Chapter IX
The Enterprise soared into orbit around Veridian III, the site of its predecessor's final resting-place. The Enterprise-E orbited the planet three times before its powerful sensors found what it was looking for.
The transporter beams died away, and Riker, Data, Worf and Picard found themselves standing only a few metres away from the wreckage of the Enterprise-D saucer section. The three Enterprise officers carried type-two phasers, while Worf carried a rifle. They moved over to the side of the saucer.
On what had been the port side of the saucer section was a gaping hole on one side which was partially obscured by creepers, and Riker pushed quickly through the vegetation to find an untouched corridor. He breathed in, in surprise. By this time, the Enterprise should have been partially occupied with flora and fauna, and the corridor should not be as clear as this. Picard pushed through behind him, and echoing his thoughts, saying, 'That's odd. The ship shouldn't be clear like this.'
Behind them, Data was next through the creepers, and Worf followed him. They advanced through the corridors, rifles ready, senses alert.
They turned a corner, and found themselves facing a turbolift door. Picard looked surprised. 'I must have been on the Enterprise-E for too long. I don't remember this turbolift.' They entered it and managed to get the roof open. Data was last, looking puzzled at the Admiral's confession to a loss of memory.
They managed to get onto the top of the lift carriage itself, and began the long climb to the top of the turbolift shaft via a ladder running up the side of the shaft. However, at about level four, they found that the route had been blocked by a mess of fallen girders and struts, once supporting the corridor on deck four, but now blocking the access to the bridge.
Riker smiled at Picard's exasperated sigh. 'We'll have to go back down a level and use the bridge access tube.'
'Correct, Number One,' replied Picard, slipping back into his old protocol again.
They clambered slowly back down, and got onto deck 5. They quickly found the Jeffries tube and began their slow ascent again. As they did so, Worf muttered to Data, 'I'd forgotten how difficult it was to get about this ship sometimes.'
At the final intersection between deck 2 and the bridge, Picard found the tube panel removed and the ladder was slick with some form of liquid.
Data scanned the substance. He glanced up at Picard, confused. 'Admiral, the rim of this panel is covered with a mixture of gelatine and ammonium.'
'Anything you recognise?' asked Riker. Data shook his head, puzzlement still written on his face.
'No, sir. It appears to be still wet.' He closed the tricorder and looked at Picard. 'Sir, whoever left this here has been here recently. I believe they may still be on the wreck.'
'They may be on the bridge,' warned Worf. 'I suggest that I lead the way.'
'I'd prefer to go first,' said Picard slowly, his expression odd.
Worf looked about to protest, but a warning glance from Riker silenced him.
Picard looked at Riker. 'Let's go, captain.' Picard clambered into the tube. Riker, Worf and then Data followed him.
The four men clambered up the ladder in the cramped tube until Picard reached a panel marked 'Main Bridge'. This, too, had a light covering of the liquid that they had found on the ladder. However, the access panel was closed this time, and Picard had to lever it open. It slid aside quietly, and he looked through – to get his first sight of the enemy.
Four creatures stood there, clustered around what had been one of the aft science stations, which now stood dark and silent. They were each about six or seven foot tall, with myriad tentacles trailing from their body. Only two of the tentacles were actually moving at the same time.
Heavily built, they had no recognisable features, or, for that matter, any recognisable face. They had basic humanoid features; two legs and a torso, but no other features that linked them to humans. What might have been the head was recessed into the top of the torso, similar to some of the old drawings that European man made of those creatures believed to inhabit the Asian continent in the fourteenth century.
Picard suddenly made a snap decision and stood, levelling his phaser at the nearest of the four aliens, and said, 'Surrender now, or I shall fire.'
The aliens whirled simultaneously, and seemed to examine Picard for a moment. Suddenly, a tentacle flashed out, and before Picard could react, the weapon had been snatched from his hand. The alien that had taken it pointed it at him. It fired. As Picard fell, it turned away.
