Halfway around the planet, Hann emerged from the gateway, saying, "Commander, we've reached the cavern on the other side. We encountered none of the defense systems that Ghanash mentioned."
"They're actually in the tunnels leading out from the cavern," the Odonan said.
"Nevertheless, lieutenant, is it safe to let the people proceed, and wait in the cavern?"
"I believe so, sir."
"Were you able to contact the Athena in there?"
"Negative," Hann replied. "The sensor blocking fields are still in place."
"Very well." Rocha's words were drowned out by a roaring sound that reached almost ear-splitting levels. Rocha pushed his way through the crowds, to step outside and look up. Just as he did, another aircraft roared by. They were black, with a long, narrow cockpit and at the rear, a vaguely delta-wing-like structure on which were mounted oversized engine pods.
"What is it?" asked Hann, standing beside the chief.
"Salosian attack craft."
"Are we in danger?"
"I don't know, but remember, we have those Doran prisoners we captured. For now, I think the Salosians aren't going to attack us. Lets keep this evacuation going."
* * *
The long vehicle, packed with an alien race that Matsubara had not seen before, came to a stop. These aliens were tall and bulky, although some of that was due to their uniforms and armour. Their hair, a patch on the back of the head allowed to grow long and then braided, was rather distinctive, as was the stiff tuffs of hair on their cheeks. "Oh damn," Matsubara remarked. "Lets go, lets go!" The Dorans with her, along with the scattered humans, started to run the rest of the way down the crossover bridge and down the other side, to where the parked vehicles were located. They had a choice of many, but Matsubara went straight for one that looked like it could be large enough to hold them all.
On the other side of the station, the battle unfolded. The doors on one side of the vehicle opened-for this instant, the Salosians were ignoring Matsubara and her group-and the soldiers poured out. They opened fire at the Dorans, most of whom did not have adequate cover. The quick green bolts of the Salosians' snub-nosed but powerful weapons streaked across the platform, cutting into the Dorans. The warriors started to fall. The Dorans did return fire. Groups of three Salosians, one of them holding some kind of pole that generated a forcefield, moved across the platform. Occasionally, to move faster, the groups of three broke up, and scattered. When they became vulnerable, the Salosians were picked off. Others on board the vehicle were caught as the heavier weapons were trained on the vehicle, blasting into the metal and the metalized glass. Debris flew in all directions. Smoke increasingly filled the space, as bolts in various colours streaked back and forth at a maddening pace. The sharp smell of ozone filled the air, mixed with the cries of warriors and the screams of the injured and dying. The Salosian vehicle was soon half-engulfed in flames, bodies strewn about, while the walls all around the Dorians were pock-marked, with debris and grit strewn about. For the initial moment, the Doran position at the exit held.
Matsubara got on board the vehicle, and headed straight for the front where the drive controls were. She had lost track of Teklensho, but just surmised that he was more interested in finding his family than anything else. The vehicle filled fast, until someone shouted, "I think they're coming after us."
The vehicles faced forward. Matsubara could see the battle unfold in front of her very eyes. She saw the explosions that erupted on the vehicle, and she saw a couple of Salosians, their bodies on fire, blow through the wreckage and land on the tracks in front of her. It was just like the Dominion War she thought. No matter where she went in the galaxy or outside it, she could not escape this savagery that happened when two sides each wanted their way.
She did not look at the scene unfolding outside of her window now. She pulled out the tricorder and called up the destination, then quickly inserted the rods in the proper order. The vehicle was suddenly rocked. Directed-energy bolts raced for her. She looked up, and saw flashes on the window in front of her. That glass-or something transparent like glass-did not shatter, although cracks radiated outwards, partly obscuring the view. Salosians were coming across their vehicle now, and jumping the tracks-not always successfully-and coming for them. "Go! Go!" she said. She had already punched the final button to get them moving. More bolts were coming. The sides were punctured. She turned in time to see one of the Dorans take a hit in the neck and topple over. Something hot and hard slammed into her, and almost knocked her out of the seat. She found solace in the forcefield belt, thankful for the technology that developed it and the Odonans that gave some on loan to the Athena. But the humming sound was not the same. It was wavering, as if the belt was running low on power. That scared her. With the technology, she felt a little fearless, knowing that she could take a hit or two, and she did not dwell on the ways that the technology could be defeated. Right now, she needed this. The vehicle was moving. It was totally automated. She could do nothing more than punch in the code and wait. Something made her duck. A bolt streaked past her head, and shattered on the frame to her right. Somebody ducked, a human in civilian clothing. More Salosians were approaching, and one was ready to throw some kind of bomb into the vehicle-except that one of the "quitter" Dorans stuck his weapon through a gap in the vehicle and fired. Matsubara had a fleeing glimpse of a Salosian soldier toppling backwards, his head separated from his shoulders. She turned away. The vehicle was accelerating in the smoke-filled station, and the hatch was approaching. The panels retracted, and the rings of light seemed to greet her. At last, enveloped by darkness, silence descended over them, except for the wailing sound that might have been the Doran equivalent of crying and the moans and yells of the injured.
