"Prepare to reroute secondary power from the plasma manifolds to the targeting sensors," Lucas said as he laid on his back, reconnecting wires underneath the control panel.
"Wait? Reroute what to where?" Nadira inquired, staring at the control panel with a look of confusion on her face.
"The plasma manifolds," he repeated.
"Which button is that?"
Lucas sighed with frustration as he slid from under the panel, looking over the controls himself. "You never did the required reading, did you?"
"Of course I did, but I wouldn't know a manifold from a womanifold. All these buttons look the same to me," she admitted.
"I swear if you weren't so beautiful, I'd…" he paused, letting his sentence trail off.
"You'd what?"
He leaned in closer to know, kissing her gently on the lips. "Nothing babe, I just want to get the targeting sensors back on line before…"
"Before I find out what you're doing?" they heard a voice say.
The two of them turned around as Admiral Logan walked into the room. Instead of his uniform, he wore a pair of brown pants with a matching shirt. Lucas immediately recognized the uniform.
"Chryo Tech," he mumbled.
"I ordered you to take Alex to containment, but instead, he hijacked one of the zords and set a course for Omara. By the authority invested in my by the Time Force, I'm placing you under arrest for disregarding a direct order from a superior officer and conspiracy against Time Force itself," he said firmly.
Lucas looked at Nadira, then back at Logan. "Whatever," he mumbled, going back to his work.
"Nadira, unless you want to be locked up with him, take Lt. Kendal into custody and escort him to the containment area," the Admiral said.
"I have a better idea. How about you go down to the containment lab before I blast a hole in your skull?" he heard a voice say. Before he could turn around, he felt the barrel of a disrupter pressed in the back of his head.
"Kathryn, you're throwing your entire career away if…"
"Oh shut up!" she said, hitting him in the back of the head with the handle of the disrupter, taking him down. "Guards, take him to the containment room and keep him under surveillance. If he tries anything funny, open fire,"
"Right away Lt." the guards said, picking him up and taking him away.
"Good timing Katie," Lucas said.
"You know how I am, I love to make a grand entrance," she walked over to the controls. "Computer, erect a level 7 force field around the science lab and all surrounding entrances to this room, authorization Katie Gamma 64,"
'Force field active,' the computer announced.
"Accept commands regarding force field and all systems within this room from this location only," she said.
'Command verified,'"Good, now we don't have to worry about Logan getting in here again," she turned to Lucas. "Did you get the targeting sensors back on line?"
"Just about, I have some more work to do, but I'm close,"
"Get on it, we may need them,"
"How did you know Logan was a fake?" Nadira asked.
"Call it intuition, but I could feel something wrong with him. I knew from the moment I saw him that he wasn't human," she said.
"So why take a disrupter shot for him?"
"I wanted to be sure. We're on our own now. Trip and Camille are gone, Alex and Emery are on a wild goose chase, Tommy and Adam are presumed dead, and Jen is fired. We're all we have left," she said.
Nadira raised her hand. "Since Logan fired her and he wasn't the real Logan, wouldn't that mean Jen still works here?"
"She's got a point," he added.
"If Alex's reports are right, that means the Harvengers are on they're way here, and we're going to…" she paused. "Oh God," she sighed.
"What?"
"If Logan isn't the only person that isn't himself, they'll no doubt go after Trip and Camille's bodies in the main infirmary," she said.
"Someone should go down there and protect them just in case,"
Lucas pulled up information on the computer. "The only non essential personnel on that deck is Ensign Claw. We should contact him and tell him to keep an eye on their bodies," he said.
"He doesn't really have a claw, does he?" Nadira asked. "My daddy use to know a guy named Claw and he had the weirdest…"
"I'm sure he doesn't has claws,"
"But he is kinda…"she paused. "Weird. He keeps to himself, hardly ever talks to anyone. I'm tellin' ya, the guy creeps me out," Katie said.
"Right now he's all we have. Do we still have internal communications?"
"Yes,"
"Tell him what's going on and not to take Trip and Camille out of his sight. Lucas, keep working on the targeting sensors. I'm going to go through the service crawl ways and track down Jen. She's all alone out there and has no idea what's going on," Katie said.
"Sounds like a plan,"
"Computer remove force field from service crawl way J sub junction 8 for 10 seconds, then re-establish," she said.
'Force field disabled. Re-establishing in 10 seconds,' the computer announced.
"Good luck guys, keep me posted," Katie said as she hurried over to the crawl way, pulling the panel off the wall and climbing inside. As soon as she was inside, the force field came back on.
*
The three security guards escorted Admiral Logan to the holding cell, deactivating the force field and shoving him inside. He tried to make a move, but was stopped by the force field as they reactivated it.
"You don't really think this can contain me, do you?" the admiral snapped as his eyes began to glow.
The guards reached for their weapons. "Stay where you are admiral," one of them said.
Just then, the admiral cocked back, punching a hole through solid steel, deactivating the force field again. As he snatched his arm back, his entire arm was pulled off, leaving it stuck in the wall. A greenish fluid gushed out the Admiral's open wound as he swung with his left hand, punching a hole through one of the guard's chests. The other two opened fire, but they didn't faze him at all. After knocking the first guard to the ground, he reached over, snatching off another guard's arm. The guard passed out, and Admiral Logan seemed to put the guard's arm on himself. The last guard simply passed out as the nerve endings from the severed arm seemed to attach itself to the admiral. Finally, when it was done, Logan admired his new arm.
