The Adventures of Jean-Luc Picard
Desert World
by Jasjit Singh
(jasjit@uranium.dashmail.net)

Desert World

"Commander! Wake up! Commander Picard!"

The voice came to his ears faintly at first, from the depths of his dreams, and then it became louder and louder as he rose to the surface of consciousness. He stirred, and then opened his eyes slowly, realizing stiff and aching joints, and a throbbing pain his side.

Leaning over him was an anxious looking Klingon warrior. Picard looked around him. He was in a cave of sorts, it looked more like hollowed-out rock. Dim light was provided by Federation lanterns which were placed about the wide cavern to provide illumination. There was a heightened sense of activity as the few Federation and Klingon officers in the cave hurried around, loading rifles and setting up blockades. To the left of the cave was a wide entrance which let in stark bright light.

The Klingon seemed pleased to see Picard awake and alive, for he grinned. "What, what happened?" asked Picard, only now noticing his encrusted and blood-stained uniform.

"Our attack was not successful. But we cut down their numbers significantly. You fought bravely, Commander. You took down ten of their men single-handedly. You must be a Klingon!" A sharp pain in his left side brought back the memory of the battle. Looking down he noticed a bandage tied around his midsection, now red with soaked blood.

"Captain Kiang?" he asked, looking back up at the Klingon, whose name he now remembered was Koval. Weapons Officer Koval, aboard the Klingon ship Kh'ttrnaak. Koval shook his head.

"The Captain was killed in battle. He died honorably."

Picard nodded, knowing that this was enough for a Klingon to know. He struggled into a sitting position, with the help of Koval. The pain in his side spiked and almost sent him into unconsciousness again, but he gritted his teeth, and held on.

"Whats, whats happening now?" he asked, a little breathlessly, clutching his side.

"They are preparing to attack. They found the location of our camp. It will be soon."

Koval's eyes were scanning the men, human and Klingon, as they set up the blockade and took up position, rifles and phasors aimed, batleths at the ready. In his mind he was assessing the casualty rate, and chances of successfully holding against the enemy onslaught. Picard saw that there was no light in his eyes. His assessment did not predict victory.

"Give me a phasor," said Picard, struggling to his feet. Koval stared at him in amazement.

"Commander, you are not fit for battle!" he protested. As Picard got onto his feet the pain shot up once again, but other than wincing, he showed no signs of it.

"Give me a phasor, Koval!" he repeated, "It's no use for me if we all die here. We need to hold this position against the attack. There is no place to fall back! There are not enough men as it is."

After a pause, Koval nodded, and handed Picard his phasor rifle. He produced a hypospray as well, and grinned.

"Didn't expect a Klingon to be carrying around one of these, did you?" he joked, as he injected Picard in the arm with a strong dose of pain killer.

Picard hobbled across to the mouth of the cave, where the Klingon and Starfleet officers had set up a defense post. He dropped to his knees and began adjusting the phasor rifle. The only cover were some rocks that had been piled waist high. They would not last for very long against disrupter fire, but it was something at least.

Scanning the barren land before him, Picard knew they were lucky to have found the cave; it offered shelter, and hid them from the prying sensors of the enemy. Below, and all about, lay a desolate wasteland. A sweeping desert with sandstorms and whirlwinds of fury. This entire small planet was a vast and endless desert. No life thrived here. The mean surface temperature was 48.89 degrees Celsius. It was almost unbearable for the humans, but the Klingons were able to withstand the heat. It was the dryness which gave them the most trouble. The Klingon homeworld, Q'onos, was a moist and humid world. Klingons were not accustomed to dry climate. The cave was cooler, and it had a source of fresh water, which ran in deep ravines underground. With some carefully orchestrated phasor fire, the officers were able to persuade one of those streams to run upwards, to the surface, and supply them with the much needed water.

And now the enemy had located them. Picard adjusted his viewfinder to the correct resolution, and sat at the ready. Koval came up behind him, with a shawl.

"Here," he said, handing it to Picard, "cover your mouse and nose with this. Those winds tend to whip up suddenly. You don't want to get caught inhaling sand while under fire."

Picard nodded and took the shawl. Koval was about to move to the next soldier, when he stopped and turned back to Picard. He produced his dagger from his belt. Holding the blade, he presented it to Picard. "Take this, Commander," he offered, "you may need it."

