"A Separate Peace"
by Andra Marie Mueller

PART SEVENTEEN : 'Ambush'

SUMMARY : The Cardassians attack Cornellia

See Part one for author's notes and disclaimer

****************************************

THREE DAYS LATER

Chakotay sighed and sat back from the dinner table. He’d finally decided it was time to let his family in on his secret, and was dreading their reaction. He waited for Gray Feather to put Little Wolf to bed, then gathered his sister and brother-in-law in their living room to make his confession.

"I have something to tell you both, and I’m not sure how you’re going to react," he began. "Let me just preface it by saying that everything I’ve done has been to protect the people I care about."

"Sounds serious," Gray Feather said lightly.

"It is," Chakotay confirmed evenly. "For the last two years I’ve been working with Starfleet Intelligence gathering information for them about the Cardassians."

Gray Feather immediately began to scoff, but her brother’s tone and expression made it clear he was serious. Too shocked to speak, Gray Feather exchanged an astonished glance with Red Hawk, who addressed Chakotay.

"After discovering that the love of your life is a Starfleet captain, I was certain there was nothing left you could do to surprise me, Chakotay," he remarked. "It would seem I was wrong."

"Are you truly working for Starfleet by spying on the Maquis?" Gray Feather demanded.

"I am working for Starfleet, but against the Cardassians, not the Maquis," Chakotay clarified and gave them a condensed version of the explanation he had given Janeway two and a half weeks earlier. "By providing Starfleet with the tactical information they needed to engage the Cardassians, I had hoped they could put an end to this war and eliminate the need for the Maquis."

"Who else knows about this?" Red Hawk queried.

"Only the people involved," Chakotay evaded.

Red Hawk glanced at Janeway. "Given your relationship, I’m forced to assume you were in on this little charade with Chakotay," he said snidely. "I applaud your acting skills."

"I didn’t know about Chakotay’s connection to Starfleet until I was captured, Red Hawk," Janeway told him.

"Did you have so little faith in us that you waited two years to reveal the truth?" Gray Feather interjected angrily.

"It wasn’t a matter of faith, Gray Feather. It was vital for my safety that no one outside Starfleet know I was working with them."

"Including your family?"

"Unfortunately."

"So why are you telling us now?" Red Hawk asked.

"Because of me," Kathryn answered quietly.

"Kathryn…" Chakotay began.

"Don’t bother to argue with her when she’s right, Chakotay," Gray Feather chided. "I never would have guessed you to be a spy, but I knew from the moment you brought Kathryn to Cornellia that you wouldn’t give her up a second time. I realized it was only a matter of time before you chose to give up the Maquis instead."

"Does that mean you forgive me for keeping my work with Starfleet a secret?" Chakotay prompted.

"There’s nothing to forgive," was Gray Feather’s simple response.

Chakotay flashed his sister a grateful smile, then turned to Red Hawk. "What about you?"

"I need some time to absorb this, Chakotay," Red Hawk said. "I’ve spent over half my life resenting everything Starfleet represents, and now I find out you’re a part of it. I can’t pretend that doesn’t bother me."

"I understand."

Not knowing what else to say, Red Hawk excused himself and disappeared up the stairs.

"I think we’d better go," Janeway said.

"I will talk to Red Hawk and try to help him understand why you did what you did," Gray Feather offered, "but I can’t guarantee that it will change how he feels. He is angry and hurt, and he will need time to deal with those feelings."

"I have to say I’m surprised you took it so well," Chakotay replied.

Gray Feather smiled. "We have a sister who is Starfleet, remember? I think Tara would be the first to remind us that not everyone who wears their uniform is our enemy."

Bidding Janeway and Chakotay goodnight, Gray Feather headed up the stairs. The couple watched her go, then Janeway spoke first. "Your sister is truly an exceptional young woman," she remarked.

"Yes, she is," Chakotay agreed. "Unfortunately I don’t think the rest of the Maquis are going to take the news as well."

"Do you still want to tell them tomorrow? Maybe you should wait a couple of days until Red Hawk has cooled down, and then you can deal with everyone else."

"No. I’ve been living with this secret for too long as it is, Kathryn. The time has come for me to share it with the others."

"It’s your call," Janeway conceded and linked her arm through his. "Just remember that you’re not alone, and we’ll face whatever happens together."

Chakotay flashed her an adoring smile. "I wouldn’t have it any other way."

The two exchanged a brief kiss, then exited the house.

 

The following morning, Chakotay was working on some paperwork in his office when Paris and Bashir entered the room.

"Do you have a minute, Captain?" Paris asked.

"Of course. What’s up?"

"We have bad news, and we have worse news," Paris said wryly. "Which do you want first?"

