Date: Tue, 27 Feb 1996 22:00:06 -0500 (EST)
From: Echo <srati@indiana.edu>
Subject: USS OBERON: Revenge is Best Served Cold
"Arriving in Rehaul System," Iona announced from the helm. She
glanced over her nav console and then checked several functions she had
piped from the Science Station. Iona had difficulty completely trusting
someone to do her job, even if she had volunteered to surrender it.
Thomas stood up. "On screen."
For a moment, everyone forgot the cramped tension they had felt
on the bridge for too long and focused their attention to the viewscreen.
The planet was cold, forbidding, and desolate, even at this distance.
The two small metal craft glinted in the star's light.
"I'm detecting two D-warp shuttlecraft in orbit around the
planet," Iona reported, looking over her sensor readings.
"There are no life signs," Richard added dispassionately.
Surprised, Iona checked the science functions she had piped over and
found the same.
"He's here," Adam said through gritten teeth. "I can feel him."
With anyone else, this statement could be dismissed as obsession, but
everyone (with the exception of Gwenyth Cochrane) knew to take Adam Crown
seriously.
"Can you pinpoint where?" Thomas asked.
"On the planet, someplace," Adam replied, concentrating. "I
can't get much of a location, though." Gwenyth looked up from her
station, watching intently.
"Should we do anything about the shuttlecraft?" Iona asked.
"There could be clues left behind. For one thing, we could get details
from the nav computers-- Parker couldn't have brought both of them here.
He must have an accomplice."
"If I could venture a suggestion," Richard interjected quietly,
"Parker is a devious man. I would not suggest anyone transport aboard
either of those vessels. If we pick them up with the tractor beam and
bring them into the shuttlebay, we could scan them and disable any
traps."
"Bring them aboard?" Thomas mused. Richard had a point. "It
might be safer that way, but if Parker is so devious then it could be
dangerous to bring one of the shuttlecraft too close to the ship."
"Any kind of trap is going to need some kind of external
trigger," Iona pointed out. "If we keep the shuttlecraft in vaccum
while we're examining it and jam the proximity detectors, we should be
safe from any kind of automatically triggered defense."
Thomas thought for a moment, the pressure of authority weighing
down on him. Then he turned to Adam. "What do you think, FO?" he asked
a little wryly.
Adam shrugged. "I don't think we have a whole lot of choice. I
can feel him, but we can't exactly scour the whole surface of the
planet... and whatever he's doing is shielding him from our sensors.
Either we find some clue from what he's left behind-- which won't be
much-- or we wait until he does something. I don't want to bet how
long that will be."
"Well, I guess we do it then," Thomas agreed.
Iona met Thomas' eyes and nodded reassuringly. Then she turned
back to her console. "There appears to be some kind of signal emminating
from the shuttlecraft closest to us. It could be some kind of beacon.
I'm targetting that one. Is that satisfactory?"
"Proceed," Thomas replied.
"Aye, sir. Engaging tractor beam."
"I'm sending a message to the shuttle bay team to notify them
that the bay is to be depressurized and quarantined," Gwenyth Cochrane
reported from Operations. Thomas, Adam, and Iona turned in surprise.
They had almost forgotten she was there.
"Quite satisfactory," Thomas acknowledged.
On the viewscreen, the blue tractor beam cut across the black
starfield and engulfed the small D-warp shuttle. Under Iona's guidance,
it began coasting gently toward the OBERON. "Richard, can you decode
those signals it's emitting?" she prompted, though she was already
running tests from the helm and had made no progress yet.
"Commencing attempts at decryption," Richard returned. "It
appears to be audio only." He pressed a key on his console, and the
quiet nonsensical sounds drifted onto the bridge. Richard, unnoticed by
the rest of the crew, stiffened slightly.
... the Human half of his mind gave over to impressed, appalled
understanding as the signals triggered hidden programs in his computer
half. He understood at last why he had been left behind, what purpose he
had been slated to serve in Parker's plan, and how adeptly he had fallen
into that plan. But it was too late now, much too late ...
"The shuttlecraft has now been set down in the shuttlebay," Iona
reported.
"Reports from shuttlebay indicate that there are no defenses that
could be triggered by pressurization or proximity," Lt Cochrane added.
"They are pressurizing down and preparing to board."
Thomas sighed. "Well, we can only be so careful before we start
falling over ourselves," he said. "Tell them to proceed."
Richard, despite the silent, futile protests of his Human half,
pressed a few keys on his console. A very precise pattern of signals
was sent into the shuttlebay... just as, beneath them on the shuttlebay
deck, the operative opened the door of the craft.
***KABLAM!***
The explosion rocked the ship, upending it's inertia and tossing
it out of orbit. The bridge crew were thrown to the floor before the
inertial dampeners could compensate. Iona, well trained in falling
during her performing days, was first to jump up and grab the nav helm.
"I'm pulling us back into orbit!" she shouted.
"What was that?" Adam and Thomas cried out together, accented by
Adam's cry as Richard tackled him from behind. The cyborg, part machine,
was heavy and strong -- Adam felt pain lancing through his torso, perhaps
from broken ribs.
"The shuttlecraft exploded. I don't know how--- ADAM!" Iona
cried.
Richard found himself blinded by a warm fuzzy thing is his face.
He released Adam, who took the moment to pull himself away, grabbed at
his face, and threw. Descartes squeeled, crushed against the wall of the
bridge, and fell silent.
Iona cried out incoherently.
Richard picked himself up, advancing on Adam. "I'm sorry," he
said quietly. "So sorry..."
Iona made to run in the direction, whether to Adam or Descartes
was unclear, but something caught her eye. The science functions she
had routed to the nav console... some gasseous substance, originating in
the shuttlebay, expanding throught ventilations shafts to the bridge...
the science computer had indentified it.
"The ventilation shafts!" she screamed.
"THE FATALOXIN!!"
Respectfully Submitted,
Susan Rati
Lt. Iona Zinoviev
CSciO, USS OBERON
NRPG: OK... We haven't even found Parker yet! Sorry for the delay, but
between RL and my new New Brittany world DragonLands going from 3
characters to 12, I've been a bit swamped :).
__
/__\
(`__') I am known by many names: Aiel, Arandolen, Christalla,
\ / Echo, Grace, Iona, Leia, Mala, Suzanne, Unole, Zack,
/_/_ srati@ucs.indiana.edu, CS Student, SF Fan, Babylon(5)ian
(____) Visit me: http://ezinfo.ucs.indiana.edu/~srati/
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