Chapter 23
Commander S'Talla Proves Himself
Stardate 2366.095
Things had moved so quickly. Only two months ago Hiro had contacted her with his proposal and they had put plans in motion that had led to this moment. She had managed to cobble together a fleet of four heavy battle cruisers under the noses of the Romulan high council and invaded Federation space. The risks of such an endeavor and the responsibility she had taken on, threatened to overwhelm her. The Admiral had to continually remind herself that the stakes she and the other families were playing for were literally their very survival. On the one hand, they had burned their bridges with a powerful faction of the high council. On the other, she could not reasonably expect the Federation to welcome them with open arms even if they were victorious over General Ralaa. Decisions, decisions. At the very least, she did know that right now, her choice was simple: total victory over the General. She could not let him or any of his fleet leave this system alive. If they did, the rest of the council would learn of her treason, and then her family, as well as the rest of the founding families would be immediately executed to the last woman, man, and child. She shuddered at the thought. She would NOT fail. She was startled out of her reverie by her communications Centurion.
"Sister, communication from Captain Picard. He says he is luring the General and his fleet toward the nebula to give us some time and that there are seventeen enemy ships altogether. He estimates he can tie them up for less than a day at most before they send some ships to our location. He says to use the time wisely."
"How long ago was the message sent?"
The time stamp on the message would let Ruwon determine how far away Picard was when he sent it, and therefore his approximate location.
"Ten hours ago."
"Acknowledge receipt of that message and tell the Captain we accept his gift in the spirit in which it was given. I imagine he is pretty busy right about now, so let Jordi know to expect company.
"Science."
"Yes sister."
"Have you divined the workings of the Tantalus Device yet?"
"Mostly Admiral. We still need to test its range. We know it can work from one end of the ship to the other…"
"Are there any limitations to what it can disintegrate?"
"There does not appear to be Admiral. We know it works on anything biological, and we have successfully used it to eliminate samples of gaseous, liquid, and solid compounds and elements up to lead…"
"You have only a few hours left to determine its effective range sister."
"Yes Admiral. We've placed numerous objects in orbit with us and will commence testing shortly…"
"Commence testing NOW sister. We have no time left for the niceties of textbook testing procedures. Also, I will want to know the degree of damage it can inflict at its extreme range of effectiveness."
"But Admiral…"
"Make-it-HAPPEN sister! I expect your results within the hour."
Admiral Ruwon cut communications.
She knew she was getting testy with her crew and wondered idly whether the engineers and scientists of Starfleet were as exasperating as the Empire's were. She longed for the refuge of the cleansing ritual where she could rid her mind of all the things she had to concern herself with at this moment. She forced her mind back to the issues at hand; there would be time to commune with her sisters, AND the Vulcan twins, she happily reminded herself, when all of this was over. Of course if there were not time, she would be dead.
Ruwon had four ships under her command, five if she managed to take the Romulan warbird orbiting on the other side of the planet out of the picture, and her son could join her without fear of his true loyalty being discovered. That was if, she reminded herself, she could get her scientist to get the Tantalus device fully operational. Even so, this was not nearly enough if she had to face all of Ralaa's remaining sixteen ships, even with the device. Now that she thought about it, if its range was not sufficient, it would be nearly useless in a space battle. It was still vital for the families' plans back home, but given the odds she was facing, she sincerely hoped it could prove useful in the coming conflict. She started to think again about the device. How could she ensure it made it safely back to Romulan space? In her hands and not General Ralaa's? She did not want to contemplate it, but realistically, given the odds she was bound to lose some of the ships under her command. What was she thinking?! Realistically, with seventeen against five, she would probably lose ALL of her ships! NO, she would not think that way! She WAS going to defeat the General! The families' very existence depended on it!
Ruwon took a deep breath. All right, she was going to win this battle; she just had to figure out how…
"Comm, have the other commanders meet me in my place of solitude in thirty minutes."
Exactly thirty minutes later in the room she used for her private meditations, Ruwon addressed the Commanders of her five ships.
"Sisters and brother, thank you for meeting with me on such short notice - harmony."
The Admiral steepled her fingers and bowed to them. They responded in kind.
"I have just heard from Picard of Starfleet. As you know, General Ralaa has arrived with seventeen ships, not the ten we were expecting. Starfleet is attempting to lead the ships away from us to the nebula to give us some time to deal with the one warbird already here. I know I don't need to tell you this, but it bears repeating: If even one of his ships makes it back to Romulus with news of what we are doing here, every member of our respective families will be killed. Whatever we need to do, whatever sacrifices we need to think about to prevent this eventuality, must be considered."
"Can information from Starfleet be trusted?"
"In this case yes. If for no other reason than that our interests coincide in this particular situation. Starfleet cannot allow this incursion to go unanswered lest they show weakness and invite another, much larger invasion at a later date. They cannot defeat the General without our help and so it would be frankly, fatal for them to betray us or feed us false information.
"No, that is not our worry. What we need to figure out is how we can defeat that many ships given we have only five. Let me correct that, as I said Picard is trying to lure the fleet to the nebula. Assuming he manages to elude sixteen ships and hides in the nebula, Ralaa will be forced to surround it using the bulk of his force to ensure the Enterprise cannot escape to call Starfleet for reinforcements. He will eventually have to send some of his ships to deal with us and to complete his mission on the planet. His current information is that he has S'Talla's and Valdran's ships supporting him here and so will factor that in his calculations of how many ships he needs to send. If Valdran does not find anything on the planet, Ralaa will have to send the rest of his fleet to complete the mission. He has to assume the Enterprise got a message off to Starfleet, which means he's only got two weeks at most before reinforcements arrive. Commander S'Talla, you have said that the General can complete his mission in ten days if he brings all of his resources to bear. That means he will spend a few days at most bottling up the Enterprise, which in turn, gives us a window to knock out the first group of ships he sends our way.
To ensure he can defeat us but still maintain his blockade, I expect he will send a minimum of four ships, giving him a slight advantage because of his larger ships. He will be underestimating our capabilities for obvious reasons, and will probably expect that all he has to do is order us to stand down. This means, at least for a very short time, we will have surprise on our side. Let me be very clear here, we must destroy those ships while we can. We will show the same absence of mercy he plans to show us."
Commander Teelis Khellian, of the Modo Gloria spoke up.
"I see a difficulty Admiral."
"Yes Teelis?"
"The General will not be able to communicate with the ships he sends here."
"Why would that be a problem?"
"Because Admiral, he will want to know the outcome of his ships' encounter with us. That means that once we are subdued, they will have orders to send one ship back to him to report what happened."
"So we will not have the few days we anticipated."
"That would be correct Nuhir. If one of his ships does not report back within a day, he will bring the rest of his fleet here immediately."
