McCoy hung back and let the others go ahead of him. He couldn’t believe they were going to crawl through a crack in the rock. The others soon disappeared into the dark hole, and he was left alone in the cavern. It was completely silent. He could almost swear he could hear the dust falling.
McCoy got down on his hands and knees and scurried into the crack. After walking under cathedral-like ceilings, it seemed strange crawling through a dusty slit. The darkness enveloped him, and McCoy lowered his head and plunged forward.
Without knowing where he was going, he bumped into Lisa’s rear end. “Excuse me,” he whispered.
“I had to stop,” she said. “The ensign sees lights up ahead.”
“Lights?” asked McCoy. “Keep going.”
He didn’t mean to sound so forceful, but his order got the line of people moving again. Like a sluggish snake, they inched their way through the narrow passageway. McCoy just wanted to get off his knees and stand erect again. Finally, the passageway widened, and he staggered forward into a crouch.
He found the others bunched at the entrance to another vast chamber. The golden glow of a work lamp was clearly visible behind a fallen stalactite. In the bizarre landscape of the cavern, the lamp looked like a peaceful campfire.
Spock gazed at his tricorder. “There are no life signs in the immediate vicinity. They are approximately two hundred meters ahead of us.”
Ensign Yermakov nodded and strode toward the light. He didn’t draw his phaser, but his hand was on it. In the spacious cavern, the party spread out and moved forward in silence. McCoy was awed by the sight of more giant stalactites suspended from the ceiling.
Cautiously they neared the work light and the fallen stalactite. McCoy breathed a sigh to see that Spock was correct—there was no one around. The lamp illuminated a workbench where somebody had left a complex piece of equipment in midrepair.
“Is that the forcefield generator?” asked Lisa.
Spock studied his tricorder. “No, the forcefield generator is in a smaller cavern adjoining this one. This would appear to be a repair station.”
“There’s no doubt about it,” said McCoy, “somebody is living and working down here.”
One of the security officers bent down to inspect the device on the workbench. As soon as he touched it, an alarm began shrieking!
“Oh, no!” muttered McCoy, stumbling away from the howling siren. There was nowhere to hide! He aimed his light down the length of the cavern, expecting to see a horde of armed guards come rushing toward them. Ensign Yermakov stepped forward and drew his phaser.
McCoy pointed his light down the length of the cavern. Finally the beam found one of them! A muscular humanoid crouched in the mouth of the cavern. He was bald except for a strip of hair that started midforehead and went over his skull and down his spine. He had no weapon, and he ducked out of sight.
“All right,” said McCoy. “They’ve seen us, and we’ve seen them.”
Spock nodded. “Retreat would appear to be in order.”
McCoy snapped open his communicator. “Gamma team to Nightingale.”
“Raelius here. Report.”
“We’re in the cavern, and there is something going on.” Suddenly, McCoy felt a dry prickling on the hairs of his neck. His nose dried out, as if a bolt of static electricity had suddenly hit him. That was when he realized what what was happening.
“Beam us up!” he shouted, but it was too late, as the rocks around him began to shudder. An invisible wave knocked McCoy off his feet onto a pile of rocks. He could hear his comrades shouting as they fell all around him.
The world vibrated as the forcefield ripped through the crust of Playamar. Painfully, with rocks poking his back, McCoy rolled over. The only light in the vast chamber was the work lamp, and it bounced around, making crazy shadows on the wall. In one of those shadows, McCoy saw what looked like a giant white shark racing toward him.
Not a shark, his mind screamed, a stalactite!
A giant icicle of calcified minerals plummeted toward him.
Chapter 10
McCoy rolled out of the way and kept rolling. He thought the stalactite was going to crush him, until a phaser beam streaked over his head. Half of the stalactite exploded, scattering dust and debris everywhere. The other half fell to the floor of the cave with a horrible crunch.
Panting, McCoy felt his chest to make sure he was still alive. He was cut and bruised, but not crushed. The aftershock suddenly ended, and he looked up to see Ensign Yermakov pointing his phaser at the stalactite.
