Broken Bow - Diane Carey [41]
In his periphery he saw a movement on the ceiling and flinched. Only a shot of steam from a crack.
Temporal cold war ...
Sarin turned fully to face him, now firm with conviction. If she had harbored any doubts, they were gone.
“We can help you find Klaang,” she said quickly. “But we don’t have a starship. You’ll have to take us with you!”
A blinding flash of blue light discharged between them. A computer station at Archer’s elbow exploded into shards and drove him sideways. He reached for Sarin and pulled her out of the blast area.
Another weapon blast struck even closer. Two Suliban skittered across the ceiling, firing weapons at them!
It didn’t take a genius to understand that the secret base had been breached and these weren’t the same two Suliban who had brought him here.
Sarin’s Suliban came streaking in from a doorway, firing as they ran, but the other Suliban seemed to have physical advantages. They skimmed the walls and ceiling like insects.
All hell broke loose. Archer dragged Sarin toward the way they’d come in, assuming she would have the sense to lead him out through those tubes—
“Get us out!” Archer choked.
In fact, she had a shortcut. Five seconds later, they were out in the main access level, being sprayed by geothermals and burned by the fritzing electrical screen that blocked off the Enterprise landing party. Behind them, the battle raged—Suliban against Suliban.
One of Sarin’s operatives fell dead just inches behind Archer, while the other exchanged hand-weapon fire with the two attackers. Sarin raised a weapon now that Archer hadn’t even known she possessed, and began returning fire, blocking blast after blast that might’ve taken Archer’s head off.
Sarin’s other operative followed them out, rushing frantically along a bridge, firing as he went. He blasted one of the two attackers, but was caught in crossfire and killed by the second invader.
That left Archer and Sarin on their own—and Archer had no weapon! His team was armed, but they couldn’t get through the force field. He had to break that force field!
The Suliban attacker, the remaining one, had the same idea. He drove Archer and Sarin into hiding with his wild firing, then opened on the force field with the Enterprise crewmen behind it. They dove for cover, but there wasn’t any. All they could do was crouch with each other as the field disrupted in blinding displays of free energy.
At Archer’s side, Sarin took the initiative and stood clear. She fired openly at the attacker’s body and blew him off his feet. With that window of opportunity, she rushed to the control panel of the force field and worked it with some kind of code.
The field fell! The crew flooded out, Tucker first. T’Pol pushed Hoshi before her.
Sarin yanked open a panel that turned out to be a locker. She started handing the crew their plasma pistols!
Archer briefly connected with Tucker—just a reassuring glance—and they were off running.
“Where is your vessel?” Sarin asked.
“On the roof! Docking port three!”
“Captain!” Hoshi cried, and pointed at the underside of a diagonal conduit high over the ground. Two more Suliban, defying gravity, crawled along the pipe!
“This way!” Sarin called.
As she led them in a completely confusing direction, one of the Suliban dropped and landed only a pace from Archer.
He lashed out, and the Suliban sprang out of reach and out of sight with a heightened agility that startled even Sarin.
But here were two more Suliban—dressed like Sarin’s associates. On our side? Yes! They were firing at the other Suliban!
How many people were in Sarin’s subversive splinter group? Right now Archer wanted dozens, hundreds.
Flashes of weapons fire illuminated the distance. The Starfleet team plowed forward after Sarin, ducking and running, navigating the wild jungle of pipes and buttresses.
Sarin reached a massive vertical tube, hit a control, and opened a hatch that Archer was relieved to see, because there was no way to