Path: newsspool2.news.atl.earthlink.net!stamper.news.atl.earthlink.net!elnk-atl-nf1!newsfeed.earthlink.net!bigfeed2.bellsouth.net!news.bellsouth.net!cyclone1.gnilink.net!gnilink.net!wn14feed!worldnet.att.net!207.35.177.252!nf3.bellglobal.com!nf1.bellglobal.com!nf2.bellglobal.com!news20.bellglobal.com.POSTED!not-for-mail From: "The Cheat" Newsgroups: alt.startrek.creative Subject: NEW TNG Dream and Duty Part 1/30 [PG-13] D/f Lines: 159 X-Priority: 3 X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-Newsreader: Microsoft Outlook Express 6.00.2800.1106 X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V6.00.2800.1106 Message-ID: Date: Tue, 7 Sep 2004 11:30:29 -0400 NNTP-Posting-Host: 69.157.58.38 X-Complaints-To: abuse@sympatico.ca X-Trace: news20.bellglobal.com 1094571238 69.157.58.38 (Tue, 07 Sep 2004 11:33:58 EDT) NNTP-Posting-Date: Tue, 07 Sep 2004 11:33:58 EDT Organization: Bell Sympatico Xref: news.earthlink.net alt.startrek.creative:160668 X-Received-Date: Tue, 07 Sep 2004 08:49:15 PDT (newsspool2.news.atl.earthlink.net) Title: Dream and Duty: From Sleep into Dreams Author: The Cheat Contact: twinklewunderkid@hotmail.com Series: The Next Generation Rating: PG-13 Codes: D/f Part: 1/30 Summary: A group of escapees from a Cardassian prison camp pick up an Comments? I wrote this story a LONG time ago, several years ago, at least... I was probably about 17. But I guess it meant a lot to me at the time (if the extraordinary length is any indication). Anyway, I found it and a lot of other fanfiction stories kicking around on my computer, and I realized that they weren't too badly written, and, thinking about how much I've enjoyed fanfic in the past, thought they might bring some joy to somebody. So, if you do have comments, go ahead and send them, because I'd probably get a pretty big kick out of them. But no spelling or grammar, because I really can't be responsible for what I did at such a tender age on that front. Thanks! And enjoy (I hope)! Prologue The sun snaked down towards her, dancing across her face as the leaves above her swayed in the faint breeze. She closed her eyes against the sensation, feeling the warm rays rain down on her. Her heart rose with the happiness that filled her, and she opened her arms towards the sky, as though welcoming the heavens. A pair of large hands closed over hers, their palms slightly rough, although not unpleasantly so. Then strong arms lifted her off her feet, swinging her around and around through the air. She uttered a squeal of joy at the sensation, and opened her eyes to watch the loving face that smiled down at her, as He enjoyed her happiness almost as much as she did. The loving face then gathered her up in His arms, tussling her already disheveled hair. She returned the embrace happily, wrapping her small arms around His neck and burring her face in His warmth. Her eyes closed, she sensed the danger only by a sudden tension in His body. The strong arms handed her off to another pair of loving arms. These arms were also ones she knew and loved, but this body also seemed different than she was used to. These hands gripped her tightly. Too tightly; she squealed briefly in protest. The grey strangers came towards them, paying no attention to His protests. One of them pointed a box in their direction, and the body that held her dropped to the ground. She cried out desperately, not knowing who the grey strangers were, or why they were ruining the picnic, only that she was more scared than she had ever been in her life. She crawled froward through the grass, pushing back the limp arms that were still wrapped around her. The last thing she saw was His face, staring at her with eyes that refused to acknowledge her presence. Again, she called out, but no one answered her except alien voices. Then the world went very black. It was the last dreamless sleep she would have for 16 years. ////____________________________________________________//// 16 years later... The cell erupted in flames. There wasn't enough time to jump clear-unless, of course, someone knew that it was coming. As the explosion ripped through the bodies of the two Cardassian guards, Poral lunged towards Mika and pushed her into the cement floor of the corridor. They hit the hard surface together with a thud that went unheard against the noise of the explosion. Barely acknowledging the impact, Poral was on his feet in a second with Mika right behind him. They raced down the stark corridor with reckless abandon. Poral was the first to round the corner, and he hauled Mika past just in time to avoid the backlash of a second explosion. Three figures jumped clear of the flames, landing hard on the floor much as Poral and Mika had done. In a moment they were all on their feet, rushing towards the corner. The first to reach the corner shouted a question at Poral. All of their ears were ringing too much to really make it out, so no one answered him. Instead, Poral extended a strong arm and reeled the man around the corner, his companions following suit. Poral pointed down the corridor to the right, and the three newcomers sprinted down it without hesitation. Mika and Poral then exchanged a glance before heading down the corridor to the left. It was barely a minute before the beam of a phaser wizzed over Mika's head. Again, Poral was there to yank her out of danger. They stumbled through a door, which Poral sealed behind them. Without expending another second of thought concerning their near annihilation, Poral jumped to the controls of the nearest console. His fingers flew over the console. As Mika looked on, she was barely able to stand still against the adrenaline that coursed through her veins. It was taking too long. Mika shifted uncomfortably. The Cardassians had begun firing their phasers at the door; she could feel the heat from where she was standing. They would break through in a matter of seconds. "Por!" she shouted, unable to control her surging emotions. "We have to get out of here!" "I'm not leaving them behind!" he snapped back. "We have to free them!" Mika jumped forward and grabbed his shoulders in an attempt to pry him away from the console. "There's no time..." "We'll make the time!" he insisted, resisting her strength with every ounce of muscle he had. It was then that the door finally buckled under the phaser fire. Mika just managed to shield her eyes against the flash of light that followed the explosion, but even so, it still took her eyes a few seconds to regain their vision-long enough for a Cardassian guard to level his phaser at her head. "SURRENDER!" "NEVER!" Mika charged towards him. Unprepared for the sudden attack, the guard didn't have time to get off a shot as Mika slammed her body into his. They both went down. Mika delivered a sharp uppercut to his scaled jaw, sending his head snapping backwards. In the process, the phaser had slipped out of the guard's hand. Mika groped for it, and she managed to get to it. In one powerful and anger-driven jerk, she brought it to bear on the Cardassian's head, and fired. She didn't even see the hole that burned right through his skull, as she jumped to her feet in preparation for another attack. There was just one more guard standing, and he didn't remain that way for long once the beam of Mika's phaser ripped through his gut. Poral was on the ground grappling with a third guard, who wouldn't be around too much longer either, judging by the steady flow of dark liquid that was spilling from the back of his head. Turning to the console, Mika punched in a few commands. By the time she was finished, Poral was just getting to his feet, having finally dispatched the Cardassian guard. Mika grabbed his arm and dragged him after her towards the second door at the far side of the room; it was gone before they got there. A herd of Cardassians charged through the door, phasers firing. The beams exploded on either side of Mika and Poral, but they somehow managed to avoid them long enough to get back through the first door and into the corridor. Poral led the way as they stumbled more than sprinted around corner after corner. Mika wasn't sure that he knew where he was going, but it didn't really matter. They were both operating on instinct alone, and it was their only chance to stay alive. It was like a miracle when they jumped through a door and found themselves face to face with their comrades. Someone was there to seal the door as soon as they entered; it was a good thing they were, as a group of Cardassians was at the door almost instantly. "Let's get out of here!" Mika shouted. "Bink!" shouted someone from the second party. "They're at the door!" Indeed, the heat of the phasers against the metal door was already detectable within the small launch bay. One after the other, they leaped into the vessel. The three from the second party were already safely inside by the time the door gave way. One of the flying metal fragments cut Mika across the cheek, and the blood quickly spilled down her face. Unmindful, she squinted her eyes against her blurred vision and looked for Poral. She spotted him running from the control board towards the door of the vessel where Mika was standing. He lunged forward and pushed her inside. She fell through the door, just as Poral's body froze under the impact of a disruptor beam. Mika was looking right into his eyes as he was hit. She was able to watch as they dimmed to the world, all of a sudden void of the life that had been there just a few seconds earlier. His body hit the deck with a thud, just a sack of dead meat. She shouted out his name, but to no avail. A few stray phaser blasts managed to sneak through the opening of the door before it closed, but none of them hit Mika, not that she would have noticed much if they had. In another few minutes, the vessel was free of the launch bay. Due to their alterations of the computer system, no other vessels were able to follow them out, and they accelerated to warp without any opposition. But Mika was oblivious. Her mind was still fixed on the image of Poral's eyes as they slipped slowly... and dutifully... into oblivion. ______________________________________________________________ End of Prologue NewMessage: Path: newsspool2.news.atl.earthlink.net!stamper.news.atl.earthlink.net!elnk-atl-nf1!newsfeed.earthlink.net!bigfeed2.bellsouth.net!news.bellsouth.net!cyclone1.gnilink.net!gnilink.net!wn14feed!worldnet.att.net!207.35.177.252!nf3.bellglobal.com!nf1.bellglobal.com!nf2.bellglobal.com!news20.bellglobal.com.POSTED!not-for-mail From: "The Cheat" Newsgroups: alt.startrek.creative Subject: NEW TNG Dream and Duty Part 2/30 [PG-13] D/f Lines: 158 X-Priority: 3 X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-Newsreader: Microsoft Outlook Express 6.00.2800.1106 X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V6.00.2800.1106 Message-ID: Date: Tue, 7 Sep 2004 11:33:16 -0400 NNTP-Posting-Host: 69.157.58.38 X-Complaints-To: abuse@sympatico.ca X-Trace: news20.bellglobal.com 1094571404 69.157.58.38 (Tue, 07 Sep 2004 11:36:44 EDT) NNTP-Posting-Date: Tue, 07 Sep 2004 11:36:44 EDT Organization: Bell Sympatico Xref: news.earthlink.net alt.startrek.creative:160669 X-Received-Date: Tue, 07 Sep 2004 08:51:50 PDT (newsspool2.news.atl.earthlink.net) Dream and Duty: From Sleep into Dreams Part 2/30 Talara Mikal found herself looking around to make sure no one was watching before she lay down to sleep. It wasn't that she actually feared being attacked in her sleep, but constantly looking over one's shoulder was a thing a person tended to learn in a Cardassian prison. Glancing to her right at the already sleeping form of one of her companions, she reflected on the fact that it wasn't really true that she had no fear of being attacked in the middle of the night. After all, the sleeping form beside her was that of a Cardassian. His name was Pak. As she understood, he had been rejected by his own society as a boy when his parents died. Orphans were thought to be inferior in Cardassian society, and so, being too young to do much in the way of standing up for himself, Pak had been sent to work alongside the Bajoran slaves in the mines. There he had faced rejection again, this time by the Bajorans. Several years later, Pak had escaped from the mines, and it was then that the story had become sketchy, causing Mika to doubt the authenticity of his claims. Then again, perhaps her feelings were just part of her built-in tendency to distrust Cardassians. Pak claimed that he had traveled the sector for many years, doing some dealings with the Bajoran revolutionary movement in the process, thus causing him to end up along with her and their other companions in the prison. Their other companions... they were an unlikely group, forced into their current situation by their mutual desire to escape the prison. And escape they had, aboard a Cardassian transport vessel no less. So now they were fugitives. A Romulan female, two Bajoran males, a Cardassian, and Mika. The young Bajoran woman almost found herself laughing out loud. They were the space garbage in the universe, this crew. The space garbage of the universe up against the Cardassian empire. This time Mika did laugh, causing Pak to spring to alertness. He looked at her with something just short of alarm. "What is it?" She shook her head. "Nothing. Go back to sleep." Pak eyed her, a look that reminded Mika a little too much of her Cardassian captors. "Stop it." she blurted out. The look immediately stopped coming. "What?" Mika was somewhat embarrassed at having let her fear overcome her. Pak wasn't a prison guard; he had helped her escape. He was her... She came up just short of running the word 'friend' through her mind as a possible adjective to describe her Cardassian shipmate. "I'm sorry," she offered. "It's just that for a moment..." "It's okay... I..." he paused, emotion flickering across his shinning black eyes for a split second. "I understand." Mika looked at him, and realized that he probably did. "Okay," was all she said. Pak met her gaze for a moment longer, then broke the moment with a sharp nod. "Try to get some sleep," he urged her, as he himself sunk back down into his bunk. Mika offered a slight smile of reassurance as a reply. Pak didn't question it, instead closing his eyes. He was asleep almost instantly. Mika watched him with a sense of wonder. "How can you just do that?" she asked the sleeping Cardassian. It was frustrating when he didn't answer her, as she desperately wanted to know. ____________________________________________________________ Sal gazed out at the starfield, her normally unflappable attention wandering. After a very long moment, she uttered a small sigh. The Bajoran occupying the seat beside her looked up from his work. "What is it, Sal?" The Romulan shook herself out of her self pity, and returned her attention to the panel. "None of your concern, Bink." Shaldous Binket shrugged. "Whatever. I could just have you replaced." Sal didn't bother to look at him. "You and I both know it wouldn't be especially wise to put your friend back there at the helm." The second Bajoran male, Darraen Ruk, perked up as he was brought into the discussion. He was sitting behind them, slouched in his chair, working on something called a 'rubik's cube.' As Sal understood it, the ancient Earth puzzle involved getting each of the sides to display a solid colour, by way of shifting different rows. Ruk was almost always working on it. In fact, Sal couldn't readily think of a time she'd seen Ruk without it. "What?" Ruk protested. "My record's spotless. To this day, I still haven't crashed the ship into anything." Sal snorted. "We've never even let you fly the ship." "Hey," Ruk protested. "A clean record's a clean record." "He's right, you know," Bink chimed in. "You should never overlook a clean record." Sal expelled a noiseless breath, the air practically hissing as it passed through her teeth. Bink noticed her reaction, and gave a slight smile. "How much longer?" Ruk asked. "You asked me that question less than 10 minutes ago," Sal informed him. There was silence for a moment. "So... How much longer?" Sal frowned, exercising all of her self control to avoid leaping backwards and clobbering the whining Bajoran. "At our current speed, we will be arriving in Bajoran space in approximately 44 hours, twelve minutes." "Or," Bink added helpfully. "10 fewer minutes than the last time you asked." Ruk groaned. "44 hours..." "If you are bored, perhaps you would prefer to go and work on your rubik's cube in the privacy of the crew quarters," Sal suggested. "What do you think it will be like?" Sal glanced back at him. "What will what be like?" "Bajor," he replied. "I wonder if it's changed much." "I suspect it has," said Bink. "Judging by the fact that there won't be any Cardassians on it." "Pak's a Cardassian." Sal pointed out. "But Pak's different, isn't he?" said Ruk. "I mean, he's one of us." Bink nodded. "Rejects, you mean." The statement didn't upset him. He knew it was more or less the truth for the prisoners who had been left to rot in a Cardassian prison, even though it had been 3 years since the end of the occupation. "Once there, I guess we'll go our separate ways, huh?" Ruk was looking at Sal, although she wasn't aware of it, as she had her back to him. Bink shrugged. "I suppose so." Sal regarded him pointedly. "What might those separate ways be?" A beeping from Sal's panel interrupted Bink before he could answer. Sal returned her attention to her readouts, a slight fear suddenly creeping up her spine. "There's a ship!" she exclaimed. Bink examined his screen. "Bearing 8 mark 2." he announced, all business. "Raise shields, we'll be in transporter range soon. If we are being taken back to the prison, I'm not going without a fight." "I'm running an analysis of the ship," said Sal. "It's not Cardassian." Bink released a breath that he wasn't entirely aware he'd been holding. "It doesn't appear to be closing, either. It might be adrift." He shot a glance at Sal's panel. "Do we know what kind of ship it is?" The Romulan shook her head. "Uncertain... but it appears to be Federation." "The Federation!" Bink exclaimed, shaking his head vehemently. "No, no, no, no, no. Let's steer clear of it." "But the Federation are not our enemies," Sal protested. "Maybe not, but the Federation is bound by lots of rules, rules that they don't like breaking." he shook his head again as if to further assert his objection. "No. The Federation may have good intentions, but getting involved will cause us nothing but trouble." "I disagree." Both Bink and Sal turned to see who had spoken. In all the excitement they had forgotten that Ruk was even there. "I think we should check this out," said Ruk Bink turned now to Sal. "Run a full systems analysis, then we'll decide what to do." She nodded, and started her scan. "It is adrift," she announced after a short time. "It's engines have been inoperative for some time. There are several energy readings emanating from the hull... it seems to have been through a battle." "A battle!" Ruk jumped up from his chair to get a closer look at the ship through the viewport. "Maybe it was fleeing from the Federation." Bink, though, was still doubtful. "Is there anyone on board?" "I don't know," Sal replied. "There is a faint energy reading from within... it might be a lifeform." she punched in some commands to her panel. "Confirmed. There is one life sign on board, and life support is failing." "Bink..." Ruk pleaded. Both Sal and Ruk waited anxiously for Bink's instructions. "Beam them aboard." he said at last. Ruk breathed a sigh of relief as Sal got up to go to the transporter. "But I want Pak and Mika there for security," he added. "I'll wake Pak," Ruk offered, as he followed Sal out of the cockpit. "But I'll let someone else wake Mika." Under normal circumstances, Ruk could usually make Bink smile. But smiling had become a thing that had become more and more difficult for each of them in recent years. He sighed. An unknown lifeform on a Federation shuttlecraft. He sure hoped that he'd made the right choice. ________________________________________________________________ NewMessage: ath: newsspool2.news.atl.earthlink.net!stamper.news.atl.earthlink.net!elnk-atl-nf1!newsfeed.earthlink.net!bigfeed2.bellsouth.net!news.bellsouth.net!cyclone1.gnilink.net!gnilink.net!wn14feed!worldnet.att.net!207.35.177.252!nf3.bellglobal.com!nf1.bellglobal.com!nf2.bellglobal.com!news20.bellglobal.com.POSTED!not-for-mail From: "The Cheat" Newsgroups: alt.startrek.creative Subject: NEW TNG Dream and Duty Part 3/30 [PG-13] D/f Lines: 148 X-Priority: 3 X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-Newsreader: Microsoft Outlook Express 6.00.2800.1106 X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V6.00.2800.1106 Message-ID: Date: Tue, 7 Sep 2004 11:34:36 -0400 NNTP-Posting-Host: 69.157.58.38 X-Complaints-To: abuse@sympatico.ca X-Trace: news20.bellglobal.com 1094571484 69.157.58.38 (Tue, 07 Sep 2004 11:38:04 EDT) NNTP-Posting-Date: Tue, 07 Sep 2004 11:38:04 EDT Organization: Bell Sympatico Xref: news.earthlink.net alt.startrek.creative:160670 X-Received-Date: Tue, 07 Sep 2004 08:53:10 PDT (newsspool2.news.atl.earthlink.net) Dream and Duty: From Sleep into Dreams Part 3/30 "Energizing," Sal announced. Ruk, Mika and Pak were gathered around the transporter pad, phasers armed, as the pad shimmered to life. When the lifeform finally materialized, they saw that they needn't have worried; the humanoid male was lying unconscious on the platform. It was Mika who first approached the pad to get a better look at their new arrival. She checked the man's pulse and confirmed that he was indeed alive. He was quite slender, with short dark hair that hung about his face. Ruk and Sal had now come forward to look at the man. "He looks human," said Ruk. "Maybe," Mika returned. "Or Betazoid." "No uniform, though," Sal observed. "You think he's Federation?" Mika shrugged. "I don't know what to think." she gestured to the man with a nod of her head. "Get him off the pad." Mika watched as Ruk and Sal hauled the man off the transporter pad and onto the steel floor of the ship. She turned to her left as she heard the gentle whoosh of the transporter room door. Bink shot one look at the crumpled figure of the ship's newest passenger where he rested awkwardly with his back against the wall. He then turned to Mika. "He's human, I think. Unconscious," Mika provided as an answer to Bink's unspoken question. "But is he Federation?" Mika shrugged. "Civilian clothing." Bink uttered a frustrated sigh. "I don't want Federation aboard this ship. The risk is too great." "We don't know he's Federation," Mika reminded him. "I say we wake him up and see what he knows before we make any decisions." Bink grunted. "Yeah, so he can give the descriptions of the people who captured him to Federation command and we can have another of the superpowers of the quadrant on our tails. I don't think so." Mika crossed her arms across her chest in defiance. "And what do you think we should do?" "I didn't think we should have brought him aboard in the first place," he said. "So then why did you?" Ruk and Sal, who were now much more interested with the quarrel between the two Bajorans than with the unconscious man at their feet, exchanged nervous glances. Pak simply stood back, regarding the exchange with his customary coolness. "The prophets sent him to us," Bink said finally, his voice slightly amplified to accommodate everyone in the transporter room. "So I guess it wouldn't be right to just send him away." "All those years of hardship," said Mika. "I'm surprised you still believe in the prophets." Bink eyed her. "Are you saying you don't?" Mika opened her mouth to respond, but was interrupted by Ruk's excited cry. "He's waking up!" Forgetting their dispute, Mika and Bink hurried over to the where Ruk and Sal were already leaning over the man, who, sure enough, was beginning to stir. "Hey," Mika lay a hand on the man's shoulder and shook him lightly. The man's eyelids began to flutter, then suddenly flew open, revealing a pair of blue-grey eyes. Through her hand, which was still on the man's shoulder, Mika felt his whole body tense. "What..." He tried to get up, but Mika grabbed the far side of his shirt, and pinned him against the wall with her forearm pressed into his chest. "Who are you?" her tone was one that few people would have chosen to defy. The strange man didn't answer, instead shooting darting glances around him and at the faces looking over him. "Who are you?" she repeated, this time more loudly. "Are you with the Federation?" The dark-haired man looked as though he was about to answer, but then thought better of it. Her anger rising, Mika grabbed the man's collar and hauled him up towards her. "Who are you?" His eyes opened wide with sudden fear. "I..." he looked nervously up at the others. "I don't know." Mika threw him back down against the metal floor with disgust. "Well, isn't that convenient. Is that Federation protocol, or are you a Cardassian spy?" She hadn't noticed him approach, but Pak was now crouching beside her. "What do you remember?" he asked. The man