded white-haired man. Marina had just learned that this was the leader of the Catronis 6 colony, Darien Fang. He had a deep voice that rumbled like thunder.

"Yes," Jake said.

"Good idea, Jake," Fang replied. "We need to ask him to send help."

"That's for sure," Kira spoke up. "We may have captured some of the Dominion group, but we don't have all of them--and there are still the wild animals and the weather to deal with."

"And Gentanar," Marina said quietly.

"Coward," Worf snarled. "He will not show his face, yet he taunts us."

"Speaking of cowards, where is Jake Harris?" Julian said suddenly.

Everyone looked around. The moody ensign was nowhere in sight.

"I know where he went."

Marina knew who it was before she turned around. With her back to the hallway, she asked quietly, "Where did he go, Carlos? And how do you know?"

Carlos walked shakily onto the mangled bridge, leaning heavily on Hannah's arm. "He went to them. To the Dominion and that Gentanar man. I know because he told me."

There was a chorus of gasps and groans. Marina remained quiet, closing her eyes. I should have known… Then she felt Julian's hands on her shoulders, his thumbs running gently up and down her shoulder blades.

"Don't blame yourself," he whispered. Then, more loudly, he said, "Some of us should go try to stop him from reaching his destination. I have a feeling this Gentanar has some sort of hold on him. Perhaps we can break it. Perhaps Marina can break it. And that party should also head for the weather control systems of Catronis 6, kill two birds with one stone."

Kira stepped forward. "Good idea, Bashir," she said. "Lt. Richardson, you'll have to be in that party, and so will you, Chief. And Worf--you also. "

Marina, Worf, and Miles nodded.

"Dax," Kira said, "You lead the party." She hesitated, holding Julian's very intense gaze. Then she sighed. "You, too, Julian. You'd better go with them."

Julian squeezed Marina's shoulders. "Thank-you, major."

"The rest of us need to get back to Deep Space Nine and get help."

The announcement was met with silence--at first.

"But--but no!" Jake exclaimed. "I want to stay here! We can't just leave them here!"

"Jake. We have no choice."

"We do! We do! We have a choice!"

Kira shook her head. "We need to get Carlos to the infirmary. Hannah won't leave his side. You are a civilian. And someone needs to lead the party. Me. And plus--there are the prisoners, who belong in the brig of our space station."

Jake nodded, but he was still obviously bothered.

Darien Fang spoke up. "I will send some of my men with you, Major Kira. But I believe most of us, including myself, should go with the other team to show them the way."

Kira nodded. "That will be fine, Commander Fang."

"So it's all settled, then?" Miles said quietly.

Worf caught Marina's eye and nodded at her. She remembered the conversation they had had upon first arriving on Catronis. It is a good day to die…

(LINE)

"Take care, lieutenant." Kira gave the young science officer a warm smile. "I enjoyed our little trip together. It was nice to get to know you so well."

"Thanks, major." Marina returned the smile. "I look forward to working with you again."

"I'll try to get reinforcements back here as soon as I can."

"I know we can count on you."

The two women, now fast friends, smiled at each other one last time, then turned and walked in opposite directions.

"Come on, people," Dax called to the others. She almost had to yell over the noise made by the wind and the engines of the shuttle taking off. "Let's head towards Catronis 6. Julian, Marina--you two have the best eyesight, I'm sure. You'll take the lead. Fang, his men, and I will take up the middle. Worf and the Chief--you guard the rear. Let's move out!"

Julian fell into step beside Marina. "You look worried," he said quietly.

"I am." Marina flashed him a weak smile.

"About what?"

"I don't know… I hope and pray Kira and the others make it back to Deep Space Nine okay…"

Julian frowned. "You think they might not?"

Marina sighed. "I don't know. I've got this--this uneasy feeling about their journey back, about our journey forward--about everything." She looked ahead, her sharp eyes scanning the horizon. Fortunately, the wind had shifted, and she no longer had to wear those orange goggles.

"I'm sorry." Julian touched her shoulder gently. He was about to say more, but was interrupted.

"Lt. Richardson!" A deep bass voice boomed from behind Marina and Julian.

Darien Fang.

"Yes, sir?" Marina slowed her pace so that the tall man could catch up with her.

Fang smiled at her, his eyes kind. "I hear you have some sort of mind powers."

"Yes. Who told you?"

"Dax." His gaze went to her loosely braided hair. "That's a nice hair clip you have there."

Marina blinked at his sudden change of subject, then reached up and touched the silver clip. "Thank-you. It's actually something I wear for the safety of those around me."

"Really?" His eyebrows rose.

"Yes. Believe it or not, some people are allergic to my brain waves." She nodded toward Julian. "Dr. Bashir found that out, and he made this hair clip for me to block the waves that were hurting others from getting out."

