CHAPTER THREE

Tando and two other Maquis materialised on the transporter pads. Tando looked over at Riker. "Did it work?"

Riker nodded. "Absolutely. Majority of crew confined to quarters, senior staff locked in the brig."

"What do you plan to do with them?"

"That's for Ro to decide. Best option would be to maroon them somewhere and let Starfleet worry about finding them."

"Probably. Have you told Ro yet?"

"Didn't want to break communicator silence. We're on our way to the rendezvous point."

Michael started back into consciousness. He looked at the faces around him – Kira, Bashir, Reese and Barnes. "How long have I been out?"

"Couple of hours,"Reese replied. "Commander Shelby, Nog and Ezri are still out."

"There's no guard,"Kira told him. "I guess Tom didn't have enough men to spare."

Michael glanced up. "Computer, deactivate forcefield surrounding brig. Authorisation Billinghurst five beta zeta one six."

"Invalid authorisation,"came the response.

"Riker's erased all our codes,"Barnes explained.

Michael sighed. "Guess we'll have to do this the old-fashioned way. There should be a power terminal around here somewhere."

Riker, Tando and the other four hijackers were on the bridge. Riker sat in the command chair. He glanced at the crewman at the helm. "Time to intercept."

"Forty minutes."

"All right. Once we're within 2,000,000km of the rendezvous point we'll open hailing frequencies."

Michael was standing by Nog's side as the Ferengi engineer worked on the hatch leading to the power conduit. "What are you trying to do?"asked Reese. "Shut the power off?"

Michael shook his head. "Too risky. Mess about with that and we could shut down life support."

"We need to input the command codes directly into the computer,"Nog explained. "We're using this cable as a carrier wave."

Barnes was examining the panel. "If I'm reading this right, we're travelling at warp."

"That ship we fought wasn't in sensor range,"Shelby noted. "Maybe we're going to meet it."

Michael nodded. "Nog, if we got to Engineering how long would it take you to get the shields back online?"

Nog looked round despairingly. "One job at a time, Commodore."

"What are you thinking of doing?"Ezri asked.

"Putting an end to the Maquis once and for all."

The Maquis at tactical glanced at his board. "Tom, I'm getting fluctuations in the power grid."

Riker glanced across at the man at security. "Devan, go and check on the brig."

Nog finished his work. "Done."

"Good,"Michael replied. "Then deactivate this forcefield."

Nog worked the controls and the forcefield vanished. Michael, Kira, Shelby, Bashir, Reese, Barnes, Nog and Ezri piled out. They began collecting weapons from a nearby rack.

At that moment, Devan entered. Seeing the prisoners loose, he opened fire. Michael dived aside and fired his own phaser, stunning Devan. Bashir and Barnes dragged the unconscious Maquis into the brig and Michael switched on the forcefield. "Julian, stay here and guard him. The rest of you, come on. We're going to Engineering."

Riker paced back and forth on the bridge. "No response from Devan?"

Tando shook his head. "None. I'm getting worried."

"Me too. You have the bridge. I'm going to have a look around."

Michael, Kira, Shelby, Barnes, Reese, Nog and Ezri rushed into Engineering. "Nog, get the warp core offline,"Michael snapped. "Then see about transferring control of the ship here. Nerys, take Peter and Ashley and get up to the bridge. Ezri, you help Nog. Liz, come with me."

As the group dashed out, Nog and Ezri set to work at the warp core. "Disengage the locking clamps,"Nog instructed. "We're going to have to do this manually."

Michael and Shelby raced up to a junction box in the corridor. "What are you doing?"Shelby asked.

"I'm shutting off power on decks 12 through 15."

"That's where the crew quarters are."

"Exactly. It'll shut off the forcefields locking our crew in their quarters. I want you to get down there and take charge of them. It's time we took back what's ours."

"All fusion rods removed,"Ezri reported.

Nog adjusted the controls. "Shutting down now."

On the bridge, all the power was suddenly drained away as the ship drew to a halt. Tanda pressed his comlink. "Bridge to Riker. Tom, we've lost warp power!"

"There must be someone in Engineering,"Riker's voice came back. "I'm on my way there."

"We'll join you." Tando and the three other officers turned to leave – and found Kira, Barnes and Reese standing in the doorway, weapons raised.

"I think this would be a good time for you to surrender,"Kira commented.

Riker dashed into Engineering and saw Nog and Ezri standing by the warp core. "Get that thing back on," he snapped.

"It would take nearly half an hour,"Ezri retorted.

Riker fired his phaser at her, stunning her. He switched round to cover Nog. "Get it on!"

Nog went for his phaser and Riker fired again. No sooner had Nog crumpled though than the weapon was kicked out of his hand. Michael had entered behind him. He delivered two roundhouse punches to the former lieutenant's head. Riker threw his grip off and kicked Michael's legs away from under him. Michael dived aside as Riker leapt at him. The two men jumped to their feet, squaring up to each other. Riker made the first move, diving at Michael again. Michael slipped out of the way, delivering a karate chop to his back. Before Riker had recovered, Michael lifted him upright, delivering another punch to his face, before smashing his head against a nearby console, knocking him unconscious.

Michael checked on Nog and Ezri before pressing his comlink. "Billinghurst to Kira and Shelby. Report."

"Kira here. Bridge secure, four captured."

"Shelby. All remaining crewmembers freed."

"Good. Send someone to Engineering to collect the last of them."