Chapter 28
Stardate 47722.1 - September 21, 2370
"In that case I'll need you to notarize this." Raine told the Cardassian captain of the Bok'Nor in slight annoyance as she handed the padd over to him. "It's for our records to confirm that you're refusing any onboard security checks."
"Understandable." He confirmed with a curt nod as he quickly pressed a secure data rod to the padd before handing it back to her. "Will that be all?"
"Yes." Raine answered with a smile, while internally letting out a silent sigh of relief that Cardiassians were anal enough about paperwork that signing such documentation was apparently just a matter of course to them instead of something to be argued. "You're free to begin disembarkation procedures then."
She walked away knowing that was pretty much all she would get from the man. Almost sure at this point that there had to be a general 'don't talk to starfleet' order floating around for Cardassians below a certain rank.
"Lieutenant Brooks to Ops." She announced tapping her combadge as she walked to the turbolift that would take her down from the upper pylon. "The Bok'Nor has refused the security check and is preparing for departure."
"Acknowledged Lieutenant." Kira's voice answered before the channel closed.
"So let's see." Raine muttered to herself, looking over her padd to see which vessel was next on her list as she stepped onto the turbolift.
"Hold!" An unfamiliar voice called out, and Raine held her destination command as she looked up to see an unfamiliar engineering officer join her in the lift.
"You're lucky." Raine began giving the man a smile as she tried to remember his name, her eyes flicking to his rank pins in hopes of a reminder before widening in shock at the fact there were none. Her hand darted out almost by instinct, grabbing the man around the neck as she spun him around and slammed him into the wall of the turbolift.
"I don't know who you are." She growled, grabbing one of his arms with her other hand and twisting it behind his back. "But you need to do a better job with your disguises."
"You're too late." He told her with a smirk as something suddenly caused the entire station to shake.
Raine's eyes went wide as she released her grip on the man's neck, the now free hand quickly moving down to grab the phaser at her waist before a quick stun sent him falling to the floor.
"Lieutenant Brooks to Commander Sisko" She started, tapping her combadge with one hand as she began to secure the downed man with her other.
"This better be important Lieutenant." Sisko answered after a moment, which Raine considered fair given she was pretty sure something somewhere around the station had just blown up.
"I just caught someone impersonating a Starfleet engineer on upper pylon one." Raine answered him. "Given what he said before I stunned him, I suspect he had something to do with whatever just exploded."
"I'll meet you at the holding cells." Sisko answered grimly, her combadge signaling the closed channel moments after his last word.
"Promenade." Raine told the computer, giving an annoyed look to the unconscious man she now had to carry.
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"So who is he?" Sisko asked the two of them, and Raine turned a look of unease to Odo because she doubted the Commander would be happy with what they had found.
"William Samuels" Odo answered, crossing his arms unhappily as he stared at the still unconscious man behind the cell's forcefield. "Federation records list him as an inhabitant of the Volan Two colony."
"Which is in the demilitarized zone." Sisko muttered, taking in the Starfleet uniform the man was wearing. "How did you identify him Lieutenant?"
"I didn't recognize him and he forgot his rank pips." Raine answered, because that last was one of those things a Starfleet officer only did once. And he was far too old to make that mistake.
"You didn't recognize him?" Sisko questioned, turning to her with a raised eyebrow that suggested that was a more impressive accomplishment then she felt like it was.
"There are only what." Raine began, turning to Odo. "Two hundred?" Two hundred fifty?"
"Two hundred forty seven." Odo corrected with a nod.
"Two hundred forty seven Starfleet officers currently on the station." Raine continued. "I know we get a few new people rotating in and out every couple weeks or so, but it's still less than my last posting. So I try to at least know most of the faces so we don't get well."
"This." She finished pointing to the man who seemed to be finally coming around.
"I do the same." Odo admitted with a shrug, though Raine suspected that was a lot easier for someone with a changeling's recall abilities then it was her.
"So Mister Samuels." The security chief continued turning to the man who had just woozily sat up on the bench Raine had placed him. "How about you explain to us why you blew up the Bok'Nor."
…
"Sir?" He prompted again after a minute of silence.
"Not saying anything to you." Williams finally spat out.
"Very well." Odo agreed with a nod. "Then I will do the talking for you. You are a member of a colonial terrorist group of some kind. You planted a protomatter based device on the Bok'Nor and murdered all seventy eight members of its crew."
