Chapter Seventeen.

WILLIAM RIKER, GEORDI La Forge, Data, and Security Man Tuttle materialized on the planet that the Kreel had termed "h.e.l.lhole." It was quickly evident to them why it was called that.

"Well, this is certainly pleasant," said Riker sarcastically. He glanced around and saw no signs of habitation. "We're sure these are the coordinates of where the Kreel found the weapons cache?"

"Absolutely," replied Geordi. Then he pointed. "Over there."

"Where? I don't see anything."

Geordi grinned. "Shame you don't have my eyes. Over there. I see signs of a fire. Carbon traces."

They headed in that direction and soon came upon a desolate sight. There had indeed been a fire there, a particularly nasty one: the entire area was scorched and charred. Riker glanced behind them, and saw that they had left a trail of footprints in the ash.

"This is definitely weird," said Geordi.

Data was crouching next to a small pile of metal and was picking up a fragment, looking at it curiously. "Geordi, take a look at this," he said, extending the fragment to the chief engineer.

Geordi held it up to his face and ran a full spectroa.n.a.lysis on it. Then he nodded. "Has the same bizarre trace compounds that the big one up in engineering had. This is the place, all right."

"So where are the scientists?" said Riker. Then he raised his voice, shouting, "h.e.l.lo! Is anyone here? We're from the Enterprise!" He paused. "You should be expecting us!"

His voice echoed and eventually dwindled into silence. "No go," said Riker.

Data was studying his tricorder and now he pointed. "I'm picking up readings from that direction. Approximately five hundred meters, just over that ridge."

"Then that's where we go," said Riker with a shrug.

They started off. "Don't see why we had to do this now," Geordi grumbled. "We could have waited until the party was over."

"You Kreel b.a.s.t.a.r.ds! You poisoned him!" howled Tron. His hand barely seemed to move, and suddenly there was a small, ugly looking blaster in it. "Death to the Kreel!"

"NO!" shouted Picard.

And the Kreel, G.o.d only knew how, produced phasers.

Immediately, the room was alive with screams, and Guinan ducked underneath the bar, wondering if perhaps this hadn't been such a hot idea after all.

With a blood curdling howl Aneel shouted, "Death to the Klingon sc.u.m!"

All h.e.l.l broke loose.

The Kreel and the Klingons started firing at each other, people started stampeding for the exits. It was complete chaos-Picard did not know which way to look first. It had been his greatest nightmare and here it was, on display for all to see. Not caring who was in the way or who got hurt, the Kreel and the Klingons tore into each other.

It took them mere seconds to realize that there were too many people for them to get clear shots, so the two groups charged toward each other, furiously hurling all others out of the way. The room was now filled with frantic people, falling over each other just to get out.

Worf tried to form a security squad to break up the riot but he was too late. They were outnumbered and outgunned, not to mention concerned about the safety of the crew members, something that worried the Klingons and Kreel not at all.

Gava crouched over the unmoving body of her father, and Katherine Pulaski threw one arm around Gava's shoulders, drawing her in tight. With the other hand she slapped her communicator and shouted "Transporter room! Three to beam directly to sickbay! Hurry!" Intraship beaming was hazardous, but Pulaski suspected the room was going to be even more so.

Within seconds, the transporter whine filled the room. Picard's head turned and he saw the doctor and the two Klingons vanish. Quick thinking, he thought, and then the flying body of a Klingon knocked him back off his feet.

He shoved the Klingon off himself and shouted, "Worf. Stop them!" Worf, however, was having his own troubles, for two of the Kreel had jumped him from behind, and smashed his face in to the floor. Pain shot through him and enraged him. He brought himself up to his knees, grabbed one of the struggling Kreel in either hand, and hurled them against the far wall.

The Ten-Four Room was starting to empty out, and Picard realized, to his horror, that not only were the civilians vanishing, but so were the two warring races.

"My G.o.d! They're carrying this in to the corridors!"

And sure enough, he heard the sounds of phaser fire from outside, the sounds of screams and running feet.

A nightmare.

He had to take control immediately, had to do something. First things first.

"Worf!" he shouted. "Take your security people! Every able body you've got! Round up those lunatics and slap them in restraints. I don't care how many weapons the Klingons have on them. Strip them if you have to, but shut this down now!"

Worf turned, took five security men, and bolted from the room as well. Picard took two others, and went to the bridge.

