The Alpha Centauri Mystery - Part 19 - Failure and Success. By Ben
Versteegt.
Summary: on board the Iapetus, the power of the crystals becomes clear: a phaser beam, powered by only one of these crystals, all but destroys the Romulan Warbird which has stalked the Iapetus and had almost disabled her. Neither ship is in any condition to fight now, and it is clear that the fight over the samples will not be won in a space-battle. With the help of Captain Ayer and his team, the Romulans have now taken over the Bridge of the Iapetus, where the casing with the crystals in it are located. Distracted by the disabling of his ship, the Romulan commander, Vraal, fails to notice that Ayer and his people have turned the tables on him -- the Starfleet people take the Romulans hostage. Ayer, on the other hand, doesn't see one of the Romulan soldiers sneaking up from behind him, ready to knock the Captain down with the container with the samples in it.
And now the continuation:
Ayer stood at the back of the Bridge, his disruptor pressing against Vraal's temple. Hostage situations were often dangerously unpredictable, and his Starfleet training hadn't exactly provided him with clues on how to take hostages, let alone keep them. Experience, however, did help him with that. It wouldn't help him for long, though -- not if the Romulan soldier, who raised the canister with samples to knock Ayer cold with it -- had anything to do with it.
"Captain, look out!" cried Watters and quickly fired his phaser. At the same time, the Romulan soldier took a swing at Ayer, but, warned by his STC, the Captain was able to evade the blow. The soldier slumped to the ground and the crystals with him.
Ayer's momentary lapse of concentration was all Vraal needed. He swung his arm at the Captain and hit him on the head, causing Ayer to loose his balance and fall down to the ground. He hadn't even fully hit the ground, when Vraal already jumped upon him, struggling for control over the disruptor. His fist collided with the Captain's face a couple of times, before Ayer regained his bearings and started to fight back. A swing from the left was blocked by Vraal, and caused the two combatants to start rolling over the floor of the Bridge. There was now no way for Watters to shoot Vraal without risking to hit the Captain.
Not that Ayer's crew had any time to shoot Vraal, though. They were too busy with the rest of the Romulans: they had followed their leader's example and had jumped at the Starfleet hostage takers, catching them completely by surprise. Two Romulans were holding down Enbek, while Zaag was struggling to get out of the reach of two strong Romulan arms. Watters and Zjavick were holding their own near the turbolift, but had been forced to resort to hand-to-hand combat when their phasers had been kicked out of their hands by the Romulans. Not only did they now have to try to come to the aid of their Captain, but they also needed to keep the Romulans from getting their hands on the phasers, which meant that they had to keep them busy... Extremely busy.
Sandra was also having a difficult time herself. The Romulan soldier she had to deal with was at least a head taller than she was, and held her firmly in his grip. Her legs were still free, however, and she tried to kick the Romulan in the knees. When she finally succeeded, the Romulan winced and his hold on her weakened. She kicked again and broke loose, immediately turning around and crashing her elbow in his face, causing him to go down. She dove towards one of the fallen phasers before the Romulan could grab her again, and had just grabbed it when the Romulan soldier pulled her back by her leg. She turned around as well as she could, and fired the phaser. The Romulan fell on the ground, this time for a longer time than a few seconds.
Now in possession of the phaser, Sandra knew what to do. She turned quickly to Watters and Zjavick and the Romulans they were fighting, and discharged the weapon. One of the Romulans fell on the floor, unconscious. Sandra meant to fire the phaser on one of the other Romulans next, but didn't get the chance to. Before she could fire, another Romulan soldier crashed into her, sending them both to the ground and the phaser flying through the air.
A green beam shot out of a disruptor, however, and drained the life out of that soldier. Sandra looked up at the person who had fired; it was Zaag. He had made use of the confusion and had grabbed one of the disruptors off of the ground before any Romulan could stop him. He smiled to Sandra and then pointed his disruptor at the Romulans Watters and Zjavick were fighting. Choosing surrender over death, these Romulans allowed themselves to be taken into custody. At the same time, Zaag heard the unpleasant sound of two heads being smashed against each other; it was Enbek, who had managed to disable the Romulans who were pinning him down.
