Chapter 44

Springing the Trap


On board USS Hercules

October 29, 2377

8:30am

"So that's what she's been up to," said Riker, clearly shocked that the woman portraying his wife was planting certain devices on several power couplings throughout the ship.

Alwyn kept the image from his probes up for the three of them, grimly looking through the rest of the data to see if he missed anything. "I think that's all of them. Now you must keep her occupied while we take care of her little presents she left for us!"

Riker went to meet his wife in the lounge while Hollifield and Alwyn aided an engineering team to disable the devices. The first was found inside a Jeffries tube, right next to a main power coupling from the warp core. One of the engineers whistled at the thought of what it would do if it went off. He scanned the device with a tricorder and was surprised to find that it was attached with a simple magnet. He detached the device and handed it to Hollifield, who used his telepathy to scan the device. "It's Shadow tech, all right.," he said as he handed the device to Alwyn. Alwyn made his own scans and confirmed the diagnosis. They went through the ship methodically and found all four-dozen devices.

"Can you disable them, Alwyn," Hollifield asked of his friend as they made their way through the ship to another device.

"Yes. It's no problem at all, which is why this plan worries me. It's too simple. Why go through the trouble of such an intricate plan and use such crude devices to do your dirty work?"

Hollifield mused, "Could it be that she didn't want to attract too much attention? I mean, these devices aren't that big. They pack quite a punch, but they're not bigger than a pen."

Alwyn nodded and thought some more. "Perhaps this is a feint and her real move is somewhere else. She's been on the computer quite a lot since she got on board, and hasn't taken any appointments in her office. That's understandable due to what had happened to her, if this were the real her, but why spend so much time on the computer?"

Hollifield had a thought, and he turned to one of the engineers. "Hey, Romanowski! Head back to main engineering and have them check the central computer for any possible programs that might look like an old computer virus. Don't put the request out on your comm badge, and keep this to people you implicitly trust. If you find anything, page Bahn here and she'll tell you where we are located. Got it?"

Romanowski nodded and hurried away back to engineering, and the rest continued throughout the ship to disable the devices.

Later that morning, Riker made his way into Hollifield's quarters and saw the pile of the devices on the desk. "She brought on board this many of these things," he said.

"Yes. But we've come to the conclusion that this was a feint. These devices could have still done damage, mind you, but this isn't the brunt of his attack. Your chief engineer found that she had uploaded a complex computer virus into the central core from your quarters while you slept. It's designed to go off in three days time, according to him.," Garrison stated.

"My God! How complex is it?"

Alwyn nodded and said, "Very. It's clearly Shadow tech. Apparently they've adapted a device they've used to take over a ship for their purposes to react like a computer virus. It's very clever work indeed, which leads me to believe that the Ragendora are behind this somehow."

Riker sat down heavily in a chair, then said, "What do you want me to do?"

That evening, Riker and Troi went to dinner in the dining hall aboard the ship. Riker got the idea from his friend, Captain Stephen Ashcroft of the Wildstar, and it had proven to be a huge hit with the crew. Replicators could only do so much, and the benefits far outweighed the costs. It wasn't a fancy romantic dinner, just a regular meal of chicken Parmesan, spaghetti, Rinaldi spinach casserole, breadsticks, and synthwine. They had a typical conversation about the goings-on of the crew and about life in general.

As they made their way back to their quarters, Riker focused on his beautiful wife, trying to keep his mind as blank as possible. They entered their quarters and embraced. "So what do you want to do tonight," Troi asked of her husband.

"Oh, I'll think of something. I'll surprise you," he said, smilingly.

"With what," Troi laughed.

"With us.," Hollifield said, as he and Alwyn came out of the bathroom.

"YOU," yelled out Troi, who brought out a device and started to press the button on it, but her thumb trembled and couldn't press down on the activator. Riker stepped to the side, not wanting to get in between Hollifield and Troi as the EA President hit the impersonator with a fugue. Hollifield walked slowly towards her and he reached out and removed the device from her hand, throwing it to the side. Riker picked it up and called security with his comm badge.

The faux Troi squeaked out as she tried to deflect the deep, penetrating scan, "The Corps is father, the Corps is mother!"

Hollifield replied through clenched teeth, "The Corps is dead! Who sent you? Was it Bester? Answer me, or I'll break you!"

Troi began to do multiplication tables in her mind, trying to fight off the attack, but it was no use. She collapsed to the ground and Hollifield stood over her, using his telepathy to dig deeper into her mind. "You can't win, you bastard! You may have ended the Corps, but you haven't stopped us yet! You...you...TRAITOR!"

"What are their plans, Falkia? What are they up to," yelled out Hollifield.

Falkia laughed coldly and said, "Next stop: Betazed. As for your precious wife, Riker, she's still with Bester. You do anything to me,
and Bester will turn her into a vegetable!"

Hollifield then sent a strong suggestion into her mind to sleep and she soon was dozing away. Security didn't take any chances and beamed her into a cell. As she slept, the ship's doctor removed the cosmetic implants that made her look like Troi. The classic Greek features were there, but the result of the procedure showed a woman who looked similar to Troi, but not the exact duplicate.

When Falkia awoke, Riker and Hollifield interrogated her, but she held them at bay. She was irate that they had found the cyanide capsules she had in her uniform, because she wanted to deny them the ability to interrogate her. It was then that Riker did something that he clearly didn't want to do.

"Do whatever you have to do to get the information, Mr. President. Whatever happens, I'll cover it up for you!"

Hollifield nodded and waited until Riker left the room. He activated a acoustic dampening field, which helped to keep anyone outside from hearing the screams as Hollifield deep scanned Falkia. When he was done, Falkia still was herself, but she was a sweaty mess. Her vital signs were all over the place, and she had collapsed in a heap beside the bed.

Hollifield looked at her passed out body with no emotion whatsoever. He hated to do what he did, but he also knew that he had no choice.

On board Drogal, Cardassian cruiser

October 30, 2377

2am

Deanna Troi was crying in a heap on the floor, not caring anymore to try to put on a brave face. She'd had her mind violated before, but never like this. Never this brutally, and she found that she didn't know if she was her real self anymore. They had allowed Bester to work her over and implant thoughts, ideas, and images into her mind. She felt like she was being programmed, but for what purpose she did not know.

Bester came back into the room, and Deanna scurried away from him, frightened like an animal. Bester's smile was predatory, and he spoke softly to her. "They found my Falkia. Too bad. I really liked her. But that damn Hollifield just had to be on board. No matter, though. You, my dear Deanna, will be my real revenge"