The Sands of Time (A Star Trek: The Next Generation Fan Fiction)

Chapter Thirteen

The captain, a balding man of around fifty, led us up the ramp and into the ship. It was one of the cargo freighters I'd seen through the window, a long vessel with a small bridge and living quarters near the front and three detachable cargo holds attached in sequence behind it. Overall, the whole thing was maybe 250 feet long and looked like it was made up of more repaired material than original.

Inside, a long hallway ran from the bridge back to the first cargo hold, with doors that probably lead to a mess hall, sickbay, and crew quarters. The captain handed us off to his security chief and headed for the bridge. I was about to follow Otten and the others to the back of the ship when I heard my name.

"A word, please," Dominic said, nodding his head back down the plank. I followed him outside and waited to hear what he had to say.

"Did you really think you could sneak by?" he asked.

I couldn't do anything but shake my head. Maybe I would have been allowed to tag along to a training exercise, but the only reason I was being allowed on the Fury was because Dominic wanted me there.

"Good. I want you along on this mission. You know the Enterprise and her crew better than anyone we've got. They've got a better chance of succeeding if you go with them."

"What makes you think they won't just join the Enterprise?" I asked.

"Call it a hunch. I know how you people think. All they've got is each other, so they're not going to risk the lives of everyone they know on Sandor just for a chance that the Federation will take them in. Besides, Sandorians are suspicious, they don't trust anyone offworld or on."

Every bit of me wanted to tell Dominic he was wrong, but I couldn't. Otten and the others had no reason to trust the Enterprise any more than they trusted Dominic, who had promised them freedom and a planet of their own. And even if he didn't plan to go through on his promise to free them, he was definitely willing to kill any or all of the shapeshifters still on Sandor. And even if Sebastian didn't let him kill them, Dominic could still make their lives Hellish.

"You know I'm right," Dominic said, reading my expression. "Look, it's not hard. You don't even have to kill anyone. Just do as you're told, knock out some of their security and senior officers, and no one will get hurt." He stepped closer. "If you give me the Enterprise, I'll get you passage on any ship out of here you want. And I'll let your friend Brick go. You're smart, Lawrence, you know your Federation friends won't lift a finger to help anyone on Sandor." He gestured for me to enter the ship and turned to go. As I stepped up onto the ramp again, I heard him say, "Think about it. Could you live with yourself if you left all those people back there?"

I ignored him and found my way to the first cargo hold, where Otten and the others were seated in makeshift chairs in a corner. I took an empty one and turned to Otten.

"What are we going to do?" I asked him.

He looked tired and confused, but it was Moira who answered.

"We do what he told us to," she said. Her eyes were still red but her voice wasn't shaking anymore. "We either take the Enterprise or we get caught trying."

I shook my head. "We can't do that," I told her, but I was arguing against myself too.

"What else can we do?" Moira asked. "You heard him, if we don't do what they say then they're going to hurt or kill everyone we know." She choked on the world "kill."

The grey-haired man who Lewis had named Uric chimed in. "I've heard of the Federation though, we don't have a chance against them. We don't know anything about fighting."

Moira whirled on him. "What do you suggest we do then?"

"I don't know, I'm just saying we can't ju-"