CHAPTER TWELVE
Once the Highlander rendezvoused with the Scarlett, the two ships reestablished contact. "Hello again, Admiral. Glad you could join us," Captain Belanger said, smiling.
Apollo gave her a slight grin. "Thank you, Captain. Any progress so far?"
Belanger nodded. "Phoenix and Orion have already started sending us information. As soon as we analyze it, we'll be able to get a clearer picture of the area."
"Excellent... good work, Athena. With any luck, you've stumbled onto paydirt instead of a red herring. The Highlander will remain on station until..." Apollo's words trailed off. He stared blankly at the screen.
Belanger looked puzzled. "Admiral? Is something wrong?"
Apollo instantly snapped out of his daze. "Ah, we'll stay here until further notice. Highlander out." When the Scarlett's captain disappeared from the screen, he rose and headed toward the turbolift, absently turning the bridge over to Circe.
"Admiral, is something wrong?" Circe said, repeating Belanger's question.
He stopped just as he triggered the doors to open. Glancing behind him he replied, soft and low, "Nothing, Commander. Just..." he paused, trying to clear his head, "...just whispers of the past."
~ * ~
Brekkan thought she did well. She managed to organize the group of prisoners in her cell into something resembling an intelligence unit. She figured that since she couldn't fight their captors openly, she would resist them covertly. So for the past few weeks, she had her little group keep their ears wide open for any bit of conversation between the guards that they might be able to use later. For the most part, they listened to the Cardassians; they bragged too much, and their Jem'Hadar counterparts weren't very talkative. The only times she heard them speak, they were gathered around someone... A Vorta, she remembered, and the Vorta had them give some sort of pledge before handing each of them some sort of small vial filled with a white liquid – the same white liquid that courses through that tube running into their necks, I'll bet. The pledge seemed rather important to the Jem'Hadar, but the Vorta acted extremely bored with the whole thing, as though it were all a joke. It might not be important, but at this point, she accepted any tiny bit she could get.
One of her "team members" even, at one point, managed to procure for her a tricorder by swiping it and making the person using it think he left it on one of the freighters that stopped here periodically to pick up cargo. She now used this tricorder to compile all the information her group had collected. They even had a hiding place for it in a vent shaft for when the Cardassians staged inspections of the cells. Given the Cardassians' propensity for control, these inspections were surprisingly few, but to make up for that fact, they were naturally unannounced.
Then one day, things took a turn for the worse. A couple of guards showed up for one of their inspections, but instead of leaving as soon as they finished it, they pointed to Lilta and said, "You. Gul LaBrel wants to speak with you."
Brekkan immediately placed herself between the guards and the old woman. "What does he want with her?" she said threateningly.
"That is not for you to know, human. Stand aside."
Her eyes narrowed to slits. "Make me."
She expected them to try to slap her aside. However, apparently learning from their past mistakes, they simply stepped back, pulled their weapons out, and stunned her. As she collapsed, one of the other cellmates pulled her aside as they reached for Lilta and took her away.
Brekkan came to some time later. One of the others in the cell told her that Lilta still had not returned. Brekkan was very worried now, dreaming up all sorts of situations Lilta could be in, but she was hoping that all her worries were silly; Lilta would be returned, safe and sound. That Vorta wouldn't allow any of them to be harmed, because they were all needed. She began to reassure herself more strongly of that fact, and sat back in her corner to try to relax.
She realized she had dozed off when she heard the forcefield to their cell shut off. Brekkan was immediately at her feet as two Cardassians practically threw Lilta through the threshold. She had been beaten savagely, bleeding from several cuts on her face and head. Brekkan was especially worried as she noticed blood was also oozing from the woman's ears.
Lilta was incoherent as they cared for her, cleaning her up and making her as comfortable as possible. Brekkan didn't once leave Lilta's side. Then, late at night, she caught Lilta trying to gesture to her. "Shhh, Lilta please. You must rest."
Lilta coughed as she tried to get her words out. "My child, my time has come when I shall get all the rest I need. One thing you should keep in mind is to not give up the fight. Never let them break you, for if they break you, then you've lost." She trembled spasmodically as another coughing fit hit her. When she stopped, Brekkan could see fresh blood on Lilta's lips. Lilta continued, her voice considerably weaker. "And... there is one more thing... I need... to say..."
