The War of Babylon (Part II)
Posted on Fri Nov 19, 2021 @ 11:23pm by Admiral Alan Markus & Lieutenant Nicole Anderson & Commander Cullen Walker & Lieutenant Arashi Tanaka Mr. & Lieutenant JG Aergad Halvor & Lieutenant JG Camille Lévesque PhD & Lieutenant JG Ardal King & Lieutenant JG Sydney Friedman Jr & Senior Chief Petty Officer Samantha Summers & Fleet Captain Rhea Kennit
9,543 words; about a 48 minute read
Mission:
Archangel
Location: Babylon Station
The room was empty and unassuming, looking as bland and unimportant as any other waiting room. Voices were shouting from behind a closed door, one clearly male, one female.
Sydney waited until the transporter beam ended and looked around the room. There were two doors, some furniture, and a few plants. She was debating which door they were expected to go through, when she heard voices. "Do you hear that?" she said.
“Are you kidding?” The Captain answered. “They can hear that in the Alpha Quadrant..”
Sydney turned to their right and walked up to the door, which opened obligingly.
"This is what you do every time!" Lilith shouted as the doors opened. She was standing, fists balled up and leaning on them on a table, looking across at the Admiral who was also standing.
"I'm trying to save their lives!" Markus snarled.
"Right, and no backup plan? You always have something extra brewing. What is it this time, Adam? Another lesser caught your eye?"
"A lesser never has," Markus sneered, knowing it'd sting.
Lilith scowled. "You know, if you had listened to me when I said--"
"If I had listened to you, we'd still be living in Cairo, watching the universe pass by!" Markus said.
"Anyone mind if we join in?" Sydney said lightly, her voice somewhat raised to get over the volume. That got the attention of the arguing couple who both looked irritated at being interrupted, and irritated at being seen arguing. "Am I here for peace negotiations, or couples counseling?" she said, folding her arms.
“From the look and sound of it we are here as badly needed babysitters.” Came Kennit’s muttered comment.
Both Lilith and Alan scowled at the two women. Lilith folded her arms. "We have a problem. The children have gotten loose."
“That would be your problem. Where are my missing officers?” Kennit replied.
"It's everyone's problem," Lilith said. "They'll tear through this station and start killing innocents, and if they make here, you and your people will be in the line of fire."
"And, more importantly, we need to stop them from hurting themselves," Markus said. "If they're not de-escalated, they risk permanent damage."
"Right now, we're all at risk for that," Lilith said, taking a jab. "That's why I had them in stasis to begin with."
"I have spent months trying to deprogram them," Markus said, his volume rising again, "and you have potentially undone all my efforts in six hours!"
"Okay. I'm playing catch-up with some of this backstory," Sydney said, quietly. "Why don't we sit down, each of you tell me what your main concern is, and we'll see what we can iron out?"
"Or I can call security and have your little ass thrown--"
"Lil, don't," Markus said, sitting down and letting out a sigh. "Our main concern is the children. Hers is their use, mine is their safety."
"I can speak for myself, thank you, Adam," she said, sitting down as well and crossing her legs. "My main concern is that these children are dangerous. They represent a definite threat to this galaxy, and I'd feel better if they were returned to their own universe."
"They're children," Alan said. "Regardless of what they were programmed to do, they can change. They can grow."
"Yes and if you'll think back to a moment ago, by your own admission, their deprogramming can be undone like that." She snapped her fingers for emphasis. "And if the Romulans get ahold of them? Then what do we do? Pray that your never-ending optimism in others isn't once-again unfounded?"
"Praying for the Romulans would be a better strategy," Alan said, darkly.
"Okay...good share. That's a start," Sydney said carefully. "So, what I'm hearing is, no one wants the children hurt, and no one wants anyone else hurt. That's a great starting point to build on. So, you don't want her to have the kids, she doesn't want you to have the kids. Why not use your convenient third option: Captain Kennit will take responsibility for the children, keep them aboard the Victory and you two can sit here and sort things out."
For her part, Kennit's eyebrow rose as she shot a look at the counselor. Babysitter was not on her list of duties and responsibilities and yet somehow she felt like that was precisely what she was: a glorified babysitter. She didn’t speak.
"Yah narak mein ek thanda din hoga," Lilith muttered.
"There would be no need for an intermediary," Markus said, "if she would just listen to sense."
"I would be happy to, if you made any," Lilith said sweetly.
"All right," Sydney said, somewhat loudly to cut through, then immediately looked like she regretted it. "Let's get back on track. Fewer personal attacks, more dialogue." She gestured to Lilith. "What is your main concern?"
"These children, are not from this universe," Lilith said. "And I have reason to believe they represent a clear and present danger."
"Emperor Tiberius has agreed to stand down and is currently in his own universe," Markus said. "The children are of no use to him."
"They're of use to someone," Lilith said. "And if my sources are correct, it's not within the Federation."
"All right. So, neither of you want the children used for some nefarious purpose. Wonderful. So, Lilith, I'll ask you this: Is your distrust of Admiral Markus in this because of some specific action with the children, or just because of your history together?"
"A long and very detailed history," Lilith said, slowly.
"And does that seem to be keeping with his treatment of the children now?" Sydney said.
"I've only just gotten them, I've no idea what state they're in yet," she said.
"Then it seems like you're letting your history taint your judgement," Sydney said. "For what the opinion of an outsider is worth, I've seen the Admiral care for these children and treat them like children, not weapons. So why don't we see about asking the children?"
Lilith opened her mouth to retort when an aide walked in and whispered in her hear. Her expression soured. "Because the children that he's so convinced are harmless are now fighting security forces and hurting people throughout the station," she said, glaring at the Admiral.
Corridor
AJ opened another door and looked around the doorway cautiously. "Clear," he said, quietly. "Children's room should be just down this corridor."
“I hope they’re okay,” Camille said softly as she followed. This was, regrettably, the world she had found herself in. A world where children were weaponized and those in charge only cared that the weapons were under control.
The lights in the corridor were flickering, and AJ tried not to take it as an ominous sign. They reached the door where the children were and found it not only unlocked, but half open, the door panels bent out of shape. "I think someone beat us to it," he said.
“Non, non, non,” Camille said as she took position on the other side of the door. Without a tricorder, she couldn’t do much to tell what had happened.
AJ grabbed the door panels and forced them open a bit wider so the two of them could squeeze through, and he jumped into the room. Looking around, it was clear something had gone wrong. The stasis pods were offline, open, and, in some cases, shoved across the room. The power was out in the room and only emergency lights were on, giving the room a low, red, dangerous glow.
Camille scoured the room as best as she could. The children were indeed gone. The equipment was heavily damaged. Whether some failure caused all to open, or just one who then helped the rest escape, was unclear.
Then she saw a slender arm.
Thankfully it was still attached to a girl. Camille recognized her. Gabby, the one who had snuck aboard and found her, looking for AJ. Camille rushed to her side and checked for a pulse. “She’s still alive. Help me.”
AJ rushed over to her and helped her pull one of the pods back from the wall. The girl was lucky. The pod had fallen on its hatch, creating a protective tent that shielded her from any other damage.
Camille helped sit the girl up, checked her as best as she could for serious injuries, and then gently began touching her face. “Reveilles-toi, chère.”
AJ pulled a small vial from his belt, taking the top off and waving it gently under the girl's nose. When she reacted, he quickly capped it and put it back in its storage pocket. He knelt down in front of her and gave her shoulder a shake. "You okay, kid?"
Gabby's eyes fluttered open and she recoiled a bit in shock, then saw a familiar bespectacled face, then a pair of handsome blue eyes. She couldn't form the words "my hero!" but the sudden launch at AJ, the tight grip her arms had around his neck, and the impromptu tonsil exam she was giving him expressed her thoughts clearly.
Camille worked hard to stifle a laugh.
AJ, for his part, was bowled back in shock at suddenly being amorously thanked for the rescue, and it took him a second to register that he wasn't being attacked, but was instead being kissed. He grabbed her by the arms and forcefully pried her off of him and sat back, catching his breath. "Easy there...." he said, blushing hard, looking at Camille's shaking shoulders. "You're safe," he said, needlessly.
Gabrielle's big brown eyes were staring dreamily at him as she made a few gestures of thanks to him, then turned to Camille and gave her a hug as well.
"Do you have any idea where they took the other kids?" AJ said.
Gabby shook her head, gesturing quickly, clearly using some kind of non-verbal language, but not one AJ had learned.
"Hang on, hang on," he said. "All right, let's go simple. Raise your left hand for yes, right for no. Do you know who has you?"
Gabby held up her right hand.
"Do you know what happened to the other children?" he said.
She held up her right hand again, looking apologetic.
AJ sighed, looking at Camille. "How the hell are we going to find them?"
Gabby closed her eyes and seemed to "look" around the room. She opened her eyes and pointed in a few directions.
"What? Something in the room?" AJ said, looking around.
Gabby shook her head and grabbed a burned piece of plastic. She scratched the end of it on the deckplate until she'd written a word. "Compass."
“We don’t know where they are,” Camille said, “but we can get a rough direction. But what’s our compass?”
Gabby pointed at herself. She stood up, closed her eyes and turned slowly, then stopped and pointed at a random spot on the wall.
"One of them is in that direction?" AJ said. Gabby nodded in response. "Which one?" he said.
Gabby shrugged but walked to the door, then turned back to them.
“We don’t really know much about these kids, AJ,” Camille explained, “or their abilities, or their connections to each other. If she says one of her siblings is that way, I’m inclined to believe her.”
"All right," AJ said, walking up to her, "but I'm taking point again. Just steer me in the right direction."
Gabby grinned and wrapped her arm around his, holding his hand, staying by his side, and looking up at him adoringly.
"Yeah, this is going to go well," he said under his breath. "All right, everyone keep to the walls."
“Just pay attention to the way to your family, Gabrielle,” Camille said with a grin. “They aren’t in AJ’s eyes.”
Antechamber
The now empty waiting room suddenly filled as the second group came. Nicole immediately grabbed the baton strapped to her leg and flicked her wrist, extending it out. Her eyes were blazing red and when she heard the Admiral's voice coming from one of the doors, she immediately headed for the other. "Let's go hunting," she growled.
King looked at Halvor, "Be careful with that equipment; I've worked very hard on it. I will need a full report on functionality." He was talking about the miniature transporter system. Looking at the details, "Watch his back while he carries the data storage system." Then at all of them, "If you find them before we do, beam them badges and a phaser."
Halvor nodded and he and his team took off to find the Operations Control Room.
King looked at Nicole and the rest of the team. "You guys watch our 6. Anyone talks shit, I eat them, slowly." He handed Nicole his rifle and touched a control on his belt. The holonodes simmered and a holographic saddle appeared. On all fours, he walked over to Nicole. She was fast in general, but riding him would free up other mental attributes to function better, like hand eye coordination for shooting.
Nicole looked at the rifle, then at King, and made a decision. She collapsed her baton and returned it to her leg, leaped up and landed on his back, straddling him. "Go," she growled.
