EP 4 ACT 3
Captain Christian heaved the pressure door open, unable to control the weighty hatch from beneath as it passed beyond its apex and slammed with a deep metallic clunk! against the wall beside it. Reaching up to the next deck's floor he hauled himself into a sitting position with his legs dangling into the shaft below. Souveson handed him her torch pen and he flashed it around the warm and humid low-ceilinged octagonal room.
Only a few metres in diameter, immediately he saw that the walls were wet and rusty, streaked brown, green and cream and identified the offending overhead pipe that had been seeping for the past five years or so. Despite the damage and slime-coated walls, there was only a thin layer of liquid held on the surrounding floor.
"This is it," he whispered. "The hatch to the secondary bridge is above us."
Careful not to slip on the wet surface, Christian stood, bracing himself against a cold feeling conduit and lent a hand to the security Ensign, pulling her up to join him.
"Phew! What's that smell?" she winced. "Effluent?"
"This looks like an old style waste reclamation unit," Christian tiptoed over to the rungs beneath the next deck observing the mechanical equipment and piping around the room's skirting.
Souveson came up behind the Captain as he began the short climb and couldn't help looking at his muscular butt. "I thought they went out of use decades ago."
"Our Engineer told us the ship's history spanned more than a century, I guess this was one of the areas not to be given an upgrade," Christian poised with feet on different rungs, reaching up to the ceiling and sticking his arse out.
Souveson had to force herself to look away and she scolded herself for succumbing to such an uncontrolled lusty feeling. During her time at the Academy, the Ensign had not participated in the dating game with her peers, preferring to mix rather with those who enjoyed sport and the excitement of the Academy training than those into personal relationships. She had ridiculed other classmates for fancying the Academy tutors and senior officers, and now here she was - a graduated Ensign - doing exactly the same. It made her a little mad and a little more confused.
Christian gripped the locking wheel on the hatch above and heaved hard, but it wouldn't budge. Balancing precariously, he took the wheel in both hands and gave an almighty wrench, only to lose his grip and his footing and come crashing down, splashing onto the slimy deck. "Yeoow!"
"Captain! Are you okay?" Souveson crouched over him.
Christian recoiled from the wet and the smell that had penetrated his uniform and clung to his hair and heaved himself up. "Oh dammit." As he stood, liquid trickled from his hair down his neck and under his clothes along his spine. The Ensign was fussing. "I'm fine, Ensign."
Souveson turned to the ladder, smiling to herself privately, and ascended as high as she could. Christian watched as the young woman hunched over, putting her shoulder as close to the wheel as possible and gripping hard yanked it first tighter shut and then once back the other way.
The hatch then opened with ease causing Christian to smirk at his own stupidity. "Well done that man," he said, climbing onto the ladder and following his junior.
* * *
Leonard worked as fast as he could, fiddling with the communication panel in the corridor while Hedrik kept a watch from the farthest corner.
"Are you done yet?" Hedrik whispered as loudly as she could.
"One more minute," the German's fingers were lacerated from the sharp wire and bits of metal he was using to sabotage the panel.
Hedrik turned back to peek around her corner and felt her stomach sink as she saw four of the K'Tani soldiers approaching. She paused for only a fraction of a second to take in their figure-hugging uniforms. Their hands and even their faces were covered, and the oddly shaped patches of colour on the uniforms were like a camouflage of sorts - but Hedrik couldn't think of the location where such a camouflage would work save for a landscape of multicoloured confection.
The head-mounted weapons were bizarre but she guessed extremely accurate and as quickly and quietly as she could, she sidled back, turned and ran on tiptoe to where the Starfleet engineer still had his arms elbow-deep inside the corridor wall.
Leonard saw the frightened look on Hedrik's face as she got close, and his hands fumbled as he made the last few adjustments. Hedrik passed him and turned the next corner, quickly popping her head back to shout/whisper "Come on!!"
Leonard didn't have time to replace the panel as the Orion woman grabbed his arm and forcefully pulled him round the corner and into a sprint towards the Jeffries tube they had emerged from earlier.
Clambering swiftly and silently inside, Leonard whispered: "I've rigged the unit to overload as soon as it detects sounds above a certain decibel."
