Chapter 9

Location: USS Warspite

Date: February 14, 2158

Time: 2040

The sound of water pouring down and the feeling of it splashing over her face was what Monica noted first, then she felt cold, wet, and then a heavy soreness with a stinging feeling against her brow got her attention. Her mind and vision were foggy, and she felt odd, as though she were floating. Then, Monica noticed that her ears were incessantly ringing, and she blinked her eyes open and now noticed an arm around her chest and her head was unusually close to the piping in the ceiling.

"Mmmrnn…what…" she grumbled lightly, starting to regain an element of consciousness back.

"Monica, hey c'mon wake up!" a fuzzy-sounding voice now caught her attention as she reached up and felt that she was being held up against Eddie's chest, the two of them floating in water that was steadily rising with him holding onto a pipe above them to keep from sinking.

"I'm awake, what happened?" she said, confused and dazed, blinking at the lack of light, at first thinking she was blind, but saw the pale green of glow-in-the-dark tape on the walls and around the door in front of them below the murky dirty water.

"We were just attacked. The room's flooding and I can't get to the valve, we're stuck."

"My head…" she groaned reaching up and feeling a lump on her bleeding brow.

"Mine too…" Eddie groaned as she reached up and weakly grasped the pipe next to his, "Not sure how long it's been, or how long we've got. Can you support yourself?" he asked.

"I think so…" she replied as he then let go, "What're you doing?"

"Try to get someone's attention," he replied as he carefully began to move towards the door, the separation now giving her a slight shiver without the shared body heat in the relatively cold water. If they didn't drown, hypothermia would certainly be a problem.

"Try…" she tried to speak, but winced at the effort as her head throbbed in protest of her mind trying act out a workable solution, even something as basic as what she was thinking was hard, "Try to use something metal against the door, that'll be louder."

"One second," Eddie responded, and took a deep breath and submerged.

He felt around, mainly with his feet, feeling for their toolbox that had been on the ground. There were plenty of things in there that would be able to make noise when banged against the walls or the door. At first he found nothing, and popped back up, gasping for air.

"Where'd the toolbox go?" he wondered aloud, looking back over at Monica, who was still holding onto the pipe above her with both hands, but her head was slumped down, what conscious effort she could muster just focusing on the bare necessity of holding the pipe.

"I…I don't remember…" she said in a barely-audible tone.

"I think you've got a really bad concussion," Eddie pulled himself back over to her, "Here," he took her hands and managed to gently pry them from above and pulled her over to the place where the line of water heaters were, "Try to find a place to sit down."

He managed to help her find just a tiny bit of ledge where she laying on her back along the line of tall water heaters, ignoring the pressure release valves also on the tops of them. Eddie then placed her hands back above her, distressed at the realization that they were steadily floating ever-closer to the ceiling. Once she was holding fast he returned to the task at hand, and dove into the water. This time, as he dove, he found the metal box and fished out what was probably an adjustable torque wrench, and came up for air again. It took him a second longer to push off to be against the door, and he slammed the metal against the hatch. A few good smacks later, he heard a return thud from outside. But the water was still rising, merely a foot of space between their faces and ceiling. They had to hurry.

"Hey! Someone's trapped inside!" Chef Gabe heard one of his crewmen call out from the hallway after hearing a clang from the galley.

He and a few of his people stepped out into the corridor. They'd heard the alarms of the loss of water pressure and shutoff of all pumps in their stations as they themselves huddled up, preparing for the possibility of swinging into action to act as emergency first aid teams and firefighting duty. They'd gotten the word that a water main broke inside the water heater closet that was right behind the galley almost as soon as they'd recovered from the jolt of the nearby weapons impacts they had begun securing their food prep stations. A power outage was then reported, a standard fuse trip to prevent any possible electrocution in the presence of large amounts of water. After they finished preparing for the battle, they then did a quick check to make sure the water wasn't leaking, they found that it wasn't, thankfully. Then, a few minutes later, they heard a clanging noise coming from inside that closet.

"The door's lost power! Joe, get to the manual shut-off valve!" Gabe ordered one of his crew as he and several others rushed into the corridor outside the galley, "The rest of you, help me with this door!"

The crewman assigned to the shutoff valve rushed around the corner and began to pry off the access panel there. The group of four cooks all grabbed hold of whatever part of the sliding metal door that they could and tried pulling it open. Two others pried open the door's access panels on the walls, their training reminding them that they could disengage the door's magnetic locking lugs. This took mere moments. Then all at once they pulled and pulled, yanking on it as hard as they could. But these doors were airtight for a reason, there was a ton of resistance, until finally they broke the seal, and water began spraying from the door. At this point, engineering personnel were arriving, along with Dr. Watson and his medical team.