King took a deep breath and was off running. It was an odd run at until he got really moving. Soon he had a good movement speed going. "When we go through doorways, lay down. There is a padd on my back. It should remotely hack closed doors." He caught a scent, he would tell everyone else, but he didn't have to tell her, she was apex too. He could tell. He slid around the corner and was already disarming and clawing. He was aiming for ligaments and muscle tissue. Blood everywhere, but not too much. "Yummy," he growled.
Operations Room
Halvor had found and taken charge an ops control room. He used their system to find Levesque and he set up his mini transport pad. It wasn't very big, but big enough for a phaser and comm badges. They were beamed to a spot about a foot in front of AJ's face, just to drop and land on the floor. One of the comms beeped, "'Ho Ho Ho' is the correct sentiment in this situation, per Human custom?"
Corridor
AJ bent down and picked up the comm badge and put it on his uniform top, tapping it. "You're a few months off, I believe, but I won't split hairs," AJ said. He tossed the other comm badge to Camille and picked up the phaser. He let go of Gabrielle's hand and nodded towards Camille. "Hang on to her for a bit, all right?"
Gabby held his arm and gave him a concerned look.
"I need both hands," he said, holding up the rifle. "So you be our compass, and I'll be your body guard. Deal?"
Gabby thought it over, then stepped back and gave a salute, standing at attention.
“You’re safe with me,” Camille told Gabby, her hand on the girl’s shoulder.
"All right," AJ said. "Lieutenant Halvor, please coordinate whatever teams beamed in with you. We need to find six children." He thought a moment. "Try following the station's security people. If I'm right, the children are going to be causing trouble, and they'll be chasing them as well. We've got a lead on one near us we'll follow up on."
Halvor had the channel open, his voice was raised. "Little girl, if you shoot me again, I will punch you in the face. Ow. What is that thing set to." There was a scuffle. Halvor yelled in pain. He was getting shot and his body was absorbing the energy. It sounded like bones breaking and skin tearing. "Ow. Stop shooting me. I mean it little girl." There was a thumping noise, followed by another thumping noise, followed by a crumple noise. Halvor had punched her into the wall and she fell on the floor. "Be advised, I beat up a little girl. She was mean." He sounded like he felt bad and then checked the settings, "Little Bitch had this thing set to kill." He didn't sound like he felt bad anymore. There was an explosion that killed the comm signal.
As the channel closed, as if on cue, a pair of doors opened and several security officers poured into the corridor. They didn't see the trio, however, as they were backing into the room, firing quickly. Their shots went wide, however, as a rapid spray of shots from a phaser rifle kept them on the defensive.
Suddenly a large, ursine figure burst into the corridor.
King rolled with someone and physically threw them off of the roll. You could audibly hear the damage to the guard's back as he impacted the wall, stunned. One of the guards shot him in the ass. Rolling to his feet and up on his back two legs, he knocked the weapon from his hands and roared in his face. The guard shit himself and fainted. "My ass has a bald spot and you faint," King grumbled as he caught the scent. "Oh damn. You shit yourself too." King kicked him. "My ass still has a bald spot." He got back down on all fours.
A more svelte figure flew forward from his back, landing in the crowd of guards. A Trabe guard suddenly fell and let out a scream as a pair of fangs briefly sunk into his neck. The guards around him jumped away and fired, but the form leaped out of the way, nimbly bouncing off the wall.
Nicole landed and let out a growl, her eyes red, her fangs bared, her hair curled and her face a mask of fury. She grabbed her baton, flicked her wrist and cracked another guard across the face. His weapon flew out of his hand and she caught it, swinging it around and leveling it at the trio in the corner, before realizing who she was aiming at.
"It's you!" she said, her face relaxing back to its normal contours. "We were getting worried we'd have to search--" she swung her arm backwards behind her without turning and fired, taking down another guard who was approaching them, leaving the last few for King, "--half the station," she finished.
“Well, you know me,” Camille said, matching Nicole’s casual tone. “I like to make things difficult for you.”
She grabbed Camille and pulled her close, holding her tight. "I'm just so thankful you're okay," she said, swallowing a lump in her throat.
“Hey, I’m fine,” Camille said, returning the hug. “But these kids aren’t. Not until we get them back together with us.”
As Nicole turned to AJ, he gave her a smile, then felt his head snap to the side as her hand lashed out and smacked him. "The hell, Nicole?"
"You are literally trained to avoid getting kidnapped, idiot!" she said, then grabbed him and gave him a kiss and a hug as well, eliciting a death glare from Gabrielle.
"Fucking rollercoaster ride with you," AJ muttered, rubbing his cheek as Nicole stepped back. "All right. We're heading back the way you came in. One of the kids is in that direction. I'll take point. Nicole, cover our six." He looked up at the saddle on King. "Lieutenant, you have a new passenger." He beckoned to Gabby who immediately put herself between Nicole and her hero. AJ knelt down quickly and laced his fingers together. Gabby stepped into his hands and he stood up quickly, gently tossing her up and onto King's back where she sat astride him. "She'll direct you," he said.
King made a noise, "I guess I'm a species that looks like a Terran Bear, but used as a horse. You going to change my name to Corporal Voytek? At least get me milk in a vodka bottle and a beer. I would go with Winnipeg, but Winnie the Pooh was a Sow. At least she was an Officer. She was a Lieutenant member of the Canadian Veterinary Corps."
“A part of our national heritage,” Camille quipped.
Nicole tossed a medical tricorder to Camille. "If the alarm on this sounds off, give a shout," she said.
Camille caught the tricorder and nodded as she opened it and began to scan.
King looked at AJ. "Was Halvor threatening to beat up a cub?" He used cub interchangeably with child.
"More likely a kid was beating up Halvor," AJ said as they filed out.
Corridor
"Have all teams focus on securing the station," Lilith said to her aide. "I want them boxed in and contained, not confronted."