ran a hand down the side of his face, and gave his head a gentle shake. "Nothing." "Conference meeting," Bink said simply. _____________________________________________________________ The transport vessel didn't have a conference room, but the cargo hold would suffice. So there they sat, some of them sitting on chairs, some of them on empty barrels and canisters, waiting for the last member of their crew to arrive. The sliding door opened, and Sal stepped in. "All the doors to the crew quarters are sealed." she said after the door had closed behind her. "He's not getting out of there. Bink nodded in approval, and gestured for Sal to be seated. Pulling an empty crate towards her, she did so. "Okay," began Bink. "I think we all know what's going on, so let's get right to the point. Has he really lost his memory?" He looked over at each of his shipmates in turn, getting averted gazes and shrugs as response. Then he looked at Pak. Meeting Bink's stare head on, he said, "I think he's telling the truth." Bink nodded thoughtfully. He himself wasn't sure whether or not to believe the stranger's story, and he welcomed any real opinion Pak could offer. "What makes you think he's telling the truth?" "What possible motive could he have for creating such a falsity?" Pak offered as a reply. It was a good question. Of course, it was also a question with many possible answers. The man could have been on some kind of secret mission. He could be a Federation refugee who didn't want them to know in case they decided to send him back to his ship. He could be a surgically altered spy sent by the... Bink stopped himself from creating yet another far-fetched explanation. Supposition wasn't going to get them anywhere. "But we have no way to prove his story," Bink grumbled. "Nor can we disprove it," the Cardassian reminded him. "True," Bink sighed, running a hand through his cropped blond hair. "His ship was damaged. Let's just assume for a moment that he was in a battle. Are memory gaps or losses inherent to the kind of stress a battle might produce?" "Yes, yes a battle scenario might just be enough to induce memory loss," Pak said thoughtfully. His shipmates were eyeing him with some surprise. "I was friends with a Bajoran doctor when I worked in the mines," he explained. "If we are to assume that he's lost his memory due to the stress of a battle, then I think we should ask ourselves what might have brought on the battle," said Mika. "Yes," Sal agreed. "Is he, or is he not with the Federation?" "In any case, I think it would be better for us if he was a rebel." said Ruk. "I'd hate to have the Federation after us for kidnapping one of their officers." "All very good points," Bink commented. "But I don't see how we're going to get any more answers." "We could restore life support to the shuttlecraft and board it to look for clues," Sal suggested. "And how long will that take?" asked Bink. "To engage a power transfer to the shuttle..." Sal did some calculations in her head. "About 45 minutes." Bink shook his head. "I don't want to stay in this sector any longer than we have to, not when the Cardassians may still be on our tail. Other options?" "We could use the ship's phasers to destroy the shuttle," Mika offered. "That way, if the Federation did come looking for the shuttle they would simply think that it and it's occupant had been destroyed in battle. We could even target their warp core, make it look like a warp core breech." Again, Bink shook his head. "No, I don't want to target the warp core. It makes the circumstances too suspicious." "As you wish," Mika said evenly. "Okay then," said Bink. "Then we'll destroy the shuttle and leave the sector." he stood up, and the others followed his lead. "Let's do it. Sal, you're with me in the cockpit. The rest of you stay with our guest, see if you can't get more information out of him." Sal followed him out of the cargo hold, with Ruk, Mika and Pak not far behind. _____________________________________________________________ NewMessage: ath: newsspool2.news.atl.earthlink.net!stamper.news.atl.earthlink.net!elnk-atl-nf1!newsfeed.earthlink.net!prodigy.com!news.glorb.com!wn14feed!worldnet.att.net!207.35.177.252!nf3.bellglobal.com!nf1.bellglobal.com!nf2.bellglobal.com!news20.bellglobal.com.POSTED!not-for-mail From: "The Cheat" Newsgroups: alt.startrek.creative Subject: NEW TNG Dream and Duty Part 4/30 [PG-13] D/f Lines: 134 X-Priority: 3 X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-Newsreader: Microsoft Outlook Express 6.00.2800.1106 X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V6.00.2800.1106 Message-ID: Date: Tue, 7 Sep 2004 11:37:49 -0400 NNTP-Posting-Host: 69.157.58.38 X-Complaints-To: abuse@sympatico.ca X-Trace: news20.bellglobal.com 1094571676 69.157.58.38 (Tue, 07 Sep 2004 11:41:16 EDT) NNTP-Posting-Date: Tue, 07 Sep 2004 11:41:16 EDT Organization: Bell Sympatico Xref: news.earthlink.net alt.startrek.creative:160673 X-Received-Date: Tue, 07 Sep 2004 08:56:36 PDT (newsspool2.news.atl.earthlink.net) Dream and Duty: From Sleep into Dreams Part 4/30 "Firing phasers," Sal announced from her chair in the cockpit. After a few seconds of exposure to the beam, the shuttle exploded in a flurry of metal fragments. Bink watched the fragments as they sailed out from the shuttle and off the viewscreen. "Set course away from here," he instructed. ______________________________________________________________ Mika watched the stranger sleep with curiosity. She had requested to stand watch over the man, and Pak, being ever the proud Cardassian, hadn't refused. So Pak was manning the cockpit, while Ruk, Bink and Sal were asleep in the next room. It was just her and the nameless, sleeping man, alone in the silence. She shifted her weight on her bunk, and was somewhat surprised when the almost noiseless gesture caused the man to stir and open his eyes. The first thing she saw in his bluish eyes was fear, but it passed almost instantly, replaced by some form of resignation. He then sat up and leaned his back against the cold, metal wall. "Hi," she greeted. "Hi..." he looked back and forth, as though needing to get his bearings. "What?" Mika snorted. "Hoping you might wake up somewhere else?" "Maybe." Mika nodded slowly, not yet put off by his edginess. "Remember anything yet?" The man regarded her a moment, as though trying to determine whether she was being sarcastic or truthful in her inquiry. "No," he finally admitted sadly. The sadness in his tone struck Mika in an odd way, making her feel a sudden wash of pity for what the stranger must be going through. Angry with herself, she shook the feeling off as quickly as it came. "What am I supposed to call you until you remember your name?" she asked. "Ruk just calls me 'the guy.'" Mika shrugged. "Guy's a name. I could call you that." "Call me whatever you want." he said. "Okay then, Guy. Is there anything that you want to ask me? I do have a full memory, and I imagine you must be a bit curious." The man now known as Guy eyed her. "What would you have me ask?" Mika shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe why you're on this ship, why we're on this ship, what is this ship, where are we going..." "What happened?" For a moment, Mika wasn't sure what he was asking. Then she saw the way he was looking at the side of her face. "This?" she ran her right index finger down the length of the barely sealed gash that marred her left cheek. "Cardassians." Guy eyed her for a moment. "What's you're name again?" "Mika," she answered. He nodded, seemingly content with that knowledge. Mika looked at him. "That's it? No more questions?" "Like what?" "You don't even know where you are!" she said with exasperation. Guy spoke calmly and evenly. "I assume we're on a stolen Cardassian ship, judging by the architecture and technology-and since you all escaped from a Cardassian prison camp..." Mika's gaze became suddenly accusing, her suspicion rising. "How would you know that?" He gave a slight shrug. "I heard the Romulan and a Bajoran talking about leaving the sector as soon as possible, in case the Cardassians showed up. On top of that, I can't really think of any other circumstance under which Romulans, Cardassians, and Bajorans could be working together on the same ship." "You sure know a hell of a lot for a person who's lost his memory, Guy." "I spoke with the Cardassian, Pak, earlier. He said that with this type of stress-induced memory loss, it is common to loose memories of a personal nature, but still retain other knowledge," he explained. "In this case, it seems that I am still aware of the situation between the Bajorans and the Cardassians." "Pak said that?" she asked. "Yes," the man replied. "He seemed to be quite knowledgeable on the subject." It seemed to Mika that Pak knew a little bit more than he would be likely to know just from being friends with a Bajoran doctor, but she kept her concerns to herself. "There is one thing I'm curious about, though." Mika looked up. "And that is?" "Where are you planning to go?" he asked. The Bajoran thought that she heard more than curiosity in his voice. Concern, perhaps? "We don't know," she answered truthfully. "Home... I suppose. If it's even still there..." She trailed off midspeech, suddenly realizing what she was about to confess to this perfect stranger. "We'll be going our separate ways," she said definitively. Guy nodded. "I see." Mika didn't say anything, instead taking a moment to look at him--to really look at him. He had a kind face, one that made her want to trust him, despite how hard she found it to trust anyone. Mika also noticed how small he looked. It wasn't just because he was skinny; hell, compared with some of the people she'd seen over the years... No, it was more than that. He was scared. Yes, that was it. He was sitting there completely petrified, and yet to someone who wasn't looking for anything to the contrary, he was perfectly composed. Her instincts told her that there was much more going on than she could possibly be aware of, and it made her uneasy. Guy had been looking down, but when he looked up again, he noticed her scrutiny. Mika dropped her eyes, immediately embarrassed, a feeling which quickly became anger directed towards herself for allowing her mind to wander. "I'm sorry," she began. "I..." "Why did you get sent to the prison?" Although he had interrupted her, he hadn't asked the question harshly, or forcefully. Mika stared at him for a second. Then, realizing that he was serious, she laughed humorlessly. "That's a hell of a question." Guy paused, waiting for her to elaborate. When she didn't, he asked her again. "So... Why were you sent there?" "You really don't get it, do you?" she saw Guy's blank expression, and again let loose a snort of laughter. "To a Cardassian, being Bajoran is enough." Guy looked away from her, and a sudden uncomfortable silence consumed them. Mika was almost sorry for the harshness of her words. She hadn't meant to direct her anger onto Guy. "Well..." she glanced at the chronometer on the wall above Guy. "I should probably go and give Pak a break. He's probably falling asleep at the controls by now." She stood, knowing full well that it was over an hour before she was scheduled to relieve Pak. "See you around, Guy." He looked up at her. "I guess so." Mika nodded once, then walked through the sliding door into the corridor, on her way to the cockpit. Guy watched her go, both happy and uncomfortable to be by himself. A sudden chill wound its way up his spine, and he shivered in spite of himself. He wondered what would become of him, and if he would ever remember anything about why he'd been found unconscious on a damaged Federation shuttlecraft. But the more he tried to remember, the more his head hurt. He ran a hand through his dark hair, and was dismayed to see that his hand was shaking. Still, he had to be strong. These people had been through so much... the last thing they needed was to be doting over some worried stranger. Especially since their continued compassion marked his only chance for survival. __________________________________________________ NewMessage: ath: newsspool2.news.atl.earthlink.net!stamper.news.atl.earthlink.net!elnk-atl-nf1!newsfeed.earthlink.net!bigfeed2.bellsouth.net!news.bellsouth.net!cyclone1.gnilink.net!gnilink.net!wn14feed!worldnet.att.net!207.35.177.252!nf3.bellglobal.com!nf1.bellglobal.com!nf2.bellglobal.com!news20.bellglobal.com.POSTED!not-for-mail From: "The Cheat" Newsgroups: alt.startrek.creative Subject: NEW TNG Dream and Duty Part 5/30 [PG-13] D/f Lines: 150 X-Priority: 3 X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-Newsreader: Microsoft Outlook Express 6.00.2800.1106 X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V6.00.2800.1106 Message-ID: Date: Tue, 7 Sep 2004 11:40:02 -0400 NNTP-Posting-Host: 69.157.58.38 X-Complaints-To: abuse@sympatico.ca X-Trace: news20.bellglobal.com 1094571810 69.157.58.38 (Tue, 07 Sep 2004 11:43:30 EDT) NNTP-Posting-Date: Tue, 07 Sep 2004 11:43:30 EDT Organization: Bell Sympatico Xref: news.earthlink.net alt.startrek.creative:160675 X-Received-Date: Tue, 07 Sep 2004 08:58:40 PDT (newsspool2.news.atl.earthlink.net) Dream and Duty: From Sleep into Dreams Part 5/30 It was Sal and Bink who had the honors of doing the final leg of piloting towards Bajor. "Entering visual range," Sal announced calmly. Her eyes darted across to Bink, who, despite his outward coolness, was quite obviously brimming with excitement. "Let's get it on the screen," he said. "Full magnification." Sal entered the commands into her console, and in an instant, the blue and green orb that was Bajor appeared on the viewscreen, white clouds swirling over its surface in steady waves. Bink watched the spectacle, unable to take his eyes off the screen. Sal watched him with barely disguised interest, as she was sure he would neither notice or care about her scrutiny at the present. "I..." he trailed off to make room for wide grin to spread across his face. "I can hardly believe it's still here. The last time I saw it from space was..." he faltered, his face suddenly falling. "Well..." "When you were taken from Bajor by the Cardassians during the occupation?" Sal finished helpfully. Bink's eyes fell, and Sal immediately felt guilty for her assessment, and in failing to realize that Bink might be overly susceptible to strong emotions in his current frame of mind. "I am sorry, Bink," she said honestly, and not without compassion. "I didn't mean..." "It's okay," he assured her, looking suddenly much more composed. "We all experienced the hardships that came with the occupation. I'm over this by now." Bink pressed a button on his console to activate the intercom system. "This is Shaldous Binket to all crew members," he smiled as he spoke. "We are now approaching out destination. Public viewings will be allowed for the next ten minutes." Within a moment of the message being broadcast, both Mika and Ruk were slipping through the sliding doors to the cockpit. They both hurried forward toward the viewscreen, as though to bring themselves that much closer to their home. "It's beautiful," Ruk said, his eyes wide. Mika, for her part, didn't say much of anything. She had a feeling, deep in the pit of her stomach, that their troubles weren't quite over. ___________________________________________________________ Guy had been lying on his bunk in the crew quarters he shared with Mika and Pak when the message came through. He watched Mika's reaction--noting that it was the first time she had really smiled since he'd know her--and his interest was piqued once he saw her rush out of crew quarters. "What's that all about?" he asked Pak, who was also lying on his bunk across, and slightly in front of Guy. Pak glanced at the already departed figure of Mika with disinterest. "Judging by Mika's response and the relative time frame during which we are currently engaged, I would suspect we are approaching Bajor." "You're not interested?" Guy asked the Cardassian. Pak's obsidian eyes shot Guy a quick glance. "Bajor is not my home." His response confused Guy somewhat, who had assumed Pak would at least see Bajor as a means to an end; once they arrived, he would be able to book passage to wherever it was he wanted to go. Unless... he had no where to go... "So... where is your home?" "Home is wherever you make it," Pak answered, a little too quickly. "I don't have any preconceptions about having a designated home." Pak's quick response, along with his reluctance to discuss the subject, made Guy suspect that the Cardassian was being defensive. "Will you go back to Cardassia?" "Without trying to disparage your efforts to further understand my situation, I would prefer to keep my future plans to myself," he paused, then added, "Especially since we have not yet determined whether or not you are a Federation spy." Sensing he had pushed Pak as far as he could, Guy didn't attempt to question his roommate further on the issue. Instead, he tried to change the subject. "Have you ever been to Bajor?" Pak hesitated for a moment, long enough that Guy wasn't entirely sure he was going to answer the question. "Once," he said at last. "Is it... as beautiful as Mika says it is?" Again, Pak hesitated. Guy wasn't sure if it was because he had been caught off balance by the question, or was simply not sure how to respond without getting into too much detail about where he'd been on Bajor... and what he'd been doing. "It... is not my world," he said after a very long moment. Again, Guy decided not to push the issue. ___________________________________________________________ "Now entering standard orbit around Bajor," Sal announced for the benefit of everyone in the cockpit. Sal took another moment to survey the reactions of the Bajorans. Bink was at least partially focused on his instruments, while Ruk was still watching the image of the swirling clouds on the viewscreen. Mika, though, had stepped back away from the others, and was leaning against the wall. Her arms were crossed across her chest, and she was no longer watching the viewscreen. Sal thought it a strange reaction for someone who had been away from the home they loved for so many years. She also found herself wishing, suddenly, that she knew the young Bajoran better, so that she would at least be able to offer some small comfort to the woman. She had known Mika for almost three years, but all of their meetings had been secret encounters to discuss the prison break--not exactly the best circumstances to have a heart to heart, especially with the threat of a Cardassian torture chamber lingering in the back of your mind. Still, Sal had hoped she would get to know Mika better. But as they were now about to transport down to Bajor, probably to split up for good, Sal found this possibility unlikely. "When can we start beaming down to the surface?" Ruk asked eagerly. "Any time we want to," Bink told him. "I'll go get my things," Ruk said, before scampering out of the cockpit. Sal didn't bother to remind him that other than the clothes on his back and his rubik's cube, Ruk didn't have any 'things'. "Well," Bink looked over at Sal. "I guess this is it." Sal nodded, but didn't say anything. Bink regarded her a moment longer, trying to draw her eyes. "So... where will you go?" Sal shrugged. "I may use my share of the money we gain from the sale of the ship to buy passage on a freighter headed for Romulus. I have some... unfinished business there." Bink nodded. "I suppose Mika and Ruk and I will stick together, at least until we find a buyer for the ship who's not going to ask where we got a Cardassian transport." "We should probably beam down to Naveema village," Mika offered. Sal noticed she was much more alert than she had been a moment before. "We'll find a buyer there." "Okay then," Bink clapped his hands together for emphasis. "Let's get to it." Mika nodded in acknowledgement, and left the cockpit to go to the crew quarters. There she found Pak, looking fully prepared to leave, and Guy, looking somewhat distracted. Then again, Mika mused, Guy always looked somewhat distracted. "Ready to beam down, Pak?" she asked. "Yes," he said simply, before leaving for the transporter room. Mika watched him leave, and offered a blink of surprise. "Well... so much for long goodbyes." Guy cleared his throat, attracting Mika's attention. "Uh..." he began hesitantly. "I know you've got your own stuff to deal with and everything, but... where do I go once we beam down to the surface?" Mika looked at him for a moment, biting her lip on the inside of her mouth. "You could turn yourself into the provisional government," she offered. "Tell them your story--leaving out who rescued you, of course--and tell them that you suspect you may be a member of the Federation. They'll probably send a ship to come get you." "But what if I'm not a member of the Federation?" he asked. "What if I was fleeing the Federation?" "Then you can..." she trailed off with a frustrated sigh. "I don't know! Why do I have to take responsibility for you? I don't even know you, I..." she closed her eyes, and took a deep, calming breath. "All right. You can come with me. I'll look after you. Just be quiet and don't talk to anyone, and don't look suspicious, or get in my way." She paused, and looked at him for confirmation. "Understood?" Guy nodded gratefully. "Perfectly." "Great..." she muttered, less than enthusiastically. "Well, we're leaving, so... get your stuff together..." ___________________________________________________________ NewMessage: ath: newsspool2.news.atl.earthlink.net!stamper.news.atl.earthlink.net!elnk-atl-nf1!newsfeed.earthlink.net!bigfeed2.bellsouth.net!bigfeed.bellsouth.net!news.bellsouth.net!newsfeed2.telusplanet.net!newsfeed.telus.net!cyclone.bc.net!news-in.mts.net!nf1.bellglobal.com!nf2.bellglobal.com!news20.bellglobal.com.POSTED!not-for-mail From: "The Cheat" Newsgroups: alt.startrek.creative Subject: NEW TNG Dream and Duty Part 6/30 [PG-13] D/f Lines: 253 X-Priority: 3 X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-Newsreader: Microsoft Outlook Express 6.00.2800.1106 X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V6.00.2800.1106 Message-ID: Date: Tue, 7 Sep 2004 11:41:16 -0400 NNTP-Posting-Host: 69.157.58.38 X-Complaints-To: abuse@sympatico.ca X-Trace: news20.bellglobal.com 1094571884 69.157.58.38 (Tue, 07 Sep 2004 11:44:44 EDT) NNTP-Posting-Date: Tue, 07 Sep 2004 11:44:44 EDT Organization: Bell Sympatico Xref: news.earthlink.net alt.startrek.creative:160671 X-Received-Date: Tue, 07 Sep 2004 08:53:15 PDT (newsspool2.news.atl.earthlink.net) Dream and Duty: From Sleep into Dreams Part 6/30 Mika and Guy beamed down together, just outside of Naveema village. As they materialized, the full flood of sights and smells hit Guy in waves. Even the sun seemed just a little bit too hot, and a little bit too bright. It took his eyes several minutes to adjust. Looking over at Mika, he saw that the sun, at least, was causing her problems as well. She caught his eyes upon her, and frowned. "I haven't seen the sun for 7 years," she told him. Guy nodded, trying very much to contain the swell of pity he felt for her, and what her life must have been like before she escaped. He knew if he displayed any of his feelings, she would resent it. He wasn't exactly sure why he was suddenly so worried about pleasing her, but figured that it was just that he was concerned for her. And there was nothing wrong with that, right? "C'mon." Mika led the way up the beaten path towards the village. A few people passed them as they walked, all Bajoran. Many of them carried goods and produce, and many of them were smiling. Once, as they were passed by a Bajoran couple with their smiling children, Guy caught Mika's gaze lingering. It took her a couple of seconds to catch herself, and then they started walking again. The road upon which they were walking was nothing more than dirt, trampled under countless feet and baked dry by the smoldering sun. All along either side of it there were street vendors. The vendors were selling everything, from religious artifacts to fresh produce, to clothing. Many of them called out to the passers by, promoting their products with reckless abandon. Several times, sellers tried to attract Mika and Guy's attention. But Mika passed them all by. Guy got the distinct feeling that someone like Mika develops ways to block out everything else around them, and only focus on one task. He couldn't really think of any other way she could have survived what she did. The buildings of the village were a clashing assortment of modern technology and ancient architecture. Bordering the street behind the vendors and breaking off into side streets and blocks on either side, the buildings fit in perfectly with the rest of the setting. Just as they combined the modern and the archaic, the clothes and fabric of the vendors were a mix of soft, pastoral colours, and bright, gaily decorated, almost garish varieties. These seeming contradictions confused Guy at first, as they seemed to suggest a lack of specific identity. But then, as they continued to walk down the dusty road, he reasoned that perhaps that