Forwarded by the ASC-VSO 
Posted: 29 Apr 2004 17:56:29 GMT  
In: alt.startrek.creative 
From: sisko2374@aol.com (Sisko2374) 
 

Part 4 of 5 "Third Way Out"

"Where's the Defiant?" Cynthia Jordan pressed her face closer toward the view
screen of the Chaffe II.  Two hundred miles below, a typhoon churned towards a
collision course with the Indian subcontinent. 

Alvarez switched off the engines as the shuttle achieved orbit and checked the
sensors.  "No indication yet, probably still on the other side of the
terminus... Wait, there she is!  Coming up from the South?  And I'm picking up
... a distress call. Switching to speaker."

"SOS. This is TRFS Defiant calling USS Defiant.  We have been attacked by an
Alliance battle cruiser.  Shields are minimal. Weapons and transporters are off
line.  Warp core is destabilizing.  Unable to eject.  Please respond."

Julian leaned forward toward the control panel.  "That's Ezri's voice!  What
the devil is the rebel's Defiant doing here?"

"Confirm on that warp core, sir," Alvarez called out. "It's on a slow build up
to detonation."

Julian leaned forward and hit the comm button.  "This is the shuttle USS Chaffe
II.  Shift to our orbit Defiant.  When we rendevous with our Defiant we can
beam you off.  What are you doing here anyway?"   

There was a pause at the other end.   Then the Mirror Ezri replied.  "Message
received and understood Chaffe II.  Making course correction now.  We're here
because Miles O'Brien ordered us to follow you in case you got into trouble. 
But it looks like you'll have to save us now.  Is this Doctor Bashir?  I've
always wanted to meet you.  Miles thinks really highly of you."

Julian grinned sheepishly.  "Really?  Well, I like him quite a bit myself.  I
look forward to meeting you as well.  Chaffe II out."

Cynthia looked apprehensively out the screen towards the rapidly approaching
point of light that would soon become the Mirror Defiant.  "Do you really think
that's wise Doctor? Having them shift to our orbit?  If they blow up in our
proximity..."

Bashir nodded.  "Sensors indicate they've got a good twenty minutes before they
go critical, plenty of time for the Defiant to arrive, beam them off and get us
all the hell out of here.  Relax, everything will be all right."

The archaeologist shifted back in her chair, folding her arms.  "Unless that
Alliance battle cruiser shows up first." 



On the bridge of the USS Defiant, Ezri Dax heard the exchange between Julian
and her Mirror counterpart. 

"ETA to rendevous, Ensign Jackson?"

"Two minutes, sir."

"Where's the intruder?"

Jackson scanned the conn.  "They're out of sensor range as long as we're on
this side of the planet, sir."

"Status of the rebel Defiant?"

"Shields down, phaser damage to their ablative armor, warp core destabilizing,
ejectors jammed."

Ezri sighed, placing her hands behind her back. "All right Mister Jackson, take
us to rendevous with the Chaffe II.  Transporters, prepare to receive
survivors."


As Julian exited the Chaffe II in the launch bay, yellow alert sounded on the
Defiant.    "Bashir to bridge, what's our status?"

"Not good, Julian," Ezri replied.  "We have a level 3 transporter malfunction,
source unknown.  Unless we fix it now we won't be able to beam the Terrans off
their ship.  That Alliance battle cruiser may already be in orbit.  And the
Terran Defiant warp core will go critical in ten minutes."

"We're on it, Captain.  Alvarez and I are heading for Engineering."

"You've got five minutes, Julian.  After that we have to either fight or run."



In Engineering Julian was shocked to see that Walter's security team was
missing. 

"Bashir to bridge.  We're in engineering but there's no security team around
the cloaking device.  What's going on?"

Ezri's voice responded immediately.  "They're not there?  Dax to Walters.  Who
ordered you to leave Engineering?"

There was a pause.  "You did, sir.  About ten minutes ago over the comm
system."

"Not me Mister.  Get back down there on the double!"

Julian drew his phaser, checking the setting.  "Looks like we've got a saboteur
on board, Captain."


"Ezri to Walters, dispatch two men to look for O'Brien.  When you find him,
hold him in his quarters."

Alvarez ran a quick diagnostic that merely confirmed what Ezri had reported:
that the computer was unable to locate the source of the malfunction.  His mind
raced, desperately seeking a way into this mystery.  There was one possibility.
 Something he remembered Chief O'Brien mentioning about the early history of
transporter problems. 

"Doctor, could you check the transporter logs for the past two days?  See if
there's anything out of correspondence, if we transported any radioactive
isotopes aboard."    

Julian's hands flashed over the secondary control panel.  "That should be easy,
we only transported the trunk and that was made of ...."  

"What is it?  Did you find something?"

Julian's eyes narrowed at the screen.  "Not sure.  The trunk checks out as lead
composition.  But the log of the trunk transport has been altered somehow." 
Julian's hands roamed over the panel.  "Yes, this log shows a record of an
erased second internal ship transport an hour later, just after the shuttle
returned from New York.  An equal mass exchange of 1 kilogram between the trunk
and..."

