The Enemy is Here...

Posted on Wed May 5, 2021 @ 1:52am by Lieutenant T'Lul & Captain Tam "Demon" Haican

1,863 words; about a 9 minute read

Mission: Si vis pacem, para bellum
Location: DS5, various decks
Timeline: MD04, 0500

T'Lul was given an order by the Commander. She questioned the wisdom of it. However, Commander Ryan was quite clear, stop on every deck and inform security regarding the comm outage and get them to obtain pilots. The Vulcan Counselor questioned this wisdom considering there were 1250 decks on DS5, but what else was she to do?

Obediently, T'Lul hit the turbolift and moved down one level. She informed security and then did the same on the following deck. This is highly illogical and inefficient, the Vulcan thought. Humans often did not think through their orders. Therefore, she decided to follow the spirit of Ryan's order and not the letter. Starting on deck 21, she informed security, "One of you, go seek more pilots. The other, take every other deck and start informing people as I am."

This is more efficient, T'Lul mused to herself. However, this still left her doing half of the work. On deck 22, she informed security to do the same thing. This is better, but still slow. My calculations indicate that they will not be able to effectively notify everyone timely. If I go down to level 100, I should be able to repeat this process. Any duplication will quickly be caught and logically, they will stop asking, knowing that I have gone ahead. With that, she ordered the turbolift to deck 100.

Gor Devas barked orders to the conscriptees she was in charge of. "Search every room on this deck!" We must find all intel that Starfleet is hiding!" She moved away from the turbolift and sent in a status report to her superior. In all the action, she didn't hear the turbolift open a few meters behind her.

Had T'Lul been anything but Vulcan, she might have done more than simply raised an eyebrow when she saw a Cardassian's back to her. This logically explains why internal communications are out. But how did they get in? A curious question, indeed. Without hesitating, T'Lul applied the Vulcan neck pinch to Gor Devas, hoping that when the Cardassian went down that she might be able to arm herself with a weapon from Devas and get a clearer view of what was happening.

Devas was putting her data pad back in its holster when she suddenly felt a sharp pain in her neck. Then nothing, as she succumbed to unconscious, never knowing what had happened.

T'Lul had heard orders being issued by the Cardassian. The question was what to do with her. She dragged the woman into the turbolift and decided that she alone could not take on multiple Caradassians. However, if she had a hostage, she might become valuable to ridding the station of the Cardassians. Perhaps on the floor below I can find a security team. Though, logically, it might be taken over and they are already engaged. No, I have to see what I can do with the security above. Even though half are find pilots. With that decision made, she removed the Cardassian's weapons and headed up two floors, hoping to find assistance. And the Captain. We have to find and warn the Captain. If she is captured, all is lost.

As soon as the turbolift doors closed, one of the conscriptees noticed their supervisor was gone. He used his comm unit and called out for her.

In the turbolift, the vibration of the comm badge spurred Devas awake. Groggy at first, she saw the Vulcan, standing with her back turned to her. She saw that the woman also had her disruptor. Instantly deciding to act, she kicked out her legs, catching the other woman behind her knees.

As T'Lul felt her legs crumple backwards due to the blow, she made a mental note regarding the apparent Cardassian ability to recover from a Vulcan neck pinch. Although T'Lul spent her life dedicated to peace, she did have to study basic martial combat like every other Starfleet officer. Instantly deciding that she could use this momentum rather than allowing it to cripple her, T'Lul leaned backwards and flipped backwards to the other end of the turbolift. There was not time to pull the disruptor with this move but at least she could see her opponent rather than have her back to it.

Devas quickly rotated away from the Vulcan and pulled out her dagger. As she was closest to the turbo controls, she quickly smashed her elbow into them, shorting out the power to the lift. In the brief change in gravity, she leapt forward and managed to bury her dagger into the Vulcan's right thigh.

T'Lul did not cry out. Fear was a mind killer and pain could be ignored. With Devas close, having her knife stuck in T'Lul's thigh, it gave T'Lul the advantage of leaving her other leg free. The change in gravity, also shot the combatants upwards, allowing T'Lul to grab onto the ceiling. The Cardassian's head being lower, she could only glimpse T'Lul's other foot crashing into the side of Devas's head when it was too late.

Davas didn't see the boot until it was too late. As it struck, she saw stars filling her vision. The only thing that saved her was the fact that they were in zero gravity. Reaching for the dagger that was still buried in the leg of her foe, she twisted and then ripped it out, causing a bigger wound. She then backed away, looking for another opening.

