Acts of Honour - Vedder/Mercer/NPCs

[do]

"Captain's Log, Stardate: 21.03.2171.

We have been detoured from our current mission to deliver supplies to Acheron by a distress signal originating from Narendra III. Narendra III is one of three planets in the Narendra System which sits on the border of Romulan, Klingon and what we are now calling Federation space. Although it has clearly been designated as Klingon territory, there is evidence that the Romulan Star Empire has disputed the claim. The colonists is home to fifty Klingons who have been occupied it for the last half century. While we are not required to assist, our scans indicate we are the closest ship to the colony. I have notified Starfleet Command of our change in course and are heading towards the colony at best speed, to lend what assistance we can."

*******

NARENDRA III
EDGE OF KLINGON SPACE AND ROMULAN EMPIRE

The Klingons on whole were not happy to see that a Federation ship had answered their distress call.

The nature of their emergency had not been clarified in their initial transmission, which was not all that surprising when it came to Klingons. That they had asked for help at all was a surprise. Usually their warrior caste would rather die gloriously then admit weakness but the colony at Narendra III was apparently civilian and warriors or not, no one sat by idly and allowed children to come to harm if there was means to protect them. Unfortunately, not knowing the exact nature of the emergency also meant that when the Vanguard arrived at Narendra III, they had no idea how to prep for the mission.

Therefore it was a collection of Sharks and medical personnel that arrived in the colony to a frosty greeting. Captain Jake Mercer had demanded a fully armoured team because Klingons on the whole were a handful and with medical personnel in their complement, he had a duty to protect them as well. Of course, Dr. Cate Vedder had to be present along with his 2IC who thought he was a prick at present, which took the situation from 'just fucked up' to 'anal intruder - the jack hammer version'.

Already in a mood that would make eve a Klingon pause and claim this was someone you just didn't piss off, Jake surveyed the colony and glanced at Ray and the squad to keep weapons primed if the Klingons got disagreeable.

The colony was constructed in typical Klingon architecture which always reminded him a little of Japanese and Viking, sharp spires, ornate roofs, functional but also bearing that hard edge that was so Klingon. The colony itself was located on cleared land, with thick, hostile jungle surrounding it if the life readings taken by the Vanguard prior to transport was any indication. It was a hardy environment for a race that thrived on adversity.

Jake admired the warrior culture of the Klingons. There was no bullshit, no politics and passion was expressed, whether it was anger or love. There was none of this colon twisting shit that humans seemed to put themselves through.

"Human," the Klingon colony leader approached the Vanguard team. He was not adorned in the warrior garb but a heavy chain mail sash hung over his shoulder. Behind him were two others who looked just as mean. The shortest of them stood over Ka'ana which was saying something.

"You're Kresh?" Klingons didn't feel the need to use titles. Deeds apparently spoke well enough.

"Of the House Sardur," the Klingon grunted, sizing the group up quickly. Judging by the snort from one of his entourage, Jake suspected, they weren't impressed.

"Captain Jake Mercer of the Vanguard, you sent a distress signal. What's your problem?"

"We had hoped for a Klingon ship," Kresh replied. "But I suppose you will do. If nothing else, we can die together."

*****

Klingon children... that was like saying Vulcan children. To Ray, it just didn't mesh into a pretty picture with a yellow sun and a blue house and red flowers in his head. Still, a kid was a kid and like anyone else, he liked rugrats. As long as they were someone else's, Klingon or not. Maybe it would get his mind off the stupid shit, i.e. Mercer being a total ass and beyond frigid. Cate, at least, had come around and wasn't so pissed at him but what was he going to do? What was he supposed to do? Still, as the team beamed down to the colony, Ray wasn't sure the atmo could get any more tense.

As the greeting party approached, Ray surveyed the what he could see of the colony. Nothing seemed to be on fire, collapsed or otherwise disrupted but he caught the look from Mercer and nodded in response. A quick hand signal to the rest of the team told them what the Captain wanted.

*****

Standing at the back, the group of Marines shielded the medical team. Glancing at Corpsman Armando Bernard and Senior Medic Ronnie Lloyd in turn, Dr. Cate Vedder was relieved Nurse Janice Clayton decided to stay behind this time. The Klingons did not sound nor look happy to see them and the air around them was charged. Janice would have been a nervous wreck and since Cate wasn't that far from being one herself, it was a blessing she wouldn't have to worry about her friend and chatty nurse.

As the Klingon Kresh greeted them, Cate swallowed thickly, hating his grating voice as it brought back painful, distant and not so distant memories. Her eyes found Jake's back as he conversed with what appeared to be the leader here and she had to remind herself to keep it professional. Just focus on the job and leave everything else out. If they were lucky, there would be no need for a medical team and she and the boys would be on their way any moment...

*****

"....If nothing else, we can die together."

Jake stared at Kresh. "Die together?" He kept his voice neutral. Showing fear following such a statement would have them tarred with the brush marked 'pussy'. "Are we expecting combat?" He asked neutrally.

"We have been told that a Romulan ship is on route here to destroy this colony. The Qi'yaH claim that this world is theirs. Narendra III has been a part of Klingon space for two centuries. We will not yield the position to them!"

"You have women and children," Jake pointed out. "Wouldn't it be simpler to leave?" He was already calculating the possibility of beaming these people up into the ship, whether or not they liked it.

"We do not run!" Kresh bit back. "Not from Romulan p'takh!"

However, Jake saw there was more to it than that. "You're a quite a distance from the Empire," he stated. "How long would a rescue ship take to get from your homeworld."

Kresh stiffened. "Not soon enough."

"Lieutenant," Jake said formally, "contact the Vanguard. Inform the captain that there may be Romulans on their way here."

Romulans??? They couldn't fucking tell them that on the way here?? Ray nodded once at Jake, blue eyes making contact for a moment before he stepped off to the side to make the call. "Vanguard, this is Lieutenant Rigby. The leader of the colony just informed us of intel on a possible Romulan attack."

*****

On the bridge of the Vanguard, Shay Houser glared at the view screen (and by proxy, the planet below) when the news came in. Freaking Klingons. On a whole, the race was a pain in the ass. Getting to her feet, she nodded at Lt. Carstairs. "Open a frequency.. this is the Vanguard. Copy that, Lieutenant. I need more information, do we know how many ships? An ETA, that kind of thing?" Against one, her 'baby' could hold her own. Two-depends. Three would be a challenge.

*****

Ray glanced over at Mercer and instinctively, his gaze went to Cate at the back of the group be he looked over at Jake again. He'd known Shay long enough to read the undertones in her rich voice. "Roger that, I'll see what I can find out."

Listening, Shay changed her mind mid course. "Actually, belay that, Lieutenant... Mr. Aziz, go to Yellow Alert and let's put out an all call on Starfleet's encoded narrow band," she said, looking back to Carstairs again. "Put me straight through to Captain Mercer."

*****

"Mercer here," Jake answered a moment later. "Captain?"

"Sitrep, Captain?" Shay replied as she glanced over at the long range station. The officer there shook his head slightly. Nothing on the scanners yet. "We're going to have company? Do we know how many and when? We're not seeing anything for the moment."

Jake remembered something Sloane McRae had told him about Romulan ships, particularly how the MACO team lead by Hard Ass Hayes had managed to get close enough to the planet killer. "Captain," he said firmly. "Romulan shuttles have cloaking technology. Their warbirds may too."

During the war with the Xindi, the Romulans had never shown that aspect of their technology. In retrospect, maybe they didn't want their then allies to know they had it.

"I'm aware of that, Captain but thank you for the reminder." Shay eyed the science officer, who shook his head. "We've got our eyes peeled." Her tone to Jake wasn't at all snide, just matter of fact. Captains didn't always remember everything. "See if you can't find out anything more and tell the med team to standby for beam out. Do you want the rest of your Marines down there?"

"Not at this time but we could use a bit more ordinance down here," Jake replied, thinking that he was glad that Cate and her team were going to be taken aboard the Vanguard. A) He didn't want her to get hurt. B) He didn't want her here and C) having him, Ray and Cate in the same place at the same time where they could be shooting was just asking for trouble.

"Dr. Vedder," Jake said coolly, "you heard the captain. She wants you back on board."

Houser wasn't the only one, thought Cate as he barely spared her a glance.

Turning to Ray, he added. "Can you go up and go through inventory, get us whatever heavy ordinance you can think of. Power packs, extra phase rifles, phase charges, perimeter detectors...you know the drill."

All business now, because whatever beef he had with Jake was not and could not be on this planet right now, Ray nodded. "Yes sir. I'll get it packed up and sent down ASAP," he said, eyeing the settlement behind the Klingons. "You want the 50 cals too or do we have the time to set them up?"

"Bring them anyway..." Jake retorted promptly.

As Jake and Ray sounded like they were preparing for a full-on attack, part of her didn't want to leave. In battle, people got inevitably hurt. She and the med team would be needed here. But she knew there was no point arguing that point, not when the order came from Houser herself, and certainly not with how things were between her and Jake. She simply gave a tight smile to Ronnie.

"That was short and sweet," Armando commented quietly to the other two.

"Can't say I'm not happy to be leaving..." Ronnie returned but Cate could tell Armando didn't feel the same way. Trained as a MACO Corpsman, he was undoubtedly itching to stay behind with what used to be his mates, before the whole Starfleet absorbing the MACO thing happened.

"We're ready, Lieutenant," Cate told Ray when he was done with his CO. It's not like the team had had time to put any of their medical supplies and gear down anyway. They were still pretty much standing, all loaded up, like they had been upon beaming down.

His mind on the weapons inventory and combat, Ray only nodded at Cate and keyed his comm unit. "Vanguard, we're ready. Four to beam up," he said shortly, glancing back at Jake.


*****

Commander Rashul Aziz was standing over the shoulder of the science officer, when he heard distantly the request to beam up. Only a few weeks on board the Vanguard as First Officer, Rashul was fascinated by everything that happened on board the ship.

As first officer, he considered it his duty as divined by Allah to serve his Captain to the best of his ability. He learned every operation, every story and knew every member of crew by sight.

He knew that Doctor Martin and Corporal Sheridan were lovers. That Captain Mercer was not liked by his second in command and that Lt. Carstairs was not a natural blond. These little things may seemed insignificant but contributed on whole to the Vanguard.

In the now, he was studying a curious surge of neutrinos on the sensor array when suddenly, the proximity detectors started screaming in mid transport.

Two Romulan warbirds appeared off the starboard bow and fired. The first blast threw Rashul off his feet, the second blew out the transporter array.

"SHIELDS!" Shay called out, voice carrying over everything else but the order was just a shade too late. When the deck heaved, she was tossed to the floor. Trying to roll with it, she skidded to a very ungraceful stop against the navigator's chair. Her ribs were going to hate her later.

"ABORT TRANSPORT!" he shouted while making his way to the captain.

"We've lost three of the signals," the science officer replied. "They never had a chance for pattern lock on the surface. Only one made it through to the pad."

"Intact?" he demanded.

"Yes," the science officer answered much to the relief of others.

"INCOMING!" Someone else shouted.

About to ask which signal came in intact, Shay scrambled to her feet with the help of her First Officer. "I'm fine, red alert!!" she shouted over the klaxons. "Arm photon torpedoes. Carstairs, open frequencies!"

***

Ray had only maybe.. two seconds between what the transporter techs called 'full return' and being dumped to the deck as the entire ship seemed to heave. Scrambling to his feet, the first place he looked were the transporter pads... the empty transporter pads. "Where's the med team?"

"We lost their signals, the array is gone!" Chief Hardy replied, not looking up at his hands flew over the console like a musician playing a dulcimer. "Bridge, this is the transporter room. I can't get a relock on the med team but Lt. Rigby is on board."

Oh fuck.. Cate.. "Where's Dr. Vedder? Lost how?" Ray demanded, even as the klaxons sounded.

"They're on the surface. Intact."

Thank fucking god. Even with the current situation, Ray knew that Cate would be safe with Mercer and the others. Safe being relative at the moment but his trust in the man hadn't eroded so much. Heading out of the transporter room at a run, Ray keyed his communicator.

"Finch, Harper, I want the squad assembled, ASAP, full gear!!"

*****

Cate saw the shimmering light enveloping Ray and expected the tingly feeling of the transporter beam but nothing happened. Ray disappeared but, as she turned to Ronnie and Armando, she noted her confusion mirrored in their expressions.

"What the hell...?" she muttered, looking up like she couldn't see anything from where she stood.

Something was wrong with the transport. Even as the shimmer began, Jake could see something happening, like a spike. The patterns had just started to coalesce around the team, Ray first when the abrupt spike left three of them behind.

"Captain!" Jake immediately contacted the ship. "What's going?" he demanded.

***

Relieved (but only a little) at the Chief's news, Shay kept her gaze on the view screen as she heard Captain Mercer's voice. "We're under fire, Captain. Transporter lost the signal. Are Dr. Vedder and her team alright?" Surveying the Warbirds, Shay's eyes narrowed. Fuckers.

Jake's eyes darted immediately to Cate and her team. Yeah, she was fine. Pissed off as all hell but still fine. "They're fine."

"Captain Houser," Cate keyed her communicator, butting in, her eyes staring Jake down. "Has Lieutenant Rigby gone through?" She near held her breath, fearing Ray's atoms might have been scattered in the black of space.

"He's on board, Dr. Vedder and in one piece." Though for how long remained to be seen. Shay turned back to Carstairs. "Hail them again! Mr. Aziz, get our security forces on their toes, please." A nod came from Carstairs.

"Copy that, Captain," Cate returned, relief bleeding into her voice.

Suddenly, in the sky above them, a Romulan warbird materialised. The ship was majestic in its beauty, the way a Great White (a real one) was if you were looking at it through glass and not in the water with it. Wings spanned so wide across that it created a shadow beneath them. The ship's nose dipped and it started coming at them at full speed.

"Everyone take cover!" Jake ordered and saw the Klingons starting to run themselves.

Even Warriors knew when to cut and run. The Warbird was fully armoured, most likely with shields up, so the effect of a phase rifle on it would be comparable to him taking a piss on a charging rhino. Without thinking twice, Jake was at Cate's side, grabbing her arm and pulling her to safety. All that other shit between them vanished like tears in the rain, relegated to some far away place where no one was trying to kill them.

"This way!" Kresh barked at him, waving the group not to the buildings but towards the jungle. That made sense. There was no building that wasn't going to be obliterated by Romulan distributors.

Armando had turned to protect Cate just as Ronnie was about to start pushing them in the direction the Klingons were heading. Pausing in a heartbeat when Mercer slid in between the three of them, he merely adjusted his intent, following Mercer's lead instead, as Ronnie brought up the rear. If Cate was surprised by her ex-boyfriend turning into a knight in shining armour suddenly, she didn't show it, nor did she fight his hold on her arm.

As they ran for cover, the Klingons up ahead beckoning them to follow, Cate didn't miss the exchange between Ronnie and Armando. Yes, her goddamn love life wasn't private anymore and everyone was bending backwards not to mention the Marine Captain around her, and it irked the hell out of her. She heard the unvoiced questions all the same, heard the whispers from thoughtful and caring people around her, and from the nastier gossiping busybodies aboard the ship. But with adrenaline and fear coursing her body, she didn't have time to act on it. Whether it was to bark at her staff to mind their own business or to remind Mercer she wasn't his concern anymore. For he seemed to have forgotten...

Kresh led them not into the colony but into the jungle and it was as savage and thick as it appeared from the report he had read. Thick, equatorial forests that crammed trees and vegetation everywhere. It was dense and they couldn't see the ground. If it wouldn't give their position away, he would have blasted the path ahead. Keeping a firm grip on Cate, Jake followed Kresh and his group into the jungle, past trees, while swatting away thick vines and trampling over the rampant undergrowth.

"Where are we going?" he barked past Cate's ear.

The Klingon did not answer but there was probably such abundant wildlife in an environment like this, the Romulan could have trouble locking on.

He hoped.

Climbing over the rotting trunk of a fallen tree, Cate's boot slipped on the moss. Catching her balance, she staggered on the other side and cursed when Jake didn't let up, his momentum yanking her arm forward.

"Captain..." she groaned. "You're hurting me." And just as she hissed the words, she felt the ground shake, the underbrush, the leaves, heavy debris being dislodged from the old, massive trees coming crashing down on them, as the large warbird flew above them, stirring the high, thick canopy and making her bones rattle.

"Everybody get down!" he shouted because, really, who could hear above that noise?

Even the Klingons seemed to think this was a good idea as Jake dropped to the soft soil beneath them, taking Cate with him. Hidden under the canopy of trees and tall undergrowth, they held in place as the ground continued to shudder. This was an attempt to get them back into the open, where they would be easy targets.

"Sweet Jesus," Cate nearly squealed, feeling trapped and about to be captured. She forced her eyes open for a moment, catching sight of Ka'ana and Ronnie nearby, a Klingon just on the other side of Jake too, and she couldn't even stop herself from recoiling at the alien's proximity. Even with the Romulan threat above, Cate felt no safer, close to these Klingon bastards.

"It's okay, Doc," Jake found himself saying, his eyes fixed on the warbird above. "Just stay calm. We're good for now."

His arm was draped around her, ready to lift her to her feet if they needed to run again. More protective than he'd been in months, it only took a moment to make you remember that beneath all the crap, was how he felt about her. Still, the damage had been done and there wasn't any going back. Jake accepted this.

They were far from okay. Even Cate knew as much, could read it beneath Jake's tone, no matter how reassuring he was trying to be. And while his arm around her was soothing, that the fact he seemed to notice she existed once more - other than for a screw - stirred her feelings for him all over again, she couldn't help damning him in her mind, wanting to not be this little scared creature for him to protect.

But nodding, she remained crouched close to the ground and close to him, one arm up to shelter her head and face from the crap falling around them.

The Warbird hovered over them and returned to the colony, preparing to level it. It swung around, kicking dirt and leaves in all directions before heading away from them.

"Kresh, your people," Jake looked up. "Where are your people? Are they still in the colony?"

"No." Kresh shook his head. "We moved them elsewhere before this."

"So if they can't find your people," Jake said, still draped over Cate, "they'll land and come looking."

Kresh nodded. "Yes, human, they will."

Watching the Klingon with a sneer of disdain she could not keep in check, Cate's face fell at that, her breathing quickening. Her instincts to flee kicked into overdrive and she fisted the shoulder of Jake's uniform.

"We need to move," she said, stating the obvious but wondering why no one was moving yet. After their brush with the old Vulcans, she was in no hurry to face pissed off Romulans, their far cousins. Somehow she didn't think that the fact they had been allies during the Xindi War would make any difference on this occasion.

The Romulan warbird gone now, Jake lifted himself onto his feet and helped Cate up, never making eye contact with her since this thing had turned into a shooting war.

"We need to get ready for them." Jake told the Klingon.

"Yes." the Klingon nodded. "The Romulans wish this planet for their own. They've claimed it as theirs even though this has been Klingon territory. They intend to kill us all to show the Empire that this world is theirs no matter how many times we settle here."

"Well, that's not going to happen," Jake said, looking at him. "Where are your people hiding?" he asked, stepping away from Cate now that it was safe to do so.

Jake pulling back was like a blow, a cold replacing the warmth she hadn't even noticed had gathered between them. Of course, the immediate threat was gone so no need to play to her damsel in distress any longer than necessary. And the way he reverted to ignoring her when she spoke wasn't lost on her. Back to business as usual. She felt like a thing he liked to cuddle to, but not talk to. Trou de cul.

She fought back the sob balling in her throat, berating herself for being an idiot in believing he might have decided to pull his big head out of his ass, and staggered back, bumping into Ka'ana before she pivoted to stand in front of Ronnie, who was right behind the sergeant.

Ronnie looked at her curiously until she looked down at her boots. "Are you okay?" he asked, one hand going to her elbow. She looked twitchy as hell and he didn't think it was just due to the Romulans crashing the party. She'd been unsettled since they'd been told to come down here, to check out a Klingon colony. Not a Klingon fan either, he still didn't look at them with half the contempt she seemed to hold for them.

"Just peachy," she retorted, snatching her arm out of his gentle grasp.

Jake didn't miss the exchange but he held his silence. Instead, he gestured Ka'ana and Dee to follow him as he approached Kresh. "What weapons do you have?"

"We have our bath'let and our d'taghs," Kresh replied. "We have some small weapons but not many and we did not have time to take all of them. We would have perhaps one or two."

"You two, hand over your phasers," Jake ordered. "If I were them, I'd level your colony and then start a search on foot."

"Let them come!" One of Kresh's man declared hotly. "The Romulans are no match for us if they attempted to fight us."

"They wouldn't be if they didn't have disruptors, which unfortunately they do, so we're going to have to fight them without engaging them in full frontal combat. Trust me," Jake met Kresh's gaze, "since the destruction of our planet, we've learnt the best way to engage an enemy with superior weapons is to do it using guerrilla tactics."

Reaching for his own communicator, he handed one to Kresh, adjusting the frequency so that it would transmit on a coded channel the Romulans couldn't pick up. "Take this. We'll need to communicate."

Beneath them, the ground shook again and in the distance, Jake could hear the unmistakable sound of a disruptor firing.

Cate flinched a little but, as she composed herself, threw a look in Ronnie's way. One he understood as 'stop babying me', so he did. With a smirk and a shrug.

He could only imagine their CMO, Dr. Dennis Martin, up above on the Vanguard, spitting vinegar and swearing like a sailor upon finding out what was happening.

Ronnie had discussed the matter with him, following the FUBAR mission on Solarian IV with the Cardassian colony, and again after Angel I, where Cate had fought against seriously sexist and fucked up Amazon warriors. The man had promised himself to never let Dr. Vedder go off ship without him. Of course, this was impractical but it didn't stop the man from wishing he could shield his staff from all the bad stuff in this universe.

And now, things were even more complicated, Ronnie realised as his gaze settled on the red head up above, standing near her captain and the Klingon leader. His bit of tail was here too, about to be hunted down and pulverised by Romulans. Yes, all things considered, Ronnie figured he was better off down here than up there. That was at least his conclusion until another wave of disruptor fire erupted, rocking the ground they stood on.

"Where is this hideout of yours?" Jake asked Kresh. "I'd like to take the medical team there. Are there any injuries among the colonist?"

"Yes," Kresh nodded. "There were some minor injuries during the evacuation but nothing more serious than that."

"Good," Jake nodded once Ka'ana and Dee had handed some of their smaller arms to Kresh's entourage. "Let's get going."

Kresh nodded and the MACO captain stayed a pace or two behind the Klingon as he led the way through the jungle to the sanctuary he had found for his people. Jake looked over his shoulder at Cate's direction, confident she could carry on without assistance. Besides, the manner she was showing to her own colleagues indicated she had her fill of his aid. Best to keep at minimum safe distance for now.

They trudged through the forest for a good ten minutes, heading towards the river, Kresh had explained. In the meantime, columns of smoke rose above the tops of the trees, indicating the destruction of the colony.

"I've got a knack for these things," Cate muttered under her breath.

Leaning in a little, Ronnie raised an eyebrow, unsure he'd heard her right. Boot squelching in the soggy ground, he followed her, barely a step behind since the thick underbrush of the jungle didn't really permit two wide. "What do you mean, Cate?"

"This... things going to shit. Name me one mission I've been on recently that hasn't disintegrated into a hellish scenario?"

Spotting the smoke in the distance, smelling it too, Ronnie swallowed, glancing back to Armando right behind him. "Doc's got a point," he let out.

"Huh?" Armando asked, moving his attention to his team mate in front of him. "What?"

"Never mind." Ronnie shook his head, looking front once more, just in time to sidestep a big hole filled with rainwater.

When the fire ceased, the silence it left behind was almost as deafening as the warbird had been, flying above them earlier.

"Hey," Armando called out, glancing over his shoulder at the Sergeant behind him. "How long do you think before the Romulans come chasing us?"

Ka'ana had dropped back to watch the medics while the Sharks were spread about liberally, flanking the Klingons who didn't quite like the help but took it nonetheless because they understood soldiers better than anyone. Jake was in front, watching everything. Life readings on this planet had been off the scale, teeming with it. From the colourful buds, to the insects scurrying across the ground, he saw everything from snakes coiling tree trunks to jumping creatures moving stealthily in the trees.

"I'd say about twenty minutes," Ka'ana replied. "If we're lucky."

Well, that answered that. "We rarely are..." Armando quipped in return, wishing he was still carrying a standard issue phase rifle.

Up ahead, Cate ground to a halt suddenly when her boot got stuck, the mud sucking it down with a slurpy sound. "Oh, for fuck's sake," she growled and then Ronnie bumped into her before he could stop himself.

"What's the matter?" He grabbed her by the arms by reflex before she could fall on her face, surprised by her language but noticing the red on her cheeks. She was embarrassed and he felt for her. He guessed the last thing she wanted was for Mercer to come check what the hold up was.

"Just help me pull my damn foot out, will you?"

Jake heard Cate's irritated voice and looked over his shoulder just in time to see the ground open up underneath her, as her foot had been stuck in the nostril of something very big with a mouth as equally large, that seemed to wait in the mud, for unsuspecting comers to be in exactly the position Cate found herself now.

"Shit!" He swung around as Ka'ana rushed in to blast the thing.

"What the..." Ronnie exclaimed as the whole area beneath he and Cate shifted and rippled. He started to back peddle in the slippery mud as he found himself pulled down along with Cate when the ground simply seemed to vanish. Falling backwards, his ass connected with harder soil and, one hand still clutching his boss, he tried to hoist her out and away from whatever huge thing started to crawl out of there, its jaws snapping in frustration.

Blood running cold, Cate didn't even realise the scream splitting her head was her own. She was falling and all she was seeing were those enormous lizard-like eyes staring up at her.

Her scream pierced through his armour, sliced through his skin and didn't stop going until it impaled his heart with stark terror as he saw the..whatever the fuck it was...going after his girl.

As Cate slid down, Jake saw Dee launch herself into the mud, sliding towards Cate, yelling at Ka'ana over her shoulder. "Grab my foot!"

The big man wasted no time, dropping on his haunches to snap Dee's ankle as the corporal reached out and grabbed Ronnie, dragging him backwards because he had a hold of Cate already.

"It's a Torak beast!" Kresh shouted. "Their venom is poisoned!"

"Oh, what a fucking surprise," Jake retorted, skidding to his knees as he put the thing in the crosshairs of his rifle and fired. The blast sailed past Cate, missing her by inches, striking the grey, leathery flesh and rupturing its bodily fluids across everyone in splatter distance.

"Fucking Christ!" It was Ronnie's turn to swear as the shots passed him and nearly singed Cate's hair, illuminating her features. Her expression of horror was burned in his mind as he swore again when the beast's head exploded like a ripe melon and goo went everywhere.

Glancing up, he caught sight of who held him and smirked through the muck. "Oh, sweetness. I owe you a few rounds," he let out, even if he and Cate weren't quite out of the woods yet.

Noticing the human rope he was part of, he nodded to the sergeant holding Cpl. Sheridan. "Avyn, you too, big guy. Awww, shit..." He spat out the blood of the monster leaking into his mouth, a shudder running through him. "Yuk."

The noxious shower shut Cate right up. Up close and personal as she was, she got drenched in blood and brain matter and the safest course of action was to keep her eyes and mouth closed. She remained dangling along the head of the beast, unmoving and silent until the creature twitched its last breaths, its powerful neck connecting with her and sending her into another screaming frenzy and kicking dance.

"Hell!" Ronnie groaned as he was yanked down, his hold on her nearly giving.

Jake reacted when the thing moved, kicking his leg out, smashing his boot against the thing's jaw and causing it to roll away from Cate, down the incline where it had emerged.

"Cate." He was at her side in seconds. "You're okay! It's dead!" He tried to convince her through the viscera she was covered in.

"It's a male," Kresh commented as he approached the humans. "Very dangerous but good eating."

"Only Klingons would think of eating when looking at this," Armando muttered, moving in to help Ka'ana pull Sheridan and the others out of that hell hole.

Blinking, trying to see through the crap stinging her eyes, she sensed something or someone approaching and jerked back, only to calm down when she heard Jake's voice.

"Jake," Cate croaked, leaning into him, her body shaking violently. "What was... oh, god..."

"It's okay," he said, holding her, not giving a flying fuck if she hated his guts later on or not, he couldn't see her so afraid and not do anything. He didn't even care what the Klingons thought of this. "I got you, Doc, you're okay." He stroked her back, allowing her to take strength from him. "It's dead." He cast a gaze in the thing's direction.

Forgetting why she should keep away from him when every fibre of her being told her to let him in again, Cate clung to him, slimy fingers locking around a strap of his armour. She tugged on the arm Ronnie still held above her head and the medic finally let go, figuring Mercer had her. Taking a moment to catch her breath, her arm sneaked around his neck and she buried her face against his shoulder.

The fabric of his uniform drank the fluids covering her face and she wiped her cheeks and brow with more purpose, a small smile showing through - a little manic, yes, but a smile nonetheless - for using him as a towel.

"What is it with us?" she cracked, her voice rough but quiet, referring to all the shitty situations they found themselves in.

"Just lucky, I guess," he replied quietly, conflict churning inside of him because for the first time in too long, an emotion was shaking itself loose that had nothing to do with lust or possession. If they had been anywhere but where they were, he might have spoken to her about it, if she even cared to hear but his moment of revelation was his alone and something more frightening than the thing he just killed, lurked in the edge of his mind, waiting to make itself known when he was most vulnerable.

Dee straightened up and glanced at Ronnie. "The things I do for you guys in the Sick Bay." She winked.

Free from Cate's weight, Ronnie paddled up and followed the corporal, finding his feet finally after accepting Ka'ana's arm to pull himself up.

He met Dee's gaze and shook his head. "Don't get me started with that, woman." They both knew what she really got up to in Sickbay and that was well above and beyond the call of duty. He returned her wink.

Dee threw the man a playful wink, perfectly aware of what he was alluding to. The thought of Dennis made her look up into the sky, at the Vanguard she couldn't see through the clouds crushing the blue into grey. A storm was coming.

"We must hurry," Kresh reminded, surprisingly non judgemental about Jake's show of affection for the female. "The Romulans will soon be coming."

"Yeah." Jake nodded, shifting in his place.

"Cate, can you stand up?" he asked her gently.

"Yes," Cate replied without hesitation. Hearing her name on his tongue reminded her of how long it had been since he'd called her that. It wasn't Doctor Cate, but she'd take this over plain Doc or Dr. Vedder.

Taking her hand, he helped Cate to her feet. He needed to be Captain Mercer again and so he turned to Ronnie.

"Hey, Lloyd. You mind keeping Doctor Cate on her feet?" He froze a moment, staring at her for the slip before turning away again, embarrassed almost. "I need to lead this safari."

Touched more than she cared to admit, Cate merely blinked, part of her not wanting to give him the satisfaction of knowing a simple word could affect her so.

"Sure, Captain," Ronnie replied right away, the reality of their situation helping him hide a smirk.

"Let's move out," he ordered everyone else and followed Kresh, who started moving first.

Ronnie glanced to Dee, quirking an eyebrow, before he nudged Cate. "Come on, Boss. You heard the man," he couldn't help himself saying.

*****

The Vanguard was outnumbered - technically. Two to one wasn't enough to really make Shay worried. What she really wanted to do was go after the ship that had dropped into the atmosphere, and she didn't need to be a military strategist to know why. Forget about her two ships on one, down there it was a war ship against colonists on foot. That just wasn't fucking fair.

"I repeat, this is Captain Houser of the Starfleet..."

"Incoming!!!"

"Evasive ac....!"

This time, the missiles seemed to impact the shields much closer to the bridge, causing Shay to grit her teeth as she fought to keep her seat. Around her, the Vanguard protested in defiance and at the science officer's station, energy surged and crackled over a console. "HEADS UP!" she shouted, giving the lieutenant just enough time to dive out of the way before a panel exploded, arcing a shower of sparks like a ruptured vein pumping out blood.

"Fire at will!" She ordered, glad that she'd initiated a distress signal at the beginning of this. As any good captain could tell, her ship was taking a beating.

"Captain, we're venting atmosphere on Deck Eight!"

Deck Eight.. astrocartography, among other things. "Lock it down! Mr. Aziz, damage report!?"

"The shuttle bay is compromised and our transporter array is destroyed," Rashul answered, reading off the fiery red letters on the screen before him. "Captain, we can't take too many more hits like this."

"She'll hold together! Lieutenant Harris..." Glancing back, Shay's didn't meet those of her weapons officer, instead landing on a younger security officer who was frantically following orders. Behind him on the deck was Dylan Harris, the carpet underneath his head darkening rapidly.

*****

"Finch, Harper, I want the squad assembled, ASAP, full gear!!"

Already running toward the Cage after the first hit the Vanguard took, Cpl. Damien Finch did a double take when he heard the LT over his comm. Wasn't he planetside?

"Copy that, Lieutenant. Two minutes away. Finch out."

He moved on to calling the rest of the troops, for those who wouldn't already had the sense to make their way to their Shark hole on the Vanguard, as he ran along a corridor. He suddenly took a left and slid down the staircase, boots on either side of the steps, and bounced back out on the lower deck to resume his run, sidestepping panicking blue suits from Starfleet.

*****

Having made it to their area, despite hitting the bulkhead from another hit, Ray picked Finch out of the crowd of Marines and weapons, all in the process of being checked and double-checked. If they weren't checking a gun, they were strapping on armour in quick, precise movements.

"Finch!" he called, beckoning to the newly transferred Sergeant Dannon for the weapon in her hands. Catching it easily when she tossed it over, Ray checked the charge.

"Romulans are attacking, there's at least two Warbirds. The others are stuck on the planet. I want a squad on the bridge, in case we get boarded," he said, pulling on his own armour from his locker. "Dannon, that's you."

The brunette looked up at her name. "Yessir!" she replied, motioning her squad to her.

Fixing each other's straps, Harper and Finch bumped along each other as they made there way through the crowded space to end up standing in front of Rigby. Their eyes touched on Dannon but they soon snapped back to Mercer's 2IC.

"Sir?" Finch and Harper let out, the former answering his LT's last call while the latter was reporting for the original order sent over the communicators.

"Harper, you're with Dannon, cover the bridge. Finch, your squad's with me, we're taking engineering," Ray ordered over top of the klaxons, heading for the door at a run.

*****

As they resumed their walk, Ronnie and Cate tried to brush the worst of the muck off their uniforms. The smell was turning rather interesting and, while it might help hide their human scent, the medic doubted it would play any part in this cat and mouse game they were stuck in with the Romulans.

The foliage thinned out at the sound of running water and they emerged into a boulder filled clearing that flanked one side of the river. Greyish white boulders covered the terrain on either side of the river and as they made their way up the length of it, climbing up a somewhat formidable incline, the culmination of their journey was a water fall that came down an almost 100 foot drop. Jake was reminded of the falls in South America and the Congo as they approached it.

Kresh knew the terrain well, leading them up a path surrounded by boulders and vegetation that led behind the thunderous cascade to a small opening in the sheer rock face that the water journeyed down. It was just big enough for a man to enter and obscured enough to be hidden unless someone knew it was there.

"It's breathtaking," Cate commented when they closed in on the waterfall.

"I could better appreciate it if I knew Rommies weren't on our tail," Ronnie replied.

"Want a shower?" he joked as Kresh led them closer and closer, until they passed the watery curtain to reach a breach in the rock beyond it.

"Tempting." She gave him a smile before squeezing into the crack. "I just hope I'm not going to draw out any more nasty creatures ..." She bit her bottom lip when she heard her own voice echo along the rock wall. It was a little too shaky for her taste.

The crack in the rock face led through a narrow passage in the rock for a good minute or so and then emptied into a larger cavern that was immediately filled with voices of people and the scent of too many in a confined space. Jake looked over the faces illuminated by portable torches and realised that the colony of hundred was here. The first cavern led to a much bigger one and it didn't take a genius in geography to know they were inside the mountain.

"This should keep us safe," Kresh explained as they joined the colonist. "Even from Romulan disruptors."

"Maybe." Jake wasn't so sure.

"Dee, Ka'ana, go set up some proximity detectors outside, will you. I want a heads up if the Romulan ground troops get near here."

"On it." Ka'ana nodded, more or less expecting the order. He motioned at Dee, who promptly fell behind him as they headed out the way they came.

Cate looked around before she turned to Armando. "Come with me."
The Corpsman followed her and the pair went deeper into the cave, passing numerous Klingon families, before they caught up with Kresh.

"Sir?" Cate nervously looked around her, the faces of the males so similar to the ones still inhabiting some of her nightmares. "Kresh." She spoke louder, her tone more in line with the authoritarian manner they used.

The Klingon looked her way and then stomped over to the female. Jake was in the process of checking the rest of the cave when he shifted his gaze in her direction, curious about what she wanted with the Klingon.

"What is it?" he asked, gruffly. Kresh had made up his mind that this was Captain Mercer's female and was unaware that Starfleet allowed its warriors to bring its females into the battlefield. A bad practice for certain. What if she were with child?

"I'm Doctor Vedder," she introduced herself, her voice barely showing the fear she was wrestling with inside. The last time she had stood that close to a Klingon, he had been fighting with a fellow warrior over her while others were gutting her father. She didn't offer her hand for a shake, as she didn't believe their kind observed that particular greeting, but she nodded. "Do you have any wounded needing treatment?"

"Only minor scratches during our hasty evacuation," he replied, noticing her anxiety. Were all human females so fragile? "You may see to those if you will."

Jake was pretending to go about his business but in truth, he was listening closely to Cate's conversation with the Klingon. He knew she had a history with the race and suspected that speaking to Kresh, even if he was an ally, was intimidating. Of course what Klingons considered minor scratches could be their way of down playing a major injury.

She glanced at Armando, standing a little ways behind her. "This is Corpsman Bernard. He can start seeing to them. My other colleague and I ought to clean up first, I'm afraid..." Ronnie's idea of a shower didn't sound like such a bad one after all. Maybe they could head out while Ka'ana and Sheridan were still out there.

"Ka'ana and Dee are setting up perimeters at the mouth of the cave," Jake replied as he approached Kresh and Cate after giving the cave a once over. It was deep and judging by the height of some of the ceilings, situated deep in the cliff face. The Romulans would have a difficult time being certain that aerial bombardment would finish them off if they fired their disruptors on the cave. "If you and Ronnie want to get cleaned up, now's the time."

