A/N: Hi - me again, back with another update! At this rate I should have this fic finished by Monday. Many, many thanks to elbcw (Not much of the Ssas in this one but I hope to do a fic about them soon!) Exploded Pen (I'm glad this made you happy - hope you enjoy the rest! And, btw, I wish I could have Hogan as a regular - I've got the feeling she could have a wicked sense of humour!) andThe Libran Iniquity (I wish I'd thought to end it that way, but...no spoilers. I hope you like it anyway.) Thank you all for the continuing reviews! It's really, really appreciated.
Disclaimer: See chapter one.
Chapter SixArcher glanced up as the doors opened, admitting a burly Klingon, escorting several people, including Trip, a couple of engineers, Ambassador Long and Admiral Reed.
"You will all be seated," the Klingon grunted.
Archer got to his feet.
"I'm the captain of this vessel," he began, "I want to know-!"
That was as far as he got. With a hefty backhand punch, the Klingon sent him sprawling, before picking him up and dropping him into a chair.
"You will be seated!" he growled, and pulled out a communicator, "Tumak to bridge. I have the last of the humans. Where is Mallock?"
"Probably still locking up the crew," came the reply, "Mrreww has the ship fully functional; we are on course and should arrive in a week. Guard the humans. Don't kill more than four. Romar out."
The Klingon snapped his communicator shut, and fixed Archer with a baleful glare. With a sigh, the captain glanced across at Hogan, as the Klingon, Tumak, came around, binding their wrists behind them with plastic ties. Things were looking pretty grim.
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Tumak took the time to separate the senior officers, putting them apart from the others; mainly to stop any chance of orders being given to attempt escape, and so that he knew which humans to kill and which to save – the officers had to be saved, but if they stepped out of line, a crewmember would die in their place. So Archer and the others kept their voices down as they talked. Archer, Trip, General Hogan, Ambassador Long and Admiral Reed were there, along with Dr. Phlox, who'd been in the mess hall at the time of the attack.
"How the hell did this happen?" Trip was saying, insistently, "Internal sensors didn't pick up any intruders, and they weren't damaged in the attack!"
"It must have been during the attack," Archer said, shaking his head, "they must have beamed aboard."
"Then God knows what they've done to the ship," Trip sighed, "they must have been on board for hours before making a move…knocked out the sensors and the gravity…and the rest was easy. They were wearing magnetic boots when they came into engineering. One of those cat-people and a Suliban."
"This is the oddest team I've ever come across," Archer agreed, "suggestions?"
"We would not be in this situation if it were not for the lax attitude of your crew, Captain," Admiral Reed pointed out, bluntly, "I lay the blame for this incident squarely with you."
"Thank you, Admiral, I'm sure that if we get out of this alive Starfleet will be happy to listen to your suggestions," Archer said, icily, "I would be more interested in how, exactly, we are going to get out of this alive…"
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Reed crawled through the Jeffries tube, feeling grimly pleased with himself. He'd found a giant cat in engineering, one of the imposing Ssas species, and had stunned it. Six captive engineers had told him what was going on; he'd ordered them to arm themselves, remain at their posts, and continue with repairs. The engineers had also told him that there was an Andorian on the bridge who was giving the orders. He crawled to an exit, and dropped out of the Jeffries tube, jumping straight into a turbo lift, heading towards the bridge. The doors opened, and the captain's chair swung around. Reed saw a flash of blue skin, and fired before the Andorian had a chance to cry out. Hoshi yelped in shock as Travis swung around. Both of them relaxed visibly when they saw him.
"Thank God," Hoshi breathed.
"Sir," Travis spoke up, "we're off course…should I…?"
"Sure," Reed nodded, quickly, crossing over to the Andorian, "does anyone know where the Captain is?"
"He's a prisoner in the mess hall," Travis replied, quickly, "he's down there with Commander Tucker – they're being guarded by a Klingon."
"A Klingon? Great…"
"Uh, Lieutenant?" Hoshi spoke up hesitantly, "your…uh, that is, Admiral Reed is there, too. I've been monitoring the comm. channels…the Suliban took the Admiral and Ambassador Long down there…"
"…Putting all of the most valuable hostages together," Reed said, grimly, "all right. I'm going down there. Travis, take the con. Hoshi, contact engineering; have someone go and start decrypting the locks on the crew quarters. I'll go and take care of the Klingon…"
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"I said, be quiet!" roared Tumak, backing up his words with a heavy clout, "If you speak again I will execute someone."
Archer winced, feeling blood on his split lip, as Tumak turned away with a growl. Archer had no idea what to do; if he'd been alone, there were several things he could have tried, but he was unwilling to gamble with the lives of the members of the crew in the room. He took a surreptitious look around; there were about a dozen of them, all sitting silent and alert. Those that met his gaze met it evenly, some nodding slightly to indicate that they were behind him, one hundred percent. He nodded back. He was proud of them.
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw General Hogan and Admiral Reed glance upwards in unison, as if they'd heard something. Then he heard it, too; a muffled scraping noise, coming from above them. He resisted the urge to look up as Hogan and Reed exchanged slightly puzzled looks. The Klingon must have heard it, too, as he brought his blaster out, looking around warily.
"What was that?" he growled, glaring at Archer.
"Probably one of the engineers in the Jeffries tubes," Trip spoke up, thinking quickly, "You took them prisoner and put them to work, remember?"
Tumak rumbled something in Klingon, still glaring at the ceiling, where the scraping noise was getting louder. He drew closer to the noise, just as the mess hall door opened.
"Drop your weapon!" ordered a familiar voice.
Archer's head snapped around in surprise, as a slow smile spread across Trip's face. Tumak growled a curse, and dropped the blaster. Lt. Reed edged further into the room, warily, phase pistol held at arm's length.
"Captain…" he said, never taking his eyes off the Klingon, "Trip…are you okay?"
"We're fine, Malcolm," Trip began, "we…"
He never got any further. Tumak roared, and lunged. Reed fired, but the stun setting seemed to have no effect, as Tumak crashed into him, hands going for Reed's throat. The lieutenant executed a neat Judo throw, but Tumak was fast, and landed on his feet. He spun around, and Archer simply saw a flash of light on metal. As if from nowhere, a knife had appeared in the Klingon's hand. He stabbed viciously, and Archer felt a knot of horror in his throat at Reed's amazed expression. He heard Trip's sharp intake of breath as Tumak twisted the blade around, and pulled it free. Reed's hand went to his chest as his knees buckled, and he fell.
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"No!" Trip shouted, and Tumak snarled at him.
"Do you wish to be next?" he growled, "I tire of this! I will kill you if you do not be quiet!"
Archer tore his eyes away from the fallen lieutenant, glaring at the Klingon.
"You…" he stuttered, lost for words, "you son of a…"
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The sound of a high-intensity beam of phased energycut him off. With an expression of pure amazement, Tumak let out a cry of pain, and toppled to the floor. Archer swung around, and metMalcolm Reed's defiant gaze from where he lay on the floor. The phase pistol slipped from his hand, and, with a sigh, he collapsed back onto the deck...
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A/N: Suspence? Moi? Nah. Just pure torture is all... until next time, folks...