With the Romulans held at gunpoint by Watters and Zjavick, Sandra, Zaag and Enbek calmly walked towards Vraal, who was still struggling with Ayer. Vraal had managed to get on top and free one of his arms, which he was now bent on using to finally knock out the Captain. Ayer saw it coming, but couldn't move his arms -- they were trapped under Vraal's legs. But instead of bracing himself for the pain that was soon to follow, Ayer simply smiled and nodded his head to the three people behind Vraal. The Romulan Commander looked behind him, saw Ayer's crew, and turned back again to Ayer, his eyes wide with anger.
"If you would be so kind..." Ayer said to Vraal with a smile and the latter knew that he now had to get off of the Captain. He surveyed the Bridge -- his crew had either been stunned, killed, or taken captive. There was no winning this battle. Knowing that a disruptor was aimed at his back this very moment, Vraal reluctantly stood up and held up his hands.
Ayer stood up as well and picked up the nearby disruptor. He wiped away the blood that trickled from his nose -- he had taken a few hard punches and returned a few too, and he hadn't come out of the fight unscathed. "A wise choice, Commander Vraal," he told his opponent. "I must say, you fight well."
Vraal softly muttered something in Romulan and didn't return the compliment. Ayer didn't want to hazard a guess as to what grave insults had been thrown at him just now and let out a sigh of relief as he walked to the container with the crystals in them. He was glad the fight was over -- contrary to what he wanted Vraal to believe, he was exhausted. It was a good thing the struggle hadn't lasted longer than it did.
The Captain picked up the container and walked back to the rest of the group, as Zaag motioned for Vraal to join the rest of the Romulan prisoners. "We have what we came for," Ayer said triumphantly and indicated both the sample container and Sandra with a nod. "Now let's get out of here."
"What about them?" Watters asked and pointed his phaser at the Romulans.
Enbek looked vaguely surprised that Watters was even asking this. "We kill them, of course."
Ayer considered his options for a moment. They couldn't leave the Romulans here on the Bridge, since they might figure out how the controls worked and fire the Iapetus' weapons on their escape shuttle. They also couldn't send them back to their own ship, which, for one thing, was badly damaged, and, for another, could be used to pursuit Ayer and his team as well. Finally, he made up his mind. "In there," he ordered, as he pointed his disruptor towards the conference room.
Watters caught his drift. "Move," he said to the Romulans, who reluctantly complied. While Ayer, Watters and Enbek held the Romulans at gun-point in the conference room, Sandra, Zaag and Zjavick moved the stunned and unconscious Romulans from the Bridge there too.
When all Romulans had been moved into the conference room one way or the other, Ayer and his teams stepped out onto the Bridge again. "Goodbye, Vraal," Ayer said and smiled. The doors closed and Ayer and Watters began to fire their disruptor and phaser onto the doors, welding them shut. "That should keep them there long enough for us to escape," figured Ayer.
"I still say we should have killed them," Enbek said. "They would have done the same to us."
"Then I suppose we are different in that aspect," Ayer replied with a slight smile. "Now, what do you say we get off of this ship?"
Sandra shrugged. "That's fine with me, but where do we go?"
"We can't go back to the Aquinas," Zjavick said, "or what's left of her, anyway. Anyone in the sector will be able to track us, and the Aquinas isn't exactly capable of defending us anymore."
"On the contrary, mister Zjavick," Ayer countered, "the Aquinas is exactly where we must return to."
Zjavick couldn't have looked more surprised if Ayer had told him that dilithium crystals were actually made out of sugar. "But sir, the Aquinas is a wreck! You can't possibly expect her to fly again, let alone go to warp. It can't be done!"
Ayer smiled. "Weren't you a miracle worker, Commander?"
Zjavick was stumped. "Sir, breaking in to a Romulan computer is one thing. Repairing an obliterated ship is quite another, I assure you!"
"Relax, mister Zjavick," Ayer replied. "We're just going back to the Aquinas to stock up on supplies, not to fly the ship." The expression on his face saddened for a moment. "She's a mess, I know. We can't even fly her to a scrapyard."
"Is the Aquinas really that badly damaged?" Sandra asked, hoping the ship was still salvageable.