"Twasnt murder." Williams muttered, confirming to Raine that this person was a rank amateur at best given how easily he had fallen for Odo's provocation. "We were protecting ourselves from the Cardies."
"Ah yes." Odo agreed, his tone thick with sarcasm as Raine made a mental note that the man had just suggested he wasn't alone on the station. "That empty freighter was such a great threat to you."
"That's why we had to act." Williams spat back giving all three of them a look filled with disdain. "You all can't see what's staring you in the face."
"And what is it that we can't see?" Sisko suddenly asked, the sudden booming of his voice almost causing Raine to flinch.
"That they're getting ready to kill us." Williams told Sisko with a look of defiant finality as he turned away to stare at one of the walls of the holding cell.
"Computer." Odo began, clearly a bit unhappy with Sisko's interruption. "Mute sound around cell one."
The forcefield door flickered slightly as it increased in intensity to block out sound transfer. A handy feature all things considered, but one they weren't supposed to leave on long term for prisoner safety reasons.
"We have a problem." Odo told them with an annoyed shake of his head. "There's a good chance Mister Samuels wasn't alone."
"You caught it too?" Raine asked, not particularly surprised given Odo far exceeded her in investigative and interrogation ability.
"Yes." Odo confirmed with a nod.
"I can continue questioning him of course." He went on, shooting Sisko and her an expectant look. "But he has all the hallmarks of a true believer in the cause. So I'm not likely to get anything without methods Starfleet would find, distasteful."
"No." Sisko immediately refused, looking from one of them to the other. "Is there any chance we could use Samuels as bait for his partners?"
"I doubt it." Raine answered with a frown, having given the possibility some thought already herself. "Too many signs that he was expected to get caught."
"I'd have to agree." Odo said, letting out a sigh. "They didn't even bother replicating a properly fitting uniform for him. So either he was a last minute replacement, or someone they considered generally disposable."
"Well." Sisko began turning back to stare at the man with a grim look. "Maybe Starfleet will have better luck getting him to talk."
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"Unauthorized intruder detected in habitat ring section four." Raine's combadge chirped, and she had to hold back the sudden urge to break out in a long string of swearing. Because the only way she should be getting that particular report, was if both the primary and secondary reporting systems for the new starfleet sensors in the area had been bypassed.
"This is why we have backup's for our backup's." Raine muttered as she broke out into a run, giving a silent prayer of thanks to whatever entity was listening that she had already been on her way home since that put her just a couple dozen doors away from the section in question.
Given what had been happening as of late Raine was almost unsurprised to arrive and find a Cardassian man crouched down next to the door to Commander Sisko's quarters in the middle of overriding the locks. She was however surprised to find that it was Gul Dukat, and her mind started whirling to try to figure out a way to accident the man and not have it result in a war.
"I see I missed one." Dukat offered congenially as he got back up to his feet and turned to her. "Rather sloppy of me all things considered, but I was in a bit of a rush."
"And you would be." He continued as his eyes took in her form in a way that left Raine feeling distinctly dirty. "Security Officer Brooks. A personalized reporting mechanism then."
"Don't move." Raine told him with half gritted teeth as she tapped her combadge, really hoping he disobeyed so she could have an excuse to punch him. "Brooks to Commander Sisko, I just caught Gul Dukat trying to break into your quarters."
"Hello Commander." Dukat offered, pitching his tone in such a way that her badge would be sure to pick it up.
"I'm on my way Brooks." Sisko's voice answered after a moment, and Raine could make out the sheer rage in the man's tone at the knowledge of just where Dukat had been trying to break into. "If he tries anything, stun him. Sisko out."
Raine bent down and pulled her off duty weapon from her boot, making sure to set the cricket phaser to heavy stun while not taking her eyes off the man.
"Rude." Dukat muttered with an almost pitying shake of his head. "And you really do plan to shoot me, don't you. How rare to see such a willingness to resort to violence in a member of Starfleet."
"Yes yes, I get it." Raine sarcastically responded, rolling her eyes and keeping the weapon pointed at him in hopes her prodding at his pride would get him to make a mistake. "Your people are still sore that your military lost a war against Federation science ships."
"That's certainly an interesting take on things." Dukat shot back with an almost condescending shake of his head. "I suppose though that that just must be the sort of thing members of the Federation need to tell themselves to soothe their pride."
