CHAPTER 32

Reed caught the slight inclination of Kleth's head to one side. Hoping he had guessed correctly that it was the direction in which he was supposed to duck and not the direction in which Kleth intended to stab, he jumped to his left, pushing Hoshi with him just as the Klingon thrust the blade forward.

Reed knew a moment of relief as the blade whistled by him. The man standing behind him wasn't so lucky. He was run clean through on the blade, his mouth making a startled "O" without any sound.

Reed didn't wait to see what Kleth would do next. He reached under his breastplate for the knife Hoshi had given him, grasped the handle firmly and pulled it out, his arm picking up speed as he continued the motion to slash out behind him without looking. He heard a grunt and, following through on his momentum, turned to see the other pirate guard on his knees, clutching at his upper arm. A swift kick to his head toppled him over.

Kleth had managed to free his sword from the body of the man he had run through by the simple expedient of putting one booted foot on the man's torso and giving a push with it. The sword being the only thing holding the man up, he fell with a heavy thud as soon as his support was removed.

Kleth turned back to Shidak, intending to corner him for his mistress to finish off, but one look at her showed that she was in no shape to do anything. She had hit the floor heavily when Ma'Com had shoved her aside, reopening the wound on her shoulder. She was crouched on the floor, both pain and impotent anger written on her face asshecradled her useless arm. She was valiantly struggling to get to her feet, but Kleth recognized a losing battle when he saw one, and knew she wouldn't be able to stand, much less wield any kind of weapon.

Shidak, who had been stunned by the speed of the attack, reached for Hoshi's knife, still stained with her blood, where he had left it on the table. A disruptor beam struck it just as he touched it, and he jerked his hand back to see Tucker aiming the weapon at him.

The noise of the fight had attracted the attention of more of Shidak's men, and they came running down the hall toward the room. Tucker was distracted by the sound and glanced toward the door.

It was all the opportunity Shidak needed. In two quick steps, he reached one of the tapestries and slipped behind it, disappearing.

"Damn it!" Tucker said as he hurried to the tapestry to fling it back, revealing a flight of spiral stairs leading upward.

"Help Hoshi!" Reed yelled at him as he and Kleth turned to face the onslaught of pirates.

As Tucker went to Hoshi's side, helping her to stand, Reed and Kleth faced the rush against them. The pirates were impeded by the doorway, only one at a time able to enter, and Reed could swear Kleth was enjoying himself has he severely cut the first man who came through the door.

The pirate dropped his disruptor, and Reed scooped it up from the floor as Kleth swung at the second man to try to enter, slicing open his chest.

But even Klingons must have their limits, Reed realized as he saw Kleth sheath the sword one-handed while reaching for one of the disruptors at his hip with his other hand.

"Go!" Kleth ordered, loosing a shot that made the remaining pirates stay in the corridor out of his line of fire. "Take the stairs. I will meet you on the roof."

"How are you going to get out?" Reed asked as he rushed over to the stairway where Tucker and Hoshi were waiting.

Kleth was backing toward the opposite wall where there was the only outside window Reed had seen in the entire building. "Go!" Kleth repeated, firing at the doorway. "I will meet you."

Reed nodded and turned to follow Hoshi and Tucker who had started up the stairs which curved out of sight. As he climbed behind them, he heard the crash of glass being broken, followed by several more disruptor shots.

Concerned that Shidak might be setting up an ambush ahead of them, Reed passed Tucker and Hoshi, intent on taking the lead.

"Where's Kleth?" Hoshi asked worriedly, looking back down the stairs.

"He's taking the scenic route," Reed answered. "Keep an eye out behind us," he told Tucker, who had one arm around Hoshi's waist and a disruptor in his free hand.

"You got it," the engineer said.

"I think I can manage on my own," Hoshi said, removing Tucker's arm before beginning to climb again, her good hand on the wall to steady herself.

"As fast as you can, then," Reed said and sprinted up the stairs ahead of them.

He came to a closed door about halfway up. It was padlocked and looked as if it hadn't been opened in some time. Glancing down at the landing, he saw one set of footprints leading upward in the dust.

"There are men on the roof," Tucker shouted up to him, trying to herd Hoshi more quickly up the stairs. "We saw them when we landed."

"Great," Reed mumbled under his breath, adjusting his grip on the disruptor.

Any element of surprise was gone if Shidak got up there and got his men organized. He, Hoshi and Tucker would either be picked off as they emerged onto the roof or would be trapped in the stairwell, with more of Shidak's men coming up behind them.

"Time for a detour," he said and fired his disruptor at the padlock, blowing it away.

Kicking the door open, he waited a moment, then cautiously peered around the door frame. No one was in sight.

"Come on," he said, and led the way down the corridor to a similar door at the opposite end. This one wasn't padlocked, and he was able to turn the handle and open it to reveal another flight of stairs.

"Doesn't Shidak have an elevator we can use?" Hoshi said, panting as she and Tucker caught up with him.

Reed smiled at her. "Doesn't appear so," he said, and stuck his head in the stairwell, half expecting to be shot at. When that didn't happen, he stepped through the door and began climbing again.

