The Bajoran Incident: Civil War III Chapter Twenty

Chakotay was getting suspicious. Not only had there been just one guard at the back entrance to the shield bunker, but his team had encountered virtually no resistance whatsoever. His suspicions grew when they found the control room. They had expected to find it full of Imperial technicians. All they found was a single Vorta, an "old friend" of theirs, Eris. Kira pointed her phaser rifle at her.

"Get away from that panel!" she ordered.

"There really is no point to this, Major," Eris smiled.

Quickly, B'Elanna shoved Eris out of the way and studied the control panel.

"The battle in space has begun," she said. "They damaged Deep Space Nine's shield and weapons systems, but now they're getting more energy from the generator."

"Can you stop the transfer?" asked Chakotay.

"It won't be easy."

"That will be enough!"

The team swung around to see a squad of Jem'Hadar troops enter the control room from all sides.

"Drop your weapons, and raise your hands above your heads."

Realizing they had no choice but to do as they were told, they dropped their weapons. Just as they were raising their hands, many of the other members of the team were herded in like sheep.

"It was a set-up!" said Chakotay. "They were waiting for us! They let us get this far!"

Kira began to look around quickly. Someone was missing.

"Where's Shakaar?" she whispered.

Chakotay began to quickly scan the room with his eyes.

"Maybe he got away somehow," Chakotay whispered.

"Then there may be hope for us yet!"

 

Travis stood at the main control panel, a broad smile on his face.

"How long until the power transfer is complete?" he asked.

"Another minute, Commander," an ensign reported. "Weapons are already coming back online. Shields should be restored in two minutes... Commander, I'm picking up something odd on the sensors!"

"What is it?"

"Several small objects, moving towards the station!"

"On screen!"

The image was soon before him. Travis couldn't count how many, but what he saw surprised him; an entire assault team, in spacesuits, using retro-thrusters to move towards the station.

"Target phasers!" Travis ordered. "Blast them into space!"

"We can't! They're so small we can't get a secure lock on them!"

 

It had been a while since Watt had been in his spacesuit, and he was enjoying every minute of it. Having read the technical specs of Deep Space Nine before the mission started, he knew that the station's weapons wouldn't be able to lock onto a man-sized target. Also, knowing Travis—having recently served with him prior to his imprisonment in New Zealand—he knew that Travis wouldn't take the chance of using the manual targeting systems.

Watt was the first to reach the station. Latching himself onto the station so he couldn't be pulled away, he took out his laser torch and began to cut through the station's outer hull. It wasn't long before the others of his assault team were doing the same.

 

The Jem'Hadar's mistake was about to cost them dear. By letting Shakaar get away, he was able to find his way to a deserted part of the bunker—namely, an auxiliary control room. He soon found what he was looking for: a computer terminal. Using some Imperial codes his team had managed to get on a previous raiding party, he managed to hack into the communications system.

 

Quickly, Travis organized the troops in an effort to repel the boarding parties. He was about to join them, but just as he was leaving Ops, the viewer image changed. Gone was the image of the space battle. Now Shakaar's image looked down upon them.

"People of Bajor, I speak to you as the leader of the planet's resistance! I urge you to take up arms against our Imperial aggressors! With the help of our friends from the Free Federation, we can reclaim Bajor as our own!"

The transmission went right around Bajor and beyond. Even those of the Free Federation ships picked up the transmission. It seemed as if business was about to pick up.

 

The tactics in the space battle changed as the remainder of Watt's assault team made their way towards the station. As the Liberator took up a position at the mouth of the wormhole in an attempt to stop any more reinforcements arriving from the Gamma Quadrant, Voyager and the Defiant kept the remaining Jem'Hadar fighters away from the space-walkers. Sisko knew that although the station's weapons couldn't target the walkers, the Jem'Hadar fighters probably could. Soon, the battle was going their way.

 

Soon, Watt led his many troops down the habitat ring. As they went through deserted corridor after deserted corridor, Watt thought that things were going too easily. Things soon changed, however, as they caught up with a party of Jem'Hadar warriors. As soon as they saw them, the Jem'Hadar opened fire. Watt and his team raced back down the corridor and turned a corner. From this cover-point, they then began to return fire. Both sides took hits, and the firefight seemed to reach a stalemate.

Watt then heard more phaser fire coming from further down the corridor—this time from behind the Jem'Hadar. After ordering his troops to cease fire, Watt peered around the corner. Another party of troops from the Valkyrie had managed to get behind the Jem'Hadar, and they were now surrounded and outnumbered. It wasn't long before this party was soon defeated.

 

Eris was pleased. The planetary shield was about to go into operation, and she had captured a Free Federation raiding party as well as several members of the Bajoran resistance. Today had indeed been a good day.

But that was all about to change. As the Jem'Hadar troops began herding their captured prey outside, they suddenly found themselves surrounded by a far greater number of Bajoran freedom fighters, having been stirred into action by Shakaar's speech. Soon, Shakaar came into view.

"I suggest you surrender. Even though your men are better fighters, they are heavily outnumbered."

Eris knew Shakaar was right.

"Jem'Hadar! Lower your weapons! We surrender!"

However, several of the Jem'Hadar troops did not agree with this tactic and began to run for it. However, their break for freedom was soon stopped by another party of Bajorans, who soon had them surrounded.

"I'll ask you once more!" said Shakaar. "Please surrender!"