The Hidran captain attacked me ... Tried to get my weapon.

Tried?

she asked wryly.

Curly looked up indignantly. With the bruise on his jaw and an eye swelled closed he hardly looked threatening. More like a school boy whod been in a playground sc.r.a.p.

Barbara glanced at the other man, who was still dazed.

She helped the groggy one sit up straighter, cupping her hand behind his head to give it balance.

The Hidran have your captain, she said matter-of-factly, trying to mask her building panic.

Suddenly the Starfleet men were both alert.

When?

Curly demanded, pushing himself up into a stoop.

A few moments ago. I didnt want to try anything thatd get him killed.

Curlys eyes darted to his comrade, then to the weapon crooked into Barbaras arm.

Give me your phaser.

She grasped the weapon in her fist and shook her head.

Sorry, fellas. People werent dying around here until Starfleet showed up. Ive got mine, you get yours.

Maam, Curly said, standing straight now, looking stronger every moment, we have a situation here Is that what you call it?

Barbara snapped, gripping her phaser close.

A situation? Your captain is being held by people who dont think twice about killingthemselves for a cause let alone someone else, and youre calling it something less than a disaster?

Maam Your mothers a maam, kid, not me. You two want to dig up some phasers and come back, thats fineIll stay here and watch the door, but this place is swimming with killers and Im not giving up this weapon.

Youre not qualified Barbara cut him off.

The way I see it, Curly, you two lost yours and I still have mine, so lets not brag about qualifications.

She waved them away.

Go now, so you can get back sooner.

Curly frowned, then finally pulled his buddy up with him.

Fine, he said.

You can stay here, but dont attempt anything. You see that door open, get back to the main hall. Well be back as soon as we can.

Barbara covered a chuckle. Theyd do what she wanted so long as they could give an order making it sound as if theyd thought of it. Military typesthey were all alike.

Gentlemen ...

They stopped their gait down the corridor and turned back to her.

Just a suggestion, Curly, Barbara said, but Id see how the Klingons are holding up. The Hidran goon who attacked your friend wasnt going out for Romulan take-out.

They both sneered at her, then were gone down the corridorback toward the main hall. Barbara shrank into the alcove where theyd been resting and watched them leave. Runningthey were running. A few moments ago theyd been unconscious. Theywere more qualified and she should have let them stay while she ran for help. Or the hills. Something.

Stupidity took on new definition as she realized what she was doing: guarding five Amazon fish with bad att.i.tudes and superior training. She had one weapon and a two hour cla.s.s in how to store your phaser properly.

Wonder if theyd go for thatchallenge them to properly store their phasers?

How many phasers would they have? Picards, the two guards ... so maybe three. But one of them had come back after Urosk went in with the captain. How many had he happened upon? She had to a.s.sume they wereall armed. Five to one. Not exactly odds shed play at an Argellian casino.

She should have known something like this would happen. This is what you got when you put Hidran oil and Klingon water in a Starfleet blender.

She shrank back into the alcove, her back to a door that led to some room shed never used. This building, a grand stone hall with a maze of rooms and offices on all sides, was the only standing structure on the planet that was more or less intact. Who had built it was unknown. The tapestries that lined the walls in the main hall appeared to be of an agrarian culture, but nothing else on the planet seemed to speak to that. There were no mills, no holding silos, no overgrown farms. There were a few other structures she was sure ... somewhere on the planet. There must have beenshe remembered reading something about them in one of the articles shed seen about Velex. She hadnt been here long enough to see for herself. Maybe Riker had found one of those. Maybe he had survived the crash. Maybe An electronic sound, the hatch opening, yanked her away from her thoughts. She scrambled to her feet, drawing herself up into a small crouch.

She couldnt see anything inside the doortoo dark.

What was she doing here? No one called for a scientist.

She aimed the phaser, set it on heavy stun, and fired at the door.

Nothing!d.a.m.n! The safety !

One of the Hidran poked his head from behind the door. He looked around.

Thumbing the safety, Barbara took careful aim at the Hidran that was now stepping from behind the hatch.

She fireda bright cable of energy stabbed out toward the other end of the hall. She was watching her shaking hand and not her target, and by the time she looked up the Hidran had skittered back into the room.

She knew hed had nothing to worry abouther shot must have flashed against the ceiling at least three meters from him, harmlessly absorbed by the sandstone. A small flutter of dust fell to the ground in the silence that followed.

A salmon-colored arm reached out, a phaser in hand. Barbara fell back into the protection of the alcove as a piece of the wall near herwhere her face had beenevaporated. That wasnt the mark of a phaser on stun. They werenot playing games.

Her hand was shaking worse. She fired blindly again, around the corner of what was left of her protection. She heard the blastdidnt know what shed hit. Her quivering hand couldnt have helped her aim, yet there was no sound. Maybe shed gotten lucky and stunned him.

Phaser first, at level with her nose, she peered around the corner. An orange phaser spear rushed past her and she plucked her head out of the way. The beam struck the wall behind her and turned it to dust.

Choking, she crammed her eyes closed and tried to wave the sandy dust away from her nose and mouth.

Another phaser whineanother blast. This time they missed this side of the wall all together.

Still she needed more protectionthey had all but destroyed the alcove with their first two shots.

The phaser squeezed between her fingers, she put her hand out and firedonce, twice, three times.

And again.

Again.

She kept pummeling the Hidrans only doorway with energy as she darted across the hall to a different alcove. She only glanced at the hatch for a moment, but saw no one thereno face looked back at her.