"Chef?" Watson said as he saw what was happening.

"Someone's inside Doc," Gabe replied, "The room's flooded, they're still alive in there, help us!"

Everyone who could fit in and grab anything did so. Water gushed through the gap in the door as the engineers scrambled in with a hydraulic piston device meant to force open doors in just this sort of situation. They managed to get the device into place, and soon the door was coming open, and a torrent of water flooded out of the closet, knocking several of the rescuers over. The first ones in were the medical team, who found their two patients. Water was now well-and-truly everywhere. The cleanup crew were set to have a hell of a time later, but they ignored the mess for the moment.

Ensigns Castello and Simms were alive, coughing and hacking on the floor. Eddie was the closest, and first to be grabbed. Two men gingerly picked up Eddie up and he was brought out, and carefully let down to lean against the wall and then Monica was basically carried out with one arm over each shoulder of the two medics who arrived. One medic immediately began to scan at Eddie's head while the other used some gauze to pat at his head, trying to clean up the area around the cut on his head and the knot swelled up there with a slight cut beneath it. Both of them in fact showed signs of head trauma, with Eddie having a broken nose and a cut on his forehead, and his chin and nose each had several streams of blood on them. Monica was the more serious of the two, drawing Dr. Watson's attention. She had a nastier knot on her head, which had been cut fairly deep, with just a slight amount of blood no longer bleeding as badly, but her blonde hair had a lot of red in it on that side. However, she was just barely clinging to consciousness.

Once out, the engineers rushed in behind them, checking the damage inside the room and began their own work.

"Bring the gurneys," he waved his hand over as he started a scan and then flashed a light into her eyes to confirm the scanner's finding, "This one's in rough shape, we've already got cerebral edema on right temporal lobe. Neck brace and stabilize, prep her for surgery immediately. Inform Dr. Nguyen we've got a craniotomy incoming," he ordered as she shuffled over to Eddie,

"He's also got a concussion, broken nose, deep laceration to the forehead," the lieutenant medical officer replied, informing Dr. Watson, "No swelling here Doctor."

"Same call, neck brace and stabilize, then stop the bleeding, maintain observation and get him on anti-inflammatories," Dr. Watson commanded, "Slightest hint of a cerebral edema forming, alert me immediately."

"Yes Doctor," the two men stated quickly.

"Is Monica okay?" Eddie managed to get out, the severe shock of light and the cold coupled with the concussion very much throwing him for a loop, but he maintained his focus on her well-being.

"She'll be alright son," Dr. Watson responded, laying a reassuring hand on Eddie's left shoulder, as he stood up and ushered his medics along with urgency.

It didn't take long before the two rescued ensigns, now patients, were being packaged up, white neck braces being attached gingerly as they were strapped down onto boards and lifted onto gurneys. With this handled, he stepped over to a wall-mounted communicator.

"Dr. Watson to Bridge," he said with a sigh.

"Bridge, go 'head," Captain Shaw responded.

"I have good news and bad news, Captain, Ensigns Castello and Simms are alive, but they're badly injured, especially Ensign Simms. She's suffered significant head trauma, I'm going to have to conduct a craniotomy to prevent brain damage from a cerebral edema," he informed the bridge.

"Very well, I'll leave you to it then, Dr. Watson," Shaw responded.

"Captain, I'm not sure you grasp the issue, you'll be down one surgeon even before your boarding action takes place," Watson responded, grimacing in frustration.

"Then I suggest you crack on, Dr. Watson. Bridge out."

"Bloody hell…" Watson gritted his teeth as he too turned off the communicator, knowing that whatever was going to happen was not being halted. But he too had a job to do and set about doing it.

"Enemy battlecruiser disabled," Commander Rowley informed the captain after his last phase cannon volley knocked out the Kriosian Battlecruiser's thrusters and weapons, rendering the ship floating in space, allowing Warspite uncontested control over the ship.

"Captain," Lieutenant Commander Frost piped up, her hand to her ear, "The ship is hailing us."

This made him hesitate momentarily and the corner of his lip twitch in irritation. He was hellbent on going after these pirates for attacking his ship. Shaw wanted to finish the job permanently to send a very clear message across the region of what it would cost someone to attack a Starfleet ship. Plus, he wanted to keep his ship's presence and capability a secret for as long as he could. However, there was something to be said for eliminating risk to his crew, which as he stated before was his primary responsibility as the captain.

"On screen," Shaw said after a sigh through his nose, and sat before his foe's face appeared on the screen.

