One Hour to Detonation

[Joe Manning 0]

Commodore Blake's shuttle re-entered the atmosphere. The report of the local security chief's negligence had been delivered to the Admiral, but Thorne was insistent that the Commodore return to assert order over the situation. If the Commodore didn't know better of Starfleet brass, he would have thought that the Admiral was trying to get him killed, a stiff punishment for his inability to combat the Klingon pirate threat near the border.

 

As the shuttle neared the surface of Goldrock, the GC-07 emerged from QoB's hold, its driver delivering a message that would soon spread anarchy throughout the ship. One of its gunners noticed the shuttle descending from the sky, and could not resist striking at such a tempting target. Blake frantically ordered the pilot to pull the shuttle out when the armored car's main gun pivoted for a shot. He was too late. The disruptor blast toasted everyone aboard the shuttle, inflicting the punishment of Thorne or some other higher power on Commodore Blake and his team.

 

The flaming shuttle struck the surface of Goldrock, sending tremors throughout the entire area. The tremors travelled through the hills eliciting screams from the Goldrock hill moles. They continued down through the earth shifting sand and rock and the deep roots of Goldrock's meager badland shrubs, terrifying the poor plants. Finally they reached the tunnels of the Goldrock mines, and brought more rocks down on the marines that Lieutenant Sargh had already buried. Unfortunately, this also sealed off the main entrance of the mines.

 

Commander Mench's team was split up and having to contend with a new obstacle -- the security systems inside the mines had been brought online, sealing off several passages with force fields. Sargh had come up with a reliable (though time-consuming) way to breach the fields, but the team now had to locate a new way to the surface. The one hour remaining on the GC-13's self-destruct timer seemed even shorter.

 

The Commander hoped that the bank of terminals that Fox had just pulled their bike next to would somehow aid their escape. In his mind, he was already excluding the possibility of reuniting with the rest of the team if escape meant leaving them behind. Anything that could make it easier to get out of this deathtrap.