PROLOGUE: AS THEY
HAVE LIVED - [ 117 HOURS FROM NOW ]
The Helix's view-screen flickered with a familiar face.
"Damaged vessel, this is --------STATIC-------- of --------STATIC--------.
Your ship has been --------STATIC-------- ...no escape. We're
reading your life support --------STATIC-------- unconditional
surrender --------STATIC--------" The enemy called out
the crackling voice.
"'Computer, status report?" Kyle K'Nar called out above
the sound of sparking consoles and the hissing of ruptured system
pipes. He had forgotten that the voice-activated systems had been
damaged in the last melee.
The concussion had to have something to do with his lapse in memory.
The ship's inertial dampers had been knocked off-line, so it tilted
at a slight 7 degree angle, just enough to keep the smoke and
fire from filling his part of the bridge.
Ignoring the repeated hails from the figure on the damaged view-screen,
Kyle stepped over Mia's lifeless body and stumbled to the science
station. He wanted to run a diagnostic on all the damaged systems,
so he routed power from the life support systems and drew up a
schematic of the ship, with an overlay of the effected areas.
He almost laughed, as he watched the entire schematic light up
in bright red, signifying ship-wide damage.
"We're screwed." he whispered to himself with a futile
smile.
He grew extremely lightheaded and his field of vision was being
overtaken by blackness.
Flopping into the nearest chair, he knew there was only one thing
left to do.
FINAL LOG ENTRY: FIELD OFFICER KYLE
K'NAR RECORDING.
For the third time in her long tour of duty, the Starship Helix
has been reduced to a floating carcass. The stand against Section
31 didn't last long. We were outgunned, out-manned, literally
out-everything.
Four minutes ago, Mia and I took blows to the head from flying
shrapnel. I'm in bad shape, but functional. Mia, on the other
hand lost consciousness soon after. She never woke up. I haven't
seen or heard from Alex, or Tash since they left the bridge
for engineering a half hour ago. Somehow they captured Ian and
Jann. My guess is they're already dead. <coughing>.
Before we lost sensors, I logged four Starships in the assault.
Judging that most of the ships had cloaks, there's not telling
how many are left.
<coughing> I know the information we uncovered from the
Favera System is too valuable for the Section to let us escape
with.
If this transmission somehow reaches some one, let the record
show, that the Starship Helix and its crew have served the Federation
with the utmost strength, courage and valor. I take the burden
of blame for what has happened, because I gave him my
trust. <coughing> I welcomed him into my family and he
betrayed us. By the prophets, he betrayed us all.
Before he could finish his transmission,
the ship was rocked by another blast. The Helix pitched 10
more degrees off axis, causing Mia's body to roll onto the foundation
of the captain's chair.
At that moment, the view-screen image change to an external view
of the fleet of Starship attackers. Four ships were in view, all
four, Intrepid-Class Starships.
And as a fifth ship arrived on the scene, decloaking and turning
toward them, Kyle could do nothing else, but ask the question again..
"Why? By the Prophets, why?"
The fifth Starship fired it's phasers.
ACT I: GLITCH - [NOW]
PERSONAL LOG: CAPTAIN ALEXANDER GARRET
RECORDING
It's been roughly a good month for this crew. After uncovering
the renegade Talsh Yar's plot to collapse the Klingon government,
Section 31 has given us a well deserved Leave of Duty. After
a week on Bajor, and three weeks of jumping from resort to resort,
we're en route back to Federation space to assume our day-to-day
duties as Diplomatic Escort. END TRANSMISSION
"For the last time, will you hold still." Doctor Jann
Jaxa told her patient while he squirmed on the medical bed.
"Sorry," Alex replied. "I just don't remember inoculations
hurting like this."
Jann smiled. "It's your body readjusting itself. Your senses
were hypersensitive, thanks in part, to the Borg implants. Now that
they're gone, your body's going to take some time to reset itself
to normal. But still, don't be a big baby."
"That's Captain Big Baby, to you, Doctor."
"Aye, aye, sir." She replied. When she realized she was
smiling, it startled her. Jann Jaxa wasn't a person who put her
emotions on display. After the hell she faced during the Cardassian
Occupation, she was taught that emotion is a weakness to a warrior.
But now, the war was over. She was part of another family now; a
family she's taken for granted all these years.
Alex looked up at her. "What are you so happy about?"
Before she could answer the Helix was rocked by a deafening explosion.
Jann fell backwards into the medical bay's wall, while Alex flipped
off of the table, but was as able to land on his feet.
He tapped his combadge, just as the Red Alert sirens sounded. "Alex
to the bridge. Status report?"
Mia spoke back. "There's been an explosion on level 2. Someone's
tampering with a system panel."
"What's the damage?"
"Nothing major yet. But whoever it is, they're trying to
access the shield and transporter controls."
"Could someone have gotten on the ship without us knowing it?"
"No, but our internal sensors are offline."
"Hold tight, Jann and I are en route. Alex out."
Alex made his way to the weapons locker and tossed Jann a phaser
rifle.
"Care to take a trip?" Alex said.
Jann looked at him suspicious. "You're just trying to get out
of more inoculations, aren't you."
Alex smiled.
Eric was startled by the red alert sirens. But he knew he couldn't
let it deter him from his task. His fingers made their way through
the mesh of wires and circuits in the exposed access panel.
"Eric?" a female voice called out from behind him.
He turned to see a human man and a Bajoran woman wearing Starfleet
uniforms. Strangely, they weren't the usual gold, red, and blue
colors of the typical uniforms. Their purplish tint classified them
a ‘special forces'
They were Section...
"Oh God!" Eric whispered with a frightened voice, as he
frantically returned to tinkering with the access panel.
"Eric, what are out doing?" Alex called out to him. But
his crewman ignored him and kept on working. "Why doesn't he
answer?"
Jann started to slowly approach Eric, but was met by an invisible
forcefield. She walked along the edge of the barrier until she could
get a good look at his face.
"Eric, do you here me?" she called out again.
He quickly glanced over at her, and she saw the frightened look
in his eyes. It was the look of the caged animal. The look of someone
who was running for his life.
"Alex, he doesn't know who we are, or where he is."
Just then, Mia hailed them. "Bridge to Alex."
"Go ahead." He replied.
"Found the culprit?"
"It's Eric. He's tinkering inside the access panel, and he's
not responding to us."
"You have to stop him. He's accessing transporter controls."
Jann tapped her combadge and entered the conversation. "We
can't reach him, he's erected a level 4 forcefield."
"Stand by" Tash's voice entered. "I'll
see if I can bypass his lockouts."
"Uh oh." Jann called out.
"What?"
"I thought you guys said Eric didn't have any advanced knowledge
of Starship technology?"
"He doesn't."
"Well" she cocked her head to the side and squinted. "I
can't really see that well, but it looks like he's using the conduit
panels to build a makeshift control pad." She looked back at
Alex. "That's pretty advanced stuff."
"Alex" Mia returned. "He's trying to bypass
the lockouts and beam himself off the ship."
"Where?"
"5000 kilometers directly off the port side."
"There's nothing out there."
"He thinks he's somewhere else!" Jann added with a look
of concern.
"He'll kill himself!"
"Time for some tuff love." Jann whispered as he pointed
her phaser at another nearby access panel. She fired a quick shot,
causing the access lid to be blown completely off.
"What are you doing?" Alex said.
"Pulling a little trick Kyle taught me." She replied pulling
a small control pad from within the mesh of wires.
"Alex, he's gained control of the transporter systems!"
"Stand by, Mia." Jann said. "He's not going anywhere."
Suddenly, the access panel Eric was using exploded with a loud crash.
His body was thrown into the forcefield and then, lifelessly to
the floor.
Alex looked at Jann Jaxa in shock. "What the hell was that?"
"I found the hardwired systems he was using and sent a feedback
surge through the conduit. Pure brilliance, if you ask me."
"You could've killed him!"
"He was gonna kill himself anyway. I just played the odds and
won."
Alex wanted to scold her, but realized it was the kind of thing
Kyle taught him to do also.
