"Breaking Point"

[Garnoopy 0]

Lieutenant Garnoopy

Chief Engineer

Personal Log Stardate 50308.22

“Breaking Point”

 

Garnoopy hadn’t moved since the guards had dropped him in his cell, he lay there with his body aching. Moving would require motivation and in his current state he had none.

 

Maitland, the security Ensign with a third degree black belt in Jujitsu had been kind to him. She had gently put pressure on an open wound while he lay there and attempted to comfort him even though it was obvious it wasn’t working.

 

He heard Commander Roget get pulled from her cell by two guards and taken out of the room. Where they were taking her had no idea but he didn’t like the idea. How much more could Roget stand? How much more could he stand? It didn’t matter what he said, the Romulans would never get the access codes even if they all gave their personal codes up.

 

A few moments later Admiral Atragon was dragged by. Two guards held his limp but conscious body. As Atragon passed by Captain Sovak’s cell the Captain suddenly rushed the forcefield and ran straight into it. He flew backwards and then landed on the floor, unconscious. The guards dragging Atragon ignored Sovak but the last two guards in the cargo bay quickly moved forward and removed Sovak, following the path Atragon had been taken. All the guards had left the cargo bay to drag someone out, they were alone.

 

Garnoopy managed to pull himself into an upright position and looked around feeling spent, “If only we could get out of here” he said.

 

Maitland signed, “Where would we go even if we could?”

 

“Well,” Garnoopy said, taking a breath, “We could blow out all the forcefields in the cargo bay and attempt to escape.”

 

“That would last about 30 seconds, Romulans aren’t as stupid as they look” she replied with.

 

“You may be right Ensign, but I’m not a security officer. My tactical skills consist of how to invade a computer system and destroy it, not a real life situation” Garnoopy replied with, a tad annoyed at the response he had gotten from Maitland.

 

She looked around silently and then said “Well, I think that an attempted mutiny wouldn’t work. To easy for the Romulans to quell. We’d want to lay low and find a way to help…” she paused, letting the words “Precip and his team” flow silently through Garnoopy’s mind. “I think that the best we can do is just stall for time.”

 

“You’re probably right” Garnoopy responded with thinking about how he really should have paid more attention in tactical training classes at the Academy.

 

“I am right” Maitland responded with fully knowing she was, “Didn’t you ever learn about a situation where you were greatly outnumbered? Guerilla warfare?”

 

Garnoopy looked at her, “Sorry, my life hasn’t given me many opportunities to experience these kind of situations.”

 

“Well, you see, the best idea would be for us to find a way out of here, get back to the Manticore and cause hell for the Romulans by sabotage and harassment” she said.

 

“To gain time?” Garnoopy asked.

 

She nodded, “A distraction and a way to gain time. The problem is we’re trapped.”

 

Garnoopy signed, she was right. Guerilla warfare did sound like the right move but they didn’t have a way out of the forcefield. If he could find a power source to short out the forcefield he would, but he had no power source. No one else in the field had a power… it hit him. Ensign Maitland.

 

Unfortunately for the Ensign she had been given a neural suppression collar that gave anyone who touched it a shock when trying to remove it. It prevented her from using the talents of Jujitsu on any of the Romulan guards. The neural suppression field had to be powerful so the power source must also be powerful. Powerful enough to perhaps short out the field.

 

If he could bring the neural suppression collar in contact with the field the power overload would cause the field to short out and the collar to die. That would leave Maitland free and the forcefield dead.

 

He signed and thought about it for a moment. The risk was to great, they would most likely be caught and then tortured. He would not put the young woman at that risk, it wasn’t his place to do no matter what.

 

The cargo bay doors opened and two guards stepped in dragging Roget. She looked beaten and worn, they deactivated a part of her cell and tossed her limp body in. Wounds were evident on her and Garnoopy could see that she did not even have the energy to stand. Fury wrenched through him as he bore his eyes into the back of the Romulan guards who walked out of the cargo bay. Another crewmember on the Manticore had been tortured for access codes.

 

As the fury passed through his system Garnoopy realized that this was it. He couldn’t continue to watch crewmembers be tortured, he was going to cause as much problems for the Romulans as he could.

 

Still looking at Roget he said, “Ensign, I have a way out. If we get out do you think you can get us to the Manticore without being discovered?”

 

Maitland looked at Garnoopy, “Yes.”

 

“Lets do it then” Garnoopy said.

 

He took one last look at the limp body of Commander Roget and then turned to Maitland to begin the process of deactivating the forcefield around them.