Imzadi: My Version

Chapters Nine to Ten

Chapter Nine

Riker turned from Hirsch to Tang and said, "That could have gone better."

"Well, It could have gone worse." said Tang. "Nobody's dead, yet."

"We don't know that for sure." said Riker. "We have to get in there to know for sure."

"Well, we do know two things." replied Tang. "We know they want what's in that building and that we let them get away with it."

"But we won't let them get away with it!" stated Riker."We have to avoid anyone dying, but if we let them get away with it they will continue to do what they are doing. We must figure out how to stop them now."

Suddenly, Xerx runs up to Will. "Sindareen Raiders!"

"We know." said Riker. "We are handling it just..."

"Chandra's in there and they shot her!"

"How do you... Of course." Will said, remembering Xerx was a Betazoid. "How is she?"

"She's been shot!" Xerx said as though to say, "What do you think?" Then adds "That Bastard shot her in the leg!"

Will remembered the young woman had been married a few weeks ago and could not help but think what she was going through. Worse yet, what her husband may be going through. Will reasked his question. "Is she alright?"

Trying to keep from snapping at Riker, Xerx tried to pull in all his emotional restrain and said, "Lieutenant, for just being shot in the leg she is alright considering the alternative."

Will felt like an idiot for asking the question twice, but Xerx was right. It could be worse. They could have killed her. Will looked at Xerx and knew he was clearly in panic, but also noticed that he appearred to be looking for that inner calm Deanna was talking about.

Xerx spoke again. "Deanna's with her and she's bandaging Chandra's wound."

Riker felt the pain of anxiety well up within him again and thought, "Xerx could have gone a long time without reminding me of that fact." Then Will, trying to control his feelings, said, "Good." That was about all he could say to keep from loosing his control of his own emotions. He was extremely concerned for Deanna's well being and prayed she would be unharmed through this ordeal.

With his determination to stay all business regained, he asked Xerx, "Can you communicate with her? Find out information?"

"What do you want to know?"

"Everything." Riker said, firmly.



The profused bleeding Chandra was having had slowed down, but Deanna continued to apply pressure to the wound to get it to completely stop. Then she looked up to Chandra to offer words of comfort, but found she was starring out into space. At first she thought Chandra was trying to separate herself from the pain, but then realized she was talking to someone on the outside.

Chandra turned to Deanna and nodded to confirm what Deanna was thinking. "Father, I'm still here. Scared and yes it hurts really bad, but I'll be ok." She sent.

"Chandra, I need you to help Lieutenant Riker and his men out." Xerx sent. "They want as much information as they can get on what's happening in there."

"OK" Chandra sent. "I'll try." Xerx could hear, in her thought sending, that she was in a lot of pain and discomfort. He wanted to relieve her pain, but for now there was nothing he could do to help his daughter.

Maror walked up behind Deanna and Chandra and said, "Good. No more whimpering. I like to see that you have decided you need to keep quite. That will make it easier for all of us." However, he had no idea that Chandra was being very talkative. Chandra praised the gods for the fact that she was telepathic and not everyone else was. She was so thankful for that fact, because she knew that it could be what may save everyone elses lives.

"Father" she sent.

"Yes?"

"What are the specifics he wants?"

"How many people are there inside?" Xerx repeated Will's question.

"There are about thirty-two of us, alive."

Xerx got a face of alarm. "You mean... there are dead?"

"Yes, Father. At least one I know for sure. He was crushed by a wall that was blasted in when they forced their way in here."

Xerx told Will, but he felt sadden by the loss, even though he didn't know who it was.

"There are about twelve Sindareen."

Xerx told Will. "Twelve? I thought a Betazoid, who was out here said nine?" Riker said a little shock that the count was off.

Xerx shrugged and said, "Maybe that is what she thought at that moment. I have no idea." Xerx started starring off into the distance again and continued to get more information from his daughter.

Suddenly Xerx said aloud, "What a barbaric idea!"

Riker suddenly turned his head toward Xerx, "What is it?"

Xerx explained they were taking the art works to make profit from a Ferengi. Riker responded, "That's a lot more civilized then what they usually do. They may even be the only race in the galaxy that the Ferengi actually enjoy doing business with. Tang, I want you to deploy..."