“Thanks,” he croaked.
“No problem,” said the Starfleet Security officer. He made an adjustment on the phaser, probably setting it back to stun.
The lamp fell over with a clatter, and it was dark inside the cavern. “Sound off!” shouted McCoy.
“Donald here!” called Lisa.
“Spock here,” said the Vulcan’s calm voice.
One by one, the three security officers announced that they were still alive. Everyone in the landing party was still accounted for, which was a relief.
“I’ll tell them to beam us up.” McCoy started to open his communicator.
“That is pointless.” Spock stared at his tricorder, which glowed green on his face. “Ion levels are much higher. The Nightingale will not be able to transport us for an hour or more.”
McCoy shut his communicator. No doubt the Vulcan was right. On the surface of Playamar, the survivors and relief teams were going through the turmoil of another aftershock. Only a handful of people knew that they were artificial quakes.
“Okay, it’s up to us,” said the medic. “How many of them are there?”
“Six,” answered Spock.
With a whistle, a flare shot to the roof of the cavern and exploded. A ball of sparks floated down, lighting up the cavern like a candle in a pumpkin. McCoy could see humanoids stalking the far end of the chamber.
“Down!” he shouted.
He hurled himself back onto the rocks as a disruptor beam went screaming over his head. It blasted off the tip of a stalagmite. The Security officers leapt to their feet and returned fire. Beams streaked wildly around the vast chamber, and McCoy covered his head.
The fighting stopped when the flare’s light went out and the cavern was again plunged into darkness. McCoy fumbled for his communicator and opened it up.
“Gamma team to Nightingale. Come in, Captain Raelius!”
“I’m here, Cadet, what is it?”
“We’re under attack!” He hardly needed to explain as another disruptor beam blasted the mineral formation behind him. Chunks of it showered down upon his head.
“Can you identify the hostiles?” asked Raelius calmly.
“Yes. They are hairless except for a strip of hair on their skulls—like a Mohawk.”
“Then it is the Danai,” said Raelius. “Spock was right.”
It became deathly still in the dark cavern, except for some ominous scuffling sounds. “Captain,” said McCoy urgently, “we need to beam out of here.”
“Sorry. Transporters are down until the ion storms clear.”
“Spock was right about that, too,” grumbled McCoy.
“Try to reason with the hostiles,” said the captain. “If that doesn’t work, retreat. As soon as possible, we’ll send down reinforcements.”
McCoy gulped. “Yes, sir. Gamma team out.”
In the darkness, he didn’t know how many others had heard the captain’s orders. He didn’t even know if all of his comrades were still alive. McCoy guessed that it was up to him to try to reason with the saboteurs.
“Listen!” he called out. “We’re a Federation rescue team! We know you are Danai. We know what you’re doing and where you are. Give yourselves up—don’t make it worse!”
The response was a disruptor beam that streaked across the darkness and scorched a hole in a massive stalagmite. From nowhere, Yermakov leapt to his feet and fired in the direction of the beam. McCoy heard a groan and the sound of
a weapon clatter to the floor of the cave.
“Heavy stun,” whispered Yermakov with satisfaction. “That stops them. Set phasers for heavy stun.”
“Yes, sir,” answered each of the other two officers.
McCoy crawled toward the ensign’s voice. “What do we do next? I tried reasoning with them.”
“You heard the captain—retreat. If they send up another flare, the three of you take off for the passageway behind us. We’ll cover your retreat.”
“What about the three of you?” asked Lisa with concern.
“This is what we are trained to do,” answered Yermakov. “We’ll try to keep them occupied.”
McCoy heard a popping sound, and a wavering flare shot up to the roof of the cavern. It exploded in a burst of orange light, and McCoy began to scurry across the rocky floor.
There was action all around him, as the Security officers jumped to their feet and returned fire. Deadly beams crisscrossed the chamber, and Lisa scrambled over a rock and rolled on top of McCoy.
