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In the wink of an eye, the alien turns, points the disruptor straight at the Klingon's head and shoots. There is a spray of purple blood.
It rasps, "I am Eris of the Aelyrr. This one attacked and boarded my ship. He killed my sister. He tried to kill me. He is a Klingon, and deserved to die. If you are truly here to help and not [untranslatable], come with me to stop his shipmates." Without waiting for a reply, it bounds down the hallway on all fours in the direction you were moving before.
Graham looks from Nia to Collins and back.
"Not exactly Starfleet protocol, but if some Klingon killed one of my sisters I can't say I wouldn't harbor some hostile feelings myself," he says, shrugging and bending down quickly to check the body for other weapons or intel. He glances at Nia while rifling the Klingon's pockets. "Orders, ma'am?"
Nia doesn't respond to Graham immediately but grabs her communicator. She is more shaken by having someone point a disruptor at her crewmate than the abrupt act of vengeance she saw just now. "Onn to Yorktown," she says over an open channel, fully aware the scout ship might be listening. "One Klingon's dead. You may wish to pass this information to the Klingon ship: they're not merely fighting Starfleet, but against a race who's just as liable to kill an unconscious Klingon as a conscious one. I don't know if they care, but it seems worth mentioning."
There's a hesitation, and then a quiet voice Nia recognizes as Ensign Kylah responds. "Death without honor is equally as bad as retreat to their culture... so I have read, anyway. Perhaps if they want their soldier's body back for a proper Klingon farewell, we can negotiate."
Nia smiles hollowly. Nice to see someone studying up on their knowledge of other cultures. "Affirmative. If our crew can beam this dead Klingon away to the Yorktown, please do so." She shoves the communicator away and retrieves her phaser, then starts to follow the Aelyrr, her head glancing back to Booker.
"Okay, Ensign Graham, since you asked. My first order is to get to the Klingons before Fluffy McWhiskers turns them into kibble. And yes, I'm aware that I look like what you'd call a salamander now, so feel free to joke all you want about my hypocrisy.
"My second order is to listen next time I suggest a plan. That point strategy clogged us all so that no one had room to shoot. Oh, and for the record, I'm counting that stun as mine. Leader's prerogative." She smiles wickedly at Booker, challenging him to argue with her at his peril. Then she looks at the ACoS.
"And my third order is, Collins, in the name of whatever deity you do or don't believe in, don't aim your phaser at someone we're trying to help unless he's aiming it at us first!" She softens the reprimand with a rueful smile at Collins, woman to woman. "Nearly got us a bunch of new ugly-toothed enemies on top of the Klingons."
Nia gestures with her head toward the opening to what is likely another corridor. "Now c'mon, folks. We're off. Same order, but hopefully different mindset this time. Rangin, I'm sure I can hear you grinding your teeth from here, so you can tell me how I screwed up that First Contact as we go." She hops over the corpse and runs. "Let's move!"
T'Var confirms that the Klingon is dead of massive head trauma.
Graham finds a communicator, a small animal-skin bag containing three gems, a d'k tahg dagger and an unfamiliar gadget, a little bigger than a Starfleet communicator, on the Klingon's body.
Onn receives a coded text from the Yorktown: All communications should be via this method, per Capt. Singh's earlier orders. Stand by for transport of the Klingon's body. Be careful, and good luck. THALEN.
http://memory-alpha.wikia.com/wiki/D'k_tahg
"Any landing you can walk away from, ma'am." replies Rangin who's only view of the alien had been around Collins' side, while stuck in the room.
So much for a discussion of what to do next , as he checks on the tricorder for the nearby telltale signs of Klingon. He'd keep his idea in mind for the moment.
After Nia stops and reads the communication from Thalen, she almost laughs as she practically tosses the device back on her duty belt. And who requested coded communications in the first place? Hey geniuses, it's called purposeful leaking of information. I swear, Singh's almost as bad as Vargas, sitting on their brains all day, always conveniently absent when there's actual work to be done. When was the last time they were useful anyway, when Cochrane invented warp drive?
She gladly puts the senior officers out of her mind and responds quietly to Rangin. "Good to know, thanks. Looks like we learned nothing out of that encounter other than the name of their species--and please send that info back to the Yorktown, coded of course, that's very important--and that whatsername was right, they do seem to be connected to the Caitians after all."
I guess we also learned that these aliens aren't particularly grateful to people trying to pull their asses out of danger, even though they're the ones who begged for help. Oh well, not the first time our assistance isn't appreciated, won't be the last. All part of the job.
