<USS Avalon> "My Heart Leads Me Astray" Pt. 9

“My Heart Leads Me Astray” - Part Nine
by Ensign Evan Benevente



Connors’ eyebrow twitched, “The Garen Muln?”

He seemed to think that Evan was joking. Evan wasn’t the most prominent figure in the Maquis, that much was blatantly obvious, but he still had his abilities nonetheless. He did think, however, that his stating immediately that he could get the illustrious leader was a bit of a gamble, but it was worth it given the treachery that had befallen him.

“Well, Mr. Benevente?”

“Yes, sir. That’s the one. Would that aid me in my attempts to be given back my rank of Ensign and to put back on a ship? I mean, I could deliver him to you in a trap and then I could get transported back to Starfleet Headquarters to be debriefed, and then transferred to wherever you need me.” His voice wavered slightly and he was worried that desperation would take over. He calmed himself and slowed his breathing.

Connors seemed to be on the defensive; he looked around cautiously and then leaned closer to the viewscreen, as if to exaggerate importance, “I will talk with the people above me. I’m sorry, Evan, but I can’t guarantee anything, but it looks good. I will contact you at your coordinates in three hours. We can discuss more then. Connors out.”

The comlink went dead, and Evan shuddered. Three hours? Good God, I have to wait that long? Evan thought to himself as he, out of habit, began to pace around. He had three hours to blow and no idea about how to spend it, or what to do.

“Benevente to the bridge.” A voice echoed throughout his cabin - it was Muln. Evan walked out of his quarters and towards the lift. Evan entered it easily, but was mentally absent. He didn’t know what to expect, but he only had two hours and fifty-four minutes to wait. He wasn’t counting, though.

Strolling onto the bridge, Evan did his best to conceal what he was hiding. Looking around the bridge Evan found Garen in his usual chair, gazing out into an abyss of stars and other unknown places. Garen always spent his free time staring at the stars. An optimistic, Garen liked to call himself. Swivelling in his chair, Garen clasped his hands and narrowed his eyes, “We’re following a Ferengi Marauder. They have tons and tons of Latinum in their cargo holds and we’re...”

“And we are going to steal it?” Evan finished the sentence for him. He was tired of the pettiness of their missions. Though he was getting ready to betray them all, Evan still thought that they should do bigger and better things, “Where is its intended destination?” Quickening his gait, Evan stepped up besides Garen.

Garen shook his head, “We don’t know, there are several systems and planets in its current course of travel. It could be any one of them, and there may be more than one stop that it intends to make.”

“When will we know for sure?” Evan poured over the data that had been extrapolated on the Marauder’s course, but it was based on nothing in particular. Starfleet had the right idea when they actually educated their officers. Somehow, Evan doubted that it would catch on in the ragtag band on rebels that was the Maquis.

“It depends, anywhere from a couple of minutes to a couple of hours. We don’t know for sure, and we’re expecting it to head for Kindrus VI.”

Sighing heavily, Evan turned his back to his cohorts, “are you ever sure of anything? Raids? Boarding parties? Your life?”

“What?”

Shrugging it off, Evan moved to another console, “Nothing.” He felt Garen’s gaze, whether it was smiling or otherwise, piercing through his back and into his soul. It didn’t matter to him, the countdown had started. Kindrus VI, it hit him. “That’s in Federation space!” Evan shouted, as if it was a cardinal sin to go there.

Garen smiled nonchalantly, “So...?”

“Nevermind, I’ll head for the engine room and see what I can do down there. I mean, you seem to have all of the stuff up here handled,” Evan said as he moved to the lift and rolled his eyes. Once in the engine room he reinitializing sensors and what not. Rebellious work, really. He gazed at his chronometer: one hour left to go.



**********



The console beeped quietly and Evan nearly sprinted from the side room. He sat down, almost knocking the table over in the process, and entered his access codes into the terminal. It was quite ironic if one thought about it, he was a getting ready to rebel against the rebellion. The familiar face of Admiral Connors popped into view and Evan nodded, “Greetings Admiral.”

“The powers that be have given the go-ahead to this little plan. You, once we receive Garen Muln, will be reinstated as an Ensign. You will then be assigned to a ship. The JAG Corps believe that doing something out of love is a bit irrational, but will overlook the infraction given the figure we’re going to apprehend,” Connor’s wise gaze fell upon him hard. He was a brilliant man who could always see things logically. He was the human version of a Vulcan, to say it bluntly. “Where and when will the next Maquis raid take place?”