"I suppose a Cardassian would be the expert on misplaced pride." Raine agreed with a nod completely devoid of the annoyance she actually felt.
"Our pride is well earned, I assure you." Dukat offered to her with a smile as his eyes moved to a point over Raine's shoulder. "Don't you agree, Commander?"
"What the hell are you doing here Dukat?" Sisko asked angrily as he took a spot next to Raine.
"Right to business then?" Dukat said, ignoring Raine completely to focus on Sisko. "A pity. But I suppose it can't be helped."
"I'm here to–" He continued, taking a few steps towards them only to fall to the ground in an unconscious heap as a beam from Raine's phaser flashed out and hit the Cardassian in his chest.
"Lieutenant?" Sisko asked, turning to give Raine a questioning look.
"I told him not to move, and you ordered me to stun him if he tried anything." Raine explained, knowing it was nitpicking in a way most commanding officers probably wouldn't approve of. But not sorry about it in the slightest.
"Fair enough." Sisko told her with the slightest hint of a smile and an acknowledging tilt of his head. "But you're carrying him to the security office."
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"Why does my head hurt?" Dukat asked from behind the security force-field as Raine tried to look as innocent as possible after having 'accidentally' banged the Cardassian's head into no less than three doorways.
"You hit it on a wall after my officer stunned you." Sisko covered for her, completely aware of the truth but apparently just disliking the man that much. "Now, I believe you were about to explain why you felt the need to try and break into my quarters?"
"I had been hoping to talk with you in private." Dukat told them, his eyes flicking to Raine's blue form, the only other non-prisoner in holding given Odo had already retired to regenerate.
"And I had been hoping to spend some time with Jake tonight." Sisko shot back, giving the man a judging look . "It looks like neither of us are going to be getting what we want."
"I suppose needs must." Dukat muttered with an accepting shake of his head that made Raine want to shoot him again. "I came here to help you with your terrorist problem."
"You know what group is responsible?" Sisko asked him, looking interested despite his dislike for the man. Something Raine could almost appreciate herself, given even knowing about the Maquis like she did. She hadn't been able to find even the slightest hint of the actual buildup behind them in any of the Starfleet security reports that she could access.
"I do." Dukat confessed with a grin, the Cardassian taking a moment of obvious joy in having something over them.
"Who?" Sisko all but demanded.
"You are." Dukat admitted. "Oh, not you personally, Commander. I know you to be an honorable man. You're not one to sneak around attaching implosion devices to impulse engines. But, believe it or not, there are those of your brethren who are willing to do such things. Morally superior human beings and other members of the Federation."
"And we're supposed to take your word for that?" Sisko asked with about as much skepticism as Raine would have felt if she didn't already know there were at least some Starfleet officers like Eddington working with them.
"It would be nice if you did, given your Lieutenant shot me. "Dukat groused as Raine gave the man a somewhat savage grin in response. "But alas no. It's my job to convince you so you can clean your own house instead of forcing us to do it for you, which would certainly endanger the new treaty. So I'll need you to let me out of here and one of your runabouts."
"Sir." Raine put forward with a cautious tone, not liking the idea of him going off alone with Dukat one bit.
"I know Lieutenant." Sisko accepted the unsaid warning with a half nod. "But I've got every Admiral in subspace range breathing down my neck about this. And if something the Cardassians know can prevent a repeat, it's my duty to follow up on it."
"Permission to come along and shoot Dukat if this turns out to be a plan to kidnap you?" Raine asked, perfectly aware the Cardassian in question was standing a few meters away and perfectly capable of hearing it.
Sisko looked between the hopeful Asari and frowning Cardassian for a moment before seemingly coming to a decision. "Granted."
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"I can't help but notice my controls appear to be inactive." Dukat offered in a slightly annoyed tone from his position at the runabouts secondary pilot station. "Isn't it standard practice for both stations to be turned on so that I can pilot the craft in the case of an emergency?"
"If there's an emergency, Lieutenant Brooks can handle it." Sisko told him somewhat flippantly, from his position at the primary controls.
"And neither of us trust you to sit behind us." Raine added in from where she was standing at the secondary tactical station.
"I assure you you have nothing to fear, Commander." Dukat attempted to reassure the man, continuing what at this point appeared to be a purposeful decision to not directly address Raine. "I'm not going to attempt to steal your quaint little vessel."