It was a male Kriosian, a young one, wearing a uniform with a relatively simple-looking insignia. They were an officer, although given the age and lack of elaborate-looking décor on the uniform they were probably a junior officer. Behind the male Kriosian the bridge that they could see was awash in a burning console, a support strut was jutting out of the ceiling, and lightbulbs were hanging and flickering. The ship had taken an immense beating, this much was obvious. The dark crimson blood trailing down one side of the Kriosian's face, along the spots pigmenting his skin, were likewise evidence that this fight had not gone particularly well for the attackers.

"I am Captain Shaw, of the Earth starship Warspite," Shaw said as he calmly sat in his chair, "The ship you tried and failed to attack?"

"We surrender, please, cease hostilities," the man stated, panting at the effort as he was standing there.

"Power down all systems except for life support," Shaw demanded coldly, "Your crew are to surrender their weapons and be gathered in a cargo bay which can support you, any resistance will be met with immediate destruction of your ship."

"We agree," the man nodded.

Shaw gave a swipe across his throat to Frost and she cut the transmission.

"Inform Major Odell, the enemy ship has surrendered, and he is to prepare to board. Miss Povaliy, cross-reference the markings on that individual," Shaw stood up, walking over to her station, "And ascertain the number of lifesigns aboard."

"Yes Captain," the young brunette said and typed into her console, "Lifesigns…forty-two aboard…and that guy wore the insignia of a Kriosian family's private fleet. House…Grisii? Recent reports indicate that a member of the house recently went into self-exile in protest to the policies of the First Monarch."

"A self-exile with three ships?" the man stated, arching an eyebrow.

"I remember reading that Kriosian noble families are known to hold immense loyalty amongst their ships and crews, either through honor or through excellent pay," Frost responded, "And apparently, they'll go off on these self-exiles when they have a falling out with the powers that be and act as privateers for the highest bidder."

"Glory seekers perhaps?" Shaw inquired curiously.

"Maybe, or just trying to make ends meet?" Commander Rowley suggested.

"With three cruisers…it would have to be quite the job," Povaliy noted.

"Going after the Warspite is indeed quite the job," Captain Shaw replied with a smirk as he now turned after a moment of thought to his First Officer, "Commander Rowley, I want you to accept the surrender of the enemy ship and seize any and all valuables."

"Valuables, sir?" Rowley sat up in confusion.

"Think like a pirate, Commander," Shaw responded with a wink, "Anything shiny, anything that we could use for barter, take it. Lieutenant Povaliy, you will accompany him and handle the downloading of their ship database."

"G-go aboard the enemy ship, Captain?" Nadia immediately paled at the order.

"As science officer, simple recovery of relevant data from a surrendered ship is indeed what your duty would be," Shaw calmly reminded her, but likewise kept her calm by avoiding the topic of any conflict whatsoever, "You'll be alright, Lieutenant," he nodded to her, hands behind his back, "Commander Rowley and a number of MACO's will be right there with you."

"Lieutenant, come on," Rowley gestured for her to follow him as he stood up and made it to the door.

"Aye sir," she said and got up and joined him in stepping into the turbolift, clutching her datapad to her chest as she nervously tapped her foot.

"You nervous?" Rowley said, after looking over at her foot.

"I…I've never been aboard an alien ship before, Commander Cherry always handled those moments, I always stayed on the Discovery," she nodded.

"There's nothing to it," Rowley shrugged, "You just go over there, do your job, and come back. Easy," he explained, "Especially since that ship over there wants nothing to do with fighting us anymore."

"Right…we beat the ship into submission," she responded with a nod, although it was clearly being said to sooth her own nerves.

"Just stay with me or your escort, okay?" he said as the turbolift stopped at G Deck, where the main docking port was located. They began to make their way towards that docking port once arriving.

Already, a number of MACO's were staged and ready on normal roving patrols around the ship, using their eyes to double check the ship for intruders even though the ship's internal sensors were not at all detecting any intruders. But the MACO's and their roving squads were a tertiary safeguard against covert infiltration. The security teams in their posts in Warspite's security control rooms and sentry posts where they monitored cameras across the ship and cameras on the hull itself monitored all sorts of optical spectrums ranging from the normal Mark I Eyeball to thermal, infrared, and ultraviolet spectrums. It never hurt to be too vigilant during a tactical alert and use all fifty of the pairs of eyes of the Security Personnel handling monitoring of at security consoles across their battle stations. The ship was built to be a fortress able to be defended with relative ease, even by a fraction of its massive crew compliment. This meant the ship could deploy a large attacking force of their own in turn, just like now.

"Commander, one platoon is ready and waiting for boarding," Major Odell reported as they reached the docking port with the walls lined with suited up MACO's.