“The current one, sir, is going to take place on Kindrus VI, and it will involve a Ferengi Marauder. It should take place tomorrow or the day after; the details are still a bit sketchy. It would seem that things here aren’t as organized as in ‘Fleet.” Evan muttered an obscenity as he ran his hands through his hair.

“When you know all the exact details inform me immediately. Understood, Ensign?”

Somehow, Evan missed the orders and the conformity to standards. The constantly-changing life-as-a-rebel just wasn’t for him, but he had to admit that it had been a pleasant change of pace. With his rank still ringing in his ears, Evan nodded, “Yes sir, of course. I’ll notify you as soon as I learn anything about the raid. Benevente out.” This time he had cut the comlink. Now he had to get some answers from Garen, and the only way to get to Garen was through his stomach. It was time to be a chef.



**********



“So, Garen, when is this next raid?” Evan slid a hot plate of pasta that could feed a small family for a week in front of Garen, who looked at it quite appreciatively. It wasn’t the best ice breaker, but Evan already knew how to get around the problems with his outburst of question.

Garen raised a questioning eyebrow - as Evan assumed he would, “why do you ask?”

“Well, as your first officer, I think that I should know,” Evan stated as he handed Garen a pan-galactic gargglebuster. Just another trick, it had seven types of synthehol. “You always have informed me and kept me up to speed on what we had our sights on. I know that we’re probably going to do something with the Ferengi Marauder, but I just wanted to make sure.”

Garen nodded as he slurped down another mouthful of Spaghetti. “We are chasing this piece-of-shit Marauder towards the planet of Kindrus VI. We’re going to take the latinum that it’s carrying and pawn it off for some more ships. We have to build up our forces.”

Having already leapt up and out of the chair Evan was sitting in, he moved towards the door, “Thank you, Garen.” He strolled off down the hall and back into the bowels of the ship. Evan glanced back and saw a bewildered Garen staring after him. The bastard shrugged and continued to stuff his face. Evan hoped he liked it; after all, it was Michelle’s favorite too.

Sliding into the safety and comfort of his own quarters, Evan reactivated the communications channel with Starfleet Command and instantly saw the face of Admiral Connors. “Admiral, we are heading for Kindrus VI. I’ll transmit the exact coordinates in the morning, but have a couple of ships standing by.”

“Thank you, Ensign. We’ll rendezvous with you as soon as we can to take them into custody. Their sensors won’t pick us up because we’re heading in from the side with the moon. It has a magnecite core; it should shield our approach.” He nodded with a smile, “Great job, Ensign Benevente, welcome back to active duty.”

“Thank you, Admiral,” Evan looked at him with a leveled gaze, “I’ll be transported off the ship once the battle begins, correct?”

Connors nodded again, “of course, ensign, we’ll see you soon.”

After the screen went back Evan strolled back into his bedroom. He laid down and stared blindly at the ceiling. Evan began thinking about the time that he’d been stuck inside the pile of junk that served as the Maquis ship. In essence, he thought about the moment he accepted that this place was his new home. Evan’s mind wandered to all the things that he’d accomplished and all the people that he had had the privilege of meeting. Some of them were the nicest people he thought he would ever meet. Evan didn’t regret the time that he’d spent on board, but it just seemed that it was time to leave.



**********



Evan didn’t sleep well that night. He tossed and turned over and over again. He struggled to get comfortable, but thoughts of leaving were unbearable. Then it hit him: Evan had just betrayed Garen and all he had done was try and further his cause. It was then that Evan realized that he had just betrayed the entire Maquis faction. Evan loved their cause because Evan loathed the Cardassians with an undying hatred.

His eyes fluttered open and he gazed into the blackness around him. “Lights,” Evan called as the lights sprung on, illuminating everything in his quarters. Evan dashed into his closet and dressed as fast as he could and stormed out of his quarters. Evan stopped dead in his tracks when it became apparent that he couldn’t tell Garen. Evan needed to leave, but if he told him he would hold Evan for treason. It took him a moment, but he figured something out and sprinted off to the shuttlebay with a plan.

He modified the shuttle to mask its warp trail and also to be able to cloak. Evan had borrowed a cloaking conduit and installed it securely in the shuttle. One conduit wouldn’t be missed. Evan thought about what to say, or if he should say anything at all, and finally allowed it to manifest itself into words. Evan wrote something down in a log and had it addressed to Garen:

Garen,

I apologize for the massive inconvenience of this attack. I just can’t be here anymore and I left for all the wrong reasons. Michelle was my one and only and I can’t turn my back on the life that I had chosen to live based on a lie. Shuttle One Alpha is fitted for your escape, inspect it for yourself.

The Maquis will go on.

And so will you.

- Evan



Other related posts: