Kobayashi Maru - Michael A. Martin [40]
Unless he changed the rules of the game, and damned quickly.
A number of small, hard objects clattered to the labs floor, presumably after having fallen from some pocket in the womans dark, formfitting garment. Taking full advantage of the momentary distraction, Trip suddenly stopped resisting her efforts to push him backward. Her disruptor hand swung directly toward Trips face, overshooting it before she could press the trigger even as both combatants abruptly crashed to the floor.
He exploited her surprised state further by delivering a savage head butt. She dropped her weapon, though he couldnt immediately see where it had fallen. He breathed a silent “thank you to Adigeon Primes avian plastic surgeons for the durable cranial implants theyd installed in his forehead when theyd altered his appearance to enable him to pass as a Romulan.
The woman shook her head, dazed, but nevertheless tried to get her feet back under her. Rising to a crouch, Trip responded with a rabbit punch and a hard right cross in rapid succession, both of which landed squarely upon the Romulan womans face.
She fell back to the floor hard, apparently unconscious.
Trip knelt to feel about on the floor for the womans fallen disruptor, but found only a handful of data chips, apparently the objects she had dropped just before losing her weapon.
These two didnt come here just to kill Ehrehin, he thought, realization dawning on him. They wanted to steal Ehrehins files after getting rid of us.
But there was no time at the moment to consider their assailants motivations, or on whose behalf they might be acting. He groped about the dark floor for a few agonizingly long moments until he found the assassins pistol, which he immediately snatched up and brought before him in a two-handed combat grip.
The other one isnt on top of me already, Trip thought. Which has to mean that he doesnt have night-sight gear, same as his partner.
Which also meant that these people most likely werent career military personnel. They were acting on behalf of passion or politics, or perhaps simple greed.
Trip heard the sibilance of another disruptor blast, accompanied by a momentary nimbus of light that originated from the opposite side of the room. He caught sight of the shooters silhouette and took aim just as another searing bolt of energy tore through the cabinet beside him, reducing it to a collapsing heap of burning shards. He hit the floor in a diving shoulder roll, hanging on to the disruptor pistol like the precious lifeline it had become. He rolled up into a crouch and kicked over one of the worktables before him, sending a computer terminal and several stacks of paper flying. He immediately opened fire from behind the cover hed just created.
Trips weapon illuminated the room just long enough to confirm that he had indeed hit his target, taking the shooter full in the chest. He ran to a control pad that was mounted on a nearby wall and quickly activated the labs emergency backup lights.
A voice croaked weakly from somewhere behind him, down low. “Cunaehr.
“Sit tight, Doctor, Trip said as he hastened to disarm both attackers, confirming their condition in the process. The man hed just shot sported a disruptor burn that had thoroughly cooked every organ in his chest, killing him instantly. Damn these bastards for not believing in the “stun setting, he thought, not for the first time since his arrival in Romulan space. Although he knew full well that the gunman had left him little choice, he nevertheless couldnt deny the guilt he felt in situations