blending, that perpetual mixing of the brash and the tender, was an identity in itself. They walked for hours, maybe longer. It was not an immensely large village, however, and Guy was sure they must have gone down every side street and alleyway and main road at least three times. He couldn't be sure, though, as every time they walked by, there was something new, and inviting to look at. Guy decided that despite his initial reaction, he liked the village. He liked the way the people laughed and talked with the vendors, and the way others hurried about as though the world was coming to an end within the next few hours. Perhaps they were both reactions to having lived under strict guidelines and time constrains for so many years. Finally, Guy noticed the sun beginning to lower itself over the horizon. And as they walked down the main street for the umpteenth time that day, he saw that most of the vendors had packed in their articles, and headed back to whatever place it was they called home. For a moment, Guy felt a pang of regret deep within him. He wondered if, somewhere, he had a home and a family--somewhere where he went, and relaxed after the day was over. It was a comforting thought, this idea of having a home. Maybe it was because the way Guy's life was at the moment, he had no idea what was going to happen from one minute to the next, meaning there was no room at all for any sense of continuity, let alone stability. It was then that Mika spoke for the first time in a long while. "Look," she said, pointing up towards the sky. Guy followed her finger, and saw that Bajor's moons--all five of them--were now clearly visible in the darkened sky, soon to be surrounded, he knew, by the local star system. Mika stopped walking to stare up at the celestial bodies. Guy thought he saw her smile. It wasn't a rueful smile, or a sarcastic smile, or even a sad smile. This... was a truly happy smile. It was an expression Guy had never seen her exhibit. She shifted her eyes in Guy's direction, and saw that he was looking at her. Immediately, she dropped her gaze. Guy was sorry he'd embarrassed her, and he too dropped his gaze. "Well..." she said. "I suppose we have a job to do." "And that would be?" asked Guy. "Just follow me," she told him, and led the way towards an establishment with neon lighting adorning the doorway. It was one of the only buildings in town that sported that particular technology, and it also seemed to be one of the most frequented. Someone seemed to be passing through the door, either leaving or entering, on a regular basis. Guy followed Mika inside. As his eyes had gradually become adjusted to the darkened outdoors, the sudden brightness of the artificial lighting within the bar took some getting used to. There was noise surrounding them from all sides. Voices, laughing, glasses clinking, and the occasional drunken outburst. Guy tried to ignore it all and just follow Mika through the rabble. Mika led him to the far side of the bar, where they found two empty seats against the bar counter. Together, they sat down. A barkeeper approached them almost at once, and Mika ordered them two Bajoran ales. "And now," Mika spoke over the din. "We wait." The waiting went on for a very long time indeed. Several more hours after they'd entered the bar, Guy guessed. Only sipping at his Bajoran ale once every so often--he actually hated the taste of the stuff, although he was loathe to tell Mika, lest she be offended--Guy was still nursing his original beverage when Mika jabbed him in the ribs. As he looked over at her, and noticed the empty glasses that surrounded her, he realized that she was definitely not still on her first drink. How she was intending to pay the tab with no money, he had no idea. Mika directed his attention to a Ferengi, who was sitting at a table near the corner, laughing it up with two figures, a Bolian and a Bajoran. It was then that Guy noticed how much emptier the bar had become, and wondered why he hadn't noticed it sooner. Perhaps the Bajoran ale was having more of an effect on him than he'd thought. He and Mika waited for a long time for the Ferengi's customers--assuming that's what they were--to leave the bar. Once they did, Mika hopped off her stool, and headed over towards the table, indicating Guy should follow. The Ferengi was just knocking back a glass of some foamy, orange liquid as they approached him, and took two seats opposite him at the table. He set down his glass, gesturing to the barkeep that he'd like another, and looked over his two would-be customers. "Lovely evening," Mika smiled at the Ferengi. The server set down a fresh glass of orange liquid in front of the Ferengi, and he smiled expansively at Mika, showing off the edges of his pointed fangs. "It is now," he raised his glass, and tilted it in a toast towards Mika. He then brought it to his mouth, and drained half its contents in one go. "Now..." he said, setting his glass back down on the table. "What can I do for you?" "We have a business proposition," Mika told him. "Ah," the Ferengi smiled. "And you are...?" "Are you always this intrusive?" The Ferengi raised a hand in gracious apology. "I apologize. It must be the liquor talking. I didn't mean to question your integrity. But, since I have nothing to hide, you might as well know, my name is Tarn." "Don't jump to conclusions, Ferengi," Mika hissed. "I have nothing to hide." "Of course not," Tarn smiled. He opened his palms, and laid them face up across the table, as though welcoming their business. "Now, then... I believe I heard something about a proposed business transaction." "We need to sell a ship," Mika told him. "No questions asked." Tarn cocked an eyebrow at her. "Why no questions asked?" Mika leaned in towards him, and whispered, "It's a Cardassian transport." Now, Tarn's eyebrows shot upwards in earnest. "Twice in one day...I need a drink." He picked up his orange drink, and gulped down half of the remaining contents. "Is it stolen?" he asked, a bit too loudly for Mika's tastes. "And if it were?" Mika countered. Tarn expelled a breath, before finishing off his beverage. "Barkeep!" A server hurried to Tarn's side. "Put their bill on my tab." The server glanced at Mika and Guy, then back to the Ferengi, but didn't comment. Instead, he simply nodded, and hustled off again. Once the server was gone, Tarn returned his attention to his customers. "Perhaps this is something we should discuss in more... private circumstances." "Agreed," Mika replied. "Do you have a ship in orbit?" "How do I know I can trust you?" Tarn paused, and Guy could tell he was trying to come up with a plausible answer to Mika's question. "You don't," he said after a moment. "I just know that if you're as desperate as you appear to be, you can't afford not to." Mika considered her words, but Guy knew what her response was going to be well before it left her lips. "Be at the southern edge of the village at 0900 tomorrow. Someone will meet you there." "I'll be waiting." Tarn stood up from the table resolutely, and strode out of the bar. Guy noticed a couple of the remaining patrons glancing their way, although by that time, most of them were too drunk to care. Still, it wouldn't do them any good to be easily identifiable figures. "I think we should get out of here," Guy whispered to Mika. She too looked around. "Yeah," she agreed. Together, they stood up from the table and made their way out the door. Once outside, Guy began walking in the direction of the beam up point, but after a few steps he realized that Mika wasn't following him. "Mika?" He turned to see her leaning against the outside wall of the bar, eyes closed. He hurried over to her side, and laid a hand on her shoulder. "Hey," he said softly. "You alright?" With a sudden intake of air that caught Guy slightly off-balance--partly because the world wasn't standing quite still in front of him, either--she opened her eyes. "I don't feel so good." "C'mon," he urged. "We'll just get out of sight, then we can beam up." Mika nodded, accepting the supporting hand that Guy offered without resistance. This surprised him, somewhat, but he didn't comment. They walked together around to the back of the bar, where Mika pulled out her hand-held communicator. She pushed her thumb into the com button. "This is Mika, here with Guy, to transporter room." There was a brief pause, and then, "This is Sal. I'm on my way to the transporter room. Where have you been?" Mika exchanged a glance with Guy. "To hell and back. Would you just beam us up, already?" "I'll be there in a second. Stand by to energize." It was then that Mika finally straightened, pushing away Guy's support. She stood there, focused and composed for a full second... before she pitched over forwards... and puked. Her stomach wretched once, and then again, expelling orange-hued liquid all across the grassy dust. Guy actually had to step backwards to avoid stepping in the liquid as it ran through the grass towards him. Finally, Mika started coughing, signaling the end of her stomach's violent response to the ale. "Are you okay?" Guy asked softly, leaning down so that he was able to see her bent-over face. Mika took several deep breaths before she answered him. "I'm fine," she said at last. "Do you have anything I could..." Guy took off the vest he was wearing over his T-shirt, and offered it to Mika. She shot him a glance, before using the garment to wipe off her mouth. "Thanks," she managed, once she was standing up straight again. "No problem." She handed the vest back to him, but he tossed it back against the wall of the bar. "No offense, or anything," he offered. Mika shrugged. "None taken," she paused, then said, "Just so we're clear, though, I don't want any of this to reach anyone on the transport. None of it, not the puking, or the drinking... None of it. Is that clear?" Her voice was firm and commanding, and even. Guy wondered how she could do that. Just control her physical health when she really felt she needed to. "Sure," he offered. "Is that clear?" she repeated, slightly louder. "Yes," he said, more definitively. "Yes, that's clear." "Good," she nodded, just as Guy felt the transporter beam finally seize them. The ruddy clearing behind the bar faded all around them, to be replaced with the steel walls of the transporter room. Sal was standing at the controls, but she stepped out from behind the console as Mika and Guy arrived. Before Sal could ask the inevitable question, Mika answered it for her. "We found a buyer for the ship," she said, no trace of her drunkenness in her voice. "We're supposed to meet him outside Naveema village at 0900 tomorrow, as discussed." She looked around her. "Where's Bink?" "Bink..." Sal trailed off, leading to a rather lengthy pause. "What?" Mika prompted. "Well... I know we'd all hoped to sell the ship, and get the money and go out separate ways, but... Well, it might not turn out that way." Mika's brow creased in confusion. "Why? What happened?" "Bink's made contact with the Ferengi, Tarn... just a few hours earlier than you did, I believe. Tarn has... offered to introduce us to a man who was one a leader in the resistance." "I can't believe it..." said Mika, remembering their exchange with Tarn. "Twice in one day..." she took a moment to bite back a curse, before continuing. "And why would he want to meet with a former resistance leader? It's not as if we're planning to... Oh, Prophets. This isn't what I think it is." It wasn't a question, but Sal answered it anyway. "We can do it, Mika. All we need is a couple of extra ships, some manpower..." "Sal, that place is a technological masterpiece! It'd take a genius to get past all the security systems! It just wouldn't work. It's..." She trailed off, and Guy thought he saw a flicker of pain cross her face. "Fine," she continued after a moment. "You know what? Do whatever the hell you want. Since Bink's obviously gone and asserted himself as the leader of this outfit, let him go ahead and make all the decisions. See if I care." With that, she stepped off the transporter pad, and stormed out of the room. Guy exchanged a glance with Sal once the door slid shut behind Mika. "She's... had a hard day," Guy offered. Sal cocked an eyebrow. "Obviously." ______________________________________________________________ NewMessage: ath: newsspool2.news.atl.earthlink.net!stamper.news.atl.earthlink.net!elnk-atl-nf1!newsfeed.earthlink.net!prodigy.com!news.glorb.com!border1.nntp.dca.giganews.com!border2.nntp.dca.giganews.com!nntp.giganews.com!nf3.bellglobal.com!nf1.bellglobal.com!nf2.bellglobal.com!news20.bellglobal.com.POSTED!not-for-mail From: "The Cheat" Newsgroups: alt.startrek.creative Subject: NEW TNG Dream and Duty Part 7/30 [PG-13] D/f Lines: 176 X-Priority: 3 X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-Newsreader: Microsoft Outlook Express 6.00.2800.1106 X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V6.00.2800.1106 Message-ID: Date: Tue, 7 Sep 2004 11:42:16 -0400 NNTP-Posting-Host: 69.157.58.38 X-Complaints-To: abuse@sympatico.ca X-Trace: news20.bellglobal.com 1094571944 69.157.58.38 (Tue, 07 Sep 2004 11:45:44 EDT) NNTP-Posting-Date: Tue, 07 Sep 2004 11:45:44 EDT Organization: Bell Sympatico Xref: news.earthlink.net alt.startrek.creative:160676 X-Received-Date: Tue, 07 Sep 2004 09:00:56 PDT (newsspool2.news.atl.earthlink.net) Dream and Duty: From Sleep into Dreams Part 7/30 "Mika? ... Mika?" Mika groaned, and rolled over, away from the voice that tore through her sleep. "Mika... C'mon, Mika, you have to get up." A hand touched her shoulder, but she shrugged it off. "Leave me the hell alone." "Mika." Her head screamed at her to ignore the voice, but she knew she couldn't. She'd never been good at ignoring her conscience, a trait that had gotten her into trouble in the past. "Okay..." she rolled over onto her back, and forced herself into an upright position. She felt a faint pounding in her temples, and resisted the urge to put a hand to her head. Taking a hard swallow, she was ready to face the world. She had to be. There was no excuse for surrendering to weakness, not when she was so close to being out. Just get through one more day... just get through one more day... She repeated her silent mantra over and over again, as she had done every day for the past 16 years, and finally, just as she was opening her eyes, she began to believe it. "Yes?" she smiled sweetly at Guy, who was leaning over her, his eyebrows knotted with concern. "Are you okay?" "I'm fine," to further assert herself, she swung her legs over the edge of her bunk, and stood up. She stretched once, in her customary morning routine, and ran a hand through her close-cropped brown hair. It spiked out in all directions, as usual. Perfect. Just the way she liked it. "Where's Bink? I need to talk to him before he goes down to the surface." "That's just the thing," said Guy, who was now standing beside her, arms folded across his chest. "He beamed down to the surface half an hour ago to meet with Tarn about the resistance leader." "What?!" Mika glanced around her. "What time is it?" "0930 hours," he replied. "I told them you were up late working through the deal with Tarn. But I knew if you weren't awake when they got back, you'd be angry." Mika snorted. "You think you know me that well, huh?" she held up a hand to stop him from answering the question. "Forget it. When did they say they'd be back?" "Any time, I assume. But there was something I was wondering about. If you're not selling the ship, why is Bink still meeting with Tarn?" "I dunno. Maybe he's hoping he can get that little scumbag to help out with weapons, or ships, or something. Prophets know the Ferengi will do just about anything for profit." "Yeah..." Guy paused, considering something. "But didn't it strike you as odd? The way be paid for out drinks, without us even asking him to? That doesn't seem very profitable to me." Mika shrugged. "Maybe he thought he was going to make so much profit from swindling us out of our ship, he thought he could afford it. I don't know... I need something to eat. Care to join me?" "Actually, I already ate..." "Listen, I don't care! Can't you just humor me here? You at least owe me that much! I..." Mika stopped talking, closed her eyes, and took a deep, steadying breath. She was angry at herself for sleeping in, angry at herself for being irresponsible the night before, and angry that in the absence of her good judgement, Bink had almost completely taken over everything. Back in the prison, that kind of behavior would have gotten her killed. Had she really become so lax already? In five days, had she really abandoned everything that had come to represent herself? She liked that toughness, and she liked being in control, despite the fact the she didn't seem to be in control very frequently. She hated what she had become since leaving the prison, and she knew Guy didn't deserve the brunt of that hostility. "I'm sorry," she sighed, finally opening her eyes. "I guess I'm just stretched a little thin. Do you want to go get some air?" Guy eyed her. If he was intimidated by her short fuse, he hid it well. "What about breakfast?" "Screw breakfast. I'm not really hungry anyway. So, how 'bout it? We'll beam down to the surface, walk around in the sun..." "I think it's raining in the village..." Mika smiled ruefully. "Of course it is." "Besides," Guy continued. "If we both beamed down to the surface, there'd be no one on board to beam us back up." "Yes... yes, I know. It was just a suggestion." They stood in silence for a moment, Mika feeling angry and frustrated, and Guy desperately searching for some way to alleviate her stress. "We could go for a walk around the ship," Guy suggested. "I don't think I've actually seen the whole thing since I arrived." "Okay," Mika agreed tiredly. "C'mon... Let me give you the grand tour of Cardassian engineering..." _________________________________________________________ Bink watched the countryside glide steadily by him from his seat within the transport. The area close to them was moving too quickly for him to be able to watch it without feeling acutely nauseous, so instead he watched the hills in the distance. The warm Bajoran sun had just slipped over the farthest hill, and was spilling its rays out over the green fields. Bink that had never seen a more beautiful sight. He shot a look over his shoulder at Sal and Ruk seated behind him. They, too, were gazing out the windows, so they didn't notice Bink. Although he understood why they would want to do so, Bink wished one of them had met his gaze. Because although he would never admit it, he very much needed their support about the decision he'd made. "How much further?" he asked, Tarn, who was seated next to him at the controls. "Not long," the Ferengi replied. Bink nodded, and looked out the window once more. After a second, though, he felt his eyes drawn back to Tarn. "Why are you doing all this?" Tarn took his eyes off the controls long enough to meet Bink's gaze. "You Bajorans aren't the only ones to be affected by the occupation. I..." he trailed off, and refocused his eyes on the controls. "I lost my brother to the Cardassians during the occupation." Bink waited for the Ferengi to elaborate, long enough that it became clear he had no intention of doing so. "And...?" "And?" echoed Tarn. "What further motivation do I need besides the avengement of my family?" Bink shrugged. "Money, power, unimaginable profit..." "Is that all you think we Ferengi are?" Tarn demanded, his voice suddenly sharp. "Profit hungry trolls?" "Well... the reputation of your race does precede you." Angrily, Tarn shook his head. "You Bajorans are determined to fight back against an enemy... an enemy that has massacred and robbed from your people for sixty years. And what was the original cause of this injustice? Greed. A lust for money and power. Living through what greed did to the people of this planet, I don't know how anyone... no matter what species... could have survived with the same conviction in their beliefs as they once held. So if I, a Ferengi, choose to make one minor decision in my life which is not motivated by profit--although it should be known that it was under the most severe of circumstances--I'd appreciate you not questioning it, and counting your blessings that I decided to help you before the Militia came by and arrested you for whatever it is you've done." Bink was silent, making sure that the Ferengi's tirade was over. Satisfied that it was, he shrugged. "Fair enough." He then returned his attention to the view, as they traveled the rest of the way in silence. After approximately ten more minutes, Tarn began powering down the transport, and they finally stopped beside at the edge of what appeared to be a farm. Tern landed the hovering vehicle by the side of a worn path, and the clear top slide open, allowing them to exit the transport. Bink set his feet down on the dusty path and looked around him. There was a small barn, which even in its modesty, still managed to shadow the house that lay on the other side. Stretched out in front of the house was a garden, with several leafy plants pushing through the soil. It looked to Bink as though the farmer would have a good crop come harvest season. Tarn led the way up to the front of the house. Bink and the others stayed back as he approached the door, and knocked three times. After a very long few seconds, there was the sound of a voice from inside, followed by aged wooden door swinging slowly open. Bink couldn't see the figure that stood in the doorway, as they were still standing in the shadows, but he did her the male even male voice that spoke from within. He could tell by the slightly raspy sound of it that it was an individual who had lived through a lot. "Tarn? Is that you?" Tarn's mouth widened into a grin that fully displayed his crooked Ferengi teeth. "Ward!" he greeted warmly. "Always a pleasure!" The man in the doorway, who's name was apparently Ward, grunted. "Says you." Bink had a hard time holding back the smile that tugged at the corners of his mouth as he saw Tarn's face fall at the greeting. "Uh... Ward... I've brought you some guests." Finally, the man stepped out of the shadows, and into the sunlight. As soon as he saw him, Bink was sure his belief that the man was well traveled was indeed well founded. Ward wasn't a particularly tall man, probably no taller than Bink himself, but it seemed as though he was a man who had once been taller. He had thinning, grey hair, which was tied back in a short pony-tail. His grey hair was accompanied by a sparse, and surprising dark beard, which had only a few flecks of grey colouring it. He wore modest farmer's clothes, but it didn't detract from his presence. Bink got the feeling that no matter what this man wore, he would still command respect. "And who are you?" Immediately snapping out of his reverie, Bink realized Ward meant him. "My name is..." "Don't actually tell me, fool," Ward grumbled angrily. "How do you know you can trust me? I could be just another spy, trying to pump you for information. Prophets..." he shook his head slowly from side to side. Bink felt his cheeks growing hot, a sensation he hadn't felt in some time. The fact that it was happening to him now only served to embarrass him more. "Oh, well," Ward said, once he had stopped shaking his head. "I suppose I should invite you in for a Raktijano, at least..." ___________________________________________________________ NewMessage: ath: newsspool2.news.atl.earthlink.net!stamper.news.atl.earthlink.net!elnk-atl-nf1!newsfeed.earthlink.net!bigfeed2.bellsouth.net!news.bellsouth.net!cyclone1.gnilink.net!gnilink.net!wn14feed!worldnet.att.net!207.35.177.252!nf3.bellglobal.com!nf1.bellglobal.com!nf2.bellglobal.com!news20.bellglobal.com.POSTED!not-for-mail From: "The Cheat" Newsgroups: alt.startrek.creative Subject: NEW TNG Dream and Duty Part 8/30 [PG-13] D/f Lines: 137 X-Priority: 3 X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-Newsreader: Microsoft Outlook Express 6.00.2800.1106 X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V6.00.2800.1106 Message-ID: Date: Tue, 7 Sep 2004 11:43:07 -0400 NNTP-Posting-Host: 69.157.58.38 X-Complaints-To: abuse@sympatico.ca X-Trace: news20.bellglobal.com 1094571996 69.157.58.38 (Tue, 07 Sep 2004 11:46:36 EDT) NNTP-Posting-Date: Tue, 07 Sep 2004 11:46:36 EDT Organization: Bell Sympatico Xref: news.earthlink.net alt.startrek.creative:160677 X-Received-Date: Tue, 07 Sep 2004 09:01:59 PDT (newsspool2.news.atl.earthlink.net) Dream and Duty: From Sleep into Dreams Part 8/30 Sal wasn't sure what to make of Ward, although she was fairly certain that both Bink and Ruk were instantly enamored with him. The three of them, plus Tarn, were seated around an old-fashioned wooden table. Each of them had a cup of Klingon coffee, a Raktijino, in front of them. Bink and Ruk sipped at their beverages frequently, as did Ward. It was clear to Sal, however, that Tarn detested the drink, even though he was apparently trying to be polite and not say anything. Each time Tarn would lift the mug to his mouth, he would close his eyes, and then take a massive