With the knowledge of a very pressing time limit, the cutting seemed to go very slowly. Eventually, the two cutting beams met just below the halfway point. "Okay, stand back!" T'osa yelled from inside the room. Kirk stepped to the side of the door. With a loud bang, she kicked the door open. It swung wide, the lingering magnatism acting as a hinge to the other door. Immediately, it stuck to the outside of the other door with a loud clang. T'osa ran out, the left side of her hair a little singed.

"Wow," Stephen said, looking at her hair, "you DID almost take your head off."

She cocked her head momentarily. "I know... I was there." She grabbed his hand and started back down the main hall. "We have to get out of here." Very quickly, she broke into a full run.

Kirk sprinted up to her. "How much time do we have?" His computerized voice asked.

She quickly withdrew her timer and looked as she ran. "Eleven minutes... and it took us almost twenty minutes to get to the transponder room." Seeing he could still run at a brisk pace with the equipment, she picked up her pace.

He sped up as well. "See... this is why you have a backup plan!"

The two sprinted around the corner. Too late to react, they saw a pair of romulan guards running down the opposite end of the hall towards them. Their weapons were already drawn. A heartbeat later, a green line of disruptor fire struck T'osa, knocking her against the back wall. Another beam struck Stephen in the chest. The impact threw him backwards to the floor.