"Already done, sir." he replied.

Riker thought, "This guy has things done before I have a chance to say anything. Well, maybe his being on the ball and getting things done may make up for how he addresses people."

"There is one problem though." Tang said.

Riker did not like the sound of that. "What is that?"

"Well, sir, Sindareen are pretty tough. It takes settings that would usually injure or kill a humanoid to stun them."

Riker did not like the prospects of what he had just heard. "Sergeant, you'll have to work around that. Tell your marksmen to use extreme care."

"Yes, sir, but in case they do make it, I have this beauty here." Tang gesture towards one of his men who was lugging a large case and staggering over to Tang. He placed it on the ground in front of Tang. Tang bent down and opened the case. It was a level 10 shoulder mounted phaser cannon. "Believe me, Lieutenant, this baby pacts a kick and they are not going anywhere."

"Good to hear." said Riker. "Alright, appraise your men, we have confirmed twelve Sindareen." He continued to instruct Tang of the orders to be carried out.

"Understood, sir. I won't miss. You can count on it."



Everything was loaded and the Sindareen were ready to take their leave. Maror studied the group of Betazoids before him and said, "Well, as charming as this has been, we are ready to go. However, I am concerned about the Federation men out there, so one of you will go with us."

He looked at Chandra. She started crying and shaking her head no. Terror showed all over her face, started moving herself back, and she whimpered, "No, No." But Maror grabbed her roughly and pulled her to her feet. "You're injured anyway. You're coming with us."

"NO!" shouted Deanna. "Leave her alone!"

Maror started to drag the struggling, frantic Chandra. "No, please!" she pleaded with tears in her eyes. "Father! They're taking me with them!" She continued pleading and crying. "No, no, please!"

Deanna jumped up and raked her nails across Maror's face. He howled in pain "You Bitch!" and then threw Chandra across the room. She hit the floor hard. Her head made a loud cracking sound on the impact.

Deanna started to run toward her motionless friend, but Maror grabbed her. "You know, I thought you had nerve and intellegence, so I was going to let you be, but for what you just did, you're the one who's going to be coming with us."



Xerx gasped in shear terror and stagger backward. Riker caught him and he knew something horrible happened and he was almost afraid to ask what it was. He did not have to ask though. Xerx was very forthcoming.

"I lost contact with her! She's unconscious!" he said in wide eyed panic. "There was something about taking one of them as a hostage to use as a sheild. They were going to take Chandra, but she struggled and I.. I.. I don't know, but she somehow fell and I can't sense her!" In his panic, Xerx was talking in such rapid speech that Riker almost did not understand him.

Over the comm came a voice. "This is Sommer at Gamma Point. I have a visual. They're coming out."

"Wait for my signal." said Tang. Then he looked at Riker and said, "You're the CO, Lieutenant. It's your call."

"We will stick with the plan. When all twelve are out, we open fire."

Xerx was very distraught and shaking with fear. "My daughter! Gods! Lieutenant! You can't shoot my child! You just can't!"

Riker could just sense the terror and shock going through Xerx at this moment. It was as though the Betazoid was radiating his emotions, but Riker knew, this man was like any other parent. Scared for his child's life.

He placed his hand on the man's shoulder in reassurance and said in a gentle voice to calm the man, "They'll shoot clear of her, Gart." Then Will look to Tang for comformation and Tang nodded.

Then Tang pulled from his supply belt a pair of electronic sensor binos and placed them to his eyes to study the roof top. Riker saw and said, "Get me a pair of those."

"Binos for the Lieutenant." snapped Tang not removing his gaze from the roof top. Moments later someone brought Will a pair and now he was able to get a good look at the roof top.

Xerx was still shaking from fear. He tried to find his inner calm so that he could calm himself, but when it came to his baby, he just could not help but worry. He could not do anything to help her and he still could not get any sense of her, no matter how hard he tried. And now. Now they are going to be dragging her out as a hostage unconscious or worse. Xerx tried to push that thought out of his mind. He told himself, "Just because you can't sense her, does not mean that she's dead." He tried hard to reassure himself, but his fear was still there.