From further back, somebody shouted, "I think the attackers are following us into this tunnel."
But can they follow us, Matsubara wondered.
* * *
The tension on the lander bridge was rising. The ship was still cloaked, with Ochi doing her best to keep out of the way of the Salosian aircraft, which were flying circles around the spire and the complex of buildings around it. Occasionally, bright red bolts lit up the surroundings, as the attackers struck at targets on the ground. Thorpe, along with the others, sat on the edge. They were merely spectators here, and had no real say or control over what was happening down below. They were just waiting for the right moment.
Takoo, standing beside the captain's chair, and feeling as tired and even beaten as everybody on this bridge, asked, "You're sure that the Salosians are going to attempt to disable the sensor-blocking fields?"
"I think so," Thorpe remarked. "It's part of their strategy to gain control of the facility."
"But with each shot, your friend down there and any others from our worlds might be caught in that."
"I know that," the captain said. "But what can I do? The Doran leader has cut communications." Thorpe watched through the windows, and on the display screens, as the Salosians, with uncontested superiority in the air, moved around and around, probing with their strikes. Each shot, Takoo had said, could be directed right at Matsubara. Here he was, on this starship with his crew and its abilities, and he could do nothing to help Matsubara and the rest. This kind of helplessness made him restless, and made him realize how slow time was going.
"Sir," Bayanhong remarked, "Eight more of the aircraft have entered the crater."
"Are we in any kind of crossfire?"
"No," Ochi said. "We're well above the battle, but still easily within sensor and transporter range."
"Okay," Thorpe said, softly, thinking again of the helplessness.
Bayanhong continued, "The eight newcomers and the two already there are flying... I don't know, it looks like a pattern of some kind, spreading out, almost taking position. I'm reading heavy encrypted communications, probably data, between the aircraft."
"Damn," Thorpe muttered. It was highly possible that the Salosians were going to take down the entire structure right now. He wanted to help, to intervene, to do anything, but no ideas suggested themselves to him. His crew was equally silent.
The Salosians attacked. Bright green beams leaped out from the ten aircraft simultaneously, and struck their targets. They hit the spire, and the structures built into it. They hit the top of each of the dominating original structures, and at other locations in the ring structure and in the very centre of what would have been the open area. Explosions blasted out of each contact point, throwing up flames and hot debris and smoke. But something changed.
Bayanhong announced, "Sir, the sensor-blocking fields have totally failed."
"Scan for any non-Dorans, any humans, anything."
The executive officer did as she ordered, scanning once and finding nothing, and then scanning again and finding nothing one more time. She knew what the captain would ask, and so scanned for Dorans. She found them concentrated mostly in one area of the operations structure. "Sir," she finally reported, "I'm scanning no non-Dorans, no humans, nothing."
"Where is she?" Thorpe asked, softly, not wanting to confront the most possible answer. Maybe she had run. Maybe she had gotten into the transit station and escaped that way. There was still hope. There was always hope.
Hakamura spoke up, saying, "Sir, the collapse of the sensor-blocking fields also occurred at the spire. I'm getting clear reads at most unusual technology, in what is clearly the solar subspace tap and the massive power distribution system. The scale is... beyond anything I could imagine. However, I believe there is a location we could put the tricobalt device, right... there." He displayed the mutli-tiered structure that was the solar tap, and pointed to a gap between the lowest section and the primary power regulation and distribution core-or at least Thorpe assumed it was that.
"DeWillis," the captain started, "can you do that?"
"Aye, sir. I've got a clear read."
Takoo asked, "What if the Dorans, or the Salosians, or anybody, finds it?"
Bayanhong answered, "Maybe they won't. There's nobody in the spire right now."
DeWillis added, "I've set it for remote operations, and you can program a time delay into it as well."
