The Battle of Betazed - Charlotte Douglas [85]
Riker fired his phaser, but it was too late. “Damn,” he muttered.
“Problem?” someone asked, and Lemec saw another Starfleet commander stride toward them, only this one had white hair and a white beard.
“The Vorta beamed out,” Riker said.
The second commander regarded Lemec with what looked like sympathy. “Can’t say I’m surprised. She obviously knows a lost cause when she sees one.” Looking at Riker, the white-haired commander continued, “The force field enclosures around the Jem’Hadar barracks are almost all up. They’ll contain both the Jem’Hadar and the Cardassians we’ve captured.”
Riker gestured with his phaser toward the stockade where Lemec had housed and tortured Betazoid prisoners. “Your cell is waiting.”
Lemec lowered his hands. All his hopes for advancement had evaporated. By blaming the destruction of Sentok Nor on Moset, he might have salvaged his career from the ashes of that disaster. Losing Betazed, however, was a blow from which he’d never recover.
He met the unwavering gaze of his Starfleet captor. “I don’t suppose you could just shoot me instead?”
Riker hit the panel beside the Cardassian cell with his fist, raising the force field on Gul Lemec, who sat with his head in his hands. After posting security guards at the door of the stockade, Riker strode across the dusty grounds of the enemy encampment toward Lemec’s former office and surveyed the ongoing activities with satisfaction.
Teams composed of Betazoids and members of the Starfleet task force’s crews moved efficiently throughout the area, aiding the wounded and tagging the dead for the burial detail that would follow. Both Jem’Hadar and Cardassian troops were securely contained behind force fields or incarcerated in the stockade. If their plan had worked as smoothly across the rest of the planet as it had here, Betazed was effectively free of Dominion rule.
Riker shook his head, recalling the morning’s battle. It had been one of the strangest he’d ever taken part in. The assault had begun not to the roar of weapons, but with the silent empathic attack of the Betazoid telepaths. Once observers had signaled that the Jem’Hadar had been disabled, the armed Starfleet and Betazoid teams had opened fire. Caught by surprise and unable to count on the Jem’Hadar for backup, the Cardassian troops had quickly conceded.
Imzadi.
At that point in the battle, Riker had heard Deanna’s thought, had felt her mind reaching out to his. Although he wasn’t telepathic, his relationship with Deanna had deepened over the years to the point that she could sometimes touch his mind, and he could sense her presence. With that one word, he’d felt her love—and her withdrawal. He quickened his steps, eager to complete his mission so he could locate her and assure himself that she was all right.
Without warning, the hair on the back of his neck suddenly rose. The conquest had been too easy, and he couldn’t shake an uneasy feeling that a second shoe was going to drop. Anxious for a full report, he hurried into Gul Lemec’s old office, which Vaughn had commandeered as a temporary command post.
The older commander stood at the window, hands clasped behind his back, but with a hint of fatigue in the set of his shoulders. Vaughn turned when Riker entered, and Will was taken aback by the pain mirrored in the commander’s eyes.
“Have you received a situation report yet?” Riker asked.
“Captain Picard just informed me the Enterprise has received accounts from the other Betazoid resistance cells. Every group was successful in subduing the Jem’Hadar and Cardassians. Betazed is free.”
Vaughn’s voice held no jubilation in imparting his news, however, and his expression remained grim. Riker felt a chill down his spine.
“That’s good news, isn’t it?” he asked warily.
With a heavy sigh, Vaughn settled into the chair at Lemec’s desk. “It should be.”
“Why wouldn’t it be?”
Vaughn scrubbed his face with his hands as if trying to wash away