“Sorry!” she gasped. A beam sizzled across their backs and blasted into a stalagmite. It tipped over and crashed to the ground like a petrified tree. As they stared at the amazing sight, Spock crawled past them.
“I suggest you keep moving,” said the Vulcan.
Lisa followed him, but McCoy turned around to see two of the Security officers firing at the same target. A Danai spun around and crashed to the floor of the cave. Two down, thought McCoy. Maybe we’re winning!
Then a disruptor beam caught the female officer in the shoulder. She groaned and dropped to her stomach. McCoy almost started back to help her, but the light from the flare was dying out. A second later, they were plunged back into darkness.
“Come on!” urged Lisa from somewhere in the gloom.
McCoy felt terrible guilt at leaving a wounded officer. This was against all of his instincts, the Hippocratic oath he planned to take. But his orders were to retreat. He suddenly realized that Starfleet demanded an allegiance beyond a vow to help people.
Another flare streaked to the roof—in the light, he could see the wounded officer. She wasn’t that far away. He turned his back on escape and crawled back to help the wounded woman.
“You’ll be all right,” he told her, but she was already unconscious. As the battle raged around him, McCoy worked swiftly. First he gave her a hypo to stabilize her vital signs, then he cauterized her wound to stop the bleeding.
The light from the flare began to fade, and McCoy looked up and saw Yermakov slumped across a broken stalagmite. He gazed across the eerie battlefield to see three Danai lying unconscious on the ground. But three more of them were advancing on his position.
Then the flare died and the cavern went dark again.
McCoy wanted to stay and help the wounded, but that was the enemy out there. They were shooting to kill! His hands shook as he finished his work and prepared to escape. Crawling on his stomach, he cut a path through the dust and debris.
He had no idea how close he was to the passageway until two strong arms reached out to grab him.
“Quiet,” whispered Spock. “This way.”
Since McCoy couldn’t see anything, he let the Vulcan guide him into the narrow slit in the wall. He hit his head on the rock but didn’t cry out in pain. Keeping his head low, he just kept crawling, like a blind mole.
He could hear Spock shuffling along behind him. Only when they were several meters into the passageway did Spock turn on his light so they could see their way. McCoy spotted Lisa just ahead of him.
“What’s happening back there?” she asked.
McCoy shook his head. “One of our people got wounded, and I tried to help her. I’m afraid they’re all wounded, or worse. There are three Danai left conscious.”
“Are they coming after us?
As if answer to her question, the cavern behind them lit up with another flare. That made all three of the cadets scurry toward the opposite end.
McCoy was relieved when the passageway widened, and he could again stand up. They had escaped the Danai, at least for the moment, but he didn’t feel like celebrating. He was bruised and battered, and his knees and elbows were bleeding.
The medic lifted his light to peer into the faces of Lisa and Spock, and they didn’t look much better. All three of them were breathing hard. Worse, they were alone and unarmed, and saboteurs were after them.
McCoy leaned against the wall of the cave and wiped the blood from his right elbow. “We’re in a real pickle.”
“A quaint but accurate assessment,” said Spock. He checked his tricorder. “Three of them are gathered at the other end of the passageway. They are probably deciding whether to come after us.”
Lisa looked around at the vast Pharoah’s Chamber. “How long can we hide from them in here?”
“Unknown,” answered Spock. “And we cannot be rescued as long as they can create the ion storms.”
“We’ve got to do something,” said McCoy, slamming his fist into his palm. Spock and Lisa looked at him expectantly, waiting for his orders.
McCoy tried to think. He had the crazy idea that they should mount an ambush against their pursuers. But that went against all of his instincts and ideals.
He had come to the academy to help people, not to fight them. It all went back to the difference between being a private doctor and a Starfleet doctor. His personal feelings didn’t matter when he had a duty to perform.
“We’ve got wounded officers in there who need help,” said McCoy. “At the moment, there are only three Danai, because the others are stunned. But that stun is going to wear off in a few minutes. I say we ambush them.”
“It’s three against three,” said Lisa. “We’ve got no weapons—just our bare hands. I know tae kwon do.”
