Allies and Alliances June 2000, revised/posted April 2002 Jarvinia Please send all comments, questions, and suggestions to: jarvinia@gmx.com This story is a sequel to my first story, The Elder, and is a crossover between Forever Knight and Star Trek the Next Generation. I would like to thank a friend of mine, Liz, for helping me name a few of the characters. She was also the first to suggest this sequel way back in Feb 1999. Any and all mistakes (grammatical or otherwise) are entirely mine, as this story has *not* been looked over by anyone but myself. The revision consisted primarily of fixing a few glaring errors and was not a rewrite. This story may not be archived without permission. DISCLAIMER: The concepts of vampires as used in this story and the characters of Forever Knight are the property of James D. Parriott, Sony Pictures Entertainment, Columbia TriStar Television, and are used without permission. The concepts and Characters of ST:TNG used in this story are the property of Paramount, and are used without permission. Other characters not part of either series are mine, and may not be used without permission. No infringements intended on copyrights, etc. ~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~ Allies and Alliances - Part 1/9 It had been a week since the Enterprise had left Earth, and they were now almost to the edge of uncharted territory. They had been sent to Ryla 5 when a small craft had gone down over the planet. The passengers all survived, and in their messages they had recently received descriptions of what appeared to be the remains of an ancient civilization. Picard had just received this information less than an hour before, and was now walking toward the Chevalier's quarters. True, he was supposed to be on the bridge, but he figured the Lt. Cmdr. would rather hear the latest information in person. The bridge could spare him for a few minutes. He passed his hand over the sensor and waited patiently. A few seconds later the door opened to reveal his quarry, startled and barely half awake. The other man was leaning lightly against the wall, his head turned slightly downward. His hair hung loose, slightly tangled at the ends. Nick stood so and waited for Picard to say something. After a few seconds he backed away from the door, letting the Captain enter. When Picard didn't say anything, he asked, "What are you doing here? It's still shift." He was tired, and sleep was the only thing on his mind. Over the past week he had given into his tiredness, amplified by nightmares. Nearly every night they came, his memories from a few years ago replaying themselves over and over again. Most of his sleep was gained during the day, the nightmares coming stronger, but at least he was still able to get back to sleep. At present it was still his night, and right in the middle of it too. He waited for an explanation, hoping he was awake enough to actually respond to it. "I received another message from Ryla 5. It turns out there used to be a civilization there, but it is now long forgotten. Starfleet has ordered the Enterprise to learn as much about this civilization as we can while we are there. Later, they might send an expedition to the planet depending on our findings. I wanted to let you know that both you and Natalie will be on the first away team along with Data and myself. I want you to be in my ready room at 15:00 hours, and that is an order." Nick continued to stand wearily against the wall, and finally the information seeped into his still sleeping mind. At 15:00 hours he needed to be in the Captain's ready room. But when was it now? His senses told him it was barely halfway through the day, perhaps not even that. "What time is it?" "About 11:00 hours. I would also like you to report to duty as soon as you can." After another minute he looked down and noticed he was still in his pajamas. In fact that's all he had worn for the past week. Even with vampiric speed, he would still not be on the bridge immediately. And he definitely didn't feel up to that. All he wanted to do was sleep for a week, but then that's basically what he'd already done. The Captain seemed to be waiting for a response, and he replied, "I'll be there as soon as I can," Nick said, trying his best to sound enthusiastic about returning to duty. Underneath everything he was, but his attempts failed miserably. Picard weighed his response, and after nodding he left for the bridge, the room being left silent. *+.*+.*+.*+.*+. At 15:00 hours, Nick moved from his post and went to the Captain's ready room, curious as to what the other wanted to talk about. He was permitted to enter almost immediately. Once inside, he sat down and waited for the Captain to speak. "As you know, you will be on the first away team. We will be arriving at Ryla 5 at about 08:00 hours tomorrow morning and at that time you will report to transporter room one along with myself, Natalie, and Data. For this mission Dr. Crusher will not be going down because we want a minimum number of people, but I want you and your wife to go down because of your knowledge of archeology." He knew most of that already, the Captain having either told him, or it was obvious. But why him and Nat? There had to be others that Starfleet would much rather send. Starfleet didn't like vampires, and they took more caution against them than they really needed. Yes, caution was necessary, he agreed fully with that, but too much was worse than too little. He was straying from his thought and asked, "How did I get on the first away team? I don't think Starfleet would like that." "No, they don't like it very much. But with a little convincing from one of the admirals they also thought you two should be on the first away team, as well as subsequent ones. They know more will get done with experienced people." "Have they put any restrictions on us?" he asked, the possibility pretty good that they had. "No restrictions. As long as you don't do anything out of line, there will be no restrictions on you, Natalie, or Lt. Vetter." The information surprised him. Something had to make them do that. "What kind of convincing? From what admiral?" "Admiral Elizabeth Krenshaw. She's done a lot in favor of your people, and Starfleet seems to trust her judgments. They continue to do so because she's usually right, and it's prevented many difficulties. I think you should meet her sometime, she's shown great interest in you. And no, she doesn't know about your position within the Community, but even if she did, I know that she would keep it secret." He wasn't sure about the Captain's suggestion. He would think about it later, much later if possible. The more relevant information was Admiral Krenshaw. If Starfleet trusted her judgments, and she recommended him for the mission, from the sound of it they would most likely agree. Given her apparent interest in him, that was entirely possible. Neither said anything, and after well over a minute Nick asked, "Is that all you wanted to tell me about?" "Actually no." Picard stood up and then continued, "Come with me, I believe Dr. Crusher has a surprise for you." He walked toward the room's entrance, and Nick followed him. First they got in the turbolift, and for a second he wondered where he was going. After getting out and walking a little further, Nick realized what their destination was going to be: one of the holodecks. But why were they going there? When they paused slightly outside one of the holodecks he discovered he was right, and followed Picard into the room. No program was currently running, but the room was not empty. Inside were two people, Dr. Crusher and another man he had not yet met but knew was the ship's chief engineer by his visor. "Nicholas, this is our chief engineer, Commander Geordi LaForge. Cmdr., this is Lt. Cmdr. Nicholas Chevalier." They shook hands, and Nick looked to Picard for an explanation. He still didn't know why they were there. "Geordi's been working on something with the Doctor for you." Nick turned to her, a questioning expression on his features. Still nothing revealed what their surprise was. "Here, hold out your wrist, doesn't matter which one," she told him. He did so hesitantly, not knowing what she was going to do. She took his hand, and turning it over placed something on the inside of his wrist. It was like a cuff, and once it was on, she pressed a few commands into its keypad he heard a slight noise, a snap of some kind right as a green light lit up on it. "So, what is it?" he finally asked after staring at it for a few seconds. A smile formed on the doctor's features and she told him, "You'll see in just a second. Don't worry, although you'll be surprised--that I can guarantee." Surprised about what? "Computer, run program, Crusher one." A split second later he was half wondering what to not worry about, the other half frozen in place. The room had been flooded in light...bright light...sunlight. He closed his eyes tight and his muscles tensed as he waited for the pain to come, waited to be burnt. But it didn't burn. He opened his eyes, and since the light was coming from behind him could make out most of everything. He was in what seemed to be some kind of field, no clouds in the sky to cast any shadows, and as a result he was standing in full sunlight. Looking down at his hand, it was still smooth and untouched. No blisters, no burn marks, nothing. Sure they were in the holodeck, but he knew that its sunlight was just as deadly as the real thing to his skin. Yet, still it didn't burn or anything else. Then, he remembered the slight snap he had heard and realized the device must be some kind of force field. He looked at it a moment and commented, "It blocks out the ultraviolet rays." "Yes, it does. When Dr. Crusher told me of her idea I volunteered to help and we built a small force field generator. It will work for about two hours before it starts to weaken, and is set to automatically turn on and off in the presence of sunlight, although I would recommend to turn it on manually if you know you're going out in it like Dr. Crusher did. When not on, it automatically recharges itself. To completely recharge it, it takes three and a half hours." As he listened to the explanation he could feel his skin getting warmer. He wasn't burning, but was definitely getting warmer. He didn't like the sensation, one he hadn't felt for a long time. It wouldn't harm him, he knew that, but it was making him uncomfortable. A few seconds longer and he finally called out, "Computer, end program." Within seconds the light had disappeared, and along with it he heard another slight snap as the device went on standby. "What's this for, anyway?" "Well, you're going down to Ryla 5 tomorrow, otherwise it could be very uncomfortable. Last contact said the storm was still raging, but it might not be when we arrive. The sun could be shining brightly, and if it is, this will protect you from it," the Captain explained. "What about Natalie? She'll be going down as well." "Yes, she will. We already gave her one earlier today." Nick looked at the device a little more closely, and could now see an orange light lit up, and what looked like a power strip. Then he remembered it was a force field. "What exactly does this block out? Will I not be able to do certain things?" LaForge told him, "It blocks out only the harmful light, everything else gets through. You'll be able to do anything you normally would. It's not a force field exactly, at least in the sense of being a barrier. It's more of a net that catches the harmful light particles, but lets other things in." He nodded. It hadn't seemed like other force fields he'd seen. That made sense. Picard also nodded, and the others left. Once the door had closed, Nick asked, "Did you convince Starfleet Command about this as well?" "No. Starfleet doesn't know about this, and I hope to keep it that way...at least for a little while. But, I must ask that other than you, Natalie and Tracy, no one is to know about this unless I either tell them, or have them told. You cannot tell any of your people about this under any conditions. If it spreads, either I'll have to tell Starfleet Command, or they'll find out some other way, and they will not be pleased." "Of course," he replied, knowing that not only would Starfleet be angered, but also some of the Community would use it to their advantage. It would make one of them appear normal, even on Earth where sunlight frequently poured into rooms and corridors. It would essentially double their advantage. Not only would one have extraordinary powers, but sunlight would no longer be a problem. Yes, he understood the consequences all right. "That won't be a problem. Is that all?" "Yes. Just remember to be on time tomorrow morning, and to bring that with you," he said nodding to the device. "Who knows what the weather will be like in the morning." Picard then turned and left Nick in the room, who left after a moment. *+.*+.*+.*+.*+. The next morning they arrived several minutes early in the transporter room. Nick had slept better than he thought, only waking once near the end of the night, but the image still stuck in his head. He'd gotten ready sooner than needed, and he and Nat had wasted as much time as they could. Even after stopping by sickbay to get Natalie's stuff they were still early, nearly ten minutes. The silence caused his mind to return to the nightmare as it replayed in its entirety. ~~~~~~~~~~ LaCroix was speaking with Janette and Gerald as he and Dimitri entered the room. Gerald was the head of the enforcers...or at least the fledglings that followed their code and helped keep order. It was rare that all five of them--the three eldest and those that upheld their rule--met in the same place at the same time. And this time, they were also meeting in person. That happened on average only about once every four or five months. LaCroix had called himself and Dimitri from Los Angeles where he and Natalie had been living for the past six years. Dimitri often stayed with them and in a way had become part of the family. LaCroix had made it clear that he would not discuss the matter in any way except in person. He had told them to fly so there wouldn't be any record, and was told not to bring Nat, something about it being safer. "Why did you need me to come here, to San Francisco?" LaCroix glared at him slightly, but it wasn't because of anything he'd done, that was clear. Something was definitely wrong. This wasn't just some minor transgression of the code that had gotten out of hand, it was something larger. "Dimitri, I want you to go through the computers. I need to find a mortal, one that's known about us longer than the Federation has. Someone in their family was killed by one of us about fifteen or so years ago, and they saw it. They tried to tell Starfleet what killed them, but weren't believed." As his voice stopped, Dimitri kept listening, hoping it was just a pause. When it became apparent it wasn't, he asked, "Is that all you know about them? How am I supposed to do that?" An impatient glare was directed at him, and he wished he had just asked if that was all. "Yes. You're good at using the computers, which is why it's your job." The young vampire was about to turn, and LaCroix added, "Do not use one of our computers. Leave by the front doors, and go somewhere else. Do not use any of your abilities and be careful." Dimitri finished his turn and quickly and quietly left. "What's happening, LaCroix?" A computer padd was tossed across the table, and he heard a muttered, ‘hunter,' from Janette. ‘Elder of the Community, Lucien LaCroix: Yes, I know who you are...and what. I also know of the others, particularly your precious children Nicolas and Janette. Know that you are not safe and you will all die for your silent crime against my race and my family. I've known about you for a decade and a half, but they wouldn't listen. Now, they don't need to. I have the means to destroy your family and in turn your entire community. I see their weaknesses, their fear of both Starfleet and you. Even I know more about you than they do. I know your names, both true ones and aliases, I even know where you are right now. Soon you will die, but not quickly.' Everything he had described to Dimitri had been in the message, and his leaving was to protect him, the same reason Natalie had to stay in Los Angeles. "We're being hunted, and they seem to have done their homework. Either that, or security seems to be a little lacking." The last was said to Gerald, who snarled back at the accusation. "It's not his fault, Nicholas. Our hunter seems to have a little too much knowledge of us. He's been watching us, and we haven't noticed. I'm also sure he's been responsible for several deaths among the Community. Most of them have been seen at Janette's club, and it is presently closed for a while. The strays have to find their own shelter, something one would think wouldn't be a problem in this time. The killings stopped at its closure and have not resumed." "So what can we do about our problem? This isn't something you've brought on us, is it?" That caused his anger to boil. Calming it, he answered, "No. From what I can tell they're obsessed with us after a run in with one of our kind. If I ever find out who is responsible, they will pay...for decades." His voice stayed even the entire time, and neither of his children said a word. The enforcer even backed up a bit. The silence was broken when the doors opened up, several armed men coming into the room. No time was given for a reaction as a bolt was shot at Gerald, and the rest of them were hit with a tranquilizer dart. As his arms and legs began to go numb Nick silently noted it was curare, and that there was nothing he could do. For several seconds he could see as the young enforcer died in agony, and then the world went black. ~~~~~~~~~~ Picard and Data arrived about a minute later, the sound of the doors bringing Nick out of his memories. They were mildly surprised Nick and Nat were there, but shook it off easily. Although there was still about five minutes to go, the Captain told them, "We haven't gotten another transmission from those down on the planet, but the storm has cleared and the sun is shining so you should switch on the fields before we transport down." Nick nodded, and as they got on the transporter pad, he and Natalie did just that. Seconds later, the four were materializing on the surface of Ryla 5. The sunlight caused Nick to freeze for a second, but only a second. Natalie adjusted to the light a little better, but then she'd been a vampire only a third the time Nick had. The fact that they were in partial shade also helped. In fact, large matte silver leaves shaded the whole area. They grew out about ten meters up on trees similar to palm trees, but the leaves weren't the same. They were more like the single middle section of a maple leaf. At the base of each tree was a bush with similar, but smaller leaves and small white flower--the petals miniature replicas of the leaves. It was difficult to tell if it was a separate plant or a part of the tree. Then all across the ground could be little patches of moss, and like the other vegetation, it was also silver. "What direction is the cave in?" Picard asked once he'd taken in the flora. "It is in this direction," Data replied as he started off to the right, the others following quickly behind. After about five minutes, the ground suddenly opened up. The cave's entrance was set right into the ground. But it wasn't quite what they expected. The entrance clearly wasn't completely natural. It had either been carved out, or at the very least evened out. Steps led down and, although they were worn by weather and time, each was about the same width and height. On the walls before they reached the tunnel could be seen faint carvings. Picard put his hand up to them, and yes, something had indeed been there at one time, but it could no longer be seen. Nick and Data both pulled out lights, and as they entered the tunnel they passed by a pair of carved out holes for torches. The tunnel continued to slope at an even angle, the steps becoming less and less worn as they went. The carvings also became more defined and more detailed. The corridor itself was about fourteen feet wide and nine feet high. Every fifteen meters could be seen another set of slots for the now absent torches. They continued down the tunnel past the point any light could be seen behind them. A minute later they stopped going down, the ground becoming level. A few steps more and they weren't in the tunnel any more--they had entered a great cavern. It was enormous and circular. The cavern walls sloped upward, the ceiling being at least fifty meters above them. In roughly the center of the room was a light and the form of a young woman. As they entered she stood up and approached them. "You're here," she replied with relief. "Our communications went out late yesterday, and we didn't know if you had gotten our last message." "Yes, we did, that is if it was sent yesterday morning." She nodded that it was, and he asked, "Well, I am Captain Picard of the USS Enterprise. May I ask where the others are?" "I'll take you to them. We've been doing a lot of exploring, and we didn't know when you would arrive, so I stayed here." She started off toward one of the several tunnels leading away from the cavern, and almost as an afterthought she told him, "Oh, my name's Jennifer, Jennifer Collins." She quickly led them down the tunnel, and after a few minutes another cavern opened up to them. It wasn't quite as large as the one they had just left, but it was still huge. Another high-powered light was set up in the middle, and they could see this cavern was set up much like the one before. Other than the tunnel they came out of, there were five other tunnels, not quite equally spaced. Next to each tunnel was a set of stairs leading up to other levels, four in total. They walked out into the center of the room, and they still couldn't see anyone else. Suddenly the girl called out, "David! Vita! Kalto!" Almost immediately three people appeared, all not quite adults, but not children either. She then introduced them, "This is my brother David, and these are Vita, and Kalto. They are also brother and sister." David appeared a little older than Jennifer, but not by much, and they both appeared human. Vita and Kalto were about the same age, between Jennifer's and David's, and by their almost identical appearance could easily be twins. They were not human, and appeared to be from Carran, a nearby trading planet. Abruptly Picard realized he hadn't introduced anyone, and told them, "I am Captain Picard, and these are Dr. Chevalier, Lt. Cmdr. Chevalier, and Lt. Data." David shook their hands, and when he turned back to the Captain, he continued, "You didn't say what had happened to your ship, and we didn't find it on the surface. It's a good thing that although your transmitter can't transmit a message it's still transmitting something, otherwise we wouldn't have been able to find you." "Although our ship only had a minor problem, after we landed it exploded. No remains were left, only what we had brought from it at first. A box of supplies, a transmitter, and some food." "But we didn't find any remains on the surface." David quickly, almost too quickly, told him, "Like I said, nothing was left. It blew up and disintegrated. We barely had time to get anything out of it." "Well, then, you are lucky to have gotten what you did." Lucky. They had gotten exactly what they needed. Lights, food, and a transmitter. "Dr. Chevalier is going to make sure you're all right." David again answered for the group, "But we feel fine...better than fine." "I know you may look and feel fine, but you've also been down here in these caves for the last week." A second later David nodded, and Picard also nodded to Natalie. She scanned all four of them, and surprise was plastered on her face. "So, what's the prognosis Doc?" the leader of the group asked amusedly at her bemused expression. "Well, according to this, you're all in perfect health. There is absolutely nothing wrong with any of you. You're all about the healthiest I've seen anyone--ever." Too healthy. Their health compared closest to a vampire's, but they were clearly mortal. It was almost as if someone had taken the outline of their species, then used optimal health and replicated them. But they were alive. By their DNA, she could tell that Jennifer and David were siblings, and the other two were identical twins. The Captain also realized the implications, and after a second asked, "Where were you originally going?" "To Soval. We heard they were in need of technicians, and all of us know a lot about that kind of stuff. That's what we did on Carran." Picard faintly nodded, and turned his attention to the cavern. "Jennifer commented you've been exploring down here. Could I ask what you've discovered?" "Sure, that's why we were exploring in the first place. Off of the main cavern there are seven slightly smaller ones. Then off of them, are five slightly smaller caverns that seem to be living quarters of some sort. Tunnels connect all of the smallest caverns in a broken circle, the broken part being the side with the entrance. These caverns are connected in the same way. I think they all have the same layout, the ones like this I mean, and each has pools on the ground floor." "Pools? What pools?" the Captain asked, not expecting there to be any pools down here. "Over here," he said leading them to the wall nearby. Once there, David dipped his hands into the pool, and slowly released it. "When we took refuge from the storm down here, we wondered where all of the water would go. Somewhere it comes in, and comes out of these spouts," he told them pointing to the two spouts on the back wall of the pool at either side. One was some type of fish, the other a furred animal with very large teeth, looking something like a saber-toothed cat with longer hair. Data immediately began scanning the water, and as Picard also dipped his hands into the pool, told them, "The water is almost completely pure. There are no toxins at all in it, and very few minerals are present. It is nearly as pure as the water on the ship." Everything was believable until the last sentence. The water was that pure, but how could it be? "Wouldn't it pick up some of the rock as it came down? Water is rarely pure, and for it to be this pure down here would either have to be filtered in some way or come down completely pure," Natalie commented. "Yes, you would think it would at least have more minerals in it." The Captain then looked over toward the four they were rescuing. "We should probably get you four up to the ship. We can continue our investigation later once we've made a map." Nick nodded. They couldn't really do much more until they had a map of the whole complex. Plus the four that had been here for a week. They undoubtedly wanted to get to their destination, probably sooner rather than later. They'd found a great deal out on their first time down. What amazed him the most as they transported back up was all of the carvings. Every inch of stone was covered in them. They weren't simple carvings either, but neither were they overly done. Allies and Alliances - Part 2/9 They had taken a break for a couple of hours. During that time Data had made a map of the complex from the ship's scans and the number of people going on the second away mission had been decided. Fourteen. Seven groups of two. The groups were chosen hoping that each one would have at least one person that knew something about archeology, although one group had none. They were now at the briefing, and he'd just found out who he'd be working with--Ensign Crusher. The complex was laid out as they'd been told. Off the main cavern there were seven smaller ones, and then five others off of each of them. The layout of each cavern was identical, precise, and each cavern was also symmetrical. The measurements were very precise, almost too precise. The ship found almost no difference at all between the caverns. They were identical, something that shouldn't be possible given the accuracy of the ship's scanners and the apparent low technology of those that had lived there. The plan was for each group to take one of the main caverns and scan in as many of the carvings as they could. They would start with the carvings on the pool's walls, and then do more if they could. Each group was told to get supplies and then meet in the main cavern a half hour later. They decided between them who would get what, and as Nick was gathering what he would need, he took a quick stop by his quarters to have a quick meal. He was getting hungry, and knew he would need more as they would be doing a lot of walking around. Once done, he walked quickly to the transporter room, and Wesley arrived seconds later. They transported down, and since they were not the last group to arrive, they had to wait for the others. Both of them were nervous, almost visibly. Nick didn't really know anything about the boy, but knew he must know what he was. He was the doctor's son, and at one point he'd seen him in sickbay, or at least thought he had. Nick's silence made Wesley nervous, that and the fact he had no idea what to expect. Sure he'd looked at his record, both the old one and a newer one, one that had what he was on it. To him he seemed okay, but that was a file. He'd asked his mom a couple of questions, but had to leave before they were answered. The others arrived, and they split up. They ended up with the middle tunnel. About halfway down the tunnel, Wesley asked, "Have you ever seen anything like this before?" He was startled slightly, but still heard the question. After thinking for a moment, he told him, "Not really. I've seen some pretty complex structures, but this is the first time I've seen it on this large a scale. It's also extremely precise, too precise to not leave any remains of the civilization that created it behind. Somewhere, there's something that will give us a clue." Nick picked up his pace, forcing Wesley to almost run to catch up. Within what seemed like seconds they had entered the first cavern. Wesley stopped almost immediately. The cavern was a lot bigger than he had expected, and immediately noticed something about the room and some of its designs. "It's symmetrical. Are all of the caverns the same?" "Yes, it is symmetrical. That's one of the things our scans will decide. The structural layout of each cavern is the same, but what about the carvings on the walls? I guess the real question is are the caverns carbon copies of each other, or is the structure the only similarity." Nick walked about two-thirds of the way across the room, then put the black bag he'd been carrying down. He unzipped it, and pulled out a device slightly larger than a tri-corder, then flipped it open. As Wesley pulled a regular tri-corder out of his own bag, Nick told him, "How about we start with the carvings on the walls of the pools. I'll do the two on the left; you can do the two on the right." Nick again quickly left before a word could be said. After he started scanning, Wesley moved to the other side and started his own scans. Nearly an hour later, he had finished and he quietly walked over to Nick who was still scanning into the computer. He was almost done, and once he was close, Wesley could see him taking notes in something. After a second he realized it wasn't a padd, instead it appeared to be real paper. He watched a little longer, and after a minute he had finished the scans of the wall. Once making a few more notes, he looked up to the young man and waited for a moment. "I've finished with the scans," he said as he held out the tri-corder. Nick took it from the boy's slightly shaking hand, and with a couple of commands they were compiling their information. He set them down on the top of the wall and made another note in his notepad. "Lt. Cmdr? Why don't you use one of the padds to make your notes? Wouldn't it be faster?" Nick paused and though for a second. He looked down at the notes he'd written and the pen he wrote them with. The words were mostly French and English, sometimes a word from some other language squeezing its way in, usually some descriptive word that's meaning didn't exist in the other languages. The pen itself was from another time, something he'd kept. Later he'd have to translate and enter the notes into the computer, and that would take time, even for him. "Probably would be. I've just gotten used to this." He flipped it closed and put both it and the pen away. "But paper hasn't been used regularly for over 200 years." "I've been around longer than that." "But not by much. According to Starfleet records, you are about two hundred and fifty years old. By then computers were already widely used, and after that, they only became more popular." He winced slightly. He hadn't checked his records to see how old he was put down as, or even whom. Too careless, that's what he'd been, especially over the last week or two. A beep interrupted his thoughts, and he picked up the device ignoring the inconsistency. But, he could see that it was not ignored, at least not completely by Wesley. The young man was much smarter than he had thought, and eventually he would have to explain, but not now. Nick quickly began to read off the results, then they scanned in two more sections of the wall before leaving to do a preliminary walk through of one of the living areas. By the time they had reached the second level, they had found virtually nothing in any of them. A couple contained a piece of furniture, but no two had the same pieces, and nothing told much about the people who lived there. Carvings were also in the walls, and just as they finished scanning a third set of rooms in, he was contacted by the Captain through the comm link. "Yes," he responded, knowing they had lost track of time. "*You two should head back to the main cavern. We should compare our results before tomorrow.