Uninspired Voyages
A Star Trek: Voyager fanfiction by Andrew J. Talon
DISCLAIMER: This is a non-profit fan based work of prose. Star Trek: Voyager, Deep Space Nine, The Next Generation et al are the property of CBS Television, Para creation of Gene Roddenberry. Please support the official release.
State of Flux Part 3...
Paris and Shepherd returned to Voyager a few hours later. Janeway immediately got them up to the conference room, and they sat down with Seska, Chakotay, Tuvok, and the rest of the senior staff. Both Shepherd and Paris stood in front of everyone else, Paris tapped the main panel to show off the readings and scans they had taken from orbit.
"It was just as Seska said, a Cardassian Galor-class destroyer and a Federation starship: USS Lillehammer, a Norway-class vessel, at this Kazon orbital port," Paris explained, carefully avoiding looking at B'Elanna. Shepherd did though. Yeah, she was pissed off, glaring death at her best friend. Seska wasn't looking at her, her eyes firmly locked onto the conference table in front of her.
"And the crews?" Janeway asked. Shepherd nodded.
"They're being kept in a labor camp on the surface of the world the station is orbiting," Shepherd said, tapping the screen to show their orbital photos. "Lifesign scans indicate about 150 Cardassians and 110 members of Federation species in the camp, guarded by at least 70 Kazon. They're being used to mine dilithium."
Several eyes looked over at Neelix, who stood up straighter in his seat.
"It's owned by the Kazon Nistrim," Neelix explained. "Part of how they've become such a powerful sect is that they've prioritized taking over mining operations over most other targets."
"Makes sense," Chakotay observed, "control the dilithium and you control warp travel."
"What are the orbital defenses we'll be dealing with?" Janeway asked, glancing over at Seska briefly.
"At least ten raiders," Paris said, "and at least one of their motherships. The station itself has several phaser emplacements."
"Just one was a challenge for us to fight at the Caretaker's array," Tuvok stated. "Dealing with multiple heavily armed starships and rescuing the crews will be difficult."
"So we need a plan," Janeway said, "any suggestions?"
Shepherd looked over at Neelix, who nodded. Shepherd then turned to the rest of the staff.
"Talaxian traders visit the labor camp to trade all the time," he said, "so Neelix can bring in a strike team. We can liberate the camp."
"At the same time," Paris interjected, "I can pilot the Thunderbird and launch some strikes on the station's defenses and sensors, taking it out of the fight."
"How will you get close enough without being spotted?" Chakotay asked. Paris and Shepherd grinned.
"Same way we got in," Shepherd said, "he'll cut the warp drive and coast in."
"There's so much debris in orbit they'll just think it's another piece of junk," Paris explained. "A few photon torpedoes and we can disable the station."
"Then Voyager just has to keep the remaining defenders busy while we're getting the crews up to their ships," Shepherd said.
"That's definitely not going to be easy," Harry pointed out. Shepherd nodded.
"That will be the hardest part, but there's a way to do that, too," Shepherd explained, "we can hijack one or two of the Raiders on the surface. It'll be a tight fit but it will let us get them to dock with their ships. Any surviving officers can disable the lock outs and we can beam anyone left up."
"Then we all run like hell," Paris said confidently, "with two more ships for our little fleet."
"Who says we're rescuing a bunch of Cardassians?!" B'Elanna spat, her glare burning hatred towards Seska. The Obsidian Order agent slowly looked up at B'Elanna, her teeth set tight.
"We're on the other side of the galaxy, B'Elanna," Seska stated, slowly and tightly, "we don't have much choice-"
"Like hell we don't have a choice!" B'Elanna snarled. "You expect us to rescue your people?! The same people who have been shooting at us?! Who got us in this mess in the first place-?!"
"That's enough!" Janeway barked, glaring B'Elanna down. B'Elanna glared back, but held her tongue. Janeway looked around the table, her eyes narrowed.
"I know this isn't going to be popular," Janeway began slowly, "and quite frankly I'm reluctant myself about this entire situation. But the fact is that we have a common goal with the Cardassians: Survival and getting home. And our odds are a lot better together than apart. Voyager isn't a warship: Their ship is. We could use that firepower. And rescuing them puts them in our debt."
"And if the Cardassians decide to stab us in the back? Like they always do?" B'Elanna seethed. Janeway sucked in a deep breath, keeping her calm.
"Then we'll take precautions to ensure they have more to gain from working with us than against us," she said. She looked over at Shepherd. "Mister Shepherd is well versed in Cardassian computer systems, as is Seska."
B'Elanna snorted. Seska winced.
"Between the two of you, we can figure out a way to disable their ship," Janeway said, "and put security teams aboard to subdue them. But only if necessary." She shook her head. "I don't like it any more than you do. But we can't afford to be picky in this situation."
