Everybody
Talks About The Weather
A Star Trek: Fotheran and
Mallory Adventure
By Derrick Ferguson ©
Note: the events of this story take place 3 years after the events of
‘Horse and Hook’
The irritatingly soothing voice of the computer
gently dragged Denys Fotheran out of his blessedly sound sleep.
One would have thought that after a year of listening to the same
voice, one would be used to it. Not Fotheran. Starfleet
computers sounded too damn…nice.
He rolled out of bed and yelled; “Okay, okay,
I’m up, I’m up. Give it a rest, why don’t
you?’
“Would you like me to give you your
day’s itinerary, Commander?”
“No. I’ll just muddle through the
day without you telling me what to do, How’s that?”
“Yes, sir. Shall I turn on the sonic
shower for you?”
“Yes and have my coffee ready and inform
Captain Mallory that I’ll be joining her for breakfast in thirty
minutes.”
“Yes sir.”
Exactly fifteen minutes later, freshly showered and
changed and holding a huge mug of Vulcan coffee in one hand and a stack
of Padds in the other, Commander Denys Fotheran stepped out of his
quarters and into the bustling, hectic world of Gamma Space One.
As he stepped on the slidewalk and let it carry him
from the officer’s quarters to the Main Hub, Fotheran reflected
on how even after all this time; it was still hard for him to fully
accept that he was second in command of Starfleet’s newest
starbase.
Located in the Gamma Quadrant, literally within
spitting distance of the Bajoran Wormhole, Gamma Space One was unlike
any other starbase Fotheran had ever heard of. Most of it was actually
built on top of an existing alien base that had been discovered on the
planet Kijora. The base had been discovered years ago by Benjamin
Sisko and Jadzia Dax of Deep Space Nine but what with The Dominion War,
there had been little time for a proper survey of the base. It
wasn’t until after the war and hostilities had ceased between The
Federation and The Founders and a treaty signed that allowed for the
construction of a starbase in the Gamma Quadrant that real research
could begin.
Fotheran scowled at his Padd. Damn. More
requisition requests from the scientific teams. Where did they
think he was going to get all this stuff? Fotheran had a healthy
respect for scientists, sure. Hell, his best friend was a
scientist, but most of the ones who had come to GS1 to study the alien
base seemed to think that Fotheran had supplies hidden under his bed,
just waiting for him to yank them out on request.
Fotheran tapped the stylized gold and silver
arrowhead pinned to his left breast that was both the Starfleet
insignia and commbadge. “Fotheran to Lockridge.”
=^=Lockridge here. G’morning, boss=^=
“Where are you, Wally? I’ve got
some requisitions here I need you to handle for me.”
=^=I’m in Ops. Just got here.
Ron’s with me=^=
“Good. Both of you stay put.
I’ll be right there.”
Fotheran jumped off the slidewalk upon reaching The
Main Hub, the circular transport section where base personnel could
take turbolifts, magnaslides or transporters anywhere inside GS1.
Fotheran didn’t bother with a turbolift or magnaslide but caught
the eye of a transport ensign.
“Beam me right into Ops, okay?”
Fotheran said, smiling slightly as he hopped up onto the transporter
pad. The ensign smiled back and gave Fotheran a thumbs up.
Fotheran enjoyed a healthy respect among the junior officers.
Most of them had heard the stories about his life before he’d
been drafted into Starfleet and they liked his devil-care-may attitude
to Starfleet regulations and protocols. They liked how he usually
asked for something to be done instead of ordering and he didn’t
care if the junior officers called him by his first name when off-duty.
The familiar shimmering curtain of the transporter
effect washed over Fotheran and suddenly he was standing in the middle
of Operations. Fotheran loved being in the gigantic,
multi-leveled brain center of GS1. The top level, where he was
standing now was comprised of mostly offices for GS1 staff and
conference rooms and auxiliary offices that could be used by visiting
dignitaries and officers. The second level was more properly
known as Strategic Operations and was concerned with monitoring the
planetary defenses and communications and maintaining contact with the USS ColdFire, the magnificent
starship that was docked in orbit above GS1. It fell to the ColdFire to patrol the nearby
systems and play peacemaker and render assistance when needed.
Fotheran reflected that it had been four months or so since he and Eve
had taken her out. Hell, these days they were busy playing
diplomat more than anything else.
The last section of Operations was Flight
Control. GS1 was host to a surprising amount of starship traffic
and it was co-coordinated here. One of the most impressive things
about GS1 was that Operations had been built right inside a dormant
volcano that boasted one of the most beautiful lakes Fotheran had ever
seen. Operations had a gigantic plasteel window that looked out
over the lake and onto a huge shuttle landing pad.
Visitors would disembark from their ships which
would dock at the orbiting station above, which was also part of GS1
and had been nicknamed ‘The Sparkplug’ because of
it’s appearance and then after passing a security check would
then either beam down to The Main Hub or shuttle down. Mostly GS1
saw a lot of diplomats while more unsavory types headed for the nearby
settlement of Yellowknife.
Fotheran turned from admiring the view as his
Operations Chief and Chief Science Officer walked up to join him.
Lieutenant Walter Lockridge was a wiry bullwhip of a
man with sandy hair and a generous amount of freckles. He and
Fotheran had become fast friends ever since they’d met back in
Starfleet Academy. In a lot of ways, Lockridge reminded Fotheran
of himself and he’d come to rely on the younger man to handle the
day-to-day running of Operations while Fotheran concentrated on other
matters. Lieutenant Ronald Boutin was shorter, with dark hair and
large, owlish eyes. Ron Boutin was a cyborg, but of an unusual
sort. At the age of eighteen he’d contracted a rare disease
that destroyed his nervous system. Thanks to the miracles of
Fabrini medicine, he’d had a small marble sized seed implanted in
what was left of his spine and the seed had actually grown a completely
new, artificial nervous system throughout his body, giving him access
to many parts of his brain that most humans never used. It had
also raised his intelligence to startling levels and as a result,
Boutin was the youngest Science Officer in Starfleet.
“So what’s going on, boss?”
Lockridge asked. “You getting grief already?”
“Here…you look at these requisitions
and tell me.” Fotheran passed over the Padd and both
Lockridge and Boutin scanned the requests.
“They don’t want much, do
they?” Boutin asked slowly. He was a slow talker and
mover unless there was action and then he turned into one of the
fastest people Fotheran had ever seen and Fotheran’s own speed
was legendary.
“Ron, you speak their language. Explain
that even though GS1 appears to have unlimited resources that simply
isn’t the case. Wally, do what you can about getting them
what they need, not what they want. Okay?”
“No problem. Oh, Mike Vollmer wants to
take ColdFire out on a
run. He’s been upgrading again and wants to test out a few
systems.”
“Tell him to hang on and wait for me and
I’ll go with him. I’ve been stuck on GS1 for months
now and a short trip would do me some good. Maybe we’ll run
out to the Batros system. We’ve been getting reports of
Lygos Vad’s Goliath being seen out there. Maybe we’ll
get lucky and get a line of what he’s up to.”
Michael Vollmer was the Chief Engineer of GS1 but he
lived and worked aboard the ColdFire
and only came planetside when needed. Vollmer loved working on
the starship and thanks to his constant upgradings and innovative
improvements had made ColdFire
a truly exceptional ship with more than a few surprises.
“Okay. You’ll be in with the
Captain, I take it?”
“Yep. And I’d better get a move
on. She’s been nagging me about being late for breakfast
the last couple of days.”
Fotheran walked off and headed for Eve
Mallory’s office. They had a little ritual of having
breakfast together as it gave them some quiet time to go over whatever
it was they had planned for the day. Lately, they’d been so
busy that breakfast was really the only time they saw each other.
