By the time their feet hit deck eight, Ishreth Dal had played through every possible scenario on how this could go horribly wrong in his mind.

And yet he was going to see this through anyways.

Commander Ibanez was walking mostly on his own power, wincing and sometimes staring at the wall in a worrisome way, but he was awake, could wield a phaser with his good hand and was focused enough to say snarky things.

In fact, Ishreth was pretty sure despite only having spent a lump sum of a few hours interacting with the man that if Commander Ibanez ever stopped being snarky something was seriously wrong.

Lieutenant K’Lim scouted ahead, waving them forward on the all-clear. Ishreth didn’t know how many soldiers made up a Vaadwaur crew compliment, but they had seen several patrols of three to five Vaadwaur between deck five and seven, and Ishreth assumed there was about one patrol per deck. Of course, not all 21 decks on the Calistoga were as critical as others – or inhabitable. But he was assuming a minimum of one patrol and a maximum of two patrols on deck eight.

Sickbay was centrally located, so if there was a patrol they would surely encounter them. Yet the hallways were eerily empty, and even Ishreth’s sensitive hearing could not pick up footfalls in the corridors. It was like walking through a ghost ship, as if they were explorers trying to figure out why the crew disappeared.

And yet he was well aware they had evacuated due to the Vaadwaur boarding. The fact he couldn’t see any Vaadwaur was all the more unsettling.

Even Commander Ibanez realized it. Leaning on the wall for support, he beckoned Ishreth and Lieutenant K’Lim close. “It’s too damn quiet…” his voice was a breathy murmur, not due to his injury, but as a reverence for the empty ghost-like feeling of the dim decks.

“There should be a Vaadwaur patrol.” K’Lim agreed softly. “Or one of our security patrols.”

Ishreth’s antennae curled downwards and then twitched, the only indication he was thinking as his expression stayed calm. “Unless the two patrols have already met.” They were no longer on the bridge and most commlines were down, so none of them had any updates from the security patrols that remained to safeguard the crew. “Either way, it does us no good to ruminate on what might be. If the way is clear, we need to make haste to sickbay.”

K’Lim nodded assent and after several seconds there was no protest from Commander Ibanez, and that was likely the best they would get for all being on the same proverbial page. Ishreth waved the team forward, carefully listening for what was ahead in each corridor before moving and making sure the way was clear for them.

It was a cold, ghostly amount of nothing until the sound of voices filtered through the corridor leading directly to Sickbay. Ishreth paused, frozen for a moment, his antennae craning forward picking up what the others could only sense as an unpleasant tickle on the back of their necks.

“You hear something?” Commander Ibanez queried softly.

Ishreth merely nodded an assent and made a gesture to indicate they should approach cautiously. Lieutenant K’Lim readied her phaser and Commander Ibanez steadied himself, fishing for his weapon with his uninjured hand.

Ishreth still stayed in the lead, creeping forward like a cat stalking a giant, dangerous and well-armed mouse.

“Tell me why you have locked down this medical center” A Vaadwaur voice purred, echoing down the corridor. “Tell me now or I will enjoy slaughtering this female. I will savor her screams.”

Which female? What was he doing?  It sounded like a hostage situation…

“We already told you, we don’t know!” Male, with a Tellarite inflection. If Ishreth remembered the crew manifest correctly one of the orderlies was a Tellarite – Gromn. It had stuck out to him as an unusual career choice for his species, and then he had tried to tell himself not to sit on stereotypes.

He had never thought he might meet a Tellarite medical orderly in this situation.

Also he realized that security was not doing the negotiations. This wasn’t a trained or measured response, but one full of pain and fear. Where was the security team?

Questions that would have to wait.

Gromn’s answer was not the right answer. He heard a female voice cry out, the sound overcome with a gurgle of blood in the throat.

“I don’t care. Tell me how to breach this forcefield or I will stab her again.  And again.  And again, until this floor runs thick with sweet, sweet blood.”

Ishreth thought of a curse and kept it to himself. They were close enough that K’Lim and Ibanez could hear the altercation. And they were also close enough that too much noise would alert the Vaadwaur to their position.

He checked the corridor leading into sickbay, finding it tactically disadvantageous. Wide, open, designed to facilitate moving injured into sickbay it hardly promoted things like cover or hiding spaces.

