The Final Frontier 8

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Text File | 1995-02-23 | 13.8 KB | 366 lines

TF01 3,The Hunter - Part 7 4,by Stuart Mackaness The Vanguard Chronicles - "The Hunter" ---------------------------------------- by Stuart Mackaness --------------------- PART SEVEN Captain's Log: Stardate 47347.1 With no word from the away team for the past eight hours, my fears for their safety are increasing. I cannot risk sending another team across without knowing why Commander Halk has not contacted us.I can only wait for assistance from Starfleet. The Cardassian warship is preparing to leave the demilitarised zone. The Captain is urging us to withdraw also, but I am claiming to have propulsion problems. In reality, Chief Gart's crew have done a sterling job of repairing the Vanguard. Unfortunately this has not given him time to work on the problem of getting a lock onto the away team. Now the majority of the repairs are done he says he will concentrate all his time on the situation. "End log." Warner ordered. He lay back onto his bed, his eyelids heavy. He hadn't slept properly since the whole business began. When the away team went missing he didn't sleep at all. Now his body was screaming for sleep he decided to give it a few minutes worth to keep it quiet. "Computer," he called, "Dim lighting to twenty percent." The lights dimmed obligingly. He turned on his side and felt himself drift off. The door chimed. "Lights to full." Cursing softly he stood up. "Come in." The doors parted to allow a visually stunning hairless woman to enter. He only recognised her once she handed him a padd. It was Yeoman Lasaari. Warner was taken aback, he had never seen her anywhere other than the bridge. He hadn't recognised her out of uniform. "Yeoman?" he said puzzled, "What can I do for you?" A brief look in her eyes said exactly what he could do for her. Her mouth said something else. "Here's the report on crew morale sir." "Oh, thank you. Do come in." He looked over the report. It was extremely well detailed. "You're Deltan aren't you?" "Yes sir, that's why you asked me to assume Counselor Reboxski's duties while she was away." Warner remember the several discussions that he had with Lasaari during Reboxski's absence. Li and Halk had both told him on seperate occasions that she had more than a professional interest in him. He took it as ship's scuttlebutt and paid no attention to it, now he wasn't so sure though. "Counselor Reboski is human. I didn't select you for the task because you were empathic. It was because you work hard, you're good with people and I want you to go further aboard this ship." Warner explained. Lasaari's eyes lit up and she blushed slightly."Oh, thank you sir." "And I know just how you can further your career." He continued. She lowered her eyes and stepped uncomfortably closer to him. "Yes Captain?" She breathed. Warner bit on his tounge. What was he saying! He was nearly fifty and he was thinking about a relationship with a woman at least half his age. He continued to speak, but her scent and proximity made his mind turn slowly to glue. "I know... just how you can further your... career. You can sl... take up... sorry... I meant take on... full responsibility of... me." She kissed him full on the mouth. This completly surprised him. He hadn't led her on or anything like that. Then he went over the previous conversation. Take full responsibility of me! I know just how you can further your career! He didn't mean that. He meant take full responsibility of Counselor Reboxski's duties until she returned. My god, this woman's making me sound like a twenty fourth century Rasputin! He managed to separate himself. "You're a Deltan. What about your damned oath of celibacy you're supposed to take?" She seemed hurt be his rejection. "I'm half Deltan, the oath is optional." "Great." Warner said sarcastically. "I thought Deltans preferred their own kind for partners. Aren't we Humans supposed to be too sexually immature?" He couldn't help but feel indignant. He was acutely embarassed and was finding it hard to cover up. "Full Deltan's regard me as more Human than Deltan. So they leave me alone." "So you turn to me?" Warner asked incredulously. His embarassment made him sound insulting. She looked at him as though he had shot her with a phaser. "Are we off duty?" "Well..." Warner considered where this was leading. "Yes we are." "Good." Lasaari slapped him in the face. "I genuinely like you Jonathan, it's got nothing to do with your rank or power. If you can't handle that then..." her eyes brimmed with tears and she rushed out. Warner stood still for a moment, slowly rubbing his jaw. She had a good right hand. Tired, embarassed and now deeply regretting the way he treated her, he climbed into bed. "Lights down to five percent." he called out. He felt his eyelids grow heavy. His door chime rang out. Not even bothering to get up he said "Come in." The door's opened and a figure entered. From the curves, Warner presumed it to be a woman. Lasaari, he thought, it must be. "Look, I apologise. I guess I'm not used to relationships starting so suddenly. Can we talk this through?" he called out into the gloom. The lights came up to full. Instantly Warner knew that it wasn't Lasaari who had come in. "I'd be delighted to talk it over." Li said in a mock passionate tone. "Darling." he added sarcastically. Warner wished the bed would swallow him up. "I presume you were expecting Yeoman Lasaari. I saw her running down the corridor. I think she was crying." Li smirked, "You certainly have a way with women you whipper snapper." * * * It was all over. The ship was his. The guards had found Ocett's body in her quarters. It was now undergoing examination in the medicine office. A phaser to the head. Very quick. He would write it up as she instructed him to. Killed in a gun battle with pirates. A fitting end to her career. Murvek made his way around his new office. Cleaning all her personal artifacts out. As per regulations she only had her personal padd and a small crystal like statuette. Even the statue was on the borderline with the directives laid down by Central Command. He put it into the small box he was carrying. It would be sent to her family to remember her by. He examined the padd. It was Ocett's record of the Rham-Izad incident and the origin of life she was later witness to. She would want it passed through the censor unmolested and then be given fame for her theories. Shame he thought, erasing the padd. He glanced at his healed arm. It would never be quite the same. Still, as a former commander of his once said 'Every career move has it's cost'. * * * Halk desperately tried to stifle a