Matsubara and Dobson were almost there, just a hundred or so metres from the entrance to the residential structure. Once more, she started to worry, and felt her body respond with a knot in her stomach. The Salosians could be laying in wait there, having made it to the transit station, and only now coming up through the structure. She thought that was unlikely in a way, since if the Salosians had managed to follow them through the transit system, they would already be here. Now, they would have to search randomly, and would have no basis to narrow their searches. They could have gone to any of a hundred thousand or more similar structures on the planet. No Salosians had appeared so far, so the odds of them showing up within the next couple of minutes was slim. All she needed was to get into one of the transit vehicles, and she was all but safely home.
Then there was this humming sound.
"Ah, lieutenant commander person," Dobson started. He looked upward, and saw the mostly black, roughly T-shaped Salosian vehicle blot out the galaxy overhead. It passed over them and came down towards a landing as close as it was possible to get to the entrance to the residential section.
"Lets go," Matsubara yelled, as she started to run-and started to think of setting a personal best in the hundred-metre dash. She was at least fit enough, and light enough, to run, realizing that now all of those trips around the track with the captain had some merit. Dobson was not so lucky. He lumbered behind her.
The Salosian craft extended its landing legs and came to such a rough stop that the legs bent and sagged slightly on the impact. The door near the mounting of the broad engine struts opened up, and Salosian soldiers, in their battle armour and carrying an assortment of weapons, streamed out. Even so, Matsubara got to the doorway and opened it, just as the Salosian soldiers, undoubtedly elite troops who were superbly conditioned, began to run. She again tapped at the forcefield belt, and heard the warbling sound of the hum in her ears. The power cells were definitely running down. She looked around, and saw that they had a lot of open ground to cover to reach the ramps that led to the transit station, and she also feared the Salosians could follow them all the way down. It was clear in her mind that she could not outrun them, and the forcefield belt could not take multiple hits. Then there was Dobson, labouring towards the door.
Four of the soldiers followed, and two stayed behind. One, the squad's communications officer, looked down at the walkway, and saw the footprints. He simply pointed, and gestured towards the operations structure, and the other man, the target officer, could follow the footprints. "Many more than two of them headed that way," the target officer. "Only two came back."
"Operations reported that a group of Dorans fled into the transit system," the comm officer remarked. "They were accompanied by at least one of the humans."
The target officer, using his portable device, remarked, "There appears to be damage to the structure at the other end. We might have to bring in some temporary controls."
"No problem. We'll liquidate those on the other side. They can't escape us."
"And neither can the collaborators. Call for some backup, though."
Ahead, the four opened fire, shooting at the ground near Dobson, who was clearly struggling to reach the entrance, even if that did not necessarily guarantee safety. They were not shooting to kill, Matsubara thought. Nevertheless, she did stand near the pillar, and fired the Doran weapon. It was a surprisingly simple, yet durable and very efficient weapon, easy to aim and fire, and it even felt comfortable in her hands. She fired, and one of the bolts hit a Salosian in the chest. However, his armour absorbed the impact, even if the momentum did knock him over.
Seeing the weapon that was being used, the communications officer said, "Definitely a collaborator."
"Pass it on to the men," the target officer replied. "Eliminate them." The other officer immediately passed on the message, as the second group of six on board the vehicle jumped out and joined the hunt.
Dobson made it to the doorway, and said, "We'll never make it to the transit station."
"I know that," she said, realizing that the Salosians were just metres behind them. "This way."
"You know the way around?"
"Hell, no," Matsubara replied, "but they can't track us with their tricorders, or whatever they have."
The two headed down a corridor that led into the actual residential areas of the structure, and came to one of the climbing tubes that linked the levels. Seeing what the woman had in mind, the man, breathing hard and sweating despite the minus-ten conditions that saw their breaths condense in front of them, had other ideas. "We climb?"
"We've got to keep moving." She could hear footsteps behind them. "Like right now."
The door closed behind them, and seconds later, the Salosians approached the location. The leader stopped. "They can't run that fast," he remarked. "Try the tracking device. The larger one is bound to make noise."