They might get the element of surprise on their side if they moved slowly and carefully, launching an attack as soon as they could get their targets into sight. But that would take time – time that the hostage didn’t have.

Lose one hostage to ensure a successful sneak attack or call attention to themselves to distract the Vaadwaur and hopefully give the hostage the chance to escape? Risky either way. Ishreth had lists of casualties swimming in his head and once again he could remember the scent of charred blood, the sight of the fallen last time he was boarded.

Too many variables, not enough time, and only one life he was willing to risk: his own.

He put a hand on Commander Ibanez’s shoulder as they came to the junction that would lead them into sickbay. As gesture to stop their progress. At the same time Ishreth hooked his phaser on the back of his belt. Ibanez looked up, realization settling in as he processed the silent gesture. “You’re crazy…” he whispered.

“You said I should trust you.  Commander, I trust you to have my back” was all the Andorian said.

He didn’t see Ibanez’s expression. He had already turned and started moving at the fastest non-reckless speed towards Sickbay. It didn’t take him long to view the scene. One Vaadwaur down on the ground, unmoving. One Security officer lay to the side, a hole burned in her chest, eyes glazed over. Two Vaadwaur left, one holding a nurse hostage with a wicked serrated blade, blood streamed from her shoulder down her chest like a river, the other Vaadwaur holding a disruptor pistol standing where the main doors to sickbay were sealed with forcefields and lockdowns. And to the same side as the fallen security officer two more medical personnel stared down the barrel of the disruptor pistol. One Tellarite, one human.

And all eyes riveted on the approaching Andorian. And one disruptor, and the point of one knife.

Good.

“Stop!” The Vaadwaur with the hostage yelled, pointing the knife back at the nurse. Ishreth wished he knew her name and hoped he could make a miracle happen long enough to learn it from her. “No closer or she dies.”

Ishreth stopped and raised his hands, letting the Vaadwaur see he was – at least for now – unarmed.

“Let her go and I will give you what you want.”

And in that moment the man’s soft, calm, even tones were distinctly unnerving.

Using the moments of confusion Ishreth gauge dhis distance from the Vaadwaur leader. Close, a mere two to three meters. Outside of hand-to-hand combat range, but an easy distance to close in a full sprint.

The Vaadwaur leader shifted his feet, suddenly uncertain as he locked his gaze with the cool, blue eyes. “I will kill her and take what I want.”

A bold statement, but it lacked the controlling punch of his former words.

“Kill her and I will kill you with my bear hands.” Ishreth promised, determination cutting through the soft tones.

The leader hesitated, and Ishreth watched as the point of his knife wavered from the nurse’s neck. His blue eyes fixated on nothing but the knife’s edge.

And when the edge was just far enough away that he could calculate a trajectory that did not include plunging into an innocent woman’s throat, he sprang.

Covering the distance in a blur, he seized the Vaadwaur leader’s knife hand in one hand and the leader’s throat in another. Andorians were surprisingly strong for their size, and he was counting on being underestimated.

It worked.

Ishreth wrenched the knife, so it pointed in any direction other than the nurse, using the hand on the Vaadwaur’s throat to spin his back towards the Vaadwaur with the disruptor. Dal was counting on the second solider to take a shot as soon as his reflexes caught up with what was happening and bargaining his own speed against the hesitation of the Vaadwaur. At the last moment he wrenched his opponent forward, so the off-balance Vaadwaur leader covered both nurse and commanding officer like a living shield.

A hot orange lance of disruptor fire sizzled out at nearly point-blank range. The Vaadwaur leader tensed, with a guttural, inhuman cry, and then went slack. The nurse dropped to the floor like a sack of wet sand with an uncontrolled gasp.

And then behind him beams of phaser fire converged on the remaining standing Vaadwaur. He dropped. The shooting stopped.

It was all over in a matter of seconds.

Ishreth could hear nothing but his heart pounding in his ears as he stood, pushing the Vaadwaur leader back, away from the injured nurse.  The body crumpled, a thin trail of smoke still visible from the charred hole where his spine once was. Ishreth’s own voice – filled with the tension that knotted his muscles, but still far softer and calmer than the situation deserved – sounded like a megaphone inside his head. “Orderlies, get this nurse immediate emergency medical attention.”

“We need to get sickbay open.” Ibanez had moved forward, leaning on the wall but clearly in one piece.

K’Lim jogged behind him. “I can start the override and we can use that panel to let the doctors inside know we’re friendly.” She pointed to the comms.