"Very well. As soon as you can, beam it into position and arm it."
Bayanhong spoke up, "Sir, reading new individuals in the structure, at the ground level of the residential structure. I presume that this is how the Salosians would scan..."
* * *
The mood inside the control centre was very quiet and glum. Nobody said anything. Once all the alarms started to sound as the Salosians started their attack, Vekharis ordered them all shut off. Many of the operators had nothing to do as their various systems went down. They just sat there. Outside, and in the immediate area, the last of the warriors, and some whose skills as warriors were very questionable, formed the last line of defense.
Already, it had been announced that the sensor-blocking fields, and by extension the shielding, had been disabled. Then another operator said, "The attackers have gained control of the transit station. They have terminated all resistance there, and are now moving from the transit station into the residential structure and the connecting structures."
Another of the younger women said, "Outside sensors now indicating that the enemy is bringing in landing craft, filled with their soldiers."
Vekharis, hearing all that was happening, how the Salosians had control of the air and now of the ground, and all they had left was this last location, knew what was happening, and what was to happen to her. "For the first time in our history in exile," she said, "it appears that we are going to lose."
Loiza stood up and faced the older woman, their acknowledged leader for this crisis. She said, "Vekharis, you made a decision. You gave those who wanted to end the exile and settle on a new world a possible location, informing them that it would be an unoccupied planet, when in fact you knew otherwise."
"You understood," Vekharis said, her voice subdued. Mysa stepped away and went to one of the side rooms. "You agreed with my reasoning."
"Yes, but ultimately, the responsibility rests on the one we acknowledge as our current leader. You have the final responsibility in this matter, and as such, you must accept the consequences." Facing the other woman, virtually staring her down, Loiza asked simply, "What is your plea on this accusation?"
Softly, almost inaudibly, Vekharis said, "I assume full responsibility. I plead full guilt."
Mysa returned with a small silver cup, containing about ten millilitres of a pale reddish liquid. "As you plead your full guilt in this disaster which has destroyed us, this is your punishment."
With trembling hands, and as everybody looked at her, Vekharis picked up the small silver cup. She held it in both hands, slowing bringing it to her lips. Tears welled up in her eyes, and overflowed. She was shaking, and scared. The liquid reached her lips. It was cool, and it was refreshing. It was the most wonderful thing that she had ever tasted in her long, yet difficult life, filled with days drinking rationed water and vegetables and grains with minimal taste often processed into a mash that had even less. This had been her life, and this was her fate. The taste was absolutely exquisite.
Vekharis barely had consumed the small quantity of liquid when her body went rigid, and she collapsed stiffly in her chair. The small silver cup clattered to the floor, the loudest thing in this room in the past couple of minutes. Her body remained rigid, her mouth open slightly. Blood, frothy and bubbly and pinkish-purple began to foam on her mouth, and trickle out. More blood oozed from her nostrils, and then her ears and her eyes. The blood, pulsing once or twice before ceasing, seemed to come out of her every pore and opening.
Facing the other older woman, Mysa said, "By the rules that we have long agreed to govern ourselves, you, Loiza, are now our leader. You must appoint a third."
"I defer until conditions are less trying."
Mysa added, "Now what do we do?"
"We'll have to leave this location. This location is no longer defensible, and we will not survive if we remain here."
The other woman simply said, "There is no way to escape."
"There is one way." To the answered question, and to the silence in the room, she added, "We can ask the aliens on their ship for help."
* * *
"Sir," Hakamura reported, "we're being hailed. It appears to be the same channel, and the same source, as when Commander Matsubara spoke to us from the control centre. It's audio only."
"Put it on."
"We are attempting to contact the one identified as Captain Thorpe." The voice was distorted in a sense, clearly a machine translation into English.
"I am him," he replied. Just one question was on his mind, and he asked it right away, "Where is the human woman, Damiko Matsubara, who was with you earlier."
"Captain, we are in need of assistance."
"Answer the question first."
Several seconds passed, during which time Thorpe was sure that the Dorans had cut the link. Finally, Loiza came back on and said, "The human who was in here earlier has left. She decided to lead those of my people who are unable or unwilling to hold our position here to some other location, where they can live not as warriors, but as hunter-gatherers."
"Do you know which station?"
"No," Loiza retorted. "She left. I think she told them to pick one at random. She, herself, might have gone back to your original location."
"The transit station has been overrun by the Salosians," Takoo pointed out.
