LCDR Seabrook
Chief Intelligence Officer
SMIDGEN, USS SARATOGA (NCC-1892)

LTJG James Samira, Assistant Intelligence Officer for USS SARATOGA, sat at the SIGINT (Signals Intelligence, an area of intelligence information acquisition which deals with monitoring, analyzing, and, when appropriate and possible, compromising all forms of subspace or electromagnet information transfer) console in SMIDGEN reviewing the Intelligence Officer’s Study Guide. His examination for Level 3 was coming up soon and he wanted to make sure he did well. Besides, he couldn’t be promoted to lieutenant until he passed the test. It was quiet in SMIDGEN—the ideal time to do some studying. ENS George had the watch and Samira knew she could handle any routine task quite well. And, James thought, she’s easy on the eyes.

He didn’t expect to be called upon during the current mission. That kind of action was reserved for others aboard the ship. Too bad, James mused, it would be nice to be involved in something a little more exciting than what I’m doing now. He realized he couldn’t remember a single thing about the last paragraph that had scrolled up the screen. Quit daydreaming and get back to work, Samira told himself sternly. You’ll never pass the test this way.

The door from the Chief Intelligence Officer’s office and SMIDGEN opened. Samira turned to see SARATOGA’s Chief Intelligence Officer stride through the entry.

"We have work to do," was all Seabrook said, but the tone of his voice spoke volumes. Seabrook punched the comm. Panel button marked "Main Bridge."

"Commander Brannon? This is Commander Seabrook."

"This is Ensign Blalock, Sir. Commander Brannon is heading up one of the landing parties." ENS Blalock was a new crewmember and Seabrook didn’t know her very well. I guess this will be her trial by fire, Seabrook thought.

"Fine. Ensign Blalock, I want you to release control of the Navigation Sensors to me here in SMIDGEN. You’ll have to maintain orbit manually."

"Sir?" Her voice trembled. "I haven’t held a manual orbit since the Academy."

"Then you need the practice. Turn them over, Ensign. Now."

"Yes, Sir!"

Seabrook disconnected from the Main Bridge and opened a channel to Engineering. "This is Commander Seabrook. Who’s the EOOW?" He knew that CDR Madison was on her way to the planet.

"I’m the Engineering Officer of the Watch, Sir."

"And who are you?"

"Lieutenant Scully, Sir."

"Lieutenant Scully, I want you to couple the Navigation Sensors and the Long-range Sensors together and reroute the full output to SMIDGEN. And I want every ounce of power you can give to them."

"But, Sir! I have no author—"

"I am your authority, Lieutenant. If my orders are not carried out in five minutes, I’ll have you relieved by someone who knows how to follow the orders of a senior officer. Do I make myself clear, Lieutenant?"

"Yes, Sir. You’ll have both sensor systems cross-connected in two minutes and a 300 percent increase in power available in five."

As Seabrook cleared the connection, James Samira stared at him, almost in shock. He had never seen LCDR Seabrook act like this. An order! James whispered to himself. I’ve never even talked to anyone who’s even hinted that they’ve heard him give an order.

Seabrook glanced at LTJG Samira and recognized the look on his assistant’s face. Taking a deep breath to calm himself, Seabrook explained. "James, we have a bad situation down on S329. EXCALIBUR and SARATOGA personnel are trapped in caves along with some very mean and angry lifeforms. Communications are sporadic and transporters aren’t working well. I have a feeling that you and I are the only ones who can prevent a total slaughter of everyone now trapped beneath S329, including two captains that Starfleet has a great deal of pride in. Can I count on you?"

"Of course, Commander!"

"Good. Let’s get started." Seabrook moved toward the chair on the opposite side of the holoprojection table which took up most of the center of SMIDGEN.

"Commander?" It was LT Scully from Engineering.

"Yes?"

"You have full control over all shipboard sensors and all the power I can give while still maintaining orbit and life support."

"Thank you, Lieutenant." Seabrook sat down. "The first thing is to punch a hole through the planetary interference so we can see what the hell is happening down there. I don’t much like working in the dark."