One of the Salosian soldiers stepped forward. He put on a headphone-like device, which were plugged into a small black box with a couple of metal studs on it. He placed it on the wall, and made some adjustments to the dials and listened in. "Above us," he finally said.
* * *
Once more, Thorpe had opened the commlink to the location where Rocha was waiting. "Aleksandr, any sign of Damiko and any others, yet?"
"No, sir," replied the security chief.
"How is it going?"
"I keep hoping that I see the Odonan troopers show up," the man said, speaking fast and sounding as tired as they all felt. "That would mean that all the Odonans are here. It hasn't happened yet."
"Is everybody staying inside the cavern?"
"Negative. People are coming back out, mostly to use the replicators."
"Tell them to keep inside. The system's going to shut down soon, and if we're lucky, we'll get at least a minute's notice."
"Understood. Rocha out."
Bayanhong reported, "Sir, sensors are picking up three more of the Salosian craft approaching landing. They appear to be focusing on the residential structure. I'm reading weapons fire... wait, Salosians entering the structure. Faint readings... could be human." Turning to face the captain, Bayanhong added, "I had a faint hint of a human lifesign reading, but that person's inside the structure now."
"Are the Salosians following?"
"Yes."
Based on what Thorpe had seen, if the Salosians were chasing people into the structure and firing at them, heading to the transit station was suicide. If it was Matsubara and if she had the forcefield belt, she just might do that, but Thorpe knew that he could not take the chance. "Why would Damiko, or anybody, be here?"
"I don't know," the executive officer replied. "Maybe this is where the Dorans came, and now she's trying to get back to the transit station."
Thorpe knew that he had to help her-or if it was not her, then whoever it was, yet he had the feeling it was her. He had to be the one to make sure that she was alright, that she was not at risk from the Salosians. If she had helped the Dorans, the Salosians might realize this and could be targeting her. "Hakamura, lets get your security people ready one more time. I'm coming along this time, forcefield belts, phaser rifles, the works."
"Sir," the assistant security chief said.
"No time for that. Lets move. Commander Bayanhong, you have the bridge, and, oh, decloak the ship and be prepared to defend yourself if necessary."
"Aye, sir."
* * *
Three more of the Salosian vessels extended their landing gear and came to perfect landings alongside the broad, dust-covered walkway that linked the residential and the operations halves of the structures. Out of each came groups of twelve warriors, all armed and ready for battle. The leaders of each group approached the two Salosians standing on the outside of the first vehicle, with one of them asking simply, "Situation?"
"Maybe Dorans on the other side, but the controls are damaged. Non-Doran collaborators are inside the this half of the structure, and we're trying to track them down. Take your people and secure the transit station. Nobody gets in and out. My people are tracking the two we know of now." The orders given, the thirty-six individuals entered the building and headed in the general direction of the ramps leading to the transit station. The two standing outside, feeling increasingly cold in the conditions, despite the heavy armour and the gloves and helmets, became aware of a humming sound. They looked around, with the target officer saying, "What's that?" A rare breeze seemed to flow over them.
Above them, the air seemed to solidify, and out of nothing came a large, wing-shaped vehicle, hovering just a hundred metres over their heads. "What in the heavens is that?" asked the communications officer.
"It could be the human ship."
"They have a ship here?"
"Apparently so."
"What capabilities?"
"Unknown."
A new sound greeted them, and for this one, they looked down, and saw two groups of individuals form out of transporter beams. Twelve officers in all appeared, dressed in field jackets and other cold-weather gear, the forcefield belts underneath, but the phaser rifles plainly visible. The Salosians could recognize a weapon when they saw one.
Thorpe, with Hakamura and Estelle alongside him, their weapons at the ready, approached the two Salosians. It was the pilot who stepped forward, "What are you doing here?"
Thorpe spoke, "I've been led to believe that some of my missing people are here. I'm here to recover them."
"For what reason?"
"Your leader has informed us that the outbound functions will be shut down shortly, so time is important. We don't leave anybody behind."
"I'm sorry to inform you," the pilot started, "but we believe that some Dorans have escaped through this particular location. The control systems have been damaged, and if the person we encountered is one of yours, he or she is now armed with Doran weapons. They are collaborators. We must speak with them."
