Chapter 13
Bridge
USS Redemption
''Damage report!"
Jasto struggled to stay in his seat, one hand gripping the chair while with the other he tried to pull up the necessary information on his readout. Another explosion rocked the ship, whipping his head back.
"Hull breaches on decks eleven through fifteen,” he shouted over the sound of screaming metal. “Engineering reports that the impulse engines have suffered severe damage to their primary relays. We've lost forward shields and..."
Dax felt the deck buckle beneath him, as if some unseen hand had grabbed the ship and shaken it, hard. A relay running under the deck exploded, venting smoke and flames into the air. All the lights on the bridge flickered out, and the holographic illusion of space vanished completely from the walls.
The heat seared his throat, making him cough. The UPS grid suddenly came to life and the emergency power systems sprang to life. Through the gloom, Dax saw Commander Kalara pick herself up from the deck, hair waving wildly around her face, blood on her lips. She reached up a hand and savagely wiped it away.
Another shock ran through the ship. "Evasive manoeuvres," Kalara ordered. There was no response.
Dax glanced over at Williams only to see her bloodied body lying prostrate on the deck. Just next to the fire caused by the burst power relay.
Oh no. He tried to get to his feet and help her. He was half out of his seat when he felt a strong hand on his shoulder and found himself forced back down.
"I'll take care of her," Commander Kalara said. "I need you to fly the ship."
Dax hesitated for a moment, and then he nodded, turning back to his holographic console. Thank the Pools of New Trill, the holographic command and control consoles all had their own power sources, which would keep them running despite the failure of the primary relays. He accessed the helm system, transferring control of the thrusters to his position.
As he did, he heard a voice whispering in the back of his mind. You left her to die. You did. You did the same as me. You're going to be punished.
Haebron's giggle sent shivers down Dax's spine. Not now, he prayed. Please, not now.
XXX
Kalara grabbed a medical kit from a wall console on her way to Lieutenant Williams’ side. With her headset on, she saw the starfield swerve suddenly as the ship narrowly avoiding a volley of torpedoes. How many damned torpedoes does that thing have?!
She reached her helmsman's side, stopping a few steps away and running a tricorder over her injuries. When the computer confirmed that there was no internal bleeding, she grabbed the girl's ankles and dragged her out of danger. Then she pulled a hypo from the kit, charging it full of bymexazine.
As she injected the stimulant into Williams' body, the ship slewed suddenly to port, then shuddered. Another explosion erupted, this time from above the Pit, and she heard a scream. The stench of burning flesh became almost overpowering.
“Report!”
“We’re dead in the water, Captain,” Dax said. “Main power is off line, we’ve lost helm control and weapons. But… I think we hit her, ma’am, with our last volley. She’s adrift.”
So are we. Kalara changed the settings on her viewfinder, revealing the Klingon cruiser spinning slowly through space behind them. She tapped her comm badge.
"Kalara to Lieutenant-Commander Ianto."
"Engineering here, Commander." She heard men yelling something about a fire behind him.
"I need main power back on line now, Ianto. We’re both drifting here, so the first one to get weapons or propulsion back on line is going to have the advantage."
"I'm doing everything I can, Commander."
"I know you are. Do more. Kalara out."
“Captain!” Dax’s voice rose over the sound of sirens that filled the bridge. “We’ve got incoming. Two, make that three ships arriving from the far side of the system on an intercept course. They’re…” He looked up, a grin on his face. “It’s Starfleet, ma’am.”
Kalara called up the information on her viewfinder. Three Starfleet attack ships, led by a Defiance-class frigate, were headed for Redemption at full impulse speed.
“They’re hailing us.”
“Put them through, Lieutenant.”
A tall, striking Romulan woman appeared in Kalara’s viewfinder. She smiled. “This is Captain Tal’ydia of the Opalius. Sorry to be late, Captain, but as the humans like to say, better late than never.”
“I’m just happy to see you, Captain.”
“Yes, I can imagine you are. The other Klingon ships have been taken care of. From what I can see, you’re both dead in space. It looks like you took quite a…”
“Captain!”
Kalara looked over at L’wynd. “The Klingon cruiser seems to have regained helm and thruster control. They’ve engaged their impulse drive and they’re… They’ve set a collision course.”
Shit! “Did you hear that Captain?”
Tal’ydia was already looking away to someone on her own bridge. When she looked back at Kalara, she did not look happy. “According to our best estimates, the Klingon ship will impact with yours fifteen seconds before we reach you.”