And in an instant the entire sickbay entryway was in motion. Orderlies rushed to provide triage care to their fallen companion. The remaining security officer from the patrol moved from her hiding spot, shaking, phaser still in her hand. Ishreth wondered who landed the final shot on the last Vaadwaur and then realized it didn’t matter. They still needed to take control of the ship. Ibanez and K’Lim started the override. He worked the comms panel.

The forcefield dropped. The doors opened. There was a tense second where no one took a breath.

“Oh boy am I glad to see you!” Lieutenant Draxen, the chief engineer rushed forward. “I’ve got everything re-routed.”

“Is everyone in here safe?” Dal asked, moving quickly forward. “We have a casualty out here.”

Lt. Commander T’Lena moved forward with efficiency. “Inside there are no casualties. Orderlies, move the patient to biobed one.” She gestured at the one biobed with power. The team moved swiftly on her command.

Dal followed Draxen, with Ibanez close behind. K’Lim stayed back with the security officer to re-set the sickbay lockdown.

The Troyian engineer had cleverly routed control into the main sickbay diagnostic panels. The controls were a little awkward, but serviceable.

“Cut power from all lifts and doors and cut life support to the bridge.” The edge of determination in his voice was sharpened to a razor point.

Ibanez offered him a glance. “Life support?”

“Our shields are still down. They want to live; they can return to their own ship.” Ishreth offered a mild explanation for his decision.

“And if they return, they’ll have no reason not to destroy us. Or Mireya VII.” Ibanez retorted in an admirably controlled tone.

Commander Dal had to admit that Commander Ibanez had a point. He turned towards Draxen. “Can we get a viewscreen running?”

Draxen nodded. “I can route the outer sensors through the EMH holoprojectors. It’ll work for a little while.”

“Do it.”

Slowly the scene materialized against the sickbay wall, a ghostly outline of the Vaadwaur ship, bearing down on them, Mireya VII behind them, and the sensor feed slowly filling in the details. Data started to collect and form a clearer picture.

“Mireya VII’s shields are back up… how?” Ibanez’s voice cut through the silence as he worked to make the unfamiliar sickbay computers do what he was used to doing on the bridge.

And then, in the background, a ripple of energy coursed through the asteroid field. A shimmering golden wave like a curtain being pulled back to reveal a planetoid covered in the beginnings of terraforming. And around it, dozens of small ships swarming like insects.

Ishreth glanced at Commander Ibanez, and in a moment both men seemed to understand – the shields were up because the cover was dropped. The pirates were trying to make a home here, under cover of the asteroid field.

Now that the Calistoga had nothing to protect, it needed to protect itself. “Mister Draxen get shields back up.”

The Troyian nodded. “I can certainly try.”

The looming Vaadwaur ship found its attention split as it sluggishly veered towards the newly uncovered base and the swarm of ships buzzing around. Most of the swarm took cover behind the planetoid, but a dozen or so broke away, gaining speed as they focused directly on the Vaadwaur.

Despite being tiny, the little fighters had teeth – and skill. They grouped into a strafing formation, firing as they passed. Disruptor bolt after disruptor bolt slammed into the weakened Vaadwaur hull, until the entire ship started to crack, the fissures flaring with orange fire. And finally it broke, exploding in a flare of plasma fire that was immediately extinguished by the cold of space.

“I’ll be damned.” Commander Ibanez whistled.

K’lim took a step forward, nodding. “Someone trained those pirates in attack formation.”

“Glad they’re on our side?” Draxen looked furtively towards the bridge crew for confirmation.

Ishreth didn’t even realize he was holding his breath until he took a sharp inhale. “It looks like Commander Roix was successful.”

“I never doubted Dwasina for a second.” Commander Ibanez placed a hand on his chest, his tone full of hope and an odd self-assurance, as if he was telling himself more than anyone else.

Ishreth took a moment to process the data coming in from the sensors. The small fighters pulled back, taking a defensive position around Mireya VII, and by extension, the Calistoga.

“Cut the viewscreen, use the power to locate any Vaadwaur life signs – and lock those areas down. We’re retaking our ship.” Ishreth spoke in firm, focused tones.

This time everyone was onboard. And for the first time the senior staff all fell into step with their brand-new commanding officer, working together as a team to take back what was theirs, looking forward to this nightmare being over.