We're Not In Kansas Anymore - Part 1

Posted on Sat Jun 8, 2019 @ 12:37pm by Lieutenant Jason Haines & Civilian 'Arrival' Avis Larant Ms & Lieutenant Annora Tessaro & Lieutenant Alanna Wells & Civilian 'Key Holder' Yolanthe Ibalin & Lieutenant Commander River Morgan & Ensign Jessica Mayhew & Ensign Tizo Criteser & Lieutenant JG Brianthe Oaxaca

4,288 words; about a 21 minute read

Mission: Doors of Perception
Location: Not Kansas
Timeline: MD8, 2130

[ON]
Previously... (5 Card Stud Nothing Wild But The Dealer - Part 4)

At that moment the lights flickered some and it seemed like a wave of energy had gone through the room. Jason looked at his arm and the hairs on it were standing up. The music in the room stopped and it briefly grew pitch black. A moment later sunlight peeked through the saloon doors and dust could be seen drifting through the light. The temperature had gone up significantly and was definitely not from the station filtration systems. The holographic bartender and piano player were gone.

A loud, unfamiliar voice broke the confusion.

Avis lowered her drink and looked about. This was definitely not part of this game.

"Come on out, elf. We know you are in there! You are only going to make it harder if you don't come out."


Now The Continuation...

"Elf?" Avis was totally confused now and set her glass down. Maybe others could provide her - and them - with answers?

Alanna looked around at the others. She wished she had a tricorder with her. She got up and walked around the room, feeling the walls. Something was definitely wrong.

The wood of the walls felt a touch rough to Alanna's fingers. There were definitely splinters of wood sticking out. The walls were warm, most likely from the fact that the temperature of the air was quite hot.

There was a chance this was a part of the program, but the language used by whoever was issuing the challenge suggested otherwise. Either way, it had her attention. Standing up from her chair, Annora moved towards the door. "Never fought in a riding skirt before, but there's a first time for everything. Tizo, hand me your cane. It's not a stun baton, but will do in a pinch."

"Fight? We're going to fight now? I don't understand." Avis stood, alarmed obviously. She was not a military person.

The Bajoran handed Annora his cane before removing his frock coat, draping it over a chair.
"Three security guards, a spook, a couple of scientists, and a handful of civilians against an unknown assailant, possible assailants. I'd wager a bet in our favor."

"Toto, we're not in Kansas anymore," Alanna said. "The walls and temperature have changed. This place feels different, too. The station has a constant undercurrent of thoughts and emotions that are not here anymore." And the emotions coming from whatever was outside the door was not making her feel any better.

"Shouldn't we notify station security?" Avis suggested. No one seemed to bring that up.

Yolanthe pulled her communicator from her pocket. "Box of Delights to Security?" There was no response. "All right, that didn't work."

Jason looked very concerned and said, "Well, it isn't part of my program. Well, why don't you let the spook do his job and go take a peek to see what the locals want. If they don't shoot right off, then we can start showing them that this posse has the upper hand. Does that work for everyone?"

"Umm, we are not a posse." Avis raised one eyebrow.

Yolanthe raised a purple eyebrow. Her period clothing, just an overlay, was gone too, leaving her in her black trousers and wraparound top. But the rest of the scenario was intact. . "Computer, arch." The simple answer would be to just pause the program. Nothing happened. "Arch." she repeated. "Right, that's weird. It was working fine two hours ago. No arch. No communications. This could be better."

Jessica looked around with surprise. “Crap. I’m wearing a dress. How am I supposed to fight in a dress?” she asked, gathering up the copious amounts of satin skirts, petticoats, and bustle of her “lady of the night” costume, not to mention nearly falling out of the bodice and corset, not that she was that well endowed. Not like Yolanthe. “Someone want to help me out of this thing, and loosen the damn corset?”

Were some of the ladies getting undressed now? Avis frowned.

"As long as you're wearing a chemise or corset and bloomers," Alanna said, going over to Jessica. "You should be able to fight in that."

Over her shoulder, Alanna addressed Jason, "We do have security here. They're trained for this."