"Unfortunately, there's no time for that," Thorpe replied. He gestured for the other nine to head into the building and begin a search. When the two Salosians made a move to intervene, the two men with Thorpe raised their phaser rifles. At best, the two Salosians had sidearms, and they were not easily accessible. They backed off. To Hakamura and Estelle, he said, "Maintain your positions here, and keep in contact with the lander."
"Aye, sir," the assistant security chief remarked.
Thorpe headed into the structure, where the other nine had assembled. Ensign Brenda Gomez had out one of the specially-programmed "tracker" tricorders, and was conducting a scan. Seeing the captain approach, "I don't believe that they went towards the transit station. If they were there at one point, their scents have been masked by a large number of Salosians."
"For what purpose?" the captain asked.
"It's possible that the Salosians went to the transit station. If Commander Matsubara, or anybody with her, can do so, they ultimately have to go there. However, I believe that they might have gone this way."
Lieutenant Hussien El Doubin, an engineering officer pressed into security-officer duty because the lander was running short of personnel, asked, "How can this device track scents?"
"Like a dog does," Gomez replied. "A dog's nose is sensitive enough to pick up scents that are hours old and track them. As humans move, they give off volatile chemicals, pheromones, microbes in the breath, skin flakes, chemical composition of sweat and water vapour in breaths, that sort of thing. They're distinctive compared to other aliens." Referring to a long and thick probe stuck on the end of the tricorder, Gomez added, "This thing is as sensitive as a dog's nose." "I've never heard of such a thing." "That's because we rarely enter sensor-blind areas like this, where we're forced to rely on alternative technology." "Okay," El Doubin finally said. He had gotten more information than he really needed, and they were wasting time too.Gomez added, "There is strong evidence that at least two humans went in this direction."
"Two?"
"Could be one of the Adamsburg people who survived the uprising at the crater," Thorpe remarked. "Lets go."
The group split up into two teams of five, each of which had a tracker tricorder, although for now the two teams did not go their separate ways. Thorpe preferred to keep them together until he got evidence that the two had split up, or their equipment was giving him ambiguous information on which way the two had headed. The ten did spread out a little, as the corridors curved, and a large number of doors lined the corridor. Each door could hide a potential ambush, even though the group moved as silently as possible, and communicated in gestures. Thorpe felt something of an outsider like this, while El Doubin was even less in the loop. This exercise was making Thorpe wonder whether or not he should get more of the crew involved in basic military-style operations. Afterall, with a war going on and the like...
Gomez held out a hand, gesturing for the group to stop. She looked at Ensign Suzanna Tsugochi, who had the other specially-equipped tricorder, and she agreed.
"Yes?" Thorpe added.
"The human scents stop here, the Salosian ones go on."
"Here" was in front of a small door. Thorpe gestured for another officer to open it, revealing what looked like an enclosed ladder-like climbing tube. It only went up. Tsugochi scanned, both conventionally and with the tracker. "They went up here this way, but I'm reading no lifesigns in there now."
* * *
Matsubara was not sure of what was going on. From the outside, the complex looked like stacked flat layers and columns all mixed together, with levels of different sizes and the floor plans that were bewildering on each level. She and Dobson climbed up the ladders, and took the stairs, and moved through large and barren rooms, most of which had dimmed lighting levels. Fortunately, there was absolutely nothing here, no debris, nothing left behind. It looked like an unfinished building, complete only with the most basic of floors, walls, and ceilings, and somehow it was all maintained. Maybe the aliens used some kind of nanotechnology, or robotics, or something like that. It was odd, she thought, how at a moment like this, her mind was still focusing on such unimportant details.
Dobson, sweating and breathing hard, while Matsubara was merely exerting herself, once more protested. "This is stupid."
"You have an alternative?" Matsubara remarked.
"We ultimately have to get to the transit station, but we're going the wrong way. We're going up, but we have to go down."
"I know that, but Salosians in large numbers are between us and that location, unless there's some other way in."
"Really?" the man retorted. "You would think that if they're guarding the station, they're sitting on the tracks, or they got their weapons trained on every entrance and on every vehicle in there. Keeping on going up is not very effective either. I saw this place as we came. The higher we go, the less there is on each level. They could be closing in already."