"Yeah. Well good point."
"Ouch!" Eric yelled as he tried to pull his head away
from the Dermal Regenerator, Jann was using to heal the 2nd degree
burn scars on his face.
"I swear, you people are a bunch of crybabies!" Jann said
with a chuckle.
"Maybe it's your bedside manner, ya crazy quack!" Eric
fired back.
"Here, here." Alex added with a grin.
"Well if you guys are done abusing the doctor, I'd like to
get to the bottom of what the hell just happened." Mia interjected.
At that moment everyone looked at Eric, who was still flinching
at the Dermal Regenerator's beam, erasing the puffy scar-tissue
on his cheek and neck.
"I told you guys…" he explained. "…the last thing
I remember was Mia relieving me from the bridge. I recorded my officer's
log for the day, and then went to bed."
"Then what?" Kyle asked.
"I woke up here with you guys standing over me. That's it."
"So you don't remember trying to beam yourself off the ship?"
"Mia, judging by how hard it is for you to get me in one of
those pad-thingies, you think I'd voluntarily try to beam myself
anywhere? Let alone, the fact that I don't know how to operate the
equipment."
"Well you were doing a pretty good job at it an hour ago."
Jann added as she finished his treatment.
"She's right." Tash added. "I checked your little
custom job on the access panel. I've never seen anyone cross-patch
a ships systems that way. You found a way to bypass any and all
security lockouts."
At that moment they could see the nervousness on Eric's face. It
was apparent he had no clue of what was happening.
He turned to Jann who had placed a concerned hand on his shoulder.
"What the hell is wrong with me?"
"We're gonna find out." She replied. "That's everyone's
cue to get out of here. My patient and I have some work to do.."
Alex's combadge chirped.
He quickly tapped it. "Go ahead, Ian."
"Incoming subspace message, Boss. It's Chapel."
"I'll get it in the conference room. Garret out."
Mia smiled. "I guess he knows you're back in charge again."
"Oh joy." He smiled back. "Any tips on dealing with
him?"
Mia glanced up at a smirking Kyle and then started to walk toward
the door. "Nope. No one can tell how to deal with Walter Chapel.
You have to experience him for yourself"
A few minutes later, Alex entered the conference room and found
a seat at one of the communication screens. He took a deep breath
and tried to calm himself. It had been almost a month since he'd
been back with Team Helix, and he'd never heard from this mysterious
Chapel, that the others referred to.
I took deep breath and activated the view-screen. "This is
Captain Alexander Garret of the Starship Helix."
Chapel's chiseled features filled the screen. "Mr. Garret.
The last thing I heard was you were dead."
"Yep. I was, but I'm much better now."
Chapel frowned at him in confusion.
Alex sighed. "Note to self…" he whispered under his breath.
"No more jokes with the brass."
"I was expecting the Helix's weekly progress report in my
in-basket an hour ago. I was calling to see what was the hold up."
"Oh. Sorry sir. I was preparing the files for transfer, when
we ran into a slight mystery aboard."
"Explain."
"Something happened to Eric Beckett an hour ago. He freaked
out and tried to beam himself off the ship for no reason."
For a moment, Alex saw a glimmer of surprise in the man's face.
But the expression was quickly covered up.
"Is he all right?" Chapel asked.
"Yes Sir. We managed to stop him before he finished.. When
we got him to sick bay, he said he couldn't remember anything."
"Interesting. Any clues as to why this happened?"
"Nothing right now. But Jann's working on it."
"Well keep me informed. In the mean time, I want those reports
on my desk within the hour. Is that clear, Captain Garret?"
"Yes Sir. Consider it done."
As the screen went blank, Alex had an uneasy feeling about the conversation.
Something in Chapel's voice and demeanor didn't sit right with him.
He sighed. "That was… fun."
Chapel feverously paced the floor until his entrance hail sounded.
"Come." He called out.
The doors swung open and Sorann, his '#1', entered.
"You summoned me?" the Vulcan asked in a monotone voice.
"Yes, Mr. Sorann. We have a slight problem."
"Judging from your posture and the perspiration on your forehead,
I would have to say the problem is far from slight."
"Very perceptive, Vulcan." Chapel found his way to his
seat. "I just finished speaking with Team Helix's returning
Captain."
"Mr. Garret? Is he"
"No." Chapel stopped him. "As far as I can tell,
there's no change in him. The problem is with our Mr. Beckett."
He watched Sorann's right eyebrow slightly raise. "It seems
he had some type of panic attack and tried to beam himself off of
the ship. The rest of the team managed to detain him. But he now
claims that he can't remember the incident."
"Fascinating. Mr. Beckett his showing undocumented side effects
from the treatment."
"My sentiments exactly. I think it's time for you to bless
me with the language of logic."
"There is only one logical course of action. Damage control."
Chapel smiled. "You think we can still salvage the operation?"
"Yes. But we will have to act fast. We have no data on what
will happen next to Mr. Beckett. So, we will need to get in and
control the situation."
"Agreed." Chapel said. "Send a communication to the
Helix. Make up some mission for them to follow through. Tell
them they're picking up supplies or something at specific coordinates.
Then find the nearest Starships in that area and have them detain
the Helix until we can reach them."
ACT II: ?THE DE-EDUCATION OF ERIC BECKETT
MISSION LOG: CAPTAIN ALEXANDER GARRET
RECORDING
We've received orders from Section 31, to rendezvous with a
Cardassian freighter and received supplies to be delivered to
Deep Space Nine.
Unfortunately, with the unstable condition of Eric Beckett,
I think It'd be more prudent to send a partial team to handle
the job.
END TRANSMISSION
"Are you sure you want us to be the ones doing this?"
Jann said to Alex as she and Ian stood at the door to The Betty,
the Helix's detachable runabout. Serving as the nose of the
Valiant-Class Starship, It can be detached and used as a separate
transport, our attack fighter.
"Yeah Boss." Ian added. "I think of all the people
on board, we like the Cardassian the least."
"That's why I'm sending you." Alex answered. "The
Dominion War has humbled them considerably."
"Beg your pardon, Sir. But that doesn't excuse what they did
to my people."
"I understand that, Doctor. But you and Ian are part of this
Team. And I need you to do this for me. Everyone else will be busy
with repairs to the ship."
"But Eric"
"He'll be fine. It's only a day's trip both ways, at Warp 7
and the Betty can do that easy."
Reluctantly, Jann and Ian agreed. And as the runabout's hatched
close behind him, he started to wish that he told them the truth.
His conversation with Chapel had been bothering him for hours. He
knew the old man was up to something, and when it happened he didn't
wanted to have the entire team exposed.
About five yards away from a sleeping Eric, Mia browsed on Jann's
computer, searching through the Federation's medical database. While
the Doctor was gone, she promised to finish up the preliminary research
for her. Normally, this wouldn't take too long, but Jann Jaxa's
filing system has a lot to be desired. Coming from a background
of working for the Bajoran Resistance, she was accustomed to keeping
her files fragmented as a way of encrypting them from prying eyes.
When she finally did find Eric's file, she was surprise by the sheer
size of it. For someone who can barely remember is duty schedule,
his medical checkup history for the past five years was near perfect.
And then she saw why.
"Mia to Tash?" she said tapping her combadge.
"Go ahead." Her brother responded.
"Do me a favor and take a look at the data I'm browsing on
the main medical console."
"Stand by…" and after a few seconds. "I'm
online. Eric's med-files, right?"
"Yeah. Take a look at his check up history and tell me what
you see?"
"Hmmm. Annual checkups, a few touch ups for cuts and scrapes.
I don't see anything out of the ordinary."
"Check out the update log."
"The entire file was updated 15 months ago. Still, nothing
out of the ordinary."
"Don't you think it's strange that the entire file was updated
at the same time? Isn't there usually incremental updates?"
"Yeah, that's typical. But updating the entire file at once
isn't that uncommon."