"We'll be docked momentarily, let's get this done," Rowley nodded as the ship was felt to rumble as the thrusters began to make the fine adjustments for their docking procedure.

Each one was wearing one of their newly-issued vests and helmets that looked quite simple and were in fact quite simple. The vests were merely rated for what MACO protective ratings termed Level IV protection, not the Level VI which was deemed necessary for warding off particle or plasma weapons with a segmented appearance on a black plastic-y leather-looking outer shell and had twin straps that hooked into the MACO's' utility belts and had pockets and pouches for additional gear. The main protection afforded was through a heavy plate of tritanium that could block blunt force trauma, nasty shrapnel, or the sharpest knives with absolute ease. Their matte black helmets were likewise simple and made of the same material, encompassing the head, the ears and back of the head with a built-in communicator and a flip-down visor of hardened transparent aluminum that covered the eyes and face like an old school riot police helmet and allowed for full facial protection and a minimalist HUD. The helmets likewise had an internal honeycomb composition of shock-absorbent materials and a firm four-point chinstrap. The MACO's therefore looked the part of hardcore soldiers, and accentuated that look with the addition of a black ski mask, offering an intimidating view to any hostile whom they came bearing down upon.

These pieces of gear were nothing fancy in their appearance, but they worked given their very short development time. There were complaints that they didn't protect against actual ranged weapons aside from those of decades past, but they did keep the wearer from suffering wounds that soldiers of the 21st Century would have been protected against. There was, after all, something to be said for the morale of soldiers whose government spent no effort in trying to offer some form of bodily protection. Plus, MACO's had a ton of effort put into equipping them and training them and therefore it made little sense to cheap out on protective gear when Earth's industrial base certainly had the capacity to easily fill the capacity to keep them from being injured by something as uncomplicated as a sharp stick or falling down a flight of stairs and render that investment moot.

"We are docked," the security crewman at the docking controls said after a dull clanking and thumping as the ship docked.

"Sergeant, readings on the other side?" Major Odell quickly gave a swift command, pointing with two fingers.

One of the MACO's came forward, pulling out a large scanner with a pistol grip for a handle, typing at it, sweeping back and forth.

"No trace elements of explosives, one lifesign, sporadic energy readings, likely blown plasma relays or EPS conduits," the MACO in question nodded once done, "Atmosphere is clean, well…clean enough."

"Alright," Odell said as he pulled out his pulse pistol, "Commander, if you don't mind, we have a ship to secure."

Commander Rowley drew his phase pistol and moved to the side, reaching out and pulling Nadia back against the wall for her protection as the MACO's massed at the hatch as a hissing sound came out as their door opened and revealed the damaged Kriosian Battlecruiser's door, although it opened up not even a moment after theirs opened. Major Odell was first in through the door, with a single Kriosian male standing against back, hands up in surrender.

"Face the wall, now!" Odell firmly ordered the man, their universal translators allowing for communication, "Where's the rest of you?"

The others rushed forward as one of Odell's men patted him down, nodding that the individual was unarmed.

"Our shuttle deck, as instructed," the man said painfully, obviously slightly injured.

"That better be the case, for your sake," Rowley growled as he stepped into the corridor, which was a mess of hanging wires, busted and flickering lights, and sparking conduits with pieces of the walls and ceiling on the ground.

"They are, I…you gave us no choice," the man said, and Rowley recognized him as he was pulled up to face him, it was the man who'd surrendered. Two MACO's held him by the arms, and Rowley knew he had an opportunity for an interrogation.

"Take him into that room," Rowley pointed into the room which a pair of MACO's emerged from, having cleared it as the others moved past, carefully sweeping the group as he went.

Rowley followed the group into what was some kind of storage bay. It was a mess, like the corridor they'd just come from. Crates of varying kinds and from various sources were scattered about as their prisoner was placed onto one of them and Rowley stepped in and crossed his arms over his chest.

"You're the one who surrendered, who are you?" Rowley demanded.

"I am Seylas Grisii, of the old and noble house of Krios," he said, rolling his shoulders back as he sat there.

"Why did you attack our ship?" Rowley demanded.

"We…had been approached to protect the assets of a merchant concern. We were told a human ship had attacked ships belonging to that concern," the Kriosian responded.

"You mean a pirate, we've only attacked pirates and those who transport their ill-gotten goods. So, you know what that makes you, besides being the loser of this engagement?" Rowley demanded, "According to my captain, that makes you no better than a pirate."

"We signed a contract, a binding agreement for wages and commission, we are not pirates! I will not have my honor besmirched by the likes of you!" Seylas snarled immediately, standing up and stepping at Rowley.

