Torpedoes Away! (Part III)

Posted on Thu Jan 27, 2022 @ 9:47am by Lieutenant Alanna Wells & Lieutenant JG Ace Cannon

2,337 words; about a 12 minute read

Mission: Si vis pacem, para bellum
Location: Jefferies Tubes
Timeline: MD04 0545 hours

[PREVIOUSLY]

Paula stopped and sighed. "You said pick a direction," she said, not very pleased that he now wanted a different answer. "Don't you think it likely they've taken over security? I doubt the Cardies can take over every single cargo and shuttle bay, but if you'd rather go up to security, be my guest. I'll stay behind you." Where at least he'd be shot first.

[CONTINUED]

"Fine," Ace huffed. "But we're going to have to go up at some point to get back to the Arboretum."

"Of course. I don't want to come out in the middle of trouble. That's your job," she retorted. She paused at the next deck down and listened. Too much noise. She decided to go down another level.

Ace sighed softly to himself. This was not a good view. Going down only gave him a view of the ladder and Paula's head. That was probably the least desirable part of her, but gags worked wonders.

"You're thinking too hard," she hissed. She really had no idea, but he was quiet, and a quiet Ace, she was learning, was up to no good. She paused on the next deck and listened. "This one sounds empty." She barely whispered the words as she approached the panel.

"I'd say ladies first, but first, I'm not convinced you're a lady and second, Bri would have my head if I allowed anything to happen to you. So, scooch down and I'll lead the charge." He waited for Paula to comply.

"Fine." Opinionated, oafish ogre, she thought. The man was overbearing, opinionated and obstreperous. She could come up with a few more words if she cared to think about it. "Go first, by all means."

"Would you rather get shot first if you're wrong?" He shook his head. "Guess chivalry is dead."

"No, I'd rather watch you get shot," she snapped back. "And chivalry just to get laid doesn't count."

"Trust me, Paula, I wouldn't lay you if you were the mat that I needed to put in front of my door. A cactus would be jealous of all of your prickly spindles. You have so much venom in your mouth that a snake would be jealous. Perhaps you could practice being worthy of someone who has tried to do the right thing, saving your ungrateful ass."

"For an insult that's pretty lame, Cannon," she said. "I expected better of you. Now that you're in the lead, let's see how impressive you can be."

"I doubt that you expected anything of me. You're a horrible liar, too. I thought by associating things with a plant, you might relate better to it, but if you want me to continue insulting you, please let me know."

Just as he concluded his statement, the two heard noises come into the room. Ace looked at Paula and with an overly demonstrative face, opened his mouth and closed it on his outstretched tongue, as a message to Paula. He then waved for her to slowly continued downwards, as he slowly lowered himself, trying to make no noise, himself.

What sort of idiot did he think she was? She wasn't going to ask because he'd probably have a stupid retort. She had no idea why Brianthe was even speaking to the oaf. She'd have to ask her at some point. For now, she would follow along, just until she could get safely back to her trees.

Ace watched as Paula climbed down. He just hoped that she would find something and would be able to keep her mouth shut for a change.

She continued to climb as carefully and quietly as she could. Part of her wanted to find the nearest exit and leave him behind, but Bri wouldn't appreciate that. She passed two more access panels before she stopped at another that was silent. She listened for a long moment, then slid the panel open a fraction of an inch to listen again. It was dark on the other side and there was no sound. After another minute, she pushed it open a bit more. Still dark and silent.

Waving Paula to the side, Ace moved ahead of her. He was not going to allow Paula to get hurt. After all, Bri would kill him. He pushed himself through the opening and carefully lowered himself out. The floor was another four feet to drop when he hung out the vent. He dropped gently and whispered up to Paula. "Drop down. I'll catch you."

Paula gritted her teeth. She was so close to freedom that she didn't want to jinx it. She carefully exited the access tunnel and dropped.

Despite being tempted to let Paula drop and break her neck, Ace caught her at her waist. He looked into her eyes deeply as he lowered her. "There," he finally said. "Down in one piece. Now, we have to find a way up that is not crawling with Cardassians."

"I don't know. Can you look at internal sensor?" she asked.

"I could program the computer to seek out Cardassians and Xi’Cadians if we're not already locked out. Of course, that would only tell us where they are now," Ace replied thinking aloud. "Now, perhaps if I could find a tricorder, I could program it to continue to do the search and utilize it as sort of a Marauder's Map." He then looked over at Paula and wondered if she knew of the ancient Harry Potter books to understand the reference.

"You can make a map to locate marauders?" Paula asked. "You can just look for Cardassians." She wasn't sure why he liked to over-complicate things.

"You really need to gather some culture, Paula," he replied with a laugh. "I am looking for them but I'm trying to watch them in real time, rather than just locate them right now."

She gave him a disgusted look. The man was a boor. Just because she was thinking about where they were located and he wanted to watch them didn't mean she lacked culture. Then again, she probably wouldn't like anything he thought culture.

"I'll tell you what. When we're done with this, I'm going to give you some culture. I now understand why you do not know how to appreciate a little mischief." He started looking around and to his dismay could not find a tricorder in this room. "Computer, are there any Cardassians or Xi’Cadians on this level?"

"Affirmative."

"Damn," cursed Ace.

"How many are within 500 meters of this room?"

"There are none currently within 500 meters of this room."

Ace turned to Paula and asked, "Ready to run?"

"Yes." At this point she would gladly run to get out of this situation.

"Alright, on 3 we run three doors down and to the right. If my memory serves me, there should be another access panel to a Jeffries Tube there that will lead us up. I can't remember if it gets us to your deck with the Arboretum but it might get us close."

