"That's preposterous!" Johnny exclaimed. "Even with modern technology humans can't live over five hundred years! And most of the People, most people, back then were lucky to see fifty, let alone five hundred!"
"You have his bloodline," Kalmar explained. "That's important to the Eriarti. And speaking of time, the Eriarti are quite capable of manipulating one's perception of time. This is another reason why I'm coming. You'll need
someone along who can counter that effect. Otherwise this mission has zero probability of success. Imagine thinking you've set a thirty second charge, only to find you've set it for five seconds. I don't think I need to elaborate."
Johnny had finished donning his panoply as Kalmar was speaking. He held his helmet under his arm as he listened to Kalmar's comments. "Yeah, suppose you do have a point there."
"Good. Let's get moving!" The Prophet and the warrior left the room and headed to the quarterdeck.
"Eriarti vessel in range, Captain," K'Lara reported as the huge beetle-shaped main craft of the enemy hove into view.
"Hail them, Ensign," Maruu ordered.
"Aye, sir," Ensign Roald Estermann acknowledged from his post at Communications. "Channel open."
"This is Captain Stephen Maruu of the Federation starship Virgo. You are holding three members of our crew. We demand that your release them at once!"
The ship shook with a blast to the shields. "Forward shields are down five percent, Captain," Antilles reported.
"Okay, enough with talking. All hands, red alert!" Maruu ordered. The flashing red lights and klaxon of the Red Alert condition could be seen and heard throughout the Virgo. "Ms. Antilles, have you completed your modifications to the ship's tractor beams?" the captain asked.
"Aye, sir. Tractor beam modifications complete."
"Good. What's our range to target?"
"3200 kilometers and closing rapidly, Captain," K'Lara replied.
"Initiate a phaser salvo, medium power, just enough to shut down their power plant."
Immediately a volley of phaser fire shot out from the Virgo. The Eriarti vessel was hit in five places.
"Target shield strength is down 35 percent. Engines are offline; life support is critical," K'Lara reported.
"Ms. Antilles, engage tractor beams. Bridge to Major Chee, is your platoon ready?"
[Aye, sir. Ready to disembark on your orders.] Johnny reported. Given that the Eriarti were capable of disrupting transporter beams, the Marines would perform this boarding the old-fashioned way: by shuttle craft.
"Disembark and get our people back!" Maruu exclaimed.
The preflight check on the shuttlecraft had gone smoothly. Barek was quite at ease behind the controls as usual. Like he wouldn't be! We've got the ghost of the Bloody Red Baron himself at the controls! Johnny thought as he sat in the copilot's seat. "The order's been given to launch."
"Acknowledged," Barek said simply. The shuttle took off effortlessly, as though guided by invisible hands.
In the cabin of the shuttle sat Johnny's full platoon along with Ensign Milano and Kalmar. As usual, there was little chatter other than a few murmured prayers. Corporal Nkrumah busied himself sharpening his combat knife. All the while none of them knew that Kalmar was busy preparing their minds to not succumb to the Eriarti time-manipulation ability. Whether it was an Eriarti mental ability or a technology they'd developed was unknown, but preparation of the mind, Kalmar had told Johnny, was essential for countering it.
Johnny looked down at the shuttle's tactical display. "Range to target 3200 meters," he informed Barek.
"Any place in particular we should set this thing down?" the sergeant asked.
"Not that I can tell. Ensign, we need your services up here in the cockpit," Johnny called back. Francesca came forward.
"What can I do for you?"
"The usual sensor sweeps of the enemy vessel aren't turning up anything. Can you fine-tune the resolution?" Johnny asked.
"Certainly," Francesca answered as she reached over and tapped a few controls. "There. Resolution boosted by 120 percent. That should increase the signal-to-noise ratio. Aren't you glad I came along now, sir?" she replied.
"Always knew the Fleet was good for something besides driving the bus," Johnny quipped back, reviving once more an ancient rivalry. "Thank you, Ensign. The data return's coming in now. We have a forward area which looks like the bridge, and a midsection area that looks like an engineering facility. I recommend Engineering, there's an access panel on the upper surface of the ship, about two meters square."
"Very good, sir," Barek replied as the shuttle clamped itself down on the hull of the Eriarti vessel directly above the access panel. Not that they'd planned on knocking...
Johnny stepped back to the cabin and grabbed his phaser rifle. "Okay, people, stand back!" he ordered as he took aim at the access panel. He fired. The panel disappeared completely.