What was left behind was a disaster area of overturned and broken furniture, as if a tornado had been through. Crushed and broken gla.s.s was scattered all over.

And slowly, Guinan's hat appeared, followed by Guinan. Her large eyes took in all the damage, the damage that would take forever to clean up.

"Last call," she said.

The away team stood before the large opening that served as the entrance to the underground. They looked at each other for a moment, and then Geordi made a sweeping "After you" gesture to Riker. Riker bowed slightly and walked in, followed by the others in single file.

They followed much the same route as the original group of Kreel had, and eventually arrived at the same split in hallways.

"All right," said Riker. "Data with me, Geordi, you take Tuttle."

"Where do you think the scientists are?" said Geordi, utterly unaware that several charred lumps they had pa.s.sed without even noticing on the way in, would have supplied the answer to that question.

"That's what we're trying to find out," said Riker. "Everyone stay in communication. No surprises. There's supposed to be a cease-fire, but you never know. Anything could happen."

"Attention all hands!" The captain's voice boomed over the entire ship. "We are in a state of emergency! All families are to remain in their quarters until the all-clear has been given. There will be no exceptions! If you leave your quarters, your lives may be in danger. Report to your quarters immediately and stay inside! There are Kreel and Klingon warriors fighting throughout the Enterprise!"

From all over the ship, wherever they were, there was a mad rush to get inside and out of harm's way. Lounges, and the like, were not safe, but private quarters at least could be locked.

Down in engineering, First a.s.sistant LaVelle heard the announcement and wondered what the h.e.l.l the problem was. She turned back to her work just in time to be blasted by a stray phaser blast.

Panic swept throughout the engineering deck as a Kreel warrior came charging through, with two Klingons hot on his heels. Lieutenant Palmeiro, on duty high up near the dilithium-recrystalization shielding, saw what was happening and shouted into his communicator, "Engineering to bridge! They're here! They're-"

The Kreel soldier heard this and took a brief moment to turn and fire off a perfect shot that picked off Palmeiro and sent him hurtling down three stories to land with a hideous crunch on the deck floor below. Then the Kreel dove headlong over a circuitry table as the Klingons opened fire with their blasters.

Then it was the Kreel's turn. The Klingons sought shelter behind the dilithium-chamber windows, but the phaser cracked through them, sending a shower of plasticene all over the infuriated warriors.

Trying to find shelter, one of the Klingons, who happened to be Derl, said, "I am an engineer."

The other Klingon, not quite seeing the point, said, "So?"

"So, if I have the layout of this place figured correctly, the Kreel b.a.s.t.a.r.d's hiding behind the console that channels the transporter circuitry to the power source. We manage to blow that, we not only take him, but we make sure that none of his friends manage to get away."

The other Klingon nodded. "I'm with you."

Of one mind, the two Klingons leaped into the open and charged the sheltered Kreel, howling at the top of their lungs and firing furiously.

The miniblasters the Klingons were packing weren't anywhere as deadly as phasers, but they could be devastating nevertheless. Several shots. .h.i.t the console dead-center, blowing it apart. The Kreel warrior who had been hiding behind it was flung backward, and when he landed he screamed because a piece of metal had embedded itself in his leg.

Sparks flew and open circuitry lay exposed as the Klingons closed in on the now-helpless Kreel, and at that moment a security team led by Worf charged in.

The Klingons spun around, and Derl shouted, "Worf! We have one of the b.a.s.t.a.r.ds who poisoned the Honorable Kobry! Help us kill him!"

Worf aimed his phaser and fired. The blast took out the two Klingons, knocking them backward and into unconsciousness.

Worf crossed quickly and shoved his phaser into the face of the helpless Kreel. He thought about Kobry's unmoving form, and the grief-stricken Gava, and said tersely, "If you weren't defenseless right now, you'd be dead." Then he turned and stalked away from the Kreel as he slapped his communicator. "Worf to bridge." Without waiting for acknowledgment, he continued, "One Kreel, two Klingons out of commission. We're working on more."

Up on the bridge, Picard said, "Excellent, Worf. Keep at it. In the meantime, I want the bridge secured. No one to get up or down. I'm shutting down the turbolifts from here. That only leaves the emergency-access ladder that opens onto the deck below. Station two men there with a portable forcefield generator. The last thing we need is any of the combatants managing to get control of the bridge."

