“Choose. Quickly. Or I open fire.”

The ultimatum was plain, and the Commander was frozen in space, staring at the faceless voice. The only indication that he was still alive was the fact that he was still standing upright and that one antenna was twitching.

Jason wondered what the hell Commander Dal was doing. Running calculations? Tactics? Arguing with himself? Or had he simply froze, unable to make a decision? That last one didn’t seem likely based on his performance thus far, but Jason wasn’t taking anything off the table.

And then he made a gesture to mute the commline. Risky, Jason thought, he didn’t know how quickly the Vaadwaur Commander meant when he said ‘quickly.’

The commline was still open to engineering and Commander Dal spoke in quick, staccato tones. “Mr. Draxen, how long until engines and weapons are back online?”

The engineer hesitated for a moment and then his tone was tense. “Seven minutes minimum.”

There was no way they had that much time.

“How long will it take you to route command to sickbay?” Dal asked.

Jason felt his brows hike.  He could feel Draxen’s brows hike even though he couldn’t see them. He watched as every single soul on the bridge turned towards the Andorian wondering what the hell he was thinking.

“Maybe a minute…”

“Do it. Cut all power to the bridge except doors and life support.” The Commander’s voice was grave. He turned and fixed Jason’s gaze. “Send a nonverbal order to all crew except security teams to get to a secured area.”

Jason felt like everything was moving at warp nine. He had a nimble mind and as soon as he realized what Dal was planning his desire to protect his crew kicked into high gear. His first, base instinct was to start yelling at Commander Dal about what an awful plan this was. But he had done that already, he already knew he hadn’t helped at all, he had already felt the embarrassment and shame for his loss of control and verbal tirade. So, this time he reined in that base instinct and moved onto the more productive ideas that popped into his brain.

“Beam them to Mireya VII. Their shields are down and if they’re boarding us, they’re not attacking the station.” Commander Ibanez spoke with the confident creativity that had gotten him to Lt. Commander in the first place.

Dal tilted his antennae and then actually nodded his head to emphasize his assent. “Do it.”

And with that the Andorian unmuted the commline and the negotiations for boarding began.

At the same time Jason punched up Mireya VII’s scans and located a large, unoccupied and undamaged area that maintained atmosphere and started to give orders. First, he let Lieutenant JG Ansong know to prepare her security teams, and to expect boarding by hostiles.  She confirmed immediately. Then he started to give orders to other department chiefs or leaders – giving specific instructions to evacuate to Mireya VII, or if that was not possible, to get to a secured area and enact the highest level forcefield the damaged power systems could engage. Thank whatever gods he didn’t believe in that they also confirmed.

As the negotiations with the Vaadwaur came to a close, the crew of the Calistoga was mobilized. They had mere minutes to enact this plan before murderous soldiers swarmed the place. Outside the Vaadwaur fight slowly, inexorably, moved into position, waiting for the Calistoga to drop her shields.

“Take the bridge crew, get to an evacuation or secured area.  Keep them safe.” Commander Dal spoke in a clear, pointed tone directly to Jason.

“With all due respect, Sir, you’ll need someone to help you take command from Sickbay.” Jason understood the idea that a commander went down with the ship, and from what little he knew of Ishreth Dal he had already intuited that the man would remain emotionless staring into the very jaws of hell and allow the flames to take him.

It didn’t mean that Jason would allow it. He wanted to protect the crew as much as the Andorian did. And, like it or not – that meant keeping their new stick up the ass commanding officer as alive as everyone else.

Dal hesitated for a second. “I can’t keep you all safe.”

Was that concern – fear – he heard in Dal’s voice? Thus far the man hadn’t cracked and this was the first indication that he had doubts. Jason was already moving for the weapons locker that was hidden at the back of the bridge. “You don’t have to.”

Jason on the other hand was full of doubts. Constantly checking the data, coming up with new theories and second guessing himself. It was why he never wanted to move forward past second officer – settling on a course of command just wasn’t his forte. He gave a sidelong glance to the Andorian that he simultaneously wanted to keep alive and throttle. He hoped Dal could make the big decisions he would waffle on.

At the weapons locker he drew out phasers, tossing one to K’Lim who caught it handily and then offering a second to Avandar and a third to Jols. Ensign Silstar backed away, turning pale at the prospect. And finally, he offered one towards Dal, almost like a peace offering.

