Chapter 8 - When The Mourning Begins
Jack rushed into the Archaeology Lab in a dead run. He was afraid he was going to miss her despite her promise. The moment he passed through the doorway he stopped and smiled. She's still here.
Mei-Wan picked up two PADDs off her desk and turned toward him.
Time froze as it had so many times before when he looked at her.
Jack stood but a foot away from her. He caught the scent of her hair and paused. There was so much about her he was going to miss. Especially the little ways she made his days worth living.
"What?" she asked as he stood staring at her.
A grin crept across Jack's face. How could he put even a tenth of what he was feeling into words? He took a long breath and held it for a moment.
"You're not taking all your artifacts?" he asked and pointed at the wall of wooden shelves on one side of the lab.
"For the last day Natalie has been pushing me to get over to the Venture. Since Nelith and Duarte are already there I think she's afraid they might take off for Hel'yra without us. I promised her we'd leave as soon as I got a chance to see you."
"You want me to take care of that stuff for you?"
Mei-Wan shook her head. "No, Sunita said she'd pack it up and have it sent to me. I figure I'll eventually get it."
"I'll make sure you do," Jack said softly.
The man and woman who had been through so much pain and love together stood silently for nearly a minute. It wasn't that neither of them had nothing to say, it was they had too much to say--- too much that had been left unsaid for far too long and they both finally realized it. Now only minutes remained.
Jack took a step toward her. He wanted to do so much more. He wanted to scream at the Universe and tell it "No!" He wanted to do a lot of things.
"Mei, if sometime over the next year or so you…"
She watched a tear fall from his right eye. Part of her wanted to run from the room to avoid the pain she knew was coming. The other part wanted to grab the man she loved and go to a shuttle and run away from everything. She knew she'd do neither, but it frightened her that between the two she couldn’t decide which she wanted more.
Jack took a deep breath and forced himself to continue. "If you decide that you don't want to come back please don't hold off telling me."
"Is that what you think I want?" she asked barely able to hold back the flood of emotions fighting within her.
Jack looked into her warm brown eyes and wondered what had pushed them so far apart. In these last moments together he wished more than anything he could say something, anything that could make it right again.
"I don't know what you want, Mei. You told me you had feelings for this Kyle Hoffman, so what am I supposed to think?" Jack asked. "You'll be with him for the next year."
"You think I'm going just to be with him?"
Jack thought he saw a momentary hesitation in her, as if she wasn't certain herself of the answer to that question. "No. I insisted you go, remember?"
He looked into her eyes, hoping for a glimmer of hope for their marriage. "A month and a half ago I asked if you loved Hoffman, you wouldn't give me a straight yes or no answer."
Mei-Wan looked away from her husband. He deserved a reply, but she didn't know if she could give him one.
Jack gently touched her chin to turn her gaze back to him. "Mei, I need an answer."
She stared directly into his eyes. "Yes, I think I do still love him."
No words ever hurt Jack McCall as those did. I've lost her, he thought. She'll never come back to me.
Mei-Wan continued to look into his eyes. "But can you tell me you don't still love Larissa James? I know you do."
"Larissa is dead, Mei."
"Do you think competing against a woman who's been dead for twenty years has been easy for me?" she asked.
Jack shook his head. "Mei, you don't have to compete against…"
He smiled at her. "I love you, Mei. There is no other woman I'd rather have in my life."
"Then why can't you accept that while I may still have feelings for Kyle and may even still love him, that my love for you is all that matters to me?" Mei-Wan asked.
Jack's smile faded as he considered bringing up something else that had lingered from a month and a half before. He had run out of time. It had to be asked. "Because the other question you wouldn't answer was whether or not you'd sleep with him if you went on the expedition. Can you answer that now?"
Mei-Wan turned away from Jack. She searched her own heart. This was something she had avoided facing from the moment she had met Kyle in the café on Yed Post Four. Despite all the words she spoke to Jack trying to reassure him, all that really mattered was what she would do.
"Jack, will you and I be together once I finish with the expedition?"
His anger flared and he grabbed her by the shoulders and spun her around to face him. "Damn it! It's a simple question, Mei! Are you going to sleep with him?!"
Mei-Wan trembled as he held her arms. "I don't know!" she cried.