"You launched an attack on a Starfleet vessel engaged in anti-piracy operations and you lost. What you think you are no longer matters, what matters is what you can offer us now that your lives are in our hands. Now sit down before you say something you might regret," Rowley explained succinctly, raising his voice and asserting his dominance over the youth in front of him, and it worked as the younger individual lowered his head, and shuffled his feet as he considered a reply, or possibly to satisfy his ego or honor and thought of striking Rowley, but gritted his teeth and kept his mouth shut.

"Commander…" Nadia piped up hesitantly.

"Right," Rowley replied, calming down a bit, surprised at how he had allowed himself to nearly explode on his prisoner. He fancied himself a very level-headed man but nearly lost it just now, "Now, where is your central computer and database?"

"It is located in the room behind the bridge, behind a secured hatch, I'm the only one left alive on board who has the clearance to access it," Seylas sighed in reply, clearly glum at his recent losses among some, if not all of his senior officers.

"Then get up, take us there," Rowley stated, pulling out his communicator, "Major, is the ship secure?"

"Almost, got men moving into the bow and stern now, should be done shortly," Odell responded.

"What's the status on securing the ship's crew?"

"We counted the balance of the detected lifesigns, all are searched and secure."

"I…I'll need one or two engineers to get the computer core repaired," Seylas put forward.

"We'll be the judge of that," Rowley told him as the MACO's pulled him out into the corridor and they started to make their way out to where they were slated to go.

Aboard Warspite, the ship was now standing down from tactical alert, but there were still those hard at work, especially in the medical bay. Dr. Watson was washing up rapidly in the prep room to begin a quick surgical procedure. Ensign Simms was still in rough shape, stabile, but needed a craniotomy as the advanced medical systems of the ship still couldn't heal the underlying issue fast enough. He had to act now to keep her from having any permanent damage. Once the pressure was relieved, their medical systems would be able to help her the rest of the way through treatments and various technological implements.

He was watching over her preparation as a part of her hair was being shaved cleanly in preparation for the procedure. Her uniform had been cut away, the medical staff able to confirm that she had no other injuries that required the doctor's attention. With that done, an insulating blanket was laid over her and a cortical dampener was then placed next to her head, the device acting as a safer method of anesthesia during a head injury. Although anesthesia was already in her system as a redundancy.

"We're ready doctor," the second-highest ranked medical officer on the ship informed Dr. Watson as he was getting suited up by his technicians.

"Let's get to it," he said as his mask was the last thing to be donned over his surgical mask.

Watching the surgical room in the observation room, Madelyn stood nervously, nibbling on her fingernails as she watched with trepidation as the surgery was set to begin. Stepping into the room with her, came Captain Shaw, for the first time visiting his injured officers.

"Hello, Maddie, are you alright?" he asked quietly as he stepped over to the glass.

"I'm okay, Captain," she replied, putting on a brave face with a slight but brief smile.

"Dr. Watson says that Miss Simms will be alright, he's quite a good doctor you know," he laid a hand on her shoulder.

"I know, but…still…" she mumbled, looking back at the surgery now beginning, "This is the first time you've…well…had this happen?"

"No, I commanded a ship before Warspite, the Adege, a Ganges-Class, smaller, less advanced, but she was a fine ship."

"What happened to your ship? I've heard some people say you'd lost in a fight before. But, no one says anything specific," Madelyn inquired carefully, making Shaw cross his arms over his chest and nod.

"It was a standard patrol. Adege had just emerged from refit, new weapons, new armor plate, new sensors, improved propulsion systems, and a new warp core. I'd commanded Adege for…almost seven years by that time. We were accompanied by one of our sister ships, the Danube and were sent to investigate reports of a Romulan presence near Alpha Centauri. We found it," he sighed, "Two Raptor-Class Romulan ships, we fought, Danube was destroyed, but together we got one of the two Romulan ships, bad luck on Danube's part. My ship and the last Romulan ship fought one on one. What a fight it was…" Shaw said wistfully, "It took…probably half an hour before we managed to disable her engines but the ship was being held together by duct tape and force of will, but our warp core was going to be breached, the Adege was dying. So, I ordered abandon ship, set the autopilot ramming attack and I watched as the Adege's final act was slamming into and destroying that Romulan ship."

"Wh-what happened after that?" she replied in awe.

Shaw looked at her, and considered whether she was able to handle the story that came next. It was not the kind of story for the faint of heart. But Madelyn wasn't like most kids.

