Chapter 18
The bridge of the Velikan reminded Kat of the cockpit of an old space shuttle she'd seen as a girl on a school trip to the Smithsonian Institute. It was cramped compared to a modern starship bridge, with no central command chair. Instead it had several seats around the wall-mounted consoles, which were covered with buttons, switches and display screens. A wraparound transparent metal window lined the top half of the curved room, as opposed to a dedicated viewscreen.
Ed ran up to the helm console and started frantically looking over it.
"Come on!" he shouted back at her. "You're a pilot; get this thing started!"
Kat nervously shrugged. "I-I don't know how to fly this kind of ship."
Ed groaned, as if annoyed. "It's just a big shuttlepod, how hard could it be?"
Kat slowly walked up behind him and looked over the controls herself. While they seemed basic enough, her reluctance to leave was now overshadowing her submission to Ed.
Ed groaned again after a few moments of silence from her. "Useless," he muttered under his breath. "Aha!" he cried soon after, hitting a button.
The rest of the consoles started to light up, powering on. Kat's stomach sank again.
"Just need that idiot Keller to release the ship, then we can get going," Ed said, operating more of the Velikan's easily-deciphered buttons and switches while glancing at the corresponding monitors.
"Where are we even going to go, Ed?" Kat asked, her desperation making her bolder.
"Anywhere we want!" Ed said with a wide grin. "Maybe we'll find some primitive planet somewhere and use our new powers to rule as gods!"
"Gods?" Kat repeated, her voice barely audible. Ed was really scaring her now, more than he ever had before.
"It's what we deserve now! What I've always deserved. No one to stop me now! No one to hold me down! Not with those hostages in stasis. Once we're far enough away, we can dump them into space. Maybe Keller too, once we know how to work this ship ourselves."
Kat, tears in her eyes again, had to force her voice out. "K-Kill them? That… That wasn't part of the plan…"
Ed spun to face her, his eyes wild, his face twisted in anger. "I say what the plan is! I'm in charge! I've always been in charge!" He turned back to the controls, muttering to himself.
Kat stood frozen in place, trembling slightly. This had gone too far, she wished she could undo it all.
She now realised that she did want to escape though. Not with Ed but from him.
Loxus continued to masquerade as unconscious, lying on the floor across from the genuinely incapacitated Patel, while Keller worked fruitlessly at decrypting the console. Loxus was considering his options when Keller spoke without turning around.
"I know you're awake, Vulcan." He now faced Loxus, tapping the side of his head. "I can hear you thinking."
Loxus remained still, in case Keller was bluffing and also because he could not think of an alternative, but the Human started stalking over.
"I've been going about this the wrong way," said Keller. "Instead of doing all the work, I can just pull the codes out your pointy-eared head."
Keller extended his arm and Loxus found himself lifted off the ground again, this time while pinned to the wall. He no longer felt the need to keep up his charade, and stared, open-eyed but silent, at Keller.
His undercover training had prepared him for brainwashing or psychological manipulation, but not for such invasive telepathy. All his mantras and counter-thoughts were useless when Keller could read his mind as easily as he would the pages of a book.
Keller, his arm still outstretched, grinned. "There we go. Thanks for your help. But now that I don't need you, might as well rid the universe of one more green-blooded goblin."
He closed his fingers, as if crushing an invisible object in his hand. Simultaneously, Loxus felt his throat start to tighten and it became difficult to breathe. He was being telekinetically choked to death.
His training had also prepared Loxus for dying in service to his Empire, as had a lifetime of Romulan upbringing, and, even as he instinctively grabbed at the intangible hands around his neck, he maintained his steely resolve. He would not give his enemy the satisfaction of begging or struggling.
If this was to be his end, then so be it. He may die far from home, but his heart had never left.
Regardless of his lack of reaction, Keller still grinned menacingly at him. Then, his expression changed to surprise.
"Oh!" he exclaimed. The force around Loxus' neck lessened but did not completely release.
Keller's eyes flitted left and right, as if reading. "What's this?" he said. He started to laugh. "You're not a Vulcan at all!"