Hedrik suddenly thought that the level of noise the soldiers were making in their controlled march would not be loud enough so she poked her head out of the grill and shouted. "Hey! We're here, you bastards!" Leonard simultaneously pulled on Hedrik and the two broke into a sprinting crawl to get away from the ensuing explosion of sound and wall.
The noise of the K'Tani's running feet caused the commlink to kick in, and the unit emitted an increasingly loud wail, its powerful system creating a sound intense enough to cause Hedrik and Leonard to grasp their ears in pain. Leonard hoped that unconsciousness would take the soldiers out before the commpanel circuits overloaded and exploded.
As the noise reached a crescendo and died without exploding, Hedrik and Leonard paused, only to hear the pounding feet of more soldiers running around. "Why didn't it explode?" Hedrik asked.
"There must be additional safety features I hadn't accounted for," he said dejected. "Well, at least we've got their attention."
* * *
RUNABOUT HUDSON
Lirik perched behind Reb and a still teary-eyed Cadet Yip stood behind Struckchev as the runabout turned into yet another eddy.
"This isn't looking hopeful," the Commander commented negatively.
"At least we know there are only so many paths the Fantasy could take," Lirik retorted. "The asteroid field is just too dense in certain places for them to pass through safely."
Reb coughed and said: "Actually, that's what's making our search hard - even we cannot continue through at certain points. And there are literally thousands of possible courses the ship may have followed."
"I know I've said it already, Yeoman, but we don't even know if the Fantasy made it this far," the burly Kosovan turned in his chair and looked at him defiantly. "They might still be back in Vekarian space - or even have been captured or destroyed by now."
Lirik bit his lip. "Maybe we're going about this the wrong way. Maybe we shouldn't be looking for evidence of the ship, but rather at the surrounding space where the ship may have been."
Yip stepped aside as the portly Yeoman approached the small science station behind the co-pilot. "I'll scan for any anomalous residue on the asteroids themselves. Perhaps they got bumped by the Fantasy as she passed by."
Almost as soon as Lirik had finished his sentence, the computer trilled a response.
"You've found something?" Reb asked eagerly - he didn't relish the thought of kicking around the Outer Zone in just a runabout for the rest of his days.
Lirik smiled. "Actually, I'm scanning a small wormhole not far from here. It's spewed neutrinos into the surrounding area, indicating something has passed through recently."
Reb, thinking laterally, reached for the 2D map of the local area he and Lirik had studied earlier. "I thought the Vekarian wormhole was the only one in this part of space?"
"Perhaps it's a way home?" the Cadet spoke nervously.
"Interesting," Lirik made several confirmations, "I hypothesise that this wormhole is a bi-product of the exploded Vekarian wormhole."
Commander Struckchev was studying the same data on his own screens. "If the K'Tani created it, then surely it's logical to deduce that they are they ones who passed through it."
Reb suddenly had an idea. "Lirik, can you give me an accurate heading from here?"
Lirik followed his train of thought and entered the co-ordinates into the navigation station, smiling. Reb then overlayed the recorded flight path since the runabout had left the Fantasy and linked it to the previous heading Lirik had given. Suddenly the map changed focus to indicate Vekaria, the estimated course of the Fantasy, and the runabout's flight path. Lirik then called up the coordinates of the Vekarian wormhole and drew a line between it and the location of this newer, smaller wormhole.
It was plain for all to see - the lined crossed paths with the Fantasy's predicted course, indicating that the Fantasy could have passed through a wormhole to reach this part of the Outer Zone.
"And look, the transmission we detected also coincides with this departure point beyond the wormhole. I'd bet my boots the ship that passed through it was the Fantasy," Lirik said. "Bloody well done, Reb."
Struckchev interrupted their joyful exchange brusquely. "Sensors are detecting eight vessels but they're approximately 247 minutes away."
Lirik's face dropped. Reb gripped Lirik by the arm, his skin tingling as it contacted the protective shield around the Yeoman's body. It was a strange move, but one that made Lirik feel warm inside. "Don't tell me we're going to lead them away again?"
"Not if we can find the Fantasy quickly, lay in a course and take us there as fast as you can," Lirik ordered.
Rebbik saw that if they passed through a thick part of the field they could be there a lot sooner: "Hang on, then." The three others stumbled slightly as Rebbik pulled the runabout hard to port and accelerated into the field, rollercoastering them hard.