"My crew and I, and the Danube's survivors, floated there in the debris field, one day went by, two days, three days…until a week and a half later, my pod's systems were starting to fail. You see, they only had enough juice to last a week plus a day or two if you were frugal with your management, it was a miracle that it lasted as long as it did. But hypothermia had already set in, my supplies were nearly gone when we were found by a Tellarite cruiser. I'd had fifty-four men and women aboard my ship when we'd set out from Alpha Centauri. When I managed to regain consciousness and was given a manifest of survivors…that number was down to eighteen. Half of my crew never made it to an escape pod. And half of the pods that had gotten out only ended up losing power, many of their occupants had chosen another way out rather than suffocating."

Madelyn was definitely shocked at that story. But Shaw was impressed at her willingness to proceed with asking further on the story after a moment of silence as they watched Dr. Watson setting to work, quickly and cleanly.

"Did…did you? Consider ending it?"

Shaw looked down to her and then looked down at his pistol holster with his EM-33 plasma pistol in it. He withdrew the weapon, and made certain it was on safe as he displayed it to her.

"These old pistols were standard in the emergency kits of our escape pods. Still are actually. But, I kept mine from that escape pod because it is the last part of my old ship. But I also keep it as a reminder, to keep fighting and to never ever give up. It's what I teach my officers and crew to be more important than anything else. If you take any lesson from your time on the Warspite, Madelyn, it's that. Keep fighting, never give up, because you never know when you'll be able to cheat fate."

"Okay," Madelyn said quietly, as she watched the weapon be returned to its holster before the two returned to watching the procedure, which was moving along smoothly, but she was left with a question, "Was it hard? Being in that escape pod?"

"The hardest part, I think, was that I spent that time in the pod alone. After a few days by yourself with nothing to do but sit there with only my own thoughts I learned a lot about myself. In moments like that," he sighed, placing his hands behind his back, "You examine your decisions in life, the ones that you wish you can redo. Because those are the moments that come bubbling up in each waking moment like fireflies flitting in and out of the dark no matter how many times you swat it away."

"What did you do when that happened?"

"You keep going," Shaw replied softly.

"Commander Rowley, I've taken a close look at the ship's computer core, we could fix it, but it'd take hours," Nadia said into her communicator as she walked back and forth inside the ship's bridge, which had a small access corridor into the circular room where the tall computer core in a cylinder of various different components was located.

"We don't have hours, lieutenant," Rowley responded from the ship's main secure hold, where he found a sizeable amount of latinum coins, dilithium crystals, and some various other precious red, green, blue, and clear gemstones, some loose and some in gold and silver jewelry of varying kinds.

"I could get the job done faster with a couple of their engineers," she sighed as she glanced over to where Seylas, the apparent leader of these Kriosians, was seated at one of the stations under the guard of one of the MACO's.

"Alright, fine, let's get 'em to work," Rowley sighed, shutting the communicator, and then turned to Major Odell as he and the other officer were going through the objects, "Think you can get one of your men to escort one of their engineers to the bridge?"

"Got it," Odell sighed, having been quite bored this whole time, having had no one to fight.

"What's the matter? You bummed you and your boys aren't getting any action?" Rowley chuckled as he opened a crate with some more dilithium crystals in containers within it.

"Yeah maybe," the MACO grumbled, "I'd hoped these Kriosians would have offered some form of resistance. My boys have only gotten in on two fights since we left Earth."

"There's gonna be a few more of them waiting for you, that I can guarantee."

The two walked out as some large carts that were being pushed by several of the crew who were now scooping up the valuables that they were to grab by some spraypaint on whichever of the containers they were to take. So far, only enough for two carts was worth taking, but they could use whatever they could get for whatever might come along that would require barter or payment. There were other opportunities of course, but Rowley wanted to accomplish his main orders of retrieving the Kriosian ship's database first. So he was on his way to do what he had to.

The two men entered what was effectively the ship's shuttle bay, although it only had one shuttle racked up on the second level of the two-level bay in a clamp. The crew of this ship were all seated down below, huddled up together with a squad of MACO's positioned above them. They were a mixed bag, all of them bloodied and/or bruised by their rough time at the hands of the Warspite's weapons. They glared up with a mixture of anger and fear as Rowley and Odell walked in.

"We need an engineer," Rowley called out, knowing that his universal translator was working judging by the fact that the Kriosians down below him were hesitant and murmured among themselves a moment, but didn't move.

"Looks like we need something more convincing," Odell shook his head, to which Rowley nodded and pulled his communicator out and flipped it open.

"Lieutenant, have the ship's boss man give an order to his boys to have an engineer step up, he offered, now he can make good" Rowley gave an exasperated order to Nadia back on the bridge of the ship.

"Aye sir, one moment," she replied quickly.

