Despite the glinn's claim, Lemec expected to see Jem'Hadar queuing in their usual lines, accepting their ration of white from a Vorta and repeating their ritual words of thanks. Instead, most of the Jem'Hadar stood as if frozen, barely breathing, eyes unblinking. A few wrestled each other in the dirt in brutal hand-to-hand combat. Several others had drawn their weapons and were firing on one another. Oblivous to the total chaos around them, the immobile ones didn't flex a muscle. Some fell without flinching when the erratic weapons fire struck them.

"Is this some kind of drill?" Lemec asked Luaran.

"Jem'Hadar don't kill one another in drills. The Founders don't appreciate the unnecessary waste of soldiers."

"Maybe the white's contaminated," Lemec suggested. "The resistance could have poisoned it."

The glinn shook his head. "Most of them haven't received their allotment yet."

"Send in the Carda.s.sian troops," Luaran demanded. "This unacceptable behavior must cease at once."

An officer at communications spoke up. "I'm receiving reports of similarly bizarre Jem'Hadar activity from every outpost. Do you have orders, sir?"

"Seal our perimeter with Carda.s.sian troops," Lemec ordered. "Order the others to do the same."

The communications officer shook his head. "I can't get through now. Someone's jamming our signals."

"It must be the Enterprise. Keep trying."

Luaran frowned at the soldiers fighting on the viewscreen. "What about the Jem'Hadar?"

"You said yourself they're replaceable."

The Vorta had no chance to reply. A huge explosion rocked their headquarters, showering dust and debris and knocking several of the operations staff to the floor. Computer stations sparked and ignited. Lights flickered and went out.

Lemec shoved himself to his feet. The officer at communications would never rise again. A fallen ceiling beam had caved in his chest.

The loss of several of his staff was the least of Lemec's concern. Where were the rest of his soldiers? Had they received his order to guard the perimeter? With the viewscreen blank, Lemec grabbed a phase-disruptor rifle and staggered outside to a.s.sess the situation, leaving Luaran to find her own way.

Shouted orders and the screams of wounded and dying greeted him. His headquarters was under attack and sustaining phaser fire from all sides. From the number of Carda.s.sian bodies on the ground, he concluded that his troops had suffered heavy losses in the initial a.s.sault. Smoke from burning barracks and supply warehouses clouded the air, filled his nose, and obscured his vision. Stunned, he caught sight of Betazoid and Starfleet troops advancing on his position through the haze.

Beside him, Luaran doubled over and gasped for air. "You must do something."

Before Lemec could issue an order, Starfleet forces overran the compound and surrounded him and Luaran. A tall human with dark hair and a dark beard pointed his phaser at Lemec. The pips on his collar identified him as a Starfleet commander. Upon seeing the gul, his eyes narrowed. "I remember you. Stand down, Lemec."

Lemec remembered the commander as well: Riker of the Enterprise, who had been on hand for the gul's last great humiliation when he'd faced Starfleet's Captain Jellico. Out of options, Lemec dropped his rifle.

"What are your terms?" Luaran asked.

The commander smiled. "Unconditional surrender."

Resigned to defeat, Lemec raised his hands above his head. Luaran did not. She simply stood there, which puzzled him.

The gul whispered, "Isn't this when I get the pleasure of watching you activate your voluntary termination implant?"

Luaran's calm was unshattered. "Not when I can still escape. Good luck, Lemec." And with that, the Vorta pressed a contact on her gauntlet, became enveloped in a Dominion transporter effect, and was gone.

Riker fired his phaser, but it was too late. "d.a.m.n," he muttered.

"Problem?" someone asked, and Lemec saw another Starfleet commander stride toward them, only this one had white hair and a white beard.

"The Vorta beamed out," Riker said.

The second commander regarded Lemec with what looked like sympathy. "Can't say I'm surprised. She obviously knows a lost cause when she sees one." Looking at Riker, the white-haired commander continued, "The force field enclosures around the Jem'Hadar barracks are almost all up. They'll contain both the Jem'Hadar and the Carda.s.sians we've captured."