She stood up and looked around.
"Start working out the details and get your people ready. We're launching this operation in twenty four hours. Dismissed," she said.
Everyone headed out. Seska carefully waited until the seething B'Elanna had stormed out. Soon enough, the only people in the room were Shepherd, Chakotay, Tuvok, Seska, and Janeway herself.
"I get that this wasn't an easy decision," Janeway said to Seska, "but I appreciate that you made it. It was the right one."
Seska stared back at the captain.
"I guess we'll see," she said softly. She shook her head.
"If it helps, when we pull this off," Janeway said carefully, "I have no objection to you going to the Cardassian ship."
Seska snorted.
"I'm Obsidian Order. The military hates us-Always have. The sad fact is, Captain, I'd be no more welcome there than I am here," she said. She stood up. "'The right decision' in this case is the one that leaves me with no where to be. If you'll excuse me," she turned and headed out. The doors slid shut harshly behind her. Janeway turned over to look at Shepherd.
"Mister Shepherd?"
Shepherd sighed and shoved his hands in his pockets.
"She's hard to read," he said, "and I'm not just saying that for the Commander's benefit."
Chakotay snorted.
"That said," Shepherd went on, "her loyalty is ultimately to herself. She will most likely choose whatever makes her survival most likely. That said," he glanced over at Chakotay, "her feelings for you are genuine. Her feelings of friendship for B'Elanna are also fairly genuine."
"That does not mean she will act to support us," Tuvok pointed out. Shepherd smiled wanly.
"No, it doesn't," he said.
Janeway looked around at her officers.
"So we are dealing with a rogue element that may betray us at any moment," she said, "wonderful. How do we counter her? We don't know what she could have done to our systems or computers while she's been here."
Shepherd shrugged.
"The main failing of most junior Obsidian Order agents is overconfidence and overly complicated plans to show off how superior they are," Shepherd stated. He then grinned and put his arms behind his neck.
"They like to plan many steps ahead. The best way to deal with it? Is to plan no steps ahead. That's my motto."
"The path of your career suddenly makes perfect logical sense," Tuvok observed.
Shepherd shrugged.
"Hey, it's worked so far..."
The strike team was properly assembled, and everything had been planned out. Shepherd had seen to it himself. When it came to operations of this nature, he could be a lot more controlling and direct.
Even so, he did go for one indulgence before he left. He returned to his quarters, and rummaged about in his bag. He pulled out an isolinear chip, and pushed it into the nearby bulkhead. He turned it, and a small holographic cloaking field vanished. A lock box was revealed, and he opened it up. He reached in, and pulled out the item within the box. He held it aloft and looked it over.
He attached the sword to his belt, the familiar click of the magnetic device almost comforting.
"I hope I don't need it, but... You never know," he sighed. He rummaged a bit more, and pulled out another container. He slid it into his backpack, and smirked a little.
"And I really hope I don't have to use this one..."
Neelix wasn't Tom Paris, but he was a competent pilot of his own ship. It took them a while in the cramped freighter to get to the planet. Shepherd mostly spent it going over the plan again and again with his men, and pretending the intercom was broken.
Neelix was fine in small doses but constantly? That was bound to make anyone homicidal. Beissman and Munroe would be even worse.
At last though, Shepherd reactivated the comm. Neelix's cheerful voice came over.
"Oh, Lieutenant! We're coming in for a landing on the planet!"
"Good work Neelix," Shepherd said. He examined his chrono-Right on time. "We're landing somewhere secluded, I hope?"
"Oh, absolutely sir!" Neelix said, "this isn't the first time I've had to uh, land somewhere discreet."
Jurot, their Betazoid medic, barely managed to avoid rolling her eyes. Chell, their technician, looked nervous. Beissman and Munroe just exchanged knowing glances.
The ship came down, with a light rumble through the deck plates. Shepherd stood up and brushed himself off. He headed for the doors.
"Keep the motor running, Neelix," Shepherd said, "this may require a fast getaway."
"Not a problem, sir!" Neelix said enthusiastically.
"And keep off the comms unless we call you first, okay?" Munroe said.
"Right-Er, I mean...!" He shut off the link. They trooped out into the orange light of the alien sun. Shepherd looked around their landing site.
It was a rather shallow gulley, dusty and deprived of water. The air was dry and hot. There were rocky boulders strewn about. Biessman grimaced.
"Eh... I don't like it," Biessman growled, "easy to get boxed in."
"But nice and secluded," Shepherd pointed out. "Jurot, got anyone nearby?"
Jurot closed her eyes and focused. She frowned and shook her head.
"No, nothing," she said. Her frown deepened. "But..."
