Stargazing - REVIEW THIS STORY

Written by Cat Smith
Last updated: 01/02/2007 02:01:11 AM

Chapter 11

Navigation officer Carol Danvers brushed the blonde hair from her eyes as she piloted the small battle cruiser as close to the shields of the Kythrida as she could. Then she looked back at her commander.

"Sir?" She asked, her blue eyes bright and sparkling, even in the dim red light that the silent mode of the ship provided.

"Still waitin', chere." Muttered Commander LeBeau. He looked over at his communications officer, who shook his head. With a sigh, Remy stared intently with his exotic eyes at the scene displayed before him on the telescreen. His side wasn't winning. Of course, that wasn't his plan. His plan was like him -- sneaky, private, and charming in it's delicious simplicity. It had been his idea for the communications jammers, the cloak they were now under, and, he had convinced Lilandra that the technicians' plan of overloading the Kythrida's shields, and therefore the other systems, gotten thanks to he and carol's mission. Now, he was just waiting for their hard work to pay off. A slight beeping made him glance down at his communications earpiece. Setting it uncomfortably in his ear, he spoke.

"Oui?"

"Commdr LeBeau? It's Rath'raan. We're ready."

"Excellent." Was Remy's short answer. A look at Carol warned her to prepare herself. She did so -- the few weeks since their little mission had given them more than enough time for them to align themselves to working together, and so they did -- they complemented each other very well! Punching in several commands, her hand hovered over the 'enter' button that would execute them. Staring at the screen so she was sure of where she was.

"Carol?" Asked Remy quietly, his hand over the mouthpiece.

"Ready." She looked behind her momentarily, and saw him looking at the others for confirmation of their willing. When he got them, he took a deep breath, and removed his hand from the mouthpiece. Flicking a switch, he changed the frequency to wide broadcast, so that the selected members of the fleet would hear him.

Taking a final look at the screen, he nodded. "Commence -- alpha-delta charlie one five green."

With that, a burst of light emitted before them against the shields. Five other ships were concentrating their fire at one place in the Kythrida's shields at maximum strength. Within a minute, there was a small hole. Seemingly tiny against the enormous mothership, but large enough for Gambit's battlecruiser. Without a word from her superior, Carol piloted the ship in with ease, and docked in the nearest docking port. Remy stood, hoping that the readout's his weapons and scanning officer had reported were correct -- the external and internal scanners were effectively immobile. They needed stealth on this mission.

Red-brown hair fanned out behind him as he turned, gleaming sickly in the red emergency lights, and he indicated Carol, and Tashar Yah, his weapons officer. "You two wit' me. Huatalle, you have de bridge." He turned and grinned at Carol. "Mon dieu, I've always wan'ed t' say dat!!"

Carol rolled her eyes, and smiled. Tashar was slightly confused, but understood in was an in-joke between Terrans, and snorted. Of the same proud race as Hepsi'bah of the Starjammers, she didn't appreciate the 'ignorance' of these creatures. Ignoring her, and tapping his earpiece, Remy ordered several of his men to be at the port, waiting for them.

Going down the dark, almost haematallic walls, with their honeycomb struts, and their roughly carpeted floors, Remy checked his weapon. A gun similar to a Star Trek phaser, and a pack of cards were what he found. Nodding, comforted by their presence, he turned to his two crewmates.

"Ready f' dis? Clear on de plan?"

Tahsar nodded. "Get in there, knock any one we see out, and bring the highest ranksback aboard ship," she said, in her crisp manner that suggested that whatever was her highest ability, she would work to it. She, Carol and Remy, along with the rest of the crew, understood the importance of this mission. They were all hoping that Deathbird would be on the Kythrida, but they doubted it -- surely not even she would be arrogant enough to put herself in plain sight!

As they reached the port, Remy smiled as he saw the ten or so security officers waiting there for him. Lilandra had given him some of the best of her officers -- and the best first officer, who would, should Remy fail in his duty, take over without a question from anybody, even Carol. But Remy had no intention of failing in any of his duties. That could mean someone dying, and he had far too much of that on his conscience as it was. He was still glad of Huatalle, the first officer, as he helped Remy as best he could, and gave Remy a feeling of a job well done when he felt the old mans approving eyes on his back.

Tashar was at the control to the airlock. "Sir?"

Looking at his men, he nodded. "Open it." Each man and women in the party drew their weapon, and Remy was semi-pleased to note that he drew a card. He hadn't used his powers for a long time, due to his healing, and Lilandra's wish that he not do so, as not to startle the natives, so he as glad to see that his response when threatened was still to draw a card.

