Gavin was sitting in his ready room when the klaxon started sounding. What the hell? he thought. Garek Loran ran into his office a second later.
"We've got big trouble."
Gavin stood up from his desk, dropped his PADDs and ran after Garek. "Show me, lad."
Greg Parker was working with Captain Jennings and his Chief Science officer, Lieutenant Ryan, when the Hood's klaxon came on.
"How can we have a red alert in spacedock?" he asked the captain.
"I'm not sure," he answered. He tapped his comm. badge. "Captain Jennings to Commander Jeffreys. What's going on." There was no answer.
<Inturder alert.>
Lieutenant Ryan looked at the sensors. "I still can't see anything on the ship."
Greg walked to the station and began to transfer the sensor readings from the station to the screen.
"This isn't good, Sir. It appears that they've been able to scan decks six and seven and have found..."
The three men heard the whoosh of the tubolift doors opening. Four Son'a walked out. Lietenant Ryan, the only man wearing a phaser, attempted to pull it out and attack, but the Son'a fired on him before he even aimed his weopon. He vaporized instantly.
"Hello, Captain Jennings," said one of the Son'a. "I'm debating whether or not to kill you. What do you think I should do?"
Captain Jennings stood his ground and didn't answer the question.
"Commander," Nathan said to Gavin as he followed Garek Loran out of his office, "Once the dampening field lowered, we detected the lifesigns of twenty Son'a on board the Hood."
"On board?"
"Yes, Sir. They were hiding in one of the crew quarters. I've also detected six devices that expelled gamma radiation into decks six and seven. It stopped any personel from entering those decks as well as blocking our sensors and communications. As soon as they were dectected I called for red alert. The Hood is linked to us and I'm guessing that when their klaxons went off, the Son'a deactivated the machines and began to move."
"It was a damned Trojan Horse."
"Excuse me, Sir," asked Garek, oblivious to the meaning.
"Ancient Earth history. A clan called the 'Greeks ' were attacking the city of Troy. Troy was the high society of Asia then. Well, it lasted for ten years until finally, the Greeks gave up, and as a token of peace, left a giant wooden horse statue in front of the gates. They got on their ships and sailed away.
The Trojans, thinking they had won, pulled the giant monument into the city and celebrated. But, after the people fell asleep in the drunken stupers, a small group of Greeks exited the horse statue and slaughtered the town from the inside out. The 'gift' was nothing more than a portable bunker."
"That certainly sounds like what happened here," admitted the engineer. "They're on the bridge, engineering, and the larger group, thirteen, are in the cargo hold. They'll be able to board the station from there."
"What is the status of the docking bay and the security teams?"
"I had the docking bay evacuated before we tried to penetrate the field."
"Well make damned sure that no one is there and seal it up."
"Sir, I've got something. Three humans are onboard the Hood," said Nathan from the Ops station.
Captain Jennings!
[Natlie Carter to Commander Jeffreys. I heard the klaxon and I'm in Sickbay with Dr. Galor. Is there a situation?]
"Aye, stay put, you may be busy in a bit, las." The main bridge crew began to file in. Until then Garek had been trying to run both the Engineering and the Science stations. Garek stood next to his chair and began to put people in there places. "Nathan, stay at Ops. Kelly," he said to Vince who had just entered the room along with Patrick Harper and some other Security crewmen, "go to the Communication station and see if you can locate and friendly vessiles this side of the Briar Patch. Nevar, take your station."
"Sir, said Patrick Harper, "I don't know where the Commander is. He failed to return from an appointment earlier today."
Damn, Jeffreys thought. "Well, lad, take the station." Patrick smiled a bit at the oppertunity and complied. "Uh...," Gavin grunted as he looked around the room, "Murphy, take over the Science station for Mr. Loran."
Murphy looked at his Commander a bit confused. "Sir, I'm not a Science officer."
"Aye, and neither is my Grandmother, but Garek can't run 'em both." Seeing no way to argue the logic, Murphy manned the unfamiliar station. "First things first, is the Station locked up?"
"Yes, Sir," replied Nathan Call from Ops. "But they are trying to gain access to the controls. I've encrypted the lockout commands but they may be able to manually open the doors."
"Keep working. Harper, get a Security team down there, Now!" Patrick only nodded and did the best he could and not looking like he wasn't sure what to do. "Call, beam the Captain out of there."
Nathan attempted to get a lock on the three men but couldn't. "No good, Sir. I can't get a lock. Too much radiation interfearance."
"Sir," added Garek, "I'm still able to see through the radiation, but we'll never get a transport out of there."
Double damn. "Dr. Cater, how much will Gamma radiation affect three humans?"
[Not too bad. The Son'a have to live in it too, so it can't be too toxic. However, I wouldn't want them in there for more than an hour.] Gavin was amazed at the new doctor's knack for keeping on top of the situations.
"Commander," said Patrick, "I've got a few teams in the Docking bay, but I still can't find Pol."
Triple Damn. "Lieutenant Nugent. You have one order. Find Nevar Pol and bring him up here."
[Understood, Sir. I'll check the Commerce Sections.]
"Check my quarters if you have to, but find that man. He may be nuts, but he's a hell of a fighter."
Vince Kelly looked over at Jeffreys. He wasn't sure what to make of the man yet. He seemed on top of everything, but talking about a crewmember that way in front of the rest of the crew was not very regulation.
"People, I'm open to suggestions," said Gavin to his team. Well, here it is, the big test.