The Battle of Betazed - Charlotte Douglas [65]
Before Picard had finished speaking, Cardassian soldiers broke through the locked doors of the laboratory and started firing. Riker grabbed Moset and ducked behind the equipment cabinets.
“Energerizing,” La Forge announced, and the Betazoids in the lab disappeared from their pods in a sparkling transfer of matter to energy. “We got the ones from cargo bay three, too.”
Riker wrapped one arm around Moset, knowing the transporter would pick them up as one mass.
The Cardassian soldiers advanced, and the fire from their weapons streaked through the lab like lightning and ricocheted dangerously close. The away team had no place to retreat.
O’Brien checked his chronometer. “Fifty sec—”
The engineer’s voice and matter dissolved into bubbles of dancing light. Riker felt the familiar tingle. The captain had pulled them out just in time to prevent their being overrun by the advancing Cardassians.
Instead of finding himself in the Enterprise ‘s transporter room, Riker discovered his team had materialized on the bridge. The commander immediately handed the scientist over to his team’s security detail. “Lock him in the brig.”
“Aye, sir.”
The team left the bridge with Moset, La Forge rushed to his station, and O’Brien joined him. Riker’s quick glance at the viewscreen revealed the Tulwar and Scimitar darting through space, firing at the weapons arrays of two Galor -class attack cruisers holding positions in close proximity to Sentok Nor where they had followed the Enterprise in. A Jem’Hadar attack ship nearby listed at a sharp angle, plasma streaming from its engines. With the station’s communications down, Riker realized with satisfaction, the enemy captains had received no warning that Sentok Nor’s self-destruct sequence had been activated.
“Fifteen seconds to self-destruct.”
“Signal the Tulwar and Scimitar to clear the area now!” Picard ordered. “Helm, go to full impulse. Get us out of here.”
A surge of speed at one-quarter the velocity of light, and the remains of the Starfleet task force to Betazed was away.
“Put Sentok Nor on screen,” Picard ordered.
Riker watched, expecting the station to explode in sections. When the end came, however, due to Cardassian efficiency, the deuterium blast took out every section at the same time. The energy produced was so massive, the explosion so complete, Riker detected no pieces, no debris. Just an orb of flame that expanded outward, destroying the remaining Jem’Hadar attack ship and consuming the Cardassian cruisers.
Within seconds, the light collapsed in upon itself. Where once had floated a massive Cardassian station, only star-dappled Betazed space, free from conquering invaders, remained.
Chapter Fourteen
T HE SUN WAS SINKING behind the Jarkana mountains when Deanna announced that they had reached the rendezvous point, a ledge overlooking the valley where she had often picnicked during her internship. A slight indentation in the cliff wall provided shelter from the elements if they had to spend the night waiting for Worf.
Tevren collapsed facedown on the ledge, winded and exhausted. “This makes prison seem like a palace.”
Data gently laid Vaughn in the shelter of the small cave, and Beverly dug out her medical kit. After examining the commander with her tricorder, she looked to Deanna with worry in her eyes. “We need to get him to a proper facility.”
“Data?” Deanna asked.
The android shook his head. “Still no response to my signal. You and Dr. Crusher should get some rest. I will take the watch.”
He settled at the opening to the small cave, phaser at hand, pulled out his tricorder, and swept the valley below. Urgently, he said, “Counselor, we have a problem.”
Deanna left Vaughn’s side and knelt beside Data. “Only one?”
“Several, actually,” Data said, “But our most immediate is that nearly one hundred Jem’Hadar troops are advancing on our position from three directions. Our only avenue of escape is to continue climbing the mountain.”
Beverly had joined them. “If we move Vaughn again, he’ll die.”
“How long before the Jem’Hadar reach us?” Deanna asked.
“Traveling