A Gift of Fire (Part 2)
NEAR ANTARES SECTOR, STARDATE 51461.8
By all outward appearances, the craft was a compact freighter, unremarkable in design or size. If scanned by another vessel's sensors, it would appear registered as Vulcan, and a scan of the ship's warp trail would confirm it. But it was never intended to be scanned by any ship, for its cloaking device was active and running at full strength, and with any luck, its prey would never be able to get a good enough look at it to declare it a ship of any species.
The Civish was a Romulan scout ship, heavily modified to appear vaguely like a Vulcan freighter, though the resemblance was on the exterior only. Inside, the Civish was brimming with the latest in Tal Shiar intelligence equipment. Its crew of 27 was constantly monitoring subspace channels, warp lanes, and telemetry from the half-dozen micro-probes already launched ahead of the vessel. For nearly two weeks, the crew had been closely following the warp trail of the USS Prometheus, awaiting the right opportunity to strike. It was the most time-consuming aspect of their mission, but their hard work would soon pay off.
None of the crew was impatient. None were weary, feeling overworked, or anxious. These were Tal Shiar commandos of Division Four, hand-picked for this assignment by Director Vorick himself. The elite squadron was not known for second-guessing their mission or having doubts about its success. They knew they would succeed—after all, the motto of Division Four was "Succeed or Die."
Commander Rekar had inspected the team prior to their departure from Romulus. He had no reason to doubt their competence or their skill. They were among the best the Tal Shiar could send on such a mission, and had been training for this specific assignment for a long time. He had learnt that one of them was the son of a cousin of Praetor Neral himself, and he was struck by how familiar his second-in-command, Nevala, looked. She was a Subconsul from Peldrad, one of the lesser districts of Romulus, and he was sure she could not have gotten to her position without some inside connection.
Then, while looking through the records on the Civish, Rekar had figured it out. She was the daughter of Lorema, the Director of the Expeditionary Forces. Of course, he had thought. That is why Lorema was studying him closely in the Committee Room. She was seeing who would be in command of her daughter. Rekar assumed that, as the daughter of a top official, she was the political officer planted aboard each Romulan vessel to ensure loyalty to the Empire. Even a top-secret ship like the Civish, stocked with ultra-loyal party supporters, could not fall outside the range of suspicion. Rekar realized that since Nevala knew the crew well, having trained with them for months, it must be he whom she was supposed to spy on. He had been out of the organization for years, so who knew what he now believed?
It was now just a short time before the operation could commence. Rekar hadn't said anything to Nevala in the past two weeks, but he had wanted to desperately. While sitting in his command chair, supposedly reviewing a battle plan, he was staring at the woman, quietly at her place at the helm.
"Commander," Rekar heard from his left. He glanced over. Major Sorgle, one of the ship's crew, was standing rigidly and stone-faced at his side.
"Yes, Major?" Rekar asked, angry his train of thought had been interrupted.
"Our probes have picked up the warp trail of the Prometheus somewhere outside the Antares Sector. It appears they left Starbase 400 with a course toward Betazed."
"Betazed," Rekar repeated. The Federation had been expecting an attack there for months, and had been reinforcing the sector with ships and supplies. There were several probable destinations for the Prometheus: Betazed itself, to help with the reconnaissance of Jem'Hadar fleets; Imego, to reinforce the refugee processing camps there; or Tileyo, site of a Federation armory and a major resupply station for vessels. He assumed Tileyo would be the destination.
"Sir," Sorgle continued, "In two days they will be within range of a half-dozen Federation outposts, not to mention the entire Fifth Fleet. We must launch our operation before then."
"We shall do so soon within 24 hours," Rekar responded. He glanced back at Nevala, who had become alert after that declaration.
"Commander, might I suggest 36 hours, to—"
"Why, is the crew not ready?" Rekar asked the lieutenant.
"We are ready!" Sorgle quickly added, somewhat offended. "But in 36 hours, the vessel will be deep within the Argolis Cluster, out of communication with Starbase 400 or the Fifth Fleet."
Rekar chuckled. Maybe this was Nevala's doing. Perhaps she had secretly ordered Sorgle to challenge the commander, and make him appear weak.