"All right men! Over the side!" he yelled as he jumped into the unknown. "GUNG HO!!!" the Marines, and Francesca, shouted as they followed Johnny into the vessel.
The Eriarti response was immediate. Two of the aliens, they looked not unlike certain extraterrestrials which were rumored to have plagued the New Mexico area of Earth during the 20th-century, opened fire on Johnny as soon as he dropped through the hatch. Neither hit, being too startled to take proper aim. Johnny rolled behind a control console and returned fire, hitting one of them. More Eriarti rushed into main engineering and soon a full-fledged firefight had ensued. Johnny managed to kill two more of the aliens before the fighting had stopped. "Okay, people, report!" he yelled.
"Corporal Olivares is down, sir! Initiating medical treatment!" Zelansky reported.
"How bad is he?"
"Not good. It looks like an abdominal hit," Zelansky reported, his hands shaking as he scanned his fallen comrade with the tricorder. "This weapon, it's slowly burning the skin off him, sir!"
"Steady, Private. Keep your mind on the mission. Get him stabilized and beamed back to Sickbay! Van der Merwe, take Olivares' squad! Anyone else?" Johnny called out.
No one else had been hit. Francesca had managed to access a computer link. "I'm accessing a plan of the ship, sir," she reported. "We're dealing with a crew of about a hundred, plus twenty captives. Fifteen Alarans, a T'rais, a Ferengi, and three humanoids. All are alive if not necessarily well!"
"Where are they?"
"Two decks down and five bulkheads forward from here, sir," the ensign reported.
"Good work! Sergeant, what's the body count here?"
"Twelve Eriarti dead, sir. Olivares has been beamed back to the Virgo."
"All right, let's move out! Twelve down, eighty-eight to go!" Johnny shouted. "Let's get that door open!"
Private Van der Merwe rushed forward to open the hatch leading from the main engineering section to the rest of the Eriarti vessel. It was shut, welded shut. Suddenly a hissing noise could be heard. "Sir, dey're pumping gas into ze room!" the big Afrikaner reported.
"Maxon, time to rock and roll! Everyone back!"
As the gas filled the room, the Marines fell back to the opposite bulkhead as Private Maxon primed his weapon. Five seconds later, a gigantic gout of energy shot forth and disintegrated the welded hatch, along with much of the rest of that bulkhead!
Twenty meters farther down the hall, the Eriarti were setting up some type of crew-served weapon behind a barricade. The barricade proved enormously resilient, absorbing the Marines' phaser fire. "Everybody down!" Johnny yelled as he activated a grenade and pitched it toward the position. A blinding flash of light, almost too much for the polarizing filter in his helmet's visor, filled the corridor. Eriarti, weapon, and barricade ceased to be.
And so they reached the first of five bulkheads.
The second bulkhead was somewhat more of a tough proposition. The weapon the Eriarti were attempting to set up had been set up behind this bulkhead. No sooner than the door had opened than an energy bolt shot out, killing Private Volex instantly. The Marines returned fire mercilessly, forcing the Eriarti to keep their heads down as Barek armed one of his grenades and threw it. No weapon, no barricade, no Eriarti. Hopefully they don't have any more of these things, Johnny thought to himself. This isn't going to be pretty otherwise. The Eriarti may be cowards attacking others, but they're certainly tough enough on their own turf!
"Okay, that's enough of this bull! Maxon, set that toy of yours to maximum power!"
The third bulkhead opened. Maxon fired. Whatever was in that corridor wasn't there anymore.
Behind the group, however, more Eriarti started to attack from the rear. Two more Marines wounded, but the remainder made good on their debts and obliterated the attackers.
"What's our count, Sergeant?" Johnny called out.
"Twenty-eight enemy dead, sir! We've one dead and three wounded so far!"
So far we're running about even. Gotta get ahead of this game! "All right, Sergeant, send Ensign Milano with a detail of three back to the ship's engineering facility. Ensign, I need you to hack into the ship's systems, find something we can use against these guys!"
"Aye, sir!" Moments later, Francesca, Sivak, and the two wounded Marines were proceeding back to engineering.
The fourth bulkhead came down without a hitch. Nobody was waiting for them beyond the doorway. Johnny tapped his com badge. "Ensign, what's your status?"
[I've accessed the ship's security system. Took some doing, but Private Sivak was able to hack their system. We should have something for you shortly!]