Will saw the door of the roof open and the Sindareen started filing out. "Hold fire." said Will. More of them filed out. Will counted to himself as they filed out of the building on to the roof. "Eleven! Damn! Where is the twelvth one?" he said to himself.

All the snipers reported in and Will wanted to give the order to cut loose, but he knew he had to wait for the last Sindareen to come out of the building.

Finally, he saw movement and the last Sindareen came out with a blaster in his right hand pointed at the throat of the woman he had restrained with the other arm in front of him.

"Deanna." Riker breathed out. Now he felt this was getting personal. He felt a lump raise up to his throat. He felt like he could even choke on that lump. He got a closer look at her and saw that if she were afraid she was not showing any sign of it.

"That's Twelve." said Tang. "Lieutenant?"

"They have a hostage." Riker said tonelessly. He tried hard to keep all emotion out of his voice, but he was scared out of his mind at this point. "Who's your best marksman?"

Tang anticipated this and had already started giving orders to his men. They all replied and Sommers said, "Got him in my sights."

"Do you have a clear shot?" Tang asked.

"Negative, sir." said Sommers. "The target is moving too much."

"Only one hostage left, who might survive if all went as planned." Riker thought trying to reassure himself. "Deanna." he thought bleakly.

At that moment Deanna was swung directly into Will's eyesight and she looked directly at him. Straight. Proud and unafraid. Then Will heard one word in his head that he had just learned recently. "RaBeem."

Understanding what she was communicating to him, Will reacted quickly and shouted the order, "Take 'em!"

Tang echoed the order.

Deanna flinched.

Phaser blast enveloped the surprised Sindareen and many of them fell. Finally, only one was left standing and he tumbled into the ship with Deanna. Deanna's shiver of what was about to come was enough to warn the Maror. As a result, he dropped dragging Deanna with him. He knew as long as he had Deanna they would not shoot directly at him.

For a brief moment he stood and was struck by a phaser, which was enough to cause him to push Deanna inside and tumble in after her. Regaining his composure, he closed the hatch and started the engines.

"Damn it!" Shouted Riker. "Damn it!" He felt so much anger at that moment. He was determined now and out for blood. He was going to get that Sindareen one way or another.



"You know, you can't escape." Deanna said in a calm, cool manner. "They will come after you."

Maror turned to face her for a moment and pointed his blaster at her, "Shut up! Not another word out of you or you're dead!" Then he turned back to his business at hand.



Tang swung the phaser cannon onto his shoulder. Without turning around or taking his eyes off the ship, Will asked, "Can you bring them down?"

"I can blow them out of the sky."

"Can you cripple them?" Will asked in determination and desparation, keeping his eyes on the ship.

"Trickier. There's no guarantees she'll survive the crash." Tang said. "You may not be doing her any favours."

"I know. Just cripple them." Will said firmly.

"OK." Tang said as though he was saying "It's you for it." Then he adjusted the controls on the phaser. The intensity of the phaser's blast was beyond anything Will had ever seen or experienced in his life.

The blast took out the starboard engine and navigation. The ship launched wildly and left a spiral trail of thick black smoke in the sky kilometers long.

"Where is it going to come down?" Riker asked tonelessly, but on the inside he was worried that Deanna may not have made it alive. However, he was determined to find her, because if she was alive he had to see to her safety. He had to do it himself. He wanted to find her himself. He just could not leave her for someone else to find.

"Judging from the speed and trajectory," Tang replied. "somewhere in the region of the Jalara Jungle."

There was silence for a while and Xerx finally perked up and said, "If she makes it through the crash, she may have a chance. The jungle does have it's dangers. Mud pits and such, but there are very few dangerous animals to contend with."

Riker turned to Xerx, fire was his eyes. He then said with definite emotion in his voice, "You're forgetting that the most dangerous animal is flying that ship."

Chapter Ten

Will went off in the general direction of where Tang said the ship would land hoping to find Deanna safe and sound or at least, alive. Now that the hostages were out of danger he felt he could assign others to look after their needs while he went to find Deanna. He had no other concern but to find her. Not just a concern, but an urgent need to find her.

