WHEREABOUTS OF THE FUTURE

PART II

"If we can't dock at Deep Space Twelve," Carlos said carefully, choosing his words, "And we can't land on another hospitable world or surrender ourselves to Starfleet, We've got one option left," He looked up determinately, "We can't stay here, we have to go somewhere else,"

"Great idea," Marco nodded his head in agreement, "But where too?"

"Anywhere will do," Carlos muttered, closing his eyes to think, "The important thing to consider is the safety of the five hundred people on board,"

"The question is can we convince everyone to go along with this?" Chris asked.

"We'll make them understand," Carlos nodded to himself, "We have too. We can say something like Starfleet's attacking us,"

"Are you suggesting we lie to the crew?" Juli looked down uncomfortably at her console.

"It is a very effective method," Serek agreed, "We do have all control of information within Ryvius, as well as information coming to us. We can say whatever we want, we would then be free to find a planet not aligned with the Federation to give us assistance,"

Michelle shrugged, "Hey, if worst comes to worst, we simply abandon the ship right?"

Rai nodded, "Yep, seems like a plan to me,"

There seemed to be a murmur of approval.

"Then it's settled," Carlos smiled as he looked over to me, "we just need to make an announcement…"
"Now hold on a sec," I spun around to face them, "Is lying really the best option?" I rose from my seat in agitation, "All these people want to do is go home, why can't we just…"
"Shut it Wayneright!"

I was quickly silenced as Joey's fist connected with my jaw, sending me sprawling against my console.

"I take it you disproval means you have an alternate plan?" Serek raised an eyebrow pointedly at me.

"Do the words 'Tell the truth' mean anything to you?" I shot back as I picked myself up.

"Your opinion is valid Dan," Carlos smiled reassuringly, "but the fact of the matter is if we do it the way you want it people will get hurt in the process, so stop taking the situation so lightly and give this plan a chance,"

"But people will eventually discover the truth," I looked desperately into Carlos's eyes, "and when that happens…"

"Hold it," Carlos suddenly grabbed me by the front of my uniform, the smile all but gone from his face, "This isn't the time for you to be playing Mr. Nice Guy," He snarled, "We can't convince everyone. If we take our situation too lightly, we'll all end up dead. All of us,"

"Controlling the amount of information the public receives is a sure way to insure confusion does not take place," Serek said, "It would be wise to take the necessary steps,"

"Something a Vulcan would say," Juli spat.

"Are you suggesting my logic is flawed?" Serek glared at Juli, his usually calm voice carrying a hint of danger in it.

Juli glared at him for a moment, her eyes narrow, before lowering her gaze to her console, shaking her head.

Joey looked from Juli, to Serek, to Blue, before finally nodding his head, "Alright then, I guess we got a plan,"

Carlos nodded, "I'll wander round the ship and try to persuade everyone. They'll probably trust the Operators more then the Zwei or the supervisors at this time at any rate. Robert and Marco will join me to help out,"

The other operators nodded as he turned to Fina, "And I want you to make the initial announcement,"

The brown hair girl looked up at him with surprise, as did I. Carlos gave me a stern look.

"If you make the announcement, They'll know you're lying," He said simply.

Fina looked at me, as though expecting me to say something in my own defence. I simply shrugged before slumping back to the Helm and turning towards the Viewscreen. She nodded her head silently, before slowly heading towards the modified Science II station.

Kurt sighed as he walked aimlessly down one corridor after another, trying to untangle the mess that his brain was currently made up of.

"Hey there,"

Catherine suddenly appeared out of nowhere, an amused grin on her face at the look of bewilderment on the younger Wauneright's face, "How you doing?"

Kurt scowled, before walking past her, "What's it to you?"

"Oh, nothing much, just felt like asking" Catherine continued to smile as she fell into step with him, "So what's up? How'd the meeting go?"

Kurt didn't even look at her, "Did you listen to the announcement or did you have your precious music up too loud again?"

Catherine only smirked, "I thought so. We are leaving Ba'ku,"

Kurt's eyes widened slightly as she continued, "Which means The Vital Guarder will constantly be on stand-by, just in case we run into this oh so elusive enemy,"

Kurt stopped, still not looking at her as she came to a halt just behind him.

"You need a hand to keep it running?"

Kurt did look at her, but neither did he keep walking, "You think you know how too?"

Catherine raised an eyebrow, "You shouldn't judge a book by it's cover,"

"And you should usually say that when talking about others, not about yourself," Kurt muttered as he started to walk again.

Catherine scowled before running up in front of him, barring his way.

"You scared I'll out do you?" She smirked at his raised eyebrow, "Come on. Give me a shot. You might be surprised,"

Kurt looked into her eyes, before looking down at his watch.

"Whatever," he muttered as he pushed past her, "Let's see what you got O'Neil,"

Ami shut her book with a snap, a scowl on her face as she looked up at the crying Rachel in the corner of the window seat opposite where she sat at the table.

"Rachel give it a rest," she sighed as she lent her head on her fist, "Have we done anything wrong? No, nadda, bupkiss. So stop being such a baby and get over it,"
Rachel looked up, her face smeared with tears, "Yeah…but…"
"Look, if you're gonna get depressed like this, we've got a whole library full of self -help stuff. So don't really have an excuse," He rolled her eyes as the girl continued to sob into her hands, "Katy, can you try to talk her out of it?"

