Part Eleven
When Chris Larabee woke up, he prayed that the strange images proceeding his unconscious state had been his mind playing tricks on him and that it had been nothing more than a bizarre dream. However, when he opened his eyes and saw Alex at the helm of the Maverick, where Vin ought to have been. Casey nestled quite comfortably in his command chair and Julia manning the station where Ezra normally stood, he knew that he was not dreaming. He realized that the dream was more of a nightmare when he saw Mary Travis standing over him, holding the phaser rifle in her hands with a glint in her eye that indicated she was not above shooting him if he gave her the slightest bit of trouble.
Chris and the rest of his bridge crew were forced against the far wall of the bridge, under Mary's watchful gaze. JD was still unconscious next to Buck whose throat showed the purplish discoloring of a severe bruise. The other members of the bridge were similarly subdued and the four women who had complete control of the bridge appeared more than adequate to the task of keeping this vital part of their ship in the hands for the time being. Buck's gaze was fixed on the view screen and it took a moment for Chris to realize that they were traveling at high warp.
He had a feeling that they were not bound for Pacifica.
"What the hell is going on?" Chris demanded with something of a growl when he finally had mind enough to speak.
Mary looked down at him indifferently and aimed her weapon in his direction to indicate that was about as much animation she liked to see him display. "He's awake." She spoke out loud but not to him. Her announcement was made to Casey.
"Are you okay Chris?" Buck asked concerned, his voice was still hoarse and the concern in his eyes was clear. His expression was grim and each breath he took was raspy. Chris suspected that serious injury had been inflicted upon his breathing passage when Alex had initially attacked.
"I'm fine." Chris nodded, rubbing the back of his head to dispel the ache left in the wake of the stun blast before he glanced at JD. The young communications officer lay slumped next to Buck, oblivious to everything that was going on. For a moment, he looked very much like the boy he was. "How's the kid?"
"He was stunned like you were." Buck said tersely, giving Mary a dark look as he did so. Buck knew that it was not Mary behind those eyes, he was unashamed of feeling hostility towards the creature that had not only harmed his young protégé but also taken the body of one of his friends. "But he took a pretty hard tumble when he was hit, and I think he might have brained himself good. I don't see any blood, but I think he's okay." However, despite Buck's attempt at reassurance, Chris could tell that he was worried about his young charge.
"So, do we know what all this is about, other than the fact that they want and have our ship?" Chris whispered softly, keeping his voice down as he tried to acquire an appraisal of the situation from his first officer.
Mary was pacing the floor, but she was keeping an eye on them. Buck waited until she was a short distance away from himself and Chris before he answered. "They haven't said much," Buck responded to his captain's query. "But we've changed course."
That was not a surprise. Chris had assumed as much when he realized that the ship was in high warp. "Do we have any idea where?"
"Quiet!" Mary barked having noticed their conversation and had quickly intervened, obviously finding that action extending beyond the limits of the freedom she was willing to permit. "One more word out of either of you and I'll shoot."
Chris turned a sharp glare at her, forcing himself to remember that this was not Mary but some alien creature that was using her before he responded. "If you wanted us dead, you would have done it already." He hissed in that menacing Larabee voice that knew no fear of anything, even when a gun was being aimed in his direction. "Let's not get hot under the collar and do something we'll both regret."
"Do not assume too much Captain," Mary returned with just as much rancor, her blue grey eyes narrowing as their gazes locked like two combatants poised on the edge of battle. "We do not wish to spill unnecessary blood but make no mistake that we will do what is necessary to reach our destination. We have no great love for your kind, it would not weight upon our conscience to terminate your existence."
Casey, who had been attracted by the commotion, averted her gaze from the view screen and turned her eyes to them. Taking special note of Chris, Casey pushed herself out of the command chair.
"Calm yourself Narita." She turned a cold eye on Chris. "There is no need to repeat our threats. The Captain is attempting to bait you into doing something foolish." There was no need to use the appellations of the host bodies any more. Now that their presence was exposed to the Captain, they could utilize their own identifies, instead of the ones they had borrowed when they had acquired the hosts for the Many.
For a moment, Chris did not speak. He was still rather taken back by the sight of Casey striding forward with the supreme confidence of someone who was in complete control of the situation. He had not realized until he had risen from his black sleep that it was Casey who was the guiding force behind this insurrection on his bridge. In retrospect, Chris thought it made perfect sense. After all, it had not been the others who had left him so distracted that he had no idea what was going on his ship, just Casey. Casey who had utilized a ploy so incredibly simplistic and ingenious in its conception that he had to congratulate the mind who had conjured it, if he was not so furious at himself for being taken so easily. He should have suspected that Casey's sudden affections for him were false. Evidence of how she felt about him, and JD Dunne was apparent since the day she arrived on board the Maverick. Chris was mortified by his arrogance in allowing ego to do the thinking for him.