Together, Seabrook and Samira began to fine-tune SMIDGEN’s control systems to accommodate the extra power and the input from both sensor systems. The Navigation Sensors were the biggest problem. Not only were they not designed to do what Seabrook wanted them to do, but SMIDGEN wasn’t designed to handle the high level of input Seabrook demanded of it. After several minutes of feverish work, Seabrook commented disgustedly, "A design flaw—a damned design flaw."

"Sir?" Samira looked up from his control station.

"Nothing. I was just castigating myself."

Suddenly, everything clicked into place. Between the two officers, above the holoprojection table, a 3-D image began to form. The planet’s surface appeared first. The thin black line was shortly followed by shadowy details of the interior. When the projection finally coalesced, they could see a maze of interconnecting tunnels and shafts, with tiny black dots everywhere. Each dot was a life form.

"I want SARATOGA people in green, EXCALIBUR people in yellow, and those creatures in red."

James manipulated several controls on his panel and the dots obediently changed colors. Yellow dots, for the most part, were stationary; green dots seemed to move around some, but, for the most part, stayed close by yellow dots. The red dots—and there were far more of them than green and yellow dots combined—seemed to be constant motion.

Seabrook stood up and walked around the holographic projection, studying it from all angles. The longer he looked, the clearer the image became as SMIDGEN’s computer system assimilated the massive sensor input.

"Show Captain Donaree’s transponder as blinking and Captain Lawrence’s as well." One of the green dots began to blink. It was deep within the maze. Around it were several yellow dots, one of which was blinking. A number of red dots were moving toward their position. Seabrook frowned and turned to the comm panel.

"Captain, this is Seabrook. Can you read me?"

Her reply was broken up by static. "Can…where…injured…quick."

"I can’t understand you. Can you boost your output power?"

"Power…max…no more…"

"Then listen. We can track the movements of the creatures. We’ll keep you appraised of what they’re doing so that you can protect yourselves. Do you copy?"

"Under…hurry!" Her frustration, and just a tinge of fear, came through loud and clear.

Seabrook turned to the third officer in SMIDGEN, ENS George, who was still at the SIGINT console. He motioned her to the comm panel. "I want you to pass as much info as you can to Captain Donaree. Remember that she still needs to talk with the others, so don’t monopolize the communications channel. Don’t expect a reply, just transmit in the blind."

ENS George nodded and reopened the enhanced communication circuit to Captain Donaree.

James Samira had been staring the movement of the red dots. It reminded him of something, but he just couldn’t dredge it out of his memory. It was something that happened a long, long time ago. Somehow, James knew it was extremely important.

Seabrook was staring at the display too, his arms crossed in front of him, his face a study in concentration.

"Ants!" James exclaimed loudly. "Ants!"

"What?" Seabrook frowned at the interruption. "What about ants?"

"When I was a little kid in Hawaii, there was this huge hill of fire ants in the field behind our house. We used to take a long stick and stir them up," the memory had finally surfaced. "That—" he pointed at the red dots. "—is exactly what the ants did. They began by scurrying around madly. But when they found the stick, all of them began to merge on it."

"What in hell does—" Seabrook began, but then stopped. His Harperhall training and his Vulcan-taught logic, working together, enabled him to make a gigantic intuitive leap. "Occam’s Razor!" They’re simply protecting their nest! There’s no conscious thought to this, it’s simply animal instinct." He spun around and punched up Engineering.

"Engineering, Lieutenant Scully here. We’re doing the best we can, Sir."

"You’re doing fine, Lieutenant." Scully’s defensive tone of voice brought a wry smile to Seabrook’s face. "I need you to do one more thing. I want you to transport a buzz bomb to these coordinates." He turned to LTJG Samira, who had immediately grasped Seabrook’s plans.

"One eight five Mark six five Delta one seven five," James read from his console.

Seabrook repeated the coordinates.

"A buzz bomb?" LT Scully sounded completely confused.

"Lieutenant," a dangerous tone had crept into Seabrook’s voice. LT Scully recognized it quickly.

"Aye, aye, Sir. A buzz bomb at coordinates one eight five Mark six five Delta one seven five. I’ll have it in two minutes, Commander."