This stairwell was like the other, made of stone and built in a spiral to follow the inside wall of what apparently was a tower.

"Are there towers on the roof?" he called back to Tucker.

"Yeah, six of 'em, like turrets. One on each corner, and one each on the long sides of the building."

Reed stopped, allowing them to catch up. "Which one is this?"

Tucker thought for a moment. "One of the corners." Before Reed could ask, he volunteered, "The ship's probably about fifty meters away, on the far side from here."

"Does anybody have anything I can fight with?" Hoshi interrupted.

Both men stared at her.

"What?" she asked with some of her old Klingon feistiness. "I may have been stabbed, but I've still got one good arm. Get me a disruptor."

"As soon as we get an extra one, you'll get it," Reed said, and saw Tucker behind her roll his eyes. "Come on. We're not getting out of here just standing around."

The group set off again, climbing more stairs until they reached the top landing where there was a door with a bar across it. Reed holstered his disruptor and carefully lifted the bar out of the brackets holding it in place. Setting it aside, he took out his disruptor again and motioned for the others to stand to the side.

He eased the door open a crack and peered out.

"They're guarding the ship," he said quietly. "I can see three of them. No sign of Shidak."

"Is the ship's hatch open?" Tucker asked.

"No."

"Good. They haven't figured out the code to open it."

As Reed continued to peer out, not only did he have a view of the ship from their position, but of the balustrade that ran around the edge of the roof. As he watched, he saw a hand come up over the railing.

"Damn it!" he said. "Kleth's about to come over the top. We've got to create a diversion or they'll cut him to pieces before he gets all the way up."

Before either man could stop her, Hoshi rushed forward and threw open the door. She strode out onto the flat roof, directly toward the armed guards.

"I hate it when she gets like this!" Reed grumbled as he threw out his arm to stop Tucker from following.

"She's gonna get killed!" he protested.

Reed grabbed his shoulder, holding him out of the open doorway. "There's less chance that they'll shoot her than they will us," he said, cautiously peeking around the door frame. "Shidak wants her."

"Shidak wants...oh!" Tucker abruptly clamped his mouth shut as what Shidak wanted her for hit him, only to open it again. "And you let her go out there?"

"Like I had a choice?"

Hoshi didn't slow down as the guards surrounding the ship pointed their guns at her. She walked to within a few feet of the man in the center of their defensive line before stopping. "Where is Shidak?" she demanded, spinning in a circle as if looking for him.

Reed glanced at the balustrade. Kleth's arm was now hooked over the railing and he could see the top of the Klingon's head. If any of the men guarding the ship turned to their right they would see him.

Hoshi kept up her monologue, deliberately walking in the opposite direction of Kleth's location.

"Well, where is he, that worthless, misbegotten excuse for a pirate?" she yelled at the men, the closest of whom took a step back from her. "What does a girl have to do around here to get some attention?"

"As soon as Kleth gets over the railing, you take out the one on the right," Reed told Tucker, lifting his own disruptor to aim. "I'll get the one in the middle."

"Kleth gets the one closest to him?"

"That's what I'm hoping."

Hoshi was making a show of going around the front of the scout ship and standing on tip-toe to look in the window. "Has he figured out how to access the locking code? If he doesn't, he's going to have to cut up his pretty new ship to get in," she jeered.

All three guards were looking at her, their backs to the open doorway where Reed and Tucker were hiding. Reed could only believe that Shidak had given orders not to harm her. Otherwise she'd have been dead by now.

He saw Kleth throw a leg over the balustrade and haul himself up in one smooth motion. "Now!" Reed told Tucker, and opened fire.

Reed's target went down, as did Tucker's. The third man, who had spun in their direction and put his back to Kleth, was dropped by a bolt from the Klingon's disruptor.

As they ran for the ship, Reed ordered Tucker, "Get it open and get her inside."

He and Kleth maintained a lookout, scanning the rooftop and turrets, as Tucker punched in the code. Hoshi had come to join the engineer and was waiting impatiently as, having hit the wrong number, he had to start over.

"Tucker!" Reed yelled.

"I'm workin' on it!" the engineer called back. "There! Got it!"

The hatch hissed and Tucker grabbed the edge yank it open. He had turned to help Hoshi get in when a disruptor bolt struck the ship's hull not more than a meter away.

"Stand where you are and drop your weapons!"

Reed whirled around to locate the owner of the voice, and a phase pistol blast near his feet convinced him to drop his gun. Next to him, Kleth did the same.

An opening shimmered in the nearest turret, and Shidak stepped through. Holographic technology, Reed realized, had hidden the opening.

"Thank you for unlocking the ship for me," Shidak said with a smirk. "Didn't you wonder why there wasn't any resistance to your escape?"

Another man had followed Shidak out of the turret. Reed didn't recognize him, but he heard Hoshi gasp.

"You don't know my friend," Shidak said to Reed, "but our girlfriend does. Let me introduce you to Vice Admiral Nolan."