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After some argument Sisko persuaded Kurt Seitz to meet him on a closed circuit: scrambled, no listeners. In the macro-C-Gate chief's expression, suspicion was clearly evident. "Let you probe our files here? Why the hell should I do that?"
"To help me fight a power conspiracy." How big, ben hesitated to say. "And if you won't let me try to root out the agents for you, I'll have to assume that you're one of them."
"I'll get back with you."
But he didn't, and when Sisko tried again, someone he hadn't seen before said that Seitz was down with the flu. "So we're posting quarantine." Translation: stay the hell out!"332Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdCJsi5aWWH
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The two mining ships weren't going anywhere; their drift moved them out and back from the macro-C-Gate, but slowly. Not long after Sisko's rebuff, two suited figures emerged from the macro; trailing a lifeline they used reaction pistols to move toward the ships. At less than halfway the line ran out; a bit farther in free flight, so did the hand jets. One of the suits, though, was on course for the nearer ship.
“I can’t have that,” said Alfred Nightgazer. “He gets in, picks up his buddy, they can potshoot us from beyond our range.”
“Right.” Sisko barked out some orders.332Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVwZ4QMf9Kj
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"You have the most suit experience,” J.M. told Talia, so now the young woman rode outside the DM, relying on stirrups and safety harness as she wielded the long cutters tethered to her tool belt. Nyota maneuvered the Module near the macro’s open airlock, a protective shield for Talia as she cut the slack, trailing lifeline. After securing its length to a hull fitting at her feet, again she grasped handholds for extra purchase.
“Got it,” she reported, breaking comm silence for the first time. “Let’s go after them.” For her next step, she already had instructions. “You two out there! Throw out everything you’re carrying outside your suits.” Protest. “Because I can’t tell from here what’s a weapon and what’s not.” No compliance. “I can wait.” One of them was closing in on a ship, but Nyota could just nudge him away if she had to.
Suddenly both suits began shedding minor objects, tossing them free. And a shout came. “We have to give up; we can’t help ourselves.” Why did the man sound so desperate? “We did the best we could, but we’re not armed, our j et guns ran out….”
Then another voice: “They could turn their drive on us or run us down and ram; maybe they’ve got weapons, too. We can’t help it, we’d run out of air soon; we just have to!”
Quickly, it seemed, yet so smoothly that Talia felt no sudden jerk or tug, the DM overtook and passed the floating men, then slowed and yawed, to let the towed line’s inertia belly it forward and give it a sidewise flip. One man caught it cleanly; for the other, Nyota had to give the DM a further twitch.
Then both were climbing hand over hand towards Talia. And near as she could tell, neither had any weapon. She herself unsheathed a ten-inch blade with razor edges and a needle point. The nearest man gestured no fight; she saw his lips move, and heard, “They’re demanding we cut comm. She has this knife; these suits won’t stand up. I’m sorry; Bucket out.” One and then the other, the subliminal hiss of their carrier waves died.
The man spread his hands, then beckoned; when she nodded, he pulled himself closer, touched his faceplate and pointed to hers, held a forefinger up to the plate in the “shhh!” sign. So, she cut her own voice transmission and touched faceplates with him. The contact would conduct sound, but nobody could overhear.
“Look: they sent us to get inside a ship and bring it back. There’s only nine of those bastards but they have guns and took over. We must do what they say, my wife’s on there, and my buddy’s freemate. Hostages, like.” Talia knew about hostages; even so, she decided it was safe to put the knife away.
The second man made faceplate contact. “You know something? You really put us in a s hit fix, barring us from that ship. Our people could get killed because we didn’t make it.” Talia heard him take a deep breath. “So are you going to help us?”
“The captain decides that. Right now, you’d better hang on.”332Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡo3A1Z44wmk
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The lifeline provided an easy route for Talia to bring the two men into Arrowprize via a fin airlock where Hikaru Sulu took them in charge, and that's how she escorted Jacqueline and Skip back to the Module before loosing the tie. So for the first time, Jacqueline experienced open space. Not long enough to get much feel of it; she entered the DM's rear lock as Nyota emerged to join Talia and Skip outside. All according to Ben's orders, and so far, so good.332Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRa00Rh3qSe
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Handhauling herself along the tunnel Jacqueline reached the bridge. The pilot seat was vacant, so she strapped into it and turned to J.M., sitting alongside with the with faceplate opened. Right! They had comm with those outside via the consoles. Jacqueline opened her own suit; no point in taxing the air supply. “Okay. What first?” J.M. told her.