“Corset and bloomers,” Jessica said, “and a chemise under that. At least I’ll be able to breathe and move.” She stood there as Alanna unlaced the bodice holding the dress up, leaning over to undo the lacing on the high heeled black boots so she wouldn’t turn an ankle.

"Corset will be difficult enough," Alanna said. She helped Jessica step out of the dress and then laid it across a chair. "Good idea to remove the boots. Can you move in the corset or should that go, too?" She was grateful she chose to dress like Annie Oakley. It wasn't as nice as Jessica's outfit, but she could move.

Avis was not about to remove any clothing, she could move around just fine in this outfit of hers. However, the fighting part, not so much.

Whether it was a simple holodeck malfunction or something more nefarious didn't matter at this point. They were officially off duty and no one was more than one rank away from anyone else, so Annora wasn't going to pull the rank card, at least not at present. She motioned towards the saloon doors. "I recommend against it, but you're the Marshal."

"Well," Jason said quietly. "I can see where you are all coming from, but given the situation, I am looking at it as Doctor Rivers, Lieutenant Wells, and Ensign Oaxaca are the ones that are going to keep us alive if we are out of the holosuite and get us back. That means Lieutenant Tessaro, Ensign Mayhew, and Ensign Criteser, your job without fail is to keep those three alive. That means myself, Avis, and Yolanthe are the wild cards in this little hand. And the Commander would have our collective assess if we put two civilians out to take the first glance at individuals who sound hostile. If you want it done otherwise..."

Avis was no coward, but she was relieved to hear him say that she was not expected to take the lead in any of this.

He paused and looked at Rivers and Annora. "I will follow your orders, but at least right now I think this is the best play." He didn't want to delay too much, but he wanted to make sure that he gave the senior officers the proper respect they deserved in the real situation.

"Actually," Yolanthe said, "Legally, I'm responsible for the safety of my patrons. And I'm used to dealing with shit going down in a bar." She moved over to the entrance, standing slightly to the side of the swing doors. "Why don't you come on in, sugar plum," she called out. "Have a drink. We've got plenty."

Alanna wasn't going to stay in the background, so she was grateful for Yolanthe's stepping in. She grabbed a nearly-empty bottle of wine and held it as a weapon.

“Yeah, get the corset off too,” Jessica said. She finally tossed the silk and stays over the chair with her dress, now wearing chemise, bloomers, and black fishnet stockings. She moved over to a window and eased back the curtain a bit so she could see who and what was outside.

"Nice bloomers, Mayhew," Jason said with a smirk as he moved to a place he could see out, given that Yolanthe was being, well, Yolanthe. "And here you thought you wouldn't get to relive Academy times," he continued in reference to her earlier comment in the night.

“And you didn’t even have to buy me dinner to see them.” Jessica smirked right back at Jason.

There were four individuals outside, all male from the looks. They wore very simple clothing; dirt covered, white linen shirts, brown pants, simple boots, and what could be considered cowboy hats. They looked to be armed however with some weapons that were a bit more advanced. Each one of them had a unit on their wrist which seemed to have wiring back to what seemed to be a portable power source that then had wiring up to an ocular unit they wore over an eye.

One of the men seemed to be the leader. "I ain't never seen anyone looking like you, lady, but we'll be taking you back with us to the prophet along with the elf that I know is in there. Bring her out nice and easy or we'll come in and make things difficult for you."

"There's no elf in here, and I don't think your prophet will be interested in her," Alanna said. She didn't like the feel of them, and didn't want them taking Yolanthe. Nor did she think they'd look favorably on Jessica in her bloomers.

Avis decided to arm herself with a fork (yeah, useful if an enemy got within...what...inches?) then took cover behind whatever was both closest and biggest.

“If she’s got their attention, should we sneak around and flank them?” Jessica whispered. “Is there another way out of this place?” What she wouldn’t give for a phaser rifle right now and a second story sniper post.

Alanna nodded to Jessica and smiled sweetly at the men. "I'm afraid this is all of us, so please go away."

Jessica peeled away from the window and went to the back, looking for an other exit from the saloon, keeping her eye out for anything she could use as a weapon.

