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+ | **Location: Main Bridge, deck 1, USS Republic** | ||
+ | Kim Roth looked to the viewer with a grim satisfaction as she watched a spread of three photon torpedoes slam into the shields and defractive armor that protected the Dominion ship in battle. Zoe Beauvais had done her job well, and the torpedoes hit home. Unfortunately, | ||
+ | The photon torpedoes hit home, but it wasn't enough, and in Republic' | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | Zoe Beauvais checked her Tactical display and relayed its grim news. " | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Damn it." Roth hissed. If she could get through the shields, then the torpedoes themselves would make short work of the attack ship, but with the shields in place, that wasn't at all likely. The mood on the bridge was already tense enough when the turbo-lift to the bridge opened. | ||
+ | |||
+ | As she looked around the chaos of the bridge, the turbo-lift at the back of the deck opened, revealing Shannon Harris, tending to the body of John Carter, who moaned and rolled over onto his back, revealing a sizable cut across his forehead. | ||
+ | |||
+ | //" | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | //" | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | Roth immediately looked to the ship's EMH/ | ||
+ | |||
+ | Shannon finished running her medical tricorder over the gash in Carter' | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | Harris blinked. "I appreciate that ma'am, but shouldn' | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Now. Doctor. I have to know if the ship's going to go critical, or if we're leaking atmosphere, or god knows what!" | ||
+ | |||
+ | Harris nodded, though she didn't like the thought of having to ignore patients. She could see that the welfare of the ship itself might well be paramount at the moment. "Aye, Ma' | ||
+ | |||
+ | A moment later, she whisked out of existence, her consciousness now divided between understanding the ship's condition, and one particular patient in the arboretum. | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Conn! Evasive! Zee plus twenty, Now!" | ||
+ | \\ | ||
+ | \\ | ||
+ | \\ | ||
+ | **Location: Arboretum, deck 7, USS Republic** | ||
+ | |||
+ | The Republic shook from the latest blow snuffing out the lights in the arboretum. It was a few seconds before the emergency lighting kicked in, casting the normally peaceful setting in a decidedly sinister light. The violent jarring motion sent Morganth to his knees. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Near the main entrance to the arboretum, there was a faint whisking of photons as Shannon Harris looked around her environment. She'd tried to re-route herself to sickbay, despite the Captain' | ||
+ | |||
+ | Morgath muttered unintelligibly. With the last blast he had hit his head and fallen down on all fours. As he realized what had happened, he struggled to his feet like a crazed man. In a calculated mad dash he carefully secured his plant. He didn't want the plant to be harmed; it was his child. It wasn't until things were secured that Talloc registered that someone had called out. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Shannon saw the blur of motion as Morganth came out of the shadows in the reddened room. " | ||
+ | |||
+ | Morgath started as he heard the pediatrician' | ||
+ | |||
+ | Morganth Talloc was a civilian in every meaning of the word; he preferred time with his work and plants and had no desire to explore anything except what was in front of him. Shannon regarded the man with some skepticism. Even though the Ship's Counselor seemed fine with it now, it wasn't that long ago that Morganth had psionically attacked Tolkath. Thankfully, Shannon had been there, and her holographic nature had come in handy. She wondered if now, it wasn't happening again. | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | Morganth looked around dazed. Suddenly, he seemed to snap back into his surroundings. His senses were being overloaded with emotion all around him, fear, and controlled panic filled the air. "He told me to return to my quarters, but . . . I got distracted, had to make sure my plant was secured . . . What happened? What is happening?" | ||
+ | |||
+ | Shannon did her best to try and calm Morganth' | ||
+ | |||
+ | Talloc' | ||
+ | |||
+ | Harris focused on Morganth, noting that his eyes had seemed to come alive with laser-like focus. " | ||
+ | |||
+ | "I know you have the ability to read his vitals . . . what's his brain activity like right now?? Is it at normal levels?" | ||
+ | |||
+ | Shannon held up her hand. "Calm down, Morganth." | ||
+ | |||
+ | Morganth sighed a breath of relief, and began to speak but stopped mid-breath. He eyed the Doctor carefully. "Is our conversation going to be recorded?" | ||
+ | |||
+ | Shannon almost chuckled. She could see how, in his more lucid moments, Morganth could really be quite charming. " | ||
+ | |||
+ | Morganth made a decision, one he knew may save his friend in the future. He again began then paused. For a Talloc their word was their bond. Morganth was a better friend to Reittan than they both led on. They had grown up together, for the amount of time Reittan was on Betazed. He knew information about the Counselor that took an admiral' | ||
+ | |||
+ | He had promised his friend and friend' | ||
+ | |||
+ | Shannon nodded in understanding, | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | "My mother always said it was a perfect balance for Reittan; Reason and emotion all balled up into one." Talloc chucked slightly as another shudder rocked the Republic, once again, Morganth was back in his dissociated world, responding only to the Doctor. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Shannon leaned forward. " | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Oh . . . we were neighbors. We were born a few months apart. I am the oldest." | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Not really. I grew up in the second house of Betazed. Where life was often politics. Between us and the Tolkath' | ||
+ | |||
+ | Shannon fought her programming to turn away from Morganth. She had to remind herself, 'keep him talking, keep him calm,' " | ||