Tears were streaming down Brekkan's face. "Please, Lilta. You've said enough. Just rest, so you can heal."
"If you are... who I think you are... you won't be here long. When you are... are rescued, please remember me..." Lilta tried to cough, but she was too weak, and her breath caught in her throat.
"Oh Lilta. I can never forget you... you've been so kind and generous to me, though I never really knew why."
"It's... because... I know who you are... I know..." Lilta's breath stopped rattling in her chest, which gently fell for the last time. Her eyes rolled back in her head and closed.
"Lilta?" Brekkan whispered. "Lil... Lilta?" She began trembling with sobs. "NO!!" Brekkan let it all out. Her bawling could be heard throughout her cellblock as she cried over the body of the woman who cared for her so much. The rest of the prisoners sat there, heads bowed in silent grief... some of them wept with Brekkan.
And where her crying could be heard, the guards smiled cruelly.
The next morning, the guards came to take Lilta's body away and to lead the rest of them to work. Though coercion kept her from being lethargic, Brekkan felt as though her heart had been ripped out of her. She lost complete track of time; days ran into each other, all the while she ran on autopilot. She stopped eating, hardly slept, and never cared. The only thing that kept her going was the intelligence network they were running, and the thought that one day these monsters would pay.
Through the network, she learned that the Cardassians had explained away Lilta's death to a petty squabble among the prisoners, citing that if they weren't fighting the guards, they were perfectly content with fighting each other. If LaBrel only knew how far from the truth he was. But she would show him, one of these days. She silently vowed she would make him pay.
~ * ~
Over the next few days, a false sense of normalcy fell over the crew of the Highlander. That is to say, they were playing a waiting game, and aside from a constant state of Red Alert, Apollo allowed the crew to return to their routines. This assured him that the posts would be manned by fresh bodies, yet at the same time, they would be alert and ready at a moment's notice should they suddenly find themselves flung into battle. Apollo was only a trifle worried... the battles this crew had been through so far under his command had been nothing more than skirmishes. He had yet to see what hard combat would get out of them. But he was confident they would pull through.
Currently, Apollo was in his quarters, getting some rest. It was quite necessary – Kellara would have quite literally kicked him off his bridge... leaving hoofprints in his skull, no doubt... unless he consented to going to bed. So he figured he'd catch a quick catnap before waking up again and hiding somewhere in the bowels of the ship until it was safe to return to the bridge without being molested by his Chief Medical Officer.
A familiar trill woke him from his sleep. Never fails, he thought. He managed to clear his voice enough to mumble out, "Racer here."
"Sorry to disturb your sleep, Admiral," the voice of his Tactical Officer said over the com system, "but we've just gotten word from Captain Belanger."
"Well, spit it out," Apollo replied, still not completely awake, but getting there.
"Rrright," Circe said, hesitating. Apollo could just see her pondering his statement. I keep forgetting to watch what I say around Andorians. They always take things so damned literally. She continued, snapping him out of his thoughts. "She said the Scarlett encountered a small Jem'Hadar force in her area. They dispatched the ships, but not before they got a distress signal through. She said to expect reinforcements."
"Understood. Have the crew return to battle-ready status. I'm on my way up. Racer out." He cut the link, and as he swung his legs off the bed, he glanced at the time. I slept six hours? I must've really been tired. He shrugged off the revelation, and got dressed. He smiled and greeted passing crewmembers in the corridor. He approached the turbolift waiting to take him to the bridge. However, as soon as he entered the car, he suddenly found himself in open space, with no ship to be seen anywhere. Now, Apollo had been in space before, and in fact, by reflex, his aura flashed into existence around him to protect him from the harsh environment. Still, it caught him a bit by surprise. He drifted there, and it didn't take long for him to put two and two together. The eyes squeezed to slits and his face turned grim. "Q," he said vehemently.
As if on cue, Q appeared smiling before him in a flash of light. "Honestly, Admiral, I have no idea why you keep insisting on wasting energy in such a display. Still, I have to like the color."