gulp of the hot liquid. Sal knew that as hot as the Raktijino was, it must scorch the back of Tarn's throat. Then again, she reasoned, perhaps it was the only way the Ferengi could bear the taste. For her part, Sal didn't touch her drink. On the few occasions she'd had the opportunity to sample Raktajino, she'd never developed a taste for it. And unlike Tarn, she wasn't afraid of offending their host. She knew Ward didn't trust her, and she wasn't about to bend over backwards to try and convince him. She knew a man like Ward would see through something so transparent very easily. So, in her mind, leaving her drink sitting in front of her was her way of declaring that she had nothing to hide. At the same time, she also paid close attention to the conversation at hand. "Why have you come here, today?" Ward asked all of them, although his gaze was leveled squarely at Bink. "We want to do our part to avenge was has been done to the Bajoran people," answered Bink. Ward regarded him a moment longer, and then he sighed. It was a heavy sound, as though the weight of the world were being expelled along with his breath. "The occupation is over," said Ward. "Our world has evolved. It's time we evolved with it." He brought his Raktijino up to his mouth and took a slow sip. Bink was shaking his head. "You don't understand..." "You're wrong," Ward said simply. "I understand too well. I was once like you. Young, defiant, a natural leader, strongly motivated by a strict code of ethics... and incredibly stupid." Bink blinked, as though he could scarcely believe another individual--A Bajoran, no less--had dared to speak those words directly to his face. "You're entitled to your own opinion," Bink said, choosing his words carefully. "But please don't be offended if I don't share it." Ward smiled ruefully, nodding his head. "Of course... Please don't take what I said the wrong way. I only mean to say that you don't understand what things have been like here the last 60 years. At least, if you did, you wouldn't be so eager to try and relive the resistance." "I was taken from Bajor as a child, and sent to a work camp. After 6 years there, I was sent to a Cardassian prison, where I stayed for 8 years. I may not have been on Bajor during the occupation, but that doesn't mean I didn't experience it. I saw the suffering. I saw the death. And I very nearly experienced both. The only difference is, unlike those living on and around Bajor during the occupation, I never got the opportunity to fight back against my oppressors. For me, the occupation didn't end until we escaped. And for the hundreds of others still at that prison, it's still going on. I can't get on with my life until I know that I've done everything I can to help them." Ward regarded Bink in silence for a long time. He seemed to be gauging him, measuring the truth of his words against his initial judgements. Sal watched the old man the whole time, but could get no read on how he might respond. She had no choice but to wait along with everyone else for the former resistance leader to speak. And, finally, he did. "What do you propose?" Bink didn't react overtly, but she could see the rejuvenated energy in his eyes. "We want to launch a large scale prison break of the compound on the Velerous moon. We'll get everyone out, and run like hell until we get out of Cardassian space." Ward nodded. "So what do you need me for?" "We need your connections," Bink answered. "We'll need ships--perhaps two more, in addition to the one we already have. And we need a few good people to help us. We've got 6, plus Tarn here, but we'll obviously need more. We'll also need someone who's good with technology. There's no way we'll be able to get in there without a tech person." Ward regarded Bink for a moment longer. Then, suddenly, he laughed. It was a sharp, raspy sound. "You're serious, aren't you?" when he didn't receive a response, he laughed again. "We really think that 6 prison escapees will be able to defeat the might of the Cardassian empire in three old transport vessels..." Sal literally saw Bink's face fall. In the face of the hope he'd had just a few minutes earlier, Ward's reaction must have been a damaging blow. Ward was still laughing, but finally, he managed to get control of himself. He took a sip of his Raktajino, and then set it down again, shaking his head. "It sounds almost as crazy as something I might do at your age." Bink looked up, then over at Ruk, who smiled. He then looked over at Sal. She gave a half smile, that was at least partially sincere. She was happy that Bink was happy, at least. "So you'll help us?" asked Ruk. "I made a pledge once, that I would fight for freedom until there was nothing left in me, and I died," said Ward. "I have something left in me yet." Bink nodded, gravely acknowledging that the old Bajoran had offered to make their mission his last great enterprise. "I appreciate that, Ward. Tarn says he has some contacts that can help us bring in some ships..." "But I would be immensely grateful for any help you could offer in the way of money saving," Tarn chimed in. "The ship you have right now... is it Cardassian?" Ward asked. "Yes," replied Bink. "We stole it during our escape." Ward sighed. "Then that is a problem." "Why?" asked Ruk. "I know of very few people who have a truly good grasp of Cardassian engineering," Ward explained. "And ships that I would be able to get for you would also be Cardassian. I'm afraid I'll be unable to provide you with the engineer you need." For a moment, Bink looked defeated. But only for a moment. That didn't surprise Sal; Bink was rarely defeated for long. "What if we had a Cardassian working for us?" Ward's brow creased, as he watched Bink pull out his hand held communicator, and speak into it. "This is Bink on the surface to transport." After a moment, there was a small crackling, signaling that the channel was open. "This is Mika. What's the problem?" Sal listened for some evidence of the anger from the night before in Mika's voice, but she failed to detect any. That did not, however, go a long way towards convincing her that it had abated. "Can you get Pak to beam down to the surface? I'll send you the coordinates." There was a lengthy pause on the other end, lengthy enough for Bink to become concerned. "Mika? Are you still there?" "Oh, I'm still here," said Mika. "It's Pak who isn't." "What do you mean? Did he beam down to the surface?" "I don't know," she replied. "All I know is that he's not on the ship. I was hoping he was with you." "He's not here," said Bink, as though the fact were in dispute. "Do you have any idea where he went? Did he leave a message as to where he was going?" "If he did, I would have found it," said Mika, a slight edge finally creeping into her voice. "Okay... well, if he shows up, let me know." "Of course," said Mika, before ending the transmission. Bink brought the communicator away from his mouth, and lay it down on the table. "It seems we have a defector," he said. "Great," groaned Ruk. "How much you bet we never see him again?" "Wait," said Sal, speaking for the first time. "I think I may have an idea." _____________________________________________________________ NewMessage: ath: newsspool2.news.atl.earthlink.net!stamper.news.atl.earthlink.net!elnk-atl-nf1!newsfeed.earthlink.net!bigfeed2.bellsouth.net!news.bellsouth.net!cyclone1.gnilink.net!gnilink.net!wn14feed!worldnet.att.net!204.71.34.3!newsfeed.cwix.com!news-in.mts.net!nf1.bellglobal.com!nf2.bellglobal.com!news20.bellglobal.com.POSTED!not-for-mail From: "The Cheat" Newsgroups: alt.startrek.creative Subject: NEW TNG Dream and Duty Part 9/30 [PG-13] D/f Lines: 90 X-Priority: 3 X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-Newsreader: Microsoft Outlook Express 6.00.2800.1106 X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V6.00.2800.1106 Message-ID: Date: Tue, 7 Sep 2004 11:44:11 -0400 NNTP-Posting-Host: 69.157.58.38 X-Complaints-To: abuse@sympatico.ca X-Trace: news20.bellglobal.com 1094572059 69.157.58.38 (Tue, 07 Sep 2004 11:47:39 EDT) NNTP-Posting-Date: Tue, 07 Sep 2004 11:47:39 EDT Organization: Bell Sympatico Xref: news.earthlink.net alt.startrek.creative:160672 X-Received-Date: Tue, 07 Sep 2004 08:56:29 PDT (newsspool2.news.atl.earthlink.net) Dream and Duty: From Sleep into Dreams Part 9/30 Pak looked out across the spaceport, and at the many faces of the people that hurried by him. All of them, with the exception of a few he had noticed in passing, were Bajoran. He tried to convince himself that they weren't staring at him. He repeated over and over again to himself that their eyes weren't dissecting him, accusing him of everything that had gone wrong during the last 60 years. It was a mantra that he ended up repeating almost endlessly in his head. The sooner away from this place, the better. He stood, waited, and checked the wall chronometer for the umpteenth time. There were still 15 more minutes before they were allowing the passengers to board his freighter. He would just have to wait until then. A woman stopped not far from him, dragging two small children behind her. One of the children--a young girl--looked up at Pak, no doubt marveling at the strange creature who seemed so out of place with his surroundings. The girl looked up at him... and smiled. Amazed, Pak did the first thing that came to mind, and smiled back. A moment later, the child's mother saw what was taking place and, with an angry glare in Pak's direction, hauled her two children away. Pak watched them go, not blaming the mother for her hostility. After all, when the time had come for him to stand up for them... A voice behind him snapped him out of his reverie. "Hey! Spoonhead!" Pak turned, to see a Bajoran male pointing at him from across the room. He was not especially old, but old enough to remember the occupation. Pak swallowed, preparing to ignore whatever other insults might come his way. "Spoonhead!" the man yelled again. He wasn't approaching Pak, but he was just as dangerous from where he was, as the volume of his voice was enough to attract the attention of the other Bajorans in the vicinity. "Why don't you go back to Cardassia!" he shouted. "Or maybe we'll just lock you up and have you rot in prison! You'd like that, wouldn't you, spoony!" Pak saw the attention he was getting, and tried to retreat within himself to escape scrutiny. When that didn't work, he pulled himself around a corner, and away from prying eyes. But as he turned, he found himself face to face with four more angry Bajoran males. He realized then that that's what the plan had been all along: to harass him into retreating, right into his destiny. And now, as he looked into the eyes of the Bajorans, seething with anger and hate, he was suddenly quite certain about what that destiny would be. Pak briefly chided himself for being so caught up in his thoughts that he'd become careless. The first Bajoran swung at him. Pak deflected the blow, and even managed to get off a few of his own, but in the end, their numbers overwhelmed him. He found himself pinned to the ground, boots resonating against his transverse ribs, fists against his face, and his jaw. Blood began leaking from his nose, and from where his teeth had cut into his lip. Slowly, and with each blow the Bajorans landed to his head, he felt himself slipping away... and into the quiet place that was unconsciousness. The pain began to fade into the distance, an echo of reality in the quiet that beckoned. But then, all of a sudden, the blows stopped. Pak was aware of bodies, and confusion, and he finally opened his eyes when he heard a familiar voice saying his name. "Pak!" Bink called. In a crouch, he was leaning over Pak, looking down at him with concern. Pak looked up to see Sal directly behind him, and Ruk on the other side. The concern that they were showing him--a Cardassian--was almost laughable. And, if Pak had been feeling more up to it, he might have done so. "Are you okay?" asked Ruk. "I'm..." Pak hesitated. "I'm fine." Bink stood up, Ruk following him, and offered Pak his hand. Pak eyed the hand for a moment, but only a moment, before putting his grey, scaled hand into the soft, pink one. With a steady pull rather than a short tug, Bink hauled Pak to his feet. Pak stood still for a moment, waiting for his vision to clear. When it did, he saw two Bajorans lying on the ground--obviously in bad shape. The others were gone--to where, Pak didn't know or care. Pak used the sleeve of his tunic to wipe the blood away from his face. It wasn't dried yet, but he could already feel it beginning to clot. "What are you doing here?" Pak finally asked the inevitable question. "To find you," answered Bink. "We need you to come back with us." Pak eyed him, running his tongue along the gash his teeth had left across the inside of his lip. "Why?" Bink hesitated, then said, "It will be the answer to all your problems." For a long moment, Pak looked into Bink's eyes. What he saw behind the Bajoran's short blond hair and shinning blue eyes, although not surprising him, pleased him. He saw the great leader that Bink was, saw his bravery, and his loyalty, and he knew that he could trust him--Bajoran or otherwise. "If you say so." Bink released a breath in a not too subtle gesture of relief. He then looked around at the others, smiling in that winning way he had. Obviously, there had been some doubt about whether or not Pak would agree. "Let's get out of here." Bink led the way to the exit, and the others followed him, just as any loyal group should follow their leader. ____________________________________________________________ NewMessage: ath: newsspool2.news.atl.earthlink.net!stamper.news.atl.earthlink.net!stamper.news.pas.earthlink.net!elnk-nf2-pas!newsfeed.earthlink.net!newshub.sdsu.edu!cyclone.bc.net!news-in.mts.net!nf1.bellglobal.com!nf2.bellglobal.com!news20.bellglobal.com.POSTED!not-for-mail From: "The Cheat" Newsgroups: alt.startrek.creative Subject: NEW TNG Dream and Duty Part 10/30 [PG-13] D/f Lines: 130 X-Priority: 3 X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-Newsreader: Microsoft Outlook Express 6.00.2800.1106 X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V6.00.2800.1106 Message-ID: Date: Tue, 7 Sep 2004 11:45:33 -0400 NNTP-Posting-Host: 69.157.58.38 X-Complaints-To: abuse@sympatico.ca X-Trace: news20.bellglobal.com 1094572141 69.157.58.38 (Tue, 07 Sep 2004 11:49:01 EDT) NNTP-Posting-Date: Tue, 07 Sep 2004 11:49:01 EDT Organization: Bell Sympatico Xref: news.earthlink.net alt.startrek.creative:160674 X-Received-Date: Tue, 07 Sep 2004 08:57:53 PDT (newsspool2.news.atl.earthlink.net) Dream and Duty: From Sleep into Dreams Part 10/30 "And this..." Mika waved her hand in a wide, sweeping gesture, encompassing their surroundings. "Is engineering." Guy looked around him at the many blinking instruments. His eyes fell on one particular display as he swept them across the room. He stopped, frozen in place at the sight. Mika noticed the sudden change in his demeanor. "Guy? Guy, what is it?" He didn't answer her. Instead, he walked over to the engineering console that had caught his eye. He stared at it a moment, before laying his fingers down on the controls. Without thinking, for indeed, by that time he was so fully caught up in a suddenly vivid memory that he was acting on instinct alone. His fingers moved across the board with confidence, entering commands into the console. Mika had approached him by that time, and was peering over his shoulder to see what he was doing. "Guy?" she asked him again. At first, she was curious about his behavior. But after a moment of consideration, another thought occurred to her; what if Guy really was a spy, and he was trying to sabotage the ship? She knew in her mind that it didn't fit, but she had spent too much of her life relying on suspicion not to react to the possibility. She was just about to physically pry Guy off the console when his fingers stopped moving. Guy stood there, unmoving, staring at the display he had pulled up on the screen. Slowly, he released a breath. "What the hell is going on?" Mika demanded. "I..." he trailed off, before taking a breath, and then continued, as though the intake of air had helped restore the flow of blood to his brain. "I... know how this works." With a firm gesture, perhaps firmer than necessary, Mika shoved him to the side, so that she could look clearly at the screen. "You know how what works?" "This console," Guy replied, seemingly unperturbed by Mika's rather violent gesture. "I just saw it... and I knew something was wrong, by looking at the antimatter storage." "What?" Mika demanded, putting aside whatever suspicion she had felt in favor of concern for the ship. "What's wrong?" "Well... the infuser array is missing." Mika stared at him. She wasn't an engineering expert. In fact, apart from the crash courses in Cardassian security systems that she'd received from her friend Pak while inside the prison, she really knew very little. It often angered her, as it made her feel less smart than a lot of other people, especially since she knew is she'd been given the chance, she would have been able to learn it as well as everyone else. She did know enough, however, to realize that the infuser array was a significant part of the framework of the ship. But, not wanting Guy to discover how little she did know about the technology, she responded with a flat, "I see." Guy cocked an eyebrow at her, and it was clear that he wasn't buying her act. "Without it," he said. "The ship's as good as dead in the water." "What?" Mika read over the information on the console, as though hoping to glean some more reasonable conclusion from the readouts, despite her limited knowledge. "We have no warp power?" she asked. "No weapons..." "The infuser array is a key component to the ship's operation," Guy explained. "All the systems are still operational, but without a new infuser array, none of them will be active. The ship would need a new completely new infuser array, or else we would need to dump power into it from some other system..." "How do you know all this?" Guy's eyes had grown distant, as he had been considering the possibilities of repairing the problem. But when Mika spoke, he focused in on her. "I don't know." Somehow, Mika knew he was being honest with her. For a moment, she fought with herself, trying to convince her conscious that she was being too trusting... but her gut instincts eventually won out. With a heavy, frustrated sigh, she dropped her eyes, and looked again at the console. "Well... it was obviously there when we got here..." "Obviously," Guy added helpfully. "...So someone on board must have removed it." Mika felt the anger building within her. She'd let them all in on the escape attempt... if it wasn't for her, they would all still be rotting in the prison. And now, one of them had gone and... sabotaged... the ship that they all needed as either their primary source of revenue, or as a means of transportation. The thought of that level of betrayal was practically athema to her. And to think that one of the very few people she had actually come close to trusting had been the one to carry it out... she could barely contain her pent-up rage. "Who would do this?" she demanded of no one in particular, but she received an answer anyway. "I did." She whirled to see Pak, her missing Cardassian shipmate, standing just inside the sliding doorway. She had no idea how she hadn't heard him enter. "You?!" she echoed, incredulous. "You double-crossing, good for nothing..." she was about to launch into a full-fledged tirade, filled with several less-than-politically-correct Cardassian epiphytes, but stopped short when she noticed the dried blood that stuck to the bony out thrusts of Pak's jawline, and the ripped scales across his cheek. "What happened to you?" "There was... a situation," he replied, seeming to choose his words carefully. "I took the infuser array and sold it to a trader to pay for my transportation off this world. "What...? Why?" Pak hesitated, lowering his head. Mika thought he looked almost... ashamed. But, of course, she knew better. "I had a need to leave. Quickly. The selling of the infuser way was a sure way to accomplish that. So I disconnected it, and exchanged it for transportation. I am... sorry for my actions." For the second time in as many minutes, Mika sighed heavily, running a hand haphazardly through her close-cropped brown hair. "So what are we supposed to do about the infuser array?" "The Ferengi I sold the equipment to has... agreed to return the item, as he is now working for us." Mika knew he meant Tarn. She couldn't help but wonder about how that Ferengi always seemed to be in just the right place at the right time. "That's all well and good but... if you arranged for transport...Why are you still here? Why didn't you just leave when you had the chance?" "As I said, there was a situation. A situation from which Bink, Sal, and Ruk, kindly extracted me, while Bink offered me a proposition." That was enough to peak Mika's interest. "A proposition?" "He offered me a job fighting with him and the some other Bajoran rebels in an attempted prison break." Mika stared at him for a very long moment. She searched his dark eyes, almost begging him to be lying. But she knew that he wasn't. It wasn't so much that she trusted Pak, but she did trust Bink. She trusted Bink to go behind her back and make all the decisions for all of them, despite her opinions on the matter. "Where is Bink?" she asked. "He was in the crew quarters, when I last saw him," Pak answered, not altogether confused as to why she wanted to see the Bajoran. "But I believe he is resting." Mika nodded wordlessly, before stalking out of engineering. Guy and Pak exchanged a glance, but neither tried to stop her as the door closed behind her. ___________________________________________________________ NewMessage: ath: newsspool2.news.atl.earthlink.net!stamper.news.atl.earthlink.net!elnk-atl-nf1!newsfeed.earthlink.net!prodigy.com!news.glorb.com!wn14feed!worldnet.att.net!207.35.177.252!nf3.bellglobal.com!nf1.bellglobal.com!nf2.bellglobal.com!news20.bellglobal.com.POSTED!not-for-mail From: "The Cheat" Newsgroups: alt.startrek.creative Subject: NEW TNG Dream and Duty Part 11/30 [PG-13] D/f Lines: 88 X-Priority: 3 X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-Newsreader: Microsoft Outlook Express 6.00.2800.1106 X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V6.00.2800.1106 Message-ID: Date: Tue, 7 Sep 2004 11:46:39 -0400 NNTP-Posting-Host: 69.157.58.38 X-Complaints-To: abuse@sympatico.ca X-Trace: news20.bellglobal.com 1094572207 69.157.58.38 (Tue, 07 Sep 2004 11:50:07 EDT) NNTP-Posting-Date: Tue, 07 Sep 2004 11:50:07 EDT Organization: Bell Sympatico Xref: news.earthlink.net alt.startrek.creative:160678 X-Received-Date: Tue, 07 Sep 2004 09:05:14 PDT (newsspool2.news.atl.earthlink.net) Dream and Duty: From Sleep into Dreams Part 11/30 Bink lay on his bunk in the crew quarters feeling more satisfied than he had in quite some time. He was to meet with Tarn and Ward the next day aboard the transport, to further discuss their plans. Both of them had been optimistic that the matter of finding two additional ships could be successfully accomplished by then. He was just drifting off to sleep when he caught the faint sound of the door to the crew quarters slid open. Ruk and Sal were lying across the wall beside him, but neither was yet asleep. As such, it was they who had the first view of the person who entered. "I need to speak with you, Bink." Bink sat up and looked at Mika. Her voice was level, but tight. He knew something was up. Apparently, so did Ruk and Sal. He noticed them glance at him curiously. "Get out," Mika instructed, gesturing towards the door. "Both of you." Ruk got up immediately, and scurried through the door. Sal hesitated only a moment longer before following him. Mika waited until the door slid shut behind them before she spoke. "You had no right." Bink met her gaze. "I don't know what you think you have to prove here, Mika. What I did was what's best for all of us." Mika's lips curved into a combination of a smile and a snarl. "That's you, isn't it? Bink, the masterful leader... Bink, willing to do whatever's necessary to better the lives of his people..." "I would consider those to be good qualities in a leader." "A leader..." Mika repeated. "Is that what you are? Is that who you've become?" "Listen Mika," Bink shook his head. "We're not going to get anywhere with this..." "I'll be the judge of that. Just as I judged you and your friends worthy enough of joining our escape attempt. You should be grateful you're not still on the floor of that sewer with Cardassian boots prodding at your--" "Mika!" "I'm not finished yet!" Bink was silent. He watched as Mika's chest heaved slightly in and out, suggesting just how much anger she was holding in. "Would you stand up!" she yelled suddenly. "Or don't you think I'm even worthy of your full attention?" Slowly, and deliberately, Bink swung his legs over the side of his bunk, and got to his feet, facing Mika. "Is this better?" he almost whispered. "What