She eased out to the nearer ship and achieved a state of near rest wit respect to it while Talia and Nyota swung out on the line and reached the open airlock. Alongside it Jacqueline saw a namepatch; their prize, it seemed, was called Clementine. Nyota went inside; Talia pulled herself back to the Module. There was a wait until Nyota called. “Air’s good in here; fuel and water supplies look all right. After you’ve moved clear I’ll play with the thrusters a little bit; when I have the feel of them I can bring this can home.”
“It’s all yours,” said J.M. And to Jacqueline. “Now, the other one.”
A little more jockeying this time; the airlock was on the far side and needed some finding. It’s patch read Gold Rush. Both Talia and Skip went in; he knew more about intermediate-sized ships and could give advice if needed. But J.M. made it clear that she wanted Talia at the controls.
It was a long wait, while the two mining ships were brought in. Not until Nightgazer at one of Arrowprize’s fin airlocks and Ben at another had each craft secured by mooring lines, riding a bit outward and behind the bigger ship to maintain light tension on those leashes, did Jacqueline dock the DM. By now it was simple.332Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmZtWfzwzJF
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Ben looked at the timepiece. He’d juked the speed of its hands several times, all the way from rapid spin using one button to near stoppage with the other; now, back to normal, it seemed to run okay. “All right,” he told Nightgazer. “Our limits are about 20 to 1, either way, at 6 feet. Question is, which mode gets us the best results, in the clutch."
He hefted his jury-rigged device, the stripped-down guts of a DM trim thruster unit with a crude stock welded on. "It's like toting a jackhammer," he complained. "Plus, there's the backpack power supply." Wearing a suit, this wasn't going to be an easy weapon to handle. Within any distance you'd find indoors, even on a macro-C-Gate, he could jigger anyone's time rate pretty much. Still, though, "Fast or slow; to flummox the opposition, make 'em ineffective, which is best?"
For the past 20 minutes Hikaru Sulu had been observing; now he spoke. "Why not a little of both? As an opposition, I mean. Put a chopper circuit on a third firing button; say, 1 second stretch, ten seconds speedup. The guy will feel it just the other way." He laughed. "Drive him nuts."
Sisko looked to Nightgazer; Nightgazer nodded. "Let's do it."332Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOMCtDY3UYj
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The battle of the macro-C-Gate, Ben thought later, had to be unlike any in all of history. It began in standard enough fashion. Ahoy, open up! See you in hell first! I'll huff and I'll puff and I'll blow your air out with my laser here. Something like that. First Ben from Clementine, and when those inside presumably gathered to defend that point, J.M. in Gold Rush at the ring's opposite side. Just to keep the situation fluid. And the threat to breach the hull itself short-circuited any move to fill the airlocks with hostages. "We can't let them hold the C-Gate," Sisko said, "and they may as well know from the get-go. It should give them pause, a little."
Even if only 9 aboard the macro-C-Gate were active cabalists, Arrowprize didn't have the troops to match them. Going in suited with Ben was Alfred Nightgazer, leaving Nyota at Clementine's control. J.M. and Marlena were to stay on Gold Rush with Talia; Hikaru Sulu and Bruno Eustace made up her boarding party. Others, notably Beverly Crusher and Odessa Vangelos, had protested being left out. The operating criteria, though, were as Ben said: "We've only got four time jukers and their too damn heavy." It wasn't as if Arrowprize carried anything like conventional handguns.
While the C-Gaters scrambled to save their hull by unsealing the 2 threatened airlocks, both suited teams unreeled lifelines, triggered their reaction pistols, and moved in. At the entrance hatch, feeling several kinds of brand-new phobias but keeping his breathing steady, Ben secured the line's end. He and Nightgazer entered the lock.