"So what's your alternative?"
"Surrender. Maybe they'll simply return us to our location. I've heard that they have no quarrel with us, just with the Dorans."
"Whom I helped send to some other location, and now I've destroyed the control panel. The Salosians might not be kind with us."
"But there's no alternative," Dobson retorted.
Matsubara was about to say something more, and then stopped. She thought she heard footsteps. Dobson noticed that look, and said, "Again?"
"I swear it. I can hear footsteps. I mean, I shouldn't be totally surprised, since this whole place is metal, and there's utter silence otherwise."
Now Dobson heard the footsteps, almost like running steps, and there were a number of them. "I just realized something."
"Yeah, if we can hear them, they can hear us. With the right equipment, they could track us through this building. Lets get moving."
"No."
Matsubara was momentarily at a loss at what to do. She had to consider her options. Escape was simply impossible right now. The Salosians controlled the transit station, and the levels below. It was possible that they could track her by the sounds of her footfalls on this metal structure. Eventually, they were going to close in on her, and then what? Could she plead for her life? She honestly believed that the Salosians would kill her and Dobson. It was just the impression that she got. Given what the Salosians had done, how they had built up this entire military apparatus on the faint hope that someday the system would be reactivated, they must have had a military class with soldiers that were cool, efficient killers. The Salosians coming up now would regard them as Dorans in spirit, if not appearance. Her instinct was to keep on running, and hiding, and hoping that somehow, something would come through.
"We must keep moving," Matsubara said.
"No. At some point, we must stop running."
"This is not the time."
"It is. If you want to keep on running, then do so. I can't run anymore." Dobson was still breathing hard, and still sweating profusely. Matsubara was tired, but she was somewhat lighter than the man, and more fit. She had greater stamina. "Keep running if you want. If they track you down, it might be worse than if you surrender."
Matsubara hated to leave the man behind, but she just did not trust the Salosians. She did not want to die just at that moment. She had her hope. The lander was out there. Maybe something would attract them here. Earlier, she had taken a brief look through one of the rare windows, and saw one landed Salosian aircraft, and parked beside it was another, although an obstruction blocked more of the view. If the lander saw that, maybe they would come here and investigate. But how could she get their attention? The answer hit her. By being on the roof, she would be outside the sensor-blocking fields that ran through the structure. If the lander was around, if the lander could scan, there was only one place to go. "Lets get moving," Matsubara finally said.
"Now what?"
"The roof. If we can get there, then perhaps the lander can spot us."
"Yeah, right, and so could those Salosian aircraft we saw earlier."
Matsubara just knew that there was a flaw in her plan, but before she could think of any refinements to it, doors in two different locations burst open. Salosians started to come in.
* * *
Bayanhong stood behind the pilot and tactical consoles at the front of the lander bridge. She could see the residential structure through the windows on the bridge. Windows in the alien structure were few and far between, but the lighting inside was dim. She never saw any motion in any windows, and the sensor displays were a complete blank. No matter the algorithm or the modulation, or the particular frequency or type of beam, they could gather no useful data on the interior of the structure.
Knowing that the executive officer was standing over her shoulder, Ochi was feeling a little uneasy. "If only there was some way to scan inside the structure."
"I know," Bayanhong said. "Remember when the Salosians attacked the control structures at the crater and they seemingly were able to take out the power feeds that fed the sensor-interrupting fields. Clearly, they're powered. If we could just take out the power source here, or the connective with that solar tap at the crater, that would end the sensor interruption."
"But we can't scan into the structures to find the power source."
"Wait," Takoo said, as she stepped forward. "At Norg, when we explored the structure, we found the power connective there. Based on what I've seen there and here, it seems that there is some correspondence in the layout of the structures. I mean, the gateways, the caverns, they seem to line up."
"So can you guess where the power connective is?" Bayanhong asked.
The Odonan woman called up the basic outline of the structure that they had, and glanced over it. "I'd say that if the power connectives correlate at each end, it would be... here." She pointed to a large, flat area just behind the main tower at the operations end.