Ayer nodded solemnly. "We were shot to pieces by the Iapetus -- and then we practically blew ourselves up by detonating the warp core a few hundred metres off our stern."
"You did the right thing, Captain," Watters told him softly.
"So what's the plan now?" Enbek interrupted. "Are we going to stand here reminiscing or are we going to get out of here?"
Ayer took a deep breath. "We get out of here. We'll steal a shuttle and fly to the Aquinas. We'll team up with anyone who has survived there and fly to Alpha Centauri -- that's the nearest Federation base in the sector."
"Let's go then," Zaag suggested and went to stand behind Watters. "Mister Watters, lead the way."
"So you don't get shot, eh?" Watters replied. "Very well. We'll take the jefferies tubes and hope nobody will notice us." He opened the hatch and began to climb down, followed by the rest. It was a long and quiet climb down to the shuttle bay, and they had to crawl through several jefferies tubes to get there. Fortunately, they had managed to avoid being seen and there had been no sign of any pursuers at all during the entire trip to the shuttle bay. Ayer speculated that the crew of the Iapetus was still too busy dealing with the Romulans to come after them -- if they even knew where they were.
Watters carefully opened the hatch that lead them out of the jefferies tube and into the shuttle bay. A few crewmen stood guard, but they were quickly incapacitated by phaser fire. The team walked to the fallen crewmen, checking whether or not they were really unconscious, Ayer allowed himself to relax for a moment. He looked around and pointed at a shuttle. "Let's take that type 11. It's the fastest they got."
"Maximum speed: warp six," Zjavick informed them, "but only for three hours. And after we arrive at the Aquinas, if we want to go to Alpha Centauri, that will be a journey of a few hours too."
"But we were barely underway when we were attacked!" Zaag said with obvious surprise. "Only five minutes or so. Why does it suddenly take a lot longer than before?"
"We were travelling at warp eight back then, mister Zaag. And after that, at warp nine point four," Zjavick explained. "The shuttle can only go warp six at most. That's bound to take longer than-- Look out!"
He grabbed Zaag by the shoulders and tossed him aside, while jumping out of the way himself. An orange beam of energy impacted in the wall on the far side of the shuttle bay. "Take cover!" shouted Ayer as he and Sandra hid behind the shuttle. Watters and Enbek took cover behind a couple of crates, as they returned fire at the group of Iapetus crewmembers who were firing at Ayer and his team.
Captain Donovan grinned widely while he discharged his phaser rifle at the Starfleet officers. He and his men had formed a heavily armed security team to trap Ayer and his people in the shuttle bay, and it seemed they were successful. "You cannot escape" Donovan shouted. "Give me the samples and we will let you live, Captain Ayer!"
Ayer gritted his teeth. "So he knows who I am," he muttered, and then raised his voice. "You attacked my ship!" he yelled back. "You abducted one of my officers! How can I trust you?"
Donovan had taken cover behind some crates as well. "We both share the same goal, Captain," he replied. "We both want to defend the Federation from its enemies."
"I am no enemy from the Federation!" Ayer looked up from behind the shuttlecraft and then quickly ducked again. He was still being fired at. "What do you need to shoot me for?"
"These are drastic times, Captain," Donovan replied. "Drastic times require drastic measures."
Ayer swallowed hard. He had heard the exact same words from Vraal, the Romulan commander. He had been forced to co-operate then too, and now seemed no different. "Do these drastic measures include blowing up my ship?"
"Afraid so, Captain," Donovan replied. "Now, hand over the crystals. I assure you, I'll have my best people look at them."
"How do I know you don't just want the samples for yourself?" Ayer shouted.
"Believe it or not, I act in the best interest of the Federation," Donovan replied and fired a few shots. "I have orders to bring the crystals to a secret location, and I have no intention of failing those orders. I will get those samples one way or another, Captain. Do you understand me?"
Ayer was quiet for a while. "Perfectly," he muttered and cursed under his breath. "Tell your men to hold their fire, and we'll talk about it!" he shouted from behind the shuttle.
