The Battle of Betazed - Charlotte Douglas [56]
In the operations center on Sentok Nor, Gul Lemec snarled at his science officer. “Raise the shields before more of them transport over.”
“There’s a malfunction, sir,” his officer replied. “We’re working on correcting it.”
“Damned shoddy Betazoid work.” The gul glared at Luaran. “I told you the Enterprise ‘s offer to surrender was a ruse.”
Moset peered over the console, his dark eyes beaming with pleasure at the sight of the freighter. The doctor’s precious research might yet be his downfall, one Lemec could take advantage of by sending a report to Central Command. Such treasonous behavior as lowering the shields during battle conditions and allowing the enemy aboard Sentok Nor could not be permitted to go unpunished.
Lemec dispatched his troops to search for the intruders. One look at the sensors indicated the enemy would be difficult to find, especially if they’d hidden in the access tunnels where sensors didn’t function well. “If Moset hadn’t dropped our shields, we wouldn’t have enemies among us now.”
Moset viewed the outer ring, his face smug. “If I hadn’t dropped the shields, I wouldn’t be able to carry on my experiments. The Betazoids on that freighter were culled from the general population specifically to suit my requirements.”
Lemec ignored the doctor’s comments, his thoughts on more critical matters. He didn’t have enough staff to guard the entire station. He would have to choose in advance which sections to protect. Where would the intruders strike? Sentok’s Nor’s command center? The fusion core? Environmental? Weapons?
If he knew their motives, predicting their actions would be easier. Were they here to spy and take back intelligence to the Federation? Or were they here to rescue the prisoners? Either way they couldn’t be permitted to leave—not after viewing the sensitive experiments in Moset’s laboratory. Especially not after the invaders discovered how shorthanded the Cardassians were.
Moset’s damned experiments again! If it weren’t for the doctor, Lemec would have had all the Jem’Hadar he needed to control and safeguard the station.
Lemec paced, pondering how best to proceed and considering his dilemma from several angles. He couldn’t defend every nook and cranny of the enormous space station. “Send a squad to protect the fusion core. Station another here to prevent the intruders from taking over the operations center.”
The battle still raged outside the station, but Lemec had full confidence in the ability of the Jem’Hadar and Central Command ships to repel the feeble Federation force. His first concern was the station.
The lights flickered, and emergency lighting flashed on.
“Sir?” His science officer stared at his console, his brow drawn tight with frustration.
Now what have the damned Betazoids sabotaged? “What’s wrong?” Lemec kept his voice even.
“My station is down, sir.”
“Start a systems-wide diagnostic,” Lemec ordered.
“Sorry, sir. Almost every system is either overridden or off-line. Computer cores and ODN networks, electroplasma, communications, life support, and power—except for gravity and emergency lighting.”
“No backups? That’s unthinkable,” Luaran insisted. “You Cardassians overbuild and do so in triplicate. What about the labs in the docking ring?”
“Still online. Their independent backups haven’t been affected.”
Luaren looked at the dark viewscreen and turned pale. Not even she could deny that every instrument in the operations center had gone dead. The unusual quiet was as somber as a funeral dirge.
Lemec frowned. “Why haven’t emergency backup systems kicked in?”
“I don’t know, sir,” his chief engineer answered. “Something’s wrong.”
“As if I need a medal for plasma physics to know that,” the gul rebuked him. “Tell me something I don’t know.”
His engineer pointed to a blinking red light, his eyes dark with horror. “Someone’s activated the station’s autodestruct system.”
At the announcement, Moset’s lower jaw dropped.
Luaran gasped. “How did the intruders obtain the self-destruct codes?”
“What difference does it make now?” Lemec pointed to two