Mia sighed. "Yeah, I guess. I was just thinking that if…"
Before she could finish her sentence, she felt the tight grip of
a forearm wrap around her neck from behind. She was quickly pulled
up and dragged out of her seat. Normally, she'd quickly utilize
her Vulcan strength and try to overpower her attacker, but she was
lifted off of her feet, with her legs flailing in the air. She tried
to gasp for air through her capture's grip.
"Mia, what happened? Mia!!!" Tash on the other
end of the communication could hear the commotion.
She was then tossed aside, causing her to topple end over end across
the floor. She managed to gain her senses just in time to see Eric
Beckett dropping her combadge on the floor and smashing it under
his foot.
As he turned to look at her, she saw a look in his eyes that was
alien. He wasn't the man they grew to know and love. It also, wasn't
the person that tried to beam his self off the helix hours before.
This was a stranger.
"Where the hell am I?" he said, his voice a tad bit deeper
than normal.
Mia pulled herself up, still trying to catch her breath. "You're
home, Eric."
"Don't lie to me! Where's my father?"
"Father? I don't…"
Eric quickly lunged for Mia and grappled her by the neck.. But this
time she was ready. She pushed her forearm up at his wrist, causing
him to break his hold. She then, sent a palm thrust to his chest,
pushing him into the air and across the room.
"Eric. You're sick." She tried to reason with him. "I
don't want to hurt you. You have to believe I'm just trying to help
you."
"Sorry, Vulcan." Eric replied as he slowly pulled himself
to his feet. "I make it rule not to believe anything that comes
agents of The PROGRAM?"
"The PROGRAM?" she whispered to herself. At that moment
she didn't have a clue of what was going on. She knew she had to
contain the situation, and that meant containing him. And as she
dashed for Jann's desk to grab the phaser that was sitting on the
desk, her heart skipped a beat when she realized that it had disappeared.
"Got'cha." She heard Eric say from behind her.
She turned around just in time to see the golden phaser stream strike
her in the stomach. The blast sent her into violent convulsions
and flailing on the floor. At this point, she had no control of
her body. As every muscle jerked uncontrollably, she could do nothing,
but watch as Eric slowly approached her, phaser in hand.
"You got lucky." He said with a smile. "I didn't
have time to change the phaser to a higher setting." He then
tapped a few buttons on the weapon. "But now, I have more than
enough time."
Mia wanted to call out to him, but she still didn't have all her
faculties.
"Sorry about all this." He said with a smile, pointing
his phaser at her chest. "You can't be permitted to continue."
In one last gesture, Mia raised her hand up at him.
Eric's finger brushed trigger button, as something inside him clicked.
For a fraction of a second, some part of him screamed to stop..
He stared into Mia's shocked eyes and felt a sense of apprehension.
And that was all the time the cavalry needed.
"Eric, drop it!" Tash yelled from the entranceway.
As Eric turned in surprise, Kyle fired a phaser shot, which hit
him in the stomach. The phaser fell from his grasp as he fell to
the floor unconscious.
Tash quickly made his way to his sister. "How are we feeling?"
"All little toasted on the edges." She replied.. "Could
you guys be any later?"
Tash smiled. "What type of heroes would we be if we didn't'
wait until the last second to rescue the damsel?"
"Point taken." she said as he help her to her feet. "Get
me that tricorder on the desk." She said, slowly making her
way to Eric.
Kyle handed her the medical device. "What are you doing?"
"Playing a hunch." She replied, running a scan on his
head. "The Eric that attacked me wasn't our Eric. He wasn't
the Eric that tried to beam himself off of the ship, either."
"Multiple personalities?" Tash joined in.
"That's my guess." Mia replied assessing the data. "Or
not. You're not going to believe this, but there's a 22% increase
of memory engrams, since Jann did her scan three hours ago."
"I'm guessing that usually doesn't happen?"
Mia tapped her combadge. "Mia to Alex."
"Go ahead?" the Captain replied.
"Get Chapel online and meet us in the Ready Room."
"This better be good, Captain." Chapel said on
the view-screen in the Helix's conference room. "I had to
delay leaving drydock for this meeting."
"Sorry for the delay. Sir. But we're having some problems with
the Beckett situation." Alex replied.
"Go ahead."
Mia spoke. "Fifteen minutes ago, he attacked me. Tried to kill
me, actually. Sir, this isn't the Eric Beckett that joined our team.
Something's happening to him, and with Jann gone, I'm at a loss
for what to do."
"Where is Dr. Jaxa?"
"Taking care of the Cardassian rendezvous, Sir." Alex
replied.
Chapel seemed annoyed. "I told you to handle that situation,
Captain!"
"I know, Sir. But with Eric's condition, I thought that."
"Excuse me!" Mia chimed in. "Can we get back to Eric
trying to kill me?"
"Listen to me, Captain. I want you to rendezvous with me
at the coordinates I'm transmitting now. Not a partial team. I want
all of you present."
"Understood."
"Very good. I'll have a team of cerebral specialists to
attend to Eric's problems. Chapel out."
The screen changed to the Federation insignia as Mia turned to Alex
with a concerned look on her face.
"What do you think?" he asked her.
"I don't know. Chapel's never been a ‘hands-on' type of person.
The fact that he's coming to us in person tells me that there's
more to this problem than meets the eye." She headed for the
door. "I'll go keep an eye on Eric. Have you heard from the
Betty?"
"No." Alex replied. "But they're still in transit.
We should get a progress report from Jann when the rendezvous is
completed.
FIRST OFFICER'S LOG: COMMANDER MIA
GAN-AN'WAR RECORDING
Eric's situation has gotten worse. His psychotic episodes have
increased by 80% since the initial diagnosis, and with Jann
away, I don't know what I can do for him.
END TRANSMISSION
"This is ridiculous, Mia!" Eric yelled from behind the
containment barrier in sickbay. "You don't have to keep me
locked up like a damn animal!"
"Well, I have an extremely tender midsection from a phaser
shot, which tells me otherwise." she replied, not diverting
her attention from the medical equipment. "An hour ago, you
tried to kill me."
"But I don't remember!"
"And that's what scaring me. The person that tried to kill
me wasn't you, but it was you. Just like the frightened man trying
to beam himself off the ship."
"Mia, please. You're stumbling around here, like a 1st year
medical student. Jann's been training me in her operations. I'd
be a big help in finding the right files."
"Sorry." She replied, finally pulling her head up to look
at him. "It's better this way."
He went back to his bed and sulked. "Jann wouldn't keep me
locked up in this place." He mumbled.
"Well, Jann thinks you're cute. I don't." she mumbled
back.
"What? What did you say?" Eric said springing to life.
"Oh, nothing." She replied with a smile.
Just then, the entrance door slid open revealing Alex and Tash discussing
the information on a message pad. As they enter, they took a few
moment to stare at Eric.
"What? What's wrong?" he asked them.
Tash stepped forward. "I cashed in a few favors from some friends
in Starfleet to obtained some information about your incarceration.
According to the files, you were in Penstor Colony prison or 27
months."
"Right." Eric replied. "Wrongfully accused, I'd like
to add."
"Well, I decided to bypass the proper channels and interview
several inmates that were in the same lockup area as you."
"And?"
"Look at this?" Tash motioned for Mia to drop the forcefield.
She did so and he handed Eric the message pad.
"What am I looking at?" he asked.
Tash walked alongside him and pointed to the right directory. "Look
at this list of names and tell me if you know any of them."
Eric scanned the list quickly and started to smile. "I know
all these guys! Hell, I couldn't have made through two years without
them."
"That's funny" Tash said with an uncharacteristic smile.
"They didn't remember you, at first."
"At first?" Mia chimed in. "Explain?"
"When I interviewed all seven men directly, four of them claimed
never to have met Eric."
Eric looked up surprised. "That's impossible. I can remember
every man on this list. I was the prison commerce person. All these
men use to come to me for outside purchases of goods."
"I thought that was strange, so I contacted them again a few
hours later. They ALL miraculously got their memory back and recalled
Eric fondly."
"Someone got to them?" Mia asked.
"We think so." Alex answered. "By Tash not using
the proper channels, they didn't have time to prepare their stories."
Eric handed the message pad back to Tash. "I don't understand.