It took a mere moment, but a crackling voice came over the intercom of the ship as promised.

"This is Lord Grisii, two engineers please come forward to assist in the bridge," the Kriosian noble was heard stating.

Once this was stated, the group looked amongst themselves, and two Kriosians stood up, each being quite large amongst their fellows, one of them quite a bit bigger. The two stepped out from among their comrades and were ushered out of the hangar.

"Did you notice something about those two?" Odell murmured as he turned his back to the group and spoke quietly to Rowley.

"Yeah, one is built like a heavyweight boxer and the other looks like he can definitely handle himself," Rowley said in turn, getting the same vibes as his MACO colleague.

"You thinking what I'm thinking?" Odell asked.

"Yeah, I'm with you on that, let's go with 'em ourselves, just to make sure they don't try any funny stuff," Rowley said quietly and the two nodded to their people, who stepped back and the two officers gestured for the two large Kriosians to head out and they'd then follow them.

Rowley noted that the two prisoners looked between them at having two escorts that looked to be the same size and strength them. It further supported Commander Rowley's suspicions as they then walked forward, knowing the way forward, seeing as it was their ship after all. The two Humans remained behind them, a step or two behind, able to be out of arm's reach if the Kriosians tried anything. And again, something bothered Commander Rowley, their charges, the engineers slated for assisting in repairs, had not stopped to ask to retrieve any tools or toolboxes until one of them half-noticed a toolbox on the ground outside the bridge as they approached it and grabbed it, glancing back at Odell and Rowley. The two officers again shared a look, and the two of them silently took their pistols and slipped the strap over the handles off with one move of their thumbs. Rowley might have chalked up the suspicious nature of their movements being nerves, or to the possibility that the Kriosians had area-specific tool kits stowed near components that were meant to be worked on by said tools. But it was foolish not to feel very, very suspicious about what these two prisoners were potentially thinking.

They entered the bridge not even a couple minutes later. The MACO on guard was standing as he was supposed to near to Seylas, who sat in a chair at a control station, nervously tapping his feet. But, it was realized a plan was in motion when the larger Kriosian on the right carrying the toolkit whirled around and flung its loose contents into Odell and Rowley as they stepped inside the bridge behind them. Metal tools and instruments smacked into their faces and they instinctively raised their arms and hands to protect themselves. The big man targeted Odell with the toolbox and got one good hit across his forearm and head with enough force to knock him back into the wall as the two grappled, both men's hands going for his pulse pistol. The smaller Kriosian threw a series of sharp jabs at Rowley that connected cleanly and forced Rowley onto the defensive as he pulled his phase pistol out but his wrist was grabbed and kept from pointing at him. The MACO saw this happen, but the close proximity of the two aggressors and Odell and Rowley meant he lifted his weapon and hesitated to fire. This mere second allowed Seylas to stand up and grab the weapon, causing it to go off into the ceiling. Then, the Kriosian proved himself a very capable warrior, using a body throw he flung the MACO over his shoulder and then landed a kick into the MACO's face prior to getting his bearings back. The young Kriosian managed to grab his stun baton and jabbed him in the side. The nonlethal weapon sparked and the effect on the MACO was immediate, leaving Seylas to grab for the MACO's pulse rifle. This whole setup with the "engineers" was a trap.

But Nadia was there, and she heard the struggle, and emerged from the computer core, with Seylas right at her feet. With wide eyes, the two locked sight on one another, and Nadia grabbed for her phase pistol. But Seylas jumped at her, pressing the girl back to keep her from drawing her weapon, locking one hand on top of hers as she tried to undo the strap that held her phase pistol in its holster. His other hand tried to use the stun baton on her, but Nadia's other hand quickly locked onto his in a death struggle. She knew what would happen if he overpowered her as she tripped over the bottom of the door jam into the computer core and she squirmed and writhed, trying desperately to get free.

Heavy hammer blows began to be traded as the two humans duked it out with the two Kriosians who had started the fight. Rowley had lost his phase pistol when his opponent managed a quick blow against his wrist against a damaged panel that sparked and burned Rowley's hand and suffered a pair punches, one to his face that he pulled his hands up to block but then the second landed in his gut. The man didn't rest upon this, he blocked the next right cross and gave a pair of sharp jabs that landed with a sharp crack as Rowley broke the man's nose and advanced. The two traded punches, each blocking and parrying, displaying a definite skill. But Rowley proved the superior fighter upon catching another left cross between his arm and body. He pinned the arm, locked and painfully delivered a cracking blow with a twist of his body. While the Kriosian screamed in pain at the hyperextension to his elbow Rowley drew his knife, and plunged it right into the man's chest and then kicked his leg out from under him and came down on top with another sharp series of stabs. The fight was over quickly enough.

