Post by Owen Watkin on Jan 2, 2006 9:54:13 GMT 10
Five days with the Bajoran Resistance
By Chris Owens
On Starbase 21 we had joked about the 4 & 5 day tours that Bajoran Freedom Fighters would put up for Federation Journalists and a Betazed told me I’d have to be fit, he’d done four years in Starfleet Security and still he had to be carried out, by a human no less, ha, I thought, if a guy can’t walk around mountains for a few days he’s not worth much, I was wrong, for a start they don’t walk they run and they don’t go around the mountains, they go straight over the top.
Day 1.
The four of us met for the first time on the hanger deck of Starbase 21, two humans, one Betazed & a Vulcan, we had all been surgically altered to pass for Bajorans and supplied with Bajoran i.d. After a briefing by Starfleet Security in which a Lt Ross made it quite plan to us that if we were discovered by the Cardassians they could do nothing to aid us. A Bajoran woman named Boric Sena took us on board her cargo ship the Mindera and after a brief preflight check we started our 5 hour flight to Bajoran space.
It was now that I got to know my fellow Journalists, the other human, a man named Mark Anderson from New Berlin, worked for the federation news service as do I, the Betazed was named Ragg Tytik and worked for an independent news service he used to be in Starfleet security and was the only one of us who had visited Bajor before, the Vulcan was called Shonon, he was with the Vulcan news service. Before we knew it we were approaching Bajoran space.
“This is the Cardassian warship Temara calling unidentified Bajoran ship, identify self”
“Bajoran ship Mindera returning with crew & cargo” Sena replied
“Come to a full stop & prepare to be boarded “
Sena sighed, “They are going to board us, be calm, and it will be alright”
Suddenly the sound of transporters filled the bridge and six heavily armed Cardassians materialized. “You are the captain of this ship?” “yes, I am called Sena “
The Cardassian did not even look at her as she replied to him, as he directed his soldiers to search the ship two went to the cargo hold, while two searched us and our property, leaving the Cardassian commander with one soldier to do the bridge. They were only on board for 30 minutes but it took us over an hour to clean up after they had left, soon after I got my first look at Bajor, from this far up Bajor looked so beautiful, blue and peaceful, but looking out a port side window Terok nor was clearly visible with several warships making sure that we kept our distance as we headed for our designated landing zone on Bajor.
After an uneventful landing at which time we were searched again at a Cardassian entry point. Finally we were able to board a land transporter and we headed to Dahkur Province, it was a long trip, over a dirt road with large potholes, through war torn countryside and still more check points, when we reached the base of the Dahkur Mountains we went the rest of the way on foot with our gear being carried by Dujars( a pack animal native to Bajor, looks like a cross between a mule and an ox.).
Soon after we started our ascent I had the feeling that we were being watched, I told Sena how I felt, “yes” she smiled, “the Shakaar resistance cell has been watching us since we started our ascent”, the resistance chose that moment to show themselves, there was over a dozen of them, both men and women, armed with a variety of weapons, they looked dirty and hungry. Sena introduced the four of us to their leader, his name was Shakaar Edon. He handed Sena one of the two weapons that he carried then he shook hands with each of us, no weapons however were handed to any of us, the resistance now escorted us the rest of the way, Edon chatted with us as we walked, he seemed relaxed and friendly, but his eyes kept darting to the surrounding bush.
We walked higher and higher for several hours more, as we went on the air was getting thiner and colder, I was starting to wish that I had brought my Simdik fur coat with me.
Just short of the mountain peak we arrived at their camp, it was larger then I expected with 50-60 men and women ranging in age from small children to the elderly, all were dressed in rags, wore the unique Bajoran earring and were heavily armed with a mix of Bajoran, Cardassian and Federation weapons, plus a few others I did not recognise.
The smell of cooked food was strong, coming from several large cooking fires, we all looked hopefully at each other, it had been many hours since any of us had eaten and my fellow journalists looked as hungry as I felt, “Nerys, will you show our guests to their tent” “sure Edon, Follow me” We fell in to line behind this young girl with unkempt flaming red hair, and was carrying a weapon which was almost as large as she was, she led us to 2 two man tents, “Take your pick” she said and then just walked away before we could thank her,.Shonon carried his one bag in to the first tent so I followed him carrying my two shoulder bags and two brief cases, wishing that I could travel as light as he, the tent was sparsely furnished with just a mattress on the ground, one blanket and a small table for each of us, we had just finished unpacking when Eden came and invited us to have dinner with him and his staff, Ten minutes later we were sitting at Edon's table with Nerys and five other Bajorans, bottles of spring wine and a variety of food was laid out in front of us, most of it I did not recognise, Mark Anderson was really enjoying a plate of food but made the mistake of asking Edon what it was,”Ingot of Rakonian Swamp rat” Edon informed him, Mark declined to eat any more, Edon filled us in on what would be happening tomorrow.
“Mr Owens, you and Shonon will accompany my team, Mr Anderson and Tytik wil go with Sim Dohom to Riktor Province, we will all be back here in 2 days, get some sleep, we leave at 4 am.”
Anticipation of the next days events kept me from sleeping, Shonon, however was having no such problem, 04:00 came way to soon.