She nods at Rangin's tricorder. "How many Klingons do you see ahead, and how far? Ditto the, uh, Aelyrr?" While she waits on his reply, she turns to Graham. "What do you think, is that device their version of a communicator? Strange that it's not familiar to us, considering we've all dealt with Klingons before. Wonder if this is stolen tech, or something new. Anyone have ideas?" She glances over the whole group. "That question's open to everyone. We have to follow, that's obvious, but don't forget what I said earlier--I'm not big for standing on ceremony, so if you have thoughts, I want to hear them."
None of the landing party has seen this particular gadget before. It does seem consistent with general Klingon design, but is apparently not another communicator. Rawlings says, "Klingon warriors tend to travel light, especially for boarding-party duty. There'd be no reason for him to be carrying two communicators."
The Klingon's body is beamed back to the Yorktown.
Rangin sees four other Klingon lifesigns ahead, in the direction Eris went, and five - no, now four - Aelyrr. The readings are still somewhat jumbled but all seem to be within 200 to 250 meters of you. One Aelyrr, presumably Eris, is apart from the others, but moving towards them.
T'Var confirms Rangin's readings and says, "Eris may need further assistance. We should do our best to prevent any additional loss of life."
Other than nodding her head in agreement with T'Var, Collins says and does nothing until Onn gives the order to move.
No, really, T'Var? We should prevent the loss of life? The hell you say. Nia is both amused and frustrated by the Vulcan propensity for pronouncing the most obvious remarks as if they're pearls of wisdom that lesser organisms have yet to learn. Then again, the same could be said for most of of the medical professionals Nia's known. The combination of Vulcans' innate sense of superiority and a medical degree just amplifies the condescension--although Nia's pretty sure T'Var, whom she likes, doesn't realize she's doing it.
So she just thanks T'Var and snaps her head to the man beside her: "Rangin, please contact Ferguson and ask why the hell he can transport dead Klingon bodies but not live ones. Double-T, you never told me you had such an impressive grasp of Klingon tech--not that I'm complaining. How about you take a crack at figuring out what that doodad is? Graham, please toss that thing to Rawlings. And Double-T, swap places with T'Var and work with Rangin. It might be some anti-transport technology, although Ferguson said it was the radiation that was causing the problem, not some unknown tech."
She looks at Booker. "Now let's get going. I think we'd better use the bounding overwatch method I mentioned before, unless the situation is vastly different. We keep alternating, no one's just gonna stand there soaking up phaser fire for the team. All that does is clog up the hallways and block our guys' views, as we saw. Anyone wants to pass along another idea, do it quietly as we move." Nia gestures with her phaser for Graham to lead off.
"I'm guessing the crew don't really have access to any sidearms, so unless we hurry, we're going to be trying to work out this ship with no assistance. Sooner the Klingons are neutralised, the better."
Rangin sends a coded message back to the Yorktown, with details of the species including their similarity to the Caitians, and to possible ask on two requests. One to Roble asking to what impact turning Dr Brold's sensor on the ships would have. Does Dr Brold think it would it black out sensor's on both sides? One, to to Ferguson as to why he can now transport out the dead body, whether the interference had gone.
Meanwhile, all Rangin can do is keep a lid on his emotions, because there was a new species...right there in front of him...and all he got see is the back of Collins due to the door before it had headed off.
When Onn gestures for Graham to advance, Collins is ready to follow a few steps behind. She looks to Onn and and tilts her head in the direction Graham is moving to ask if she should go next or let Onn go ahead of her.
Nia nods, interpreting Collins's gesture. "Yes, you're still second--you're still probably a better shot than I am. I got lucky by having that Klingon right on top of me. No cracks, Double-T," she adds with an arch look at Rawlings. She almost pushes Collins forward. "So yeah, go!"
Graham had only shrugged at the strange Klingon object before tossing it to Rawlings, saying "Afraid the only things Klingon I'm familiar with are obvious weapons."
It seems to him that there are too many closed doors to make Nia's choice of formation optimal--though she's right, on opening any given door it may turn out to be better. But what's optimal? Graham's inclined to think playing it safe.
He briefly wonders if her orders reflect her instincts as a pilot. Flyboys are typically more flamboyant than ground pounder...probably helps when cutting loose in the former case means a barrel roll at a thousands of kilometers per hour while in the latter it means hoofing it and hoping you don't blow out a hamstring...
