Terry had other ideas, and he wasn't going to wait any longer to implement them.
'What do you think you're doing, Engineer?' Smith asked as Terry crossed the room and squatted down beside him.
'I'm saving you.' he replied with a grunt as he bodily lifted the dead weight of the man and slung him over his shoulder in spite of the protestations. 'Feel free to lead the way Lieutenant, we're not done for yet.'
Annika flashed him a grateful smile and wiped at the wetness in her eyes before she was all business once again. 'The switch is still some distance from these cells, we're going to have to be very careful as we make our way through the structure this time.'
Engineer Stevens nodded as professionally as he could given that he had his superior slung over his shoulder against the man's will. 'Lead the way, I'll follow and try not to make too much noise.'
The last part of the sentence was aimed at Smith, and whether it was from shock or obedience the man's protestations died down. Clearly the man realised that his complaints would only draw the Voravians upon them if he were to continue. Terry didn't like to think what would happen to him for that little quip if they ever made it off this ship alive.
They had managed to escape their cell and had to make their way to the off switch whilst somehow evading the entire Voravian crew who would be wary thanks to their previous foiled attempt and will no doubt have doubled security around the target. They were weaponless and all three of them for all intents and purposes were close to useless should it come down to a physical confrontation. Not exactly the odds that Terry would have chosen to go with, but marginally better than being locked up in a cell awaiting his inevitable doom.
'How are we going to get to the switch without their stopping us this time?' he asked Annika, who was limping forward in a distinctly frail position of command.
She looked back at him as if the answer should have been obvious. 'We hide in the vents, then use the scanner to determine which of them leads to the room with the switch in it.'
It was a good plan, but Terry already saw a hole in it. 'And when we get to the room?'
'I will determine what needs to be done when we make it there.' she said primly, her brittle positivity hiding the possibility that they may well not make it that far at all in their current shape.
It wasn't the most thought-out of plans but it would have to do, Terry was at a loss as to how to... then it came to him.
'If their systems are Star Command based, I can wirelessly interface with them using the scanner and override the switch manually.'
Annika shook her head. 'I got as far as trying that before, it still required I interface with the main computer in the room. That same computer is going to be swarming with Voravians.'
'And if I told you that we didn't need to go to the room at all?' Terry asked, a glimmer in his eye.
This gave the Lieutenant pause, she clearly wasn't used to being stumped by anything technical. If Smith had any opinion on the matter he refused to offer it.
'You're going to use the scanner as a remote access point to the main computer, but I don't see how you can allow it to do so wirelessly.'
'Who said we needed the computer to know it was a wireless connection?' Trigger said. 'If we boost the output signal to the correct modulation we can mask the wireless signal and fool these older systems into thinking that it's a routine terminal command from inside the room.'
Annika blinked in response, but didn't offer a reply.
'Commander, I'm going to have to set you down for a moment.' Terry told Smith as he lowered him carefully to the floor. 'If you'll give me that scanner I'll make sure that the Voravians won't know what hit them.'
She handed over the scanner with a moment's hesitation, then all her attention was on Smith instead of the small computational device on which rested the hope of a planet.
Terry ignored them all, so wrapped up was he in his own ideas. His fingers danced across the device, and it was an electronic ballet to the trained eye. A dance that probed and pressed and courted the system in the other room into acquiescence. Yes, he was part of the mainframe. No, he wasn't a wireless connection, what a silly thought. The coercions and deceptions continued until eventually he gained the access required, he only hoped that none of the Voravians were paying close scrutiny to the systems within as they merrily chirped away.
With a final flurry of fingers, Terry activated the switch.
Everything went dark, and not the assuring darkness of a comfortable sleep to come. It was the frightening darkness that swarms over you like an angry cloud of bees after you had torched their nest repeatedly because you really liked honey.
Terry rubbed his arms, that wasn't a particularly fun memory to relive. He still cringed when anyone said the word buzz. At least the Voravians didn't keep bees on-board. He hoped.
Of said Voravians there was no sign, clearly they had been as flabbergasted by the immediate darkness as his colleagues were. Not a word had been spoken since the lights had gone out, but for the breathing he would have suspected he was alone.
'I managed to flip their switch, and they won't be able to get it back on again without first running a complete diagnostic routine. We should be able to make it out of here if we can just get back to our ship.' mercifully the scanner still worked after the previous abuse he had put it through, and he clearly located the signature of their escape pod. These devices were only designed for a one way journey but given that he had shut everything down there was nothing to stop him from pulling the pod directly out of the mother ship’s hull.
Granted, by doing so he'd be condemning an awful lot of Voravians to their deaths, but given their general disposition toward him his conscience wasn't particularly troubled.
Now it was just the small matter of navigating their way to the pod in pitch darkness while surrounded by a lot of confused and angry alien creatures brandishing claws. Simple.
Picking Smith up and trying his best not to hurt the already-injured man, Terry squinted at the small light of the scanner before taking a few steps forward.
