The Romulan Prize Part 19

Riker knew they were still a long way from being home free. They still had to get back aboard the Enterprise without being discovered, distribute the weapons to their fellow crew members, then seize control of their ship before Korak could alert the Syrinx and thus endanger the hostages. And as if that wasn't enough to worry about, Riker still didn't know what had happened to the captain, Deanna, Ro, Beverly, and Data. He had no idea whether they were alive or dead.

As they left the Independence and began the s.p.a.ce walk back to the Enterprise with their precious cargo of weapons, Riker wondered if the others felt as tense as he did. Just let us get back aboard the ship, he thought. How much time had elapsed since they had left? It seemed like hours. Could it possibly have been that long? What if their absence had been discovered? What would the Romulans do? They'd probably search the ship first, he thought. They'd realize how they got out and they'd go through the Jefferies tubes, looking for them. That would buy some time ... unless Korak figured out that they'd left the ship.

As they drifted back across the s.p.a.ce separating the two ships, Riker tried to a.s.sess the odds. So far, luck had been with them, but the hardest part still lay ahead of them. He was worried about the captain and the missing away team, but he was also concerned about the hostages. If Valak was in charge, he would keep them alive to use as his hole card, but with Korak commanding in Valak's absence, there was no telling what might happen. Korak had it in for Riker. He might even execute the hostages just to hit Riker where it would hurt the most. In fact, thought Riker, that was exactly what Korak would do. The question was, how could he prevent it?

The captain always spoke about options. Well, in this case, there just didn't seem to be any. Riker tried to steel himself for the possibility of the hostages being killed. My friends, he thought, and all those children. His stomach was tied up in knots. But they were committed to their plan to seize the starship. No matter what happened, they had to carry it through.

As they approached the Enterprise, Riker felt the tension mounting. Only another hundred yards to go. They came in low, under the belly of the ship, to minimize the chances of being spotted. Riker could now see the huge bulk of the Syrinx just beyond the Enterprise, and-he caught his breath-shuttles! Three of them coming over from the Syrinx! La Forge saw them at the same time, looked toward him, and pointed.

We've had it, Riker thought, with a sinking feeling. Somehow they must have been spotted from the Syrinx, but he didn't see how they could possibly have seen them from that angle ... and then he realized that the shuttles were from their own ship. And even as they approached, he could see the Syrinx slowly turning toward them to bring its weapons to bear.

The hostages! It couldn't possibly be anybody else! Somehow they had managed to escape. But the shuttles had to be badly overloaded. They'd be crammed in there like sardines. Riker realized that his team would reach the Enterprise before the shuttles did. They had to get the outer bay doors open for them. Had the shuttles seen them? It was pointless to maintain radio silence now. As he reached the emergency hatch together with La Forge, he turned and beckoned the others over to the side of the ship.

"Riker to shuttlecraft, Riker to shuttlecraft!" he said, over his suit communicator. "Come in!"

"We have seen you, Commander," Worf's voice replied, and Riker's heart gave a leap.

"Come around to Shuttle Bay Two," said Riker. "We'll open the doors for you. Move it! The Syrinx is coming around."

"Acknowledged," said Worf.

"Geordi, the rest of you, move back away from the hatch. I'm going to open the inner emergency hatch."

"But with the outer hatch still open, that will depressurize the bay!" said La Forge.

"Exactly," Riker said.

"Right!" said La Forge, comprehending instantly.

During normal shuttle bay operations, the annular forcefield maintained atmospheric integrity in the bay, allowing shuttlecraft to pa.s.s in and out of the open outer doors without depressurizing the bay. As they moved through the forcefield, as if through a membrane, some of the air inside would escape, but not enough to make any significant difference. However, there was no forcefield in the emergency hatchway, for which reason there was an outer and an inner door, with a decompression chamber between them. If Riker opened up the inner door without first closing the outer hatch, the air inside the shuttle bay would come rushing out into the vacuum. That meant the Romulans would be unable to enter the shuttle bay until it had been repressurized. And that would give the shuttles time to enter safely.