"We will attack them within 24 hours, for the element of surprise. I do not want to postpone this any longer. We must capture that vessel immediately, ahead of schedule."
"Yes sir," Sorgle replied, turning back to his station. Ahead of him, at the helm, Nevala stood to face Rekar.
"Commander, if I may speak."
Rekar folded his hands and leaned back in his seat. "Subconsul Nevala, I trust you have no objections to my order."
"I wish to speak with you directly."
Perfect, thought Rekar. He would now be able to gague her true intentions, maybe even ask her about her place on the team directly. But not here, on the bridge, in front of the crew. Best to maintain order.
"Very well. In my quarters."
Rekar's room was located a short walk from the bridge. It was without luxury of any sort: there were no mementos of past battles, pictures of loved ones, or even an emblem of the Tal Shiar on any of the walls; the room was bare of personal objects of any kind. There was a simple bed, a small desk on which sat a communications pad and a notepad for official duties. There wasn't even a replicator, though that was standard on small Tal Shiar vessels: all food was stocked in storage, as a replicator could drain valuable power from the cloaking device.
Rekar and Nevala entered. The Commander sat in the sole chair and put his feet up on the table, a sign of disrespect to Nevala at best. Nevala simply stood.
"Subconsul, you can speak your mind first, but let it be known that I know why you're here."
"And why is that?"
"Your mother is Director Lorema."
Nevala did not flinch. "Of course."
"I should only have assumed the Director of the Expeditionary Forces would've put you in charge of the assault team. One can only guess what your other roles include." He didn't look at her, instead he fidgeted with a laser pen.
"My only mission is to lead the strike team, Commander."
How typical. She would deny it always.
"Perhaps your mission includes…assuaging someone's loyalty to the Empire."
Now Nevala appeared flustered. "Commander, I came here to talk with you about the operation's timetable. In order to ensure Starfleet does not learn about—"
"You are evading the question, Nevala!" Rekar threw the pen to ground and stood. "I do not appreciate having my allegiance questioned, and certainly not behind my back."
He walked over to the viewport and watched the stars zoom by. "I have given everything to the Tal Shiar and seen little reciprocation. Perhaps you know about the incident on the Klingon ship. Two thirds of my team was killed. They put me under review, but fortunately for me the Omarion disaster happened concurrently. The Committee threw me out when cleaning house to look good, instead of throwing me out because they suspected me of cowardice."
Nevala walked over to the commander, lowering her voice. "Perhaps the Tal Shiar wanted to make amends. Perhaps they wanted you to prove yourself, to show you were not a coward. They chose this mission because of your skill, and because you've done this before. What proof do you need that they do not think less of you?
Always "they" Rekar turned. Perhaps "they" wanted you. "They" chose you. Never "I." Rekar turned. He looked into Nevala's eyes, and saw some sympathy there. He knew she was a spy, but he had decided against confronting her. Perhaps showing was better than telling.
"I don't know about proof for me, Subconsul, but the Tal Shiar will assuredly get proof of my capabilities. I am going to take that ship, and deliver it to Koval himself, and we'll see if anyone questions my devotion to Romulus then."
"Yes, Commander."
"Now, about the operation. It will take place in 24 hours. If we wait too long, they will be too deep in the Argolis Cluster for our sensors to work properly and we could lose them. If we attack them soon, their communications will still be hampered by the proto-star distortions. And that, Nevala, is the final word."
"Yes Commander." Nevala gave a slight bow and walked out the doors of his quarters. Rekar was left to smile at a job well done—surely now she would report back to the Tal Shiar that he was a determined and steadfast patriot.
USS PROMETHEUS, ARGOLIS CLUSTER, STARDATE 51462
"Slowing to one half impulse, Captain," Lt. Dern said. She pressed a few buttons, and the streaks of light outside the window morphed into their stationary dots. The Prometheus returned to cruising speed from Warp 9.7, but only with the intent of navigating the Argolis Cluster. Giant white stars caused sensor distortions, and any ship traveling at high speeds directly through the cluster was risking disaster. Only a slow, steady flight could get them through.