"Now we'll let 'em wait, some," Ben said, and brought his device near the hull alongside the hatch. He didn't put it in contact; when Gregg Popovich did that, she affected an entire structure, and h e didn't figure his gadget for sufficient power to manage that trick. Holding it steady, he gave any nearby protectors an estimated hour's delay. They wouldn't be able to communicate with anyone elsewhere in the C-Gate; the time rates were too far out of whack. If anyone tried to leave the area he'd get a few yards away and apparently, in the view of those remaining, slow down and almost freeze in place. Sisko doubted that anyone would, though; from inside the area of timespeed, all lights outside it would seem to fade and possibly die.
"They should be softened up by now." Ben turned his juker off and opened the inner hatch---to face a bigger crowd than he really needed. He lunged to one side, clearing Ben's field of fire, and fumbled for his 2nd firing button.
Many facing him weren't armed. A number of those dropped to the floor; taking themselves out of play, he decided. A few did have weapons; that quintet looked every bit as spooked as the rest, but guns came swinging up to point at him. But then he found the slowdown button and it gave him time to duck.
When the guns were empty he went to mode three. After a minute or so of their personal time rates jumping and stalling wholly out of control, the five remaining actives were still disoriented when he and Alfred cut the fields; awkward and bruising though the brawl became, it wasn’t long before five wrists were taped, sloppily but effectively, to their respective owners’ opposite ankles. Behind them, of course. “Easiest hog-tie there is,” Al had said, and he was right!
“You okay, Alfred?” As his ally nodded, Sisko ignored the hesitant-seeming neutrals. “Right. Take cover there and keep a watch on the approaches while I check in.”
Back in the airlock, inner hatch sealed and outer one open, he called Nyota and reported. “How’s the far side?”
“No word yet. I’ll ask J.M. again.” Ben waited and eventually Nyota said, “Nick and Hikaru had a little trouble, armed goons hiding behind conscripts.”
“Same here, sort of. Not much of a problem, though.”
“No. They got that part under wraps. The thing now, the boss raider got away. It’s that Joe Thomas, the foxy, snooty one. He’s holed up in the power center and calling all points inside, says he’ll blow the whole place unless we give up. You didn’t hear him making demands?”
“Must’ve missed our segment here. What’s J.M.’s idea?”
“What to do? Not much, yet. Hikaru’s on the box to Thomas, stalling, saying nobody’s been able to contact you.”
“Tell him they still haven’t.”
“What’re you going to do?”
What, indeed? But maybe… “Where is that power setup from here? Do you know?”
“Talia would. I’ll patch you through.”
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Done talking, he recycled in to brief Alfred. “…. from compartment C-7 you’ll have to go through the bulkhead, so find yourself a torch. Don’t start cutting until I say; I’ll route through Nyota to J.M. to whoever’s on the intercom at the far airlock. And when you get in there, just jump hard and hang on.”
He looked around. “Did you have any trouble with these?” Then he recognized Cassie Mills, now holding a gun and grinned. “I guess not. Hi, Cassie.”
Back outside he called Nyota, then freed the slackened lifeline and took two turns around 1 arm. "Okay, see if you can ease me real slowly along here. It's about 60 degrees; 400 feet, call it." And added, in case she was curious, "I want to save the kick pistol for fine-tune maneuver."
After longer than he liked, though he realized it did give Alfred more time to get into position, Sisko reached the hull section Talia had cited. Cinching the line around somewhat, he called for some slack and pistoled across the width of a hull plate, where he took another bight. Between those points, just inside the hull, lay the main power board and the controller's console. And where else was Joe Thomas likely to be?
Holding the face of the time juker a careful inch away from contact with the hull, Ben hit the freeze button. "Sisko to Nightgazer, all relay points. Go get the sonofabitch!"332Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡX2GZYXMdli
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Considering all the assumptions they'd had to make, ben said, the attempt succeeded beautifully. "But what happened," Jacqueline wanted to know, "when Alfred went in there?"
She always like the way Alfred smiled. He said, "Ben told me just jump in and grab. Well, when I charged into the field it didn't feel any different. I got to him and held on. Other people coming into the room seemed very fast, but then Ben got the word and cut the field, and things went back to normal." He laughed. "If that's what you call this..." Maybe, she thought, he was referring to having brought back 3 of the guns at Ben's request, with matching holsters. Up 'til now, Arrowprize had gotten along just fine without such things.
