EndGame

Posted on Tue Oct 2nd, 2012 @ 2:33pm by Lieutenant Commander Michael Darwin & Lieutenant Commander Gilroy & Ensign Ian Bren & Lieutenant Norval Tigan & Lieutenant Nick Marcinko & Senior Chief Petty Officer Jonas Levin & Ensign Aure'l

Mission: Sections of the Delta Quadrant

Trill Ship

Ritual Room

Having been separated from much of his entourage, Ian paced nervously. What was this going to be like? Would he ask the right questions? Shouldn't Lieutenant Darwin or his lovely Eric be here, so that they could ask questions of the Natalia personality and memories? His fingers worried at his opposite sleeve.

Finally, E'tarna caught his hand and squeezed it. "Stop worrying so much," she ordered him, as she was prone to do. In their relationship, she was the bossy one. Currently, she was also representing Ian's Security entourage - the rest of them had been told to wait just outside the room.

"I'm ...this is all really.... Oh, here comes Tonn," Ian briefly hugged the part-Klingon and flashed a nervous smile at the Eds and Norval.

Only, it wasn't Tonn. "Jonas!" Ian smiled as he greeted his friend. "Looks like I have one volunteer more than I need. Thanks guys!"

Despite the clear surge of emotion in Ian's tone, the very strong hand he suddenly felt on his shoulder from Norval belied all of that. The Trill Lieutenant stepped in front of his charge, half-shoving Ian behind him in the process.

"You don't belong here," Norval said simply, knowing full well that he had personally locked down the transporters... but realizing, potentially too late, that he hadn't checked the logs. And so, he positioned himself between Ian and Jonas. You might be proud of me, he thought for just a moment of Eric, channeling every memory he had from his previous host.

"I think I do," was Levin's calm reply. In one far-too-fast movement, his hand appeared holding a disruptor and it was pointed at Ian's face. "I have just one thing to do." he glanced at the other people in the room who all stood perfectly still now, "maybe five things to do, but I'll start with the troublesome one first. Unless you'd prefer I start with you, Norval."

For all the calmness in Levin's manner, there was none in Ian's: he shrieked just like he'd shrieked when faced with that blonde woman in the Nexus Club. The noise caused a commotion in the outer room, with someone shouting "Bren!" and then the sounds of a scuffle.

E'tarna took that moment to play hero (actually, just to do her job, what she was trained to do), before Norval could react, and launched herself at Levin. It was a bad move - one that resulted in her being tossed aside as Levin's disruptor ripped into her.

"One down, Norval. You want to be number two or three?"

"I've lived a long time, Chief," Norval said, just as eerily calm as his assailant. In lives as both a doctor and a soldier, Tigan had learned to deal with death, and over the course of the last four centuries he'd watched a great many friends come and go. "I'd like to keep that going... but I'm not going to just stand here and watch you kill these people. So if you want Bren, you'll have to go through me."

Steeling himself, Norval tried to make peace with what was about to happen... he couldn't risk trying to dodge, not with Ian right behind him, and he wasn't likely to reach Levin before he could fire. Neither could he just stand by and do nothing, waiting for the end to come. So, as futile as he thought it was, the Trill Lieutenant swung his leg around in an arc, trying to kick the disruptor from Jonas' grasp.


Outside the Ritual Room

Aure'l looked from Darwin to Gilroy, to Nick. Then on to Moresi and finally the Trill representatives. So far they had politely but firmly been denied entrance to the ritual room. It was not logical as there was someone in there they needed to get to, someone who was potentially a threat to Ensign Bren. She briefly thought of invoking diplomatic privilege but if they had denied security, she suspected she would not get any further than they had. And so she paced. Hopefully something would give before all hell broke loose.

"Even Lieutenant Tigan was quite clear," Doctor Vidic contended. "Only a very few will enter that room, and none of you are authorized to even be on this ship! I must insist you return to your starbase at once!"

It was too late to do that: all hell broke loose, initiated by a sharp, high-pitched shriek from the ritual room. Darwin and Gilroy recognized it. "Bren!", Darwin shouted and, together with Gilroy, pushed through the small assembly of Trill doctors and dignitaries. Moresi and his two helped, turning the moment into a small fray before Darwin and Gilroy reached the doors and forced them open.

As the two breached the doors, Nick had unsheathed the Daqtagh that he kept in the small of his back and pushed between them. The first thing he saw was a Starfleet officer pointing a disruptor, of all things, at four other officers while a Station security officer lay on the ground, a large hole burned in her side.

As the team barged in, Norval's foot made contact with Levin's hand, sending the shot wide. It caught Ian in the foot, bringing another shriek from the ensign and a curse from Levin.

That was all it took for Nick. He lunged at the man, whom he now recognized as the target of their search, Mr. Levin. Nick was fast, but so was Levin who managed to turn and fire off a shot from the disruptor. It also went wide, though, as he didn't expect Nick's explosion towards him, nor the loud battle cry that he shouted at him. Nick managed to score a slice on Levin's lower abdomen, but it wasn't enough to make him drop the disruptor.

