Chapter Twenty

Surely not. Surely that thing, that creature, was no sentient being. Marina reached out at it with her mind. She touched its feelings quickly. This thing was capable of intelligent thought, of emotions.

Let us pass, Marina sent to it, keeping her thoughts stern and unwavering. Let us pass and we will not harm you.

I don't feel very inclined to let you pass. The creature looked at her with cold eyes.

We have weapons. If you do not let us pass, we will be forced to use them.

"Marina, what's going on?" Julian whispered.

"I don't think it understands oral speech," Marina explained quietly. "But I can speak to it mind-to-mind. It doesn't want to let us pass." She turned back to the creature. Are you not afraid of our weapons?

No. I'm not. It laid down on the ground, crossing its paws in front of itself. Then it began to lick its long, clawed paws. With every lick, the light from Marina and Julian's flashlights gleamed on its long fangs. I've spoken to one like you before, woman. And your kind does not frighten me. Neither do your weapons. It looked up and gave her what could only be described as a smile, which looked horribly grotesque on such a face. If you attack me, I will kill that male beside you first. If my sense of smell is as good as I think it is, then I am sure he is wounded, the weakest of your party at this time. Yes, I shall take him down first. It continued licking its paws. From what I have observed, I do believe you are quite attached to him. Perhaps you even desire him as a mate?

Marina blinked. You are very observant. But I don't understand why you won't let us pass.

It looked at her again, appearing almost bored with her. You seem to be a capable, intelligent being. Figure it out for yourself, why don't you? Its tail flicked impatiently.

You said that you'd spoken to someone like me before. You are on Gentanar's side, aren't you?

Close enough, little female. I'm not on his side, but I am working for him--for a price. My kind does no favors without getting something in return.

Marina rolled her eyes at the creature, hoping it noticed. How very noble. How very grand. You impress me. Certainly your kind is unique in the universe. She laced her thoughts heavily with sarcasm.

The creature stood up suddenly, making the Starfleet officers back up a step. It glared at Marina. Do not demean my race so lightly, girl. If what Gentanar tells me is correct, there is a legendary beast told of in your culture that highly resembles my kind.

Yes, the manticore. Marina stepped forward and held up her chin, determined not to let this beast intimidate her. But if your kind is the way they seem to be, I see nothing legendary in them. Serving a maniacal tyrant with plans to take over the worlds in return for a few favors doesn't sound very legendary to me, unless of course, you're talking about the petty minions who serve the evil tyrants in all the legends.

The creature hunched up its back and snarled at the young science officer.

"Marina…" Julian squeezed her shoulder.

"Shall I fire at it?" Worf asked.

"No, wait. It says it isn't afraid of our weapons," Marina cautioned.

"She's right," Dax agreed. "We've never encountered anything like this before. We don't even know if our phasers will work against it."

Marina turned back to the creature. Let us pass, or I will have to find out from experience whether or not our weapons work on your ignoble hide.

You have courage, I'll give you that. The manticore creature hissed, whether at itself or at her, Marina was not sure. I really don't think you should try to pass me. If you succeeded, Gentanar would kill you anyway, and my kind would lose a valuable gift. And if you didn't… It smiled. I'd be dragging your corpses to the nearest Fadroth den.

There are Fadroths on this planet?

Don't let that distract you. The beast shrugged its twisted, hunched shoulders. Gentanar brought many things to this wasteland when he came. That's not important to the problem at hand. What is important is that I am growing impatient with you. If you don't turn around and go back to where you came from, I will have to kill you--starting with your male friend there.

Marina swallowed, suddenly feeling very nervous. "Worf, I think you might need to get your weapons ready. It doesn't want to let us pass." She turned to Julian. "I think it's going to come after you first."

Julian tightened his grip on his phaser. "I'll be ready."

"Wait! Can't we just go back and find another way?" Miles spoke up. "I really don't want to see Julian get eaten by this manticore thing."

"I think now that it's spotted us, it probably won't let us out of its sight," Dax said quietly.

"So… we--we're going to have to fight it?" Harris asked nervously.

"I see no other way around the situation," Worf replied.

"It's not scared of our phasers, but maybe there is another way to fight it." Julian looked at Marina. "Do you think you could do to it what you did to those Dominion soldiers?"

"I don't know." Marina held his gaze, feeling very anxious. "It seems to have a stronger mind than those Cardassians and Jem'Hadar."

"But does it have a stronger mind than you?" he asked quietly.

Everyone was looking at her. "I… don't… know…" Marina bit her lip.

"We don't have time for this!" Miles exclaimed. "It looks like that thing is about to pounce!"

They all turned at the same time.

And indeed. The creature was leaping into the air.

(LINE)

Darien Fang woke up with a horrible headache. Then suddenly, he remembered the smoke billowing through the tunnels, the calling voices that had faded away, shadows in the smoke… Where am I?

The base leader sat up quickly. He looked around, taking in his surroundings, and groaned. He was still in the caves, seated on a slab of rock that seemed to have been carved as a stone bed. Not very comfortable or very practical.

"Prince? Rogers?" Fang called, hoping to find that his men were nearby. The only answer to his call was a mocking echo. Darien Fang, leader of the Catronis 6 colony, was alone in a cave--and he had no idea how he had gotten there.

(LINE)

Marina and Julian jumped back, and the creature missed, landing right in front of them.