He found the ship, but no one was alive inside the ship. The hatch was open so he had a clear view of the inside. To his relief, Deanna's body was not inside. However, neither was Maror's. "Well," he thought to himself. "Unless he's dragging a corpse, Deanna is definitely alive."

Relieved, he looked for tell tale tracks that would signal which direction Maror took off with her. It wasn't too hard to find a trail and Will was glad of that, for it saved on time in finding Deanna. The tracks lead deeper into the Jalara. "Well, here goes. I just hope I don't run into a mud pit or that I don't find Deanna in a mud pit."



Maror knew he was running straight to hell and if he had anything to do with it he was determined he would take the Betazoid woman with him. It irritated him that the woman still had the same composure that she had the day he abducted her. He could not take it anymore. He wanted her to be like other women he had capture and to beg and plead. He wanted to smack the hell out of her until she did.

He shoved his blaster up into her face and demended, "Ask for your life."

With a shrug she said in an even voice, "Please don't kill me."

He could not believe this woman. "You have a gun pointed in your face and you call that begging?"

"No, I call that asking. To be honest it's pointless. You will either kill me or you won't. Begging and pleading would only demean me and accomplish nothing. Therefore, I won't do it."

Maror roared with fury and grabbed her by the back of the head and yanked her down hard. Then he shoved the gun into her mouth at an angle that would be sure to blow her brains out through the top of her skull.

Then in a growl he said, "I said BEG!"

Truth be told Deanna was scared out of her mind, but she was not going to let Maror know. Instead she forced herself into a state where she could not feel a thing. She slowed her breathing and just went limp. She forced her mind to distance itself from the whole situation so she could not feel a thing or even show how she was really feeling. She went within herself to hide all she was feeling and to avoid the intense anxiety she was now feeling. To find a calm within herself and escape the immediate threat.

For a moment Maror thought she had passed out, then realized she had put herself into some sort of meditative state. There was nothing he could say or do to bring her out of her current state. He thought, "I could just blow her brains out and she would never know it. But then I would not get the thrill of hearing her yell and scream for mercy. Also, if I did kill her, I would have nothing to hold over the Fed men when they caught up with me." Then in total frustation he growled and a kicked the damp ground.

Slowly, she came back to her immediate surroundings and was looking up at Maror. "Well," she said to herself. "It's definitely not a nightmere."

"You're wondering why I have not killed you yet?"

She sat up slowly, tilted her head and said, "You are hoping that I will serve some purpose."

"Did logic or your telepathic sense tell that?"

"At first I thought there was that possibility, but as time went on and prolong exposure to you, I have been able to get a sense of you. It's enabled me to get an empatic feel for you."

"Keep your empathic feelings to yourself!" he growl and then walked over to her and yank her up to her feet. "I still can't believe you survived the crash when my other men did not."

"I simply relaxed myself. Your men were tense and it resulted in internal injuries and killed them."

"Keep your diagnosis to yourself." he demanded.

He dragged her deeper into the Jalara. As he did, Deanna thought her mother must be very frantic with worry by now. She wished she were not part human at this moment. For if she were all Betazoid she could send and receive and let her mother know that she was alright, but her human half diluted any possibility of that. Her only hope, for her mother not to be so worried about her, was that her mother might have a sense that she is still alive. That was the only thing she could hope for now.

However, she was able to sense the life around her and she was getting a feel for it. She was able to sense a serpent before she step on it. It was not poisonous, she just had no desire to harm the innocent creature. To her it was heartening that she could just sense the creatures presence, even before she saw it.

They were approaching a clearing that had a watering hole. Maror was relieved to find water and told Deanna to drink first. She knelt down and gingerly sipped water from her hands being careful not to take big gulps like she would have liked to have done.

"You drink like a bird!"

"There's no point in over indulging." she said. "I'd only get a stomach cramp if I did."

"Fine. Whatever." and then he knelt down and got himself some water.

Then she spoked to him, "You do realize you are not headed anywhere? You have no one waiting for you. No rendezvous or anything."

"I've never been caught and I'm not about to get caught now. Besides, I'm willing to bet they found the ship, saw the dead bodies and eventually decided to give up the search."