"Make it one and a half, Lieutenant. People are dying down there. I want a transmission time of 30 seconds."

"Yes, Sir."

Seabrook broke the connection and LT Scully turned to give the necessary orders to his team. He tried to figure out what these strange orders meant. A buzz bomb was the nickname of a new type of probe they had received during the ship’s last visit to Daran VI. Its sole purpose was to transmit a burst of "white noise" covering the complete frequency spectrum for a specified period of time. The idea behind the new probe was to disrupt an enemy’s communications, sensors and fire control. But how can that save lives? LT Scully wondered. Oh, well, he thought. Commander Seabrook is weird anyway. I’ve never met an Intel weenie who wasn’t. At least they’re his orders and not something I dreamed up. He shook his head.

Seabrook needed to notify everyone, not only those on the planet, but the crews aboard the SARATOGA, the EXCALIBUR and the pilots of the Red Devils and Blue Dragons as well, that they were about to lose all their electronics, navigation, and communications. There was only one way to do that. He reached up to the top of the communications console and punched a red button marked "Flash Override." Reserved for specific emergencies, Flash Override pre-empted any and all Starfleet communications circuits over a radius of five light years.

"This is Commander Seabrook in SMIDGEN aboard USS SARATOGA. All electronic emissions including navigation, fire control and communications will be terminated for 30 seconds exactly one minute, 15 seconds from my mark." He glanced at the chronometer. "Mark! Seabrook out."

Kit Donaree crouched, as best she could in the cumbersome ES suit, over the injured T. E. Lawrence. T.E. had managed to slap a repair patch over the hole in Kit’s suit before the deadly atmosphere could poison her. Kit mumbled to herself as she evaluated T.E.’s condition. Compound fracture of the right tibia, possible broken ribs, both ankles sprained, left wrist broken. She placed her helmet against Captain Lawrence’s so she wouldn’t have to use the open communications circuit. No reason for everyone else to know just how bad T.E. really is, Kit decided.

"T.E.?" A muffled groan was her only answer. "T.E., you are in one helluva mess! Didn’t I warn you time and time again about making sure you know where you’re headed before you go there?" Kit could see Lawrence’s face contort in pain as Kit tried to make T.E. more comfortable.

"Kit?" T.E.’s voice was weak and brittle.

"Yes, T.E.?"

"How does it look?"

"You? Me? The situation? Which one?"

"All of the above."

"If I were you, I’d check my warranty. I’m fine, except for a couple of bruises. And, to be honest, the situation ain’t worth a damn."

Donaree and Lawrence went too far back for Kit to lie to her. The situation is probably worse than that, Kit thought to herself. Just then, she heard LCDR Seabrook calling her from the SARATOGA. Random bursts of static make his deep voice difficult to understand, but it was the first communication from either ship since she transported to Planet S329.

"Captain, this is Seabrook. Can you read me?"

"I can barely hear you. When is help coming? T.E.’s badly injured. Get some help down here quick!"

"I can’t understand you, Captain. Can you boost your output power?"

Kit checked her dials. "Power is already set on maximum. There’s no more left."

"Then listen. We can now track the movements of the creatures. We’ll keep you appraised of what they’re doing so that you can protect yourselves. Do you copy?"

"I understand. Get us out of here and hurry!" In spite of her best efforts, her voice quavered.

T.E. grabbed Kit’s arm and motioned for her to touch helmets again.

"Is the cavalry on its way?"

"They’re saddling up their horses now, T.E." Kit’s attempt at levity wasn’t very successful.

Kit looked around. They were in a cavern which measured about 20 feet wide and 50 feet long. Several tunnels were cut into the walls of what seemed to be random spots. Cut? Donaree exclaimed to herself. They were cut!

Several figures lay on the cavern floor. One, whose ES suit had the distinctive markings of EXCALIBUR, was obviously dead. Alongside was another form, this one from SARATOGA, whose right leg occasionally twitched. At least that one, whoever it is, is still alive, she thought. But for how long?

