Three - Michael Jan Friedman [65]
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[195] Vigo peered around the bend in the corridor, then pulled his head back and regarded his comrades.
Both Sebring and Runj were eager to strike back at the rebels. They hung on the Pandrilite’s words as if they were the riches of some lost civilization.
“Two guards,” Vigo mouthed, holding a pair of fingers up for emphasis. “Ten meters away.” He pointed to his chest and shook his head from side to side. “They don’t know we’re coming.”
Sebring and Runj nodded to show they understood.
Vigo held his phaser at the ready and counted. “One ... two ... three!”
Leading the charge down the corridor, he took aim at the nearer of the two guards and skewered him with a bright red beam. As he fell, the other guard realized what was happening and got a shot of his own off.
It scorched the wall to Vigo’s right, missing both him and his comrades. Before the rebel could get a second chance, Vigo fired again and sent him sprawling.
That left the room they were watching unguarded. As Runj ran past its entrance to cover them against any other rebels who happened by, Vigo deactivated its transparent barrier.
There were six people inside—the installation’s entire complement of security officers. The Pandrilite recognized the woman with the braided black hair who had given Idun clearance to land their shuttle.
Echevarria, he recalled.
“How did you get here?” she asked Vigo.
“Ejanix helped us.”
[196] “He’s free?” Echevarria asked, her voice a mixture of happiness and surprise.
“Yes” was all Vigo chose to say, since there was no time to tell her the whole story. He jerked a thumb over his shoulder in the direction they had come from. “We were back there. Do you know where they’re holding the other engineers?”
She shook her head. “But there are only a few other storage rooms. The engineers are probably in one of them.”
Sebring tossed her one of the guards’ phasers, keeping the other one for himself. “Let’s get going,” he said, “before they realize what we’re up to.”
It was good advice. But with only four phasers among them, it didn’t make sense for all of them to go after the engineers.
Echevarria must have come to the same conclusion, because she turned to a Bolian and said, “They might not have found the phaser cache.”
The Bolian nodded. “On our way.”
Then the two groups split up. The Bolian led the other unarmed security officers in one direction and Echevarria led Vigo, Sebring, and Runj in the other.
But freeing the security people had slowed them down. They would have to move even more quickly now if they were going to stop Kovajo.
Picard was in his quarters, trying to get some much needed sleep, when he was prodded into wakefulness by an insistent and all-too-familiar voice.
“What is it?” he asked finally, propping himself up on an elbow.
[197] “I’m done,” said Simenon over the intercom.
“Done?” Picard echoed dully.
“With the transporter system.”
The captain winced at the engineer’s tone. Of course, it seemed to say, what else would I be done with?
“You’re prepared to send Gerda Idun back?” the captain asked, just to make certain.
“As prepared as I’ll ever be,” Simenon told him.
Picard absorbed the information. Then he said, “Stand by, Mr. Simenon. Picard out.”
Pushing aside his covers, he swung his legs out of bed, planted his bare feet on the room’s carpeted floor, and took a deep breath to clear away the cobwebs. Then he looked up at the intercom grid embedded in the ceiling and said, “Picard to Commander Ben Zoma.”
“Ben Zoma here,” came the reply.
“Mr. Simenon says he’s ready to return to the anomaly. Make sure everyone else is. I’ll be on the bridge in ten minutes.”
“Aye, sir,” said Ben Zoma.
Picard padded across the room and got a fresh uniform out of his closet. That way, he could at least look rested as he took the Stargazer into battle.
From her post at navigation, Gerda saw Ben Zoma look about the bridge at his officers. To her mind, they all seemed ready and alert.
“You heard the man,” the first officer told them. “Ten minutes until we head back to the anomaly.”
Gerda turned to