Desperate Measures

As Sorripto stepped down from the PADD the door to the transporter room opened and several armed guards walked in with their weapons drawn. Pointing at Sorripto the guards surrounded the Cardassian who raised his arms smiling.

"Morning gentleman come to greet me aboard I see"

Looking at the guards Chief Reichman spoke angrily.

"What are you doing we are our whole plan to Sorripto here he is as loyal to our cause as any of us."

Looking over at the chief the nicer dressed of the guards who was also clearly their leader snapped back at the Chief.

"There is no plan you fool no one knew you were coming and no one expected you to bring him..."

Before Chief Reichman could speak in a flashing streak Sorripto grabbed the barrel of the rifle pointed closest to him and punched the guard knocking him to the ground. Flipping rifle Sorripto threw it towards two guards before drawing his phase pistol and shooting the two. Leaning slightly Sorripto elbowed the guard behind him rolled forward shooting him and the guard he rolled into standing Sorripto fired a shot into the guard who he had punched to the ground a second before... in a matter of seconds there were five dead guards on the ground at then feet of the Cardassian who was breathing slightly heavy. As Sorripto stood Chief Reichman yelled drew his phaser and fired a shot into Sorripto's back as the Cardassian turned slightly the Chief fired again and then again all with no apparent effect on the large Cardassian who stood smiling before him.

Reaching into his pocked Sorripto pulled out a small object and laughed. Rolling the coin sized object between his fingers Sorripto walked over and grabbed the phaser from Chief Reichman and walking over to the pannel closed and sealed the door. Flipping the object back over to the Chief Sorripto laughed.

"Do you know what that is my friend?"

The blank stare on Reichman'a face told the whole story. Smiling Sorripto continued.

"Those are called stun disks they were a little invention of the Obsidian order for their covert missions. The idea is quite simple you activate the little disk and place it on someone's person then you can use a weapon that fires a glorified light show to activate the disk which creates a strong stun. It can cause minor pain and even the illusion of death for a few moments but no one has to die."

Looking down at his weapons Chief Reichman could only mutter a few words.

"You treacherous bastard..."

Cutting him off Sorripto continued.

"You see they served a practical purpose but they can also be used for finding and planting traitors. Or for leading people into fake mutinities to test loyalty and all the while no one actually has to die for the cause they are quite brilliant. Starfleet started using them covertly about twenty years ago."

Pulling out a small time piece from his front pocket Sorripto looked down at it and nodded.

"By now the McKenzie is probably wondering why no one was killed during our little mission I figure by now they also noticed that the panel you planted the explosions behind was reinforced with Neutronium your explosion did nothing but throw at a heavy door at someone at best a minor inconvience. Combined with the targeting chips left in front of the hatch and the power reinforcement to the targeting systems this was the worst mutiny ever."

Lauging Sorripto contiuned

"They should really start asking questions here right about now..."

As Sorripto spoke the timer in his hand went off.

"As we speak all the power and systems of the McKenzie should be turing back on. I hope they do not spend too much time fretting about that virus being on a timer or the fact that their targeting controls are now locked on that weakened section of our starboard plasma conduit."

Clenching his fist Reichman pointed.

"You are some kind of double agent you are a traitor to the cause."

Shaking his head Sorripto just smiled.

"You are always thinking so black and white. I am here to save a friend oh and to stop you and your band of crazy psychopaths from hurting anyone else."

Just then sparks started coming from the sealed door. Pointing to it Sorripto continued.

"Well looks like they want to get in here too bad I had so much more to tell you. Well I guess just one more thing."

Sorripto pointed his pistol at the Chief.

"Chief I honestly never liked you... and your fired."

Firing a blast the lifeless body of Chief Reichman slumped to the ground. Walking over Sorripto removed the starfleet logo from his jumpsuit.

"And you never deserved to wear this."

Removing a sight to sight transporter from his pouch Sorripto attached it to his arm and as the doors opened Sorripto waved to the guards attempting to enter and vanishied in the hum and light of a transporter beam.

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Suddenly the ship rocked violently, and power throughout the ship shut off. The McKenzie managed a last ditch effort to disable the Prophecy. It had worked, the weapons, shields, warp core, were all offline. The only power source available, was battery power. The emergency lights came on, the hallways were barely lite.

Jolan and his MACO team beamed into a corridor. They swung there weapons around to scan the area for the enemy.

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"Come in... what is your status? Do you have the intruder?" demanded the female Rethian of the guards currently laying unconscious in the transporter room. "If you want some thing done right..." she muttered. "Security team two, find out what's going on down there. I'm right behind you."

"Aye, ma'am."

As she finally made her way to the transporter room, she saw the security team attempting to revive their fallen comrades and Chief Reichman was half-laying, half-sitting and speaking with the security officer in charge. He noticed her and fell back while trying to futilely stand at attention.

"Sorripto, ma'am... he's a traitor..."

"Clearly..." was the only response.

"I failed you," he said lowering his gaze and expecting a wrathful punishment.

"Only the preservers may judge that," she sighed, too exhausted to scold. "Security team, with me. We will find this man and put an end to his interference."

Just then, the entire ship shuddered and went dark and everyone froze in their tracks. One by one, the security team flipped on the light attachments on their weapons and they hurriedly followed Ty'reynyk who was already on her way out into the corridor. They followed her to the nearest access hatch. "He is clearly causing havoc in Engineering. The turbolifts and transporters won't be functional so we'll have to climb down."

