Finding the Rebels: A Needle in a Haystack (part 5)
Posted on Wed Mar 18th, 2015 @ 1:35pm by Commodore Samantha York & Ensign Maria Delgado & Staff Sergeant Thomas Bosley & Commander Thaddius Storm & Lieutenant Arnon Barak MD, PsyD & Lieutenant Illise Hale & Sergeant Amarylis Beckinsale & Private 1st Class Trent Kushner
Edited on on Wed Mar 18th, 2015 @ 1:39pm
1,148 words; about a 6 minute read
Mission: Deadly Diplomacy
[CONTINUED]
[OLD]
Illise dragged the body into the brush and did her best to conceal it in the limited time that she had. She regretted having to kill him, especially in such a manner. She paused to take another scan of the area to be sure that the way was clear. The only life signs she detected were those of the landing party. Satisfied that she was in not immediate danger of discovery, Illise began to make her way back to them. She had not gone far when her tricorder beeped, indicating a power-reading. There were several power conduits buried not two meters below her feet. The levels were low, but steadily increasing, indicate that the canon had been reset and would soon be ready to recharge for another volley. The low levels explained why she had not picked them up earlier.
[NEW]
Intrigued, Illise re-calibrated the tricorder for a more through scan, and then began tracing the source of the power. No sooner did she locate the reactor, did the captain's voice come over the coms.
[Calypso]
Sam tapped her comm panel. "York to Storm. We're detecting weapons fire on the planet. What's going on down there?"
[Planet]
Just before Storm could answer his transmission was interrupted.
"God damn it Storm! You guys took too long. You've got a company plus approaching your position. I'll hold them back, get your people out of there!" Amarylis exclaimed over the comm.
"Storm to York, we need emergency beam out now! Multiple hostiles inbound." Thaddius replied cursing himself inside. He glared back at the away team as he pressed against the wall taking cover.
From her perch, Amarylis attempted to slow the oncoming troop. She could not fire many shots for fear of giving up her position. They would be beamed out shortly. As she took aim for another shot, she was struck in the head, instantly blacking her out. The man who had struck her spoke into his comm and soon the two were beamed away.
Illise double-timed it back to the group, and came within sight of them just in time for the beam-out.
[Calypso]
The team materialized in the transporter room with Sam waiting for them. "What happened?" she ordered.
"Beckinsale decided to blow off some steam and started shooting people," Bosley stated, clearly displeased.
Sam turned to Storm, one eyebrow raised.
"Sergeant Beckinsale was doing exactly as she was ordered. Had any of those individuals discovered our presence and opened fire it would have alerted the entire compound including the company of soldiers that were on approach before we transported away. It seemed the Master Sergeant here thinks himself a tactical grandmaster and had an alternative way to deal with the threats they didn't even see. Furthermore due to the lengthy discussion on the ground and a clear disregard for orders. We were soon to be overrun by the aforementioned company had Sergeant Beckinsale not alerted us we surely would have been caught. Speaking of..." Thaddius looked around. "Where is she?"
"I want a full report from everyone on the away team," Sam ordered. "And for the record, you were not supposed to start a war with the Federation. You were supposed to disable the canon and gather information."
She, too, looked around for Beckinsale. "She wasn't with you when you beamed up?" She turned to the transporter chief. "Find her and beam her up."
Maria went over to the transporter chief. "We can beam up the phaser canon. I have the coordinates." If they couldn't disable the canon, maybe she could keep it from being used on the Calypso again. It was far from ideal, but at this point, with the mercenaries aware of their attempt at sabotage, it was better than being attacked again.
Thaddius crossed his arms across his chest. "You're kidding me right?" he turned to York clearly unimpressed. "You risked the lives of an entire away team, one of which has been captured when you could have just beamed it up? I have no words for this anymore." With that he stormed out of the room.
Sam would have replied, but Storm clearly had no desire to listen to what anyone else had to say.
Sam tapped her combadge. "York to Security. Please escort Commander Storm to his quarters and confine him there until further orders."
"Beaming the weapon on board will cause more problems than it solves," Sam said, walking over to the Transporter Chief. "We need other options."
Sam tapped her combadge. "York to Bourne. Report to the transporter room immediately. Bring a squadron with you."
She looked at Kushner and Bosley. "You two will go down with them. Take out the weapon and find Beckinsale."
The chief looked back at York. "I'm sorry Commodore. I've got nothing on Sergeant Beckinsale. It's like she disappeared into thin air."
"Captain," Illise stepped off the transporter pad while tapping at the controls of her tricorder. "Just before beam-out I detected conduits buried under the ground. I was able to get a fix on the location of a reactor that is feeding power to the canon. We may have an opportunity to hit a secondary target, which will likely be lightly guarded with the military bearing down on the compound. We could disable to canon, which, according to these reading will be able to fire again shortly."
Trent nodded at the sensibility of the plan. He looked to Bosley "It would be a sure bet safer than the Charlie Foxtrott of getting in and out in one piece. MIght give us more time to look for Beckinsale as well." A thought suddenly entered his head. "Oh, Commodore" He said, stepping closer to the Starfleet Officer. "I have one of the mercenaries hog tied on the surface. Did you want us to bring him back to the ship? It shouldn't take me too long to find him...where's he gonna go?"
"Excellent idea, Ensign." Sam tapped her combadge. "Captain Bourne, belay that order. Meet me in my Ready Room in fifteen minutes."
She turned to the team in the room. "Go back down to Ensign Hale's coordinates. Take out the generator. Kushner, bring back the prisoner. We'll see what information we can glean from him. Get back here as quickly as you can."
Arnon sighed.
"Once more unto the breach..." he said. "Since we're up against offworld mercenaries, may I suggest at least hand phasers, Type II whatever letter we are on now this time? We can conceal those on our persons."
"As they already know you've been there, go ahead," Sam said. "Get back here as quickly as you can."
____
OFF
Ensign Illise Hale
Science Officer
Commodore Samantha York
Commanding Officer
Lieutenant Commander Thaddeus Storm
Security Investigations
Sergeant Amarylis Beckinsale
Marine
Staff Sergeant Thomas Bosley
Charlie Platoon Leader
Ensign Maria Delgado
Science Officer
PFC Trent Kushner
Marine
Lieutenant Arnon Barak
Chief Counselor
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