The engineering doors whooshed aside for Smiley.  "I heard there was a
transporter problem, we've got to get my people off that ship before the warp
core goes critical!"

Julian turned toward the Terran.  "Yes, Miles we're working on it.  But maybe
you should order your people to go to escape pods just in case."

"Escape pods!  They wouldn't be able to make if far enough away in time.  And
you wouldn't have time to pick them up either."

Julian rose from the console.  "Perhaps.  What do you know about an internal
ship transport from yesterday, Miles.  After we came back from New York?"

The Terran shrugged.  "Nothing.  What has that got to do with anything?"

"It was from Sick Bay to your quarters and back again.  An equal exchange of
mass, small, one kilogram.  About the size of an old paper book.  Someone
beamed a book out of the trunk to your cabin and beamed something back in. 
Then tried to erase the record.  Now our transporters are scrambled.  Why did
you do it Miles?"  Julian drew his phaser. 

O'Brien's face grew red.  "No!  I beamed the book out.  But I didn't sabotage
the transporters!  Why would I do that?  Sabotage the transporters in the
middle of Alliance territory?"

Bashir shook his head.  "I don't know."

Jordan came in from the corridor, phaser drawn.  "Give me the book O'Brien."

Smiley reached under his tunic and tossed a replicated book to Bashir.  "Don't
give it to her, she sabotaged the transporters, she's Section 31!"

A phaser beam set to stun lept from Jordan's phaser, hitting O'Brien.  The
Terran went down face first.

Bashir froze.  Then glanced down at the cover of the book in his left hand, The
Grand Chessboard.  Now he was facing off phaser to phaser with Jordan. 

"You two were working together.  Miles wanted the cloaking device and you
wanted this book.  But something fell through."

"Brilliant deduction Doctor. But we were never going to give the cloaking
device to the Terrans.  We only want the book. Give me the book and we can
cloak and head home."  Jordan shifted the phaser to her other hand.  Punching
in a code by the door panel she locked the doors to engineering.

Julian kept his phaser trained on her.  "Miles anticipated you were going to
betray him, so he took the book as a bargaining chip.  You sabotaged the
transporters.  Why?"

"To save the cloaking device from the Terrans.  Section 31 would never let them
have it.  Now give me the book Doctor so that we can get out of here."

Julian shook his head.  "Section 31, the state within the state.  Humans spent
the first 6000 years of civilization under the domination of the state in one
form or another.  Even the most democratic states ultimately tended toward
militaristic totalitarian control or wound up under the rule of a plutocracy. 
On Earth humans have only lived without the state for the past 80 years. 
What's so ironic is that the most insidious threat to that paradise has come
not from the Borg or the Dominion or the Romulans, but from the very
institution charged with defending paradise, Starfleet, the last remnant of the
state. Whether it was the Khitomer accords conspiracy or Admiral Layton's coup
d'etat, it was from inside Starfleet that our serpents in paradise came,
including the most venomous, Section 31" 

"Oh please, Doctor! Don't throw Section 31 in the same category as those
bumbling amateur Bonapartists in Starfleet.  We recruit the best and the
brightest from there, but we run the show. Not them.  Now give me the book,
Julian." Jordan leveled the phaser at his chest.

Bashir casually thumbed the pages.  "I think I found the key passage in ‘The
Grand Chessboard' that applies to Section 31's  plans for the Federation.

‘Morever, as America becomes an increasingly multi-cultural society, it may
find it more difficult to fashion a consensus on foreign policy issues, except
in the circumstance of a truly massive and widely perceived external threat.'

You plan to start a new war with the Dominion or the Romulans or even the
Klingons, don't you? You're going to stage an attack to plunge the Federation
into a new prolonged series of wars. Just like they did on the Mirror universe
Earth four centuries ago. Why?"

Jordan adopted a pedagogical tone, as if lecturing a child.  "Because our Earth
has grown soft in a violent universe doctor.  We nearly lost the last war.
Because of the constraints of the Prime Directive, and the weakness of people
like you, we didn't finish off the shape shifters when we had the chance. The
Dominion is presently at its weakest. Now is the time to wipe them out once and
for all, finish the job and ensure the survival of the Federation, the Alpha
Quadrant and the galaxy itself. It's the best means of securing galactic
peace."

Bashir closed the book. His voice shook with quiet rage.  "Peace? Through
genocide? Through permanent war? That's what they tried here, four hundred
years ago and they wound up with a tyranny, not just on Earth but in the known
galaxy! We barely survived our own 20th and 21st centuries. In a very real
sense these Terrans here never made it out of theirs. Genocidal wars,
blockades, state sponsored terror, torture, concentration camps, the abolition
of fundamental freedoms, is that what you want to inflict on our Earth once
more, on the Federation?  If you plunge us into decades of war and terror, what
do you think the Federation will look like at the end of it?  It will be the
Terran Empire in all but name. Has that thought even occurred to you or anyone
in Section 31?  You are setting about destroying the very thing you claim to be
defending."

