Songs in Red and Grey
Chapter 12
Trip was awoken from his rather fitful sleep by someone calling his name. During his last session with Colonel Andros he'd made her rather more angry than he'd intended and she'd taken the interrogation to a new level, cutting several broad slashes across his arm. They ached fiercely and had been causing him more pain than the rest of his injuries put together.
"Commander Tucker? Commander Tucker!"
He looked over to the door and caught sight of the face of Corporal Jensen peering through the grill on the door. He pushed himself up off the bed, going to door.
"Time for breakfast, Corporal?" he asked. "I guess you finally drew the short straw with guard duty."
Jensen shook his head. "No, I'm here to get you out. I've been waiting for an opportunity to come down here, but Andros is serious about security. She's doubled the guards on the High Security area. I had to swap shifts with PFC Roberts just to get in here. I think she knows that I served under Colonel Darwin and hasn't been giving me any guard shifts in the High Security Area. You've got at least a couple of friends on this base. Jerry was asking questions earlier, asking to see you, but he was told that you went back to Earth. He didn't believe it so we put together a plan to get you out."
"You tell Jerry from me that he's to keep out of this and to go back to Amy and stay there. You shouldn't be here either. This whole place is under surveillance."
"Jerry arranged for there to be a small glitch in the system. We need to get you out of here today. I was on bodyguard duty for Colonel Andros and I heard her talking about using you to test a virus vaccine on. If they're going to test a vaccine then…" Jensen just looked meaningfully at Trip.
"They have to infect me with the virus," finished Trip. "Great. I guess she finally decided that I'm expendable."
"As far as she's concerned, you are. The Coriolans finished the engine. All they have to do is get it into orbit; they've got the infrastructure of a ship waiting for it."
"How the hell did they manage that?"
"The Coriolans have had pre-warp ships for some time. All they needed to do was retrofit it using Starfleet plans."
"Damn it, this means they have a way of getting the virus to the Klingons that has no link to Earth. The Klingons are going to wipe the Coriolans out when they trace it back here. We have to stop it somehow, destroy the virus and the engine."
"We've got to get you out of here first." Jensen took out a couple of tools, which he proceeded to pick the manual lock with. It took a couple of goes but eventually the lock disengaged. He then took out a small box that he attached to the keypad. It was similar to Trip's electronic lock pick, except that he recognised Coriolan design when he saw it. This was definitely more of Jerry's work. It cycled through all the possible combinations and the door finally clicked open.
Trip stepped out of the cell. "Thanks. Do you think we could do the same for my friend?"
"Friend?" asked Jensen.
Trip had already moved down the row of cells and was banging on the door. "Hey, wake up, Gaht of the House of Duron, we're getting out of here."
Jensen came up beside him. "You want me to release a Klingon? Jerry could only give us a short window while the surveillance equipment would be down, we need to go."
Trip just indicated the door lock with a hand. "We don't have much time, Corporal."
Gaht had risen from where he'd been lying on his bunk. "I didn't think humans were honourable enough to keep their word to an enemy."
"Well this one is. We'll have you out of there in a few seconds," said Trip. Jensen was repeating the process with this door that he had with Trip's own cell. Gaht paced impatiently as Jensen worked. The locks clicked open and the Klingon threw the door wide with a cry of triumph.
"Show me how to get out of this hell hole," said the Klingon.
"There's a couple of things that we need to do first," said Trip.
"For you maybe, but I'm taking the first ship I can find off this backwater planet and getting away from here."
"I wouldn't have taken you for a coward," said Trip. "If we don't stop Andros, she's going to unleash a killer virus on Qo'nos. I'd have thought you might want to help."
Gaht grabbed hold of Trip's collar. "No one calls Gaht of the House of Duron a coward! Give me a weapon and tell me who to shoot."
"You got a couple of spare phase pistols on you, Jensen?" asked Trip, holding out a hand to the man who stood just behind his right shoulder looking worried.
"You're kidding, right? You want me to give a weapon to a Klingon?"
"Just give him the damn phase pistol, we don't have time to argue," spat Trip. Jensen reluctantly handed over a phase pistol to the Klingon and Gaht let go of Trip's shirt.
