`Picking Up the Pieces'

by Lt. Logan Castle

<USS Indiana- Transporter Room>

Logan Castle watched En. Kwan Lo Pan disintegrate into a prismatic shower before disappearing. Her wound had bled profusely, but he had seen worse. Hell, he had suffered worse and lived.

Thorin Azure, Piotr Dimitri, and Vohck T'Arna stepped onto the transporter pad moments later. Castle was about to join them when he stopped and turned back to Eve Mallory.

Her uniform had suffered in the plasma explosion and her hair was a tangled mess. And even though she was smudged with the dirt and grease from all her efforts, Castle had never seen her look more beautiful.

But, that was not something he could say to her. Their relationship, even if he could consider it one, was still young and untried. If it was a slick flirtation that he felt on the tip of his tongue, he would have slipped it to her just for the `bad boy' thrill of it. But it wasn't like that now. Somehow, something had changed. For Logan anyway.

And it wasn't their date of the previous evening that had changed his perspective. It was... It was now. Something in her eyes. The fear. The pain. Suddenly, it struck him. The isolation. She looked so alone standing there. She was in pain and she was alone and if ever there was anything that Logan Castle had always responded to, it was the needs of those he love....

`Whoa, soldier.', he caught his thoughts. `Don't be walkin' that trail until you've scouted it a little more. Better to watch the traffic for a while before you cross the road.' A few more ridiculous analogies lived in his mind, but he shut them up.

Walking up to her, he whispered to her, giving her hand an affectionate squeeze, "You gonna be alright?"

She just looked at him a moment, then....

=^=Terrakian to Castle. Lieutenant, belay my previous orders. I want you to beam directly to the Saucers Bridge. Anticipate resistance. Terrakian out. =^=

Castles eyes tightened. Eve squeezed his hand back. "I'll talk to you when you get back.", she said inflectionlessly. Logan smiled minutely, then let go of her hand.

"Put me dead center, Chief.", Castle ordered the transporter operator as he stepped onto the pad . "Spread the others in a triangle around me." Castle looked at his officers and nodded to each of them. They nodded in return. Except T'Arna. She stood glaring at Eve Mallory. Castles anger at her began to darken, but....

A second later, Eve watched the four of them disappear.

<Grail: Saucer: Bridge>

Castle found himself standing directly over the burned mass of a body that he could not identify. The smell of cooked flesh was strong and atmospheric control could be heard hissing in an effort to scrub the air. He looked around.

There were four bodies. The other three were Romulan. The bridge was a mess, most of the consoles shattered. The command chair was gone.

"Lieutenant!", Dimitri signaled from behind the Conn. Castle moved to see Dimitri testing the pulse of En. Theresa Milner. Dimitri nodded, indicating that she yet lived, but his eyes did not look encouraged.

"Castle to Grail. Emergency transport of En. Milner directly to Sickbay!"

There was no acknowledgement, but En. Milner disappeared seconds later.

Then, the shushing of the door to the Observation Lounge brought four phasers to bear on a single Romulan. He held the limp body of Athalya Anne Brinn before him like a shield. He held a disruptor to her throat. Only his arm and head were visible.

The Romulan was sneering as if he had the upper hand. "You will drop those weapons or I will...."

The others were startled by the sudden whine of Castles phaser. The beam speared precisely between the Romulans eyes, disintegrating his head. Athalya Anne's hair caught fire from the closeness of the beam. Both the Romulan and the Marine hit the ground.

Thorin Azure reached the Major first. T'Arna stepped past them and entered the Observation Lounge. She came back to the threshold. "The others are in here. They are bound. Obviously the Romulans had planned to use them as barter once they discovered their ship had been lost." She punctuated her point by spitting onto the scorched mass of the Romulans head. It sizzled.

"Order their emergency evacuation to Sickbay. I wanna make sure these other dirtbags are dead."

Castle looked at the other three Romulans. If they hadn't been dead a minute ago, they were now.Lt. Logan CastleChief Security Officer, USS Grail

"NO!! No more talk! We go in! We kill!!"- Wez, the Road Warrior