*" "We're on our way back now," he said as he put his scanner away. "Chevalier, out." Then communications was cut. They headed back to the main cavern, the entire trip being spent in silence. Even carrying an extremely fast pace, they were the last team to return, after which everyone transported up at the same time. It was decided Data would compile the information obtained while the others got some rest. An hour and a half later the Captain, Riker, Data, and the Chevaliers met in the conference room to go over their findings. First, the main observations were gone over. The architecture of all the caverns were identical, but the carvings within them were not. In fact, each cavern had completely different carvings and no two were the same. One focused on the planet, one the sun, another the moon, one on life, and one on death. These were expected themes, but the other two focused on the stars and had carvings of constellations, solar systems and even carvings of other species. Among these species not a single one could be positively identified, but they were clearly not inhabitants of the planet. That was the end of the overview, and Data sat down and let the room become silent. Afterwards, it was several minutes before anything was said, but a question was on everyone's minds. "If this civilization is as old and primitive as it appears, how do they know about all of these different species?" Riker finally asked, breaking the calm. "That's a very good question," the Captain commented. "Anyone have any ideas about how this could happen?" Again, silence prevailed for several minutes. It didn't seem like anyone could think of a possibility. Then, Natalie suddenly suggested, "What if this civilization was old and advanced and after traveling the galaxy they crashed here, on this planet." "But where did their ship, their technology go?" "Well, between now and tomorrow morning, everyone should think a little about this. Meet in the transporter room at 07:00 hours. Meeting dismissed." Picard stood up, and all but Nick left the room. "Captain?" "Yes?" "I was wondering if I could go back down tonight...there's something I want to check out." "Can't it wait until tomorrow?" "Probably, but I want to check something, and it would be easier to do so now than tomorrow." Should he, or should he not let him go? This would be an abnormal request coming from any of his officers, but had a feeling he would get a lot of unusual requests from the Lt. Cmdr. He thought for a moment longer. "I was hoping that by stopping a little early everyone could get some rest, but if you think it will be beneficial, you can go. Just take someone with you and don't stay down there all night." "Of course Captain," he answered as he left the room. Natalie's comment had generated several trains of thought, and he wondered if what she said could be true. But then, where was their technology? Nick stopped by his quarters to tell her where he was going and, after a little convincing, he once again left. He and one of the security officers transported down directly into one of the larger caverns, specifically one of the astrological ones. Once there, he proceeded across the room and started examining the edge of the wall and the floor. Then he went up a level and paused. Continuing up farther, he went straight to the top floor. The security officer with him barely kept up, and was still stunned by his surroundings. Nick then continued to the door on the end of that level, which led into a large room. It was devoid of furniture or any other suggestion that anyone had ever lived there before. One of the walls didn't even have carvings on it, the first that had been seen. Nick walked up to the wall, then asked, "What do you notice about this wall?" "What?" the officer replied startled. "What do you notice about this wall?" he repeated. "But I..." The Lt. Cmdr. looked at him expectantly, and he looked closer at the wall. It was just a wall, a plain boring wall. "Well, it's a wall. A plain wall." "What about all of the other walls?" He looked around. The other walls in the room were made out of the same stuff, about the same size but.... "The other three walls have carvings in them. This wall is the first uncarved section I've seen so far." "Exactly. Now, why wasn't it carved?" Nick asked as he walked in a circular path around the room, gesturing to the single smooth wall. Then, he stopped directly in front of the other officer, waiting for an answer. "I don't know. Perhaps they didn't have enough time." "But then why is everything else carved? They certainly had enough time, or at least enough technology." Enough technology. "Wait a second. I haven't seen any sign of technology whatsoever. There isn't any down here or on the surface." "True. There is no visible sign of technology. None was left out in the open. But this complex is too exact...too precise to be created without at least some technology." He used his tri-corder and scanned the unconforming wall. Then, he scanned the wall next to it. Energy readings were coming from the smooth wall, and only the smooth wall. It's not a wall. The readings confirmed it, but then what was it? He took his phaser out and set it to a relatively low setting and pointed it at the wall. The security guard grabbed his wrist exclaiming, "Are you crazy! You'll cave in the room!!" Nick pulled his arm easily away and handed the tri-corder to him. "Look at the readings. It's not a wall. Probably none of this is real. I want to know what it is." Nick again pointed the phaser at the wall and fired. After a second he stopped. No effect. He fired again and held the beam steady for about five seconds. Again, no effect. He took the tri-corder back starling his companion, muttered sorry, and then scanned the wall again. It was weakening, but still had a ways to go. He then set the phaser to a higher setting and fired the beam at the wall for another five seconds. Whatever the wall was made out of was weakening, but it still wasn't enough to see what was actually there. Nick repeated his action once more using the highest setting, and this time there was clearly a result. Electricity flowed over the blank rock wall, and as it disappeared so too did the wall. A smooth, shiny, charcoal gray wall was revealed. It almost looked like glass or perhaps obsidian, but according to the scan it was a type of metal, very strong, yet at the same time had a low mass. Putting the tri-corder away Nick reached out with his hand and placed it on the wall. It was smooth and cool, definitely metal. As he was about to retract his hand he felt something. An ever so slight vibration, one that even with his enhanced senses he could barely feel. It was undoubtedly from the power source that hid the wall. Removing his hand, he walked over to the room's entrance memorizing its position. Then, tapping his communicator, he had them transported back to the Enterprise. Picard was in his quarters, and he went there immediately. Once given permission to enter, and seeing he wasn't interrupting anything, he told him, "Captain, I think Natalie's theory might be right, and I found some of the technology." "Where?" he asked excited. "What did you find?" "In one of the main caverns, one of the rooms on the top level. The room had three carved walls and one that was uncarved yet completely smooth like marble. We scanned the wall and there were very low energy fluctuations, as if from a holographic projector. I used a low setting on my phaser and weakened it, and using a higher setting I was able to disrupt it. The stone disappeared, leaving a metal wall behind, one that is vibrating slightly." Picard listened, and was amazed. True, he probably wouldn't have taken a phaser to it, at least not until after running a structural scan. Luckily it wasn't a real wall, if it had been it could have caved in. Yet, why hadn't they seen it on other scans? "You said you noticed the energy fluctuation?" Nick nodded, and was then asked, "Then why didn't it get picked up on our scans? It should have been easily seen." "It is very slight, and appears to be just beginning, just in that room." This was getting interesting. This ancient civilization is obviously much more than it first appeared to be. But how much more? "Picard to Data." "*Data here.*" "Meet me in transporter room one immediately." "*Yes, Captain,*" he said and the conversation was ended. "Well, let's see this wall," Picard said as he turned and left his quarters, Nick following quickly. Once he had arrived, they silently transported down, directly into the room Nick had just transported out of minutes before. The room appeared no different, but when the other walls were scanned, the fluctuations had spread to them as well. When Picard touched the carved wall adjacent to the dark one, it moved slightly. A hologram. "Data, are these walls holograms?" He performed a few more scans, then commented, "They appear to be. The adjoining walls are read as holograms, but the opposite wall is shown as solid rock." Nick peeked at the readings, quickly comparing them to the ones he had seen a few minutes before. "The fluctuations are getting stronger, almost as if it is losing power." "Could this entire complex be holographically generated?" "Possibly. There is no indication that it is, but then this room contains the proof." The Captain put his hand up against the smooth, shiny wall. It was cold. He switched hands after a minute, and the wall was still cold. Once he had held his hand on the wall for a little longer, his arm started to get cold as well. It was taking heat from his body, yet it was still cold. "Nicholas?" he said, having gotten used to his first name from their recent conversations. "Put your hand up to the wall and tell me what you notice." He did, and he didn't notice anything he hadn't before. "I guess it's a little cold," he said pulling his hand away. "Yes, but put your hand back up and leave it there for a while." Again he did so. After several minutes, longer than Picard had held his hand to it, he told him, "It's just cold. What should I have felt?" "Well, it felt like the wall was absorbing the heat from my hand, and it was making my arm numb." Nick replaced his hand, but still couldn't feel anything. Other than being unusually cold, there was nothing too strange about it. "Perhaps it has to do with your higher body temperature," he suggested, knowing that could be a good possibility. "Mine is nearly fifteen degrees lower than yours." Picard considered this and it did make sense, but what were they going to do? This was definitely going to change his plans. "Data, have this room monitored, and try to find out what is powering it." After again touching the wall for a moment, its eeriness intriguing him, he walked to the center of the square room, Data and Nick following. He then signaled the Enterprise to beam them up, and in a matter of seconds, they were standing in the transporter room. As Data and Nick were about to leave, the Captain told them, "Be in the observation room at 07:00 hours, Natalie too." Nodding and leaving, he was left alone as the Lieutenant that had transported them down left as they arrived. He could still feel a hint of coldness clinging to his hand, his fingertips tingling slightly from the affects of the wall. It was a similar feeling he had felt the very first time he had shaken Chevalier's hand. It was cold and had made his hand tingle, and now he knew what the tingling probably came from. He thought of telling Beverly as it might be something knew, but decided it could wait, and that it wasn't really important. They probably didn't even know it was another effect of vampirism themselves. *+.*+.*+.*+.*+. The next morning Nick and Natalie tiredly walked to the meeting. Nick felt uneasy about something, what he wasn't sure. All he knew was something was going to happen, and soon...probably that day. At least his memories had been put on hold. They had stopped as his uneasiness appeared, and had not yet returned. They entered the room to find the Captain, Riker, Data and Wesley in the room. They sat down and Tracy walked in, a sheepish expression on her features as she was the last one to arrive. The Captain told them what they would do that day, and asked Data, "Were there any changes in that room?" "No. The energy fluctuations stayed steady. However, in another area of the complex a section has begun to fluctuate." He nodded slightly. "Data, I want you and Lt. Vetter to work on translating the symbols up here, myself and Dr. Chevalier will check out the room we found last night and see what's happening." Picard then looked to Nick and Wesley who happened to be both sitting next to each other and both seemed a little nervous. Nick didn't seem too sure about letting Wesley in, after all he wasn't actually an officer yet. He felt the same way himself, but he also could tell that together they would be a very efficient team. Then, as he watched, he could see Chevalier's uneasiness start to make Wesley uneasy as well. "I want you two to investigate the other section. Before you leave, find out where it is from Data." He then turned his full attention to Nick, "And Lt. Cmdr., this time notify me of your findings before acting." Nick winced slightly. He knew Picard would say something, but had hoped he would mention it while they were alone. He was grateful the Captain hadn't gotten specific. Natalie already knew about it, and suppressed a smile. "Yes, sir," he said as the Captain stood up, and then left with Natalie. Those remaining then followed Data to the lab, and after a couple of seconds, Data showed them where the fluctuations were now beginning. It was in the main cavern, and memorizing the location Nick started out for the transporter room without saying a word. Again, the two transported down in silence, Nick walking toward the area Data had indicated. It was on the left side of the main entrance, but could not be seen with the naked eye. Before doing any scans Nick put his hand up to the wall and pushed slightly. In turn it rippled faintly, and Wesley started to scan the wall. "It's a hologram," he commented after a second. "Yes. A very sophisticated one at that." Then Nick himself started to scan the surface. He looked at the results but couldn't concentrate. Still, he couldn't shake off the feeling he had. This wall was definitely making his uneasiness stronger, and knew that whatever was going to happen would do so on the other side of this wall. He stared at the wall for a few seconds longer, then was interrupted. "What was the Captain talking about earlier?" "What do you mean?" "He had told you to remember to tell him what you find before acting. What did you do?" Once again Nick winced. At least the Captain seemed to forgive him, but then nothing bad happened as a result. "A wall in the other room I came down to investigate last night that was uncarved was also giving off energy fluctuations. After scanning it I took a guess and fired my phaser at it, and eventually using the highest setting I was able to weaken it enough for it to disappear." "Wasn't that a little risky? I mean, couldn't the room have caved in if it wasn't?" "I suppose." Nick quickly returned his attention to the tri-corder's reading, then almost reaching for his phaser, instead contacted the Captain. "*Picard here.*" "Captain, this section is emitting the same fluctuations as the other section had. Can I proceed the same way?" Silence filled the air for a moment, but finally he responded, "*Go ahead, but inform me of what is revealed immediately. Picard, out.*" With that, Nick quickly took his phaser out and they both backed up. This time he started right out on the highest setting. Seven seconds later the wall flashed with electricity and disappeared. Again, the surface left behind was smooth except for a seamed outline about the size of a door. Seeing the outline, the feeling of uneasiness returned and he hesitated slightly before doing another scan. The wall was pure black this time, not the charcoal color of the other wall, but its smoothness made it appear brighter, much brighter. There were no energy signatures at all now. Even the adjoining areas had power, as they still read as solid rock. It was just the door, the area of about three feet to each side, and the couple of feet above it. After a few seconds, he contacted the Captain again, and was told he was already on the way. After a moment, Nick listened and could clearly hear the approaching footsteps. Something caught his attention, the seam was becoming more noticeable as time passed. Using the tri-corder, he could see something was definitely happening. The device couldn't tell what though, as it couldn't penetrate the material in any way. All it could see was that the seam appeared to be disappearing, dissolving into thin air. Suddenly the footsteps stopped, and feeling the heartbeat a mere meter behind him he said, "The seams are disappearing, almost as if it's releasing a seal." The Captain touched the surface, and the door slowly faded away and a corridor appeared in its place. It was lighted, the walls glowing slightly, and seemed to go on forever, the end not in sight. The scanner couldn't read anything in the corridor, and they put their tri- corders away. "Well, shall we?" he asked. Nick nodded, then went into the narrow corridor, behind him Picard, Wesley, and then Natalie. As soon as they had entered the corridor, a wall reappeared over the entrance. They looked back, and then at each other. They had no choice. After a second, they continued down the corridor and time seemed to stop. It looked the same in both directions and was unchanging. Abruptly they arrived at the end of the corridor and a wall, much like the one that appeared at the beginning stood waiting. Nick put his hand up to the wall, and as before it faded out, a room appearing beyond it. At first nothing could be seen in the room but blackness. As they stepped into the room the walls began to faintly glow, illuminating everything. The room was shaped like the top half of a sphere. The wall was smooth and so was the floor, the only seam was where the walls met the floor, and if they had looked they would have noticed that even there it was seamless, a slight curve connecting them. As they looked around the room they could see that the door they had come in had disappeared. There was no way out. Allies and Alliances - Part 3/9 Suddenly a form began to take shape--a young woman. She was relatively tall, her thin frame about six foot, and her extremely pale skin contrasted sharply with her raven black hair and clothing. Her skin was nearly pure white, and her black eyes stood out against her face "We wish we could have met you in person, but were unable to. We are the Tosquen, and this is our ship, and this is also the control center. You are the first to be allowed access, and we would ask that you take our races knowledge if you can. As you have discovered this complex is holographically generated, and is a failsafe for if we were to crash and be unable to destroy our ship. We were forced down into the atmosphere of this planet, and as we had very few survivors, and merely hours to not death but torture, we didn't have enough time to destroy our ship. Our people were taken a few at a time by another race. We do not know their names. One of their dead was taken, and we have preserved them in stasis. Hopefully you will benefit from their knowledge and ours. Again, we regret not being able to meet you, and hope you have understood our message." The woman bowed her head faintly, slowly shimmering out of view. Just as they were about to comment, another form began to materialize, but was the form of a young boy, his skin, hair and eyes a perfect match for the woman. "My name is Vosquel. You may ask me any questions you may have." "Your people crashed here on this planet, forced down by an aggressive species? How long ago did this happen?" "Yes. The time is estimated to be about two thousand of your years. Everything happened so quickly, and we didn't know what to call them...perhaps you know who they were." "We can't go after them, and given the amount of time that's past, it is very unlikely that we will ever see this race." "We don't expect you to defend us. All that we ask is that you take our knowledge, that it hopefully will be useful to you." That they could do, if their computers were compatible with the Enterprise's, and then they would. It might explain some of the things they had seen, and why they camouflaged their ship the way they did. "We will transfer your knowledge if we are capable. To do so, we would need to have access to your computers." "Of course," the boy told them, and seconds later the room transformed, several panels forming from the walls, and two growing up out of the floor. He walked over to one of the end panels on the wall, "You may interface with this panel. In it is stored our races knowledge." After a moment of silence, Picard nodded to Wesley and told him, "See if you can access their computer." He did as he was told and using his tri-corder tried to access the panel, and after a few seconds was able to. Yet, there was one problem. All commands had to be manually entered into their computer. As they were all in Tosquen the commands from the tri-corder were not working. They couldn't easily translate into their language, having no knowledge of it, and he found it strange since the greeting was easily understood. They had translated that, but not the controls. "I can access it, but it will take a little while to get the process started. I'll also need some help with it, otherwise it's going to take a long time." "Okay, Lt. Cmdr., you stay here and get working on that. Doctor, I suppose you and I should see what's been kept in stasis all this time." The boy silently led them to a door that had appeared while no one was watching. They entered, and seconds later it had gone as if it had never existed. Nick's uneasiness returned full force, and was brought back to reality with a tap on the shoulder. "Lt. Cmdr.? We should probably get started on this." He nodded. Yes, they did need to work on that, but something was unsettling...but he still didn't know what. *+.*+.*+.*+.*+. The boy led them down a short corridor into another room. It was about the same size as the other and of the same design, except in its center was a table which like the consuls in the other room had grown right up out of the ground. On the table was an opaque dome, and once they had reached it they stopped, and the boy told them, "Here is the one we told you about. It had died, but was placed in stasis, and now will be taken out." With his last word the dome began to disappear, and a moment later was gone. In its place was a being, definitely humanoid in form. It looked similar to modern humans except for the ridges on the forehead and the odd shaped ears. Natalie walked around the table, her medical scanner going, and let out a gasp as soon as she had reached the other side. Picard quickly went to the other side and could see reason for her reaction. Between the eye and the hairline was an implant. Examining the being closer, another was found on its hand. Although the implants were primitive, the technology was almost certainly Borg. "Borg technology," he eventually commented. "Borg? Is that the name of this species? Have you met them before?" "Yes, from what we can tell that's what this being is. Same technology, but on a different level. The Borg are now almost entirely machine, the individual no longer exists. They are a collective intelligence. One that we have met on more than one occasion and have no wish to meet again." He paused a second, and asked, "Doctor, what do you think the purpose of the implants are." She looked closer at them, and after doing another scan lightly touched the one next to the being's eye. Natalie was about to reply when the implant reacted. She scanned it and told them, "It's emitting a signal, and...." Natalie cut off as she heard something else move, and a second later a primitive but powerful energy beam was being fired at her. There was just enough time for her to raise her arm against it, and the force knocked her back and to the ground before the being disappeared, either transported or destroyed a split second after the boy issued a command. Silence engulfed the room for several seconds, the only sound then being Picard as he helped Natalie back up, apparently unharmed. Once up she looked down at her wrist at where the beam should have hit her. The device she had been given the day before the first away mission was its connection point, and was half melted from the heat of the beam. Vosquel also approached, and quickly asked, "Are you alright?" "Yes, I think I'll be fine. Fortunately the energy was absorbed by this," she said holding up the now useless device. "We were unaware it would still function. We apologize for this incident, and for the fact you will not be able to learn more about this species, the Borg. This was meant to help not harm you." The captain nodded, "Well, if it was giving off a signal, we want to get out of here as soon as we can. One of their ships could pick it up. We're far enough out that we could be in range." After glancing at the doctor's wrist and seeing no physical damage, he continued, "Let's get back to the others. We can do nothing here, and they need to know about this." The boy nodded slightly, quietly leading them from the room. Seconds later, they reentered the other room and Nick went straight to Natalie, his concern not needing any words to voice itself. "Nick! I'm all right!" she protested as he took her wrist. Examining both it and the other, he one found no damage. He looked to her, waiting for an explanation. What he had felt wasn't nothing, and he wanted to know what happened. "Don't worry, the energy beam didn't hit me, it hit this," she told him revealing the small force field generator in her fist. "For a moment I thought it had hit me, but it didn't. Sorry about that." Wesley listened to the exchange, and moving from the computer console, approaching them, asked, "What's all this about an energy beam? What was it from?" "Those that attacked the Tosquen were Borg. Barely, but they were definitely Borg. The implants were still functional and, along with the energy beam, a signal was transmitted. You two need to get working on the files and try to finish as soon as possible." A signal had been sent, which meant by now a Borg ship could have already picked it up and be on its way to their position. He shook his head in the affirmative, quickly returning to the computer, just arriving as he heard the transporter beam activate. They hadn't gotten very far on the files, virtually nowhere. When the others came back, Nick had stopped trying to figure out the computer. He turned back to the console, and noticed something. Its layout was the same as the communications consol