Jack's eyes widened as he freed her from his grasp. He took several steps back. His world had just shattered. "Then, no. We won't be together when you finish."
He backed away from her toward the door.
Mei-Wan tried to step up to him, but he held his hands up to stop her. "Jack, please, I love you!"
"If you can't answer that question, then you can't say you love me. It's that simple, Mei," he whispered.
Jack turned and left the lab. Mei-Wan took a step toward the door, but stopped.
"Jack…" She hesitated in front of the door.
Mei-Wan stood staring at the closed door, her eyes filling with the tears she would soon shed as she mourned the marriage she was certain had just died.
***
"You incomprehensible fool!"
Julien Gann had been called many things by Cyrus Wakernaggle and he was certain before the day was out he'd hear a lot worse.
"You don't have all the facts!" Ambassador Wakernaggle screamed.
"And I doubt you'll give me any I can trust!" Gann yelled back.
The captain of the Venture sat down in his chair and was glad the two of them were having this out in his Ready Room and not the bridge.
"You may very well destroy this world's last chance to leave the madness of their past behind."
"That's not up to us, Ambassador. That's up to them."
Wakernaggle took a deep breath as he stood across the desk from Gann. "Beheer has been secretive because their society is teetering on the edge. This Dreamer Cult has grown enormous the last two decades and he knows Federation membership will expand his people's horizons--- get them to think outside their own narrow interests."
Gann shook his head. "Did you miss the whole point of the Prime Directive? That's not our business!"
The ambassador sat down in a chair trying his best to remain calm. "They have a lot to offer the Federation."
"Then why not admit what they're doing down there?"
"Because his people would have him removed from office. He has a delicate balancing act he has to play against. His people are naturally distrustful of outsiders. If you try to force the issue, everything will fall into chaos. We can save this world from that."
"Cyrus, the Cajmians are torturing a living being down on that planet. A being they are using to supply them with power and raw materials. They see it as only some magical wishing well, but it's a living, thinking, sentient lifeform!" Gann shouted.
"You can't make that known! That will play directly into the cultists' views!"
Gann stood to his feet. "You knew about this all along!"
Wakernaggle's eyes narrowed. "Be careful who you accuse and of what, Captain."
"You damn fool. You're selling out the Federation's ideals. You'll destroy over two hundred years of dedication and work by beings from over a hundred worlds."
Wakernaggle's face became more stern and dark than Gann ever remembered seeing it. "The Federation is the individual citizens of those worlds and what they decide it will be, not the arrogant presumptions of a few starship captains who uniquely have the power to force their narrow-minded notions on whole sections of this Galaxy!"
Gann shook his head. "Before this day is out, that being will be set free."
Wakernaggle stepped up to the edge of the desk. "If you do that, your career in Starfleet will end before this day is out."
The ambassador turned and stormed out of the Ready Room.
***
Jack walked onto the bridge of the Chamberlain and sat down in his command chair. Hank Evans walked over to him.
"You say goodbye?"
Jack nodded. "Yeah."
Arthur Conrad at the communications station turned to his captain. "Sir, a message from the Venture."
"On screen," Jack said.
Captain Gann appeared standing on the bridge of his ship. "Captain McCall, as I think you know, the Cajmians are holding an intelligent lifeform against its will and using that being to provide energy and materials for their use. This is something which violates everything Starfleet and the Federation stands for. I intend to free this being. My science officer has determined that an energy pulse from our main deflector set to a certain frequency will disrupt the null energy field holding the entity, setting it free."
Jack stood from his chair. "Captain Gann, I think it might be better to talk this over with the Cajmians first. Perhaps we can convince them…"
Gann cut him off. "If we wait for them to become members of the Federation they might very well be able to tie this up with the Council for months or even years. No. I will not allow that being down there to suffer any longer than it already has."
Jack sat back down. He knew there was no way to talk Gann out of this course of action.
"I'm out here to make a difference, McCall. Frankly I don't know what you're out here for. You don't know either, do you?"
Jack was about to say something he was sure he'd later regret; the faces of his crew almost demanded he do something, but a signal from Cajma Six took that opportunity away from him.
Conrad announced, "Sir, the Cajmian Chairman is signaling the Venture."
Jack nodded. "Tap into the signal." He turned to Hank. "I want to see this."
