Open Secrets

“Acknowledged,” al-Khaled replied, skidding to a halt in the winding tu

“Intruder alert!” he called out, his voice echoing down the winding tu

Al-Khaled aimed his phaser and waited until the transport cycle completed before he fired.

The single blue beam lanced across the open space, catching the Klingon at the front of the group full in the chest. The warrior staggered beneath the force of the attack, crumpling and falling unconscious to the tu

A disruptor bolt tore into the rock behind his head, and al-Khaled ducked, looking over his shoulder to see the first of the Klingon soldiers rounding the bend several meters behind him. Recalling the layout of the underground complex, he knew that he was perhaps fifty meters from the main chamber, where Ming Xiong, the Tholian Nezrene, and other members of the landing party had spent the majority of their time working with centuries-old Shedai equipment. The large number of people working in that area and the activity taking place there would draw no small amount of attention, but al-Khaled saw no reason to lead his pursuers in that direction. He might be able to divert the Klingons, perhaps even buy his companions some extra time to secure the valuable research they were performing and ready their defense until they could be beamed to safety by the Lovell.

Another disruptor bolt struck the smooth wall to his left, and al-Khaled dodged to his right. Several meters ahead of him, an opening beckoned. He remembered that it was some kind of anteroom, empty of anything distinguishing as far as Shedai technology was concerned but offering another path toward the chamber in which Xiong and the others should be.

Whatever you’re going to do, do it now.

Stopping his headlong flight down the tu

You can’t win a standoff,his mind chided him. Do something.

Without really thinking about it, al-Khaled adjusted his phaser’s power setting before aiming the weapon at a spot along the tu

Satisfied at his makeshift work while at the same time knowing that it would only slow the Klingons for a few moments at best, al-Khaled lunged through the opening in the tu

“Mahmud!” Xiong called out as he caught sight of al-Khaled. “What’s going on?”

Hooking a thumb over his shoulder to indicate the tu

“Are we evacuating?” asked McCown, his expression one of unfettered worry, his breath coming in rapid gasps, visible in the tu

Al-Khaled said, “Any time now, I’d think. We need to keep moving, though. The Lovellwill home in on our communicators.” Something crashed in the tu

Nezrene was the first to enter one of the tu

“No!”

Al-Khaled’s cry drew the Klingons’ attention, and they turned toward him, once more raising their weapons. He fired at them again, and one of his shots hit a soldier in his left shoulder and spun him around, carrying him off his feet and sending him to the tu

He heard the sounds of the Klingons’ remaining companions plunging into the tu

Al-Khaled materialized in one of the Lovell’s transporter rooms, confronted by the anguished face of the crew member on duty, Ensign Brian O’Halloran. Standing just off the transporter pad were other members of the landing party, no doubt retrieved just before his beam-up. To his right on the transporter pad was Nezrene, and lying on the floor to his left was the unmoving form of Ensign McCown.