Spock lifted his chin. “I am capable of defending myself.”
McCoy picked up a rock. “We’ll have the element of surprise.” He put his fingers to his lips to tell his comrades to be silent. Then he shouted loudly, “Come on! I see a way out!”
McCoy ran in place, making loud footsteps but not going anywhere. Lisa and Spock did the same, then they pressed themselves against the wall near the passageway. Spock turned off his light and his tricorder, plunging them into darkness.
McCoy held his breath, wondering if their ruse would work. Then he wondered if he would ever see Earth or his family again. Finally he heard scuffling sounds in the narrow passageway, and he could see a dim light bobbing along. McCoy lifted his rock over his head.
In the wavering light, he could see Spock poised like a statue beside the opening. Finally a bald head jutted from the slit, followed by muscular shoulders. Before the Danai could crawl all the way out, Spock did an amazing thing. He reached down and pinched the humanoid on the back of his neck.
The Danai slumped to the ground, unconscious. Spock grabbed him under his shoulders and pulled him out, as Lisa grabbed his weapon. The whole maneuver took only a few seconds and hardly made a sound.
Another unsuspecting Danai emerged from the slit. He rose to his knees before Lisa whirled around with her boot and caught him in the mouth. He slumped to the ground, making a little more noise than the other one.
The third Danai poked his head out of the slit and started to aim his weapon. From above, McCoy dropped the rock on his bald head. He thudded to the ground, joining his comrades in a stupor.
McCoy took out his medical scanner and ran it over each one’s bald cranium. “We haven’t killed them, but they’ll sure have headaches. I want to check on our wounded in the other cavern.”
“I’ll come with you,” said Lisa. “We need to subdue all of the Danai.”
“I will attend to these three,” said Spock. With rope from his pack, he trussed up a muscular Danai like a Thanksgiving turkey.
“What was that thing you did to him?” asked McCoy. “All you did was touch his neck.”
“Incorrect. I pinched certain nerves at the base of his neck and rendered him unconscious.
”
“If you say so,” answered McCoy. “I never saw such a thing before.” He turned on his belt light and headed back into the narrow slit. He could hear Lisa trailing behind him.
When they reached the other cavern, Lisa picked up a fallen phaser. She delivered light stuns to the Danai until Spock arrived to help her tie them up.
For an hour, McCoy tended to the three wounded Security officers. It was touch and go with one of them, but he found himself amazingly calm as he worked. He definitely preferred saving lives, even with its immense responsibility, to commanding others.
Spock and Lisa helped him. When the condition of the wounded officers improved, the two of them went into the adjoining cavern to find the forcefield generator. They returned ten minutes later.
“We disabled it,” said Spock. “There will be no more aftershocks on Playamar.”
“Good,” said McCoy with a sigh.
“They had quite a setup,” added Lisa. “It looks as if they’ve been down here for months.”
McCoy glanced at his patients. “Their condition is stabilized, but I really want to get them back to the Nightingale. I wonder when we’ll be able to leave?”
Suddenly, the entire cavern lit up with dozens of swirling columns of light. As the cadets stared in amazement, thirty red-shirted Security officers materialized all around them. They leveled their phasers, ready for action.
McCoy grinned. “I guess the transporters are running again.”
Chapter 11
Without the aftershocks, the rescue effort went swiftly. Survivors were pulled from unsafe buildings, and the injured were transported to hospitals. McCoy, Lisa, and Spock ended up assisting at a field hospital. There was still lots of work to be done rebuilding the planet, but the crisis was over.
The Nightingale had to stay in orbit, but the Disaster Relief Service Club was sent home on a transport ship, which was much slower. There was plenty of time for people to congratulate Leonard H. McCoy. Everyone seemed to know that he led the team who stopped the aftershocks.
On their last night on the transport, there was a party for the service club in the mess hall. Captain Raelius recognized everyone’s brave and selfless acts of courage. In her twenty years of disaster work, she said, she had never seen a more difficult assignment than Playamar.
Star Trek: Starfleet Academy #2: Aftershock Page 8