Hank Evans grinned. "What do you want to do if Gann tries to go through with this?"
"I don't know if there's much we can do."
Hank pointed at his tactical station. "I could disable their main deflector."
Jack's eyes went wide. "Fire on the Venture?"
"I just want you to be aware of your options," Hank said.
Negev stepped up to Jack. "Captain, it might be wise to consider Mr. Evans suggestion. Captain Gann's legal standing on this is murky at best."
"The last thing I want to do is open fire on that ship, gentlemen," Jack said softly enough for only Hank and Negev to hear.
The main viewscreen flashed to life with the image of Chairman Beheer. "Captain Gann! If you attack our power station we will be forced to retaliate against your vessel!"
On the bridge of the Venture, Gann took a breath. "We are not attacking the power station. We are only going to set free the being you have imprisoned." Gann thought a moment. "Wakernaggle has been talking to you, hasn't he, Mr. Chairman?"
"That is irrelevant."
"What's relevant is your people have enslaved a being on your world and that is a direct violation of the treaty you're signing tomorrow. You're using that lifeform to produce energy for your people among other things."
Beheer sneered at Gann. "Why not? It is here. Should we not use it? This is our world, Captain! You have no right to dictate to us!"
Gann couldn't believe the arrogance of Beheer. "That treaty is no mere formality. It has meaning because the Federation stands for something!"
"If you free it, we will demand compensation from the Federation Council and ask that you be placed on trial for stealing a natural resource from our world."
Gann almost laughed. A natural resource? Is Beheer insane? Didn't Wakernaggle explain what the Federation stood for?
"You can bill me, Mr. Chairman," Gann replied. He turned to K'lemi. "Commander, activate the energy transfer."
His executive officer nodded and turned to the operations officer to carry out Gann's order.
His counselor, Olwen Lasas walked up next to him. "You're doing the right thing, Captain."
He turned to her and smiled. "Let's hope were not too late to help this being."
Five seconds later a bright energy beam traveled from the Venture's deflector down through the planet's atmosphere and stuck the area of the power reactor. Numerous small flying vessels were already in the sky leaving the area.
On the Chamberlain bridge, Jack watched Gann act.
Hank Evans cursed himself for not checking before. He quickly called up information on a display to tell him if a certain lieutenant had left the ship. He had to free Jack to have the only option open to him.
The ground about the power reactor started to shake gently at first, but as the energy continued to come down from the sky, the quaking became more violent. The local hills had small boulders rolling down them creating a thunderous noise in the night sky over Cajma Six.
Olwen stepped closer to the Venture's viewscreen as if she were listening to something. Then a smile broke out on her face.
"Captain, it's working!"
Gann walked up to stand next to her. "Can you sense it?"
"Yes, sir. The pain has gone. I sense a feeling of freedom. Its mind... it's becoming aware of everything around it. The land, the sky, the..." her voice faded away.
Gann smiled, but his joy was short-lived. The next moment Olwen Lasas screamed and collapsed to the deck.
The door to the Chamberlain bridge opened and Akala Wilmarza staggered through it.
"Captain! Stop them! Its thoughts… it wants revenge--- terrible revenge!"
Jack turned to Hank. "Target the Venture!"
Jack McCall was ten seconds too late. On the surface of Cajma Six a bright glowing mass of pulsating energy, alive and intelligent, burst out from the power reactor and into the air illuminating the surrounding mountains. And for the first time in long ages it was free to strike out at those who had used it--- at those who had treated it as a mere thing to be used.
Chairman Beheer stood in the cool night air on his terrace overlooking his marvelous city on the sea. He had risked his entire political career on joining the United Federation of Planets. He never imagined he had placed his very life at risk at well. Along with the rest of the Cajmian people the last moments of his life were spent in absolute agony of a kind he'd never thought possible.
It struck him like a terrible ocean wave, but one of pure energy rather than water. It struck him, but would not let him fall until it had consumed everything that made him unique.
He was dead before his body hit the ground.
Captain Gann called his chief medical officer over the comm as he held the lifeless body of Olwen in his arms. He could not imagine what had happened. None of it made sense to him.
K'lremi looked up from the science station and turned to him. "Captain, a wave of energy has encircled Cajma Six! We're showing no life signs from the planet!"