"Not bad at all," he said as he pulled his original arm out the wall, attaching it to the fallen security guard. Within seconds, not only did the arm connect itself to the guard, the open wound in his chest healed itself and he was back on his feet.
"I can feel the blood rushing through me," the guard said, but his voice was much deeper.
The admiral nodded as he walked over to the two unconscious guards, purposely cutting his wrist and allowing the blood to drip into their mouths. Moments later, they sat up, each of them were their eyes glowing an eerie shade of green. "Come my brothers, we have work to do," he groaned as the four of them walked out the room.
*
'Lt. Kendal to Ensign Claw. Respond,' a voice said.
Ensign Claw rushed over to a communications panel at the far end of the deck, switching it on. "Ensign Claw here sir,"
'I need you to go to the main infirmary and watch over Trip and Camille's bodies. Under no circumstances should you let anyone near them, not even me. This is a matter of internal security. Do you understand?'
"Yes sir. Perfectly sir," he said.
Without another word, he ran down to the hall to the infirmary, where Camille and Trip's body were being kept. Each of them was laying on examining tables with sheets over them. 'This is weird,' he thought to himself. 'Why am I guarding dead people? What, does someone want to kill them some more?'
Nonetheless, he stood at attention, watching the door to the infirmary. Whatever was going on, he wasn't in a position to question anything. He was fresh out the academy, barely graduating with his degree in biomechanical studies. His professors always found his theories inventive, but impractical.
'One of these days I'll show them,' he thought.
His thoughts were interrupted as the doors to the infirmary opened and he walked in.
"Admiral," he said firmly, standing at attention.
"Hello Ensign, you're dismissed," Logan said as three security guards walked in behind him.
"I'm sorry sir, I'm under orders to remain here and stand guard over…" he was cut short.
"Who gave that order?"
"Lt. Kendal, sir,"
"I suggest that you stand aside and let us do what we came to do," he told him.
"I'm sorry sir, I can't,"
"As of this moment, you're relieved of your duties Ensign. You're fired," the Admiral told him.
"Geez do you ever shut up?" a voice asked.
The Admiral turned around, only to have Jen catch him with a sabat kick across the jaw, taking him down. The three guards made their move, but it was Katie who grabbed them, throwing them against the wall. Logan was back to his feet, grabbing Katie by the throat with one hand and lifting her up. Jen tried to stop him, but the guards grabbed her.
"Your time is up Logan," he paused. "I've always wanted to say that," Ensign Claw said as he hit a spinning heel kick on Logan, forcing him to let go of Katie. One of the guards rushed at him, but he did a flip, landing on the guard's shoulders, then spun around, taking him down. The two final guards went after him, but Ensign Claw jumped up, snatching a lighting fixture off the ceiling, using it to hit one of the guards in the face. As the guard fell, Ensign Claw gave the other one a sweep, dropping it to his knees. He tried to get up, but it was Katie who grabbed him, throwing him out the infirmary.
"Nice moves kid," Jen said. "What's your name?"
"Claw. Ensign Leonardo Claw," he said eagerly, extending his hand to her.
"Not bad kid, not bad at all," she said, ignoring his hand.
"You didn't think it was over, did you?" Admiral Logan asked as he got back to his feet, dusting himself off.
"What the hell are you?" Katie asked.
"More than your puny minds can comprehend. I am the beginning and ending, the…" he was cut short as Ensign Claw picked up the fixture, stabbing Admiral Logan in the chest.
The fixture was lodged in his chest, but Logan pulled it out, and the wound began to heal itself. "Now that was a nice trick," he sighed.
Katie picked up the fixture again, hitting him in the face, knocking him through the door. "Computer, erect a level 10 force field around the infirmary and all entrance points," she said.
'Force field active,' the computer announced."Does someone want to tell me what the hell is going on?" Ensign Claw asked.
"That information is on a need to know basis,"
"I think I need to know, considering that the highest ranking officer in Time Force just tried to kill me to get to people who are already dead," he pointed out.
"The kid is right," Katie said.
"But that's all he is, a kid. You're talking about telling him top-secret information that could alter the course of history. I'm sorry, I can't authorize that," he said.
"Technically, you quit Time Force. That makes me the highest-ranking officer here, and I say we need all the help we can get. You're in kid," Katie said.
"In? In what?"
'Lucas to Katie. I've got the targeting sensors back on line,' he said.
Katie reached for her Morpher. "Great. Lock onto Camille and Trip, teleport them to the coordinates I left in the computer main frame," she said.
'I have the coordinates, but that will put them in…'
"I know where it is Lucas, just trust me,"
'Stand by,' he said. Moments later, Camille and Trip's bodies disappeared into a stream of light. 'Alright, now what?'
"I have three to teleport directly to the science lab," she said.
'Three?'
"Like I said, you'll have to trust me,"
'You got it Katie. Standby,'
Seconds later, the three of them disappeared into the stream of light.