Heh. Okay, I finished it up this morning. I forced myself not to take my U-Boat out and terrorize the Scottish coast.
This one's a little short, but that's cuz there's another Interlude that follows immediately.
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Chapter Five
Spots danced in front of Leral's eyes. Curses and shouts echoed inside her helmet.
Her hand groped for her disruptor. She tried to move. There was something on top of her. She snarled, shoving with her left arm while rolling into it. She heard it hit the deck. There was a grunt from her helmet speakers.
Her vision was clearing, and her teammates were calling out their uninjured status. Her assailant, now flat on his back next to her, looked suspiciously like Meran. She lowered her disruptor, which she didn't remember aiming.
"You broke my fall." He explained. Despite herself, Leral laughed.
"Gravity." She heard K'tal mutter. She looked back toward the last place she'd seen him. He and Rinbar--shapes that looked like them anyway--were pulling themselves off the deck. Suk was draped over the control console. Everyone save Meran was lowering a weapon.
"Report." Leral ordered. Meran and Huk went for their tricorders. K'tal deactivated his magnetic boots.
"No hostiles present." He quipped.
"Thank you." She answered.
"Gravity and atmosphere." Meran reported. He was still on the floor, which reminded her that she was too. She turned off her boots and stood.
"Slight change in power levels." said Huk. "Access tunnels have been sealed. Looks like this ring we're in is a contained environment."
Leral frowned.
"Rinbar?" She asked. The demolition man responded with enthusiam.
"I can get us out, Lieutenant."
"Good." She turned toward Huk. The younger woman was fiddling with the console again.
"It's talking to me." Huk frowned behind her faceplate. "There's no way I can translate without a much bigger sample."
"See what you can do. Meran, what's the atmosphere like?"
"Safe."
Leral nodded and unsealed her helmet. The close air inside the suit whooshed out. The compartment's air seemed thin, but fresh. She didn't pull the helmet off, however. Who knew how long the sop'nagh's hospitality would last? Her teammates were doing the same.
"I think I can do this, Lieutenant." Huk declared. Leral felt for her. Languages were not always scientific or logical, and Suk was not a linguist. On the other hand, most of what the console told her would probably be technical data.
"Take your time." Leral advised. "Let's see if anything else has opened or closed. Rinbar, stay with Huk."
"Yes, my lord." The demolitionist hefted his rifle. The other three Klingons began to move down the hall, then Huk cried out loudly. There was another flurry of drawn weapons and seeking cover.
“I didn’t do anything.” Huk said. She was standing much farther from the control panel than she had been, her sidearm pointed straight at the console. Her tone was not apologetic; she was making a report.
Leral glanced at the control board. A panel had opened. She stepped forward. Inside the panel rested a set of headphones, and one of the displays was scrolling the same message—unintelligible as it was—over and over again. Up ahead, through the window, the illuminated pathways had shifted. No more blue and red pulses swam up the wall. The traceries were yellow now, and surging into the main conduit.
“Something’s happening…” She whispered.
Huk glanced over her shoulder. The smaller women hefted her tricorder.
“I think it’s digesting some of it’s meal…I’m detecting hydrogen. It’s probably seperating the asteroid chunks into base elements and…”
“….pulling what it needs into it’s own systems.” Leral finished.
“Efficient.” Huk remarked.
“A problem.” Leral responded. “I think it’s getting ready to go to warp.”
Topic: The Miners of the Stars (Read 32915 times)