"In case you didn't notice, Q, I was kinda busy. I have a ship to run, you know."
Q dismissed his statement with a casual wave. "My word, you have been among them for far too long. You need to stop thinking like a human."
Apollo let out an exasperated sigh. He knew it was useless to argue with Q. "Could you please just get to the point of why you dragged me out here and let me get back to business."
Q acted hurt. "Oh, I try to shine some light into his misleading existence, and he wounds me." He shrugged off his theatrics. "The reason I brought you out here, mon admirale, is because I feel you've been left ignorant for far too long, and you need to learn who you truly are. Observe."
Suddenly, all around Apollo, the starscape changed. Constellations took completely different shapes and positions around him and a glowing, shimmering blue field of energy appeared before him. "The galactic barrier," he whispered in awe.
"Ah, so you remember this place. Good. Keep watching."
At that moment, a Constitution-class starship pulled up to the barrier and came to a full stop just at its edge. Apollo didn't even need to read the registry on the hull to know what ship it was. "The Excalibur."
Q snorted. "And I bet you're the type of person who makes a running commentary of the obvious when you watch movies." Apollo glared at him. "You know what happened from your point-of-view. What I'm about to show you is what happened from a uniquely different perspective."
The admiral suddenly found himself speeding toward the vessel, as its crew made a decision and ventured into the barrier. Apollo went through the bulkheads as though he were a ghost or the bulkheads didn't exist. Now he could tell that a couple weeks had "passed", and he was able to see what wasn't visible when he was physically there... light tendrils of blue energy wafting through the corridors. It touched briefly on each crewman it reached, and he could tell insanity start to show itself in whoever it touched. Then he saw himself, walking through the corridors. God, I looked so young back then.
The tendrils touched him, and then looked as though they made a decision. They drifted ahead of him and brushed against the crewmen in the corridor. The men then waited and ambushed him in the corridor. As Apollo saw the interaction between the energy and the crew, pieces of information were illuminated in his mind, as he started to realize what was going on. He watched with morbid curiosity as the doctor sealed him in stasis. Then a macabre dance had begun, as within a couple of weeks, the crew killed themselves off; Apollo was shown each and every incident, until no one aboard was left alive, save for him.
Then his attention was brought back into Sickbay, as the tendrils of energy became much more visible and cohesive. They penetrated the stasis field and wound their way around the insensate figure. Then the transformations began. Some of the changes were subtle, invisible, and would have gone unnoticed had Apollo not been paying rapt attention to what was going on, and sensed the activity. Other parts were more obvious, such as the sight of his organic and inorganic parts... unraveling was the best term he could come up with for it... and merging into a wholly new substance altogether. Bit by bit, he was watching himself reform, in an almost unusual form of rebirth.
Then Apollo received an indication that he wasn't viewing the incident in real-time, that time was in fact elapsing at an accelerated rate. He was positive that only a few minutes had passed, but the tendrils had slowly retracted from his younger self, giving him a final caress before withdrawing. No sooner did they do that than the door to sickbay opened, and admitted Doctor McCoy. Apollo was confused at first, as he knew from both personal experience and from reviewing the logs that it was several months before the Enterprise discovered them.
Apollo turned away from the scene... as he did so, the image faded, and he was once more drifting in space, outside the barrier. "What was the point to that, Q? All you did was show me how I became the person I am now. I had pretty much long ago deduced most of what I had just seen."
"Ah, but there's something that happened there that you know nothing about, because you don't know the history of this 'galactic barrier' that you call it. Tell me, what does your Federation know about it?" Q looked as though he had this infectious secret on his hands, and it was taking all he had not to reveal it right away.
Apollo sighed and figured he'd better play the game a little longer. "Not much, actually. We thought at first that it formed a basic circle around the entire galaxy. However, we learned that it pretty much hugs close to the different arms of the spiral, which is why it was once mistaken that there were actually two barriers, one in the center and one along the edge."
Q chuckled. "And yet you still don't know what it is."
Apollo glanced askance at Q, eyes slitted. "I take it this has something to do with the history lesson you were trying to teach me."