"The bad."

"Seska’s dead. When Dubuque lowered the forcefield to give her her breakfast, she grabbed his phaser and tried to stun him. It must have malfunctioned somehow because, instead of discharging, it went into a power overload and exploded. Seska was killed instantly, and Derek’s got some pretty nasty burns, but he’ll survive."

"What’s the worse news?"

"The worse news is that while I was doing a scan to verify the cause of death I discovered something rather interesting," Bashir replied. "According to her DNA, Seska wasn’t Bajoran; she was Cardassian."

"Cardassian?" Chakotay echoed. "Are you sure?"

"Positive. She had obviously undergone genetic alteration to make her DNA register as Bajoran, but the tissue in her internal organs was definitely Cardassian."

Chakotay released a heavy sigh as the implications of the doctor’s discovery sank in. "If Seska was a Cardassian, then she may have been in league with them all along," he surmised. "Her transmission may have been a message telling her friends where to find us."

"Do you want me to start evacuation procedures, Captain?" Paris asked.

"Not until we know for certain that we have to," Chakotay stated. "I want a patrol of the planet’s orbit every hour and ongoing long-range scans for any ships other than ours. If we’re lucky, Seska’s message didn’t reach its destination and we’re worrying about nothing."

"And if her message did reach its destination?" Bashir pressed.

"Then we protect ourselves at any cost," Chakotay declared, then glanced at Tom "Bottom line, Commander. Are we in trouble?"

Paris sighed. "I wish I could say for certain," he replied. "I don’t think Seska was at the computer more than a few minutes when I caught her, but it was long enough to send a complete transmission, and we have no way of knowing how many other messages she may have sent."

"Given the fact that we’re still here to have this discussion and not rotting away in a Cardassian prison camp, I think it’s safe to assume that it was her only transmission," Chakotay said. "Unfortunately one is all it takes."

"What are you going to do?" Bashir asked.

"To be perfectly honest, I don’t know yet," Chakotay replied.

"Under the circumstances, maybe you should tell Captain Janeway what’s going on," Paris suggested.

"She already knows, Tom. I told her the second day she was here."

Clearly taken aback by the news, Paris exchanged a surprised look with Bashir as he responded with a simple, "Oh."

Chakotay chuckled. "A word of advice, Gentlemen; always be honest. It saves you the effort of trying to keep your story straight later on down the road."

"I’ll remember that, Captain."

Chakotay glanced at Bashir. "Julian, it might be a good idea for you to send a message to DS9," he said. "Keep it brief, but let Captain Sisko know what’s going on."

"Do you want me to request reinforcements?" Bashir inquired.

"Not yet, but ask him to remain on standby. If the Cardys do show up, the Defiant is going to be the closest thing to the cavalry we’ve got."

"Assuming Starfleet will even authorize them to assist us," Paris replied. "This is a Maquis colony."

"I doubt your father or Kathryn’s will allow Starfleet to sacrifice you to the Cardys," Chakotay countered.

"Sorry to disillusion you, Chakotay, but Janeway’s father is retired and therefore no longer has any authority. And my old man won’t lose any sleep over my death if it means preserving the Federation."

"Don’t be so sure."

 

The following morning, Janeway and Chakotay awoke early and shared a quiet breakfast and a brief walk; than Chakotay decided to check in with Paris before gathering his people to reveal his secret. Reaching the main compound, Janeway and Chakotay were making their way across the plaza when they spotted Paris talking with Brev just outside the communications center. From the animated body language they were displaying, it was clearly not a casual discussion; Chakotay wandered over to join them, shadowed by Janeway.

"Good morning, Gentlemen," he greeted. "Is there a problem?"

"Yes, sir," Brev answered. "We’ve lost contact with the sentry shuttle."

"How long ago?"

"Ten minutes," Paris told him. "Irin was transmitting the ‘all clear’ signal when it suddenly stopped. We’ve been trying to hail her ever since, but there’s been no response."

"Who’s on guard at the landing pad?" Chakotay inquired.

"Red Hawk and Derek Dubuque," Paris said.

Chakotay strode into his office, the others close on his heels, and activated his personal computer. Once his security code had been verified, Dubuque’s image came on-screen.

"What’s up, Captain?" he prompted.

"We’ve lost contact with Irin’s shuttle," Chakotay informed him. "Access the sensors on the Cloud Dancer and tell me if we’ve got company up there."

"Aye, Captain. Stand by."

Dubuque wandered out of view, and Chakotay’s group waited in anxious silence for close to five minutes before Dubuque returned.

"There are at least three Cardassian Galor-class warships up there, Captain," he reported grimly. "I estimate we’ve got ten minutes tops before they turn Cornellia into toast."