"Nice and easy, Lieutenant," Faris advised. He didn't want to suffer the fate of the Betazoid transport he'd heard about a few months before torn apart by the gravitic anomalies of the proto-stars.
Neave turned in front of him. "The Prometheus is handling steady, sir. No signs of hull stress or warp field disruptions."
"Excellent. Looks like those regenerative shields and albative armor paid off."
It would be several hours of traversing the Cluster, making sure to sidestep all hazards. Once their journey through it was complete, it was just a light year or so before Tileyo and the boarding of the rest of the ship's crew.
CIVISH
"There it is!" Rekar pointed to the viewscreen. The Prometheus showed as only a small white dot, but the Civish was closing in on it rapidly.
"Five minutes until we are within range, Commander," Nevala reported.
"Put the commandos on alert. Be prepared to leave at a moment's notice."
"Sir," Sorgle said from behind Rekar, "Even with the distortions, the Prometheus could still send a message to a nearby—"
"Enough!" Rekar yelled. "We have arrived at our target. It's too late to back down now. We'll just have to make sure to disable their communications immediately."
Rekar stood from his seat and walked to the viewscreen, attempting a closer look at the dagger-shaped vessel as it grew larger and larger.
USS PROMETHEUS
All quiet on the bridge. For brief moment, Faris rested his eyes, listening to the hum of the bridge.
The ship decloaked out of nowhere. It was right off the port side of the ship, and the instant it shimmered into realspace it unloaded its disruptors onto the Prometheus. The Civish's weapons were not as powerful as the Prometheus', but the Romulan ship had both the knowledge of where to target and the element of surprise. Warning lights flickered on the bridge; sensor alarms blared. Faris held onto his armrest, all he could do from being thrown from his seat. Concussion after concussion rocked the vessel, everyone too shocked to say a word, until the firing stopped.
"Report!" Faris bellowed. "What the hell was that?"
"I don't know, sir!" shouted Darius Norjeb, tactical officer. "Our weapons are gone, sir!"
"Didn't the regenerative shields work?"
"They weren't at full capacity! We were supposed to strengthen them at Tileyo!"
"Goddamn it!"
At the conn, Dern frowned in puzzlement. "Sir, the ship is registered as Vulcan!"
"Vulcans?" First Officer Chigot scrolled through the sensor log at his own console. "That can't be right!"
"Sir!" Another call, from an Ensign behind Faris. The captain was becoming disoriented. "Someone's transporting into engineering!"
The commandos worked fast. With only thirty men against more than twice that number, the operation was going to be trying. Division Four's first goal was to seize Engineering and control of the ship. The first Romulans to beam in opened fire with their disruptors before any of the Starfleet crew even noticed. Five engineers were felled by the green beams in an instant. After the first volley, the remaining crew members dove for cover. A Tiburonian—Chief Engineer Chorax—ran for a console to lock down the warp core. He was killed by a green bolt in the back before he reached it.
A female engineer opened an armory and threw a phaser to a colleague before grabbing one herself. She attempted to fire on the invaders but was immediately cut down from the upper levels of engineering. Her colleague, a young Trill, fired off a volley of bolts and downed one Romulan. He made it all the way to the exit, firing the phaser around the room, but as soon as he reached the door he felt something cold and sharp pierce his abdomen. His last view was that of Nevala pulling a dagger from his own body.
The engineering room was clear. Nevala supervised her men as they sealed the doors began the task of rerouting all control to engineering. Soon, Rekar and the rest of the Tal Shiar commandos would beam over with a neurotoxin to incapacitate the crew and bring them to Romulus for interrogation.
"Engineering's breached, sir!" a security tech yelled. Faris wiped his forehead, and a layer of sweat came off.
"Are we safe here?
"I activated auxiliary shielding for the bridge, sir," Neave responded. "It should prevent them from beaming in here, at least until they shut it down."
Chigot opened up a cabinet and pulled out five phasers. He began tossing them around the bridge, to all the crew present. "In case they get up here," he said.
Faris caught his phaser and set it to KILL, hoping it wouldn't come to that.
"Can we engage the MVAM?" Faris asked Neave.
"Negative, Captain. Not if they're in Engineering!"