Rowley, panting a bit turned his head to check on Odell, who'd basically begun a straight-up boxing match with the equally large Kriosian. The two from the start had just went for it, trading punch for punch, rocking one another like punching bags. Odell came off better with each blow until his opponent ducked under one punch, tackled him backwards and onto a console, punching hard into his abdomen, making him reel back. After regaining his footing Odell managed to block one blow but caught another to the cheek as the large Kriosian brawler brought a powerful elbow down onto his collarbone and tried to grab for his neck. But Odell was quick, grabbing at his opponent's face, and thrust his gloved thumbs into his opponent's eyes, causing the Kriosian to rear his head back and back up, giving Odell room to launch a quick punch and backhand blow against his opponent with enough force to make him double over, and Odell kicked him in the back of the knee. Now down, he grabbed his opponent by the chin with his left hand and by the back of the head with his right, fighting for leverage as the two growled and strained until it all ended with a swift yank as Odell snapped his opponent's neck.

The two shared a look and a nod but were quickly reminded of their fight not yet being completed as they heard the cries of Nadia in the computer core. Seylas had finally gotten the leverage he needed over her, and the two saw him emerge with Nadia held with one hand around her neck and had her phase pistol pointed at her head. Her nose was bloodied, a cut on her cheek, and she weakly held onto the forearm around her neck. Rowley slid down and snagged his fallen phase pistol as Odell drew his own pulse pistol, both of them leveling their weapons at their last foe.

"Drop your weapons!" Seylas ordered with a snarl.

"Not happening," Rowley declared firmly.

"What he said," Odell seconded.

"I'll kill her!" Seylas jabbed the barrel of the phase pistol against Nadia's temple.

"You do that what's stopping us from doing the same to you?"

"You're gonna kill all of us anyway, I know who you are. You've been attacking ships and murdering their crews without mercy, stealing the data recorders of your victims to hide your identities," Seylas growled at them, "I knew you were those butchers the moment you demanded access to our computer core. But guess what? We're not going out so meekly…"

Nadia at this point slowly pointed one finger up at her phase pistol, captured as it was. But, the young lieutenant had her head on straight during that fight she'd seemed to have lost. Rowley squinted, but made out what she was drawing their attention to, the setting on the weapon was set to safe. Seylas's lack of familiarity with Starfleet weapons and rush to grab her weapon was now set to give her her own salvation. Rowley nodded to her, and aimed his weapon and fired.

A red beam pierced Seylas's skull and exited out the back, and he collapsed forward and onto his knees fell onto his side. Nadia likewise collapsed to her hands and knees as well, panting and whimpering lightly as she fought to regain her composure. Rowley rushed over to her and Odell checked his own unconscious man.

"You okay?" Rowley said as he lifted her to her feet after securing her fallen weapon, getting a nod from her silently, to which he nodded his acknowledgement, "Simmons good?" Rowley asked to Odell.

"Unconscious, he'll be okay," he said.

"He said that he planned this, that might mean his crew might've tried something," Rowley now realized.

"Lieutenant! Status report?" Odell commed over to his second in command, but there was no reply.

"Oh no," Rowley stated in worry.

"Any one, give me a status report!" Odell commed over to his whole unit on the ship with more urgency.

"Major, this is Lieutenant Trent, sir…there's been an incident," the communicator replied immediately after.

"I'm on my way," Odell stated rapidly and rushed out with Rowley staying behind with Nadia.

The two didn't take long before they reached their people, who were all standing up on the catwalk. But it was what was below them that was a shock. The entire once-alive crew of Kriosians was now laying on the deck, the sight of smoke and steam and the smell of burnt flesh emanating from below. Many of these Kriosians lay on the stairs up towards the MACO's, and many others were around the doors. All of them were dead, killed by the MACO's who stood above them in stunned silence at what they had just done.

"What the hell just happened?" Odell panted as he took this in.

"They…they just rushed us," the lieutenant replied, distressed greatly at this event, "We didn't have a choice."

"Anyone hurt?" Odell now asked, leaning forward on the railing, lowering his head at the lethal turn.

"No sir, we're okay. I don't…I don't why they did it."

Odell knew what had happened. These Kriosians were, like their leader said, in on a desperate ploy to save their own skins. The Warspite's reputation had gotten out, as planned, but it was one of a grim reaper. Those who came across it were doomed to die. But, like any sentients these people were not about to go out without a fight.

"Because they were convinced we were going to kill them anyway, so they chose to go out like warriors. Can't say I blame 'em, if I'm going to die, I'd prefer to die fighting."