Smiling, Donovan motioned for his men to start surrounding the shuttle and the other places where Ayer's people were hiding. "I'm afraid you're going to have to do better than that, Captain!" he shouted. "Put the container *with* the samples in it on the floor, and push it this way." He surveyed the shuttle bay and was pleased to see that his men had already taken up positions at the other side of the bay. A 'clear shot' signal had not yet been given, but Donovan knew it wouldn't be long now.
Watters, however, had already spotted the security crewmen and, after drawing Captain Ayer's attention, had made it clear to him that this battle looked like a desperate one. He did have a plan, but it wouldn't be easy. Looking at the Captain, he tapped himself with his left hand and then indicated the shuttle with his phaser before making a circle with his arms, indicating the whole shuttle bay. He then made a throat-slashing gesture and nodded in the direction of Donovan. Ayer, had come to know over the years that Watters' gestures, if properly interpreted, harboured grand plans. He nodded and got ready for the surprise Watters would throw at Donovan and the rest of the crew of the Iapetus. This plan did mean, however, that he and Sandra would be losing their cover.
Ayer tapped his comm badge twice, opening a channel to everyone present -- which did include the officers of the Iapetus. He tapped once more, waited exactly two seconds, and tapped twice again. Sandra, Enbek and Zaag completely failed to understand what was going on, but Watters and Zjavick, two members of Ayer's crew who had served under him for years, instinctively replied by tapping their comm badges twice as well. Ayer had given the signal to watch him, but pretend not to. He gestured to Watters first and then to the shuttle, before motioning for his crew to lay down cover fire for Watters. They nodded in response, showing that they had understood. The Captain nodded to his STC, and Watters ran out of his hiding place and towards the shuttlecraft.
As planned, the rest of the team started to fire intensively at the security personnel of Captain Donovan. It wasn't enough to make them stop shooting and look for cover, but it was enough to draw most attention away from Watters, who by now had reached the shuttle and opened the doors, located on the side of the craft.
But Donovan saw what was happening. "Shoot him!" he yelled at his men and pointed at Watters. He took aim himself and fired.
An enormous pain in his side made itself known to Watters and he cursed under his breath as the world started to spin around him and he fell down. "Watters!" shouted Ayer. He wanted to help his STC, but he got pinned down by Donovan's men, who now seemed to be everywhere.
"You'd be wise to surrender while you still can, Captain!" Donovan was clearly enjoying himself. "We don't want anyone else to get hurt!"
Ayer clenched his fist around the disruptor he was holding. Enraged with anger, he left his hiding place and took out two crewmen before he had to find cover again. "This is no use," he muttered to himself and looked at the container with the samples in it. Was it worth all this? The Aquinas had been turned into a floating debris field because of it. Most of his crew had died because of these samples. And now Watters was another casualty.
He made a decision -- one which he knew was the wrong one, but under the circumstances, it was the only choice he had. "Hold your fire!" he yelled. "Hold your fire. I surrender." He threw his weapon on the floor and held up his arms, holding the container with the crystals in it in his left hand.
Donovan held up his hand. "Hold your fire!" he ordered and walked out of his hiding place together with the rest of his team. He was grinning broadly -- he knew he was victorious, and the crystals were his. He would take them directly to Section 31 headquarters, of course, where they could be studied, analysed, probed and possibly reproduced. Soon, Section 31, and after that, all of Starfleet would have ships powered by these crystals. It would take a while, of course, but Starfleet would one day possess a fleet, and weapons, far superior to anything the Romulans or anyone else could throw at the Federation
But Enbek didn't agree with Ayer's decision. He didn't agree with a lot of the Captain's decisions, actually. Starfleet always went out of its way to avoid hurting others, even when it meant that the chance of success of an action would be substantially lowered. Starfleet's weakness was its compassion, Enbek thought. Until now, anyway. The Starfleet crew on the Iapetus was different. They didn't seem to be bound to the same ideal and high standards that Ayer and his crew held dear. Although this different way of doing things did add to the efficiency of the Iapetus' crew, it didn't make them any less of an enemy. Enbek wanted the samples, and so did the crew of the Iapetus -- that made them an opponent. And if Ayer wasn't strong enough to face the overwhelming odds they were facing, so the Cardassian reasoned, then it was up to Enbek. He moved quickly. After standing up, he quickly took aim and fired his disruptor at Donovan.