Kalara took a moment to digest the information. “I understand. Would you excuse me for a moment, Captain?”
The Romulan nodded her head. Kalara cut the communication and turned to Dax. “Hail K’mpak.”
Moments later, the scarred general appeared on the viewfinder. He snarled. “You betrayed me, kapamai.” Kalara frowned. Kapamai was an old Klingon word. It meant spy. Had the fool lost his mind? “But you wished me to destroy that glorious ship of yours and that is what I’m going to do.”
“K’mpak, listen to me…”
“No! I will not listen to a traitor.”
“He cut the communication,” Dax said as K’mpak vanished. “They’re increasing speed.”
“Kalara to Ianto. If you’re going to bring back full power, now is the time to do it.”
“I’m sorry, Commander. There’s nothing I can do.”
Kalara would not allow herself to give in to despair. She forced herself to her feet and walked over to Dax, Q’sar and L’wynd. “Suggestions?”
All three of them refused to meet her eyes. “Gentlemen, this is our last chance. Unless we can come up with something in the next few moments, this ship and everyone on board is going to die.”
Silence. She was about to make one last attempt, when she saw Dax frown at his readout. “What is it, Lieutenant?”
“We’re being hailed again, Captain. It… The person says he is Captain Ba’el Sarine and he knows how to save the ship!”
Hornet-Class Starfighter
On approach to USS Redemption
Ba’el made sure that his suit was pumping enough oxygen into his helmet before shutting down life-support, throwing all of the power he could into the impulse drive. “Repeat, this is Captain Ba’el Sarine,” he shouted into the comm system, “and if you want to save that god-damned ship you’d better listen to me.”
In front of him, he could see the Klingon cruiser moving closer and closer, faster and faster, towards Redemption. His sensors had already confirmed the obvious – the Federation ships that had just arrived wouldn’t get there in time.
“Captain Sarine, this is Commander Kalara.”
“Finally,” Ba’el shouted. “It’s about time.”
“Lieutenant Dax says you know how to save the ship.”
“You have to engage the slipstream drive.”
“What?!” A male voice cut in. Ba’el guessed it was Lieutenant Dax. “That’s insane.”
“Captain, forgive me, but you must be kidding.”
“I wish people would stop saying that. Listen, if you engage your slipstream drive, it will create a quantum singularity right in front of your bow. Directly…”
“In the path of the Klingon ship,” Lieutenant Dax finished. “Cap- I mean Commander, he might be on to something.”
“No,” he heard Kalara say. “It is too dangerous. Not only would we be destroying General K’mpak’s ship, we would likely be destroying the Redemption as well.”
“I know it’s a risk, Commander, but it’s the only chance you have. It might just buy you the time you need for the other ships to reach you.”
“Or it might create a singularity that would engulf this whole system. We have no idea how the slipstream aperture might react under these conditions and…”
“Listen, we don’t have time to argue,” Ba’el snapped. “I am Captain of the Redemption and I’m telling you to engage your slipstream drive.”
“No!” This Kalara woman was really starting to piss him off.
“Are you refusing a direct order, Commander?”
“I don’t recognise your authority to give it, Captain.”
Fine, if that’s the way you want to play this… “Lieutenant Dax, this is your captain speaking. I know we’ve never met, but I’m sure you’ve been informed that Starfleet has placed me in command of the Redemption. I am ordering you to engage the slipstream drive.”
“Captain, I…”
“Lieutenant, that is a direct order.”
Kalara spoke over him. “Lieutenant, I am in command of the Redemption until Captain Sarine has been confirmed as captain through due process. And I am ordering you not to engage the drive.”
And the Klingon ship drew closer.
Bridge
USS Redemption
Jasto stared at the oncoming Klingon ship and tried desperately to think of another way. Haebron had begun to scream in his head, relegating Captain Sarine and Commander Kalara’s words to distant background noise. The Klingon ship grew larger and larger in his viewfinder. He could just see Astrid Williams’ broken body out of the corner of his eye, like a ghost come to haunt him.
“Listen, we don’t have time to argue,” Captain Sarine was saying. “I am Captain of the Redemption and I’m telling you to engage your slipstream drive.”
Jasto reacted on instinct, pulling up the command control for the slipstream drive and prepared to activate it. His hand was about to press the activation command when Kalara grabbed his arm.
“No!”
“Are you refusing a direct order, Commander?”
Jasto turned his face and saw her sneer. “I don’t recognise your authority to give it, Captain.”