For a moment their gazes met, and Dal accepted without comment. Good, they both wanted to live. He could work with that.

“What’s the most direct way to sickbay? We can’t us transporters if they’re focused on crew evacuation?” Dal asked, as his eyes slowly fixed on the turbolift as if he knew that way was a death sentence.

With his phaser-holding hand Jason gestured towards a panel near the back of the bridge where the passage to the ready room was. “There’s an engineering access port leading down to deck three.  Don’t ask me how I know that. Just trust me.”

Whether Dal did or did not trust him wasn’t up for debate. The communications lines flashed again. The Vaadwaur were demanding they drop shields. Commander Dal fixed his focus to Ensign Avandar. “Drop shields in a cascade pattern, ensure the bridge is the last to drop. Then cut commlines.

It didn’t take long for them to peel up the carpet that covered the port and get it open. Silstar went first, followed by Jols and then Avandar running from his console to get into the hatch and get down the ladder.

Jason could hear the sound of the alien transporter as Vaadwaur started to materialize on the command deck outside the bridge – trying to get as close to the command center while bypassing the cascade shield drop. “Come on!” he hissed towards the Andorian, unwilling to wait.

Dal raised his phaser, focused fire on the doors that allowed entry to the bridge, welding a line between the door split, and then vaulted himself into the access hatch with a grace that only an Andorian could manage. Jason didn’t have time to be impressed or angry. He yanked the carpet to fall over the hatch, slid down the ladder, and caught his foot on the rung to brace and close the hatch. He could hear the Vaadwaur beat against the door, weapons firing. He prayed the crew got out or to a secured area in time.

No time to worry about that now. They were not safe here.  “We have to get down to deck eight. This won’t go the entire way, we need hallway access.”

“Which will put us in the open.” Commander Dal returned in a curiously non-confrontational tone. A fact stated. Jason decided to take that as something Dal was worried about.

Which made for two of them – Jason was equally worried about that. Silstar wasn’t a combatant, and while Jols and Avandar had basic proficiency, Jason certainly didn’t want to put them in the line of fire.  Only K’lim and he had any measure of standard core training – and yearly refreshers.

And, presumably, Commander Dal. If he was on hazard teams Jason assumed the man could fend for himself.

Half climbing, half sliding down the access ladder, the whole group moved even faster when the sound of heavy Vaadwaur boots rang on the ceiling above them. Silstar and Jols actually ducked down in the dark access hatchway as if ducking and covering would hide them from the Vaadwaur above, and Jason could only pray that Draxen had fully cut all power to the bridge already.

“Get in the Jefferies tube, follow the section 20-C markers to the engineering junction outside Research Lab 1 and the storage for deep space probes.” The human directed the team in whispered tones.

It was an area Jason knew well as it fell under his umbrella as chief of science. This wasn’t an often-used lab – it was separated from the other labs to bring in and isolate anything that could be gathered by a probe or other deep space sample gathering device. Probe launchers were on this deck, and a containment field area for quarantine.

He chose this place with purpose, even if it wasn’t the most efficient route. His mind, once again going at warp nine was already trying to compensate for the non-combatants on the team.

It was a good place to get any crew who couldn’t – or didn’t – evacuate. The isolation bay and quarantine fields would provide a secured area to protect against the Vaadwaur boarders. Not forever, of course, but enough time for the rest of them to get down to Sickbay and remotely regain control of the ship. Again, Jason hoped. He couldn’t promise anything and didn’t want to think of what horror might happen if they didn’t make it and those in secured areas were slowly starved, suffocated or flushed out by the Vaadwaur.

“We still need to get down to deck eight.” Dal spoke when they were deep within the Jefferies tube, crouching and moving as fast as possible through the dim emergency lights that cut the access path with a stark bloody red light.

“We can leave anyone who isn’t comfortable continuing onwards in the isolation bay. Deck three doesn’t have many critical systems, we should be able to cut through the hallways to the medical/science maintenance access, cut past the secondary computer core and down into deck eight.”

He turned to fix a gaze at Dal in the dim light of his tricorder. He expected a rebuttal.

The lights flickered.  The Vaadwaur were trying to re-route power.

No rebuttal came.  They pressed onwards.

