A Damsel In Distress, Part 1

Posted on Sun Sep 29, 2019 @ 9:26pm by Civilian 'Key Holder' Yolanthe Ibalin & Lieutenant Jason Haines

2,327 words; about a 12 minute read

Mission: Doors of Perception
Location: Vulcan Controlled Risa
Timeline: MD 11, 1910 -2115

[ON]

Jason had been moving at a rough pace and with his wounds, he had to pause. He was thinking that the Vulcans now probably either had drones or were scanning from the ship they had transported from. He needed a way to disappear so he could get closer to where Alanna was without being detected.

He thought for a little bit and remembered a get together his parents had thrown with some of their friends from their fleet years. Discussions of who got out of the worst scrapes came up or as his mother called it, measuring their manhood. His godfather had come up with a unique trick, using a tricorder to make sensors not detect you. All tricorders could send data back to computer, sensors, and other scanning devices. The trick was to scan the area around you and send that data back and weed out your own bio signs. The first down fall of the trick was that you couldn’t move very fast. After all, trees, flowers, and rocks didn’t tend to run and that’s what information got sent back and running made it more difficult for the tricorder to get the best scans possible. The second downfall of the trick was that it didn't fool the naked eye.

Jason looked at his tricorder settings and soon it came to him. It wasn't too hard. He would have to switch the settings every once and a while to get his bearings on Alanna, but this would help some, even if he were running. So, with the 'reflector' on, he continued on, moving as fast as he dared in case there were people watching. Hopefully that wouldn't hold him back too much.

15 Minutes Later

Jason had to pause. Normally he could do a mile every nine minutes, but not with the terrain, not with the armor, and not with the wound. He couldn't do anything about the terrain nor the wound right now, so there was only one thing to change. It took him a few moments to take off the combat armor. He kept the grenades however, checked the combat knife on his belt, knife in his wrist sheath, and personal phaser.

He flipped off the reflection mode of his tricorder and checked Alanna's position again. Once he adjusted his route, he secured the grenades and his phaser, and flipped the tricorder back to reflect mode.

He took in a couple of deep breaths, he was trying not to worry about Alanna on a personal level right now, but it was hard. He wondered how Sovok had managed to get a hold of her and bring her through the portal. He wondered why there hadn't been any communications from Marines coming through, even though they may have and just been mowed down given the platoon that the escort team had met.

Breathing harder than he wanted to be, he thought, 'I need to get to the track more', forcing his worries about Alanna out of his mind.

90 Minutes Later

Jason came to a stop and knelt down as he had seen a light in the distance. He scanned the area real quick, not wanting to be picked up. He was right on course for Alanna and a whole bunch of Vulcans it seemed. They were about 400 meters away.

He flipped the tricorder back on 'reflect' and took another deep breath or two. It would be slow moving here on in. He didn't want to be seen and his leg was killing him from the burn. He couldn't take too much pain reliever or he wouldn't be able to function well. Given how hard it was moving, he might as well not take any.

'You're an Intelligence Officer Haines', Jason thought. 'Be intelligent and you can do this.'

With that he started to slowly creep forward, eyes peeled, looking for all the nooks, crannies, and shadows he could find as the sun started to set as well as traps.

The stone circle that marked the portal site was only a few hundred meters away. Vulcans patrolled the perimeter, and beyond the circle were several temporary shelters, probably acting as barracks. Just off centre of the ring was a large crate, some two meters long and 1.5 meters wide and deep. surrounding that were a number of cylinders the thickness of his forearm half buried in the dirt, all linked by a length of wire running from the top of each cylinder to the next. There was no sign of Alanna. But the readings from the transponder were coming directly from the stone circle.

Jason muttered, "Damn."

There was nothing he could do about the explosives. He didn't have the skills with Starfleet explosives, let alone these. He would have to leave it for Commander Ryan and the others. He worried what the explosion would do to the portal on the other side and any other portal it might be connected to. Was this going to cause the great event that temporal was worried about? Well, he'd be one of the first to know if the explosives did go off.

The transponder he had to ignore. He only registered Vulcans there and he didn't think Sovok would relinquish his prize so easily. He had found the transponder so her boots were off. He would bet one hundred to one that he had removed other things; the man was a slime through and through. It was now personal as he did indeed have Alanna here.

He took in a deep breath and remembered something his father told him. He had competed in his first martial arts tournament and had been knocked out only a minute in. Afterwards his dad said, "Son, you let it get personal. Even if it is personal, you have to hold it in check and keep your actions impersonal."

Jason steeled himself in the only way he knew how, music. He had songs that he could still concentrate while playing and he had to use them, otherwise the situation would tear him apart and that wouldn't do anyone any good. "Me and Julio Down By The Schoolyard" was the first that came to mind so he let it 'play' in the back of his mind.

He looked at his phasers and slid his rifle to the kill setting, the Vulcans would pay. A moment later he slid it back into the max stun range.

'Be intelligent', Jason thought to himself.

If Alanna was in the area and he missed with his weapon on kill, he could end up killing her. Despite what temporal had to say about it, he wasn't going to do that, even in the worst of circumstances. And if he needed to kill someone, he had his knives. He set his hand phaser to moderate stun. Securing his gear one more time, he took a reading on where the fewest Vulcans on the way to the temporary structures were, switched the tricorder to 'reflect' and with his rifle out, once again started moving forward.