Riker leaned over the rim of the tube, and spotted the aliens as he shifted Picard's limp body aside. He fired. The phaser beam caught the alien wielding the captured weapon in the torso. It flew back and crashed into the tactical console. The others looked about stupidly for the source of the attack, and Riker cut another down. He jumped from the tube and levelled his phaser, distracting his attention from Worf, who leaned out of the tube, and fired his rifle twice. The blasts caught the last aliens in the torso, and they went down.
Riker checked Picard's pulse, and breathed a huge sigh of relief. 'Lucky for him that he had it set to stun. Worf, take him back to the ship.'
'Aye, sir.'
Data moved over to the least damaged computer console as the transporter glow claimed Worf and Picard. He attached the power cell he was carrying to the underside of the console, and pressed a button on it. The computer activated and lit up hesitantly. At first, the voice slurred, and then snapped back to full speed.
'Wwwwhaaat ffuncctionnss doo youu require? This computer is programmed for -' Data interrupted.
'This is Lieutenant Commander Data, serial number 428-564-A. Please confirm.' The computer buzzed, something it would not have done while still fully operational.
'ID confirmed.' Data nodded in satisfaction and took a short cable from a pouch on his uniform. He pointed to his cranial access hatch and Riker prised it off carefully, revealing bare machinery and flashing diodes. Attaching the cable to a small port on the side of his head, Data completed the connection by clipping the cable to the underside of the science station.
'Give details of Borg invasive program, created Stardate 45856.9 and download design details into my positronic net.' The computer displayed the information on the screen, and started to scroll it along.
Data read it. 'Faster speed.' The information shot across the screen. When the stream had ended, Data disconnected himself, detached the power cell from the console, and watched as the console slid back into dark lifelessness.
'Captain, we have the required information. I suggest that we beam back to the Enterprise.' Riker nodded, and looked around the bridge. He looked down at the alien body next to him and prodded it with his foot.
'Do you think that this is the enemy?' Data shrugged.
'It is highly likely, Commander. However, I do not wish to be pushed into any form of conclusion without relevant data.'
Riker smiled. 'No matter what happens to the rest of us, you're still the same old Data.' He looked back down. 'What were they doing here?'
Picard had recovered from his phaser stun in a rather embarrassed state. When he found out that Data had successfully retrieved the information, he recovered from his embarrassment even quicker than he recovered from his stun. Knowing that the creatures they had faced on Veridian III had been the enemy, he ordered the retrieval of one of the bodies which merely took a stun blast, and the disintegration of the others. He had then accompanied the creature to sickbay, and watched as Dr. Crusher prepared for an exploratory examination.
Picard said, 'What do you know about this creature from bio-readings?' Crusher pointed to the patient monitor, slightly confused.
'Apart from the fact that it's alive, absolutely nothing. There's some really weird readings coming out of it, though. I have a few theories, but nothing concrete until I can perform the surgery.' Picard nodded in acknowledgement of the veiled dismissal, and gave the creature one last angry look.
'I'll let you get on with it.' He walked out of the door. Two security guards, Horner and Cavell, stepped inside the door, and faced towards sickbay, oriented so that they did not have to see the body of the creature.
As Picard travelled back to the bridge, his communicator bleeped. 'Data to Picard.'
'Picard here.'
'Sir, one of the city destroyers has come out of warp near our position. I think it might be a retrieval vessel for the aliens on the planet.'
'And they're not going to be amused when they find that they're away team has been killed by the enemy,' added Riker's voice. 'They might have ignored us otherwise. They're coming in with weapons ready.'
'Shields up. I'm on my way. If they open fire, take evasive manoeuvres. Do not return fire.'
'Aye, sir,' said Riker in the background.
A few minutes later, Picard emerged onto the bridge and gazed, horror-struck, at the screen. Before him loomed the shape of one of the hated city destroyers, protected by the invisible, infuriating screen of energy.
Picard turned to Data. 'Is the invasive program ready for use?'
'Yes, sir,' answered Data, sat in what had been Troi's seat. 'It is downloaded into our computer systems, but unfortunately, we have not had opportunity to test it.'
