<USS Avalon> Conclusion: The Final Day PT 2-No Harm Done

The Final Day PT2: No Harm Done

-Dodge Thomas

Doctor Hughes grinned a wide, semi-toothless grin. He was obviously going to 
enjoy dismantling Dodge.

?Come on Ryan, let?s be reasonable. You don?t have to do this.?


?Yes, Dodge, I do. You might accidentally uncover my little business that I 
have going here, and that I just cannot allow.?

?But what about the three admirals, what were their names? Lambert?uh?Starfleet 
has to want complete reports at regular intervals from three--?

?Holographic projections.? Keegan smiled. ?It all helped with the ?magic and 
mysticism? effect that I have over the backward natives.? 

Doctor Hughes moved at him with surprising speed, a sharp and silver object 
clutched in his left hand. 

?What is that?!? Dodge asked, fear creeping into his voice. Sideways glances 
showed him no chance for escape. Both exits were closed and probably locked and 
he was quickly being cornered.

?A scalpel my young man.? Doctor Hughes replied with a clipped accent. ?I?m 
going to cut you with it. Don?t worry, the procedure shouldn?t take more than 
an hour.? He dove at Dodge, exhibiting and almost terrifying strength for one 
so small and old. His right hand closed around Dodge?s throat.

Dodge gagged, fighting as best he could and grabbing at the old man, trying 
desperately to push him away.

?This will hurt, I think.? The crazed doctor assured him before slicing 
downward towards Dodge?s sternum from his right shoulder. Dodge screamed in 
searing pain but still could not struggle free, still too weak from his 
previous encounter.

?Don?t hit an artery. I don?t want him to die, not just yet.? Ryan Keegan 
stared at the spectacle with growing intensity. ?What?s taking so long??

?The blade, it is stuck! In all his struggling, he has jammed it between his 
ribs.? Doctor Hughes said, turning to face the captain of the Intrepid Class 
Starship Tempest.

At the same time, the entire medical bay shuddered violently, throwing several 
people to the floor. The lights flashed off, then came back on again.

?What?s going on?!? Captain Keegan demanded.

Dodge seized the moment of temporary distraction and wretched the ancient 
cutting tool from it?s shallow resting place between his ribs. He let out a 
painful grunt.

?Wha?? Doctor Hughes managed to say before Dodge slammed roughly four inches of 
the scalpel into his right eye. Hughes writhed about for a few seconds, then 
collapsed onto the floor in a pool of his own blood.

Ryan Keegan had been so absorbed in the gruesome death spectacle that he had 
not noticed Dodge slip open the floor-level door to the jeffrie?s tube 
access-ways. Blood smears on both the doors and the floor indicated Dodge?s 
path of escape.

?Damn him!? Ryan bellowed. ?Find him! FIND HIM!? 

Several security officers dashed into the tunnel after him while several more 
ran out of sickbay, disappearing down the hall.

?Captain Keegan! We have a report on the disturbance.?


Even as the young ensign spoke, the ship was again shaken roughly.

?Well?? Ryan said impatiently.

?It?s the Vann! They?re?.they?re fighting back. Information leaked?I don?t know 
how, but they know. And they?re pissed!

?What are they doing??

?Collapsing the cave, lobbing huge chunks of basalt and ice, it looks as if 
they plan to tear the hull apart.?


?We can fight them?can?t we??

The young man looked afraid. ?They out number us a hundred to one?five hundred 
to one!? 

?We have to go!?

?But that other ship, the Avalon. It?s up there right now!?

?Screw ?em! If we don?t go now, we?re all dead. Begin preparations for 
emergency lift off!?

 

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Dodge braced against a dimly lit bulkhead until the ship stopped it?s shaking. 
The searing pain in his shoulder had subsided, becoming more of a dull 
throbbing pain. At least he wasn?t bleeding anymore. The ?doctor? had only cut 
him a centimeter or so deep, so no vital muscle tissue or blood vessels had 
been severed. Or so he hoped. He was no doctor. 

Confused sounds issued from somewhere behind him and he decided to press on. 
The blood trail he had been leaving behind had subsided along with the 
bleeding, so whomever was in pursuit was going to have a helluva time keeping 
up. He turned a corner and found himself face to face with two armed security 
guards.

?Shit!?.Leila? Carson? Is that you??

?Dodge?! Thank god! We thought for sure you were dead. After what that man told 
us he was going to do to you and all!?

?What happened to Rhonth and the rest of them??

?They all made it out. We stayed behind to help you. Once we found out what was 
really happening here, we signaled back to Rhonth and Urma the truth. The Vann 
are furiously fighting back.?

?So I gathered. What are you two doing??

?Trying to stay alive! We were put in a cargo bay along with about twenty Vann 
who were scheduled for ?medical reassignment? and we escaped. With all the 
confusion, nobody seems to know yet.?

