Ereshkigal heard the sounds of battle as she neared Nergal's cavern and knew that the end of all things had begun. If she succeeded in wresting the Heart of Tiamat from her nemesis Nergal, then the Aqrabu would be hers to command and all her enemies would fall before her. If she failed, the Aqrabu were loose and would kill everyone anyway.
She burst from the tunnel into Nergal's cavern and total chaos, but in the midst of it she saw her target, Nergal himself. Yes, he has the Heart of Tiamat in his hands! A short distance away from the hulking warrior but rapidly closing the distance ran six black-and-white figures.
Ereshkigal moved stealthily forward to place herself in position to strike when the critical moment came.
"Nergal!" yelled Carter as she and the five Banshees behind her bore down on the giant warrior's position.
Nergal spun at the sound of his name and his face contorted in a feral snarl when he saw Carter. "You again!" he roared. "You will not stop me!" He spun defiantly to face the Aqrabu and raised the fist that held the Heart of Tiamat.
Carter could see it more clearly now. It was a huge hunk of crystal the size of her fist and the color of blood. The thing pulsed rhythmically with an inner fire -- like a heartbeat -- and put out waves and waves of visible energy that bathed everything a macabre, sanguinary hue. Whenever the energy from the Heart struck an Aqrabu, the creature would recoil as if burned by flame, but it would also cease its deadly rampage.
Carter couldn't let Nergal gain control of the Aqrabu. There was no telling what he would do with an army like that at his back. She raised her Breen disruptor and fired.
Ereshkigal jumped from her hiding place. She was closer to Nergal than the humans, so reached the Heart of Tiamat first. While the giant warrior was still dazed from the weapon blast that had exploded the cavern floor under his feet, the old woman pulled a long dagger from within the folds of her robes and plunged the tip between his armor plates deep into his chest. A look of surprise came over his face, and he toppled forward. As he fell, she wrenched the glowing jewel from his limp hand.
She held it aloft, face twisted into a hideous grimace of triumph, and crowed. "Now all shall know my name and fear it!" she cried. The nearest Aqrabu were slowly approaching the holder of the artifact that held them in thrall, snapping their pincers in submission.
Carter and the others ran up. "The scorpion men are being held back," said Carter. She hadn't seen the old woman murder Nergal. "Now let's go find this Stairway to Heaven and get out of here like we planned."
Ereshkigal turned her regard towards Lee Carter and her friends. The light pulsing from the Heart of Tiamat lent her visage an unholy aspect. She leered at Carter and replied in a voice that had become a chilling cackle. "The plan has changed, foolish girl!"
She thrust forward the Heart, clearly intending to use its power on Carter. The Banshee wing commander tensed herself, momentarily confused, but before Ereshkigal could do anything, another black-and-white-clad body hurled itself from out of the shadows and plowed into the old woman with a flying body tackle. Ereshkigal was flung forward and collided with Carter, and all three went down n a tangle. The Heart of Tiamat was shaken loose from the old woman's grasp and went clattering across the stone cavern floor.
"Nooo!!!" cried Ereshkigal.
Carter threw the old woman from off of her and struggled to regain her feet, but then laid eyes on the newcomer.
"Jo!" she exclaimed, momentarily stunned beyond all reason.
"Lee!" cried Jo Schmidt, equally flabbergasted. "Ereshkigal told me you had all been killed!"
"She told us you'd been killed!" returned Carter, an irrepressible smile at seeing her dead friend alive quickly cracking the grim battle-hardened expression she wore.
There was no time for happy reunions however. Freed from the restraining force imposed by the Heart of Tiamat, the Aqrabu went wild. The closest scorpion-man rushed up behind Jo and raised an enormous pincer, but even as the crushing blow came crashing down, a small figure darted from out of the shadows and bowled into Jo, knocking her aside. The Aqrabu's claw missed her by a hair's-breadth. The small figure wasn't so lucky though, and went flying a dozen feet through the air.
"Enki!" cried Jo. She ran over to the fallen lad and cradled him in her arms. The brave youth's eyelids fluttered briefly and then closed forever.
"Oh my God! They killed Enki!" cried Jo, tears threatening to start.
