Chapter 7 - Choices Of Apparent Necessity
The very next moment, Jack nearly jumped out of his skin as the alert klaxon blared loud enough to hurt his ears.
Hank quickly touched a control on his desk. "Evans here!"
It was the voice of one of his guards, Tommy. "Hank, that Dasari girl has escaped!"
"How?!" Hank insisted as Jack made his way to the door. "Hold up, Jack," Hank told him.
"It was the damnedest thing I..."
"Come on, Tommy!" Hank demanded.
"She just sank into the floor! It was as if the deck turned to water!"
Hank looked up at Jack. "Remind you of the door to that G'voda ship?"
"So let's go get her!"
Hank touched several more controls on his desk. "I'm not playing her game, Jack. She wants us to go running out after her."
Jack walked over to the desk as Evans pulled out two phasers, handing one to Jack.
"Because I knew if she escaped we wouldn't be able to track the little brat, I asked the computer to keep track of other things," he explained, turning to a wall display that became active.
"Such as?" Jack asked.
"Such as..." Hank said as he ran his finger down a list of items. "This! A turbolift travelling to Deck Thirteen without an occupant!"
"Dasari!"
"And," Hank continued. "The doors to one of the medical labs just opened."
"Without anyone there I assume," Jack said as the two of them headed for the exit.
"I knew there was reason you got to sit in the big chair," Hank chuckled.
***
Doctor Preston's head jerked away from the scanner he had been peering into just a moment before.
"Impossible," he whispered as he turned to a nearby display and touched several controls. "Tell me I'm seeing things, computer."
"Analysis verified," the computer told him. "Subject sample matches..."
A hand reached from behind Preston and touched the display, discharging a flash of energy. The computer went silent as the display darkened.
Preston spun about and looked up. "You!"
"Hello, Doctor," Ahwi Dasari said. She raised her hand up to Preston's forehead. "I'm afraid you need to forget about what you've just seen."
"I know who you..." Preston started, but a flash of energy from a small device on Ahwi's wrist cut off what he was going to say. His face became calm.
Ahwi pulled the chair the doctor sat in away from where he was working. "You just sit here and relax."
Preston closed his eyes and began to snore.
His assailant moved over to the computer the doctor had been working at and went to work herself. She removed a small device from her bodysuit and attached it to the display. A list of medical records appeared, then one by one faded away.
"Computer," Ahwi said. "Present location of Chamberlain security personnel?"
"On duty or off?" the computer inquired.
Ahwi rolled her eyes. "On duty, stupid!"
"Three contingents have just arrived on Deck Thirteen."
"Show me at this display," she said.
On the display where the list of items had just vanished appeared a map of Deck Thirteen. Three groups of red dots were moving toward a central location--- hers.
"Time to go," she said as she took the small device off the display and back onto her armor.
She held up her right forearm and a display activated, showing lists of various information.
She frowned. "They increased orbit... damn." She touched a control. The current display faded and a new one with the word, "Recharging" appeared. Under the word was a timer running down from four minutes.
"This should be fun," she said, approaching the exit.
Out in the corridor, Hank Evans and ten security guards, armed with phaser rifles, stood about twenty feet away from the lab door.
Ahwi stepped through the doorway and the guards raised their weapons.
"Lie down on the deck, now!" Hank shouted, pointing his hand phaser her direction.
Ahwi smiled as she touched a spot on her arm. A slight hum filled the air around her.
"If you don't mind, I'd like to go that way," she said.
Hank grinned. "I'm afraid I can't do that."
"So I should surrender?" she asked, still smiling.
"No, don't bother," Hank said. A second later he fired his phaser at her midsection.
The blast struck Ahwi's armor, but she remained standing. A second later, smiling wider than before, she started walking toward Hank and his men, inviting a confrontation.
"Stun setting," Hank ordered his men. "Fire!"
The phaser blasts stuck Ahwi Dasari's body armor, but didn't touch her or stop her forward progress toward the Chamberlain's security personnel.
Two seconds later, something did stop her forward movement. The air in front of her flared brightly as one of the ship's security confinement fields came to life.
Hank smiled. "That should hold her."