Riker gestured with his phaser toward the stockade where Lemec had housed and tortured Betazoid prisoners. "Your cell is waiting."

Lemec lowered his hands. All his hopes for advancement had evaporated. By blaming the destruction of Sentok Nor on Moset, he might have salvaged his career from the ashes of that disaster. Losing Betazed, however, was a blow from which he'd never recover.

He met the unwavering gaze of his Starfleet captor. "I don't suppose you could just shoot me instead?"

Riker hit the panel beside the Carda.s.sian cell with his fist, raising the force field on Gul Lemec, who sat with his head in his hands. After posting security guards at the door of the stockade, Riker strode across the dusty grounds of the enemy encampment toward Lemec's former office and surveyed the ongoing activities with satisfaction.

Teams composed of Betazoids and members of the Starfleet task force's crews moved efficiently throughout the area, aiding the wounded and tagging the dead for the burial detail that would follow. Both Jem'Hadar and Carda.s.sian troops were securely contained behind force fields or incarcerated in the stockade. If their plan had worked as smoothly across the rest of the planet as it had here, Betazed was effectively free of Dominion rule.

Riker shook his head, recalling the morning's battle. It had been one of the strangest he'd ever taken part in. The a.s.sault had begun not to the roar of weapons, but with the silent empathic attack of the Betazoid telepaths. Once observers had signaled that the Jem'Hadar had been disabled, the armed Starfleet and Betazoid teams had opened fire. Caught by surprise and unable to count on the Jem'Hadar for backup, the Carda.s.sian troops had quickly conceded.

Imzadi.

At that point in the battle, Riker had heard Deanna's thought, had felt her mind reaching out to his. Although he wasn't telepathic, his relationship with Deanna had deepened over the years to the point that she could sometimes touch his mind, and he could sense her presence. With that one word, he'd felt her love-and her withdrawal. He quickened his steps, eager to complete his mission so he could locate her and a.s.sure himself that she was all right.

Without warning, the hair on the back of his neck suddenly rose. The conquest had been too easy, and he couldn't shake an uneasy feeling that a second shoe was going to drop. Anxious for a full report, he hurried into Gul Lemec's old office, which Vaughn had commandeered as a temporary command post.

The older commander stood at the window, hands clasped behind his back, but with a hint of fatigue in the set of his shoulders. Vaughn turned when Riker entered, and Will was taken aback by the pain mirrored in the commander's eyes.

"Have you received a situation report yet?" Riker asked.

"Captain Picard just informed me the Enterprise has received accounts from the other Betazoid resistance cells. Every group was successful in subduing the Jem'Hadar and Carda.s.sians. Betazed is free."

Vaughn's voice held no jubilation in imparting his news, however, and his expression remained grim. Riker felt a chill down his spine.

"That's good news, isn't it?" he asked warily.

With a heavy sigh, Vaughn settled into the chair at Lemec's desk. "It should be."

"Why wouldn't it be?"

Vaughn scrubbed his face with his hands as if trying to wash away his exhaustion. "Because contained in those situation reports are the casualty stats for the telepaths who fought the Jem'Hadar empathically."

"Casualties," Riker said. "You mean wounded?"

The commander shook his head. "The people have their planet back, but at a terrible price. On average, four out of every ten telepaths lost their lives."

Riker reeled at the news. "Forty percent dead," he whispered.

Vaughn lifted his head, and in his eyes Riker could read the history of too many battles, too many deaths. "We have reports on the telepaths from every cell but this one. We haven't managed to locate all of ours yet."

"Deanna?" Riker asked through a mouth gone dry.

"No word," Vaughn answered with a fearful heaviness in his voice.

Riker tapped his combadge. "Riker to Troi. Report."

Vaughn pushed himself to his feet, approached Will, and placed his hand on the younger officer's shoulder.

"It's no use. I've been trying to raise her for the last five minutes. She doesn't answer."

Chapter Twenty.

S OUNDS RETURNED TO D EANNA FIRST. Into the all-encompa.s.sing blackness trickled the soft murmur of voices, muted footsteps, and the mechanical tones of biofunction monitors.