is it about you?" she asked. "What is it that just endears people to you? Is it your perfect teeth, or maybe your rugged good looks? Or maybe it's the way those blue eyes of yours sparkle just so in the sunlight..." "Or maybe," Bink interjected. "I actually care about people, rather that using them to fulfill some selfish power obsession. Did you ever consider that?" "I didn't have to," she shot back. "I know what kind of a man you are. I know how self-centered and arrogant you are, and I know you're the kind of person who plays people. You take advantage of the downfall of others to make the gains you want... You aren't a great leader. You're not even a leader. A leader wouldn't have used Poral's death as a springboard to rein in the control they wanted." "I'm confidant," said Bink. "Confidant in myself, and my abilities. If you mistake that for arrogance, that's your problem." "And why's that, Bink? Because it was me that saved the bastard life of this particular problem?" Bink felt his anger rising, and he jabbed a finger in Mika's direction. "You know what your problem is, Mika? You're reckless. You're always taking too many chances, and that's why people don't trust you." "If I hadn't been reckless, the prison break would never have happened!" "And look where that got us! Poral, dead at the receiving end of a Cardassian phaser while trying to save your scrawny neck. What kind of leader does that make you?" "One who cares enough to--" Bink didn't let her finish. "It makes you a leader who's recklessness gets people killed. How many people would have to die the next time just to save your life?" "If I could have given my life to save Poral, I would have! Don't you think that when that blast hit him, I didn't try with all my strength to pull him back in? Don't you believe that I called out his name when I saw his eyes slipping away from me?" She paused, long enough to swallow back a hard lump in the back of her throat with practiced skill. "Poral saved me, just as he saved all of us. Don't ever disrespect that. It might teach you a few things about leadership." Mika turned on her heel, and marched out the door. It wasn't so much that she was finished, as she was scared that if she stayed there any longer, she was going to have to hit him. None of it mattered, anyway. She had already come to the conclusion that no matter how hard she tried, she would never be the leader of their eclectic group of escapees. It was a fact she was prepared to come to terms with; she was, however, determined to make it as difficult for Bink as possible. With leadership came responsibility, and it was a lesson that she would make sure Bink learned very, very well. __________________________________________________________ NewMessage: ath: newsspool2.news.atl.earthlink.net!stamper.news.atl.earthlink.net!elnk-atl-nf1!newsfeed.earthlink.net!prodigy.com!newsfeed.telusplanet.net!newsfeed.telus.net!snoopy.risq.qc.ca!nf3.bellglobal.com!nf1.bellglobal.com!nf2.bellglobal.com!news20.bellglobal.com.POSTED!not-for-mail From: "The Cheat" Newsgroups: alt.startrek.creative Subject: NEW TNG Dream and Duty Part 12/30 [PG-13] D/f Lines: 175 X-Priority: 3 X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-Newsreader: Microsoft Outlook Express 6.00.2800.1106 X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V6.00.2800.1106 Message-ID: Date: Tue, 7 Sep 2004 11:47:44 -0400 NNTP-Posting-Host: 69.157.58.38 X-Complaints-To: abuse@sympatico.ca X-Trace: news20.bellglobal.com 1094572273 69.157.58.38 (Tue, 07 Sep 2004 11:51:13 EDT) NNTP-Posting-Date: Tue, 07 Sep 2004 11:51:13 EDT Organization: Bell Sympatico Xref: news.earthlink.net alt.startrek.creative:160680 X-Received-Date: Tue, 07 Sep 2004 09:06:31 PDT (newsspool2.news.atl.earthlink.net) Dream and Duty: From Sleep into Dreams Part 12/30 The second day of their freedom came and went. For some on Bajor, the sun was just setting on the horizon. For others, it was just rising. Sitting in a chair by the main engineering console, Mika tried to imagine what it would look like. It wasn't hard. If she'd learned anything over the years, it was to develop a vivid imagination. She fingered the buttons on the control board idly, although she didn't press any of them. She just wanted to imagine she was. To imagine that she was at the helm of a mighty vessel, warping through space faster than anything else, to wherever it was she wanted to go. And there were so many places she wanted to go. To see the hanging gardens of Romulus, the fire caves of Mount Talkan, on Vulcan, the ancient pyramids of Earth... Many times over the past couple of days she's wondered whether anywhere in the universe might be better than being back on Bajor. She loved it there, but it was a bittersweet feeling. It was as though happiness, the only happiness she had ever really known, was dangling in front of her, just out of reach. Because as beautiful as Bajor was, it never failed to remind her of how much she'd lost, and all the wasted years that she would never have back. As it always did, the thought made her angry. At present, however, she was almost too tired to care. She heard the door to engineering slide open, and saw the square section of light that spilled out onto the floor of the darkened room from the corridor. She also noticed the dark silhouette that stood in the middle of that square. Sal stepped into the room, and the door slid shut behind her. There she stood, just inside the door, peering at Mika from across engineering. "Tired?" Mika spared her a quick glance. "Why?" "You look it," Sal observed. Mika looked up at the Romulan for a moment longer, before deciding that she no longer cared what Sal thought. She really had no one to impress anymore. Sal wasn't deterred by Mika's attitude. She moved across engineering towards Mika. It was an unusual walk, Mika had noticed. With every step the slender Romulan took, she appeared to be walking on air. But it wasn't a bouncy gait, either. If anything, it was the most fluent, gliding motion Mika had ever seen. Unusual as it was, Mika could only think of one word to describe Sal's movements: beautiful. Sal stopped behind Mika, and looked over her shoulder at the console. "Doing some navigating?" Mika couldn't see, but she was almost sure Sal was cocking an eyebrow at her. "Just... dreaming." "About what?" Mika smiled without humor. "Why? Don't tell me you care... Really, Sal. I thought you had thicker skin than that." "It's not my skin I'm worried about," she replied evenly. "Oh?" Mika feigned surprise. "Then who's?" "Yours. And Bink's." Mika snorted at that. "I think Bink's made it abundantly clear that he intends to take care of his own skin." "Why do you despise Bink?" Sal asked. "Because..." Mika stopped herself. "Why should I tell you anything. It... doesn't matter, anyway." "It obviously matters to you," Sal observed. Mika swiveled in her chair to face Sal, who consequently took a step backwards. "Because this was my escape attempt. Mine and Poral's. And the way Bink's taken over, going behind my back to make decisions, just because he knows I'd object... It's like he's avoiding me. It's like he's scared that me challenging him might weaken his leader status, and that's something he just can't do. Leadership is so damn important to him. Everything's about control with him. It consumes him, to the point where he can't even think of anything else..." Mika trailed off, her speech ending in a sigh. Sal smiled slightly. "It's almost... Cardassian." "Maybe." There was a rather lengthy pause, before Mika spoke again. "Do you think I'm a good leader, Sal?" Sal hesitated for a moment, but only a moment. "In principle... yes. But you also lack something that Bink has. Bink has confidence. People follow him because they don't feel that he's trying to sort himself out at the same time as he's trying to take care of other people. And you... you lack that confidence. You second guess yourself, and that sometimes makes people nervous." Slowly, Mika nodded. "So... do you think I'm reckless?" "I think that you'd do anything in your power to help people who you knew depended on you." Mika was silent for a very long moment. "Thank you, Sal," she said at last. "That's... nice of you to say." "I only say things I mean, Mika." Seemingly satisfied that she'd made whatever point is was she'd wanted to make, Sal turned away from Mika, and began walking towards the door with her even, gliding stride. After a few steps, however, she stopped, and turned part of the way around. "Get some sleep. Dreams might not always come true, but they do give us hope for the future. And without hope... the future need not exist." Mika didn't say anything. She just watched Sal glide away, and through the door. Just as it opened, however, there was another figure on the other side, ready to enter. Sal nodded to him as she passed. "Can I come in?" asked Bink, still standing in the hallway in front of the open door. Mika shrugged, seemingly indifferent. She knew, though, that Bink knew her too well to take her indifference at face value. And, just as she predicted, he stepped into the room, the sliding door finally closing behind him. "I just... need to talk to you." "So... talk." Mika turned in her chair to face him. "You have my undivided attention." Bink took a few more steps towards her. He'd had his arms crossed across his chest, but he lowered them once he'd approached her. "First of all, you should know that I didn't come here to apologize." Mika smiled. Although she'd hoped that was what he would do, she hadn't truly considered it a possibility. "Of course not." He looked at her, obvious annoyance on his face. "I came here to offer a truce, but it's not going to work if you refuse to participate." He paused a moment, as if waiting for Mika to interject another sarcastic remark. When she didn't, he continued. "I know you're mad at me, Mika. And I know I probably should have consulted with you first..." "I thought you didn't come here to apologize." "I didn't," he said firmly. "You didn't let me finish. This little battle between the two of us... it can't go on like this. You say you consider yourself a leader. If that's the case, you have to see as well as I do that it only hurts everybody else." "Or maybe," said Mika, looking directly into his eyes. "It hurts you. At least more than you're willing to admit." "I did what I thought was right, Mika. You were late. I didn't think you'd taken the perimeter..." "Or you didn't trust me enough to think that I could." Finally, Mika broke her accusing stare. She lowered her head, and ran her hands through her hair, suddenly feeling very tired. "Maybe... we shouldn't talk about it anymore. It was a long time ago. And even if you had waited... there was no guarantee we could have escaped the camp. Rehashing it is pointless." "I'm glad you think so," said Bink. "Although I don't really believe you do." Mika snorted. "You think you know me so well..." "There was a time when you would have agreed with that sentiment." Bink stepped right up to her, and then crouched down, so that he could look up at her. He then laid a gentle hand on her knee. It was enough to make Mika look at him. "You make fun of the way my eyes sparkle now... but tell me that there wasn't a time when you looked back at me with all the love in the world in your eyes... Tell me that you've gotten over what we had, as well." Mika took the hand that still rested on her knee in both of hers, and brought it up towards her, squeezing softly. "The camp... and the things that happened there, was a long time ago. Whatever it was we had... was also a long time ago. And it is over." She then released his hand. Bink hesitated a moment, as though he couldn't quite believe what she'd done. Finally, though, he took his hand away. "I want to work with you on this one, Mika, not against you. In honor of what we had, at least... grant me that much." Mika expelled a breath. "Fine, Bink. I'll work with you on this one. No more arguing, no more anger... But you have to promise me something, too." Bink nodded. "Anything." "Promise that you'll trust me to take the perimeter, regardless of how late I arrive." Bink's eyes flickered slightly. Even in the dim light of engineering, Mika noticed, they still sparkled. "I promise," he said softly. "You know... I'd do anything for you." His face was so open, his blue eyes so inviting. He looked so honest, so loving... "I believed you when you said that once before," she said. "I'm not going to make the same mistake again." Bink remained in a crouch for a few seconds longer, before standing up. "Tarn and Ward are to meet with us at 1000 hours tomorrow aboard the ship," he informed her. "I'll be there," she told him. Bink nodded once, before leaving the room. Mika watched him go, and couldn't help but compare his stride to Sal's. Bink walked stiffly, and proudly. If she didn't know just how proud he truly was, she might have almost found it humorous, seeing as he also walked with a slight limp. Mika wasn't sure when the injury had happened, but she did know he hadn't walked that way when they'd first met at the labour camp. Mika waited a few minutes after he'd left, to be sure that she didn't meet him in the hallway on the way back to the crew quarters. It would make their truce easier to keep if she saw him as little as possible. She knew that development should have made her sad, or melancholy, but strangely, it didn't. Still, Mika didn't spend much time dwelling on it. Tomorrow was a big day, and that was all that mattered. The future, and whatever it might hold, was much more important than the past--her past--could ever be. ____________________________________________________________ NewMessage: ath: newsspool2.news.atl.earthlink.net!stamper.news.atl.earthlink.net!elnk-atl-nf1!elnk-nf2-pas!newsfeed.earthlink.net!newshub.sdsu.edu!cyclone.bc.net!sjc1.usenetserver.com!news.usenetserver.com!nf3.bellglobal.com!nf1.bellglobal.com!nf2.bellglobal.com!news20.bellglobal.com.POSTED!not-for-mail From: "The Cheat" Newsgroups: alt.startrek.creative Subject: NEW TNG Dream and Duty Part 13/30 [PG-13] D/f Lines: 79 X-Priority: 3 X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-Newsreader: Microsoft Outlook Express 6.00.2800.1106 X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V6.00.2800.1106 Message-ID: Date: Tue, 7 Sep 2004 11:48:46 -0400 NNTP-Posting-Host: 69.157.58.38 X-Complaints-To: abuse@sympatico.ca X-Trace: news20.bellglobal.com 1094572334 69.157.58.38 (Tue, 07 Sep 2004 11:52:14 EDT) NNTP-Posting-Date: Tue, 07 Sep 2004 11:52:14 EDT Organization: Bell Sympatico Xref: news.earthlink.net alt.startrek.creative:160681 X-Received-Date: Tue, 07 Sep 2004 09:07:33 PDT (newsspool2.news.atl.earthlink.net) Dream and Duty: From Sleep into Dreams Part 12/30 Simulated morning on the ship brought with the means of accomplishing their goals. They all watched through the viewscreen as the two ships approached. The first, a larger, late model Cardassian transport, much like the one they were currently in, was towing a smaller, older Bajoran ship behind it with its tractor beam. "I don't believe it..." Mika muttered, staring at the ships as the glided through space towards them. "What do you think?" Sal asked of Guy. Since the discovery of his technological expertise from the day before, Sal had been working with him to see what else he knew. It turned out that he knew a great deal. Guy regarded the ships, and shrugged. "The first ship seems to be okay, but the second ship... well, it's going to need some work." Bink looked back, over his shoulder at Guy. "Can you do it?" he asked. "Make all these repairs, get these ships ready for battle?" "Battle?" Guy echoed. "Unless the Cardassians are just going to let us walk in." "Maybe," Guy admitted. "But I think I may have a better way." Bink eyed him, but nodded simply. There would be time to explain whatever plans were running through the human's mind later. "Ships have slowed to 1/4 impulse," announced Pak, who was seated at the controls next to Bink. "Now... complete stop." "Good," said Bink. "Open a channel." Pak examined his controls. "Message is... audio only." Behind them, Sal and Guy exchanged a glance, both of them considering the added repair time that malfunction had caused. "Put it through," Bink instructed. Pak pressed the controls to receive the message. "By the Prophets," came a raspy voice over the link. "What a wonderful day for a pleasure cruise." "Ward," Bink smiled. "How did you do it?" "I had help from... unlikely sources." There was the sound of another voice in the distance, probably Tarn, protesting Ward's comment. "Do you people want to come over and have a look, or what?" "I'll send our repair team over immediately," Bink replied. ______________________________________________________________ A few hours after the ships had just arrived, Guy found himself lying on his back looking up at the underside of one of the engineering consoles of the old Bajoran ship. And what he saw didn't particularly please him. "Well?" Pak prompted. Guy noticed how distant the Cardassian's voice sounded from under the console. Carefully, he inched his way out, so that he could talk to Pak. "I don't know..." "What do you mean by that?" "I mean," said Guy, pushing himself up onto his feet. "That this is going to be a hell of a job." Guy walked over to the screen of the console, and examined some of the readings. "But... you can do it, can't you?" Guy looked up at him. He wondered why the escape attempt meant so much to the Cardassian, especially since it would require murdering at least some of his own people. "Maybe. I don't know. Unless..." Pak gave him a moment to think, but only a moment. "Unless?" "Unless... we could somehow find some power from somewhere else..." Pak's brow ridges knotted together. "Could you take the power you need from an auxiliary system?" Guy considered the possibility for a second, than shook his head. "I wouldn't want to risk it. I've got a feeling we'll need all of the auxiliaries for this mission." Pak shook his head. "There must be a way..." "Wait," said Guy, a sudden thought coming to him. "We can't get power from the auxiliary systems, but maybe we could get it from somewhere else." Pak watched as Guy raced across the room to examine another console. "What do you mean?" "Well," said Guy, returning to the first console. "It might be possible to dump the memory core, and re-route that extra power to the engines..." "That... would work?" Guy shrugged. It wasn't a very encouraging gesture. "Maybe." Pak nodded. "Then I suppose we'd better get started." __________________________________________________________ NewMessage: ath: newsspool2.news.atl.earthlink.net!stamper.news.atl.earthlink.net!elnk-atl-nf1!newsfeed.earthlink.net!feed1.news.rcn.net!rcn!news.maxwell.syr.edu!border1.nntp.dca.giganews.com!border2.nntp.dca.giganews.com!nntp.giganews.com!nf3.bellglobal.com!nf1.bellglobal.com!nf2.bellglobal.com!news20.bellglobal.com.POSTED!not-for-mail From: "The Cheat" Newsgroups: alt.startrek.creative Subject: NEW TNG Dream and Duty Part 14/30 [PG-13] D/f Lines: 80 X-Priority: 3 X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-Newsreader: Microsoft Outlook Express 6.00.2800.1106 X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V6.00.2800.1106 Message-ID: <0Tk%c.12267$lP4.908496@news20.bellglobal.com> Date: Tue, 7 Sep 2004 11:53:15 -0400 NNTP-Posting-Host: 69.157.58.38 X-Complaints-To: abuse@sympatico.ca X-Trace: news20.bellglobal.com 1094572604 69.157.58.38 (Tue, 07 Sep 2004 11:56:44 EDT) NNTP-Posting-Date: Tue, 07 Sep 2004 11:56:44 EDT Organization: Bell Sympatico Xref: news.earthlink.net alt.startrek.creative:160683 X-Received-Date: Tue, 07 Sep 2004 09:12:06 PDT (newsspool2.news.atl.earthlink.net) Dream and Duty: From Sleep into Dreams Part 14/30 The next five days passed almost unnoticed. Everyone was so busy doing something or other that keeping track of the passing of time seemed relatively insignificant. Still, the time was well spent. Ward, Mika, Bink and Ruk had spent the time meeting with the leaders of the resistance movements, and gathering supporters wherever they could find them. Guy, Sal, Pak and Tarn were busy working on the repair of the ships. Then again, Guy hadn't had too much free time to think about it, so busy had he been with his plan to dump the computer's memory banks, as well as working on the weapons and shielding upgrades on the other two ships. It was because Guy had been working on 12 things at the same time that it had taken him 5 days to prepare to dump the memory core, rather the original 48 hours he'd first projected to Pak. The whole repair crew was in the engineering section of the Bajoran ship, ready to try the impossible. Sal was monitoring the array at the main console, while Guy orchestrated the main overrides that would be necessary from a second console built into the wall. The rest of the team looked on, ready to help out if needed. "I'm re-routing the power surplus..." Guy paused, studying the readouts. "...now..." Sal nodded, and waited for the information to appear on her screen. "Power levels are rising," she announced. "But... not enough. We need more power." "Tapping into auxiliary systems," Guy responded. A smile spread across Sal's lips. "That's it. Power levels are within acceptable parameters. Engines... are coming on line." Pak's shoulders relaxed visibly. "Well done," he congratulated them. "We still can't be sure the power levels will hold," Guy cautioned. "If they start to drop again..." "Meaning... it's fixed," said Sal. Tarn was also smiling. "Now we can move on to the more important task--the weapons on ship two. There have been some power fluctuations in the new system we installed the other day." In light of their small success, his comment was like a knife through Guy's heart. It reminded him that they still had a very dangerous mission ahead of them, and the more ship's functions he managed to repair, the closer they got to undertaking it. "Yeah... the weapons." "And the shielding, of course," Sal added. "We're going to have to run diagnostics on the boosts we made, to make sure they're going to hold outside of the simulations." "I think we can do it," said Guy, his limited sleep over the last week seeming to catch up with him in an instant. "I can come by and confirm later, once I've helped Tarn with the weapons." Seemingly oblivious to Guy's distractions, Tarn clapped him on the shoulder. "That's the spirit. Let's get to work." he started to march towards the exit, but stopped and turned before he got there. "Oh, and when you're finished, we could use some help with the replicators on the first ship. Ruk said that the Raktajino tastes like mud." Guy felt his stomach sink, and, he realized with dismay, his headache had returned. "I'll meet you over on ship two in about ten minutes," Guy told Tarn. "I just have a few things to finish up here." The Ferengi nodded and he, along with the others, left the room. Only Sal remained behind. "Tired?" she asked Guy. "A little," he admitted. He moved over to the nearest chair, and plopped himself down into it. "I was just thinking that with everything we repair, we get that much closer to actually doing this." "You don't want to go on the mission?" Sal asked. "I don't really want to die," Guy told her. Something struck Sal as odd about his words. She couldn't place it for a moment, but then she realized what it was; they were basically placing their lives in the hands of this almost stranger. If he really was a spy, he could sabotage any of the ships easily, without anyone noticing. It wasn't that she didn't trust Guy... nor had he given her any reason not to. She just knew, suddenly, that she owed it to all of them to try and find out a little bit more about the amnesia-suffering human. "I understand," she said, her thought process having been fast enough that there was no recognizable hesitation before her response. "As I think anyone would." Guy nodded. "I guess so..." he then stood. "Well, I have to go meet Tarn. See you later." Sal watched him leave. Eager as she was to assuage her conscience, she knew it would have to wait until a later, less scrupulous time. __________________________________________________________ NewMessage: ath: newsspool2.news.atl.earthlink.net!stamper.news.atl.earthlink.net!elnk-atl-nf1!newsfeed.earthlink.net!prodigy.com!newsfeed.telusplanet.net!newsfeed.telus.net!cyclone.bc.net!news-in.mts.net!nf1.bellglobal.com!nf2.bellglobal.com!news20.bellglobal.com.POSTED!not-for-mail From: "The Cheat" Newsgroups: alt.startrek.creative Subject: NEW TNG Dream and Duty Part 15/30 [PG-13] D/f Lines: 45 X-Priority: 3 X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-Newsreader: Microsoft Outlook Express 6.00.2800.1106 X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V6.00.2800.1106 Message-ID: Date: Tue, 7 Sep 2004 11:54:17 -0400 NNTP-Posting-Host: 69.157.58.38 X-Complaints-To: abuse@sympatico.ca X-Trace: news20.bellglobal.com 1094572665 69.157.58.38 (Tue, 07 Sep 2004 11:57:45 EDT) NNTP-Posting-Date: Tue, 07 Sep 2004 11:57:45 EDT Organization: Bell Sympatico Xref: news.earthlink.net