Gaht examined the phase pistol. "Small, but it'll have to do."
"I thought you might want this back," said Jensen, handing Trip the phase pistol that Reed had given him.
"Lieutenant Reed gets his phase pistol back," said Trip, with a small smile.
"And this," said Jensen, giving Trip his pocket knife.
Trip openly grinned now and pocketed the knife, giving Jensen a friendly pat on the shoulder as he moved towards the exit from the cell block. He peeked out of the small porthole window in the door, trying to get a look out down the corridor. "What was your escape plan?"
"Kick ass and take names, sir. With a Klingon on our side we shouldn't have much trouble."
Trip nodded. "Okay, you take point. Gaht, behind him. I'll bring up the rear and watch our backs."
"I do not follow anyone, and I'm not on your side," the Klingon growled.
"Listen, you stubborn asshole of a Klingon, Jensen knows his way around here better than you or I do. We'll have a damn sight better chance of getting out of here in one piece if he leads the way and we stick together."
"I have killed men for lesser insults, but I suppose you are correct. Let the Corporal lead the way."
"Good, I'm glad we got that settled," said Trip, indicating for Jensen to go ahead. "Maybe now we can get the hell out of here and do what we need to do."
Jensen checked that the corridor was empty and stepped out of the cell block, hugging the wall. Gaht followed him cautiously, but he had the bearing of someone who had done this sort of thing before. Trip stepped out after the Klingon and kept a look out behind them so that they wouldn't get any nasty surprises. He noted that the guards outside the cell block were missing and wondered what Jensen had done with them. They were probably tied up somewhere after failing to assess Jensen as a threat.
They were suddenly confronted with three MACOs coming towards them. Jensen opened fire, Gaht and Trip followed his example, using the doorway for cover. Apparently Trip wasn't the only good marksman, Jensen picked off one of the three with a very tricky shot. Trip managed to get the second and the third, but the sound of phase rifle fire had to have attracted some attention. They removed the phase rifles from the MACOs that they'd stunned, Gaht obviously appreciating the larger weapon. Trip holstered his own small phase pistol and nestled the rifle in the crook of his arm, ready for use if necessary. It felt surprisingly comfortable to be in possession of a MACO weapon again, but he was glad that it had a stun setting.
An alarm began to sound and Trip expected to see more MACOs come running any second.
"I guess they know we've escaped," said Trip, over the loud klaxon.
Jensen nodded. "This isn't good. We need to get out of the High Security Area. There're too many patrols here, we'll never get to the virus without getting caught. Andros isn't stupid, she'll be waiting for us to go for the lab."
Trip couldn't believe their bad luck, he'd expected at least enough time to get to the biochemistry lab before the alarm was sounded. His jaw was set with annoyance as he rethought their plan. "Okay, we leave the virus for now and get to the engine. Without that they can't get the virus to Qo'nos."
Jensen gave a swift nod of agreement. Gaht said nothing but inclined his head to one side sharply, indicating that they should get moving again. Trip definitely agreed that this wasn't the best place to stand around talking and gave Jensen the MACO hand signal to move out again. Jensen led them around the maze like corridors. So far they had the edge because surprise was on their side and the other MACOs had no idea where they were.
Their luck ran out when they literally bumped into a patrol of four MACOs who were coming the other way around a corner. Trip didn't waste time, he swept a leg out taking down the nearest MACO to him. Gaht had simply sent two fists flying in upper cuts towards the two MACOs in front of him, easily sending them sprawling to the ground. Trip almost felt sorry for them, two humans against the Klingon just wasn't fair on the humans. Jensen was also now engaged in hand to hand combat with one of the MACOs. Trip's opponent had regained his feet and was trying his best to pummel the Starfleet engineer into the ground, but Trip decided it was time to stop going easy and allowed his MACO side to take over, just this once.