"Thank you Koval," Picard nodded as he accepted the weapon. As Koval moved on to the other soldiers, Picard concealed the dagger inside his right boot, just above his ankle. The cold steel of the blade felt rigid against his skin. He permitted himself a small grin, it was comforting to have the secret weapon as his ally. Then he covered mouth and nose with the shawl, and sat at the ready, eyes scanning the horizon.

It was not a long wait for the enemy. It began by small dots appearing on the sandy brown surface. That was followed by more black dots, which grew larger every minute. Soon a large number of soldiers were visible, walking across the dunes, carrying rifles in their hands, converging upon their location. They wore helmets to protect them from the whipping desert winds, but other than their cloth uniforms, had no other protection for the rest of their bodies. They walked slowly, as the winds were very strong, and very unpredictable. But they walked determinedly.

Koval and Picard witnessed their progress across the sands. "It almost seems like a medieval war," Picard commented. "Without any of their technology, they are reduced to walking towards the battlefield. And so are we." "Ahh, but we have the advantage. We are at an elevated position," said Koval. "As soon as they are within firing range, we can eliminate several of their number." Picard nodded in agreement. "However, they must have a plan for taking this refuge. I don't believe they are planning a simple frontal attack." "I agree. That would be too straightforward for these devious soldiers. I will send a scout."

When the scout returned, out of breath and covered in desert sand, with his hair in a mess and eyes wild from the exhiliration of being out in the desert wind, he had bad news to report.

"They are coming in from the south as well," he said, in between breaths, as he squatted before Picard and Koval, making his report. "They are smaller in number, but they have more firepower. And they are carrying some equipment. It could be sub-units from their crashed ship, but I was not able to tell exactly what."

"Communications device?" Picard quizzed Koval urgently.

"Possibly. Or a weapon of sorts," speculated Koval.

"The south troops are not that well armed. They will likely wait for the frontal assault to run its course before they make a move. They are obviously planning on taking the cave. We need some sort of distraction, to throw off their timing, put them off course, something."

"What if we blockaded their path?" suggested the ensign who had been out scouting.

Picard looked down the steady rocky slope which eventually vanished into smooth brown sand. Behind them, on the other side, the embankment was much steeper, and would be a more difficult climb to make. "We need matter to block their path," Picard spoke quickly.

"Rocks, boulders, anything. Judging from their progress on the north side, we will not have any time to move anything out of here. We must create the blockade from whats available back there. Ensign, how bearable is the terrain."

The sand-coated ensign shrugged with a helpless grin. "It's windy, sir," he confessed, "but we should be able to manage."

Picard nodded. "Take four men. I want you to see to it that the embankment is unclimbable from the bottom. When we are finished down here, we will join you at the top."

"Aye sir!" He rose to his feet, selected his men, and was gone.

Soon afterwards, the enemy was within firing range. Picard and the rest of the men were in position, weapons aimed upon their targets. They followed the enemy soldiers on their scopes as they came marching up towards the incline that led to their refuge. The ground became rocky here, and was more stable, allowing the soldiers to break into a run. They were also somewhat protected from the lashing wind by the looming rock in front of them.

"Steady," Picard called out to the men, gently placing a finger upon the trigger of the phasor rifle. His palms were clammy with sweat. But his hands did not quiver. He did not blink.

"Steady...."

"Steady...."

One of the men cursed under his breath. "They're almost on us!" cried another. By now they could hear the shouts of the enemy soliders as they began their charge up the increasingly steep slope. Picard held his breath. They were not in range yet. Another second, and ...

"Fire!" he yelled, and instantly a barrage of fire left the Federation and Klingon lines. As the first Romulan soldier fell, they returned fire with equal ferocity. The man who sat next to Picard was thrown back amid a torrent of blasted rock and disruptor fire. With an ear-piercing scream he landed ten feet behind Picard, blood and scorched flesh covering his uniform. Picard glanced back at him, and even as he turned back to his rifle a Romulan came flying up and struck him.

Picard sprawled back onto the ground, the rifle lost. The Romulan landed on top of him, and pointed his hand weapon at Picard's head. He readied the weapon to fire...

...just as Picard reached down for Koval's knife, and thrust it savagely into the Romulan's mid-section. Blood spurted out and stained Picard's hands, the Romulan's eyes rolled back, and he fell limp on top of Picard.