“Lieutenant Dax, this is your captain speaking. I know we’ve never met, but I’m sure you know that Starfleet has placed me in command of the Redemption. I am ordering you to engage the slipstream drive.”
Even with over a dozen lifetimes of experience, the memories of leaders, healers, rebels, killers and counsellors to draw upon, he had no idea what to do. “Captain, I…”
“Lieutenant, this is a direct order.”
“Lieutenant, I am in command of the Redemption until Captain Sarine has been confirmed as captain through due process. And I am ordering you not to engage the drive.”
Jasto stared at his readout, the sound of Captain Sarine and Commander Kalara’s arguing fading away. It all came down to a choice – his choice. He could let the Klingon ship kill them, or he could take a chance. In his mind’s eye, he was Ezri Dax as she activated the self-destruct and guided the USS Titan towards the Dominion Battlecruiser that had just obliterated Trill. He was Lerin as he allowed Doctor Caemin to remove the symbiont before strapping a bomb to his chest and walking into the Vorta High Command on Khitomer. He was Jadzia, and Curzon, and Haebron, and Karina and all of them. They all spoke to him through Dax, telling him what he had to do, what it took to be a Dax.
Shaking off Kalara’s grip, he activated the drive.
Hornet-class Starfighter
On approach to USS Redemption
“Do you hear me, Lieutenant, activate the damned drive!”
As Ba’el’s words faded, blue light appeared suddenly from the bottom of the ship. The deflector array manipulated the quantum field on the sub-atomic level and projected it out towards the oncoming Klingon cruiser. Ba’el watched the light pierce the space in front of the ship and then it began to spin. From his vantage point, it looked like a rapidly revolving ball of white light, growing exponentially as it opened out like a swirling flower. The light turned blue, then crystallised into the aperture of a tunnel through subspace.
The Klingon cruiser struck the aperture from behind. The gravitational forces seized it like a giant seizing a rattle, shaking and shattering it. Ba’el could only stare as the cruiser broke up into a thousand pieces. Ripped apart.
You did it. He felt hollow. Empty. You did it again.
Bridge
USS Redemption
Dax stared in horror as the subspace tunnel tore the Klingon cruiser apart. Although this was the ship that had destroyed Starbase 2, had inflicted so much damage and killed so many of his fellow officers, never mind all of the civilians who had been serving aboard the station, the way that they had died was not something he would wish on anybody.
Beside him, he saw Kalara move. He looked up at her as she lifted her hand to strike him. They both stared at one another, caught in that moment like insects in amber. Finally, her hand fell back down without making impact. The look in her eyes, though, was enough. The hatred and disgust he saw there was unlike anything he had seen even in fifteen lifetimes.
Suddenly, her comm badge beeped. “Ianto to Kalara.”
“What is it Ianto?”
“The slipstream drive is out of control, Commander. Without main power, the safeguards have failed. That aperture is going to keep on growing unless we do something.”
“Are you saying we have to eject the core?”
“No, Commander. I’m saying that without main power, we can’t. Unless we find another solution, that aperture is going to destroy the ship and then it’s going to engulf this entire system.”
Main Engineering
USS Redemption
Ianto waited for Kalara to say something. While he waited, his positronic matrix calculated the chances of survival. Within a couple of nano-seconds, he had the answer. It was not good. A good thing he had switched off his father’s emotion chip. Otherwise he would probably be absolutely terrified right about now.
All around him, the scars of the battle with the Klingons were strewn throughout the vast cavernous space. Pipes and wiring hung from the ceiling, great jagged holes had been blown through the bulkheads. Injured crewmembers cared for ones who were worse off, while those who were still able tried to hold the brand new ship together.
“Commander?”
“Wh- What can we do?”
He sighed. He had been hoping that she would come up with some miracle solution, worried that she was going to ask him for one. He had an idea, but she wasn’t going to like it. The easiest solution, he decided, was to simply not tell her.
“I’ll get back to you.”
“Ianto, wait…”
But he had already cut off the communication. She tried to hail him again, but he ignored it. He turned to the closest walking wounded, a young cadet whose brand new uniform was torn, his face covered in sweat and dust and the residue of the fires that had killed so many of his young colleagues. “Cadet, I want you to prepare to raise a level 9 forcefield around the slipstream core.”
“Sir… What are we going to do?”
“You’re going to raise a forcefield around the core.” Ianto laid a hand on the young man’s shoulder. He reminded him of Wesley Crusher. Even with his emotion chip turned off, experience had taught him the reassuring quality a smile could have. He smiled. “I’ll take care of the rest.”
