[USS Charon, Bridge]
Shoving a weapon into his own waistband, Lamont approached Commanders Eithne and Sakarra to deliver his last piece of advice which he would have to insist upon as bitter as it was to fathom.
"Commanders, I recommend we activate the Charon's auto destruct sequence as quickly as possible. The three of us possess the required authorizations to do so in the captain's absence. We cannot allow our Vulcan guests or Starfleet data and technology fall into Romulan hands. I recommend this be done without delay before we lose the capability to do so. I recommend it be set for half an hour and for silent countdown. At least the system will be armed. I doubt we have half an hour, but our duty must be to deny the Romulans their prize. The destruction of the Charon in close proximity to the Temep'Shar should destroy both ships if indeed that is how this affair must end.
In the meantime we can do everything we can to repel this Romulan assault and attempt to salvage the situation. If we succeed the auto-destruct can be canceled. If we are going to act then the time is now Commanders." Lamont had little time to fear his own words. Logically they had to act with the captain absent, the weapons offline, and boarding parties attempting to seize the ship.
He could feel the cold eyes of the bridge crew upon him. He loathed what he was saying and was sure he was the source of equal loathing by the gathered crew yet the action was logical. It had to be done.
Eithne's eyes narrowed at Lamont's suggestion that they blow up the ship.
"Commander, I agree that we should not let the Romulans have hold of what the Charon and Temep Shar have to offer them... Should the self destruct were to be needed however, -where- exactly is all of the ship's crew supposed to go?"
Her brow rose inquisitively as she waited for him to answer, he was right in the matter though. If they were to fail in holding back the Romulans, they could not let them get their hands on the Charon or the Temep Shar.
Should they need to resort to blowing the ship to High Heaven however, her sole responsibility was to keep the crew of the ship safe. She could not let them all get captured in the wake of the ships destruction.
"The final frontier", Lamont replied firmly. "If we abandon ship the Romulans will scoop up and use the crew as political pawns or worse deny all involvement and attempt to extract Federation and Starfleet secrets from the entire crew at any cost. I fear many would be tortured and sacrificed in retribution for destroying the Temep'Shar. It is likely that those who survived would never see the Federation or their homes again.
Perhaps it would be best to give the crew the choice however we do not need to make such decisions now. Activating the destruct system now is all that matters. I pray fate will grant us the chance to disarm it before it is too late, however we cannot permit the Romulans to seize the Vulcan ship or our own. They must certainly not claim both! I apologize sir, but I do not at present have a more viable alternative. I only wish I did."
Lamont pinched the bridge of his nose feeling in part the supreme weight of responsibility which rested upon the shoulders of Commander Katris and Sakarra. His duty was simply to advise and recommend. The actual decision was not his to make.
A long exasperated sigh was the only sound that was heard from Eithne as she stood there between Ian and Sakarra. Sure she was in many situations before where the destruction of a ship was in the possible future, and yes she was in situations where the destruction of the ship actually happened. But, never before was she the one who would have to make the decision to destroy or not destroy the ship.
Slowly her eyes moved from Lamont to Commander Tyrax, she had to make a decision. If she thought any longer on this decision it could very well mean absolute destruction of the Charon and her crew. Finally, her eyes settled on the view screen. "Activate Self Destruct Sequence."
There was still a weight on her chest after the order was given. Only now, it was much, -much- heavier than before.
The entire situation seemed to have become one desperate gamble after the other – illogical in the extreme and the ambassador's nervous energy could certainly have powered a warp core. Not to mention his colorful metaphors, uttered in Vulcan of all languages, had earned the fair haired human a disapproving brow.
But the XO had made her decision and Sakarra's unperturbed voice affirmed the order to the computer before the Vulcan woman returned her focus to the amaranth shape on the viewscreen. Secondary explosions in the engineering section confirmed the away team and perhaps the surviving crew had indeed managed to do considerable damage before they had been forced to retreat – but it was not enough. Nowhere near enough.
It was a point of pride for T'Meni that the engineering section of a Seleya class offered her crew such excellent protection and was so damnably difficult to destroy – except from within, if one knew how to do it. What irony it was precisely this circumstance that now proved their greatest challenge. That – and time.
