Chapter 4
"How bad is it?" Dana asked the chief engineer as he crawled back out from under the runabout. "Will it fly?"
"Yeah, we can get it back in order," Commander Frank Bolo, half Bolian/half Human answered. "It'll require some work and use of the industrial replicator in engineering, but we can get it up and running."
"What's the damage?" Dana asked, a little more lightly this time.
"Fried warp coils, damaged shield emitters, fried phaser couplings, a few components in Life Support systems need replacing, although they're still in good enough order to keep us alive, some leakage in the warp plasma manifolds, and damage to the exhaust vents. I haven't had the time to check the rest yet," Frank answered, his blue skin, marked with Human-pink spots was flustered a little greenish with warmth and probably a few other things Dana couldn't place.
"Is there a way you can get it off this ship without having to beam it into space?" Dana asked in an urgent tone as she watched a few of the engineers working on the Runabout, probably on the critical systems.
"They got it in here in about twenty minutes, fitting and prodding the Runabout through that small, loading entrance; getting it out in the same way could take up to forty minutes," Frank answered gravely, pointing at the loading entrance.
The Dominion had not captured a Runabout intact yet, so Dana could easily imagine the Jem'Hadar tractoring the Runabout into their territory, then when it was safe, using tractor beams and other tractoring tools to get the Runabout in here through the entrance Frank was pointing at.
"How severely would the Runabout hamper the ship's ability to function if it blew itself through the walls?" Dana said, pretty sure of his answer, but he was the expert on this ship, so he would know best.
"Let's see: damage to the energy conduits, imbalancing and hampering in it's maneuverability, the possibility of feedback from the phaser energy to the warp core, with the possibility of a warp core breach . . . Should I go on?" Frank answered urgently.
"No, I get the picture. Can you enlarge the hatch, and how completely?" Dana asked him in the same urgent tone Frank had picked up from her.
"Pfwoow," Frank answered, moving his right hand through his black tussled hair to the back of his head, where he scratched himself. "Let's see . . ." Frank said, his right hand now holding and stroking his chin, as he intently studied the hatch and went through several possibilities in his head. "Cutting a bigger hole isn't the problem, we could do that in a few hours. After that there are two possibilities: either we simply close the hole with an emergency force field, which has some severe drawbacks, like diminished maneuverability, or we build a brand new hatch, which I'm not certain we can do with the limited resources we have, including time," Frank answered still stroking his chin.
"How long?" Dana said quickly.
"Two to three days, if we can build it at all. These Dominion warships weren't exactly designed for much creative engineering, you know," Frank Bolo said, the urgency in his voice picking up. Obviously he wanted to continue with his work.
"The Ulysses?" Dana asked, turning to the Runabout.
Frank did the same as he answered, "Anywhere were between nine hours to a day, depending on how much more damage I find."
Dana nodded, calculating the time left. "All right, report to me what you find in this ship. Once you're done searching it, get the Ulysses fly ready and capable of supporting us, then all the other critical systems, then shields, then phasers and finally the rest. Once you're done with that, make the hatch big enough so the Ulysses can fly out. We've got about eighty-four hours before I anticipate the possibility of needing it, but it could be necessary before that time. Don't give me reports on every technicality, only on really important things. Also don't ask me for permission on every unorthodox method you find. Use our time as best as possible, Commander Bolo," Dana ordered still with urgency.
"Go it, ma'am. We're on it," Commander Bolo answered as he turned his attention back towards his work.
Dana walked up the ramp into the Runabout and walked through the ship, roughly the size of a bus. She walked through the rooms and finally came to where she wanted to be. She opened the cabinet there and took out a complete environmental suit and took it back out the Runabout.
As she walked out of the Runabout, the engineers looked a bit questioningly at her, but otherwise kept to their jobs. Dana walked out of the cargo bay, the suit hung over her right shoulder. The boots and the hand shoes were in the helmet, that she was carrying. She walked along the black corridors until she entered the morgue again. She looked around; no doctor, apparently he had taken ensign Papen's advice. Dana dumped the suit on the floor, then opened a slab. On it she started to assemble the suit: boots fastened to the 'pants' part, the 'pants' to the rump of the suit, hand shoes linked to the sleeves and helmet clicked on the rump. Then she closed the slab and the airtight suit was now hidden from sight. She asked the computer for the coordinates, memorized them, then walked away.
*****
"Everything all right?" Dana asked as she reentered the bridge.
"As well as can be expected," Commander Makai answered, looking through the headset. Dana looked around and saw the Admiral heavily leaning on his console and holding his head. The second headset was on his round console. Dana grinned and picked the headset from the console, put it on her head, and fitted the small screen in front of her left eye.
The vision of a whirling cocktail of gas, plasma and dust filled her left eye and she said to the admiral, "Understand now why you're not in command of this mission, Admiral?"