"What do we do?"
"Fire into it."
Bayanhong stood back. She was the ranking officer. The captain was incommunicado right now, and she had no idea how long he would be cut off from being contacted. She had no idea what was the status of Matsubara and anybody with her, or with the captain's people. They might have already encountered the Salosians. She just hated the idea of being unable to see anything that was going on around her. "Very well," she said, the decision made. "We'll do it. Ochi, pilot us to a favourable position. We might have to shoot a little inwards. I mean, that computer core that we found in our location, it might sit on top of the power core, but that's the best way in."
"Okay," the pilot said, as she turned the lander around and backed it towards the operations half of the structure. Bayanhong sat down behind the tactical console, and powered up the pulse phaser arrays. Takoo, tired of standing for so long, finally took the only available seat on the bridge, the captain's chair. She found it comfortable, and saw that it gave her a good view of the bridge.
Almost immediately, the communications system beeped. "Hakamura to the lander," came the voice of the assistant security chief. "What's going on?"
"We've determined a possible way to disrupt the power at this location, and take down the sensor-blocking fields. We're following up on it."
"Understood."
* * *
"Captain," Gomez started, "I've lost it. I can't get the scent back. The Salosians have been back and forth over this area." Every one of the ten understood that to mean that they could still be in the area.
Tsugochi added, "It might be time to split up. We can cover more ground this way."
Thorpe hesitated, as he thought of the alternatives and the choices he had. "It appears that Damiko and the other one is heading upwards, cut off from the transit station."
"I wonder," Gomez started.
"What?" the captain said, when the ensign didn't get the word out fast enough.
"The lander, it's sitting here in plain view. What if Commander Matsubara, and the others, had seen it? They can't communicate through the sensor interference, and they can't go down. But what if they go up? On the roof, the sensors on the lander can spot them."
"Yes," Thorpe said. "Lets go." The group began to move, and as they started for more of the ladders or stairways, they ran into a group of Salosians. A few rounds were exchanged, with the Salosian battle armour handling the phaser charges set on stun, while the humans' forcefield belts handled, with a little heat and momentum transfer, the somewhat more lethal level of the Salosian weapons. Both sides quickly retreated. "Damn," he muttered. "They seem able to track us."
"They could be onto our idea as well," Tsugochi said.
* * *
It only took seconds for Ochi to get the lander into position. Bayanhong had the pulse phaser arrays set up, the capacitors charged and the status indicators checked to green. Once they got to the desired location, she could more precisely pick the way to fire the weapons into the structure, while hoping that its fields were minimal or absent, and that the structure would not respond with some kind of weapon-or even a blanking. Where would they go, to whatever planet this place led to? It was a chance she was taking. While she was waiting, Bayanhong did a quick scan of the Salosian aircraft. All four remained parked on the ground, making her wonder what Hakamura had told the Salosians the ship was doing, if anything.
"In position, commander," Ochi finally said.
Bayanhong called up the weapons sensors, and had them play over the stepped roofs and the jutting support columns and platforms and the rest of the creation of some clearly-deranged architect. The structure was decidedly ugly, the officer thought. Unfortunately, the sensors could not penetrate the structure, so Bayanhong set the targeting manually, and reached for the trigger icons. "Here goes nothing."
Hovering about seven hundred metres away and behind the four-hundred metre tall tower at the operations half of the structure, the lander opened fire with the pulsed phaser arrays, spitting out bright yellow bolts that lit up the night sky as they streaked towards the metal and into it, sending debris and hunks of metal and shards of other materials flowing and shooting outwards on trails of smoke and flame.
* * *
The Salosians said nothing. They came through the doorway, and stood four abreast to block that exit. They did not speak, Matsubara realized, because she was not equipped to understand their language. She was not sure if they could understand hers. They raised their weapons, prompting her to shout out, "If you can understand me, what do you want?"
"Yeah," Dobson replied. "What do you want?" Looking at Matsubara, he said, "Maybe you should put down the weapon."