Either way it doesn't matter at the moment: prerogatives of command. He acknowledges her gesture with a "understood, ma'am," and starts moving forward.
Roble replies to Rangin in a coded text from the ship, Will check on possible Caitian connection - get closeup scan of Aelyrr if at all possible. Doubt using radio astronomy sensor on two nearby ships would help, and would definitely hurt bioreadings from here. Captain says don't, at least for now. ROBLE.
Ferguson replies, Transporter interference completely gone as to that Klingon body (now on its way to morgue). Not sure why. FERGUSON.
Rawlings tells Onn, "I'd rather not be carrying a Klingon gadget that they might lock onto and beam away - and me with it. OK if I leave it here, ma'am?"
The Yorktown boarding party moves forward. The corridor makes a 90-degree turn to starboard. It then goes another 20 meters and ends in another door. There are two doors on each side of the corridor here. You hear a Klingon disruptor blast somewhere ahead of you, then another.
Rangin takes receipt of the two messages and ponders their respective meanings. Looks like his plan for the sensor is a no go. As for the Klingon, it may quite possibly be the result of that device preventing the transportation of the holder. It would be easy enough to prove with the next set they encounter.
As they head down the corridor, Rangin continues to scan for lifeforms so he can point out where they are and which doors they are behind. Should make life easier if they don't have to stop at every possible opening to check it out.
Nia holds one fist upwards, telling the group to halt. "Drop the device, Double-T, then ask Ferguson to beam it up to the Yorktown, assuming he can get a bead on it. Make sure to tell him if he does get it onto the transporter pad, Roble should take a good scan but don't let anyone touch it. Then again, their shields will be back up as soon as it's on the ship, so... well, let Roble decide what's safest."
She turns to Rangin. "Is your sensor any help in deciding where to go next? Or are the doors too close to judge which one leads to the most Klingons and Aelyrrs?" Her gaze shifts to take in Booker. It's hard to believe only hours ago they were lying nearly naked beside one another. "I don't want us to get separated," she says, still ostensibly talking to Rangin, "but if we can't figure out which is the magic door, we might have to."
Rangin slowly sweeps the area with the tricorder trying to narrow down the options. The last thing he wants to do is split the group especially, if it meant being stuck with Graham.
"So, if the transporter works now," Collins stage-whispers to Onn, so the others can hear, "since Ferguson beamed the dead guy away, couldn't he lock onto all the Klingons and beam 'em all to our brig?"
What the hell...? Nia is beginning to worry about Collins. Is she having hearing trouble or is her head not in the game? She contains her emotions since getting frustrated right now could worsen the younger woman's nerves.
"That's what I asked Rangin to ask Ferguson before. Didn't exactly get a yes or no answer, but all signs point to that gizmo being a transporter blocker of some kind. Once it was taken off, the body was able to be moved. My guess is that they all have one of those things. The real question ia why don't we have that tech? Would've come in handy for a certain ensign back on Anubis."
Hoping she was tactful enough...although tact is on short supply right now... she waits impatiently for the sensor to do its job.
Graham nods at Nia, then resumes covering the various doors with his phaser.
He keeps his face neutral, not sure whether the prospect of himself or Nia getting stuck with Rangin bothers him more.
Rangin's tricorder readings are little better than before. There are still four Klingon lifesigns ahead (although now to your left), in the direction Eris presumably continued, and four Aelyrr. The readings are still somewhat jumbled but all seem to be within 200 meters or so. A single Aelyrr is now considerably closer to the others. Rangin can't be sure, but it appears that there are no lifesigns directly behind any of the five doors you can now see.
Rawlings puts down the Klingon gadget and sends a text back to the ship. He quickly gets this response: Unable to lock on. The device itself is preventing transporter lock. FERGUSON.
The alien ship shakes a little underfoot. T'Var checks her medical tricorder and says, "Radiation levels have just risen 3%, but are still in the safe zone."
You hear more Klingon disruptor fire off to your left and ahead.
"All right," Nia says, shoulder twitching at the sound of the disruptor. "I really don't want us to split up, since that means three against four Klingons for the lucky--or I should say, unlucky--group who runs in the right direction. So I'm going to say the farthest door to the left is the better option." She moves to the door and waits for Booker to do the honors. "We can at least head down this corridor and see if we're getting warmer. Unless anyone objects, Graham, go for it."