*Like ridin' a bike...* he thought to himself. Walking thru the airlock onto the enemy ship, she shuddered. It was quite a bit colder than his own little battle cruiser, and the corridors were much wider. They were made of a hard, white metal, and as Remy softly rapped on them, it emitted a shrill, almost humming noise. frowning, Remy noticed that the big ship had lost momentum, and that the lights were on low. Wondering what had caused the power blackout, Remy continued to walk down the corridor. They made it to the auxiliary bridge without any problem. There, they discovered only a single man, who shrieked a warning to, assumably, the captain on the main bridge, before Carol took him out with a back hand. Although Remy smiled at her, he was shuddering -- not from the cold, but from anticipation.

"We need to get to th' bridge in a hurry, 'cause dey'll be expectin' us now. We need somethin' t' turn de advantage t' us..." He asked. One of his security officers walked to the wall to the left, and punched a few commands in, surveying the ships energy levels.

As one of the overhead containers fell open, he blushed. "Er, they must have different commands than us," he muttered.

"Hmp." Remy replied, deep in thought. Frowning at the items the container had spilled onto the floor, Carol walked over to them and sorted thru them. A tribble, a uniform, several circuits and weapons, but then she found what she was looking for, and rose with a triumphant grin.

"Remy!" She cried, holding up a metal circle, about two feet in diameter, with intricate carvings on it's surface.

Gambit turned to look at her, slightly annoyed that she had broken his train of thought. Frowning, he asked, "What's dat?"

Rolling her eyes, aware of the rapidly moving time that they couldn't waste, Tashar answered quickly. "It's a miniature Stargate. Though truly, it's a room gate. It is for use on ship only."

Raising an eyebrow, Remy asked, "And,"

Carol explained. "The bridge crew will think they have about a half hour before we get up there -- this is a big ship! However, if we use this, we can be there in a few seconds."

Tashar turned to her, chocolate fur bristling. "What are you talking about, Danvers? We have no power source! Put it back!!"

Carol urgently pushed, ignoring Yah's threatening tone. "We do! _I_ am the power source!"

Yah walked up to Carol, paws balled into fists. "Are you so arrogant you assume you have the strength to power a stargate!"

Carol put her hands on her hips, and looked down at the weapons officer. She'd be glad to put an end to her catty remarks! "This is a roomgate. _I_ have powered a stargate. Now, if you please..." She pushed past her, softly, but enough to move her. Remy hid his smile, and asked Carol if she was sure she could do this. When she answered in the affirmative, he told her to do it.

Turning to his troops as she powered up, he told two of them to guard her, and therest of them to join him. As Remy turned back to Carol, his eyes widened in amazement. She herself had changed, her long blond hair gone, and peachy skin replaced by a fire-red inferno. Reaching out her hands, a stream of fire erupted from them, hitting the circle of the roomgate, going thru it, and creating a shimmering ring of light on the other side.

Remy stared in amazement at the liquid-like thing that was enveloped in the ring. He couldn't believe how spot-on the makers of the film 'Star Gate' had been.

"Sir?" One of the security men roused him from his reverie.

"Oui..." he answered. "Carol, where does dis lead?"

She looked at him, a stranger. "Just outside the bridge. It was meant for use in emergency's, when one bridge was overcome."

Remy nodded, and looked at his ship-mates.

As tradition allowed, the highest ranking officer led the others, and so Remy did. He stepped out on the other side after only a second, blinking. He hadn't felt a thing, hadn't seen a thing on the way here. The room-gate's travel mode was quite different to that of the star-gate, which had been alot longer and alot prettier. Waiting on the other side for his men, next to a door oh-so-stealthily painted 'Main Bridge', he signalled all of them into silence. Opening the locked door with ease, his thieving skills coming in useful, he gestured them to the sides of the doors as they slid open. The side opposite him went in first, on Tahsar's call. Racing into the room, gun's on 'stun', they had knocked almost half the crew out before Remy's side charged in. However, as the rest of the crew were shooting, Remy stopped in his tracks, stunned, as he saw who was in

charge of the ship. The big, dark-brown skinned man was being hit repeatedly by shot's, but wasn't going down, even after the rest of the bridge crew had. Remy knew why.

"Bishop!" he yelled, his shock evident in his voice. The big man turned, and the glow on his fist told Remy he would have hit him first, asked later, if he hadn't recognised him. He lowered his fist.

"Gambi -- ARRGHH!!" He was cut off as Tashar scraped her claws down his back, then hit the back of his head with the butt of her gun. She smiled as he slumped to the floor, then looked up at Remy.

"Oh, this is rich! Our commander knows the leader of one of Deathbird's troops!" She raised an eyebrow.

Sighing, Remy nodded. "Oui. I knew him on Earth..." Then as he glimpsed out of the big bridge windows that the battle was still not in their favour, he gestured his crew back to the ship.

"You two, carry de big guy. Tashar, grab him. I'll get dis guy, an' you..." Remy looked around the bridge for the other highest ranking unconscious, and pointed to him. "You get him. Let's get back 'fore anyt'in' else happens." He muttered.