Chapter 16
"Bet you wish you had learned how to meld now, huh?" Thorpe taunted Skaal, who paced before them, showing off his knife. Thorpe was well aware that the unhinged Skaal was very likely to use that knife on one of them, but so long as he kept Skaal's attention on him no one else might be hurt.
"I am not afraid to resort to savage methods in order to convince one of you to release the security alert, Captain," Skaal said, almost proud of it. "Especially against a lesser species..."
He gestured to two of his men, who pulled Threv up and planted him in a chair at the command console.
Skaal approached Threv, holding up the dagger. "I understand that removing an Andorian's antenna is not lethal, but can be extremely painful due to the clustered nerve endings." To his credit, Threv just stared the Vulcan down, unintimidated. Skaal turned back to the others. "Release the lockdown or I will harm this alien."
"Don't tell him anything, sirs!" Threv shouted. One of the Vulcans put a heavy hand on his shoulder.
"Let him go, Skaal!" Thorpe said. "Threaten me if you wanna feel tough."
"Emotionally handicapped races are often more willing to save others than themselves," said Skaal, with a hint of disgust mixed with smugness. "Another major weakness."
Sylor joined in, with more intensity than Thorpe had ever seen from the young man. "Now you are the one behaving in the manner that you accuse aliens of. With violence and illogic."
"Aliens are beneath us," Skaal said, raising his voice slightly now. "How we treat them is inconsequential. But you are too young to understand that, Lieutenant, too inexperienced."
"Unlike you?" Sylor bit back. Thorpe looked at him, wondering where he was going. "I reviewed your service record earlier." That seemed to put worry on Skaal. "You were in the Defence Force, yes, but as a supply clerk. You never once saw combat, never even left Vulcan until now."
Thorpe let out a short, mocking laugh at Skaal. "Ha! You weren't a soldier, you were a glorified storekeeper." Some of the other Vulcans were looking to Skaal in concern, and Thorpe smirked. "Most of you didn't know that about him, did you? Thought he was some great military tactician."
"I served my planet!" Skaal snapped, losing his cool, but just barely, his voice bouncing off the high ceiling. This could go either way. He stepped back towards Threv, brandishing the knife. "Release the lockout now!"
Thorpe kept up the approach, but softened his tone. "Look, Skaal, I know how you feel. I also thought I had to play soldier, to win some battles, in order to prove myself. But now I see that, while noble, it's not so big a deal. It won't make you feel the way you think it will."
"This - the Federation - is what we've all been fighting for," Threv said, his eyes still fixed on Skaal. "Peace."
But Skaal was unmoved. Two of his men held Threv by the shoulders in the chair while Skaal placed the blade against Threv's right antenna. "This is your final chance," Skaal said.
Thorpe looked to Threv. The boy was a picture of calm somehow, and just subtly shook his head "no" at him. Thorpe exhaled. They all knew the right thing to do here.
Thorpe looked at Skaal. "Go to Hell," he whispered.
"So be it."
With that, Skaal cut off Threv's antenna in one swift motion. Threv screamed and thrashed against the men who held him down, cursing in Andorii. Cobalt blue blood trickled down his forehead.
"You son of a bitch!" Thorpe shouted and made to stand, but two more of Skaal's goons pointed their rifles at him. Some of the other Ops officers cried out too.
"I do not make idle threats, Captain," Skaal said. He tossed Threv's severed antenna aside, and held the blade against the other one. "Now, do as I ask or the Andorian will suffer further."
Thorpe set his jaw, glaring at Skaal. Despite Threv's own determination, actually witnessing his torture was difficult for Thorpe. He knew the safety of the base and the Vulcan ship in orbit was at stake, but he didn't know if he could allow someone to suffer in front of him again.
Just then, Threv lurched up out of his chair, headbutting Skaal and staining him with blue blood. His arms were also somehow free of his restraints and he punched one of the guards beside him in the confusion, taking the guard's pistol.
The Ops staff took advantage of the chaos instantly, all leaping to their feet and charging the Vulcans. Most were stunned again, but Threv laid down some fire of his own. Thorpe and Sylor both made for Skaal, but Threv suddenly tackled them both around the waist, plunging all three through the window to the CO's office, shattered glass flying.
As soon as they hit the floor in the office, Thorpe kicked a control on the wall and a blast shutter slammed down over the broken window. Threv quickly jumped to his feet, staggering slightly from the loss of an antenna (as well as a lot of blood by this point), and shot out the door controls too, sealing them in.
"Damn quick thinking, Threv," Thorpe said, rolling himself onto his feet, his hands still bound.
"Must be adrenaline, sir," Threv said. Blood streaked down the right side of his face now. He pulled his combat knife out from the back of his belt and cut Thorpe and Sylor's bonds.
"That is how you cut your own restraints," Sylor realised. "Skaal's men missed it when disarming you."
Threv nodded.
"Should have used it on Skaal," Thorpe said darkly.
Threv gave him an equally dark look. "Believe me, sir, I wanted to, for this." He pointed to his missing antenna. "But I didn't want to give him the satisfaction of proving him right about us 'emotional aliens.' Sorry for taking you both out of the fight too, sirs, but I figured it was more important to escape and get reinforcements."