His words seemed to comfort the cadet and he ran over to the nearest control station. Ianto waited for him to give him a thumbs-up, then he headed for the core.
Usually, the slipstream drive was a thing of beauty, an hourglass form with swirling shades of blue, green and purple mixing within the two chambers. Now, though, the colours had taken on a sickly orange tinge and the swirling had become a boiling, like a storm cloud.
Ianto turned back to the cadet. “Cadet, raise the forcefield.”
“But… But Chief, you’ll be trapped inside.”
Ianto smiled, again. He activated a soothing routine in his vocal sub-processors. “I know. Do what I say, cadet.”
The boy hesitated, then his fear got the better of him and he engaged the forcefield. Ianto saw the flickering glimmer of the defensive shield as it rose up around him. He knew that it would have no effect if he failed, but it would keep out anyone who wanted to stop him.
Ianto took a moment to look around the engine room. She was a good ship. Not as good as the Enterprise, but Redemption had had promise. He was only sad that he wouldn’t get to see her fulfill it.
“Computer, activate program Ianto Delta 7.”
He waited for the computer to confirm that the program had been successfully activated. At least now she wouldn’t be able to get in here to try and stop him. He wondered for a moment what the chances were that he would survive this. The calculation was almost instantaneous.
Then, at peace, he turned and reached out his hands towards the core.
Hornet-Class Starfighter
On approach to USS Redemption
Ba’el wanted to look away, but he couldn’t. The subspace aperture continued to grow. Filaments of pure quantic energy writhed across the vacuum of space, licking at the front section of Redemption like some spatial predator playing with its prey.
Looking down, he checked his sensors, but they only confirmed his fears. The aperture was getting bigger, feeding on the local gravitational field to stoke its hunger. If someone didn’t stop it, it would tear Redemption apart. It would continue to grow and it might just turn into a singularity. Ba’el had seen it happen once, in the last days of the Occupation. The Topakin system. A whole colony world had been destroyed by a subspace distortion explosive launched by the Dominion into the middle of a small rebel fleet. The whole system remained a no-fly zone even today, a patchwork of quantum singularities and subspace tears.
The memory crystallised his determination. For the second time that day, he realized that there was only one possible solution. He glanced at Redemption. Despite his best efforts, he had grown attached to the ship. She seemed to represent everything he had fought for. Even now, torn apart and broken, she was beautiful. He closed his eyes. He would have liked to command her. There, he had admitted it. He would have liked to sit in that captain’s chair.
Well, what is meant to be… He opened his eyes and called up a system’s check on his controls. The status of the warp core scrolled across his screens. Though pretty much everything else was down, the core still seemed to be intact. He took a deep breath. You don’t have a choice, he told himself. Ignoring the fear that clawed at his belly, he began to initiate the self-destruct sequence.
Almost immediately, his comm crackled. “Captain, what the hell are you doing?” Turner’s voice echoed in the cockpit.
He ignored her.
“Captain Sarine, our sensors are reading a build-up of energy in your warp core,” Lieutenant Dax’s voice replaced Turner’s. “Do you require assistance?”
He ignored him, as well.
Once the self-destruct sequence had been initialized, he checked his navigational sensors to see how long it would take him to reach the aperture under full impulse. Then he set the destruct sequence for 60 seconds.
“Captain, turn off your engines, now!” He saw Turner begin to swing her fighter towards him. “God help me, Captain, if you don’t, I’ll…”
He keyed on the intercom. “I just want to say thank you, Turner. Thank you for letting me make a difference.”
Ignoring her protests, he shut off the intercom, turned the nose of his fighter towards the aperture and engaged the impulse drive.
Jeffries Tube
Deck Twenty-One
USS Redemption
Kalara kicked out at the access panel again and again, pouring every ounce of anger and frustration into the metal screen. It crumpled outwards then burst from the hatch, tumbling to the metal floor below. She slid forward, clambering out of the hatch and stepping down into the corridor.
The smell of super-heated metal and burning wires filled the enclosed space. Lights flicked above her, hopelessly trying to break through the haze that hung in the air like a shroud. Kalara set off at a run, her heart racing. Though there hadn’t been anything tangible in Ianto’s voice to worry her, the moment he cut off her comm line, she had known something wasn’t right. When he refused to answer her further hails, she had left Lieutenant Dax in charge of the shattered bridge and taken the Jefferies’ tubes down to engineering.