Levin pointed it at his own head with one hand as he grasped his stomach with the other. Already blood was seeping through his uniform and fingers. "One more move and I'll do it, Marcinko. Then you'll get nothing."

Though he thought he was dying, Ian Bren shouted, "Bullshit! They'll have me and all of Natalia's memories, Jonas! Or should I call you Lynch?" Suddenly, he knew... all of it. "It was your task to kill the Queen. Did you succeed?" Part of him hoped Levin/Lynch had; the other parts of him were horrified by that.

Inwardly, Norval grimaced. Way to make yourself a target again, Ian, he mentally chastised his ward, finally thinking that he and Nick might have adequately distracted Levin. But Norval - such as he was - was not the primary host of Tigan at the moment. Everything was Andam, the soldier, channeling years of combat training, hardened battle experience against the Jem'Hadar... and Andam was relishing the ability to use both of his arms. He made to grab the disruptor, to do any and every thing he could to force it away from Jonas' head. "Sorry, Chief, but you have to pay for the Klingon. You don't get off that easy," he said, even as he drove his head forward in a move that even surprised him, headbutting their would-be murderer to further distract him.

It hurt him like hell. He hoped it did the same to the Senior Chief.

Levin bellowed aloud and slammed into Nick. The disruptor fired, glancing off Nick's lower leg. Jonas was in a world of hurt, everything going down the tubes. The outcome didn't look good and he knew he had to end his own life here and now before they scrubbed his mind of every last detail. Grasping onto Nick, he did his best to raise the weapon.

Nick's blade, however, met the forearm of the arm that held the weapon, slicing deep into the tendons. The fingers of that hand, losing all of their ability to hold anything, dropped the disruptor to the floor with a clatter. Now, had Nick been raised in security instead of having been raised to kill quickly, easily and without mercy, that would have been the end of the matter. The threat was gone. The weapon that could have killed several people in the room, including Levin, was gone. But there was another matter weighing on Nick's mind. He owed Levin for the disruptor blast to his leg. Almost cleaving the man's hand off was a 'gimme' for everyone in the room, but since that had been handled, it was now personal.

His body was already turning with the slicing motion so he followed it through with a hard jab to the ribs. He turned the blade backward and jabbed at Levin's kidneys twice with the hard pommel and followed with a punch to his throat, collapsing his windpipe. It wouldn't be long before he died, but Nick wasn't through. No one injured Nick without suffering for it. As Jonas grasped at his throat with the one good hand, the blade, now turned business end out, slashed across Levin's chest, cutting through the fabric of the uniform and flaying him open to the bone. He stopped for a moment, his back to the man, then quickly turned and sunk the full length of the blade squarely into his chest, piercing his heart.

He finally got the look of fear that he desired from the soon-to-be late Jonas Levin of Section 31. He followed him to the ground, his own ugly murdering face directly in front of Levin's, to be the last eerie thing that the man saw as he faded from the world. A smile crept across his face as the coppery smell of blood became prominent all around them and sweat dripped from his face into Levin's eyes, stinging them and distorting the vision of Nick's face. For an instant, just before Jonas' life left his body, he saw through blurry eyes the true face of his killer: an evil grin full of sharp, pointed teeth, glowing red eyes and horns dripping with the blood of his past victims. Then his eyes began to fade and the Nick Marcinko he recognized was back to see him straight to hell.

As a last snub, Nick spit in the man's face and yanked the knife from his chest, making the body rise several inches before thudding back onto the deck. Ripping more of the torn fabric from Levin's shirt, he wiped the sweat from his face and the blood from his knife before it disappeared back into it's well-hidden sheath. He stood and turned. The stunned faces of the occupants of the room stared at him.

"What?" he asked. "He pissed me off."

Thinking no more of it, he brushed past the crowd and went back to the outer waiting area where he promptly lit a cigar, Trill rules be damned.

Norval fell on top of Jonas, his memories of Andam suddenly overridden by Fyori. "I need Tricordrazine! Now!" he bellowed, searching for Levin's pulse. "Live, damn it," he demanded. "I want Harding up here, or another doctor. Override transporter lockout."

Aure'l moved over to kneel beside Norval and the inert body of Levin, studied Jonas for a moment, then touched his hand. She sensed nothing at all.

"He's gone Norval, it's too late. I'll see him down to Sickbay." Reaching up, she pulled her commbadge from the neck of the Archadian dress she wore and tapped it. "Two to beam to Sickbay." A few moments later, she and Jonas' body vanished.

Darwin exchanged a look with Gilroy, one that said something along the lines of: Ew, Oz won't like this. Then he went to Ian where he was holding onto E'tarna. "C'mon, let's get you two to Piper Medical," he said and, like Aur'el, tapped his commbadge for a beam-out. With the special guest of honor gone, the ritual was, without a doubt, delayed.

_______________________
Lt. Norval Tigan
Lt. Darwin
Lt. Gilroy
Ensign Aur'el
Ensign Bren
MCPO Marcinko
SCPO Levin (now deceased)