"Teelis, I'm afraid you are right. We need to make sure first however, that we defeat the first group of ships that come our way. Let's meet again in an hour. I want ideas for how we can manage that while minimizing our own losses. Dismissed."
Ruwon left unsaid that before they did anything about ships coming their way, they had to make sure the one warbird already here could not cause them any problems.
An hour later S'Talla led the meeting off.
"I think we may have something Admiral."
Admiral Ruwon reflected on the fact that she had always had the ability to find pleasure in the smallest of things. Even in the midst of the most dire crisis to face the families since they left for Romulus millennia ago, she managed to be pleased that all of her commanders had managed to make this meeting exactly on time. Her mother had hinted that this was one of the main reasons she had been chosen as the Pid-Kom, or matriarch, of the four families, a position she just as soon would rather not be in right about now…
…well almost, she smiled as she nodded for him to continue.
"Let me preface what I am about to propose by saying that this plan carries with it a great deal of risk and…"
The Admiral let her impatience show and cut him off. She had already reconciled herself that the odds of her small fleet not losing any ships were vanishingly small. She did not need to be reminded of the fact.
"Commander, everything we are doing on this mission is risky. Please tell me what you have in mind and spare me the equivocation."
"Yes Admiral. I propose we take Valdran's ship intact and use it in our upcoming fight with the General."
"And how do you propose to do that? Even though he does not yet know you are our ally, I imagine he would be slightly suspicious of a boarding party of the necessary size to take his ship."
"A large force would be problematic of course Admiral, but I think I can get a small group of our sisters onto the bridge and eliminate the personnel there before they can raise an alarm."
"And you think you can manage this with only a few people without the device?"
"Our chances of success will be greatly improved if we can use the device."
"So the Tantalus Device is crucial."
"OK let's move forward. There are some things you need to keep in mind. First, we are not yet certain of the device's effective range. You may find, that it is insufficient to span the distance between two ships. You need to be prepared if that ends up being the case. Second, as far as we can determine, it can disintegrate almost anything, but only on a relatively small scale, the denser an object, the smaller it needs to be to be totally disintegrated. Organic material the size of a person is not a problem, metals have to have a much smaller volume. You may find that you are unable to disintegrate enough of the containment vessel or some other vital part of the ship before you are found out and fired upon. Once that happens, your opportunity to get close enough to use the device again will be gone. And it goes without saying that if you take out part of the containment vessel, you don't want to be anywhere near that ship when it blows up. The idea is a good one however. I would suggest elimination of a small but vital part of the warp engine assembly. A part that will not immediately be noticed by diagnostics, but will either prevent the ship from going to warp, or even better, will cause it to blow up if they try to. Third, since you can only eliminate one person at a time, you cannot simply disintegrate him when you are close enough. If you do that with other people around immediately after you show up, they will quickly realize you are involved somehow and target you. Again, your element of surprise will be lost, and you will not be able to get close enough to use the weapon again.
"Lastly, eliminating only one or two people on a ship of fifteen hundred, no matter how important those two people are, will not materially effect the operation of the ship itself, which is the real, immediate danger we are facing."
She paused momentarily for that to sink in.
"So, this is what we are going to do. Do not attempt to take the ship, it's too risky and we cannot afford to lose any people, let alone your ship. Get with engineering and figure out the smallest part of the engines that can be eliminated, without raising any alarms, that cannot easily be repaired, which will prevent the ship from going to warp. Next, get the device and practice targeting the piece on our ships. You need to get to the point where you can quickly target it. When you get to Ralaa's fleet, this will be the first thing you need to do.
"Next, draw up and prioritize ahead of time, a list of all of the people you want to eliminate. When you get there, start with the people lowest on your list, as they will be least likely to be missed immediately. Also, time your eliminations as best you can such that the target will be alone, preferably when they are just off shift. That way no one will think it unusual if they are not around for a while.
"That's about all I can think of. Anyone have anything else to add?"
"Have we figured out range issues with the device yet?"
"Good question," she hit her comm button.
"Science?"
"Yes Admiral."
"What do you have for me?"
"The device can completely disintegrate a living organism up to 1.5 kilometers away, and fatally disrupt its chemistry up to four. Denser objects such as ship parts require a shorter distance. At about one kilometer we think most any object in an area of one meter in diameter will be completely destroyed. At greater distances we think it will disrupt the operation of most machinery."
"You think?" The Admiral was about to get annoyed again.
"We did not think it wise to test it on any of the ships working components Admiral," was said sardonically.
Ruwon ignored her scientist's tone. She understood the tension everyone was feeling right about now.
"Does the nebula affect the operation of the device?"
"As far as we can determine the nebula has no effect Admiral."
"Good job Science, Ruwon out.
"Everybody get that?"
When no one answered, she continued.
"Alright, I don't have to tell you that we have little time and much to accomplish. Commander S'Talla, take that warbird on the other side of the planet out of the fight. Do not, under any circumstances, risk losing or damaging the Device. That means you keep it on your ship. Your priority is to damage Valdran's ship just enough so he is not able to join the battle."
"I understand Admiral. We do have some people in key positions on the ship. Taking it may be possible. I would need some soldiers to hold on to it though."
"I heard you the first time Commander. Disable it only. You are not to risk any of your people. Are we clear?"
"Let me bring Commander Teelis with me. I want Valdran to think I was successful in getting you to stand down.
S'Talla approached Admiral Valdran's ship, the Kazar, with caution. With communications confined to only a few hundred kilometers, and the Admiral not being aware he had been ordered to the planet, this seemed a sensible precaution. The fact that just twelve hours ago he had destroyed one of the landing parties from this very ship, and someone, theoretically at least, could have gotten word to the people there, had nothing to do with his nervousness. At least that is what he kept telling himself as his ship inched closer. It didn't help that he was trailing one of Admiral Ruwon's ships in his wake; albeit at quite a distance.
"Comm, how long until we are in effective communications range with the Kazar?"
"Three minutes at current approach Commander."
S'Talla activated his comm.
"Sub-Commander Sarana."
"Yes Commander?"
"Your security team ready in case we need to board in force?"
"As ready as they were when you asked half an hour ago Commander."
Ouch. One of the drawbacks, S'Talla thought, of being a member of a matriarchal family, was that the women sometimes felt they could be impertinent to any man, regardless of whether he outranked them. He sighed. He took comfort in the fact that boarding in force was plan B.
"A simple yes will suffice sub-Commander."
"Yes, Commander."
"Remember to have them not dress like soldiers. They won't get anywhere near engineering if ship's personnel see them in their normal battle gear."
"Yes Commander."
How that woman managed to make a simple acknowledgement sound as if he was lucky to be in charge and not her, he couldn't quite tell, but he felt it keenly.