* * *
"Okay, try it again," Christian secured the airlock's control panel as Souveson pumped the manual lock arm. This time the hatch parted. The Ensign could not see any light above and continued to shunt the hatch until it was wide enough for her to poke her head and shoulders through. She took the torch from her Captain and shone it up into the room.
The bronze metallic sheen of the overhead support struts bounced light down into the Secondary bridge. It was clean, formal and deadly quiet, a musty smell hanging in the air. Putting the torch between her teeth, Souveson clambered onto the carpeted deck and pulled on a nearby console to a standing position. Shiningthelightaroundthesmallerbridgespace,she sawtheplushcreamchairsandseveralornateuplighters lent an almost art deco look to the room.
"Bridge is secure, Captain. I think the air filters are faulty - I will look for the plant room," Souveson walked round the helm station and up several wide stepstotherear, passingbytheCaptain'sReadyRoomthatoverlookedthewholebridgebehindsmokedglassandintothe utility area at the rear of the small deck.
Christian pulled himself onto the Bridge and as a precaution, he released the hatch holding pins to re-seal the room. As the Ensign disappeared from view, the light faded and died, leaving the Captain standing in darkness. In fact it was pitch black, and he felt suddenly claustrophobic.
A distant mechanical noise heralded a warm pinkish light from the ornate, gold-effect up-lighters around the bridge. Christian noticed the deck was carpeted wall to wall, the coffee coloured carpet blending into stylised teak-effect work stations which fed into the bronze supports and ceiling struts that arced overhead, coming together in a chandelier-effect sensor cluster above the raised centre seat.
A hefty gush of icy cold air poured in from overhead vents, causing the Captain to shudder. In seconds, the bridge was almost at freezing point, spurring the Captain to assist the Ensign in her bumbling ignition protocols.
Passing by, Christian noticed the Captain's ready room was almost entirely intact, and included personal artefacts - even colourful old-style datacards were strewn about the antique walnut desk. His instinct was to go in and investigate, but the chill was making his skin tighten and his fingers numb.
Walking past a small service bar and an even smaller head, Christian found the small French Canadian squatting behind a grilled wall amid storage crates. The life support units for the deck were exposed mechanisms of seemingly limited capacity, and it appeared the heating elements were not functioning properly.
"I don't think we can do anything about the cold, so shut down the blowers," Christian ordered. He noticed the bridge command power grid on the wall in front of him and studied it carefully. As he had hoped, there was a sequence for isolation mode, so that the bridge could operate without detection or interference from the rest of the ship. He had come to realise that the SS Fantasy had been organised to handle any situation, from external phaser attack to internal terrorist activities, the command functions having backups for the backups and redundant and emergency systems for all eventualities.
Switching the 'stealth' mode sequence into activation, the heaters suddenly fired, and Ensign Souveson beamed. "Normally I don't mind the cold, being from Quebec." The Captain smiled back. "Where are you from, Captain? Your accent sounds West Coast."
"Yes, Ensign" Christian mused, checking out the empty crates in the maintenance bay, "that would be West Coast of just about everywhere. I was born on stage on board a sea-going vessel in the Pacific Ocean, actually."
Christian walked away, entering the bridge area, now alive with flashing lights and computer murmurings.
"On stage�?" Souveson trotted a few paces behind. As she was about to quizz him further, the main viewscreen jumped into life, showing the 'ahead' view of the swirling asteroid field giving way here and there to star studded blackness of open space beyond. Christian located the tactical display on what looked like a science configured station. Slipping into the chair, he was surprised at the luxuriant softness of the padding. He made himself more comfortable, feeling the chair moulding to his body type, and called up the navigational display.
The sharp intake of breath from Souveson behind him jerked Christian's head up to see the main viewscreen presenting a starmap of their 'local' position with the SS Fantasy in the centre. Nearby, a small blip was weaving its way through the asteroid field toward them. Further off in the bottom left corner, eight blips and behind them two more sets of four blips were also on a direct heading for their position.
"Doesn't look good," the Captain pursed his lips, working out the station's command configuration. Finding the logic centre, he called up an interactive program and slowly fed the computer all the data it needed to analyse the detected craft. Unfortunately, the response was to blank all screens bar the phrase 'Main Sensors Off Line'. "Computer!" Christian bellowed, but the spoken words fell on no mechanical ears. "It must be screen interface only. There's no ship outside, so we can only deduce they were either beamed aboard by that approaching vessel, or that they were already here."