"That will buy you some time, but it won't solve the problem," Markus said. "We need to deescalate the situation. You need to let me talk to them."
"That's always your solution," Lilith grumbled. "Let you do the talking. And when has that worked?"
"I've gotten a bit more diplomatic," he said.
"This needs decisive action, not string-pulling," she said.
"Can we please table this old fight for just twenty minutes?" Markus said.
Lilith rolled her eyes, walking faster to take the lead. "If Morgana were here, she'd be telling you the same thing as--"
"Morgan is dead!" Markus said, rounding on Lilith.
Lilith was brought up short and turned to stare at him, open-mouthed. "What? Of course she isn't....she...no, you're...you're wrong. She can't be dead. She was going through a phase, yes, but it passes, you know that as well as I do. How could she possibly die?"
"She found a way," Markus said, quietly. "Convoluted, complicated, and probably couldn't be duplicated if we tried...but she managed it."
Lilith stared at him, leaving everyone else with them standing and watching.
"Okay," Sydney said, nervously breaking in, "clearly this is something important to both of you. If that's the case, then let's conclude this issue so that you have the opportunity to work it out. We're not going to solve anything just standing here arguing."
Lilith looked at her and nodded. "All right," she said. "What do you propose?"
"So far we've all agreed that the children need to be a priority. We need them safe. If they're loose on the station, they're going to hurt someone, or worse, get hurt themselves. We need to get them safe and secure. Once we've done that, we'll have time to handle the rest."
Markus looked at Lilith's aide. "How many have you identified?"
"Six of them," he said.
"Then Gabrielle is still out of play. If we can get to her, we can stop them," he said. "Lilith, open up the station's sensors. Keep tabs on all of them, and keep us posted. Also, get Captain Kennit a phaser. We need to slow them down."
Lilith nodded to her aide who ran to get a weapon for them, returning with a disruptor a moment later, and handing it to Kennit. Lilith walked over to a wall access terminal and pulled up the sensors. "There's one a deck above us, two sections over."
"Let's go," Markus said, leading the way.
Weapon in hand, the expression in Kennit's eyes gave clear indication of her thoughts at this moment, and the fact that she was far more inclined to use the disruptor she held on Lilith and Markus than she was against a group of children. As she followed the Admiral through the hatch she tapped her comm badge and in a soft voice said simply, “Kennit to away teams. Status report.”
Other corridor
Arashi and his security team spread out to search for the kids that they were ordered to look for, probably already attacking the personnel on the station. "Spread out and search, people. We don't have a lot of time to find these...children." Tanaka said urgently.
His security team nodded, keeping an eye both beside and behind them as they moved through the corridors, their phaser rifles sweeping the area.
As they stepped out into a larger hallway, they heard the sound of a scuffle. A body suddenly came into view around a corner, dropping to the ground. The veins in the security guard's neck were green and a rash was spreading as he coughed and choked.
"Jesus christ, what happened to this guy? He looks like he got gangrene in his neck" Arashi said in utter surprise. "MEDIC!" He shouted and the team medic came running over. She took out her medical tricorder and scanned the man. "Nothing I can do for him, sir." The Medic said.
As the team came around a corner, they saw two more guards trying to detain a brown-haired human male who was doing a very good job of dodging their arms, and taking swipes with his hands. He had his fingers curled and was swiping like an animal would with its claws, making the guards jump back as they looked for an opening.
"Shit. Team set your weapons to max stun. I don't like the look of this." Arashi said and took a phaser rifle from one of his subordinates and aimed it at the kid attacking the guards of the station, as did the rest of the rescue team. They saw that he was able to dodge the guard's attacks and get close enough for a counterattack. He saw the rescue team and once again his hands curled up in to claws and was walking toward them. 'OPEN FIRE! Stun the little shit! Do not let him get anywhere near you!" Arashi said and fired his rifle, which the child dodged quite efficiently, surprising Arashi a tad bit. Since they had all angles covered, it was only a matter of time before the kid finally made a mistake and was hit by a pair of of max stun phasers. Arashi decided to take a small break. They had secured the child they were assigned and were preparing to move out
“Kennit to away teams. Status report.”
Arashi answered his commbadge. "Arashi here. We have a child secure and prepared to be transported to more secure facilities. By the way, do you know anything about these children's abilities? When I came to get him, I saw him fighting over a dozen guards with riot gear, by himself. Apparently he had poisoned one as well. Poor guy looked like he had gangrene in his neck." Arashi said "What are your orders, captain?"
“Which of the children have you located?” Kennit asked quickly. “Is he injured?”
"I believe his name is Raphael. Heard one of thee guards gurgle out the name before he died." Arashi said as the security medic ran a quick check. "He is not injured, merely stunned. Anything else, captain?"
“Our priority is the safety of the children. Regroup with Admiral Markus and I, seeing his father should help ease his fear. You can track us by my signal.”
"Aye captain. Be there in 5 minutes." Arashi said and signaled his team to regroup.
Operations Room
The sound of a phaser fight echoed outside the operations room as two guards ran in, saw Halvor and skidded to a stop. "Hide!" one of them shouted as a disruptor blast shot past him and he dove to the side. A dirty-blonde human female rushed to the door and took aim at Halvor, firing quickly.
Halvor had been trying to download System files when a phaser shot went past him, striking near T'Pek and knocking her back into Summers, sending them both down. He saw the blond haired girl shooting at him, the computer, the interface, and the data drives. This was his mission; he had to protect the system. His voice was raised. "Little girl, if you shoot me again, I will punch you in the face. Ow. What is that thing set to." He tried to get the phaser out of her hands, but she kicked him in the testicles and shot him, "UGHHHHH. OWWWWEE." He threw up and choked a little. While they were in close combat, she put a bomb on his back. He was getting shot and his body was absorbing the energy. It sounded like bones breaking and skin tearing. "Ow. Stop shooting me. I mean it little girl." He punched her in the face and she hit the wall hard and fell.
