Fools Rush In by Teal
Chapter Twenty
"Colonel, they are powering up to leave."
Kira sat on the edge of her chair. They'd successfully held them here for almost an hour, and now she knew their patience had run out. She still didn't have a plan. Star Fleet had done just what Jorath said, and told her to invite them to another meeting. She'd pretended she hadn't heard them and cut off the conversation with static. Government bureaucracies. It was at times like these that she really missed being in the Underground on Bajor. Without question, she'd have fired on them, and the battle would have been over long ago.
"Raise shields. Power up weapons, but don't fire."
"We're just going to sit here and hope to antagonize them enough to fire on us?" Asked Bashir incredulously.
"I cant go starting a war with them, Doctor, but if they fire on us, we can most certainly defend ourselves." She said it with a cunning smile.
"They're hailing us Colonel." Called Nog, back over his shoulder.
"On screen!" Jorath's angry face appeared before her.
"What are your intentions, Colonel?" He demanded. "Let us go now, and no one will get hurt."
"I'll take that as a threat, Jorath."
"However you like, Colonel. We are leaving." He cut off communications.
"Damn! Prepare to fire phasers off their port side!"
"And that's part of the plan?" asked Bashir.
"The only one I've got going, Doctor. You come up with anything yet?" she said angrily. "We can't let them get out of our sight, or we'll loose them for sure. You want that to happen?"
Bashir realized, too late, that his humor had been lost on Kira all together. "I'm behind you, Colonel."
She nodded at him. "Fire!" she ordered.
Just as she did, the Cardassian ship fired back, hitting their aft. The Defiant lurched sideways, knocking several officers off their feet. "Direct hit, Colonel, shields down to eighty percent!"
Kira sat shocked for a moment. The weaponry was more advanced on that ship than she had anticipated. "Fire on them at will. Eliminate their shields. Try to keep in mind the whole point of this is getting Jadzia back alive!"
Just as Nog fired, another blast shot back at them from the Cardassian vessel. As it hit, there were electrical explosions all around as computers were kicked off-line.
"Another direct hit, Colonel! Shields down to thirty percent! Hull breach on Deck Five, section B. Our weapon systems are off-line!"
"Re-route life support systems temporarily to shields! Get those weapons back on-line now!" Just as she finished her sentence, the ship was rocked violently again by another volley of strikes. The lights aboard the Defiant faded and emergency lights switched on, casting a red glow about the deck. Several crew were thrown around like stage puppets that had lost their strings.
"Weapons status!" She yelled, holding sideways onto her seat. She wiped the back of her hand across her forehead, and noticed it was covered with blood. It didn't hurt at the moment, but she was sure it would start soon enough.
"We've almost got them back, Colonel. Just a couple more minutes! Shields back up at seventy three percent and holding!"
That was some good news, but they were sitting ducks out here. "What's the closest Star Fleet vessel in the area?" She demanded.
"The Reliant!" Replied Bashir. Then he added in a discouraged tone, "But they are over an hour away!"
"We won't last that long! Anything else? Anyone at all?" She knew she sounded desperate, but didn't care at this point. The Cardassian ship was turning for another pass, and she was sure they couldn't take much more.
"Weapons…..please!" She demanded, gritting her teeth.
"Almost there!" called back her engineer. But, too late, the Cardassian ship veered in on them, blasting first port and then aft, firing almost twelve times. The bridge was total chaos, with most of her crew rolling on the floor, trying to regain their composure and not noticing those who couldn't get up, or who wouldn't ever be getting up again. Sparks flying out of one of many electrical fires flew up around Kira. She lurched forward, trying to avoid being hit.
"Status!" She hoped some one would answer her. She looked over and saw Julian pulling himself back up into his station.
Choking from the smoke around him, he croaked back, "Shields at fifteen percent, hull breaches on more decks than I can count, and countless wounded. We've lost contact with Engineering. Weapons are still off-line!" He ended his report in a coughing fit.
