Unannounced Guests (Part III of III)

Posted on Sat Feb 23, 2019 @ 6:44pm by Captain Maritza Soran & Commander Caleb Ryan & Lieutenant Annora Tessaro & Lieutenant Alanna Wells & Lieutenant Jason Haines & Civilian T'gan

2,084 words; about a 10 minute read

Mission: Doors of Perception
Location: The Portal Complex, Pangaea
Timeline: MD04 1100

Previously on Unannounced Guests

As they spoke there was the sound of shuffling coming from beyond the yellow line, and then two dirty, bleeding, angry looking Andorian's pushed their way into the cave, quickly followed by two Humans and another Andorian leading a badly scarred woman with one eye so dark the pupil was indeterminate from the iris, the Betazoid.

The Andorians and others startled, instinctively scattering out for clear lines of fire as they brought up old, battered-looking disruptor rifles, aiming them at the strangers. The Andorian in the center seemed a touch older than the others. He had a patch over one eye and a wicked scar that seemed to go over that eye. One of his antennae looked half missing, but seemed to have begun to grow back, so he wasn’t experiencing any balance issues by the way his rifle was leveled squarely on T’gan.

Alanna stepped forward. "Everyone, put down your weapons," she said, including Zhao. "We come in peace." She turned to the Betazoid. "You know I speak the truth. We came to help you."

The Andorian, who had been holding the Betazoid’s hand, put himself between Alanna and his charge. "She can't know anything because those rat bastards burnt it out of her," he spat.


And now the Conclusion...


"Well, whoever they are," Jason said, "we aren't them. Not sure when or where you are from, but you can be assured we aren't going to hurt you."

"He's right. You're among friends," Alanna said.

Eyepatch Andorian held up his hand, though he didn’t lower his weapon. His good eye flicked around the group.

"Come on!" one of the Humans growled during the lull. He stood about 6'5", had red hair, a scraggly reddish-blond beard, blue eyes, and had scars all over his face and arms. "Let's just kill them and get what we came for."

"What did you come for?" Alanna asked. "Because you're not going to get it without our help, and you aren't going to get out of here if you hurt us." She had to do something to help them understand that they weren't where they thought they were before someone got hurt.

"Look around you," T'gan said. "Listen to us. We are not who you think we are. We are not your enemy."

"If any of you have a tricorder, use it. It will tell you we speak the truth," Alanna added.

“Shut up, Vulcan!” Eyepatch said. He looked over the group. They didn’t seem to be taking orders from the Vulcan, like good little slaves. And they were wearing odd, colored uniforms. He pulled out a device that could only generously be termed a tricorder, some kind of scanner, but obviously not Federation. Much like their weapons, it looked held together by duct tape and baling wire.

“This isn’t Risa, Thomas,” Eyepatch told the big Human that had spoken earlier. “And their Pidgen is different. And whoever heard of a Vulcan fouling his mouth by speaking Pidgen?” He eyed T’gan. “What trick is this, Vulcan?” he demanded.

"Hey, little boy blue!" Jason snapped at the Andorian with the patch. "If you want any sort of help, watch how you talk to my crewmate. Otherwise you will be growing two antennae back." Jason stood ready to back up his words if 'Patch' decided to put him to the test.

"This is no trick," the Vulcan said. "Lieutenant Wells speaks true. You have transversed a temporal portal. You are no longer in your own universe. Let her help you and your team."

The newcomers looked to the man with the patch.

“You think I’m afraid of you, ear-licker?” Patch snapped back at Jason. “Watch them,” he told the others, then turned his focus on the cobbled together tricorder in his other hand. He banged it a couple times against his leg, studied it again, and then said. “Okay, weapons down,” as he lowered his own and eyed the Starfleet officers.

“Which one of you is in charge?” Eyepatch asked. He instinctively looked to the Vulcan, but she was somehow being...submissive, deferential. He had never seen a Vulcan not arrogantly put themselves forward.

Alanna empathized with their situation. Of course they were angry, scared, and mistrustful. At the same time, she had to protect the people with her and keep the situation from turning ugly. She stepped forward, projecting compassion and understanding. "I'm in charge here. My name is Alanna."

Jason waited to see what 'Patch' did. Jason still stayed near T'gan, as she was the target of the newcomers' suspicion.

T'gan remained quiet, not wanting to cause any more trouble.

Patch stepped forward as well. “Alanna,” he said, trying her name out. “I am Shavias Ch’zath, leader of the Ice Angels resistance cell.” His antennae twitched and he looked passed her to T’gan before he looked back at Alanna. “What are you doing with the Vulcan?”

"She's a scientist. She works in my department. In this time and space, Vulcans, Andorians, Telarites, and Humans work together for peace. They formed the Federation over two hundred years ago. As I said, we want to help you. Will you come with us?"

The third Andorian leaned into Ch'zath's side. "We're going round in circles," she said quietly. "We're hungry, hurt, and tired, and since they haven't instantly tried to kill us, I'm willing to take a risk if you are." She glanced back to the Federation personnel, "Besides, who knows, if the Vulcans manage to follow us through here, it might be good to have some allies."

Thomas stood there and looked menacing. The look fit the man and his general attitude of hit it first, think a second, beat it a second time, and then consider the consequences meant that he was a good soldier, but not a leader.

"She's right," Alanna said, taking another step closer to the group. We have food and medical supplies. Let us help you. We also want to know about your war, because if you found your way here, your enemies might as well, and we don't want to be caught unprepared."