Matsubara stood there, still unsure. She held the Doran weapon in one hand, but made no attempt to move it into a firing position. The hum of the forcefield belt was still there, but sounding very strange, as if it was labouring. The device had been on the whole time-she had forgotten about it-and was likely sucking the last of the juice out of the power pack. If it was stressed, as if it had to absorb a shot, it could likely fail.
The Salosians eventually responded. Their words were untranslated. "I do not understand you," Matsubara said.
One Salosian spoke up, loudly and clearly. "Prakta nu bemba vu! Qoto bo qokho!"
The group opened fire. Matsubara instinctively ducked. Dobson was caught in the crossfire as the faint green streaks shot around the room. Oddly, he was not burned or shot to pieces, but did collapse in some kind of agony. Matsubara could swear she saw some kind of electrical discharge arc around him. It might have been a stun setting, or it might have been designed to create agony. The forcefield belt absorbed that level of energy, but when Matsubara tried to hear the hum, it did not seem to be there. The Salosians opened fire with a different setting. Matsubara felt the heat envelop her and knock her over. She had dropped the Doran weapon, and scrambled for it. Another shot hit her. That one partly came through, as she felt something burn. She felt pain on her back. Driven by instinct and adrenaline now, Matsubara grabbed the weapon and opened fire. One bolt hit a Salosian in the chest, knocking him over. Another hit him in the neck, all but separating the head from the body. She had one chance, to blow through one of the groups of Salosians. Then she fell again, this tingling feeling all over body, a tingling that got hotter and which made her muscles spasm and contract uncontrollably.
* * *
"They're closing in on both sides," Gomez said, checking the tricorder for what she could get from it. "We're trapped."
Thorpe hated the idea of being trapped here, and he hated something, or someone, for getting in his way in his attempt to reunite with Matsubara. This was frustrating, and he was rapidly running out of patience. "There's only one way out," he finally said. "We'll have to blow past one of those groups of Salosians closing in on us. So far, the stun setting doesn't stop them unless our shots are to the face. They're overconfident. Weapons to full power, lets go."
To the security officers, the order was not particularly unusual. They had heard it before, when the enemy was the Jem'Hadar. Gomez and Tsugochi and the rest perfectly understood what was happening, and they saw no other choice. It was risky, but to break out of the trap, they had no alternative. The group began to move, running at a brisker pace and making no attempts to hide their footfalls. Around a bend, and they ran into a bunch of Salosians, unprepared for what was going to hit them. Red phaser bolts flew in one direction, and the body armour of the Salosians was no match to a phaser rifle set at the highest power. The beams burned straight through the first line of Salosians. The others ducked and retreated.
* * *
Bayanhong hit the trigger icons again. The pulsed phaser arrays had cut through a lot in the few seconds she had been firing, but the power source had not yet been reached. Ochi called out, saying, "The four Salosian aircraft are in the air, and I'm picking up communications attempts."
"Ochi, handle the short range phasers. If they fire on us, fire back."
"Understood." Once more, the executive officer fired the phasers, and again, the bright yellow bolts shot out of the emitters and buried themselves in the ruined hulk of the structure. With one blast, the whole upper part of the structure seemed to shake. An explosion rippled through that, blowing out portions of the wall and windows, and showering the ground all around with debris and clouds of dust. One of the Salosian aircraft, attempting to use the bulk of the structure as cover as it approached the lander, was caught in the debris. One hunk of metal pierced the hull and the pilot in his seat, causing the vehicle to veer out of control and towards the ground. A second came around from the other side, emerging from the smoke and debris to fire on the lander. The red bolts it fired barely registered on the lander's shields, but Ochi followed the order. The phasers fired, impacting on the shields of the Salosian craft and driving it off.
Once more, the pulsed phaser arrays fired. Once more, Bayanhong was greeted by a blast of heat and debris that reached up towards and enveloped the lander. By this time, she noticed, the entire tower was starting to sag, with flames shooting out of the base and a few of the lower levels. Smoke started to pour out of the shattered parts of the structure. Finally, with one last blast, a final explosion greeted them. With a surprisingly loud, roaring sound, the tower collapsed into the lower part of the structure, sending out clouds of dark debris flowing outwards in all directions. The cloud momentarily glowed with explosions from within, and then more debris ripped through the cloud of smoke and dust. Ochi had the presence of mind to pull the lander back, but one of the Salosian aircraft was not so lucky. One of the debris struck the craft and tore through it, as the craft exploded in a ball of flame.
