"Fighting the Urge"
[Previous post: "Executive Nightmare"]
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Setting: USS HATHOR, Bridge
Each time one of the Breen walked near him, Uxtar had to fight the urge to reach out, break open the EV suit and yank out whatever his hand would find inside. Within the Hirogen a war raged between his natural instincts as a hunter and his academy training which had made him into a Starfleet Officer.
Several times Uxtar caught himself jerking towards the Breen as he passed by, imaging how pleasurable it would be to feel the body of their oppressor break beneath the strength of his attack. The only thing that had stopped the Hirogen from acting as he had envisioned had been his respect of the chain of command and the knowledge that he would not be able to stop all three before they retaliated against him or the CO and ExO.
Without knowing what had happened to Nico, the Hirogen could only guess
as to where the Nausicaan was and what had been going through his
friend's mind. If the FCO had been so ready to tear the Breen to
pieces, Uxtar could only smile at the thought of the Sec/Tac Officer
having been either securely tied down or in the middle of making
mincemeat out of the intruders. Whichever had been true, Uxtar took
comfort in the images those thoughts had created knowing that he had
not been along in his way of thinking.
Forgetting about the Sec/Tac for a moment, the Hirogen looked down at his instruments and slowly prepared his part of the surprise the CO had in store for the Breen. The repairs made to the power conduits had been expertly done, but it had left the HATHOR with a few problems such as a weakened inertial integrity field. As long as the engineering team kept an eye on this, there would not have been any problems, but now this weakness could prove to be useful, and Uxtar had been ready to capitalize on it.
The FCO had wanted to let the CO know that he had been ready, and as
far as he knew all three Breen had been at the back of the bridge, so the
Hirogen was completely taken by surprise when he turned around and saw
the head Breen standing right there in front of him. Maybe Uxtar could
have found another way to relay his message to the captain, but now had
been too late.
"Turn around!" The Breen said through the universal translator, slamming the Hirogen's shoulder with the butt end of his riffle. Had Uxtar known that the person inside the EV suit had been his fellow shipmate and drinking buddy Pravat, the Hirogen might have taken the move as a joke, or maybe dismissed the entire thing with a playful growl. Unfortunately that had not been the case, and the pain that shot through the FCO's shoulder proved to be all that had been needed to send the hunter over the edge.
By the time both the CO and ExO yelled out the Hirogen's name with the
intention of stopping him before it was too late, the FCO had already
left his seat and wrapped his hands around the armored neck of the
Breen. The momentum and weight of the FCO had been more than enough to
take both fighters to the floor in a loud crash.
As his back slammed on the deck, Pravat thought that maybe he had
pushed things a little too far, but behind the mask the Enaran actually smiled
at the reaction of the Hirogen. Despite all of his training, it had
been interesting to see just how close to the surface the instincts of
the hunter and warrior had truly been, and far that Prav respected
Uxtar, at least as far as two adversaries could at that time.
Within a few seconds following the start of the battle Pravat knew that
he would end up on the wrong side of this one-on-one conflict, the
Hirogen being stronger if not more agile than he. The one advantage
the Marine had though was the other two members of his team who were also
on the bridge. Uxtar had barely begun to enjoy having the Breen at his
mercy when he felt not one but two powerful energy bolts impact against
his body sending him flying across the floor.
The only thought that formed in Uxtar's mind as everything went black
was that he had been sorry for having failed his CO and the rest of his
crew. Hopefully his action would have given the CO and ExO time to get
something done without the Breen being aware of it.
###
And
Flight Control Officer 2005 post #562
Stardate: 60331.1900
Mark Hutchings {h172mark16@fastmail.us}
Ensign Uxtar
VIPER Pilot
USS ANUBIS
USS HATHOR