Gann gently lowered his counselor's body to the deck. "Are you certain? Could the energy just be interfering with our sensors?"
K'lremi shook her head.
A communication from the Chamberlain came over the comm. "Gann, this is McCall! Raise your shields! Raise your…"
Everyone one the Venture's bridge was tossed from where they stood to the floor as the ship shuddered violently.
The mass of energy Captain Gann freed passed slowly through the port side of the Sovereign class starship causing minor explosions across the primary hull of the vessel.
"Target the mass of energy!" Jack McCall ordered. He wasn't taking any chances it wouldn't take another run at the Venture or turn and attack his own ship.
Timothy Blackwell looked at Jack with horror on his face. "Captain, all life on the planet is gone and… my scans indicate more than a third of the Venture's crew is dead."
Jack stood to his feet. Mei! No, please no!
"Confirm your scans," Jack said in a desperate whisper.
Blackwell shook his head. "Sir, I have. The entire port side of the saucer section shows no life signs."
Jack turned to Melissa Vargas at the operations station. "What is on the port side of their saucer section?"
Melissa's mind was too full of disbelief to even hear his question clearly. "What sir?"
"Damn it, are the science labs on the port side?!"
Melissa finally realized what he was asking. It's Mei-Wan he's asking about. She's supposed to be over there by now.
"Science labs… are on the port side of the saucer section."
Jack closed his eyes.
Hank looked up from his tactical station. He knew Jack needed information. "The mass of energy has just gone to high warp speed and left the system."
Jack turned to Hank, his face empty of all emotion. "Secure from red alert," he said softly.
Hank could imagine what he was going through. If she had…
The tactical station blurted a loud chime to get Hank's attention. He looked down and a moment later a smile came to his face. "Jack, she's still here!"
Jack McCall stepped toward Hank. "Where?"
"According to the computer she's still down in the Archaeology Lab."
Jack smiled and felt guilty the moment he did so. A huge number of people had just died and all he could think of was the life of one person. "Are you sure she didn't just leave her comm badge behind?" he asked Hank.
Evans shook his head. "I can't imagine, but…" He frowned at Jack. "Go find out."
Jack turned to Negev who nodded. "I'll take care of rescue operations for the Venture, sir. Go."
Less than three seconds later Jack was off the bridge.
***
He ran down to the Archaeology Lab. Despite what Hank had told him he had to be sure. He had to see her for himself.
The doors opened and there she stood lowering a small bronze statue into a packing crate.
Jack couldn't stop himself from smiling. She's alive!
He started to take a step forward into the lab, but stopped. More than anything he wanted to throw his arms around Mei-Wan and just hold his wife. The problem was, after their earlier conversation, he wasn't sure he should call her that any longer.
He took a deep breath and backed away from the door, allowing it to close.
Mei-Wan turned about to see who came in, but no one was there. She had been expecting Natalie Fowler to come looking for her eventually. She knew the ensign would be furious with her delay, but after the argument with Jack, she no longer cared.
Mei-Wan walked over to the wooden shelves holding the last few items she had to pack. She stared at a stone figurine from the Iconian expedition she went on years ago. It was the only one of its kind--- beyond priceless, but all she could think of at that moment was throwing it against a wall and watching it shatter.
The doors opened again and this time Natalie Fowler walked slowly up to her.
"Lieutenant, the Venture was just attacked," the young ensign said.
"By what? I heard the red alert..."
"I still don't know, but everyone on the port side of the saucer section is dead."
Mei-Wan tried to remember. No, she thought. "Duarte and Nelith?"
Fowler shook her head. "I don't know." She held up a PADD and handed it to Mei-Wan. "I think you better take a look at this."
"What is it?" Mei-Wan asked.
"Something I was doing just out of curiosity while I was waiting for you. It's just a suspicion, but…"
Mei-Wan stood to her feet after only reading a few lines of text from the device. "We've got to check on this now, Natalie!"
***
Jack entered Gann's Ready Room an hour later and found the gray-haired captain's desk covered with several mountains of PADDs. No doubt with damage and worse, casualty reports.
Gann peered up from what he was reading. "Yes? What is it, Captain McCall?"
