Chapter 15

The air on the bridge was tense: B'Elanna had a disruptor pointed at Kathryn, Chakotay's was trained on B'Elanna, Seska's on Chakotay, and Damar's on Seska. Seska's guards were, for the moment, not aiming at anyone, and the rest of the bridge crew were on their feet, afraid to move, uncertain who had the fastest trigger finger.

"Seska, what's going on?" Damar demanded.

"She must have found out we're with the Obsidian Order," one of the Cardassians said in a panic.

"Obsidian Order!" another cried. "You traitors!"

"Shut up, all of you!" Kathryn ordered.

"I found out, all right," Seska said, her eyes not wavering from her weapon on Chakotay. "I found out there's a lot more to Damar than he's been telling anyone."

"Damar, what is this?" Gowron hissed.

The door to the bridge rolled open noisily, but no one gave in to the impulse to turn toward it. Out of the corner of her eye B'Elanna saw Harry take a few hesitant steps forward. "He's been lying to you, Gowron," Harry announced. "He's been lying to all of you."

In a flash Chakotay had retrained his weapon on Harry, but Seska's guards all swiftly drew their weapons toward him.

"Where am I?" Tom demanded as he looked around the dingy craft onto which he had rematerialized.

"That's a fine thank you," Reg said. "I'm Reginald Barclay, the Chief General of the Army of the New Terran Empire. You have me to thank you for your rescue."

"I have no idea what you just said," Tom said, hurrying toward him, "but you've got to get me back onto that ship. B'Elanna might be in trouble."

Reg buffed a fingernail on the sleeve of his shirt. "She's probably already dead, if I know Kathryn. And Chakotay will take over the ship – after he kills Harry, of course."

"What are you talking about?" Tom demanded. Before he knew what he was doing, he was gripping the collar of Reg's shirt, shaking him. "Get me back to that ship."

"Whose side are you on, anyway? I would have thought you'd be a little more grateful to be rescued from the Alliance."

"They're not the Alliance!" Tom shouted into Reg's face. "They're the Obsidian Order, and they're trying to bring the Alliance down! They're the good guys!"

Reg's eyes widened slightly. "You have to be mistaken. Why would Chakotay have us attack an Obsidian Order ship?"

"Why did you attack at all?" Tom asked. He let go of Reg's collar and took a step back to give them both some breathing room. "How many of you are there, anyway?"

"Seven."

"And you thought you could take that whole ship?" Reg looked down. "I've been living there for a few days now. I'm not even allowed to go to the bathroom without three people knowing about it. There's no way seven of you could take that ship. Can you communicate with them?" Reg nodded. "You have to call them off. Who's your leader?"

When Reg hesitated for a nanosecond, Tom grabbed his shirt again and gave him a violent shake. "What was your mission?"

"Chakotay ordered us to assassinate the sub-regent," Reg choked out.

"Call Chakotay and tell him to stop!" Tom screamed wildly. "Now!"

"Who are you?" Reg managed to gasp as the fabric of his shirt cinched around his neck.

"Somebody who's changed a lot in the last few days."

With Chakotay's weapon no longer pointed at her, B'Elanna took the opportunity to look around the standstill bridge. Everyone was waiting to make a move, perhaps waiting to find out if what Harry said would cause them to change sides. "Go on, Harry," she urged.

"Tom and I managed to access Damar's personal database," he explained. "The Obsidian Order knows of a way to get us back to our reality. It's called a multidimensional transporter. It's something they learned about from the Terran Rebellion."

"I told you I would give you the technology once we defeated Martok," Damar reminded B'Elanna.

Gowron chanced to take a few heavy steps toward him. "But you never told me anything about a transporter!"

"There's more," Harry interrupted. "The Cardassians have been experimenting with new propulsion technology. They're trying to expand their territory. They're going to take over the galaxy – without the Klingons. They've been lying to you."

"Is that true, Damar?" Gowron growled. He swiftly withdrew his d'k tagh knife from his belt.

"The Obsidian Order isn't dedicated to reforming the Alliance," Harry continued. "They're dedicated to helping the Cardassians. They don't care about the Terrans – and they'll break the Alliance at the first chance they get."

"Do you have any proof of this?" Damar challenged.

"He has proof, Damar," Seska said threateningly. "I've got their shuttle."

"B'Elanna, remember the displacement wave? It's a form of ship transport they've been experimenting with," Harry explained. "To get ships across greater distances faster. It was only supposed to send a ship a thousand light-years, but something went wrong. And they didn't know was that it had an inverse effect. Instead of sending a ship out, it pulled one back." Harry looked at Damar. "That's why you thought it was a failure at first. Until you heard about the two Terrans with a strange shuttle Seska had taken into custody."

"So it pulled us sixty thousand light-years," B'Elanna restated as she watched Kathryn carefully, "but how did we get into a different universe?"

"They didn't factor in the quantum signature of the wave," Harry answered. "There was a slight variance as it crested, and it pulled us across dimensions."

"You're saying the Cardassians are the reason you ended up here?" Kathryn clarified.

"Yes," Harry said emphatically. "And my guess is that they won't stop until they've perfected the technology and taken over the galaxy. Without the Klingons."

Damar looked like a man who had just watched his ice cream fall off the cone and onto the sidewalk. Gowron gave a great bellow and swiftly stabbed him in the gut. As Damar's eyes widened in surprise, Gowron thrust the knife upward into his thoracic cavity, and Damar slumped to the deck, his blood spilling everywhere.

Chakotay turned to B'Elanna in confusion. "You thought you were helping the Rebellion?"

"That's what I tried to tell you!"

"And you," he growled at Seska, "how long until you double-crossed us?"

"Oh, please, you were planning to double-cross me the first chance you got." She gestured around the bridge with her weapon. "I sold you to the Aldebaran guards just like I promised you, Chakotay, so you could lead your rebellion from inside. And him –" She waved the weapon in Harry's direction. "I sold him there so he would be saved by your rebellion. I let B'Elanna stay in the transporter buffer because she had Klingon lifesigns. I'd say I've been a little more loyal to the cause of Terran liberation than you have."

"Chakotay," Kathryn said with quiet horror, "you were selling us out to the Cardassians?"

Ignoring her, Chakotay said coldly, "We have a lot of unfinished business between us, Seska." He turned his weapon on her and fired. Seska gave a strangled moan as her body disintegrated.

"Put your weapon down!" B'Elanna cried.

Chakotay held up his hands in surrender, but suddenly there was the swirl of Tom Paris' body assembling molecule by molecule right over the pool of blood that was spurting from Damar's gaping torso. All hell broke loose as Tom materialized. He slipped slightly in the slick blood as he tried to take a step toward B'Elanna. A round of fire ensued in panic, and B'Elanna shoved Kathryn to the deck without thinking, covering Kathryn's body with her own.

When it was quiet again a moment later, she tentatively rose to her feet and offered Kathryn a hand, ignoring the bewildered look on her face. They surveyed the damaged bridge.

Harry, Gowron, and the Andorian were still standing.

The Cardassians and the other Klingons were gone.

So were Tom and Chakotay.