His mind went back to his mother's orders. He understood in principle why she did not want him to use the device except as an absolute last resort. The device was needed to effect change within the high council on Romulus, and incidentally, ensure the continued existence of the four families there. That was the priority; everything else, including what they were doing here was secondary. If word of its existence got into the wrong hands back on Romulus, there would be no way for the Admiral to carry out her plan effectively, and the families would inevitably be exterminated, with our without the Tantalus device. To guard against the eventuality of a spy among their ranks from finding out about it, the Admiral had restricted knowledge of the device to a chosen few. The science people obviously knew, but had been ordered not to talk about it to anyone upon pain of death. Her ship commanders knew about it, along with their sub-commanders, but that was about it. S'Talla felt he needed to bring his head of security into the loop, against his mother's wishes. If he was to take the ship intact, and yes, that is what he intended to do, he needed at least one other person with him who knew the whole picture. Given how outnumbered the Admiral's fleet was, he would have very much preferred that all of his people knew what was going on to cover any contingencies, hence his nervousness.
He sighed again.
Such was the nature of conflict.
"Science," he sub-vocalized into the private comm channel he had with her.
"Yes Commander?"
"Let me know when you can resolve the bridge."
"Yes Commander."
"Don't forget to monitor it constantly. We need to know exactly how many people are on it when we get there. We will only have a short time to lock it down and won't be able to hold it for long."
He hesitated for a moment. He didn't want to give the order.
"And also, under no circumstances are you to deal with any "issues" outside of the bridge."
She paused before responding.
"As you say Commander."
His Plan A was ambitious. If his mother had got wind of it, she would have forbade it outright. Well, technically she had, sort of. Well sort of, definitely, but she didn't forbid him from doing a reconnaissance in force. And if he happened to seize an opportunity to grab the ship while he was scouting for the optimal places to use the device, all the better. That was why he had not said anything to his people until they were well away from the Admiral and there was no way she could find out what he planned to do. What was that old Romulan saying? It was better to ask for forgiveness after the fact, than permission ahead of time when you suspect the answer will be no. In this case, his mother wanted him to just get close enough to disable the ship, surreptitiously eliminate some key personnel, and then move away. But what was the fun in that he thought? No, they needed that ship for the upcoming fight and he was confident he could grab it with a minimum of fuss. Well… reasonably confident… with some fuss. Everything depended on, well, too many things to think about right now.
About a quarter of the people on that ship belonged to one of the families. Enlisting them in the effort to take the ship was key. Well, one of the keys he reminded himself.
"You will have communications with the Kazar in about a minute Commander."
S'Talla had heard soldiers say that once you were in a battle, you generally buckled down and did what had to be done, and that it was the waiting for the battle to start that was what was most difficult. Now he knew what they were talking about.
His head of security came onto the bridge. Thirty seconds later, comms were up. The next part was crucial. Security needed to alert their allies of what they were planning on doing. Without their help, the whole plan was dead in the water. She had prepared ahead of time an encrypted, burst transmission coded to the senior sister on board, detailing the plan and what needed to be done. The Admiral's people would pick up that a transmission was happening, so she and the Commander had planned to talk to the ship at the same time, the hope being that it would make it harder for his comm officer to detect exactly what was going on. The interference from the nebula should serve to confuse things further.
Well that was the plan at least. No sooner was communication available to the Kazar than he was hailed.
"On screen."
A very angry and suspicious looking Admiral was staring at him.
"Commander, what are you doing here?"
He quickly indicated to Security to begin her transmission and smiled at the Admiral.
"Admiral, greetings."
"And why are you trailing one of Ruwon's ships?"
"My apologies Admiral. General Ralaa asked me to assist you."
The Commander not only had to give his security chief enough time to get her message to her people, but for them to acknowledge they had gotten it.
"Why would he do that? I need no assistance!"
"And I told him as much Admiral, but he felt that since I knew Ruwon already, I could more easily get her to stand down. I brought one of her ships with me to put your mind at ease that she will not cause us any trouble."
"And how will that put my mind at ease Commander?"
Come on Security! S'Talla didn't know how long he could keep this up.
"I've ordered them to remain a safe distance away. They will not get any closer."
Well, unless he sent them a signal using the laser system the Starfleet engineer had come up with.
"So Commander, if this was your mission, why did you not come tell me this before you talked with Admiral Ruwon?"
He replied smoothly.
"Because that was what I was ordered to do Admiral"
He hoped a mild bit of indignation at the Admiral's questioning of his veracity would calm the man down. Just then, Security indicated she had successfully contacted her people. S'Talla couldn't be more relieved.
"Admiral, I have been ordered to place my ship and its crew under your command, and provide any assistance you may require. May I suggest I come aboard and meet with you so we can discuss what you wish me to do?"
The Admiral seemed to be mollified, but S'Talla had arranged with his communications officer ahead of time to up the static on the signal in case he said no.
"I am sorry Admiral, our signal is degrading. I will be aboard shortly."
He gave the comm their pre-arranged signal and she cut communications.
"Let's move Security!"
Both of them rushed from the bridge. Security alerted her people.
"Everyone on the shuttle now!"
They only had a short time to get over to the Kazar and make their way to the bridge. The sisters already on the ship, that security had ordered to head toward engineering could only mill around there for a limited time before someone would get suspicious. As the shuttle approached the warship, Valdran kept trying to raise him, but S'Talla ordered that the signal continue to be interfered with. He heard his pilot keep up a steady stream of "sorrys" and "please repeats" going as they approached the docking bay.
"Everyone. I suspect we're going to have a reception committee, so we need to modify our plans somewhat. Sarana and Killama, you're with me. Sukith and Mikisa, head to engineering. The more of that committee you can take with you the better. The rest of you, stay hidden in the shuttle until we give you the signal, and then head to engineering. If we're lucky, we won't need you at all."
He raised his science officer back on the ship. As much as he might want to, the device was too valuable to bring with him on the shuttle. If his plan fell apart, she had been ordered to disable critical systems on the ship so it could not maneuver. His second would then take his own ship a safe distance away and await further orders. He hoped it would not come to that. They really needed that ship!
The shuttle entered the landing bay slowly. S'Talla saw four Centurions waiting for them, armed to the teeth. They even carried disrupters, which were rendered almost useless due to the nebula. He suspected that "almost" would be quite sufficiently effective at close range, at least for a short period of time. That could be a problem as he and his people did not want to appear threatening, and so what weapons they had with them were small and inconspicuous.
"Science."
"Yes Commander."
"Have you got the bridge yet?"
Cryptic enough. He had to be careful what he said to his science officer. Even though no one could hear what she was saying, they could still hear him if they were close enough.
"The bridge yes, personnel no."
"Understood Science," he cut her off.
"In order to establish better communication, we need to bring the ship closer…"
"You catch that Denak?" His second in command was patched into the same private comm channel he shared with his science officer.