MACO Trip could block flawlessly and keep his balance while dodging, kicking and punching. Engineer Trip over-thought things and would occasionally let a punch through that MACO Trip had seen coming. But MACO Trip had the ability to kill which was why Trip normally preferred to keep his MACO side firmly under control. He'd been working hard with Lieutenant Reed recently to channel his MACO training and integrate it into a more healthy combat style. It seemed to be working as he finally took down his opponent with a clean blow to the head, carefully calculated to disable but not kill. He looked around to find that Gaht was helping out Jensen and the two of them had dealt with the other three MACOs, who were all now unconscious on the floor.
"Come on," he said. "We should keep moving before someone finds these guys."
Miraculously they were able to keep out of sight until they reached the exit that led into the main portion of the base. There they hit a problem. The exit was well guarded both inside and out. The last time Trip had left through this exit, he'd just flashed his ID and gone through. The guards had known he'd been brought into the infirmary and were expecting to see him leave. This time was rather different.
"Any ideas?" Trip asked his two companions, as they hid round the corner just out of sight.
"Maybe we could stun them from here?"
Trip looked at the distance and thought about it, but he just couldn't guarantee that he could be accurate enough to hit them. "Too far. You could take us through as prisoners?"
"They'd be suspicious as soon as they saw us. If prisoners are being moved, they'd have received notification."
"You're both snivelling cowards," said Gaht, and walked into the middle of the corridor. He broke into a run, charging towards the two guards on duty. They were stunned for a couple of seconds and then opened fire. Gaht had anticipated this and dived to the floor, rolling into a crouch. Trip realised that this was their chance and they had to take advantage of the situation. Without a second thought he followed Gaht firing as he did so, distracting the guards further and allowing the Klingon to get in two good shots from almost point blank range. Both guards fell to the floor, stunned, as they were trying to take cover.
"That wasn't exactly what I had in mind, but it did the job," said Trip.
The Klingon threw his head back and roared with laughter, then proceeded to disarm the guards. "This is what being a warrior is all about." He threw the two phase rifles that they had been armed with over one of his shoulders. Trip couldn't help but notice that they looked a little flimsy on his large bulk.
Just as Jensen joined them to deal with the coded keypad, they heard the unmistakeable whine of phase weapons being set to stun. The three of them turned around to find that they had been surrounded. Trip raised his hands in the air, and came face to face with the one person he really didn't want to see as she stepped to the front of the group.
She was dressed in full MACO combat fatigues, the Colonel's eagle clearly visible on her shoulder tabs, and her face was set in a frown. "Commander Tucker, I would have thought that you'd have realised by now just how futile it is to try to go against me. And I am most disappointed in you, Corporal Jensen. I'd thought that I had picked my men rather better than that, but I suppose even the best of us can make mistakes. I am surprised to see the Klingon with you, however. I would have expected that even you would have realised the value of removing as many of them from the universe as possible, especially after your most recent encounter with one."
"I'm not going to judge the whole species by the actions of an individual," said Trip, angrily. He hoped that Gaht was paying attention to this, because he sure as hell didn't want the Klingon to judge the whole of humanity just by looking at Colonel Andros.
"Nice words, Commander. It's a shame that it's a lie. Klingons are all savages, unfit to have warp technology." Andros gave Gaht a look of pure hatred.
"You insult my race. You have no honour!" The Klingon snarled.
"Is that why you've been engineering a virus? Because you don't think that they should be out here?"
"No, Commander, I've been engineering a virus because I want to rid the universe of the blight that is the Klingon race. My virus will wipe them out."
"They're living beings just the same as the rest of us, and they've got the same right to be here that we have. You can't kill an entire race. It isn't right."
"Who are you to preach morality to me, Commander. You, Darwin and the rest of your Special Projects friends, killed enough in your time."
"We didn't kill anyone we didn't have to."
"I'm not going to argue semantics with you, Tucker. I don't have time. Vector has just returned from her trip to Andoria and Major Sandrikov will be waiting to brief me on how he assassinated Captain Archer and Commander T'Pol."
"Why you…" Trip lunged towards Andros, his anger red hot at the prospect that his friends were dead. He was stopped from carrying out his intent of strangling Andros by four MACOs who now restrained him, two on each side. He struggled vainly for a moment before he gave it up as futile.