Ahwi shook her head. Her fingers tapped several controls on the display unit on her left forearm.
She started forward again. The field flared as before, but this time, Ahwi passed through it as easily as she did the air.
"Increase power setting," Hank ordered. "Fire!"
Again, the same.
Hank frowned. "Well, she hasn't left us much choice. Batons!"
Each of the security officers put their phaser rifles down and pulled from their belts, pitch black, metal riot batons. Most of them had never used them in an actual situation before. However, they all had trained with them after becoming part of Hank Evans' security department.
"Take her," Hank said.
The security guards sprung into action. The shield which had blocked the phaser fire was tuned to high energy weapons and not physical objects, as the first blow to Ahwi's midsection proved. However, her body armor protected her from the worst of its effects. She didn't allow another to strike her.
She turned the guard who had struck her, and shoved him into three others, knocking them all to the ground. Two other guards swung their batons, but Ahwi bent over to avoid the blows.
Falling to the ground, she spun about, tripping one guard while punching another in the gut. Both hit the deck a moment later.
"Six down," she said as she leaped up to the ceiling.
Hank and the four guards left standing looked upward.
Ahwi's feet landed on the ceiling.
"Sorry, guys," she said with a grin. "But I can't stay and play anymore."
She ran along the ceiling, past Hank and his men as they attempted to strike her.
Hank touched his comm badge. "Team two, she's on her way."
Hank and the others took off in pursuit.
Tommy and his group saw the small figure running toward them, but not where they expected.
"I don't think so," Tommy said as he took aim with his phaser rifle.
The blast from the weapon stuck the ceiling just a few feet ahead of Ahwi, sending a shower of sparks down. A moment later, Ahwi fell to the floor.
"Nice trick," Tommy said. "She's inverting the gravity generators from the deck above. "Batons!"
Three of Tommy's men rushed at her, batons swinging. Two went at her, but the third, seeing she was leaping into the air, hit the floor and slid to the other side of her.
As she came down from her leap, her foot kicked outward and hit one of the guards, sending him to the floor. She caught the other's baton, and yanking him toward her, switched places with him so that the man behind her struck his comrade instead.
Hank and the four men with him ran along the corridor on Deck Fourteen after having leaped out of a turbolift.
"What the hell are we doing?" one of them asked, trying to keep up.
"She's headed a specific direction," Hank said. "My guess is an airlock. We're going to cut her off."
They reached a gangway ladder and all climbed upward as Hank hit his comm badge.
"Teams three and four, seems she's headed to somewhere on the port side," Hank said. "Get into position."
Standing over all the members of Tommy's team, Ahwi looked at the display on her arm again. The timer was down to two minutes.
"Come on! Recharge damn it!" she yelled as she took off running down the corridor again.
***
Another security alert sounded within the brig area. Trying to find out what their fellow security personnel were up to, the four guards present listened over the comm. None of them noticed their prisoner stand.
A whisper, "No…"
Deep within the G'voda mechanism, instructions which had awaited an opportunity took action. Silently, the mind Akala Wilmarza had probed hours before, lost control of the body it inhabited. Not in all the collected memories it held from Mei-Wan McCall's life had she felt so afraid, and so unable to control her own actions. Now, the cold imperatives of orders placed within the very structure of the metal body overruled loyalty, emotion, and even love.
Now there was only, Thou shalt.
Its eyes changed from glowing red to bright blue. It stepped into the security field. A feedback of energy from the machine caused the field emitters at the entrance of the cell to overload and deactivate.
The four guards quickly had action of their own, but not for very long.
***
Ahwi battled another group of Hank Evan's security personnel in a narrow, outer corridor of Deck Thirteen.
She dispatched them handily with about as much concern as a kid on a playground would have toward spending time on a set of swings. While it was a game for Ahwi, for Hank Evans' security crew, it was deadly serious. They had to stop this young woman and they were damn well determined to do it.
However, no one in this group remained standing after thirty seconds had passed.
Ahwi started forward, but stopped as she saw Hank Evans and his gang of four arrive.
"How'd you get here?" she asked as she walked toward them.