Picard smiled grimly. 'This seems like as good a time as any.' He signalled to Worf. 'Activate program, and transmit.'
Worf nodded, having taken over the tactical console from Hedly. 'Yes, sir,' he answered. 'Program transmitted.'
A moment passed, in which the city destroyer loomed ever closer. No attack planes launched; no energy fire erupted towards them. Picard could only suppose that the aliens were no so overconfident that they believed their mere presence could quell an enemy.
They weren't far wrong, he mused.
Worf said, hesitantly, 'Admiral, I think that their shields are lowering. It is difficult to be sure.'
Picard smiled. 'Lock a quantum torpedo and fire.'
The green bolt of fire shot towards the city destroyer. Quickly, the torpedo was lost against the solid black backdrop of the immense ship. Abruptly, there was a brief flash of light and the green shield flashed into view. Thames spoke, her voice disappointed and shocked.
'Impacted on shields!'
Riker stood, and his voice was filled with urgency. 'Take us out of here, Ensign Truper. Warp -'
'Belay that order!' Picard's voice was not raised, but it cut across Riker's order like a steel knife. 'Fire again, Mr. Worf. Full spread.'
Worf hesitated. 'Admiral, their -'
Picard looked up at him with a raised eyebrow, cutting him off. 'Fire again, Mr. Worf.' The Klingon looked embarrassed, and complied.
'Full spread, aye. Firing.'
This time, the torpedo launcher fired a series of torpedoes, all of which flashed towards the destroyer which was looming towards them with the grace of an immense whale. The torpedoes disappeared against the ship's surface again, but this time Data was monitoring them, counting off impact times.
'Impacting shields in four seconds, three, two, one.' He looked up. The torpedoes hadn't exploded.
A moment later, the huge flash that came lit up the entire side of the city destroyer like a Christmas tree. The explosions tore into the huge ship, blasting the armour apart, and gouging into the metal. A ball of flame miles long erupted from the hull of the immense ship.
The bridge crew cheered. Picard slammed his fist onto the arm of his chair. 'Yes! Fire at will, Mr. Worf.' The Klingon straightened.
'Aye, sir!' The Enterprise manoeuvred closer to the huge ship and opened fire with phasers and quantum torpedoes. The blasts ripped into the side of the ship, blowing apart armour, damaging circuits, blasting apart conduits, wrecking the ship -
The alien's eyes snapped open. All around him, he could feel the presence of the humanoids that inhabited this galaxy. They were about to perform a surgical procedure on him. His mind stretched out, and detected the death screams of his comrades on the huge ship. He suddenly was ordered to stop the attack on the home ship. He searched, until he found a suitable mind....
Beverly Crusher said, 'All right, we're going to make the first incision along the torso, along this line.' She indicated a dark groove along the front of the alien's torso.
Nurse Alyssa Ogawa nodded and handed the doctor a scalpel.
Beverly leaned towards the alien body -
And stopped. 'Release me,' she whispered. Ogawa leaned closer.
'What did you say, Doctor?' Beverly straightened and gave Ogawa a homicidal glare.
'Die,' she hissed, and slashed Ogawa's face with the scalpel. The nurse stumbled backwards, and collapsed with a brief scream. The security guards whirled and drew their phasers.
'Doctor, put the knife down,' ordered one of them calmly. He suddenly found one of the scalpels in his chest. The other raised his phaser, and collapsed, another scalpel, this time from the creature, imbedded in his throat. Beverly quickly released the creature from the restraints and suddenly awoke as if from a trance.
'What -' She spotted the body of Alyssa, and the two guards, and then saw the alien rise from the bio-bed and grab her....
Return fire from the city destroyer had quickly dwindled down to an occasional spray of blue energy which the Enterprise's shields absorbed easily. Picard managed to keep a smile from his face as the Enterprise pounded the much larger ship.
Above them, the black hull exploded and blazed under the barrage. Occasionally, an errant attack plane would swoop in and open fire, but a swift blast from the phasers usually dealt with that problem.
