Chapter 16
"When I woke up, they were gone so I sounded the alarm."
Vaughn had finished recounting his tale to Commodore North, having already alerted security to his fellow test subjects' actions. He and North were in the med lab, along with Doctors T'Ling and Heidelburg. Colonel Kostopoulos was also present, as was Guardsman Threv, presumably to watch over Heidelburg.
North was visibly agitated. "How is he, Doctor?" he asked T'Ling.
"Lieutenant Vaughn suffered a mild concussion, but he will recover," said the Vulcan.
"I'm fine, sir," said Vaughn. "Just stupid."
"Not your fault, son," said North. "Do you have any idea what they might be planning?"
Vaughn carefully shook his head, the back of which still stung. "No, sir. They said they wanted to escape, but I'm not sure how they intended to do that."
Kostopoulos stepped forward. "I have security and my people searching the base, sir, but if they were using these psychic abilities of theirs…"
"They could tell when someone was coming or make them look the other way or even forget about them altogether," North said.
"The guard posted to the room says that Garrison simply asked him to let them leave," said Kostopoulos. "Looks like they can manipulate thoughts."
Heidelburg, silently distressed until now, spoke up. "During the testing, I felt… persuaded by Garrison when he demanded we continue. I thought I was just suggestible from fatigue, but now…"
"This is not good news, Doctor," North said harshly. "Your test subjects can control people's minds and are behaving irrationally."
"The… The enhancements to their mental abilities may have influenced their other cognitive functions," said Heidelburg. "Amplifying other psychological characteristics."
North folded his arms. "Meaning?"
Heidelburg sighed. "According to Lieutenant Garrison's original Starfleet psychometric profile, he showed minor signs of a narcissistic, manipulative personality. Technician Keller's profile mentioned isolationary thinking. These qualities may have been… exaggerated, making them pursue control over their own situation at any cost and amplifying the abilities that could aid in this. Similarly, Ensign Dehner has always displayed submissive tendencies; she may have felt compelled to go along with them moreso than usual."
"Wonderful," North drolled. "How does this help us find them?"
"I don't know," said Heidelburg. The old man looked defeated. "But, in their present state, they may be a danger to themselves or others. Especially if they continue to use their abilities without guidance."
"Then we need to find them now," said North.
The Commodore started to discuss security sweep procedures with Kostopoulos, and Vaughn wished he could help. He wondered if what Heidelburg said was applicable to him as well: That some of his personality traits would be exaggerated by their treatment. Could his urge to help be accentuated? Would it manifest via his powers?
He closed his eyes and tried to focus. He concentrated on finding the other subjects, without straining his mind.
Suddenly, it came to him, clear as day.
North crossed to the intercom and opened the channel. "North here."
"Sir, the escaped subjects are in the Main Storage Bay!"
His vision cleared and he slumped forward, caught by T'Ling.
"Are you alright, Lieutenant?" said North.
Maybe it was because he tried to force his future-sight or maybe it was because of the concussion, but Vaughn felt dizzy after his premonition. He needed to relay what he had seen though; there was no telling how far ahead it was.
"I… I had a vision, sir… The subjects… will be in the Main Storage Bay…"
North whipped around to Kostopoulos, but she was already talking into her communicator.
"What the hell are we doing in a storage bay, Keller?" Garrison said, keeping his voice low as the trio crept through the rows of containers.
It was the middle of Beta Shift, so the bay was deserted, and Keller led them to the rear of the room.
"This is how we're gonna get up to the drydock," Keller said, standing before the broad, round dais of the base's only transporter.
Kat's stomach, already well-churned, almost turned inside-out.
"W-We're using that thing?" she asked, nervous, pointing to the transporter.
Even Ed seemed uneasy. "Is it safe, Keller? I know they say it can be used on lifeforms, but we mostly use ours for cargo, don't we?"
"It'll be fine," said Keller, already punching buttons and flipping switches on the control console.
"Do you even know how to work it?" asked Ed.
"I've used it before," said Keller. "Once. On inorganic cargo. But it'll be fine. Besides, it's not like we can steal a shuttlepod; they'd shoot us down! Now shut up and let me work or we'll get beamed to the core of the planet or something."
Ed looked annoyed but said nothing further. Kat was hoping he'd see the insanity of Keller's plan and back out.
"Um, Ed?" she said quietly. "I… I don't know about this. Maybe we should just go back."
