Date: Mon, 5 Dec 1994 17:25:00 +0000 Reply-To: Highlander TV show stories Sender: Highlander TV show stories From: AHILL@CCVAX.UCD.IE Subject: The Challenge: Our Today (2 of2) ************************************* _The Challenge_ Part 3: Our Today. A HL story set in the DS9 universe. By Amanda Hill. ************************************* (Part 2 of TC:OT) The next day we booked passage on a shuttle bound for Deep Space Nine. We still weren't quite sure what we were going to do -just that we'd work something out. Together. Sam was pacing around the docking bay. "Are you *sure* this'll work? The sensors won't pick them up?" I smiled at him as I sealed the long case. "Yes. Don't worry about it. I've been phasing this baby on and off starships for -oh, at least a century now. I reckon I have the technique perfected by now." Sam relaxed a little. "It's gonna take me some time to get used to that." He smiled. "We could have done with that little phasing device of yours during the war. Undetectable weapons,...phew!" "Yeah, well it's not as simple as that..." As we were called to our shuttle he picked up the carryall. "Immortal trade secrets, right?" I flicked the switch on the device. "Something like that." As we walked onto DS9, the security officer looked us up and down and watched as we headed towards the Promenade. Enough stories had reached the station for the newly arrived Starfleet officers to be more than a little suspicious of Bajoran visitors. Sam let out a sigh of relief once we were out of the officer's sight. "Phew! That was scary. I thought he suspected something." Relax, will you? As far as he's concerned we're just more Bajorans seeking employment. It'll work out. Just as soon as we find this Major Kira." A Starfleet engineer with light brown curly hair was cursing at a nearby control panel. "Bloody Cardie technology! What I'd give now for a good ol' fashioned sledge hammer!" Sam tapped him lightly on the shoulder. "Excuse me, we're looking for Major Kira Nerys..." He stopped as he saw the expression on the face of someone I instantly recognised. He was a little older than I remembered, but then it had been almost twenty years since Miles O'Brien sat in my science class on Starbase 42. O'Brien's face was crossed by a look of confusion. "...Lt. Noel?" There was too much to explain. I could only hope he'd be unsure enough about his memory of me. Hopefully the nose would help. "I'm sorry. Do we know each other? I've only just arrived from Bajor." His eyebrows met as he continued to scrutinise my face. He then winked. "Of course. My apologies. Major Kira should be in Ops right now -I'll contact her." Before he tapped his communicator he leaned towards me and whispered, "You make a good Bajoran. And I thought you were just a science teacher. What sort of a mission are you on, Lieutenant?" As he talked to the major I shook my head and laughed quietly. Miles always was a perceptive and keen student. And a charming one at that. When he announced that Kira would be with us soon, I nodded. "Good. I'll explain everything then." Before long, Major Kira arrived and demanded to know what was going on. Sam held out his hand. "I'm Dean Samonn and this is Nole Aleanna..." As he indicated towards me, O'Brien gave me a questioning glance. "...we need to talk with you." "This had better be good. I've got a station falling apart all around me and we wouldn't want our new Starfleet commander to be uncomfortable once he arrives, would we?" O'Brien was deliberately excluded from her question. "Is the security of this station important enough for you? And my name is Aleanna Noel..." This time it was Sam who's gaze questioned me. "...is there somewhere we can talk?" Kira indicated towards the lower decks and led on. Sam, Miles, and I followed in silence. We descended further and further downwards until we could barely hear our own thoughts above the thumping of the reactor core. Finally we arrived in a small empty supply room near the engineering station. It could barely contain the four of us and there was no fear of anyone hearing our conversation above the beating of what was the heart of Deep Space Nine. Kira turned towards us. "Okay. This should be secure. Now who in the name of the Prophets are you?" She would have to be told the full story. Most of it anyway. And twice in as many days I took a large gulp of air. "This is absolutely outrageous! Do you Humans seriously think we'll believe any fable you spin? I want you *both* off this station immediately. And tell your Ta'kharr friends not to try anything. We'll be watching." She was about to contact security over her com badge as Sam gently took hold her hand. His voice was barely above a whisper yet it commanded attention. "And do you think they'll listen? Major, you know how ruthless the Ta'kharr are. I know for a fact that the Shakarr had more than one run-in with them. Can you afford not to listen? What my friend here says is hard to swallow. No doubt about that. But if it's the truth, we might just need her help if we're to avert this war before it begins." Kira Nerys lowered her hand. "The Prophets know, the last thing we need is the Ta'kharr trying to undo all we've worked for here. I've no great love for the Federation, but this world has seen enough war. Okay, I'm listening." We were agreeing on the final arrangements when Miles addressed Major Kira. "Sir, should we inform Starfleet of the situation? This isn't exactly standard procedure." Kira was surprisingly calm as she answered. "Chief O'Brien, when your Commander Sisko arrives, he is free to run the station and deal with the factions as he sees fit. I've no doubt he'll have ample opportunity. Until such time, however, I am in command of this station. And I don't give a damn about standard procedures. If you have a difficulty with that, I suggest you leave now." Miles stood to his full height and with the same pride and honour I had come to associate with a lot of Starfleet officers, he announced himself as in. Someone had to see that all his hard work wasn't undone. Not for the first time in my life I stood in Starfleet uniform. There was only one