"I just want to know what you want," Chris retorted, recovering quickly now that he knew with whom he was dealing. His mind focused into the singularity of regaining his ship and more importantly, the restoration of his female officers to themselves. "You've taken my ship, why?"
"You are not able to require answers to anything." Narita, who spoke with Mary Travis' voice answered abruptly, glaring at Chris with unmasked contempt. "We have his ship and the rest of his kind have been dealt with."
"What do you mean dealt with?" Chris asked, suddenly gripped with fear and the understanding that there had to be many of them to deal with the rest of his kind, whatever his kind was. Suddenly, the scope of the Maverick's predicament began to filter into his head as he began to comprehend that it was not just the female officers on his bridge but throughout his entire ship.
"Captain," She who wore Casey's face regarded him as she approached. "You did not think that we would be stupid enough to move on your bridge without first ensuring that the rest of your officers were similarly neutralized? Consider how it easy it was to make you run and hide like a frightened child." A little smile curled the corner of her lips as she responded. "All I had to make you believe was this child whose body I am using had affection for you."
"What?" Buck looked at Chris in question.
"Nevermind," Chris growled, wondering if it was possible to feel any more foolish than he already did over that stupid assumption. Casey's supposed crush on him had been awkward but secretly, Chris had been flattered by the attention. Perhaps that was why he had not handled the situation decisively instead of hiding himself in the holodeck for hours while intruders had free run of his ship.
"Or the ease in which your first officer was deceived into believing that Alexandra Styles would couple with him, right there in your very own Ready Room."
Chris blinked and turned to Buck who was gulping visibly.
"In….my…..Ready…Room?" Chris glared at him with a long hard look before he realized that this was not the time or the place for this conversation, although rest assured they would be having it at some point, soon. "We will talk about this later Commander."
"Your kind are so easily distracted Captain," Casey continued speaking, indifferent to the shock waves caused by her last comment. "We did what we have to and now we are in control of your ship. Cooperate with us and you will come out of this with your skin. Do not and your crew will pay the penalty. I trust you want to see no one being beamed into a vacuum?"
Chris' jaw tightened with seething anger as that threat was made to him and he had made his career knowing when to blink or when the enemy was bluffing or not. As he considered Casey's cold eyes, he knew for a fact that she was not. For the moment at least, he would have to comply with their intentions for his ship. "Don't worry,' he said in a low voice. "I won't try anything for awhile."
"I expected nothing less." Casey answered with smug satisfaction.
"So, what do you want with my ship?" Chris asked once more since she never did answer that question and as she was in complete control of his ship, or so she thought, Chris gambled that she might be arrogant enough to answer.
He was right.
"You are hardly able to change things, so I do not see why I cannot satisfy your curiosity in this respect."
"X'hala," Narita interjected. "Is that wise?"
"The information will hardly be of any use to him," X'hala gave Narita a sidelong glance before regarding Chris once more. "And if he tries to use it against us, we will simply kill Mr. Dunne."
"Like hell you will," Buck hissed, reacting immediately to that information as only he could when any threat was made against JD, but Narita was prepared for him. Her gun rose enough to indicate that any further action would be a mistake.
"Buck," Chris turned a sharp eye on his first officer. "Stand down." He ordered.
He could see Buck's anger through the tight line of tension running through his jaw and the loud breathing exuding from him like the vents of a boiler room. However, he was too conditioned to obey his captain to be able to let that anger get the better of him and immediately settled down once again. He would be no good to JD if he were dead.
"I told you," Chris glared at X'hala. "I won't try anything."
"Then you shall have your answer." X'hala looked at him with a smirk reeking of triumph. "We need your ship to go home."
"Where's home?" Chris asked automatically. If they were from Andromeda or beyond the galactic rim, this was going to be one long trip.
"Precise coordinates Captain?" X'hala gave him a look of amusement. "Nice try. Let us say it's a few days away."
At least that was something, Chris thought before he spoke again. "You didn't have to take over the ship if that's all you wanted." A part of him was unable to believe that the aliens had gone to all this trouble for just that simple reason. Chris had no qualms about returning displaced life forms back to their point of origin. All they needed to do was ask.
"Your kind are deceivers." X'hala answered automatically. "We are not so foolish to believe for one instant that you would help us. We are aware of you and others like you. Deception is a part of your genetic material." The bitterness in her voice was not superiority or hatred, she said it like it was a statement of fact, like the world was round.
