Just Another Day

[Mac Harm]

Ro Laren stared down the man sitting across the table from her. At least, she assumed it was male. She really couldn�t tell, and the little alien wasn�t helping her at all in figuring it out. She was giving him her best �withering� glare. Unfortunately, it just didn�t seem to phase the half metre tall alien.

�So tell me again,� she said icily, �why did you want to meet with me?�

The alien�s oval green head tilted to one side. His thin slash of a mouth moved slowly as he tried to form his words in Basic, �Kosk want hurt Cardassians.�

Ro snorted, �That�s a pretty popular sentiment. What makes you think I can help with that?�

�You Maquis.� The alien stated. It wasn�t a question, just a declaration. Damn, she thought to herself. We�re getting sloppy about security again. She glanced about the pub they were seated in.

She shook her head and gave him a bemused smile, �First off, You don�t have to keep trying to speak Basic. I have a universal translator. Second, I�m not a Maquis. I can�t help you but I wish you luck.� She stood and started to walk away.

The alien named Kosk grabbed her wrist. His grip was unbelievably strong; �You stay. You talk to Kosk..�

Ro sat down, �I�ll talk if you release my wrist. You�re hurting me.�

Kosk released her. Her wrist bore red marks where his reed thin fingers had held her. Her expression grew fierce as she rubbed her injured member. Kosk�s dark almond shaped eyes seemed to soften.

�Kosk sorry.� He said miserably.

�You damn well better be.� Ro reprimanded, �Do you expect people to trust you after you force them to listen to you?� She watched his shoulders sag. Inwardly cursing herself, she sighed, �All right. What�s your story?�

�Kosk is Dervin. Dervin come to Cetaphon to build new home. Cardassians come, kill many Dervin. Kill Kosk family. Kosk want revenge.� The diminutive figure told her.

Ro�s eyes narrowed, �A few more questions. First, why did you assume I was Maquis? Second, why the hell don�t you just speak naturally and let the translator do its job? It�d be easier to follow.�

Kosk straightened up a bit, �Kosk pick up loose talk. You are Maquis. You hurt Cardassians.� Ro blanched at learning that the Dervin had stumbled onto her affiliations so easily, �Kosk does not use translator because�� his speech turned into a series of yowls and screeches.

Ro covered her ear with one and hand and motioned for him to stop with the other, �All right! I get your point.� She shook her head, �So what do you do?�

Kosk�s lips curved into an approximation of a smile, �Kosk engineer.�

Ro smiled back at him, �Really?�

[Mac Harm]

Explosions echoed throughout the compound. The whining sound of particle weapons filled the air. The occasional scream or cry of pain leapt above the cacophony of noise. A shuttle tried to lift off only to find itself the target of a photon grenade launcher.

Four Cardassians staggered out of the crashed shuttle. Ro led a three-man squad to collect them for possible interrogation later. They meekly surrendered and were marched off by two of the Maquis commandos. Ro�s communicator chirped.

She flipped open the surplus Starfleet relic, �Ro here.�

�You have trouble coming your way, Laren.� Ro�s intelligence officer, Brin Macen, was reporting from his orbital position.

�What is it?� Ro asked sourly.

�A troop transport.� Macen replied, �The garrison on the southern continent hit the transport inhibitors and have decided on the direct approach.�

�ETA?�

�You have about ten minutes.� Macen answered calmly; �They�ve also sent a sub-space distress call. Three cruisers have replied and are en route.�

Damn! �How soon will they get here?� she asked grimly.

�They were patrolling a nearby sector.� Macen replied with bitter irony, �They will be in system in fifteen minutes.�

�Then its time to pull out.� Ro hated to the term �retreat�.

�You�d better inform �Captain� Rand as well.� Macen informed her. She could hear wry amusement in his voice, �He seems to have misplaced his communicator.�

Ro rubbed the bridge of her nose and closed her eyes. Rand was an unstable zealot. Ro had originally wanted another Maquis captain named Chakotay along for this raid on the armoury on Vetara�s northern continent. He had a reputation for a certain degree of professionalism and his crew was one of the most successful in the pitiful �fleet� the Maquis had cobbled together. Sadly, Chakotay had been unavailable, so another cell leader had foisted off Rand on her.