Still, the outcome was truly great, and Jacqueline was pleased. Except, why did she have to miss all the interesting parts?332Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGnp8iVgFc0
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Sisko had not gone back into the macro. Nightgazer oversaw the release of Joe Thomas from house arrest---and, he reported later, satisfied himself that if Seitz wasn't up to coping with nine prisoners, Cassie Mills was.
Disposition of the nine hadn't yet been determined; that was just one of several things Ben wanted to talk about. And not just with Thomas but with Celia Alves as well. Of the 3, only she lived a true day and night situation, so Sisko got some sleep during the colony's night. Then, after a good breakfast, he and Marlena went to control where he set up a three-way call.
When he had the macro chief and colony administrator splitscreened at his console, Ben wasted little time on preliminaries. "All right; the C-Gate's clear of Horton's agents and so is the colony. Yes, Ms. Alves, I know there' still a few out in the bush down there and they might be alerted. But I trust you're on watch for them, and your major base is clean.,"
He paused. "Now it is. But new personnel are apt to Gate in at any time. You both need a way to screen them. It happens they have a password system to identify themselves to each other. My thought is, could work just as well for our side."
Right; the arriving cabal agent would expect to be validated by giving the proper countersign to a password. Instead, "you'll use it to finger them, put 'em on ice."
It was a bit more complicated; the words changed, with each contingent bringing the shibboleth applying to the next. But from Lester they had the current applicable words and phrases. "So what you do is...."332Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡg4ZdaSd8oq
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Ironically, Sisko himself first had occasion to use the procedures he'd devised. Just to play it safe, though, he had Talia and Nick hook in an alarm circuit to blink and beep at the pilot's console if anything or anyone outgated from Earth. Less than a day later----right after the small impromptu party when Jacqueline's 15th birthday, bio, had been remembered at the last minute---the precaution paid off. Taking Nyota and Hikaru with him and all three armed, he went hotfoot to Earth-C-Gate and found 4 newcomers looking all the world like scouts for a point squad. Alongside the Ass sat an inordinate amount of luggage.
Assuming the best stupid smile he could manage, Ben said, "Welcome to Arrowprize," introduced himself, shook hands all around, and turned to the apparent leader. "Well, let's do the routine. You'll check any weapons with my provost here," indicating Hikaru, "until we've had our individual interviews."
Dante Jenkins, the man being addressed, didn't seem to know the routine, probably because it was entirely Ben's own invention. But outflanked by a trio with highly visible armament, he learned fast. In the supply room next to control, with Nyota for backup, Ben tried out the password. "Today's task...."
"...brings tomorrow's reward," Jenkins responded.
"Good, good." Another handshake. "What's for next time?"
The man cleared his throat. "You say 'The wise.' The other party should answer 'will follow' instead, they're unreliables, sent here for disposal."
"Seems the hard way. My aide here will escort you to quarters; you will stay there until I've cleared all four of you, one way or the other. Place him next door to Ms. Lester from Clementine, Uhura; I'll meet you back at Earthass."
One down, 3 to go. Phil Washington recognized no password; he was put with the two men Talia had brought in: not prisoners, exactly, but stashed out of the way. Porfirio Alexander snapped out the countersign, then got hostile when nobody showed interest in returning his gun; Ben frog-marched him to the room beside Crusher's, using a hammerlock secured by a rather painful split-finger's hold. So it was a relief when Francisca Farley frowned at hearing "Today's task...." repeated twice, and said, "How would I know? I just got here; haven't even seen the duty roster yet."332Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGyu165rmQv
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Seitz reported relatively similar results with a cadre of seven that outgated to the macro, and asked, "What are you doing with the agents you uncover? C-Gating them back directly?"
"Not yet. You and Alves did that with the first batches, but maybe we need to reconsider. She thinks maybe some of them can be straightened out, and God knows she could use a few extra grunts. So I'm sending my own catches groundside; if you like, we could take yours along." Well, yes, why not?
So when Ceila called next, and Ben wasn’t sure how they’d gotten to a first name basis, he said, “We have two from her and four from the macro, definitely Horton’s ammo. Are you set up to handle the ones who turn out hostiles?
