Chapter 8
"The refinery is operating with more efficiency than usual," the supervisor boasted as they surveyed the busy laborers below. "There hasn't been so much as a minor problem in four days. That's a record for the station."
"You've done great work at Terok Nor, Tabor," Damar praised. "The Intendant is sure to notice the aplomb with which you run this facility."
B'Elanna didn't say anything. She was too busy trying to restrain her outrage at the dismal working conditions she saw below them. Tabor, her Tabor, had grown up in such conditions and fought hard to free his people. How could he now conspire to treat the Terrans the same way?
He's not Tabor, B'Elanna. How many times was going to have to chastise herself for a similar thought?
"We're going to bring Tuvok in now," Damar explained, "and then the Sub-regent will make her selection."
There was a flash of red light and a brief low-pitched alarm, signaling that the main doors to the facility were about to open. The entrance door rolled aside, and two Klingons from the ship marched in with Tuvok between them. Gowron was close at their heels.
"Tuvok," Tabor pronounced, regarding him crisply. "I guess you couldn't stay away." He turned to face Damar. "If I have to take him, he'd better be on his best behavior. Pledge your allegiance to the Alliance."
Tuvok stroked his goatee and gave a throaty laugh. "I do not need you to remind me of my loyalties."
Tabor didn't like this answer. "I don't like you, Tuvok," Tabor growled, "and I don't trust you. You do your job, keep the Intendant happy, and you and I can work together. But you keep showing insolence, and you and I are going to take another trip to one of the reengineering clinics."
Tuvok laughed again, and Tabor struck him across the face.
B'Elanna was fed up. She nodded at Gowron, who got between the two men. "We made a deal with the Intendant, Tabor," he growled. "Leave him alone."
Tabor peered closely at B'Elanna, dissatisfied with the way she'd made him look subservient in front of Tuvok. Under his gaze B'Elanna was transported back to elementary school. She felt herself recoiling on instinct, wishing there was some way to hide her forehead and its noxious ridges.
"What exactly are you?" he wanted to know.
"She is the sub-regent," Damar intervened. "I suggest you show some respect."
One minute Harry was eating his soup, which was just water with salt, and the next there was the familiar sound of a shuttle humming overhead. It fired toward the guard stations first and then at the force field generators.
Harry kept his cool, mentally following the plan he'd scrambled to outline with the prisoners that morning. They quickly abandoned their lunches and ran toward the work carts. They loaded their arms with as many rocks as they could hold, as improvised weapons, and then dashed in the direction of the guards.
The shuttle hovered overhead, still firing its phasers and doing its best not to hit any prisoners. There was an electrostatic flash as the its phasers managed to break a hole in the force field surrounding the camp. Then the rear hatch slowly unfolded, even though the craft was still several meters off the ground.
"Let's go!" Harry yelled at the top of his lungs. The crowd of raggedy, weak prisoners ran as fast as they could toward the opening in the force field. Harry ran half-backwards, hurling rocks over his shoulder at the approaching Cardassians. He hit one on the arm, causing him to miss a shot at a woman running by.
He kept his pace toward the opening in the force field, even as he saw Harry One fall to the ground a few meters away, but seeing Chakotay standing still, transfixed by the image of the shuttle, made him stop. "Chakotay! Let's go!"
"There's only one," he said, more to himself than to Harry. "There was supposed to be an entire fleet."
"It doesn't matter now," Harry urged. "Let's get out of here!"
Chakotay didn't respond. Harry reluctantly moved toward him and spotted a Cardassian pointing his phaser rifle in their direction. "Look out!" Harry yelled, shoving Chakotay out of the line of fire. He got to his feet as the Cardassian fired a second shot, this time hitting Chakotay squarely.
He took off running as fast as he could.
As the phaser fire flew from all directions, the prisoners began scattering – most, toward the awaiting shuttle, but a few to launch a suicide attack on the Cardassians out of revenge for their captivity. As Harry sprinted for the shuttle, he noticed Annika was coming up on his left. Without thinking he took her hand and pulled her along. They were close to the shuttle when Annika tugged on his hand, forcing him to stop moving.
"Harry," she whispered.
"I know, I'm sorry," he said, "but we can mourn for him after we get in the shuttle. The Alliance is going to retake the camp any minute now."
"No, Harry, I just wanted to say –" Annika pulled him swiftly toward her, crushing his body against hers as her mouth descended on his. This time Harry's tongue was a little quicker to respond, and they kissed for a few seconds, but in the midst of the chaos swirling around them it felt like an eternity. "Your kissing's really improved," she teased with a smile.
Still a little stunned, it took Harry a moment to process what had happened. In that second he saw a phaser beam hit Annika in the back, and she fell forward into the dirt, her body limp and lifeless.
The shuttle gave a mighty whoosh sound as the anti-grav thrusters kicked in, and it began to rise again without closing the hatch. Harry ran the last few meters and dove forward into the shuttle, landing on the deck on his stomach.
As it began to take off, he turned around to see who remained. Tom was close by. "Hurry!" he encouraged, extending his hand out to help Tom in.
Tom heard the phaser fire behind him and turned around to look. The Cardassians were approaching rapidly, and in a moment the shuttle would be too high for Tom to get in. "Jump," he urged. "I'll help you in."
Tom looked back and forth between Harry and the guards, and then turned around sharply, raising his hands in surrender. "Don't shoot!" he called to the guards. "I'm sorry!"
That was all Harry heard before he triggered the hatch closed.
He's not here, B'Elanna thought unhappily as she surveyed the assembled workers at the Terok Nor ore processing facility. There were dozens of Terrans, a few Vulcans, and even a Bolian – but no Harry Kim. She looked with some unhappiness at Gowron.
"You have to take three," he encouraged quietly. "They're expecting it."
The only familiar faces were Tabor, the sadistic overseer, and Tuvok, the turncoat. Damar had given her pictures of several rebel leaders to look for, but she didn't see any of them – to both their chagrin. She spotted a frail man among the throngs of prisoners. "Him."
Gowron glared at her. "May I speak to you privately, Sub-regent?"
B'Elanna nodded gloomily, and they were escorted into a small private antechamber, where she knew Gowron was going to talk her out of rescuing the old man.
He wasted no time. "That man's fate is sealed. No one will believe you really want him for employment. You're going to have to pick someone else – someone stronger."
"How am I supposed to do this?" she demanded angrily. "You're asking me to choose who will get to live, knowing that the others are going to die?" She threw up her hands. "What kind of world is this?"
"It's one we're trying to change," Gowron reminded her softly. Though he was as headstrong as Damar, B'Elanna had noticed Gowron's methods tended to be less abrasive, as if he genuinely wanted to recruit her to their cause. She was beginning to appreciate his mentorship. "I suggest you play along if you don't want to end up like that prisoner. Do I have to remind you that you're half-Terran? Without a powerful army behind you, you'd be processing ore just like them. It is the law."
Not for the first time she'd begun this misbegotten odyssey, B'Elanna wanted to cry – or throw something. Instead she sighed with resignation, and Gowron escorted her back to the main facility. With little fanfare, they selected three random workers and then headed back to the ship.