�Acknowledged. I�ll deal with him. Ro out.� She snapped her communicator shut with a sense of finality. Rand had a tendency to balk at tactical withdrawal. Hell, she mused, he balks at everything. Anything that doesn�t involve killing or some other form of self-gratification, she corrected herself.

She turned to the Maquis commando beside her, �You heard the man, Tulley. We�re pulling out of here. Send out a detail to collect the transport inhibitors and get everything transported back to the ships.�

�You got it, Skipper.� Tulley replied. Ro�s lips twisted into a wry smile at his casual term of respect. Her cell had noticed her discomfort with titles of rank and had found a way to accommodate her. Try as she might to forget she still pangs of guilt over the betrayal she had dealt Picard and couldn�t think of herself as a leader. It was a moment that would haunt her until her death.

Which might be rapidly approaching, she thought wryly. She quickened her pace. Rand and his crew had been assigned the camp�s barracks. She could still hear occasional phaser fire from that direction.

Her long, lanky form gave her a fast stride. Coupled with the special tactical training Starfleet provided her with, she could make good time over virtually any terrain. She saw Rand�s pickets ahead of her and slowed. They challenged her, backing down after she delivered the proper counter-sign.

She walked into a scene straight out of a vedik�s vision of the Fire Caves. A burning pyre had been built out of slain Cardassian. Rand and several of his �commandos� stood around two survivors. One male and one female Cardassian were tied together, their sex unimportant to their captors. Only their suffering mattered.

Rand stood leaning against the barracks wall. He was laughing at the proud resistance with which the Cardassians were meeting their doom. He had his arm around his lieutenant�s shoulders, an Andorian woman named Talor Jesp. Ro shuddered in the memory of some of brutal assaults Rand and Jesp had co-ordinated.

Rand saw Ro�s approach and straightened up. �Checking up on me, eh?� he asked sarcastically, �As you can see, we�ve taken care of our part of the mission without any special training.� Bitterness and acidic hatred laced his every word.

�I�m here to tell you that we�re pulling out.� Ro replied evenly, struggling to control the mounting rage she felt.

�Pull out?� he sneered, �Why? We�ve tamed these lizards.�

�Macen reports that a troop transport is in-bound for our location.� Ro forced herself to ignore his goading tone, �He also reports that three Cardassian cruisers are en route. They�ll be here in ten minutes which is five minutes after the transports touch down.�

�Good!� he shouted, �More lizards to kill. Boots for everyone.�

Ro stared at him in mute rage, then she couldn�t control herself any more. She strode up to him and struck him across the face. Rand bounced off the barracks wall. Jesp snarled a curse and pointed her phaser at Ro.

Ro met her eyes levelly. �Try it.� she said in a steely voice, �Let�s see what you have.� Jesp hesitated. Ro stepped forward and slapped the phaser from her hand.

�You�re pathetic.� She spat. Jesp shrank away. Ro turned her attention to Rand�s sprawled form, �You forget that I�m in overall command of this operation. I say when we�re leaving and that moment is now!.�

�And if I refuse?� Rand asked cockily.

Ro snorted, �Then you die alone.� She turned and stalked off. As she left, Rand�s laughter followed her. Dying at the hands of the Cardassians is to good for him, she cursed mentally.

[Mac Harm]

Tulley glanced towards Ro as she approached, �Problems?� he asked, noting the dark scowl on her face.

�Have you started sending anything aboard the Skydancer?� she inquired irritably. Tulley smiled. That was Rand�s ship.

�Good.� She snorted when he shook his head in the negative, �That stupid bastard wants to stay and die, let him. We don�t need sadists like him and his crew.�

�Torturing Cardassians again?� Tulley asked disdainfully.