"Be advised, I beat up a little girl. She was mean." He sounded like he felt bad and then checked the settings, "Little Bitch had this thing set to kill." He didn't sound like he felt bad anymore. He heard a noise and saw a red blinking light. He realized the girl was gone and pushed T'pek and Summers out of the room. He slid the data drives out of the room with his foot. He closed the door and the bomb went off. He was bleeding and coughing up blood, but alive in there. His skin was turning grey.
Summers jumped up from the spot on where she had fallen, glanced at T'Pek and shouted: " You ok? Can you continue? "
T'pek landed with a roll. She had a dislocated shoulder. She set it with a popping noise. Even for a Vulcan, she briefly looked sick, but nodded.
Summers then scooped up the data drives and deposited them in an snap pocket on her. Slightly grinning, she checked her weapon and turned back to T'Pek. "Well, looks like it's us two at the moment..got any ideas?"
She looked at Summers, "Call it in and regroup. Our mission is the data drives. I understand that Halvor has altered physiology, but a blast like that..." She trailed off. "It doesn't change our objective." T'pek tapped her comm, "T'pek to Taggart. We have the data drives. Halvor's status is unknown. We are returning to the beam our point. Be on the lookout for a small, humanoid female. She is very, very proficient in firearms and explosives." Vulcans didn't use the redundant "very, very" often. She was in pain and had spent too much time with humans.
"Acknowledged," AJ said.
“Kennit to away teams. Status report.”
T'pek answered Kennit, "We have our objective. Team leader status Unknown. Proceeding to beam out point." She motioned for Summers to carry and follow. T'pek was covering her.
Halvor rolled over and found his comm badge, "Small mean child blew my ass up. I'll be in pursuit shortly." He gasped hard as the energy absorption changed his body. It took a couple of minutes, but he got to his feet and found his tricorder. He scanned what was left of the rifle and the bomb. He isolated the DNA, and excluded his. "Small mean child has a broken nose. I'm tracking her blood trail." He forced the door open and stepped out.
Summers slightly grinned then quietly spoke to Halvor. "See if you can find out if she's 'up for adoption,'" then winked.
Halvor didn't respond to her horrid comment. "She's this way. You two will split off when we get to the beam out point." He followed the tricorder. He was physically larger than he was before. His body changed with the absorption of energy. He had to duck in the corridor. He wasn't happy at all. The trail went through the beam out area. "Halvor to Victory." Suddenly, Sara started shooting at them again. He used his body to protect the data drives. "You two: beam out now."
The response came, "this is Victory. Go ahead."
Halvor didn't respond. He was moving towards the phaser fire, using his body to protect the drives and the two enlisted personnel. He started to feel muscle aches like he'd absorbed too much energy. "Go! You two take the drives back." He kept moving towards the phaser fire. Sara started to run again; he went after her.
Summers shouted into her communicator. "Summers here. Two to beam up, now!"
A moment later, the two of them vanished into columns of light.
Halvor kept tracking the girl with the tricorder. He found a room with twelve people in it. He got on the Station panel and convinced it to play Welcome to the Jungle all over the station. He went in and the fight began. The last one stammered, "She's in the next room." He tried to run and Halvor threw him into a wall.
As he forced the door open, the child slid between his legs and shot him in the back. Stumbling into the room, he saw another bomb, "Fuck me sidewa....". Boom. He laid on the floor, pieces of his skin flayed, "Halvor to Taggart. You had a child with Anderson and didn't tell anyone. That child was raised in an alternate dimension where Batman is real, by the League of Assassins."
The child came in and shot him again. She picked up his tricorder and scanned him, the low level radiation from his transformation blocked his life signs. She grabbed his combadge and rushed out the door.
Main Corridor
AJ swept the next junction as his team moved forward. He heard a whistle and looked up. Gabby was pointing at a door to their right, an urgent look on her face.
"Other side of that door?" AJ said.
Gabby nodded and winced as the door gave a thud.
"All right," AJ said. "Nicole, with me. Gabrielle, stay with Camille. King, get behind us. If anyone gets close, scare the ever-loving shit out of them."
As Gabby dropped lightly to the ground, Nicole came up past her. Gabby turned her nose up and Nicole rolled her eyes, bringing her weapon up and standing next to AJ. "Split up or stand our ground?" Nicole said, softly.
"Let's see what the room looks like," AJ said quietly back. They stepped forward, triggering the door, which opened obligingly. Immediately a guard came flying at them. Before Nicole could press the trigger, the guard slammed into her, knocking her to the ground. She growled and threw the man off her, jumping to her feet and bringing her hand up, fingers curled and ready to snarl, when she saw who attacked her. His face was nearly concave from the beating he'd taken and he was clearly unconscious. He hadn't rushed her, he'd been thrown.
She looked in the room and saw a crowd all circling someone. They couldn't see the fists flying, but they could hear the punches land. Now and again, two of three would try to dive in and subdue someone in the center, then they'd back off, holding an arm or jaw. A few on the fringe were exchanging some kind of currency.
"Make a hole!" AJ shouted. When no one moved more than a shuffle, he fired a warning shot above their heads. "MOVE!" he said, now dispersing the crowd.
King moved to protect Gabby from the firefight.
As they parted, the taupe-haired young man in the center was revealed. He was bloody, sweating, red in the face and shaking, but he was throwing punch after punch, taking down the denizens of the station as they tried to subdue him.
AJ and a newly-vertical Nicole aimed their weapons, but she waited for her cue.