To be continued...
By Chris Owens
On Starbase 21 we had joked about the 4 & 5 day tours that Bajoran Freedom Fighters would put up for Federation Journalists and a Betazed told me I’d have to be fit, he’d done four years in Starfleet Security and still he had to be carried out, by a human no less, ha, I thought, if a guy can’t walk around mountains for a few days he’s not worth much, I was wrong, for a start they don’t walk they run and they don’t go around the mountains, they go straight over the top.
Day 1.
The four of us met for the first time on the hanger deck of Starbase 21, two humans, one Betazed & a Vulcan, we had all been surgically altered to pass for Bajorans and supplied with Bajoran i.d. After a briefing by Starfleet Security in which a Lt Ross made it quite plan to us that if we were discovered by the Cardassians they could do nothing to aid us. A Bajoran woman named Boric Sena took us on board her cargo ship the Mindera and after a brief preflight check we started our 5 hour flight to Bajoran space.
It was now that I got to know my fellow Journalists, the other human, a man named Mark Anderson from New Berlin, worked for the federation news service as do I, the Betazed was named Ragg Tytik and worked for an independent news service he used to be in Starfleet security and was the only one of us who had visited Bajor before, the Vulcan was called Shonon, he was with the Vulcan news service. Before we knew it we were approaching Bajoran space.
“This is the Cardassian warship Temara calling unidentified Bajoran ship, identify self”
“Bajoran ship Mindera returning with crew & cargo” Sena replied
“Come to a full stop & prepare to be boarded “
Sena sighed, “They are going to board us, be calm, and it will be alright”
Suddenly the sound of transporters filled the bridge and six heavily armed Cardassians materialized. “You are the captain of this ship?” “yes, I am called Sena “
The Cardassian did not even look at her as she replied to him, as he directed his soldiers to search the ship two went to the cargo hold, while two searched us and our property, leaving the Cardassian commander with one soldier to do the bridge. They were only on board for 30 minutes but it took us over an hour to clean up after they had left, soon after I got my first look at Bajor, from this far up Bajor looked so beautiful, blue and peaceful, but looking out a port side window Terok nor was clearly visible with several warships making sure that we kept our distance as we headed for our designated landing zone on Bajor.
After an uneventful landing at which time we were searched again at a Cardassian entry point. Finally we were able to board a land transporter and we headed to Dahkur Province, it was a long trip, over a dirt road with large potholes, through war torn countryside and still more check points, when we reached the base of the Dahkur Mountains we went the rest of the way on foot with our gear being carried by Dujars( a pack animal native to Bajor, looks like a cross between a mule and an ox.).
Soon after we started our ascent I had the feeling that we were being watched, I told Sena how I felt, “yes” she smiled, “the Shakaar resistance cell has been watching us since we started our ascent”, the resistance chose that moment to show themselves, there was over a dozen of them, both men and women, armed with a variety of weapons, they looked dirty and hungry. Sena introduced the four of us to their leader, his name was Shakaar Edon. He handed Sena one of the two weapons that he carried then he shook hands with each of us, no weapons however were handed to any of us, the resistance now escorted us the rest of the way, Edon chatted with us as we walked, he seemed relaxed and friendly, but his eyes kept darting to the surrounding bush.
We walked higher and higher for several hours more, as we went on the air was getting thiner and colder, I was starting to wish that I had brought my Simdik fur coat with me.
Just short of the mountain peak we arrived at their camp, it was larger then I expected with 50-60 men and women ranging in age from small children to the elderly, all were dressed in rags, wore the unique Bajoran earring and were heavily armed with a mix of Bajoran, Cardassian and Federation weapons, plus a few others I did not recognise.
The smell of cooked food was strong, coming from several large cooking fires, we all looked hopefully at each other, it had been many hours since any of us had eaten and my fellow journalists looked as hungry as I felt, “Nerys, will you show our guests to their tent” “sure Edon, Follow me” We fell in to line behind this young girl with unkempt flaming red hair, and was carrying a weapon which was almost as large as she was, she led us to 2 two man tents, “Take your pick” she said and then just walked away before we could thank her,.Shonon carried his one bag in to the first tent so I followed him carrying my two shoulder bags and two brief cases, wishing that I could travel as light as he, the tent was sparsely furnished with just a mattress on the ground, one blanket and a small table for each of us, we had just finished unpacking when Eden came and invited us to have dinner with him and his staff, Ten minutes later we were sitting at Edon's table with Nerys and five other Bajorans, bottles of spring wine and a variety of food was laid out in front of us, most of it I did not recognise, Mark Anderson was really enjoying a plate of food but made the mistake of asking Edon what it was,”Ingot of Rakonian Swamp rat” Edon informed him, Mark declined to eat any more, Edon filled us in on what would be happening tomorrow.
“Mr Owens, you and Shonon will accompany my team, Mr Anderson and Tytik wil go with Sim Dohom to Riktor Province, we will all be back here in 2 days, get some sleep, we leave at 4 am.”
Anticipation of the next days events kept me from sleeping, Shonon, however was having no such problem, 04:00 came way to soon.
To be continued...