She nodded, �That, and he wants to stay and take on the troops on the transport.�

�For what its worth,� Tulley spoke softly, �it would be better to leave them.�

She glared at him. She knew he was trying to help. If only her damnable sense of loyalty would stop plaguing her. Rand was scum, but he was Maquis scum.

�You�ll regret it, Skipper.� Tulley told her, reading her expression.

�I know, but I have to try.� She admitted.

[Mac Harm]

�I think you may be insane.� Macen commented dryly.

Ro shook her head, then realised that was a useless gesture when speaking via communicator, �The Indomitable is the most heavily armed ship we have. She still has mines aboard.�

�Only a few.� Macen informed her, then slowly added, �we haven�t used them before because they�re quantum weapons.�

Ro shuddered. Quantum weapons were illegal under the terms of the Third Khitomer Accords. Then again, the Maquis movement was illegal as well. What did it matter in the end?

�Deploy them.� Ro ordered grimly.

Macen hesitated. He�d been a Starfleet officer longer than Ro had been alive. Although she was one of the few to know it, the El-Aurian had a similar story to hers. Starfleet Intelligence had sent him to the DMZ to spy and report on the Maquis and he�d thrown in with them instead. She heard his heavy sigh over her communicator and knew exactly how he felt.

�Very well.� He acknowledged reluctantly, �Indomitable out.�

Ro stared at the rest of her crew as they laboured. Her decision weighed heavily upon her. Quantum weapons were unpredictable and �dirty�. There was no telling the amount of havoc she was about to wreak in the local subspace environment and how much radiation would bombard this world. Hopefully some of the native life would survive.

She shook off despondency and reactivated her communicator, �Ro to Wanderer.�

�T�Kir here, Captain.� Her ops specialist reported.

Ro�s lips twisted into a sardonic smile. Only T�Kir ever referred to her as �Captain�. �How�s the loading going?� she asked.

�Efficiently.� The Vulcan replied.

As much as Ro appreciated T�Kir�s efficiency, right now she could twist the other woman�s pointed ears off, �How much longer will it take?�

�Two more transports. I estimate two minutes.� T�Kir answered unperturbed by Ro�s irritation.

�Which leaves us two more minutes to get every one out.� Ro commented, �Good work. Ro out.� She heard a the crunch of gravel under a boot and turned to find Tulley approaching her

�We�ve got all the inhibitors.� He reported, �They�re going up with our people.�

�Good.� Ro replied with an approving nod, �Now I just need to convince the crew of the Skydancer to beam their captain aboard.�

�Good luck.� Tulley murmured to himself, �If I were them, I wouldn�t.�

[Mac Harm]

The Indomitable finished her orbit of Vetara�s moon. The quantum mines enjoyed a swift elliptical orbit. They could be activated by remote and targeted like torpedoes. Utilising their own proximity detectors, the mines would detach themselves from their boosters and continue on a ballistic flight until they detonated near their target.

Macen�s partner, Lisea Danan, shook her head, �You�ve really gone too far this time.� The humour in her voice belied the chiding nature of her words.

Macen shrugged. He knew that the three ships only had roughly eleven photon torpedoes between them. Half of those were on this ship alone. The Indie was an old Ju�day-class scout dating back to the turn of the century. Chakotay commanded the only other one of her class in Maquis hands. She was more powerful then either of her siblings in orbit above Vetara, but dreadfully overmatched against a single Cardassian cruiser, much less three.

�At the very least, it�ll buy us some time.� He commented.

�And at the worst?� she asked.

�The sub-space tears will make this area un-navigable for quite some time. It might even destroy us in the process.� His reply was low and fatalistic.

She left her Ops station, stepped behind him, and squeezed his shoulder. �You�ll get us out of here. You always do.�

Macen wished that he had her faith in his abilities.

[Mac Harm]

Ro stepped off the transport platform and rushed off for the bridge of the Wanderer. The ship was a Bajoran raider refitted with a warp drive stripped off a runabout. The hybrid was the result of Kosk�s genius. It was a little temperamental at times but it was a vast improvement over being restricted to just sublight impulse engines.