'I think they must have been so surprised by our lowering of their defences,' said Riker quietly, 'that they were unable to adapt.'
Picard nodded in agreement. 'Lieutenant Thames, begin a structural analysis of the destroyer. Find their weak spots so that we can take them down quicker.'
'Aye, sir,' she replied.
Picard was able to spare a moment for a brief inspection, and then the intercom allowed the Chief Engineer's voice to filter through.
'Admiral, I think you'd better get down here fast. It's the alien.' Picard shot a look at Riker, the same thought in their minds. Beverly?
Picard only allowed the pause to last a brief moment. 'Keep firing, Mr. Worf. See how long their armour can keep them going.' He faced Riker. 'Captain Data, you have the bridge. Number One, come with me.'
The lift deposited them in Engineering. They hurried through the section, and found the Chief and two crewmen looking up towards the warp core. They followed his gaze.
The tall alien was stood on one of the upper walkways, gripping Beverly Crusher tightly in one of its tentacles. Another tentacle was busily dismantling the warp core, and extracting the dilithium crystals. Two crewmen lay, unmoving, at it's feet.
Beverly looked towards Picard with a tortured expression. 'Jean-Luc?'
Picard stepped forward, not answering, unless his answer was to draw the phaser that he had ordered to be standard issue to all personnel since the war began. He spoke directly to the creature before him. 'Let her go, and step away from the warp core.'
The alien looked at him, stopping its work. Beverly suddenly went limp, and she began to speak in an uninflected and monotonous tone.
'Your ship will not survive its foolish attack upon us.'
'Surrender your ship and we shall discuss peace terms,' said Picard. 'We will be –'
'We do not surrender to those who are inferior to us. You will fall before us.'
'There is no need to fight you.'
'You are incorrect. Only those strong enough to rule deserve to live. All others are weak and imperfect. You will be purged.'
Picard grimaced, recognising a big cultural impasse. 'Who are you?'
The alien straightened. 'We are the Aralla.'
'At least they've got a name,' said Riker behind him.
Picard tried again. 'Can we come to an agreement?'
'No agreement.' The Aralla turned and resumed work. When Picard levelled the phaser at it, it swung Beverly around to block his firing line.
'What do you want from us?' called Riker. 'Is there something we can provide you with?'
The Aralla faced them again. Beverly seemed to smile. 'All you could give us is the satisfaction of your deaths. Your resources are useless to us. All we need is for you to die. This conversation is ended.' It turned away again, and Picard realised that it only needed to extract one more crystal to cause an uncontrolled matter/anti-matter reaction.
Picard raised the phaser, grim, cold determination sweeping across his face. Riker faced him, but Picard could only see Beverly's face, regaining its animation. She knew her duty, and Picard could read it in her eyes. She nodded, and Picard raised the phaser and pressed the –
Pressed the –
He couldn't do it. Ashamed at his weakness, he lowered the phaser slightly. Riker guessed his intention, while not seeing the inner conflict.
'You can't fire, Admiral. You'll hit Beverly.' Picard nodded slowly, understanding Riker's protest, but slowly, the phaser raised itself, as though it were of it's own volition.
He stared into Beverly's eyes one last time; saw the fear and the pain there.
The Aralla gazed at him again, unafraid of it's own death. Behind it, the last dilithium crystal began to come free from its housing.
Beverly shouted, 'Jean-Luc, shoot!' And Picard knew what he had to do. His arm shook, and his eyes blurred with unshed tears. Beverly shouted, her face pleading, 'Shoot! Now, before it's too late!'
Picard fired.
The Aralla stumbled as the beam of energy passed directly through Beverly's body, killing her, and was absorbed by its carapace. It twisted and fell from the walkway, releasing the crystal in its last convulsive death throes. The dilithium teetered on the brink of disaster for a brief second, and then fell back into place once again.