"Doctor, I can see now why Sloan took such an interest in you.  Your commitment
and intellect would have been a valued addition to Section 31. But despite your
genetic enhancement you remain fundamentally flawed. You lack will and resolve.
Give me the book." Still keeping the phaser trained on him with her left hand,
she extended her right.

Julian thought he detected a movement on the floor behind Jordan.  Yes. Smiley
was stirring. 

Julian clutched the book to his chest. "Why do you need it? What possible use
could a 400 year old book of Mirror Earth imperial geostrategy be to you?" He
hoped she needed the book badly enough and was arrogant enough to dialogue for
just a few moments more. 

"To train our cadres of course, so that they may guide the Federation. Why do
they still teach Clausewitz, Grant, Zhukov and even Sun Tzu at Starfleet
Academy?  Think about it.  Sun Tzu's "Art of War", a 2700 year old Chinese book
of military strategy, still taught at Starfleet Academy! Why? Because it is a
classic explanation and exploration of the essence of military doctrine that
has remained unchanged from horse mounted cavalry archers to quantum torpedo
starships.  The same applies to 6000 years of statecraft. That book you're
holding is a classic of the art of rule."

Smiley was on his knees now, shaking his head. The noisy pulsing of the warp
core drowning out all but Jordan and Bashir's exchange.

"Yes, rule over others as the art of deceit, domination and enslavement.  What
about the Terrans here? Are you going to give them the book? So that they can
rebuild their Empire? So that they can doom themselves to the whole bloody
cycle all over again?"

Jordan's derisive laughter echoed in the engine room.  "The Terrans? Do you
really think it matters to anyone what happens here? Even Starfleet doesn't
care about them.  That's why they hide behind the excuse of  the Prime
Directive, refusing to aid them, because they don't give a damn either."

"You want the book?  You can have it."  Julian tossed it on the floor. 
Jordan's eyes followed it down.  At that moment, Smiley rose to his feet and
slammed himself into Jordan from behind. The blow propelled her into Julian,
knocking him over. As she  fell, both her and Julian's phasers flew out of
their hands skidding across the floor. Her head hit a deck plate, knocking her
out.  Alvarez dove for the phasers, but Smiley beat him to it.  A moment later
Smiley stood over them, both phaser pistols in hand.  Julian could hear the
Walter's security team outside the door, trying to access the security panel to
gain entry.


"Looks like all bets are off for the Federation today.  You three just relax
while the Terran Resistance  takes care of everything."  Keeping the phaser
carefully trained on them, Smiley moved to an engineering panel and opened it. 
Producing a phase spanner from his jacket he deftly manipulated the light cable
inside.  The ship's lights dimmed briefly.  Slapping the communicator on his
chest he called out, "O'Brien to Bashir. Shields are down. Engine room secure."
				 
A moment later, the Mirror Julian Bashir and five Terran rebels materialized in
a circle around the warp core.  Phaser fire erupted outside the engineering
doors, then silence.

A gleeful grin played across the scraggly bearded face of the Mirror Julian. 
"Good work Captain O'Brien! Congratulations!"

Smiley nodded.  "Thank you Captain Bashir."

Ezri's voice suddenly sounded over the comm system, the noise of phaser fire
and a scuffle in the background.

"Ezri to Bashir, bridge is secure." 

"Well done commander!" the Mirror Bashir replied.  A sneer crossed his face as
he stared at Julian.  "Doctor Bashir I presume?"

"Dax!" Julian called out as he slapped his communicator.  "Are you all right!"

A voice that sounded like Ezri's shot back.  "Your girlfriend's just fine
Doctor.  Except for a glass jaw.  She'll be out for a little while."

The Mirror Bashir did a visual check of the engine room once more.  "Commander,
is everyone aboard?"

"Aye, sir."  

"Then by all means begin the transport procedure." 

 Julian frowned.  "Transport procedure?"

The Mirror Bashir smiled.  "Yes, my good Doctor, we're switching ships.  We get
the one with the cloaking device.  Our Defiant is missing a few of your
amenities of course, but otherwise, it's a good trade.  A Defiant for a
Defiant."

Julian nodded.  "Its what you wanted all along, the cloaking device. But what
about her?"  He looked toward the still unconscious Cynthia.

Smiley scooped up the book that Julian had dropped.  Then stood Jordan up,
holding her left arm around his neck.  "Oh, she's coming with us.  A deal is a
deal.  We get the cloaking device and your Section 31 gets their book."  

Julian shook his head.  "Miles, you heard what she said.  Section 31 doesn't
give a damn about the Terrans.  They don't give a damn about anyone.  They plan
to start a war back in my universe.  We have to get back and warn the
Federation."

Miles shrugged.  "Section 31 approached us over a year ago.  We found their
book for them.  But we told them we needed the cloaking device.  They agreed
and set everything up for us.  They use us, we might want to use them in the
future.  You Starfleet boys had your chance."

"Miles ...."  The universe became a shimmer of sparkles as Julian suddenly
found himself transported to the engine room of the Mirror Defiant.

END Part 4 of 5 "Third Way Out"

--
Stephen Ratliff
ASC Awards Tech Support

http://www.trekiverse.us/ASCAwards/commenting/

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