alt.startrek.creative:160679 X-Received-Date: Tue, 07 Sep 2004 09:05:59 PDT (newsspool2.news.atl.earthlink.net) Dream and Duty: From Sleep into Dreams Part 15/30 "Come," Ward instructed. The door then parted, and a tall, lanky Bajoran male walked into the room. Mika was immediately stunned by how young he was. She would estimate that he was no more than 16 seasons. Ward must have thought the boy young as well, as he looked him up and down. "You're here to join the mission?" he asked rather skeptically. "Yes, sir," he answered stiffly. His voice fit his posture: entirely too straight and unnaturally perfect. "Ah, well, please, sit down," Ward gestured to the chair across from him. The boy sat down. "Why do you want to join this mission?" asked Bink. "I want to serve my country, sir," answered the boy. "And I hate the Cardassians." "Most people on Bajor do," Ward pointed out. "What else can you offer to this mission?" "I've been flying freighters since I was very young, sir. I think I could be a competent helmsman." "What's your name?" asked Ward. "Max, sir." Ward favoured him with one of his famous smiles. "We'd be pleased to have you aboard, Max." Max looked back and forth from Bink to Mika and then back to Ward. He then smiled lopsidedly. "Thank you, sir." "You can report here 4 days from now for your assignment," Ward instructed. "In the meantime, you must tell no one of this mission. Understood?" Max nodded hurriedly. "Good," said Ward. He held out his hand and Max shook it vigorously. "Welcome aboard." Throwing off another lopsided grin, Max stood up and exited the room standing about a foot taller than when he'd come in. As soon as the door had hissed shut behind him, Mika shook her head. "He's young, Ward. Too young." "He's young, but not without wisdom. He knows what he's doing." "How can he?" she protested. "He's barely even started shaving!" "Mika, we need everyone we can get for this mission," said Bink calmly. "If this kid wants to help us, it's his choice." She shook her head with disgust. "I have to go," she got up and marched out of the room, almost running into the next applicant, who happened to be a girl about Max's age, on her way out. _______________________________________________________________ NewMessage: ath: newsspool2.news.atl.earthlink.net!stamper.news.atl.earthlink.net!elnk-atl-nf1!newsfeed.earthlink.net!prodigy.com!newsfeed.telusplanet.net!newsfeed.telus.net!snoopy.risq.qc.ca!nf3.bellglobal.com!nf1.bellglobal.com!nf2.bellglobal.com!news20.bellglobal.com.POSTED!not-for-mail From: "The Cheat" Newsgroups: alt.startrek.creative Subject: NEW TNG Dream and Duty Part 16/30 [PG-13] D/f Lines: 139 X-Priority: 3 X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-Newsreader: Microsoft Outlook Express 6.00.2800.1106 X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V6.00.2800.1106 Message-ID: Date: Tue, 7 Sep 2004 11:56:01 -0400 NNTP-Posting-Host: 69.157.58.38 X-Complaints-To: abuse@sympatico.ca X-Trace: news20.bellglobal.com 1094572769 69.157.58.38 (Tue, 07 Sep 2004 11:59:29 EDT) NNTP-Posting-Date: Tue, 07 Sep 2004 11:59:29 EDT Organization: Bell Sympatico Xref: news.earthlink.net alt.startrek.creative:160684 X-Received-Date: Tue, 07 Sep 2004 09:14:49 PDT (newsspool2.news.atl.earthlink.net) Dream and Duty: From Sleep into Dreams Part 16/30 Guy was just punching some computer commands into the engineering console when he heard the door hiss open. He had expected it to be Sal or Tarn, inquiring as to how the repairs were going. But instead, it was Mika who stood hesitantly in the doorway. "I hope I'm not interrupting you," she said. Guy shook his head. "No, actually, I was just finishing." She nodded, and stepped in. Walking over to where he was, she leaned over the console where he was working and examined the screen. "What are you working on?" "Just some of the weapons upgrades," he replied. "Everyone else took off hours ago," she pointed out. Guy shrugged. "I couldn't sleep." Mika sighed, and plopped herself down in one of the chairs across from Guy. "Me neither." "Worried about the mission?" he asked. "That... and other things." Guy swiveled in his chair, giving her his full attention. "Like what?" She looked at him for a moment, then shook her head. "Doesn't matter. Why can't you sleep?" Guy shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe I'm just worried about how dangerous this is going to be. Even if we do manage to rescue some prisoners, there's a chance we could just be blown out of the sky trying to escape," he gestured with a wave of his hand to the console. "Even with these upgrades, I don't know how we're going to make it in there." Mika paused for a moment. "Maybe the plan will work," she offered. "It's not like we haven't gone over it enough." "Maybe," Guy conceded. "But I don't know if everything we have set up is going to work. I haven't even had time to test half of the upgrades yet..." he sighed. "I don't know if we can do this." "It'll be okay," she said. Guy eyed her. "You don't sound especially convinced of that." Mika paused for a moment, then sighed. "I'm not," she admitted. "I've spent the whole day with Bink and Ward, interviewing crewmen." "How'd that go?" Mika snorted. "We have a 16-year-old helmsman." "Oh." "Yeah... right... I know how you feel..." she trailed off, looking off into the distance, but not focusing on anything inside the engine room. "So many of them... they're so young. Young, vibrant, full of life... And eager to die for the good of Bajor." She laughed humorlessly. "I think like that, about how young they are, how innocent... but I'm only 25-years-old, Guy. At 25-years-old, I'm one of the 'seasoned veterans' around here. It just makes me think..." "About what?" "Oh... I don't know... about how I never got to have a childhood. About how I had to learn to fend for myself when I was half their age... And how I never want another living soul to have to go through what I had to go through ever again." She brought her focus back to the present, and looked squarely at Guy. "I don't want to get them killed, Guy." "Mika..." he tried, not at all sure how he could finish the sentence. Mika saved him the trouble, as she continued. "You know sometimes... Sometimes--at least, since we've been back here--I've found myself feeling happy. Not ecstatic, just... happy. I've smiled Guy. Before we got here... I can't even remember the last time I did that. But every time I feel the slightest bit happy... Every time I feel a smile pull at my lips... I just get this realization that slams into me. 'What have you got to be happy about?' I ask myself. 'Your family's dead, your home is gone, and if you tell anyone who you really are and where you've come from, there's a chance you'll be arrested.' And then I realize that I'm right. What do I have to smile about? And then... and then I stop smiling. I should know better than that. I should know that those days of innocence are gone. There's guilt behind everything. Everything. Nothing I ever do can possibly be simple again." Guy didn't say anything right at first. He wasn't sure what words could possibly be adequate to try and put her situation into perspective. But, taking a small intake of air, he prepared to give it his best shot. "You're right," he told her. "Part of growing up is realizing that you have responsibilities, and that your actions come with consequences. But that's no excuse to feel guilty for feeling happy. You should never feel guilty for that." Mika shook her head, as she massaged her face with her hands. She then steepled her fingers together, and used them to hold up her forehead in a manner that closed out the world around her. But Guy wasn't about to allow her to escape so easily. "You never had a chance to be a child, Mika. That part of your life--the whole process of growing up--was stolen from you. You had to be an adult when you should have been playing in the fields. But you know what?" She finally removed her hands, enough that she was able to look at him. "Your childhood may be lost, but that doesn't mean you can't still be happy. It doesn't mean you can't smile--and it certainly doesn't mean that you should ever feel guilty for feeling a little bit of that innocence trying to re-assert itself. Don't let the pain you've endured stop you from letting in the occasional smile. Use your experiences to help you appreciate how much better off you are right now, than you were a month ago. Any happiness... is better than none at all." She stared at him for an almost infinite moment. Her troubled brown eyes, her small, frowning mouth, her spikey, brown hair, the crooked, purple scar that ran down her left cheek, the untimely furrows in her brow, even the deep, purple circles that seemed to be always present beneath her eyes... She was so beautiful. Guy knew, right at that moment, that he would die happy if he could just gaze at that wonderfully imperfect face for all eternity. Blinking her eyes, Mika finally broke the moment. "Guy... I..." When she opened her eyes, he noticed a slight sheen to their surface that hadn't been there before, and he was astonished to realize that she was crying. She blinked again, and a single tear escaped from her right eye, snaking its way down her cheek. Guy was immediately concerned. He hadn't known Mika very long, but he was fairly certain she didn't normally cry. The fact that she was now, he found to be rather distressing. Almost without thinking, he crossed the space between them, and sat down beside her. He raised a hand to her face, and used his thumb to wipe the tear away. Mika swallowed, seeming to have trouble keeping the rest of her unshed tears inside of her. "Thanks," she whispered. "Anytime," Guy whispered. Suddenly, Guy noticed how close to one another they were. His face was mere inches from hers. He knew he should probably back away, leave her to her problems as she probably wanted to be left, but the only thought that was really running through his head was how her eyes actually looked more beautiful up close. He wasn't sure if he was moving, or if she was, but her eyes were slowly getting closer. Guy closed his eyes as their lips met in a feather light kiss. They pulled away from each other slightly, enough that they could look into each other's eyes. Then, seeming to come to an agreement, they moved forward again. This kiss was different. Stronger, more passionate, and it lasted much longer. Guy felt Mika wrap her arms around his neck, and realized that he was holding the back of her neck with his hand. When this kiss ended, they didn't back away from one another. Instead, Mika seemed to relax into his arms, so that their cheeks pressed together. Guy wrapped his arms around her, holding her tightly as he ran his hands up and down her back. They stayed that way for a long moment, two still figures in the darkened engine room, no sounds at all except their breathing, and the steady hum of the ship's ventilation system. "Guy?" Mika whispered against his ear. "Yeah?" She pulled away from him just enough to look into his eyes. "Do you want to come with me to do something utterly childish?" _________________________________________________________ NewMessage: ath: newsspool2.news.atl.earthlink.net!stamper.news.atl.earthlink.net!elnk-atl-nf1!newsfeed.earthlink.net!bigfeed2.bellsouth.net!bigfeed.bellsouth.net!news.bellsouth.net!newsfeed2.telusplanet.net!newsfeed.telus.net!cyclone.bc.net!news-in.mts.net!nf1.bellglobal.com!nf2.bellglobal.com!news20.bellglobal.com.POSTED!not-for-mail From: "The Cheat" Newsgroups: alt.startrek.creative Subject: NEW TNG Dream and Duty Part 17/30 [PG-13] D/f Lines: 105 X-Priority: 3 X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-Newsreader: Microsoft Outlook Express 6.00.2800.1106 X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V6.00.2800.1106 Message-ID: Date: Tue, 7 Sep 2004 11:56:55 -0400 NNTP-Posting-Host: 69.157.58.38 X-Complaints-To: abuse@sympatico.ca X-Trace: news20.bellglobal.com 1094572824 69.157.58.38 (Tue, 07 Sep 2004 12:00:24 EDT) NNTP-Posting-Date: Tue, 07 Sep 2004 12:00:24 EDT Organization: Bell Sympatico Xref: news.earthlink.net alt.startrek.creative:160682 X-Received-Date: Tue, 07 Sep 2004 09:07:55 PDT (newsspool2.news.atl.earthlink.net) Dream and Duty: From Sleep into Dreams Part 17/30 Mika and Guy walked together in silence through the thick grass. Guy didn't know where they were going, but he did sense the importance it had to Mika. Her face was hard, and composed, much like it usually was. Still, Guy knew this was important to her. The grass, which reached up to just below Guy's knees, was wet with evening dew. Already, his pant legs were almost entirely wet up to where the grass reached. The light wind which ripped its way through the field wasn't a warm, pleasant, addition, but more biting, as it was fiercely cool, and came accompanied by a lonely whistle. Even Bajor's moons, surrounded by the glittering stars, had to shine from behind thin layers of black clouds. The tall grass ended, then, giving way to shorter, softer grass. Guy stopped walking as Mika paused in front of him. She gazed up at the horizon, and he followed her gaze to see a slowly inclining hill lay on the path in front of them. At what seemed to be the peak of the hill, Guy could see the outline of a tree, although he couldn't make out much more through the darkness. Guy watched as, despite the cool wind, Mika pulled off her long-sleeved shirt, leaving nothing but a thin grey T-shirt to protect her from the elements. She held out her arms to the sky, and closed her eyes, breathing deeply. She stayed that way for a long moment. When she finally did open her eyes, she looked back at Guy. Guy met her gaze, and gave a half smile, demonstrating, he hoped, his willingness to accompany her. Mika seemed to accept the gesture, and her lips curved into what seemed to be a rather half-hearted smile. Because even in the dark, Guy could tell the smile never reached her eyes. "Com'on," she said, before taking off up the hill at a run. A few steps behind at first, Guy had to run faster to catch up with her. At the pace they were traveling, however, it didn't take them long to reach the top of the hill. Mika stopped running as they neared the tree, then started walking, and finally stopped altogether. Guy followed suit, waiting to see what she would do next. The tree, on closer inspection, was a Bajoran silverhorn. It had large, hand-like branches that reached across the sky over them. Even in the dark, the faint silver of its leaves caught the dim light, flashing tenuously in the wind. Much like she had before, Mika opened her arms to the heavens, her brown shirt ripping and flapping in the wind as she held it up in one of her hands. Mika lowered her hands after a moment, and approached the trunk of the tree. She paused slightly before laying a gentle hand on its bark, as though greeting an old friend. "So many people have died over the years," she said softly, speaking more to the tree than to Guy. "And yet, somehow, you survived." She snorted, and smiled humorlessly. "I'm glad you did." "Mika?" although Guy didn't want to shatter what, for her, must be a very precious moment, he was scared that she would decide to leave before she ever talked to him about what had gone on under this tree, so many years ago. "Why did you want to come here?" She turned to him, a rueful smile playing across her features. "Why?" she asked. "Don't you like it?" Guy looked around him slowly, and deliberately. "I think it's one of the most beautiful places I've ever visited," he said truthfully. "Although... for someone who's lost all their personal memories, that doesn't really mean much..." now, even Mika's sad smile fell from her face. "This is where it all began," she said. "Where what began?" Guy pried gently, trying not to push her too quickly, too soon. "This is where they came for me," she said. "It was right under this tree." She paused, and Guy was scared she wasn't going to continue. Instead, she sat down in the wet grass, bringing her knees up and resting her elbows on them. Guy sat down with her, unmindful of the cold, wet grass that immediately soaked him. "It was the day after the mining riots at Dressala," she told him. "My parents... well, my father was a simple farmer, and my mother spent her time looking after me. I expect they'd heard the rumors along with everyone else. The rumors that said the Cardassians were cracking down on 'free' Bajorans. But... Well, they obviously didn't give them a lot of credence. Because on a sunny, summer afternoon 16 years ago, they took me for a picnic at my favourite picnic spot. Right here... under this tree." Her eyes were distant, no doubt filled with long ago scenes from a different time, seen with smaller eyes. "How old were you?" The question seemed to snap her at least part of the way back to the present. "I was eight years old," she replied. "And in my mother's arms when she died." Their was an empty, cold pause. The wind rustled the tree's silver leaves. "The last thing I remember," she continued. "Was lying in the grass, and seeing my father's dead eyes, and realizing that he would never be able to see me again. I remember crying out, desperately, hysterically... until one of the Cardassian soldiers grew tired of the noise I was making, and knocked me over the head with the butt of his phaser rifle. When I woke up, it was on the metal floor of a transport car, surrounded by bodies on all sides. I cried all night, and all the next day. I... I don't remember much else from that trip, apart from the crying. I didn't want to stop... I couldn't stop... I just... I just didn't want to go on living without them. "I have no idea how long the flight was, or if I even slept. There were always more people getting loaded on the vessel, or we would stop to let others off. I got off at the very last stop. They led us out into a dusty, fenced-in yard with a hot sun. By that time, I'd stopped crying. I resolved never to cry again, told myself to be strong... And I didn't. The whole time, through beatings, starvation, and sickness, I never cried. Not once. I haven't cried since then except... except for tonight. "So you see, Guy... through everything that's happened, I made sure I never let anyone near me... And then, whenever I did... Anyway, I guess I figured that if I didn't care about anyone, it could never happen to me again. And it was a sacrifice I was willing to make, if it meant I would eventually beat the Cardassians." NewMessage: ath: newsspool2.news.atl.earthlink.net!stamper.news.atl.earthlink.net!elnk-atl-nf1!newsfeed.earthlink.net!prodigy.com!atl-c02.usenetserver.com!sjc1.usenetserver.com!news.usenetserver.com!nf3.bellglobal.com!nf1.bellglobal.com!nf2.bellglobal.com!news20.bellglobal.com.POSTED!not-for-mail From: "The Cheat" Newsgroups: alt.startrek.creative Subject: NEW TNG Dream and Duty Part 18/30 [PG-13] D/f Lines: 88 X-Priority: 3 X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-Newsreader: Microsoft Outlook Express 6.00.2800.1106 X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V6.00.2800.1106 Message-ID: Date: Tue, 7 Sep 2004 11:58:17 -0400 NNTP-Posting-Host: 69.157.58.38 X-Complaints-To: abuse@sympatico.ca X-Trace: news20.bellglobal.com 1094572905 69.157.58.38 (Tue, 07 Sep 2004 12:01:45 EDT) NNTP-Posting-Date: Tue, 07 Sep 2004 12:01:45 EDT Organization: Bell Sympatico Xref: news.earthlink.net alt.startrek.creative:160686 X-Received-Date: Tue, 07 Sep 2004 09:16:54 PDT (newsspool2.news.atl.earthlink.net) Dream and Duty: From Sleep into Dreams Part 18/30 "Did you ever..." Guy hesitated. "Did you ever want to give up?" "Once," she said after a moment. "I'd been at the camp for 7 years before I was sent to the prison... Anyway, the first time I woke up in that cell, with the cold metal walls, and the corridor with no windows... Where at night there was no sound except the soft crying of others... Not just Bajorans, but all kinds of species... I knew that I didn't want to grow old there. So I did the only thing I could think of to do under the circumstances. I tried to commit suicide." Guy's eyes widened involuntarily at the thought. "Why didn't you go through with it?" "Oh, I did. At least, I tried to. I wouldn't eat my rations, and eventually, I wouldn't even drink. I was almost gone when I met Poral." Mika smiled slightly at the memory. "Poral?" Guy questioned. It was a name he remembered hearing somewhere before, only he couldn't be sure where. "He was my cell-mate," she explained. "He was transferred to my cell about two weeks after I arrived. He took one look at me, and he realized what I was doing. He asked me why I was doing it, and I told him. I told him all about my parents, and all about the work camp, and... and about this place, and how I'd never see it again. I don't know how he did it, but he just had this way about him. Even the way he carried himself, it was just so confident, so proud... He was utterly determined to escape. And after a while, I truly believed it could be done. And he said once we did escape, he would take me back to Bajor, and we could come here, and we would have a picnic. And we would have hasperat, and we could build a house by the lake, and I would have my own garden... He filled me with hope. I kind of hope I never thought I would ever have again. He... was a great leader. And it three years, but we finally did escape. He was just helping me into the ship when he was shot. "I can still see him... I can still see his face, the way it looked when he died. I watched him die... watched his eyes as they bulged, then glossed over... And I remember the sound of his body as it hit the deck in front of me... I remember how all the noise in the shuttlebay, it all faded away, and I heard the sound of his body hitting the deck echoing off the walls... over, and over and over again... even after the doors closed... 3 more seconds, and we would have been safe... 3 more seconds, and we would be on our way back to Bajor... 