Immediately, several officers who had apparently stayed hidden began to fire at the Cardassian. Enbek was vaporised within a matter of seconds, leaving nothing but a final scream echoing throughout the room. Enbek was no more.
His target, however, was still very much alive. A crewman had jumped in front of the beam and was now laying curled up on the floor with a gaping wound in his stomach. There was no chance he would make it. Donovan looked at the loyal crewman and gritted his teeth. "Kill them!" he shouted to his men. "Kill them all!"
If some crewmen of the Iapetus had previously set their phasers to stun only, they now set them to kill. One hit could be lethal, and the odds were against Ayer and his crew. Zaag knew this too -- he stayed as close to the ground as possible, while next to him, Zjavick put up a brave fight. It was a losing battle, though, as Zjavick found out himself. He had no choice but to hide behind the crates as well, because the continued firing made it impossible for him to get up and fire back.
Zaag closed his eyes tightly. He didn't want to die, but it seemed that his time had come all the same. This was it, he realised. He would be going to the Divine Treasury within seconds, and he hoped that the Registrar, the first person he would meet there, would accept his bribe. If the bribe was accepted, Zaag would face the Blessed Exchequer and the Celestial Auctioneers -- what an honour that would be! -- and he would be allowed to bid for his new life. A new life which, he hoped, would be one close to Sandra, or at least close to the person which Sandra turned out to be in a new life.
Suddenly, as the sound of phasers firing drew closer, a horrible thought came to him. What if the Registrar did not accept his bribe? This, he knew, would only happen if his business wasn't going well. His bar on Alpha Centauri had been doing great the last couple of months, and so had his life, at least up to the point where he met Enbek. By opposing the Cardassian and aiding Sandra in capturing Enbek, Zaag had missed out on perhaps the greatest deal in a century. Furthermore, his love for Sandra -- a clothed woman, no less! -- was certainly not something that the Registrar would approve of. This could even be enough reasons for the Registrar not to accept Zaag's bribe, in which case he was going to the Ferengi version of hell. "The Vault of Eternal Destitution!" he said softly to himself.
"This is it, we're dead," Zjavick said as he kept his head low while looking at the Ferengi. "I never thought I would be killed by fellow Starfleet officers." He swallowed. "I hope they make it quick and painless."
"Easy for you to say!" Zaag cried. "You're not going to the Vault of Eternal Destitution!"
Zjavick didn't have time to reply, for a loud roaring sound made itself known to them as it reverberated off the walls of the shuttle bay. It didn't take long for Zjavick or anyone else to find out what was the cause of the sound. "The shuttle!" Zjavick yelled. "It's powering up its systems!"
On the other side of the shuttle bay, Ayer ventured a look and saw how the type 11 shuttlecraft hovered off the ground and banked slightly to port. Through the windows, it was clear who was flying the craft. "Watters!" Ayer said, smiling. He stopped smiling when he saw how Watters was looking -- the STC clenched his teeth and winced periodically, and he looked as if he could loose consciousness within seconds. He was clearly in pain. "Hold on, Watters," Ayer murmured.
The crew of the Iapetus had also noticed the shuttle had powered up, and Donovan ordered his men to fire at the craft. Before they could inflict any serious damage, however, Watters activated the tactical systems, and fired. A bright beam of orange energy shot out of the shuttlecraft and reduced the bulkhead behind Donovan to a pile of smouldering rubble. A corridor could clearly be seen through the newly created large and gaping hole in the wall. It was clear who had the superior firepower now.
Watters fired again, this time targeting the shuttle bay control room, which was located on the second deck of the two-deck high bay. Several crewmembers were thrown to the air by the resulting explosion, and smacked to the floor, either unconscious or dead. The once-orderly security department of the Iapetus was now in chaos, as crewmen started to run towards the exit in an attempt to save their own skin.
Making use of the chaos, Watters turned the shuttlecraft to starboard, so Ayer, Sandra, Zjavick and Zaag would have no problem getting in. Still under enemy fire, Ayer made the jump first, threw himself through the open door and landed on the floor of the shuttle. "Watters," he said as he quickly made his way to the front of the cockpit. "Good job. You did great."