'Wouldn't it be better if I took that for you?' Annika asked, eyeing the tightrope act that Terry was inadvertently performing with the floor of the ship.
Had it been anyone else Terry might have considered himself better equipped to work with the device, even with the increasingly difficult weight of Smith slung over his shoulder. He was well aware of the Lieutenant's expertise though, and there was the technical matter of her outranking him. Now was not the time to test if she would pull rank, they had far too many other things to worry about.
'Thank you.' she said as he handed it over, trying not to keel over in the process. He had been slacking off on the dead weights lately and it had been showing. That or Smith was made of lead, the man weighed far more than Terry would have suspected for such a slight form.
'Now we just have to work our way back to the pod without getting caught by the Voravians again. I have a feeling they'll be too busy trying to get the ship back online to worry about potential intruders.'
Smith shook his head. 'They will know that when the power to their ship went off, so did all the force fields. I have no doubt about it, they will be searching for us.'
'That and they will be hunting whoever it was that did this to them. It wouldn't be too hard for them to put two and two together.' Terry added. 'Come on, we had best get moving as quickly as we can, otherwise they'll catch us for sure.'
He always wondered how he'd deal with a crisis situation, and the last few days had given him any number of opportunities. He had surprised himself with this calm and logical side, fully expecting the flight or fight to come out in him at the slightest provocation.
'Come on Stevens, get moving!' the muffled voice behind his back said faintly.
Terry looked around, then realised it had been Smith talking again. 'Oh... right.'
Not needing any further provocation, Terry and Annika made their way through the almost pitch-black corridors. There was no emergency
lighting on account of there being no power to supply it, and anything could be lurking in those shadows ahead, attracted to the light of their scanner. Most likely something with claws and a bad disposition on account of their crippling the ship. He really needed to stop thinking about that and get on with things.
As it turned out, he didn't have to force himself into doing so, as his mind was helpfully taken off matters by the inexplicably increasing burden that was Agent Smith. Terry was no power lifter but as time went by the sheer weight of the man had started digging into his shoulder, something that made no sense at all to him since he should be able to handle someone this size for an extended period of time. Especially given the circumstances.
He came to a halt involuntarily as another winding corridor resolved itself into a large straight seemingly without end.
'What's the matter?' Annika whispered, also conscious of hidden listeners. 'Why have you stopped?'
Terry took in a deep breath, but said nothing to her. As it turned out, he didn't need to.
'Leave me.' Agent Smith croaked at him.
He craned his neck back to look at the man but without any success. 'What did you say?'
'You heard me the first time.' his superior snapped, still well enough to be annoyed. 'Leave me here, better that the two of you make it to the pods instead of none of us.'
Annika looked stricken. 'What are you talking about? We can't leave you here!'
Terry turned slightly, allowing Smith to address her face to face. 'I'm slowing you both down.' he said, and the cough he let out wasn't for show. 'The Voravians incapacitated me much worse than you. I am a burden and a liability to this mission. The only logical thing to do is to leave me.'
The Lieutenant started to shake her head, but Smith cut in before she could voice her protestations. 'I'm ordering you both to leave me here, get yourselves to the pod and get back to the ship if you can.'
To his surprise, Terry found that Annika was crying, torn between her duty and something else. 'I'm not leaving you!' she cried, making Terry wince at the sound that would have undoubtedly travelled a long distance down these corridors.
'You don't have a choice.' Smith replied, but not unkindly. Gone was the rigidity of his previous words, softened by something Terry refused to think about. 'Now get going, I'll see what I can do from here to draw them away.'
'You're wrong, Commander.' Terry said, surprising himself with his own words. 'We do have a choice, and I'm going to get you to that pod even if it kills me.'
As if the discussion was at an end, he continued marching forward with Smith pounding ineffectively on his back. The man had hard fists, but there was no energy behind the strikes, and the complaints gradually faded away as they fell on deaf ears. Hopefully between them Annika and Smith hadn't made enough noise to alert the Voravians, the only way of telling would be to continue staggering forward. A sitting duck.
The scanner's light continued to lead the way, now in the capable hands of Lieutenant Annika, who kept whispering words of encouragement to Terry now that her tears were dried. The light on the device, even at its lowest setting, was going to attract attention far sooner than any whispering on her part so he didn't complain. Even if they didn't make it back in one piece he prided himself on the feeling that he was doing the right thing, it propelled him onward and gave him reserves of strength he hadn't found in even his most excruciating sessions back home.
Annika held up a hand then, and he came to an immediate halt. He had seen enough movies to know that if someone were to hold up a hand then you should stop immediately before trouble did it for you.
Having come to a halt, he heard it too. It was faint but unmistakable, the skittering of claws across the metallic plating of the ship's darkened floor.
Annika turned off the light and Terry didn't question her decision. He didn't want to be left alone in the darkness with these things, but using the light would be tantamount to jumping up and down and shouting 'Hey, green-skinned monsters, I'm over here!' No, he didn't much care for that idea. If they needed to proceed in the dark then so be it.
