Mallrats
The ion storm caught the edge of the visual spectrum and glowed a deep orange through the viewports, casting a sinister, Autumnal pall over the security office, reminding La'an of the red alert lighting on a starship.
"So," Jenna said, "What now?" They'd settled into the office's large bullpen which contained a handful of control consoles and an array of viewscreens on the walls. Slater and Zeir huddled with their dates near the food replicator.
"Internal sensors," La'an said, mentally taking accountability of the group and satisfying herself they were all there. "If we're lucky we can launch a distress buoy that can get a signal to Enterprise through the storm's interference. We need an Ops panel."
"Here!" Christina piped, pointing to a three-sided workstation.
"On it!" Jenna said, sliding into the chair. "Okay, let's take a look…" her fingers danced over the touchpads, haltingly at first, then with growing confidence as she worked out the interface. A moment later, the room's large, central monitor lit up and displayed a honeycomb of camera angles.
"It looks like there are…five of these things," La'an noted. "They seem to be randomly patrolling the station, and not working as an organized unit. That's about the first good news we've had so far."
"Lieutenant, what's that?" Christina asked, pointing at one of the camera feeds. La'an poked up and saw a trio of people furtively darting into shops on the luxury level.
"That looks like a robbery," La'an said, the reality of the situation slowly dawning on her. "They're using the ion storm for cover."
"But how could they get aboard," Jenna wondered aloud. "I'm not reading any ships docked. Could they have been here when the storm hit."
"And they'll be here when it passes," La'an said grimly.
"I wish you hadn't seen that."
La'an spun, seeing what she expected: Chief Renssler standing in the doorway to his office. She hadn't expected him to be cradling a plasma rifle, but it wasn't a huge shock. At least not to her. Jenna gasped, and Christina let out a startled yip.
"Taking advantage of the storm, I see," La'an said. "I'd wondered why the storm could affect our phasers. The shielding a station like this would need should have filtered anything harmful in order to remain operational. So when your employees here—" she gestured at Odel and Karee, "—when they mentioned the storms were affecting station system, well, that just seemed suspicious."
"You weren't supposed to stay on the station," Renssler said, chagrined. "I figured the storm would have taken care of that."
"We're Lady Cops!" Jenna said defiantly. "We don't just run at the first ion storm that comes around. Not when we have a juice lead." She nodded knowingly at La'an. La'an rolled her eyes.
"Lady Cops?" Renssler asked.
"Please don't pay attention to her," La'an said.
"I like it!" Christina noted. Zeir and Slater nodded approvingly.
La'an sensed she needed to regain control of the situation. "And the janitorial robots? I assume they're the protection?"
"The what?" The puzzlement on Renssler's was as genuine as La'an had ever seen.
"The robots that killed Terl!" Christina spat. Renssler still looked confused.
"Oh dear," La'an said sweetly. "You really should have put more effort into locating your missing employees. Now, your accomplices have a nasty surprise waiting for them."
"What? What are you talking about?"
And then, dimly in the distance, they heard the screams.