Betrayal"
By: Ian Hunter, Commanding Officer, [PC]
Patia Zoei, Chief Counselor, [PC]
Giuseppe Silvio, Chief Engineer, [RNPC]

Stardate: 58209.09 1033

Sahril looked up from the LCARs screen she was studying. "Sir! A transmission has just been made to the Federation from the Zion."

Hunter spun about in his command chair. "What?"

"A moment Sir."

Hunter glanced at Wright and then stood up and looked over Sahril's shoulder.

"The message contains our coordinates and certain mission aspects."

"Who sent it?"

She shook her head tersely, "I don't know. Whoever sent it has intricate knowledge of the ships systems. I'm, I might be able to reconstruct the command pathway to..."

"That won't be necessary Captain," said Silvio, a sad look on is face, beads of sweat running down his face. As he spoke the Zion's massive warp drive deactivated. With it, the Zion's cloaking device also disengaged and the Zion began drifting is space.

Hunter turned and realized what he had done, "Silvio? Why?"

"I can't let you destroy the Federation's best laid plans Hunter," he snapped drawing his weapon. "We will wait here for the USS Minot to come take you into custody. Please sit down Hunter."

"You know we can't do that," said Hunter calmly. He nodded at the two sentries near the turbolift. They reached for their phasers.

Silvio expected this would happen. He raised his phaser and fired twice.

He watched as Melissa Jarvis disintegrated along with one of her security guards. He returned the phaser toward Hunter, "Do not do that again."

Hunter's blood boiled. How could he have trusted this traitorous wretch. "Computer, delta sequence 3."

The computer responded with a muted chirp. "Incorrect authorization."

"You know I can't let you take the ship."

"I've isolated all command functions Ian," said Silvio with a slight laugh.

"Even if you kill me you cannot hope to get away." He laughed again, "I'd rather you didn't kill me though. I'd like to be paid for this mission."

Silvio paused and looked at Patia who stood next to Hunter. "I will miss our encounters though," he said.

Patia's eyes narrowed slightly. Her head cocked. An image darted through her mind, Silvio's erect back as the fingers of his hands danced over the keys of the piano. The sound of "AmadeusMinuet" filled her ears. With absolute certainty, she knew that would be the password. It was a message he was trying to send about their encounters. The sound was tinny, though, not the clear reverberations she remembered so clearly from that night.

"No, you won't." She raised her phaser, site locked on his chest. A cold voice, so unlike her usual warm and inviting tone spat out "Computer, restore command functions, authorization 'AmadeusMinuet'". As the light of recognition dawned on Silvio's face, she pulled the trigger.

"What..." Silvio's face was a mask of surprise. The phaser bolt hit in dead in the chest and knocked him against his console and to the ground.

Hunter nodded at Zoei, "I guess that payment will have to be deferred," he said tapping his combadge, "Engineering, respond."

An anonymous voice answered replied, "Here Sir."

"Get those engines online."

"Right away Sir."

He turned toward the tactical officer who reported, "Cloaking device coming online Sir."

"So is warp power Sir," announced helm.

Hunter nodded, "Red Alert," he said then turning forward, "Helm heading 292 mark 9, warp 6."

Hunter stepped down to where Zoei still stood. Holding the phaser she shot Silvio with.

"Was that hard?" he asked.

"I'll be honest, Captain. It is never easy to kill a sentient being. It is an awesome responsibility to snuff out another's life force, like one would blow out a candle. Was it harder because it was Guiseppe Silvio, is that what you are really asking?" She cocked one eyebrow at him, her eyes searching his face as she waited for his answer.

Hunter simply nodded, 'yes.'

The world froze just as a chime sounded, "Simulation complete"

Silvio --the real Silvio-- suddenly stepped out of a bridge console and stood of his dead body. A large gaping hole in his chest. "I can't believe you actually killed me."

She shrugged. "You shouldn't have sold out us out. If you hadn't, you wouldn't be dead. However, you aren't dead, so I didn't actually kill you."

She shook her head slightly. "I have been around too many humans lately. This circular logic makes my head hurt."

The holodeck shimmered and faded. Silvio watched his dead form disappear.

"I'll make sure not to do that."

"Captain, did you need me for anything else?" Patia asked. "If you don't, request permission to return to my quarters."

Hunter nodded, "Performance debriefing will be at 1600," he said with slight smile. "Dismissed."

A Hard Way to Live "
By: Clarice, Stowaway Child, [RNPC]

Stardate: 58209.09 2330

Clarice carefully crawled though the Jefferey's tube. She stopped, cocked hear head, and listened. Her ears were an important tool that she had come to rely on in her days hiding aboard the Zion. She listened for the ever present noise that indicated that crew member was ahead in the tube. Humans she decided were terrible at keeping quiet. Hearing nothing unusual she continued past a junction and then dropped down two levels to her new home.

She had not been hiding much more than a week when her ears alerted her to two young engineers doing maintenance work. One had forgotten the security access code to enter a part of the ship that they needed to be. Clarice listened as the second engineer recited the code. She burned that bit of information to memory.

Now, more than a month later she tapped that exact same code into the access system and a a small tube access door door popped open. Quietly, Clarice pushed past the door into her stolen quarters, and then sealed the door. She had searched the ship for quite a while trying to find a empty place to stay. From the looks of the room no one had ever lived here and that suited Clarice just fine.

Clarice pulled a small bag from her belt and upended it on a nearby table. Several pilfered food items spilled out. She greedily stuffed the food into her mouth. She did not care what it was, only that it would stop the pain in her stomach. The magic code had gained her access to a place to stay but it did not show her how to make the replicator work. This is what her life had come to -- living day to day on stolen food scraps. She sighed as she crammed the last of the food into her mouth and then stowed the bag back into her belt. She was full now, and that was the important thing.

Clarice crossed the living area of the room and plopped herself down onto her bed. She wrapped herself in a blanket. She reminded herself that she had taken this trip to escape Bajor and with the hope that she might find a new father. She told herself that she just needed to hang on and her new father would work things out for her. Wrapping herself tighter in the blanket she wondered why she felt so cold. Soon, however, she forgot about it as she drifted off into dreamy sleep.

Log Index | Go to Stardate 58209.10