"Yes Commander. We have been drifting slowly closer but we keep getting warnings from the Admiral's people that we're endangering their ship. Between the sketchy comms and our damaged thrusters however, we've managed to close the gap that separates us."
"What damaged thrusters?... Oh. Any idea how long it will take to get close enough?"
"Not sure Commander. Ten minutes at least at our current rate. We are testing the Admiral's patience, and he has already threatened to fire on us if we get too close. I don't think I can move much faster."
Not good! Once they landed, it would take them eight minutes on the outside to get to the bridge.
"Denak, both you and Science leave comms open and keep me posted on how it's going."
"Sarana. We need to buy some time…"
"The Centurions in the shuttle bay will be instructed to take us directly to the bridge – or to the brig if the admiral was told what we did on the planet."
"Yes they will. That's why you need to perform the formal farewell ritual."
"The what?!"
"You, Killama, and the rest of the away team need five minutes to say goodbye to each other because you are going to different places on the ship. Unless, that is, you can think of a better idea to buy us five minutes in the roughly ten seconds we have left before we open the shuttle doors?"
His security officer was loathe to agree with his logic just on general principals, but for once did not have a comeback. He was sure this bothered her to no end. She hesitated for only a second before conferring with her three sisters and then gave him the ok.
"Wait for my signal before you begin."
The shuttle doors opened. He walked out to greet their escort. He had asked his security detail to stay behind for a few minutes while he attempted to deal with the guards.
"Centurions, I have been ordered to assist your Admiral, but must confer first with…"
"Commander S'Talla, you are to accompany us to the bridge immediately."
He affected a commanding tone.
"I appreciate your wanting to follow your orders to the letter, however, a delay of only a few minutes will be of no consequence and…"
"Commander! You will either accompany us immediately, or we will carry you."
S'Talla had sufficient standing within the high council that this treatment was unwarranted. Something was not right. He was reasonably certain that events on the surface of the planet could not have gotten back to the Admiral. At that moment however, he was keenly aware of the yawning gap that was the difference between reasonably certain and certain.
As he was engaged with the soldiers, he did not see his sub-commander and her three sisters exit the shuttle. It was the sudden wide eyes and slack jaws that alerted him that something was happening behind him. He turned and saw women who had completely transformed. Normally the security team wore functional clothes; some variation of a close fitting garment to allow them freedom of movement in case the need arose. This time, he had ordered they attire themselves so as to not make it obvious they were soldiers, but to the trained eye they would still have been spotted as such; that is before they exited the shuttle. Although they still walked like the trained athletes they were, they had let their hair down and loosened their clothing in strategic locations. He guessed that Security had indeed thought of something else to delay the guards. He saw that they were holding their terseht in their hands and sincerely hoped they were not planning on using them on the men right here. He quickly realized they had only taken them out so they could throw their hair around to further distract the men. They were doing a dance that looked vaguely familiar, and then it came to him. He used to play the game when he was a child; although not in nearly as provocative a way as this. One of the women swung her hair so it "accidently" brushed across the face of one of the men, who was too startled to move.
Apparently the leader took offence at this. More, the Commander suspected, because the woman hadn't done it to him, and looked about to intervene. S'Talla whispered urgently to him.
"Centurion. I would advice caution. Interrupting the farewell ceremony would not be well received; I know from personal experience. I would not want you to get hurt, and it only lasts a few minutes."
"The what?!"
"Two of the women are going to meet with their sisters on your ship whom they have not seen in a long time. They are formally saying goodbye to their two friends here who will be coming with me. This ritual is common when friends separate after arriving at a new destination no matter how briefly they are expected to be away from one another. If they are interrupted, in addition to demanding satisfaction from the offending party, they will insist on starting over again. Trust me, the delay if you stop them will be much longer than if you just let them finish."
That seemed to mollify the leader, and he looked to resign himself to waiting until the women had completed whatever it was they were doing. Security managed to stretch their little charade out to about seven minutes and would have continued had the Centurion's comm not sounded and an angry Admiral Valdran spoke.
"Centurion. What is your delay? You should have been here by now!"
"I am sorry Admiral. The women were just performing their farewell ritual."
"What ritual? Wait, what women? Did that nei'rrh bring some of those women from that crazy family that were on his ship?"
"Yes Admiral. Some of them wanted to visit their sisters here."
"I don't care! Bring S'Talla up here now! Without delay!", the Admiral said and cut communication abruptly.
"Commander, you heard the Admiral, let's go."
"Certainly Centurion. It looks like the women are finished."
At this, Sarana and the other women abruptly stopped and thanked the leader profusely for allowing them to finish. S'Talla took the opportunity to sub-vocalize to his ship.
"Science, status?"
"Working on it Commander, still not close enough."
"In less than eight minutes we're going to come face to face with a bridge full of people who don't like us very much. That's how much time you have to be ready. Make sure the ship is in position by then or we're not going to have a very good day."
"Yes Commander. We will be ready. Walk slowly though."
He tried his best not to let his concern show. That would only serve to rattle his science officer and she needed to stay focused. Walk slowly. One step at a time. One of the guards had accompanied the two sisters who wanted to meet their relatives in other parts of the ship. He had hoped at least one more of them had gone but there was nothing he could do about it now. Science needed about thirty seconds to take care of the normal compliment of six that was a bridge crew. If there were more, it could present a problem. He was depending on Science letting him know that information ahead of time so he and Sarana knew exactly what they were about to face. He was very familiar with the layout of D'deridex class ships, so when they passed the sick bay, he knew the bridge was just two minutes away.
Denak contacted him.
"Commander, ten people on the bridge, and Science has a lock. Be advised that the Admiral is being most emphatic about our proximity to him. I don't expect he will allow us to maintain this position for more than a few minutes. Awaiting your order but make it quick."
S'Talla didn't realize he had been holding his breath until that very moment. There were more people on the bridge than usual, but since it would take Science five seconds for each person, he still hoped he had plenty of margin.
"Commander, be aware that the bridge has just been informed of our sisters congregating near engineering. The Admiral suspects something is amiss and has requested one contingent of centurions sent there and another to the bridge."
Suspicious bastard the Admiral.
"Will we beat them to the bridge?"
"Yes Commander, but not by much."
"Security, did you get that?" She had an ear bud as well.
"Yes Commander."
"When we get onto the bridge, we will not be able to keep the doors locked for long before an alarm is raised by those centurions. Order your people on the shuttle to the bridge to take care of them. Have them do it as quietly as possible."
"And how…"
"Security, when we are on the bridge, there will be no one available to handle the soldiers behind us, and if they find the bridge locked up, they will let the rest of the ship know there is a problem, making it that much harder for us to consolidate our positions. If that happens, as I'm sure you are aware, we will have a very hard time taking control of the rest of the ship. As of this moment, there is no one that can stop that alarm from being raised unless you get your people from the shuttle to the bridge as soon as possible. Our sisters in engineering will be able to handle the soldiers heading that way. So, order your people to the bridge or I will do it myself."
