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A moment later, the doors slid apart, revealing a by-now-familiar gray and black decor. The engine room contained a surprising number of working consoles, all of which reflected the pale green glare of the bulkhead globes.

However, there was no one at the consoles that we could see no one to greet us or ask us in.

Astellanax seemed undaunted by the fact. He started for the entrance until I grabbed him by the arm.

“Wait a minute,” I whispered. “What if this is a trap like the other one? What if the enemy is waiting for us inside?”

Murrif seemed less than impressed with the possibility. “If it’s a trap,” he said, “they don’t seem very eager for us to enter it. The engineers made us give them the password, didn’t they?”

“It could be they’re just playing their parts,” I pointed out.

“It could be,” Astellanax echoed thoughtfully. “But our people weren’t under any pressure to respond to my signal. It’s not as if the Cardassians would’ve known I was sending it.”

I bit my lip, wishing there were a way to allay my fears. “I don’t suppose there’s a countercode?” I asked.

The first officer looked at me with just a hint of a smile. “Next time,” he said.

“I’ve got an idea,” said Dunwoody. “I’ll go in and check things out. If there’s a problem, you’ll know it.”

“What if they threaten your life?” asked Murrif.

Dunwoody eyed him. “They’ll have to make good on their threat. I’d die before I’d let them use me the way they used the others.”

Sturgis glanced expectantly at the first officer. “Sounds like a plan to me,” he said.

Astellanax considered the offer as well as the man who had made it. “All right,” he said at last. “Go ahead, Mr. Dunwoody. And good luck.”

With that wish on his side and little else, Dunwoody made his way down the corridor and walked through the open doors into engineering. He turned to someone we couldn’t see, waved, then turned back to us.

“It’s all right,” he called. “There’s no one here but”

Before the fellow could get the next word out, a couple of Cardassians materialized behind him. Sensing that something was amiss, he whirled and fired his phaser at them.

One Cardassian went sprawling, propelled by the force of Dunwoody’s beam. But the other invader was already taking aim at him.

“Watch out!” I cried, and fired.

It wasn’t the cleanest shot I had ever made, but it had the desired effect. The Cardassian spun about, his weapon falling from his hand.

Cursing, knowing how close he had come to death, Dunwoody leveled his phaser at the Cardassian but his hand was trembling so badly, his beam missed by several inches. It was only with his second shot that the man hammered his adversary senseless.

Suddenly, the Oord bellowed a warning. Turning, I saw a group of Cardassians materializing in the corridor behind us.

“Quick!” Astellanax cried. “Into the engine room!”

But there were Cardassians materializing there as well. I saw Dunwoody retreat from my view, presumably to join a clutch of engineers already holed up behind their consoles.

I hesitated just long enough to consider our options. The Orion’s advice still seemed to make sense. Engineering remained a key to control of the ship and it was easier to defend than an open corridor.

Firing at the Cardassians behind me to keep them at bay, I made for the open doors of the engine room. So did Astellanax, Sturgis, and Murrif, and with equal haste.

Only the Oord stayed behind. Battered shoulder and all, he stood his ground, giving the rest of us time to escape.

It was a suicide stand the Oord had to have known that. But he stood there anyway, firing his phaser with deadly accuracy into the oncoming ranks of the enemy. As we charged into engineering, I heard a sound that could only have been the Oord’s body hitting the deck.

At that point, I was too much in the thick of the conflict to mourn my comrade. The engine room was full of Cardassians perhaps twenty in all, none of them eager to give up their foothold. They sent a barrage