3 more seconds and we would be on our way back... here... And I remember that as sad as I was, I was more angry. Angry at the Cardassian guards for trying to stop us when we had already gotten away, and angry at myself... for breaking the vow I made back when I first arrived under the hot sun so many years ago. His death... I died with him." She sniffed, as if she was holding back tears for the second time that night. This time, however, she was able to swallow them back. "And then I meet you," she said, no evidence of swallowed tears in her voice. "And I want to talk to you, and I want to confide in you... And I don't know why. And I know I shouldn't, but I just look at you..." she looked over at him, her eyes searching him, as if looking for an answer to her question. "And I want to trust you. You're so... so innocent. You remind me of me... The way I used to be. And lately--especially since we've gotten back--I've wanted that innocence back. And seeing it in you... It makes me happy. And then I find myself smiling. And I'm angry at myself for that. I'm angry that after all the times it's happened to me, I still haven't learned. I could love you, Guy. I could love you more deeply than I've ever been able to love anyone." Her eyes shifted away from him to look down at the field that stretched out in front of them. The grass swished rhythmically back and forth, the faint light from the moons snaking across it where they peeked out from behind the cloud cover. A fierce gust of wind tore through the area, rustling the leaves and the grass, and screaming softly as it wound its way across the lonely hills of a darkened Bajor. Guy saw Mika run a hand up her arm. "I'm... I'm cold..." She reached behind her for her shirt, but Guy reached it first. Gently, he laid it over her shoulders, and helped her slip her arms inside. He felt a shaky breath run through her body, and she looked up at him. Her eyes were wide, and beautiful, and he could see the silver edges of the leaves reflected in her dark pupils. And when he kissed her, she tasted like spring; like dew, and earth, and fresh rain. Their mouths, their tongues, their hands... they tested each other, taking comfort in each other, and in the fact that they wanted each other. Mika's lips left his, her still open mouth sliding down his face, and across his neck, until her head rested against his chest. There she stayed, her arms wrapped around him, enjoying his warmth, and whatever strength he could offer her. "Let's just... stay here..." she whispered against his neck. "... for a little longer..." He stroked her back, and kissed the tussled brown hair on the top of her head. Within a few minutes, she had fallen fast asleep. In a little while longer, Guy had done the same. And although the cold spring wind sliced at them, neither had ever felt warmer, or slept better in their lives. _____________________________________________________________ NewMessage: ath: newsspool2.news.atl.earthlink.net!stamper.news.atl.earthlink.net!elnk-atl-nf1!newsfeed.earthlink.net!bigfeed2.bellsouth.net!news.bellsouth.net!cyclone1.gnilink.net!gnilink.net!wn14feed!worldnet.att.net!207.35.177.252!nf3.bellglobal.com!nf1.bellglobal.com!nf2.bellglobal.com!news20.bellglobal.com.POSTED!not-for-mail From: "The Cheat" Newsgroups: alt.startrek.creative Subject: NEW TNG Dream and Duty Part 19/30 [PG-13] D/f Lines: 52 X-Priority: 3 X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-Newsreader: Microsoft Outlook Express 6.00.2800.1106 X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V6.00.2800.1106 Message-ID: Date: Tue, 7 Sep 2004 11:59:13 -0400 NNTP-Posting-Host: 69.157.58.38 X-Complaints-To: abuse@sympatico.ca X-Trace: news20.bellglobal.com 1094572961 69.157.58.38 (Tue, 07 Sep 2004 12:02:41 EDT) NNTP-Posting-Date: Tue, 07 Sep 2004 12:02:41 EDT Organization: Bell Sympatico Xref: news.earthlink.net alt.startrek.creative:160687 X-Received-Date: Tue, 07 Sep 2004 09:17:52 PDT (newsspool2.news.atl.earthlink.net) Dream and Duty: From Sleep into Dreams Part 19/30 There was no one around back on board the stolen transport, and Sal was all the happier for it. She wasn't all that keen on explaining why she was searching for missing Federation shuttlecraft. That in mind, she locked the door behind her after entering the cockpit. She sat down at the console and typed some controls into the panel, bringing up the records on the shuttlecraft where they'd found Guy. "Computer," she began, he voice instinctively quiet. "Run a search of any and all missing Federation shuttlecraft, and cross-reference them with the warp signature from the scan of the shuttlecraft currently on screen." "Working..." in what was rapidly becoming a habit, Sal began rapping her fingers against the console as she waited. "Positive match." Sal smiled. "Good. From what vessel did the shuttle originate?" "Shuttlecraft originated from USS Enterprise, registration NCC 1701-D." "The flagship?" Sal breathed. "Affirmative," answered the computer. "Computer, access visual on crewmember Guy," the image of Guy immediately appeared on the screen. "Computer, have any crew or passengers been reported missing from the USS Enterprise that would match the physical description of the man shown on the screen?" "Negative." The response made Sal start. She had been certain it would be a yes. "Computer, which crewmember was listed as helmsman of the missing shuttlecraft?" "Lt. Commander Data of the Starship Enterprise." "Computer, display visual of Lt. Commander Data." The image appeared on the screen, and again Sal was surprised. It was the image of a man with golden skin and yellow eyes. But apart from his skin and eye colour, he appeared to be human. "Species?" she question. "Lt. Commander Data is an android." "An android... Who constructed Lt. Commander Data?" "Dr. Noonian Soong constructed NFM NMI Data." Sal was about to give up her search completely, convincing herself that she'd just gone on a wild goose chase. But curiosity compelled her to study the picture of the android in more detail. And the longer she looked at it, the more she was convinced that she wasn't on that wild goose chase after all. She pulled up the image of Guy opposite the image of the android. "Computer, can you alter the skin and eye tone on the image of Lt. Commander Data to match that of the man currently on screen?" The computer blipped. "Not enough information." "Allow for a 30 percent margin of error," she amended. The computer did as requested, and Sal found herself face to face with not one, but two images of Guy. _________________________________________________________ NewMessage: ath: newsspool2.news.atl.earthlink.net!stamper.news.atl.earthlink.net!elnk-atl-nf1!newsfeed.earthlink.net!bigfeed2.bellsouth.net!news.bellsouth.net!cyclone1.gnilink.net!gnilink.net!wn14feed!worldnet.att.net!207.35.177.252!nf3.bellglobal.com!nf1.bellglobal.com!nf2.bellglobal.com!news20.bellglobal.com.POSTED!not-for-mail From: "The Cheat" Newsgroups: alt.startrek.creative Subject: NEW TNG Dream and Duty Part 20/30 [PG-13] D/f Lines: 72 X-Priority: 3 X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-Newsreader: Microsoft Outlook Express 6.00.2800.1106 X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V6.00.2800.1106 Message-ID: Date: Tue, 7 Sep 2004 12:00:09 -0400 NNTP-Posting-Host: 69.157.58.38 X-Complaints-To: abuse@sympatico.ca X-Trace: news20.bellglobal.com 1094573017 69.157.58.38 (Tue, 07 Sep 2004 12:03:37 EDT) NNTP-Posting-Date: Tue, 07 Sep 2004 12:03:37 EDT Organization: Bell Sympatico Xref: news.earthlink.net alt.startrek.creative:160688 X-Received-Date: Tue, 07 Sep 2004 09:18:52 PDT (newsspool2.news.atl.earthlink.net) Dream and Duty: From Sleep into Dreams Part 20/30 It was the steady dripping of water down onto his face that caused his eyelids to flutter. With a start, Guy scrambled away from the drops. He was even more confused to hear a feminine groan of protest originating from somewhere around his midsection. He pushed his arms out behind him so that he was able to prop up his upper body just enough to see who the sound had come from. "Guy?" Mika asked groggily, lifting her sleepy head to look at him. "Morning," he greeted. She smiled loosely, proof of how relaxed she was. She looked around her, noticing for the first time the steady patter of raindrops as they fell onto the silver-coated leaves above them. "I haven't slept that well in... forever." "It's raining," Guy told her. Mika blinked, and when she opened her eyes again, she was fully alert. "Right, well... let's get out of here then." She rolled off his stomach and onto her feet, taking a moment to stretch the kinks out of her arms and legs. "What time is it?" she asked, looking over at Guy, who was just standing up himself. "I..." Guy felt his clothes, as though trying to knock something loose. "I didn't bring a chronometer." Suddenly realizing her negligence, Mika was all business. "We have to get back to the ship. Give me your communicator." Guy reached into his pocket and pulled out the small, hand-held device. A sudden thought struck him, however, and he hesitated before placing the communicator in Mika's expectant hand. "How did you know I brought a communicator?" he questioned her. "Survival lesson number two: get to know people who might prove useful in the future," she replied. "Know their motivations, know their desires, know their habits... Find out what makes them tick, and use that to predict what they'll do next." Guy stared at her, as he handed over the communicator. "So ever since you met me, you've been studying me--learning my habits." Mika nodded, almost absently. "You know what's weird, though? I can usually get a pretty good read for people. I can usually figure out why people do the things they do, why they're driven into certain professions... But with you, I've never been able to read you. At first, that made me suspicious... nervous. I don't know what it is. Maybe it's just because you've lost your memory... but ever since I first saw you, I just had this feeling that there was a lot more going on under the surface than I could possibly know." Guy eyed her a moment longer, then nodded. "So..." he began, attempting to shift the topic to something else. "What's survival rule number one?" Mika grinned. "Stay alive." She brought the communicator up to her mouth, and held down the com button. "Mika to transport one... transport one, this is Mika on Bajor calling..." "Mika!" it was Sal's voice that answered the hail. "It's about time! We've been worried." She paused for a moment. "Is Guy with you?" "Uh, yeah..." Mika's eyes shifted over to Guy. "He's right here. Prepare to beam me up to transport two, and Guy up to transport three." "Actually, I have something that I need to talk to Guy about, so why don't I just beam him to transport one for now?" Mika looked over at Guy. "Actually," he said, raising his voice loud enough to be picked up by the communicator. "I'd prefer if we met on transport 3. I'm supposed to meet my crew there shortly." "That's fine," Sal acknowledged. "Stand by to energize." Mika exchanged a glance with Guy, both of them realizing that if the mission didn't work out, it may be their last time to speak in person. "Well..." Mika began, with a levity she didn't particularly feel. "I guess this is it." "I'll see you later," Guy said with precise meaning. A brief, sad smiled spread across Mika's lips, just as the transporter beam began to take hold. "I sure hope so..." ___________________________________________________________ NewMessage: ath: newsspool2.news.atl.earthlink.net!stamper.news.atl.earthlink.net!elnk-atl-nf1!newsfeed.earthlink.net!feed1.news.rcn.net!rcn!news.maxwell.syr.edu!wn14feed!worldnet.att.net!207.35.177.252!nf3.bellglobal.com!nf1.bellglobal.com!nf2.bellglobal.com!news20.bellglobal.com.POSTED!not-for-mail From: "The Cheat" Newsgroups: alt.startrek.creative Subject: NEW TNG Dream and Duty Part 21/30 [PG-13] D/f Lines: 91 X-Priority: 3 X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-Newsreader: Microsoft Outlook Express 6.00.2800.1106 X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V6.00.2800.1106 Message-ID: Date: Tue, 7 Sep 2004 12:01:10 -0400 NNTP-Posting-Host: 69.157.58.38 X-Complaints-To: abuse@sympatico.ca X-Trace: news20.bellglobal.com 1094573078 69.157.58.38 (Tue, 07 Sep 2004 12:04:38 EDT) NNTP-Posting-Date: Tue, 07 Sep 2004 12:04:38 EDT Organization: Bell Sympatico Xref: news.earthlink.net alt.startrek.creative:160689 X-Received-Date: Tue, 07 Sep 2004 09:19:52 PDT (newsspool2.news.atl.earthlink.net) Dream and Duty: From Sleep into Dreams Part 21/30 "Well?" Guy was silent. Sal wasn't sure if it was a good thing or a bad thing. As she'd begun to explain to him, he had grown more and more distant, and now he seemed completely lost. Fully prepared to give him an interrogation that would have made the Cardassians proud, Sal found herself instead feeling sorry for Guy. Seeing the expression on his face, Sal was suddenly sure that he genuinely hadn't remembered anything about his origins. "Guy?" she said again, this time laying a gentle hand on his shoulder. It didn't seem to startle him. Again, she wasn't sure how good that was. "I remember..." he breathed. "What? What do you remember?" "Everything." Sal removed her hand. "And are you okay?" "I'm not sure. I mean... how could this have happened?" "I'm not sure," Sal said softly. Finally, he snapped out of his trance and looked at her. "It's just... everything's starting to make sense. The way I felt when I first came aboard, the way certain things felt to me..." he allowed his voice to trail off, then smiled. "What?" Guy shook his head. "Nothing. Forget it," a pause. "So, what do I do now?" Sal shrugged. "I don't think that you have to really do anything. I mean, you're here now, right?" Guy studied the floor. "I'd really like to know why, though." They were silent for a moment. "Are you still coming with us?" Sal asked. Guy raised his head, and looked her right in the eye. "Definitely." A flicker of a smile passed over the Romulan's features. "I didn't doubt it for a minute. I just... I wanted you to know. In case... in case something happens." Guy nodded, but didn't say anything. Sal looked at him and felt... guilty. Guilty for suspecting him... Perhaps because as people went, he just seemed a little too good to be true. Casting him a final glance, she headed for the door. "Sal?" She turned. "Why'd you go to all the trouble to find this out?" Sal shifted her weight from one foot to the other. "Mika. I just didn't want her to get hurt again." Guy nodded. "Poral?" "Yeah," she said. She then turned again, and this time Guy didn't stop her from going through the sliding door. Guy, or, more accurately, Lieutenant Commander Data, watched her go with disinterest. Why did this have to happen today, of all days? In just a few minutes, the place was going to be crawling with people, and he wouldn't likely get another opportunity to think things over. Most importantly, should he tell Mika? Would he even get a chance? As if on cue, the door slid open, and three young Bajorans walked in--two males and a female. They were talking and joking with one another, but they still looked tense in spite of it. When they laughed, it was nervous laughter, and when they talked, they were holding back pumping adrenaline. Data wondered if it was his countless hours studying humans that had allowed him to make these observations. The Bajorans spotted him, and grew silent, their posture straightening. The male in the lead, who had a shock of iron red hair, and deep green eyes, spoke first. "Crewmen Talos, Howard, and Laslie reporting for duty, sir." Data wanted to punch that stupid Bajoran right then and there. "Yeah, right. Just, get used to the equipment for a while, okay?" Not waiting for any of them to respond, and, indeed, not caring if they were going to, Data hurried out of engineering. Not bothering to turn the corner as he came out into the corridor, he allowed himself to slam into the wall. He slid down the wall with his back against it, thudding to a stop in a sitting position as he hit the floor. "This is fucking insane." "What is?" He turned his head slightly to see where the voice had come from. It was Ruk, coming down the hall towards him. Data looked at him, then shook his head. "Forget it. What are you doing here?" "I'm coming on your ship," announced Ruk with an air of distinction. Data raised his eyebrows in a vain attempt to look interested. "That so." Ruk didn't pick up on Data's disinterest. "So... what're your orders, cap'?" Restraining himself from uttering a groan of annoyance as he forcibly hauled himself to his feet, Data tried to act like he knew what he was doing--a difficult task for someone who was feeling a million light years away. "First of all, I want everyone to get to know each other, and find out where they're going to be stationed. Then, we're going to go over the plan. And then we're going to go over it again. And then, if anyone is in the least bit unclear, we're going to go over it again. Any questions?" Ruk was finally beginning to sense Data's annoyance. "Sounds like a plan." "Right, then let's get to it," Data said, turning towards the door to engineering. Ruk followed, still somewhat confused, and maybe just a bit uneasy. Maybe it would have been a slightly better idea if he had stayed on the other ship... ___________________________________________________________ NewMessage: ath: newsspool2.news.atl.earthlink.net!stamper.news.atl.earthlink.net!elnk-atl-nf1!newsfeed.earthlink.net!prodigy.com!newsfeed.telusplanet.net!newsfeed.telus.net!snoopy.risq.qc.ca!nf3.bellglobal.com!nf1.bellglobal.com!nf2.bellglobal.com!news20.bellglobal.com.POSTED!not-for-mail From: "The Cheat" Newsgroups: alt.startrek.creative Subject: NEW TNG Dream and Duty Part 22/30 [PG-13] D/f Lines: 33 X-Priority: 3 X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-Newsreader: Microsoft Outlook Express 6.00.2800.1106 X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V6.00.2800.1106 Message-ID: Date: Tue, 7 Sep 2004 12:02:25 -0400 NNTP-Posting-Host: 69.157.58.38 X-Complaints-To: abuse@sympatico.ca X-Trace: news20.bellglobal.com 1094573153 69.157.58.38 (Tue, 07 Sep 2004 12:05:53 EDT) NNTP-Posting-Date: Tue, 07 Sep 2004 12:05:53 EDT Organization: Bell Sympatico Xref: news.earthlink.net alt.startrek.creative:160690 X-Received-Date: Tue, 07 Sep 2004 09:21:03 PDT (newsspool2.news.atl.earthlink.net) Dream and Duty: From Sleep into Dreams Part 22/30 Mika was practically run off her feet with last minute preparations. Just in the period of a few hours, she had met her crew for the first time, received the final mission briefing, and had to repair a damaged conduit herself. She was just entering the turbolift to go back down to engineering when her communicator beeped from her belt. "Engineering," she instructed, before picking up her communicator and pressing the com button "Mika here." "Captain!" greeted the excited voice of a young woman. Mika recognized her as crewman Yates. "Yates. What's the problem?" "Well..." Yates trailed off, as though unsure of what she was about to say. "Yates?" Mika prompted, unable to keep the hint of annoyance out of her voice. It wasn't that she disliked the woman, she just hated indecisiveness when she was in a hurry. "I'm trying to operate the weapons console," she explained. "But... I think its been locked out or something, and..." "Did you try a manual override?" Mika interrupted. "Yes, I did, sir, but it requires your voice authorization." The turbolift hissed to a halt, depositing Mika at engineering. Mika released a breath. "I'm on my way." "Bridge," she then barked out to the elevator. For her own sanity, she hoped that her crew was just afflicted with pre-flight jitters. __________________________________________________________ NewMessage: ath: newsspool2.news.atl.earthlink.net!stamper.news.atl.earthlink.net!elnk-atl-nf1!newsfeed.earthlink.net!bigfeed2.bellsouth.net!news.bellsouth.net!cyclone1.gnilink.net!gnilink.net!wn14feed!worldnet.att.net!207.35.177.252!nf3.bellglobal.com!nf1.bellglobal.com!nf2.bellglobal.com!news20.bellglobal.com.POSTED!not-for-mail From: "The Cheat" Newsgroups: alt.startrek.creative Subject: NEW TNG Dream and Duty Part 23/30 [PG-13] D/f Lines: 64 X-Priority: 3 X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-Newsreader: Microsoft Outlook Express 6.00.2800.1106 X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V6.00.2800.1106 Message-ID: Date: Tue, 7 Sep 2004 12:03:21 -0400 NNTP-Posting-Host: 69.157.58.38 X-Complaints-To: abuse@sympatico.ca X-Trace: news20.bellglobal.com 1094573209 69.157.58.38 (Tue, 07 Sep 2004 12:06:49 EDT) NNTP-Posting-Date: Tue, 07 Sep 2004 12:06:49 EDT Organization: Bell Sympatico Xref: news.earthlink.net alt.startrek.creative:160691 X-Received-Date: Tue, 07 Sep 2004 09:21:56 PDT (newsspool2.news.atl.earthlink.net) Dream and Duty: From Sleep into Dreams Part 23/30 When did you tell him we'd be going?" "1300 hours," answered Bink. "Can you be ready by then?" Sal nodded to Bink, who sat in the ship's command chair in front of her. "We'll be ready," she paused. "But.. are you ready?" Bink gave a sad smile. "Why shouldn't I be? This is the right thing to do." "Maybe," agreed the Romulan. "But that doesn't have to make you feel good about it." "You're probably right," he concurred. "I never thought I would say this to anyone, but I'm nervous about this." Sal just looked at him, and shook her head. "I wish we had just a few more hours so I could tell everyone I know that you said that." Bink glared at her. "You do realize that if you did, I would have to destroy you," he said gravely. If he was kidding, it didn't show. "Of course," Sal agreed, equally deadpan. She then turned, and headed for the turbolift. Halfway there, though, she stopped, and turned back around. If the action had been unanticipated, the Romulan's smoothness displayed none of it. "Something else, Sal?" Bink inquired of the uncharacteristically tongue-tied Sal. She hesitated a moment longer. "No," she said at last. "Just... good luck." Bink nodded. "To all of us." Sal nodded back, and resumed her walk towards the turbolift, this time unimpeded. _____________________________________________________________ 1300 hours was upon them much sooner than any of them had anticipated. They were all ready, of course, all of them having memorized their various jobs for the mission. They were ready, but then, is anyone ever really ready to die? No one dared say it, but it was passing through each of their minds. There was a high degree of probability that they wouldn't come back, and it created atmospheres of unease throughout each of the three ships. "Ship two is hailing us," Mika's science officer announced. Mika nodded. "On screen." Bink's image filled the viewscreen. "Ready?" he asked simply. "We're ready here," she informed him. "I'll hail ship 3." Guy's image appeared on the screen alongside the Bink. "I take it we're ready to go," he said. "We sure are," Mika answered. "Any words of advice, Bink?" Bink gave a rather rueful smile. "Just... good luck, to all of you. May the Prophets be with us." Bink's image disappeared from the screen, leaving just Guy staring back at Mika. "What about you?" Mika smiled. "Is there any sage bit of wisdom locked up in that thick skull of yours?" "Be careful," he said, his eyes full of meaning, even through the viewscreen. "I want this to work." "It'll work," she assured him. "I've got a feeling." Guy nodded slowly. "I trust your judgement." His words struck Mika in a strange, but not entirely unpleasant way. She stared at Guy's image on the screen, feeling suddenly as though she were seeing him for the first time. "Well," she said at last, wondering how long she had been silent. "See you on the other side." At Mika's command, Guy's image disappeared from the screen. Mika was slightly startled by the sudden cold chill that crept up her spine. Shaking it off, she waited for Bink's ship to lead them out into space. ___________________________________________________________ NewMessage: ath: newsspool2.news.atl.earthlink.net!stamper.news.atl.earthlink.net!elnk-atl-nf1!newsfeed.earthlink.net!bigfeed2.bellsouth.net!news.bellsouth.net!cyclone1.gnilink.net!gnilink.net!wn14feed!worldnet.att.net!207.35.177.252!nf3.bellglobal.com!nf1.bellglobal.com!nf2.bellglobal.com!news20.bellglobal.com.POSTED!not-for-mail From: "The Cheat" Newsgroups: alt.startrek.creative Subject: NEW TNG Dream and Duty Part 24/30 [PG-13] D/f Lines: 34 X-Priority: 3 X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-Newsreader: Microsoft Outlook Express 6.00.2800.1106 X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V6.00.2800.1106 Message-ID: Date: Tue, 7 Sep 2004 12:04:31 -0400 NNTP-Posting-Host: 69.157.58.38 X-Complaints-To: abuse@sympatico.ca X-Trace: news20.bellglobal.com 1094573279 69.157.58.38 (Tue, 07 Sep 2004 12:07:59 EDT) NNTP-Posting-Date: Tue, 07 Sep 2004 12:07:59 EDT Organization: Bell Sympatico Xref: news.earthlink.net alt.startrek.creative:160692 X-Received-Date: Tue, 07 Sep 2004 09:23:05 PDT (newsspool2.news.atl.earthlink.net) Dream and Duty: From Sleep into Dreams Part 24/30 Data didn't want Mika's image to leave the engineering viewscreen. When it did, he was suddenly consumed by a sinking feeling of dread, one that he just couldn't shake. Doing his best to ignore it, he pressed his thumb into his hand-held communicator. "Howard?" "Howard here, sir," came the crisp reply. "Set course and speed as according to the plan," he ordered. "Aye, sir," Howard acknowledged. As the communication ended, Data took a moment to look around him. Ruk was sitting at one of the consoles, working lazily at his rubik's cube. Data hoped he would be able to put it away long enough to focus on the minimal tasks he'd been given. Laslie, his only female officer, was studying her console intently, as if she thought the ship would crash if she so much as blinked. His final officer, a Bajoran male called Talos, was also studying his console. Acknowledging that it would be a while before he would get the opportunity to do so again, Data collapsed into one of the chairs. It wasn't comfortable--most chairs in Cardassian engineering sections weren't--but it got him off his feet for a few minutes. He knew he should probably be doing something, or saying something to inspire his crew; certainly, it would be what Jean-Luc Picard would do in his situation. Feeling suddenly very inferior, Data sat up just a little bit straighter in his chair, and tried for all he was worth to look confidant. As subtle as the change was, he knew from experience that when you're a captain, sometimes subtleties were all that marked the difference between success and defeat. And with the Prophets as his witnesses, he wanted this crew to succeed. _________________________________________________________________ NewMessage: ath: newsspool2.news.atl.earthlink.net!stamper.news.atl.earthlink.net!elnk-atl-nf1!newsfeed.earthlink.net!prodigy.com!atl-c02.usenetserver.com!sjc1.usenetserver.com!news.usenetserver.com!nf3.bellglobal.com!nf1.bellglobal.com!nf2.bellglobal.com!news20.bellglobal.com.POSTED!not-for-mail From: "The Cheat" Newsgroups: alt.startrek.creative Subject: NEW TNG Dream and Duty Part 25/30 [PG-13] D/f Lines: 74 X-Priority: 3 X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-Newsreader: Microsoft Outlook Express 6.00.2800.1106 X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V6.00.2800.1106 Message-ID: Date: Tue, 7 Sep 2004 12:05:20 -0400 NNTP-Posting-Host: 69.157.58.38 X-Complaints-To: abuse@sympatico.ca X-Trace: news20.bellglobal.com 1094573328 69.157.58.38 (Tue, 07 Sep 2004 12:08:48 EDT) NNTP-Posting-Date: Tue, 07 Sep 2004 12:08:48 EDT Organization: Bell Sympatico Xref: news.earthlink.net alt.startrek.creative:160693 X-Received-Date: Tue, 07 Sep 2004 09:24:06 PDT (newsspool2.news.atl.earthlink.net) Dream and Duty: From Sleep into Dreams Part 25/30 "Approaching Velerous moon, sir," came Howard's voice over the com-link. "Ships 1 and 3 have fallen back as according to the plan." "Acknowledged," Data answered. "Slow to impulse, and wait for my orders." Data turned to Laslie. "Prepare to engage link-up on my mark." The young Bajoran nodded. "Ruk, how long before we're within transporter