Chapter thirty six
The Sindareen pilot winced as he felt his Captain's fingertips dig into
his shoulder as they all stared out of the screen ahead at the arriving
Federation fleet, the morbid fascination at facing their enemy head on
brought an evil grin of satisfaction to his leaders face. He knew this
because he heard the familiar grunt of devilish glee leave his mouth,
and, of course, the excited pressure of his thick, strong fingers. Both
of which he reluctantly ignored for fear of retribution.
Maror barely turned his head to the man behind him, his eyes never
leaving the screen as he snarled, "Bring me the girl." The silent
rush of anticipation swept through the bridge crew as the imminent
confrontation was at last, about to happen. Some welcomed it and some
did not. The man beneath his leader's fingers was one of the latter. Of
all the bridge crew, he was the one that had something to live for; a
family and a home, and a life back on Sindar.
Without uttering a word the man spun on his heels and ducked beneath
the doorway and disappeared beyond only to return barely a minute later
with the requested woman gripped tightly in his hands. Letting her go as
she stepped through the bridge doorway, Deanna gently massaged the now
bruised area of upper arm that still stung from the harsh grip. But the
pain was all but forgotten as her eyes fixed upon the same scene
that the entire compliment on the bridge watched, too.
Federation ships. A whole fleet of Federation ships, and Deanna felt
her heart sink to her toes. God, how many were there? She asked herself and
mentally beginning to count the silver shapes that sat suspended beyond
the screen waiting.
Thirty two. Deanna got to thirty two before Maror's bitter and twisted
voice broke her concentration. "Hail the lead ship," he ordered her. "I
want them to see you before I kill them all."
Deanna's shock left her mouth in a gurgled gasp as she recoiled against
the anger and hatred that fuelled his promise. "I won't do it! I won't
tell them anything you want me to repeat, damn you!" as she unwittingly
came to stand barely two feet away from the only man that she would ever
hate with every ounce of her heart, an emotion that as a Betazoid she so
rarely felt. So rare that she physically felt the bile rise as she let
the horror of his promise fill her being.
Maror spun on his heels so fast that Deanna stumbled back stepping
straight up against the Sindareen that had brought her in and he
instinctively held her upper arms in his tight grip to face whatever
Maror figured to be her punishment for speaking to him in that manner.
But Deanna was beyond being frightened for herself. She cared about one
thing and one thing only; Life. Not her life, but Will's, Jeb's,
all of Betazed, her home, her family and strangely, she even cared about
the Federation realizing in that fraction of a moment, that was
where her future life lay if she survived this.
She did not care about the scum that stood before her with possibly
the nastiest, vilest smirk upon his face that she had ever seen.
"You will pay for that, Bitch!" he sneered, leaning so close to her
that Deanna felt his stale breath upon her cheeks. His fist clenched
tight in anger, was raised high as though he was going to hit her, hard.
But Deanna refused to flinch or cower beneath his evil stare-down as
she waited for the inevitable. For a very long moment everything was
suspended; everything stopped as they waited for his fist to make its
mark.
But then a spark of something flared in his devilish eyes and without
turning he growled to his helmsman. "Hail the ship. I want them to see
this."
Deanna's legs went weak when she realized his intention and she would
have fallen but for the steely grip still upon her upper arms. Her eyes
left Maror's face and looked over his shoulder to the screen. Barely a
moment later a face that she never thought she would see again filled
the space and Deanna released the choked sob that she didn't realize
she had been holding. Oh, my God. Will! she silently cried, shaking
her head as she tried to deny the vision she was seeing.
She watched as Will, shocked beyond belief at what he was witnessing,
rose up from his seat. And she watched as silent angry, desperate,
pleading words poured from his mouth, unheard because the comm system
had been viciously turned off. And they watched, Maror slowly turned
back to her, rose his fist and brought it down upon her upturned and
petrified face.
Will's silent scream roared through her head as her face exploded with
a million different splintering shards of pain with the force of his
bare-knuckled punch, and then a blackness stole over her mind. This time
when her legs gave way the man holding her let her go and Deanna
slid to the floor into a grateful unconsciousness.
Stunned, disbelieving silence saturated not only the Sindareen bridge
but every Federation ship that witnessed the barbaric act. Will was
beside himself as he watched with tears streaming from his eyes as his
beloved - his Imzadi, slid to the floor under the force of his fist,
unable to tear his eyes away from the pitiful, crumpled figure that lay
upon the steel floor of the Sindareen ship.
Deanna. Oh, God, my poor Deanna! he silently cried.
After along moment Maror's voice impinged on Will's brain and he tore
his eyes away from Deanna and stared instead at the piece of scum that
stood grinning at him. "You going to come and get your woman, Federation
man? He sneered, "Or shall I keep her for myself? She's a feisty young
thing but I think I can handle her." He suddenly laughed as though he'd
just had an amusing thought., "I think she might even like it after
a while."
Raucous laughter trickled throughout the Sindareen bridge crew and
even Will, his initial shock wearing off to deal with the matter at
hand suddenly realized that the ball game had changed.
They had come here with war in mind, but had hoped that with a
united show of Federation craft, that maybe, just maybe, the Sindareen
would back down. But not now, not after seeing what the Sindareen raider
had done to Deanna because Will had no intention of letting him live now, and if
it meant wiping out the entire Sindareen race just to get at him, then
so be it.
Taking a deep, shuddering breath, Will's face split into a grin laced
with an equal amount of malice, his voice, now free of the choking tears
that he had already spilt as he'd watched him hit Deanna, spat, "Over
my dead body, you bastard."
Maror laughed, "That's the plan. You want her?" he asked maliciously,
"Then come and get her." he dared.
But before Will could utter another word Bobby Tiller suddenly said
with absolute terror in his voice, "Enemy force coming in, Sir.
It's...it's the Klingon's."
Sucking in a shaky breath, Will's fingers gripped the back of Tiller's
seat and his finger tips turned white with tension. "What the...? Where?"
he barked.
The air in the ship disappeared with their breath as he answered,
glancing up into Will's deathly pale face. "Behind the Sindareen force,
Sir."
Will began to tremble. It was one thing to go into war with the
Sindareen but it was entirely a different matter to fight against the
Sindareen AND possibly the nastiest, most vicious race known to the
Federation and the rest of the civilized worlds. He only had one choice.
"Prepare to retreat." he said, the fight quickly leaving him as his heart
suddenly froze with the only choice he had left to him.
Bobby Tiller's fingers stilled as his leader's words sunk in and he
turned his stunned eyes to Will's. "Sir?" he asked with surprise.
"What about...?"
Will cut him off, unable to hear him utter Deanna's name as he prepared
to let her go and the others too, but this time for good. "They've won," he
said sadly. "We can't fight them both." Slipping back into his seat he
punched the control panel before him, ignoring the frantic buzz of
activity upon the Sindareen ship. "Spread the word. We're returning to
Betazed."
And with one last long sorrowful look at the woman he loved still lying
unconscious on the cold metallic floor, his
heart breaking with his decision, Will silently whispered ,
Goodbye, Imzadi
Tbc...