He groaned then answered, "Okay, I think I know why Commander Makai is, but why you in command? You're Human right?"
Dana grinned and from inside of her ambassadorial robes she produced antique, four-hundred-year-old reading glasses. "I never had corrective surgery, it seems my deviation from the norm is enough, for me not to get headaches," Dana explained to him, of course these days she no longer needed them. After so many times being forced to read without glasses and getting headaches in the process, her Immortal physiology had simply adapted; the muscles in her eyes had gained more strength so they no longer overcompensated, thus no longer causing strain and the resulting headaches. It also meant she could see more sharply in extreme distances.
The ship suddenly lurched, then started shaking violently. Dana saw several plasma discharges in her small screen.
"Shit," Ensign Papen said as he furiously started pushing buttons on his round console. "Oh boy! Hold on!" Another violent lurch and the sound of something impacting on the hull raced through the ship. The crew on the bridge could barely keep their footing and they almost fell down, but somehow managed to stay standing.
"That was close," Hans said, and elaborated, "That plasma discharge was caused by us. It would be wise to slow down a little."
"No, they'll be looking for us by now, keep up the speed. In fact, if it's any way possible, speed up," Dana answered coolly.
"Yes, ma'am," Hans answered swiftly as his hands danced across the console to avoid the natural occurring, but no less random, plasma discharges.
"You think they're already looking?" Commander Makai answered.
"Oh yeah. One of their ships disappeared, they'll be looking all right," Dana said neutrally.
"It's war. More ships will disappear. Somehow I doubt the Dominion is looking for every ship that disappears," the admiral interjected.
"True, but they'll be looking for every disappearing ship that held one of their gods," Dana answered rapidly.
"There was a changeling on board?" Commander Makai asked incredulously.
"Yes, and the operative word there is 'was'. He's dead, now; I killed him. But it means there's a chance the entire Dominion is looking for this ship, which eliminates any chance for us to bluff our way through. If a Dominion ship hails us, they'll know this is the ship that disappeared and they'll attack. Let's hope they don't scan and/or hail us, when we encounter one of them. If they do, we'll have to fight our way through," Dana said, thinking about the possibilities.
"Our chances are getting worse all the time," Hans muttered, unhappy.
Dana suddenly stood up, walked toward the female Lieutenant and asked her, "Lieutenant Palermo, can you get holograms of Dominion personnel to overlay us whenever we have contact with a ship."
"Yeah, but it'll take some time. I've never done such a thing in a Dominion ship before and I can't guarantee any positive results," Lieutenant Palermo answered, pushing a few buttons.
"Do it," Dana ordered her briskly.
"If Dominion ships know immediately that it's us, why bother with a few senseless illusions?" Commander Makai asked her.
"That's the reason I didn't tell her to do it immediately. Dominion ships would know the minute they see the ship, but . . ." Dana started to explain.
"But we might bluff our way past a Cardassian ship," Hans interrupted Dana's explanation. "I like it."
"I'm glad you approve, Ensign," Dana said, smiling at him and putting just a touch of menace in the word 'ensign'.
"Sorry," he said, grinning a big mischievous smile and turning back towards his console.
"All right, everybody get as much rest as possible. We've got a period of low activity now, and I want everybody fit when it ends," Dana said, looking around the bridge.
"Aye, sir," came the responses.
Dana made herself as comfortable as possible on a bridge without chairs and leaned against a console, remembering a different time.
~~X~~
August, 2243
Utopia Planitia Fleetyards
"Get that pylon stabilized!" Dana ordered in her environmental suit.
"Aye, sir," came several answers through her comm system.
A few of the engineers had screwed up and instead of the pylon being stable and attached to the first Constitution Class Starship, the Constitution, it had destabilized and now it took all of Dana's organizational and engineering skills to solve the problem. After about fifteen minutes of crisis management, she solved the problem and maneuvered herself back towards the entrance of the fleetyard.
Once inside she took off the suit and put back in the storage locker she got it from, then walked out of the room.
"Hello, Admiral. Sorry about the delay," Dana told Admiral Bracken, still wearing dirty work clothes. Her black hair hung tousled around her face, her cheeks glistened with sweat.
"Oh, nothing to worry about. I'd rather have you a little late than that ship a whole lot damaged," the admiral answered.
"So . . . what is it you wanted to talk to me about?" Dana asked him, having a pretty good idea about what this was.
"Commander Drury . . ." Admiral Bracken started to say.
"Anna," Dana interrupted, grinning at him.
"I was trying to sound official," the admiral said, then trailed off and muttered half under his breath, "Why do I bother?
"Anna, you designed the Constitution Class vessel and you're in command of the engineering teams that are building the ships, but you can not decide a ship's name and definitely not its registry number. I mean calling it 'Enterprise' is one thing," Bracken said, pointing at the ship, that was just behind the Constitution and had barely begun construction, "but disrupting the numbering and registration process and just change its registry to 1701?"