"Damnit!" Chakotay exclaimed. "I want you, Red Hawk and B’Elanna to have all the ships ready to go in five minutes. We’ll evacuate everyone we can on the Cloud Dancer and the Freedom while the Crazy Horse provides cover fire."

"Acknowledged, Captain. See you in five."

Chakotay severed the transmission and turned to Brev. "Where are my sister and Little Wolf?"

"They’re with Serena and Terven," Brev told him. "I think they’re in the galley having breakfast."

"Get them to the Cloud Dancer," Chakotay instructed. "Paris and I will stay here and start the evacuation."

"Aye, sir."

Brev quickly exited his captain’s office, and Chakotay waited until he was gone before addressing Paris and Janeway. "Once we’ve gotten everyone safely into the ships, I want you to beam onto the Freedom and give Kathryn access to the communications system. Send an Alpha One Priority signal to Admiral Morgan at Starfleet Command telling him Cornellia is under attack. Once the transmission has been received, get the hell out of the Badlands."

"What are you going to do?" Janeway asked.

"I’m going to make sure that even if the Cardassians manage to get planetside, they won’t find anything but rubble. The entire compound is rigged with a self-destruct program. Once the activation code has been entered, the whole place goes to hell in a handbasket in ten minutes."

"You can’t seriously expect us to leave you behind," Janeway protested.

"I’ll beam to the Freedom as soon as I’ve activated the compound’s auto-destruct program," Chakotay assured her, "but I can’t risk letting them access any of the information in our computer system. It has detailed tactical information regarding the Maquis Fleet as well as the Starfleet data we downloaded from Voyager. If the Cardassians get their hands on that, then this war is as good as over."

"Do whatever you have to do, but I’m not leaving without you," Janeway declared.

"I don’t have time to argue with you about this, Kathryn!" Chakotay snapped. "I have to get my people off this planet before the Cardassians turn this colony into a Maquis graveyard!"

Their argument was aborted when a loud siren suddenly rang through the compound. Striding to the doorway, Chakotay cautiously peered outside, only to see several Cardassian soldiers making their way through the plaza, engaging the remaining Maquis as they did so. Stifling a curse, Chakotay marched back into his office.

"What’s wrong?" Janeway asked.

"There are a dozen Cardys headed our way," Chakotay told her, and crossed over to the storage closet. Deactivating the lock, he swung the door open to reveal a small stash of weapons. Grabbing a pair of phaser rifles, Chakotay handed one each to Paris and Janeway, then grabbed one for himself. Walking over to his computer, he entered the necessary sequence to initiate the auto-destruct before turning to Paris.

"Take Kathryn out the back and get her to the Freedom," he ordered. "I’ll try to keep our leather-faced friends busy long enough for the others to reach the ships. Once everyone is safe, lock on to my transponder signal and beam me aboard."

"Aye, Captain," Paris acknowledged.

Paris gently grasped Janeway’s arm and pulled her toward the back door. Casting Chakotay a final, anxious glance, Janeway reluctantly followed Paris from of the room. Once they were gone, Chakotay adjusted the setting on his rifle to kill before venturing out into the plaza. He was spotted almost immediately, and the closest Cardassian fired his disruptor at him. Chakotay dodged the deadly beam and returned fire, leveling the soldier with a direct hit to his chest.

"One down, three dozen or so to go," Chakotay muttered aloud.

Just then the captain felt a searing pain lance through his upper arm, and he glanced down at the unmistakable aftermath of a disruptor beam, flesh seared to black and seeping blood. A second shot whizzed by less than an inch from his ear, and Chakotay instinctively dropped to the ground as he scanned the plaza for the shooter. He located his adversary approximately fifty yards away: a young Cardassian soldier with his disruptor aimed squarely at Chakotay. The captain shifted his rifle to return fire just as the compound’s auto-destruct kicked in, and he felt the ground rumble beneath him as all of the buildings blew sky-high.

Obviously not expecting the explosions, the Cardassians froze in place, uncertain as to what was happening. The Maquis took advantage of their distraction to kill them where they stood, then quickly scanned the plaza for survivors among their own. Next to what remained of the infirmary, Bashir spotted Chakotay on the ground and quickly crossed over to help him to his feet. "Are you all right, Captain?" he asked.

"I’ll live," Chakotay responded.

"That’s a nasty burn."

"You can fuss over it once we’re on board one of the ships. Right now we’ve got to gather the rest of our people and get the hell out of here before the Cardassians’ reinforcements beam down."

The doctor nodded in silent acknowledgement. Crossing the plaza, Chakotay shouted an order for the others to follow him, then started for the woods.

**********************************

Part 18