"Sir!" It was Ensign Norjeb. "One of our phaser banks just came online! It's weak, but it might do some damage."
"Capatin," Dern said, "If they're transporting people over, their shields must be down!"
Without hesitation, Faris knew what he had to order. "Aim at that vessel, now! Fire!"
"Fire!"
CIVISH
On the bridge of the Civish, Rekar monitored the assault. He didn't want to board with the remaining commandos or the neurotoxin until Engineering was secure. Somewhere to his left, a warning light beeped, and out the viewscreen he saw a flash of red light. The Civish rocked, and nearly catapulted the Commander from his chair.
"What was that?"
"They still have weapons!" Major Sorgle shouted.
"Then disable them!"
The Prometheus fired two more shots, striking both the Civish's nacelles, before a disruptor from the Romulan vessel destroyed the phaser bank.
"Sir, we've lost warp power!" a commando screamed. The hardened Tal Shiar warriors were beginning to show signs of panic.
"Breach in fifteen seconds!" another called.
Rekar stood and adjusted his uniform. It was imperative he remain calm in front of his crew.
"Beam the remaining crew to the Prometheus engine room."
The ship rocked, and Rekar remained upright the best he could. It was a repeat of the Klingon incident, but he had no time to reminicse. A warp breach alarm blared, counting down from ten. Rekar never heard it finish, as he and the others were suddenly transported from the dying Civish.
USS PROMETHEUS
The explosion battered the Prometheus. The Vulcan ship, or whatever it was, shattered in a brilliant orange ball of expanding gas and plasma. Debris struck the ship, rocking the vessel uncontrollably; Ensign Sorjeb collapsed to the floor, dazed.
"We got it!" Neave yelled.
Faris smiled. "Get a security team to engineering!"
The five remaining crewmen and Rekar shimmered onto the engineering deck. The other Romulans, not knowing who was beaming in, had their disruptors drawn, but soon lowered them when they saw their Commander was among them.
"The Civish is gone," Rekar stated matter-of-factly.
"And the neuro gas?" Nevala asked.
"Gone, too. We must fight our way to the bridge."
Rekar faced the assembled men. There were now more than two dozen Romulans crowded around the engineering, all either carrying disruptor rifles or long, thin daggers.
"Show no mercy!" he roared. "Take no prisoners! Succeed or Die!"
The commandos raised their disruptors or daggers and gave out a war cry. Rekar smiled. He hoped the Starfleet men were listening. Nevala leaned in and asked something about whether it would be wise to take some prisoners, but Rekar brushed her off. He wasn't going to leave anyone alive to threaten the operation. This mission, unlike the Klingon one, would be flawless.
Security Team One, consisting of five officers carrying state-of-the-art compression rifles, arrived outside Engineering minutes after Faris' order. They lined up outside the main entrance, hugging the walls. One member, Devin, crept toward the door, preparing to place a charge to blast it open. Tricorders could not penetrate the other side, apparently because of some jamming system.
Devin touched the door. Slowly, he attached the magnetic charge.
The door exploded as he stood by it. Hot shrapnel burst into the corridor and peppered the faces of the other four officers One got off a compression shot that missed; the returning disruptor bolts of the Romulans did not. A dozen green beams hit the sternums of the already-shocked men and they all fell to the ground, dead. Nothing remained of Devin.
A squad of Division Four commandos entered the corridor, followed closely by Nevala. Others were cramming into Jeffries Tubes and other access panels in search of a way to seize the ship. Rekar stayed behind in Engineering to monitor the assault from his safe spot.
"Has the security team checked in?" Faris asked. He was literally on the edge of his seat, straining for word.
"We lost contact a minute ago, sir," Dern said. Faris noticed her voice quiver.
"Can't we transport these attackers out of there?" Chigot asked.
"No, sir. Our site-to-site transport was damaged in engineering, and anyway, they're using some kind of signal scrambler. We couldn't get a lock."
"Communications?" Faris inquired. "Can we send a distress call?"
"That ship disabled our communications, too," Neave replied. "Plus, they're systematically locking us down from our own ship and rerouting control to Engineering."
Faris rested his chin on his hand. There must be a way.