on the Enterprise. All of the keys were in the exact same place, and although it was in a different language and colors, he recognized it. "I'm going to try something," he muttered, punching in the commands as he would on the Enterprise. The computer complied, and a screen appeared full of text, all in Tosquen. Wesley had scanned the console, and discovered they were transmitting the information. "How'd you do that? It's all in their language." "Yes, but it's not their layout. It's like the Enterprise's." He paused and stared briefly at the text. "How long do we have?" The boy looked down at the tri-corder, but couldn't get an answer. "I don't know. I can't get a reading." Nick turned back to the screen and set his jaw. They needed to know how much longer they had, and if it was too long they needed to shorten it. The answer was in the text, which is where their problem was. He got an idea and went over to a section of the controls. If it was set up the same way, he should be able to figure out how much time was left. Ten minutes later he commented, "Three hours, twenty-five minutes." "What?" "That's how much time is left." "How can you tell?" "Same way I got it started in the first place. The layout." He punched in several more commands, assuming that if the first worked, this would as well. Now the computer was sending up as much information as it could, and the time had been reduced. "One hour, eighteen minutes. That's as fast as it will load, anymore and the computer, our computer, won't take it." Nick moved away from the panel, moving to the other consoles in the room. He stopped on one, muttering that it was propulsion, and started messing around with it. "Lt. Cmdr.? How are you able to tell that it's propulsion? I mean, I know you're doing it by the layout and stuff, but your doing it so quickly." The boy was getting curious again, about his eccentricities, his abilities. Pretty soon he would slip, and his cover would be completely gone. He was Doctor Crusher's son, extremely intelligent, and hoped he would be able to keep a secret. "My mind memorizes everything I see, and learns to process information faster than humans. Besides, over a millennia learning different languages helps a little. One starts to notice patterns. I can now read their numbers with ease, and it wouldn't be too hard to learn their entire language. Once learned, it will never be lost, forever embedded in my mind." "Over a millennia? But...." "I already slipped earlier with the paper, and if I don't tell you now, I'll just slip again. I'm over a thousand years old by another two hundred. I do have to ask you not to tell anyone. Right now, the only people that know are the bridge officers, your mother, and Cmdr. LaForge." He absorbed the number. Twelve hundred. That meant he'd been around since before the year twelve hundred. He'd been around longer than printed books, since before the Americas were discovered, before communication or transportation was anywhere near convenient. "That's pretty old," he commented. "But, why don't you want anyone to know?" Their eyes met, and Nick told him, "Because the others of my kind don't know how old I am. I try to stay out of their circles. As far as I know, I am the eldest of my kind. As a result, I have to make decisions for the Community, and since neither myself, or LaCroix, the previous Elder, have made ourselves known, many don't even know LaCroix is gone." He stopped, but Wesley seemed a little confused. "LaCroix was not well liked by the Community. He ruled using fear and force. As a result, the Elder earned a reputation." "And since he's gone they think you're him." Nick nodded, and the boy asked, "So that would mean this LaCroix is, or was, older than you." "Yes, he was twice my age. He was the one who brought me across, made me what I am." The boy listened, and looked back to the computer console, not paying any attention to the text on the screen. Double his age meant nearly twenty four hundred years old. LaCroix would have been born around the beginning of the first century. That was old, really old. He was going to ask something, but got beat. "So, what do you think of what I am?" "What do you mean?" "Exactly what I asked--what do you think of what I am. What you think about vampires." "I haven't really thought about it. You're the only one I've met, well, except for your wife and Lt. Vetter, and I don't really see much difference between you and other humans. You get to see a whole lot more though. I mean, you get to live when great composers, writers, scientists and rulers did, get to meet them and know more than you ever could from reading about it. You live through history, gaining more knowledge than most will ever know about let alone really know." "Hmm...yes, but one rarely knows if a man is really a great man until the opportunity is gone. Some of the people I've met, I didn't find out who they really were until years later. But what I want to know is what you think about the vampire, the creature within us, not our lives." "Well, I don't think you're creatures, you just have other abilities that we don't have. You're feared more for the advantages you have than anything else, that and myth which I'm pretty sure has been exaggerated." His response caught him off guard. The boy wasn't afraid of what he was, especially over the past few minutes. He was much smarter than he looked, and seemed to have grown up early. But the last comment, that one was wrong, and he told him, "You'd be surprised. Much of legend is extremely accurate. Some is exaggerated, but only some. Time also changes things. Over centuries storytellers take their own liberties, making it a little more interesting. Then the tale eventually becomes more of a story than a history of what had happened." "So, you mean fear created the stories?" "Yes, and many times it was justified, very justified. Not all vampires are like me, most aren't. I've done some pretty bad things myself, actions worse than most could imagine." Nick's eyes became a little colder at the comment. Wesley felt fear as he had hoped he would. It was good not to be afraid of everything, but to be fearless- -that was even worse, much worse. Nick looked to the screen, and seeing they still had another forty minutes he concentrated on the other controls. Making out more of their language, keeping himself busy until it was done. *+.*+.*+.*+.*+. Forty-five minutes later they transported up, Nick being directed to the bridge. He was to go directly there. The Captain wanted to talk to him, about what he wasn't sure, but he definitely wanted to talk to him. As he continued down the hall he almost turned around and went to his quarters. He'd had nothing since a quick glass the night before, and with the amount of activity he'd had, it was all used up. He needed more blood, and he would need it soon. Reaching the turbolift and calling out his destination the decision had been made for him. He would have to talk with the Captain before getting his fill. Exiting the small room he could see most of the bridge officers, but Picard was not at his post. He continued down to the ready room, the crew barely taking note of his presence, and was almost instantly told to enter. Picard indicated that he should sit, and after doing so he waited for what seemed like minutes, even though it was merely seconds. "What did you want to see me about?" Nick finally said, the words coming out in a snap, not as the question it was meant to be. Picard waited a second after recognizing the edge in his voice, something he should have expected to hear. He had neglected the fact that the man before him was not what he appeared to be. "Are you all right Lt. Cmdr.?" "Fine," came the quick, short, flat response. The Captain raised his eyebrows a bit at that. The response was far from convincing, and they both knew it. Tension built for a few seconds, interrupted as Nick abruptly stood up and told him, "I shouldn't have come here. I should have gone by my quarters first.... I'll be back in a few moments...." He backed up toward the door, but was stopped by the Captain's voice. "No. I should have allowed you to go back to your quarters or ten- forward for a moment. In fact, I probably should have ordered it. I overlooked your needs, and I should have realized your situation. Get what you need here, you don't need to leave." Nick stood still, not really sure if he should. He usually didn't have anything when others, especially mortals, were around. It made them, and him, feel uncomfortable. Even on the Captain's visits the week before he had refrained from drinking anything while the Captain was there. Picard waited expectantly for him to make a move, and after a minute he went to the replicator and hesitantly ordered a glass of blood. It instantly complied, and seconds later he was sitting down at the Captain's desk. He downed the first third of the glass immediately, the synthetic substitute quickly calming him. He could see Picard patiently waiting, apparently for him. Taking another single, but large, sip he asked, "What did you want to see me about, Captain?" The words weren't completely even, but they were controlled. The unevenness he suspected was a result of his forgetfulness of what Nicholas was. Yet, he seemed human in almost every aspect, which was why he hadn't thought of it before. He quickly returned to the question and answered, "After contacting Starfleet about the transmission, we were ordered to Deep Space Four where we will receive further orders and drop off our passengers. Also, Worf heard about it and will be joining us on the station although he isn't supposed to join us for several weeks yet." Worf. That was the name of the bridge officer he'd been filling in for. If he was coming back, then he would be out of a job, or at least the one he'd been doing. He knew the issue would have come up eventually, but Worf wasn't supposed to return yet. He was still on vacation. Nick brought himself back to the present. Picard was waiting for him to respond, and eventually asked, "If Worf is returning, I assume he will also be returning to his post?" "Yes, he will, which brings up the question of your job. There are two options. You may either transfer to another ship or position, or take the position of night commander." Picard paused letting the information sink in and got a cup of tea while waiting. Transfer. Nick didn't know if he really wanted to do that. Starfleet now knew what he was, and it would be difficult to integrate into another crew. It was hard enough when they didn't know that the new crew member was a vampire, but with it in his record, they would surely know. They would know what he was, and he would not be easily trusted. On top of that he would have to hide his true identity, and it would make communications with the others difficult. The truth was, he liked the Enterprise, and despite what he was most of the crew seemed to like him as well, or at the very least tolerate his presence. His line of thought was useless. He'd made his decision before he had even begun to think about it. "Now, you do have the choice. You aren't obligated to either one," he was reminded. Nick waited a few more moments before responding, "I'll take the night commander position." The Captain seemed pleased at his decision, but didn't comment. He just sat patiently, almost as if he was waiting for something. "So, when would I start?" "Tomorrow I don't want you to switch, then the next day don't report to duty until the night. You'll be told the exact time tomorrow before your shift is over." Nick stood up, and after putting his glass back in the replicator, he turned to go and made it to the doors before being called back. "Aren't you forgetting something?" He shook his head, not knowing what it could be. He wasn't aware of forgetting anything, he hadn't brought anything with him, and the glass had been replaced in the replicator. "Accepting your new post also means accepting part of your promotion." His promotion, he'd almost forgot about all of that. Of course the Captain knew about his promotions, probably Natalie's as well. It was in their records, and now that he thought about it he was surprised nothing had been said about it. The topic would have eventually come up anyway. He nodded, and again turned to go but stopped when he heard Picard clear his throat. "I believe these are yours, Commander." As the Captain held out his hand, Nick took its contents--replacements for his rank insignia. Looking at it for a second, he quickly left the office, leaving the bridge for his quarters. *+.*+.*+.*+.*+. The next morning Nick got to his post early, and was the first bridge officer there. He immediately began his duties, and was able to do a few extra scans in the process. Everything proceeded normally until about 9:00 hours. The scan had something on it that meant trouble. From what he could tell it was a Borg cube, and it was heading straight for the Enterprise. It was also going to intercept them before they reached deep space four, and there was no way they could out-run it unless they went top speed on the same trajectory the cube was presently headed in. He told first Riker, then Picard, but nothing could be done. They were to proceed to Deep Space Four, knowing at their current speed they would meet the Borg first. The question was how long could they hold up against them, and what damage they would sustain. True, only one ship was approaching, but they all knew how much damage a single ship could cause. Once they were merely a few hours from their destination the ship was coming into range, and the Enterprise was taken to red alert. The instant the cube was close enough, it fired on the Enterprise. They were ready and it caused no damage other than a slight shaking. For several minutes shots were exchanged, neither side really having an advantage. The damage remained minimal, then one of the Borg's transmitters were destroyed. For a moment nothing moved. Suddenly a powerful beam, something they had never seen before, was directed at the ship, draining the shields below fifty percent in an instant. This was unexpected and everyone was thrown off guard, allowing the cube to get the upper hand. A few shots later and the engines were disabled, the shields gone, and phasers offline. The Enterprise was a sitting duck. Within seconds three Borg had appeared on the bridge. Nick, Riker, and Data each fired their phasers when they seemed to hesitate, taking the opening. They all had good aim, and the three Borg fell, dematerializing upon impact with the ground. Picard turned around to tactical, and quickly told Nick, "Commander, try to get the shields back up. We need to have some kind of defense." He nodded, the other bridge officers looking to him, noticing his apparent change of rank, one that was confirmed by his insignia. A couple of minutes later, the Enterprise was still waiting for some response from the Borg, but none had occurred. They hadn't sent more drones over, and they hadn't fired. "Shields up at thirty percent," Nick called out to no one in particular, his attention moving to getting control back to the phasers. He'd almost gotten them back online when they were fired on, the repairs being undone. Now they were not only offline, but were damaged as well. The shields dropped quickly as more force was used, and with no warning three more Borg materialized. Two were immediately shot down, their shield still not adapting to the phasers. The third had appeared right behind Nick, and was too close to fire upon. Instead it was slammed into the wall and held immobile. Two more came, but this time they had adapted, none of the phaser settings were working. One had appeared directly behind Nick while he was hit with a tranquilizer gun. The three Borg and their quarry were instantly gone with no trace of them ever being there. Allies and Alliances - Part 4/9 The Borg cube then turned and sped off, its heading back where the Enterprise had come from. Back toward Ryla 5. "Pursue!" the Captain demanded, but other than a few protesting beeps nothing happened. They weren't going anywhere, barely even drifting. "Picard to LaForge! Why aren't we moving?!" "*The engines are still offline. It'll take two hours to fix it, a little less than an hour if we jury-rig it.*" "You have a half hour, Picard out." He stood silent. Without warp engines they had no way to catch up to the cube, no way to rescue Chevalier. Then, moving toward the ready room to contact Starfleet, he called out, "Set in a course for deep space four, top impulse power. As soon as the engines are back up I want Warp seven." He disappeared into his office, his orders being silently complied with. *+.*+.*+.*+.*+. Nearly six hours had passed since the ship had been attacked. Natalie had been in sickbay and ended up staying there for a couple of hours treating minor injuries. Now she was on the bridge waiting outside the Captain's office, the ship nearly to their destination. Picard was undoubtedly conversing with Starfleet, and as soon as they arrived he would continue the conversation on the station. She could faintly hear snippets of words, or a part of a sentence, but that didn't matter to her. Only one thing mattered - Nick. The door suddenly opened and she walked in slowly. Her expression slightly hopeful, her feelings clearly displayed, yet she was calm. Almost too calm for Picard as she sat before him. "I'm sure you are aware of all that has happened, correct?" Natalie allowed her eyes to meet his for a moment, then turning her head faintly down she shook it in the affirmative. She knew exactly what had happened, the whispered conversations of the other bridge officers only retelling it from first hand experience. "As soon as the ship is repaired we will go in pursuit of the Borg cube and try to stop them, whatever their goal might be. Now, we will try to get him back, but as a doctor you know as well as I what the Borg could have done by now. It is clear they need him for something, and I still don't know why they didn't destroy the ship. They had the advantage and could have easily done so." "Why are you telling me all of this? I already know most of it." "Yes, but the reason I asked you here is to ask you a question." He paused, wondering how it would affect her. He didn't know how he'd react, the situation being relatively unusual. "I am aware of a bond that exists between vampires of the same family, and also know that he was the one who brought you across. For this reason and other observations, I know that such a bond exists between you two. What I wanted to know is what you are feeling through that bond, if you don't mind saying that is." Their bond. Something she had tried to ignore for the time being. She didn't really want to talk about it, but would answer the question. Then she wouldn't be the only one that knew what was happening. Tracy would be the only one who knew and that was because they held the same relationship with Nick. "Nothing," she stated. "Absolutely nothing." "Nothing? Are you sure?" There had to be something. A bond like theirs couldn't just disappear like that, or could it? "Yes, I'm sure. I haven't felt a thing since just after the Borg left. No thoughts, no emotions, not even a presence. Nothing. As far as I know he's not even alive." He watched her emotions bubble up to the surface. She was nearly to tears, she had nearly given up, the last statement seeming a possible explanation for the absence of their link. The only thing keeping her together was her professionalism. Hiding or suppressing what she could from the others around her. He wished he could tell her everything was going to be completely fine. But that wasn't an option, most likely everything was not fine, possibly never again. "Well, if you do feel anything, I want you to tell me right away." She quickly nodded in response, and standing up quietly left. Picard also left moments later receiving an announcement they had arrived at deep space four. *+.*+.*+.*+.*+. He was surrounded be blackness, by silence. Slowly sounds began to emerge, but they weren't recognizable. The blackness began to lighten, seeming more gray than black, then it blurred and began to get clearer. Sounds defined themselves, and he quickly realized where he was. A Borg ship. The technology was unmistakable, and he knew it was a ship because he could feel it moving. Even when the Enterprise or another ship was just drifting he could feel the movement, the ship just a fraction further along than he was. Now he was on a Borg ship, and he estimated their speed to be about warp three, maybe a little more. That meant the Enterprise either didn't follow, or couldn't, the latter being more likely. He turned his attention to the room. No one was moving around him, and as he looked around his other senses began to come back. He was laying on his back, and a few seconds more he could feel the restraints holding him down. His attempts to free himself were futile, and after a couple of attempts he stopped. Waiting, he stared at first the ceiling and then the walls for several minutes. Suddenly his senses picked up approaching footsteps, and not long after they entered. For a split second it appeared almost human, but then he could see that they were definitely Borg. The Borg was very advanced, more than he had expected them to be. It walked across the small area to a console, and after another entered the room, they both approached him. "Why have you brought me here?" he asked when they stood silently. "You will be...." "Assimilated. Yeah, I know that. But why haven't you started yet? Why have you allowed me to regain consciousness?" "You will not be assimilated. We will study you, and what you are. You are different from the other humans. Your physiology is almost identical, but you function at different levels. We will study you, then we will assimilate you." If they were able to utilize what he was, the Borg could become nearly unbeatable. Not only was he stronger than a normal human, but his brain also functioned differently. Natalie had discovered it was much more efficient than a human's brain, and the Borg could use it to their advantage. They would be able to distribute commands and knowledge even faster than they already could. "Why?" "We will study you, then assimilate you," the first repeated while the other administered something, a sedative he guessed. His surroundings slowly began to fade, first becoming fuzzy, and then blurry. Finally, all went black starting with his vision until nothing existed anymore, only blackness. *+.*+.*+.*+.*+. The Enterprise had just pulled out from the station, its four passengers being dropped off and Worf joining the crew. He'd barely been on the ship anytime at all. His things had been placed in his quarters, and then he had gone to the bridge. Standing at his post, Worf was far from pleased. While he was gone the ship had been infested. Before returning, the Captain had briefed him on all that had happened. Three vampires had infested the Enterprise, one being the officer at his post. He'd first learned about them from the myths and legends of Earth's past. To him they were dishonorable parasites that lived off others and gave nothing in return, and his human parents had agreed. When they were discovered to be real and not merely creatures from folk tales his dislike for them had grown even further. Now they were living and working on his ship, even at his post. The others seemed to overlook the problem, seemed to accept the unnatural creatures without a second thought. Perhaps they had been misled and tricked, but he would not be. No, he would not fall into the creature's trap. He would not allow himself to be tricked and fooled, then attacked from behind or while he slept. The evil presence of the other who had stood at his station only hours before was almost palpable, his skin tingling slightly at the sensation. Worf returned his concentration to his duty, but couldn't clear his mind completely. The Borg ship was headed back the way it had just come from, past Ryla 5 to another star system. They would not arrive until midday the next day, and he would have to find a way to clear his mind before then. At least while they confronted the Borg. *+.*+.*+.*+.*+. A couple of hours after her shift was over, Deanna became concerned from the feelings she was getting from Doctor Chevalier. She had told the Captain, and that's when she found out Natalie wasn't able to feel anything from Nick, that it was almost as if he was gone. Then she told the Captain something, something that she would now tell Natalie. Deanna didn't need to ask the computer where she was. The strong emotions she was feeling were coming from Ten-Forward. Entering, she found the young-appearing woman sitting in front of one of the windows, her expression blank. Only knowing what she was did her concerns fade a bit. Although her emotions were incredibly strong, they would have to be much stronger yet for her to begin losing control. She approached, and not getting any response, Deanna sat down across from her. Still no reaction was received, and after calling her name softly, she repeated it and touched Natalie slightly on the hand. She seemed to drift back into the present, her attention focusing on the Counselor. Abruptly her surroundings seemed to change, and seeing Deanna before her she tried to remember when the other had arrived. "Did you ask me something, Counselor? If you did, I apologize...." "No, it's okay. I just sat down, and had hoped to talk." Natalie nodded faintly, her thoughts already beginning to stray. "Natalie, have you felt anything from him? Anything at all?" She pursed her lips, and shook her head. She'd still felt nothing, and she was really starting to worry. His presence had never completely disappeared. Sometimes when he would shut himself off from the world it would come extremely close, but she'd been able to feel something for nearly four hundred years. "No, nothing, and I'm afraid I won't ever feel anything again." Deanna looked at her, her feelings so close to the surface, yet pushed so far under. She was genuinely afraid. "Everything will be fine. He's fine...." "You're just saying that to make me feel better," she responded with a touch of anger, cutting the other woman off. "That's what counselors are supposed to do, isn't it?" "Yes, that is part of my job. But I also know for a fact that he's alive." "What? How?" she demanded. "Somehow, I'm not really sure, I'm able to feel him...his emotions. It's not really a presence, although I've felt that a couple of times. He's definitely alive, but I don't think he's conscious, perhaps he's heavily sedated." This was amazing. Natalie lighted up at the news, but thought for a moment on how this was possible. Then she remembered that Nick had taken some of Deanna's blood when Rousseau had imprisoned him. He'd mentioned something about a strange link, but had thought it had gone away. Then, for the next week, he nearly shut down their link and said nothing about it. Perhaps the link between him and Deanna was still present and he'd been suppressing it somehow with all of what had happened. It would at least explain how she was able to feel him. But why Deanna and not her? Her own link was stronger, mostly from their closeness over the past four centuries, but perhaps the Counselor's half-Betazoid blood created a stronger, different link. She didn't know, and pushed the thought away for the time being. Right now what she wanted to know was what she was feeling, and asked as much. "I'm not completely sure. I think it's a combination of confusion and fear. The fear I think is just from the situation, of what could happen and makes sense. The confusion though, I don't know what it's from. The Borg are usually predictable, but this time they seem to be less so. They had run, and didn't destroy the ship, and their reaction time seemed to be longer. They would have to do something even more unpredictable to cause the amount of confusion I feel." She listened and her features became slightly less concerned. He was alive, and the Counselor was able to feel him. But.... "Is he all right? Can you tell?" "I think he is, but then he's been unconscious much of the time, so I don't know what's happening right now. I can still feel his presence though. He is definitely still alive." Some of her concern dissipated, but not all of it. She stood up, thanked Deanna, and went back to her quarters to think more about what was said. The important fact though was that Nick was alive, that's all she really cared about at the moment. Tomorrow they would possibly find out if they had done anything to him, and hopefully he would still be alive by the time they caught up to the Borg. *+.*+.*+.*+.*+. Around noon the next day they had pinpointed the position of the Borg cube, now orbiting a small, unexplored class M planet. Two and a half hours later they were nearly there, the cube just coming into range, a yellow alert reminding the crew of what they were up against. Once to the planet, no immediate reaction from the Borg ship was received. The cube stood eerily still, and for a few moments nothing moved. "Captain, they are beaming up those on the surface. A small complex has been built and it appears to be failing," Data noted, breaking the silence. "Are there any life forms other than Borg on the planet or their ship?" Seconds passed as the ship scanned, then he replied, "None on the ship. However, there are three on the planet, all with relatively low life signs." "Have them beamed up to sickbay." More time passed before Data told them, "I can not get a lock on them. There signal is too weak and none are wearing communicators." "Can we beam down?" "Not at the moment. The Borg's actions are preventing beam down." "Commander, I want you, Data, and Dr. Crusher to beam down as soon as possible, to retrieve those on the planet." Riker nodded, and he and Data left. Picard turned his attention to the Borg cube, which still seemed to be ignoring them. "Worf, watch that ship. The moment anything on it twitches, tell me. I want to know when it might realize we're here, but we don't want to give it any warnings." A second before they were fired upon Worf began, "They have finished transporting up form the surface." The ship shook for a moment, then the view screen showed the Cube speeding off. "Shields are down, and the away team has beamed to the surface. The complex appears to be suffering from some kind of power build up." He quickly performed another scan and added, "Also, of the three, now only one reading is still present. The other two have ceased life functions." *+.