CHAPTER 2: IN THE MIDDLE OF NOWHERE
"Where are we?" Najen asked.
"I am not sure," T'Lor replied. "It appears that we are in some sort of void. I can't get any readings of any stars, planets, or other ships. I cannot find an exit point either."
"So we're stuck here?" James asked quietly.
The entire cabin was silent. They all knew what that meant. The shuttle only had a limited amount of power-it wouldn't run forever. Sooner or later, something would fail: the replicator systems, the artificial gravity, and eventually life support. They would die of either starvation or suffocation once the oxygen ran out. Or perhaps they would die of extreme cold after the heating systems stopped working. Either way, death would be brutal.
"Oh." Najen murmured in a small voice, sinking into a chair. "In the name of the Prophets."
"Do not give up yet," T'Lor said, her voice taking on a commanding tone. "There was a way inside here. And, logically, if there is a way inside, there must be a way out."
"Well, be sure to tell us when you find it," the Romulan growled sarcastically. He got onto a bunk in the back of the cabin and crossed his hands behind his head, trying to keep up a false look of bravado. But Najen could tell that he was afraid.
So could K'Bhena. "Bah!" she said, disgusted. "You have given up already, you cowardly p'tak? Typical Romulan. Once the odds are against you, your people engage your little cloaking devices and sneak away like the targs you are."
K'Bhena stood up, raised her fist, and continued, "Klingons do not give up so easily. If there is a way out of this void, we shall find it. And if there is not, I do not plan to die whimpering like a child. I will not die without a fight."
Levek shot up and glared at K'Bhena. "Typical Klingon. Fighting an enemy that doesn't even exist. For all we know, this is a natural occurrence, caused by no one. You Klingons talk bravely but inside you are veruul."
K'Bhena took a three-bladed knife from her belt. "What did you call me?" She stepped toward the Romulan and held her knife out threateningly.
"You heard me," Levek replied coolly.
"Control yourselves," T'Lor said calmly.
K'Bhena ignored the Vulcan and shot at Levek some sort of Klingon insult, "Your father was a targ [the Klingon version of a dog] so stupid that he chewed off three of his own legs and still had one in the trap."
"Yes, and your mother fights like a Human."
"How dare you!" K'Bhena roared. Then she retorted with what Najen later learned was one of the worst Klingon insults of all time:
"Your mother had a smooth forehead."
Najen personally didn't understand it. Neither, for that matter, did Levek, but he took offense all the same.
Levek lunged at K'Bhena, his fist raised, only to be caught at the shoulder by James. But Levek, having been raised on a planet with twice the gravity of Earth, succeeded in throwing the weaker human out of the way and against a bulkhead.
T'Lor immediately stepped in between the two fighters, looking as aloof and unemotional as ever. "If you do not stop this nonsense I shall have to stun the both of you. Now stop your petty emotional displays and let me attempt to find a way out of here."
The two shot T'Lor looks that could vaporize anyone but a Vulcan and retreated to opposite ends of the room.
T'Lor sat down at her console once again. Her eyes quickly scanned the data screens, and she raised an eyebrow in response.
"Ah," the Vulcan murmured. "It appears that there is another ship here."
Everyone in the shuttle jumped to their feet and rushed to where T'Lor was sitting.
"It is a small craft of an unfamiliar design," T'Lor continued, oblivious to the commotion behind her. "I am reading one life sign.a Human."
"Hail the ship," James ordered, his arrogant demeanor returning now that there was some measure of hope.
"I am hailing now," T'Lor replied, pressing the communications controls. "Unidentified vessel: this is the Federation shuttlecraft Ticonderoga. Please respond."
There was no response. Then T'Lor saw why.
"The ship is clearly damaged," she explained. "It looks as if it has been in a battle recently. Perhaps the communications technology aboard that vessel is damaged as well."
"Beam the Human aboard, then," James replied.
"Are you sure?" T'Lor asked. "That may not be the best course of action."
"Just do it!" James shouted.
Najen mildly watched this exchange from her seat. Levek, the Romulan, thought that the argument was funny and watched it with a grin on his face. K'Bhena was alert and scrutinizing every word the two cadets said. Neither Levek or K'Bhena would hesitate to add their own opinions if necessary.
Not so with Najen. Najen was shy, rarely speaking up if she did not have to. After all, it wasn't as if she ever had any good ideas to add. She wasn't good at thinking under pressure, or so she told herself.
"That is not wise," K'Bhena interrupted. "The pilot may be armed and hostile."
"We'll trust you to protect us then," Levek quipped. "Surely a big, strong Klingon brute like yourself can handle one weakling Human."
