The Alpha Centauri Mystery - Part 4 by Ben Versteegt
Summary: On Alpha Centauri, after the Dominion War, a Cardassian with a phaser threatens to kill the Ferengi bartender Zaag, if he doesn't help him. He wants Zaag to steal some samples. The next day, Starfleet Ensign Sandra Burke has to examine these strange, unknown samples. Zaag then asks Sandra to steal those samples for him, and Sandra agrees, on one condition: when Zaag meets the Cardassian, there will be a security team standing by to take the Cardassian into custody.
And now the continuation:
"Let me get this straight..." Lieutenant Graves straightened his uniform while speaking to Sandra. He probably thought it was funny. "You want to take some precious samples to a Ferengi, so he can deliver them to a Cardassian, who will then be caught by Starfleet personnel?"
"Exactly."
The Lieutenant stared at Sandra with a look that said "You have to be kidding."
"You're serious aren't you?" he finally said.
"Dead serious."
There was a long and awkward silence. The Lieutenant looked like he was thinking hard and serious about this. He probably was. Sandra could never tell with him. Finally, after what seemed like hours, he looked Sandra straight in her eyes.
"Fine then. But I'm holding you personally responsible. If your plan fails, I don't want Starfleet to blame me." He paused, and shook his head. "Unlike some people in this room, I have career plans."
"Understood Sir." Sandra said, ignoring the Lieutenant's remark about her career. "I'll have the security team standing by at the designated time and place of the 'transfer' of the samples. And I will pick up the samples tonight."
She turned around to leave, but Graves stopped her.
"Ensign."
Sandra turned to face her superiour officer. "Yes Sir?"
"If you loose those samples..."
"I won't, Sir."
"But if you do..." The Lieutenant spoke softly, almost threatening. "I'll have your head. Understood?"
"Understood Sir."
"Good."
Sandra turned again to walk away, but got stopped again by the Lieutenant. "Ensign?"
"Yes Sir?" Sandra sighed.
"Dismissed, Ensign."
Later that night, Sandra and the security team were hiding in an adjacent room, while in the next room, Zaag was pacing around nervously. The Ferengi had a very bad feeling about this. His life was at stake here. What if the Cardassian entered the room and found out about the Starfleet team hiding in the next room? He would most surely kill Zaag and get away with the samples. The Ferengi didn't care about the samples, but the risk to his own life was too great. For a minute, he toyed with the idea of telling the Cardassian there was a team hiding nearby. That way Zaag would have demonstrated his loyalty, the Cardassian would go away, and Zaag's life would have been saved. But there also was a chance that the Cardassian might attack the security team. Sandra might get hurt. He didn't want that to happen at all. Somehow, he felt that dying to protect Sandra wasn't such a bad way to die. He liked Sandra very much. More than he would like to admit, even to himself. Or to her.
He didn't have time to think any more, because he heard a sound that made him freeze. The sound of a transporter filled the room. In front of Zaag, someone appeared in a yellow light. Zaag recognized this fellow as the Cardassian who had threatened him. If it was possible for him to become more nervous than he already was, he would have done so.
"Do you have the samples?" the Cardassian asked.
"Yes, yes, I have them right here." Zaag replied nervously. He pointed to the box on the table, which contained the samples.
"Excellent. I knew I could count on you, Ferengi."
"Thank you, Mister..." Zaag paused for a moment. "I didn't get you name, I'm afraid."
"And you won't get it, Ferengi." There was an angry tone is his voice, almost threatening.
"Sure, if you don't want to give me your name, that's all right with me!" Zaag shouted nervously. "I don't care. I just..."
He was stopped mid-sentence by a Cardassian phaser which the Cardassian had pointed at, and pressed against, his head. It felt uncomfortable to say the least. He moved behind Zaag, with his phaser still against Zaag's temple (or the Ferengi equivalent of a temple), and he picked up the box with samples.
The Cardassian moved even closer to Zaag,. His face was now only centimeters away from the Ferengi's right ear.
"I know about the Starfleet security team in the next room." he whispered softly.