I was there for two years! I remember the day I first arrived and
got the snot beat out of me by two Klingons who wanted by shoes.
I remember the day I was stabbed for helping a Betazoid kid from
getting killed by the guards. I remember… everything."
"What was your favorite meal, there?" Tash quickly asked.
"That's easy. It was Romulan Bread Pudding." Eric answered
with a smile. "It the was only place I could ever find it."
"What did it taste like?"
Eric opened his mouth to answer, but then realized that nothing
came out. His mind raced through the million memories of eating
the pudding. "It tasted like…. pudding, I guess."
"That's not good enough." Tash pressed. "Was it sweet?
Salty? I need specifics."
Eric tried to recall the memory of what his favorite meal tasted
like, but nothing would come.
"What about the texture? The smell? Come on, give me something."
When Eric's eyes met his, Tash realized what had happened. He had
heard of this happening to members of the Talsh Yar, but he'd never
come across an actual taste.
He walked to the replicator. "Computer, access temporary settings
for Tash Gan-An'War."
"SETTING FOUND." The computer replied.
"I want a bowl of Romulan Bread Pudding, normal setting."
"What are you doing?" Eric asked.
"I'm proving a theory." He pulled the newly created bowl
of pudding from the replicator and walked to Eric. "While I
was in the prison database, I copied the menus. I remembered you
telling everyone about the pudding."
Eric, smiling grabbed the bowl and dipped his finger in the warm
texturing pudding. After a big swirl, he licked the coating off
his finger.
After five seconds of uncertainty, he began to violently spit out
the contents, heaving from the aroma.
"That's not Romulan Bread Pudding!" he screamed.
"Yes it is." Tash replied. "The reason you didn't
remember anything about the pudding, is because you never had it.
You were never a resident of the correctional facility. It was all
a lie."
"You've been brainwashed, Eric." Alex added. "They
planted the memories in you, to cover up whatever it is they don't
want you to remember. They gave you an extensive memory file, but
they couldn't simulate smell and taste.
"My God." Eric softly spoke, burying his face in his hands.
"Who are they? And if your right, and I know something they
don't want anyone else to know, why am I still alive? Why didn't
they just kill me"
"We don't know… yet." Tash said. "But we have
a pretty good idea who does know…"
"Deputy Director on the bridge!" An officer said as Chapel
and Sorann exited the turbo lift to take command of the Intrepid-Class
U.S.S. Normandy. The entire bridge quickly stood at attention.
"As you were." Chapel replied as he made his way to the
captain's chair. Sorann took his place in the seat to his left.
He opened a communication channel throughout the ship. "Crew
of the Normandy. I am Starfleet Deputy Director Walter Chapel
from Federation Intelligence. As of this moment, I'm assuming command
of this vessel until otherwise noted. We are about to embark on
a secret mission to retrieve a band of terrorists responsible for
crimes against the Federation. Mr. Sorann will be my eyes and ears
to this crew. We leave within the hour. Chapel out."
He motioned to Sorann. "Alter the ‘capture' order of the Helix.
Let them know that they should be looking for a modified runabout
with Starfleet markings."
"And after the capture?" Sorann asked.
"Have them contact me here. We'll have them diverted to our
rendezvous with the Helix."
"Do you think we still have enough time to make this work?"
"It has to be. Eric is our last, best hope of keeping this
from getting bloody. Let's just hope the others don't find out our
little secret before it's time…"
Ian had been studying Jann Jaxa for the past hours. She sat motionless,
staring at the warped stars flying back at them in the main view-screen.
It had been almost four hours since the boarded and separated the
Betty from the nose of the Helix, and set out on their
mission.
Every once and awhile, she'd snap out of it and ask for the status
report. But within a few minutes, she would lapse back into her
vegetative state.
Ian knew where her thoughts were. "You're worried about him?"
He said with a smile.
"Huh?" she turned to him semi-startled. "What was
that?"
"Your worried about him, aren't you?"
At first she wanted to deny the question, shrug him off. But he
could always tell when she was lying, After the death of her sister
Sito, Ian grew to be like a brother to her. He literally was
the closest thing she had to family.
"Don't play stupid, Doc. You're worried about what's happening
to him."
"Of course I am. Eric's our crewmate. I'm concerned about the
welfare of all our…"
"Blah, blah, blah…" he interrupted her with a smirk.
"You and I both know, that Eric Beckett means more to you than
just another crewmate."
She blushed, in her non-emotional way. "Is it that obvious?"
"To me, it is. I don't think the rest of the team's figured
it out… not even Eric." Ian had to tread lightly on the
subject. Even though they were close, Jann Jaxa was not the type
to open up to people. "So… how long?"
She took a deep breath. "The past couple months. Mia assigned
me to teach him some medical basics." She smiled. "At
times, he can be the most annoying person in the universe. But other
times, he can be…" she glanced over and saw the biggest
smile on Ian's face.
Her guard quickly went back up. "Uh… We're close to the rendezvous
point. Slow to impulse." Jann ordered
"Aye, aye ma'am." He replied, knowing he'd pushed too
far. She would tell him the details in her own time. He ran his
fingers along he flight controls and they both watched as the stars
streaking pass them, suddenly become still.
That's when the strange readings caught his eye on the sensors.
"Uh, Jann. Are Cardassian freighters equipped with cloaking
devices?" he asked.
"No." she replied accessing he sensors.
"Then we have unexpected company. 32,000 kilometers to port."
"Klingons, Romulans?"
"Nope. The readings are all wrong. I'll try and recalibrate
the sensors to scan for…"
Suddenly, three transporter signals appeared in the back of the
cockpit. Both of them stood as the signals transformed into three
Starfleet security officers. The two humans were strangers, but
Jann and Ian immediately recognized the Nausican leading the team.
"Stand down your ship, Bajorans." Krag said with Authority.
"By order of the U.S.S. Atlantis, and Starfleet, you
are under arrest for crimes against the United Federation of Planets."
Jann and Ian both spoke in unison. "Again?!"
MISSION LOG: CAPTAIN ALEXANDER GARRET
RECORDING
Our rendezvous orders with Chapel have been modified and we've
reached the designated coordinates. With what we know about
the Eric's condition and the possible ties with the Section,
we're proceeding with caution.
A buoy has been launched with a coded message to Jann &
Ian aboard the Betty. If we somehow don't make it past
this point, they'll need to carry the torch.
END TRANSMISSION
"Here he comes." Tash said from the communications station
on the bridge. "An Intrepid-Class starship just dropped out
of warp. 80,000 kilometers ahead of us."
"On screen." Alex said.
The U.S.S. Normandy appeared on the view-screen cruising
toward them at maximum impulse.
"What are they doing?" Mia asked.
"Nothing out of the ordinary." Tash turned to her. "It's
a normal approach pattern. But to be honest, I couldn't tell either
way, due to the damage Eric did to the sensors with his little stunt.."
"Everybody ready?" Alex. He watched at Mia, Tash, and
Kyle, his remaining crewmates nodded in unison. "Good. Raised
the shields and stand by."
Tash was the first to see the hail signal. "It's Chapel on
the line."
"Showtime…" Alex whispered to himself. Then he signaled
to Tash to put the signal through.
Their boss's image appeared on the front screen.
"Hello Team." Chapel spoke, with a confident grin.
"Glad to see you here and on time."
"We aim to please, Sir." Alex replied, rising from his
chair and taking a few steps toward the large screen. "What's
the situation?"
"Nothing major. We just have a few things to discuss."
"I'm assuming it's about Eric."
Chapel paused for a second, and then grinned again. "Very
perceptive, Alex. It's, indeed about Eric. There are a few things
going on that you and your team aren't aware of."
"You mean, like his fragmented memory, which has been totally
tampered with by someone?"
This time, Chapel didn't grin. "I'm assuming you had another
incident?"
"Not really. The attack on Mia is still holding up as the clincher."
"Unfortunate."
"Very unfortunate." Alex said with authority. "He's
been confined to the sickbay until we can determine what's wrong
with him."