Deanna thought, "This man has no idea." then informed him they would keep looking. She continued to talk and tell him what all he was afraid of.

Then Maror's anger rose again and he said, "You know, I was just tired of you, but now, I'm sick of you! You analyze me and just will not stop talking. And right now I would just love the selfish pleasure of blowing your pretty lit.."

Deanna kicked him in the small of his back and he landed in the water with some inquisitive water snakes. Deanna had sensed her new found little friends before she shoved him into the water and was rather thankful for them. For they investigated Maror by wrapping themselves around his neck, which gave Deanna time to run for freedom. She had also sensed that he was genuinly ready to kill her, especially now that she did that.

Deanna could hear him ranting and cursing. He shot into the jungle blindly and barely missed her, but she kept running. She knew, that if he caught up with her, he was going to kill her. Even with the fear of him catching her, she tried to keep her mind open to the wild life around her, because she knew, she could run into something almost as dangerous as Maror.

However, he had no trouble catching up with her, for she left a trail of broken branches and shubbery behind her. She tried to look around desperately for some place to hide, but with her frantic running she tripped over an exposed root. She caught herself with the palms of her hands and the pain of the impact shot right up her arms. One of her hands landed on a rock. Lucky for her that not only was it sharp on one end, but that it did not cut into her hand. She wrapt her hand around the rock and scrambled to her feet.

She heard his pursuit of her and fear built up inside her. He was still cursing and yelling. Then he spotted her and started firing his blaster toward her. The fight or flight urge was building within her. She opted to continue to run at this moment.

Then for a brief moment she invisioned Will coming to her rescue. She wished that things like that did happen in really life, because it would mean they were meant to be together. Not because it was the intellegent thing to do, but because it was meant to be. It would mean that there were things in this world beyond what the mind could conceive. She wanted him and knew it all along, but she knew that was not going to happen. It was up to her to live or die at this moment and running was becoming no longer an option.

Suddenly, she ran into a steep slope. She tried to scramble up it as fast as she could, but the angle of the slope slowed her down. Nor she could go back from where she came. She tried to grab onto the roots and vines to help her up, but it did not help her increase with anymore speed.

Her heart was racing so fast from fear that she felt it could jump right out of her. Her fear was the only thing helping her get up the slope though and she kept going, but it was not fast enough. Maror grabbed her ankle and growled, "Gotcha, you bitch!"

She screamed as he pulled her down hard to the ground. Fear was the only thing that kept her from feeling the impacted. Then he pulled her up and roared, "You've been more trouble than what you're worth! I'm gonna..."

The rock was still in the palm of her hand and she stabbed the sharp end of it into his forehead. He shreiked with the pain and blood poured from his foreheand. She tried to shove the rock in as far as she could, but Maror over powered her and shoved her backwards.

Her tight grip help her keep hold of the rock and it came out of his forehead as she was shoved backwards. She tried to scramble back and away from him, but he landed on top of her with his full body weight. She tried to squirm out from under him, but she could not brake free before he pointed his gun directly at her stomach. Her heart was still racing with profound fear.

"Belly wound. Very slow. Very painful death." he said in a menacing manner. "That's what you deserve. You ruin everyth...."

"I didn't."

"Shut up, you bitch! You never shut up!" and smacked her across the face with the other hand. "I'm going to blow..."

Suddenly a voice came above them that was deliberately cool and controlled. "Back away from her."

Deanna's heart leaped with gladness and she turned wanting to confirm that was who she thought she heard. Maror looked up just to see who it was, but Deanna looked up, for she could not believe her ears. She was so thankful that it was Will. Ten feet above them was a well equipped Riker with a phaser pointed directly at Maror.

She felt his emotions flood over her. Both had relief and fear, but Will's was bottled up so that he could present an image of utter composure.

"I said back away from her!"

Maror yank Deanna up to the front of him and pointed his blaster at her face and said, "No, Federation man! You're going to put your weapon down or she dies."

Even with the fear mounting up inside her again, Deanna sent to Will's mind, "Don't listen to him Will! He'll kill you!"

Will did not drop his weapon. Instead he replied,"Kill her and you'll have nothing to bargin with."