Neither Hank nor his men took the time to answer. Their only response was to rush forward.
But for the four men with Hank it had been a mistake.
In a fury of motion, Ahwi's hand struck one guard's neck, another's midsection, the third's kneecap, and the fourth enjoyed the pain of a broken nose. All four hit the floor within three seconds of each other.
Hank who had held back because of lack of room, stood his ground.
"Let's dance, little girl," he said with a sneer.
He swung his baton with one hand, but as she dodged it, Hank sent his leg out with a kick. Ahwi countered that with a blow to his shin, but Hank followed through with his baton, striking her shoulder.
Ahwi winced in pain, but didn't pull back.
"Who'd you train with, girl? Klingons?" Hank asked as he swung his arms about and moved to kick her legs out from under her.
Ahwi leaped into the air, somersaulted past Hank to reach for his neck, but he spun about to face her before she could grab him.
"Klingons are pathetic," she said, pushing off against a wall and kicking at him.
Her leg caught Hank before he could move out of the way, knocking him to the floor.
She stood over him. "They're too willing to die for hopeless causes."
Hank reached for her feet, but she jumped into the air and over him as he stood up. This time she got her arms around his neck and held him.
"I don't fight unless I know I can kick ass, old man," she stated with a wide smile.
Hank threw himself back, slamming Ahwi against a wall. He took advantage of her momentary pain to flip her small form over his shoulder. She landed a few feet away on the deck.
"I doubt there'll be any ass kicking by you today, little girl," Hank said with a note of satisfaction.
He took a step toward her, but she rolled across the floor and away from him. A moment later she was back on her feet and punched Hank in the stomach three times almost knocking him off his feet.
"Oh really?" Ahwi said smiling as she jumped up and kicked Hank backward away from her.
He fell to the floor on one knee as Ahwi stepped close.
Hank looked up and saw the glee on the young woman's face. He had no interest in a jovial attitude this day.
"Okay, girl," he spat. "The hell with regulations. You're mine."
Hank swung his arm around. Ahwi barely moved in time. His knuckles breezed past only a few millimeters from her nose.
She leaped up and over him, but Hank was prepared this time. He reached up and grabbed her arm. He held it only momentarily, but it broke her movement, sending Ahwi crashing into the corridor wall. He was determined to send her either back to the brig, or if need be, to the ship's morgue.
Ahwi winced in pain, but didn't take the time to indulge it. She spun over to face her nearing opponent and swung her leg out to trip him.
Hank blocked her leg and reached down, but her other leg was already on its way toward his skull. He quickly leaned back to avoid getting his braincase smacked.
Hank grabbed her leg, pulling her toward him. He reached down and wrapped his arm around her neck.
Ahwi could feel his grip tightening. She knew she had only two seconds before her neck snapped. She guessed it would be the last thing she'd ever hear.
Instead of panicking, Ahwi took in what breath she could and lifted her leg up and struck Hank's knee. His arm loosened just enough for her to slip free. She fell to the floor, but realized this fight was no longer a game. Hank Evans was determined to kill her.
Ahwi used Hank's focus on defense to get to her feet. However, she hadn't anticipated his next move.
Hank's fist came around. Though it was only a glancing blow its effect was certain.
Ahwi's glee was gone.
Hank Evans could tell her youthful arrogance would no longer annoy him. Unfortunately what it was replaced by he liked even less.
Ahwi glared at him as a trickle of blood escaped her lower lip. She spun her leg around high in the air to hit his head, but at the last moment, she pulled it back before Hank could countermove. Instead, her fists struck him in the midsection knocking him back fifteen feet to the deck.
Hank tried to breathe, but a sharp pain shot through his gut preventing it for the moment. He looked up and saw Ahwi leap the distance between them high into the air. He tried to lift his legs to block her, but he was in far too much pain to get them up in time.
Ahwi arrived on top of his chest and landed a solid blow to his face. Hank fought the fog of unconsciousness, but wasn't sure how long he could keep it up. However, the look he saw on her face, now two inches from his own, indicated the question might be moot.
Ahwi pulled her fist back again, but held it. "I didn't come here to kill anyone, old man, but if you insist..."