"As of this moment, it's no longer your problem, Captain."
Chapel was through playing games. "You will drop your shields
and get ready to be boarded."
"I'm afraid we can't do that, Sir." Mia said stepping
forward. "We prefer to keep this matter internal until we can
figure out what's happening to him." She smiled. "You
know... contamination protocols and all that crap."
"Mia please, we all want what's best for him."
"Great. Now tell us what you did to him, and how we can cure
him."
Alex watched the screen as Chapel's face grew cold and stoned. He
knew they were treading dangerously close to the edge of this situation.
Chapel surely had brought some backup. Now he was hoping the Helix
was ready for a fight.
"Like I said before, Commander. I don't know any…"
"We're not biting, Sir!" Mia blurted out. "We will
not turn over our crewmate until we fully understand what's happening
to him."
"I'm afraid you don't have a choice in the matter, young
lady."
They watched has he motioned to Sorann, who was offscreen to his
right. Suddenly, Tash's console alerts sprang to life.
"Alex, something's happening outside." Tash said. "I'm
switching to external view."
Around the U.S.S. Normandy, four distortion fields materialized
into Intrepid-Class Starships, which were station on all sides of
Chapel's flagship.
"Cloaked Starships?" Kyle said. "I'm betting these
guys aren't here to say hi."
Chapel reappeared with a smiled. "You're forcing my hand,
team. I wanted to do this diplomatically."
"Do what, sir?" Alex shouted. "What do you have to
do with Eric?"
"I don't have time to play with you, Mr. Garret. This fleet
has their weapons locked on you and are waiting my command. The
medical staff has informed me Eric has 4 hours before his condition
becomes life threatening. That means you have 3 hours to drop your
shields and let us board, or we'll…"
"You'll what?"
"Or we'll do it by force!"
With that, the image went blank, leaving only the Federation symbol
in mid-screen.
"Guys, what the hell just happened?" Kyle said in a puzzled
look in his face.
Alex turned to him, with a deep breath. "Well, it looks like
we just been fired from Section 31."
ACT III: LAYERS
"Krag to the Commodore." A voice spoke from Commodore
Dimitri Andreyevich's combadge.
"Go ahead." He replied.
"We just beamed aboard with the prisoners and we're preceding
to lock up."
"No. Bring them to me."
"Understood. Krag out." The Nausican finished.
Dimitri sat in his ready room, staring out the large floor-window
at the stars. He was recalling the last time he was assigned to
retrieve the crew of the Helix. He knew the power they possessed.
The last time Starfleet suspected them of treachery, a temporal
wave swept across the universe and altered reality itself. They
managed to restore it at the last second. But the thought of them
running lose in his backyard sent chills down his spine.
The entrance hail sounded.
"Come." Dimitri called out.
The door slid pen to reveal Jann Jaxa and Ian Rojeti being escorted
by armed guards. When Jann saw Dimitri rising to his feet, she felt
the same sick feeling in her stomach, that she felt the last time
he placed her teammates under arrest.
"I should've known." She said in disgust. "Hello
Commodore. Being Chapel's lapdog really suits you well."
"Calm down, Dr. Jaxa." He replied. "I'm no one's
lapdog. I'm just doing my job."
"Arresting innocent people?"
He saw the hurt in her eyes. "Your team has been charged with
escaping prison, and multiple counts of espionage by Starfleet Intelligence.
You honestly didn't think that Mia, Tash and Kyle could hide for
long, did you?"
"Maybe you should try and use your brain for once." Ian
butted in. "You actually think three people in separate correctional
facilities, separated each by lightyears, could escape at the same
time?"
"It's not my job to figure out what happened, kid. My job it
to find your them and bring them back to the authorities. Only this
time, you two are on the list also. So, if you do the smart thing
and tell where the others are, the courts may grant you leniency.
"
"We won't talk."
"Then we'll bring you directly to Chapel. He'll deal with you."
When he said the man's name, he watched both of them get extremely
agitated. Interesting…
"Chapel doesn't want us to talk." Jann said. "If
you bring us to him, we'll disappear… permanently, just like
everyone else that's fallen out of his graces."
"The man isn't what he seems." Ian added. "He released
our teammates to work for him and Section 31."
"Then why is he trying to apprehend you now?"
"It has something to do with another member of the team, Eric
Beckett." Jann sighed. "He's been experiencing some fragmented
memory decompression. He's recalling things that he can't explain."
"So Mr. Beckett has something to do with all this."
"We don't know…" Jann knew she was losing the conversation.
"All I know is that everything is pointing to Section 31, and
Eric maybe the key to saving Alex and the rest of them."
"Alex?" Dimitri's eyes widened. "Garret? Our records
show that he's dead. The Axis Power claimed him."
"Well he's back. And I'm guessing it's messed up Chapel's scheme.
You can't let this go down, Commodore."
He thought for a second. Staring at Jann and Ian, Dimitri knew they
were scared. And for a second, he wanted to explain to them, his
situation. He wanted to let the cat out of the bag and show them
he's not an evil man they think he is. But years of experience,
has shown him that sticking to the plan is the best way the help
everyone involved."
"I have me orders. I'm deeply sorry." Dimitri replied,
putting his head down. "Take them to the holding cells."
As they were being led out, Jann looked at Dimitri one last time.
"You should be proud, Commodore. Starfleet needs more puppets
like you."
Dimitri didn't look at her. "Thank you…"
Alex Garret quickly made his way into sickbay, where Mia and Eric
were waiting.
"How's the situation?" Mia asked.
"Unchanged." Alex replied. "We're basically still
surrounded." He looked at Eric. "How much time?"
he whispered to Mia.
"His blackouts occur around ever 43 minutes. He should get
another one in 30 seconds."
Alex made his way to the defense barrier, where Eric was sitting
inside.
"How you feeling, champ?" Alex said with a smile.
"Like a damn' caged animal. How do you think?" Eric replied
with a frown.
"Sorry about this, but it's necessary. Did Mia fill you in?"
"Yeah. Honestly, I don't know what the hell is going on. I've
never met, nor heard of Chapel or Section 31 until Kyle.."
Suddenly, he grabbed his head in fell to his knees. "Make it
stop!!" he screamed.
"Mia…" Alex called out.
She looked worried. "There's nothing I can do."
In a few seconds, Eric slowly looked up at them. His eyes were wide
with fear. "Where am I?"
Alex played a hunch. "You're aboard my ship. Who are you?"
"Dyson. Lt. Harry Dyson. Starfleet Security. How did I get
here?"
"We found you unconscious." Alex lied.
"Did the Admiral make it off Memphis Base?" he asked,
suddenly noticing he was in a containment field.
"Admiral?" Mia questioned.
"We were under attacked by sentries in black uniforms. They
swarmed the base before we could escape. The Admiral sent me to
get our soldiers to safety when they attacked…." He suddenly
grabbed his head again and fell to the floor.
"Computer, disengage the containment field!" Mia yelled
as she ran to his side.
"Is he all right?" Alex asked.
"Yeah, for now. He's unconscious, but breathing. Alex, I don't
know how long he can take this memory decompression."
"He'll have to hold on." He replied, tapping his combadge.
"Alex to Tash."
"Go ahead." The Vulcan spoke.
"I need you to run a check on something called ‘Memphis Base.
Use all the databases, including Section 31."
"Chapel's blocked our access to the main database, but I'll
check the backup I made from last week. Tash out."
After putting Eric to bed, and reactivating the defense barrier,
Mia walked to Alex.
"Do you think Tash will find anything?"
"I don't know. But we got less than three hours to pull a rabbit
out of our hat. And I don't have a clue how we're going to do it."
Chapel watched the small Valiant-Class starship suspended in mid-space.
For almost a year, the Helix had been the Section's flagship
for preemptive strikes against possible aggressors. The beauty of
the whole operation was that Team Helix was totally clueless of
their transgressions.
They are the perfect soldiers… at least they were.. They
never asked questions. They obtained their mission objectives and
put their lives on the line to achieve their goals.