He wished he could have raised his voice to his insubordinate security chief, but he had to settle for a brief meaningful look. Not nearly as satisfying he thought. He did see Security sub-vocalizing to her people. Good. That meant they only had to stall the centurions that were going to be locked out of the bridge for a short period of time. That's if Science was right and they got onto the bridge before them. One thing at a time he told himself as they rounded a corner and he saw the entrance to the bridge.
"Security, hang back and get behind the men. Science, execute, execute, execute!" He didn't strictly need to repeat the order three times, but he wanted to be sure she heard him.
Fifty seconds – give or take. He slowed his steps to make sure Science had enough time, but then thought better of it. If the centurions caught them before they made the bridge, they'd be hard pressed to get there at all.
Twenty seconds – he was sorely tempted to get an update from Science but knew that asking would only slow her down. He would just have to wait until the doors opened to find out.
Ten seconds – "Now!" He said this out loud. He turned to see two of their guard already falling to the ground, terseht protruding from a spot just under their right ears. Efficient, a minimum of blood, and the higher brain functions shut down immediately. After Security's earlier behavior, he had made a mental note to give her a stern lecturing to when the operation was over. After what he just saw, he made a second mental note not to bother. This was someone he did not want to be on the bad side of.
All of this went through his mind as he turned and faced the third centurion, who had only just registered that something had happened to his companions. S'Talla didn't have easy access to a weapon in his hair as the women had, so he resorted to a punch to the jaw as he pulled a baton from his pants. He swung and missed the man who still had some of his wits about him and ducked. He managed a shout before Security jumped in and dispatched him just as she had done the first one. Her disdain for his amateurish performance was plainly written on her face.
Just then the doors opened to reveal a very surprised and frightened Admiral Valdran trying his best to exit the bridge. Behind him a bright greenish light flashed along with a strange hum. Almost immediately, two terseht sprouted from the Admiral's neck followed by a blinding flash and he was gone. The only thing left was a strong smell of ozone.
Both sisters stopped wide-eyed for a second.
"Sub-Commander, figure out how to lock down the bridge. Killama, you are not to speak to anyone about what you just saw. Now, help me get these bodies in there."
No sooner had they shut the doors than the intercom came to life.
"Bridge, Centurion Levix reporting. My men and I are here as ordered but the doors are not opening."
Killama keyed the comm circuit.
"Centurion, we are having problem with our systems. Please stand by."
"Who is…" the rest was abruptly cut off.
S'Talla wrinkled his nose at the odor. Other than the bodies of the three dead guards, there was no sign that anything at all had happened. If this was what the Tantalus device could do, S'Talla thought, it was a formidable weapon indeed.
"Denak, bridge secure" he informed his second in command back on his ship.
"Acknowledged Commander."
"Security, status in engineering?"
She contacted her people.
"Some continued resistance Commander. Sukith says we will have control shortly.
Sisters from the shuttle engaging the Centurions outside of the bridge now."
"Science, any read on the rest of the ship?"
"Fighting in engineering. A general alarm has not been raised as of yet. I suspect the opposition thinks it is a disturbance among its own crew."
"That is plausible Commander. There is no love lost between the regular crew and the members of the families."
"Well at least we've got a few things working for us."
"We can open the doors now Commander, " Sarana reported. They opened the bridge to see seven of the ten original sisters still standing. Two were dead; one was clutching a pretty nasty gash in her leg. All of the ten Centurions were dead.
"They were unexpectedly good fighters," the lead sister said to Security apologetically.
"No excuses! You should always be prepared!"
"Apologies sister," she bowed.
That seemed a bit harsh, but the sisters did take their training very seriously. S'Talla knew that most likely, his security officer had taken the loss of her sisters hard and had used that tone to mask her dismay.
"Sarana. If your sisters need any help in engineering take a team down there. Just leave Killama and two others here so we can run the ship. When you've got things under control, come back up here with the senior sister and the lead engineer.
"Denak, notify Commander Khellian we've taken the ship and have them rendezvous with us soonest. We'll need to transfer some of the opposition to both of you.
After they had wrestled the last of the bodies onto the bridge, he ordered Killama to man the environmental control station.
"You," he indicated one of the other sisters, "take communications.
"Security, the bridge is secure and we are ready to start phase two. Start bringing more of your people over from the ship. How are things down in engineering?"
"Just mopping up here Commander. Commencing phase two."
"Sister, give me ship-wide."
"Go ahead Commander."
"Crew of the Kazar. This is Commander S'Talla of the Sakti. We have had a minor malfunction on the bridge due to the continuing interference from the nebula. Admiral Valdran was injured when the life support station shorted out and he asked me, as the senior officer present, to let you know what happened. There is no problem with the environmental controls, but we've been getting reports from some parts of the ship that access doors have not been functioning properly. Priority is being given to ensuring airlocks do not open suddenly. As such, I am advising that all non-essential personnel return to their quarters until further notice. S'Talla out.
"That should hold them for a while. Killama, as you detect people getting to their quarters, make sure their doors "malfunction" and cannot be opened again."
He also ordered her to randomly open and close doors throughout the ship to give the ruse some authenticity. There were going to be those suspicious souls who would suspect something was amiss, but he hoped that the more people he locked in their rooms, the harder it would be for of those people to organize a large enough group to accomplish much of anything.
The next hour would tell.
"Commander," his second in command called him.
"Go ahead Denak."
"Commander Khellian has arrived."
"Have them bring some shuttles over. We will be starting phase 3 shortly.
"Security."
"Commander."
"Is engineering secure?"
"Yes Commander. All doors are locked and cannot be opened from the outside."
"Good. Report to the bridge with the senior sister and her engineer."
He started to get concerned. He had known Security for quite a while now and was not used to the respectful tone.
"Commander."
"Go ahead Science."
"A Sub-Commander Dvir seems to be organizing some resistance. Shall I have someone talk to him?"
He made a note to have a private conversation with Science later. She was beginning to have way too much fun with the Tantalus Device.
"Not necessary Science. I'll take care of him from this end."
He had asked her to monitor key personnel for any sign of a problem. They had worked out euphemisms for the use of the device as he was not yet ready to let but a small group of people know of its existence. Given what was going on, he was actually surprised organized opposition had not manifested itself earlier.
"Sub-Commander Dvir."
"Yes Commander?"
"I need you to put together a team to disable the airlocks so they cannot open on their own. Keep me informed of your progress."
"Yes Commander. When will the Admiral be resuming command?"
A loaded question as what was left of the Admiral was currently wafting through the ventilation system, but he quickly answered.
"Unsure Sub-Commander. He is stable and not in any danger but we still cannot open the bridge doors to get him to sick bay."