"Hey!" James shot back, unable to think of a good comeback, but wearing an "I could take you any day" expression on his face.
K'Bhena was also offended, but she did what she had gotten very practiced at doing since coming aboard-ignoring the Romulan.
Then James grew tired of the arguing and walked toward the nearest console, engaging the transporter himself.
"That is not a logical course of action," T'Lor warned, but James didn't listen. A moment later he had beamed aboard the Human.
Where was he? Akiran wondered, looking around at his strange new surroundings. He could see five people surrounding him. One was Human.and the rest were aliens of species that he had never seen before.
Two of them had pointed ears and strangely slanted eyebrows. One had a bunch of.ridges.on her forehead. And the last one had a ridged nose and wore a large silver earring on her right ear.
Akiran backed up in fear. Clearly they were Rebels.but he had never seen people like them before! Akiran grabbed his blaster and prepared to confront them.
"It shall take a moment longer," T'Lor said calmly. "The Universal Translator needs to finish analyzing his language."
Najen sighed. Universal Translators could be finicky sometimes. Strange, Najen mused. Most Humans (and many aliens) spoke Federation English, but it was clear that this boy didn't.
The Human boy wore a gray flight suit with some sort of insignia on the left shoulder. He looked afraid, but determined.
Then, out of the corner of her eye, Najen saw the unmistakable shape of a weapon, pointed right at her head.
The Universal Translator finally had the grace to work:
"Freeze, you Rebel scum," the boy said, his voice shaking with uncertainty. It was clear that he wasn't very practiced at taking hostages. But, experienced or not, he still had a weapon pointed at Najen's head.
T'Lor calmly took the tiniest step forward. "We are the crew of the Federation shuttlecraft Ticonderoga. We mean you no harm. Please release our crewmate."
The boy didn't seem to understand. "You are Rebel spies-and I am putting you under arrest."
Levek laughed. James glared at him, afraid that the Romulan would push the boy over the edge and sign Najen's death warrant. Levek did not bother to look at James, looking right behind the armed Human instead. James finally got the picture and looked to see what Levek found so interesting.
It was K'Bhena. She stood unseen right behind the Human-with a phaser in her hand.
The last thing the Human must have heard was T'Lor's voice say, almost smugly, "I told you beaming him on board was a bad idea."
A minute later the Human was on the floor.
And a minute after that the Human woke up.
Fortunately he was unarmed and behind a Level-One forcefield by then.
"So," James began, trying to sound like a practiced interrogator. "Are you going to tell us who you are and what you're doing here?"
"I will tell you nothing, Rebels," the boy replied haughtily, trying to keep his hands from shaking.
Levek laughed again. "Oh, you'll tell us everything we need to know," he said, his voice confident and threatening at the same time.
The Romulan stepped forward, his hands clasped behind his back. He was clearly doing a better job at playing the interrogator than James.
"Let's start with something easy," Levek began. "What type of ship do you have out there?"
The Human, obviously afraid, still had the courage to blurt out, "Find out yourself!"
The Romulan was unperturbed. "We intend to do just that." He stepped over to the forcefield, getting so close that he was almost touching it.
"Have you ever heard of a Vulcan mind-meld?" Levek continued, his voice dangerously low. He waved a hand toward T'Lor. "It is a procedure for gaining information from, shall we say.unwilling persons. And we happen to have a Vulcan on board. How lucky for us.and unfortunate for you, it seems."
"Un-unfortunate?" the Human stammered, backing away.
"Certainly," Levek replied calmly. "You see, the procedure can be.quite painful, actually. Especially for Humans."
Levek whirled around and began to walk toward the door. "We'll give you some time to think about it," he said as the door closed behind him.
The other cadets followed him into the cockpit. Almost immediately T'Lor announced:
"Vulcans do not mind-meld with someone unless they have that person's permission. You should not expect me to be any different."
"Yes, but he doesn't know that," Levek replied smoothly.
"Look," James began. "I don't know what they do on Romulan ships, but Starfleet cadets don't torture their prisoners."
Levek was unperturbed by James's comment. "Sometimes," he explained with the tone of a bored professor, "the threat of torture is as effective as torture itself."
Najen shuddered in spite of herself. This Romulan was giving her the creeps.
"We just need to find the proper motivation," Levek continued.
"Oh, I have proper motivation," the Klingon girl grumbled, heading toward the back room to confront the prisoner. The others followed.
"You p'tak," K'Bhena began. "Answer every question I ask you or I shall cut out your heart and put it on display in the Qo'Nos [Klingon homeworld] Museum of Alien Anatomy!"