He was gong to miss them…
…but the truth is, they had lived out their usefulness. And
in a matter of months, there wouldn't be a need for a Team Helix,
or a Section 31, or even a Starfleet. He will have access to the
ultimate power. A technology that he'd use to bring the Alpha Quadrant
to it's senses.
All other Empires and Alliances would be rendered obsolete. It's
the only way his new order would work. But he was a caring man.
He would offer any and every alien race the option of become members
of the Federation. It's the least he could do….
…because the alternative would be unthinkable.
"Everything seems to be in place." Sorann reported, bringing
Chapel out of his thoughts.
"Very good. We have to make sure that they are contained from
the very start. If Eric is harmed in any way, it could jeopardize
everything we've worked for."
"All contingencies have been implemented. Fearing for Eric's
well-being, there's a 92.3% chance they'll try to escape."
"And we're ready?"
"As much as we'll be. There are no other logical precautions
to evaluate."
"That's the Vulcan response I needed." Chapel said with
a smile.
The communications officer turned to Chapel. "Sir, there's
an incoming message from the U.S.S. Atlantis."
"Put it through." Chapel replied.
After a couple seconds, Commodore Dimitri Andreyevich's face appeared
on the screen.
"Hello, Mr. Chapel." He said.
"Hello, Commodore. It's nice to hear from you again.."
Chapel responded, rising from his command chair and walking close
to the view-screen. "What can I do for you?"
"We intercepted your bulletin for the escaped prisoners
and their accomplices."
"Yes, well that order has been recalled. We currently have
the Helix cornered here in the Favera System."
"I see. We apprehended two of the secondary officers, Jann
Jaxa, and Ian Rojeti at the coordinates you relayed. He have them
under guard and are currently en route for your position
Chapel smiled. This was an expected bonus. "Excellent, Commodore.
It seems I can always rely on you and your crew in a crisis."
Dimitri paused for a second, as if Chapel's words stung him.
"Just doing our job, Sir. We're less than an hour away at
Warp 6.. Andreyevich out."
Chapel sat back in the commander chair and leaned over toward Sorann.
"This is turning out better than expected, hey Mr. Vulcan?"
Sorann raised an eyebrow.
MISSION LOG: CAPTAIN ALEXANDER GARRET
RECORDING
We have an hour and thirteen minutes left to turn Eric over
to the Section, and we're still stuck at square one. Eric has
been drifting in and out of personas, and with every episode,
the stress on his brain is becoming dangerous.
I'm currently at a loss. We can try and escape Chapel's task
force, but that still wouldn't help Eric's condition. We can
turn him over to Chapel, but what fate would we be subjecting
our teammate to, let alone what would happen to us in the aftermath.
I'm hoping my team can pull another miracle out of thin air,
like it's done so many times before.
END TRANSMISSION
The turbo lift to the Helix's bridge opened and Alex stepped
off and found his seat in the Captain's Chair.
"All right, who's gonna be the standout hero this time, and
get us out of this mess?" He said with an uneasy smile. He
looked around and saw Tash, Mia, and Kyle shrugging their shoulders.
"Come on, guys. I'll take anything you got. Stupid ideas, idiotic
references… anything!"
"There's nothing yet." Mia stepped up. "We have a
number of untested weapons to access, but there's no telling what
effect it'll have on those ships out there, or us. Remember, most
of those people out there are innocent officers following orders.
They don't deserve to die because their unsuspectingly following
a madman."
"Agreed. What about that ‘Subspace Pulse' canon we acquired
from the Breen?"
"It's functional, but untested. Besides, Chapel has the specs.
It's a sure bet he has some type of contingency for it."
"We'll have to take the chance. Now all we need is a destination."
Alex catches movement from Tash out the corner of his eye. The Vulcan
looked like he was going to say something, but then stopped.
"Tash you were going to say something?" Alex called to
him.
"Yes, but it's a dead end." He replied.
"Man, I'll take anything right now. Come on, share with the
group."
Tash took a deep sigh. "Well, I ran ‘Memphis Base' through
all our databases, and came up with one weak reference." He
brought the entry up on the main view-screen. "I got this from
the old PROGRAM database. ‘Memphis' was a code name for one of the
safe houses Admiral Cynthia Porter was establishing. We were scheduled
to transport supplies for construction, but quit three weeks before
the job."
"Is there any data suggesting it exists?"
"None. The entry was deleted from the database early on, but
my search retrieved it from a fragmented data stream."
"That's better than nothing." Alex seemed to have some
enthusiasm. "Are their coordinates?"
Tash dug deeper into the file. "The data's pretty crappy, but
I can pinpoint the area within a planetary system. It looks like
an asteroid cluster on the outskirts of the Romulan boarder."
"Any objections to a little visit?" Alex asked..
No one objected.
"O.K. Let's get ready to give Chapel our answer.."
Suddenly, Tash's console sprang to life. He eyes grew wide.
"Alex, we've got another Starship dropping out of warp."
He then turned to Tash and Mia. "And you won't believe who
the hell it is…"
"The Atlantis has just dropped out of warp. They should
be in transporter range in five minutes." Sorann reported.
"Good." Chapel. "We'll transport over and greet our
new prisoners…"
Suddenly, the ship was rocked by a devastating blow, which caused
most of the bridge crew to fall from their seats."
"What was that?" Chapel asked.
"Some type of energy shockwave from the Helix. It washed
over the entire fleet."
"Return fire."
"We can't, Sir. The shockwave has somehow shorted out primary
navigation and weapons. It seems the damage is fleet-wide."
Chapel smiled. "As expected it would be." He turned to
Sorann. "What's the time to repair?"
Sorann checked his science station. "Three and a half minutes
at the most. The system alterations you proposed seems to have worked."
"Excellent. Have the fleet make repairs and wait for my orders."
Chapel stood and watched the view-screen image of the Helix
pushing into warp. "We'll give them some breathing room."
"But they'll be out of sensor range in twenty minutes."
Sorann said.
"It's doesn't matter." He replied with a sinister grin.
"We know exactly where they're going…"
Jann Jaxa watched the security officer out the corner of her eye.
She didn't know how long she'd been in the holding cell on the Atlantis.
She had been studying the area, trying to find a way to escape.
Ian was in the cell to the left of her, and she was sure he was
doing the same thing. In the resistance, they were taught that faking
sleep, was the best way make your enemy drop his guard. She could
hear Ian fake snoring in the other cell, which almost made her laugh
at certain moments.
She had to wait for the right time to strike. The fact that the
cells didn't have replicators, revealed to her that they would have
to bring them food manually. And that's exactly what the new security
guard was doing.
With this new officer, It put the total to two hostiles in the small
room. If she was going to make her move, it would have to be quick.
Her mind raced through all the tactical scenarios she and Kyle would
practice on the holodeck. She knew exactly what to do.
It was late in the morning, and she could tell both officers weren't
fully alert.
As the new officer brought the food, she watched him out of her
squinting eye. He stared at her for a good ten seconds, to make
sure she was sleep.
He was gravely mistaken.
When he started to access the panel to deactivate the cell's defense
barrier, she tightened her grip the object in her right hand. Not
being fully alert, the officer didn't notice that she had taken
her shoes off to sleep, and that only one shoe was visible under
the bed. She heard the defense barrier power down, and the light
footsteps of the officer putting the food tray on her small table.
And that's when she struck.
Without warning, she used her arms to propel herself off of the
bed. The officer looked up just in time to see her executing a double
spin-wheel kick in midair. After the double whirl, her right foot
caught the officer in the neck, cause him to flip 360 degrees until
his head smashed into the food tray on the table. But she wasn't
concern with that. Her attention was diverted to other officer taking
action.
She had plotted this scenario in her head ten minutes ago, and this
was her main concern. The remaining officer had two options. He
could reach for his phaser, or he could alert more security to the
her actions.
Luckily for her, he reached for his phaser.
As he grabbed the weapon and started to bring it out of it's holster,
Jann used to momentum of her spinning kick to her advantage. As
she came flying to the floor, she thrusted the object in her hand,
at the standing security officer. The Shoe caught him directly in
the face, causing the phaser to fall from his hand. As he stumbled
backwards, trying to regain his eyesight, the last thing he saw
was Jann Jaxa streaking for him and sending a double-handed upper-cut
to his chin.