A shock went through Zaag. He was certain he would die in the next few minutes. His only chance was to do what Ferengi in distress do best: grovel.
He opened his mouth to plead for his life, only to close it again when the Cardassian pushed his phaser even harder against Zaag's head.
"Don't..." the Cardassian said, a little too loudly. He looked to the entrance to the next room, where he knew the security team was hiding. "Don't say a word." He whispered to Zaag. "...or I'll blow you head off..."
Zaag only nodded.
"I hope I never see you again, Ferengi." the Cardassian said, as he touched his communication device on his wrist. "Farewell."
For a few moments, neither of them spoke.
"You're leaving?" Zaag finally managed to say.
The Cardassian was clearly surprised. "Why am I not on my ship?" he asked to no-one in particular. "Why isn't my transporter working?"
"Transporter inhibitor." came a voice from across the room. In the door-opening stood Sandra, pointing a phaser at the Cardassian. With her were four security guards, all with phaser rifles. "We thought you might want to escape by using your transporter, so we put up a transporter inhibitor." she paused, while looking the Cardassian straight into his eyes. "There's nowhere to run, you know. I suggest you put down your weapon and the samples, and surrender yourself to us."
The Cardassian tightened his grip on Zaag. He started to move backwards, towards the outside, while dragging Zaag with him. "If you think I will surrender to you..." he said in his soft and icy voice, "...you Starfleet types are even more naive than I thought you were."
"This is a Federation planet." Sandra said. "Do you really think you can escape? There are hundreds of Starfleet officers stationed here. You'll never get off the planet!"
"I'll take my chances." the Cardassian said. "If you follow me, the Ferengi dies, understood? Now lower your weapons!"
The security officers didn't seem to know what to do, as they looked at Sandra for orders. She didn't know what to do either. She couldn't just let the Cardassian escape with Zaag and the samples. But she also couldn't try to stop the Cardassian. She didn't want to be responsible for Zaag's death.
Sandra didn't have any previous experience with hostage situations like this, or with any kind of hostage situation for that matter. Inside, she felt she started to panic. She also knew this was a time where she couldn't panic, no matter what, so she tried to control her fear and anxiety. It didn't work very well.
She felt her heart beat go faster than ever, and tried her best not to show to the Cardassian how afraid she was. "I'm warning you!" she shouted. "I will fire!"
"Lower your weapons!" the Cardassian shouted back. Sandra could see that he was getting nervous too. He held the phaser tightly against Zaag's head, his finger ready to push the trigger. "Lower your weapons!" he yelled again. "I mean it! I will kill the Ferengi!"
Instead of lowering her weapon, Sandra took aim. "If he dies..." she said softly. "you'll be next."
"What are you doing?" hissed Zaag. "He'll shoot me!"
"No he won't." Sandra said calmly. Inside though, she was shaking. "If he shoots you, we will shoot him. He can't afford to loose you."
"What the hell are you doing Sandra?" Zaag cried out in panic. "Put down the phaser!"
Sandra made a smile appear on her face. She actually was terrified, but she didn't let it show... she hoped.
"I'm calling his bluff..."
The nerves seemed to be getting to the Cardassian. Instead of at Zaag, he pointed his phaser at Sandra, holding his other arm around his Ferengi hostage. "You're right." he said. "I need this hostage." he paused, while he aimed at Sandra. There was a creepy kind of spark in his eyes. He seemed to enjoy this moment, when he was in control of the situation. He was going to get away, and there was nothing Starfleet could do about it. All they could do was watch how he would walk away with the hostage and the samples.
The annoying Ferengi he would dispose of as soon as possible. He just needed a hostage to get away. After he would have gotten to his ship... one blast with his phaser to the Ferengi's stomach would cause a slow and agonizing death... The Cardassian smiled at the thought.
"So I need the Ferengi for hostage-purposes." he thought to himself, as he smiled patronizingly at Sandra and her security team. "But that doesn't mean I can't kill someone else..." He looked Sandra right into the eyes. "...Starting with her."
"I will be going now." he said, still aiming his weapon at Sandra and her team. "Don't try to stop me."