Julian smiled smugly.

"Fascinating," Fang said.

They all walked for awhile in silence, hugging their jackets to themselves and gripping their phasers.

Finally, Dax spoke up. "Any sign yet of Harris?"

Julian shook his head and called back to her, "No. None. It's like he just… vanished."

Marina clutched Julian's arm and closed her eyes, letting him lead her. She reached out with her mind, trying to find a trace of Harris's emotions. At first, there was nothing. Then, suddenly, she picked on a burst of anger and frustration, laced with fear. It was clearly Harris. She opened her eyes. "I've found him," she announced to the others. "He's not far ahead. If he stays where he is, we should be able to reach him within fifteen minutes."

"That's odd." Julian frowned. "If he's up ahead, we should have found some trace that he came this way…"

"Stop! All of you!" Miles called from the rear.

Everyone stopped walking and turned around to face Miles and Worf.

"Look at this." The engineer held up what appeared to be the end of a long, slender metal chain.

"What is it?" Marina asked.

"I don't know." Miles gave it a tug. "It seems to be attached to the ground."

"I would not pull on it if I were you," Worf cautioned. "We have no idea yet what it is."

"He's right," one of Fang's men said. He was a small, blonde haired man named Ryan Prince. "That thing is obviously man-made, and we didn't put it there."

"Chief, see if you can find out what it's attached to," Dax ordered.

"All right." Miles knelt on the ground and followed the chain with his fingers, while everyone watched. He traced the chain all the way down to the ground, then a little ways to his left. It ended into the dirt! "Well look at that! It goes right into the ground!" he exclaimed.

Julian stepped forward. "Maybe not," he said, kneeling beside his friend. He reached down and brushed away some of the dirt, revealing a large metal ring poking up from the ground. "There." He smiled smugly.

Miles scowled. "And I supposed you're going to hold this one over me, too, Mr. Smarty Pants?"

"Of course."

"That looks too much like a trap door to be anything else," Marina said quietly.

"You've played too many hologram programs," Dax said, nudging her fellow science officer playfully.

Marina shrugged. "It's true. But in this case, I'm glad I have."

"You men see if you can open it up," Dax said. "The rest of you, aim your phasers at that door. Who knows what could come out." She glanced at Marina. "Do you feel anything coming from… under the ground?"

Marina shook her head. "No. But… ever since I've been on this mission, I've learned to not be surprised by being… surprised."

Worf, Miles, and Julian grabbed the chain, stood back from the ring in the ground, and pulled. At first, nothing happened.

"Let's give it another yank," Miles said.

So they did. And this time, a thin metal panel lifted up from the ground in a cloud of unsettled dust and dirt. Everyone crowded around what it revealed--a perfectly square hole in the ground.

"Can anyone tell how far it goes down?" Fang asked.

Marina whipped a flashlight out of her ever-handy pack and handed it to Dax, who was closer to the hole.

Dax shined the flashlight into the square of nothingness. "Looks like… about… twenty feet (not metric, but I'm fixing that later). The floor down there seems to be made of some sort of stone."

"Do you think that's why we couldn't find any trace of Harris?" Julian suggested. He turned to Fang. "Do you know about any tunnels underneath this planet?"

Fang shook his head. "No." His eyes were wide. "I don't--I don't know how this got here."

Marina stepped forward to look down the hole. "I do."

"What do you mean?" Miles asked, squinting at her.

"Gentanar. It has to be him. I think he's been on this planet for a long time." Marina shivered.

"And no doubt he is behind the animal and weather control problems," Julian added. He gave Marina an encouraging smile. "That's why we've got to stop him.That's why we're going to stop him."

Fang frowned. "You mean, this crazy man has been on our planet for… for God knows how long?"

Everyone was quiet.

"Well let's go after him," Fan said.

"Good idea," Dax said. "All right. We need to get down into that tunnel. Chief, find us a way."

Julian crossed the edge of the hole to stand beside Marina. "Are you all right?" he asked quietly.

Marina smiled wryly at him. "I'll be fine. I just hope that…" She shook her head. "I'm worried. Very worried.I keep trying to pray over and over again, but all I can manage is 'God help.'"

Julian put his arm around her shoulders and kissed the top of her head.

(LINE)

"Major… there's a small ship approaching us from behind." Hannah West's voice was shaky. "And it's not Federation."

Kira frowned. She had feared this would happen. From what Marina had said, Gentanar didn't seem to be the type to give up without a fight. "Raise shields. And try to hail them."

Hannah, Jake, and the men and women from Catronis hurried to obey her orders.

"Major," one of the colonist women spoke up. "I think it's a Cardassian ship."