It was refreshing to hear that Jake was thinking along the same lines she was. She glanced his way before nodding back at the Klingon and stepping away. She patted Armando's shoulder. "You go on. We'll join you shortly."

"Sure, ma'am," Armando replied in that manner for the benefit of the others around them, the med team never this formal amongst themselves. Approaching Kresh, he waited for the Klingon to lead the way or show him where he could find the injured.

Cate stared after the Corpsman's back as he and the leader headed deeper into the cave before looking at Jake. "Thanks for that. Ronnie and I thought we could make use of the waterfall." At least some of the smaller rivulets streaming down near the mouth of the cave. She didn't fancy a dive along the main part of the waterfall though, after what had happened earlier, she guessed it would just be her luck to slip and head in.

"Good idea," Jake agreed, glad that they could at least hold a conversation. At some point their relationship would have to be discussed but at least right now, in this situation, they could leave their problems behind. "Don't stray too far, we don't have a real ETA on those Romulans hunting us."

"Of course." The words came out automatically as her mind was too busy studying him. Such a stark contrast to less than an hour ago. He allowed for eye contact, spoke to her directly, held her gaze without shutting her out. He'd even come here to talk to her of his own free will. She wanted to reach out to him, touch him in some way - she'd longed for his eyes on her so much - but she was afraid he would clam back down. She swallowed instead of treading into something personal like admitting she'd missed him and looked around them before her eyes went back on his. "I best be going..."

There were things he wanted to say to her, begging her forgiveness was one of them but there was something inside of him not mended yet, still gaping raw that told Jake Mercer if he apologised, he'd solve no problem. Right now, Cate might hate him but at least he couldn't hurt her and he was afraid of hurting her. When she had left him, when Ray had come after him, Jake had realised how much of a problem he really had. It was part of the reason he stayed away, keeping his distance so that he would get no further opportunity.

"Yeah," he nodded, "those people need you." He glanced at the Klingons. "You know how they are, they won't admit their scratch is an amputation until you see it for yourselves."

Her eyes flashed and her expression hardened before she glanced down. If it was only up to her, she would let them die and that was the shameful truth she was battling with. Even seeing their women and children now barely doused the burning hatred she had for the race, for they had killed women and children on Gaia too, regardless of their so called honour. But it went against her oath and the core of her being, this need she had to care for others, so, like she had done for the Jem'Hadar on Solarian IV, she would put her personal feelings aside and do her job. She would push through the fear and the images of the past that assailed her and perform her duty.

"Right." Her voice was tight and controlled but she couldn't help it, and she hoped Jake wouldn't misread it for something else... something to do with him.

Jake stiffened, aware that her hostility had to do with the Klingons because Cate had reason to dislike them but then he wondered if part of it did not have to do with him either. "Don't be too long," he said before turning away, not wishing to provoke her ire if he was the reason for it now.

The shift in his stance told her he had indeed misread her. Perhaps she hadn't been clear enough when she had told him of her father's death and he had not understood the depth of her loathing for the Klingons. Perhaps...

"We'll be as quick as possible."

With that, she went back toward the narrow passage and the entrance beyond, grabbing Ronnie on the way. They found what they needed, an area where a thin slice of the river was diverted by a grouping of big boulders and sent further to the side, the water descending a series of rock steps into a cascade. Its velocity a lot lower, it was safe enough for Cate and Ronnie to stand under its flow to rinse off the filth. They got plenty of comments from Ka'ana and Sheridan for that until Ronnie alluded to the Corporal's affair with his boss, earning him Cate's elbow in the ribs while Ka'ana guffawed merrily.

"Alright, this is as clean as we'll get," Cate said, putting them back on track before Mercer came out himself to pull them back in. "At least now we have a chance at being remotely sanitary for the wounded."

Squeezing the excess water from her hair and the top of her uniform, she wished for a towel. There were a few blankets but nothing she'd used when some patient might need it later. At least it wasn't cold. The jungle was actually quite steamy and Cate figured she and Ronnie were probably the only two there remotely comfortable and cooled down.

Ka'ana smirked as he nudged Sheridan, watching the doctor twisting her hair into a messy bun and securing it on the crown of her head. "Should I tell her Mercer prefers it down?"

Dee rolled her eyes and threw him a look. "What are you, her girlfriend? Jeez, you need to get laid. You're getting all girly." Dee smirked.

"Oy!" Ka'ana took offence at that. "Alright, everybody in," he barked.

"You too, smartass with a gold membership from Sickbay."

*****

"Captain, shields at forty percent!"

"Divert black power to the forward shields and..."

"Captain, multiple Rommies beaming onto the ship! Decks three and ten..."

Shit. Right here at the bridge and engineering. Shay slapped at the controls on her chair, hailing Ray. "Rigby, we've got party crashers. Bridge and engineer...." A load groan on metal filled the bridge, causing everyone's attention to snap to the main doors, where the centre of them glowed surreally. Shay's eyes widened when she realized that on this side, the metal was beginning to slag. "Mr. Aziz.. weapons! Take cover!!" The door exploded inward, molten bits of metal flying everywhere as crew members scrambled for cover.

Rashul threw himself over his captain, taking the brunt of the debris as fragments from the door exploded. There was no time to waste, he scrambled for the compartment next to the captain's chair and pulled out the door hand phasers that were stored there. "Captain!" He called out, tossing the woman one of the weapons because he expected they would have company coming through that ruptured door.

Catching the phaser one-handed, Shay fired at the first non-Starfleet uniform that appeared in the hole. The intruder took three phasers in the gut, ensuring a quick death. Behind him, she could see hands pushing the body out of the way.

"Captain!! Heads up!!!"

Shay glanced at the spot her helmsman indicated, where she recognized the shimmers in the air. "Aziz!! Behind you!" Firing at the glimmer, Shay's first shot zipped through a transporting Romulan, atoms too scrambled for her shot to do any damage.

However, the second took one of the three invaders squarely in the chest, splattering what innards that weren't cooked on the bulkhead behind him.

Aziz felt the hair on the back of his neck stand, possibly in reaction to the transporter beam materialising behind him. Reacting instinctively, the commander slammed his elbow backwards, the joint making contact with soft flesh. Azis turned around and saw a Romulan doubling over before he finished the bastard with his phaser. The Romulan continued the journey to the floor unconscious. Jumping over the console panel, he took refuge behind it as the bridge became a battle ground.

Whomever said that bridge officers never got any action, really ought to be here right now, Aziz thought to himself.

******

Almost an hour later and nothing was heard from the Vanguard. If there were Romulans hell bent on ridding this planet of the Klingons then it was a safe bet that the Vanguard had its hands full. Jake only hoped that the Captain managed to get a distress signal out to Starfleet because he didn't think the Vanguard had the juice to take on a handful of Romulan warbirds.

"K, Dee." Jake stood up as Cate and the medical team were squared away, tending busily to the Klingons and their so called 'minor scratches'.

The two Sharks approached along with Kresh and a younger Klingon named Karig. Kresh had discerned rightly that the human was not about to sit on his hands and do nothing when there were Romulans out there, hunting them.

"What's up, Captain?" Dee asked first.

"We're going to do some recon, take a look out there and see what ground forces the Romulans have searching for us.
"We will assist you," Kresh declared. His tone indicated that it wasn't a request. "We know this terrain better than you, we will guide you."

"Okay, Dee, K, you go with Karig," Jake replied, not too proud to accept the help.
"Kresh, we'll head in the other direction. We'll keep an open channel between the two teams."

"Right." Ka'ana nodded.

"Get prepped, we leave in two minutes," Jake spoke, his gaze searching for Cate in the dim light.

*****

"No, not like that. Would you stop moving?" Cate glared at the Klingon boy, well, not so much a boy as a teenager probably.

"Armando, come here before I shoot him myself," she hissed, her head twisting back over her shoulder so she could locate the corpsman.

"Doc?" Armando looked up from his suture work on an elderly woman and grinned.

"Yeah, tried fixing him up earlier and he would have none of it. The Klingon way, apparently..."

The old woman sniggered for a moment before she leaned toward the boy and barked a few choice words. The boy blanched and the woman sat back, a contented smile on her face.

"His name is Kern," the woman addressed Cate. "Named after one of our proud warriors. Goes to his head sometimes. He will do as you say now."

Cate found herself answering the woman with a grin while she hesitated in nodding her head in thanks.

Jake found Cate with Armando in the process of dealing with a young Klingon boy who would have surely given her crap for her efforts. Klingon boys were like Klingon men, headstrong, independent and supremely confident that they could handle anything.

"Hey," he greeted her. "I'm heading out to do some recon, I think everyone is safe for now but some of the Sharks are staying so don't worry, keep doing what you're doing. Some hot heads will try and go out and fight the enemy but my people will manage them."

She looked up, meeting Jake's gaze. This rapport, they hadn't had in a long while and Cate nearly smiled just because of it.

"Speaking of hot heads..." she let out, indicating the kid she was working on. "Meet Kern. He thinks this open fracture is nothing and that he should be out there, posturing." She pointed to the leg, the white-grey of the fibula having snapped cleanly in two clearly showing in the open gash.

"Nice break, kid," Jake looked down at the young man. Dropping to his heels, he regarded the kid with a smirk. "I know it doesn't look that bad but you have to give the women something to do or else they'll be frightened. You don't want to make the women scared, do you? If you let her fix your leg, you'll keep her out of trouble, make it easier for Kresh and me to go hunt Romulans. If you do that for me, I'll bring you back a souvenir."

Eyes narrowing, Cate stared at Jake while he went on with his pep talk. She was grateful to him for telling the boy to stay put but she wished he'd used some other reason. Even the older broad gave him a pointed look.

"Get out there, Captain, before us, scaredy women, paint a nice bullseye on your back."

Grinning, Jake stood up. "See what I mean?" He winked at the boy. "Gotta keep 'em busy or they get up to no good."

Straightening up, he winked at Cate, forgetting all the shit that had gone on between them for now. "Take care, Doctor Cate. I won't be long."

"I'm timing you," she returned, warming beneath his gaze, his parting words to her like a caress. This time it hadn't been a slip and it went right through that wall she was fighting to keep wrapped around her.

Her response gave him reason to crack another grin and for the first time in what seemed too long, Jake Mercer started to feel like himself again.

*****

[do]

It had started to rain.

The water came down in sheets, steaming up the jungle and creating a haze. The Romulan wiped the water from his eyes, disliking this weather. It was all together too wet for his liking. He preferred the dry heat of Romulus to this moist, ridden sot of earth. The rain splattered against leaves, bouncing of large fronds and created an orchestra of sound that made him nervous. It was difficult to discern what was animal and what was rain.

Suddenly, something moved.

A frond seemed to shift more than normal in the dense wall of trees ahead. The Romulan lifted his disruptor, drifting away from the group of five he was a part of, to investigate. Convinced this was just the rain, he trudged across the ground of mud and rotting foliage, hating this equatorial hell and wondering what was the Praetor's desire to keep such a place in the Empire. The Klingons were well suited to such primitive savagery.

He moved past the vines, using the barrel of his weapon to shift the thick ropes of plant life out of his way. Looking over his shoulder, he could see his comrades and felt assured that if his investigations proved naught, they would be able to come to his aid relatively quickly. Pausing at the edge of a slope covered by trees, he saw no sign of any creature and turned his back to leave.

Jake yanked the Romulan's ankle so fast, the enemy had no chance to scream. He landed against the mud almost soundlessly and before he could utter a sound, a hand cupped over his mouth a split second before a blade was shoved up his ribs and twisted hard. Jake dragged him into the darkness beneath the slope, the slick ground making his descent quick.

The struggle was less than a minute with Kresh keeping watch to see the Romulans comrades didn't advance upon them too soon. Green blood seeped into the ground as the Romulan finally went limp in Jake's grip. When he was done, Jake released him.

Without speaking, he took the Romulans disruptor and handed it to Kresh. The man would know who in the colony could handle the weapon. In the meantime, he snatched the rank insignia from the dead man's uniform. Looking him over, Jake also found a lapel pin and pocketed it.

They would need that for the others.

******

An hour later, Jake and Kresh returned to the cave. The Klingon distributing the five weapons that they had managed to 'acquire' from the Romulans. As Kresh armed his people, Jake went to find Cate, pausing at Kern first.

"Here you are," he handed the boy the lapel. "Fresh from the farm."

Kern beamed in delight.

Everyone had been treated and the med team were taking a break while they could. Ronnie was brushing up on his Klingon with a mother and child, while Armando was playing some knife game with a couple of kids. Keeping to herself, Cate was sitting against the wall of the cave, a bottle of water in hand.

Relieved, she watched the Marine Captain return and move about the cave. Just by his gait, she could tell things had gone his way out there... except maybe for the rain. He handed something to the teenage boy and she wondered what exactly. Surely not some war trophy. She winced at the thought.

"Dee, K," Jake spoke into his communicator as he caught sight of Cate sitting at the far end of the wall. "What's your position?"

"Just trailing a couple of Rommies," Ka'ana replied. "They're twitching a little because one of their patrols didn't check in. They're not used to this terrain, they're staggering through it like a bunch of girls...Ow!" He hissed, making Jake roll his eyes.
"Cut it, Red..." Jake heard him complain.

"If you're done... Jack and Jill?" Jake cut through. "Keep on 'em and see if they head back to the ship or keep stumbling around. You guys secure?"

"Yeah, the rain's making things easy."

"Good." Jake nodded as he reached Cate finally. "Mercer out."

Taking up the space next to her, Jake leaned into the wall and took off his helmet, running his fingers through his wet hair. "How's things, Doc?"

Turning her head to him, Cate tried not to feel so nervous. Once again he was coming to her and she didn't want to read too much into it or do something to mess it up.

"It's been okay." She watched a drop of rain roll down along his throat and her fingers went to wipe it before her brain could even process the idea... the desire to do so and quash it. She paused for a split second but continued the movement, brushing the drop away and the others further along his neck with the back of her hand, her eyes apologising for taking the liberty that was no longer hers to take. Pulling back, she gave him a tight smile. "I see you opted for a shower too..." she commented, her tone teasing.

The tension between them was thick but not so thick they couldn't function. He knew he had to address what had happened between them but this was neither the time or place for it.

"Yeah, this weather is a killer but thankfully the Romulans aren't comfortable with it. We spotted a patrol coming this way but we dealt with it. I suspect there's going to be more of them before the day is out." He shifted his gaze towards her, wanting to say... he didn't know what he could say and thus didn't speak his mind like he wanted.

"Gonna have to go out again soon. The best strategy we've got is picking them off slow."

She nodded, appreciating that he would take the time to keep her up to speed. She damn well knew he didn't have to, and in recent weeks he sure hadn't.

She wondered why the change, why he was warming up to her again, why he was giving her the time of day. Was it because of their current situation, the pressure of life and death? Did he get off on that stuff, on having to protect her, save her? Why not on the Vanguard, when she felt like she was drowning? That hadn't qualified? She'd never considered herself a cynic before but she wondered if she shouldn't have just put a phaser to her temple before now to get him to talk to her.

"You should make sure you and your guys eat something. This heat..." Her eyes went to the crack in the rock that was their exit. "This heat is sneaky."

Yeah, and stay well hydrated, a little voice added in her head, mocking. What else could she tell him? She sure couldn't broach the subject that kept them apart. So, not wanting to lose this tentative dialogue between them, she was babbling about health issues just like he had come to tell her about his military tactics against the Romulans when the art of war really wasn't her concern.

She wanted to say something about them, Jake realised in a flash of insight.

"Yeah, the humidity that gets you," he said instead, eyes fixed on her, trying to draw courage to say the next words. "Cate," his voice was sober, almost a whisper. "When this is done and we're back on the ship, we... we should talk."

******

The Romulan patrol led Dee, Ka'ana and Karig to the edge of the jungle, almost near the colony. Through the cover of bush, the trio peered past the tree line into the flattened remains of the Klingon settlement. There was nothing there bigger than a rock. Romulan disruptors had flattened the colony until not a building remain.

"QI'yah!" Karig cursed seeing the home that he and his neighbours had built so utterly disrupted.

Dee didn't know what that meant but the sentiment spoke volumes. "At least no one was hurt," she tried to say sympathetically.

"This will be paid for in blood!" Karig cursed further as he gripped the d'k tagh in his belt.

"Just take it easy.." Ka'ana added when suddenly the ground started rumbling violently. Even with the teeming rain, the effect was considerable with the trees bending from the sudden gust of wind, with debris, dirt and rotting plant life swirling around in the air. "Those are engines!"

And true enough, the Romulan warbird appeared, lifting into the air, its massive bulk creating a shadow over the landscape. However, instead of ascending higher, it hovered a few hundred feet in the air. Its thrusters fired, causing the nose of the ship to swerve in the direction of the jungle facing them.

"I got a bad feeling about this..." Dee started to say.

"Yeah," Ka'ana nodded as the Romulan disruptors fired but instead of shooting volleys, the disruptors continued, creating a deadly beam of energy that was cutting a swathe through the jungle, destroying anything in its path. In seconds, whole tracts of jungle were cleared.

"GO! GO! GO!" Ka'ana ordered Karig and Dee.

They started running as nothing less than a maelstrom followed behind them.

******

He wanted to... talk? Part of her didn't want to believe it. It was screaming at her to step back and keep her distance, a defence mechanism to prevent what had happened before to reoccur. But at the end of the day, she could no more turn her back on him and ignore his attempt at communicating than she could watch those injured Klingons without helping them, no matter how angry and hurt she was.

What he'd spat at her after Ray had confronted him, after she'd tried to find out why he was avoiding her, it still stung and she would have to set him straight on that, but for now she was so overwhelmed he would reach out to her that words escaped her. Her hand found his instead, the one that rested on his thigh, and clutched it tightly.

Lost in his stormy blue eyes, her mouth opened to force out an emotion-laden 'okay' when the ground started to shake beneath them suddenly. Small rocks came loose from the ceiling of the cave under the strong vibrations and finally the sound of disruptor fire reached the confines of their stone hideout.

Klingon children shrieked in surprise while babies started to bawl their eyes out, mothers scrambling to gather them.

Cate didn't need to be a soldier to sense this was different. For one, the firing was constant, the noise of it slowly creeping closer, amplifying, the vibrations getting stronger and more disruptive within the cave until even Cate's survival instinct turned primal and she found herself on her hands and knees, wondering which way it was best to run to.

Even more so when thick smoke started to fill the cave.

******

Next to them a tree exploded. The trunk almost as half a meter across split into two before disintegrating under the barrage of Romulan disruptor. Behind them, the jungle was being systematically levelled. What cover there had been was now gone. It was flat land behind them for as far as the eye could see, the lush jungle reduced to the scorched black earth. The destruction was horrifying.

"The bastards..." Dee said out of breath as she ran forward, her lung bursting because she was wearing a full pack and having to navigate territory that was challenging to say the least.

"Gotta give them credit for efficiency," Ka'ana hollered at her.

Suddenly, a blast of disruptor fire shot past them. However, this was clearly small arms fire. Chancing a glance over his shoulder, the second wave of the Romulan attack was mobilized. The ground troops no longer hindered by the jungle thanks to the ship above them clearing the terrain, sighted them easily. A patrol of six was in pursuit.

"Faster!" Ka'ana barked because if they didn't get to the trees, they were dead.

"Ka'ana, Dee! What the fuck is going on?" Dee heard the Captain demanding from her communicator. Unfortunately, there was no time to respond, not if they wanted to live.

A scream, loud and guttural made her freeze just long enough to see Karig disappear next to them in swirl of disruptor flame. His entire body disintegrated, his scream dying as his atoms were scattered.

Lifting her rifle she swung around and fired, blasting one Romulan in the chest.

"Goddamn it, Dee!" Ka'ana shouted. "Keep fucking moving!"

He grabbed her arm to keep her moving when a blast of energy struck him in the shoulder. Only the body armour he was wearing kept him from disintegrating like Karig had. However, even that respite was slight, because Ka'ana was down.

*****

"Ka'ana, Dee! What the fuck is going on?" Jake demanded when everything went to hell.

The lack of answer shot a surge of rage through him. He refused to give them up for dead. Forced to leave Cate's side, he ran to Kresh. "Those are disruptor blasts but there's something different about them! I need to go out there and find out what they're doing. Is there another way out of here?" he asked.

"Yes." Kresh nodded. "There is a back passage to the other side of the mountain," the Klingon nodded.

"Take them out of here then," Jake declared, looking up at the cavern. Bits of rock and dust were raining a steady stream over the occupants, a situation that was only heightening their fear, Klingon or not.

"But..."

"There's no time, Kresh," Jake said abruptly. "Go!"

Hurrying back to Cate, he said to her quickly, "I've gotta go." He was already gesturing his men to join Kresh's party.

Cate had found her feet to see to the injured, now helping young Kern to move since she didn't want him to put any weight on that broken leg of his.

"What? Where?" She glanced around, watching the other Marines moving along with Kresh's people, away from the mouth of the cave. She looked at Jake. "You're going out there alone?" She gulped, checking around once more and not seeing Dee and Avyn amongst the MACOs.

"Yeah." He nodded. "I need to know what's happened to Ka'ana and Dee but I won't risk any more lives than I have to. I'll be fine," he assured her, knowing that she feared for him, despite their situation. "Cate," he said, glancing at the exit, wanting to go but not wanting to leave anything unsaid. "If anything does happen, I just want you to know I'm sorry."

Not giving her a chance to respond, he was off and running, leaving her with that because to stay was to tell too long a story about why he was sorry.

This sounded too much like a farewell and Cate felt like she was suffocating. "No... Jake! Wait!" Goddamnit.

"Someone else will have to help you," she told the kid before she started after Jake Mercer, moron extraordinaire, grabbing a weapon left leaning against a rock for the medical team.

"I do not need help," Kern growled before his eyes went wide, figuring out what the human female was about to do. "Doctor?!" he yelled after her, stunned.

That caught the attention of a few people. The old woman for one, who gave Armando a sort of knowing look. Worthy. The human woman was worthy and brave.
A good choice for the fearless warrior.

The Corpsman was helping the old woman to walk, when he caught her expression, adding two and two together with Kern's call. "Oh, shit," he muttered, catching sight of Cate heading for the crack in the rock. "Dr. Vedder!"

Cate turned around to see Armando running towards her. "You help them move their folks out, Bernard. There's another exit. Now, go."

The MACO in him bristled. "You can't go out there and you know it." And to demonstrate, he struck the weapon in her hand, her hold on it too loose and inadequate she nearly dropped it.

Getting his point loud and clear, she glanced behind her, knowing the more time passed the further Jake would get. "Then you go. Go help him bring Sheridan and Ka'ana back..." her voice was but a whisper as her shoulders sagged in defeat.

"With pleasure, ma'am..." Armando started saying but was interrupted.

"I'll go." The pair turned to find a Marine standing right beside them. Blond, short locks barely showing from under her helmet, she plucked the weapon from Cate and pushed it in Armando's hands. "Private First Class Mendez, ma'am. He's my boss; I'm going. We're a dime a dozen; you, medics, are too valuable."

"I remember you..." Cate said, not liking where this was going but about to bow to their military logic. She didn't really know Lucy Mendez well, their relationship not extending past the physicals Cate ran on the troops, but she knew she was an above average soldier, one of Mercer's snipers, if she recalled correctly.

Cate glanced to Armando before nodding slightly to Mendez.

"Thank you, Private. Be careful." And as she said those words, made that decision to send the private out there, she knew Jake would be royally pissed. Well, he could thank her later.

*****

The smoke inside the cave was insignificant to what was waiting when he emerged outside.

The first sight to greet him was the Romulan warbird, hovering in the sky, moving slowly forward as it ploughed through the jungle, using its disruptors to farrow the landscape, He could see trees being vaporized behind the wall of energy, until nothing was left except scorched earth. Nothing was left behind, not a tree, a plant or animal. Everything was destroyed in the most ruthlessly efficient method of removing an enemy's advantage Jake had ever seen.

The water in the river was starting to churn and bubble, the heat from ground starting to reach the banks. Sucking in his breath, he ran forward, lifting his tricorder so he could triangulate the position of their last transmission. Jumping over the rocks, he was in the trees in seconds, passing by animals that were fleeing past him in mounting terror. In the sky, birds were flapping their wings desperately, putting distance between them and the coming conflagration.

"K, Dee!" Jake hollered into his communicator, hoping to get an answer. Running through the foliage, he could feel the heat against his skin, his eyes darting from the tricorder to the terrain in front of him at the same time.

"Captain!" He heard a voice call him and identified it as female. Freezing in his tracks, he entertained a wild notion that it was Cate coming after him and balked at the thought. She wouldn't dare be so stupid... surely. Then again - woman.

However, it wasn't Cate that appeared (thank Christ!) but Mendez, one of his grunts.

"What the hell are you doing here, Mendez?" he demanded over the sound of burning leaves, the Romulan's disruptors and the wildlife rushing past.

"Watching your back, Sir!" Mendez declared unrepentantly. "It was either me or one of the medics."

Jake rolled his eyes, not bothering to ask which one. "Come on," he said, resuming his search for Ka'ana and Dee. "I got a bead on Sarge and Dee!"

It didn't take them long to find the two and it was to Dee's credit that she had managed to get Ka'ana this far. The man stood at least a foot over her head and by the look of him, he had been hit bad. Behind them however, there was no longer any jungle. It was being systematically decimated and the Romulans in pursuit were close.

"Dee!" Jake immediately closed the distance.

"Mendez, cover us!"

Mendez nodded quickly, lifting her rifle just as more Romulans appeared through the smoke. Unleashing a barrage of phaser fire into the thick grey cumulus.

"Glad to see you, Captain," Dee replied with a grunt. Her face was covered with ash and sweat. Ka'ana was nowhere that vocal.

Grabbing him by the arm, Jake took over from Dee, who was panting hard. MACO training didn't involve carrying an ox through a jungle blazing with the fire from a disruptor.

"We're heading back to the cave!" he ordered and started moving, not looking back to see the little jungle they had just crossed to lose the Romulans reduced to ashes.

Free of Ka'ana, Dee unslung her rifle and cover her captain's retreat, searching for Mendez who had gotten lost in the smoke. "BLONDIE! Where are you!" she called out.

"Right here." Mendez emerged from the smoke and joined the others.

Trudging through the rapidly disintegrating forest, they didn't look back as they hurried back to the cave. They didn't dare.

*****

"Thank Christ!" Dee declared when she saw the waterfall again but instead of feeling cool water, she could feel the steam rising from it. "What the fuck..."

"Be careful," Jake warned. "The ground's starting to get superheated."

"At least we lost that patrol," Dee started to say when, suddenly, more blaster fire emerged from the smoke. Shit. They couldn't go into the cave, the Romulans would sure figure out where they'd gone and go after them.

"Captain!" Dee stared at him.

"I know!" Jake nodded. "Here," he said, gesturing her to take Ka'ana. "I'll lead them away from here and then double back."

"Captain, that's suicide!" she protested.

"I'll do it!" Mendez declared, running away from them back the way they came. "I'll lose them and come back to meet you guys."

"MENDEZ!" Jake shouted. "Get the fuck back here!"

But the young woman was already gone.

"FUCK!" Jake cursed, admiring her bravery but wanting to drop kick her to the other side of the planet at the same time.

"Captain." Dee was more practical. "She's given us an opening, let's go."

Unable to argue that point, Jake obeyed and disappeared into the cave, hoping to catch up to the others.

*****

Cate didn't like being amongst Klingons but there was one thing she had to give them. They were efficient. They didn't waste any time. When Jake ordered Kresh and his people to move out, they did - with a minimum of fuss.

They were negotiating a dark passageway deep into the rock, the path sometimes rising in level, even forcing them to climb and pull each other along, and sometimes it took a dive. And when it did, they could all feel the temperature rising.

"Part of the river flows beneath us," K'Ahlen, the old woman, informed Cate after a moment, when the steam coming through fissures in the rock floor was becoming bothersome and downright dangerous if one stayed in one place too long.

"It does?" Cate looked behind her again, anxious to see Jake and his men appear and catch up with them. "Great," she muttered. "Stock between millions of tons of rock and a boiling river. What's warming it up?"

The old Klingon female shrugged. "Another way for the Romulans to force us out?" she suggested, but in the light of her torch, Cate could see K'Ahlen wasn't sure what or how.

The ground shook again, letting them know that the attack outside wasn't over yet, and making Cate's charge slip on the moisture-covered ground.

"Whoa, careful there." Cate struggled to keep her up and not fall to the ground along with her. "Do you need to rest?"

Cate had offered in Klingon and that surprised K'Ahlen. "I am fine," she replied in her mother tongue and they resumed their trek in silence for a moment.

At least the further they went, the less smoke they had to inhale though Cate could still taste the soot on her tongue and felt it clogging her lungs.

"I do not understand you," K'Ahlen said after negotiating another tight and high passage where a Klingon male had turned to pull his elder through while Cate gave her a leg up.

"What do you mean?" Cate asked, puzzled. They had switched back to English.

"You risk your life for us, you... care for us and tend to our wounded, yet I know you despise us."

Cate recoiled a bit, swallowing thickly. "Don't worry about it, I don't understand it myself," she retorted dismissively, not about to insult the woman further by denying anything.

The old woman cackled as she helped herself along with her hands on either side of her, clutching at the rock surrounding them. "We do not like Humans either but we do not hate them. You hate us."

Sighing, Cate grounded, "Let me ask you something... how do you feel about Romulans, now that they're out there, attacking your colony and your people, destroying everything?"

K'Ahlen cursed and spat and even Cate's fairly decent understanding of the Klingon language didn't catch everything. "What does it have to do with this?" she asked, her voice still a growl. "I have never come across you before this day." She tapped her head, looking back at Cate. "Good memory. I would remember you."

"Your kind attacked my people, unprovoked. Klingons behaved as Romulans are now... massacred women and children, destroyed our colony, killed our men... my father." Cate snorted, finding it hard to believe she was throwing that back into the woman's face. Of course she knew they were different Klingons and chances were the woman had never heard of that particular attack on the Gaia colony but the hatred boiling inside of Cate wouldn't allow that logic. It blanketed everything Klingon.

Stunned for a moment, K'Ahlen mulled over the accusation, a scowl on her face. Cate could read it in her eyes. Klingons did not perpetrate such cowardly acts. But before Cate could set her straight, show her the bat'leth scars she still sported, her communicator came to life, static screeching and echoing along the tunnel.

It was Jake's voice.

"Captain, this is Vedder. Where are you?" she asked, her heart in her throat.

"We've just got back to the cave," Jake said, relief in his voice that Cate was alright.

"Ka'ana is hit, bad, and we lost Mendez." Jake liked to think that she would make it back as she claimed but even he had known the attempt to lead the Romulans away was suicide, it was why he volunteered to do it himself. "Where are you?" he asked in turn.

Mendez? Cate suddenly couldn't breathed. Merde. She'd sent her there. She blinked and the old woman's hand grabbed her arm.

"Answer him," she barked but there was no bite. She was merely helping the female healer focus again.

Cate met her narrowed eyes, dumbfounded before the words came. "About twenty minutes ahead of you, slow walk," she replied at length, her eyes quizzing K'Ahlen further.

"Halfway," the Klingon woman answered helpfully, knowing the distance to the other side of the mountain.

"I'm told we're halfway there. Jake, I'm coming back. I'll stabilise Ka'ana." She was already nodding to the Klingon woman, starting to walk backwards before she turned around, dodging the others that had been following behind her.

Jake wanted to protest but Ka'ana hadn't stirred and that concerned him. "I'll meet you half way," he said, looking at Dee. "I'm not sure how secure we are in this place."

"Mind the tunnel as well," Cate cautioned Jake. "It's turning into a sauna..."

When Cate passed Ronnie, she grabbed him too. "Ka'ana's down. Don't know exactly what but for Mercer to say bad, I'm thinking catastrophic," she told him as an explanation.

Jake and Dee moved as quickly as they could through larger caverns before finally reaching the narrower passage that Kresh said would take them to the other side of the mountain. Outside, he could still hear the sound of disruptor fire. He couldn't imagine how much damage was taking place outside. The Romulans were determined that even if they didn't get possession of this world, they were going to ensure no one could live here.

"You think he's going to be okay?" Dee asked, looking at the man.

"He's too tough to kill," Jake retorted but he didn't sound as hopeful as he wanted.

As they moved down the passage, he could hear Cate's approach. "Cate!" he called out.

"It's us," Cate replied with a shout of her own, near breathless. Ronnie and her carried on running as fast as they could in such confined space and awkward terrain, and soon they were blinded by the taclights mounted on Sheridan's and Mercer's helmets.

Shielding her eyes with a hand, Cate skidded to a halt in front of them, her hand immediately going to the Sergeant's throat, fingers seeking a pulse as Jake and Dee held him up between them. Panting, she glanced around a second before she indicated a spot that wasn't directly on the ground, but more like a ledge or small platform naturally formed in the rock.

"Pulse thready, shallow breaths. Quick, put him down there, gently." She watched both Dee and Jake like a hawk as they moved the sergeant, scanning them for injury.

Both of them were wheezing but beyond that, they looked okay... just shattered. That was why she had brought Ronnie along. Ka'ana was no featherweight and she figured they'd need relieving. Checking their number again, she realised someone else was missing besides Mendez. Where was Karig?

"Ronnie, give them oxygen, will you?" she ordered, recognising signs of dyspnea without having to use her medical tricorder. "Just for a few minutes," she added to quell any brush off from the Marines.

Dee wasn't about to refuse, especially when her heart was pounding so hard from the exertion. Nodding at Ronnie to show her willingness to accept the help, she allowed the breather to be placed over her face to take a few greedy gulps of airs.

"We've got to get off this planet," Jake explained. "Somehow, we've got to get everyone away from here. The Romulans have gone fucking insane. You remember 20th century history? World War II? They're pulling what the Russians did with the Germans. They're scorching the earth."

Cate was barely hearing what he was saying as she worked on Ka'ana, recognising the telltale signs of disruptor fire on his armour. If it wasn't for it scrambling the beam of energy, Ka'ana would have been pulverised. That said, electrocution was about to claim him anyway.

"Jake, oxygen," she repeated. "Come on, a few breaths and then you can contact Kresh if you want. I'm working as fast as I can."

He took the device begrudgingly but when he held it to his face, took deep breaths nonetheless, feeling the strain of carrying Ka'ana this far abate slightly. Breathing in and out, he watched what Cate was doing to the sergeant.

Working the clips of Ka'ana's chest plate, she removed the thing with impatience.

"Come on, Avyn. Stay with me." She leaned down, her cheek hovering over his mouth, index and middle fingers going for a pulse again.

"I'm losing him..."

"Come on, you son of a bitch," Jake cursed as he heard Cate utter those word. "You're too tough to die! Don't shake my faith in your bad ass by checking out early!"

"Ronnie, he's arrested, no breath sounds," she announced, her tone clinical despite Jake's outburst driving straight to her heart.

Ronnie knew what was expected of him. Without a word, he shifted closer, putting a breather over the man's nose and mouth before he returned to his med kit.

With an expert hand, Cate found Ka'ana's plexus to guide herself and brought down her other arm, her fist hitting the man's chest hard, right over his sternum in a loud clap to try and restore cardiac function while Ronnie charged the pads in case her precordial thump didn't work.

"Come on, Avyn!" She waited a beat and then shook her head.

Ronnie moved in, ripping Ka'ana's shirt open and the tank top beneath and quickly placed the pads directly on the skin. "Clear!"

Cate pulled back and let the medic shock Avyn's heart, while she dug in her bag, preparing a hypospray.

The two Sharks watched, feeling as helpless as they'd ever been as they watched their comrade subject to direct cardiac stimulation. Jake knew he should be catching up with Kresh, formulating their next move before the Romulans escalated things even more than they had. However, right now, all he could think of was Ka'ana not making it.

"Come on, Sarge," Dee said under her breath, watching them work, wishing that Dennis was here, not because he was a better doctor but because she missed him. "You can make it."

The tricorder beeped. "Still in V-fib," Ronnie told Cate, their gaze meeting briefly.

She pushed an antiarrhythmic agent into the sergeant's neck and pulled back. "Try again."

Ronnie activated the defibrillator, watching Ka'ana's body contract, his chest practically lifting off the floor, before it relaxed again and slumped back down. Eyes on the tricorder, he waited.

And then it came, a different beep, one medics and doctors recognised as positive, and in the next instant, Avyn shifted under his own steam, gasping for air, his arms moving about.

Letting out a sigh of relief, Cate caught one of his hands, her arm locking solidly with his before he could hurt himself. "Avyn, it's okay, big guy. Just try and breathe slowly. You're alright," she spoke as she moved over him so he could see her above the mask.

"Doesn't feel alright," Ka'ana muttered, oblivious that the sound of his hoarse voice caused a surge of relief of his two fellow Sharks.

"Don't give Doctor Cate any lip," Jake retorted, smiling. "She just pulled your ass out of the afterlife." Even though his tone was light, Jake felt anything but. Around them, the walls of the cavern continued to quake, reminding them of their urgent situation.

Dee was also similarly relieved and decided that the best way she could help right now was to keep watch. There was a chance that Mendez had done what she had said, led the Romulans away and then again she might not have, which meant they could have company any time.

"Yeah, Sarge," Dee called back. "You've been making us girls earn our pay checks today."

"Hey, big guy." It was Ronnie's turn. "Was starting to think you didn't want that round I owe you," he quipped as he checked his vitals. "Can you roll over for us?" he asked, guiding the sergeant into rolling away from them without jarring him too much.

"Thanks," Cate said, moving in with the gear she'd prepared while everyone was greeting Ka'ana back.

"Ka'ana, I'm giving you something for the pain, okay? Just to take the edge off. I want you to still feel it a bit so you don't go and do something stupid. I'm just patching this up so we can go join the others. Will have to see to it again once we get another chance."

Ka'ana grunted. "Stupid? I don't do stupid, Doc." But he nodded anyway and Cate got the impression the Sarge would be behaving for a while.

"Just one more minute and we can move," she let Jake know, her eyes meeting his for the first time since he'd left that cave to run out on his own. "Karig?" she finally asked as she treated Ka'ana for the burns that he had inevitably suffered despite the armour doing its job brilliantly. She looked up, gaze touching on Dee before falling back to Jake.