He was unconscious before he hit the floor.
"Yes!" Ian yelled waking up from his fake sleep. "You
know that would've been a lot easier if you just used the other
guy's phaser."
Jann made her way to the security console. "The ship's sensors
would have alerted everyone to the weapon's discharge. We'd never
made it out the room."
Ian stepped over the unconscious officer and went to his friend's
side. "What now?"
"Grab the uniforms from the gaurds. We'll need them to make
it past security." She accessed the ship's sensors. "The
Betty's in cargo bay 3, on the deck above us."
"And after we get there?"
Jann wiped the sweat from her face. "Don't ask me, I'm making
this up as we go."
After stashing the unconscious bodies in the brig's Jeffrey's Tube,
Jann and Ian donned their Starfleet outfits and made their way,
nonchalantly through the corridors of the Atlantis.
Surprisingly, no one noticed them. You would've thought that a ship
that small would notice any new faces aboard, especially if they
were prisoners.
When they reached the Cargo Bay's door, they both took a deep breath.
"Now what?" Ian said.
"Just head for the Betty. Don't look at anyone. I'll
take care of any resistance. Your job is to get the ship ready for
us to run."
"Got it."
As the doors swung open, they were shocked to find the cargo bay
empty. The movement sensors triggered the lights to flicker on,
revealing their runabout waiting for them.
"Lucky break?" Ian said in confusion.
"Good enough for me." Jann replied, making her way for
the Bay Door controls. "I'll do my best to mask the energy
signature of the ship. Prep the ship for take off."
Ian ran to the entrance and access the door to open. And when it
did he froze in shock.
"Hello Ian." Chapel said as he stood inside the runabout
with four armed guards. "You and your friend get an ‘A' for
effort."
Jann couldn't see what was going on, but she recognized the sinister
voice. She saw Ian's frightened face turn to her. And in his stare,
she knew exactly what he was telling her.
Run…
As she started to walk toward the main entrance, the door slid open
to reveal Commodore Dimitri Andreyevich and his own cadre of guards.
"That'll be enough young lady." He said motioning his
guards to apprehend her. They took her to stand side by side with
Ian, who was already being put into photon cuffs.
"Thank you for indulging me in that little scenario.."
Chapel said to Dimitri. "I know you were strongly against this,
but I wanted to show these two, that escape is not an option.
Dimitri nodded in agreement as he tried not to look at Ian and Jann
who were staring at him in disgust.
"Take them to the transporter room for delivery to my ship."
Chapel ordered the security officers.
"Just a moment." Dimitri said as he walked to Jann.
"What is it, Commodore." Jann said coldly.
"You may not believe this, but I'm going to make sure you and
Ian receive a fare trial."
Jann smiled, holding back a cold chuckle. "If you actually
think we're gonna survive long enough to receive a trial, you're
more clueless than Chapel thinks you are."
Chapel motions the guards to proceed and the prisoners are prodded
to start moving. And as they pass through the doorway into the hall,
Dimitri can't help but try one last time.
"Please understand, I'm just following orders." he called
out one last time.
"Hey, whatever helps you sleep at night." He hears Jann
blurt out just as the doors close behind them.
The Commodore stood in the empty cargo bay, calming his nerves and
thinking. He knew he was doing the right thing. Somewhere in this
chaotic situation, the truth was there. Everything they had been
working on for a year was coming down to these last few hours.
He tapped his combadge. "Dimitri to Casey."
"Shelly here." His Number 1 responded.
"Chapel's just taken the prisoners. Signal everyone involved,
we are now in Phaser 2.
MISSION LOG: CAPTAIN ALEXANDER GARRET
RECORDING
We've just established orbit above, what appears to be a man-made
moon, called Memphis. Using the data be retrieved from Admiral
Porters files, we are attempting to beam down to Memphis Base,
a PROGRAM secret base, according to the records. With any luck,
we're hoping to jog Eric mind and maybe give us some clues to
his true past. We've detected human lifesigns on the surface
near the base's coordinates, but we're more than prepared..
END TRANSMISSION
"Commander." A Starfleet security
officer called out running to his superior.
"What is it, ensign?" he asked.
"The Helix has just come into orbit."
"Excellent. I guess Chapel was correct in assuming they'd beam
to these coordinates. Take your places, and remember to set your
phasers on stun."
The cadre of officers found their positions out of site behind large
boulders.
The Commander couldn't see anything, but he could heard the buzzing
of the transporter signal. As soon as the buzzing stopped, he went
into action.
"Go!" he shouted to his team and the Starfleet officers
swarmed the area with lightning quickness.
They expected to find at least three Helix members onsite, waiting
to be ambushed. But where they expected to find their prisoners
waiting, the only found a small sphere, prickling with the remnants
of the transporter signal. The officers gathered around it. And
although they didn't recognize what it was, the Commander took a
frightening educated guess.
His eyes widened "Trap!!!!" he screamed and they all ran
for cover.
The sudden movement in the area triggered the little sphere's reaction.
In an instant, the ball released an electrical shockwave, which
engulf the area. Every member on the surface was shocked unconscious.
A few seconds later, another transporter beam brought Alex, Kyle,
and Eric to the surface.
Kyle picked up the ball and smiled. "Thanks, little buddy."
Alex approached Eric. "Anything coming to mind?"
He didn't hear the question. He was busy staring at the large, charred
crater about three hundred yards south of them.
"I was here." He whispered softly, just loud enough for
the others to hear.
"When?" Kyle asked.
"Two years ago." His memory started to come back in pieces.
"I was here with Admiral Porter."
"Cynthia?" Alex said startled. "How do you know the
Admiral?"
Eric's could still feel something inside him, trying to block the
memory. "I was her Number 1, after Kathy died." He walked
to the edge of the ravine, fixated on the rubble at its charred
center. "This is where she died." He turned to Alex, almost
ashamed of reliving the incident. "The Admiral, she died in
the explosion."
"We were told she died in a mining accident." Kyle said.
"Consider the source." Alex replied, picking up a pebble
and skimming it into the ravine. "We were duped from the very
beginning."
"Word came from our people in the field. Section 31 had ordered
the discontinuation of THE PROGRAM, which of course meant the eradication
of everyone and everything tied to it."
"Chapel…" Alex whispered to himself.
Eric continued. "I was put in charge of evacuating Memphis
Base, while the Admiral coordinated with her operatives in the field..
It was a Quadrant-wide sweep…the Section hit every base at
the same time."
"Why?" Kyle asked.
Eric turned to him and smiled. "Because of you guys.. For reasons
she never told me, she kept Team Helix close to her heart. She had
special plans for you guys. The Section found out and wanted to
take her out of the equation. All I know, is that the Section had
a close eye on Team Helix, and that made Cynthia nervous. She did
her best to try and protect you guys from Chapel. But after you
quit THE PROGRAM, it made it virtually impossible."
"So what happened here?"
"We thought we had a good three hours before the Section reached
us, so the Admiral sent me to organize the emergency beam outs..
En route to the transporter room, our security sensors indicated
three dozen enemy troops in the base." He bowed his head. "I
tried to make it back to the Admiral, but I was cut off at every
turn. So I did the only thing I could do. I locked myself in the
storage bay and reconfigured a conduit panel to initiate the emergency
beam outs."
"And that's what happened when you tried to beam yourself off
the Helix."
He nodded. "Somehow, I was back at that moment. But the strange
thing, is I also vividly remember being in a prison cell at that
exact time."
"They really screwed with your mind, man." Kyle said "There's
no telling how many…"
Before he could finish his sentence, A phaser stream appeared from
behind them and struck Eric in the neck. He went down to one knee
in convulsions.
"Get down!" Kyle yelled as he tackled Alex to the ground,
just missing another phaser stream that blew off a piece of the
rock wall.
Alex stood and reached for Eric, who was still disoriented. But
his hand went completely through his teammate, as Eric was caught
in a transporter signal.