"Can we take control of the ship from here?" the Ensign felt sure he would answer yes; most of the bridge stations were active, even though some systems appeared off-line.
Christian gave an ironic smirk. "I'm afraid not. While the main computer core has been activated, most of the internal command sequences have been removed. If we want to affect the rest of the ship, we'll have to do it manually."
Souveson looked around the bridge and found what looked a lot like the station on the main bridge configured for the Purser. Here too she hoped to find internal sensors and take a look at their situation on board. "Captain!" Souveson became exited as she scrolled through the command section's decks. Before he could respond, she had posted the image to the main viewscreen. Hundreds of dots were accumulated in the main shuttlebay, only a few others in what must have been the makeshift sick bay, and aside from that just two more dots that were close by to their own position.
"It seems that most of our people are being held in the main shuttlebay, apart from the ones who can't be moved due to injury," Christian said. "We're in isolation mode, so we won't be detected. Can you tell who are the K'Tani?"
Souveson shook her head. "It's just a basic heart-monitor detection system - doesn't even recognise air movement, heat or weight distribution."
Christian studied the read-outs hard. "That's odd; aside from the two main groups it seems the only other K'Tani are these two headed for us."
"There's no one even on the bridge - or in engineering. Where are all the others?" Souveson asked. "Those two are only about thirty metres away, approaching our position, though I'm not sure how - there's no plan view, just these side elevation displays."
"If they're coming for us, we must have been detected. See if you can seal us off. I have a hunch. I'm going to try and take a closer look at that approaching ship," Christian began to stab frantically at the lcars panelling around the science station, hoping to realign the deflector system they were using to take a look at the nearby ship.
Souveson felt helpless. She had stupidly left her phaser with the main group, and aside from her small torch cutter she had no weapon. As she searched for an ammo store, she got the feeling that perhaps their own concealment would be short lived.
* * *
"Shouldn't we hail them?" Cadet Lee finally said after toying with the question in her head for several minutes.
Struckchev left his co-pilot seat and walked to the phaser cupboard. "Not if we want to remain undetected. Thankfully the asteroids in this stream are irradiated so should provide sufficient cover from sensors, but communications could cut through that."
"How long to the Fantasy?" Lirik asked, leaning against the airlock with his arms folded, frowning - he felt surprisingly tense, perhaps at the back of his mind wondering what to expect from Captain Christian following his insubordination.
"About five minutes," Rebbik snapped, intent upon the viewports with only the occasional glance at the tactical monitor, both hands splayed across the flight controls.
"And the other ships?" Lirik pressed.
"YOU look, dammit!" Rebbik cracked, causing the Englishman to cast his eyes skyward and take Struckchev's seat.
"They've made good time," Lirik said pushing at the coloured bars on the starboard panel, "they're only about ninety minutes away now. I should be able to get a visual of the Fantasy's position any second."
Lirik had served in a whole host of different roles during his Starfleet career. Before joining the Diplomatic Corps he had been assigned undercover officer-level operative duties more than a few times, learning on intelligence 'crammer' courses the basics of most ship-board duties. While experience and trial and error had provided the rest of the education he needed, he nevertheless enhanced his abilities while enjoying holodeck time either swatting Starfleet situation procedures or playing the role of a variety of positions in 'normal' Starfleet exercise programs.
Not many people knew of this, however, as so few people ever got too close to Lirik. The once-Yeoman's belief was that it kept him sharp, though in reality the game-playing was yet another way of getting out of himself (away from others) and achieving a false though improved sense of self worth. Outwardly, Lirik always stated that if he excelled in as many different areas as he could, he would attain a position of authority among his peers and thus give him a kind of disassociated acceptance. He was both blessed and cursed by an insatiable curiosity and a good imagination that kept him active and yet aloof.
Several minutes later, after many scans through varying spectra and having successfully filtering out of the local radiation, Lirik identified a generous displacement wave of space matter following a slow moving eddy within the vast asteroid field. Only a few seconds later, a blob of blocked out stars on the advance monitor gave the first visual sign of the Fantasy. "There she is," Struckchev said in a soft whisper.
Lirik turned to see the taller man had equipped himself with a tricorder and phaser. Knowing that he had disabled the dematerialising function of all onboard phasers (perhaps an over-zealous precaution on his part) aside that is from his own which he was carrying concealed in the back of his trousers, Lirik said: "There's no need to arm yourself, Commander. You're among friends now."