She was, she said, and by her own count there were no more than ten or twelve hideouts still on the loose. Since by now her colony roster listed over twelve hundred, Sisko’s native skepticism discounted her assurances. But considering the odds against serious invasion by so few, he authorized groundside delivery of all doubtful by the next day.
It was time Tennessee began earning its keep.332Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrJBg63MSg2
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The ride down from twenty thousand was as spectacular as Jacqueline had hoped. Even though Nyota in the co-pilot seat told Skip to keep it smooth, he still cowboyed some; maybe he just couldn't help it. Nobody fussed; obviously Hikaru and Talia and Nightgazer, in passenger seats, were enjoying the trip.
For the prisoners, 15 in all, down in an empty hold, things might be considerably less comfortable. Nobody topside seemed especially worried about that possibility.
The man Alexander had balked when he saw the hold. "They're gonna lock us up and let our air out, is what."
Ty Garrison sneered. His rusty red hair, prominent cheekbones and long lean jaw, with greenish eyes generally kept narrowed, all gave Garrison a foxish air. Jacqueline remembered him from before, when the C-Gate crew was on Arrowprize. And hadn't like his looks then, either. "Don't be stupid," he said now. "If they wanted to space us, why go to all this trouble?" So Alexander shut up and went in with the rest.
Below, surface features expanded rapidly; from where she was, Jacqueline couldn't read the drop rate, but it made her own descents look like a walk in the park. Rather than slowing down gradually, Skip waited longer than Nyota's expression approved and then hit the drive all at once; G-force went to nearly three standards for long seconds before he eased back and came almost to rest, hovering about 50 feet above the ground.
Empty crates cluttered up the landing area; now the drive's blast began to tumble them. "Let's give it a good cleaning," said Skip, nudging a yaw thruster. As Tennessee tilted, it moved slowly across the area and indeed swept it clean. "this is what we call walking the dog," he said, grinning. "It comes in handy if part of your cargo's waiting on the wrong side of the port." Tilting the other way, he brought the vessel back to the clearing's middle and landed with barely even a jar.
Then it was time to unload, and go look around some.332Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡc9Lfwnw0bC
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Hikaru and Nightgazer temporarily joined the waiting security team, helping guard the prisoners to wherever they were being taken. Talia stayed aboard to maintain comm--both men carried talksets, as did Noyta Uhura---while Jacqueline and Skip went along with Nyota. The 3rd officer was delivering a prototype lightweight time juker to Celia Alves, along with apparatus drawings and a dozen sets of circuit parts, spares from the macro-C-Gate. "Show 'em one," Ben had said. "They can build the rest themselves." Thus saving Arrowprize's people a lot of work.
The new device was a joint effort. Alfred had first pointed out that since the maladjusted drive unit didn't have to push at space anyway, why all the heavy bracing? Use these circuits, and these, and you'll need that one, too; put them in a new housing, light metal with all excess bulk removed, better shaped for hand-held use. Nick Leger designed and fabricated the new chassis; Talia Winters laid in the wiring. At a third the weight of the original model, even with a miniature power pack built in, the Mark II juker worked just great. It looked something like a shoulder-held, short-barreled flare gun.
Silva was absent from her office; a secretary gave directions to the lady's residence and put the boxes of parts and drawings into a storage room; Nyota retained the prototype. Beyond then, the dirt path and heavy, vaguely scented air had for Jacqueline the feel of an outing, a vacation from the daily routine.
The administrator's house lay on the outskirts, near the edge of woods, about 300 yards from the hodgepodge-built Admin building. Celia Alves opened the door "The office called; I've been expecting you. Come in."
She led them into a sparsely decorated living room and offered tea. As they drank it, Uhura explained the time juke and told of the parts and drawings left at Admin. "Your people should be able to take it from there."
Before Alves could answer, bullets shattered the window beside her. As Nyota Uhura yelped and sprawled to the floor, a voice shouted, "Come out! We've got you surrounded!"332Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXwhE5iYRtk
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Skip Pennyfield made a dive for the juker, but without even thinking., Jacqueline had picked it up. She gave the pounding on the front door a dose of freeze as she crawled to it, then reached up and threw the bolt. "Is there any place safe here?" No answer; half dazed, Jacqueline moved back to see about Nyota.