range?" "Um... at this current course and speed, you have about 5 minutes." "Sensor range?" "9 minutes." "Good," nodded Data. With the modifications he and Tarn had made to the transporters, they would have a full 4 minutes to move about before the sensors were able to pick them up. That should give them enough time to access the main system manually and shut down the sensors. Then, once he contacted the ship, they would search for his signal and beam him back up through the shields, using the correct frequency. "We're going to need to time this just perfectly if we're even going to have a chance." Data's fingers flew over the control pad. For a moment, he wished he could still do it as fast as he once could. "Okay..." he said slowly, knowing that he would have to get in and out of the system very quickly in order for the Cardassians not to suspect anything. "Engage link-up... now..." Laslie did as she was told, and as according to the well-choreographed plan. "Link-up established," she announced. "Systems access should be coming to your console, sir." Just as she said it would, the information began scrolling past his screen. "I have the shield frequency," he said. "Disengage link-up." "Link-up disengaged," Laslie confirmed. Data nodded, pleased with the competence of his crew, as he looked over at Pak. "Pak? You ready?" "Yes," answered the Cardassian flatly. "Good. Let's do it." Data stood up beside Pak. "Energize." The transporter beam shimmered to life, beaming Data and Pak first to the ship's transporter room, and then instantaneously down to the prison complex. When they materialized, they were in the main control room. Two Cardassian guards, who had their backs to Data and Pak as they materialized, turned, phasers at the ready, as they heard the whine of the transporter beam. But Data and Pak, who were more prepared, fired first, stunning the two guards with a single shot each. Without wasting another minute, Data ran to the control board, as Pak hurried to lock the door. Data's fingers flew over the keys, searching for defense control. "Damn!" Pak started, whirling to look at Data. "What?" "Defense systems are protected by authorization codes," he explained. "It's okay, I can break it." Pak nodded, controlling his nerves with considerable skill. Here we go..." Data muttered. "I'm in. Sensors... sensors... Aha!" "You've got it?" Pak asked. He was standing in front of the closed door, ready to fire at anyone, or anything, that should come through. "Sensors are down," he confirmed. He hesitated over the console for a moment then, causing Pak to take a backwards step towards him. "What?" "I can get into the weapons system while I'm here. Take out their weapons... they won't be able to fire at us when we try to escape. I can give them a computer virus." Pak checked the chronometer he'd strapped to his wrist nervously. "How long will that take?" "Not long," Data assured him. "What time we got?" "2 and a half minutes." It was then that Pak and Data heard the voices in the corridor. The door grew hot, and in another moment, it burst inwards. Three Cardassian charged through the ragged hole, phasers ready. They hesitated a moment before firing at Pak. It wasn't a long moment, but it was long enough for Pak to get two clean shots off. The first hit the guard in the lead, knocking him unconscious. The second flew just wide of another. NewMessage: ath: newsspool2.news.atl.earthlink.net!stamper.news.atl.earthlink.net!elnk-atl-nf1!newsfeed.earthlink.net!in.100proofnews.com!in.100proofnews.com!news-xfer.cox.net!peer01.cox.net!cox.net!cyclone1.gnilink.net!gnilink.net!wns13feed!worldnet.att.net!204.71.34.3!newsfeed.cwix.com!news-in.mts.net!nf1.bellglobal.com!nf2.bellglobal.com!news20.bellglobal.com.POSTED!not-for-mail From: "The Cheat" Newsgroups: alt.startrek.creative Subject: NEW TNG Dream and Duty Part 26/30 [PG-13] D/f Lines: 63 X-Priority: 3 X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-Newsreader: Microsoft Outlook Express 6.00.2800.1106 X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V6.00.2800.1106 Message-ID: Date: Tue, 7 Sep 2004 12:06:39 -0400 NNTP-Posting-Host: 69.157.58.38 X-Complaints-To: abuse@sympatico.ca X-Trace: news20.bellglobal.com 1094573407 69.157.58.38 (Tue, 07 Sep 2004 12:10:07 EDT) NNTP-Posting-Date: Tue, 07 Sep 2004 12:10:07 EDT Organization: Bell Sympatico Xref: news.earthlink.net alt.startrek.creative:160685 X-Received-Date: Tue, 07 Sep 2004 09:16:09 PDT (newsspool2.news.atl.earthlink.net) Dream and Duty: From Sleep into Dreams Part 26/30 The guards managed to get two shots off before Pak finally felled a second guard. The last guard had just taken aim at his chest, and was preparing to fire when he was struck with a phaser blast originating from just over Pak's shoulder. He glanced back to see Data, phaser in hand. "Thanks," he breathed. "Any time," Data acknowledged, returning to his console. Pak waited, phaser aimed at the door, for more guards to appear. "Time?" "1 and a half minutes." "I have the virus," Data announced. "Now I just have to..." They both heard the reinforcements coming down the hall at the same time. Pak and Data exchanged a glance, as they ran out into the corridor. They looked up the hallway, just in time to see the guards rounding the corner. Not bothering to engage in a firefight, because they were obviously outnumbered, Pak and Data started sprinting down the corridor in the opposite direction. "Time!" "1 minute!" Phaser blasts erupted all around them. Pak managed to get off a few shots in the other direction, and Data heard some shouts from the guards, suggesting he was at least being partially successful. Data rounded a corner, and realized Pak was no longer behind him. He slowed, and looked over his shoulder... Then stopped dead in his tracks as he saw the sight there. "Move and he dies!" The guard pressed his phaser into Pak's skull. Data didn't move. He felt frozen in place. "Surrender!" the guard ordered again. "Or this Cardassian traitor will see his death!" Time seemed to slow around Data. He looked over his shoulder down the corridor, and saw an open and clear path. If he could just get into an open spot, he could order the ship to beam him up. But then he looked back at Pak, his neck stretched tight, a sheen forming along his scaled brow, the phaser poised to burn a hole clean through his skull. Data looked at Pak, and met his eyes. The Cardassian's obsidian pupils stared back at him, his eyes wide with fear. Then, almost imperceptibly, Data say Pak nod. It was such a small gesture, but it somehow told Data everything he needed to know. With a final glance back, he took off down the corridor. He heard the squeal of a phaser behind him, and it might have just been his imagination, but he could of sworn he smelled Pak's burning flesh in his nostrils. He pulled his body around the first corner he found, and pressed his thumb into the communicator as it vibrated erratically in his shaking hand. "This is Guy to transporter room! One to beam up! Energize!" He didn't get a response, so he tried again. "This is Guy! Acknowledge!" Still, no response. Hearing the guards practically on top of him, he took off once more down the corridor. Looking back over his shoulder, he almost ran head-first into another group of guards. He pulled up short, realizing he was surrounded. Realizing that it was all over, a sickening chill coursed through the veins of his entire body. He could only imagine what was happening to the ships outside. Slowly, he brought his hands up above his head, and dropped his phaser from his left hand down onto the deck. The clatter it made as it hit the metal floor was a sound he would never, ever forget. __________________________________________________________ NewMessage: ath: newsspool2.news.atl.earthlink.net!stamper.news.atl.earthlink.net!elnk-atl-nf1!newsfeed.earthlink.net!prodigy.com!atl-c02.usenetserver.com!sjc1.usenetserver.com!news.usenetserver.com!nf3.bellglobal.com!nf1.bellglobal.com!nf2.bellglobal.com!news20.bellglobal.com.POSTED!not-for-mail From: "The Cheat" Newsgroups: alt.startrek.creative Subject: NEW TNG Dream and Duty Part 27/30 [PG-13] D/f Lines: 103 X-Priority: 3 X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-Newsreader: Microsoft Outlook Express 6.00.2800.1106 X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V6.00.2800.1106 Message-ID: <55l%c.12285$lP4.911917@news20.bellglobal.com> Date: Tue, 7 Sep 2004 12:08:17 -0400 NNTP-Posting-Host: 69.157.58.38 X-Complaints-To: abuse@sympatico.ca X-Trace: news20.bellglobal.com 1094573505 69.157.58.38 (Tue, 07 Sep 2004 12:11:45 EDT) NNTP-Posting-Date: Tue, 07 Sep 2004 12:11:45 EDT Organization: Bell Sympatico Xref: news.earthlink.net alt.startrek.creative:160694 X-Received-Date: Tue, 07 Sep 2004 09:26:51 PDT (newsspool2.news.atl.earthlink.net) Dream and Duty: From Sleep into Dreams Part 27/30 The ship rocked violently as it was assaulted once again by a barrage of phaser fire. In the engineering section of transport 1, Sal lunged out for a railing desperately. But as the ship was rocked again, she lost her footing and tumbled to the ground, cracking the side of her head against the railing on her way down. "Sal!" Bink's voice over the com broke through the haze that was starting to form around Sal's brain. "We're going to need more power to the sheilds! Maybe you could..." The line went dead. Sal groped across the floor for her communicator, and spoke into it. "Bink!" she shouted frantically. "Bink! Damn it, answer me!" She threw the communicator to the ground in fury. "We have to get out of here!" she shouted to one of her officers. "Warp engines are down," came the reply. "Activating impulse..." The deck shook, and a console blew up on Sal's right. Struggling to her feet, Sal managed to reach a fire extinguisher. She turned it onto what seemed to be the largest of the flames, and managed to quell them. "Tarn!" she barked. "We need warp power, now!" "I'm trying," the Ferengi shouted back in annoyance. "There... there, try it now." Sal turned to her other officer. "Warp power! Engage, any heading!" The ship shot into warp. "We've entered warp, sir!" called the young officer, who's name eluded Sal at the present. Sal saved her rejoicing. "Are we being followed?" "No..." Tarn answered slowly. "I don't think so. They're too busy with the other two ships." Sal nodded. "I have to get to the bridge." Stumbling on her shaky legs through the thinning smoke of engineering, Sal had to pry open the door to get out. The turbolift, though, was working. "Bridge," she commanded wearily. A few moments later, the doors hissed open. The first thing that hit Sal as she stumbled out was a cloud of smoke. She coughed, and tried to push it away with her hand. When that didn't work, she dropped to her hands and knees and began crawling across the floor. Again, she managed to reach a fire extinguisher, which she then dragged towards what appeared to be the biggest fire. The flames made a sort of hissing protest as the contents of the extinguisher made contact, before finally fizzling out. The smoke began to clear not too long after that. As her vision began to return to her, Sal was finally able to truly appreciate the damage around her. At the ship's helm, the post she often occupied, there was the singed corpse of a young Bajoran... she couldn't tell if they were male or female. And then she saw him. Bink was stretched out on the ground in front of the command chair, a jagged piece of metal wedged into his brain. Sal felt the tears in her throat, but she didn't allow them to come forward as she crawled over to his still body. With a light and, for the first time in her life that she could remember, unsteady hand, she touched the pale skin of his left cheek, the only part of his face that wasn't adulterated by blood. Gently, as though scared she might somehow damage what would never feel again, she ran her delicate fingertips down his cheek. It was then that she noticed his bright blue eyes; no longer sparkling, they were frozen open wide in shock. With a soft touch, she closed them to the world. "Goodbye, friend," she whispered, the sound of her voice seeming to echo off the walls of the now silent bridge. And then the deck shook again. "Tarn! What's going on?" Sal barked over her communicator. "Cardassians! We have one Cardassian battle cruiser, and it's moving to intercept." "Can we outrun them?" "No," replied Tarn. "We only have limited warp power." "I'm on my way!" she said. "Fire at will!" Pushing herself smoothly onto her feet, Sal ran towards the turbolift, only stumbling once as the deck shook under the force of another impact. "Sal!" she heard someone shout. It was Tarn over the communicator. "What?" she demanded. "The Cardassian ship has been destroyed." Sal stopped dead in her tracks. "How...?" "Someone had given them a computer virus," the Ferengi explained almost gleefully. "All I needed to do was activate it, and their shields went down." Sal smiled in spite of herself. "Data..." "What?" "Nothing," Sal amended. "I'll be right down. Get us the hell out of Cardassian space as quickly as possible." "Of course," snapped Tarn, before breaking off the communication. Sal wanted to collapse her body against the wall and heave a sigh of relief. She wanted to smile, and say she was glad it was over, glad they'd gotten out of it alive. But from where she was standing, she could see the lifeless bodies of Bink and the young Bajoran. Even if their ship did get out of Cardassian space, they would have lost more people on the mission than they'd saved. Right. The people they'd beamed off the base. They were probably confused as hell; someone should probably go check on them. Sal knew that, as the captain, it was probably her responsibility to deal with it. But right at that moment, she didn't particularly care. She'd just lost one of her closest friends, and to her that reserved her the right to be selfish. "Tarn," she said into her communicator. "Get Jib to check on the prisoners, let them know what's going on." The Ferengi didn't respond, but Sal was fairly confidant he'd received the message. Taking one last look around the bridge, Sal stepped into the turbolift. "Engineering." She was able to take one last look at the bridge before the doors closed. She felt faintly ashamed for being relieved when her view was cut off. ________________________________________________________ NewMessage: ath: newsspool2.news.atl.earthlink.net!stamper.news.atl.earthlink.net!stamper.news.pas.earthlink.net!elnk-nf2-pas!newsfeed.earthlink.net!sjc1.usenetserver.com!news.usenetserver.com!nf3.bellglobal.com!nf1.bellglobal.com!nf2.bellglobal.com!news20.bellglobal.com.POSTED!not-for-mail From: "The Cheat" Newsgroups: alt.startrek.creative Subject: NEW TNG Dream and Duty Part 28/30 [PG-13] D/f Lines: 64 X-Priority: 3 X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-Newsreader: Microsoft Outlook Express 6.00.2800.1106 X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V6.00.2800.1106 Message-ID: <16l%c.12286$lP4.912225@news20.bellglobal.com> Date: Tue, 7 Sep 2004 12:09:17 -0400 NNTP-Posting-Host: 69.157.58.38 X-Complaints-To: abuse@sympatico.ca X-Trace: news20.bellglobal.com 1094573565 69.157.58.38 (Tue, 07 Sep 2004 12:12:45 EDT) NNTP-Posting-Date: Tue, 07 Sep 2004 12:12:45 EDT Organization: Bell Sympatico Xref: news.earthlink.net alt.startrek.creative:160695 X-Received-Date: Tue, 07 Sep 2004 09:27:59 PDT (newsspool2.news.atl.earthlink.net) Dream and Duty: From Sleep into Dreams Part 28/30 The guard's hands felt like a vice grip on Data wrists. He couldn't move a muscle, and it certainly wasn't for lack of trying. He had no choice but to co-operate as they shoved him along the hallway of the prison complex. As he looked around, Data realized that the compound was much larger than he had thought it was. He also found himself feeling slightly frustrated that he wasn't able to come up with an actual estimate, as he would have done in the past. Then again, if it were the past he could just break the guard's arm and escape. The guard in the front stopped and passed his palm over a sensor at the side of the door. It immediately slid open, and the guard who was holding Data pushed him through-at least, he tried to push Data through. Data called upon all the anger that was in him, and resisted the guard with as much strength as his meager frame could muster. Needless to say, it wasn't enough. Almost without hesitation, the big Cardassian shoved Data through the door with such force that he stumbled to the floor. As he tried to get up, the second guard kicked him in the stomach. It hurt. A lot. Especially since it marked the first time Data had ever felt such pain. His first thought was that he should try and mask the pain he was in, just as he had seen other humans do in the past. But despite the thought, he couldn't help the reflexive hand that shot out to clasp his stomach That was when the boot hit his hand. There was a crunch, and Data felt the pain shoot up his arm almost instantly. Had he been more familiar with sensing pain, he probably would have been able to recognize that he'd just broken his index finger. The guard was prepared to send another blow in the direction of Data's gut, but something stopped him. Data managed to turn his head enough to see a new light source coming from the opposite side of the room, with the silhouette of a Cardassian against it. "You may leave," said the newcomer in a flat tone. His voice was not particularly loud, but it was a voice that sounded as though it belonged to someone who was used to being obeyed. "Yes, gul," Data heard one of the guards mumble. The two guards then left the way they'd come in. Data heard the deep metal on metal sound of the door locking behind them. "Get up," the gul instructed, but Data didn't find himself all that eager to comply. "Get up," he repeated, this time taking a step towards Data. Fearing for his already bruised ribs, Data decided to obey. He got to his feet slowly, and faced the Cardassian. "What is your name?" "Guy," Data answered, hoping his voice didn't sound terribly weak. "You were the one who broke into our computer system" noted the gul. "You were the one who brought down our sensors." Data didn't answer. The Cardassian slapped him across the face with the back of his hand. "You will answer my questions!" The blow caused Data to take a step back, but he recovered quickly. "Yes," he said. The Cardassian nodded, and began to pace slowly back and forth in front of Data. "And do you know what the punishment for such an offense would entail?" In all honesty, Data had no idea. "Yes," he said. The gul stopped pacing and drilled his cold eyes right into Data. "And yet you still felt compelled to attempt this foolhardy venture. Why?" Data did his best to meet the gaze head on. "Perhaps for the same reason you wish to punish me for attempting to set free a group of innocents." The comment earned him another blow to the face, but this time he held his ground. NewMessage: ath: newsspool2.news.atl.earthlink.net!stamper.news.atl.earthlink.net!elnk-atl-nf1!newsfeed.earthlink.net!prodigy.com!news.glorb.com!wn14feed!worldnet.att.net!207.35.177.252!nf3.bellglobal.com!nf1.bellglobal.com!nf2.bellglobal.com!news20.bellglobal.com.POSTED!not-for-mail From: "The Cheat" Newsgroups: alt.startrek.creative Subject: NEW TNG Dream and Duty Part 29/30 [PG-13] D/f Lines: 66 X-Priority: 3 X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-Newsreader: Microsoft Outlook Express 6.00.2800.1106 X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V6.00.2800.1106 Message-ID: Date: Tue, 7 Sep 2004 12:11:53 -0400 NNTP-Posting-Host: 69.157.58.38 X-Complaints-To: abuse@sympatico.ca X-Trace: news20.bellglobal.com 1094573721 69.157.58.38 (Tue, 07 Sep 2004 12:15:21 EDT) NNTP-Posting-Date: Tue, 07 Sep 2004 12:15:21 EDT Organization: Bell Sympatico Xref: news.earthlink.net alt.startrek.creative:160697 X-Received-Date: Tue, 07 Sep 2004 09:30:31 PDT (newsspool2.news.atl.earthlink.net) Dream and Duty: From Sleep into Dreams Part 29/30 "Fool!" snapped the Cardassian. "It would be far better for your health to cooperate." Instead of following the Cardassian's advice, Data started spouting off the memorized lines of their cover story. "My name is Guy. I was the sole perpetrator behind the attempted prison break. I was in no way authorized by the Bajoran provisional government, nor did I have the support of..." This time, the Cardassian threw a strong punch to Data's jawbone. As he stumbled backwards, he was hit again, sending him crashing into the metal wall. His body collapsed against it with a thud. Data pressed himself up against the wall; it was all he could do to remain standing. "Speak, or die," the Cardassian's voice was eerily level and controlled. Data didn't say anything, earning him another punch. This time the grey fist connected just below his mouth. As he recovered from the impact, he could taste something sweet between his teeth, which was in turn running down his chin. Data touched his chin, and saw the red liquid that had just recently become a part of his life staining his fingers. "You're going to kill me anyway," he spat through his bloodied teeth. "You don't know that," said the Cardassian. "And in your current position, you can't exactly afford to take the chance." "My current position?" inquired Data. A sick smirk spread across the lips of his tormentor. "I could just get what I need from your friend." Data felt the blood drain from his face. "What friend?" "The Bajoran woman," he replied. "What was her name? Milla? Minkon?" "Mika," Data supplied tonelessly. The Cardassian's smile widened. "That's the one. I only mentioned it because having to harm breasts as perfectly formed as hers might be a crime in itself." Data felt the anger rising within him, and he took a purposeful step forwards, towards the gul. "Leave her the fuck alone, you..." Data's loyalty was rewarded with the back of a grey, scaled hand knocking him across the jaw. It was the hardest blow he had yet received, and it caused Data's head to snap backwards. His vision began to fail him, and he fell to his knees at the gul's feet. He took several deep breaths trying to recover from the blow before he spoke. "When I get out of here," his voice was strangled, his tongue slurring the words through his blood-filled mouth. "I'm going to fire a phaser down your throat and watch you rot from the inside out." Instead of intimidating the Cardassian, Data's anger only seemed to add to his amusement. And why shouldn't it? Data was allowing the Cardassian to get to him, which was exactly what the latter wanted. With a last amused smirk at Data, the gul called for the guards. The metal door slid open almost instantly, and the two wide guards entered. "You may take him away, now," he instructed. The guards immediately grabbed a hold of Data's arms on either side, hauling him to his feet. Data considered struggling, but eventually rejected it, realizing what a very futile gesture it would be. "And by the way," added the gul before the guards hauled Data through the door. "My name is Gul Ropek. It may come in useful, as I have a feeling that we have not seen the last of each other." Data was then dragged out into the hall, the overhead lighting panels suddenly seeming sickeningly bright. He struggled to make his legs respond to the brisk pace set by the guards, and grew more nauseous in the effort. A slow, thick ribbon of blood was working its way down his chin, and as he worked his tongue around inside his mouth, he could feel one of his teeth wobbling gingerly in his gum. Little did he know how familiar all of the new sensations he was experiencing would become. ___________________________________________________________ NewMessage: ath: newsspool2.news.atl.earthlink.net!stamper.news.atl.earthlink.net!elnk-atl-nf1!newsfeed.earthlink.net!prodigy.com!news.glorb.com!wn14feed!worldnet.att.net!207.35.177.252!nf3.bellglobal.com!nf1.bellglobal.com!nf2.bellglobal.com!news20.bellglobal.com.POSTED!not-for-mail From: "The Cheat" Newsgroups: alt.startrek.creative Subject: NEW TNG Dream and Duty Part 30/30 [PG-13] D/f Lines: 11 X-Priority: 3 X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-Newsreader: Microsoft Outlook Express 6.00.2800.1106 X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V6.00.2800.1106 Message-ID: Date: Tue, 7 Sep 2004 12:11:57 -0400 NNTP-Posting-Host: 69.157.58.38 X-Complaints-To: abuse@sympatico.ca X-Trace: news20.bellglobal.com 1094573725 69.157.58.38 (Tue, 07 Sep 2004 12:15:25 EDT) NNTP-Posting-Date: Tue, 07 Sep 2004 12:15:25 EDT Organization: Bell Sympatico Xref: news.earthlink.net alt.startrek.creative:160696 X-Received-Date: Tue, 07 Sep 2004 09:30:30 PDT (newsspool2.news.atl.earthlink.net) Dream and Duty: From Sleep into Dreams Part 30/30 This is the end of this section... The sequal, Dream and Duty: What the Mourning Brings, is already written and will be posted as soon as I see (or don't see) that I was successful posting this one, as it's my first time doing so. If you got this far, thank you for reading! Send comments to twinklewunderkid@hotmail.com NewMessage: