Chapter Ten
Hidden Truth
Michael banged her gloved hand against the bulkhead in frustration yet she was grateful for it being there. Ironically, the same thing that was preventing her from reaching her commanding officer and her friend right now had also saved them from being sucked out in the cold vacuum of space.
She shuddered involuntarily as she turned to stare out in the open; the pressure had long been equalized so she wasn't in danger of being pulled out and even if she had been, she was still dressed in her airtight suit.
The heavy steel construction was locked from the other side and sealed so as not to vent atmosphere from deep within the station. Michael tried the only thing she could do; the communicator.
"Burnham to Pike," she said hopefully. When there was no response, she adjusted frequency and tried again. "Burnham to Pike, please respond."
Receiving no reply, she sighed and tapped twice to change the channel. "Burnham to Reno."
"Go ahead," the engineer drawled, sounding somewhat resentful.
"Is there a problem?" she asked carefully.
"Many," came the fast and snarky reply. "Did you find them?"
Michael shook her head even though she knew Reno couldn't see her. "I need your eyes," she said enigmatically.
Jett frowned and then her lips curled upward in a sly smirk. "Interesting," she mused. "I am all ears too."
"There's a lot of damage done down here; I am staring at a pinprick a bit further away that I assume is Discovery. A bulkhead has sealed off the area. The captain must have managed to get Tilly to safety but I can't reach them physically and I can't communicate with them. Can you tell me what's on the other side?"
"Funny," Reno remarked as she tapped a few buttons. "Discovery called in and asked me almost the same question."
"Say again," Michael said. "You're breaking up."
"It's a large laboratory section. It appears unshielded and out of power," she reported before she appeared to be addressing someone else at her end. "Did you cause it?"
Michael raised an impeccable eyebrow, courtesy of her Vulcan upbringing.
"Of course not," the engineer's voice floated over the open communication's channel. "Why would I have done that. Isn't that highly illogical?"
For a moment Michael didn't know what to think.
"Why can't you just bug off?" Reno replied sarcastically.
The AI Reno shifted back into the shape of Captain Pike. "I told you I was studying illogical behavior patterns and I found you very interesting to-,"
"Ha," Reno shouted. "You didn't see that one coming, did you?"
Michael shuddered as she imagined the AI walking around the engineer, looking first like her doppelganger and then as her commanding officer.
"My apologies, commander-," Reno said jovially. "-control has just given the expression of talking to oneself a whole new dimension."
"Laboratories?" Michael stated.
"Yeah. I am unable to access the logs from here so I can't tell you what kind of laboratories we're talking about but it would make sense if it is medical and biological laboratories – life science."
"Why do I get a feeling it's death science?" Michael said in exasperation.
"Well-," Reno began, "-perhaps Tilly will get a real look at 'Frankenstein's Monster' then?"
Despite the dire situation Michael rolled her eyes. "Can you get me in from your end?" she asked curiously.
"No, it's completely shielded from me. I have a feeling it was a deliberate act but I don't know the why or the how at the moment nor do I know the who."
"Is there another way in?" Michael asked.
"Stand by," Reno replied as she let her fingers fly over the console. "You can access the area from two other directions but I can't see if there is something of a hindrance on the way from up here."
"That's good enough for me. Just point me in the right direction," she replied hopefully, eager to find the rest of the away team before time was running out.
"I think I can download the data to you but the Phoenix just landed in the hangar bay, it squeezed into the hole Discovery punched in our hull," the engineer offered.
"So, Beta Astra didn't try to fire at Discovery," Michael deduced and breathed a sigh of relief. "I am going over, talk to you later."
"Understood. Reno out," she replied.
OOOOOO
"Where are they and why aren't they answering our hails?" Culber asked as he stayed close behind Nhan.
She swung her phaser around the corner and stared down an empty corridor. She nodded at the doctor as she exhaled deeply with relief. "The last time we heard they were down in some kind of laboratory with Sr Pratts. Now, if I've been reading the blueprints of this station correctly, we should circle around this part and head straight into the bowels of the-," she trailed off and held up a hand, indicating that he should stop and be quiet.
"What?" he whispered.
The phasers loaded simultaneously, the two women aiming at each other from different ends of the semi-dark corridor.
Michael had trouble seeing the Chief of Security in the darkness; her dark blue uniform melting into the shadows but the doctor's uniform seemed to reflect the eerie glow surrounding them.
Deciding it was safe, Michael sighed and hollered; "It's me," before she holstered her weapon and clipped it to her belt.
"Burnham," Nhan acknowledged as she lowered her weapon and began to walk toward her with Culber in tow.
Michael managed a faint smile through her faceplate. "Nhan, Culber. Welcome to Beta Astra," she said.
"If you're wondering why we aren't geared up in suits, like you," the doctor began sheepishly. "It's because-"
"Is there any place we could talk?" Nhan said suddenly as she interrupted him and looked intently at Michael.