Dee shook her head in response, all that she was going to say on the fact that man hadn't made it back. "Sarge and I barely kept ahead of the Rommies. They were dogging us almost all the way back. If it wasn't for the smoke, I don't think we'd have made it." As it was, Dee had no idea how she had made it this far, carrying the Sarge.

"They're burning away the jungle to find us," Jake explained. "The warbird is using its disruptors to level the place. It's almost flat terrain out there," he said grimly.

"That explains the place turning into a steam room," Cate commented. "Part of the river apparently runs beneath us." Chances were, the huge body of water was the only thing slowing down the heating of the land and the mountain.

"Okay, we're good." She pulled back, helping Ka'ana roll back before leading him to a sitting position. She removed the breather and handed it back to Ronnie so he could pack it with the rest of their kit, which he'd already been working on.

"Light-headed?"

Ka'ana grunted but his eyes soon focused and he tried to stand up.

"Take it easy, Sergeant. Three minutes ago, your heart wasn't even pumping..." Cate growled, trying to follow him and take some of his weight.

"Captain..." Afraid to drop him, she asked for Jake's help when it was clear Ka'ana wasn't going to slow down, finding his feet in one go like horses did. All or nothing.

"K." Jake stepped in at Cate's behest. "Take it easy, we got a few minutes to let you catch your breath. Besides, if you collapse again, it's going to be a bitch to carry you."

"Thanks," Ka'ana grunted and saw the look in his Captain's eyes, his tone was one step away from it being an order. Easing back into the ground, he took the moment as requested. "We lost Karig," he muttered unhappily.

"I know." Jake nodded and debated whether or not they should count Mendez in that category. She could have survived. "The Romulans are definitely raising the stakes."

"No shit." Ka'ana shook his head, his eyes reflecting how staggered he was still by the enemy's extreme response.

Wincing as she thought on Mendez, Cate ducked her head, feeling the guilt slice through her for sending the private to her death. As a doctor she made life and death decisions for people all the time, but they were on patients already hurt, men and women who would probably be doomed anyway if she didn't make the call. Even though she'd been trained to do it if necessary like any other Starfleet officer, to do what Mercer and Rigby did, what Houser did, she had no idea how they managed, how they coped with it.

And Cate could only imagined what it was like out there but she certainly felt it. The heat even within the mountain was getting unbearable and more and more of that steam was hissing through the rocks, the underground river getting to boiling point.

"Okay," she started saying, standing up. "Captain, you and Ronnie help the Sergeant along. We have to move before we end up done like lobsters."

"Ka'ana, you tell me as soon as that ticker of yours seems to skip alright." She eyed him, getting in his face. "I mean it."

"Only skips when I see a great piece of ass, Doc," Ka'ana replied. "Maybe you shouldn't get in my eyesight."

"Real funny, K," Jake grumbled but was nonetheless grateful that it was safe enough to move the Sarge now that Cate had given him the all clear to move the man. Even more than her, Jake was all to aware of their situation and staying in place didn't seem like a good idea on any level. The temperatures were soaring and the quaking of the cavern was almost deafening. He had an idea that the war bird might be approaching them now and whether or not the cavern could stand up to that kind of an assault was anyone's guess. Either way, he didn't want them to be in here when it arrived.

"Alright let's get a move on," Jake prompted them once Ronnie had grabbed hold.

"Let get out of here before we find out what cooking inside a clay pot is like."

*****

The Marines and even Kresh and his group of Klingons were struggling by the time Cate and others caught up with them. Sweaty, soot-covered and puffing loudly - even the fittest among them - it wasn't hard to see that the heat and lack of oxygen was getting to them.

Moving among them, Cate spotted old K'Ahlen before she sighted the other member from her med team, who was close by.

"How are you doing, Armando?" He was carrying one of the elders and looked just about ready to keel over. Cate walked right up to him and checked his eyes, the corpsman cursing when she shone her penlight in them.

"I'm fine, Doctor," Armando snapped and tried to shrug away from her but it was hard with his load. "Will be glad when we get out. Some of us are dropping like flies. Ka'ana, Sheridan and Mendez alright?"

Looking around as he spoke, Cate realised that a lot of the women and children were being carried by the younger Klingon males and the Marines. Once the men would succumb, there wouldn't be any getting out of here.

"We lost Mendez," Cate let out with a sigh, answering his question. "Mendez and Karig," she specified for some unknown reason to her. Klingons didn't count - shouldn't count, should they? "Carry on...." She patted him on the shoulder and went back to Jake.

"Captain," Cate said, uncertain if she should stick with protocol rather than call him what she wanted - his first name - amongst the Klingons and his men. "Can you find out from Kresh how much longer? They're exhausted from the exertion under the current conditions and dehydrated. No one will get much further without a break soon." She swallowed, her throat dry and hot. She asked though she already knew they couldn't really afford a break.

Jake nodded, feeling a definite sense of doom settling over the group when they rejoined Kresh. He refused to believe that it was going to end like this. Moving towards the Klingon leader, he could see that the lack of oxygen was also starting to wear on the man and drew him aside.

"The Romulans are burning down the jungle so that they can find us quickly. They're laying down continuous fire on the landscape but I don't think their disruptors can keep it up indefinitely. I think they're doing this to smoke us out. If we can hold out somewhere, we may be able to wait them out."

"Yes." Kresh nodded in agreement. "I agree. Our distress signal will reach the Empire soon enough and once they hear of our trouble, they will dispatch a counter force."

"Okay." Jake nodded. "We can't stay in here but I'm still thinking our best bet is underground, deep underground. Do you know of any place that we might be able to reach?"

Kresh paused a moment. "When we first surveyed this world, we discovered dilithium in the Xunar Belt, that's not far away from here. The dilithium lies in deep crevasses, that could provide us with shelter, even against a Romulan disruptor..."

"And the dilithium would make it tough for them to scan for us." Jake nodded. "Alright, you need to take your people there with my medical team."

"What of you?" Kresh asked.

"If we don't give them another target, you'll never make it. That's what we Sharks do. We're cannon fodder." He tried to smile but didn't quite manage it.

"Your female will be upset," Kresh pointed out.

"So we won't tell her." Jake winked.

*****

The group carried on moving but at a much slower pace. Cate shifted along the column of people, dispensing oxygen via the breathers the med team carried in their kit. If they had enough for everybody, it would help things considerably but if wishes were...

Cate shook her head, stopping herself right there. She wiped her brow with her sleeve and tried to locate Jake, wondering what Kresh had told him. Reaching Ronnie and Dee, she checked on Ka'ana, who hung between them, while the two Marines took a few breaths from the masks before passing them to the next ones along.

Jake held back, giving instructions to Dee and the other Sharks, who understood the stakes and knew that they were being ordered into a situation that was suicidal. There was no indication that they'd survive playing decoy any better than Mendez did and yet there really wasn't any choice. Whether or not these were Klingons, there women and children, civilians under threat and no Shark would stand by and let civvies get slaughtered if there was a way to prevent it.

Jake caught up to Cate as they started to near the end of the passage. Fresh air was starting to sweep through the narrow tunnel from the outside world, a welcome draft after so much heat. The rumbling had stopped for awhile and Jake assumed he called it right, that even a war bird needed to give its disruptors a rest. Of course, they had no idea how long their window of opportunity would last before the firestorm resumed.

"Hey," he greeted her. "How you doing, Doctor Cate?" he asked.

Her nostrils flaring at the sweet smell of cooler air drafting down toward them, Cate looked up ahead before her head turned back to him.

"You smell that?" She risked smiling a little. "Tell me this is the other side..." She looked at him, hopeful. She could barely make his features in the dark of the tunnel. But the occasional beams from moving torch lights told her this wasn't good enough news. The glint in his eyes...

"Jake, what's wrong?"

He could lie to her but the truth was, there was so much crap between them, that Jake didn't want to compound it with more lies. "Kresh knows of some dilithium mines that can withstand Romulan disruptors and interfere with scanning equipment. When we get out of here, that's where he's heading with his people. You have to go with them, they'll need doctors when they get there."

He didn't tell her that he and the others weren't going but then again, Cate would figure out easily enough.

You, not we. Doctors, not soldiers. She eyed him, a deep frown on her face.

"Mines?" From one hole in the ground to another? "And where will you be?" She wasn't stupid. It was what he hadn't said that she heard the loudest.

Brace for impact, he thought to himself.

"The Sharks are going to lead the Romulans away from the colonists. They don't stand a chance of making it to the mines otherwise. We're going to play decoy, keep their attention on us so that all of you can get to the mines." There was no padding it, no lying to her that this wasn't anything but a suicide mission because it could well be.
However, whenever there was a job to do, that's where Sharks would be.

Cate was hoping he was kidding but she knew he wasn't. He never did about those things. She looked down for a moment, debating how to react. She wanted to scream, jump in his face and call him stupid, for what he was planning to do was just that.

Her teeth grinding together, her jaw trembling with a nervous tick, she shook her head. "Decoy against a Romulan warbird, against those Romulan ground troops? You don't need me to tell you it's insane, right? You know it. And at the end of the day it won't count... once they realise their mistake... that they let the colonists slip by. You said they're scorching the earth. We'll just be suffocating down there at best, or cooking underground at worst."

She wondered if that was what had happened to Mendez. If it was, she'd died in vain, barely earning her team-mates an hour or so.

"Jake?" Tell me you know it's crazy, tell me you have a plan B. Cate looked up, meeting his eyes. And just by the look in them, she knew he could do nothing else. Decoy was what he and his men would be to give the colonist and her team half a chance to make it to another hidey hole.

Her throat was closing up and she could feel her cool slipping. Hysteria was at the door and it was testimony to her training as a doctor and an officer that she was able to say what came next.

"If I didn't know any better, I'd say you prefer this outcome to us talking things through." It was a joke, one that begged to be told only to keep her from grabbing hold of him and refusing to let go.

If she had intended it to be a joke, Jake certainly did not see it.

"Yeah, Cate," he retorted sarcastically. "Instead of talking to you, I'm choosing to paint a target on the back of all my men." His lips thinned and he was angry, whether or not she had intended to make him such. "I have to do this because there are civilians here and maybe it won't count, that we'll all die for nothing and maybe it will stall the Romulan just enough for reinforcements to get here. Either way, civilians come first."

Cate flinched at his tone, at his reply. "Jake..." No, maybe one could only get her attempt at humour from where she was standing. There was always some excuse for him to shut her out, to push her way, to not talk. This latest crisis on this Klingon godforsaken jungle hell hole worked just as well. She had tried to let him know that it was okay, that she understood, that this time it was a valid excuse... not excuse, but reason, a valid reason, but it had sailed way above his head. And there wasn't really any time to explain; the moment gone, it had only garnered her his ire.

"Of course the civilians come first," she said with difficulty, the words catching in her throat. Because of Klingons she had lost her father and now she would lose him.

"What about us?" she whispered the question, knowing how selfish it was and, ashamed, she looked away, brushing a traitorous tear away.

Fuck, he saw her turn away and the voice she spoke in indicated that he had hurt her. Jake cursed himself and wondered whether or not he was capable of any discourse with Cate that didn't somehow end up hurting her.

"I'd like to save what's left of us," he admitted. "I'd like to tell you I'm sorry and that there was shit going on in my head that I couldn't talk about until it was too late. Whatever happens, Cate, I never meant to hurt you... it just ended up happening that way."

His words were like a balm on her soul while they sliced through her heart at the same time. He was finally speaking to her, and there could be hope to fix things, right when he was about to go out there and get mowed down. Her wall crumbled as Cate panicked at the little time they had left. She reached out, her hand caressing his cheek longingly.

"I know." Her bottom lip trembled and she bit it, her eyes darting to the people that walked past them, shuffling and pushing along.

"Jake, I wish I'd stayed..." If this was it, if they were parting just as they were about to find each other again, she would have him know. "I wish I'd been strong enough. And what I told you that night, I still do. I still love you." She moved in closer, feeling her resolve at not losing it wearing down. "And you have to come back because if you don't, there's no..." She stopped herself before laying a guilt trip on him. "Just come back to me." She looked up, eyes tearing up.

So many things he wanted to say to her but now was not the time, so he did the only thing he could. He leaned forward and kissed her gently on the lips, not a brutal kiss that he'd been delivering, but the tender ones that they'd shared before Rathe had taken over his mind and routed his insides until he felt hollow and raw.

"I... love you too, Doctor Cate," Jake said quietly because he hadn't said it before and he'd wanted to ever since she walked out and left an emptiness even worse than what Rathe had done t him. "If I can come back to you, I will."

Melting under his kiss, Cate blinked her eyes open when he returned her sentiment. She's seen his love for her during the mind meld, but to finally hear him say it, it made it more real. It helped her believe she hadn't just seen what she'd wanted to see.

She shook her head at his promise. "No ifs." She raised on tiptoe and returned his kiss, wanting to burn it all in her mind, his taste, the feel of him, everything.

Jake allowed himself a moment of indulgence, his kiss turning passionate because, like her, he wanted to commit every bit of it to memory.

"I'm not ready to say goodbye to you, Doctor Cate," he said softly.

A moan caught in her throat and their surroundings faded away for a moment. But it was all too brief and soon the urgency of their situation was snapping at their heels again.

"Then let's not." She tried to put on a brave face, to look as optimistic as a inveterate, pathological gambler, and stepped back.

"That's my Cate." He smiled, brushing her chin. "The prettiest Cate in all of Christendom."

She blushed but held his gaze, remembering the words he'd said during the mind meld.

"Don't try and sweet talk me," she warned him, but she was smirking. "You still have to go kick Romulan butt and come back." Come back, she prayed silently before she started walking again.

"Hey, if I can kick Jem'Hadar ass, Romulan is a walk in the park," he said, returning her smirk with false bravado. Besides, women expected that from their Sharks anyway.

She grinned, shaking her head a little, appreciating what he was trying to do. She knew it wouldn't make one bit of difference out there but it still made her feel better just because he gave a damn enough to try.

As the silence fell between them and they approached the exit, natural light already filtering through and reaching them, she could tell he was itching with getting his people and things ready. He glanced over his shoulder, obviously trying to locate whoever he needed so before he could leave her side, she cleared her throat.

"Jake?"

"Yeah?" He faced her again.
"I'm sorry for..." Just thinking about the Private, Cate felt physically ill instantly but she pushed on, his words from earlier still ringing in her head. "I'm sorry for Mendez."

She knew he felt responsible for his men, for the casualties (hell, she did for her own so she knew where he came from), but this one, it was all hers. She was the one who had made one of his, the young Mendez, a target. The rest of what she wanted to say, that it was her fault, that it should have been her, died in her throat because there was no point uttering it; she knew he'd know.

"I'm sorry too." He rested his hand on her shoulder, speaking to her as if she were one of his men. "But I'm not ready to count her out yet." True, the probabilities were most likely that she was dead but Jake didn't want to assume the worst yet. "She was going to draw the Romulans away. She might have done that and just thought it safer to stay away instead of doubling back. We don't know that she's gone."

Just like Cate wouldn't know of Jake and the other Marines once they stepped into the arena. But she got his message. He needed her to stay positive despite the odds, despite the obvious. Had Mendez survived and just been hiding out, she would have contacted them surely by now. Or maybe her communicator was jammed, damaged, who knew? And for that possibility, she didn't voice her misgivings about his faith in Mendez's possible survival. For that and for the fact that had it been him out there right now, Cate wouldn't give up until she saw his body. So she nodded instead.

"Klingons are strong by nature," Jake added, "but they're also fatalistic. Don't let them get into that mindset of going out with a glorious death if there's chance of survival, okay?" He looked at her. "And don't follow them if they try to do anything stupid. Just hunker down and wait until I come back for you, and you can sure as hell bet I will be."

It was his promise to her, a promise he intended to keep no matter what.

"Okay." At his solemn tone and feelings behind his words, Cate found herself nodding even though she wasn't certain she would be able to abide by his wishes.

If a way to make him and his Marines a little safer ever crept up, she knew she wouldn't hesitate. But he needed to know her safe so he could do his job so she didn't mess with the what-ifs. There would be time for that later if an opportunity arose, where Jake wouldn't know and therefore wouldn't be losing his head over it.

Not wishing this to be any more final that it was shaping up to be, Jake nodded at her before turning away to join his men. There were preparations to make before he had to go seek out Kresh, now that they were out in the open.

*****

After his conversation with Cate, Jake caught up with Kresh to go their separate ways. However, as he approached Kresh, a few of the young Klingon males joined them, appearing not at all willing to let the Sharks play decoy alone.

"We are Klingon warriors," Grek spoke up firmly. "We do not need humans to protect us," he said imperiously.

"Fine." Jake nodded at one of his Sharks. "Take one of our weapons and join us." There was no time to get into a pissing contest about it.

"Kresh, there's no telling whether or not we can lead the Romulans away, so some of you will need to stay with the main group until you get to this Xunar Belt. How far underground are these mines?"

"A good distance," Kresh replied. "The journey down will not be easy and there are paths which are quite treacherous but it will make those Romulan Qi'Yah think twice before following us down," he said, baring teeth, causing the Klingons around them to laugh.

"Well, I'm more concerned with them using their disruptors again," Jake replied. "They were close to bringing down that mountain we just came out of, if you're down there when they open fire, deep underground may not be enough."

"That is true," Kresh agreed. "Then it will be a good day to die."

Jake would have rolled his eyes if he knew the man wasn't serious. "Alright, let's try and avoid that. If we can lead the Romulans away from you, they may not know where you've gone."

"These mines were mapped by Klingons fifty years ago," Kresh explained. "They are not on any map a Romulan might have access to."

"Well, never say never," Jake replied and looked over his shoulder at Dee.

"Alright, let's get ready to move in five minutes."

"We are ready now," Grek declared.

"Of course you are," the MACO captain sighed.

****

The group had split up at the mouth of the tunnel, the Marines and a few bloodthirsty Klingons taking off in one direction, leaving the others to catch their breath for a moment.

Not really a cave, where they had all emerged from the mountain's dark passage was barely a crack in a rock wall, hidden by thick, fresh and green offshoots from the jungle that stood a mere twenty-feet away. Between them and the curtain of green was a little clearing, mostly dug out by a thin waterfall plunging from high above into a deep cauldron-like hole. A light mist coming from the waterfall permeated everything and, considering how overheated they all were, it was welcomed.

Boots crunching on the soft gravel, the 'civilian' half was soon led by Kresh into that oppressing greenery, the humidity coming at them in waves. It was safe to assume the Romulans hadn't attacked that side of the mountain. Yet.

It was near an hour later that the jungle started to thin out and the sodden soil gave way to something more sandy. And suddenly, as they could rest their arms from wrestling vines and branches criss-crossing their way, it was a totally different stretch of land that greeted them when the jungle retreated behind them. In comparison, it almost looked like a desert.

Dry, Spinifex-looking plants sparsely covered the dry landscape and Cate wondered what the hell had happened here for the vegetation to change so drastically.

*****

As if the jungle was trying to restore itself, thick clouds formed above the side of the mountain, which had been so ravaged by the Romulan warbirds. As Jake and the Sharks went searching for the Romulans, they fine-tuned their tricorders to detect the enemy's life signs, while at the same time rigged one of the devices to produce a localised jamming signal to mask their own signatures. Of course, Jake wanted to be hidden for awhile, at least until enough time had passed to allow Kresh and the others to reach the mines. His attempt to contact the Vanguard was also met with silence and Jake hoped that the ship was up there above Narendra III, duking it out with the Romulans, and not scattered to the solar winds.

For the next hour, Jake and the Sharks trailed the Romulans, emerging at intervals to attack, employing guerrilla tactics that were made more difficult due to the devastated landscape. They were forced to use the mountain as their cover because the jungle was no longer viable. The exercise was not without its losses however. Despite killing another patrol of Romulans, they lost Private Cohn and Grek was injured. When the warbirds returned, Jake knew their momentary offensive was over and quickly made their way towards the mine, to regroup with the civilians and the mines.

At least, he wasn't breaking his promise to Cate.

******

[do]

The mines were there waiting for them, and though Kresh opted for a careful approach, there were no surprise there of the Romulan kind awaiting them.

Silently they slipped in, everyone mostly unhappy to have to go to ground again. At least this tunnel was cooler but the air smelled stale and rancid.

"Do not mind that, K'Ahlen told Cate of the foul smell. "Just animals seeking shelter here, not knowing any better."

"What do you mean?" Cate entered the place with a sense of foreboding, throwing a last glance at the patch of sky behind her before she got totally surrounded by rock once again.

"Tis a dangerous hole, child," the old woman grumbled. "Our people attempted to exploit those veins of dilithium but many lives were lost."

And they were running away from the Romulan threat to this tomb? Cate thought. Great, just great.

As they walked, the injured and elderly helped along, Cate got served a history lesson about the colony, the bastard Romulans who had tried to conquer this world before as well as why there was a desert-like landscape above them. It appeared that the mines not only claimed lives but also vegetation. Something in the chemical composition bleeding out into the soil, as well as some waste due to mining efforts.

Cate was rather grateful for the Klingon woman's narrative. It kept her mind occupied instead of worrying about Jake. She went so far as suspecting K'Ahlen was doing it on purpose.

Every so often screams would be heard, or the sound of stones trickling down. People lost their footing, fell down, stepped on the wrong spot, the ground giving way under their weight. There was much scrambling and after a while, even the hardiest Klingons remaining among them were on edge.

Despite her iron will, K'Ahlen eventually had to concede she needed help too, after falling three consecutive times.

Quite against herself, Cate was the one who ended up supporting her, which in turn greatly displeased the old Klingon. Knowing how Cate felt about her people, she did not want her assistance and made herself heard. Thing was, Cate could be just as pig-headed.

"I can leave you to kiss that ground again, if you want," Cate offered, getting exasperated. "Come on. You want the others to behave and accept help, you should at least do as you preach..."

"Preach? I do not preach!" K'Ahlen eyed the Marine's female critically as they made their way down a dark, deep incline, with only one rope bolted to the wall to help them along. "I simply do not believe your slight frame strong enough, human."

"I'll manage," Cate replied through gritted teeth as both of them nearly slipped, Cate catching them both at the last second.

*****

Double timing it all the way to the edge of the jungle, seeing the thick green canopy of trees vanish into sparse, desert terrain, the Sharks made rapid time, despite being slowed down by Grek who would have kept up if Jake had let him. Despite the Klingon's valiant attempt not to be a liability, Jake knew the severity of his injury and was not about to let it get worse. Of course, as they neared the edge of the jungle, they didn't have a choice because the Romulan warbird appeared in the air again and this time, it was coming over the mountain to scorch the rest of the jungle.

Jake had a sinking feeling that once they'd levelled everything, they'd realise that the Klingons were not among the dead and start a more detailed search. He hoped to Christ reinforcements got here before then.

Fortunately, Grek was lucid enough to direct them to the mines and with the inferno behind them again, the marines hurried across the dry, dusty landscape, determined to stay one step ahead of the Romulan's disruptors. With the smoke and ash in pursuit, they found the crevasse leading into the mines and took the same route that the colonists had taken. From the prints in the tracks, Jake knew they'd been here recently and just to be safe, they obliterated these from the ground so no Romulan could follow them, if the enemy got this far.

*****

Jake Mercer had been right; by the time they got to the deepest part of the mine they could reach, the Klingons needed the med team. Some veins of the ore ran deeper still, but the miners had not dared digging any further so Kresh bowed to their wisdom and didn't push the group down another slope, one he knew led to an area that had not been developed.

It was in a sort of long a tunnel, its roof barely four feet above ground, that the group sought refuge. It turned into more of a ledge as its right wall gave way to a hungry darkness and, upon shining their lights toward it, they saw old equipment down there, in what looked like a wide expanse, a cave.

K'Ahlen remembered talks of an artesian basin so Kresh sent some of his people down to investigate while Cate, Ronnie and Armando started treating the injured, including themselves. No one had been spared during the arduous trek down.

"I'm not sure this was necessarily a good idea," Ronnie told Cate, working on a Klingon who had cracked his skull during a fall. The head wound bled profusely but of course he was fine.

The Romulans had resumed their attack, even this deep into the earth, the sound of disruptor fire reached them.

"What do you mean?" Cate asked, looking up from her own work on a mother and child.

"All this dilithium..." he said, looking at the crystal poking out of the stones around them. "If their disruptor breaches through, it'll all go up."

"We'd be dead out there anyway," Cate returned, refusing to dwell on it... especially what all that firing up top meant for the Marines.

"Doctor Vedder!"

It was Kresh calling her and Cate felt like she was being told off like a pupil at school.

"What is it, Kresh?" She turned toward the voice, surprised to see him climb up from that large hole.

"There is water down there. Drinkable if Kahless is favourable to our stand. I want the injured moved there. Bigger space, deeper still. There are more tunnels branching out. Come on, woman, move." He sneered at the fact she was still standing there. Brave they may be, these humans were slow and deaf.

Cate bit back a retort. It wasn't lost on her that he never addressed Jake that way, nor any of the other men. But she didn't make a fuss of it; this was neither the time nor place. Besides, he had a point. If there was indeed a network of tunnels, it gave them a better chance than being cornered in a tunnel that could collapse.

"Alright, but let me test the water first."

Kresh nodded sharply, an impatient snarl on his face. "Go on then."

Cate rolled her eyes as she turned away from him to finish with her patient and child.

"Do not mind his ways," K'Ahlen told her. "Go. I've got this," she said, taking over the wrapping of the woman's sprained ankle.

Following Kresh, Cate slid down the edge, her feet and hands barely breaking her fall fifteen feet below.

"Water there and over there." He pointed sharply.

Now that she was in the space, she could see better the area available and agreed with Kresh readily. "Bring them down. Gimme five minutes for the tests. Walking to the closest body of water, Cate used her tricorder before moving to the one on the other side of the cave. It was slightly lower than the other, hidden by boulders and opening onto another tunnel that seemed naturally carved in the rock and partly submerged. It was also cooler there.

Walking back towards Kresh, she noted the people being helped down, people setting a form of camp with the little they had.

"Kresh." She waited for the man to let up his ordering around and continued when he gave her an impatient look, bushy eyebrow quirking up. "This one, do not touch. Make sure everyone knows. It stinks for a start and it's been tainted by the dilithium," she instructed, pointing at the brackish pool of water rendered harmful by the transuranic metal. "The other one over there is potable so let's keep it clean."
Kresh grumbled his thanks and made to turn away.

"Kresh," Cate pressed on, not quite finished yet.

"What now?" he spat, his head swivelling around to face her again.

The desire to slap him was so great, her hands balled into tight fists at her side.

"I'm going to head back the way we came," she said, telling him out of courtesy.

"What?" He looked at her like she was crazy. "Nonsense."
Cate's eyes narrowed. "I'm not asking for your permission. You'll have the rest of my team to help out, most have been seen to anyway. I need to go render medical assistance to our soldiers." She stressed that the group of men above comprised both their people.

"That is out of the question, Doctor," he retorted, using her status like an insult.

"They should have reached the entrance to the mines by now. They could be injured," she continued, ignoring his reply before turning around to leave.

"I cannot let you go," Kresh's deep voice rumbled close to her ear as he dropped his wide, heavy hand on her shoulder.

If it was Jake who had requested that of him, it never occurred to Cate. Her reaction was immediate, born of instincts. She simply tensed and tried to wrench her shoulder from his hold.

"Do not touch me!" she spat, eyes flashing, her hand going to the phaser at her hip.

It was when things got a little out of hand.

*****

When Kresh had said mines, Jake had almost wished for mining shafts he remembered back on Earth, with lit paths strong enough to take a mining cart network, not the winding, treacherous drops that he had seen in some of the old movies of the 20th century, like Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. Navigating the dangerous route down was almost as perilous as outrunning the Romulans above.

Fortunately, the deeper they went, the more distant the sound of disruptor fire became. Not that it had no effect on the mines, with the tremor following them down for a good half an hour, until the shock waves dispersed into the rock as they descended further.

With his arm around Grek, Jake almost lost his footing a couple of times but was caught by Dee, who had taken it upon herself to watch her Captain's back. He supposed that he stood in proxy for Ka'ana who was with Cate, recovering.

The signs of the colonist was evident even in this darkness. Every now and then he'd spot some piece of clothing, a fresh broken piece of rock or even tracks. It gave him comfort to know she was down there... safe.

*****

Cate reaching for her weapon set off a chain reaction neither side expected.

Despite admiring her spirit, Kresh cursed, his free arm coming down in an arc to push the woman's hand away from her holster, which only precipitated what came next.

In reaction, Humans and Klingons stood up and moved in, phasers and blades drawn. Some of the female Klingons even armed themselves with rocks.

Having finally settled down to rest as he should have been doing the past couple of hours, Sgt. Avyn Ka'ana jumped to his feet as well, going into the fray to find Vedder.

Much shoving ensued and baring of teeth until Cate found herself in the middle, her two team-mates on either side of her and Ka'ana stepping between her and Kresh, ready to shield her if need be. She sensed Marlowe, a Marine injured whilst under the mountain, covering her back.

The five of them danced, turning in the middle of a much wider circle of Klingons who snarled and spat at them for daring to lift a hand toward their leader.

It was K'Ahlen who tried to break the tension with a cackling laugh. The old woman moved forward, pushing her way through, looking frail and strong at the same time.

"With Romulans only wishing us dead, you find best to waste your energy on fighting one another?"

While Kresh shifted under the Klingon matriarch's icy glare and words were ground out between them, Ka'ana took the opportunity to lean toward Cate.

"What the fuck are you trying to do here, Doc? Get us killed?" he hissed, his eyes risking a quick glance to her face before returning on the Klingons surrounding them. She looked scared, shaken beyond what their current situation dictated. Yes, he was a little on edge himself, facing down this bunch of Klingons on top of the Romulans, but there was something else. Vedder wasn't a soldier, but she'd faced worse odds, fought bare hands for her life and theirs. What is it about these guys, he wondered, thinking about the altercation between her and Kresh?

Skittish, her heart beating so loud in her chest she thought it might bounce out, Cate tried to wrap her head around what was happening. She still felt the Klingon's hand on her like a brand and had to fight the memories to remain in the here and now.

"I just wanted to double back, see if our guys needed medical help. They should have reached the mines by now," she replied quietly. "He wouldn't let me..."

"And he's right," the Sergeant grumbled.

Ka'ana's reply was not what she wanted to hear. "What?"

"Mercer needs you here so he can do his job." Ka'ana met her eyes briefly, checking if his words and everything else between the lines reached through her thick skull.

"And I've got my own job to do, which is keep you all alive," she snapped back.

"How can you deny him and the others my help? He went back for you!" she growled.

Ka'ana straightened up visibly, blood boiling. He knew that he owed his life to Dee and his CO, and to her and Lloyd, for not giving up, not leaving him out there. It pissed him off she would think he would forget such a thing.

"I'm following orders, ma'am," he grounded out, trying to keep his cool, but he conceded her the point. It was because she had come to him back under the mountain that he was breathing now.

"Send someone else then," he suggested with a sigh. "Think about it, you wouldn't make it back up on your own."

Even if she guessed Ka'ana was right, it wasn't an option for Cate. "I won't do that again."

"Doctor?" K'Ahlen tried again just as Ronnie nudged Cate, interrupting her heated discussion with the Marine sergeant.

"Wha..." Cate glanced at the senior medic before she realised K'Ahlen had been trying to get her attention for some time.

K'Ahlen stood in front of Kresh, slightly to his left, both hands held at chest height, palms down, trying to have both sides lower their weapons. She continued, as if the female doctor had been listening to all of it. "Do it now or else there will be more blood shed, more than we can bear."

She looked to Cate again before lifting an eyebrow at Kresh. "They are not the enemy. They have fought for us, alongside us, they have cared for us, treated us..."

"With insolence!" Kresh retorted.

"Oh, can it, Kresh! Next time, keep your paws off of the doc!" Ka'ana interjected, sick of his posturing.

It wasn't hard to find the colonists and the medical team. One had only to follow the shouting that was echoing through the tunnels. The passages afforded excellent acoustics and Jake's back was up as to why the fuck everyone was talking as if they were all stone deaf. If the Romulans should happen to come down here, the voices carrying would certainly give them away.

Of course it was even more infuriating when everyone was so busy on whatever shit storm was taking place to even notice the Sharks had returned.

"What the fuck is going on here?" Jake demanded.

Ka'ana blinked slowly, cursing under his breath and turned to face his Captain. "Just a little misunderstanding?"

"A misunderstanding where everyone is drawing?" Jake closed in, lowering Grek to the ground.

"What is this, Kresh?" Grek demanded, equally incensed. "The Romulan Qi'Yah are already trying to kill us, why are we squabbling like old women?"

"Ask your woman," Kresh snorted at Jake, shooting Cate an icy glare.

Jake was already staring at Cate, at the gun drawn.

That's right, chauvinistic barbaric Klingon bastard. Lay it all on me, thought Cate as she shifted her murderous look away from Kresh. Emotions brimming, she wasn't sure which should win - her relief that Jake and his men were back or mortification that he had walked in on this.

"Everybody," Jake spoke with a tone seldom used with anyone, "lower your goddamn weapons. ALL OF YOU!" It wasn't just to Klingons but to his own people. "We do not have time for this." His voice was almost a growl of menace.

Cate only hesitated a moment before she lowered her phaser, a quick glance to Lloyd and Bernard intimating to them to do the same if they hadn't already done so. She swallowed and lifted her eyes to Jake, expecting him to chew her a new one. He wouldn't be wrong as in a flash of insight, she knew the situation wasn't wholly Kresh's fault. It was hers. She'd expedited it with her reaction to his species and that was her problem.

She'd already filled in the paperwork for a reassignment request when the situation between her and Jake had turned untenable. The only reason she hadn't handed it in yet was due to Martin, who still wasn't a hundred percent following Laryn taking over his body. Maybe what had just taken place was a sign that she should. Maybe she wasn't cut out for a posting on a ship after all.

Jaws tightening, she suddenly found it very difficult to remain in place, facing his stare - everyone's stare.

Not wishing to escalate this situation any more than it already was, Jake opted to take the high road, even though he did want to ask Cate what the hell she was thinking. Didn't she realise that if the Vanguard was destroyed then a rescue party would most likely be Klingon? And if it were Klingon, it would be their military and only the word of these people would prevent their warriors from frying all their asses. It was one thing for the Sharks to face a bunch of Klingon civilians but Jake had no desire to get into a fight with their warrior caste.

Once Cate lowered her weapon, the others seemed to follow suit although in Jake's opinion, the situation was far from diffused. Everyone was still on edge and Jake brought them back to Earth with a timely reminder that they were all in this mess together.

"Grek is hurt," he said sedately. "He needs help." He gestured at Cate to turn her attention to the patient and leave Klingon-Terran relations to him.

Ka'ana still looked like he was in battle mode, which wouldn't do at all. "Sarge, I need an ordinance check."

Ka'ana snapped out of his dagger glare in Kresh's direction. The Klingon bared his teeth at the younger human but did nothing else provocative.

Jake walked towards the Klingon and said, "Now you know why we usually leave our women at home. They're quicker to piss off than Selurian devil beasts."

Kresh stared at Jake for a moment and then broke into a low guffaw, slapping the human on the shoulder. "But not as easy to tame."

"Not easy at all." Jake smiled faintly, glancing in Cate's direction before facing Kresh again.

He'd go to chauvinist hell later.

Watching Jake sinking to caveman level with the idiot who had manhandled her twisted Cate's insides. Eyes touching on K'Ahlen, she swallowed back any comment but it burned her tongue to do so. She nodded at the old woman though, grateful that in her years and wisdom, she had tried to diffuse the situation.

Glancing down at Grek, she found in her the strength to give the young Klingon soldier an encouraging smile and got to work.

"Let's see what's wrong with you."

Even though this bit of male posturing was demeaning not just to Cate but also to Dee, Corporal Sheridan said nothing because she knew the Captain wasn't that kind of an asshole. No, he was doing it to keep the peace, to ensure that humans and Klingons didn't start shooting down here because it would be uglier than any Romulan could think of.

Still stewing, Ka'ana walked away from Kresh, going to carry out the Captain's order of checking their ordinance which was Mercer's polite way of saying, 'Go do something before your pissing contest gets us killed'.

"We lost Conan." Dee shrugged. "Dumb ass tripped over his feet and got turned into a cinder." She sounded indifferent but Sarge would know better.

Once everyone had dispersed somewhat, Jake gave Kresh a run down of their situation. "I don't think they saw us head this way but it won't take them long to come this way if they believe we're still alive. I think we need to be prepared to use the tunnel network system to hide your people if the Romulans try to come down here. We'll be able to hold them off indefinitely if we take advantage of the terrain."

Kresh nodded. "Then we will become the mountain goats of Borath. Agile of foot and swifter than those Romulans dogs."

"Couldn't have said it better myself," Jake agreed.

Having treated Grek, Cate moved over the Marines, giving them a cursory check, even the Klingons who had accompanied them in their decoy mission. They all mostly suffered from scratches and mild contusions, nothing a MACO (or Klingon for that matter) would call a show-stopper.

Soon, she was approaching Dee and Ka'ana, feeling more than awkward because she had come to consider them both as friends.

"How's Grek?" Dee asked when she saw Cate approach and knew the woman had to be pissed at the crap coming out of the Captain's mouth as he and Kresh played the intergalactic version of the boy's club as they discussed what they'd do next.

"He'll live," Cate replied, eyes cast down. But this was Dee, and Cate couldn't be that dismissive to her, not matter how annoyed and chastised she felt. "It was a clean slice. The dermal regenerator worked a treat," she added, making eye contact though she was still clearly hesitant. "Your turn... let me check you over."

The doctor seemed uncomfortable so Dee didn't give her any trouble when Cate asked for her to be checked out. "Sure," Dee stepped up readily, aware that Sarge was a little pissed and while Dee hadn't been present for what she and her comrades had walked in on, she suspected that Cate was in the centre of it. At least by Kresh' pissy little statement and the Captain's attempt at damage control.

"I'm glad you made it here," Cate said after a moment, meeting Dee's eyes as her hand ran the tricorder over the corporal. "How was it up there?" They could still hear the disruptor doing its worse on the surface.

"They're determined not to give us any place to hide," Dee replied. "I'm pretty sure they're going to burn any vegetation within walking distance of the colony and then start looking in places where there aren't jungle."

