Reunion - Michael Jan Friedman [31]
The ground rushed up to meet him, and he found himself at the brink of a steaming hole. A moment later, Skullface was on top of him, bringing his ax up for the killing blow—comand Worf had lost his staff when he fell. Still dazed, he forced himself to reach up and grab his enemy’s arms.
It worked-but only for a moment. Then his enemy’s superior leverage began to take its toll.
As he forced the ax blade down toward the Klingon’s throat, Skullface grinned. Behind him, the furred one and the Bandalik looked on eagerly, waiting to finish Worf off if Skullface failed….
Unfortunately for O’Brien, Resnick wasn’t home. He called her on the ship’s intercom.
“You did invite me over?” he asked. “I mean, I wasn’t dreaming it, was I?”
Resnick cursed softly. “Sorry, Miles.” She apologized profusely for having drawn an unexpected shift in security-and forgetting they were supposed to get together.
“I understand,” he told her. “I guess I’ll just have to find another way to pass the time.”
Making his way back down the corridor, O’Brien passed by the holodecks again-and slowed down. He had nothing else to do, he thought; a visit with old James might hit the spot. As he stopped to see if holodeck one
was still occupied, he noticed that Worf s program had escalated to Level Three.
“Hmm,” he said out loud. Straightening, he touched his communicator insignia. “O’Brien to Commander Riker.”
The response was barely a second in coming. “Riker here.” “O’Brien, sir. I know this is probably none of my business, but I saw Lieutenant Worf and Captain Mor-gen enter the holodeck together a few minutes ago-to participate in the lieutenant’s “calisthenics’ program. And just now I couldn’t help but notice that the program had been bumped up to Level Three-was
“Level Three?” Riker exploded. “”Ihm it off, O’Brien! Turn the damned thing off!”
The transporter chief took a moment to recover from the force of Riker’s reaction—but only a moment. Then he whirled and pressed the abort program area on the holodeck computer panel. Nothing happened. According to the monitor, the program was still in progress.
“It’s not working, Commander,” said O’Brien. He tried to terminate the program a second time, but with no more success. “The program won’t abort.”
“Damn it,” said the first officer. “Riker to bridge-was That was all O’Brien heard for a few moments. Then the lights went off in the vicinity of the holodecks, and with them the faint hum of the ventilation system. “O’Brien?” It was Riker again. “Aye, sir?” “We’ve cut power to Deck Eleven. Can you hear anything from inside the holodeck?”
O’Brien listened. His stomach tightened.
“Nothing, Commander.”
A muffled curse. “Try to pry the doors open, Chief. There’ll be a security team there in a minute or two.” O’Brien tugged at one of the doors, knowing full well that he wouldn’t be able to budge it by himself-even with the power shut down. Of course, that didn’t stop him from giving it his best shot.
By the time the security team showed up, he’d actually created an opening the size of a hand’s-breadth. A familiar face loomed before him as other hands gripped the interlocking segments of the doors. “Fern,” he said, acknowledging her.
Resnick smiled grimly. “Any idea what happened?” He shook his head. “Just that Lieutenant Worf’s in there, and Captain Morgen as well. And they’re in some kind of trouble.”
He and Resnick strained along with the rest of the security team, but they weren’t making much progress. It seemed that the doors had moved about all they were going to.
“Everybody step back,” said Burke, the team leader. Waiting a moment while O’Brien and the others complied, he plucked his phaser off his belt, selected a setting, and trained it on one of the doors. Then he activated the thing.
The blue beam knifed out, vaporizing the duranium door in a matter of seconds. As the air filled with steam and the smell of something burning, Burke made