Chapter 37

Chapter 37

The turbolift doors opened to a silent bridge. Robyn found Ensign Merle alone at his station, tapping keys at his console. The young man almost fell out of his seat when Robyn cleared her throat. “Where is everyone?” she asked.

“They went down to the surface, Captain,” Merle said. He explained Brett’s plan to infiltrate the mountain fortress of the Serparnian Liberation Army with a stolen shuttlecraft.

Had she been awake to hear this plan, Robyn surely would have told Brett he was crazy to even suggest it. A dozen Starfleet officers against hundreds of Serparnian terrorists didn’t strike her as a winning proposition. How he managed to convince the Serparnian prime minister to go along with such a hare-brained scheme was beyond her.

Crossing the bridge, she put a hand to her head. Dr. Chen had given her a clean bill of health, but Robyn still felt weak. But with Brett off on his fool’s errand, she couldn’t go lie down to rest. She was needed here so that’s where she would be.

“Are you all right, Captain? Should I call the medics?”

“I’m fine, Ensign. Is there any way we can monitor Commander Boutwell’s progress?”

“No, sir. The sensors don’t penetrate inside the mountain. As near as I can tell they did make it inside about five minutes ago,” Merle reported.

At least Brett had gotten that far. Thinking back to her ill-fated trip inside the mountain stronghold, Robyn felt her stomach churn and not from the poison either. They had barely made it out alive the last time and then only by taking Streng hostage. With hundreds of warriors surrounding him this time—

Robyn sank heavily into the command chair. This was her fault. She shouldn’t have taken the Orion to Serpalal Prime after the fight. She should have listened to Brett and ignored Command’s orders and run to the nearest starbase. Starfleet Command would have punished her—possibly court-martialed her like Brett—but her perceived cowardice would have saved lives. Brett’s life in particular.

She stared at the green planet in the viewscreen and held back the urge to cry in front of Merle. Then the voice of her father rang in her ears, “You’re a Starfleet officer for God’s sake! Start acting like one.”

This was her ship and her responsibility. She had to set the example for the rest of the crew. That meant not going to pieces because the man she loved was down there in harm’s way.

This thought ripped through her like the weapon Streng’s henchman had used on her. She loved Brett, still. Even after fifteen years. Those feelings she’d thought banished when she left him that note had merely lain dormant, waiting to surface again once he reentered her life.

She’d told herself—and several counselors—that her feelings for Brett had been the crush of a woman not many years removed from girlhood. The moments they’d shared had been special, but they didn’t have a future together. They were too different; they wanted different things. She wanted to be a Starfleet officer while he wanted to be a famous adventurer.

In the end she put him in the past, moved on, and found someone else. Shawn couldn’t have been more different from Brett: shy, sweet, and as committed to Starfleet principles as her. A nice, stable man she could build a life around. Or would have if the war hadn’t interfered with their plans. There were still nights she woke up covered in sweat from visions of him standing alone on the bridge as it exploded, his eyes pleading with her.

After that she decided not to risk opening her heart again. She worked tirelessly and made friends, but at the end of the day she always went to bed alone. Alone with her memories of Shawn—and Brett. He never had strayed far from her mind no matter how hard she’d tried to convince herself he had.

Now he was down there on the surface facing death and she could do nothing to help him. Just like she couldn’t do anything to help Shawn. She never got the chance to say goodbye to either of them. They simply disappeared from her life.

Her father’s voice snapped in her ear again. She couldn’t sit here moping around like a schoolgirl. There was work to be done, reports and logs to prepare—letters to families of the fallen to write.

“Captain, we’re receiving a transmission from the surface,” Merle said. “It’s Commander Boutwell!”

“Let’s hear it,” Robyn said, holding back a shout for joy.

“Orion, this is Boutwell. We’ve got things pretty well in hand down here but Streng has escaped. He’s in a Cardassian shuttle heading your way. Get him before the little worm goes to ground.”

Robyn wanted to say something, to confess how glad she was to hear his voice, but there wasn’t time. She had a job to do. “Ensign, do you have the shuttle?”

“Yes, sir, but it’s coming out the far side of the planet.”

“Then we’ll have to intercept.” She leapt from the command chair, her head spinning a moment before righting itself. Then she bolted over to the helm and took the controls. She hadn’t done this in nine years, but she was sure it would come back.

Plotting the shuttlecraft’s course, she pinpointed the nearest place it could make the jump to warp speed. Once it did that, they would lose Streng’s trail. He would disappear without paying for his crimes.

From her calculations, the Orion could intercept the shuttlecraft, but it would be close. Her fingers tapped the keys tentatively at first then faster as they remembered. A smile came to Robyn’s face as the Orion pulled out of orbit and revved up to full impulse speed.

The Cardassian shuttlecraft appeared as a tiny point of red light on the viewscreen, barely discernible from the stars. They weren’t going to make it. Streng was going to escape and it would be her fault.

Slowly, too slowly, the shuttlecraft grew larger on the viewscreen. “Ensign, do you know how to work the tactical station?” she asked.

“Yes, sir,” Merle said without confidence.

“Ready the phasers and tractor beam. As soon as he gets in range, lock on and bring him in.”

Streng must have sensed their conversation because he launched into a series of evasive maneuvers. Though not as agile as the shuttlecraft, the Orion kept up with Streng. Best of all, the maneuvers had bled off some of the shuttlecraft’s lead, allowing the Orion to close the gap.

“We’re almost there. Ensign, ready to lock on phasers. Try to hit his engines,” she said.

“I’ll try, sir,” Merle said, the apprehension in his voice hanging in the air.

The Cardassian shuttlecraft went through another set of wild maneuvers, banking and zigzagging at random in an attempt to shake the Orion off. “You’re not getting away that easy,” Robyn growled.

As the shuttlecraft dropped off the viewscreen, Robyn projected the point where she expected the shuttle to reappear instead of following along. If Streng caught on it would be easy enough for him to level out and escape. She doubted he was that good of a pilot; these maneuvers were probably programmed into the autopilot.

Her hunch paid off. The Cardassian shuttlecraft reappeared directly in front of her, so close she could read the markings. “Ensign, fire phasers,” she said.

A beam of orange light cut through space, missing the port nacelle of the shuttlecraft by millimeters. Nevertheless, the shuttlecraft slowed as if it had been hit until it came to a dead stop in space. “Lock tractor beam on and bring him into the shuttle bay,” Robyn said, rising from her seat. “Have a security detail meet me there. You have the bridge, Ensign.”

Before the turbolift doors closed, she added, “Good work.”

On the way to the shuttle bay all traces of her illness fell away. It was all over now. Slonix and his warship were destroyed. The Serparnian Liberation Army was history. And now Streng was captured. More importantly, Brett was alive.

The security team surrounded the shuttle, their phasers at the ready. The ramp came down followed by former Chief Steward Streng with his hands up. Robyn savored the way his tongue lolled out and his eyes widened at the sight of her standing at the base of the ramp with a phaser pointed at his head.

“Captain Lichen, you’re alive. I regret the unfortunate incident that happened down there. I’m certain we can come to some kind of agreement.”

“You can’t talk your way out of this one. But I’m sure Prime Minister Serlinum will be very interested to hear what you have to say.” She motioned to the security detail. “Take him to the brig and make sure he stays there until we can deliver him to the prime minister.”

She watched Streng go, smiling at his plaintive cries to make some kind of deal. When the shuttle bay doors closed, she sank down on the ramp and allowed herself to cry with relief.