Paul could feel a cold coming on as he sped along on the bike in that frozen world. He had not been travelling long before it was time to dismount and go the rest on foot. He quickly dismounted. It would be a while yet before night fall, so he took time to bury the bike in a large snow drift so as not to be found. He downloaded all the information on the bikes small terminal to his tricorder before copmletely burying it and heading off.
The walk was long and hard in the snow and as the day gre on the cold grew and the wind picked up. The wind chill turned
Pauls cheeks read and gave him ear ache. Night drew on as he walked and soon everything around was dark. The wind howled around him as he trudged on. This kid ad betta be alive now! Paul thought, hoping that all this effort would not be in vain. However, if Troy was dead, then Paul would take some vengance with the little toys he had brought with him in his pack.
Pretty soon he thought he saw something in the distance. He dropped into the snow and took out his horizon scanner. Sure enough, there was a lookout tower. There seemed to be a Son'a and a Hirogen on guard there. Rats! Zey must not ave eard ze news from ze battlefield yet! Looks like I am gonna ave to break it to em myself Paul made his way toward the tower trying to keep out of sight of the guards as much as possible. Luckily his survival suit was white so he blended in pretty well with the landscape. Snow began to fall too, so his footprins became covered and it became more difficult for the guardsmen to see out.
Paul came to the base of the tower and moved around to the door. He typed in the access code but it didn't work. He tried it again, but nothing. He even checked his tri-corder to make sure he was using the correct code. It was then it occured to him that they must have changed the codes when they didn't hear from the Son'a that Paul had killed. Darn! zere goes ma element of surprise
Paul stood a moment, planning out a way in for a moment. He knew that the guards on top would have a door on the top of the tower. Hopefully, it wouldnt be secured with the same locking mechanism. He placed a small holo emitter on the wall on the tower facing the way he had come. Well, zis baby served me well. But I doubt I'll be gettin er back zis time
He then moved to the rear of the tower and fired a grapling hook at the top. It sunk into the concrete and drilled itself in further. Paul climbed up to just below the rim of the tower. It was then that he activated the holo-emitter. It displayed an image of him walking toward the base in full view of everyone. The Son'a and Hirogen, stunned to see a Starfleet officer here walking up to the base without any cover walked over to the ledge and aimed their weapons at him.
"Halt Starfleet! You are our enemy and have been captured. Surrender now!"
Paul took his chance and pulled himself up into the tower. He quickly disposed of the Son'a with a slash across the neck from his claw. The Hirogen turned around but was met with the but of Pauls rifle and he fell to the ground below.
Paul hurriedly pulled open the door and stepped inside into the warmth. He stood there for a moment and rubbed his hands to get the warmth back into them. He couldn't afford to stay around for too long though. He needed to get going. He hurriedly pulled up the building schematic on his tricorder.
He figured out the most likely place where they would have held Troy and headed for it. With his life sign masking device on, he headed as stealthily as he could down the levels to where Troy would be held. A few Son'a he sedated as he went. Luckily, he encountered no Hirogen and quickly got to the detention part. Zhat was a bit too easy he thought. As he walked in, he found Troy lying on a cold stone slab of a bed behind some metal bars. Zis is primative even for Son'a!
"Troy. Troy." he said in a whisper.
Troy rolled over and saw Paul looking in on him. Paul could see he had been beaten and as he got up he walked with a limp.
"Paul? I never thought I'd see you here. I never thought I'd see anyone friendly again"
"Well mon amis, looks like today iz your lucky day. Lets get you out of ere."
Paul stood back and phasered the lock and it fell to the floor. He opened it up and put Troys arm around his shoulder. He walked off with Troy limping along beside him and started heading back to the watch tower.
"Damn! You won't be able to climb in zis state! We is gonna ave to go out zhe front door."
"Is that wise?"
"We ave no over option. Once we get outside, you ave to get away from ere as fast as possible."
"What about you?"
"If I leave zis base ere, zey could atttack ze station and take it by surprise from ere. I ave to take it out!"
"On your own?"
"Don't worry. I ave a few surprises" said Paul tapping his backpack.
The two reacehd the Main door and as Paul had suspected, it was locked from the inside too and could only be opened with the access codes. Paul took off his pack and pulled out some explosives and set them on the door.
"Troy, once ahere is a hole in zhat door, get through it and ead back to ze runabout. Ere, take this, it will mask your life sign" said Paul detaching it from his neck and placing it on Troys. Ere is a phaser should you get into trouble. Take zhis tri-corder too. It will lead you to one if the Son'a ski-bikes about a mile from ere. Use it to gt back to zhe runabout and wait zhere for me. If I am not back by sunrise, leave wivout me." Paul finally took off his survival suit and gave it to Troy. "You will need zhis"
"I can't take that Paul. You need it too."
"Look, oo as zhe most chance of living ere? If I get killed and you freeze to death then we screwed up bad. Take zhe suit and go. I'll be fine!"
Troy reluctantly took the suit and put it on. Paul set the charge and pulled Troy back around the corner. The explosion went off taking down the door.
"Go!" said Paul. Troy gave a nod and hurriedly hobbled out through the door into the cold darkness.