Dawn of Forever, Part XXXVIII

Main Unity Dawn of Forever

The threat hung there in the air, a practically tangible thing. Sebastian's men had Captain Palsin's family at their mercy, and the ultimatum had been given. Palsin had to deliver the Eclipse-II, or his family would die. Palsin was quiet for a moment, then shook his head slowly, eyes fixed on Sebastian. "You're bluffing."

"Captain, do you know how it feels to watch your wife die?" Sebastian asked. "It feels like someone is dissecting you while you're still conscious. It feels like someone is reaching inside you and finding the most precious part, and cutting it out and tossing it away-"

"Shut up!"

"I- I have billions of lives to think of captain," Sebastian said. "I am responsible for preserving those lives by whatever means are required. Please don't make me murder your family to make a point."

"I have a duty!" Palsin said.

"What's the point of duty if your family has to die for it?!!" Sebastian demanded. "It's not enough that you neglect them while they live, you'll take what time they have left?!!" He collapsed back into his chair. "For the last time, captain, I need that ship."

Palsin's jaw was trembling, but he did his best to remain stone-faced. "I have a duty."

Sebastian opened his mouth to give the order, but the words wouldn't come. She was there. She was watching. And she didn't approve. Sometimes you have to do an ugly thing, he thought. When you have so many lives to consider, you have to make the hard choice.

You mean the wrong choice, father.

They'll die anyway, Sebastian thought. The Vong will break out of the barrier and we'll all die.

Everyone dies eventually, father. That's not a justification to kill, especially an innocent person.

You don't understand!

Yes, I do father. Remember what mother said? How you share people in your vision? Well, take a good look at what your visions have been, father, they are about death and hate. Marnisch, Cirule, Terraine... "As you command, prefect."

I do what needs to be done!

Remember on Vidik? You looked at Ben and thought, "that could have been me." Well you were wrong, father. You should have thought "this could be me."

So what do I do?! Sebastian demanded. Let the Vong win? This is the lesser of two evils.

But it's still an evil, isn't it.

I... I have...

Look at you, father. You are prepared to kill a man's wife and children just to get to him... after all that you've lamented since Ben did this to you, you are prepared to visit that same evil on another. Is that what kind of man you really are, father?

Morgan-

Make a choice, father. But don't lie about what it is, or about what you are. What the Alliance is going to become will be decided by the words that come out of your mouth. Is it the dream of Unity, or have you only put a new face on the Empire?

Sebastian covered his face and wiped the dampness away. "Let them go," he said hoarsely.

Terraine's eyes widened just a little. "Prefect-"

"Do it," Sebastian said. "Ma'am... I apologize for what's happened. We'll leave you in peace."

"Prefect, I can't allow that," Terraine said. "The war hinges on this ship."

"Then it ends now," Sebastian said. "We'll fight to the bitter end, but we'll fight the real enemy."

"I'm sorry, prefect," Terraine said. "But that's not acceptable."

"Terraine," Sebastian said sharply. "No, it's over."

"Ecter," Terraine said, with the grim voice of one who is doing the hard but necessary thing. "Kill the woman."

"Ecter you pull that goddamn trigger and you'll wish you'd never been born!" Sebastian said.

"We are committed, prefect!" Terraine said. "This isn't going to remain a secret! You do this and don't follow through then everyone will see you as morally bankrupt and a coward! The Alliance is going to fall to pieces and the Vong will win!"

"Jon!" the woman shouted. "Why are you letting them do this?"

"Not a word, Liana," Palsin said.

"You're always going on about duty and honor, but how come Corbin's had you all sitting here safe and cozy while other people are dying to stop the Vong?"

"It's Corbin's choice-"

"And he's making the wrong ones!" Liana snapped. "And look at you... are you going to choose him over us?"

"It's a bluff, Liana."

"Jon, you are gambling with your sons' lives!" Liana exploded. "To defend a man who cares about no one but himself!"

"This isn't about him, it's about honor and discipline and courage! It's about being a good officer!"

"At the cost of being a poor husband and father?" Palsin opened to reply, but stopped himself. "Do the right thing, Jon," she pleaded. Palsin looked down at his feet. "Please, Jon."

"Fine," he said eventually, defeat saturating his voice. "Fine, I'll do it."

"Thank you, captain," Sebastian said.

"Don't thank me," Palsin fumed at him. "No matter what those people out there may think, I saw your true colors today, prefect. Behind that limping war hero facade you are just an evil little man, and I hope one day you're made to pay for that."

The room darkened as the holoprojectors switched off, then the lights came back up. Sebastian covered his eyes as he rubbed his temples. It all sounded so simple until you're actually sitting in that chair, making the decisions that would mean life and death for people you've never met. All his preparations had been to fight a war... no one taught him how to do this, how to live with this. He was without a compass in a place where the map only said "Here There Be Dragons," and he had the unpleasant feeling that if he wasn't careful, he was going to become one of them.