Worf jumped in front of the others and fired his phaser twice, hitting the creature each time. The beast growled in rage, but seemed unaffected.

Everyone drew their phasers and fired. The phaser beams hit the strange animal, but it seemed to just absorb them. It stretched and smiled, its eyes catching Marina's mockingly. See, little human? I do not fear your weapons. Then it leaped over Worf to stand in front of Marina and Julian. It started pacing, keeping its eyes on the couple.

"What's it doing?" Miles exclaimed.

"I don't know!" Dax cried. "But our phasers don't seem to work on it!"

The creature stopped suddenly, right in front of Julian. You're mine, human. It crouched low, ready to pounce.

"Julian! Move!" Marina screamed.

"No! If I do, it will just follow me, or attack one of you!"

"Move!" Marina cried.

He shook his head.

Oh, God, please…

Praying to your God, girl?

Yes…

It won't work.

How would you know?

Not even a god can stand between a Vanfor and his prey.

Vanfor… his… So it was called a Vanfor and it was male.

Stand back from Julian, Vanfor, or I will be forced to fight you.

It laughed in her mind. What can you do?

You'd be surprised what a human female will do for the male she's chosen as her mate, Marina sent angrily. And don't underestimate my prayers.

You're brave, like I said before, but you're stupid. Too bad. Now you will pay for your stupidity by watching your friends die. It suddenly spun around, using its tail like a whip, lashing out at Julian with the stinger.

Julian ducked just in time. The stinger whooshed right over his head.

Marina ran to him and helped him to his feet, then she turned to the Vanfor, still holding Julian's hand. Now you will pay for your stupidity. She sent a burst of angry energy at the creature.

It reared back in surprise, tossing its head, obviously in pain. But then it turned to face Marina, planting its claws firmly in the ground.

"No," Marina said aloud. "You will not defeat me." She closed her eyes and reached out for the Vanfor's mind, intent on knocking the creature unconscious.

"Marina…" Julian squeezed her hand. "You can open your eyes now."

She opened them. The Vanfor was lying on its side, its eyes closed. "Did I kill it?" she asked quietly.

"No. I can see it breathing," Julian said.

"Well, what do we do with it?" Miles asked.

"Starfleet would love to study this thing," Dax said. "I don't think anything like it has ever been documented to exist."

"But we can't take it with us," Miles said. "It might wake up. And we can't just carry it around."

"There is always the option of killing it," Worf said.

"Yes, but… What a loss to science!" Dax exclaimed.

"I think maybe I can freeze its mind in a sleeping state," Marina said quietly, rubbing her arms, which had abruptly gone cold. "Uhm, I could try that, yeah."

"Are you all right?" Julian whispered.

"No." Marina turned to look at him. "Every time I do something like this, it drains me."

"Then maybe it would be too risky for you to try to put that creature in a coma," he said quietly.

"No. That seems to be our only option." She looked to Dax and Worf, the ranking officers. "Shall I try to freeze it in sleep? We could come back for it then."

The husband and wife looked at each other, then nodded.

Marina turned to the Vanfor's sleeping form.

(LINE)

"Did you just feel that, captain?" Kira asked as she, Sisko, Odo, Garak, and Quark helped the people of Catronis 6 repair a wall damaged by animals.

"Feel what?"

"I don't know…" Kira frowned. "I just felt something. It sort of… touched my mind."

"Lt. Richardson must be nearby," Odo spoke up. "As we all know well, she has mind powers."

"Yes. I think it was her." Kira looked through a window in the wall, out into the night. "I think she's very close now. And if she is, then the others must be."

"Most certainly Dr. Bashir is with her," Garak said.

"And hopefully Dax and the others," Quark added. "The more the merrier--and the more patrons for my bar."

(LINE)

Julian watched Marina carefully as they walked toward Catronis 6. Her eyes looked almost haunted. He frowned. Too much had been asked of her.

"What?" Marina looked up at him abruptly.

"I'm just worried about you, that's all," he said quietly. "You look so tired."

"I am." Marina sighed. Then she smiled. "But you lend me strength."

"Once again, you saved my life," Julian said. "I feel a bit like a burden to you. I mean, I should be the one taking care of you. And I'm--I'm not."

"Yes. You are," Marina answered vehemently. "Don't even think that you're not. You're always asking me if I'm all right. You're always giving me these inspiring speeches…" She smiled crookedly. "I still think it's a shame that I had to miss you being King Henry V, and saying 'We few, we happy few.'"

Julian laughed.

"We'll have to have some fun in the holo-suite once we get back," Miles spoke up from behind them. "What program do you want to try out next?"

"Actually, I'd like to try Julian's secret agent program," Marina said. "I've heard so much about it."

"Bashir, Julian Bashir," Julian said suavely.

Marina laughed this time.

"Look!" Julian exclaimed suddenly. "I think we've found the base!"

Up ahead, twinkling with lights, was Catronis 6.

"Finally," Marina whispered. "We're here."

(Author's Note: Fadroths will be explained later in the story. They're not from the existing Star Trek universe, 'cause I made them up, but I'm going to weave them into the story. Anyway, thanks to everyone for reviewing! Your comments, compliments, and kind criticisms have really helped me keep this story going. It's been a blast. And it's not over yet! (I'm going to cry when it is... sniff))