Picard struggled and writhed his way out from underneath the dead Romulan, and gasped desperately for air. All around him was phasor and disruptor fire. Pieces of rock were flying everywhere, and men were falling every second. Picard crawled away from the Romulan corpse and looked for Koval. There was no sign of him. Romulan soldiers were everywhere. They had stormed the defence lines, and were mingling with the Klingon and Starfleet soldiers, engaged in lethal hand-to-hand combat. One of the Romulans noticed Picard and ran towards him. Picard rose to his feet, one hand clutching his side, where the pain had grown and now was almost intolerable. His vision was beginning to get blurred. Out of a haze he saw the Romulan come towards him, holding up a weapon. There was a delicious evil smirk on his face. Picard blinked, but found that he was having trouble keeping his balance. He took a step back, and crouched. If he was going to make an attack, it must be now.

But a blow from behind sent him reeling. Looking up with his failing vision he saw two Romulan soldiers looking back down at him, the grinning one, and the one who had attacked him.

As night fell.

In the void of darkness, the voices, screaming, shouting, and phasor fire all faded away. There was silence. Pure, black, silence. He heard his own heart beating. It was irregular. Perhaps the mechanical heart had taken some damage. If his heart failed now, there was no hope for him. Despair. What of the men, what of Koval? He would surely fight till the death. If anyone could hold the line, it was Koval. But the Romulans had broken through. They would be coming in from the south as well, and setting up their communications device or weapon or whatever it was. Darkness. Death, would it come swiftly? He waded around in the blackness of his own despair, turning this was and that, opening invisible doors but only finding more blackness. There was no escape, no way out. There was only one inevitable conclusion. Death. The end. From somewhere deep below, as if coming from the pit of some dreaded monster, a wailing howl arose. It began low and distant at first. But soon it became loud. He clapped his hands to his ears, trying to shut it out, but it simply became louder and louder. He shook his head, he cried tears, he fell before the awful sound of despair...

...and then there was a light. He looked at it, blinded, weary, shivering. There was a hope with the light, for it dispelled the sound, the cancer, the darkness. He looked up at it, and reached a hand out. There *was* a way out. And before him was the image of someone he knew. A familiar face. Someone he had met. Not too long ago. He struggled to recognize who it was. Who had come to provide tenderness and compassion for him. A flash of long red flowing hair. That smile....that smile. And his tension eased....he let go, and fell; a long fall, and she caught him--

"Commander!" The feel of cool water being applied to his lips brought him to with a start. Picard looked around. It was dark, almost pitch black. Somewhere nearby the sound of trickling water came to his ears. He was propped up against a small boulder which sat againt a moist rock wall. Before him sat Koval, giving him water from a flask. But he could not see anything else. It was too dark.

"Koval," Picard said in a hoarse voice. "Where, are we?"

"Inside the cave, we are underground," Koval seemed proccupied. "I am glad to see that you live, Commander Picard."

Picard looked up as Koval sat back on his haunches. "What," A racking cough seized him. After it had subsided, "what happened?"

Koval looked aside.

"Tell me, Koval," Picard pleaded, "what happened?" Koval's shoulders seemed to sag down, as if a great weight was suddenly placed upon him. He sighed, and then spoke in a sad, angry voice.

"They were all killed. You and I, we are the only ones who are left alive. The Romulans, they *did* have a weapon. But they were not planning to use it after taking the cave. They used it during the attack. We expected them to come from the south. They instead set up a post at the foot of the south slope, where they activated their weapon. It created a dampening field of quaerthon particles, which rendered our phasors useless against them. We could fire, but there would be no detrimental effect against them. Their disruptors, however, were not affected by this field. And so their attack was successful.

"When I learned of the weapon I made my way to the south slopes, where we destroyed the weapon. But it was too late."

Koval buried his head in his hands.

"And, there is no one else? At all?" Picard ventured hesitantly.

"No, Commander. Everyone was killed. You were still alive, though unconscious. I managed to bring you here. They are still looking for us, the Romulans. They send out search parties of two men every fifteen minutes, to search these caves. But it is a vast network of tunnels and passageways. I have been able to avoid them thus far."

Picard noticed that Koval had sustained injuries. The warrior had bandaged himself quite well, though, and stopped the bleeding. His arms and upper torso were cut in several places. He also had a fresh scar on his face, a souvenior of the battle he had just fought.

Picard pulled himself into a sitting position. "We must get out of here," he said to Koval.

"They have the entrance blocked," replied Koval.

"Every problem has a solution, every puzzle an answer. It's just a matter of finding it. Koval, it is our obligation to escape." Koval looked up at him.