"After all." He continued with the tiniest bit of petty pride. "Cardassian pursuit vessels are years ahead of this design."
Raine felt her eye ridge twitch, something that was becoming a woefully common occurrence when dealing with Dukat. Because she refused to believe the Cardassians didn't know the runabout was basically a glorified transport vessel.
"Long range sensors are picking up a distress signal." Sisko interrupted before Raine could go on a minor rant about the higher quality of Starfleet starship design.
"From whom?" Dukat asked, his tone almost one of concern.
"A Federation merchant vessel being pursued by Cardassians." Sisko answered as Raine brought up the information on her tactical console.
"That's not possible." Dukat all but immediately objected. "I promise you, Commander, we would not violate the treaty."
"I'm reading two small Cardassian attack craft." Raine interjected, something about the way the much larger Merchant vessel wasn't firing back worrying her. "I think we might be looking at a bait play."
"I'm getting no response from the merchant vessel's comm." Sisko told them both as he quickly input commands into his station. "Computer, fix source coordinates of the distress signal and lay in a new course, warp five."
The runabout shuddered slightly as it quickly accelerated to its maximum safe warp factor, though Raine doubted even warp five would be fast enough to get them there in time to save whichever of the two parties was actually in danger.
"What type of Cardassian ship are they?" Dukat asked, turning to her for the first time since they had boarded the vessel. "Patrol cruisers?"
"I'd say retrofit shuttles or fighters." Raine answered, more for Sisko's benefit than Dukat's, the man needing to know what they might be going into.
"Retrofit?" Dukat asked in what may have been the first moment of honest confusion Raine had heard from the man.
"I'm reading Galor class phaser fire." Raine replied, leaving unsaid the fact that that meant the vessels would have to have significantly improved power plants over the standard.
"They must be from Cardassian colonies in the Demilitarised zone." Dukat muttered, turning his chair back to Sisko. "Hail them."
"No response." Sisko told him after a moment.
"Open a channel." Dukat commanded, waiting for Sisko to enter the command and give a nod before continuing. "To the pilots of the Cardassian attack vessels. This is Gul Dukat, Commander of the Second Order. Please respond. This is Gul Dukat, security identification ADL four zero. I order you to immediately disengage your attack."
"No change in their attack." Raine informed Dukat after a moment before pausing as a new signature showed up on her scans. "I'm picking up another ship moving toward them at high warp. Federation signature."
"No response to hails." Sisko put forward as he failed to initiate contact with the vessel.
"Torpedo launch." Raine announced as easily recognizable energy signatures began to separate from the 'Federation' vessel. "The Cardassian ships are beginning evasive maneuvers."
"No effect." She finished with a sad shake of her head as the weapons hit, the Cardassian signatures winking out as they did. "The Cardassian vessels have been destroyed."
"Do you begin to see, Commander." Dukat began, giving Commander Sisko a grave look. "Without any help from either one of us, they've managed to start their own little war out here."
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Raine watched Sisko and Dukat transport down to Volan three, and once more silently wondered if her personal policy of never leaving a runabout unattended was really worth it. Especially given she didn't actually remember anyone trying to steal the runabout during this particular outing. Though that probably didn't count for much given how many things she was pretty sure she had changed at this point.
"Computer." She began, letting out a sigh of relief at getting off her feet as she took a seat at one of the stations. "What's the status of the tracked warp signature?"
"The last recorded position intersects with the location known as the Badlands." The ubiquitous female voice of Federation computer systems answered.
"I swear that place has to be some species forgotten science experiment." Raine muttered to herself as she mentally wrote off the idea of even trying to track the ship back to its base.
"So Computer." She continued as the unfortunate realization of the realities of an impromptu clandestine trip on a runabout other than the Rio Grande settled over her. "What do you have loaded for recreational activities that don't involve opening a subspace connection with another location?"
"Klingon Wordle." It answered after a moment, and Raine patiently waited for it to continue before an annoyed look crossed her features.
"Dammit Jadiza."
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"Mevak." Raine muttered to herself as she input the word before once more checking the chronometer, only to let out a sigh when it showed only a little over four hours had passed since Sisko and Dukat had transported down to the planet.
"Sisko to Orinoco." The commander's voice sounded out from the ship's communication system, and Raine nearly let out a cheer of joy at the fact that something might finally be happening.