Burnham shook her head sadly. Indicating that they could be overheard everywhere but then suddenly nodded. She scribbled down something on a small tablet and gave it to Nhan.
The Barzan nodded grimly and then quickly added, in writing; Discovery is leaving, our air-supply would most likely have run out before they get back, if they can get back at all.
Michael's mood plummeted as she read the words but nodded anyway to indicate that she'd understood. "The captain and Ensign Tilly are trapped in another section. They need help. Pike said Tilly was showing symptoms."
"Similar to Pratts?" Culber asked worriedly.
"I am afraid so but I don't know how quickly Pratts succumbed to the virus or pathogen or whatever it is. I only know that when we got there, it was too late and I don't want to lose Tilly too," she said.
"Lead the way," Nhan replied grimly.
OOOOOO
Tilly felt her knees grow weak at the sight of the dead man but to her surprise Pike appeared calm and curious, refusing to stare death in the eye. Then he did something very peculiar; he laughed faintly.
"Sir, are you all right?" Tilly asked as she, with his help, sat down on a chair. She could see that he was affected by, whatever it was, she had been infected with but he pressed on, ignoring it as best as he could.
He swayed a little as he made his way over to the dead scientist under the coil and knelt beside him. Pike groaned as he realized that he'd lost his tricorder and let out a frustrated breath, then he tilted his head a little so that he could look at her from a slight distance. "I have a feeling this guy didn't die from whatever Pratts died of," he explained enigmatically.
Tilly's interest peaked suddenly, feeling a little better for a moment, her inner spirit rising. "No?" she said.
The captain smirked cunningly as he glanced around the room, obviously looking for something. "Where are the others?" he mused.
She followed his gaze for a moment but then closed her eyes as another dizzy-spell came over her. She grimaced as her stomach began to churn and felt the bile rise up her throat.
"Tilly?" Pike asked in concern and then, when she didn't answer, repeated his calling by using her rank. "Ensign?"
She shook her head. "Just a dizzy-spell," she assured him as she straightened in the chair.
He didn't look too convinced but she raised her head, and forced her eyes open. She even managed a half-dry smile which morphed into a gulp as the coil sparkled above Pike's head.
His reflexes seemed intact despite being infected as he rolled out of the way. The pulsing glow increased for a moment before the coil burned out and remained unlit. The charge of electricity in the room disappeared. Pike strained his eyes to see in the semi-darkness that followed. "I could use a flashlight right about now," he said.
Tilly grimaced as she got out of the chair and fumbled in the darkness, using her hands to try and find something useful on the laboratory benches. "Sir, I don't understand-," she paused trying to catch her breath as her chest constricted. "-why is it dark? Why was the coil the only thing that worked?"
"I don't know anymore than you do, Tilly, but suffice to say; we both know a lot more than we did a few moments ago."
"You have to stop talking in riddles captain," she said lightly.
"Admiral Cornwell said this place was abandoned, right?" Pike reasoned kindly as he got to his feet. "Beta Astra is in a lockdown mode, 'control' is roaming down the hallways; it's literally all around us, listening into every conversation, calculating its next move."
Tilly gulped and pressed on, her need to find something useful suddenly even more pressing. "Was it the AI that shut down the transporter?" she asked.
Pike shook his head. "No, I am guessing it's this guy and his associates. I am not sure if you've noticed but the man under the coil; he was no scientist; he was a regular member of Section 31. His assignment must have had something to do with the research, he might have been overseeing the operations around here when all hell broke loose."
"I am sorry, sir, but now I am even more confused," Tilly replied and suddenly let out a little yelp of joy as her fingers hit something tube-shaped.
"Did you find something?" Pike asked.
She turned toward the sound of his voice and activated the beam of light. It enveloped him, made his skin look even paler than it had before, in the blue-tinted hue, and high-lighted the thin sheen of perspiration coating his face.
Pike blinked and then squinted, trying to get away from the sharp light, his head injury sending sparks of pain vibrating through his skull. He raised a hand to shield his eyes.
It suddenly dawned on her what she was doing and she quickly pointed the light in another direction. "My bad. I am sorry, my mind is not all there at the moment. I'm so so sorry-," she would have continued her monologue had she not stumbled over something as she backed away from her superior officer and ended up on her butt. Exhausted and embarrassed at the same time for her clumsiness she landed in a heap next to a body, her face inches from the dead man's while the flashlight beam enlightened his unseeing eyes.
Pike didn't know what was most amazing; if it was the reaction time from the fall to the slight yelp to the scrambling from the floor or the fact that she was suddenly standing very close to him, panting and pointing toward something on the floor; the profuse apologizing completely forgotten.
"I,- I," she stammered. "I found another one."
OOOOOO
To be continued
