Inauguration - Chapter Fourteen

The door to Garibaldi’s office opened, and two heads peered around the door, looking one way and they the other. Slowly they then stepped out into the corridor.
    “Well this is it.” said Watt. “You know the plan. You go through the corridors and I’ll use my powers to go through the walls.”
    “I only hope this plan works.” said Magus.
    “It will. And remember, no matter what happens one of us must disable the reactor.”
    Watt extended his hand, and Magus grasped it.
    “Good luck Ambassador.”
    “Likewise Mr. President.”
    And with that Magus and Watt went in separate directions.

    Not far away from them Commander Chavez led a party of rebel security officers along the corridor.
    “Quickly.” he shouted. “The tri-corder is picking up something down this corridor.”
    A call came through on his communicator.
    “Chavez, this is Queeg. The sensors show someone is along the corridor from you, about five hundred yards away.”
    “I’m picking him up Captain. We are nearing the reading now. But I…can’t see anything. The tri-corder shows a life-form here, but we can see…nothing!”
    “Are you sure? These sensors can’t be malfunctioning!”
    “They must be Captain. There is no one here.”
    “Alright, continue with your search in the next section. Queeg out.”
    Queeg was not happy. Boglob was standing behind him and had a slight smile on his face.
    “I thought your officers were highly trained Captain Queeg.” he smirked.
    “Equipment can malfunction. Do not worry. We will find them.”
    As Chavez and his party walked into the next corridor they did notice a figure ‘phase’ back into perspective. Watt had used his super-speed powers to vibrate his molecules so he disappeared.
    “That was a close call.” he whispered to himself. “I just hope getting through some of these bulkheads will be easier.”
    Meanwhile Magus walked slowly in the opposite direction. Normally a man’s footsteps could be heard in an empty corridor, but no one could hear Magus’ footsteps. Then, in the distance, he heard something, voices in the distance, in an adjoining corridor. He recognised the voice as that of Commander Gorun.
    “There’s someone down this corridor.” he said. “It may be Watt or Magus, or it may be someone from one of the other parties.”
    Gorun and his party turned the corner to see a smiling Magus standing with his staff in his hand.
    “Magus!” said Gorun. “Arm your phasers. Set them to maximum stun.”
    “Commander Gorun I presume.” said Magus. “There is no point arming your phasers Commander because they won’t have any effect on me.”
    “You will come quietly with us Ambassador.” said Gorun. “Do not try to fight us. As soon as your use your powers twenty more security teams will be here faster than you can say Matlock!”
    “Not that old fool again.” said Magus. “You have no need to worry Commander. I have been reminded very recently that I have many other skills. You will probably learn about them very soon.”
    Gorun signalled to two of his men.
    “Take him.” he ordered.
    As the two men approached Magus he grabbed his staff in both of his hands, held it in the air, and hit one of the guards in the face with the bottom. He then used the other end to hit the other on the bridge of the nose, causing him tremendous pain.
    “I told you Commander, I do have other skills.”
    “It can’t be.” said Gorun. “You’re too old to be able to move that fast.”
    Gorun signalled to the rest of his party, calling them into action. They were upon Magus like a swarm of bees onto a jar of honey. They had no chance, because one by one they went flying, or ran off screaming in pain. A stunned Gorun looked around as his entire security team lay on the floor unconscious.
    “My entire team! Defeated!”
    Magus walked over to the stunned Commander. He smiled.
    “Do not worry Commander Gorun. What I’m about to do will not be as painful.”
    Magus reached for Gorun’s shoulder, and one Vulcan neck-pinch later and Gorun was with his comrades in slumber land. Magus looked around at the floor.
    “Tut tut! This will never do. I must have a word with Commander Sinclair about his cleaning arrangements!”
   
    In Operations Queeg slammed his fist into the control panel.
    “Damn you Gorun, answer me!”
    There was still no reply from the communications console.
    “Your highly trained security teams are performing at their usual standard.” said Boglob.
    “Do  not insult me.” said Queeg.
    “I am taking this matter out of your hands.” Boglob snapped. “There are two men who can track down Watt and Magus.”
    Boglob pressed a button on the console.
    “Alen, this is Warchief Boglob. Report to me in Operations, and bring Brother Mordin with you.”
    Queeg stared at Boglob.
    “If a whole bunch of men can’t handle those two what makes you think Alen and Mordin can?”
    “Because their skills are unique Captain, and up to the job.”