T.E. grabbed Kit’s arm, then pointed toward one of the tunnel entrances. A shadowy figure, huge and menacing, was moving into the cavern. It stepped into the light from an abandoned lantern. Kit almost vomited. It looked like every nightmare ever dreamed was embodied in the creature.

"Holy Mother of God!" Kit gasped. She raised her phaser and pulled the trigger. A cyan beam lanced out and bathed the cavern in reflected light. The creature staggered back as the bolt of energy hit it in the chest. Its head turned to find the source, located Kit, and began to lurch toward her. Claw-like pinchers on the ends of long stalks and at the ends of its heavily muscled limbs began to click together, as though the creature was anticipating the kill. The phaser seemed to have little effect. The monster came closer and closer. With her one good arm, T.E. brought her own phaser to bear on the advancing horror. The combined energy of the two phasers finally began to affect it. The creature slowed and came to a standstill eight or nine feet away from the two Starfleet captains.

"Pour it on, T.E.!" Kit yelled. "We’ll send you back to the hell that spawned you!"

The creature’s lower joints buckled and it landed heavily on the cavern floor in a praying position. Finally, it pitched forward and came to rest on a foot or so away from Kit and T.E. Kit looked at the charge on her weapon. Half gone? And only one killed? She saw T.E. checking the charge on her phaser. T.E. shook her head in despair. It was obvious they could defend themselves against only one more of the things. After that—

Kit had been conscious of ENS George’s voice in her helmet all the way through their firing, passing on coordinates of creatures. She had been too busy to pay much attention. Suddenly the voice changed. She immediately recognized LCDR Seabrook.

"This is Commander Seabrook in SMIDGEN aboard USS SARATOGA."

Kit listened in disbelief to what followed. "What in the hell is that man doing?" she shouted to no one in particular.

T.E. motioned for Kit to touch helmets again. In a weak voice, T.E. asked, "How much faith do you have in Seabrook?"

"Right now," Kit answered, "not much. Cutting off our communications is a damned fool thing to do. It’ll get us all killed!"

"You don’t know that much about him, do you?"

Kit shook her head. "He’s been aboard for a while now, but I just can’t seem to get a handle on him. It’s like he’s make out of Teflon."

"I’ve known him, and of him, for a long time, ever since we taught together at the Academy. Seabrook is probably the most capable officer Starfleet has had in many years. He never, ever does anything without a very good reason. He was there at the first Jizziarque battle and was the only survivor. He was aboard the MOUNTAIN HOME and the GALILEO. Not only did he create Listening Post, but he was responsible for their extraction—alive, I might add. Did you know he has more medals and decorations than any Starfleet officer—ever?"

Kit shook her head.

"Did you know he is a fully accredited Ambassador to the UFP?

Kit shook her head again.

"Did you know that Starfleet has almost guaranteed him the job of Deputy Chief of Staff for Intelligence?"

Kit was getting tired of shaking her head no. It seems Commander Seabrook and I need to get to know each other much, much better in the future. She looked around the cavern and at the half-depleted phaser in her hand. If there is a future. Static filled her earphones and she quickly turned down the volume. I hope you know what you’re doing, Seabrook. It was more like a prayer.

LT Scully’s voice came from a speaker on the communications console. "Tally ho!"

ENS George sat back in her chair. There was nothing but static in her earpiece and it would stay that way until the buzz bomb ceased transmitting. She looked over at LCDR Seabrook and LTJG Samira. They were both transfixed by the hologram display. It began to flicker, and then faded out.

"Well, now we know the buzz bomb works as advertised," Seabrook commented.

"That it does," James replied. "I just wish we weren’t included."

The 30 seconds seemed to crawl by. Occasionally, the display would reappear as a faint, ghostly image. Each time it did, Seabrook and Samira would lean forward quickly, but it would fade out again before they could distinguish any details.

Suddenly the image popped back into existence. ENS George reactivated her communications circuit to Captain Donaree and started passing on information again as Seabrook and Samira concentrated on the colored dots.

"There! It worked! They’re heading for the buzz bomb!" Samira exclaimed.

"Now we have an answer to that question. But we still don’t know how to keep our people alive." Seabrook began to pace. "So, how does one get rid of ants?" Seabrook asked himself out loud.