Fotheran entered the spacious office and
couldn’t help but smile as Captain Eve Mallory came from behind
her desk to greet him. Fotheran’s lanky six foot four frame
towered over Eve Mallory’s five foot two and upon seeing them for
the first time, most people thought that there couldn’t have been
a more mismatched team in Starfleet.
Fotheran was tall, with close-cropped hair that came
to a widow’s peak just above and between bright amber colored
eyes. His face was lean and handsome and his skin was a lovely
shade of dark chocolate. Eve Mallory possessed a shoulder length
mane of red hair that made one think of Irish sunsets and her deep
green eyes always held a twinkle of amusement as if she knew some
secret joke that maybe she’d let the rest of the universe in on
one day. She was one of the most beautiful women Fotheran had
ever known and it was still amazing to him that in just three years she
had gone from being his mortal enemy to his best friend as well as his
commanding officer.
“You’re two minutes late,
Denys…what happened?”
“Some last minute instructions I had to give
Wally and Ron. Why? Something going on?”
“I want you to meet someone.” Eve
indicated a blond haired man dressed in the traditional clothing of the
Trader’s Guild. His deep-set eyes sized Fotheran up as they
shook hands. “This is Lord John Rael of The Trader’s
Guild. He’s just arrived last night to do some business in
Yellowknife and as he’s never been there before, he’s asked
if you could give him a personal briefing as to what to look out
for.”
Fotheran chuckled and shook his head.
“Oh, please…”
Eve frowned. By now she was long used to
Fotheran’s irreverence and somewhat inappropriate sense of
humor. In fact, it was one of the things that she liked and
appreciated about him, but not when an important representative of the
influential Trader’s Guild was asking for help from Starfleet
officers.
John Rael looked at Fotheran for a long minute with
his head cocked to the side. “I’m not used to being
the subject of a joke, Commander. What exactly do you find so
humorous about me?”
“Your sloppiness. Next time you go undercover
tell whoever forges your documents not to do TOO good a job. Your
background doesn’t have a black mark on it and there’s not
a Guildsman alive who hasn’t pulled a dirty deal once in a
while.”
Eve looked from Rael to Fotheran and said in a
crisp, no-nonsense tone, “Commander, just what’s going on
here?”
“His name’s not Rael, it’s
Maxton. Conner Maxton to be precise. He’s been here
three days already asking about both of us. I’ve had him
checked out and from his documents; I’d have to say he works for
Starfleet Intelligence. I’ve got a Padd right here with all
the information.” Fotheran passed it to Eve, who looked it
over and when she was done, she looked up at Conner Maxton with eyes
that had suddenly gone frosty.
“Looks like you’ve got some explaining
to do, Mr. Maxton.”
Maxton nodded in grudging admiration at a grinning
Fotheran. “Seems like the legendary Denys Fotheran lives up
to his reputation.”
“I’m about to give you the beating of
your life that will be equally legendary unless you start telling
Captain Mallory and myself what the hell this is all about.”
“Easy, Denys…give him a chance.
How about it, Maxton? I’ll give you three minutes to
explain yourself before I throw you off my station.”
“Now, hold on. I’ve got good
reasons for sneaking on GS1 without telling you. Quite frankly, I
was curious about the two of you. I’ve heard all the
stories and I wanted to size the both of you up without you knowing who
I was.”
“Maxton, one of the reasons Denys is the XO of
this base is because having a criminal background himself, he can spot
a phony ten parsecs away. The chances of anybody sneaking past
him is slim, as you have seen. What are you, Starfleet
Intelligence.”
“Section 31.”
Eve slapped her commbadge. “Security
detail to the Captain’s Office on the double.” She
turned to Fotheran. “I want him on the first ship back to
the Alpha Quadrant immediately.”
“My pleasure.”
“Wait! You’d said you’d give
me three minutes! I’m going to hold you to that!
I’m here on a mission of great importance to the security of this
base!”
Eve Mallory was unimpressed. “I’ve
had just about enough of Section 31 involving me in their games.
I had enough of it back on The Grail and since then, your organization
has continually tried to entrap me in their web of deception.
I’ll not have it here. Commander Fotheran, take this man to
an interrogation cell and find out what he knows. And I
don’t particularly care how you do it.”
Fotheran’s voice was a purr of pure pleasure
as he answered, “As you say, Captain.”
The double doors of Eve’s office swooshed open
and Security Chief Patience O’Malley stepped in with a security
detail at her back. Patience was two or three inches taller than
Fotheran and thickly muscled, the result of having been born and raised
on a heavy gravity world. Her eyes flicked over Maxton, sizing
him up rapidly. “Yes, Commander?”
Fotheran indicated Maxton. “Take him to
an interrogation cell. I’ll be along soon to question
him. And Patience? He gives you any trouble at all, feel
free to break a leg or arm off.”
“Yes, sir.”
After Maxton had been taken away by the security
detail, Fotheran turned back to Eve, grinning widely. Eve had
returned to her desk and was punching in codes on her desktop LCARS and
looked up as he walked over and sat on the edge of the desk.
“And just what are you grinning like an idiot
for? Do you realize what this means?”
“Yep. Some excitement for a
change. We can stop babysitting diplomats and nursemaiding
scientists for awhile.”
Eve sighed and sat down heavily in her high-backed
chair and folded her hands across her stomach. “Denys, you
knew what the job of running this station entailed when I offered it to
you-“
Fotheran held up a correcting finger.
“Don’t you mean when you blackmailed me into this
job?”
“Whatever. The details hardly matter
now. What does matter is that we’re here now and this is
what we do. And you can’t tell me that it’s not a lot
better than being hounded from one star system to another.”
Eve frowned suddenly. “And by the way, if you knew Maxton
was a phony, why didn’t you have him picked up at once or tell me
about it?”
Fotheran shrugged. “Didn’t see the
point in tipping my hand too soon. I had Maxton watched and knew
where he was at all times. I wanted to see what he was up to and
figured if I left him alone, I’d find out soon enough. And
as you saw, I was bringing you the Padd with the information about him
to you today. I was going to tell you about him over
breakfast.”
Eve nodded. “You were right to handle it
that way. If I had known that a Section 31 operative was on the
station…”
Fotheran stood up abruptly and walked toward the
door in that easy, long-legged stride he had that ate up distance in no
time. “And speaking of breakfast, I guess that’s
shot. I’ve got a prisoner to interrogate. What are
you going to be doing?”
Eve sighed. “I’ve got some secure
subspace transmissions to make that are going to blister some high
level ears.”
“Including Kieron Olsen?”
Eve tapped a short, unpainted nail on her desk
several times while she thought. “No. I won’t
get a straight answer out of him anyway. I’ve got other
resources I can use. You work on Maxton.”
“Sure. Let’s get together for
lunch and compare notes and work out a plan of action.”
“Fine. And Denys?”
Fotheran turned back around and raised a questioning
eyebrow.
“Excellent work, Commander.”
Fotheran waved and was gone. Eve Mallory
couldn’t help but notice how Fotheran had a new bounce in his
step at the prospect of some excitement. And she couldn’t
blame him. She herself had joined Starfleet for it’s
inherent promise of adventure on far flung worlds. The dream of
exploring, of seeing alien suns and far-flung vistas that had never
been seen by other eyes. She hadn’t ever imagined herself
in the role of a deskbound bureaucrat when she had graduated from
Starfleet Academy.
But then again, she hadn’t imagined herself
being Replicated by The Machine Race or serving on the damned,
doom-haunted Grail or chasing down Denys Fotheran, once one of the most
feared and hunted outlaws in Federation space and then becoming best
friends with him.
Life threw you curves all the time and you either
swung and missed or you slammed them out of the park. And
speaking of slamming…
Eve got hold of the Chief Communications Officer,
Lt. Felicia Goodluck and made her wishes known: a multichannel
tightbeam conference link in fifteen minutes with Admiral Boone on
Earth at Starfleet HQ, Admiral Roth on Starbase 955 and every
department head of Starfleet Intelligence in the Bajoran System.
Eve drank her tea and sat back as she waited for her
communications to be linked.
Fotheran entered the interrogation cell, a dull gray
cube of a room with one small table and two chairs. Fotheran sat
down across from Maxton, his face a cold mask that held no emotion
whatsoever. And when he spoke, he spoke in a voice that had no
more compassion or empathy than a stone.
“Let’s get one thing straight, Maxton:
don’t let this uniform give you the wrong impression. I may
have joined Starfleet, but Starfleet didn’t join me. I
don’t play their games. You got one chance to tell me why
you’re here. You don’t want to talk, fine. I
put you on the first transport out of here.”
Maxton smiled with no humor. “And I
suppose that since you’ve uncovered my true identity,
you’ll put that information out to your friends on the other side
of the law, effectively ruining my career as a Section 31
operative. I’d either meet up with an
‘accident’ or simply be ignored. Is that it?”
Fotheran sat back and said nothing, but his eyes
spoke quite eloquently.
And so Maxton told him everything.
A half hour later, Fotheran’s commbadge
bleeped for his attention. =^=Mallory to Fotheran=^=
“Fotheran here. I guess you want me and
Maxton in your office, right?”
=^=Oh, yes. And get hold of the rest of the
command staff. We’ve got a big problem on our hands, it
would seem=^=
“We’ll be right there.”
Fotheran motioned to Maxton. “Let’s go. And you
better pray that we can keep this thing from accomplishing its mission
before anyone else gets killed.”
Shortly, GS1’s command staff was assembled in
Eve’s office, sitting around her rectangular conference
table. Eve sat at one end while Fotheran sat at the other.
Besides Wally Lockridge and Ron Boutin, Patience O’Malley and
Felicia Goodluck, an amazingly beautiful young black woman with an
almost supernatural grasp of communications, joined them. The
Chief Medical Officer Victor Utchenko sat at Eve’s right, a
barrel-chested Russian with a salt and pepper beard and water-colored
eyes that seemed to see everything without particularly looking at
anything. Mike Vollmer, GS1’s Chief Engineer sat on
Eve’s left. Vollmer looked more like a bodybuilder or
wrestler than one of the most brilliant engineers in service
today. And JoAnn St. John, the station’s Chief Counselor
was there. A willowy blond in her mid fifties, JoAnn had been
Eve’s Counselor and one of Eve’s best friends for years as
well as being sort of unofficial godmother to Eve’s adopted
daughter, Caitlyn.
Eve folded her hands on the table and got right to
the point. “This is Connor Maxton, a Section 31
operative. Commander Fotheran and I have recently been made aware
of Maxton’s presence on the station. He’s here on a
mission of utmost importance and Commander Fotheran and I have been
ordered by both Starfleet Command and Starfleet Intelligence to assist
him. Commander, bring us up to speed, will you?”
Fotheran nodded and spoke in brisk, clipped
tones. “As you all know, GS1 has been swarming with
scientists from a dozen different Federation worlds, examining and
studying the alien base GS1 is built on. Seems as if Section 31
is concerned about this alien technology falling into unfriendly hands
and so they placed an operative of their own here. A plasomorph
from Gentillus X.”
Utchenko was visibly stunned. “A
plasomorph?” He rounded on Maxton. “I knew
Section 31 was unprincipled and morally bankrupt, but I never dreamed
that they’d use one of them.”
“So what’s a plasomorph?”
Lockridge asked, confused.
Utchenko said, “Plasomorphs have no
identity of their own. They can take the identity of others but
not their memories.”
“How do they do that?”
“They take the skin from a living being and
wear it as their own for up to twenty four hours at a time.
That’s how they blend in and mingle with other races.
They’re highly intelligent and adaptive and while they’re
wearing the skin of someone, they’re almost impossible to
detect. They mostly hire themselves out as spies and
assassins.”
“How come I’ve never heard of
them?” Patience demanded. “As Security Chief,
I’ve familiar with many races with adaptive capabilities and
I’ve never once run across data regarding these
plasomorphs.”
Eve answered coldly, “That’s because
Section 31 conscripted plasomorphs for their exclusive use and wiped
all information of them from every major database in the
Federation.”
“How long has this thing been on
GS1?” Utchenko wanted to know.
“Ten days now,” Fotheran answered
coldly. “Which means that assuming it’s taken a new
skin once a day in order to move around freely…we’ve got
ten dead people already.”
“I don’t understand
something,” JoAnn said, clearly puzzled. “If
this plasomorph is working for Section 31…”
“It’s not and it never was.”
Maxton said through tightly clenched teeth. “I got word
from several of my informants that the plasomorph had just been using
me to get on GS1 and its really working for the Lleerspach
Hegemony. I don’t have to tell you what a problem
they’ve been here in the Gamma Quadrant.”
Indeed he didn’t. Ever since The
Founders had ceased to be the major power in the Gamma Quadrant,
several races had made their bids to take over and increase their
stature. The Leerspach Hegemony was one of those. They had
rejected The Federation’s offers of exchange of peaceful
technology. They wanted weapons and they wanted them NOW.
Once it became clear that The Federation would not share weapons
technology with them, the Lleerspach Hegemony quickly severed
relations.
Fotheran continued. “So this plasomorph
is actually a double agent and we’ve got to identify it before it
manages to get off the base and off the planet.”
“What makes you think it isn’t gone
already?” Patience demanded. “Seems as if it
could just walk onto a transporter disguised as a Starfleet
officer.”
“Plasomorphs can’t use
transporters. The last one who did so ended up as a puddle of
liquefied matter.” Maxton said. “And anyway,
I’m the one scheduled to pick it up once its mission is completed
eleven hours from now. It doesn’t have any reason to think
that I know it’s a double agent, but I can’t count on
that. I’ve been trying to find it on my own and having no
luck. That’s why I need help.”
“Help which you should have asked for three
days ago,” Eve said with venom. “But that’s not
solving the problem, which is what we’re here for.
I’m going down to the alien base to talk with the researchers
down there. There’s a damned good chance the plasomorph is
down there and maybe I can get a line on it if it is.”
“How will you do that?” Patience
asked, puzzled. “If this thing can wear somebody’s
skin and look just like them?”
“That’s why I’ll go along as
well,” JoAnn added hastily. “With the Captain’s
permission, of course. I’m expert in reading body
language. There’s a good chance between the both of us
we’ll be able to pick it out.”
Patience nodded, still not fully satisfied, but it
sounded right at least. Eve smiled gratefully at JoAnn.
Eve’s status as a Replicant was a fiercely guarded secret and
only three people on GS1 were privy to it. Victor Utchenko, who
as the station’s Chief Medical Officer had to be made aware of as
Eve no longer was subject to human diseases or aging and as such had no
reason for regular medical checkups. JoAnn St.John had known for
years when she had first become Eve’s Counselor. And Denys
Fotheran knew, having discovered Eve to be a Replicant during their
first adventure together when they had fought for their lives in a
desperate battle against the mad Replicant Stolath far under the
surface of the planet Tikon.
As a Replicant, Eve had a far greater range of
sensitivity as far as hearing, smell, touch and sight were concerned
and she was 90% certain that she could pick out a plasomorph if she got
within distance of it. Still, it wouldn’t hurt to have
JoAnn along.
“Commander Fotheran’s going to go
undercover in Yellowknife with Maxton and see if they can find some
clues in the quarters that the plasomorph took when he first
arrived.” Eve continued. Maxton frowned.
“I’ve already been there and searched
its quarters, I told you. I found nothing.”
“And I’m sure you did a fine job.
But Commander Fotheran hasn’t searched there yet and you
haven’t seen a search until you’ve seen him do one.
And I thought the whole point of asking for our help was because of our
unique talents.”
Fotheran added; “And I know Yellowknife a
helluva lot better than you do, Maxton. If your spy is there,
we’ll find him.”
Eve turned to the others. “Dr. Utchenko,
I want you to work with Miss O’Malley and Mr. Boutin in trying to
find a way to scan the inside of GS1 to detect the plasomorph.
Maxton has contacted his people and they should have sent along all the
medical data Section 31 has on the plasomorph. Mr. Lockridge and Miss
Goodluck, GS1 is yours until either Mr. Fotheran or myself return from
our separate missions. That’s all.”
Eve motioned for Fotheran to remain behind as the
command staff filed out along with Maxton. Once the door was
firmly shut, Eve looked up at Fotheran with worry in her wide green
eyes. “I don’t want you to lower your guard for even
a second, Denys! I don’t trust Maxton one bit and whatever
he’s told us, it’s not the whole story, you can believe
that!”
Fotheran chuckled. “Oh hell, Eve, Maxton
wouldn’t know how to tell the truth if his life depended on
it. But if there’s a chance this thing is on GS1,
we’ve got to get hold of it. There’s no telling what
kind of technology it wants to steal.”
“Just watch your back, that’s all
I’m concerned about. And report to me the very minute you get back from
Yellowknife.”
“Yes,
mother…sheesh…” Fotheran left Eve’s
office, eager to get on with his job. Eve watched him go with
conflicting feelings. She knew better than anyone else how
capable he was. Still, he hadn’t had as much experience
with Section 31 as she had. As Denys went out, JoAnn poked her
blonde head in.
Eve waved her on in and JoAnn said playfully;
“Ready to go play spy?”
Eve sighed. “That’s not funny,
JoAnn. I’m not happy about this at all.”
“Well, I am. Been too damned dull around
here lately. And I can see from the look on Denys’ face
that he agrees with me.”
“What is it with you two? We’re
supposed to be running a starbase, not chasing down alien spies or
letting ourselves get caught up in doing Section 31’s dirty
work. We’ve got more than enough to do.”
“Eve, you and Denys aren’t diplomats and
never will be. You’re out here on the fringe of Federation
space at the very threshold of new worlds and new civilizations and
you’re not taking advantage of it.”
Eve took out a phaser from her desk and held it out
to JoAnn. The Counselor looked at the weapon with some
surprise. “And what’s this for?”
“For your protection. What if the
plasomorph is down there?”
“My point exactly. What reason would I
have to be armed unless I knew the plasomorph was there? As soon
as it saw the phaser on my belt it would know the jig was up.”
“JoAnn, you can’t expect me to let you
go down there unarmed.”
“You’ll be unarmed, right?”
“Yes, but I can take care of myself.
Last time I looked you hadn’t been Replicated.”
“Well, I’ll make sure I stay right next
to you at all times, how’s that? Seriously, Evie, neither
one of us can go armed down there. This has got to look like
we’re just coming down for a routine look, maybe to get away from
some paperwork for a while. We’ve got to be as casual as
possible; otherwise somebody else is going to end up skinned.
Literally.”
“I hate to admit it, but you’re
right. Okay, we’ll leave the phaser. But you
don’t leave my sight at any time we’re down there.
Consider that an order, Counselor.”
“Aye, Captain. And you can be sure
that’s an order I’ll follow gladly. I’ve gotten
really fond of my skin over the years.”
Fotheran looked quite different as he led the way to
the magnaslide that would take them the eighteen miles to
Yellowknife. He was dressed in thick leather pants with Vulcan thut’ski’li riding
leggings and well-worn oxblood boots. An all weather pull over
shirt and leather jacket completed his wardrobe with a bandolier
crossing his shoulder and he now sported a three day growth of beard
and a vicious looking half healed scar starting at his hairline and
went down the right side of his face, thanks to some quick cosmetic
work by Dr. Utchenko.
Maxton was watching Fotheran carefully.
“You’ve done this before, I’d wager.”
Fotheran nodded. “Sometimes I’ll
go into Yellowknife for a day or so just to pick up on what’s
going on there. Eve’s daughter runs a café in town
and most of the traders and smugglers pass through there.”
“Captain Mallory’s daughter lives in
Yellowknife? I was wondering why she wasn’t on the
base.”
“Keep on wondering. Eve’s private
life is none of your business, Maxton.” Fotheran stopped
suddenly and was nose to nose with the agent as he continued.
“And let’s be clear on two things: one, don’t make
the mistake so many others have of thinking that I’ve gotten soft
since joining Starfleet. Two; the very first thing you do or say
that smacks of a set-up, I cut your throat and leave you for fertilizer
and considering the way Section 31 has treated Eve Mallory in the past,
I don’t think she’ll question me too hard as to what
happened to you if I come back to GS1 alone.”
Maxton replied coldly. “I’ve told
you the truth, Fotheran. Can we just get on with this
mission? I’ve got no wish to be here any longer than I have
to.”
Fotheran grunted in satisfaction and they boarded
the torpedo shaped magnaslide transport and settled themselves into the
comfortable chairs along with some thirty other passengers and were
soon rocketing toward Yellowknife.
Eve and JoAnn stepped off the transporter and were
met by a lanky Bajoran male who bowed deeply. “Captain
Mallory. Counselor St. John. An unexpected pleasure but a
pleasure nonetheless.”
“Thank you, Dr. Toj. We won’t be
in the way, I promise.” Eve smiled. Dr. Toj Losoj was
one of Bajor’s leading scientific lights and he was in charge of
the some fifty Bajoran scientists who were doing research here.
The Bajoran government was most anxious that Bajor be the first to reap
any benefits and rewards from new discoveries in the Gamma Quadrant
since it was their wormhole that made travel there feasible and so,
their research team was the largest and had more access time to the
alien base than any other team. Time that they guarded most jealously,
Eve had long ago noticed.
The teams from Earth and Vulcan pretty much worked
together, pooling their time and resources and even such an unlikely
pairing as the Cardassian and Ferengi scientific teams worked
together. The Klingons had sent a four-person team but they had
long ago come and left and the Romulan science team spent more time
spying on the other teams than doing any real research of their
own. But the Bajoran generally sealed off the base while they
were working there and never revealed any of their findings.
Dr. Toj led the way through brightly lit corridors
as he said, “I assume you’re here about the complaints that
have been lodged against our research practices?”
“No, what complaints are those?”
Eve replied innocently even though she knew quite well what complaints
those were. The Cardassians, of course.
“The Cardassians have been petitioning The
Federation Council to force us to share our findings with them.
Quite frankly, Captain Mallory, I made it quite clear from the
beginning that I saw no reason why the Cardassians should have even
been allowed to have access to this base but I was overruled. To
ask me to share the efforts of the hard work done by so many
Bajorans…”
Eve held up a hand. “Dr. Toj, the only
reason I’m down here is to escape from a mountain of paperwork
and some very annoying Argilian ambassadors who think that all I have
to do is be on call for them twenty four hours so that they can
complain if their bath water is two degrees too low. JoAnn
suggested we pay you a visit.”
Dr. Toj nodded his thanks to JoAnn. “I
only wish you’d come down more often, Captain. I usually
deal with your Commander Fotheran and to be blunt about it, he
doesn’t seem to consider our requests with a great deal of
enthusiam or sympathy.”