"Thing is," Ka'ana added, "if they choose to run a scan, they may not find us because of the disruption from the dilithium but that won't stop them from figuring out that there is dilithium. They'll realise we're using it to hide, which means they'll come after us here."

"And if they do," Jake added, joining them, "it's not going to be pretty. Disruptors don't reach this far down. They can't accurately map the tunnels so they have no way of knowing that any other measures they try to smoke us out will work for sure. The only way they can get to us is if they come down here and get us themselves." Jake tossed Ka'ana a smirk. "I guarantee you if they do that, we'll make things pretty interesting for them."

Glancing at Jake, Cate couldn't imagine what about Romulans coming down here to chase them like rats could possibly bolster his spirits up that way. With the injured, the children and the elderly, they weren't in a position to run around the treacherous tunnels.

"You're good," she finally told Dee, putting her medical scanner away and taking a step back to let them get on with their discussion.

"We'll rest for an hour," Jake resumed speaking seeing how cate wanted little to do with this discussion. "Then I want you to send two of our people up there. I want to know the minute the Romulans start making their way in here. They can use marking flares to signal us down here. Kresh is sending his people to explore the tunnel network, see which ones will provide the best hiding place. If they come, we'll move the civilians in there and go deal with the Rommies. We've got to make them fight for every inch of ground they try to cover to get to us."

"Fuck yeah," Ka'ana agreed with that reasoning.

Sensing that his captain wanted a word alone with Cate, Ka'ana gestured at Dee to follow him as he headed towards the rest of the Sharks.

Once they were alone, Jake turned to Cate. "You okay?" he asked.

"If he stays away from me, I'll be fine," Cate replied, a little more bite to her tone than she intended. She wrapped her arms around herself as she scanned the cave to see where Kresh had moved to.

Jake stiffened, "Cate, I need you to keep a cool head." She was probably going to balk at this but he couldn't help it. He could rely on his Sharks not to do anything impulsive but at this time, Cate was the wild card. "If the Vanguard is destroyed, the reinforcements that come will be Klingon and the only way we're getting off this planet alive, is if Kresh and his people vouch for us. Do you understand?"

I do. She did. She opened her mouth to reply but then paused and looked down at her boots a second as she sighed.

"Jake..." Looking up again, she shook her head slightly. "I can ignore it and do my job... I have. I've worked with them, treated them, cajole them and laughed with them, but I will not let him touch me." A deep-seated fear flashed in her eyes, one that was primal and near uncontrollable.

"You don't have to let him touch you," Jake said firmly, seeing the fear in her eyes.

"Hell, I won't even let him but you can't go around pulling weapons on Klingons, Cate, especially friendly ones. As a point of honour, they'll respond in kind. What you started just now, could have easily ended up badly, you gotta know that. I need to know I can trust you in this." This time, he wasn't addressing her as his lover, or even as a friend but as a soldier who needed her to be Starfleet first, Cate second.

Her jaw near dropping on the ground, Cate nearly staggered back. "What I started? You don't even know what happened!" she growled, her eyes throwing daggers. "Is that what he said?" She blinked, feeling like she'd been slapped across the face. He would take the word of a Klingon over hers. Suddenly her face a mask, Cate nodded.

"Don't worry, Captain," she gave him the assurance he sought, her tone icy. "It won't happen again. And if it does, you can shoot this Selurian devil beast yourself."

Fuck, Jake almost groaned out loud. He just didn't have the patience to deal with this right now. The restraint he had been holding snapped.

"Cate, fucking grow up. You pulled a goddamn gun on an ally because he grabbed your arm. You almost kicked off a shooting war, for Christ sake. I don't give a shit who's right or wrong, I'm just asking you to put aside your hate for 'em at least until we get off this ball of dirt."

She never got a chance to pull her weapon but she guessed that didn't matter in his eyes. He didn't give a shit who grabbed whom and who hit whom first. He was right about one thing: she should have been able to better assess the situation, given they were Klingons, and let whatever slide for the greater good. It didn't matter that it had been an engrained reaction, a reflex, one she had no control over until it was too late. She was a liability because of her past history with them. She should have listened to her gut back on the Vanguard and let Maddock take this one. She should have done a lot of things...

"As I said, you got it. Just keep him the fuck away from me." Her tone was calm and certainly more controlled than his but it didn't stop her from answering his cussing in kind.

"Will do," Jake returned resignedly, guessing that no matter what, he couldn't say the right thing to Cate and frankly, the last few hours were starting to wear him down so he was tired of trying. The one hour he had allotted himself and the Sharks was time he needed to recharge and Jake could only nod and pass her. He needed a piece of wall to lean up against and maybe get some rest. Hopefully he'd sleep and not dream of Rathe or the mess he'd made of things with Cate.

Too mad and hurt to try and step in his boots and see the situation from his point of view, Cate snorted as he walked away and stalked off in the opposite direction. Would it had been too much to ask to get a little support? A little understanding? She wasn't one of his soldiers. She didn't have this detachment. No doctor or medic could do their job if they did. Yes, she was Starfleet but not a goddamn robot. If Kresh had kept his damn hands to himself, none of this would have happened. If, if, if...

It seemed that no matter what she did, it was always wrong, not enough or too much.

As she walked to the other side of the cave to go sit near that second waterhole, the one that was untainted, Cate noticed Ronnie and Armando glance her way, felt the gaze of some Klingons on her too but didn't look at any of them dead on, least of all K'Ahlen. She couldn't face being chewed out by her too just yet. Instead, she thought back on Jake's initial opinion of her, one he'd shared with her during that rescue mission of the Bajoran and Cardassian colony. One notch above... what had he said again? She couldn't remember the exact word but it hadn't been flattering. Well, she had just proved him right and maybe given him cause to add a few more to his list. Weak, emotional. Neurotic.

Sliding down along the damp rock wall, she sat down cross-legged and pulled her med kit into her lap to check her supplies. She had to keep her mind busy on something. Capt. Jake Mercer wanted emotionless, he'd get it, because she was damn tired to be the only one putting herself out there, warts and all. But even as she thought that, she knew she was being unfair. Jake had reached out to her before heading out on that suicidal mission... had given her reason to hope even if the odds were against them. He'd made her a promise and he'd kept it. He'd come back to her... and hell, she had made a mess of it all.

"Putain de merde," she let out quietly on a sob.

Swallowing thickly, she let her head fall against the stone behind her.

"My mother would call it feeling sorry for yourself. And Kahless would spit you out."

The voice, that of a boy, came from the darkness to her left and Cate moved her torch to the spot. "Who's there?"

"Only me, Doctor. Will you draw on me too?"

The beam of light crossed someone sitting about ten feet away and Cate zeroed it on the face of the kid... the one with the broken leg. He was smirking.

"Kern." She sighed. "You saw what happened. Don't be a smart mouth," she grumbled at him.

*****

Private Joshua 'Sy' Sylla flinched when the drop of water splattered above his eye.

Wiping the trickle of moisture that ran down his cheek, he instinctively looked up from the ledge he had perched himself for the last hour, trying to see if anything was moving in the darkness. The bombardment from the Romulan disruptors had stopped thirty minutes ago and despite tremors and quakes, no other mischief had befallen him.

"Hey Sy," he heard Private Stevie La Manna holler from several dozen feet below. "You think they're really coming?"

"Captain thinks so," Sy replied and then added, "Keep the chatter down, Manny. Our voices echo like a motherfucker in here."

"Sorry," Manny apologised and fell silent.

Sy looked up, noticing what light in the passage to be almost gone now. They'd been on Narendra III for hours now, dusk had to be approaching. Would the Romulans give up for the night or would they continue to look?

"Hey Sy," Manny spoke up again and he cursed.

"What?" Sy hissed, thinking that any moment Sarge or the Captain was going to come up here and tear them a new one.

"Do you think the Vanguard is still around?"

This time it was Sy who felt silent, unable to answer. A few minutes later, he finally found a response. "Of course, it is."

A rock suddenly fell past his shoulder, bouncing from up above and continuing downwards, hurtling past Manny before it continued its descent, trailing noise behind it. After all the quaking that had happened, it was only to be expected.

Then another one tumbled against the ledge, and another.

"Quiet." Sy hissed and listened.

At first the sound was almost imperceptible but then the clear crunch of gravel could be heard. Footsteps were approaching. They were making their way down the leges and steep walkways, one after another. Sy counted at least six.

"Sy...?" Manny asked quietly.

"We've got company."

The marking flare illuminated the small space around Manny who tossed the object down the tunnel, watching it tumble through the darkness before it hit the ground.

When Dee saw the marking flare on the ground a few feet away from her, she didn't need to look up. She started running towards the others.

*****

"Yeah, but why do you do what you do?" Kern pressed.

"What do you mean?" Cate asked, turning her head slightly toward him. "Why am I a doctor?"

The pair had settled into a conversation of sorts and, while he had shifted a little closer so they could keep their voices to a quiet level, he had been mindful of not crowding her. Cate's mind boggled over the fact a boy his age would have that kind of insight.

But what he hadn't taken in physical closeness, he did with questions. The kid had been quizzing her about everything from what real oranges tasted like (because she had offered him some orange-flavoured gum at some point) to where she was from, why wasn't she staying home like Klingon women did once mated and if she didn't have a man, why wasn't the captain stepping up to the plate. After talking a bit about his homeworld, they had now moved to her career choice and, to her surprise, Cate was indulging him.

"Yes, a healer. Why come out here?"

"Well, that's two questions, Kern," Cate replied with surprising patience. "My sister and I always wanted to be doctors. As far back as I can remember. Never wished anything else." She smiled fondly, thinking on her sister Isabel for a moment.

"You have a sister?"

Kern's tone was excited and Cate wondered if Klingons were family-oriented, wishing for mates and kids, siblings and large families.

"Had," she corrected him. "As for why am I here? I go where I'm needed." It was actually that simple.

"A good thing you do," Kern commented after a long silence, surprising her with the sincerity behind it, and she watched the profile of the teenage boy in the dim lighting as he surveyed his people spread about the cave.

Despite everything that had happened, Cate guessed he was right.

"What about you? Haven't seen your family around..." Cate probed gently. She guessed they could be part of the group and she just had missed them. It wasn't like she had been terribly interested.

"They are with Kahless, in Sto-vo-kor," Kern said with pride.

Cate knew enough about Klingons to know it was their version of heaven, a warrior heaven. "I'm sorry."

"No need. They fought bravely... died honourably."

It sounded rehearsed to her, and also a bit like a mantra. Whatever helped the kid sleep at night, Cate decided. Whatever helped him going.

"What happened? Was it here in the mines?" Cate heard herself ask, not really knowing why she did so. It wasn't her business and it wasn't her habit to pry like that.

"No. The mines were already closed when we settled here," he replied. "Romulans happened. What of your sister... your family?"

"Xindi. Xindi and Klingons," she admitted.

"Oh."

Cate saw the shape of his opened mouth more than she heard the sound he made and then, in a clatter of boots and loose rocks, their quiet chit-chat was interrupted by Cpl. Dee Sheridan, nearly coming down the tunnel and ledge in a roll before tumbling down into the cave.

Jake had found himself a quiet corner to get some rest when the pounding of footsteps against the ground jolted him abruptly awake. Eyes flying open, he was at full alertness even before he saw Dee appear. Getting to his feet, Sarge and Kresh were also front and centre, waiting to hear the inevitable report of the only reason she would be running to them like this.

"Tell me," Jake retorted as she reached them.

"Either Manny or Sy lit up a candle," she explained quickly.

"Right." Jake nodded, needing no more information than that.

"Sarge, get 'em ready to move. Kresh, you need to start moving people into the tunnels, as deep as you can go."

"My place is here," Kresh protested, tired of the hiding.

"Your place is keeping your people safe," Jake returned promptly. "Look, if they get past us, it's up to you to protect them."

Kresh cursed loudly and barked something in Klingon to the group. Half a dozen Klingon males stepped out of the group and joined them.

"This is Vorr," he introduced the leader. "He will go with you." Kresh's tone indicated this wasn't up for discussion.

"Alright." Jake nodded, having no time to argue.

"Sarge, debrief them on our plan. I got something to do."

Ka'ana didn't need to ask what.

However, he was surprised when Jake went not to Cate but instead Ronnie, gesturing the medic to join him for a private word.

Already up and about, helping the civilians getting ready to move, Ronnie looked at Mercer quizzically, before glancing around to see where Cate was and if there was any obvious reason for the Marine Captain to want to talk to him instead of his boss - obvious beyond the argument she and he had had earlier.

"Captain?" Ronnie let out as he approached him, running a hand through his unruly hair. "Dr. Vedder's over that way," he volunteered cautiously.

"I didn't want to talk to Cate," Jake said dismissively, opting not to look the way he indicated because he would cave in and talk to her. "I need to talk to you. Cate and Klingons... they have baggage." He knew her father had been killed during the rogue Klingon attack on Gaia a couple of years ago. She hadn't talk about it much but during the meld, he got an idea of how pissed she was. "The further she stays away from Kresh, the better. Kresh is going to be throwing orders around while us Sharks are gone, so it's best if you deal with him rather than Cate. Unless you've got issues too."

Ronnie took in a sharp breath, trying to rein in his annoyance. He didn't know what it was with this guy. He certainly respected him as a soldier but the man's people skills...

"I don't have issues. With the Klingons." But he damned had some with Mercer. "Just watch your step with her," Ronnie continued.

He'd heard the Captain lay into her earlier; they all had given the acoustics of this place. Nobody liked the way Mercer had treated Cate back on the Vanguard, least of all their CMO. But Martin had respected her wishes when she'd told them all to leave it to her to deal with. But it had gotten worse. Ronnie figured Martin had feared he'd given her just enough rope to hang herself with, up until the time she'd left her Marine. After that, things weren't good but they'd evened out some. Now, the bastard was at it again, even going as far as by-passing her in the chain of command, and Ronnie didn't possess the same restraints his big boss did.

"We all have our demons and we've cut you some slack for yours. Can't you extend her the same courtesy?" Ronnie's hazel eyes flashed as he thought of Cate, a fucking decent doctor, going from confident to a woman with a gaze filled with doubt, reduced to question her own self-worth because she was putting so much stock in what Mr. Congeniality here thought of her.

"She was scared out of her wits having to square off with that pissy Klingon. He towers over her by three full heads. But she did it. But then he went and grabbed her by the shoulder to restrain her and she panicked. What do you think would have happened if you'd grabbed one their females like that?" Same fucking thing, Ronnie was sure of it. Klingons were far more trigger-happy than any MACO he knew. "Think about that. She was just trying to do her job. But I'll try and run interference between her and Kresh. After I discuss it with her."

Ronnie could see where Mercer was coming from but he wasn't about to go over his boss' head.

Jake's eyes narrowed, wondering why the fuck he was even bothering.

"Fuck you," he snapped. "She wanted him kept the fuck away from her and I was respecting that by asking you to deal with him. Now, if you want to go discuss this with her or a fucking committee, I don't give a shit. As for my demons," Jake glared at him just as mercilessly, "my demons weren't about to provoke those Klingons in shooting the lot of you when she went for her gun. And I ain't even starting on the fact that she should have stayed the fuck put like I asked instead of doing something that no sane person would have allowed her to do in the first place."

Ronnie snorted. There was no reasoning with this man. He had his head so far up his own ass, it wasn't funny. His demons may have not provoked some Klingons, they instead sent his woman down the spiral of depression and he hadn't even noticed.

"Whatever, Mercer. Whatever." He shook his head, not about to break it down to the man what the med team's job actually was. "Go shoot something... better yet, blow it up. That's all you seem to know how to do." Ronnie spun on his heels to leave but then paused.

"Oh, forgot." He grabbed a sealed med pack from his bag and motioned his intention to lob it his way. "Dr. Vedder thought you guys could do with a pick-me-up." He sent the pack of stimulants sailing the distance between them. "Regulation. Three pills each, at the most. If we're still here in eight hours, we'll reassess."

Jake caught the pack with one hand, wondering if perhaps things would have been simpler if he had never taken up with Cate. Suddenly his rule of paying for it was starting to sound pretty damn good. At this moment, he was so pissed, he was even thinking running into Sloane McRae had been a bad idea...

*****

His name was V'rek and he was a strike force commander of the Romulan Star Empire.

V'rek's objective from his commander had been clear: find the Klingon p'takh and exterminate them, along with the humans that were helping them. The Empire had always known that Gaians would be an enemy, however, no one could have suspected an alliance between the two. This was a dangerous precedent. Gaia's power in the Alpha Quadrant was on the rise, particularly with the birth of their new Federation. An alliance of the Federation and the Klingon Empire would be powerful indeed, powerful enough for the new enemy, the Dominion, to think twice about attacking either and make Romulus a more inviting target.

"Are we certain they are here, Captain V'rek?" The Centurion inquired as the small party descended into the darkness of the forgotten dilithium mine.

"There is no other place that they can hide," V'rek said simply as he grabbed a piece of wall whilst navigating down the perilously narrow ledge. "The dilithium would mask them from sensors. It is logical that they would be here."

"These mines are uncharted," the Centurion pointed out. "We do not know how far down they go. The dilithium resists our ability to scan."

"We will follow them all the way to Sto'Vo'Kor if need be," V'rek replied.

Suddenly, a blast of energy came out of nowhere and the soldier in front of him screamed as his body illuminated briefly from a phaser shot. He staggered and tumbled over the ledge, his death cry following him down.

"Where did that come from?" V'rek shouted.

"There!" the centurion declared, opening fire as a human... a shark scrambled away like a rat in a maze.

A series of shots followed, bombarding the cavern with noise as shattered fragments went in all direction. However, when they reached the place they had seen the enemy, there was nothing. Just debris.

V'rek took a deep breath as the dust cleared, realising, their descent had suddenly become a good deal trickier.

******

It was only once they were pushing through a new set of tunnels that Cate got a chance to approach Ronnie.

"Chief Lloyd."

Ronnie nearly stopped dead in his tracks, shifting the Klingon woman he held in his arms as he turned back to look. He'd recognised that voice alright, it was just that she never ever called him that. He was in deep shit... had to be.

"Do I have to call you Lieutenant Vedder?" he cracked, feeling like a lamb facing slaughter.

Cate had an arm around Kern and they were all starting to move faster now that the sounds of Romulan disruptors sounded closer amidst that of their own weapons' fire.
The Marines as well as over a handful of Klingon males had left the group to go hide, while they intended on staying back to keep the Romulans at bay for as long as it took for Klingon reinforcements to arrive. How those Klingons were going to find them this deep in the mines was something Cate hadn't heard discussed, but she hadn't asked.

In fact, she'd steered clear of both Jake and Kresh and anything to do with military strategy and planning. And even as the soldiers left, the Klingons bidding farewell to their own, Cate had not crowded Jake. She'd wished Dee, Ka'ana and a few other MACOs she had crossed while they got ready to stay safe and watch their asses, but that was it. Not that she'd been hiding or anything, but Jake had elected to stay away as well, apparently, for she hadn't gotten so much as a look from him.

"No, you don't," Cate replied to Ronnie. "Just like you don't get to dress down a Marine captain."

Here we go. Ronnie rolled his eyes. "He had it coming," he growled and started walking again now that Cate and Kern had caught up with him and his patient.
"He may sure as hell did," she conceded, "but not from you."

"Who then, Doctor? You?" He guessed he had to give it to her for trying to do it, for standing up to him earlier but that didn't feel nearly enough. "You think it's been easy for us to watch you... fade away?" He looked at her, meeting her eyes in an unusual show of emotion.

"Don't!" Cate growled under her breath, not wanting that aired here and now. "It's none of your business."

"He drove you to barely a shadow of yourself and he was at it again earlier," Ronnie pushed nonetheless. "I don't care if he's a fucking admiral. He needed to be taken down a couple of notches."

And you think you did that? You pissed him off, more like. Cate's face fell and she shook her head. Part of her understood what he was saying - agreed with it even to some degree, but he and the others, they didn't know what she knew. That, deep down, Jake Mercer was a good man. He'd been dealt a bad hand and he didn't always know how to make the best of it. But who did? He was rough around the edges but he was also fierce. Fierce and uncompromising. Fierce in his feelings for her. She had seen it, felt it. She knew he could smile, he could love. He just rarely allowed himself to.

"Just..." She glanced at Kern at her side, his arm over her shoulders as to keep his weight off of his leg, regretting that he had heard all that. "Just don't try and help me like that again, okay? I mean it, Ronnie. It's more... complicated than that."

Ronnie doubted that but he couldn't refuse the silent plea in her eyes. It amazed him she would side with Mercer still.

Nodding, he said, "By the way, he wants me to handle Kresh. That alright with you?"

Cate's eyes widened for a split second before she schooled her features back to normal. She realised she couldn't bitch about that since she had ask of Mercer to keep Kresh away from her. He could have at least told her it was how he intended to do it...

"That's fine." With that, Cate and Kern fell back a bit and only the sound of shots fired echoed along the tunnel network.

******

There were six of them coming down the passage way and those were numbers that Jake could handle. Of course, he knew that once the Sharks took care of these, there would be more. The Romulans would keep sending more of their troops down the mines, it was the only thing they could do because the disruptors couldn't get this far down and transporter beams wouldn't work thanks to the dilithium interference. When Manny had taken the first shot, the private had killed one of the Romulans and given the enemy a heads up as to what was waiting for them if they continued.

Jake and Sarge watched the Romulans through the scope of their rifles, pressing themselves against the wall of the corkscrew like ledge that led from the surface. They counted five figures moving cautiously down. The two humans had been sitting in the same place for almost ten minutes, allowing their eyes to adjust to the darkness. By the time, the Romulans had strayed into their crosshairs, Jake and Sarge could see them clearly.

A simple hand signal to Sarge and another shot streaked through the air, slamming another Romulan into the wall before he staggered forward and tipped over the ledge.

"There!" The Romulan shouted. "Follow the flash!"

This guy was smart, Jake thought and tried to aim for him when the Romulans opened fire, the trade of blasts, illuminated the cavern in flashes. Jake tried to take him out but the Romulan was cautious, dropping to his belly to make the shot harder. Instead, Jake hit the wall above him, raining debris on the enemy's head. The heat of a disruptor shot past his ear and impacted against the rock. Taking aim, he killed another Romulan until he heard the leader of them bark, "retreat!"

That took less time than Jake anticipated but he knew the Romulan would be back, in greater numbers.

******

Soon Kresh had them stop at a fork. The current tunnel they were in was splitting up in three distinct tunnels before them.

"I want three groups," he barked, turning around to look at his people. "Let's give the Romulan some trouble in finding us." As the people started to shuffle around, he growled impatiently, "To Toq and Rokis, I will lead the third group."

The two singled out Klingons stepped forward and chose a tunnel each and the civilians started to split up into three groups, minding family members but also who needed help moving and who could provide it.

After a nod to Ronnie, Cate made sure to go with either of the new faces, ducking around Kresh so he wouldn't have anything to say.

"I'll go with Rokis. You take the very personable Kresh, and Armando gets Toq," she said when the corpsman made his way to them, anticipating that the med team would be splitting up as well. "You're all good on supplies?"

"Yeah," Armando replied as Ronnie nodded, before checking out this Toq.

"Go on, let's go!" Kresh snapped after conferencing with his two new lieutenants.

"Godspeed," Armando said, looking decidedly jumpy for him, his fist going for a knuckle tap with each of his team-mates.

"You too, man. See you on the other side. Cate." Ronnie nodded and smirked, looking more hopeful than either of the other two felt.

*****

It was only when Dee gave the all clear that the Romulans had retreated up the cavern walkway back to the surface did Jake and the others move about freely. Her slighter frame allowed her to hide better in the darkness. Wearing night vision goggles, Dee had seen the Romulan switch to their language in spite of the universal translator to mask their intentions from the betrayal of the cavern's acoustics. After a few minutes, the leader gestured the group to follow and they scaled the treacherous pathway to the entrance.

Once he saw Dee's signal, Jake and Vorr moved along the walkway, finding their way to next to the Corporal.

"I want you to maintain this position with Vorr here," Jake explained, wanting the Klingons to be involved as much as they could. "I'm going to set some concussion charges along with proximity detectors. When they go off, the Rommies will be disorientated. Do not let them get past you."

"We will use our advantage," Vorr nodded, understanding completely.

"Got it," Dee nodded. "We'll pick 'em off when they're disorientated."

"Yeah, the objective is cut down numbers by any means necessary. We've got to keep sending them back up for reinforcements."

"We will make them shed blood for each inch of space they think they gain," the Klingon snarled menacingly.

"I like the way you think," Dee grinned.

"Alright," Jake nodded and headed off to set off the charges.

****

As the smaller group pushed on carefully, Cate realised what was missing. There were no more sounds of shooting.

"You think it's a good sign?" she asked Kern.

"Yes." He nodded vigorously. "It means Romulan scum is all dead."

Or that our people are dead, Cate thought but didn't tell the kid. She kept telling herself it couldn't have ended this quick. It just couldn't have.

"Let us hope for that conclusion," K'Ahlen said as she passed someone to come walk just behind the pair. "How are you, Kern? Still watching out for the doctor?"

The kid preened at that and Cate thought he would have been snapping his suspenders on his chest had he had any.

"You have a way with him for sure," Cate told K'Ahlen, noting the old woman's manner around the boy. There was affection there and Cate realised she was surprised by that, which was absurd. Of course there would be. It only showed her how skewed her view of that species was because of what had happened on Gaia.

K'Ahlen gave her a rare smile before her features reverted to a stoic expression. "You and your mate?" she asked after a moment, as delicately as possible for a Klingon.

Cate shook her head 'no', understanding everything the woman was asking in those four simple words.

"I am sorry."

"Me too," Cate said, having not known Klingons did such a thing as apologising.

*****

With teams of two watching having a clear view of the any location where concussions charges were set, Jake found himself settling down to wait for the next wave to come. In the darkness, he thought of Cate, how they had come to be in this place where he was thinking of leaving as an alternative to facing her. Oh yeah, he could blame Rathe for a lot of it but some of it was his fault too. Jake had spent the better part of the last fifteen years, keeping to himself. His private life had been his own and even after he broke that rule for Sloane McRae, he still remained intensely closed off. He was his father's son in that way. After the twins were gone, he had retreated and Jake liked it that way.

However, coming on board the Vanguard, being in command of his own team and forming a relationship with Cate had meant people suddenly being in his business. He wondered if there had been a moment when he would have gone after her and apologised. There was. When she walked out of the room that night and it dawned on him how much he had hurt her, he wanted to go after her but then Ray had beat him to it. Ray had involved himself and then the rest of the fucking ship, his Sharks, the medical team, with their judgement had made him hesitant to approach her. Even now, Ronnie had taken it upon himself to offer comment.

What the fuck did they think he was? Stupid? Of course he would have taken Kresh's head off if given the chance for putting one paw on Cate but he needed to be the commander of the Sharks, keeping everyone safe and ensuring this tenuous alliance held. He had to suck it up and he had to make sure everyone else did too.

Now, thanks to everyone, Jake didn't feel as if he and Cate had anything to say to each other because everyone else had had their say already.

Suddenly an explosion was up ahead, followed by the rain of debris and rock fragments that followed. Jake looked up in time to see Dee and Vorr opening fire on a group of Romulans who had set off the concussion charges. The disorientation had forced some off the ledge, their scream following them down as they tumbled over into the darkness. The others were quickly targeted and those who were shot, immediately took refuge where they could and started to return fire. Jake counted at least nine of them left, which told him the Romulans were wising up about what was waiting for them down here.

The game was afoot.

*****

They felt like a wave. It seemed to shift the rock around them, stirred the air. And then they heard it. In the silence, the explosion felt distant but loud nonetheless.

Rokis stopped walking, eyes instinctively going up. He motioned for everyone to stay put for now as little rocks came loose and fell down, trickling over them.

"The Romulans are escalating their attack," K'Ahlen said, pulling a young mother and her child to her as they pressed against the rocky wall.

Cate hoped not. Explosives could mean their attempt at crumbling the mines on top of them. She gulped, glancing down at Kern, who was braced against her but the one with an arm above them both.

"It's not. That was one of ours."

Cate turned to the only other human amongst the group. "One of ours?" She shone her light toward the injured Marine.

"Yes. Concussion charges," Marlowe clarified. "My take is that they set up a few near the entrance and waited for the bastards to try coming in again."

And just as the young private spoke, the exchange of fire resumed, Cate even getting good enough at this to recognise the MACO standard-issue phase rifles were the ones to open the ball.

*****

The Romulans were wising up but then Jake knew they would. After the second or the third detonation, they started to take care with their approach, tripping the charges before they lost any more people. Efficient and ruthless, they began to survey the walls as they descended, detecting the explosives before they could fall victim to them. Instead, the Sharks and the Rommies were now engaged in a fire fight as both sides traded phaser fire and disruptor blasts, feeling the cavern with the deafening sound of discharging weapons.

"Fall back!" Jake ordered as he saw Vorr take the hit while ushering Dee along the wall when the order to retreat was given. The Corporal who was wholly unaccustomed to being protected like that, wore her shock in her eyes, something that seldom reached that far. Jake saw her lean over to grab him but even Jake knew he was dead.

"Leave him!" Ka'ana barked before he could.

"We don't leave our people to die!"

"He is just a shell!" One of the Klingons declared. "His spirit has already gone to Sto'Vo'Kor!"

"MOVE IT, SHERIDAN!" Jake roared and spurred her into running as Manny covered her back, firing into the thickest source of of Romulan disruptor fire.

Dee scrambled forward, barely evading the barrage as the wall behind her exploded from heat, covering her back in debris and broken fragments.

The Romulans were pouring more and more troops and very soon, Jake had a bad feeling they were going to be overrun.

He hoped for the sake of the civilians, Kresh had moved everyone deeper into the tunnel network.

*****

[do]

When the shooting led to more explosions and to more shooting, Rokis led his charges deeper still, forced to negotiate a dangerous path, opened to one side to a dark pit that went as far as their light could reach and beyond.

Cate couldn't tell if she was just imagining it but it felt like the furious battle was getting ever so closer. Every time there was a pause, her heart stopped, thinking that it was it, the end of that thin line of defence that were the Marines. The end of Jake and his men. Of Dee, Dennis' newfound angel. Of Avyn, a man larger than life, one she'd held the heart of in her hands a few hours ago, coaxing it to beat again. The end of those Klingons who had chosen to fight alongside them. Brothers in arms; brothers in death.

And then it would resume again. Explosions and intensifying sounds of disruptor and phaser fire that were shaking the whole network of dark tunnels and chambers. Yes, it was definitely getting closer.

It even got to the Klingon males, hastening their pace, trying to get deeper and deeper, away from the madness above, until one of them lost his footing and slid down the narrow path.

His growl echoed loudly, people scrambling to stop his fall. He knocked into a lady on his way down and they both roll together, her screech the last thing they all heard as the pair fell off the edge.

*****

"Manny!" Someone shouted.

It could have been Sy but Jake wasn't sure. All he saw was Manny hitting the ground, his chest flaming from the hit from a Romulan disruptor. He saw Sarge grabbing him, dragging him off behind a rock wall and meeting Jake's gaze with a shake of his head that told the Captain, the private hadn't made it.

Perched along the tunnels, positioned at the entrance to the larger chamber, the Romulans were merciless in their barrage and Jake was forced to realise two things. They were going to get overwhelmed by sheer numbers and the fact the Rommies could get power packs for their weapons, the Sharks could not. Even now, the weapon in his hand was growing warmer and warmer. Eventually the spare packs would exhausted and they would be down to fighting with hand phasers began rifles would be useless.

Suddenly, something rolled across the ground and Jake almost shouted in warning, thinking it was an explosive, when in fact, the canister began exuding a thick gas.

Shit! He cursed as he saw the billowing smoke and new the enemy had just pulled their shorts around the ankle. "SWITCH TO INFRA RED!" He ordered and prayed the dilithium would not interfere with the goggles ability to see other spectrums.

Continuing to fire, even though it was difficult to see, the others Sharks attempted to do the same, firing into the smoke, hoping the barrage would keep them away from breaching the tunnel

*****

Using the smoke to mask their movements, V'rek pushed his men forward, finally gaining some ground. Ground that had cost him dearly. But they were probably all about to be rewarded.

They were obviously fighting warriors and not civilians, therefore it was logical to assume the dogs barking at them presently with the muzzles of their phaser rifles were protecting the colonists, most likely hiding further down the mines, crawling like the subspecies that they were.

The line of fire they had run into had been so fierce that when they got clear, the phaser fire impacted against one of the walls behind them, causing a mild explosion that revealed not a fresh grove in the rock but something infinitely more useful.

Finally standing a mere couple of feet away from the opening of another tunnel in the rock wall, the Strike Force Commander sent some troops down that way. At best, this was another way to the network of tunnels below. At worst, it might offer a route around the Gaian soldiers so they could be flanked. Either way, his men's orders were the same as before; kill the vermin.

With that taken care of, V'rek worked at redoubling their effort. After calling for more reinforcements, they moved forward again. He would do so, fight and earn inch by inch if he had to, until they would kill every last one of them.

*****

The narrowness of the passage that the enemy would have to cross to reach the rest of the tunnel network had made it clear to Jake what had to be done. Establishing a firing line, the Sharks dug in and prepared to kill any Romulan that appeared in front of them. When the first of them, appeared, Jake had given the signal to unleash a murderous hail of phaser fire that illuminated the dark cavern almost as if a mini-sun had ignited. The Romulans dropped like flies, the ground becoming covered in bodies as they tried to breach the MACO line. Jake hoped the assault would push them back once they realised how many they could lose in trying to cross that space.

But then the Rommies' strategy changed.

Suddenly the fire being returned was less, sporadic almost.

"Something's wrong!" Jake hollered at Ka'ana as he saw Sy struck in the face. He was dead before he hit the ground, heard Manny shout after him, saw Dee trying to hold him back.

"Could they have retreated?" Ka'ana asked, noticing the same thing himself.

Cursing the loss of yet another one of his men, Jake shook his head. "I don't think so. EVERYONE!" He shouted. "Push forward to the enemy line!"

*****

Being reminded how treacherous those tunnels and walkways really were had a sobering effect on everyone. If the Romulans did not get them, the mines would.

Eventually.

Rokis cursed under his breath as he tried to promise Wol vengeance for the death of his mate, M'Ehl, redirecting the blame away from Temoc, the Klingon who had lost his footing to begin with, to where it belonged: the Romulans.

As they carried on moving, K'Ahlen left Cate and Kern and went to be at the side of Temoc's kin. His mother's and sister's quiet laments weighed down their every step while it drove the male Klingons into a frenzy.

They wanted blood. They wanted to fight instead of hiding.

Cate recognised the same sentiment, the same need in Pvt. Marlowe, whom, she suspected, internally damned her for preventing him from joining his squad.

Trying to ignore the battle above them, the walls of the mines reacting to the explosions and blast impacts with tremors of their own, Cate kept telling herself that, at least, as long as she had to do that, it meant Jake was still alive.

Smoke and the smell of weapons' discharge, of rocks being cooked by energy beams, drifted to them even this deep while, by contrast, the ambient temperature was going down by a few degrees the further they went.

It came as a surprise when she saw Rokis lifting his fist in the air, signalling them to stop walking.

"Stay," he grumbled and disappeared for a moment into the darkness ahead.

*****

Manny went down, so did Sorenson and Paris. The Sharks shoved forward, until their numbers dwindled, forced into the action until the Romulans were either killed or they stopped firing. They were almost the tunnel entrance from the corkscrew path leading to the surface. Beneath them were bodies of Romulans, so many of them in fact, it was tough to see where they began and where they ended.

And still there wasn't as many of them as there ought to be.

Looking up, he saw no tell tale evidence of the Romulans going to the surface.

"CAPTAIN!" Dee shouted almost frantically.

Jake swung around so sharply he would have gotten whiplash. "What the fuck...." he started to demand when he saw her standing there.

Next to a newly formed hole in the wall that led into another chamber.

"Shit," he growled and thought only one thing. Cate.

*****

"This path goes no further," Rokis announced when he came back.

A clamour of voices greeted his words and he had to shout to be heard over the din.

"Cave in," he explained. "Cannot say if this is recent."

Cate recognised his attempt to not state the obvious: the ongoing firefight above may have started to collapse tunnels.

"We can remain here. We are deep and the Romulans will not be allowed to pass," Rokis suggested.

"Or we can try another tunnel..." It was Kern and Cate's head snapped around to look at him. "I saw another one, only half a mile back," he added.

Rokis nodded, remembering spotting the passage himself but preferring to keep to the tunnel they were in. "Good, good, Kern. Take us there."

The group spun around and started the trek uphill, Cate helping Kern shuffle to the head of the group.

Soon, Rokis and a couple of other male Klingons took point again as they entered the passageway, a much tighter fit to the one they'd been following, but it eventually opened up into a huge cave, their torches barely reflecting off the high ceiling above.

Rokis decided to allow for a short respite and, after taking a sip of water and setting Kern down, Cate went to find K'Ahlen to see if Temoc's family needed anything. She dodged the long stalactites and suddenly stopped dead in her tracks as beams of light were heading their way from the other side of the cave.

*****

Once the Romulans were able to get past the Sharks guarding them to the rest of the tunnel network, it became relatively easy to find the colonists. V'rek sneered that one need only follow the smell. The tunnel they had journeyed came to an end but its ending took place over a larger cavern where the colonists were moving ahead. V'rek was pleased as the ground was high, giving them an advantage as he nodded as his men to take position.

"We leave no survivors." V'rek whispered closing in on the prey, disruptors drawn.

"What of the humans?" The Centurion asked. "We are not yet enemies of the Federation."

V'rek snorted. "It was their choice that brought them to this, we are not responsible with who they foolishly wish to ally themselves. Besides, if nothing else, this will teach the humans not to interfere with our affairs."

*****

Armando looked up sharply from where he was stepping when he heard the Klingons ahead of him starting to shout. When he noticed movement ahead in the cave, he readied his phaser.

"Toq?" The deep voice was faint but it reached them and Toq recognised the owner as Rokis.

When they realised there was no threat, both groups met up, curious as to how they were walking the same path but from opposite directions. Soon curiosity gave way to anger and frustration as it was clear Toq's group would have to double back when Rokis informed them his own route was blocked.