"Oh, come on. Why not?" Dana told him, a smile on her face.
"What's so special about 1701 anyway?" the admiral asked exasperated.
"Nothing much. It's something of a superstition. I know I can't change the registry entry, but you could. It would take some effort, but you could get it done," Dana said, smiling a little seductively.
"Well, a superstition isn't going to cut it. You've got come up with something better, Anna," Bracken told her.
"OK, how about a bribe?" Dana asked sweetly.
Bracken looked at her incredulously. "First of all, I can't be bribed. Second of all, what is it that you think you can bribe me with?" Bracken asked her, just as incredulously.
"How did you put again? This morning I mean," Dana teased and continued to repeat the story. "Oh, yeah; 'My wife hasn't had many friends, since I took this position, and she really liked you, and my kids liked your stories so much, they pressured me into getting you to come with us to a restaurant Sunday night. They are really looking forward to it.' I believe I answered 'no' and that I already had plans."
"No way," Bracken said. It was half a statement that the bribe wouldn't work, although that part wasn't very convincing, and half a statement that he couldn't believe she was actually doing this.
"Oh, yeah," Dana said, grinning at him. "I also believe you said something about the atmosphere in your house not being very good if I didn't go . . . I could, with a lot of begging, groveling and outrageous promises, reschedule my former plans and come with you and your family . . . tell you what, I'll even pay the bill," Dana told him with an innocent and sweet smile on her face.
The Admiral thought it over for a few seconds before he answered, "I'll see what I can do."
~~X~~
"Captain," Bolo's voice came across the intercom.
"Go ahead, Bolo," Scully answered the engineer immediately.
"We've found the commbadges, sir. Someone is bringing yours up to the bridge as we speak," Bolo said with a hint of strain in his voice. "The Ulysses will take about twelve hours to finish and I think I can finish that door you want in about thirty-eight after that."
"Understood, Commander. Anything else?" Dana intoned.
"Nothing, sir. It's a fairly standard Dominion warship," Commander Bolo answered hurriedly.
"All right, Scully out," Dana answered and Bolo severed the intercom connection.
A few minutes later an engineer entered the bridge and passed everyone their commbadge, after which he left the bridge to return to his other duties.
Dana pinned the badge to the left sight of her chest and tapped it. "Scully to Bolo," Dana said to the air after the badge gave a chirp.
"Bolo here, sir. Did you want something?" Commander Bolo's voice sounded through the badge.
"No, just checking if the damn things still work," Dana told him. "Scully out."
Scully leaned back against the console and since there was nothing to do, she started reminiscing about the past.
~~X~~
Romulus
May 2160
Dana stumbled forward as she was brutally shoved into the small room. Six of the eight Romulans who had abducted her entered the room with her. Four of them took position in the room, two of them by the exit and the other two to either side of the room. The last two, the ones who were in charge, went to the middle of the room.
"Sit," one of them ordered.
Dana looked the Romulan who had just ordered her to sit directly in the eyes and threatened, "If I find out you have hurt my daughter, I'm going to kill every single one of the bastards who took me away . . . and then some."
"I assure you, we did not hurt your daughter. We've found that hurting the children of the subjects we want to have answer a few questions, tends to make those subjects all the more adamant in resisting us. Some became downright suicidal in their quests for vengeance," the same Romulan who ordered her to sit, apparently the one in charge, smoothly answered her in a heavily accented voice.
"It's not like I can check," Dana said coldly.
"No, you can't. However, some . . . of the more dim-witted among us have the tendency to gloat about their . . . accomplishments. They usually find out that subjects in a blind-rage-induced - I believe in your physiology it's - adrenaline-rush can be quite . . . deadly, to them, and subsequently to our plan with those subjects. Therefore we tend to make sure nobody has anything to gloat about. Now, sit down, before I have you made to sit down," the Romulan once again answered smoothly.
Dana relaxed and started to examine the room easily. In the middle was a small table, one stool on either side. A bright lamp hung above the table. However, since the lamp hung very low, it illuminated only the table and a small circle around it. The part of the room that was outside the illuminated circle was eerily veiled in shadows.
Dana then slid the hard small chair on the far side of the room back and sank in it, forcing herself to be relaxed. She stretched her legs and put them cross legged on the table, leaning the chair precariously on its back legs, while she crossed her hands behind her head to support it. She looked around the room once more, casually, then commented cheerily, "Comfy."
The Romulan in command fumed angrily as he sat down in the other chair harshly. Apparently, he didn't like the way the war and this interrogation were going.