Deck three was dark, and it smelled like the life support systems were on low, routing the fresh air to critical places and battle stations. The non-critical areas were dark and stale and eerily quiet. Jason toggled the light on his tricorder down to low, shielding it so he didn’t send a beacon to any stray Vaadwaur that might be searching for them.  It would only be a matter of time until they figured out the bridge was locked out and started tearing the Calistoga apart to figure out where the command center was routed to.

Their footsteps echoed on the deck plating. Jols and Silstar hesitated with each step and Avandar was fast and tentative. Their nerves were putting Jason on edge, and he kept looking over his shoulder at every little misstep, biting his tongue at the nervous noises and pushing everyone faster and faster.

Finally, they came to the isolation bay and Jason turned, looking to the three junior officers. “We have to cover five decks, and we need to be fast.”

“And there is a high chance that we will have to avoid live fire.” Commander Dal stated in his soft, aggravatingly calm tones. “If you are not comfortable with that, Commander Ibanez believes it is safest to stay here, and I support your decisions.”

There was a bit of silence as everyone weighed the merits of bravery versus the reality of combat and how they might help or hinder the movement of the group. Jols was the first to speak. “I’ll stay – and I’ll protect anyone else who stays.”

It was enough to make Silstar and Avandar choose to stay. Jason stepped forward and squeezed Jols shoulder. “I know you’ll keep them safe.” He made sure Jols had a phaser and a tricorder and offered the unlock codes to the Helmsman. “We’ll give you an all clear when it’s safe.”

“Keep the security fields up and the power down. This is one of the last places they will search.” Commander Dal offered in soft tones.  The trio nodded.

That left K’lim, Jason and Dal.  He swallowed the growing lump in his throat and forced himself to stop worrying about what might happen if the Vaadwaur found the trio they were leaving behind. He could do more for them by getting to sickbay faster than sticking here and trying to defend against a team of Vaadwaur soldiers. There was a slight crackle as the isolation field went up, and the isolation doors closed.

No time to wait. Jason started running through deck three as quietly and as quickly as he could manage, with K’lim and Dal hot on his heels. He reached the next engineering junction and slid down past the crew quarters and the science labs and hit the deck running, stopping only long enough to get a lifeform scan before he opened any doors.

Grumbling inwardly, he held a hand up. “Shit. I’m reading three Vaadwaur life signs between here and the next access junction. We’re on deck six, holodecks and computer cores.”

“Letting them have access to the computer cores is hardly ideal.” K’lim murmured.

“Can we bypass the group and still reach the junction?” Commander Dal asked.

Jason considered this, looking at the deck plans and frowned. “Technically yes, but we’d be running all along the outer hull to avoid them, it’ll add minutes to our path.”

Minutes they didn’t have.  Every minute they gave the Vaadwaur brought the invaders one step closer to breaching Engineering, Sickbay or regaining control of the ship.

Three sets of eyes watched the movement of the lifesigns on Jason’s scan. Or lack thereof. Two of the three were set in place outside of a computer control junction, the third moved in a regular patrol pattern.

Commander Dal stepped forward phaser in hand. “I’m going first.”

Jason stepped back and gave a gesture that seemed to say, ‘be my guest.’ And then he raised a finger. “What’s the plan?”

He thrust out a slender blue finger and traced the path on the tint tricorder screen. “Move quietly to this intersection. K’lim stay back, you have good aim. Ibanez, get to this doorway which will give you cover. I will move forward to this position and as soon as I get low, we all fire.”

It placed them all under cover, so long as they could time the movement to enter while the patrolling Vaadwaur was not looking in their direction. Still, Jason’s face look like he was being told to eat mouldy bread spiced with shards of glass. “If you get us all killed, I swear to the universe that I will haunt the shit out of you.” He muttered, shooting a glance towards Dal.

“It’s my job to keep you safe.” The Andorian returned with conviction.

Jason didn’t trust that. If this was a conversation he would have followed that with ‘no offense.’ He would admit he still didn’t know Dal personally; he was going from his past experiences with hazard team members. Then again, he was pretty sure Dal had no reason to trust him thus far and yet here they were. He didn’t like it, and he finally decided that he didn’t have to like it. “Fine, let’s do this.”

Two armed Vaadwaur were assaulting the access panel that protected one of the computer core junctions on Deck six, using their weapons to slice sections of bulkhead away. Jason was amazed they hadn’t melted the computer components within, but he reminded himself that the Vaadwaur had proved, time after time, to be technologically adept.