Cate was starting to show signs of fatigue, hands shaking a little, light-headedness. She was feeling beaten but tried not to show it as she stood stock-still, eyes down, listening in on the Klingons discussing in their native language what they would do next.

"When was the last time you ate something?"

Smiling, she looked up to see Armando. "I honestly don't remember," she replied with a sigh. "You?"

"About ten minutes ago. Here." He pushed the remaining half of his powerbar into her palm.

"Thanks." Cate took a bite but without much appetite. "Not that I'm not happy to see you, but I think this means we've been walking in circles..."

Armando nodded, shoulders a little slumped. "You didn't happen to bump into Ronnie as well?" he joked.

Smiling, Cate shook her head, noting a gash near his hairline. Her fingers went to it and the Corpsman pulled back.

"Took a little tumble earlier. It's been seen to."

Opting not to tell him that they had lost two to a similar tumble earlier, she replied simply, "Okay."

A light, fine cloud of dust drifted down between them, visible only when it caught the beam of Armando's torch. They both looked up and their eyes went wide.

"INCOMING!"

And that was all Armando managed to cry out as he slammed into Cate before the blast of a Romulan disruptor hit him in the back.

*****

It was the screams that told Jake that the enemy had found the colonists. Scream of women and children, amidst the echoing blasts of Romulan disruptors. Heart pounding because he could only think of Cate as he ran forward, all thoughts of strategy was thrown on the window as the Sharks and Klingons raced against time, trying to reach the colonist before it was too late.

*****

Cate hit the ground hard, Armando's weight and momentum knocking the wind out of her as well as her head against the rock.

Dizzy, she risked a look and was greeted to what looked like pandemonium. It felt that way too. Another blast whizzed past and she tried to roll away but realised in a panic that she was pinned down.

"Armando..." she cried, wriggling herself around under his weight. Oh, Christ.

"Armando!" This time she reached for the body draped over her lower half and abdomen, her hands finding his face and cradling it before fingers automatically went for a pulse at his throat.

"Jesus, Bernard, don't do this to me..." she muttered, her words ending in a sob. There was no pulse and just as she pushed herself to a sitting position to take a better look at his injuries, see if she could help him like she had Ka'ana earlier, a blast came and hit the Corpsman in the back once more, knocking her back, the heat singeing her eyebrows and hair - not that she really noticed. She was just momentarily blinded and stunned.

She had to get out of there. Get out from under him. MOVE YOUR ASS. She could almost Jake bark at her and that got her moving. That and suddenly hearing K'Ahlen calling for her.

It was Kern who appeared in front of her, the smoke having masked his approach. Blasts crisscrossed around him and the sound played madly with the inner ear.

"Doctor!"

Klingon he may be but the child in him was scared shitless and it bled in his voice.

"I'm alright," Cate was quick to reply, trying to push Armando's dead weight off of her. Unlike Avyn, Armando hadn't had armour to scramble a direct hit. The corpsman hadn't stood a chance.

"Here," Kern said when he saw what held her down, helping her move the medic aside. "Come on." He grabbed her hand and pulled her up. "We have to move."

"Wait!" Bending down again, she retrieved Armando's phaser. He would no longer need it.

Grabbing the teenage boy's waist, Cate started running the way Toq and Rokis were yelling for them to do while at the same time shooting at the Romulans above.

Women and children were being dropped like flies as they tried to flee, their male counterparts unable to lay sufficient cover fire.

Kern spotted K'Ahlen and steered them toward her, the old woman nearly out of the cave, and as Cate looked that way, she saw Marlowe being hit, the blast taking off half his head.

"Oh, no!" she gasped, her steps faltering.

MOVE, CATE. And she did, not wanting to ever feel as useless as she had back on Solarian IV, whether she was terrified by being shot at or not.

"You know how to use one of those?" Cate asked, giving the young Klingon the phaser. At Kern's look, clearly highlighted by a disruptor shot buzzing past them, she gathered that he did and she'd near insulted him by asking. Taking her own out, she didn't waste any more time returning fire as they tried to reach the tunnel Toq and his group had emerged from earlier.

*****

"FUCK!"

Jake growled when he heard the screaming and the disruptor blasts. With full armour on, he was leading the way and it didn't take him long to detect the flashes from the disruptors. Dropping to his knees, He opened fire on the rear flank of the Romulan group, drawing some of the fire away. In the narrow passage where no cover was to be had, it was a turkey shoot. However, any distraction that would draw the enemy from the civilians was a risk he had to take. Behind him, Dee and Sarge were also firing, Dee stood upright behind him while Sarge ordered the others to take position themselves by the wall.

A blast of energy singed the top of Dee's armour and she cursed out loud but continued shooting. To avoid getting shot, some of the Romulans jumped to the same level of tunnel as the colonists had escaped, some were already sent there by the persistent fire of the Sharks and the Klingons.

*****

Once in the tunnel, the sound of firing dying down some, it was shocking to see how many of their combined groups had actually made it. Not even half.

Rokis came in last and was just about to say something when a lucky shot took him out, reaching a couple of meters deep into the tunnel.

Panic ensued, children screaming and women somewhere between crying and cursing. The ones with enough head left pushed them all back from the entrance, pleading for calm and courage.

Heart in her throat, Cate held Kern to her tightly and looked to K'Ahlen as the old woman, obvious mentor to many, tried her best to rein them in.

Cate thought they were probably all out of calm and courage, seeing as how most of them had just witnessed their loved ones being killed in the most savage and unforgivable way. But the Klingons' resilience - much like the Terrans' - was not to be underestimated. It took a few long seconds, but the cries died down.

Toq coaxed what was left of them to carry on, quickly but carefully. Most were hurt and walking in a daze, but walking they did.

*****

The Sharks moved ahead, reaching the edge of the tunnel to see the Romulan bodies covering the edge and the ground. The others had escaped, using the bodies of their fallen comrades to cushion their fall when they jumped. Some had probably gone back around to see if they couldn't rear end his team like they had been but some probably when after the colonists.

"If the Rommies can do it," Jake looked down at the bodies below, "so can we." With that, he stepped off the ledge and dropped to the ground, landing on the soft flesh of a dead Romulan.

Sarge looked down and grimaced. "Shit," he rolled his eyes and followed. "Fucking banzai," he uttered before dropping.

******
With armed Klingons front and back, the group moved and did so quicker than before. For one, Toq and most of them knew this tunnel from having walked it before, and two, there was the fact they all believed the Romulans would find a way down and come after them. They all wanted to put as much distance as possible between their behinds and those disruptors.

It was probably why when they turned a corner, what greeted them took them wholly by surprise.

Nastily, just like it had in the cave.

*****

The Romulans had a found another shaft, hoping to use it to shadow the Klingons' movements. And luckily taking that chance had paid up as they even managed to circle them before the shaft opened up in the same tunnel as their prey but further up ahead. All they had had to do was wait...

And now that Klingon colonists finally started to appear, the Romulans standing there smirked - if they allowed for a such a thing - and opened fire mercilessly.

The Klingons at the front of the group of civilians stood no chance. The rest tried to fall back in a panic, the ones with weapons returning fire when possible.

The sound was deafening and the blasts blinding. And the smell, in such a constricted space gut-twisting.

Pushing Kern ahead of her as everyone started heading back the way they had come even though they were sure to be sandwiched at some point, Cate looked behind her shoulder and saw a woman get shot, her child flying out of her arms. The infant girl rolled down along the side of the path in some sort of a ditch.

Cate didn't think; she just acted. "Go on!" She let go of Kern and dived down, trying to reach the child in the melee while not getting trampled on.

"Doctor!" Kern tried to join her but got pushed along by the others.

While a lot of the shots hit their mark, plenty of them didn't, hitting the rock walls, weakening them. Suddenly water started to spray above Cate's head, where she lay to reach down and retrieve the child, and it only took another to blast a huge hole in the rock, sending debris everywhere, collapsing part of the wall.

Water came rushing out, gallons of it, it seemed.

The wall of water hit the Klingons civilians and the Romulans soldiers indiscriminately, washing everyone off their feet.

Cate screamed until she realised if she didn't close her mouth, she'd choke. Besides, she thought absurdly as she looked down, she was scaring the baby.

She was hurt too. She'd felt the impact on her side, probably a large piece of rock, but the adrenaline coursing in her vein dulled it. But it wasn't just that and no amount of adrenaline could change the fact she was actually, once again, pinned down. And what held her there wasn't going to move as easily as Armando had. In fact, it wouldn't. And the water level in that ditch was rising. And rising. She held the baby high, keeping her out the water, but no one was hearing her calls for help in the rushing water pouring in.

*****

When they landed on the ground, Jake realised that there was yet another smaller tunnel splitting off from the main passage that the colonists would have undoubtedly taken. More treacherous and narrow, it barely allowed for two people two walk side by side. However, there were new sounds emanating from both of them, not to mention the walls of the cavern was quaking.

"What the hell?" he asked.

"Can you feel that?" Ka'ana answered his question with one of his own and Jake looked at him questioningly when suddenly a gust of cool air came wafting through, as if the temperature had dropped suddenly. While the air in the tunnels had been breathable, they were hot and somewhat stale. The sudden cool draft puzzled Jake until the sounds became clearer.

The sound of rushing water.

There was little time to do anything with this realisation because two things happen then.

First, the Romulans who probably caused this situation burst out of the smaller tunnel and, seeing them, opened fire. Jake and Ka'ana were right in the open with the rest of the Marines closing in around them.

"Watch out!" Jake saw a bolt of energy coming towards them and instinctively shoved Sarge out of the line of fire. The man had already been shot once today and Jake didn't think he'd be able to handle another blast from a Romulan disruptor.
However, he did not move fast enough to get out of its way himself.

It struck him in the chest and Jake felt the energy tear through the breastplate of his armour and continue going.

There was a moment of exquisite pain that forced a groan past his lips and produced an instant of perfect clarity in his mind, where the future bled away and there was no longer any question about what would happen tomorrow. It was all academic because he was going to die, right here and now. He heard distantly someone shouting after him and thought for an instant how nice if it was Cate, just so he could see before the black claimed him.

"CAPTAIN!" Ka'ana shouted in horror when he saw his commander take the shot that would have killed him.

Jake felt backwards as the other Marines started shooting, cutting down the Romulans who were fleeing. The captain felt backwards, landing hard on his back, his weapon still in his grip. Sharks never died without a gun in their hand, the saying went. His eyes were close, his chest was smoking.

Ka'ana skidded next to the Captain, ready to pry off the armour when he saw the first trickle of the water they could hear rushing towards them.

"Shit!" The big man cursed and picked up his commander who wasn't in any state to help himself and barked at Dee and the others. "Fall back, fall back to the main shaft!"

As the deluge began its onslaught, all Ka'ana could do was grab Jake Mercer and get the hell out of there.

*****

The exchange of fire near died down until it seemed reinforcements appeared. Of the few still remaining, not knocked unconscious or washed down along the tunnel, some were down to hand-to-hand combat, having lost their weapons in the current.

The persistence of both species astonished Cate, one dead set on killing the other equally as determined to survive. And if she wasn't about to drown herself, trying to save this baby, she would have waxed lyrical further about the irony of it all.

But then she heard Kresh's voice, one irritating and irascible bastard she would remember forever, before he and others opened fire and took down the rest of the Romulans.

From her spot, tucked away against the wall and under the gushing water, Cate spied him and his group moving in, fighting the current. It wasn't so hard as the tunnel slopped the opposite way and most of the water headed down there after bubbling and sloshing in a whirlpool as it came out of the wall.

They moved quickly, pulling at bobbing bodies, turning them around looking for Klingon survivors and finishing off any Romulans.

She felt extreme relief when she recognised Ronnie's hair, even in all that water. Even if it was swirling around her neck and ears. She wanted to hope that Jake too was still alive, that other Marines were as well, but that at least one of them was still standing was lifting her spirit. She redoubled her efforts to be heard, screaming at the top of her lungs before her head would be completely submerged.

No. "Fuck no," she sputtered, the water reaching her chin, even with her head craned back. They were moving on, following the flow of the water. None of them had seen or heard her and the baby.

Jake. His face sprang up in her mind's eye. Those intense eyes, that rare smile. What if he still lived? He'd be so pissed if he found out she'd given up... that she hadn't given it all she had. And even as she thought on how they had parted... no look, no word, she knew in a flash of insight that even if he never talked to her again, she wanted him to at least know she wasn't a quitter, that she'd fought hard to come back to him.

She suddenly thought of her phaser, shifting the baby against the wall so she could free a hand to pull the thing out. Those things worked when wet, didn't they? Not something she wholly remembered from her training days but she'd soon find out. She fired across the way, not aiming at anyone.

The shouts she heard told her she'd caught someone's attention.

"What was that?" Kresh growled, barely catching the flash as he spun around, the water rushing around his thighs and still rising.

"Phaser fire," Ronnie replied quickly. "Ours. It's one of ours." He spun around and headed back, Kresh in tow.

*****

They retreated up the shaft as far as they could to stay out of reach of the water before finally pausing. Ka'ana wanted to know how bad the Captain had been hit even though he guessed that the injury was extreme owing to the fact that the man hadn't said a word since he was shot. Aside from the injury, energy weapons also produced the unpleasant symptoms of electrocution to go along with the third degree burns. The sergeant finally put Jake down and proceeded to remove the damaged breastplate.

"How is he?" Dee asked, her face etched with concern.

"Don't know yet," Ka'ana said abruptly. "Get some sentries in place," he ordered. "I don't want to be be caught with our pants down while we're stopped."

"Right," Dee replied and gestured at one of the Klingons, a young man named Krona to join her. The Klingons, even though not in the warrior caste were good in a fight and she knew the Captain wanted to work with them as much as possible. In deference to his wishes, Dee gestured for Krona to follow her.

Meanwhile Ka'ana had removed Jake's armour and the damage was as bad as he feared. While the wound was cauterized, it was still gaping and God only knew what the blast's effect were on his organs. The sergeant didn't need to be a medic to know that Jake needed help and fast.

******

It was Kresh who spotted the baby first after Cate shot a couple more times.

"Over here!" he called for Ronnie's attention.

Kresh stepped down, pushing his head around the flow of water which had masked baby and woman. He was surprised to find it was the doctor, the Captain's woman. Surprised but not wholly so. The woman had spirit; he had seen that first hand.

"Come on," he beckoned her to him, one hand reaching out as he braced himself on the wall with the other.

"The baby. Take the girl," Cate managed to say around mouthfuls of water. "I'm stuck, Kresh. There's no getting out. Just take her." She held the child higher up, her arms burning with the constant effort.

"Nonsense," Kresh told her, the word resonating what had taken place between them in the other cave. "I will get you out."

Cate saw such resolve in his eyes that she nearly believed him.

Kresh reached down and plucked the child from her hands and turned around, taking care to protect the baby from the water.

"Healer. Here." He quickly handed off the child to Ronnie and turned back to Cate. Surprisingly careful in his step for his stature, Kresh felt his way down the hole Cate found herself in.

"Let me," he said gruffly, like he was forcing himself to be more amenable. One hand took hold of the back of her head and kept it above water, allowing her to rest. Feeling along her body with the other, he soon found what had her pinned there. "That's a big rock," he commented, a twinkle in his eyes.

"Yes." Cate swallowed nervously and blinked, still disliking him up close but knowing she didn't have a choice. Why he didn't let Ronnie do this, she didn't know, but she was going to take what she could get.

"But not too big." Kresh nearly smiled. "I will go see."

With that he let her go and dived under. She could feel him around her middle, an arm or elbow brushing or poking briefly as he tried different hold on the rock to dislodge it.

Looking up, she saw Ronnie standing there with the baby safely tucked in his shirt. "We're gonna get you out!" she heard him shout from where he stood. There was a limp in his gait she hadn't spotted before and she guessed he was injured. She would have nodded in response but she couldn't.

Kresh broke the surface, angry and puffing air. After two large gulps, he said, "Will have to shoot it. This disruptor will do fine."

Oh my God, Cate thought as she watched him disappear in the corner of her eye. The rock was so close. He would shoot her too surely. Her life in his hands, Cate held her breath.

With careful aim, Kresh took the shot. The boulder broke in smaller parts, some immediately pulverised as other bigger chunks were sent sailing by the blast, barely slowed down by the higher density of the water. Trying to shield the doctor with his body as much as possible, Kresh took the brunt of it. With a curse, he broke the surface, momentarily slinging the weapon on his shoulder to pull the human female to him. She was numb from the cold, shivering, and he moved her in the water until they were both back up on the path.

With a grunt, he lifted her and they headed down the tunnel to meet the rest of his group.

*****

In truth, the five D7 Class Klingon cruiser, known more commonly to the enemies of the Empire as the Bird of Prey, utilised a Romulan cloaking system. An enterprising Romulan engineer who now owned a small moon in Deneb sector had sold the Empire the plans after an unfortunate altercation with the Praetor which would have resulted in his execution. Selling the plans to the Klingons was not only a sure fire way to ensure his financial security but it was also a way to get back at the Romulan regime that had forced him into exile. In any case, the Klingons had quickly adapted the cloak to their own use, making it more efficient so that they could be installed in the smaller attack cruisers, negating the need to have them installed in larger ships like the warbirds.

Thus, when the distress signal came from Narendra III, the Empire knew immediately that their old enemies the Romulans were at the heart of the attack and dispatched five cruisers to the system in an effort not only to rescue their people but also to show the Romulan Qi'Yah that the Empire would respond to such an incursion with extreme prejudice. Commander Kang, newly promoted to the D'ama (the Predator), led the task force that included the K't'agga (Pain Bringer) commanded by Kor, Sivista (Sabre) by Koloth, Na ra'den ("Carrier of Doom") by Kimpek and finally Z'gal ("Seeker") by Martok.

The five commanders were eager to beat the Romulans into solar dust and entered the system of Narendra III expecting to find the enemy awaiting like khrun beasts, grazing in the pasture.

Except someone else had already engaged them in battle.

A lone Federation ship, commanded by humans no less, was defending Narendra III against the Romulan threat in odds that would surely have seen it destroyed if its captain were anything but Klingon. However, Kang had instructed the fleet to wait and watch while this ship defended itself, monitoring communications to learn that they had answered the distress call and its warriors (the much respected Sharks as Kang had come to learn they were called) were aiding the colony.

The Empire's dealings with the humans had been tenuous at best. Hesitation and then later regret had filled the Empire, owing to their lack of participation in the Xindi War. Many warriors had wanted to participate in the epic battle and had been most disgruntled that the Romulan presence had kept them out of it. Nonetheless, the humans and their allies had established the Federation and the Empire watched with interest as their power base grew, even with the arrival of the new enemy that had taken Bajor.

But this action now, on Narendra III was changing all that. The humans were fighting for Klingon lives when there was no reason to. They had no reason to protect the people of the Empire and yet they had done so. They were dying for them. Such an act of honour could not be ignored.

"Kang!" Koloth's voice from the Sivista echoed across the bridge. "We have to intervene. This Federation ship cannot sustain much more damage."

"I know," Kang agreed. "We are reading multiple system failures on their ship. One more direct hit and their shields will buckle."

"They had fought honourably Kang," Kor added. "They have done so for OUR people."

"Yes," Kang could not refute that. Taking a deep breath, he spoke. "All ships, decloak and engage. Let's show this Romulan chuSwI' how to win a battle!"

Across space, the five ships decloaked in the middle of the fight, appearing with gun turret blasting.

On board the D'ama, Kang regarded Mara, his new communications officer. "Lieutenant, open a channel to the Federation ship. Let us send them greetings from the Empire."

"It will be done Commander," Mara offered him an enchanting smile which made Kang stare a moment before her words that a channel was open returned his attention to his duty.

"Captain of the Federation ship, this is Commander Kang of the Klingon Empire."

*****

Standing over the body of Lt. Prasad Patel, Shay punched in the code that her now deceased helmsman no longer could. "Have we heard from the Sharks?" Around her, the bridge looked like a bomb had gone off; wires and electronics bits hanging out of panels and the overhead and sparks arcing intermittently onto the bodies of humans (Sharks and crew) and Romulans alike. Wiping a smear of blood off the console, Shay dashed her hand absently against her uniform to clean it and finished off the last of the helm sequence.

"No, ma'am, internal comms are still down..."

"Captain! Five Birds of Prey just appeared!!" Lt. Hudson's voice disappeared under
Lt. Carstairs'. "We're being hailed by the Klingons!" "They're firing on the Rommies!"

What?? Shay shot a look to Lieutenant Commander Aziz, almost not wanting to believe what the sensors were claiming.

"On screen," Shay ordered, glancing down at the helm console to see that her commands were accepted by the helm and moving over to the captain's chair.

As the Klingon visage appearing on the large view screen. Bits of white scratched through the transmission and a large hole in the screen right in the alien's bumpy forehead but Shay ignored it as she met Kang's gaze. "Greetings, Commander Kang. I am Captain Shavaun Houser of the Vanguard."

On board the D'ama, Kang rose a brow at the sound of what was a female responding to his hail, The women of the Empire was strong but he had been told that Terran females were weak, who preferred staying at the hearth and indulging in knitting and other domestic chores. The bridge of the D'ama rippled with curiosity as the female's image appeared on the screen.

From the looks of her ship, he and his comrades had arrived just in time. The craft had sustained significant damage as indicated by their scans. The female had golden hair and blue eyes, she appeared not at all frail but strong, as strong as a Terran female could be he supposed.

"Captain Houser," he greeted politely, even if the rest of his crew were staring at her with eyes wide. "I offer you greetings from the Empire. What is that status of your ship?"

'Fucked' was the first word that rose to Shay's mind but she didn't verbalize that. "We've sustained heavy damage. Our shields and internal communications are down and we've lost our transporter array. As you can see, we were boarded but we've regained control of the bridge. Commander," Not that she wasn't grateful for his inquiry but she had people dirtside. "My Marines are on the planet. They beamed down and met up with your colonists shortly before the attack began."

"We will rid of these Romulan Qi'Yah once and for all," Kang retorted, jaw tightening "Standby."

Hoo-yah, as Ray would say. Shay nodded once. "Thank you."

*****

While the water helped them move along quickly, it also drove them into the walls of the tunnel, sharp clumps of rock tearing holes at them. When they emerged in the big cave Rokis' group had left in a panic earlier, it was to find a pool of dead bodies.

Ronnie panned his torchlight from left to right and back again, finding Klingons, a few Marines and even Romulans, their faces frozen in death, some in a horrifying rictus of pain.

It dawned on Ronnie that despite a few painful and costly mishaps, Kresh's group had fared better as he looked at what was left of Cate's group. It was only when he spotted Toq floating by that he realised it was actually much worse than that. He called to Cate, confused.

"Cate, you and Rokis, you met up with Toq?" he asked approaching her, still in Kresh's arms as the Klingon turned to see what had caught the human's attention.

Catching sight of Toq, Kresh closed his eyes briefly and cursed under his breath, his chest rumbling against Cate.

Nearly out of it, Cate stirred, blinking her eyes widely. Kern, K'Ahlen, where were they? She looked around before meeting Ronnie's gaze.

"Yes... our tunnel was a dead end and trying another one, we ran into Toq's group in here. That's when the Romulans found us..." Cate explained, her voice shaky as she glanced above, near the top of the cave.

"Armando?" Ronnie risked asking, surveying the survivors being ushered together by the Klingons who had been travelling with Kresh. He didn't see the young corpsman among them.

Cate simply shook her head 'no'. "Kresh, we lost Rokis too." She swallowed thickly, the fact she had used we not really registering with her. "I'm... sorry." She could feel the older Klingon shaking against her and she couldn't tell if it was from rage or something else. Was he injured?

"Kresh, are you okay?"

The Klingon looked down at her, a murderous expression on his features.

Rage then, she thought.

"We need to get out of this frigid water!" he informed the remaining colonists, his voice suddenly booming across the cave as he moved toward them. The less injured were already helping the others, carrying the worst off, comforting and encouraging. His meaty finger pointed in the dark. "That tunnel will take us back to the entrance!"

"I think I can walk," Cate told him. "Let me help."

Kresh put her down without ceremony but the movement wrenched a groan out of him, which he quickly tried to hide.

"Let me look at..." Cate started saying, registering he was hurt, but she swayed heavily as she tried to stand in the moving water. Her side was killing her and yellow spots appeared in her vision.

Ronnie reached for her but Kresh didn't waste any time picking her up again. "We're moving!"

He motioned for his people to start up the tunnel and Cate reached out when she saw Kern and K'Ahlen pass by.

The boy smiled, relief evident on his face and he briefly clasped her hand as Kresh ordered him to keep on going, his gentler tone belying his gruff order.

K'Ahlen greeted Kresh, a hand squeezing his shoulder as she nodded to Cate, and then helped Kern along.

They were all near the mouth of the tunnel, Kresh and Ronnie waiting for everyone to go in first before they would follow, when they heard the whine.

If Ronnie ever thought a Klingon could look afraid, this was it, right there, on Kresh's face.

"MOVE!" Kresh yelled at the few left, including the healer, as he grabbed hold of the man's shirt to shove him forward after the others.

A few yards away, a Romulan survivor smirked, a crazy glint in his eye. Too injured to move but his mind still cohesive enough to know there would be no saving him, he held his disruptor tight to his chest. The one he had just set to overload. As the weapon energy built up to dangerous levels, the centurion's growl crescendoed with the high-pitched whine.

"Die, you Klingon 'p'takh!"

*****

Ka'ana was in the process of finding the med kit in his pack to treat the captain when he heard the explosion rock the cavern, causing debris to shake itself loose from the ceiling and cover the whole passage with dust. Now what? He thought cursing out loud.

There were only a handful of Sharks left. Of the dozen, there were only five of them left, including the Captain. The others were lying in uncovered graves throughout the tunnel network or vaporised above ground.

"Private!" He hollered after Rhia De Sousa, one of his newer privates. "See what you can do for the Captain here," he said standing up and looking at Dee. "Come on, let's see what else has happened in this clusterfuck of a day."

"Yes, Sarge," Rhia hurried forward, dropping to her knees next to the captain and picking up the med kit that Ka'ana had left for her to attend their commanding officer. Mercer seemed pale, his eyes were closed and he seemed unresponsive to her efforts to bandage the wound, for all the good it would do.

Meanwhile, Ka'ana had grabbed his gun and was marching up the way he came, determined to find the source of that explosion. Hopefully, there wouldn't be a bunch of bodies to go with it.

*****

Her ears ringing, Cate cursed out in pain when she felt herself being moved and grabbed by the arm. Next, she was being lifted to a standing position and groaned as a wave of nausea near overcame her.

Eyes unfocused, she rolled her head to the side and recognised Wol, the one who had survived his mate.
"No," she let out, her mouth feeling sandy and like she was trying to talk around a potato. "Kresh was..."

"Kresh is dead." Wol held her bodily to him and started moving. Trying to look down, Cate spotted boots, expecting them to be Kresh's, but they were swinging in the air in cadence with Wol's steps. Looking up she realised he had Ronnie on his shoulder. Ronnie. Fuck.

"The baby," she heard herself say, her voice stronger than she thought possible.

"B'Leana is here." Wol indicated his chest and Cate saw he carried the girl like Ronnie had, tucked against him, secured with his clothing.

B'Leana... Cate was glad to put a name to the little girl's face. "What... what happened?" The baby was awfully quiet and so was Ronnie. Would this ever end? With her free hand, she reached for the child, wanting to check on her.

"Romulan disruptor overloading," was Wol's simple response, with much venom behind it. "Here, take her."

Cate could tell it was restraining his movements so she did, wanting to do what she could since he was already carrying so much.

Up ahead, Klingons helped others hit by the blast to move as quickly as they could and further up still, the ones at the front obviously came across something else because their shouts travelled all the way back to them but too muddled to make any sense of them.

Thinking the worse, Wol looked down at the healer, a grim look on his face. Kahless was merciless this day.

*****

Double-timing it down the passage, water splashes beneath their boots as Ka'ana and Dee hurried up the mine shaft towards the sound of the explosion. The lamps on their helmets lighting the way, they moved forward with rifles unslung. Ka'ana was still aching from the injury received earlier that day. Even with Doctor Cate's treatment, a disruptor blast warranted some down time at the very least and he had been on the run for hours now. Thinking of Cate, inevitably brought his thoughts back to the Captain who had taken the hit for him and might die because of it. How was he going to face her if Mercer died?

Moving at a brisk pace, the two could see that the initial deluge had now run off into the other tunnels and was probably still going. The walls gleamed with moisture and the dirt beneath them was muddy and splattered. Suddenly, echoing down the passage, Ka'ana heard rhythmic, pounding sounds, splashing against the ground. Footsteps, he thought instinctively. Looking at Dee, he noted her expression and the both of them reached the same conclusion at almost the same time. It could either be the colonists or the Romulans, considering the fact that they were coming from the direction of the explosion, Ka'ana bet it was for the latter.

"Shoot to kill," he growled. "I have had enough of these pointy-eared fuckers to last me the next decade." The sergeant was pissed.

"Well, I wasn't going to shoot to annoy," Dee snorted with the same ire. They had lost so many good people, humans and Klingons. Vorr had been a good guy, just like Grek and the others who had died today.

As they closed in, Ka'ana suddenly heard an indignant howl of outrage and words that sounded not at all like Romulan, not that he was an expert, filled the chamber in a near deafening din. As the light from his helmet shone down, he saw a group of very anxious and excited Klingons taking aim at them, ready to fire.

"WAIT! WAIT!" Ka'ana shouted. "It's us! Not the Rommies! Dee put your gun down before you get us fried!"

Dee immediately pulled the barrel of her weapon up, towards the ceiling since her trigger finger had almost taken out the first person she saw with a weapon. Of course, some of the Klingons would have helped themselves to Romulan disruptors. She just hoped they paused long enough to see who they were about to shoot or this day was going to end a hell of a lot worse than she possibly imagine.

"Humans! It's their warriors!" Some Klingons reacted after the sergeant's shouted pleas, their lights shining straight in the faces of the two Marines. Weapons dropped immediately, the tone of the chatter among the Klingons changing drastically.

K'Ahlen pushed through until she reached the front. "Sergeant, Corporal," she let out with a nod, remembering their rank if not their names. "Is the way clear? Is it safe? We have many injured that need seeing to..." She looked between the two of them, something sombre suddenly occurring to her. "Only the two of you have survived the assault?"

"No, no," Ka'ana answered quickly. "The others are further along the tunnel. We heard an explosion and came to see what caused it. Is this all of you?" He looked over her shoulder at the rest of the colonists. "Where's Doctor Vedder?" he called out. "Cate!"

"Nice way to break it to her, Sarge," Dee remarked under her breath.

"I believe she's at the back," K'Ahlen answered Ka'ana before she motioned her people to carry on walking for a little more.

"We should get moving, come on," Dee said, gesturing at the others to follow. "We'll meet up with the others. I think the Rommies are gone for now," she assured them.

"We thought so as well, until one used his disruptor to blow us all up," a Klingon male grumbled at the female warrior, noting her bruised face and singed uniform.

As Dee led the Klingons ahead, Ka'ana made his way to the back of the group, passing by women and children as he did so and noted that he didn't see Kresh. A hollowness filled his stomach at the absence of the Klingon colony leader, whose presence had been prolific since they arrived on Narendra III. Not seeing him gave Ka'ana a very bad feeling, a feeling that was further justified when he saw one of the Klingons, whose name was Wol, he thought, carrying their medic Ronnie. Next to him was Cate Vedder.

"Dr. Vedder," Ka'ana closed the distance between them. "Good to see you're still in one piece." The captain could be grateful for that at least.

"Sarge," Cate said, her eyes finally finding him in the dim light. "We thought..." She shook her head. "Doesn't matter. How are you?" She eyed him critically even if she still heavily leaned on Wol. To see Ka'ana standing before her was such an uplifting sight, and unbelievable given the injuries he had already sustained. She was certain it was more a testament to the man than to her medical expertise. As she waited for him to answer, she looked beyond him, hoping to see Jake not far behind.

"I'm okay," Ka'ana answered automatically, shrugging off her concern because he knew she'd have larger concerns on her mind soon enough. He noted where her eyes were going and felt his inside turn cold, as if he were dying instead of Mercer back there. "Doctor...Cate, the Captain..." he met her gaze and wished he didn't have to tell her but there was no getting around it. "He's been been hit pretty bad."

The captain... Cate's heart stopped at those words, the expression on Ka'ana's face giving her no hope. He was dead. Jake was dead. Her already shaky legs gave way and she nearly dropped the baby and missed what Ka'ana said next.

"Ghuy'cha'," Wol cursed under his breath as the female nearly slipped from his hold and he had to quickly shift to keep her from hitting the ground while balancing Lloyd on his shoulder. "Healer..." he gruffed, his voice strained under the effort.

"He what?" Cate's voice croaked as she looked up, unsure if she'd dreamed what the sergeant had said next.

Ka'ana could tell from the shadow falling over her lovely features that she assumed the worst and he wasn't sure that she was wrong, even if it was not what she was thinking. "The Captain's still alive," Ka'ana quickly spoke, grabbing her arm to help her right herself. "He's in bad shape but last I left him, he was still breathing." Barely, his inner voice reminded him pointedly.

"Christ, Avyn," Cate gasped, giving him a nasty glare. Do not do this to me ever again. "Take me to him. Take me to him now!" She tried to move away from Wol, the babe still cradled in one arm.

"Careful," the Klingon hissed, not wanting to see her drop with the child in hand.

"Stay close, Wol. I will need to look at Ronnie too..."

Not about to deny her, Ka'ana nodded, unperturbed by her sharp words because he knew where they were coming from. Turning around, he headed back the way they came, moving briskly because he knew anything slower would only drive her crazy with fears. He hoped that he hadn't lied to her, that the Captain was still alive. Who knows what might have happened since he and Dee had left the rest of the Sharks.

Seeing how the Klingon had been holding her up as well as carrying Ronnie, Ka'ana gave Wol a look to let the man know he'd be taking up the duty of keeping Cate on her feet, Ka'ana secured his grip around the doctor as they started to move up the shaft.

The trip back in Dr. Vedder's mind was probably torturously slow but Ka'ana could see no other way of getting there faster, short of picking her up and carrying her there, which he suspected she'd object strongly to. It didn't take long to catch up with Dee and the party before they all headed back to the shaft where they'd left the Sharks.

Dee was glad to see Cate was alright, well relatively alright anyway. She looked pretty banged up but if there was urgency in Cate's features, Dee was fairly certain it had nothing to do with her physical condition but undoubtedly what Ka'ana would have told her by now, regarding the Captain's condition. Dee did what she could to give Cate some positive news about how they left Jake Mercer, but even she couldn't hide how badly the man had been hit.

When they finally approached the remaining Marines and Klingons, Ka'ana saw Rhia still keeping watch over the Captain, who was exactly in the same position that he had left the man. Not a good sign at all.

"Mon dieu, Jake," Cate let out under her breath upon seeing the Marine Captain lying there, the wound of a disruptor blast square on his chest.

When Ka'ana moved closer, Cate turned to him. "Here. You take her," she said, giving him the baby girl before sinking to her knees. There would be Klingon women nearby to take her off of him, Cate thought, guessing she should have handed off the child herself before now but there hadn't been time.

Ka'ana, whose experience with children was not something he was prepared to talk about, took the infant from Cate and drifted in the direction of some of the women in the group. She barely fit into his cradled arms and made Ka'ana think of another baby once upon a time, who hadn't lived, whom he had buried. Brushing away the thought, he smiled at the child who had somehow managed to sleep in all this chaos as he went to look for someone to take her.

"Jake?" Her voice was hesitant at first as Cate shuffled closer, peering at his face. The soft rise and fall of his chest told her he was still alive and that, she could work with.

Glancing up, she recognised Pvt. De Sousa.

"Did he regain consciousness?"

"No," she shook her head, meeting Cate's gaze, perfectly aware of the relationship between the two even if she was one of the latest recruits to join the squad in the last month. "He hasn't moved. He's still breathing though but he hasn't woken up."

"Thank you," Cate returned.

Looking back down at Jake, she ran a hand along his face before she stared at his chest wound a moment and then her training kicked in. She took his vitals, her penlight finding its way into her hand, and she checked his pupils. The hope that the sharp light would wake him up was dashed, the blue of his eyes dulled by the pain and the state he was. But his pupils were still responsive and that was one for the good column.

She unslung the med bag that was still glued to her body despite everything and dug out her tricorder. She tried to remain calm as the device listed what Cate already feared was there. Severe burns to the chest, that was a given, second, third degree in some areas. The blast must have been point blank because it had ploughed through the armour, broken fragments of the breastplate and fusing them to his skin. There was damage to internal organs, some internal bleeding as well, but less so. The type of weapon had worked on his favour in this case, preventing death by massive blood loss by cauterizing the wound on impact.

Looking up, she found Dee not too far.

"Dee, Ronnie's out, Armando..." Cate sighed, glancing down a second. "Look, I need whoever you've got left that knows their bums from their elbows to start going through the survivors. Some need help now and this... this is going to take some time." Looking around next to her, she spotted the first aid kit De Sousa had been working with. "Here. And maybe, if we're lucky, Ronnie still has his med kit strapped to him."

Dee nodded quickly, "I can probably do that," she said, looking at where Wol had taken Ronnie. She wasn't exactly a medic but she had spent enough time in the field to know her bum from her elbow, so to speak, and there was something to be said about spending a good deal of one's time in the company of the CMO. She slung her rifle over her shoulder, having no use for it now, as she went to search for Ronnie.

Her attention back on the captain, Cate allowed herself the comfort of a kiss, her lips touching his brow tenderly. "Alright, baby. Let's fix you up," she spoke to him softly before she got to work. Losing him simply wasn't an option.

*******

On board the D'ama, Kang immediately ordered a small force of Klingon warriors to report to the transporter room. All were eager to fight Romulans, even more so when they had learned that the Terrans had been waging this battle for what was almost a day. The Federation ship, though formidable was no match for three warbirds and its survival thus for was testament to the ability of its Captain. Even if she was female.

"Open a channel to Captain Houser," Kang ordered.

"Yes Commander," Mara replied and gave him an approving smile.

Again with the smile? Kang straightened up a moment and then remembered himself when Captain Houser appeared before him.

