19. Rescuing Hernandez
“We're now close to the MI6 Building,” Hawkins reported as they passed the Vauxhall Bridge.
“Beginning scan,” T'Sal reported.
The scan took a while.
“She's there,” T'Sal said.
“So, can we get a lock?” Rostova asked.
“No,” T'Sal said. “I can't localise it. We'll have to go in ourselves and free her.”
“Great!” Rostova complained. “At least it should be easier than during the War.”
“Remember that this is during the Cold War. It's not going to be a cakewalk,” Hawkins said.
“I know that,” Rostova said, putting on a bad British accent.
“Orders?” Hawkins asked.
“Pull up alongside the Embankment,” T'Sal ordered.
“We'll be there in a few moments,” Hawkins said.
As soon as the Harris came alongside the Embankment, T'Sal and Rostova emerged from the top hatch. “The Building is approximately half a kilometer to the northeast,” T'Sal said.
“That isn't too far,” Rostova said.
“But it would be quite a distance to run once we have Hernandez,” T'Sal said as she slipped on a hat to hide her Vulcan ears.
“Quite true. But I managed to outrun Vorta and Cardassians in the War. I'll manage.”
“I'm aware of that. That is one reason I chose you for this mission.”
Rostova acknowledged that with a nod.
Once on the Embankment they set off towards the MI6 Building at a slow, but steady pace.
They approached the building 15 minutes later. T’Sal whipped out her tricorder. “Narrowing down… Somewhere in a basement level.”
“Meaning, that we may need to fight our way through. I'm ready.”
T'Sal nodded. “We'll dig our way through a low wall and procede from there.”
Meanwhile. Q was looking over the device 007 had given him. He was wondering whether to leave it until morning, or whether to start immediately. He placed it on the bench. He decided that it would be worth it to look inside first. He quickly found that it wasn't possible to open with bare hands. 'Of course not,' thought as he picked up a multitool.
T'Sal and Rostova were inside. “Three levels down, at least,” T'Sal said.
“That's great!” Rostova said as she looked around a corner. She couldn't see anyone. “But I don't see any stairs downwards. We may need to blast holes in the floor.”
“Not a good idea,” T'Sal said. “We might compromise the structure.”
“As a last resort though.”
“Only as that.”
Q managed to open the device. The insides of the device weren't what he expected. The circuitry was rather small, and he saw what looked like a piece of glass taking up it's center. 'Maybe the case itself is the antenna,' he considered. He grabbed a camera and took a photo of the internals. 'The glass is connected to the circuitry...'
T'Sal and Rostova found a stairwell. “One would think it would be guarded,” the latter said.
“Undoubtedly she is being guarded,” T'Sal responded.
“Of course,” Rostova said.
They did find agents on the stairwell, but they were able to pass themselves off as fellow agents.
'That won't last long...' T'Sal thought.
Back on the Baffin, Emmerson asked for a status report. “The Harris is still up near the Vauxhall Bridge,” Lieutenant Lillia Daniels reported.
“Understood,” Emmerson said. He sighed. “I'll be my ready room.”
“We're on the right level,” T'Sal said. “40 meters to the east.”
Rostova nodded.
Daniela had been placed in a cell somewhere in the building. The blindfold had been removed, but the lighting was dim. Time passed slowly. She was falling asleep when suddenly she heard phaser fire outside the cell. She jumped up off the bench as the guards were nerve pinched into unconciousness by T'Sal. “Finally!” she breathed.
“Stand back!” Rostova said. She used her phaser to melt the lock and swung the door open.
“We have to go now,” T'Sal said. “I'm certain we've raised the entire building.”
“Of course,” Daniela said as she emerged from the cell. “But Agent Bond took my commbadge. The quartermaster is certain to have it by now.”
“I have planned for that,” T'Sal said as she took out her tricorder. “Scanning for it now.”
“Then we have to get out of the building again,” Rostova said.
“A storm is interfering with the transporters,” T'Sal said as a clap of thunder sounded outside. “But it is providing cover.”
“One thing after another...” Hernandez murmured.
“Intruders?” Bond asked the other agent.
“Yes. They are certain to be going after the prisoner.”
Bond nodded. He would recapture her, or there would be hell to pay.
Rostova tossed Hernandez a phaser as they walked up some stairs. “Another two floors,” T'Sal said.
Hernandez nodded.
They entered the room and saw a man at a workbench. Rostova was certain he was dissecting the commbadge. Would she speak and implicate the KGB in this operation? She didn't know whether that would inflame the tensions between Britain and the Soviet Union or not. She had thought on it, and T'Sal had said that the decision was hers. In a flash she made that decision. “Hands up!” she said playing up her accent.
The man turned, and grabbed a pen nearby. “I'm not as helpless as you think I am,” he said. “You're in my lab. My home turf. You don't know what is innocuous, and what isn't.”
“That's true,” T'Sal said, immitating Rostova's accent. “But were not leaving without the device you were given earlier this evening.”
“I'm not going to give it to you,” the quartermaster said.. The quartermaster clicked the end of the pen twice and threw it down. That produced a cloud of smoke. They then immediately fired their phasers, which had been set on stun and a wide beam. All three of them then walked over.
“Great!” Hernandez said. “He's taken it apart.”
“I see that,” T'Sal said. “He may have notes already.”
“Can't exactly reverse engineer without the original, right?” Rostova asked.
“Probably not, but it's still contamination,” T'Sal said.
“We should go,” Hernandez said.
T'Sal could tell that she was anxious to get away. “Let's go,” she decided. They grabbed the components of the commbadge and some of the gadgets and made themselves scarce.
“Bond!” Hernandez said when she saw him in the distance.
“Got it!” Rostova said. She fired her phaser on stun but missed. “Great!” she said as a bullet from the PKK whizzed by. “We have to go a different way.”
“T'Sal to Harris, can you get a lock?”
“Not yet. The storm is still interfering,” Hawkins said.
“Give us another five minutes, then fly at a low altitude towards the building.”
“Acknowledged.”
More agents cornered them three minutes later, but they ran up some stairs nearby.
“Five minutes,” Hawkins murmured, as he launched the Harris out of the river.
A door opened and Bond emerged from it. “You can't escape,” he said
“I beg to differ,” T'Sal said as she put herself in a stance.
The two sparred briefly before T'Sal was able to put in a nerve pinch. They were then beamed aboard the Harris.
“Orders?” Hawkins asked.
“Back to Baffin the way we came,” T'Sal ordered.
“Acknowledged.”
“We're back in the river,” Hawkins said.
“Keep going,” T'Sal said.
They arrived back at Baffin 20 minutes later.
“The Harris has docked,” Lu reported.
“Back behind the Moon,” Emerson, ordered. “Steady as she goes.”
“Aye, sir,” Andersen said as she input the commands for Baffin to take off.
The storm was still an issue, but the ship took off and left the atmosphere without trouble.
They were back behind the Moon a minute later.
No comments:
Post a Comment