"I can send some men to try to open the doors from the outside."
"I appreciate the offer Sub-Commander, but as I said, the Admiral is not in any danger and I already have people working on the door. Your priority is to secure the airlocks before someone gets injured. I want all of your people on that task until it is done."
"Understood. Commander, I am getting reports that a number of shuttles from your ship are stationed in and around our landing bay. Do you know anything about that?"
"Just a precaution Sub-Commander in case the malfunctions get too severe and we need to evacuate. Now, both of us have urgent jobs to take care of. I suggest you get to yours so I can deal with mine."
He cut communications with the officer. The Sub-Commander was going to be a problem. The question was how big of a problem. Since he had locked down the bridge and engineering, S'Talla had effective control of the ship and did not think the man could do much about that. Or could he?
"Security, what's your eta? I need to talk to that engineer. Oh also, bring a few of the other engineers up here as well. I want them to pretend to be trying to open the bridge doors."
"Will do. On our way."
A few minutes later he addressed the engineer and the senior sister.
"We've got what I think is a relatively minor problem, but I want to make sure. Sub-Commander Dvir is getting suspicious and is organizing some of his people. I had assumed since we have control of engineering and the bridge, that there was nothing the ship's crew could do to take back control, but before I implement the next part of our plan, I need to know for sure."
The senior sister said.
"The Sub-Commander is not a patient man and has made it clear he does not look upon our families favorably. I know he is not happy that there appear to be more sisters running around the ship. I also suspect he knows that your ship is primarily crewed by the sisterhood, which will increase his suspicions that something is amiss to a near certainty."
The engineer spoke up.
"You are correct Commander that he cannot take control of the ship."
"Well that at least is a relief." He was happy that things so far were going according to plan.
"He can however, theoretically at least, disable or destroy it."
That was a surprise. He thought the self-destruct controls only existed on the bridge and said so.
"Yes that is true Commander, but the mechanism that allows for a self destruct to happen is hardwired throughout the ship. One could access the right power corridor and initiate it from there."
"I thought there would be safeguards against such a thing happening?"
"There are Commander. I said it was theoretically possible. It would be very difficult. At least two people would have to coordinate their efforts and act at the exact same moment to initiate the sequence. It would take specialized training to pull it off. Not many people have that expertise, or the knowledge that it is even possible."
"But you know," he pointed out reasonably.
"Well yes, but I'm an engineer."
The face of the lead sister went white. S'Talla noticed and commented deadpan.
"And from your expression, you are about to ruin my day aren't you sister?"
"My apologies but I am afraid so Commander. The Sub-Commander is an accomplished engineer."
That complicated things. Moving directly against the Sub-Commander would tip his hand, proving that he and the sisters were not friendlies. Even though he had control of the ship, there were enough people roaming free who could cause headaches for him when he went into battle against their boss. Using the Tantalus Device on him would reveal its existence to too many people; likewise not an option. Maybe…
"Science. What is the Sub-Commander doing right now?"
"He is conferring with a group of his people. Not about securing airlocks."
"Killama, find me an airlock with no one near, then open it up."
Understanding dawned on her face as she began to see what he wanted to do. He was pretty sure the Sub-Commander was still in the dark about what was really going on, and so was not quite ready to blow up the ship just yet. S'Talla hoped the chaos to come would take him away from his side project. No sooner than he had the thought, the alarms started hooting and lights flashed all over the ship.
"Sub-Commander."
"What's going on Commander? Are we under attack?"
"No. As we feared, one of the airlocks opened up on its own in the lower crew quarters. Can you get down there right away and take care of it? We will have it shut by the time you get there. Have you managed to secure any of the others yet?"
"No Commander, still getting a team together."
He knew very well that the man hadn't gotten anything together other than organizing his little plot. He had no way of knowing that S'Talla had the ability to listen in on his conversations.
"Time is of the essence Sub-Commander. Ship's functions are getting worse as we speak. Get your teams going before one of those airlocks kills someone!"
"Science. Eyes on the Sub-Commander. Let me know if you think he is doing anything other than working on those airlocks.
"Comms, ship wide."
"Go ahead Commander."
"This is Commander S'Talla. The nebula is continuing to cause us system problems. The alarm you heard was one of the airlocks opening on its own. No one was nearby so no one was hurt. Sub-Commander Dvir has a team of people locking them down, so please remain in your quarters if you are off duty, or away from them if you are not, until we get the all clear from the Sub-Commander. Commander S'Talla out.
"Killama, find another airlock with no one near and open it. Let's start increasing the frequency."
Over the next half hour lights flashed and alarms sounded every few minutes. Killama ensured no one was killed or injured, but that did not stop the Commander from claiming so. During that time the Sub-Commander gave the airlocks a wide berth, although he had no problem sending his people to work on them. That was a problem, as he wanted the man's elimination to be an "accident" and he was now running out of airlocks to accomplish the task. An additional wrinkle was that the man had ordered his team to don space suits as a precaution. A wise step on his part, but a complication for Commander S'Talla. Until all of the crew loyal to the former Admiral were either confined or removed from the ship, he had to be seen to be doing all he could to rescue any personnel who were spaced and still alive, lest he spark a rebellion amongst the crew before he was ready to handle it.
"Killama, can you reverse what the Sub-Commander did to the airlocks from here?"
"No Commander. He has physically disconnected the electronic mechanism so the doors can only be operated manually."
"Wait, both doors?"
"Both?"
"The inner and outer."
"No, he only needed to disable the outer door to prevent decompression. I've been cycling the inner doors periodically to maintain the illusion, but the airlocks he has disabled are perfectly harmless."
"But he didn't disable the air cycling system did he?"
Understanding dawned on the sister's face.
"No he did not Commander!"
Environment realized that if she created a vacuum in the airlock, she would be in control of a passable booby trap. If she opened the inner door when someone was nearby, they would be sucked violently into the airlock and then trapped when the inner door "accidentally" closed and could not be opened again. The unfortunate soul caught this way would be pretty banged up, but safe otherwise until S'Talla was ready to release them.
"Set the traps sister. Let's see how many mice we can catch. Comms, give me ship wide."
"Go ahead Commander."
"All personnel. Unfortunately, problems with ship's systems are getting worse. Some of the accidents have resulted in the loss of life, so as a precautionary measure, we will commence moving non-essential personnel to my ship. This evacuation is temporary, and as soon as we get the situation under control, everyone will be moved back to this ship. My security officer will be coordinating transportation. Your cooperation is greatly appreciated. Commander S'Talla out."
No sooner had he made the pronouncement than Science contacted him on their secure channel.
"Go ahead Science," he whispered.
"Just thought you should know Commander. The Sub-Commander did not like that order at all. He's gathering about twenty of his men. They are all armed with disrupters."