"Brooks here." Raine answered, hiding the hopeful tone in her voice as much as possible.
"Can you locate Dukat with the Orinoco's sensors?" Sisko asked in an almost worried tone as Raine dismissed her game and began attempting to fulfill his request.
"Sensors can't locate his biosigns." Raine answered after a minute, which honestly didn't mean much given that shielding a location from such a precise tracking method wasn't particularly hard.
"I was afraid of that." Sisko responded after a moment of silence. "Have any ships left the planet since we beamed down?"
Raine switched to the sensor logs, raising an eyeridge in surprise at just how many ships had chosen to leave since their arrival.
"Three ships have left the planet since you beamed down, two freighters and a vulcan transport."
"And in the past two hours?" Sisko narrowed down.
"Just one freighter and the transport." She offered after adjusting the parameters.
"All right." Sisko confirmed. "Keep tracking those two ships as far as possible. Sisko out."
Given what she was able to infer from everything the Commander had asked, she would bet good Latinum that Dukat had just been kidnapped. And she briefly considered trying to sabotage the sensor logs so there wouldn't be any possibility of following, before writing it off. Because there was no way she could do that beyond Jadzia and O'Brien's ability to recover them.
"Let's see then." She muttered to herself as she brought up tracking on the two ships. "The freighter appears to be heading towards the Nehru Colony. And the vulcan transport."
"Is on a course to Ferenginar that will take it right past the badlands." She finished with a sigh.
Nearly ten minutes later the runabouts com system activated again, Sisko's voice echoing out. "Sisko to Orinoco. Two to beam up."
"Two?" Raine inquired as she brought up the transporter.
"Lieutenant Commander Hudson is going to be joining us." Sisko informed her as she locked the transporter onto the second combadge.
"Energizing." Raine warned them as she hit the command, swiveling her chair to greet the two men as they materialized on the transporter platform.
"Commander." Raine began, giving Sisko a nod before turning to Hudson and repeating the motion. "Lieutenant Commander."
"I'm happy to report that once again the runabout has not been stolen."
"Wow Ben." Hudson began, giving Raine a look she was well used to at this point in her life. "You weren't kidding about the runabout thing were you."
"Lieutenant Brooks." Sisko out forward to Raine as she gave her commanding officer a very modest stink eye. "
Lieutenant Commander Calvin Hudson."
"Forgive me sir." Raine offered to the Lieutenant Commander, trying to figure out where she knew the man from. "But have we met before?"
"I'd like to think I'd remember if we had." Hudson offered with a good humored chuckle.
"He's Starfleet's attaché to the Federation colonies in the new Demilitarized Zone." Sisko told her as they exchanged seats, Hudson taking the secondary pilot station as she moved back to tactical.
"That must be it." Raine agreed, her mind going over the various reports she'd read over the past year while trying to find hints of potential Maquis buildup.
"Looks like Nehru and Ferenginar." Sisko told Hudson after checking the flight paths.
"I know the owner of the transport." Hudson told them after looking at the information on his console. "Sakonna. Nice girl. Surprisingly young for a vulcan out and about on their own."
"Her transport's my top guess." Raine admitted, something about the thought of a young vulcan woman making her recall the various Maquis who showed up alongside Eddington. "At least, if we're looking for a connection to the same group behind the ambush of the Cardassian attack craft."
"Oh?" Sisko questioned.
"The vessel that conducted the attack was heading towards the Badlands when our sensors lost its trail." Raine explained, transferring the relevant information directly to the two's stations.
"Hard to argue with that." Hudson acknowledged in agreement. "But if they took him into the Badlands we're never going to be able to track them down, that place eats warp signatures."
"Dax could probably do it." Sisko mused half to himself.
"She could get here in three or so hours on one of the other runabouts." Raine put forward having actually had the same thought. But when your commanding officer told you the mission required subspace silence, well, you followed it unless there was an emergency.
"Sounds like a plan to me." Hudson agreed with a nod.
"In that case." Raine began, shooting a hopeful look to Commander Sisko. "Permission to get a couple hours rest while we wait?"
"Granted Lieutenant." Sisko told her with an amused shake of his head as Raine headed to the crew cabin to do just that.
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Authors Notes: Well that one got a bit large. Alas, due to actor availability Cal Hudson was such an unremarkable character that after all these years Raine mentally tacked on his part to Eddington.