Picard lowered the phaser, and stared slowly at the body that crashed to the deck at his feet. Silently, he stared for a long moment, and then Riker stepped to his side and took his arm, intending to take the phaser from his hands, clenched tightly around the smooth material. Breaking free of his friend's grip, Picard leant tenderly over Beverly's body. She had been killed instantaneously by the phaser blast, and had felt nothing. Her eyes were open but unseeing, and Picard closed them gently.
Slowly, he turned from the table, silent and with eyes that spoke of horror and torment beyond that which anyone should have to undergo. He ignored the silent, shocked and concerned eyes of the crew, and said, in a voice drained of all emotion and containing nothing but bleak loss, 'Number One, I believe that you know what must be done. I shall be in my quarters.'
Without another word, he took the phaser from Riker's grasp, turned and strode quickly away, his shoulders tense.
A short moment passed during which no-one dared move. Eventually, Riker allowed the belated medical team to approach, stunned expressions on their faces. He turned to their leader and said quietly, 'Remove the bodies to the morgue and prepare them for a space burial.'
'Aye, sir.' Riker found that he could not speak further. He turned, and stalked from Engineering.
Riker stepped from the turbolift onto the bridge.
'What has happened, Captain?' asked Data, moving from the centre seat and facing Riker.
Riker did not answer him. Instead, he turned and faced the screen, looking with hatred and disgust at the battered city destroyer before them, now dead under the firepower of the Enterprise. 'Is the structural analysis complete?' he asked quietly, barely keeping the sorrow inside him from boiling up and over.
'Aye, sir,' answered Worf, pride still resonating in his deep bass voice, but now tinged with uncertainty. 'We only need a single shot in the right place to set off a total chain reaction.'
Riker found that he could not muster any satisfaction at the victory, and merely said, 'Do so at your discretion.' He turned to Ensign Truper. 'After that, Ensign, set course for DS9. Maximum warp.'
The Enterprise moved out of the orbit of the planet and, almost as an afterthought, fired a torpedo into the central circle of the ship. A moment passed, and then the detonation roared from the ship, a hundred times more powerful, breaking the ship up even further.
As it began to explode in an immense conflagration, the Enterprise soared into warp.
Riker watched the stars change to lines streaking past the sleek hull of the Enterprise, and turned to Data and Worf. He spoke quietly. 'We've had a near accident in Engineering. The creature took Doctor Crusher hostage, and tried to dismantle the warp core.'
'That displays that they have a high technical knowledge,' remarked Data automatically.
'That's not the point,' said Riker. He started to speak, but then realised that he could not skirt around the issue any longer. 'Doctor Crusher has been killed.'
Data merely closed his eyes in a reflex action, but Riker had read the pain there. Worf gripped the tactical console harder and Riker knew that, despite his stoic warrior's resolve, Worf was deeply horrified, as they all were. Two of their old friends were now dead, and the end of the war was not yet in sight.
There was a horrified pause as the others began to take in the implications and then Worf asked, in a devastatingly raw voice, 'How?'
'If the creature had successfully removed the dilithium crystals, the reaction would have caused a warp core breach. It was using Beverly as a human shield. Admiral Picard was trying to negotiate but the creature had nearly completed the operation. A moment longer, and the ship would have been destroyed. He was forced to kill them both.'
Data bowed his head, and Worf somehow gripped the console harder. Riker tried to say something and found that words were insufficient. He looked away.
'Sickbay to bridge.'
Riker glanced up and surprised himself by being able to speak. 'Riker here.'
'Captain, you'd better get down here. Nurse Ogawa wishes to speak with you.'
'On my way.' Riker glanced at Data who was now staring steadfastly at the screen. 'You have the bridge, Captain Data.'
Riker did not hear the android's whispered reply, and he headed to the aft turbolift. As the doors hissed open before him, he paused and glanced back at Worf. The Klingon looked at him, and grief was etched onto his face. It was an expression that Riker had not expected to ever see on the Klingon's face. 'Worf, if it's any comfort....'
There was a short pause, and then Worf said, 'Sir?'