Watters closed his eyes shut and winced in pain, but still managed half a smile. "Always glad to be of assistance, Captain," he whispered. He opened his eyes and looked in the Captain's, gasping for air. "It's been... an honour serving under you." His eyes closed again and he winced in pain one last time. He had stopped breathing.
"Watters, no!" Ayer shouted, determined to save the man's life. The shuttle shook violently, though, under the barrage it received from Donovan and his people, and the shaking reminded Ayer that he had other matters to attend to right now. "Sandra, Zaag, help him," he ordered his niece and the Ferengi, who had both jumped on board a second ago. "Zjavick," he addressed the engineer who climbed into the craft as well. "Take the tactical station."
As Sandra and Zaag helped the lifeless body of Lieutenant Watters out of the chair, after which Ayer sat down in that chair and Zjavick took Ayer's place. "Stand by weapons," Ayer ordered and brought the ship around again.
"Sir, the shuttle bay doors are that way," Zjavick said and pointed in the direction behind them. They were now facing Captain Donovan and his crew, while Zjavick had figured they would have blown up the doors already. "Shouldn't we be on our way out by now?"
Ayer didn't reply. He simply looked at Donovan, and Donovan glared back. The two Captains were staring at each other, both seeing the other as their mortal enemy. Both were acting in the best interest of the Federation on the one hand, but still opposed each other.
"Captain!" Zjavick shouted.
"Prepare to fire phasers," said Ayer and raised his hand to wave at Donovan. He then waved his hand in the direction of the shuttle bay doors and smiled. For a moment, as Donovan began to understand what it was that Ayer was saying, the Captain of the Aquinas thought he could see fear in the other Captain's eyes. "Executing one-hundred and eighty degree turn," Ayer said and began to punch in commands at his console.
Donovan took a few steps back, his eyes filled with terror. He knew what was going to happen and he didn't want to be here when it happened. "Get out of here!" he yelled to his men. "Evacuate *now*! Move, move, move!" He gave the right example by turning around himself and running to the exit. "Bridge," he shouted into his comm badge, addressing his officers who had succeeded in retaking the Bridge. "Emergency force fields!"
Ayer waited for a tense moment before giving the order. "Let's get out of here. Whenever you're ready, commander."
Zjavick only nodded and simply opened fire.
The bright orange beam laid waste to the outer shuttle bay door, and the type 11 shuttle hurried through the opening, as the entire shuttle bay got decompressed and all air, equipment and several crewmen and various shuttles were blown out into space. From behind an emergency force field, Donovan cursed loudly. After seeing the shuttle jump to warp, he knew that he had lost... For now.
"How is he?" Ayer demanded when they had reached warp six.
Sandra looked up. Her eyes were full of tears and her hands covered with blood. "We couldn't... revive him," she stammered. "I'm sorry."
Ayer hit the console hard. "Damnit!" he shouted. "He was a fine officer, and... a good friend." He swallowed hard. "He will be missed," he said softly.
"He hasn't died in vain." Zaag's voice was barely audible. "He saved us all."
Sandra nodded. "That he did." She put her hands on Watters' head. "Rest in peace, Lieutenant Watters."
"And rest in peace, Enbek," Zaag added softly.
"We'll have a chance to mourn later," Ayer told them, his voice thick with unshed tears. "First, we have to get to the Aquinas and then to Alpha Centauri. Commander Zjavick, send out a distress signal to Starfleet. We need help, and we need it fast."
"Sir?" Zjavick asked, confused. "The Iapetus and the Romulan ship are in shambles, you saw the ships yourself. They can't possibly follow us."
Ayer shook his head. "No, commander. They will repair and they will follow us. We are no match for either of those ships, damaged or not. Sooner or later, they will catch up with us, and when that happens, I want to be prepared."
Zjavick nodded and saw the sense in what the Captain was saying. "Aye sir," he replied and sent the distress call, hoping that Starfleet would receive it and dispatch a ship in time, before either the Iapetus or the Romulan ship had repaired their propulsion and weapon systems and came after the shuttle... And before the precious cargo the shuttle was carrying would prove to be fatal for them all.