"What do you propose?"

"If there is another way out of here..."

"We'll get to the surface. There is a sandstorm out there."

"We need a communications device. We need to get off this planet."

"And we cannot accomplish any of our objectives, because we have neither a transport nor a comm system."

Koval shook his head at the helplessness of their situation. In another ten or twelve minutes the Romulan search party would be coming out again, with weapons fully charged. Suddenly, Koval laughed.

"Do you know, you talk in your slumber, Picard?" he queried. Picard was somewhat taken by surprise. But the change from thoughts of their dreadful future was a welcome one, and he availed himself of it.

"No, I was not aware," replied Picard.

"You spoke all sorts of nonsense..." Koval was laughing again.

"I hope I didn't give away any Federation secrets," Picard let himself be influenced by Koval's joviality and grinned.

"No, you did not speak of anything that was sensitive..."

And after a while, when they had quieted down and sunk back into their thoughts, Koval asked in a sober voice: "Who is Beverly?"

"Beverly?"

"Yes, you spoke her name as well. Several times."

"She, ah, is an acquaintance. Someone I met aboard the Stargazer." Koval nodded, and they fell into silence again.

Several minutes passed by in silence. And then they heard voices, distant at first, but getting nearer every second.

"The Romulan soldiers," whispered Koval, picking up a phasor rifle he had set down next to him. He motioned to Picard to stay silent, and then he moved into the darkness stealthily.

Picard stayed in darkness for a few tense seconds, while the voices drew nearer. And then suddenly, the voices were raised in alarm. He heard disruptor fire, and then there was silence.

"They got him," he thought to himself. There had been no phasor fire. He was able to distinguish the sound of a Federation phasor rifle firing. And he had not heard that. All he had heard was a Romulan disruptor.

He scrambled up, the pain in his side shooting up again, acutely. He grimaced, clutched his side painfully. Phasor, he needed a phasor. He kicked around on the rocky floor in vain. There was nothing within reach. There was a scuffling sound in front of him, and then Koval appeared, drenched in blood, a victorious grin on his face, holding up two Romulan disruptors.

"How did you...?" Picard asked, astonished.

"The element of surprise, Commander," answered Koval, still grinning. And then, he said, "We have two dead Romulan soldiers lying not far from here. Luckily for us, they were uniformed. Can you walk?"

Picard saw his plan. He nodded, even though he could barely stand. "I can walk," he said through clenched teeth.

Koval nodded, and disappeared again into the darkness. He returned shortly afterwards with the uniforms. They quickly changed into them, Picard stopping frequently to alleviate his pain. Finally, they donned the safety helmets that the soldiers had worn outside to protect them from the desert winds. Koval hid the bodies nicely out of view, and then, taking up the disruptors, and Picard leaning against Koval for support, they hobbled out towards the main cave entrance.

It was a shorter distance than Picard had initially thought, although the hiding place had been well-situated, so that it was difficult to find. The main cave now was occupied by several Romulan soldiers, who were busy at work. Bright lights hung from the cave ceiling, as the men below performed their duties. Some were working on inventory, others readying weapons, some other tending the wounded soldiers, and finally a few were salvaging what was worth from dead Federation and Klingon soldiers, who were piled high in a heap at the mouth of the cave.

Both Picard and Koval shuddered at the sight of the massive pile of corpses. But they steeled themselves against emotion, realizing that if they were not careful, they might be joining their fallen comrades.

Picard stood as best he could without the aid of Koval, and they both stalked into the center of the cave. The Romulan soldiers were busy at their duties, and scarcely afforded them a glance. The bright light of the cave was getting nearer with each step. Picard was getting more and more anxious. The pain in his side was unbearable, but he gritted his teeth and forced himself on by sheer determination. Koval walked close beside him, quiet, tense, alert.

Once, Picard stumbled. But he grabbed onto Koval's arm and steadied himself. They looked around. Noone had seemed to care. There were wounded Romulan soldiers as well, some walking, some limping. The only thing that was odd about Koval and Picard was that they had their helmets on. None of the Romulan soldiers had their helmets on inside the cave.

As they approached the mouth of the cave, they were stopped by a Romulan soldier carrying a disruptor rifle. "Halt!" he called, barring their way. And then, he looked at them curiously.

"Officers, your designation and directive, please?" he said, in a more controlled tone.

Koval looked at Picard, and Picard began pointing to his chest and gesticulating.