*+.*+.*+.*+. Among the humming network of corridors the three materialized. Data immediately accessed the computer, discovering the power build up and the accelerating failure to contain it. The temperature was warm, warmer than it should have been even in a Borg complex. Dr. Crusher worked on finding those on the planet, and was followed closely by Riker and Data. They had run into no one, the complex having been abandoned only moments before. Abruptly from the corridors they emerged into a room. It wasn't overly large, and two forms could be seen. She scanned each one and shook her head. Both were humanoid, and both were dead. They had been in the middle of being assimilated, some of the implants just barely in. They had been left when the Borg transported up, and died because they hadn't been stabilized. She followed the readings of the third life form, and was led down another corridor into a slightly smaller room. It was Nick, and by her tri-corder he was still alive. Although the readings were low, they were within normal limits for him. In fact, he appeared to be waking up, and she started another scan. "Doctor, we need to get out of here, the complex is going to go in less than a minute." She quickly finished the scan and nodded. "Riker to Enterprise, four to transport directly to sickbay. Energize." The command was instantly complied with, and Data and Riker left for the bridge. Nick was now almost fully awake, and stood up despite the doctor's protest's otherwise. He was in sickbay again and distinctly wanted to leave. She managed to get him to sit on one of the bio-beds but only after shoving him into it, and waiting. Quickly she started a scan, trying to discover if anything was wrong, and Picard quietly entered, watching as he protested to the doctor's attempts to make sure he was all right. "I feel fine," he told her pushing the device away. "Well you may feel fine, but that doesn't mean that you are. I want to make sure they haven't done anything, perhaps something you wouldn't notice," she said as he once again attempted to stand up, this time stopping him with her free hand. She finished the scan and Picard asked, "So, how is your patient." "Well, nothing seems to be wrong." She looked up to Nick, his expression annoying her slightly. He'd been right that he was physically fine. She then looked back to the tri-corder to check the last scan. Something didn't seem right, and she rechecked the readings as Natalie entered the room approaching them. The readings weren't wrong, and not knowing how else to bring it up she asked, "Did you know there's a piece of metal in your head?" The information startled Picard, but Nick was only slightly confused and then only for a moment. He quickly realized what it was from, and he told her, "Yes, I know. It's from when I was in Toronto, when Tracy was still mortal." They waited for more, and he explained what had happened, "We were meeting someone, they shot at her and I pushed her out of the way getting hit in the head. I never had it removed, never really needed to. It hasn't created any lasting problems." She was still a little stunned at the information, surprised it didn't create any difficulties for him. "Well, at least we know it was there before. Now, everything seems to check out as far as I can tell. Your physiology is different and I'm still getting used to it, but I am strongly recommending you don't work tonight and instead rest." "And I'm ordering it. I don't care what you do, but I don't what to see you on the bridge for any reason until tomorrow night." Nick nodded. He felt fine, but his head did hurt. He would rather not work that night, and took the order calmly. Natalie seemed pleased at that, and relieved that nothing was wrong. He stood up and left with her, the others not saying anything. Natalie also said nothing, needing his presence more than anything. He knew she hadn't been able to sense him. When he'd woken up that was one sense that never came. He had reached out all he could, but nothing had been there. *+.*+.*+.*+.*+. He'd done as he was told, and didn't work that night, his headache nearly disappearing. The next night he came for his shift, and other than a glare from Worf nothing too serious happened until about halfway through his shift. Then his headache came back full force. Since both he and Worf were on twelve-hour shifts, again he received a glare when his shift was over. The next night it started out the same way, the distaste of what he was clear on Worf's features. Again his headache increased, and he was wondering when it would stop. Vampires didn't usually get headaches, and he was wondering what was causing it. The end of shift came, but this time it wasn't as smooth of a transition. Nick logged out of the computer and moved to go, but the Klingon blocked his path. Nick met his eyes, the glare still apparent. He stood seeing the words on the other side of Worf's eyes, waiting for him to voice them. "You do not deserve to be in Starfleet let alone on the Enterprise, and I do not trust you. You have no honor, and if you turn against this ship I will see that you never get the chance to harm anyone again." Worf moved past him and to the console, clear that their conversation was over no matter what Nick's response was. He could've responded many different ways, but any action on his part would just be ignored, and now his headache was much worse. Nick left, and as he entered the turbolift his conclusion proved correct. Ever since he'd come aboard the Enterprise he'd had some sort of problem, and now was no exception. First of all was his headache, which he was seriously debating going to either sickbay or Natalie for. Either way they'd overreact, telling him he needed rest. He didn't need anymore of that. In his opinion he'd gotten far too much of that recently. The second problem wasn't going to be solved as easily. Worf was against what he was, and viewed him as dishonorable. In the past he might have quickly agreed to that. Now, he wasn't so sure. He understood the concept of Klingon honor. It was similar to the honor code he'd grown up with, one he had taken seriously and, to some extent, he still did. He would have to be careful around Worf, very careful. Until Worf trusted him he was in a position of doubt. He would attempt to call a truce, but first he had to get rid of his headache. As he exited the turbolift, the doors having been open for over a minute, he walked the short distance to his quarters. Natalie wasn't there, and wouldn't be for another five hours. Her shift was somewhere between his and the normal shift, overlapping a little on both. He was glad she was in sickbay, that way she wouldn't be able to scold his next actions immediately. He ordered a glass and bottle of replicated blood, quickly downing the glass. Then, forgoing the glass, he drank the rest straight out of the bottle. Within minutes he could feel the pain begin to leave him. He ordered another bottle, its contents quickly disappeared as well. Once it too was empty he swirled the bottle, collecting the droplets on the inside. Doing so he was able to get another sip, after which he sat the bottle down next to the other one, gold flooding his eyes for a moment. When Natalie did get back she would be mad, really mad. She would scold him for going on a binge, for letting what he was take control of him. She only understood to a point what it was like for him. Natalie was far closer to being human that he had ever been. The intense need for the blood didn't affect her the way it did him. Not once had she killed for blood, or even taken blood from a living being. He'd made sure she wouldn't have to deal with those situations, trying to keep her safe. She complained about his overprotectiveness, but if it meant she wouldn't have to deal with the guilt, he didn't mind it as much. As a result she didn't know the seductive power it held over him, the temptation that was there every second of his life. She thought she knew, but what she felt wasn't the same. The power he'd reveled in centuries ago was still there, and even now he could not escape from its temptation. Only weeks before he'd taken the blood of another. It wasn't entirely his choice, the situation forcing it, but the vampire enjoyed the experience. Enjoyed it far too much. He could still remember, almost taste her blood, her Betazoid ancestry luring him even deeper into the taste. His mind began to reach out, trying to focus on her. Abruptly his link with Natalie became stronger, and so did every other sense. He could feel the counselor and the others on the ship, what they were feeling, everything about them. His mind had opened up, and now he struggled to control the sensations it produced. He placed several barriers around his mind, the energy used being replaced by yet another two bottles of blood. The replicated substitute didn't entirely quench his need, but he was able to get his mind back under control. The only sense left being a slight presence of the counselor. Soon after he fell asleep, exhausted from the sudden loss of control. Allies and Alliances - Part 5/9 Nick started awake, and feeling Natalie sound asleep next to him got up and entered the other room before asking the time. When he did, what color he had drained from his face. He was supposed to be at his post five minutes before. Quickly getting dressed he rushed out the door not bothering with anything else. He nearly forgot his communicator in the rush. Walking out of the turbolift he could see Worf. He walked up to the computer, but as when he left the night before he was not allowed to pass. "You are late. If you wish to continue on this ship I suggest you do not be so again." "I..." he started to apologize, but was cut off almost before he got the word out. "You believe you are above the ship's rules, but you are not. I will notify the Captain of your tardiness if you are late again." Worf left the bridge quickly before a response could be made. Nick stood rigid for a moment, his night already not going well, and through the night it continued. About halfway through his shift he had to stop by his quarters to get more blood. His headache had gotten much worse since earlier, bad enough that he walked by sickbay on the way back, but by then the blood had done its work. Once back on the bridge time virtually flew by. It seemed to go so fast that it was passing him up, something that he rarely felt. At this rate he might not be done with one of the scans he was supposed to do on the computer. Ten minutes before the end of his shift Worf entered, and indeed he had not finished. Nick held up his hand, telling the other that it would only be a moment longer, and quickly completed the needed adjustments. Once done he looked up to Worf, anger smoldering in his eyes. He glanced down at the computer, and realized the time. The few seconds to a couple of minutes he had thought had passed was inaccurate. It had been nearly a quarter of an hour since Worf entered, and was now several minutes into his shift. "Sorry, I wasn't aware it would take that long to...." "Do not apologize to me. I will not accept it. All your kind tells is lies, and I have no wish to listen to another. I've heard enough." The Klingon moved to the console, and Nick turned to leave. He almost made it to the turbolift but was stopped by something Worf said. The words were soft, wouldn't even be heard by a human or most others, but his ears picked them up crystal clear. They were further descriptions of his dishonor, all in Klingon and mostly in the form of curses. His eyes began to transform, the gold filling them momentarily. Nick spun around, the gold just barely gone, and in Klingon told Worf, "I was unaware it was honorable to speak behind an enemy's back, particularly when they can hear. I believe your actions border on cowardice. If you have something to say I would rather it be said to my face than behind my back, and I'm sure you would have the same opinion given similar circumstances. Do not tell me about honor. I know more about your customs than you know about me. If you wish to accuse me of something, be sure it is certain that I am responsible." Nick resumed his path and before Worf could regain his composure and comment, he was gone. Minutes later he was sitting in the darkest corner of Ten-Forward, a glassful of blood sitting untouched before him. All of the sudden he felt something, and looking up he saw Counselor Troi standing next to the table. "May I join you?" she asked, her voice showing a bit of uncertainty. He nodded, seeing no reason she couldn't even though he didn't really want to be disturbed. She sat down, and for a moment neither said anything. The silence became uncomfortable, and Troi commented, "You seem to have something on your mind. Could I ask what it is?" He was about to say no, but if he did she would know he was lying. Although he was shielding his mind, that was to keep others emotions out, not his in. "I..." he started out, but stopped. How could he explain to her what was happening? He still had a headache, he was still surrounding his mind with barriers, he wasn't on the best of terms with Worf, and they were all on his mind. "Does it have to do with what happened yesterday?" "Yes..." he told her hesitantly, wondering how she knew. Then it hit him. She had felt his mind when it had opened up. "I don't really know what happened. Everything just opened up, and suddenly I could feel everything, everyone." "Emotions or thoughts?" He had to think about that a moment, having not concentrated on what he felt in case it would happen again. "Mostly emotions. I didn't wait long enough before blocking it out to feel thoughts, if I can feel thoughts. It made my head hurt more, and I was trying to get rid of it." She thought about what he said and wondered what could have caused it. "Have you ever had this happen before?" He shook his head in response. The she caught part of what he said. It made his head hurt more. "What's causing your headache in the first place?" "I don't know. It just started a couple of days ago and hasn't gone away. I can get it to stop for a little while, a couple of hours at the most, but it's still there." This couldn't be good. "Have you told anyone?" "No. I think Natalie knows though, but then we're connected. I haven't talked to her about it yet, don't know if I will." She was a little concerned he hadn't told anyone, and thought about what he said. "Has your connection with her changed at all since this started? Has it become stronger, or weaker, or has there been no change in it?" "It..." he stopped, then after thinking a second said, "I think it's gotten a little stronger. I haven't focused much on it the last day or two though. It might not have changed at all." "Do you mind if I tell Dr. Crusher about it?" That he didn't really know. He didn't want to spend any more time in sickbay than he had to, but he did want to find out was happening. "I suppose it would be alright if you told her, but I really don't want to go into sickbay for any tests." "I'll try. I know how much time you've spent there recently. But in the end it's up to her. Whatever she thinks should be done." She paused looking down at the table for a moment, and her next question was of a slightly lighter tone, but still serious. "Is there anything I can do that would help?" Silence, except for the swirling motion of his cups contents greeted her, and she added, "I'm asking both as counselor and a friend. If I can do anything to help, I will." He stopped his actions, staring into the glass. "No. I'll be fine. I just want to think a while." Meeting his eyes she nodded, and left him sitting at the table, his glass still untouched. When Beverly came on duty she would explain the problem to her, and hopefully she would be able to get a few ideas. *+.*+.*+.*+.*+. The next night when he came on shift Worf didn't say anything. At least that he was glad of. Tonight his headache hurt a lot mot than the night before, and he didn't want to argue about anything at the moment. He had been at his post barely five minutes when the turbolift doors opened and Dr. Crusher entered the bridge. He was the only officer there at the time so he knew she wanted to talk to him, and he knew what it was about as well. "So, what did Deanna tell you?" "Well, she seems to be a little concerned about you. You've been having headaches. I think you probably should have said something sooner, and now that I know I would like to find out what's causing them." "I don't want to go through anymore tests," he quickly told her. "Don't worry, this won't require you going to sickbay. During your shift I was wondering if you could wear this," she said holding out a small round device. He took it from her and commented, "A cortical scanner?" "Yes, it will record the im-" "I know what it does. You hope to monitor my brain, see what's happening that could cause my headaches." She nodded slightly. Natalie had told her he would know what it was, even mentioned that he would probably cut her off. When she'd asked Natalie about his headache's, she had mentioned that he was avoiding her, and that it wasn't just his head that was bothering him. "So you'll put in on for your shift?" Again he nodded, not seeing any harm in it. After a few minutes he knew he would barely notice it. "Good. Could you come by after your shift is over, to give it to me, and perhaps answer a few questions?" "Sure," he said after a moment, sounding as if he wasn't really paying attention. She was about to comment, but decided not to. Troi had told her about the other thing, and she hoped this might shed a little light on that as well. *+.*+.*+.*+.*+. Dr. Crusher started awake as she was contacted. Responding, she discovered it was Natalie in sickbay. The readings she had been getting from the cortical scanner had changed. Since she would have to get up soon anyway, she got dressed and went down to sickbay. The first thing she noticed was Natalie's concern, and once she saw the readings she could see why. First they spiked to extremely high levels for any living being, then when they came back down they stopped before reaching their previous levels. Now his brain was functioning on a higher, faster, more efficient level than it usually did. A couple of questions later she had also discovered he was not responding to being contacted either by communicator or through the computer. She decided to go to the bridge and contact the Captain from there if needed. Natalie was going to accompany her, but Beverly told her to stay in sickbay and if she was needed would be called. She didn't want Natalie there until she knew what was happening. Already she'd had to go through so much, and she had no idea what condition Nick was in except that he was probably conscious. Reaching the bridge she was proved correct. Nothing immediately appeared out of the ordinary except for the fact that he was putting in commands at an accelerated rate. He made no move when she entered, or even as she took a couple of steps closer to him so she could see the computer. The first thing she noticed was they were no longer on course. Instead they were headed into relatively unexplored areas. She then tried to get his attention. Calling him by his rank, his first and last names, or his real name proved completely useless. Next she approached him, getting a little closer, and touching him on the shoulder, tried again. This he responded to, but not as she had expected. A second later she was thrown against the back of the bridge, barely missing hitting her head. He returned his attention to the computer as if he'd never left it. She contacted the Captain, and ten minutes later he entered with Worf and two security officers. "Doctor, what's happening?" "From what I can tell, he's taken control of the ship...but it's not him." "Explain." "Something seems to be controlling him, his thoughts and conscious actions. It's probably the cause of the problems he's been having." Picard waited for a further explanation, and she continued, "He's having severe headaches, and there's something else I can't describe, only know that it caused him to sense others, their emotions and perhaps more. The piece of metal I found might not be the bullet he thinks it is. It could have been replaced by something, and these headaches might be a side effect of it." "Anything else?" "Yes. I wouldn't get too close to him or in anyway make it seem like we are trying to stop him. When I tried to get his attention I was thrown against the back wall." This caught his attention, and she assured him she was fine. Picard then tried to find out exactly how much of the ship was being controlled, and discovered it was everything. Propulsion, weapons, life support, everything. Now the question was what they were going to do. Would they allow the ship to continue, possibly being put into the hands of the Borg, or would he get control of the ship back with possible injury. "Try to gain control of the ship, but I don't want too much force used, we don't know what we'll get in return." Worf nodded to the two security officers and they approached Nick from each side. They took his arms, and the next thing they knew they were flying through the air and landing solidly on the ground. Other than being slightly dazed they were fine, but one made the mistake of trying a second time. This time he wasn't just half pushed-half tossed to the ground. Instead, he was thrown into the back wall, the force knocking him out. Doctor Crusher went to him, and told the others, "He'll be fine once he wakes up. It doesn't look like any serious damage was done. I think it's a bad idea to try that again, though. Each attempt seems to be met with more force. Next time someone could get seriously hurt." She turned back to the man, and after a quick scan and hypospray injection he was regaining consciousness. Telling him that he should wait a moment before standing up, she approached Picard asking, "So, what do we do now?" "We make another attempt," Worf said, immediately being told that he wouldn't. "I will not approach him, a phaser will disable him without the need to directly confront him." Picard considered the suggestion, and knew it was all they had left. A phaser could possibly knock him out without causing too much damage, if it even worked at all. His physiology was already different than theirs, and who knows what the implant had enhanced other than brain functions. "You may proceed, but only use the stun setting, no higher. If it doesn't work, we'll just have to wait until we arrive at wherever we're going." Worf nodded and, taking his phaser, he fired. Other than a slight weakening it caused no injury, but it did cause a reaction. Nick turned to them, the vampire absent, but something else seemed to be there. His eyes were dark, almost appearing black from their position. No move was made until Worf again raised the phaser. Just as his finger was to fire the weapon something grabbed his wrist, but nothing was there. The pressure continued to increase until he had to let go of the weapon, but it didn't fall to the ground. It was invisibly thrown against the wall, shattering on impact. Pain seemed to flood Nick's head as he went back to the computer, and it was clear whatever happened took a lot of energy. However, whatever was controlling him didn't seem to be effected. It compensated quickly and efficiently. "I think it's clear that we will be continuing on our current course. I don't want anyone other than us, or Cmdr. Riker on the bridge, and no further actions are to be made." "Where will you be?" Doctor Crusher asked, out of the corner of her eye seeing the security officer get up. Picard looked over at Nick for a moment, and remembering the latest action, one that was completely unexpected, responded, "I'd rather not say." He then headed for the turbolift, then contacted Doctor Chevalier, and Counselor Troi, asking both of them to meet him in Ten- Forward. It only took a few minutes for them to arrive, and sitting down his first question was, "What can you feel from Nicholas." The familiarity caught Natalie slightly off guard, and Troi answered first. "Fear and anger, very strongly. He knows what is happening, at least subconsciously, and he doesn't like it. He's using his anger as strength to fight what is happening, but it's not working." He turned to Natalie, and she agreed, commenting on the strength of the anger. Silence intruded, then Picard continued, "Natalie, has he ever shown any sign of telepathy?" "What? What do you mean?" "Is he telekinetic, has he ever been able to use his mind to affect the environment around him? Perhaps in the form of moving objects?" She strongly shook her head. Rarely had she ever seen cases of telekinesis, but she knew Nick didn't show any signs of it, although apparently he did now. "No. I've never seen anything like that from Nick. He's not telepathic, not in that way. Why? What's happened?" "Nicholas has taken control of the ship. Attempts were made to stop him with no success. The last attempt was a phaser. The first shot had almost no effect, the second was stopped. From what was seen, he applied pressure using his mind, forcing Worf to let go of the phaser. Then, it was thrown against the wall, again with the mind. He has either been made telepathic, or whatever is controlling him is." "Has he been hurt?" "Not physically, at least not that we can tell. We don't know what is happening to him from the inside. His mind is functioning on a different level, it's bound to cause side effects." Picard was interrupted by his communicator and he acknowledged it waiting for his first-officer's voice. "*We're slowing down. Something has appeared on sensors, but the only thing we know about it is that it's big, really big.*" "What's our current speed?" "*Warp 5. We haven't completely slowed yet. But we are dropping.*" "Well, warp 5 is a whole lot better than nearly warp 10. We'll be there as soon as possible." The channel closed, and turning to them was asked, "We've only been traveling for a short time, how can we have already arrived?" "As far as we know we've been on this heading since he started his shift. The only reason we noticed anything was wrong in the first place was the cortical scanner. Come on, let's see where we've been brought." He waited for them both to stand up, and they proceeded out of Ten-Forward. Once to the turbolift Natalie asked, "Why do you want me to come? I'm not a bridge officer and there's no need for me on the bridge." "Well, I want you there just in case we end up needing you. Who knows what will happen." She was about to protest again but the doors opened, the bridge being revealed. Exiting, the first thing noticed was that they had slowed even further. On the view screen they could see a huge ship, or at least it was probably a ship. Its size could clearly be seen, and the closer they approached the fewer stars they saw. It was an enormous three- dimensional diamond. The surface was shiny and black, the same material they had seen on Ryla 5. They approached a little closer, and stopped, now no stars being visible. What felt like a tractor beam locked onto the Enterprise, and within a couple of seconds five forms had appeared around the bridge. There were three women, and two men. All wore pure black, their black hair blending in with their uniforms. Four were clearly guards, or some kind of security officers, their weapons pointed at the Enterprise's crew. The fifth, a few of them had seen before. It was the woman they had seen before on Ryla 5. "Take their weapons," she commanded, the order being obeyed immediately, even Natalie's medical scanner and equipment were taken. "You are Tosquen," the Captain stated once everyone again stood still, the memories of their meeting on the planet coming back. "Yes, we are Tosquen. I am Kalvyal, our leader. We have brought you hear for a purpose we cannot yet reveal." "How did you bring us here. We haven't seen you since Ryla 5, and then you were a hologram." "We used knowledge from your ship which we obtained while you were at Ryla 5 to disguise ourselves as one of your enemies." She paused a second, the Captain's thoughts entering her own. "You want to know exactly how though. Suffice it to say our holographic technology is extremely advanced. Everything you've seen except your ship and us has been a hologram. The Borg, the survivors on Ryla 5, and the caverns. Even the Data retrieved from the planet was a hologram." "What are you going to do with us?" Then seeing the concern from Natalie, he added, "What about what you've done to Cmdr. Chevalier?" "His condition will be reversed." She looked over at him, and the blank stare disappeared. His energy was drained enough that he could barely catch himself on the control panel. "In fact now he is no longer under our control. When we return to our ship the implant will removed. He should suffer no ill effects." Two others appeared next to him, and pulling away they dematerialized, no sign they were ever there. "You will be taken to our ship, and are our guests. Do not attempt to escape, if you do you will be punished severely." Kalvyal nodded, and all five switched on a small device on their wrists, seconds later the bridge was completely silent. Allies and Alliances - Part 6/9 Natalie was the first to wake, followed closely by the others. The room was large, and had the same general architecture as the rooms seen on Ryla 5 except that this room was rectangular. It was furnished with chairs, which upon closer inspection, were more like couches. They seemed to grow right out of the floor. In the back of the room was a place for them to sleep, and that's where they found themselves. Although the material was the same as the rigid walls, it was soft like foam. They had been awake for nearly an hour, their time being spent trying to find a way out. No indication of where the exit was, or even if there was one, could be found. Abruptly, a section of the wall disappeared and Kalvyal and two guards entered the room, the wall instantly reappearing behind them. "Where is Cmdr. Chevalier?" "Not here. Do not worry, you will see him soon enough. Right now I want you to answer a few questions. Captain, you know that your officer, and two other on your ship are different, correct?" She waited, silence being the only comment, at which she added, "If you do not respond, I will have to force your response. Now, answer the question." Picard again remained still, and quickly discovered the meaning of her words as pain flooded his mind, then began to slowly spread through his body as it increased. Within seconds he was forced to answer in the affirmative, pressure building up in his mind as if it was going to explode. The instant of his answer the pain ceased and a smile faintly graced the woman's features. She was pleased at his answer, but something else was present, something that he couldn't place as she covered her emotions up once again. "You also know what he is, correct?" Picard nodded this time, having no wish to go through a repeat. Kalvyal turned to leave, stopping at the Captain's question, "Why do you want to know about Cmdr. Chevalier? Why are you singling him out?" "You already know why, Captain. He is different, and will suit our needs." "What are...." The wall reappeared and he cut his own words off. She wasn't going to give them anything. Right now they just wanted information, or at least he hoped that was their goal. He could only imagine what their real purpose behind all of this was. "Now what do we do?" Natalie asked. They had no way out of the room, and no idea what was happening. "All we can, we sit and wait." Most of the others silently agreed. Worf continued to look for a way out, but they all knew he would be unsuccessful. The Tosquen's technology was just too great, and they had nothing with them. Even their communicators had been confiscated. *+.