Sandra sighed almost unnoticeably. She knew they had failed to protect the samples and to imprison the Cardassian. And what was even worse, she had failed to protect Zaag.
As the Cardassian moved further backwards, she still kept her phaser aimed at him. Too bad Zaag was in the way, or she would have fired. But she didn't want to risk hitting the Ferengi.
Then suddenly, the Cardassian stopped.
"I would say 'see you again sometimes,' but... well..." the Cardassian said, as he had his phaser pointing straight at Sandra. "But since you will be dead and I will remain alive, I don't think I will be seeing you after all..." As he moved his index finger millimeter by millimeter closer to the trigger, he thought about all his previous victims. He always enjoyed the moment before the kill the most. The few seconds when he saw the fear in the eyes of his victim, always seemed to last for hours. He enjoyed every moment of it. Although somehow, this time wasn't as exhilarating as some of the previous times. "Must be the 'last comment'-part..." he thought. His last words to his victim were usually a smart one-liner, giving the soon-to-be-dead-person a clue as to what was about to happen.
He shrugged hardly noticeably. He was a great killer, but coming up with original one-liners was a bit more difficult.
The Cardassian did see fear in Sandra's eyes. And Sandra knew it. She knew she was going to die. She knew the Cardassian would fire, killing her, probably in the most painful way imaginable. And he would get away with the samples and with Zaag. If only she had done more to stop the Cardassian... but it was too late for that now.
She looked her killer straight into his eyes, determined to give him a look that would haunt his the rest of his life. At least that way she would get her revenge. The Cardassian didn't seem to care too much about it, though. It only made him smile even more.
"Fine then." Sandra thought. "Then I will die..."
"Wait!" someone shouted.
It was Zaag. He couldn't just stand by - even if he was a hostage - and allow Sandra to be shot. He cared too much for her to do nothing. "Can't we negotiate a deal of some sort?" He tried to look at the Cardassian. "If you let us live, I will give you... five strips of gold-pressed latinum!"
The Cardassian looked annoyed. "You just spoiled a perfectly good moment." he said. "Now shut up, and don't interrupt me again. These are moments one needs to treasure, you know."
"Seven!" Zaag yelled. "No, eight strips of latinum!" There was no response, only an unclear muttering from the Cardassian. "Ten? Twenty? Or how about one whole bar of gold-pressed latinum? Come on, even a Cardassian must have his price!"
The Cardassian was about to reply, when his communicator beeped. Suddenly, the _expression on his face turned from annoyed to terrified in an instant. "Dammit!" he shouted. Apparently, something unexpected had come up.
Without a warning, he let go of Zaag and started running, leaving a surprised Starfleet team behind and also an astounded but very pleased Zaag.
"Stop him!" Sandra shouted, but then realized she herself had a phaser in her hand. She aimed, and fired it. The beam hit the Cardassian in the back. He dropped his phaser and, unconscious, fell to the ground. He rolled over once or twice because of the momentum he still had, and then stopped. The box with samples ended up near his face, which was covered with dirt.
Sandra holstered her phaser and walked to Zaag, while the other members of the team moved towards the unconscious Cardassian. "Are you all right?" Sandra asked.
For a moment, Zaag said nothing. But the moment quickly passed, and Zaag seemed to have gotten over the shock. "You could have killed me!" he yelled.
"You're welcome..."
Zaag sighed. "Thanks Sandra. But I still say this was a bad plan. He could have shot me!"
"But he didn't"
"No he didn't!" Zaag seemed rather upset. "Lucky for me. How did you know he wasn't going to fire anyway?"
Sandra smiled. "I didn't."
She ignored Zaag's surprised face and walked towards the security team.
"Nice shot Ma'am." One of them said. "But I wonder why he suddenly decided to run away like that..."
"I don't know. I guess he just..."
She couldn't finish her sentence. An enormous explosion in the background made them all cover their ears. When finally Sandra looked up in the direction of the explosion, she realized what had happened, although she couldn't believe it.
"Our base..." she said, gesturing in the direction where the outpost had stood only a few seconds ago. Now there were only a few remains, some fires and a lot of dust. Pillars of smoke filled the sky above them.