Gripping her left thigh where blood seeped out but at least wasn't spurting, Uhura gasped words into her comm set. "We're under attack, Talia. At Alves's quarters. I can't raise Nightgazer yet; see if you can reach him or Hikaru. Uhura out."
"You didn't tell her you're hurt!"
"I want Alfred fighting mad, not worried sick. Besides, nothing's broken, Jack; it just knocked me down. Hasn't started to hurt, yet. I could walk, I think."
"To where?" Skip griped. Then, "Jacqueline, don't you want me to take over that thing?"
Their one main weapon, he meant. "I can handle it."
"I don't want you getting hurt!"
"Come on! They're shooting blind, out there. Holding this or not can't make any difference."
"All right. I'll see if I can help Nyota any."
Good. But Jacqueline still needed some answers. "Ms. Alves! Is there someplace up here they can't get at us?"
"Upstairs. You could pick off anyone who tried coming up."
Jacqueline was not about to object: people can shoot up through ceilings, easy as not. But another crash interrupted, and a flaming oil-soaked bundle skidded across the floor.
Heedless of burns, Skip grabbed the flaming thing and made a shovel pass through the empty window frame. Outside, someone was shouting orders. Scuttling to the room corner nearest the sound, Jacqueline held down the juker's third button and heard that voice alternate between chipmunk and blue whale. But other fiery missiles arched towards the house, and one landed in the room alongside; turning the device off again she yelled to Pennyfield, "Stop! You can't get 'em all; you'll only get yourself hurt."
From somewhere outside, for several seconds the roar of a wideband soundblaster shook the building. Then it faded, not turned off but pointed elsewhere. Across the room more flames erupted. Jacqueline yelled, "Celia! Forget upstairs! What else is there?"
On hands and knees now, Alves looked shaken. "Back along that hall. Bedroom closet, trapdoor. Crawlspace!"
It was, Jacqueline decided as she and Skip helped Nyota down through the opening, more crawl than space. Before carefully repositioning the ceramic-surfaced piece of flooring from below, Alves laid a few shoes on it, then draped a robe across one end. The random-seeming clutter wouldn't exactly hide the segment, but didn't leave it conspicuously clear, either.
Shining her belt-hung handlamp around the space below, only a foot and a half high at best, Jacqueline saw it was limited to the house's downhill corner; the rest of the building's floor slab rested on firm soil. From the corner the gap extended only a few feet before soil rose abruptly to meet the slab above.
The place didn't smell very good, either; dank, stale and musty. "We need more air," Jacqueline said. "Someone find a vent."
"I'm afraid the foundation walls are solid." Celia's voice. "We'll have to put up with the discomfort."
Discomfort? Try suffocation! From above, Jacqueline heard the crackling roar of fire out of control. "Nyota?"
"I know." Into her comm set Nyota spoke. "Talia, we're underneath the house and they're burning it down. Tell Alfred to get her fast. Trapdoor's at the northeast corner."
Fast might not be good enough; already the air was turning foul. Jacqueline stopped listening; pointing her light around, she saw her companions were pretty well bunched. "Please! Everybody stay put!" Scrabbling to the far end of the crawlspace she laid the juker down facing the group, then braced herself; timing was going to be tricky.
Crouched beside the device she set the freeze button, then thrust with both legs against the dirt bank, to slid herself into its rainbow field alongside the rest.332Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡy62ccG20tp
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When Talia finally raised Alfred, he wasn't loaded with good news. "They came busting out of the woods and broke the prisoners free; we dropped a few, before Kurt Seitz's soundblaster scattered the attack, but there's nearly two dozen on the loose. And all armed now. I see the fire but we can't get to it; they've got us pinned down, out of soundblaster range. Hikaru's going to be okay, though." Which was the first Talia knew that he might not be.332Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnHrKohDWur
Onscreen Ben Sisko jittered, obviously wanting to give an answer he didn't have. Several times he'd started to speak and then by main force shut himself up. Now he said, "Just sit tight, Talia. Keep us in touch; that's all you can do. I wish there was something more, but there's not."
But she'd stopped listening; the side screen showed Celia Alves's house a blazing torch. They're under that, and heat conducts down as well as up. A sudden thought made her reach for the controls. "Anything Skip Pennyfield can do....!"
