Navaar Orci had been sat in the captain’s chair of the Raven Class corvette USS Jaxartes for just under an hour since killing Chief Engineer Bellbrooke.  Ensign Harris who was still sitting at the helm was the only member of the crew still on the bridge.  Anyone else had been escorted away.

Just then the Orion that had beamed aboard carrying the old Phaser Rifle came back on the bridge.  Navaar turned her head slightly. “Ah, Korda.  All prisoners secured?”

The large Orion came to a halt next to her. “Yes ma’am. Other than this one here.” He nodded over to Harris. “Plus two in Engineering; all other Starfleet personnel are secured in the rear observation lounge.”

“Good.” She keyed in a set of commands on the small control panel mounted in the right arm rest of the chair.  “Navaar, to Soufrière.  Get your systems back on line and those engines fired up.  Doesn’t pay for you to stay in one spot for too long.”

Orci got up stretched her arms high above her head, then smoothed out the long figure hugging crimson dress she was wearing.  That along with the low slung gun holster, combat boots, and what looked to be a brown leather jacket she’d draped over the back of the chair; seemed a mismatched combination. “This ship will make such a fine addition to my fleet.”

She walked around the bridge examining every consul, every work station, every visible fixture and fitting. Finally finishing standing in front of Ensign Harris. Navaar placed her right hand under his chin and lifted the New Zealanders head up. “Your happy working for me now, aren’t you pretty boy?”  The Ensign just nodded a little as a reply and she ruffled his hair with her other hand. “Good boy.”

Navaar was half way back to the captain’s chair, when all power throughout the ship failed.  The emergency backup kicked in almost instantly.  But the emergency systems wouldn’t last all that long and couldn’t power everything on-board. She used the communication controls on the chair once more. “Bridge to Engineering. What did you touch Hasray?”  The reply was more like an indignant mumble even she didn’t really understand, let alone anyone close by. “Well get the Chief Engineer to run a full diagnostics check!”

The Orion leader’s attention was draw to the young man whose hand was raised slightly. “What is it pretty boy.  You have permission to speak”.

“That’s the Chief on the floor.” The Ensign announced meekly.

“Well where the heck is the captain or first officer?” Navaar didn’t like the idea of having any crew member unaccounted for, especially one with the command authority to shut everything down; which was what had just happened.  She placed a hand on the right shoulder of Harris. “Tell me where they are, or you get to name the next member of this crew I shoot.  Do I make myself clear?” He voice was both sweet and menacing in equal measure.

“They are back on Y’Tek V.”

She turned back to the other Orion. “Korda, get a second sweep of this vessel done. Just to make sure. Go!”  Orci waving him away and he matched briskly from the bridge.

_____

Down in Main Engineering it was chaos.  Both Lyambo and Turf had been too busy to notice the arrival of the Orion’s, and the hum of the engines had masked any faint sounds the transporter beam had made.  There were three of them in total two male one female.  Each armed weapons in hand.  The Betaziod had been first to react.  Lifting his arms up above his head and coughing to get his human companies attention.  However it was the boot to the back of his left knee that made Dinari realise they were no longer alone.  He thought for a split second about hitting any set of random controls or even making a grab for one of their weapons; but just as quickly dismissed those ideas.

So for roughly an hour under close supervision the two crewmen had kept everything ticking over.  So they were just as surprised as their captors when all the power went off.  As the emergency systems kicked in and the light came flickering back on at a lower level; Dinari was cracked across the jaw by the handle the weapon in Hasray’s hand.  The young engineer was sent flying; landing on the floor by the central control island. Both shocked and dazed he rolled over on to his back and held the side of his face. “What was that for?” He yelled at the Orion.

That was the moment a female voice had called from the bridge and Hasray had answered.  After finishing the very brief conversation the Orion pointed the gun in Dinari’s direction. “Fix or die.”

_____

Navaar had boarded the Jaxartes with eleven other Orion’s.  So with two on the bridge with her, three in Engineering, and a further two guarding the corridor outside the aft observation lounge where most of the crew were being held.  That left Korda and three others to search every inch of the ship.  Feeling that it was just a waste of time having been methodical about the process when they’d first arrived he felt it safe enough to comb the vessel individually and on separate decks. Only half the doors still appeared to be working the others had to be forced open, and neither of the two turbo lifts was operating.

As he’d predicted they hadn’t found anyone anywhere.  With the search almost complete one of his team entered Sickbay having cut his forearm when a contained became dislodged from a high shelf whilst searching in the forward cargo bay on the deck below.  The room like the rest of the vessel was dimly lit; neither of the bio-beds seemed to be functioning either.  So rolling up his sleeve; the Orion set about finding something to treat the gash.   Something else caught his attention though.  Was someone in the doctor’s office?

Drawing his weapon the Orion walked into the room, only to be confronted by a female figure wearing a white lab coat. “I am the EMH.” It announced in a sharp but friendly tone. “Please state the nature of the emergency.”

“My arm.” He replied showing the hologram what had happened.

“Please go to bed 2.”

As the Orion male turned to leave a number of thought’s struck him.  Do holograms normally cast shadows?  What had been the fizzing sort of noise he just heard?  And finally if not most importantly, why was his neck on fire?

Ensign Cho watched laser scalpel in hand having using it to cut through the Orion’s neck; severing the spinal column along the base of his skull  as the male dropped paralysed across the threshold between office and the main area of sickbay.

It took her a couple of minutes to wrench his weapon from the man’s locked fingers, and probably broke his thumb in the process.  Not that he was able to feel anything anymore.  Cho set it on what she believed was maximum power and disintegrated the body.

She’d entered sickbay to sort out the pain in her ear after the high frequency burst had almost deafened her right ear.  Cho still had the earpiece in her hand, which remained remotely connected to her station on the bridge; therefore picking up everything that had happened there and all communications made throughout the ship.

The young Korean was still a completely shocked by what she could only guess had happened to the Chief Engineer.  But now one of theirs was dead to.  She still didn’t have a plan; it was a work in progress.  She felt thankful that the Lieutenant had intrusted her with the command override to shut all ships systems down.  Cho only wished she’d used it before they broke orbit.  The Bajoran officer had evidently never really trusted Bellbrooke to follow orders.  Though the fact it had cost the man his own life was very disturbing. It had taken her sometime after getting over the initial shock to connect the medical computer up with the main ships systems; as this wasn’t one of its normal functions.  Someone with a lot more knowledge in computing than her could very well have performed the task quicker.  Right now though, she was all there was.