The Secret Facility (Part 4)

Posted on Fri Apr 2nd, 2021 @ 3:14pm by 1st Lieutenant Kara Melo & Lieutenant Aenar Torek & Ensign Chevy Tuff & Private 1st Class Trent Kushner

1,244 words; about a 6 minute read

Mission: Eye of the Storm
Location: Moon Base
Timeline: MD 01

[PREVIOUSLY]

Trent's HUD pinged the multiple lifesigns closing in on them. His HUD didn't show details about what species they were, but it did show their numbers and spacing. Remans, he knew, were brilliant strategists and fearless in combat. Long considered shocktroopers for the Romulan military.

[CONTINUED]

"Lieutenant, I'm counting four tango's ahead and five behind. Moving fast in a staggered approach." That was bad, he thought. Meant they knew what they were doing. He took up a defensive position by the door and dropped to one knee. A sense of cold washed through him as he trained his carbine down the hall at the approaching lifesigns. "What's the play?" He asked with a steely note in his voice.

"Stun only as we don't know who they are." Kara took up her position. "You get the ones ahead, I'll take the ones behind."

Tuff reluctantly pulled out a phaser. He was a computer specialist, not a fighter. However, like any Starfleet member, he had basic weapons training and probably would not be completely useless.

Pulling out his phaser, Aenar had to glance down at the weapon to check the settings. Not quite like the rifle back home. He was quite proficient, but rarely had to unholster his weapon in pressure situations. Calith did the same and nodded her readiness.

'Alright,' said Aenar, low and fast, 'we need to get outside to be retrieved. Back the way we came.'

Kara nodded, keeping her eye on the corridor. This was going to be tight and she was ready to give the others the time they needed to get out safely. She pulled a stun grenade off her belt and pulled the pin, holding on to it so it wouldn't detonate until she threw it.

Thirty seconds later, the five stopped just around the corner. She threw the grenade. It hit the wall and, fortunately, rolled toward the side with the five combatants. Two seconds later, it went off.

Pressing himself back against the corridor wall, Aenar flinched as the stun grenade went off. He pressed Calith, who looked like the only one not overly-proficient with a phaser, back against the wall too. As the sound of the grenades faded away, Aenar pulled his head away from the wall, the better to see around the corner.

Nothing. 'Hey ... I think you got em?'

"Hopefully," Kara said to Aenar. "Get the others out. I'll make sure they're down. Kushner will take care of the other group. We'll join you as soon as we've secured the area."

Tuff waited patiently. He was not about to get himself shot from someone that got away. Not to mention, he had other plans, like deciphering the rest of that data.

Nodding his understanding, Aenar tugged on Calith's uniform, and beckoned Tuff as he unholstered his own phaser, 'let's get going.' He turned to the Marine and faltered a second before saying, 'and don't take too long yourselves. We're all getting out of here.'

Pausing to check that the Benzite and Betelgeusian were following, Aenar stepped around the corner, and headed down the corridor to the entrance they had come in earlier. He nimbly stepped around the unconscious bodies of several Remans.

'Curious,' he noted quietly to Tuff, 'they're not wearing the usual Reman armour - not nearly chromatic enough.' The Bajoran thought little of it as he tried to hurry his colleagues along.

Tuff nodded his agreement at the Bajoran. "It is definitely something to consider as we continue," the Betelgeusian whispered back. "It has meaning."

'We'll log it as part of our report - now let's move Ensigns.' Aenar clapped Calith on the shoulder as the slightly disoriented Benzite tried to make sense of what was going on - things were moving quickly for the normally staid Engineering Officer.

Aenar led them to the airlock, and hunkered down, 'we'll just need to repeat what the Marines did,' he said confidently. Flipping out his tricorder, he replicated the mechanical manipulation the Marines had done with the airlock earlier.

After a few interminable moment, the airlock cycled, and opened.

Aenar nodded at Tuff, 'you Ensigns first!'

Tuff looked at the airlock like it was a foreign object but repeated the mechanical manipulation. When it cycled and opened, Tuff saw that it was empty. Cautiously, he walked in and waited for the airlock to close behind him. When it pressurized, he opened the door on the other side.

Kara was last, making sure the others got out first. She paused at the airlock for Trent.

Aenar grinned at the others as they arrived on the outside of the airlock. Hunkered down at the edge of the building he scanned their nearby surroundings. 'Looks clear!' he called out to the team - five hundred meters out it's clear for beam-out.'

Inside, the other Remen turned the corner, shooting.

Hunkered down against the side of the building, Aenar called out to Tuff, 'something's wrong - the Marines should be out by now!'

Tuff had found himself some hard metallic objects that he could shield himself more behind. "If something has happened to them, then we may be on our own. If not, by leaving, we would be endangering ourselves and the others. Do you have anything more than a suspicion?"

Aenar shook his head. 'A suspicion. They were right behind us, the corridor was clear when we were cycling through the airlock! I'm telling you, something's wrong!'

"If there is, panicking is not going to help," Tuff told Aenar. "We have to consider all of the possibilities and then determine our actions based on the potential outcomes."

Arching an eyebrow Aenar stated, 'those are Starfleet Marines. They're trained for situational awareness. We know that there were more Remans than ourselves. They've not yet made it out of the airlock. This suggests they're hunkered down, or trapped inside.' The Chief Science Officer forced his tone to remain calm and level as he addressed the Engineer.

[Inside]

Kara fired and ducked back into the room.

There was another round of disruptor fire.

While Trent returned fire, Kiara threw another stun grenade.

A moment later, she shouted to Trent, "Run."

She covered him until he was out of sight, then followed. She heard nothing from the enemy, but she didn't think it would be long.

They reached the airlock, where Kara again covered Trent while he opened it and went outside.

She exited and sealed the door, then looked toward Aenar. "Lead the way, I'll cover the rear."

He nodded in response pointing the way with a jabbing hand, 'five-hundred meter straight like to the beam-out point, let's go!'

Nodding to the others, the Science Officer set off at a trot

Kara took one last look at the facility and followed the others.

They were almost to the beam out point when there was the sound of weapons fire. Kara turned. Four shapes were running after them. She dropped to a knee and fired.

Aenar dropped to a knee and snapped off some wild shots, hoping to force their ourselves to drop to cover. He hailed Calypso. 'Away Team at beam-out point. Five for transport!'

The enemy returned fire, but not before the away team dematerialized.


____
OFF

Private Trent Kushner
Marine

2nd Lieutenant Kara Melo
Squadron Leder

Lieutenant Aenar Toric
Chief Science Officer

Calith
Engineer

Ensign Chevy Tuff
Operations Officer

 

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