Inauguration - Chapter Thirteen

Watt stood at the small computer station in the corridor busily trying to operate it. After a few seconds he punched the wall.
    “Damn!” he cursed.
    Magus, who was keeping an eye on the corridors, turned round to face Watt.
    “What’s wrong?” he asked.
    “I can’t access the main computer from this station. I need to get to a bigger terminal.”
    Watt switched the terminal off and began thinking.
    “As far as I can see there are two possibilities.” he said. “One of them is the Operations room. That, of course, is out of the question.”
    Watt began to rub his chin. A few seconds later he suddenly snapped his fingers.

    “That’s it! Garibaldi’s office!”
    “Are you sure?” said Magus. “Boglob and Queeg may have forces there also. It may be too risky.”
    “Boglob may want to control the running of this station from just one area. He may see Garibaldi’s office as unnecessary. We’ll go there. From his terminal we can get an entire plan of this station.”
    Watt went to walk off down the corridor when Magus suddenly grabbed his arm.
    “Wait! I hear something.”
    “I can’t hear anything.”
    Suddenly they could both hear the sound of many footsteps as a party of Orks came racing down the corridor in front of them.”
    “Back this way.” said Watt.
    They went to run down the other corridor when suddenly another party of orks appeared.
    “We’re stuck.” said Watt.
    Magus quickly looked around. He saw a door.
    “Come, James. In here.”
    Watt looked at the door. Magus began to open it.
    “Magus, no! Not in there!”
    Magus grabbed Watt by his arm and pulled him into the room. The door closed behind them. The orks arrived at the door and started banging it.
    “We must follow them in there!” said one.
    “No! Look at the sign! This area is not for humans, or orks. Even though we can’t follow them in there they will meet their end.”

    Watt and Magus stood in what appeared to be a small cubicle. Red light bathed them, to be replaced a few seconds later by blue light. The door of the cubicle then slid open. Mist began to swirl all around them. Watt began to cough slightly.
    “What is this place?” asked Magus.
    “It’s the area for methane breathers.” Watt replied, coughing every few seconds. “It appears that even Phineas Magus can make mistakes!”
    “This was our only means of escape.” said Magus. “I did not wish to engage those orks in battle.”
    “I’ve handled more than those in the past.” said Watt. “Well, seeing as we have no other choice let’s find a way out of here.”
    They began to move forward, very slowly at first, as they could not see a great deal. Suddenly Magus fell to the ground as if he had been felled by an axe. Watt kneeled down. He soon held Magus up.
    “Are you okay?”
    Magus began rubbing his chin.
    “That hurt.” he said. “It if wasn’t for those wretched scanners I’d have been able to protect myself against whatever that was.”
    Watt looked up as a large shadow began to move over them.
    “Don’t look now but I think we are in trouble!”
    They both looked up to see the giant insectoid standing over them.
    “Lom?” queried Magus.
    “No.” said Watt. “A lot worse. A hell of a lot worse!”
    The huge insectoid raised his arm again and brought it down on Watt. If this alien was capable of looking surprised it would have done because this blow seemed to have absolutely no effect on Watt. Instead Watt got to his feet and unleashed a blow of his own. This time Watt was surprised. The insectoid just looked at him, and with another swipe of his huge arm he knocked Watt off his feet. Slowly the alien moved towards Watt with a deadly intent in his eyes.
    “I will be paid much for taking your body to Boglob!” he hissed.
    “Not if I have anything to do with it!”
    Watt leapt to his feet and hit the alien in it’s mid-section. He then hit the alien on what appeared to be it’s jaw, and then dealt another blow to it’s mid-section. The alien appeared to reel from this attack and fell back slightly. Watt moved forward and struck the alien again, this time on the forehead. This stunned the alien even more, and it missed with a lunging blow which Watt ducked easily. Another blow to the alien’s jaw knocked it to the ground. Watt moved towards the alien and looked down on his huge body. As he did this Magus got to his feet and joined Watt.
    “Is he alright?” asked Magus.
    “Just unconscious.” Watt replied. “It’s been quite a while since I’ve had to engage in fisticuffs.”
    Watt winced in pain slightly as he felt his chest.
    “This methane isn’t doing anything for my respiratory system.” he continued. “We’d better get out of here.”
    They continued on their way through the sector. A few minutes later someone else entered through the airlock. This time he was breathing equipment. It was Queeg. He soon found the body of the giant alien.
    “Damn orks.” he cursed. “This wouldn’t have happened if they had come in here.”
    Queeg activated his communicator.
    “Queeg to Operations. Watt and Magus are gone, and our collaborator is unconscious on the floor. This wouldn’t have happened if the orks hadn’t been scared to come in here!”
    In Operations Boglob sat at the main terminal. He was not very happy.
    “Do not complain Captain Queeg.” he snapped. “If it wasn’t for my Ork forces you wouldn’t have been able to capture this station!”
    Boglob sat staring at the monitor, waiting for a reply. None was forthcoming.
    “Well Captain, aren’t you going to answer me?”
    A second later the door to the Operations room opened. Queeg strode in and approached Boglob.
    “I’m going to say this just once Warchief Boglob.” he said. “The security forces of the Yorktown and the Aswan are among the most highly trained in the universe. They are more than capable of tracking down Watt and Magus. Let me send our entire teams out. Commander Chavez is more than capable of supervising this operation.”
    “More than capable!” laughed Boglob. “You seem to like that saying Captain Queeg. Very well, tell Commander Chavez to oversee the operation. But warn him that if he is unsuccessful he will answer to me!”
    Queeg stared at Boglob.
    “You have nothing to fear Boglob. Watt and Magus will be in custody within the hour.”

    Magus was seated at the terminal in Garibaldi’s office. He was busy trying to work the computers but was having no luck.
    “Damn and blast it!” he cursed. “I can find no way of disabling the mystical energy detectors.”
    “The code for them is probably buried deep in the system.” said Watt. “There are probably only a few people who have the code.”
    “If we could disable the sensors I could use my powers to disable the Tholian web.”
    “Phineas, as you are well aware there are times when we must use our other skills. You used some of those skills when releasing me from those cavourite chains. We have other skills we can use to disable this station and the web.”
    Watt suddenly stopped speaking as he noticed something on the screen in front of him.
    “I think I’ve got something here. It seems that the web has gained more power from the station’s reactor. If we can shut down the reactor then we can disable the web.”
    “Then we must find a way of getting to the reactor room.”
    “Which will be heavily guarded. We’ll have to fight out way through.”
    Magus got up from his seat and approached Watt.
    “Well, if I can’t use my powers I’ll use my skills.”