*+.*+.*+.*+. His surroundings once again appeared around him, and within seconds he could see every detail of the room. It looked much like what he had seen on Ryla 5, and when the woman he had seen there entered the room, he knew he was with the Tosquen. But where he was, or how he had arrived, he didn't know. The last thing he remembered was talking to Doctor Crusher, then everything began to fade out. He attempted to see if the cortical scanner was still there, but found his arms were restrained, and so were his ankles. "Where am I, how did I get here?" he asked, his head aching slightly from something, but not nearly as bad as before. "You are aboard our ship, and you brought the Enterprise here." His surprise was clearly visible, and she continued, "Yes, you brought the Enterprise here. Don't worry, eventually the memory will return to you, but it may take a while. It's not important anyway." "Why am I here? And where are the others?" "They are fine, and will remain so. You are going to answer some questions. Some to test your truthfulness, the others for clarification. How long it takes will be up to you." Pausing and nodding to another woman, one he had not seen before, the other woman approached, and pushing his head forward and his hair out of the way a device was placed at the base of his skull. "If you refuse to respond or lie, you will be punished. First, I want to know your name, your real name." "Nicholas Chevalier." She walked around him, and when she reached her former position asked, "What is your real name?" "Nicholas Chevalier." His head exploded with pain at his untruthful answer. "I don't want an alias, I want you to state your real name, the one you were born to." The pain continued, and after it was almost too much he told her, "Nicolas de Brabant." She smiled and it stopped. "Good. Now tell me your age, your true age." His name was one thing, but his age was another. He would rather tell her what he was than his age. "If you know my name, you already know my age, it's in records." "Yes, it is in records. I am also aware that it is incorrect. Besides, I would rather hear it from you." Kalvyal tried to force him to answer, but it wasn't working. His mind was too strong, much more so than she had expected, and it made her wonder how much more they had underestimated him. Closing her eyes for a moment, she opened them and said, "Let's try a different approach. Your true age is about twelve hundred of your home planet's years, correct?" They knew his true age, which meant it had to be on the computer somewhere, or the Tosquen recorded it. He remembered telling Wesley his true age while on Ryla 5. That had to be where they found out. "First, you tell me why you want to know." Her eyes narrowed to thin, black, slivers, and the pain increased. When he refused to answer she took the device up to full power, her thoughts, her will being amplified far enough that a minutes later he was unconscious. She nearly screamed with anger, her questioning not going as smoothly as she wanted. If she couldn't get him to talk, she couldn't tell him their situation. They only had a limited time. Time that was rapidly running out. *+.*+.*+.*+.*+. His surroundings became brighter and he awoke with a start. At first he thought someone had woken him, but no one was near him. The pain was gone, but the device was still there. It was small, about the size of a quarter, and he debated removing it. He grabbed a hold of it, but a grip on his wrist stopped him. "Nick, don't. Unless they take it out it could cause serious damage. The device is embedded into the skin. I have no idea how far it goes, and despite our healing capabilities, it could still do a lot of temporary damage." He turned around to see Natalie, then he saw the others in the room, all awake. He and Nat were in the back of the room, the others sat in the center. No exit was in sight, nothing overly significant about the room. "How long have I been in here?" "Somewhere between six and eight hours from what we can tell. I'm surprised you're awake." "I thought someone woke me up. Someone or something." He shook his head, the feeling that he had been woken up returning full force. Something had woken him up, he was sure of it now. Suddenly he heard something, and softly asked, "What?" "I asked, what do they want? Do you know?" Picard's voice echoed in his mind. "No. Right now she's just asking me questions, ones I don't like others knowing about. Knowledge of what I am always leads to trouble." "Counselor, have you felt anything from her?" "Other than that once, no, absolutely nothing." "Wait, you felt something from her? When? What was it?" Nick asked curiously. This was new. He couldn't feel others emotions except for that one moment, and other than the counselor, no one in the room had that ability. "It was last night, just before they brought you here. She was feeling frustration, and I don't think it was confined to that one moment. She just lost control at that point. Afterwards it was gone again, but I could see it in her face when she brought you back. Her mind is very strong, much stronger and powerful than the others' around her." "She's not the only telepath?" Nick knew Kalvyal was telepathic, and figured that's how she administered the pain with the device. He hadn't seen any evidence of it from the others, but other than her, he'd only seen one other Tosquen since waking up on their ship. "I don't believe so. Kalvyal is the only voice I've heard. She only needs glance and her wishes are obeyed. They seem to reply to her in the same way. She is the Tosquen's leader though, and possibly the most powerful telepath among her people." Nick agreed on that. She was powerful, but only in the power of her mind. She looked to be barely out of childhood, and didn't really seem to know what she was planning. An entrance appeared and a snap later Kalvyal entered. Four others followed her in, two guards stayed outside. "I see you are awake. I trust that today will go better than yesterday." She turned to one of the others. What appeared to be a tranquilizer gun in his hands, one identical to the one he had seen the Borg with only days before. It was fired twice in quick succession. First Nick, and then Natalie fell to the ground, both just barely unconscious. Another glance, and they were taken from the room. Her eyes met Picard's, and in another second she was gone. This time the tranquilizer didn't fully take, and he could see where he was being taken, just able to do nothing against it. Once they had reached their destination he was nearly fully conscious, and Natalie wasn't far behind. The guards quickly restrained them, seeing their strength returning. "Why did you bring her here? I have the answers you seek." Kalvyal walked over to the side of the room, taking something from the woman by the consol, the same woman he had seen the day before. Walking across the room, and then stopping behind Natalie, she replied, "I don't care whom I get the information from, just that I get it. You both know the answers I am looking for, the knowledge I need. Besides, it will at least give you a reason to answer." She pushed Natalie's head forward, and holding her hair out of the way positioned the device at the base of her skull, then returned to the center of the room. "Now, let's begin where we left off yesterday. Your true age is twelve hundred of your years, correct?" When he didn't immediately answer, the pain did not come to him, but instead to Natalie, and with a glare told her, "Yes. Now stop." "I wouldn't have to start if you would just cooperate with me. Your answers will not be revealed to your shipmates or any other organization in your people's Federation of Planets or one that might be associated with it." "Why should I believe you?" "That is your choice. Now, we need to continue." And continue they did. For hours she asked him questions. Most were specific to either him, or vampires, about their abilities and his own. He didn't want to answer, not knowing what all of this information was being used for, but seeing and feeling Natalie's pain was too much. He'd see it before from Rousseau's torture. He'd seen some of it merely weeks before, and on a more personal level several years before. He'd seen pain turn to death. His fear made him answer. He kept the answers as vague as possible. Delays in his answers gave Natalie pain, and he'd delayed many times. By the end of the day, or at least he assumed it was, Natalie was weak. She said nothing about their situation, and had made no move to answer any of the questions. Now he just wanted to make her pain go away, but could do nothing until they got back to the Enterprise. Abruptly the questions stopped, and within seconds Natalie was taken from the room. "Where are you taking her?" "She will be fine. There will be no more questions for either of you." He met her eyes, and somehow knew it was the truth. He wouldn't be asked any more questions, but she wasn't finished. No, she hadn't gotten everything she wanted, not yet. "I will return shortly, I have some business to attend to." Both she and the other woman departed, leaving the room empty except for himself. The silence quickly returned him to his thoughts, of the events from a few years ago that had been resurfacing for the past couple of weeks. This time they were clearer than before, the events replaying in crystal clarity. ~~~~~~~~~~ He'd been chained to the wall for four days now. Janette had been taken the day before, or perhaps the day before that...he wasn't quite sure. No explanation of the reason they were brought there had been made, and he'd also seen nothing of LaCroix. Yet, that didn't matter. At first he could feel LaCroix' pain, and then for the last several hours it had been Janette. They were both still alive, their bond being continually active. At least it had been until a half hour ago. Whatever they were doing, it had stopped. Janette was unconscious, sleeping off her injuries. LaCroix was awake, his anger overshadowing everything else. Abruptly he looked up, his eyes focusing immediately on the door on the other side of the room. Footsteps, he could hear footsteps. Concentrating he could not tell the number of them, but listening to the heartbeats he could. There were five. The door swung open, the five men entering. "LaCroix' son, his favorite child. You will be his death. Now, let's see what happens when you are present." This man knew more about them than most. Very few knew he was LaCroix' favorite, something he never really understood himself. Two of them approached him, stopping just out of reach on either side of him. They showed no fear, and held none. Their heart rates were completely calm despite his changed appearance. They clearly knew exactly what he was, what they were. A third approached him, and fired a weapon, a dart gun. The dart hit him in the shoulder, its contents quickly being released. In a matter of seconds he was numb and incapable of moving a single muscle. Seconds later he was unconscious. When he awoke, Nick found himself in the same position, but the room had changed. Across from him was no longer a heavy metal door, instead it was Janette. She wasn't awake, but the man that had spoken to him earlier was aware that he was. The effects of what he was given hadn't yet completely worn off, so as the man approached him he got a little dizzy, his vision not quite straight. Nothing was said, just a smile crossing the man's features, and then he turned to Janette. Once reaching her, he pulled her head up by the hair, her senses immediately going on the defensive. He laughed at her snarl. It was like the return of a childish fear, one now realizing how ridiculous it was. Once he'd been afraid of these creatures, but now he knew how weak they really were. "Since your pain doesn't seem to be enough for your creator, perhaps with the introduction of your brother it will be sufficient." Only then did she notice Nick was in the same room, his fear for her evident in their bond. They were going to use the intensity of his emotions to harm LaCroix, and unlike with her, it would work with Nick. When he felt her pain, it would be amplified ten times and then LaCroix would feel her pain not only from her, but Nick as well. As a knife was run down her arm she held firm. The wound didn't heal, and it barely even bled. She'd already lost most of her blood earlier, and now very little was left. It wouldn't be long before she lost consciousness, even though she had just woken. Her eyes met Nick's, and she kept contact with him, tuning out as much of the pain as she could, trying to reassure him that it would be all right, whatever happened. The man noticed the exchange, and turned his attention away from her. Walking up to Nick he held a simple blade to his throat forcing him back against the wall. The vampire burned in his eyes, their amber color threatening to darken. "You seem to control your actions well. Some may see it as a strength, especially as it is something your kind rarely has. I see it as a weakness, and besides, it means this will last longer." Turning away he pulled the blade up slicing his skin. It was a flesh wound, one just deep enough to bleed and bleed it did. He could feel his life's blood running down his chin, and down his bare back and chest. He kept the vampire under control, but just barely. "What do you hope to gain from this?!" The question was pondered, and as a smile appeared he heard, "Since you're all going to die I suppose I could tell you. As I'm sure you are aware, you three are the eldest living of your kind, the others having been killed by hunters, unforeseen viruses, and of course their own carelessness. You, your dear sister, and your creator are what holds your community together. You give it order, a government, something for the younger ones to look up to. Without you it would fall apart and self destruct. I wouldn't have to do a thing." He continued over to Janette, and stood with his back to him. After a moment another man approached handing something to him. For a second he wondered what it was, but when a jolt of electricity traveled through Janette's body, he knew it was a taser. Two more jolts and she was unconscious. ~~~~~~~~~~ Nick was startled by a sudden presence in the room. Kalvyal had returned, and she seemed to be watching him as he remembered. "Interesting. A mixture of sadness and longing. For a sister perhaps?" He stiffened at the accuracy of her senses. Her guesses were dead on. "Now you will not fight against my guards, if you do, you know the consequences." He held her gaze, nodding a moment later. With the device that was still on his neck he wouldn't have a chance. Her command would be followed, at least this time. The guard undid the restraints, and he quickly found himself walking down corridors, their destination not far. Entering the room, he instantly noticed Natalie wasn't there. Neither were the Counselor, or Commander Riker. Only the Captain and Worf remained. "Where have you taken the others?" "Back to the Enterprise. They are unharmed." She waited as he entered the room, and a second later two young children entered the room. They were both about eight or nine years old in appearance, and were each carrying a try of food. Walking into the room they stopped facing one another, and closing their eyes for a moment, a table grew out of the floor. Setting the trays down they quickly left, each acknowledging Kalvyal as they left. She too disappeared, and the room was once again silent. The next morning was the same as the last, and as he expected, Kalvyal arrived for him. This time there was a guard, but he only had one weapon, no tranquilizer gun was visible. He looked up to her, and didn't have to wait long. "You will accompany me, and you will not resist." A thought and two guards entered, neither grabbing a hold of him, and he figured he was expected to walk behind her as she left. They walked back to where they had been the day before, and again there was only a single chair. She asked him to sit, and although she didn't say he had to, he could still see the threat in her eyes. Nick held her gaze for a moment, and then did as she asked. Resisting would only cause him to lose energy, energy that he couldn't regain without blood. The guard, a warrior of some kind he figured by the sash and insignia he wore, restrained his ankles and upper arms as before. His left wrist was restrained as well, but his right hand was turned over first, and a restraint was placed on his palm. It split into two and went on either side of his thumb, effectively immobilizing his hand and holding his forearm upside down. "So, what's on the agenda today?" he asked her. "I would advise you not to make anymore remarks like that. I am not in the mood for games." Kalvyal nodded, and the warrior nodded back. He took a knife out of a sheath, and held it up to the light for a moment. After a moment he turned to Nick, and quickly cut his sleeve up to his elbow, leaving his forearm bare. Then, he ran the blade the length of Nick's arm without warning. Nick held firm against the pain, and the loss of blood as it dripped down his arm and to the floor. It bled for a few seconds, slowly stopped, and then began to heal. Most of the blood left on his arm was used in the repair of the wound. Two minutes later it was fully healed. The remaining blood was wiped away to reveal unblemished skin. Kalvyal looked pleased at his healing capabilities, and over the next hour he was sliced repeatedly on his forearm. Different angles, different lengths, different blades, and repeatedly he healed. True it got a little slower as each cut was made, but that was to be expected. Healing took energy, a lot of it, and that energy wasn't being replaced. The Tosquen warrior replaced his dagger, but this time didn't get another out. He turned to Kalvyal, and waited for her to dismiss him. Once she nodded, he returned her gesture and then left. Nick waited, wondering what would happen next, and another man, this time one of her guards first undid the restraint on his right wrist, then flipped it over and redid it. Clearly his session wasn't over, but then what was next? "So, what's the next test going to be?" he asked, smiling slightly, almost as if he seemed eager for it to come, something they both knew was false. She looked at him. He was young and foolish, but behind that he was much more. He was far from young. Measured in her years he was about three thousand years old. She was a mere twenty and knew she would die before she reached fifty. No Tosquen had ever passed fifty. A few reached it, but never lived past it. No, he definitely wasn't young. But foolish? She didn't really know. To her he seemed so, but so did the others. Even her own people seemed foolish in her eyes, but that's because they would not listen, and could not make up their minds. "You'll see," she told him in response to his question, which indeed he would. "Now, I want you to do exactly as I tell you. Open you mind, let me feel your emotions, and keep your eyes open as long as possible." A vision test of some kind, that's what was next he figured. But to open his mind to her, no, he couldn't do that. If he did, she might try to take him over. She was a telepath, and a powerful one at that. If she tried, even without the device she could probably flood him with pain, but to conserve her own energy she didn't. "I said open your mind. It will only take a moment and then you can put your barriers back up. It is only to monitor your emotions during the test. Open your mind to me!" The pain erupted in his mind at his refusal. "Now!" He dropped his barriers and the pain immediately ceased. He waited and as a surprise to him he could feel her mind, her pleasure as she watched him. The sensation remotely reminded him of the connection he had with Natalie. "Good, now, I'm going to raise the light levels, and monitor your minds reaction and your actions. When it gets too bright you may close your eyes, but not before." Nodding his head slightly, he waited. The lights in the room slowly began to get brighter and brighter, until eventually he had to close his eyes, but once he did he could still see the light beyond his eyelids and it hurt. For a few more seconds the light increased, but suddenly returned to normal. His mind was still open, and before he had replaced the barriers he usually kept in place, he realized the lights bothered the Tosquen as well. Not quite as much as they did himself, but they were clearly sensitive to the bright light. He could feel pain from Kalvyal and the other woman in the room, and as the lights returned to normal they both quickly recovered. "Now. The lights will be lowered to complete darkness and I want you to follow an object with your eyes. I will not tell you what the object looks like, or when or where it will appear. All you have to do is follow it, nothing more." The lights quickly lowered and he looked straight ahead as nothing seemed to be moving. Although she had said complete darkness, she was not quite right. There was still a small amount of light in the room, almost none, but enough to make everything crystal clear to him. He glanced up at her and could see she was as blind as a human would be in the darkness. Suddenly he saw something move in the corner of his eyes, and he followed it as he was asked. First it moved slow, then faster, then faster yet until he could barely keep up with it, whatever it was. It appeared to be an extension of the wall, but couldn't examine it any closer as it was still going faster and he was beginning to lose track of it. Then, moments later, it disappeared back into the wall and the lights came back up. For a moment they were both slightly disoriented, but only for a moment. "You have excellent vision, and excellent coordination Commander. You have done much better on these tests than I thought you would have." "What do you mean? Have others gone through this? What's all of this for anyway?" "You'll find out soon enough. Right now we all need to get our rest. I hope you will again calmly accompany me back." The other woman, a girl really, undid the restraints on his arms and ankles. As he stood up the room seemed to spin for a second, but then it returned to normal. He'd lost more blood than he thought he had. He followed Kalvyal back to the other room slowly, not wanting to expend too much more energy. She said nothing to him, although he was sure she noticed. How could she not have? Once back to the room, he sat down as soon as he could. Surprisingly, both her and one of the guards entered the room as well. A nod of her head and the man grabbed him by the arm pulling it out before he could react. With the other hand he pushed his cut sleeve up, and with a syringe drew a large vile of his blood. Then before he knew what was happening they were gone and it was just himself, the Captain and Worf. The sudden loss of even more of his blood made him lightheaded, and the Captain immediately asked if he was all right. "Yeah, I'll be fine," he weakly answered, while the two looked on. Worf watched with a glare. He didn't really care that the creature was all right. As far as he was concerned it could die, perhaps then they would release himself and Picard. Nick could see the hatred on the Klingon's features. He couldn't really blame him for what he believed. Yes, he believed that his race shouldn't even be allowed to exist, and in some ways was just like Rousseau. But he wouldn't really act on his opinion, especially not while he was in uniform. The Captain however, he genuinely cared when he asked, he could see that clearly. He didn't judge on what you were, but on what you did, who you were. But right now he didn't really care about Worf's opinion toward him, or the fact that the Captain was trying to help. Right now he needed only one thing--blood. Picard could see the hunger in his officer. It wasn't readily visible, not to most others, but he could see it, just as he had seen off and on for the past several weeks. He silently wondered how often he kept himself on the edge, either on purpose or through circumstances. He'd gotten used to starving himself, that much was clear, but he knew that even he would have a breaking point. He'd seen what Rousseau had done to him, and ever so slowly he was being drained of his energy by the Tosquen for unknown reasons. "Has she told you anything about what their objectives are?" "No, not really. I'm being tested for something though. Knowledge about what I am is not the only goal. She's also being more lenient." "Lenient? I don't see how they're being more lenient," Picard stated referring mostly to the blood drawn, and it was obvious that the tests were not that simple. He had been completely exhausted when he had returned, barely made it into the room by the look of it. Nick winced slightly. Okay lenient wasn't the best description to her tactics. "Well, perhaps not more lenient, but definitely less forceful." Picard's eyebrows rose, this sounding just as unbelievable as the other explanation. "She still expects to be obeyed, that hasn't changed, but she seems a little more understanding. The barriers around her own mind also seemed to have been dropped, at least partially. During one of the tests I felt her pain." This is definitely interesting. But how did this come about? "What tests were being done, and I want to specifically know about the one that caused such pain from her?" "The first one was basically to see how I healed. The second was more complex. The first part was to see how sensitive to light I am, and I discovered that it's not much more than the Tosquen. When the light raised so did her pain. I was able to feel it because my own mind was open. Perhaps it's because of how advanced her telepathic abilities are, but I can feel her like I do Natalie." He paused, considering his own words for a moment. "The other part was a combination of coordination and vision. I had to follow the movement of something in virtual darkness. At this I noticed the Tosquen are just as blind as humans are in the dark, she couldn't see a thing." Yes, interesting indeed. Behind their minds they were weaker than humans. He broke eye contact with his officer for a moment as he suppressed a yawn. He'd been awake for a long time, and from what he could tell they wouldn't be doing anything for a while. "Well, don't think on it too much. I don't know about you two, but I'm going to get some rest." With that he walked over to the other side of the room to one of the raised areas they had slept on before. "I think I will as well. At least as long as we can call a truce for the time being." Worf looked down slightly at the words. He wanted to say something in return, but couldn't think of anything that would sting him good enough. "Truce, for now." Worf then went to the far side of the room to lay down. Nick did the same, but on the other side of the room. Allies and Alliances - Part 7/9 ~~~~~~~~~~ He had been awake as Janette slept, and he stayed that way as long as he could. He eventually did fall asleep, and was jolted awake by the taser. He snarled at the man, but the other didn't waver, not a bit. Nick was securely chained to the wall, and couldn't move. "Good, just in time to say adios to your sister here." Nick looked across the room and met her eyes. She was awake, but had no energy left, barely enough to lift her head. The fear and pain was gone, now only acceptance existed. She knew what was going to happen, and was ready, but she could see he wasn't. Pain exploded in his shoulder, and looking down watched as the man's hand was twisted, agony ripping through his as his tissue was shredded. The blade was pulled free and he could see the dagger. It was Klingon, it's jagged edges the only weapon capable of causing what he now felt. Many years before he'd been stabbed with one, and that was bad enough on its own. Blood literally gushed out of the wound, the blood streaming down his chest mixing with the dry blood, a large quantity making a puddle on the ground. The loss made him lightheaded, but he quickly recovered. The wound was healing slowly, and taking with it energy he could use against his captor. The man could almost feel the creatures anger as he walked back over to the woman. She weakly hissed at him, and as he undid her restraints it went unnoticed. Janette fell to the ground, her body unable to support itself. Pulling her roughly up by her arms she hissed again, and was dragged into the center of the room, now merely ten meters from Nick. She fell to her knees and looking into his eyes a single ruby red tear was released. A stake had been retrieved, and there was nothing he could do. The man stood behind her, his eyed locked on her brother. One thrust and the wood had reached its destination, her