River moved quietly to Jessica's side of the room and started to surreptitiously help her to look for clues as to another exit or something helpful.

A back door to the establishment would be useful. Mentally kicking herself for not better studying the room's layout, Annora turned to Jason. "This is your program. Do you know of another way out?"

"Or another off button would be good too, if you can remember where one of those might be? What's behind the bar?" River whispered, the sound coming out more like a hiss.

“Who’s genius idea was to have a no weapons policy?” Jessica pulled out the small two shot derringer from her garter. It wasn’t loaded, obviously, but maybe she could bluff.

"That would be you, Miss Security Officer," Yolanthe muttered. "All you yellow shirts get twitchy when everyone carries phasers."

River never carried a gun, obviously, but she did always have her med kit to hand no matter where she was, and an odd sedative shot might come in handy somewhen. But when? And how to get close enough to administer one without getting close enough to get hurt or even killed, that was the question.

Looking around, Jessica saw that there was a side room and there were stairs going upstairs and a set going downstairs. What were in the places was unknown. As she debated which might be worth more to investigate, she heard thumping above.

Jason stepped up to the doorway to give support to Yolanthe.

"We aren't here to fight, mister," Jason said, "but we aren't going to let you take our friend. So, instead of making this difficult, why don't you…”

The lead man turned his attention to Jason and then simply shot. The weapon didn't discharge anything visible and the first indication that anything happened was Jason getting knocked to the floor and being shoved back about ten feet.

"I ain't shot a woman before," the man said. "But, I've shot plenty of men."

Avis saw Jason get hit and lying there. She wasn't certain what sort of weapon had hit him or in what condition he was in, but somebody had to go to his aid and at least try and drag him to better cover. No time to think about the risks involved, she had to decide now.

Alanna had moved up to be closer to the door in an effort to protect Yolanthe and Jessica. Now, she threw her bottle at the man who shot Jason and hit him in the head. There was no way she could have done that again, but she thanked her lucky stars for rolling a twenty to hit.

What kind of weapons they were using, Annora didn't know. At the present, it didn't matter to her. Sometimes it was best to take action first and analyze the particulars later. She set the cane on the bar near Avis.

"This will be more effective than a fork."

"Thanks, but I'm going for Jason!" And with that Avis launched herself into a rush for the prostrate victim, heedless of any incoming fire. Once she got there she began the process of dragging him toward the closest cover. He was bigger than her, heavier of course, and he was dead (well, let's hope not literally!) weight, so it took some grunting.

Alanna glanced at Avis. "Do you need help?" She was concerned about Jason, but she was also afraid that if they all ran to help him, the thugs at the door would get the upper hand. If they hadn't already with that weapon of theirs. If she had a proper lab, and a few hours, she could come up with something to block it. Maybe a simple force field would work.

"I don't know. The rest of them might need help out there too. Unless you are a medical specialist, which I definitely am NOT!" Avis frowned.

Turning back towards the doors, Annora was thankful they were hinged to allow movement both directions. "We're in simpler times, so let's use a simpler tactic. We rush them. Anyone care to join me?"

Yolanthe glanced from Jason to the men outside, torn between her instinct to never harm a man, and the possessive fury that one of her males had been hurt. Possessiveness won. Her cat claw knife appeared in her hand from the sheath where she kept it concealed, swinging the loop on the pommel around her finger into a familiar reverse grip as her skin-faded from violet to buttercup. "Oh, I’m in."

Tizo picked up the discarded cane. "I'll be right behind you, Lieutenant. We're sitting ducks here."

Giving herself some room to build up speed, Annora moved into a three point crouch. Her right leg went back with a slight bend. Her left leg bent at the knee to form a ninety degree angle. Placing the fingers of her right hand on the saloon floor, while her left hand went back and slightly above her body. With her best war cry, the Lieutenant exploded towards the hostiles on the other side of the door.

Outside the three thugs had a hard time not laughing as Alanna's bottle clanked off his head. The leader sneered, and if it hadn't been for an unseen bit of plating in his head, the bottle would have knocked him out cold.

"Kill'em," he growled.