"So . . . why me?" Dana asked cheerily, even though she didn't feel all that cheerful. She knew she could easily kill the Romulans here, but then what? She knew she had to bide her time, get to know this prison. The fact that the Romulans used several unsavory techniques to get their prisoners to talk wasn't comforting either, especially since that would quickly reveal her extraordinary regenerative abilities.
"You are second in command of the American intelligence agency known as the CIA. We also found out you know everything your boss knows, yet you have less security," the Romulan said, an angry grin on his face.
"Impressive, I see we have underestimated the Tal Shiar," Dana said, a grin plastered on her face, while she rocked the chair back and forth gently.
"Impressive," the Romulan agent in the chair said, feeling the nervous looks coming from his subordinates. "It seems we have underestimated the CIA . . . or is it one of the other nations' intelligence agencies that found us out and shared it with the CIA?"
"That is for me to know, and for you to find out, isn't it?" Dana answered, smirking a smug smile.
"No matter. Tell us the history of your world?" the Romulan asked grimly.
"What? No drugs, no torture?" Dana answered the Romulan again with the same smirk.
"We try simple questions first, the drugs and torture come later," the Romulan answered, adding a sinister tone to his voice.
"All right," Dana started, folding her hands in her lap. "Approximately four and a half billion years ago, after our sun was born from a nebula, Earth solidified out of some of the remains of that Nebula . . ."
"Something closer to the present, Ms. Dahmer," the Romulan interrupted, a strange combination of annoyance and politeness in his voice.
"Ah, you wish to know the history of our race," Dana grinned at him.
"Yes," the Romulan answered exasperated.
"Why didn't you say so immediately? I'll be most happy to share our history with you," Dana said with an overly polite tone in her voice. "Approximately forty thousand years ago, our species, Homo Sapiens, evolved somewhere in Northern Africa or the Middle East . . ."
The Romulan suddenly smashed his fist on the small, unstable table, causing Dana to quickly put her feet down on the ground and sit up straight with all four legs of her chair on the ground in order not to fall over backward.
"Enough!" the Romulan barked. "I want to know about the history of your civilization starting with your industrial revolution!"
Dana leaned forward, folded her arms across each other, put them on the table and leaned on them. Then she started, conspiratorially, still grinning, "No problem, but you really should ask more specific questions."
There was no reason for Dana to withhold this information, with the effectiveness of the Tal Shiar already proven, she knew they would already know the history of Earth. Why they would bother asking her the question, she did not know, perhaps to check if she would lie or not. She also needed to stall for time. Once the Romulans started using torturing techniques, they would quickly find out about her immortality, so she decided to tell the whole tale, since the knowledge had no strategic importance anyway.
"The Industrial Revolution started in the early eighteen hundreds, approximately three hundred and thirty years ago. It all started with the steam engine, which allowed the first factories to be built in Great Britain. A few decades later factories were all across Europe and America doing all manner of things which were done by hand before that. At about this time, most monarchies, which were totalitarian governments in Europe, where transformed into Constitutional Democracies after American design. Civil rights in America slowly gained importance; in Europe, slavery had been disbanded for a long time. When the American government did the same, the southern American states, who used many slaves, did not accept it. In 1862 the American Civil War between the southern and northern states started. The Northern states won the war after three years, and slavery was outlawed.
"In 1903 the Wright Brothers flew a plane for the first time; however there is a debate as to whether they or a German was the actual first man to fly a plane. Around this time the first automobiles emerged as well. Diplomatic relations in Europe deteriorated steadily, which resulted in the start of the First World War in 1914 after the assassination of an important political figure. The war was between Germany and Austria/Hungary on one side and the Allies, consisting of France, England, Russia and later America, on the other.
"Russia was still ruled by a totalitarian Emperor, who made one mistake after another. With the political situation there deteriorating, Germany, smelling an opening, helped a previously banned revolutionary back into Russia. In 1917 the Russian Revolution was a fact. It went from one totalitarian system to the next, Communism. The philosophy that people would reach true freedom and equality by guaranteeing equality and in order to create equality the masses would have to first be suppressed by a small group of the enlightened few. Germany made the mistake by downing an American cargo vessel in the same year, after which the Americans joined the allies. Germany and Austria/Hungary lost the war in 1918.
"Subsequently the Germans were held responsible for the war and were made to pay a huge some of money over several decades of time to cover the cost of the damages done during the war. Time crept on and the forced payments made its toll on Germany. In 1929 the stock market crashed completely, plunging whole countries in chaos. In Germany, the effects were worse since they were already under stress from paying off their debt. This allowed Adolf Hitler and his NSDAP, a nationalistic fascist party, to come to power in Germany in 1933. After this he started rebuilding Germany for war, he flat out refused to pay the payments. Most notably the English did nothing against it. They thought they could appease Hitler with concessions, going so far as giving him entire countries.
