No sooner had Troy left the building than alarms started going off and the lights shut down. With the lights now dimmed and flashing red, Paul hurried ino the heart of the base. Without his life sign disguising unit, he was easily detected and met with some heavy resistance. The Son'a weren't much problem, but every time Paul encountered a Hirogen that he had to shoot in the face at it was the only spot unarmoured, he thought - This is it. This ones gonna get me.
Paul ran through a door into what looked like the central control room of the base. The Son'a charged him, but were dealt with accordingly with a few shots from Pauls rifle. Paul looked over the room and decided the best place to plant the explosives. He hid them under a console and set the timer for remote detonation. Hurriedly he headed out and back down the corridor trying to remember the base schematics from his tri-corder. He was heading for the muitions room to plant the final explosive. Heading down the corridor he felt a rifle but hit him in the back. He fell to the ground as a Hirogen jumped on top of him. Paul tried to wrestle it off, but it was too big and heavy. Paul could feel himself getting crushed under its weight. he punched at it, but his fists only met the armour plating and put Paul in more pain. He tried to reach for his rifle, but it was out of reach. The hirogen got up into a positino where he could Punch at Pauls face and chest, yet still keep him pinned to the ground. Out of all the species he had encountered and fought, nothing he knew could punch harder than a Hirgoen. Paul fought the pain and grabbed for a knife attached around his waste while shielding his face with his other arm. He found the knife and thrust it throught the hirogens forehead. The Hirgoens body went limp and fell on to pof Paul. He managed to struggle out, but not without snagging his uniform on the armour. Damn! Zhats gonna leave me even colder outside He picked up his rifle and blasted his way through the door into the munitions room.
The Room itself wasn't particularly big, but there was enough explosives in there to make a nice explosion. Paul set the charges and headed back out. He encountered more resistance and had to end up fighting hand to hand as his rifle cell ran out and he had forgotten to pack a spare. He could see the main door and made a run for it. I pulled it off! I should ave been a Marine he thought as he ran out into the snow.
"Stop right there!" called a voice from behind him. Paul turned to see a Hirogen in the watch towere aiming a rifle at him. Other Son'a and Hirogen emerged from the snow, weapons aimed at Paul. "A Starfleet officer will be of much more use than a lowly civilian. Check him!" orddered the Hirogen.
Another Hirogen walked over and ripped the backpack off and took his weapon. He rumaged through the pack rippig out all of Pauls tools, most of which were unique and he had created himself.
"What is this?" asked the Hirogen holding out the detonator to Paul.
"Zhat? Zhat is a... signalling device for my runabout. Press zhat button zhere and it will fly on autopilot to zhis location."
The Hirogen looked up at the other who returned a nod. The Hirogen pressed the button and Paul dived to the ground. The base went up in a huge explosion. Larger than Paul thought.... A lot of the sorrounding Son'a and Hirogen were caught in the blast or hit with debris from the explosion. Paul got up and ran as fast as he could in the direction of the runabout before the Son'a had a chance to react.
As he ran, the cold became more intense. It must have been the middle of the night now and the coldest that it could possibly get. Pauls breath clouded his vision as breathed out and the vapour spewed out. He ran on and on as fast as he could. He was hungry and thirsty, but all of his rations had been left back in his pack. He heard some shouting behind him after a run of about two miles and he knew that the remaining Son'a and Hirogen had found him and were catching up fast.
It wasn't long before they were hot on his heels not more than twenty metres behind him. Paul suddenly stopped as he came to the edge of a huge cliff. He looked round and a team of at least twenty Son'a and Hirogen were closing in behind him. He looked down into the ravine and suddenly remembered Kassia's vision....
"Your future.. it.. it isn't the brightest one I've seen," she replied, hedging.
"What? Whatz wrong?"
She shrugged casually, trying to play off the concern in her eyes. "I don't know . . .the visions . . . they're a little blurred."
"Ey look, I don need to be psychic to know your coverin somesing up. Tell me what it iz ahh?"
She sighed. This is what she hated . . . "If you really want to know..."
"I do"
"Ok then," she replied, "I hate to be the giver of bad news . . . but I am afraid there is some for you, unless you change it . . . At some point in the future you are going to find yourself on a distant planet, covered in ice. I saw you there in the vision amidst a huge glacier, with your clothes tattered and torn . . ." she stopped for a moment, trying to contain a shudder. The image was still very fresh in her mind. "You were bruised and bleeding and running from . . .something . . . I can't tell from what."
"What appens next?"
Again she began to hedge. He wasn't going to believe her anyway, she knew. Not right now . . . "It . . . it becomes unclear at that point."
"You are lying to me, woman! Lemme know what ma future iz!"
She sighed, resigning herself to the fact that she would have to tell him. After all, there was always a chance she could change the path, just by her words. But it was painful to watch the vision again as she closed her eyes to strengthen it clarity. "I see explosions . . . all around. A large detachment of men are chasing you... I still can't see their faces . . . But some are tall, some are not so tall. You suddenly stop running because you come to the edge of a cliff . . . and these people . . . they . . . they catch up with you . . . cornering you . . . You're afraid of them capturing you . . . so you . . you . . ." she trailed off, not knowing how to say it.
"I...?"
She opened her eyes and gazed right into his. "You jump," she said studying his face, tears misting her eyes. She absolutely hated giving bad news . . .
Paul looked back at her, emotionlessly and as cold as when he came in.
"I jump? Bull! I would never do zat!"
"Thats what the vision showed me. Nothing more, nothing less . . ."
The Hirogen and Son'a came to a stop and drew their weapons.
"Come with us quietly or we will shoot" one of them said.
Paul looked down into the ravine and back at the Son'a. The jump must have been seventy feet at least. He took another step closer to the edge. Zhis can't be it. Zhis can't be zhe end. But I would rather die zhan be captured by zhem Paul took a deep breath and jumped.
Troy got back to the runabout and dismounted from the bike. He clambered into the runabout and lifted out the dead frozen bodies of the Son'a and threw them outside. He went up to the controls and brought the computer system back online. He activated teh scanners and scanned for any life signs near by. He detected a large group of Son'a and Hirogen about two and a half miles away, and a faint human life sign. He had never flown a Federation runabout before, but it didn't seem that different from his own shuttle. He quickly, lifted off and piloted the shuttle to the position of the Son'a. They panicked at the sight of the runabout and began to scatter and fire on it. Their phasers were no match for the runabouts shields however. Troy looked for the transporter controls and brought Paul aboard. He looked back and his body was on the transporter pad. He brought the runabout to face the enemies.
"Now where are the photon torpedoes?" he said to himself as he scanned the controls. He found the button and pressed it sending a photon torpedo into the midst of the Son'a and Hirogen. He scanned the area and none were left alive.
He got out of the pilots chair and went back to Paul and scanne dhim with a tri-corder. He was in bad shape. Both his legs were broken and one of his arms, a lot of his ribs and he had a fractured skull. He had internal bleeding and if he didn't get medical attention soon, he would die. Troy began to panic, not having any medical knowledge himself, he couldn't do anything to save the life of the man who had saved his. The only hing he could do was get back to SB901 as quickly as possible and hope that Paul could be treated when he arrived back on the station.