Just keep moving and doing your duty. It was the second thing Ensign Jackson Smith learned about being a security officer.

“Let me take you to the docking bay. We can get you on an evacuation ship and get you off this station.” Darin Jaroo’s voice was both gracious and cajoling.

And at face value, it sounded like a great idea. Jackson was taking turns escorting – carrying – the injured Lieutenant Haynes. Haynes was fading in and out of consciousness, and while an emergency medkit had ensured that she was stable and could be safely moved, she needed medical attention and a safe place to recuperate. At the moment she was moving her feet, sluggishly, as if he was walking on solid ground and she was wading through thick mud.

“They’re going to shoot those ships out of the sky.” Commander Roix countered, looking both worried and severe.

Smith opened his mouth, as a half-formed protest bubbled in his brain, and then shut it before he spoke out of place. From what little he could see of the fight, the Vaadwaur were focusing on the station and the Calistoga, which meant that evacuation ships could probably have a clear escape route if they were careful about their flight plan. And if they had shields – enough shields to withstand a potshot or two before getting a clear space to jump to warp speed.

Then again, he also felt that Darin Jaroo was trying very hard to get them off the station, which seemed chivalrous, but also self-serving. Smith not only didn’t know how to put that into words, but he also didn’t feel it was his place to say anything.

Lieutenant Haynes groaned as she rested her head against his shoulder. He was supporting most of her weight as they moved, though she had enough wherewithal to move her feet. “We’re going to need to rest, soon… Sirs.” Smith spoke quietly, the first time he had spoken since the plasma fire.

Commander Roix looked back towards him, then forward at Darin Jaroo, and back again. “Do you have a medbay on the station?”

“We have a medbay, but I’d feel much better if we safely got you out of the line of fire.” Jaroo countered. He positioned himself in the middle of the dimmed hallway that led deeper into the station’s infrastructure, blocking it off while gesturing down the hallway that led them towards the docking bay which had been their original destination before fire and Vaadwaur assault took over.

Ensign Smith never counted himself as a genius, but it didn’t take a genius to sense that Commander Roix believed Darin Jaroo was hiding something.

“You assume awfully quickly that Mireya VII is the line of fire.” Commander Roix countered. “When we first arrived you held the opposite position, worried that the Vaadwaur might follow us…”

It was the most confrontational thing that Ensign Smith had heard the first officer say this entire time. But considering the situation – the dimmed lights, the smell of plasma fire and melted conduit, the blood on her uniform and the loss of Ensign Velix, Jackson also considered it fully warranted.

Not that he thought his opinion mattered to anybody but him – but if he was pressed in court to testify he would say it was entirely warranted.

Darin Jaroo tried to look aloof, hurt, as he clicked his tongue against the roof of his mouth. “I’m sorry you didn’t enjoy my sense of humor. But I suppose that—”

He never got to finish the thought, which was probably for the best because Commander Roix had the expression on her face that said she might slap him if he went too far. Ensign Smith didn’t want to see that diplomatic nightmare play out.  Though he wasn’t sure if he wanted to see what actually played out either.

Mireya VII didn’t shake, but there was an odd feeling of static electricity. The whole station seemed electrified from within, and a split second later the lights died. Jaroo’s sassy response also died and turned into a dismayed, almost desperate curse. Jackson could see sparks from a junction in the distance, a flare of orange against the black.

Haynes groaned in the darkness, as if the pulse had shook her to the core. Jackson shifted her weight so she could breath more easily and she tried to murmur a half formed question. “Wha–?”

And then, slowly, the ventilation systems kicked back on, and the lights were even dimmer.

Commander Roix picked up where Lieutenant Haynes left off. “What the hell was that?” her tone had lost any hint of diplomacy.

Darin Jaroo nearly pushed her down the hallway towards the docking bay. “We have to get out of here before they come in for another volley.”

But Commander Roix wasn’t having it.  She squared her shoulders and stood her ground. Without the two Nausicaans, despite the fact that she was a slender woman she felt a lot more confident in simply standing up to Jaroo – especially with Smith at her back. “Why are the shields failing, Darin?  My ship is taking the brunt of the fire, and your station shields crumpled like Altosian tissue paper.”

“It’s a hodgepodge station!  You can’t expect everything to work perfectly.” He yelled back, still trying to muscle her into moving.

“I can and I will.  I’ve seen the quality of everything else here. And I know you’re not stupid, you wouldn’t have dumped your shields for extra decorations.” Flattery and accusations all rolled into one. That worked when it came from a socially adept Betazoid.

Still, Jackson wondered if that was a risk she was taking. But he, too, had caught the change in Darin Jaroo’s demeanor during the plasma fire. He was unusually calm under pressure and despite his performance, he was still navigating the situation without panic. That lent credence to her proclamation.

Jaroo huffed. “What do you think I would possibly be doing, then, that would compromise my shields?” he tossed the question back towards her.

In the dim light Commander Roix’s face scrunched, as if she was trying to read his mind and failing spectacularly. She didn’t know.

There was silence for a few heartbeats and the beginning of a smug expression was forming on Darin Jaroo’s face when Ensign Smith finally spoke.

“You’re powering a cloaking device.”

And he was rewarded with a flinch. A sidelong glance. A momentary drop of the mask. “Why would you think that?” To Jaroo’s credit the words were of the same cavalier tone as everything else he had said in the last minute. He was good.

Commander Roix looked at Jackson and gave him a nod. Permission to speak.

Smith sucked in a breath, feeling every muscle in his body tighten and his stomach try to turn itself into knots.  But he, too, kept his tone even and controlled.

“You have chimerium crystals in your sculpture garden. They look fake, but they’re real, aren’t they?  You need them to power a Klingon cloaking device.” Smith stated carefully, putting together every little bit he had picked out from the walk and the diplomatic negotiations.

Commander Roix raised her brows and turned towards Jaroo.  The Klaestron station owner had gone quite pale. “Clever, aren’t you?” He drew in a long, slow breath and his tone changed back to the no-nonsense focused, almost military tone he had for a moment during the plasma fire. “Fine, then.  I need to get to the control systems in the center of the station, and since you seem to have put it all together, you’re coming with me. We need to adjust the power core before we’re all vaporized.”

“What are you cloaking that’s drawing this much power?” Commander Roix looked at the guttering lights and heard the wails of the failing shields.

Darin Jaroo fixed her gaze for a moment. “Something that might just save us all.”

Jaroo turned, heading down the corridor he had been blocking moments ago. Moving just fast enough to push them, but not so fast that they would lose him – especially while carrying Haynes.

Commander Roix held back for a moment.

“Do you trust him, Ma’am?” Smith asked as he adjusted Haynes and started to move.

Roix shook her head slowly, whether that was a ‘no’ gesture or an ‘I don’t know’ gesture was hard to tell in the dim light. “We don’t have a choice, Ensign. Getting vaporized isn’t on the table.”

“Yes, Ma’am.” He nodded and followed them off into the darkness, through the bowels of Mireya VII towards whatever secret Darin Jaroo was keeping.

Just keep moving and doing your duty. Ensign Smith was committed to seeing this through.