Now Loxus reacted, his eyes widening. No, he thought. If the Humans learned his true identity, the consequences could be disastrous.
Keller laughed again. "Well, you are Vulcan, kinda. You're Romulan! Romulans and Vulcans are the same race!"
Loxus quickly glanced at Patel. She was still unconscious. Keller's revelation was only unto himself for now.
"Oh, I can't wait to spill this!" said Keller. "You know what'll happen when everyone finds out that the Vulcans are the same people as the guys we fought a war with? Who killed thousands of good men and women? Human men and women? The rest of the galaxy will finally see them for the scum they are!"
Keller stepped closer to Loxus, tightening the grip on his neck again slightly. "Once we're outta here, I'm transmitting this to every corner of the quadrant. And I'm gonna leave you alive to deal with it, 'Loxus.'"
Hearing his true name spoken by a hevam boiled the wrath in Loxus. He wanted to strike the inferior Human, but he remained pinned.
Keeping Loxus in place, Keller walked back to the control console and input the encryption code, chuckling all the while, as if in on some grand jest. He flicked some switches, and Loxus could see the docking clamps releasing on the Velikan through the window.
Keller moved closer to Loxus again, sneering. "I'm tempted to end you myself, alien, but I know now that your 'dishonour' will be much worse for you. Not to mention what Starfleet's gonna do with you once they know you're Romulan. Just wish I could be there to see it all."
With that, Keller left for the airlock, which sealed behind him.
Loxus remained against the wall for several seconds longer, as Keller made his way down the umbilical tunnel towards the sleeper ship. Obviously, his abilities had a range limit, and Loxus eventually dropped back to the floor, gasping for breath.
There was no time for hesitation, however. If Keller escaped, he would publicly reveal Loxus' true nature, as well as the relationship between Romulans and Vulcans. As the Human had intimated, this would not go well for Loxus, in either Coalition or Imperial territory. Even if he somehow fled Earth or Vulcan custody, he would never be welcomed back on Romulus. He'd forever be known as the one who had exposed their shameful ancestry.
He stumbled over to the console but he didn't know what to do. He could re-engage the docking clamps, but that wouldn't stop Keller from releasing the information; in fact, he'd probably release it before leaving in that case.
Loxus looked up out the window. Keller was halfway across the umbilical tunnel, almost free. Then an idea struck.
He hit the button to withdraw the tunnel.
An alert light flashed indicating that the tunnel had not depressurised, and Loxus entered the command code Garrison had given him yesterday, overriding the warning.
Out of the window, he saw the rush of air from the far end of the tunnel as it disconnected from the Velikan's airlock. Keller had just enough time to turn towards Loxus and the two of them glared at each other across the distance for an instant, before Keller was sucked out into the vacuum of space.
Loxus liked to imagine that, before he succumbed to explosive decompression, Keller felt intense regret for trying to cross a Romulan.
He slumped back onto the deck, still recovering his breath, when three columns of blue, shimmering light manifested in the control room. Someone was beaming in.
What now? he thought, bracing himself.
The lights manifested themselves as Colonel Kostopoulos, Guardsman Threv, and Doctor Heidelburg.
"Mein gott," said Heidelburg, patting himself down as if to make sure he was all there. "I would not like to do that again anytime soon."
Kostopoulos darted over to Patel, kneeling to check her pulse. The Commander started to stir.
"Are you alright?" Kostopoulos asked Loxus.
He nodded, still somewhat winded.
"Where are they?" Kostopoulos asked, obviously meaning the fugitives.
"Garrison and Dehner are on the vessel," said Loxus. "Technician Keller is… somewhere between here and there."
Loxus hoped he had gotten away with a rare spot of dark humour. Kostopoulos glanced out the window, catching his meaning, then back to him for explanation.
"One of the stem-bolts in the airlock evidently broke its seal," Loxus said. It was a plausible cover story, and the others seemed to accept it. Heidelburg hung his head ruefully.
Kostopoulos nodded. "Can you reseal the airlock from here?"
"I believe so," said Loxus. Of course, there was nothing to reseal in the first place.
"Good," said Kostopoulos. "Because we need to get over there."