Before anyone moves, however, she kicks the Klingon device down the hall away from them, then aims her phaser. "If we don't get to play with it, they can't either," she mutters, and blasts the Klingon whatever-it-is.
Graham gives Nia a nod and a thumbs-up--with conviction, this time.
Debating points would;t be appropriate anyway, but in this case he agrees with her decision: Klingons, potentially uncooperative aliens...good call.
The gadget disintegrates with a loud "bang" and a shower of sparks.
Graham goes through the door and sees that it is an machinery and ducting accessway of some kind. Just beyond he sees that it joins up with another corridor which is almost perpendicular to it, running left and right. He hears another Klingon disruptor blast, more distinctly now, somewhere off to his right.
Rangin sees another Aelyrr lifesign wink out on his tricorder display.
Rangin makes a noise of disgust and readings he is getting. "Typical in these situations," he mutters to himself as he tries to clarify the details displaying on the tricorder.
"Sorry ma'am, I can't tell if the Klingons are together or in the two groups of two as they were earlier. Also, I'm amazed they are managing to kill the Aelyrr at such a rate. I guess they are fighting up front rather than sniping."
Rangin looks up from the tricorder back to the group. "Nope, can't tell which door would be the right one either, any to the left or in front are likely to be in the ri...correct direction, but there's too much interference to tell. All I can say is that Eris is over that way somewhere, Rangin waves an arm in the general direction, "and should be encountering the Klingons very shortly given proximity."
Graham points toward the right and moves up toward the intersection. Prior to peeking around around the corner facing right he waves Collins forward and signals for her to take the left side: pointing at her, then two fingers pointed at his eyes, and then pointing at the left-hand side of the "t."
Rangin refines his tricorder's scan and sees with some confidence that the four Klingon and five Aelyrr lifesigns are now closely grouped together, and are within 30 meters of him. Eris appears to have joined the others. T'Var confirms these readings.
Onn gets a text: Be advised, sensors show problems developing with Aelyrr drive core. Could be overload risk in next 15-20 minutes. Radiation levels still safe. Will keep you posted. ROBLE.
Moments later, the lights go out. Pale blue emergency lights come on, but dimly.
Despite this, Graham sees the corridor extends about ten meters ahead of him, ending in another door. There are no other doors in this area. He hears a Klingon disruptor burst and the door is blasted towards him, crashing against the bulkhead to his left before slamming to the deck with a loud CRASH just a meter ahead of him.
You all hear but cannot see a Klingon shouting angrily, "Get off me, damn you, get off me!" and an Aelyrr with a quavery voice say, "You cannot take it - you must not!"
Collins nods at Graham and takes up her position. Then when the shouting starts, she looks to Onn and Graham and nods in the direction of the shouts indicating they should move that way post haste.
Nia rushes forward to join the rest, beckoning the other three behind her and annoyed that, yet again, Booker treats Collins as the only member of the team. Gotta ask about that. Mentor/student, brother/sister, fuckbuddies or what? Did she save his life somewhere and he thinks of her as some kinda super-soldier? Otherwise I'm just not getting it.
Once she emerges from the access hallway she finds herself clad in dim blue darkness. The message from Roble brings still more good news. As she runs it through her mind for a proper plan, she waits for her eyes to adjust. Like most of the Ne race on Sidonia's Southwest continent, she derives some physiological benefits from their reptilian ancestors, manifesting itself in her vision as being highly sensitive to color. Glancing ahead she sees an exaggerated version of Booker and Collins's red uniform tops, and Collins's hair looks bright orange. But their faces are barely visible.
She looks back for the bright blue figures of T'Var and Rangin and the massive red form of Rawlings. In a whisper she reports the alarming text to Rangin. "If we can't clear this room of Klingons, our priority is to get to Engineering by ourselves and let the fighters do their thing. Got it?"
Looking down, she sees the gold of her own dress as if it's lit from within. No advantage. She strips herself bare, covered in scales that have now turned dark silver, and effectively seems very nearly invisible except for what used to be the whites of her eyes, now a gray-blue.
She removes her inhaler--a bright white that ruins the camouflage effect--and turns back to Rangin. "Pocket this for me, will you?" she whispers, first taking a long breath before relinquishing it. Then she moves forward, naked not for the first time on a mission. She doesn't even think of it anymore. Her phaser is tucked under her arm, her communicator hidden in her left hand.