Jack stood rather than sat. "I wanted to let you know that the Corps of Engineers has begun work on repairing the Venture and say they should have you operational in forty-eight hours."
Gann nodded and leaned back in his seat, pulling the bottom of his uniform jacket down. "Very well."
He stared at Jack for several seconds. "It was the right thing to do."
Jack shook his head. He really didn't want to get into this.
"You don't agree?" Gann asked.
Jack could tell he wasn't going to let this go. "It doesn't matter if I agree or not."
Gann rose to his feet furious. "Then don't blame me!"
"Excuse me, but I suggested we wait until we had further information!"
"And did you act on your convictions, Captain? No, you did nothing! At least I acted."
Jack set his jaw. He had reached his limit with this man. "You certainly 'made a difference'! Two billion dead, that's quite an accomplishment!"
Gann looked down for a moment, the weight of that number was still too much for him to fully accept. Even he wondered if he was capable of thinking clearly this soon after what had happened "We all mourn for their loss, but the Cajmians set this series of events into motion. Are we to be surprised that a being held captive for who knows how long might seek revenge on those who oppressed it? On those who had used it for their own selfish desires?"
Jack shook his head. "There is nothing that can justify what happened here."
"Get out." Gann said as he stood his ground.
"Go try that explanation with the families of your crew that were lost. See what they say about your noble ideals."
Gann's eyes narrowed. "You mean like you explained to Robin Nelson's family how she died keeping a secret for a war that ended five days later?"
Jack's mind spun. He's been receiving reports from Akala! That green bitch!
Gann took a step nearer to him. "And how you explained to Larissa James' family why she died?" He lowered his voice. "I knew Larissa from the time she was born. Her father and I had served together on our first assignment out of the Academy. Her death destroyed him."
Jack slowly looked up. "We were ambushed."
Gann nodded. "I know that. You can never know all the possibilities, Jack McCall. You can only act with what you know. Your responsibility ends there."
But Jack wasn't listening. All that he heard was the pain from a lifetime of service that continued to consume him.
He looked directly into Gann's eyes. "If you had delayed that energy pulse an hour my wife would have been on this ship, in the section that was hit. She'd be dead with all the others."
Jack stepped to just a few inches from Gann. "And about now you'd be joining them."
Gann's eyes went wide. For a brief moment, he was afraid in the most primal way, but his training took over. "Are you threatening me, Captain McCall?"
"I'm telling you."
Gann nodded and turned about. He walked back behind his desk. "You are relieved of your command."
"What?"
"As Task Group Commander, that is within my authority," Gann said with stern finality. "Commander Negev will take command immediately. You are restricted to your quarters until further notice."
Jack laughed. "You're insane! The loss of your crew..."
"My grief for my crew is my own concern, Captain McCall. Now get out or I'll have you placed in my brig."
Gann sat down and ignored him. Jack knew the conversation was over. He turned and left.
Thirty seconds later, Cyrus Wakernaggle strolled into the room, carrying a PADD in his wrinkled hands.
"What is it, Ambassador?" Gann asked.
Wakernaggle handed him the PADD. "This is my report to the Federation Council. You will notice that I place responsibility for what happened here on your shoulders and that if you had heeded Captain McCall's warnings of caution..."
"If Captain McCall had believed enough in his point of view, he would have acted to stop me even to the point of disabling this ship," Gann said as he threw Wakernaggle's report onto a chair.
"Is that what you would have done had your positions been reversed?"
"Without hesitation," Gann said. "I wouldn't refer to McCall if I were you. His career is effectively over."
A smile slowly crept across the ambassador's face. "I believe the Council will agree with me."
Gann stared directly at him. "They might just do that until they receive my report."
Wakernaggle leaned onto the desk. "We shall see, Julien. We shall see."
***
Jack entered the Chamberlain's bridge and walked up to Negev who was standing at the science station with Mei-Wan, Natalie Fowler, and Melissa Vargas. Timothy Blackwell's hands danced over the controls in front of him.
Jack tapped Negev on the shoulder. "Lak, I've been relieved of my command."
Mei-Wan spun about. "What?!"
"Gann just relieved me--- restricted me to quarters and placed you in command."
Negev nodded and thought a moment. "If indeed you have been relieved, then I should no longer accept orders from you... including these orders."