"Hitler formed an alliance with Japan, Italy and Spain. In 1939, Hitler started the Second World War by first annexing Austria, and then Poland. In 1940, he attacked the Netherlands and then moved south to Belgium and finally France. After that he tried for Russia and England. In 1941, Japan attacked the American naval facility Pearl Harbor after which the Americans entered the war. In the course of the war, the Americans developed the first nuclear fission driven bombs. The Germans were defeated in may 1945. In September of 1945, the Americans dropped two nuclear bombs on Japan: one on Hiroshima and one on Nagasaki. The Japanese capitulated, which marked the end of the Second World War.
"In 1952, the first artificial satellite was launched into space by the Russians. In 1957 followed the first Human in space. The Americans having a political ideology opposite the Russians, freedom instead of oppression, couldn't stay behind and on the 9th of July, 1969, Neil Armstrong was the first Human, and American, to walk on the moon.
"All this was part of the cold war between the Russians and Americans that started after the Second World War. One of the other repercussions was a nuclear arms race that reached its pinnacle during the late 1970's and early 1980's at which time there were enough nuclear arms on Earth to wipe out our entire civilization. This was troublesome for the Americans and they decided to build the Strategic Defense Initiative, code named Star Wars. It was a defensive screen of laser firing satellites to shoot down Intercontinental Nuclear Missiles before the could reach American soil. The Russians didn't like this and they made a deal: the amount of nuclear arms would be reduced on both sides, and the Americans would not continue building the SDI. The Americans agreed since they had reached higher than they could succeed - they couldn't finish SDI anyway. In 1989, the Russian state, the Soviet Union, fell apart including its closest allies, and in those countries democratic states were set up.
"The middle-eastern Islamic countries slowly became more powerful. Several countries which had not been part of the Nuclear Arms agreements in the past developed their own nuclear strike capabilities. This was not something the Americans liked and in 2000 they decided to start a new SDI. By this time computer technology was advanced enough to build highly accurate guidance systems and they built anti-strike missiles that could be fired from the ground and would take out the weapons before the could land and detonate.
"This required a new innovation. Since the mid 1980's the Americans had build stealth aircraft - craft that were almost invisible to radar. The other countries with nuclear strike capabilities came up with a nice philosophy: you can't shoot from the sky what you can't see, and halfway the 2020's they developed stealth missiles in deep secret. Several diplomatic and politic problems followed, resulting in the pact Eastern Confederacy, or Econ for short. Russia, the mid-Eastern and the far Eastern countries made up this Confederacy. Diplomatic relations between the Confederacy and the Western countries deteriorated and in 2048 the Confederacy struck first. The first two nuclear bombs hit perfectly: the first on Washington DC, the American Capital, and the second directly on NORAD, instantly destroying this installation and the mountain in which it was build.
"Backup installations came on-line immediately and after three more nuclear detonations on American soil, people understood what was being fired at them: stealth missiles. Highly secret half finished sensors were used immediately to find the missiles and what was left of SDI kept many of the nuclear missiles from dropping on American and European soil. The Americans retaliated intelligently, luckily, by launching only some of their nuclear missiles, all directed and known nuclear launching facilities, detonating all that was left of the Eastern Confederacy's nuclear capability in one go.
"What followed after was a more conventional all out war. In December of 2053, the war ended. There were no winners. The Third World War ended because there was nothing left to destroy. The aftermath of this Nuclear holocaust was a nightmare world, filled with anarchy and chaos. Usually a few criminals seized power of cities, transforming them into small city states and becoming horrible powers of corruption and injustice.
"Europe, the region with the least amount of destruction - mostly because they had previously stated they would not use their nuclear capability on Earth, a statement they kept, earning America the most of the nuclear assault - was the place where democracy returned first. In 2057, the civilians there revolted against their oppressors, which sparked the same kind of actions in much of the rest of the world.
"Finally, the big change happened in 2063 when Zefram Cochrane breached the Warp Barrier for the first time. This act was witnessed by Vulcans - who seem to be closely related to you, by the way - and they considered Earth now ready for First Contact. The contact between Earth and Vulcan united Humans in a way previously thought impossible and over a period of thirty years, with a little help from Vulcans, Earth rebuild itself. Cities rose back up from the ground; even some monuments were rebuild, sometimes bigger and more lavish than before, adding more meaning to them than just the meaning they had before. They became symbols of peace and restoration. Radiation and more conventional pollution was cleaned up rapidly using the new technologies that became available, the ozone layer was rebuilt and we unitedly started exploring our solar system and beyond.