The Human became very cooperative.
"Where are we?" Najen asked.
"I am not sure," T'Lor replied. "It appears that we are in some sort of void. I can't get any readings of any stars, planets, or other ships. I cannot find an exit point either."
"So we're stuck here?" James asked quietly.
The entire cabin was silent. They all knew what that meant. The shuttle only had a limited amount of power-it wouldn't run forever. Sooner or later, something would fail: the replicator systems, the artificial gravity, and eventually life support. They would die of either starvation or suffocation once the oxygen ran out. Or perhaps they would die of extreme cold after the heating systems stopped working. Either way, death would be brutal.
"Oh." Najen murmured in a small voice, sinking into a chair. "In the name of the Prophets."
"Do not give up yet," T'Lor said, her voice taking on a commanding tone. "There was a way inside here. And, logically, if there is a way inside, there must be a way out."
"Well, be sure to tell us when you find it," the Romulan growled sarcastically. He got onto a bunk in the back of the cabin and crossed his hands behind his head, trying to keep up a false look of bravado. But Najen could tell that he was afraid.
So could K'Bhena. "Bah!" she said, disgusted. "You have given up already, you cowardly p'tak? Typical Romulan. Once the odds are against you, your people engage your little cloaking devices and sneak away like the targs you are."
K'Bhena stood up, raised her fist, and continued, "Klingons do not give up so easily. If there is a way out of this void, we shall find it. And if there is not, I do not plan to die whimpering like a child. I will not die without a fight."
Levek shot up and glared at K'Bhena. "Typical Klingon. Fighting an enemy that doesn't even exist. For all we know, this is a natural occurrence, caused by no one. You Klingons talk bravely but inside you are veruul."
K'Bhena took a three-bladed knife from her belt. "What did you call me?" She stepped toward the Romulan and held her knife out threateningly.
"You heard me," Levek replied coolly.
"Control yourselves," T'Lor said calmly.
K'Bhena ignored the Vulcan and shot at Levek some sort of Klingon insult, "Your father was a targ [the Klingon version of a dog] so stupid that he chewed off three of his own legs and still had one in the trap."
"Yes, and your mother fights like a Human."
"How dare you!" K'Bhena roared. Then she retorted with what Najen later learned was one of the worst Klingon insults of all time:
"Your mother had a smooth forehead."
Najen personally didn't understand it. Neither, for that matter, did Levek, but he took offense all the same.
Levek lunged at K'Bhena, his fist raised, only to be caught at the shoulder by James. But Levek, having been raised on a planet with twice the gravity of Earth, succeeded in throwing the weaker human out of the way and against a bulkhead.
T'Lor immediately stepped in between the two fighters, looking as aloof and unemotional as ever. "If you do not stop this nonsense I shall have to stun the both of you. Now stop your petty emotional displays and let me attempt to find a way out of here."
The two shot T'Lor looks that could vaporize anyone but a Vulcan and retreated to opposite ends of the room.
T'Lor sat down at her console once again. Her eyes quickly scanned the data screens, and she raised an eyebrow in response.
"Ah," the Vulcan murmured. "It appears that there is another ship here."
Everyone in the shuttle jumped to their feet and rushed to where T'Lor was sitting.
"It is a small craft of an unfamiliar design," T'Lor continued, oblivious to the commotion behind her. "I am reading one life sign.a Human."
"Hail the ship," James ordered, his arrogant demeanor returning now that there was some measure of hope.
"I am hailing now," T'Lor replied, pressing the communications controls. "Unidentified vessel: this is the Federation shuttlecraft Ticonderoga. Please respond."
There was no response. Then T'Lor saw why.
"The ship is clearly damaged," she explained. "It looks as if it has been in a battle recently. Perhaps the communications technology aboard that vessel is damaged as well."
"Beam the Human aboard, then," James replied.
"Are you sure?" T'Lor asked. "That may not be the best course of action."
"Just do it!" James shouted.
Najen mildly watched this exchange from her seat. Levek, the Romulan, thought that the argument was funny and watched it with a grin on his face. K'Bhena was alert and scrutinizing every word the two cadets said. Neither Levek or K'Bhena would hesitate to add their own opinions if necessary.
Not so with Najen. Najen was shy, rarely speaking up if she did not have to. After all, it wasn't as if she ever had any good ideas to add. She wasn't good at thinking under pressure, or so she told herself.
"That is not wise," K'Bhena interrupted. "The pilot may be armed and hostile."
"We'll trust you to protect us then," Levek quipped. "Surely a big, strong Klingon brute like yourself can handle one weakling Human."