"But she left well before then. Now, as for our request."
"What?"
"We're about to be overrun by the enemy. We need help. We need to be removed form this location and taken to another. Our lives, our culture, everything about us is at stake. We do not have much time left."
Thorpe did think about it for another fifteen seconds, since he had covered this ground in his mind already. He knew what the answer us, and he spoke it out, "I'm sorry, but we cannot help you."
"Why?" Loiza asked, her question mostly drowned out by the gasps and moans from others on the bridge.
"Right now, the Salosians are not involving us in their conflict. We remain neutral to it. However, if we're detected beaming you and your people on board my ship, the Salosians might consider us to be part of the battle and they will attack. I have a large group of my own people at one of the transit sites, and they are completely without protection should the Salosians attack them. My first responsibility is towards them, to protect them and to see things through for them. I am sorry, but I have no alternative."
"But you must reconsider," Loisa blurted out.
"I am sorry, I truly am. You had ample chances to avoid this sort of scenario in your time here, and you choose to ignore it. My people have been here only a matter of days, and wish to return home. I must see that that wish is fulfilled for them."
"But... you must listen."
"No, I will not. Hakamura, terminate the link." With an audible beep, the security officer shut off the commlink.
DeWillis had waited for this moment, and spoke up, "Captain, the tricobalt device is in place, and we have full contact with it and control of it."
"Good. Helm, begin to plot a course out of this crater, but keep the sensors trained on the structures for as long as possible."
Bayanhong did not have anything to do immediately, but was still reflecting on what the captain had said. "Sir," she finally spoke up. "Is what you did wise?"
"In this situation," Thorpe started, "I had no alternative, for reasons that I plainly stated."
"You believe that?"
"In truth, I don't trust the Salosians. I still got the feeling that they're going to turn on us, but maybe I'm wrong. Maybe they are truthful when they say they have no argument with us and are letting us go, but I don't want to give them any excuse to turn on us."
"We can handle ourselves," Hakamura said. "Those Salosian aircraft are really nothing special. Their shielding is minimal and their weapons are surprisingly primitive."
"The lander is not the problem," Thorpe finally said. "We can defend ourselves. The problem is twelve hundred civilians and an unknown number of Odonans, perhaps thousands, who are at our location. We can't defend them from the Salosians, and if given the chance and the orders, the Salosians will mow down all of those people without a second thought."
"I see," Hakamura remarked.
"I understand that point of view perfectly," Takoo remarked. "Those Dorans are, what is the human expression, 'the architects of their own demise.' We should help, but only without risking ourselves, or those who are entrusted to us."
"The matter is closed," Thorpe finally said. "Bayanhong, I want you to conduct one last sensor sweep of this region, and make sure that we're leaving nobody behind. Then we'll have to attempt to find those who are... still missing."
Within seconds, Bayanhong reported, "Sir, sensors are showing that the Doran control centre is in some kind of shaft, and it is descending. A number of people are in there, and I believe that they are going to exit through an underground tunnel. It may lead to the transit station. The remainder of the Dorans are going to make a final stand by the control centre area. Salosians are advancing form all directions."
"Any of our people there?"
"Negative," the executive officer replied. "Nothing on sensors."
"Helm, take us out..."
* * *
The vehicle slowed down and came to a stop in the centre of the transit station. As soon as the doors opened, Matsubara could sense that it was cold and dry, and the lighting was dim. The Dorans, some of them injured, got off the vehicle and started moving for the crossover bridges and then the exit. They were moving slowly, slowed down by the equipment that they were carrying, and the injured people they were aiding. Matsubara used her tricorder to scan as she could, but it was picking up nothing. The few Dorans who had weapons were using them, watching the hatches for the inevitable Salosian followers to arrive. None came as long as they were in the station.
"Damiko," someone shouted from behind. She turned, and saw Teklensho. With him was Teknin, and the son, Tekdaeo. The two were uninjured, but were labouring under heavy sacks with equipment and supplies.
"You're alright," Matsubara said.
"Yes, so far. We shouldn't linger here."
"Agreed. I wish there was some way that we could shut down this transit station."
"Maybe there is," Teknin remarked, "but I don't know it."
"It's not a good idea to remain here. Lets move."
The structures were all the same, and were all familiar to Matsubara. She had found her way out of one, and so could find her way out of all of them. This one looked to be especially abandoned. It was in pristine condition, untouched and unmarried, and quite likely, nobody had stepped through these rooms and on those ramps in millions of years. Unseen machinery kept up maintenance of the place. The group arrived at the exit of the residential structure, and stepped outside.