The display on her forearm chirped, but she stayed focused on her prey.
Hank finally pulled a breath into his lungs, but the pain threatened to make him scream.
I'll be damned if I give this bitch the satisfaction, he thought as he finally noticed the look of death in her eyes. It was the look of someone prepared to take a life--- the look of someone who knew how to with cold efficiency.
Hank Evans closed his eyes. He knew the fight belonged to Ahwi along with his life.
She looked away from Hank, hearing footsteps from around the corner. Ahwi looked back down at him and shook her head.
A moment later she leaped into the air off of Hank and made a mid-air somersault that ended with her standing on the deck and running away from Hank.
Jack came around the corner with five security guards just as Hank looked up. All of them watched as Ahwi continued her pace toward the bulkhead.
Jack took aim with his phaser. "Stop!"
As his finger moved to depress the trigger, his eyes widened as Ahwi Dasari leaped at the wall in front of her.
Ahwi's hand touched a control on her arm and a moment later, she passed through the hull of the ship.
She was gone.
"Bridge!" Jack yelled into the intercom system. "Scan for a ship on the port side of Deck Thirteen!"
After ten seconds, Lak Negev's voice came back, "I'm sorry, Captain, but there's no sign of a vessel."
Jack walked over to Hank, offering him a hand to his feet.
Hank refused. Fighting back immense pain, he stood on his own. He was sure he had a few broken ribs and possibly a ruptured spleen. He'd have about five minutes to get to sickbay before he collapsed. He wasn't about to let that happen.
"You okay?" Jack asked.
"Nothing Preston can't fix," Hank replied in a thin voice.
***
At the helm of a small spacecraft, bathed in the glow of blue lights, Ahwi looked out the forward windows as the Chamberlain slid past. But rather than being full of triumph over her escape, her face told a different tale.
She was near tears.
"I failed... him," she whispered.
***
Back on Deck Thirteen of the Chamberlain, Jack noticed Hank having trouble standing.
"You should sit down," Jack chided.
"I'm fine," Hank announced as he held his side.
Suddenly, the intercom came to life with the voice of the computer.
"Intruder Alert! Intruder in Main Engineering."
"She's in engineering!" Jack shouted, starting to run. He tapped his comm badge. "Melissa, get your security team to main engineering!"
Hank started to say something, but the pain was finally too much. He slid down the wall to the deck, wincing from the attempt to breathe.
Then, just as suddenly. "Intruder Alert cancelled," the computer announced.
Jack stopped. "Computer, who cancelled the intruder alert?"
"No one. Intruder no longer in engineering."
Jack thought a moment. "Computer, list everyone present in engineering."
"Twenty three engineering personnel, Chief Engineer, Kristen Bishop. All unconscious. And there is one unidentified individual."
"The intruder," Jack said, restarting his run to the turbolift. "Melissa, the intruder has disabled the alert. Get down there and stop Dasari!"
***
Two minutes later, Jack sped into main engineering to find Melissa and her team pinned down behind a corner by sporadic phaser blasts.
"It's not Dasari," Melissa said.
Jack peered around the corner and saw the mechanical form that he was certain contained the consciousness of his wife. "Mei?"
Turning about, its eyes glowing bright blue, the figure pointed a phaser his direction.
"Jack, please... kill me!" the electronic voice begged.
"Stop this, Mei!"
"I can't!"
"Mei," he said, stepping around the corner. "You can fight this."
"I'm a machine, Jack... I can't fight this programming," her voice cried. "You have to kill me."
"No..." he turned to Melissa Vargas. "Computer, this is Captain Jack McCall. Initiate self-destruct sequence."
"Computer, this is Lieutenant Commander Melissa Vargas, I concur--- initiate self-destruct sequence," his operations officer added.
"Captain Jack McCall and Lieutenant Commander Melissa Vargas, confirmed. Standing by for self-destruct codes."
"Stop this Mei!" he told the machine. "I'll destroy the ship before I let you take it."
"I know you won't do that, Jack--- this machine knows you won't. If you can't kill me, then how can you kill a crew of three thousand?"