�Raise the Skydancer.� Ro ordered as she slipped into the seat at the helm.

T�Kir manned Ops, she hailed their sister ship. �Skydancer is receiving� she reported.

�This is Captain Ro. I am ordering you to establish a transporter lock on your captain and crewmates and beam them back to your ship. My ship will transport those you cannot.�

�Captain Rand has said nothing about this.� A defiant voice spoke back.

�Captain Rand is not here.� Ro snarled, �He is down on the planet, one minute away from being killed. I am the mission commander. You will obey my order, or I will be forced to fire on you.�

Ro could feel Tulley�s eyes on the back of her head from the Weapons station. She was dead serious. She�d rather burn them down as traitors than give the Cardassians the thrill of victory. She waited as the other man paused, debating his options.

�All right. We�re commencing transport,� the voice replied sullenly.

�About time.� Ro muttered darkly, �T�Kir, lock on to whoever is left and beam them to the Skydancer�s cargo bay.�

�Acknowledged.� The Vulcan said crisply as she manipulated her controls, �Transport complete.�

T�Kir�s left eyebrow rose, �Skydancer is hailing us.� She announced dryly.

�Probably to complain about us rescuing them.� Ro groused, �Tell them our comm system�s failed. They�ll believe that.�

�Transmission from Indomitable.� T�Kir informed Ro, �The Cardassians have entered the system and are approaching at warp six. ETA in four minutes.�

�Shields up.� Ro replied reflexively, �Arm phasers. How many torps do we have?�

�Three.� Tulley announced sourly.

�Who wants to live forever anyway?� Ro asked with gallows humour.

�I�m not going to knock it until I�ve tried it at least once.� Tulley quipped.

�You may have to wait until tomorrow to try it.� Ro retorted, �I�m taking us out of orbit.�

[Mac Harm]

Gul Leggar sat on the bridge of the Obsidian Fire. His ship led the the cruiser squadron approaching Vetara. His smile was cold and deadly as his officers reported the two Maquis ships breaking orbit from Vetara. He could taste death and it was exceedingly sweet.



�Ready?� Macen asked.

�Anytime.� Danan replied.

�Helm, bring us out.� Macen ordered, �Fire phasers and engage warp drive.�

The Indomitable moved out from behind Vetara�s moon. She caught the Obsidian Fire in the flank with a phaser blast. The Indie�s phasers were far too weak to penetrate the Cardassian shields, but it did guarantee that Macen now held their full attention. The Indie proceeded out of the system at warp six with two of the Cardassian ships in pursuit.

�Commence transmission to Ro�s ships.� Macen ordered, �Then activate mines.�

Danan activated the comm, which sent two pre-programmed messages. She nodded to Macen. He returned his attention to the tactical display on the viewer.

�Now we just have to get out of here alive.�

[Mac Harm]

�Message from the Indomitable.� T�Kir informed Ro, �They are transmitting navigational co-ordinates with a suggestion that we implement them post haste.�

Ro almost smiled. That certainly sounded like Macen. She�d wondered where he�d lain the quantum mines. She supposed she was about to find out.

�Inform Skydancer of the plan, and jump to warp six.� Ro ordered.

Macen was relieved to see the other two Maquis vessels implementing the course he�d suggested. The two Cardassians tracking him were closing fast. They hadn�t seen the mines following them yet. Even if they did in the next few seconds, it was too late now.



�We have a Cardassian cruiser in pursuit.� Tulley reported.

Ro bit back a curse, �How long until they overtake us?�

�In about two minutes.� He reported flatly.



The three mines detonated simultaneously. A tear in reality formed behind the Cardassian ships. It widened as the leading edge of the tear reached out for the fleeing ships. Interdimensional turbulence and radiation swept over the Galor-class cruisers.

Gul Leggar�s face blanched as he received the report of the quantum detonation. What kind of animals would use that kind of weapon? He ordered his ships to increase speed, but the energies overtook his ships in seconds. He could still taste death, only it had taken on a bitter flavour.