The sound of the Klingon's words makes her frown. It seems unlike Klingons to make such requests or orders while fighting; they shoot or wrestle or use their swords while cursing their enemies, they rarely reveal petty frustration or annoyance.
Nia slinks up just behind Booker and Collins and whispers, "Speed is essential. Clock is ticking before their drive core overloads. Make sure you give the rest of us a path inside this time. I can crawl ahead to get behind and flank the enemy, they probably won't be able to see me in this darkness."
Graham does a momentary double take when he realizes Nia is naked but for her scales, but quickly recovers.
He whispers quickly, gesturing as he does it to illustrate his points. "For speed--recommend he go in hard. I'm front breaking left, Collins front breaking right. Rawlings right behind and center--you're literally at his heels, breaking left or right as you see fit. These cat things are getting wasted by the minute anyway, going in shooting and maybe stunning a couple in the process is better than everybody dying in a core breach."
Nodding, Nia waits for Rangin, T'Var and Rawlings to catch up. "I'll go in whatever direction gets me closest to the wall, and stay low. Announce who we are--Eris will hopefully remember we're on their side, but we don't want to double our enemies. I'm getting a weird feeling..."
She doesn't finish, just shakes her head. Truth is, Nia doesn't feel comfortable with these Aelyrr. Curiously it's the Klingons' reactions to them that worry her. Are we rooting for the wrong team here? Probably not, but we know almost nothing about them. Is the enemy of our enemy automatically our friend?
"Okay," she whispers to Booker. "I'll try to get around them, or to the side. I want Rangin with me, because once you four are all in taking care of business, the two of us need to get to the engine room and hopefully their equivalent of the Bridge. Don't forget, the Klingons could keep transporting over and we need their ship neutralized--that's not gonna happen without us moving their hiding place." Nia looks at Rangin. "Hope that sounds good for you. At least, that's what I'm gonna be doing." To the group: "We'd better start now. Announce who we are, as before, but keep those phasers going while you do."
Nia looks closely at Booker and a small smile crosses her lips. She doesn't want this to be a goodbye, but if it is, she wants him to know she didn't go afraid. "If everyone's on board with this plan... we'll wait on your count, Book," she says gently.
The Yorktown group takes up its tactical position - Rawlings goggles a bit at the sight of a nude Onn, while T'Var seems completely unfazed - and Graham does his count.
You rush down the hall in the dim blue light, and find yourselves in a octagonal chamber about twice the size of the one into which you first beamed aboard. Four hulking Klingon warriors are there, and five Aelyrr.
Klingon 1 is trying to get Eris, who is slashing at his face with its claws, off his back but can't quite reach the big cat. Klingon 2 is just going to his aid. Klingon 3 is holding a disruptor on the other Aelyrr, including what appears to be a thin, very elderly one with an air of brave but futile defiance, and two others, which are cowering. Another Aelyrr is on the deck nearby, unconscious and apparently wounded. Klingon 4, the largest and meanest-looking of the bunch, is in the middle of the room, next to a sturdy pedestal. He is hefting under his right arm a thick, silvery, elaborately-carved metal cylinder just over a meter long, and reaching towards his belt with his other hand.
K2 stops in his tracks, gapes and begins raising his disruptor towards the Starfleet boarding party. K3 just begins to turn towards you.
Rangin's eyes narrows as Lt Onn strips off and then hands an inhaler to him It's not so much the prime physical form in front of him as the prime example of Sidonian camouflage in action in front of him, scales and all. Accepting the inhaler with a nod, he sweeps up the remainder of Lt Onn's clothes and boots from the floor and rolls them up tight, old experiences of not leaving things behind subconsciously guiding his hands.
As they get to the chamber, Rangin knows his role is to hold back, and let the warriors do their stuff. Chances are the four of them will be able to deal with the Klingons, not to mention that Lt Onn is going to be near invisible to them all, and a disruptor would do the same damage whether clothed or not. He nods as Lt Onn gives her order to find the Engine room and not concentrate on the Klingons in order to move the ship, it seems a fair thing to do as we an element of surprise they should be able to take the Klingons down without too much difficulty.
As they enter the chamber, it seems that providence may have supplied an easier means to find the Engine room or Bridge, as there are still some Aelyrr still alive because it's always easier to ask a crewman than it is to try and locate it in the current electronic fog.
As the last into the room, he can see if anyone needs a hand as he still has a phaser to follow up with, but otherwise he will concentrate on the guard wanting him incapcitated before he can do anything to his captives.