An alert sounded, and Lando's gut tightened. He rushed to the control panel and saw that it wasn't a problem with the station's systems, although that would have been preferable. A ship had dropped out of hyperspace nearby. A shuttle... the Death Star prototype wasn't built to actually be a battlestation, so there was nothing they could do to stop it. Of course, there was a small chance that it was someone from the Alliance, someone who just wanted to arrest them for what they'd done. But he doubted it. The only one who could find the hidden Death Star was someone who possessed powers that, well, Lando didn't like thinking about. When the shield covering the docking bay entrance flickered and died without a shot being fired, all doubt was removed.

"Garak," Lando shouted. The Cardassian came over to the monitor. "Looks like you were right."

Garak watched the shuttle land and the Sith party descend the ramp. "She brought too many," he said flatly. "We can't win." He looked up at Lando. "But we can make her lose."

Lando already knew what he was planning. "Destroy the Death Star."

"I don't see why we should let her have it," Garak said. "You can do it, right?"

"No problem, it's held together by spit and baling wire. Power overload will do the trick; I can do it from here. What about our people?"

"We'll do what we can," Garak said. "But we both know the Oracle's going to kill them; maybe not today, but eventually."

Lando looked down at the controls. All this time rebuilding this thing just so he could blow it up. "Let's hope we take the Oracle with us," he said as he started.

"We can hope," Garak said. "How long will you need?"

"Fifteen minutes," Lando said. "After that the reaction will get out of control and it can't be stopped."

"Show me," Garak said. Lando did, and explained briefly what needed to be done. "We'll be primary targets," Garak said. "If anything happens, we split up, so that maybe one of us will have a chance of getting back here."

"There's a lot of Sith," Lando said.

Garak dropped a wooden box on the console. "I have my ace in the hole," he said.

Ben and Molly left the shuttle along with the rest of the Sith without any comment. Despite what the Oracle said, Ben knew this was a waste of his talents. Cardassian soldiers aren't even up to stormtroopers, and there would likely be only a handful that would resist. Garak and Calrissian were old men who couldn't have had a chance in their prime. That the Oracle had implied he could fail this was an insult matched only by the humiliation he'd felt over Vidik. When the Cardassian guards confronted him, Ben didn't bother with more than minimal effort; he just walked up the corridor at the same tired walk, deflecting the blasts with his two sabers before casually cutting them down.

Molly was a bit more energetic about it, but she seemed to see why Ben felt so put down by this. They were far below what she could accomplish as well. Ben had to admit a grudging respect for Molly. He was the one who failed on Vidik, not her, and yet she'd unfairly been given equal blame for what had happened. And yet, she never tried passing it off. She was loyal to Ben, even when he didn't deserve it... and surprisingly, that meant something to him. Maybe it was because her respect was all that he had left.

There were six guards outside the entrance to the firing room, but they didn't even slow the two Sith down. Molly and Ben stepped over their corpses and through the doors. Garak and Calrissian were at one of the controls. "Step away from there," Ben warned.

Garak flung a wooden box open and pulled out a lightsaber. "Stay back," he warned. "I've practiced enough to be a match even for you." He fumbled with it and the beam came on a second, then went out. He shook it irritably while Molly suppressed a laugh and Ben sighed. He held out his hand and the saber was yanked from Garak's grip. He was about to chide the Cardassian for the stupidity of the move when he remembered that Garak was no fool... and that his expression, instead of one of fear, had now switched to that other one that he'd seen too often... the one that screamed, "sucker!"

Before Ben could stop himself, his hand closed around the lightsaber, and his mind was overwhelmed by the presence of Darth Whind.

"Run!" Garak said as he bolted towards one of the exits even as Ben Skywalker crumpled helplessly onto the floor. Lando didn't ask questions, he ran as fast as his tired old body would allow in a different direction. Molly swore, but took off after Garak. Lando doubled back through a few access junctions and wound up back in the firing room. Ben was still there, helpless. Lando pulled out his blaster pistol... but it was shaking in his grip. He'd done a lot of awful things in his life. He'd killed people before when he had to, when he was looking down the other end of a blaster he never had any problem with firing first. But now, against a completely helpless adversary... maybe he should do it, but Lando's soul felt too dirty to pass judgment. He closed his eyes and ground his teeth, and squeezed-

The power pack ejected from the blaster, causing Lando to leap nearly half a meter in the air in shock. At the same time, the console was beeping; the emergency overrides were stopping the overload and needed to be manually disabled. He looked at Ben, then at the console. Maybe it was just a coincidence, his hand shaking knocking something loose... but Luke had always said that there was no such thing as luck. Lando scooped up the power pack and ran back to the console and got to work, leaving Ben where he was.