Jack looked at Melissa and shook his head. He saw Kristen Bishop's unconscious body lying near where the machine stood. She must have shut down the warp drive just before being shot, because the warp core sat dark and quiet.
"Get everyone to the escape pods before I get the warp drive back online, please... they can get away," the voice of Mei-Wan McCall said as the hands of the mechanical body continued working at the warp controls.
Ten seconds later, the machine's hands dropped away from the controls. "I've established a subspace link with your computers," the electronic voice stated. "The ship is mine."
"Why, Mei? Why do they want this ship?" he asked trying to play for time.
"The Vedala shields… the G'voda want to study them, learn from them."
Jack knew he couldn't let that happen. He didn't know how the Vedala fit into this, but he knew those shields might be their only hope of surviving what he suspected were likely encounters with the G'voda.
"All hands abandon ship!" Jack ordered over the intercom. "This is Captain McCall, all hands to the escape pods!"
A moment later, the alert klaxon sounded.
"All hands to the escape pods! This is no drill!" came Lak Negev's voice from the bridge.
Jack looked at Melissa who smiled weakly.
"That may have bought us a few minutes," Melissa said. "But what next?"
"Go, Jack. You and Melissa have to leave!" the machine told them.
"You know I can't do that, Mei. I can't let you take this ship. The crew will all be away in a few minutes."
The machine's metal hand jerked and took aim.
"Look out, Jack!" she screamed before firing.
Fortunately her warning gave both Jack and Melissa just enough time to take cover. The phaser blast struck a section of wall, leaving a smoldering five inch hole.
"Mei, fight it! If you can warn me, you can resist it!"
"No… I can't," she cried. "You have to break the subspace link with the ship. You have to kill me, Jack."
"No," Melissa whispered as her heart refused to accept what her mind already knew.
"Fire your weapon at the exposed parts of my skull," the machine pleaded. "The energy should pierce the metal."
"I can't do that, Mei!" Jack yelled.
"Yes you can my love… You're human. You have a choice."
Jack closed his eyes. How could he kill what was left of the woman he loved? How could he bring himself to hurt her?
"I'm betraying everything and everyone I ever cared about. I'm already dead, Jack. Release me from this hell!"
"There has to be another way!" Jack pleaded.
"There is… let me go, Jack. The woman you love doesn't exist anymore. Let me go..."
Jack McCall watched as the nearby warp core in engineering flared to life. In less than a minute it would deliver the energy necessary to the nacelles to propel the ship at warp velocities.
He knew his options were few. As soon as the crew were all away, he could self-destruct the ship, or destroy the machine trying to take it. Either way, she would be gone.
"We're going to Nybiros, Captain. I am taking this ship to the G'voda," the machine spoke with a cruelty Jack McCall had never expected to hear in the voice of his beloved Mei-Wan.
Then another of the ship's warp cores roared to life. The sounds of multiple systems engaging filled the engineering area.
"Let me go, Jack," came the soft, calm voice above the din from yet another warp core. That voice retained just enough humanity to still be recognizable as Mei-Wan McCall.
Still another warp core came to life, and another. All eight were now functioning.
The howl of matter and antimatter annihilating each other filled the engineering section of the Chamberlain with the deafening cacophony of released primal energies searching for release.
Jack McCall stood to his feet.
He took aim.
"No, Captain!" Melissa cried out. "Jack, no!"
"Forgive me, Mei," Jack said through falling tears.
He fired.
The phaser blast struck the machine's head, making it stagger a moment.
"NO!" Melissa screamed.
Jack fired again, striking the machine's skull a second time.
"NO! STOP!" Melissa cried out as she ran to her captain.
Jack fired a third blast. This time metal split and exploded outward, sending shards of debris scattering across the floor of main engineering.
The body of the machine fell to its knees.
Melissa Vargas did the same. "No," she whispered, tears streaming from her eyes as a part of her died with the smoking mechanism several yards away.
Jack lowered his weapon, contemplating for a moment turning the device on his own head, but that moment passed quickly. He had done what he had to. His ship and crew were safe.
But that thought didn't change how he felt.
I've killed her.