"Very good, Ensign; keep me posted. Chee out!"
Then, another message:
~Johnny, this is Tiadara! You must hurry, the Eriarti are going to start executing the captives. If Jenara were lucid I could empower her, but she's unconscious at the moment. She's been drugged! The Eriarti wish to dissect her to find out how she survived the attack!~
We're coming! Johnny thought back. Talk with Kalmar; he's here with us, between the two of you there's got to be something that can be done!
"All right! Let's keep moving!" Johnny yelled as he fired on the fifth and final bulkhead.
Then all Hell broke loose. A phalanx of no less than thirty Eriarti rushed the platoon! Fighting quickly went hand-to-hand. Johnny smashed one of the Eriarti in the head with the butt of his rifle, then turned and delivered a side thrust kick to another as he pulled out his knife. These guys aren't very big, but there a lot stronger than they look! Johnny thought as he struggled to shake an Eriarti off his back. The live weight on his back suddenly went dead, however. Johnny turned and saw Zelansky drawing his knife from the body of the dead Eriarti.
"Nice work, Private, how long have you been waiting to get that knife near my back?" Johnny asked.
"Not since your double from that other universe showed up!" Zelansky yelled as he punched another Eriarti in the face. "I decided I'd better not mess with anyone who could even think of being that mean!"
"Keep that thought and you'll go far!" Johnny replied as two more Eriarti rushed him. As advanced as their technology was, the Eriarti were pathetic at hand-to-hand combat.
[Milano to Major Chee, come in please!]
"This had better be good, Ensign, because we're a little busy right now!" Johnny replied as he delivered an uppercut to yet another Eriarti.
[We've accessed the ship's suppression systems, the same system which was pumping the gas into the engineering section when we first boarded! We're flooding the rest of the ship except for the deck where the captives are being held with anesthetic gas now!]
"Good work, Ensign! Get up here as quickly as possible, we've got a whole lot of work for that medkit of yours!" Johnny replied. The hand-to-hand fight was over, and five Eriarti had been taken prisoner. Nearly all of the
Marines had suffered cuts, bruises and (in one case) a broken arm. "Boarding party to Virgo, come in please!"
[This is Captain Maruu. What's your status?]
"The enemy vessel is nearly secured! We've destroyed half the crew and are preparing to free the prisoners! Five enemy have been secured for interrogation!"
[We will beam the prisoners aboard; signal when they are ready for transport. Continue and keep us posted. Virgo out.]
Johnny walked over to the beaten and bloodied prisoners. They cowered as he approached.
"Trust me, you sons of bitches, you've got less to worry about from me than your prisoners had to worry about from you. But if they've been harmed in the least, you can trust me that I will find your race, and find your world, and grind it into the dust. My people stopped you once with bows and arrows. We've got phasers now. Do you understand me?" Johnny growled as he slapped transponders onto the backs of the prisoners. "Chee to Virgo, prisoners are ready for transport!" Please get them off my hands before I dismember them.
Suddenly a change passed over him, something undefined. Suddenly Johnny felt mean but by no means malevolent. The violence, the anger, in him was more focused, more controlled.
Tiadara had taken over.
"Let's go down this hole! Let's get it over with!" he yelled as he ran for the turbolift. His troops charged after him.
The turbolift car had been crashed as a security measure to keep the boarders from using it to move throughout the ship. Moving the entire platoon onto the next deck with any kind of speed would be nearly impossible without a transporter now, and that option was unavailable. Francesca had been able to identify the field which made normal transporter use impossible in the vicinity of the Eriarti ship, but had been unable to shut it off.
Johnny located the emergency ladder in the turbolift shaft and climbed down the shaft. One by one the others followed. The climb down two decks seemed as nothing to Johnny. He reached the turbolift doors and discovered they'd been fused shut. A blast from his rifle solved that problem; however, he was starting to run low on charge.
The corridor ahead of him was lined with cells, ten on either side. The howls of frightened Alarans could be heard even through the solid cell doors. Johnny produced his tricorder and scanned one of the locks on the cell. It seemed simple enough on the outside, so Johnny produced from his harness a small laser cutter and disabled the lock. The door slid open. A rag-clothed Ferengi waiting inside rushed Johnny as he entered the cell.
"Calm down!" Johnny yelled in Ferengi. "We're the Federation, we're here to rescue you!"
The Ferengi stopped for a moment. "Then what are we waiting for, hu-mon? Give me a weapon so I can fight alongside you!"