"You only have yourself to blame. I gave you the opportunity to cooperate and you refused."
"You're lying. They're not dead."
Andros smiled. "If I was you, I'd be worrying more about yourself. You've been nothing but trouble since you got here, Commander, and you will pay for that. My engineered virus has displayed rather more tendency to jump between species than I would have liked and we want to make sure that our vaccine is working as well as it should. Until now I've needed you as insurance that our delivery system for the virus would be ready, but I've been informed that the engine and ship hull are both complete. This means that you've just become expendable and you're going to become the first test subject for our new vaccine. I hope you survive, I really do, because I've got some interesting ways to execute you lined up, just in case. Unfortunately, our last tests didn't go too well, so I'm not holding out much hope. At least we now have Corporal Jensen available for a second test. Take them all to the labs. Let Doctor Shirek have them."
The MACO guards pushed Trip, Jensen and Gaht down the hall towards the labs, Andros following them. They reached the lab, an area constructed of walls with large glass windows, with bio hazard symbols emblazoned across them. Each lab had airlocks and dealt with different levels of containment. Within the lab was a separate section that contained beds and isolation facilities, for observing and studying those who contracted the disease. An outer area contained computers and other equipment for general research that didn't require biohazard containment procedures. Trip would have described the whole complex as "state of the art".
As they entered, a blue skinned, white haired, antennaed head turned towards them. He was wearing a white lab coat over an Imperial Guard uniform and for a moment Trip didn't know what to make of finding an Andorian in the lab. His first thought was that he was a prisoner too, but that didn't seem to add up. He guessed there could only be a few people available to Andros to run her lab, so she had brought in an Andorian.
"Doctor Shirek," said Andros. "Some prisoners for you."
"What am I supposed to do with them?" the Andorian asked testily.
"Whatever you like. I heard that you have a vaccine that needs testing."
"Yes, yes, but I wasn't expecting test subjects until later," replied Shirek. "Oh put them in…"
They never found out where Shirek was planning to put them because Andros' communicator beeped at her and she answered it, interrupting the Andorian doctor.
"Andros, make it quick."
A tinny voice replied. "Ma'am, Starfleet personnel are attacking the base."
"What?" shouted Andros.
"They came down from the Vector. It must have been compromised. They've already made it into the base using Captain Evarra's key code."
An alarm began to sound. This wasn't the same as the alert which had sounded when Trip and Gaht had made their escape from the holding cells, this was an entirely different sound, with an urgency to it that reminded Trip of Enterprise's Tactical Alert. It distracted everyone for a split second and Trip didn't need an engraved invitation to know that this was his chance. He lashed out at the nearest MACO and expertly disarmed them, once again thanking Major Hathaway for her superb tuition in hand to hand combat. Jensen and Gaht had followed his lead. The three of them dived behind a lab bench for cover, picking off MACOs from their position of strength. The room filled with phase rifle fire, and shattered equipment from stray shots, until only stunned MACOs and a cowering Andorian were left.
Trip stood, shouldering his recently acquired rifle. He looked down at the stunned bodies on the floor, failing to see the one that he wanted.
"Where's Andros?"
Jensen stood beside Trip looking across the lab bench. "She must have got out in the confusion."
"God damn it," cursed Trip. "We've got to find her before she does something stupid. She really doesn't like Klingons."
"The rumour is that a Klingon gave her that scar," said Jensen, meaning the one that marred Andros' face. "I guess the rumour's right and she's got a grudge against them."
"It's rather more than a grudge, she's planning on wiping them out," said Trip.
"She has no honour. She refuses to stand and fight," added Gaht, looking around the room as if he expected the MACOs to spring back up again at any moment.
"If she thinks that the base is compromised, then she's probably going for the self-destruct," said Jensen.
"This base has a self-destruct mechanism?" asked Trip, but as he asked it, he realised that it was a stupid question. This was exactly the kind of thing that Special Projects did to hide their tracks.
Jensen nodded. "It's a powerful nuclear device that will destroy the base and anything within ten miles of here."
Trip was aware that this included the Coriolan town and all its inhabitants, most of whom had no idea of what was going on in the MACO base just down the road.