If there was no one within 500 meters, why run? Why not move silently? But Paula wasn't going to argue with him. She could almost taste freedom. "I'll try to keep up."

"If I had a credit for every time that I heard that...." Ace chuckled. "Three," he announced.

That kept her from making a scathing retort. She wasn't as fast as he was, but she didn't expect to be. But they weren't going very far and there wasn't anyone around. Besides, this let him be the first one in.

This room was a storage facility. He rushed in and waited to make sure that Paula got in after him, concern on his face. "Did anyone see you?" he asked quickly.

"No. We had 500 meters. We ran twenty-five meters at most," she said, exasperated. "Did you expect them to come through the bulkhead?"

"Short range beamings are not unlikely, especially if they know we're here," he replied matter-of-fact. "Besides, I'm not having you get hurt on my watch. I have no desire to have that conversation with Bri. So, where's that panel...?" He started moving things around and said, "Ah, here it is," after some time. "Stay on my rear." He smirked at Paula.

He was the one likely to get shot. "I'll stay close enough for safety." But no closer than that.

The two continued up for some time before Ace took a detour through a tube and then started climbing at a new location. After another ten minutes, the climb ended and he started squirming through a Jeffries Tube until he finally arrived at a vent. He pushed himself through and landed acrobatically on his feet. The room itself appeared to be where life support was controlled. He held out his arms to catch Paula if she would drop through the vent.

Paula did her best not to need his help, but she was glad he was there, just in case.

At that very moment, with Ace's back turned on the door, two Cardassians walked into the room and pulled out their weapons.

"Don't turn around," Paula whispered carefully pulling a phaser. She hoped they'd be more focused on Ace and she would be shielded enough to get off the first shot.

She set it to wide-range stun and fired, using the operations officer to hide her movements. Before the two had a chance to react, they fell to the deck. "So, you were right to be paranoid."

"Where'd you get that thing?" Ace wondered aloud.

Paula glared at him. "The station's been assaulted. This was in the workroom for emergencies. It only has a stun setting, but it's better than nothing." She paused "It's not a Starfleet issue."

"Ah," Ace answered. "Even so, no unauthorized phaser should be able to fire on a space station. This must mean that Commander Ryan or someone in his place has finally authorized them to be used to defend the base." Ace mused at that. "Interesting. Well, perhaps we should get a weapon for me, as well, so we don't end up in another awkward situation."

"It would make sense." She'd never used the arboretum's weapon. She wasn't even sure who originally authorized it. As far as she knew, it had always been there. She nodded to the two Cardassians. "Or take one of theirs."

"Easier said than done. They're not exactly softies."

"Whatever we do, we need to do it quickly. They're only stunned." She wasn't comfortable staying here any longer than absolutely necessary. Whatever they decided, she didn't want those two waking up and shooting them. So, she took both their disruptors and set them a good ten feet away. "Just in case."

"What are you doing?" Ace asked incredulously as he picked up the disruptors. "Leaving these where they can get them when they wake up? It is better to have them. If they're traceable, we can ditch them later."

"I just didn't want them to wake up and shoot us while we're arguing about what to do next," she countered. "Go ahead and take them. I'm going to keep my stunner handy."

Ace rolled his eyes at Paula. "Honestly, the only one that is arguing here...." He turned his back on her and then said, "Come on, follow me...."

She bit her tongue to keep from speaking her mind and followed him.

Ace looked down at his tricorder. Cardassians were crawling all over this floor. "This is going to be tricky," he told Paula. "They're everywhere on this floor. Do you have an idea, short of shooting me in the back with a phaser?"

"I hadn't considered that," she said. "But now that you mention it..." She shook her head. "I won't shoot you yet, but it's still an option." By now, the Cardassians would be crawling over the entire station. "Where's the nearest civilian population? We could blend in there."

"We can't blend currently. Not without me changing," Ace informed Paula, making demonstrative hand motions at his uniform. "We either need to get to a replicator or to a shop where I can switch out my clothing."

"There should be a replicator around here somewhere," she said.

"Yes, there should," Ace agreed. He looked at his tricorder and continued to update to get the latest Cardassian opinions. "End of the corridor. Going to be a tight squeeze...."

"I'm sure you're used to that. Lead on, I'll try to keep up."

"The tighter the better," Ace retorted with a grin. Taking both of the Cardassian disruptors, he walked to the door. He refreshed his tricorder and noticed that there were at least a half dozen Cardassians that had a viable shot of seeing them and interrupting their path. He held his breath and then with a rushed crouched walk, he held the disruptor out and started down the corridor.

An unsuspecting pair of Cardassians came out from an intersecting corridor and Ace fired, striking one of them solidly. He watched in horror as the Cardassian's molecules were separated and dissipated into nothingness.

"Glad you can shoot," Paula said. "Now where to?"

Ace fired again, just as the second Cardassian fired. It also caused him to dissipate. Despite being a bit shaken and horrified at what disruptors do, Ace told, "My shot has always been true. As I said earlier, end of the corridor. Honestly, woman, it is a wonder that Alanna and Bri keep you. Are you always this absentminded?"

"Only when dealing with idiots."

"Must be tough living with yourself, then," Ace shot back.

Paula was strongly tempted to shoot Ace and go back to the arboretum. Or to the promenade where she could blend in with the other civilians. It would be far easier for her right now than him because she wasn't Starfleet.

Smirking at Paula, Ace called back in a harsh whisper, as he broke into a quick walk, "Come on, now. No lollygagging."


(To be continued...)

Lieutenant JG Ace Cannon
Assistant Chief Operations Officer
Deep Space 5

Paula Pendergast
Botanist
Deep Space 5

 

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