"Damn those Vulcans", he mused. "What damnable logic could have possessed such intellectuals to consciously develop such a dangerous thing? Surely they were aware of the risks? What right did they have to endanger the entire galaxy in the name of science, logic, and pursuit of knowledge? If they were after a means of transportation then why had there been so much secrecy? Why use a starship so easily capable of being lost by the very technology employed upon it?" Lamont inwardly fumed but carefully kept his emotions well hidden. The Vulcans had made a grave error and it would be the Charon and her crew who would pay a terrible price to right their grievous mistakes.
Perhaps if the Charon's weapons were operational they might have a chance at destroying the Temep'Shar thus equalizing the playing field to a degree. It would at least bring them some measure of hope.
"Commander Katris, I have an idea! I still recommend you activate the auto destruct sequence, but if this by some miracle works perhaps sacrificing the ship and crew won't be called for! I'll contact you shortly!"
Lamont turned and ran toward the turbolift which was not responding. With the assistance of a crewman he was able to pry apart the doors and descended the access ladder as quickly as possible. His destination: the bottom of the ship, Deck 13.
Eithne had opened her mouth to ask what exactly the Commander had on his mind, but before she could say anything, he was already out of sight.
Looking to Sakarra, she shook her head. "I pray this works out best for all of us..."
"Then I should recommend asking the Betazoid Deities for assistance, Commander. Vulcan Gods are not known to be merciful." A marginally raised brow and a long gaze out of unreadable dark eyes accompanied the dry statement.
## Minutes Later ##
Lamont squeezed his body through a narrow opening he had managed to create in the turboshaft doors leading onto Deck 13. Luckily for him, the lowest deck of the ship was not one considered extremely vital and at first glance was thankful the Romulans appeared to share that appraisal as well. Pulling the phaser he had tucked away in his waistband, Lamont dashed down the hallway toward his goal. The deck was fortunately sparsely populated with only a few engineering teams dashing about attempting to restore power and functionality. By the time they managed to accomplish that goal it could be too late.
Shoving his fingers between another set of doors, Lamont pried apart the entrance to the Charon's forward torpedo room. The automated systems to fire the ship's heavy artillery might be out of commission, but with some work they could be fired manually.
Entering the room he came face to face with the massive mechanical systems that loaded, armed, and fired the ship's supply of torpedoes. It seemed like a giant, lifeless hulk of steel, mechanics, and electronics yet this contraption even without power could still be their salvation.
Five crewman were scrambling about led by a lieutenant who looked as shaken and nervous as Lamont felt. However there was no time for such things. Time was short and too much was at stake to selfishly waste it on one's own wellbeing.
"Listen up", Lamont shouted taking command. "We have to destroy that Vulcan ship out there at any cost! The fate of this ship now rests with us!
The four of you over here. We're doing this manually. Lieutenant, use the manual override and open the port launch tube while the rest of us lift a torpedo.
Lamont waved over the crewman and informed them that they would be picking up one of the heavy torpedoes and carrying it to the hatch bypassing the automatic loading mechanisms.
"Which one of these is a quantum torpedo", Lamont quickly asked as he surveyed a sea of black cases that all looked identical to him.
"Here" one of the crewman shouted. After a few moments of detaching safety mechanisms and the clamps which held the weapon securely within its rack Lamont gave the order to lift – something he instantly regretted. The torpedo was not only heavy it was back breaking heavy. All four of the crewmen, Lamont included grimaced under its weight as they pulled the beast from its rack and slowly made their way toward the opening launch tube.
Then suddenly the weight of the torpedo slipped past the clammy hands of one of the crewmen nervously attempting to bear his share of the load. Lamont swore his heart stopped for a split second as the nose of the torpedo hit the deck with a terrifying clang. For several seconds no one uttered a word as if the air in the room had been instantly evacuated leaving nothing but a vacuum. Then slowly everyone began breathing again their hearts pounding loudly in their chests.
"Come on", Lamont shouted doing his best to stomach the shock he too was experiencing from dropping a weapon of enormous destructive potential. "LIFT!"
The men grappled with the black casing and with the help of the lieutenant finally managed to slide the lone torpedo into the port firing tube.
[To be continued …]
Cmdr Eithne Kathris
Executive Officer
Diplomatic Advisor
LtCmdr Sakarra Tyrax
Chief Helm Officer
USS Charon