Riker looked straight at him. 'She died with honour.'
Will Riker entered sickbay reluctantly, and stopped short when he saw the blood covering the bulkheads and deck. Three shrouded bodies lay on the bio-beds and Alyssa Ogawa was sat on another bed, a bandage covering most of her face. She was shaking. Riker stood beside and embraced her as a gesture of friendship. She broke away first and looked at Riker anger and misery vying for attention on her face.
'Captain, it was terrible! She just attacked without warning. She was just about to make the first incision when she whispered something. I leaned closer to find out what she had said, and she just slashed my face. Then - then...' Ogawa's voice trailed off, her mind unwilling to cope with the pains of recollection. 'I fell unconscious at that point.' Riker nodded sympathetically, and took another look around the room.
All around sickbay, the doctors, nurses and interns were coming to term with the shock and grief of the death of Beverly, in much the same way as Picard and the senior staff was doing.
Riker turned to face Alyssa and explained exactly what had happened in the engine room. Occasionally, he glanced over at the shroud which covered the doctor's corpse. At the end, Alyssa's eyes were shining with tears afresh. Riker could only say, 'I'm sorry,' knowing how hopelessly inadequate these words were.
As she nodded her thanks and Riker turned away, the strain, despair and anger of the last few days finally got to him. He turned to the wall, and slammed his fist into it with all of his might. 'Damn!' His hoarse and furious yell was one of lost love, and helpless fury.
The others remained silent around him, and after a moment, Captain Will Riker pulled himself together, turned and left sickbay – a different man to the end of his days.
Alyssa had seen it in his eyes. The pain and anger at Deanna's and Beverly's deaths had been swiftly and irrevocably covered with an impenetrable shield of self-imposed steel. It would never come down.
Picard sat in his quarters, fighting back the anger and the bitterness and despair that overwhelmed him. In his heart was the conviction that there had been another way to have solved the crisis – to have avoided killing Beverly, a woman he loved.
In his mind, however, he knew that the Aralla had not been afraid of its own death, and that it was not even capable of understanding such a thing as an agreement. It's own statements had told him this. His mind forced him to confront his guilt and shame – and to solve them.
Slowly, his mind won over the heart that struggled in vain, and Picard slowly picked up the phaser that rested on the table by the chair and pointed it at his own forehead.
The door bleeped. Picard remained silent. His finger moved to the trigger.
On the other side of the door, Lieutenant Thames, whose shift had ended just moments before, pressed the "doorknocker" again. Another moment of silence passed, before Thames called, softly, 'Admiral ?'
She waited for a response but there was none. She was about to call again when the door slid open before her. Thames hesitated for a moment, and then stepped slowly forward into the darkened room. 'Admiral?'
Her voice disappeared into the darkness, and she was tempted to call for lights. However, a shape stood slowly from one of the chairs at the far side of the room and faced her. Thames nearly gasped in outright shock at the worn and crushed expression that was on Picard's face. 'Sir, are you all right?'
He jerked his face up to look at her directly, and Thames could see the anger and pain glittering in his eyes for a brief moment. But only for a moment.
Almost as soon as she had registered the look, it vanished, and Picard –
Picard did not resume his old countenance of controlled power and strength. His new face was one of barely restrained anger mixed with darker emotions that Thames could barely recognise. 'What can I do for you, Lieutenant?' he said, his voice controlled.
Thames hesitated again, wondering how to explain the mysterious impulse that had prompted her to come to his quarters. She shook her head. 'I simply wanted to make sure –'
Picard did not smile, and nor did Thames expect one from someone she could hardly recognise as the man she had been attracted to since the Academy. 'I am fine, Lieutenant,' he said eventually. 'You have saved me from a very difficult decision.'
Thames put on her most solemn face. 'I'm sorry to have bothered you, sir,. With your permission?' So saying, she turned and left his quarters. Picard glanced down at the phaser in his hand that he had kept hidden behind his back, smiled sadly, and slid it into his holster. And, for the rest of the war, he did not use any other phaser.