Rekar heard the reports over his communicator: the shuttlebay was easily taken. There was some fighting near the computer core. A grin broke on his face.
Ensign Tony Sears braced himself inside Sickbay. He had come down a few minutes earlier to alleviate a simple stomach ache when all of the commotion happened. Someone on the communicator had said that Romulans were taking the ship deck by deck before being cut off. Now, it was simply Sears and Doctor Cowan holding out inside Sickbay.
He had a phaser in his hand and was ready to use it. Doctor Cowan gripped a hydrospanner which she had loaded with a powerful sedative, ready to knock out anyone who came through the door.
But they didn't come in through the door. A green light shimmered behind them. Sears and Cowan whirled to see two Romulans beam into the room, disruptors at the ready. They were quicker at the draw than the two humans. Cowan was killed immediately, her body crumpling to the floor. Sears fired off a shot and missed; he was struck in the cheek, neck, and chest as he tried backing into a closet. He was conscious enough to see the two Romulans search Sickbay for more people, then promptly exit the area. Sears fell into unconsciousness.
"Progress?" Rekar asked into the communicator.
"We have most of the ship. Engineering, the shuttlebay, the computer core. We can't use our portable transporters to the bridge; it's shielded. They must have a backup generator up there."
"I'm coming up." Major Sorgle shook his head, insisting against it. He was the Commander, after all, not to get in harm's way—
"When they take the bridge, I want to be there," Rekar snarled, and the major withdrew. He walked out of Engineering, a disruptor pistol holstered at his side.
"A probe!"
Faris, conferring with Chigot, turned to Neave. "What did you say?"
"They haven't locked down our ability to fire a probe. Maybe they thought that was connected to the torpedo launchers, but not on this ship. I can modify a probe to broadcast a distress call and send it into space."
"Do it!"
Nevala opened the door. Before her was the vast computer core, the multi-leveled cylinder containing the memory of the entire ship. It hummed and blinked, and Nevala could feel a slight warmth emanating from it. Sensor scans indicated a spike in power levels at the top level of the core, which was directly underneath the bridge. This indicated the possible location of the bridge shield generator. Shutting that down would remove the last obstacle to taking the entire vessel.
The Subconsul surveyed the scene. In front of her was the computer core; to her left and right were other corridors. Not an officer in sight. They probably evacuated earlier, in typical Starfleet fashion. Cowards. Always running when—
A bolt of red whizzed by her head and exploded against a bulkhead. A Starfleet officer remained, it seemed. Nevala stepped back into the corridor behind her. The commandos who had been trailing Nevala returned fire in the direction of the shots, in the passageway to the left. She could hear the footsteps of the Starfleet officer on the metallic surface, heading to a new area for cover. With a wave of her hand, she motioned her men forward. Showing no signs of fear, they did so, disruptors at the ready. They went left into the corridor and turned right at the T-shaped junction at the end. Nevala went left.
A burst conduit was venting steam into the passageway; the lights were dimmed. Perhaps some of the commandos had been here before and a firefight happened. Nevala slowly walked down the corridor, listening to the clang of the boots of her team. There was a whoosh of a phaser, then disruptor fire, then another phaser blast. She wondered what was happening. She pulled out her own disruptor, anticipating someone to come running down the corridor ahead of her.
A clang in the walls. Something was moving. It was then she noticed the Jeffries Tube. It opened, and a dark-skinned Starfleet officer crawled out, his back to Nevala. He was holding a phaser, aiming it in the tube, and had burns on his right arm. He fired one shot down the tube , then crawled out, obviously thinking he had eluded his pursuers.
"Halt." Nevala commanded. The officer did, startled. "Drop your weapon or I will kill you right here."
He did so. Hands raised, he turned to look the Romulan in the eyes. There was banging in the walls. Her Tal Shiar was coming for him through the Tube.
"If they open the door and see you, they will kill you. I will not. You must first tell me where I can turn off the bridge shields."
"I…don't…know…" he stuttered through the bursts of pain from his wounds.
"You know where it is," Nevala said. "Tell me. They will be here soon."
"I…it…the shield generator…"
"Yes? Tell me!"
