Coming to, the Captain looks around him. "Must destroy the station," he croaks, standing unsteadily and rubbing his shoulder.
With growing steadiness, he says, "Kerensky, access the structural files on this station. There must be some way to use the power of the black hole's jet against it, or to drive it into the singularity. No one must ever be allowed to have this weapon."
Tapping his communicator, he says "Valiant, this is Reeves. Do you have Commander T'Karra? And can you locate the people who beamed over? If so, take them too."
"Valiant, we're going to destroy this station. Do not wait for us. That is an order. Get the ship to a safe distance. We'll take Archimedes if we can. Reeves out."
He moves to the nearest station and begins to look for ways to destroy the station.
Kerensky does his best to assist the Captain. Destroying the structure had to be done. If the Klingons, Romulans or Gorn got their hands on it... or as he had just witnessed one confused Starfleet Officer the results could be truly horrifying.
The station's outer Neutronium shell should be highly unstable. While neutronium can be configured into specific geometries that allow it to remain stable, in this case the station uses a powerful energy field to stabilize and support it. You could destroy the station by turning off the power to that energy field and letting it collapse.
Or use the graviton beam emitters on the station itself to compromise the structural integrity of the station.
Alternately, you could reverse the graviton emitters and use them to drive the station into the singularity.
We have our orders. Thoss, grab whomever you can. Otherwise, put some distance between us and the station. Can we use the planet as a shield?
"Yes, Sir," Thoss responds unhappily considering the prospect of losing the captain, a man he admired greatly. Still he had his orders...
Deftly maneuvering the Valiant as close as he dared to transport any remaining survivors from the station back aboard.
Two security officers take charge of T'Karra and lead her out of the transporter room and down the corridors of the ship toward the brig. Each of them holds a drawn type 2 phaser.
One of the security men moves to a wall panel while the other keeps his phaser trained on T'Karra.
"Bridge, Ensign Rogers, here. Commander T'Karra is asking to be taken to engineering to do something to try to save the Captain. What are your orders..."
The transporter is unable to lock on to the Ithink who have beamed aboard. Something is interfering with detecting them. The station begins to move toward the black hole. Reeves locks in the pull of the graviton beam. The station might move slowly, but it will be pulled toward the singularity.
As he leaves the Command center, Reeves phasers the doorway, trying to make it difficult for anyone to return to the command center and stop the station's destruction.
"Run!" he says to Kerensky, and follows close behind.
A fallen beam threatens to cut him off and he strains to move it out of the way:
Reeves encounters a pit created by a fallen floor and takes a running leap over it, barely catching the far edge and pulling himself up.
As they go through the station the corridor they originally passed through at one point is now clogged with debris. Kerensky tries to find a swift new route to bypass the hazard.
Like his captain Kerensky finds it almost impossible to cleanly make the jump onto the other side of the pit.
Reeves crashes into the side of the pit, cracking a rib or two.
Kerensky catches himself on the edge of the pit, but as he grasps at the edge, his phaser is knocked from its holster and falls into the abyss.
The station groans in a low, palpable thrumming as it accelerates at a pace much higher than intended.
Kerensky and Reeves limp into the hangar to find two of the cat-eyed Ithik, implants now glowing faintly against their dark skin.
The two aliens are working at the small control station. They look up at you, startled.
"Ah, it is the Star Fleets. They must be moving the station. Star Fleets, you must stop the station. It must not flow into the Dark Eye."
Kerensky moves closer "Explain yourselves, what do you know about this place?" He keeps his hands raised in a non aggressive manner but ready to react to any violence, without his phaser he relies on closing the ground before considering combat.
Trying not to show the pain in his side, Reeves points his phaser at the Ithik. "I don't think so. This is too much power for anyone to be trusted with. Back away from the controls, gentlemen and we'll take you with us when we go."
In a lower voice, he says "Kerensky, get Archimedes ready to lift off."
The Ithik not working at the console moves toward Reeves. "I'm afraid, Captain, that I cannot comply with this request. The First tell us that the station must be preserved. Because you seek to destroy it, I must destroy you."
Reeves fires!
Kerensky turns to his Captain surprised at the accuracy, he had been about to tackle the man but the Captain seemed to have the situation under control. He darted towards the Archimedes to get it ready.
The phaser beam lances between the captain and the Ithik. The Ithik's black dermal implants glow with the energy from the phaser, seemingly absorbing the phaser energy.
The Ithik advances on Reeves.
Momentum 11 Threat 2
Despite his aggression, the Ithik lacks the combat finesse to make his blows pay off.
The other Ithik continues to attempt to operate the control panel.
Kerensky fires up the systems on the shuttle. Given the hazards of the situation, he had left it in standby rather than completely shutting down, so the systems awaken quickly.
|
Tkarra dashes to engineering with permission followed by the goons... Errrr security detail and takes the tricorder and rigs it to the scanner array and then aims it to the station controls and attempts to link to the station again.
Now with the link she commands the station to the anomoly for it's destruction and then she will turn off the command stations on the station so it cannot be stopped from the station.
After this action she will tell the bridge to beam out the away team.
After grabbing a phaser from the ships stores Kerensky comes back around the corner. Taking aim he fires on stun but in the tussle misses the Ithik the ray of amber energy hitting the wall in a shower of sparks.
Momentum 9 Threat 2
Getting the signal from T’karra, Lance gives the order to beam the errant away team home.
The floor of the station lurches under your feet as T'Karra gives her commands to the remote control center. The Ithik at the control panel lurches away as it smokes and sparks.
Thoss punches the impulse engines, bringing the ship back within transporter range. The hull shudders under the impact of gravitic turbulence as the transporters activate.
Reeves and Kerensky shimmer as they are rematerialized on the transporter pad.
The station bulges visibly toward the black hole, now being pulled faster and faster into the gravity well.
"Got'em Sir!" Thoss exclaims as the message from the Transporter room is received by the board. "Sir, I think sticking around here is not a good idea. Recommend we take position at the apogee of the Omega Draconis 1 planet, verify the station does get destroyed."
"Are you alright Captain?" Kerensky goes over to see if the Captain sustained any injury.
Capital idea, Thoss. You have your order.
T’Karra, we’re going to have very serious words when this is over. Words like “war crimes” and “genocide” but...at least until Adam is back on bridge you have my permission to save our lives. He might have other feelings on the matter.
He sends a comm to Ensign Lukas, one of the guards keeping an eye on T’karra. She’s good for now, but if she steps out line, I’m ordering you to fire at will. Is there a setting between stun and kill, because that’d be the appropriate level. Set phasers to wound.
"Are you alright Captain?" Kerensky goes over to see if the Captain sustained any injury.
"I'm fine, Ensign," says Reeves, waving him off. If he is hurt, he is too preoccupied to show it. He hustles off the pad to the transporter console and punches one of the brightly-colored comm buttons.
"Bridge, this is Reeves. We're aboard. Commander Kreskin, get us clear of that station, maximum impulse!" He can feel the engines thrumming under his feet, but doesn't know exactly where the ship is headed.
Kerensky turns to the transporter chief. "It wont be easy but try to transport the two natives out. We have to make the attempt but I'm realistic about the odds." Facing the transporter pad he waited just in case.
You got it, boss. Glad to have you on board. You planning on joining us on bridge soon? If I’d wanted to be captain I’d have made very different career choices.
To Sam. Sorry Kerensky. I’ve got orders to pull us out. We’ll be out of transport range in a second.
"Understood Sir, if we don't have a window of opportunity to make it happen well they made their choice, now they can live with the consequences." Kerensky starts heading to take up his position at the bridge.