"She's coming around, Dr. Crusher," an unfamiliar voice announced quietly.

Swimming upward through the gloom that enveloped her, Deanna opened her eyes to meet Beverly's bright blue ones.

"Welcome back," the doctor said.

A quick peripheral glance informed Deanna she was in the Enterprise sickbay, where every bed seemed filled. "Is it over?" she asked.

With a rea.s.suring smile, Beverly squeezed her hand. "It's over. We won."

Relief washed through Deanna. "Tell me what happened."

"There's someone you should see first. If I don't let him talk to you soon, he's going to force his way in. He's been hovering outside ever since we transported you here. He can fill you in on the details."

"Wait, please. Do you know if my mother is all right?"

Beverly nodded to the next bed, and Deanna turned to find Lwaxana, lying pale and strangely quiet.

"She's still unconscious," the doctor said, "but her vital signs are strong. With rest, she'll recover quickly."

Beverly left and returned seconds later with Will. When he saw Deanna, his grin lit his face like the sun. "Hey," he said softly. "You gave us quite a scare. How are you feeling?"

"Tired," Deanna replied, "and a little embarra.s.sed. I didn't realize the effect being around all those emotions would have on me. I never should have volunteered."

"As though any of us could've stopped you."

Giving Will a tired smile at the good-natured barb, she asked, "So the Jem'Hadar are really defeated?"

Will nodded with grim satisfaction. "Fifteen thousand died. The others are prisoners, along with the Carda.s.sians."

His statistics shocked her, and she feared she had taught her people a killing technique after all. "The invasive empathy killed that many?"

"Not exactly. Just as we antic.i.p.ated, the majority turned catatonic long enough for us to disarm them and erect force fields. But a small percentage went berserk and turned their weapons on themselves and others. Their behavior accounts for the high death toll."

His face darkened, and she sensed he was withholding bad news. "There's more, isn't there?"

He grasped her hand in both of his. "The Betazoid death toll was also high."

"How many?"

"Over twelve hundred."

"Killed by Dominion forces?"

Will shook his head. "From the strain of the empathic a.s.sault."

Stunned, Deanna looked to the doctor. "Twelve hundred dead. How could that happen?"

"I could give you a long lesson in Betazoid physiology to explain what occurred," Beverly said, "but essentially, they pushed themselves past their limits and burned out their telepathic cortex. The weaker ones died first. Only the very strongest, like your mother, survived."

Deanna blinked away tears. To drive the enemy from their soil while preserving the integrity of their society, her people had sacrificed themselves. She had never been more proud of her Betazoid heritage than at that moment.

"Tell me who died," Deanna said to Will.

He hesitated and glanced at Beverly, as if asking her consent. Crusher nodded.

"In your mother's cell," Riker said softly, "Sorana Xerix. Nerissa Povron. Too many others. You should wait until you've recovered to hear the rest."

"Enaren?" Deanna asked.

Beverly pointed across the room. "He's here. It was touch and go for a while, but we expect him to make a full recovery. And speaking of a full recovery, if you want me to release you soon, I can't do it. You need rest. I'll give you something to help you sleep."

The last thing Deanna remembered before losing consciousness was Will's lips brushing her forehead. When she awoke again, he was gone. Beverly glanced her way, and when she noticed Deanna was awake, she approached her. "You're looking better already."

"I am better."

Deanna felt physically stronger, but her spirit grieved for the loss of so many of her people. In the greater scheme of things, twelve hundred lives seemed a small price to pay for the liberation of an entire world-until she put names and faces and personalities to those people. For those who loved them, the loss of even one was too dear.

Are you all right, Little One?

Deanna lifted herself on her elbows and looked at her mother in the next bed.

We did it, Mother. Betazed is free.

Dr. Crusher told me.

Deanna sensed the sadness emanating from her mother and guessed that Lwaxana also knew how many of their people had died.

Barin, Deanna asked, is he okay?

He's fine. He and Chaxaza have been given quarters on the Enterprise until I'm released from sickbay.