"Speak, Officer, is there a medical problem?" Now the Romulan soldier seemed concerned. He looked at Picard curiously. Picard nodded emphatically.

"Why do you not speak? You, explain his condition!" The disruptor rifle pointed towards Koval. Koval looked at Picard, and then turned back to the Romulan, who began to back away a few paces, the rifle level at them.

"Commander Rasat!" The Romulan called to his commanding officer. It was the split second he took to divert his eyes as he called for his commanding officer that Koval needed to whip out the disruptor and fire it. The Romulan vanished amid a horrible shriek.

Behind them there was an instant clamour. Romulan soldiers had begun arming themselves. They were heading towards Picard and Koval. But the way ahead of them was clear. Open desert.

Picard swung around, and threw his disruptor into the cave. It's loud whine alerted everyone inside that it was set on overload. Men ran and shouted and ducked behind any shelter they could find, rock or passageway or supply crate. Meanwhile Koval and Picard stumbled and ran and fell down the long slope into the sands below.

The explosion rocked the cave and it's internal passageways. There was a large internal collapse, and several rocks and boulders came crashing down the slope, amid tumbling corpses of Romulan soldiers. Koval came to and looked around for Picard, who lay a few meters away, immobile. Koval crawled over to Picard.

"Commander Picard," he shouted, over the roar of the crashing rocks and the explosion. Picard did not respond. Koval looked up, assessed the situation, and then lifted Picard up onto his back, and ran away from the debris and falling matter.

In the desert, there was no shelter. There was no water, no shade, no resting place, and no cover from the blistering sun or the whipping desert winds. After eight hours of walking, when he could walk no more, the Klingon set down the Federation Officer and collapsed beside him. He looked up at the bright sky.

"This is not how I envisioned my passage into Stovl-Koh'r," he sighed. Exhausted, he closed his eyes. Around them, the desert wind blew and sent the sand up in swirls and twists. If they stayed where they were, they would be buried underneath the sands very soon.

Koval struggled to remain conscious. He battled fatigue. Crawling, he dragged the prone body of Picard with him, across the dunes. He did not know if Picard was alive anymore. He was close to death himself. He battle injuries were worsened by his fall from the cave, during which he had broken four ribs. He had begun to bleed again, and this time it was not stopping. And lack of water had worsened his situation. His lips were dry and his mouth was parched. His vision was not clear. And the dryness of the desert was taking it's toll on him. He was not accustomed to it and could not adapt well. But he stuggled on.

Over another dune.

And still more brown sand as far as the eye could see.

"We would have been better off being destroyed by the Romulans," Koval muttered under his breath. And then he heard a shout. He turned around abruptly to look over his shoulder, and saw a solitary figure perched on the top of the dune he had just crawled over. It was a Romulan. So his wish would come true after all. The soldier looked keenly at them, as if unsure. Koval realized that he and Picard still wore the Romulan uniforms and helmets. He waved enthusiastically to the soldier.

The man prepped his rifle and aimed. Koval grunted. "Should've known," he said to himself, "a Romulan would never *wave* back at another Romulan." -- And then, with a sigh -- "so be it. It is for the best."

He stumbled to his feet, determined to die in battle. Pulling the disruptor from his belt, he took aim at the soldier. The figure atop the sand dune was startled, so much so that he was momentarily thrown off guard, and lost his aim. As he was recovering his sights, Picard's communicator, which he had kept from his Federation uniform, beeped and a voice crackled over it.

"Commander Picard, Khalid from the Stargazer here ..." -- static cut out a lot of what was said, but a few phrases could be discerned -- "standoff over with the Romulan ship ... have left orbit ... managed to cut through the disturbance ... only a window of a few seconds .... will beam you out....stand by."

The Romulan fired. Koval fired.

They were being energized.

The disruptor beam reached Koval and danced temptingly at him. It touched his chest, teasing. He growled.

Picard was on the floor of the transporter pad. And Koval was standing, a feeling of hotness on his chest. He looked down to see the uniform singed black, but he was unharmed.

Seeing them in full Romulan uniform with helmets, the transporter chief thought he had made a mistake and immediately pulled out his phasor. Koval held out a hand as he removed his helmet.

"It is us, Chief," he said wearily. "Commander Picard requires immediate medical attention."

The transporter chief nodded, as he replaced his weapon. "Welcome home, " he said.

The End

"Desert World"
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© Jasjit Singh, May 1999