"Stand down, Michael!" AJ shouted, recognizing the young man.
Michael, for his part, didn't slow down a hair. He put his fist through another guard's jaw and as the man dropped he advanced on someone in the crowd.
AJ shouted another warning to stand down, but Michael raised his fist for another attack. AJ, regretting having to, pressed the trigger.
The beam shot out and hit Michael in the side. He staggered, but didn't drop. Instead, he looked at AJ with wild eyes, snorted like an enraged bull and rushed them.
AJ tried to fire again, but Michael dodged the beam and grabbed the rifle, yanking it far harder than he should have been able to, pulling AJ off balance.
Nicole was going to fire, but didn't want to hit AJ. She looked at Michael closely and held a hand behind her. "Cami, my tricorder."
Camille obligingly closed the tricorder and tossed it back to Nicole. She kept away from the fighting, still being unarmed, but she kept herself between Gabby and the fighting.
AJ wasn't about to give up his weapon, but he was in a tug-of-war with a teenager who was crazed enough to drag him around the room. "A little help!" he said as he pulled back, trying to use the kid's momentum against him.
Nicole scanned Michael quickly. "His adrenaline levels are through the roof," she said. "All natural inhibitors are missing. He's not going to stop fighting until either his heart gives out or we shoot him dead."
"How about a thump to the skull," AJ growled, suddenly surging forward, driving his rifle into Michael's face.
Michael's head snapped back and he staggered, then shouted incoherently and lunged forward again, shoving the rifle to the side, lifting AJ up and tossing him to the side.
"I think I can take him down, just keep him busy for a moment," Nicole said, tapping the back of her hand, programming a hypospray with something to counteract human adrenaline.
"Sure, no problem," AJ said, taking a defensive stance as Michael came at him again.
Nicole slipped in quietly, trying to stay behind Michael as he went after AJ. She beckoned King forward to block the doorway and tried to move in. Unfortunately, Michael saw her and as he blocked one of AJ's punches, he lashed out with his foot and knocked Nicole back.
From their perspective behind King, Gabby and Camille couldn't see much, but Gabby was bouncing on her toes with anxiety. She started to walk forward but felt a hand on her shoulder.
"Non, Gabrielle," Camille said, gently holding the girl back. "Let them do their jobs. They'll bring Michael down without hurting him or getting hurt themselves. We have to trust them." She winced when she heard Nicole hit the deck hard.
Gabby heard the scuffle, heard the female doctor hit the ground, and then heard her hero grunt in pain as he got hit. She knew she had to move fast before he got hurt more. She ducked and twisted out of Camille's grasp and ran forward. She leaped up, kicking off the wall onto king's back and swung herself around the saddle, slipping down past his shoulder into the room.
She ran forward at full speed and before AJ could stop her, grabbed Michael and swung him around. He snarled and threw punch after punch, but she dodged them with a preternatural speed to match his own. Finally, she blocked another blow and grabbed his head in a grip similar to a mind meld, staring him in the eyes.
Michael immediately stopped struggling. His breathing began to slow, and she matched his breaths, helping him slow them. After a full minute, they were both standing still, both calm, and as Michael experienced a near-fatal adrenaline crash, he collapsed from physical exhaustion, Gabrielle cradling his head on the way down.
"Well, that works," Camille noted as she approached the youths.
As if on cue, Nicole's combadge chirped. “Kennit to away teams. Status report.”
Nicole tapped her combadge as she helped AJ to his feet. "Anderson here. We have Michael and Gabrielle."
A moment later AJ's combadge chriped. "Halvor to Taggart. You had a child with Anderson and didn't tell anyone. That child was raised in an alternate dimension where Batman is real, by the League of Assassins."
AJ and Nicole glanced at each other and AJ rolled his eyes a bit. He lost the attitude as they clearly heard the disruptor fire. "Mister Halvor, report," AJ said. Silence responded.
"Lieutenant Halvor, report," AJ repeated.
"He's not available," a young female voice said.
Gabrielle immediately perked up at the sound of the voice.
AJ didn't need words to know what that reaction meant. He closed the channel and tapped his combadge again. "Taggert to Victory, lock onto Mister Halvor's signal and beam directly to Sickbay.
He looked around and spotted Camille holding the tricorder. He walked over and took it from her, handing it to Gabrielle, setting it to scan. "Lock onto the tricorder signal in front of me and beam two lifesigns over."
A moment later, Gabrielle and Michael disappeared as well.
"Three down, four to go," Nicole said.
AJ shook his head. "We need to find Halvor and get him to Sickbay. Let's go."
They headed out quickly to his last known location.
Looking to Admiral Markus, Kennit said, “We can now account for Raphael, Sara, Gabrielle and Michael. That leaves Raquel and Jeremiah. I would suggest ordering those we have recovered to be immediately extracted back to the Victory where they can be taken to medical and checked for injuries.”
Lilith rounded on Kennit immediately. "I'm not letting them off this station."
"Yes you are," Sydney said, her voice cracking slightly as her confidence waned. She cleared her throat. "The Captain has made a perfectly reasonable suggestion. If you're objecting to it, then we can't trust that your first priority is everyone's safety. If what you've told us is true, then you'll let everyone transport back to the Victory with the children, and you'll help us contain the last of them. If not, we have no reason to trust you, and the Captain will be completely justified in firing the phaser she's surreptitiously had aimed at you this entire time."
Kennit’s gaze never wavered, though a flicker of annoyance at counselor's giving away tactical advantages like chocolate candy did flare in her eyes.
Sydney crossed her arms defensively, but stood her ground. "The choice is yours. Are you our ally or our enemy?"
