Maruu looked at the many security officers that were holding phaser riffles. He figured that his crewmembers barely made it out, but wasn't sure exactly what was going on. What he could know was that most likely his alternate was one of the roaches and that he was still wandering the halls.
"Lan, come over here." Sitto Lan walked over to who he thought was the Admiral. "How many of these officers are with us?" he whispered.
"With us?"
"You know, us." Maruu tried to get his idea through without giving away too much. Luckily Lan got the hint.
"Well, sir, after you transported out of the shuttle bay, all the rest were either killed by the impact of the Cochrane or blown into space by Valdago. Also, he destroyed the entire nest in sickbay. There is only you, me, and a handful of others, none of which are in this room. By the way, what happened to Chee?"
"It's too bad about him, evidently Valdago got to him."
"Well, tell them all to meet me in my quarters in thirty minutes. Be very careful, only mention this once and then never again, not even to me. We can't run this risk."
"Understood."
Maruu spoke in a normal voice again. "I'm taking these three to my quarters. Everyone, fan out and find Valdago. I may be out there with you."
Immediately the room cleared. Garek ran to the access panel and found a fried PADD and mirror. "Sorry, sir, it's worthless. I don't know how we'll get you back."
"Well, lets worry about that later. We need to finish off the last few roaches and my alternate before we can do anything. Transport us directly to my quarters. And send that," he pointed at the deceased Chee, "out in space with the rest of them."
Garek went to the controls and set up the appropriate coordinates. The five beamed away to their separate locations.
Inside the Admiral's quarters Maruu, Garek, Nori, and Yosh got to work. Garek was giving the job of getting phasers for them all. It wasn't too hard, Maruu had about twenty in his room.
Stephen looked on the computer to see what had happened in sickbay and how Valdago had destroyed the entire nest. "Computer, playback visual footage from sickbay starting at... say.. twenty hundred hours." The footage began to playback, and Maruu quickly sped through it looking for what he wanted. But, before he got there he found something more interesting.
"Captain!" Garek said. "I've got four phasers."
"Good, set them on a wide band. I've got a plan."
Maruu watched as ten men and women stood waiting. Sitto Lan walked in last.
"All right, we're all here. What are we going to do?"
"Well, Kullinari," Maruu had figured out the names of the roaches and the story behind them, "you're going to die." Nori, Yosh, Loran, and Maruu all picked up their phasers and took all the the Kullinari out.
After being stunned, each of the roaches inside the crewmembers crawled out of their host's mouths. One by one they were phasered out of existence.
"Computer, locate Admiral Maruu."
<Admiral Maruu is in Jeffries tube 324.>
"Computer, close off that section of the ship. Then activate a view screen that he could get access to. Patch me in."
<Communication established.>
The viewscreen showed an empty room. "Admiral!" yelled Stephen, trying to get his attention. "Oh Admiral!!!"
He heard the noise of a panel being opened. Seconds later Maruu thought he was looking in a mirror.
"Oh, Lord," said the Admiral, "you're here now. What are you doing here?"
"Just screwing you over. Computer, open a channel to the entire ship and patch both of us in as well as the footage marked Maruu123."
<Complying. Complete.>
"What are you up to, Captain?"
"Crew members of the USS Virgo. I am not Admiral Maruu, the other man you see is. But, he isn't really Admiral Maruu either. He is controlled by a race of aliens called the Kullinari. But, don't take my word for it. Computer, playback that footage."
On the screen appeared the scene between Maruu and Valdago when Maruu told Valdago what was going to happen to him.
"Computer, locate Admiral Maruu."
<Admiral Maruu is in crew quarters 723.>
"All right, everyone. Let's finish this alien bastard off!"
Even though the communication was one way, the uproar from the entire crew was loud enough to hear. But, they weren't fast enough. Maruu immediately transported away.
"Computer, locate the Admiral."
<Admiral Maruu is on the shuttlecraft, LaForge.>
Maruu and the rest in the room ran to the bridge. By the time they got there, however, the LaForge had cloaked,
The entire crew, composed entirely of free minded humanoids, was in Shuttle Bay One. The crew size was fairly low, only 150 left.
Captain Maruu addressed them. Garek Loran stood next to him.
"Fellow Starfleet officers. I am not one of you, but I do follow the rules of the Federation, the old Federation. Do you remember a time when the Federation stood for justice? Do you remember the Prime Directive? Do you remember a Federation that was good?
"I do, and I want that Federation to return. I think we all do. But, much of the Federation is possessed by Kullinari. We need to fight them and finish them off once and for all. We need a new crew, however. I think that we'll be able to recruit some new officers on our trip back to the Alpha Quadrant. There's a lot of work to do, and I'll need help. Help from you and help from our new first officer, Garek Loran."
The group cheered. They finally were getting the leadership they needed and had a mission that meant something to all of them. Freeing the galaxy from the Kullinari.
"So, we've got work to do. Let's go home!"
Maruu and Garek left the podium and headed into the crowd which had now turned into a celebration. As Maruu walked through the crowd he was getting handshakes and compliments. Then, he bumped into a woman.
Dana Nori turned and looked at him.
"Shouldn't you be headed back to Risa or someplace?"
"Well, you were right, you do need help. All of your medical staff have been killed, and I've seen sickbay; it's in shambles."
"So what are you saying?"
"Well, you may need someone who can perform an autopsy some day. You'll never find someone with better connections in the Alpha Quadrant. I mean, I could get you weapons you've never dreamed of."
"Really, and what about Yosh?"
"Look for yourself." She pointed in another direction, and Maruu noticed Yosh dancing with about four other officers. "She seems to like it here."
"That she does. Well, I guess my next order will be to appoint you CMO. But, you'll have to start recruiting nurses and doing some training."
"No problem. So what made you decide to stay?"
"I didn't have too much of a choice, and I did state an oath to protect the Federation, whichever one it may be."
"Well, we're in good hands."
"Now, if you'll excuse, me I'm going to take a nap." Nori laughed as Maruu exited the shuttle bay.
He walked down the corridor and thought about what his new life would be like. Then, he disappeared.