Chris looked at her with a hint of surprise as well as confusion. He still had a thousand questions running through his head. Some did not need any explanation, like the strange behavior exhibited not only by Casey earlier today but also Alex who had used sex quite spectacularly to take Buck's mind off what was happening. Inwardly, he should have known that it would take nothing less than an alien invasion of her body for Alex to succumb to Buck's charms. Others, like how these creatures had managed to infect the female members of his crew and what they were, beneath the guise of Maverick's most trusted officers, were not so easy to answer.
"The hated ones?" Chris wrinkled his brown in confusion.
"Men." Buck said dutifully.
"I see," Chris nodded trying to make sense of things and having very little patience with the whole situation. His ship had been taken mostly because of his own negligence and while he was furious at himself, there was something to all this that told Chris that these creatures had a reason for detesting men so much. He guessed they must have come from the artifact, for there was no other solution as to how they had gotten loose on his ship. After a moment he looked up at the young woman who wore Casey's face but nothing like the yeoman he knew. "If we cooperate, will you guarantee the safety of my crew?"
"You will cooperate," X'hala remarked as she turned her back on him and returned to the command chair and lowered herself in it with great relish before casting her gaze in his direction again. "You will cooperate, or we will kill everyone on board before we reach our destination. Do we understand each other?"
Chris nodded grimly before answering. "Perfectly."
Vin and Rain did not make it far after leaving the safety of SickBay to access the beach. The turbo lifts had been deactivated. Considering that there were almost 35 decks on a galaxy starship and the bridge was presently residing on Deck 1 and the SickBay was on Deck 17 that made reaching it somewhat difficult. Although they could access it by way of the miles and miles of ducts, conduits, electrical access tunnels, Jeffrey's tubes and crawlspaces that ran through a ship of this size, it was still a laborious endeavor. With what Nathan had revealed regarding the enemy's numbers, Vin and Rain knew that they had to find a faster alternative for that careless expenditure of time was not acceptable with the ship in danger.
"What about the electrical access tunnel that runs straight through the bridge?" Rain suggested as they considered the options available to them as they put some distance between themselves and their last location following their unsuccessful turn at the turbo lift.
"That will take almost as long as trying to climb up the Jeffery's tube and if they've got the bridge crew hostage, we need an element of surprise. They'll be able to see us coming and then they'll have two extra hostages." Vin remarked and then met her gaze when a bout of inspiration overtook him. "What about Cargo Bay 2?" He suggested, his blue eyes a flame with possibility.
"It has its own transporter pad!" She exclaimed, guessing what he intended almost immediately. "I can beam us directly to the bridge!"
"That's a plan." He grinned as they both continued down the corridor, phasers in hand. The passageways were quiet, and Vin wondered where everyone was. There could not be enough aliens to subdue everyone on the ship, but Vin soon concluded that there was really no need. If all the females on board had been infected with this malaise and they were as well prepared as Vin believed they were from what he had seen so far, it was quite easy to keep a ship of almost a thousand-people penned indefinitely. With travel between the ship restricted thanks to the turbo lifts being offline and phasers offered a compelling argument for the unarmed to stay indoors, Vin could understand why the walkways of the Maverick were so deserted.
They were rounding the corner when Vin and Rain ran into a very irate Ezra Standish.
"What on earth is going on?" Ezra demanded upon finally seeing a face he recognized, for that matter any face.
"Where the hell have you been Ezra?" Vin returned just as vehemently. "We've got hundred aliens on board and they've taken the bridge!"
Ezra's face drained of color for an instant as he absorbed that news. "How?" He asked with almost a strangled whisper.
"It's the artifact," Rain quickly explained, moving past the moment because the guilt seeping into the eyes of the Security Chief was more than she could stand. She could tell very quickly that he was blaming himself in the wake of this news that he should have been able to prevent what had happened. Rain guessed that he had probably been distracted the way Vin and the rest of the ship was and had not made his discovery of things being askew until it was too late. "It transferred alien consciousness to the females on board."
"But you…." Ezra started to point out.
"It's got something to do with me being Trill," Rain explained before the question had a chance to escape him. "I'm about the only woman on the Maverick who isn't affecting. Everyone else is."
"No, that's impossible." Ezra shook his head refusing to believe it. "I was with Julia." He insisted, the image of their heated desires still fresh in his mind. "I would have known."
The shudder she saw in his eyes, told Rain something else as well and inwardly, she ached for him. The relationship between Ezra and Julia Pemberton was well known throughout the ship and probably like so many lovers across the vessel, he was having trouble believing that he was duped. In Ezra's case, it would be a doubly bitter pill to swallow because he was the Chief of Security and any attempt to take the ship would require him being neutralized first.
"Believe it," Vin said abruptly, having no time to spare in giving Ezra a lengthy explanation. "They've taken the bridge Ezra. We can't get in contact with Chris, Buck or JD. The turbo lifts are sealed. Communications has been completely disabled. They only way they could have managed all that is if Julia was involved. She is the only one with the knowledge and the authority to shut down all those systems."