Lilith drew herself up, but looked between the younger woman and the Admiral, and finally nodded. "Fine," she said.
"And now that that's settled," Markus said, tapping his combadge in a quick pattern. It chirped back a quick pattern and he gestured to his right. "Two decks up, six sections clockwise. Let's go."
Lilith led the way down a corridor to a service lift. The ride up was short and silent, both she and the Admiral refusing to acknowledge each other.
As the lift came to a halt the Captain moved to the front of the service lift and weapon raised in a defensive stance exited first. After a swift assessment of the immediate area, she said “The corridor is clear. Six sections that way?” She added with a nod of her head to the left as the Admiral had indicated. “I don’t hear anything, which may not be a good sign.”
"Or it means they've already dispatched everyone in the area," he said, a worried tone creeping into his voice.
Quickly walking down the corridor, a little voice in the back of her mind noted the distinct footsteps of the counselor and lamented the obvious lack of training in how to move silently. They were making far too much noise. Ahead of them she could hear soft voices, speaking in low urgent tones. Young. She stopped, one hand raised with a closed fist in a standard signal to hold position and be silent.
Markus nodded and silently pulled Lilith behind him, bringing his phaser up behind him as well.
Moving forward silently, Captain Kennit reached the cross corridor and turned to her left cautiously looking to see who the speakers were. Two young kids, a boy and a girl, stood huddled by a closed hatch, the access panel was open and the boy was rummaging about inside. The control wiring and circuits were old, she could see corrosion visible past the back of the young man’s head.
“It will be easier to disengage the linkage and open that manually, the entire system is corroded too badly.” Kennit said as she entered the side passageway.
Jeremiah jerked on surprise, striking the back of his head with a resounding *thump* on the edge of the open access port prompting a semi-muffled curse which was drowned out by an absolutely ear-splitting scream which rose in intensity to a point the overhead light cover panel shattered in protest.
Captain Kennit slightly shook her head, and began to clap slowly as she walked toward them. “You have some serious pipes on you, Raquel, you could make a damn fortune going to the Klingons and singing in the Opera house in the First City. They would absolutely love you.”
In response, the girl took a deep breath and screamed again. Jeremiah grimaced, hands over his ears, and Rhea was could hear Markus, Lilith and Sydney crying out in pain. The Captain rolled her eyes, seemingly unaffected while in truth her head felt like it was ringing. Her Borg implants protected her, adapting to the sound and preventing her from being effected as the girl expected. When Kennit moved, it was with such speed that she reached Raquel before the girl could react! She was still screaming when Kennit grabbed her, one hand locked on her shirt (rather than her throat as irritation urged), the other snapping forward and grabbing hold of her tongue which caused her to cut off the scream and ended it with a slightly choked and very startled gurgling squawk.
“Stop that.” Kennit said, still firmly holding Raquel’s tongue. “I promised your father I would help find you, I made no promise not to bend you over my knee and administer the discipline you clearly need.”
“LET HER GO!” Jeremiah bellowed in a high-pitched tone indicative of the stress he felt. The Captain glanced at him, registered the phaser he held and the fact that he was about to fire and shoot both her and his sister. She pivoted, taking the full strike of the phaser beam in her back. A green shimmer flared even as she grunted from being shot. Releasing a very low energy pulse from her hand into Raquel to stun the girl for a moment, Kennit released her to slim down against the bulkhead as she turned and crossed the short distance to Jeremiah where she used one arm to slam onto his chest, driving him back into the bulkhead without harming more than his pride and disarmed him in a very practiced motion. Then, still pinning him to the bulkhead she held the phaser before his astonished eyes and, crushed it in her
left hand as she said, in a voice that was pure Borg Queen as her eyes flooded with nanites to turn black, nanites pulsing under her skin in an automatic response to being attacked “That hurt.”
Her gaze swiveled to Markus, recovering from the effects of Raquel’s auditory attack and shoved Jeremiah into his fathers arms. “Discipline your son. Shooting his rescuer in the back is decidedly not nice.” she said, her voice still carrying the subtle, cold modulated tone of a Borg.
Markus gave her a dark look and then glanced behind her.
Seeing the astonished looks on the children's faces, she smiled though the expression was cold and more unnerving than reassuring with her eyes gone black, the arteries in her face and neck dark shadow s beneath her skin. “What...did you think your father was the only one of us?” Again she laughed, a short chuckle. “He is what you’d call..old and rusty while I am the new, sport model.”
"Your assumption is illogical," a voice said behind her, and as the Captain turned, a the girl's left hand lashed out for Kennit's sternum.
"Ariel, don't!" Markus warned.
Reacting to the attack, Kennit caught the girl’s wrist and twisted to one side blocking the attempted blow.
As the Captain grabbed her wrist, Ariel pulled herself close using the Captain's momentum and locked her hand on the Katra points on the Captain's face. The contact lasted only a moment before the two of them seemed to fly backwards from each other, Kennit shaking her head as if there was water in her ears, and Ariel stumbling towards Markus, who quickly pushed her and Jeremiah behind him and was holding Raquel protectively. "Markus to Saint George, four to beam directly to Sickbay."
Lilith let out a shout of anger as the three children and the Admiral disappeared. She was halfway through berating the counselor for her idiocy when another transporter beam sounded, and the Admiral reappeared.
"They're being treated," he said, quietly.
"That was not the arrangement," Sydney said. "You've violated our trust."
"I got them to people I could trust, without overwhelming the Victory's sickbay," he said. He looked at Kennit. "Are you all right?"