"Captain Houser, I am transporting a dozen of my warriors to your ship. It would be beneficial if there is someone there to greet them."

Thank god. "Of course, Commander." Shay managed a tired smile and indicated her First Officer. "Commander Aziz will meet you," she said. "Beam to the corridor outside the bridge." The sounds of fighting had died down earlier so she figured it was clear. The Sharks hopefully had them on the run.

"I'm on my way Captain, " Rashul answered promptly, already crossing the floor to meet their newest allies he had no idea what to call them at the designated location.

"Acknowledged," Kang retorted.

*****

In the narrow corridor of the Federation ship, the passage was filled with three separate shimmers of light as three groups of four Klingons each appeared on the Vanguard. Rashul suddenly found himself surrounded by Klingons whose shortest member stood a full head above him, carrying an assortment of lethal looking weapons such as d'taghs, bath'lets and small arms. Looking very formidable indeed, Rashul thought to himself that he was grateful the Klingons were on their side.

"I am Captain Chang," the leader stepped forward. "Where are the Romulans now?"

"At engineering," Rashul was already moving and the Klingons who had no appreciation for small talk, were quick to follow. "Once they weakened our shields, they were able to transport at multiple locations. Our Marines have been holding them at bay as best as they could but they're trying to take engineering and so far we've kept them out."

"Marines?" Chang inquired.

"Yes, it's what we call our combat troops," Rashul explained. "Marines or Sharks."

"SHARKS!" One of the Klingons behind Chang exclaimed in excitement.

"We have heard of your Sharks," Chang replied. "They are your warriors."

Rashul almost said ground pounders but decided the Klingon wouldn't get the joke. "But let's not tell them that, there will be no living with them after."

Chang stared at him a moment before he and his men laughed.

*****

[do]

It was a while when Cate pushed back and shifted so she could rest her back against the rock wall. Her arm went to her ribs and she entertained the thought to see to those soon but quickly forgot about it when she saw the Klingon women and children huddled together. And there was Ronnie... she needed to get to him. Her eyes looked for Kern and K'Ahlen but couldn't see them from where she was.

Closing her eyes for a moment, she revised Jake's condition in her head, what she'd done and should do but couldn't, and came to the same conclusion as earlier. This was it. She'd done all she could with what she had here and she knew it wouldn't be enough. Not in the long run. But for now, provided they got help soon, she'd bought him time. Whether it would be enough, she didn't know.

Her eyes blinked open and she found his form not a foot away from her. Reaching out, she grabbed his hand in hers. She'd given him something for the pain, also the best med on hand to try and stabilise him, but all that was just a temporary Band Aid. Eventually, he would deteriorate. What she would give to have his gaze on her again... to see another smile...

There was darkness so intense that for a terrible instant, he thought he was in the cage that Rathe had imprisoned him in.

But this time, his incarceration was not due to a mental wall constructed by an ancient Vulcan mind but rather a gaol of ruined flesh and bone, of neurons that weren't firing as they should. He struggled to find his way out of the dark and found that this time, it wasn't so much that he couldn't get past the barrier holding him in but rather he couldn't find the road that would take him away from this place. Disjointedly, he felt like he was wandering forever in a wilderness without end, a place that had no boundaries and no path to follow. He wondered if this was his doom to wander forever. The thought made him want to scream.

Then out of nowhere, something took his hand and squeezed it and though it was hard to do, Jake focussed his entire being on squeezing right back.

And when he did, he saw light.

The pressure on her fingers was so slight that Cate wasn't sure she had really felt it. She was exhausted, a nervous wreck, surely her mind was messing with her.

"Jake?" She pushed away from the wall to move right against him, watching him intently, her eyes going from his hand then to his face and back again. "Jake, come on, baby. Squeeze my hand again. I'm right here."

Through the haze, he heard a voice in his ear and instinctively, he squeezed once more, the effort drained him but for that voice, he would have done anything.

This one she didn't dream. Biting back a sob, joy and relief so fierce it made her head swim, she pressed a kiss on his cheek and another at his temple.

"That's it, Jake. I got you. Just hang in there, okay? Please, baby, just a little longer..."

She hadn't noticed she was crying until she saw the wetness on his face and neck.

"Look what you're having me do..." she let out in a nervous chuckle, wiping the tears away. Oh, Christ. She couldn't kid herself; she knew all too well how precarious a state he was in. But she had to cling to that hope... had to make him cling too. "Just hold on for me."

Jake felt the wet against his skin and it was a sensation so powerful that he fluttered his eyes open and let out a weak breath of relief when he saw his Cate looking at him. In his dark prison, she was the sun.

"....prettiest Cate in Christendom..." he breathed.

"That's me..." A sob near choked her as she remembered the meld and she let out a ragged breath. "Love those baby blues, you know," she managed to say as she peered into them, fingers caressing his face. "Love you too." Christ, so much it hurt and she couldn't imagine carrying on without him.

"Now, you rest, okay? I've got this, just rest and hang in there. We'll be out of here in no time."

She had no way of knowing but she wasn't about to tell him they were less than half the number they had started with and that they hadn't heard from Vanguard or seen any signs of Klingon reinforcements.

He could hear her and see her but it was difficult to maintain the image. His body was refusing to cooperate. But one thing lingered on his lips, one thing he should have said to her when things had started to go wrong and didn't. He suspected he may never get the chance if he did not do so now.

"I love you, Cate," Jake whispered, forcing the words out and it took the last bit of strength he had before the black curtain threatened to claim him again. "My Cate."

"I love you, Jake," she replied quickly, sensing him slip away back into unconsciousness. She pressed a kiss to his lips before pulling back, keeping his hand in hers for a moment longer. She knew she needed to go see to other people but just the thought of having to leave his side filled her with dread.

*****

The battle for Engineering had gone back and forth from the Sharks to the Romulans, as the fuckers seemed to have a never ending supply of soldiers to replenish every one the Sharks took out. Even with Sergeant Dannon's group now closing from the other side, more would appear and every foot gained became three feet lost. Starfleet Security had joined in as well, and a good number of the bodies that lined the passageways now wore Starfleet red as well as Shark grey.

Somewhere, Ray had lost count how many times they'd retaken Engineering. Too many it seemed with the last degenerating into hand to hand combat with pop-up Rommies that had hidden away when the lines had shifted. Ray's jaw was numb and he could feel dried blood across his neck; a lucky hit that had dropped him to the deck and let the Romulan get the upper hand. Upper hand as in Ray's, who'd brought his knife into the alien's neck and rolled him over, and off into the warp core.

Holed up behind the main engineering console, Ray had left his team for a few moments to help one of the engineering techs with a busted knee into a Jeffrey's tube.

Lieutenant Nicola Moretti was sporting a black eye with her busted knee but she swore she could hotwire the shielding around Engineering so no one could beam into the main room or the warp core. While technically, it was putting their backs against a wall, Ray saw it as more a way to close off a liability; so his team wouldn't be attacked from behind.

With Finch and the rest providing cover fire, Ray helped the woman get settled. "Remember, you owe me homemade lasagne," he teased, doing another quick assessment of her injury and hoping his jostling her hadn't made it worse.

"Ha..." Nicki gave him a shove and hauled her toolkit closer. "Go on. I can't make lasagne if you let the fucking Rommies take the ship, jarhead," she quipped, accent genuinely Italian. Smiling at him, to take any seriousness out of her retort, she turned back to her work. Not sparing another moment, Ray headed back to Finch and the others.

Rejoining the others Sharks and various Starfleet personnel, Ray slid into place beside Damien Finch, behind the reactor railing and where he could get a good look at everyone. They were sights to behold, everyone of them, tired, at the end of even Shark discipline and covered in dried up blood and various other liquids produced in a starship. "Alright, she's working on reinforcing the shielding around us," he said, dropping to one knee to peer around their 'hideout'.

Finch nodded. "That might buy us a fucking reprieve," he commented, exhaustion bleeding into his voice despite his attempt to keep that in check. "So..." He smirked as he looked at Ray. "You're going to get to her lasagne, you think?"

More of a loner, Finch didn't often indulge in that kind of talk, but Moretti - and sometimes Red - were the exceptions. Plus, he was dog-tired and hurting, he needed to think on something pretty and tasty since the day had been sucking ass big time. But as he looked on Ray and a grinned pulled at his mouth, he wasn't sure if the pretty and tasty went to Moretti herself or to her lasagne. He was so beyond hungry, it wasn't funny.

With a chuckle, Ray checked the charge on his phase rifle. "Of course," he grinned, throwing a wink at his Corporal. "I'll.. uh.. let you know how good it is..."

"You do that," Finch said, eyes twinkling as he bit down on a laugh, before he changed his mind, not liking his vision of Moretti in nothing but a silky white apron about to serve him her dish being interrupted by Ray waltzing in. "Actually, don't."

"Uh huh.. I know that face..." Disruptor fire washed along the outside of the railing, the heat practically sizzling the short hairs on the back of Ray's neck. "Fuck me, that was close," he growled, rising to his knees to return fire. "Three o'clock," he called, firing in the direction of a shiny bowl-cut.

"Yeah... and no you don't," Finch was quick to respond when he finally risked pulling his head out of his shoulders. Close was putting it mildly.

That volley had put their heads down so Ray leaned back, chuckling now that they weren't being turned into toast. There wasn't much time to rest when something seemed to wiggle in his peripheral vision. Glancing up, Ray cursed loudly."Fuck.. We're being flanked!" Opening fire, the first of five Romulans trying to sneak around the core fell to the ground.

"Pigheaded mofos," Finch muttered, pulling up after another volley to send one of his own before he and Ray could be rammed from the side by the buggers and piss off the Vanguard Captain and Cate (not to mention possibly Nicola Moretti) by getting dead. No, Finch didn't want his LT killed on his watch.

"Stay the fuck back!" he growled, taking one Romulan down and winging the one behind but without preventing him from returning fire. Before Finch had a chance to duck back down again, a disruptor beam glanced the side of his helmet, knocking him back in a wide arc of sparks.

Flinching instinctively, Ray cursed as he scrambled to Finch's side. Grabbing him by the tac vest, Ray hauled him back to the railing. "Shit!!" he let out, seeing the smoking scorch along the man's helmet. "Finch! Damien!!" Slapping a gloved hand at the smoke, he tugged Finch across his legs, checking to see if the shot hadn't burned through. Fully expected to see brains, he was relieved, for more than one reason, when he didn't.

Fuck. Finch blinked, suddenly seeing Ray peer at him from above. He cracked a pained smile, adrenaline and endorphins running through him something fierce.

"You an angel, LT? Ow," he joked then winced, the simple movement of his jaw setting off a nasty burning feeling along the side of his head. "Fuck, tell me half my head isn't hanging out..." His eyes focused on a blur beyond Ray. "Watch out!" Finch tried to lift his weapon to take a shot.

A shadow fell over them and Ray reacted, shoving Finch off to one side as he brought up his phaser pistol. The plasma bolts plugged into the advancing Romulan, leaving gaping holes in the corpse as it fell backwards. "There!" he called out, targeting another one.

Still on his back, Finch had been trying but Ray kept moving in his crosshairs as he fought hand-to-hand until he knifed the Rommie. "Got it," he said and let rip, the control burst taking the pointy-eared bastard down.

Everything had gone chaotic there for a moment but as the smoke cleared, Ray sagged back against the rail and dragged a gloved hand across his forehead. "Everyone, stay sharp," he reminded, knowing this kind of moment was where they could easily be caught off guard. And frankly, Ray wasn't sure how much longer that 'guard' could last.

*****

Meanwhile on the bridge of the D'ama, Kang contacted Houser once more.

"Captain Houser, the K't'agga is sending a landing party to the planet surface to search for our people," he used the word 'our' to refer not only to the Klingon colonists but also the humans who had gone to the surface to help them. Kang did not mention that Kor's young nephew was also on Narendra III, having discovered only recently, that the boy's family had been killed. They had been blood relations to Kor's wife, Atalia, and the boy now belonged to his house.

"We will notify you as soon as we make contact."

"Thank you, Commander." Shay nodded and continued. "When I get a full assessment of my ship, I'll contact you as well." Never disconnect on a Klingon first. Unless you wanted to piss them off. However, there was no need to worry about etiquette because with a gruff acknowledgement, Kang had cut the connection from his side.

"Captain?"

"Yes, Lieutenant?" Shay let out a sigh as she sank into the Captain's chair and glanced back to Lt. Carstairs.

"Internal comms back online, ma'am."

"That is damn good to hear," Shay grinned, feeling a second wind arrive with the news. "Find Doc Martin, I want a status on Sickbay and inform Lt. Rigby reinforcements are on the way."

*****

The call from the Bridge came in the middle of surgery and Dr. Dennis Martin looked up and motioned Nurse Janice Clayton to take it.

Janice pulled back, gloved hands held chest height. She made her way to the communication panel and activated it with one elbow.

"This is Nurse Clayton, how can we be of help, Captain?"

As Dennis went back to work, he tried to concentrate solely on the task at hand but it was difficult. Part of his mind was filtering out the ambient noise (Sickbay was incredibly busy, noisy and trashed, looking decidedly like a war zone), wanting to track what was being said between Janice and the Captain. Had she had word from the away team? Would he have to beam down to go render medical assistance, or were they on their way back? He refused to add to the list of possibilities that it was too late for the med team and the Marines, that it was already all over for them. He wouldn't accept that until he saw it for himself. Even if it had been near twenty-four hours.

Shaking away his worry for his staff, and a certain Corporal in particular, Dennis checked the monitors before he continued the delicate reconstruction work needed of him.

Lt. Nanette Grady, a pretty and most capable engineer, was laying before him with severe plasma burns and she required or deserved no less from him than his full attention.

Clayton sounded so .. so normal, Shay found herself giving the ball of nerves props for sounding so put together. "Just want a status report on my medical personnel and the wounded," she answered, glancing over at Carstairs.

Meanwhile, Lt. Hudson had hailed the Sharks and was glad to hear Lieutenant Rigby answer.

"Rigby here..." Ray's voice sounded slightly distant and preoccupied and in the background, weapons fire could be heard.

"Lieutenant, be advised that Commander Aziz is on his way with a team of Klingons to assist. What's your status?"

"Our status is... " There was a pause and another round of phaser fire. "Under fire but we still have engineering. What about the captain?"

Glancing across at Shay, Hudson replied. "Still standing. Hudson out."

In Engineering, Ray paused as a lull in the firing cropped up and he looked over at Finch. "Did he say Klingons?"

"That's what I heard," Finch returned with a slow nod, feeling just as puzzled as the lieutenant looked. Obviously the colony's call had been answered and Klingon reinforcements had arrived. The corporal had just not expected them to be so hands-on with a Starfleet ship. That said... "I don't really mind if they wanna come sweep the mess," he added with a smirk before pulling out to send a volley at a Romulan who had gotten into his head it was now safe to try moving from his hiding spot.

The shot hit its mark, sending a Romulan down in a quickly silenced scream. "Nice shot," Ray remarked, glancing off to one side. "Chang! Mind your boot!" he hissed, indicating the young man's foot sticking out past the console. When he pulled it back, Ray shifted his attention elsewhere..

"Your mother is a knitter!!"

The voice was decidedly Romulan, there was no mistaking that accent. Ray raised his eyebrows at Finch in a very clear what-the-fuck. Across from him, covered by a large console, whose thickness had taken all the hits, one of the privates snorted.

"You are human targs!!!"

While this insult thing was a new tactic for the Romulans, the Marines were well used to such a thing. Ray only chuckled, going to his knees again to open fire in the direction of the voice.

"Your football is a baby game!!!"

"Oh, that's it...." Private Mark Westenberg, who lived and breathed anything having to do with football, lunged to his knees, and into the line of sight, before Ray realized it, laying another barrage of fire.

"Westie!! Get down!!" Ray ordered, going to his knees again to lay down cover fire for the errant private. "Finch! Get him under cover!!"

"Fuck," Finch growled, not believing Westenberg could be such a pea brain. Knowing Rigby would be covering him, he launched himself across the way and connected with the private in a tackle that even his football-loving ass would appreciate. There was a bright flash as they landed behind the console in a grunt and Finch was quick to move off of him so he could check on the lieutenant and help him keep the motherfucking Rommies back if need be.

"Come on, West-man." Finch grabbed the back of the man's armour to help him pull himself up. "I need you back here."

But Westenberg wasn't moving.

"What's up with Westie?"

Finch looked down beside him after a quick glance at the enemy. He recognised the voice of one the new guys, fresh from Gaia. "Keep your head and your eyes peeled, Graham," he barked to the private who'd been keeping Westenberg company. "I'm checking on that."

But he knew even before he let his weapon slinging loosely to roll Westenberg around with both hands. "You dumbnut football whore," he cursed under his breath as he met the private's dead gaze. He reached for his face and closed his eyelids.

Shaking it, Finch returned to the battle, weapon back in his hands. He heard Pvt. Graham gasp and curse and he snapped his head his way. "Next time, don't fucking pay attention to verbal insults. Just wait for a target." A part of him wanted to tear a new one in Graham for not attempting to stop Westenberg from doing the stupidest thing on record - his last it turned out - but he knew that wouldn't help the green private.

When Westenberg didn't come back with Finch, Ray didn't have to ask. Instead, he cursed, eyes darkly murderous. So far, he'd managed NOT to lose any of the newbies and while Ray knew expecting a zero count was impractical, he just hated it happening on his watch. On any watch, but Ray took such things personally. As Finch dropped back beside him, Ray rolled his head to one side, cracking the vertebrae and indicated his rifle. "What's yours?" he asked, eyeballing the charge indicator.

"Let's say those Klingons better show up soon," Finch replied. "I have a couple of packs left. You need one?" He figured he should have grabbed Westenberg's but he wanted to leave them for Graham and Jensen, the other private working at holding the spot across the way. He peered around at a couple of dead Rommies a few feet away to their left and smirked when he looked back at Ray. "I could always go snatch a couple of their toys..."

"We'll work on that." He would never say no to extra weapons, enemy-crafted or not. "Graham!" Ray leaned around Finch to find the other private. When he found him, he indicated Westenberg. "Get all his usable weapons, divvy them up between you and Marshall." The kid's face blanched a little but Ray ignored. They had no time to waste. "Finch, go check on Moretti, I'll cover you."

"You got it." Finch tapped his helmet and risked taking a look at the possible opposition before taking off in Moretti's direction. Was the woman still stuck in that tube? He hoped so. He didn't want her to have wondered out during the last exchange of fire.

Taking cover behind a console just beneath the hole, he tried calling out to her," Hey, Lieutenant, still alright in there?" He couldn't shout for that would be attracting attention to their position, but he couldn't whisper either. If she couldn't hear him - how the fuck would he know how deep into that Jeffrey's tube she'd burrowed? - he'd try the communicator. Though he expected some interference with that.

"Yes..." Nicola's reply was low, like Finch's and full of relief at hearing the MACO's voice. She couldn't distinguish between all that weapons fire and until his question had drifted up to her, wasn't so sure things hadn't taken a turn for the worse. "I am almost finished," she called back, twisting two wires together. All this tech, all this advancement and she was back to using wire cutters and high school electronics.

"Okay. I'll stick around then," he replied, glancing up even though he knew he couldn't see her. Returning his attention on the rest of Engineering, he hoped she would get the thing to work.

After a moment and a curse spit out in Italian, Nicola called out for Finch. "Corporal? It's done!" she said, grimacing as a spark of pain zinged through her, reminding her of the injured leg.

"It is?" he asked dumbly, again with the looking up even if it didn't do him any good. "Way to go." He cleared his throat. "Ma'am. Err, you staying up there, out of range of disruptor fire or you wanna come down?" He preferred her tucked away, out of harm's way, but he recalled she was injured and those tubes could be damn confining.

Around them, a slight buzz filled Engineering before it faded away but the shield held and Nicola sent a prayer to whoever was listening. "I'll stay up here, Corporal," she replied, wincing slightly as she shifted to get comfortable. Her knee or whatever down there felt broken and it was best if she didn't move any more than she should. Not without medical personnel standing by anyway. "Just do not forget about me!" she finished and lowered herself to the deck inside the tube. There, laying down, with her leg just like that... it didn't hurt so much.

Finch's mind flashed to a plate of mouth-watering lasagne and his stomach clenched. "No chance of that," he muttered to himself, a smirk firmly planted on his face.

"No, ma'am. You stay put until we get rid of the vermin. I'll come back for you." Or Ray would. His smirk widened.

Activating his communicator, he said, "LT, Finch here. Moretti's done it. We shouldn't be having any more surprises now."

Crouched behind a console he'd moved to for a better shot, Ray grinned. "Hot damn. Now get your ass down here, Corporal. It's not Sunday..."

*****

Captain Worf of House Mogh was more than appalled at the destruction of the jungles surrounding the colony. It was hard to imagine anyone surviving such mindless violence but the Romulans would not still be here if everyone was dead. It became an easy matter to determine where their focus was centred and the old mines abandoned for fifty years, seemed the most sensible place for refugees to hide.

The group of dozen Klingon warriors, traverse the treacherous tunnels, unable to tell if anyone had survived owing to the disruption of their sensor equipment by the dilithium in the rock. As they journeyed down, Worf and his men became aware of Romulan dead throughout their descent. Blast marks on the rock indicated the exchange of small arms fire. It seemed that Romulan hopes for taking the refugees easily had been a futile one.

*****

Ka'ana had relinquished the infant Cate had given him and together with Dee, had marched ahead to the tunnel entrance, keeping watch in case the Romulans tried to send reinforcements down. If they did, Ka'ana was uncertain how they were going to hold those forces back.

"You know what they say," Dee replied quietly after he had voiced his concern.

"What?" He looked at her.

"Today is a good day to die."

*****

With De Sousa's help, Cate saw to the few colonists Dee hadn't gotten around to patch up or the ones that required a little more than first aid help. Not a black mark on the Corporal, the woman had done what she could with what she knew and the limited gear available.

Bruises, gashes, sprained joints and cracked ribs were in the Top Five while near freezing water exposure and prolonged stress and exhaustion without adequate food, drink and rest brought on another set of problems. All easily treatable, provided they did not encounter more Romulans and they didn't run out of supplies, which were dwindling considerably.

Cate had seen to Ronnie, who had slipped into a coma following a severe concussion resulting from the explosion. He was as stabilised as she could get him and only time would tell if he would come out of it - and if he did, with which sequelæ.

Now, she was faced with the task of fixing up Kern. Again. No broken bone this time but a nasty cut that ran the length of his thigh. She didn't need to tell K'Ahlen she should have brought this to her attention much sooner. It was written on the old woman's face that she had already realised her mistake. She had tried to treat him herself upon seeing Cate work on Jake, guessing he was in far worse shape than young Kern. And she'd been right to a degree but the kid had lost a lot of blood now and blood was something Cate didn't have handy.

With Kern brought close to Jake, Cate could work on the boy while keeping an eye on the captain. She cleaned his wound and used the dermal regenerator to close him up, layer after layer. With painkillers in his system and hooked to a drip, the kid soon fell into a fitful sleep but at least he was getting some rest.

"You should rest also," K'Ahlen told Cate once she had packed up her med kit.

"And so should you," Cate returned with a tired smile. It was amazing that the old woman was still standing, and in one piece.

"I will if you will." K'Ahlen nodded, shifting against the wall, on the other side of Kern.

Cate did the same, sat as she was between Jake and Kern, one of their hands in one of hers.

"He should be fine." Cate tried to quell the old woman's worry and guilt, speaking of Kern.

K'Ahlen studied the healer a moment through half open eyelids before she nodded. "I wish the same for your mate."

"He's no-" Cate stopped herself, snorting softly. Who was she kidding? "Thanks."

Resting her back on the rock, Cate didn't really feel herself slip into sleep. Her intent was to only rest her eyes.

*****

The sound of crunching gravel brought Ka'ana to full alertness when exhaustion had threatened to take him. They had been on their feet for more than 24 hours with barely enough time to rest their eyes let alone sleep. When he heard the approach of a large group, the Marine let out a heavy sigh and met Dee's gaze on the other side of the entrance along which they were positioned.

"A good day to die, huh?" Ka'ana looked at her.

"I was kidding!" she replied, her weapon unslung and primed to fire.

"Alright." He drew in a deep breath. "Single bursts. We got to save as much of our phaser power as we can."

"Gotcha." She nodded and faced front. "Hey, Sarge?"

"Yeah." Ka'ana was taking aim himself.

"It's been a ride." She smiled.

"Ride's not done yet, Deidre," Ka'ana retorted.

The footsteps got closer and the voices began to echo through the cavern. Ka'ana listened, trying to determine how many there were, when suddenly, he realised something.

It wasn't Romulan...

******

Cate snapped awake to the sounds of boots on approach. In fact, everyone around her were in a frenzy, trying to find their feet to attempt a retreat. She caught K'Ahlen rousing herself next to her and both women exchanged a heavy look. It was way too many feet to be the two Marines that had headed back to the main entrance.

Closing her eyes, Cate offered a prayer to Dee and Avyn. If these were Romulans then it was certain they were both dead. Her hands squeezed both Jake's and Kern's hands in some sort of farewell before she reopened her eyes and palmed her phaser. She'd at least try to take a few of them down with her.

*****

It took a certain amount of restraint for Captain Worf and his party not to fire when confronted by the two humans. However, under the circumstances, he supposed that it was understandable that the humans would react in such a way.

"I am Captain Worf of the cruiser, K't'agga. You are of the SS Vanguard?"

Ka'ana exchanged a look with Dee and stepped forward. The Klingon Captain stood a head taller than him. In fact, they all stood taller than him which was a first for the Marine, since he was accustomed to towering over everyone most of the time. There was no doubt in his mind that these were warriors, everything about them said 'Get the fuck back'. Markedly different in stature and demeanour than the colonists, Ka'ana decided he wouldn't want to piss these guys off for any reason.

"Yes," he nodded.

"We are here to help, where are our people?"

"Further down in the cave," Ka'ana explained. "Our ship....?"

"Is still there. They fought valiantly against the Romulans Qi'Yah."

Dee let out a sigh of relief, because for the first time since this all began, she allowed herself a moment to thank God that Dennis was still alive and well.

"Come on," Ka'ana replied, seeing the look in her eyes which told him exactly where her thoughts had been. "We'll take you to the others."

A short time later, following the initial expression of fear and anxiety, Ka'ana led Worf to the colonist. "Guess what," he announced when he saw Cate's face, "the cavalry is here."

Letting go of her phaser, the tension in Cate bled away when Ka'ana showed up, his words something she had near given up hoping to hear. But it was short-lived.

The Klingons that stood behind him, so much bigger and taller than the colonists she had gotten used to, made her shrink back and take a protective stance over Kern and Jake. But this time, she wasn't so stupid as trying to retrieve her weapon.

Captain Worf stepped forward. "I am Captain Worf of the Klingon Imperial ship, K't'agga. Above us are five cruisers, we have driven the Romulan threat out of this system. Your ship, the Vanguard sustained heavy damage but it still survives. We have notified the High Command of this violation of our territory by Romulus and," he looked at the female who was guarding a Klingon boy just as a fiercely as one of her own, "we have told the High Council of your bravery in coming to the aid of our people. I am told that many of your own have been lost, we honour those who have fallen and assure you that their act of courage will not be forgotten by the Empire. We have been directed by Chancellor Nargor to give you every assistance."

The Vanguard was still around? Cate found it hard to believe, given how long it had been, but so was those Klingon warriors extending their gratitude to the away team.

"I..." Cate glanced at Ka'ana before she tried to stand, swallowing nervously. "Thank you, Captain. These three need immediate evac, if you can." She indicated the MACO Captain with a shaky hand and the Senior Medic on the other side of him. "They're in critical condition. And this one," she gave the teenager a soft, affectionate smile, "has lost more blood than I could replace." Kern didn't look too bad now but his status could easily flip; she'd seen it happen before.

Worf stepped forward and regarded the humans. Prior to his transport here, he had learned what he could about these humans and knew that the one lying closest to the female was a Shark, the warriors of the Federation. The other wore the same designation as the healer, and the boy was nowhere as critical but the pink oozing from his wound could not be good for him. Remembering his other orders from his commander, Worf approach the child.

"What is your name?" Worf asked.

Even though he was injured, Kern returned the sharp gaze of the Klingon warrior before him, his chin raised in pride. "I am Kern."

"Kern?" Worf exclaimed. "You are the son of Koresh and Torva?"

"Yes, he is." K'Ahlen stepped forward. "His parents were killed not long ago. I have been caring for him since."

"I mean no disrespect, Old Mother." Worf bowed at her. "I was told by my commander, Kor, to find the boy named Kern, who is nephew to Kor's lady, Atalia."

"Then you have found him," K'Ahlen replied. "This is Kern. He lives, thanks to this healer."

Worf regarded the human again and nodded. "My commander is in debt to you. I am certain when the time comes he will express his thanks to you in person. For now...HIghoS!" He barked to the warriors behind him. "Take them to the surface immediately. Use our transporters to beam the humans directly to their ship. The boy can be returned to our ship."

He looked up at the female. "Healer? Do you wish to accompany them?" he asked as his men swarmed around the two injured humans and the boy.

Ka'ana met Cate's gaze. "I think they're moving everyone to the surface anyway, Cate. If you want to go..."

Our ship, as in on one of the Klingon cruisers? "Wait," Cate spoke up, turning to Kern before the warriors could whisk him away. She grabbed his hand again and forced her features into an encouraging smile.

"Hey," she spoke quietly, not having anticipated to have to let him go this quick. She was tempted to cite that as his doctor she should be overseeing his treatment but she doubted that would fly with Worf. Besides, there was Jake and Ronnie, and she was near collapse herself if she didn't take some time to rest.

"Hey, Doctor Cate," Kern answered with a smile of his own.

Cate's smile widened before it faltered as she struggled with some surprising and confusing feelings. Would she see him again? How would he fare? "I guess this is goodbye. But don't worry, you'll be fine. They'll take good care of you," she said, glancing up to Worf before she found K'Ahlen, the old woman nodding to her. "K'Ahlen will accompany you."

"I will be fine." Kern nodded a bit stiffly. "Will you be, Healer?"

Cate let out a small chuckle, her nerves shattered. If Jake survived, she would be, if not...

Kern squeezed her hand. "I know you will be."

And the kid sounded so damn sure of himself, it got another chuckle out of her. She leaned in and touched her forehead to his. "Stay safe," she said, finally standing back.

"I will go with the other two," Cate answered the Klingon Captain.

"Good." Worf nodded, taking note of the exchange between the two and filing it away for further discussion when he returned to Kor's presence.

"Hey, Cate," Dee said as Cate and the Klingons started to leave with the Captain and Ronnie, "you mind telling the Doc for me that it's my turn to pick the movie the next time?"

Dennis would know what it meant.

"I will do," Cate replied after a beat, a smirk showing that she didn't really try to hide from Dee. That was as close a confirmation Cate ever got from her friend that she was seeing the Vanguard CMO. "But you'll be up soon to tell him yourself, right? You all need medical attention and I'd rather it happened sooner than later." And she didn't mean a little one on one with Martin.

"Me too," Dee replied, smiling a smile she usually reserved for Dennis only.

Ka'ana watch the exchanged and rolled his eyes, muttering as he went to check on the other two sharks, "Women."

*****

Dr. Dennis Martin, Vanguard's CMO, held his tongue at the state of his subordinate, Dr. Vedder, for one reason and one reason only. Because she was seeing to two patients in much worse condition than she. But it took only ten minutes of assessment and triage, sending them both to biobeds and scans before he spared her another look.

He approached her with his typical stern expression and his gloved hand reached for her face as he peered in close at a contusion on her cheek and then a nasty looking gash near her hairline that indicated it went across the side of her head, hidden by that dark mane of hers. Damn, she was black and blue and showed all signs of shock, exposure and extreme exhaustion.

Cate's eyes went to Jake as he was moved further in, worry pouring out of her, and Dennis shook his head. "Look at me. How many more we'll need to cater for?"

There weren't many left and as that thought rang out in her mind, Cate's eyes filled with tears as she met his searching gaze. But she swallowed back the flood, her eyes straying to Jake again but also around the room as her boss carried on orchestrating things even as he spoke with her. An IV was brought over and she got hooked up - not something they did often these days but in the current circumstances, the crew coming back from Narendra III suffered from serious dehydration, amongst other things.

"Depends if the Klingons will see to their own." She proceeded in giving Dr. Martin a quick report of whom had survived and what kind of injuries they had sustained. The names she left out were obviously the dead and she saw that look of surprise and pain flash in Dennis' eyes when her boss realised she had not named Corpsman Bernard.

"Armando?" Dennis found himself asking anyway, needing to check, to get an official statement, even if he could read it on her face and in her stance. He felt guilty to feel so relieved that Deidre was fine, it made him sick to his stomach. In the face of so much loss, was it at all ethical to worry more about one than the many? Here they were, one man down, one in a coma and another beaten up and near collapse, and he felt like doing a little dance in thanks that his squeeze (as some would refer to her) had made it.

"Shot in the back. Twice." There was no real need to give him the brutal truth of how Armando had met his end but she was so tired, so battered, Cate needed someone to blame, someone to lash out against. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to see to my patient." Her eyes were hard, almost like all this was his fault. Of course, the fact he was keeping her from Jake was enough to set her off, or even that he wasn't already working on Jake himself.

"No, Vedder. You're done. I'll take it from here." Dennis was a little sharp, reading the reproach there but unsure of the reason behind it. He figured there would be time to revisit this later, guessing she'd want Jake seen to ASAP. Seeing her tense up to near shaking point, he put his hand on her arm and softened his tone.

"You did what you could down there. We're scanning him right now. Maddock's got Ronnie and I'm going to do all I can for Mercer, but Cate, I want you off your feet now. Better yet," he said, seeing her favour her ribs and blink in the bright lights of Sickbay like she was nursing a concussion (which she probably was), I want you in bed. Here." He motioned to his staff and soon Cate was being ushered off to be treated. "I'll come and see you as soon as I'm done. Come on."

He saw her finally giving in and, turning toward the commanding officer of the Marines aboard this boat, he figured he better keep his promise.

*****

Many hours later after...

The ship looked like hell, Dee thought as she made her way down to Dennis' quarters after she had rested and got cleaned up. Maintenance and Engineering crews were still repairing the damage after the ship's fight with the two Romulan ships and even now, other crew were moving briskly through the hallways like ants rushing through a colony.

There hadn't been any chance to really talk to Dennis when she and the other Sharks had returned to the ship. Sure, she had seen him in Sick Bay when they were told to report for a check up. She had given him a nod of acknowledgement showing him that she was okay and an unspoken promise to catch up with him later as Dr. Maddock checked her over even though she suspected Dennis would have liked to have done it himself. Of course that would mean breaking the rules they'd set when they decided to embark on this relationship about keeping their privates lives and their job separate.

However, that didn't stop him from being close enough to observe when she was being looked over by Maddock though.

Now that everything had settled down somewhat, what with the captain recovering in Sickbay, though he was still on the critical list, Ronnie right next to him and Cate watching over them both, Dee finally sought out Dennis at his quarters, needing to see him alone after everything she'd been through today.

*****

After a quick shower, Dennis was drying his hair with a towel when he paused near his desk. He checked his messages quickly and grabbed the two pills he had left there. Stimulants. The whole damn crew had been running on those in the last ten to twelve hours and he debated if he should take another dose.

The threat had been dealt with, the Klingons had made sure of that, but he argued that much in Sickbay could still go terribly wrong. And because of that, he didn't know when he'd be able to get more than a couple of hours sleep at a time. Maddock was there now running the place, and he was pretty certain Vedder was back on her feet helping out, countermanding his orders to rest, but still... With all the repairs occurring across the Vanguard, some mishap was bound to happen there too, meaning he could get a call at any time. He knew that and wanted to be sharp for it.

The chime interrupted his thoughts and he put the pills back on the dark, glossy surface of his desk before going to open the door.

The mask that Corporal Sheridan had worn for most of this clusterfuck of a day, lowered when the doors to Dennis Martin's quarters open. Even in Sickbay earlier, she had worn the mask of the Shark but now, now she could be Dee again. In his presence, she allowed him to see the person beneath the uniform, the one she guarded so fiercely from the men and women she served.

"Hey Doc," she greeted, trying to stifle the smile of pure joy that wanted to steal across her features at the sight of him. "I got this problem and I needed a second opinion." She winked.

"I got the message from Vedder." He cracked a smile before pulling her to him, the need to feel her against his body, in his arms, too great for him to even wait for the damn door to close them off from the rest of the world. "Come here," he nearly growled, his fist hitting the control panel before his arm joined the other, already tightly wrapped around her.

Eagerly, she did the same, circling his neck with both her arms, becoming fluid in his grasp so that she could properly mould her body next to him. Dee lifted her lips to his, waiting for him to meet her part way, thinking that this was the sweetest end to a very long day. "I missed you."

Missed? Dennis thought that was seriously understating it. He had spent the better part of the day fighting the idea that she was down there, seriously hurt or worse. And he hadn't been wrong thinking it a possibility given how many Marines had perished, even one of his own, young Armando. He crushed her to him in response, the words catching in his throat. His mouth found hers, a hesitant kiss at first that turned intense like she was water and he a parched man.

Once his mouth claimed hers for his own, Dee allowed the floodgates of emotion she had been bottling up all day long escape her. Her fingers raked through his hair, her lips parted beneath his, allowing him to take from her what he would. Pressed against each other, flesh against flesh until she didn't know where her body ended and his began, Dee allowed herself to be consumed by him and permitted herself a moment of vulnerable admission.

"I was so afraid I'd lost you, Dennis," she whispered in his ear, not realising until the last twenty-four hours that this thing between them had become more important to her than she'd ever admitted to herself.

"Me?" he asked with some incredulity though he was also teasing as he knew exactly what she meant. "I've been right here, woman. Right here," he spoke quietly against her skin, silently cursing the Fates that had kept him on the ship and sent Vedder down instead.

"We didn't know if the ship had survived," she confessed the thing that had been preying most on her mind, the possibility she dared not entertain because it would have gotten in the way of how she functioned on the planet. "We only knew she was under attack..." And the full measure of her anxiety allowed itself to show by the grateful kisses she showered his neck with.