"Put your crosshairs on him and stand by."
"Sarana. The Sub-Commander is about to make his move with about twenty men armed with disrupters. We will try to handle him from here, but have a team on standby in case."
"Acknowledged Commander." She started talking into her own comm. system. He counted it as a small victory that Security for once didn't question his orders. Could she finally be giving him a small measure of respect? Probably not.
"Killama, do you have a location on our Sub-Commander?"
"Yes. He and a small group of his people are moving rapidly. They're not heading toward engineering. Or the bridge for that matter," she said confused.
The engineer spoke up.
"You said a small group. Is there another group headed in another direction?"
Killama examined her sensor readings.
"Yes, but they are not heading our way either."
"Can you bring up the ship's schematic and show the two groups?"
She turned to her instruments.
"A moment Commander."
The main viewing screen came to life. The bridge crew could see two groups of ten people, heading in seemingly random directions. S'Talla could not tell what they were doing.
"Where are they going?"
"This is not good Commander. They are headed toward these two access conduits." The engineer pointed to two areas that as far as he could tell, were nowhere near any vital area of the ship. She elaborated.
"Those conduits are two of about five that house the connections to the self destruct system. If the two teams coordinate their efforts…"
"Then we are going to all have a very bad day," he finished for her.
"Once he gets there, how long before he can initiate the self destruct?"
"Theoretically, almost immediately. But if he does we can override it from here, so he will have to take the time to disable the override. At least fifteen minutes if he knows what he's doing." She thought for a second.
"And both teams will have to initiate simultaneously, so they had to have agreed on a specific time in advance in case we jam their comms. So I figure we've got thirty minutes; more or less."
S'Talla looked at the screen. The Sub-Commander and his group had arrived at the conduits.
"It looks like they've set up a defensive perimeter in case we go after them. With those disrupters, they may just have time to pull it off.
"Engineering, is there anything we can do from here?"
"No Commander."
"Science."
Science had been listening in thru his open comm channel and knew what he was going to ask.
"Not without potentially damaging something vital Commander, the space in the conduit is too confined."
So using the device to eliminate the Sub-Commander in the conduit was a non-starter. He looked at the screen again. The second group had further to go to their assigned conduit, but had not yet arrived. He opened a channel to the Sub-Commander.
"Sub-Commander Dvir, we're getting anomalous readings on one of the airlocks in sector…" he pointed to an airlock on the screen that was nearest the second group but away from their path to the conduit and snapped his fingers at the engineer.
"L4," she whispered.
"L4. Can you take a look at it?"
"We've already done that section Commander."
"I know that, but I want to be sure we don't have a problem."
"Yes commander, we will handle."
S'Talla hoped his request would serve to make the man think that he was unaware of what the Sub-Commander was up to. He was relieved to see three men split off from the second group and head to the airlock.
"Sarana. Have a team head off the people still on their way to the second conduit. There are seven of them altogether. Three have gone to a nearby airlock. We'll take care of those from here. I don't have to tell you we cannot allow the others to arrive at their destination."
He had hoped all ten would have gone to the airlock; it would have been a lot less messy. He knew Security could handle the situation, he just preferred not to use a blunt instrument unless he really had to. Maybe.. He looked at the ships schematic again.
"Engineer, didn't you say there was more than one conduit that could be used to initiate the self destruct?"
"Yes commander."
"Show me again."
The Engineer went to the schematic and indicated three other locations.
"Sarana. Slight change of plan. Do not engage the Sub-Commander's men until I tell you to.
"Environment, light up the conduits and airlocks."
Color-coded indicators showed up on the screen.
"Now show me the Sub-Commander's men and Security's team."
More lights appeared.
"OK. We want these guys here," he indicated the seven men, "to move past these locations," he indicated the airlocks, "and I think I know how we can make it happen.
"Sub-Commander Dvir, we're getting reports of a disturbance near the L5 crew quarters. Have you or your men seen anything?"
The L5 crew quarters were close to the second conduit.
"No Commander. What's going on?"
"I don't know for sure, but I'm sending a security team to investigate. Keep working on those airlocks."
As expected the seven men shortly made an abrupt about face and headed to another conduit.
"OK Sarana. We're trying to steer the remaining men past the airlocks. If you run into them, don't engage. Just try to look menacing. If we're lucky, they'll try their best to avoid you."
Suddenly, the alarms went off again, startling everyone except Killama.
"Sorry Commander. Three men safely tucked away in airlock 4," she said smiling.
"OK. Good job. Let's see what we can do to contain the rest of them."
Time passed slowly as everyone on the bridge watched the remaining men as they approached another airlock.
"Give me visual on that airlock."
Another window next to the schematic opened up showing the view inside the airlock toward the inner door. As the men passed in front, the inner door opened suddenly, sucking four of the men, and every loose item within ten meters of the door, into it. It closed just as suddenly. The other men tried frantically to work the controls and free their comrades to no avail. The men inside lay still on the floor.
"They're not dead are they?"
"No Commander. Just unconscious. The men outside can see that the airlock is pressurizing."
One of the men spoke into a communicator, and shortly afterward, the Sub-Commander came on the line. He did not sound pleased.
"Commander! What did you do to my men?!"
S'Talla's answer was as calm as the Sub-Commander's was annoyed.
"Nothing Sub-Commander. There apparently was a vacuum in the airlock and the inner door suddenly opened. I thought you reported to me that you had disabled the doors? If your incompetence caused me to lose some of my men Dvir, don't expect my report to paint you in a favorable light when we get back to Romulus!"
His accusation caught the man off guard. He had assumed, perfectly reasonably of course, that disabling just the outer door was sufficient. Admitting that now however would only make him look worse.
"My men?"
"Luckily, as soon as we saw what had happened, we pressurized the airlock immediately. My men are unconscious, maybe bruised a bit, but they're showing normal vital signs."
"Can you open the door so we can get them out?"
"No Sub-Commander. The controls are not behaving properly, and I am afraid if we do anything, the outer door might open."
"But we disabled…"
"Are you about to tell me you took care of the airlock Sub-Commander? Because, if you are, I think you might want to reconsider in light of what just happened. May I suggest you finish taking care of the airlocks you haven't gotten to yet. I'll send another team to go over your work on the rest of them."
He abruptly cut off communications. Everyone waited for him to say something.
"One of my best performances wouldn't you say?"
The bridge crew finally let out the laughter they had been holding back.
"Alright everyone. Yes we needed that but the ship is not yet secure.
"Killama, have you primed all of the airlocks?"
"Yes, even the ones that have yet to be disabled."
"Good. We can only use this trick one more time so let's wait until we're sure we can nab the Sub-Commander himself."
