A Problematic Relationship

Chapter 6: Rescue Mission

 You managed to land your shuttle 2 km away from the cave where Malcolm was being held. The Admiral was right: there was only one Human lifesign, a dozen Romulans around him. The Empire sure needed the Lieutenant for something important if they were guarding one man so well. You weren't planning on giving them what they want. On the contrary, you were planning to take away exactly that.

You weren't tried at all after the trek to the cave. Adrenaline was pumping in your blood, making you feel nothing more than excitement and angst. Your body was burning from the inside, palms sweaty as you held your phaser rifle. Despite how unlikely your success seemed, you weren't afraid. You were determined to beat the odds.

The entance was guarded by two soldiers. You hid behind a huge rock to plan out your route. Your csanner showed you how the cave looked from the inside: it wasn't a labirinth at all like you expected. It was as if it was artificial. Straight corridors ending in ahuge chamber, where the hostage was being held.

The next two guards were 600 m inside the cave, so you decided that shooting the two at the entrance was the best idea.You pointed the rifle precisely at the first soldier, fully concentrating, because you knew you needed to shoot the second one before he could run away.

With two perfectly timed shots, the two Romulans fell to the ground, dead. You quickly ran in the cave, following the route shown by your scanner. There were three guards waiting for you at a point where the tunnel branched away in two directions: one leading to a dead end, the other to your destination.

You ran in front of the guards firing as many shots as you could, killing two of them. The third managed to hide before you could hit her. The female started making her way towards you when you decided to back off behind a wall. She was convinced that she would defeat you in hand-to-hand combat, but she was wrong. As she got close, you hit her in the chest with your rifle, making her fall on the ground. Before she could get up, you put you foot over her neck, ready to kill her any second.

"Why did you kidnap him?" You asked fiercely.

"You think I would tell you anything? You're going to kill me no matter what." She chuckled. "You wouldn't make it back to your superiors to tell them the information anyways."

"I beg to differ." With a swift motion, you silenced her forever.

Suddenly, you heard guards marching from the path that lead to the dead end. It seemed like you made your job easier and harder at the same time: you didn't have to go after them yourself, but now you stood against five Romulan officers.

You hid behind the corner, waiting to take them by surprise. As the first one appeared, you hit him in the face with the rifle.

The next events were all blurred out. You couldn't remember anything, just faint memories of punches, kicks, shots and cuts. It was as if someone knocked you unconcious, but that only made you fight harder.

Next thing you knew, you were standing next to stuned and severely injured Romulans, panting and breathing desparately after the fight. You were surprised to still be in one piece as you couldn't remember what happened in the past few minutes. You became so blinded by the determination to save Malcolm that you were willing to kill anyone and anything that tried to stop you.

Of course, you didn't escape without injuries. Bruises all over your body, clothes cut open and splattered with blood. But that wasn't going to stop you from continuing.

You couldn't run anymore; you were saving all your energy for battling the last two warriors. You walked slowly down the corridor that eventually lead you to the huge chamber Malcolm was kept in.

You crept around the corner, just to evaluate the situation. Malcolm was tied down in the middle of the room, the two Romulans stood around him. You shivered when he let out a scream after one of the soldiers punched him and shouted "Answer me!". The other one tried contacting somebody over his communicator: nobody answered. Now they knew you were there.

Both of them trailed off, walking around the chamber, searching for where you could be hiding. One, presumably the lower ranked officer, was sent by his CO to investigate the situation. That was the perfect moment for your strike.

As he stepped out of the room, you incapacitated him with one hit. Unfortunately, his groan was loud enough to attract the other officer. He started running towards you, so you knew it was now or never.

You jumped right on him, making him fall on his back. You landed over him, making it easy for him to grab you. You used all your power to struggle, trying to get away from him. Finally, you managed to punch him hard enough to almost knock him out. You got up, slowly, always keeping him on the ground somehow. When you could finally straighten out, you put your right foot on his chest and pointed your gun at him.

"Who are you?" You demanded aggressively.

"My...name is....Commander Tal." He groaned out.

"Why did you attack a Starfleet ship?" You went straight to the point.

"You... are considered... a threat... to the Empire.... We have to eliminate you.... Before you become too big of a threat....." He could hardly speak.

"So you wanted all the secrets you could get.... Well, you chose the wrong person to interrogate!" You looked up towards Malcolm, but you were too far away to see him.

"You won't get away with this. If you kill all of us, the Empire will come looking for us and when they find us, they'll know it was you. And if you leave some of us alive, we'll tell the Empire. Which chance are you willing to take?" He flashed an evil smirk at you, eyes half closed.

"You think I was dumb enough not to realize that?" You chuckled as you stunned him.