Episode 69. The Kremlin Command

Our unit continues its descent through the shaft.

With every floor we descend, sounds drift up to us: human screams, bursts of submachine-gun fire, and the shrill voices of the Tholians ravaging everything in their path.

When we finally reach the bottom of the shaft, our progress is stopped by a metal grille.

Through the mesh, I can see a vast room crawling with activity.

A dozen humans are busy inside, probably all Russians.

Workers.

Soldiers.

Other individuals harder to identify.

Colonel Gomard and Tarsi ready their phasers.

Next to me, Corporal Lebeau begins unscrewing the grille with calculated slowness.

I quietly signal potential targets to my teammates... when Tarsi interrupts me.

Robert suddenly narrows his eyes, observing the armed men below more closely.

As Corporal Lebeau finishes unscrewing the grille, a screw slips from his fingers and lands noisily on a metal table below.

We all hold our breath.

Below, several heads turn upward in unison.

All eyes turn toward the ceiling.

Before the situation can spiral, Tarsi acts.

Fast as lightning, she leaps onto the grille and drops into the middle of the room with a cry of rage.

The Russians, caught off guard by this sudden appearance, turn toward her.

With a fluid gesture, she aims her phaser and fires once.

Then immediately pivots and fires a second discharge in the opposite direction.

The waves of energy slam into the men, throwing them violently against the walls and knocking them out on the spot.

She turns back to the left and fires again.

When only the right side remains, she turns around...

And finds herself with a pistol aimed at her forehead.

From the shaft, we watch the scene, powerless.

The man holding Tarsi at gunpoint clearly has not realized we are not alone.

So I make a decision.

I slide down in turn, without a sound, and position myself behind him.

I calmly press my phaser against his head.

The man hesitates for a fraction of a second, then slowly obeys.

He sits down, stiff, hands clearly visible, while I keep his head in my sights.

Entering the adjoining room, the colonel discovers a grim reality.

Bodies piled on top of one another, every one of them executed with a bullet to the head.

Soldiers. Civilians. Senior Russian officers.

It is a horrifying sight.

It becomes obvious that the Kremlin has been the scene of a ruthless purge.