Kira grimaced. Now what? Life support was at a minimum, no weapons, and their shields would be obliterated but the next hit, let alone volley of hits. This wasn't exactly how she had planned it. They would have to try to retreat, just to save lives. Damn, she thought, Jadzia was on her own.
Just then, from out of no where, a Klingon battle cruiser de-cloaked and began firing on the Cardassians. Kira breathed a sigh of relief.
"Qu'Vat to Defiant, can we be of assistance Colonel?" It was Martok's voice.
Kira, greatly relieved and grinning from ear to ear, replied. "That's an understatement! You're welcome to them!" She sat back against the captain's chair. "Helmsman, move us away from here." The Defiant moved off to a safe distance to lick its wounds and watch the continuing battle.
Jadzia lurched back and forth in her cell. There wasn't anything to get a hand hold onto, and she volleyed back and forth, as if she were involved in some torturous ball game, she being the ball.
"Hey, enough already!" she yelled as she hit her left side for the tenth time. This was maddening, each time she got her feet under her the deck seemed to roll up and knock her back. She had tried to sit, but then it threw her back almost to standing, before disappearing beneath her once again. "What's going on out there?" she yelled to the guard. She realized that he wasn't having much luck either as he staggered back and forth in between the door way. He obviously didn't think it was important to let her in on it, because he didn't answer.
The ship shifted left suddenly and she could hear the warp engines whining, readying themselves for escape. Whoever's out there, she thought, they'd better hurry. But before the ship could engage, the ship was jarred once again and a horrible metallic tearing noise filled the corridor followed by a hissing sound and then an incredible explosion. The force of it blew Jadzia back against the furthest cell wall and left her suspended there for half a second before she fell in a heap to the floor. She came to only seconds later, staring into the dead eyes of the fallen guard. He had obviously been taken unawares as she had been.
Jadzia reached over and dislodged his phaser from his hand. She stood gingerly, wincing as pain shot up the front of her leg. Yep, she thought looking down at her torn and bloodied uniform, broken. She suddenly felt like laughing, and hoped that she hadn't completely lost her mind, but was only reacting to the pain and the ridiculousness of the situation. She limped painfully over the fallen body and moved out of her crumbling holding cell. Out side she met complete disaster. The ceiling had fallen in, leaving sheets of metal laying and hanging down at odd angles and reams of wiring trailing down, creating a very dangerous electrified spider web effect.
She stumbled cautiously out into the darkened corridor, and over several more of the dead. She'd been in the safest place on the whole deck it seemed. The emergency lights were on, but only in sections here and there, and were blinking on and off rapidly. They created an eerie green glow that seemed to mesh everything that she was seeing together with the steam and smoke from the explosion. She was completely disorientated and couldn't make out which section she was on when she finally reached the turbo lift. The computer systems on the deck were dead, and she couldn't get her bearings on which deck she was actually on. Should she go up or down?
The lift made the decision for her, being totally disabled and worthless. She struck the door in frustration. Never a break. Grabbing a downed piece of pipe, she fashioned a crutch and then she pushed off, in the opposite direction, lumbering side to side, dragging her broken leg behind her. She was remembering a ladder that must have led to a maintenance tube, or so she hoped. What she would do when she got in there, she wasn't too sure of, but she had to try something. Over the past few months, she grew intolerable of sitting around, and decided that any action she could take would be better than that. The bizarre need to laugh came over her again, and she decided to see Ezri about that if she ever got out of there.
Except for the occasional electrical burst, the ship was quiet. The normal sounds of pumped in air and the whirring of the engines were absent. She wondered if there was anyone alive above her. As if in answer to her question, she heard the sound of weapons fire emanating from the Cardassian vessel. One last hurrah, she thought. Before she could think to take cover, the outside ship fired back and the jolt threw her across the hallway, slamming her body against an already collapsing wall section.
Jadzia looked up from her fallen position only to see a cascade of metal sheets and piping falling towards her.
But I'm on their side! Her last thought was cut off, crushed by the weight of the pipes, and then everything went black.