"Oh, Dee..." He kissed her once more before pulling back enough to look into her eyes. "This thing, it's going to drive us crazy with worry every time one of us steps off this boat." And she was right, by all accounts, given the odds they had faced, the Vanguard should have been destroyed. It was testament to Houser and a bit of luck that her ship was still (mostly) in one piece. "Even the bloody routine, looks-like-nothing missions." Which this one had been.

"I don't care." She met his gaze seriously, without reservation. "I don't care if it drives me crazy, just as long as I have you to come back to." Dee had already decided that if there was dying to be done, it would most likely be her than him. She didn't like the thought of leaving him behind because death was something a Shark was ready for, so she wouldn't waste too much time on it. "Dennis, this thing," she paused a moment. "Whatever it started out as, means a lot to me now." With that, she kissed him again, just to prove it.

Dennis let her kiss him, a little stunned at first. Like her admission had just made him realise something important... life-changing. An epiphany of sorts. He cared very much if it drove him crazy every time. He cared too damn much. He had buried too many loved ones to not be paralysed by that fear of losing again. It was easy to keep people at bay, so damn tempting to fight or ignore the pull a certain person had on him. Thing was, he feared it was already too late to try and effect a retreat.
"Means a lot to me too." He pulled back again, studying her face like he hadn't seen her in months, his index finger tracing a new scar near her cheekbone. It was already faint and in a few days would most likely totally disappear, just like they would forget in time how bad this day got... until they would have to face something as equally dangerous and violent again.

When his fingers brushed past her lips, Dee caught one digit with her lips and kissed the tip gently, looking at him with eyes glistening. For a moment, she had thought she had said too much because she knew he had fears. He had a wife and children who were gone, that kind of loss made a person wary of caring so deeply again but in this his age didn't give him seniority. She had lost too and being a Shark, you didn't get too attached to people because eventually they'd get transferred to another unit or worse yet died.

Holding his gaze, she parted her lips further and suckled his finger tip in her mouth, using her tongue to caress digits that unlike hers, so often saved lives instead of taking it.

A sharp shiver ran up his back and made Dennis straighten up. "So it's like this?" he asked, eyebrow quirked up, his tone teasing as he watched her mouth around his fingers. His Adam's apple bobbed, his eyes staring at her lips and tongue.

"It's any way you like," she teased back, watching his growing anticipation as she moved to another digit. "How would you like it, doctor?" She winked.

"Well..." His free hand ran along her side, thumb teasing the swell of her breast before his hand mapped the way to her hip. "I thought you came here for my bed, comfier mattress for higher ranks and all, not to finish me off." His smile spread wide before he inhaled sharply, her teeth grazing his skin as she worked around another finger. All thoughts went South, thinking about what else she'd graze.

"Don't worry, Dennis." She drew him to her again, one hand sliding down the front of his pants. "If I finish you off, you won't mind the trip."

*****

The light of the Infirmary were dimmed low when Jake Mercer woke up.

He blinked away the flood of stimuli to his his eyes, allowing them to adjust before the bright bursts settled into something with shape and form. When canvas was painted at last, he realised he was in Sickbay on the Vanguard. He'd been here to visit Cate enough to be able to tell. He heard the light hum of someone's breathing and turned his head to his right to see Cate in the chair next to his bed, having dozed off. She'd probably been there for some time. He sat up quietly and stifled a groan of pain that emanated from his chest. Looking down, he saw the still healing flesh from a disruptor blast at point blank range. He was lucky he was alive.

He remained stock still in his bed for a moment, lost between waking her and remaining where he was. In the end, he did neither and swung his legs over the mattress and stood up, somewhat shakily. Judging by the lack of protest from anyone else, he suspected it was night time on the Vanguard. Quietly, he left Sick Bay, passing Ronnie Lloyd on the way and wondered briefly what had happened to the loud mouthed medic. The man was asleep too and he saw Janice Clayton at a station, intently looking at something on the console screen and managed to sneak past her easily enough.

Leaving Sickbay, Jake went back to his quarters.

There were newly replaced panels over the walls of corridors and scorched marks in some areas. The ship had been in a hell of a fight and Jake wondered fleetingly if Ray and Finch were okay. His journey to his quarters was slow and each step made him ache like a son of a bitch. It took him three times longer to get there but when he did, he made a beeline for the bathroom and paused in front of the sink.

Jake stared at himself in the mirror and for the first time, saw only himself.

Not Rathe, not even Captain Jake Mercer but himself, Jake, son to Isaiah, big brother to Joey and Eli. A person who vanished fifteen years ago, driven away by loss, pain and finally fear. All those deaths, he had used them as a shield to keep people one step away. Holding them close to him because that was the only way he could cope. If nothing else, Rathe had shown him how foolish that could be. In the end, the dead could not protect you from anything and the living was all you had left to go on.

When the demon and taken his soul, Jake had thought pushing away would be the best way. He tried to keep Cate with flesh, using her to feel some connection to the man Rathe had violated and yet, the more he did that, the less he felt for her. All those dead people once again keeping him safe, keeping him guarded. But he couldn't go on that way any more. He had almost died and in the midst of all that emptiness, it wasn't the dead that kept him here, it was Cate. Losing Cate.

He didn't even realise when he started sobbing.

Fingers gripping the sink, he wept, mourned the losses of those who died for the first time, instead of simply using their deaths to fuel his rage. It was the human way to mourn and move on. He hadn't done that for anyone he had lost, he hadn't let them go. And it was slowly killing him long before Rathe showed him how weak that really was.

He released his anguish, allowed it to bleed into the walls, pass through the decks and be discarded finally in the darkness of space. He remembered when Sloane McRae had seen her friend die in the aftermath of Azati Prime, envying that she could weep and let them go. He should have done that long before he found himself on the brink of losing the best thing that had happened to him since finding his father alive.

He cried until his throat was hoarse, until he had sank to the floor of the bathroom, spent of more than just strength. He felt hollowed out, like someone had scooped his insides but it was also liberating.

Because for the first time in years, he was himself again. He was Jake, nothing else.

And that was just who he needed to be.

*****

It was hurting her back and it was odd because kite surfing had never hurt her that way before. But Cate tried to put it aside and focus on the exhilarating feeling of the wind in her hair, the seawater spray and sunshine kissing her skin. Clear blue skies, perfect wind, she jumped from waves to waves, her arms working those lines to keep the kite full and high up so it could pull her forward at dizzying speeds. She was racing against Isabel, a playful competition more to drive the sisters into pushing themselves and taking more risks rather than anything else. There were no real winners at the end of the day; there never were. They just came home totally wiped out, their skin tanned, their eyes bright, high on fresh air and grinning like mad.

Today was going to be one of those days too. If Cate could just manage to get rid of that kink in her back. It was getting worse and, as she shifted the harness to see if it would help, she noticed she was losing sight of her sister. And the pain was now lancing up and down her spine, all the way into her neck.

"Isabel, wait up!" Cate called out even if she knew her sister would not be able to hear over the sound of the board slicing the water and the wind whizzing by. She tried adjusting her kite to gain some speed but it felt like she was stuck in syrup and Isabel was fast fading away.

"No..."

Cate woke up with a start, her precarious position in the chair near letting her slip to the floor at her sudden move. She caught herself on the armrests and blink away the vestiges of a dream she hadn't had in ages. Running a hand over her face, her mind cleared enough to remember where she was. Jake. She hoped she hadn't disturbed him. She straightened up, moving to the edge of the seat, looking up...

His biobed was empty.

"Jake?" She bolted upright, her heart sinking so low she expected to hear it go squish on the floor. Her first thought was that something had gone terribly wrong but she discarded the notion in the next split of a second because if it had, the commotion it sure would have garnered would have woken her up. Next flash of thought was the head, which she went to check right away. He shouldn't be walking on his own but maybe one of the staff had taken him there quietly enough for her to sleep through it.

The Sickbay head was empty.

"What..." Cate let out in a whimper, thinking that maybe, just maybe Jake was back to shutting her out again. Would he? Did he want to be away from her so much that even half dead he would drag himself out of here? She was going to be sick.

Coming back from the head, she zeroed in on the nurse on duty. Janice I'm Blind Clayton.

"Where's Jake?"

Janice didn't look up from her PADD so she wouldn't lose track of her data entry.

"You perfectly know which bed it is, Cate," she replied calmly, her mind busy enough to not catch the anguish in the doctor's tone.

"I know which bed he should be in, Janice," Cate snapped. "What I want to know - if it's not TOO MUCH to ask - is why he's not IN it."

"What?" Janice stammered, finally looking up, a confused look on her face Cate couldn't stop from reading as DUMB.

"Where's Captain Mercer?!"

"He was..." Janice started saying as she stood up to peer at the biobeds from her station. She could see a couple of Marines, one Engineer as well as Ronnie, but no Mercer in the bed next to the Medic's.

"Are you telling me a half dead man crawled out of here without your notice?" Cate didn't know where to begin - aside from tearing the nurse a new one.

Janice looked at Cate, wide-eyed and dumbfounded. "He's not in..."

"No, he isn't," Cate cut in, knowing she was going to suggest the toilet. "Find him. I'll go check his quarters." Her glare spoke volumes. If Jake was in worst shape because of this escapade, Janice would be in BIG trouble. Hell, she was anyway, damn it.

*****

[do]

Cate did not remember her trip from Sickbay to his quarters. As she stood in front of his door, wondering whether to use the chime or just go in, she realised her run here was all a blur.

Her palm pressed against the cool metal as she tried to calm herself down, she couldn't help but fear she would be intruding, that Jake had fled Sickbay because of her, that professing his love to her back on Narendra III was due to having his back against the wall with death coming at them full tilt, and that now that things were safe again, he had thought better of it.

Well, shit, she thought, swallowing and squaring her shoulders. Whatever was going on in that head of his, she was still a doctor here and he still should be tucked in bed in Sickbay.

She pressed the chime.

Jake was starting to doze off when he heard the chime and figured that someone had probably found out he had run away from Sickbay. Like his dad would say, looks like he was going to be taken behind the woodshed. "Come in..." he called out, his voice in a groan because his exertions were coming back to bite him on the ass.

The door slid open and Cate peered inside as she stayed in the doorjamb. She let out the breath she'd been stupidly holding when she noticed he was in his bed and not collapsed on the deckplating.

"Hey..." Yeah, that's it. Play it cool. Don't let him see how freaked out you really are.

Figures, Jake thought to himself, that it would be Cate that came looking for him. Not like he was in enough trouble already. "I was hoping that I didn't wake you," he said, trying to sit up in his bed and wincing at the pain. "That'll teach me, huh?"

"Why..." Cate jumped forward when she saw his attempt at sitting up. "No, don't." She pushed him back down with a shaky hand. "Christ, Jake. Are you hell-bent on undoing the hard work we've done?" She lifted his t-shirt to take a look at his wound. "Why are you here? Sickbay not comfy enough?"

She'd noted that his tone hadn't been cold, or angry at her finding him so she was at a loss as to why he'd found it necessary to leave like a thief in the night.

"You guys don't have that feather mattress thing I like so much," he remarked, not protesting when she rolled up his t-shirt to take a look at him. "Be gentle with me, Doctor Cate."

He was teasing her, she realised, and that left her totally confused. "You scared me," she admitted after a moment as she pulled his t-shirt back down and looked up.

"I'm sorry," Jake felt bad about that. It wasn't as if he hadn't already put her through the wringer enough. "I needed a timeout, Cate, and I needed to do it alone. I'm sorry I scared you." There was no hostility, self-depreciation in his tone. Just honesty. What he should have given her from the start.

"It..." Cate sighed. She didn't know what to say to that. She could rip into him for taking off and knocking back his recovery by God knew how many days but... hell, she didn't know. He looked... different. She wondered if it was the meds messing up with him, affecting his manner, but his gaze was clear. Clearer in fact than she'd seen in a long time.

"Okay..." She hesitated about the rest. Of course, he needed to get his ass back to Sickbay and she'd have to run some scans to make sure he hadn't done too much damage but first thing first. "How do you feel now?"

"Truthfully?" He met her gaze with a faded smile. "Like a douche who needs to apologise to his girlfriend for being an asshole," he said, lifting his hand and brushing his fingertips across her face. Even doing that hurt but the touch of her was worth the effort.

Tears filled her eyes and Cate swallowed thickly, her hand catching his fingers to bring them to her mouth. She kissed them, her heart beating so hard she figured he would hear it. There was definitely something different about him.

"It's okay," she whispered, escaping his intense blue gaze.

"No, it's not." He looked at her and realised then just how much he'd hurt her. The pain and anguish he had brought upon her because he was never any good at communicating. "I treated you like crap, Cate, because I was frightened of losing myself, frightened of a lot of things I'd never been able to let go. It took me almost dying to realise that you're the only thing in this life that still matters to me and you're what I need to hold onto, not the people who've been gone for years now. When Rathe took over me, I felt like I'd lost them and losing them would mean losing me. So I tried to hang onto them longer and pushed you away."

It probably made no sense to her either even though it made a lot to him. However, he was done trying to keep this shit in. Sloane had told him once that it was necessary to take risks, to open up and feel the pain or else it wouldn't mean as much. She was right. He owed Cate the truth. However tough it was for him to say it.

"I can't fault you for wanting to hold on to your family's memory," Cate said quietly, lifting her gaze back to him. She'd seen his love for them, for his brothers, for his father, the man he had been before he'd lost so much he'd lost himself in a bottle. How could she not understand that need when just barely half an hour ago she had been dreaming of Isabel? But she didn't understand why by choosing to keep them he had had to edge her out...

"But it was easier to use them to keep myself protected then open up completely," he said, shifting his gaze away. "When I was with Sloane, maybe she saw it, maybe she didn't, I cared for her but I wasn't quite there. I could have been, I know she was but it was like trying to get on a boat, but still keep one foot on land. You can't sail away if you can't let go. After Rathe, it became easier to stay on land then sail away with you. I fucking suck at metaphors." He managed a dry, self-depreciating laugh.

Cate frowned, squeezing his hand and bringing it up again to kiss his palm. Sail away with you... The man could be a poet. To her, at least.

"I think I understand." She swallowed, emotions still bottling up in her throat. She'd often wondered what had driven Jake and Lt. Col. McRae apart. They seemed like such a perfect fit. She'd had plenty of time to think about it. Not once she guessed it was because Jake was anchored on dry land. "It's actually a good metaphor." She gave him a small smile. But it didn't explain everything.

"Jake?"

Jake wasn't so sure and he wasn't even sure if he had explained himself properly but he did know this was time to be honest with her so whatever she asked, he would answer. "Yeah?"

"If you were..." Hell, how was she going to ask him about that? How could she put it into words? "I mean if you were pushing me away, and yeah, I know you were..." She shook her head, feeling like she was babbling. "Why... Christ." She looked down at his hand in hers and took a deep breath. "Why were you coming back to my bed every night?"

He had never struck her as a user, not like that. She knew about the prostitutes back on Gaia, that it was a way to get a need serviced while keeping it simple, detached. Maybe some would say he used them but he paid what the girls asked for, at least she assumed he did. If it hadn't been him, it would have been another John. So why keep this thing going with her just for the sex, when it was clear he didn't want to talk to her, be with her for any other reason than take her and own her, when all he needed or wanted was to shut her out? He could have gone to one of those working girls. It was still all messed up inside her mind, and her heart, a wound she wanted to close but one she needed to know what had caused it so she could heal it properly. She'd felt used. The sex could be amazing, and more often than not he made sure she came, often and hard, but never on her terms, always on his, and yes, she'd felt used... cheapened, somehow.

He winced, wishing he could take back his intent of being honest with her. No, she deserved the truth. "Believe it or not, it was to keep you and to feel that I was still me and because I didn't know how else to show you I cared without letting you in." A fucked up answer she probably wouldn't like but that was bitter harvest he had reaped for what he had done.

Cate studied him for a moment before she broke into a half smile, half grimace, while a strangled chuckle escaped her, sounding more like a sob. "Well, at least I figured that part right," she let out, her tone a little sad and self-deprecating.

It was ironic that it was because of the meld, and therefore because of Rathe, that she'd had enough insight into Jake to intuitively understand this twisted attempt at keeping some sort of sanity.

"We had a good thing before that fucker showed up." He met her gaze. "Let's go back to that for awhile." He took her hand, squeezed. "Can we do that? Can we just be the way it was before I fucked everything up?"

It was asking a lot. He didn't even need to be in her bed, not after the last few months. What he wanted was to be with her, having breakfast in the morning, dinner and just being two people who cared about each other before an alien entity used his feelings for her to turn Jake Mercer into a fucking basket case.

"It was Rathe's fault, Jake." Cate swallowed hard, her free hand reaching for his face. "You didn't fuck everything up, at least not all by yourself. It was Rathe, it was me. I could have - should have - said something long before it got to where it did." She caressed his cheek as she leaned in to kiss his lips. "I don't think we'll ever be able to go back to what we were, to what we had... not wholly..." She kissed his brow before pulling back. "But, Jake, I don't think it's a bad thing. We know each other a little better now, know ourselves a little better, and I still want to be with you... always did, even when... you know, which was part of the problem. I couldn't say no, couldn't push you away, even when it felt wrong..."

"Whatever you want, Doctor Cate." He met her gaze and told her just with that look, that he'd agree to anything just to make things right with her. Just to have her back in his life again, when he didn't feel like a ghost inhabiting his own body. "For the record, the sex was great but I think I like to try it with both of us sharing the same headspace."

Cate smiled as the red crept up her cheeks. She ducked her head, eyes looking down. "Me too," she said softly. "So I guess that means you better heal up quick." She looked up again, a quick memory of Jake moving inside her flickering in her mind.

"Easy there, Cate." Jake gave her a wry smirk. "I'm a sick man, you know."

"Yeah, I know." She gave him a knowing smile before kissing him on the mouth again. "Which is why..." she started saying as she stood up and kicked her shoes off. "After a short nap, I'll be hauling your butt back to Sickbay." With that, she stretched out next to him on the bed, careful not to jostle him too much.

"Sounds good." He draped an arm over her shoulder, pulling her close, not caring if it hurt or not. Closing his eyes, Jake went to sleep and for the first time, he slept well.

*****

The scans revealed a few tears but nothing Dennis couldn't refix. Of course, he took Dr. Vedder aside for a stern word, and served Nurse Clayton an even sterner one. And when Capt. Mercer would wake up again, he was planning on reminding him that they had full sets of restraints he could use if the Marine CO didn't agree to behave.

For now, Dennis was happy to head back to his office and catch up on paperwork. He surveyed Sickbay a moment longer and disappeared into the small adjacent room, closing the door behind him.

Cate looked up from the PADD she was recording the patients' vitals on and sighed in relief.

Catching it, Tyler grinned. "He's been a bit of a tyrant this morning, hasn't he?" And that was understating it. Mercer running off hadn't gone down well with the CMO, especially since the man had done so right under the noses of two of his staff. But Tyler didn't quite get why he blamed Cate. She'd been asleep and not even on duty. Then again, she hadn't been in a rush to bring the captain back after she'd caught up with him...

"I guess he's got a right to. He's the one who had to glove up again for this one," Cate returned. Her eyes touched on Jake, asleep on a biobed next to Ronnie.

"True," Tyler gave her that. Deep down, he was attributing it to Martin trying to cope with losing Bernard and having Lloyd still in a coma. That past mission had ridden all of them hard though. "But I can't believe you're back on duty..."

"What else am I going to do?" She eyed the young nurse. "The ribs are fixed, still a bit tender but fixed. And he's in here anyway," Cate said, not having to point out she meant Mercer. They were all beyond pretending there was nothing between her and Mercer. "If I'm gonna be here sitting in a chair, might as well do something useful."

Not to mention the fact Sickbay had many patients and the team was down two people. Even if right now it was still early morning and quiet, it might not remain so.
"True again," Tyler had to agree, a smirk on his face.

"Don't tease..."

"I wasn't going to," he returned to Cate's warning glare with a disarming smile.

He heard voices in the background and one which he recognised once the dreams had faded into nothingness, to be Cate's. Blinking a few times, he lifted his head and looked around to see that he was back in Sick Bay. For a few seconds, he tried to remember how he had got here and then Jake remembered that after he had slept a little, Cate had helped him back. The effort had taken what strength he had left and by the time, she got him to the bed, he was actually glad for it.

Pushing himself up on his elbows, Jake grimaced at the taste in his mouth before singing out. "Hey, I don't suppose I could get a little room service in here?"

Both Tyler and Cate turned toward the croaky sound.

"Ever his pleasant self," Tyler joked, grinning at Cate.

"He lives," Cate let out, making her way to him. "How are you feeling? Come on, lie back down..." Her hand found his shoulder to press back to the biobed as she eyed the monitor, checking his condition. "You have an amazingly short memory," she admonished him even though she was smiling. What else did she expect? He'd be back in the Cage if they left it up to him... "So, can I take your order?" she joked.

"Whiskey shots," he replied, not resisting when she lay him back down. "Or coffee."

Cate chuckled. "You do look better but let's start with some water, okay?" She grabbed the jug on the table and poured him a glass. "Here." The last few hours of sleep had done him good but he still looked so pale.

Jake made a face and retorted, "Fine, fine, deny a sick man his request." He reached for the glass and held it to his lips. The water felt cool down his parched lips and he had to admit after the first sip, he wanted another. "I don't suppose I can have a slice of lemon with it too?"

"A sick man, not a dying man. Don't try and squeeze a steak out of this," Cate returned without missing a beat. "But I can see about lemon later," she gave in a little. "How are you really feeling?" she turned serious. "Still hurting? I can adjust your pain meds."

"Pains fine." Jake shrugged because Sharks didn't ask for additional drugs if they didn't need to take them. "I'll just stay here and let Ray do the heavy lifting and I should be fine."

"Good." Poor Ray, Cate thought. But she supposed that was why commanding officers had second-in-commands. "Oh, hey, been meaning to tell you. Got some good news from the Klingons overnight..."

Jake shot her a look. "What?" His expression became serious. There was nothing humorous about Klingons or good for that matter. "What could possibly be other than they're leaving?"

She was a little taken aback by his reaction to her mentioning the Klingons, especially after fighting alongside them, but since the list of casualties was so long that it was easier to go by whom had made it back, Cate thought Jake would be thrilled by the news nonetheless. She knew she'd been...
"Mendez. They found her."

"Alive?" Jake broke into a pleased smile. He was certain that she was dead but if the rookie could keep one step ahead of the Romulans, she had a shot at being a pretty good Shark one day. Hell, she survived a baptism by fire, that's for sure.

Cate started to nod, her smile widening so much she thought her cheek muscles would cramp. "She fell in one of those crevasses... remember that beast? Saved her life. It apparently took some work to pull her out though. She's here." Cate looked over her shoulder. "Over there, four beds down. Broke her back, in traction for a while, but she should recover."

Jake tried to sit up to look but ended up causing himself more pain when he flinched in pain. "I'll catch her later," he grumbled and eased back into the bed. "She'll be okay?"

"I'm sorry..." Cate helped him lower himself back down. "I didn't mean for you to go around doing rounds just yet..." She smiled at him a bit like you did a child after they did something silly. "She should be. Already had one treatment and she's responding well. Doctor Martin gave her a good prognosis."

"Great," Jake said, pleased to hear that. To tell the truth, he had been reluctant to write her off because they'd lost so many of the squad down on the planet. Just hearing one, who hadn't expected to survive make it, filled Jake with a sense of gratitude.

"Hey, you think you could send Ray my way a little later?" he asked. There were things he had to say to Ray about the last few months that was almost as important as bearing his soul to Cate.

"Sure." Cate nodded. "As long as you keep it short. You shouldn't be worrying about work right now, just on resting." Right. Like he'd listened to that.

It wasn't about work but Jake didn't feel the need to tell Cate that. Besides, there were some things that were just between guys.

Suddenly, Jake looked over his shoulder at the door opening and saw Dee entering Sick Bay. The redhead was dressed in fatigues and her eyes glanced around the place, probably looking to see if her boyfriend was about. Jake was still getting his head around that when he realised the hulking figure behind her wasn't Ka'ana but in fact a Klingon.

Cate had moved closer to take a look at his chest when she caught the shift in Jake. "What..." she started saying as she looked up and kind of froze.

"Captain Worf?" Cate let out, her chest suddenly tightening. She immediately thought of Kern having taken a down turn.

"Captain Worf?" Jake looked at her.

"Doctor Vedder, it is good to see you again." The Klingon greeted her with a slight bow, aware that all eyes were upon him.

"The Captain here wanted to see you and I figured you'd be down here," Dee explained.

Still stunned by the surprised visit and anxious about the reason behind it, Cate nodded to the Dee. "Thanks, Corporal." Her gaze moved to Worf again.

"Good to see you too, Captain. How... how is Kern?"

"He recovers well," Worf answered. "And what of your people?" he asked her.

"Oh, we're doing fine," Jake piped up, wanting to know why a Klingon was wanting to see Cate if it wasn't about a patient.

Testosterone spill on Aisle 5, Dee thought to herself.

Initially relieved at the good news, Cate was about to answer when she gave Worf a rather embarrassed smile. "My apologies, Captain. As you can see, some are recovering better than others... you might recognise Captain Mercer, commanding officer of our Marine contingent aboard Vanguard."

"Captain, this is Captain Worf of the cruiser K'taaga," she informed her patient, taking the opportunity to send him a 'what the hell was that?' look at the same time. He was the one reminding her quite vehemently to play nice with the Klingons back on the planet's surface and now that?

"Captain Mercer?" Worf declared, realising that he was talking to the leader of the Sharks, who had protected the colonists on the planet. "I am glad to see that you are well. My people owe you a debt of gratitude over the bravery of you and your men. Such deeds of bravery deserve a great ballad and much bloodwine to celebrate."

Jake's brow arched. "Blood wine?"

"Yes, the drink of warriors," Worf explained. "When you are better, we will share a mug and sing the songs of our glorious battles but for now I must speak to Dr. Vedder. I bring an invitation from Commander Kor, he would like you to visit our ship. He has business to discuss with you."

"Me?" Cate let out, glancing at Dee and Jake in turn before returning her attention on Worf. She remembered him telling her that Kor would want to thank her in person one day but she hadn't figured it meant now or like this. The viewscreen on the Bridge would have done.

"Yes." Worf nodded. "Kor has heard how well you treated our people and young Kern speaks well of you." Worf didn't add that he had provided Kor with his own report regarding the behaviour of Dr. Vedder on Narendra III, how she well she had cared for people she had no reason to show the effort. "He would like to thank you personally. As soon as it is convenient, he requests that you join him on the K't'agga."

"We will," Jake retorted.

"I apologise." Worf looked at the Captain. "I did not realise that you were mated."

Jake blinked. "Well, we're not mated..." he started to stutter.

"Then Dr. Vedder can speak for herself, yes?" The Klingon challenged as someone who could have been Dee, choked down a snigger.

Jake's eyes narrowed. I think I hate this guy.

Cate's spine straightened as she listened in, unsure whether to be hurt that Jake did not think of her as his or not. Her eyes barely touching on him, she met the Klingon's inquiring (and somewhat amused and puzzled) gaze.

"Now would be convenient, Captain."

"Now?" Jake exclaimed, sitting up in his bed. "The hell you are... I mean, okay, we're not married or nothing but...but..." But what Jakey? What the fuck's running through your head?

"We can wait if you wish, Dr. Vedder," Worf replied, ignoring the Captain. "You do not have to make this decision now."

Tyler looked up from his work, his gaze unashamedly attracted to the group as Capt. Mercer stumbled in his obvious discomfiture.

"Lie back down, Captain, please," Cate said, her tone appeasing as her hand went to Jake's shoulder yet again. She met his eyes then, wondering what he was thinking exactly. Their newfound understanding was just that - new - and while she was amused at his reaction, the last thing she wanted was for him to think she was belittling it, or making fun of him.

"Captain Worf, I would have liked the Captain here to accompany me, but I understand that it is impossible. While he's recovering nicely..." she said, and that was mostly a lie because the bugger was set on negating whatever headway in healing was reached by jolting up and down all the time, "you will have gone home by the time he will have reached a state to safely do so. Perhaps... if his second-in-command were to come in his stead...?"

Oh great, Ray gets to go with her.

Aware that Cate was trying to make some effort not to piss him off, Jake realised he had no choice but to concede defeat. Aside from the fact that Janice could probably bitch slap him right now, he was too sore to accompany Cate to a Klingon warship even if he could bribe Dee into giving Martin blow jobs for a month so that he'd agree to let Jake go.

"Of course," Worf replied, thinking that it was a woman's solution because no male would have found those terms acceptable. Of course, human males were more cowed by their women so he doubted Captain Mercer would object. "When you are ready, please, let us know and we'll transport you aboard."

"Thank you, Captain. I will present this to my superiors. Would within the hour be acceptable?"

She was actually rather looking forward to see Kern. And K'Ahlen. But she'd be lying if she claimed she wasn't nervous about the whole thing. A Klingon cruiser? Surely it was full of Klingon warriors, males of the same look and size as the ones still terrifying her in dreams. She wasn't just being nice to Jake when she told Worf she would have liked Jake there. Despite what had happened on Nerandra III, with him siding with Kresh rather than with her, she would still rather have him there at her side. He knew where she was coming from. And there was the fact that they were all gushing over what she'd done down there in treating their people but she wondered if they realised Kresh had died carrying her... protecting her.

"It will be," Worf replied promptly, shifting a gaze in the direction of Dr. Vedder's supposed 'not' mate.

Within the hour, Jake bristled. Not until he got a chance to talk to Ray first. Initially it had been about apologising to the guy for his dumbassery but now it was to make sure the guy kept Cate safe.

"Good then. I will contact you when ready," Cate replied with a nod. Her hand had moved from Jake's shoulder for appearances' sake but, as she kept it there on the edge of the biobed, she was dying to drag it along to go find Jake's hand.

"Of course," Worf nodded and regarded Dee, who was acting as his escort.

"I'll tell the Lieutenant you're looking for him, Captain," Dee replied, trying very hard to hide the smirk on her face.

Jake gave her a look because he knew exactly what she found so funny.

"Doctor, Captain," Worf nodded at the two of them before he turned on his heels, leaving Sick Bay with Dee following.

Once he was gone, Jake looked at her. "Couldn't you come up with some excuse to not go?" he asked, sounding more like a petulant child than an angry adult.

Really? Cate returned his look, an eyebrow slowly arching. "And insult our allies? I thought I had done enough of that," she retorted, her tone teasing. "I actually want to see how Kern is doing," she admitted more quietly. She didn't care for the official thank you Kor felt he needed to bestow upon her but then again, she felt she owed those people, whether she liked it or not. Kresh, Kern, K'Ahlen, Wol. Even Rokis and Toq. If it wasn't for them...

She eyed him more carefully. "You're really worried or is this a male thing?" What could happen to her on K't'agga? Especially since the Klingons felt so indebted.

A bit of both actually. Okay, it's a male thing.

"Of course, I'm worried about you." Jake looked at her with a completely straight face. "Male thing... yeah, right." He feigned mock derision.

Cate heard Tyler clear his throat but she had enough sense not to look his way. The slight smile though, she couldn't help. "That's sweet." With that, she placed a chaste kiss on Jake's brow.

Jake made a snorting sound that indicated he didn't feel any better but unfortunately was in no shape to do anything about it. "Alright, alright, not in front of the guys," he joked.

******

The message had come from Dee in the middle of a cup of coffee in the galley and a report to Shay. Not a friendly thing but an official report as acting CO of the Marine contingent (again). Great, Ray sighed. While he'd sat at Jake's side for Cate so she could get treated, he wasn't sure he was ready to speak with the man. Granted, he'd nearly died on the surface and by all means, that should throw his anger at his CO out the window because they were Marines. They lived and died together and shit like treating his best friend so badly should come second. And really, Ray knew the reasons. Rathe. Fuck. Thinking about that only made Ray realize even more that it really wasn't Jake's fault. Still, he had been the one Cate had come to, crying and exhausted and hurt, because of Jake Mercer.

Aww.. fuck it, Ray. He was a Marine. He wasn't there to make sure people abided by his feelings. Saving his report, he got to his feet and headed for Sickbay.

*****

Sickbay was pretty quiet as he entered, nodding to Tyler as he passed the medic. Jake's bed was at one end, on the other side of Lloyd's. Passing Mendez, Ray gave her a once over before continuing to Jake's side.

"You wanted to see me, Captain?" he asked, keeping it formal for now.

The fact that he was called Captain reminded Jake that he'd been an asshole to Ray too.

When things between him and Cate were at their worst, Ray, to his credit, had tried to help. Of course, Jake wasn't in any shape to listen and he had damaged not only his relationship with one of the few friends he had on the ship while at the same time alienating his second in command. All in all, Jake wondered if he could have screwed the pooch any worse.

"Okay," Jake exhaled loudly. "I was an asshole; you were right. I was treating Cate like crap. I should have listened to you." He said that all in one breath, unflinching when he met Ray's gaze, waiting for a reaction.

Alright, he hadn't expected that and in the face of Jake's laying it all out there, Ray found himself not knowing what to say. He'd honestly expected that he was summoned to give a report. As it was, he only stared at Jake for a moment before letting out a breath and scrubbing a hand through his hair before studying his CO. Part of him wasn't ready to forgive Jake yet but the other part said he should, because this wasn't about him, it was about Cate and she'd be happier if he and Jake weren't acting like puffer fish around each other.

"Does this mean you've apologized to Cate, too?" If he had, Ray supposed he could give the man a break.

"Yeah." He nodded. "A certain amount of grovelling was done," Jake answered slowly. "Look..." He sat up in his bed and winced at the pain. Fuck he hated feeling weak like this. "There's no excuse for how I behaved, to you or her. I had some shit going on in my head and I've never been one to take advice well. You tried to help, I appreciate that now, I'm sorry I didn't react better. I just wasn't in the headspace to listen." It was the sincerest apology he could give and he suspected it would require time before Ray didn't want to take a shot at him but Jake could accept that.

He deserved it.

Ray also suspected Jake was one to never make apologies well either so the fact he was getting one was a good indicator that his CO was speaking honestly and from the heart. Recalling that 'conversation' they'd had over Cate, Ray considered the things he'd said and how close he'd come to decking Jake flat out.

"Yeah well.. " Rubbing the back of his neck, Ray sighed. "I probably could have handled things better too," he admitted quietly. An apology usually deserved an apology, Shay had always told him. "I was probably out of line with what I said. Cate ... she's like a sister to me, sir. I had to do something."

"No, you weren't," Jake stopped him there. "You were being her friend, which was what she needed then. More than she needed a jerk like me with my baggage. It had to take almost dying for me to figure out how much she means to me. Gave me an epiphany if you can fucking believe it." His laughed was self depreciating.

How much she meant to him? Ray considered that for a moment, his gaze lingering on Jake as if trying to see into his head. Finally, he looked away, at the bulkhead without really seeing it before turning back to Jake.

"So what now?" he asked, a corner of his mouth twitching up into amusement. "Now that hell's frozen over?"

"I don't know..." he said honestly. "Cate and I agreed we'll just coast a bit, see how things go. I just wanted to tell you thanks for everything you tried to do, for her at least. I wasn't in much state to listen to anyone but I'm glad you were there for her." There was genuine regret in his eyes about what he had put Cate through, something that surfaced involuntarily in his blue eyes.

Gratitude usually deserved gratitude as well. Ray could hear Shay saying that in his head. The man didn't have to lay everything out like he was, let down his guard so to speak and Ray appreciated it.

"Thanks.. for caring about her." He sighed and moved forward to drop into the chair at the bed side. "I lost my older sister when Vega was destroyed. We were pretty close," he said, not sure if he'd ever told Jake this. Yeah, the captain knew about Shay but he wasn't sure about the rest. "From the day I met Cate, she reminds me of Rachel and that's how I see her. Like my sister, that I'd do anything for. She's a good person. So... thanks. Seriously." To show that he was, Ray extended his hand.

Jake reached and took the hand offered, managing a little smile. So many things had become clear in the last day. Not just about Cate, but about the other people in his life. Like Dee, Ka'ana and Ray. It had been a long time since he felt this camaraderie, not since he lost so many on the Farragut, even before that when he lost the twins.

"I say we're even." Jake replied with a nod before cracking a smile to propel them past the moment because this was too much of a chick moment for two Sharks. "Now you've got to get your ass and go find Cate. Seems she got an invite to a Klingon ship and since I can't go, you gotta make sure that she's safe. Besides..." Jake thought about Worf. "I don't think I like the way that Captain was checking her out."

Chuckling, Ray got to his feet, wondering what the invite was about.

"Trust me, Cate won't be snuggling up to a Klingon any time soon," he replied, eyeing Jake and hearing the 'real' reason for the request. "I'll make sure she's safe," he promised with a nod. "But uh.. do me a favour.. and stay in bed. She'll bitch if you don't and I'll have to duct tape you there and..." He shook his head in mock tiredness. "That will involve Ka'ana and it won't be pretty," he joked.

"You don't have to worry about that." Jake frowned. "Doc Martin's got the stink eye on me for leaving last night. Jeez, you think doing a hot Shark would lighten the guy a little." He smirked in Ray's direction.

Laughing, Ray glanced off in the direction of the CMO's office. "I'm surprised he hasn't keeled over yet," he confided in the way only a guy could. "I'll go find Cate.. and again.. thanks. Jake." Ray offered with a nod.

"Take care of my girl," Jake called after him as he left. "Or I'll kick your ass."

*****

After clearing the Klingon request with Houser and Martin, Cate had gone to freshen up, probably moments before Ray made his way to Sickbay. While she would have liked to have been a fly on the wall for that discussion, she also knew the two men needed to talk and had she been there, they probably would have skirted around the really important stuff. Because she wasn't dumb, she was well aware she was the crux of the tension between them.

Slipping on her Starfleet dress uniform, Cate looked in the mirror, smoothing down the too short skirt. Her hair was done up too, as per regulation. Like the Chief Medical Officer had reminded her, she was going there as a representative of Starfleet Medical, to accept their official thanks in the name of Ronnie Lloyd, who was still in a coma, and Armando Bernard, who had been killed in action. Not that she had any chance to ever forget it, but Martin's words had had a sobering effect on her, making her almost feel guilty that she had seen this as an opportunity to check on Kern.