Jack smiled. "It won't be long before he contacts you."
Negev turned his head. "I'm sure I'll be busy."
Jack chuckled as Mei-Wan stepped up next to him. "What happened?"
He couldn't bring himself to turn to her. "It looks like I'm about due for a career change."
Hank walked over to the crowd at the science station. "I just got a call from the Venture to restrict you to quarters, Jack."
McCall turned to his old friend. "And?"
Hank shrugged his shoulders. "Just thought you might want to know."
"Thanks."
"Don't mention it." Hank leaned down to see the displays Blackwell worked on. "So, what's up?"
"I don't know. I just got here," Jack replied.
Mei-Wan turned to them. "Natalie thinks she may have something on the being that left the planet. Tim is running an analysis."
"I hope I'm wrong," Ensign Fowler stated.
Blackwell's station blurted out a loud chirping sound. "I'm afraid you're right, Natalie. It's a match."
Negev turned to Jack. "Ensign Fowler thought there might be a connection between the null energy field confining the being on Cajma Six and the subspace field found on Hel'yra."
Jack tilted his head to look at the science displays. "There is? But the machine on Hel'yra used energy from a star to power it."
Blackwell nodded. "The underlying technology is the same. In the case of Cajma, the system, while simpler than that on Hel'yra, drew power from the planet's core, which is why the Cajmians could siphon so much power out of it. They simply tapped the already existing flow of energy."
He looked up at their captain. "But since most planets receive a substantial percentage of their heat from their cores, another few millennia and Cajma Six would have begun to die."
Jack turned to Hank Evans, but his Tactical Officer wasn't there. He had already run back to his station.
"I'm checking it," Hank said as he worked his controls.
Mei-Wan followed Jack as he slowly walked back to his command chair, his eyes looking at the floor, but his mind racing.
"You think it's heading to Hel'yra?"
Jack stopped in front of his chair. "Akala said she sensed the being wanted revenge. At the time, I assumed it was against the Cajmians. What if it was someone or something else? What if it isn't the only one of its kind?"
Mei-Wan thought about the recording by the Ancient Progenitor female. "Susan told me the message said, 'the lives of darkness must remain'--- 'lives'," she said thinking out loud.
Mei-Wan looked at Jack. "There could be hundreds or thousands of those beings locked away on Hel'yra. If the Ancient Progenitors imprisoned them..."
Hank interrupted her. "The mass of energy that hit the Venture left the system at high warp on a direct heading for the Hel'yra nebula."
Jack turned to Negev. "Contact the Ravenscroft and warn them to get out of the Hel'yra system immediately and have us set a course at warp nine point seven."
Mei-Wan looked at Jack with fear in her eyes. "They can't receive any signals inside that nebula."
"They're supposed to send a shuttle out every few days to contact Admiral Simmons on Kel-j'na. Let's hope they get lucky."
He turned to Lieutenant Commander Arthur Conrad at the communications station. "Get me Captain Gann."
After a moment. "On screen, sir."
"Gann, that being is heading for Hel'yra, we have to..."
Gann's eyes were as wide as they could be. "You have been relieved, Captain! Mr. Negev place McCall under arrest!"
Negev stepped forward. "What was that, sir? Your signal didn't come through very clearly."
"Don't throw away your career for him, Negev!"
Jack shook his head. "I don't have time for this! That being is headed for Hel'yra. We have reason to believe more of its kind may be imprisoned there."
"Then I'll signal Admiral Simmons to send a ship."
Jack thought a moment, but his mind was made up. "You said I should act on my convictions, Gann. Now I'm doing so. We're going to Hel'yra."
Gann shook his head. "No, absolutely not!"
Jack sat in his command chair. "The Abdiel will remain behind to help the Corps of Engineers with the Venture's repairs. McCall out."
Gann's image was replaced by a starfield that moved as the Chamberlain came about to leave the system.
Negev turned to Jack. "Course is set, warp nine point seven standing by."
Jack took a deep breath. "Let's haul ass."
A moment later his ship shattered the light speed barrier and was on it's way. Jack McCall only hoped there would be something they could do, and that they would get there in time to make a difference.
TO BE CONTINUED...
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Dark Horizon Story and Characters Copyright ©2003 Michael Gray