place where the explosive devices we brought aboard with my sword could do any serious damage to the station -and it was here. Sam had told me enough about the Ta'kharr for me to know that they'd let no one, Bajoran or otherwise, to stop them accomplishing their ends. But if they found the reactor core unguarded, they'd immediately become suspicious. There was no alternative. Sam had handed the explosives over to the Ta'kharr operative on the station. I had to stand her and wait to be almost certainly killed so that none would die. Hopefully Kira and Miles who were waiting in ambush beyond the security station could disarm him before the bomb was planted. It would be totally in their hands. If not, it would all be in vain. I had no idea how being blown apart and scattered as space debris would affect my Immortality -just that I didn't want to find out. It was bad enough knowing that my life would end at any second... Bajoran resistance fighters are well trained. I never saw him come up behind me. None of the cues that usually alerted me to another's presence were there. The first I knew of having company was the searing pain as a phaser bolt hit home between my shoulder blades... Groggy. I gasped for air and choked on the acrid fumes of the smoke I had misinterpreted as the usual blurred vision. I was lying on my back. I didn't remember falling like that, I grabbed for the console but my hand gripped more smoke. As my eyes adjusted, I realised that I had been moved. Dragged a few metres towards the door, then left. The door was sealed off. That could mean only one thing. As I came to the worst conclusion, I finally heard the voice coming over my communicator. "Noel? Are you all right? Goddammit, you said you'd be okay. answer me!" I reached for the pin and tapped it. "I'm here, Miles. What's going on? The door is sealed." I heard a sigh of relief in the background that could only have been from Sam. But it was short lived. "Thank God. I don't know how, but somehow our Ta'kharr friend managed to plant *something* before we jumped him. We took him and that device you guys gave him into custody. But before we got him to the brig, he managed to detonate whatever he left in there! It's not big, but enough to send shockwaves through the containment field. It's about to collapse and no one can get in there! There's nothing I can do from here but eject the core!" I could hear in O'Brien's voice that he didn't put much faith in that particular manoeuvre. The chances of the core clearing the station in time were practically nonexistent. "How about me? Is there anything I can do?" I was already up at the engineering panel and trying to stabilise the field by the time O'Brien replied. "I was hoping you'd ask that. But it's not as simple as just pushing a few buttons and hoping for the best. Hit the wrong one and we're all dead." "That's why I'm gonna need your help, Miles. Just talk me through it, teech. It's the only chance we have." For what seemed exponentially longer than two minutes, O'Brien shouted orders as I described what was happening. I vaguely remember Kira returning from evacuating the promenade and habitat ring and enquiring about our progress. I'm not sure if she got her answer. If she did it was from Sam, as O'Brien never stopped asking, demanding, instructing. When the field integrity finally began to climb slowly upwards, he talked even faster. The klaxons stopped as normal levels were finally reached and the seal on the door was lifted. Before I knew it, I was in Sam's arms. I looked towards O'Brien. "So how did I do, teech?" O'Brien smiled as he continued working on the console. "You pass. With honours." We stopped by the river, almost clear of rubble and debris by now. It was a warm pleasant day -and all the pleasanter for where we were heading. We had been invited by the Vedek to the temple to discuss our union. As Sam remarked on how beautiful Bajor was becoming once more, I turned him towards me. "Are you absolutely sure you wanna go ahead with this, Sam? I can't grow old with you and I can't have your children. No matter how much I want to. I wouldn't expect you..." Sam placed a finger on my lips in a gesture he learnt from me a long time ago. He gently kissed my now smooth nose. "So just grow more in love with me as I do with you. Be with me and help me be a family for the many children without one. I love you and will always. No matter what the consequences." We resumed our walk to the temple hand in hand. We were only five minutes from our destination when a mid teenaged boy stopped us on the path. "I have a message for you. A wedding present -from the Ta'kharr." With that he pulled out a phaser. By the time I blocked Sam, it was too late. All I could do was collapse where he had fallen and puzzle over his last incoherent words to me before I too succumbed to unconciousness. [Flashback ends] *It was in this temple surrounding me that I recovered. The Kai herself was attending me. When I tried to talk she had silenced me and put Sam's earring into my hand. I cried a long time after that. Stopped, then cried some more. Those in the temple asked no questions. Just understood. And now I would have to leave them behind too. I would have to leave behind the children whom I taught and who were my only refuge from the loneliness that threatened to engulf me. And with it I would be leaving behind Sam's dreams. I removed his earring from my ear and blew out the candle by my door. I walked from the temple knowing that whatever happened tonight, I would not return.* End of Part Three. _____________________________________________________________________ /| || Amanda Hill : ahill@ccvax.ucd.ie || || My sword has a heart of steel.... but to others it's just ==== painted plastic! }{ ** ____________________________________________________________________ This message was brought to you by Baj. Still the only Lefthanded Telepathic Immortal Bajoran member of the Q Continuum with a mild addiction to Chocolate..... ____________________________________________________________________ =========================================================================