As they started their push forward the leader and the thug behind him were quite surprised as Annora charged through the doorway to the building and bowled them both over. The third shot reflexively and wildly, and as Tizo came out the door the swinging door opposite him shattered into hundreds of pieces. The fourth thug had gotten a clue that they were truly under attack and started to aim at Tizo. He was about to fire when Tizo saw the man get jerked up into the air about twenty feet.

The thug yelled, "Screw you, elf!" before he began the quick descent to the ground, landing with a thud and a crunch.

The leader rolled to his feet, spat out a tooth, and brought his wrist up to point at Annora, ready to shoot.

Falling back on her unarmed combat training, Annora reacted to the threat. She gripped the barrel of the weapon, pushing it down and away from her center mass. At the same time, she turned her body sideways and used her free hand to strike a punch at her opponents face. She didn't give him any time to recover or react before using her punching hand to grab at the rear of the weapon. With both hands on the gun, she wrenched it down and out of his grip. Keeping one hand on the man's wrist, she tucked the weapon into her vest. He may have been disarmed, but Annora didn't feel safe. Continuing to push his arm towards across his chest, she pushed her other hand into the opposite armpit. This gave her the necessary leverage to flip him onto the ground.

The second of the pair Annora had knocked down was also scrambling to his feet, but he had barely gained them when Yolanthe skidded past him, low, in a blur of black and yellow, curved knife flashing, slicing out the tendons behind his right knee. He howled in pain, tried to turn with his own arm stretched towards her, she stepped into the swing, blocking the arm before he could aim. Her hand came back and punched forward in a sharp snap, the heel of her hand cracking against the locked joint of his elbow, breaking the arm. Then she got an arm around his neck, crushing herself against the power pack he wore, and began to choke.

The third, also facing Tizo, shot at the security officer again, more in control this time.

The shot grazed his arm, but this wasn't the first time Tizo had been shot at. Using the objects available to him, he gripped the wooden cane with both hands. Jabbing the bottom of the cane into where he hoped the diaphragm was, he was pleased to hear a grunt as the man literally had the breath knocked out of him. Taking advantage of the man's currently dazed state, Tizo used his foot to sweep to other's leg from under him. As he thudded to the ground, Tizo pressed his cane against his downed opponent's throat. It was just enough to allow him to breathe but not gain his second wind.

Meanwhile inside, Avis moved to Jason and started to pull him out of the line of fire as she was showered with pieces of the door. He was indeed a hard move for the lithe woman, and when she stopped she could see that he wasn’t breathing.

"Oh god!" She went wide eyed. She'd been trained of course for CPR, but actually never done it for real. Looked now was the time. Hoping she remembered everything right, she began immediately.

Alanna couldn't help in the hand-to-hand fight, so she ran over to Avis and Jason. While Avis was working on chest compressions, she checked to make sure none of his clothing was restricting her efforts.

"I don't know if this is even helping!" Avis was getting even more worried, but did not quit.

Normally, Alanna was careful to keep her mental shields up and to not read other people's thoughts, but she was too worried about Jason to care. She paused for a moment to concentrate, then mentally reached out to brush his mind. "Thank goodness, he's alive."


Jason's eyes opened a little and he coughed as Avis pushed in on his chest and he croaked out, "Hey, that hurts."

"Sorry! Thank God you're...." Avis didn't get a chance to finish her statement though.

Then his eyes glazed a bit and his head rolled to the side slightly and Alanna could feel that he was no longer there.

"No! Jason!" Alanna reached deeper to find something of Jason. She had to find him, to bring him back. She couldn't lose him. She put her hands on his temples. She wasn't Vulcan, but maybe it would help.

Avis was breathing hard now. They'd been so close and now this. She knelt there watching Alanna. "Do anything you can! Help him, please."

Alanna barely heard Avis. All her energy was focused on finding some spark of life, some memory. "Please," she whispered. "Don't leave me." But there was nothing. Tears began to run down her cheeks. She looked up at Avis. "I can't find him..."