?What confusion??

Carson chuckled. ?Between twenty Vann running about the ship and 
twenty-thousand Vann about to tear it apart from the outside, you can bet the 
Captain is pretty confused right about now.?

The Tempest shuddered again, but this time not from any Vannish attack.

For a moment or two, the three humans sat in the darkened corridor, listening.

?Orbital thrusters.? Dodge said grimly. ?He?s trying to take off.?

?Not if we can help it.? Leila said, smiling in not an all together nice way.

?What are you getting at?? Dodge asked.

Leila looked to her left, at a junction box. ?I wonder how well the ship will 
function if we, ahem, rearrange a few of it?s more vital components. Like say, 
power distribution!? She yanked the junction box from it?s alcove and threw it 
into the opposite wall. Sparks and smoke filled the immediate area.

?Nicely done.? Carson applauded her.

?Okay, good idea. Let?s split up and do as much damage as we can. These 
junction boxes and any distributor terminals that we can find we need to 
destroy. Those are the primary transfer points for life-support, environmental, 
power, replicators, and most importantly, internal sensors. The longer we can 
keep this up, the better!? Dodge smiled at Leila, their gaze lingering longer 
than a few seconds. ?Let?s go!?

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Relentless wind tore at the skeletal surface of Vargas Two. Creatures of air, 
snow and darkness danced licentiously in the permanent night before dissipating 
or turning into some other equally cold form. There was no sound, save that of 
the wind.

A long, snaking crack formed in the ice, accompanied by an alien noise. 
Straining engines and straining ice filled the air with groans and cracking 
sounds. The crevasse widened, turning into a fissure. Something gray and dull 
shone beneath, light chased away the dark for a few seconds. A behemoth rose 
out of the ice, a Tempest in the storm. For a few moments, the starship hung 
there, buffeted by the wind. Then with the groan of engines, it took off into 
the night sky.

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?Report!?

?We have cleared the surface with minimal damage to the outer hull. Internal 
damage report is inconclusive, we?re experiencing ship-wide system 
fluctuations.?

?Source??

?Unknown.?

?Dodge. Shit!? Keegan clenched his teeth. ?How far until the asteroid belt??


?Twenty seconds?.fifteen?..ten?five?.?

?All hands, brace for impact!?

The Tempest tore ever upward, weapons firing and engines straining. Huge 
nickel-iron rocks disintegrated in it?s path.

?We?re almost clear! Careful! Starboard! STARBOARD!!!?

Two of the orbital rocks barely one hundred meters apart pressed towards each 
other as the Tempest flew to clear them.

?We?ll make it, just hold her steady.?

A tall ridge, previously hidden from view rotated into view, rapidly closing 
down the gap.

Captain Keegan swore loudly, but his curses were drowned out by the sound of 
metal being ripped apart. The ridge tore at the Tempest, shredding the 
port-dorsal surface of her saucer section before moving on and decimating her 
deflector dish. Cleanly half of her star drive section was crushed inward as 
she cut past. Shipboard lights flickered and began to dim. The Tempest began to 
list awkwardly, spinning helplessly out into space.

Keegan picked himself up from the floor, spitting blood and possibly more as he 
did so. He moved his jaw with his hand and demanded a damage report.

?Port nacelle is completely destroyed. We?ve lost a good deal of deck seven and 
eight, deflector control is out and we?re down to minimal impulse power. 
Weapons are offline.?

?Stabilize and get her out of here as fast as you can. I don?t care where that 
power has to come from, I want weapons and engines back online NOW!?


?Sir, the Avalon has spotted us?they?re in pursuit! Sir! Where are you going??

Keegan looked at his bridge officer grimly. ?To settle a score.?

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Dodge had never realized just how fun tearing apart a ship could be. Sparks 
flew past his grinning face as yet another plasma conduit met it?s fate at his 
hands. First and second degree burns marred his hands, arms and face along with 
areas of his chest and legs. Truth be told, he really didn?t care. Over the 
past week and a half, he had suffered bumps, bruises, cuts, scrapes, and more 
than his share of near-fatal wounds. A few burns weren?t going to stop him now.

However, the armed security team that was waiting for him would. And did.

Dodge smiled and put on his best ?I?m not actually sabotaging your ship?this is 
all routine maintenance? face.

?Hey Mike-e, looks like we gots ourselves another one of them saboteurs.?

?Get the rat-ass!?

?Um, hey guys?I?m not actually sabotaging your ship?this is all routine 
maintenance.? Dodge managed to say.

?Right. Like princess here.? Mike pulled a figure out from the shadows by her 
hair, much to her verbal protest.

?Ass hole! Let go of me NOW!?

?It?s okay princess. The cap?n wants to speak with you.?

?I?ll bet.? Dodge murmured.

?You too big guy.? The other burly security guard tapped his combadge. ?Craig 
McAllister to Captain Keegan. We have the other two.?

