After his first day on duty as first officer, Nige headed back to his quarters for something to eat and a good nights sleep. Since the Protectors had revived the second time, Nige had not had a decent amount of sleep and this was beginning to show. Nige entered the darkened room. He caught something glowing in the dark on the other side of the room. A pair of eyes in the dark. Great! We missed one! well this ones not going to get the better of me! Nige headed for where he kept his phaser, set it to maximum setting and aimed at the glowing eyes. He fired, but hit nothing but the wall and heard a loud meow and a hiss as the eyes rapidly moved out of the way and scurried along the floor.
"Computer lights!" shouted Nige. Nige looked down at his feet and Torasu was sitting there, now with a line of his fur cut off his back from where Niges phaser had scraped him. "Ohhh, Torasu, I'm sorry" said Nige kneeling down and picking up the trembling cat. "I've just been a little on edge lately." He said. Torasu began to purr as Nige stroked his head. "I don't know whats the matter with me...." He put down Torasu and headed straight for bed.
"Nige......... Nige.... wake up! NIGE!" Nige awoke to rapidly being shaken and the sound of Dinaras voice. "Ahh your awake at last, I thought I'd never wake you"
"Computer time?"
<The time is 02:37 hours>
"What the hell did you wake me up at this time of night for?"
"I think we need to talk" she said pointing at Torasu's shaven back. "What’s wrong Nige? Bill told me about the incident in engineering as well."
"There’s nothing wrong. I just need a good nights sleep."
"You're not getting off that lightly. That’s the disadvantage, of going out with the ships counsellor. I’m not gonna let you sleep till you tell me what’s going on!" Nige, realising that he couldn't win and too tired to get into a debate, sat up.
"You may have noticed I've been a bit on edge lately" he began. "This is because of what happened five weeks ago."
"You mean when the Protector got loose?"
"Yes, when the protector got loose. Everyday since it was put back in status, I've had to stop by the cargo bay on my way to work every morning on the way to work. Looking at them just sent shivers down my spine. I hated doing it!"
"Why did you not speak to Tumock about it?"
"I was, and still am by rights, the only security on board above the rank of ensign. It had to be me. I kept dreading walking in there in case one of them had got loose again. That they may be hiding behind some containers just waiting to kill me after the last time."
"The last time...?"
"When it got loose, the last time, it killed the Captain and went for Tumock as they were the two who stopped it the last time, it went for revenge. This time it would have been me it would have gone for."
"Because you deactivated it last time?"
"Exactly."
"Remind me what happened again......"
Nige got more comfortable as this was going to take a while to explain. "Well, after we were all set up in engineering, Kira and I left to secure the crew in safe areas..."
"I remember that, you locked me up in here for four hours."
Nige smiled and continued. "Once that was done, we headed back to engineering to recieve orders on what to do....
In Engineering....
"All crew are safely secured Captain."
"Excellent work Nige, come take a look a this." Nige walked over to a console where Benson was sitting. "You see this small box, located just at the base of their spine." said Tumock pointing to a diagram of a protector. "This box deactivates them. It can be deactivated by manually, applying pressure to it, however, I doubt you would get close enough."
"I am trying to work on a way to get a tricorder to emit a jamming signal which should deactivate the Protector from a distance of two metres, but thats still pretty close" said Benson. "Who ever took this mission surely would be risking their lives." said Benson looking up at Tumock and then back at Nige.
"You can't mean.... you don't expect me to do this do you?" protested Nige
"You are the ships Chief Of Security and Tactical. You have greater combat and tactical experience than anyone else on this ship. Your the only one who can help us."
"No way! Not after last time. You have no idea of the pain those weapons cause!"
"He is right there Commander" added Benson having also been shot by one of their weapons in the first invasion. "Those weapons are deadly!"
Tumock looked at the two officers and thought for a moment. "Lieutenant, I am ordering you to deactivate this Proletarian at all costs."
"You can't seriously expect me to do this Tumock?? At least give me some backup!"
"I would send Beckett with you, but I need him to co-ordinate security teams in your absence."
"I'll go" jumped in Benson, not wanting to let his friend go on a suicide mission.
"With all due respect Bill, your not the man for the job" smiled Nige.
"I'll do it" said Kira picking up a phaser rifle. The three turned around in shock to see the doctor, previously unwilling to hurt anyone, pick up a phaser rifle and volunteer to deactivate the protector. "Haakon can handle all medical issues while I’m gone."
Tumock thought about this for a moment, "Ok" he said, "But no unnecessary risks, If you think you cant do it, don’t bother. I would rather you came back here alive than in pieces." said Tumock. "Dismissed." Nige picked up another phaser rifle and attached two photon grenades to his belt.
"Your not going to use those are you?" asked Kira
"Not if I can help it" smiled Nige. The two left engineering where Kira promptly dumped his phaser rifle and continued to walk on. "What the hell are you doing?" asked Nige.
"I refuse to use that weapon" replied Kira. "Picking it was the only way Tumock would have let me go."
"Kira, I have no time for this. Pick up that rifle or get back to engineering!"
"You need me Nige, if you are injured, who's going to help you?"
"Arm yourself and we'll move on, but I am not going into a combat situation with an unarmed partner."
Kira sighed and shut his eyes. He raised his hand and a small ball of energy appeared in his hand. He opened his eyes and smiled. "I'll be just fine" he said.
Nige, seeing that he wasn't going to win this argument, moved on followed by Kira.....
In Niges Quarters....
....and so we headed out looking for the protector."
"Why didn't you tell me any of this before?" asked Dinara
"I don't tend to talk much about my combat missions, they make me think how close I come to death all the time. If possible, I like to avoid the subject at all costs."
"Well, under normal circumstances, I would leave you in peace, but I feel that if your going to keep having these hallucinations of protectors all over the ship, you are going to need to tell me the rest."
"Ok, but not now. Can it wait until morning?"
"I guess so." she smiled and left Nige to get back to sleep.