"You bastards!" shouted Carter at the murderous creatures. She frantically looked around for the Heart of Tiamat and saw Ereshkigal running towards the jewel intent on retrieving it for herself.
One of the giant scorpion-men skittered across the cavern floor on its insect legs to block the old woman's path. Ereshkigal screamed in frustration and then in pain as the maddened creature grabbed her in its pincers and lifted her clear off the ground. "Help me!" she cried, desperation plain on her face.
Carter brought up her disruptor to shoot the Aqrabu. No one deserved to die like that, not even the treacherous old woman. The creature was making itself a difficult target however. It skittered and darted about with its screaming and struggling victim clutched in its claws, making it impossible for Carter to get a clean shot.
The Aqrabu shook Ereshkigal like a toy doll, then ripped her apart like a bloody rag. It tossed the halves aside without a second thought. So ended Ereshkigal's grand plans for domination. The creature turned its evil eyes towards Carter.
Lee Carter knew she only had one chance. If this Aqrabu didn't get her, the twenty behind it would. She sprinted for the Heart of Tiamat.
The Aqrabu was faster. It reached the pulsating jewel a split-second before Carter and blocked her path. With a lightening-quick thrust of its mighty pincer, it slapped the disruptor from her hand leaving her entire arm numb from the tremendous shock, then prepared to send Carter to the same gruesome fate it had sent its previous victim.
Carter knew defeat when she saw it. She closed her eyes and waited for the killing blow.
Instead, she heard the sizzle of disruptor blasts and the screech of anguished Aqrabu. She opened her eyes to mayhem. Behind her, she heard Alex exclaim, "What the--! It's the Breen!"
It was true. Dozens of refrigeration-suited, helmeted soldiers were crawling out of the rocks at the edges of the huge cavern firing their disruptors indiscriminately at Aqrabu and Kurnugians alike. Carter looked to Cross, who shrugged.
"Guess they decided helping us was their best hope for getting out of here!" he shouted through the noise of energy discharges.
Still, there were just too many Aqrabu. They still had but one hope. Carter skipped around a dodging Kurnugian warrior and dove for the forgotten Heart of Tiamat. Finally, her fingers closed around the throbbing jewel.
It felt warm, almost hot in her hand, and though she knew it was made of diamond-hard crystal, it felt disconcertingly pliable and wet, almost as though it were actually a living heart pulsating rhythmically in her hand.
Fighting back a surge of revulsion and a powerful urge to throw the vile thing as far from her as she could, she raised her fist into the air. The rosy light from the gem's core flared bright and rays shot in all directions until they seemed to fill the entire cavern.
She could feel the warmth of the Heart suffuse throughout her arm and into her body, filling her with a sense of untapped power deep in her bones. It seemed like magic to her and the modern Starfleet officer bristled at the mere thought, but she wasn't about to look a gift horse in the mouth.
Drunk with the raw power surging down her arm from the Heart of Tiamat, she shouted to her teammates. "Everybody! Get behind me!"
She advanced on the milling Aqrabu, heading in the direction of the Mountain Gates. Carter realized the power of the Heart. It was a psionic resonator tuned to the thoughts of the Aqrabu! She sent mental commands through the flaming jewel. Stand aside! Make way! Do not harm the people! Cease fighting! The scorpion-men snapped their pincers in agitation, but gave way before the woman who held the fiery gem.
Matthew Cross had gathered the Banshees together and they were warily following their wing commander through the corridor opened up for them by the Aqrabu. "Come on, Schmidt!" he shouted to Jo, who was still kneeling by the side of Enki.
Jo lay the brave boy back down on the hard cavern floor and stood. "I'm sorry Enki," she said quietly. "Looks like you won't get to see Earth like I promised. I'll never forget you." She turned and ran to catch up with her team.
Let us pass, crooned Carter through the crystal. Let us pass and we will free you from this prison.
Behind her Jo caught up to Matthew Cross. "Even once we get past the Aqrabu," he said to her in a low voice, "we still don't know how to access the Stairway to Heaven. The secret of that died with Ereshkigal."
"Who do you think gave her those secrets?" replied Jo.
"We might live through this yet!"
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