A breath of air. The officer winced. "Section 2-A. Right…above...the core. Authorization…Charlie Beta….Two…Beta."
"Is that all?"
"Yes."
She shot him without another word. As he slumped to the ground, the Jeffries Tube opened, and his Romulan pursuers came into view.
"To Section 3-A," Nevala commanded. "Now."
Frantically, Lt. Neave typed in the instructions on his console. It was tough, but he had managed to bypass some of the locks the invaders had slapped on his controls. He couldn't believe he was locked away from his own ship! And it was the most advanced in the fleet, at that! A shadow passed over his console—it was Captain Faris, leaning in to observe.
"Whaddya got?" the captain asked.
"Not much. I've imprinted a short subspace message onto a Class VI Probe. The first to hear it should no doubt send help. I just hope the signal can break out of the Argolis Cluster."
"It had better," Faris said. "Or we're as good as dead. Do it, Lieutenant."
Just as Faris uttered those words, the lights flickered. The soothing female computer voice activated.
"Warning: Auxiliary Bridge Shielding at Fifty Percent."
"They're coming in!" Dern shouted.
Neave frantically typed on his console. The short message he put in was the ship's coordinates, then "Prometheus attacked. Send help immediately." No time for anything else. He sent the command into the computer to launch.
Outside, a flicker of light emanated from the Prometheus, and a sleek Class VI probe darted from the vessel into deep space.
"It's away!" Neave shouted. Everyone breathed a sigh of relief, the last of their lifetimes.
The lights shut off, and the computer voice calmly announced "Auxiliary Bridge Shielding Failed."
All those present grabbed their phasers.
Four Romulan operatives transported onto the bridge, each on opposite sides of the room. They immediately let loose with their disruptors. Norjeb was struck before he even got up from his seat at Tactical. His station exploded in a shower of sparks. Neave was able to at least raise and aim his phaser before two disruptor bolts met at his cranium and ended his life.
Chigot grabbed a Romulan, but was instantly struck in the stomach and head with the commando's rifle butt. He was executed as he lay injured on the ground. Dern ducked behind conn, getting off a phaser shot and hitting a Romulan square in the chest. She was finished off with a disruptor bolt to her back.
Faris, too, had gotten off a shot, but it had missed its target. The captain was struck by four disruptor bolts in his legs, then two in his chest. The Romulans had taken careful consideration to wound, but not kill, the man they knew as the captain.
A fifth Romulan transported onto the bridge. Rekar. He strolled over to the captain, on the floor and curled up from his agonizing burns.
"I'm here to take your vessel," Rekar quietly told the human on the floor.
Faris coughed and then looked up at his attacker. For the first time, he identified the assailants as Romulans.
"They'll find you, you bastard," Faris said through clenched teeth.
Rekar smiled. "I doubt it. But they certainly will never find you."
Rekar set his disruptor to Maximum, aimed it at Faris' head, and pulled the trigger. All that remained of the captain was a scorch mark on the carpet.
"Disintegrate the bodies," Rekar told his crewmen. "I don't want the stench of them overtaking our work." He plopped down into the captain's chair. Nevala arrived on the bridge, via the turbolift. She surveyed the damage through arched eyebrows. Rekar believed she was impressed.
"Take a seat, Nevala," the Commander told her. "Enjoy your new position as second-in-command on the IRW Prometheus."
Some hours later, Ensign Sears was jolted back into consciousness by the sound of a voice. He was in so much pain he couldn't clear make out what it was saying, but it didn't sound Romulan. The tone wasn't right. He winced at his burns, unable to make a sound.
Suddenly a hand cradled his head. He moaned. The figure went away, then came back and pressed something to his neck. His head lifted up. For a moment, everything became clear and Sears looked into the eyes of a balding human wearing one of the old-style medical uniforms.
"Try to lie still. You have severe phaser burns. What happened here?"
Sears coughed. "Romulans. They've taken over the ship…" Sears gurgled, the pain much too intense now. His head fell back to the floor and everything went dark.
In the sickbay of the USS Prometheus, the EMH Mark I watched the Ensign die with a pained look. He wondered, with the amount of fear his programming would allow, what he had walked into.
TO BE CONTINUED...