scream of pain echoed by Nick. As she hit the ground, her body immediately going limp, Nick's manacles rattled. To the man's mild surprise Nick had managed to break free, the restraints snapping like broken rubber bands. He went to Janette, and then feeling her dead form in his hands turned his anger on his captor. He'd managed to stand before he felt a familiar sensation. As his own body went numb, he too fell, the last thing he saw being Janette's pale features. ~~~~~~~~~~ He gasped for breath as the intensity of the nightmare, the memory woke him. The others hadn't woken, and he silently attempted to fall back asleep, knowing the memories would continue. Perhaps once they had fully played out they would just stay memories. He began to doze off, and even before he had really fallen asleep it played out in his mind. ~~~~~~~~~~ When he awoke, the first thing he noticed was the absence of Janette. Then he noticed he'd been restrained once more, this time the manacles a little thicker than before, but not much. If he could build up his strength he figured he could probably get free. Finally looking up he could see LaCroix, the room being otherwise empty. It was the first time he could ever remember seeing fear in his father's features--one hundred percent, genuine, fear. Reaching out he could sense that the fear was for him. LaCroix was tired, and although it had been a couple of days since he had been in this room, he'd been worn down by his children's emotions, particularly his son's. As their captor entered the room their attention immediately turned to him. He calmly approached the center of the room, no fear, no concern of any kind apparent. "One down, two to go. Now which one will be next, the father or the son?" The man looked from LaCroix to Nick, and then back. He pulled out a blade, one he had used before, and turned his attention to the son. Approaching he stood slightly to the side, the blade held against his throat as it had been before. "Perhaps the son should be first, leaving the eldest for last." Turning to see the other he could see the anger in LaCroix, and the fear that he would lose a son. The man applied pressure, a steady trickle of blood let loose. Nick didn't react, barely even moving as the blade cut through tissue. Abruptly the knife was retracted, and the man left to the other side of the room. He approached LaCroix in the same manner. "Or maybe it should be you, to get a better reaction. Your son may be able to control his nature, but not his emotions." The blade sliced his skin, and he too avoided a reaction. Nick however couldn't stand it. His eyes burned golden, a slight growl emanating from his chest. The man smiled, his decision being made, "It will be the father." The blade dug deeper then was pulled out, extending the wound a couple more inches. Another second and it was deep in his shoulder, the suddenness of the action causing more pain than if it had been expected. As the blade was retracted, blood ran down his chest. The wound itself wasn't healing, the last few days having taken their toll. The ancient vampire snarled, his teeth extended fully, his eyes glowing scarlet. The man jumped back a couple of inches, the action not anticipated, but he quickly recovered. In fact he seemed to enjoy the anger, and when the snarl stopped he smiled and repeated the action in his other shoulder, but no reaction was received this time. Taking the blade in his hands, he walked over to a table in the corner of the room, on it several items. The taser was there, along with another blade, a crossbow, a stake, and a phaser. He picked up something small, and when he turned around Nick could see it reflect in the light. It was the Klingon dagger that had been used before, and the man approached LaCroix with it. Nick felt something on the edge of his senses, something he hadn't felt for over a week. Natalie. She was near, very near. He tried to warn her away, but the presence continued to strengthen. When the dagger was plunged into his creator's chest, nothing else existed. After a moment the sensation seemed shielded, as if LaCroix was shutting down their link. Another second and he realized that's exactly what was happening. It didn't completely disappear, and because of their close relationship and age he hadn't expected it to. Natalie had gotten much closer, almost feeling as if she was in the same room with him, but not quite, just a little beyond. He allowed his other senses to expand, and with them could tell it was fairly close to sunrise. Perhaps ten, maybe fifteen minutes were left before the sun overflowed the horizon. The room's windows were all covered, painted over hastily with black paint, and they were both on the other side of the room. He looked over at the restraints. They were new, had been replaced when he broken the other ones. Although they were newer, the shiny metal never having been used, they somehow seemed weaker, or perhaps he just had more strength. Before he'd been weak, and since he'd woken the focus had been on LaCroix with only a couple of glances in his direction. The man seemed to take his actions as discomfort, and seemed pleased as he kept his attention on LaCroix, the wounds created would be severe on a mortal, but in his condition it was more than the normal inconvenience it would be for them. Nick pulled on the chains, then not making much progress tried sliding the manacle more onto his hand. Once there, he pulled and stretched his hand, trying to make the metal do the same. It was working, just barely...he could feel the metal stretching. Despite all of the knowledge their captor had about vampires, apparently he didn't know one thing. Titanium was the only metal that could hold them. When they were at full strength even LaCroix wouldn't be able to break through that. But the manacles weren't titanium. It was strong, but not strong enough. Once the first was getting a little looser, he turned his attention to the other, and just as it was starting to stretch a crash sounded from the other side of the room. One of the windows had been broken, and a figure cloaked in black had entered the room. From under the cloak a phaser was fired, and within seconds half of those in the room were down. Nick took his chance and broke free, a couple of bones in his hands breaking, but at least he was free. About that time the dark figure had approached him, and he now knew it was Natalie. He had fallen to the ground when the manacles snapped, and she helped him up. Abruptly he felt agony from LaCroix and looking over could see the tip of a bolt protruding from his chest. The man smiled, and began to reload the crossbow. Nick attempted to go to his father, but Natalie pulled him away. LaCroix was still alive, and if he could get to him he would live. Now the link was shutting down, but not before he was told to leave. Natalie pulled harder, and wrapping the cloak around him they disappeared through the window, dawn just beginning. They kept going until they were several buildings away and had reached an area that would protect them for at least a little while. Only seconds passed before pure agony ripped through him. It felt as if he was being torn to shreds from the inside out. Everything that was LaCroix however didn't merely cease. It felt as if his power was somehow being transferred to him, causing even more pain. Yet it was more than that, it was LaCroix' and several others'. Suddenly it stopped, and nothing remained. His link with LaCroix was gone, one that he had continuously felt since his creation. As he fell to the ground, blood tears flowing down his face, Natalie caught him and held him. Moments later he was falling into a deep sleep, the last several days and now LaCroix' death too much for him. ~~~~~~~~~~ They were all startled awake when two guards entered the room. Two servants followed them placing two trays of food down, a table forming as they did so. The two girls left, their eyes downcast as they passed Kalvyal. She entered the room and nodded to the guard nearest Nick. Nick hadn't yet stood up; in fact he had barely sat up and was still waking. The guard took Nick's arm, and pulling something out administered something. The guard didn't say what it was, and Nick didn't know what it was right away either. After pulling his arm back he could feel something taking affect, but it wasn't a sedative. It seemed quite the opposite as it ran through his system. As it spread he could feel his body absorbing it, and after a second he closed his eyes, not from pain, but quite the opposite. Once it had been completely absorbed by his system, and he could feel only a little bit of activity he opened his eyes and looked directly at Kalvyal. Both of the guards backed off when they saw his golden eyes, flecks of crimson still dissipating. Even Kalvyal reacted to the change. "What did you give me!?" he demanded, fully aware of his changed state, but unable to change back because of the substance in his system. "As the others need nourishment to survive, so do you." After a second he realized what he had been given. "You used my blood to create something to replace my lost energy, a substitute for my normal diet." "Yes." Her statement was firm and unemotional. She exited the room, and told him, "Come with me." He almost didn't, but wanting to find out her purpose behind her actions followed. As soon as they were out the door he asked, "Why?" Kalvyal looked to him, and then straight ahead again. "You will find out in just a minute ‘why,' as well as many other answers to your questions." She picked up her pace, but still managed to walk gracefully. He matched her easily, and wanted to say more, but it had been made clear that he would have to wait a least a little longer. Entering the room, he could see it had changed slightly. There were no chairs, nothing other than the panel along the wall. Stopping in the center of the room she turned and nodded to a guard at the door. The man approached, and waited for a command, he was not told what would occur, and had no telepathic abilities. "Remove the device on the Commander's neck," she commanded, and he did so quickly, and then left the room. Once the room was silent, she told him, "You are probably wondering why we brought you here." She could see him anticipate her explanation, and continued, "The Tosqua have been traveling for thousands of years, about twenty thousand of our home planet's years. That's approximately eight thousand Earth years. Every one hundred and fifty of our years it is decided who among our people will be in power. The Tosqua are divided into two groups, the telepaths, which is the Tosquen, and the warriors, the Tosquel. We each have our own civilian classes, scientists, and so forth." He had seen a few of them, and realized the man he'd seen the day before must have been a warrior, but wasn't he Tosquen? "But I saw one of your warriors before, do you all live on this ship?" "No, we have separate ships. The warrior you saw is one of the few that we still have among us. The Tosquel also have a small number of telepaths. For almost the last two millennia they have been in control, and they have created an elitist group within themselves, allowing the lower classes to suffer. Those in control force them to fight to the death, or experience intense torture also ending in death for their own pleasure, killing without thought for the lives they could lead." To him the information was interesting, and he wanted to know more, but she was going somewhere with it. "What does this have to do with me and the others?" "To decide the power, a...fight is held, and those on the winner's side are the new leaders. We have few warriors. When this was started each side had the same numbers of warriors and telepaths. We grew apart, and we are now no match for them." He had a feeling where she was going with this, and stated, "So you need someone that could act as a warrior on your side. Someone that would be a match for them." "Yes," she said hesitantly, slight embarrassment showing, and paused for a moment. Kalvyal then went on to explain how this happened, and more of their history getting into some of the details only faintly. Once done, she finally asked, "Would you be willing to do this? As I said before, we will not force you to do this, and we apologize for the force we have already used." Nick stood still as he thought. Yes, he would help them, but only if the Captain allowed it. He would first have to explain the situation, and even then it would be hard to convince, but he had to try. For some reason he had to help them. Her descriptions of those on the Tosquel's ship being tortured reminded him too much of how both Janette and LaCroix had died, how he nearly died. She seemed to think he could help them, and made it clear that she wasn't the only one who thought so. He had listened to the demands of the Tosquel, demands that were being held back because of the situation he was now involved in. If they weren't able to defeat the Tosquel, the Tosquen were to be changed to a slave class within the Tosquen, their telepathic abilities and technology to be exploited, those like Kalvyal who's telepathy was stronger to be eliminated because of their strength. He allowed his eyes to met hers, now seeming softer than before. "I have to speak with the Captain before answering, and he should be the one standing here not me. I do not have the highest decision." She would have to wait for an answer, not something she really wanted to do, but if she had to would. Kalvyal nodded, and she left the room, turning back the way they had come. Nick followed without being asked, knowing where she was going. He had allowed his barriers to drop just enough that he could feel her fear. Fear that the Captain's answer would be negative, which put more weight in his decision to help if he could. If she was this afraid, it had to be very important to both her and her people. *+.*+.*+.*+.*+. "He is a danger to us! He will work against us!" Worf argued to the Captain. Picard sighed. He was getting a little tired of the topic, and hoped they would return soon if for no other reason than to go ahead and get the matter solved. "No, he is not. He is just as much a prisoner here as we are, perhaps more so since they singled him out." "They singled him out because he is like them! Dishonorable..." he cut off as the wall disappeared and Nick entered. His features told he knew the topic and what was just said. Kalvyal disappeared along with the opening, the others seeing only a flit of black as she left. "So, commander, have you found anything out?" Picard asked, expecting an outright negative answer. "Actually, yes, I have. She explained a lot. Mostly about why they brought us here, or at least the underlying cause behind it." "See, he is working with them!" "Lieutenant! You may have already set your opinion, but I want to hear this explanation." he waited a second for Worf to back off a little more, then turned back to Nick. "Well, first of all the Tosquen are part of a larger race, the Tosqua. The Tosquen and the Tosquel are the two groups that make up the Tosqua. The Tosquel are warriors, and are presently in power and have been for a while. They have created an elite class and are allowing their lower classes to starve, or fight to the death for their own pleasure. The Tosquen wish to end it, but without being in power have no influence in Tosquel matters. Power is decided through a kind of contest, one in which the Tosquel and Tosquen each choose their best warrior." "And the Tosquen aren't warriors, they appear to be telepaths." "Correct. The Tosquen haven't been able to win the contest for nearly two thousand of their years. The last two times the question of power has come up they didn't even have a candidate. As a result, the warrior class won by default. They have been looking for someone to represent them for the past two years, and have run out of time. Only three days are left before the default." "Kalvyal's asked you to be their contestant," Picard stated. "Yes, but I haven't answered yet. They have become desperate, and that is why she resorted to force to bring us here. Originally they were just going to ask, but then they changed their plan and were going to just take one of us. That didn't work though because they didn't have enough information on me, so they brought the whole ship here." "Where are they from? I've never seen a race progress like this. Never seen this type of technology, or this kind of political system." "I'm not completely sure, but from what I understand they're from a different galaxy at the least, perhaps another universe. They've been traveling a long time, and have had several problems since they started. Even they don't really know where they are. They just keep on traveling." Picard listened and the more he heard, the more everything made sense. The questions, and actions were understandable, he'd seen other cultures do more for a lesser goal. "What would this mean if you did it?" "Captain, you can't be seriously thinking of letting him do this," Worf interjected at the calm Picard was showing against the information. Picard looked to Worf. He was right, at least at his apparent quick decision, but it just seemed right. "Yes, I am. Commander?" "It means I would have to learn more about the proceedings, and obey their rules as far as the contest went. I would also have to make up my mind today, so they can submit my name to the Tosquel. As it turns out most of the questions and the tests were to create a file on me that will have to be sent to the Tosquel by the day's end. The only way they would have enough time so they wouldn't miss the deadline was to do it without permission. Otherwise the probability of failure was just too high." Picard listened, and waited. This was very unusual circumstances, and they were supposed to be on Starbase eighty-six the day before. As far as Starfleet knew, the Enterprise had gone missing several days before without warning and hadn't been heard from since. Starfleet Command was surely concerned, and would have to be notified of all that had happened. Everything would have to be explained, and most likely they would want a full explanation of not only what their involvement would be, but also exactly what it will entail. "Are you completely sure you want to do this?" he asked already knowing the answer would be a nod. After receiving it, he continued, "You know, Starfleet will have to be notified, preferably before you accept, but if it means anything I'll support you, and then we can only hope they will support my judgment. It would also help if we could talk to Admiral Krenshaw first, and have her talk it over with command. It would go over smoother that way. Also, this might mean exposing who you really are...at least to Starfleet Command. How far that knowledge will spread, I don't know. If they ask to see a recording, or even hear one you will be identified for who you really are. The Tosquen know you as the eldest of your race, and I'm sure that will be in the information passed to the Tosquel and you will be identified with that information." Nick nodded again, and was about to comment, but Kalvyal entered the room. She stood and waited for a moment, then turned not to Nick, but Picard. "Will it be allowed?" Her question had an almost pleading tone to it, something that was new to him. "I'll allow it, but we need to speak with our command about this. They will want to know about both this and the fact that the Enterprise did not reach its destination on time." "Of course. Follow me." She turned to leave, and Nick and the Captain did as she instructed. Worf attempted to as well, but two of her guards stopped him, and the wall again appeared. "He will be taken back to your ship," she told them anticipating the question. "Now, follow me." She started walking down the hall, and following they were eventually led to a large room, one that looked something like the Enterprises bridge but not quite. Most of the controls were in a semi- circle, with several more along the back wall. The command chair was filled with a young man before they entered, and Kalvyal took his place. She spoke softly, but was clearly understood. Her words were not translated as most of everything else had been. The woman said something back, again not translated, and she nodded. "We have found Admiral Krenshaw, and we may initiate conversation whenever you wish." They were both taken slightly aback by their ability to find her, but now wasn't the time for that. "Now would be a good time," he commented, and she nodded, the United Federation of Planets seal flashed, then a security seal, finally the Admiral's face appearing. Surprise was evident, and she asked, "What happened? Starfleet's been trying to contact you for the past several days and can't get a thing. You were supposed to arrive on Starbase eighty six yesterday." "Yes, I know. We are a little hung up at the moment. It'll be several more days before we can reach Starbase eighty six." "Why didn't you contact us?" "Well, we were detained, and...." "Admiral, I'm afraid the reason the Enterprise was detained was because of my people, under my orders." The admiral turned to the young woman, looking faintly like a Romulan, but not quite. She had long hair, her dress was different, and her skin nearly pure white. The woman looked barely out of childhood, and it seemed unlikely she could be the reason for the delay. "And you are?" "Kalvyal, the leader of the Tosquen. You have never heard of us, mainly because we are just passing through your area of the galaxy." "You said you are the reason the Enterprise was detained? Why would you have reason to detain them?" "We are normally a peaceful race, one within another race which is presently being dominated. We have the chance to end it, but only with outside help. A warrior is needed as a contestant in our elections, if you can call them that. We've been dominated for two of our millennia, and if we don't win this time, we will become slaves. One of your officers has agreed to help us, but his commanding officer believed we needed to speak to someone in command." "Well, you came to the right place. May I ask who this officer is?" Nick knew the question was coming up, and quickly answered, "That would be me, Cmdr. Nicholas Chevalier." Her focus turned to him, and she seemed slightly surprised. She'd seen pictures of this officer, one that had a fairly high post on the Enterprise, and was spoken highly of by his captain. He was also a vampire, one who was about two hundred and fifty according to his file. Looking at him she could see things that his picture didn't show. He was paler than his picture, but his eyes also spoke of age, much more than his file spoke of. He'd seen a lot. Meeting him eye to eye she asked, "What is your reason for this offer?" "The Tosquel torture their own people, and are going to start on the Tosquen soon. It's something I've seen happen before, and have been either unable, or unwilling to stop. This time I can do something about it, and will if allowed." "What will it involve?" "He will participate in several tests, mostly physical, that is once he is cleared. He is not Tosqua, and must be relatively similar to us. If there is an advantage, there must also be a corresponding disadvantage." "I will speak with the others, but it will have to be monitored, you know that. Cmdr., Captain, I will be in contact with you soon. You will be on the Enterprise?" They both looked to Kalvyal and she nodded. "Good. I want a full explanation of this later as well, and I would like to join you there. Currently I am on Starbase eighty six, it would only take me a little over a day to reach the position you are transmitting from." A nod of understanding and the seal reappeared, eventually becoming blank and then was turned off. "I assume you wish to return to your ship now?" Kalvyal asked as she stood up, and allowed the young man to sit. The Captain nodded, and told her, "Yes, and both of us will return. You may accompany us if you wish." "Not now. I need to make a few preparations for the next few days and speak with the Tosquel. Later a file containing the rules and traditions of proceedings will be sent, and will be translated. We have been working on it, but it is difficult to translate our written languages, there are just too many differences. Although, I would like to spend a couple of days aboard your ship to see first hand the difference in technology. I guess you could say I'm curious. If it would be an inconvenience, I won't impose." "No, just contact the ship, and ask for me. Then we'll arrange for your visit. I'll assume you'll be wanting quarters?" She shook her head in the affirmative, and led them from the room. "Your transporters can not penetrate our ship, so we'll transport you back. Where would you like to go?" That he had to think about for a moment. The transporter room would be logical, but did they know where it was? He told them, and within a couple of minutes they knew where the transporter room was. Picard contacted Riker, and kept the message as short as possible, telling his officer that all they knew would be explained once he was back on board. Allies and Alliances - Part 8/9 The Tosquen's technology felt different from their transporter beam. It made them both slightly lightheaded and a strong tingling sensation persisted. Riker was waiting for them, and asked, "What's going on? We just got word that Admiral Krenshaw will be arriving early tomorrow afternoon, and Worf said something about Chevalier agreeing to some kind of contest, and that you were going along with it." He addressed Picard most of the time, except for a glance to Nick, one that showed mistrust. "Yes, the Admiral will be coming aboard, and she is speaking with command about this. The reason for our holding was because of their desperation, something that is now easily visible in Kalvyal. In fact, everything since we were on Ryla 5 has been a hologram, everything except deep space four." "What about this contest?" "It's their way of holding elections. The Tosquen and the Tosquel hold one every century and a half. Whichever side wins, is in control of both governments until the next one. Right now one race, the Tosquen are about to become slaves if they don't win. That's why they've searched out a candidate, one that would stand a chance." "And they picked you?" he guessed, nearly glaring at Chevalier, the distrust still present. "Why?" "I guess they figured that with what I am, and some of the similarities between them and me, that I would give them a chance." "Yeah, I get that. What I want to know is exactly why you're doing this? It's not like it's something one just automatically decides to do. What do we know about them, their race?" He'd already explained it once, and now he had to again. Now he'd had a little more time to think of exactly why, but his reasons hadn't changed much. If anything, they became a little more complex. "I'm doing this because I can actually change something. It's not something I get the chance to do very often, and then I haven't always done anything. You get to spend your whole life working toward any goal you want. I have limits on those choices. Sometimes I don't have a choice, and other times what I am prevents me from acting. They have asked me because of what I am, because I have the ability to help them, and that's why I've accepted. I feel that I can trust her, so despite our limited knowledge about them, I'll help." Riker still wasn't sure, and was going to ask more, but was interrupted. "Riker, I'll explain everything in a little more detail. Right now I think Chevalier would like to go to his quarters, but I will be in contact." It was partially a suggestion, and partially an order, but one he would gladly accept. He could feel Nat waiting for him, and quickly nodding he left, leaving Picard to the explanations. As he approached his quarters, he could feel not one presence, but two. Tracy. He hadn't spoken with her much, not even about their first meeting and the events that followed. Now that seemed like months ago, and he had a new situation that was surely going to need an explanation. Entering the room he was engulfed by Natalie's arms, and quickly sat down, a glass of blood immediately in his hands. Within seconds he was already answering questions, and setting the glass aside he answered them. He told them everything Kalvyal had told him, leaving nothing out. They listened, having few questions. Once he had finished, an eerie silence intruded. It continued as he finally took a sip out of his glass, and was broken as Tracy pointed out, "What if command wants a recording? It would reveal exactly who you are to both the Community and the Federation." From their expressions, she could see they both realized this, but she still waited for a comment. That was one thing he didn't like about this. If he was found out, himself and anyone around him would be a target. A target for assassination, one that would eventually lead to the destruction of the Community. It might take a couple of years, perhaps decades, or even a century, but it would come. He didn't know of any others that were near his age. To even reach Nat and Tracy's age was now rare. With the advancement of space travel some had become too careless, their amazement causing their guard to drop. On some worlds they couldn't live on unless they were completely enclosed, the sun's light reflecting off of the moon strong enough to kill them in seconds. Others had races that could pick them out, see that they were different. When the differences were discovered many times no explanation was allowed, and they were hunted as they had been in the past, but this time there were new twists. The Community had nearly been wiped out with the onset of space travel, and was only now beginning to be rebuilt. It was filled with young fledglings, ones who were either strays as Janette would have classified them or whose masters were fledglings themselves, most less than a century in age. The Community would fall apart without order. LaCroix had known that and that was why he spent so much time working to put it back together. With his father's death, he was now the eldest, and he remembered when he hadn't done his job at first. ~~~~~~~~~~ Natalie entered their apartment in New York City loudly, and exclaimed, "Nick, we've got a problem. Security all over the city has increased. There