Captain Osagawa studied over the plans in his ready room. It wouldn't be easy--it may not even be possible--but it had to be done.
He keyed the safe under his desk and retrieved his hand phaser and a small pouch of tools. I just received command of this vessel and I'll be damned if anyone's going to take it from me without a fight!
Working on his desk, Osagawa modified his combadge to operate independently of the ship's communications system using an archaic radio frequency. A quick check revealed that his modifications were operating properly. He made a few notes on a PADD and left the office. Beckett and Tumock were waiting on the bridge.
"Gentlemen, I am glad you are here!" the captain said, acknowledging their arrival. "Everyone, gather round. A few simple modifications to your combadges will enable us to communicate intra-ship." Osagawa showed the two senior officers the modifications.
"49 megahertz??? That frequency hasn't been used since the 20th century!" Beckett exclaimed.
"Beautiful, isn't it? Such simplicity. The power cell within the combadge will give us an effective range of approximately 10 kilometers--more than enough to keep us in touch. However, whatever you broadcast will be heard by all hands with the modifications, including possibly the Protectors. Whatever you send, make sure it can go out in the clear," the captain replied. "Now, let's go get our ship back. Mr. Beckett, I want you to locate Lieutenant Artel; our situation calls for her unique skills. Show her the combadge modifications and bring along as much hardware as you can locate. Mr. Tumock, is Commander Nadira still in sickbay?"
"Affirmative. Other than stress and a lack of sleep she is in good health."
"Good. We're taking back our ship. I want us all to rendezvous at sickbay in one hour."
One hour later, the five met in sickbay. Linn Haakon and Akira Brown, the ranking medical officer from the Howard Carter, were busy attending to more wounded who had been brought in.
Osagawa pulled up a schematic of the Knight on an open terminal. "The pattern of attacks indicate that the Protectors are ranging in a radial pattern from one location: Transporter Room 3. Power usage in that transporter room is at 300 percent of normal. It would appear that the Protectors are somehow replicating themselves using the transporter system."
"So the answer is simple--we cut off the power to Transporter Room 3," Beckett replied.
"Not quite that simple," Osagawa replied. "Before I was a captain, I was a chief engineer and before that, a transporter chief. The transporter system has quadruple redundancy as a safety feature. One would have to destroy the transporter room entirely before a transport in process could be stopped due to lack of power. Even then the signal could be patched to another transporter room as a failsafe. We could destroy all our transporter systems, but I'd rather not do that--the collateral damage that would entail would be far more than we could easily repair. The trick is to eliminate the threat without tipping our hand."
"We could alter the coordinate system for the transporter unit, so that the Protectors beam to a location that we control undisputably," Tumock answered. "Perhaps a cargo bay?"
"I've something better in mind. Lieutenant Artel, how many demolitions charges do you have at your disposal?"
"There are twenty on hand at all times in the ship's armory. Our last reports indicate that the armory is still under our control, Captain," the Marine lieutenant answered.
"Any directional mines?" the captain asked. Artel nodded. "Five dozen."
"Lieutenant, you and Mr. Beckett are to report to the armory and draw all twenty demolitions charges and all of the mines. Here's what I want you to do..." Osagawa then relayed his plan.
Osagawa and Tumock wore shackles as a Protector none-too-gently urged them forward to Transporter Room 3. The Protector motioned to one of its cohorts guarding the door.
"We have captured the master of this vessel and his assistant. Our leader wishes to interrogate them to determine their intentions," the Protector announced. The guard opened the door to the transporter room. Inside the activity level was nothing less then frenetic as more Protectors continued to cycle out of the transporter system. One Protector stood at the transporter controls, not operating the automatic system but instead issuing orders to his newly-replicated troops.
"Very good!" the chief Protector announced. "Those who have tried to usurp the Guardian have been apprehended."
"These put up a much harder fight than we anticipated. This Federation is a grave threat and must be eliminated in its entirety," the Protector guarding the captain and Tumock replied.
By that time the last group of Protectors had marched out the door. Before the transporter could produce more, the Protector guarding Osagawa and Tumock changed shape suddenly--into a very angry-looking Tanzaran holding a very angry-looking weapon. Tumock charged the Protector, pitting his superior Vulcan strength against the strength of the Protector until finally he could get one hand free to pinch the one nerve junction guaranteed to render most species unconscious...only it didn't work! The Protector threw Tumock aside and moved toward Osagawa, who was busy at the transporter controls. Commander Nadira fired her rifle at full power at the Protector, who ducked for cover. "Computer! Beam all non-Starfleet personnel within fifty meters of this room to stated coordinates. Authorization Osagawa-Zeta-702!"
The Protector vanished. So did the Protector guarding the door and the fifteen Protectors in the vicinity of the transporter room.
"Computer, all subsequent transports from Transporter Room 3 to terminate at stated coordinates. Authorization Osagawa-Zeta-702." The transporter pads which had just begun to glow with the energy of another transport immediately shut off. "Ms. Nadira, please see to Mr. Tumock. I've got some work to do here."
After purging the pattern buffers, Osagawa tapped his combadge. "Ms. Artel, Mr. Beckett...it's your show now!"
At Holodeck Two, dozens of Protectors had beamed into what appeared to be an exact replica of the section of the USS Knight containing Transporter Room 3. Outside, Artel and Beckett had erected a portable force field emitter to seal the door. The captain's transmission came in, scratchy but still distinguishable. Artel motioned for the other two officers to clear the doorway. From 20 meters down the corridor, Lieutenant Artel tapped a command into her tricorder. The deck shook with enough explosive force to have easily destroyed the entire deck. Beckett advanced forward, phaser and tricorder at the ready. The door to the holodeck had to be pried open; what remained behind that door was beyond description.
"Lieutenant Artel to Captain Osagawa, the ship is secured," the Marine officer reported.