Thoughts of Lieutenant Dax left her with a bitter taste in the mouth. The p’tagh had betrayed her, had disobeyed a direct order. And for what? The ship was going to be destroyed anyway. And all of those Klingons aboard K’mpak’s ship… They had died without honor. She wasn’t sure which thought made her feel sicker.
Her thoughts evaporated as she reached the doors to Main Engineering. One of them had been crumpled outwards by some unseen force, while the other had collapsed to the side. Setting her feet, she wedged her fingertips beneath the collapsed door and pulled. Pain stabbed through her every muscle, but she pushed past it. The door rose, little by little, until she could just about squeeze underneath. She forced her whole body through the gap, pushing forward with her shoulders until she popped through, tumbling to the floor of the engine room.
Scrambling to her feet, she looked around for Ianto. All eyes seemed trained on the slipstream drive. When she followed their gaze, she frowned. Energy flowed out of the drive in great flickering tongues of electricity. A shadow seemed caught in the middle of the flow. When she caught a glimpse of golden skin and a black uniform, she screamed.
“No!” She ran forward, but found herself grabbed from behind. She turned and kicked out blindly, catching a young human cadet in the mouth. He rolled away, his hands cupping the blood that burst from his lip and broken teeth.
He had slowed her down, though, long enough for three engineers to reach her. They fell on her and held her down as she struggled to fight free.
“Commander, you can’t go in there.”
“I have to do something. I can’t just leave him.”
“It’s too late. You’ll just get yourself killed.”
“But what’s he doing?”
“We think…” The man’s voice broke. “We think he’s created some kind of feedback loop with his own body, to relieve the pressure in the drive.”
“He’s going to die.”
“He… He’s locked us out of the forcefield controls. He knew what he was doing, Commander.”
All of the strength left her body. The three engineers held on for another few moments, then realized that she had stopped fighting them. They let go, stumbling to their feet, and for the first time, Kalara realized that every single one of them was carrying an injury.
“How… How long?” she asked.
One of the engineers, a Bolian, shrugged. “We have no way of knowing.”
“And will it work?”
He shrugged again. “If he hadn’t done it, the core would probably already have exploded.”
Kalara took a step towards the forcefield. All three jumped in front of her, but she waved them away. “I… I’ll stay a safe distance away. I need to speak to him.” She couldn’t believe how tired her voice sounded.
They hesitated, then one by one they fell back. Kalara stepped past them, approaching the forcefield.
She pressed her commbadge. “Kalara to… Kalara to Ianto.”
She saw his head drop. His voice, when she heard it, sounded faint. Damaged. For the first time since she had known him, he sounded like a machine. “Ianto… here.”
“Ianto. What have you done?”
“My duty, Commander.”
“Ianto please. Don’t call me that.”
“I’m sorry… Kalara.” His voice was devoid of any emotion. Mechanical. Dead.
“Why are you doing this?”
“It was… the only way.”
Another burst of energy ran through him and she saw his body convulse. “Are you… Are you in pain?”
“No, Kalara. I have turned off my father’s emotion chip. I feel nothing.”
“Oh Ianto. We could have found another way.”
“There was no other way.”
“But surely…”
“I… I cannot hold it much longer.”
“No, Ianto, please, you have to…”
“Do not mourn for me, Kalara. This was meant to be.”
She opened her mouth to say something, anything, but a burst of light engulfed the space inside the forcefield. She tried to watch for as long as she could, but the light was too bright. She turned away, tears of fury running down her cheeks.
When she looked back, her friend was gone.
Kalara, daughter of Elyra, threw back her head and screamed.
Hornet-class Starfighter
30 seconds from impact
Time seemed to pass slowly as his fighter sped towards the subspace tunnel. Ba’el had been told that when people saw death approaching, they saw their whole life flash before their eyes. Ba’el saw only his wife and his son. Not a vision of their life together or what their life could have been. Instead, he simply saw their faces reflected in the cockpit window, as if it had become a viewscreen back in time. Both of them were smiling.
For the first time in years, Ba’el was at peace. He could feel that this was supposed to happen. Every decision he had made in the past few days had been leading him up this. He would sacrifice his life to save that ship, so that she and her crew would go on and complete the mission. A mission of restoration and of redemption. And he… He would see his family again. He had never been more certain of anything. This was his time and they were waiting for him.
His fighter struck the aperture and the warp core overloaded and Ba’el Sarine was filled with light.