"It's supposed to ensure that nothing of this base is left. It's set from her office, but it needs two command officers and Sandrikov was on Vector. God knows what happened there."
"I'd say Enterprise happened." Trip allowed himself a smile at the thought of that. Sandy was probably sat in Enterprise's brig, if he knew Captain Archer. "There are other command officers."
"What are we going to do with him?" asked the Klingon, gesturing rather carelessly with a phase rifle at Doctor Shirek.
Trip went over to one of the isolation rooms and briefly looked over the door controls. As he thought, it was only possible to open the room from the outside. "We'll leave him in here until we can come back for him. Maybe then we'll have time to ask him what the hell he's doing here."
Shirek had risen to his feet. "I have powerful friends on Andoria. You had best not set foot on my home planet again if you imprison me now, Commander Tucker."
"Give it a rest, Doctor. You've committed more crimes in this one lab than I can count, and once the Andorians hear what you've done, they'll lock you up and throw away the key." Trip thumbed open the door, which slid across smoothly. "Get in there before I decide to just shoot you."
Shirek said nothing else but walked haughtily into the isolation room. Trip closed the door and checked that it was locked.
"Come on, we've got to find Andros before she blows this place sky high and takes us and half of Coriolis with it." Trip ran out of the lab, noting that the corridors were now empty. Everyone was probably busy trying to repel Reed's security teams. He hoped that the Enterprise contingent was winning, but was sure they wouldn't mind some help once they'd solved their immediate problem.
Jensen typed in his code to exit the High Security Area and the, now unguarded, door opened onto a ferocious fire fight. On one side Captain Archer, Lieutenant Reed and a couple of Starfleet Security personnel were crouched behind some handily placed crates of supplies, on the other were five MACOs from Sandrikov's elite security team, taking advantage of a corner. He was glad to see that Andros had indeed been lying when she'd told him that Captain Archer was dead, he hoped that she'd been lying about T'Pol as well. Trip used the doorway for cover and opened fire on the MACOs, Jensen and Gaht helping out. Eventually all five MACOs were stunned and wouldn't be causing anyone any trouble for a while.
"Trip!" said Reed, happily, seeing the Engineer, then he caught sight of the tall Klingon. "Who's your friend?"
"This is Gaht of the House of Duron, he was captured by Andros in a raid on a Klingon outpost. He's been helping us. And Corporal Jensen, formerly under the command of Colonel Darwin."
"You can give us all the details later. It's good to see you." Archer was smiling and gave Trip a friendly thump on his shoulder. Unfortunately it found one of his more painful bruises and he winced involuntarily.
"Are you okay?" asked Reed. "Kanatova's around somewhere. We should get her to take a look at you."
"I thought you were going to drop Kana off at Vulcan?" asked Trip, and then waved a hand to cancel the question. "Never mind, I'm fine anyway. I'm sure she's got more important things to do."
"My definition of fine doesn't involve a black eye," said Archer, indicating Trip's most obvious injury.
"Ah, that's just a love tap from one of Andros's henchmen."
"Yes, but what else are you hiding under there," said Reed, with a knowing look at the blood on Trip's sleeve that had leaked through from the cuts underneath.
Suddenly there was phase rifle fire from further down the corridor and they all took refuge in the doorway to the High Security Area.
"We'll finish this conversation at a more appropriate time," said Archer, and Trip knew that he was off the hook for the moment. Archer took aim and fired, before he continued. "Maybe you should tell me what's been going on here."
"That is a long story," Trip said between bursts of phase rifle fire from both sides. "Short version, Colonel Andros is developing a killer virus to wipe out the entire Klingon race. She's using the engine I helped the Coriolans build to deliver the virus so that it looks like they're the ones who did it. She gets a couple of bonus prizes of dilithium crystals and a base of operations near Klingon space. There's one thing I don't understand though, she's got an Andorian doctor working on the virus."
"I think I can explain that and it helps with what's been happening on Andoria. They have an organisation called the Vela Kari, an Andorian version of Special Projects. They've obviously been working with Special Projects to develop this virus and destroy the Klingon Empire."
"It makes sense, it's one less enemy for them to worry about, and like Andros said, Special Projects is all about removing threats before they become real threats."
More phase rifle fire erupted from the direction of the Special Projects MACOs, but this time from behind their position. They found themselves taking fire from two directions and rapidly were stunned and on the ground. Kanatova, Darwin and T'Pol stepped out and around the prone MACOs.
"We thought you could use a hand," said Darwin, grinning. "And you appear to have found our lost sheep."
"Colonel! I thought you were on Andoria," Trip was stunned.
"Well someone had to keep Archer out of trouble," said Darwin. Archer did not look at all happy about this remark but he said nothing.
"The Colonel refused to remain on Andoria," said T'Pol.
Kanatova just gave a knowing laugh which made Trip think that there was more to it than T'Pol had said. Trip noticed that the Colonel had bandages around both hands, but he still seemed to be able to handle a phase pistol, and knowing how the Colonel dealt with injury, Trip decided not to say anything.
"T'Pol, I'm so glad to see you. Did you leave anyone on Enterprise?"
"Lieutenant Hess has been left in Command," said T'Pol.
"Trip, you don't look like you've been taking very good care of yourself," said Kanatova.
"You can check me over later, Anna. We've got to find Colonel Andros."
"What's going on?" asked Darwin.
"We think she's planning to destroy the base," said Jensen.
"It figures, she never did like anyone taking anything from her. She fought tooth and nail over who got the cat when we got divorced, and she didn't even like that cat."
"Hold it, you were married to Colonel Andros?" Trip couldn't believe that one of the men he most respected had been married to a woman he only held contempt for. The idea that Darwin had owned a cat was a bit of a shock too, he'd never really seen him as an animal person, but then he hadn't even known that he'd been married. He dismissed this thought for another time.
"She wasn't always bitter and power hungry, that came later," said Darwin. "There was an incident with some Klingons a few years ago and ever since then she's been advocating that we move against them."
"Yeah, well she's gone a step further than that. She's got a bioengineered virus that she's planning to use to wipe them out with."
"Damn it. I knew she'd end up doing something stupid, but I had no idea it would be this big."
"She needs another officer to set the self-destruct and I'm betting you've got Sandrikov in the brig," said Trip. "So we should have some time while she finds one of the Captains." Reed and Archer exchanged a guilty look.
Reed was the one who gave him the story. "We captured the Vector, or rather Captain Evarra handed the Vector over to us after Colonel Darwin talked to him. Major Sandrikov was on board the Vector, but we never found him. I left a security team looking for him, but if I was him I'd want to get back here. The good news is that we already have Captains Donovan and Ryvich in custody. I've got teams rounding up everyone on the base."
"In that case, we don't have time to stand around talking," Trip said.
Trip led the way down the corridor at a jog, still holding his phase rifle and aware that there were probably other MACOs still at large. He didn't check that the others were following, he just assumed that they were and kept going. He reached Andros' office and stopped beside the door of the outer office. Darwin fell in on the opposite side of the door, Archer behind him, Reed and T'Pol beside Trip. They heard indistinct shouting from inside.
Darwin gave Trip a hand signal and then indicated that they should enter on three. Trip signalled back in the affirmative, hoping that the rest of the group got it. On three he opened the door and was faced with two phase pistols pointed at him by Andros and Sandrikov who stood in the doorway of the inner and outer offices. Trip and Darwin moved forward into the room.
"Put down the weapon, Daria," said Darwin, "you too, Mikhail."
Reed, Archer and T'Pol filed in behind them.
"You idiot!" shouted Andros at Darwin. "You got Starfleet involved in a covert MACO operation!"
"Hey, you'd already got Starfleet involved when you blackmailed me into coming here," replied Trip. "Give it up, Colonel, you're outgunned and your plan has failed."
"Wrong again, Tucker, you're too late, the self-destruct is already set," replied Andros. Trip looked through to Andros's office and saw that where there had previously been a map, was a control panel and a flashing red light, with a number beside it counting down.
"Daria, think about what you're doing," said Darwin.
"Shut it down," said Trip, his teeth barred, as he moved closer towards Andros.
"No," said Andros. "Did I mention that I also brought insurance from our visit to the labs?" She undid the top pocket of her uniform and carefully drew out a small vial. "This is the virus that we were planning to test on you. I'd be very upset if this were to break and infect not only you but your friends, and even perhaps some of Coriolis." Her eyes darkened. "Stun me and I'll drop it. Kill me and the same thing happens. I suppose you might be quick enough to catch it but I'm not sure that you'd want to test that. Now put down your weapons."
Trip hesitated, as did all the others.
"I said put them down! Or so help me, I'll infect this whole damn planet."
"We'd better do as she says, Trip," said Archer, laying down his own weapon. Reed and T'Pol followed his lead, with Darwin and Trip reluctantly doing the same. Darwin and Trip exchanged a look, but Trip knew that Darwin was trying to tell him not to do anything stupid. Apparently it wasn't Trip who he needed to worry about. Before anyone had realised what had happened, Reed, who had crouched down to place his weapon on the floor, had barrelled into Major Sandrikov's legs, sending him crashing to the ground. The two men began an earnest fist fight. Trip took less than half a second to realise that it was now or never. He was the closest to Andros and the most likely to be able to take her down safely. He took a flying leap at her, carefully grabbing her hand with the vial in it as he did so, and the two of them fell through the doorway into the inner officer.
Somehow Andros kicked him off and righted herself, still clutching the vial. Her phase pistol was left on the floor in the outer office, lost when Trip tackled her. "That was very stupid, Tucker."
Trip knew there was only one way to handle this. He got to his feet, backed up to the wall and elbowed the door shut with a thud.
"If you wanted to get me alone, all you had to do was say," taunted Andros. "I don't know what you're playing at here, but it won't help you. Move away from the door."
"Give me the virus, shut down the self-destruct, and I'll let you walk out of here without laying a finger on you."
"I'm the one holding all the cards, Tucker. We could stand here all day, talking about it. Except unfortunately we don't have all day. If you want to live then you'll let me go and get out of this complex as quickly as possible."
"I'd say the question is, do you want to live?" Trip picked up a large paperweight from Andros' desk, it was a MACO star encased in heavy, inches thick, glass. He turned around and as swiftly as he could engaged the locking mechanism, then smashed the paperweight into the keypad.
"You idiot, you've killed us both!"
Trip shook his head. "Just because it's broken doesn't mean that it can't be opened, but I'll need a bit of time. Shut down the self-destruct and hand me the virus. Then we'll talk about getting out of here."
Andros' eyes sparked fire for a moment and it looked as if she would argue, but then her shoulders dropped. "Very clever, Tucker. I should have known you'd do something like this. Rob was always a good judge of character. Here, take it." Andros held out the vial to him and Trip reached out for it.
His hand never closed around it however, suddenly Andros had changed her stance and he didn't have time to block the fist that flew towards his face. He was sent flying to the floor by the unexpected impact.
"No one has ever taken anything away from Daria Andros without paying the price, and you are not going to be the first. You jumped up, snivelling, grease monkey."
Andros aimed a kick at Trip's midriff, but he rolled out of the way, catching her foot and pulling her down as he did so. She fell on her side, carefully keeping the vial off the floor, but a badly timed punch to her side from Trip jarred her enough that her grip loosened and the vial rolled out onto the floor and up against one of the desk legs. She kicked out at Trip's thigh, making a grab for the vial but he pulled her away, throwing her towards the door. It was enough of a distraction that Trip could push himself up from the floor, but Andros had regained her feet as well. As Trip made a move to get the vial, Andros swept his feet out from under him, intending to take him down to the floor. The move went wrong though, when Trip managed to grab her as he fell and they both ended up off balance. Trip could only watch as the two of them fell towards the floor and the edge of the desk. Andros hit her head with a resounding crack, a sound which usually only meant one thing in Trip's experience and that was a skull fracture. Trip avoided the desk thanks to Andros being in the way, but put a hand out to slow his fall and heard his own ominous sound as he hit the floor - the small crunch of a breaking test tube full of killer virus.