Catacombs
Under Kevratas City
Stardate 57060.1
Lieutenant Leybenzon had watched Commander Worf emerge from the escape pod carrying an unconscious helmswoman and rushed to help. More than three dozen escape pods landed in the lake and floated on the surface as shaken doctors, nurses and technicians clambered out an swam to shore. Crusher and her medical team assisted those who were injured and while the fighters were elsewhere, she and Worf led the crew of the Pasteur and the valiant Kevrata to the underground catacombs. Leybenzon always stayed three paces behind Worf lest he try and make a run for it, though for some reason he knew that the Klingon would not do so. Zelik knew that he was one of a rare breed in Starfleet, having risen from being a non-commissioned officer to an officer and he had little love for commanders and those above in the chain of command, thinking them incapable of making the right decisions when it counted. Doctor Crusher was a command-level officer but she was not trained for command and could be forgiven for lapses in judgement. Worf was trained for command and still made incorrect decisions, such as abandoning the fight, and the crew.
‘Worf, where is Geordi?’ he heard Doctor Crusher ask as they traversed the catacombs to get as deep as they could. Three Kevrata led them.
‘He was in engineering when the energy dampening pulse hit the ship,’ the sullen Klingon replied. ‘He had enough time to make it out.’
Leybenzon could hold his tongue no longer. ‘You let him die, coward!’
Leybenzon went down like a sack of potatoes as Worf lashed out. The Klingon picked him up off the floor and pulled him close so that the security chief could smell his breath. ‘I have killed men for less. Hold your tongue, or I will feed it to you.’
Crusher placed her hand of Worf’s shoulder. ‘Let him go, Worf. He doesn’t know you as well as I do,’ she said, glaring at the security chief.
Leybenzon straightened his uniform. ‘I’ll be reporting you for that.’
‘Go ahead,’ Worf replied and strode ahead.
‘I warned you,’ Crusher said. ‘Be careful what you say to him.’
‘He’s a coward!’ Leybenzon hissed. ‘Your engineer is probably dead or being tortured.’
Crusher winced, knowing that La Forge had been tortured before. Before she could say a word, Worf hauled Leybenzon off the floor and held him against a wall. ‘I will not kill you for your insults, but be careful that you don’t trip and hurt yourself, severely.’
‘I would never leave my post until everyone was safe,’ the security chief muttered.
Worf growled. ‘I have seen the damage done by that honourless weapon. Thousands of Starfleet officers and Romulans died because of it. I saved as many as I could, and if my friend has been tortured, the Romulan responsible will die a slow painful death.’
Leybenzon swallowed at the fire in Worf’s words and eyes and had no doubt that Sela, whoever she was, had made a rather fatal mistake. Worf let him drop to the floor and continued walking. Crusher left the security chief where he was and hurried to catch up with the Klingon.
‘You know that Geordi survived, don’t you?’ she asked.
Worf kept walking but turned to face her, his face almost unreadable. Then he let a smirk cross his face. ‘No escape pods were launched from main engineering. Geordi is therefore still alive and actively working.’
‘You don’t know that for sure,’ she replied. ‘You’re just hoping he is.’
‘I will not be responsible for my actions if he is not,’ Worf said and remained silent.
Crusher sighed and kept pace, watching the Kevrata ahead of her for any sign of the jaceta or fatigue. She hoped that Leybenzon would now keep his mouth shut and not antagonise Worf further for the sensed that the Klingon was waging with some very personal demons and the security chief’s questioning of his character was not helping matters. They had been walking for well over a day, stopping when they could for a quick drink of water or a bite of a ration bar, but Worf wanted to go as deep as possible, thinking that if the Romulans didn’t find them on the surface they would raze the city. They must hope that no one pointed out the catacombs. From her weeks on the planet she knew that few Kevrata had any loyalty to the Romulans but when it came down to it, they had been under Romulan control for centuries, there were bound to be a few who would betray their fellows for some favours.
‘Where are we going, Hanafaejas?’ Crusher asked of the Kevrata underground leader.
‘The deepest part of the catacombs. We have a camp there,’ he replied, tapping the cave wall as he walked.
‘How long?’ asked Worf, glancing behind him at Leybenzon and Lieutenant Nave who had survived her trip to the planet with nothing more than a minor concussion.
‘Another three kilometres.’
Worf growled but continued at his present pace. Leybenzon hadn’t said a word to the Klingon and did not plan to, not unless he was spoken to directly. He doubted that was going to happen since Worf seemed to have taken an instant dislike to him. The second battle of Chin’toka was a major defeat for the Federation alliance, that he knew, and the rumours of a terrible weapon being used by the Breen was supposed to be responsible, but he had never believed that—until now. He had always thought that it was something which was said to give the demoralised troops something else to blame, other than their incompetent leaders. But now he knew that such a weapon had been used, and that the dozens of commanding officers—and the thousands of officers and non-coms—who had died had not done so through sheer negligence, he was rethinking his position.
‘Lieutenant, cover for me,’ Leybenzon whispered to Nave and headed back the way they had come.
‘Zelik!’ she called and Worf turned round.
‘Where is he going?’
‘I don’t know, he asked me to cover for him.’
With a snarl, Worf hurried after him. ‘Worf?’ Crusher called.
‘We should keep moving, Doctor,’ Nave said.
‘You used to be a security officer, didn’t you, before you joined the conn?’
‘Yes ma’am.’
‘Then you’re the acting chief until Leybenzon returns. Let’s keep moving.’