This was bitter cold, Matsubara realized, at least minus twenty. Above them, the sky was black, and the Milky Way galaxy was directly overhead. They were at a pretty high latitude, as the sun was low in the sky, and caused the atmosphere around the horizon to glow a faint orange. Her Starfleet uniform gave her minimal protection, but at least the Dorans had come bundled for hostile environments. At least as they ran outside, they had no wind to contend with, and by running, they were at least generating internal heat and staying warm that way. On the way across, Matsubara realized that nobody had come this way in a long time. The paving stones were covered with noticeable dirt and grit, and they were leaving obvious footprints.
At the other side, the group of them, fourty-three Dorans and two humans, including Matsubara, made it to the entrance to the operations structure. They got inside, where it was equally derelict and pristine. The controls gleamed from maintenance and a total lack of use. It was as if this structure had never been used. Matsubara had no idea if that was a good sign or bad. Any advanced society on the planet it would have led to would have found this structure and undoubtedly stumbled upon this world. In millions of years, nobody had come this way.
"Now for the problem," Matsubara said. "Can anybody work these controls? If the outbound system is active, how easy is it to work?"
Teknin stepped forward. She put down the sack she had been carrying, and withdrew from it some kind of book. It was rather beaten, and really nothing more than yellowing, torn pages with faded ink held together with different kinds of string. Teknin opened the pages carefully and methodically, until she got to the one she needed. She started to press buttons, flip levers, open up small hatches and push buttons underneath. As she did, displays changed, lights came on and strange humming sounds seemed to come from the machinery around the gateway hatch. Finally, after much work, the lights changed once more, and the hatch opened. A corridor lay beyond.
"How did you know that?" Matsubara asked.
Teklensho's wife answered, "I was once part of the leadership group. I was being trained in field systems such as this."
"Why?"
"At one time, I proposed that we should explore these many structures, to see where they went and what lie on the other side. Then, someone proposed that, in times of crisis, we could go through these structures and conduct raids on the other side. I thought that was an incredibly foolish notion. I outlined the risks that such an action would lead to. A day later, the leader at the time, Thympo, took me aside and said that everything I had done so far was for nothing, and I was to make myself available as a wife."
"And with that, you were expelled from the leadership group?"
"Yes," the Doran woman explained.
"And then you got married?"
"Yes. Teklensho had achieved the right to be married, and to have a wife, and to raise children. I was the one that was assigned to him."
Turning to the man, Matsubara asked, "Did you know about this?"
"No," Teklensho admitted. "It is considered poor form to ask such questions, to learn about the past. Upon marriage, our lives became what we made of them since that date, and not what came before."
"I see."
Teknin said, "We really should be going."
"Any sign of anybody following us out of the residential structure?"
Somebody standing near the doorway replied, "No."
The group entered the gateway, and in so doing, stepped across two hundred thousand light years and was back on a planet in the Milky Way galaxy. Teknin, in the lead with Teklensho and Matsubara close behind, said, "We must follow this network of corridors. When the outbound system is on, a small section on this side activates, and allows access to the surface. These diagrams appear to line up... we should proceed."
The walk was surprisingly short. They travelled through about five hundred metres of corridors. Structures like blast doors opened for them, lights came on, and absolutely nothing got in the way, nothing like the automated defense systems that Kayaha had described, and nothing that suggested anybody had come this way before. Yet, the air was fresh. At the end of their walk, they came to a circular room, which was dominated by a large circular grid made of metal and some kind of transparent, crystal-like material. From within, a glow seemed to evenly spread through the crystal.
"A transporter platform," Matsubara said.
"Yes, I believe that is what it is," Teknin said. She consulted her battered pages again, and walked over to one of the control panels. Several of them were provided, and they looked identical. Any of them likely worked. "This should get us to the surface. Lets hope that we don't show up in the middle of some bustling alien city."
"Maybe they'll take pity on you and let you stay."
"But we can't count on it."
The transporter was likely set on some kind of time delay. Teknin made adjustments to the controls, and several seconds later, in the blink of an eye, they were standing on the surface.