Riker grabbed the wheel and unlocked the inner door. Then, hooking his arm through the wheel, he yanked back on the lever that controlled the latch. The hatch slammed open and Riker barely got his feet up in time to keep from getting smashed against the wall as the atmosphere inside came rushing out with explosive force. He held on with all his might to keep from getting sucked out. The others were all safely out of the way. Moments later the pressure let up and Riker and the others were able to enter the shuttle bay, though they had to keep their suits on.

The Syrinx wouldn't dare fire now, with the shuttles so close to the ship, thought Riker. They wouldn't sacrifice their own people aboard the Enterprise. Or would they? No, thought Riker, as he rushed to the controls for the outer doors of the shuttle bay, they'll a.s.sume that we'll be recaptured the moment we get back on board. But we may have a few surprises for them.

While the others were entering through the emergency hatchway and closing it up behind them, he threw the switch to open the outer bay doors. The machinery engaged, and the outer doors began to open. Then they stopped, and slowly started to close again. Riker swore.

"The bridge controls! Geordi-"

"I'm way ahead of you, Commander," La Forge replied, as he threw open the maintenance panel. The doors continued to close as the bridge overrode Riker's controls, but as La Forge disabled the system, they stopped. Through the gap, Riker could see the shuttles approaching.

"Riker to Worf: we've disabled the bridge controls, and we'll be opening the outer bay doors from in here. But the shuttle bay is depressurized. Repeat: the shuttle bay is depressurized. Remain inside the shuttlecraft until I give the signal."

"Understood, Commander," Worf replied.

It didn't matter if the Romulans heard them now. In fact, it would keep them out of the shuttle bay. They would not be able to enter without suits until it was repressurized, and by then, with any luck, thought Riker, we'll be ready for them.

The outer bay doors started to open once again and Worf brought the first shuttlecraft in before they were open all the way. Riker stood at the flight deck officer's station, controlling the short-range tractor beams designed to help bring the shuttles in and out smoothly. With the shuttlecraft as overloaded as they were, Worf and the other pilot were going to need all the help they could get.

Worf's shuttle touched down inside the bay, and then the other two came in close behind it. Riker locked on to them and helped the pilots bring them in. The others, meanwhile, were busy unpacking the phasers and preparing to hand them out the moment it was safe for the pa.s.sengers to leave the shuttles. As the third shuttlecraft touched down, the outer bay doors began to close and Riker watched the indicators on the console, waiting tensely for atmospheric integrity to be fully restored inside the shuttle bay. The seconds seemed like minutes as he waited, and the minutes seemed like hours. And then Korak's voice came booming over the loudspeaker.

"An admirable attempt, Riker," he said, "but you have only succeeded in trapping yourself anew. None of you will leave the shuttle bay alive."

Chapter Twelve.

AS VALAK CAME AROUND, his eyelids flickered open and he saw Picard standing over him. The disruptor Picard held was aimed squarely at his chest. Valak started to sit up and winced. "Curse you, Picard," he said. "My arm is broken."

"You gave me little choice," Picard replied.

Valak glanced around at their surroundings. Morning had come to the ark, and he saw that they were in a different area. They were in a park, on a wooded rise overlooking a garden with a fountain in the center and curving, paved paths radiating out from it, cutting through a blue-green carpet of low-growing, mossy vegetation interspersed with clumps of shrubbery and spidery trees. More of the sculptures they had seen-the streetlights, as Picard had called them-were placed throughout the park, and the only thing lacking to complete the bucolic scene was the sound of birds twittering in the tree branches. Except for the two of them, there was no sign of life anywhere.

"So you managed to get away somehow," Valak said with a grimace. "It will gain you nothing. You may have the advantage over me for the moment, but my warriors will hunt you down."

"I think not," Picard replied. "Enc.u.mbered as I was with your weight across my shoulders, they should have had no difficulty giving pursuit. Yet they did not follow. Perhaps they were unable to give chase."

Valak grunted as he propped himself up against the tree behind him. "What do you mean?"

Picard countered with another question. "Did it not strike you as a coincidence that Talar and the others should suddenly reappear precisely at that moment?"

Valak frowned. "What are you getting at, Picard?"