River searched the bar for the first aid med-kit and was just putting on the stun setting to the med-corder, initially intended to assist with out of control potential patients or people in too much pain to be assisted without being knocked out. It was the only weapon she could think of that didn't make a mockery of her Oath to do no harm, but then again, this was not a time for principles, it was a time for team survival. She moved out of the doorway, in the thick of the surge outwards, and found herself under fire immediately. She ducked and reached for a spinning, discarded weapon, but just as she reached out a thug saw her and stomped on her hand. The pain seared through her and his kick sent her reeling backwards, sprawling onto the floor underneath the feet of her own people, coming to rest up against the wall, her mind full of searing pain from her crushed left hand. All she could think was that at least it wasn't her operating hand. A surgeon needed that intact. It wasn't a logical thing to be thinking, but she was woozy and only semi conscious, so it was the best she could hold on to.

Jessica had heard the movement upstairs. She quietly crept up, suspecting the men outside had sent someone to flank them, just as she had intended. She heard the fight start downstairs and cursed inwardly. But she couldn’t let whoever was up here come down behind them while they were fighting the men out front.

Getting to the top of the stairs, Jessica could see down a hallway through to a room with a window open. There must be some overhang, as she could see the legs of someone standing outside.

A voice came from there and called out, "You better back off, Vedras, or it looks like you will have gotten beaten up by girls, again. You can tell the prophet for like the thousandth time that none of us are going to join him."

Jessica quietly crept along the hallway and into the room, up to the window. she pressed to the wall and looked out to see who was there that was speaking and seemed to know the men that were surrounding the place.

Outside, everyone heard the same thing. A brief glance upwards showed the source of the voice standing on an overhang of the building. It was a young woman with long, dark hair, pointed ears, and dark eyes who wore an off-white, dusty, full body dress, a brown leather vest, and leather boots. On a belt she had a rather nasty looking knife.

Looking up towards the voice, Annora and Tizo studied the woman. It was likely the 'elf' referred to by those now laying on the ground. The two security guards exchanged glances with each other. She didn't seem like a threat, but her intentions were still unknown.

"Ensign, keep an eye on our friends. Feel free to remind them who has the upper hand."

Yolanthe relaxed her grip on the bruiser, who fell unconscious to the dirt. "are we going for that one too?" she said quietly, trying to plot a route up to the roof where the newcomer stood.

"For the moment, no. She has made no hostile moves, and I'm hoping she's familiar with the phrase, 'the enemy of my enemy is my friend.' That doesn't mean we shouldn't make plans. If you see a way up be prepared to take advantage of it."

She had kept her attention on the mysterious woman who seemed more intersted in the men that attacked them than the group from DS5.


Showing her empty hands, Annora took a few steps towards the open window.

Jessica peered out to the window to let Annora and Tizo know she was up there, still behind the woman’s back.

Inside the building, as River slid down against the wall, she could just make out Avis and Alanna over Jason. She could see their attempts to save him were not working. It hurt her to think that the man was gone. No amount of first aid could fix that.

Alanna finally sat back, but she couldn't bring herself to move away just yet. She looked around, only now aware that the fight was over.

Avis fought back tears as she knelt there. Just what the hell was going on? How did this happen? Glancing over toward the doorway, it seemed whatever brawling had been going on, it was done. And who was that pointy eared woman?

Upstairs, Jessica watched and saw the woman hold her hands out to the side, "Please, I mean you no harm, especially after you helped me with those four. If it hadn't been for you, I don't think things would have gone so smoothly. Please, let me come down so we can talk easier."

"You may come down, but no sudden moves."

Annora called up to the woman, making a command decision for the group. She locked eyes with Jessica, hoping she caught the unspoken request to stick close to yet identified woman.

To Be Continued...

[OFF]

---

Ltjg. Jason Haines
Chief Intelligence Officer

Avis Larant
Investigative Journalist

Yolanthe Ibalin
Owner, The Box of Delights

Ltcdr. River Morgan
Acting Chief Medical Officer

Lt. Annora Tessaro
Chief Security Officer

Ens. Tizo Criteser
Security Officer

Ens. Jessica Mayhew
Security Officer

Lieutenant JG Alanna Wells
Chief Science Officer

Ensign Brianthe Oaxaca
Botanist

 

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