yawn. She failed and gave a long sigh. They had been walking now for nearly ten hours. The central column seemed slightly closer, but not as close as she thought it would be. Hermandez was a few metres ahead of her, keeping up quite a good pace. The other security guard, Carstairs, was slightly behind her. Dean had hurt his ankle and had dopped back. Karma remained with him, her recent spate of prolonged flights had left her weak. They said they would get there a little late, they were going to stop for a while. Halk had the continued the trek to the controller. They should have covered the distance in a few hours at the most. "Something tells me that this journey is a little longer than twenty kilometres." She called to Hermandez. The security chief dropped back slightly and nodded in agreement. "If we had a tricorder I could tell you how far we've travelled. But as we don't I can't." "We must be getting tired, I couldn't understand a thing you just said." Halk admitted. "Let's take another break." "I agree. In fact let's strike camp for the time being." Halk added. "But sir, we're nearly there." Hermandez protested. "No we're not. Now this is an order, you are no good to me asleep when we meet whoever is flying this thing." Hermandez nodded, seeing the logic behind it. The three of them sat down on the seamless floor. "Seeing as you are so eager, you can take the first watch." Halk said. Then she and the guard lay back and soon fell into a blissful sleep. Hermandez held the sole phaser. It was the groups only protection against the crew of the hunter. She was going to make sure she had it fully charged when they met. She set it to thermal re-energise and tucked it under Halk's prone form. * * * Warner watched from the observation lounge windows as the Cardassian ship lept into warp. He allowed himself to relax more. He still had more troubles than he cared to count. Counselor Reboxski was en route to Starbase fourty five. The Vanguard already had a mission on the cards which involved her. With tensions on the Kreel border escalating she was needed with Halk to attend a conference at the New Washington colony. If she wasn't there, then the likelihood of war would become more tangible. The intercom whistled. "Captain Warner, we have improved communications with the away team. We can contact then now." Ensign Briggs reported. Warner strode out of the observation lounge and onto the bridge. Things were starting to go his way again. * * * Halk awoke to find Hermandez shaking her. "What's the matter Lieutenant?" "The Vanguard's just contacted me!" She said excitedly. Carstairs, the guard, was already awake and was streching his legs. Halk rose and hit her communicator. "Halk to Vanguard." A burst of static muffled the channel. Then a voice came through, Halk recognised it as Warner's. "Number one... do you need transporting up?" "No sir, I am trying to reach the intelligence behind the hunter." "Do you... any equipment... food?" The snippets of the sentence came through the static. "Can you beam us three tricorders and a few phasers?" Halk asked. There was a slight pause. "... problem with... transporters... will try." Halk waited for a moment and then picked up the audible hum of the transporter. There was a shower of light twenty metres away. "I think the targeting system is a little off." Hermandez muttered. Halk ran over to the transport site. Sure enough three tricorders lay closed on the floor. She picked one up and tested it. The screen flickered occasionally and the power light flashed. "Drained." She cursed. Hermandez and Carstairs had picked up their tricorders and tested them. Carstairs began banging his on the floor. "Nothing." He said. Hitting her communicator, Hermandez contacted the ship again. "What about those phasers?" She demanded. "... already beamed..." came the static ridden reply. Hermandez looked around. "Where?" "We will... to beam some more..." There was a faint glow, a good hundred metres away. Hermandez rushed towards them, Carstairs close behind. She picked one up, it was whining loudly. "Overload!" She yelled throwing it away and running. Carstairs turned to run but was caught in the explosion. His body was smashed to the floor like a rag doll, his bones cracked loudly. Halk rushed to the scene. Hermandez was stunned but otherwise fine. Carstairs was unsurprisingly dead. "Damn." She swore. * * * Karma flew above Dean as he marched towards the column. She could see he was nearly there. She darted down to him, as she neared he seemed to speed up. Then like a Starship he streched like chewing gum and shot off. Karma took to the skies again, searching for him. She could just about make him out at the base of the pillar. Confused she began to fly towards him. After several minutes at top speed, she arrived at the tower-like structure at the centre. It was as wide as the Vanguard's saucer, about a hundred and fifty metres across. A flight of stairs led up to the base of the pillar from all around. A small door appeared to be set into the wall. Dean was seated next to the door, obviously waiting. She swooped down low and landed by his feet. "What took you so long?" he asked sullenly. "I watched you for hours. You just seemed to crawl towards me, it would have been faster walking." Karma looked at him incredulously. "Are you kidding! How was I supposed to keep up with you at mach seven?" "I had a broken ankle, I'm not exactly going to sprint there." "You were a streak of light!" Karma exclaimed. Dean looked at her. "You're serious aren't you." "Yes!" she cried. Then she calmed down slightly. "You're right though, you couldn't have gotten here so fast with a broken ankle. You couldn't have gotten here that fast in the Vanguard. I saw you a few minutes ago, you couldn't have been here for hours acording to Shultz law's." "How is it possible?" Dean asked. "It's not!" "But I'm here, and I have been for the past four hours at least." "Anti-time maybe?" Karma said thoughtfully. "Anti what?" "Never mind, it's a hypothetical theory which has no real basis for existence." Karma said arbitrarily. "Well if it doesn't exist, then what was it?" Dean asked. "I don't know." Karma admitted. "You're the science officer, you figure it out." He retorted, lack of food started to irritate him. Karma ignored him and looked out to the horizon. "Who is that?" Dean followed her gaze. "It looks like humanoids!" He said surprised. A small explosion covered the three figures. Karma rose into the air. "I'll go and check it out." Dean stood up and watched her shoot forward into a dot on the horizon. He moved to sit down, then he realised something. He pulled off his boot and studied his ankle. It wasn't broken anymore.