were several drained bodies found, about a half dozen I think. Starfleet is going through all of the bios of those living in the city. They're searching for our kind. We've got to get out before they find our files. They're Starfleet and will be among the first to be searched." She finally entered the bedroom, where she found Nick already packing. "Yeah I know. I heard the announcement for it. I've arranged for a place to stay in Vancouver, but it's only temporary, a few days, a week at the most. We have two hours before we need to leave." She nodded and quickly began packing her own things. It had merely been three months since LaCroix and Janette's deaths, and they'd only been in New York City for a little more than two months, the first month she had spent trying to get Nick back to normal. The curare he'd been given, and the emotions he'd received from LaCroix had overwhelmed him. Their files were extremely bare, about the only information on them being their names and pictures, where they were living, and where they worked. They would be immediately spotted for what they were, and the bad thing was the pictures were accurate. Yet, at least their names would be safe. This time they'd used completely different names. They hadn't been used before, and wouldn't be anytime in the near future. A week and a half later they had just started their new lives in Moscow, and two more weeks and everything had almost returned to normal. When she returned home one day, Natalie found Nick with another, one she had meet before. He sometimes had helped Nick with LaCroix' tasks. His name was Dimitri, and he had seemed to bond with Nick slightly, possibly because of becoming an orphan shortly after being brought across. They were talking about what had happened in New York, and she silently entered the room. "The killings aren't stopping, merely slowing down waiting for a response. The Community knows something's going on, just not what. They are testing the elder, seeing if they're still being watched. Chaos has begun, and unless it's stopped soon it will be our destruction and you know it." Nick seemed to agree, and told him, "I know, I know, I need to take over the Community before it self-destructs. Yet, I don't have the authority LaCroix had. I don't have the reputation needed to be our leader." "You don't have to. You aren't known to the others, and neither was LaCroix or Janette. You have all kept your real identities hidden from the Community. All of his orders went either through Gerald, or to you then me, and as you know Gerald is gone." He paused as Nick winced. He remembered, all right. About the last thing he remembered before passing out when they were originally taken was seeing the other die, and then wondering if he would wake up. "The point is the Community doesn't know any of you, and you don't really have, or need a reputation. As long as you keep order, make it clear the results of disobeying our laws, most won't have a clue there was even a change in leadership." It would work, he knew that. Under a similar situation to the present one LaCroix had taken the place of previous Elder, and now he was taking his. But he couldn't just change everything to the way he wanted it. A radical change would alert the others that something was wrong. He would have to follow LaCroix' laws, and uphold them before implicating any of his own. That meant those involved in the killings would be executed. If not, a lapse of control would be seen, a weakness, and things would get worse, not better. "And I guess you'll again be messenger, if you don't mind that is." "I'm used to it. I've helped you for the past several decades, I'm not going to back out when I'm needed the most. Besides, if I left you would most likely be discovered by your presence. It's hard to hide all of the power you have. Yours plus the others'. LaCroix and Janette may be gone, but I can still feel their presence in and around you." The last line struck him. Natalie had said the same thing to him a couple of days ago. He didn't really seem any different, but others seemed to notice. Yet the other difficulty he didn't think would be a problem, he had a plan for that. "Actually it probably wouldn't be a problem. I've taken some time to finally learn how to shield my mind." Dimitri appeared slightly confused, and he continued, "Something that was either not learned or not taught to most that are still here. I have to confess that I wasn't a good learner, and put it off until about forty years ago." He again paused, this time trying to figure out what his next action would be. There really wasn't a choice. Their laws had to be enforced and he couldn't abruptly change the punishment. "Well, I believe we all know what the punishment is, one that will be carried out. Have it done before sunrise tomorrow." Nick stood up, the others following soon after. Dimitri nodded, and as he left told him, "I'll speak with you again soon." Silence surrounded them for a moment, one that held too much tension. "I know what you thought of LaCroix' version of the code. It is harsh, but you have to admit it worked. Now you can start changing it, but that might be hard. They are used to it, and the enforcers seem to be enjoying it as well." He nodded and bowed his head. After a moment Natalie left him to think, knowing their lives had just become a little more complicated. He could almost feel a headache coming on, something he hadn't felt in a long time. It would disappear with the first taste of blood, he knew, but right now he would endure it. The Community now had a new leader, a new elder and they didn't even know it, but at least it would keep order. ~~~~~~~~~~ Their stay in Moscow hadn't been very long, barely a year before they moved once again. LaCroix' rules had stayed in place for nearly two months until everything had died down, then he had made a few changes. They were made more lenient, but still strong enough to demand obedience. That's when they moved to Paris, their records more complete than ever. He cleared his thoughts when he heard Tracy repeat her comment. He'd already planned an answer, and retrieving it told her, "I know. It could mean being hunted, in one form or another it doesn't matter which. One of the Admirals is coming here, perhaps her news will not include the requirement of recording." They agreed, and now the day was nearly over. Tracy returned to her quarters, and within moments he was asleep, the day nearly being too much for him. *+.*+.*+.*+.*+. Morning had come sooner than wanted, and by the time Nick and Natalie were up and dressed, Kalvyal had already come aboard and was nearly done with a tour of the ship. Once finished he met her in the Captain's office, where he was given a list of the rules of the contest, and updated on the Admiral's visit. No word had yet been heard of command's decision, and was assumed to be allowed. He quickly read through the file, thankful that it was in a language he could easily understand. It was pretty simple once he got through it. As it turned out he'd already completed several parts of it. The tests he had received were parts, and as it turned out translating their language, at least to work the computer on Ryla 5 was one of those parts. All that was left was a physical contest, where he and the chosen Tosquel Warrior would compete in several different unannounced tasks, or it could only be one. That wouldn't be known until the day after the next. That night the contest would begin and not stop until it was over. It could last either a part of an hour, or several hours. The other requirements were specified garments, which were shortly thereafter given to him, a weapon, and the accompaniment of two others. One was to be a boy, the other a warrior. They themselves were required to do nothing other than be present, and their place was one more of honor than anything else. Now he just had to find two people who fit the requirements, the weapon he would worry about later. He was on his way back to his quarters to tell Natalie when he realized two things. First of all she wasn't going to be there, and second he knew who the boy could be. His next destination was sickbay, and once he arrived he spoke with both Nat and Dr. Crusher. He explained everything, and asked if her son would be allowed to participate. At first she was against it, but eventually she agreed. He left them to their work, and asked the boy if he'd be willing to take part. Wesley was, and that was quickly decided. Now it was a matter of finding a warrior. The only real warrior he knew of was Worf, but didn't know how that would go. But he would try. Worf might accept, and if he did perhaps they wouldn't be at odds anymore. It was midday, and he would probably be on break. Asking the computer for his location and discovering the Klingon was in Ten- Forward, he quickly proceeded there. Worf was sitting alone at a table, apparently just finished with his meal. Approaching, Nick could see him tense. He stopped just before reaching the table, and asked if he could sit. Worf nodded slowly, and waited for Nick to speak. "I wanted to ask you if you would like to participate in the proceedings." Worf almost stood up, but Nick called for him to wait. He stopped, and again waited. "This is not a way to dishonor you, in fact it is considered a position of honor. You don't have to do much, and only if you want to. This is just a request." Worf thought for a moment, and clenched his jaw slightly. He hadn't expected anything like this from the creature before him, and there was no reason for him to make such a request to him. They weren't exactly getting along, but perhaps this one was different. He would think more on it, and find out precisely what was involved. "I'll think about it. You will hear my decision by the end of tomorrow." He quickly stood and left, leaving Nick at the table. At least his answer wasn't straight out negative. Worf just might agree. Checking the time he got up and left. He was supposed to be with Kalvyal, Riker, and Picard when Admiral Krenshaw arrived, and that was in about ten minutes. Kalvyal had to return to her ship, and would do so just after the admiral arrived. Entering the transporter room, he found Riker waiting, and he became tenser when he entered. It soon disappeared as Picard and Kalvyal entered, and within moments they were informed Admiral Krenshaw was ready to transport over from the U.S.S. Parson. She was being dropped off, and later she would return on the Enterprise. She transported over alone, and immediately introduced herself even though in a way they had all met, either in person or by way of their last communication. Her hair was long and pulled up into a bun, its color slightly graying, but originally a strawberry blonde. She was of average height, and appeared to be just a little younger than Picard, or perhaps about the same age. Picard introduced everyone as well, and her attention first focused on Kalvyal. "I heard you will be returning to your ship for preparations. I suppose I will see you for dinner then?" She nodded, and lightly touching something on her wrist she disappeared in a white mist. Surprise at the technology showed in her eyes for a second, and then they locked on Nick. "I've heard a lot about you, Commander. It seems you have made quite an impression on your Captain." Nick stood silent, thankful for the moment that he couldn't blush. He knew Picard thought of him highly, and it seemed he was right when he mentioned she did as well. He didn't like the attention, but would have to put up with it for at least the next several days. "Starfleet Command has agreed to your involvement, and the only requirement is that myself and your Captain be present." They returned to the bridge, and all but Riker continued to the Captain's ready room. She read through the rules, and listened to their interpretation. Concern faintly registered when Nick mentioned whom the boy would be and that he hadn't gotten confirmation from Worf, but seemed satisfied otherwise. Soon it was time for dinner, and it too went smoothly. It was a little bit of a surprise, as Kalvyal had several dishes prepared and brought over, but wasn't a problem. Nick and Natalie didn't really eat or drink anything, and the Admiral spent most of her time talking to both them and the Captain, tasting different dishes in between topics. She'd asked about what it was like for him when he grew up, and he skirted around the subject as best he could, being vague and eventually telling her he would rather not talk about it. In two days she would know why he didn't answer, and would also discover something new about him. He had debated telling her before she found out, but ended up deciding it would be easier to explain everything later. *+.*+.*+.*+.*+. Night came and went, and the next day he found himself in one of the holodecks trying to figure out what weapon he would use. He was trying different swords, a weapon he was at least at one time familiar with, but compared to the ones he had been shown that morning that his opponent might have they would be useless. Most of the weapons had at least two blades and they were much sharper. His present terrain was a dark wood, and his opponents were being beat not by the sword, but by his strength, something he would not be able to do the next day. If he did, he would either break the rules, or lose. The blades kept snapping from the force, and he was going to do a little more searching once he finished this level. Suddenly a sound came from behind him, and he was easily able to deflect the blow although a large notch appeared on the edge of the blade. His opponent was not what he expected though as it was not the creature he'd been hunting, but Worf. He let his guard down slightly, but a second later was slicing the creature behind him nearly in two. It fell to the ground and disappeared. "Computer, end program." The room returned to normal, and the sword disappeared along with everything else. Worf seemed to wait a moment, his mind still not sure of his decision, then told him, "I accept your offer. In return, I offer the use of my weapon." Nick then noticed the weapon Worf held in his hands, the same one he had deflected about a minute before. It was a Bat'leth and compared slightly to some of the Tosquel's weapons, but he'd only held one on a couple of occasions, and had never actually used one. "I can't accept that, I'll just need to find something that will work. Besides, I don't know how to use a Bat'leth." The argument didn't work, and he found the Bat'leth being thrown toward him. He caught it easily and correctly, which surprised himself. "You do know how to hold it though, and very well I might add. "Computer, start program Worf 5, and give me a Bat'leth. Double the number of opponents." The computer instantly complied, and they found themselves in what appeared to be a fighting hall on the Klingon homeworld. Nick didn't have time to comment as two Klingon Warriors appeared before them, and they were immediately under attack. At first the weapon was awkward, it twisted around slightly in his grip when pressure was applied from the other's weapon. He noticed how his opponent solved that and copied it, but was nearly defeated in the process. Worf killed his opponent, and seconds later Nick did as well. Two others quickly replaced them, this time the pace slightly faster. Again they were defeated, each move giving him a better handle on the weapon. They played six levels, the last having two opponents each, and the speed with which they acted was quick. Worf paused the program, and the next thing he knew Worf's Bat'leth was coming down at him. Several minutes later they found themselves fairly evenly matched. With a split second move Nick used the end of the blade to catch on Worf's, and then a hint of his strength to tear it out of his grip. It went flying, and Nick's blade was instantly centimeters from Worf's throat. Lowering the weapon, he took a couple of steps and after the Klingon ended the program he handed it back. "You know how to use a Bat'leth. Perhaps not by practice, but by instinct. You were raised a warrior, and your species are powerful. The combination of experience and ability allows you to learn any weapon. You may use my Bat'leth in the contest tomorrow." Worf attempted to hand the blade back, but Nick refused, telling him to hang onto it, and excusing himself. He may have figured out how to use it, but he was now going to have to rest for a while. The Bat'leth used some muscles that were rarely used, and/or were used differently than other weapons. His muscles ached, and from that along with the exertion he needed a drink. Perhaps the next day he would try that again, but with his own program. He'd only been back in his quarters long enough to tell Natalie what happened, and to get enough blood to almost make him feel normal when the door rang. He manually answered it, and found Kalvyal and a young boy waiting. He gestured for them to enter, and doing so they sat down on the couch. "What can I do for you?" The boy looked to be about eight and was carrying a pile of black clothing. Kalvyal muttered something to him, perhaps to keep him quiet or still he wasn't sure. "Have the two you selected to accompany you been chosen and do they agree?" "Yes. Do you need to meet with them?" She silently nodded, and telling her he would be right back he entered the other room. He quickly contacted both of them, and the Captain so he would know as well. Neither was busy at the moment and he asked each of them to come to his quarters. Returning he told her, "They'll be here in a few minutes." Receiving another nod they quietly waited for them to arrive, and about two minutes later they did. They had both made it at the same time, and silently entered and sat across from Kalvyal. They were told about the next day, and that they would be gone from the morning on. First they would be shown the Tosquel ship, a large lunch was to be held, and then they would rest until that night. They would have to remain on the ship the entire time, and could have no contact with the others from the Enterprise. Both Worf and Wesley received clothing that they would wear the entire day, and Worf was told he could where any insignia or medals he had won. After a short pause she told them to meet in their transporter room at 08:00 hours the next morning. The two quietly stood, and directing a slight bow to all present they left leaving a strange feeling in the room. Everyone seemed to turn to Nick, almost as if he should be able to explain it, but he just shrugged slightly. "She doesn't seem to talk much, besides she seems preoccupied." He spaced off faintly for a moment, wondering if his observation was just that, or if he was sensing something from her. Nick looked at the others, Nat and the boy just curious as to his comment, Worf's expression indicated that he still didn't trust him. True he had accepted the honor, but trust was another matter entirely. They both left, and once again he and Natalie were left alone. Nick stood and starred at the door a while, his true tiredness finally coming to the surface. "Come on Nick, let's go to bed. I don't think you've realized it, but it's nearly midnight. You've been up all day in the holodeck." He turned look at her, but made no other move. Sleep, it sounded tempting, and he'd finally been able to get a full night's sleep over the last couple of nights. His memories had finally put themselves away, hopefully for a long time. When he seemed to be lost in thought she pulled him toward the bedroom, telling him, "Nick, you're tired, come on." At that he yawned and nodded, walking faster so that by the time he got to the door she was pushing him. *+.*+.*+.*+.*+. The next morning he woke rested, and other than a bit of anticipation he was fine. He had a larger breakfast than usual, and put on the clothes he had been given. It was identical to all of the others' dress. It was black, the pants falling to the floor, the shirt similar to the mandarin ones he wore, but it was a little longer and the opening was in the back instead of the front. He hadn't noticed that until after trying to put it on and discovering that the neck was too high, but it was looser in the back. Natalie had watched him silently as he got ready, and he knew he wouldn't see her until that night, but only see her nothing else. He ended up tying his hair back with a strip of leather, having remembered something about not being allowed to wear any metal. Nat started messing around with it as soon as he had it in, eventually taking it out and redoing it. She explained that he looked too much like he had just stepped out of the eighteenth century, and they both smiled at that. He thought about it a little longer, and just about redid it to annoy her, but didn't. He ended up wearing his regular shoes, not being given others, and not knowing what else to use. Before he knew it, it was time leave, and he silently did so giving Nat a kiss on the forehead. Meeting Worf and Wesley in the transporter room, they were transported to the Tosquel ship without warning. Again a slight tingling sensation was left behind, but they had no time to comment as Kalvyal led them to a nearby room. The corridors, and their design were completely different from the Tosquen's ship, reminding Nick more of the program Worf had used the day before. The smooth walls were replaced by bolted metal plates that seemed to have no pattern to their placing. The lighting was dim, and it almost didn't seem like they were on a ship. From what they could tell the Tosquel were less advanced, and seemed to have integrated some of the Tosquen's technology into their own. The two races were nearly opposites. One was fairly advanced, and concentrated on science, the other having to steal to catch up, their traditions holding strong. Worf ended up being the first to ask about the shoes, and as it turned out they would be fine, except for when the contest actually began, then they would all have to take them off. During both the tour and lunch they silently followed Kalvyal's instructions, Nick's concern on what would happen when he was discovered increasing. The tour went quickly, and it was more a formality than anything else. They were introduced to all members of their government except for their leader who was on Kalvyal's ship participating in a similar tour. Distaste for their non-Tosqua heritage shown clearly on some, but others accepted it easily. He didn't eat anything, and only had a few sips of some kind of wine. The taste was slightly different, tasting similar to blood, but it was clearly wine. Conversation was little on their end of the table, but with his hearing he could hear speculation on the events to come. To them Kalvyal and her people were weak and he learned something new. None of her people ever lived past fifty, most were lucky to make it to forty, and when their shorter year was taken in he was amazed at how far their technology had advanced, yet they didn't know how to deal with the dominating Tosquel. They were assured that none of the Tosquen or anyone they could come up with could ever defeat them, and events were already planned for afterwards. Within a day they would be reduced to slavery as she had told. Now he had not only her word of what was happening, but also that of those who were against them. Yet no one else knew, as he was the only one who could hear the other conversations. Once done, they had two hours till they had to be in the center of the Tosquel's ship. The first hour and a half past quickly and quietly, barely a word being said. Then Kalvyal entered with the details. There would only be one activity, and the results would be based on a combination of its outcome and the tests done earlier. She couldn't say exactly what they involved, but was able to tell them what they would do when acknowledged. By then it was time to leave, and the three followed her, two guards tagging along. From the tour they already knew they were fairly far into the ship and weren't disappointed when passing through a door they entered a small room. Kalvyal then silently nodded and left as she needed to be with the others. They all took their shoes off, even the guards, then barefoot one guard led the way into another, much larger room. It appeared empty other than themselves. It had a completely smooth floor, was rectangular in shape. Of the four walls one was made of the same material used so far, the rest were a combination of that and what looked like one-way glass. The glass started about three meters up and went to the ceiling. At first it just appeared as a mirror, but with a little concentration he could see through it. Across from him were the Tosquel, about twenty or thirty of their people, most being those he had met earlier that day. To the left of him he could make out the Admiral, most of the bridge crew from the Enterprise plus Natalie and Tracy. The other wall was behind him and without physically turning around could not see through it, but assumed that's where the Tosquen were. About that time doors on the other wall opened, and two guards and three others entered. They were facing opposite of each other, and the guard for each side had moved to either side of the doors. Nick and the Tosquel's warrior were in the front of a triangle each waiting for one of their names to be called. What he approximated was five minutes later a voice began, and introduced the Tosquel. Nick's opponent's name was Qualek, and his awards were listed. They were in the form of those he had killed, his allegiance to his people, and his ability to pick things up quickly, particularly weapons and knowledge. The warrior accompanying him was their second warrior, and the boy, who was about Wesley's age was a promising young warrior. Little was said on them, and the introductions turned to them. Nick tensed slightly as somewhere he could sense the attention focus on him. "The Tosquen have chosen a foreigner to represent them. Race is Human Vampire. Age is approximately twelve hundred of their years, three thousand of ours, and he is the leader of his species. Honorary rank is Captain, with official rank being Commander." The voice paused, the Admiral's reaction coming across through Natalie and Tracy. She was not pleased, and could tell they would definitely be having a conversation about it later. Allies and Alliances - Part 9/9 Nick nearly cringed forcing himself to face forward. Now the Admiral knew exactly who he was, but at least she was the only one watching that didn't already know. The voice then went on to say about his knowledge on languages and Earth's past, then introduced Worf and Wesley. Another pause interrupted, then two guards entered, one through each door and checked all three on each side to make sure they were following the rules. They each stepped forward, and then with a nod, all of the guards left. The next instructions would be the last they would here, explaining the rules. "Warriors, take your weapons, and resume your position." Worf handed the Bat'leth to Nick, and Qualek also received his weapon. It was essentially a metal rod with a sword on each end about a meter and a half in length. Once they were again still the voice continued, "You will step forward onto the green square when, and only when it appears. That will be the beginning. There is no limit on time. The object is to keep your balance on the given terrain, and sustain as little injury as possible. First to fall indicates the end, and the other will be awarded as the winner. The other requirement is that the room's lights be lowered to darkness, the Tosquel warrior being allowed to wear night vision lenses. This is a condition to even the odds, and is not meant to disqualify, or hamper the Tosquen's warrior in anyway." The lenses appeared in a box before Qualek, and he quickly put them on. They were like contacts, and as soon as the box was replaced on the ground it disappeared. The lights were quickly lowered, and about the same time Nick's eyes adjusted to the near nonexistent light a bright green square appeared in front of him. They did as earlier instructed, and the floor before them turned into something quite different. The room was like a holodeck, he guessed. What seemed to be metal beams were all over the place, some were vertical, others horizontal, and others were on a slant. Now he knew what it meant by keeping his balance, and even with using his night vision it would be difficult at times. He proceeded to climb onto one of the poles, carefully jumping from beam to beam. Looking down he could see no bottom, just more beams. He approached the center where Qualek met him, and after a slight bow on each of their parts Nick waited for the first move. Nothing changed for several minutes, then Qualek swung his weapon, it's longer length giving him an advantage. Nick countered the move, then several others as he tried to get a good grip on the Bat'leth. It had taken him a while the day before, and this time it didn't take quite as long. Now he was able to use more force, but as the blade went for his legs he jumped back and to the side, landing on the end of a horizontal beam. His opponent was barely visible to him, the black clothing blending in with the background. He could see an outline, but without changing couldn't see his every movement. His face and hands could be seen, and then the blade. It collected the light in the room and he could see it as clearly as if it were light in the room. And that's all he needed. With Qualek's outline and the weapon he knew where everything was. Qualek seemed sure of where he was, and Nick guessed the lenses worked well because of it. As more moves were made against him, he continued on the defensive. A few more minutes and he started to notice a pattern, while not repeated, certain moves never seemed to fall before or after others. Now they were both on the same beam, and Nick was running out of room to back up. He made a couple of more jumps, moving away from the larger beams. So far he hadn't used what he was to his advantage in anyway except to see where he was. He remembered that in the rules under special conditions it said something about he couldn't do anything that made exactly what he was apparent. That meant he couldn't fly, change, or move too fast. But he could use some of his strength and if he was careful he could use his speed. Those would have to wait until