Dress uniforms were the bane of any real Shark. Tugging slightly at his collar, Ray paused in front of the door to Cate's quarters. And then.. to have to get into his dress blues so.. fast. An hour, what the hell... still, a promise was a promise and he'd given Jake his word. Cate would be safe. Plus Ray probably would have requested to go anyway, knowing how she felt about Klingons. Of course, the guys had made fun of him and he thought he heard a whistle or four from the back of Shark Bay. No one had fessed up to it but some of them looked too busy to be up to any good.

Smoothing out the front of the top, Ray hit the chime for Cate's door and stood back.

"Hey," Cate let out when the door slid open to let her see Ray standing there. "You clean up good." But she could tell he was far from comfortable. "Sorry about this. My fault you're pulling this shitty detail..." She gave him a smile that did nothing in hiding her trepidation.

He didn't feel 'cleaned up'. Relenting, Ray shrugged off her apology with a small, but warm smile. "It's not shitty. Come here." One hand took Cate by the shoulder and Ray pulled her into his arms, in a show of emotion that was rarely seen outside his own quarters or Shay's. There hadn't been time earlier, what with several injured Marines and Fleeters and a beat up ship to tend to. Ray hugged her quickly but gently, as brotherly as he could before closing down again. He was just too exhausted for anything else and was currently running on stimulants. "I'm just glad you made it."

Cate allowed herself to sink into Ray's embrace, arms going around him for a moment. "I'm glad you made it too. We had no idea down there if the Vanguard had been blown to smithereens or not. You look bushed," she said, pulling back and cracking a little smile. "I'm sorry we have to do this now. There's a patient I want to see and, well..." She fidgeted in place. "The idea of having to go on a Klingon cruiser..." She looked up, meeting his gaze. "I'd rather get that done and over with."

"I know." Ray nodded, blue eyes warm and appreciative of just how hard this was for her, of the tremendous leap of faith she was displaying here. Offering her his arm, he inclined his head in the direction of the lift. "Come on. Let's get going and you can tell me about this patient. Oh.. did I ever tell you what the one Starfleet-issued sock said to the civilian sock?" His eyebrows canted upwards in a challenge.

Socks? "My God, Ray, where do you get these?" Cate let out as they walked toward the turbolift, so used to his crappy jokes she could only go along with it. "No, what?"

"You have to help me, I'm trying to avoid static Klingons," Ray deadpanned with a smirk, eyes on Cate for her reaction.

*****

After clearance was given to the officer manning the Transporter Room, Cate and Ray disappeared in shimmering light before an alien-looking bulkhead and transporter pad surrounded them, the tingling leaving their senses allowing them to refocus.

"Dr. Vedder," Captain Worf stepped forward in the transporter room once the two humans had finally completed the transport from their ship. "Welcome aboard the K't'agga, this is Karath and Narkon," he introduced the two officers at his side before looking towards the male that had accompanied the doctor.

"Which one is the female?" Karath asked, amusing himself in the colourful costume the male was wearing.

"They both look very pretty," Narkon snorted.

Her eyes narrowed on the two Klingons flanking Worf and she straightened, sensing Ray react beside her. Meeting the Captain's gaze, she nodded lightly and decided to ignore the other two's remarks. "Thank you. Captain Worf, this is Marine Lieutenant Rigby. Captain Mercer's Executive Officer."

"Lieutenant," Worf said with a slight bow of acknowledgement. "Welcome aboard, we are honoured to have you on board."

About to respond to the two yokels, the side of his mouth curled up in a grin, Ray was cut off by Cate and then of course, he couldn't and wouldn't ignore the greeting from Captain Worf. "The honour is ours, Captain," he said with a slight bow of his head.

"Perhaps you should curtsy too." Karah sneered under his breath.

"That's enough," Worf growled. "These are guests of Commander Kor. You do yourselves no service by this behaviour."

Facing Dr. Vedder and Lieutenant Rigby, he spoke. "I apologise for my brothers' ill manners but they were raised by targs and have not been brigged in a while."

"Not just targs," Karath sniggered. "A Hurundian boar too."

Worf rolled his eyes. "Please, come this way. Commander Kor is eager to meet you both."

Holy shit, they had senses of humour that didn't involve ways to die. Wiggling his eyebrows at Cate, Ray turned back to Worf. "I'm sorry, Captain, did you say those were targs?" he asked, indicating Karath and Narkon with a grin for them. They'd be right at home in the Cage. "Which one is the female?"

The three Klingons fell into silence and all three exchanged glances before bursting into riotous laughter.

"You have a sense of humour," Korath remarked once the guffaws have subsided, "we did not know that. We are told that humans are sombre like the monks of Borath."
Oh yes, they have to find out Humans have a sense of humour via Ray's jokes, Cate thought and shook her head lightly, throwing Ray a glance. "I can assure you, our Sharks are nothing like monks..."

The monks of Borath? Ray frowned, trying to recall where he'd heard... OH. Those... eunuchs. The very word made Ray want to shudder. "I don't know, Dr. Vedder," he said, using her formal title because of their location. "Some of the guys can get pretty dour," he grinned, winking at Cate. If she was smiling, then his job here was done. Mostly.

Even though Cate felt herself thwarted by the three huge Klingons, she found herself breaking into a smile, immediately thinking on Jake. Dour, yes, but no monk.

With the mood certainly lighter, Worf led the humans through the ship, moving towards the bridge of the bird of prey. Klingon ships were built for functionality and little concern was paid to the aesthetics. Bulkheads were high and little effort was spared on building a complex network of turbo shafts when stairs would do just as nicely.

"The boy is doing well," Worf spoke of Kern, aware that the doctor would be interested in hearing about his welfare. "He has a warrior's heart."

"He is not long from the Rite of Ascension," Narkon replied. "That is an important day for a Klingon. You should attend, see that your charge has reached manhood."

"My charge?" Cate looked from Narkon to Worf, surprised by the choice of word. Kern was - had been - her patient, not her charge. From what she understood, he was K'Ahlen's. "I am glad to hear he is healing well and I do hope it will be possible to see him, but I must admit I'm confused by the term 'charge'..."

"When one cares for a Klingon child such as you have," Worf explained. "We think of him as your charge. You did not simply heal his wounds, you cared for him. Klingon children do not take well to outsiders and he has asked to see you before we leave."

Really? Mouth agape, she glanced at Ray before she returned her gaze on Worf. "I..." She didn't know what to say. "Of course, I will see him." She couldn't deny having taken a liking to the kid but she had no idea about this custom and what it might mean.

"And I think the Lady K'Ahlen will also like to send you her greetings." Worf added. "Both have reported quite favourably your conduct to Commander Kor."

"We helped each other along," Cate said. She felt in the spotlight, like she'd been passing some test or evaluation she wasn't aware of. Her conduct. She shuddered inwardly, thinking on Kresh and the shoot out she had nearly started. "Is K'Ahlen onboard? I would like to see her..." She wondered if she was out of line making such a request but she looked to Worf, waiting to see if she was irritating him in some way. Truth be told, personally, she wasn't here to meet with this Kor, but to hopefully see Kern and K'Ahlen again. If the Captain realised this he might find her rude.

"Yes, Lady K'Ahlen is a guest onboard," Worf answered. "After that we speak to Commander Kor, I will take you to see the boy and Lady K'Ahlen."

Cate inclined her head in thanks, focusing on that to keep herself from fretting about her impeding meeting with Kor.

Meanwhile, Narkon had fallen next to Ray. The Klingon was observing the human with interest. Of course they had heard of the Sharks' valour in the Xindi War but not many Klingons had encountered them until recent times. "Why are you called Sharks?" Narkon asked Ray as they continued down a narrow walkway leading to the main bridge.

Cate seemed to be relaxing up ahead of them, as much as she could be, Ray supposed so he turned his attention to the other two Klingons. "Well, two reasons actually. It's sort of a play on words. Our official title is Marines.. but before we were called that, we were called Military Assault Command Operation. M-A-C-O, MACO," he said, glancing up at the big Klingon. This guy made Ka look.. puny. "On Earth, there was a species of shark, an aquatic carnivore, called the mako shark." He looked up again to make sure they were following. "Mako sharks are big, mean and ugly and sharks as a whole are.. were.. the top of the food chain in our oceans."

"We do not have many oceans on Q'ono'S," Korath explained, listening to the human with interest. "But we have cob'lats. They are big, feline predators that roam the hills. They are very dangerous and it is considered a great victory to defeat one in a hunt. These sharks sound like formidable beasts. It is too bad your world was destroyed, I think we Klingons would have found much that was interesting."

"Like your Shakespeare," Narkon remarked.

Shakespeare?? Ray did a double take at Narkon, managing not to burst out with 'fuck me'. Where the hell had they picked up Shakespeare?? "The Bard was a great influence on our culture, especially to many writers that went on to be famous in their own right," he said, thinking that maybe Ms. Rothgar might actually be right when she'd told a rebellious ten year old that Shakespeare would change the world. "If you liked him, then yes, you probably would have," he said, with a smile. "You might like Shelley or Edgar Allan Poe." Hell, if they popped out that they appreciated the socio-economic struggles of Smurfs, Ray just wouldn't be surprised anymore. He could officially join the 'I've Seen It All Now' Club. "Shelley wrote Frankenstein and Poe wrote The Raven, The Telltale Heart and of course, The Monkey's Paw."

"We know of your Shakespeare through some contact with the Vulcans and since then, many works have been translated," Korath explained. "He speaks with the heart of a Klingon."

"Yes," Narkon agreed and recited;

"Blood and destruction shall be so in use
And dreadful objects so familiar
That mothers shall but smile when they behold
Their infants quarter'd with the hands of war;
All pity choked with custom of fell deeds:
And Caesar's spirit, ranging for revenge,
With Ate by his side come hot from hell,
Shall in these confines with a monarch's voice
Cry 'Havoc,' and let slip the dogs of war;
That this foul deed shall smell above the earth
With carrion men, groaning for burial."

"Words that may have come from Kahless himself!" Korath grinned.

NOW he was officially in the seen it all club. Ray grinned in return as he considered it because .. well.. Korath had a point. "Julius Caesar..." That was one of his favourite lines of all time. "How about this one?"

For brave Macbeth,—well he deserves that name,
Disdaining fortune, with his brandish'd steel,
Which smok'd with bloody execution,
Like valor's minion,
Carv'd out his passage, till he fac'd the slave;
And ne'er shook hands, nor bade farewell to him,
Till he unseam'd him from the nave to the chaps,
And fix'd his head upon our battlements.

"That's from MacBeth," Ray finished, with a grin, certain Cate was going to have him certified when they got back to the Vanguard but these guys were fun.

"Lady MacBeth must be Klingon," Narkon declared. "We Klingons did not realise that Terran women were so strong. Your Captain is a female, that we did not expect. We were told that Terran females were very soft and fragile. They like to cook and knit things for babies."

Letting out a laugh, Ray found it hard to keep his decorum. "Well, uh... she's a very strong woman. Now.. she does like to cook," he said, looking up at his escorts. "And she likes babies, but knitting?" Ray chuckled and shook his head. "She'd rather use knitting needles as weapons."

Cate smirked, feeling like she must have stepped into one of those absurd dreams, where things made no sense but happened as if all was normal. Hearing Klingons recite Shakespeare recreated this eerie feeling for her and it didn't help when Ray joined them. Of course, anyone expecting Capt. Houser to be sitting in a rocking chair like some frail, porcelain thing, knitting little socks and bonnets brought the absurdity level to new heights.

Ever the diplomat, Worf spoke up. "We do not mean to offend, Dr. Vedder, but we know little of humans. As a race, the contact between our peoples have been few and those meeting have been strained. Since the destruction of your world, we've only heard rumours about your culture. Our contact with other races gave us some insight into what was lost. Shakespeare is one of the more popular imports. My people enjoy poetry, we sing songs of our battles and your Shakespeare reaches into our hearts. It is difficult to believe that the race who produced such a man can be wholly insignificant. Now that we have established contact, I believe our understanding of each other can only improve."

"You do not offend me, Captain, I assure you. Your man was simply painting a rather amusing picture of the Vanguard captain." She gave a smile to Worf. "As for soft and fragile, I'm a healer so I'd like to think I have a softer side than most. Helps with the job. But you have met some of our female Sharks, have you not?" They were far from the fragile types of centuries gone by. "I would say that since the Xindi came knocking on our door, most humans have hardened - men and women."

"I must admit," Worf's lips curled into a smile, "you are certainly different than what we expected. Your females are quite formidable and that is something we Klingons respect."

"Our women are very strong, even when they believe they are not." Ray shot Cate a warm smile before he winked, his pride in her dissolving into the innocence of a child hiding purloined cookies behind his back. "However, as a race, we haven't figured them out yet."

"In that we have something in common," Korath laughed. "In Klingon culture, a man may win many glorious battles but at home, his wife rules the hearth and the family. My wife is a harridan, who makes targs weep in fear but without her my honour means little."

Cate smiled at that. She found that she could despite that deep-seeded fear, the flutter her heart did at near every scrape and clang of boots or other she heard. She could because Ray was there, ever self-effacing but unmissable. Maybe Capt. Worf was right and mutual understanding was at hand. They certainly seemed to have more in common than they thought. She still couldn't wrap her head around Shakespeare or the fact that a warrior like Worf would smile so readily. It clashed with her memories of the Klingons on Gaia, but then she had neither seen or even envisaged souls like Kern and K'Ahlen existed in that race. In her mind, they were all barbarians.

"We often say of couples that the woman wears the pants at home..." she commented, letting Korath know that what he described could also be the case with Humans.

Makes targs weep? Korath said it so proudly and... warmly that there was no mistaking it for a compliment. Talk about Q'on'os and Venus. Ray gave Cate an encouraging smile, a double check to ensure that she was comfortable, relaxed, as much as one could expect anyway, before looking at the ship's captain and Korath. "You'll have to tell us what else you expected... or didn't expect." Ahh, there's the Shark officer. "This would be a perfect time to answer any questions you may have," he finished, hoping that let the aliens know he was open and looking forward to working with them.

"The business of the home belongs to the lady of the house," Worf added. "We men do not interfere. It is our business to win battles and glory, our wives are to run our household, to ensure that all matters in the hearth are attended and she decides most matters with family as well. A Klingon wife not merely looks after the house but she decides who should be invited into it, she makes the decision on marriages as well, to ensure that all her family have worthy mates."

"Oh?" Ray nodded in response to that, finding that he could almost sympathize. Shay tended to give her opinion on his dates whether he wanted it or not although Ray was sure she'd never actually make the decision for him. Strong personality or not, he wouldn't stand for that. "So your marriages are arranged? Or you can choose your own mate as long as she's acceptable?" he asked. Different cultures, he could appreciate. Didn't always agree.. but Ray appreciated the fact that the galaxy wasn't a carbon copy of Earth.

"We select our own mates," Worf continued to explain. "But the lady of our house will determine if the potential mate is worthy by instructing them in how to conduct themselves as a Klingon wife or a husband. If she feels that the mate is not worthy, it is within her power to refuse the marriage and not even the master of house can interfere. In the matters of household, the females rules supreme."

"Yes," Korath nodded, "my lady, Sharal would hack me with my own bat'leth should I interfere in how she conducts our home." The Klingon let out a sigh. "I truly miss her scowling, screeching voice," he said with real affection.

Cate looked at Korath and was surprised to find he wasn't joking at all in his admission. A man speaking fondly of their partner's nagging would be a refreshing thing for humans.

She threw an amused look at Ray, trying to imagine her own father ever leaving everything to do with the house into her mother's care. No, Siemen had been a hands-on man, a business man. Like clockwork, with an engineer-like quality his German ancestry stereotypically offered him. He had run the home finances just like almost everything else, and that even when his work took him away. That said, Carmela had been headstrong in her own right, her Spanish blood not watered down much, and she'd been the one to take care of their daughters when Siemen travelled, which had been often.

Smiling back, Ray winked at her. This was good.. and unexpected, seeing Cate smile in the presence of the race she used to hate with an unholy passion and Ray felt the tension between his shoulders crank downwards. There were many places this conversation could go from here but he opted to err on the side of caution. "So, Captain Worf," he began, changing the subject. "I'm afraid we're that not well read on the ranks of your military and I would like make sure we do not insult our hosts," he said, glancing at Korath and Narkon out of respect. "Compared to say, Commander Kor, where are you, as a captain, in the rank structure? For example, Captain Houser has her own ship. Her second in command, as it usually is with the bigger ships, is a commander and a captain's subordinate."

"There is no offence intended," Worf answered, taking the question in the spirit it was given, "I am Captain but my rank would be comparable to Lieutenant Commander, while in our military, a Commander is given a ship of his own as a Sub-Commander serves him. Furthermore, I am what you call ground troops, like your Sharks. Where else a Sub Commander would be more suited to battle on board a warship."

"That..." Ray nodded with a lop-sided smile. "Explains a lot.. thank you." So far these guys were, as Jake had said, a lot like Sharks. Although he could only imagine Starfleet Security going into cardiac arrest at the thought of having Klingons and Sharks in one building, like The Beasts. That idea made him smile as he looked up at Korath and Narkon. "What about you two? Captain Worf called you brothers, does that mean you're actually blood-related or was that in the camaraderie-combat sense of brotherhood?"

"Related to him?" Narkon sniggered. "His father was the ugliest Targ in the pit, it was a good thing his mother was kind. Lady Sindella is a good woman but not my mother."

"And your father was the smelliest targ!" Korath snorted, giving Narkon a look. "No, we are comrades in arms, warriors that stepped through the fire together."
Chuckling, Ray glanced at Cate in amusement. "The only bond tighter than blood is the one welded by fire," he replied, before a smirk appeared. "So you really are related to targs?"

"He is," both Korath and Narkon said in unison.

******

[do]

A short time later, Worf led the two humans onto the main bridge of the Klingon cruiser where his Commander held court. Klingon warships had nothing to so frivolous as Captain's office and his chambers were too small too entertain a large number of people. Besides, it would not seem appropriate to receive Dr. Vedder and her companion in such surroundings so the bridge was the only venue for a meeting. As he stepped unto the bridge, Narkon and Korath immediately took their stations while he presented the humans towards Kor.

"Commander," he announced himself. "This is Dr. Vedder and her escort Lieutenant Rigby." He added a moment later, "a Shark."

Immediately, the Klingons on the bridge shifted their gaze towards the human male, taking an interest. With the introductions concluded, Worf took his position at Kor's right hand.

Kor rose to his feet and stood as the same height as the human male. As Klingon he was not so tall but his build was stocky and solid. His hair was worn loose and like all Klingons he had a beard and moustache, although it was kept neat and tidy. His uniform was a variation of most Klingons, with a little more ornate design on his arm bands and belt, an indication of rank and prestige.

"Doctor Vedder, welcome aboard the K'taaga," he greeted the female, who seemed so small in comparison, she was almost child like. He hadn't expected her to look so tiny and marvelled at how human males in good conscience could let their females fight when they came to slight.

Cate didn't miss the way he looked at her, studied her, though she didn't seem to garner the same attention Ray did. The whole Bridge crew was looking at him.

"It is an honour, Commander," Cate returned, almost relieved this Klingon wasn't as tall as Worf. Not that he wasn't imposing in his own right but at least she didn't have to crank her neck as far back to meet his gaze. Based on the Captain's explanation of their rank system, she supposed starship officers weren't as built as their version of ground pounders, and were more like civilians in their size.

"The honour is ours," Kor replied. "I am glad you chose to come aboard, Dr.Vedder, and to bring your escort, a Shark. We Klingons have heard much of your Terran warriors and so I thank you not merely for your presence but opportunity to observe one of your Sharks."

Quirking an eyebrow, Cate's lips stretched in a thin line. She thought this request she come aboard was about what had taken place on Narendra but it turned out it was all about meeting Starfleet's Marines? She threw Ray a sideways glance, uncomfortable at being played and wondering if their host would be asking for information she and Ray had no business sharing. Their interest was... unsettling.

"Would you like a microscope?" The words escaped her but she wasn't totally regretting them as she felt they needed to set back on track. People had died. Civilians and soldiers, Klingons and Humans alike and all he seemed happy with was to see his curiosity filled. Besides, they seemed to appreciate forthrightness...

Accustomed to being stared at, to being 'observed', Ray stood his ground although all that discipline nearly went down the tubes. God, he adored Cate, even if her question only proved Jake Mercer was rubbing off on her. His blue eyes flashed in amusement but he held his tongue and managed not to choke.

Assuming the comment was a joke, the Klingons burst into laughter that rippled through the bridge for a few minutes before Kor settled down. "We did not know you have a sense of humour," he commented. "But now to business. My people are most impressed by your valiant defence of our colony on Narendra III. We do not encounter such bravery among other races. Very few would have placed themselves in danger for another race or attended to their injured with such care. Because of Narendra III, the High Council is re-examining our previous view of humans. I believe, that our two peoples can be friends." He took a deep breath and stared at Cate.

"That being said, the affairs of Narendra III have been a personal matter for me and my house. The boy Kern is the child of my wife's sibling, killed by Romulans. We had only heard the news and were attempting to determine what was to be done about the boy's affairs when this business took place. He is to be a member of House Kor and those who have protected him, such as the Lady K'Ahlen, will be invited its protection. It is unusual but the boy has requested that you be welcomed into House Kor, Doctor Vedder, and I think considering his affection for you, I agree with this."

Eyes widening in surprise, Cate stood there next to Ray, wondering if she had heard him right. It all made sense to her as he spoke of K'Ahlen but it soon turned to double Dutch when he mentioned her and his House. "Pardon me?"

"It is unusual," Kor replied, understanding her confusion and it was no small thing that he had told her. "However, for all the kindness you have shown to Kern and his affection of you and the regard of Lady K'Ahlen, I believe it is the only proper thing to do. You will be a member of my family, afforded all the protection of House Kor."

Fuck me, Ray thought in surprise, Shark training kept him from staring at the Commander outright. Still, he looked over at Cate, eyebrows canted high. No human, let alone a woman had ever been asked into a Klingon House (and a damn prestigious one at that).

A member of his family? His? Cate swallowed, feeling suddenly light-headed. Okay, she might be more tolerant of the race, and yes, with Kern and K'Ahlen, she'd even go as far as admitting she was more comfortable, but to go from that to being part of Kor's family? Cate blinked, not knowing how to react without saying something insulting or offensive. She just knew she had to give some kind of response and soon.

"Commander Kor," she started saying, throwing a look at Ray beside her, for a split second wishing she had Jake at her side too (but crushing the very idea in the next breath because she could only imagine his reaction to this), before she took a deep breath. "I do not know what to say," she admitted candidly. "It is an honour, unheard of..." Wasn't it? And she seemed to be asking if he was certain he had the right person because she certainly didn't feel deserving. Not the way she had been cursing his people for the last five-six years.

"We have not had a healer in the House of Kor," the commander replied. "Warriors, holy men, even teachers but not healers, it will be most unique." He could see the woman was somewhat uncertain about how to take such a proclamation and added, "Know that it will be our responsibility that should any harm befall you, the House of Kor will avenge you and my wife is most anxious to meet you. She wishes to thank you personally for the kindness you showed to her sister's son. Furthermore, the boy has requested your attendance at his Age of Ascension ceremony. It is for family only."

Cate didn't think that what was making this situation most unique was that she would be the first healer in Kor's family but rather the first human. Was that even possible? And he spoke of this like it was the most normal thing in the world, from the fact his wife looked forward to meeting her (did Klingons have tea parties?) to the pledge his House made to avenge her now that she was part of it. It felt unreal, like she was in a dream. Even more so when he mentioned the ceremony for Kern, that it was for family only and she was invited. This was really happening...

"If Kern wants me there..." Cate thought fondly on the boy even as she still stood there rather surprised and dumbfounded by the turn of events. "Of course, I would like to be there for him."

"The boy is most insistent," Kor retorted. "Klingon children don't take well to outsiders so you must be a lady of exceptional quality. You will be our guest on Q'on'oS when the boy reaches the age of Ascension. It is an important occasion for a young Klingon. Only friends and family are allowed to attend."

"Age of Ascension, is this a rite of passage?" It was, most likely, but Cate had gone through great lengths to not learn anything about Klingons, past what Medical School and Xenobiology classes had taught her. She'd learn their language more as a perceived way to survive another attack or to fight them, but she didn't know much of their culture - until the last couple of days.

"Yes," Worf stepped in. "A Klingon child must undergo the Rite of Ascension when he is of age, that would be 13 cycles since his day of birth. It will be his first step to becoming a true warrior."

"Because of his parent's passing and this business with the Romulans, that day was not celebrated as it should be so Kern will have his Rite a year later," Kor explained further.

A warrior. The kid was certainly brave enough, and had his head screwed on, Cate had witnessed as much. "It would be a great honour to be there," she said with a nod, glancing to Worf before her eyes settled back on Kor again. "Though I will have to clear this with my people first."

"Of course," Kor nodded, "but it would be a great disappointment to the boy and it is not an invitation turned down lightly," Kor answered, wondering if she knew what forces were at work back on Q'on'oS and at Federation Council. "Let us hope this opens up a new era of cooperation between our two peoples. The High Council is eager to learn about your people, it seems we might have much in common."

It wasn't exactly a warning but a clear indication to the lady that her refusal would be an insult and at this tenuous state in their developing relationship with the Federation, not one to be made lightly.

She sensed the shift on the bridge like a current of freezing water. "I have no intention to disappoint Kern," she said, feeling like he was suddenly considering her like a capricious child. "Commander, I was merely letting you know that I'm quite down our chain of command. The decision to go to your homeland for this ceremony isn't mine alone to make."

"Of course," the Klingon answered but still felt somewhat irritated nonetheless. "Would you like to see the boy?"

Glancing to Ray, Cate turned a genuine smile on Kor. "Very much so, Commander."

Turning to Worf, he gestured at the Captain. "Please, take Dr. Vedder and her escort to see Kern and I believe Lady K'Ahlen also wishes to see you before you leave us," he replied, a little less brusquely once he remembered that humans, like Klingons, were creatures of duty as well.

"Yes, Commander," Worf nodded at his superior before gesturing the two humans to follow him. "This way Doctor, Lieutenant...."

"Thank you, Captain.. Commander," Ray offered out of respect before he motioned for Cate to go first, still trying to wrap his head around what had just happened. As they followed Worf off the bridge, he glanced at Cate, almost worried when he couldn't tell whether she was going to hyperventilate or pass out. She was just as stunned as he was, even more so if he knew the woman at all. The request was more than monumental, it was damn near surreal, he thought, with just the thought that he was part of history in the making taking his breath away. Stalling his own shock in favour of being Cate's anchor, Ray squeezed her arm, letting her know he was still here and not part of this pipe dream. One thing he did know though. Jake was going to have kittens.

Targ kittens.

*****

It was a few hours later when Ray and Cate were transported back to the Vanguard, after Worf had solicitously given them a guided tour of the K'taaga. They had met with Kern and K'Ahlen, and Cate had been able to assess the kid was healing well. She still believed she would have done a few things differently in regards to his treatment, but after having met Commander Kor and his medical officer, she fully understood it was out of her hands and to comment on any of it would be construed as an insult. Things had been tense enough between her and the Commander when she hadn't gleefully accepted on the spot his request to attend Kern's ceremony. She hadn't wanted to throw oil to the fire.

Kern and K'Ahlen had genuinely looked happy to see her and Cate could readily admit that she had been as well. She'd also been glad that Ray was afforded a chance to meet them, hoping it would somehow explain the change in her stance in regards to the Klingon race without having to try and put it all into words for him. Because that, she wasn't sure she could do yet. So much had happened on Narendra III...

She and Ray parted ways just outside the Transporter room, after she gave him her heartfelt thanks for accompanying her. She knew he needed rest after the last few days and, though she would have liked to be able to chicken out and ask him to be there when she told Jake about what had happened aboard the Klingon cruiser, she didn't want to impose and hadn't. Now, she was on her way to Sickbay, taking as many detours as possible. But even slaloming the corridors of E-deck took only so long. Standing in front of the double glass doors adorned by two Caduceus symbols, she took a deep breath and then entered.
*****

Even though good sense required him to stay put and not move around, Jake Mercer was twitching like a frog on a hot plate. He hadn't heard whether Cate and Ray had come back from the Klingon ship and every second that passed where he didn't know stoked his already disgruntled state of mind into a downright foul mood that had frightened away nurses and was sure to land him on the business end of a hypospray sedating him if Dr. Martin had anything to say about it. He hated that Cate was on that ship without him, especially now that he had admitted to himself how much she really meant to him or hadn't because he had chickened out in front of the Klingon Worf.

Tossing aside the book that Dee had brought him, 100 Ways for Yoga to Improve Your Life, he suspected she was having a joke at his expense, Jake dropped his head against the pillow and stared at the ceiling when he heard the hiss of the Sick Bay doors opening. Averting his eyes to the door, Jake saw Cate entering and let out a sigh of relief that she was back in one piece, not hewn to pieces or carted up by some Klingon captain who was smoother than a baby's butt.

"Hey," he said, visibly pleased to see her back. "Long time no see."

"Wow," Cate let out, grinning slightly as she approached. To finally see him bled some of the tension she felt. "I can't believe you're behaving, remaining in bed as opposed to pacing the floor," she teased. Her hand found his and she leaned down to kiss his brow. "How do you feel?"

"Well, your boss threatened to sedate me if I didn't stop being a pain in the ass," he said with a little smile as he squeezed her hand back and savoured the silk of her lips on his forehead. "And I'm feeling okay, not about to take on a whole bunch of Klingons but I'm not as wasted as I felt before." In truth, seeing her back was renewing his energy somewhat.

"Oh, that's good to hear." She grinned again before she looked around Sickbay, getting an idea on the status of the remaining patients quickly before pulling on the curtain to give themselves a little privacy. She pulled a chair, the one she'd been sitting on for so many hours at a time recently that it probably sported the shape of her ass, and scooted it closer to the biobed. "It went well. I think." She figured he wanted to know but didn't want to look like he'd worried.

"Good," Jake said with some relief. "Gotta tell you I was a little nervous about you going over there, even with Ray." Okay, that was bullshit, a little nervous was not what he had been. Someone had described his having the personality of a bear with a thorn in its foot.

Cate raised an eyebrow. Only a little? "I was very nervous," she admitted to him. Still was, given what was coming. She suddenly wished Jake was all healed up and that he could wrap his arms around her and hold her to him. Instead, she nervously crossed her arms over her chest. She had no idea how to break it to him. "Jake, we need to talk."

Jake's spine stiffened and for a moment, he entertained the absurd idea that Worf had proposed to her over there on that Klingon ship and she was accepting. Shaking his head of such crap and it really was crap, he sat up straighter. "Sounds serious. What's up, Doctor Cate?" he asked, eyes watching her.

"I..." Cate dipped her head for a second, wondering how to drop this bomb of a news with the minimum of ripples and casualties. She hadn't even spoken with Capt. Houser yet. "Here's the thing," she said, looking back up. "Your girlfriend..." Cate stopped again, remembering quite soundly that Jake didn't consider her his mate but then that could have been his way of not being presumptuous about what they were to each other. She sighed, thinking, fuck this. "Your girlfriend is about to make the history books. Or she already has, in a matter of speaking." Even if Starfleet said no, the fact she'd been invited would remain, and that was still a first.

"Jesus Christ," Jake exclaimed. "One of them proposed, right?" Never discount the ridiculous.

"What?" Cate looked at him, dumbfounded, before her eyes narrowed and the look in them hardened. "Ah, yes. That Worf guy, he proposed and I accepted. He's got a bigger house and a bigger dick." She shook her head, taking a step back as she looked the length of him, lying down on the biobed. If he hadn't already suffered enough, she'd break a bone or dislocate his knee just for the fun of setting it back again. And the pain that was sure to make him howl. Jerk.

Okay....so that was not it. "Alright, alright, I blame the drugs," he quipped when he saw her expression. "What is it then? What, they made you Queen of the Empire or something?" He retorted, deciding that he would leave the guessing aside and just let her tell him.

"Not quite," she returned, his preposterous suggestion not so much so considering the reality. "But you're pretty much dating a Klingon." Okay, she guessed she could have broken it to him in a better way. "I'm now part of a Klingon house."

Jake stared. "Come again?"

He heard wrong. Had to be.

"Commander Kor..." She sighed, trying to explain to him something that was still making her mind reel every time she thought about it. "Remember the boy Kern? Commander Kor is his uncle and because of what happened down there," and the fact a teenage boy had taken a shine to her, "he now considers me family. They all do. I..." She dipped her head, arms tightening on her chest. "I just can't believe this but I'm fucking part of a Klingon house, Jake. House of Kor. He said they would avenge any harm befalling me, or my death even. Can you believe this?"

Cate still felt like it had to be a joke. Of all the species out there, she had to be part of a Klingon family. Why not the Xindi next?

If it wasn't happening to his girl, Jake would have actually found this pretty funny. However, as it was happening to his woman, he was far from impressed. "Well, you're saying no, right?" But even as he thought it, he knew she couldn't. Not with the talk about Klingons and the Federation coming to some kind of understanding. He didn't like politics but he understood it, this would be bad. Fuck. "Never mind," he said, retracting. "So, what does this mean? You're going to have to turn up for their Bar Mitzvahs or something?"

"Yeah, about that..." Bar Mitzvahs, weddings... Cate's mind flew back to Ray's conversation with Worf and the others about how their females ran their houses and made sure everyone had worthy mates. The ramifications of that, and whether they would apply to her, made her shudder.

"You know," Jake met her gaze, realizing that Cate was finding this just as unnerving as he, even more so considering her history. He squeezed her hand and said with a little smile. "I thought introducing you to my dad was going to be tough but considering what's on your side of the family now, I guess I don't have to worry as much."

Cate suddenly broke into a smile, a chuckle even bubbling past her throat tight with tension. She moved closer to him again, her fingers closing over his. "Crazy, huh?" She leaned in, pressing her forehead to his. Jake had been thinking of introducing her to his father? In the middle of all this, of all they'd been through on Narendra, it struck her as incredibly sweet. She bit her bottom lip. "I couldn't say no... I don't even think there was a possibility of that. It was a done deal. But there's something coming up, and while it was put to me as a request, when I informed the Commander that Starfleet had to okay it, I swear the temperature on the Bridge dropped a few degrees..."

"Something coming?" Jake pulled back and lifted his chin, looking at her with a raised brow. "Like what?" Something told him he wasn't going to like this any better than her revelation about becoming a part of a Klingon family.

"That Bar Mitzvah you mentioned, Kern's is coming up. Age of Ascension ceremony. They want me there, on Qo'noS." She hesitated for a second before telling him what the real kicker was. "It's for family only."

"Family only?" Jake choked on his spit. That meant he couldn't go. She'd be going to the Klingon Empire... by herself. "Hell no," he growled. "No goddamn way. You are not going over there alone!" He started to get agitated again.

"Jake..." Cate reached for his shoulder to try and calm him down. "I need to tell Houser first, maybe Starfleet won't even allow it." There was no point freaking out about this if it wasn't going to happen. Of course, with the Dominion, Starfleet were quite interested in new allies and the Klingons terribly fitted the bill. She was pretty certain they would jump at the chance Cate's odd (and fortuitous, some would say) situation provided.

Starfleet would allow it, Jake thought silently because the Federation would demand it. He may have been a Shark but he had spent four years at West Point, he knew the political reality of the situation. With the Dominion at their doorsteps and the Federation still picking up the pieces from the Xindi War, the potential alliance with the Klingon Empire could not be ignored.

"Maybe they won't," he said, meeting her gaze, leaving the wolf at the door for now.

Even though sooner or later, it would have to come inside.

Cate gave him a smile though it was clear in her eyes she didn't believe Starfleet would let such an in go by the wayside anymore than he did.

"So, you thought that me and Captain Worf..." she teased, glancing at their joined hand before she looked at his face again. "You're an idiot." She smoothed his patient gown down his shoulder and arm before she leaned down to kiss his cheek.

"Well, I know how you are about us tough, brooding types," he joked, lifting the hand in his to plant a soft kiss on the knuckle and added on a more sober note, "It's been a tough couple of months for us, Doctor Cate. I guess I'm still feeling like shit for making you go through all that enough to get paranoid if you wanted to run off with someone else." Fucking Rathe, he thought inwardly. But it wasn't all Rathe, no matter how hard Jake might want to deny it, some of it was him too. After Sloane, Jake had an idea how hard he could fall for Cate and the truth be told, after so many years alone, he got scared of what that could mean to him.

"But with a Klingon?" she asked incredulously even as she still managed to tease him a little longer by not entirely shooting down the idea of running off with another guy if he wasn't Klingon.

Careful of his injuries, she nudged him a bit so she could half sit next to him on the bed. "Jake, don't..." Don't think like that, don't do this to yourself. Her free hand reached for his face, her fingers caressing the stubble on his cheek before sinking in his hair briefly. "You're right, it's been a rough couple of months. I nearly lost you with Rathe, and on Narendra..." Her voice broke and she looked away, her eyes suddenly stinging. She'd come even closer to losing him on that rock. So much closer she still felt his warm blood seeping through her fingers. She let out a ragged breath and met his gaze. "I don't want anyone else."

Shifting aside to give her room, Jake pulled Cate to him so that they were snuggling up close. Dr. Martin was gonna give them both hell if he caught them and that was just the incentive Jake needed to keep going, he kissed her forehead and answered, "Me neither. I guess you're stuck with me, Dr. Cate." He met her gaze with a faded smile.

"I wouldn't call it stuck." She shook her head lightly, not surprised by his self-deprecating manner. "And as tall and strong as the Klingons might be, none could possibly turn my eye. Not even Captain Worf," she teased him a little. "I meant what I said down there," she added, feeling strangely relaxed and at peace now that she finally had a chance to lay at his side. "I love you, Jacob Mercer."

These were words he hadn't dared let himself feel, not even for Sloane. Not since Ely and Joey died, not since Maia Sanjay breathed her last in his arms. He didn't dare let himself feel so much because Jake Mercer remembered how much it fucking hurt when they died and thanks to the Xindi, they always died. However, he couldn't live like that forever, couldn't lie to himself that being an island in all this despair was the way to live because it really wasn't living.

It was being dead without the actual death.

He needed to breathe, needed to remember he was human, he needed to tell her, he loved her. Because he did.

"I love you, Doctor Cate," Jake said softly. "My Cate."

...