"Once darkness fell, everywhere we have gone inside this ark, the lights have followed us, illuminating the areas we pa.s.sed through. However, Talar and his warriors came out of the darkness. Their approach failed to activate the lights. Why? The obvious explanation is that the streetlights are not controlled by sensors, after all. We have been under close surveillance ever since our arrival. Our way was merely lighted for us."

"Then all those lights we saw ..." said Valak. "Of course. They were a ruse meant to play upon our nerves and make us antic.i.p.ate an attack so that we would fire on Talar and the others when they approached out of the darkness. It was all a trick."

"That is one possible explanation," said Picard, "but it does not explain how your people have been disappearing, nor does it explain why Talar and the others should suddenly reappear the way they did. Nor does it explain how a message was transmitted to your ship, mimicking your voice well enough to fool your bridge crew and have an additional away team beamed down, perhaps more than one. If they were able to do that, they could just as easily have sent another message, in your voice, requesting that a team be beamed back up."

"Then my men would have taken them the moment they materialized in the transporter room," said Valak.

"Would they? What if the occupants of this ark are able to mimic more than just a voice communication? Consider the Independence, Valak. What happened to its crew? The ark's residents might have induced a few landing parties to beam down through some similar subterfuge, but surely not the entire crew. At some point, they would have realized something was wrong."

"What if the crew had been thoroughly infiltrated before they realized what was happening?" said a second Picard, stepping out from behind a tree. Valak's eyes grew wide and his jaw dropped as his gaze went from one Picard to the other. They were absolutely identical.

"Fascinating, is it not?" the first Picard said. "Which of us is the real Jean-Luc Picard?"

"Perhaps neither of us is the real Picard," the second one said.

There were the sounds of running footsteps, and Talar and the others came racing up the hill, weapons drawn. They stopped when they saw the two Picards.

"Shoot, Talar!" yelled Valak. "Shoot both of them!"

Talar lowered his weapon. "I fear you have mistaken me for someone else, Commander," he said.

Valak stared at him wildly, his mouth open with disbelief. The science officer spoke into his communicator, only the voice he used was not Talar's but Valak's own. "Valak to Syrinx," he said.

"Go ahead, Commander," came the response.

Valak tried to shout out a warning, but a sudden white-hot pain lanced through his brain and he collapsed, gasping for breath. Sparks danced before his eyes and he tried to scream, but could not utter a sound.

"We are ready to beam up."

Riker watched the gauges on the console, and the moment atmospheric integrity was restored to the shuttle bay, he removed his helmet and gave the signal for Worf and the other hostages to leave the shuttlecraft. As they came out, Geordi and the others started pa.s.sing out phasers.

"I don't know how you managed to escape," said Riker, "but I sure am glad to see you. Your timing couldn't have been more perfect."

"Happy to oblige, Commander," Worf replied.

Riker grinned. "We're not going to have much time. As soon as they realize the shuttle bay's repressurized, they'll come in here after us."

"Then we shall give them a warm reception," said Worf.

"We'll use the shuttles for cover," Riker said, "and try to get them as they're coming in. Keiko!"

"Yes, sir?"

"Take some of the others and get the children into the Jefferies tubes. Stay in there until you hear from me."

"Understood," said Keiko. She and the other mothers started herding the children into the narrow maintenance tube hatchway.

"Geordi," Riker said, "take your crew and work your way up through the tubes to Ten-Forward. Take some extra phasers with you. And good luck. Now move it!"

"I'm on my way," La Forge said.

Riker made sure that all the children were safe inside the maintenance tubes, then joined Worf over by the shuttles, where the others had taken up position with their phasers. "They already know we've disabled the bridge controls for the outer doors," he said. "Their next step will probably be to try cutting off the life support in here, but Geordi's already bypa.s.sed the individual cutoff switches. They won't be able to close down the system in here without shutting it down throughout the entire ship. As soon as they figure that out, they'll come in here after us."

"Unless they attempt to come in through the tubes," said Worf.

Riker shook his head. "They'd have to come through one at a time, and we could simply pick them off as they came out. No, that isn't Korak's style. He'll come in with a strong frontal a.s.sault. He's got a score to settle with me, and he's not about to let anyone else settle it for him."

Worf glanced at Riker questioningly. "A score?"