"I don't care. She's been a real pain in the ass to me and if you don't care I'll just kill her." he said with an evil grin. "Then you'll have to explain her death to your superiors. Go ahead. Try and shoot me. I'll warn you though, I don't stun easily, therefore, I'll kill her if she's not fried first by your phaser. From where I stand, you don't have a chance in hell. Now throw your weapon down or I'll kill her!"

"All right." Will back down and Deanna's body sagged against Maror. She felt her only hope was now gone. That it had just vanished and Will would also die.

"Jacket too." said Maror.

"Alright. I have no weapons as you can see." Will assured. "Now throw you weapon down and no one will hurt you.

"You got to be kidding." Maror said with a bit of a chuckle in his voice.

"No, I'm not. For you see we have you surrounded."

"You're bluffing."

Will used his best poker face as he said, "No, No bluff. You are surrounded by Starfleet people on either side of you. If you try to harm me, they will kill you where you stand, regardless if she's harmed or not."

"Now, I know you're bluffing." Maror said with an air of curtainty. "That's against Starfleet policy."

"Yes, but security sometimes have their own agenda."

Deanna knew what was really going on, and she was not worried, for she could sense what was in Will's mind.

"Alright then, tell them to shoot." Maror challenged.

"Alright men. Fire!"

At first nothing happened and Maror started to speak with arrogance on his face until he saw something move out of the corner of his eye. Out of panic he started shooting in the direction he saw movement.

The distraction was enough for Will to take the opportunity to jump off the slope and land directly on Maror. Maror looked up with alarm and realized he had just made a mistake. He aimed at Riker. Deanna took this chance to push up and away from Maror causing him to miss Riker.

Will plowed into Maror, while pushing Deanna aside. The two men fought viciously, but when Maror started to get the upper hand Deanna shouted, "Will." and tried to pull Maror off of Will. Maror slammed the butt of his gun into Deanna's stomach, knocking the wind out of her as she fell back. Will managed to knock the blaster out of Maror's hand and send it sailing into a bush.

This gave Will time to get the upper hand and he tried to cut Maror's air supply off by squeezing the nictating membranes on the sides of his neck. However, Maror was still able to over power Will.

Deanna feared the worst for Will. She was not sure how he was going to get the upper hand and keep it. Even with the ache in her stomach from Maror's weapon, she frantically tried to come up with a way to help Will as the two men fought. Then she saw Maror with a knife and having the upper hand. She thanked the gods when the knife was stuck in a tree. Will then manage to knock Maror off balance and into a bush. However, she again felt all hope was lost, for Maror manage to grab his blaster out of the bush. Riker dove for cover. Maror was piviting and dodging trying to get a clear shot at Will.

Suddenly, Will yelled. "Stop! Don't go there!"

Maror did not listen. Will warned him to move before it was too late, for Maror was standing on a mud pit when he was about to insist it was too late for Will. He noticed he was somehow getting shorter, looked down and said it was too late for him.

Will scurried over to assist the man out of the mud pit before it was too late, but with a crazed smile Maror refused Riker's help. Riker made one last ditch effort to help Maror out, but it was too late. The man vanished without a trace.

Deanna stared down at the mud pit where Maror sank and said in a very low sad whisper, "He won. He was never caught." An undiscribable emotion was within her that she just could not define. The only thing she knew was, she had to leave the area.

Will put an arm around her and said, "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine." she stated with some fear remaining in her voice. "I want to get out of here."

"Alright, let's just wait..."

"No, Now!" There was urgency and desparation in her voice. All she knew was, she had to get as far away as possible from this place as she could. The trauma of the events were getting to her and she could not stand being there any longer.

"Alright." said Will. "Let me get my things."

Deanna never removed her gazed from the mud pit as Will retreived his equipment. He walked back over to her and place a gentle arm around her. He obseved her for a moment and asked, "Are you sure you are alright?"

"Positive. Let's go." she replied.

Will gently and lovingly guided her away from the mud pit saying nothing. He noticed the condition of her clothes and was amazed that through all that had happened she still looked beautiful. She seemed to have an endless reserve of strength.

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