+ | |||
+ | Morganth looked at the being focusing him. "I can't read your thoughts, but I'm not crazy if that's what you are wondering." | ||
+ | |||
+ | Again, Shannon held up a hand, to dismiss the ' | ||
+ | |||
+ | "I was able to take out quite a few of the Dominion when they took over Betazed you know. I was a hero back home. A... hero." | ||
+ | |||
+ | "You were on Betazed during the attack? I had no idea. I've heard the fighting was intense; house-to-house in some cases. Is that true?" | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Yes . . . I hated it, every minute of it. Having to use our gift as a weapon for war. To grab every dark emotion, to light up every pain receptor within a being... to drive them mad . . . I hated it, and yet we did it to survive. And here we are, once again, here we are being attacked, even during a time of " | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | Shannon looked on skeptically. "You say he scared a lot of people with his ability. What exactly was it?" | ||
+ | |||
+ | "On earth they used to have a thing called a blow-horn, his grams called it." He cocked his head to the side, trying to recall in more detail. "He could go up to someone and show loud enough into your mind to be compared to someone shouting into a blow-horn held up next to your ear. Sometimes when he'd get mad, it'd happen. I'd have to calm him down at school until his parents got there." | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | "If you'd notice Doctor," | ||
+ | |||
+ | "I... see." She looked the man over, yet again. "So... you watched over Tolkath, but what about you? What did you do after the war? And how did you end up on Deep Space Nine?" | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Well, after the war, I followed my family and became a diplomat for a while, and just kept up with my plants. Reittan' | ||
+ | |||
+ | Shannon took a chance as she considered what to do next. "And, it was a plant toxin that caused you to attack Tolkath, and the others. Is that correct? Some sort of thorn?" | ||
+ | |||
+ | "You know, that was strange?" | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | "You mean why do I keep asking about him so incessantly?" | ||
+ | |||
+ | Shannon nodded. | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Do you remember something I said to Reittan when I was at the peak of the madness . . . about not having to see anyone anymore to use my telepathic powers?" | ||
+ | |||
+ | "I remember," | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Ah... so you were. Well, the truth is that I think Reitan' | ||
+ | |||
+ | Shannon' | ||
+ | \\ | ||
+ | \\ | ||
+ | \\ | ||
+ | **Location: Main bridge, deck 1, USS Republic** | ||
+ | |||
+ | In the time it took for the ship's photon torpedoes to cycle back up to fire, the Dominion attack ship had made two more passes. Each time, Republic had managed to roll up on her side, exposing the still-functioning Ventral Shield Array to the incoming fire. But the shields were dropping. Soon, they would fail, or Republic wouldn' | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | Roth nodded. "Do it." | ||
+ | |||
+ | Reittan inhaled deeply, subconsciously drawing on hate, fear, lust, impatience, and jealousy... every negative emotion he could think of, using the influx of emotion to super-charge his body's functions. He could hear and feel his pulse throbbing in his head, the thrum and boom of his heart like the drum on a battlefield, | ||
+ | |||
+ | Reittan' | ||
+ | |||
+ | At the Tactical position, Zoe blinked as one particularly annoying red indicator turned green. " | ||
+ | |||
+ | Roth looked at Tolkath, his jaw was set intensely...his breathing heavy, but even. She looked back at the main viewer, which showed the relative tactical position of the two ships that had been locked in combat much longer than Roth had liked. " Torpedo status?" | ||
+ | |||
+ | Zoe checked the board again. "Two birds in the tubes Captain. Third online in...another eighteen seconds." | ||
+ | |||
+ | Republic' | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | Two brilliant orange flares of anti-matter shot into view on the tactical plot, and it seemed for a moment that the entire bridge crew held their breath as they watched the warheads slam into the unshielded hull of the Dominion attacker. In seconds, the hostile ship blew apart, spinning off into two large pieces as the photon torpedoes did their bitter work. | ||
+ | |||
+ | The fight was over. Republic was victorious, and only three, perhaps four of her passengers knew the reason why. | ||
+ | \\ | ||
+ | \\ | ||
+ | \\ | ||
+ | **Location: Arboretum, deck 7, USS Republic** | ||
+ | |||
+ | Shannon Harris shook her head. Seconds after registering the severe spike in Reitan Tolkath' | ||
+ | |||
+ | Morganth looked wryly at his companion. He nodded, knowingly. "Back to normal, isn't he?" | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | \\ | ||
+ | \\ | ||
+ | \\ | ||
+ | **Location: Main bridge, deck 1, USS Republic** | ||
+ | |||
+ | Yellow warning strips and indicators showed the change from red to yellow alert, but the damage was done. Though one of the attacking Dominion ships had been destroyed in the early going, the second ship had hit it's mark, landing what for all Kim Roth knew, was a death blow to Republic' | ||
+ | |||
+ | Her ship was stuck. The warp core was still producing power, but most of the ship's primary systems had been knocked off-line. Now, she was missing her First Officer and had a Vorta onboard who had nothing left to bargain with. " | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Aye, Ma' | ||
+ | |||
+ | Her use of the word prisoner reflected her change in attitude. She was, in the more familiar human vernacular, ' | ||
+ | |||
+ | Tolkath let out a heavy sigh and straightened his posture. "I believe so, Captain," | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Good. You'll let me know if that changes?" | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Of course, Captain." | ||
---- | ---- | ||
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" | " | ||
- | John nodded affirmatively. " | + | John nodded affirmatively. " |
" | " |