Free The Oppressor's Wrong by Phaedra M. Weldon Page B

field.”
    â€œHe’s toying with us,” Picard said under his breath. “Whoever planted that bomb is toying with us.”
    â€œSir,” Berardi said. “Commander Riker’s hailing us.”
    â€œOn-screen.”
    A bruised and dirtied first officer appeared on the screen. The light was dim and a haze blurred the background. “Number One, where are you?”
    Riker coughed.
“We’re on deck twenty-seven, about twenty meters away from Data’s last known coordinates. The few systems working on this deck report a shield is up to contain the hull breach.”
He glanced off-screen.
“But that’s not going to last long. The coupling’s damaged. When that goes, the whole deck will be purged of atmosphere.”
    â€œFind our people and get out of there. I’ll have La Forge get to work on pinpointing and deactivating that dampening field.”
    â€œRiker out.”
    Picard turned back to his chair and looked at it.
    Irritation turned to anger that built slowly from his solar plexus, burned upward into his chest. His thoughts centered around the sadness and loss he’d held in check since the destruction of the
Samson,
as well as the tragic death of Linda Addison, an innocent woman.
    He and the crew had defeated
that
Changeling—but hadn’t destroyed it.
    And now it appeared there were more in the Alpha Quadrant, on Earth destroying her defenses as well as here toying with innocent lives again. He would not stand for it.
    Not again.
    Someone touched his arm. He looked to his left where Troi sat beside him. Her large black eyes focused on his. “Captain, we’ll find the admiral, as well as Data and the others.”
    He nodded. “And then we’ll find the Changeling that did this—and this time, he won’t get away.”
    *   *   *
    Daniels woke to the sound of creaking metal. The light was diffused as the auxiliary power brought the emergency lights online. His nose and mouth were filled with dust. He tasted something metallic in the back of his throat. Something was pinning him down, keeping him from moving. His head
hurt.
    The creaking sounded again and he heard someone else cough nearby. A beam of light blinded him, and he closed his eyes.
    Data’s voice echoed above him. “Captain, I have located Lieutenant Daniels and Ensign Niles. Niles is unconscious. Daniels is injured but responsive.”
    Daniels took in a deep breath and abruptly coughed. He was on his right side, his head pressed up against something hard.
    â€œHold still,” Data said from above.
    The pressure on his chest eased and he could move. Daniels pulled at the bulkhead debris surrounding him. His head throbbed with each cough.
    â€œThe tricorder is picking up Admiral Hahn’s combadge several meters ahead. Mr. La Forge has also informed me there is a hull breach exactly ten meters in that same direction. The force field shielding it is weakening.”
    Daniels managed to push himself up into a sitting position.
    Data knelt down beside him. “How do you feel?”
    He blinked at Data several times. His vision blurred and he put his hand to the right side of his forehead. His fingers came away wet and sticky. “Like I was hit by a bulkhead.”
    â€œThat is a very accurate approximation of what happened. Mr. Lynch and I appear to have sustained lessdamage. Mr. Niles is unresponsive, and Lieutenant Huff has a broken leg as well as probable internal injuries.”
    Daniels nodded, tried to push himself up. The beam he was using for leverage gave way with a loud crash, but Data stood and pulled him upright by his arm. Once he could stand without wobbling, Daniels said, “We need to beam them to sickbay.”
    â€œThe
Enterprise
is unable to lock onto our signals. There is still an inhibitor working.”
    Daniels frowned at Data. “But how is that possible? The bomb went off. That means it’s