They had come to a slidewalk that the three of them
stepped on and it slowly took them further into the base.
“Commander Fotheran is in charge of making
sure that all the scientific teams have equal shares in the resources
GS1 can provide. He has to walk a fine line to avoid the
appearance of favoritism. If that makes him seem uncaring, I
apologize on his behalf.” Inwardly Eve reminded herself to
have a talk with Fotheran about his handling of the Bajoran
scientist. Dr. Toj was quite an influential man and if he decided
to use some of that influence…
They came to the alien base at last. Whoever
they had been, they were humanoid at least, since the controls and
seats and consoles were of a comfortable height for use. But
everything was rounded and smooth, with no sharp edges or corners, thus
giving the appearance of walls flowing into floors and consoles
smoothly melding into each other. The metals were of smoky gray
and dull silver but did not reflect. Eve walked around, looking
at the Bajoran scientists hard at work and felt the tugging of her
scientific soul. She would have loved to have a few weeks to poke
around here herself. Maybe JoAnn had a point when she had said
earlier that Eve and Fotheran were cutting themselves off from the
things they really loved to do. At heart she was a scientist, a
seeker after knowledge. Did she really want to spend her time in
endless meetings negotiating trade agreements and shipping route
schedules?
“Everybody usually this busy?”
JoAnn asked curiously. “Everybody’s rushing around
like they’re on a deadline or something?”
“In fact, we are,” Dr. Toj’s round
face broke into a smile. “This group is due to be rotated
back to Bajor in twenty hours and their replacements will be coming
here. Of course, this team wants to make sure that they’ve
finished up before leaving as they won’t be coming back for six
months.”
Eve and JoAnn swapped meaningful glances. They
were each thinking the same thing: if the plasomorph was wearing a
Bajoran skin, it couldn’t ask for a better way to get off
GS1. Once away from the starbase and back on Bajor, it could slip
off the planet with ridiculous ease. Dr. Toj’s attention
was caught by one of his colleagues and he said, “Could you
excuse me? This won’t take but a minute.”
“Please, take your time. The Counselor
and I will just stroll around for awhile.”
Dr. Toj nodded and moved off down a side corridor,
already deep in conversation. JoAnn waited until she was
sure they were out of earshot and said to Eve, “We don’t
have a whole lot of time here, Evie. We’ve got to check out
all forty Bajorans here and do it quick.”
Eve nodded in agreement. “We can’t
take a whole lot of time doing it either. Somebody will start to
wonder why we’re just hanging around when I’ve got a
starbase to run.” Eve sighed. “I hope Denys is
making progress in Yellowknife.”
Maxton had to admit it, Eve Mallory had been right
when she had said that a room hadn’t been searched until Denys
Fotheran searched it. Maxton had thought he had done a thorough
job of searching the plasomorph’s quarters but Fotheran had
already turned up five hiding places that had contained bits and pieces
of machinery that once they were all put together, proved to be a
compact subspace transmitter of unfamiliar design.
“You ever see anything like it?”
Fotheran asked Maxton, who shook his head in a negative.
“It wasn’t part of the package I gave to the
plasomorph. Dammit, Fotheran, I was hoping we wouldn’t find
anything like this.”
Fotheran held out the transmitter. “What
do you want to do with it?”
“What’s your recommendation?”
“Put it back. If the plasomorph
gets past us, it’ll have to come back here to get the
transmitter. I think I can fix it so that it’ll emit a
signal that we can pick up when this thing is activated. Maybe
that’ll give us a chance to lock a transporter beam on it and
beam it to GS1.”
Maxton looked at Fotheran with a sly cast in his
eyes. “But that’ll kill it.”
Fotheran had produced a small tool case from his
bandolier and had extracted several slim pieces of metal. He sat
down and placed the transmitter on a table and began working on
it. “So I gather.”
“You think Captain Mallory would approve of
your planning to murder a sentient being?”
Fotheran didn’t look up as he worked
swiftly. “Like you weren’t planning on killing it
anyway. You don’t have to play civilized with me,
Maxton. We both know that your spy has to die one way or
another. You’ve got to make sure it’s dead if for no
other reason than to cover up the involvement of yourself and Section
31. Frankly, I don’t give a Poobah’s pizzle what you
do with it. I just want you gone as soon as possible.”
“C’mon, Fotheran. You can’t
be that naive to believe that it’s going to end at that, do
you?”
Fotheran looked up, his amber eyes hot and
dangerous. “What do you mean?”
“You and Eve Mallory are simply too valuable a
potential resource to Section 31 to allow your talents to remain
undirected. I’m impressed with the way you both work
together and if she’s doing even half as well as you are
separately; I’m even more impressed. The both of you could
do quite well for yourselves if you’d throw in with-URK!”
Maxton had only seen a blur as Fotheran had come out
of his chair and slammed the Section 31 agent against the wall.
Fotheran spun Maxton around and smashed him again into the wall, this
time face first. Blood gushed from Maxton’s split lower
lip. Fotheran’s voice was low and hard in Maxton’s
ears.
“A word of advice for you and your bosses back
at Section 31…especially that bastard Kieron Olsen…you
know the problem with your organization? It’s like that old
saying about the weather…you know what I mean…everybody
talks about the weather but nobody can do anything to change it?
Well, Eve and I talk every once in awhile about the weather and
changing it to suit us. You get where I’m going with
this?”
Fotheran turned loose of Maxton, who turned around
and wiped blood from his lip and chin. He looked at the blood on
his hand and looked into Fotheran’s eyes with open hatred.
“Yes, I think I do. And you’re right about the
weather…the way it changes without warning. One day it can
be sunny and bright like the promise of Heaven and the next day, black
and stormy like the other side of Death itself.”
Fotheran and Maxton stood glaring at each other for
perhaps thirty seconds and each man realized something in that span of
time: one day one of them was going to kill the other. It
wouldn’t be today and it might not be the next day they
met. But a hatred had begun that was only going to be satisfied
with a killing.
“I’d better finish gimmicking this
gizmo,” Fotheran said abruptly, returning to the
transmitter. “And then we’ll go visit Eve’s
daughter and see if she can tell us anything useful.”
So far Eve and JoAnn had managed to briefly speak
with ten of the Bajoran scientists. Some had been friendly and
eager to talk. Others had barely concealed their hostility toward
the Starfleet officers. JoAnn was slightly miffed.
“Seems as if no matter what The Federation
does for them, there’s no way to make these Bajorans
happy,” the Counselor groused. “You’d think
they consider all the lives and sacrifices that have been lost to make
sure they kept their planet and the wormhole.”
Eve and JoAnn were walking through an egg-shaped
chamber filled with brown and beige colored metal obelisks of varying
heights. Some were almost ten feet tall, others only an inch
high. There were maybe a hundred of them in the chamber.
The obelisks had no sort of markings or decorations of any sort.
Dr. Toj was hurrying to join them.
“Best keep those sentiments to
yourself,’ Eve warned her friend. “This isn’t
the time to get into a political debate.”
“So how are you enjoying your little
tour?” Dr. Toj asked, smiling warmly at both women.
“I’m sorry I couldn’t have shown you around some of
the more interesting areas of the base.”
“Oh, that’s quite all right, I assure
you. What are these obelisks? Have you and your staff
figured out what they’re for? Do they have a purpose?”
Dr. Toj nodded. “Oh, yes indeed. A
very great purpose indeed. One I’ll be happy to show
you.” Dr. Toj reached under his jacket and withdrew a
Bajoran phaser and fired two quick stun blasts. JoAnn and Eve
dropped to the ground. Dr. Toj looked around. There were no
other staff members around. He was quite alone in the
chamber. He quickly dragged Eve and JoAnn out of sight and then
went to the door of the chamber and looked outside anxiously, obviously
waiting for someone.