Nia has full confidence in her crew and doesn't doubt for an instant that the security officers--and honorary security officer T'Var--will be taking care of K2 and K3. Between the four of them they should be able to get both of those imminent threats down. Eris seems to have K1 well in hand, or paw, or claw, or whatever.
She sidles along the side of the octagon, crouched and looking not unlike her reptilian ancestors. Her eyes are slits--better to hide the pupils that have enlarged in the dark--but she can see the colors of the Klingon uniforms, which normally are dull and dark. Nia stays against the wall, concentrating on shifting her scales' color to match the colors around her. If this is working, she should only be visible as a slight warped shadow around the curves of her body. Given the movements of everyone around her, it seems unlikely they're paying attention. The Aelyrr can probably see her, or at least smell her--if they have the same abilities as most felines. But they're exactly the sort of predator Nia's race was designed to evade. And the Klingons will almost certainly keep their attention on the four--possibly five, counting Rangin if he's been noticed--Starfleet officers wielding phasers at them. And hopefully blasting them, c'mon Book, you've gotta be an expert shot.
Her attention focuses on the fourth Klingon, Mr. Ugly Big Shot, who appears to be holding the Codex and--unless she is very much mistaken--is about to transport off the ship.
Nia freezes in the shadows for a few seconds to ensure that the others are engaging the Klingons and attracting all the attention. Holding her hands over her phaser to hide it, she slowly lifts it and aims for UglyBigShot's left arm--the one moving to his belt and probably intending to grab his communicator or the gizmo that blocks transport but possibly enables it for his own ship.
She exhales and prepares to shoot. The instant she's sure the others are in the process of taking down K2 and K3, or at least are engaging them, she takes the shot at K4.
Collins shoots 3 quick blasts at K3.
Graham fires at K2 (seeing him as the most immediate threat) and shouts the phonetic message that they are here to aid the Naradraen.
If he hits K2 and has the opportunity, he will squeeze off a shot at K4 while moving toward K1, shifting his aim from K4 to K1 if K1 has a disruptor in hand, but prepared to hit Klingon K1 where it hurts one-on-one in order to give Eris an advantage rather than taking the risk of stunning the cat dude.
Collins fires first. Her first shot at K3 misses, but her other two hit, and he falls.
The ship lurches, even worse than before, which throws off Onn's aim just as she fires. She narrowly misses K4, who immediately turns on his heel and runs down one of the adjoining corridors, the metal cylinder still under his arm.
K1 loses his footing and falls on his back, partly smashing Eris between him and the deck.
Graham also misses K2, but shouts out his message to the Aelyrr.
Nia curses inwardly and hisses "In pursuit!" before leaping off to follow the fleeing Klingon; he's larger and heavier than she is, which means this had better not be a hand-to-hand fight, but she hopes that her lean form and long legs will be to her advantage in a speed trial. She whips open her communicator and sends a coded message to Ferguson. "Try to home in on cylindrical metal object held by lone running Klingon and transport it ASAP! Even if you can send it only 20 feet behind him, do your best!"
She keeps her eyes peeled for the Klingon and, if she sees him, will attempt to keep him in sight. Her fingers tighten around the phaser, itching with the instinct to stun the hell out of this lucky bastard.
Collins fires three quick blasts at K1, and when falls away from Eris, she runs to help the Aelyrr.
The briefest of glances across the room and Lt Onn's almost curse at having missed, suddenly makes Rangin realise that her original plan of trying to sort out the engines and Bridge just suddenly fell to him. Hopefully Rawlings would go and assist her, while no doubt T'Var would be taking care of the injured Aelyrr.
With two of the Klingons occupied, one running - a sight he never thought he would see - and the last one probably dealing with and having to deal with Graham, at least the Aelyrr on the far side are unharmed...and probably his best chance to find out what he can do to fix the ship.
Curving around the others to allow them space to deal with the remaining Klingons, he sprints across to greet those, that until a few moments ago, were being held captive. "I'm Ensign Rangin of the Yorktown, we are here to help." he says in the pheontic supplied by Ens. Kylah before continuing with his translator.
"Your ship is in danger, we need to fix the engines or get everyone off."
Onn cannot simultaneously run, brandish a phaser-2 and type in a text to the Yorktown. K4 pounds down the corridor ahead of her a short distance and then suddenly veers to starboard, through a doorway. The door slams down a second later.
Collins's phaser blasts catch both K1 and Eris, who are obviously very close; both slump to the deck.
