Survivors - Jean Lorrah [41]
“Form a circle!” Dare instructed at once. Not even Captain Jarvis questioned the order, and they were all at the perimeter of the bridge when a knot of Orions appeared in the middle. With a cold smile, Dare was the first to fire, but the rest of the bridge crew were not far behind, and the boarding party fell as fast as it materialized.
For a few glorious moments, Yar thought that the crew of the Starbound might yet drive off the pirates.
But Orions were materializing everywhere now, and still coming steadily through the shuttle bay. And where they entered, they killed.
On the monitors, the bridge crew followed the progress of a contingent of Orions toward the bridge. As the enemy approached, the Starfleet members prepared. They had locked the doors to the corridor, of course, but it didn’t take long for a barrage of phaser and disruptor fire to melt them away. Orions surged onto the bridge.
Sheltering behind the central consoles, the bridge crew gave a good accounting, but without full weaponry they had no chance. Henderson went down, then Captain Jarvis. Chief Engineer Nichols swore loudly as he drilled one of the Orions full center in his breastplate-but his voice cut off abruptly as another’s shot took off the side of his head, blood and brains spattering Yar and Sethan.
Dare was shooting coolly, every shot counting-but for what?
Yar’s phaser was discharged. She dropped it, scuttled behind the Captain’s body to find the one she had dropped-and shouted “Dare-look out!” as one of the fallen Orions in the center of the bridge moved, aiming a disruptor at the Security Chief.
Dare turned, felled that Orion, but was exposed to one of those by the doors, who shot him in the back.
As her fiance fell, Yar felt something inside turn to ice. She rose to her knees, took aim at the one who had shot Dare, and drilled him through the forehead. And she kept shooting until that phaser was discharged, and she was the last of the bridge crew taken, backhanded by the Orion who finally captured her. She struck the wall, and blessed oblivion overcame her.
Tasha Yar came to in the Starbound sickbay with the worst headache of her life. She had a concussion, Dr. Trent informed her, and applied an instrument behind her ear which quickly dispensed with the headache.
But not her heartache. “Doctor-what happened?” she demanded.
“The Orions are gone,” the doctor said grimly. “They took the dilithium crystals-turns out we were carrying some consignment Starfleet Command thought would be safe aboard because no one would expect it here-damn their little brass hearts!”
“But … they left us here?”
“Starfleet personnel don’t make good slaves,” the medic said bitterly. “Too strong-willed and determined.”
“How many survived?” Yar asked, the scenes of slaughter returning to her reluctant memory.
“Most of the trainees, for all the good it does us.”
“We’re alive,” Yar said, pushing out of her mind the fact that Dare was not. “We can still get back to Earth.” She sat up. “Who’s in command? The Captain-?”
“Dead. They killed every experienced officer except Adin and me, and since he’s unconscious I guess that leaves me in command.”
Yar heard only one thing in the doctor’s statement. “Commander Adin’s alive?! Where is he?”
“Hey-you shouldn’t get up yet!” the doctor began. Then, “What the hell-we’ll all be dead in a few days anyway. Adin’s over-“
Yar found Dare in one of the sickbay life-support beds, waxen pale and barely breathing. One of the nurses told her, “The setting the Orions use kills instantly if the target is the brain. But if they hit somewhere else, the person can be revived with life support-if he’s worth bothering with.” She looked sadly from Dare to the other patients in the same condition. “Slavers’ mentality, I suppose. After twenty or thirty minutes the victim is brain-dead.” A tear slipped her control. “We lost at least ten people because we didn’t have support beds or personnel to