The Kosovan handed a phaser to his Cadet. "Come now, Mister Lirik, surely you haven't forgotten that Starfleet regulations state that potentially hostile situations require the bearing of arms? You don't know what's happened on board her since you've been away."
Lirik swallowed. In a way, it was true. But considering the ship appeared to be heading along the same trajectory and no other ship was near her, he had automatically assumed the ship was much as he and Reb had left it.
* * *
Souveson finally managed to call up the detailed deck plans surrounding the secondary bridge on the life signs monitor board of the Purser's station. In the process she had found that this - almost unheard of in Starfleet - piece of software was essentially a network of logic units that automatically and independently hooked into most ship's systems to monitor biological life signs. However, while only the communications system seemed to have an operative interface with the software, the Ensign assumed this was only because Hedrik had managed to get a comm network of sorts up and running. The other systems were largely off line, broken or removed."
"I've located all the conduit the K'Tani are using to get to us, Captain," Souveson said.
Christian was angry. It was the first time the Ensign had seen the Captain lose control, and seemed to come mostly from frustration at not being able to use the ship's limited capability to scan the approaching ships. Moreover, he had already mooted the probability that they would have to take the ship back between just the two of them. Slamming the console hard with his fist, Christian finally gave up. Turning to the Ensign he controlled himself upon seeing her cautious expression - for a security specialist, Souveson was not that good at concealing her emotions.
Without talking, the Captain crossed to her station and leant over, studying the displays. Warmed by the life support system, the Captain had removed his jacket and had his sweat-stained red undershirt unzipped to the chest. Turning her head briefly, Souveson could see beneath the cloth at her commanding officer's softly haired naked chest.
"They'll be on us in no time," Christian said, straightening. "There's another access shaft running down the sheering plane forward of the bridge," he said nodding toward the narrow corridor that passed behind the main viewscreen, "we can make our escape that way."
"And then?" Souveson said, watching the Captain make his way forward, scooping up his jacket en route.
"We look for a way to take the ship back some other way," he said. He noticed the Ensign hadn't moved from her chair. "Something wrong?"
Souveson bit her lip, her blue eyes darting from the rear of the bridge toward the Captain. "Begging the Captain's pardon, but shouldn't we try and take out these two K'Tani? They may have weapons or devices that might help us?"
"We're unarmed, Ensign," Christian said flatly, "if they take us, the rest of the crew don't have a chance."
It wasn't part of a Security officer's training to retreat for the sake of retreat, and while his justification was logical, it was also against her better judgement. Souveson felt that this was the hardest matter of protocol to deal with since graduation, even though she knew that there would come a time when she had to follow orders that conflicted with all her training and instincts. Strangely, though, the thought was immediately followed by the comfort that at least he was in as deep as she, and as her superior, he would ultimately take responsibility for this action. She just hoped that her death wouldn't be the result.
* * *
"The shuttlebay doors aren't open," Lirik commented peering into the distance.
"They don't appear to have seen us," Reb said, able to speak calmly now that they were through the worst of the asteroid field and coming up on the Fantasy fast.
Struckchev stood calmly next to Cadet Yip, trying to get a sensor lock on the ship to no avail.
"Bring us up on a parallel course," Lirik instructed, "doesn't matter which side, then bring her close to the upper turret of the command section. We should be able to make ourselves known to those who can see through the windows."
Reb accelerated slightly and the runabout soon was within metres of the ship. The Hudson rocked slightly in the Fantasy's wake.
"There appears to be damage to one of the impulse exhausts," Yip noticed, pointing to the nearby engine. Lirik noted her comment, but wondered if it had been there before they left Helub.
Slowly taking the runabout up toward the ship's summit, Lirik saw for the first time the windows to the decks on the turret below the bridge. They looked like quarters, and from what he could tell they had been recently occupied, though now were empty.
Struckchev exchanged a look with Lirik, having given up on the sensors, and assisted in the visual scan. "Mister Yip, go to the rear and keep an eye out for anything unusual."
Yip nodded and skipped off to the back of the runabout. Slowly Reb edged the Hudson even closer to the huge black hulk of the vessel, the passenger section sweeping off into the distance before them. The small ship was now almost parallel with the bridge deck, and the ship inched forward until the observation lounge was in sight.