"In the first fifty years of the twenty-second century, genetic engineering revolutionized. Some people in China thought it was a good idea to improve Humanity by genetically engineering them with greater strength, speed and intellect, plus a higher tolerance for radiation and such. These improved Humans thought that their genes made them the rightful rulers of the world and started a war in 2153. They conquered much of Asia within a few months since none of it was ready for a war against fellow Humans; there hadn't been any in a hundred years. The rest of the world quickly mobilized though and six months after the genetically engineered supermen started these Eugenic Wars, they were defeated. One year later, in 2154, after a hundred and fifty years of slowly increasing transporter capability -- starting with just photons in 1997 -- the first Human being was transported. It's capability hardly anyone else possesses, not even the Vulcans. In 2156, you attacked us and now we're sitting here talking about it," Dana finished her speech. She had kept a close eye on the Romulans and the had all been getting agitated and angry, even the one who was sitting across from her, although he kept it reigned in tightly. The one standing behind him, the only other officer, had been increasing his pacing back and forth.
"Interesting. Aren't you betraying your people with these candid answers?" the Romulan asked.
"No. There is nothing that I have told you that you don't already know. You've already shown great intelligence capability, to the point of discovering that I know everything my commander knows and that we downplayed my security to make it seem that I do not. Finding out our history should be a snap to you, especially with your Vulcan heritage. The only thing you'd have to do is get one of you on Earth with a Vulcan passport, walk into a library and read through our history books. Everything I've told you, you can find in those books . . . and then some," Dana said, returning to her relaxed position with her feet on the table, grinning at them as she absentmindedly inspected her fingernails.
"What's the point anyway?" the Romulan pacing behind the sitting one said as the sitting one started studying her intently. "It's all lies she tells us. Lies." Suddenly the Romulan accusing her of lying sped across the room, pulled her out of her chair by her neck and smashed her against the far wall, and then sneered closely in her face. "Where is it? Tell us where it is, bitch."
"Where's what?" Dana croaked out as she felt her battered back bones mending themselves.
"Makar!" the previously sitting Romulan commanded. Makar jerked his head in his commanders direction. The commander continued in a lower warning tone in Romulan, "If you crush her neck, she won't be telling us anything, lies or otherwise."
Makar slowly released Scully and she took a few gulps of air before she managed to bring her breathing back under control. The Romulan commander walked up to her and said, "We know your lying; you attacked us in what you call 2086."
Scully actually laughed, then said, "That's a good one. In 2086 we hardly had warp drive, not to mention our planet was still being rebuild after being almost destroyed during the Third World War."
The Romulan stepped closer, angry, "Don't patronize me. Your Third World War didn't happen until 2101, and during that war you temporarily lost your warp capability. You didn't rebuild that capability until 2150 and then only marginally."
Dana laughed again and told him, "I guess I was wrong, the Tal Shiar is not even close to as good as I thought if you can't even get our history right."
Now it was time for the commander to lose his temper. He grabbed Scully by her shirt and pushed her up against the wall. "No more lies! Where is it? Or I'll bring you to Extraction now, three hours before it's scheduled."
"Where what is?" Dana spat vehemently at him. What she said next was full of sarcasm. "Are you talking about some super weapon, or something? Expect us to drop out of warp above Romulus one day, fire once, and blow up the entire planet?!"
"You know what I'm talking about. Now tell me the truth," the Romulan stated as he put her back down again. "Your version of history is false."
"Oh, yeah, right, sure. We just conveniently changed our entire history. Replaced every history book in every library, even the most remote ones on Earth. Did the same with every single history article on our computer network, no matter how buried it is. Found a way to get every single one of the six billion people that now populate the Earth to tell a false history and managed to find way that they never ever slip up, even the smallest children. On top of that, we found away to do exactly the same thing with all the history texts and people of seven of the eight species we've met. Vulcan, Andorian . . . all but you," Dana stated coldly and sarcastically, grinning a stupid smile.
The commander looked at her, thinking through everything she said, then turned around and walked toward Makar, then looked at him.
"Palek, what's going on?" Makar asked his commander in Romulan, not liking the look on his face.
"What she says makes sense," Palek stated pensively.
"Impossible," Makar stated. "All lies, all fabricated. You can't start believing her."
"If that were all lies, why would she come with the story about the libraries?" Palek stated. "If her history is false and the libraries do hold what we think is their history, than that statement is ridiculous. And if it holds her history, then she is right. They could never pull off such a massive operation; it's impossible."
"But we know they attacked. We examined the clues among the wreckage and the computers ourselves," Makar said hotly.
"True. But we didn't examine Earth's history. Could our superiors have given us a false history of Earth? Could she really not know of the attack? That it was done by the Terrans in utmost secrecy, and that she doesn't know about it?"
"We know the virus came from Earth. We need to extract the location of the storage facility from her. Telling us a false history of Earth would only impede us in our efforts to get that information," Makar answered.
