The crew on the Bridge were busy
ensuring everything on the Ronin was operational. Lieutenant Sular was working
with the Vulcan Tre'val to develop a method of seeking out the Captain and Lieutenant
Benosk aboard the Proletarian. McQueen was 'fiddling' with the plasma flow system,
trying to get a more efficient energy transfer between the warp core and the
phaser banks.
The doors behind the Bridge opened and Doctor Jin came onto the Bridge.
"Commander, there's someone who insists on seeing you." She said.
Tricia turned around from the Helm and looked across the Bridge.
"Klara. How are you feeling ?" Tricia asked rising from the chair.
"I am fine. But you are troubled. You are worried for your Captain and your friend Benosk." Klara replied "I'd like to help."
Tricia hadn't really considered Benosk her friend before, but hearing someone else say the words made her realise that it was true. Benosk was a friend and it was her duty to retrieve him from the grasp of the Proletarians, along with her Captain.
"How can a mere human help ?" Fenris asked mockingly. "You did very little during our time together as slaves."
"You've never liked me have you Fenris, always though you were superior to me, because you can block the Proletarians. Well let me ask you this, when did we first meet Fenris ?" Klara asked.
"I don't know, when you were about seven I guess, I must have been around fifteen. Why ?" Fenris replied.
"Where do you think I was for the first seven years of my life ?. How many other children did you ever come into contact with ?" Klara asked.
"I don't know, as far as I can remember I never saw another child before you. The only people I ever saw were the other slaves, a child wouldn't have been much use." Fenris replied.
"And who were my parents ?, Where are they now ?." Klara asked.
"I don't know, dead probably." Fenris said.
Suddenly Fenris felt a stabbing pain in his head and clasped both hands to his head.
Tricia and Tre'val both looked at Klara, who was staring at Fenris, her head lent over to one side, eyes wide open staring straight at Fenris.
"Klara, stop it." Tricia shouted.
Klara' brought her head back straight and looked at Tricia. The pain in Fenris's head stopped. Doctor Jin pulled out her medical tricorder and started to scan Fenris. "No permanent damage" She said.
"You're telepathic aren't you Klara ?" Tricia stated. "You can block the Proletarians, just like Tre'val and Fenris, but you can also do much more".
"You know I am, you don't know how but you know. To answer my own questions, my father was a group of scientist and my mother was invention. I am the result of years of selective 'breeding' and genetic manipulation. I was 'breed' to serve the Proletarians, to 'circumvent' the problems they had reading the Vulcan mind. To explain anymore would take time and I really think we have a more pressing engagement." Klara explained. "Let me return to the Proletarians, I'll get to your Captain and return him to you."
"Don't trust her, if what she's just said is true, then she's a freak, bred to 'spy' on the slaves, read our thoughts and pass on information to our captors. How many have died through your treachery ?". Fenris asked.
"I have know for years about your desire to escape and don't you think I've wanted the same thing. Do you think I like looking into other's minds, trying to 'root' out their darkest secrets. I have never betrayed either of you about your feelings about escape." Klara replied "You are here, free once more. If that is not enough, then you are more short-sighted than I thought."
Fenris started to run towards Klara, arms outstretched to strangle her. "Fenris NO." Tre'vel said in a loud voice.
Fenris stumbled to a stopped.
"OK. Doctor, could this be possible ?. Could Klara be a telepath ?" Tricia asked.
"I'll answer the question that you're not asking first. Klara is human, 100%, all the medical examinations I performed prove that. Could she also have psychic abilities, it's certainly possible. Human medical history shows that there have been individuals with the power to read minds, move objects, see places far away describing them in intricate detail. That ability would remain in the human genome, dormant." Doctor Jin replied. "With the right medical knowledge and the Proletarians would appear to be advanced enough to have such knowledge, it could be feasible."
"Klara, are you sure you want to do this ?." Tricia asked.
"You have given the three of us a chance at living our lives in freedom. The Captain and Benosk are important to this ship and to you." Klara replied. "To not offer my assistance would be a betrayal of that freedom." "You'll probably be punished if you're captured." Tricia pointed out.
"The Proletarian's aren't a physically violent race, you may not have realised that. They attack their enemies using their telepathic abilities or by mental torture. Anything physical or demeaning to their status, they get slaves to do. I can't remember the last time I saw a Proletarian physically attack a slave or an enemy." Klara replied. "I can take everything they can 'throw' at me, they don't fully realise what they've created. They've only seen a fraction of my abilities."
"Commander, we're receiving a message from the Proletarian vessel. It's Captain Evans." Sular announced.
[Commander McMillan, You are ordered to stand-down all weapons and prepare to dock with the Proletarian vessel.] The message said.
"Captain, What are you saying ?. I won't surrender the Ronin and it's crew, I'd destroy it first." Tricia replied.