he had a better idea of how his opponent would react. After a couple of more parries, he decided it was time to go on the offensive. This time he didn't merely deflect the blow, but pushed and that made Qualek back off. His opponent wasn't going to be passive, but he figured he wouldn't last long. Now he began to vary his moves, and started testing his opponent's abilities. The blade didn't seem entirely sure in the other's hands, and Qualek decided to take advantage of that. Using a new move, one that caught the Bat'leth on the side he managed to loosen one of Nick's hands, causing the weapon to be dropped by that hand. Nick immediately backed up as the pole's end came rushing at him. Qualek had noticed his grip, and now he needed to fix it for good. He began swinging the pole, it's dual blades flashing in the light. When it was turned toward him Nick used the Bat'leth to catch it, then tried throwing the Tosquel off balance, but he caught himself. It continued like that for about twenty minutes, and by then Nick had once again adapted to the weapon. He began to use some of his strength, forcing Qualek back, and to use more of his own to keep his balance. Qualek seemed to be getting annoyed at his inability to defeat his opponent and started to use more force on his own. He swung his weapon out again, but this time Nick realized what he was attempting. When he countered it, it was with one hand on the Bat'leth, a fast and wide arc came down on the center of the pole. Sparks flew as the force snapped the pole in two surprising both of them. It was cut next to the beginning of the blade, the end falling down between the poles. Regripping their weapons Qualek backed up, and on his next attempt the other half was thrown from his hands and the abruptness caused him to lose his balance, falling off of the beams. As he did so Nick's surroundings changed, himself appearing back where he began, and Qualek appearing a couple of feet above the ground. The lights were quickly turned up causing everyone to turn away. Nick could still feel his hands tingling, and his eyes were having a little trouble adjusting to the light. Looking across the room he could see that the Tosquel were also recovering. Another minute passed before they saw three forms appear in the back of the room. One was Kalvyal, the man on the other side he assumed was the Tosquel's leader, and he didn't know who the third was. This man carried the pieces of Qualek's weapon, and when he announced that the winner had been decided, it was the voice that had been heard in the beginning. Another appeared at his announcement, and was holding onto a small, flat, hand-sized piece of metal. When presented to Kalvyal she pressed her hand to it, and it glowed for a moment. The man that had spoke before then took her other hand, and taking a few steps forward declared, "Kalvyal, leader of the Tosquen, and new leader of the Tosqua." After pausing for a moment he turned his attention to the pieces in his hand. "I've never seen this happen before. It was solidly cut and did not fracture." He approached Nick and paused. His eyes seemed to fall on the Bat'leth, which Nick was holding upright behind his arm. "The wielder must be strong and the blade stronger, not to mention sharp. May I?" The question was asked with an outstretched hand, and seeing little choice Nick held it out. The man took it, and seemed surprised at its weight. He quickly ran a finger across the blade and discovered its sharpness when with almost no pressure a cut appeared. Their blood was a purplish color, which helped explain their paleness. "Very sharp, and fairy heavy, much more so than your opponent's weapon. It's not Tosqua, probably not made by your people. What is it?" he asked, handing the weapon back. "It is a Klingon Bat'leth." The man seemed surprised, but it was more confusion in the weapon's name than true surprise. "Klingon, don't know much about them, only what was in the file sent by Kalvyal. You're a Klingon correct, Warrior?" The question was directed at Worf, and he simply nodded in return. "Know that you are honored." Worf nodded, then the man turned toward the other two, "You are all honored by the Tosquen and the Tosqua as a whole. May you win great victories and your knowledge grow." He turned and exited through the door, Kalvyal walking behind and then they also followed. They each retrieved their shoes, then transported up to the Enterprise. Kalvyal went with them, and all but Picard, the Admiral, and the three accompanying her left for either their posts or their quarters. "We thank you for trusting us. Now we have the chance to change our rule with a new leader. What can we do in return?" The question was directed at Nick and he had to shake his head. "If I were the right person to ask, which I'm not, I'd require nothing in return. All I wanted to do is to help you. I know what it's like to not be able to change something." She turned to Picard and Admiral Krenshaw expectantly. The question could be seen easily on her features, along with the sincereness of her appreciation. They didn't know what to say. Nothing had been expected in return, the last week seeming to just happen on its own. Eventually the admiral suggested, "How about a record of your race. It is mentioned you were just passing through this galaxy. That and perhaps an update every few years on your progress, so we know our actions were helpful." Kalvyal seemed to consider it, and replied, "If it is sufficient, but we wish we could do more. Also, we would like to invite you to our ship for dinner tomorrow night, if you would like." A second later Picard nodded, and she seemed pleased. "I will contact you tomorrow morning then." A slight bow and she shimmered away. The room went silent, and after a moment they were told they could leave, except Nick. Admiral Krenshaw caught him before he left. They were the only two left in the transporter room, and Nick knew what it was about. He could see the words in her eyes before she spoke. "I want to talk to you tomorrow alone. You better have a good explanation, and I'm sure you know what about. I'll be by at 07:30 hours in the morning. Dismissed." He quickly left, and knew that the explanation would be hard, at least to understand. Either she would believe him, or she wouldn't. Once arriving in his quarters once again his tiredness had sunk in, and as it turned out it was pretty late. Seeing and feeling the slight frustration, Natalie knew the admiral had said something to him, had to have, and she left him alone as he fell asleep. *+.*+.*+.*+.*+. It had taken him a half hour to get Natalie to leave, insisting that there was nothing to worry about, and that it would be a good time to catch up with Tracy. They had barely spoken, and Natalie had spent too much time worrying about him. Now everything was nearly over, just an explanation to give being left. Only a few minutes passed before the door chime rang, and he answered it manually. Seeing the admiral he invited her in, and they both sat down. Her eyes watched him for over a minute, and she could see him tense more every few seconds. He knew exactly what she was going to talk about, something that amazed her. He was the eldest of his kind, masquerading first as a mortal, and then a younger one of his kind. She hadn't mentioned it to Picard, but it was clear he knew at least something about it. Most of the others seemed to know as well, and from his wife's concern when it was mentioned, she knew exactly what was going on. Nervousness began to set in, and he continued to wait. She would have to begin their conversation. "I want to know why you're so set about not being discovered, why it's so important that your age be secret. Not only have you pretended to be a mortal, but you lied even once you were discovered. Now, you don't seem to me like someone that would intentionally do this, at least not from what I've heard. I know Picard and the others know something about this, but I want to hear the explanation from you first." She waited, and he tried to figure how he would start. Nothing had been said about how old he was, or that he was the eldest, but she knew. She wanted him to state it. "As you know I'm the eldest of my kind. As a result I've been forced to oversee the matters within our community. If it was known to others that I was the elder, it would be a danger to myself and those around me." With a break of silence she tried to decide her position on the matter. She understood what he was trying to say at least parts, but not why he would have to hide his identity, why it would be such a danger. There was much more going on that she could see, something he didn't want to talk about. But he would have to. "Why would it be a danger? I have no reason to believe anything would be different with the knowledge of your identity." To her nothing was known about recent events within the Community. The events five years ago were known to virtually no one, the ones from a few weeks before described as a simple kidnapping, the details not being elaborated upon. The reasons hadn't been revealed, either to Starfleet or the Community. "Why don't you explain? Being the leader of your people is not something that should be hidden." "Yes, it should," he quickly replied. Something was definitely going on, something no one knew about except perhaps him and the others who knew exactly who and what he was. "Then tell me why it should be hidden. Has something happened that has forced you keep it hidden? You said you were forced into this situation, how?" Again she waited, her eyes fixed on his. Looking down he told her, "Most don't know about the leadership of the Community. Starfleet knows just as much now as my people know. My identity is known to Natalie, Tracy, another named Dimitri, and the bridge officers of the Enterprise. Everyone else that knows is dead." He paused, and he could see she wasn't satisfied. She wanted everything. "With the advent of space travel our numbers started to diminish. There were more things that could kill us, most we didn't even know about until it was too late. Most that left Earth were older, some thousands of years who wanted to get away from the younger immature members of our kind. Several decades ago my creator, my father, became the elder because they were getting out of hand. With most of the older members of our kind either dead or otherwise unreachable, the average age dropped to less than a century, most knowing little or nothing about what they really are. "LaCroix used force to keep order, to keep a tight control over them. Laws became extremely strict, the most common punishment being death. Five years ago, a mortal discovered his identity along with mine and my sister, Janette's. He knew that without us the Community would spiral out of control. We were taken, and another was killed. They died after being tortured and with Natalie's help I escaped. "At first I neglected my new position, and once again chaos began to take over. Eventually I had to take control, using LaCroix' rules so a weakening in leadership wouldn't be seen. No one knew the elder had died, and that a new leader was in control. The previous Elders were not well liked, and many would give anything to destroy him for cruelness he used and fear he put in them. Since they don't know it was LaCroix, they'll assume it was me, and I and those around me will be the target." He left out recent events as they didn't pertain to her question. If she wanted to know about that she would have to ask. The summary slowly seeped into her mind, and started to make sense. If vampires really were as fearful of this previous Elder, and had no idea of the transition within their community, allowing his identity to be known could create problems. Also the fact that a mortal who discovered the elder's identity kidnapped and murdered him, two others, and nearly the one standing before her didn't inspire trust. Yet, now came the question of how the Captain and his officers knew of his identity. If he was so secretive about it, how did they find out? "Then perhaps it should be kept secret. Now I'd like to know how were you revealed in the first place. I don't think it was just discovered within the past couple of days." He hesitated a second, and quickly told her, "No, they found out just after I came aboard. The man that kidnapped us before tried a second time to destroy the Community. That's what really happened several weeks before, not whatever you've read in a report." This information surprised her. Picard had known for about three weeks about his identity, several days longer than his record had existed. The record had not only been false, but as it turned out not all of the Captain's report was true either. She looked straight at him and he held her gaze for a moment before turning away. Her original opinion had not changed about him. He was still both in her favor and her admiration. But before deciding anything for certain she had to speak with Picard, get a few things cleared up. "Well, you're explanation seems to make sense, at least partially. I can't say I understood all of it, and things were possibly left out. I'm not a member of your community and do not plan to be, and as such am probably not getting every aspect of what you've said. From what you've told me though, I need to speak with your Captain." "It's not his fault the records..." he tried to tell her. "I know, but I still need to talk with him." She stood and left the room, Nick wincing slightly now that she was going to the Captain. Picard had changed events slightly so his identity wouldn't be discovered, something he'd done without the suggestion. Nick hadn't even thought about records and they had been created as well, making him just another discovered vampire. *+.*+.*+.*+.*+. After leaving the Commander's quarters she had gone to Picard and told him about the inconsistencies. He related most of what had occurred, and was pleased she'd said nothing negative about his involvement. When the admiral had arrived he'd planned on explaining more about his officer's age and his reason's behind trusting him, not what led to it being discovered. Then came a question that was unexpected. "Are the others of his kind really afraid of their Elder, enough that with anger they might harm him?" "I'm not sure," he said at first, then slowly remembered the events in sickbay. Chevalier had given his blood to Tracy, and when she woke she was scared to death of him. "Actually I believe so. The one named Tracy Vetter, she was a police detective when she was mortal. Chevalier was her partner and when they met here, they seemed to be on pretty good terms. When he revived her with his blood, she awoke completely terrified, afraid that he would kill her despite knowing him." The fear was real, and rightly given as reason to remain hidden. "Starfleet is not to learn of his true identity. This is now a command that you do not release any information on him other than the false record. Also, recent events will exclude this information." "What if Starfleet finds out?" "I'm not going to tell them. At least not now. If they learn I know who the leader of the vampire community is, they will not hear Chevalier's name, and I will not contact him directly. Perhaps I should find out how to contact this Dimitri, that way if something that concerns them is decided I can get it to the right people without too much suspicion." Picard nodded. Even he would like to know how to get hold of this vampire. It would be a good precaution, just in case something were to happen, but Chevalier seemed to be able to take care of himself anyway. "Does he know of your decision yet?" "No. I think I'll wait either until tonight or tomorrow to tell him. Right now I need to give a preliminary report to the others in command. They will want to know that everything went fine, and that the Tosquen have agreed to create a record of their people and keep in contact." Starfleet might not find it sufficient, but in a way they had made a new ally. Perhaps not one that could directly help, but with continued contact more relations could be made even though they were not remaining in their galaxy. "Has Kalvyal mentioned the time for dinner?" "Yes, at 18:00 hours we will meet in transporter room one." Indicating her understanding she left, her mind focusing on Cmdr. Chevalier instead of the report she was about to give. *+.*+.*+.*+.*+. Dinner had proceeded smoothly, and both of the Chevalier's had left early. As it turned out Natalie had persuaded Nick to try a few things, and she had as well. Food didn't agree with them period. Krenshaw wondered what it was like to have to sit and wait for the others to finish, or to eat something when it clearly was uncomfortable just to blend in with others. She couldn't imagine what it would be like to do that all of the time, for years, for decades on end. Locating them she found them in Ten-Forward, which she didn't exactly expect. Entering she found them, and several more of the bridge officers around one of the tables in the back of the room. They sat with Troi, Beverly, Riker, Data and Worf, and upon approaching closer she could see it was a poker game. A poker game that seemed to have a pretty clear indication of who was winning. Riker, Data and Nick all had a large amount of tokens, the largest collection being Nick's with Riker being close behind. Nick and Natalie were the first to notice her, and quickly returned to the game. Natalie and Beverly folded, knowing their hands couldn't beat anything, and she watched as Troi and Worf folded after the next bet, the Klingon doing so reluctantly. Now it was just the three, and Data called Riker's bluff, Nick smiling slightly as he had known about it from the beginning. With Data, however, he couldn't tell, and Data couldn't make any predictions about Nick, either. Another bet, but neither dropped out. Turning their cards over revealed a full house of three queens and two jacks for Nick, and amazingly a royal flush for Data from ten to ace, all hearts. Data took the chips, shifting the order of the three as far as the winner went. Data now had the most tokens, then Nick, and then finally Riker. Seeing her chance to intervene, the admiral asked, "May I join you, or is this a set game?" Riker smiled, and said, "No, go ahead although you might not end up with anything." They made room for her at the table, and she ended up sitting between Nick and Beverly. Data dealt, and the hand went much like the one before, but this time it was Nick who won, gaining the pile of chips. This time it had been Nick who realized the commander's deception, and he actually did have a pretty good hand, but not as good as the others'. "You know we should make some kind of rule about you not being able to do that." "What?" he asked innocently. "You can hear our heart rates change when we're bluffing." That. Now he knew what they meant. He quickly told them, "Ah, yes, but you've gotten to the point where your heart rate stays extremely steady. If it hadn't, I'm afraid you wouldn't have what you have." "So you aren't using it?" "I didn't say that, it's just not working." He smiled slightly, embarrassed that they had brought up one of his abilities, one that made it seem like he was cheating to win. He wouldn't deny he wasn't, at least in the sense that he could hear the others' hearts beat, but Data didn't even have one, and Riker was a good bluffer. The game continued for another hour, and although the overall winner ended up being Riker, Nick right behind him, she did end up with more than she originally had. A full house of three queens and 2 aces. She held firm against the betting and came out with the highest hand, and the substantial pile of chips to their dismay. The others seemed to enjoy watching the competition, not really minding that they were clearly losing, or at least everyone except Worf did. He seemed a little annoyed about something, and she wasn't sure it was entirely due to his apparently lack of luck that night. She could see the tension and it was directed right at Nick. It seemed to be returned, at least partly. As the game ended, she could see Worf wait for the others to leave and she too left, planning on stopping by their quarters later. Natalie was waiting for Nick, but once the others left he told her to go back to their quarters, that he wouldn't be long. She complied after glancing at Worf, and then they waited until she had left the room. Eventually Worf told him, "I appreciate the honor you brought to me, but I still don't trust you. Your abilities make you nearly unbeatable, not only in physical strength, but it seems in poker as well. I find it unlikely that you would be able to do as many things as you do without your abilities, as well as you do them." Nick figured that might come up, especially after Riker's comment during the game. "That was mostly luck," he explained. "Perhaps the fact that I've known how to play it as long as I have plays a part, but it was mostly luck. Riker's also played a lot and has the same ability, and in case you hadn't noticed he won, not me." Worf's skeptical response was all he needed to know what the next words would be, and he waited. "I'm sure you use what you are to your advantage, you can't deny that." "No, and I won't. But haven't you used your strength to your advantage?" "That's due to the fact that I'm Klingon. We are stronger than humans." "Exactly. If it's a common advantage it gets used, and Klingons are inherently stronger than humans." Worf seemed slightly uncomfortable as he realized that Nick wasn't actually human. Not completely. His physiology might be based off of them, but what he was made him completely different. Different DNA, different life signs, different limits. He'd been comparing Nick to both them, and himself when he wasn't either and he'd grown up in another time. A time when legend was real, but the creature before him didn't match their description. The vampire had said something about him not knowing much about his culture and he'd been right. He had no idea what beliefs and knowledge was within the other. When Worf didn't answer he asked, "Why don't we call an end to this, and just accept our differences. I may not be Klingon, or even human, but I don't think we're really that different. In fact I think you'd be surprised at some of the similarities." He waited and after a few moments received a nod of affirmation. Worf still hadn't completely decided, but would at least agree to his suggestion. Then he could find out who he was, not only now but in the past as well. "Then I will see you at the beginning of your shift tomorrow evening." Nick gestured that he would, and as they left and he reached his quarters a part of him relaxed slightly. True, it wasn't completely solved, but at least he wasn't expecting to receive a glare the next night, or hoped he wouldn't. Entering, he found Natalie at the piano. She was playing Beethoven's Für Elise, one of the few pieces she could play. Most of her energy had been put into her work, even as a vampire she'd stayed a workaholic. Yet, what little she had managed to learn she could play like a professional. No note was missed, and neither did the tempo falter as he entered, and he quietly sat down and listened. Only a few bars remained before the end when the door chimed. This time she did stop, the interruption unexpected. Nick stood up a second later, reluctantly going to answer it. Right now he just wanted peace and quiet, but he'd have to wait a little longer. Admiral Elizabeth Krenshaw was on the other side, and taking in a breath he gestured for her to enter. She could see his wife, Natalie, sitting at a grand piano looking over at her. Most likely she'd been playing, and she quickly apologized for her interruption, then a few seconds passed and she got down to business. "Commander, I'm not going to tell the rest of Star Fleet Command who you are, but I would at least like to have a way to contact you. I'm not sure I should do that directly, at least not often and you said something about a friend named Dimitri. Perhaps I could...?" He had pretty much figured on her first decision, but the second was a little bit of a surprise. He couldn't think of any reasons he would need to contact her and he waited, knowing she would elaborate if he did. "This way if there was something one of us had that the other should know, perhaps something that could have possible dangerous effects, or a warning of changes, we could tell each other." Nick listened and nodded faintly. It would be a good idea, but would have to go through Dimitri. Direct conversation, particularly between Command and the Enterprise would only cause suspicions to form. At least contacting Dimitri first would make it seem like just another communication. "I'll tell him and have him contact you." He paused, then turned toward the piano. "Natalie, what's his last name now? Did he tell you while he was here?" She was caught a little off guard, and answered, "Ah...I think it's Noirtiere." About fifty years before all three of them had used that name, and with a faint smile he shook his head slightly. Dimitri had liked that name, and it seemed he couldn't wait to use it again. "Well, then, he's an Ensign?" Natalie nodded, and he continued, "Ensign Dimitri Noirtiere. If you need to get in contact with him first you could probably track him down, but he'll probably get my message before you reach Earth so that shouldn't be a problem." "Noirtiere." She said the name, first aloud then over again in her head. "That's French, correct?" He nodded, then she continued, "Aren't Chevalier and Brabant also French?" "More or less." He was waiting for a response, and she didn't know what to say. Her questioning had been more out of curiosity than anything. The names were all French. She didn't know if it was just coincidence, or if he regularly choose French names or what. Perhaps that's where he was from. Then remembering his ‘more or less' comment figured that it was probably nearby, somewhere where the prominent language had been French or some derivation of it. He was still waiting, and she commented, "The names suit you, and you as well, doctor." The last was said turning to Natalie, and then moving toward the door slightly she ended, "I suppose I should go. Again I'm sorry for the interruption, and I'm sure you want to rest." She turned and left before he could really comment otherwise. The room stayed silent for a moment as Natalie stood and approached him. "So, as it seems we'll be safe for a while longer, but that doesn't mean you get to rest." Walking over to his desk she picked up a padd and brought it back to him. "I got that while you were gone." Looking at the subject of the report, and then reading through it he groaned. Dimitri's report was just another complaint about the laws, their code. He'd slowly changed LaCroix' laws back into the code, and other than a slightly lighter punishment they were much alike and most barely knew the difference. But some noticed, and they were getting to be more interested in their watchers, specifically the enforcers which brought down the code on those that disobeyed. This meant it would have to be explained once again, the third time since he'd been in control. "Well, I guess my message will be a little more than Admiral Krenshaw's knowledge. It looks like business has finally caught up to us." She agreed, and in a way was relieved. It confirmed they were still in reality. Although helping Nick with the Community wasn't the most interesting thing to do, she welcomed it because of the unusual events of the last several weeks. Perhaps now everything would return to a semblance of normality. Nick decided to get to work on it right away, rather staying up and working on it than waking up several hours early for his shift. He planned on a direct communication, and needed to know exactly what he was going to tell Dimitri before he spoke with him. *+.*+.*+.*+.*+. As she entered her quarters, she continued to think about the two. The names, especially Chevalier intrigued her. Easily she could see him as a knight and wondered if that's why he used it. If at one time he was a knight it would be an appropriate name, and wondered if that's what he was when he was still mortal. His actions, especially the quick answer to the Tosquen could be considered knightly, and they were lucky the Tosquen were telling the truth. It bordered on infringing on the prime directive, and one of the admirals was flat out against the involvement. Nothing went wrong however, and her report would be fairly easy to make, although it would be difficult to explain Chevalier's, or in this case Brabant's reasons. She would also have to take care in her responses. Her new knowledge was not known, and couldn't be. The Enterprise was now back on route to star base eighty-six, and would arrive there in two days. At that time she would return to Earth, and she wondered if she would ever have any reason to contact Chevalier. From what she could tell both sides had been under control, and their decisions were few and minor ones at that. Her journey had only increased her interest in Chevalier. First he just appeared to be a vampire that was a little more human than most of the others, but now she knew he wasn't just a little more human, he was a lot more. More than the others of his kind, probably even more than she was. It puzzled her and made her want to know why he was the way he was, something that she might never find out. As she sat down at the computer and began to compose her preliminary report to Starfleet, one that would be dispatched in the morning, her thoughts kept straying to who this knight really had been, if he'd been one at all. Pushing away the curiosity, she turned back to the report, one that would have to be vague to hide her uncertainty of the exact contents of her final report. She knew that she would have no trouble keeping her newly attained knowledge secret. Chevalier was an interesting and, as far as she was concerned, trustful person. Although she greatly wished to learn more about the man, she knew that their opposing communities did not easily trust one another...but despite everything, he did. ~fin~ Hope everyone enjoyed this story! I'm not at present planning on continuing this storyline, although if you'd like to see another story, let me know...if I get enough requests I may write another. Feedback etc. to: jarvinia@gmx.com