Her friend said nothing, she just sat across the table, staring mindlessly down at the glass surface as she absently stroked Rafra. Ami rolled her eyes again. Clearly she had only one thing on her mind.

"Carlos!"

Ami looked up in surprise as Katy ran to the door with a joyful cry, practically falling into his arms as she started to cry into his uniform

"Hey," Carlos gently smiling face took in the room, "Nice to see you too,"

"Oh Carlos, I was so worried," She cried, "I thought we were all going to die! I thought…"

"Shh," Carlos hugged her tighter as she completely broke down, "It's alright. I'll protect you. No matter what happens, I will protect you,"

"How can you promise something like that?" Ami scowled darkly, "It's not exactly an easy one to keep in times like this,"

Carlos opened his mouth to say something, only to be cut off as Fina's voice filled the room over the Inter-com,"

"Attention, this is an announcement from the Bridge. We have encountered an emergency situation. Starfleet appears to have dispatched a new fleet, one far greater then we have encountered thus far, is on an intercept course with Ryvius. Through intercepted communications, we have learned their intent is to destroy us, and with the safety of the crew in mind, we have…unanimously voted to move away from the Ba'ku region. We must act quickly if we want to survive, I repeat…"

"Are they kidding us with this?

"No this is awful! We can't just leave Ba'ku!

"What's gonna happen?"
"Where are we going?"

"What are we gonna do?

I sighed as I wandered slowly through the corridors, my eyes trained on the floor in front of me.

How on Earth could Carlos think this is possibly the best option? It just didn't seem in his character. He was usually a sensible kinda guy. He'd know if he made too many of this decisions, they would come back to haunt him later.

Of that, I had no doubt.

"We are survivors of the Starfleet Academy Training Centre of Starbase Delta. We are currently on board what we believe to be a Federation Starship, christened, U.S.S. Ryvius. There are five hundred Starfleet cadets and civilians of the Ship Attendant Program strand currently stranded on board. Please hurry, we require rescue. I repeat, this is the U.S.S. Ryv…"

The Captain of the Tandel cut off the transmission, before settling back in his seat, gazing at Conrad, across the table.

His ship had met up with the Aquila a while ago, for he had just been given a startling piece of information from the excavation of the wreckage of the two ships destroyed by Ryvius.

Now Conrad stood in his Ready Room, and he was about to bring up his question.

"This is a message we managed to salvage from the remains of the U.S.S. Luna's communication database," he said quietly, "The voice print matches one Cadet Lt. Commander Anina Carabona, The Ba'ku counsellor of the late Starbase Delta's Zwei Elite Training Squadron. Now normally I'd send this back to Tucker, seeing as he requested all information from the battle with Ryvius, but since you were involved in that particular battle, I wanted your…personal opinion on it Conrad,"

Conrad raised an eyebrow in surprise, "My…opinion…Captain?"

His mind went back to the Sickbay on board the Tandel, Watching Agent Fox try to remain conscious to tell him something important.

"C…Captain Conrad….the crew of the Ryvius…they're all…"

He shook his head slightly, banishing the memory from his mind.

"If you want my professional opinion, This message is nothing more then a bluff. The control of the Torpedo Launchers, the use of the gravitational control, the activation of the Vital Guarder. None of these things would be possible unless someone had expert knowledge of the Vaea. I'm sure the Terrorists simply took the students of The Delta hostage and forced this Lt. Commander Carabona to send the message, just to throw us off guard,"

The Captain narrowed his eyes, "I don't like your attitude to this Conrad. I feel like you're not telling me something. When I joined Section 31, I thought we would only keep a few secrets from the Federation. I'd hate to think we were now keeping information from each other,"
Conrad raised an eyebrow, before the Captain settled back in his chair.

"Fortunately for you, my tactical officer has the exact same idea,"

Conrad gave the Captain a dead-pan expression, "I'm honoured,"

"You'll also be honoured to know," The Captain continued, ignoring Steven's remark, "that in addition to the Impulse and Dicastia, The U.S.S. Geshupenste has been retrieved from the Asteroid in the Romulan Neutral Zone,"

"The Geshupenste?" Conrad's eyes widened, a look of fear on his face, "They've…retrieved the Geshupenste?"

The Captain nodded grimly, "Tucker may be the guy in charge, but he doesn't have any real battle expertise. He has no idea what he's dealing with,"

"Attention," Juli's voice filled the Observation lounge, "This is an announcement from the Bridge. We are preparing to leave Ba'ku Orbit. All hands stand by,"

Not that I heard any of it. I was on the floor of the Lounge, tears streaming from my eyes, staining Fina's jacket, who clung to me as I sobbed.

"Why?" I managed to get out, "Why? I don't understand. How can everyone be so calm about this? How can you be so calm about this? I'm scared Fina, I really am. It's like there's no ground below us and we're just drifting through space! What's going on? I'm so afraid,"

"Oh Daniel That's great!"

I froze, before pulling back, giving her a puzzled look at her sudden joyful outburst.

"It's the mercy of Mother Arhnay," She explained, "You've taken your first real steps towards freedom, just as you wished for. Don't you see?" She took me gently by the shoulders, "You've severed the ties from the society you loathe so much. I believe that this event is the most wonderful thing that has happened so far!"

I stared at her, my eyes confused, not understanding, before I rose quietly to stare out of the large windows.

That was exactly one month ago, to the day.