CHAPTER EIGHT
Retan pressed on
the 'commbadge' that Sylvia had given him: "Sylvia…This is Retan…Come
in."
He heard some
static in the background and then: "Hey Retan…I'm in a pretty…ow! …awkward situation here…I'll get back to you…"
She severed the
connection.
Retan grunted a
curse and waited…
Sylvia couldn't see
the lasers; Patrickson was guiding her across the room, telling her exactly
where to place every step. His strong hands were holding her very tightly
around her waist but so that she wouldn't get too far away from him. If that
happened, the field wouldn't hold and they would both be detected immediately.
"Right
there…" Patrickson placed his foot down upon the floor and Sylvia placed
it exactly beside his. "Good…Just a few more meters and we've done
it."
"Thank
god…" She mumbled.
They were standing
in the middle of the large entrance hall; Patrickson was standing on one foot
and was holding her around the waist. She felt pretty darned silly…
Suddenly, she
slipped…
The lasers!!! Was
the first thing she thought as her foot slipped on the marble floor of the
entrance hall…She didn't know if her foot was going to pass through any lasers
or not…If it did, they would realize instantly because an alarm would sound.
Patrickson's
hands tightened and were the only things preventing her from falling face down
onto the floor. For a moment, it seemed that time was frozen…
There was no alarm…
She let out a sigh
of relief…
The alarm went off…
The thermal
scrambling field had failed!!!
Patrickson muttered
a curse in some strange language: "Let's get out of here…"
They ran towards
the elevators just as a few governmental enforcers entered the room holding
their weapons. When they saw Sylvia and Patrickson running they raised their
weapons and one of them shouted: "Halt!!!"
It was the only
warning they gave before they began shooting.
The bullets
whistled past and the two Starfleet officers dove behind the reception counter.
They pulled out their phasers and Patrickson said: "At
three…One…Two…Three!"
They rose from
behind the counter and the phaser beams lashed out from their hand phasers, the
governmental agents were surprised by the glowing energy beams and they were
all easily incapacitated by the stun beams.
When all of the
agents had fallen, Sylvia followed Patrickson's lead
to the elevators.
Retan jumped as he
heard gunfire…He rose from his hiding place and ran towards the entrance to the
sewers…Something had happened to Sylvia…He needed to go check on her. He tapped the commbadge and said:
"Sylvia! Sylvia!"
But no answer came…
Sylvia hadn't
noticed that her commbadge had fallen from her pocket when she had jumped to
hide behind the counter from the governmental agents.
"The elevators
are working." Patrickson smiled. "That's good…Hurry…We don't have
much time."
They entered the
elevator and Sylvia tried to remember on which floor the president's office
was.
"Floor
80." Patrickson said.
"Thanks."
She pressed the button upon which was painted the Taranian
symbol for the number 80 and the doors of the elevator closed.
"Do you think
that Smith will try to escape?" She asked.
"He won't be
able to…He can't leave this building without bringing his scrambler with
him…And if he gets too far away from this building, his scrambler won't be
enough to protect him from the transporters of the Farlance."
Patrickson smiled. "He's trapped in his own tower."
The elevator stopped and the two
of them readied their phasers, the doors opened and Patrickson was the first to
shoot. The phaser beam struck the agent squarely in the chest and he crumpled
to the ground without a sound. They ran across the large corridor of floor 80
and searched for the door of the president's office. But they didn't notice the
governmental enforcer following them…Pointing a gun at Sylvia's head.
Sylvia heard a
gunshot…
She thought: That's
it…I wasn't paying enough attention…I missed one of the agents and now he's
shot at me and I'm going to be dead…
But she felt no
bullet pierce her skin and she swiveled in time to see the governmental agent
crumple to the floor.
Standing there, at
the other end of the corridor, holding a smoking gun, was Retan.
"Retan! How did you get her?!" She asked.
He smiled: "I
took the elevator."
Patrickson said:
"We don't have time…We need to get to Smith!"
"Right…Let's
go." Sylvia waved Retan to come towards them. "Come on!"
He began walking
towards them but suddenly, there was the sound of an explosion…
A gunshot…
A bright red spot
of crimson appeared on Retan's white shirt…He looked down and it and looked
back up at Sylvia, he was about to say something else when to other gunshots
were heard and Retan collapsed.
"Retan!!!"
Sylvia ran to the side of his body. She turned him and he looked up at her.
He tried to form a
sound but the only thing that came out of his mouth was a gurgling sound.
"I'm
sorry…" She said, fighting back tears. "It's my fault…I shouldn't
have…"
Retan brought his
hand up to her face and brushed her hair behind her ear. Then he closed his
eyes…
The person who had
pulled the trigger was president Tmish, standing at
the other side of the corridor. He was now pointing his gun at Patrickson's head.
"Drop your
phaser…" He told Burnel as she got to her feet. "Or I'll blow his
head off."
She obeyed.
"Smith…"
Patrickson said. "What the hell have you done here?"
Smith smiled:
"Fulfilled my destiny, Rear-Admiral…What else?"
Patrickson stared
blankly at him.
Smith chuckled:
"My destiny, Patrickson! I've known since my childhood that I was going to
accomplish something…My pathetic attempts at being useful in Starfleet were
only failures, thanks to you and your friends." He spat on the floor.
"Now…This whole planet is mine…And I shall open the eyes of every single
person on this planet to the universe around them!"
"You took an
oath!" Patrickson said. "I was there when you took the oath to uphold
Starfleet and its rules…Now look at you!"
"Time
changes…And people with it, Rear-Admiral." Smith smiled. "Now throw
your phasers to me…"
Sylvia and
Patrickson complied, neither of them wanted the other one dead.
"Very
good…" Smith said with a smile. "Now…If you'll excuse me…"
He began moving
away, dropping his aim at Patrickson.
Sylvia raised
Retan's gun…
She fired and the
bullet transpierced Smith's hand, he screamed in agony as the gun flew from his
hand and fell onto the ground.
Sylvia advanced
upon him and placed the gun barrel on his forehead.
He managed a smile:
"You can't kill me…"
"What makes
you so sure?" She asked.
"Oh…I know you
want to kill me…But you can't…You're working with Patrickson…Which means
you're like every other member of Starfleet…You won't kill me…You have a duty
to uphold."
"You had a
duty…" She said. "And you didn't uphold it…You changed the face of an
entire world to your image and killed innocents!" She pointed at Retan's
body.
"So? I'm
officially retired from Starfleet…I'm a civilian…I have no duty…"
She looked him in
the eye with burning rage: "I'm also a civilian…"
She pulled the
trigger…