Levels 4: Compromised

Posted on 14 Jan 2013 @ 6:30pm by Lieutenant JG Donovan Muldaur & Lieutenant Kiri Cho & Lieutenant Kiri Cho

1,386 words; about a 7 minute read

Mission: Episode 02 - Resupply
Location: USS Galileo: Corridors, Jefferies Tubes - Deck 5
Timeline: MD16, 0250 hours

[ON]

Corbin sealed the access panel into the emergency crawlway, then used his phaser to melt the manual crank to prevent any pursuers from coming after them. In front of him was the captured science officer Cho, and in front of her was Agent Muldaur. The three of them moved their way through the accessway until they reached a primary Jefferies tube.

Kiri had fallen from terror to shock but she was still shaking all over as she crawled. Being smaller it was easier for her but with her body so numb and heavy it was a struggle to keep pace. Her breaths were night and she couldn't think straight. They were going to kill Maenad if she didn't do what they said, they'd kill her too. All her training she had thought she would put her life on the line to protect the ship. Right now though she couldn't face that, she hated herself, hated these men. There was nothing she could do though.

They arrived at a T-junction and Muldaur took them left. Right would have taken them back to the corridor from which they'd come. Leading the way, Muldaur set the pace to a quick jaunt if crawling could be classified like that. The klaxons had stopped, but the lights remained dimmed at emergency levels. The personal scattering fields installed inside their commbadges were both a blessing and an omen; the fields prevented them from being scanned and located by the ship's sensors, but that meant any sensors - including their own. They would not be able to beam out, forcing them toward the shuttlebay to escape that way.

Luckily, the shuttlebay was on deck four as well, which meant that they would likely be able to get there without having to leave the tubes. Muldaur didn't have to say that they needed to be quick, that much was obvious. So they crawled onward until they were interrupted by bumping into a forcefield. Muldaur sighed as he reached around for his tricorder. "Forcefield," he said. He pulled a control panel from the wall and interfaced it with it, using the captain's command codes to drop the fields for the rest of the tube. "We need to move," he said, resuming his crawl, concerned that they would be able to reinstate the fields before they got to where they were going.

She was good at following orders. Shaking a little less Kiri did as she was told, how could she not? Following the man in front of her she tried to work out where they were. The numbers on the walls meant they were on deck four, they hadn't gone up or down. But what were they going to do to her? Where they going to take her away like the Captain had been? Would they hurt her and kill her? Would they try and rescue her? As long as Manead was safe it was okay, right? Sniffling she kept shuffling her knees starting to bruise from the speed.

Crawling as fast as possible, Muldaur led Cho and Corbin down the corridor. He hands and knees were starting to ache from the speed. These tubes were designed for maintainence access, not marathon crawling. "We're going through the corridor," he announced.

"Well be seen if we do that, the Jefferies tubes are the best option," Corbin said.

"True, but we're running out of time," Muldaur said back to him calmly. "We must be able to move more quickly. We are taking the corridor; I have the command codes to stop them from catching us."

Corbin didn't say anything, but somehow his silence said more than words ever could.

Muldaur reached the nearest exit point and removed the panel. He checked to make sure that the corridors were clear, and they were, so he crawled out and stood upright with his phaser at the ready. Behind him came Cho and Agent Corbin. There was no time to waste; the shuttlebay wasn't far, especially if they made toward it at a jog.

Kiri stood up and leant against the wall for a moment, trying to catch her breath. Everything seemed to be happening so fast, now what? Should she try and run away, they'd shoot her, then they'd kill Maenad. Shaking still she did as she told but she was hardly a good jogger in her prime.

"Come on," Corbin grabbed the science officer's arm and roughed her up, dragging her behind him. Muldaur was far ahead, not paying attention to how far Cho's little rest had separated them from him.

But Corbin noticed something move behind him, near a junction several sections to his rear in the corridor. It was a security detail. They had been found; Cho was baggage, slowing him down. As he saw it, there were two options: he could have ditched her right there and sprinted to Muldaur on his own, or he could try to stop them by laying down some covering fire. He chose to fire.

A sustained burst from his phaser shot out over Kiri's shoulder from the end of the phaser Corbin had withdrawn from beneath his uniform's jacket. It was set to maximum stun, and at this moment he wasn't aiming to hit, but to scare. The shot whizzed by the lead's head and erupted a burst of sparks and smoke from the wall beside him. Corbin took several more shots to similar effect, meanwhile pressing onward with his prisoner. His shooting kept the security team at bay while he made further progress, but in the process he had lost sight of his partner, Agent Muldaur.

Shuttlebay

Muldaur came to the magnetically sealed blast doors that led into the shuttlebay, which had also been contained by a forcefield. Muldaur grinned to himself, thinking that this might be a chore if it weren't for the command codes he had so fortunately acquired on account of a careless captain. The Galileo's misfortune was SFI's gain. Quickly, like he had in the Jefferies tubes, Muldaur interfaces his tricorder into computer terminal beside the shuttlebay doors. Within moments, the field had gone down and the doors separated.

The sound of phaser fire could be heard behind him, but that was no doubt coming from Corbin and the girl. He looked once over his shoulder, programming the doors to open only in the presence of Cho's commbadge. If Corbin didn't have Cho, he wouldn't get into the shuttlebay, and everyone knew what that meant.

"Corbin, board the Type-9 shuttlecraft when you get here," said Muldaur into his commbadge as he opened the rear door. "You have five minutes, or I'm leaving without you." He ended the signal, boarded the shuttle, and began the launch sequence.

Corridor

Kiri felt like her chest was going to explode, half sobbing she dragged and pushed. There was phaser fire all around her and it half felt like she was the one being shot at. There was a blow to the back of her neck at one point that staggered her along, she should do something, try to stop him. Even lifting her arms was almost impossible though, let alone struggling with a man twice her size.

Further slowing him down by not moving fast enough was lagging Corbin behind at a much faster rate than he thought possible. Pulling the science officer along as he returned fire, dodging into bulkheads and a few times having to use her as a hostage was beginning to concern him. But, somehow, he made it to the shuttlebay and stepped inside with Cho still in his possession. The shuttle was only a few metres away and their escape would be complete.

It was now that Kiri realised what they were going to do with her. They weren't just holding her as protection or to break into a computer or just get information. They were going to take her away, then... She tried to pull away for all the good it did her. It didn't even make a different from being dragged alone. Her voice wouldn't come to scream and her legs were all but giving way.

[OFF]

Donovan Muldaur
SFI Agent
Starfleet Intelligence

Richard Corbin
SFI Agent
Starfleet Intelligence

Lieutenant (JG) Kiri Cho
Assistant Chief Science Officer
USS Galileo

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