Post 457: Strike Out

Stardate: 70925.2311
Title: Strike Out
Author: TC Blane
Scene: Ready Room: Independence
Time: Following Part It's a Man's World. Literally. Part Two
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TC had just stepped out of the ready room and back onto the bridge when a very puzzled ensign manning the Ops station spoke up.

“Excuse me sir but, what is this?” He asked as he pointed to a flashing indicator on his panel.

TC glanced over to see what the young man was talking about. His eyes widened when he realized that it was the silent alarm that he had set up to notify him of what he was calling the Corbinsky factor.

“He is here.” He said more to himself then anyone else. He reached by the ensign and hit the indicator to display where the sensors had gone off line.

“Damn! I was just in there.” He swore when he saw that the sensor failure indicated that the doctor was in the ready room.

He swirled around and jogged to the center chair and hit the communication controls. “Security to the bridge, on the double.” He was careful not to use the words ‘intruder alert’ so not to trigger any alarms.

Making his way to one of the weapons lockers he punched in his command code and withdrew a phaser. Checking the charge he made his way to the ready room doors and strained to hear anything on the other side. Not surprisingly nothing could be heard.

Suddenly a security teams was next to him along with the security chief. “What is the issue Lieutenant?” N’Dura asked.

TC nodded towards the ready room doors. “Corbinsky. He is in the ready room with the captain.”

N’Dura’s brow furrowed. “How do you know this, no intruder alarms went off?” She walked to the weapons locker and selected a phaser rifle.

TC smiled. “I can’t say.” He looked at her with all seriousness. “You’ll have to trust me.”

With out any other words the security chief simply nodded.

With out any further delay the security team utilized the manual override on the doors and slipped into the ready room, weapons at the ready.

TC made his way in with the main force of security personnel as N’Dura covered their advance and for the first time they saw the elusive Doctor Corbinsky.

"That you believe I would ever need to force a woman to be in my company by resorting to kidnapping of that sort, Zanh Liis- that truly wounds me." He spat the words at her, leaning so close she could now smell the cologne that the sensors had detected in the room after his previous visit.

"You underestimate the value of my friendship. Perhaps I shouldn't pursue this any further. Perhaps I should wait, until you're truly desperate. Until-"

Corbinsky looked up, suddenly realizing they were no longer alone in the room.

"Hello, gentlemen," he said, addressing the security detail, "and M'lady," he nodded to N'Dura, who pushed her way through from the back of the line, her phaser raised and pointed directly at his head.

“Step away from the Captain.” N’Dura ordered in what could only be described as a dramatic tone.

Corbinsky’s posture did not change, nor did his attitude. “Oh, I did not give your crew enough credit it seems.” He smiled. “How did you do it Zanh?” He asked.

“I will not ask again!” N’Dura warned.

The doctor waved his hand in a dismissive fashion. “Oh come now my dear N’Dura. You did not expect that rifle to actually function while in this nullification field did you?”

In response the security chief pulled the trigger and received only a dull click.

Corbinsky smiled in satisfaction. “You see, I warned you, your weapons are useless and I don’t think you can cross the distance between you and I before I leave.” He turned back to Zanh. “It was a noble attempt. I will have to research to find out how you got so close to my capture, but in the end you lose.”

Suddenly there was a loud thud and the good doctor pitched forward landing face first on the captain’s desk with a bang. Zanh blinked in shock at the sudden change in the doctors stance then leaned down and picked up a phaser from the floor next to the unconscious doctors feet.

All eyes turned to the now phaserless Lt. Blane who was still in the final stance of his throw. TC stood and wiped his hands on his shirt as he started towards the captain. He suddenly noticed all of the eyes looking at him.

“Six strike outs during the fifth game of the little league world series.” He pulled his uniform top down smoothing out any wrinkles and puffed out his chest. “Game MVP.” He thumbed towards himself proudly.

Security quickly moved in to secure the doctor as TC retrieved his phaser from the captain. He held up the weapon in his hand. “Not quite a useless as he thought huh?” He joked with Zanh.

She returned his smile. “Obviously not.”
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Lt. (sg) TC Blane
Chief of Operations
USS Independence NCC-90791