Rawlings fires his phaser seconds after Graham and hits K2, who falls. T'Var does not have a chance to fire.
Rangin's arrival startles the Aelyrr but the elderly one says, "Thank you - thank you! But we have to stop that villainous Klingon thief from taking the Codex!"
Nia runs in the same starboard direction as the Klingon, but slows when she reaches the door. She immediately moves to the side, sliding against the wall in order to keep some cover, and quickly scans the door area to see if this is an automated system or if a button-push is required.
"Ferguson, you copy that or not?" she dictates in a whisper.
Collins runs over to where K1 and Eris have fallen, and checks the Klingon's body for a transporter-scrambling-thingy, which she will kick away, then signal Ferguson to beam K1 to the brig.
"I'll back up Onn," Graham shouts with a glance at Collins, checking his instinct to order her to secure the scene which would be poor form and in any event looks t be unnecessary. He takes off in the direction she ran.
By herself, one on one with a Klingon. That may be something we have to talk about...
Onn sees a similar kind of control panel on this doorframe as on the one earlier.
K1 has the same gadget as the first Klingon, killed by Eris, did. Collins kicks it away. Ferguson acknowledges Collins's request. He cannot beam K1 directly to the Brig, given the technology of the day, but shortly beams him to the Yorktown's transporter room, where Collins expects the unconscious prisoner will be taken into custody by other Security officers.
Dr. T'Var goes at once to Eris, kneels down and scans the felinoid with her medical tricorder. Rawlings guards her.
The elderly Aelyrr and the other two - let's call them A1, A2 and A3, respectively - go to the wounded one, A4. A3 goes to a nearby bulkhead storage compartment and takes out a thin, plastic-looking package.
Graham soon catches up to Onn, who, he sees, is standing next to a closed door.
Nia rolls her eyes at her communicator, belatedly remembering how curiously backward Starfleet is when it comes to some technology. It's not just the transporter blocking device that eludes the entire Federation scientists' grasp: apparently the engineers can't seem to devise a way to make their communication systems efficient! Absurd. Even back home, we've had the ability to dictate text messages for twenty years. Of course, Sidonia had the advantage of her father's ingenuity. Nia will have to do something about that...
But fixing the rudimentary Federation technology will have to wait. She takes five seconds to whip out a text message to Ferguson, for all the good it'll do: If possible beam metal container held by lone Klingon in front of me. Then she reaches a hand out to open the door.
Before she touches the button, she hears loud footsteps approaching from behind, and whips around at once, phaser aimed in the direction of the sound. But soon she sees the familiar shape of Booker. Though glad to see him, she just exhales in relief and tilts her head in the door's direction. "In there," she mouths. "He'll be expecting us--stay as covered as you can. On three?"
Collins goes over to where K3 has fallen from her phaser shots, kicks away his scrambler, and messages Ferguson again to beam the Klingon away.
After a few moments, Ferguson responds to Onn, Sensors show no Klingon in front of you. Judging by what I can see of the ship's schematics, the only Klingons aboard are behind you. FERGUSON.
Collins kicks away K3's gadget, and soon he, too, disappears into the transporter beam from the Yorktown.
A3 comes back with the package and opens it, revealing what appear to be the Aelyrr equivalent of a first-aid kit. The alien attends to A4 and then says to the others, "We should get her to the Infirmary."
A1 says, "Yes, do. And Pojel, go to Engineering and see what can be done there." A2 touches its chest and heads for a different doorway.
T'Var looks up from her tricorder says to A1, "I am sorry, but Eris was caught in the stun effect of one of our phasers. I can revive her, if you wish, or she will naturally regain consciousness in half an hour or so."
"Godl damn it!" Nia yells and kicks the door before turning to Booker. "Ferguson says there's no Klingon ahead. I think he's transported already." She types in her communicator to Singh, Vargas and Roble: A Klingon has stolen an object belonging to the Aelyrr and is no longer on this ship. Their scout ship may leave any second. Pursuit might be necessary.
Furious with herself, Nia aims her phaser with one hand and pushes the button to the door with the other. She doesn't expect the Klingon to be there, of course; Ferguson said he isn't. The action is just to hammer home her failure.
Collins now goes over to K2, where Graham felled him, kicks away his gadget and once more messages Ferguson. When that Klingon is beamed away, she tells Rawlings "Stay with T'Var and the Aelyrr." then runs off to help Onn and Graham.