"Hey!" James shot back, unable to think of a good comeback, but wearing an "I could take you any day" expression on his face.
K'Bhena was also offended, but she did what she had gotten very practiced at doing since coming aboard-ignoring the Romulan.
Then James grew tired of the arguing and walked toward the nearest console, engaging the transporter himself.
"That is not a logical course of action," T'Lor warned, but James didn't listen. A moment later he had beamed aboard the Human.
Where was he? Akiran wondered, looking around at his strange new surroundings. He could see five people surrounding him. One was Human.and the rest were aliens of species that he had never seen before.
Two of them had pointed ears and strangely slanted eyebrows. One had a bunch of.ridges.on her forehead. And the last one had a ridged nose and wore a large silver earring on her right ear.
Akiran backed up in fear. Clearly they were Rebels.but he had never seen people like them before! Akiran grabbed his blaster and prepared to confront them.
"It shall take a moment longer," T'Lor said calmly. "The Universal Translator needs to finish analyzing his language."
Najen sighed. Universal Translators could be finicky sometimes. Strange, Najen mused. Most Humans (and many aliens) spoke Federation English, but it was clear that this boy didn't.
The Human boy wore a gray flight suit with some sort of insignia on the left shoulder. He looked afraid, but determined.
Then, out of the corner of her eye, Najen saw the unmistakable shape of a weapon, pointed right at her head.
The Universal Translator finally had the grace to work:
"Freeze, you Rebel scum," the boy said, his voice shaking with uncertainty. It was clear that he wasn't very practiced at taking hostages. But, experienced or not, he still had a weapon pointed at Najen's head.
T'Lor calmly took the tiniest step forward. "We are the crew of the Federation shuttlecraft Ticonderoga. We mean you no harm. Please release our crewmate."
The boy didn't seem to understand. "You are Rebel spies-and I am putting you under arrest."
Levek laughed. James glared at him, afraid that the Romulan would push the boy over the edge and sign Najen's death warrant. Levek did not bother to look at James, looking right behind the armed Human instead. James finally got the picture and looked to see what Levek found so interesting.
It was K'Bhena. She stood unseen right behind the Human-with a phaser in her hand.
The last thing the Human must have heard was T'Lor's voice say, almost smugly, "I told you beaming him on board was a bad idea."
A minute later the Human was on the floor.
And a minute after that the Human woke up.
Fortunately he was unarmed and behind a Level-One forcefield by then.
"So," James began, trying to sound like a practiced interrogator. "Are you going to tell us who you are and what you're doing here?"
"I will tell you nothing, Rebels," the boy replied haughtily, trying to keep his hands from shaking.
Levek laughed again. "Oh, you'll tell us everything we need to know," he said, his voice confident and threatening at the same time.
The Romulan stepped forward, his hands clasped behind his back. He was clearly doing a better job at playing the interrogator than James.
"Let's start with something easy," Levek began. "What type of ship do you have out there?"
The Human, obviously afraid, still had the courage to blurt out, "Find out yourself!"
The Romulan was unperturbed. "We intend to do just that." He stepped over to the forcefield, getting so close that he was almost touching it.
"Have you ever heard of a Vulcan mind-meld?" Levek continued, his voice dangerously low. He waved a hand toward T'Lor. "It is a procedure for gaining information from, shall we say.unwilling persons. And we happen to have a Vulcan on board. How lucky for us.and unfortunate for you, it seems."
"Un-unfortunate?" the Human stammered, backing away.
"Certainly," Levek replied calmly. "You see, the procedure can be.quite painful, actually. Especially for Humans."
Levek whirled around and began to walk toward the door. "We'll give you some time to think about it," he said as the door closed behind him.
The other cadets followed him into the cockpit. Almost immediately T'Lor announced:
"Vulcans do not mind-meld with someone unless they have that person's permission. You should not expect me to be any different."
"Yes, but he doesn't know that," Levek replied smoothly.
"Look," James began. "I don't know what they do on Romulan ships, but Starfleet cadets don't torture their prisoners."
Levek was unperturbed by James's comment. "Sometimes," he explained with the tone of a bored professor, "the threat of torture is as effective as torture itself."
Najen shuddered in spite of herself. This Romulan was giving her the creeps.
"We just need to find the proper motivation," Levek continued.
"Oh, I have proper motivation," the Klingon girl grumbled, heading toward the back room to confront the prisoner. The others followed.
"You p'tak," K'Bhena began. "Answer every question I ask you or I shall cut out your heart and put it on display in the Qo'Nos [Klingon homeworld] Museum of Alien Anatomy!"
The Human became very cooperative.