As Tennessee lifted, wobbling, and began to tilt, she had no attention to spare for Ben's startled protests.332Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0BuqgGLEP2
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To Jacqueline it was about 2 minutes until the trapdoor raised and Alfred Nightgazer came bulleting down, then slowed to her time rate. "You okay?" Topside, peering from the opening, others chittered unintelligibly and moved with lightning jerks.
Below, everybody talked at once; then Jacqueline pointed. "Crawl over and turn that off, would you? You're closest."
Nightgazer blinked, then complied, and the people above slowed to normal. Well, vice versa, really, Jacqueline knew. "Thanks."
They climbed out. The house was gone, nothing but truncated wall stubs and charred floor. Several other buildings, on a line towards where they landed, looked more or less stomped. A few yards to the far side sat Tennessee, tilted precariously with one leg on the flattened remains of what had been someone's house. Jacqueline could guess what happened....but not how, or maybe who. Skip asked, "Did the raiders get away?"
"Some." A local security officer answered. "Some didn't run soon enough; your shuttle's drive blast got 'em. Most of the rest we've caught. The hunt's still going on."
A medic aide looked up from her work on Nyota's thigh. "2 patches and a shot, that's all it takes. This is going to be very sore for a while, but no permanent damage." And for now, Uhura seemed content to ride a stretcher. Skip Pennyfield had more than a few blisters but just one bad burn, on the underside of his left wrist where a burning fragment had clung. Bandages and burn ointment soothed tension lines from his face; the usual grin, though, didn't quite make it yet.
Alves said, "I must go to my H.Q.; if I can aid you in any way, please ask. And thank you for your help." With a security trio in attendance, she walked quickly away.
Well, then. Jacqueline headed for Tennessee; if Talia was all alone on that bucket, Jacqueline probably wanted to hear her story.
Skip Pennyfield followed. At the ladder Jacqueline paused to help hum, left hand awkward in its wrappings though thumb and fingers were mostly free. "That was really something you did there," she said. "Doesn't fire scare you?"
No grin now; Skip looked embarrassed. "Sure it does. Look; any way I say this it's going to sound gootzy---but the truth is, when that stuff came flying I was scared shitless. For you!"
Which left Jacqueline no answer at all. She settled for patting his shoulder and they went on up.332Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrgPafJYVmf
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Anyone else took the DM down that way, Sisko would have relieved him from duty with total prejudice. One Talia cut comm on him, though, Ben got to it fast and popped loose faster, then pushed every redline in the total procedure. He still had a lot of time to sweat before he landed, which was no sure bet until the final second when he didn't crash.
He'd known all along that he couldn't get away in time to do any real good, but he had to come anyway. Now in Celia Alves's office he tried to put everyone's stories together, to understand what happened.
After a time he thought he had it straight. Trapped in the crawlspace, Jacqueline used juker freeze to stretch their air supply and retard conduction of heat from the fire above. Then Talia walked Tennessee across the blaze, blowing it away. And incidentally killing several marauders while scattering the rest.
Winters hadn't foreseen that possibility and was taking it hard. She maintained surface composure now, but tear stains on her cheeks betrayed her true feelings.
Words couldn't express Ben's; with Jacqueline at one side and Talia at the other, he hugged both.
"From there," Alfred said, "the security people took over. And Kurt here. If it hadn't been for that soundblaster of his----Incidentally, he's got an idea of how the break was set up."
Seitz had been to the wars, all right, but he looked cheerful. "After Celia nailed most of the gang down here, it looks as if Garrison still had comm with the ones out in the bush. Including, dammit, 2 in my own crew! Up on the macro-C-Gate, when you had him cornered, he must have played both ways: that if he didn't blow the C-Gate, he and his people just might be brought groundside, so what for it and be ready."
He shrugged. "I'm afraid they surely were."
"Where's Garrison, by the way?" Ben asked.
Hikaru Sulu, one cheek bandaged and right arm in a sling to protect a broken collarbone, hacked out a brief laugh. "In a cell. I broke his jaw for him. Southpaw." So not even a fracture had stopped this tough little man.