Just violently blunt while being technologically adept. A dangerous combination. Those two were single-mindedly working on the computers, unlikely to stop or notice anything else unless their third alerted them.

And then his eyes fell upon the third. Even from a distance Jason shrunk back, pushing K’lim into the darkness. Holding a disruptor rifle at the ready, they prowled like a predator, back and forth, hunting for…

Well, them.  Jason knew he was exactly the prey the hunter was looking for. He turned to look back.  Dal was stiff, antennae forward, eyes almost closed – listening. Counting?

Jason rocked almost imperceptibly on his feet, trying to stretch his aching muscles without moving or drawing attention as he waited. The seconds crept on like hours and he bit his tongue, knowing that all the angry words he wanted to say were all a death sentence at the blast end of that disruptor rifle. So, he focused on breathing. Remaining calm. Listening.

All he could hear was the rattle of his too-loud breath. Galling. He wondered what Dal heard.

“Move.” Dal’s voice was soft as a whisper, but he pushed Jason into motion. For his part Jason caught himself before he yelped or jumped and didn’t trip – so far so good – but he found himself running blindly forward towards a loaded disruptor held by a skilled hunter and he felt bile rise up in the back of his throat even as he raised his phaser to aim.

Dal moved fast – faster than he did, faster than he expected. Jason was trying to simply move his feet without falling into the correct position, even as Dal crouched low. Shit. He pulled the trigger and opened fire, even as his feet carried him towards his hiding place and he ended up slamming his chest into the door frame as a deadly hot beam of disruptor fire lanced out to the place where he was standing a second ago. Now all he heard was his heartbeat slamming in his ears as he toggled his phaser to a focused beam and fired back.

Someone was yelling.  Male.  Since he had never heard Dal yell, he assumed it was a Vaadwaur. Then a beam of golden light lanced from behind him and the voice went quiet. Filled with hope and resolve, Jason peered out and dared a shot at the first standing Vaadwaur he saw. For his efforts a second lance of super-heated energy spat back at him. The edge of the bulkhead in front of him flared white, fading to blistering red, and hot pain streaked across his arm.

Jason dropped back, feelings his back slam against the doorway he was hiding in, and he slid slowly down to the floor.  The pain emanated from his arm, causing every muscle in his body to spasm. It took several seconds to catch his breath enough to speak.

“Shit!”

Well, if he was speaking, he was breathing. And if he was breathing, he wasn’t vaporized. He blinked away the pain to see the corridor light up once more and then silence.

He forced another breath through his chest. His arm still hurt, the pain coming and going in waves that matches his thundering heartbeat.

“Are you hurt?” It was Dal’s ever calm voice. A blue hand hovered nearby, offing assistance.

Jason winced and looked down at the arm he was cradling. The bulkhead had caught the majority of the energy, the burn spreading out over the charred décor. He wasn’t sure if he had been leaning close enough to get burned or whether the remaining energy had grazed him, either way the arm of his uniform was burned, and the skin underneath was raging red, wet and bubbled with areas of black char. He could smell the char, smell the blood.

His blood.

Ugh, he pitched forward and retched.  Slender hands caught his shoulders and held him in a comfortable position where he could breathe again. Finally, he spoke. “Yeah, I’m hurt.”

“Hold still.” The soft voice was strangely soothing.  K’lim approached with something, and the blue fingers darted about. Jason tried to follow them, but his eyes slipped closed and he just grit his teeth against the pain until a hypospray hissed against the side of his neck.

That was better. The pain and nausea ebbed away and clarity started to drain back into his grey matter. Wait. Oh, shit, now he was moving. It was all very gentle and surreal, but he found his good arm draped around the Commander’s shoulder and another arm keeping him upright. “What?”

“We cleared the corridor, now we have to move before they target this location. We can dress your arm better in sickbay.” Dal replied. Jason looked down, only then realizing that his burn was now field dressed.

Ugh, marines should be banned from having soft sweet voices. Jason supposed that wasn’t very intimidating in battle, but it must be a fantastic ruse against enemies.

His mind wandered as they went, saving his strength to hang on as they descended another maintenance stair to deck eight. Take control of the ship, remove the Vaadwaur.

Save the crew. Save Dwasina. Live.

Come on, Jason. You can do this.

One more step. One more breath. Just keep moving, just keep breathing.