"An exterminator?" Samira offered.

"An exterminator!" Seabrook’s laugh was more of a bark. "We can’t exist down there without Environmental Protection suits. The stuff those things breathe would exterminate us! I’m sorry, but I don’t have the telephone number for Terminix on me." He fell silent.

"Terminix?" Samira repeated, bewildered.

Seabrook stopped him with a raised hand. James could almost see the ideas forming in Seabrook’s mind.

"An exterminator sprays something onto a pest which is fatal, right?"

Samira nodded.

"Their atmosphere is fatal to us, right?"

Samira nodded again, wondering where this was leading.

"Then why wouldn’t our atmosphere be fatal to them?"

"Oxygen!" James almost shouted. "It would kill them! Perfect!" He face fell. "But how do we do that?"

Seabrook punched the comm. button for Engineering again. "Lieutenant Scully, how many bottles of emergency oxygen do we have on board?"

There was no hesitation this time. LT Scully had learned not to be surprised at any question that came out of SMIDGEN, no matter how wild and crazy it seemed at the time. "We have 564 10-liter bottles of 95 percent pure oxygen in 11 locations throughout the ship."

"Can you transport two bottles to each person trapped beneath the planet’s surface?"

"Yes, Sir. But I’ll have to take back the extra power I’ve been giving you. And I’ll need coordinates."

"And how long to transport them down?"

"To gather enough bottles for two per person with my watch team will take about 15 minutes. If I had help, maybe seven. If I use all the ship’s transporters, including the 23-person emergency transporter pads, I could give each person two bottles of their own within, say 10 minutes. But I’ll need more help than I’ve got."

"Get whatever help you need and do it any way you have to, but get it done NOW. That oxygen should kill those creatures—before they kill everyone down there."

"Aye, aye, Sir. It’ll be just like Earth on a fine spring day in 10 minutes."

"Here goes." Seabrook punched the Flash Override button again and succinctly outlined his plan.

Alexi Brookstone and Jill Parker were playing hide and seek. It wasn’t quite the same game both had enjoyed as children. This time, if they lost, they would be dead, not ‘it.’ So far, both SARATOGA officers had managed to elude the clutches of what Alexi called "an abomination that would scare Stephen King." They were getting tired, though. Jill realized that it was only a matter of time until one of them made a fatal mistake. They were crouched behind a large boulder, gasping for breath from their last mad dash.

Jill whispered, "What was that communications blackout all about?"

"If I know Seabrook, and I do—very well—" Alexi couldn’t hide a small smile. "He has a rabbit up his sleeve. And it’s probably a magic one at that."

"Just how well do you know him? He seems awfully strange to me sometimes," Jill asked.

"Well, for starters, I married h is best friend. Sometimes—" it was hard not to be brutally honest with yourself when the next minute might be your last, "—I think I only did that because I knew I couldn’t have Seabrook. Not that I didn’t love Wolfgang Amadeus Brookstone, but I loved Seabrook more. He was the first honest-to-goodness knight in shining armor I ever met."

"What!" Jill blurted out, shocked at her friend’s revelations.

"I was with Seabrook on the old DILIGENCE, before he went into Intelligence; and on the GALILEO." Alexi shifted the focus of her conversation. "If anybody can get us out of this, he can. I trust him with my very life. Which, by the way, is exactly what I’m doing right now."

"But—Alexi--!"

"Keep that to yourself. Even Seabrook doesn’t know. We’re the best of friends now, and I wouldn’t want anything to mess that up. Promise?"

Jill didn’t answer.

"Promise, Jill?" Alexi was almost pleading.

"O.K., O.K. I promise. But it’s a hell of a thing to have to keep to myself."

"Just do it."

"I said I would. And I will."

Alexi reached out and grabbed Jill’s arm. "Uh oh. We’ve got company."

One of the creatures had appeared about 20 feet from them. It was looking around as though it knew Alexi and Jill were there, but not exactly sure where. Unfortunately, it blocked their only escape route.

Alexi whispered, "I know the Captain ordered us not to engage one of these things, but I’m tired of running. I’m ready to kick some serious butt! How about you?"

