One crucial factor saved Lisel: security didn't fire lasers except at on low power and point blank at someone. The fear of doing damage to the control deck was so ingrained into the security four security guards that they didn't even draw their weapons. They did, however, move very fast.
Lisel moved faster.
Tana didn't think their traitor even realized what was happening before Lisel plowed into her and caught his claws in her tunic, yanking her out of the chair. Tana grabbed a security guard who rushed at Lisel but was hampered by the fact that she really didn't want to hurt this guy, second that she had an injured leg, and third that the guy honestly thought her group was a serious problem.
Krisin did something unexpected and far more dangerous. He leapt into the chair abandoned by the traitor.
People yelled everywhere. Tana went down under the weight of the security guard and felt a laser to her back. She was not going to survive --
"Be silent and stop!" Captain Dundas shouted.
That got everyone's attention.
"Let them up. Tana, Krisin -- and yes, even Lisel -- are working at my orders. Do you have her, Lisel?"
"Yes," he said and hauled the woman up, and Tana could see claw marks on her neck -- not deep, but enough that Lisel had her attention.
"We have a problem, people. No, don't call in more security," Captain Dundas said as she pulled Tana back to her feet. Tana wasn't certain she wanted to be there. "We have four more people on board who are working for the weres. They have been working in tandem with a pilot we thought dead. Two of the others are in security, Fairview. The four of you go into my office and look at the faces and then go find them."
"But -- security here --"
"I have Lisel."
Lisel grinned. Sometimes Tana forgot how scary his teeth could look. The security guards still looked worried, but they were not going to argue with the captain.
Tana saw the woman they'd captured give a quick look around the room and then lift her hand toward her mouth --
"No!"
Lisel moved faster than her. He grabbed the hand and pulled it back down, and then accepted a restraint from one of the security guards, quickly securing her hands behind her back.
"Poison under the fingernail, I assume," Tana explained.
"I'll get a medtech up here," Captain Dundas said. "Quietly."
Tana did not like waiting. She really didn't. The captain finally ordered her to go sit down in the office with Krisin, getting them both out of the way. Lisel kept hold of their traitor, though. Maybe that was a show for the others.
Tana didn't like sitting in the office, either. She snarled and cursed, but Krisin ignored her, just as he often did in the fighter. He stared out at the control deck instead. The intenseness of his stare finally got her attention.
"What do you see?"
"Main screen scanners, mid-room, up top. We have incoming. Those aren't all our fighters."
"Hell!" She started to stand, looked at the Captain, and sat again. "She knows."
"Yeah. I saw Lisel point it out." Krisin watched for a moment. "And now the Captain is keeping everyone's attention on her. She doesn't want panic."
"What is she waiting for -- oh." Tana spotted the line of fighters much closer to the ship. "If they realize there is another line coming in, they'll turn back to fight. The Captain can't stop them."
"She wants them inside. She wants to move because that many more fighters -- we'll be seeing a were mothership in the next five minutes."
Tana shivered. A mothership would out bulk the Belgium by at least six to one, and that if it was one of the smaller craft. No matter what, they had enormous firepower, though nothing to speak of for shields. Tana always wondered about what sort of enemies they had before the weres found the human races.
"We need a fighter, Krisin."
"No. We do not." He leaned over and put a hand on her arm. "Let everyone get into safety, Tana. Even us. We can still outrun them --"
A shout in the control deck drew their attention. Screens were doing dead.
"Damn. Security missed one," Tana said with a shake of her head. Power started cycling down on the lights. Emergency kicked in and went back off. "Hell."
Krisin had already rushed out of the room and straight for the controls. Tana followed.
"What the hell are you doing?" Tana demanded when he threw himself on the floor and began tearing at covers.
"The same thing I do to save our ass when we're out in a fighter," he replied, his voice muffled. "Improvise."
That gave Tana some hope -- and even stopped the Captain when a couple boards came back online.
"Get the fighters in," Lisel said, leaning down by Krisin. "Then get everything over to the engine room. They'll need orders, Captain, and you can't do it over ship-wide communications. That's out. I think you, me, and Tana need to go down there and make certain they're ready."
"Why me?" Tana asked.
"Because you're scary," the Catchin replied. "And I don't want you out of my sight."
Well, he had a point on the last part. Tana had been considering heading for the bay and wondering if she could get any ship out under these circumstances.
"Go," Krisin ordered. He stuck his head back out. I'm sure Lisel has figured it out. Our last traitor has to be somewhere in Engineering. Be damned careful, but make sure you stop him. I can't keep doing this."
Krisin threw himself back into the work. Tana left with Lisel and the Captain. The lifts were out. They had a long ways to go down the curving corridor that descended through the ship.
They didn't have much time. The mothership had probably arrived in the system by now.
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