The Lieutenant listened for a little longer before proceeding down the corridor, her light footsteps indication enough that Terry should follow, even if he was at risk of bumping the dead weight of Smith into the bulkheads.
All pretence of stealth on his part had been lost, he couldn't afford to try it lest his knees give way and he provide himself and Smith with a mild concussion at best. Shaking his head, he suspected that thanks to his lizard friends he already had one.
He took a deep breath and continued, but the burden of his superior meant that his struggle for air was all the more painful. He would have been truly baffled by that if he didn't hear the heavy breathing of Annika next to him.
'The atmosphere.' she gasped, 'the air is thinning here.'
Terry knew better than to doubt her, they needed to somehow pick up the pace otherwise they would suffocate. As if the Voravians hadn't been bad enough. Just great. Next thing the ship's self destruct would start counting down or something.
Except that there was no power to do that! Terry's Engineering half intruded into his thoughts, chastising him for such a rookie mistake.
He didn't know whether it was the darkness or lack of oxygen or just his own muddled perceptions, but his burden felt lighter now. He could do this, he could make it to the pod in time!
Buoyed by this discovery, he moved faster and Annika did her best to keep with him, injured as she was by more than the single stun blast he had been hit with.
That was when the clicking sounds grew uncomfortably loud and the atmosphere took a turn for the oppressive. Someone had found them.
'I think we're going to need that light.' Terry risked whispering to Annika, but found that she was already activating it and scanning the area for any signs of Voravians.
'There are two of them up ahead.' she informed him. 'Quite likely armed and most certainly in our way.'
Ah, that was bad.
'Fortunately they don't know we're here yet.'
Well, that was good!
'Sadly they are approaching us.'
Ah, that was bad.
'That means we can ambush them.'
Well, that was good!
'The ambush will most likely cost one if not all of us our lives.'
Ah, that was bad.
'At least we can take comfort that our deaths will happen as a result of successfully averting the complete destruction of all mankind.'
Well, that was... in truth, Terry didn't know how to feel about that one. Saving mankind wasn't much fun if you weren't around to enjoy it. At least he knew where he stood though, they had to get past those two Voravians up ahead to stand a chance of getting to the pod. If they weren't capable of doing that then they need not worry about trying to sneak past the rest of the crew.
It looked like they didn't have long to prepare themselves for it either, as the clicking grew more and more pronounced with each passing second. Either these Voravians were completely unaware of the breakout or they simply weren't built for stealth and chose not to try.
As if one cue, one of them noticed Annika's light and went charging toward her, followed swiftly by its companion, another great hulking beast that was all scales and sharp bits.
Terry found himself setting Smith down and placing himself between the Lieutenant and certain death. Chivalrous certainly, he thought, but not the most instinctive action when it came to self-preservation. Those claws were looking sharper by the second.
Something was wrong, and it was only now that he spotted it. Their running should have brought them within carving distance of him by now, but their footsteps seemed laboured as if someone had inconsiderately dropped soda all over the floor and forgotten to clean it up a week ago.
His Engineer brain as he so fondly called it, saved him. Taking control of his arms and legs for that split second, it forced him to shove Annika into one of the walls and reach out to embrace the clawing d
eath that awaited him.
Terry had no intention of dying, and the last-minute assault he offered the Voravians caught them by surprise. Instead of slamming himself into them or throwing wild punches and screaming at them, he stuck a leg out and tripped them both, sending them sprawling in what seemed to be slow motion before he shoved them both down the corridor behind them.
The gravity failed completely then, and the two lizards sailed harmlessly away into the darkness.
Two points of light shot out and buried themselves into the backs of the creatures, and Terry looked over to find Smith holding a smoking Voravian weapon.
'They would have come back for us eventually.' the man offered by way of explanation. 'Even if you don't think so, the gravity of this situation has not diminished.'
If Terry didn't know any better he would have suspected that to be a play on words by his Commander. He didn't risk laughing for fear of retribution now that the man was armed and very dangerous.
'We're not that far from the pod.' Annika said from the other side of the corridor. 'If we just continue a little further we should make it.'
Terry didn't argue with her, using the deck plating to push his way over to Smith, who was rising.
'I no longer need your aid, Engineer.' the Agent said, pushing himself upright and proceeding down the corridor with weapon in hand. 'I am proficient in zero gravity, your assistance was appreciated but now it would appear you need help more than I do.'
Terry spotted that he was doing a barrel roll and about to collide with the wall. Smith hadn't warned him until it was too late.
'Ow!' he cried as his face crunched up against the plating.
'We don't have time for this.' Smith called from ahead. 'Lieutenant, escort Engineer Stevens. I shall scout ahead.'
Terry shook his throbbing head in disbelief. He had been carrying the man's dead weight but a few minutes ago, now the same man was ready to take on the whole Voravian mothership?
Speaking of which, not that he wanted to find out badly, but where were the rest of the Voravians?
The heavy panting he had adopted reminded him painfully that both time and air was running out, he needed to worry less about having holes blown in him and more about getting out of here before he died. Yes, that would be quite nice thank you very much.
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