They sat frozen in the darkness, waiting. The next noise was much closer this time.

"Can you move?" he whispered into her ear, barely audible.

"Some," she answered. With another huge effort she brought her hand up to grip his arm. "Hurts."

Slowly, he eased her back so she was leaning against the stone wall. He picked up the phaser and closed her hands around it. It was frightening how he couldn't shake the idea of her as a broken puppet. Her hands, normally delicate, now seemed lifeless and unnatural when he slid her fingers onto the trigger, and as he carefully bent her knees so her hands could rest on them, he kept feeling like he leaving her the way you'd leave a mannequin, so the enemy would think it was a real person while you made a getaway..

'Knock it off,' he snarled at himself silently as he brushed a strand of hair out of her eyes. She was staring at him and shaking her head very slightly. He thought she was trying to tell him to stay. "I know I know, I don't wanna leave you here again, but they're too close for us to outrun together. I figure I'll lead 'em off and come back for you."

"No," she said. "Phaser." She managed to hold her hands out towards him. "You'll..need..it."

And she WOULD sit here without a weapon, he knew it. She'd already been left by herself once before, and now he was leaving her again, and she wanted HIM to take the phaser.

Kneeling in front of her, he grabbed her shoulders and looked straight into her face. "I am NOT leaving you here without a weapon. Not again. Anybody comes close, you blow their head the hell off, you got it?"

She nodded, and he winced at how much pain that one movement caused her. He wanted nothing more than to just pick her up and make a run for it together, but he knew he was too tired to get far if he carried her. At least this way maybe he could buy enough time for Enterprise to find her and get her out of here.

Squeezing her shoulders one last time, he stood up and braced a scrap piece of metal against the wall over her, hoping for camouflage. His last glimpse of her, looking brave and very very small, more than ever like a porcelain doll, somehow made him feel strong and worthless at the same time. 'I SO don't deserve that kinda trust,' he thought as he headed down the corridor.

Picking up a length of wood, he ran, making no effort to be quiet. Far down the hallway he passed a doorway, and stopped as a thought struck him. Looking inside he muttered "yeah, I thought so." He waited until he saw figures down the corridor running in his direction. Then he ran inside the room, kicked at a pile of debris, and ran out the doorway on the other side. Looking back over his shoulder he could just barely make out the orange cloud billowing out the door, and heard the coughing from the Hadrigans as they ran right into it. 'That's for you, Hoshi,' he thought, and kept running.

He heard a shout, and as soon as a head peered around a corner he dodged down a side passageway. He stopped just past the corner, and kicked a piece of rubble down the hall, hoping whoever was chasing him would think he'd kept running.

It worked. A bulky Hadrigan came charging around the corner. Trip swung the wood like a baseball bat and connected with a very satisfying thud.

Not satisfying enough, unfortunately. A human would have been unconscious or worse after a blow like that. The Hadrigan just looked dazed. "Damn exoskeletons," Trip muttered, and swung again.

The Hadrigan shook its head, and caught the piece of wood as Trip swung a third time. The alien bared blunt teeth at him, and squeezed. The piece of wood crumbled into splinters.

'Oh that's just great,' Trip thought, and took off down the corridor again, ducking as the pieces of wood went flying past him. He took two more random turns, charged up a steep ramp, and was looking over his shoulder when he skittered to a halt.

To his complete surprise, he found himself standing outside, looking up in amazement at the night sky.

'Well I'll be a sun-dried sapsucker..so THAT'S how you get out. Bout damn time. Now all I gotta do is grab Hoshi and sneak outta here and we'll be..'

The muzzle of a phaser dug sharply into his neck. Two hands clamped down on his shoulders, and he found himself being dragged back inside the tunnel.

"Son of a bitch," he muttered, watching the doorway full of stars dwindle into the distance.