Chapter 71
Atrocities Against Ourselves
Muglan Detention Center
Cardassia Prime
February 6, 2278
There was a part of Riker that remembered his time spent in a Cardassian prison, and while it was short and he was treated relatively well, he still saw the brutal treatment of other prisoners, both Cardassian and alien. However, as he watched from his perch behind a rock in the Smolk foothills, he could tell that the labor camp was much like the ones he saw during his history classes. Hitler and his Nazi regime may have been long dead, but the idea of concentration camps had leapt from his homeworld to Cardassia Prime.
Most of the ones in the camp were either members of the civilian government not in favor with the military junta, artists and intellectuals who always seem to be persecuted in totalitarian regimes such as this, and those of religious sects deemed unpopular by the ruling classes. One of those sects, the Ginkrans, had a seven-pointed star that eerily reminded him of the Jewish Star of David, and he tried to quell those memories that came from his "brother" Will Riker.
Ro Laren may not have been human, but she knew all too well about the camps. She lived in one for years as a child, but managed to escape with some resistance fighters one night after her parents had been executed at the whim of the camp commandant and this had sparked a raid on the camp. They searched for her for days, but never could find her. She managed to get off world and head for a colony in neutral space. From there, she entered Starfleet Academy and graduated, to the surprise of many her classmates, in the top quarter of her class.
It didn't take long to realize she didn't fit in with the military life, and, while she tried to fit in, she was too headstrong to stay in Starfleet. Years ago, she was on a mission with Captain Picard against the Maquis when she betrayed him and joined the rebels. She hated to do it, but her hatred for the Cardassians and her discomfort with military life led her to defecting. While she liked Picard and the rest of the Enterprise-D crew, she couldn't stand the life anymore.
So when she met Thomas Riker, she fell for him instantly. She'd always had a crush on Will Riker, but she also knew that he still had a thing for Deanna Troi, so she never acted upon it. Yeah, there was the whole Lysian thing, where the whole crew had been brainwashed and she had been convinced that she was Will Riker's wife and he likewise. While she never held onto those memories, she did still get a kick out of the whole thing every so often. Strangely enough, it rekindled something in Will Riker to pursue Deanna again, and, after some deviations along the way, they eventually married.
She wanted to eventually marry Thomas, but their lives had always been on the edge, and they didn't have time to settle down. Thomas was like herself, in that she loved adventure. However, what she was seeing now made her feel something she never thought she would in her life: sympathy for the Cardassians.
Inside the camp, they marched out several prisoners out to the main campground and lined them against the wall. A line of Cardassian soldiers stood in front of them with phaser rifles, which they pointed at the prisoners. Several of them said something out loud before the rifle fire cut them down. Another batch of prisoners dragged them away to a mass grave, where, to the shock of both of them, they soldiers gunned the rest of the prisoners down.
"My God! How can they do this to their own people? I mean, I knew of Bajorans who sold their own people out to the Cardassians, but this makes that look...," Laren shook her head, "I don't know what to say about this."
Riker contacted the others who were monitoring the same camp from hidden duck blinds, then signaled to Laren to retreat to their secondary position, where they met the others.
When they were all together in the basement of an abandoned hunting lodge, Riker made a statement. "We need to get this out to the populace in general. Laren and I are heading back to our headquarters to find out a way to spread word of this across the planet."
"What do you have in mind," said one of the Cardassians who were part of the resistance.
"I can't make promises that it'll work, but, on another planet, they managed to overthrow a military junta by tapping into the communications net and discrediting the regime. I have something similar in mind, and the video images we've collected will go a long way towards this end.," replied Riker.
The next day, they hid the data crystals inside ornamental jewelry and made their way off of Cardassia Prime. They would switch to freighters and other ships, taking the long way around before getting to Orak Tor.
A week later, they were aboard a Narn freighter as they pulled into Orak Tor. Wildstar met them at the airlock and he escorted them to the conference room, where they showed him the footage. Nova Forrester left the room, as did a few others, because of the shock of the images, but Derek Wildstar sat there in silence, watching the atrocities, and Riker could see the rage building on his face.
When the images were finished, Wildstar released a deep breath, then turned to Riker and Laren. "We've got to do something about this, and, by God, we'll do something pretty damn soon," he said as he slammed a fist down onto the desk.
Ro Laren said, "Yes, sir," in response to that, and felt, for the first time, some hope that they could prevail after all.