Dana was listening in. Romulan was a bit like Vulcan, and she was one of the few people who had been studying Romulan language. There was not much she could pick up, but 'she makes sense', 'believe her', 'false history', 'superiors gave' were a few of the things she picked up. Finally 'virus' was the last she heard. Her head started spinning. It just couldn't be possible. Her thoughts blocked out everything else. *But it makes sense,* she thought, feelings of unease settling in the pit of her stomach. *Why the Romulans bothered to come all the way to us, all those light-years, all that trouble, while there are so many easier picking a lot closer to their home world. Why their version of our history is so different. If they managed to get away, a secret base, secret tests - warp drive. They saw their destruction, ascertained their chances were gone, decided to leave. 2086, sixty-six years of travel at warp one to Romulus and Remus, perhaps a little shorter if they had more speed, add a few years solving a few problems that found their way, and you come up with . . .*
"2014," Dana stated out loud, interrupting Palek and Makar in their animated discussion of possibilities.
"What?" Palek asked, his head turned to her.
"This virus you're talking about, was it an oily substance and when it infected someone it grew a biologically engineered exterminator in their bodies? This exterminator having this very same oily substance as its blood?!" Dana stated harshly.
"So you do know about it!" Palek shouted. "Where is it? Where do you keep it? We will destroy it!"
"Sit down," Dana said in a commanding tone. "For I'm going to tell you Earth's most carefully guarded secret. Only a handful of people know about it."
Palek sat back in his chair while Dana did the same.
"From 1948 to 2014, there raged a war on Earth, a secret war," Dana told Palek gravely. "An ancient power had returned. They managed to convince some of the people in power that they were the gods of all our myths, legends, and religions. They also managed to convince the people in our governments that they were billions of years old, that they seeded our planet, and that all resistance to the coming colonization would be futile. This colonization was really simple: our eradication and their return to Earth. They wanted to do this by a modification of the original virus, and spread it across the world by genetically engineered bees. The virus would be dormant until they sent a signal. They did not have the numbers to defeat us, so they used these gullible people against us. They would wait until half our population - by the time of colonization, three billion people - would be infected and then they would activate it. In combination with an aerial attack from their forces, we wouldn't stand a chance. We saw through their deception on time and defeated them. We thought we had wiped them all out . . . apparently we were wrong. Some of them must've escaped and reached you. There is no more of the virus on Earth. We destroyed it all." Dana examined Palek's and Marak's reactions carefully and then added, "My history of Earth - with the exception of the omission of what I just told you - is true."
"She's lying Palek, she wants us to believe her, so we'll lower our guard," Makar said, not believing her one instant.
Palek looked at her thoughtfully, mulling it all through.
"Tell me everything you know about the attack. It is imperative I know," Dana told Palek.
"All right," Palek said.
"You can't," Makar said.
"Makar, if she's lying, then I'm not telling her anything new," Palek said without looking up. Then he started his tale. "Contact was made with the attack force in 2086. Almost certainly they checked if they had superior abilities or not and then made several grand shows of their superiority. Just like with you, they managed to convince us that resistance was futile and that if we cooperated we'd be allowed to live. Our government started cooperating with them just like yours. Fifteen years after they arrived, we started the war. A war that raged for three years, all of it in space, except for the region of Romulus that was infected with the virus. We were forced to drop a nuclear bomb on it, then enter with bio-hazard suits and flame-throwers and rot anything out that could have survived. To the public it was an asteroid impact . . . None of them survived. The Tal Shiar was set up after our victory in order to ascertain their origins and to make sure they were no longer a threat, in addition to more conventional intelligence operations."
"Are you absolutely certain they are all dead?" Dana asked.
"Why would you ask that?" Palek said.
Dana took a deep breath. "Because they had a lot of genetically engineered creatures under their command - all of them biological robots that did their absolute bidding. One of those was a bounty hunter, a perfect assassin. It was capable of changing its shape, or so it seemed. It basically had a biological holographic generator on board, allowing it to refract light any way it chose. It could seem not to be there at all or look like anything it wanted, and it was capable of changing its voice any way it wanted, becoming anything or anyone it needed to be . . . I think one or more of those might still be here," Dana stated looking intently at Palek.
"Why would you think that?" Palek asked, as he motioned for Makar to be silent.
"You expected to defeat us easily, right? You've got a history of us that's completely wrong. You were expecting us to quickly stop building warp drive in our ships, and then you could steam right ahead to Earth and blow us all away. It wasn't like that, was it? You came to us and what you found was a civilization equaling your own, ships that were even more maneuverable than yours, resources extending far out from our solar system, alliances and supply lines from other species, of which one is - I just now found out - your own cousins from Vulcan. Don't you see? What better way to act out your revenge then have the two people who wiped you out destroy each other? They make you believe that we could attack again anytime with more of the virus so you won't stop fighting until we're destroyed, which forces us to do the same thing just to make sure we survive . . . Thus, we annihilate each other," Dana explained to Palek.
"You can't be believing her, Palek?" Makar said hotly.