Johnny tossed his rifle to the Ferengi. Something inside him told him he wouldn't be needing it for what came next.
Scanning the cells, Johnny studiously avoided the cells containing Alarans. The primitive hominids would more than likely be of greater danger to themselves than the Eriarti if they tried to fight back. Trust me, my friends, I will seek vengeance and more for what's been done to you, Johnny thought, a part of him hoping that enough of their telepathic ability had evolved for them to understand what he was thinking. Then he reached the cell containing the T'rais. After a moment's hesitation, Johnny popped the lock.
The T'rais rushed at him, just as the Ferengi had done. "You! The Federation was behind all of this!!! You will pay dearly for your crimes!!!"
The Ferengi Johnny had just released leveled his rifle at the T'rais. "Shut your mouth! The hu-mons are here to help us!"
"And how do I know you're not in league with them?" the T'rais, arrogant even after months of captivity, snarled.
"Maybe I am..." the Ferengi replied as he belted the T'rais across the chin. The T'rais collapsed.
"I like your way of doing things," Johnny told him.
"It was nothing, he's been getting on my nerves since he was captured."
Another cell was opened, to reveal the unconscious form of Lieutenant Commander Benton. "Francesca, we've found Benton!" Johnny yelled. Immediately Francesca ran forward and into the cell. She scanned him with the medical tricorder before embracing him. "He's unconscious but okay; no major injuries. They were probably preparing to dissect him," she said ominously.
The next cell was opened. Lataro lay unconscious inside. "Zelansky, we need your medkit!" Johnny yelled. The private rushed forward and began scanning the first officer. "Chee to Virgo, Benton and Lataro have been located. They're unconscious but otherwise unhurt. We'll be beaming them aboard shortly, have a medical team standing by!"
[Acknowledged. Good work, Major. Let us know when you've found Ms. Tomme. Virgo out.]
Jenara, Johnny thought. "Sergeant, secure the area," Johnny ordered. "We have a T'rais captive here who should be considered hostile. Keep him in his cell until we can figure out what to do with him. The Ferengi, what's your name?"
"Zeg," the Ferengi answered.
"Zeg here is on our side. Post him to guard the prisoner. I've got some unfinished business to settle," Johnny finished.
"Aye, sir. Zeg, come with me, please." Barek responded. "Sir, if I may, what are your intentions? I don't like the look in your eyes..."
"Sergeant, like the old ballplayer used to say, 'It ain't over 'till it's over!' I'm not pulling out of here until Jenara's free!" Johnny replied.
"May the Prophets guide you and light your path," Barek replied.
Barek didn't know how literally Chee would take that statement.
One deck below the cell block was the laboratory deck. That, Johnny concluded, was the most logical place to go to find Jenara. He returned to the turbolift and climbed down to the next deck. Using his cutting tool, he cut the door along the weld which had fused it shut, then keyed the lock mechanism. The door slid open. Two Eriarti researchers had Jenara strapped to an exam table. Behind them was a large cage containing two very frightened-looking Alarans. Johnny was unarmed except for his knife and eight grenades, the grenades would have instantly destroyed the lab and everything in it. Johnny therefore opted for the knife. Letting out a bloodcurdling yell, Johnny rushed the two scientists. The scientists retreated toward the rear of the laboratory ahead of Johnny's rush. One of them through a chair at him; Johnny blocked it with his arm and kept coming.
Nothing would stop him! He grabbed the nearer of the two Eriarti and threw him aside as if the alien were a child's doll. The other rushed him in a last desperate chance at survival. Johnny gut-stabbed him with the knife.
The Eriarti crumpled to the deck, bleeding profusely.
Johnny then turned to face the other Eriarti, but he was too late. One of the Alarans had managed to reach through the bars of the cage. With brute strength not seen in even the strongest human, the hominid had dismembered his tormentor. "Good work, friend," Johnny said to the Alaran. "In a few million years or so we'll have to sign you up!"
He then turned to Jenara. "Jenara, honey, are you okay?" he asked. The battle rage was slowly seeping out of him; the presence of Tiadara had likewise left him. But she was unconscious.
"Chee to Virgo, I've... I've located Jenara. She seems to be okay; everyone's okay..."
Then Johnny collapsed to his knees, weeping inconsolably. The Alarans in the cage sensed something was wrong with this stranger who had destroyed the Bad Ones, but they were insensible to do anything about it. At the other end of the communications channel, Captain Maruu discretely cut off the signal.