Jason relaxed just a little, but still watched the group with apprehension. He was wary of dealing with fugitives like this, but they were at least being a little rational.

Alanna turned to Security. "Notify Medical."

Zhou turned away. "Zhou to Lieutenant Sh'zera," he said quietly. "We're going to bring our visitors out. They need medical attention. Please can you contact sickbay on DS5? And can you meet us at the exit? I think they'd appreciate it."

"Will do, Zhou." The officer of the watch cut the line.

“I do have wounded,” Shavias admitted, glancing at his people. “And you will help us against the Vulcans?” he asked, lowering his rifle completely. How were the Vulcans not in control here? How did they let a Human give them orders? It was very confusing.

"If they come through the portal from your universe, yes. We will help you. Here we are not at war with the Vulcans. We can explain after we get you the help you need."

Alanna gave a nod of her head to T'gan and the Vulcan turned and walked away to help the medical team.

The Chief Science Officer then put a hand on Shavias' shoulder. "Who needs the most urgent help?"

“This way,” Shavias said, leading her to the back of the group where they had put their wounded to protect them. A half dozen, mostly Andorians, but some Humans and even a Tellarite, leaned against the rock wall of the cavern, nursing disruptor injuries. “We barely got out alive. You say you will only help us if they come through? We need help there! Now!”

Alanna had knelt by one of the wounded. She turned to face Shavias. "Do you know where you are? Do you know when you are? I'm a scientist and this is a research facility." It was technically true without causing more confusion. "I can help you and your people. I can get you food and clothing. I may or may not be able to get you back home, depending on whether or not we can find the right portal. As for taking help back, that would be up to the commander of the nearby station."

Shavias frowned. “A Vulcan?” he asked warily. “No, I do not know where we are. We were in the catacombs beneath Risa when a kill squad boxed us in. We did not even know there was a portal down there. If it hadn’t opened, we would all have been wiped out. We had no choice but to come through.”

"What year was it?" Alanna asked.

"By the Terran calendar?" the female andorian asked, her fingers moving whilst she did the calculation in her head. "Twenty-three ninety-three."

Alanna nodded. "Same year, different universe."

T'gan returned with the portal site's medics.

Jason took some more scans with his tricorder and then asked, "When you entered the portal, how close was the kill squad?"

He wondered if the Vulcans had managed to get to the portal and it was just having some lag. The dynamics of time travel were still a bit of a hit or miss activity without the proper equipment.

The Andorian female’s antenna flattened a bit. "Not long at all. Maybe a few minutes."

"Lieutenant Wells," Jason said. "With your permission, I'd like to get us out of these caves. I would hate to see a big fire fight go on in here, should the group that were chasing our guests drops in. A cave-in would ruin everyone's day."

"Permission granted." She turned tapped her combadge. "Wells to Tessaro. We're bringing them out. There's a chance a group of Vulcans will come through next. I'd like a welcoming committee of Security and Marines to detain them if they do."

“Roger that, Lieutenant. We're on our way.”

A group was a fairly vague term, so Annora took most of her team into the caves.

T'gan and the medics moved in to evacuate the wounded.

Thomas made sure he was the last of his group to go. He wanted to make sure that if the Vulcans did come through the portal that his comrades would be protected.

Alanna watched Jason lead the others out. Then she waited for Thomas and followed behind. She really hoped there would be no group of Vulcans coming after them.

As they passed the group heading out, Annora got a glance at them. It reminded her of what she saw during the early days of combat when the surviving troops staggered back to worlds still held by the Coalition. Whatever reality they came from was not an easy one. Approaching the portal, the team raised their weapons and waited to see what would happen.

At the entrance tunnel, 2nd Lieutenant Sh'zera was waiting with a squad of Marines and several paramedics. The paramedics quickly swarmed the injured newcomers, tricorders buzzing. Sh'zera moved to Alanna, running a professional eye over the other Andorians, and her thin antennae twitched curiously. "Do you want me to take charge of the...guests, ma'am?"

"These people are our guests. They need to be given food and medicine, then they need to see Commander Soran." Alanna nodded back the way they'd come. "They were being chased by a band of Vulcans. Those are the ones that concern me. If they come through the portal, you'll need to detain them."

"I'll leave them with you then, ma'am, and Security on DS5, and work on extra security for those chambers." She gave Alanna a nod, and started shouting orders to the Marines.

"Thank you." Alanna followed the others back to the command center.

Shavias Ch’zath eyed Sh’zera. “You have Andorians working for you?” he asked, his undamaged antennae angling toward the attractive female Andorian. “What is this Starfleet?”

"A place I think you will like," Alanna added, unable to keep from smiling.

“It can’t be worse than where we came from,” Shavias said bitterly.

[OFF]


Second Lieutenant Sh'zera
Sergeant Jian Zhao
Marines
NPCs by Soran

Lieutenant JG Alanna Wells
Chief Science Officer

T'gan
Temporal Physicists
NPCd by Alanna Wells

Lieutenant Annora Tessaro
Chief Securit Officer

Lieutenant JG Jason Haines
Chief Intelligence Officer

Shavias Ch’zath
Resistance Cell Leader
(NPC by Ryan)

Isilde Sh'vet
Resistance Fighter
(NPC by Soran)

Thomas
Resistance Fighter
(NPC by Haines)

 

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