The field they were on was flat and appeared to go on for some distance. The ground was covered in what looked like grasses, mostly ankle-high, but the occasional tuff was somewhat higher. The air was warm and slightly humid, something they really noticed after the chill they had left, and night was falling. The sky was clear, and stars, forming constellations that Matsubara had never seen before, were coming out in their full glory. They had not emerged in any kind of city, but could see in the distance that there were structures. She saw no lights on them, and when she scanned the structures, they were unoccupied. In the deepening gloom of the night, she could not see what state the structures are in.
"It's nightfall here," Teklensho remarked. "Someday, I'll enjoy a good period of sleep."
"So will I," Matsubara thought, thinking of the bed in her quarters, although she would take, for now, a bed in one of the quarters on the lander. "We should get moving. Before it gets fully dark, we should find shelter."
"What if there are people here?" Teknin asked.
"There aren't," Matsubara said. "As far as I can tell, nobody lives here. As for those structures... I don't know. They could be new, or collapsing from neglect. I don't know."
"But she's right," Teklensho said. "We should get moving. At night, we won't be able to see."
The group started to move in the direction of the buildings, but Matsubara only took a few steps, and then stopped. Teklensho noticed that, and went back to where the human woman was standing. "What are you doing?" he asked, after watching her seemingly scan the skies with her tricorder.
"I'm attempting to record visually the stars as seen from here," she answered. "Hopefully, on board my ship, I'll be able to correlate this information with our starmaps, and locate this world."
"Why?"
"I picked this location, because I believe it is close to a location that we can use to visit you, directly, without going through the alien transit system. One day, the ship will come there, and see how you are doing."
"You're not staying?" Teklensho said. He seemed to have a hint of sadness in his voice.
"I can't stay here. I wouldn't survive long here. The food you have, and the food you'll grow here, is for Dorans, not for humans like me. I wouldn't survive a month here."
"I know it'll be rough, but we'll pull through."
"No, I mean that biologically, my body cannot exist without the proper food. It's not here, and it'll never be here."
"I see," Teklensho said, after a few seconds. "So what will you do?"
"I'll simply go back to the transit station, slot in my home location and the vehicle will take me there. The outbound function is operating there too. They might not know about the way to get to the surface. I'll have to show them that."
"It is risky."
"I know, but it was something I knew I had to do from the beginning."
"Okay."
Matsubara first had to find the other human, to get him to turn back too. "You're the Starfleet officer," he said.
Looking down at her uniform-and she saw how good the manufacture was in that the uniform showed hardly any sign of wear considering what she had been through-she said, "Yeah, I guess that's obvious."
"So why are you bothering me?"
"To inform you that we've got to get back to our own location."
"Why should I listen to you?" the man said.
"What do you plan to do, stay here?"
"Why not?"
"Really?" Matsubara started. "What are you going to eat?"
"What they eat."
"Unfortunately, Doran food does not contain all the nutrients, the proteins, the vitamins and all of that stuff that humans need."
"Who says?"
"Basic biology. They may look human on the surface, but underneath, at the cell level, their biochemistry is very different. They can't exist on our food, and we can't exist on their food. In addition, none of them have any experience in dealing with injuries or other medical conditions you might develop. You can't speak their language and they can't speak yours, and I don't assume that you have a translator implant."
"No," the man said, "but I'll learn."
"It's a waste of time anyway. Besides, what you probably don't realize is that more than likely half or most, or even all, of the Adamsburg people are already back home." Those words got the attention of the man. "I mean, the outbound functions at all the locations have been activated, including the one where the rest of us are waiting. They're all going home."
"Why didn't somebody say something earlier? All I seem to be doing is following the pack."
"Lets get going."
"Very well," the man said, grumbling just a little. Matsubara had her tricorder out, and had no problem picking up the location of the transporter equipment that had beamed them to the surface. She did have a problem, she realized, in that she had no way to make the machinery beam them back down. The man continued to mumble as they walked.
"What's your problem?" Matsubara asked.
"Listening to Starfleet. They're the ones that got us into this mess to begin with."
"That's impossible, it wasn't-" Matsubara paused, and then asked, "You're not the one that gave me the hard time earlier, are you?"
"No, I was just in the background. I agree with the sentiment, though. Sometimes, Starfleet isn't worth the bother, if I'd say so myself." He began walking alongside the woman, and being a metre ninety and almost a hundred kilograms in weight, he towered over the somewhat smaller Matsubara. "You got a name?"
"Damiko Matsubara."
"No rank?"
"Lieutenant commander, if you must know." It still sounded strange for her to say that, since she had been a lieutenant for so long she thought she would always remain one. "What about you?"