"But?" Shepherd prompted. Jurot hummed softly.
"It's nothing," she said.
"You're sure?" Shepherd asked intently.
"Sorry. I'll tell you when I have something more, sir," Jurot said. Shepherd nodded, smiling a bit oddly. Chell panted a bit.
"Ugh... Can we get going and out of this heat please?" He asked. "It's so dry!"
"Keep your shirt on, Chell, we'll be okay," Biessman said, patting the shorter Bolian on the shoulder.
They slowly climbed up the smoother part of the gully, following in the footsteps of a well worn path. They got to the top of the ridge, and stayed low. Shepherd pulled out his binoculars and zoomed in on a series of worn metal structures in the middle of a flat dry floodplain. strewn with larger boulders under the orange sun. It was broad and sand covered. The settlement looked like many others across the galaxy set up by humanoids: Dull, painted white to reflect the heat away, with tarps and shade at random paces. There were no walls around the mine itself: Just a loading area where numerous figures worked hard. Shepherd zoomed in a bit closer, and his eyes narrowed.
"They're our people all right," Shepherd said softly, watching several people in Starfleet uniforms lugging crates of dilithium crystals onto wagons. He also spied several Cardassians in ragged clothing, their uniforms taken away, as they did the same hard labor. He even spotted Cardassians and Starfleet working together. It only made sense, he supposed. Bonds formed with your enemy against a bigger threat.
The Kazon in question were whipping the workers every so often. A few had one of them nearby in a tent, beating on him. A few skeletons still wearing Starfleet or Cardassian uniforms hung from stone pillars around the main mine. A few Kazon Raiders rested in the sands away from the camp, under tarps tied to the ground with stakes.
He then spotted something else. He handed the glasses to Munroe.
"Munroe? What do you make of those?" He asked. Munroe frowned deeply.
"Heavy weapons emplacements," he said. "They're concealed by the mine entrance... And they were put there recently."
Biessman, who had his own binoculars, growled.
"So they put them there... Why?" He asked. "Stop an uprising?"
"In a sense," Shepherd replied. He looked over at Jurot. "What are you getting now?"
Jurot sucked in a deep breath of the hot desert air.
"... Anticipation," Jurot said. "They're waiting for something. Something big."
"Seska tipped them off?" Munroe asked.
"But-But why?!" Chell cried.
"She's a Cardie, that's all they know," Biessman snarled.
"No, she's an Obsidian Order agent: That's all they know," Shepherd corrected Biessman. He tapped his commbadge. "Neelix? Can you get a signal to Voyager?"
"N-No sir!" Neelix apologized. "There's a lot of interference-Jamming!"
"So it's a trap," Shepherd sighed. "I hoped it wasn't going to be one of those."
"We gotta warn Voyager! Get out of here!" Biessman cried. Shepherd shook his head.
"We need to rescue those crews," he said, "in order to even the odds. So we need to take the mine camp."
"But how?" Biessman demanded. "They've got that heavy firepower! We get any closer and they'll open up-!"
"Not if they don't know it's us," Shepherd suggested. He sighed. "And unfortunately, I know just the way to do it..."
The Kazon guards were bored. They were waiting for the Starfleet troops to arrive in force. The traitor among them had told them. At least, that's how Maje Cullah had described it to them.
Still, it would be nice if they would just appear. All this waiting was firesome...
A wagon appeared on the horizon, as loud, festive music blared from speakers. The Kazon guards stirred, as the big vehicle drew closer and closer.
Soon enough, it rolled into sight of the camp, the loud celebratory music blaring over the desert sands. It was brightly colored, with several red and blue flags flying from poles atop it. At the prow of the strange desert vessel stood an impressive individual: Humanoid, dressed in bright white, gold and black clothing. A cloak flared dramatically behind him, the sun shown off gems and golden embroidery across his wide brim hat. He looked at the guards, and grinned.
"GIFTS FOR THE MIGHTY KAZON!" He bellowed, throwing bottles at them. The astonished guards caught the bottles, and smelled them. They smelled of alcohol and sweet things. The wagon passed by, soon settling into the center of the encampment. Several Kazon crowded around. The figure at the prow of the wagon bowed, sweeping his hat off his head in a stylized flourish. He tossed more booze to the crowd, who soon imbibed and shouted their appreciation as the colorful music continued.
"GREETINGS, KAZON NISTRIM!" He shouted. "I bring you items of trade! Alcohol! Vids! Baubles, jewels, and weapons! For I am..." He posed dramatically, unveiling a huge hairy mustache across his pale face.
"The Slayer of Banditos! The Might Mariachi! SENOR SHEPHARDINOOOOO~!"
Next time! Shit hits the fan!