Taking Wing - Michael A. Martin [99]
Dropping his head back down to make himself less of a target, Keru groped in the darkness for his again-missing phaser. Effectively blinded and pinned, he could hear a cacophony of shouts and cries in Romulan, all of them coming from the direction of the blast.
Then he felt a gloved hand pressing down against his. “Stay still, Commander,” Rriarr said. “They’ve got us pinned down good.” With his other hand, Keru lifted his helmet’s faceplate. Despite the darkness, he saw the gleaming golden eyes of his subordinate officer, who was on his belly to stay out of the line of fire. A flash of disruptor fire revealed the dirt and dust that clouded the air and dusted Rriarr’s deactivated stealth suit.
As the seconds ticked slowly by, the gabble of Romulan voices seemed to be growing steadily fainter. Rriarr cautiously poked his head up, then turned to Keru.
“Whoever they were, they’re gone now.”
“Good. Now get this stuff off me,” Keru said, pushing at the heavy chunks of shattered stone and duraplast. Rriarr strained with him in vain, then cast his bright eyes past the debris. Though Keru couldn’t see it, he could hear someone moving on the other side of the pile of debris that still pinned him down.
Keru groaned in pain as the rubble shifted and fell away from his body. Though he could see only the silhouette of his rescuer, Keru realized who it was: the hulking, battle-scarred Reman who had stood at Tuvok’s side. Limned in the blaze of a searchlight whose beam leaked in through a shattered exterior wall, the Reman was covered in dirt, sweat, and green blood, some of which had to be his own.
The Reman reached for Keru’s hand, helping him up. “They took Tuvok,” he said.
“Who?” Keru winced as another jagged lightning bolt of pain shot down his left leg. He saw Rriarr checking the room carefully, his weapon in his gloved hand.
“Other Remans. Ten of them, maybe more. They weren’t prisoners.”
Rriarr was now nearing the portion of the wall that had exploded inward. “There’s a tunnel here, Commander. Looks old. I think they—” He stopped and listened, then looked back at Keru. “Commander, is your comm working?”
Keru shook his head. “Dead. My helmet got hit.” And I gave away my backup transceiver, he thought ruefully. Wonderful.
“Bolaji says that the Romulan police skimmers are on their way in now,” Rriarr said. “If we don’t get back to the Handy in the next two minutes, then we aren’t going to get home.”
“You have a way out?” the Reman asked.
“We have a cloaked shuttle,” Keru said. He pondered the situation for a moment. They could conceivably go after Tuvok and his Reman abductors, but there was no guarantee of success. And besides, not only was he injured, but so was Denken. He didn’t like the prospect of leaving Tuvok in the hands of people who were most likely hostiles. But he had to consider the safety of his teammates, each one of whom he considered every bit as important as the man they had been ordered to rescue.
“From the last thing he was saying, it seems that Tuvok wanted us to take you and your…associates with us.” Keru looked at the large Reman, appraising him in the intermittent glow of the searchlights that came through the shattered walls.
“We helped each other to escape,” the Reman said. He gestured toward another pile of debris, which covered several Reman bodies. “The others must have been too close to the explosion. Kachrek is missing. Perhaps he is pursuing those who took Tuvok. I must follow as well.”
The Reman turned as if to leave. Then his legs buckled beneath his considerable weight and he sank to his knees.
“You won’t make it ten meters in the shape you’re in,” Keru said to the Reman before turning to face Rriarr. “Tell Christine and Olivia that we’re on our way. We’ll have to come back later for Tuvok.” Ignoring his own pain, he threw an arm around the injured Reman and helped him get to his feet.
“Commander Vale isn’t gonna like this,” said the Caitian. “And neither will the captain.”
Keru shrugged. “Yeah. And Admiral Akaar