Eve watched him through one half-open eye. The
stun blast had no effect on her, of course. Being a Replicant, a
stun setting that knocked out a human had no effect on her. A
phaser would have to be set on a much higher setting to incapacitate
her for a significant length of time. But Eve hadn’t wanted
to tip her hand just yet. She knew that Dr. Toj wasn’t the
plasomorph but his actions just now showed that he was either in league
with the alien spy or he had another agenda behind his surprise attack.
Dr. Toj was still at the door, looking. Eve
reached out a hand and took JoAnn’s pulse. The
Counselor’s pulse was strong and her breathing even and
normal. Eve calculated that JoAnn would be out for maybe another
ten minutes or so. The stun setting hadn’t been that
high…just enough to get them out of the way for a short time.
Another Bajoran bustled into the room and Dr. Toj
hastily sealed the door. The new arrival was a middle-aged man
with thick gray hair and deep-set eyes that roved the room.
“Where’s the new skin you promised me? I’ve
only got thirty minutes left before I have to shed this one!”
“We’re in luck, my friend. Come
see.” Dr. Toj led the disguised plasomorph over to where
the two women lay. Eve was once again feigning
unconsciousness. She needed for Dr. Toj to come closer so she
could make a grab for the phaser.
“You see? That’s Captain Mallory
herself! Once you take her skin, you can order all the obelisks
to be transported up to a starship and we can take them all back to
Bajor!”
“It’s too good to be true, I say.
And too risky. Who’s this other one?”
“She’s just a Counselor.
She’s got no influence.”
Eve was grateful JoAnn wasn’t conscious to
hear THAT.
The spy bent closer over Eve. He seemed to be
examining her very closely. “She’s awake!”
“Impossible!” Dr. Toj hurried
closer. “I stunned her at close range! The both of them
should be out for another ten to fifteen minutes at least!”
“I tell you she’s shamming! Give
me that phaser, you fool, before she-“
Eve came up from the floor, one small fist popping
the spy right in the left eye, throwing him back. Her other hand
reached out and plucked the phaser from Dr. Toj’s hand. The
startled scientist couldn’t even speak as Eve shoved him over
next to his partner.
Eve grinned fiercely at the two conspirators.
“Now, we’re going to have us a little chat. There are
a few things you boys have to clear up for me.”
Yellowknife was broken up into several districts of
which one of the most frequented was Blackville, which was pretty much
the red-light district of Yellowknife. Just about any sort of
vice imaginable was here and readily available if one had the necessary
amount of credits or gold press latinum. Fotheran led Maxton
through narrow, twisting streets until coming to a wide plaza that was
home to several cafes and restaurants. The largest one boasted a
holographic sign that resembled old-fashioned neon lighting that read;
‘RICK’S’
Fotheran and Maxton went on in. Although the
décor meant nothing to Maxton, Fotheran immediately grinned as
he took in the heady Moroccan atmosphere, circa Earth’s World War
II period. The air was thick with the smoke of a dozen different
types of tobacco and other more exotic inhalants while the gaming
tables were crowded and doing a brisk business. Fotheran shoved
his way through the crowd and elbowed a space for himself and Maxton at
the bar.
“What do you want to drink?’
Fotheran asked.
“Shouldn’t we be locating Captain
Mallory’s daughter?”
“She already knows I’m here.
Relax, have a drink. It may be your last.”
“Don’t you get tired of making
meaningless threats all the time?”
“Ooooo…did you think of that comeback
all by yourself?” Fotheran waved to the eight-armed Xamuan
bartender. The azure alien slithered over on its dozens of
tentacles that served as feet and gobbled in its own language at
Fotheran. To Maxton’s astonishment, Fotheran gobbled
back. The two of them sounded like mutant turkeys trying to sing
Klingon opera as they conversed.
The Xamuan looked at Maxton with its four oval
golden eyes and something very much like a laugh issued from its
mouth. It slithered away to make drinks for them.
“What did the two of you talk about?”
“Oh, he just said that he was surprised to see
me walk in here with a Federation spy. I told him you were on the
run and needed falsified documents to get back to the Alpha
Quadrant. He said no amount of fake paper was going to help you
with that face.”
“And what’s wrong with my face?”
“C’mon, Maxton. One look at you
and anybody can see that you’re as straight as they come.
Here’s our drinks.”
“Interesting place.” Maxton looked
suspiciously at the two goblets placed in front of them, both half
filled with a sparkling golden brown liquid that appeared to have
flakes of gold floating in it. “What’s this?”
“Cinnabarian brandy. Drink
up.” Fotheran took his own advice, gulping down half his
drink and looking around. “Caitlyn’s a big fan of
Humphrey Bogart and the holomovie ‘Casablanca’
especially. When Caitlyn was a baby and got cranky and
wouldn’t go to sleep, Eve said she used to put on Bogart’s
holofilms and Caitlyn went right to sleep. When she took this
place over, she had it completely remodeled to resemble Rick’s
Café from ‘Casablanca’.”
“While this is all very fascinating, can we
please get on with our mission? We don’t have a lot of time
for you to play tour guide.”
“Oh my goodness!” A slim girl in
her early twenties shoved through the crowd with a gusto that would
have done a Klingon warrior proud and threw her arms around Fotheran,
hugging him as tight as she could. “Denys! It’s
so good to see you! Where’s Mom? Is she with
you?”
Maxton looked in disbelief at Caitlyn Mallory.
She wasn’t much taller than her mother and looked about as
threatening as a kitten. Unlike her mother she had long straight
black hair with a prominent white streak and large blue gray
eyes. Maxton recalled that Eve had adopted Caitlyn.
Fotheran grinned down at the young girl.
“You’re Mom’s just fine, Cait. She’s back
at the base. Look, do you think we could talk in private.
I’m on a mission and could use some help.”
“Sure. C’mon.” Taking
Fotheran by the hand, she led him and Maxton to her office, a
completely sound and psi-proofed room. Caitlyn looked curiously
at Fotheran.
“So what’s going on?”
Fotheran introduced Maxton and quickly outlined the
situation for Caitlyn. She listened attentively while Maxton grew
ever more impatient. First off, he found it difficult to believe
that this slip of a girl could run such an establishment as this that
was packed with some pretty bad customers indeed. Caitlyn
didn’t look capable of crossing the street alone, much less
survive in Yellowknife.
When Fotheran was finished, Caitlyn nodded and said;
“There was a few killings that are similar to what you describe,
Denys. Seven bodies turned up without their skins a few days
ago. The local authorities made their usual bogus investigation
but when the killings stopped, they dropped the investigation.”
Maxton nodded. “That makes sense.
The plasomorph needed skins to walk around in and gather
information. When it was ready to make it’s move and
infiltrate GS1, the killings stopped.”
“And your spy couldn’t have picked a
better place than Yellowknife to take skins to wear,” Fotheran
agreed. “People here get their throats cut every day over
the most trivial matters and you wouldn’t believe how corrupt the
local police is.”
“So this plasomorph is on the base
now?” Caitlyn frowned. “Denys, why’d you
leave my mother to come here?”
“Because your mother can take care of herself
and we didn’t know for sure if the spy was on GS1 or had left and
come back to Yellowknife. We’re pretty much making this one
up as we go along, Cait. And if the plasomorph IS on GS1, your
mom’s probably got it hogtied by now.”
JoAnn St. John woozily got to her feet, supported by
Eve who had the Bajoran phaser firmly trained on Dr. Toj and the
disguised plasomorph.