Up to that point, the Captain had been standing to one side with her head down. The forced invasion of her mind had caused an immediate and intense headache which felt like a searing shaft of agony through her skull. She’d instinctively blocked the girl, though not before she’d violated the deepest, most private part of her mind. The little bitch had focused her attack on the memories Kennit most wanted to protect. Her heart felt like it was breaking in her chest. She could smell the paddock, fresh grass and the smell of newly cut hay carried on the breeze from the fields beyond. She was seated on Loki’s back, the saddle creaking at her movements, leaning to the right where a tall handsome man with piercing blue eyes stood by the horse’s side, a small child - 5 years old - in his arms lifting her up for Rhea to take, settling their daughter on the saddle before her.
The memory was sharp, grief and terrible loss mixing with love for her family and boiling rage at their loss.. A sadness so strong it threatened to drown her…
When Markus addressed her, his voice cut through memory and wrenched her back to the present. Was she all right? Her throat was so tight with tears she couldn’t speak, her eyes locked on his. Unguarded and raw with emotion, and Kennit began to laugh, the sound without mirth or joy.
"Captain, are you all right?" Arashi asked as he approached, noting that there was some tension in the room. If the captain didn't answer or want to answer then he would not pry in to her affairs but as a human being he was concerned. He had just arrived with Raphael who had just woken up and was struggling to get away. "Admiral, one more for your collection." he said after a few moments of silence, conking the struggling "child" on the head to get him to calm down. Why he did that to a person that could poison him with his fingernails was totally beyond him but there it was.
Markus knelt and got Raph to look him in the eye. "Take a breath, it'll be okay." Raphael stopped struggling, realizing who now had him and nodded, taking a few deep breaths to calm down.
Kennit gave a shaky nod of her head, swallowing to clear the knot in her throat before she could answer. “I’m fine…” what she said, and what the tremor in her voice said were at odds. “Just need a moment…”. A moment to push back 20 year old memories, push down grief for a loss that would never, ever fully go away. At the same time, anger was growing. Deep, intense rage at something Markus had said. He’d taken his children to the Saint George. To “people he could trust”. The insult to her ship. To her crew. After that faithless, dishonest bastard had placed her ship and crew in danger! Had willfully withheld information, gotten two of her crew taken hostage!
Then stands there and states he can’t trust them?
She stood up straight, body tense and coiled like a snake, she pointed at him. “To people you can trust..” she echoed in a soft but enraged voice. “You put my ship.. my crew in danger and then state you can’t trust us!? After we do your dirty work!? You don’t trust us?”
"Captain Kennit," Markus said, standing up straight as a spruce and speaking in his most formal, 'principal's office' tone, "I will have you know that I was referring to my lack of trust of the facilities here and my ex-wife to see to our best interests. If I had no faith in you whatsoever, i wouldn't have allowed your people to get near my children, let alone bring some to your ship. I think it would be a fair statement to say that I have as much trust in you and your people as you have in mine." He let that statement marinate and the combadge off of the counselor and put it on Raphael's chest, tapping it. "Saint George, lock onto this signal and energize."
As Raphael disappeared, he stood up and looked at Lilith. "There. I have some of them back, the Victory has the rest, and they're under control."
"And I have dozens of people in the infirmary," Lilith said.
"Which you brought upon your own house," Markus said. "'The Destroyer' is once again on the warpath."
Lilith's snarl was almost demonic as she inhaled for a response that would no-doubt launch another shouting match, but Sydney stepped between them. "All right, we're not going right back to that," she said, once again defusing before they geared up. She looked at Lilith and shook her head. "You're supposed to be thousands of years old, but you are very quick to anger. I would think you'd have learned a little emotional control by now."
Lilith opened her mouth to retort, then stopped cold, staring in shock, then anger at Markus on a level that may have even exceeded the Captain. "You told them? You told them about us?"
Markus let out a sigh that could be heard across the galaxy and rubbed his eyes. "No," he said slowly, "you did. I only told them about you in a general sense, and that was, ironically, to earn their trust."
Lilith's skin was already a light brown, but it deepened considerably as she realized her error.
"You know," Sydney said, her voice suddenly more confident and stronger, "it's amazing what someone lets slip when they're emotional."
Lilith stared at her.
"So," she said, stepping back from the center of the trouble and clapping her hands together. "Here's what we've learned today. The Admiral has some trust issues. Whether that's from his work in Intelligence, or his apparent advanced age, I don't know. What I do know is that while you may not have told us everything, your reputation for doing so precedes you. The Captain warned me about it before we beamed over, and your associate confirmed it when we arrived. So far, the only time your voice has carried any honesty is when you mention the children. It's the only subject I've seen you get worked up about thus far."
She turned and looked at Lilith. "And you? I don't buy your act for one second. You're not the victim here, and you're no more altruistic than he is. Every time you two start up, you imply he's hiding something. We know he is. So that makes me wonder what you are hiding? Clearly, something's on your mind and you want some kind of admission from him, and you're projecting your own feelings about it. So, a little prodding and nudging, and vioila! we get a confession. I can't wait to see what you two tell us next."
She looked at the Captain. "The Admiral rescued these children from their creator. He seems to be caring for them, and they respond to him by deescalating. So, if you don't want to file for seven adoptions, I think we should trust the devil we know." She folded her arms and looked at the Admiral and his counterpart. "Or is there something else either of you would like to try and slip past us?"
At there mere suggestion of adopting the seven children, the look on the Captains face made it clear that was a suggestion which had less chance of success than a snowflake in hell.
Turning to the Admiral, she said, “we have retrieved your children and my missing crewmen. Unless there are other issues you have not yet expressed, I believe our part here is complete. I will order the children aboard Victory to be transferred to the Saint George as soon as they have been cleared by our medical staff, and we can leave you and your…acquaintance to your own matters.”
Markus draped his hands behind his back and inclined his head. "Sounds like a plan," he said.
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