Garak was old, and thus most people would be inclined to call him "spry," but the truth was that Garak kept himself in shape. When he ran, he ran, age be damned. Molly was left racing trying to keep up, and it was only because of a flicker in her premonition that she caught herself before running into the ten Cardassians with blaster rifles waiting around the corner. The corner was peppered with shots while she focused herself. She could handle that many, but it would take concentration, and it would give Garak the time he wanted. Damn him! This should have been routine, but that insufferable Cardassian always had to overcomplicate even the simplest thing! Molly charged around the corner with her lightsaber flashing, catching the blasts and directing them back. It wasn't easy, but she overran them and cut them all down. She darted a short way past the dead guards, but Garak could have gone anywhere.

Molly pulled out her commlink. The Oracle was specific; she needed to be informed of this... failure. About what happened to Ben. About how Molly couldn't catch an elderly man. And then expect the Oracle to actually follow through on her promise to spare Keiko O'Brien when this station was under her control. Molly leaned against the wall wearily, wondering how the hell she'd gone from being a rebel soldier to being in this insane situation.

Ben Skywalker looked up, and the universe was gone. There was only unending whiteness. He got up for all the good it did, and looked vainly for someone. He cried out; there was no answer.

Finally, there was the voice of Sisko. "It's time, Ben," he said darkly. "Today you answer for your crimes." Ben looked around wildly, but there was no one. "Today is the day you will die."

Captain Palsin arrived four days after their conversation. He'd made a few last minute arrangements to put men who weren't happy with Corbin in command with him. The ISB covered for him by causing some disturbances that drew attention away from what was happening. Corbin was a fair enough military commander but his approach to governing obviously left a lot to be desired. When the captain announced he was defecting to the Alliance to use the ship against the Vong, the attempted mutiny was small and easily quelled, the dissenters sent back to Corbin's space aboard Alliance transports. The truth was that most of the crew had been grinding their teeth making reports and doing inspections while their former comrades destroyed an enemy they'd spent so much of their lives fighting. Far from being outraged, the chance to go against the Vong only whetted their appetites.

Palsin himself, however, declined the promotion to admiral Sebastian offered and asked for time off. Whether it was to spend more time with the family he almost lost or just because he couldn't work for Sebastian, there was no time to dwell on it. Sebastian had the ship checked over thoroughly in anticipation for the final push into the Milky Way Vong territory. Admiral Cirule had been put in charge of preparing for the mission, and now all of the preparations and checks and other assorted minutia were completed, and Sebastian found himself on a shuttle to the ship to personally oversee what he hoped would be the end of the war.

Sebastian stared silently at the Eclipse-II class star destroyer through the window of the shuttle while Janet gave him a run down on the ship. "I don't like the name," he said finally.

Janet paused. "'Vengeance,' Mr. Skywalker?"

"Yes. Not a good name to rally behind."

"Well, actually, I think some would think it is," Janet said diplomatically.

"The Alliance may have been forged to oppose the Vong, but that doesn't mean we need to be so cavalier about it... to imply that this is some kind of effort to even the score." Sebastian tapped his lips with the head of his cane. "That's not what this has been about. It's been about ensuring our survival, and more than that, about the oppression and genocidal nature of the Vong, of toppling an amoral and evil threat. 'Vengeance' just doesn't cut it for me."

"Well, it is your ship, Mr. Skywalker," Janet said. "What should it be called?"

Sebastian stared at it silently again. He'd wondered about that himself. He'd sifted through a number of choices, but none of them struck quite the right tone. On the one hand, this was a ship that would hopefully strike a mortal blow in the cause of freedom, but on the other, it was capable of smashing planets. Any name along the lines he thought, like "hope" or "liberty" seemed ironic for a ship carrying an abominable weapon. That was the problem, though, because everything took on that quality. At one point, he considered naming it after Jorri, as a kind of fitting way for her to strike a final blow in the war that had claimed her life. But that too seemed wrong... Jorri was a fine soldier who never hesitated in her duty, strong and determined and fearless, but for Sebastian she would always be softness and gentleness and compassion, and none of those applied to this ship. Perhaps "necessary evil" would be appropriate, considering how it was only being used because this enterprise demanded it, but that wouldn't be very good for public relations now would-

Sebastian smirked. Why not? he thought. After all, his mother would be the first to approve. "Janet," he said, "contact the Vengeance, tell them we are going to rechristen the ship."

"And the name, Mr. Skywalker?"

"Oh, what else could it possibly be, Janet? It's the Enterprise."

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