Suddenly a large Proletarian appeared on the screen. [Then your colleague will die.] He said. On the screen, Benosk was laid out on a table, motionless his body limp. [If you don't comply, your Captain will be laid out on that table next.]
"You bastard" Tricia said.
[Tricia, it is the only way to save Benosk, he only has about twenty minutes before the effects of the poison become irreversible. You must comply and that's a direct order from your Captain.] Ryan said.
"We will comply. We'll arrive at your position in fifteen minutes." Tricia said "End message".
Sular cut the message off. "Commander are you as mad as Heim. We can't give in." he said.
"The Captain gave me a direct order." Tricia replied looking Sular in the eye whilst she rubbed the three gold pips on her collar.
Sular caught on. He hadn't noticed at first, but he realised that the Captain had been doing a similar thing, rubbing the two gold pips on his collar.
"Tre'val, Where do you think that message originated ?" Tricia asked.
"It looked like the research lab where Benosk was taken when you were first abducted." He replied.
"And that's where on the vessel ?" Tricia enquired bring up an image of the large cruiser on the viewscreen and Sular's console.
"There." Tre'vel said, making a red dot appear at the lab's location.
"If I remember what you said whilst we were abroad, then the primary warp core would be just behind the lab." Tricia remarked. "Is that correct ?"
"Yes." Tre'val confirmed.
"And the secondary warp core is here, at the rear." Tricia continued.
"That's correct" Tre'val said "And the escape pod was launched from here, behind the main cargo bay." Another two red dots appeared on the viewscreen.
"How big is that cargo bay, Would the Ronin be able fit inside ?" Tricia asked.
"No. The Ronin's far too big to fit into the cargo bay, we'd have to use a docking port." Tre'val explained.
"That's what I thought. So, which would be the nearest docking port to the research lab." Tricia asked.
"I think there's a docking port at the very front of the ship, just under the Bridge." Tre'val said "Yes, just there."
A forth red point appeared to the viewscreen.
"OK, that's where we'll dock." Tricia announced. "Now next order of business, Mister Sular"
"Yes Commander." Sular said.
"How many anti-matter mines do we still have aboard." Tricia asked.
"Sixteen. Eight of which are in launch position" Sular replied.
"Mister McQueen, would it be possible to somehow cloak the anti-matter mines so that the Proletarians internal sensors wouldn't be able to detect them." Tricia asked.
"I don't know. We could certainly cloak them, whether they would be detected by the Proletarians I don't know. It would also take a couple of hours to convert them all, we'd have to manually unload the ones ready for launch." McQueen replied.
"How long to just convert the one's that aren't loaded into a launch position. ?" Tricia enquired.
"About an hour." McQueen replied.
"I've worked on the Proletarian internal sensors before. They're not very sophisticated." Fenris announced. "The mines probably wouldn't be detected at all, so it would probably just be a matter of making them invisible."
"I could probably do something with the mines in about fifteen minutes, if that's true." McQueen said.
"You've got ten, take Fenris and get started on the mines. As soon as we are docked, I want them to be transported across to the Proletarian vessel. Five here near the primary warp core and the other three here near the secondary core." Tricia ordered.
"What do you have in mind Commander ?" Sular asked.
"Just a little trick I read about in a report I found about the Leviathan and the Borg attack on Romulas." Tricia replied.
"Doctor, take a look at this." Tricia said, removing the neural inhibitor from Klara's neck and throwing it to the Doctor. "I don't think you need this do you ?" She asked Klara.
"Interesting, What's it function ?" The Doctor asked.
"It's a neural inhibitor. It's designed to stop the Proletarians from reading our thoughts." Tricia replied "Do you think you can maybe modify some cortical monitors to do the same function."
"I don't know. In theory we could modify a cortical monitor, but I don't know exactly how this device work." The Doctor replied.
"I could assist the Doctor, I've worked on these devices for years." Tre'val offered.
"Could you help the Doctor with the modification. We're going to need about twenty." Tricia asked Tre'val.
"Yes." He replied.
The Doctor and Tre'val left the Bridge.
"Sular, assign ten Security officers with type three phaser rifles and when the Doctor delivers the inhibitors have each of them wear one. Then get them to meet me at the port airlock. The remaining inhibitors should be distributed to the Bridge crew." Tricia ordered. "If we fail, then your orders are to disengage from the ship and detonate the anti-matter mines."
"One last thing. No one here leaves the Bridge from now on, unless they are Vulcan, telepaths or wearing a neural inhibitor. All inter-ship communication about our plan is forbidden. Tricia said. "Is that understood ?"
Everybody nodded there understanding.
"Right, let's go get the Captain
and the Lieutenant back." Tricia said setting a course to rendezvous with
the Proletarian cruiser.