Safe for the moment, her protection and view of the Hidran better, she paused, caught her breath. Should she move from pillar to pillar up the corridor and away from here? Or should she stick with the more protective alcoves?

Another phaser blastthis time down the hall past her. She saw the beam cut through the air, sizzling the atmosphere and singeing her hair. She was parallel with the hatchway nowthey couldnt break away at her protection without carving through the walls of the room they were in. That would prove disastrous for all, for the building was stone and would cave into rubble if its supports were shaken enough. Shed already felt the dust fall on her when the Hidran phasers sent tremors through the structure.

Phaser in her right hand, the Hidrans hatchway on her left, she crept forward, ready.

Ready for what? She was outgunned and outexperienced.

She had to get out of thereothers could do this and still be alive when it was over.

Three Hidran exploded from the hatchway and three flashes of metal or plastic broke across the hall.

They were all taking aim at her position at once! The fire power combined would obliterate the alcove, and her along with it.

She rolled away, stones and dust snapping at her.

Their aim was goodthe alcove where shed been hidden was no more. She froze behind a pillar, then realized that using it as protection would be her death if they phasered it rather than her. The ceiling would collapse and shed die under an avalanche of stone and brick. She fired blindly again, at least trying to get a pause in their return, and ranshe wasnt sure toward what.

Her breath was heavythe stone under her feet evaporated as they fired and she ran. A corridorshe took it, not knowing where it led.

Stupidit led back to the same corridor in a big loop. She now had an even better view of the Hidran and their blasted hatch, but they also had the same vantage on her.

Aim. All she had to do was aim. Eye on target and fire. How hard could it be?

She fired, the beamnearly hit one of the Hidran. They moved so quickly for their bulk. She was just getting use to this shoot-and-fire thing and now they were moving the targets.

Her breath coming in long strokes, her hand shaking, she lined up the closest Hidran and thumbed the trigger. Her beam lanced past him but caught one of the others right in the face.

The Hidran soldier bounced back against the wall as if hed been hit by a thousand fists.

Well, what do ya know, she chuckled to herself.

Every once in a while the broad side of a barn jumps up for you.

One big red barn downfour to go.

The other two Hidran began firing moretaking broad steps toward her.

Barbara fired and rantoward the other path of the corridorthe one that would bring her around in a loop, but at least put her farther from the Hidran and the hatch itself.

A flash of lightning and the pillar before her exploded and she pulled herself back as best she could.

The ceiling cracked and crashed to the floor. Flecks of rock and sand fell on her as she fell back into another alcove. Larger stones rolled and bounced up her legs as she collapsed against the wall, crying out in frustration and pain.

She choked as the dust cleared and allowed her to see the rubble that would become her headstoneshe was now blocked from one corridor by the new crag, and the other by the Hidran.

There was no place to go.

And the Hidran were firing ... and moving closer. She wouldnt give up without a fight. She pressed herself forward, phaser ready ...

Suddenly the two Hidran fell forward. A table, one from the lab theyd been held in, crashed up behind them, pushing them down.

Picard exploded out the hatch and dove for the stunned Hidrans phaser. The Starfleet captain grabbed it in one hand and closed his other into a fist along the floor. He fired back through the hatch and then rolled forward toward the other two downed Hidran.

His phaser connected with one of them, and the Hidran sank back to the floor. The other Hidran spun around and knocked Picard down. The captains left hand shot out, but not into a punchhis fist openedhe threw dust into the Hidrans face.

The alien bent forward, choking and sputtering. For a momentjust an instantPicards eyes locked with Barbaras. She nodded. She didnt know what he wanted, but she could go with the flow of it, and thats probably all hed wanted anyway.

From out of the hatch came the other two Hidran. They towered over Picard as he spun around.

The captain slammed his boot into the instep of the Hidran behind himthe one that was still choking.

Barbara heard a yelp of pain, and Picard went down to his knees. Instantly, the captain grabbed another handful of dust that had fallen from the ceiling and tossed it into the air. The other Hidran crumpled.

He repeated the action as he rolled away, and all the Hidran began writhing and choking, their arms flailing, trying to clear the dust.

Fantastichorrificas if theyd been showered with acid. Here she was, cowering in a corner with a phaser as Picard fended off all the Hidran with his bare hands and know-how.

Why wasnt she helping? Thats what he neededher help.

Barbara fired three times quickly through the small cloud of dust. She heard one Hidran fall.

She fired again, almost blindly and Picard kept tossing dust into the air as he scrambled toward her.

The beam from her phaser shot forward and caught Picard in his chest, bouncing him back into the Hidran he was escaping from.

The dust was settling ... and Picard was unconscious.

No!

Barbara pulled back into the alcove, wishing she could pull the beam back as well.

She heard a sound. The Hidran laughing? Her heart sinking? Both were happening. The three Hidran who remained conscious were choking and yet still moving toward herand taking potshots with their phasers.

Picard, limp and unconscious, was tossed over the shoulder of one of them. Her fault.Hers . Shed gotten herself into this quicksand, he had been trying to get her out, and what did she do? Pull him down with her.

The Hidran continued to choke even thought the dust had settled. The dust The dust!

The Hidran, born from a water planet,hated dust. Dust was their enemy, a disease to them. Picard knew that and was trying to tell her. Its how hed fought them: his knowledge of them.

Starfleet wasnt just brawn and testosterone as shed thought. And she wished she could tell Picard that now.