"Larry Dobson," the man answered, in something of a grunt.
"From Adamsburg?"
"Yeah."
"In the mine?"
"I was in the coffee shop before the start of the shift, enjoying a chocolate double-dipped donut when... it happened." Matsubara said nothing, but by the looks of the guy, he had enjoyed a lot of chocolate double-dipped donuts in his time. She could go for one right about now, she thought.
"Well, lets put it this way. Inside an hour, you can be in that coffee shop again. I hope it has replicators."
"What else?"
The two arrived at the location of the large circular transporter grid, or at least where that grid would transport anybody to the surface. Somewhat surprisingly, Teklensho was still near the area. "Why are you still here?" the science officer asked.
"I'll escort you back to the gateway. Afterall, we were worried that the Salosians had followed us to this location. They may have arrived after we transported up here. It's best to be sure."
"Okay," Matsubara said. The man did have his weapon, but she seriously doubted that he was going to follow her all the way back to the human location. Afterall, he did have his wife and his son here, and that was a compelling reason to come back. It was just his sense of duty, she realized. "Next question, how do we operate this transporter from up here?"
"Just step into the circle," the Doran replied, and to Matsubara, it was in a way similar to how they all ended up in the Small Magellanic Cloud anyway. The mass transport was likely just a scaled-up version of this technology.
"Okay." The three did exactly that, and seconds later, they were standing on the large, circular grid in the underground structure.
Matsubara conducted a few more scans, and kept up a recording of the route they took back to the gateway itself. The door was closed, but the simple depression of a switch opened the door. As a precaution, Teklensho had the them stand away from the door, and he was the first one through. He looked around, up along the length of the walkway to the cavern and the controls, and down towards the outside door. Nobody was around. He gestured for the two humans to follow him through, and then he repeated the process with the outside door. He opened that, and looked around. He saw nothing, and heard nothing as well. "I believe the way is clear," he finally said.
"This should be as far as you go," Matsubara said. "If we can make it to the transit station, we'll be okay."
Teklensho had been thinking the same thing. He had been thinking about Teknin and Tekdaeo, and how he had to be there with them as they began to create new lives for themselves. He knew that he had to return to them, and yet he still felt a certain kind of duty towards Matsubara. He wanted to make sure that she was safe. It was odd, he thought, as he had been entrusted with guarding this woman, from the time he first took her to the malfunctioning water extraction unit. It was a strange thing, he thought, that this woman, and her people in general, were having this rather significant influence in their lives. She was changing them, totally. He was worried that in the hardships of the time to come, they might regret the choices that they had made and the circumstances that fate had led them to, but now he realized he had no choice.
"Here," the man said, "take this." He handed his weapon to Matsubara, adding, "Just in case you encounter any of those Salosians. It was fully charged when we left the crater, and I think I might have fired it four times since."
Given that the weapon had only a couple of buttons and the business end was obvious, Matsubara thought she would have no problems operating it, and just hoped that she did not have to. "Thank you," she finally said.
"Thank you for helping us," Teklensho started. "For many of us, this was the opportunity that we had been waiting for."
"And yet," the woman started, with some doubt on her voice, "I can't help but to think that... what you and the others are doing is difficult, and might not even work. It's as if you're being abandoned there, and we might not be able to give you the assistance that we might have promised, that you might need. Are fourty of you viable?"
"In truth, when we were first exiled to this world, we were hardly more in numbers, and though we had some seeds and some basic tools, much like we had now, we had no real knowledge on how to grow crops, how to survive basically. However, we made do. We're adaptable. We adjust."
"I believe that," Matsubara said. "I'm not sure that we'll ever meet again. With the war on our side of the galaxy, so much going on and all the rest, I don't know if we'll meet up again. Maybe I can't find the planet. I do wish your people and you and your family a lot of luck."
"And same to you and your family." Matsubara just laughed, prompting the man to ask, "What's so funny?"
"I don't have a family of my own, at least not yet."
"Then the best at whatever you do, whatever you achieve, the best."
"And same to you."
Teklensho turned and walked through the open gateway. Matsubara closed it behind the man, and then simply looked over the console. She did not bother scanning. She simply set the Doran weapon at the highest setting possible and then started firing, the green bolts tearing into the alien machinery and shooting sparks in all directions.
Dobson, ducking, asked, "What the hell are you doing?"
"Making sure that the Salosians can't follow them to their new world."
