To Boldly Go...

Chapter 8

Jay let the door slide silently shut behind him. He didn't know how long he'd been in there, and frankly he didn't care. Just... Well just knowing he could help Sillika was enough, even if it was just as shoulder to cry on. She...

Surprise jerked him out of his thoughts. He'd reached the centre bridge, but it was definitely *not* as he'd left it. The door was open, and the room beyond was giving a good impression of having been ransacked. Panels had been pulled out of the walls, trailing cables behind them as they lay, discarded on the floor. Screen flashed information so fast it was blurry, and every flat surfaced was covered in bits of machine or tools.

For a second Jay froze, then he began to run forwards, panic creeping in his mind. No, it couldn't be... He blinked as his gaze hit the far wall, feeling the panic ebb slightly. One of the less organic-looking panels had been pulled out and was now leaning against the comm rail. In the space it left behind, half-buried in a tangled mass of wires, energy cells and connections, was Keryl. Jay stared at the ripped out controls.

"Er... Keryl?"

"Mmmf!" Keryl spat out a sonic wrench, "We've got a problem."

Jay felt his heart sink.

"How big a problem?"

Keryl's gaze locked with his own.

"Big. The comm's blown out. I've been trying to get at it from here, but..."

She trailed off. Jay saw the look in her eyes. He knew what that meant.

"Outside?"

"Right," Keryl began disentangling herself from the wires, "Thankfully the jammers are still functioning, so we don't need to worry about anything teleporting in..." Her voice cut out and she blinked rapidly.

"But," Jay said quietly. The rest of the sentence wasn't needed. Keryl nodded.

"But. I'm sorry to do this to you both, but we're all gonna have to go out there. The internal access tubes are blocked, so out is the only way. We can't do without communication, and I want to stop this problem now, in case it's one that spreads. Get Sillika; meet me back here as soon as you can. Okay?"

Jay nodded.

"Okay. Keryl..."

"No," she held up a hand, cutting him off, "Don't Jay. Nothing's going to make this easier."

Jay understood. The expression on his friend's face spoke more than words.

Sillika watched in fascination as Keryl unplugged the last lead from the strange oval shape resting on one of the consoles. There were three of them, and she'd guessed they were weapons. What sort she couldn't tell, but Keryl had been fiddling with each one in turn since they'd come in, so Sillika's curiosity was more than piqued. The weapons were an odd design, flattened oval shapes about the length of her forearm. Thin, almost carved lines snaked across the surface, outlining what she assumed to be panels because there were far too many to be simply decoration. Keryl picked up one of the ovals, placing her hand into a slight depression on the underside. She nodded.

"Modified EMP rifle. It takes out anything electrical, plus I've twiddled the settings. It'll overload and blast any Borg implants it hits. It's the only weapon we've got at the moment."

She pressed one of the circular patterns. Sillika gasped as the gun seemed to unfold. The patterns split away at the lines, rising up and twisting, the lower half slotting around Keryl's arm with a soft hiss. The front 'cone' rotated and split; the sections curling back like a peeled orange and exposing a star-shaped barrel. The top pieces melded together seamlessly, a small screen rising out of the gun, tiny slits opening in the main body of the weapon. Keryl twisted her arm slightly, and the star-shape began to glow.

"Pretty simple to use when it's activated, just point and press. We can't use them too much though, or *they'll* adapt," Keryl's face visibly twisted at the thought. Sillika's gaze didn't leave the gun, her mind whirling. 'Overload and blast... Any Borg... Overload...' It was the 'any' part that hit her. Any Borg. But especially one... An image of Callum's face, metal flowing from his skin, rose up in her mind and she shuddered. Jay squeezed her shoulder.

"Don't worry."

"Easy to say," Sillika muttered, adding in the privacy of her own head 'harder to live'. Keryl clicked something inside the gun and it abruptly folded back, freeing her hand. She gestured to the other two weapons.

"Strap 'em on. We haven't got a lot of time to waste."

Sillika took the gun, feeling sick. What if she had to shoot Callum? She didn't know if she could do it. Jay must have noticed her expression, because his hand dropped onto her shoulder. Sillika gave a weak smile.

"Thanks."

"Anytime," he smiled. Keryl nodded to them.

"Right. You'd better activate those things now, get the feel for them. I hope we don't need them, but..." She shivered, "You never know. Follow me, we'll use one of the smaller hatches, it'll be faster." She strode off through the doors. Jay gave Sillika's shoulder another squeeze, and gently pulled her forwards.

"C'mon."

"Sure," she swallowed hard and followed him out of the door, absently fiddling with her gun.

They walked in silence, only punctuated by a slight gasp of surprise as Jay's gun activated unexpectedly and trapped his hands together. They finally reached the hatch, Jay muttering under his breath and rubbing his reddening fingers. Keryl set her jaw grimly and palmed the scanner. Wind whipped against Sillika's face as the door hissed open, the dry air scouring her nostrils as she inhaled. If possible, the planet seemed to have become even more uninhabitable.