Takoo said, "Commander, it's done. I've got clear scans now. The power is gone."
* * *
Thorpe and the other officers caught up with the retreating Salosians, who had taken up positions around an archway that connected two sections of the complex. He and his group stopped and drew themselves up against the wall, to prepare themselves to return fire and endure the shots that they would take. Before a weapon could be fired, however, the lights went out.
"What the?" mumbled Gomez.
"The Salosian commander might have shut off power to the structures," Thorpe remarked.
"Yes," Tsugochi said. "The sensor-blocking fields are gone."
* * *
Bayanhong remained at the tactical console, though she switched it over to sensors. She had the instruments play over the residential structure, which was now revealed in full detail. "There," she said, "the top level, two human lifeforms, reading a little strange."
"Why?" asked Takoo.
"I don't know." Bayanhong was also monitoring the remaining two Salosian aircraft, and knew that they were a risk to the lander once the shields were lowered to allow them to beam up the two, and Thorpe's group too. "Ochi, take us around to the far side of the structure, and keep it between us and the Salosians once we drop the shields. DeWillis, stand by on the transporter. Okay, Ochi, now." The lander turned around from the plumes of smoke that rose out of the damaged part of the operations structure, and headed momentarily away. The Salosian aircraft had nowhere near the acceleration of the lander, so Ochi started to pilot it around at ever higher altitude and greater distance, quite aware that the range of the transporter was fourty thousand kilometres. Somewhat surprisingly, the Salosians did not attempt to pursue. "Okay, DeWillis, be prepared to transport. I'm dropping the shields... now!" As soon as she tapped the controls to shut off the shields, DeWillis set the console for remote transporter operations and locked on to the two signals at the top level.
* * *
Matsubara was on the floor, with seemingly every nerve ending in her body on fire and in pain. She was convulsing, her body spasming randomly and painfully. She could not think straight, and her vision was blurry. Hearing was distorted. She thought she heard voices, but was unsure of what they were saying. Was it her mind, or were they speaking a language she did not understand? She heard no humming from the forcefield belt, and nothing from the universal translator implant. Nothing worked. Her mind partly worked, enough to tell her that nothing worked. They were yelling at her. What did they want? Who were they? Her mind drew a blank. What did they want? She wanted to yell out, but her vocal cords would not respond. She was worried that her lungs wound not respond either.
Then she felt something else, something that she was familiar with. She could not place it, but for a moment, it replaced the pain in her body with a tingling sensation that was comforting and familiar. Finally, the darkness seemed to part and she saw light again, distorted light of a kind that she was familiar with, and yet... she did not know. The senses were confused... and then they were gone.
* * *
"Got them," DeWillis said, and with that, Bayanhong activated the shields again. The Salosians had sensed the dropping of the shields, and had rushed in to try to take advantage of that. They did not have the time. "Problem, though," the engineer said. "Only one survived, and the other is... in trouble."
Bayanhong slapped at her commbadge, and said, "Bridge to Doctor Psakolaps. Get a team to the transporter room now!"
* * *
Thorpe decided to try his commbadge. He tapped it, and it chirped. "Thorpe to Bayanhong."
"Bayanhong here," came the response.
"What's going on?"
The executive officer replied, "We devised a method to disrupt the power connective, and that took down the sensor-blocking fields."
"Beam out any human lifesigns that you find, besides us."
"Already done," Bayanhong said, speaking quickly. "We beamed up two. One died." To the captain's unasked question, she added, "We don't know who yet, or why."
"Then get us out of there."
"As soon as we shake these Salosian aircraft."
"Take them out, use the weapons to drive them back, whatever it takes," Thorpe said, raising his voice just a little, despite the fact that the silence was total in the corridor. Neither the Salosians or the humans were taking shots at each other. He felt the surge of anger in him, because Matsubara might be the one who did not make it. It could have been her, and those people were responsible.
"Sir?" Bayanhong said.
"Just get it done, commander!"