Jill’s answer was to draw her phaser.

"Atta girl. Shall we?" Alexi drew her own weapon and tensed her muscles, ready for the fight she knew was coming.

LCDR Seabrook’s voice in their earphones stopped them. The crouched back down behind the boulder as they listened to his explanation with growing relief.

"It’s so damned simple, why didn’t I think of it?" Jill had a grin on her face.

"I told you Seabrook would come through, didn’t I?" Alexi’s voice was filled with triumph.

"You did. You did."

Within arm’s reach of them, four bottles of oxygen materialized. Two were close to Jill and two were close to Alexi.

"Well," Alexi crowed. "It’s time for what’s behind Door Number Three!"

"Huh?"

"Never mind. Let’s see what some good ol’ air does to these ugly bastards."

With that, Alexi stood up, clutching one of the oxygen bottles. The creature immediately began moving toward her, reaching out with its claws. Alexi waited. And waited.

"Damn it, Alexi! Don’t wait too long!" Jill was standing just behind and to the right of Alexi with her own bottle.

The creature came closer. Finally, Alexi turned the release valve and a stream of 95% pure oxygen hit it in the face. She would swear later ("On my Mother’s sacred honor!") that it looked like the creature’s eyes popped out of its head with shock when the oxygen hit it.

The effect was almost instantaneous. The monster stopped, waved its arms and tentacles around wildly as if to ward off the oxygen, and fell down in a spastic heap. A vile-looking, purplish-orange fluid began to gush from between the razor-sharp teeth. With one final jerk of its limbs, it was dead.

"Ya hoo!" Jill performed a clumsy victory dance. "Let’s go get ‘em!"

Throughout the tunnels and shafts beneath Planet S329, the same scene played out over and over again. The number of creatures kept getting smaller and smaller.

And then there were none.

The survivors looked at each other without speaking, exhaustion showing in slumped shoulders and bowed heads.

Finally there was time.

Time for the crews of the EXCALIBUR and the SARATOGA to lick their wounds.

And time to mourn their dead.

With the exception of Seabrook and Samira, every person seated around the briefing table had injuries. The stress they had undergone and their too-close-for-comfort brushes with certain death were mirrored in their haunted eyes.

Captain Donaree was no exception. Her voice was subdued. "Ladies and Gentlemen. I believe we all owe a debt of gratitude to Commander Seabrook. Without him, I don’t believe any of us would be sitting here right now."

"Actually, Captain, it was Lieutenant Samira who found the answer. I just had the clout to put it into action. Your thanks should go to him, not me."

For the first time in his life, LTJG Samira blushed, embarrassed by the attention directed at him.

"I’m sure you’re too modest, Commander," Captain Donaree continued. "My report to Admiral Brannon on this mission will include a strong recommendation for the highest possible decoration for each of you."

Seabrook inclined his head in appreciation, then straightened up and stared at Captain Donaree. "There is one other thing, Captain, that I think we need to look at," he said impassively.

"And that is?" Captain Donaree knew immediately she wasn’t going to like what Seabrook had to say.

"What were they protecting? And why? Our scans show a gigantic cavern close by. What’s in it? Doctor Saentz has discovered that these BEMs were genetically engineered. By whom?"

"BEMs?" someone asked.

"Bug-eyed Monsters," Donaree answered automatically. She was thoughtful for a moment. The idea of going back down to the hellhole called Planet S329 sent a shudder through her body. It was obvious from the expressions on other faces around the table that she was not alone.

"That would mean going back down," Jill’s voice was flat and emotionless.

"Yes. It would," Seabrook agreed.

"Diana is still in Sickbay," Donaree reminded him gently. One of the most seriously wounded, Diana Varro’s fate was still up in the air. Dr. Saentz and her medical team were with Varro around the clock, doing everything in their power to save her. The ashen expression on Seabrook’s face told Donaree that he was well aware of that fact. "And you still think we should go back down?"

Seabrook nodded slowly, silently.

No one spoke.

Finally, from the end of the table, came the subdued voice of Alexi Brookstone.

"Justice divine has weighed: the doom is clear.