Thorpe nodded. "Very wise, kid. Nothing wrong with a tactical retreat."
Threv smiled, validated.
"How are we to escape?" Sylor asked, looking around the office. "We are trapped in here and cannot release the Code Black to access communications without also allowing Skaal access. And it is only a matter of minutes before they quell the resistance in Ops and break through the door."
Thorpe also looked around. Sylor was right - the blast shutter was nigh impenetrable, but the door was easier to get through, it wouldn't withstand much brute force. Then he saw the broken glass on the floor and grinned.
"We're not trapped, Sylor," he said. "We can get out the same way we got in. Through the window..." He turned to face the exterior window, a view of Berengaria beyond. "The glass pops out for emergency evacs, right?"
Sylor and Threv looked at each other then at Thorpe. "Sir, we are one hundred and one floors up," said Sylor.
Thorpe ran up to the window, touching the glass. "We don't have to go all the way to the ground, just to the next balcony down."
"That is still six levels," Sylor said.
There came a pounding at the door. Skaal and his men had focused their attention on them now.
"Got a better option, Lieutenant?" Thorpe said.
Threv and Sylor looked at each other again. "Humans do have a talent for making crazy ideas work," said Threv.
Sylor sighed. "Indeed."
Thorpe removed a maintenance panel and started pulling out optical cabling. "Here. We can tie this around ourselves, control our descent."
He tied the cable around his own waist, then Sylor's, before handing it to Threv, who stared at the door.
"That's not gonna last long, sir."
"All the more reason to hurry, c'mon." Thorpe waved the end of the cable at him.
Threv backed away. "I'll stay. Hold them off; buy you two time to reach the balcony."
"Unacceptable, Threv. Now take the damn cable."
"Respectfully, Captain, be realistic," Threv said, and Thorpe was surprised by his confidence. "You won't make it down there before they breach the door, and they'll have no hesitation about cutting that cable or just shooting you from here."
"He's right, sir," Sylor chimed in.
"Then I'll stay," said Thorpe
"An officer is needed to release the lockout. I'm the only one here who isn't an officer."
Thorpe stared at Threv, an unspoken respect between them. He swallowed his bravado and patted the Andorian on the shoulder. "Good man. But here..." He pulled a roll of adhesive tape out of Commodore North's desk. "Let me patch you up. Don't want you bleeding to death before we're halfway there. This will have to do in place of a medical kit for now."
While Thorpe applied the tape to Threv's wound, Sylor wrapped the cable around the heavy desk, so it would act like a pulley, before tying the end around a wall bracket.
The door started to buckle.
"It's now or never," said Thorpe. "Hold on."
Sylor and Threv ducked behind the desk while Threv opened the panel to pull the emergency release for the pane of glass in the window. He counted down from three and pulled the lever, popping the glass out, whereupon it fell 101 levels to the ground, hopefully not injuring anyone.
Due to being so high up, there was a great difference in atmospheric pressure, and the air was blown out the room at speed, sending papers and small items flying. Once it had equalised, Thorpe shouted to Sylor over the ringing in his ears from the pressure change.
"C'mon!"
Thorpe climbed over the edge first, carefully, very aware of the drop under him. He gave Threv one last silent look of appreciation and started downwards, his feet pacing slowly down the side of the tower.
The wind howled deafeningly around him, the cold biting into his bones, as he descended the bare grey duranium of the tower wall, his hands gripping the cable for dear life. He risked one quick peek down, to check the balcony's position, and instantly regretted it. His stomach felt like it had dropped to the distant ground.
Sylor followed him soon after, the two of them making good time. They were both keenly aware of the need for urgency yet caution.
"Don't look down, Sylor!" Thorpe shouted.
"The distance to the ground remains constant regardless of observation, sir!" the humourless Vulcan shouted back.
When they were about halfway, Thorpe could hear weapons-fire over the wind. Skaal's men had breached the office. He winced, but knew Threv would put up a good fight, would buy them the time they needed.
After an eternity, his fingers were starting to numb and his legs to ache, the air pressure making him tired, but he finally reached the end of the cable. It was about a level and a half short.
"Sylor!" he shouted up. "We're gonna have to drop."
Sylor looked down, confirming this. Another crazy plan.
A phase-blast rained down, just narrowly missing them. Thorpe looked up to see a Vulcan leaning over the edge of the empty window, rifle in his hands. They had taken Threv. No choice now.
He and Sylor both untied the cable and fell the short - but still worrying - distance to the balcony. At least it wasn't to the ground.
With a landing he'd feel until the day he died, forcing the thin air out his lungs, Thorpe mustered all his remaining strength to roll against the wall, so that those above couldn't target him. Sylor landed shortly after him and did the same with greater ease.
Thorpe was more than jealous to see the young, durable Vulcan spring to his feet. "Sir, we must find Commodore North and update him."
"Right," Thorpe said, pulling himself up with difficulty, all his muscles and bones ringing like alarms. His determination was unaffected, however. "Let's end this."