    To Watt’s surprise he had not encountered any more security teams on his way to the reactor room. Could these Orks be useless at tracking he wondered. Surely not.
    It was a few minutes later when Watt entered the corridor that led to the reactor room. He was very suspicious. This trip had been way too easy for him. It was as if the enemy had been told to let him near the reactor, as if someone was waiting for him nearby. This could be the case, but who? He got his answers a few seconds later. He slowly walked down the corridor towards the entrance when he suddenly heard a sound. He stopped straight away and looked around. Then he heard footsteps behind him, as if someone, or something, was lurching down the corridor behind him. Whatever it was it seemed to have an injury of some sort. It sounded as if it was limping. Watt slowly turned around to see the ugly figure of the zombie, Brother Mordin, standing twenty feet away from him. They just stared at each other for a number of seconds.
    “I come for you!” Mordin hissed. “You will come with me, or I will use this!”
    Mordin reached for his belt and held up the cavourite blaster that had rendered Watt unconscious before.
    “I have always been known as a fighter.” said Watt. “I have never been known to give up!”
    And with that Watt took to the air and flew towards Mordin. Before the zombie could do anything Watt crashing into him, knocking him off his feet and sending him flying against the wall. Mordin slumped to the ground, and Watt landed on the floor just in front of him. Then, to Watt’s amazement, Mordin began to get to his feet. The attack had had no effect whatsoever on Mordin. The zombie just seemed to smile at Watt.
    “I told you to surrender!” he said. “You will surrender, or I will taste your blood!”
    Watt walked over the Mordin, raised his right arm, and punched his face. This had no effect. He followed up with another blow, and another, and another. None of these had any effect. Watt then grabbed Mordin by his neck, and using all of his might he threw the zombie through the air across the full length of the corridor until he hit the wall on the other side. Again the zombie slumped to the ground. A minute passed before once again Mordin began to get to his feet.
    “You are a fool Mister President.” Mordin hissed. “You cannot kill that which is already dead!”
    Slowly Mordin began to reach for the cavourite blaster. Watt’s mind began to work overtime. Think he kept telling himself, think damn you. What can kill a zombie? All of your immortal power is useless against something that is already dead. Then, it came to him. Salt! The one thing that can harm an undead creature is salt! But where on this station could he get salt from? It was obvious that there wasn’t going to be any salt in engineering, or the reactor room. Then he began thinking again. His mind went back to the time when he was studying the plans to the station. In the event of failure in the reactor core there was an airlock with which they could jettison it into. In the absence of Salt the vacuum of space could render him unconscious.
    As Watt  began to think of his battle plan Mordin continued to reach for the blaster. He had a broad smile on what could be loosely called his face.
    “This will not be painful for you.” he hissed.
    Mordin aimed the blaster at Watt and fired. But Watt quickly took to the air, and the blast hit the wall. He then smashed through the door to the reactor room and quickly flew towards the control panel. Using his speed he soon found the controls he was looking for. Mordin began to lurch into the reactor room, moving towards Watt with the blaster raised.
    “You should have surrendered when you could, Mister President. It would have made things easier!”
    Watt said nothing, he just stared at the zombie. Then, when he felt the time was right, he hit the control panel, and the emergency hatch under the reactor suddenly opened. The vacuum of space suddenly spilled into the room, and Watt found it hard holding onto whatever he could. If he didn’t he would have been sucked out into the void of space. Mordin was having no such luck. The force of the vacuum dragged him towards the hatch. He had no way of grabbing onto anything. The force pulled him off his feet, and he vainly attempted to hold into the floor with his finger nails. A few seconds later and he had been pulled to the hatch. Before he was pulled out Mordin grabbed hold of the hatch and tried to pull himself in. It was a futile attempt. He looked over to Watt, who was barely managing to keep a hold of the control panel.
    “Please!” Mordin begged. “Help me!”
    There wasn’t a thing Watt could do to help his enemy. A second later and Mordin was sucked out into space. As soon as the zombie was gone Watt pressed the control panel and the hatchway was closed, and oxygen began to fill the reactor room again. He then released his grip on the control panel and fell to the floor. He took in long deep breaths. A minute later he got back to his feet.
    “Now let’s see if I can do something about this reactor!”