Aaen gradually looked up and right, gradually bringing his rifle to bear, watching as the Admiral carefully gestured for the away team to be quiet. Aaen looked to his left but didn't see or hear any indication that anyone or anything was coming from the other side of the door. He directed his focus to the overhead crawl space. . .
"Aaen!" the Admiral whispered. He looked at her, briefly, keeping his rifle pointed above him at an angle. Multiple rifle flashlights glared against the crawlspace opening and the surface beneath the opening.
"There's something there!” the chief of security announced.
"What is it?" Aaen asked. The chief of security had his rifle pointed almost straight down the crawlspace.
"My flashlight's not bright enough! I can't—"
BANG
The corridor flooded with abrupt screams from several crew members and attempts to shush. The shine from the flashlights became rapidly and sharply unsteady. We're running out of time, Aaen reasoned.
"Admiral! We've gotta move! We've gotta get in there!" Aaen said, referring to the battle bridge.
The Admiral looked at the Doctor. "Where's the intruder? Are you detecting it with your tricorder?"
The Doctor waved the tricorder over the wall behind Aaen a few times, and then replied, "I'm only getting sporadic energy readings. They could be the intruder. But it's hard to say. We don't know very much about shapeshifters."
"Okay. Everyone, we're going in!" the Admiral declared, then looked at Aaen. "Aaen, take point. Chief of Security, go in with Aaen. Everyone follow them!" Aaen turned for the doorway, hearing cautious footsteps behind him.
The chief of security tried to quietly rush to Aaen's right. He looked at Aaen, whispering, "You ready, Commander?"
Aaen looked forward, and then to his right and nodded; his breathing had become heavier. He nodded. "On my mark. . ." he gestured a countdown from three, and then slowly and firmly pushed the door open. A red light slowly flashed into the corridor. The door felt like it weighed fifty pounds as it inched open until it bumped an obstacle. Aaen was caught off guard by the fact that the door didn't open all the way, but he didn't care about the fact. He was more focused on the objective—
The chief of security leaned forward, slightly, and then nodded at Aaen. Aaen's rifle was the first to cross the threshold to the way ahead to the battle bridge. He cautiously stepped forward, keeping his rifle in front of him as he looked through the rifle's sights. Aaen noted a brig was feet in front of him, the forcefield was dark due to the power loss. The brig interior appeared untouched. . . The intruder's here, somewhere, he reasoned. . . His gut told him the intruder was close-by. . .
Another step forward, Aaen panned left and then realized he was just five or six steps down from the battle bridge; he recognized the security computer stations as being similar to those on the Voyager's bridge.
He quickly and sharply aimed up the staircase and then gestured for the rest of the bridge crew to follow. He felt a couple of drops of sweat building on his forehead, gradually dropping to his eyebrows. The sound of footsteps behind him continued as he started up the stairs. He gestured for the chief of security to watch the corner to his right. He nodded acknowledgment.
Halfway up the staircase, the staircase to the lower deck became visible, and then the command seating became visible. So far so good, Aaen reasoned, noting the lack of apparent distortion in any visible bridge constructs. Aaen knelt down behind what appeared to be the science station and gestured for the chief of security to check around the corner to the right.
Crouching, he inched to the corner and then snapped, checking high and low, quickly whispering, "clear!"
"Aaen! Keep going!" the Admiral ordered.
Aaen stood up and quickly walked to the center of the battle bridge with the chief of security following closely. The red lights left most of the front of the bridge and some of the left and right wing shrouded in darkness. For the most part, Aaen noted, it looked untouched. All of the bridge computers were powered off. . .even the main viewscreen was offline. "I don't see the intruder!" Aaen whispered.
The bridge filled with the sound of footsteps as the rest of the bridge crew flooded the bridge.
"Make sure to check under the desks. . .behind the seats. . .everywhere!" the Admiral ordered.
Over the next three to five minutes, Aaen guessed, flashlights shined against every surface as the crew searched the bridge until the crew turned back to the Admiral, turning their heads.
"It's gotta be here!" said the deputy.
"Where else could it be? In one of the shuttle bays?" asked a crew member.
Aaen looked to his right at the spiral staircase leading to the lower deck. . . "Admiral!"
"What?"
"There's another section of the battle bridge. It's down that way," he gestured with his rifle. He noticed the rest of the bridge crew looking to the back corner of the bridge.
"I'm not seeing hardly any light coming from down there." said another crew member.
"Doctor?"
"No idea what may be down there. I'm not detecting any life signs."
"Well, someone's gotta go down there," said another crew member.
The Admiral ordered the chief and deputy of security, and two or three other bridge crew members to the lower deck, about a third of the bridge crew; whereas Aaen and the rest of the bridge crew were ordered to secure the battle bridge. The latter group took strategic positions throughout the battle bridge. Aaen stood next to the Security stations and focused on the staircase, watching as the last of the crew members ordered to the lower deck inched down the staircase. The only light from the lower deck was coming from their combined flashlights.
"Did you hear that?" someone whispered from the deck below.
"What?" the chief of security replied.
"That!"
"Look! Someone's been working on that conduit! It's all—"
"Over there!" another crew member yelled.
A blood-curdling scream scored the staircase and filled the battle bridge.
"What's going on down there?" the Admiral yelled. Both decks were filled with the bright fiery glow of particle pulse fire and terrified screams. Aaen grabbed his particle rifle and rushed to the top of the staircase and knelt down to try to see what was going on through the staircase.
"Get back to the bridge! GO! GO! HURRY!" the deputy yelled. The particle fire became louder as the staircase loudly rattled with a terrified stampede rushing back to the bridge.
"It's over there! THERE! FIRE!"
*****
Steve H. told Jordan Foutin, "You are the next Tom Clancy. You really are a gifted writer."
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