Green blood bubbled out of T'Lul's leg as she recalled her zero G training and Newtonian physics. For the moment, the two combatants eyed each other. Pulling a disruptor here would take too much time and give an opening. She did a self assessment and determined that she would need medical attention. However, it could wait for some time. Her pain tolerance would not allow her to faint. And, the zero G environment did not exert pressure on the leg, which assisted her ability to continue. Pressing on the ceiling of the turbolift, she oriented herself face downwards so that she could thrust with her legs, if required and could get a full view of the Cardassian's next move.

Holding her position on the other side of the turbolift car, Davas sneered at the Vulcan. "And here I thought all Starfleet officers were supposed to be fierce warriors. If you are any representation, it's no wonder we took control of not only this station, but the planet below. Surrender now, and I give you my word that I'll be merciful." As she spoke, she moved the blade around, hoping to distract her opponent. As she did so, she began to ready herself for the final assault. While her bravado was quite loud on the outside, Davas was secretly very nervous in her core. Of course, she would never admit that fact. She was mustering up all of her Cardassian superiority to bolster her nerves.

Taunting might work on a human, but T'Lul was Vulcan. Moreover, T'Lul was a counselor. She knew that the Cardassian was nervous. Her shifting of her blade belied an uncertainty. The Carassian did not like the waiting, nor did she like the fact that T'Lul remained silent. Well, let's make it last a bit longer. The problem with zero G is that once one commits, without an outside interference, one is committed. Let her make the first move. She is bound to do so soon with all of that nervous energy. Once she does, I can appropriately react and incapacitate her. T'Lul continued her ready position, ready to make a move the moment that the Cardassian committed herself.

After a few tense moments, Davas could take no more of the silent Vulcan. Certainly the knife wound was hurting her, she could see the green blood flowing easily in the zero gee environment. But she still wouldn't admit that she was beaten! This was infuriating to Davas. Finally, she readied her blade, braced her feet and, screaming a war cry, jumped towards her foe.

Finally, the mistake, T'Lul noted. The disadvantage of zero gravity was the inability to make changes in momentum without an outside force or action interceding. Newton was in complete control here. Calculating the Cardasssian's trajectory, T'Lul maneuvered herself to the side at the last moment and thrust the Cardassian head first into the turbolift's ceiling. Whether the second blow to the head rendered the Cardassian unconscious, or not was of little consequence. With her free arm, she grabbed the Cardassian's arm with the knife and slammed it against the wall, forcing the knife to come free.

Davas realized her mistake too late. She had rushed the attack, and in the split second before her head hit the ceiling, she cursed herself. Then there was a cruching sound, and she was no more. Her now lifeless body floated in the zero gee environment of the turbolift car, her head twisted at an odd angle.

T'Lul took a moment to observe the dead body. While logically, she knew that it was a kill or be killed situation, having never killed before, she had found the situation rather curious. Directing herself back to the turbolift controls, she restored power to the turbolift. Gravity reasserted itself and the body fell to the floor, bumping into T'Lul on the way down. T'Lul rubbed her back from where the body struck her on the way down. She instructed the turbolift, "Sickbay," as the green blood started to gush from her leg. She started grasping at the Cardassian's clothing and tried to rip it to make a tourniquet, hoping that she would not pass out prior to getting to medical attention.

Suddenly, there was a beeping sound coming from the former Cardassian trooper. It seemed to originate from the communicator, which was in a holster on her right hip, just ahead of her disruptor pistol holster.

T'Lul picked up the communicator. Quickly, she looked for any sign of identification from the Cardassian she had killed that might indicate who this individual was. After all, that information might be useful in eliciting more information from whoever was calling on the other end.

The communicator had a series of control buttons on the surface. Clearly, a code was needed to unlock the device. The device beeped again. Clearly, someone was looking for the now dead Cardassian that was laying at T'Lul's feet.

Analyzing the communicator, T'Lul knew that she did not have the code. However, the Vulcan was a counselor, not an intelligence officer or computer specialist. If she took the communicator, it might allow Cardassians to trace her. On the other hand, if she did not, they would find the dead Cardassian sooner and someone else might not have the opportunity to break the code. No clear decision was obvious to her. However, what was obvious was that she needed to get to sickbay. Therefore, she took the communicator and the disruptor. When the turbolift stopped at the sickbay's floor, she limped along trying to reach it before anymore damage was done to her.

***OFF***

Lieutenant T'Lul
Chief Counselor
Deep Space 5

Gor Davas
Fleet Marine
Cardassian Military
[NPC Tam]

 

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