Losses hadn't been totally 1-sided; Celia's forces had suffered 15 casualties including seven deaths. But of the 29-known enemy---including three previously unsuspected sleepers among the field contingent----12 had died, and 13 more, some hurt, some not, were captured. "Those other four," she said, "now that they are known and we're in direct pursuit....it won't take long. So now..."
Her deskcomm sounded. "Hmmmm; a direct channel." She flipped a switch. "It is CV-1, captain. Perhaps...."
He came around the desk in time to see the screen light. On it, J.M. appeared, and recognized him also. "I was just going to call you," he said. "We're all pretty much all right, and...."
Her face, not her words, showed relief. "You need to get up here. Everybody. We can talk along the way." She held up a readout sheet. "This came at Earthass. We're ordered home!"332Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpOBjiYRVxJ
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How could there be such a hurry with double C-Gatelag involved. Jacqueline had no idea.
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But Ben was doing things fast. He had skeleton crews ferried over from the macro to take charge of Clementine and Gold Rush, telling Kurt Seitz, “Use them to stand guard. If something hostile outgates, their lasers and torpedoes should command the situation.”
Those ships’ drives couldn’t be altered for time juking; neither could Tennessee’s. “All thNoe units are hardwired and sealed,” Alfred Nightgazer reported, catching the Siskos on a lounge break. “Field phase adjustments are automatic and held within tight limits. According to the modification dates on the specs, nothing since Nomad has our kind of haywiring ability.”
Ben nodded. Feeling glad, Jacqueline supposed, that Arrowprize’s own phase-changing abilities could now be switched at control. "Tennessee, though," he said. "Groundside and the macro have no other link; we'll have to leave them that ship. Well, there's an extra pilot in the group we brought over for Clementine."
At the intercom he paged Skip Pennyfield; when the youngster arrived, Ben told him the news. "So if you have any gear aboard there, now's the time to move it."
Skip shook his head. "No. It's what I have on here. I can't go back without that ship, so I guess I'll be staying with it."
Watching him leave, Jacqueline felt betrayed. She'd thought her mind was firmly made up, but that was before he'd taken such chances at the Alves place, and his words later. She knew guys could say all kinds of things when they wanted something, but if there'd been any calculation in him then, she sure as hell hadn't sensed it. So maybe her decision wasn't as solid as she'd thought. And now he was taking away any chance to change it!
She stood. "Pardon me," and headed for the galley. Hikaru was cooking; as she'd hoped, he was really busy. "I don't suppose I could pick up some pain caps for Skip?"
"Well, that depends. Does he need them right away?"
"Um...." Then: "What's the compartment number? I could get them." So he gave her the med storage key. At her quarters terminal she brought up medical files, found the category, and item she wanted, read the directions twice, and noted its compartment location.
In the storage room she remembered the pain caps, too.332Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIJB6ofBUod
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Twice she knocked, before he opened the door. "I changed my mind."332Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJ9fEsJpQWr
"What?!"
"You said if I did, the offer was still open."
She had to assure him that lacking an implant she did have morning after pills.
She'd thought she was ready, yet at the last moment panic hit: looming memories of Arthur, and of Osric Burcham. Then Skip touched her, the bandages not getting in the way much after all, and his unique smile banished those ghosts as if they'd never been. "Yes," she said, and she was right.
It lasted quite a lot longer than grapevine hints had indicated and was considerably better than she really expected. Not so good as she'd secretly hoped, maybe, but what could be? She would have stayed longer, when he asked---she wanted to---bur right now she needed to be alone and sort out her feelings.
He'd been nice about everything, though, very nice, and she made no bones about telling him so.
And then, saying goodbye, "I'll leave word with Bolt Park, where we go next. If you ever catch up with us, I'd like that."
"So would I. I'm not staying because I want to leave you."
Kissing got better with practice, but she did have to go.332Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFtIFkYPKfc
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And now it's done. 74 years, roughly, since Bolt Park. Most of it at 25 to 1, but it's still there. 332Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0FvxGrXolQ
Odds against us were like drawing a straight flush, but we hit anyway; how 'bout them apples? And tore out this end of a nasty weed, to boot!
So now what's back there for us? Besides our paychecks?"
Pointing Arrowprize toward the macro-C-Gate, Sisko gave his drive a nudge and waited to see the colors explode.
