[USS Quantum Fury]
Khiy stared at the view screen- shoulders in lap, fingers laced, and his chin resting downwards against his knuckles almost mimicking the old Romulan monument of the brooding Senator. There was an immeasurable sense of panic. They had found Charon- but it seemed the Charon had already attracted quite a large collection of unwanted visitors. The tension on the bridge was quite palpable as the entire crew stared on in disbelief.
"The Charon has surrendered according to communication intercepts." T'Ern's head whisked around as she made the announcement and her amber irises locked onto Khiy "Commander, it may not be my place- however I feel obligated to remind you that our current level of cloaking technology may be detectable by newer generation Romulan sensor technology. Remaining here for an extended period time will likely place the ship in jeopardy."
"There isss sssomething happening with the Charon..." The reptilian tactical officer hissed and magnified the view screen image on one of the Charon's many airlocks. "Look" he hissed again just as the airlock rotated sending a cloud of white dust particles into streaming into. A few second after the last particle wisped out a larger oblong figure tumbled forth. A chorus and gasps and groans echoed through the bridge as the object was easily identifiable as a body.
Khiy sat up and then stood. "Condition yellow- inform all crew to move to battle stations. Magnify resolution on that object." The veins in the young Commander's neck protruded as the tension increased tenfold. As the image magnified the figure was barely identifiable however a single solid pip glimmered beneath the blue glow of the Charon's deflector dish telling Khiy that is was not the Charon's Captain or any other senior staff members. The relief was short lived however as the situation remained dire. "Is there a way we can keep track of the Charon without remaining here?"
The blue tinted Tholian waved one of his limbs "there is a possibility. Savant is aboard the Charon- it is unlikely the Romulans would have found a way to purge her programming just yet. Perhaps if we can establish communication we can keep track of th...." His last comment faded a bit as several emerald beams of energy wrapped themselves around the Charon.
"They have lowered a tractor beam Commander." T'Ern stated the obvious "they are powering up their warp engines and appear to be preparing to encompass the Charon in the lead vessel's warp bubble." A moment later all of the Romulan ships, including the Charon in tow leapt into warp, disappearing in a flash.
Khiy looked at Onarin "tell the Doctor to create some prosthetics and inform the transfer crew of the Charon to meet me in the observation lounge in twenty minutes." He then looked at Vekelse "Vekelse- try to contact Savant aboard the Charon. I have an idea."
[USS Charon]
t'Achamoth dangled a thin piece of string from her thumb casually twisting it around. Next to her the head of the Gai'Shian on Charon looked tortured as he described the loss of his men. The Romulan woman appeared disinterested as he played with the string- however, just before the Gai'Shian could finish his report she looked up, rolled the string onto her thumb and then sneered "failures, you can't keep this bunch of lloann'mhrahel in line?" She sighed and then gazed about the bridge sliding her free fingers across the armrest console "where is the ship intercom?" she muttered to herself before finding the control and switching it on.
"Greetings crew of the Charon. It is regrettable that I must say your surrender has not been as seamless as intended. Undoubtedly it seems you have little respect for your commanding officer who issued the order with your best interest in mind. So be it- we do not have time to hunt every one of you down. So rest assured your behavior will have deadly implications for your fellow crewmembers." She beckoned the Gai'Shian commander forward "if you do not surrender in the next five minutes we will begin executing one crewmember every minute until you do." She switched it off "bring me ten prisoners. We shall show them our sincerity."
The solider nodded "Ie- I will have one of my men bring them up from the cargo bay at once."
Five minutes later with no surrenders the corridors of the Charon echoed with cries of terror. "I am Ensign Barlowe...please don't hurt me." It was easy to hear the tremble in the young Ensign's voice- the sound of pure terror as she was led into the airlock. "Please!" She screamed "don't do this...please don't." But Romulans were not a sensitive bunch and her pleas fell on deaf ears. Instead cries of terror spilled from the ship's comm system as the slow hiss of a cycling airlock could be heard in the background. The cries of terror grew hoarse and then abruptly stopped creating a morbid silence.
A minute later the cold voice of t'Achamoth echoed through the corridors once again "I assure everyone that her death was neither quick nor painless. If you care about the well being of your fellow crewmen it would be in your best interest to surrender. As I said earlier- we have guaranteed the safety of the crew lest you continue to be uncooperative. Remember- every minute the blood of one of your fellow crew-members will be on your hands."
A new round of screaming abruptly started.
[End]