An ugly thought surfaced in Ezra's mind as he recalled the summons to Engineering that Julia had received while she had been with him in his quarters and he looked at Vin, hoping that he was wrong but knowing inwardly that he was not. Still, Ezra had to ask. "Precisely how long ago did we lose access to all turbo lifts and communications?" He asked, his voice little more than a whisper.
"About 30 minutes." The Vulcan answered automatically, unaware at the significance of his response to Ezra. "About the same time the ship kicked in Warp 9."
Ezra felt his stomach lurch as that number swam around his head and understood that it made perfect sense after a fashion. In fact, everything that had taken place since she stepped into the shower cubicle suddenly fell into place, giving Ezra a vision of the truth that almost shattered the heart in his chest. For most part, he hid it well from Vin, displaying that indifferent façade that often proved so useful during a card game. He had asked her why she had chosen to take their relationship to the next level and could not believe his stupidity in accepting so readily the answer she had given him. A part of Ezra Standish could not stomach that he had been deceived so easily and then realized that she was the one thing that could accomplish that feat with little no difficulty. His love for her had become his weakness.
Vin who had been similarly duped by Mary and even now, felt feeling of outrage, as well as betrayal could appreciate how hurt Ezra must be at this moment. Mary had inspired such passion in him that something dangerous and powerful had almost been unleashed inside of him. Had Mary not acted to incapacitate him when she had, Vin was uncertain of what would have happened. Inwardly, he still felt angered that he had been forced to share the sensation of such pleasure with his best friend's lady and not the woman who truly had his heart. However, while Vin was justified in his rage, Ezra's pain was a little more uncertain.
Ezra loved Julia. Anyone who saw them together would know that. Vin had a feeling that it was not an easy thing for the Security Chief to admit to either and for a man who was trained to read people and faces, Vin could not imagine the mortification he must feel at being tricked. At this moment, Vin could imagine Ezra being racked with feeling of humiliation and failure for not being able to tell the difference between the woman he loved and the creature that had stole her body.
"Ez," Vin said gently, not wishing to make him feel any worse but they were too pressed for time to indulge in a lengthy debate over this matter. The time to move was now and with Ezra here, the odds of success were slightly better than they had been. "We're going to Cargo Bay 2 which is on this deck and has a transporter pad. Rain's going to attempt a site to site transport to get us onto the bridge. I think the odds would work a lot better if it were three of us than just two. As it is, its going to be a gamble because we have no idea how many there are and what they're capable of."
"Alex was on the bridge," Ezra mused. "If she's there, chances are Julia would be too. Possibly Mary. If I were conducting an assault on the bridge, that is the way to infiltrate it without rousing suspicion. All of them have reason to be there."
"Well you're the expert," the Vulcan said with a little smile. "Chief of Security."
Ezra would have begged to differ but said nothing, since he was still shell-shocked by what he had been told but knew that for the moment, his feelings could wait. When they had assumed control of the bridge and ejected the alien consciousness in possession of the Maverick's female complement, then he could allow himself to consider the ramifications of what had transpired between Julia and him. A flurry of questions remained in his mind, the first and foremost being whether the creatures could be expelled from Julia and whether she would survive the exorcism. How would she react to knowing that he had made love to her, not even realizing that it was not her that he had touched by something else, utilizing her body to cruelly distract him from his responsibilities to the ship?
Personally, Ezra did not know which was worse.
Tapping his com badge to reach his security team, he was greeted with silence and Ezra cast a glance at Vin. "It seems Miss Pemberton has been sufficiently thorough." He remarked as they started down the hall towards the cargo deck.
"Let's hope she's not that thorough," Vin responded, catching on to his meaning immediately.
"You think she might have disabled the transporters?" Rain gasped, realizing that Julia Pemberton's efficiency as a Chief Engineer might be sound enough for such an eventuality.
"If she did not, Alex would have." Ezra commented, garnering a look from Vin. "You forget that aside from being Chief Science Officer, she is also the third ranking officer with tactical training. Her IQ is higher than most of us, so yes, I would say that there is a good chance that she may have disabled the transporters."
"Damn." Vin swore under his breath.
"That's not a problem." Rain responded automatically.
"It is not?" Ezra and Vin looked at the woman immediately.
"I am Transporter Chief you know," she shrugged her shoulders with something of a guilty expression on her face as she spoke. "I may have inadvertently at some point, hacked into the main frame and acquired the enable codes for our transporters."
Ezra's eyes widened and then narrowed in quick succession. "Madam, when this is all over, you and I are going to have a talk about your inadvertent ventures."