"There!" Struckchev yelped. Lirik and Reb could see nothing. "I could have sworn I saw something move - something small." Lirik didn't discount the possibility, but now knew that something was wrong.
"The bridge has overhead ports, can you take us over them?" Lirik asked. Reb's answer was to drop the runabout back by easing off the speed and letting the Fantasy pass underneath them. Once at the rear again, he accelerated the runabout up and above the apex of the turret on the command section. "You'll have to go slightly ahead so we can see out of the rear windows."
Lirik and Struckchev leapt off into the back. Clambering over the retreived equipment and supplies, the two men plus Yip pressed their faces into the cool glass of the rear viewports and peered down into the ship's main bridge via the small skylights.
"There's no-one there," Yip said first.
Lirik didn't understand. "Why would they have left the bridge?"
"Perhaps the area was no longer habitable. We should take a look at the rest of the ship," Commander Struckchev went back to the cockpit ahead of Lirik, who just stared back down on the top of the Fantasy and tried to think of all the possibilities.
* * *
It hadn't occurred to the Captain or to Ensign Souveson that their way down through the forward access shaft might be blocked. From what it looked like, the plate behind the hatch had been soldered shut, and Souveson was using a discarded rag to hold an overheating cutter pen to slowly slice through the seal. Christian stood watch in the corridor behind, peering onto the bridge every now and again. As he turned back to check on the Ensign's progress, he noticed through the skylight slits above something pass overhead.
"What the hell�?" Christian couldn't believe it, there was another ship. Souveson stopped her own work and stood on tiptoe to look through the skylight just above her own position.
"It looks like the Hudson!" Souveson almost squeaked excitedly.
Christian had an eery feeling and ran back onto the bridge to the science station. Sure enough, the blip that had been closing on them was now directly on them. He flipped the viewscreen to forward view and saw the small Starfleet vessel coasting slowly above the entire length of the Fantasy, checking her out. "It must have been Lirik and Rebbik all along," Christian smiled. He wondered about transmitting a message, but decided against it when he heard the access panel to the rear of the bridge being shunted open.
Silently he ran back to join the Ensign who had cut through two thirds of the seal. Taking her arm, he pulled her roughly to one side and raised his right leg. Aiming his foot his kicked the panel with the ball of his foot. The metal nudged slightly and Souveson moved in tight to join him. Together, two and a half kicks later, the panel behind snapped, falling into the shaft below.
* * *
Just as Christian followed Souveson into the shaft below, Lieutenant Commander Leonard and Hedrik came through the shaft to the rear of the bridge.
"You were right, there is power here," Hedrik smiled, thankful that the deck appeared warm and empty.
Leonard steadied himself on her firm arms as he pulled himself up, repositioning his glasses and running his big dirty hands through the thick blonde hair of his head. Holding her back, he heroically led the way forward while Hedrik reclosed the shaft behind.
"The Secondary Bridge is running on stealth mode," Leonard whispered. "It must have been where the K'Tani were hiding." Hedrik's eyes skipped around, looking to see if there were any K'Tani still present, and as she moved forward she saw the image on the main viewscreen ahead of her.
"Oh my God, look!" she said. Leonard didn't know what to expect to see, but was pleasantly surprised to see it was the familiar shape of the diplomatic runabout Hudson.
Trotting down into the main bridge, Leonard looked around, then found the Operations station. Trying to click on the hail, the system returned an on-screen fault message. "Go into the power room, flick the power on to main system," he asked of Hedrik who nodded.
The Orion woman studied the power grid configuration, then flicked the two switches and selected the appropriate mode. Instantly, a 'fszssshp!' sound could be heard from the main bridge area.
"No!" she heard Leonard shout, and peered beyond the grill wall to see several K'Tani soldiers, clad head to foot, surrounding the Lieutenant Commander. She frowned, wondering how the hell they could have appeared so suddenly. Before she could react, one of the soldiers belted Leonard across the jaw with the back of her hand. Hedrik watched as the Starfleet officer fell unmoving to the deck and she wondered what her next move should be.
It only took her a couple of seconds to work it out. She turned back to the power grid and reached up, only to have the wind knocked out of her from behind. She slammed into the wall in front, the power console digging into her head as she fell. Weak and bleeding, she turned to see the K'Tani soldier raise a hand before everything went black.
* * *
***
ACT 4