As she was getting ready to climb in, she heard the distinctive hum of transporter beams and a dozen lights materialized further down the corridor. A split second felt like an eternity as the lights from each set of weapons were locked on each other and then the shooting began. The MACOs training kicked in and they didn't even wait for the order from Jolan. Two of Ty'Reynyk's men in the front were instantly cut down from the stun fire and were propelled against some of the Horizon's Children officers behind them. Ty'reynyk dove into the hatch as several phaser blasts whizzed past her head and the rest of her team were dispatched quickly and efficiently.

A MACO ran toward the hatch and fired a few shots after her, but she was already too far in.

"Stephens, Arturo, secure the area. The rest of you with me," Major Jolan ordered and continued down the corridor. Luckily for them, some of the ships' power systems for lights, communications, and turbolifts were restored, so he loaded half of his team into the nearest one and sent them to secure Engineering. The other half, he took with him toward the bridge.

"Lord N'Eligahn, we have intruders on board," Ty'reynyk reported when she saw the power restored. He dispatched whatever security teams he had left to go hunt them down, and only two remained on the bridge. Those two were the best they had and were stationed on either side of the Prophet's door and never moved. They were former Starfleet special forces who had never been bested in hand to hand combat and wore full protective armor and personal shields. The Prophet's Keepers they were referred to and were ready to give their lives for him... but not without a fight.

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The lights overhead flickered and dimmed as the ship shook. After Sorripto's program restored the power to the McKenzie it did not take long for her to disable the Prophecy and Sorripto knew this was now his chance.

Running over to an access panel Sorripto got to work accessing the internal sensors and it was with these he noticed the energy signatures down the corridor from the transporter room he had just come from. It did not take the Cardassian long to figure out that the MACOs were onboard and his time was limited. They may be well trained but Sorripto knew they are not invincible and knew they will not leave here unscathed if they attempted to take the bridge. Working frantically Sorripto ran emergency power through the transporter systems and locked on to all federation signals if they needed to leave he could now beam them all onto the McKenzie whether they wanted him to or not.

Working through the catacombs of the ship Sorripto did what he could to avoid the security crews which were now on their way to war against the MACOs. Arriving at the turbo lift just below the bridge Sorripto dropped his satchel and emptied his pockets he knew it was going to take every trick he could muster to get past the royal guards two men Sorripto knew he could not beat in a direct assault.

Sorripto began work on his makeshift holo emitter and sheathed his tachyon combat knife, the blade was designed to penetrate personal shields being made of a rare tachyon alloy.

"The only problem is going to be getting close enough to stab them and slowly enough to hurt" Sorripto thought to himself

Having only a few minutes and coming up with the best plan he could Sorripto entered the turbolift and signaled for the bridge the doors closed with a woosh and Sorripto was off.

The doors to the turbolift on the bridge opened and as Sorripto stepped out with both his weapons drawn he fired a barrage of blasts that first stuck N'Eligahn, knocking him unconscious against a console, with the others taking out the remaining officers. Sorripto then pointed his two pistols at the guards in front of the guards at the door. As they raised their rifles the turbolift doors opened again and an entire Federation assault team poured out firing phaser blasts towards the two guards who rolled for cover and began returning fire. As one of the guards dodged a phaser blast he swung the butt of his rifle passing cleanly through the Federation security force member in front of him. Looking back to his brother in arms the guard yelled.

"It is a trick they are holograms all of them..."

"Not all of them!"

Sorripto lunged his knife into the synth mesh area below the shoulder blade of the guard in front of him. The slow penetration of the blade caused the guard to drop to one knee as the holographic figures around him blinked and then faded away. As Sorripto twisted the slightly curved blade and removed it the man fell his heavy armor crashing hard on the deck. Looking up Sorripto rolled behind the comms console and drawing his phase pistol. The second royal guard aimed his rifle at the console as Sorripto slowly stood from view and smiled.

"They say you have never been beaten in hand to hand combat, well neither have I. I say we settle this like the soldiers we are."

The royal guard nodded and in a simultaneous motion Sorripto and the guard threw their weapons to the ground and as Sorripto stepped out from behind the comms console he raised his fists as did his opponent.

"Like soldiers..."

"Like soldiers..."

The guard yelled as he lunged towards Sorripto his first swing missing as Sorripto ducked his second connecting with his jaw... and passing right through his face.

As the guard's hand was passing through Sorripto's face the real Sorripto lunged from behind the console stabbing the guard in the same mesh spot as he had stabbed the first. As he twisted the knife Sorripto quipped.

"Except I am not a soldier, I am an engineer."

Removing the knife the guard dropped to one knee and clenching his fist Sorripto swung with thirty years of rage and frustration crushing the heavy armor helmet as it connected the crush of armor and bone faded as the guard fell heavily to the floor lifeless and dead.

Taking only a moment to compose himself Sorripto walked over to the fallen N'Eligahn checked his pulse and patted his shoulder.

"I will come back for you old friend."

Sorripto then grabbed his phase pistol and walked towards the Prophet's door. As the door whooshed opened a clearly surprised Sisko stood and before he could speak a word Sorripto, who at this point was breathing heavily, fired a shot into his chest and Sisko slumped over his chair unconscious.

"Time to go home old friend."

Sorripto grabbed Sisko's unconscious body threw it over his shoulder and walked towards the turbolift. Hoping to run into his Federation friends along the way.