Starship Armstrong - Season 1

Part 50 - The Mind of Dr. Kang (VIII)

"Captain Littlecrow to the bridge," said the voice over the intercom.

"We read you, Captain," replied Gibson "What's the situation?"

The rest of the command crew stood on the bridge. The tension was palpable. The fact that the communication was audio-only was not taken by anyone as a good sign.

"Everything is fine. The situation hasn't changed. Dr. Kang and I are going to begin alterations on the shuttle. He has some terms which I have agreed to. I'm ordering you to shut down all internal sensors in the aft section of the ship for 48 hours or until you hear from me again."

"To clarify Captain: you're ordering all internal sensors shut down in the after section of the Armstrong?" said Gibson.

"Those are my orders, yes," she replied.

"Are you alright Al-.. er.. Captain?" Mitzner ventured.

"I'm fine," said Littlecrow "Everything is going to work out. Just respect the chain of command. I have to go."

The intercom cut out.

"Ensign Marceaux," said Gibson "Cut all active internal sensors in the aft deck, but leave all the passive sensors on. I want eyes on the Captain and that thing she's with."

"Are you out of your mind?" snapped Mitzner.

"Are you out of your mind, Commander," Gibson corrected her.

"The Captain just ordered us to disable <i>all</I> sensors," insisted Mitzner "Are you trying to get her killed? Dr. Kang might have ways to detecting passive sensors that we don't even know about."

"That may well be. It seems to be a risk she's willing to take and it's her call," said Gibson.

"She said turn them off, Commander," Mitzner spat.

"I think you'll find," Gibson started "The Captain said before she offered herself as a hostage that we should treat any orders coming from her as though they were under duress. Since she made no indication that she intended to rescind that order we have to move forward with the assumption that she intended us to ignore these new orders."

"You're asking me to take a lot on faith, Commander," said Mitzner, this time she didn't say his rank sarcastically.

"I imagine that's why the Captain brought up the chain of command," Gibson replied.

* * *

The Kang-thing walked along the hallway, it's large hands never far from the neck of Captain Littlecrow. She was reacting to the implied threat so nonchalantly that it was starting to make the Kang-thing self-conscious.

The shuttlebay was deep in the aft section, near the docking lock and all the other ship components that needed to be closer to the exterior hull. It was the most dangerous section of the ship to be in during a fire fight, and certain other rare situations.

"There's no need to be so grim. The day will someday come, I suspect, when we can look back on this and laugh," said the Kang-thing.

Littlecrow had been waiting for the Kang-thing to let it's guard down for a split second. She rolled forward and tumbled out of reach. The Kang-thing flailed it's arms wildly, but it was unable to grab her. Littlecrow hit the ground running and took off down the hall.

The Kang-thing was too fast for her, faster than she could even see. In the blink of an eye it had interjected itself into her path. She was once again face-to-face with the monster.

"Try something like that again," it said "And I'll kill you."

"Will you?" asked Captain Littlecrow "I'm your only hostage. I'm the one thing keeping you alive now, the only thing preventing my crew from killing you remotely. You need me, Dr. Kang."

A few centimeters, that's all she needed. She just had to hope they were watching on the bridge.

The Kang-thing was tall. When it went to grab her, Littlecrow ducked under again and somersaulted through it's legs. She had guessed correctly; the Kang-thing, demented as it was, realized it couldn't risk seriously hurting her.

Littlecrow knew the Armstrong like the back of her hand. She was familiar with every hallway, every passage, and the location of every junction in the internal structural integrity field. If the ship were to suffer a serious hull breach, force fields could keep the atmosphere from escaping. Alternatively, if an evil robot version of the Science Officer is at large, they could be used to pen him in.

A virtually impenetrable wall of light shot up between Littlecrow and Kang.

"Well played, Captain," said the Kang-thing "It's so much more gratified being beaten by a foe worthy of respect."

"I'm glad you enjoyed yourself," said Littlecrow, her expression darkening.

Red lights flashed as warning tones sounded, and the docking lock began to open. If not attached to a proper docking bay the lock would empty out into space.

Captain Littlecrow's eyes widened.

"Captain Littlecrow to the bridge," yelled Littlecrow, frantically "Captain Littlecrow to the bridge abort docking lock operations. Repeat: abort docking lock operations. This is cold blooded murder!"