"Be silent! Her tale is too strange not to be the truth, not to mention the fact that all of it finally makes sense. You know how many times our intelligence was faulty . . ." Palek told Makar, who seemed - after thinking a bit - to silently agree with Palek. Then Palek turned back to Dana. "So . . . how do we unmask this shapeshifter?"
"The Vulcans have powerful telepathic abilities. I'm right, in assuming that your race also has these abilities - and if not all of you, than at least a percentage . . ." Dana looked at Palek as he nodded, then she continued, "There are Humans who are born telepathic, some are born with telekinetic powers, others with the capability of seeing a possible future . . . I too am born with a sixth sense: I can sense EM fields. It is so sensitive that if I would concentrate I could feel your heart beating. Noticing the difference between two different species, especially one who emits a powerful EM field in order to look Romulan, is easy. I can lead you right to him," Dana told Palek with a murderous gleam in her eye.
"If you're wrong, or lying, then we'll be executed, and you'll be tortured to death even after you've answered the questions they will have asked you . . ." Palek stated coldly as he stood, ready for action.
"I'm not lying," Dana said as she stood up. "There is more you should know. The blood of these creatures reacts with air and forms a gas; it was deadly to us. I don't know if it is deadly to you, but you shouldn't take the chance and wear bio-hazard suits and definitely put me in one. Also, their wounds heal rapidly. The best way to kill one is by burning it down, or to cut his head of. They had made special weapons to kill these bastards - in case they revolted - that killed them without making the blood deadly, but I didn't bring one with me, if any of them even still exist."
"Understood."
*****
A few hours later
Office, Head of the Tal Shiar
The secretaries, all highly ranked operatives, and other employees, all equally ranked, had backed away as the order to do so came from the commander of a squadron clothed in bio-hazard suits as they came through the door. The squadron of nine, eight Romulans and one Human, went around the room.
"Anyone?" Palek asked. The people in the room seemed confused at the English question, no doubt most of them didn't even understand the word. They seemed even more confused at the canisters of fuel on the squadron's backs that was part of the small flame throwers they were carrying.
"No," Dana's answer sounded through the suit.
At that point the head of the Tal Shiar entered from his private office into the bigger room of his direct employees and bellowed in Romulan, "What is the meaning of this?"
"He, however, is one," Dana said, as she used the knife they gave her to slice open his neck. Light green blood appeared at the cut, then transformed to a green gas with a hissing sound. The people in the squadron, wearing bio-hazard suits, were the only ones close enough to be affected as they stepped between the director and the other people.
The cut closed in front of the Squadron's eyes. Then the director's appearance changed. He became several inches taller, his Romulan face changed to a more Human one, with a square jaw, evil eyes and a cold down turned mouth. He looked directly at Dana - who backed up to get outside the line of fire - and told her, "So you still remember us, do you? Well, you're too late. You'll keep fighting until you're both destroyed. There is no turning back now."
Dana, now outside the line of fire, told Palek, "Could you please shut this fucker up?"
"Drop him," came Palek's reply and eight flames raced towards the Bounty hunter, who in a matter of a minute turned to nothing but a burning pile of ashes. One Romulan in the squadron, pulled a fire extinguisher from his back and used it on the fire before it could spread.
The squadron removed the helmets and Palek ordered the stunned employees against the wall, "You've seen it. Find every single one of these things everywhere within our space and destroy them."
"Yes, sir," the people answered and they went back to their seats. Setting up the operation.
"I guess that makes me head of the Tal Shiar," Palek told Dana.
*****
Two days later
Merchant spaceport
"So we will allow you a few victories, state that we want peace talks and you'll back off," Palek stated once more to Dana.
"Yes, then the diplomats can do their thing," Dana answered.
"This merchant ship will bring you, after you've transferred to several other ships along the way, back to Earth," Palek explained. "I don't think you can return to your former post. They'll think you've been turned."
"I wasn't really planning on going back there. They've written me off as dead anyway. I'll just get my daughter, and then find a new identity, a new career . . . I was think along the lines of ambassador," Dana said, winking at him.
Palek grinned and said, "We've underestimated and misjudged you Humans; you have honor. Remember this, as long as I'm the head of Tal Shiar I will make sure there won't be war between us again. I won't be able to control the military and people in power completely, but I'll find away to keep them from starting an all-out war. But after that . . ."
"All bets are off," Dana finished for him when he didn't continue. Than started to walk up the ramp of the ship.
"I don't know exactly what that means, but I think you get the idea," Palek told her.
"Good bye, Palek," Dana said.
"Good bye, Colonel Dahmer. Don't take this the wrong way, but I hope we never meet again," Palek said as Dana reached the top of the ramp.
"Same here," she answered him, then disappeared in the ship. The man at the head of the ramp retracted that same ramp and closed the hatch.
~~X~~