He hoped (there he went hoping again), that with Dvir and a good portion of his men trapped, the rest would be easier to handle. He was tempted to trap the remaining men of his second team, but didn't want to risk tipping him off. If it happened again, he would know what S'Talla was doing and wouldn't go near another airlock. Nothing to do but wait.
"Denak."
"Go ahead Commander."
"How are the evacuations going?"
"We've got on board a third of the opposition crew and there's another ten percent still in transit. Most are settling down nicely in some empty crew quarters we have. They're not too happy and a few needed more persuasion than others, but generally things are going smoothly."
"Good to hear. I want to start accelerating the transfers. Get with Teelis and have her take some people. We've got about thirty five percent of the crew locked in their quarters which leaves about forty people that still need rounding up. We need to be ready to head off those ships from the nebula, so we need to get this done as soon as we can."
"We'll make it happen Commander."
That taken care of, he brought his attention back to the screen. The forty people left had been identified and placed on the screen. Twenty of the forty included Dvir's people, now less of a danger since they were not actively working on blowing up the ship. Unfortunately he had not gotten close enough to an airlock for his environment officer to neutralize him. All S'Talla could do was wait.
"Engineering, take whoever you need and make sure that Dvir has not done anything in the conduit when we were not looking. I don't want any surprises when we are in the middle of a battle."
"The Sub-Commander is approaching an airlock Commander."
Everyone's attention was immediately riveted on the forward screen.
"Let's get a visual up there."
Another window appeared showing some men approaching the airlock. His engineer noted the uniforms. Something didn't seem quite right.
"Enlarge," she said.
The head sister looked at the men closely. She looked at the schematic again.
"Mother!"
"The Sub-Commander is not with that group of men!"
S'Talla looked at her in alarm.
"What do you mean? He's right there!" He pointed to the icon showing the man.
"The schematic is tracking communicators Commander. How many men do you see there?"
"I'm seeing ten men. Oh no!"
The visual showed only six men.
Four of those men are carrying two communicators," she said.
That man was too clever by half. S'Talla vowed not to underestimate him again.
"Science, the Sub-Commander has eluded us. Find him. He is probably at another conduit."
The bridge crew looked at him. They were wondering how Science could track anything from another ship. It was obvious she was using a different technology than they knew about. Nothing for it he thought. Things were moving too quickly.
"Killama, spring the trap. We'll deal with their leader in another way."
Immediately the alarms went off.
"Got another three Commander."
"Good. See what you can do to locate the Sub-Commander. There should be life signs near the conduits with no sign of having communicators.
"Sarana. Dvir has slipped his leash. He's got at least three men with him and knows our motives are not pure. I need teams at the conduits we talked about right away. You have free reign to do what you need to do to neutralize him or any of his people."
"Yes Commander."
The engineer he had just sent to the first conduit called in agitated.
"Commander! We approached the conduit and were fired upon! We didn't see him! He killed one of my engineers! We cannot get any closer. Security is going to rush him but he's hidden around a corner…"
She would have continued but he cut her off.
"Tell them to hold back and await further orders!"
From the exclamations in the background, he guessed that the security people were not happy with the order.
"Science. Look at the first conduit. Opposition outside of it just killed one of our sisters. Take them out."
"Understood Commander."
"Denak."
"Go ahead Commander."
"You and Commander Teelis move away from here immediately at maximum impulse! Self destruct may be implemented at any moment."
"Acknowledged Commander."
"Environment. Show me the life signs around that first conduit." Icons appeared showing the sisters down a corridor, one man outside the conduit, and one inside of it. Suddenly the one outside disappeared from the screen. The exclamations from his bridge crew were not unexpected.
"Got one Commander. I might damage something if I eliminate the second one. Do you want me to proceed?"
"No Science. Find the other ones.
"Engineer. Tell security the man firing on you has been eliminated. There's one in the conduit and he needs to be neutralized immediately!"
To the shocked faces on the bridge, he indicated that he would explain later.
If the men had ditched their communicators, it meant that for two of them to initiate the self-destruct simultaneously, they had to have agreed on a specific time to do it. Unfortunately there was no way for him to know when that was. All he could do was get to the saboteurs as soon as possible and hope he was in time.
"Commander. Life signs at the L6 conduit."
"Security, converge on L6 and L5. Killama, can you give me a visual of those areas?"
"Yes, give me a second. There it is Commander."
The schematic was replaced by two visuals labeled L5 and L6. L6 showed two men standing outside of the conduit. One of them was speaking to someone inside of it. L5 showed two sisters from Security and the engineer to either side of the conduit. All of them had their terseht in their hands and were taking turns rushing past the opening and throwing their weapons into it. Suddenly one of them convulsed and went down. Luckily her momentum carried her past the entrance so the Centurion's disrupter should not have permanently injured her. Hopefully.
"Science, target L6. Take out anybody outside the conduit."
The bright flash on the other window was what got everyone's attention. There was an audible gasp, and then another, as first one Centurion vanished in a flash of green light followed closely by the other.
"Security, opposition has been eliminated outside of L6. Move in and neutralize the one in it before he has any time to cause any damage."
This group of sisters had disrupters with them and he saw them make short work of the man in the conduit. A minute later, other sisters with disrupters arrived at L5 and took care of the man inside it.
"Everyone. What you just saw was a top-secret device, until now known only to a select few. I am not exaggerating when I say our families continued existence depends on your speaking of it to no one, is that clear?
"Engineering, get one of your people over to the L6 conduit to check for damage there before you check yours out. Let me know if and when we are clear to resume normal operations.
"Sarana, is one of the casualties the Sub-Commander?"
Until he got actual visual confirmation of the man's demise, he would not rest easy. It took her a minute to get back with him.
"Yes Commander. He was killed in the conduit."
The next hour passed uneventfully. He counted every minute that passed without being blown apart as a victory. Finally the chief engineer called in.
"Commander. The Sub-Commander had everything in place to initiate the self-destruct sequence. We apparently stopped him a few seconds before he and his people were planning on hitting the switch. We've disabled his modifications to the destruct mechanism, but I want to run complete diagnostics on all systems that run through these conduits to make sure he didn't damage anything else.
"Good idea engineering. Get whomever you need to help with that.
"Comms, signal Denak and Teelis that the danger has been contained, and to rendezvous with us soonest.
"Sarana, get with any of the Sub-Commander's men that are still alive. I know it's a long shot but see if any of them know what he did in that conduit in addition to modifying the self destruct system."
The self-destruct mechanism worked by disrupting the stable flow of energy from the matter antimatter reactors, causing an explosion guaranteed to annihilate every atom making up the ship. His chief engineer might have made sure this system was not damaged, but there were any number of things a clever engineer could have done in those conduits to cause serious, even if not necessarily lethal, problems later on. That was probably the best he could do for now. There were other things he needed to attend to. He took satisfaction in the realization that this ship would go a long way toward evening the odds in the next few days.