“I HATE being stunned.” JoAnn
moaned. She glared at Dr. Toj. “Oh, I’m going
to enjoy testifying at your trial, mister. Is he the plasomorph,
Evie?”
“No. He is.” Eve jerked her
head in the direction of the other Bajoran, who was looking most
agitated.
“Shouldn’t you beam Patience and a
security detail down here so that they can haul these two off to a
holding cell?”
“Not just yet. Whatever they’ve
got going on, it’s got to do with these obelisks and I want to
know exactly what before I call in the troops.”
The plasomorph said urgently, “You want to
know all about Maxton, I suppose. I’m willing to
talk.”
“So talk. First off, what’s your
involvement in this, Toj? Are you working for Section 31 and
Maxton?”
Dr. Toj snorted laughter. “Captain,
you’re so far off the homing beacon, it’s pathetic.
The plasomorph is working for ME.”
“I don’t follow.”
“These obelisks you see here are data storage
units, containing the complete records of this base. My team
hasn’t been able to unlock the key that will allow us total
access, but we’ve been able to decipher one of the
obelisks. You can’t imagine the wealth of information and
knowledge that these devices hold!” Dr. Toj’s face
was alight with the excitement he felt. “About eight months
ago, my team and I accidentally found out how to activate one of the
obelisks and download some of the data into our computers. It was
an extremely tight, highly compressed data stream but it contained a
staggering amount of information.”
“And you decided to keep it to
yourself.” Eve’s voice was harsh. “Fully
ignoring the agreement your government made with The Federation.
Bajor is to have first opportunity at any new technology discovered
here but then you’re to share it with the Federation-“
“Damn the Federation!” Dr. Toj
howled. “The information stored in these alien obelisks can
turn Bajor from a struggling second-class backwater planet into the
major power in this sector of the galaxy! We can no longer have
to rely on Federation handouts and take our rightful place once again
as a people to be reckoned with! We can take our long overdue
revenge on the Cardassians and then The Federation will be forced to
deal with us on more equal footing!”
Horrified by the naked power and ambition of the
scientist, JoAnn said, “I can’t…I WON’T
believe that the Bajoran government sanctioned you to do this.
You’ve broken diplomatic agreements, become an accessory to
murder…”
Eve looked at the plasomorph. “And
what’s in it for you? Why did you double cross
Maxton?”
“For years my people have been literally
enslaved by Section 31 to carry out assassinations for them. Dr.
Toj offered my people a safe haven on Bajor where we can live
peacefully and not have to work for Section 31 any longer.”
“I had been in touch with the plasomorphs for
years now,” Dr. Toj said. “I knew that a day
would come when Section 31 would use the plasomorphs against Bajor in
some way. The plasomorphs had a standing offer from me and we
have had an agreement for years, ever since this alien base was
discovered. I’ve been planning this for years.”
“And how did you find out about Section 31 in
the first place?” Eve demanded.
“I served on Deep Space Nine before it was
destroyed and I knew Dr. Julian Bashir. There were several
incidents on DS9 involving Bashir and Section 31. There were even
rumors that Bashir was working for them. One night we were
drinking and Bashir let slip some interesting nuggets of information
about Section 31 that I kept to myself, knowing they’d be useful
someday.”
Eve shook her head sadly. She’d run into
more than her share of madmen and power seekers in her time, but the
utter disregard and manipulation and scheming Toj Losoj had
demonstrated was something else again. “I’ve heard
enough out of you, Toj. I’m going to turn you over to the
Bajoran Diplomatic Liaison Officer back at GS1 and let your own people
deal with you and you’d best believe that I’ll do
everything I can to see that you pay for the deaths you’ve
caused.”
“And what of me?” The plasomorph
demanded.
“You’ll be held in a stasis cell until I
receive orders from my superiors. I can understand why
you’ve done what you done. I’ve been treated badly by
Section 31 myself, but there were other channels you could have-“
The plasomorph suddenly jerked as if it was having a
seizure of some kind. JoAnn instinctively started forward, but
Eve gripped her by the arm and held her back.
The plasomorph retched and leaned forward and grayish ooze erupted from
its mouth. Eve realized that its time was up and it had to shed
the skin it had been using. The plasomorph poured out of the
human skin through the mouth and as it did so, coagulating into a thick
puddle on the floor, the human skin deflated much like a balloon with
the air being let out until it flopped like an old discarded
coat. Eve fired a blast from her phaser, but the plasomorph
easily twisted out of the way. Its reflexes seemed to be as fast
as her own as it dodged the next two blasts.
“Get behind me, the both of you!
I’m going to try a wide spread burst-” Eve ordered as she
adjusted the Bajoran phaser. But it was too late.
The plasomorph thickened into a vaguely serpentine
shape and slithered along the floor toward the sealed door and right
under it.
“Oh, we’ve got a problem.”
JoAnn whispered.
“I’m not licked yet,” Eve slapped
her commbadge. “Mallory to O’Malley!”
=^=O’Malley here, Captain. What’s
wrong?=^=
“The plasomorph is down here! Beam in
two full security details with protective armor and then erect a Level
12 force field around the entire alien base. I want it cut off
from the rest of GS1! Do it now!”
Fotheran, Maxton and Caitlyn returned to Operations
that was on full yellow alert. Fotheran had changed back to his
uniform and been cosmetically restored to his normal appearance.
Caitlyn had insisted on returning with Fotheran and he agreed.
The last thing he wanted was Caitlyn to be left in Yellowknife while
the plasomorph was loose. Even though he was aware of the
mysterious powers Caitlyn possessed, powers that were still pretty much
a mystery even to her, there was no point in taking chances.
Fotheran ran over to the central deck, where Wally
Lockridge and Felicia Goodluck were co-coordinating the shut down of
GS1 and the alien base.
“Report, Wally.”
“Captain Mallory and Counselor St. John are
down in the alien base with the plasomorph. They found it okay,
disguised as a Bajoran but it got away. It’s had time now
to take another skin. Patience beamed in two security details
before we erected a Level 12 force field around the entire alien
base. Nothings getting out or in.”
“Except me,” Fotheran said.
“Can you drop the force field long enough to get me in?”
“Sure. Give me ten seconds to get a fix
on Captain Mallory and I can set you down right next to her.”
“I’m going as well,” Maxton said.
“Fine with me. Wally, you and Felicia
are still in command here until the Captain and I get back. Look
after Caitlyn, okay?”
“Denys, I-” Caitlyn began, but Fotheran
cut her off.
“I know what you’re going to say and
don’t even think it. Your mom and I have got enough people
down there we have to worry about. Don’t give us another
one. You’ll be fine right here until we get
back.” He walked over to a weapons locker and took out two
phaser rifles and handed one to Maxton. Fotheran looked hard at
Lockridge. “Lieutenant, under NO circumstances are you to
drop that force field after you beam us in, is that clear?”
“Yes sir. Good luck and good
hunting.”
Eve heard the sound of someone transporting in and
turned to watch Fotheran and Maxton thicken into reality no more than
ten feet from her. She smiled as Fotheran rested the barrel of
the phaser rifle on his shoulder and grinned at her.
“Another fine mess you’ve gotten us into.”
Despite the grim situation, Eve had to smile.
Fotheran just had that effect on her. No matter how bad or
desperate things got, his cocky confidence and easy grin always lifted
her spirits. She outlined the situation for the two new arrivals.
After she finished, Fotheran nodded. “Well, I told Wally
not to drop the force field no matter what. You’ve got two
security details down here, right?”