"And lets just hope that all of this firing doesn't bring the Salosians down on us."
The two stepped outside. They felt the cold, and they saw that despite the latitude, the sun was still setting and the sky was getting very dark. The galaxy loomed overhead, and it looked so eerie. She thought that, as incredible as it might seem, that Teklensho was already there, in the galaxy, and she could be there soon. She thought again of the double-dipped chocolate donut, and how she was going to meet the captain in the Acropolis within the hour for one. That was the deal, she thought. Ahead of them was a kilometre and three-quarters to the residential part of the structure, and her tricorder confirmed to her what her eyes was telling her; nobody was around.
"Lets go."
"Man, it's cold."
"I know."
They began to walk, briskly.
* * *
A distance away, one of the Salosian aircraft, now flying patrol patterns looking for the escaped Dorans, and especially the leadership group, who had gotten away, monitored again what had been pointed out to him earlier. "More chaotic activity at that location," the targeting officer said to the pilot.
"You think it's active?" the pilot said.
"Yes," replied the first man. "The algorithms can detect energy flows through the sensor-blocked region. I'm reading flows again to that structure. I'd say it was definitely in use."
"We can't be sure."
"We're close enough for a flyby. Lets take a look. I'll inform the squad in the back to get ready, just in case."
The pilot changed course and dove towards the energy field that contained the atmosphere. With the target officer momentarily out of the cockpit of the small and cramped vessel, the pilot also took over tactical. He saw the energy patterns again, but they looked weak, and different. It was almost like weapons fire. He switched over to lifeform readings, and saw two of them, moving at a brisk pace from the operations structure to the residential side. They did not scan as Doran, but as one of the other races, the races that were supposedly neutral. He decided to move in and take a closer look, and if necessary, ask questions of the two. He had the responsibility to make sure that they were not helping the Dorans in any way.
* * *
"Sir," Hakamura spoke up, "we're being hailed, the Salosians, audio only."
Thorpe had been thinking about Matsubara, about how he had contacted Rocha a number of times, and still he had nothing to report on her. She could be anywhere on the planet, he thought, and it was possible that she could be dead too. He tried not to dwell on that alternative too much. He had to find her, to find some clue where she might have gone. All he had to go on was that she was helping some of the Dorans escape. Now he was facing the Salosian commander again.
"Attention Captain Thorpe of the human group," the man started. "This is Tael Mot. I'm informing you that we have captured complete control of the operations centre in the crater." Thorpe wondered if they had found the tricobalt device yet. Maybe they would not recognize it as being something that did not belong. "Because we are dealing with groups of Dorans who had escaped through the transit system, making their progress almost impossible to track, we have decided that once we have gained full functional control of the control centre, we will shut down the outbound functions. We estimate that this will take... fourty-two minutes and thirty-one seconds, converted to your time. You have that much time to get your people to the other side. We do ask that if you encounter any Dorans attempting to penetrate your location, that you do not allow them to proceed and report that back to us. It would be most unfortunate for your kind if we learn that you have harboured and assisted the slave-takers."
"Understood," Thorpe replied, but considering the defeat that the Dorans had suffered at the human station, he doubted they were coming back anytime soon. He also had to realize that Mot's estimate on when the outbound functions would be shut down was just a guess, and that they would do it as soon as possible once they figured out how, in order to trap any of the Dorans attempting to flee. He had that much time to find Matsubara, and he was getting no clues.
Takoo, standing beside the captain and having heard enough about him, remarked, "Increasingly, captain, it looks like your friend might have to make her own way back. She's smart enough to do that, I anticipate."
"What does that mean?"
"If she's helping the Dorans, she has to know she can't stay with them. She has to return."
"She knows that."
"Sir," Bayanhong spoke up. "The Salosian aircraft we have been monitoring... one has broken the pattern, and has headed towards the surface, perhaps heading to one of the structures."
"Do we follow?" Takoo asked.
Thorpe knew that the Salosian aircraft were attempting to locate the fleeing Dorans, and would like to have gotten their hands on the leadership. They apparently had sensor abilities to penetrate the structures, and so could see more than he and his crew could. Perhaps something had captured their attention. Realizing that his choices were limited right now, he decided to play the hunch. "Helm," the captain started. "Follow that craft down, but remain clocked."
"Aye, sir," Ochi replied, as she made the adjustments. Through the window, the planet loomed ever larger, although the pilot could not help but think of it except in the terms of the deadline that they had been given...