The interrogation of the Eriarti prisoners proved fruitless, all were completely ignorant of the larger agenda of their masters. The name Pharox, however seemed to inspire a great deal of passion and reverence. They were returned to their ship under guard.
The Eriarti ship, having been relieved of its prisoners, weaponry, and research equipment, was free to go. The newly-recovered Commander Lataro, with Kalmar and Benton and Johnny at his side, addressed the vessel's commander. "Because we of the Federation know and value mercy, you are free to go. However, you are not to be seen anywhere near Federation space again. Take this message back to your keepers: we are aware of you, and know your plans. You will not succeed. If you attempt an attack on any Federation world or vessel or base, or if you harm any more innocents such as the Alarans, you will be hunted down and destroyed! Do I make myself clear?"
The Eriarti commander simply bowed his head, a gesture of consent.
"Good. Now get the Hell out of here! Lataro to Virgo, four to beam up!"
After extracting the Eriarti's research data from the captured computer equipment, Dana Maruu was able to synthesize an antiviral agent to cure the Alaran plague. Within 72 hours every Alaran still alive on the planet was immune. Their children and all future generations of Alarans would also be immune; by the time the Alarans were sophisticated enough to develop medicine on their own, they would consider the plague which almost destroyed them no more serious than the common cold. Benton, Antilles, K'Lara, and Barek did the honor of flying the shuttles which dispersed the antiviral agent throughout the planet's ecosystem. The T'rais joined his comrades in the Virgo's brig, the best the crew could do for him until they could repatriate the prisoners. At least he would have members of his own society with whom to pass the time.
The funeral for Private Volex, the sole Tellarite in the platoon, was, as was the Tellarite custom, brief and to the point. "She lived among us; she died among us; she still walks among us as do the gods," Johnny said, quoting the Tellarite scripture as they held a brief service in the DEL. Along with the platoon were Jonathan, K'Lara, Benton, and Francesca to pay homage to one who had given her life to save theirs and the lives of those whom they loved. Jenara was unable to attend, being confined to Sickbay while Dana examined her thoroughly to ensure the Eriarti had not done any damage or performed any experiments. "Private Zeg, come forward," Johnny ordered.
The Ferengi, who joined the platoon after his rescue, did as ordered.
Johnny continued the Tellarite funeral rite. "This one takes the place of the one who has fallen. He shall have her position and be given the respect and courtesy we once gave our comrade. If anyone objects, speak now!"
No one spoke.
"Then the Crossing is concluded. May we all live to the fullest!"
After the funeral/initiation, Johnny, still in dress uniform, went to Sickbay. "Oh, good, you're here! Jenara's been asking for you!" the doctor exclaimed. "We've been trying to reach you, but your com badge was turned off."
"Sorry about that; had a funeral to attend," Johnny replied. "But life must continue. Take me to her, please!"
Dana led Johnny to the diagnostic bed where Jenara lay propped up. Johnny went to her and took her hand. "Are you okay, dear?"
Jenara smiled. "I'm fine. And the baby's fine, too. You stopped them just as they were about to begin their 'procedure'." She neglected, for good reason, to tell Johnny that the 'procedure' consisted of extracting the baby from her womb for study.
"It wasn't all me, you know. There were a lot of people involved. And Tiadara, tell her I enjoyed her visit, but next time to let me know before she jumps in like that!" Johnny said, laughing toward the end. "Jenara, let's never have to worry about being apart again," he told her.
"You mean?"
"Yes. Doctor, you're my witness. Jenara, will you marry me?"
Jenara became ecstatic. "Of course!!! I've been waiting for you to ask!!!"
It's about bloody time he asked, Dana thought.
"And so, with the power invested in me by the United Federation of Planets and Starfleet Command, I now pronounce you husband and wife," Captain Stephen Maruu announced. "You may kiss the bride," he told Johnny.
Amid lots of cheering and hooting Johnny, dressed in his dress uniform (which he'd now worn exactly twice since coming aboard the Virgo) and Jenara, dressed in the best approximation she could make of the multicolored Tanzaran wedding kimono, engaged in what had to have been one of the deepest, most passionate kisses either of them had hitherto experienced.
Francesca (Jenara's maid of honor) looked over at Benton (Johnny's best man) with a gleam in her eye. Suddenly the Kelvan became very uneasy...