“They’ve rounded up all the Bajorans
down here and they’re keeping them in one of the smaller chambers
under guard. I’m going to leave them there with a guard and
have the rest of the detail search the base. They’re in
protective armor so I’m reasonably sure that they’re safe
from being skinned. Come with me. I want to have a closer
look at those obelisks.”
Eve led the way to the obelisk room where JoAnn was
intently examining the information storage devices. Alien
anthropology was sort of a hobby of hers and the obelisks represented a
fascinating find. She rose to her feet as Eve, Fotheran and
Maxton joined her, brushing dirt from her hands. She gave
Fotheran a warm smile and Maxton a chilling glare. “Evie,
what’s our next move?”
“Find the plasomorph and secure this
base. I’m not allowing any more research teams down here,
Federation or otherwise until this affair is resolved.
Where’s Dr. Toj?”
“With the rest of the Bajorans. He
screamed bloody hell, but I figured you didn’t want him down here
and we know he’s not been taken over by the plasomorph.
Besides, he gives me the creeps.”
Fotheran was inspecting an obelisk that was almost
as tall as he was. “So this is what all the hubbub is
about, then? These thingies? What are they, exactly?”
“Power, Fotheran.” Maxton jammed
the muzzle of his phaser rifle into Fotheran’s back.
“Drop the rifle and take five steps forward. Don’t
turn around. Mallory, St, John, the both of you join him and drop
your weapons. And don’t even try anything, Mallory. I
know you’re a Replicant and I know how fast you can move when you
have to. I won’t waste my time trying to shoot you.
I’ll have my weapon trained on either Fotheran or St.John at all
times and the first move you make I don’t like, I’ll
shoot. And my weapon is on a kill setting. Fast as you are,
you won’t be able to stop me from getting off a shot.”
JoAnn said sourly, “Isn’t ANYBODY on our
side anymore?”
Fotheran laughed. “JoAnn, Section 31
recognizes only one side. Theirs. So what’s the deal,
Maxton? You’re going to take these obelisks back to Olsen
and let Section 31 techies tear them apart?”
“You and Mallory are so naïve. The
both of you could have had a great future with Section 31.”
“Answer his question, Maxton.” Eve
snapped. She couldn’t remember the last time she had been
this angry. Maybe she and Denys were getting old or just
stupid. They’d been out maneuvered ever since this
adventure had started. And right now, it didn’t look as if
they were they going to get a chance to have another one.
“This operation wasn’t sanctioned by
Olsen, if that makes you feel better. Olsen’s got this
imbecilic notion that he can eventually turn you and Fotheran around to
his way of thinking, but there are others in Section 31 who have a
different idea. Part of my mission here was to evaluate you two
and in my opinion, the both of you are simply too dangerous.
You’ll never willingly help Section 31 and Fotheran’s made
it quite clear that if given the chance, you’ll do whatever you
can to expose us and bring us down and we can’t have that.
Section 31 is the hope of The Federation’s continued survival as
the major power in this sector and we intend to insure that.”
Eve said, “Do you honestly believe that you
can get away with murdering three ranking Starfleet officers,
especially ones as high profile as Denys and myself?”
Maxton laughed. “And why not?
I’ll let you in on a little secret. Connor Maxton
didn’t exist three weeks ago. I was completely bio-refitted
for this mission and a special biographical file was placed into every
possible database we thought Fotheran would use to find out who I
was. Once this mission is over, I’ll be bio-refitted into
yet another identity and Connor Maxton will simply cease to
exist.”
JoAnn was aghast. “Y’know,
I’d really like to find out just where the hell Section 31 finds
you guys. The things that you’re willing to do go beyond
madness.”
Maxton frowned and aimed his weapon at JoAnn.
“You ARE a mouthy bitch, aren’t you? I think
I’ll kill you first.”
The plasomorph dropped onto Maxton’s
back. It had taken a humanoid form, albeit one that was
faceless. Maxton twisted and shoved the butt of his weapon into
the plasomorph’s stomach, knocking it loose from his back.
The alien hit the floor hard.
Eve dived for a phaser and grabbed one, rolled and
came up firing. Maxton had leaped for cover behind one of the
larger obelisks. Fotheran grabbed up his phaser rifle and fired at the
plasomorph, stunning it into unconsciousness.
Maxton aimed his weapon at Fotheran and squeezed the
trigger.
The explosion made both Eve and JoAnn jump in
surprise.
Maxton lay on his back, eyes open wide as possible
in shock. He was so surprised and stunned that he couldn’t
even scream despite the incredible agony he must have been in.
Both of his arms ended just below the elbow in blackened, smoking
stumps. He wasn’t losing much blood, due to the cauterizing
effect of the explosion, but he was still going to need medical
attention.
Fotheran stood over Maxton and said with great
satisfaction; “I don’t care where you’re
from…that’s gotta hurt.”
Eve and JoAnn came over to look down at the injured
Maxton. “Couldn’t have happened to a nicer
guy,” JoAnn said with no regret or remorse whatsoever.
“You gimmicked the phaser rifle, huh, big boy?”
Fotheran nodded. “If Maxton thought I
was going to give him a weapon he could use against me, he obviously
didn’t think I meant it when I said I don’t play by
Starfleet rules. Right, Eve?”
“That’s why I keep you close to me,
Commander.” Eve smiled.
Eve looked up as Fotheran entered her office and sat
down across the desk from her and swung his booted feet up to
rest. It was three days since they’d captured Maxton and
the plasomorph and Eve had finally finished up the tedious paperwork.
“So what’s the final outcome,
Captain?”
“Maxton and the plasomorph are both on
Starbase 465 where they’ll be held incommunicado until
they’re both interrogated by a team of investigators from The
Federation Council. Maxton’s arms were amputated but
he’s not going to receive new ones for a while, as there are some
problems with his medical records. After three days, nobody still
knows who he REALLY is. We may never know. I’ve been
ordered to allow science teams back into the alien base, but this time,
I’m going to make sure that we stay on top of what’s going
on down there. You’ll help with that?”
“No doubt. How about Dr. Toj?”
“The Bajoran government will deal with
him. Needless to say, they’re not very happy with
him. He even tried to ask for sanctuary here. Can you
believe that?”
“Eve, after the last few days, I’d
believe just about anything.”
Eve nodded in agreement. “But we did
good, Denys. We put the breaks on a Section 31 operation,
prevented the theft of important alien technology and captured a
dangerous alien spy. All in all, I feel pretty good about
that.”
“So do I, Eve. So do I. Anyway, I
came to get you. We’ve got that meeting with the Argilian
Ambassador. And I can tell you right now that he’s got a
couple of hundred complaints that he—“
“We’re not going to the
meeting.” Eve said with a wicked twinkle in her eye.
Fotheran blinked in surprise.
“We’re not?”
“Nope.” Eve tapped her commbadge.
“Mallory to ColdFire.”
=^=Vollmer here, Captain=^=
“Everything ready for Mr. Fotheran and myself,
Mike?”
=^=The only thing preventing our departure is your
presence on the bridge, Captain=^=
“Stand by.” Eve said to
Fotheran. “There’s been a rumor of some Tarkian
Raiders attacking the Federation colony on Nagress Lotin IV. Want
to take a run out there and see what trouble we can get into?”
Fotheran’s wide grin said it all for
him. As he came around to stand next to Eve for beam out to the
orbiting ColdFire, he said,
“Usually I’m the one ready to drop all responsibility and
take off. What prompted this?”
Eve first tapped her commbadge and said, “Beam
us directly to the bridge, Mike.” As the transporter effect
surrounded them, Eve said, “JoAnn said something to me a few days
ago that I realized was absolutely true: you and I aren’t
diplomats and never will be…so let’s go do what
we’re good at.”
THE
END