No one was entirely sure what had happened; whether it had been the Vaadwaur themselves, a malfunction or some of the civilians making an attempt to escape from one of the building in which they were being held.  Whatever the case; just before the sun began to set in the east, there was a series of catastrophic explosions.

Doctor de Havilland and crewman Appleby had been roughly 25 metres from the building; when the shockwave from the blast had knocked them to the ground.  Neither of them moved for several minutes; lying confused and disorientated.  Their Combadges chirped as someone tried to contact them; and from the collapsed building came the frantic moans and pleas from those that had survived, buried along with the dead.  The scene was one of utter devastation and it was one that was repeated at each of the other eight sites.

The doctor was the first to eventually reply; reassuring a slightly distressed communications officer, that he and Appleby were both dazed but otherwise in one piece.  His heart sank, as he gazed that the ruins of the building; still partly shrouding in dust.

Today there would be little hope of rescue for the few who’d survived the blast; there was scant hope for any of them.  The rest of the Vaadwaur Supremacy fleet had just returned.  That was the chilling message Ensign Cho had relayed to him.  What made it worse, over a third of the ship’s crew were down on this planet; including every member of security and the entire medical staff

He looked at Appleby. “Well crewman, the ships are preparing to engage the enemy.  So you can either join the fight up there or stay and help me save some of these people.  It’s your choice.”

“Call me John, doc, let’s see what lives we can save.”

**********

Lieutenant-Commander Alara Ley and her team were making their way through what was Terminal 3 of the Spaceport; when they received the devastating news regarding the civilians and the arrival of five Vaadwaur ships.

She gathered them closer.  “This is no longer an operation to obtain the deactivation code.” They looked at her both puzzled and shocked; then the realisation of what that actually meant; sunk in. “So there is no further need for the stun setting.  Is that clear?”

They all confirmed they understood are readjusted their weapons accordingly.  “Ready when you are ma’am.” The Petty Officer to her left announced.

“Let’s finish this.”

‘Are you going to be ok?’ The voice of her symbiont sounded concerned, sensing the anger the Trill officer had, growing inside. ‘I’m not sure.’ Alara replied honestly. ‘But I promise not to try anything stupidly heroic.’

‘You mean again?’

There wasn’t really anything she could think of in way of reply.  Ley knew her too well; both from before and after the joining.  The two of them were in a unique situation, brought on by necessity.  Yet considering that traumatic event and Alara being completely unprepared for a joining, things had gone remarkably well.

The six of them moved rapidly in pairs; the two at the back leap frogging the rest of the team, as they sprinted to the next piece of cover.  Past abandoned luggage left on trollies or just strewn across the floor, along rows of empty seating and the check-in desks.  The lay out was universal and had hardly changed since some of the earliest airports back on Earth.  The only difference being that the passengers who’d walked these halls and corridors had travelled Light Years, not just thousands of kilometres.

A blast stuck the transparent cabinet sat on top of the counter in a small open plan café; right behind the Trills head.  She dived and rolled as a second blast removed the back off a chair. Three of the others, in a position to return fire, pinned down the assailant having established his location, giving the Lieutenant-Commander chance to find better cover.

The Vaadwaur soldier leaned round the support column he was hiding behind destroying more of the cafés furniture with his polaron rifle.  The Starfleet crew fired again forcing him to take cover again.  The others who had not yet opened fire took the opportunity to move forward and take up new positions, in the hope of outflanking him.

This time when he turned to open fire, he took a hit to the shoulder.  The impact staggered him back, but he managed to keep the column between his body and any additional phaser fire.  The soldier was however trapped; any attempt on his part to move would result in him being shot; and from the pain in his shoulder he realised these people intended to kill him.

A small a cylinder shaped object flew through the air; it bounced off a suitcase before clattering and spinning across the floor. “Grenade!” The shout came; as the two crewmembers closest to where the device had landed frantically dived for cover.

The blast catapulted a trolley into the air; sending its load of luggage in all direction; the clothing in one spilling out mid-air as it spun.  Chairs and tables were also either ripped apart or sent flying.  Crewman Sanders felt a section of metal tubing imbed itself into his right calf.  It was part of a table leg, now logged deep into muscle tissue.

The Lieutenant-Commander took one look at him from her hiding spot. “Get yourself out of here, that’s an order.” Sanders didn’t need telling twice, and promptly requested an emergency beam out.  It was a move that no doubt saved his life; as seconds later a second grenade landed right where he’d been lying.  The second explosion turned even more of the already damaged furniture into pieces of deadly shrapnel.  Lucky everyone avoided being hit.

Alara stood up; phaser rifle raised and fired, and kept firing as she walked crab like through the wreckage of the café.  ‘You promised nothing stupid!’ Ley virtually screamed at her.  The soldier readjusted his position, ready to return fire the second the opportunity presented itself.  So focused on this one individual, the Vaadwaur lost track of the Petty Officers movement.  The shot to the back of the head; was the last thing the soldier would ever feel.

Alara stopped firing as she saw the soldier drop dead. ‘I’m sorry; I had to flush him out. Otherwise we can’t catch up with the rest of them.’ She hoped her symbiont would understand, even if it did seem a little reckless.  The Trill was beginning to wonder what had gotten in to her; she’d never used to be like this, then again neither had her husband, Ley’s previous host.

‘It’s ok; I can feel your anger and frustration.’  Ley said calmly. ‘Getting yourself killed won’t avenge all those lives lost.’

‘You’re right.’

‘When it comes to you, I always have been.’

She couldn’t avoid a small smile creeping on to her lips as she remembered her late husband, still very much a part of her life.

When they reached the end of the Terminal building; there was pitch battle in progress.  The semi-darkness made it hard to see who was out there on and around the landing area; only the difference between the colour of the phaser fire and polaron beams gave a clear indication of where various Starfleet personnel and Vaadwaur soldiers were.

**********

The Vaadwaur had found two shuttle craft, still in a condition to fly; but the teams led by Lieutenant Devron and Lieutenant Grav had reached them only seconds behind.  The Soldiers outnumbered them more than three to one when the fight had started; and trying to hit a target in the swiftly dimensioning light proved harder with each passing minute.

As the two shuttles took off, they left behind at least half a dozen dead, Phasers fire continued to strike the sides of the two craft.  The second one staggered and lurched to its left; something was wrong with its engines.  Either it hadn’t been in a fit state to fly or some vital component had just been hit by those firing at it.  Whatever the case, the shuttle no longer possessed the power to remain airborne.  The shuttle came down around a kilometre from where it had taken off.

Seven Starfleet personnel rushed across the open ground; towards the crash, but when they arrived, the vessel was empty.  Somewhere in the darkness an unknown number of Vaadwaur soldiers still lurked; and that meant they could still pose a threat.