Q nodded. "Some time ago, I had come up against a younger, more immature version of Q. Your illustrious Captain James T. Kirk was the first of your kind to confront him. He went by the name of Trelane."
Apollo nodded... he recognized the name from logs and stories that Kirk had told him. "Go on."
"Anyway, the two of us had it out, and he sucker punched me; took me a while to snap out of it. But for a time, I had merged with this barrier. In fact, I'm not altogether certain that there isn't still part of me in that barrier. But there definitely was when Kirk's Gary Mitchell came in contact with me. And... another illustrious young Starfleet officer."
Bits of realization started to coalesce in Apollo's mind. "What are you trying to tell me, Q?"
"Tell me, Apollo, what would have become of Gary Mitchell had he been allowed to live?"
Apollo shrugged. "I don't know. I don't suppose we ever will."
Q shook his head in disgust. "That answer isn't worthy even by human standards. Use your amazing, speculative and analytical mind."
He looked at Q, and pondered the situation. "Well, Mitchell was growing more and more powerful, at an exponential rate. He fancied himself a god, and I wouldn't be surprised if he became one."
"No, not a god..."
The full realization hit Apollo then. "A Q! Mitchell would have become a Q?"
"Yes, and he was almost there, too. A pity he let it go to his head, and fortunate he was killed when he was. Had Kirk put it off for even another few minutes, he would have never been able to stop him. He was simply too corrupted by the power. He failed the test, though we never really intended to give him one in the first place. Even if he had been able to escape death from Kirk's hands, we would have had to deal with him ourselves."
"But, that would mean..." As waves of discovery washed over him, Apollo reeled with a sudden lifting of confusion.
Q grinned as he saw that Apollo had realized the truth. "Yes. If there were anyone to join our ranks, it had to be someone who would not be persuaded by his nature. Nothing worse than a corrupt Q."
If there had been a wall, Apollo would have staggered back against it. "I... I'm a Q."
"Well, yes, technically, but you're humanity taints it," Q said drolly. "You can't possibly come near to the omnipotence that we possess."
"If I recall, the Q aren't nearly as omnipotent as they'd like us to think, either."
"Heaven's no! What fun would it be if we were completely omnipotent?" He grew silent, studying Apollo for a moment. "Now that you know who, and what, you are, you'll have a decision to make. Being a Q, you can't just stick around and play with your little Starfleet friends anymore. You have a choice of either coming into full realization of your powers and joining us in the Continuum... or, well... accidents happen even to the luckiest of us, unfortunately."
Apollo's head whipped around, glaring at Q, eyes burning bright blue. "Is that a threat?"
"Oh, ho ho. I'm making no threat. The Continuum cannot tolerate one of their own living beneath themselves. I'm surprised they allowed you to carry on your charade as long as you have." Q paused. "This isn't an easy decision. I'll give you time to think about it, but when I return, you'll have an answer, or nothing at all." Q drew two fingers across his throat and disappeared.
The doors to the turbolift opened onto the bridge, shocking Apollo back to reality. His expression was not lost on his crew. Scotty turned from the Engineering station and approached his commanding officer. "Admiral? Are ye all right, sir?"
Apollo looked at Scotty as though he didn't recognize the man. "I'm... fine." He took the few tentative steps needed to allow the lift doors to close. He felt like he was in a fog. "Uh... status report."
Circe came up to Apollo now. "We've... approached the Scarlett. It seems that Captain Belanger captured another freighter. She started questioning their crew, but she also wanted to wait for you."
Apollo nodded absently and made his way to his seat. The two officers followed him. "Sir, are ye sure yer all right?" Scotty asked again.
As Apollo looked from Circe to Scotty, he seemed to snap out of his haze. "Yes. Yes I am. Please maintain your posts." He sat there, trying to organize his thoughts, until he noticed the Scarlett and a Cardassian freighter on the screen. "Mr. Gex, place us in a position reversed-parallel to the Scarlett. Commander Pa'arvalis, let Captain Belanger know I'll meet her aboard the freighter." He stood and headed back into the turbolift.