Even as he spoke, he was moving to the engineering station, where Marks was aiding him in carrying out his intentions. "Blast. I need Geordi back up here. This is taking too long. Picard to away team! Come in!"

On the planet surface, Riker stopped dead in his tracks. Data had had his interest piqued by a sign on the door of an empty room they had pa.s.sed in one of the lower floors.

Riker touched his communicator. "Away team. Riker here."

"Mr. Riker, I'm bringing the four of you back up. In fact, I'll have you beamed directly here to the bridge."

"What's wrong, sir?"

"A bit much to explain at the moment, Number One. Transporter room ... lock on to away team and energize."

Riker waited for the familiar mild feeling of disorientation, followed by his appearance on the bridge. But there was nothing. "Riker to bridge. What's happening up there?"

He heard a rather unexpected profanity from his captain, and then Picard said, "We're having trouble with the transporters, Number One. I'm afraid you'll be down there for a while."

"Captain, if there's something I can do to help ... "

"I'm afraid the answer is no. Don't worry, Number One. We'll have the matter in hand. Picard out."

Riker had never felt quite as helpless as he did now.

His place was aboard his ship, not here rummaging about some dusty ruins.

Data turned to Riker and said, "You may wish to take a look at this. These glyphs on the wall are identical to those found in a similar archeological dig decades ago. At first they corresponded to musical notes, but eventually a simple alpha-beta applica-"

"Can we skip all that, Data?"

"If you wish, sir."

"Can you read the sign? What does it say?"

"It says something to the effect of, 'Remarkably stupid weapon. Do not use.' "

Riker stared at him. "You're joking."

"I was? How splendid," said Data.

In the meantime, down another corridor, Geordi and Tuttle had made somewhat faster progress, but had resulted in arriving at a dead end.

"Now that's impressive," said Tuttle. He was pointing at two ma.s.sive doors that came together in a vertical zigzag formation-doors that looked as if they had ma.s.sive teeth clenched together. Next to the door was a multicolored keypad. On the floor was absolutely no trace of two small piles of goo which had been there at various times.

Geordi approached it. It gave no reaction. Unlike all of the other doors they had approached, this one did not seem the least bit interested in opening.

"I wonder why it won't open?" said Geordi. He ran a hand over the smooth metal, marveling at its perfection. "There must be something really important behind this."

"Only one way to find out," said Tuttle. He pulled out his phaser. "Stand back, sir. I'm going to blast it open."

Unfortunately, the individuals who could have told Tuttle what an exceptionally bad idea that would be were currently running around on the Enterprise endeavoring to kill Klingons. And one other individual-the one who had lost a hand in his abortive attempt to open the door-had been reduced to one of the aforementioned piles of goo. So he wasn't going to be of much help.

Tuttle took aim.

"Blast," grumbled Picard to Deanna. "I had the perfect idea, too. We could have done a sensor sweep of the inside of the ship, picked out the life readings of the Kreel and the Klingons, and beamed the lot of them into a transporter room with a security team waiting for them. Dangerous, but effective. Still ... " He turned to Dykstra who was manning the ops station while Data was planetside. "Ops. Locate and track all Klingons and Kreel. Screen out Lieutenant Worf's personal biological profile. The least that we can do is give him some help by telling him where to look."

Jaan was hiding in his quarters, quaking with fear.

What had he done? In the name of Kolker, what had he done? It had seemed so harmless. No big deal. But it had all horribly, horribly backfired.

Suddenly a loud thudding sounded at the door. Jaan hesitated, and the sound was repeated. A gruff voice said, "Security!"

Quickly, Jaan went to the door and released the lock. The door slid open ...

And Aneel, Deni, and two other Kreel shoved their way inside.

"Get out!" yelled Jaan.

Aneel shoved the elf against the wall. "Shut up," he snarled. "You're going to help us take the bridge."

"Like h.e.l.l!"

Aneel drew him back and slammed him into the wall again, so hard his head rang. "Now you listen to me, you little slug! You're in as deep as we are. The Federation's going to want to know where we got the phasers, and if you don't help now, we'll tell them!"

"You-you wouldn't!"

"What would stop me, hmmm? Conscience? Sympathy?" he said derisively. "What do you think I am?"

"I'll ... " Jaan tried to summon his bravado. "I'll tell you what you are"- and he tried to infiltrate Aneel's mind.