As he moved forward, he kept his eyes open and peeled for the enemy, mines, and any other booby trap Sovok might have out here in this direction. He made sure to keep his ears open as well for odd sounds that could mean trouble. He hoped that Sovok might be too cocky to think that a single person would try to make their way into the camp. Although the man was experienced, he was cocky and thought Starfleet staff were weaker. He hoped the arrogance would out weigh the experience, even if just for a little bit.


The patrolling guards seemed relaxed an inattentive, almost distracted, And as he got closer he began to realize why. Soft sounds of feminine pleasure came to his ears. Feint this far from the cabins, but unmistakable, and soaked with lust.

Jason gritted his teeth. He had to shut it out and he had to focus on getting through the patrol. He knew what he had to do given the opportunity. He drew his combat knife out of its sheath, and using the distraction of the guard, he moved up the embankment behind him, reached around, covered his mouth and slit his throat. As quietly and quickly he could he pulled the body down the embankment.

Although it was dark, the light towards the structures let Jason see the blood that was on his hands. As the man's neck gave a last squirt of blood, it shot all over his cheek. As the blood rolled down his face, Jason's hands shook. This was the first time he had killed a man. Even in his intel training he knew he might have to, but until now it had always just been a theory.

Noticing the man had an ear piece communicator, Jason grabbed it and slid it on. At least now he could hear the Vulcan's communications. He now had to move faster as depending on their communication procedures, there be a check in. He let the body slide down the slope. Looking about, he found the path with the most shadows. Timing his run, Jason crouched down and moved in closer.

As he got closer, the sounds got louder and there could be no doubt who was enjoying themselves. He'd know Alanna's voice anywhere

Once again Jason had to grit his teeth. He knew Alanna had been somewhat enamoured by Sovok, but he doubted she would have given in to Sovok to the point of enjoyment without something such as drugs, which Jason had no doubt the bastard would use. Even if she had, he had his directives from temporal in regards to her.

At that moment his ear piece crackled. "Call in," Said a voice. a moment later replies followed. "Position one, all clear.....position two all clear... position three, all clear..."

Luckily Vulcan had been one of the languages he had studied at Academy. He didn't speak it well, but enough for this.

"Position four all clear", he said adding a cough mid-sentence to throw off the fact he wasn't the original owner of the ear piece.

If the call in was wrong he would live with the consequences. Pushing that from his mind, he could see the next leg of his trip wasn't so dark. To make it worse there was a guard at the door. Looking about he grabbed a rock.

He quickly and quietly as possible, he moved forward. At what he thought was the best point, he tossed the rock, to distract the guard, he moved in and knocked him out with the butt of his rifle. He wasn't sure the security on the door where it was a temporary structure. Luckily it was a palm reader,

He bent to grab the guards hand, and it saved his life. The phaser bolt drilled into the door right where his head had been, melting out a hole the size of his fist.

'Damn', Jason thought. 'Hello Mr. Murphy, the man, the myth, the legend.'

Jason had known that he would be much easier to see crossing to the building. He had just been hoping he wouldn't be seen so fast. He stopped lamenting and began to analyze. He didn't have armor, so he would be screwed if he got hit. He didn't have any, but his unconscious friend did. The armor would hold up for one, maybe two shots, but he needed it.

He pulled the body close to use as a shield, then dropped a smoke grenade behind himself a foot or so.

"Sorry guy, I'm sure you would do the same for me", he muttered.

He was glad he had done it. Even with smoke pouring out of the grenade, the Vulcans weren't stopping with their barrage of fire. The hair on Jason's neck went up and he felt nearby energy and smelled burning flesh. He knew his body shield had just been reduced in size.

Keeping head down as much as possible, he threw a flash bang grenade towards the highest concentration of fire. He didn't throw it towards the ground as that wouldn't get enough in its blast radius. He threw it so it would explode in the air.

A humanoid's eye would always focus on things that caught its attention, it was nearly impossible to not look, even with a HUD. He was going for the distraction, as brief as it would be. He wasn't here to take on the entire compound, but to rescue Alanna. He hoped Commander Ryan and company had gotten into a place to observe and would use the distraction to move in. Well, more than that, he hoped a couple of Marine ARGO ground vehicles would come screaming through the portal, but he doubted that would happen.

Given the distraction, the smoke, and the size of the hole in the structure was as big as his fist, which was bigger than a grenade, he shoved a flash bang grenade through the hole. He counted to two before grabbing his meat shield's hand, he slapped it on the palm reader and closed his eyes. The flash bang went off and then Jason opened his eyes and darted in just as his Vulcan shield was vaporized by friendly fire.

A little wobbly, Jason thanked his lucky stars that his planned work. He could at least see, even though he could hear worth crap. The door had deflected some of the blast, but his ears still rang heavy. He would be lucky to not suffer permanent hearing loss given the shuttle blowing up near him and being in close proximity to two flash bangs when they went off.

He looked around quickly for targets to shoot. If it wasn't 5'4" or shorter and it moved, it would get a heavy dose of stun.

To be Continued

[OFF]

---

Lieutenant JG Jason Haines
Chief Intelligence Officer
Deep Space 5

 

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