"The access hatch is round the right thruster, which is currently being that rocky outcrop," Keryl pointed along the simulated cliff that hid the ship, towards what appeared to be a half-collapsed ledge, "Keep alert, and keep moving - As soon as we step out of this door we can be seen. I'm hoping that their scanners won't have adapted to the jammer yet, plus this rockball generates it's own interference. Only shoot if you have to. Let's go."

She stepped forwards, and the air around her seemed to ripple for a second as she passed through the forcefield. Sillika followed, briefly wondering why they hadn't noticed passing through a field before. Probably something to do with trying desperately not to die.

Pebbles crunched under their feet as they crept along the side of the cliff. Between paranoid glances at any suspicious rocks, Sillika found a little time to be amazed at how life-like the projection was. It even felt like rock. No wonder the ship hadn't been found. She shivered, but would the Discovery be able to find it? She had no desire to be stuck on this planet, but if Jay's ship couldn't get here...

"Here," Keryl's voice broke into her thoughts and Sillika glanced up. The other Shee was standing opposite a large boulder, regarding it critically.

"This should be it," she held out what looked like a small remote control and pressed a button. The rock wavered for a second, then seemed to melt away, exposing a small access hatch. Keryl pressed something else and the hatch slid open, making a strangely organic popping sound. The other Shee stuck her head inside, then looked back at Sillika and Jay.

"If the problem's where I think it is, I'm going to need a bit of help. Sillika, I assume you haven't had any professional weapons training?"

"Not really..."

"Right. Chuck Jay your gun - You can shoot with both hands, right? Good - Sillika, follow me," Keryl ducked back into the hatch and began to scramble inside. Sillika swallowed and clipped her gun onto Jay's free arm. He nodded, then grinned slightly.

"Don't look so worried, I'll be fine."

"Sillika? Keryl's voice floated out of the apparent hole in the rock, "Today would be useful."

Sillika tore her eyes away from Jay's face and turned to the hatch. She scrambled inside, marvelling at how easily Keryl had gotten through. It was tight enough squeeze for Sillika, and the other Shee was a bit stockier than she was. She blinked as her eyes adjusted to the gloom, before finally focusing. The place seemed like a spiders-lair of wires, connectors, power cells and other strange things that Sillika couldn't identify. Keryl was halfway up one wall, hanging from a narrow ladder fixed to the side. She gestured to what appeared to a very deep pit to Sillika's right, filled with pinkish; glowing balls strung out along a web of black cables.

"I need to get to that, but we don't have any engineering harnesses left."

"Er... So what do you want me to do?"

"Climb up here and hold my ankles."

Sillika started to scramble up the ladder. It was easier than it looked, and she was soon next to Keryl, who nodded.

"Bit further, then wedge your feet round the interspac... The sticky-out rectangle, careful, right, grip it with your knees and grab my feet," she started to climb backwards up the ladder so Sillika was able to clamp her hands as tight as she could around the other Shee's boots. Keryl let go slowly, walking her hands down a large piece of piping until she was hanging loose. Sillika's arm muscles tensed as she took Keryl's full weight, the ladder beginning to dig into her thighs.

"Okay, a bit to the left... Stop. Perfect."

Sillika concentrated on keeping her grip tight as Keryl muttered to herself and fiddled with things. She'd never thought you'd need such gymnastic ability to fix engines. Callum would know, she grinned slightly, he'd complained enough when they had to fix the engines to get them back to Albia... The grin dropped from Sillika's face and she unsuccessfully tried to stifle a quiet sob. Callum...

"Sillika? You okay? I don't weigh that much," Keryl's voice echoed up to her. Sillika swallowed hard, blinking away the hotness in her eyes.

"Yeah... Just... Thinking..." She trailed off, voice cutting out. There was silence for a second.

"Okay, that's about done. Pull me up," Keryl's voice was slightly softer than usual. Sillika complied, thankful for the release of pressure on her shoulders. Keryl scrambled back up the ladder, until she was facing Sillika, hanging quite precariously off the top rung.

"I know what you're going through," she held her gaze, "My... My brother was on this mission."

Sillika stared at her.

"Really?"

"It's not something I'd lie about. After we got back he... He was the first to die." The other Shee was suddenly quiet. Sillika nodded slowly, forcing her lips not to quiver.

"Thanks."

Keryl was silent for a second. When she finally did speak, her voice was filled with barely suppressed pain.

"I'm sorry about your friend. But you can't let emotions cloud your judgement. It's clinical, I know, but if the time comes..." She trailed off, leaving the sentence hanging. With a huge amount of effort, Sillika nodded.

"I know."

Keryl squeezed her arm, then began climbing back down.

"Come on, let's get out of here. Jay'll be wondering what's happened to us," she dropped lightly to the floor and headed for the hatch. Sillika followed her, trying not to reply that last conversation in her mind. 'If the time comes...' The way Keryl had spoken, it sounded much more like 'When the time comes'.

Chapter 9