?Meet me at the previously discussed location.?

?Cap?ns got a surprise for you.?

?I?m sure anything the Captain did would be a surprise to you.?

?Quiet ya little she-bitch.? Mike clapped Leila along side the head. A small 
trickle of blood began to seep out of her nose.

Dodge gritted his teeth, unable to do anything about the brutality as he was 
drug down an adjacent corridor to his unknown fate.

Several minutes later found them in a small room with several branching 
jeffrie?s tubes spreading out in various directions. Captain Keegan stood 
behind a control panel, a cruel smile plastered across his face.

?Welcome to my parlor mister Thomas, Miss Criswell. I believe you already know 
my two associates, Michael Schroeder and Craig McAllister. And of course, we 
cannot forget your good friend Carson Fuller. It would appear that we are all 
here, so without further ado, I would like to get started.? Captain Keegan 
activated the control panel and a door slid open, exposing the tiny room to the 
vast emptiness of space.

?Mister Schroeder, Mister McAllister, please show our friends here the door.?

?I think they see it boss.? Mike stated dumbly.

?Throw them out you moron!? Keegan nearly screamed.

?Oh, okay!? Mike said, pulling back on Leila?s hair and preparing to chuck her 
out the airlock. ?Bye bye!?

The next thing Dodge saw was the sleek silver outline of the Avalon?s 
Aeroshuttle pulling up alongside the open airlock.


?What the hell? It can?t be! NO!? Ryan Keegan was livid.

The starboard door on the aeroshuttle slid aside, revealing two environmental 
suit clad security officers with phaser rifles primed and ready.

Mike didn?t even have time to curse as the security officers from the Avalon 
opened fire. One packet of compressed energy struck him square in the face and 
he disintegrated instantly.

Dodge stomped down on his oppressor?s instep and Craig let out a howl of pain 
and released Dodge from his restraining grip. Dodge whirled around and in one 
fluid motion crushed Craig?s windpipe with the butt of his hand. McAllister 
went down, his futile gasps for air eventually ceasing altogether.

?You--I--Rrrgh!? Ryan Keegan growled, pulling his own phaser from it?s holster 
and aiming it at Dodge?s chest. ?If you want something done right, you have to 
do it yourself!?

Leila dove out of nowhere, screaming at the top of her lungs. The sound was 
primal, maternal and utterly chilling. She came down on Keegan hard, knocking 
him to the floor and clutching his throat viciously. 
?I-HAVE-HAD-ENOUGH-AND-I-WANT-TO-GO-HOME!!!? She screamed as she squeezed 
harder and harder, her nails piercing his flesh. ?NOW!? Tendons and ligaments 
separated and she wrenched back her head in a guttural scream. In one hand she 
clutched a long, bloody tube, what had been Ryan Keegan?s pharynx. 

?Leila?? Dodge asked tentatively.

Leila took a deep breath, centering her mind. ?I--I think he?s dead.? She 
dropped the sticky structure and looked down at the vacant, ceiling-ward stare 
of their former antagonist. ?I never really liked him anyway?.hey?.where?s 
Carson??

The answer came in the familiar (or as Dodge later would describe it, an ?oh 
thank you, there is a god!?) tingle that signified transport initiation. The 
battered airlock chamber vanished and was replaced by the smiling faces of 
Carson Fuller, Lindsay Kaiser and Javan Sierra.

 

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In the cold and uninviting blackness of space, the useless hulk that had once 
been the USS Tempest drifted at the mercy it?s far more mobile sister, the USS 
Avalon. What was left of the Tempest?s surviving crew of dissenters and 
criminals were immediately transported directly to the Avalon?s brig as she 
prepared to welcome home a few lost sheep. 

The frigid planet Vargas Two orbited in the background, filled with places not 
soon missed and experiences not soon forgotten.

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Dodge was warm, and that was a big thing. A really big thing. He didn?t care 
that several of Avalon?s doctors were poking and prodding him in areas he 
didn?t even know existed, nor that they were being none too gentle. Several 
dermal regenerators were being put to use between his battered body and those 
of his two fellow survivors. 

Lindsay Kaiser was there as well, putting in her opinion whenever she felt it 
necessary. 

?Next time you go down there, I?m going with you! It sounds like fun! I mean, 
it?s not like you were irreparably wounded or anything. No real harm done.?

?Next time?? Dodge couldn?t resist grimacing as one of the doctors poked a 
tender wound above his navel. ?Ouch!?

?Tell me once again how you got this??

?It was an arrow.?

Lindsay perked an eyebrow. ?How?d that happen??

Dodge was getting tired of the inquiry. ?I shot myself, okay??

?With a bow and arrow??

?I didn?t know it was loaded!?

Lindsay smiled. ?At any rate, welcome back.?

Dodge returned the gesture. ?It?s good to be back.?



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