Chapter 45

The Siege of Betazed


The Darnellian Foothills

Betazed

November 1, 2377

7pm

Dan Tanner and the Rangers that were with him laid down a trail of phaser fire to take out as many Jem'Hadar soldiers as they could,
allowing for the officials in the Betazed government, as well as many others as they could, head to the caverns that the Rangers had secretly prepared just in case the enemy struck before they were ready. Marcus Cole was with him as they retreated back to the caverns, triggering a massive landslide of boulders thanks to some carefully placed explosives from Captain Susan Ivanova.

"Looks like the President's instincts were correct. They attacked earlier than we thought they would, but at least we were ready for them.
I just wish we could have gotten the Whitestars here earlier.," said Ivanova

Tanner replied, "They'll be here soon. The Jem'Hadar haven't set up a jamming screen for communications yet, so I'm still in contact with the President."

"Where's the Hercules," asked Marcus.

"They're on their way, along with Yamato II and as many other ships that can be spared.," Tanner said as he noticed another Betazed race into the caverns.

"Mr. Tanner! They're massacring my people! Just taking people out in groups and shooting them down."

Tanner looked at Marcus and said, "We need to do something about this!"

Marcus looked at Ivanova and she nodded at him. "What do you have in mind?"

Around midnight, they made their way past a patrol of Jem'Hadar soldiers, taking them out with silenced PPGs and damaging any tracking systems they might have had. They made their way to the barracks, took out the guards, threw thermal grenades into them, and blew up several hundred Jem'Hadar straight to hell. All through the night, the threesome made their way to several barracks around the capital.

When they made their way back, they found several dead Jem'Hadar at the opening to the caverns. "Did we take any casualties," asked Tanner.

"No, sir. We managed to see them on their way in and got the rest deeper into the cavern. But we don't know how much more we can take of this. Supplies will start running low within the next few days, so we need something to happen soon."

All of a sudden, Dan Tanner felt the atmosphere begin to change, and he watched as several jump points began to form in the sky. Calmly, he turned and said to the others, "I do believe that the cavalry has arrived."

On board Whitestar 331, Garrison Hollifield led the attack on the ships that were on the ground. The Whitestars struck hard and fast, destroying each Jem'Hadar ship with brutal efficiency. They landed and began to dispatch Marines and Minbari warrior caste troops. The Jem'Hadar had went straight for the capital, and their troops were spread thin. Having known this, Hollifield and Tanner had come up with a plan to thin out their forces and take them out in one fell swoop.

"Sir, we're being hailed by the Hercules," said the Ranger stationed at the comm station.

The screen came down, and the visual of Captain Riker came up. "Mr. President, we've taken out the main ships and are mopping up the rest. It seems like this was easier than we thought."

"Yeah, and that's what worries me."

Riker looked puzzled and said, "What do you mean?"

"Why launch a full scale siege with so few troops, knowing we wouldn't need that many troops to clear them out?"

Riker was about to answer, when he got another hail. This one was from Admiral Marchand, and he patched it through to Hollifield so he could join in. "Captain, Mr. President. We've just gotten word. The Cardassian homeworld is under attack from rebellious forces loyal to the old Central Command, and it looks like some Jem'Hadar have joined them."

"Damn, I had a feeling about this. What do you need us to do, Admiral," said Hollifield.

"Right now, we need you to stay at Betazed to make sure the Jem'Hadar don't come back. We're sending the Wildstar and several other ships, including Klingons and Romulans, to try and stamp out the attack. We may arrive too late, though."

On board Drogal, Cardassian cruiser

November 3, 2377

11am

"Looks like the attack is well underway. Any news on the civilian government," asked Bester.

Gul Dukat was annoyed at the question, but didn't bite back like he normally would. He quickly found out that Bester had no compunction to turn someone's brain into jelly when they crossed him. "We'll find them, in time. In a way, it's better this way, because we can stamp out any resistance to our rule before the Federation can react. They're still busy with Betazed. It's a shame to sacrifice so many troops in vain, but they look to have taken the bait."

Bester tapped the table with his closed left fist. "Indeed. And we're almost ready to reintroduce Troi to her husband, too. I've still got a little work to do on her, but she'll be ready when the Tholian freighter arrives. Blaming this on the Tholians is a brilliant piece of work, Dukat."

Gul Dukat inclined his head and smiled. "I have no use for those people, so setting them up doesn't bother me in the least. I even have plans for those Breen, but those plans will have to wait until we have taken back my world. Which shouldn't take long."

Bester left the room with a nod and went back to the cell where Troi was. She was curled up in the corner, with bloodshot eyes and dampened hair. He dropped a fresh uniform down on the table and spoke to her. "Get showered and changed. You'll be meeting your husband again soon, and you'll be happy again. But before you do, we have to make sure certain people can't detect my handiwork."

He left the room and Deanna slowly got up from the floor. She went into the shower stall and washed up, then put on the uniform. When she was done, Bester came back into the room, but before he could do anything else, she was beamed out of the cell.

"No! Bester to bridge! They've just beamed out the prisoner!"

The ship was shaken by a blast from a beam from the Freedom, and shield power quickly drained. The ship was ordered to warp, and managed to escape before the Freedom could destroy it with her main weapon.

Captain Hudson headed down to the makeshift transporter room with the med team. "Doc, is she ok?"

"Not sure.," said Dr. Tomas Salo. "Her brainwaves are all over the place. I think she's been scanned recently by a powerful telepath."

"Get her to medlab, stat. I'll contact Starfleet and tell them the good news.," Hudson stated. She then walked back onto the bridge, and walked up to the person who had helped them find Troi.

"Good work, Ms. Alexander. Thank you for your help.," Hudson said to Lyta Alexander.

"No problem. When she's up to it, I want to check her to see if Bester has done anything to her. I'll be careful, though, because I can imagine that she wasn't exactly treated with kit gloves by Bester."

Hudson nodded and gave instructions to her crew, "Prepare to jump to Deep Space 9. Jump when we're ready."

The ship opened up a jump point and vanished into the vortex. Inside the ship, Deanna Troi was asleep, but the nightmares haunted her. She kept seeing Bester in her dreams, laughing at her. All she wanted to do was to get back in the arms of her husband and feel safe. But she worried that she was going to betray him, and that made the nightmares even worse.

She woke up and began to cry. The doctor came over and said in a soft, comforting voice, "Hey, hey, hey! It's alright! You're safe now!"

The tears flowed anyway.