"We started something we didn't get a chance to finish," Riker said. "He'll want a crack at me himself, and I'm just dying to give it to him."

The doors leading into the shuttle bay slid open.

"Here they come," said Tyler, holding his phaser ready.

A squad of Romulans rushed into the shuttle bay, firing their disruptors. A score of phaser beams lanced out to meet them. A number of them were struck, and the rest fell back, but one of the shuttles was struck in the hull right over its tanks and the fuel exploded. There were screams as a number of Enterprise crewmen were blown backwards while others scrambled for cover. The Romulans retreated as the fire triggered the automatic control system in the shuttle bay and jets of mist shot down from the ceiling, filling the shuttle bay with chemical fog.

"Korak!" shouted Riker. "Can you hear me, Korak? You wanted a rematch? Come on! Let's finish it! Just you and me!"

"Do you take me for a fool, Riker?" Korak shouted over the roar of the fire-control system. "Do you expect me to come in there alone so you can shoot me down?"

"I'll put down my phaser and meet you in the center of the bay!" shouted Riker. "That way my people can't fire without the risk of hitting me, and your people can't fire without the risk of hitting you! We'll finish our business first. Or are you afraid to have your warriors see you lose?"

"Come out where I can see you!" Korak shouted back. "You have my word of honor as a Romulan warrior that you will not be fired upon?

Riker started to move forward, but Worf grabbed his arm. "You would trust the word of a Romulan?" he said.

"I never thought I'd hear myself saying this," said Riker, "but in this case, yes."

Worf shook his head. "This is not wise."

"It will give Geordi and the others time to reach our people in Ten-Forward," Riker said. "Besides, this is personal."

Worf scowled, then nodded and let go of Riker's arm. Riker stepped out from behind the shuttle and moved toward the center of the bay. Through the fog from the fire-control jets, he saw a figure coming toward him-Korak.

They stopped about fifteen feet apart. Keeping his eyes on Korak, Riker slowly held up his phaser, then laid it down on the deck and stepped away from it. Korak did the same with his disruptor.

"I have waited for this moment," Korak said. "This time, Riker, you die."

"This time there won't be any interruptions to save you," said Riker.

With a snarl Korak moved in to attack.

The transporter chief aboard the Syrinx was unprepared for the sight of two Jean-Luc Picards appearing on the pads, supporting Valak between them and surrounded by the rest of the Romulan away team. In his moment of shock and hesitation, he lost any chance he might have had to act. As he reached for his sidearm a searing pain exploded in his brain. He grabbed his head and dropped to his knees in agony, gasping for breath. An instant later he was stretched out on the deck, unconscious.

"Quickly," said Picard, "we have no time to lose."

"I have already communicated our arrival to the others," his doppelganger replied, in a voice indistinguishable from his. "I perceive your concern for the safety of your ship. Rest a.s.sured, the Syrinx will present no threat to the Enterprise."

Valak was conscious but helpless. The Romulan commander was pale and he trembled slightly. His mouth worked, but no sound came forth. He struggled against the control being imposed upon him, but could not resist it.

Picard's double approached the transporter controls. Two of the Romulan doppelgangers stepped down off the pads, while the others, with Valak, remained where they were. Picard glanced at his double questioningly as he started entering commands into the controls.

A voice spoke in his mind, replying to his question before he could even speak it: "I have obtained the necessary knowledge from the transporter operator's mind to beam the others to the Enterprise from here. We will join them as soon as this vessel is secured."

Picard merely nodded, watching as his double activated the transporter. The thought had been communicated with such confidence that he had no doubt in his mind that they could do it. It was more than a little frightening.

"There is no cause to be frightened," said the voice in his mind. "We mean you no harm."

"I believe that," said Picard. He took a deep breath and exhaled heavily. "However, the thought that you feel you can secure my ship so easily is rather unnerving."

"I understand. The humans from the Independence felt much the same at first. But they have come to accept us, as we have come to accept them."

"Then they are still alive?" Picard said with astonishment.

"Regrettably, they did not all survive."

"I see. After thirty years I suppose that is to be expected," said Picard.

"I regret that those who died did not expire of natural causes."