"It's too late!" Kyle screamed, pulling Alex and running.
"As you can see, they're not using stun settings for us!"
"Where the hell did they come from?!" Tash screamed as
he tried to regain control of Helix. The view-screen showed a cadre
of Starships decloaking and firing their weapons.
"It doesn't matter!" Mia yelled back. "Focus on keeping
us alive, while I try to get Kyle and Alex off the surface!"
"I'm trying! But the shield are at 100% but their useless against
those weapons. Somebody must have the specs to our Phasic Shielding.
Mia already knew the answer. "Chapel's been busy…"
"You know Kyle, it's not against the rules to shoot back!"
Alex said as they both vaulted through the large rocky landscape
like an obstacle course.
"Less talking! More running!" He replied as a half dozen,
phaser beams struck the rock walls around them. Red hot, rock shards
rained down on them as Kyle returned fire.
That's when they reached the dead-end.
"Uh oh."
Tash wanted to pull the Helix out of orbit to give themselves more
room to fight back, but they needed to stay in close proximity to
the beam-down point the retrieve their crewmates. Every deterrent
he tried to enable was quickly countered by one of the four Intrepid-Class
Starships currently surrounding them.
"Damnit! I can't get a lock, with them attacking!" Mia
shouted.
"How long do you need?" Tash asked.
"10 seconds, maybe twelve at the most."
"You got it." He said as his hands glided over the control
keys.
In a matter of seconds, the phaser bombardment stopped.
Mia was puzzled. "What did you do?"
"Offered our full surrender."
Mia smiled. "Good for you." She quickly pinpointed her
teammates. "Got them!"
In a matter of seconds, Kyle and Alex materialized on the bridge.
Both both were in wimpy crouching positions when they realized where
they were.
"Home?" Alex said with a surprise. "We're home!"
He ran over gave Mia a big kiss. "They were gonna fricassee
us!"
Kyle kissed the floor and then stood up. "I never wanna come
that close to Bar B Que again. We are safe at last!"
And then he saw the half-dozen starships surrounding them.
"Or not…"
The door to the main transporter room opened and Chapel entered,
flanked by two prisoners, security detail, and Dr. Stanton, the
Chief Medical Officer.
"You won't get away with this!" Ian yelled out, as he
and Jann were escorted under guard.
"Well, that was original." Chapel replied with a fiendish
smile. "It's nice to know that all that funding the Section
has given you hasn't been wasted on education."
"Why did you bring us to here?" Jann asked in a calm voice.
"Why don't you just kill us? We know that's what you intend
to do. Why don't you just get it over with?"
"Because you and your sidekick would miss the fruition of my
plan. After eight years, this little scenario has reached its climax."
"You're not making any sense, Chapel. What the hell are you
up to?"
As if on cue, the transporter pad sprang to life and the outline
of a figure started to materialize. When the transporter signal
ceased and the traveler fell to one knee, the prisoners were shocked
to see who it was.
"Eric!" Jann yelled as she tried to pull away from the
guards and go to him.
Still reeling from the phaser stun he suffered on the surface, Eric
Beckett looked up and focused his haggard eyes on the woman he had
grown stronger feelings for, in the hands of a madman.
"Jann…" he whispered, as his heart frantically started
to pound. He then focused his attention on Chapel, who was busy
whispering to Dr. Stanton.
His fear suddenly turned to rage. "Let her go!!" he screamed
as he lunged off the transporter pad at Chapel. But before he could
reach him, he was met by another stun beam from a security officer.
He fell to the floor again.
"No!!!" Jann screamed almost in tears. "You're killing
him!!"
"Shut her up." Chapel calmly said. A security guard answered
the request and sent the butt of his phaser rifle to the back of
Jann's head.
She stopped struggling.
Chapel then turned to Ian, who was staring long and hard at him.
"Unless you want the same thing, I suggest you don't try anything
similar."
"You're dead man." Ian snarled.
"You know, I keep hearing that from you, Ian. I'm starting
to think you don't like me anymore. I mean, we use to spend so much
time together. You… me… and Dr. Malaan…"
Ian's heart stopped. The shear mentioning of the Cardassian physician
sent him into a panic attack. The years he spent as Malaan's guinea
pig, still crept up in his nightmares.
Chapel walked toward him until their eyes locked. He saw the familiar
look of fear in the boy's stare. It was one of the many small moments
he'd been waiting to cherish.
"Oh, come on, kid. I had a bet with Malaan that you'd figure
it all out beforehand. But then Alex killed him when he rescued
you and screwed the whole thing up."
Ian listened as Chapel's voice started to slightly change. Maybe
it was the dialect, which started to sound more alien. Or maybe
it wasn't the voice. Maybe it was the familiar look of evil he saw
in the man's eyes. The look he saw the moment he was given to the
doctor aboard Tarok Nor. The moment he saw the man he would then,
and forever call the devil.
"By the Prophets…" the boys bottom lips quivered uncontrollably.
"Gul Remmic."
"Bingo!" Chapel shouted and the boy nearly jumped out
of his skin. "I wore that God-awful disguise for nearly a year
to get you on the right path. I mean if you weren't given to the
good doctor, then Alex Garret would've never rescued you, like in
the prophecy. And then were would we be, huh?"
"I don't understand.." Ian said, trying to hold the nausea
in his stomach.
"Don't feel bad. You're too stupid the realize you're a major
piece of the greatest puzzle in the universe."
That's when Ian's mind raced back to his fateful meeting with the
Q entity.
"All you need to know at this time is that you're gonna
play a big part in the preservation of the known universe."
Is what the mysterious alien had told him.
Could this moment be the start of his destiny?
"Get away from them, you bastard!" Eric said, trying to
gather his senses. "I'll kill you."
"Now, now Eric." Chapel replied calmly. "Is that
any way to talk to your family?"
"What?" Jann whispered as she watched Chapel nod to Dr.
Stanton.
The doctor made his way through the cadre of guards and pulled out
a hypo-spray. He gently placed it against Eric's neck and injected
the contents.
The hypo-shot startled Eric to consciousness, and he grabbed the
doctor's wrist and yanked it harshly until he heard the bones snap.
Dr. Stanton screamed in pain and struggled until his wounded arm
was released.
The armed security guards raised their weapons once more..
"No!!" Chapel barked at them. "That won't be necessary."
"Speak for yourself!" Eric cried, trying to focus his
attention on Chapel, but a million things were swirling in his mind.
Memories of times he never remembered, were surfacing and merging
with the reality he knew to be true. At first, what was being revealed
to him, was frightening. He finally saw who and what Walter Chapel
was. And for a split second, he knew he had to kill this man, before
his plans were brought to light.
But only for a split second…
Again, Eric lunged for his captor. This time his grasp found Chapel's
uniform shirt. Slowly and methodically, he pulled himself up until
they were eye to eye.
"You know…" Eric said as his legs slowly started
to strengthen. "…under these lights, at this angle, your
eyes are quite breathtaking." He then shot Chapel a quick wink
and a smile.
Jann and Ian's eyes widened in utter shock, as Eric and Chapel,
two sworn enemies, embraced in a loving hug.
"What the hell just happened?" Ian asked as he turn to
Jann, who's eyes were now red and welling with tears.
She watched Chapel dig into his pocket and pull out as standard-issue
Section 31 combadge and attach it to Eric's chest. She wanted to
close her eyes and wish the moment away like a bad dream. But she
knew it was only the beginning of this nightmare.
"So, how are you feeling?" Chapel said with a hint of
concern in his voice.
"A little weak from the phaser stuns." He replied shooting
Jann and Ian a quick sadistic look. "But other than that, I've
never felt better… Dad."
The tears in her eyes, finally started to pour down her cheeks as
her head lowered in utter defeat…
"By the Prophets, no." A whisper escaped from her lips…
…it was only the beginning of the nightmare.
TO BE CONTINUED
NEXT:
The secret of Eric Beckett
revealed
Ian and Jann: in the hands of the enemy
Helix's final stand against Chapel and the Section in:
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