Chapter IIb: On Your Own

"Well then, here we are. Alex, would you care to take the lead? If we are to do anything but just open fire when we enter, then I have a feeling you are better suited than Lorq and I. What is the plan by the way?"

Zephyr looks up and down the hall near the bridge, watching for any pirates that may pass by unexpectedly.

"Maybe I should guard the door while you two enter? This is likely the most heavily trafficked part of the ship."

Despite the lack of resistance in getting here, it's been a tense journey -- at least for Alex. Each door, each corner, she's had one eye on her surroundings, and one eye on Zephyr for signs of the infection taking further hold. If she had a third and fourth eye, she'd probably be using that as well. Of all the times to be human...

Plan? With so much of her brain focused on her sudden paranoia, she hasn't put much thought into a plan. But she's certainly not going to let anyone know that. She buys a bit more time by watching Zephyr closely -- the rate of his breathing, the movement of his eyes, and so on -- before she speaks. "We need to negotiate from a position of strength. We need to know what we're facing inside."

She looks to Lorq and Ensign Meyers, then back to Zephyr. "Open the door. Let's get a sense of the amount of resistance, and work from there. If it seems like we can negotiate, I will gladly take the lead. If we capture the bridge, then you can guard the door. Until then, we stay together."

Here we go.
Lorq has his laser ready to go.

Zephyr holds an arm out and motions to her to hold her fire. He then steps onto the bridge and off to the side of the doorway behind one of the terminals in order to allow the others to enter.

"Hold your fire. Who are you, and what is going on here?"

Alex follows in, moving in and to the side of the door, sweeping the room with her rifle at the ready should anything pop out from hiding. She lets Zephyr do the talking. For now.

Once everyone is in the room Zephyr raises his phaser rifle at the man. "I've changed my mind. Let's just do this the easy way," he says. He squeezes off a single beam at the man, stunning him instantly.

"Ensign Meyers, please grab his phaser in case he comes to."

Alex flinches as Zephyr raises his rifle. If she had more training, more experience with a rifle, she might have reacted more quickly, but as it is, the outcome seems positive enough. The tip of her rifle dips a bit, and she watches Ensign Meyers move to take the pirate's weapon.

She doesn't move away from the wall, though. No one's coming up behind her, that's for damn sure. "This was too easy. Much too easy," she says. The strain is evident in her voice. Without turning to him, Alex says, "Lorq, are you able to determine just how many of our captors are actually on this vessel? And where they might be? Meanwhile, let's see if we can hail your ship, Zephyr."

Checking for life signs now.

Lorq checks the readouts, being careful to see if anyone is being masked like we had figured out how to do.

"Fifteen," Alex muses. "That's an exceptionally small crew."

She walks over to the stunned pirate and prods him -- not entirely gently -- with her foot. "I suggest we move this one off the bridge. Send him somewhere on the lift, maybe." She looks to the others. "Shut down the two doors granting access to the bridge, and hole up here while we decide on our next move. I don't think we need to post a guard at the door that way, Mr. Borealis. However, we should address the fact that you were very likely infected with whatever has affected these people."

She makes no particular recommendations along those lines, waiting instead for Zephyr to speak.

"Hmm, yes, well I'm not feeling any adverse effects," Zephyr says coolly. "What do you propose we do?"

"We can lock this one in the ready room for use as a possible bargaining chip," says Alex. "From there, I'm open to ideas. We had talked about messing with the air. Now might be a time to do that."

She takes another long look at Zephyr, and apparently makes the decision to trust him for now. "Is there a way we could identify whether those fifteen life forms include your missing shipmates?"

If you are infected, and it seems fairly sure that you are, then we don't know if or when you will turn. I am very sorry to say this, but I feel like maybe you should hand over your laser. Please don't take offense, but I am sure you would not want the parasite to do anything that you would regret.

Lorq holds out his hand slightly embarrassed but steadfast.