He turned to her, his face screwed up in anger, which always made her flinch. "Go back? Don't be ridiculous."
"We can say the stuff they did to our brains made us a little crazy," Kat pleaded. "They'll understand."
Ed pointed a finger at her. "You will do what I tell you and that's that!"
Kat never argued with Ed, but she felt like she needed to keep up her protest, and was about to speak again when a vibrant image appeared in her head.
Three security officers and two MACOs stood outside the entrance to the storage bay, phase rifles at the ready. They prepared to advance.
Kat immediately, instinctively knew this was happening live.
Ed saw the blank look on her face. "What? What is it?"
"Security," she said. She couldn't help herself; she had to answer Ed. "I saw them. They're here."
"Damn it," said Ed, looking around. He turned back to Keller, who had heard Kat. "How's it coming?"
"Ready," said Keller. "But if anyone gets to the console mid-transport, they could pull us back."
"We'll have to make sure no one gets to the console then," said Ed. "How many?" he asked Kat.
"F-Five," she said.
"Stay back here," Ed said to her.
He and Keller moved to either side of the storage units closest to the entrance. The Main Storage Bay was vast, the largest on-site, and filled with rows of shelves and units holding containers of various sizes, like a small warehouse.
Keller had his eyes shut, trying to reach out with his new senses.
"Anything?" Ed whispered to him.
"There!" Keller shouted, pointed off to their right.
Just then, a stun grenade tumbled towards them from between two sets of shelves. Ed quickly threw up his hands, catching the grenade in mid-air with telekinesis, and hurling it back the way it came.
A white flash emanated from the shelves and a MACO hit the deck.
A Starfleet security officer dived out from the opposite side, firing his rifle but missing any of them.
Keller extended his arm, pointing at the officer, and the phase rifle burst into flames, forcing the officer to drop it and run screaming, his arms ablaze as well. The fire suppression system soon kicked in, spraying foam, and swiftly extinguished the rifle.
"There!" Keller shouted again, and he and Ed moved to another row where two more security officers advanced.
Kat hadn't seen their faces in her remote vision, but now, even hiding behind the transporter console, she saw that the officers were her friends Ross and Lexi. She almost wanted to call out to them.
Again, Keller reached out, pulling Lexi's rifle out her hands and into his. Lexi, taken by surprise, hesitated a moment before reaching for her pistol. Keller levelled her rifle at her, halting that move.
Ed was focused on Ross and said, "Shoot her," in a dull voice.
Ross looked to be in pain, struggling to raise his weapon. Keller, still aiming at Lexi, laughed at Ed's sick game.
"Shoot her," Ed said louder.
This time, Ross turned to Lexi and fired a orange-red beam at her, hopefully stunning her. Kat screwed up her face, trying not to cry, while Ed laughed along with Keller.
Keller then shot Ross, dropping him as well.
"That's four, where's the other one?" said Keller.
He and Ed started stalking along the rows of shelves, keeping their eyes and other senses peeled.
Then, from her vantage point at the back of the room, Kat saw the remaining MACO climbing over the top of a shelf unit. He must have climbed up there to avoid being spotted on the ground. Gazing down at Ed and Keller, the MACO pulled out another stun grenade.
Kat was strongly tempted to keep quiet and let him take out the two men. Then they could all go back to the med lab and this would all be over.
But something inside her made her want to protect Ed.
"Look out!" she shouted.
Ed and Keller spun to look at her as she pointed up to the MACO. In her emotional state, she lost control of her volatile new abilities and felt herself accidentally reach out, pushing the MACO off the unit.
He hit the deck with a hard sound, the unprimed grenade clattering after him.
Kat stood, hand over her mouth in horror.
"I… I… I didn't mean to!" she cried, tears in her eyes.
Ed and Keller just laughed as they ran over to her.
"Good job, Dehner," said Keller. "I owe ya. Now, let's get out of here." He stepped up to the transporter console, dropping the phase rifle.
"Is he okay?" Kat said, staring at the fallen MACO.
"Doesn't matter," said Ed. "You can't go back now. They'll lock you up forever, abilities or not. Nowhere to go but up."
He stepped onto the glowing transporter dais, pulling a still-shocked Kat with him. Keller joined them, having set the console to automatic activation.
Kat continued to stare at the MACO as the blue shimmering field of the transporter engulfed her.